A little boy woke from a shrill cry. He whipped the sheets off his body and hurried to the window to see unfamiliar men marching down the dirt road. They were chanting along with the snapping of sticks against a drum and their footsteps were perfectly in sync, creating an orchestra of terror. He ran downstairs to see his mother stuffing some of their family's valuables in a bag. She tossed the bag over her shoulder after placing some cans and boxes of food inside. She looked up to see her son standing at the bottom of the staircase, confused. She grabbed his tiny hand, crushing it, and dragged him outside their home. The little boy cowered behind his mother as she stood on the front porch and watched the men in dark maroon uniforms march down the road.

They followed the soldiers to the center of town. There, they saw some men with highly decorated uniforms instructing beasts that breathed fire to destroy all the buildings in the town. People were rushing out of their homes to avoid getting caught in the fires. Fear-filled cries echoed in the early morning sky. Some men that lived in the town busted down their front doors with guns in their hands. They threatened the assembly of foreign men to leave, but the soldiers didn't even flinch. These few townsfolk armed with rifles did not scare the men the least. A few that tried to penetrate the assemblage of men in maroon got shot and laid dead on the ground, getting trampled. The little boy covered his ears as the wives' piercing cries of horror rang in sky.

The little boy, after absorbing all the hideousness that was happening around him, realized that his mother was no longer with him. Her hand was no longer crushing his fingers. He looked in every direction frantically, searching among all the panicking citizens for her. He must've gotten separated from her by the flow of men making their way down the street. He was standing in front of the burning City Hall. He watched as the support beams in the building began to snap and collapse. The whole city was shaded with an array of oranges and reds from the large fires burning on each side of town. Massive clouds of dark smoke rose from the rooftops of the burning buildings and shrouded the city so the first signs of dawn were no longer visible.

The number of people running around was dwindling. The uniformed men were now spread through out the city, terrorizing every building in sight. The little boy didn't know what else to do but run home. He sprinted as fast as he could, stumbling a couple times in his slippers. When he arrived at his house there wasn't much of it left. It was just a giant ball of fire, roaring as flames consumed the entire structure. Shadows from the flames danced on the ground and it was almost beautiful, if it hadn't been the place where his mother had raised him.

The little boy noticed his mother standing to his left. She had been too distracted by the man burning down her home to see her son. Her hand was up by her lips and tears slid down her cheeks one after another. He didn't say anything; he just slowly walked over and held his mother's hand. She didn't look down. She knew very well it was her son. The little boy then saw a large man and his orange winged beast walk away from their home. The little boy knew he'd never forget that evil smirk he saw on that man's face and the burn scar he had down one side of his neck and a little on his chin and nose. The scary thing was, it was almost as if the man was smirking right at him. The little boy had never hated someone so much in his young life.

Ash practically hit his head on the ceiling he shot forward out of his bed so fast. He felt as if his lungs were going to pop because of how heavily he was breathing. Using the back of his palm, he wiped the sweat from his brow and rubbed it off his hand with his blanket. He sat there for a moment, catching his breath. He held his head and told himself over and over, it was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare.

Eventually his heart rate and breathing slowed down. Ash's head fell back on his pillow and he closed his eyes tightly, trying to forget the awful nightmare he just had. It was more than a nightmare though; it was his childhood. All of that actually happened and he remembered every bit of it so vividly it scared him. Ash's thoughts were put to a halt when his mother burst into his bedroom with a tray of food.

"Ash, my wonderful, grown up son, I made you some breakfast!" she sang while forcing the tray onto his lap.

Ash sat up in his bed. "Wow mom, this looks great." He only sounded half convincing due to the fact he was still preoccupied about his nightmare.

"Anything for my birthday boy." She smiled and clapped her hands together.

Ash dropped his fork, causing it to make an obnoxious sound against the glass plate. "My birthday… I completely forgot."

"How could you forget your own birthday?" his mother asked with her hands on her hips.

Ash diverted his eyes to the floor. "I guess I've been distracted."

Delia sat on his bed beside him. She gave him a look of concern. "You've been having that dream again, haven't you?"

He sighed. "I don't know why I've been having it so much lately. It's getting to the point where I don't even want to go to sleep. I'm afraid I'll have it again if I do."

"Well, you can't not sleep, honey," she said to him. A pause rose between them and Ash didn't touch his breakfast after that. Delia smiled. "Eat up. If the soldiers see you let all that food go to waste they won't be happy, that's for sure."

Ash brought his breakfast downstairs and told his mother over and over that he wasn't hungry. She didn't want to hear it. She forced him to sit down at the kitchen table and finish it. She spent all that time on it so he was going to eat it and he was going to like it. Liking it wasn't the issue; Ash never had trouble eating his mother's cooking. She was like a cooking wizard.

