I don't own pokemon- Nintendo or whoever actually owns it do, as if I owned it, the anime and games would be quite different... Oh, and I don't own serebii, bubapedia or any of those sites. Thank you!

And the beginning scene actually, although I feel sorry for Gary in this scene, I thought I needed to get clear what had actually happened, and it just flowed out of me, this one did. I might even start writing a one-shot series or something for the flashbacks at the start of each chapter... What do you think? And thanks to ribby97, who said I did dialogue well, although my English teachers think i'm pathetic at it after a folio one-shot resulting in a psychopathic! Harry fic, which ended quite badly. Meh, I got an A, they cannot complain... Oh, and Swablu is MALE dear readers. XXX

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I WILL LOVE YOU FOR EVER IF YOU DO SO! PINKY PROMISE!

Islets


"Look Gary! Look what I found this morning- hey Gary? What's the matter?" asked a six year old Ash Ketchum.

"Nothing, okay!" Gary Oak snapped back, ducking his head down so that the brunette's spiky hair fell down over his suspiciously red eyes.

"It doesn't look like nothing..." Ash whispered just loud enough for Gary to hear him, taking a small step towards where his best friend was sitting with his arms wrapped round his knees on the green grass.

There was silence for a few moments as Gary continued to stare stonily and silently at the ground, and Ash moved to sit cross-legged and unusually quiet beside to him. After those few moments evolved into a few tense minutes of ringing silence- only broken by the occasional cries of the local pokemon- Gary muttered, almost too low for Ash to hear,

"They left."

"Who left?" Ash asked, his characteristic befuddlement coming to the fore.

"Mom and Dad, they just... left."

"But Gary, why did they just leave? Surely they're coming-"

"No Ash, they're not coming back. They were gone this morning, and Gramps said they were going on a sabbati-something.

"They'll come back- of course they'll come back!" Ash tried to reassure; but to no avail.

"They won't, I know they won't."

"But-"

"But nothing Ash! They left! They left the Pallet and Gramps and Daisy! They left me! I don't care if they never ever come back, I hate them! I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!" Gary's voice was now rising in pitch and anger, his still cherubic, childish face red and flushed in anger.

"Don't say that Gary!" Ash said, shocked at his best friend, "You can't hate them! They're your parents!"

"Yes I can!" he almost shouted, sitting back onto his knees, "They-"

"Yes they left you, but you can't hate them!" Ash replied, his voice too becoming heated now, "I don't hate my Dad, and he's been gone almost a year and he's not written or called us or anything!"

"But...Bu-bu-but they l-l-eft m-me..." Gary began to stutter, and before Ash knew it, Gary was sobbing his heart out on the grass.

"They left me Ash!" and as he began to become hysterical, Ash tried to haul him up several times from his prone position on the grass, until he finally succeeded, and Ash lead the shaking Gary back through the softly waving cotton-grass fields to Pallet Town.


"Blu, swablu blu!" Swablu cheeped at Ash, pecking the town map he held uselessly in his hands.

"What, you think it's that way? It can't be that way Swablu; it's this way!"

"Swablu!" he snapped back at his trainer, privately thinking he wished he could hold the map himself, knowing that he would do a much better job at navigating than his air-headed daydreamer of a trainer. At least Swablu could sort of read a map, while Ash -or as Swablu preferred to call him (at least for the present) fluff head- couldn't tell if the map was the right way up, or if it was the wrong way round. Swablu could swear to Moltres that earlier that day, Ash had had the map open to the pages showing Lavender Town- which was most definitely not the page showing the Viridian Forest!

"Oh fine then, we're lost! I'll admit it! Happy now?" Ash moaned dramatically, and Swablu cheeped in amusement before flapping his cotton wings and flying off down the path, causing Ash to shout and run quickly to catch up.

