TEEN: Truth and Ideals

[Ice Tyrant]

(Original publication date: 9/25/2014, at Fanfiction.net. Re-uploaded from an earlier attempt to post this story on this site due to some goofs on my part. I would also like to note that both the Prologue and Chapter 1 were written several months apart, and that Chapter 1 and the later to be posted Chapter 2 were written over a year apart from each other. As a result, the Prologue and Chapter 1 are... not my best of work.)

(Disclaimer: This work is a non-profit fan fiction for Pokémon. I do not own Pokémon nor do I own any of the characters aside from the occasional original character that may or may not appear in this story. The property of Pokémon belongs to Game Freak, which in turn belongs to Nintendo. Please support the official works.)

Spoiler: Prologue and Chapter 1

Prologue: An Old yet New Friend

You might be unfamiliar with who I am. At the same time, you might claim to know everything about me. If you're in the latter group, however, I believe you are thinking about somebody else who shares my exact same name and starter Pokémon.

Believe me, it isn't easy being a fledgling Pokémon Trainer, and I've actually yet to officially begin my journey. With my friends, Cheren and Bianca, by my side, I feel safe and reassured that I can be the very best as a trainer. They've been my friends for as long as I've lived here in Unova for crying out loud!

But alas, you're probably wondering who exactly I am. I am a sixteen year old boy who simply wants to leave on my, er, our adventure, and finally get to experience what being a Pokémon trainer is like. Let's just say I have a hunch that things will either go great, or have a few missteps in our quest, but I will assure we will all move forward.

My name is Ash Ketchum, and this is the beginning of my journey through Unova and my quest to become the Pokémon Champion!

Chapter 1: An Idealistic Morning

It was a calm, peaceful morning in Nuvema Town. Pidove were chirping happily outside around the small neighborhood, as one individual in particular flew into a house with an open window on the second floor, as it gazed at what was going on inside.

"Ash? Where are you?" Called the voice of a 38 year old, yet still young in tone, Delia Ketchum, as she look as to where her son could be. She was in his bedroom right now, but he was nowhere to be found, so walked downstairs to check a different room, passing by two Pikachu, an aged male with a just as old female, who were confused as to what was going on.

When Delia finally found Ash, she found him in the kitchen, holding onto a frying pan and spatula as he was just finishing up making pancakes, an odd choice of what he'd be doing at this time, was the thought the Delia had at the moment, as she walked up to him to see what was unusual about today.

"Hey, Ash, are you alright?" Delia asked, before adding "You're not normally up this early, so what's so different about today?"

With that, Ash turned off the stove as he finished preparing breakfast, setting up four plates as he carefully cut two of the servings into normal sized pieces, while cutting the second batch into much smaller pieces, and placing them onto the ground besides the wall as the two Pikachu from earlier notices the plates of food and rush up towards them happily.

"Pika!" The male Pikachu spoke, as he was petted on the forehead by Delia, her mood seeming to damper a bit for some reason, as Ash setting her plate down and serving her first cheered her up a bit, if primarily due to how much Ash has grown up at this rate. It was only yesterday in which he still behaved like a kid, thought Delia.

"I'm doing fine, mom. I just figured I'd better start acting like my age. That's all." Ash said, as he set his own serving of pancakes down, but did not immediately eat just yet as he began cleaning up the kitchen stove and counter from his cooking, as Delia realized something.

"… This is about you wanting to become a Pokémon Trainer still, isn't it?" Delia spoke, her tone hinting at worry, as Ash, realizing this, sighed a bit.

"Mom… I don't mean to upset you by asking for such a thing after the last few years of having asked, but I'm not just a kid anymore." Ash spoke, as he finished cleaning the stove and counters, and only did now did he begin to eat his own breakfast as Delia sighed a bit.

"You know what happened to-"

"Please, don't bring him up, I don't want you to begin crying like you've used to…"

"I'm not going to cry about him again!" Delia suddenly shouted, as the two Pikachu were taken by surprise by her sudden shouting, as the male motioned for the female, the latter noted as having a heart shaped tail, to check on something, all the while the male jumped up onto the table to listen to Delia and Ash's argument.

"Mom, I've wanted to become a Pokémon Trainer for years just like every other kid who has since grown up and left Nuvema Town. Heck, the only reason why Cheren and Bianca haven't left on their own journey yet is because they've selflessly began waiting for me to be able to travel with them, and all this time, I've basically been holding them back because you've refused to let me."

Ash's words hit Delia a bit harder than he intended to, as this was the first time in nearly six years of asking has Ash brought up Cheren and Bianca into the argument. I know the three of them are close… but I never realized that was why those two never left yet, thought Delia, as she didn't have an urge to fight back against Ash's argument.

"Is that really going to be a good impression on them? Just for me to be sheltered here for all of my life just because of an incident with dad that-"

Silence filled the room very quickly when Ash was forcefully shut up by Delia, who had slowly moved over to Ash, hugging him since she did not realize how much she was hurting not only herself, but also her son for not letting him live his dream, all because of an incident many years ago that has made Delia paranoid about Ash living in his father's footsteps.

"Ash… I admire your bravery… I truly do… But I don't think anybody is going to find any answers about your father, especially considering he had disappeared before you were even born." Delia spoke, as Ash calmed down as she had hugged him, to which he responded by hugging her back.

"I-I'm sorry for antagonizing you when I shouldn't… I didn't mean to sound that way, mom. It's just… well… I don't really know anymore…" Ash spoke, as the awkwardness filled the room slowly once Delia let go, and Ash looked up at her as he was just pleading for some kind of answers for himself that Delia did not know how to answer.

"If you really want to go on a journey as a Pokémon Trainer… Then I insist you never leave Cheren and Bianca's side. Do you understand?" Delia asked, as she pulled something from under a blanket as she had walked back to Ash to show him what it was; a Pokémon Egg incubator.

"If you still insist on going on a journey, I also insist you take this young one along with you, for me, please?" Delia asked again, as Ash took the incubator from her hands and noted the yellow and black colored egg inside, as he looked at the male Pikachu which was still watching the two of them.

"Pikapi…!" Pikachu spoke to Ash, as Ash looked over at him, nodding to him, before gazing back at his mother again.

"Alright, but I'm not sure if Cheren and Bianca will be happy about my being a step ahead of them in our journey together." Ash answered, as he looked at the time on his Xtransceiver, noting that Bianca would be waking up soon.

"Just promise me you'll all take good care of each other while you're out, alright?" Delia asked for a bit of reassurance, as Ash nodded.

"I wouldn't worry about it; we'll take care of each other just fine. I mean, at least I'll be the one cooking for us." Ash spoke, as he tapped the screen on his Xtransceiver to begin to dial to both Bianca and Cheren, two of Ash's childhood friends who have still lived in Nuvema Town to wait on Ash to travel with them.

"Hey guys, remember what you've both been waiting on me for all this time?"

To be continued…

 

[Dorothy]

Not too much to go on so far, but I'm interested by what I see. I don't think it's a common idea to re-imagine the anime like this - "what if Ash had started out in a different region?" I'm assuming that's what you're going for, although the reference to "our" Ash in the prologue muddies the waters a bit there.

This is a very interesting concept, but as you're reinterpreting anime characters in (presumably) the context of the BW games' story, you need to be careful not to overindulge either. Go too far in either direction and you'll just end up with the same stories we've already seen a bunch of times before. Play your cards right, and take the right creative liberties where appropriate, though, and you could have something really special on your hands.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Ok, let's give chapter one a whirl

Technical Accuracy/Style
You're quite right, the chapter is on the ropy side. You've got a habit of trying to fit too much into a sentence at once, I think. The flow tends to break a lot when you switch gear in the middle of the sentence:

Delia suddenly shouted, as the two Pikachu were taken by surprise by her sudden shouting, as the male motioned for the female, the latter noted as having a heart shaped tail, to check on something, all the while the male jumped up onto the table to listen to Delia and Ash's argument.
Is a good example. Delia's action - pikachu reaction - male action - screech to a halt for a scrap of description - finish previous action - new male action. You could really do, for example, with splitting that into two separate sentences and rearranging those clauses so they flow from one piece of information to the next

Story/Characters
Pretty classic journeyfic fare - not in itself bad, but I think you kind of need to take your time getting out of the door. The motivations and backstory in there is kind of summarised, really. This whole chapter is, what, about 1,000 words? You could easily afford to spend double, triple that on the first chapter to really set the scene.

The other thing is that this seems to be an alternate version of Ash, but I can't see why you've chosen to go for it. I mean, his name's there, so is his mum's, and there's a pikachu-line starter, but other than that, what else is "Ash"? I mean, if you're going to go for a different town, different age, different family situation (In terms of not being allowed right out of the door to train and a preoccupation with the father), why not drop the baggage you already have from reader's expectations of Ash, and go for an original character?

