Ash tugged on the brim of her cap as Charles Goodshow finished up his speech for the opening ceremonies. She was partially hidden in the crowd of trainers, many of them much taller than her, but that suited her just fine. Pikachu, perched on her shoulder, ensured that nobody got too close with the occasional sparking of his cheeks.
It was finally time for all her team's hard work to be put to the test. She was excited to see what kind of teams and strategies they'd be up against, what sort of trainers would give her a challenge and which ones would lose without much effort on her part. She knew she was good; she wouldn't give anyone the opportunity to believe otherwise.
Somewhere, up in the stands, the Yvonnes plus Calem and the Oaks were seated, and would be watching her matches. Charmander had been handed off to a pleased Calem, who had befriended the little Fire type while she was asleep last night. She'd woken up that morning to the smell of bacon and pancakes, and a table set for four humans, and bowls for a dozen Pokemon. Ash had been thrown off by how the situation had felt like home.
She shook her head, clearing it. It was essential that she keep herself under control and focused. She didn't come this far to get cocky and mess up, even though the sheer mass of aura assaulting her senses was making focusing difficult.
She'd dampened her aura senses as far as she dared, since she could no longer bear to not have at least a little idea of exactly who was around her. Surge had called it PTSD. Ash felt that label was inaccurate and unnecessary, and preferred the term 'wisely aware'. After all, she had been nearly killed by Team Rocket several times, and there were dangers everywhere.
A paw gently cuffed the back of her head, and she reached up to stroke Pikachu's ears as her mind resettled into the present. He trilled, enjoying the affection, drawing a few amused looks from some of the nearby trainers as they were finally set free from the opening ceremonies. Even though she would have liked to get closer to Moltres' flame, the feathers on her chest practically singing with glee at their proximity (she'd had to hold her arms twisted up like she was clutching her jacket's collar to hide the glow), she let herself be swept along with the motion of the other trainers leaving the stadium.
"Hard to believe so many trainers came, and that only sixteen will get through the prelims, huh, Pikachu?" She murmured.
"Pika," he nodded, climbing on top of her cap for a better view.
The trainers all stopped, though, and shocked cries echoed throughout the stadium as heat billowed out from the suddenly roaring flame of Moltres. She turned in time to see the roiling flames condense and twist into the shape of a massive bird of fire, it's red eyes glowing as it stared down imperiously at the mortals beneath it. Silence fell, everyone awed by the sight of Moltres.
Moltres cawed a loud, ringing sound only once, flapping its wings and dislodging embers that scattered around. A lone feather drifted on the breeze, and Ash felt her arm lift. It dropped right into her fingers, but no one seemed to notice, thank Arceus, too busy gawking at the Legendary (though it was only a lesser copy, Ash knew). She tucked the feather next to the three she already had, and slipped away to the gate while everyone around her recovered and began to cheer.
She'd had enough of human crowds, for the day.
XxXxX
Ash exhaled slowly through her nose, blinking a few times to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. "Where did you get these?"
Titania just looked pleased with herself, sitting in a blanket nest containing four brown eggs, each with a jagged tan stripe around their middle. Seeing that she'd get no answer from her, Ash turned to Oberon.
'They're ours,' he shrugged, already dragging another towel from the linen closet over to his－were they mates now? When? Ash didn't have the energy for this it was… she groaned after checking the clock. Three in the morning. On the day of the first round of preliminaries.
"And neither of you told me before now why?" She demanded. "You especially, Titania, all that training we were doing could have hurt you and the eggs! And what if you hadn't had them before the prelims?! I love you, but seriously, out of the two of you I thought you would have the sense to let me know you were going to have kits!"
Titania just turned up her nose and continued to fuss over her eggs. Ash just stared, absolutely flabbergasted, and Oberon paused in his gathering of nest materials to rub against her leg affectionately.
'Tania knew she'd be fine, and there's no point in worrying over it now. We will need you to get some incubators from the professor to keep them in during our fights, though, perhaps you could get on that?'
Ash rolled her eyes and went out to the living room, PokeNav in hand. If she waited till a reasonable hour, the absent-minded professor might not remember to bring them. Wake him up at three a.m., he'd be tired later but she'd get the incubators… or she could call one of the several twenty-four-hour Pokemon Centers scattered around the League Village. Sighing, she dialed the closest Pokemon Center (she'd memorized the numbers in case of emergency).
"Hello, this is Nurse Joy from Pokemon Center B, how may I help you?"
