Anima: Hi guys and welcome to the 2nd chapter of 'Rise from the ashes'. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and like my story so far. Before we start the story I have a few messages for you all.

First, I have favorites already? Wow, I literally just put it up and within a few hours, people have already read and liked it. Thank you guys so much for that. I honestly didn't think that many people would like this story. So thank you. Here's a much longer chapter to celebrate.

Second, thank you to the people that reviewed. Your comments are both very helpful, considerate and motivating. Hope you like the rest of the story.

Thirdly, to Shadowjab17, I am not dumping aura into Ashlyn's skillset because Red has a Lucario. The original Ash was shown to have the ability to use aura in the 8th Pokemon movie, which I actually decided to watch a long time ago because Lucario is one of my favorite Pokemon. Ash already had aura, so I just decided to add a backstory for that, which will be revealed later.

And about Red, Ash doesn't know he's the champion. She knows of Red, but only knows that he has a Charizard and he wears a red and white t-shirt (saw clip of Red in Alola). Besides, not only does this Red look different but he has very different Pokemon. And come on, how big of a coincidence would it be if the future champion was the daughter of the current one? Not to mention, the Red she thinks she knows is serious and silent, while her new dad is a total goofball, kinda like the original Ash. She doesn't believe that her dad in this world would be that important as the father of the original Ash was a failure that abandoned his family. She hasn't put the pieces together yet, and it will be a while before she does.

Also, I have seen a few random episodes from the anime, but I can't remember them that well. The rest of the info I have on Pokemon is from the manga, games, and movies. I also live with a little brother that does watch the anime, and he often tells me about some stuff. I also watch youtube and, as long as the videos are good, I have watched Pokemon theories and while I don't know what the characters are saying, I have seen Pokemon music videos, in fact, I compiled a playlist of Pokemon music I thought was cool on Youtube.

Besides, the original Ash already had a lot of luck, I mean, he got almost all of the starters from every region because of luck and is apparently? Some chosen one. I think. Read that somewhere but can't remember where. Lastly, I haven't actually written Ash's reaction… you're getting that this chapter. (smiles)

Fourthly and finally, I am currently doing my A-levels, so in the future, it may take a while for me to post new chapters for the story, but I will try my best.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokemon franchise, but I do own the new and improved Ash Ketchum that stars in this story.

So anyway, on to the story.

Pokemon communicating in English without actually speaking (not Meowth): *…*

(I noticed that the previous signs I wrote didn't show up, so here are some new ones for) Pokemon speaking: /…/

Normal human speaking (Meowth): "…"

A person or Pokemon thinking: '…'

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Ash was confused. She was also terrified and attempting to deny everything that had happened. The keyword here is Attempting. Attempting to deny was, however, thoroughly not possible because of the impossibility right in front of her that didn't allow her to deny the situation she was in.

She didn't know how she ended up in this position. She was a baby. A BABY! HOW? She remembered going to school, coming home, rinse, repeat, her usual routine… but trying to remember after that was like getting water from a stone. IMPOSSIBLE. She didn't-couldn't remember how she ended up like this. Her memories before her ending up in this place were as blank as a white sheet of paper.

Did she die? If she did, then how? Oh god, what about her family? Were they alright? What happened to them? She… she didn't know. It was so confusing. Though, while she was upset at being a baby, that actually wasn't the biggest reason for her panic, we'll get to that later.

Anyways, while she didn't remember how, she remembered ending up in some warm and dark place. She tried to move and realized that she couldn't. She was trapped. She didn't know where she was. She was submerged, she had to get out, she had to-… wait… what was that?

She had paused in her attempted breakout from her prison, where she basically just kept kicking the walls, to hear muffled yelling. Then she felt a certain place on her prison warm up. In response, she angrily kicked against the spot. More yelling. If she listened very closely and strained her ears she could make out some of the words.

"Oh, … , they kick hard. Are you … need to see a doctor? THE HOSPITAL?"

"Calm down Red. … fine. I've felt them … longer than you've felt them. … you've felt the baby kick, do … baby kick?"

