Chapter 2 is here, check the end of chapter for Author's notes


Ash looked dumbfounded at the small rodent, whose head was still tilted to his side. Recalling some of the lessons he had at Professor Oak's Summer Camp, when he was still living in Pallet, he attentively looked at the rodent.

"It looks a bit like Pikachu, but I recall him being bigger… wait… if I remember correctly Pikachu could evolve from another Pokémon too… so… oh I remember now, it's Pichu, a baby Pokémon."

He then knelt to the ground, trying to not look threatening to the newborn.

"Hi, Pichu, my name is Ash Ketchum."

The newly identified Pokémon then stood still for a few seconds before jumping at Ash's arms, hugging him.

Ash wasn't used to physical contact ever since his mother died, so having someone, even if not human, hugging him felt surprisingly good and he couldn't help but return the hug to the small baby Pokémon. After some minutes Ash once again knelt to the ground.

"I'm going to look around for food and to see if I find Surge's missing item, although I don't have any idea of what it is. Stay here ok?"

The golden colored Pokémon nodded, looking at Ash's eyes.

As he made his way towards the entrance of the cavern, he heard almost unperceptive footsteps, he quickly turned around to see Pichu following him. He quickly scooped up the baby in his arms, placing him once again near the nest.

"I'll go, you stay, okay?"

The Pokémon once again nodded.

Once again hearing footsteps, Ash sighed, turning around and unsurprising facing Pichu, who had a bit of smug expression at his face.

"You don't have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about, right?" he asked, getting a nod from the pokémon. The raven haired youngster then sighed once again.

"I guess you'll be following me then?"

The baby Pokémon shrugged before nodding, causing Ash to smile

"Let's go then."


The duo walked through the forest, the sun shined bright and since they came to tree-less clearing they could see that it was already morning, as he glanced around, he noticed that the shades of the rocks and the few trees were very shorter, so he presumed that it was around midday. He looked around to see Pichu, following him although he was falling behind.

Ash then took an Oran Berry and the canteen of water, and offered them to Pichu, who happily accepted. As the Pokémon finished eating and drinking, Ash glanced at the canteen.

"It's almost empty, it's better if I start looking for water to refill it, dehydration can be a trouble."

He then looked at Pichu, who was sitting on the ground, with a tired expression.

"He's still a newborn, no wonder why he's so tired."

He then scooped Pichu in his arms, before putting him above his head.

"Pichu you're tired, so please rest above my head."

Pichu squealed, happy with the view and the rest place Ash provided.

After some more minutes, Ash finally stopped in his tracks, hearing the sound of running water.

After following the sound for some minutes, Ash finally reached the river, which flowed with crystal clear water, giving the area an air of calmness.

He quickly refilled his canteen and looked around once again, regretting that he didn't have a clock to keep track of time. He, in a wild guess, would say that it was about 3 P.M. but he wasn't sure.

"I don't want to get lost in a forest full of wild pokémon at night, I need to find a shelter, and then use the remaining time to start searching through the forest for Surge's item."

He glanced around, this time he wasn't lucky to be near a cave of sorts, so he decided to walk a little so he could find a better place to settle in. He kept walking sidewards the river, going in the opposite direction of the water flow, as the sun started to fade through the horizon, creating shades from the trees, the weather became quite pleasant, in fact so pleasant that Pichu decided to use Ash's head as a mattress for a nap.

After some minutes a tree formation caught the attention of the youngster from Vermilion. Tall, robust trees grew almost glued to each other, in a peculiar spherical formation, which would cover the area equivalent of a small room. The closeness of the trees would make a natural room of sorts, a perfect place for Ash and Pichu to sleep in, however they were so close that it was impossible to get in. However a particular pair of trees seemed to be a bit more separated than the rest. Ash frowned.

"Now I regret eating that much, things would be much easier if I was thinner."

Ash was by no means fat, but he wasn't a broomstick either. Compared to another ten years old boys, Ash would be considered slight broader than the normal. However if you just regard his eating habits you would be impressed by his sheer appetite. The raven haired boy had an appetite that would rival a Snorlax, but still managed to stay fit.

He then took the sleeping Pichu, and put the Pokémon into the makeshift room with ease. Then using some contortionism he managed to squeeze his way through the room too.

He glanced at the sleeping form of the pokémon, babies had a really heavy sleep.

"It's still a bit early to go sleep, since I still don't have the slightest about how Surge's item looks like I guess I'll scout the area around for a bit."