Setting
Related to the point above, it's really sketchy. Journeyfics are as much road trips than anything else, and the appeal of the road is what you find along the way

 

[Ice Tyrant]

Well as of writing it's been three hours so I can now re-post Chapter 2.

Spoiler: Answering some questions/Author's Note

This is a very interesting concept, but as you're reinterpreting anime characters in (presumably) the context of the BW games' story, you need to be careful not to overindulge either. Go too far in either direction and you'll just end up with the same stories we've already seen a bunch of times before. Play your cards right, and take the right creative liberties where appropriate, though, and you could have something really special on your hands.

In the first arc this was handled rather weirdly. Ghetsis and N were almost word for word for some of their respective in-game appearances in the first arc, until I decided I absolutely needed to take liberties for the two of them and several others. More on that below, but in short, every non-OC is pretty much going through some form of Alternate Character Interpretation in one manner or another.

Chapter 2 below pretty much gives a solid example for one of the major characters who most people who are fans of the anime tend to hate, and this is also more or less repeated by the time I get to re-posting Chapter 10. Not to mention a good chunk of the chapters has me playing around with varying personality archetypes often associated with certain species of Pokemon, but either playing them straight or doing something more noticeably different with them.

You're quite right, the chapter is on the ropy side. You've got a habit of trying to fit too much into a sentence at once, I think. The flow tends to break a lot when you switch gear in the middle of the sentence

It's a writing habit that, by this point, is beyond my control at the current moment. At least somebody finally points out I have at least some grammar issues or anything of the sort.

The other thing is that this seems to be an alternate version of Ash, but I can't see why you've chosen to go for it. I mean, his name's there, so is his mum's, and there's a pikachu-line starter, but other than that, what else is "Ash"? I mean, if you're going to go for a different town, different age, different family situation (In terms of not being allowed right out of the door to train and a preoccupation with the father), why not drop the baggage you already have from reader's expectations of Ash, and go for an original character?

The choice for Ash as the protagonist was... well... familiarity. My original choice was going to be Hilbert, but when I decided to combine anime based aspects into the story, I realized Hilbert wouldn't have worked out in hindsight. By the time Chapter 9 is re-posted, you'll get an idea as to what I mean by this as to why I ultimately chose Ash over Hilbert or an OC character. Not that I don't use OCs in the story ahead, mind you, I just want some degree of familiarity with the major cast. That and much of the cast would've been entirely OCs otherwise.

Spoiler: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Introducing the Starters

"So, she finally agreed to it?!" A bright, bubbly young woman on one end of the Xtransceiver spoke to Ash.

"If he's calling us with the confidence he has, I do believe that should be obvious…" A calm, stern young man spoke on the third end of the call.

"Trust me, my mom's still a tiny bit upset about it, but she's finally relenting about it." Ash responded to the two of them, before adding in: "I just hope your father is okay with you going on a journey with us, Bianca." Ash spoke to the girl, named Bianca.

"I-It's… Say, Cheren, do you have anything to add before we all get ready to meet up at your house?" Bianca asked Cheren, her and Ash's other friend whose part of the call. Cheren, meanwhile, groaned a bit.

"… Couldn't we just arrange for the meeting at the Professor's lab?" Cheren asked, before he heard the doorbell ring on his end. "Er, hold that thought." Cheren said, suddenly hanging up on his end, as Bianca looked at Ash from her end of the video call, her expression seeming to appear nervous.

"Say, Ash… Do you think he'll open up a bit more now that we're finally going to be trainers?" Bianca asked, as Ash tried to think of how to answer that. For a while now, he had been trying to get Cheren to open up more by trying to pair him up with Bianca whenever they hung up before, but Cheren was often just to himself every time they were together.

Speaking of Cheren, he suddenly brought the call back up on his end.

"… Looks like you two will be meeting me at my house; the Professor delivered the starter Pokémon here of all places." Cheren spoke with a sigh, as Ash and Bianca nodded.

"Alright, we'll see you there." Ash spoke, before hanging up to head on his way out to the living room with a backpack, an old one from when he was much younger and still went to school, and began packing a few small essentials with the help of Delia, including the Pokémon Egg.

A few minutes later…

As Ash finished up with packing, he arrived at Cheren's house along with Bianca quickly rushing up behind him.

"Hey! Am I late?" Bianca asked, as Ash looked back at her and shook his head.

"Just on time, actually." Ash told her, as he chuckled a bit, as did Bianca to a small degree.

"Ya know... Do you still think that Cheren-"

"Still think what about me?" Cheren suddenly spoke up as he opened the front door, startling Ash and Bianca as they both nervously laughed a bit.

"Um, uh, let's see what Pokémon we got…?" Ash and Bianca both asked, as Cheren pushed his glasses up a bit in a bit of annoyance.

"Just get in already, then." Cheren spoke to the two of them, leading them inside.

As they walked inside and towards Cheren's bedroom, they were quick to notice that Cheren's parents were not at home. As for the surroundings, Cheren's house, to put it bluntly, was much, much tidier in appearance than Ash or Bianca's houses. Heading upstairs, the group gathers around a gift wrapped box on Cheren's bed.

"Already gift wrapped for a special occasion I see." Bianca asked, as Cheren nodded.

'Well, we're all six years late to the party as Pokémon Trainers." Ash spoke up, as he noticed as Cheren picked up the card attached to the box and read it aloud.

"I've brought three Pokémon, one for you and one for each of your friends. Please settle your choices politely. Enjoy your Pokémon!

-Professor Juniper'

"Well, then, I guess we decide on who picks first then, yes?" Ash asked, as Cheren and Bianca both looked at each other, nodding, before looking at Ash.

"...You'll pick first. It's only fair since you've wanted to become a Trainer just like all of us have been." Cheren told Ash, as Bianca then spoke up next.

"Besides, I don't necessarily want your first Pokémon to disappoint you since your mom held all of us back for so long…" Bianca told Ash, as Ash looked at the two of them and sighed.

"Alright, if you guys so heavily insist." Ash told them, before opening the box and seeing small cards labelling the three Poké Balls contained within the box.

One of them, a green, lizard-like Pokémon with small limbs, was a Grass Type Pokémon called Snivy which for a moment, caught Ash's interest, but he chose against it. The next, an orange and black, pig Pokémon with large ears, was a Fire Type Pokémon called Tepig which caught Ash's interest, but he thought about it, before deciding to look at the last choice instead.

The last choice, upon finally examining it, is the one who he viewed would be his first Pokémon; a blue and white, otter-like Pokémon with a scalchop on its chest. This one was a Water Type Pokémon, with its name being Oshawott. Quickly glancing over the other two choices again, Ash finally made up his mind and picked up Oshawott's Poké Ball.

"Alright then, Oshawott, I choose you!" Ash said as he called out the Sea Otter Pokémon from its Poké Ball, watching as Oshawott looked at its surroundings with a bit of glee, yet also having a shy or emotionless exterior.

Bianca, meanwhile, went to pick her own starter.

"Okay, I'll take this Pokémon! Tepig, come on out!" Bianca called, as she let loose the Fire Pig Pokémon from its Poké Ball. Tepig, looking at its surroundings, noticed Oshawott, and snorted up smoke in his direction, seemingly hostile towards Oshawott on first sight, which seemed to amuse Cheren a bit.

"Alright, Cheren, that one's yours." Bianca told Cheren, pointing to Snivy's Poké Ball.

"Hey, how is it you get to pick out my own Pokémon for me?" Cheren asked, as he was shortly stared at a bit by Ash, Bianca, and even a quiet stare from Oshawott. "… Never mind, I was going to pick Snivy anyways." Cheren said, as he picked up Snivy's Poké Ball.

"Alright, Snivy, it's your turn!" Cheren called, before opening up the Poké Ball in a more calm fashion, as the Grass Snake Pokémon was quickly moving around the room in a curious fashion, moving at such a speed that it caught the rather aggressive Tepig's attention, but instead of aggression, Tepig didn't seem to mind Snivy's company as much as it did Oshawott's presence.

"So it looks like all of our Pokémon are acquainted, then!" Ash spoke up.

"So how about a battle, then?" Bianca asked, catching both Ash and Cheren by surprise.

"Um… Right now? I don't mind." Ash answered, as he noticed Bianca's Tepig having an aggressive look at Oshawott. "Besides, it looks like both of the two boys need to let off some steam anyways." Ash responded.

"But we're-" Cheren stopped himself. He was going to bring up about how this was his own bedroom, but when he overheard Ash saying "two boys" he noticed something was off.

"… My Snivy's a girl? How'd you find that out?" Cheren asked, now completely curious to know since he did not know of Snivy as having any major differences between male and female. However, when he saw Snivy's presence actually calmed down Tepig's aggression, in addition to making Oshawott visibly shake in a flustered manner even though his expression didn't change, Cheren simply no longer questioned it.

"Alright, then it looks like we'll both battle first, Ash." Bianca told her best friend, as Ash nodded.

