Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Anima: So, first things first, fun fact, around the 12th of December in 2020 I finally got a Nintendo switch and started playing pokemon shield, and can I just say that I LOVE the game. The wild areas are amazing, the storyline is interesting, the different way of doing the usual gym challenges, the fact that it’s based on the UK, it’s the 8th generation and 8 is my favorite number, the characters, I just love this game so much.

There are of course some parts I’m not fond of, namely the fact that in max raids the opposing pokemon can not only attack more than once in one turn but put-up fucking barriers. It’s goddamn annoying is what it is. But otherwise, it’s amazing and I definitely recommend it.

Because of the reasons above, I decided that while I will be pulling some things from the anime with Galar, I will mostly be writing based on the game, as well as a storyline that I have personally created. But you won’t be seeing that for ages so moving on.

I do not own Pokemon nor do I control the franchise. On with the story.

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So, this story takes the premise that when I’m around 18, I die somehow. I don’t remember how but that’s probably good because remembering would be traumatic and probably leave me with some pretty intense phobias.

I am reborn/reincarnated as Ashlyn ‘Ash’ Delia Ketchum, on the 22^nd of May, 1998, in the Pokemon world. (Yes, I noticed that they were supposed to be born around 1984 but I only saw that after I created a full-blown timeline with dates and stuff, which I don’t want to undo so these are the times I’m going with. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read.)

(ALSO, IMPORTANT, this Ash knows about the Galar region but doesn’t know specifics, let’s say she came into the pokemon world without having played the game or seen gameplay, as I hadn’t at the time of first coming up with this story, she knows some very small snippets from the trailer in 2018? Such as the starters, the name of the region, and that the champion wears a cape? Yeah, basically non-important info like that. Which, you know, kind of doesn’t change much since this Ash knows near nothing of the anime. Fun, right?)

So unlike in the first version of this story, this Ash isn’t able to see well, so she doesn’t know that she’s in Pokemon right off the bat, and spends most of her time either crying, sleeping or, staying quiet.

Though she does notice that the people handling her feel weird sometimes, like fur or vines and this just gets her upset because she’s now paranoid that wild animals or crazy vegetation are going to hurt and/or kill her.

This Ash is depressed. She died and lost everything she used to have, family, home, items of personal value. She also died right after finishing hard as hell A-levels, amid COVID, which is NOT FAIR!!!

But hey, at least the language is still English, that’s a big plus in her books.

So yeah, things don’t change much for the first 8 weeks or so, when Ash finally gets her eyesight back, even if it’s a bit blurry and only stuff close to her.

Anyway, Ash one day can see though not very well… and the first thing she sees is pokemon. It could be a pokemon mobile or one of her parents, point is she can see the pokemon.

There is also the very important fact of the world being 2d like a cartoon, or rather, an anime. The Pokemon franchise. (I’m making it so that it is the art style of Pokemon Journeys as it was the latest anime-style and it would be weird to spontaneously change the way the world around you looks if you actually live in it like Ash is. So Pokemon Journeys art style is the way that the world looks in case you were wondering.) Of course, Ash starts crying.

After she starts crying, her mum comes to comfort her, but this makes it worse because now Ash can see her and holy shit it’s Delia, and she called me Ash and OH MY GOD, I AM SO FUCKING SCREWED.

Yeah, Ash isn’t having a good time so far.

She’s terrified because, on one hand, she’s still a girl, which, thank god, is her right gender. However, she has effectively replaced the crazy and cheerful Ash (who I will refer to as Satoshi for convenience) that she knew from the anime, with herself, a depressed and socially anxious girl that prefers to read.

Ash also WOULD NOT use the methods Satoshi does to catch pokemon. Attacking them out of the blue, chasing them, capturing them in a Pokeball, and forcing them to fight for you. Video games are fine, it’s just a game, but real living creatures with emotions and lives of their own? Yeah no, just the idea of it makes Ash feel sick so yeah, she’s probably not going to be a pokemon master, and she definitely isn’t going to catch them all.

There’s also the fact that she wasn’t an avid watcher of the anime and only knows about the first few episodes of season one to about where there’s giant mechanical pokemon on an island? Yeah, about there. Along with some movies and random snippets that she saw of all the different seasons aired, which is way in the future and doesn’t help in the now.

Plus, she can’t remember the order Satoshi went to regions. She remembers that first is Kanto, fifth is Unova, sixth is Kalos, seventh is Alola, and eighth is Galar. She knows that the second through fourth regions is Hoenn, Johto, and Sinnoh, but she can’t remember the right order. Ash is pretty scared about fucking up the future by going to the wrong region at the wrong time.

Ash remembers that Satoshi was the chosen one, and just like it was for Harry Potter, it means that his luck while sometimes divine, is most of the time complete and utter shit. Legendaries, nearly dying, ACTUALLY DYING? If Ash has effectively replaced not only Satoshi but his role, that means she will have to deal with this and she just… can’t handle this and can’t stop crying because oh god she thinks that she is going to fuck up so badly and she is stressed beyond belief over the future.

Also, just to clarify, like humans, I am going to be using a lowercase first letter for the pokemon species in conversations. If it’s important it’ll get capitalized but otherwise, it’s staying lowercase. Unless autocorrect comes into play.

So, every day is the same, until one day, nearly 2 weeks after Ash can see, on the 1^st of July, there’s a frantic knocking on the door and Ash can hear someone crying. Loudly.

Ash doesn’t recognize the guy at the door with the baby in his arms at first because 1) he has brown hair, 2) he looks younger, 3) he has a baby, and 4) he is so dirty and looks so disheveled that he kind of looks like a homeless person. No offense meant to the homeless people.

Ash is shocked when the following conversation between the adults reveals that this is Samuel Oak, aka Professor Oak. And that the baby he has is his grandson Gary… only it’s not his grandson but his actual son that he conceived when he accidentally got drunk after a press conference to talk about pokemon and had a one-night stand. Wow… just… wow.

(I am making Gary Sam’s grandson because I calculated that he would have been around 39 when Gary was born. Taking into account that Gary has an older sister, let’s say that he first became a grandpa at 38. If you split it in half you get 19. The oldest either Sam or his child could have been when they had kids was 19. I don’t know about you, but them being so young doesn’t sit well with me.

I don’t have a problem with people having kids young but Professor Oak? He would have been busy with research, becoming a professor, and you’re telling me he either got married or became a single dad before he turned 20? And that his kid did the same? Yeah no. I don’t think so. Hence why I have made Gary his son instead, this is my story and my rules.)

Anyway, Gary was born a few months back on the 6^th of April (And I don’t know or care if this is his wrong birthdate, my story my rules) but the mother only recently just dropped him off with Sam, told him the important stuff such as name and birthday, and then skedaddled.

Sam was not prepared for taking care of a baby, his appearance attests to that. The past few days he tried his best but he does not know how to take care of a baby. Hence, coming to Delia for help.

Ash is kind of just lightly dozing while listening to the talking around her when she’s smacked on the nose. It doesn’t hurt but it’s still surprising.

She opens her eyes to see, guess who, Gary motherfucking Oak, gurgling at her and tapping her lightly with one of his hands.

Ash can’t help but snort. He’s a cute baby but also a little shit. How fitting for Gary. He is still very adorable.

So, Ash is cheered up a bit by Gary and his baby antics and starts smiling and giggling a bit, but to her family? This is a miracle. Ash has not laughed or smiled since she was born, and here she is laughing with Sam’s son.

