Hey everyone, a major thanks to InfamousGoose21 for the amazing review they gave me on Reddit. This chapter is dedicated to you.

So, a few characters may be portrayed as OOC but I thought it would be a little better to have a happy and innocent Gary compared to an arrogant bully.

There's gonna be another time skip but this will be the last chapter of Ash's childhood.

...

Great leaders inspire greatness in others.

Chapter 4

'I never should have taken up Sauron's offer,' I thought, barely being able to raise the blunted sword my mother hesitantly bought me over my head. Sauron had, in a rare moment of kindness, offered to teach me swordsmanship.

See what's wrong with that sentence? Sauron is never kind, the steel-type pokemon was obviously using these lessons as an excuse to beat me up. Sometimes, I feel like he was a doting advisor but then his personality would flip and he would act like he was sent from the hells to torture me.

I was trying to land a hit on him but he kept avoiding all of my attacks! I wanted to quit but my stubbornness demanded that I beat an Aegislash in its element. Imagine the bragging rights I would have! I could already hear the whispers and infamy I would get.

"Pst, it's her. I heard she defeated an Aegislash in sword fighting." One person would say, spreading my fame and making me look like a total baddie.

"Waa, no way! She's so cool!" Another person would respond, in awe of hearing such unbelievable news.

I can't wait for that moment. It will happen, I just know it.

We started practice at 9:00 in the morning but now it was already 3:43 in the afternoon. Seventeen more minutes and I would be free from this hell.

I couldn't dodge when Sauron struck me on the thigh with the flat side of his body. The stinging drew me out of my thoughts and made me yell out a shout of pain. There were a few cheers from some pokemon who were watching us for entertainment. The sword pokemon didn't let up and swirled around to hit me on the back of my legs.

The blow sent me crashing to the ground with a shrill yelp of pain. Rubbing at my tender legs, I grimaced when I felt the area that was struck.

My whole body would be covered in bruises if we kept up this pace. Still, I continued to practice blocking, this was the only time Sauron would leave his defensive position and switch to offense. The sword didn't like leaving his defensive position, it left him vulnerable so I needed to milk this opportunity for all of its worth.

Every time I went to attack Sauron would switch to defense to block and once he even body-slammed me to the ground with the shield part of his body.

My clothes were soaked with sweat but thankfully, my olive skin tone stopped me from getting a terrible sunburn. I no doubt smelled and looked terrible with the dirt plastered against my body. My once neat hair was wet and had strands sticking out from all over. Not even mentioning the blue bruises I had on my arms, stomach, and legs.

Sauron went to attack me again from my left side, and I barely rose my sword up before the ghost feinted and attacked my right side. He seemed to take pleasure in the cries of pain I released. I swear, this ghost was sadistic, there were no other words to describe him.

Some of the wild pokemon that were watching let out a cheer at Sauron's attack. He was, no doubt, their favorite pokemon in the town because he wasn't scared to fight me.

How much longer do we have left?

Then, as if a god was answering my prayers, the little clock I brought along with us chimed and Sauron immediately switched back into his defensive position. The wild pokemon around us let out little groans of displeasure before scurrying away.

Dropping my sword, I collapsed onto the ground and tried to breathe properly. My eleven-year-old body wasn't used to the amount of activity I put in and definitely wasn't used to the pain.

Looking up, I couldn't see any clouds and the sun felt uncomfortably hot on my skin. I could feel the muscles under my skin twitching and I knew I needed to get up now or else I would be going through hell trying to walk back to my house later.

Groaning, in exhaustion and pain, I picked myself up and grabbed my sword. Sauron, ever faithful, was right behind me and began to speak.

"You have done well enough for a beginner but your mind was distracted. What was troubling you?" His masculine voice echoed in my mind. Scratching at the back of my head I tried to think of how I could describe my troubles.

