The wall was just as impressive as when it was seen from far away.

It was around 10 metres tall, casting a great shadow above everyone who came and went. Battlements lined the walls and the main entrance had an impressive arch with sculptures on the side as well as a mural of what seemed to be a magnificent bird-like pokemon with wings painted with the colours of the rainbow.

Ash's eyes widened as he realised that the mural looked exactly like the mysterious pokemon on Route 1. He suddenly felt a throbbing sensation everywhere in his body and stumbled before righting himself.

It felt as if his whole body had gotten a headache, and the throbbing sensation felt somehow agitated and excited. Ash suddenly felt drawn to something behind him and his eyes widened as he realised it was his bag.

The Feather! Ash thought and looked around startled for a secluded place.

Thankfully he noticed a red roof of a building close to the entrance of the gate and sprinted in a frenzy to the Pokemon Centre. When he was about to enter it however, Ash noticed a bunch of trainers and backtracked.

He found a bench in the shadow of the Centre that was next to a tree. Ash quickly set his bag down and discretely undid the clips and zipper before checking the inside of his bag, more accurately, the feather.

Just like he expected, the feather was glowing a beautiful assortment of colours.

Perhaps in another time he would have appreciated the beauty but at that moment all Ash could feel was terror. The feather was glowing softly until following another spike of his headache, it brightened drastically, creating a beam of pretty colours into the sky before fading quickly as Ash closed the bag.

Please stop, please stop! Ash begged to no one in particular and after one more quick burst of light, it faded.

He breathed a deep sigh of relief and sat there for a while on the bench, clutching his rucksack close to him.

He needed answers. What the heck was that pokemon on the mural? Where was that pokemon? What was with the Feather? What did the visions mean? Ash breathed deeply for a moment before getting up and heading to the Pokemon Centre.

He never noticed the lone security camera hidden from Ash by a tree.

Ash marvelled at the apartment blocks that stood a bit taller than the wall, the oddly smooth cement pavement that felt foreign to walk on, the trees that dotted the streets as well as the shrubbery with bright flowers. As the sliding door of the Pokemon Centre opened, Ash ran in, too slow to notice a mop of long brown hair coming his way.

Ash crashed into the person, eliciting a yelp of surprise from the person as they stumbled for balance

"Oi watch - Ash?" Leaf, who Ash had crashed into, stared at him in surprise.

"Leaf! When did you get here?" asked Ash, who had regained his balance.

Leaf dusted her skirt, "A couple hours ago. Visited my cousins here."

Ash nodded, remembering how Leaf had moved from Viridian City with her parents to Pallet Town to work under Professor Oak.

Ash remembered why he was there and asked, "Do you know where to register-"

"You can register with one of the Centre assistants." Leaf interrupted with a smile.

Ash thanked her and hurried over to the counter, calling over a Centre assistant. He handed over his pokédex and asked to register for the Gym Challenge.

He was answered with a stack of forms, and a pen to fill them out. Ash sighed and got to work, reading and filling in the forms. They were mostly about 'official' pokemon trainer guidelines, their privileges, duties, potential hazards. Already familiar with them, he got through them relatively quickly before finally finishing.

When his pokedex and pokegear dinged with a notification of acceptance into the Gym Challenge, Ash cheered in happiness. He was finally officially in, not just in a distant dream.

Having finished, he went to get Brooke and Sera healed. When Ash went over to the couches to wait, he spotted Ritchie playing with Charmander's pokeball. Pushing down the small twinge of envy, Ash walked over to them.

"Hey Ritchie!" Ash waved at him, sitting down besides his fellow trainer.

"Oh, hi Ash. Leaf told me you were here." Ritchie seemed to shift, but continued playing with the pokeball.

"You saw Leaf?" Ash inquired.

Ritchie smiled, "Yeah, we travelled here together actually." Ash's smile twitched for a moment before grinning full force again.

"What's Charmander's name?"

"Uhh, why would she have a name?" Ritchie seemed genuinely confused.

"Well, she's your partner and your friend. Why wouldn't she have a name?" Ash explained.

It was Ritchie's turn to be confused. "Charmander's just a pokemon on my team though. They're not like us, humans."

"Yeah but they're fighting for us, and we help and take care of each other. They're much more than just things you use for battle." Ash's voice rose a bit. "Is that what you think?"

"Well, I don't think that you should be pretending that they're people as well, when they're clearly not humans." Ritchie narrowed his eyes.

"Oh yeah well -"

"Ash Ketchum, your pokemon are ready!' A sweet voice rang across the halls, distracting the two.

