Disclaimer: I don't own the Pokemon series.

A/N: Criticisms are fine. Don't like, don't read. I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

Ash = Satoshi

No Pairings

~Chapter 2: Bugs and Birds~

Traveling through the Viridian Forest at an easy pace, they eventually found Caterpie who was caught with a gentle toss of his pokéball.

[Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. Its short feet are tipped with suction pads that enable it to tirelessly climb slopes and walls.]

[Level 5]

[Moves: Tackle, String Shot]

Well, it was something he expected since Caterpies evolve at level 7, but some do hold off on evolving until they were stronger. And that's what he's going to do for his buddy.

He gave a stick to Caterpie who tilted his head in confusion.

"Pie?"

"You want to be stronger right? Caterpies have a move that they can only learn while they are still Caterpie. It's called Bug Bite. Try to pour power into your teeth and bite that stick. You're supposed to naturally learn it when you're stronger, but most Caterpies evolve before they ever learn it. And starting early is never a problem." he explained to the bug Pokémon who was starting to tear up.

Bug Pokémon were naturally disliked by many people, and Caterpies were considered weak Pokémon no one really wanted. To think he would have such a nice trainer...

"Cater-pie!" he will work hard! And he started to furiously bite the stick but...

"Cater... Pie..." his mouth hurts a little...

"Here." Satoshi handed him an Oran Berry and he jumped in joy. "No need to overdo yourself. Just take it slow and steady."

"Pie!"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu tugged on his coat, asking for more training. The Eevee twins were going to outdo him at the rate they were going! And there was no way he was going to be weaker than his juniors!

"Why not practice punching and kicking?" he suggested and the mouse Pokémon nodded. A kicking and punching Pikachu wasn't something seen everyday! And he was going to have an advantage over the twins since they couldn't stand up like he did.

"Pika! Pika! Pikachu!"

The twins stared, their brains working hard to come up with something ingenious. And ingenious they did.

"Ee!"

"Vee!"

They did back kicks like a horse instead and somehow managed to punch the air... Well, more like slap the air.

"Pikachu..." Pikachu made a disbelieving face as he watched them. "Pika..." A burning aura could be seen from him and he started to do Kung Fu like a Master. "PI! PI! PI! KA! CHU!"

"You guys..." Satoshi was going to have a team of overworked Pokémon soon.

xxxxx

"Ee!"

"Vee!"

The Eevee twins made their own version of Double Slap involving the use of their tail and paws. Somehow, they also learned Double Team during the process and were currently beating up wild Pokémon, trying to level up. The wild Pokémon were truly pitiful with slap marks and bites decorating their body. He had them tone down the attacks since the Pokémon they were beating up were innocent and still had things to do.

Good thing their bites haven't turned into the actual Bite attack.

Pikachu also learned Double Team during his furious training, trying to make up a whole lot of random moves that somehow worked... And looked vaguely familiar...

'Do my old Pokémon have a subconscious level of knowing what they used to know?' because Pikachu was also starting to form Electric Ball from his tail without noticing.

"Pie!" he turned to look at their new teammate and was pleasantly surprised when the bug Pokémon proudly presented the attack, Bug Bite. Although it only worked half the time and was still rather weak, he was getting somewhere.

"Good job everyone! Let's take a break before you all overwork yourself." with that said, they all gathered around to begin lunch and Pikachu let loose one last Thunderbolt to relieve the rest of his stress.

"Pika-CHU!"

Thump.

And a bird fell from the sky. It was Pidgeotto, who he was supposed to meet the next morning.

"Pikachu..." He tossed the ball and the knocked-out Pokémon was caught. "Watch where you aim your Thunderbolt next time."

The mouse Pokémon sheepishly rubbed his head.

"Pika." Oops.

xxxxx

Pidgeotto was hunting that day. There was a blue sky, a bright sun, and gentle wind; it was the perfect day for a bird Pokémon like him! But then, he was shocked. Shocked by a random Thunderbolt that charred him to the core.

It was... A very painful experience... He was going to have a word with the electric Pokémon if he ever meets them.

But that was soon pushed to the back of his mind when he appeared in a very familiar scene.

"So, the same dream." he mused, but there was a change this time, much to his shock. The gray and white dream world he was so used to now had more color. A human and a Pikachu that he felt some ire for (even though he had no idea why) and two Pokémon he had never seen before.

Looking at the black hair human, he felt something stir. 'This is my trainer.' his subconscious supplied to him. 'He has finally come back for me.' he cocked his head. Why did he have these odd flashbacks? These little memories that allowed him to get stronger and get away from trainers that wanted to catch him. Whenever he saw them, he always thought: 'They aren't my trainer.' and would get away. But when he came to and saw the trainer in front of him, he could only think: 'At last.' and chirp happily.

xxxxx

Seeing the bird Pokémon, Satoshi felt some guilt. He had never truly kept him promise from back then, even if he had come back for it later, many years have passed and the Orange Islands were old memories. But he was grateful for the birds' loyalty that still acknowledges him as his trainer even when he hadn't kept his promise.

