Anima: Hey guys, welcome to the 3rd chapter of 'Rise from the Ashes'.

Thank you all for the favorites, follows and reviews.

Before I start the chapter, just to recap, this story is set in an alternate universe. So, there will be quite a few changes. So please don't leave comments on how I got this or that wrong in the story. The world is going to be based around the original Ash Ketchum and his adventures, but I will be adding my own ideas in and taking some original ideas out. As well as making Ashlyn panic over the differences that she actually knows, it should make the story more interesting because of its original ideas.

With that all said, here is the Disclaimer. I do not own Pokemon, but I do own the new and improved Ashlyn Ketchum that stars in this story. Now, onto the story.

Pokemon communicating in English without actually speaking (not Meowth): *…*

Pokemon speaking: /…/

Normal human speaking (Meowth): "…"

A person or Pokemon thinking: '…'

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It had been about a month and a half since Ash had been born, and a few weeks since Ash had accepted being reborn into Pokemon, and over that period of time, quite a lot had happened. For instance, Ash got to see all of the house and her first thought on it being huge wasn't actually completely correct. The house was big but it seemed bigger because all of the entrances were built with double doors, in order for larger Pokemon to enter the house. (Except Gyarados because he was nearly as big as the house itself)

While it only had two stories above the ground and no attic, the rooms were spacious and the house seemed to have been built specially for larger Pokemon to enter. The only thing that was similar to your average house, was the staircase. If any of the larger Pokemon wanted to go up, they had to be in a Pokeball on the way up.

Anyways, over the next few weeks, as well as seeing all of the rooms inside of the house, Ash started planning for the future. Sure, she had around 10 years to wait for her Pokemon journey, but it was always a good idea to plan ahead. Besides, seeing as her knowledge on the Pokemon world was very limited, Ash seriously didn't have much planning to do.

For Lucario, she could simply try and convince her parents for a vacation to Cameron Castle. Then, once there, she could get them to enter in the competition to be named Aura guardian of the year. Once close enough to the staff, Ash could let out Lucario and, somehow, convince him to visit the tree and Mew so he would know that Sir Aaron didn't abandon him.

With no Pikachu there for Mew to take, no people would go to the tree, meaning Mew wouldn't get sick saving them, the tree wouldn't start dying and, most importantly, Lucario wouldn't die from using his up his aura to save the tree and Mew. And from going to the tree, Lucario could find out what happened to Sir Aaron. It was, almost, foolproof. (Ash didn't want to think on what might happen if she couldn't release Lucario from the staff, or convince him to visit the tree and see Mew).

For Latios, she would have started her Pokemon journey by then, so she could leave some of her team to stay with the legendary siblings in their garden. If that didn't work, then she would stay in the area so she could intercept Team Rocket before they got too far from it. And if that didn't work, Ash had come up with the idea that, perhaps, if she became skilled enough in using aura by the time she got to Altomare, she could use her aura to purify the Soul Dew. The last option was a bit of a long shot though… okay, it was a lot of a long shot and probably wouldn't even work. Besides, she didn't know for sure if she even had aura yet. Even so…

Ash might not know much about the future, but as for what she did know? She was perfectly willing to plan for the events accordingly.

Really, the biggest of Ash's concerns for the future was the vast difference in personalities she and the original Ash had. The original was loud, outgoing, social, fearless, didn't mind getting dirty and… a bit of an idiot. In contrast, she was quiet, had difficulty talking to people she didn't know, came across as either gruff or very timid and very antisocial, got scared of a lot of things, put on gloves or washed her hands whenever she had to touch something dirty, and while she was no genius, she loved to read and considered herself at least somewhat intelligent.

As well as the aforementioned things, she had different ideals over what to do when catching Pokemon. She didn't like the whole, attack Pokemon and throw a Pokeball at it when it's badly injured so you can catch it, deal. It was fine when it was just a video game she played. They were digital, and not real creatures who had feelings and could actually get badly hurt in the battles. Besides, Pokemon in the anime, the parts she actually knew anyways, seemed very intelligent. It wouldn't be right catching them like people usually did. But obviously, no one else saw that.