He was about to leave when he noticed something on the ground, a candy of sorts, enveloped in a blue cover.

"Maybe this is Surge's item? No… he doesn't look like someone who likes sweets. I think I'll give this to Pichu, babies usually like candies." He mused before pocketing the candy and leaving to do some scouting.


"Pichu." the rodent said, using his small paws to poke the sleeping form of Ash Ketchum.

The trainer just shifted around, without waking up.

The pokémon didn't gave up and once again poked the trainer's face, who grumbled a inaudible answer and once again shifted his sleeping position.

After some more minutes without success, Pichu had enough, jumped above Ash and released his most powerful Thundershock attack, effectively waking the youngster.

"AHHHH…WHAT THE HELL?" the boy yelled in surprise as he got up.

He glanced around to see the grinning face of Pichu.

"What was that for?" he demanded

Pichu pointed towards the entry of the grotto, more specifically the sun light that slowly entered the room.

Ash understood the message that the Pokémon was trying to give: he overslept.

"Guess I overslept for bit." He said rubbing the back of his neck, before turning to the rodent. "Great attack by the way." He complimented, causing the pokémon to puff his chest.

Ash then remembered the candy he found yesterday. Taking it out of a pocket in his pant he called the pokémon.

"Pichu?" the creature asked, tilting his head to side, curiously.

"Have this." Ash said, extending the hand with the unwrapped candy, which had a vibrant pink color. "Consider a thank you gift for sticking with me."

As the Pokémon reached for the candy and started to voraciously devour it with a happy expression Ash chuckled, before opting to once again speak again, with a melancholic tone.

"My mother died a month ago… and I thought I was alone. I expected that people would take pity on me… help me. But I discovered that the world waits for nobody, if we don't pick up the pace we're going to be left behind without any second thoughts. So I vowed to live for myself, no more self-pitying, no more weaknesses, I must move forward, only forward."

By this time Pichu had already finished the candy and looked at Ash with an attentive expression.

The boy from Vermilion had no idea if Pichu could understand what he said, he suspected that it didn't understand the words, not all of them at least. But it didn't mattered, he felt like he needed to vent this to someone who cared, and Pichu really cared.

"I'm just 10 years old, and so much shit happened to me already. People at my age should be at school and playing with toys, not braving a forest to have a shot at following his dreams. Yet I'm thankful, I don't know if I will find Surge's item, nor if I will even leave this forest alive. But what matters most is that I entered here as a kid, I'll leave as a man."

The raven haired boy then took the Pokéball that Surge gave him from his pocket, eyeing it intently.

"I always expected to be alone, and I already accepted that as my fate. But then you appeared. You'll always be my first friend. Two years from now. I plan on starting a journey to achieve my dream: become a Pokémon Master."

He then nodded to himself and extended the Pokéball to Pichu.

"I'd be honored if you joined me. I live in Vermilion, it's not pretty, and it's not glamorous. The only thing I can promise you is that we'll stand everything together. It's your decision to make and regardless of it you'll still be my friend. So, Pichu, you want to join me?" Ash asked, extending the Pokéball in his right hand to the pokémon.

Pichu had a determined gaze when he lifted his small paw to touch the center of the Pokéball, being sucked in.

The ball shook three times is Ash's hand, before it stopped, marking the capture. He planned to call Pichu back, but suddenly the Pokéball opened, revealing Pichu.

"What's the matter Pichu?" Ash asked worriedly.

The rodent pointed at the Pokéball then made a disgusted face, crossing his arms in a X.

"I see. You don't like the inside of the Pokéball right?" he asked, getting a nod from the pokémon.

"It's ok. I won't oblige you to stay in it unless it's really necessary." Ash said, before bowing his head. "Hop in."


The duo navigated through the forest with some ease, considering they had acquired experience since they first came there. Ash was amazed by how much he could learn in just two days. In a smart move he decided to scout the area bordering the river first as he would have a relative ease in finding his way back to the grotto.

Using shadows as a way to predict the time, whilst not always completely reliable because the sun could be overshadowed by clouds, was proving to be Ash's most reliable skill. The logic behind it was simple. At midday the sun would be directly above the area, therefore casting no shadow. So by measuring the length of the before mentioned shadows he would have a notion of how closer he was to midday as the shadows shrink and by sunset as the shadows prolonged once again.