"Agreed!" Ash replied, as Oshawott stepped into position, still staying rather calm in expression, as Tepig readied itself beside Bianca as well.

"Pokémon, go! Use Tackle!" Ash and Bianca both ordered to Oshawott and Tepig. Tepig, rushing forward, was met head first in the middle of their own trainers with a strong retaliation from Oshawott, sending both Pokémon flying backwards from the room, with Tepig crashing into a book case and Oshawott knocking over a trash bin.

"Uh, guys?" Cheren tried to interrupt, but wasn't heard, all the while Snivy watched with a bit of awe.

"Oshawott, flank Tepig from the right and use Tackle again!" Ash called towards Oshawott as the Sea Otter Pokémon stood back up, and dodged an incoming charge from Tepig, strafing to the right, before almost immediately slamming himself into Tepig, knocking Tepig onto his side, which resulted in a bookcase being knocked off of its original foundation, with several books and papers flying.

"Oh, dear… Tepig! Don't just let Oshawott batter you! Try and shrug it off and counter with Tackle!" Bianca called towards Tepig, as Tepig took notice of the incoming Oshawott. However, Tepig was heavier than Oshawott, and thus, when Tepig moved back onto his feet, he pushed himself directly into Oshawott's direction, taking the Water Type by surprise, as Oshawott was sent flying back into the bed, knocking the blanket and pillow out of place.

"Alright, time to finish this! Oshawott, Water Gun!" Ash called, as Oshawott growled in anticipation from Tepig's charging attack, before firing a jet of water from his mouth directly at Tepig, and pushing back Tepig with the force of the super-effective attack, in addition to soaking the floor around Tepig as well.

With another, smoky snort, Tepig was about to get up, before collapsing as he was out of energy to continue fighting. Oshawott, meanwhile, gave a salute-like gesture to Tepig, as Tepig merely snorted angrily at the sea otter in response, as Ash cheered for Oshawott.

"Way to go Oshawott!" Ash said, picking up his small sized Starter Pokémon in praise.

"Looks like you've won. Now we should heal our Pokémon for round two?" Bianca said, picking up the injured Tepig and grabbing a Potion from her bag and spraying Tepig with it to heal Tepig's injuries, which prompted the Fire Pig to sneeze a plume of flames at Bianca's face, which made her giggle a bit in a worried manner.

"Energetic little ones, aren't they?" Bianca asked Cheren, as Cheren had this dull, annoyed expression on his face.

"Well that's all fine and dandy, but what about my bedroom?!" Cheren asked the both of them in a bit of a panic. Ash and Bianca, looking around and noticing that both of their own Pokémon had made a mess of Cheren's bedroom during the battle, nervously laughed a bit to themselves, before looking back at the rather livid yet still calm Cheren.

"… We'll clean this up now."

To be continued…

 

[Ice Tyrant]

I've already got 31 chapters and a prologue uploaded elsewhere, and it's been over three hours since the last update, so here's Chapter 3.

Spoiler: Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Preparing for Adventure

After several minutes of mopping, dusting, and reorganizing furniture and papers, Cheren's room was finally all cleaned up. Now, though, Cheren wanted to battle, and this time, he insisted on having this battle take place outside of his own house.

Out in the open, the Autumn air was fresh as fresh can be. Snivy just couldn't stand still and kept zipping around the entire front yard with eyes wide, all the while Oshawott and Tepig kept staring at Snivy with their own distinct impressions of her. Tepig was attracted to her from earlier, and fought as hard as he could have done to impress her, but ultimately lost to Oshawott. Oshawott, meanwhile, while flustered by Snivy's attempts to charm them, was not so much interested in her in the same way as Tepig was.

All Oshawott saw was a much more "worthy" opponent.

"Sooo… Are you two going to battle, or…?" Bianca asked, as Cheren was trying to get Snivy back in the small, makeshift arena he had set up for her and Ash's Oshawott.

"Snivy! Just get over here!" Cheren called, as while chasing after her, Cheren tripped when Snivy suddenly made a u-turn towards his direction, running past him through his feet, and then finally stopped moving when she moved up to the arena, face to face with Oshawott. Letting out a small, feminine sounding hiss, Oshawott didn't respond very much to Snivy's "remark" and just remained very still, calm, and collected.

"Um, Cheren, you may want to get over here. It looks like she's ready." Ash called for Cheren, as Cheren got up and sighed in annoyance from Snivy's antics.

"Not even an hour and already my first Pokémon isn't listening to me." Cheren remarked, as he walked up to the battlefield, facing Ash. "Ready?"

"Ladies first." Ash commented, as Snivy perked up at that phrase.

"Pokémon, go! Use Tack-"

Snivy, as noted, took the "Ladies first" comment too literally, and made her move before she was commanded to do anything. Whereas Oshawott was rushing towards her to use Tackle against her, Snivy evaded with a strafe to the left, and Snivy was again acting on her own by suddenly running in a circle around Oshawott.

"Hey! Snivy! Listen to me will ya?" Cheren ordered, as Snivy was just in her own little world at the moment.

As she gained speed, suddenly blades of grass and leaves were flying upwards in a spiral around Oshawott, damaging him with a super-effective Leaf Tornado.

"Oshawott! Try and get her away with Water Gun!" Ash called out, as Oshawott came to his senses and attempted to push Snivy back with Water Gun, spraying from his mouth to strike at Snivy. Even with the resistance to Water Type moves, Snivy seemed to take more damage from that than usual.

"Snivy! What's the matter with you? Okay, scratch that. Take out Oshawott with Tackle!" Cheren ordered, as Snivy… just stood there, folding her arms and looking away from Cheren. Cheren, baffled by this, looked over to Ash as if trying to ask what was wrong with Snivy's obedience. This, thankfully, prompted a response from Bianca.

"Maybe you should try ordering her nicely?" Bianca suggested, as Cheren pushed his glasses up a bit in a tiny bit of annoyance. A Pokémon should always be capable of following orders, he thought. Snivy here, though, just wouldn't listen.

"Alright, Snivy… Please, use Tackle against Oshawott?" Cheren tried to say in the nicest tone he could speak in, as Snivy finally relented and ran up to Oshawott and charged into him, knocking him quite a distance, but even after this, it wasn't enough to knock out Oshawott.

"Alright, Oshawott. A bit of a rough start with Snivy, but don't let her looks get to you! Counter with Tackle!" Ash ordered, as Oshawott did as instructed, but in an odd twist of determination, suddenly spun around backwards and sprayed Water Gun towards Ash's direction, and launched himself at high speed towards Snivy, which Snivy was unable to avoid in time due to the unorthodox combo used, and got sent flying into one of the fence posts of Cheren's yard.

"Ring out! Oshawott wins!" Bianca cheered, "But, er, don't feel bad, Cheren…" Bianca added in real quick, as Cheren pushed his glasses up, walking over to pick up Snivy as he brought her towards Bianca, as Bianca healed up Snivy's wounds, as she then attended to Oshawott next.

"Well then, that settles that. Perhaps we should head to the professor's lab next?" Bianca asked, as Ash and Cheren both blinked for a moment.

"Um… Some of us still need to pack for our journey, Bianca." Cheren spoke, as Ash nodded.

"Yeah, I'm already packed, but you two still need to get ready before we prepare to leave." Ash told Bianca, as Bianca appeared visibly nervous, as it didn't take long for Ash to figure out the problem.

"… Lemme guess he's going to be a problem isn't he?" Ash asked Bianca, as she nervously nodded her head to answer that, as Cheren looked at Ash in confusion.

"… You mean Bianca's dad is going to try and hold us back now? Not on my watch." Cheren said, angrily stomping in the direction of Bianca's house, as Snivy quickly zoomed ahead past him after jumping out of Bianca's hold, stopping for a moment to look back at Oshawott and Tepig, before doing a little twirl and winking at the both of them, before rushing off towards Bianca's house with Cheren.

"Um… Uh… Do you think he'll be ready for what your dad will have to say?" Ash asked Bianca nervously.

"Believe me, he's handled worse." Bianca told Ash.

"Trust me… I think he's going to want to be careful around you after talking with your dad."

Speaking of which…

Bianca's father, named Donald or simply "Don", was busy glaring down Cheren at the moment.

"Do you think she'll honestly go on a Pokémon journey with both you and Ash considering how little she knows of the world? Who does she think she is?!" Don spoke to Cheren, as Cheren adjusted his glasses for a moment.

"Sir, with all due respect, you're talking about this as if she'll be alone for the entire trip." Cheren told Don, but Don was still a bit… livid, so to speak, but stopped enough to listen what Cheren had to say once his wife entered the room to calm him down.

"Alright… I'll listen… You're telling me that you and Ash will both ensure that Bianca herself doesn't get in trouble at all?" Don asked Cheren, as Cheren nodded.