She didn't know much about the journey of the Original Ash (who she had decided to dub Owen due to constantly needing to refer to the previous Ash as the original, became a pain and started to get annoying) but knew many of Owen's Pokemon had volunteered to go with him, of their own free will. She had decided early on that, that was how she was going to catch Pokemon in this world, ask if they wanted to come along with her on her journey. She just would feel way too bad about attacking Pokemon and sticking them in a ball. You wouldn't do that to a person, so why a Pokemon? Besides, she wasn't planning on catching a lot. Only a small team.

Anyway, as well as the different capture method, she would also let her Pokemon stay out of their Pokeballs, as Owen did with his Pikachu. It meant that she and her Pokemon would have the opportunity and time to bond with each other. Besides, they could count the walking as extra training, and if they wanted to go on her shoulders as Pikachu did with Owen, she could learn how to handle a lot of weight so she'd probably find it easier to constantly carry a backpack around with her everywhere… or was it the other way around? Hmmm… anyway, moving on.

If Ash had to save the world like Owen did, she was going to damn well make sure that she had the proper training to do so. That meant she had to be able to: run fast for long periods of time, carry large amounts of weight, be able to hold her breath underwater for a long time and as Owen had Aura, she was going to assume that she did too and somehow, get the proper training needed for that (though it was going to be an utter pain in the ass due to Ash having no clue how to do that. Her best bet was probably going to Rota).

Honestly, having to do so much exercise and training was going to be a real pain in the ass. It was hard enough in her past life to do sports because of her asthma and she had to do way more in this life as Ash? Sigh. Hopefully, in this life, she wouldn't have any medical conditions that would slow her down.

Of course, seeing as she was just a one-month-old baby at the moment, she had a looooooong while to go before she could even start training. For now, she had to face the absolute horror that was life while in diapers. She was lucky enough to have completely, not noticed, whenever the nasty stuff happened before the whole Pokemon meet and freak out.

She was breastfed by Delia nearly every time she was hungry. The times she wasn't, was when her father prepared a bottle so that Delia could have a break from nursing her. Being breastfed wasn't so bad. While it was odd to latch onto her mother's teats, and also very disconcerting, she was a baby and she was hungry, so breast milk it was. She still closed her eyes and tried to block out the times whenever it was happening though.

The diaper changes, on the other hand, were absolutely mortifying. Having her private area exposed and washed by another person, even if she was a baby at the time, always left her crying and feeling completely humiliated. Her new parents always comforted her and made her feel better though, as well as her many honorary aunts and uncles. In case you're confused, Ash meant her parent's Pokemon. Ee-yup. The Pokemon were, surprisingly, very good at childcare and babysitting. They even worked out between themselves who would do what job.

Ash had been changed by Venusaur (who was very good at using their vines as substitute arms), bottle fed by Infernape (who, you know, actually had dexterous fingers out of all twelve of the Pokemon so they could make the powdered baby milk and then hold the bottle up to her) and washed by Floatzel (who always made bath time really fun).

That wasn't to say the others didn't do anything to help look after her. Everytime that Venusaur changed her, Roserade would get rid of any lingering bad smells afterwards with a Sweet Scent, and liked to do little dances that always made Ash smile. Alakazam used Psychic to lift toys and float them around her. The two of them always made a game of it, with Ash repeatedly trying to catch the levitating toys, but nearly always missing as Alakazam floated them out of reach (nearly because Alakazam wasn't mean enough to constantly deny her any of the toys).

Whenever Ash couldn't sleep, Lopunny always came, picked her up and held her securely. Took her to a comfortable place they could both sleep (mostly the couch), and let Ash use their ears as warm and fluffy blankets. This alone didn't put her to sleep though, even if it was super comfy. That would be Butterfree using the move Sleep Powder on her. It was Super Effective and always gave Ash a good day or nights sleep (she slept at random different times throughout the night and day. Don't judge her, she's just a baby).

