Happy New Year guys. I hope you all had very happy holidays.

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

Here's chapter 5 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.

After a 15 minute chase Mudkip and Totodile were finally hit by Raichu, he hadn't hit them with a very powerful attack. It was more like a weak Thundershock, it was enough to hurt and make a point but not enough to seriously harm them. Afterwards Raichu had sat down grumpily on his own. Ash saw the look on the mouse's face and felt incredibly guilty as it was his fault this had happened. He opened the zipped pocket in his backpack and took out the bottle of ketchup he had hidden there. He walked over to his best friend and offered the bottle to Raichu. The mouse looked at the bottle dubiously, after what had happened earlier he was reluctant to take it. Ash wasn't surprised that Raichu wouldn't take it so he unscrewed the top and took a sip from the bottle. Ash screwed up his face as he swallowed the ketchup, he didn't mind the stuff when he put it on food but just having the stuff straight out of the bottle tasted awful. Ash looked at Raichu who was now chuckling and asked.

"How do you guzzled down a whole bottle of this at a time?"

Raichu shrugged and quickly snatched the bottle away from Ash and sat down next to Totodile and Mudkip. The trio started talking showing that there were no hard feelings and Raichu started downing the bottle. Ash went back to his backpack and took out a bar of chocolate to hopefully get rid of the taste of ketchup in his mouth. He sat down next to Ralts and Eevee placing the young Pokémon in his lap. They both looked at the bar of chocolate that Ash was eating wondering what it was. Ash saw the looks and broke a couple of tiny pieces off and placed the chocolate in their mouths. They let the chocolate dissolve in their mouths and Ash smiled as he saw the delighted looks on their faces. He gave them each another piece and then polished off the rest of the bar.

As it got late Ash looked at Totodile and Mudkip and saw that both of them still hadn't fully recovered from their incident with Raichu. Since they wouldn't get to Rotarka before night fell Ash chose to stay in the clearing and hopefully get to Rotarka Town tomorrow provided that nothing else delayed him.

By the morning Mudkip and Totodile had recovered from their shocking experience yesterday and Ash was able to continue his journey to Rotarka Town. To his surprise they had no interruptions all morning so they made good time. After a few hours of walking through the forest the woods started to thin and buildings started coming into view on the horizon. Ash knew that it was Rotarka Town which meant Eevee was going to have to be hidden again. As they got to the outskirts of the town Ash looked at Eevee sadly.

"It's time for you to hide in my coat Eevee."

She whined and looked up at him with sad wide eyes. The look broke Ash's heart, but he had to do this to keep her safe.

"I'm sorry Eevee but it is for your own protection."

She hung her head and whined again but allowed Ash to put her in the pocket. She wiggled around in the pocket trying to get as close to Ash as possible to try and feel some of the comfort and warmth that she felt in his embrace. Ash didn't like having to do this but until she could defend herself she was a target for thieves and he didn't want any harm to befall her.

He entered Rotarka Town and took a quick look around and saw that it was similar in many ways to Pallet Town. The only major difference was the small stadium in the centre of the town and the Pokémon Centre next to it. Since this would be a common Route for new trainers to take to Rustboro it made sense that a tournament would be set up to help them gain battle experience. Ash was just hoping that they weren't all new trainers because he wanted his new Pokémon to have a challenge. He knew his older ones would in all likelihood whitewash this so he wouldn't use them unless he knew it was a strong opponent.

After his quick tour of the town Ash walked down the high-street heading for the Pokémon Centre. He wanted Nurse Joy to check Ralts up for any other injuries she might have sustained. He was keeping said Pokémon shielded as much as possible, he had considered putting her in with Eevee but it would have been cramped and would have made Eevee even more miserable. He figured that Ralts would draw far less attention than Eevee, as long as nobody sees her bruised face. They managed to get to the Pokémon Centre with very few people stopping them. It was mostly people wanting to see the cute Ralts in his arms. To make sure people wouldn't see her injuries every time someone did stop them Ralts buried her face in Ash's shirt. He'd give the person an apologetic look and tell them that she's young and shy which they understood. Ash walked into the Pokémon Centre and went to the main desk handing his Pokéballs to Nurse Joy. He then explained what had happened to Ralts and Nurse Joy looked mortified at what Ash had told her. Ash tried handing over Eevee and Ralts but neither of them wanted to be parted from Ash. They only agreed to go when Raichu and Meowth assured them that they would be right by them all the time. It didn't take long for Nurse Joy to do the check ups and found they were all healthy and that Ralts had no other injuries which was a huge relief to Ash. He saw the leaflets advertising the tournament on the desk and after he calmed Eevee and Ralts down he turned his attention back to Nurse Joy.