After an afternoon of walking along a small beaten pokemon track through the forest, both Ash and Swablu were willing to accept that they had gone horribly wrong somewhere, and now that night was falling, and after finally realizing they were nowhere close to either a Poke Centre or Pewter City- or indeed any other form of civilization Ash decided to picket camp in a small clearing by a pleasantly gushing stream. Cooking for the first time over an open fire was an... interesting experience that almost culminated in a forest fire- although Ash did in the end get his noodles without causing a natural disaster- and Swablu only watched on as his trainer failed time and time again to erect the small one man tent. Eventually Ash gave up on the tent after the main support pole broke in half and the canvas ripped, so Ash then just pulled his sleeping bag over to where it would be covered by the leafy tree-top canopy, and exhausted by the day spent wandering lost in the forest, fell asleep almost as soon as he was settled.

Swablu had been stretching his wings after Ash had broken the tent, so returned in surprise at seeing his trainer asleep under a young tree. Cooing softly, he fluttered over to Ash, and wormed his way into the bag till he was warm and tightly cocooned in the sleeping bag as well. And so the trainer and pokemon were asleep for the first time living rough.


It had been almost a week since Ash and Swablu had entered and Viridian Forest, and despite the result of Ash's constant day-dreaming being getting hopelessly lost for five days, they were having a wailord of a time.

"Swablu, use peck on Metapod before it can use harden!" Ash called out. They'd come across yet another Metapod, and after a while Ash had begun training Swablu for the Pewter Gym against the wild Weedle, Kakuna, Caterpie, Metapod, Pidgey and the occasional Pidgeotto.

"POD!" it cried out in pain, it's harden attack failing due to the distracting peck.

"Right, that's good- now use fury attack to finish it off!" Ash said, well used to the way off training his pokemon against the more resistant Metapod.

"Swab!" he cried out as he hit the Metapod broadside, knocking it out quickly. Grinning, Ash called back Swablu to him, and left knowing that the Metapod would recover and awaken sooner if he wasn't there looming over it.

"Well, you've learned fury attack, and you've managed to beat everything we've met so far, so I say we at least try to get to Pewter City by tonight."

"Swab."

"Come on then, don't you want to battle the Gym Leader tomorrow?"

"Blu!"

Laughing, Ash jogged off down the slowly widening path that they were both sure led to the Viridian Forest/Pewter City Gate, and just as they glimpsed the familiar red stone architecture of the Gate-

"Hey you, Pokemon Trainer!"

Ash spun around, Swablu fluttering above his head chirruping protectively in surprise,

"Yes? Who are you?" Ash asked in confusion. The boy he saw in front of him was dressed as a Samurai, but Ash was pretty sure you didn't get samurai his age, or in fact in Kanto at all.

"I? I am the famous Samurai Kid of Viridian Forest!"

Sweat-dropping, Ash replied,

"Well i've never heard of you."

"Well, Mr Clever," growled the boy, clearly incensed by Ash's comment, "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

Looking at Swablu, he shrugged, though was slightly irritated by the boys obvious temper (conveniently ignoring the fact that his temper was much the same), and said,

"Why not, what's the harm?"

"Ha! That's what you think! Prepare to lose!"

"Get ready to battle Swablu- and ready to win!"

"Go Pinsir- crush that baby bird with your pincers!"

And from the pokeball erupted a massive brown bug-like creature with massive grey barbed horns. Interested, Ash pulled his Pokedex off his belt, and scanned it,

"PINSIR. THS FEARSOME POKEMON USES ITS POWERFUL CLAWS TO PUT THE SQUEEZE ON ITS OPPONENTS."

"Okay, right, Pinsir let's get this over with- use vicegrip!

As the Pinsir charged towards Swablu, it's great claws glowing softly, Ash cried out,

"Swablu, dodge and use peck!"

Swablu only needed to soar up a few feet, and Pinsir charged right underneath, almost smacking into a tree. In the time it took for it to recover, Swablu had already come from behind and used peck, causing it more pain as it screeched horribly at the attack.

"Quickly, use sing before it attacks again!"

"Blu!"

"Pinsir, use screech so it can't use sing!"

But Pinsir had only just opened its' barbed mouth before it was sent straight to sleep, and after that, the battle had become one sided, with Swablu easily winning with a few well placed powerful peck attacks.

"Return..." the kid muttered, looking quite put out at his defeat, "Here, take this." and he held out Ash's winnings, which Ash noticed were meagre.