Glancing around Ash guessed that it was around 2-3 PM, the sun usually sets at 7, so he still had a lot of exploring to do today. After wandering for a few more minute, the duo came to a halt as they reached a more enclosed part of the forest, the sun hardly came through the numerous trees. Ash then noticed a piece of broken wood in the grass. It was covered by green moss, probably had been there for a long time. He then glanced around at a broken pole that stood a few feet away from where he found the wood.

The piece had a two edged arrow form. The raven haired trainer wannabe quickly concluded that this was a sign of sorts. He quickly used his hands to clean the moss, finally revealing the contents of the sign.

VIRIDIAN CITY - VIRIDIAN FOREST- PEWTER CITY

He then looked at his companion.

"It looks like we're at the Viridian Forest." Ash said while he inwardly scowled, the way from Viridian, or Pewter to Vermilion was long.

He then carefully restored the sign to the pole, using some fallen vines to tie it properly. As he appreciated his handwork he felt a urge to leave his mark, he went to the backward part of the sign and used the knife Surge gave him to carve a message for the eternity.

ASH KETCHUM, FUTURE POKÉMON MASTER AND HIS BEST FRIEND PICHU

THEY'LL KNOW OUR NAMES

VIRIDIAN FOREST

2012/06/21

"What do you think Pichu?" Ash asked, getting an approving nod from the rodent.

"They will know our names… a good phrase indeed." He mused silently

The youngster attention then turned back into a very large tree, standing at approximately 60 feet's (about twenty meters), towering above the other plants, however what really caught Ash's attention was the greenish stone with a yellow thunderbolt pattern at it center.

"A Thunderstone: Surge's lost item."

He then frowned, the Stone was resting at the intersection of the trunk and one of the lowermost stems of the tree. Ash could guess it would take at least four copies of himself, standing one atop of the other, to be able to properly reach the stone, so he guessed that the stem stood around twenty feet (about 6 meters) away from the ground. There was no way he could climb that higher, so he decided that making the stone fall was his best chance of retrieving it. He then saw pebbles, not overly large, nor heavy, but still big enough to hit the stone and heavy enough to cause the stem to shake should it was hit. He wasted no time in throwing the pebbles. He even allowed Pichu to throw it too, the Pokémon could only throw extremely small pebbles and without any hint of precision, but if it made the pokémon feel like contributing, Ash had no objections.

After an hour the duo was still throwing pebbles, Ash managed to hit the stem twice, causing it to shake, but not enough to cause the stone to fall. The boy then took a slightly larger pebble, taking a deep breath before launching it upwards, hoping to hit the Thunderstone. The pebble rose with considerable force.

5 feet.

10 feet.

15 feet.

20 feet.

"Now or never." Ash though, as he saw the pebble lose a bit of the momentum. Then it finally reached the required height, but missing the target by a few inches.

The pebble continued to arise, before finally coming into contact with the foliage at the edge of an upper branch.

Ash sighed, turning to grab another pebble before he heard a screech. A few seconds later a small bird-like pokémon with brown feather landed next to him. He spotted a very angry look, Ash then noticed the callus at the small avian Pokémon head. He gulped before looking at the pokémon eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry about that."

His apologies felt on deaf ears as the bird screeched, flying towards him.

Pichu glanced at the scene amusedly, seeing Ash run from an enraged Spearow was amusing, he wasn't going to let his trainer get hurt, but he could at least enjoy the sight a little. After some more moments the rodent decided to step in. Charging his cheek pouches with electrical energy, he released a Thundershock at the Spearow.

The avian Pokémon immediately glanced at the rodent, and grunted before leaving once again, with an outraged expression.

"That was a close on, thank you Pichu." Ash said before resuming his previous task.

A few minutes later a loud screech interrupted the duo once again. They looked above at the sight of four Spearows, one of which the one whose head was hit the pebble as he still had the callus and the angry expression. However at the center of the group of Spearows stood an large avian pokémon, that vaguely resembled a woodpecker, it had full brown plumes and a large beak that whose color was a tone in between pink and red. Despite not knowing much about pokémon species Ash quickly recognized the larger bird as a Fearow, Spearow's evolution.

"Crap… I assume talking won't get us out of this now. Pichu, please fight by my side." Ash asked getting an approving nod of the rodent.

The Spearows attacked in an unorganized fashion, whilst Fearow stood behind, glancing at Pichu with a threatening gaze.

