Rayquaza45: Hello readers!

I hope you haven't been waiting too long for this new chapter. I know if I were into a story, I wouldn't wanna wait too long.

Anyways, I know this may or may not have started like some have expected but does anything really? If it were as you expected, it'd hardly be worth reading.

I guess some changes or some things weren't well received since they may not have been taken from the anime, but that's the purpose of AU.

Anyways, enough of this :P

I wanna thank Surfergurl14 for her work in beta reading this chapter.

Please read and review :)

Chapter 2: Friends Gather, Strangers Stalk

"I'm Ash Ketchum….the Kanto Battle Frontier…win…winner." The 13 year old boy muttered in his sleep.

Ash had come to the Sevii Islands just yesterday from Pallet Town in Kanto and obtained a room at the Pokémon Centre on One Island, the first of seven main islands. It was now 10:00am the next morning as the raven haired trainer lay in bed, his sheets and blanket on the ground and his pillow under his feet. His faithful buddy, Pikachu, slept peacefully on the floor; almost completely covered by the blanket Ash had thrown off.

"AAAHHHHH!" The pokémon trainer yelled as he finally woke up.

"Pi!" The electric rodent said as it woke up, having heard its trainer's yell.

"Good mornin', Pikachu." Ash said to his faithful pokémon as it climbed up onto his shoulder.

"Pikapi!"

"Let's go down."

The ground floor of the Pokémon Centre was much larger than that of the average Pokémon Centre. The Nurse Joy of the centre was working diligently. Ash noticed a curiously large machine in the corner where many people roughly the same age as him were crowding around, strange that he didn't notice it last night when he arrived. He approached a boy his age, dressed in olive green pants and a blue jacket over a black T-shirt.

"Hey, what with this machine?" Ash asked the boy.

"It's the Pokemon Net Centre machine!" The boy answered. "It's the machine which allows trainers on the Sevii Islands to trade pokémon with other trainers from Kanto, Hoenn and a bunch of other regions."

"Are trades of that distance even possible?" Ash asked.

"Normally no, but the top regional engineer Celio worked with an engineer named Bill from Kanto and made it. It's revolutionary!" He told Ash. "Now trainers from all over the Sevii Islands, and even some from Kanto and the Orange Islands, are coming here to try it out."

"Wow." Ash said.

"You're not from these parts, are you?" The boy asked.

"Nah, I came from the Kanto region last night." Ash told him.

"Are you here to try out the machine?"

"Me?" I'm not really all that interested in pokémon trades. I'm just here on vacation." Ash explained. "I got here last night but I didn't notice this thing here."

"Well that's understandable, I guess; the machine is closed off at night." He said. "Oh, so sorry, my name is Bryce."

"I'm Ash, and this is Pikachu."

"Pika Pikachu!"

"Nice meeting you two." Bryce held his hand out.

"You too." Ash said as they shook hands.

"Well if you wanna know anything 'bout these islands, my house is the green-roofed one outside." Bryce told him.

"Thanks a lot." Ash said.

Bryce had remained in the Pokémon Centre to trade for some pokémon while Ash and Pikachu left to explore.

One Island was apparently among the least populated islands in the Sevii Archipelago but it had recently received a boost in tourism from the other islands due to the Pokémon Net Centre machine and it was often the first spot for tourists to go, evident since many people were there. Ash and Pikachu walked around the town and noticed a sign in front of the ferry harbor that they had missed last night.

"Friends gather at Knot Island"

"Hmmmmm." Ash muttered.

"Pi-ka." Pikachu added.

"Let's just get a move o-" Ash said as turned around and was bumped into by a rushing blonde teenager.

"Ow, what's wrong with you?" The blonde shouted at him.

"Me? You're the one running around in a crowded area." Ash scolded him.

"Aaargh, whatever, I gotta go!" The rude boy said as he ran off.

"Pipipikachu!" The electric mouse angrily shouted as the boy was out of sight.

"Let it go, for now." Ash told his friend.

Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, walked away from the crowded ferry harbor and down into a beach area. Many couples were on the beach playing volleyball, swimming in the shallow water or doing things in the bushes when they thought nobody was looking. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash noticed a luxurious hotel surrounded by elegant statues and palm trees. Closer inspection of the hotel revealed its name to be the "Knot Island Palms Hotel".

"This is that place we saw last night." Ash realized.

"Pika!" The electric mouse said.

"Yeah, I guess w-" Ash started before something caught his eye.

