Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon

~Beyond a Reverie: Lost Pieces of Faith

Chapter 1 - Crawling on a Rough Path

Initiate! _ch-*

"I _ _e _."

"_ _n_ _ it _ _e_!"

", h_ _t _..."

"I _l s_ _u _."

"... _ _ TIME!"

"A Reverie it is... a Reality it was."

(Present Day, Kanto Region, August 29, 2058 5:33 PM, Ketchum Residence)

It was a typical summer day in Kanto with a slight autumn breeze whirling around. In a certain place known as Pallet Town, we find a raven-haired boy in his house, sitting on a couch while watching television.

Summer was about to end and it felt like it just started yesterday.

"AND SAWK GOES FOR THE FLANK...EMBOAR IS DOWN!"

The raven-haired teen was currently watching the finals of the Vertress Conference and was really hyped up.

He raised the volume to feel the excitement.

"Ash, can you stop watching for a minute and come to the kitchen? I have something to talk about." A manly voice shouted.

"WHAT WILL BIANCA USE NEXT FOLKS?" The commentator said as the spectators started cheering even louder.

"I am for certain she will use Zebstrika, she's gonna lose if she won't." The raven-haired teen known as Ash guessed.

"Oooh? BIANCA'S GONNA USE... SER-bzzt." The show stopped as the television's screen went black which made Ash's eyes widen.

"FUCK!" Ash swore.

The Kanto-native suddenly became unbelievably pissed. Ash quickly tried to find the plug... and as he did, he raised his head up and gulped.

Ash quickly froze in fear as he saw a boy who resembles him right in front of him holding the plug with a weary face.

"W-wh-what's up big bro," Ash reluctantly muttered.

"What's up?" The boy calmly started with his weary face still on.

The boy's age seemed to be around 18-20 who looked like Ash but with longer and thicker blackish hair covering most of his forehead and his right eye, wearing a rather embarrassing pink apron.

"Well let's say I've been calling you a million times in front of you and you weren't responding, and I thought you promised me that you won't be swearing anytime soon." Ash's brother said sarcastically while Ash covered his ears.

Ash and his older brother argue often, but they get along in certain situations.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry, wow, I thought I went deaf. Well, I don't have time to argue with you Red, I have to get back to the show, what is it?" Ash asked.

Ash's brother known as Red rolled his eyes as he sustained his temper a bit.

"You're lucky your school's staff let you go up to high school despite your poor grades," Red said as he glared at Ash.

"Ye-yeah I already know that, is that it?" Ash asked with fear.

The raven-haired teen never acknowledged studying after reaching middle school. During that time, a series of events changed his life which inverted the way he thinks of the concept of education.

"I am ALSO here to know if you have any idea where you will go to high school?" Red calmly asked.

"I'll go to the Academy of Kalos, the Kalosian Academy in Lumiose City of course," Ash said.

The Kalosian Academy is a great place to spend your high school life. Of course, the facilities, faculty, and even the people are outstanding.

In short, the Kalosian Academy is by far the best place for Ash's high school.

Even though Ash sucked in the past at school, he still wanted to be there only for the great place and not his studies.

Ash was daydreaming about his high school life in the Kalosian University but was cut off when Red said the exceptions.

"Okay, first of all, they'd kick you out in about three weeks once you get there," Red explained.

Ash had a clear idea of why he would get kicked out, but he'll do anything just to stay in the academy.

"Well, I could just study to avoid that right?" Ash asked.

"Second of all, you need to have high grades from your past school to enroll there." Red cleared things up as Ash was in a state of shock.

"Crap... B-bu-but that's my dream school. I can't just go there for high school," Ash muttered.

"Lastly, we don't have enough funds to afford a trip to the Kalos Region. Being an official citizen there is rather complicated you know." Red thoroughly explained as Ash bowed his head down in disappointment.

"So you're here telling me that we have to stay on the crappy school we've been going to for the past 6 years," Ash said as he slowly raised his head.

"Well I wouldn't say it's crappy, but it sucks and I know that." Red admitted.

"Well there's nothing we can do, besides I found a better place for us to spend high school," Red said calmly.

"Huh, where?" Ash wondered.

"Scholae le' Flavo or Scholavo in short is an academy located in one of the islands in a region called Alola. It only supports high school and college." Red exclaimed with an accent that's enough to give anyone cancer.

