Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.

Here's chapter 3 I hope you enjoy.

In conversations:

'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.

"- Human speech

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

The next morning Ash headed down to the docks. He knew that he was hours early but he didn't want to miss another boat and knowing his luck if he went somewhere else something would happen that would make him miss today's ship. He found a bench on the dock and took a seat. Raichu and Meowth took a seat either side of him and he rested the incubator in his lap. The sun was shining and it made the ocean glisten. They gazed out at the ocean and were amazed at how beautiful it looked. The view made Ash think of Misty and he felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't told Misty or Brock for that matter that he was leaving for Hoenn. He'd travelled with them for so long that he knew as soon as he told them his plans they would feel guilty for being unable to join him and he'd rather have them be mad at him than feel guilty that they couldn't join him. Besides this was a journey he wanted to do on his own.

Ash was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a ships horn. He jolted up and checked his watched and to his surprise saw that he had in fact been sat on the dock for a couple of hours. He looked around and saw that there were now a horde of people also stood waiting for the ship. The ship weighed anchor and the passengers disembarked. The crowd began pushing each other in an attempt to get on the ship Ash on the other hand just sat and waited for everyone else to board until he got up and walked up the ramp. He flashed his ticket and was given a room key. He walked along the deck eventually coming to his room. He opened the door and looked around, it was a modest room with just a bed, a table and a chair. He placed his back pack on the bed so he wouldn't have to carry it around all day and left his room. Ash went to the main deck and sat in one of the deck chairs. Raichu and Meowth curled up on the chairs next to him and the trio just enjoyed the sun, it was a hot day but the cool breeze made it a perfect day to be outside.

Ash then heard what sounded like a Pokémon battle. Thinking that a battle would be a good way to pass the time he decided to investigate. Ash got to the deck where the noises had been coming from and saw that a battle was in fact taking place. He watched the battle currently being fought and to be honest it was looking pretty one sided. There was an obvious difference in skill and power. The match should have been finished by now but the more experienced trainer appeared to be toying with the poor kid. The kid looked to be on the verge of tears as another attack hit his Charmander. Somehow the plucky Pokémon got up but was clearly in no state to continue. The experienced trainer gave his Hitmonchan another command and it ran at the Charmander as its gloved fist glowed white. Ash couldn't stand by and let this go on any longer.

"Raichu block the attack with Iron Tail then hit him with a Thunder Punch."

Raichu leapt off Ash's shoulder and his tail turned metallic. Hitmonchan was now less than a metre away for Charmander who was too tired to move. The glowing fist was thrown forward and Charmander shut his eyes. There was cry of pain but it didn't come from Charmander. The small lizard opened his eyes and saw the Hitmonchan holding his fist. He wondered what had happened but then saw that the Raichu's tail was silver so he guessed that the punch that had been meant for him had instead hit the Iron Tail which must have bloody hurt. Before Hitmonchan had a chance to recover Raichu shot forward and hit the boxing Pokémon with an electric infused uppercut which sent him crashing back to his trainer. The trainer then returned his Hitmonchan and then he glared at everyone and asked.

"Who dares to interrupt the great Reece's battle?"

Ash stepped forward and sent a terrifying glare at Reece.

"That would be me. That match had been over ages ago. You should not have continued torturing Charmander."

"I don't know who the hell you think you are but you should not interfere in my affairs."

Ash sighed. He thought Gary was a tosser but this guy bought a whole new meaning to the term. It was obvious that he needed to be taken down a peg or two.

"The names Ash Ketchum and I think it's about time someone gave you an arse kicking. And since I have some spare time I guess I'll do the honours."

Reece burst out laughing. When he finally got control of himself he said.

"Ah man that was hilarious I'm gonna enjoy beating you."

As Reece continued to mock Ash the crowd were mumbling to each other. Many of them had heard of Ash Ketchum and knew that he shouldn't be underestimated. The spectators then started making bets on who would win. Ash paid no attention to the people and walked to the side of the deck opposite to Reece. Ash handed the incubator to Raichu who protectively wrapped his tail around it and Meowth jumped off Ash's shoulder and stood next to Raichu just in case there was trouble.

"How does a three on three battle sound?"

