The morning sun flared across the small Kanto city of Pallet Town, shining through the transparent windows of the array of houses littered around the hill-ridden plaine. Delia Ketchum, mother of two, sat on the front porch of her two-story house. She felt the warm sunlight beat against her skin. She could feel the cold morning dew dropping against her shin. A gentle smile worn on her light skin. Today was an important day, for Kanto that is. February nineteen. The anniversary of the Rocket Rush. It happened three years ago. Red, her first son, was nine and Ash, her second, was six.
"Red, Ash! Hurry up and get ready, we're gonna be late!" Grey Rotiart, Red and Ash's father, called to the two young boys. Grey was a fairly tall man, standing at five foot ten inches. He was an accomplished trainer as well, having made it to the semi-finals of the Indigo Conference Years back. He had a slightly tanned face with small lightning bolts on his cheeks, which translated to Ash and not Red.
"Coming Dad!" the voice of Red came barreling down the stairs. Soon enough, footsteps could be heard as Ash and Red raced down the stairs. It wasn't close by any means, Ash still being a little boy and Red approaching double digits.
Red was tall for his age, at four foot six. He shared most of his attributes with his mother, her light skin tone and hair colour. But he had Grey's deep azure blue eyes. Red was wearing navy blue cargo shorts and a red vest over a white shirt. He had his red and white baseball cap on his head.
Ash was shorter than Red, given that he was three years younger than him. The four year old was three foot four, with his fathers unruly black hair on his head. He had his fathers lightning bolt marks on his cheek. He was wearing a red and yellow sleeveless shirt and jean shorts. It seemed that he had opted out of wearing his pokeball baseball cap as it wasn't sat upon his head.
Delia walked into the small, narrow, corridor. Her always present smile plastered on her face. "Let's go boys! We have to get there twenty minute before it starts so we can get good seats!" She stated in a cheery tone. She turned around to walk out of the house, with the other three following.
--Several Hours Later--
"Are we there yet?" Ash asked for what had to be the one millionth time. Everyone else in the car let out a groan of exasperation. The boy had been constantly pestering the others with his array of questions of when they would be arriving. "Where are we even going!" he whined, "All Red and I know is that it's a show!"
Delia sighed, "We're going to watch the pokemon league, in person!" Both Ash and Red's faces brightened.
"Who do you think will win, Ash?" Red asked excitedly. Ash pondered before responding.
"Lance for sure!" Ash said with a smile, "He has those super cool and strong dragon types!" Ash's answer was certainly not wrong. Lance's team of Dragonite, Kingdra, Aerodactyl, Kommo-o, Charizard and Gyarados were a force to be reckoned with. All were large for their size, and had an array of moves to bombard their opponents with. Lance came from Johto, the Clan of Dragons in Blackthorn City.
"I'm betting on Giovanni! All his pokemon are super strong!" Red replied with the same enthusiasm as Ash. The statement was as true as Ash's. Giovanni's array of ground types were powerful. He had a Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Sandslash, Golem, Rypherior, Hippowdon and Runerigus. All of which were equal to Lance's dragons. After some talk on each of the twos teams, type matchups and moves, a different discussion started,
"So Red, Ash, what starters are you going to pick?" Delia inquired. Red replied first,
"Charmander!" He yelped enthusiastically, "Blues already set on squirtle, and I know that Erika will get bulbasaur, so I'm going to get charmander!" Grey let out a chuckle at Red's enthusiasm.
"Ash, what about you?" He asked.
"I'll take ANY pokemon!" He answered with a smile. Delia smiled at this, knowing that both Ash, and Red, would become great trainers one day. The rest of the ride to the Indigo Plateau was spent on debating whether Lance or Giovanni would win, with sparse talk on other participants.
--At the Indigo Plateau--
The Indigo Plateau was huge. The roads were made of cleanly cut stone. The grass and trees around were full of pokemon of all sizes. The lush greenery flourished as the bright colours of the flowers and pokemon contrasted nicely with the darker greens. The air smelled fresh and new, like the world had just been born and pollution had never happened.
The amount of people there was immense. Thousands upon thousands of people, of all ages. It amazed Ash and Red that all these people were here to watch the 67th annual pokemon league. Crowds of colour blurred their vision as they pushed through the crowd. As they were making their way past the crowd however, they heard yelling louder than everyone else.
