ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME

10 YEARS AGO (UNKNOWN LOCATION):

I Riley Ketchum chief commander of the indigo ACE rangers stood on the beach of an island all alone to make my last stand against Giovanni's six pokemon. I had managed to destroy teams rocket's main base but my family of pokemon was killed trying to escape the rockets.

I knew my time left on this world was short. Alone, bleeding from multiple wounds, and with no way to escape, there was no way of surviving Giovanni.

In the distance I saw the silhouette of a tall man, as he walked closer, I could make out his neatly combed hair, his pristine black suit, and his calculating, red eyes.

When he got close enough, I formed a bright blue sphere made of destruction aura and threw it at the hulking rhiperior in the center, unfortunately for me, it was destroyed by an oncoming rock wreaker. Giovanni smiled, "flygon incapacitate this fool, but don't kill him….. yet." And the massive avian used steel wing to cut off both of my arms. Though I was helpless, I defiantly sneered " you can kill me if you want but I will get the satisfaction of knowing that you will be stopped.". The red-eyeded man's lips pressed together in a fierce scowl "insolent fool, you cannot win against me, you have just postponed my plans by a decade, you will pay with your life for destroying my ultimate weapon so you will not live to see my creation in action. Flygon dragon claw, kill him." And just like that indigo lost one of its greatest gaurdians.

"at least ash and delia are safe with oak" were the man's last thoughts.

Three years ago (Pallet town):

The sun rose slowly over the sleepy town of pallet, located in the southern reaches of viridian city's territory on the 3rd of January, 420 PGW{PostGreatWar}.

The Pokeball-shaped alarm started ringing at nine in the morning. A black-haired, blue eyed boy jumped out of bed cause today is a special day for him, its ash's tenth birthday, and professor Oak decided to sponsor and prepare the 4 brightest students on as lab assistants so that they can learn from the best of the best before his Pokémon journey. Ash was one of the brightest students and hence got selected. Ash's mom also told him that she had a gift ready for him that ash would love.

Soon ash had gotten ready and stormed down the stairs of his house. "good morning mom" greeted his mother. "oh! Good morning to you too sweetie, and happy birthday to you dear" delia wished him. "Thanks mom, but have you made breakfast?" Ash ravenously asked. "of course dear, I made your favorite, jelly-filled doughnuts for breakfast!" mother exclaimed cheerfully 'once you finish them, you should go to the professor's lab, I believe he needs to talk to his apprentices you need to be there by eleven AM. I am pretty sure that's what Samuel told when he came for dinner yesterday. Once you are back I'll give you my gift' the woman told as an afterthought.

Once Ash reached the entrance of the lab, he met the three of his other classmates who were also recruited by the professor namely Gary oak, his best friend who worshipped champion master Steven stone, Leaf green, an energetic young gal having an obsession with dragon types (ash thought she was very cute), and Ryan grey an athletic kid with a love for water types.

"hey ashy boy, what took you so long? We have been waiting for you for half an hour" Gary taunted him. "don't mind Gary ash, he just arrived 5 minutes ago and Ryan hasn't even arrived yet. Besides it is only 10:50 AM" leaf stated comfortingly when she saw ash's guilty look.

"COME ON LEAF! You are no fun, couldn't you have kept quiet for a bit?" Gary whined. "Gary! You don't have to be so mean you know, didn't you see…." Leaf chided him but was cut off. "Hey guys, wassup! I hope I am not late." Ryan wheezed, from the look of him, ash guessed the careless blonde had run all the way from his house to the lab which was almost a mile away.

No one got a chance to speak anymore as the doors to the lab swung open and the professor came out "hello Gary, Ash, Leaf, ryan as you know, I will be preparing you for your pokemon journey. I will teach you all about all pokemon in indigo, potions, basic first aid, basic self defence, pokemon attacks, type matchups, pokemon battling, and taking good care of your pokemon." "thanks professor" leaf squealed.

