Author's note: As I write this, I can just picture it in my head as a legit Pokemon episode. I do not own or am not affiliated with Pokemon in any way. Here's the story. I'll crank out chapters as fast as I can, but I can't guarantee anything. So, enjoy!

Chapter 1: From the Top

"Go, Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt! Then follow up with Electro Ball!" Ash called. We find our heroes today training to battle Champion Alder. Even just a few feet into Victory Road, Ash faces his first challenge. If things keep up like this, he'll never get there!

"Pikaaaaaaaa. . . chuuuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu yelled, loosing its thunderbolt. Then, right after, he took some electricity and formed a ball twice the size of a basketball, then catapulted it toward the opponent's Scrafty with its lightning-bolt-shaped tail. Both attacks hit, leaving the Scrafty defeated.

"Noo! Scrafty!" the other trainer cried with concern showing in his voice.

"Excellent job, Pikachu! You did great!" Ash said excitedly, doing a little jig. "You did great, too! Thank you for battling me!" he directed at the other trainer.

"You're welcome. When I get stronger, come challenge me again! I'll be waiting!"

"Sounds cool!" Pikachu hopped up on his shoulder. Ash, Iris, and Cilan continued until they saw a strange figure. "Hi, sir! May I have a battle with you?" Ash asked, running up to the hooded man.

"Ash!" said a familiar voice from beneath the large, brown cloak.

"Do I know you?" Ash pressed tentatively. "Your voice sounds familiar. . . ."

"It's me-" he pulled off the cloak dramatically, "-Brock! And don't forget the others!" said Brock, motioning with his hand to a seemingly random bush. Behind it, Misty, May, Max, and Dawn popped up. "W-wow!" Brock stammered, his eyes drifting to Iris. "To what do I owe this delightful surprise?" Then, he rushed to her, holding her hand while on one knee.

"Wow, Ash! And I thought you were a kid!" she bagged.

"Tell me about it." Ash smiled, embarrassed.

"Axe? Axew! Axew, Axe!" shouted Axew indignantly.

"Wow, those eyes! And your beautiful hair!" Brock commented, lovestruck as usual. As he babbled "romantically," a Toxicroak popped out of one of the Pokeballs on Brock's belt. It charged up a Poison Jab, then let loose. "Hey, that's a cute Pokemon you have there! Almost as cute as yyooowwwww!" (The "yyooowwwww" was him saying "you" when Toxicroak Poison Jabbed him.) "But whyyyyyy-oww!" Brock wailed as Toxicroak dragged him off to deal with him.

"Sorry," was all Ash managed to sheepishly spit out. He looked over to Iris, who was in some sort of shock. She had her eyes wide open, and her face was set in a mixture of what-just-happened, what's-wrong-with-him, and that's-never-happened-before. It was obvious that the way she was just standing there, staring at the empty space where Brock was, she was surprised and feeling large amounts of incredulosity.

"Oh. . . kaayyy? What the heck just happened, at what is wrong with that guy?" Iris slowly queried, still frozen in shock.

"We never knew, did we, guys?" Ash directed at all of his former travel buddies. They all shook their heads. "Even we're still trying to figure it out."

Misty piped up, "Brock wanted to come visit you, and we all thought that we would come, too!"

"Thank you guys, thank you so much!" Ash said with sincerety. "I appreciate you coming to check on me. Everything's going great here! Right, Pikachu?"

"Pikapika!" Pikachu agreed with a huge, warm smile.

"Hey, what's that up there?" asked Max, pointing to a small black dot in the sky a little ways away.