"Hmm... seems just like an old joe school judging from how you said it." Ash muttered with less interest.

"UNLIKE this trashy school of ours here, Scholavo focuses mainly on molding Pokemon Trainers." Red stated.

"Eeesh, I still don't know. Besides, I don't plan on going to school anymore anyway."

"Hey now... I'm sure it'll be pretty interesting." Red smirked.

"I'll think about it..."

"Nope, now get your ass up and do something more useful." Red hissed.

"I guess, I'd be alone here if I won't go." Ash muttered.

"Another advantage is... well you started school one year advanced Ash. It's good that the system there is late."

"Yeah, I don't feel like being around classmates older than us. We both did start one year advanced, do you have any idea why though?" Ash asked curiously.

"Honestly, I don't know. But I do know that I skipped a year cause I'm too good." Red admitted.

"I am 15 and you're 17. You're supposed to be in your last year of high school right?" Ash asked.

"Yep, well from what my memory can gather, Mom and Dad definitely fucked it up," Red said with a slight irritated tone.

Ash noticed an angry aura around Red as he decided to cool him off a bit.

"Alola huh? Sounds like a pretty interesting region to me," Ash said.

Beaches, fresh air, white sands, a perfect region to spend your vacation.

"It's a vacation place BUT you'll focus on your studies." Red explained emphasizing the word 'but'.

"You too, I know how you get easily carried away." Ash smirked.

"Hmph, I don't need to tell myself that. I am far more responsible than you think." Red exclaimed.

"I don't even know why I still need to study. I am currently as perfect as I could be as a trainer," Ash proudly said.

"Sigh, just please focus on your studies it's for the good of the two of us," Red said as he left the living room.

He was still sitting on the couch processing what Red just told him.

"Ugh, he's just like Mom all over again." Ash complained.

"Nope, I am not like that ignorant woman." Red finished before leaving the living room.

"How do you even read minds anyway?" Ash asked but got no reply.

Ash sighed and miraculously forgot about the show as he was summing up everything his older brother told him.

He always wanted to be a great pokemon trainer like his dad, but going through studies makes the process really boring for him.

"If I want to be a great Pokemon trainer like dad, I'd have to study properly." Ash sadly thought of the reality.

As much as the raven-haired teen hates his parents, he still looked up to his father as his "Pokemon trainer" idol.

"Okay fine I'll focus on studying then," Ash said to himself with a little motivation.

Well, he's ready to go there to study and all, but there's one more thing that was bothering him: When will he leave?

Ash thought of it and stood up from the couch as he started heading to the kitchen for some possible answers.

While he was heading there, there's one thing for sure that a delicious smell was coming from the kitchen.

Ash peeked from the door and it's simple, Red was baking something which made Ash wonder.

The Kanto-born kept his distance and stayed near the doorstep to avoid Red's mind reading. Ash was always anxious that Red might read some of his inappropriate thoughts.

"Desserts? When did he try and bake some?" Ash wondered.

Ash finally cleared his mind and entered the room which caught Red's attention.

"Big bro, why are you baking at a time like this?" Ash asked suspiciously.

"Oh, today isn't regular at all. Have I already told you when we'll leave for Alola?" Red asked.

"Uh no, you haven't," Ash muttered curiously as he grabbed a glass of orange juice and started drinking it.

"We'll leave for Alola and go to Scholavo tomorrow early in the morning," Red said as Ash spit his orange juice which almost caught on Red's embarassing pink apron.

"WHAT, and you just told me that a while ago?" Ash asked with a shocked expression.

Red sweatdropped much to Ash's annoyance.

"Professor Oak told me to let you go to his lab, but be sure you'll be back by seven," Red said.

"Yeah sure, it's been a long time since I saw the professor," Ash said with a bit of excitement.

"Good, go clean up your mess before you go," Red said as he went to the bathroom to wash off the orange juice that had caught on his skin.

Ash quickly grabbed the mop and started mopping on the floor.

"Damn, what's up today. It's like everything's happening so fast." Ash thought.

"It's just I didn't tell you sooner, that's all," Red replied.

"CAN YOU STOP READING MY MIND ALREADY?" Ash lightly screamed.

"Well it's automatic to anyone who's within five meters of range near me," Red blabbed.

He snapped back to reality and finished mopping the mess.