For the past year or two it got harder and harder to make meals for Ash and herself. Ten years ago the Hoenn Soldiers invaded and destroyed most of their town. They came to Pallet Town for its rich soil and success in farming. Soldiers would get temporarily stationed in the town to recuperate by eating its healthy crops and staying in the homes of the townspeople until they were ready to go back out and fight. With all the soldiers eating their produce there was less for the townsfolk. Not like they could fight back, for every one of them there were twenty Hoenn soldiers. With the soldiers also came more industry which tainted areas of farmland.

Because the Hoenn soldiers, more commonly known as Hoes in Kanto, practically burned down Ash's entire town, he and his mother now lived in the dilapidated, ramshackle leftovers of their old house. They managed to rebuild the roof and the walls that had burned down. The windows were plastic squares they found in the junkyard. All of their furniture that got destroyed in the raid had to be replaced with furniture from the junkyard and some neighbors that didn't have such an unfortunate thing happen to them donated some of theirs. Their living space was a lot simpler but life became all the more complicated.

Ash ran through the streets of town, searching for his mother. He had no other option but to go back home. He stumbled numerous times in his slippers as he dashed down the dirt road. Endless amounts of black smoke rose up in the sky from a source in the distance. Standing on top of a small hill he spotted an ever-growing ball of fire. He raced towards it once realizing it was his house. His home.

He found his mother watching the flames consume the structure. He walked to her side and slid his hand into hers. She didn't have to look down to know it was her son. Tears slid down her cheeks as a man and his orange winged beast stepped away from their house. He had a smirk like no other. Alls it contained was pure satisfaction and evil. The man dusted off his hands like he just performed some gratifying task. Ash was so enraged and shaking with hate, he didn't see how he appeared inside his house. Before he could figure out how he got there, the flames were surrounding him. His mother's cries echoed in his head.

"Ash!" she cried. "Ash! Ash!"

Ash jumped with a frightened gasp. He checked his surroundings. The raven haired teenager was no longer in an inescapable fiery prison. He was in one of the few fields left in Pallet Town. The fields were where the Hoenn soldiers made the men work during the day. The soldiers demanded the fresh produce on a regular basis in order to recover speedily, and the herbs did wonders for their wounds.

"Ash, you all right, man?" Richie asked, patting his daydreaming friend on the back.

Ash held his throbbing, sweating forehead. "Yeah, it's just the heat. I think I slipped off into a daydream… or a day-nightmare more like."

Richie offered Ash his canteen. "That one of the raid?"

Ash took the canteen, remembering his own was empty, and gladly took a swig. "Yeah," he answered after swallowing.

"Why has that been haunting you so much lately?" Richie asked.

Ash shrugged before handing the canteen back. "I have no idea. But it's getting pretty annoying. I can't sleep and now I can't work."

Richie leaned forward to look Ash in the eye, who had been staring at the ground the whole time. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ash suddenly looked up with a broad, artificial smile and smacked Richie on the back. "Of course not, we're men! Men don't talk about things like their dreams or their feelings."

Ash went back to picking berries and Richie shrugged before tending to the plants again. "Okay, if you say so."

Ash was fortunate enough that, even though he had to break his back all day in the fields, he could work side by side with his friend Richie. Teenagers and kids stopped attending school three years back when the Hoenn soldiers burned it down. They were worried the schools would implant rebellious ideas into the children's minds. After that, if they deemed you old and or strong enough, you worked in the fields.

Unfortunately, because he got to work with Richie and other teenagers his age, he also had to deal with Gary Oak.

"Here comes Prince Charming," Richie warned Ash in a sarcastic mutter.

Gary approached the two with the sack around his shoulder nearly full of produce.

"Better be careful, Ashy boy," he said. "If the Hoes catch you dozing off they'll burn down your house again."

Ash grinded his teeth. "Careful, Gary, I hear if the Hoes catch you being a douche they chop off your-"

"The Hoes love me, thank you very much," Gary interrupted, dusting the dirt off his shoulder.

Ash waved his clenched fist at the shaggy, brown haired teen. "Only because you're a suck up. Might as well join them."

Gary narrowed his eyes at his adversary. "They love me because I get the job done. And for your information, I plan on joining the Kanto army like a real man. Besides, I'm no traitor."

"You're joining the army?" Ash pulled back, a tad surprised.

"My father, his father, and his father's father all joined the army. Each man has an honorary title to their name for their years of service and heroic deeds. I'm not just going to ignore generations of hard work. I'm going to do the right thing and enlist in order to carry on tradition." Gary snickered. "But what would you know about tradition? You don't even know who your father is."

