Anima: So, first things first, fun fact, around the 12th of December in 2020 I finally got a Nintendo switch and started playing pokemon shield, and can I just say that I LOVE the game. The wild areas are amazing, the storyline is interesting, the different way of doing the usual gym challenges, the fact that it's based on the UK, it's the 8th generation and 8 is my favorite number, the characters, I just love this game so much.

There are of course some parts I'm not fond of, namely the fact that in max raids the opposing pokemon can not only attack more than once in one turn but put-up fucking barriers. It's goddamn annoying is what it is. But otherwise, it's amazing and I definitely recommend it.

Because of the reasons above, I decided that while I will be pulling some things from the anime with Galar, I will mostly be writing based on the game, as well as a storyline that I have personally created. But you won't be seeing that for ages so moving on.

I do not own Pokemon nor do I control the franchise. On with the story.

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So, this story takes the premise that when I'm around 18, I die somehow. I don't remember how but that's probably good because remembering would be traumatic and probably leave me with some pretty intense phobias.

I am reborn/reincarnated as Ashlyn 'Ash' Delia Ketchum, on the 22nd of May, 1998, in the Pokemon world. (Yes, I noticed that they were supposed to be born around 1984 but I only saw that after I created a full-blown timeline with dates and stuff, which I don't want to undo so these are the times I'm going with. If you don't like it, you don't have to read.)

(ALSO, IMPORTANT, this Ash knows about the Galar region but doesn't know specifics, let's say she came into the pokemon world without having played the game or seen gameplay, as I hadn't at the time of first coming up with this story, she knows some very small snippets from the trailer in 2018? Such as the starters, the name of the region, and that the champion wears a cape? Yeah, basically non-important info like that. Which, you know, kind of doesn't change much since this Ash knows near nothing of the anime. Fun, right?)

So unlike in the first version of this story, this Ash isn't able to see well, so she doesn't know that she's in Pokemon right off the bat, and spends most of her time either crying, sleeping or, staying quiet.

Though she does notice that the people handling her feel weird sometimes, like fur or vines and this just gets her upset because she's now paranoid that wild animals or crazy vegetation are going to hurt and/or kill her.

This Ash is depressed. She died and lost everything she used to have, family, home, items of personal value. She also died right after finishing hard as hell A-levels, amid COVID, which is NOT FAIR!

But hey, at least the language is still English, that's a big plus in her books.

So yeah, things don't change much for the first 8 weeks or so, when Ash finally gets her eyesight back, even if it's a bit blurry and only stuff close to her.

Anyway, Ash one day can see though not very well… and the first thing she sees is pokemon. It could be a pokemon mobile or one of her parents, point is she can see the pokemon.

There is also the very important fact of the world being 2d like a cartoon, or rather, an anime. The Pokemon franchise. (I'm making it so that it is the art style of Pokemon Journeys as it was the latest anime-style and it would be weird to spontaneously change the way the world around you looks if you actually live in it like Ash is. So Pokemon Journeys art style is the way that the world looks in case you were wondering.) Of course, Ash starts crying.

After she starts crying, her mum comes to comfort her, but this makes it worse because now Ash can see her and holy shit it's Delia, and she called me Ash and OH MY GOD, I AM SO FUCKING SCREWED.

Yeah, Ash isn't having a good time so far.

She's terrified because, on one hand, she's still a girl, which, thank god, is her right gender. However, she has effectively replaced the crazy and cheerful Ash (who I will refer to as Satoshi for convenience) that she knew from the anime, with herself, a depressed and socially anxious girl that prefers to read.

Ash also WOULD NOT use the methods Satoshi does to catch pokemon. Attacking them out of the blue, chasing them, capturing them in a Pokeball, and forcing them to fight for you. Video games are fine, it's just a game, but real living creatures with emotions and lives of their own? Yeah no, just the idea of it makes Ash feel sick so yeah, she's probably not going to be a pokemon master, and she definitely isn't going to catch them all.

There's also the fact that she wasn't an avid watcher of the anime and only knows about the first few episodes of season one to about where there's giant mechanical pokemon on an island? Yeah, about there. Along with some movies and random snippets that she saw of all the different seasons aired, which is way in the future and doesn't help in the now.

Plus, she can't remember the order Satoshi went to regions. She remembers that first is Kanto, fifth is Unova, sixth is Kalos, seventh is Alola, and eighth is Galar. She knows that the second through fourth regions is Hoenn, Johto, and Sinnoh, but she can't remember the right order. Ash is pretty scared about fucking up the future by going to the wrong region at the wrong time.

