Route 1.
Where every trainer begins on their journey in Pallet Town.
Ash had very few fond memories of this route since he was ten and started his own journey.
Pikachu's early disobedience, a Rattata stealing his food -along with his previous snarky Pokédex- and his worst mistake of all: enraging a Spearow flock.
Which is why he left one of his older Pokémon from his first journey to defend the ecosystem from the Kanto bird of prey.
Walking down the path with Pikachu and a couple other Pokémon in tow, Ash had to keep his eyes peeled.
Even though it may have been years, Ash couldn't help but be on edge. Pikachu echoed his trainer's sentiments. While Ash did want to catch a few more Pokémon, he wasn't exactly thinking about which ones he had in mind. Mentally, he had a list of certain Pokémon but finding them may be the hard part. This fact, however, wasn't going to stop Ash from trying to find the Pokémon he had in mind.
*RUSTLE* *RUSTLE*
Ash became alert when the rustling occurred, Pikachu generating some sparks himself. The trainer had a hand on his Pokéballs, ready to release the captor.
Out of the grass…
Came a Rattata, who tilted his head in confusion as to why the human and Pikachu got worked up.
Ash let out a sigh of relief but still, he had wanted a Rattata the first time. Picking out a Pokéball, he threw out the occupant which was no other than Scraggy.
"Scraggy!"
The Shedding Pokémon saw his opponent and Leered at the purple Mouse Pokémon. Rattata didn't seem amused but if this foreign Pokémon wanted to fight, the mouse was happy to oblige. The rat charged in and delivered a Tackle attack.
"Meet it with Headbutt!" Ash called. The reptile swung his head forward and matched the attack with a blow of his own. The impact sent the rodent back, who looked up and hissed at the attack. Rattata ran in again with a streak of white trailing him.
"Use High Jump Kick!" Scraggy thrusted a glowing red knee forward but it missed as Rattata swerved around with Quick Attack. The Shedding Pokémon clutched his knee in pain that his trainer couldn't help cringe at his mistake.
Rattata then glowed with a faint aura before lunging with a Bite attack, Biting Scraggy on the tail.
"Use Leer!" Scraggy Leered at his opponent which made the rodent back away.
"Brick Break!" Ash hoped that his training yesterday with Hawlucha was good enough. The Dark/Fighting type swung his arm down, nailing Rattata on the back which led to the Normal type mouse on the ground and in pain from the super-effective move.
Ash grinned before enlarging a Pokéball on his own, "Go, Pokéball!"
The red and white sphere tapped the Rattata before encompassing it into red energy. The Pokéball closed on itself before rocketing back and forth three times then a click, signaling a successful capture. It shrunk down, signaling that he had to transfer the Pokéball back to Oak since his party was full.
Ash smiled as he approached the Pokéball and caught himself a Rattata. He gave Scraggy a rub on the head for his hard work.
This was one of the main reasons why Ash brought Scraggy for Route 1. Every region had its own starting route which had a certain level of Pokémon that could be found. Scraggy, still technically one of his youngest, was great for training on this route since the experience would be great for him. Plus he owed it to a few of his Pokémon to bond with them.
"FEAROW!"
This cry made Ash and Pikachu go rigid before they saw what they had been dreading the moment they took a step on the first route.
Above them, they saw the brown Kanto bird of prey circle above them. Both trainer and starter didn't need to identify anything else as Fearow swooped down.
Ash quickly returned Scraggy to his Pokéball and reached for a new one. "Noivern, I choose you!"
The Soundwave Pokémon emerged and saw his 'dad' being attacked by the Beak Pokémon. The Flying/Dragon Pokémon flew and unleashed a series of soundwaves that struck the Fearow head-on.
Seeing the new adversary, Fearow shifted targets in an instant and flew in fast.
"Use Dragon Claw!" Ash yelled from his position. He knew the Fearow would be after him and Scraggy was nowhere near that level of fighting an aerial opponent yet. But Noivern, while still relatively young, had experience in aerial combat plus he owed it to the bat-wyvern Pokémon to use in some battles.
Noivern grew turquoise scaly claws and slashed the incoming brown bird who matched the Dragon-type move with a Drill Peck. In the corkscrew formation, Fearow disengaged before shining a triangle in his beak. He unleashed Tri-Attack, the tri-elemental attack hitting the Flying/Dragon-type with ice and electric properties doing damage.
"Acrobatics!" Noivern flipped away, glowed blue, and zipped all over before striking the Beak Pokémon. The Soundwave Pokémon turned around just in time to get hit with Assurance and Noivern descended to the ground to catch his breath.
