A/N: I have no idea what the scale for height is even supposed to be in Pokémon, so I'm probably just going to ignore too much direct height referencing…apparently, since Charizard is approximately 5'7" tall, Ash is something like three feet tall…but then, looking at the Cerulean Gym episode, the Sensational Sisters are about a head taller than Ash, so having him at the height of which I indicated earlier, he would be around the same height as them. Therefore, make use of your imaginations and since the Sensation Sisters are older than Ash, just scale it in your mind as you will. If heights and stuff don't really bother you, awesome, if they do, well, not sure what to tell you. Sorry for long A/N, on with the story!

"An aquarium, that makes sense. It is the Water-Type Gym, after all. They have actual fish floating around here? You don't see those often," Ash commented off-handedly.

"…was totally awesome!"

"I know, it was so great!"

"Daisy, the dive you did was super!" the blue haired woman said.

"The practice really paid off," the blonde responded.

"Totally~!" the pink haired one agreed.

The three sisters laughed together before noticing the boy looking into the aquarium.

"Um, hello, like, who are you?" Daisy asked. The three sisters noted Ash's features. For a kid whose height appeared to be indicative of a ten-year-old, he was rather attractive and they could see some great potential for his looks in the future. His muscles were streamlined and he didn't have much baby fat, if any, remaining.

Ash turned to look at the trio, blinking a few times as he registered their presence. "Oh, sorry about that, I was just watching the fish. You three are the Sensational Sisters, the Gym Leaders for Cerulean City, right?"

"Yea, I'm Daisy," the blonde one stated.

"I'm Violet," the purple-haired one said.

"And I'm Lily!" the pink one exclaimed.

"I'd like to challenge you three for the Cascade Badge, then."

"Here, let's like, get out of this stuffy corridor," Violet said, leading them out into a more open area.

"Anyway, the problem is, we don't really feel like battling anymore," Daisy said, crossing her arms behind her head.

"See, we just beaten three times in a row by kids from this nowhere place called Pallet Town! It was just one defeat after another and my eyes were spinning from all the losses," Violet said, gesturing as she talked.

"We had to send all of our Pokémon to the Pokémon Center," Daisy continued.

"This is the only Pokémon we have left," Lily finished, sending out a Goldeen. It flopped on the ground for a few seconds before she returned it.

"If you want, we can just give you the Cascade Badge," Daisy offered. "Seel!" She clapped her hands as she called out, eventually bringing a Seel carrying a case over to her. She picked out the Cascade Badge and held it out towards Ash.

He sweat dropped at their behavior. "I'd rather earn the badge…"

"Just take it, a badge is a badge," Daisy said.

"Hold it!" a familiar voice called out. Ash looked towards the entrance and Misty was standing there. She came over and jumped down over the fence, dropping onto the floor where he was. "I'll battle him if you won't! I'm not letting you just give away a badge like that!"

"Oh, so I was right. You were one of the Sisters," Ash commented.

"Psh, yea right. There are only three Sensational Sisters and one runt," Lily commented.

Ash narrowed his eyes.

"So, little sister, it's a surprise to see you back so soon," Daisy stated.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't come back until you became a great Pokémon trainer?" Violet mocked.

"Well, yea, I did say something like that when I left…" Misty said in a low voice.

"Yea, you left here, pretending that you wanted to be a Pokémon trainer because you couldn't compare with us. We're obviously more talented and beautiful than you are," Lily said condescendingly.

Misty tried to retort, but somebody else beat her to it. "Isn't it kind of petty for an older sister to compare herself to a younger sister? Most people would think that they were just so insecure that they needed to do it to feel good. Besides, I'm sure once Misty grows up to be the same age as you three, she'll leave you in her shadows," Ash replied.

The trio growled at Ash. Misty smiled in thanks for the back-up. "Well, if that's not the reason, I guess you just came back because you couldn't make it as a Pokémon trainer," Daisy commented, hand on her face and mimicking sadness.

"That's not it either! I just came back because Ash needed to come for his badge!"

Daisy raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You landed a boyfriend like that? You'd think he could do better," Daisy commented.

Misty blushed, ignoring the insult aimed at her. "He's not my boyfriend! Anyway, since you three can't battle him, I'll do it to test him for the badge," she said calmly.

Ash gave her a thumbs-up and a smile. "Well, whatever, do what you want," Daisy said, handing the badge over to Misty.

Misty led Ash to another part of the gym and onto a pool field for their battle. The Sensational Sisters tagged along, interested in seeing Misty battle despite their words earlier.