Ash quickly got up, feeling hot with anger.

He felt Ritchie's gaze still on him while he thanked Nurse Joy, a pretty lady with pink hair in a nurse uniform. He thanked the chansey as well beside her while he grabbed his pokemon.

What was wrong with Ritchie? He seemed like a cool guy at first, yet he had such a foreign idea of pokemon that just felt wrong. Pokemon weren't just tools or partners to fight with! How could anyone think that? They had their own personalities, likes, dislikes, just like any other person on the street.

There was no way Ash was going to let Ritchie continue on with that mindset. He didn't give up his dream starter only for the trainer who received her to not treat her well. That thinking would one day hurt Charmander and any of Ritchie's future additions.

I'll beat it out of him if I have to." Ash decided.

He strode to Ritchie, whose eyes flickered back to Ash when they noticed him approaching rather quickly.

"Ritchie, I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" Ritchie looked up in surprise before accepting it.

Reaching the battlefield besides the Pokemon Centre, the two agreed to a 2 vs 2 battle. The fight started.

"Go Sera!"

"Spearow."

Sera and a spearow appeared from the pokeballs and tensed up, ready to attack. The sun started to shine more brightly.

"Focus Energy and Peck!"

Spearow screeched, puffing up its chest briefly, before charging at Sera with his sharp beak.

"Ember!" Ash yelled and Sera responded, spraying several small bolts of fire.

This had little effect as Spearow weaved through them and drilled its beak into Sera's pelt. The spearow swooped back up in the air, gazing with its baleful eyes at Sera's form.

She got up. Ash sighed, she didn't seem too weakened.

He narrowed his eyes warily.

He scarcely remembered from class that Focus Energy had the pokemon send some kind of signals through the nerves to release lots of a chemical. That chemical drastically improved focus which enabled the pokemon to land more dangerous hits.

It was dangerous as the boost would only end when the chemicals wore off, which was around half an hour. Looks like school was actually helpful for something.

I'll have to be careful of this, Ash thought before ordering another round of Ember at the avian.

Spearow used Peck again and in the heat of the battle, Ash had Sera use Quick Attack to dodge the attack, before launching more Ember at the spearow.

Ritchie smirked uneasily, "That was clever," he seemed baffled, "but it's the end for you. Fury Attack!"

Spearow's eyes glinted before it swooped up, so high that Ash had to look away from the sun. Ash frantically scanned the lower part of the sky for Spearow and had Sera prepare herself. When Spearow swooped down, it cried out in determination as it flew at Sera.

"Quick Attack away!" Vulpix glowed before running away. Spearow persisted, slowly catching up to Sera.

"Sera, Disable!"

"Get out of there!" Ritchie's eyes widened, but it was too late. Spearow's body glowed and its Fury Attack faded. It seemed surprised and couldn't dodge the Ember that was launched point-blank at its face.

Sera quickly rushed in with a Quick Attack and Spearow tumbled away, defeated. Ash cheered for Sera, discreetly noting Ritchie's baffled look.

"Return." Spearow's body glowed red before being sucked back in its pokeball.

"Good job Sera, I'll get you some treats later." Ash rubbed her head before looking back at Ritchie.

"You ready?"

Ritchie nodded, releasing Charmander, who appeared in a blaze of glory. She grinned and lowered her body, swinging her tail side by side.

"Ember!"

"Ember!"

They both yelled it out at the same time. Charmander and Sera both fired barrages of flames at each other, each of them doing seemingly very little. Charmander charged forwards, her claws shining a metallic lustre.

"Disable!" Ash called out but Ritchie smirked at that, before calling out his next move.

"Smokescreen!" Charmander exhaled deeply multiple times, letting out ashy smoke into the air, blinding the trainers and Sera.

Ash coughed, swiping at the air to get rid of the smoke that was spreading out. Why did Ritchie do that, did Disable require the target to be seen?

Ugh, I should have read the pokedex more carefully. Ash lamented but it was no use, as Sera's painful cries suddenly sounded out on the battlefield.

"Quick Attack out of there!" Ash cried out, pushing Sera to prepare for a large burst of energy.

However before Sera could escape, Ritchie ordered, "Dragon Breath!" and to Ash's dismay, the gust of green-yellow energy blasted Sera as well as the smoke, revealing a beaten Sera.

Ash immediately rushed onto the battlefield to check on Sera. Ash's heart lurched, at the sight of Sera, bruised and battered. When he touched her, he pulled his hand back in shock as he suddenly noticed currents of electricity running across her body.

