Hello, it's been a while I know. All through last year I was experiencing serious writer's block and just general burn-out. My other Pokemon story will remain up but is discontinued. This one was originally a side-project to try and re-motivate myself and I like how it's turned out so far, so I decided to give this a try again. Hope you enjoy.
CH 1, Champion
The last few months had been nothing but a blur for Ash. Ever since he won the Masters Tournament he had been nothing but television interviews, meetings with League officials and Champion business back in Alola.
He was a bit bummed out though, being number one meant few challengers. The last he had was when Lance had challenged him. It was a casual three on three, but it was exhilarating. He had won that battle and was already looking forward to his next.
Ash was currently at Oak's lab helping him out. Gary was out in the field over in Unova and Goh had decided to travel to Hoenn after Project Mew had ended. With Gary's absence he had a lot of work to help with, especially since Tracy was currently on a vacation in Kalos.
Currently he was helping reorganize the lab library when he heard Professor Oak speaking with someone else. It wasn't a voice he recognized so he was curious who it was. Stepping out of the library he saw the Professor speaking with another older man in an orange suit.
"Ah Ash, perfect timing," Oak said as Ash approached them,"this is Director Clavell, the head of Naranja Academy in Paldea."
"Uh Paldea?" Ash asked not familiar with the region.
"Well it's an honor to meet the World Champion," Clavell greeted as they shook hands,"as the Professor said I run Naranja Academy, the most illustrious trainer school in the Paldea region."
"Were you here to have professor Oak speak there?"
"Possibly," Clavell answered,"however I did have another idea, provided you aren't too busy."
"Currently I'm not ,why?"
"I'd like for you to join me at the academy as a mentor of sorts."
"A mentor?"
"Yes, you'd be free to challenge the Paldea gyms across the region but I want to you to help with teaching and helping our aspiring trainers."
This was something Ash had never thought of doing. Truth be told he didn't know what to do after defeating Leon. He knew he couldn't sit still for much longer but he had no clue what to do next. He knew there had to be more for him to accomplish out there somewhere.
Ash had no clue how good he'd be at teaching. Sure he had been like a mentor to May and Dawn but this was different. Teaching a whole class of students was way more intimidating. Perhaps Professor Kukui would have some advice for him.
After thinking it over Ash responded,"I don't know how good I'll be but I'll do it."
"Excellent, I knew I could count on you, rest assured I will lend you all my support along with all the other faculty and staff."
"Since you mentioned gyms, will things work differently since I'm the World Champion?" Ash asked.
"Well in Paldea we have a rank system, the Champion rank is given to our top trainers. You would be counted along with them, they are all equal in Paldea."
"That's something new, I'll have to see if I bring only Pikachu with me."
"Hmm well I'll have a gift for you when you arrive, I'm sure you'll like it."
"This is an excellent opportunity for you Ash," Oak said,"you'll be able to experience something in addition to your usual Pokemon battles."
"It is yeah and I'll do my best to make the most of it!"
Two Days later, Levincia City
"Ladies and gentlemen! It's time for the Iono Zone! Your eyeballs are MINE! Caught in my Electroweb! Whosawhatsit? Ello, 'ello,hola! Ciao and bonjour! Iono here with a big update!"
Iono had just begun her latest stream broadcasting to her countless fans across Paldea. Looking at her numbers she smiled happily,"ooh 20,000 viewers already, ooh lala so many eager fans!"
Her streams had been growing in popularity lately, thanks to her electrifying gym battle streams. It had gotten to the point where she was now streaming three times a week, in addition to her daily vlogs.
"So you might be wondering what the big deal is,"Iono said referring to the announcement she had teased previously,"fufu you might be surprised to hear I have a spy inside Uva Academy!"
Iono giggled as the chat flooded with questions,"My good friend Mr. Walksabout has given me some juicy inside information."
"Hehe so wondering what my announcement is, well it's a collaboration stream!" Iono shouted as her Magnemite headpieces flew around.
This made the chat go wild, Iono had never done a collaboration before. The fans were eager to know who the lucky person was, getting to stream with Iono.
"Well I have yet to ask him to collaborate but I'm sure he'll say yes," Iono admitted,"surely you guys and gals heard that big time Champion Leon got beat recently."
Her fans were even more excited now. The Masters Tournament finals had been a highly televised event, watched by millions. They were now even more excited for whatever Iono had in mind.
"I'm going to get the new World Champion Ash Ketchum to be my co-streamer!" Iono announced excitedly.
"If he travels across Paldea I'll join him, vlogging and streaming all the way!" Iono announced now bouncing in her seat.
The number of viewers slowly rose as she made the big announcement. This brought a smirk to her face. This collaboration would surely make her subscriber count go through the roof. Not to mention the new Champion was a total cutie, so it was a win-win for her.
"Seems like you all love the idea too, can't wait to see how it turns out huh?"
The chat began spamming the screen with heart emojis in approval,"I'll take that as a yes then my faithful peeps. I have a lot of ideas for the collab streams, because rest assured we'll be doing a lot of them. Those along with daily vlogs too, maybe some giveaways!"
Iono displayed a picture of Ash on the screen as she continued,"now then, if you're here in the chat, MasterFlame26…"Iono said as she pulled out a box,"you are the winner of the most recent giveaway!"
She opened the box to reveal a Pokeball," you've won a mystery Pokemon! What's in the ball only I know! You'll find out when you come and pick it up, or I'll have it delivered to you!"
