In the small settlement of Pallet Town, the town of beginnings and endings, the first ray of morning sunlight filtered into a small child's bedroom. In that room, a boy was wide awake and methodically packing his bags for quite possibly the most important day of his extremely short life. Ash Ketchum was about to leave home and begin his journey as a Pokémon trainer.
But first, he needed to retrieve his starter Pokémon from Professor Oak's lab. Ash idly wondered if the professor would hand out Pokémon this year or if that job would be delegated to one of his assistants.
He picked up his hat and sat it on top of his head, preparing to head out and take the first step towards his destiny. Ash couldn't fight the grin relentlessly tugging at his lips. This was the moment he'd been waiting for for over 8 years. His stomach was tied in knots that would make the Gordian Knot look like the knot used to tie shoelaces.
Ash walked over to the steps and slides down the railing to the first floor. His mother, Delia Ketchum, was in the kitchen making breakfast for Ash and his Starter Pokémon. She knew that this is the last time she'd be able to do this. Her baby wouldn't be expected to come back to Pallet for awhile. Even though she knew that this day would come for longer than Ash had, she wouldn't ever be ready to let him go.
Ash stepped out of his house and took a deep breath of Pallet Town's clean air. It had the cleanest air out of all the cities in the Kanto region. The fact that it was the least industrialized city in Kanto probably had absolutely nothing to do with it.
A Pidgey landed on Ash's shoulder before releasing a piercing trill, reminding him of something that he forgot because of his own excitement. The bird migrations were happening soon. Most of the young Pidgey and Spearow were getting ready to fly away from Pallet Town in order to get stronger, and explore more than the forest between Pallet Town and Viridian city. At the same time, flocks of Adult Pidgeot and Fearow were returning in order to mate and lay their eggs. 1 of each would stay behind to look after their respective eggs and act as leaders for the new flocks.
Ash brushed down the ruffled feathers on top of the Pidgey's head. He could feel the Pidgey's excitement; he still wasn't sure why he could briefly feel the feelings of Pokémon but he could. Pidgey had been ready to leave Pallet Town ever since he hatched. "It's almost time for you to go, buddy."
Ash had known the Pidgey for 5 years. He was there when it hatched from its egg. He'd make sure to come back to see it when it returned to Pallet Town as a Pidgeot.
Pidgey playfully nipped at his hair before flying away. Ash smiled softly as he looked towards the sky to see Pidgey join his flock.
As soon as the flock flew off further than he could see, Ash started walking towards Professor Oak's lab. He'd made this journey so many times that he could walk the entire route with his eyes closed. It was permanently etched into his memory.
The few shops in Pallet were just starting to open their doors for business. The doors weren't locked at night as the small town had a non-existent crime rate due to everybody knowing each other. It also helped that half the population is old people weary from traveling in their youth.
It wasn't long before he arrived at his destination.
"Crap" Ash whispered as he turned around the corner and saw the crowd around the lab doors. He wanted to get here first. The further back in line you are, the more likely you are to get stuck with a worse Pokémon.
Last year, the guy at the back of the line had to start with a Pichu. Legends say that he never made it out of Viridian Forest. Ash didn't believe that particular legend, of course. He would have made it to Pewter City's gym leader before he hit a stone wall. Even then, he could loop around to Cerulean, and beat that gym with careful planning. If he picked up a water type capable of walking on land in Cerulean, training it to beat Brock would have been easy to accomplish.
It didn't matter what happened to him in the end. All that mattered was that he never came back to Pallet Town and never became a well-known trainer.
Ash didn't want to be that guy. At the end, he wanted to be known across Kanto as a Pokémon master. Winning the conference would just be step 1. After that he'd probably attempt to topple the Elite 4 and Lance then become Kanto's champion. And If Lance proved to be unbeatable at that point, it'd be time to travel around and find a way to reach the champion's level of power. But no matter what happened, he would become the champion of the Kanto region!
"Ash! Ash tree! Are you going to stand there pondering the universe, or are you going to get your Pokémon before I die of old age?" A familiar voice asked, snapping Ash out of his musings. Somehow he had managed to ignore the crowd of kids vanishing 3 at a time.
Ash suddenly found himself standing in the middle of the street by himself.
"Professor Oak, you're actually here. Glad to see you're still able to get out of bed these days." Ash joked as he walked towards the door. Professor Oak was surprisingly active for his age, still doing active field research regularly.
Oak let out a deep chuckle, "These old bones are still good for another 5 years or so. Hopefully Gary or Daisy will take this job before then. I want to enjoy retirement before they try to send me to a nursing home."
"Anyways, what's the odds of me getting a decent Pokémon? I already know all of the strong ones were taken." Ash questioned as he looked around the barren lab.
"Not very good if you wanted to tackle Brock first," Oak shook his head "The only one left is the Pikachu I caught because it was found nibbling on one of the wires outside and sucking out the electricity. It probably increased the electricity bill too. "
Ash sighed, "It's still wild. That makes the job way harder. Well I guess an adventure isn't fun if it's too easy."
"That's the spirit!" Oak said before releasing the Pikachu from its Pokéball.
Ash could feel the Pikachu's displeasure as soon as it rematerialized. It wasn't happy with the new environment at all. Ash stared the Pikachu down as its cheeks started to spark with yellow electricity.
Flinching away is the worst mistake you can make when you encounter a wild Pokémon for the first time. As soon as you flinch, it will attack you. It probably won't try to kill you, that's not how most Pokémon act. Only dark types try going for the kill instantly.
Moments later, the sparks dissipated.
"Hello, my name is Ash. I'm your trainer from now on." Crouching down to eye level with the Pikachu, Ash stretched out his hand.
