Official Pokémon Trainer's Handbook

Other Regions:

Within the League there are currently six regions. Each one has its own set of gyms and tournaments. But they all follow the same rank system and have a Grand Tournament. These regions are where the master rank trainers for the Masters Tournament come from. However there are regions that are independent from the League. Some use the same rank and tournament system as the League but currently aren't part of it, while others have their own unique rank system. Trainers that are on par with master rank trainers still aren't invited to the Masters Tournament. They however could go and earn the rank of master in one of the six regions.

Trainers who grow up and live within the League are usually given their rank within their home region. However it is possible to travel to other regions and compete to try to earn higher ranks. But to compete in a region you must earn their badges. So a challenger level trainer from one region could go to another and fight the gym leaders there for challenger level badges and could then compete in that regions Grand Tournament. Master rank is assigned to the region you gain it in.

So, if a Kanto elite trainer manages to defeat 25 of the Sinnoh champions Pokémon they would then become a Sinnoh master rank trainer, but are still only considered an elite rank Kanto trainer. However there master rank would allow them to challenge any other master level trainer to a master level match. Master rank trainers may only challenge for champion status of whichever region they have earned master rank in. It is technically possible to earn master rank in more than one region, however you are considered to be a master of whatever region you first obtained the rank.

In the Masters Tournament one goes and represents whatever region they were made master rank in. It is a very high bragging right among regions for whichever one takes home the tournament every ten years. There is a fierce rivalry between regions at this time.

Some view regions with fewer masters as weaker. Saying that region doesn't produce high quality trainers. However others also say those regions with more master level trainers are weaker since their champion has lost so many times to produce more master rank trainers. Either fact can be true, it changes based on the current champions and their challengers. However if one were to have champions battle they would find that every champion is usually on a similar if not identical skill level. A one sided master level match is practically unheard of.

End of Section

South Western Edge of Viridian Forest

It had been three months since Ash's first day as a Pokémon trainer. He could still recall the crazy day he had been through.

Flashback

After receiving his best friend Pikachu as a starter Pokémon he had spent the day showing off his home town to the yellow mouse. His plan had been to develop a bond of friendship with Pikachu. In the end he had succeeded but not by any normal method. Pikachu and Ash had wandered off into the forest surrounding Pallet, and had encountered a flock of Spearow and Murkrow attacking a wounded Pokémon. Without the Ash had charged in and rescued the Pokémon. Attempting to flee the Pokémon had left Ash several scratched and bruised. His left shoulder had been torn into by a diving Murkrow and still had a rough scar. A storm that had been brewing all day finally unleashed it's fury on the land with lightning strikes mixed into heavy rain. Attempting to distract the flock Ash had told Pikachu to run away with his new second Pokémon that he had just captured in a pokéball so Pikachu could carry it out. A lightning bolt had flown down at Ash's head but Pikachu had jumped up and intercepted it, then redirecting it he had blown away all their pursuers. Ash only barely made it home in time to explain to his mother that his Pokémon needed medical attention before, he himself blacked out from blood loss and exhaustion.

The next day around 2pm a very well rested Ash had woken up in his bedroom. After screaming at the sight of him, Ash's mother had quickly responded and identified that Ash's shoulder needed to be bandaged, his other cuts could been dealt with later. So she found some medical wrap in her emergency supplies and wrapped his shoulder. As he had found out later from his mother, she had then jumped into the car with unconscious Ash in the back seat and sped over to Oak's Lab.

There was no Pokémon Center or hospital within Pallet, but Oak had lots of medical equipment to take care of Pokémon and he had some experience with human injuries as well. So, being a close friend and with Ash as one of his new pupils Oak gladly helped out by healing the two Pokémon and helping Delia finish cleaning Ash up. The heavily wounded Pokémon he had captured had turned out to be a Snivy. Snivy are a grass Pokémon and also a starter Pokémon from the Unova region. How one had ended up around Pallet Town no one but the Snivy could say.

Later that day after waking up and finding Pikachu, Ash found Snivy and explained to it, with a bit of help from Pikachu what had happened the previous day. Ash then asked Snivy if it would be ok with joining the team since after all Ash had captured it. After the explanation Snivy was still unsure if it wanted to join. So he asked Pikachu what he thought of this trainer, he figured the two must have known each other for a bit. To his surprise Pikachu had told him that he only met him yesterday but after the events of yesterday Pikachu found himself willing and wanting to befriend Ash. He recommended to Snivy that he give his trainer a try.

Ash had stood aside while the two conversed, he had no idea what they were saying but he figured it must be about him after asking Snivy that question. To his slight surprise and immense excitement the small snake had agreed to join.