"you are welcome leaf, now I have one more thing to give you all." The professor gave each of them a tab like device. "this is a pokedex, it is a device which is carried by trainers which I invented. It acts as your trainer ID, displays information about pokemon you have encountered and keeps track of all the pokemon you have met. I also modified your devices to track your bank balance, exchange pokemon, take pictures and call people. It also has in inbuilt web browser and GPS systems." The old man exclaimed proudly. Gary snatched the dex and opened it"thanks gramps this is so cool. With you helping me none of these losers can beat me." "oh ya gare-bear? We wil see who the best trainer is once we get our starters." Ash challenged.

"Now, now children, calm down. You all are free to go now but make sure to format the dex and check out all its features."

Ash left the lab and headed to his house where his mom would be waiting for him to come back so she could give him his gift.

"Happy birthday dear, here is your gift. Go ahead and open it." Delia smiled sadly "wow mom thanks a lot!" ash opened the small box which was covered in blue wrapping. "mom, what are these balls for?" ash asked confusedly. "Oh sweetie, don't you know? This is a set of mega and key stones for salamence. If you ever get a salamence you will be able to use it, I don't know much about it, but you could ask Samuel about it. I am sure he would know exactly what it is for. Your dad wanted to gift this to you when became ten years old." She recounted fondly. At the mention of his father, ash felt terribly sad. His father worked for the league but went missing on a mission. He didn't get much time to ponder on those thoughts as Delia handed him another long box'

"and this is my present, it has been passed down through the generations in my family in Johto. They descended from the royal family of the brass tower in Eucrateak city. Keep it carefully and use it well." Ash reverently opened the box, in it was a flute, when he took it out of the wrappings, he saw it was a plain, white and gold striped flute made of pristine silver and gold. Though he had never used one before, it felt like it was crafted especially for him.

When he checked the box again, he noticed an ancient looking piece of paper with musical notations of a song he had never heard before called "The Legend Comes To Life" ash knew there was something special about the flute in his heart of hearts.

"Thank you mom"

Present day(pallet town)

"now children, the league season is starting a week's time so I need to acquire your starter pokemon. However, I will not be giving you the traditional starters of Kanto, instead, I will be giving you any starter you desire." The professor stated happily. Ash inquired as to why they get such a privilege. "ah, my boy, I am just repaying a favor, there was no way I would have been able to handle all the pokemon in the corral without your help. This is the least I can do for you."

"Now, ladies first, Leaf which pokemon do you want as a starter?" oak inquired curiously. "I would love to get a gible, THEY ARE SO CUTEEEEE" leaf practically shouted, then quickly corrected herself, professor, I would like a gible, please.

The professor quickly noted something down in his to do list and asked ash the same question. Ash, though exited, managed to calm himself and told the professor that he wanted a swablu as his starter.

"I would have thought you would have asked for a gible, ash. Though swablu is an excellent choice. Afterall, its much less dangerous as a starter tha…...". Gary grew impatient and blurted out "gramps, you can talk to those losers later, take my starter request now. I know the best of the best to whoop all the indigo asses." The professor, now annoyed, told Gary to mind his language and wait his turn.

"please, Ryan, pay attention, which pokemon do you want as your starter?" Oak sighed, when he saw the boy staring out of the window while slightly drooling. "hmmmm, oh sorry professor, I would like to get a normal starter please".

"Sure maboy, I am guessing you want a squirtle?" oak guessed, knowing full well that ryan wanted to become a water master. "yes prof. you know me too well. Thank you".

"Gary which pokemon do you wish to get as your starter?" professor turned his attention to the last of the pallet quartet. "gee gramps, I thought you would already know. Very well then, I want a beldum, so I can evolve it all the way upto a metagross like champion steven," gary dreamily stated.

"very well then, you all can take your last week off before the start of your journey." Oak said passionately " after all, you need to be well rested before you start your journey."

As they were heading back to their houses, the professor hollered to them " come to my lab at 8:00AM on the Tuesday of next week."