"Pichu, don't let them run circles around you, use Thundershock to disperse them." Ash commanded

"Piiichuuuu!" the rodent yelled, releasing a electric current, that made the opposing pokémon stop their assault.

"Great work! We need to take down those Spearows one by one. Feint left and fire a Thundershock at the rightmost one."

Pichu dashed forward, before making the feint, aligning himself diagonally with the birds. The rosy cheeks started to charge electricity, as he fired a fully-fledged Thundershock.

The first three Spearow dodged the attack by taking flight, but the final one, surprised by the range of the attack couldn't move quickly enough, being hit by the attack, and fainting instantly.

"Amazing Pichu, now let's divert, get in close and hit two at the same time."

The yellow pokémon did as asked, taking use of the Spearows blind fury to sneak upon their guard and unleash a diverted Thundershock, which knocked out two other Spearows, only leaving the calloused one left.

"Just one more. Wait until it gets closer, then jump above and Thundershock once again."

Steeling his gaze the electric type waited until Spearow was a few feet away, then he leapt above, unleashing a Thundershock targeting the bird under him. The attack knocked the remaining Spearow, but much Ash and Pichu's surprise, Fearow decided to join the fight, charging at Pichu, who still was in airborne.

"Shit. Use Thundershock to repel him."

However Pichu couldn't recharge fast enough, instead being hit by Fearow's Wing Attack and thrown backwards.

"PICHU!" Ash yelled in concern for his friend.

Pichu managed to get up, but was bruised and tired by the large usage of attacks.

"Pichu you can't fight like that. Leave, I'll act as a decoy." Ash said determinedly

The youngster glanced at the Fearow, apparently hitting Pichu physically wasn't his best idea. The contact triggered Pichu's ability : Static, paralyzing Fearow. But even in diminutive speed the large bird was still a threatening presence. He slowly charged towards Pichu, but stopped dead in his tracks as Ash appeared opening his arms.

"You won't get Pichu." He then turned to the small rodent "Go to the grotto, this oversized woodpecker won't have a shit on me."

Pichu, despite his injured state couldn't help but snicker at Ash's remark and Fearow's indignant face. But still he knew Ash could get badly hurt, he wanted to protect his trainer, he wanted to protect his friend. Then he felt it, slowly building from the inside: power.

He then let it take over, glowing with golden colored electricity. He channeled it, before moving in instinct. He got on all fours and charged at the Fearow, then he slammed it hard, sending it colliding against the trunk of the tree, making the Thunderstone fall into the ground. Pichu then felt the recoil, power painfully leaving his body, as he looked at his trainer he couldn't feel any regret, he did what he needed to do.

Ash watched the scene dumbfounded, until Pichu collapsed at the ground.

"PICHU!" he yelled running towards the injured pokémon. Pichu just looked him with a proud look on his face. Ash then took a Oran Berry from his pocked, feeding it to the rodent.

"Eat, this will give you some energy, but I still need to find proper help to you." He said as he watched the pokémon eat. "I know you hate Pokéballs, but I have no choice… please don't hate me." Ash said, taking off Pichu's pokeball.

The rodent just nodded in understanding, before being sucked in by the ball.

The youngster then made his way towards the Fearow, picking up the Thunderstone that was near him. Then he gazed at the bird pokémon, his eyes didn't had the fierce expression from before, now they showed only pure fear. Ash smiled, patting the Pokémon in his head.

"Good battle." He said before taking another Oran Berry from his pouch. He extended it to the pokémon, surprising it greatly.

"Eat, it'll replenish your energy."

Fearow, nodded, eating the berry.

Ash then took all his remaining berries and put them on the ground, in front of Fearow.

"This is all we have. We're sorry for attacking your nest. Consider those berries our apology." Ash said, making his way out of the forest, leaving a very surprised Fearow behind.


In a fast paced walk, Ash quickly left the forest and reached a city, he then gland at a plate near the entrance.

VIRIDIAN CITY: The City of Evergreen

Viridian was a large town center, with a healthy mixture of apartments and houses. Several trees and meadows adorned the city, making it's epithet true. The city was also known as the gateway to the Indigo League, being the closest city.

In different circumstances, Ash would be eager to explore the city. But now his only concern was getting help for Pichu.

"I can't go to the Pokémon Center because I don't have the trainer license. I can go to the PokéMart to buy a potion, but I don't have money…"

"There's no choice then, forgive me mother but it looks like I'll have to steal."