"I swear on my own life, sir. We've all been patient, we've all been close together, and nothing will stop us from separating at all on our quest!" Cheren told Don. Normally, it wasn't all much like Cheren to talk this way, but in Don's case, he had no real choice.

As Ash and Bianca silently came into view with their own respective Pokémon, Don's expression softened a lot more than it was beforehand. Who was he to tell them to not go on to live their own dreams?

"Alright, go on ahead. Be my guest. If something bad happens to Bianca, though, I at least expect a call so I can take her home." Don told them, as Bianca mentally cheered on the inside, as Ash and Cheren both calmed down.

"Um, sir, if you don't mind me asking… Does any of this have to do with what happened to my own dad?" Ash asked Don, entering the living room as Don practically froze at the question. Didn't Delia already get the point across to him, he thought to himself.

"He disappeared and never returned, we all know that… But that has nothing to do with this, Ash. I just wish you could finally understand that…" Don told Ash, as Ash nodded, and was about to move to leave. "Just, uh, be certain you and Cheren will both keep Bianca safe." Don asked of Ash before he left.

"We promise… we won't let anyone fishy near her."

Later, at the professor's lab…

Ash, Cheren, and Bianca were walking up to the Professor's Lab, all three of them packed and ready to go, as Professor Juniper was already waiting for them inside, though not too surprising for either of them considering Juniper is the one who gave them their Pokémon to begin with.

"Hi there! I was wondering when you'd show up. Allow me to introduce myself again, my name is…"

"Professor Juniper. We already know your name." Cheren interrupted, as Juniper sighed a bit calmly.

"Come, come, Cheren! Today is a day to always remember, so now is not something you simply take in things so lightly. Please have some level of formality, alright? With that said, once again, my name is Professor Juniper." Juniper introduced, as she had a look at the three and noticed Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott's differing emotions and behaviors.

"My my, it looks like you three have already had a Pokémon Battle. Perhaps that's why it looks like your own Pokémon trust you so much!" Juniper talked, although she did glance at Snivy's… inability to hold still. "Although, I do recommend you give Snivy plenty of room to run. She's always been that way upon arrival." Juniper commented.

"Well so much for formality, but I do have to say that Snivy isn't necessarily trusting me." Cheren mentioned, as Juniper looked at Cheren rather carefully.

"Did you try and be polite about it? Some Pokémon prefer not to have their orders shouted at them, after all." Juniper asked Cheren, as Cheren pushed his glasses up again.

"Well… I'll work on that." Cheren answered, as Juniper chuckled.

"Either way, I wouldn't worry about it as long as she's trained nicely." Juniper told Cheren, as she looked over at Bianca next. "How would you say Tepig is to you, Bianca?" Juniper asked Bianca, as Bianca looked at Tepig.

"A bit aggressive towards others, eager to fight, but nothing I can't handle!" Bianca said to reassure Juniper, as Tepig snorted some smoke out into the air again.

"Splendid, and how about you, Ash? How is Oshawott treating you?" Juniper asked, as Ash held up Oshawott towards her.

"He's kind of… calm, collected, really stable if he knows what he's doing. Not very energetic, either." Ash told her, as Juniper sighed.

"I kind of figured he would be that way, he is the youngest of the three, after all." Juniper said, as she looked at all three, before grabbing hold of three, small devices of sorts and handing one to Ash, Cheren, and Bianca.

"These will be your Pokédexs for your journey. With them, you will be able to record data on each Pokémon you come across, so that you'll know exactly how to train each different type of Pokémon you'll catch. That way, you won't have to worry about confusion on which Pokémon you'll want to catch." Juniper explained, as she looked at the three of them, especially at Ash.

"Thank you, professor. We'll take good care of these." Ash spoke up, as he looked to see Juniper smiling before moving to grab a small pouch of supplies, taking three of them and handing one each to Ash and co., and inside were five Poké Balls in addition to a Premier Ball.

"So, then, how soon will you three be able to meet me out at Route 1 to learn how to catch Pokémon?"

To be continued…

 

[Ice Tyrant]

Spoiler: Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Finishing the Tutorial

"Now then, do we remember everything we're here for?" Cheren asked both Ash and Bianca, as they stood directly in front of the sign that reads "Route 1".

"To help Professor Juniper with the Pokédex, of course!" Bianca said.

"And to become Pokémon Trainers while we're at it!" Ash said, as Cheren looked at both of them and nodded.

"Good, so we all remember." Cheren said, as he was about to take his step towards Route 1… but…

"Hey, wait up!" Bianca spoke, as she suddenly grabbed hold of Cheren's arm, as she did the same with Ash's arm as well, pulling both of them towards her with herself in the center.

"So, what's the deal here?" Cheren asked, as Bianca giggled.

"Well, you see, since it's our first time as Pokémon Trainers, I figured… we'd all take our first steps onto Route 1 together!" Bianca said, as Cheren sighed.

"Do we really have to?"

"Yes." Ash spoke up, as he was taking this rather well despite what Cheren was thinking. Must be because he hangs out with both of us, thought Cheren.

"Well, if that's the case, I guess we'll do just that, Bianca." Cheren answered, as he looked ahead to Route 1 just ahead.

"Alright, on 3! 1… 2… 3!"

With that, Ash, Bianca, and Cheren took their first steps onto Route 1, and looked around at the setting before them, with a surprising glance from a Pidove flying before them, as Ash took interest in how it was flying around the area; it seemed like its ability to fly wasn't working properly for it, since it kept falling downwards as it flew.

"Do you think something's wrong with that Pidove?" Ash asked to himself, as he looked forward to see Professor Juniper waiting for them.

"Oh, didn't take too long to get ready I see?" Juniper asked, as Ash blinked.

"But, how did you suddenly appear in front of us?" Ash asked, prompting confused looks from Cheren and Bianca.

"Um… Ash… She was already ahead of us and waiting here…" Cheren told Ash, as Ash looked at Cheren and blinked.

"Plus, what Pidove are you talking about?" Bianca asked, as Ash looked back at her, and then looked towards Juniper with a confused expression. Was he just beginning to see things, now?

"Oh, Ash, did you get enough sleep?" Juniper asked, a little concerned, as Ash nodded.

"Ya, I got enough sleep. Why?" Ash asked, prompting a chuckle from Juniper.

"Well, just try not to get distracted next time." Juniper told him, as she opened a Poké Ball she was carrying.

"Come on out! Minccino!" Juniper called out, as a Pokémon known as Minccino appeared from the Poké Ball. Ash, unsure of what Pokémon this was, used his Pokédex to analyze it.

"Minccino, the Chinchilla Pokémon, these Pokémon prefer a tidy habitat. They are always sweeping and dusting, using their tails as brooms." The Pokédex spoke in a female sounding, monotone voice, as Ash was a little startled at first with how his Pokédex basically spoke.

"Now then, Minccino, let's show Ash and co. how to catch a Pokémon! Single out a target!" Juniper commanded, as Minccino squeaked happily, as its eyes were set immediately upon a Patrat hiding in the tall grass.

Juniper, giving commands to Minccino to attack, began to explain to Ash, Cheren, and Bianca as to how to properly catch Pokémon.

"First, when you encounter a wild Pokémon, you must weaken it before you try and throw a Poké Ball at it." Juniper told them, as Minccino charged in towards Patrat to attack with Tackle, as Patrat was knocked back a bit, as Ash and Bianca were paying attention the most, whereas Cheren was simply observing.

"Then, after that-"

"You throw a Poké Ball at it, wait three shakes, then a final click to determine capture." Cheren added in.

"Righto, Cheren!" Juniper called, as she grabbed an empty Poké Ball from her pouch. "Poké Ball, go!" She called, throwing it at the weakened Patrat as the Poké Ball made contact and opened up, sucking the Patrat into the center, as it closed and fell onto the ground.

One shake, two shakes, three shakes… *click*

With that, Patrat was caught, as Juniper walked up to the Poké Ball to pick it up, putting it into her pouch and looking back towards Ash, Bianca, and Cheren.

"Now then, why don't you three give it a shot? Try using those Premier Balls I gave you for this one." Juniper told them, as Ash and co. each called out their own respective starters, and took aim towards a specific Pokémon in the Route.

"Oshawott, Water Gun on Pidove!"

"Tepig, Ember on Lillipup!"

"Snivy, Leaf Tornado on Purrloin!"

All three starters were given their commands, and all three pulled them off; Oshawott sprayed water upon a Pidove to weaken it, Tepig igniting a Lillipup, and Snivy, at first, disobeying commands before using Leaf Tornado on a Purrloin.

With that, all three wild Pokémon dropped to the ground in a weakened state, which prompted Ash to turn his hat around real quick, as he, Bianca, and Cheren readied the Premier Ball that each of them were given.

"Premier Ball, go!" They called in unison, as Ash's Premier Ball hit Pidove, Bianca's hitting Lillipup, and Cheren's hitting Purrloin.

