Author Notes: This is where we finally see some progress in Ash's journey as Ash and Pichu spend some time with Professor Oak. We also will be seeing Ash's unexpected first capture of his Pokemon journey as well.
I want to thank everyone for their reviews on the first two chapters. I greatly appreciate the support and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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Returning to Pallet Town once again, we find the two boys in Professor Oak's lab at 6 in the morning where the sun is rising. The Pokemon professor was preparing to get the items that he knew that Ash and Pichu would need for their journey.
"Pichu, are you excited about our journey?" Ash asked his starter with a grin after several moments of silence.
"I'm ready to beat some asses." Pichu commented with a smirk, he then looked over at the professor for a moment then back at his trainer. "Do you think we could get in a practice battle before we go so I can see what my powers are like? We might as well remind him too."
The raven-haired boy thought about it as he watched Oak continue gathering up things before nodding. "I think it's not a bad idea, Pichu." Ash then turned towards the older gentleman before speaking up. "Hey, professor?"
"Hmmm, what is it, my boy?" Oak raised his eyebrow as he turned to look at the duo, wondering what it was that Ash had wanted.
"Pichu and I were just discussing, but would you care if we had a practice battle before we started on our journey?" The raven-haired boy asked before continuing. "I think it'd be good to see what Pichu can do, so I know where to start with his training."
The professor had to think about the request for a moment as he finished up gathering the necessary items for the boy's journey. He then nodded as he didn't see any reason why he would deny that request.
"Very well, we can do that." Oak chuckled, picking up a Pokeball before gesturing over to the door that led outside. "Why don't we go and battle outside?"
"Sounds good!" Ash grinned, getting excited about the battle. He couldn't wait and see what his partner could do, he was hoping that he'd get a good idea of what he could and couldn't do at the moment. With the plans finalized, Ash, Pichu, and the professor walked outside to the battlefield.
"Alright, you stand over there, and I'll stand here." The professor instructed as he walked to his placement before facing Ash. He patiently waited for the raven-haired boy to get to his placement. "Do you know the moves that Pichu currently knows?"
Ash had to think about it for a moment before nodding, he remembered looking up onto the computer to see what moves that Pichu knew. "Yeah, I looked it up when I was curious about it."
"Very good." Oak nodded in approval, sizing up the Pokeball that he pocketed before looking over at Ash. "Are you ready?"
"Ready!" "I'm all fired up!" Ash and Pichu exclaimed at the same time, the baby mouse ran out in front of Ash as he got into his battle stance. "Let's go, Pichu!"
"Very well." The professor nodded before throwing the Pokeball out. "Bulbasaur, come on out!" The Pokeball then opened, revealing a Bulbasaur who yawned as it got ready for the battle.
The raven haired boy grinned at the battle before pointing out towards the Bulbasaur. "Pichu, start out with a Nuzzle!"
Pichu nodded as his cheeks started to spark, jumping towards the Bulbasaur as he got ready to launch his attack.
"Bulbasaur, tackle." The Bulbasaur launched itself towards Pichu before tackling the baby electric mouse, causing him to lose focus.
"Pichu!" Ash cried out as he worried about his buddy, but he saw that he didn't have any reason to worry as Pichu was quick to get back up. "Alright, let's use Nasty Plot for now!"
"On it!" Pichu cried out as he prepared a Nasty Plot, which he could feel his special attack boosting.
"Bulbasaur, use growl!" The professor called out to the grass-type Pokemon, who immediately followed Oak's orders and growled at the little Pichu.
"That won't work on us!" The raven-haired boy cried out, grinning at the professor's mistake. "Thundershock, let's go!"
"Alright!" The baby electric mouse grinned as his cheeks sparked again before letting out a cry as he sent a thundershock towards the Bulbasaur.
"Owww!" The grass-type Pokemon cried out as he felt the impact, passing out on the impact. This caused the Pokemon professor to glow slightly in blue for a moment before the glowing disappeared.
Oak's eyes blinked as he watched the scenery as he looked over at Ash and Pichu. 'Wait a minute… When did Ash get a Pichu…?' He was thoroughly confused before he realized what happened, facepalming. "Ah… time traveling. That never gets old."
Ash couldn't help but to laugh softly, watching the Pokemon Professor. He knew that Oak had regained his memories, judging by the comment about time travel. "Yeah, we're in the past again." He explained as he walked up to Oak.