However Ash was stopped by a female voice.

"Ash?"


Ten years old Leaf Green was making her way home after another day at The Pokémon Trainers Prep School. The Trainers Prep School added fundamentals of Pokémon battling to its curriculum in order to prepare its students for their journey when time came. She was certain about going on a journey, but she still didn't know what she was aiming for. She was torn between battling and contests, although she would probably have to leave to Sinnoh or Hoenn should she choose the latter. There were some proposals to bring contest to Kanto but as far she knew it wasn't anything concrete.

Her class best student, Gary Oak, the grandson of the famed Professor Samuel Oak, already declared, in his own words that he "was going to whoop some ass at the Indigo Conference." Damian, another student at the school, also declared his interest on competing at the Indigo Conference too. Most of the girls opted for contests or musicals, an invention from Unova that slowly was reaching Kanto, because it was cute.

Leaf, whilst popular at School didn't had any friends there, her only friend moving to Kalos a few years ago. She was on talking terms with Gary Oak, an impressive feat considering the young Oak smugness.

She credited this because of the days she spent with him at the Professor Oak Summer Camp. She sighed. Leaf enjoyed a lot her experiences at the Summer Camp, she, Gary, Serena and…

"Ash?"


The youngster turned to see a beautiful girls looking at him with a surprised face. The girl has white skin, brown eyes and a long brown hair, which reached the middle of her back. She wears a red miniskirt and a turquoise sleeveless top, truly a pretty girl.

However, Ash didn't paid (that much) attention to the girl's appearance, instead opting to try to remember where he saw this girl before.

The girl apparently caught Ash's confusion.

"Leaf. Leaf Green." She said, hoping to make the boy to remember her.

Ash graced an understanding expression, before once again frowning.

"From Professor Oak's Summer Camp." She said with a exasperated expression, putting her hands on her hips.

Finally it clicked for Ash.

"Oh I remember you. You always hung around that other girl, the blonde one."

"Yes, Serena."

"You're living in Viridian?" Ash asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yes, alongside my mother and uncle and you? Still on Pallet?"

"I wish." He said, causing Leaf to raise an eyebrow. "I'm at Vermilion."

"That's surely a long way from there. Are you visiting someone here?"

"No… Leaf, can I tell you a secret?"

Leaf just nodded.

"Then follow me."

Ash guided Leaf to an empty alley, before taking a Pokéball and releasing the still injured Pichu.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT YOU DID TO HIM?" Leaf yelled, seeing Pichu's injured state.

"Chill out. He's my Pokémon, he got injured when we were attacked by a flock of Spearow at the Viridian Forest."

"But you're just ten, you can't have a Pokémon." Leaf argued.

"I can't but I do. Long story short I found his egg abandoned at a cave, I assumed it would be better if I took him with instead of leaving it alone at a forest."

Leaf's expression softened. "You're right. What you're going to do about his injuries?"

"I was planning to steal a Potion or two from the PokéMart." Ash replied nonchalantly

"WHAT?" Leaf yelled

"I can't take it to the PokéCenter. I won't leave my partner unattended. It was nice seeing you Leaf." Ash replied as he withdrew Pichu and made his way out of the alley.

"WAIT! I won't let you become a thief, let's go to my uncle, he probably has some spare medicine at his home."

The duo then walked to a high class residential area. Ash glanced at the mansions, he wasn't used to that kind of luxury living at the Possum's Hole, Vermilion's most degraded neighborhood.

Much to Ash's surprise Leaf stopped in the adorned gate of a big mansion, with a large yard covered in grass and large Pokémon designed fountains.

"Hey Uncle Scott, it's Leaf."

The gate then opened, allowing Ash and Leaf access.

The main room was gigantesque. The floor was made of mahogany wood, and the red rugs and bookshelves added a bit of a gothic touch to the place. However the man who greeted the duo was anything but gothic. He has a curly brown hair and a well-developed belly. His clothing choice also wasn't very fashionable either. White crocs, white cargo shorts and blue Hawaiian shirt, with white details. He wore sunglasses, making his eyes unseen.

"Is that your boyfriend?" he asked causing, Leaf to blush

"WHAT? NO! Ash's just a friend."

"Is that so?" he said amusedly

Ash however was still absorbed in observing the mansion, so Leaf had to elbow him in the ribs.

"Sorry." He said, before extending his hand to Scott. "I'm Ash Ketchum."

