Pokémon: Pallet Town Heroes
I just started writing this for fun. I was inspired by "Pokemon Ash and the Dex Holders: Kanto" By Oan Glalie. It's a great start to a great fic. I loved the premise and wanted to do my own. Of course, I will do somethings differently. This will be a "mix" of Anime, Manga, and spin. Also, I genuinely haven't read a lot of Manga, so Bulbapedia and Fandom came in strong. Of course, I'll have to read more to get their storylines. I just might make my versions of the characters, lol. Don't know how long the update will be. BUT I WILL TRY AND UPDATE. I have a school which means a lot of homework. One more thing, I want to capture the Pokemon energy, as in light fun with hard-hitting events. Don't think it will be edgy Ash or death. No one betrays him like in many betrayed fics (unless they were in disguise), as you can find that everywhere. Of course, there will be angst, but that won't be all there is to it.
Notice: I do not own anything but the story. All rights go towards their respective owners. the Pokemon series is owned by the Pokemon company. The manga is made by Hidenori Kusaka.
Chapter 1:The Dex Holders and Ash: The first step.
The World of Pokemon.
Regions filled with strange, mystical, mythical creatures that astound many today. The world is filled with Champions, heroes, villains, and now, four children in a quaint town, home to the professor Oak. At the age of 10, kids are going to get a companion from the local professor and start their journey. Now, four kids have passed the test and are on their way to get their first companion.
Well, three of them anyway.
On the road to the professor's house walked a girl with long brown hair, a black dress, and white gloves. She was humming a tune when she started to think about her new adventure. She giggled to herself about how she met the professor and his grandson. She remembered when she snuck in trying to steal herself a Pokemon but was caught by THE professor. She thought it was the end Until the professor started to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Trying to steal from HIM of all people. He was a kind old man that allowed her to stay in Pallet Town.
Her old town, before he stole her away. She shuddered. He wouldn't get away with this. He would pay for it.
She shook those thoughts away. she couldn't think about that now. She and her friends are going on an adventure. Alone. After all, they all had different goals. She couldn't drag them into her problems.
Those friends, Red and Blue. They both had their egos; Red being kind of annoying, and Blue being arrogant and all. They were her friends, and she wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.
After this, they wouldn't see each other for quite a while. They had their things to do. She just wanted to savor the moment they were all together for a little bit. Reminiscing about their moments and foolery when they were younger. She wanted to travel with them, but all of them would be caught up with something horrible.
Then she stopped. There was another person. They were to go on an adventure. Maybe she could ask him to go with her. She thought about it and cringed. What was she thinking!? "I'm not that close to him, so it wouldn't be fair to him" She muttered to herself. It was weird to her as she thought about it, he was the first person to be friendly with her.
Soon she arrived at the professor's house, yellow bricks and all. She psyched herself up. This was going to be the last time she'll see them. So, she opens the door and... She was the only one there.
What? she was on time, she checked the time on the house clock and she was on time. Professor Oak was there and so was Daisy so... THEY WERE LATE GODAM-
Red Hayasawa was tying his laces and sweating, Poli was with him looking at him expectantly. "Poli, poli.." "Lay off Poli! I was checking if we had everything! You can't go on an adventure with preparing!" Angrily grumbled Red. He was blushing as he knew he was late. He prayed the others weren't mad.
They probably would be.
As Red sulked, his mother, Tajiri Hayasawa, was in front of the door, behind him smiling contently. Like everyone their age, they would be going on an adventure and travel throughout the Kanto region. Her little boy and the Poliwhirl that was family as well. Her husband was working at the Ranch and thought that Red would be on time. She inwardly laughed at that. Red was always dreaming about this moment, preparing and all. He simply didn't look at the clock and saw that he was late.
As he got up his mother stopped him. "Red" "huh? Is there something wrong, mom?" Red looked back to his mom and turned his body to face her. "I just wanted to say... Please be safe." As Red looked into his mother's eyes filled with warmth and happiness he responded "Of course, Why wouldn't I be!? I am a strong trainer." He boasted while pointing to himself with quite the smug smile. Poliwhirl rolled his eyes and snickered. His mother sighed before smiling even wider as she knew her son would be in trouble for most, but he was smart. Dense, but smart enough.
"I know your strength, but that won't always be enough." she lightly scolded. She put her hands on her hips and raised herself to the highest possible height she could manage and said "You have friends, ask for help when you need to."
