In which Ash's mother is more than she seems, and he's traveling with a female Mewtwo instead of Brock and Misty.

Also apologies, updates will be EXTREMELY sporadic due to my mother being in the hospital at the moment. My muse has taken quite the hit and it may be a while before the more recent ones get updated again.

Ash was soundly snoring...when a large pitcher of water suddenly dumped it's contents on him.

He let out an indignant squawk as he fell from the bed. Groggily, he looked up at the culprit.

A two-toned pink Pokémon with a long bulbous-tipped tail stood before his bed. It wore comfortable clothing that had been altered to allow the tail out, and a well loved hoodie that had special holes for the two horns that jutted on the top of their head. Aurora colored eyed stared back at Ash amused and mischievous. It's right hand was glowing slightly from psychic energy, emanating from the small hand that had three odd circle shaped "fingers".

"You're going to be late."

Ash looked at the clock and winced. He got dressed as swiftly as he could.

"Thanks for waking me up Athena," he said.

"No problem. Mom said she'd have everything ready once you're officially registered," said Athena.

Ash didn't bother to get his breakfast, he'd have plenty of time to eat after registration. He rushed out the door and to the lab.

"Is he up?" asked Dahlia.

"I made sure of it, mother," said Athena cheerfully.

Dahlia smiled at that. She'd wash the sheets later.

An hour later, Ash came back, sulking slightly.

He did not look particularly pleased.

"What happened?" asked Athena.

Ash moved aside...to reveal a less than amused Pikachu.

Athena blinked.

"I thought the Kanto starters were Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle?" she asked.

"They are," said Ash sourly. "Apparently Gary got to the lab first, and everyone else showed up before I did, despite you waking me early."

Athena was utterly confused. As far as she knew, there were only two others who were supposed to get their starters this week. And Gary had been bragging about his grandfather giving him an Eevee for his.

Athena smirked.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked. Ash looked at her, and she held up a ball. He perked up immediately.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that!" he said cheerfully. "I made sure to have my limit set to seven, but the max I can use in an official battle is six."

Ash took the Pokéball from Athena's hand, and tossed it in her direction. Hearing the 'ping' sound indicating a successful catch, Ash immediately tossed it.

"That was beyond weird," said Athena scowling. "Just remember..."

"I know, I know. No asking you to fight unless things go completely haywire," said Ash.

Athena promptly put her Pokéball around her neck like a pendant, to keep it safe. Pikachu looked beyond confused, mostly because during the brief moment Athena had been hit with the Pokéball, her human illusion dropped.

Within short order, Ash and Athena were on the road. Pikachu was still being a little shit, so Athena decided that the easiest action was to simply levitate it.

If it didn't want to walk and didn't want to be in the ball, then it would be carried in a way that it couldn't attack them.

The two had to stare when a massive bird that gave off a 'divine' feel flew overhead soon after they left Pallet Town.

Athena had an exasperated look on her face, but at least Pikachu was working with Ash now after that disastrous near robbery of a Pokémon center of all things.

She didn't know why they bothered...most of the Pokémon there were rather basic and easily caught, as this was considered a 'starter' town.

Unlike most trainers, Ash didn't bother to visit the Pokémart to stock up on food and water. Athena had noticed that the price for such things were a bit higher near the starter towns since it would force the trainers to prioritize survival over catching Pokémon. The price for a Pokéball was firmly set by the league, but there were no such protections on basic necessities.

The junk food in particular was priced higher than the fresh fruits, because obviously a newly minted trainer wouldn't hesitate to splurge so early into their journey. All of it was Pokémon friendly, but still fattening.

While he did buy some balls, Ash and Athena decided to shop around for a much cheaper alternative. Trainers generally went to the one shop, never really thinking to shop around for food and supplies. It took them about an hour to find a small local grocer with much more reasonable prices who was all too happy to talk to a pair of nice children. Not enough to give them a discount, but more than happy to give advice.

Case in point, the Viridian gym was often closed so most trainers hit it last. The rare few who did happen to visit during the times the leader was there had a very nasty fight ahead of them. And since Ash only had Pikachu, he would likely get his ass handed to him in short order as the leader specialized in ground-types, which were especially effective against electric-types like Pikachu.

That only cemented Ash's desire to move on to the next town. Rock-types were just as bad a match-up against electric-types, but at least traveling through the forest gave him a chance to build up his team enough to stand a chance. Pewter city was the first gym most trainers hit after getting their starter, so they went a bit easier on new trainers.

The next morning, Athena and Ash left town for the forest, heading towards Viridian forest. They had spent the day getting as much information as they could about the forest and what little was known about the next gym.

Viridian forest was rather interesting, but none of the Pokémon Ash found initially called out to him. Then he got lucky by day two, and managed to catch two Pokémon in short order. A Caterpie and a Pidgeotto.

