Hey, guys, I'm back, did not expect this to get the responses it did but hey I'm not complaining. I'm glad there are people out there who seem to like the idea of Ash starting his journey differently in some way. Even with a completely different companion.

rockingchampif: I can assure you Sam and Vivian are the only OCs apart from Annabelle and Lucy in this story, if there any others it'll be further down the line so you'll have plenty of time to get used to all the different names, if that helps any. Plus, there are not two Vivians. There is only one Vivian, who is the trainer and the other character with a 'V' name is Vivina the Venonat, Ash's childhood Poke-Pal (in this story anyways) I can understand the confusion and just wanted to clear that up. I'm glad there are some aspects about this you do like and I'll try to curb any unnecessary reactions and try to keep things short, but no author's writing style is perfect, just saying. Hope you like this new chapter too!

Phantomsoul2015: Nice to know it wasn't that hard to guess! I hope you like this chapter!

Lord-of-Oceans-Poseidon: Yeah, didn't realize I was spelling it wrong until I looked back to read it while writing the draft for the new chapter, thanks for pointing it out! I'm actually fixing it by using the Bulbapedia whenever I'm not sure or can't remember a Pokemon's spelling, its been the most reliable Pokemon source so it works. As for Vivina's training under Koga and her egg moves, to be fair, every Pokemon is different from one another just as every trainer's method of training is different from one another, so it would be fair to say that she just didn't flourish as well as she could've under Koga's methods and just does better under Ash's. Again, fair assumption. As for the nicknaming I've never really thought about it before, I guess people just want to be able to be able to save the typing in the case that where Ash didn't name his Pokemon and enters a battle where the opponent uses the same Pokemon and also didn't nickname. Again, just an assumption as its the case for me as I think ahead, the switching is all good for you though, if it works. As for what happened to Red's Pokemon...well that would be telling right now, now wouldn't? Hope you enjoy the chapter!

fangs of death: I'm glad you like it and hope you like this chapter too!

Enjoy everyone!

Chapter 2: Training and the Nido Twins

When Ash woke up that morning, the first thing that registered in his head was that he wasn't in his bedroom back in Pallet Town. Try as he might, he could never keep his room this clean and neat, nor did he remember it being so bland or impersonal. Then, in one big rush, his memories from the day before, his first day as a trainer, came back to him: meeting Vivian, catching his first Pokemon, their encounter with the Spearow flock, seeing Ho-oh, the tour of Viridian City...defeating Team Rocket...it all came in a recollection that had him sitting up straight so fast it startled his Pokemon awake.

At the same time it surreal, but Ash knew it was real, especially since he was still wearing his normal cloths rather than his night-wear, so it hadn't been a dream. This was especially proven true when he got a face full of icy-cold water in the face after spacing out too long, curtsy of a hyper-active Aurora, much to Zeus' irritation as stray water ended up on him. The excited little Water-Type was bouncing about with boundless energy despite the trauma of last night's encounter and Vivina was giggling in amusement of her female team-mate's antics.

"Okay, okay," He relented chuckling, "I'm up for real, I'm up for real!" He couldn't laughing when she playfully sprayed him again. Getting out of the bed, Ash started his day by washing his face and combing the tangles out of his hair, he changed into a pair of black sweats and a dark gray tank, fully intending of making this an official training day.

After adjusting his hat, returning Aurora to her pokeball and scooping up Vivina, Zeus perching on Ash's shoulder again, Ash started down the hall, intending to fill up before lauching into training, but paused when he reached Vivian's room. The image of the condition she had been put in from the battle against Team Rocket still played in his mind and had haunted him in his sleep at some point. Ash was well aware there were plenty of people out there with a fear of Pokemon in general or simply watching battles because they hated violence, but something about this felt different. Sure she froze, she was clearly scared, but she was scared with the flock and she hadn't froze. She had also been shaking like a leaf, like she was about to jump out of her skin or bolt, yet she was completely unresponsive to the world until he shook her out of it.

It puzzled him, but Ash didn't feel like this was the time to push it. For one thing, he literally just met her yesterday, so it didn't feel like it was his place. But if this happened too often he will say something, if only out of concern, but otherwise. He felt it better to wait a while before asking about it.

After a moment of thinking it over, Ash knocked on the door with a hesitant call, "Vivian?" But there was no response, so he tried again, a little louder, "Vivian?" But again he got no answer, so he shrugged, "Must still be asleep." Not that it bothered him, if he wasn't such an early pidgey himself, he'd probably still be asleep right now, especially after what happened last night. But then again, he doubted Aurora would've let him, either way.