"I'd like to sign up for the tournament Nurse Joy."

"Ok I'll just need your name and the four Pokémon you intend to use."

This surprised Ash, he didn't think he'd have to choose his Pokémon now.

"Do I have to choose now?"

"Yes the chosen Pokémon have to be registered with your application. It is done so that people can't get an advantage over their opponent."

Ash nodded. He understood the logic as newer trainers would learn nothing if they just relied on type advantage all the time. He stood in silence for a minute as he pondered who to use. He eventually managed to narrow his team down to 4.

"I'm ready to sign up Nurse Joy. I'm Ash Ketchum and I choose Mudkip, Sneasel, Cyndaquil and Raichu."

She nodded and entered the data into the computer.

"You are now registered. You have five days until the tournament begins."

"Thank you Nurse Joy. Are there any rules for the tournament?"

"It is double battles. The first trainer to lose all four Pokémon loses. The prize for winning is a mystery egg and a set of evolutionary stones"

Ash was shocked. He had expected the prize to be maybe some Great Balls or some Potions.

"Wow that's amazing, thanks again Nurse Joy."

Ash left the Pokémon Centre and began walking out of town again, he had considered finding somewhere to stay in the town but the clearing they'd been in last night was fine and had everything he'd need to train. As he walked back to the clearing he hoped that like today there were would be no distractions.

When he got back to the clearing they had stayed in yesterday he sent out all of his Pokémon and began telling them what their training will be.

"Totodile keep working on Hydro Pump, you were pretty close back at the ranch and I think you will have no problem perfecting it soon. Meowth work on Water Pulse, you have come a long way since you first started learning the move and I think with a little more practise you'll be able to use the attack. Cyndaquil and Phanpy work on your accuracy for Hidden Power. You have the power you just need to work on the direction. Mudkip we are gonna keep strengthening your tail-fin. Pidgeot if you think your wings are strong enough now start working on Close Combat. If a Staraptor can learn it then I have no doubt that you can to."

The Pokémon all nodded and started doing as Ash had instructed apart from Mudkip who had to wait for Ash to tie the rock to his tail-fin. Once the rock was attached he began running around the area as he had done yesterday. Raichu, Nincada and Sneasel were the only ones now waiting for instructions. He intended to find out the moves Sneasel and Nincada knew. Which left Raichu the problem being that Ash was unsure of to have him work on. After the tournament he was going to call Snorlax over to help him learn Hyper Beam. After a moments thought he got an idea.

"Raichu you need more variety in your moves so I think you should work on Brick Break."

The mouse nodded in agreement. As much as he hated to admit it his rather shallow set of offensive moves meant he would struggle against several opponents. A Fighting move would cover several of the types his Normal, Electric and Steel moves couldn't do much damage to.

"So do you think you'll be able to do that on your own while I work with Sneasel and Nincada?"

Again Raichu nodded. He remembered Charizard practising the move back and the ranch and he didn't think he'd have a problem replicating the move. Raichu scampered off to a separate part of the clearing and began working on Brick Break. This just left Sneasel and Nincada, Ash took out his Pokédex and scanned Nincada first.

"This Nincada is male and has the ability Compound Eyes. It knows the following moves Scratch, X-Scissor, Harden and Dig"

He hadn't honestly been expected to find much past X-Scissor and Dig due to him being a wild Pokémon.

"Well Nincada we've got to work on a couple of moves for you as it is a bit of a shallow move set right now. But I'm amazed that you knew X-Scissor, that is really impressive."

Nincada beamed at the praise. Before he got Nincada training Ash wanted to know how Nincada had gotten so strong. He called Meowth over so that he could talk with Nincada.

"Hey Nincada how long had you been on Route 104?"

The bug chattered a few times and Ash looked at Meowth

"He says he was there 2 years before you arrived."

Ash was amazed that he'd been there 2 years. It did explain how he'd gotten so strong. Ash started looking through the list of moves Nincada could learn and eventually decided on 2 moves.

"I think we should try Hidden Power so you have a ranged attack and Metal Claw which is a good coverage move. First we'll try Hidden Power since Phanpy and Cyndaquil are practising their accuracy with it right now you should train with them."

Nincada nodded and walked off to the area Phanpy an Cyndaquil were, they saw the bug coming towards them and stopped firing their attacks. Ash saw Phanpy and Cyndaquil instructing Nincada and knew he would learn it in no time.

"Thanks Meowth. I won't take anymore of your time."

