AN: Alright! We're back!

K: Finally.

SV: Shut it, ok? I was busy.

P: We know Shadow. Don't worry. What're we doing today?

SV: Well, starting the journey. Trixie said last time I was doing too much backstory.

K: Where is she, anyway?

P: I'm… not actually sure.

SV: I'm sure she'll turn up. Anyway, don't own Pokemon, now go read.

*Timeskip: 3 years, 2 months.*

Ashley was walking back home from Oaks, moving slowly. The red jewel on her bracelet flickered lightly, like a flame, while the crystal from the Tree of Beginning flashed like sunlight on water. She treasured both gifts, one from her family in Sinnoh, and the other from her tutor Mew, when she had started to learn about her family's heritage. The jewel was more sentimental than anything, reminding her of the good times she'd had at home, despite the fact that the others had never been able to visit. They'd written, though, which was nice. The crystal, on the other hand, was somewhat more valuable, as she could use it to send a sort of message to the whole crystal it had come from, letting Mew know if she was in trouble. It was quite comforting, in a way, to know that one of the most powerful legendary Pokemon would come to her when asked. Although, she'd never call Mew unless the situation was life threatening. She was too rare a Pokemon to be called frequently. Ashley neared her house, and picked up the pace, almost running back the last little while. She hadn't spent any time with her friends today, only the Pokemon the Professor had there. Over the last few years, she had mostly perfected her ability to use Aura passively, and was really grateful for the fact she could translate Pokemon with it. The ability had been helpful for Professor Oak as well, helping to figure out what was wrong with certain Pokemon. The Professor had been told a little later on, when he had wanted to know what was causing the small bangs from her clearing. It was mostly her practising her attacks with Mew or the Beasts. She could also use telepathy with her aura, but it required a lot of concentration and close contact with the person or Pokemon she was trying to talk too, so it wasn't the most effective. She could do it easier with Mew, since she was a powerful Psychic, but most others took too much concentration. She hoped that, with time, it would be easier. She found it slightly better with those she was close friends with, but not much. Ashley slowed down to a walk, pushing open the door to her house and walked in, locking the door behind her.

'Aunt Delia, I'm back.' She said telepathically, eyes closed in concentration. She heard her aunt open the back door, and called into the house.

"Hello Ashley!" She replied aloud, as Ashley walked into the back room. "How's your day been?"

"Fine." She said. "I helped the Professor to deal with a young Pokemon who was quite shy around humans. I asked a few of my friends to help out."

"How's training going, then?"

"The same as usual. Aura Sphere is a little faster, and I'm more working on the power again. Shielding is a bit tricky while trying to fight, especially when there's pressure on the shield. I asked a trainers Victreebel to help by firing Razor Leaf's at it, while I needed to build up an Aura Sphere. It's a little draining, but definitely better than when we first started practising."

"I guess so." Delia bustled around the room, getting things out of cupboards and starting to cook. "Practise makes perfect, I suppose."

"Well, after tomorrow I'll need to be careful of where I train. After all, I won't have a reserved place to stay so no one gets hurt."

"Speaking of which…" Delia moved around, handing a plate to Ashley. "Are you ready to go tomorrow?"

"I think so. I'll finish packing up everything in a minute, then maybe watch a lecture or something on TV." She shrugged. "I've got almost everything ready. I need to get my sketch stuff, mostly."

"I'm sure you'll come back with it filled with interesting Pokemon." Delia said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Aunt Delia, I'll be fine. I'll get the gym badges and be back before you know it."

"Yes, but then you'll be off again, on your next trip." She sighed. "Oh well, I'm sure you'll have fun."

"Of course I will." She smiled, finishing the last of her food. "I'll go and finish my packing." She stood quickly and walked to her room.

The next day, Ashley was awake almost before sunrise. This was no longer that unusual, as since she had started her Aura training she often woke up early. Although, it being spring, it wasn't as early as she'd have liked. More like nine o'clock.

"Dang it." She muttered. "I'm going to be late." She quickly hopped up and got ready, picking up the stuffed bag on her way out.

"Hello dear." Delia said, already awake and cooking. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. I'm going to be a bit late though." She replied, sitting down.

"That shouldn't be a problem. It's honestly unlikely that you'll be the last anyway. And either way, you've waited an extra three months, so it's unlikely the Professor will make you wait any longer."

"I hope you're right." Ashley said, quickly eating her breakfast. She picked up her things, a bit of which had been sitting on the table, and ran out the door, closing it behind her. She dashed off to Professor Oak's, only to see that there was a crowd in front of the building. She slowed to a walk, then spotted a familiar face among them. She groaned slightly, and walked along the edge of the crowd and trying not to get noticed. It didn't work, and once she was nearer to the lab, and old 'friend' spotted her.

