Hello readers, I hope you'll enjoy this and please leave any comments you have whether it be praise, criticism or ideas, I would love to hear from you.

'– This will be Pokémon Speaking (People cannot understand it unless I say otherwise. Ash and a few others can get the gist of it due to his close bond with his Pokémon.

Italics – This will be telepathy

"– Is of course regular speech.

Let the story begin!

Ash was sitting on the sofa with a pad in front of him and a pencil in his hand, he nibbled on the end of the pencil trying to decide what he should prioritise for the next adventure. He then realised that he hadn't even decided what region he would challenge next. Three choices immediately came to mind; Unova, Kalos and retrying Kanto. All three were tempting however he could only choose one, he dismissed Kanto first simply because he had already done it and wanted to diversify his team something that wouldn't be too easy in Kanto. This left Unova and Kalos which he had a hard time choosing between but he eventually managed to choose Unova since that had a good selection of Pokémon to strengthen his team.

With the region chosen Ash had managed to do what he wanted to next which was identify what Pokémon would be beneficial to his team, while he would catch anything that caught his eye he had his mind set on a few specific Pokémon. This left Ash with only one thing to organise and that was the training regimes for his current Pokémon which included moves he wanted to teach them before he went to Unova.

Ash wasn't sure how long he sat there meticulously planning but eventually he started to feel drowsy, he decided to lay down on the sofa with highlights from the other regions Leagues on the television. He watched as multiple Pokémon he'd never even heard of fought epic battles which at first kept him awake but after a while he fell to sleep on the sofa.

Ash woke up the next morning feeling relatively well rested considering he'd slept on the sofa, he stretched his arms out and noticed that there was blanket draped over him. At first, he was confused but quickly surmised that his mother must have found him asleep and covered him up so he wouldn't get cold. He smiled at his mother's thoughtfulness, he then got up from the sofa and headed upstairs to get ready for today.

After a quick shower and putting on a clean set of clothes he was lured back downstairs by the smell of his mother's cooking. When he got to the kitchen his mouth started to water as he saw the vast selection of food before him. He took a seat next to Pikachu who was happily gulping down a bottle of ketchup and smiled at the content look on the mouse's face. A plate was suddenly placed in front of him which made him turn his gaze from the gluttonous mouse to his mother who was smiling at him from across the kitchen table.

"Morning mom, everything looks amazing, and thanks for getting a blanket for me last night."

"Well, I wouldn't want you getting cold during the night."

A comfortable silence took over as everyone ate their breakfast, the only sounds being the clanking up utensils and the slurping sound of Pikachu guzzling his favourite condiment. Suddenly Pikachu dropped his beloved bottle of ketchup and darted out of the kitchen both Ketchum's knew why the mouse had bolted and weren't surprised to hear Pikachu throwing up in the bathroom.

"He never learns, does he? You okay buddy?"

The only response they got were more groans, moments later Pikachu then slowly walked into the kitchen holding his stomach. Seeing his best friend still feeling the aftereffects of his ketchup guzzling he felt sorry for the mouse so he gently picked him up and placed him in his lap. Ash then went back to his breakfast while scratching behind the mouse's ears which cheered Pikachu up in no time.

It didn't take Ash long to eat everything on display and with a satisfied sigh he placed his fork onto his plate. He then started to clear the table, passing cups and plates to his mother who had started washing up. When the table was clear Ash picked up a towel and started drying what had been washed, he cast a look over at Mimey who seemed to be annoyed that someone had taken his job. The psychic type instead chose to pick up his broom and go sweep up leaving Ash, Delia and a now snoozing Pikachu alone.

"So, I guess you're not sure what to do now that the Sinnoh League is over." Delia said.

"I've actually already made plans for my next journey." Ash replied.

"Already?" Delia murmured sadly.

Ash heard the dejection in his mother's voice, it was probably the most heartbreaking thing he had ever heard. He'd known for a while now that his constant journeying had left his mother lonely at times but he didn't think she felt that alone. He put down the plate that he'd been drying and hugged his mother who stopped washing the dishes and returned her sons embrace. The hug quickly turned into one of Delia's bone-crushing ones and to Ash it really hit home how much he'd been missed.

"Don't worry mom I'm not leaving yet, I'm staying home for the next few months. I need to train for the Unova League and I need your help with that."

Ash felt his mother relax which he was grateful for as she slightly loosened her grip on him, she quickly composed herself and then looked up at her son in bemusement wondering what he needs help with.

"How can I help?"

"Well I intend to travel alone this time so I need to learn how to do things that Brock covered like cooking."

Ash's request stirred up multiple emotions inside Delia. The first being surprise considering that in the past he'd never seemed interested in learning anything like that mostly due to the presence of Brock. She was also glad that he had brought it up since she had been considering suggesting to Ash knowing that he'd need these skills in the future. Most of all though she felt pride in her son, she had always been proud of him to be fair especially since the start of his journey however him showing this independence made her prouder than anything he had done thus far.

"I'll be more than happy to teach you whatever you want to know. We'll start this afternoon since I'm sure you need to go see your Pokémon."

"Thank mom, I'll be back soon."