Ash wasn't really bothered.

"That's fine."

Reece threw 3 Pokéballs which revealed an Electibuzz, a Ninetails and a Cloyster.

Ash realised that Reece had meant a triple battle not 3 one on one matches as Ash had assumed. Ash shrugged he didn't have any experience in this style of battling but it was too late to back down now. Ash smirked and took 3 poke balls off his belt.

"Totodile, Cyndaquil, Phanpy to the battlefield."

The trio came out making many of the female onlookers call them cute or adorable which annoyed them. Some of the male spectators said they looked weak and that really pissed them off. They didn't react to the crowd thought they'd just show them in this battle how strong they are and that they should be feared. They heard laughing and saw that it was their opponents who were rolling around laughing at them hysterically.

"Hahahaha you're going to battle me with them puny little weaklings. You might as well give up now."

Ash looked at the trio on the battlefield and he had never seen them this pissed.

"You made a big mistake insulting us and now you're gonna pay."

"Yeah whatever. Let's finish this quick, Electibuzz Thunderbolt, Ninetails Flamethrower, Cloyster Hydro Pump."

"Phanpy Rollout, Totodile and Cyndaquil Counter Shield."

"Counter what?"

A bolt of electricity, a burst of flames and a jet of water were fired at Ash's Pokémon. Phanpy rolled into a ball and rolled past the attacks and began building up momentum. Meanwhile Totodile and Cyndaquil had got on their backs and began spinning creating a vortex of flames and a vortex of water the two merged and when the attacks from Reece's Pokémon hit the fire and water they were negated. Their opponents' jaws dropped, they had never seen their attacks blocked that easily. Due to their shock they completely forgot about Phanpy. They got a reminder of his presence when Phanpy who had now picked up a tremendous amount of speed charged forward and rammed into all three Pokémon which knocked them to the ground. Phanpy returned to Ash's side of the battlefield and like Cyndaquil and Totodile was smirking at their opponents, the looks were seriously pissing off Reece.

"Thunderpunch that Totodile, Ninetails charge a Solarbeam and Cloyster Ice Beam."

"Aqua Jet to dodge Electibuzz, Cyndaquil match the Ice Beam with Flamethrower and Phanpy use Take Down."

Ash's Pokémon nodded understanding what Ash wanted them to do. Electibuzz charged at Totodile his fist crackling as he threw his fist forward Totodile was surrounded in water and shot off over him and zeroed in on Ninetails. The fox was too busy charging the Solarbeam to dodge and was hit by the super effective attack which knocked her back. Meanwhile Cloyster fired a frozen beam at Phanpy but the ice was intercepted by Cyndaquil's Flamethrower. The clash of fire and ice created a mist of steam which mad it almost impossible to see more than a foot in front of them. As the steam started to clear Cloyster was looking around trying to spot anything. He heard something to his right and when he turned to look he saw Phanpy running straight at him and the young Pokémon slammed into him sending him flying back into Ninetails by the Take Down. Ash wasn't going to give them any time to recover and kept up the pressure.

"Flamethrower on Electibuzz, Hydro Pump on Ninetails and Hidden Power on Cloyster."

Totodile and Cyndaquil fired a burst of flames and a jet of water and Phanpy formed several green orbs around himself. The attacks looked far more powerful than the ones their opponents had launched. They fired the attacks at their intended targets and the attacks hit dead on. Everyone could hear Reece's Pokémon give several pain filled cries. Reece's Pokémon somehow forced themselves up with were all clearly struggling to stay conscious. Ash was tired of this guy so he was going to end it now.

"Let's finish this, Phanpy Rollout, Cyndaquil Flame Wheel and Totodile Aqua Wheel."

All 3 curled into a ball, Totodile was surrounded in water and Cyndaquil was engulfed in flames they then charged at their staggering opponents. Electibuzz, Ninetails and Cloyster watched the 3 Pokémon headed at that them and shut their eyes. They were all far too tired to even attempt to dodge. Cyndaquil, Phanpy and Totodile slammed into their exhausted opponents and instantly knocked the trio out. The majority of the people who'd been watching were in shock. They couldn't believe that 3 small and rather cute looking Pokémon had won so easily.