In plain view of his was a girl with lustrous blue hair, wearing a mini dress which was mostly black with a white undershirt inside a V-shaped neck with a short pink skirt. 'Short' being the operative word.

She was walking alongside a girl who had red hair and wore blue jeans, a burgundy shirt underneath an orange vest. Both girls had a pokémon following them; a small blue penguin was following the cute girl while a grey cat pokémon followed the other.

"Wow." Ash said in awe as he looked at the girl walking alongside the beach, engaged in a conversation with the redhead.

"Pipipikaka." Pikachu sneered.

"You watch your mouth!" Ash told it, having understood what it meant. "I'd….never…."

"Pi?"

"Let's see where she goes." Ash said, making sure to follow the girl in a way that she wouldn't suspect anything.

In the distance, where nobody but himself and the girls were, Ash continued to follow her. Every time she or the other girl looked behind, he hid behind a tree or a large rock. Pikachu remained on his shoulder throughout the ordeal, constantly shaking its head. Indeed, it was fairly uncharacteristic for Ash to do anything like this. He was almost behaving like Brock.

"Pi-Ka-Chu?" The electric rodent asked its trainer.

"Come on, Pikachu." Ash pleaded. "Keep quiet, you know I'm fine!"

Pikachu was shocked. Ash had never spoken to Pikachu in such a manner. It was evident that he wasn't thinking straight.

"Let's see where they go." Ash whispered quietly.

The girls and their pokémon walked to a secluded area of the beach, picking up some shiny rocks along the way. They both met one another behind some rocks and assumed the battle position. Their pokémon got up in front of them and stared one another down as Ash hid behind a tree and watched.

The sea surrounding this part of the beach was surprisingly rough and fast, unlike the more calm waters near the ferry harbor. The tides were coming in, but did not pose any threat due to their relatively small size.

"Alright Piplup, use bubblebeam!" The blue haired girl ordered.

"Glameow, dodge and use shadow claw!" The red haired girl told her pokemon.

"Pip!" The penguin pokémon shouted as it unleashed its barrage of bubbles at the catty pokemon. Glameow managed to effortlessly dodge them and hit Piplup in the crown with its shadow claw, pushing the penguin pokémon back.

"Nice one, Zoey!" The Piplup's trainer called out.

"Don't lose focus, Dawn." Her friend replied. "We're here to train since we don't get to Trainer Tower till Seven Island."

"Remind me again, why are we breaking the rules about battling before we get there?" Dawn asked.

"Because we wanna get stronger before we have to take the seven floor challenge!" Zoey replied. "So keep focused unless you wanna get beaten!"

"I won't lose!" Dawn said affirmatively, clenching her fist. "Piplup, hydro pump!"

"Piiiipluppppp!" The penguin pokémon shouted as it unleashed a powerful stream of water at Glameow, who was swept out to the sea surrounding the beach by the powerful attack. The catty pokémon was floating in the waters around 10 meters away from the shore in the deep water, too far for either Zoey or Dawn to swim.

"Glaaaaa!" The catty pokémon shouted as it battled the currents, trying to stay afloat.

"Glameow!" Zoey cried out.

Suddenly, Zoey and Dawn saw a small turtle-like pokémon with half its body above the water heading out and rescuing Glameow from the rapid waters. It quickly reached Glameow and instructed it to hold onto its hard shell as it swam back to shore. It amazed the girls that such a small pokémon could brave the waters in such a way, least of all with another pokémon on its back. The turtle pokémon got back to the shores and left while Glameow dried itself off.

"Glameow, are you alright?" Zoey asked her pokémon, who purred.

As if on cue, Ash came out from the tree with Squirtle walking alongside him and Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Are you two alright?" Ash asked.

"Was…..was that your pokémon that saved my Glameow?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah, lucky, huh." Ash smiled.

"Not exactly." Dawn said, coming to confront Ash.

"What?" Zoey asked.

"Never mind now, get over to the Pokémon Centre." Dawn said.

"Yeah, right." Zoey said, recalling her pokémon into its pokéball and running off. "Thanks!"

"So, why were you following us?" Dawn asked Ash after Zoey had left their sight.

"Following you?" Ash asked. How exactly did she figure it out? He walked a good distance behind them and hid behind a tree every time one of them looked back.

"I could see you from Zoey's make-up mirror." Dawn revealed. "Why did you follow us?"