A fight had broken out between two older men , around Grey's age. One growled out a curse before throwing a blue and white pokeball, a great ball. In a flash of white, an arbok appeared. It snared its fangs at the other man. The other man replied and muttered an insult, before sending in a graveler. The two men ordered their pokemon to attack, and as the the two readied their respective moves someone stepped in between the two.
The two pokemon froze and watched the new competitor approach their trainers.
"Excuse me, but would you please refrain from battling on the plateau, we will be forced to arrest you if you continue" It was one of the guards who checked badges. The two men grumbled as they recalled their pokemon and left, leaving the blue clad man to disperse the scene. "Please move along, the tournament will start in 20 minutes"
People started moving. Ash, Red and their parents had found good seats in the front. Not so close so that they could be hit by stray attacks, but enough to where they could feel the impact of the blows.
"AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WELCOME TO THE 67TH ANNUAL INDIGO LEAGUE CONFERENCE!" The announcer started the event. The crowd erupted into cheers, all chanting the name of the one they wanted to win.
"OKAAYY, WITH A NEW CONFERENCE COMES THE MATCHUPS" the crowd roared in approval, wanting to see the bracket. The two big screens lit up, and the crowd all became quiet as the round one matchups came up. No one was too excited with the non Lance or Giovanni matchups.
-1 hour later-(Finals)
"AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FINALS ARE HERE!" The crowd cheered. "WELCOME THE TWO FINALISTS TO THE STAGE" The doors opened and two figures walked out. Everyone knew who they were, they had been watching the tournament after all. "FIRST UP IS THE DRAGON MASTER! LANCE BLACKTHORN" Half the crowd cheered, including Ash. "AND ON THE OTHER SIDE IS THE GROUND TYPE CONNOISSEUR GIOVANNI DION!" The other half of the crowd cheered, Red along with them. And with a three, two and one.. The battle began.
The fight was intense. Giovanni led with Hippowdon, creating a sandstorm. Lance tried to get an early super effective lead with kingdra. This proved to be a mistake as Giovanni's hippowdon shook up the battlefield with an earthquake and magnitude. Lance withdrew his injured Kingdra, saving it for later. Out came Lance's aerodactyl. The prehistoric flying type flew above the cracked rocks and debris that had prevented kingdra's movement. Lance commanded a hyper beam, trying to take out the tanky pokemon as soon as he could.Giovanni ordered the hippo to knock the bird out of the sky with a stone edge. Aerodactyl was forced to cancel the attack to dodge the super effective hit. Quickly, Giovanni commanded an ice fang. Lance's eyes widened as Hippowdon fired off another stone edge, connecting with aerodactyl. The prehistoric beast fell from the sky, plummeting down to the bottom with a crash. Dust filled the arena. Then, hippowdon roared, clearing the smoke away. In its jaws was aerodactyl,knocked out.
The match was called and Lance returned aerodactyl to its pokeball. But the battle raged on. Lance sent his Kingdra out, using a combo of ice beam and scald to take hippowdon out. Lance called upon his Nidoking, and the battle ended in a draw. Both were down two pokemon. Giovanni sent out Nidoqueen as Lance sent out Kommo-o. The powerful pokemon roared at each other before charging in. The battle was fierce, ice punches and poison jabs were being thrown out from every direction. But in the end, Kommo-o came out on top. Then the dominos started to tip into Lance's favour. Lance had gained the momentum he needed. Giovanni sent out Golem. The rock pokemon took the dragon out, but had sustained massive damage from ice beams in the process. And this is how it went from then on. Lance would send in a perfectly healthy pokemon and take out Giovanni's. Giovanni would take out Lance's but take heavy damage in the process. Lance's Charizard took out Golem, and almost fried Sandslash before being taken out. Gyarados smashed sandslash into the ground and pummled Runerigus before being shocked by poltergiest. Runerigus was destroyed by the might of dragonite, however the battle became a standstill. Giovanni sent out rhyperior. And the battle commenced. A stone edge was met by an ice beam. A flamethrower met by smack down. But Dragonite was able to get in close, and hit the drill pokemon with an aqua tail, ending the match.