Ash smirked and returned his Pokémon. He knelt down and took the incubator from Raichu. Meowth and Raichu then took their places back on Ash's shoulders and he walked away without a word. He considered going back to the main deck but didn't want to get disturbed by people wanting to talk about the battle so he went back to his room. He went inside and placed the incubator on the desk and sent out the rest of his Pokémon apart from Pidgeot who was just a bit too big for the room. Ash got some of the food he'd made and put it in bowls for them. They quickly demolished the food making Ash wonder if they'd had the time to actually taste anything. It amazed him to think that he used to eat like that. Ash stayed in the room for the rest of the day spending time with his Pokémon who enjoyed spending time with their trainer. He only came out for the evening meal so that he and Pidgeot could eat. After dinner he went back to his room and to his relief he somehow managed to avoid anyone who had seen his battle. He crawled into bed and quickly fell to sleep.

Ash woke up the next morning to the voice of the Captain saying that they would be docking in Slateport within the hour. When the ship arrived in Slateport Ash got off the ship and took his first steps into Hoenn. Remembering his promise to his mother he took the Pokénav off his belt and quickly called his mother to tell her he'd arrived safely. He dialled her number and her face appeared on the Pokénav's small screen.

"Hi mum."

"Hello Ash. So are you in Hoenn now?"

"Yeah I am. It's already been a pretty crazy adventure since I left Pallet"

"Really? What happened?"

Ash proceeded to tell her everything that had happened so far.

"Well you've certainly had an interesting start to this journey. By the way Brock and Misty called. They wanted to meet up with you."

Ash stiffened and prayed to Arceus that she hadn't told them where he was.

"What did you tell them?"

"I said that you had left and were headed for Hoenn. Brock seemed very understanding although a bit hurt that you hadn't talked to him about your decision. Misty on the other hand well she didn't take it quite as well."

Ash face palmed. He was not looking forward to his next meeting with Misty.

"Wait you didn't tell them my number did you?"

"No I thought you'd prefer to call them when you're ready rather than have them call you."

Ash let out a sigh of relief. At least he had time to think about what to tell them.

"Thanks mum."

"No problem."

"Ok mum I'd better get going. I'll call you at least once a week."

"Ok honey have fun."

Ash hung up and then checked the map feature on the Pokénav. He saw that Littleroot Town was to the west. He placed the Pokénav back on his belt and sent out Pidgeot. He put the incubator in his back pack and got on Pidgeot's back.

"Ok Pidgeot head west."

Pidgeot nodded and took off.

Pidgeot landed in Littleroot a couple of hours later. Ash returned Pidgeot and started walking toward Professor Birch's lab. He was hoping that it wouldn't take long for Professor Birch to sign him up for the Hoenn League as he had a tight schedule he was hoping to keep to which involved getting to Petalburg by tonight. He walked into the lab and saw Professor Birch tapping away on his computer. Hearing the door open Professor Birch turned to look at Ash.

"Hello I'm Professor Birch. Who are you?"

"Hi I'm Ash Ketchum. I'm here to sign up for the Hoenn League."

"Ah yes Professor Oak told me that you would be here sometime this week."

"I can come back if you are busy."

"No it's fine I was just sending an E-mail to the other Professor's about a study I recently did on Pokémon habitats. Give me you Pokédex and I'll start submitting your data to the Hoenn League so that you can compete. This will take a while to verify though. You can take a look around the lab while you wait."

"Ok."

Ash handed Professor Birch his Pokédex. He left the Professor and went into the main room. As he looked around he saw a very sad looking Mudkip sitting all alone, its shoulders were slumped and it was just poking at its food. Professor Birch walked in and saw Ash looking at Mudkip he stood next to Ash and said.

"Poor little guy has been like that all day."

"Why is he acting like that?"

"Two people started their journeys today. One was a girl called May who chose Torchic and the other was a boy named Adam who chose Treecko. That meant that Mudkip has been left behind and he is devastated that he wasn't chosen. It's a shame because honestly out of the three he is by far the best battler. But he is a bit of a prankster when he first saw May he shot a Water Gun in her face."

Ash let out a quick laugh but then looked back to Mudkip.