"Scott Wallace, Leaf's uncle. How may I help you?"

Ash wordlessly took Pichu's pokéball, releasing it.

"He's injured, I can't go to the Pokémon Center because I have no Trainer's License, but I can't leave him like that either."

"I understand give me a few minutes, Pichu will be as good as new."

True to its promise Scott came back with a much better looking Pichu.

"Pichu!" the rodent squealed, jumping into Ash's arms, who gladly returned the hug.

"I was so worried buddy, thanks for saving me."

Leaf at first didn't liked how Ash conducted the whole incident, but after witnessing the heartwarming reunion, she felt glad about helping Ash.

"I wonder if I'll have a good relationship with my Pokémon too." She mused

"Ash, I'd like to point an interesting thing." Scott interrupted. "Have you ever heard of Shiny Pokémon?"

"No."

"A Shiny Pokémon is a pokémon that presents a different coloration than the usual for his species. For instance, a Shiny Gyarados, usually blue colored, would instead have red skin. Shiny Pokémon are extremely rare and a much sought asset by Pokémon collectors." Leaf explained

"Cool…But why you're telling me that?"

"Because your Pichu happens to be shiny." Scott, explained, getting a confused look by Ash and Leaf.

"But he has his regular color." Leaf said.

"Actually no." Scott said, getting a book. "Pichu are usually paler than Pikachu and Raichu." He said, opening in a page which showed images of the Pichu evolutionary line.

"Ash's Pichu has the same color as a regular Pikachu. Should him evolve to Pikachu he'll be orange instead of yellow."

"Wow, nice." Ash said

"While being shiny doesn't make a pokémon stronger than another, it surely draws more attention. This can either be good or bad, so thread carefully." Scott advised

"I'll, thanks for the advice. By the way, do you know where the bus terminal is?"

"Where you're going to?" the adult asked

"Vermilion."

"I'll give you a ride. You coming Leaf?"

"I have homework to do."

"No sweat then. Follow me Ash."

Before Ash left he turned to Leaf.

"Thanks for helping me, Leaf I truly owe you one. When we start our journey two years from now let's meet. It' a promise."

The brunette smiled. "It's a promise."


Scott conducted Ash and Pichu to the garage, where a red convertible waited for then.

"Pick your jaw off the ground son." The adult joked at Ash's expression

"Sorry." He said before shifting his glance towards a large mountain, in the horizon.

"Mt. Silver, one of the toughest areas for Pokémon trainers, you must be an elite or have a special permit to go there." Scott explained

As Scott turned on the car Ash turned to the man.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why you're helping me? I mean I understand leaf helping because we were kinda like childhood friends, but you, we barely know each other."

"I'm interested in Pokémon battling and its expansion worldwide. I worked as a scout for the league for some time. People said I could smell talent from miles away. And you, Ash Ketchum of Vermilion City, have the biggest talent reserve I've ever seen." He said surprising Ash

He then turned the car on, and stepped in the gas paddle.

Ash felt like his life was on the line when he fought the flock of Spearow, or when he faced Fearow. Soon enough he found those previous events to be child's play compared to Scott's driving. When he first saw the guy Ash didn't give anything for him, but this changed when he was behind the wheel. Scott is a maniac. The guy's driving was so reckless that it made those The Fast and The Furious actors look like driving school teachers. In a three hour trip to Vermilion Scott almost ran over a old lady, surpassed several speed limits, and used a speed bump as a ramp to jump over another car. Worst of all, HIS CAR HAD NO FREAKING SAFETY BELTS. Scott's driving was so outrageous that Pichu, who hated pokéballs begged Ash to rest inside his.

"We're here." Scott said nonchalantly

Ash never felt more relieved to be back at Vermilion.

"Thanks for the help." He said, diplomatically

"No problem, Ash Ketchum, I look forward seeing you at the Indigo League."

"They'll know my name." Ash said with a confident expression.


Lt. Surge sat at a comfortable chair, while reading a news article about Alolan Pokémon variations, with his faithful Raichu besides him.

He snickered as he saw a picture of Raichu's Alolan Variant.

"Who's the fag that would use something like that?" he asked, getting a approving nod from Raichu.

Suddenly he felt something coming towards him. Using his reflexes from his time at the Air Force, he quickly caught the object, a Thunderstone. As he glanced at the stone, Ash appeared.

"Lost something?"

Surge just smirked.

