The next day, Ash and Meowth arrived in Viridian City. It was not quite as large as some of the larger cities, such as Celadon or Saffron, but it was still much bigger than what Ash was used to.

"Viridian sure is different," said Ash. "Most of the roads in Pallet town aren't even paved."

"Yeah," said Meowth nonchalantly. "Most cities are like this, you know. Your home is really small."

"I know," said Ash. "It's just that you get used to it after you've lived most of your life in such a small town."

The two continued to walk along the road for a while, taking in the sights of the city. While to an outside observer, it would seem that they were just walking around aimlessly, this was not the case. In fact, they were seeking out one notable location.

"So, how much longer until we reach the Gym?" said Meowth.

"I don't think it's far," said Ash. "I'm pretty sure we're almost there."

"I can't see it anywhere, though," said Meowth. "You think we should ask someone for directions?"

Ash shrugged, unsure of whether to do so or just trust his gut. After a while with no success, however, he started to wonder if his gut was not as reliable as he had hoped.

"Maybe I should ask someone," he said as he looked around. Within a few seconds, he spotted a boy walking towards a store.

"Hey," he said, catching the boy's attention, "do you know where the gym is?"

"You're looking for the Pokemon Gym?"

Ash tilted his head in curiosity. While it was somewhat subtle, the boy had some sort of foreign accent.

"Yeah," he said, deciding not to dwell on it too much. "I want to challenge the leader and get my first badge!"

"Your first badge?" the boy said, raising an eyebrow. "Viridian isn't really the best gym for that. The leader is pretty ruthless."

Ash grimaced as he heard that, but he didn't let himself be intimidated. He was going to be a Pokemon Master, and he wouldn't run away from a challenge so easily!

"That doesn't matter! I'll win for sure!"

"Okay, if you say so," the boy said as he pointed his hand. "The Gym is a couple of blocks that way."

Ash and Meowth looked, and groaned.

"Aw, man! That's the direction we were coming from!"

The boy stared at them in stunned silence.

"Oh well," said Ash as he and Meowth turned around and began to walk. "Thanks anyway!"

"No problem," the boy said as he watched the pair leave. "Good luck with the badge!"

The boy watched the raven haired trainer walk off in the direction of the Gym. He then turned around and sighed.

"Están jodidos."

"You gotta be kidding me!"

Ash and Meowth stared in shock at the sign in front of the Gym.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Viridian City Gym will be closed until further notice?!" Ash read in anger. "But I came all the way here for my first badge!"

"Yeah, that sucks," Meowth said in agreement. "Oh well, we can catch a bunch of new Pokemon and be a lot stronger when they do open!"

"Yeah," Ash said as he scratched his chin. "That guy did say the leader was ruthless."

Before they could continue their musing, they heard a voice calling out.

"Pikachu! Where are you?"

The two turned in the direction of the voice. They spotted a boy, slightly older than Ash, with messy dark blue hair, a black and white shirt with short sleeves and a picture of a cloudy sky, blue jeans, and a red sweater tied around his waist. He also had a pair of red sandals on his feet. He also had a somewhat bored look on his face, although a closer look would reveal that he was mostly concerned about something.

The duo was particularly interested in the Pokemon that was accompanying him, however.

Resting on the boy's shoulder was the happiest Eevee they had ever seen. It had a cheerful smile on its face which conveyed a level of bliss that most people and Pokemon could only dream of reaching. And finally, as if to complete the perfect cheer, the evolution Pokemon was wearing a black baseball cap that looked familiar, though Ash couldn't tell why.

"Man, where did you go off to?" the newcomer said.

"Eev-Eevee!"

"Is something wrong?" Ash said, catching the boy's attention.

"Huh?"

"You look like something's wrong," said Ash. "Are you okay?"

"Oh," the boy said. "Don't worry, it's nothing."

"You sure?" said Ash. "I mean, you said something about someone going off somewhere. You sure you don't want help?"

The boy raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"You want to help?"

"Yeah!" said Ash. "I mean, why not? You look like you could use it!"

The boy stared for a moment, then shrugged. In spite of himself, a small smile appeared on his face.

"I'm looking for my partner," he said finally. "He's a Pikachu. I lost him while we were going on a walk.

"Oh," Ash said as his gaze went towards the Eevee. "I thought he was your partner."

"Nah," the boy said. "I found him while I was looking for Pikachu. He had the hat with him, so I think he's lost too."

"Eevee! Eevee!"

"Oh really?" said Meowth. "He says he's looking for his partner too!"

The boy stared blankly.

"He can talk?"

"He's special," said Ash.

"You know it!" Meowth said proudly.

Shrugging, the boy decided to roll with it.

"Okay, we'll find Pikachu and your friend," he said.

"Awesome!" said Ash. "Let's do it!"