Smack
The Pikachu spun 180° and slapped his hand with its tail. Because of this, Ash noticed that this was a male Pikachu.
"Well now that you have your Starter, let me go grab your Pokédex." Oak stepped into the backroom of his lab. The Pokédex was a trainer's most valuable tool. It gave you info on every Pokémon in Kanto, taught you how to raise them, and also served as a Trainer's ID.
"You don't like me" Ash stated as he looked at his new Pokémon ( who still had his back turned towards Ash). This prompted Pikachu to vigorously shake his head side to side.
"Is it because I didn't battle you?" Ash had heard about this before. Pokémon tend to disobey Trainers that haven't earned their respect, which is typically done by battling them and catching them if you win.
Pikachu nodded.
"So, if I use another Pokémon and beat you with that one, you'll help me?" Ash questioned.
Pikachu nodded, slightly more reluctantly.
Ash smiled. This Pikachu was as good as beaten once he borrowed Professor Oak's Ninetales.
The Pokémon Professor came back into the room.
"Ah, here you go Ash." Oak said before depositing a red and blue Pokédex with a yellow stripe down the middle separating the other two colors. He was also holding a black belt that was designed to hold Pokéballs.
"Thanks. Hey Professor, can I borrow your Ninetales?" Ash asked, gesturing towards the giant ball of golden-white fur in the corner. Ninetales was Professor Oak's oldest partner. That is, it was literally the oldest Pokémon that Professor Oak had. A healthy Ninetales could live for over a thousand years. If the good professor was telling the truth, this one was about 8 centuries old.
"She wouldn't say no, what do you need her for?" Oak responded. His Ninetales was quite fond of Ash, probably because he spent so much time at the lab and Corral as a kid and would give her leftovers from the previous night's dinner whenever he came.
"Pikachu says that he won't work with me unless I beat him in a battle." Ash replied as he walked up to her and started petting her thick, glossy fur coat.
"I was afraid of that happening. It's a good thing you figured this out now, otherwise you'd have to figure out a different way to make this fellow work with you." Oak commented while looking at Pikachu, who was still refusing to face Ash.
"Wake up Ninetales, I need your help," Ash begged while patting her on the head. Ash heard a rumble from the Fox Pokémon. It sounded like she was about to finally wake up!
Her 9 beautiful tails rose up…
PPPPPFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT
"Come on!" Ash exclaimed while tightly pinching his nose. Ash would later swear that he heard Pikachu laughing behind his back.
Professor Oak's Ninetales finally decided to stand up and face Ash. When she did, Ash could feel the waves of displeasure rolling off of her. She really didn't like being woke up.
"Can you help me? Pikachu is being stubborn." Ash asked while pointing at the yellow rodent, intentionally triggering her maternal instincts.
After all, stubborn children must be punished.
The Fox's red eyes started to glow maliciously as she trotted over to the mouse, wrapped it up with 2 of its 9 tails, and ran to a new room before it could put up a fight. This room led to the entrance of the place where Trainers kept their extra Pokémon.
As soon as they exited the lab, Ninetales tossed Pikachu into the air and spat out blue fire.
5 minutes passed before a plume of smoke entered the lab, which was followed by Pikachu stumbling out of the room while waving a white flag. His fur was singed and caked with dirt, but he didn't look hurt too bad.
"Will you help me now?" Ash smirked, tapping his foot against the white tiles on the floor.
"Pika" Pikachu groaned before nodding.
"Good, now get in the ball." Ash pointed at the Pokéball, getting a firm refusal from the Pikachu. He picked up Pikachu's Pokéball and clipped it to his belt, "Fine, get on my shoulders."
Pikachu leapt up on to Ash's shoulders and they started walking towards the exit. This action was prevented from being completed by an orb of blue light appearing in the doorway. Once the light dissipated, it was revealed to be an Alakazam with blue glowing eyes and an egg case, covered in blue energy, floating behind it. Ash noticed that it was also wearing a green and white hat on its head.
"Delivery for Professor Oak!"
The psychic intrusion forced Ash to hold his head. It felt like it was screaming directly into his brain!
"Ah. I was wondering when this egg would arrive." Professor Oak replied as he grabbed the egg out of the air.
As soon as Oak had a firm grip on the egg, Alakazam teleported away.
"So, what's with the egg? Ash asked, his curiosity clear in his voice.
" For the past 3 months, Professor Elm has been researching Pokémon in an attempt to figure out why some Pokémon come out a completely different color than the rest of their sisters and brothers. This led to him having an abundance of eggs in his Lab, that haven't hatched yet. He already has quite a few specimens to study, so the extra eggs are being shipped off to other Pokémon Professors for them to keep." Professor Oak explained.
"So what are you going to do with your egg?" Ash inquired.
"Give it to you." Oak replied, pushing the eggs case into Ash's arms as he did.
"Why?" Ash asked, repositioning his body to accommodate the extra weight.
"I study the relationship between humans and Pokémon, now I have the perfect opportunity to observe how baby Pokémon attach themselves to their Trainer and the other Pokémon in the group." Professor Oak replied before ushering him out the door "You're already late, your mother is waiting for you."
"He's so adorable!" Delia squealed while tugging on Pikachu's cheek. He was swiped off of Ash's shoulder as soon as he stepped through the door.
Meanwhile, Ash sat on the other side of the table, stuffing his face with food in an attempt to hide the smirk on his face. The Aura of embarrassment emanating from Pikachu was music for his soul.
After gulping down an entire glass of "Orange Juice!: The Champion's Drink of choice," Ash grabbed his bag and his egg, kissing his mother goodbye as he rescued his partner.
"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash shouted as he burst out of the house.