Lastly, but certainly not least, whenever Ash was taken outside the house (only to the garden behind the house so far), Pidgeot did amazing tricks in the air, and showed off his great talent in aerodynamics. Lucario, Toxicroak, Absol, and Gyarados however, put on little performances for Ash as Lucario used his aura to project the telling of the story to Ash. It was nice that Lucario did this for Ash, even though as a regular baby, she wouldn't have been able to comprehend what Lucario told her. Luckily, she wasn't a regular baby and she could happily enjoy the stories and acted out battles.

You're probably wondering where were Ash's parents in all of this huh? Well, they both turned out to have very busy and important jobs. At least, that's what Ash figured. Her mum would have to make lots of phone calls and do a ton of paperwork, every day, as well as make short trips out of the house (of course, she always took some of her Pokemon with her whenever she left).

Her dad, on the other hand, seemed to have two jobs. He worked on a lot of paperwork that had something to do with a big organization. Ash knew this because of the fancy initials that she had been able to see when her dad decided to hold her close while doing his work. The symbol was three large letters on a shield as a background. The letters, O.R.A., had to be some kind of abbreviation for something. What that something was, however, Ash hadn't the slightest clue. Hopefully not a criminal gang like Team Rocket, it would suck if her new dad was a bad guy.

As for the second job? Her dad got a lot of calls and, while Ash had difficulty in trying to hear the conversations, they seemed to be all about meetings. This was proven by how, after the phone calls, Red would leave the house for a long time, with nearly all of his Pokemon. He always left one or two to help take care of Ash though. Case in point was how yesterday, her dad had gotten another call and left the house, leaving only Lopunny to help Delia look after Ash.

Today, Ash was being held in Delia's arms, as she read a storybook to her from where they were both situated on the couch in the living room. Funny thing was, it was basically the Pokemon version of Cinderella. It was almost the same as the original, but each of the characters now had Pokemon, and Cinderella had a Ducklett that evolved into a Swanna when the ball came.

It was actually pretty interesting to note the differences between this version of the story and the one in her past life. Hey, maybe the Pokemon world had its own version of Disney. As Ash wondered what a Pokefied version of Mickey Mouse would look like, and Delia came close to the end of the story, the doorbell rang.

"That's odd," Delia said quietly, as her face shifted to a puzzled frown. She then gently closed the storybook, set it down on the seat beside her and lifted Ash to be held in a secure, two armed hold, as she started walking to the front doors (double doors everywhere, remember?), and whoever happened to be behind it.

As the duo, and the Pokemon behind them (not including Gyarados who tended to stay in the river nearby most of the time), got closer to the doors, Ash noticed that whoever was on the other side of them was making some odd noise. Weirdly enough, it almost sounded like-

The thought was cut off as Delia opened one of the two doors, and all of the occupants of the house flinched back and tried to cover their ears, as previously muffled ear piercing wails entered into the previously quiet and peaceful household.

Owowow, her ears. Why was it so loud? Her ears were hurting here. Who the hell is making all of that damn racket? Even with her chubby hands pressed tightly to her skull, the noise was still loud enough to start causing Ash to get a headache. She tried to level a glare to whoever was at the front doors, but instead, paused and blinked at the odd sight in front of her.

Said sight was a brown haired, middle-aged man, looking disheveled and tired, carrying a small baby, with wisps of brown curls on their head, screaming their lungs out. If this was what Ash sounded like whenever she cried than no wonder her throat always hurt afterwards. Babies screamed worse than banshees.

"Delia," the man yelled desperately over the baby's cries. "I need your help."