"So what will happen to him now?"

"He'll wait here until next year when the next batch of trainers come to collect their first Pokémon."

Ash saw the depressed look on Mudkip's face and nodded to Raichu and Meowth. They took the incubator from him and placed it on the table. Ash then went over to the water starter and sat down in front of him. Mudkip looked up at Ash and the look in Mudkip's eyes broke the young trainer's heart. He picked Mudkip up and placed him in his lap. Mudkip seemed surprised but he relished the attention as Ash started stroking him.

"Listen those other trainers don't know what they're missing out on. I can tell that you're a great Pokémon."

Mudkip seemed to brighten up at Ash's words and he now had a smile on his face.

"So would you want to come with me if Professor Birch allows it?"

Mudkip responded by happily saying his name and rubbing his cheek against Ash's.

"I'll take that as a yes, so Professor Birch can I take Mudkip?"

"Sure Ash."

Professor Birch handed Mudkip's poke ball to Ash. He returned him and clipped his poke ball to his belt. Ash picked his egg back up, when it suddenly started glowing. Ash quickly put the incubator back on the desk and took the lid off. Professor Birch, Raichu and Meowth left the room knowing how important the first few moments after an egg hatched are. Ash stood excitedly watching as the egg cracked open and finally revealed the shiny Eevee he'd been expecting. Ash slowly picked up Eevee and cradled it. Eevee looked at Ash and immediately nuzzled into his chest. Ash smiled and walked into the next room to join Professor Birch, Meowth and Raichu. After thinking about it Ash decided not to put Eevee in a poke ball yet as it might be scary for the young Pokémon. Professor Birch walked over to Ash and told him that he was now officially signed him up for the Hoenn League. Ash thanked the Professor and left the lab beginning his Hoenn journey and although that excited him his attention was mostly on Eevee right now. On the outskirts of Littleroot Ash took his Pokédex off his belt and quickly scanned Eevee. He found out that Eevee is a female, her move set was as you'd expect but her egg moves were Shadow Ball and Iron Tail which was a pleasant surprise for Ash. He put the Pokédex back in its place and continued walking.

About an hour after leaving Littleroot Town, Ash heard a scream and shot off in the direction it came from and saw a girl that had a group of Poochyena and a pair of nasty looking Mightyena closing in on her. Ash took 3 poke balls off his belt.

"Totodile, Cyndaquil, Phanpy to the battlefield."

The trio appeared and were joined by Raichu, Ash could tell that the pack in front of him wasn't particularly powerful but they were numerous and they had 2 Mightyena leading them and they both looked vicious.

"Me, Raichu and Meowth have got the Mightyena, you three take down the Poochyena."

Ash watched Phanpy, Totodile and Cyndaquil curl into balls and roll straight at the group of Poochyena which sent several of them skidding across the ground, blasts of fire and water were now being fired while Phanpy kept using Rollout to attack the Poochyena. The Mightyena were now circling Raichu and Meowth who were stood back to back. The Mightyena were obviously attempting to be threatening but Meowth and Raichu weren't affected. Suddenly they pounced presuming that they had an advantage but they were sadly mistaken.

"Iron Tail."

Meowth and Raichu's tails turned metallic. Raichu smacked his tail into one of the Mightyena's face and Meowth slammed his tail into the other ones gut. The attacks sent them both crashing into a group of Poochyena that were about to jump on Phanpy. The Mightyena got back up and snarled. Completely enraged the duo started charging at Raichu and Meowth.

"Use Quick Attack."

Raichu and Meowth began running at the Mightyena but Raichu wasn't hitting the speed Ash knew he could go and Meowth was shooting way ahead of him. Suddenly Raichu became surrounded in electricity and he shot past Meowth who was so stunned that he had stopped running. Ash was proud that Raichu had finally learned Volt Tackle after they'd spent so long trying to learn it when he was a Pikachu. Raichu rammed into both Mightyena and they were both easily overwhelmed and went flying backwards landing amongst several of the Poochyena that had been knocked out.

"Raichu get rid of them with Thunder."

