Prologue: Pika-Pal Ranch
Ashley Ketchum, daughter of Delia Ketchum, was a strong Pokemon trainer for the most part. She got to the top 16 in the Indigo League, beat the Orange League, the top eight, the Hoenn League, won the Battle Frontier, and made the top four in Sinnoh. She made many friends and caught many Pokemon. But now things changed.
Brock and Dawn left her so they could do the things they needed to do. So 16-year-old Ashley was left to think about what she wanted to do. Professor Oak told her about the Vannile Islands-a group of islands that didn't really catch the attention of the Pokemon world. The Professor said that there weren't really any trainers on the island so she told him she would try farming or something while training on the side. Professor Oak called the island's mayor and got permission for Ashley to move there.
What really took the cake for Ashley was that the mayor said she could catch Pokemon on the island. Professor Oak said the Vannile Islands had a lot of different Pokemon mixed together. The mayor said it was okay to catch and train Pokemon. She even said that she would let Ashley have an old small house and the ranch land that wasn't used anymore. Ashley accepted the offer.
Delia, once she got over the fact that her daughter was leaving home, bought Ashley a Pokegear, a good few sets of shoes, lots of TP and toothpaste and toothbrushes, floss, a lot of plant seeds, and many Pokeballs. Delia got some quilts and blankets and some cookbooks from the neighbors. She even made Ashley clothes and gave her daughter a lot of money. Delia sent all of these items to the ranch house.
Ashley also got some help from a few unexpected places. Winona, the Fortree City gym leader, sent furniture to the ranch house for Ashley. Winona bought it for her as a thank you for giving her twelve good Fearows to train. Ashley had caught the strongest of the Fearow flock that had been bothering her old Pokemon.
Lt. Surge sent over a lot of stuff: a first-aid kit, sunscreen, work gloves, flashlights, store-bought Pokefood, and vitamins for her Pokemon.
Ericka sent her a lot of seeds.
Kurt sent her various types of Pokeballs.
Whitney gave her two young Milktank to train as her own along with Milktank care notes written by her uncle Milton.
She didn't even want to know how they all knew what she was planning! Although she had a strong suspicion that Sabrina, the psychic Saffron City gym leader had something to do with it. (Ashley had called her to check up on Haunter and ended up chatting with her for six hours, telling Sabrina all about her travels.)
Anyway, she safely arrived on the main island. Right after you dock you see Sai's Seaside Store. Then you go left and see a path that kinda goes parallel with the beach and another path that takes you further into the island. Take the path that goes away from the beach and it leads to the front of the church, a staircase that goes up a big hill, and another path. The staircase leads to the Mayor's house/office. The path leads to three houses and a library. The end of the path connects to both a dirt road and the road that stems from the beach. The road by the beach leads to the Copper General Store, the island clinic, an apartment building with two apartments with an abandoned building on one side and the Goldeen Inn and Machop Construction on the other side. The end of that road leads to three other paths: one leads to an old unused lighthouse, the other two lead to a staircase that will take you to the ranch land and house.
There was a lot that needed to be done to the fields and the house was a little small. The house had two rooms. One room had a futon bed, a small table, a chest, a cabinet, a small kitchen area, (with a mini fridge) and a bookcase. The other room was a bathroom.
Before the mayor left for the day she asked Ashley what she wanted to name the ranch. Ashley named it the Pika-Pal Ranch after her best pal Pikachu, and then the mayor left. Ashley and Pikachu lay down for bed as soon as the mayor was gone, exhausted and thinking about the interesting people they met today.
...
Elle was the mayor's daughter. She had orange hair and green eyes. She guided Ashley around most of the island. She has a positive attitude. She is twelve years old.
Mayor Rosa was Elle's mom. She had orange hair and brown eyes. She was kind and showed Ashley to the ranch.
Tom was the church's priest. He was around 6'11 and thin with chocolate brown hair and eyes. He was very calm. He lived in a different part of the church with his daughter.
Angel, Tom's daughter, had light brown hair and silver eyes. She looks to be best friends with Ren and friends with Tobi. She has a quiet voice like her father. She's nine years old.
Sai was the Seaside Store owner. He was only a hair taller than average height. He had a golden brown tan that many girls would kill for. Aqua hair and silver eyes. He talks and looks like a 'surfer dude' and is said to be a bit protective of his younger twin sister Mia. The twins are eighteen years old.
Mia is a little shorter than Sai. Mia had the same tan and hair color as her twin but her eyes were dark blue. She sounds like she has a cowgirl part of her along with her surfer part.
Torren was the man who ran the Goldeen Inn. He had graying hair and bark brown eyes. He worries about his son Barret.
Barret was a rebellious teen. He helped out at Machop Construction. Brown hair and red eyes. He's fifteen years old.
Lunetta ran the Machop Construction. Her green hair and silver eyes were very pretty. She seemed calm. She had a Machop, Sandslash, Magmar, Venusaur, and a Staryu with her. At one time she was a trainer.