Ash grit his teeth with his chosen Pokémon on the ground. The Fearow seemed to have done more damage with his Tri-Attack and Assurance. The bird narrowed his eyes on the human. Years of hatred boiled in the Kanto bird of prey as he descended again with a Drill Peck this time, aiming right at Ash now.
Ketchum readied his next command when a white streak ended up in front of Fearow instead. The Beak Pokémon stopped before seeing the sight of another bird in his way.
"Row!"
"Geot!"
Ash couldn't believe his ears when he heard the chirp. He looked up to see a Pidgeot flying in front of him, who seemed to be scolding the Fearow. Ultimately, the Beak Pokémon looked embarrassed that he is getting scolded for his behavior. Afterwards, both Kanto birds landed before the trainer and to Ketchum's surprise, the Fearow looked as if he was apologizing.
"Row…."
The Pidgeot had a look of satisfaction at the Beak Pokémon before she looked at the trainer.
"Pid…?" There was a question present in her cry. Looking closer, she made keen notes such as the black hair, Pikachu on his shoulder, eyes, and the z-marks. She had a suspicion but she wasn't fully sure.
"Pidgeot… do you remember me?" Ash asked, also having the same suspscions.
Pidgeot concentrated harder. She soon realized why Fearow was about to attack this trainer. Because this was her trainer.
"Pidgeot!" The Bird Pokémon flew over instantly, wrapping her wings around her old trainer and teammate with Pikachu nuzzling up to her plumage.
"Good to see you again," Ash greeted his first Normal/Flying-type. Noivern walked over, curious to know what was going on.
Ash noticed the Soundwave Pokémon before introducing him to Pidgeot. The Kanto Bird Pokémon gestured her wing prompting the Dragon/Flying to shake it with his winged hand.
In the back, Fearow grumbled something that Noivern heard, leading the latter to chastise the Beak Pokémon. The Kanto bird of prey took offense to it and squawked indignantly which the Soundwave Pokémon huffed before sizing up the bird.
Both Ash and Pidgeot had to step in, but what caught Ash's attention was how Pidgeot handled Fearow. She nuzzled up to him and there was a faint tinge of red on the cheeks of the murderous avian.
Ash wasn't completely sure what that meant so he let it go for now.
The two birds started chirping with one another, Fearow possibly in the mood for a fight while Pidgeot was just reprimanding him. After a few minutes, both birds finally came to an agreement.
"Row!"
"Geo."
Both birds stretched their wings which made Ash think for a while before the trainer caught on. "Oh, you two want a battle?"
Fearow cawed while Pidgeot just chirped in a more civilized tone. The Beak Pokémon personally wanted to continue his match with Noivern and the Kanto Bird Pokémon wanted to see how strong her trainer had become…
And keep Fearow, her mate, in check.
"Alright, then!" Ash grinned. He picked another Pokéball from his belt and sent out Unfezant. The game bird did a loop before landing alongside Noivern, the latter eyeing Fearow with some bit of a grudge.
"Alright, Unfezant, Aerial Ace! Noivern, use Acrobatics!" Ash made the first move.
The Proud Pokémon flew with white streaks, targeting Pidgeot. The Bird Pokémon ascended with the gray pheasant hot on her trail. Pidgeot turned around and fired several air-fueled crescent blades that made Unfezant weave through. Using her superior aerial attributes due to her being a female, she nailed the Kanto regional bird in the chest who retaliated with a close range Steel Wing.
Noivern took flight, glowed blue, and rushed at Fearow. The Beak Pokémon glowed white for a short moment then twisted himself into a corkscrew formation. The Drill Peck, added with the power of Focus Energy, managed to clash the Soundwave Pokémon's own Flying-type move. The two flying Pokémon disengaged before the Kanto bird of prey unleashed slammed an Assurance through a wing slap.
Unfezant righted herself in mid-air and Noivern landed with a thud before rising and screeching. Fearow had a smug look on his face as Pidgeot gave a disapproving head shake at her mate's cockniess.
"Noivern, Boomburst!" The bat-wyvern hybrid's ears sent soundwaves that Pidgeot flew in and conjured a green Protect shield to defend her side. After the display, the cream-colored bird made a black mirror that fired off a Boomburst of her own. The Mirror Move reflected Boomburst nailed both of Ash's Pokémon.