She knew her son was prideful. That doesn't justify not asking for help. It wasn't weak to ask for help at the end of the day. No one should be counted on to do things by themselves. No one can't and be expected to be entirely self-sufficient. She hoped her son would realize this, but alas he but heads with Blue all the time. They rarely were nice to each other, but they were friends nonetheless. At least he had friends.
She thought about that lonely boy, her husband invited him to dinner one time and he accepted. He was an excitable child with big dreams. Red treated him kindly and was friendly. The woman was glad that Red didn't have to deal with the things that the kid had to.
His father abandoned him and his mom, Delia, before he could even remember his face. He dealt with bullying and antagonism from the other children. Delia was usually at her cafe working, so she had little time to be at home with her son. She felt for him and was heartbroken.
Tajiri was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the footsteps leaving the porch. "I'll be going now. I'll call you when I have the time!" Yelled Red when he was walking away with Poli. "I'll wait for the call!" she yelled back. Smiling as she heard her son yell back even louder,
"JUST YOU WAIT, I'LL BEAT ALL THE GYMS AND WIN THE LEAGUE!"
"I know you will." Red's mother, Tajiri, whispered.
Professor Oak was a lot of things. Smart, Kind, diligent, hard-working, living legend, and tired.
So, so, tired. As his hand was holding up his chin as he listened to the tirade that was his granddaughter and Green Akabane. The yelling, fuming, and overall displeasure. Then again, she was the only one on time, so, she earned this. Oak was simply waiting for the others as he planning to give his greatest creation to three of the four kids. He worried about his reaction, as he simply believes he wasn't going to use it fully. The kid wanted to become a Pokemon Master. Whatever that entails, he may never know.
It was the kid's goal and he believed it fully. He asked what that meant, but only received an out of character response from Delia's kid when he didn't say anything and only smiled. He loved Pokemon, maybe even more than the three he was going to give the Pokedex to. It was just that there was something about him that perplexed Oak which he couldn't place a finger on.
Being brought out of his train of thought was when the door opened to reveal his grandson Blue and his rival Red. Blue is in a long purple shirt with brown pants. Around his neck was, well, a necklace. Red had his red hat along with a red jacket open to reveal a black shirt. He was wearing jeans.
Red came in with sweat suggesting he was running while Blue came in nonchalantly. Red paled and Blue turned away.
"Well look who came in one hour late." Grounded out Green. She had her arms crossed looking miffed. Daisy was only sighing and palming her face as they were forced to wait for them. Blue waved it off by saying "Be glad we showed up at all. Red decided it was better to pick a fight." Red looked like he was pushed into oncoming traffic by a friend.
He kinda was anyway. "No, it wasn't me! I promise you! Blue picked the fight!" "anyway now that most of you are here, may I have your attention please?" Oak took their attention from this confrontation to himself. Better to have them on here and deal with the other alone. Soon the other's noticed one was missing. "he's still not here!?" came the surprised Blue. Well, not surprised but annoyed.
"That cheap coming from you Blue" Came the scolding tone of his sister. He clicked his tongue and looked away. "Well, we should wait for him, right Grandpa?" Daisy said as she turned to him. Oak shook his head and said, "With most being late, we simply don't have the time to wait further, we might as well give them their Pokemon now and wait for him to come."
With the clock ticking down he wanted to have them on their way to experience the world. Green wanted to wait because she wanted to see her friends so he obliged.
Oak had their attention turned to the machine that housed three pokeballs. "In those three pokeballs are the starter Pokemon of our region that I give out. It is a privilege to have them." Professor Oak lectured. The three listened in as this is the first step in their journeys to their goals. They dreamed of this. For different reasons of course. "Now who wants to go first." "I believe Green has the right to go first." Red looks wholly surprised that Blue said that. Oak and Daisy as well. Green eyes were wide before happily stepping up. Blue took in their reactions and scowled before looking away. "We were late. So it makes sense that the first one should be the one that wasn't late."
Without further ado Trainer Green picked her partner. She picked the Pokeball up and opened it. Out came out a small blue creature with a shell. It looked up and shouted out happily "Squirt! Squirtle!" Green soon crouched to look him in the eye "hey buddy~. Want to go on an adventure with me?" Squirtle responded by bouncing up and down and yelling happily. Green laughed, "I'll call you Blasty!" She then returned him to his Pokeball and stepped back.