Delia immediately takes action, as protective mothers often do for their kids. She shanghais Sam into letting her and Ash stay at his place so that not only can she teach him to take care of Gary, but so that the two of their kids can play together.

Red is exasperated with Delia’s taking charge but concedes because he loves her and trusts her judgment, Sam agrees but the adults realize that Ash hasn’t been properly introduced to him yet so they tell him her name. Ash notices Sam get an odd look on his face but shrugs it off. Ash is kind of a weird name after all.

Anyways, the family moves into Sam’s place and the story gets started. Tune in next time to properly find out and have the family’s pokemon introduced to you.

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Anima: So fun fact, there wasn’t a confirmation in the anime about who took the Charmander and Bulbasaur from Sam since Gary got Squirtle and Satoshi got Pikachu. At least I don’t think there was. Because of this, I have some personal ideas on who could take the places, but here’s the thing;

One idea is that I don’t do anything as they are characters that don’t hold much more relevance to the story apart from getting their pokemon at the same time as Ash and Gary. Very minor characters.

Another is that I create two brand new OCs that may or may not have a bigger impact on the story, resulting in some changes.

ANOTHER idea is that there is one OC to take Bulbasaur that may or may not have an impact on the story, along with DAMIAN taking the Charmander. In case you don’t know who that is, it’s the original trainer for Satoshi’s Charmander that abandoned him because he thought that it was too weak for losing a battle against (I think) a Poliwag. What a douche, right? So yeah, I will probably be posting a poll on my fanfiction.net account of AnimaTheAwesome1 to take in what you guys think about what I should do.

Finally, news, I will try to stick to a two-week or four-week posting period. If I have gone over four weeks with nothing then it means that I either need more time to finish a chapter or have lost track of the date and could use a reminder, as I have the unfortunate habit of spending more time reading stories than writing them so I might be a little late. Plus, I am playing pokemon shield and that is taking up some of my time. It’s just such a cool game, and that’s without the internet as I haven’t had the chance to buy that for the game yet. But anyway, moving on.

With that said, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a hopefully better than 2020 New Year. See ya.

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Anima: Hello everybody, welcome to this new chapter. Hope the year has had a good start but considering the shit storm we are still all weathering I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t. Anyway, in other news, I have a question. Does anyone know how long Ash was in Alola? Can you send me a timeline to add to my own?

I want to know so that I can figure out Ash’s age when going to Galar and then make a guesstimate on how old all the other characters there are. There is a very good reason for this but it will only come into play when Ash is around 10? So yeah, please send me some info on the Alola timeline.

In fact, send me a timeline of all of Ash’s journey. I more or less have a rough sketch of Ash’s journey up to Alola but I am writing up an official one to keep track of months and years that pass in the journey. Largely based off of Game Theory’s videos on how old Ash is, you should check it out. However, there are some parts I don’t agree with and am trying to flesh out.

It might be because of my autism, but I just have a very strong reluctance to write the chapters without an official timeline up to at least Galar and I could use some help with what months which episodes are in to stick to a semi-realistic travel plan that at least partway matches up with what I’ve got on the timeline. Again, could use help with it so be sure to send me your ideas and let me know what you think.

Also, seriously, check out my polls on my Fanfiction.net profile. They actually can really help with coming up with a timeline so be sure to take a look ok?

Anyway, I don’t own Pokemon.

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So, first off, as Ash is growing up, she gets to know the pokemon that are teamed up with her parents and Sam. To make it easier to know and remember them all I have composed a brief guide down below on all of the pokemon of the 3 adults taking care of her that Ash grew up with.

So far, Delia has only one pokemon. (If you read my old version of this story, you’re probably surprised by this as I used to write her with six. Well, I thought about it and realized that Delia probably wouldn’t be interested in battling or catching pokemon. She is a (cook? Chef? What’s the proper term?) and would probably focus on just training with one pokemon while trying out new recipes and traveling with Red.) [My story, my rules. Don’t like, don’t read.].

So yeah, Delia’s only pokemon is a female ivysaur named Demeter. She, like the original Ash’s bulbasaur, chose not to evolve but instead of not being ivysaur, she chose to stay as ivysaur. Better to stay smaller if you’re going to be staying in the house and helping in the kitchen, right? Anyways, Demeter is kind of like the peacekeeping mother and is a lot like Delia. She’s protective over her family, is the peacekeeper in arguments to calm people and pokemon down, uses her vines as makeshift hands a lot, and likes to help Delia out in the kitchen with cooking and/or baking. She’s also really soft towards Ash.

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Now Red’s pokemon are inspired by a cool pokemon comic that I first saw on youtube. It’s called RandomDoom and is made by TamarinFrog on Deviantart. I loved those comics; they were really fun to read and I was sad when TamarinFrog decided that they were done with the series. You guys should check them out if you like pokemon.

I shot TamarinFrog a message using chat on Deviantart but I’m not sure it went through as I never got a reply despite waiting for a few weeks. Here’s to hoping I don’t get sued for basing Red’s pokemon on theirs without explicit permission from them.

Anyhoo, here we have Red’s first pokemon, a male lucario called Luke. Luke is kind of like the class clown, likes to make jokes, flirts lightly with girls, has a really big crush on his teammate Solar, and often is practically sunshine incarnate. Don’t be fooled though, Luke is the most powerful in Red’s team. He may be a goof, but he’s a strong as hell goof.

Next, we have the female infernape Solar. She’s Red’s starter pokemon (as he’s from Sinnoh) but not his first; Because of this, she has a sort of rivalry with Luke. He irritates her with her jokes, she smacks him when he flirts and they have this weird sort of thing going on that a lot of their family is betting on when they get together. Solar is the leader of Red’s pokemon, she makes the plans and organizes the others; She is serious and blunt and always tries to keep a cool head (Though she never seems to when Luke is around). She may be tough but Solar has a soft side, mostly to Red but especially to younger people or pokemon.

Now it’s time for Candy, a SHINY female lopunny. She is energetic and a positive thinker, she also is a romantic at heart and is in love with Captain. It is usually very easy for her to get along with people, though she sometimes has insecurities that it’s because of her ability cute charm. Candy is a caring and kind older sister figure who often looks out for younger kids and pokemon.

Red’s 4^th pokemon is his floatzel, Captain. A tough guy who is pretty strong. He acts like a bad boy, toeing the line of rules and acting like he’s the boss. He loves to fight strong pokemon and often spars with the other pokemon on Red’s team, most often being Solar. He has a soft spot for Candy, who he is in a relationship with and loves very much, though he still acts like a tough guy. Heaven help anyone that messes with his girl though.

Okay, the second to last of this kickass team is Nigel, a male toxicroak. He’s laidback and kinda lazy, with a calm attitude and rational head (kind of like Kuzan/Aokiji from One Piece). When he’s serious in a fight though, watch out, he’s fast and can kick your ass, quicker than you can blink. He kind of has a teasing/flirting thing going on with Red’s last pokemon, but they’re not officially together or anything.

And finally, the last member of this intrepid group is a female roserade named Grace, she’s a prim and proper lady with impeccable manners. She has a teasing/flirting thing going on with Nigel where he’s a lazy tease and he riles her up because of it, they’re still very good friends though. When she’s really angry though be warned, she’s as cold as ice with prickly thorns. Her hobby is dancing, all types of dancing, though her favorite is a tie between ballet and waltz.

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Moving on, finally, we have Sam’s, otherwise known as Professor Oak’s, team because I had a thought that since he was a trainer, and he had a Charmander in the Celebi movie, he must’ve had a team, and so I’m going to elaborate on that idea. Six pokemon that I decided are on Sam’s team through various personal opinions shared online including my own.