Ash and his mother spent the next week packing and shopping for everything ash would need on his journey. Ash spent 3000 pokedollars on his bag alone which was the latest and most high-tech travel bag made by devon corp. It used the pokeball technology to be able to store up to 200kg of supplies and weigh just 100g.

After the one week got over, ash was completely prepared for his journey. He slept nice and early at 9:00 PM so that he would wake up on time.

The next morning ash bade goodbye to his mother and left for the lab to get his first pokemon. "goodbye ash, you should ask leaf to travel you, I know you both will enjoy it" Delia smirked.

When ash reached leaf's house, he saw her on her porch, tying her shoelaces so he greeted her "top of the morning to you leaf, you ready to start your journey?". When Leaf looked, her face lit up with excitement. " good morning to you too ash, and yes I am very excited to start this journey. Are you headed to the lab?" ash suddenly started feeling nervous about what he was about to ask Leaf but managed to stutter out "y y yes I am. Do yu you wanna join me to go to the lab now?" leaf smirked "sure ashy, let us go" ash relaxed a bit, but to his horror and leaf's amusement, his cheeks turned a bright red.

When she reached ash, leaf ignored the boy's blushing mercifully and proposed an idea to ash "hey ash how do yo like the idea of us travelling together till pewter city so that we are safer from the wild pokemon?" saving the boy from having to ask the question.

Ash's eyes lit up in a smile at the thought of travelling with his crush till viridian "sure leaf, that is a great idea. We will be much safer with two pokemon." He exclaimed a bit too enthusiastically. Leaf just smiled at his antics.

Once they reached the lab, the professor greeted them " hello children are you ready to get your starters and begin your journey?" he didn't wait for them to respond and went on "here you go ash, here is your swablu and Leaf in this pokeball is your gible" the professor handed them both their pokeballs. "Before you go, I have a final gift for you" the professor gave them both an orb, ash's orb had a light blue helix in the center whereas leaf's orb had a dark purple helix in the same position.

"wow professor, thanks for the mega stone, but for which pokemon are these for?" leaf gratefully exclaimed while ash nodded along.

"leaf your mega stone is a garchompite and ash's is an altarianite" the professor answered briskly. " but for now, just focus on your new pokemon, you should meet them now. I suggest you talk to your pokemon one after another, no need to stress them out with too many people. " Ash and leaf dutifully exclaimed together "sure professor oak!"

"ladies first Leaf, you can go first, I'll stay back." Ash stated, grinning bashfully.

"thank you ash! You are so sweet" leaf's thanks earnt a blush from ash along with a stuttered " It its no p problem leaf."

Ash went to the main lab to see the proceedings through a single-sided screen with the professor.

Back with leaf, she pressed the release button of the pokeball, and a bright red light erupted from the Pokeball and a stubby body with short limbs and a fin started forming. Finally, gible appeared fully after 2 seconds.

Gible was a small, blue, bipedal dragon-like Pokémon. It lacked a neck but had a large mouth, filled with sharp teeth. It has two horns on its head striped blue in the middle, and had a large dorsal fin. The little dragon had a notch on its dorsal fin and had a red underbelly and a small tail on its back.

"hey gible, my name is AAAAAAAAAAAH" the girl was rudely interrupted by gible chomping down on her head." Ash immediately rushed back into the chamber and yanked gible out. "Leaf! Are you fine? Did you get hurt? Is som….." he frantically stared asking but was cut off by Leaf "yes ashy, I am fine,I was just surprised. You don't have to worry" she said calmly trying to placate the worried boy.

The professor smirked, "you have time to flirt later lovebirds, leaf, you should introduce yourself."

"PROFESSOR!" both teens blushed furiously. The professor just chuckled.

