Surmount

by austin.todd.315

Although they travel down a long, merciless road that has overwhelmed all but the very strongest to eventually throw in the towel, they do so with unrivaled resolve and convictions. This is the story of Ash Ketchum and his beloved family of Pokemon, and how they became the greatest of all time. Cover by TigerOnMission.

1. With Simple Beginnings

Thanks to StandingMan for helping out with this.

The Indigo Territory wasn't known for being small. Why would it be, anyway? Consisting of the Kanto Region, Orange Archipelago, Johto Region, and Sevii Islands, it was quite possibly the single largest territory in the Pokemon World by far. The massive scope of the empire was really something to be admired.

And by the next Indigo Conference, it would be celebrating its four hundredth birthday. Four centuries of greatness. That is what the next Indigo Conference will mark. The empire had a massively impressive history that only the Sinnoh Territory could match.

And, located in the Kanto Region, was the capital of it all. The Indigo Plateau. The goal of every single Pokemon Trainer competing within the massive territory.. Home of both the Indigo Conference and the Indigo Grand Festival.

The Indigo Plateau certainly lived up to its title as the capital of such an expansive empire. The aura that such an area gave out practically screamed the word "Power".

Aside from the small but impressive city, the various Indigo League bases that were located in the area, the sites of the Indigo Grand Festival, and other areas as well, there was also Victory Road, a massive area very popular among high-level Pokemon Trainers for training purposes.

And then, there was the sites of the Indigo Conference. The ultimate goal for all Pokemon Trainers in Indigo. Pokemon League Village was big enough to house the massive amount of competitors, which was often more than five hundred trainers. But, of course, the main attractions were the stadiums of the Indigo Conference.

Five stadiums in total. Four massive stadiums surrounding the main stadium. Individually, the main stadium was exactly twice as tall, and exactly twice as large, as any of the other four already massive stadiums. The battle arena that was also within the main stadium was also exactly twice as long, and exactly twice as wide, as the already massive battle arenas that were also located within any of the other four stadiums. The ultimate battlefield of all of Indigo. These five stadiums were all where the Indigo Conference was held. They were where Trainers tested their might every single year. But it was reserved only for the toughest and most dedicated of trainers. For as many trainers as there were who would be competing within the Conference, they didn't even make up half of all of the Trainers within Indigo. For as many Trainers were good enough, and strong enough, to reach the Conference, there were many more who were not. Simply being a good Trainer wouldn't cut it. For to compete within a Conference, in any territory, a Trainer always needed to be among the absolute best.

The Indigo Plateau. Indigo's physical manifestation of the word "Power". The perfect throne for the Indigo League Champion. And the Indigo League Elite Four. The five greatest, most powerful, best, respected, and most feared Pokemon Trainers, in all of Indigo.

But for as indescribably grand as the Indigo Plateau is, and has always been, for nearly the past four centuries now, it is not where this story begins. For a place that is as epic and grand as the Indigo Plateau, is not usually where tales tend to begin, but rather, where they climax. Where everything culminates into the finale to end all finales.

No, where this story begins, is a very peaceful, very serene area, that is everything the Indigo Plateau's sheer, polar opposite. Simple, not grand in the slightest, and completely unambitious. Everything that the Indigo Plateau is not, nor has ever been, for nearly the past four centuries.

A simple place called Pallet Town.

Aside from the bare essentials, restaurants, houses, markets, the school, among other things, nothing could be found here aside from Professor Oak's Main Laboratory. The place where one of the single greatest Pokemon Researchers alive, and also, even to ever exist, resided, and worked. And when he worked, he worked.

But the Lab is not where this story begins either. Instead, this story begins within the peaceful walls of a single, somewhat small, two story house that embodies the very thing that Pallet Town stands for: Simplicity.

Sheer simplicity, as a matter of fact. Only just big enough to comfortably house the only two human residents that were residing within the house's walls, along with any occasional guests who may visit.

One of those two human residents was Delia Ketchum. A young, beautiful woman, far from intense in personality. An employee to Professor Oak, and teacher in training.

And the other…

/

Ten years old (as of a little less than two weeks ago). Average height. Average build. Black hair. He was an ordinary boy on the outside, but he would not remain that way. Pretty soon, his life would be changing.

Forever.

The couch he was sitting on in the living room was a light ocean blue. He stared intently at the flat screen. Excitement filled his heart at what was about to unfold.

The Indigo Conference only took place once every year. Usually it lasted about three weeks or so. Before that, the Indigo Grand Festival was held, usually lasting about three days, where Pokemon Coordinators would compete for the title of Top Coordinator. The day before that somewhat acted as a sort of preparation for both of the events. The Gyms were closed during this time. After the Conference, another two or three weeks was taken, mostly as a bit of a small break before the next season of Pokemon Training started. During this time,the winner of the Conference would challenge whoever the lowest ranked member of the Elite Four was, moving onto the next member if they were to win. Defeating an Elite Four Member granted that Conference winner their position. But it was very rare for even the lowest ranked member of the Elite Four to ever lose, or even come all that close to losing, in fact. Afterwards, the Elite Four Members would all be given the opportunity to challenge each other for their positions, with each member being allowed to challenge whichever other member is currently being ranked directly above highest ranking member of the Elite Four could also even challenge the Indigo League Champion.

After the break was over, the Gyms reopened, new Pokemon Trainers were given their Starter Pokemon, and a brand new season would finally begin. But the night before that, a special event was held by the Indigo League, every single year, in order to celebrate the grand beginning of the brand new season.

The Champion and Elite Four members were all interviewed, and then, afterwards, the League Rush would begin.

In the League Rush, the Champion would battle the Elite Four in an Exhibition Match. The Champion was allowed up to three Pokemon, while the Elite Four were all allowed up to a total of five Pokemon. Each Elite Four Member would be able to use one single Pokemon. The Elite Four Members would then all be able to decide amongst each other which one of them would get to use the fifth Pokemon.

The Exhibition Match would serve as a very special ceremony that would mark the beginning of the new Pokemon Training Season.

And that was just exactly what was about to happen right now.

The boy grinned as the camera panned over to the man on the blue corner of the battlefield. He was tall, muscular, with spiky pink hair. His arms were crossed, but his expression was a wide smile. Lance lived for the crowd. He breathed for the crowd. He existed for the crowd.

The Champion of Indigo had a reputation matched by very few others. Alongside Cynthia of the Sinnoh Region, he was often labeled as the greatest Pokemon Trainer alive. Possibly ever. The current generation of Champions were considered insurmountable even by Champion standards, and Lance and Cynthia had earned their titles faster than any Champion before them, at a pace that only Steven Stone from the Hoenn Region came close to. Among Indigo Trainers, Lance was many things, but the most prominent thing that he was known as was both a leader and an idol. To many people, and even experts, he was just too good to be true. A legend. It was often discussed just how he had managed to achieve the level of greatness that he had. A Master of Dragons, his incredibly large arsenal of Pokemon consisted almost exclusively of Pokemon that were either Dragon-types, or, at the very least, a part of the Dragon Egg Group. Such Pokemon were all among the rarest and most difficult to find, not to mention among the most difficult to both raise and train, but they were nonetheless also among the most revered for both their immense power and also their versatility in battle. From the combination of both immense power and versatility, Dragons were some of the most sought out of Pokemon to ever exist. Any Trainer with a well trained Dragon was practically a strong Trainer already.

Having complete Mastery over the Dragons, and possibly even being the single strongest Dragon-Type Pokemon Trainer on the planet?

Lance's strength was far beyond description.

The boy's grinned remained as the camera panned over to the four people on the red corner of the battlefield.

The Elite Four. Lorelei, Bruno, Karen, and Agatha. They weren't quite as strong as Lance himself was, but the boy still idolized all four of them every bit as greatly.

The Champion and The Elite Four. The five greatest Pokemon Trainers in all of Indigo. These were the five people that the boy had grown up idolizing. Who most, if not all Pokemon Trainers in Indigo, strived to one day be like. A goal that very few could ever be capable of reaching.

Lorelei stepped forward. She was a cool looking, and also quite attractive woman with long, red hair tied into a ponytail. She was the weakest member of the Indigo Elite Four, not on par with the other members, who weren't as far apart from one another. That didn't mean she was weak of course. On paper she could be considered as such, compared to most other Elite Four Members in the world. But in the grand scheme of things, she was a member of the Elite Four for a reason. The fifth strongest Pokemon Trainer in all of Indigo was more than deserving of such a title. She was a Master Ice-type specialist, with a knowledge of the Pokemon typing that went almost completely unrivaled.

Both Lance and Lorelei each took out a single Pokeball. Lance released his Pokemon first.

A brilliantly bright flash of light emerged from Lance's Pokeball. The light eventually materialised into a gigantic beast of a Pokemon.

It was a massive quadruped creature, primarily blue in color, and with enormous red wings, the massive Dragon-type Pokemon towered above its already tall Trainer, raising its head proudly, as if to show off its presence to the world.

The audience cheered loudly as the massive Salamence reared its head back and ROARED. As if to announce its presence to the world, a ferocious sound, very akin to even the absolute loudest of thunderclaps, escaped the massive beast's mouth and filled the very air of the night.

Lance's Pokemon were just like their Trainer: They lived for the crowd.

Even among the rest of the Champion's Pokemon, however, this Salamence was not just another Dragon. Not only was it a part of Lance's main team that he normally used to defend his title, but it also was one of the three Pokemon that made up the trio that was very widely considered to be Lance's three best Pokemon, which he was most known and feared for. Dragonite, the Dragon Master's most famed Pokemon, was the frontrunner of the trio, and the other two Pokemon were Lance's Charizard, and also, this very Salamence.

Lorelei released her Pokemon next. In front of the calm woman emerged a large, blue creature. Her Lapras was her signature Pokemon, the Master's Starter Pokemon, and the overall ace of the powerful Master's team. Very much like its Trainer, and very much unlike its opponent, the Pokemon just looked on calmly, staring down its opponent without a single noise, as it awaited its Trainer's orders.

The referee made the signal for the match to begin, and Lapras made the first move. The large creature was quick to create a surge of water underneath its body, lifting it up slightly off the ground.

It was a common use of the Surf technique among high level Pokemon in particular. Pokemon like Lapras don't typically maneuver well on land so the utilization of this Move was vital for land based combat.

Salamence flapped its gigantic, powerful wings and took to the skies. Huge gusts of wind were created just from this one act alone.

Opening its maw, the draconic creature allowed a powerful blast of bright, orange energy to escape from it. The Hyper Beam, shining like the sun, flew towards Lapras at breakneck speeds.

Lapras immediately dodged to the left, leaving a large trail of water in its wake. The Hyper Beam smashed into the part of the arena that the Lapras was originally on, creating an explosion that shook the stadium, as if creating a backdrop for the big escape that the Lapras was making.

But Salamence was already acting again, charging forward faster than imaginable, it flew towards the Lapras even as the large, blue Pokemon retreated. Its maw was crackling with the electrical aura of Thunder Fang as it roughly bit down on Lapras's neck, a wail of pain escaping from the Water-Ice Type Pokemon as the electricity made its way into the neck of Salamence's foe.

The blue Pokemon's horn erupted with electricity as it fired out a Thunderbolt, but Lance had seen the counterattack coming, and so did Salamence, as the massive Dragon immediately abandoned its grip on the Lapras and retreated out of the way just in time.

The boy watched eagerly as the battle unfolded, Salamence clearly with the upper hand. The Lapras, as powerful as it was, was quickly overwhelmed by one of the most powerful Pokemon to ever be wielded by a Pokemon Champion. Lorelei's star Pokemon was easily defeated.

Not even its Type Advantage was enough to close the gap. Although Typing had a very clear effect on beginner level battles, they became much less relevant as a Pokemon and its Trainer progressively grew stronger and more experienced. For Elite level battles such as this, the effect that Type Matchups had on the outcome was just barely above superficial. By this point, most high level Pokemon had developed ways to reliably counter their weaknesses. It was rarely enough to make them go away completely, but it would, more often than not, ensure that Typing would not immediately put a Pokemon in a bad place. As a Dragon Type Master, Lance was no stranger to dealing with ice Types.