"I call on Staryu!"

"Pikachu, you feeling up to a fight?"

"I'd rather not fight a friend," Pikachu replied casually. Ash nodded in acceptance.

"Well, that's fine. Butterfree, battle stance! Let's start it off with a Stun Spread," Ash ordered.

"Staryu, into the water and start using Water Gun!"

The sisters watched Butterfree launch her wind-boosted spores, impressed with the innovative tactic. They were honestly surprised at Misty's reaction time to the attack. Butterfree flew around, easily dodging the spurts of water.

"Staryu, Rapid Spin and Bubblebeam from underwater."

After watching how Ash and his Pokémon fought, Misty trained on her own skills as well. Staryu spun violently in the water, raising up a twister of water to inhibit Butterfree. The starfish shot bubbles and chased the butterfly persistently.

"Alright, that's enough. Energy Ball!"

Butterfree charged up the ball quickly and launched it. Misty gasped, forgetting completely about the attack. The ball blasted into the water and slammed into Staryu, exploding underwater and knocking out the starfish, swirls in its eyes.

"Staryu, return! Nice work…now, I call on Starmie!"

"Butterfree, return! Beautiful job, Butterfree. Fearow, battle stance!"

"Starmie, use Confuse Ray!"

"Agility!"

"Starmie, use Swift and then Confuse Ray!"

The starfish shot stars from its central gem, which homed onto Fearow. They shattered against Fearow, flinching her and making her an easy target for Confuse Ray. The move landed without incident. Ash smiled.

"Assurance!"

Her wings glowed purple and she immediately dashed to Starmie, slamming her attack into it. The move did extra damage and was super effective as a result of Starmie's Psychic typing. The gem on Starmie blinked and lost its glow, signaling its unconscious state.

Misty sighed. "Starmie, return! You put up a nice fight."

"Fearow, good work. Return!"

Misty and Ash got off of their respective standing areas and walked towards to where the Sensational Sisters were spectating. Misty looked dejected at her loss. Ash gave her both a thankful and comforting hug.

"Thank you for the great match, Misty," Ash said sincerely, "but don't look so down!"

Misty smiled at her cheery companion. "Thanks, Ash. I'm not down about the match, really. I just wanted to show my sisters that I could become a good trainer, but since I lost, I'm not sure how they'll take it…" she said quietly.

"Hey, Misty," Daisy called out. "Quit hugging your boyfriend and come over here!"

Misty blushed furiously and broke off the hug. They resumed making their way over to the sisters. The sisters looked at each other and started to talk.

"Well, like we expected you lost," Violet said when they arrived.

"But, you did, like, way better than any of us would have against him," Lily admitted.

"And we've been thinking about what Ash said to us earlier."

"So, we realized that we've been super jerks to you…"

"And we want to say sorry, Misty, even though it doesn't make up for everything we've said to you."

Ash smiled. "Well, that's progress."

"Thank you sisters," Misty said. "Now then, Ash Ketchum, of Pallet Town, I'd like to present you the Cascade Badge!" She handed over the water drop-shaped token.

Ash took the badge and clipped it to the inside of his jacket. "Awesome. So, Misty, what are you going to do now?"

She tilted her head. "What do you mean? I thought we were going to Vermilion City next?"

Ash shook his head with a smile. "Yea, we were. Don't mind my question. Come on, let's go find Brock."

…..

A/N: Travel-time wise, Ash was able to make it to Viridian City within a day, albeit stealing Misty's bike in the show. In this version, Ash isn't taking the journey at a leisurely pace, instead opting to jog alongside his own Pokémon just about everywhere, pausing to walk once in a while. Misty has her bike, Brock is older, so I imagine, at the very least, reasonable stamina. Using Pallet Town to Viridian City's distance as a scale, he's spent, give-or-take, five days getting to Cerulean City.

After finding Brock at the Pokémon Center and healing up their Pokémon, the trio set off for Vermilion City.

"Why are we skipping Saffron City again? It's right on the way to Vermilion," Misty asked.

Ash hummed in thought. "Honestly, I don't really have a solid reason. I just feel like I'd be missing some important things if I don't…"

Misty nodded. They had no reason to rush anyway. Ash had gotten the first two Gym badges within a week, an insane rate for any trainer that she'd ever heard of. And she doubted that Ash would be slowing down.

…..

A day or two of traveling later, Ash and gang came across a trainer bragging of a 98 battle winning streak. Ash watched A.J's over-exertive training regimen that the trainer put his Pokémon under and decided to battle him.