"I wasn-"

"Come on, I know you were following both of us to-"

"I was only following you!" Ash insisted, inadvertently saying something he really shouldn't have.

His eyes opened wider than ever after he realized that by trying to defend himself from her accusation, he had ended up revealing something he shouldn't have.

"Really?" Dawn smiled. "You were following me?"

"Squirtle." "Pi Pikachu." Ash's pokémon gleefully said.

"Oh great." Ash thought.

"It's alright, I'm may not do anything about it." Dawn told him.

"I may have been….walking around….behind you." Ash did his best to say it in a way that wouldn't make him look like a complete pervert since he didn't know exactly how old she was. He was at least a few inches taller than her but they were the same age, they just didn't know it yet.

"So what, you didn't have the courage to come straight up to me?" She jokingly asked.

"Pip Piplup." The penguin pokémon added.

"Squirt!" Ash's Squirtle shouted.

"Settle down, Squirtle." Ash said.

"Squirtle?" Dawn asked. "It's only found in the Kanto region, right?"

"That's right." Ash replied.

"So you're from Kanto?"

"Yeah, I just got here last night." Ash revealed.

"Me too!" Dawn squealed.

"Really?" Ash asked. "I never saw you."

"I came from the Sinnoh region with my classmates and teacher." Dawn told him. "We've been staying at the Knot Island Palms Hotel."

"You're from Sinnoh?" Ash was amazed, Sinnoh region trainers on the Sevii Islands. He'd really just come to the Sevii Islands to avoid going to Sinnoh like Gary did.

"Yup!" Dawn smiled.

"So right…about stalking you…"

"Let's just pretend that it didn't happen." Dawn suggested. She started looking at the boy more carefully, realizing that he was quite handsome in a rugged way. "Why don't we go back together?"

"Is it okay for you to be with someone who isn't from your class?" Ash asked. "Wouldn't you get in trouble?"

"Not if they don't see us." Dawn said slyly.

"Pi!" "Piplup." "Squirtle."

Ash and Dawn walked back to the crowded area of the beach together with their pokémon on their shoulders. Squirtle had returned to its pokéball.

Dawn told Ash all about her school for coordinators and trainers, how everyone was always in competition with someone from the other group. She, Zoey and another boy were the three coordinators selected for the trip while three trainers had come along too. She mentioned all three of them but put a lot of focus on describing Paul in a negative light.

"He sounds like a complete jerk, thinking he's better than everyone just because he's won battles." Ash angrily stated.

"Yeah!" Dawn agreed.

Ash started to develop somewhat of a grudge against this Paul trainer. He likened him to Gary Oak and how they criticize those they defeat. People like that sickened Ash.

"I'm gonna challenge this guy and show him the real world." Ash thought.

"So this is the hotel we've been staying in." Dawn said, looking up to the huge hotel and its two statues of Lugia and Ho-Oh.

"It's huge." Ash said, looking up at the elegant building.

"Ugh. There's Paul." Dawn said, disgusted. She pointed out a boy with purple hair, slightly taller than Ash.

"So he's a good trainer in your school, how does he battle?" Ash asked as he looked over at the guy.

"He's never lost and refuses to rebattle anyone he's beaten before." Dawn explained. "I learned that the hard way."

(Coordinator/Trainer Academy of Sinnoh)

(Several months ago)

Dawn had been selected for an official school battle. The matches were to pit the coordinators against the trainers in a battle to determine which group deserved a certain prize. Her opponent was Paul, the pokémon trainer. His starter had been a Turtwig that evolved into a Torterra early in his first year and he'd never lost a battle. It's was his first match against Dawn.

The battle went of for a short while. Dawn's Piplup was at a serious disadvantage against Paul's Torterra, which had a type advantage as well as many powerful attacks.

"Pip!" The penguin pokémon shouted, stubbornly refusing to give up.

"Torterra!" The continent pokémon boomed, standing tall and proud, nearing victory without having taken much damage.

"Torterra, use frenzy plant!" Paul ordered.

"Tor….terra!" Torterra shouted as its body became outlined in green and it slammed its front two legs into the ground. Giant roots with spikes on them come out of the ground and struck the already injured opponent. Piplup was sent flying back into a wall, knocking it out.

"Piplup is unable to battle!" The referee declared. "Paul and Torterra are the winners."

(Sevii Islands, One Island)

(Present day)

"Frenzy plant?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, it's a powerful attack for grass-type pokémon." Dawn said.