"What in the world happened?" Professor Oak asked hesitantly as he looked down towards the raven-haired boy. "All I knew at the moment was that we were being attacked, then we were getting killed by these strange Pokemon."
"Yeah, about that. Turns out that someone was responsible for stealing and then controlling the Paradox Pokemon from the Paldea region." Ash explained quietly, biting his lower lip. "Me and Pika… or well, Pichu were almost killed before we were saved by the legendaries who told us what happened."
"Paradox Pokemon, huh?" The professor thought to himself. "I heard something about it, but it was in the research stages around this time." He then sighed deeply. "I suppose they wanted you to restart your journey so you could figure out what happened and prepare for it?"
"That's exactly right." The raven-haired boy nodded in confirmation before pausing when he noticed that Pichu wasn't on his shoulder. "Pichu?" His eyes widened when he saw the familiar white glow.
Pichu was indeed going through the evolution changes as Ash and Oak watched on with their arms covering their sight to prevent blindness. After what seemed like forever, the bright white glowing faded away and in Pichu's place, was a Pikachu.
"Finally! I'm back as a Pikachu!" The electric mouse exclaimed happily, grinning as he ran up onto his trainer's shoulders. Ash couldn't help but to chuckle at Pikachu's excitement as he ruffled his starter's fur gently.
"Is this why you wanted to do a 'practice battle'?" The raven-haired boy asked with a laugh, to which he got a light zap as a response. "You could have told me that you wanted to evolve into a Pikachu as soon as possible."
"Nah, I figured out that I had enough happiness but I just wanted to make sure that I could control my electricity." The electric mouse smirked. "Now, I believe someone owes me a bottle of ketchup." This caused Ash to sigh softly as he shook his head with a slight smile.
The Pokemon professor chuckled, shaking his head at the two boys. "If there is one thing that hasn't changed, it's the bond between you and Pikachu." He commented with a smile before clearing his throat as he remembered something. "Which reminds me, I think I should probably get you an additional item to take with you for your journey."
"Oh?" Ash raised his eyebrow in curiosity, turning to look towards Oak. "You have an additional item for me?"
"Of course. This may be familiar to you two" He nodded, motioning for the two to come and follow him into the Pokemon lab. The two with Pikachu riding on Ash's shoulder walked for several moments before the senior Oak stopped at the incubator. Inside of the incubator was a familiar looking blue Pokemon egg. "I just got this in from Sinnoh, I wanted to take a look at it for Professor Rowan who asked me about it before I sent it over to the Nurse Joy in Vermillion."
Ash's eyes widened as he felt the familiar aura, moving towards the egg before placing his hand onto it. The electric mouse could recognize the familiar trance that his trainer had, tilting his head.
"Wait, Ash… is this Lucario?" Pikachu asked after a few moments of silence, watching his trainer with the egg carefully. "Ash?" He nudged with concern when he realized he didn't get an answer from the Ketchum boy.
"Lucario…" The raven-haired boy mumbled to himself after several moments as the egg began to glow blue, as if Ash was using his aura unknowingly. After the blue glow disappeared, the egg remained still for a moment before it began to glow brightly in white.
"Whoa…" The electric mouse exclaimed as he covered his eyes to prevent the egg from blinding him. He wasn't certain of what was happening with Ash but he knew what was happening with the egg.
After several moments, the glowing vanished. In the place of the egg was a Riolu who had just hatched from the egg who seemed confused as he looked at himself and around his surroundings. Ash blinked for a few moments seemingly to be in disbelief before he moved his hand away from the newly hatched Pokemon before offering a small grin. "Hey there, Riolu. I'm Ash a.." He began introducing himself before he was cut off.
"Ash Ketchum, and this is your partner, Pikachu." Riolu commented, surprising both Ash and Pikachu. "You already introduced yourself the first time that I hatched, remember?" He chuckled.
"E..Euh?!" Ash was clearly baffled, he hadn't caught the newly hatched Riolu yet and he seemed to remember the duo. "H…How?" He mumbled quietly from surprise.
"You reminded me with your aura." The blue canine Pokemon smirked, crossing his arms before frowning over at his trainer. "Anyways, what the hell happened that we had to travel back in time - considering that it seems like I'm Riolu again? Last time I remembered, I was fighting to the death to protect Goh and Cinderance who came over for a visit while you were gone."