The cat gave a quick nod and went back over to Totodile and started forming an orb of water in front of him. Ash then scanned Sneasel.

"This Sneasel is female and has the ability Inner Focus. She knows the following moves Ice Beam, Night Slash, Fake Out, Quick Attack, Iron Tail and Hone Claws."

Ash's eyes widened. Her old trainer must have taught her well.

"Well I am very impressed Sneasel. Did your old trainer teach you these moves?"

She blushed at the praise and shook her head.

"You mean you learned these moves all by yourself."

She nodded. Ash smiled and scratched behind her ear making Sneasel sigh in content.

"Looking at what you already know I think you should work with Raichu on Brick Break."

Sneasel shot up and ran over to Raichu. The pair began working together practising on the nearby boulders. As his Pokémon trained Ash sat down with Ralts and Eevee and watched his Pokémon train.

When it was around midday Ash started making lunch. He had been impressed at the improvement several of them had made. Ash saw Mudkip come and lay down next to him looking exhausted. He took the rock off his tail-fin and Mudkip instantly relaxed. Suddenly Ash and his Pokémon heard a scream, on instinct Ash returned his Pokémon and started sprinting to where it had come from. Ash passed through the thick forest and saw 2 men in uniforms which consisted of black trousers, a blood red shirt and a ice blue trench coat. The trench coat had the letter F on the back which was also blood red. The men had evil grins on their faces and were trapping a girl who was probably only eleven or twelve years old against a tree. The girl had long black hair which was tied into pigtails and her eyes were ice blue. She was wearing a white shirt, a dark blue jacket, blue jeans and a pair of running shoes. Both of the men were closing in one her, she slid down the tree and started sobbing and shaking violently. Ash yelled at the pair.

"Leave her alone you scum."

The men turned around to see who had interrupted them and snorted.

"Get out of here kid, we haven't got the time to waste on a weakling like you."

He sent a glare at the men.

"I said let her go."

"Nice try kid but you're not going to intimidate us. We are members of Team Firestorm and we won't be scared by a kid. Now this is your last warning leave now or else."

Ash knew that unlike Team Rocket these guys were no joke they were truly evil he could tell by the look in their eyes. They both saw that Ash was not leaving so they both threw a poke ball revealing a Corphish and a Numel, both of whom wore sinister grins just like their masters. One of the men then spotted the shiny Eevee in Ash's arms.

"Hey kid give us the Eevee and you and the girl can go."

Ash instinctively tightened his grip on Eevee and Ralts and pulled 2 Pokéballs off his belt.

"Hell no. Nincada, Pidgeot to the battlefield."

They appeared in a flash of light and looked at their opponents who still had the same sinister look on their faces. Ash once again handed the young Pokémon to Raichu who placed them on the ground and stood in front of them his cheeks sparking. Meowth also stood in front of the children extending his claws.

"Corphish hit that pathetic bug with Bubblebeam."

"Numel scorch the bird with Flamethrower."

"Pidgeot strafe left and use Aerial Ace and Nincada use Dig then X-Scissor."

Corphish shot a large stream of bubbles at Nincada who quickly dug underground making the bubbles harmlessly pass over the hole he had created. Meanwhile Numel shot a burst of flames at Pidgeot who easily dodged the attack and then shot towards the camel. She slammed into him and sent him flying back, Nincada then burst out of the ground with his forearms crossed in front of him and he slashed Numel which sent him crashing back to the ground. He got up but his rear left leg was shaking. The members of Team Firestorm growled angrily.

"Corphish use Crabhammer on that worthless bug."

"Pidgeot intercept with Quick Attack. Nincada X-Scissor on Corphish."

"Numel go for another Flamethrower."

Corphish ran at Nincada who was still falling to the ground after his previous attack. Corphish threw his right claw forward but instead of hitting Nincada he was matched by Pidgeot who was matching Corphish's power. The two remained deadlocked until Pidgeot was hit by a burst of flames, which provided enough of a distraction for Corphish to charge up a Crabhammer in its other claw and slam it straight into Pidgeot's gut. She quickly put some distance between her and Corphish so she could back to recover. Nincada seeing his chance ran forward and hit Corphish with X-Scissor making the crab stagger back and put a claw on the large gash along the right hand side of his body. Nincada and Pidgeot were now back in front of Ash and were pretty much fully fit. Corphish and Numel on the other hand were now struggling to stand, the gash created by Nincada's X-Scissor was seriously limiting Corphish's movement and Numel's rear left leg was now in an even worse state than it had been after his collision with the ground. Ash smirked as he knew that he had this battle won.