"And that's it folks!" The announcer ended the match. "It had seemed that the battle was in Giovanni's favour before Lance gained the lead and managed to win the battle!" Everyone cheered at the results- even Red, despite Giovanni losing.
--Awards Ceremony--
"We now announce the placings of the Indigo League tournament." Standing champion Agatha Oak said. There were three standing at the podium. "In third place, we have Karen Durass!" The crowd cheered for the dark type trainer. Her houndoom and Vileploom had given even Lance and Giovanni some trouble.
"It's an honour to accept this award" Karen responded, bowing her head to allow Agatha to place the bronze medal around her neck.
"In second place, Giovanni Dion." Giovanni said nothing as he took the award. "In first place, Lance Blackthorn!" The crowd cheered. "My boy, you now have the chance to challenge the Elite Four!" Lance accepted his award and the ceremony was over.
The competitors, along with Agatha and the standing referees started to leave the stage when a loud roar ripped through the arena. The deafening sound of a pack of charizards reverberated on the concrete walls of the Indigo Plateau. Panic set in.
The shadows of the large dragonoid pokemon covered the plateau, and a colony of crobat and golbat swarmed the seating areas. Guards and officers sent out their Arcanine and growlithe, but they were not enough and were quickly overwhelmed. Lance's own Charizard launched into the sky, unleashing dragon pulses and thunder punches to any pokemon close enough to be hit. Giovani's Nidoking was out, launching ice beams at the aviated pokemon above.
Karen's honchkrow was in the fray, using it's superior bulk to muscle through many of the golbats ringing their supersonics into the crowd. Agatha had sent out her arbok, and it slithered around, ice fanging anything in it's range.
"Hello Kanto!" a dark and grim voice spoke through the loud speaker. The supersonics stopped, being replaced with steel wings and air cutters. "Welcome to my invasion." The voice spoke again. Karen's honchkrow plummeted, having taken a beating from a gang of golbats and crobats. "I am a member of Team Rocket, and I am here to inform you of our presence." Karen returned her fallen pokemon and sent out her Gengar. "Please be welcome to your death."
That moment was where everything went wrong. Panic fully set in. People ran in every direction, police officers and guards unable to quell the frenzy. Rattata and Raticate swarmed into the arena, forcing Giovanni's Nidoking and Agatha's Arbok to divert their focus.
"Ash! Red! Come on!" Delia shouted over the overwhelming noise. She grabbed her sons and swerved her head to find her husband. Grey was nowhere to be found. "GREY!" She shouted, "GREY!" A flamethrower from an arcanine flew overhead, connecting and felling a crobat. "Come on. Come on," she said, pulling Ash and Red along behind her as she ran.
"Mommy, I'm scared!" Ash whimpered.
"I am too Ash, I am too," Delia replied. A sludge bomb landed six feet away, burning through the floor. "Okay, this way," The group turned, heading for an exit on the other side of the row. Their footsteps were drowned out by the screaming and explosions.
The door was twenty yards. Fifteen. Ten. Five. "Raticate!" A raticate landed in front of them. It's entire left side was ashen, burned by an arcanine. It clamped it's chipped teeth as it slowly advanced on the group. Both Ash and Red started to cry, at least more than they already were.
Delia fumbled through her bag, straining to find her one pokemon. She grasped the miniaturised ball, throwing the red and white sphere. "Mimey, protect us!" A Mr. Mime was unleashed out of the pokeball. The mime pokemon squinted it's eyes at the rat.
"Rat! Raticate!" The rodent pokemon sprinted at Mimey, attempting a hyper fang at the humanoid pokemons neck.
"Mime!" The psychic type created a barrier. The burnt pokemon crashed into the invisible wall created by Mimey, screaming as it's teeth shattered against it. Mimey then wound up it's fist, focusing for an incredibly powerful focus punch. The raticate scrambled to its feet, charging again at the psychic type pokemon. "Mime!" Mimey unleashed it's fury into the rodent's chest, sending it flying back into the wall of the arena.