Next was Trainer Blue, he simply took a Pokeball, and out came an orange lizard with fire on its tail. "Are you ready?" Said Blue with a calculating look in his eyes. Looks like he was already building a team. Charmander looked up to Blue with a determined look in his eyes and nodded. Blue's goal was simple, be better than Red in every way, and everyone else. Red didn't realize yet that Blue wanted Green to go first so he had the stronger type to Red's starter.
Everyone else did though. No one commented, but Daisy only closed her eyes and sighed muttering about a troublesome brother.
Finally, Trainer Red had picked his Pokeball. A green Four-legged Pokemon with a flower bud on its back. "Hey, bud. That Pokemon is Poli. He's my friend. Same as you." Bulbasaur looked at the Poliwhirl with curiosity. that curiosity turned into a smile as he let out his vines for Poli to grab them in a kind gesture. Red was happy that the two Pokemon got along quickly.
Professor Oak smiled as the now three Pokemon trainers had their Pokemon. Now using this opportunity to give them something special. "I am not only giving you your starter Pokemon, but also something that will help you on your adventure." He gained the attention of all four as in his hands laid out three red devices with a small blue glass bulb.
"I bet you all are wondering what are these devices now." This made all of them look up at him with wide eyes. He laughed at his own words and explained "These devices are what I call the Pokedex. These will help you on your adventures." This awed the kids and the teen before they realize he didn't specify what it did. "Anyway, here's the manual for how to use them, now shoo."
Kicking them out save for his granddaughter, They decided to travel together a bit before splitting up.
That didn't stop his grandaughter from asking a question when they were gone, though.
"Hey Grandpa," Oak turned to look at her. "What are you going to do for Ash?" Daisy wanted to say this at the beginning but didn't want to get in the way of the others. "For Ash? Well, I will tell him when he gets here, and if he doesn't, I'll go to his house and see him myself." Responded Oak as he was preparing For Ash's arrival. Daisy was worried though, When she came to the Ketchum's house early, no one answered. Ash was always home so, that didn't make sense. The Cafe was also closed to Delia couldn't be there.
A day ago...
Ash regretted a lot of things. Lying to his mother, accidentally breaking vases around the house, setting the playground on fire.
That wasn't his fault, he was trying to stop the other kids from lighting fireworks on top of the slides. He didn't know it would light and set everything on fire. It wasn't on purpose. So it couldn't be his fault.
Okay, maybe it was.
Tomorrow was the big day, the day he would get his Pokemon. The journey to disprove everyone wrong, the kids that laughed, the ones who thought he would never amount to anything, those who jeered, mocked, and overall hostile. That was every kid. To show him that he wasn't all talk, and achieve his goal of becoming a Pokemon Master! "SPEAR! SPEAROW!" Right after he stops getting chased by a flock of Spearow. Now I bet you're wondering how did he get into this predicament. Well in Viridian forest where he was psyched for tomorrow that he wanted to see ahead. To see his start of his journey. He wandered in and saw the flock.
He saw what happened.
He saw what they were attacking.
He had to stop it.
In his arms was a brown bird Pokemon that he didn't know what it was. It was injured and that was all that mattered. It didn't matter if they were attacking him. He could take it. Professor Oak said he was very strong and he believed him. If it meant he could save this bird then he was good.
The Pokemon of Viridian forest comforted him when he was lost, that was when he knew what he wanted to be. the first step was to help.
So he Ran.
Ran while holding an injured brown bird Pokemon that he didn't know or know what it was.
He didn't regret this.
He ran and ran towards the direction of any town. the closest being his home town. Without stopping he forced his way through shrubbery and roots before coming towards a clearing. A road. He didn't hesitate to run towards Pallet as it was the closest. The spearows were gaining on him. He was on fumes, but he didn't stop. If he couldn't do this, then he might as well stop and give up on becoming a Pokemon Master.
They made fun of him saying it was a made-up term by him. And it was. Even then, He knew what it meant, knew how to achieve his dream. Going farther than the Champions, farther than the leagues.
Those were a stepping stone. He admired the Power of Champions and their wisdom, but his goal was going beyond that. To be a Pokemon Master was more than being great at Battling. He loved the idea of battling, but it was so much more. He wanted to become more than the idea. To know Pokemon, to battle them, to understand them.
Not just understanding, but truly understand them.