It was something that Professor Oak and their teachers had all hammered into them very early on: When battling, do not rely on Type Matchups too much. Although they were a decent cushion, and especially great during beginner level battles, they would become much less relevant as time went on, so it was very important to never grow too reliant on them in the first place. Eventually, other factors would much more typically determine which Pokemon had the advantage. Many Trainers, especially rookies, fell into the trap of growing far too complacent with Typing, rarely learning to come up with other ways to turn a battle in their favor. Such a mindset was rarely ever enough to make it in pro level battles.

Lorelei recalled her defeated Pokemon and stepped back, making room for the next Elite Four member.

This next one was a mountain of muscle, easily towering over any other person in the Elite Four.

Bruno was both an expert Fighting Type specialist and a master of martial arts. Even outside of Pokemon battling, he was famous for both the talent and spiritual knowledge that he had.

Taking out a Poke Ball, he released a large, bulky, humanoid Pokemon with four arms. Machamp, his main partner, and a Pokemon widely feared equally for both its ferocity and skill.

As the battle began, the boy looked up and smiled as he saw a brunette haired woman walking in.

Delia smiled at her son as she took a seat next to him on the couch.

"Sorry I got here late Ash. I had to clean up something that spilled in the kitchen."

The boy, Ash, nodded, but had become a bit more fixated on the battle as it began.

Delia scratched her head. "So Lorelei already went down? That was quick."

"She was up against one of Lance's strongest Pokemon." Ash reminded. "That Salamence is one of the three greatest Pokemon ever used by an Indigo Trainer, along with Lance's Dragonite and Charizard."

Ash sounded quite giddy when he said that.

As Salamence and Machamp went at it, Salamence once again with the very clear advantage, Delia found herself looking at her son somewhat longingly on occasion.

Since Ash had turned ten years old just less than two weeks ago, and had passed the Indigo League Qualification Exam, he was going to be among one of the many, many children inIndigo to receive their Pokedexes and Starter Pokemon on the Opening Day of the next Indigo League Season. They would officially become Pokemon Trainers.

That upcoming Opening Day was going to be tomorrow. Which meant that this was the last night that she would be spending with her son now that his long awaited journey was about to begin.

She could already feel the tears filling up in her eyes at the thought, but she did her best to hold them back and focus on the battle for now. No need for Ash to see her crying on the eve of his big day.

With her attention back on the battle at hand, Machamp had just landed a desperate right hook to the Salamence's chin. Although the massive beast recoiled quite visibly from the mighty blow, it wasn't enough to keep it at bay for long, and it immediately went back on the offensive, depriving Bruno and Machamp of any potential breathing room.

After that, Machamp was defeated in a matter of minutes, Salamence still not looking much worse than when the battle had started.

After returning his Pokemon, Bruno stepped back, making way for the next Elite Four Member.

This one was an extremely beautiful young woman with silver-blue hair. It was Karen, a Dark Type Pokemon Master. At just the age of eighteen years old, she was easily the youngest of the Elite Four Members, having obtained her position only three years prior after winning the Conference and claiming the Elite Four Title. She was notably tied with Steven, the former Ever Grande Champion, for being the second youngest to claim such a position. Karen was widely famed for being such a prodigious Pokemon Trainer. If Lance didn't exist, she would very easily be labeled as Indigo's greatest prodigy.

Ash stared at Karen with just slightly more fixation than he did at the others, with the slightest tinge of red slowly but surely developing on his cheeks.

Delia looked over and smiled at the boy. Ash's "celebrity crush" on Karen wasn't unknown to her, although she still tried not to tease him too much about it.

"Tried", of course, being an important key word in that case.

Lance recalled his Salamence and released another creature. This one was a giant, orange lizard with big wings and a blazing flame at the end of its large tail.

It was Charizard. The next member of Lance's trio.

And no Charizard in all of Indigo was more feared than the one commanded by the Dragon Master himself.

Much like Salamence, Charizard announced its presence to the world with a roar that shook the very earth.

A small, confident smirk was on Karen's face as she took out her Pokeball, stretching her legs as she held the orb in front of the battlefield.

Much like Lance, Karen was known to revel in the attention that she received on the battlefield. She was known for being a crowd pleaser, a big part of why she was such a popular Trainer in the Conference.

A bright flash of light exited her Pokeball as an enormous, dark looking Dragon with three heads emerged from it.

Karen was notorious for having a dangerous team, more than typical for such a high level Dark specialist like her. However, although she had many deadly Pokemon in her arsenal, Hydreigon was easily the worst.

Hydreigon were infamous for their bloodthirsty nature. The fact that Karen had tamed one in her childhood years was considered one of the greatest feats that a Trainer could ever perform. This particular Hydreigon more than lived up to the name of its species. Both in terms of battle prowess… and ruthless bloodlust.

Greeting Charizard with a mighty, earth shattering roar of its own, Hydreigon immediately readied itself for battle.

Charizard was less than intimidated, but was quick to acknowledge its opponent, before taking to the skies and allowing a gigantic stream of fire to escape from its mouth. Lance's Charizard was capable of producing some of the fiercest of firestorms just by opening its mouth alone.

As Hydreigon avoided the blast, an intense battle began to unfold.

Although Lance's Charizard had a similar reputation to its Trainer's Salamence, Karen's Hydreigon found itself fairing somewhat better against Charizard than the previous two Pokemon had against Salamence. The giant, three headed Dragon arguably had far more raw power than any other Pokemon in the Indigo Elite Four, and even Lance's team at least had to be wary of it.

In fact, Hydreigon eventually found itself receiving a moment of glory when it smashed Charizard into the protective barriers, proceeding to rip off quite a large chunk of the beast's shoulder.

It was a short lived moment, however, as Charizard still had the upper hand overall. Soon, Hydreigon was still on the ground, defeated.

It had certainly lasted longer than the previous two Pokemon that Lance had gone up against that night, and also had a significantly better showing too, but in the end, the end result had still surprised very few.

Returning her Hydreigon, a mildly dejected (but not necessarily surprised) Karen stepped back to make way for the final Elite Four Member.

Agatha, an elderly old woman and an absolute Pokemon Master of everything that was related to Ghost Types, stepped up next. She was by far the oldest of the bunch, more than twice as old as any of them, and with age came experience, and it most certainly shows with her.

She had held her position as an Elite Four Member for multiple decades now. Her Ghost Type Pokemon were feared almost as much as Lance's Dragon Types purely because of how terrifying that they were.

Much like with Dragons, anyone who commanded a Ghost had already far earned respect. Especially a high level Ghost. Of all of the people participating in the League Rush, Agatha easily stood tall as the one with the most knowledge of their respective Typing. Far surpassing even Lance's knowledge on Dragon Types.

Agatha might have been the most knowledgeable Ghost specialist that there ever was,and a historic legend for her authoritative presence throughout multiple generations of Pokemon Trainers in Indigo.

A Gengar was released out in front of her. The signature member of her team, and by far the most feared of the bunch.

Despite its immense shoulder wound, Charizard was more than battle ready.

As the battle began, not even Gengar, known for its raw power, could hope to match Charizard in a purely offensive contest. Thankfully, it had never needed to in the first place. Agatha's Pokemon were famous for their deadly tactics and it more than showed with Gengar.

About halfway through the battle, Gengar had managed to shoot a large blast of sludge right into the wound that Hydreigon had left behind. Charizard's roar of pain had been positively deafening, and the poison had immediately begun to course through its system.

It was very rare for a Pokemon battle to not be brutal. It was even more rare for a high level Pokemon battle like this one to not be near deadly.

The amount of immense pain that Charizard suffered from still was not enough to take it out of the fight, though. Even with the poison coursing through its body, even with the deadly toxins surging through its very bloodstream, Charizard still managed to persevere, finally defeating Gengar with a mighty Blast Burn that shook the stadium.

Charizard was barely standing, but it was still standing.

Even so, Lance recalled Charizard immediately after Agatha recalled Gengar. Having used up all of its energy in the battle, it was no longer capable of fighting properly anymore.

Agatha stepped back, and the Elite Four seemed to have a brief discussion, seemingly to determine who would be using the fifth and final Pokemon.

After a few moments, Agatha stepped back up again, releasing a white Ghost that Ash recognized as a Froslass.

The crowd roared as Lance released his final Pokemon. A massive orange Dragon that towered over its Trainer. Dragonite was here.

Salamence, Charizard, and Dragonite, Indigo's ultimate trio undoubtedly. Lance was using all three of them today.

Even as Froslass whipped up an enormous Blizzard against the mighty Dragon, it was immediately clear who the victor would be in the end, as Dragonite countered with an equally big blast of fire. Even as the two traded attacks, it was very clear that Froslass was overwhelmed. The frosty ghost persevered as best that could be managed, and to the Pokemon's credit, it held out against Dragonite much better than most would.

That still wasn't enough to claim victory, however, and the battle eventually ended as Dragonite sent Froslass flying into the protective barriers with a mighty Dragon Rush.

It hadn't been a completely one sided fight but the end result was practically inevitable.

/

Ash lay down on his back in his bed. The thoughts of the battle were still flooding his mind, but not nearly as much as what the upcoming day would bring to him.

The moment that he both anticipated and feared his whole life up to this point was finally to come. It was a moment that both excited and scared him on equal terms.

One of those moments in your life that you looked forward to without a shadow of a doubt, but still dreaded indescribably. A moment that filled you with both joy and paralysing fear.

It was hard to sleep with such conflicting thoughts, but Ash's own exhaustion eventually overcame him. As he drifted off, the same thoughts filled his mind, continuing to stir the mixed emotions flowing within both his mind and his body.

Just tomorrow morning, he would become a Pokemon Trainer.

/

The sun rose high in the air as the morning light filled Ash's room. It was seven in the morning, the start of a new day.

But this day wasn't just any day for the young boy.

Ash's awakening was practically automatic as his eyes slowly opened, the boy lying on his back as he stared up at the ceiling. It didn't take very long for him to process the fact that he was now awake.

It only took just a little bit longer for him to remember just what today was.

That had him jolting upwards.

He took in his room for a few seconds as the emotions came back, surging through his body like a fierce river.

He was getting his Trainer's License!

This was what he wanted! He had been ecstatic when he passed the Qualification Exam! But he had to leave home now that his journey was starting. What if he got killed by a wild Pokemon. Or crushed in an avalanche. Or-

He began shaking his head vigorously.

No time for doubt. He had already made up his mind and couldn't start second guessing himself just because the moment had arrived.

He was going to do this. After spending years growing up with this dream he wasn't just going to run away from it just because of the risks, right?

Did Lance run away? Or Agatha? Or Karen? Or Bruno? Or Lorelei? What about all of those Trainers who competed in the Indigo Conference throughout the years? Over five hundred Pokemon Trainers from across Kanto, The Orange Archipelago, Johto, and The Sevii Islands who had risen above the rest.

All of them had accepted the challenges ahead.

All of them had overcome what awaited him.

What was his excuse? That he was scared?

Wasn't every Trainer scared at one point or another? The best ones didn't become the best by running away.

Professor Oak, prior to being the renowned Pokemon Researcher that he was today, had also excelled as a Pokemon Trainer in his youth. Although research was always his goal, being a traditional Trainer to start out had been an excellent foundation for him as a Researcher. His reputation as a Researcher had started out with him facing all of those same exact hardships.

Ash wouldn't run away. It didn't matter how much it scared him, he had to remind himself that he couldn't let fear inhibit his goals.

Of course, he had to remind himself of that constantly.

How many times had he had to give himself this inner pep talk? He had lost count ages ago.

Was every Trainer going through this? Every Trainer throughout history? Did even the best Trainers go through this? Was Gary going through this?

Pfft, Ash sincerely doubted that last one immediately.

The thought of Gary made him grimace in recoil, but Ash immediately tried to push those feelings aside for now.