The two boys then set off, determined to find the missing individuals.

"My name's Ash, by the way," said Ash. "And this is Meowth."

"Sup?" said Meowth.

Nice to meet you," the boy said. "I'm Sam."

"Nice to meet you too!" said Ash.

The search had not been quite as easy as they had hoped. While Viridian was not a particularly big city, it was still easy to get lost among the many streets and alleys. And even with two humans and two Pokemon to look around, there was still a significant amount of space to look through.

"So, how do we know if we're looking at your Pikachu and not someone else's?" Ash said, voicing a concern he was having.

"Don't worry," said Sam, "I'll know."

"Yeah, but we won't," Meowth pointed out. "We've never met him before."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Sam. "Well, just look for a really grumpy Pikachu. Like, you can tell just by looking at him he's moody. Also, he has a red hat."

"Real grumpy, with a red hat," said Meowth. "Got it."

Sam smiled, then started to walk away, carrying Eevee with him. Now somewhat more aware of what they needed to find, Ash and Meowth made their way through the street, seeking out a Pikachu that looked like what their new acquaintance had described

As they continued their search, they stopped in front of the Pokemon Center. Ash looked at the building in slight awe, having rarely seen one in the flesh before. True, he had been to Professor Oak's lab many times before, but that didn't quite have the same impact.

Perhaps it was the fact that he was now a trainer, and he'd be seeing a lot more of these now.

"Man," he said as he stood in front of the building, "it's so weird that I've never really been in one of these, and now we're going to be seeing a whole lot of these."

"Is it really that weird?" Meowth asked. "You've been to the Professor's lab before."

"Yeah," said Ash, "but I've lived in Pallet Town my whole life, and the lab was always just down the road. We never had a Pokemon Center in Pallet Town."

"That's true," said Meowth. "You must've been real bored all the time."

"Not really," said Ash. "It wasn't a big city, but there was a lot to do. Did Professor Oak ever tell you about the summer camp he hosted?"

"Summer camp? What was that like?"

Before Ash could respond, he was interrupted by a voice.

"Did that Pokemon just talk?"

The duo turned around, and were met by the hazel eyes of a girl. She seemed to be older than him, around the same as Sam, and she was wearing a black and white sweater with red and blue stripes on the lower sleeves. She also had a grey skirt which just barely hid the tight black shorts she was wearing, as well as red shoes, and a large white backpack with a picture of the sky surrounded by red and blue sections. Most notably, her messy brown hair was tied into a pair of twintails that were shaped into several round sections with red and blue hairbands.

"Well, I'm talking right now," said Meowth. "Something weird about that?"

The girl had already been surprised, but now she was staring blankly at Meowth.

"He's a pretty special Pokemon," said Ash.

"That's… actually pretty cool," the girl said. "I wish my buddy could do that. Well, if he wasn't lost."

"Lost?" said Ash.

"Yeah," the girl said. "And it was the first day of our journey, too. I did find this guy, though."

She pointed towards her shoulder, letting Ash and Meowth look at the Pokemon on her shoulder. As they did, their eyes widened at the sight of the figure.

It was the grumpiest looking Pikachu they had ever seen. And it was wearing a red hat.

"Hey, where did you find that Pikachu?"

"Oh, him?" the girl said as she pointed at Pikachu. "I found him after I lost my buddy. I think he was lost too, 'cause he has this hat."

"And what was your partner?" Ash asked, feeling that he already knew the answer.

Before she could answer, the girl's attention was drawn towards something behind Ash.

"Eevee!"

Ash and Meowth turned around and saw a surprised-looking Sam, with Eevee holding out his arm in celebration. They watched as the evolution Pokemon bounced off Sam's shoulder and rushed off towards his partner. At the same time, Pikachu did the same, passing Eevee and rushing off to the blue haired boy.

"Gah!" Sam said as Pikachu practically climbed onto his face. He quickly grabbed the mouse Pokemon and yanked him off his face. Ash and Meowth stared at the sight, unsure of how to react.

"Uh…" Ash said, trying hard to think of some words to say in this situation. Deciding to try not to think about it too much, he turned around to look at Eevee and the girl. Their reaction to being reunited was completely different; she was happily hugging Eevee and planting kisses on his cheek, while he was squealing happily.

"She's… enthusiastic," Meowth said finally.

"Yeah," said Ash. "So, I guess you found your buddy?"

The girl turned around, a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah! Thank you for finding Eevee!"

"Eevee!"

"Uh, you're welcome," said Sam as he walked up to her. "Though, I guess I should thank you too for finding Pikachu."

"Pika."

"I guess so," the girl said. "I'm Mikaela, by the way. And you already know Eevee."

"Vee!"

"Nice to meet you!" said Ash. "My name's Ash, and this is Meowth!"