Ash hugged his mom again and then ran out of the house picking up a still drowsy Pikachu on the way out. Delia looked out the window and chuckled at the sight of her son sprinting down the road, she took a seat at the kitchen table making a list of skills she needs to teach Ash before he leaves. If he was going to travel through a whole region on his own she wanted to be certain that he was prepared for any situation.

Meanwhile, Ash was sprinting through Pallet Town heading towards Professor Oak's lab, he knew that it probably made him look a little childish but he didn't care. Ever since he was young he'd always been excited about Pokémon and he never wanted to lose that enthusiasm. A few minutes later Ash arrived at the Professor's lab and decided against simply barging in choosing instead to knock on the door which swung open moments later revealing the old professor.

"Well hello, Ash. I assume you are here to see your Pokémon."

"Yeah, I need to talk to them about my plans for the next League we challenge."

Professor Oak stepped aside allowing Ash to walk through his lab and into the corral where he was quickly surrounded by his Pokémon with the at this point obligatory Body Slam from Bayleef who started to nuzzle him. The grass type's affection drew a chuckle from Ash as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, when he released his hold on Bayleef the grass type reluctantly got off Ash letting him get back up. All the Pokémon then focussed fully on Ash, they could tell by the look in his eyes that he must have something important to say.

"Listen everyone I have something very important to tell you all. Registration for The Unova League begins in five months and between now and then I intend for us to train hard. We came close in Sinnoh and had it not been for Tobias and his legendary Pokémon we could have won. That's why I've come to a decision that I should have made years ago, I'm intensifying our training. From now on it will be more than simple practice matches with each other, I'll be doing training to increase your move pool and improve your stamina, speed, and durability. Our training will begin tomorrow so everyone get ready for some serious training."

Everyone cheered clearly excited at the prospect of training and conquering wherever they were headed to next. Ash was proud to see the optimism in his Pokémon although he did notice a few didn't seem quite as enthusiastic as others and wasn't surprised to see that they were some that he did secretly harbour doubts on whether they were cut out for the intense training he had in mind. He knew that mentally they would all be willing to do anything, he just didn't know if they could physically deal with it.

Ash had always stuck by his morals of never forcing his Pokémon to evolve and he would stand by that forever but that did leave the problem of the power gap between them and their evolved states. Now while some had overcome that one way or another, Pikachu and Bulbasaur being two perfect examples he wasn't sure if some of the others could do the same. This led to a big question that he didn't know the answer to; could he really tell his Pokémon that he couldn't use them because they weren't strong enough? It would obviously crush the spirit of whoever it was and would that, in turn, force them to evolve just so Ash would use them?

'Ash what's wrong?' Pikachu asked breaking Ash out of his thoughts.

"It's just a problem I'm trying to solve."

'Can I help?'

Pikachu's offer made Ash pause for a moment, he did consider telling his best friend about his concerns but that could lead to the mouse interpreting that he wasn't strong enough which wasn't the case. After a quick internal debate, Ash decided that for the time being it was better if none of his Pokémon knew of his concerns.

"Not right now, thanks for the offer though."

The mouse looked disappointed that Ash hadn't shared what was troubling him however Pikachu quickly a smile back on his face. He jumped off Ash's shoulder and went over to the rest of the Pokémon, chatting with them about what training Ash may have in mind. Seeing that his Pokémon were distracted for now Ash went back towards the lab spotting several Pokémon he would like to add to his team, he then saw the dust cloud being created by his Tauros and had an idea. He quickly rushed into Professor Oak's lab and found the old man tinkering with some device on his desk.

"Hey, Professor Oak."

The old man had been so focussed on his work that Ash's outburst shocked him making him nearly drop what he had been working on. Luckily, he managed to keep hold of it and decided to put down the device he'd been working just in case. Once he was sure the device was safe he swilled his chair so he was facing Ash who had a guilty look on his face.

"Sorry for startling you Professor."

"Don't worry about it Ash, no harm was done so it's fine. To be honest I wasn't expecting to see you for a few hours, I thought you'd be with your Pokémon."

"Well I wanted to give them some time before I start our new training regime, I wandered around a bit and saw all my Tauros which gave me an idea. I wanted to see if you could do me a favour and see if the Safari Zone would be willing to trade some Pokémon for my Tauros? I really don't need thirty of them and I know that thanks to me catching so many they don't have many there."

"I'll see what I can do Ash, I doubt they'll give you many Pokémon for them though, Tauros isn't exactly a much-requested Pokémon."

"That's fine, I'd rather have quality over quantity. Right I'd better get going now, I'll see you tomorrow Professor."

"Farewell Ash."

With that Ash turned around to go back to the corral so he could get Pikachu and saw that the mouse had been stood right behind him. Pikachu wasted no time taking up his usual position on Ash's shoulder and Ash scratched the mouse's head earning a content sigh from him. The pair then left Professor Oak's lab heading straight home so Ash could start learning the skills he'd need on his upcoming adventure.

Author's Notes

Thank you all for reading I hope you enjoyed what you read.

Next time we'll have some of the training and probably a battle.

If you have any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.