"My Sylveon just laid four eggs," Ash said dryly. "How she hid being pregnant this long I have no idea, but I need incubators and maybe a checkup on her? She's stubborn but I want to make sure if she's okay to battle for the tournament, if she isn't I'll be withdrawing."
"Of course, I just need your trainer ID and I'll be over shortly."
Rattling off the numbers, she thanked Joy and settled onto the couch to wait, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. Thank Arceus this hadn't happened later, she didn't know what she would have done if she'd sent Titania out to battle only for her or her eggs to have been hurt . She'd figure out with her two Eeveelutions what they would do with the eggs later, probably after the conference. If she kept with her plan of challenging Johto's Gym circuit next, she might have to leave them behind at the Professor's so they could raise their kits, should the two decide to keep them. She wouldn't force them to give their eggs up, she wasn't that kind of trainer.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her dorm door. She hauled herself upright to answer it, giving the bemused Nurse Joy an apologetic smile even as she guided the woman to where Titania had set up her nest.
"Titania, sweetheart, I called Nurse Joy to give you a check up, alright?"
"Syl," came the dismissive reply, but one look at those pretty blue eyes revealed that Titania was pleased with the chance to show off her eggs. Nurse Joy complimented them all, earning the Sylveon's favor quickly as she gave both her and her eggs a check up.
Once she was finished, the pink-haired woman stood and gave Ash a look of approval. "Your Sylveon is in perfect health. She must have incredible endurance, to be able to bounce back almost instantly after four eggs. You've raised her very well."
"She and her mate were my first Pokemon," Ash admitted fondly. "Neither are built for taking hits in battle, so I've always focused on their speed, endurance, and stamina. I'm glad that proved helpful to her, in this situation. Do I need to avoid battling with her? I won't need her for the preliminaries, but if she needs longer than that I'll go ahead and withdraw now."
"No, she'll be battle ready within a day or two. Although I am happy to hear that you're willing to withdraw from the conference instead of endangering her health. Just give her the preliminaries to rest, and make sure that she's able to stay near the incubators if possible when out and about."
"I can have my friends hold onto them and her in the stands, they're a big group and have seats right next to each other. Thanks, Nurse Joy, I know calling you out so early is troublesome."
"Not at all, I'm happy to be of help," Joy replied with a smile. She handed over four collapsible incubators. "You can return these to any Pokemon Center in Kanto once the eggs have hatched, or if you get your own. Be sure to get some rest, the preliminaries start in just six hours!"
With that, Joy left, and Ash wandered back to her bedroom, kneeling down in front of her first partners. "Any preferences on who you want to sit with in the stands, Titania?"
Titania turned to her mate. "Syl, sylveon. Sylve eon syl sylveon, veon veon."
'She says Serena, and that her mother and cousin can hold an egg each. The professors can each hold one of the others, as well, since they're all sitting together,' he translated, finally crawling into the nest to provide a live pillow for his mate as they curled around the eggs.
"Alright, I'll let them know. Both of you try to sleep some. I'm sure the others will be surprised when they wake up," Ash added with a smile, laughing softly as Oberon's eyes gleamed with mischief. With that, she left them to rest, headed back for the living room. The rest of the team had slept straight through this whole ordeal, and she sighed.
Flipping open her PokeNav, she sent a message to Samuel and Serena, telling both about the eggs and asking if they would help her with them during the conference. Then, she set an alarm for six, and flopped face-first onto the couch in the hopes of getting a couple more hours of sleep.
XxXxX
Samuel Oak gave Ashka a pitying glance when he saw the bags under her eyes and four Eevee eggs sitting innocently in incubators on the table. Titania crooned at him from her place right in the middle of them, looking so darned pleased with herself that he didn't have the heart to ignore her in favor of comforting Ashka. He praised her and Oberon's eggs, sharing a look with Augustine who had come with him once he'd received the young trainer's message that morning.
"I see you've had quite the morning, Ashka," Augustine said cheerfully, Oberon draped across his shoulders. It would seem that they'd met before.
Ashka snorted, rubbing at her eyes. "That's one way of putting it. At least there's four days of prelims that I can catch up sleep with after my matches. I'm in the first wave." She smiled tiredly at her Greninja when he patted her shoulder sympathetically. "Thanks, bud. Can you make sure the others are up and ready?"
"Gre," he nodded, walking to the bedroom and slightly closing the door behind him. There were several thumps and yelps, before a scowling Pikachu and giggling Charmander and Houndoom followed the tall Water type back out.
