It was a quiet morning in Pallet Town. Birds singing, breezes blowing...battles brewing. At the center of town a battle was going on between two highly experienced trainers.

"Pikachu! Iron Tail!" A boy about 17 years old in his Sinnoh attire called to his electric mouse pokemon, Pikachu. Pikachu's zigzag shaped tail glowed white and he began charging toward his opponent, the rat/cat pokemon, Raticate. Ash had battled and beaten almost every town local in Pallet. Ash's opponent was a 15 year old girl who had on a white winter hat with long blonde hair going down her back. She had blue eyes and a black and white striped short sleeved shirt and wearing a pink scarf around her neck. She wore blue baggy jeans with a pink belt which had a heart shaped buckle. She was the only other undefeated person in town and the only one Ash hasn't battled yet. The two trainers were down to their last pokemon.

"Raticate! Try another Hyper Beam!" The girl yelled.

"Piiiiiii..." Pikachu charged at Raticate with great speed.

"Raticate!" Raticate began charging an orb of golden energy for a Hyper Beam. Once it was complete, Raticate reared his head back and launched the beam.

"Pikachu dodge it now!" Ash called to Pikachu.

"Pika!" Pikachu leaned back and used his tail to spring high into the air, sailing over Hyper Beam. He tucked his head in and began to do an aerial forward roll towards Raticate, tail still glowing.

"Raticate! Get outta there quick!" She yelled, desparately, but no matter how hard she tried, Raticate wouldn't listen. He just stood there, catching his breath. Previously in the match, Raticate had used two Hyper Beams, and three was too much. Raticate stood there, blankly catching his breath...that is, until WHAM! Pikachu connected with an Iron Tail to the head.

"Raaaatti...caaaaate..." Raticate fell to the ground with a dull thud, eyes closed tight.

Professor Oak was reffing on the sidelines. "Alexis' Raticate is unable to battle! The winner is Ash Ketchum!" He declared, and the onlookers of the match cheered.

"Pikachu.." (Man that was a bit hairy...) Pikachu said and gave a weak smile as Ash picked him up and placed him on his shoulder.

"Good job, Pikachu. You did great." Said Ash as Alexis returned Raticate to his pokeball and walked over to Ash.

"That was an awesome battle, Ash. Let's do it again sometime, K?"

"Sure Thing." Ash smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"And next time, I won't lose. See ya around!" Alexis winked at ash and walked home.

Professor Oak walked over to Ash to congratulate him on his win over Alexis. "Great job, Ash." He started. "You've improved since your return from Sinnoh."

"Yep! I sure have! But ya know what, professor?" Ash inquired.

"What is it, Ash?"

"Well ya see, the battles i've had, except for with Alexis were kinda..boring, ya know? I want a challenge..."

"Well, Ash, I have heard news about a battle tournament coming soon."

Ash's eyes brightened. "Really?! No way!"

Professor Oak didn't look as cheery. "I'm afraid you need an invitation to go, Ash."

"I haven't gotten any invitations to anything recently..." Ash was feeling a little upset now.

"Don't worry, Ash with your battling skill, I'm sure you'll get yours soon enough. I had better get back to the lab, the pokemon must be starving!"

"Yeah I think I'll head home too. See ya professor!" Ash took off running toward his home, Pikachu clinging to his shoulder.

--

At the Ketchum residence, Ash's mom, Delia was tending to her garden with her Mr. Mime, Mimey. She looked up and saw a speeding speck in the sky; its target, the house, and it wasn't slowing down.

"Mimey? What is that?" She had questioned, in a panic.

Mimey looked up and shouted. "Mime Mime!!" (It's Dragonite!!)

"Quick! Use Protect!" Delia shouted.

Mr. Mime created a shield around the house to protect the garden from the wind uprooting the flowers and dust the sonicboom would kick up. Dragonite, amazingly enough managed to land on his feet on a dime, right in front of the house.

"Mime mime mime..." (That was close...) Mimey gave a sigh of relief and dissipated the shield.

As soon as he landed, Dragonite handed Delia the mail, got a running start, and took off.

"Mime mime mime..." (Someone oughta teach him some manners...) Mimey declared.

Delia sifted through the letters and found a rather odd one addressed to:

Pallet Town

To Ash Ketchum

"That's wierd...Ash never usually gets mail..." She went inside and placed placed the letter on a table for Ash to read when he came back.

--

Ash had been walking on the trail to his house, reminiscing on his old adventures with his friends, his gym battles in Kanto, the contests he's seen in Hoenn and Sinnoh. He looked in the morning sky and remembered his first steps as a trainer, when he was 10 years old.

"Hey, Pikachu? Remember this? This is where we saw Ho-Oh that day…" Ash closed his eyes and visualized the memory when he felt a tug at his shirt.

"Pika Pi!" (Ash! Look!) Pikachu cried as he pointed into the sky.

"Huh?" Ash looked in the sky and was amazed. "It's…Ho-Oh…again!" He said as he saw Ho-Oh fly away. "And now it's gone…" He looked disappointed. The sight of Ho-Oh reminded him too much of his past adventures. He missed being in the fields, battling trainers, being with friends. It seemed like an empty hole was in his heart without the thrill of adventure. And right now, it seemed nothing can fill it. "Man…I feel so bored and lonely…how about you, Pikachu?"

"Pikachu…" (Yeah…) Pikachu said with his ears low.

"Let's get going. Maybe some food can cheer us up! Let's go!" Ash said as he ran full speed towards home.

A few minutes later, Ash arrived home, hoping to eat something good, to keep his mind off his troubles.

"Hey, mom! I'm home!" Ash shouted, as he ran to the kitchen.

"Hi honey!" Delia said. "You left early before breakfast, so I fixed something for you. It's on the table next to a letter you got in the mail." She said.

"Thanks, mom." Ash said as he sat down at the table in his kitchen. On his plate were hash browned potatoes, eggs, and bacon. He began chomping on his food when he grabbed the letter, and ripped it open. He perused the letter carefully before a smile slowly crept onto his face.

"Pikachu, we're back in business." He told his mouse friend.

"Pika!" (Yes!) Exclaimed Pikachu.

Ash quickly finished eating, and headed upstairs to his room to pack his bags. His room was perfectly clean. His mom had tidied up while Ash was out on his Sinnoh adventure just like she always did. He went into his closet and dug out a worn green, white, and red bookbag and started packing.

"Let's see….Clothes….and…..what else….I guess some pokeballs…." He started. Ash looked around his room for any pokeballs he would find. He ended up with a great ball, an ultra ball, a heavy ball, and two pokeballs. He threw them along with his clothes into his bag. "That wasn't much…oh well. What else? Potions…first aid kit…" He saw a couple half used potions, and an empty first aid kit. "Man…we'll stock up at the Pewter pokemart…." Ash said as he looked at Pikachu.

"Pikachu…." (Good idea…) Pikachu said.

Ash and Pikachu headed downstairs and headed for the door.

"See ya, mom!" Ash yelled.

END CHAPTER ONE

Next: Ch. 2: Battle Fever at Vermilion…