Richie had to hold Ash back from launching himself at Gary and starting a fight. The loud bickering and commotion caught the attention of the few Hoenn soldiers on sight. They ran over and pulled the two teenage boys away from each other. Gary was sent back to his assigned area, which was really only a few feet away, and Ash was clonked on the side of the head with the end of one man's gun.

"Get back to work, you good for nothing peasant," the soldier seethed.

"Don't let Gary or the soldiers get to you, man," Richie whispered.

Ash rubbed the tender bump on his head. "I'm going to prove them all wrong. I'm going to prove everyone wrong. I'm going to give them all what they deserve."

Richie's eyes were wide with apprehension. He knew Ash could be determined and a bit stubborn, but he was worried where this conversation might be headed.

"What are you talking about?"

Ash stood up straight and declared, although not loud enough for the soldiers to hear, "I'm going to enlist in the Kanto army."

As his footsteps fell against the ground one by one, Ash had the growing impulse to vomit. A continuous pain stabbed at his stomach as the building grew closer. All the air was expelled from his lungs when he stood before the entrance doors. His arms shook as he reached for the handle. He stepped inside and found himself standing cowardly behind his mother.

"And if I refuse?" The glare she was giving was severe and enraged, not very common for his mother.

A row of men in maroon uniforms stood before him and his mother. He clung to the back of her shirt, not completely aware of what was happening. Each man had his arms crossed with a malicious grin plastered on his face.

"You want your son to live, don't you?" the one towards the center asked. He was a highly decorated soldier and his jacket was a bit different than the rest, showing he was the leader out of the group.

Tears gathered in the corners of Delia's eyes. She covered her mouth with her hand, hoping Ash wouldn't understand what was happening, for his own mental sake.

Delia swallowed hard, trying to regain some of her composure. "Okay." Her voice was shaking. "What exactly do you want?"

"It's no secret that you can cook. Just feed me and any of my men that come into town to recuperate and don't be surprised if any of them spend a few nights with ya," the higher up soldier told her.

"If I'm going to be cooking for that many men everyday I'll need a place to do it all. My house isn't nearly big enough to seat all of your goons."

He groaned in annoyance. "If it'll make you stop fussing my men will build you something down the street to work in." The men formed a line towards the door, the leader up front. As they marched out the door the decorated officer gave a soft slap to Delia's rear end. "I'll be stopping by tonight," he whispered.

Ash shook his head vigorously, which only made his headache worse. The stale taste of throw up crawled up his throat and sat on his tongue. He was too young back then, but now he realized what those soldiers really meant. What they really did to his mother. His fists shook in anger, and now more than ever he wanted to join the army so he could shoot every last one of those lame-brained soldiers.

His attention was brought back to the building he was now inside. It was sort of similar to a soup kitchen but for wounded and tired soldiers. Each one was in some variation of maroon or red because each one was from Hoenn. A good amount of chatter was going on but that didn't distract Ash from spotting his mother serving two men their supper.

Ash approached her nervously. "Mom, I have to talk to you."

"Can't it wait until later, when we're at home?" she asked, setting down two bowls of soup.

It wasn't exactly a question. Delia was traipsing around the dining area like a busy Beedrill, pouring soup for the soldiers and fetching them some alcoholic beverages. She wasn't interested in hearing what Ash had to say at the moment, partly because she didn't know how important it was. As he watched her hurry around the room, tending to the enemy, Ash couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. His mother had already suffered a lot from the war, and now he was thinking of going out and basically encouraging the continuation of it. Then again, he owed it to her to help put a stop to it, after all the pain it has caused them.

"I want to be a soldier, mom."

Once he spat it out he felt tons better, but with one fell swoop, the entire room went dead quiet. Every Hoenn soldier glared right through him to his very core, probably wishing he'd burst into flames right where he stood. The look on Delia's face was of utter horror.

"With that hick slur I'm assuming you aren't from Hoenn," one soldier stood up and said. "Do you realize what you just did, son? You just declared yourself an official enemy to the country of Hoenn in a room full of Hoenn soldiers."

Delia waved her arms frantically. "No, no, he was just joking!"

A few more soldiers stood and one even shouted, "We might as well kill him now!"

Ash felt his stomach drop to his feet and that puke came closer and closer to actually escaping from his lips. He tip-toed toward the door as Hoenn soldiers began to surround him. Delia stepped in front of him, and Ash found himself tugging on the back of his mother's shirt as a group of Hoes stood before them, just like ten years earlier when Hoenn first invaded.

"Ash, run," Delia whispered through her clenched teeth.

Ash booked it out of the building and two bullets were actually shot at him, but he made it to his house unharmed. Scared for his life, but unharmed. He pressed his back against the front door after locking it. Air went in out of his lungs so fast he was worried they would explode.