"I know, they call it a grass-type version of hyper beam." Ash said. "So what happened when you fought Paul again?"

"Nothing because he refused to rebattle me!" Dawn shouted.

"Refused?" Ash wondered.

"A while after Piplup healed up, I managed to teach it how to use hydro pump since Torterra is part ground-type." Dawn explained. "I asked Paul if we could have another battle…and he….and he…"

"And he…what?"

"When you defeat someone, that person is trash and they no longer exist." Paul coldly said in Dawn's mind. "Therefore a rematch is impossible."

"This guy's such a creep." Ash said, fuming with anger.

"He is and the fact that he's so good means nobody has ever beaten him so he keeps acting that way." Dawn ranted.

Upon hearing that, Ash took off his hat and put his hood on for the first time ever. He put his hat in the front pocket of his hoodie and walked into the hotel with his hands in his jeans pocket.

The ground floor of the hotel was a luxury-meets-efficiency style area. The Knot Island Palms Hotel combined modern versions of architecture, decoration and technology with luxury and relaxation. Every known luxury seemed to be in the amazing floor, comfortable couches, wireless internet, and vending machines. It took all of Ash's restraint to keep him from the snack cart.

Dawn started looking at Ash. His entire personality seemed to change into a dark and moody loner, grabbing her attention. She immediately ran into the hotel after Ash and found him sitting down on a sofa. Sitting down next to him, she took his hand.

"What're you doing?" Dawn asked.

"I'm gonna challenge this Paul guy when he comes back in here and make him sorry." Ash told her, his voice grumbling.

"What's with the hood?"

"I'm not supposed to be here, right?"

"You don't have to hide yourself!" Dawn exclaimed. "Nobody knows you don't belong here."

"Guess not." Ash said, taking his hood off and sitting around.

The hotel's elevator then arrived at the ground floor and a boy with blonde hair exited. He wore a white and orange striped shirt stepped out and walked towards Dawn and noticed her holding the hand of a boy he'd never seen before.

"Hey there, Dawn." The blonde guy said.

"Barry, where were you?" Dawn asked him. "You went to that market stall and we haven't seen you since."

The blonde put his palms on each of his ears and started pressing forcefully. "Mrs. Cantina kept lecturing me about why the pool is not the place to eat pasta and stuff."

Dawn looked at Barry with an 'are you serious' look, who was dumb enough to eat pasta in the pool, let alone let anyone see you do it. Ash started laughing subtly at the statement; this boy was just as crazy as he looked.

"Who the hell are you?" Barry asked the raven-haired boy sitting next to his classmate.

"Why do you care?" Ash retorted, taking off his hood.

"Pi Pikachu!" The electric rodent shouted.

"Hey, you're that dork that bumped into me earlier today!" Barry exclaimed.

"It was you who bumped me, blondie." Ash responded.

"Is it so hard to admit your mistakes?" Barry asked.

"Only the ones I never made." Ash said, narrowing his eyes.

"Pi!" The electric rodent shouted at the blonde trainer, who just laughed.

"What are you? Trying to show off?" Barry joked.

The comment got Ash angry enough to stand up as Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. He had no intention of letting some strange boy insult his pokémon or accuse him of doing something he didn't do.

"Oh? Looking for a fight?" Barry asked him.

"I will if you will."

"Oh, I will."

"Then meet me outside. Unless you're too scared" The raven-haired pokémon trainer told the blonde, walking out of the hotel and leaving Dawn and Barry looking onwards.

"I'd apologize if I were you." Dawn told Barry.

"Not happening." Barry said as he exited the hotel. "I'm the second best in school, no nobody trainer is gonna beat me!"

On the outside of the hotel, the beach was filled with people. Ash wasted no time getting to the centre of the beach while Barry quickly followed. Dawn's classmates Kenny, Lucas and Paul saw the crowds gathering around the two teenagers and decided to watch from afar but came to the centre when other people began to block their view.

Ash and Barry stood apart on a makeshift battlefield, staring down the other.

"You first." Barry confidently said, allowing Ash to choose first.

"Go for it, Pikachu!" Ash shouted.

Rayquaza45: Well, it looks like there's gonna be a battle next time around. Will Ash take care of Barry or will Barry be the victor?

Yeah, I know, the characters are a bit different, to say the least. Negative aspects have been exaggerated, as was said, for the purpose of conflict.

So now, have you got something to say? Please write a review. I'd like to know what you think so I can improve my writing.

Till next time!