"Thanks for the battle." Ash said as he shoved the notes into his pocket, and had been about to turn round when,

"Hey, Pokemon Trainer!"

Ash mentally growled at the feeling of deja vu- what could he want now? He's already beaten him in a battle, what else did he want?

"My name is Ash you know." he said, irritated at his constant prevention of reaching the Viridian Gate.

"Then Ash, where are you from?"

"Pallet Town... why?"

"It's just I battled three other trainers from Pallet Town this week. I won against the last two, but the first one, the one with the spiky brown hair- now boy was his Squirtle strong! He downed us just like you did, if not even quicker!"

"Gary." Ash muttered. Of course Gary had to be first to get to Pewter, first to pass through the forest, and above all, first to defeat this irritating little samurai boy who thought he was so tough!

"See you!" the boy called, and soon he was gone, back into the bushes where Ash was sure he was setting up another ambush for some poor unsuspecting trainer.

"Honestly..." he muttered darkly, and carried on towards the ever elusive gate.


Finally after a week of travelling, Ash and Swablu were settled in the Viridian City Pokemon Centre. And what a nice feeling it was to not have to cook your own food or sleep under a tree with a dirty great root sticking into your back- or at least, that's what Ash felt as he lay back on his soft feeling bed in the tiny room he'd grabbed for himself and Swablu.

If this was what being a pokemon trainer felt like- the rush of travelling was so different to the steady and sedate pace that was the rhythm of Pallet Town life- Ash decided he liked it, he liked it a lot.

Wandering around Pewter that night was an amazing experience for the small town boy. Ignoring the museum on fossils for now, he gravitated towards the night-time market in the centre of the city, feeling only slightly guilty at Swablu's absence- for the bird pokemon was resting back at the centre for the next days battle .

"Pokemon food, two for one!"

"Souvenirs of Pewter City-"

"Amazing bargain, just five hundred dollars-"

Ash stared in awe at the sheer number of people in such a small area. Growing up in Pallet meant that he -and even Gary to a certain extent- had been shielded from the rest of the world- grown up in a cocoon of safety that only leaving could shed. Even in Viridian City Ash hadn't seen this volume of other humans- young and old, fat and thin, male and female- because he'd arrived late and left early the next morning.

"Well young man, would you like a souvenir of Pewter City?"

Ash spun to see a amazingly tall man with greying dark hair, and a slightly aged tanned face standing behind a makeshift stall piled high with stones and rocks in a multitude of shapes, textures and colours.

"Err, no thank-"

"It's something to mark the stages of your journey by young man... So you can remember your travels forever, even after you settle."

"Fine, how much?"

"Pick the one you like, and i'll tell you." the man replied, irritating Ash with his ambiguity.

Sighing, Ash scanned the rocky display before his eyes snagged upon a pretty enough flat rock that when Ash picked up felt light enough not to be a burden to him. Turning it over, he gasped as it glinted and beamed out rainbows into his brown eyes, almost blinding him with the brilliance.

Laughing, the seller looked down at him, and said,

"Well that here stone was taken out of Cerulean Cave, the other side of Mount Moon. Beautiful, isn't it."

"How much then?" Ash asked, deciding that it wasn't heavy enough to be a burden, and it would be nice to have a souvenir from the place he won his first gym badge.

"Only two hundred dollars for one such as yourself."

"Thanks!" Ash smiled at the stall holder before he melted back into the crowd, fully intending to look around a little more before heading back to the pokemon centre to rest for the battle that was his biggest yet.


So, the next morning, Ash decided the time had come for himself and Swablu to prove to his Mom, Professor Oak and most of all Gary that he was a trainer of regard. He had devised a strategy last night in his box of a room after hearing another challenger complain about his battle. So, he was he ready for this? Yes, he was ready for this, already hanging on the edge of anticipation for the upcoming battle. However...

There stood Ash in the foyer of the Pewter Gym, staring in slight confusion at the teen, who with his dark hair and tan skin appeared to have... no eyes? How was that possible, having no eyes? Did that even work, having no eyes with which to see? Shrugging, deciding it was no business of his if the gym leader was blind or not, Ash shouted out,

"Hello?"