"Hey there!"

"And I'm Sam," said Sam. "I guess you got to know Pikachu already, right?"

"Chu."

"It's nice to meet you guys!" Mikaela said. "Are you going on a journey too?"

"Oh yeah!" Ash said as he pumped his fist. "I just started yesterday, in Pallet Town."

"You're from Pallet Town?" said Mikaela. "Do you know Professor Oak?"

"Yeah," said Ash, "he gave me Meowth."

"Neat," said Mikaela. "What about you, Sam?"

The boy, who had just been trying to adjust Pikachu on his shoulder, looked up.

"Me?" he asked. "I mean, I've thought about starting a journey, but I… never felt like it, I guess."

"Really?" said Mikaela. "That sucks. You and Pikachu look like a great team, and you could do a lot of cool stuff together!"

At that moment, Pikachu jumped back onto Sam's face. This in turn caused him to cry out in shock as he tried to pull the grumpy electric type off. As the two struggled Ash, Mikaela, and Meowth watched, small drops of sweat rolling down their foreheads.

"Is his face really that comfy?" Mikaela wondered out loud.

Ash turned his head towards Mikaela, then back to Sam. He then looked back and forth between the two, an idea forming in his head.

"You know," he said, "they say that it's more fun to travel with friends."

As he finally succeeded in removing Pikachu from his face, Sam looked at Ash in surprise.

"What are you talking about, Ash?"

"Well, Mikaela and I just started our journeys, and you want to start, so why don't we all go together?"

Mikaela and Sam stared at Ash, seemingly surprised by Ash's suggestion. Meowth seemed surprised as well, though his face looked rather pensive.

"You know," he said, "that does sound like it would be fun! Why don't we all give it a go?"

"Pikachu, Pika."

"Eeveevee!"

"See?" Meowth said as he pointed at the other Pokemon. "They agree too!"

"Really?" said Mikaela, surprised by Meowth's declaration. "Do you really want to go with them, Eevee?"

"Vee! Eevee!"

As Mikaela cheered, Sam looked at Pikachu in surprise.

"You really think so too?"

"Pikachu," Pikachu said, seemingly unenthusiastic. However, he did lift a paw in an approving manner.

"Well," said Sam, "I… guess we'll be going on a journey too."

"Awesome!" said Ash. "Then we'll be traveling together!"

"Yeah!" said Mikaela. "We're gonna have so much fun!"

Ash grinned at the prospect of having two new traveling buddies.

Ash, Mikaela, and their Pokemon sat in the lobby of the Pokemon Center. While they had both been ready to set off, Sam hadn't even had a backpack, so he still needed to get ready to set off. Thus, while he had one back home to get ready, the others were currently sitting in the lobby of the Pokemon Center, patiently awaiting his return.

"How much longer is he gonna take?"

Ash and Meowth turned to Mikaela, who was perhaps not quite as patient as them.

"Be patient," said Meowth, "he's got a lot of stuff to do before he's ready."

"It's still taking a lot longer than I thought," Mikaela said in frustration.

"Eevee! Eevee!" Eevee said as he patted her head.

Ash sighed and looked around the center. His eyes fell on the video phones, and he thought back to his mother.

"I think I'll call home," he said as he and Meowth got up.

"Sure," Mikaela said in a nonchalant tone. Shrugging at this, Ash got up and walked over to the video phones.

Upon reaching them, he put in a coin and dialed in his home phone number. After a few seconds of waiting, a blank screen appeared and a voice began to come out of the phone.

"Delia Ketchum speaking, how can I help you?"

"Hey Mom," Ash replied, "it's me."

"Ash!" Delia said excitedly. "It's you!"

The screen then changed, showing the excited face of Ash's mom.

"It's so great to see you, sweetie!" Delia said as she finally got a good look at her son. "And you too, Meowth!"

"Yeah, you too," said Ash. "You won't believe how my first day went."

"It sure wasn't anything we'll forget any time soon," said Meowth.

"Was it?" asked Delia. "Tell me everything!"

Ash smiled as he told her everything that had occurred the day before, from his initial difficulty with Meowth, to their attempt to catch Pidgey, to their success with Spearow, and finally, the mysterious Pokemon they had seen.

"And then it flew off over the rainbow," Ash said, finishing up his tale of his first day.

"That's amazing, Ash," his mother said. "You sure had an eventful first day as a trainer!"

"Yeah," said Meowth. "It's the type of day that tells you were gonna have an awesome journey!"

"Totally," said Ash. "And we haven't even started with what happened once we got to Viridian City."

"I can't believe you made it to Viridian City already!" said Delia. "It took your father four days to get to Viridian City when he went on his journey."

"Oh."

Meowth looked up at his trainer, surprised by his sudden change in demeanor.