First is a female Charizard called Blaze. She’s proud and has anger issues but isn’t violent, preferring to stick to looking threatening and only using force when necessary. She is confident in her abilities and sees people admiring her as an expected outcome. She likes kids because they fawn over her and remark on how cool she is, does not like when they attempt to touch and/or climb on her.

Second is a male pidgeot called Champ, short for Champion. He’s cocky and a bit of a daredevil that likes speed, often performing stunts in the air that could give people heart attacks. He likes to poke fun at people and make them angry, dodging any moves they aim at him with ease. He acts like an arrogant asshole, but make no mistake, he is a strong bird pokemon and always keeps an eye out for those he cares about.

The third is a male arcanine named Ace, he’s patient and wise, though very inquisitive due to his love of learning new things and teaching said new things to others if he can. He especially loves babysitting the little kids and likes playing with them, not only are they adorable but they are the next generation who will change the future.

Fourth is a female gyrados called Aqua, a gentle giant that mostly stays quiet due to not wanting to frighten others with their predisposition to have a loud speaking volume, but can get vicious when angry though it is hard to cause her to get mad in the first place. Aqua especially likes laying out on the shore on warm sunny days to sunbathe and especially likes kids, though Gary and Ash are the only ones that play with her as the others are way too scared to.

The fifth is a male taurus called Ferdinand. A cold and standoffish bull, he has a natural disposition to distrust humans apart from the ones that he considers his family, ergo the Ketchums and Oaks. Though he doesn’t tend to act like it, he cares very deeply for the ones that he trusts enough to let close to him. He HATES Team Rocket and WILL go on a rampage when he sees them or anything reminding him of them.

Last but not least is a female exeggutor that goes by Sunny. As the name implies, she has a positive attitude though she is a bit of a scatterbrain that tends to worry, panic, or overthink things when she thinks that something has gone wrong or happened. She loves playing with the kids.

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So yeah, for now, that’s all the pokemon. In the next chapter, we will start getting into what the 2 kids' toddler years are like with the pokemon until they are around 3? Yeah, about 3. I’ll see you all then.

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Anima: You know those people where they come up with a great idea for their story that’s a long way in the future after a few dozen chapters when they have barely even started the story and have trouble writing the beginning? That is me.

You also know those people that love stories so much that they can’t help but get sucked into reading them and lose all track of time and reality around them, finding out that they were reading for a few hours when it was supposed to be for a few minutes so that they could do something else? That is also me.

I don’t own the Pokemon franchise, so let’s get this show on the road. Side note, do I have to do this disclaimer every chapter?

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So, Ash is raised with Gary in the Oak labs, with all of the pokemon, fun little misadventures, and random little kid things.

Sam is the Tony Stark of the pokemon world. He invents amazing new things and takes care of people he cares for as well as provides better products for people to use, whilst failing to properly take care of himself. The personality and actions are simply uncanny, even if they don’t look alike.

Gary is a possessive little shit; he always is with Ash and throws a tantrum if he is removed. His first word is Ash, though he didn’t quite have a grasp on the sh sound so it sounded more like ass. Don’t even think about mentioning that though, Delia has amazing aim with kitchen utensils, especially frying pans. Doesn’t hurt that she has a strong throw either.

Gary is also the kind of kid to pull stupid stunts, then puff out his chest to show people how cool he is before getting hurt somehow, and then denying that his injuries hurt. He loves looking cool to Ash. Delia thinks it’s adorable, Sam thinks it’s hilarious (especially Ash’s ‘so done with your shit’ face), but Red is not happy with his baby girl having a boy trying to impress her. Red is an overprotective dad and only Delia or his pokemon can calm him down.

Disney is here and it has been pokefied. Ash laughs her ass off when she first sees this because good lord, the movies have been entirely been rewritten to fit pokemon in. And the styles are completely different but considering the regions don’t really have as big a difference as real-life Japan and America hundreds of years in the past, Ash likes seeing similar but so different movies, she cannot help smiling which makes her family happy because she was a very sad baby. She especially likes Lewis the Feraligatr from ‘The Princess and the Froakie’.

Pokemon make very good kid sitters. Captain teaches the kids to swim while Aqua just lurks underneath ready to rise as a makeshift platform if the kids can’t stay above the surface. They splash around and have water fights with some of the other pokemon joining in, with others staying on the shore with a reluctance to get wet (Also my headcanon, Charmander-Charizard tail’s fire go out if the pokemon dies, the pokemon does not die if the fire goes out or is submerged in water. Don’t like, don’t read).

Ash notices an odd habit that her dad has of talking to pokemon like he can understand their responses, but brushes it aside as a thing that people in the pokemon world do with pokemon as habits or through knowing their pokemon very well. He also has to leave with some of his pokemon for up to months at a time, but he always comes back and apologizes for being late whilst swooping his daughter up into a hug, and Delia into a kiss.

Ash doesn’t realize but she also has that habit of talking to pokemon and responding to them as if she understands. When she hears responses she thinks that she just made them up herself like a game of pretend, she hasn’t noticed that she understands pokemon speech. Or if she has, she’s shrugged it off as a habit she got from her dad and her imagination as a creative kid. (Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.)

Speaking about her dad, Ash puts together that his name is Rodrick Ketchum, found out from an angry Delia with the use of the full name, but everyone calls him Red. And no Ash does not shut down after hearing that name, she does not have a panic attack, and she does not curl up into a ball under her covers crying in fear (cough she does cough).

So Red travels, he spends time with his family along with his pokemon but then has to leave for up to weeks, and occasionally months, at a time. He often leaves one or two of his pokemon behind to watch out for his family though.

Ash managed to sneak into the labs to look at a computer to get a better idea of the world around her. There are 8 regions and Ash knows some basics about all but the last, which despite being out for a year before her death, she never got to play firsthand or see the gameplay of it from YouTubers (Anima: Fun fact, I have now been introduced to the Galar region through watching youtube and getting a Nintendo switch and gamecard that I have been enjoying playing. I am going to fill the Pokedex… that has been cut in half).

Fun fact, Delia is a chef, and in this story, owns a restaurant in Pallet catered to both people and their pokemon, which fun fact was a wedding present from Red. Because of this, Delia is very enthusiastic about teaching Ash to cook with help from her ivysaur Demeter. It’s their version of mother-daughter bonding time, while still being useful by teaching basic life skills.

Ash helps with the restaurant sometimes as an adorable little order taker that people all coo over. Ash does not let them pinch her cheeks. Gary helps sometimes too when Delia babysits him for Sam and brings him to the restaurant. He’s not as helpful as Ash, getting the orders wrong sometimes and throwing tantrums when the adults coo over him and try to pinch his cheeks and call him cute, but he’s trying okay?

Ash also learns through some throwaway comments by the adults that Delia used to be Sam’s ward/assistant in the lab until she went on her pokemon journey with Red. Ash kind of remembers something like that from Before, in a movie with Entei and unown? The details are fuzzy, but still, it’s an interesting little bit of information to remember. Here's to hoping that she won’t fuck it up. (Also, just to clarify, the writing while narrative and in the third person revolves around Ash and her feelings unless otherwise explicitly stated. Ash has confidence problems.)

Spencer Hale is another old apprentice of Sam’s. While he doesn’t live in Pallet anymore, he checks in with Delia and Sam from time to time with video chats and phone calls. He also tries to come by every Christmas, officially meeting the kids at their first one and not so officially on a video call, and sends birthday presents to Sam, Delia, and the kids.