Ash was personally impressed with his first Normal/Flying-type battling. It seemed she had been practicing all this time in the wild. It made his previous idea even better as he thought.
But back to the present, Ash planned to defeat both her and Fearow. He hoped that his two current Pokémon had learned enough from yesterday.
"Okay, time for a field test! Noivern, Dragon Pulse! Unfezant, Sky Attack!" Ash said.
Unfezant ascended, gleaming with a yellow aura before flying at a fast pace and nailed Pidgeot. The Bird Pokémon grimaced in pain but was alright.
Noivern fired a dragon-shaped multicolored beam and Fearow retaliated with a Tri-Attack. The tri-elemental attack was destroyed and the Dragon-type move struck the Beak Pokémon. Noivern now had his own smug face.
Fearow began to pant himself. While he didn't want to admit it, he was a bit tired from his earlier scuffle against the Dragon/Flying-type. But he wanted to defeat the Kalos dual Flying-type.
"Unfezant, use Air Cutter!" The game bird flapped her wings, sending X-shaped air-fueled projectiles towards Pidgeot. The Kanto bird flapped her wings, sending out air-fueled blades and causing several explosions. Pidgeot eventually stopped but that led her open to several Air Cutters as Unfezant continued her attack.
"Noivern, Dragon Claw!" The bat-wyvern hybrid's claws to a scaly green hue before the user flew and raked two strikes on the Kanto bird-of-prey. The two claw slashes defeated Fearow, taking the Beak Pokémon out of the equation.
"Noi!" Noivern was proud at the defeat of the Kanto bird-of-prey.
With the two regional birds, Pidgeot and Unfezant continued to clash with one another. Both avians were constantly gaining the upper hand on each other.
Ash took action, even if he was battling his first Flying-type, "Use Aerial Ace!"
The gray game bird backed off before white energy surrounded her figure and slammed into the Kanto regional bird. Pidgeot managed to hang on but saw her mate on the ground, unable to battle anymore.
Pidgeot internally sighed before flying down, Unfezant following her with a cautious flying-pattern. Landing, the cream-colored bird rubbed her head against her mate, who weakly stirred.
Ash saw this and called off Noivern and Unfezant. He slowly approached the weakened Beak Pokémon who was shooting him a glare from his position. Pidgeot saw her former trainer approached and backed away, wanting to see what he would do.
Kneeling down, Ash eyed the Kanto bird of prey with a look of sympathy. "Fearow… I know you and I have never seen eye to eye… but I want to start over."
Fearow had a look of shock on his face and Ketchum continued, "When I first met you, I was naive, young, and reckless. Thinking I could take on the world just because I have Pokémon. And I was so desperate to catch a Pokémon and made a decision I came to regret without thinking of your welfare."
The Beak Pokémon couldn't believe what he was hearing right now. The boy that caused him so much hatred… was apologizing to him, even after all this time.
"But now, I want to change that," Ash admitted, "Fearow, I originally came here for Pidgeot but I also wanted another shot of capturing you. However the choice is yours. I don't want to force you on my team."
The Beak Pokémon looked over to his mate. The Bird Pokémon, having heard what her old trainer had said, spared a glance with her mate. Fearow didn't need to be told what that look was. Over their years from enemies to mates, he knew Pidgeot wanted to be reunited with her trainer someday. And it seemed that day was today. And Fearow, as much as he didn't want to admit it, would miss her even if she was just a few minutes away.
Now, her trainer, the same one that pushed her to evolve into Pidgeot all those years ago, and the one to antagonize him, was giving him a chance to be captured.
The brown bird slowly made his way, Pidgeot coming alongside him to aid. Fearow rose to his feet, eyeing Ash again.
And nodded in agreement.
A smile broke out on Ash's face. "Great! I promise you Fearow you won't regret it! And Pidgeot-"
He was cut off when Pidgeot also nodded at being captured again. After all, this wasn't the same trainer that she traveled with during his first journey anymore. This new Ash was more mature. And she would be glad to fight alongside him again.
"Alright then," Ash said, pulling out two Pokéballs. Fearow pressed his beak against one and was instantly captured. The other Pokéball was Pidgeot's old one - as Ash had left it with Oak during all his journeys, along with a few other Pokéballs of his released team members- which she returned to.
A smile gained its way on Ash's face as he was reunited with one of his first teammates. It made him more proud that he managed to catch two new members as well as the reunion of the other.
He soon had his next destination in mind, being Viridian Forest. He was looking for some Bug-types to expand his current roster and maybe teach his two current Bug-types a few new moves.