Pikachu vs. Sandshrew.

Pidgeotto vs. Butterfree.

Fearow vs. Beedrill.

Butterfree vs. Rattata.

Each match was dominated by Ash, leaving A.J with things to reconsider. Continuing along, the group decided to take a break for a while. Brock thought making crepes would be a good idea, so Ash went off to find firewood. After wandering around in the forest, he found a kid jogging on a treadmill and being quizzed by elder students, obviously stressed.

He chased off the elder students, talked to the kid, whose name was Joe, and learned about Pokémon Tech. Ash regrouped with Misty and Brock, deciding to check out the academy. They weren't impressed by the programs. The school ran with a theoretical over practical mindset.

Misty battled Joe's Weepinbell with her Starmie to prove the point to the skeptical student. Eventually, the boys that Ash had chased away earlier returned with an attractive, but arrogant girl named Giselle, the apparent top student.

"Hmph, what right do you have to say this program is defective?"

"Pokémon battling doesn't run as a perfect system, like this school is designed to teach around. Pokémon-type advantages and level don't equate victory and simulations lack the experience that actual battles grant. If you don't leave any allowance to the vast variety of different type-moves that a Pokémon can learn, then your system is faulty by default, either way. I've been a trainer for, give-or-take, two weeks and I have two badges. By your system, you should be able to beat me easily enough." Giselle nodded. "Then battle me, and I'll show you how faulty your system is."

After a battle in which Pikachu stomped Cubone without any electrical attacks, Giselle acknowledged that battles didn't have any set victors and training could be done in multiple ways. Joe decided to start his own journey to collect gym badges and Giselle thanked Ash for opening her eyes. The trio left on a happy note.

…..

"Why are we treading through this forest randomly again?" Misty asked, vein popping on her forehead. "Instead of just following the road like we were?"

"Sorry, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, we might find some new Pokémon!" Ash said enthusiastically. Butterfree floated around happily in her natural habitat.

Stopping to take a break at a nearby pond, they noticed an Oddish taking a drink from the water hole. "I'd like to catch that Pokémon! Go, Starmie!" Ash looked at the Oddish closely as it hobbled away.

'I told her not to go so far away! Now they're going to try and catch her! Please let me make it on time!' a figure thought, running towards the clearing and getting ever closer.

"Misty, wait!" The Oddish tripped and fell on the ground, vulnerable to an attack. Misty halted her commands, turning to Ash.

"What, Ash?"

"That Oddish is already injured, but has signs of being recently treated. It's not a random Oddish," Ash stated.

'Why did he do that?' He wondered as he sped into the clearing, stopping next to Oddish. "Are you ok? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Bulbasaur! No, they didn't do anything. The boy in the red cap actually stopped the orange-haired one from trying," Oddish replied.

Misty recalled Starmie and Ash walked towards the two Grass-Type Pokémon. Bulbasaur growled. "Stay back, human!"

"Calm down, I just want to help. If Oddish was treated like that, you must not have particularly easy access to general medicine." Ash took out a potion. "Can I?"

Bulbasaur stared at Ash warily. He glanced to Oddish, who nodded in return. "I've been feeling kind of sore, Bulba…"

The Seed Pokémon stepped back and allowed Ash to treat Oddish. He sprayed on the potion and brought out a few berries. "Here, for energy. You have some too, Bulbasaur." Oddish happily ate the Oran Berries and Bulbasaur ate them tentatively.

"You…you aren't trying to catch us?"

"No," Ash replied curtly. Bulbasaur didn't find anything strange with Ash's ability to understand him, considering who he'd always lived with. Instead, the Grass-type scanned his eyes for dishonesty, but found only caring and sincerity.

Bulbasaur thought long and hard about something as Ash watched him. 'It's a risk…but Melanie could use the help…' "…Would you follow me please?"

Ash looked to Brock and Misty before nodding. Bulbasaur led the group through the forest.

…..

Eventually, they reached a little wooden cottage with a blue-haired woman tending to a group of Pokémon. The woman turned and looked at the incoming group with surprise.

"Bulbasaur, you brought people here?" she asked with surprise.

Bulbasaur looked down apologetically. "I'm sorry, Melanie, I just thought you could use some help with helping the others…"

"It's ok, Bulbasaur, I understand. Thank you. If you think they can be trusted, then I will as well," she replied without batting an eye.

Ash blinked a few times. "You can understand what he's saying?"