Soon after that, the brown-haired girl introduced herself properly "hello gible my name Is Leaf and I want to be the strongest dragon trainer in this world. If you join me, I promise I will make you the strongest garchomp ever! But more importantly, I would like to be your friend…. So what do you think? Will you join me on my journey?" the girl asked uncertainly. Her worry was unfounded as the little dragon excitedly jumped up and down and squeaked happily. She took that as a yes so asked him another question would you like to stay in your pokeball or outside with us?" to which the land-shark pointed to the pokeball and promptly started chewing on Leaf's head. "oh gible, what am I supposed to do with you" she smiled adoringly at the pokemon once she pried him off of her head.

"hey ash I am done, its your turn now" the girl informed after scanning gible with her national dex "Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon: Gible once lived in the tropics, and to avoid cold, it lives in caves warmed by geothermal heat. Its dorsal fin is strong enough to carry a person. Gible appears to be a good digger, making deep holes for homes in caverns. It enjoys play-fighting with other members of its species. It has tremendously strong jaws that it uses to bite enemies. However, even while biting, it often hurts itself because of clumsiness. Gible attacks anything that moves by chomping on them. This gible has the ability sandveil, it is at level 7 and knows the moves sand tomb, twister, tackle and sand attack."

"oh ok thanks for telling me. I am so exited to meet swablu!" The raven-haired trainer exclaimed and went into the chamber to meet his new pokemon for the first time.

Ash released the swablu and slowly crouched to the cotton bird pokemon's level and introduced himself "hey swablu, my name is ash ketchum and I want to become a pokemon master, will you come along with me and be my brother in arms? I promise I will make you the strongest alteria on earth if you come with me and win the indigo conference. So please join me, I promise you will love goimg on a journey." The swablu chirped an affirmative so ash gave her a choice "hey swablu do you want a name? many pokemon have nicknames so….." but cut himself off when the swablu vigorously shook its head in a negative.

Ash pointed his blue national dex at swablu "Swablu has light and fluffy wings that are like cottony clouds. This Pokémon is not frightened of people. It lands on the heads of people and sits there like a cotton-fluff hat. Swablu loves to make things clean. If it spots something dirty, it will wipe and polish it with its cottony wings. If its wings become dirty, this Pokémon finds a stream and bathes itself. This swablu has the ability 'natural cure'. It is at level 7 and knows the moves: peck , astonish and fury attack."

The bird peered at the dex curiously and promptly flew up and perched up on ash's head and went to sleep.

Once ash came out, the professor put on a serious face and suggested "I recommend you get started on your journey, Gary and Ryan have already left to pewter"

"Thanks again professor we will be leaving now." the thirteen-year-olds exclaimed on their way out.

Leaf and ash made their way to route one when leaf curiously asked "hey ash which gyms are you gonna do first? I am gonna go to pewter and then go through mt. moon to cerulean" at this ash felt a bit down but sighed "I will be going to pewter and then I will go to celadon, I would rather not go through mt. moon with only one pokemon."

"Looks like we will have to spit up at pewter then, we should meet up somewhere though, how about we meet at pallet town in five months!" Leaf exclaimed brightly.

"That sounds great leaf." Ash brightened up immediately at the proposition. "hey leaf, it's getting dark, should we make camp, this clearing looks safe enough." The raven-haired boy pointed out.

"Sure I am down to do that, did you bring your sleeping bag and other supplies? You are pretty careless afterall." She teased the boy who indignantly replied "oh come on Leaf! I am not that bad."

"Sure, sure you are very responsible" leaf sarcastically quipped.

"ya ya, very funny. Are you done laughing or do I have to set up the whole campsite?" ash grunted with annoyance "fine, sorry ashy I was just joking. Now, what should I do." The girl apologized.

"can you put up both the tents and clear the area for a campfire?" he didn't wait for a response and continued "thanks, ill go ahead and get some water to boil and firewood for the fire".

It was necessary to boil the water before drinking as the water found outside may have potentially fatal bacteria, for humans at least, pokemon have much better immune systems than humans.

"will do Ashy, please don't get lost" she smirked. Ash didn't respond but did feel the edges of his lips pull upwards and walked off.