"NAPE"

"CAR"

"SAUR"

"FREE"

"PUNNY"

"FLOAT"

"ZAM"

"PIDGE"

"SOL"

"DOS"

"CROAK"

"ROSE"

So much NOISE! The yells, growling, and roars, even muffled, hurt her ears. Then she could feel warmth and pressure surrounding her and coming from the walls. Scared, she kept kicking. The noises changed, but she didn't care. She just wanted them to go away. If whoever put her here, wherever here is, is going to keep her prisoner, the least they can do is buzz off and leave her alone. She decided to shut out the noise and ignore everything. Just stay still and sleep. It worked… for a while.

The next thing she knew, was the water around her draining and her, then being squished and squeezed. Oh god, it wasn't painful per say, but it was weird and disorienting. What the hell was going on? All of a sudden, bright white light shone from everywhere and, too used to being in the dark, she shut her eyes and tried to adjust to the sudden brightness and well as the piercing cold that made her wail in shock… wait… wail?

Suddenly, she was grabbed by GIANT hands. Someone then fucking slapped her ass. The shock of the action, the situation she was in, the fact that the world was blurry, all of these caused her to start screaming and crying at the top of her lungs.

She tried to get away from whoever the hell was holding her but the giants had wrapped her tightly in blankets; there was nothing she could do.

She then heard the person holding her say "Congratulations. It's a beautiful baby girl.", while they moved her into someone else's hold. The shock made her quiet down. Baby girl? They… couldn't be talking about her, could they? I mean, it would explain why the people holding her were so large compared to her…no, it was impossible. She couldn't be a ba-

BAM

She let out a small and startled cry at the sound of a door slamming as someone yelled "Delia!". The arms holding her shifted as she could hear the person that yelled, repeat the name he previously said, only this time he was much, much, quieter.

After a short while, the girl could feel movement over her head, as the person holding her shifted their position and she could then hear someone near the bed stumble. Probably the guy that yelled. She then heard the person holding her laugh, a woman, before saying to the man that rudely barged in the room and stumbled "Red, this is your daughter Ashlyn". Her heart practically stops. Daughter?

She could feel herself being handed over to the man and her face scrunched up as she thought, long and hard, on her situation. No denying it (despite how much she wanted to). She had just been born (ew) which meant that somehow she must've died in her previous life. Maybe the memory block was due to the trauma that could occur from dying. She didn't know, this was her first time being fucking REBORN.

She was now a baby and the man holding her must be her new father. Which meant that the woman he was passing her back to was her new mother. Alright, fine, the girl accepted, she had been reborn and was now the daughter of two people named Delia and Red. She could handle this… but why were those names so familiar?

Her father asked her mother about her new name. Ashlyn huh? Not a bad name. In fact, she liked it. Though as soon as she could talk she would definitely ask her parents if she could shorten her new name to just Ash. Her mum decided to elaborate on her choice of name. "Ashlyn Elizabeth Ketchum, to be precise. You did say if we had a boy you wanted to name him Ash and you know how I wanted to name a girl Elizabeth. Well, I figured that a mix of our name choices would fit this" Ash felt her self being lifted "little one more. Besides, we can use the name Ash as a nickname for her" Hey, what do you know? Mum had the same idea as her. Thanks, mum. Great minds think alike. But Ketchum? That's a bit of an odd last name. Wasn't that the name of the guy from Pokemon? Were her new parents Pokemon fans or something?

She heard her dad muse over her name and then felt weight press down on her as he exclaimed that he loved it. Ash let out a wail of protest over being squished. Honestly, her dad seemed like a nice guy, but it looked like he could use a bit more common sense. But, Ash was curious. What did her new family look like? She started to try and open her eyes but quickly closed them when an extra bright light shone out.

Ash heard a loud and new voice question *Where's the baby?*.

"Hello Lucario." Her mother said and Ash's thought process stopped. Then everything sped up. She didn't pay any more attention to what the adults were talking about. Red, Delia Ketchum, Lucario, Ash Ketchum. Those names were from Pokemon. She couldn't be in Pokemon. That wasn't possible. This was real life. Not a crazy fanfiction story. She just couldn't be. But… she had to make sure.

As she felt herself being lifted out of her mother's arms, she concentrated on opening her eyes. As the person holding her began telling her how cute she was and how they couldn't wait for her to get older, she concentrated on letting her eyes adjust to the light so she could see.