Not Red because Spencer is an unofficial big brother to Delia and was not happy with the pokemon trainer when the 3-years-older than Delia young man asked a seventeen-year-old Delia to be his girlfriend. Spencer was especially not happy when Delia got married and pregnant at eighteen. Red may be his friend but the ex-assistant is not going to let that stop him from glaring at the young man and passively-aggressively butting heads with him for marrying his honourary little sister.

(P.S. While pokemon trainers are allowed to travel at ten years of age, I am making it so that the official age of adulthood is sixteen. Yes, that’s young but it’s the pokemon world so deal with it. Also, I heard somewhere that the Japanese age of consent is 13 so please don’t get on my case when the real world can be so much worse. Plus I’m English and our age of consent is 16 so… Besides, the couple didn’t have any sex until Delia was eighteen, Ash was just quickly conceived.)

Also, a little personal headcanon of mine. While the Pokemon world officially has one language, written and spoken, that is used globally, each region also has an additional spoken language used in that region too, but the first language learned in every region is Galarian, you can choose to learn the second language of your region (not including Unova or Galar since you already know it) as well as other regions through language classes taken in school or online. Because of this, while each region mainly goes by Galarian, people tend to have a specific accent to their region. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh are Japanese, Unova is American (American English) as well as Alola that’s primarily Hawaiian, Kalos is French, and Galar is English/British.

I am British, I have a British accent though I sometimes sound like an American with some of the lingo that I picked up from there when I lived in America for 3 years when I was a kid. (Though I primarily use English spelling for words, sometimes I use American spelling.) Because of this, despite being Kantonian, Ash sounds Galarian and occasionally Unovan.

No-one, apart from Ash who’s not telling, knows why she has a Galarian accent but they shrug it off and chalk it up as one of Ash’s adorable little quirks. At least her family does; Others not so much, but we won’t get into that for another chapter or so.

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These kinds of events continue to occur until around Gary’s 4^th birthday, which you will be getting all of the details on in the next chapter.

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Anima: Okay, serious question time, but also SPOILERS.

Should Gary and Ash travel together through Kanto when they start their journeys or do it separately? I have gotten permission from USMCcAnthem on Archiveofourown.org to use part of their writing from a story of theirs called Scrap Heap, more specifically chapter 27, which features a one-shot about a self-insert taking over Ash’s body before they start their journey. (Honestly, they gave me permission ages ago when I was writing the old version but whatever.)

I love this one shot and it has given me some major ideas for the future of this story, but it also gives me a dilemma. I could have Ash and Gary travel separately, using material from chapter 27 of Scrap Heap, which you should read to understand what I’m talking about, OR, I could have the two friends travel together and not use as much material.

A poll will be going up on my Fanfiction.net account, AnimaTheAwesome1, and I sincerely hope that people WILL vote this time because literally, no-one voted on the poll I put up before (not the one from the old version of this story that certain people will know what I’m talking about and will be happening, but the one from a few weeks back about the starters.) which has made me decide to pull it down… but also because I had an amazing idea and it wouldn’t fit with the starter poll so chuck that in the bin.

(P.S. I feel like an idiot because after writing this I looked at the poll page and there was an icon that said no in the display on the profile page section. I did not realize you had to specifically click something on the poll to show it, IT’S A POLL, WHY WOULDN’T I SHOW IT??? But again, I’m sorry)

But seriously people, PLEASE VOTE, I need different opinions on what I should do with Ash and Gary. They are both going to battle the gyms but if they travel together it will be awkward with one fighting and one watching and then switching over knowing about the gym leader’s pokemon and their moves. IT FEELS LIKE CHEATING.

But on the other hand, if they travel together it opens up ideas about snarky banter and close friendships and family and I could write a lot of fluff if they travelled together. NOT ROMANCE BECAUSE THEY WILL BE TEN AND THE CLOSEST RELATIONSHIP MY ASH AND GARY WILL HAVE IS A SIBLING ONE, THANK YOU, GOODNIGHT.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for reading this chapter. Comment, vote, and subscribe for more. I’ll see you all in the next chapter.

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Anima: Hey, weird question but does anyone have a passimian, zacian, or arctovish in pokemon shield/sword they’d be willing to trade with me? I want to complete the Pokedex and I have a lot of full boxes with pokemon I don’t really want so if you are open to trading please just send me a comment, but also explain how we can trade because I am not the best with technology.

Anyways, I don’t own the Pokemon franchise, only this story that I am writing.

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The date is the 6^th of April in 2002, and it is Gary’s 4th birthday. The family (including Red who has a few days off from his job with his pokemon) all have breakfast (pancakes) together and the kids play with the pokemon until lunch, where Delia unpacks a picnic for all of them to enjoy. After all of the people and pokemon have tucked into the food, the adults bring out all of the birthday gifts for Gary.

Gary’s presents are; Books on pokemon from his dad, some cool toys (namely plush toys) from Delia, interesting souvenirs from different regions from Red, cool or pretty looking objects from around the area from the pokemon, and some hugs and homemade gifts such as drawings or decorations from Ash. (As well as another book from Spencer Hale, who despite the kids having not met yet sends presents and keeps in contact with Sam and Delia).

It is after all of the presents are opened that Delia broaches a certain topic that she has brought up before but shelved due to Gary throwing a tantrum. Preschool. Gary and Ash could’ve gone when they were around 2-3, but again, Gary threw a tantrum. (And I am having problems with finding one definite answer from google of when the heck kids go to preschool, do I use Japanese or English pre-schooling rules? It’s confusing okay, I’m doing my best.) Originally the parents were fine with the two staying at home, they are very smart kids and respond well to their parents teaching them important things that you would usually learn in preschool, such as writing, numbers, etc… (I don’t know what preschoolers learn, I’m just guessing).

However, Gary is four now and Ash will be too in just under two months. The two kids are older and don’t need as much parental supervision as they did when they were toddlers, and Delia wants her baby and Gary to have more friends and have social interaction with people other than their family and customers at the restaurant. She just wants her kids to be happy and she thinks that preschool will be good for them.

Gary isn’t keen on the idea; having to share Ash with other people? No way. Ash on the other hand is reluctantly curious. She’s mentally (18 + 3 = 21) 21 and is curious about what would she and Gary do at the preschool, plus, Gary might be her best friend and she does love him, but it would be nice to have more human friends other than just him. So Ash asks her mum whether or not they could be taken out at any time if they didn’t like going to preschool.

Gary has a betrayed look on his face because ‘Ash, you’re supposed to be on my side’, and Delia is ecstatic that her baby girl is showing an interest and because of this assures her daughter that she just wants her and Gary to be happy, and if either her or Gary don’t like it, they could easily be taken out and go back to their usual with their family.

Ash stays quiet for a while as she thinks it over, pros and cons, all of that important stuff. Pros, meet more people and hopefully make more friendships. Cons, Gary is going to be a brat, she will already know all of the material, little kids are terrifying and probably not the easiest to make friends with regardless of information saying otherwise.

However, just because she is quiet and thinking doesn’t mean everyone is (coughGarycough), so she gets pulled out of her thoughts by a certain little shit grabbing and shaking her, shrieking at her why the heck would she even think about it, they are obviously going to stay with their family right? Right. Why would they want to leave their families when they love each other?

Ash is just tired. “Gary, do you know what preschool even is?”.