"You alright, Ash?" he asked, only to be ignored.

"Mom… where did-"

"Let's not worry about that too much," Delia said, quickly changing the topic. "What have you been up to since you got to Viridian?"

"Mom, what happened to dad?"

"Ash, it's not important," Delia said quickly. "You don't need to worry about it while you're on your journey."

"But I want-"

"I said it's not important!"

Ash flinched at his mother's tone. Meowth looked on, unsure of what to say, while Delia had a sad look on her face.

"I… I'm sorry, Ash. It's just difficult to talk about your father."

"That's what you always say," said Ash.

For a moment, there was silence. Mother and son simply sat at the phone, not sure what to say next. Meanwhile, Meowth tried to think of something he could say to alleviate the tension that had taken over.

Finally, Ash spoke up.

"I… should probably get going," he said.

"I suppose so," Delia said in reply. "You're still changing your underwear every day, right?"

"Yes, Mom," said Ash.

"Good," said Delia. "Have a safe trip."

"Thanks," said Ash. "Bye Mom."

"Bye, sweetie."

Ash hung up, then sank back in his seat. Still somewhat worried, Meowth decided to speaking up.

"So… what's up with you and your dad?"

"I don't know," said Ash. "I've never met him."

"Really?" said Meowth. "Never?"

"Yeah," said Ash. "And whenever I ask mom, she never tells me anything."

"Oh," said Meowth. "Sounds like a sore subject."

Ash sighed as he looked downwards. He then smiled as he got back to his feet.

"Yeah, well, if Mom won't tell me about Dad, then I'll have to find out myself!"

"You think you can do that?" Meowth asked.

"Of course I can!" said Ash. "As long as we believe in ourselves, we can do anything!"

"Heh," said Meowth, "I like your attitude."

Ash grinned, happy to hear the encouragement. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure if he could actually find out what happened to his dad. He hardly knew where to start. But he wanted to find out more than almost anything. And he was willing to do anything to find the truth.

"Oh, look," said Meowth, "Sam's back."

Ash looked back and saw Sam walking into the Center, carrying a backpack that looked surprisingly similar to Mikaela's, albeit in black rather than white.

"Oh, hey Sam," Ash said as he made his way back to the group.

"Sorry I took so long," he said. "I had a lot to pack."

"Pika, Pika," said Pikachu.

"It's okay," said Ash. "I remember how excited I was when I was getting ready for my journey."

"Oh wow! We have the same backpack brand!"

Ash, Sam, and their Pokemon turned to Mikaela, who seemed unusually fascinated by the blue haired boy's backpack.

"Uh, yeah," said Sam, "I guess we do."

"Neat!"

"Eevee Eev!"

Sam and Ash looked at each other, and gave a shrug.

"Anyway," said Ash, "is there anything we need to do before we set off?"

"We should probably get our Pokemon checked with Nurse Joy," said Sam. "If we're going to be out in the wild, we should make sure our Pokemon are all healthy so they can be ready to defend us."

"Well I'm feeling fine," said Meowth as he showed off his claws. "Anything attacks, we're ready to stop them!"

Pikachu and Eevee chirped in agreement, eliciting a chuckle from their trainers. Ash smiled, then looked at Meowth.

"Well, we care about you guys too, you know. We just want to be sure."

"Eh, I guess that's fair. As long as they don't stick any needles in me or anything."

"I doubt anything like that will happen," said Ash. The group then made their way towards the front desk, where Nurse Joy was waiting for them.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokemon Center," she said.

"Why are you welcoming us just now?" Mikaela asked. "We've been here for a while."

"I haven't," Sam pointed out. "Also, I think it's just a courtesy thing."

"Yeah," said Ash, eager to move the conversation along. "Anyway, we'd like to get our Pokemon checked."

"I see," said Joy. "In that case, please hand me your-"

Before she could continue, the lights in the Pokemon Center went out.

"Who turned out the lights?" said Mikaela.

"I think there may be a blackout," Joy said as the emergency lights turned on. "Don't panic, this is something we're equipped to deal with."

"I don't know," said Meowth, "I'm getting a bad feeling out of all this."

As if to prove Meowth right, there was a sudden explosion in the roof. Then, the entire room was filled with thick black smoke.

"What's happening?!" Sam cried out.

"Oh dear, I was wrong!" Nurse Joy said in a worried tone. "This isn't a blackout! We're under attack!"

A/N: Uh oh! What's going to happen to Ash and his two new friends?

...Probably nothing too serious. it's way too early in the story for anything too major.

Ash's new travel partners are based on the two characters from the GOTCHA! music video. I don't know why, I guess I just liked them and wanted to use them somehow.

I also don't know why I went with Sam and Mikaela for their names. It just felt right.