Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, or any of its characters.
Author's note: This story starts just after the Orange League. Ash is at Pallet for a fortnight before deciding where to go next. That is before a surprising announcement is made...
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Pallet Town's Official Gym!
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Ash Ketchum sat on the sofa with a packet of Mr. Snorlax's Pokeshape chips in his hand. He was watching a cartoon of Muscle the Machamp and Punch the Hitmonchan.
"Hey Punch! You think you're so tough!" shouted Muscle, jumping forwards.
"Yeah! I can knock you out easy with my Fire Punch!" said Punch, taking a fighting stance.
"Take this on for size! Karate Chop!" said Muscle, chopping at the Hitmonchan.
"Go Muscle!" shouted Ash, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth while cheering.
"We interrupt this program to give you a live telecast of a speech being given by the President of the Pokemon League, Mr. Goodshow!" said a man appearing in the T.V screen.
"Huh?" said Ash, sitting up.
"Good Morning, dear ladies, gentlemen and Pokemon trainers! Today, I am proud of announcing something!" said President Goodshow. "Me and the other members of the council have decided to bring official gyms into Pallet Town and Lavender Town! The construction workers have already been sent to the cities to start work on the gyms! Now comes the important part: to decide who the gym leaders will be. We have reached an unanimous verdict: The Pokemon League will be started again! The people who want to become gym leaders need to pair up with who ever they want to be with, and compete! The winning pair will be gym leaders! One for Pallet and one for Lavender! Moreover, we are cutting off a rule. The people who are participating DONOT need to be above eighteen years of age, though they need to be atleast 12 years old. The competition will be held in the Indigo Plateau. That's all, Thank you and have a nice day."
Ash sat there stunned. His birthday had been yesterday! He was 12 years old! That meant he could compete!
"YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" he shouted.
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The next day, Ash went to Prof. Oak's house to pick up Bulbasaur from the lab.
"Hey, Professor!" said Ash, walking inside. "Where are you?"
"I'm inside the computer room, Ash!" said a voice from inside. "Come in!"
Ash went to a wooden door with a sign saying 'COMPUTER ROOM', opened it and went inside.
Prof. Oak was checking through the Pokeballs in the Fire section. "Good morning Ash! You must have come to pick up Bulbasaur!"
"Yeah Professor." Said Ash, grinning. "I am gonna start training from today. You heard about the gym coming here in Pallet?"
"Yes, and I think its quite a good idea." Said Prof. Oak. "Ah, here we are!" he said, picking out a Pokeball from inside his cupboard.
"Thanks, Professor! I am going to Indigo tomorrow itself!" said Ash.
"What!?" said the professor in surprise. "You're twelve years old?"
"Yep! My birthday was yesterday!" said Ash proudly.
"Well, good luck to you, Ash! Found a partner yet?" he asked.
"Well, not yet." Admitted Ash.
"Oh, and Ash? Gary wants to talk to you alone. In the woods. I don't know why, but it might be important." Said Oak, going to the Water section.
"Gary? What would he want?" thought Ash, as he started walking to the woods.
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In the woods, Ash saw Gary sitting on a broken branch. When he saw Ash, he stood up and started walking towards him.
"Err...Hi, Gary." said Ash, unsure of what to say.
"Hi, Ash." said Gary. "Must be wonderin' why I called you, huh?"
"Yeah." Said Ash.
"Well Ash, I called you here to do something I've never done to anyone before." Said Gary. "Ash, I wanna apologize."
"What?" said Ash, dumbfounded. "Why?"
"You know the reason yourself, Ash. I've been too free with my big mouth. Telling ya how good I am, that I was better than you could ever hope to be, the list goes on. And, that's the reason why I want to apologize." Said Gary.
"Apology accepted." Said Ash, grinning.
"Friends?" asked Gary, holding his hand out with a smile.
"FRIENDS!" said Ash, catching Gary's hand in his.