"Hey look, it's little Ashley! Finally here for a Pokemon?"

"No Gary, I'm just here to talk with them." Ashley replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Well, good luck with that. I just got the best Pokemon ever!" Gary bragged.

Oh for Mew's sake, not this again. Ashley sighed quietly. I swear, he is either a kind and somewhat nerdy grandson of a researcher, or a complete idiot. Huffing slightly, Ashley replied carefully, refusing to rise to his jab. "Well congratulations. Good luck with your journey. I'm going to go and start mine." She turned away, disregarding the insult that followed, and walked into the lab.

"Good morning Ashley! How are you?" The Professor said cheerfully.

"I swear, if Gary doesn't get his act together, he's going to end up getting slapped." She sighed.

"Bragging again?" He asked, to a nod. "I've told him time and time again to stop that, and he never listens. Maybe the league will beat some sense into him."

"I sure hope so." Ashley shook her head. "Anyway, Pokemon?"

"Ah, yes. That may cause a problem." Oak frowned. "You see, Gary just took the last one."

"Really?" Ashley said. "Damn it. Oh well, I can wait a little while longer."

"Actually, I may have a solution. I have a spare Pokemon that I caught the other day. It was messing around in the yard and annoyed a few Pokemon. It's not very fond of humans, sadly, but I think you should be fine with it, thanks to your teachers." Oak told her.

"Well, ok then." She shrugged. "I'll give it a go." Discreetly, she powered a little bit of Aura into her hands. Not enough to be useable, not yet, but enough to quickly throw up a shield or an Aura Sphere if needed. It gave her a quicker build up if she already had Aura ready to use. Oak didn't seem to notice, and picked up a standard red and white Pokeball.

"Watch out." Oak pressed the release button and the Pokeball popped open. A small shape formed on the ground, and Ashley looked at it.

"A Pikachu." She stated quietly. It looked around, gathering it's barings, and she stepped forward carefully. As she did, she changed the way the Aura channeled to her hands acted. Before, it had been ready to take a shape, a shield or sphere, or take energy from an attack. Now it was less solid, flowing more like the blue fire it looked like when flaring, instead of a semi solid flow wrapped around her. This was not unlike what she used to make the translate trick work, using Aura to change the words she was hearing to a language she could understand. She didn't know exactly how that worked, but it did. This was charged with emotions, letting her sense the ones of others, as well as show hers. It was a little tricky to deal with, as she had to charge emotions to the aura without letting it destabilize. She placed her hand on it's head, carefully avoiding the sparks that had started to jump from its cheeks. It flinched away for a second, then pressed his head against her hand.

"Hello." She said quietly. "How are you?"

'This human is being annoying.' He replied. 'Why are you here?'

"I'm supposed to be starting as a trainer today, but I came too late to get a Pokemon. The Professor said I could try with you, if I wanted. What do you think?"

'Sure! I've wanted to travel for a while. I'll start with you.'

"Great to hear. My name's Ashley."

'I'm just Pikachu. Can you keep me out of that ball thing please? I don't like being trapped in there.'

"Of course." She lifted her hand and held out her arm, letting Pikachu climb to her shoulder. She turned back to the Professor. "I'll take Pikachu with me."

"Ok then." Oak turned to the computer system next to him and typed a few things in. It beeped, and she handed her a red computer and a few Pokeballs. "You know most things about Pokemon, so I'm sure you don't really need this, but it could be useful anyway. Anyway, I assume you'll be doing the gym challenge as well?" At a nod, he continued. "You need eight badges to get into the Pokemon League. I suggest going to Pewter first, as that houses a gym. Good luck!"

There wasn't a crowd outside like there had been for Gary, so Ashley just went straight for the forest on the edge of Route 1. Ashley stopped, placing her bag on the ground.

'What's up?'

"I want to try and get some training done. From what I can remember, the gym in Pewter is Rock type, so that will be a problem until we get some more Pokemon. I do know how to teach you Iron Tail, though, so if you want you can start on that."

'That sounds great. How do we start?' Ashley giggled slightly.

"Well, we need to strengthen your tail to get the Steel conversion trick. That's what my teachers said."

'So, what? Just hit rocks with my tail?'

"Pretty much. While you do that, I want to try something myself. First, can you channel some electricity to your paws?" At Pikachu's confused look, she elaborated. "I need to get the feel for electrical energy to try changing my aura type. Over the last three years I've been training, we only worked with my neutral typed aura, for things like translating, air manipulation, and attacks. Now it could be more useful to get these tricks going, so I'll start with my own training."

A little over two hours later, Ashley had slowly managed to change the type of her aura, causing it to change to a yellow colour, like Pikachu was. Pikachu was able to get his tail to steel for a few moments, but not quite long enough to be useful for a proper attack. It was a similar problem to Ashley's aura; they could get it going, but not quick enough or for long enough to use it effectively. Pikachu was lying next to Ashley, who was sitting next to a tree.