She's paralysed, Ash realised as he narrowed his eyes, grabbing out Sera's pokeball.

"Get some rest," Ash said soothingly while petting Sera, ignoring the stinging sensation, "I'll get you healed up after this battle."

After returning her, Ash got up, a grim feeling of determination rose inside him. That charmander was going down.

She must have a really good sense of smell! Ash thought.

"Go, Brooke!" Ritchie narrowed his eyes warily as Brooke appeared on the battlefield.

"Let's take them down together!" Brooke nodded, "Bubble and Pound!"

Brooke blew a barrage of bubbles at Charmander before hopping quickly behind her, ready to smack her with Pound.

"Spin around with Dragon Breath!"

Zippo, who winced as a few bubbles hit her, bared her sharp fangs before breathing out a gust of green wind-like energy while spinning around. Ash yelled out for Brooke to get out of the way, who used Quick Attack to zip away.

Brooke barely dodged however, as the Dragon Breath clipped his shoulder.

"You're lucky she wasn't paralysed," Ritchie noted at the sight of the slightly injured Brooke. "And using Bubble as a distraction was good," he continued on, "but not good enough! Dragon Breath again!"

Charmander hesitated, before opening her maw for a few seconds and letting out another gust of draconic energy, stumbling as she released the move. The Dragon Breath struck close to Brooke, missing him and at Ash's command, he fired multiple spread out barrages of Bubble.

"Seriously, that again? Charmander, another spinning Dragon Breath."

This time Charmander's fatigue was more apparent, with her body hunched over and taking deep breaths. Yet she still tensed up, ready for any sudden attacks.

"Jump and use Frubble!" Brooke jumped up high in the air, slinging globs of foam at her.

Ritchie's eyes widened. "Fire at them!"

She released Dragon Breath at the incoming globs but there were too many. Many globs survived the attack and proceeded to strike Charmander. She weathered a few blows but was ultimately taken down, by both exhaustion and the powerful hits.

"Keep on using Pound and Bubble!" Ash yelled victoriously.

Ritchie didn't bother shouting any commands, it was no use.

Charmander lay there helpless as Brooke repeatedly struck her. She fainted after two hits and Ash pumped his fist, before running over to Brooke. As Ash praised Brooke, he noticed Ritchie's pursed lips, and furrowed eyebrows as he returned Charmander without a word.

Ash felt a bit bad.

"That was a good battle," he held out his hand, "Spearow and Charmander were both amazing. You should be proud."

Ritchie absentmindedly shook Ash's hand before saying, "You used offensive moves as a defensive one. I-my father never taught me that." His eyebrows furrowed. "What was that Frubble move? I've never heard of it."

Ash frowned at the dismissal, "It's a move only Froakie's line can naturally learn."

"So that's why I lost,"Ash thought otherwise but kept quiet. "I won't lose again Ash. You may have won the battle but it doesn't mean you're right," he nodded with respect before turning to the Pokemon Centre.

"You're the one that's wrong Ritchie and I'll prove it to you." Ash stared at Ritchie. "In the Indigo Conference, whoever wins is the one that's right."

"Deal." Ritchie smirked and continued on to the Centre.

After bringing Sera and Brooke to Nurse Joy again, Ash waited near the back of the room at the counter, mentally reviewing his battle with Ritchie. The tantalising aroma from the kitchen beside him made Ash's stomach grumble, but he ignored it, insistent on waiting for his team.

From across the large room, Ash spotted Leaf and Ritchie in the seating area. Leaf seemed to be talking animatedly while Ritchie just sat there, nodding occasionally while eating a bar of what looked to be chocolate.

Ash groaned. he wanted to catch up with them, even Ritchie.

He wanted to chat about what pokemon they found, what their first couple days were like. After all, not many could say that they had faced off against a flock of deadly spearows and fearows in the rain, before being saved by a mysterious bird.

Ash's eyes drifted across the room until they passed the phone booth. They widened as Ash mentally cursed.

Crap! I was supposed to call my mum, and Professor Oak! Ash groaned as he realised he was going to get an earful.

Ash straightened his back, preparing to head over to call his no doubt furious mother. But before he could take a step, an explosion rang from outside, and the doors of the Centre were flung apart, ripping itself out of its hinges. Ash ducked behind the counter, peeking out to see what - or who - caused the explosion.

His answer came in the form of the three shadowy figures hidden in the resultant smoke of the explosion. A witchy cackle filled the room, followed by two other voices laughing.