"Oh, of course not! Bulbasaur has just been with me for so long, so I can get the gist of what he's saying," Melanie said with a smile.

Ash nodded in understanding and looked around at all of the Pokémon. "So, why do you take care of them like this?"

Melanie's expression instantly saddened. "They're all Pokémon abandoned by their trainers, left to fend for themselves. I'm taking care of them to help them recover and eventually rejoin the wild."

Ash nodded in understanding, hand clenched into a fist. He hated 'trainers' that would abandon their Pokémon with a passion. "Do you have anything I could help with?"

"Well, I was just about to make food for them, so if you can cook…"

"Brock and I can help with that. Lucario, Pidgeotto, Fearow, come on out!" The three Pokéballs snapped open and released their occupants. Fearow and Pidgeotto stretched their wings happily. They saw the smaller Pokémon looking at them with apprehension. They dropped down to ground level together and started to walk around, being friendly and showing that they weren't scary.

Ash and Brock went off with Melanie to make food for the Pokémon. Pikachu stayed behind, jumping off of his friend's shoulder.

"Hey, Pikachu…"

"Hm? Yea, Bulbasaur?"

"Is Ash a nice trainer?"

"I wouldn't hesitate a second in saying he's the best! More importantly, he's my friend."

"Hey, what're you guys talking about~?" Butterfree asked, floating over to the two.

"Bulbasaur was asking if Ash is nice to us," Pikachu replied.

She started flittering up and down. "Oh, daddy's just the best! He takes care of us and loves us and feeds us and trains us well and he talks to us and he treats us like family and-!"

"Calm down, Butterfree. Well, I'm sure you get the gist of it. Just look at him now," Pikachu said, pointing his tail at his trainer.

Bulbasaur turned to a heartwarming sight. Ash was sitting in the middle of the abandoned Pokémon, handing out dishes. The Oddish from earlier sat in his lap, Ash holding up a bowl for the little Pokémon. Caterpie, two Rattata, Weepinbell, and Paras were arranged around the trainer, eating the food happily and receiving head-rubs from him. Magikarp was within arms-reach and happily within the lake. Misty, Brock, and Melanie looked on with small smiles.

Pidgeotto and Fearow flew over, each carrying a box wrapped in cloth. They landed next to the little group and dropped their packages. Pikachu walked over and unwrapped the two items, revealing five little boxes of Pokéfood.

"Ash asked us to deliver the food here, since you guys seemed to be having a nice little chat over here. They're labelled, by the way," Pidgeotto said, opening his container with his beak and pecking at the food. "Man, I'm really glad we're travelling with two good cooks. Melanie ain't half bad herself."

The rest of Ash's Pokémon opened up their food boxes. Bulbasaur reached out with a vine and opened the container, letting a delicious aroma drift out. He picked a piece of the food and put it in his mouth to test. He blinked for a few seconds before he dug in vigorously.

The group enjoyed the break in the calm clearing, but soon decided to get going. It didn't feel particularly right to be staying in one place for a long time.

"So, I guess we'll be going now. It was nice meeting you, Melanie," Ash stated.

"Thank you for the supplies, Ash, but before you leave, I need to ask you something." He tilted his head. "Would you consider taking Bulbasaur with you on your journey?"

Bulbasaur looked at the young woman in shock. "Melanie?"

"Before you say anything else, Bulbasaur, let me explain," she said adamantly. "You've been a great help to me Bulbasaur and a great friend as well, but you still have a lot of growing left to do and I want you to be in a place where you can grow strong and happy. If Ash isn't the perfect person to bring you along, then I don't know who would be. The rest of the Pokémon, as well. They're comfortable, but maybe too comfortably with the situation. One day, they'll need to head back into the wild, maybe find a new trainer to travel along with, but they won't get any better if they rely on you to protect them."

"I…I understand…Thank you, Melanie." Bulbasaur turned to Ash. "If you'll have me, I'd love to come along, Ash. But, before that, I'd like to have a battle with you."

Ash smiled. "Sure. Pikachu, you seemed to be getting along with him well. Welcome him to the family."

The two took their positions in the clearing, an eager grin on Pikachu's face. "Why do I feel like I'm about to regret my condition?" Bulbasaur asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Let's do it!"

"Alright then. Pikachu, Quick Attack." Bulbasaur launched a cloud of sleep spores to cut off the attack. "Agility and Slam!"

The yellow mouse flickered away and behind Bulbasaur, smacking into him and knocking him through the air. He tumbled a few times, but recovered. He launched a few seeds from the bulb on his back, followed up by two vines to whack Pikachu.