His thoughts clouded his vision before it caught up to him. "AH!" he yelled before he stumbled and fell on the road. The flock was already there. No escape now. He had a moment to think. This Pokemon was counting on him to bring him to safety, to make sure it would be healed and on its way. "Fly away," Ash whispers to the bird. He slapped his face with his two hands. He opened his eyes with a determined glint. He turned and faced the flock with his hands out open and screamed "HEY OVER HERE YOU STUPID BIRDS! COME AND GET ME"
I remember a laboratory. I remember many of his kind; I was different than most. I was brown, they were gray. Even then the flock cared for him. I was with his family. In my home region. Living out my life, happy and joyful. I remember racing his flock to see who was the fastest. I was sad when his mom scolded them. He laughed when something got caught in her throat. Those were happy times.
I remember Humans in black uniforms with a giant R in the middle. He remembers his mother screeching and screaming attacking the humans. I remember trying to fly away along with his flock. I remember being captured with the rest of them. The experiments on me. The pain. I wasn't supposed to know these moves but now I did.
I never forgave humans. I ran when he took the chance. I had to. I had to leave to survive. He had to leave his family.
I regret it.
He flew to this forest. Not his own nor his home. Not even the same mass of giant rocks that formed his home. I was taken from his safe, reliable, strong mother and was left with nowhere to go. I angered this flock when trying to eat when he was starving. I was swarmed and had to cover myself. Thankfully, one of those tests they did gave me the ability to make my wings steel, but that didn't stop the birds from chipping at me.
Then the human came along. I heard the crunching sound of twigs when I saw him. The moment our eyes met something clicked in the human's mind. Without hesitation, he ran and dove for me. Someone he didn't know. I didn't even know his name. He ran while protecting me in his arms. This human didn't have to, but he did. Protecting me and taking the pecks himself.
Maybe some humans weren't bad, maybe some were good. this short human wanted him to fly and getaway. I thought about it and I decided.
I wasn't going to regret this.
As the approaching flock of spearows was closing in as I stood facing them with a determined passionate glare their way. As I braced for impact. I started to think about what my mom and what would she have said. Thought about Professor Oak and his disappointed sigh. Daisy worried expression. Miss Tajiri and her family. They were the only ones that were kind to me. My mom was rarely around but I loved her. And I'm sorry for disappointing you professor and Daisy. You believed in me and I got arrogant and went ahead into Viridian without thought.
I could feel my legs shaking as I saw what seems to be a much larger flock than I thought. It felt like it was about to consume me.
My ears twitched as I heard flapping behind me. I smiled a bit as he was flying away. At least I helped someone and wasn't in trouble.
Then I saw wings flapping from my shoulder to in front of me to beyond. Towards the moving flocked. My eyes wide I screamed, "What are you doing!" He simply turned it's head and flew even faster to the flock. Reckless and fast he was flying. He was flying. I blinked and saw thunder, I blinked again and saw electricity coming off of the bird. How? The bird looked normal. It didn't look like it could learn any moves with electricity. It looks random and out of place. It shouted a war cry that the thunder swirling around him pronounced.
"Star STARLYYYY!"
As it shouted the thunder and lightning surrounded it and like a missile he flew true and straight with the electricity waving off through his feathers. It flew through the air like a shooting star. I was looking at a very close shooting star.
Kra-KOOOM
The screeching and the panic coming from the birds as there was no way to escape the oncoming collision with the shooting star. It was inevitable. The crash and explosion were swift, brutal, and loud. I fell and was blasted backward. The smoke cleared and the Bird was standing, injured, but standing. It looked like it would keel over.
"Oh shoot!" I clambered up onto my feet and started running towards the falling bird and caught him just before he fell on the road. Most of the Spearow were on the ground either knocked out or limping away. We were safe for now. As I rested him on my chest cradling him. The clouds parted the dark sky and at that moment we saw something mystical.
Parting from the clouds came a large bird glowing like the rainbow. As we both stared in awe something fell and lightly landed in front of me. It was a feather, a rainbow feather. I slowly picked it up and the bird and I both gazed at it with some reverently look in our eyes.
I looked back at the curious brown bird and said, "I should get you back to my house, My mom can help you." The bird looked me in the eyes, "Star starly." it whispered before yawning and closing its eyes. I chuckled a bit before getting my tired body off the ground and trekked back to my house.
Present-day...
Professor Oak was now in front of the Ketchum's house. He had a trainer license in his hand and with an annoyed sigh knocked on the door. No answer. Knocked again. Again no answer. One final kno-
The door swung open with a drowsy miss Ketchum at the door. There were bags under her eyes and with a big yawn she responded "yes~?". Professor Oak coughed before saying, "Delia, I'm here for Ash. He's supposed to come here earlier and start his journey... He's late." With the blunt point, Delia Ketchum instantly woke up and looked left and right before dragging Oak inside. "Ash is sleeping right now, he deserves a night's rest," said Delia as she sat on the couch and beckoned Professor Oak to sit beside her.