Raichu fired the largest bolt of electricity he ever had at the pack, which made them all yelp in agony. The power of the attack created an explosion that sent the entire pack crashing into the forest behind them, slamming into the trees and boulders. Once he was sure that the pack wasn't coming back Ash returned Totodile, Cyndaquil and Phanpy so they could rest. He looked to where the bandana wearing girl was sat and Ash then saw the smouldering remains of a bike next to her. Ash groaned.

"Oh crap not again."

Ash stood there cursing his luck he couldn't believe that he'd trashed another bike. He was surprised that the girl hadn't said anything yet but maybe she was in shock from the pack attacking her. While she sat there still silent Ash wondered who she was. It was possible that this is May the girl that Professor Birch had told him about. She looked like an inexperienced trainer and they were really close to Littleroot Town so it would make sense. But then wouldn't her Torchic have been out fighting the pack? He'd just have to ask her about it when she started talking. The girl was still on the ground so Ash held his hand out to the girl who took it and he pulled her to her feet. Now based on past experience Ash was expecting a lot of shouting and he would probably be hit with something, but what happened shocked him. She hugged him so tight he thought she would break him in two. He could he hear her just saying thank you over and over. Ash nervously laughed.

"You're welcome. Um are you okay?"

She released her grip on Ash and looked up at him.

"I'm fine thanks."

"That's good. So why did they attack you?"

"Well..."

Flashback

May was riding down route 101 with Torchic looking for any Pokémon to catch. She then saw a Poochyena eating from a berry bush. She quietly got off her bike and silently walked behind the unsuspecting Pokémon. When they were close enough May told Torchic to attack the Poochyena. The Poochyena was hit by the attack and yelped, this drew attention to them and May saw several sets of hate filled eyes looking at her and Torchic. The Poochyena and a Mightyena walked out of the shadows and they all looked extremely pissed.

Knowing that there was no way she could fight of the horde she quickly returned Torchic and ran to her bike. She got on and began peddling as fast as she could but they were gaining on her and when she looked back to see how close they were her bike hit a rock on the ground and the bike flipped forward leaving her defenceless on the ground. Her only hope now was that someone would hear her and come save her so she screamed as loud as she could.

Flashback end

"That's when you arrived."

Ash chuckled at how similar that was to his first day as a trainer minus the screaming of course. Now that he had taken lessons with Professor Oak he knew that Pokémon like Poochyena usually lived in packs so you attack one and you attack them all which meant that unless you had a full team you shouldn't really challenge a Pokémon like Poochyena. May turned red as Ash laughed at her.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Sorry I was just thinking how much it reminded me of my first day as a trainer."

"What happened?""

"Let's just say I pissed off the wrong Spearow."

Ash then caught sight of her ruined bike.

"Hey I'm sorry about your bike."

She waved a dismissive hand.

"Don't worry about it. You saved my life my bike was in pretty bad shape anyway from when it hit the rock and catapulted through the air."

Ash was glad that she wasn't mad at him. He then realised that he hadn't introduced himself.

"By the way I'm Ash."

"I'm May."

Just as Ash expected she was the girl Professor Birch told him about. He was about to ask her how Torchic was when Ash's Pokénav started ringing. He took it off his belt and saw it was an unknown number. He guessed it must be a wrong number. He received the call and a very pissed off redhead appeared on the screen.

"ASH KETCHUM I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Her voice was so loud that Ash thought he'd been deafened. He then heard a whimpering sound and knew it was coming from Eevee. He looked at her and she was trembling violently. Although Ash knew that the consequences for this would be bad he hung up and hugged Eevee tightly. He kept a tight hold of her until her shaking gradually lessened. Meowth then asked.

"Hey boss how did the twerpette know your number?"

"I don't know. But then nothing Misty does surprises me anymore I mean she's been pulling her mallet out of nowhere for the last four years so her getting my Pokénav number isn't that farfetch'd. My guess is that she called Tracey and he gave her my number."

Raichu then piped up.

'You know Misty is going to beat the living shit out of you when we next see her.'

Ash sighed.

"Yeah I know buddy. But Eevee was scared and she is far more important."

Raichu nodded in agreement. Ash then remembered May had been stood with him the whole time. He turned to look and her and she was wide-eyed and her jaw had dropped.