And when the colorful blobs became clear, Ash practically felt her heart stop. Not only did the world look animated, despite the normal setting of a hospital room, but the one holding and grinning at her was a real life, bonafide Lucario.

As her mother laughed, her father panicked, and Lucario yelled, Ash realized who exactly she was. Ashlyn Ketchum. She had been reborn as a genderbent version of the fucking Pokemon anime protagonist. She might not have seen much of the anime before being reborn but she read stories and watched Game Theory on Youtube. She knew the basics. Life endangerment due to multiple world-threatening dangers that Ash had to stop and multiple run-ins with various criminal organizations. Upon that dreaded realization, Ash did the only thing she could do at that moment. She took a deep breath in and began bawling at the top of her lungs.

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It had been about a week since coming back from the hospital, and Ash was still panicking over being reborn into Pokemon. God, was she being punished for something? She was trapped as a baby, in a new world, where the equivalent of animals had powers and there were around a dozen different criminal organizations. While she didn't cry much anymore due to it being tiring and leaving her throat sore and eyes hurting, (not counting when she was hungry or needed to be changed) she internally freaked out over the future, her future.

She was the main character. THE main character. Sure, it could be worse, I mean, she could've been reborn as a female Monkey D. Luffy, Uzumaki Naruto or Eren frickin Jaegar. Compared to the problems that those characters went through on a daily basis starting from the day they were born, her new role would be a walk in the park. Still didn't mean she wasn't concerned over what was going to happen in the future though.

She knew next to nothing about the anime. She only knew the first part of Ash's journey up to the big ship, St. Anne or something, and a few minor details of some of the Pokemon movies. The only thing she was absolutely certain about was the movies 'Lucario and the mystery of Mew' and the movie with the Latios and Latias brother and sister. She definitely was going to save Lucario and Latios though, she cried so much when they died. That's still over 11 years away though so plenty of time to plan. Mwahahahaha. Cough. Sorry, mad genius moment.

Wait, back up. Shit, what the hell was she thinking? She wasn't Ash. The original anyway. She had issues, self-confidence problems and couldn't talk to other people to save her life. How the hell was she supposed to be the loud, social butterfly that was Ash? Not to mention, she didn't have to go on a journey… though it would be pretty cool to-Gah, no, stop. Various world-threatening dangers were out there, they only got solved after a crap ton of damage and when… Ash… did something… Fuck, she was going to have to go so people wouldn't die, wasn't she? If Ash hadn't been there things would have ended badly. She had to go so people wouldn't get hurt. She couldn't just sit back and let people die if she could change it… didn't mean she had to like it though.

"Hello there princess." Ash perked up and looked at the entrance of the nursery that her new dad had just walked through, and wasn't that a shock. She thought that Ash's dad left on a journey to be a failure of a Pokemon trainer. That's what Matpat said on Game Theory anyways. Maybe it just hadn't happened yet? But then how the fuck did he have a Lucario with him In the hospital? Not to mention, his name was Red. Wasn't that the name of the champion? It said so on the Pokemon timeline video she watched. Why did her new dad have the name of a champion? There's no way that Ash's dad was a champion, that would be way too convenient. Sigh, so many questions and not enough answers. It would be a godsend when she would actually be able to talk.

Red strode over to where she lay in her crib, leaned down, heaved Ash up and swung her onto his hip. "You're going to meet the rest of the family today." He grinned and as they walked out of the nursery, through the hall, down the steps, through another hall (Jesus, this house was big. She thought that Ash's family lived in a small house.) and to a door, Ash assumed, led to the back of the house as she wondered what her father was talking about.

Ash wasn't left wondering for long. As the two exited the house, Ash briefly admired the sunshine and the lovely scenery (trees, grass, flowers, that sort of thing) before freezing, as she stared numbly at the sight in front of her. If it weren't for the fact that her dad was grinning without a care and that she was held securely in his arms, Ash probably would have pissed herself from the sheer terror that she felt.

Sure, the Lucario, Infernape, Floatzel, Shiny Lopunny (How the heck did her parents have a shiny? And weren't these Pokemon from Sinnoh?), Toxicroak, Roserade, Butterfree even Absol, she was fine with. The giant Venusaur, Pidgeot, and Alakazam she was less so, but still okay with. The GIANT FUCKING GYARADOS BIGGER THAN THE SECOND STORY HOUSE THEY LIVED IN WAS NOT SOMETHING SHE WAS ALRIGHT WITH! WHAT THE FUCK DAD? JESUS THAT THING COULD EAT THEM BOTH IN ONE BITE! AAAAARGHHH!