One shake, two shakes, three shakes… *click*

"We did it!" Ash cheered, as he and his friends moved to grab hold of their respective Premier Balls and holding them up. "We caught our first Pokémon!"

Juniper, watching all of this, was silently clapping her hands.

"Well, you three learn fast." Juniper complimented, as Ash and co. walked back up to Juniper.

"Yeah, we sure did." Ash spoke, as he opened up his Premier Ball to see Pidove real quick, and noticed Pidove try and fly up to him, and was a bit shocked.

"Hey… Her wing…!" Ash spoke, as Juniper took notice of the problem.

"Well, looks like you'll need to take Pidove to a Pokémon Center right away. It's just up ahead at Accumula Town!" Juniper told Ash, as Ash had Pidove return to her Premier Ball, as Ash nodded.

"Alright, I'll see you catch up!" Ash said, running off towards Accumula Town with Oshawott running quickly behind him, leaving Cheren and Bianca on their own save for Professor Juniper beside them.

"I'll follow him to make sure he knows where to go, you two can handle yourselves, right?" Juniper said to Bianca and Cheren, who both nodded.

"Good, I'll see you there!" Juniper said, before talking towards Accumula Town, as Bianca looked at Cheren a bit.

"So, he really did see a Pidove then, didn't he?" Bianca said, as Cheren blinked.

"Yeah, kind of odd… considering there's not another Pidove in sight, I'm surprised he was able to find one at all." Cheren said, as he looked at Bianca a bit, noticing Bianca sighing as he didn't seem to notice one other thing…

"Hey, uh, Cheren? Why are you staring?" Bianca asked, as internally she was screaming when she had asked that, but Cheren was quick to look away without saying anything. Though, if Bianca were able to see it, he had a very minor blush on his face.

'Why am I often the one looking at her like that…?' Cheren thought.

At Accumula Town, Ash was with Professor Juniper at the Pokémon Center, with Ash being introduced to the head aide at the facility.

"Ash, this is Nurse Joy. She will be responsible for healing your Pokémon to good condition whenever you need them healed." Juniper introduced, as Ash looked at Nurse Joy with a bit of wonder.

"Nurse Joy, huh? Nice to meet you!" Ash said, holding out his hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ash." Nurse Joy said, taking his hand as they both shook hands.

"Now then, about Pidove. I noticed she had a broken wing, but for some reason, I was the only one who saw it while I was out at Route 1." Ash told Nurse Joy, as Nurse Joy finished her work on the healing machine and returned Ash's Pokémon to him.

"I'm afraid I wouldn't know, but it looks like whatever caused the broken wing problem did so without using any known Type of move." Nurse Joy told Ash, as Ash sighed.

"At least I'm not seeing things." Ash said.

"Hey Ash!" Cheren interrupted, running into the Pokémon Center to see him.

"Hey Cheren, what's up?" Ash asked, as Cheren did look a bit red on his face… though just the one side of it, and a rather upset Bianca was walking up to Nurse Joy to have her Pokémon healed.

"Um… Need I asked what happened?" Ash said, as Cheren dragged Ash away to the side for a moment, towards the upper floor of the Pokémon Center. Cheren, seeing he was out of hearing range from Bianca, sighed and looked at Ash.

"Alright, how exactly do you say I told her I was staring at her breasts a while ago?" Cheren asked, in a toned that tried to hide the fact it was serious.

"So, why would you flat out tell Bianca that, anyways? I figured she'd react negatively, but not like that! She's not even that flat!" Ash told Cheren, as Cheren grabbed Ash by the collar of his shirt.

"Okay wise guy, next time you tell me not to lie to Bianca, I'll tell her loud and clear that little comment about her!" Cheren threatened, as Ash held his hands up in response.

"Cheren, honestly, I'm surprised you even were staring at her in the first place!" Ash explained.

"Well excuse me, prince, but do you think that maybe, oh, I dunno, I felt her press against my arm in more ways than one when we were about to walk onto Route 1?!" Cheren yelled, before dropping Ash and beginning to walk downstairs.

"Well, sorry! I didn't know! To be honest, after all of this time, I kind of thought you were-"

"Ash, stop for a sec." Cheren said, looking out of the window.

"No, wait! I didn't mean to suggest you were-"

"No, seriously!" Cheren said, stopping Ash where he stood and pointing outside the window to a crowd. "I was referring to them!"

"Who are they?" Ash asked, as he noticed that on the other end of the crowd, a bunch of people suited up in weird uniforms with two flags set up with a stylized "P" insignia on them, and in the middle was a rather green haired man in a weird looking, castle-like set of robes.

Heading outside, with Bianca still in the Pokémon Center, Ash and Cheren went to investigate what was going on.

"My name is Ghetsis" The green haired man introduced, "I am here representing Team Plasma."

"Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about Pokémon liberation." Ghetsis began to talk, as the crowd was silently talking to themselves about what exactly he had meant.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokémon are partners, that we live together because we want and need each other. Have you ever considered that, perhaps… we humans only assume this is the truth?"

"Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers, they get pushed around while they are our "partners" at work. Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth to what I am saying?" Ghetsis asked, as Cheren, at first, thought Ghetsis was onto something regarding Pokémon disobeying commands and all, but something like what Ghetsis was claiming was just alien to him, especially because of what he had to say next.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential…"

Ash, while paying attention to what Ghetsis had to say, felt an unusual whisper behind him, as he looked around, and didn't appear to see anybody… other than his own shadow taking the shape of a large, robust Dragon with red eyes. Somewhere in the crowd, he could also make out… somebody, with a white colored shadow of sorts, but he didn't know the meaning of this, so continued to listen to Ghetsis.

"They are living beings from which we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility towards these wonderful beings called Pokémon?" Ghetsis asked the crowd, as they began to murmur small comments on what Ghetsis had to say as a whole. Ash, though, gazed back at his own shadow and noticed it was back to normal, and he could no longer see the other shadow in white.

Prompted by one of the guests in the crowd, Ghetsis resumed his speech.

"That's right! We must liberate the Pokémon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokémon truly be equals." Ash could've heard the crowd beginning to silently talk to themselves again, but he didn't hear them so easily over a loud, sharp roar that entered his head.

((Fool…))

"Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokémon. We sincerely appreciate your attention." Ghetsis finished speaking, as two of his followers grabbed hold of the flags they were carrying, as they watched as Ghetsis walked towards the others of their side, surrounded by them, before all of them left towards somewhere else.

As the crowd began to walk away and discuss what to do after hearing Ghetsis's words, Ash heard briefly saw the person whose shadow appeared white, this time yet again, before the shadow faded back to normal when everyone else had cleared of the area. Cheren, who turned in the direction Ash was facing, noticed the strange man.

This man, like Ghetsis, also appeared to have green hair, and was quick to take notice of Ash and Cheren, walking up to both of them.

"Your Pokémon… Just now, it was saying something… Fool, was it?"

To be continued…

 

[Ice Tyrant]

I will admit I was actually rather nervous with continuing to post this story here because of the lack of comments. What's more bothering is that the following chapter below showcases a bit more Early Installment Weirdness than most of the other earlier chapters did. How so? If you didn't notice with the prior chapter, Ghetsis' speech towards the end was lifted entirely from the games. As for a good majority of N's dialogue in this chapter, the same basic thing occurs unless otherwise requiring new dialogue. As for the Shadow Triad's cameo at the end, there's a bigger reason in play as to why they have that conversation to begin with that won't get a payoff until the Chargestone Cave chapters are being written.

Spoiler: Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The name's N

Cheren and Ash were occupied with trying to read this guy's comment. Cheren, meanwhile, had this to say about it.

"Slow down, you're talking too fast." Cheren remarked, "And what's this about our Pokémon… talking? None of our Pokémon are out of their Poké Balls." Cheren said, as Ash took the chance to respond by calling Oshawott out of his Poké Ball.

Oshawott, staying silent and emotionless as usual, looked up at the man, who leaned down to look at Oshawott. Petting Oshawott for a brief moment, the strange man resumed what he was talking about the moment he heard Oshawott give a content, purring sound, though Oshawott's expression remained the same.

"Yes, they're talking. Can't you hear them?" The man asked, as he stood back up to look at Ash and Cheren's confused looks.

"Oh. You two can't hear them, either… How sad." The man remarked, before finally introducing himself. "My name is N".

"My name is Ash, and this is Cheren." Ash introduced both Cheren and himself to N, "We have been asked by the professor to complete the Pokédex, and we just left on our journey." Ash finished.

"My own goal is to become the Champion, though." Cheren added in, as N let out a rather light chuckle, before looking at Ash and Cheren a bit more seriously.

"The Pokédex, eh? So… You're going to confine many, many Pokémon into Poké Balls for that, then? I'm a trainer, too, but I can't help but wonder about something." N said, as he was paying close attention to Ash and Oshawott in particular.

"Are Pokémon really happy that way? So, Ash, is it?" N asked, looking towards Ash, who nodded, but quickly noted the change in N's tone.

