When Ash could finally see clearly, a week after his rebirth, he was rather startled to see the face of his new mother. Delia Ketchum, his new mother, was the splitting image of Lily Evans, his former mother. It was hard seeing her face and not be reminded of his last life, of his past and what he had lost. He persevered however and managed to put the past aside to be able to live his new life anew.
He learned a lot in those years as a baby, then toddler. He learned of the creatures that inhabited the world, creatures that had power over the elements, and how they were cared for, and sometimes revered, instead of being afraid of as the wizards would have.
The creatures were many, so many in fact that there wasn't a complete total of the many Pokémon species in existence; tons of new species were being discovered, be it fossilized or alive.
His mother used to be a Pokémon trainer, a person who captures and trains Pokémon to reach their potential and used them to battle for sport. When he had learned that he had been horrified until he had found out that they were almost never seriously injured, the Pokémon even liked battling. And even if he had learned that Pokémon didn't like battling, that they were treated as slaves by most people, he had seen how his mother treated her own Pokémon. It was heartwarming to see such a caring person, something hard to find in his old world.
That was the moment he decided to be a Pokémon trainer like his mother, a kind and loving trainer. However, with that decision came the urge to be the best he could be like he hadn't been in his old life. He wanted to learn and prepare. So, when he turned six and he had the best grades the little school of Pallet Town had ever seen, he convinced his mother to talk to Professor Oak, the local Pokémon Researcher and Famous Ex-Champion of the Kanto Region, so he could learn from him and help around the laboratory and Pokémon Ranch; the place where the Professor kept the Pokémon of the trainers he sponsored. It was a fountain of information.
He didn't have many friends, not with his bookworm attitude, not that he wanted to make friends with the kids in Pallet. They were extremely childish and mean, taking his books and hiding them and making fun of him. He got the books back with an easy locator spell but the damage was done. He didn't like them, except Garry Oak, the grandson of Professor Oak and Serena Beauregard, a young girl who used to live in Pallet but moved shortly after Professor Oak's Pokémon summer camp. He hadn't heard from her since. Gary and Ash, however, used to be best friends but then they went fishing and found an old pokéball. Ash didn't know what came over him, maybe his childish side that he didn't know he had, but suddenly he wanted the pokéball. They started fighting for it until it broke in half. And that was the end of that friendship. Both took a half of the pokéball as theirs though. Ash kept his half in a special box in a drawer in his room, to serve as a memento of his friendship with Gary.
That happened when he turned nine, just eight months ago. After that, since he didn't have any more friends, he placed all of his attention in his studies. Something that was extremely easy to finish with the help of a little magic.
Since being reborn he had been unable to do any serious magic; he could do simple charms and transfiguration but that was it. He needed his wand to do the rest. It was because of this that he was relieved when, on the eve of his fifth birthday, a package came in the mail for him. His mother thought it was from his estrange father, a father he had never known, but Ash knew better. The parcel had pulsed with magic. Inside he had found all of his old stuff; his wand, trunk, books, everything.
With a useful pair of enchanted glasses, courtesy of Hermione, he was able to read anything he wanted at little time and retain every piece of information. He first read the library at the Pokémon School, where potential trainers went to study and learn the basics of Pokémon Training and Battling. It took him a little more than a week to read everything in it. Next he went to Professor Oak and asked him to see if he could use his library in the lab. He agreed to let Ash use it, he was considered a genius at school and he helped around the ranch, but warned him about the important documents there and how he would most likely not understand them. He finished every single document in a month. He didn't go back to the library after that. Professor Oak thought everything was just too much a high a level of understanding for him, Ash left him to his assumption.
While reading some of the texts, some things stood out. The Ancient Aura Guardians and the Psychics. The things those documents described and what they could do, it reminded him of those powers he gained in this life. He had known they were there, he had been able to feel them, however, he had no idea how to control them. He had tried controlling them but Aura was difficult to control and after bleeding from his nose after using his psychic powers, he had decided to leave them be until he found someone to teach him to utilize them.
In the documents, there was nothing on how to control them, but it did mention some people who had similar abilities as himself. The most notorious were Riley Gen, a young Aura Guardian living in the Sinnoh region somewhere in Iron Island, and Sabrina Natsume, a young and powerful Psychic and Gym Leader of the Saffron City Gym here in Kanto. He vowed to seek them out and asked them to teach him when he could.
His Pokémon Journey would start soon, in less than five months. After he got his trainer license, he would go to Saffron somewhere in his travels, Sabrina was one of the main Gym Leaders after all, and talk to her. He couldn't wait.
It was a normal day in Pallet Town. The sun was up and the Pidgey were chirping.
Normally Ash would be up at this hour but after months of no progress with his Animagus Transformation he had made a breakthrough. He had been able to partially transform into his animal form, or rather his Pokémon form. He had been able to transform his hands into blue paws and grow a long blue tail. That simple transformation however, drained his core; it was the reason why he decided to sleep in for a change.
There was no school, Pokémon School had lead out already and only four of students in his year had passed the required test to become Pokémon Trainers; Gary, Leaf, a girl he did not know the name of, and himself. Only those who were serious about Pokémon Training, who were responsible enough and were able to survive being alone in the wild were able to graduate. Usually only three students graduated every year. He wondered what they would do for the starters since there were usually three Pokémon; a fire type, a water type and a grass type.
He could sleep in as much as he wanted, something he was gladly going to take advantage over that day. Now if only his mother got the hint that he just wanted to sleep.
"Ash, honey" She said sweetly as she shook his shoulder gently, "It's time to wake up."
Ash grumbled sleepily and turned to his side. Delia shook his shoulder a bit faster. "Ash, don't you know what day it is?"
'What day is it? It's Wednesday. What's so special about a Wednesday?'
"Ash, if you don't wake up you won't be able to open your presents."
'Presents?' Ash thought sleepily. 'For what occasion?' It suddenly hit him like a bag of rocks. His birthday. It was today. Ash abruptly sat up on his bed.
Delia giggled, amused. "I knew that would do the trick. Now, take a bath and get dressed while I go make breakfast. I'm making your favorite".
Ash blinked away any drowsiness he had as his mom left the room for the kitchen. 'Today is my birthday. How could I have forgotten?'
It was the same reason why he didn't wake up early for Christmas or any of his earlier birthdays. In his old life as Harry Potter, his birthday wasn't celebrated as he would have liked. His first birthday he was sure was celebrated with his parents but he could not remember. The rest were spent in Private Drive with the Dursley's, so they weren't celebrated nor acknowledged. Ad after the war everyone started ignoring him, acting like he wasn't there, so he spent the rest thirty two years alone. It was ingrained in him to ignore his birthday since he didn't celebrate them.
Harry quickly got out of bed and grabbed his traveling clothes. A black and green jacket, a black t-shirt, a pair of brown jeans and black sneakers. To top it all off were a pair of emerald green finger-less gloves and an official black and green Pokemon League hat. These were the clothes he would wear on his journey. He smiled. His mom had made them. She had been going to give them to Ash the day before his big day but decided to give them months before when he told her he would be working with Professor Oak to investigate the local forest to look for the Pokemon that was munching on the electric wires of the laboratory. They had to fix them more than three times now. They had to catch the little bugger before it ate through the cables again.
Ash quickly took a bath and dressed before rushing back to his room to grab his bag. He looked out the window, into the clear blue sky, and grinned. Today was going to be a good day, Ash could tell.