The raven-haired boy let out a long sigh as he thought about the answer before speaking again. "Apparently, someone took over the Paradox Pokemon located in Paldea and used them to destroy the world." He then looked down at Riolu who was listening carefully. "Pikachu and I were almost killed by some of these Paradox Pokemon, but we were saved by the legendaries who sent us back into the past."
"I see. So they sent you to your first day of your journey, considering that you're in your pajamas." The Aura Pokemon commented casually as he teased his trainer about his choice of outfit, causing Ash to exclaim in embarrassment. "So, our goals are to get everyone back together and train to gain our strength in order to combat the threat?" He asked thoughtfully.
"T…That'd be right." Ash mumbled quietly, still not getting over Riolu's comment about his outfit choice.
"There have already been some changes." Pikachu added, looking over at the newly hatched Riolu. "In the original timeline, me and Ash weren't already this close at this point of the journey and Ash had no idea how to use Aura. I'm honestly not really used to Ash fully understanding me with his aura."
"It would make sense that some things have changed." Riolu mumbled in thought before continuing. "I do suspect that there will be more changes, so we will need to be prepared and not expect for everything to be the same."
"Yeah, you have a point there considering that Celebi told us that everything might not be the same." The electric mouse nodded in agreement, he then looked over at his trainer. "We probably should get going soon if we don't want to get caught up in the storm earlier."
"That's a good idea." Ash agreed, before looking over at Riolu as he got out his spare Pokeball. "Let's get you caught and registered with me, then I'll go and change before we go out."
"Alright then." The blue canine Pokemon nodded before hitting the Pokeball that Ash was holding with his paw, causing the red light to surround Riolu before sucking him in. The ball then began to shake before making a ding sound to indicate that Riolu had been caught.
"Alright! I've caught Riolu again!" The raven-haired boy exclaimed as he held up Riolu's Pokeball in excitement.
"Wooohooo!" Pikachu cheered as he held up the two fingers, grinning in response.
Professor Oak stared at the two boys before chuckling, shaking his head before getting back to work. He figured that these two boys would be fine. With the professor gone, Ash and Pikachu ran back home so the boy could get changed and get ready for his journey. Opening the door, the Ketchum boy was surprised to see that his mother was already up.
"Good morning, sweetie." Delia giggled, smiling over at Ash and Pikachu. "I see that Pichu evolved, huh?"
"He sure did!" Ash grinned, pointing over at Pikachu who gave a proud smirk in response. "We decided to have a practice battle and Pikachu pretty much evolved because of it!"
The brown-haired woman smiled as she got up, moving to stroke Pikachu's head gently. She then looked over at her son, noticing his outfit choice. "Ash, did you go to Oak's lab in your pajamas again?"
Ash couldn't help but to blush brightly in response from embarrassment as Pikachu laughed at his reaction. "Shut up, Pikachu. You know I just got excited!" He then sighed, looking over at his mother. "I realized that when my new Pokemon Riolu pointed it out. I was going to come home so I could get changed."
"Oh, you got a new Pokemon?" Delia raised her eyebrow in curiosity. "I thought you were going with Pikachu as your starter."
"I am!" The Ketchum boy grinned. "Professor Oak just remembered about Riolu's egg and wanted me to have it. Apparently, Riolu must have felt my aura because he already hatched!"
"I'd love to see him." The older woman smiled lovingly down at her son. "Now, up you go and get changed. I'll have breakfast ready shortly." She shooed her son away so he could go and get changed.
"Yes, mom!" Ash nodded as he ran upstairs with Pikachu on his shoulder to get changed out of his pajamas. It did not take long for the raven-haired boy to change out his clothes and gather the things that he needed before he returned downstairs. He was eager to see that his mother had already gotten breakfast ready and on the table.
"Come and eat, sweetie." Delia called over upon seeing her son to come downstairs. She then placed a bottle of ketchup onto the table next to Ash's plate, causing the electric mouse's ears to perk up from excitement.
"Coming, mom!" Ash grinned, he then took out his Pokeball and threw it in front of him. "Come on out for breakfast, Riolu!" He exclaimed as the blue canine Pokemon came out of his Pokeball, standing on the floor by the table.
The Ketchum family and the two Pokemon soon began eating breakfast as Ash discussed his excitement for his journey with his mother while the two Pokemon chatted among each other. The four were enjoying their breakfast and the time that Ash had left with his mother before he had to start his journey.