“It’s a place where parents who don’t want their kids dump them off so that they can run away.” Gary is very sure of himself and very scared of losing his family. Delia is horrified at his thinking, the dads are shocked and the pokemon just crowd around and try to cuddle with the now crying Gary.

Ash is sad, but understanding. Gary’s bio mum, whoever the hell they were, just dumped him on Sam and didn’t want anything to do with them. If a kid learned about a place where kids were dumped off by their parents, they could easily take it out of context and think it was forever instead of just for the day. Especially if they had abandonment issues like Gary apparently did and previously were abandoned by a parent, like Gary was even if he couldn’t remember it.

Ash is grimacing as she remembers the day that Gary asked Sam why he didn’t have a mum like Ash. Being told that she didn’t want to be part of the family and left him behind was now seeming to be a bigger issue now than when it was first brought up. Not that it wasn’t an issue then but still.

So after a copious amount of cuddles and reassurance that preschool is just something that you go to for the day, and that their family loves both Ash and Gary very much and they will never leave them and always be there for them, Gary has calmed down significantly, hiccupping a little after all of the crying that he did, curled up in his dad’s arms as Ash hugs him (whilst resolutely ignoring the gross feel of tears and snot on her shirt).

So Gary and Ash talk it over with their parents and they decide that they will give preschool a try, but if at any point they feel unhappy and/or don’t like it, they will be taken out and go back to their normal schedules. Ash is feeling cautiously optimistic, they can make some new friends and have some fun. Things are going to be fine. Right? Right.

SPACE

So according to some miscellaneous information I found looking online, I decided to make the starting month for school, and in this case preschool, April as it is in Japan since it was the original country that Pokemon came from and Kanto is based on a part of it. Plus it is the starting month for pokemon trainers to get a starter and go on a journey so hey, that’s what I’m going with.

So because of this, and Gary’s tantrums due to misconceptions, it means that preschool for the year has already started and that Gary and Ash are a few days behind the other kids with attendance. Not so big of a problem for the lessons since they are smart kids (and Ash is a reincarnator), but it means that the other kids have already gotten to know each other and have already started to make their little friend groups. So the two new kids are going to be the odd ones out.

EXCEPT, the teacher told them to introduce themselves. Ash goes first because Gary is kind of nervous. Not that Ash isn’t but she is (mentally) the adult between the two of them so she’s going to look out for Gary and as such goes first to show him that it won’t be so bad and raise her friend’s confidence.

“Hi, my name’s Ash. I like pokemon, my family, and my best friend Gary.” (Cue a big smile at Gary who gets back his confidence and is ready to introduce himself.) “It’s nice to meet you all.” Ash is smiling and waving at the other kids but the thing about little kids is that they are either sweet little angels or mean little shits. Guess which type these kids are?

“You sound funny.”

“It’s weird.”

(Remember people, Ash, a four-year-old who has never been to Galar, has a Galarian accent, in Kanto which she is native to. That’s going to be weird to a lot of adults, let alone a bunch of kids that are going to be super blunt about it.)

Basically, the class starts saying blunt and unintentionally cruel things like that. Have you ever been in a state where you’re really upset about something and feel like crying, but you also want to beat the utter shit out of something? That is Ash’s state right now, using all of the self-restraint she has in herself to keep a smile on her face and remind herself that these kids are four-year-olds, they don’t know any better.

Gary flips out and starts calling them all a bunch of bad names and gets into a very loud shouting match with all of the other kiddos to defend Ash’s honour. Has Ash mentioned how much she loves Gary? Because he is her best friend and her brother in all but blood and she loves him very much. She can’t stop herself from beaming because this kickass little shit sticking up for her? That’s HER best friend, and she is so happy. Even if he can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

Of course, the teacher has to intervene and stop all of the yelling. It takes a while because of how damn intense the shouting match between Gary and the entire freaking class is, but they manage. So, now frazzled, they tell Ash thank you for your introduction, it was very nice, Gary would you like to introduce yourself now?

Said introduction goes kind of like this. “Hi. My name’s Gary Oak, I’m a fantastically awesome genius and if any of you mess with me or Ash, I’ll kick all your butts.” Cue the second round of shouting.

The rest of the two’s first day kind of continues like this. They sit at a separate table and play together, learn together, eat together, etc… They did kind of try at the beginning to talk to others but little kids are petty little shits and they don’t reciprocate the effort. Gary and Ash don’t get along with the other kids. Why did they think it was a good idea to go to preschool again? Oh right, curiosity and wanting to make mum/aunt Delia happy. Sigh, well it could be worse.

At the end of the day when their parents pick them up and ask how their day was and if they made any new friends, Gary and Ash just look at each other, shrug, and turn back to their parents and say it was okay. They don’t want to bring their parents down. Seeing their hopeful faces go despondent at them not making friends? Uh-huh, yeah, no thank you.

Anyway, this kind of routine continues until dun-dun-dun-dah IT’S MAY 22^ND. And you know what that means (or maybe you don’t in which case I’ll tell you), IT’S ASH’S 4^TH BIRTHDAY. Tune in to the next chapter to see how it goes.

SPACE

Anima: I will admit when first fleshing out the basic idea for this chapter, Gary was originally going to be friends with the other kids, and Ash would start feeling alone and spiral into a depression about not being able to change canon (Gary stops being Ash’s friend) as well as berate herself for not being better with people (Because I am awful at socialization and I currently have no friends apart from my family which is pretty sad). But I didn’t do that so let’s just nip that in the bud. It was a bit annoying for me at first because I had a scene I wanted to write stemming from this, but then I realized, wait a minute there’s no way Ash would do this, so said planned scene kind of got thrown away. But don’t worry, I can fix it.

Also, heads up, the next chapter is probably going to be released a week or so later than I usually do, so three weeks until the next update or so, around the 26^th of February. It’s because I am having some slight difficulty with writing the chapter as writer’s block is a bitch and some parts of the chapter are giving me some trouble in actually writing, but don’t worry, I’ll finish writing it. Eventually.

With that said, I hope you all have a fantastic time and I will see you all in the next chapter.

Chapter Text

Anima: IMPORTANT, I will be doing some really weird writing from this point forth. While I was doing some basic headcanons and ideas, I will be trying to write more dialogue and interaction from a narrative point of view that follows Ash. Her thoughts and feelings on things happening cause she’s me you get it? And way in the future of this story, if it gets that far, I will try to add some texting and social media to the story.

Back on track, I’m bad at writing beginnings, and it was when writing the previous version of this story that I realized that I am very bad at writing baby and toddler life and that it would take forever to even get her to a speaking point if I did that. It was only after realizing that THIS IS FANFICTION AND I CAN DO WHAT I WANT that I concluded that I can write it in a way that I am comfortable with. I don’t have to force myself. And that helped me destress, as well as inspired me to write this rewritten version of the original.

(Not to mention that the Ketchum family was kind of coming across as mary-sue-ish and NOPE.)

With that said, I don’t own the Pokemon franchise. Now onto the story.

Also, “Pokemon speech is in italics, please note that only Ash, Red, and other pokemon can understand them at this point.”.

SPACE

MAY 22^ND, 2002, OAK RESIDENCE

In a dimly lit bedroom, the curtains drawn tight to block out any sunshine, a small form in a bed under the covers started to stir. A few sleepy mumbles and groans escaped the figure as they blearily blinked their eyes open and lifted their head to look at a clock that was hung close to the bedroom’s doorway. It was around 8 o’clock, way too early.