He paid Nurse Joy a friendly good morning as he passed the main desk, which she returned. When Ash got to the cafeteria, his theory about Vivian still being asleep was dashed at spotting the blonde sitting at a booth, a plate of pancakes and toast in front of her, writing in a greenish-yellow notebook. Beneath the table, Nicola, Diana and Marina were eating their own breakfast of poffins. And as Vivian was writing, she was drinking out of a lavender-colored thermos, using the lid as a cup.

Like Ash, Vivian had exchanged her previous outfit for a new, physical activity suitable one. Her blouse was replaced by a simple purple tank over a lose, baggy baby blue tee and a pair of pink shorts replaced her skirt. Her ankle was still in its cast, which was now decorated with pink and purple star stickers, blue crescent moon stickers and indigo and baby blue planet stickers, her bare toes wiggled out the other end, one her other leg was a violet sock and a magenta shoe with indigo toes and sole with gray laces. Her hair was in its immaculate bun and she wore a pink watch and a blue beaded necklace. He then noticed something peculiar; resting next to her was an old-fashioned looking parasol that was currently closed, the fabric was a lovely light jade green, off-setting the off-whitish-green handle, sitting atop was a bead-like, forest-green topper that had small darker green, almost black bat-like wing decorations attached to it, the topper ended in a coned point and the closer Ash got, the more he realized the topper was actually a crystal of some sort.

He quickly got himself a place of pancakes for himself, some bacon and eggs, bowls of Poke-block for his Pokemon and a glass of Moomoo Milk, before taking the seat in front of her. "Morning," He greeted with a smile after releasing Aurora so she could join them.

Vivian clear never noticed him sitting down as she looked up in surprise, a slight apprehension in her eyes for a moment as she looked at him but she smiled back regardless as she set her makeshift cup down, "Good morning Ash."

"How did you sleep?" He asked politely as he began to dig into his breakfast. "Better once I talked with my cousin," She replied before taking a bite out of her pancake.

A semi-awkward silence fell over the pair as they ate, half-listening to their Pokemon conversing in their native tongue, whilst thinking over their plans for the future. For Ash, he wanted to start improving his Pokemon's STATs first and foremost. One of the first things Ash learned from his grandfather was that power, physical or otherwise, wasn't everything, a powerful move like Mach Punch or Fire Blast had little use when the target can out run or maneuver you. This was especially the cause with Zeus and Aurora in terms of speed, he also wanted to work on their respective egg moves, but figured he could but that on the back-burner for Zeus and Vivina, at least, until after the Pewter Gym and type disadvantage was no longer an issue.

For Vivian, she wasn't quite sure what do at the moment, as a Performer, training meant physical activity for her as well, with and without her Pokemon, and that wasn't happening for a while, so she figured the best she could do was focus on her Pokemon for now and make up the difference in the forest once her leg was fully healed, which meant planning ways to incorporate her Pokemon's moves for future Showcases that work with particular dance-styles and also teaching them new moves at the same time that would also be a benefit. Mostly that applied to her newest Pokemon, Diana and Marina, as for Nicola, she wasn't quite sure.

She was actually writing down a schedule to try and work around with what needed improvement with her team, having planned to eventually bring it up with Ash so he could express his opinion on it and add what he felt would also benefit him and his team.

"So, how do you plan to start training?" Vivian broke the silence first as she poured what smelled like some sort of herbal tea, jasmine was his guess, into her thermos' lid.

Swallowing down his food with a gulp of milk, Ash replied, "Well, as much as I'd like to start working on new moves that'll work against Pewter Gym, I think this a pretty good time to get a jump on STATs training then anything else."

Setting her pen down, Vivian nodded before folding her hands and resting her cheek on them in thought, gazing out the nearby window. She could see the merit of the course of action, of course. What a lot of their fellow rookies failed to realize in the beginning was that attack power only got you so far. What was also not very common knowledge was that you didn't necessarily have to challenge the Gyms in the typical order that was traditionally set in nor was it common to know a certain set of rules when it came to evaluating matches that Gym Leaders were supposed to follow. With each badge the trainer won, they literally made the next challenge harder for themselves at the following gym. As soon as a trainer won two badges, the next Gym Leader was obligated to use three vs three matches and it wasn't until once they won their fifth, or perhaps it was the sixth, badge that they are to be given full six on six, what a lot of trainers didn't stop to think about was the order to do those battles in. If Ash was aware of this, he made no mention of it and she had no intention to say anything about it unless it interfered with her journey as a Performer, which so far it didn't seem to be doing.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Vivian spoke, "I can see the merit of it; shelder aren't all that fast on land compared to their natural element underwater, so even if she does have the type advantage, it won't do her much good if they can hit her before she can do anything."

Ash nodded along, "Its actually one of the things I'm going to be focusing on," He swallowed some more bacon down before adding, "Plus, I want to work with Zeus' speed, see just how far it can go."