Samuel chuckled at the close-knit team, proud of Ashka's accomplishments. She'd truly done a spectacular job in raising and training her team. Even if her two oldest liked to make her life difficult sometimes. Honestly, how had Titania even hidden her state for so long? At least she'd already been checked over and wouldn't be fighting until the full six-on-six battles.
"You've raised Greninja well," Augustine said to Ashka, voicing his fellow researcher's thoughts. "I'm glad you two found each other, I can't wait to see how he'll battle."
"He's been working hard, you won't be disappointed," Ashka replied, meeting Greninja's gaze with a grin. "He's one of my strongest. And－what, Oberon? Time already? We'd better get going, professors, you guys need to get to your seats too."
It was then that the Yvonne girl, Serena if Samuel recalled, burst in, excited about the message Ashka had sent her. That seemed to be the signal for everyone to pick up an incubator, and for Ashka to recall all her team except Pikachu and Titania, who looped a ribbon around her trainer's wrist.
It was time for the tournament to really begin.
XxXxX
"I feel like I lucked out with this match," Ash murmured to her starter, waiting for her time to head onto the water field. Pikachu cackled, knowing he and Greninja were both registered for this battle. So was Alto. She was curious about the type of Pokemon Mandy, her opponent, would be using. His picture hadn't given her much to go off of. His profile had a number of fairly common Pokemon listed, but she knew better than to underestimate them.
She'd already messaged what field she'd be battling in to her friends, so now all she had to do was wait for her match. It wouldn't take long, as she was the third match and the second had begun about five minutes ago. A buzzer sounded in the hallway she stood in, signaling the end of the second match.
"That didn't last long… Alright, let's go," she breathed as the door to the trainer's box opened and she walked through. Blinking past the sudden brightness, she went right up to lean on the rail of her box, eyeing the field. It wasn't big, but it had circular platforms that would prove useful. She glanced across the pool to… okay, what was Mandy wearing?
"And now, the start of the third battle on the water field! On the Green side is newcomer Ashka Ketchum from Pallet! And on the Red side, a Pokemon League favorite, the Astounding Mandy! Ketchum enters alone as she faces one of the most popular Pokemon trainers, known for his exciting battle style!"
Ash eyed the clashing colors of her opponent, and his smug face, and guessed some kind of party-magician-turned-trainer.
"Each trainer is allowed only three Pokemon," the announcer continued. "Now let the battle begin!"
A bell rang, and Ash tuned out the cheering crowd as Mandy took a step forward, flinging an arm out dramatically.
"It's showtime," he proclaimed with a slight accent. "Now, Ashka, watch me work my magic! Go, Exeggutor!" His Pokemon landed on one of the platforms with a loud thud.
"A Psychic/Grass type, huh? Alright, let's go Greninja!" Ash called, releasing her friend and studying the field once more as he did a flip and crouched lightly on the platform closest to her. There were shouts of surprise at her choice, unfamiliar to most of the audience.
"Mandy is starting with an Exeggutor, but what's this? Ashka has chosen what seems to be a foreign Pokemon… Ah, it's a Greninja! A Water/Dark type native to the Kalos region!" The announcer exclaimed, and Ash sighed at the information carelessly given to literally everyone.
"A Water/Dark type?" Mandy frowned, but then shook his head. "No matter, a foreign Pokemon means nothing to my skills. Exeggutor, use Egg Bomb!"
"Intercept with Night Slash, move forward with Toxic-Ace-Slash," Ash countered. She allowed herself a smirk as Exeggutor's attack was sliced to pieces, and the large, slow Pokemon was nailed in the face with steaming purple liquid.
Greninja gave his opponent no time to recover, crossing the distance between them with a single lunge and nailing Exeggutor twice with Aerial Ace, then forming a Night Slash he twisted fully around to get more momentum behind. Exeggutor let out a loud cry as it staggered back, and collapsed. The two super effective moves along with Toxic proved too much for it, and Greninja hopped back to the platform he started from, leaving a stunned silence behind.
"Victory for the Green!" The referee raised his flag towards Ash, and she nodded. One down, two to go. If she played her cards carefully, she might be able to win this round with just Greninja.
"Good work, Greninja! Let's keep it up," she encouraged, receiving a nod and raised webbed fist in reply.
Mandy gaped at the speed of his defeat, but recalled his downed Pokemon.
"Now, the Astounding Mandy must decide which of his two remaining Pokemon he will choose to battle Ashka's speedy Greninja!" The announcer's voice was wearing on Ash's composure, too loud for her sensitive hearing. Regardless, she straightened and met Mandy's gaze from across the field.