Ganma was an old woman who helped at the clinic. Her real name wasn't Ganma, but she preferred to be called that because her grandson Jun called her that instead of 'grandma'. She's excitable and happy for her old age. She loved to tell stories about her 'charming' grandson when he was a baby whenever he could. (Much to Jun's embarrassment.)
Jun was the island's doctor. He has black hair, squinty eyes, and thin framed glasses. He wasn't a trainer, but he has some Pokemon friends that help him around the clinic. They are Azurill, Chansey, and Chimecho.
Sara the librarian has a steely glare as a neutral expression, long black hair in two braids and sharp purple eyes. Her face does soften when you talk to her politely. Mother of Ren, Tobi, and Karina and the wife of Ron.
Ron has silver blue hair and the body of a body builder. He has a sweet and shy personality and cooks at the Goldeen Inn.
Karina has long wavy silver hair and purple eyes. She looks like she's half asleep. She is seventeen years old.
Ren&Tobi- They both have black hair that spikes wildly and blue eyes. Ren is the more independent one while Tobi refers to himself in third person. Both are nine years old.
Harvey is the one that nearly scared her into having a heart attack. Harvey is Harley's older brother and looks nearly just like him. Harvey wears a brown shirt and pants but the same shoes as Harley. His personality is a lot calmer than Harley's and a whole lot nicer. He runs the General Store and has a Furret named Little Lady or just lady for short. Harvey makes berry jam, especially Oran berry jam which is Lady's favorite.
...
Next Morning, 6 AM
*Knock, knock*
Yawning, Ashley got up and answered the door. Harvey and Lady stood in the doorway.
"Morning, hon. Sorry to wake you up so early, but Mayor Rosa asked me to talk to you about some things."
"It's okay. I needed to get up early anyway to start de-weeding the area around the house. I'm just about to make some breakfast. Want any?"
"Furret!" Lady said before bolting into the house, her happy call waking up Pikachu.
Chuckling, Harvey said, "Well, I think Lady already said yes so I'll stay for some too."
Ashley cooked up some pecha-berry pancakes for the four of them. "So, Harvey, what did you come here to talk about?"
"Well, you see, I came to tell you that as a rancher you can have as many Pokemon as you think you can handle at one time on the ranch with you."
"Really?" ("Pika?")
"Yeah. Ranches or farms are allowed to have as many Pokemon as the people running it can handle. You're still only allowed to have six Pokemon with you when you're traveling off the island though."
"That's fine with me."
"Okay. There's a dirt path at the back of your ranch. If you follow it down the hill you'll see four paths. The first will lead you around to the front of the hill. Between the two are four abandoned houses and an abandoned schoolhouse. The second path leads to a forest with a few caves. The third path leads to a river. The fourth and final path goes to the back door of the library."
"Okay, got it."
"Ok, now if it's alright with you, would you be willing to go to the Unova region to do some chores there?"
"Unova? Chores?"
"Yeah. The Unova region is kinda close by. We need someone to deliver things or messages there. Normally, it takes months to send something there through regular mail. Since the only people with Pokemon here before you came aren't really willing to travel and we can't have someone traveling through wild Pokemon infested areas with no experience we couldn't send someone over to personally deliver those things. We were hoping that you would agree to do that."
"Could I catch Pokemon in that region? What about my Pokemon here? Oh! And you might want to protect your food," Ashley said with a bit of a daze in her voice.
Harvey looked at his plate and saw Lady trying to eat his pancakes. "Lady!"
Lady fled to the safety of the futon's blankets.
*sigh* "Well, anyway, hon, as long as you ask someone to feed them and stuff they'll be fine. And if you wanna catch Pokemon there, just ask the region's head professor."
"Okay! I'll do it. I'm assuming you'll let me settle down first."
Harvey nodded while he and Ashley started eating their food. After the food was gone and everything was cleaned up they continued to talk.
"Lady happens to be the only Pokemon I've ever had. I'm kinda envious of you, hon. I don't know if I could handle training a lot of Pokemon, but it would be nice to have some more on my team."
"Then catch some more. You don't need to catch a lot. You could just have a team of six and you'd be fine. I'll even help you train."
"Really?"
"Yeah!" ("Pika!")
Harvey stood in his spot for a while with a head-in-the-clouds look. He looked down and saw Lady tugging on his pants with a determined look.
"Lady... you want me to catch some new friends and battle some more, don't you?"
"Furr-et!" Lady said, pumping her paw in the air. Her big blue bow did not distract her trainer and long time friend from the twinkle in her eye.
"Hey, alright, Ms. Farmer. I'll take you up on that offer," Harvey said with excitement in his voice.
"Ms. Farmer?" Ashley tilted her head in confusion.
"Well, I was going to nickname you Ms. Rancher, but Ms. Farmer sounded better. Anyway, if you ever need something to do for cash just ask around the businesses here to do a part-time job. See ya," Harvey said before leaving.
"Nice guy, unlike his brother, right Pikachu?"
"Pika-Pika-chu." Yeah, really nice.
"Okay, let's de-weed the field for a while then call the Professor. It's going to be a good day.
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