"A good idea," Vivian smirked in agreement, "As a small rodent, pikachu are naturally fast, agile and reasonably flexible, so a specimen that can reach its maxium speed potential would be a true powerhouse in any team, especially in a strategy where you use the bigger Pokemon's size against them." Ash nodded in response, completely agreeing with her assessment.

Ash smiled a little wider at noticing Zeus perked up during Vivian's words that he could be a powerhouse, before he asked, "What about you?"

"Well, to be honest I'm not entirely sure, Showcases don't have any kind of battle at all," Vivian shrugged, "As much as I see the use of STAT training, its a little useless in my choice of career and I can't exactly practice for the Freestyle, much less certain Theme Stages, so I guess the most I can do outside working on my Poke Puff recipe is work on their move-pool until my leg gets better."

Ash nodded seeing the logic in her words. With her leg like it was, there was only so much she could do in preparation to her first Showcase in Cerulean City as the Freestyle part of the Rookie Class required her to perform along side her Pokemon, which she couldn't practice with her leg how it was, same with two particular Theme Style challenges also required both her legs in healthy condition to prepare for. One was where the performer and her Pokemon were to bake puffs whilst synchronized dancing and the other was Rhyhorn Herding. Ash was never going to understand how that one was came up with, but the point was, it was a little hard for her to practice for at the moment.

"But learning how to defend at the same time doesn't hurt, right?" Ash said in attempt to cheer her up a little. It worked, cause Vivian gave a little smile and shrug after a moment's thought, "No, I guess it doesn't." From beneath the table, Nicola, Diana and Marina shared a look of relief.

As they continued to eat their breakfast they broke into a debate of how to conduct training and Vivian finally showed him the schedule she had been working on:

5:30-6:00 AM - Breakfast (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays Vivian will cook; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdaus Ash would cook)

6:30-7:00 AM - Warm Ups and light excising to both wake up fully and let food digest as well as to not pull any muscles when training began.

7:00-8:00 AM - Weight/Speed/Agility Training, weights in question will be increased further along as an added endurance training and build up.

8:00-9:00 AM - Endurance/Resistance/Move Improvement Training, Pokemon will rotate between taking hits and practicing their current moves.

9:00 AM-12:00 PM - Break, Pokemon can continue training if they wish or can relax.

12:00-12:30 PM - Lunch (Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays Vivian will cook; Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays Ash will cook)

12:30-1:00 PM - Exercise and warm ups once more before further training.

1:00-5:00 PM - Mock battles with rotating match-ups so Pokemon can get used to moving targets and battle set-ups, or go look for new Pokemon.

5:00-6:00 PM - Look and gather for berries, herbs and other things (i.e: mushrooms) that can either be used to heal or can be sold for extra money.

6:00-6:30 PM - Bathing and grooming for bother trainers and Pokemon, as cleanliness is one the important factors to a long, healthy life.

6:30-7:00 PM - Dinner (Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays Vivian will cook; Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays Ash will cook)

7:00-9:00 PM - Research information on Pokemon for future moves they can learn be it naturally or through a TM or HM or through tutoring.

They both agreed it to be a good start and they could just iron it out further along the road when their teams grew or they gained another traveling companion.

After breakfast, Ash and Vivian dove right into it as soon as they were in the training field. For STATs training, Ash and Vivian had their Pokemon alternate between the STATs they wanted to improve first. Mutually, they wanted to work on their Pokemon's speed and reflexes, so the two teams of three spent the first fifteen minutes running laps, only taking brief breaks before Ash started using harmless rubber frisbees he got from Nurse Joy to work on their agility in evading. Then, after the half-hour mark had passed they switched to improving the power behind the attacks they already knew, alternating between physical attacks and their special attacks, which was mostly for Diana, Marina and Aurora's benefits as Vivina, Nicola and Zeus had already been well into their respective training prior to their journey. For the final half hour Ash had his Pokemon work on their speed again, figuring he could put defense on the back burner for now, while Vivian introduced her Pokemon to music for when they would eventually start practicing dance-styles.

After that, they took a moment to really consider what to do.

For Vivian, she had no reason to be considering type-advantage since she wasn't pursuing the Gyms, as Nicola had a rather large and impressive move-pool, she simply had the female pikachu practice what she already knew. As for Diana and Marina, Vivian decided to have Marina focus on Bubble and Diana on Fury Swipes. She wanted to start with something easy. For Marina, as a Water-Type, moves of the same type were a relative breeze to learn, Bubble was also a useful warm-up for other similar Water-Type moves like Bubblebeam as they had the same fundamentals. As for Diana, it was a similar principal, Normal-Type moves weren't all that hard as they didn't require drawing on foreign elemental energies in order to use them and the move itself was essentially using Scratch with both hands at the same time in a quick progression. So she felt confident it wouldn't be too hard for either her Pokemon to get the grasp of the moves, they just had to practice them in order to master them.