"Thank you Mimey, return" Delia thanked the pink pokemon. Delia looked back at Ash and Red, checking to make sure they were okay. Red seemed to be fine, outside of some soot and ash on his face and light cuts and burns. Ash had a medium sized gash on his cheek, it didn't look deep but it bled. Ash's eyes were squinted, and streaks of tears cut through the layers of dust. "Okay boys, let's go." Delia comforted as she started to lead them to the door.
The three stopped at the door, the six foot grey rectangle stared down at them. Delia grabbed the steel doorknob, twisting and pulling on their only way out.
The door creaked and whined as it opened. Delia let out a sigh of relief, and led the boys into the expansive hallway. The bleak grey walls surrounded the three as they rushed down the corridor, and they soon made it to the stairwell.
"Careful not to fall," Delia cautions Ash and Red.
"Ok mom," both boys replied. Delia led them down to the base floor of the stadium and they swiftly sped towards the exit of the stadium. The automatic glass door, opened for what seemed to be forever before they rushed out of the stadium.
"Oh, thank Arceus" Delia sighed in relief. Looking back, the number of charizard, golbat and crobat had thinned, meaning the work of some of the most powerful trainers in Kanto was working. "Okay boys, let's get to the car." The children nodded and they rushed to the parking lot and back home.
–--Flashback end—
Delia sighed, "I guess it's time to wake Ash up," She smiled and sat up from her rocking chair. "I swear no matter how much they drill him at the Pokemon School he never wakes up on time." She walked back into the house, taking the smell of the plant in the corner. Looking to her side, she greeted Mimey, who was sweeping the floor. "Hello Mimey!"
"Mime!" The pokemon replied cheerfully. The family had become indebted to the pokemon after the incident with the raticate.
Delia walked up the creaky stairs leading to the upstairs hallway. She moved past Red's room, knocking on the door twice as she went by. As she arrived at Ash's do.or, she could hear Red getting up and realising what day it was. She quietly opened Ash's door and walked over the sleeping boy. Giving the ten year old a few taps on the shoulder woke him up quickly. His eyes cracked open, seeing the date on his maril clock. He sat up, greeted his mother and then bolted out of bed. Delia chuckled and left the room to let Ash get ready for the big day.
--Five minutes later–
"So Ash, how are you feeling about today?" Red asked his younger brother. Ash looked up from checking his bag,
"Great! I can't wait to start my journey!" Red chuckled. Grabbing something from the counter.
"Well to commemorate the start of your journey, your tenth birthday and your graduation from the Pokemon School, take this." Ash grabbed the plastic case, his eyes widening at the contents.
"Is this a TM case? With TMs inside?" He asked excitedly. Red nodded.
"I filled it with some generally useful moves, nothing too great. You'll have to get those yourself." He informed me. Ash beamed as he thanked his older brother.
"Well I gotta get going, I'll come back with my pokemon!" Ash called. Then, he disappeared out the door.
Ash jogged his way to Professor Oak's lab, it wasn't too far away and he had time. Plus, he wanted to meet up with his friends along the way. As he rushed down the dirt pathways, one of the other trainers starting today ran up beside him.
"Hey Ash!" The blue haired girl said. She was wearing an ivory jacket over a light blue t-shirt that matched her hair. Her neon yellow backpack stuck out against her white and blue outfit.
"Hey Trinity," Ash replied. Trinity was the middle ground between the group of the trainers. She wasn't as shallow and quiet as Justin, the last trainer starting today, but wasn't as loud as Ash or Gary. She was very bubbly, contrasting with Justin, who was always down and quiet.
"Are you excited for today?" Trinity questioned. Ash nodded as they neared the Oak Lab.
They walked up the stairs and entered the advanced facility. The stainless white walls were interrupted with countless scientific tools. Decibel Measures, Water Testers and Purifiers. Computers blanketed the tables, and pokemon waiting to be evaluated and let back into the pastures of Pallet were plentiful. Ash could see pidgey and pidgeot, rattata, sandshrew and even an ekans. Trinity gawked at a clefairy. While the small pink pokemon hadn't been of much interest to trainers for the past few decades, recent years proved that the fairy type did indeed exist.
The two soon arrived at the edge of the building, where both Gary and Justin were waiting. "Heh, took you two long enough." The ever arrogant Gary Oak jabbed at the duo as they walked in. He was wearing his usual dark blue shirt with brown pants. Justin stood next to him. The boy's dark black hair blended in against his mostly black appearance. He wore a black jacket over a grey shirt, with black pants and shoes.