"Am I doing enough? I know that you want me to be the epitome of an amazing and powerful leader but I feel like I'm slacking. Like there's a part of me that could do better. I start my journey in four years but something is telling me that I need to prepare myself for danger." I said quietly, waiting for the sword's response. Shuffling my feet, I was a little nervous about what the sword would say. His blunt attitude is a bit too cutting sometimes. (Ha! Pun. I don't care if they're the lowest form of humor.)

There was a thoughtful pause before he answered. "By pokemon standards, you humans grow and develop far too slow. Your progress would be seen as meager to us pokemon but substantial to humans." He stopped to give another pause, then stated in what I will swear to be amusement, "Only through fire is a strong sword forged."

Pausing I tried to think what Sauron meant. 'Only through fire is a strong sword forged?' Is he telling me I need to take up more challenges? But what should I do?

Then, as if I was struck by lightning, I had a perfect idea.

Sometimes my genius frightens even me.

#-#

Months after, I was stuck shoveling Ponyta and Rapidash manure for Professor Oak. Sweat was already bubbling on my forehead because of the Mid-Summer heat. There were like twenty of them and I was only halfway through.

Gary wasn't making it any better with his cackling and constant 6th grader humor about poop and whatnot.

"Ha! Ashy, looks like your dealing with a lot of crap," he said because laughing at his own joke.

That is until he fell off the fence and landed into a particularly large pile. Guess he's having a shitty day.

#-#

Now when I offered to work for Professor Oak I thought I was going to do super cool sciency stuff and learn OP things. Instead, I was mostly cleaning the Pokemon manure on his farm for a minimum wage and stuck with sunburns before I got used to the work.

I felt like a fish out of water because in my previous life as a violinist my mother would rarely let me do yard work or anything too strenuous. It sounds spoilt but it was how I was raised relatively stress-free besides my musical career.

Of course, Sauron thought it built character. Sometimes, that sword acted like an old grandpa. He was all about "Leveling me Up" as though I was some video game character.

Of course, I was learning some things. Mostly the don't do's like don't go near the Gyrandos lake section alone or don't have food on your person near a Snorlax because they might actually eat you.

Kind of messes up that childish dream that Pokemon would never seriously harm their trainers. At least the world wasn't warring with Pokemon or had too many casualties. Most Pokemon-related deaths were because of careless tards.

That only brought up another topic that was astounding to me. There were only about 7 million people in this world and being a Pro-Trainer was actually an admired and an idolized career. You actually had to know what you were doing and pass multiple tests before you could become a League trainer and a battler. For example, you had to complete your required schooling before you could head out on your journey. This rule could be taken out if you stayed in your hometown and trained your Pokemon at home while doing your schooling.

To be honest, I didn't actually expect there to be actual politics and laws in this world but here we go. For example, you had to get poison vaccines before you could head out on your journey. While it was possible for 10-year-olds to go on a journey they had to be sponsored by a Professor or high-ranking League official. Of course, they had to be some kind of prodigy genius for this to even be a thought. Professor Oak turned down Gary and I before we even asked when we learned of this.

At the same time though, I was kind of relieved. While I did entertain the thought of heading out at 10, something inside me was telling me to wait a few more years.

Of course, that didn't mean I wasn't going to start getting to work immediately. Starting with shoveling up manure.

#-#

I guess I'm starting to do some World Building. It seems super important. Sorry for the late update, I've been doing my finals and whatnot. Plus, I've been learning how to drive ever since I got my beautiful car. As per usual, please give me some feedback so that I can improve my writing and grow.

Most hated subject in school?

Mine has to be Biology. I can't with the subject and the teacher. Kind of hard to learn college-level advanced biology when the teacher only puts on other teacher's YouTube videos.

In case you probably don't know, I go to an Early College High School so I have a really fast-paced schedule for my classes (2 years in 1) so I don't have time for hourly updates, However, it's summer and I need to stand by my conviction to write this story.

Enough about me. See you next time.