He already knew from the beginning that Gary would be there. The grandson of Professor Oak. The brilliant prodigy who wouldn't stop bragging about his precious perfect score on the Qualification Exam.

It's not that Gary didn't have a right to brag about it, of course. Nobody had scored perfectly on that test before. Nobody until he came along.

And Gary was never humble.

Ash would cross that bridge when he came to it. He didn't want to see Gary. But he would. They would both be at the Lab in two hours.

Pushing Gary away from his mind and ensuring that the mere thought of the other boy was as far away as possible, Ash looked around his room for what would most likely be the very last time for months, if not more.

This was the room he had been in his whole life. Second story of the house. A window overlooking the front yard of his and his mom's home.

The room itself was pretty simple. Ash doubted that it was uncommon for the average ten year old in Indigo.

His bed was against the wall with Pokeball themed sheets. The pillowcase had pictures of the three Kanto Starters on it. Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. The typical Pokemon for any Trainer in Kanto to start out with. To pay tribute to the legendary, and powerful, trio of Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise that had been famously wielded by the original Champion in the war against the usurper of Fuschia. There was a desk in front of his window that was currently cleared out for the most part, only holding a small case of erasers and marbles.

On the wall over his bed was a giant poster of a Wailord. On the other side of the room was a poster of Karen. She was kneeling down and lightly placing a hand on the head of her Starter Pokemon, an Umbreon, her signature teammate, with her infamous Hydreigon towering above both of them in the background.

That poster was made shortly after Karen had won the Indigo Conference just a few years ago. The final battle of that Conference was still Ash's personal favorite Pokemon Battle of all time to this very day, and he still found himself rewatching it every now and then. The Conference itself was probably his personal favorite too. The Dark specialist was Ash's favorite Conference winner, and Delia had purchased the poster in recognition of that.

Not too far from it was a poster of Lance and the current Elite Four Members. Lance stood above the others with his mighty Dragonite towering in the background. The Dragon Master was crossing his arms fiercely.

Ash took in both posters quite a bit greatly.

Although Lance was most obviously the strongest Trainer in Indigo, the young boy still had an equal amount of idolization for all of the Elite Four Members as he did for Lance himself. All of these Trainers embodied what he eventually wanted to be. Not to mention the destiny that most Trainers strived for: Being a Pokemon Master.

On the shelves were action figures of Lance and Bruno, a toy Pokeball, and a DVD row of the Conferences that Ash watched. Two Conferences, one of them being the one that Karen had won, were special editions that included exclusive interviews that took place after the Conference, not just the interviews that took place before and during the Conference. They also contained a mini biography of the four top scoring Trainers. A bookshelf housed a series of biographies for famous people in the Pokemon world, most commonly popular Trainers, with the exception being Professor Oak's famed biography detailing his road from Trainer to Researcher. That was Ash's favorite book ever, and he had done a report on it as part of the Qualification Exam, which involved doing a book report for a book that covered a prominent topic in the Professional Pokemon World.

Some of these books were Professor Oak's own works, however. A separate bookshelf housed some textbooks and poetry collections that had been written by Professor Oak himself. Professor Oak was so widely renowned for both his knowledge of Pokemon and poetry skills that even some of his poems managed to be educational for aspiring Pokemon Trainers.

Finally, Ash gazed at the last of his posters on the wall: A poster of the three Kanto Region Starters.

Truth be told, Ash didn't know who he was going to choose. He already knew who Gary had wanted, though. For the essay portion of the Qualification Exam, which involved the students writing a ten page paper on any Pokemon related subject of their choosing, Gary had written a persuasive essay about why he believed that Blastoise was the best Kanto Starter Pokemon. Apparently the essay had covered everything, from capabilities, to what it took to raise the Starter Pokemon, and even traveling. Although Gary had received a perfect score on the entire Exam, this was apparently the part of the Exam that the teachers were particularly astounded by. Gary's essay had blown all of them away. Apparently it was going to be used as an example for future students moving forward.

It was pretty obvious to Ash that Gary was going to be choosing Squirtle, so the young boy didn't even bother trying to pursue the Water Type Starter Pokemon. No need for them to have yet another thing to butt heads over.

Besides, Ash firmly believed that all three of the Kanto Starter Pokemon were equal. A Bulbasaur or a Charmander would both do just fine for him.

Ash didn't have the self awareness to admit it, but he was a fanboy. Of professional Pokemon Training. Was it actually normal for people his age to have posters of famous Conference winners, a Pokemon themed bed, and essentially a room that had everything to do with Pokemon and little to do with anything else? Maybe to someone like Ash, but not everyone his age was that obsessed with Pokemon Training. For as many Trainers as there were who were pursuing a professional career, there were just as many who merely went on a journey for the sake of the experience.

In terms of culture, Pokemon Training was viewed both by Indigo and most of the rest of the world, not only as a professional sport, but as a coming of age ritual. Very few children didn't at least find themselves attempting it. It was practically a fundamental part of society in every major Region throughout the world.

For Ash, it was both that, and a destined goal to fulfill as the next Champion.

One look at his room was all that someone needed in order to know that.

/

The scent of Delia's incredible cooking immediately assaulted Ash's nose as he opened the door. It was the kind of smell that would get just about any child bolting into the kitchen and rushing into their mother's arms. Ash had to be careful not to fall down the stairs as he desperately ran for the kitchen to see his mother's latest masterpiece.

Truth be told, Ash had fallen down the stairs at least a few times in his life, and the desperation to taste his mother's cooking had always been the reason for it.

Delia was practically a celebrity among the people of Pallet Town for her incredible cooking skills. Even Gary of all people fawned over her culinary skills like no other, something that was very rare for a kid who usually spent most of his time praising himself, apart from the many, many times that he spent gushing over just how great that his grandfather was. Sometimes Delia would even be hired to help out with cooking for events or gatherings within Pallet Town. Despite not having a career in cooking, she very clearly was suited for it.

As Ash made his way into the kitchen, it suddenly occurred to him that this would be the last time that he would ever taste his mother's cooking before he left, but he very quickly shook those thoughts away.

It was just all the more reason to savor every last bite of it.

Ash and Delia were seated across from each other not too long after Ash had entered the kitchen. Ash had his plate stacked with pancakes and bacon. A bowl of cinnamon applesauce rested next to it, and a glass of chocolate milk was on the other side. Delia had a similar setup, but she had strawberries on her pancakes, while Ash had blueberries and whipped cream.

Delia was clearly still in turmoil over her son's upcoming departure, as she had been for the past couple of weeks now. Her stress had increasingly grown gradually yet noticeably as the days had gone by.

But she did what she could to hold back her tears, and enjoy one final breakfast with her beloved little boy, who she was so proud of.

"So…" said the brunette woman, sipping her drink slowly. "How much ground are you planning to cover on your first day?"

Ash tapped his fork lightly against the plate before answering. "I'm hoping to get to Viridian City by tonight." he said. "Best case scenario, anyway. It's doable from here, but difficult."

Delia nodded. Viridian City was a decent distance away from Pallet Town, but it was most certainly possible.

"And you have everything packed?" she asked. She knew he did, but was desperate to make conversation with the emotions surging through her right now. Any distraction would be welcome. She knew she was only delaying the inevitable, of course. She'd be crying eventually.

The longer she held her emotions in, the worse it would be when they left her. She knew this, and yet, couldn't help herself. It was a dreadful feeling. The pride that she had for her son was matched only by the grief of losing him today.

Ash nodded back happily. "Yeah, I finished last night. Regardless of whether or not I make it to Viridian City by tonight, it shouldn't take any more than a couple of days, so I packed lightly. I can restock when I get there."

Most of the remainder of breakfast was eaten in silence, the two just enjoying each other's presence for the time being. It was all that they could do at this point. And Ash felt the tears in his eyes towards the end too, just like his mother. This really was their last morning together for a while, and it was a thought that neither of them could escape despite everything.

A son who would leave his world behind to pursue a dream impossible to achieve by nearly all, and a mother who would be among those that he would leave.

/

The air of Pallet Town was crisp, clean, and perfect. As Ash stepped outside, he couldn't think of a better morning to start out for his adventure.

He had promised his mom that he would stop by one more time with his new Starter before officially leaving Pallet Town today. With some wetness in his eyes, he found himself procrastinating the moment that he said goodbye to her.

As he walked, he found himself slowly taking in his surroundings. Pallet Town was something that he had always taken for granted. Apart from Professor Oak's presence, it was nothing special, and even if it was a substantial place, he was perfectly used to it, having lived here his whole entire life so far.

In fact, Ash, and, to his knowledge, all of the other Pallet Town kids, had never actually set foot outside of Pallet Town's walls before. There was simply no need. Everything that they ever could have needed was right here, and he didn't have any loved ones outside of the place.

Ash had never heard anything about his classmates leaving the place, although he supposed it was possible that they had without him knowing, since some of them did have loved ones elsewhere. Nevertheless, it was commonplace for most Pallet Town kids to not leave Pallet Town until becoming Trainers. It was odd that the rest of Indigo was completely foreign to him, practically a completely different world, in fact, but that was just the way that it was, he supposed.

And yet, he found himself… noticing the place more. Now that he was taking the whole entire town in, now that he was leaving soon… everything suddenly seemed so… different. He noticed the place in ways that he never had before. He appreciated the places that he had spent his whole life taking for granted. Every tiny little detail suddenly became enormous, as though it was suddenly the most important thing in his entire life.

"Hey, Ash!"

The boy turned to see a small girl running up mto him with a wave. His face immediately brightened upon seeing who it was.

"Trucy!" said Ash, kneeling down to ruffle her blonde hair with a smile. She and her grandparents were neighbors of Ash and Delia. The girl was only five years old, not that much older than Ash was when he first became obsessed with Professional Pokemon Training. Ash mostly knew her family through Delia and her work, as working and training under professor Oak often involved interacting with them, as they were technicians who often helped the Professor out with his maintenance for the complete multitude of gadgets in his lab. Nevertheless, Ash had grown quite close to her, specifically, often interacting with her out of typical circumstances. She had even come over on the night of the Final Round of the previous Indigo Conference to watch it with Ash and Delia. A good match that they had all enjoyed together.

"She knew you were leaving today, so she wanted to catch you." Ash looked up at the source of the new voice, a somewhat elderly man approaching him and Trucy. Ash immediately recognized him as Trucy's grandfather.

"Hey, Mr. Gernin." He greeted with a smile. "Yeah, I was on my way to the Lab right now."

"You'll come back and visit one day too, right Ash?" Trucy asked hopefully. There was a small frown forming on her face.

Ash ruffled her hair again. "Of course. I'll be sure to show you my team too."

Ash still had roughly an hour before he needed to be at the Lab, so he chatted with them for just a little while longer.

It was then he realised that it wasn't just Pallet Town that he had been taking for granted for all of these years. It was also the very people that he had been growing up around, too.

/

Professor Oak's Pokemon Laboratory was probably the only grandiose thing about Pallet Town. It was the site of Indigo's greatest Pokemon Research, where the territory's leading Pokemon Expert lead a team that consisted of gifted individuals who were making all of the biggest breakthroughs about Pokemon. The only other person in the Pokemon Research field that Ash could recall having a similar reputation that rivaled even that of Professor Oak was Professor Rowan of the Sinnoh Region, a former roommate, classmate, and colleague of Professor Oak's who had studied with him at the International Institution of Pokemon Studies. The school was notoriously difficult to get into, but turned out some of the best and brightest minds of the whole entire Pokemon world.

The Professor's story? A glorious one. A legend. One of the greatest success stories of the Pokemon world. All detailed within the pages of the world famous biography book that Ash had done a book report on.

A young boy coming from humble beginnings within the Kanto Region, Samuel Oak had always wanted to become a world renowned Pokemon Researcher. Somebody who could lead the field of studies to new heights in the pursuit of knowledge. However, to start out, he wanted to become a great Pokemon Trainer first. If he was going to help Trainers with his research, then actually being a Trainer would do quite a bit of wonders for his goal.