"Prepare for trouble," one of the figures was visible enough for Ash to spot her magenta hair that was impossibly curved like a comet tail.

"Make it double," another one of the figures stepped out, revealing a man who looked a couple years older than Ash himself with periwinkle hair.

'To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie." The girl who seemed to be the same age as the other person posed.

"James." The boy smirked, holding a red rose.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light," Ash heard Nurse Joy gasp.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight," from the corner of his eye, Ash noticed the third abnormally short figure.

"Meowth that's right!" It revealed itself to be a standing and speaking meowth, which caused a lot of gasps and open mouths.

"What is the meaning of this!" Nurse Joy demanded, her hands drifting to a button on her desk.

"It's a robbery, dear nurse. Now listen up, this is what's going to happen," the boy, James started, "You're going to hand in all your pokemon and if you don't," he held up two pokeballs, along with Jessie while the meowth extended its claws.

"We have dozens of grunts surrounding this centre so if you want to live to see another day…" She left her words hanging but the threat was clear.

The three pulled out three sacks, going around and demanding trainer's pokemon. Some gave in, albeit reluctantly, but other people resisted. A trainer who refused Jessie was about to release his pokemon for battle but Jessie was quicker.

With one press of a button, an ekans appeared from her pokeball, rapidly striking at the trainer who screamed in pain.

Ash's eyes widened as the thieves started getting closer and quickly crawled behind the counter of the Centre, under the counter top.

Nobody resisted after that and soon after, James went up to the counter with his koffing that he had earlier released. Nurse Joy protested in outrage but faltered as James mimicked an explosion while pointing at koffing.

"All of the injured pokemon. Now!" James' expression grimaced in distaste once Nurse Joy left but quickly schooled his features as the nurse came back with a tray cart of pokeballs, each labelled with trainer's names.

Ash realised this was his only opportunity and gestured to Nurse Joy, who's eyes widened before quickly scanning the trays on the cart.

Right before she got to the counter edge, Nurse Joy exclaimed, "Oh whoops, I accidentally added some regular pokeballs as well!" grabbing a handful of pokeballs as she smiled.

"What! Are those all just regular pokeballs as well? You think you can trick me?" Jame's voice wavered and a deep wheeze resonated through Koffing.

"No, no, no! The others have pokemon in them, see?" Nurse Joy scanned a couple of the pokeball's button with her computer and showed James the information that was displayed.

"Great, now here are the pokeballs," she said before pushing the cart out from the counter while discreetly dropping the pokeballs that she had claimed were empty.

Ash waited until the voices were far away before reaching out and grabbing the 'empty' pokeballs. He grabbed his pokedex and scanned each of them, delighted to find both Sera and Brooke among them.

Nurse Joy must have remembered which pokeballs were mine! Brilliant!, he thought before going to the emergency button on his pokedex.

When that didn't work, he tried his pokegear which failed to connect as well before Ash gave up getting help.

Okay, I need to keep this quiet or the rest of Team Rocket outside will come in. If I use other people's pokemon, those pokemon might think I'm the enemy, so it's just me, Brooke and Sera. Let's do this. Ash breathed deeply as he felt his heart race and his palms sweat.

First of all, bind them, Ash decided before releasing Brooke, who waved but quickly stopped when he saw Ash's determined expression.

Ash nodded before standing upright. "Frubble," which had the three thieves turn around in shock before being hit by Froakie's foam.

Ash leapt up on the counter and released Sera.

"Sera, use Ember!" Sera complied and released a barrage of embers at the thieves.

"Counter with Poison Sting Ekans!" Jessie cried as ekans somehow shed its way out of the foam before swinging its tail at the embers, flinging barbs of poison at the small fires.

The attacks cancelled each other as the heat nullified the venom on the barbs, only leaving behind small charred bits of barbs.

James commanded Koffing to use Sludge on itself, dissolving the foam and Koffing floated up again, joining the fight. Ekans lunged at Brooke, its jaws oozing darkness. Brooke jumped away with a Quick Attack and rebounded on the wall, slamming into Ekans.

"Smokescreen!" James yelled and Koffing rolled in acknowledgement, and puffing out a bit, before deflating itself, releasing a dark, putrid gas that obscured Ash and his team's view of the rest of the Centre.

Two sounds of pokemon being released were heard and Ash's eyes widened before blades of leaves and poisonous barbs came flying out, in their direction.

"Take cover!" Ash screamed out as Brooke and Sera ducked.