Ash came back in half an hour to see leaf arranging the stones for the fire. "HURRY UP LEAF! I WILL DROP EVERYTHING IF YOU DON'T HURRY" ash shouted desperately.

"its not my fault you decided to bring enough wood to build a small cottage" she smiled "I am done you can put the wood in it now". Once ash put the wood down ash apologized "sorry, I took so long. I met a severely injured pigie and made friends with it. I treated it the best I could with my potions but It was still in a terrible condition, so I caught it with a heal ball, the ball will heal it a bit, but nurse joy will have to check it once we reach viridian. Till then I reckon it should stay in stasis to avoid worsening its injuries." The brunette waved his apology away "its fine ash, what is more important is that the pidgey is safe."

Once ash gave gible and swablu their pokebics and leaf boiled to water and filled their canteens, the pair of trainers ate their standard trainer meals which was highly nutritious but tasted rather bland, and talked till 10:30PM.

Ash yawned "I think ill go to bed now, if we leave by 8:00 AM we should reach viridian by 6:00 PM. Goodnight leaf, we will have to wake up early." Leaf agreed "ya I am getting tired too, goodnight ashy."

Though the route between pallet and viridian was safe, ash just wanted to be precarious. Pokemon had much better senses than humans which alerted them of danger after all so ash called out to swablu "hey swablu, if you sense any danger, wake me up 'kay? Goodnight!"

The next morning ash was woken up at 5:00 in the morning by his pokedex's alarm which was set so he could practice his flute, get some training in, and pack up camp by 8:00 AM

Ash got out of bed, and freshened up, and packed up his sleeping bag. He then walked into the forest with swablu so that he wouldn't disturb leaf's sleep. He eventually found a nice clearing with a weathered old tree stump in the corner to sit on, there he started playing the first song he learned, it was a simple piece really, but it seemed to attract pokemon to him whenever he played it. Whenever ash played the song, he could feel the ocean, the power of tsunamis, the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore of beaches, and the stillness of backwaters. He felt an immense rush of energy which served to calm him down and relax whenever he played.

"wow, that song is so beautiful Ash!" Leaf exclaimed, once the song got over. When ash realized who was speaking, he blushed "sorry, did I wake you up?" he asked, feeling a bit guilty.

Leaf responded cheerily "what, no no, ash. I woke up at 6:15 to train with gible, but then I saw you were missing. So, I got worried and started searching, then, I heard this beautiful song which I couldn't resist listening to. When I came here, I found you. So no need to worry."

Leaf pondered, "when did you learn to play the flute? You are sooooo good at it! Why didn't you tell me about it?

Ash smiled bashfully at the praise "I started learning it when I turned ten. I got the flute as a gift and along with it I found the notations for this song." Ash thought for a second. "you know how to play the ocarina, right?" leaf, not sure where this was going, just nodded in the affirmative. "do you wanna try playing the song? I can teach you if you like…" he said nervously. "it can be your birthday gift, since your birthday is next month, I won't be able to give you a gift".

Leaf was going to ask him to teach her the song anyway due to her love of music, so she immediately accepted the offer. "yes, please, ash, I would love to learn the song."

Ash felt giddy with excitement as he would be having some alone time with leaf while teaching her the song.

Neither trainer realized how much time had passed. At 7:30AM ash's pokedex went off with an alarm reminding him to get on the road. This finally made them realize how much time had passed and rushed to feed their pokemon and get on the road.

"if we walk much longer, I might just faint. Ash can we take a break" leaf groaned. "yes, I think we should, we haven't even eaten lunch yet. Lets just find a place to rest." Ash begrudgingly agreed.

"I am sure swablu will be exhausted after all those bug catchers" leaf said. Ash sighed and nodded "yeah, even though those bug catchers were very weak, I think sablu is exhausted after all, swablu beat all the bug catchers. I'll have to get nurse joy to check her out" Ash frowned "Those bug catchers are so weak, even for us newbies. They really should train harder".