"Hey! I bet you just woke up Bluey!" Ash retorted.
"Well I bet you did the same, Ashey boy!" The prodigal grandson fired back. The two had gained nicknames for each other out of the refusal to say each other's names.
"Calm down boys," Professor Oak chuckled. The ageing professor led the group to the pokemon selection area, three pokeballs sat on an automated pedestal that rose from the floor when they came in. Each one had a special elemental marking. The first was a flame, the second a droplet of water, the third was a leaf and the fourth was a grey pentagon.
"It had come to my attention that you four were some of the best students to come out of the academy, which is why I got some special bred starter pokemon from the faraway regions we are allied with.
"What?" Ash exclaimed, both excited and worried about the choices.
"Really? This is amazing!" Trinity said excitedly.
"Heh, as expected for gramps!" Gary said. Justin said nothing as they crowded around Oak and the pokeballs.
"I chose each one to cater to your personalities and training styles." Oak announced. He picked up the pokeball with the flame. "For Trinity, I chose a pokemon from the Unova region." Trinity perked up, focusing on the pokemon materialising from the small ball. "Litwick," Oak said. "It's burning inferno is balanced by its ghostly chill."
A small white pokemon appeared. It had a dark purple flame on its head. It's yellow eyes scanned the room. Trinity walked towards the small pokemon. She crouched down and made eye contact. "Hey Litwick, my name is Trinity. We're gonna be partners from here on out, so let's make sure we're best friends!" Litwick responded with a resounding,
"Lit!" Trinity smiled and returned Litwick to it's pokeball.
"Next up is Gary," Oak said. Gary smirked and prepared to see his pokemon. "A pokemon from the Kalos region," A white light burst out of the pokeball. "Clauncher"
A small blue and black pokemon appeared. It had yellow eyes and two antennas. Gary looked down on the small pokemon.
"Look here bud, I'm going to be the best trainer ever. And to do that you'll need to be the strongest pokemon ever, understand?" Clauncher narrowed it's eyes and cheered. "Gary smirked, "I like your spunk," he said. Oak moved to the leaf printed pokeball.
"Justin, for you I chose a pokemon from the Alola region," Justin studied the small pokeball, wondering what it would be and how he would train it.
"Fomantis" the small green pokemon cheered as it came out. It had small scythe claws for hands. Justin stared at the small pokemon and promptly returned it to it's ball.
"Now Ash," Oak arrived. "Also a pokemon from Alola, yungoos," A small brown rodent-like pokemon appeared. It had a yellow stripe going from head to tail.
Ash was a little disappointed from the look of the small pokemon, but knew from Red's teachings that any pokemon could be strong. "Hey bud, let's work together to be the best we can be," he introduced. The small pokemon responded with a positive squeak. Ash laughed at his new partner's enthusiasm, returning it to its pokeball.
"So, now that each of you have your pokemon I must give you the basic supplies you will need to start your journey," Oak said. We went out back for a moment and came back with the supplies. "My task for each of you is to complete the pokedex, an electronic encyclopaedia for pokemon knowledge. Now you no longer need to catch every pokemon, but just scanning a pokemon for a good bit will introduce it's information into the dex." He continued. Each trainer took a pokedex. "And here are your starting five pokeballs, use them wisely" He handed each of them the small capsules.
Oak then told them to venture out, and one by one they left. Justin left quickly, followed by Gary. Ash and Trinity returned home, walking together until they had to split. Ash made his way back home, letting out Yungoos to walk beside him.
Jeez, that took a long time. I needed to fit in the entire Team Rocket fiasco, and get the starter selection done. Between this and writing my other story AND schoolwork, this took about a month or two which seems kinda insane to me writing this right now. Constructive criticism is welcomed(just please don't write am eight-teen page essay on how my dialogue is slightly wrong.) and suggestions for future events in the story are also appreciated. I already have the teams for our four starting trainers, but teams for things like the Elite Four, Oak, Red and Blue would be great. Also I don't know whether to include nicknames or not, so tell me if those are wanted or not.