For Ash, it was entirely different, seeing as he was pursuing the Gyms and had all three of his Pokemon to work with as well as a bigger picture in mind. Another thing he learned from his grandfather was that moves that cause immediate damage weren't everything either, sometimes the key was using moves to effect the health of the opponent or temporarily lower their STATs, or even use moves that temporarily increased your own. So, he was left with at an crossroads as to what to focus on first. For Aurora, he was really tempted to try and unlock one of her Egg Moves, but felt that could wait as they were in no rush to get to Pewter, which left him to settle with teaching her Protect, which would be relatively easy as she already knew a Normal-Type move, plus an ally that already knew the move and Vivian had no issues with Nicola helping Aurora learn it. As for Vivina and Zeus, he settled them both learning Toxic and Zeus by himself learning Brick Break.

By borrowing the two TMs from Vivian's shockingly vast collection, Ash chose to widen their status-effecting move-pool as it would be a nice secret weapon, especially on Zeus' part, and the Fighting-Type move was more to give Zeus a more type-effective move. Ash had little concern for Vivina's progress with Toxic as it was in her natural typing, and again, having Nicola around to teach her and Zeus would make it go even quicker, all they would have to perfect, particularly after Zeus learned how to harness poisonous energy without hurting himself, was launching it. As for Brick Break, all Zeus had to do was learn how to harness the Fighting-Type energy, keep it focused on his paw for a certain amount of time and punch rocks repeatedly until he had it down.

For Moving Target Practice, Ash and Vivian got more of the frisbees from Nurse Joy and instructed their Pokemon to try and hit them with Thunder Shock, Icicle Spear, Water Gun and Ember.

Unable to really do much to help her Pokemon with their training from her wheelchair, Vivian opted to simply obverse her new companion. During the laps, before he started throwing the frisbees, Ash would run right there next to his Pokemon in a mild jog, offering encouragement, mostly to Aurora, who hadn't been used to moving all that much outside the water. When he started doing excerises as they did the rest of the STATs training, his answer to when she asked him about it was that if he really wanted to be a good trainer, then he should train right there next to them so he could get stronger himself, which honestly impressed her, since the only work out most trainers tended to do outside walking the forest trails was traveling through the mountain paths looking for more experienced Pokemon.

Likewise, Vivian herself pulled an impressive feat on Ash whenever she would offer advice to her charmander and poliwag about their new moves without consulting her pokedex once. She had explained what the two had needed to do completely from memory. She would then alternate between watching their progress with the moves and drawing in her sketchpad, she would often call Nicola over to show her what she had drawn and Nicola would use body language to give her opinion. In a lot of ways, the bond between the blonde trainer and the female electric-type reminded him a lot of himself and Vivina, but at the same time, it felt deeper than that.

Move Practice was mostly an excuse for the Pokemon to take their own independent decisions in their training. They had the choice of either perfecting their already mastered moves or work more on what they're currently learning.

Type Resilience was a bit self-explanatory and was also a little a bit on the chaotic side, as they had very few Pokemon with little variety, a part from Nicola, when it came to their move-pool, thus there wasn't much they could do when conjuring a majority of their Pokemon's weaknesses. For a couple of minutes each, Ash and Vivian would have their Pokemon endure as many attacks of their damaging elements as they can. The point, as the name of the training segment suggested, was to make them more resilient to the move type in question, so they could shake it off quicker and counter-attack faster, of course, it would serve to reduce the initial special damage their Pokemon took as a bonus. Of course, there was only so much of this they could do and could do nothing for Zeus' weakness to Ground-Type moves or Vivina's weakness to Rock-Type moves, both of which were concerning since the Pewter City Gym was comprised of, mainly, Rock-Type Pokemon, ground being the most common secondary typing, so it would be natural to assume the Gym Pokemon would have access to both types of elements, which made things challenging, but Ash was determined to find a way around it. Aurora's weakness to Grass type moves wasn't a pressing matter, as the Celadon Gym was a long ways away, but her early introduction to Electric type moves would be a major score should he have no choice to use her in Vermillion.

From there they would resume their target practice, then move on to battle experience before they would retire for supper and spend the rest of the day relaxing before going to bed. One would fine the type of schedule shocking, given the trainers' age and the fact they were just starting out, but if they knew a good chunk of either's backstories and home-lives, it be more understandable. Ash's grandfather was a Gym Leader and an Elite Four member in a different region, plus, a seasoned veteran as far as journeys and leagues went, haven been on and participated in many before he finally took over the Fuchsia City Gym, so it would be natural that, after seeing many battles and going to Koga for tips and advice, that Ash would adopt some of Koga's methods and tendencies when it came to training and managing a time table. As for Vivian, her only explanation was that her brother was a military officer as well as a veteran in what had been dubbed 'The Shadow Wars' in the relatively close Orre Region, and was her sole caretaker, so it wasn't hard to believe that she had picked up his military routine habits, which included a strict schedule and not to play around when it came to training of any kind.

