"You can continue traveling Unova instead of heading back to Pallet Town."

"Pallet Town."

Pallet Town.

PALLET TOWN.

That was the place that continued to linger in Ash's head at night. Everyone else was fast asleep at the Pokémon Center but the Kanto native had that place on his mind ever since his battle with Bianca's father.

If he hadn't appealed to the dad's better nature, he would have been heading there, leaving Unova behind for a while.

And even though he had won, the thought of his hometown refused to leave his head.

Thinking about it more, he recalled everything from there: from people to Pokémon to landscape. Especially Professor Oak and his lab where his Pokémon were.

And how Trip insulted his home region.

That made him recall his first battle and how he was decimated by the newbie trainer. All due to Pikachu's electricity shortage. His last two battles were not as pleasant either.

A five on six had Ash beat due to eagerness and cockiness. And the 3-on-3 which resulted in a tie but also some newfound knowledge about Oshawott's Aqua Jet. Now Ash knew Trip had a Tranquil, Servine, Frillish, Gurdurr, and Vanillite.

The three losses to his rival also made him reflect on some of his previous battles he had done in the Unova region.

The Striaton City Gym: while he won, Pikachu's defeat against Panpour stung. He had a type advantage but still lost.

The Nacrene City Gym: another Normal-type Gym where he had to make two attempts. In the process of training, Ash was grateful for Tepig learning Flame Charge and Oshawott learning Aqua Jet -despite having to master it with opening his eyes.

The Castelia City Gym: the gym battle wasn't too bad since Sewaddle evolved but Ash felt like Tepig could have some new moves rather than Tackle and Ember still.

And now he was at the Nimbasa City Gym.

If Ash was honest, he would have just ran in and hoped to win with just Palpitoad.

However, there were flaws.

For starters, he hasn't used Palpitoad much or even trained. The Vibration Pokémon had only a total of 3 moves he knows about.

Then there was Elesa. Her Zebstrika completely demolished Bianca's three choices. And Ash doesn't even know what the other two members are.

At this moment, Palpitoad is the only Ground-type he has on hand. And with Mud Shot being the only move, Ash was limited. He often forgets how a Pokédex can help with learning new moves but then again, a mentor would be great for the Vibration Pokémon.

He wishes he could just call on some previous Pokémon.

…

Wait.

Yeah. Yeah!

Yeah, he could do that. There was nothing wrong or against it for experienced trainers like him. He often uses his newest Pokémon throughout the region for the Gym challenge and he kept a full team but this had drawbacks.

He remembers hearing about how Paul -before the Sinnoh League- often rotated his Pokémon throughout his journey. It made him a force to be reckoned with since he had been traveling as long as he has.

Come to think of it, after his Sinnoh League and battling Tobias with the help of his previous Pokémon, he had gotten farther than before. Heck, while he's at it, he could work with his older Pokémon too!

While he is satisfied with his Pokémon, Ash knew there was room for improvement. This has been the first time since the Orange Islands that Brock left. He usually provided great pointers with him and while Cilan was great, sometimes he had trouble understanding his comments, even with evaluation time.

And a small plus, Ash could show Iris that he's not some kid. He has experience.

With the idea still brewing in his mind, Ash got up out of bed and looked outside.

He took in the starry night and looked excited to call on his older Pokémon.

"Pi?" Pikachu was awakened by his trainer's movement and saw him looking outside. "Pika?"

Ash realized he had awakened Pikachu and apologized, "Oh, sorry Pikachu. I was just thinking."

"Chu?"

"Well, you know how I lost against Bianca's dad today and we could continue our journey around Unova?" Ash explained and the mouse nodded. "Well, he mentioned Pallet Town and I've been thinking about it for a while now."

When the mouse tilted his head, wondering why his trainer was thinking about his home, Ash continued, "I was thinking about bringing some of our older teammates."

Pikachu went wide-eyed at the declaration. While he was not opposed to that idea, bringing older team members for the fourth gym badge seemed a bit overkill. If he was going to do that, Pikachu believed the best idea was for the league or perhaps a tournament.

"No, I wasn't going to use them for our gym battle." Ash stated as if he was reading his starter's mind. The mouse let out a breath of relief.

"It's more of training our team so far." Ash admitted, "I won't lie Pikachu, while I am glad we are on this journey, we haven't been taking Unova seriously."

Pikachu thought about it and agreed, even though that stung. Losing to a beginner while he had taken on pseudo-legendaries and legendaries himself was the worst encounter he had yet since their journey.

"And I want to change that. Tomorrow, we do some training with our Unova team along with our older Pokémon. No doubt, they will be a big help. It would be helpful in the long run." Ash continued.

The more Ash mentioned it, the more Pikachu was inclined to agree.

"Not to mention, you probably need to learn some new moves too." Ash admitted. "Something to counter other type disadvantages. Do you get it?"

The Mouse Pokémon agreed instantly. While Iron Tail being his only Steel-type move, that only helped so much now. He had several other moves that he could learn such as Dig, Brick Break, and Signal Beam.

Definitely that last one as it would show Trip's Servine. Pikachu snickered deviously at the thought until he looked up at Ash and squeaked a quiet "Pika!"

With his starter's agreement, Ash grew a smile. "Alright, Pikachu. Tomorrow morning, we call over some old friends first thing."

Tomorrow, he was ready to take on Unova again. This time by storm.

A/N: A Pokémon Best Wishes rewrite in my version. Takes place after BW049 so Ash doesn't have his entire Unova team.

I'm currently thinking about adding Tauros trading in a later chapter.

As usual, my updates for this story will be random.

And I know many are still waiting for updates of my previous Pokémon stories (or other stories in general). Please be patience, motivation comes and goes for me AND I'm IN college so I have homework, exams, essays, and more. Not to mention, I started to volunteer recently so my time is divided exponentially.

Anyways, please R&R and no flames.