"The other kids are already on their journey and Ash will be at a disadvantage if he doesn't get up." Professor Oak argued. He pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at the stairs. "I'll get him myself." Before he started climbing the stairs he swore he saw a wisp of a smile on Delia's lips before getting to Ash's room on the second floor. He opened the door and was surprised by Ash.
Well, not Ash himself. He was asleep with his limbs stretched out everywhere snoring quite loudly. There were some bandages on him like he was injured by falling and scraping his arms and face. What surprised him the most was the Pokemon on his chest.
A brown Starly. A shiny variant of the Starly species. It was quietly snoring as well with its wings stretched out. Bandaged as well.
Delia came from behind with another yawn before smiling, "He came up to me on the porch with a wounded Pokemon in his arms. He said 'Mom, he needs help, please.' And I couldn't deny it as it was hurt. You should have been there, his earnest look was so cute." She quietly laughed before looking fondly, "He is something special." Oak looked at Delia like he was trying to wrap his mind around something.
"Why...? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" "Because I didn't want any rumors starting about Ash... Again." Her words were hard and made Oak cringe. He knew of the treatment of Ash by the other kids and would always stop it when he had the chance. But kids were kids, laying with ignorance and disliking Ash even further. Blue was a prime example of this. That boy.
He also knew if He came with Delia to check up on Ash some kids would take that as if he was in trouble and spread it. The adults would always murmur about him and the like, it was annoying.
He looked back at the sleeping Ash before Cough loudly and said, "ASH WAKE UP!" with a startled yelp Ash woke and turned out of bed making a crashing noise. The Starly woke up eyes wide before trying to flap its wings before realizing it couldn't. It crashed with Ash and was now muffled as it was under Ash. They both scrambled to try and stand and both were failing spectacularly. "Wait Starly if you do tha- OH JEEZUS!" Ash yelped before falling again this time with his blanket draped over his pajamas. Starly made it out though. Looking quite well for itself.
Delia was now laughing while helping her son out of the blankets. "Ash. Professor Oak is here and is going to give you something." After a few seconds was now standing in front of Professor Oak. "You need something, Professor Oak?" "Ash... You are supposed to start your journey today." "wha- WAIT I AM?" Ash's eyes were wide. "Yes Ash, you were supposed to come to my lab and gain your partner at 7 A.M." "Dangit!" Oak had to keep calm as he was still supposed to give him his license and send him on his way.
"All starters have already been picked by the others." "I don't blame them, this was our big day I missed it." Even though those were the words he said, he looked down and was sadden by missing his shot.
This was Oak's time to shine.
"Do you regret it, Ash?" "Huh? Regret what?" "Rescuing that Pokemon." Now Ash and Oak both looked at the Starling Pokemon. Brown, Not gray. Not from this region and out of all possibilities wasn't supposed to be here. Trainer Ash without hesitating looked back at Professor Oak and responded, "No, Of course not. Not in a million years." Oak looked hard at Ash, before sighing and barked out a laugh. "Ha! Well now, Here is your License and six Pokeballs. Best be on your way." Smiled Oak.
Ash had to process those words before sputtering and stammered, "What- Wai- I- Wait a moment!? I was late! I overslept, I disregarded your warnings, and went into Viridian forest! Why would you give me this!?" "Because you deserve it." With that blunt statement, Ash looked stunned before showing his biggest smile and taking his License. He winced a bit since his score was the lowest possible passing grade. He was still happy he passed, but it was still the lowest score you could get. Wait. Who was going to be his starter? Like Oak said the three that he was supposed to give out were already given to Red, Blue, and Green. Then who was hi-
He looked back at Starly who was now on his shoulder looking at him. He was egging him on. He wanted this. Ash already knew his decisions.
"... I don't know your name." Oak crashed down at the absurdity and Delia sputtered and laughed. "His species name is Starly, Ash."
"Alright! Starly do you want to go on an adventure with me! I'm going to become a Pokemon Master!" His fist was clenched and pounded it on his chest.
"Starly! Starly!" it chirped and chirped proudly. With a quick touch and some beeping later. Starly was his Pokemon.
Not his. But his Partner. A partner for life.
This is just the start, for all four kids, a journey worth a lifetime a more. This was just the first step.