It was like this for the entire week and a few of the following days. You would find the two new trainers starting their day with a healthy breakfast in the Center's cafeteria, either fining out the details of their training for when Vivian was finally out of her cast or looking through a copy of the Center's daily delivered subscription to the local paper, since Vivian had suggested picking up small odd jobs as a means to bring in extra money as they couldn't rely pure on battle winnings, which Ash couldn't argue with. If they were doing either of those, they'd simply be eating in silence, enjoying each other's company, and all the while, their Pokemon would be freely munching away on their own breakfast of PokeBlock.

After that, they dive straight into training, and during the week, it was an expected slow progress. Zeus' paws were steadily bruised and sore from hitting rocks over and over in his attempts of mastering Brick Break, Aurora was getting better at summoning her Protect and was under treat of exhausting her natural ice reserves from how many times she had practiced Icicle Spear, and both Zeus and Vivina's progress with Toxic was surprisingly quick and well as far as making the sphere of toxic, all they had to do was the launching part, which they focused on both normal and moving targets. As for Vivian's Pokemon, it was a somewhat quicker process as she had expected, as Bubble was in Marina's natural type and Normal-type moves were easy for any Pokemon to learn, so after successfully learning the moves, Vivian had them work on targets with them, moving and not so moving ones, as well as contemplating their next set of moves.

During these training sessions, Ash had genuinely surprised Vivian by training along side his Pokemon by running the laps with them during the speed portion of STATs and doing other forms of exercise as well like crunches and push-ups. It was around the third or fourth day she finally asked him about it and his response was that it was only fair that he trained with his Pokemon, as a trainer he wouldn't be doing his team justice if he couldn't keep up with them athletically, which she admired. Also, he told how his grandfather had taught him how not only did the Pokemon represent the trainer, but the trainer represented the Pokemon, which she could understand.

If anything, it helped her respect him more.

Likewise, Vivian took Ash by surprise as well, despite being stuck in a wheelchair. During a break, Ash was walking up to ask her something when he caught sight of what she was drawing. It was a rather detailed sketch of a faceless female wearing a middle-length skirted dress that with a tight top, the mid-section being the tightest part, almost like a corset and the sleeves were form-fitting and were thick straps that left the shoulders somewhat exposed and skirt looked as if it would flare if spun and the feet were clad in heeled sandals with studded straps, around the model's neck was a small-length pearl necklace, which was connected by a line to a more sharper looking necklace that was circled with a question mark, a pair of studs and in the model's short curly hair was a feathered hairpin. There were meticulous notes of color combinations and the parts of the dress had lines that led to either silk or velvet, indicating what it was likely to be made with, there was even a list of possible accessories to put with it; a handheld purse, a loop-belt, a silk transparent scarf. It was all mind-blowing for someone who didn't go much outside basic jeans, shirts, sweaters, tanks and shorts, much less simple belts, caps and sneakers, which Ash was.

It went like this for a week, Ash would train along side the Pokemon physically and Vivian would continue to draw in her sketchbook between giving tips to her Pokemon and helping out during STATs training. Outside the training field, they allowed themselves to be normal kids; Ash kept showing her around Virdian, even if he wasn't much for sightseeing, being a complete gentleman about it to boot, which many older women would coo over, making them both blush whenever they caught wind of it. The entire time, Vivian would have her green umbrella either hanging off the crook of her arm or held in her hands on her lap, it was an oddity that Ash didn't feel ready to question yet.

Also, Ash noticed they weren't the only ones using the training field. Despite not many trainers were staying at the Center at the same time as them, the only other one they had seen using the field was the mysterious purple-haired girl who had helped them out with Team Rocket, her foreign Flying-Type at her side, along with another foreign Pokemon that was quadruped and resembled a turtle being a little over a foot tall, its shell was brown with a a brown rim, its eyes, lower jaw and stubby legs were yellow while the rest of its body was green and it had a small seedling on its head, leading him to guess it was a Grass-Type. Judging from close she would stay to the pond, he guessed she also had a Water-Type that couldn't leave the water.

If Vivian noticed, she never mentioned it, so he didn't either, though the way she would glance over and watch them did strike a nerve in Ash, she never approached them, not even to taunt them nor did she throw a glare their way. He wasn't sure if this was simply the calm before the storm or if he was just over thinking things.

It wasn't until the beginning of the following week that Ash decided to give everyone a break.