The next day Ash had risen at 8, and made his way over to Oak's. The professor had told him that every day unless instructed otherwise he was to be over to the lab by 8:30. He met the other four and had Snivy wrapped around his neck while Pikachu perched on his right shoulder. They all had their Pokémon within their pokéballs. But Ash had found that neither Snivy nor Pikachu wanted to go back in and he had no problem with them being out and with him.

The others hadn't heard what had happened to Ash yet, so he explained yesterday and even slightly bragged, at least toward Gary how he already had two Pokémon and was way ahead of them on their journeys. Oak had interrupted before the two could start arguing and had then explained what their schedule was going to look like for the foreseeable future. Every day at 8:30 they would meet at the lab and begin physical workouts. It was designed to increase their Pokémon's strength, speed, and endurance. Oak had recommended that the trainer's workout alongside their Pokémon as it inspired their Pokémon to try harder.

Since Ash and Snivy were still injured from yesterday they were going to have to just watch. Pikachu, determined to get stronger since yesterday he had been unable to defeat a flock of bird Pokémon which he just couldn't stand, worked the hardest of the gathered Pokémon.

Gary was too lazy to workout with his Squirtle and contented himself with sitting in a lawn chair shouting directions. Blue was a rather shy boy. He was taller than Ash by several inches, had blue eyes, and had blue hair that was cut short and combed to one side. He was too timid and worried he would embarrass himself if he tried to work out so he stood off to one side and quietly tried to coach his Squirtle.

Leaf was a peppy girl of middling height with long brown hair that fell down her back and sides. She had bright green eyes and was energetically trying to work out with her Bulbasaur. She would quickly tire out and end up just trying to coach Bulbasaur. Ruby had dark red hair with black tips that was shoulder height and her bangs fell down her face and covered the right side of it. She had amazing red eyes, which glimmered like her namesake in the light. She was the one Ash knew the least about. She chose to be alone then with others. She spoke little but her words often conveyed that she was extremely intelligent. She had been running laps with her Charmander and had been able to keep pace with it the whole time.

Around 11:30 Oak stopped them and had everyone come inside to eat lunch. He told them from now on to bring a prepared lunch and dinner as he would have them here all day. At noon, after lunch Oak took them to a room he had set up that look extremely like a classroom. Here he covered tactics and battle strategy. He started off with basic ideas that they could implement in any fight. He spent the first week drilling into their heads that the basics were of utmost importance. At 1:30 it was back outside, this time however they were to work on moves. They could either spend their time trying to teach their Pokémon new moves, new ways to use their moves, or they were expected to spam their moves over and over to build up endurance.

At 5, they would break for dinner. The Pokémon were thoroughly exhausted at this point, and all the trainers felt bad for them expect Gary who had laughed at his Squirtle and told it to work harder it if was already tired. After dinner at 5:30 Oak had told the kids to spend an hour either relaxing or playing with their Pokémon. At 6:30 Oak gathered them together outside and told them that during this period what he covered would be different. But for several months he would be teaching them basic survival and camping skills. The kids worked tirelessly through Oak's lessons all day but even Gary couldn't hide that fact he was tired. At 8:30 Oak called it a day and told them for the next 8 years they would be doing twelve hour days. He told them for a while it would be very difficult but it would start getting easier and when they were finished there Pokémon would be extremely powerful.

Over the course of the following three months, once Ash had healed he had worked out as hard as he could along with Pikachu and Snivy. The three had become friends during this time and Ash was never seen without his two Pokémon attached to him. Gary had never started working out with his Squirtle. Blue hadn't either but he was at least nice to his Squirtle as it trained. Leaf had attempted every day to work with her Bulbasaur but she was lacking motivation as she didn't see why she should work out and would often quit 30 minutes to an hour into the workout. Ruby mostly just ran laps, however she did other workouts and calmly kept her Charmander company.

During the after lunch sessions, Gary would often doze off and daydream or doodle, he didn't pay attention to what his grandfather was trying to teach them. Blue and Ruby were both quiet and astute. Leaf would interrupt the professor multiple times a day to ask him questions. About half were on topic. Ash would occasionally ask a question when he didn't understand something Oak was saying, which would draw a snicker and a whispered comment of, "idiot," from Gary. He ignored Gary and focused on the lessons. During move training Gary either yelled at his Squirtle for not knowing a move or left it to, "shoot a lot of water at that tree," for the duration of this session. Everyone else trained their Pokémon hard during this time and Ash even more so as he had two to focus on.

Pikachu especially, after about a month Ash had told Pikachu his dream and how he hoped that his best friend (Pikachu) would be willing to help. He had asked if Pikachu wanted to get stronger and the mouse had nodded. Together they had promised one another to train as hard as they could and become the strongest in the world. Snivy had been listening, and while saddened to hear Ash didn't talk to him about it was really surprised when Ash called his name out and told him to stop hiding and come over to them. He told Snivy he thought he was his other best friend and he wanted to together, the three of them because the best ever.