"Ah, Ihavetodosomethingimportantbye!" Red quickly said as he sprinted towards the door.

"Huh? He seems weirder than I thought."

Ash went to his room, grabbed his pants, and started sprinting towards Professor Oak's lab.

Kanto Region, August 29, 2058 7:01 PM, Doorstep of Professor Oak's Lab)

He knocked on the door and a man with black hair, black shorts, and green shirt opened the door and greeted him.

"Hey Tracey, Professor called me here what's up?" Ash asked.

"Good evening Ash, Professor Oak is currently upstairs waiting for you," Tracey said.

"It's really weird having him to call me though. Ash explained.

"Don't worry, this is 11/10 important Ash," Tracey said.

"Yeah, I hope it is. I don't want to know that I've wasted my time climbing that one long of a hell stairs outside."

Ash went upstairs and saw Professor Oak near a weird machine as it took out three pokeballs.

"Ah, Ash perfect timing it's good to see you," Professor Oak said while he took the pokeballs.

"Good to see you too Professor. Now, what did you call me for?" Ash asked.

"Oh you're trip to Alola will be tomorrow right?" Professor Oak asked while Ash nodded.

"Since high school life would be pretty boring and stressful, why not have a partner to help you?" Professor Oak said.

Ash was caught off guard, shocked to know that he'll have his own pokemon.

He did his best to sustain himself from blowing up.

"Yeah that would be a good idea professor," Ash said happily.

"Well you see I have three pokeballs right here," the professor said as he placed all three pokeballs on a table.

"Nice, they're bulbasaur, charmander, and squirtle right?" Ask excitedly asked.

"It's not what it seems, open each of the pokeballs and find out." Professor Oak explained.

"Huh? So it means they're not what I expected." Ash wondered.

"Open all three and choose one of them, fire, grass, or water of course," the Professor said.

Ash released all three pokemon from their pokeballs. The three pokeballs released a flashing light which revealed a sleeping bird, a seal who was clapping its fins, and an aggressive looking cat licking its paws.

"Wow, new pokemon? I don't even know any of them," Ash said in a huge shock.

"Yes Ash, they're from the Alola region you see. The sleeping bird is called Rowlet, that blue seal is Popplio, and that black-red cat is called Litten." The Professor explained.

"Wow, Rowlet's just like me. You know, all lazy and stuff," Ash said as he stared at the sleeping Pokemon.

"Rowlet is like the bulbasaur of the Alola region, while popplios and littens are the squirtles and charmanders respectively." Professor Oak clearly stated.

Ash observed all three pokemon for a little longer and finally made a choice.

"Well, I want to choose Row-"

"I'll take this one then," a teen with spiky brown hair said as he grabbed the still asleep Rowlet on its round head with one hand.

"Gary you asshole, I was supposed to choose Rowlet! What are you even doing here?!" Ash said angrily.

"What? I'm going off to high school too, can't take a partner for myself?" Gary said with a smug smirk.

"Well you see Ash, Gary will be going to Scholavo too just like you. You both with your big brother will be boarding the same flight tomorrow." Professor Oak explained.

"WHAT?!" Ash and Gary shouted in unison.

"When Gary showed me a flyer of Scholavo, Red happens to be there and he blew up."

"Ahh I should've showed gramps the flyer when Red wasn't here." Gary thought with an agitated look.

Soon, Ash almost forgot about why he was arguing with Gary in the first place.

"Give me back Rowlet, I chose him first!" Ash yelled.

"Well, I grabbed him first!" Gary yelled back with a smirk plastering his face.

Gary was Ash's old friend since childhood but turned into a rival after they turned 15.

"There's no point Ash, Gary stubbornness is practically unbeatable. Just choose between Popplio and Litten instead," The Professor said.

Ash finally gave in and looked at Popplio.

Popplio then crawled away from Ash and went to Professor Oak which shocked him as he now had only one option.

"Well, it seems like Popplio likes gramps more than you Ashy-boy." Gary chuckled.

Ash's attention got diverted to the aggressive looking Litten as it started growling at him.

"Hah, bad luck Ashy-boy, it seems like you ain't having any partner." Gary laughed.

The Litten's growling intensified as Ash crept on closer to the cat.

"Hey there Litten, my name's Ash and I want to be your partner!" Ash said with joy while he went on closer to the cat.