"It's over for you both now, Nincada jump on Pidgeot's back."

Nincada sent a confused look at Ash wondering what that would achieve but quickly accepted that his trainer had a plan so he did as he was told. The second he was on her back Pidgeot ascended back into the sky going quite high which was unnerving Nincada who preferred to have his feet firmly on the ground.

"Now throw Nincada at Corphish and speed him up with Gust and Nincada use X-Scissor."

The bug's eyes widened clearly not liking this plan. He had no chance to argue as he was thrown off of Pidgeot's back and could feel the wind behind him accelerating him. Since there was no way of stopping what was happening he decided to just go with it and crossed his front forelegs in front of him. His claws slammed into Corphish and due to the immense speed Nincada was going Corphish was sent careening back into Numel sending them both sprawling.

"Now Pidgeot finish it with Brave Bird."

Pidgeot tucked her wings in and flew at the prone Pokémon who had no chance to escape their fate and Pidgeot slammed into them, knocking them both out. The members of Team Firestorm quickly returned their defeated Pokémon and started running hoping they'd escape but there was no way Ash was gonna let them get away.

"Oh no you don't, Raichu use Thunder Wave."

Raichu shot some electricity at the fleeing men and it made them both collapse to the ground unable to move a muscle. Now that they had been stopped Ash walked over to the girl who was still shaking on the ground. Ash placed his hand gently on her shoulder and softly said.

"Hey, it's ok I've beaten them now you're going to be fine."

The girl looked up at him with tear filled eyes which were now red from her sobbing. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Ash while crying into his shirt. Ash held her tightly and rubbed her back trying to sooth her as she cried, eventually she calmed down enough to talk coherently.

"T-t-t-hank you s-s-so much for s-saving me. If you hadn't have c-c-come along I don't know what they'd have done."

"It's no problem. Hey Pidgeot can you go back to Rotarka Town and get Officer Jenny for me?"

Pidgeot nodded and took off back towards the town. When she was out of sight Ash looked back to the girl he'd saved she was still letting out a few whimpers but her shaking had stopped.

"Hey what's your name?"

"My name is Vanya. What is yours?"

"I'm Ash. Are you ok? They didn't hurt you did they?"

"No I'm fine thanks to you. My Pokémon on the other hand are hurt. We were training and when they were tired those men attacked. My Pokémon hadn't had a chance to recover so they were quickly beaten."

"Don't worry about that. If you want you can come with me to my camp and I'll see if I can heal them up."

A small smile was now on her face and she wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"Thank you that would be great."

Ash smiled back.

"No problem."

Officer Jenny arrived not long after on her bike, she handcuffed the 2 men and thanked Ash for his help. After the men had been taken away, Vanya picked up her back pack and Ash returned his Pokémon. He picked up Eevee and Ralts and led Vanya back to his camp. He was shocked to find that it was exactly how he had left it, which considering he had been in the process of making lunch was amazing. He had honestly been expecting to see the food to be gone and the camp to be a mess. Before continuing lunch Ash decided to take a look at Vanya's Pokémon and see how they were. Upon checking them he found a couple had some minor wounds that needed healing but other than that they were just suffering from exhaustion which a good nights sleep would cure.

Ash and Vanya spent the rest of the day talking about their experiences as trainers. Shortly after the evening meal Ash saw that Vanya had fallen asleep, but considering what had happened today it was hardly surprising. He very gently picked her up and placed her in his sleeping bag. After making sure she was comfortable he went and sat in the shade of a tree with Eevee and Ralts. As he sat there he felt something hit him on the back of the head and when he turned around he saw that it was Nincada who began talking very quickly and from the tone very angrily. Ash looked at Meowth who was listening intently.

"So what did he just say?"

"Well let's just say dat he's pissed at dat last move you pulled."

"Sorry Nincada."

Nincada waved a forearm at him and lied down in the shade. Ash looked around and everyone was relaxing in the lake or lying in the shade, Ash let them be he knew that training could postponed for a day and he wanted Vanya to get some rest as she needed it. He looked down and saw that Eevee and Ralts had now fallen asleep. The sight made him smile and he closed his eyes joining them in slumber.

Next morning Vanya's eyes fluttered open. She could tell that it was early, much earlier than she usually awoke. As she sat up she realised now that she was in a sleeping bag and knew that Ash must have put her in it. She looked around the area they were in and saw Ash training with his Pokémon. He was doing push ups and his Eevee and Ralts were sat on his back making both of them giggle. She stretched her arms out and got up, she walked over to him and as she approached Ash saw her out the corner of his eye.