Ash remembers that Satoshi was the chosen one, and just like it was for Harry Potter, it means that his luck while sometimes divine, is most of the time complete and utter shit. Legendaries, nearly dying, ACTUALLY DYING? If Ash has effectively replaced not only Satoshi but his role, that means she will have to deal with this and she just… can't handle this and can't stop crying because oh god she thinks that she is going to fuck up so badly and she is stressed beyond belief over the future.

Also, just to clarify, like humans, I am going to be using a lowercase first letter for the pokemon species in conversations. If it's important it'll get capitalized but otherwise, it's staying lowercase. Unless autocorrect comes into play.

So, every day is the same, until one day, nearly 2 weeks after Ash can see, on the 1st of July, there's a frantic knocking on the door and Ash can hear someone crying. Loudly.

Ash doesn't recognize the guy at the door with the baby in his arms at first because 1) he has brown hair, 2) he looks younger, 3) he has a baby, and 4) he is so dirty and looks so disheveled that he kind of looks like a homeless person. No offense meant to the homeless people.

Ash is shocked when the following conversation between the adults reveals that this is Samuel Oak, aka Professor Oak. And that the baby he has is his grandson Gary… only it's not his grandson but his actual son that he conceived when he accidentally got drunk after a press conference to talk about pokemon and had a one-night stand. Wow… just… wow.

(I am making Gary Sam's grandson because I calculated that he would have been around 39 when Gary was born. Taking into account that Gary has an older sister, let's say that he first became a grandpa at 38. If you split it in half you get 19. The oldest either Sam or his child could have been when they had kids was 19. I don't know about you, but them being so young doesn't sit well with me.

I don't have a problem with people having kids young but Professor Oak? He would have been busy with research, becoming a professor, and you're telling me he either got married or became a single dad before he turned 20? And that his kid did the same? Yeah no. I don't think so. Hence why I have made Gary his son instead, this is my story and my rules.)

Anyway, Gary was born a few months back on the 6th of April (And I don't know or care if this is his wrong birthdate, my story my rules) but the mother only recently just dropped him off with Sam, told him the important stuff such as name and birthday, and then skedaddled.

Sam was not prepared for taking care of a baby, his appearance attests to that. The past few days he tried his best but he does not know how to take care of a baby. Hence, coming to Delia for help.

Ash is kind of just lightly dozing while listening to the talking around her when she's smacked on the nose. It doesn't hurt but it's still surprising.

She opens her eyes to see, guess who, Gary motherfucking Oak, gurgling at her and tapping her lightly with one of his hands.

Ash can't help but snort. He's a cute baby but also a little shit. How fitting for Gary. He is still very adorable.

So, Ash is cheered up a bit by Gary and his baby antics and starts smiling and giggling a bit, but to her family? This is a miracle. Ash has not laughed or smiled since she was born, and here she is laughing with Sam's son.

Delia immediately takes action, as protective mothers often do for their kids. She shanghais Sam into letting her and Ash stay at his place so that not only can she teach him to take care of Gary, but so that the two of their kids can play together.

Red is exasperated with Delia's taking charge but concedes because he loves her and trusts her judgment, Sam agrees but the adults realize that Ash hasn't been properly introduced to him yet so they tell him her name. Ash notices Sam get an odd look on his face but shrugs it off. Ash is kind of a weird name after all.

Anyways, the family moves into Sam's place and the story gets started. Tune in next time to properly find out and have the family's pokemon introduced to you.

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Anima: So fun fact, there wasn't a confirmation in the anime about who took the Charmander and Bulbasaur from Sam since Gary got Squirtle and Satoshi got Pikachu. At least I don't think there was. Because of this, I have some personal ideas on who could take the places, but here's the thing;

One idea is that I don't do anything as they are characters that don't hold much more relevance to the story apart from getting their pokemon at the same time as Ash and Gary. Very minor characters.

Another is that I create two brand new OCs that may or may not have a bigger impact on the story, resulting in some changes.

ANOTHER idea is that there is one OC to take Bulbasaur that may or may not have an impact on the story, along with DAMIAN taking the Charmander. In case you don't know who that is, it's the original trainer for Satoshi's Charmander that abandoned him because he thought that it was too weak for losing a battle against (I think) a Poliwag. What a douche, right? So yeah, I will probably be posting a poll on my account of AnimaTheAwesome1 to take in what you guys think about what I should do.

Finally, news, I will try to stick to a two-week or four-week posting period. If I have gone over four weeks with nothing then it means that I either need more time to finish a chapter or have lost track of the date and could use a reminder, as I have the unfortunate habit of spending more time reading stories than writing them so I might be a little late. Plus, I am playing pokemon shield and that is taking up some of my time. It's just such a cool game, and that's without the internet as I haven't had the chance to buy that for the game yet. But anyway, moving on.

With that said, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a hopefully better than 2020 New Year. See ya.