"COOL! And by the way Ash, I have a proposal to make."
"What?"
"You're participating in the Pokemon League Gym Challenge, right?" Gary asked.
"Yep! I'm 12!" said Ash.
"Then, how about we be partners?" Gary asked.
This caught Ash unawares. In this past ten minutes, he had had more than his share of surprises. First, Gary apologized. GARY apologized! Then, he asked him to be his partner!
"Deal!" said Ash, clasping Gary's hand.
"We're gonna make Pallet proud, right Ash?"
"Right!"
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Monday night finally came.
"I'm goin' to be a gymleader..." Ash hummed to himself. Tuesday morning was when they were going to Indigo.
Ash and Gary had both been training their Pokemon hard for the challenge. They had already decided which gym they would ask for. Gary wanted the Lavender Town gym, and Ash took the Pallet Town gym.
"RINGRINGRING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL! RINGRINGRING!" blared the vid phone.
"Hello?" said Ash, picking up the receiver.
"Hello Ash? Is that you?" came Misty's voice over the line.
"Misty? Yeah, its me. What's wrong?" asked Ash.
"Did you hear about the Gym challenge?" she asked.
"Yeah! I'm going to compete!" he said.
"Do you want to be my partner? I don't have one, and I so want to join!" Misty said.
"Gee, I'm sorry Misty, but I already have a partner." He said.
"That's too bad. Who is it?" she asked.
"Gary." He said.
"Gary!? That big mouth? How did he become your partner? You guys were enemies, like, forever!" she exclaimed.
"Calm down, calm down! Gary's not that bad. Anyway, we're partners, and that's that!" said Ash.
"Allright. I'll find if there's anyone else." She sighed.
"But don't you already have a gym?" asked Ash.
"Did you forget something? The gym belongs to my sisters! I want a gym of my own! I think when I win, I'll choose the Pallet gym." She said.
"Don't think you can beat me!" said Ash, laughing.
"Oh, yeah, right! We'll see about that!" Misty said, and hung up.
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The next morning, Ash woke up quite early to avoid his bad experience when he was staring on his journey.
"Hi, mom!" he said cheerfully, as his mother walked past him. "Today's the day!"
"What...which day?" she said distractedly. "OH NO! Today's the day Mrs. Johnson said she would come along!"
Ash sweatdropped. "No, mom! Today's the day I'm going to Indigo Plateau to try become a gymleader!"
"Oh no...today's the day my baby's going to leave again!" she said, bear hugging Ash.
"Choking...not breathing..." said Ash in gasps after a while.
"Oh!" she said, leaving him again.
"I need to go meet Gary on the outskirts of town! Better get going!" he said.
Ash was all packed and ready in less than five minutes.
"Good-bye honey! Don't forget, change your underwear every single day!" said Delia Ketchum, sniffling.
"Don't worry, mom! Its just a journey, like the usual!" said Ash, hugging her.
After that, he picked up his backpack.
"Hey Pikachu! Come on out of the backpack! Its gonna be like old days again!" he said, pulling the zip up.
"Pika, Pikachu?" said Pikachu drowsily, as it got up from the backpack. Yawning, it jumped onto Ash's shoulder, bright as ever again.
"Good bye, mum!" said Ash, going to the outskirts of the town. "Say good bye to Mr. Mime as well!"
"Bye!" said his mother, waving at him.
"Mr. Mime!" said Mr. Mime, waving at Pikachu.
"Pikachu!" said Pikachu, waving back at both its trainer's mother and its own friend.
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"Pikachu?" asked Pikachu to Ash.
"No, Pikachu! We're not there yet! Gary is waiting on the outskirts!" said Ash.
"Pika, chu, Pikachu?" asked Pikachu again.
"Oh yeah, I did forget to fill you up, right?" said Ash. "Well Pikachu, we're going on another Pokemon League journey! But this time, the prize for winning isn't the Pokemon Master title. Instead, the one who wins gets to be a gymleader. Oh, and, its not an individual contest, so you have got to be in pairs. My partner is Gary. Misty wanted to become my partner, but Gary asked first, so I didn't agree."