The man waved off her win, still confident. "Hah, the kid had some beginner's luck. But her luck's run dry," he smirked, pulling a slight-of-hand with his remaining two Pokeballs and enlarging one while the other seemingly vanished. "Go, Seadra!"
The Seadra was large for its kind, a sign of its strength. But Greninja didn't even tense, and Ash trusted her Pokemon's judgement, so she quickly ran through what she knew about Seadra. It didn't have any real weaknesses against Greninja, but he knew several moves that would do some good damage.
"Her Greninja may be fast, but its no match for the speed of my Seadra," Mandy said with confidence, crossing his arms, and Ash wondered why he felt the need to provide his own narration. "Seadra, use your Agility!"
"Double Team, then use Toxic in the water. Prep for Water Shuriken," Ash ordered, quietly enough that only her Pokemon and maybe the referee could hear. Greninja complied immediately, nearly a dozen perfect copies of himself appearing. He then had all of them flip around and switch places, joining in as a wave of purple liquid was spat into the water of the pool, causing Seadra to squeal and attempt to speed up to avoid touching the growing cloud of poison, and the many copies.
When the cloud only got bigger, Seadra began to panic, and wasn't prepared for the sharp projectiles that came flying at it. It was knocked into the poison, accidentally swallowing some as it went under for a moment. Purple bubbles rose from its face, showing its poisoned status, and Mandy scowled.
"Hydro Pump!" He called out.
"Night Slash, end it." Ash said firmly. Seadra never got the chance to fire its own move, and three consecutive Night Slashes proved too much for it. The force behind Greninja's attack tossed it onto a nearby platform, Greninja's Double Team fading as it was no longer necessary, and Seadra went limp.
"Mandy's speed strategy is just no match for Ashka's powerful Greninja, as Seadra is stopped cold! Ashka may be well on her way to victory!"
"Seadra has been defeated," the referee said. "The victory goes to Greninja!"
"Now the Astounding Mandy is just one Pokemon away from defeat," the announcer continued once the cheers had died down a bit. Ash took a few deep breaths, and kept her eyes on the field, although she noted Mandy's rising anger even as he tried to hide it behind a calm face. He couldn't really hide his aura, though, so she knew he wasn't doing so well mentally in the face of a losing battle. "Can he stage a magical comeback?"
"The answer is he can, and he will. Let's see if your Greninja can handle this. And now, Pokemon fans, may I present Golbat!" Mandy announced, his last Pokeball doing a little light show that probably cost as much as a TM did. He should have just bought a TM. "Go!"
The Golbat, to its credit, didn't even flinch at the bright sun or the light reflecting off the water. It seemed well trained, but Ash's sharp eyes noted that its flight pattern was unsteady. Recently evolved, maybe, but regardless something that she could use to her advantage.
"This Pokemon is the ace Mandy hid up his sleeve! Now Golbat is taking this water battle sky high, there's no telling what would happen now!"
Yeah there is, Ash thought as Greninja side-stepped the dive Golbat aimed at him. She heard Mandy claim to have her Pokemon at a disadvantage, and held back a laugh.
"Take Down attack!" He commanded.
"Dodge, Ice Beam it on the pass."
Golbat swerved in the air, using gravity to increase its speed as it aimed for Greninja. Greninja scoffed at it, spinning to let it brush by a scant inch from his side and blasting it with ice, freezing Golbat solid. Golbat crash landed on a platform a few yards away, the impact shattering the ice but injuring it farther. Seeing that it was still getting up, Ash spoke again.
"Water Shuriken."
"Ninja!" Greninja nodded, forming two of the sharp projectiles and flinging them with perfect accuracy. Outclassed by Greninja in every way, Golbat fainted, swirls appearing in its eyes. Pikachu cheered from her shoulder, and Greninja raised his fist in salute as a stunned Mandy returned his last Pokemon.
"Golbat is unable to battle, victory goes to the team of Ashka and Greninja!" The referee declared, flag lifted towards Ash a final time.
"It's all over, and what a finish!" The announcer crowed. "Pokemon League rookie Ashka Ketchum has scored a stunning victory in her first match without even once changing Pokemon!"
Grinning, Ash waved her Water type back, and he launched himself over the railing of the trainer's box to sweep her into a hug. Laughing, she returned it. "You were awesome, you didn't even get hit once," she said, already stepping away from the field. The cheers were getting a little too loud for her liking. That, and Mandy seemed to be having a mild breakdown on the other side, and while it wasn't great to see someone so down or feel their aura while they were, she wasn't exactly a people person. Instead, she just caught his gaze and gave him a nod of acknowledgment for the battle before returning Greninja to his Pokeball and exiting the field.