Ash tried patting Litten's head but got clawed by its sharp claws on his cheeks instead.

"Well, littens are aggressive but this one is pretty unusual for one," Oak said as he scratched the back of his head.

"You should've told me sooner." Ash looked back at the latter with a look on his face that spells "I'm about to give up".

"Wow, that looks like some nice Z marks on your cheeks Ashy-boy." Gary chuckled.

"Shut up." Ash hissed.

"Do you need some help, Ash?" Professor Oak asked.

"Nope, since I am Litten's partner, it's my responsibility to bond with him without any help from others," Ash proudly said.

(6 hours later)

"Umm, how long will you even do that?" Gary asked with a drowsy face.

"Until Litten accepts me as his partner," Ash replied.

"You better go to sleep boys especially you Ash. You can try again tomorrow." Professor Oak pleaded as his eyes were about to give up on him.

"Fine, maybe I'll have some luck tomorrow," Ash muttered with disappointment.

Ash decided to go back home when he realized how late it was.

"So you just realized that it is 11 PM?" Gary said as he sweatdropped.

"I'll bond with h-he? Or she? later professor," Ash reluctantly said.

"Your Litten's a 'he' Ash, just to clear it up." Professor Oak explained.

"Okay, I'll be needing some rest tomorrow. See you Professor Oak and you Gary Motherfucking Oak," Ash said as he left from the doorstep and waved at them both.

"See you Ashy-boy," Gary shouted.

Ash sprinted back to his house thinking about what will happen between him and Litten.

"You definitely should not make nicknames anymore," the Professor whispered.

"Why?" Gary asked.

"You should let peace go between you and Ash, and stop with the nicknames already." Professor Oak hissed at Gary.

"You get the point." Oak continued as he glared at the teen.

"Hmm, I'll think about it," Gary said as he left to go to his room.

Professor Oak let out a huge sigh before entering back to his lab.

Kanto Region, August 30, 2058 6:59 AM)

It was another peaceful day in the Town of Pallet, pidgeys were chirping and water pokemon jumped in and out of ponds and rivers.

Inside of a certain room, an alarm clock was sitting peacefully on top of a wooden desk as two clock hands were ticking, slowly approaching the 12-mark.

Slowly, a hand suddenly reached out, about to grab the peaceful-looking clock with seconds to spare before reaching its designated point.

Before the hand could grab it and throw it hard on the wall, the alarm clock got burnt to a crisp by a certain fire cat which was now lying peacefully on the ground.

"Wow, I guess Litten and I both predict alarms," Ash muttered.

The alarm clock was burnt to a crisp without even reaching its designated mark.

He had let Litten outside of it's pokeball throughout the night so Litten wouldn't feel alone inside his pokeball.

Litten went back to sleep hoping not to get disturbed again.

Ash fell straight back to sleep completely forgetting the presence of his alarm awhile ago.

Ash found himself in a pitch black room, there was nothing except himself in the room.

It was a moment of silence till he heard an echoing voice.

"Hello Ash... Ketchum it is," A mysterious voice called out.

Apparently, Ash wasn't able to talk which prevented him to reply to the voice.

"I'll be looking forward to good results alright?" The voice chuckled in a deathly tone.

Ash soon woke up panting heavily as he sat down on his bed.

"Ah fuck, a nightmare. Or so I call it I guess." Ash sighed.

He looked at his burnt alarm clock that was already destroyed. Ash needed to know what time it is and checked his watch inside the desk.

"Shit, It's almost 9 AM," Ash said with a shocked expression.

"Ash are you awake already?" Red shouted from the kitchen.

"Coming Red!" Ash shouted back.

Ash went downstairs and headed to the kitchen where he saw Red putting some bread inside a plastic bag.

"So I told you to be back by eight," Red said while sorting the bread and cooking breakfast at the same time.

"Yeah sorry about that Red. Got pretty hooked up trying to bond with Litten." Ash explained but didn't get a reply.

"Alright don't worry, I ate dinner but was about negative sixty-eight degrees in temperature." Ash claimed.

"Good, serves you right." Red chuckled.

"Sigh, and you know what time your flight is?" Red asked, bringing up the real topic.

"No idea."

"Well in about 30 minutes, I suppose you should eat and shower real quick," Red said.

"Oh no, what about Gary?" Ash asked while munching on some bacon Red had served.