Ash groaned as she dropped her slightly lifted head back onto her pillow and closed her eyes, snuggling back into the warmth of her blankets. Just five more minutes. The girl’s thoughts slowly drifted away as she started to fall asleep until- BAM.

Ash jolted up as her bedroom door slammed into the wall as a certain little shit barged his way into her room. “ASH WAKE UP.” Said little shit yelled at the gaping girl on the bed.

Shutting her mouth, Ash glared, muttered an annoyed “No” before slumping back down on her bed and pulling her covers over her head. If she ignored Gary, maybe he’d go away and let her sleep more, yeah, that would be grea-. “OOF” Ash wheezed as something heavy jumped on top of her, or rather, someone. Three guesses who and the first two don’t count.

“GARY FLIPPIN OAK,” Ash roared as she ripped the covers off of her and pelted after the cackling bastard running out of her room that she called her best friend “I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”.

SPACE

Delia hummed lightly to herself as she carefully poured some batter into the frying pan, its handle gripped securely in her left hand. A smile pulled at her lips as a pair of arms wrapped around her, pulling her slightly into a warm chest as her husband’s face nuzzled into her neck.  “Red, I’m making breakfast, don’t distract me.”.

Delia could feel the man’s chuckle as he quickly pecked her on the cheek. “Can I not greet my lovely wife on such a beautiful day?” The man then aimed for a kiss on the lips but was stopped by a vine coming in between the two surfaces. Pouting slightly at being interrupted, Red unwound his arms from around Delia and aimed a cheerful “Morning.” at the glaring Demeter. The pokemon nodded her head a bit before moving over to Delia to help with the breakfast.

Sighing a bit at the ivysaur’s actions, Red left the kitchen and moved to take a seat at the large dining room table, watching as Solar, Candy, and Luke placed the cutlery for most people to eat with whilst Captain, Grace, and Nigel had already taken their seats and watched the others move around with mostly silence. Was it usual for pokemon to eat at the table with people? Oh, not in the slightest. Did Red care for normal conventions? Most definitely not; While the relationship he had with his pokemon along with Delia’s may be odd to other people, all that mattered was that it let them be closer as a family and gave his team, as well as Delia’s partner, a closer relationship as a family.

Speaking of which, there were still three members not at the table or in the kitchen. Red rolled his eyes and head over to glance at a clock hanging on the wall nearby. Sam was a nut about his research, often getting wrapped up and not getting to sleep until early in the morning, leading to him finally getting up at around 10 or 11. The kids on the other hand should be up and about right about- .

BANG, THUD-THUD-THUD. Red jolted slightly at the sudden noise and tensed, before relaxing as the noises became louder and as a result clearer, resulting in the noises being made known as two pairs of running footsteps, the banging of doors, and, of course, Gary’s laughter ringing out as his daughter yelled after him. It definitely sounded like the kids were awake. Chuckling to himself, the young man pulled out a chair before sitting himself down and pulling the chair closer to the table.

About a minute later, two rambunctious kids stampeded into the dining room still in their pajamas, with one chasing after the other shouting threats whilst said shoutee was laughing wildly. Red grinned at the sight, putting his elbow on the table and resting his chin in his hand. His grin widened slightly at seeing Gary spot him and decide to rush over, Ash hot on his heels.

“Morning Uncle Red.” The young Oak greeted before darting over and hiding behind Red’s chair. Ash stopped in her tracks, staring at the fucking little shit hiding behind her dad. Dammit, now she couldn’t get him back for that uncalled wake-up call.

“Cheater.” The young girl growled between gritted teeth as Gary grinned and stuck his tongue out at her. Oh, it was so on. Luckily for Gary and the nearby surroundings, Red quickly decided to intervene.

“Happy birthday sweetheart.” The young man grinned at his daughter, watching as her head swiveled over to look at him, glare falling from her face and a surprised look overtaking it before she smiled and skipped over to him. The father pushed his chair out from the table slightly so that Ash could clamber up onto his lap.

“Good morning daddy, morning everyone.” Ash greeted, perched on her father’s lap, as she looked around the dining room at her father’s pokemon. Smiling slightly, curled up in Red’s arms, Ash was pulled into her thoughts. She completely forgot it was her birthday, she wasn’t really keeping track of the date. But damn, it had been four years since she had been reincarnated as Ashlyn ‘Ash’ Ketchum, time sure did fly by.

The girl snapped out of her thoughts and let out a whine at feeling someone lightly tapping on her cheek. Looking up, Ash met her dad’s teasing grin. “Excited for your birthday princess?” He asked.

“Mm-hm.” Ash nodded at her dad, before scrambling off of him and to the ground so that she could walk over to her usual seat on the opposite side of the table to her dad, in between Gary and Luke. Upon reaching her chair, she pulled herself up to sit on the seat, looking to the right to see Gary’s grin, before being greeted by an enthusiastic Lucario on her left.

“Happy birthday Ash.” The girl laughed at being greeted by a giant grin and, peeking around to have a quick look, a wagging tail.

“Hi, Luke.”

As if the pokemon’s greeting was a signal, all the rest of Red’s pokemon gave out exclamations of wishing her a happy birthday or of being 4 sun cycles or 16 seasons old, Ash stoutly ignoring her dad’s inquisitive looks and responding to the pokemon without giving it away that she knew what they were saying.

(Anima: Ash did eventually accept that she could understand pokemon shortly after Gary’s birthday, what with them responding with answers and conversing in ways that she knows she wouldn't have made up, but she was and still is scared of what other people would say or think about her.

Because of this Ash talked to the pokemon and cleared up the whole her understanding them thing whilst also asking them to not tell her dad or the others, even if her dad could also understand them because she, as I’ve mentioned, is afraid and no matter how ridiculous it may seem, fear is a powerful emotion and it can have a tight hold on someone.

Most of the fear stems from how Satoshi couldn’t do it so she shouldn’t be able to do it, wondering what it means and how it changes things and what the future holds, how N could understand pokemon and was thus taken advantage of and raised with a hero complex by a megalomaniac, so yeah, lots of issues to unpack there. Hope that helps clear some things up.)

Ash’s attention was taken from the pokemon by the smell of pancakes, seeing her mum and Demeter walk out of the kitchen carrying plates of one of Ash’s favourite foods, especially with maple syrup or honey.

Delia walked over to Ash, placing down the two plates she held at her and Gary’s place, petting her daughter’s hair and placing a kiss on Ash’s forehead after she did. The mother and her pokemon partner continued to pass out the plates of pancakes and whatever toppings the individual preferred before taking their places at the table.

Before they could all dig in, Gary piped up with an inquisitive look on his face. “Is my dad not coming?”

Delia just smiled at him. “You know your father has trouble getting up in the morning, he’ll be down to have his breakfast later.” Gary let out an ‘ah’ of understanding before the family all began to tuck into their pancakes.

SPACE

(Anima: While I will be writing more dialogue similar to what I wrote above, there will be parts where I don’t feel motivated or get stuck on a part, leading to me going back into the descriptive details of events that I have been using for the previous chapters. Please try to put up with my weird writing and enjoy the story.)

So after finishing breakfast, Gary and Ash are told to get dressed by Ash’s parents so they rush off and go do that. (In case you’re wondering, Sam’s pokemon don’t eat inside because they’re too big to fit whereas all of Red and Delia’s pokemon are around human-sized or smaller.)

Ash wears a long-sleeved grey shirt with an Eevee picture on the front along with a pair of black shorts, white knee-high socks, and some blue trainers. Gary wears a red short-sleeved t-shirt with a Pikachu on the front, paired with some tan coloured shorts, white ankle socks, and red trainers.