"That mareep is so cute!" leaf declared "I am gonna catch it." She said while taking out gible's pokeball to release him.

"I thought you wanted to be a dragon specialist! Why are you catching a mareep?" ash asked, slightly confused. Leaf giggled "silly ashy, didn't you pay attention while professor oak teaching us about mega evolution?" only then did ash realize leaf's rationale. "you are catching it because mega ampheros is electric/ dragon type right?" the brunette confirmed ash's theory "that is right ashy! Look at you being smart"

Ash ignored her comment and sighed "aren't you gonna battle the mareep already? It might run away if you take too long you know?" "right you are ashy, thanks for reminding me".

"Gible get ready, sand attack on the mareep, when its blinded, tackle it to keep it disoriented" the attacks went just as planned and the mareep was blinded by sand attack and thrown back by tackle. "Pokeball GO!" leaf threw the orb. The ball hit mareep, bounced off and absorbed it. One wobble, two wobbles, three wobbles and DING!.

"YESSSSSS I CAUGHT MY FIRST POKEMON, ASH CAN YOU BELIEVE IT" leaf practically shouted in delight and hugged him.

" yes, yes I can leaf. Congratulations on your first teammate." Ash said leaf only now realized what she did and jumped and started to apologize, but looked up to see ash staring away with glossed eyes and a goofy grin on his face. "you are such a pervert ash" she smirked. "lets get going, i don't want to stay in this forest anymore." Leaf sighed.

Viridian city {outskirts}

In the saffron light of the setting sun, ash and leaf saw the gate guarding the entrance to the imposing metropolis. "WE FINALLY REACHED, HURRAY!" leaf laughed and ran towards the city gates.

"HALT! IDENTIFICATION PLEASE" a twin pair of booming voices demanded. "Ash Ketchum, this is my dex" ash calmly said once he caught up with leaf who was taking a moment to figure out what was going out.

"it all checks out. Now you please madam, your proof of identity" the burlier man asked, this time a in a gentler voice now that he knew they were not criminals. "Here you go" leaf handed her dex once she composed herself.

"You both are free to enter. But a word of advice, DO NOT challenge Giovanni, he is a master-level trainer and WILL NOT hold back. You are beginners, if you try to challenge him, do it for your eighth badge." The officer warned.

"Thanks for the advice officer." Ash and leaf chorused. "Off you go now." The officer smiled.

Five minutes later, the pair of new trainers found themselves in the pokemon center entrance. It was rather easy to find, even though neither teen had been to viridian as all pokemon centers were supposed to be close to the gate entrances of each city and have a large Pokeball symbol prominently featured on the roof of a center.

"Welcome to this pokemon center! Is there anything I can help you with?" nurse joy smiled kindly. When ash saw nurse joy, he could resist staring at her, she was so beautiful with her pinkish-red hair and kind blue eyes. However, Ash was interrupted from his staring by a slap on the head from a slightly annoyed leaf who sighed "hey nurse joy, can you check on our pokemon and get a room for two" she asked. Nurse joy smiled "of course dear, please keep your pokeballs on this tray." After rummaging around her desk, joy produced a card with their room number written on it. "here is the key to your room."

The nurse then continued " do you need anything else?" she asked. "hmm no I don't think…." When they heard ash calling from where he was standing in front of a poster "hey leaf can you get both of us registered for the league?" she blushed with embarrassment "sure ash will do. Umm nurse joy can you register both of us please? Here are our pokedexes." The nurse eyed the dexes with curiosity "sure dear right away, but if you don't mind me asking, did professor oak sponsor you both?" leaf was surprised that the nurse knew that " yes, you are right nurse joy! But how did you know?" the healthcare professional smiled "oh I noticed that these dexes had extra attachments on them which only the regional professors are allowed to gift to exceptionally talented trainers as part of the sponsorship deal"

"huh, I never knew" leaf muttered when she received this new titbit of information.

"Hey ash! I got the room keys let us get back to our room." leaf chearily called out to ash.