The Beginning
"Wait up!" shouted Ash, trying to keep up.
"You'll have to catch me!" replied Dawn, who was ahead of him on her bike.
The two were now headed to Sandgem Town, on the day of Dawn's 10th birthday to receive her starter pokemon. They just entered Sandgem Town, and the two were looking at a postcard with a map to Professor Rowan's laboratory.
"Okay, it says take a left here, then a right and another left." Dawn said, steering to the left with Ash chasing after five minutes later, Ash was beside Dawn with a disappointed look on his face.
"I told you to wait up, if you did we wouldn't be lost." Ash told her.
"Oh be quiet, I have a better sense of direction from what I heard yesterday." she said back, smiling at him.
"I'm better with small maps." Ash mumbled, kicking some dirt.
"Excuse me."
They both turned around to see a man in a brown coat, looking at them.
"Are you lost?" he asked.
"No no, we're just fine." Dawn said, putting on a fake smile.
"But you don't seem fine, you seem worried." he said.
"Well, we're going to Professor Rowan's Lab for her first pokemon, but she read the map wrong." Ash told him.
"Hey!" Dawn snapped, giving him a glare.
"Well if you would like, I could direct you there. As a professor in this region, I must help out new trainers who don't know their way." he said, gesturing them to follow as he walked away.
"Okay...wait! Did you say you were a professor?" Dawn asked, looking at him.
"Yes, I'm Professor Rowan. Now let's go so you can start your journey." he said.
They followed him until they reached a building with a windmill. When they go to the door, it opened and inside it looked like a tornado had hit.
"What happened here?" Rowan asked one of his assistants, who greeted him at the door.
"Sir, we had a problem with the chimchar and piplup for the new trainer, and hey managed to escape. And on a further note, the Starly and Staraptor form my evolution research got out as well." he explained.
"Hmm...we have to get them back somehow." Rowan said, scratching his chin.
"Sir, I'd like to go look for them!" Dawn said.
"Are you sure Dawn? They could be anywhere by now." Ash said.
"That's a good idea, since you could pick one of them for your pokemon. They couldn't ave gotten that far since they're not that grown up yet. Just crouch to eye level, then you should be able to calm them down." Rowan explained to Dawn.
"Okay, let's go Ash!" she exclaimed, dragging Ash out the door.
Minutes later, they found Chimchar and Piplup fighting in the forest nearby.
"Piplup, calm down!" Dawn shouted to the penguin.
"Chimchar, why are you acting this way?" Ash asked the monkey pokemon.
Piplup used bubblebeam on them, and chased after Chimchar back into the forest.
"Man, how are we going to get them?" Ash asked Dawn.
"Wait! We'll use my pokemon food to lure them in!" Dawn exclaimed, puling out a canister from her backpack.
"Perfect! Okay, let's go!" Ash said, running in and being followed by Dawn. Soon, they hear a cry and find it's Piplup, trapped on a spider web.
"Piplup, well have you out of there soon!" Dawn said, taking a step towards it, but was stopped by a sludge bomb attack. Dawn and Ash looked up to see an Ariados.
"Ariados, leave them alone!" Ash yelled, but was nearly hit by a sludge bomb.
"Alright, follow me Ariados!" Dawn yelled, running away and having the spider follow her. Soon, she circled around and was standing in front of the web.
"Don't worry Piplup, won't be long now." Dawn said, winking at the penguin.
Ariados fired another sludge bomb at Dawn, but she jumped out of the way and the attack destroyed the web! She caught Piplup, but fell down a hill. ash followed and helped her up, but soon saw they had enraged a group of Ariados.
"Dawn, stay behind me," Ash said, stepping in front. "Torkoal, flamethrower!" Ash yelled as he threw a pokeball, releasing his turtle. It fired a strong flame at them and hit the right on, they fell out of the tree and got right back up.
"What? That's supposed to be super effective!" Ash yelled, astonished.
The Ariados fired a poison sting at Torkoal.
"Iron defense, then use flamethrower again!" Ash shouted.
Torkoal retracted into its shell, and the poison sting attack bounced off. Then it came back out and fired another flame at the spiders, and hit them deda on again.
"That should hold them for a while, let's go find chimchar!" Ash told Dawn, as she nodded and followed him away from the pokemon. Soon they reached a lake.
"Hey, it's Lake Verity." Dawn said, pointing to the water.
"Lake Verity?" Ash asked confused.
Then he heard a noise.
"Dawn, I heard something over in those bushes and I'm gonna check it out. You be careful, okay?" Ash told her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Okay." she said, smiling sweetly.
Ash nodded and disappeared into the bushes, then Dawn heard something from the lake. She looked back, and saw the wind blowing the water gently on the surface. Then, a shadow appeared on the surface of the water. It danced around in the air, and then disappeared back into the water. Dawn and Piplup had a crazed expression on their faces, then Ash came back.
"Did you see that Ash?" Dawn asked, pointing to the water.
"What, Lake Verity?" Ash asked her with a confused face.
"No, the shadow that was on the surface!" she yelled, waving her arms around.
"Dawn, are you okay? Maybe you're a little excited about your first pokemon that you're seeing things. We should head back to the lab, a staraptor caught chimchar and is heading back there." Ash told her.
She slowly nodded, and followed him back with Piplup in her arms. When they got back to the lab, Rowan greeted them with Chimchar on his shoulder.
"Well, it looks like you've found the other one. It's been a busy day for you, hasn't it?" he asked, looking at Dawn.
"Yes it has, but can I ask you something first?" Dawn asked, putting a serious expression on her face. She explained to the professor about the shadow on the lake she saw, and how it just disappeared.
"Hmm, there has been rumors of a legendary pokemon living in that lake. That might have been what you saw." he told her.
"Legendary pokemon? Wow." Dawn stuttered.
"I guess you're excited about your journey. Why don't we have you select your starter pokemon now?" Rowan suggested with a smile.
Dawn happily nodded and everyone went over to the table in the corner.
"Now, the three starter pokemon in the Sinnoh region are these ones right here. The fire type Chimchar, the water type Piplup, and the grass type Turtwig." he said, poiting to the three pokemon on the table.
"I know who I want, Piplup!" Dawn exclaimed, pointing at the penguin.
"Okay. Here's Piplup's pokeball. and here are five empty pokeballs and your pokedex." Rowan said, handing her a tray with pokeballs and a pokedex. She smiled and grabbed them, putting them in her backpack.
"Now your journey has begun. Good luck on you career path." he said, smiling again.
Ash and Dawn exited the building, Dan grabbed her bike, and travelled down the road leading to Jubilife City.
"I can't wait for the contest!" Dawn said happily.
"I know, but remember we have to get there first." Ash told her, rolling his eyes.
Dawn nodded and pedaled faster, leaving Ash in the dust.
"Hey! What did I say about slowing down?" Ash yelled, but was heard by no one. He ran and caught up to her, then tapped her on the shoulder which startled her and she almost fell over. But Ash saw this, and jumped beneath her and caught her. She looked down and saw Ash holding her, causing her to blush.
"Thanks, but don't sneak up on me." she said.
"No problem." he replied.
They sat there for a while, until Ash spoke again.
"You can get off of me now." he said.
"Oh, sorry." she said, blushing and jumping off of him.
"Okay, let's get going." he said, and raced ahead of her.
"Hey, no fair!" she yelled, but he didn't hear. She jumped on her bike and chased after the boy.
Meanwhile in Kanto...
"Hello, is anyone home?"
"Ah! May, Max and Brock, good to see you!"
"It's good to see you too."
"But where's Ash?"
"That's the reason we came over. We have to tell you something."