"They've been at all this for a week straight," He pointed out to Vivian, "Sure, they're moves still need improving but, hey, the Moth Dynasty wasn't built in a day."

It was meant as a joke, but clearly his remark brushed the wrong chord as Vivian gave him the stick eye, snorting, "And what would you know about the Moths?"

To be perfectly honest, Ash didn't know much about the fabled Moth Empire, no one in Kanto or Jotho did despite some records in Pewter, Cinnabar and Fuschia libraries and some museums in Ecruteak City, Azalea Town and, surprisingly, Goldenrod City had any mentions or references of them, the richest proof of their history being in Sinnoh. It was rumored and speculated that they were a matriarch of magic wielding queens, personally, Ash was pretty opened minded on the subject, but a lot called the idea an 'enchanting fairy-tale'. All anyone concretely knew was it was a kingdom as old as Pokelantis, possibly older, as far as any known artifact or document can trace back.

"It was just an expression," Ash placated and Vivian just rolled her eyes, "Besides, I thought you could use some time out of the Center."

Vivian hummed in thought, thinking it over briefly, "Well..." It was true, in hindsight, one can only do so much training at once before something or someone broke and she felt bad for getting defensive, "I guess a little sight-seeing can't hurt."

Ash smiled encouragingly, "Might not be much compared to Vermillion but I like to think Virdian still has its splendor."

"Well," Vivian smiled, "I'm not going to disagree there."

Before leaving, Nurse Joy wanted to take a quick look at Vivian's ankle and was pleased to see how well it was healing, switching her out of a wheel chair and gave her a crutch. Vivian smiled pleased and rather proud of the process, at Ash's inquiry, she explained, "My mom's family's known for rather impressive fast healing genes." To which Ash shrugged off, knowing he too was a quick healer, so who was he to judge.

They immediately started with Vivian's first choice, the museum. It was easily one of the biggest, oldest buildings in the city with three floors, each dictated to a different form of history. The first floor was for the natural history, which was split between the history of Virdian itself and the region as a whole, which for Ash was the second most interesting as it focused on places he would eventually cross. The second floor was more ancient history, a couple of fossils, traditional and amber, old equipment from the previous centuries that, while worn, were well maintained, which had Vivian awing the technological advancements over the years. The final floor was an art history exhibit full of various oils paintings, collages, water-colors and acrylic, even a few ink wash paintings, there even a few statues.

"You're not a fan of museums, huh?" Vivian asked Ash, bemused as Ash tried to focus on something to appreciate from a particular painting. "As far as art goes, not really," Ash admitted sheepishly at getting caught, rubbing his head, "I like it just as much as the next person, but...not in settings like this."

Surprisingly, Vivian had an understanding look on her face with a hum of thought, before saying, "I know what you mean, I'm more of a history buff then an art critic to be honest, but my brother insisted I get an...affiliation, of sorts, with the finer side of culture." Ash smiled at her in response in understanding, as his grandfather had tried for something similar, but all he got was Ash having a better feel for things like art or music was in practice then in observation, something he got from his father as he was told.

The Pokemon were all naturally curious and amazed with the models in the history exhibits, the fossils and of course the artwork, Nicola being the sole exception, having been to many museums before along side her trainer, so she easily answered whatever questions her fellow Pokemon had. If anything, their curiosity and cluelessness was refreshing for her.

Their next stop was one of Ash's favorites, the Battle Tent, a recent addition in a certain selection of towns and cities throughout Kanto and Johto. A concept originating in Hoenn, which Vivian founding interesting in theory, was a miniature version of a general tournament in match-ups and rounds with the only back-draw of being no cash-prizes, as well as a training encounter with other trainers with no real consequence. In fact, from what Vivian could see from watching some of the matches, it was meant purely for training and battle experience as well as a social gathering for the trainers themselves as a plus.

"To be honest, couldn't this be seen as a waste of time?" Vivian asked as a trainer returned their pokemon, "Not to mention money in supplies, if there's no cash prize or at least a compensation for battling as far as they get?"

Ash shrugged, "I think its more a budgetary cut back on the Leagues' part, but it doesn't make it any less cool or fun." His blonde companion's only response was to roll her eyes behind her glasses with melodramatic shrug and sigh in good humor, which made them and their Pokemon share a laugh.

Finally, after having lunch at a random restaurant, which thankfully didn't carter to the faster made, more popular type of food as the fast food place they had gone to before had been to, they decided to take a stroll through one of the city's parks. It was a peaceful place with plenty of trees, a couple of bug Pokemon had made their home in, as did a few pidgey and the rare spearow, even a few ratatta would be found nibbling on a berry or nut before scurrying for cover upon noticing it had been spotted.