Ash jumped down behind the counter but he felt two of the sharp leaves nick his arms. Ash winced as he saw the blood trickling out of the two wounds and started breathing heavily. As Jessie's cackles filled the room, Ash suddenly felt much less brave.

He wanted to be anywhere but here. He was outnumbered and nobody else could help.

Ash wasn't sure if the battle had put anyone in danger, and if anybody he knew was hurt. The centre was surrounded, and the other pokemon he had right now weren't even his and wouldn't listen to him.

Ash grit his teeth in frustration and fear, Why? I didn't want this!

He suddenly felt a familiar yet unsettlingly warm feeling come from his bag. He opened it and saw the feather glowing yet again. He shook his head as the feeling of hope started burning brightly within him again.

No, I can't give up, not now, not ever!

He grabbed out his pokedex and the other pokeballs, before scanning them, looking for specific pokemon. Ash mentally cheered as he found a pidgey and a geodude and released them. When they came out, they looked around confusedly and stared at Ash with wariness and confusion.

"Okay guys," Ash whispered, "Your trainers were robbed and the bad guys are behind the counter. I can't beat them myself and I need your help. You in?" The pidgey chirped in agreement while the geodude seemed to be unsure, nodding after a moment.

"Alright, let's do this!"

"Pidgey, use Gust." Pidgey flew in the air and rapidly flapped its wings, blowing away the smog and revealing the thieves who looked surprised.

Ash saw a weepinbell next to James and a lickitung besides Jessie. Ash grinned at that before ordering the next attack.

"Sera, Ember at Weepinbell," Sera launched small flames at the Weepinbell. "Geodude, Rollout at the Ekans," the geodude curled up, rolling at Jessie's ekans. "Pidgey, Gust the Koffing," Pidgey once again flapped its wings at Koffing, "Brooke, Quick Attack and Pound Lickitung!" Brooke glowed with energy as he leapt from column to column with his hand outstretched.

"Lickitung, smack that frog with Lick. Ekans, Poison Sting that geodude." Jessie stood up, finally free of the foam that had started dissolving.

Lickitung swiped its tongue, narrowly missing Brooke as he abandoned his attack while Ekan's barbs of poison were easily ignored by the geodude, snapping as soon they hit.

On the other hand, Weepinbell was hit despite its dodging and Koffing was blown away by the wind, the ball of gas hitting the wall in the process.

"Vine Whip those pokemon!"

"Ekans and Lickitung, switch targets and attack!"

The battles went on as pokemon seemingly switched opponents every couple of seconds, and Ash backed off, narrowly missing a couple Poison Stings that had been knocked his way by a Gust attack.

"Brooke, Sera, Pidgey. Quick Attack your targets," The three charged at their opponents Ekans, Lickitung and Weepinbell respectively.

"Koffing, Self-Destruct!" James yelled out after a moment of hesitation.

Ash's eyes widened as he tried to call off his team's attacks but it was too late. Koffing inflated, almost like it was about to burst until its pores opened, letting out a loud explosion that blasted away Brooke, Sera and Pidgey.

The building shook and everything, including trainers and pokemon were blown away from Koffing.

Ash felt his head was gonna split open when he hit the door behind the counter. He felt a lot more disconnected, like a ship losing its anchor. A faint ringing noise started to sound. He rolled his head with great effort to be greeted with the almost indecipherable sight of the damage.

Nurse Joy had a cut on her forehead - not too serious - but the other trainers didn't look as fine. Some were sporting bruises or cuts. A couple of trainers had been slammed into a wall while others were under overturned couches and tables.

Weirdly enough, a charred bike lay in the corner of the Centre.

Ash's mind registered Ritchie and Leaf, slumped and unconscious along with Brooke, Sera, and Pidgey and Geodude who looked banged up. Further near the centre, Jessie and James were also getting up, with their pokemon around them. Koffing wheezed very weakly on James, who quickly returned it in concern.

"Well that was fun my friends, but we must be off now!" Jessie and James seemed a bit disoriented as they were about to leave, ushered along by Meowth with the sacks of pokeballs.

They made way for the entrance when suddenly a pillar of stone erupted in front of them. The frightened trio quickly backtracked, dropping the stolen pokeballs in the process. The stone pillar lowered to reveal a massive rhydon, who's whirring horn was pointed at the trio. From behind the rhydon, a deep and powerful voice filled the room.

"How dare you trespass my city!"

Thanks for reading guys, it makes me giddy whenever i have a notification that someone favourited, commented, or followed. Please leave a review if theres anything you want to say. Maybe areas to improve on, or places you like a lot. Maybe even a small reference to the anime or games.