The past Ash came to a stop with a sigh. Things were not going as he had planned at all. His new Pokémon refused to get into its pokéball, it shocked him regularly and Gary was ahead of him already. At least he was dressed now in jeans, black t-shirt, blue and white jacket with his favourite league hat and some green gloves. His mom had even surprised him and given him a new pokébelt to hold all his new pokéballs. Why couldn't he have up earlier and gotten a Squirtle, or a Bulbasaur or even a Charmander. Also why had his mom insisted that he change into his pyjamas, at least he wouldn't have had to run all the way through Pallet Town in his pyjamas.
"Pikachu, are you going to be like this the whole way?" Ash asked Pikachu and knelt down beside the Pokémon. "Pi" Pikachu responded and turned its head away from Ash. "Is it because you don't like me?" Ash asked completely at a loss at what he should do. "Pika pika," Pikachu answered and nodded. "Well I like you a lot. And since you're the Pokémon I'm training don't you think you could be a little nicer and open your mouth and tell me what's wrong?" Ash replied. He was trying, really trying to understand what he'd done to upset the Pokémon. "Cha," Pikachu murmured as it opened its mouth wide and showed Ash its sharp teeth.
Ash looked in its mouth and felt a little like Pikachu was making fun of him. "That's not exactly what I meant. Is your name all you can say?" Ash retorted. "Pika," Pikachu affirmed with a nod. "Well then you're just like all Pokémon and you should like one and get inside the pokéball, just like it says in the pokédex," Ash informed Pikachu, slightly annoyed that Pikachu was refusing to co-operate with him at all and took out the pokédex to prove his point. "While being trained, a Pokémon usually stays inside its pokéball," the pokédex trilled. "Ya see?" Ash asked Pikachu. Pikachu only responded by hitting a button for more information on the pokédex. "However, there are many exceptions. Some Pokémon hate being confined" the pokédex continued. "Okay then, this oughta make things better and I'll get rid of these," Ash decided and untied Pikachu and took off the rubber gloves. "How's that?" Ash asked but Pikachu was still unhappy. "Still not good enough?" Ash realised and Pikachu nodded to confirm this to him. Ash sighed in defeat. How was he going to get through to Pikachu that he wanted to be friends? Suddenly they heard something coming towards them. They turned to see a wild Pidgey. Ash instantly forgot about his problems with Pikachu.
In the bush Ash and Pikachu shared a knowing look. They remembered this day very well. "So Ash, what changed Pikachu's mind about you?" Serena asked softly as they watched the past Ash use his pokédex to scan the Pidgey. Ash softly laughed and shook his head. "You'll see. But remember you have to keep down," Ash reminded her good-naturedly. As they watched the past Ash try to persuade Pikachu to battle the Pidgey for him. Pikachu merely ran up into a tree and yawned. It wasn't going to co-operate yet. The past Ash was getting very annoyed and angry at his new Pokémon by this point and responded to Pikachu's act of rebellion by trying to catch the Pokémon by himself by throwing a pokéball. Of course it didn't work, and the pokéball was thrown back to him. Pikachu simply laughed at his failure from in the tree. Ash used the pokédex to see where he went wrong. "To catch a Pokémon you usually have your own Pokémon battle with the other," the pokédex trilled in a surprisingly condensing tone. "Now he tells me," Ash muttered to himself dejectedly. Things were not going his way at all. "But I have to do everything myself," Ash angrily spat at the still laughing Pikachu. Then he saw his backpack and thought of, what he thought was, a great idea. After a few moments of fumbling in his backpack, he took out his pyjama top and attempted to sneak up on a Pidgey.
Brock, Brad and Serena stared at Ash in the bush. This was a person that they saw as quite a competent trainer and yet they were seeing how clueless he truly had been. Brock was wondering if he had done the wrong thing by giving Ash his first badge the way he had. Ash shrugged. "I'll admit, not my proudest moment. But this is my first day," Ash whispered as his past self covered a Pidgey with his pyjama top and was blown away by a gust attack and then a sand attack. Pikachu continued to laugh at its new trainer's misfortune.
The past Ash noticed a Ratatta looking in his backpack and chased it away. He pulled out his pokédex and learned that Ratatta was a forest Pokémon. "Yeah, but this isn't a forest. It's an open field!" Ash argued. "It also comes out into open fields to steal food from stupid travellers," The pokédex countered. "That means I'm stupid?" Ash asked a little insulted. Pikachu laughed at that exchange. Ash heard a few Pidgey cooing and appearing through the grass. They were taunting him now, he knew it. He angrily threw a stone and the Pidgey flew away. Ash watched them go and then spotted another bird Pokémon.
He threw another stone and it hit with perfect accuracy on the Pokémon's head. Then Ash realised it wasn't a Pidgey after all and took out its pokédex. "Unlike Pidgey, Spearow has a terrible attitude. It is very wild and will sometimes attack other Pokémon and humans," the pokédex trilled matter-of-factly. Ash instantly realised he was in trouble and ran to collect his backpack as the Spearow flew at him. Ash dodged the attacks and hid behind the tree as the Spearow flew at him repeatedly. Then it spotted Pikachu and started to fly at it. "Hey, leave Pikachu alone, it didn't throw the rock!" Ash ordered. It was his fault, not Pikachu's, that the Spearow was attacking. "Wild Pokémon are tend to be jealous of human trained Pokémon," the pokédex informed him spontaneously. The Spearow continued to attack Pikachu and tried to force it out of the tree. Afraid, Pikachu used its thunder shock attack to protect itself. The Spearow fell and then called for its friends. As a flock they attacked Ash and Pikachu as they ran for their lives. They pecked Pikachu and Ash viciously. Ash rushed forward as Pikachu fell. He picked up the weakened Pikachu and ran ahead until he came to a waterfall. He didn't have a choice. He pulled his hat backwards and jumped. The current carried them downstream.
So… until the next chapter.