She made a strong impression on her future opponents, or would when they reviewed this battle in preparation. She had only just begun.
XxXxX
"Whoa," Serena breathed. Her best friend had totally destroyed her opponent. Greninja had just been too fast, so much better in comparison to Mandy's Pokemon! Were all of Ash's Pokemon on that level?
"'Whoa' indeed," Professor Sycamore said from beside her, pleased. "Ashka has trained Greninja very well. She's trained him to maximize his natural speed and good senses, making him a difficult target to actually hit. And she's made sure he has quite a variety of moves to work with, as well as being very efficient with them. I'm impressed! It makes me wonder how strong Titania is, as she's been with Ashka even longer."
The Sylveon, hearing her name, simply flicked an ear haughtily, and Serena giggled.
"I'm sure she'll show us soon enough by sweeping her own battle," she said, earning a pleased purr from the Fairy type.
"Uh, yeah, gotta say Ash is a scary good trainer, especially for this being her first year," Calem added, blue eyes bright from the battle he'd witnessed. He carefully adjusted the incubator in his lap. "By the time she comes to Kalos, she's gonna destroy our League. I can't wait," he added, eager.
A family next to him, as he was sitting at the end of their group, turned to him, intrigued. The father of the family leaned around a starstruck young boy of about six, and asked, "You know that trainer?"
"She's my best friend," Serena explained, also leaning forwards so she could see past her cousin. "We came from Kalos to support her first League Conference. Are you guys here for someone?"
"Oh no, we just came to watch," the man laughed. "Your friend certainly knows how to train Pokemon."
Happy that Ash was getting some well-deserved recognition, Serena beamed. "She and her team work really hard, she's taught me a lot."
The man introduced himself and his family as Norman Maple, his wife Caroline, their daughter May, and their son Max. It was obvious that Max was much more enthusiastic about battling than his older sister, who didn't seem to like Pokemon very much at all. He was fascinated with Titania, even more so when he learned that she was Ash's Pokemon.
Seeing the way his whole face lit up when the Sylveon imperiously made her way over to claim his lap, Serena invited the family along to meet up with Ash after the first round of preliminaries. From the way the young boy reacted, it was as if she'd granted him the keys to the universe. Even eight-year-old May seemed a little interested, if only for the promised food involved.
She wondered what May didn't like about Pokemon.
XxXxX
"She's grown even more skilled since her battle with me," Blaine said gruffly from the room Kanto Gym Leaders were seated in, along with the Elite Four and Champion, several screens showing different battles from the preliminaries. "Didn't even give that magic pansy a chance."
Surge grinned. "And that was just a warm up. Wait till you see what tricks her Pikachu can pull off, Blaine, I gauruntee you've never seen anything like it. Hell, I've never seen anything like it, and I specialize in Electric types!"
"She's certainly grown into a skilled trainer," Lorelei mused. "I remember how shy and uncertain of herself she was when I first met her, and now look at her! She would have made a good Ice type specialist, with that composure…"
"Surge, how was she doing with that aura training of hers?" Bruno interjected, now that they were on the topic of the girl the entire League knew Lance had his eye on.
"That girl can punch through cement walls barehanded," the giant cackled, earning shocked looks and exclamations. "I've only met one other Aura Guardian, but that guy didn't use it for anything physical. Thought about trying to track down a Riolu for her."
"There is already one meant for her," Sabrina said, amused. "She'll meet it in time." No one bothered to ask, knowing that the psychic wouldn't explain further.
"... She's an Aura Guardian?" Lance asked, for once showing confusion. He didn't often give the rest of them the chance to see beneath his composed expressions, so that was a bit of a treat.
"Not quite," Bruno shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "She's got more aura than the vast majority of humans, but she's still training. And since she's mostly training herself, she's really only got the basics. I know a bit, but I've already passed it along, so she'll need a real teacher eventually. I heard Riley's in Sinnoh right now, but I'll see if I can get a hold of him."
"So Ashka Ketchum is the one to watch, then?" Flint glanced over at Lance with a smirk, who ignored him. It was the biggest open secret among the top members of the Indigo League that their Champion had a massive crush on the petite trainer, and every single one of them was making bets on how it would turn out.
"It's still early," Agatha scowled, thumping her cane on the carpet. "There are still plenty of other trainers worth watching, but we'll see the real deal in the final days of the conference."
None doubted that Ashka would be among those battling then.