And what a Trainer he was.

One of the very few trainers in history to make it to the Conference in their first year. Not just in Indigo, but in the world. One of the very few Trainers in history to make it to the six-on-six rounds in their second year. Once again, in the world. The runner up in his third year as a Trainer. And finally, winning the Conference in his fourth year as a Trainer. One of the youngest Conference winners. Nobody had ever won a Conference before their fourth year. He then just barely lost to the first Elite Four Member. Much like all Conference winners who lost to the first Elite Four Member, he was immediately offered a position in the League.

But he hadn't forgotten his true reasons for becoming a Pokemon Trainer. It was to pursue knowledge. Knowledge that he now had. He politely declined the Indigo League's offer and pursued the International Institution of Pokemon Studies.

After finally being accepted into the school, he quickly befriended his roommate, Professor Rowan, a fellow Freshman. The duo quickly became the two top students at the school. Samuel also became the head of the school's poetry club. To this very day, he is still a world renowned poet.

After graduating with numerous prominent degrees and returning to Indigo, Samuel joined the League as part of its research field. After quickly rising to the top of its research field, he chose to set up shop in Pallet Town. Nobody knew why. He had no sort of personal history with Pallet Town, which wasn't even built until just a few months after his Pokemon journey had begun, but he claimed to have been attracted to the town's much more simplistic atmosphere.

He had made multiple breakthroughs throughout his research. New discoveries on Pokemon biology. Ways for Pokemon to grow and learn moves. But his greatest achievement, was a collaboration project with his old schoolmate, Professor Rowan, who was now the head of the Sinnoh League's research field. Together, the two of them had led a genius team that eventually culminated in the creation of the legendary Pokedex.

A famous Pokemon Trainer. A famous poet too. And one of the single greatest Pokemon Researchers that the world has ever known. Professor Oak was many things.

And he was also in charge of Pallet Town's educational system. He had an overarching authority over education in Indigo in general, but since this was where he resided, this was also where his role was by far the most direct.

And this was his Lab, where he ran everything from.

Taking a deep breath, Ash could still barely even comprehend the fact that he was actually here today. He had been projected to fail the Qualification Exam.

"You're a determined young man, Ash, and that's why I don't want you to fail. I know how much passing this test means to you, but you also know that I can't be lenient with any of you. That would defeat the purpose. The only thing I can ask is that you study extra hard in preparation. It's not uncommon for even top students to fail this on their first attempt."

The words of one of Ash's teachers, Mr. David Henrod, sounded in his mind once again.

"You really think YOU of all people have a place in the Pokemon Training world, Ashy boy? A Ratatta with no legs and teeth has more potential than you!"

Gary's far less encouraging words echoed into the back of his mind at the same exact time, though.

Ugh, why did Gary always have to enter his mind like that? Everytime Ash thought of how capable he might be, one of Gary's stupid insults would always enter his mind and bring down his mood very quickly.

It was always Gary. The popular one. The smart one. The gifted one. Gary Oak, Pallet Town's greatest prodigy. Destined to be either the next Professor Oak or the next Lance.

It was hard to believe that he and Gary were actually friends at one point. Back when they were children. Back before Gary turned on him. Back before Ash fell behind.

That was what happened, wasn't it? Ash was part of the group of kids just like everybody else. He and Gary got along just fine, and Gary, being the grandson of the Professor, was the leader of course.

They had all gotten into the idea of Pokemon Training at around a similar age. Perfect timing, too, because that was when the school had started prepping them. A bunch of small children striving to one day become the greatest. A common story in just about any one of the major Regions.

And of course Gary had excelled. Just like he did at everything else too. Just like how he was the best at playing tag. Just like how he was the best at playing soccer or tennis. Just like how he was the best at racing. Gary was the best at school.

Showered with praise by peers and teachers alike, Gary quickly ascended to something akin to godhood among the student body. Everybody knew about Professor Oak's grandson who was the best at everything.

It was all about Gary. Who came in first place in every game? Gary. Who scored the highest on every test? Gary. Who was projected to have a nearly flawless chance at passing the Qualification Exam? Gary.

Everybody wanted to be him. But you couldn't be Gary. Only Gary could ever be Gary. Only Gary could be the best.

And he wouldn't shut up about it either. Gary had always had an ego, but with all of the praise about how great that he was, the potential that he had, something in him changed. He wasn't just arrogant anymore. He was narcissistic. He was unbearable. He had a god complex. And everyone ate it up too. To all of the kids, Gary deserved his massive ego. Everything that he said about himself was completely true. He was the best. He was unbeatable. Nobody could ever be him. Only he could be him.

And that just made his ego even worse. The teachers didn't condone his arrogance, but that hardly helped when they still fed him the very same praise that fueled it in the first place. All of this talk about how Gary was destined for greatness, not just from his peers, but from his teachers too. It just made things even worse.

And then there was Ash. Everything that Gary wasn't, and not in a good way. Sure, he was just as determined, and just as obsessed with being the best. But Gary was the one with the capabilities.

Ash, in the meantime, had subpar grades throughout his school life. A difficulty in grasping even basic concepts at times. At times, he was at the bottom of his class.

To Gary, Ash was worthless. No potential for greatness. No worth to his name. Ash had fallen behind.

And eventually, some of the other students turned on Ash too. If Gary said that Ash was worthless, then Ash was worthless. Because Gary knew everything. Gary was right about everything. His word is law. He was the one that everyone followed. He could probably convince them that Rhydon were immune to water if he wanted. Gary said that Ash was worthless. Therefore Ash was worthless.

Encouraging, constructive criticism from his teachers clashed with the bombardment of bullying, mockery, mistreatment, and neglect from Gary and all of his followers. Ash was the loser of Pallet Town and represented what zero potential supposedly looked like. Any positive statements from his teachers were drowned out by everything else that Gary and the others had said to him all of the time. The other students weren't as harsh as Gary, but they certainly believed everything that Gary said about him.

Every time he thought back to somebody saying something good about him, the thought was immediately drowned out by a thing that Gary had said to him. Every time he had tried to encourage himself, a memory of Gary was always right there, ready and waiting to shoot him down. Gary ruined everything. Anything positive in his life was overrun by remembering something that Gary had once said. Every single time.

"Wow Ash, you're so cool! I can't believe you know all of this stuff about them!" The adoring voice of Trucy, after Ash had given her a brief history lesson on some of the last Indigo Conference's top competitors, was immediately drowned out by a memory of one of Gary's insults.

"Did you see Ashy boy's grades on that last test? I took a peak over at his desk, and you wouldn't believe it! A forty nine! And he wants to become a Pokemon Master? At this point, I think he's just messing with us and actually just wants to become a comedian. Not that it matters, because he isn't even funny!" Gary, after finding out about Ash's grades for one of the monthly evaluation quizzes.

Come the Qualification Exam, and Ash wasn't even sure if he wanted to even try. Not EVERYONE needed to take it. Just those who wanted to become Pokemon Trainers. Which, in Pallet Town, was everyone. The teachers had done a great job at selling the profession.

Of course, Gary had tried to talk him out of it. Telling him that there was no point in it. Ash was going to fail anyway. So why even bother.

Thankfully, Mr. Henrod had pulled Ash aside and given him words of encouragement to do his best.

And so, Ash did.

The Qualification Exam consisted of three difficult parts:

One was the bulk of the Exam, a series of questions relating to just about everything about Pokemon Training. Travel habits, type matchups, biology, among various other things. Rookies weren't expected to know all of the complexities, but they needed to master the basics. It was difficult for new Trainers, but experienced Trainers would probably find it quite easy.

Then there was the book report, which Ash had done on Professor Oak's story.

Finally, there was the essay, the topic of which the Trainer could choose on their own. Ash had chosen to do his on taking care of Pokemon Eggs and baby Pokemon. For hands on experience, he helped take care of an Egg at Professor Oak's Lab, which had recently hatched into a baby Heracross.

To pass the Exam, you needed an overall grade that exceeded eighty percent. Most Trainers who passed the Exam just barely passed with a score in the low eighties. Eighty one and eighty two were by far the most common scores.

This year, twenty students had taken the Exam. A record number for Pallet Town in the past few years apparently. Albeit not by much.

Only four of them had passed. One of them was obviously Gary, which literally nobody was surprised by. Two others were two of Gary's friends, Angelina and Sarah.

The other one, to everybody's shock, was Ash.

What's more, Ash had scored far higher than any of his and Gary's classmates. While Angelina had scored an eighty one, and Sarah had scored an eighty two, Ash had scored a ninety. He was shocked. Everyone was shocked. But not nearly as much as Ash was.

The teachers were awed by Ash's performance, and wouldn't stop congratulating him for it.

"I knew you could do it, Ash! It was always within you, you just needed to find it!"

Gary and his friends, on the other hand, were convinced that Ash had somehow cheated on the Exam.

And of course, Gary still upstaged him by quite a bit. He had gotten a perfect score on the Exam. Nobody in the world had ever achieved such a feat before Gary came along.

It only further fueled the praise that Gary had been given. He was destined to either be the next Professor Oak or the next Lance. Both titles were equally huge honors, albeit for completely different reasons.

Ash held his breath as he approached the Laboratory. This was it. The very beginning of his journey.

/

Ash ascended the steps of the Lab with multiple thoughts racing through his mind.

Which Starter Pokemon would he pick? Gary already knew which one he wanted but Ash was still clueless. He was obviously excited to get a Starter, but which one? Part of him was glad that he didn't have a preference; it would mean that he wouldn't be disappointed that much. But it also meant that he was still at the drawing board in terms of who to actually choose.

How was Professor Oak doing, anyway? Ash hadn't seen him in person since he had personally congratulated everyone who had passed the Exam. Along with providing encouragement for those who had failed. It was usually somewhat rare for somebody to pass the Exam on their first attempt, anyway. Second attempts, on the other hand, almost always resulted in success.

Unfortunately, those thoughts were all interrupted by a voice. The last voice that he had wanted to hear, but one that he knew that he would be hearing eventually.

"Nine in the morning, on the dot today. You actually made it in time, Ashy boy."

Ash whirled around and faced the last person that he had wanted to see. The source of the boy's lack of confidence and pent up insecurities was standing right there.

Snarling through his teeth, a now angry Ash spoke the boy's name.

"Gary."

The other boy was smirking. When was he not?

He was about Ash's height, maybe a little bit taller. His hair was brown and spiky. His facial features were sharp, with his smug grin practically being his default facial expression.

It was a grin that Ash had seen many different times.

Gary crossed his arms and leaned against the railing, acting as if he owned the world.

He probably thought that he did, at this point.

"Can't believe you're actually going through with this. I'm still trying to figure out how you cheated on the Exam. I can't believe those teachers were all fooled into actually thinking that you could have gotten a ninety."

Gritting his teeth, Ash clenched his fists, but no words came out.

He was never good at comeback lines, especially with Gary.

Calm down, he told himself. You knew this whole entire time that Gary was going to be here. You were prepared.

But being prepared for something was always different from actually experiencing it. Ash thought that he was ready to face Gary, but maybe he wasn't.

The other boy pushed past him. "Out of my way. Future Champs first, you know?"

Still grumbling to himself, Ash followed Gary into the Lab.

/

Tailing behind Gary, Ash found himself in the massive main lobby of the Lab.

The room was air conditioned, with a large flat screen on one of the walls. Potted plants were on the reception desk, occupied by a young, copper haired woman who looked like she was in her early to mid twenties.

She waved to Ash and Gary as two more people walked in.

One was an orange haired man in a blue suit.

David Henrod.

The other one was a pink haired woman wearing a bright red uniform.

Another teacher, Brittney Staridd.

Both worked directly under Professor Oak as teachers and research assistants.

"It's great to see you two here!" Brittney spoke in a gentle, yet bubbly voice. She had always been the most gentle and easygoing of the teachers, making her beloved by the student body. David, while strict, was still quite friendly outside of the classroom. "Just please wait a few more minutes until Professor Oak is ready to see you!"