So, naturally, neither rookie trainer were prepared for their respective Pika-Pal suddenly perking up before scurrying off like Entei was on their tails.

"What the-?" Ash stammered in surprise, "Zeus?"

"Nicola? What's wrong?" Vivian called startled, but grew concerned when they were ignored, "I don't like this."

"Neither do I," Ash agreed, "Let's go!" They hurried after them as quick as one of them being in crutches was able and when they finally caught up, imagine their shock to find two small bruised bodies next to their pikachus.

The two were identical, being roughly the same sizes as their pika-pals and were both were quadruped-mice with large spined ears with teal on the insides, big bucked teeth, claws on their four feet and big red eyes that looked at them with such wariness and mistrust it broke their hearts. One of them was a pinkish-purple color with darker patches, while the other was blue with similar darker patches, both having barbs down their backs, but the pinkish-purple one's were bigger and the blue one was the only one with whiskers. Both also had horns on their foreheads, but again, the pinkish-purple one's was bigger in comparison.

Vivian covered her mouth in horror at the heavy bruising covering the two small bodies, to a point she almost couldn't the difference between the darker patches and the actual bruises. Ash took out his Pokedex and pointed it at the two, his hand trembling as he did, Dexter's voice was the only thing that filled the silent tension as it presented a much healthier looking picture of the blue rodent:

Nidoran(female), the Poison Point Pokemon

T: Poison

Possible Abilities: Poison Point or Rivalry

Hidden Ability: Hustle

Small and docile, it protects itself with its small, poisonous horn when attacked.

The picture switched to a healthier one of the pinkish-purple one, who, upon hearing the voice, seemed to sprig to life, pushing itself onto its feet despite clearly being in pain. It placed itself between them and the female and growled warningly, its barbs growing in size slightly, as if preparing to attack.

Nidoran(male), The Poison Point Pokemon

T: Poison

Possible Abilities: Poison Point or Rivalry

Hidden Ability: Hustle

Its large ears are flapped like wings when listening to distant sounds. It extends toxic barbs when angered.

"I'm no doctor, Pokemon or Human, but I'm pretty sure nidoran skin isn't suppose to be that dark, even for a shiny," Vivian said in heavy concern. "Yeah, they're not," Ash replied approaching the two carefully, pausing as the male gave a hiss of warning to keep away, stance tensing, Ash kept calm though, "Hey, its okay, we don't want to hurt you."

The female looked over at them and Ash cringed inwardly at the nasty cut on her forehead that was most likely going to scar no matter what Nurse Joy did, as well as at the deep fear in her expressive cherry red eyes. He had little doubt as to what most likely happened, but kept his bubbling anger down.

He glanced over his shoulder slightly, "Vivian, do you have any potions on you?" Which helped shake her out her ravine of thought.

"No," She admitted regretfully, one hand clutching the handle of her crutch tightly, while the other did the same with her parasol just as tight, she glanced down at it unsurely, "I don't," She then perked up, "But I think I do have some oran berries!" She kept her voice low enough to be none threatening to the two nidoran, which worked as she settled herself down and began to dig through her bag, taking out a zipplock baggie filled with slices the iconic blue berry.

The male nidoran immediately lit up with recognition at the sight of the berries, only for his eyes to darken with distrust as he eyed Vivian, who gave a small smile as she opened the bag. She slid some of the oran berries out and rolled them towards the two injured Pokemon. For a moment, nothing happened as the male nidoran continued to regard them unsurely, as if trying to decide if this was some sort of trick.

The female cooed something and after a moment the male relaxed a little shuffling towards the blonde a little as she opened the baggie and dumped out the slices into her hand. The Pokemon all hanged back with Ash to keep the male nidoran relaxed as he sniffed at the berry pieces before its face lit up with recognition and took a few pieces in his mouth and brought it over to the female.

As the two nibbled on the berries, Ash slowly approached, "We can't just leave them here."

"Do you have a Heal Ball?" Vivian asked, "Not that I doubt the PokeCenter's equipment or Nurse Joy's skills, but the automatic healing the Heal Ball has just might do them some good during the trip there."

"Yeah, I have one," Ash replied taking out the pink colored pokeball, "Do you?" Vivian nodded in response, before turning her attention to the nidoran.

"Hey there," Vivian smiled gently as the two finished feeding on the oran berries and stared at them, "I know it might be a little hard to trust us right now, but we really want to help you, but to do that we need to catch you guys in these special PokeBalls."

The male tensed instinctively, eyes glancing between the two spheres. The female gave a whine-like sound, resting her head, clearly very tired. The male turned to her, panic filtering through its cherry-red eyes.

"We just want you two get healed," Ash spoke up, kneeling to be less threatening, "As soon as you guys are back to full-health, we'll bring you guys right back here." The male nidoran looked genuinely surprised by the compromise, clearly not expecting it.