Meanwhile, Delia shoved a soldier back into his seat. "How dare you. You call yourselves soldiers? Whoever just shot at unarmed, not even enlisted eighteen year old boy should be ashamed. You just embarrassed your country. If taking cheap shots at innocent people is how you plan on winning the war then shoot me now." The room was quiet again, and to her surprise, her speech was working. Each soldier was looking at the ground in deep thought. "Now I'm not sure if he is actually serious, but that is my son. And if any one of you does anything to hurt him, I wouldn't come here to eat my food ever again. I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. Got that?"

Perhaps it was because Delia had actually gotten to know a bunch of these men, but they really seemed to have heard what she said. They didn't try to kill her, which is what she imagined they'd do to any other citizen that spoke out like that. She was grateful they simply went back to eating moments later.

Later that night, Ash was getting ready to go out to dinner for his birthday with his mother. He didn't care how lame it seemed. Besides, he had no other plans and he knew how happy it would make her.

So, he buttoned up his white dress shirt and then slung a black skinny tie around his neck. He combed his hair, which was still damp from taking a shower about an hour before. He then went into the bathroom and looked at himself closely in the mirror. Rubbing the stubble on his neck and chin, he thought about leaving it there. He decided it would probably delight his mother even more if he shaved on his birthday. After shaving, Ash slipped his feet into his old penny loafers and placed his favorite baseball cap on his head, before heading downstairs.

His mother waited at the bottom of the stairs, playing with one of her earrings. She wore a silk red dress with a black sweater on top. The earrings she played with were pearls which matched the necklace that hung around her neck. These were a few valuables the Ketchum's managed to keep after their house burned down and the years of Hoes staying in Pallet. To Ash's surprise his mother's auburn-brown hair was down and curly rather than in the usual ponytail she wore. He made sure to compliment how nice she looked. His mother, of course, returned the compliment.

"Do you have to wear that old hat of yours though?"

Ash reached up to remove the cap. "Would it make you happy if I didn't wear it?"

"Yes."

The black haired boy quickly put his arms back at his side and smiled. "Then I'm wearing it."

Delia narrowed his eyes at him. "Ash Ketchum, I am not going out to a nice restaurant with you wearing that silly hat."

The teen laughed and took the baseball cap off. "Relax, mom, I was only joking around." He offered his arm. "Shall we head off?"

Delia smiled before linking her arm with his. "We shall."

Just as Delia reached for the doorknob, a car horn squeaked from outside. She opened the front door to reveal Brock, Ash's close friend from Pewter City, waving and smiling from inside his black 2005 Ford Fusion.

Ash stepped outside, his face showing how puzzled he was. "Hey Brock, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to treat you to a night on the town! I got tickets to the famous water show in Cerulean City." Brock held the two pieces of paper high in the air.

"Oh, I hear that show is quite the experience! Very excellent reviews it's gotten. You should definitely go, Ash," Delia insisted.

Ash stood there silent for a moment. He then looked at his mother, all dolled up, over his shoulder. He couldn't help but feel guilty abandoning his own mom to go hang out with his friend. He had to go to dinner with her. It would also be a good opportunity to talk about joining the war.

"Actually, I was just about to go out to eat with my mom," Ash told Brock as he pointed his thumb at her.

Delia placed a hand on Ash's shoulder and spun him around. "Ash, honey, you go with Brock. Don't worry about me. We both know you'll have a lot more fun if you spend your birthday with your friend in the city rather than cooped up in this ole farm town with your lackaday mother."

Ash thought about it then smiled. "Thanks, mom, you're the best."

A/N: I know, I know, I started out with the cliché "waking up from a dream" thing. But I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter regardless! I also have a feeling that Ash was a bit bland and OOC. I tried going back and spicing up his lines of dialogue in order to make him more like the obnoxious, thick-headed enthusiast we all know and love :]

So I've had this idea for a long, long time. We were learning about the draft and the Vietnam War… or was it the Korean War? I'm not sure. Anyway, we were learning about it in history class and the idea for a Pokemon fic just popped into my head. Now I know Pokemon war fics have been done a bajillion times but hopefully mine is done a little differently.

Keep in mind, this is an AU. Ash, Misty, Brock, and the rest are all older and not every character will look and/or act the same way as in the anime and what not. Some characters, like Professor Oak for example, will not have the same status as well. In my story he is not a professor but rather a war general.

I've done a lot of research and planned this story out a bunch in hopes that'll help it be more decent and successful. But, if you notice anything weird or something doesn't make sense, please feel free to point it out! Constructive criticism will only make this a better story and make me a better writer.

Lots of important characters were introduced in this chapter! But one of my favorites will be introduced next chapter. Yes, Ash will finally meet Misty in the next update :]

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you decide to stay tuned for the next installment!

p.s. Sorry for the long author's note, they won't typically be this long and gabby :]