It was halfway through the forest that Ash found a Pokémon he didn't recognize. It was clearly a grass type, but not a Bellsprout or an Oddish. It almost looked like a seedling of some sort.

"What type of Pokémon is that?" asked Ash. His new Pokédex didn't recognize it at all.

"Let's ask."

Athena calmly walked up to it and while startled, it didn't run.

Athena looked to Ash.

"She says she's a Budew," said Athena.

Ash looked intrigued.

"Think she'd be interested in joining us?" he asked.

Athena listened before translating for him.

"She says sure, because she's tired of the Caterpie and Weedle trying to eat her leaves," said Athena.

New grass type secured, Ash began to make his way out of the forest.

Aside from a few issues with the odd trainer, it took them only two more days to get out of the forest and to Pewter City.

A day later...

Ash was beyond livid.

"Are you telling me that both your parents abandoned you to raise nine other kids?" said Ash irate.

Brock had a tired look on his face.

"Mom went off first, and soon after I took on the gym dad disappeared," said Brock. "I've had to take two other jobs just to keep things going."

Ash didn't need to know that Athena was already searching. She had said something was off about that rock seller than tried to con them out of their money earlier.

"Found him," said Athena.

"What?" said Brock confused.

There was a loud, undignified squawk from outside. Brock stared in disbelief as Athena used her psychic powers to levitate what looked to be a bum...but soon revealed itself to be his missing father.

Ash was already heading out to find Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy. Who better to give this idiot the riot act for abandoning his children and forcing his teenage son to act as the adult than the two who saw barely minted trainers passing through every day? He was sure they had a lot to say to such an irresponsible parent.

The look on the man's face was particularly satisfying, and Ash knew he was about to be in for some real hell once he made a call.

"Hey mom, you won't believe what we ran into at our first gym..." started Ash.

By the time they left, Ash knew that Flint was going to get some overdue karma.

Ash dearly wished that he had a chance to fish for some water-types before challenging Brock. However he also knew that most of the water type Pokémon near Pewter would hardly be able to fight outside water.

Either way, he gleefully caught a Horsea that he planned to raise up since it was a better catch than a Goldeen or god forbid a Magikarp.

Don't get him wrong, he had nothing against Magikarp, but he was very aware of how difficult it was to raise into a Gyarados...besides they were so common that he could catch one at any time.

The poor thing looked underfed anyway.

Cerulean gym was a complete disappointment. The 'gym leaders' if one could call them that, were all too happy to just toss a badge at him because they were more interested in doing their underwater shows than they were in battling. Which was disappointing, but Ash decided to hit them up on a day when a show wasn't scheduled. It would feel like a complete cop-out if he just accepted a badge like that.

Instead he decided to do the local bridge challenge. He needed to level up his team anyway.

Athena was unusually suspicious about the trainers they challenged on the bridge, but then again she was clearly picking something up from them.

Ash slipped the nugget he won into his bag.

"So what was the deal with the trainers?"

"Remember those idiots who attacked the Pokémon center in Viridian?" she asked. He nodded. "They're part of the same group, different branches though."

Ash made a face.

"Let's just visit that place Professor Oak mentioned and try our luck at the gym again."

His Budew had evolved into a Roselia, which was a nice surprise. He was sure his mother would love having her around the garden.

From what he could tell, he'd likely make a clean sweep with Pikachu and Roselia.

Meeting Bill was interesting, but it was what he found when he went to try his luck a second time to challenge the gym that made his day.

Apparently the youngest of the sisters had returned and was absolutely livid over her sister's blasé attitude towards gym challengers. She at least, was more than willing to give Ash a proper challenge.

Misty gave him an odd look when she saw Roselia.

"What is that?"

"It's a Roselia. I caught her in Viridian forest," said Ash cheerfully.

"Staryu, use water gun!" said Misty.

Ash grinned. This was what he wanted, a proper fight.

"Rose, use magical leaf!"

Misty's eyes narrowed as she realized the odd Pokémon was a grass-type.

It was a tough fight, though at least this time he had a type advantage over Misty. It got dicey when she brought out a Chinchou, likely as a counter to Pikachu, but he still won.

He accepted the badge gratefully.

"Are you planning to try too?" asked Misty.

"I'm not interested in Pokémon battles. I'd rather do contests," said Athena. "Besides, someone has to remind Ash to do his homework while on the road."

Ash made a face, but kept silent. Athena enjoyed learning, much like her namesake. She often got better grades than him, so it became a competition between them over who would come out on top.

While Athena was scarily intelligent, Ash was the more physical of the two. Athena often had to cheat in order to get things done.

They still didn't know why their mother was so scarily good at teaching Ash how to use a sword properly. She was firm in the belief that he shouldn't rely on a half-trained animal to do all his fighting for him.

At least now he didn't feel absolutely cheated when it came to earning a badge.