Now dressed, the two kids go out to play while Red and Delia start getting the presents and birthday cake all ready for later with help from some of their pokemon (Demeter, Candy, Solar, Grace, and Nigel), whilst also waiting for Sam to finally get up to start the day.

When outside, the kids spend all the time waiting for their parents to be finished with getting ready by playing with their parent’s pokemon; Or said pokemon just watch their interactions from the sidelines, content to just watch their family playing.

The energetic pokemon that play with the kids are Luke, Captain, Champ, Sunny, and Ferdinand (though he pretends to act reluctant about it (cough tsundere cough)). Meanwhile, Blaze and Ace watch from underneath some shade as Aqua watches from the nearby river.

The kids and pokemon play games such as tag, who can find a cooler-looking object (such as pebbles or flowers), or mock battles that the pokemon both play with the kids and/or each other.

Ash tires out a lot easier than Gary, not so energetic as the bouncing bundle of energy that is the young Oak, so after a while she goes over to pet, cuddle with, and chat to Aqua for a bit before she goes to sit with Blaze and Ace in the shade so that she can just watch the others have fun while taking a small break herself. Ash is pretty content with just talking with the two fire type pokemon.

Fun fact- My favourite types of pokemon are fire types. It doesn’t mean that all my favourites are fire types as my top pick is Lucario, but if I could only specialize in one type of pokemon I would specialize in fire types. I have always picked fire starters and they are my absolute favourite choice to pick. (My second favourite type of pokemon are dragon types.)

So Ash, as my reincarnation, is a big fire type pokemon fan. She’s got a lot of questions that she asks about things such as are they better in colder weather or warmer or what they think of certain things.

Ace is, as I mentioned in chapter 2, a big fan of learning and then teaching said learning to others. He would be all for answering Ash’s questions and nurturing an inquisitive mind.

Blaze, on the other hand, is a very proud pokemon and kind of a diva, also mentioned in chapter 2, which leads her answers to be things like ‘Of course the cold doesn’t bother me, I am one of the strongest pokemon around, as if a little bit of cold weather could take me out.’

(Yeah, you know, thinking about it, I just realized that Blaze is actually a lot like Satoshi’s Charizard from the anime. A lot of pride, belief in them being the strongest, lazing around a lot when they aren’t in a battle or don’t take things seriously.

They are different too though, Blaze would never hurt her trainer or any of her trainer’s other pokemon. While she may sometimes get jealous, she is Sam’s starter and the closest to him, thus is self-assured that her bond with him cannot be broken. While she may spar against others as practice or as a pastime, she doesn’t seriously hurt others unless in a serious battle.

I didn’t notice the resemblance to Satoshi’s Charizard until actually explaining how she would answer Ash’s questions. Then the comparisons kind of slapped me in the face. But this is pretty good, this resemblance helps me to bring an idea I had to life. Not for another dozen or so chapters but still, just wait for that.)

Anyways, Ash is content just talking to the two pokemon and cuddling into their warmth. She steadily keeps trying to ignore that nagging little voice at the back of her head that says that this isn’t normal and that understanding pokemon like N isn’t something that she should be able to do, Satoshi couldn’t so she shouldn’t be able to. The question of why she can understand pokemon and if it has to do with her reincarnation is a thought she tries to keep locked up inside a little box. Even if Satoshi didn’t have an apparent father, Delia didn’t have a pokemon and Sam was Gary’s grandfather and not his dad; The denial is strong in this one.

So it’s only a few more minutes, as they all played for a good few hours making it around say 11:30-12 o’clock, before Delia comes and gets them for Ash’s birthday celebration, the family all walking down alongside the river to where it is closest to the house. There is a picnic set up a little way from the river, close enough so that Aqua can see what goes on, but not close enough that they risk getting wet and/or falling into the water (Say around 4 meters maybe? I’m not good with measurements).

There is a very large plaid blanket spread out on the ground with plates and cutlery laid out on top of it, a table set up nearby with a small pile of presents, contents concealed by brightly coloured wrapping paper. Red and Sam are there with the pokemon that stayed behind to help set this all up, and the family all says hello to each other before the humans go over and sit down on the picnic blanket. The pokemon go over to occupy themselves whilst the humans have their little birthday lunch and cake; They’ll be back over later when the presents are being unwrapped to give Ash their gifts.

So for lunch, there is a variety of different sandwiches (ham, chicken, turkey, etc..) and some fruit (apples, pears, oranges, etc…) before Delia gets up and goes over to get Ash’s birthday cake, a big chocolate cake with 4 unlit candles on top, which she sets alight with a lighter. Ash’s family all sings happy birthday to her as Delia brings over the cake.

After the song is finished and Delia has brought the cake over to Ash, Ash makes a wish in her head to be happy and have more moments like this in her life before she blows out the candles. With that done, Delia cuts up the cake, and the five humans start to dig into the cake.

SPACE

Eager to dig in and using her fork to cut off a smaller piece of the cake slice on her plate, Ash lifted her utensil into her mouth and bit into the chocolate pastry. A loud ‘mmm’ of appreciation left Ash as the cake’s taste hit her tongue. Not only was the cake handmade by her mother, as was nearly all of the cooking and baking, but it was her favourite flavour, though Victoria sponge was her favourite type of cake.

Glancing around, Ash could see her family do the same, tucking into the delicious cake, with the adults chatting amongst themselves. While she would have chatted with Gary, the other child was all too happy to keep eating, not too interested in talking when there was cake to be had; To be honest, Ash wasn’t all that interested in talking right now, she would finish her cake first.

It was only after a minute or two, with the eaters still eating their slices of cake that Delia brought up a topic that the two 4-year-olds would’ve preferred not being brought up. Namely, their lack of friends from the preschool not in attendance at Ash’s birthday party.

Delia sighed sadly and held a hand to her cheek, the palm of her right hand cradling her face as she mentioned “It’s a shame that you didn’t invite any of your other friends from the preschool you two, I’m sure that they would have loved to come.”.

Chewing and swallowing the pieces of birthday cake that they had stuffed in their mouths, the two 4-year-olds shared a look. Yeah right, like that was going to happen. The other kids at the preschool were obnoxious brats worse than Gary, and the two certainly weren’t friends with any of them. Not that they would tell Delia that of course.

It was after everyone finished their cake that they got to the main event of Ash’s birthday, presents. Ash shifted in place where she sat, bouncing a little as she watched her mum and dad go to get the presents whilst Sam went to get the pokemon. Ash sat there, wondering to herself what she got.

The birthday girl was, however, quickly snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a small hand grabbing and shaking her arm. Focus brought back to the present, Ash turned to see an excited Gary with a grin on his face and shining eyes.

“Ash, you’re gonna get your presents now. What do you think you’ll get? Do you think they’ll be like the stuff that I got?” Ash’s lips quirked up into a toothy grin. Yep, that was Gary alright; He always was the one more excited about presents, guessing what they were or how many there were, even if they weren’t for him. Like a little kid at Christmas.

“Here ya go princess.” Ash was snapped out of her thoughts when her dad dropped a wrapped gift in her lap, ruffling her hair with his other hand. Damn, she really had to stop getting lost in her head, the sheer number of times she had gotten way too absorbed into her thoughts was countless. That was a bad habit that would probably come back to bite her sooner or later. Anyways, moving on, presents.

“Oh, here’s mine sweetheart, happy birthday Ash.” The girl gave a grateful grin up to her mother as she moved the package her dad gave her to the side and accepted the oddly shaped present her mum gave her, wrapped in a light pink wrapping paper and covered in slightly darker pink love hearts.