A few minutes alone with Gary sounded insufferable, but Ash abided as the two teachers exited the lobby.

Gary looked around, likely for his friends. "I guess the others aren't here yet. I'm going to get them for being late like this. It's making me look bad." He headed off to a corner of the Lab to examine a poster of Lance.

Ash did his best to ignore him and wait. Maybe Gary would poof out of existence if Ash just pretended that he didn't exist in the first place.

/

"Can you believe the teachers are buying this crap? How could Ashy boy of all people get a ninety?"

Ash watched from afar as Gary, crossing his arms with agitation, conversed with a boy with blue hair.

He did his best not to be seen as he listened in on their discussion.

The boy that Gary conversed with huffed as he nodded in agreement. "True. I thought they were smarter than that too. The loser has been barely getting by these past few years and all of a sudden he passes the Exam with flying colors? He excels at the Exam just like that? Something is obviously suspicious."

Ash gritted his teeth. But he had studied HARD! He had half in mind to march right on up to both of them and give them a piece of his mind. Who were they to judge him? Was the class just jealous that the "failure" had outperformed most of them for once? He wanted to just vent to them right now. Tell them exactly what he felt. But he already knew that he wouldn't.

Nobody in the student body could ever hope to win an argument with Gary Oak. Especially Ash, and certainly with everybody else always backing him up.

"We'll find a way to out him eventually I am sure." said Gary reassuringly. "In the meantime, we should let the others know about this. I'm sure they are just as suspicious as we are."

The other boy nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. You're always on top of things like this, Gary."

As the two walked away, Ash found himself slumping on the ground. Was there no way to get respect in this world? He had rightfully EARNED that high grade.

He had… hadn't he?

/

Ash allowed himself to sink into the sofa as he examined the flatscreen. It was showing a news broadcast of the Opening Day.

All across Indigo, new Trainers were receiving their Starter Pokemon from whatever Lab they lived closest to. Professor Oak had Labs in every major city and town, in addition to his main Lab here in Pallet Town.

All of the different Regions and territories usually tried to have their Opening Day on the same day. Although, apparently both Sinnoh and Kalos had chosen to start just a little bit over a week early this year.

Either way, a new Season of Pokemon Training had officially begun.

"As stated before," said the news anchor that Ash was watching. "This Season has had new rookie Trainers from Indigo at an all time high. Thanks to the Qualification Exam having the highest pass rate this year, many places under Indigo's banner have received record numbers. Johto has received the highest overall turnout."

The screen switched over to an overhead view of a city. The news captions revealed it to be Goldenrod City.

A news reporter stood outside of the Lab in that city. Ash could already see many soon-to-be rookies lining up outside at the door. "Here in Goldenrod, over two hundred new Trainers will be receiving their Starter Pokemon today. That's a record high here for the city, and the second highest turnout for anywhere in Indigo this Season, behind only Celadon City of the Kanto Region, which is experiencing its third highest turnout in history. The citizens of Goldenrod are celebrating the massive new generation of Pokemon Trainers that this Season has spawned, here in the city alone."

Goldenrod, huh? That was surprising, but no wonder all of those people were celebrating so much. Goldenrod rarely ever got more than one hundred new Trainers every new Season. Just two years ago, they had gotten less than one dozen. They had never even come close to two hundred before.

Ash couldn't help but find himself smiling at that. The city had surpassed expectations. Was that similar to how he performed on the Qualification Exam too?

Celadon City was no surprise, however. That city was almost always at the top of the list in terms of how many rookies that it turned out with each new Season. Apparently they had some amazing schools because no other city in Indigo had the track record that Celadon did. Not only that, but just over half of the rookie trainers who actually made it to the Indigo Conference throughout Indigo's history, had come from Celadon City.

It was crazy to think about, really. A rookie Trainer making it to the Conference on their first ever year as a Trainer was fairly rare for any Region in the world. Even after passing the Qualification Exam, many Trainers who had mastered the basics weren't able to go much further than that in their rookie years alone. Any rookie Trainer that did make it to the Indigo Conference or any other Conference, for that matter, never made it very far. Even Lance himself had just barely lost in the first round of his rookie year. Although, according to interviews, he had often cited that one battle as one of his all time greatest experiences.

In short, getting to the Conference as a Rookie was rare. But by those rare standards, Celadon City almost always excelled.

In fact, they held the record for most new rookie Trainers produced in a single Season: three hundred fifty seven. That had been set a couple of years ago. Prior to that, the record was two hundred twenty. Once again in Celadon. That had been about a year after Lance first started out as a Trainer.

Of course, Pallet Town never saw those kinds of numbers. Being the small, simple place that it was. They might have had a few more Trainers this year, but a decent amount of Ash's classmates didn't turn ten until a few months after the Season started. And unfortunately, the League was very strict about Starter Pokemon distribution: It could only happen at the beginning of each Season.

It was meant to keep things consistent and give every Trainer an equal amount of time to collect the Badges. It was still a controversial choice, however. Most people accepted it. Those who did not… were very vocal.

It wasn't the only controversy surrounding the League. Easily the biggest was their regulation of foreign Pokemon.

Ash felt bad for those who essentially had to wait an entire year. He was glad that his tenth birthday was so shortly before the Opening Day.

Ash heard Gary scoff as the other boy approached him from behind.

"Look at them celebrating like that. What's the point? It's not like many of them even have a chance at making it to the Conference anyway."

Ash grimaced. It was true but…

"They have never gotten this many people before." He tried to say. "This is a historical moment for them."

"And what does that change? I guarantee you, most of those nobodys out there are going to get destroyed this Season. Maybe even quit. The Conference is reserved for the talented. Only a few have that potential. In other words, me."

So once again, everything was about him.

"Praise and adoration are reserved for those who deserve it. What's the point of being so excited about all of those kids getting their Trainers Licenses, when the world probably won't even remember most of them? What do the numbers mean then? That they got more rookies than usual, but didn't receive any greater numbers of actual talent than usual to go along with it? At that point, they are just getting excited at having even more expendable, no named Trainers than usual."

Ash flinched at that. It was… true, wasn't it? Plenty of Trainers became famous. Plenty were remembered. But those were only a fraction of the Trainers that received their License every Season. Pokemon Training was brutal, and a very difficult profession to genuinely be successful in. Most people who attempted it… didn't stand out. They were just yet another Trainer among a seemingly endless sea of them.

"It'll hit them one of these days, Ashy boy." said Gary smugly with a smirk. "Those who are the best will always rise to the top. Anyone who doesn't have what it takes will inevitably fall to the bottom, just another name forgotten in history because they were never capable of making their name worth remembering. It's a fact of life, and always will be. I think you'd benefit from keeping that in mind, you know. Wouldn't want you getting too disappointed."

Ash clenched his fists. His body was trembling now.

Was he… doomed to become one of those Trainers? Not somebody that history will remember, or appreciate, but… just another nameless face?

Was he going to… drown in that sea of Trainers?

Gary's hand was placed upon his shoulder. It was not a comforting one.

"At least Pallet Town will remember you. But only for your failure."

The trembling increased-

The door suddenly opened, and Ash was so grateful for Brittany's sudden presence.

"Alright you two, the Professor's ready!"

Ash sprang up just a little bit too quickly and immediately headed for the door as Gary marched on ahead.

Walking through the hallway, slowly behind Gary as Brittany led the way, Ash had tried to keep their previous exchange out of his mind. But he found it hard.

Was this really what his very start as a Trainer was going to be like? He couldn't let Gary ruin this for him. This was supposed to be his day, just as much as Gary's.

Why did Gary always poke verbal sticks into him whenever he was trying to be in a good mood? What did the boy have to gain from all of this?

Why was putting him down every day constantly on Gary's to-do list? What did Gary have against him? Was he really that worthless?

"Where are Angelina and Sarah?" he heard Gary blurt out. "I have a bone to pick with those two for being late."

"They are visiting family, so they will be receiving their Starters where they are right now." explained Brittany. "Angelina is in Cerulean while Sarah is in Viridian."

"Lame." Gary scoffed. "And they never even told me?"

What's the matter, Gary? Mad that your own peers actually have their own lives outside of your sheer greatness? That was what Ash wanted to say. But he knew better.

Brittany clasped her hands together. She was positively glowing.

"But you two will do just fine! The Professor's own grandson, and the son of one of the teachers in training studying under him? This is such a great day for him! He's over the moon!"

Professor Oak was pretty close to Delia, Ash supposed. She was apparently his best trainee at the moment. She was certainly on her way to becoming an officially licensed teacher. She might even be one a year from now.

Due to Delia's relationship with the Professor, Ash knew him more than the typical kid did. But it was still mostly through his mother. That was basically how he knew all of his more positive peers. He never would have known Trucy had Delia not been friends with her grandparents.

/

"Ash, the mail came in! Your Exam results are supposed to come in today, remember?"

"You open it first, mom." Ash wasn't paying much attention.

"Don't you want to be the first to see-"

"PLEASE."

Silently nodding, Delia began to open the package with a frown.

It was better this way. That's what Ash thought. When Delia saw that Ash had failed, she could break it to him sweetly. Gently. Rather than him being slammed with disappointment upon finding out for himself.

Delia slowly took the envelope out of the package as she opened it.

Ash heard a gasp.

Here it comes now.

Suddenly he was pulled into a hug. He didn't know how long she held it, but when she let go, she was crying.

But she was… smiling?

"My baby boy…" the tears were streaming down her face like a waterfall. "I'm so proud of you!"

Ash's face went blank.

"What do you mean, Mom-"

"Ash, look now!" she shoved the envelope in his face.

Attached to it was a sticky note.

Congratulations, Ash. We never thought it was impossible.

~David Henrod.

Gasping, Ash looked at the grade.

It was a ninety.

"You're going to become a Trainer now Ash." His mom was still crying at the news.

And now, so was he.

Part of those tears came from frustration, however. Of how difficult it was to process all of this at once.

/

The room was large, and filled with technology. But neither Ash, nor Gary were focused on the gadgets.

Standing in the middle of the room, smiling proudly, was Professor Oak himself. David was standing next to him.

Sometimes the citizens of Pallet Town came dangerously close to taking the Professor's presence for granted. For as famous as he was, he was an everyday part of Pallet Town.

A Clefable entered the room from the other side. She was a member of Professor Oak's team way back when. To the Professor, his time as a Trainer was practically an entirely separate lifetime from where he was now. The presence of his team was a constant reminder, however. Clefable was the most involved in his post-Trainer life.

And she had also accompanied him to the Institution, to happily assist him in his studies. Now, she was basically his number one assistant at the Lab. She and the Professor both adored one another. Given how far they had gone back, Ash couldn't help but wonder just how many memories that they had together.

Memories that he hoped he would make with his own team.

Ash loved Professor Oak's Clefable. She was by far the most compassionate creature that he had ever met. Sometimes she literally babysat him. Pokemon were just as capable of giving off a motherly aura as humans were. To Ash's knowledge, not a soul in Pallet Town didn't adore the Pokemon.

In Clefables hands was a tray of Pokeballs. Ash and Gary's eyes both lit up in greed.

That's when it hit them: The moment had finally arrived.

"Gary, Ash." said Professor Oak, stepping forward while beaming proudly. "It is my great pleasure and honor to be the one here to start your journey. I've watched you two grow for years, and it is all about to pay off now."

"First up," said David, approaching the two boys. "The Professor would like to present you with his greatest gadget: The Pokedex."

All Trainers received one. The Pokedex was an incredible tool that stored information and data about Pokemon, and acted as a Trainer's ID. It even contained a digital copy of their Trainer's License. It basically represented who the Trainer was.

"Alright!" exclaimed Gary with a grin as David handed him an aqua colored Pokedex. Ash was silent as he received a crimson one, but was still grinning every bit as widely.

Now it was Brittany's turn to step forward. "Don't forget the badge case! It's quite big, given the number of Gyms in Indigo, which just goes to show how many places you can visit!"