Silence.

"Hello?"

More silence.

"Hello!"

Still more silence.

"Right, i'm Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and I challenge you to a Gym Battle!" he shouted at the top of his lungs in anger.

"You should have just asked then." The teen, who Ash knew was Brock, the Gym Leader said, stepping down from his boulder, and leading the way to a battlefield of rocks without looking back.

So the Gym leader was strange then. Yes, definitely weird, Ash concluded.

"This will be a one on one gym battle between gym leader Brock, and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. Are these conditions acceptable to both parties?" the referee asked, though the answer should be quite obvious- this was the simplest kind of battle after all.

"Yes." both battlers replied, nodding as they spoke.

"Then let the battle commence."

"Onix, I choose you!" And a massive rock snake appeared on the field, causing dust to fall from the ceiling, and the floor to shake as it roared.

"Swablu, come on out!"

"Right, Onix- use rock tomb!

"Swablu dodge quickly!"

Swablu flew up and out of the way of the incoming attack only just in time, and it sailed below him, slamming hard into the battlefield barriers.

"Now, Swablu quickly use sing!"

"Onix get out of range!"

But alas for Onix, it was simply too bulky to get out of range of the beautiful singing that quickly, so soon fell victim to the lulling melody, crashing down to the ground with a huge thud that shook the very walls of the gym.

"Now, start using peck and don't stop unless it wakes up!"

"Blu!"

"Onix! Onix, snap out of it!" Brock was yelling from his line-box on the other side of the field as Swablu started pecking at his pokemon furiously. Finally for Brock, the rock snake pokemon opened one eye, and smashed Swablu away from his using his rough tail.

"Swablu! Are you alright?"

"Blu blu!" he called, shaking himself off and flapping up to midair once more.

"Right , use fury attack as soon as you can get close!"

"Onix, use rock blast!"

Swablu had to dive and wheel around huge chunks of rock that were being fired through the air at him, finally managing to strike after several whirling evasive manoeuvres.

"Onix, use dragonbreath!"

"Get dodging, try and lure him up!"

Brock ordered his pokemon to follow, knowing all to well this had to be a trap, and Onix breathed out more streams of blue fire, before suddenly-

"NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAA"

"What is that?" asked Brock, covering his ears from the screaming noise.

"Your sprinkler system." smirked Ash, laughing at the dumbfounded look Brock gave him, before he turned his gaze back to his pokemon to find his huddled and miserable on the floor, saturated already.

"Finish this quickly with fury attack Swablu!"

And Brock's Onix was downed, after Ash's tactical victory.


"Well, here you are Ash- the Boulder Badge."

"Wow, Swablu- look at this!"

Striking a strange pose, Ash spun and punched the air,

"We've got a Boulder Badge!"

"Swab blu blu!" the pokemon agreed excitedly.

"Just out of interest Ash, how did you know about the sprinkler system?"

"Somebody in the pokemon centre was talking about it last night, said they'd wished they'd used it in their gym battle 'cos it'd have been much easier."

Brock smiled, his 'eyes' crinkling at the corners,

"Well, i'll just have to fix it, Onix didn't stand a chance after that."

"That was the idea!" Ash grinned back happily.

And as Ash was standing outside the Pewter City gym, feeling ecstasy bubbling up in him at his first gym victory, he looked to one of the carved plinths that stood outside the gym's double doors.

"PEWTER GYM

VICTORS

GARY OAK

ASH KETCHUM"

"Damn it!" Ash muttered, kicking the statue while Swablu twittered at him anxiously. "He always gets there first, always! It's not fair, is it Swablu?"

"Blu." Swablu agreed from his place on his shoulder.

"Come on, let's get back to the centre to heal you up. Then we can get moving again- I want to try and catch up with Gary, and we lost a lot of time in that forest!

And the trainer and pokemon dashed or alternatively flapped to the pokemon centre, already eager to travel again.

Review please, I would love you forever and as a result update quicker... is that any incentive? :)

Islets

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