"Chu Pika!" said Pikachu in a reproaching voice.
"You're asking me why I chose Gary instead of Misty for my partner, even though we were traveling together until now?" asked Ash. "Well, I think that is because Gary was my best friend since we were born. It was only when we were about to get Pokemon that he started behaving like that. Misty came after him, so there."
"Pikachu!" said Pikachu..
"Well, it is a good enough reason for me, even if it may not be one for you." Ash retorted.
"Pikachu!" said Pikachu.
"I'm not off my rocker!" said Ash, laughing. "Let's just get there, allright?"
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Soon, they came within sight of Gary standing beside two Pidgeots.
"That one on the right...it looks awfully familiar..." said Ash to Pikachu.
"PIKACHU!" shouted Pikachu happily as it darted off Ash's shoulder and towards the Pidgeot, which Ash suddenly recognized with a jolt.
"Pidgeot!" said Ash, running almost as fast as Pikachu.
"Pidgeot, Pidgeot!" said Pidgeot, bending down for both Ash and Pikachu to jump onto its back.
"Pidgeot! Its been a long time since I saw you buddy!" said Ash, hugging Pidgeot's neck.
"Pidgeot!" said Pidgeot, taking a running jump into the air, and then flapping its wings to rise upwards.
"Hey Ash! Forgot somebody?" said Gary, coming up to him on his Pidgeot.
"Sorry, Gary!" said Ash, a bit embarrased.
"I never knew this Pidgeot was yours. I was just waiting there with Pidgeot, when suddenly out of nowhere, this one almost rammed me into the tree. Then it just stayed there. Whatever I did couldn't make it go away."
"How did you know that I was going on another journey, Pidgeot?" asked Ash.
"Pidgeot, Pidgeot!" said Pidgeot, smiling.
"Oh, and Ash?" said Gary.
"What?"
"Gramps told me to give this to you." Said Gary, handing over a Pokeball.
"What? A Pokemon?" asked Ash surprisedly.
"Yeah. He gave me one as well. I got a Murkrow."
"A Murkrow? What's that?" he asked himself, checking dex.
"Murkrow: A dark type Pokemon. For more information, upload Johto Pokedex 5.0." said Dexter.
"Come on! See what you got, Ash!" said Gary.
"But we're on the back of a Pokemon!" Said Ash.
"Pidgeot's back is broad and long enough, so I don't think there's any problem." Said Gary confidently.
"Okay. GO!" said Ash, throwing the Pokeball carefully so that it didn't fall down.
"HOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNDDDOOOOUUUR!" howled a black-coloured dog like Pokemon. It had some dark orange stripes cutting through the black colour. There was some grey armour like things on its back.
"Houndour: A dark and fire type Pokemon. For more information, upload Johto Pokedex 5.0." said Dexter.
"I have to see about uploading that Pokedex." Said Ash, a bit downcast. "Anyway, return, Houndour!"
Houndour was recalled into the Pokeball by a red beam of light from the Pokeball.
"No need to worry about the Pokedex, Ash. I know a guy in Pewter who has the things we need. Namely, your Pokedex has to be updated, we can buy a few Ultra Balls, they're very useful and much better than the standard Pokeball even though it might be a bit costly, and a book on training for all kinds of Pokemon." Said Gary.
"So next stop, Pewter City!" said Ash, as both his and Gary's Pidgeots shot forward like arrows toward their destination.
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Author's note: Like it till now? I wanna get at least 3 reviews before updating!
Ash: Yeah, that's right! Otherwise there won't be any more stories from him about me! Be good, and click on that review button there, see? -points-
Gary: Humph! Who cares about the author?
Hell's Boss: Why you.........!
Ash: Next Chapter: A Rocky Day!
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