"Ah good morning. You're up early. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah I did thanks."

Ash did a couple more push ups and then stopped, Eevee and Ralts jumped off his back and Ash went into a sitting position the young Pokémon then leapt into his lap and nuzzled him. Vanya looked at the two young Pokémon sat in Ash's lap.

"Those two are very affectionate towards you."

Ash started scratching behind Eevee's ears with one hand while he gently stroked Ralts' hair with the other.

"Yeah well I hatched Eevee so I guess I'm a father to her and I saved Ralts' life a couple of days ago so I guess she's really grateful."

Ash felt Ralts tug on his shirt, he looked down and saw her shake her head confusing the young trainers. She then started pointing from herself to Eevee and then to Ash. Vanya was still confused at the young Pokémon's actions however Ash had a pretty good feeling that he knew what she meant. Vanya looked quizzically at Ash and asked.

"What is she saying?"

"I think she's saying that she sees me as a father too."

Ralts nodded and nuzzled him again.

"So you're a parent of two?"

They heard Phanpy cry out in the distance.

"Actually it's three."

They looked at Phanpy who was pouting.

"Yes Phanpy I know I'm your father too."

Phanpy instantly perked up and cried out happily. Vanya giggled at the interaction between Ash and his Pokémon, she thought it was very sweet seeing someone who had such a close bond to his Pokémon. She was broken out of her thought when Ash started talking again.

"So I was thinking I'd get you to Rotarka Town today so you can meet up with your brother. I'm sure he'll be worried about you."

"Yes Thalion will be, he is a bit overprotective of me."

"Well he is your older brother so it's not surprising. Right I'll go get breakfast sorted and then we can get going."

After breakfast Ash and Vanya returned their Pokémon and began walking back to Rotarka Town. When they got back to the town they headed straight for the Pokémon centre thinking it would be the best place to start searching for Thalion. When they entered a man quickly ran up to Vanya and pulled her into a bone crushing hug which she returned.

"Vanya there you are I've been so worried about you."

The boy who Ash now assumed to be Thalion had long Blonde hair which was tied into a pony tail, his eyes like his sister's were ice blue, he wore a blue shirt, a black jacket and blue jeans he also wore running shoes, a black bandana with a poke ball on it and had black fingerless gloves. He was about the same height as Ash making him believe that Thalion was about the same age as him.

"It's good to see you too big brother, but can you please let me go."

Thalion reluctantly released his little sister from the embrace. Ash turned around and walked towards the exit. He thought that they would probably want some privacy. As he was about to leave he felt a hand pull him back. He turned around and saw Vanya looking up at him and she asked.

"Ash where are you going?"

"I was just going to give you both some alone time."

She playfully swatted him.

"Don't be silly."

She kept a tight hold of his arm and practically dragged Ash over to her brother.

"Ash this is Thalion, Thalion this is Ash."

The young trainers shook hands.

"It's good to meet you Ash."

"You too Thalion, Vanya has told me a lot about you."

"Nothing bad I hope."

Both boys chuckled.

"So how do you know Vanya?"

"Well..."

Ash and Vanya told Thalion their story. From when the men first attacked her to Ash coming and saving her. Ash looked into Thalion's eyes and saw several emotions relief, gratitude, fear and strangely Ash thought he saw a bit of guilt which confused him. When they had finished telling Thalion what had happened he wrapped his sister in another hug, after a while he released her and looked at Ash.

"Thanks for rescuing my sister. She means the world to me I don't know what I would have had something happened to her."

There it was again, that look of guilt. Ash was guessing that he blamed himself for not being there to protect his sister. Ash chuckled at the thought as he knew that's exactly how he'd have felt.

"It's no problem I'm just glad I got there in time to help."

Vanya wanting to change the subject asked.

"So are you competing in the tournament Ash?"

"Yeah I am. Are you two?"

"Yep we both are."

"Well hopefully we'll get to battle."

As much as Ash had enjoyed the company of the siblings he knew that he needed to get back to training. He'd lost a lot of time due to various interruptions since he'd got to Hoenn and it would take a lot of work to catch up on all that lost time.

"Well guys I need to get going. I need to get some more training done for the tournament."

"Yeah we need to do the same. Thanks again Ash for saving my sister."

"It's no problem. I'll see you both at the tournament."

Ash and Thalion shook hands once again and Vanya hugged Ash. They left the Pokémon Centre and went their separate ways to train for the tournament. The thought of battling the siblings he'd just met excited Ash especially the thought of battling Thalion as he could tell by the way Thalion carried himself that he'd be a challenge.

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.

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, Nincada & Ralts