"Hey, I just thought of something." Pikachu looked up at his new trainer curiously. "How would you like a nickname? Just in case we run into any other Pikachu?"

'Sure.' He replied, sitting up and hopping over to sit in front of her. She hummed over a few names in her mind, before settling on one that she liked.

"What about Volta?"

'Hmm…' He hummed, before nodding. 'Sure, sounds cool!'

"Actually, that reminds me. I should scan you with my Pokedex." She pulled the little red computer out of her bag and pointed it at him.

'Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon and the evolved form of Pichu. This Pokemon has electricity storing pouches on its cheeks. These appear to become electrically charged during the night when Pikachu sleeps. It occasionally discharges electricity when it is dozy after waking up. This Pikachu is male and has the ability Lightningrod. This Pokemon has the moves Thundershock, Growl, Tail Whip and Iron Tail. It also has the egg move Volt Tackle, though this has not been unlocked.'

"That's a pretty good move set. We should try and work on Volt Tackle once you learn Thunder, as it's a pretty powerful move. I don't know much about training Pokemon, what I was taught was more general knowledge, but we can work it out together."

'That's fine. So long as you're a kind trainer I'll respect that.'

"Thanks Volta. Now, let's get moving to Viridian City. I don't feel like camping for tonight."

'Ok then.' Volta stood up and ran up to her shoulder again, and Ashley stood. She picked up her bag, shouldering it. Volta looked up. 'I think there's a storm coming in. I can feel the electricity.'

"Let's go quickly, then. I don't want to be caught in the storm." Ashley started to walk quickly. "Actually, feel like trying to learn Agility or Quick Attack? Running alongside should be good practise to try and get the speed right."

'Sounds like a plan.' Volta jumped off Ashley's sleeve and landed on the ground perfectly. 'I'll try and stay at the same pace.'

"Go on ahead if you want. Just try not to get lost." He nodded, and picked up a sprint, climbing up a tree and jumping from branch to branch. Ashley chuckled quietly, and started walking faster to catch up.

It was only half an hour later that Volta reappeared at her side.

'Two things. One, I got both Agility and Quick Attack down. Two, the storm will be here in about two minutes.'

"Damn. We won't be making it in time then."

'As much as I hate it, should I go in my Pokeball? My Lightningrod will draw in any lightning, which could be a problem.'

"Well, if you stay out of the trees, that shouldn't be an issue. The trees are taller than you."

'Righty-oh. I'll stay right here.' As he said that, thunder pealed across the forest. A few drops of rain started to plink against the ground. 'Huh. Didn't think it'd be that fast.'

"Let's pick up the pace then. I don't want to be on here for longer than necessary." She started running, and Volta followed, easily keeping pace with Agility. They spotted a cave, and headed for it, deciding to wait out the storm in there, under cover.

An hour later, the rain began to pitter out. Volta poked his head out of the cave, sniffing around. He also waved his tail in the air, before nodding to Ashley.

'It's over. The remnant electricity is fading, so the storm won't be coming back.'

"Good. Let's go." She stepped out of the cave as well, and Volta climbed onto her shoulder again. "Hang on a moment." She closed her eyes and activated her Aura Sight, looking around the nearby area for Pokemon. Ashley sighed, frustrated, as she opened them again. "Never mind. I was trying to see if there were any Pokemon nearby that we could try and catch, but no luck. They must all be hiding from the storm still." As the remaining blue faded, her head snapped up. "What on earth...?" She closed her eyes again, looking more intensely at a spot in the sky.

'What's wrong?'

"There's a really strong aura over there. And getting closer…"

'From what I remember, Aura has colours that reflect types, right? What colour is it?'

"Red and sky blue." She said, still staring at the spot. "And... two smaller auras too. One the same colour, and the other is sky blue and pink."

'Interesting… and you say they're smaller?'

"Yeah. Young Pokemon have smaller aura signatures than the adults. It comes from the experience."

'So, is it likely that it's a Meema and hatchlings?'

"Could be." She opened her eyes again, and the sound of wings caught her attention. "I guess it's just flying overhead."

'Not quite, youngling.' A feminine voice resounded in her head. Volta nearly fell of her shoulder.

'Who said that?' He questioned, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Telepathy." Ashley replied quietly. She somewhat recognised the voice, or she felt like she should. A musical chuckle followed.

'It seems what my sons and daughter said was correct. You are a very smart individual.' Both Ashley's and Volta's jaws dropped as the source of the telepathy flew overhead, and alighted next to them. Ho-oh peered at her. 'It would indeed seem that their recommendations were well founded.' Ashley got over her shock much quicker than Volta, who had actually fallen off her shoulder now, having had four legendaries visit her home often over the last five years, and bowed to Ho-oh.