While Ash secretly hyperventilated inside of her mind, (because a baby actually hyperventilating is weird and she doesn't want to come off as a weird baby to her new family) Red, nice but a complete idiot when it comes to childcare, mistook her silent and blank stare, as well as tight grip on his shirt, for excitement and so, moved closer to all of the Pokemon that, while cool looking, could be very dangerous and should not be meeting a one week old baby. Jesus Red, what is wrong with you?

Ahem, anyways, moving on. As Red walked over to the Pocket monsters, that do not actually fit in anyone's pocket, he kept a tight but gentle grip on the silent baby girl that was Ash. "Hey, guys." Red greeted the Pokemon as he came to a stop in front of them. The Pokemon all yelled out in greeting, and unnoticed, Ash flinched at the noise.

"Ashlyn" Red stated gently to his daughter as he shifted her to see the Pokemon better "These are mine and your mother's Pokemon." Ash snapped out of her panic at hearing some of the Pokemon were Delia's. How? Ash thought Delia's only Pokemon was a Mr. Mime. How could her mum have so many Pokemon, how did she catch them, and which Pokemon were actually hers?

Red continued. "Ashlyn, this is my team. Lucario" Red pointed to said Pokemon, who gave an energetic wave in response. "Infernape" Who nodded at the pair when they were called. "Floatzel" Who crossed his arms and grinned toothily at them. "Lopunny" Who jumped and waved. "Toxicroak" Who gave a lazy salute. "And Roserade." Who did a very elegant curtsy? Ash peeked out at the Pokemon but kept a tight grip on her father's shirt, her real attention was on the remaining Pokemon who were somehow her mother's.

"And this" Red gestured to the remaining Pokemon. "is your mother's team. Venusaur" Who waved a vine. "Pidgeot" Who raised a wing. "Butterfree" Who performed a mid-air twirl. "Alakazam" Who nodded at the father and daughter duo. "Absol" Who bowed to the two. "And last but not least" Red grinned widely "I present to you, GYARADOS" Who let out a giant and earthshaking roar before dipping down to bring his face closer to his trainer's mate and their child. Of course, Ash, who was terrified of Gyarados before when he was a safe distance away, was left shaking in fear after his roar. But when he brought his face down to inspect them. Ash. Completely. Lost it.

She let out an absolutely terrified wail, then burst into tears, that made her face start to turn red and splotchy. Meanwhile, a panicked Red, who held Ash out at arm's length, frantically looked around to somehow get an idea of how to calm her down, and all of the Pokemon started moving towards the two trying to help. However, this just caused Ash to howl even louder.

Ash was terrified. Not only was Ash a baby, which slightly affected how she reacted, but the terror she felt at the sight of Gyarados looming over her caused her to panic and lose all rationality. Besides, the father of original Ash abandoned him and Delia. Who's to say this version of Ash's dad wouldn't feed her to the Gyarados. He abandoned his wife and child, why wouldn't he get rid of an annoying brat that shouldn't have even been born. God she was going to die.

After a while of hearing her constant crying, Ash started to calm down with the realization that she was still alive, though she was left hiccuping. She then realized that the person holding her wasn't her father, but instead, her mother. Her mother, who, as she held Ash securely in one arm, leveled a frying pan at the cowering Pokemon in front of her. As well as them was the irresponsible husband that seemed to be nursing a bump on his head. Ash startled when she noticed that her mother had apparently been talking for a while.

"-should be ashamed Red. Ashlyn is just a baby. As excited as we all were for Ash to meet our Pokemon, you should have waited. Honestly, she must've been terrified out of her wits-" Ash stared, occasionally hiccuping, as she watched her mother chew out her own husband before turning to the Pokemon.

"And you all." The twelve shrank under her stern glare. "I know you were excited to meet Ash, but you shouldn't have crowded her and you definitely shouldn't have been so loud-" Ash gazed at Delia, in awe and slightly terrified because holy shit, Delia was a total mama Ursaring. The Delia from the original wasn't like this at all. At least, Ash thought she wasn't.