It was true. Since Indigo Was made up of Kanto, The Orange Archipelago, Johto, and The Sevii Islands, any combination of eight badges from those four places would earn a Trainer a spot in the Indigo Conference. It was a very big part of why there were so many Trainers competing in the first place. They were coming from multiple different parts of the vast empire.

Ash stared at his badge case for a few seconds after Brittany handed it to him.

Collecting eight badges and entering the Indigo Conference. Very few Trainers in Indigo, or even the world, had achieved such a feat before in their rookie year. But Ash would be one of them. That was his goal.

Especially after he promised Trucy.

"When you become a Trainer, are you going to be on there too, Ash?"

"Of course! Not many Rookies in the world reach the Conference on their first try, but I will! Come this time next year, you'll see me competing just like the Trainers we are watching right now! It's a promise!"

He wanted to do it anyway. To be the best Trainer in the world. To reach the Conference as a rookie would earn him immediate recognition. No rookies had ever gotten very far in a Conference before, in any Region, but for a first year Trainer, just making it there was more than enough to earn fame.

A Rookie who made it to the Conference was always talked about. They always stirred up a lot of conversation during the Conference, because of how impressive that it was. A true sign of a prodigy.

But seeing Trucy's eyes light up at his declaration. The sheer amount of joy and excitement on her face. It had doubled his convictions.

He wouldn't disappoint her, or himself. He would not drown in that endless sea of Trainers.

"Hey Ashy boy, you're spacing out. Clefable's trying to give you something."

Ash blinked at the sound of Gary's voice and looked to see Clefable standing in front of him, holding the tray of Pokeballs. Somewhat embarrassed, he took his share.

Gary wrapped his hands around the back of his head. "This is great and all, but I think even Ashy boy knows what the best part of this little ritual is."

Professor Oak chuckled lightly. "Indeed. Come here, Gary. We already know who you have your eye on, right?"

Gary skipped on forward to his grandfather, who was holding a Pokeball with a raindrop symbol on it.

Everyone in Pallet Town knew exactly what pokemon that Gary had his eyes on today.

Professor Oak released the Pokemon in a bright flash of light.

/

There he was again, that pathetic little Ash. Crying on the other side of the river, with his fishing rod.

Gary huffed as he held up the Pokeball triumphantly, for all of his friends to see.

The tug of war that had taken place between him and Delia's son for the Pokeball that they had both accidentally fished out of the river had been a difficult one. But in the end, the Pokeball had ended up on Gary's side of the river.

Because Gary always won.

Now that he thought about it, that had been the day that Ash had… accepted it. The day that he finally stopped firing back at him all the time. The day that all of the lame comeback lines ceased to be.

Perhaps, in an alternate universe, the Pokeball had broken in half, and it had been a tie. Maybe then, Ash would have continued to delude himself into believing that he could actually be on his level. Maybe Ash's misplaced confidence never would have died out. Maybe Ash never would have gotten the message, that he was worthless, a nobody, and that he was only hurting himself by trying to prove otherwise. Setting himself up for disappointment again and again, chasing a destiny that could never possibly be fulfilled.

But there was no tying with Gary Oak. And tying with Ash? How was that any better than losing outright?

Those who had potential were always obligated to live up to it. It was their duty as the best. Those who didn't needed to accept it. It was something that couldn't be changed.

The world didn't have time for hopeless failures. Only those who were capable. That was what needed to be learned and understood.

Gary Oak would always win. And Ash would always lose.

Gary knew that he would always be on top. That's why, when the time approached for him to finally get his Trainer's License, he would research the perfect Starter Pokemon. A Pokemon partner that was worthy of his name.

A Pokemon that was always on the top. Just like he was.

/

The blue turtle emerged from the light of the Pokeball, stepping out of it slowly but surely as everybody present watched.

Gary was grinning from ear to ear at his Starter Pokemon.

"Oh yes, now THIS is a Starter! I can feel the potential radiating off of you!"

Ash's face was slightly deadpan as Gary kneeled down and began abruptly inspecting the Squirtle.

"This is one strong shell." said Gary, running his hand across the shell. "And the front is pretty sturdy too." he tapped the Squirtle's stomach lightly.

Looking over at the Squirtle, Ash noticed that the Starter wasn't all that bothered by Gary's behavior. It seemed very nonchalant.

Stereotypically, Water Type Starter Pokemon were often known for being calm, but this Squirtle was something different.

It was the antithesis of Gary Oak himself.

Even as Gary began… pressing his hands against the Starter's cheeks… the Squirtle remained calm, barely even reacting. It was almost creepy to watch.

Gary stood back up and gave the Squirtle a thumbs up. "Alright little guy, you've passed my test!"

Test? What test? That was a test? It looked more like some sort of weird physical.

Brittany clasped her hands together. "And since Squirtle is already registered to you, you'll get extra information on it when you scan it with your Pokedex!"

Oh yeah, that's right. Normally the Pokedex only gives you information on a Pokemon's biology, typing, and qualities, but if the Pokemon is registered to you, you also get information on its gender, Moves, and Abilities.

"Thanks for reminding me." said Gary, holding his Pokedex up in front of the Squirtle. "Hold still there, little buddy." the Squirtle complied.

Ash felt a tad tinge of jealousy at the fact that Gary of all people was the one to receive his Starter first, and use his Pokedex first, but he also understood.

He was the grandson of Professor Oak and the top student in Pallet Town. It made perfect sense for him to be the one who starts things out. As much as he hated to admit it, he had most definitely earned it.

The Pokedex scanned Squirtle, and then spoke in a robotic voice.

"Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokemon of the Water Type. They are known to swim fast due to their shell minimizing resistance in water, and are capable of squirting out water with vigorous force when retracting their long necks into their shells.

This Squirtle is male and knows the Moves Tackle, Water Gun, Withdraw, Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, and Aqua Jet. Its Ability is Torrent, which greatly boosts the power of Water Type Moves after sustaining heavy damage."

Ash always thought Gary was disgusting, but the comical amounts of drool leaking from the other boy only furthered that opinion of him.

"Whoa, Gramps!" exclaimed Gary. "This Pokemon knows three Egg Moves!"

Egg Moves were Moves that Pokemon offspring could know if it was passed down by their parents through Pokemon Breeding. For certain species of Pokemon, these Moves would be very difficult to learn otherwise. A Pokemon wouldn't be able to have mastery over them right away, but it was most certainly a start.

"Our distribution system has had excellent luck with breeding in the past few years." explained David. "Your Squirtle is the perfect example."

Gary kneeled down to pet Squirtle's shell proudly. "There's a future champ in this one for sure." standing up, he looked over to Ash, who had been silent for the exchange. "Alright Ashy boy, I was planning on battling one of the other two for my first ever Pokemon Battle, but because they are not here, I suppose that embarrassing you will have to do. I'm sure you're not too scared to do it, right?"

Ash felt his throat lock up. What now? If he turned Gary down, he was a coward. If not, Gary would probably just humiliate him like always.

He had no other option, so Ash just nodded silently.

'Damnit, I'm screwed.' he thought.

"Good." said Gary. 'See you outside. Come on, Squirtle, let's do some stretches. Ashy boy will come on out with a glorified punching bag for us in a few minutes." the blue turtle followed his new Trainer outside as Ash gritted his teeth in frustration.

Professor Oak breathed a deep sigh as Gary and Squirtle left the room. Brittany took the initiative and placed a hand on Ash's shoulder.

"We'll be giving your Starter out to you now, Ash. Although, things are going to be just a little bit different."

Ash looked over at her, feeling his frustration deflate. Brittany had that effect on Pallet Town's student body. She had a reputation for being rather comforting, especially when a student was feeling frustrated.

"What do you mean by that?" Ash asked curiously.

Now David spoke up. "For the most part, distribution went off without a hitch this Season. However, a few… miscalculations were made, so Pallet Town only received Squirtle among the traditional Starters."

"It's the real reason why Gary's friends aren't here." explained Professor Oak, now speaking up. "We discovered the issue last night, pretty late to make corrections, unfortunately. So we contacted their families and asked them to stay where they were so that they would be able to receive their Starter Pokemon there."

Ash nodded in understanding. These types of problems were rare, but real. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be as widespread as the shortage that Team Rocket had caused three Seasons ago.

Not THAT, as he remembered Professor Oak talking about it, had been a real, complete mess. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be anything like that this time.

They didn't seem too worried about it, either. So it seemed like it wouldn't affect him getting a Starter Pokemon. It just might not be a traditional one.

Brittany folded her hands behind her head to stretch. "As you know, we try to get out as many traditional Starters as possible. Nevertheless, with the amount of rookie Trainers that come with each Season, especially this Season, it's simply impossible to hand out a Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle to literally everybody. Even though Johto has its own set of Starters, and the Orange Islands and Sevii Islands use both the Kanto and Johto lineups, it's simply not feasible."

David spoke up. "These problems normally aren't present in places with lesser rookie turnouts, such as Pallet Town for example. However, with our incident this Season, we are going to have to do what the cities normally do, and provide you with a different Starter as a substitute."

Ash nodded in understanding. He was just a little bit disappointed that he wouldn't be getting to choose between the traditional three, but it really didn't matter to him all that much.

He hadn't even decided on his Starter like Gary had. He was just planning on choosing randomly at the last minute. He was mostly just excited to be getting a Pokemon at all.

At the end of the day, a Starter was a Starter.

Professor Oak stepped forward with the Starter's Pokeball in his hand. Ash quickly took note of the lightning bolt on it.

"We are sorry you didn't get to choose, but-"

Ash raised his hand to politely cut him off. "It's fine, I don't mind, really. It's not like you guys are to blame, accidents always happen."

Brittany and David both smiled brightly at the now Rookie Pokemon Trainer.

Perhaps it was just because Ash was more submissive than most, but he was always quite understanding.

Taking the Pokeball in his hand, Ash pushed the button and it opened.

The feeling of holding a Pokeball, a real genuine Pokeball, right there in his hand, was practically unreal. How long had he dreamed of this? How long had he spent mimicking the motions of the expert Trainers in the Indigo Conference throwing out their pokeballs into battle, Trucy later picking up the habit after he met her? How many other rookie Trainers had felt this same exact surge of excitement that he had, finally getting to release a Pokemon, and actually their Starter, no less, for the first time?

It was like holding a simple, yet impactful ball made up of all of your hopes and dreams, right there in the palm of your hand.

In that moment, Ash finally forgot all about Gary Oak.

All of his attention was fixated on the creature that exited the bright flash of light emitting from the orb.

It was a small, yellow mouse. It had a lightning bolt shaped tail, and round dots for cheeks. Specifically, its cheek sacks. Ash immediately knew what it was.

Nevertheless, he wanted his brand new Pokedex to be able to do the honors for him anyway.

"Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokemon. It is known for storing electricity in the sacks of its cheeks, and then releasing it from its tail. However, it has very little control over this electricity, and can exhaust itself very easily.

This Pichu is Male and knows the Moves Thunder Shock, Double Slap, Thunder Wave, Nuzzle, Nasty Plot, and Volt Tackle. Its Ability is Static, which can inflict Paralysis on enemies that it makes physical contact with."

Ash raised a brow.

Volt Tackle? So Pichu had an Egg Move too. Not that they would be able to use it right away, of course. Volt Tackle was infamous for its immense recoil damage, being quite harmful to the user itself.

Not to mention, it was an incredibly powerful and advanced technique. Simply put, a beginner level Pokemon like Pichu wouldn't even come close to generating the amount of electricity that was necessary for using it. And at Pichu's current level, he wouldn't even be able to handle the recoil anyway. Even if he could produce enough electricity, it likely wouldn't be the full power of the technique, and he would probably just knock himself out.

Nevertheless, it was still one hell of a Move to have. Once they mastered it, they would have one of the most powerful Electric Type Moves at their disposal.

Looking down at his Starter Pokemon, Ash noticed Pichu looking at him with an… odd look.

Ash wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Slowly but surely, he kneeled down to get in closer.