"Pidgeotto, welcome to the family." he told him with a gentle smile while he secretly thought: 'Welcome back, old friend.' and they all enjoyed a wonderful dinner before heading to bed soon as night fell.

xxxxx

The next morning, Pidgeotto was wide awake and introduced to everyone. Pikachu also apologized for the stray Thunderbolt that knocked the bird Pokémon out and with a few ruffled feathers, he was forgiven. Overall, it was a nice way to start a beautiful morning and breakfast was served. To celebrate for the past few days success, Satoshi made large amounts of food from various berries he had collected while they were training.

The Pokémon were impressed. They knew their trainer had the ability to cook, but never this well! They all dove in the pile with much enthusiasm, pecking and pushing each other for some of their favorite stuff.

None of them but Satoshi noticed a tiny blue Pokémon slithering by and chomping down on the food without reserve. Satoshi had gave a small chuckle and opened up his Pokédex to record the Pokémon. A Dratini.

[Dratini, the Dragon Pokémon. Dratini sheds its skin as it grows, often doing so while hidden behind large powerful waterfalls.]

By the time the other Pokémon noticed, it had already eaten its fill, and was prepared to curl up and sleep. Satoshi had to sweat-drop at this action. This was one rare Pokémon that didn't fear being captured and was even prepared to go to sleep! He didn't know if he should call it brave, idiotic, or lazy.

He chose lazy when he saw the sluggish movements when it was confronted by the other Pokémon.

"Why did you eat our food? You're not even Satoshi's Pokémon!" Ee whined.

"I wanted to eat that..." Vee cried.

"Where did you even come from?" Pikachu asked the sleepy Pokémon.

"I've never seen this Pokémon around before." Pidgeotto added in.

"I'm a Dratini." the blue Pokémon introduced herself and turned to the twins. "So, based on you two, I can't eat this if I'm not a Pokémon of 'Satoshi'?"

The twins nodded and Satoshi wondered what was going to happen as he eavesdropped with his aura. He didn't use his aura much besides scanning his surroundings once in a while, or reinforcing his body. He also used it once in a while to fully understand Pokémon, but he usually liked guessing what they were saying. Using aura too much takes the fun out of things. But it was also needed to get some of the fun, and this was one of the chances.

In his thinking, he missed what else was said and watched as the Pokémon slithered over. He waited, wondering what the tiny Pokémon was going to do. And what it did shocked everyone in the clearing. It pressed the button of one of his spare pokéballs and caught itself... And released itself once it was successfully caught.

"So now I'm a Pokémon of his. Good night." and it went back into the pokéball to sleep even though it was clearly morning...

What a lazy and odd Pokémon.

"Pika?" Satoshi didn't need aura to know what was said.

'What just happened?'

xxxxx

With that out of the way, Satoshi started to give some instructions to his Pokémon and let them have an all out battle between themselves without his interfering. This will increase their judgment of the situation and let their natural abilities grow.

"First, dodge attacks. If you can't, move yourself in a way that will lessen the damage done to you. Second, don't always use your eyes to see attacks. Some attacks can't be seen, and you can only wait patiently or try to guess. This is a good way to try your battle experience, and your sixth sense. Third, improvise. You can use attacks, but you can try to use them in different ways or combine different attacks. If you can't attack or defend, make a way for yourself. Use everything to your own advantage." he finished. That was the super short version for their battle for now, and with them all fired up, he started the countdown.

"Start!" and they all went to different places to begin their planning. Pidgeotto flew high in the sky. Caterpie went up a tree and the twins and Pikachu were both on the ground, waiting for a chance.

The first one to launch and attack was surprisingly Caterpie. The tiny bug Pokémon had used his String Shot to weave what looked like a net surrounding his area. The battle continued on this way with Caterpie reminding him of a spider as he caught the others one by one and using Bug Bite on them. He could had won if he hadn't forgotten about Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

A clear victory could not be decided though, since just as they were going to finish up, a familiar shriek echoed.

~Side Story 1: Pikachu~

Before Pikachu met Satoshi, he used to have this very odd dream. But it was a good dream, full of happy moments that he could never fully remember when he woke up.

He would always be playing with many Pokémon and talking to many people, but they were always shadowed, and their words and appearance blurred. It was like a black and white world where only he, was colored.

But when he met Satoshi, the dream changed. Pikachu had watched in fascination as one of the shadows gained colors and they all continued to play. The shadow was Satoshi and it never felt odd to Pikachu that it was him in the dream, but it did when he was out of it.

'I don't get it...' Pikachu stared at his trainer oddly the next morning as he scratched his head in confusion, the twins mimicking him.

Another dream later, there was another change. Two bright lights shown from the sky and two others were formed instead of the shadows coloring in. They were the Eevee twins who were looking around in confusion, but soon join in on the fun.

'Why did they appear differently? Does the shadows mean something specific?' The Eevee twins appeared after he got to know them better, but Satoshi appeared immediately. If he stared hard enough, he could barely make out the specific Pokémon. Charizard, Butterfree, and a Squirtle...? There were many others of all sizes, some flying, some sleeping and others, playing.

'Oh well.' and the dream would continue to change as he met more and more people and Pokémon, and traveled to many new places.