"I hope y'all are getting pumped for this collab, I'll keep you posted on all the deets as always! Iono out!"
Next Day
Ash had just arrived in Paldea and looking at a map he was feeling overwhelmed. Director Clavell had given him some time to explore on his own before heading to the Academy. The region looked way bigger than he was expecting. Each province seemed like it would have tons of things to discover, so he was looking forward to doing some exploring.
He was walking along the path to the nearby lighthouse when he heard a cry from in the distance. Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and ran ahead.
"Pikachu you heard that too?" Ash asked as he ran after Pikachu. Chasing after Pikachu, Ash jumped from a nearby cliff, managing to land safely on his feet. Looking ahead he saw an unknown purple Pokemon laying on the beach.
It wasn't a Pokemon he recognized, it looked like a futuristic purple dragon with wheels attached to it. The Pokemon was barely moving but he could feel its eyes on him as he approached. Ash approached it cautiously as Pikachu went ahead to check on it.
Approaching it, Ash placed a hand on it to find that it didn't attempt to make him stop. Digging into his pocket he pulled out a Potion and sprayed the unknown Pokemon. The Pokemon slowly stood up on all fours before staring at Ash. The two stared for a minute before Ash realized that he had no way of getting back up where he had jumped from.
Sensing his trouble, the unknown Pokemon blasted a hole in the nearby wall opening a path to a cave inside. Pikachu hopped back onto his shoulder as he followed the Pokemon inside.
The group re-emerged not long after at the bottom of the path to the lighthouse. THe unknown Pokemon followed Ash up the path.
Finally reaching the lighthouse, Ash saw another person there. The boy was wearing the Naranja Academy uniform along with a giant backpack. Seeing the Pokemon with Ash he approached them.
"So that's where you wandered off to,"he said approaching the Pokemon.
"Is this your Pokemon?" Ash asked him.
"Technically no, it was just in my care,"he answered,"not that it listens to me anyway."
"If you don't mind, what Pokemon is this?" Ash asked as he had never seen it before.
"Miraidon is what it's called, you're that trainer that beat Leon right?"
"Yeah I guess people saw that battle here in Paldea too?"
"Yes, I'm not much for Pokemon battles but even I saw your battle, my name is Arven by the way."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Ash and this is PIkachu,"Ash introduced," by the way what's wrong with Miraidon. I gave it a Potion and it didn't do too much."
"Yeah, I haven't been able to get Miraidon fully healed, no matter what I try," Arven answered," but if you want to try working with it you can."
Ash took the Pokeball Arven held out for him," are you sure?"
"Yeah, a champion class trainer may have a better shot than me at helping Miraidon."
Miraidon nudged Ash in approval as it stood near him.
"Looks like Miraidon wants you to climb on."
"I was going to say it kind of looks like a motorcycle."
Ash climbed onto Miraidon and began driving around in circles. He had never experienced something like this before so it would take some getting used to. Ash continued driving around to get used to it before stopping. He hopped off and recalled Miraidon.
"So what are you doing here in Paldea?"
"Director Clavell asked me to join his academy as an assistant teacher."
"That makes sense, the academy attracts a lot of different people of different ages."
"Is it a long way from here?"
Arven shook his head," it's not, especially since you can ride on Miraidon. The Academy is located in Mesagoza, the city is pretty huge so you can't miss it."
"You're a student there too?"
"Yes but I have something to take care of before I head over. Rest assured we'll be seeing each other again soon.
Arven left after that, heading in the opposite direction. Ash could tell he wasn't telling him everything but he supposed he had his reasons. Perhaps he could learn more about him later on.
Later that Day
Ash stood in Clavell's office who presented three Pokemon to Ash. Clvaell had offered Ash one of the three Paldea starters, Quaxly, Sprigatito and Fuecoco. He was trying to decide which one he'd take. After deliberating a bit he made his decision.
"I'll be going with Sprigatito."
"Ah an excellent choice, I'm sure Sprigatito will be a big help."
"So does Paldea have eight gyms too?" Ash asked as Sprigatito sat in his lap.
"Yes once you beat all eight gyms you'll earn the right to battle the Elite Four. Beat them and you'll get to battle La Primera."
"La Primera?"
"Our regional champion, her name is actually Geeta but people refer to her as La Primera," Clavell answered," she'll be returning to the school tomorrow so you'll meet her then."
"Oh speaking of the school, where am I staying?"
"Don't worry about that, we have dorms on campus for students, faculty and staff who don't live in Mesgaoza originally."
"Oh wow that's pretty cool."
"We have a cafeteria for everyone but each room has the appliances if you wish to cook for yourself when the school kitchen is closed."
"Seems like you have everything here."
"Most of our students live on campus so we provide as much as we can."
"I assume I can come to you if I have any questions?"
Clavell nodded,"my door is always open, however before you go I do need to warn you about something."
"What is it?" Ash asked noticing his serious tone.
"There is a group of delinquents going around called Team Star, be careful if you run into them. They like to hang around and harass people to get them to join their crew."
Ash nodded,"I'll keep that in mind."
"Aside from that I hope you enjoy your time here, take the rest of the day to look around the school and city. The students will be arriving tomorrow morning, so I expect you to be ready by nine in the morning."
"I will, thanks for everything," Ash said before he left with Pikachu and Sprigatito.