But after a moment, it slowly shuffled towards them and nodded towards Vivian, who slowly reached out her hand with the PokeBall, but paused halfway, letting him have the choice. A tiny smile and tear escaped the male nidoran before it butted its head against the Heal Ball, allowing itself to be captured.

Vivian drew the pink and yellow sphere to chest with a small sigh as her Pokemon rushed over.

Ash quickly knelt next to the female and carefully drew her into his arms, cradling her gently while being mindful of her spines. Ruby-red eyes glanced up tiredly as Ash smiled, trying to be reassuring, "You're going to be okay, I promise." She simply cooed before closing her eyes as she was caught.

Ash stared at the space the female nidoran had once occupied for a moment and his shoulders started to shake, prompting a worried 'cha' from Zeus as he Aurora and Vivina stared up at their trainer worriedly. Vivian wasn't faring much better, tears prickling her eyes.

"This...this was no rattata or upset raticate," Ash said between grounded teeth, his free hand clenching as he held the Heal Ball close, "How can someone...anyone...no matter the reason...touch such a small, living being like that?"

Vivian brushed her tears away with a shuddering sigh, "I wish I knew, a lot of sick, twisted people out there in the world," She then gained a determined steel to her eyes, "We need to get them to the Center, quickly."

Ash's expression relaxed slightly into a more determined one and nodded, "Right," He quickly helped her to her feet and she hissed at the slight left over strain on her ankle. Ash then turned his back to her and knelt down, "Here get on my back, this will be quicker."

Vivian blushed, but saw his point and knew there was no time to argue, she simply nodded, "Right." She wrapped her arms around his neck as she leaned up onto his back, hooking her legs around his waist as he stood. Ash only took a brief moment to return Aurora and Vivian quickly did the same with Marina, before Ash took off at high speed, Nicola, Vivina, Diana and Zeus on his tail.

Both trainers were aware they were gaining odd looks from passerby, but ignored it, they're focus solely on the two injured Pokemon they were carrying. Ash more so then Vivian, he moved through the crowded side-walk like a man on a mission.

Needless to say, Nurse Joy got a very big surprise when they burst through the door, Ash looking like he ran a marathon and the four Pokemon not faring any better. Ash nearly collided with the desk he had been moving so fast.

"What in Arceus' name-!" Nurse Joy yelped as Ash set Vivian down, only to recoil as both rookie trainers held their Heal Balls to her, eyes glossy and expressions urgent. "Nidorans. Beaten. Help them!" Vivian said in a rushed tone.

Nurse Joy's eyes widened in response and took the PokeBalls from them and quickly ran off, paging a team of Chansey as she did so.

Vivian deflated and leaned heavily against Ash who kept his eyes on the Pokemon nurse until she was out of sight from the both of them. Both trains slid against the desk to the floor as the events of the day caught up with them.

Vivian still had enough energy to whisper, "Things are only going to rougher from here on out, aren't they?"

Ash couldn't help snorting a little, "Hell yeah..."

Forgive the more or less frustrating cliffhanger, but I wasn't quite sure where else to leave off at this point and I didn't want the number count for this chapter to get into the five digit bracket. If anyone complains about the lack of pace getting from place to place, think of the traveling part to this as more of a slow burn, they will be getting to Viridian Forest next chapter, but then they'll be spending a fair bit of time in the forest either training or looking for more Pokemon, seeing as the Anime never gave Ash and Co much time to spend in one place to see all the different Pokemon that live in that one place, more about getting them from Point A to Point B then to Point C and they just so happen to catch more Pokemon along the way by chance.

That's not how its going to work here, yes, Ash and Vivian are going to experience all the events that happened in the Anime, just at a slightly slower pace and things may go a wee bit different, seeing as this is Vivian and not Misty, and while I do like Brock and Misty in the Anime, in this, they're going to be sticking more to their Game adaptations, so no, Brock isn't going to be the third part of this new trio, assuming there will be a permanent third party. I haven't made up my mind about that yet.

As to those who might not like that I put in two Nidoran who were, spoilers, abused by their trainer(s), it was painfully obvious in the Anime that characters like Damian are not kind to their Pokemon in the slightest and don't get me started on Team Rocket or Aqua, etc, plus its been shown time and again that Pokemon do get abandoned or need I remind you of Froakie?

Vivian's Team: Female Pikachu (Nicola), Female Charmander (Diana), Female Poliwag (Marina) and Male Nidoran (?).

Ash's Team: Male Pikachu (Zeus), Female Venonat (Vivina), Female Shelder (Aurora) and Female Nidoran (?)

Anyways, hope you guys like this chapter and I apologize for taking so long to update it and I look for to your reviews.

Till next time everyone!