He wasn't planning on doing whatever it was that Gary had done to Squirtle, but he at least wanted to pat the Pichu's head.

The Pichu flinched just before Ash's hand could touch him. Ash's heart skipped a beat for a second, but to his surprise, he didn't get shocked.

The Pichu was skittish, but not aggressive. That was a good sign, at the very least.

"Hey…" said Ash. 'I'm not going to hurt you."

The Pichu didn't seem very convinced.

Professor Oak sighed, before turning to the teachers. "Brittany, David, I can take it from here. Can you two call Professor Ivy back? She contacted me recently to report the Starter Pokemon count over there at the Orange Islands. Just let her know that I got the message."

Brittany nodded. "Of course."

David followed her out of the room, but Clefable remained.

Professor Oak turned back to Ash. "I must apologize, Ash. I was warned that this particular Pichu was a little bit on edge about everything."

"Why is that?" asked Ash curiously. Pokemon personalities came in all sorts of forms, but there was usually a reason for a Pokemon being overly nervous about something.

"Apparently it had something to do with the environment." the Professor explained. "I don't have all of the details, but a good deal of the Pokemon there were apparently very loud and aggressive. Some species of Pokemon have violent urges hidden underneath. It's likely that they picked a lot of fights with one another, and Pichu was likely caught up in it. It's especially effective on a younger Pokemon's psyche, and now Pichu has difficulty trusting people right away."

Clefable walked over to the Pichu and knelt down beside him, scratching behind the back of his ear gently. The Pichu closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, making a somewhat comfortable sound.

The Professor smiled. "Clefable helps look after all of the Pokemon here, so they all trust her, thankfully."

That was most certainly no secret to Ash. Clefable was known for being a mother to practically all Pokemon at the Lab. This apparently even stretched over to Professor Oak's days as a Pokemon Trainer, too. She was apparently an authority figure among the rest of his Pokemon, being one of his first captures and arguably the most mature out of all of his companions. Even his Starter apparently obeyed her.

Professor Oak's biography highlighted Clefable a lot. In storytelling terms, she was practically the deuteragonist of Samuel Oak's story.

Clefable began to slowly and gently prod Pichu in Ash's direction. Kneeling down once again, Ash was sure to make eye contact with the young mouse.

"Hello, my name is Ash. I'm going to be your Trainer."

The look in Pichu's eyes was somewhat calmer, but still uncertain.

This was going to be tough, wasn't it?

/

"It's about time, Ashy boy! What took you so long?! For a moment you had me getting my hopes up that you had actually given up like you should have a long time ago!"

Ash and Pichu were greeted by Gary's voice the very moment that they stepped out. And from the look on Pichu's face, he seemed to hate it just as much as Ash did.

Well, they were on the same page for at least one thing, it seemed.

"We were just… getting to know each other. That's all." Ash insisted nervously.

Gary scoffed. "Yeah right. Can you explain to me why that mouse is literally looking everywhere but at you, Ashy boy?"

Ash found himself gritting his teeth at that.

"Hey Squirtle!" Gary called out. "Our punching bag is here!"

Ash looked over to where Squirtle was, and noticed a few of Gary's friends huddled around him.

Great, now he gets to embarrass me in front of EVERYONE, just like always.

Squirtle made its way back over to Gary as the boy's friends looked on and watched him go. Standing in front of his Trainer, he eyed Pichu very curiously, his stoic expression seemingly bearing a hole right through the small mouse's forehead.

Pichu was already tensing up.

NOT a good sign.

/

A small crowd had gathered in one of the yards of the Lab as Ash and Gary stood on opposite ends of the makeshift battlefield, both of their respective Starters standing in front of them.

The crowd was made up of their peers, which of course, meant Gary's friends and Gary's friends alone. Nobody bothered placing bets on the battle, everybody was certain that Gary was going to win.

A good few of the spectators were already telling Gary to put Ash in his place.

Ash was trying to take a deep breath, but found that he couldn't.

Why did he have to agree with this?! Why did he always give into Gary's goading?! Why was he always so good at leading Ash astray?!

It was too late to back out now. Either everybody saw him get humiliated or everybody made fun of him for running away. At the very least, the former would be par for the course, given Ash and Gary's history together.

What had started out as a great day had suddenly turned horrible. Gary was so good at doing that to him, just by being there.

First he and his Starter didn't get off on the right foot. And now, Gary was about to embarrass him in a battle. Did his first day as a Trainer really need to go like this?

He mentally shook his head. NO! He would not let Gary ruin this for him! If he could just beat him in this one battle-

"Hey Ashy boy! Are you done thinking to yourself yet? Some of us have places to be, you know?"

Gritting his teeth, Ash thought things over quickly.

Pichu has a Type Advantage against Squirtle, which, in beginner level matchups, would usually all but decide the match. But things were different this time. Squirtle's shell would most likely be strong enough to block Pichu's Electric Type Moves, which would mean that they had to find a way to hit the blue Pokemon before he was able to retreat into his shell.

Pichu most likely has the speed advantage over the bulky Water Type Pokemon, but was also probably much less durable.

Looking over to his Starter, Ash noticed Pichu eying the Squirtle nervously. While the Water Type remained as calm and collected as ever, Pichu was anything but.

Gary was obviously getting a kick out of that.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hey look, everybody! An Electric Type that's scared of a Water Type!"

The crowd got a few chuckles out of that.

Thankfully, they shouldn't need to worry about Squirtle's Egg Moves. He likely wasn't skilled enough to use them yet.

"Alright," said Gary. "I'm bored, so I'm starting out now. Water Gun!"

The blue turtle opened his mouth, and a small, yet strong stream of water gushed out of it. Pichu yelped and ran to the side to dodge.

Ash immediately went on the offensive. "Thunder Shock!"

Pichu began gathering electrical energy in his cheeks, causing them to crackle with sparks, but Gary was prepared.

"Squirtle! Pichu can't control their electrical powers very well! It'll take him a while to gather enough electricity to use the attack! Everytime you see his cheeks spark up, use Withdraw!"

The Squirtle complied, and began to retreat into his shell. Due to his inexperience, it took a little bit, but unfortunately, Pichu's own inexperience gave him just enough time.

After a few seconds, Pichu finally released the charged up energy from his tail, sending a small yet potent bolt of lightning towards Squirtle.

But by then, Squirtle had already completely retreated into his shell. The electricity enveloped the exterior, but ended up bouncing off harmlessly, as though nothing had happened at all.

Gary guffawed. "Well, what do you know! It looks like that stupid mouse's inexperience with electricity makes up for the time that it takes for Squirtle to retreat into his shell!"

Pichu growled at the boy, but that just made him smirk even more.

Ash was gritting his teeth hard now. If Thunder Shock didn't work, they would have to go with Double Slap.

"Pichu!" Ash yelled. He could already feel himself getting frustrated. "Use Double Slap!"

Pichu looked back towards Ash with a shocked expression. Clearly, it didn't take kindly to the idea of getting up close and personal with the far more bulky Squirtle.

But Ash wasn't in the mood right now. "Do you WANT to lose this, Pichu?! JUST DO IT!"

Ash raised his voice too much, and, in a panic, the now startled Pichu yelped and began bolting off in the other direction…

...Only to find himself running right towards Squirtle.

Squealing in surprise, Pichu skidded to a halt, shivering a little bit at the sight of the turtle, who was still remaining just as calm as ever. The turtle towered over the mouse with his stoic expression.

"Tackle!" Gary called out.

Squirtle rushed forward, and Pichu just barely managed to dodge out of the way. Squirtle then used this opportunity to fire off another Water Gun, with the stream of water just barely missing Pichu as the mouse swerved in the opposite direction, tripping over as a result.

Ash was growling now. What was Pichu even doing right now anyway?!

"I said DOUBLE SLAP!"

Picking its head up quickly, Pichu began frantically looking around in a panic, only to stop and freeze as he suddenly saw Squirtle looming right in front of him. The mouse quickly yelped before rushing forward, slamming his tail into Squirtle's front, but barely anything happened. With the turtle's bulky form, and durable front, the blue Pokemon was barely even pushed back. Pichu's attack had more force behind it than it seemed, but it was practically meaningless here.

Gary had often gushed about how great that the Squirtle line was for defensive purposes.

"Water Gun!" Gary tried to counterattack, but at this point, Pichu had already sidestepped out of the way.

"Double Slap again Pichu!" Ash called out. "Aim for the head!" The head would likely not be as difficult to deal damage to.

The mouse immediately bolted away to gain some distance, then turned around so he could build up speed for the attack. He seemed to agree with Ash's plan so far. Maybe if he could hit Squirtle on the head, after building up enough speed for a jump, it would do more damage.

But Gary was ready. Although Pichu's temporary retreat was necessary to gain momentum for the counterattack, it had also given the other boy enough time to react.

"Withdraw, Squirtle!"

As Pichu ran forward, Squirtle retreated into his shell. Pichu leapt up into the air in order to execute his attack, but by that point, Squirtle was already ready to block.

Pichu's tail clanged uselessly against the hard exterior of Squirtle's shell, and the mouse suddenly found himself in pain as he danced around the yard clutching his now aching tail. As he did this, Squirtle began to exit his shell again.

Ash could hear the crowd laughing now.

"Man, do you see that pathetic little mouse that Ash got stuck with?" a boy's voice.

"They're made for each other, you know. Now they can be useless together. A perfect match." a girl's voice.

Ash was grinding his teeth now.

Why? WHY did his first day as a Trainer have to go like this?! This wasn't supposed to be how things happened! He was supposed to be happy for once today! And now…

"Water Gun!"

At Gary's orders, Squirtle allowed yet another stream of water to exit his mouth. With the pain in his tail, Pichu's mobility was limited, and he had to carefully duck in order to avoid the attack, but there was still some clumsiness to his movements.

However, Pichu was still wide open, and in his confusion, he had accidentally moved closer to Squirtle rather than farther away, and Gary quickly capitalised on this. "Tackle, now!"

Squirtle rushed forward again, his bulk slamming into Pichu. The mouse shrieked out loud as he was sent flying a few feet away, landing on his back and sliding on the wet grass for just a little bit.

As Pichu slowly got up, Ash noticed some dirt on his fur.

The attack had clearly hurt Pichu, but they needed to keep going.

"Double Slap again, Pichu!"

But Pichu didn't seem to agree, instead charging up a Thunder Shock. What?

Why was Pichu trying to use that? Squirtle would just block it again!

"Pichu, wait, I said-"

But Pichu was already firing, his electrical energy once again being fizzled out upon making contact with Squirtle's shell, the turtle having once again taken advantage of the time that it took for Pichu to charge up the technique to use Withdraw and retreat into his shell, having remembered Gary's orders from the beginning of the fight.

What's more, Pichu seemed to be panting now. Between his inexperience with electricity, and now the hard hit that Squirtle had dealt to him with Tackle, it didn't seem like he could go on for much longer.

But Ash wasn't thinking straight anymore. First Gary has to go out of his way to humiliate him, and now Pichu was disobeying him? Why couldn't he just listen? They were supposed to be a team for crying out loud!

"Pichu, I said DOUBLE SLAP!"

Pichu turned to Ash and began chattering angrily, stamping his feet in disagreement. What was his problem right now?!

"Hey Pichu!" called out Gary's INSUFFERABLE voice once again. "Do you mind if I record this with my camera? You two are hilarious!"

That had the mouse turning around again and angrily charging up yet another Thunder Shock. But this one took longer. And Squirtle blocked it. Pichu was having trouble breathing at this point. The world was starting to spin.

Ash's panicked orders fell on deaf ears now. The next Thunder Shock took even longer, with the same results.

The next one didn't even come out. Just trying to use it was too much.

A huge surge of defeat overcame Ash as Pichu collapsed to his knees. Gary saw his chance.

"Okay, playtime's over. Squirtle, Tackle!"

Once again, Squirtle's bulked slammed into Pichu, sending the mouse sliding on his back over towards Ash. The mouse stopped just in front of the young boy, not getting up.

Ash was panicking even more now.