The seeds landed both in front and behind Pikachu, rapidly growing and constricting the mouse Pokémon. "Iron Tail and deflect whichever vines you can, break free as quickly as you can."

Pikachu's glowing tail slapped away one of the incoming vines while the other freely slapped him. He gritted his teeth and broke free.

"Perfect. Now, Electro Ball!"

Pikachu sprinted free of his constrictions, evading another whip that slammed into the ground. He dashed around and charged the ball of energy, before jumping and flinging it with a high velocity at Bulbasaur. It came in too fast to dodge and it exploded in his face, knocking him out.

Ash tossed a Pokéball and caught Bulbasaur soundly, immediately sending him back out so he could treat his wounds. He held Bulbasaur in his arms gently as he applied some potion and medicine.

Melanie watched with a smile. 'I'm sure I made the right choice.'

Ash and co. departed soon afterwards, continuing on their journey.

…..

"Pikachu wasn't kidding when he said you had a harsh training regimen," Bulbasaur groaned.

"It's not that hard..."

"…."

"Ok, fine, it is. But hey, it works! It's only the first couple of times that it really bothers you anyway, you'll get used to it."

"Right…hey, do you think I'll be ready to evolve soon?" Bulbasaur asked excitedly.

"Hm…you need to rack up a bit more experience, but you should be close enough. Didn't you say you preferred the speed approach though?"

"Well, I did, but realistically, I won't be able to get far if I do stay this way. I appreciate you giving me the choice, but I considered your words carefully. Even if I want to stay small and speedy, I'll only ever be able to go so fast, outclassed by Pikachu easily enough. To make use of my strengths, I need to evolve and bulk up to tank some hits. It's not like I'll be immobile anyway," Bulbasaur said.

"Glad to hear it, Bulbasaur. Do you mind putting my hat back on my head?"

"Hehehe, sorry." He retracted his vines back into his bulb, placing the hat back on Ash's head. "Are you getting tired? I can walk if you need me to."

"Nah, I'm fine. No better way to bond than carrying you along and chatting."

Misty and Brock watched the little conversation from behind. "It's really interesting to watch, isn't it?" Misty asked.

"It must be great, being able to know what your Pokémon are trying to say to you. I'm sure many trainers would be jealous of such an ability," Brock stated.

They continued watching for a few moments before they noticed something. "Wait a second, where's the egg?" Misty asked.

Ash caught the word egg in the question and registered the phrase. "Don't worry about it, Misty. I have it in an incubator that I bought in Cerulean City. It's in my backpack. I'll get back to carrying it myself when I put down Bulbasaur."

"Oh, you have an egg with you, Ash? I shouldn't be taking up this space then." Bulbasaur jumped up and onto Ash's head. "I can just cling on here. Do you mind taking out the egg? I want to see it!"

"Sure. One moment," Ash stated. He bent down and placed his backpack on the ground gently. He opened a pouch and brought out a comfy-looking case with the silver and white egg sitting inside of it. He unlatched the opening and hugged it to himself, placing the case back into his pack. "Alright, let's get going."

"Ah, my brother, you've joined me atop Ash's limbs!"Pikachu said melodramatically.

Ash chuckled at the yellow mouse. After a few more minutes of walking, the group saw a black silhouette further along the road. As they came closer, they noticed that it was a rock spire with a small Pokémon crouched on of it.

"A Charmander? Those aren't naturally wild…wonder what it's doing there?"

Ash walked closer to the fire lizard. It lifted its head, looking at the approaching trainer warily. It was breathing raggedly.

"Hey, what're you doing up there?"

The Charmander looked at him curiously for a moment, then to the Pikachu and Bulbasaur on his body, before answering. "I'm…waiting for my trainer…he told me to wait here and that he'd come back for me."

"What did he say?" Brock asked.

"He said that he's waiting for his trainer to come back for him…I'm worried for it."

"It should be fine, Ash. If he said that his trainer was coming back, we should let him care for it."

Ash glanced at Charmander again. "Ok…here, at least let me leave some food for him. Hold the egg for me, will you?"

He climbed up to the lizard Pokémon with a basic Pokéfood mix with Oran Berries.

"Here you go, buddy. I hope your trainer comes back soon."

"…Thank you."

Ash nodded and climbed back down. He took back the egg, much to Brock's dismay, and Bulbasaur and Pikachu climbed back onto him. "Come on, let's go. I think we can take a break at the Pokémon Center that's nearby."

…..