"It seems you succeeded, let the training begin, and when I'm done you'll wish you were never born."


Meanwhile, in Viridian City, Leaf just finished her homework. She thought back at Ash and Pichu with a smile. She wanted her relationship with her future pokémons to be like Ash and Pichu's.

Leaf then remembered the good times she had at the Pokémon Summer Camp, and decided to contact an old friend.

In another part of the world Serena Yvonne's cellphone just ringed, it was still early so she grumpily looked at the screen.

"Who the hell texts other people at 5 AM?"

Her question was answered as she saw Leaf's name.

Already woken, she opened the chat.

LEAF: HEY GIRL

SERENA : EVER READ ABOUT A THING CALLED TIMEZONE?

LEAF: OOPS MY BAD

SERENA: I'M AWAKE, WHAT DO YOU WANT?

LEAF: YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHO I SAW TODAY

SERENA: IT'S FREAKING FIVE AM, I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO PLAY GUESSING GAMES

LEAF : :(

LEAF: ASH KETCHUM

Now Serena was attentive, she would always remember the kind boy who helped her when she bruised her knee at Oak's Summer Cam. To be honest as of today she still had a crush on the boy, it was silly as it happened three years ago, but at the end of the day she would always look up to him.

She then opened a drawer were she kept Ash's handkerchief. The handkerchief had a sky blue color and due to its sentimental value was one of Serena's most prized possessions.

As she held her phone in one hand and the cellphone in another she smiled, despite being awaken at 5 AM, her day just became a lot better.

SERENA: TELL ME EVERYTHING


Author's Notes: I'm pretty happy about how this chapter turned out, when I started to write this I thought I'd have an hard time getting this over 2K words, but in the end I managed to get it over 6K.

I wanted to do a Q&A as I usually do in my Naruto story but there weren't enough questions so I'll postpone it for now.

Instead I'll use this space to talk about what I'm planning to do in this story.

I want to be as innovative as possible. My writing skills are below average at best and I know this, so the only way to make my stories successful are good, original ideas.

I'll firs talk about pairings. So far this is confirmed to be a AshxMayxSerena fanfiction, with a 99% of chance of adding Dawn. But don't be mistaken, this won't be a harem fanfiction, it's a bit of polyamory in my opinion. My biggest challenge will be to develop relationships between Ash and the girls without making this the run of the mill harem fic.

However Ash may interact romantically with other characters too, going from flings to casual sex. Like I said I want to be innovative and I never saw something like this in a story.

To close up my interpretation on pairings, here's a percentage of some girls chance to being paired with Ash at the final.

May: 100%

Serena: 100%

Dawn: 99%

Misty: 60%

Elesa: 30%

Queen Ilene (M08): 20%

Right now those are the girls I'm considering although this may change in the future.

Next topic is the story itself.

Being innovative will still be my main focus, but I won't diverge that much from the canon. I'll write about Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Kanto once again and Sinnoh. There'll be a mini arc in Unova, and I can add Unova and Kalos should I have a good idea about what to do and there's enough support.

Ash will have several of his original Pokémon, but will caught several others, at this point I decided that he'll have a Persian, a Marowak and a Electabuzz in his Kanto rotation. The Fearow that debuted in this chapter could also join Ash's team.

As I planned the story I decided to not meddle with the timeline of Ash meeting with the girls, so don't expect May to appear until Ash gets into Hoenn. Serena is the exception as I'm not sure about writing abou the Kalos League, instead she'll feature in small scenes like this chapter's last one and will finally meet Ash personally at Sinnoh.

As I felt like the pre-Hoenn story was getting slowpaced and boring I decided that Ash will have a girlfriend to make things more interesting. Next chapter you'll have a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Regarding adapting movies to the story, some are sure to be adapted, whilst others may be more difficult to. Right now I can guarantee M01, M08 and M09.

Finally I want to speak about the idea of mentioning real world locations. I don't want to bring Pokémon to real world, to do that you can jus play Pokémon GO, I want to bring the real world to the Pokémon world as a form of landmarks and minor references. For instance, Vermilion City was based on Yokohama, so when I'm writing about Vermilion I'll probably add something about Yokohama too. (Ash's neighborhood is based at Yokohama's worker district, although it's overly exagerated.) In the future I might have a story arc regarding countries competing at Pokémon tournments.

Finally I'd like to ask you to follow/fav this story and leave a review. I'd like to get more questions so I can do a Q&A next chapter.