No, no, no, no, NO NO NO NO! It could NOT end like this!

"GET UP PICHU!"

The exhausted mouth slowly lifted its head as the crowd's laughter continued, but was suddenly hit between the eyes by a Water Gun.

Pichu was knocked out immediately.

/

That was it. That was his first ever battle as a Trainer. And it had been a complete embarrassment. There was literally no other possible way to describe it.

"Wow, did you guys see that? How did Ash even pass the Exam anyway?"

"That was a complete joke! I knew that Gary was going to win but it's barely even a win at all if your opponent is so lousy."

"Its too bad a gifted boy like Gary had to have such a disappointing first battle. Ash and that Pichu should really be ashamed."

Cradling Pichu's now unconscious body, Ash just… took it all in as his classmates walked off one by one.

There was no point in trying to refute them. Everything that they said had been right.

That battle had been a joke.

He should be ashamed, for how little control that he had over his own Starter Pokemon.

Pretty soon Gary was the only one left.

"Don't worry Ashy boy," the Professor's grandson said, condescendingly patting Ash's shoulder. "If you're that beat up about it, then maybe it's time to call it quits. Only way you're going to make it as a Trainer is by wishing that you'll be more worth a damn in the next life." he began marching off. "Right after jumping in front of a Charizard's Flamethrower."

And with that, he was gone. Ash didn't even bother to look behind him as Gary went off on his own. He was probably leaving Pallet Town right now.

Gary's words were etched into Ash's brain, just as they always were. Maybe he should quit after this. Was there really anyway to come back from this? There's no way Lance or any of the Elite Four Members started out this badly. What was he even doing at this point anyway?

"What did he say to you?"

Looking up, a surprised Ash realised he hadn't even heard Professor Oak approaching.

/

Professor Oak ran a hand through his hair as he looked at the dejected Ash.

Currently, they were back in the Lab. Pichu was in his Pokeball, being treated by one of the Lab's healing machines. It was the kind of basic healing technology that Pokemon Center's used whenever something wasn't too serious. Shouldn't take too long.

Ash was sitting across from him, looking more down than he'd ever looked.

The Professor had always liked Delia's child. Not just because he adored and respected Delia as a pupil but in general too. It was for reasons that the Professor could never quite pinpoint to himself. Ash certainly didn't remind Professor Oak of himself. They were two completely different people, with completely different goals and inspirations. And yet, for whatever reason, the Professor had grown quite fond of the boy.

Which is why Ash's relationship with Gary was so frustrating.

Competition was one thing. Rivalry was perfectly fine. But Ash and Gary went far beyond any of this. They were not rivals. They were childhood archenemies. There was no positives in their relationship and nothing but toxicity in their relationship.

And, as much as the Professor loathed to admit it, he knew perfectly well that Gary was the one to blame.

Whatever he had tried to keep his grandson in line obviously had not worked. He loved Gary with all of his heart, to the point where his rule of not ever showing favoritism often came dangerously close to being broken. But Gary's treatment towards Ash was unacceptable, regardless of the reasons Gary gave. Gary's so called reasons were more like excuses than anything else. The fact that Ash fell behind did little to justify the treatment. If anything, Gary should have tried to help him catch up.

Whatever semblance of friendship that the two had in the past was obviously long gone by now. The Professor knew that there was next to zero chance of it ever being rekindled. At this point they were both in far too deep for any of that.

Gary had already left Pallet Town and was officially on the road to Viridian City. The only thing left for the Professor to do was to try and restore whatever confidence that Ash may have had in himself before sending him off on his way.

It was his responsibility.

"Listen, Ash-"

"Why didn't he listen to me?" Ash abruptly cut in. Clefable was standing next to the Professor, and frowned at Ash's question.

The Professor sighed. "Ash, you knew your Pokemon was easily startled, and yet you lost your patience with Pichu far too quickly. You let your built up anger towards Gary get the better of you. I get it, trust me. But you have to consider Pichu's feelings too."

"But still," Ash thought, unable to look the Professor in the eye as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Pichu knew that Thunder Shock wouldn't work against Squirtle's shell. He also knew how exhausted he was getting. And yet… he didn't stop."

"Pokemon often don't think clearly when they panic." the Professor reminded him. "Just like humans. Your right, though. If Pichu hadn't given up on Double Slap so soon, you two undoubtedly would have had a much better showing. The only reason it failed before when Pichu tried to strike Squirtle on the head was because of how he had to first run away to try and build up some distance for speed. It gave Squirtle enough time to block. Afterwards, you and Pichu wouldn't have needed to do that in order to build up speed, because the distance would have already been there."

Ash nodded "I know, but…" he trailed off, instead deciding that it would be best to just soak up whatever the Professor was trying to say. Professor Oak knew a lot more than he did, after all.

"Ash, I think you and Pichu are both quite similar. You're both lacking in confidence right now, and as the battle shows, you both panic easily. But that doesn't mean this is always going to be who you are. You passed the Exam for a reason."

"Was it luck?" Ash asked honestly.

"I doubt it. Delia told me about your late nights studying for the Exam. I know luck goes a long way, but the kind of studying you did was simply dedication."

"But what if that was just the exception?" Ash asked. Again, he was being honest now.

"I'd like to think that it was a new beginning for you." said the professor. "An opportunity, if you will. Not everyone who becomes the best starts out on top. In fact…" he leaned forward. "Not many people know this, but I was a below average student growing up."

THAT jolted Ash out of his stupor. WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?!

"Y-y-you were WHAT?!" Ash was dumbfounded.

"To be perfectly honest, it was one of the reasons why I chose to become a Trainer first." the Professor admitted. "I had always wanted the hands on experience to aid with my research, so I probably would have become a Trainer first anyway, but there was still another reason, and it was that. I was often at the bottom of my class in a lot of subjects. I just barely passed the Exam with an eighty one, compared to your ninety, and that was despite all of the studying that I did." he reached over and padded Clefable's side. The large, pink Fairy Type Pokemon made a joyful noise as she closed her eyes and leaned into the Professor's touch. "But I still became a very successful pokemon Trainer, and, as you know, an even more successful Pokemon Researcher."

"But… Why didn't your biography mention anything like that?" Ash asked, confused. It was true. Professor Oak's biography was incredibly long and detailed. It was practically unrivaled in terms of just how much valuable information and insight that it gave on important figures within the Pokemon world. For some reason, the fact that Professor Oak had apparently been a below average student had never been mentioned even once within its pages.

Professor Oak sighed at that question. "Perhaps my only real criticism towards that book. It's incredibly well written, and the author did an incredible job both writing it and researching for it, but the one detail that they missed about me and my story was quite arguably one of the most important. If people had known that I was a below average student who still managed to rise to the top despite everything, then the entire message surrounding my story suddenly changes completely. It proves that people who started out on the bottom can still rise to the top." he reached out and handed Ash a photograph. "They can become like this."

Ash took a look at the picture. It was from when Professor Oak had won the Indigo Conference.

A young, teenage Samuel Oak stood in the middle of the photograph, very proudly holding the tall, golden trophy. He was quite well built, and almost difficult to recognize given that he was both fully grown and much older now. With him, were his six main Pokemon who had taken the Indigo Conference by storm that year.

A fearsome looking Charizard, towering highly above its Pokemon Trainer while standing directly behind him.

Clefable, who, even in the photo, managed to give off a very calm, and serene feeling to herself, standing off to the left of the Trainer.

An Electrode, at the far right.

A Poliwrath, standing next to its Pokemon Trainer, off to his right.

A Tangrowth, at the far left.

A Golem, a stoic expression on its face.

Ash knew this team all too well because how could he not know them? They were famous after all.

And they had all started out… from the bottom.

/

Although Ash had been planning to visit Delia at their house before leaving Pallet Town, Professor Oak had told him that he had already called her over to the Lab in order to assist him with something, which meant that the two of them could say their final goodbyes without Ash having to backtrack.

Delia had been holding it in pretty good before, but now she was letting it all out. The tears streaming down her face were practically a waterfall as she hugged Ash close against her, her clothes blocking out the tears that were coming from Ash's own eyes.

"My baby boy… you're all grown up now. I knew this day was coming but I wasn't sure if I was ready for it."

Ash didn't even know what to say. Leaving his mother behind was his biggest, most unrivaled regret about becoming a Pokemon Trainer in the first place. He knew that she was fully supportive of his dream, but it was obviously destroying her. He couldn't help but wonder how sad Professor Oak was to see Gary go. The Professor was always good with his emotions, but it occurred to Ash that he was probably hurting too, just like Delia was.

"Mom… I'll come back, don't worry." The two were currently standing with Professor Oak at the gates to Pallet Town. Pichu was off to the side, watching the display with some curiosity. Delia had been quite friendly towards the mouse, but had kept her approaches to a minimum after seeing the Pokemon's nervous behavior.

"I know you will," said Delia. "Be safe until then, okay, and call me every chance you get."

Ash nodded. "I'll call you the moment I reach Viridian." The thought of being able to speak with his mother again tonight was all the more motivation for him to get there as soon as possible.

"Professor!" a woman's voice called out. The group turned to see an older woman walking towards them with Clefable. Ash immediately recognized her as Trucy's grandmother, Mrs. Gernin. With her and Clefable were two other Pokemon, and Ash's eyes immediately lit up when he saw them. "Brittany is ready with her report on Celadon, they just finished distribution." she smiled at Ash, who quickly returned it.

Professor Oak nodded. "I'll be there soon." as she walked away, he turned to the two Pokemon as they approached Ash with Clefable.

One of them was a baby Heracross, the same exact one that Ash had helped hatch. The other one was a small blue Pokemon that Professor Oak had told Ash was a Sobble, another baby Pokemon that had hatched around the same time as Heracross, and the two of them had quickly befriended each other. Both of the Pokemon were Male.

Delia chuckled. "It looks like he wants to see you off, Ash."

Ash nodded happily, and stroked the horn of the Heracross. It was small at the moment, but would eventually grow quite big as the Bug-Fighting Type Pokemon grew up.

The Heracross jittered happily at the contact. Ash had always enjoyed spending time with him.

As the two baby Pokemon both huddled up around Clefable, Professor Oak faced Ash one last time. "Just remember everything that I told you Ash, and try not to rush too much. You'll get to your goal eventually. I know that there is a strong Trainer, in both you and Gary."

Ash nodded. "Thanks, Professor." he still wasn't entirely sure, but Professor Oak's short story had certainly reinvigorated him quite a bit.

Professor Oak crossed his arms. "Now then, just follow the road on each route and you'll be able to get to the places that you need to be. And remember that battling other Trainers can give you extra cash if you win, along with being the best way to train.

Ash nodded. The League system involved Trainers winning money from each other in battles, although it was lenient on those who were already short on cash. Thankfully, Pallet Town was good at providing plenty of money to starting Trainers, courtesy of Professor Oak himself, as was the rest of Indigo too Ash's knowledge. "Right."

"And stay away from Dark City. That place is bad news. Understood?"

Ash grimaced with a nod. There were news reports on the gang war just last night, he'd overheard the teachers talking about it while waiting for Delia to arrive at the Lab. No Trainer worth their salt stepped foot in that harsh place. "Yes, of course."

The Professor smiled. "Good. I'll see you around."

Ash smiled back. "Thanks for everything.

Professor Oak and Delia walked off with Clefable, Heracross, and Sobble. Delia sent Ash one final tearful smile, which he returned with his own, before leaving.

All that was left were both Ash and Pichu now.

Ash watched all of them walk off for a while, before locking eyes with his Starter. No doubt Pichu's trust in him had been damaged by the battle, assuming that there ever was any in the first place.

Turning towards the gates, Ash and Pichu both looked uncertain.

Taking a deep breath, which still did little to actually ease his nerves, Ash took his first steps forward.

He had never left Pallet Town before now.

Nevertheless, that all changed today.

The new, rookie Pokemon Trainer did his best to not look back as he left his old life behind.

It was all official the moment he stepped outside, into the outside world of Indigo.