"May?"

Her expression didn't change. Ash waved his hand in front of her face and then tried snapping his fingers but nothing broke her out of her shock. Ash rubbed his chin as he tried to think of something to break her out of her trance. Then an idea came to him.

"Mudkip to the battlefield."

Mudkip appeared and smiled brightly when he saw Ash. He then saw May and a devious smirk appeared on his face. He shot a Water Gun and completely drenched her. This pulled her back to reality. She looked at Meowth and shouted.

"What the hell that cat just talked."

"Yeah he learned when he was younger, it's a long story."

May then realised that the Mudkip from earlier was now stood before. She then realised that she was dripping wet and the little monster in front of her was probably why she was wet. She pointed angrily at him.

"Damn it that Mudkip soaked me again."

"That's my fault, you weren't reacting to anything I did so I had him Water Gun you. Don't worry we'll stop for lunch here and my Cyndaquil will warm you up."

May nodded in response and gave Mudkip a glare. She then shuddered as another strong wind cut straight through her. An hour ago the cool wind had felt nice as she was riding her bike but now in these sopping wet clothes she felt like she would freeze to death. Ash saw how cold she now was thanks to Mudkip drenching her and sent out his Pokémon quickly telling Cyndaquil to sit near May so she could warm up. Cyndaquil nodded and sat in front of May. Flames then erupted from the 4 red spots on his back and May sighed in content as the wind no longer felt like it would turn her into a block of ice. As she sat there Ash started preparing lunch. By the time he was finished May's clothes had now dried and she was now sat with her Torchic.

"Ok everyone lunch is ready."

Ash's Pokémon all started digging into the food. Torchic took a small bite and was amazed at how tasty it was, Torchic then started scoffing the food just like Ash's Pokémon. Ash chuckled as he watched the Pokémon eat. He looked back to May and saw that she was inspecting the sandwiches he had made.

"What's in these?"

Ash took a bite out of his own sandwich and casually replied.

"Berries."

"You mean like Oran and Pecha berries?"

"Yeah. Trust me I know it probably sounds strange but just try one."

May was still dubious but she had no reason to doubt what Ash had said so she took a bite. Ash smirked as he saw her face light up and moments later her first sandwich was gone. Ash kept munching on his as May demolished her next one in no time. After a couple of minutes she had finished every last one of her sandwiches and Ash hadn't even got half way. May was now looking longingly at Ash's plate, the young trainer from Pallet Town sighed and took a sandwich for himself before handing the plateful of sandwiches to May.

After they finished lunch Ash said he'd accompany May to Petalburg since he was going that way, which after the incident with the Poochyena she was grateful for. Ash had hoped to reach Petalburg today but realised that it probably wouldn't happen now. But considering what had happened he would be happy enough reaching Oldale Pokémon Centre and then getting to Petalburg early tomorrow morning. Ash returned his Pokémon and Meowth and Raichu took their places on Ash's shoulders. They began the journey north as they were walking Ash and May were looking for Pokémon to catch. May caught a Wurmple hoping she'd get a Beautifly. The only other Pokémon they encountered were Zigzagoon which was what Ash was expecting but he was still disappointed none the less.

When he could see the tops of houses Ash considered hiding Eevee away, carrying around a shiny Eevee would draw a lot of attention and she'd been a target for thieves, Ash knew that with Raichu and Meowth they'd be able to fend off anyone but he didn't want to risk it. He looked at the inner pockets of his trench coat and saw that there was a deep one that Eevee could rest in. He looked at her and saw that she had fallen asleep sometime, he smiled at the peaceful look on her face and he gently eased Eevee into the pocket.

They walked into the Pokémon Centre and gave their Pokémon to Nurse Joy. The only exception was Eevee as she was still sleeping in Ash's coat. Nurse Joy took a quick look at their Pokémon and told Ash and May that they just needed a rest. She had also said that Ash's Pokémon were in incredible condition showing that he must take very good care of them. Ash and May booked a couple of rooms and went to bed.

Notes

Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.

If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Custom moves

Aqua Wheel – Equivalent of Flame Wheel

Ash:

Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)

Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy & Sneasel

Hoenn - Mudkip