"Let me hear your Pokémon's voice again!" N asked, as he called out a Purrloin onto the pavement in front of them. Purrloin, letting out a sharp meow, already gave the clue to Oshawott that this was going to be a fight.

"If you say so… Oshawott! Use Water Gun against Purrloin!" Ash ordered, as Oshawott didn't waste much time in doing what it was told to do. Spraying out a torrent of water from his mouth towards Purrloin, the Devious Pokémon wasted no time in using scratch against Oshawott, but even with the immediate use of an attack, Oshawott didn't seem to take much damage at all.

'Odd… It's as if Purrloin hasn't battled or trained beforehand…' Cheren thought to himself as he watched Ash and N's battle against each other.

"More! Let me hear the voice of your Pokémon!" N proclaimed, as he watched closely as Purrloin did battle against Oshawott. However, within a swift movement, the Scalchop on Oshawott's chest glowed an intense blue, as Oshawott suddenly lifted it off of his chest and began slashing at Purrloin with the edge of it, using Razor Shell for the first time.

"I never expected to hear Pokémon say such things…" With that, Purrloin fell to the ground and fainted from the blow, as N called back Purrloin.

"Yeah! Nice job Oshawott! Learning a new move as well, that's impressi-" Ash was interrupted when he saw N open up Purrloin's Poké Ball again, but instead of the usual, red aura that appears when a Pokémon is called forth or caught with a Poké Ball, he saw a blue aura appear from Purrloin's Poké Ball as it was let out, as Purrloin, in addition to Ash and Cheren, were confused as to what had happened.

"You're free now, Purrloin. Thank you." N told Purrloin, as Purrloin didn't stay around for much longer as it had decided to run off back into the wild.

"You… just released it…?" Bianca asked as she finally arrived to the scene from the Pokémon Center, with Cheren about ready to say something, but dropped it when he realized now wasn't the best time to open his big mouth just yet.

"Yes. As long as Pokémon are confined in Poké Balls, Pokémon will never become perfect beings." N explained, as Bianca was confused, with Cheren and Ash both giving her a look which told her that they'll explain the situation more in a bit.

"I have to change the world for Pokémon, because they're my friends. I just hope that you three will eventually see the truth as well." N said, before walking off to leave.

"Hey, wait up!" Ash said, but by the time he spoke up, N was already gone.

"Huh… strange guy, but I'm not going to worry about it." Cheren told Ash and Bianca.

"Yeah, trainers and Pokémon help each other out, so what exactly was he saying?" Bianca asked, as Ash looked at Bianca to begin to explain the situation, telling her everything from this Team Plasma group, this man named Ghetsis, and finally a bit more about N which she wasn't here for.

"So… He claims he can talk to Pokémon?" Bianca asked, as Ash nodded.

"Yeah… oddly enough, though, he said we couldn't hear it, but in all honesty, I did actually hear someone or something say "fool" before he had walked up to us. Although, that was when Ghetsis was still speaking to a crowd of people when I had heard that." Ash admitted, as Cheren sighed.

"Don't tell me you're imagining things again…" Ash said, as Ash shook his head.

"That Pidove I saw earlier? Do you remember that?" Ash asked, as he called out Pidove from her Poké Ball to show to Cheren and Bianca, as Pidove had a bandaged left wing from earlier still. However, now that Cheren had a good look at Pidove, he noticed something… sparkling…

"Um… Ash… It's been a while since I've seen a Pidove up close, but I'm pretty sure that's not their normal coloration I'm seeing." Cheren said, as Ash had a look at Pidove with his Pokédex.

"Pidove, the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon. These Pokémon live in cities. They are accustomed to people. Flocks often gather in parks and plazas." Just as the Pokédex had finished speaking, a wild Pidove landed near Ash's Pidove, eyeing her curiously as the pink eyed, partially blue colored Pidove belonging to Ash was backing away a bit, as another wild Pidove soon landed beside her.

"Hmmm, the Pokédex says that the Pidove I have is… Shiny? What does that necessarily mean, aside from the color difference of course?" Ash asked.

"Exactly just that, Ash. Now then, back to what you were saying before; you also heard something say "fool", just like how N did, yes?" Cheren asked, as Ash nodded.

"Yeah... Though, it didn't feel like what I heard was… normal." Ash told him, as Bianca decided to ask something.

"So, if you heard this as well, what did it sound like?" Bianca asked, as Ash thought for a moment about it.

"The voice sounded very deep, somewhat growling in tone. It didn't really feel like Oshawott or Pidove said it, especially considering both of them were in their Poké Balls at the time of N walking up to me and Cheren." Ash explained.

"Same for Snivy, Purrloin, and Patrat on my end. I'm not certain exactly what N claims he would have heard, but even I can say that the voice you described sounded too mature in tone when all of our Pokémon have yet to actually evolve at all." Cheren said, tossing up the three Poké Balls for each of his Pokémon and letting them out, as Snivy, Purrloin, and the recently caught Patrat all let out various, animal-like sounds in a high pitched, somewhat squeaky tone.

Oshawott and Pidove, meanwhile, did the same, and even though Pidove sounded rather deeper in tone, it wasn't noticeably deep, and had more to do with how Pidove sounded naturally than it did an actual, "speaking" voice.

"You've got a good point, Cheren… although we didn't really have to let our own Pokémon to really know that." Ash said, returning Oshawott and Pidove to their respective Poké Balls, as Cheren did the same with his own Pokémon.

"Either way, I wanted to at least verify something. I mean, you did sort of zone out during Ghetsis's speech. That… normally isn't like you." Cheren spoke, as Bianca blinked.

"… This is starting to confuse me now, so unless we have anything else to say on this matter, could we advance to the next town? Catch more Pokémon on the way there? Do something that can calm myself down?" Bianca asked, as she was rather visibly upset over something, but not as much as she was before.

"So… You're implying you didn't slap Cheren on purpose?" Ash asked Bianca, as Bianca blinked, before nodding.

"I-It… It was instinct. That and I'm rather freaked out by subjects that aren't considered legal for any of us yet." Bianca confessed, as Cheren sighed.

"Well, er… are you mad about it?" Ash asked, as Cheren pushed his glassed upward on his face again in a bit of annoyance.

"Well, no, not really…?" Bianca said, as she looked towards a region map she had. "Though, regardless, could we possibly get a move on so I can relax my nerves? This whole Team Plasma thing is beginning to frighten me a little…" Bianca asked, as Ash and Cheren looked at each other and nodded.

About an hour later, after Ash and co. had been purchasing supplies from the Pokémon Center with some money they had earned from their own families before they left Nuvema Town, they had begun to set out towards Route 2, when Ash suddenly got a call on his Xtransceiver from his mom.

"Mom? Is there a reason you're calling?" Ash asked, as Cheren and Bianca stopped to look at him, while both of them were in the middle of training their own Pokémon alongside Ash's own Pokémon.

"Yes, I just wanted to call for a checkup, dear." Delia spoke on the other end, as Ash blinked.

"Oh, me and the others are doing fine? We've even caught some of our own Pokémon as well!" Ash told his mom, as Delia smiled.

"Well, that's nice to hear and all, Ash, but I was referring to the Pokémon Egg, silly." Delia spoke, as Cheren, in the midst of drinking a cantina of water, suddenly did a spit take as he looked at Ash.

"Pokémon Egg? What Pokémon Egg? Is that why Ash's backpack is so heavy?" Cheren asked, as Bianca looked at him to grab Ash's backpack, unzipping the bag to take out the portable incubator the Pokémon Egg was being stored in, as Cheren blinked in surprise, as did Bianca, with Ash walking up to them.

"Hey, guys, I apologize for not having told you about the Pokémon Egg. I had actually forgotten about it by the time we got to Juniper's… ehehe…" Ash laughed nervously, as Cheren and Bianca sighed.

"As much as it would've been nice to know ahead of time, we don't mind. Though…" Bianca said.

"… What exactly is even in this egg, anyways? Its coloration doesn't look like any Pokémon Egg I've seen before." Cheren finished, as Bianca looked at him and blushed, with Cheren looking at her and blinking. "What? What did I say?" Cheren asked.

Ash, meanwhile, checking on the Pokémon Egg, sighed knowing it was still in good condition, though the lack of a major amount of movement indicated it wasn't close to hatching just yet.

"The Egg's doing fine, mom. It's just not close to hatching yet, it seems." Ash told his mom over his Xtransceiver.

"Its fine, I was just asking if it was being kept in a safe and healthy condition." Delia asked, as Ash sighed.

"Look mom, the egg will be fine. I'm sure it'll hatch soon. I just don't know what Pikachu's evolutionary line is to know exactly what it would hatch into." Ash spoke to his mom, as Cheren and Bianca blinked and began to whisper to each other.

"Is he talking about those two Pokémon living at his house?" Bianca asked.