"Sam?" Ash's mother questioned, shocked at the sight in front of her. "What-"

"Please" the stranger pleaded tearfully. "I found him" so the baby was a boy "on my doorstep this morning" wait, people actually left babies on doorsteps? What the fuck were they thinking? That, could not be good for the kid. "someone left him there last night" At night? Jesus. "and I found a note saying that his name is Gary" Wait, what. "he was born yesterday and his parents couldn't take care of him. I brought him into my lab" What? "but he started crying and disturbing the Pokemon there" What? "I tried to get him to stop but he won't and I don't know what to do-o-o." The man broke into heartwrenching sobs over the baby as Ash stared dumbfounded at him.

Delia's face turned stern and she moved to one side of the door. "Come in Professor. I'll give you a hand. But you better fully explain everything when this little one, Gary was it, is calmed down."

The man's face broke into an expression of utter relief. "Thank you so much Delia. This is why you're my favorite student." Professor Motherfucking Oak,joked as he entered the house. 'WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?'

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Anima: Mwahahahaha, sorry story me, life is about to get so much weirder for you.

Anyway, hello again to the lovely people that like this fic, here's some helpful info that would be handy for you to know so you are less confused.

One, Ash didn't recognize Professor Oak because his hair isn't gray and he looks younger since he hasn't had the stress of raising a human baby before, and this is TEN YEARS before Ash's Pokemon journey starts. So Oak looks a lot younger.

Two, Seeing as I calculated Professor Oak's age to be 39 when Ash and Gary are born, I personally thought that he was way too young to be a grandpa. I mean, seriously. Do people in the Pokemon world support and encourage teenage pregnancy or something? Oak must've had his kid young because it's been mentioned that Gary has an older sister named Daisy. So, since it was a pain to create a backstory for Gary's parents and the ages didn't really add up, I made it so that Professor Oak adopts Gary as a SON and he does not have gray hair… yet.

Three, I read somewhere that Delia was an assistant of Professor Oak and I decided to put it in Delia's history in this story. I mean, I LITERALLY, made a timeline for both Ash and her parents so I can keep track of past and future events and their ages. The show isn't any help in knowing the characters ages since, you know, Ash doesn't age.

Four, I created this story after watching Game theory on youtube, come to the conclusion on what Ash's actual age is (check out the video it's super cool and I think it's pretty helpful) and before looking at the official bulbapedia timeline of the Pokemon anime (which was a big help in knowing when certain events happen). This means that Ash knows some of Game Theories videos and will mention them in the story, while not knowing bulbapedia. Also, this story's timeline is based on a mix of those two things so you should probably check them out.

Five, most of Red's Pokemon are based on a cool and short comic series on Youtube that I have been watching for the past few years. Ash, therefore, knows the comic series, and while has thought that they are similar to it, has not put together the clues. Which is ironic cause she loved the comics. Also be sure to comment if you know what comic series I am talking about.

Six, I am a Ravenclaw. WAIT, hear me out. I am a Ravenclaw, but at times I can be very Slytherin. I can be very cunning and sometimes, even when I don't mean to be, I can be very manipulative in order to get the best results. Because of this, Ash is very smart and can be at times quite manipulative. However, she is not a bad person. She doesn't manipulate people into helping her destroy the world (COUGHLysandreCOUGH) but mostly in a way so as to solve a situation. Like, what Ash is planning with Lucario.

Ash is essentially going to try and guilt trip/persuade Lucario to go to the tree so he knows that Sir Aaron didn't betray him. It's not the best method to use, but it should work and it's the only idea that Ash has. So, Ash is an intelligent and cunning winged serpent. Alas, because of her methods, Ash will have some depression and self-confidence issues, as well as a deep fear that the people she cares about will leave her if she shows her true self. The bad and good parts of her. I'll go into more depth on that later.

Seven, I have put up a poll on my profile relating to this fic. Be sure to check it out.

Eight, the house in this story that the Ketchum family lives in is not the original house. This one was specially built, but that's a story for another chapter.

Anyway, that's all for now folks. I'll see you all in the next chapter. Bye.