During the play session, Ash would often lounge about with Pikachu and Snivy relaxing, or they would have mock battles between the two. Ash realized, that aside from only working on strength, and speed and attacks, his Pokémon needed to learn to dodge. So around the time they made the pact he told them his idea. During move training the two would fire their attacks at each other and train on dodging. Oak had noticed Ash doing this but kept quiet about it. Part of being a trainer was learning to train your Pokémon yourself. And if the others hadn't figured out the flaw in their Pokémon's training Oak wasn't going to tell since he specifically left the gap there.

During the survival training there wasn't much for the Pokémon to do so they often lounged about. Pikachu had tried to pay attention because if Ash was ever hurt he wanted to sort of know how to help. But during this session Gary paid more attention as this was more hands on and interesting. Gary didn't know too much about camping or survival, but he thought himself an expert strategist and Pokémon battler. Even though he has never had a battle.

After three months Oak had told them that he had taught them everything he knew about survival, camping, first aid, and bush craft. And that now they were going to test their knowledge with a two week camping trip. The first week he would stay and advise them. The second week he was going to leave. He however would be back to pick them up. He secretly left his Alakazam nearby to alert him if any real danger should emerge.

Flashback End

This is where Ash currently found himself. Camped out somewhere in the south western part of Viridian Forest. They had been here for a week and Oak had followed through and left. Secretly Ash was glad he was gone, as Oak had done nothing but supervise and hadn't helped out at all. He had just been an extra mouth to feed. And the kids were having a hard enough time getting enough food for all of them and their Pokémon. Thankfully for Ash, Pikachu was able to forage for itself and had found a berry trove. The mouse also had found an apple tree, which Ash and Pikachu secretly gorged themselves on every day. Snivy would either eat grass, leaves and flowers or go and eat some of the berries. No one else had said where they found the food they ate so it basically was a free for all among the trainers when it came to food.

Ash himself knew he would be willing to share if one of the others was starving, well maybe not Gary, but otherwise he wasn't cold hearted. Besides eating or finding food Ash spent his days wandering off to a clearing he had found the second day here. Each day he tried to keep up their training regime as he didn't want to fall behind and on a normal journey a trainer was usually travelling through the forest but they still needed to train, and most of it must have been done in the wilderness. Gary spent most of his time laying around the campsite as it turned out Gary was learning to play the guitar and he had brought his along. He was truly awful at it and the noise probably scared all the local Pokémon away. Not that Ash was complaining he didn't want to have to fend Rattata all the time. Oak would often complain about Rattata and Zubat when he told them some stories from his own journey.

During their tenure in the forest, Blue had captured a Caterpie and a Rattata. Leaf had found herself a Sentret and Pidgey, while Ruby had caught a Spearow and a Nidorino. Ash had seen several Pokémon but he had no interest in capturing them. He wasn't on a quest to catch 'em all, no he was on a quest to be the world's greatest trainer, and while he knew he needed a variety. He had no interest in capturing every Pokémon he saw. He needed to slowly acquire Pokémon he wanted, and to build up a strong team and keep working with them till they achieved his/their dream. Gary hadn't seen another Pokémon since he was rarely out of camp besides when he went to eat and he was usually playing his guitar as he went out.

Several days passed by and nothing eventful happened except Leaf asking everyone what they had been eating. She didn't ask where but ended up asking Ash if she could trade a fish Blue had traded her for several apples. In agreement Ash had eaten fish the next day, Pikachu and Snivy had no interest. It was the final day and everyone was gathered around the campsite early in the morning. Everyone was feeding their Pokémon there as they didn't know when Oak would arrive and they didn't want to be out in the forest. That was the first time Gary realized everyone else had caught several Pokémon.

"H-hey," Gary exclaimed. "When did you all capture Pokémon?"

"What do you mean Gary? This is the first time we have been anywhere since we became trainers that wasn't Pallet Town. And there aren't very many wild Pokémon around Pallet. Why wouldn't we capture Pokémon?" Leaf responded slightly confused.

"Uh... well the Pokémon around here are weak I can't imagine why you would capture them," Gary started unsure but quickly caught himself and returned to his usual sneer. The Pokémon around the clearing all bristled at his comment. Most of them were from this area.

Somewhat out of her normal character, Ruby responded in an even tone, "the Pokémon here are not weak, while after three months of hard training our Pokémon might be above their level, this is still a rather calm area with your standard variety of beginner Pokémon. They aren't weak, in fact I believe the reason you don't have a Pokémon is because you are an incompetent trainer." Everyone was stunned, not really because what she said but because she said so much at one time. Not to lose a verbal argument, much less one to a girl, Gary said.