"Seems like it. I don't know any other Pokémon in Unova with that name, so it's only reasonable that whatever's in that egg is related to this Pikachu Pokémon." Cheren told her, as he pulled out his Pokédex, trying to scan the Pokémon Egg to see what it'll hatch into, to see if it's Pikachu, or…

"Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokémon. The electric sacs in its cheeks are small. If even a little electricity leaks, it becomes shocked." The Pokédex said, as Cheren and Bianca looked at Ash, who had just finished his call with Delia.

"So a Pokémon called Pichu is going to hatch from the Egg? I take it that it evolves into Pikachu, then?" Ash asked them both, as they both nodded, with Cheren quickly looking over the Pokédex's screen for Pichu.

"Its evolution line goes up to two further slots, and Pikachu is directly after Pichu and evolves into another Pokémon after that." Cheren told Ash, as Ash nodded.

"Alright, so there's one mystery solved." Ash said, as he began to yawn a little bit. "I suppose we should start setting up camp next, then?" Ash asked both Cheren and Bianca.

"Well, it's getting late, so I guess that is a good idea." Cheren said, as Bianca nodded in response.

"Yeah, time sure flies when you're having fun and all." Bianca said, as Ash went to put the incubator back in his Backpack, as he and the others got ready to set up camp, as their Pokémon were returned to their respective trainers' Poké Balls.

Meanwhile, not very far away from them…

"Should we report to Lord N about the Pokémon Egg?" A man covered head to toe in black asked.

"Shouldn't be a problem, though I advise we tell him anyways. He might be interested in the news." Another man, covered in identical clothing, spoke, as a third man with equally identical clothing walked up to them.

"Relax. Besides, we're not here to take anything from them, nor are we here for the Striaton Brothers. We're just scouting these trainers because N asked us to. That and we're making sure the grunts don't screw up with the Dream Mist." The third spoke up, as the other two glanced at him.

"Besides, the grunts keep getting this idiotic idea that we and the Striaton Trio are one in the same. I mean, seriously." One of them spoke up, as he removed his mask and bandana, revealing a rather aged face underneath in addition to pure white, very lengthy hair. "We don't even look remotely that young underneath this cover. That and the fact we're... What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Robust."

"Thank you." The man spoke, before putting his mask and bandana back on, all the while the one observing Ash and co. setting up camp spoke up next.

"I'm not certain why Lord N is interested in these trainers, but it had better be important as to why we're here instead of keeping an eye on the grunts…" He spoke, as the third to arrive began to speak next.

"Again, relax… Have you forgotten? We can simply teleport anywhere we please… whenever we please…" The third spoke, as the other two men nodded, before all three of them suddenly vanished into thin air…

Ash and co., all ready for the night ahead, begin to settle down for the night and prepare for what was ahead for the next day; the Striaton Gym Battle.

To be continued…

 

[Ice Tyrant]

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Friend or Foe

As morning arrived, Ash set up a small cooking set up for him to work with, working on a batch of pancakes as his Pidove was sitting on his shoulder, watching his every move. She seemed a little curious, to say the least.

"Don't worry, Pidove, I'm making food for all of us." Ash told her, as Ash chuckled a little, as Pidove chirped a little and moved to fly off of his shoulder and land on the ground.

Cheren and Bianca, meanwhile, were still fast asleep in the tent; the only tent they had, at that.

Bianca was slowly beginning to stir, as she felt in an extremely comfortable state of relaxation…

… As she noticed Cheren's arms were wrapped around her, with Cheren still fast asleep.

'U-Um… this is weird… I'm not really complaining, b-but…' Bianca began to think for a moment, 'still, though…' She slowly moved to look at Cheren's face when her eyes were opening up more as her vision cleared up.

'He's… so calm… I haven't seen him like this in years…' Bianca thought to herself, a few, small tears forming in her eyes, before she moved to lay her head against Cheren's chest, being careful not to move too suddenly. She knew Cheren was shy when it was just the two of them together, so she wanted to enjoy this small moment while it lasted, which made her recall from the night before as to how this happened…

All she could remember outright was that she was beginning to get cold; the tent that she shared with the boys had a wall in the center of it to give her privacy when necessary, so she was sleeping by herself with Ash and Cheren on the same side of the tent as each other.

However, tonight ended up being a colder night than usual, as Bianca was used to how warm her bedroom was in Autumn, especially on the colder nights. She could recall how warm and comfortable her own bed was, but now camping out in the middle of Route 2 made her quite uneasy. It wasn't just cold, but it was unfamiliar for her.

She felt she had to do something about this, so she unzipped part of the wall in the middle of the tent to look at Cheren's sleeping form. Oddly enough, Ash wasn't here, as she heard some occasional talking outside of the tent, meaning Ash was probably training his Oshawott or Pidove.

Looking down at Cheren, she moved to carefully budge him awake.

"H-Hey… C-Cheren…? Could you please wake up?" Bianca asked in a whisper, as Cheren slowly began to stir with his eyes opening up to look at Bianca.

"Is this important…?" Cheren asked, as he looked and noticed how pale Bianca's hand was, and this caused him to suddenly sit up straight to look at her carefully.

"Bianca! You're practically freezing! Hold on a sec, can you get Tepig's Poké Ball for a moment?" Cheren asked, as he moved to grab Snivy's Poké Ball, letting Snivy out of her Poké Ball on Bianca's side of the tent, as Snivy looked around and blinked. Bianca, getting the clue, grabbed Tepig's Poké Ball and let him out right next to Snivy, with Tepig looking around and blinking due to how late it was.

"Hey, Snivy… Could you please get Tepig to help us out?" Cheren asked Snivy, as Snivy hissed affectionately, prompting Cheren to move to grab something from his own backpack, as Cheren handed Snivy a Poké Puff to encourage her to listen, as Snivy quickly ate up the treat and moved a bit closer to Tepig, causing Tepig, from the sudden movement Snivy made towards him, to generate a field of heat around himself, that quickly warmed up the tent as a whole.

"Alright, thank you, Tepig. You can return to your Poké Ball, now." Bianca spoke, as she returned Tepig to his Poké Ball, as Cheren did the same with Snivy.

"Will you be alright?" Cheren asked Bianca, as she smiled a little nervously.

"I… um…" Bianca tried to say something, but didn't know how to put it. "I'm sorry for slapping you yesterday, but if I can ask something… er…"

"Could you please sleep beside me for tonight, please?"

Waking up from her current thoughts, Bianca looked at Cheren, who's peaceful sleep showcased that for as awkward as he can be at times, he wasn't fully above at least showing concern for her, causing her to smile sweetly, as continued to rest her head against his chest.

Ash, meanwhile, was finished preparing breakfast by this point, and went to the tent to get Cheren and Bianca. Not having returned to the tent from last night's training, he walked into the tent to look at the fact the boy's side of the tent was unoccupied to his surprise, as he carefully unzipped the middle section of the wall between his and Cheren's side of the tent, to look at Cheren and Bianca cuddling together.

"Hey, guys, breakfast is ready if you both are hungry." Ash spoke to them, as Cheren quickly began to stir awake and opened his eyes to realize his current condition of snuggling Bianca. Surprised, Cheren shot up where he was laying down and backed away a bit, his face practically red the whole time.

"Y-Yeah, I'll join for breakfast…" Cheren said, as Bianca moved to sit up as well.

"So will I."

Several minutes later…

After Ash, Cheren, and Bianca finished breakfast, Cheren was helping Ash clean up their campsite as Bianca was training some of her Pokémon with the help of Cheren's Purrloin and Patrat, with both of said Pokémon thankfully being much more obedient than his Snivy.

"So, Ash, why aren't you training with Bianca?" Cheren asked, as Ash sighed.

"Well we do have to clean up our campsite, and considering both of us are the heavy lifters of the group it was only natural. Besides, you looked like you needed some distance from Bianca for a moment." Ash told Cheren, as Cheren's face got a little red as he helped Ash finish packing up the tent.

"Um, well, s-she sort of asked me to sleep next to her last night when she was getting cold…" Cheren admitted, as Ash blinked.

"… And?" Ash asked, as Cheren pushed his glasses up a bit, although not in an annoyed way.

"She, well, began to get a little uncomfortable sleeping last night… She told me she wasn't used to sleeping in a place like this, or the fact that unless we happened to crash in a Pokémon Center due to timing during our journey across Unova, well… she's going to be like this for at least a few days." Cheren told Ash the rest of what she talked with him about last night, as Ash nodded.

"Well, as much as I would personally be willing to help her calm down, she seems to trust you quite a lot." Ash told Cheren.

"… Though you're the one she's closest to, and yet I'm the guy among us who freaks out with being alone with her." Cheren admitted, as he sighed. "I just want to stop feeling so timid around her at times like this, since she really seemed to see something in me that she doesn't see in you…" Cheren told Ash, as Ash chuckled a bit.