"He already left waiting for us at the airport," Red explained.

After another minute or so, Ash finally finished eating and quickly rushed to the bathroom.

In a flash, Ash was done showering then wore his clothes.

"You didn't forget anything else, Ash?" Red shouted from the living room.

"Okay school supplies, extra clothes, money, food, water, what else?" Ash asked himself.

"Ash, I am finished packing our clothes down here," Red shouted.

"Okay big bro," Ash replied back and went on downstairs.

Ash felt like he was missing something, something very important to him.

"Ah, Litten's pokeball." Ash remembered.

He went on to grab the pokeball and triple checked his things once more while he was near the doorstep.

Ash and Red then went near the sidewalk and waited for Professor Oak.

"What's up with the sunglasses?" Ash asked sarcastically.

"It's a tropical region and the place where we will land is near the beach," Red replied.

After they bid their final goodbyes, Professor Oak came with his hired taxi with a few more minutes to spare.

Ash and Red hopped in as they started wondering when they'll be back to their hometown.

Ash was very relieved to know that he avoided a crisis that was made by himself. Though, there was still something that was bothering him a lot.

"The voice, the voice from before. What was it anyway?" Ash thought curiously.

Red saw Ash thinking deeply as if something was wrong.

"Is anything wrong Ash?" Red asked.

Ash snapped back to reality and gave Red a thumbs up.

"Good, we'll be at the airport by 20 minutes. Just in time for your flight with Gary boys." Professor Oak explained.

"Ah, I almost forgot that Gary is coming with us." Ash sighed.

"I do hope you will bond your friendship with Gary like it was back in your childhood." Oak wished.

"As if..." Ash replied as he rolled his eyes.

"Also, stop spacing out too much. You're making people around you worry." The Professor worried.

"Don't worry about it, I think I won't be spacing out again anytime soon," Ash reassured.

It was a solid 15 minute-trip as no one was talking the whole time. They were nearing their destination in silence until Professor Oak spoke up.

"Ash, be honest with me."

"What is it, Red?" Ash asked.

"Why were you spacing out anyway? As your am-aaazing big brother, I have the right to worry this much to you." Red asked back while slightly bragging about himself.

"N-Nothing just didn't get enough sleep last night and all." Ash stuttered.

Red obviously knew it was a lie, but he decided to just play along not to bother Ash that much.

"Idiot, he keeps on forgetting I can read his outer thoughts without my control." Red sighed.

"You okay big bro?" Ash asked but Red looked away and stared at the window.

"No."

To be Continued

Well, a promise is a promise... here ya go

So this is just a story idea I've been wanting to do in a long LONG time. One of the reasons I took too long on the publish is 'cause I've been debating on which ship I am gonna do on this one, and I've got it! BUT... one thing's for sure is Ash's going to school. Don't worry I'll do my best not to make it boring ;) .

Also, this is an AU of mine where education is a bit different from the real life education we know(cuz hey, this is the pokemon world we're talking about).

FUTURE QUESTIONS THAT PEOPLE MIGHT ASK:

So I decided to answer some general questions in advance just to let you know.

1.) Will Ash have aura powers(the stereotypical aura powers)in this fic?

-I'M CALLIN' IT: No, I decided to avoid it cause it's overpopular. Besides, it won't cross paths with the story plot I made anyway. I also don't like Ash being some unbeatable trainer or an OP guy from the very start of the story(you get the point). I want him to slowly develop as time passes by. Although I enjoy reading them, I don't have the liking on writing things like those.

2.) Will Ash carry more than 6 Pokemon?

-I thought about it and I decided to make the capacity stay at 6 only. Other excess Pokemon that the characters will catch will most likely be moved to their PC. But I will completely ignore the system of a Pokemon having only 4 moves just like in the games.

3.) Do I have an UPDATE SCHEDULE? specifically for this fic?

-Nope, not only for this specific fic though, I don't have any update schedule as a whole. I write stories as a hobby tbh, so I only write only when I feel like it...

4.) Palletshipping?

-Nu-uh, I have other plans in mind.

5.) Chapter Two, when?

-Can't predict when but it will come out sooner than waiting for Chapter 1 to be published.

Anyway, this chapter still doesn't reek of the Pokemon vibes but hey, there will be in the future.

(The first part is plot related btw, don't get confused.)

Till then,

~D.M