"Oh yeah? Well then you keep your weak trash, I will stick with just Squirtle here. Maybe later when we find some Pokémon that are actually worth my time I will catch them. You keep going along and capturing weak Pokémon. I mean look at Ash he hasn't caught any Pokémon here. He can tell they are weak too."

Gary's words were striking a chord within Ash. It was true no Pokémon in the surrounding area had interested him at all. But then he caught sight of Pikachu. And his emotions flared. The feeling in the camp changed. Perhaps it was the air temperature heating up several degrees, or maybe it was because the air felt much thicker with tension. Ash spoke up and his voice cut through the building tension like an Iron Tail through butter.

His voice was quiet and his tone held little emotion but one look into his eyes and one could see his anger flaring, "you know Gary, Viridian Forest is a known as one of the places around Kanto you can catch Pikachu. In fact at the apple tree I've been eating from we ran into several Pikachu. So are you implying that my Pikachu is trash as well? I am sure he is from around here. Professor Oak definitely didn't travel that far to catch another Pokémon one of us could use as a starter."

Gary knew he struck a nerve. But he believed himself to be Ash's better in every way, and one of his favorite things to do as to taunt the shorter boy. "Huh, must have slipped my mind Ashy boy, but now that you mention it your Pikachu looks just as weak as every other Pokémon here," Gary's sneering voice pissed Ash off. Now over the last three months Gary had been lazing about while Ash had trained hard alongside his Pokémon for hours every day. Three months was by no means a long amount of time when it came to one developing a strong physique. But compared to Gary, Ash definitely was stronger.

So as he tackled the brown haired boy to the ground he wasn't surprised with how easy it was to overpower Gary and keep him pinned to the ground. Now, Oak had been instructing them in Pokémon battling tactics. He hadn't once mentioned anything on how to fight themselves. And among other things head-butting was a perfectly viable strategy for Pokémon to use. So naturally Ash assumed the same would work for him. So he rammed his forehead hard down onto Gary's forehead. A dull thud could be heard quickly followed by two cries of pain as Ash rolled off Gary and miserable rolled around on the grass. Gary just lay there, clutching his forehead as pain pulsed through his head.

"Ash!" Leaf yelled out. She along with the other two were extremely surprised by what just happened. When Ash jumped Gary they all stood there in shock. And hadn't reacted till he tried to see whose skull was thicker. As they all would later find out, Ash's skull was surprisingly thick, literally and figuratively. Blue ran over to the motionless Gary and began trying to administer any aid he could. Lead and Ruby clustered around Ash who had finally stopped rolling and lay on his side. "Ash, you idiot, why would you do a stupid thing like that?" Leaf said glaring down at him. Ash weakly made eye contact and grinned at her.

"Well Professor Oak said using a Head Butt is a smart thing to do in a situation where your Pokémon might be pinned or is incapable of using its other appendages, and you don't want it to fire an attack where it could be injured by it as well." Leaf didn't know how to respond to that, but Ruby actually laughed at it. She laughed so rarely that everyone was surprised because they had basically forgotten what it sounded like.

"Ash, you idiot everything professor Oak covers can be applied to Pokémon. Humans are very different from Pokémon. I would advise not trying to integrate those lessons into any other fights you might be personally involved in," Her mini lecture over Ruby walked over to her Pokémon and recalled them all. Then turned toward a part of the forest and said, "Hello professor, I am happy to report we had a perfect week all up until the very end, right as you arrived actually."

Professor Oak had arrived right as the conversation with Gary had begun and he stayed silently hidden to listen to it as it caught his interest. He was extremely shocked at what Gary had to say about Pokémon and was only slightly surprised when Ash attacked him. The Head Butt however caught him off guard at how ridiculous the Ketchum boy could be.

Oak sighed and revealed himself. "Hello to you too Ruby, and everyone else. Blue," he said locking eyes with said boy. "Is Gary ok?"

"Y-Yes I think so sir, he might have a small concussion but I don't know. Sorry sir."

"Ahh that is ok no need to be apologizing. Hmm and Leaf, what would you say of Ash?"

Said boy sat up and groaned, "Urrh, I'm ok Professor."

'Doesn't surprise me,' Oak thought. 'That boy's head is as thick as a Geodude.'

"Alright well I am back, your week alone is finished and Alakazam here is going to teleport us back home. So please gather round."

With that Alakazam raised his spoons and in a flash the campsite, tent and all was teleported to outside Oak's lab where they had been learning about camping.

"Now pack this up and you can all go home and rest for the day. But I expect you here at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We will be starting something new this evening instead of survival and camping training," With that the children got to work so they could go relax. In Gary and Ash's case so they could go receive some medical attention from Oak.