"To tell you the truth, Cheren, she used to actually have a crush on me once a few years back, but she stopped when I told her that you deserved her more than I did. At the time, I… just really wasn't ready for somebody to be that close with me, and you were the one with the self-confidence issues at the time and-"

"Okay, Ash, if we're to continue getting along on this trip, let's not bring up the past in such a way about me. I admit it, yes, I was like that, but I don't want to be reminded of it." Cheren spoke, as Ash's Pidove landed on Cheren's head, curiously tilting her head down to look at Cheren's face.

"Plus… your Pidove is kind of getting on my nerves." Cheren admitted, as Ash sighed, prompting him to hold his right arm outward, as this caught Pidove's attention as she flew off of Cheren's head and landed on Ash's wrist, and gave Ash a bit of an idea.

"Hey, how's about we join Bianca in training now that we're finished wrapping things up here?" Ash asked, with him and Cheren having finished with packing everything up into their respective bags, as Ash called out Oshawott from his Poké Ball.

Oshawott, silently squeaking, key word being silently, looked up at Ash, as Cheren also called out Snivy from her Poké Ball.

"Alright, let's go."

At the clearing along Route 2, Ash, Bianca, and Cheren were all practicing having their Pokémon learn new moves with several wooden targets set up, with a solid rock being used as the target for Ash's Pidove.

"Pidove! Let's try it again, Steel Wing!" Ash called, as Pidove flew up into the air, her wings partially beginning to glow in a metallic fashion, as she dived down towards the targets from the air. As she did, though, her wings reverted back to normal, which she quickly noticed as she flew upwards to avoid crashing like she did earlier. Ash, sighing, looked up at Pidove.

"Pidove, listen, you can't be scared like that! I know it's a much tougher target than what the others are using, but you have to be brave on this one!" Ash told her, as Pidove flew down towards Ash with a look of uncertainty, as Pidove's left wing was still bandaged up from before, as Ash held out his right arm again for Pidove to perch there again, looking towards her when she landed on his wrist.

"Look, Pidove, I'm no expert on what caused your injury like this, but you're flying a lot better from what I had first found you at Route 1." Ash told her, as he gently laid a finger against Pidove's left wing, to see if she was still hurting from it; no reaction, which prompted Ash to remove the bandaging on it, as Ash gave Pidove a careful nod after hearing her chirp a little bit.

Flying up into the air again, Pidove braced herself to prepare for another test at learning Steel Wing.

"Alright, one last time, and I'll have you rest. Once more! Steel Wing!" Ash called, as Pidove dived down towards the medium sized rock used as her target, her wings glowing an intense, metallic shine, this time not letting loose, as she dove at the rock and caused the rock to shatter upon impact from successfully using Steel Wing.

"Alright! Way to go Pid-" As Ash was in the middle of congratulating her, though, Pidove began to glow with a powerful energy, as Pidove's entire body was encased in light; her wings stretching in size, her tail feathers becoming longer and more noticeable, her head becoming more thickly covered in feathers, and when the glow faded, her body becoming a very bright shade of green compared to the shinier shade of bluish gray her original coloration was.

"… Pidove?" Ash asked, as he pulled out his Pokédex to scan "Pidove".

"Tranquill, the Wild Pigeon Pokémon and the Evolved Form of Pidove. Many people believe that, deep in the forest where Tranquill live, there is a peaceful place where there is no war." The Pokédex spoke, as Ash gazed at Tranquill with a bit of awe.

"Wow…" Cheren suddenly spoke up as he, Purrloin and Patrat, in addition to Bianca and her Lillipup, looked over towards Ash's newly evolved Tranquill, as Tranquill moved to flew onto Ash's right arm again, happily chirping from having regained some of her confidence, as Ash was able to hold up Tranquill on his arm still, even though the Pokédex had told Ash that Tranquill weighed around 33.1 pounds.

"Nice job, Ash!" Bianca cheered, as Cheren nodded.

"So, this is Pidove's first evolution, then? Seems a bit unfair to battle one of you guys in that case. I mean, Cheren may have three Pokémon now, but I have one that's evolved at least once and thus would be at least stronger than at least two unevolved Pokémon, if not more." Ash said, feeding Tranquill a quick treat in the form of a Poké Puff as Tranquill chirped affectionately, while Cheren's Patrat squeaked a bit in approval to what Ash had to say, with Purrloin's meow being more of a neutral statement. Lillipup, though, actually seemed to bark confidently about challenging Ash's Tranquill.

"Oh, is that so, you youngsters?"

Ash, Cheren, and Bianca were startled all of a sudden as they looked around, and eventually saw a rather, tall, lanky man standing atop a tree branch, lacking a shirt, wearing bagging, black and red pants, and wearing a white mask shaped after a Pokémon's head, with odd markings on it giving the feel up fancy make-up, and having a lengthy bundle of red and black hair.

"And… you are…?" Ash asked, as the mysterious, oddly costumed man didn't look neither him, nor Cheren or Bianca, but directly towards Lillipup, Purrloin, and Patrat.

"Hold on a sec, your trainers are confused. Allow me to show myself for a moment." The man spoke, as he grasped his hands together, his pointer fingers laid against each other, as the man suddenly transformed into a different shape entirely in a puff of black and red smoke, with the form seen after the smoke faded being an equally black and red colored Pokémon, with many of the features the human form had having carried over into this form.

Bianca, taking the time to grab her Pokédex, as Cheren and Ash did the same, scans the odd, shapeshifting Pokémon to try and figure out what Pokémon it was.

"Zoroark, the Illusion Fox Pokémon and the Final Form of Zorua. Each has the ability to fool a large group of people simultaneously. They protect their lair with illusory scenery." After their Pokédex finished detailing on the mysterious Pokémon, they could hear him chuckle in a more deeper, canine-like voice before he suddenly shapeshifted back into his human guise, this time his red and black hair as a human changing into a set of blond hair, and the originally black, baggy pants changing to a silky white with gold trims to them. The chuckling the Zoroark made, continuing as he transformed, maintained a deep sound, yet sounded far more like a human.

"So, I take it you're all surprised by my presence here, yes? Go on, try throwing a Poké Ball at me, I insist! Then I'll get back to answering questions." Zoroark spoke, as Bianca looked towards Cheren and Ash to indicate she'll pass, as Ash and Cheren quickly did a match of Rock/Paper/Scissors, with Cheren winning and Cheren grabbing a Poké Ball from his pouch.

"Alright, this has to be a trick. But I'll give it a shot…" Cheren said, as he clicked the button on the Poké Ball to have it expand to full size.

"Poké Ball, go!" He called, as he tossed the Poké Ball at Zoroark, as Zoroark was forced back into his true form upon impact, and the black and red smoke being absorbed along with him into the Poké Ball's center as it closed around him… only for the Poké Ball to suddenly glow red with a buzz sound and open back up and release Zoroark from confinement.

"So, you already have a trainer?" Cheren asked, as Zoroark shrugged.

"Sort of. I'm in a bit of self-exile at the moment due to… reasons. All I am allowed to say to you three without blowing my cover is that this won't be the last time we meet… Especially you, young Oshawott. Either way, he probably already knows I'm here. I am the one who taught him many of my languages I know." Zoroark gave away, as Ash actually caught onto the hint, all the while Oshawott's normally stoic expression changed to a slightly confused one.

"So, wait, you're saying you belong to that N guy?" Ash asked, as Zoroark chuckled and nodded.

"Why, yes. Yes I am. That's just part of the reason he can understand me as a Pokémon, though." Zoroark confessed, as Cheren raised an eyebrow.

"Then how are you are able to speak English?" Cheren and Bianca both asked at once, as Zoroark remained silent.

"I've learned it over the last century's time. I'm rather experienced with how you humans work, and all; I just only wish my trainer saw more eye to eye with me in that regard." Zoroark admitted, as Ash, Cheren, and Bianca, knowing full well that Zoroark was trying to hide for real given the fact had N truly wanted to, when he had challenged Ash to a battle back in Accumula Town, N could've easily used Zoroark in the battle at any time.

"Still, though, it's actually amazing a Pokémon can actually talk and such, especially one like yourself." Bianca said, as suddenly something Zoroark had said earlier had caught her attention again. "By the way, what did you mean by when you were talking to our Pokémon for a moment after Ash had brought up his Tranquill?" Bianca asked, as Lillipup barked towards Zoroark, who nodded in understanding, whereas Patrat and Purrloin's reactions means their comments didn't change.

"The guy in the glass's Patrat understands that he's not a match for Tranquill, Purrloin is vain and neutral about the idea, and Lillipup is just asking for a fight in general. If he still so believes he wants to put up a fight, I'll strike a deal; tell nobody I was here, and then…" Zoroark spoke, before suddenly transforming again in a puff of red and black smoke, before taking on the exact same appearance of Ash's Tranquill.

"… I'll give him that fight on my own."

To be continued...