"Good afternoon, Lady Ho-oh. What brings you here?" Ho-oh chuckled again.

'Now, I thought Suicune told you that we didn't like such formalities. And the reason I'm here is because of the basket I carry.'

'Ashley?' Volta interrupted, sounding unsettled. 'At what point were you going to mention that you were friends with Ho-oh and Suicune?'

"I was waiting until we camped. Before we decided we weren't going to." Ashley shrugged.

'And in fact, this is our first time meeting. Ashley has talked with all three of mine multiple times since she came to Kanto. And as for Mew… She hardly stops talking about her when we have our meetings.' By this point, Volta looked like he was about to faint, so Ashley turned the subject away from her legendary friends.

"If you don't mind, what is in that basket?"

'Ahh, this is special. I had to asked my counterpart in Johto for this, after my children's recommendation. It was quite a surprise, but given what I know of your history, and that of your ancestors…' She shrugged. 'I'd say that you're perfect for this role. However, you must take very good care of them.' Ashley was now thoroughly confused, as Ho-oh lowered her head and placed the basket in front of her. She gasped. Lying in the basket were two eggs. One was white, with a blue crest along the one side, and the other was predominantly red, with a rainbow band of colours around the center.

"You… really trust me that much?" She said, in a hushed voice.

'Of course. You have interacted well with Suicune, Raikou and Entei over the years, and Mew is full of praise. Along with that, you have a natural talent in Aura, and managed to earn the respect of a Lucario in less than a month. If anyone is worthy of these, it is you. One is my own, as you might have guessed, and the other belongs to the Lugia of Johto and Shamouti. We expect you to take good care of them.'

"Of course I will Ho-oh. I won't use them in any competitions for a while after they hatch. I need them to be properly trained first. If people know I have them, then all manner of people will come after me. I don't want them stolen."

'I see that their trust in you was well founded. Very well. I shall take my leave. Once you reach Johto, feel free to come and visit the Tin Tower. I will be waiting.' With that, Ho-oh spread her wings and lifted off into the air, flying west and leaving the basket at Ashley's feet. As she flew, a feather fell from her plumage and floated down next to Ashley. She picked it up absently, still too amazed at the gift she had been given. She carefully picked up the basket, mindful of the eggs, and turned to Volta. He was staring at her, shocked.

"Ready to go?" She asked him.

'I… sure.' He shook his head and climbed back to her shoulder, also wary of the eggs. 'I'm sure I'll be over that in a few hours.'

"I'll bet. Come on, let's get to Viridian. I want to get the eggs looked at the Pokemon Centre, along with you." She started walking to the city, heading north.

AN: That took ages.

K: You got that right.

P: Hey, you don't think Ashley will be too OP, right? I mean, she just got two legendary Pokemon eggs.

SV: I said at the beginning that she'd be a little OP, but the difficulty will ramp up as we go. Anyway, she won't really use the little legendaries until the Orange Islands or Johto. They won't hatch for quite a while, and she wants to train them properly, like I said, so they'd be ready for when she finally reveals them.

K: Also, legendaries don't have eggs.

SV: I don't care enough. This is fanfiction, damnit, so there!

P: Adding to things that don't make sense, for a Palletshipping fic, what happened to Gary?

SV: A combo of laziness, horrible writing, and the fact that I hate early Gary. He sits up there with Cilan's food references and Brock's gimmick by Sinnoh. He'll make mostly normal anime appearances until later, maybe sometime Johto he'll show up more.

K: I have a question. What happened to Misty? You said when we arrived that she and Brock would appear.

SV: First, quiet so you don't spoil anything. Second, I'm re-writing Misty's first appearance, so she doesn't follow Ashley just because of the stupid bike. I hated that idea. And I'm fixing Brock too. Less annoying Brock!

P: That's probably for the best.

K: Going along with that, Aura. Will they find out? Or do you have a plan?

SV: I think they'll find out. How, I'm not sure. I still need to re-watch most the original anime episodes to remember what happened. Maybe I'll do something with the SS Anne. I remember that episode pretty clearly.

K: Ok. I think that's everything.

P: Actually, where the heck is Trixie? She just disappeared!

SV: She'll be back by next chapter, I'm sure of that. She's probably setting up a prank or something.

K: I really hope not. Remember what she started coming up with once we got Mew Games to be a common occurrence when we wrote the Child of Mew backups?

P: I remember perfectly. I'm just going to hope that she hasn't decided to go to an anime store or something. Any idea she can get from there is not a good one.

T: *Phasing out of the shadows.* Oh reeeeeaaallllyyy?

K: *Breathing heavily.* Where did you come from?!

T: Robyn's. We've been trying some new things with illusions. Want to see some of them?

SV: No. We don't have time.

P: We'll see you all next time.