The sight of Delia, reaming out the thirteen different beings of various sizes before her, that could easily overpower and hurt the enraged woman, started to become less odd and more funny for Ash. After all, it wasn't every day that you saw an angry woman wielding a frying pan against a bunch of scared Pokemon and a tearfully apologizing man.

Ash brought her hands to her mouth to try and stifle the giggles that were beginning to pour out. But alas, the laughs leaked through the gaps, and the fourteen sentient beings there, not including little Ash, turned to gape at the young girl, before their expressions changed to wide grins and smiles of relief.

"Honestly." Delia sighed, but the grin tugging on the corners of her lips betrayed her true feelings. Ash slapped her hands together clumsily, uttered unintelligible babble and made grabby hands at the Pokemon. She wasn't so scared of them anymore now. After all, if they did anything bad to her, her new mama Delia, the honourary Ursaring, would whip them into shape.

As Delia slowly brought Ash over to the Pokemon, who stayed much quieter than they were earlier in order not to upset Ash or Delia, and Red, who grinned proudly at his little girl overcoming her fear of the Pokemon she had been so scared of just minutes ago, Ash thought to herself that, yes, she didn't like being Ash. But things were different now because, obviously, this Pokemon world wasn't the world of the original Pokemon protagonist.

Here, Delia was a mama Ursaring with her own Pokemon team so she would be able to help and guide Ash on her future journey, here her father seemed to be a successful trainer, with some very strong Pokemon, so that meant that he most likely wouldn't abandon her and her mother to be a failure of a Pokemon trainer and here there was no young boy named Ash Ketchum. Here, was the baby girl, Ashlyn Ketchum.

It was at that moment, that Ash began to see this new world, not as a prison, but as a second chance. She wouldn't forget her past life, but she obviously couldn't go back to it and it seemed that she had a very caring new family here with her.

It was at that moment, that Ash began to see this new world as a home, and as such, started to plan her future. After all, as Ash, she had a certain role to play. But unlike the other Ash, she would be more than prepared to take on the future challenges in her way. Legendaries and Team Rocket? Bring it on. She was going to prepare herself in order to take the world by storm and, of course, win the various Pokemon leagues that the original couldn't.

So, as Ash was surrounded by her new family, and was passed around to see everything new (Her parent's Pokemon and the scenery), she let out a beaming and gummy smile. Look out future, because Ashlyn Elizabeth Ketchum was going to be prepared enough to rock this entire world. And that was a promise. Believe it.

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Anima: Woo, end of chapter 2. And sorry, but I couldn't resist using Naruto's catchphrase due to the reference made earlier in this chapter and a review that Shadowjam17 left.

So anyway, this story has been posted on both and ArchiveOfOurOwn. Just in case you people prefer to read stuff on a different site than what you found it on, though personally I much prefer using to upload my stories. It's much easier for me.

Sooooooo, in the story, you know, when Ash was panicking after meeting Gyarados and said the whole thing about not being born. I'll be blunt. I have slight depression and self-confidence issues. In this story, in the beginning, Ash will have some confidence issues. She has been reborn as the hero of the story and she doesn't believe she can do a good job at that role as she is. Before her realization, Ash feels that she took the place of the original and shouldn't be there. Of course, after her observations, she decides that she is essentially now Ash and takes up his role.

To explain the role bit, Ash wanted to be an actress before she died. She was also good at creating good stories and coming up with convincing lies when they are needed in a bad situation. So, upon realizing that she is the Ash of this world, she essentially takes upon the role of Ash and will be trying to act like him so as to try and make up for replacing him.

Of course, she won't be exactly like Ash as she is still her own person, and she won't be an immature kid that is obsessed with battling and catching Pokemon, that also never gets older. There is also the fact that she hasn't watched the anime, so doesn't really care if she makes any changes to the world, as she wouldn't even recognize the changes. She is essentially going in blind and her attitude is supposed to reflect that.

So also, this Pokemon world is going to be a mix of all of the Pokemon franchises. The anime, movies, manga, and games, are all going to be incorporated into the story, so keep an eye out for what franchise certain parts of the story are from as you enjoy reading.

Anyways, thanks for reading guys, and I'll talk to you all, in the next chapter.