From beside Delia, Red let out a large groan. “Aah, Delia, why couldn’t Ash open my present first?” The grown man pouted, sticking out his bottom lip at his wife. As Ash and Gary giggled at his antics, and Sam sighed with a resigned but amused grin, Delia gave a happy smile whilst gathering up the other gifts and placing them on the blanket next to Ash.

“Because as her mother, I get to go first.” Red face-faulted, surprising Ash at the action, she didn’t think that something like that would actually happen, then again this was an anime world, and if there was one rule in anime, it was that anything odd or unrealistic was anime logic. Law of the universe.

Looking at the gift in her hands, squishing it slightly to get an idea of what it was, and feeling it concave under her touch beneath the wrapping paper indicating a softer item, Ash quickly thought over how to unwrap it. Since her past life, she preferred to unwrap presents neatly, carefully lifting taped corners and leaving an intact piece of wrapping paper that could be saved for later; Use to wrap presents in the future and you have yourself your own little way of recycling.

However, Ash had to admit, that the idea of ripping the wrapping paper was very tempting and she kind of wanted to try that, she was four, it wouldn’t be odd. But the mess. But the temptation. But the waste. BUT THE FUN OF TEARING OFF ALL THE PAPER THAT SHE COULDN’T REMEMBER EXPERIENCING… Fuck it, she was gonna rip it.

Her mind made up, Ash started tearing into the gift with gusto, ripping all the wrapping paper to shreds to reveal a stuffed toy of a Charmander. Ash squealed and hugged the plushie, snuggling into it. Hey, she loved fire pokemon and the Charmander evolution line was one of her favourite pokemon, Charizard was freaking badass. Ash was only brought out of her happy thoughts when she heard laughter and a camera click.

Looking up, Ash blushed and hid her face behind her new toy when she saw her family smiling and laughing, Delia having taken out a camera from somewhere and taken a photo of Ash’s ecstatic face. She liked the toy okay? No need to start a fuss. Ash snapped her head up when she heard another camera click, whining at her mother immortalizing her embarrassment with the camera.

Delia laughed. “I’m glad you like the gift Ash, I noticed you liked fire pokemon so I thought that you would like it.” Ash gaped at her mother, had she been that obvious about her preferences. Looking over at the sheepishly grinning Sam, laughing Red, snickering Gary, and all of the pokemon in the background fighting with Blaze crowing that of course she would be Ash’s favourite, the young girl felt rather stupid.

Pouting slightly and ignoring the people around her, Ash reached for another present after setting the plushie down at her left side, ignoring the one she knew to be her dad’s for the moment because he was a jerk and she wanted to make him sweat.

There was a basket filled with miscellaneous items such as pebbles that you could pick up from the ground, and apart from her dad and mum’s gifts, two other wrapped presents. Ignoring her dad’s protests of opening another present before his, the girl grabbed a rectangular-shaped package wrapped with paper with a black background and covered in science stuff such as beakers or molecules. A look at a label stuck on the present said ‘From Uncle Spencer’.

Getting a good feel for the object in her hands, Ash noted that it was probably a book. Ripping off the paper, Ash took a look at the previously concealed item. Yep, definitely a book. To be more specific, a book with a picture of a pokemon trainer on the front titled ‘Tips and Tricks for Trainers’. Opening the book and quickly flipping through some of the pages, Ash smiled. This was really useful, she’d definitely have to thank her uncle for the gift at Christmas, a big hug ought to do it.

Gently placing the book with the plushie, Ash reached for another gift, ignoring her dad’s indignant ‘Oh come on’ at her yet again choosing to open a different present before his. This had to be Sam’s present. Covered in wrapping paper with little versions of the Kanto starters dotted all over, the present had a similar shape to the book from Spencer and, surprisingly enough, whatever the gift that she got from her dad was.

Once again ripping all of the paper off, Ash looked at the revealed book, ‘A beginner’s complete guide to fire pokemon’. Ash laughed, damn she really was obvious with her preferences, wasn’t she? Looking up at the man that gave her the book, Ash gave him a big smile. “Thanks Uncle Sam, it’s perfect.”

Placing the unwrapped gift with the others, Ash was going to open her dad’s before Gary decided to cut in. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH.” The boy yelled, shoving cupped hands under her face. Ash flinched at the loud volume, before blinking a bit at the item in her friend’s hands. It was a pebble.

Carefully taking the gift from Gary with a grateful smile, Ash began to examine the small stone. It was an oval-shaped and silvery grey pebble with streaks and ripples of white throughout, that seemed to look slightly blue if you turned it a certain way in the light.

Even if it was just a pebble, it was rather pretty, Ash could probably make a nice necklace with this in the future. Besides, the giver of the gift looked so nervous, and he probably put a lot of effort into finding something that he thought looked cool for her. All things considered, it was the thought and intention behind the gift that mattered the most. “Thank you Gary, I love it.” Seeing the brilliant grin that formed on the boy’s face made Ash feel warm, as did the practically spine-cracking hug that he gave her.

Putting it in her right pocket, Ash was going to get her dad’s present but was once again interrupted by an impatient Luke, running over, grabbing the basket of miscellaneous items, and dumping it in Ash’s lap before racing over to where he first came over from with the other pokemon. Sorting through the pokemon’s presents first it was then.

Taking care to go slowly and not damage anything, Ash sorted through the contents. A few flower crowns, that she placed on her head and wrapped around her wrists, some odd or unusual looking items such as pinecones or pebbles, some flowers, and a collection of fruit. It was great. Turning around with a huge grin, Ash yelled “THANK YOU.” To the pokemon watching from close by. Judging by the happy responses, grins, and shouts that she got back, they were happy that she liked it.

Now, for the moment of truth. What was her dad’s present to her? Sparing a small glance to the practically vibrating in place man, Ash picked up and lightly held her final received gift in her hands. A square-ish or rectangular-shaped object just like the books that she got from Spencer and Sam, so it was probably a book, wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper covered with silver stars and crescent moons.

Ash would have ripped the paper, but something told her not to; That and she liked the appearance of the wrapping paper, she thought that it was very pretty. So, taking care as well as her time, the young girl gently pulled off the small pieces of tape that kept the paper from unwrapping, unfolding out the folded corners stuck under the tape. Once she finally managed to unfold all of the paper, revealing the cover of the book, Ash felt as if she had been struck in the chest, losing her breath.

There, in the center of the straightened-out wrapping paper, was a book titled ‘The Legends Of Camelot’, with a picture of two young men on the cover. One of the men, on the side of the cover closer to the book’s spine, held a sword aloft, covered in gleaming silver armour with a crown upon his head, whilst the other held a shield close with one arm and held a staff pointed outwards with the other, wearing an outfit that Ash thought resembled the outfit that she thought she remembered Sir Aaron wore.

Quickly opening the book, Ash’s eyes skimmed over the pages as she flipped the pages, devouring the words written within. Camelot, Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Lancelot, and more were mentioned in the book, stories about a kingdom in the Galar region. Her heart felt like it was going to burst and she couldn’t stop tears from welling up in her eyes.

It was silly really, crying over a book; She hadn’t even read it! And yet, it was a book, that being only slightly changed to fit the pokemon world, was a piece of home. It was from England, about stories that took place in England, the place where she was born, where she spent the vast majority of her life before dying. It may have been cold, and wet, and a pain in the ass sometimes… but it was home, and even if she had come to terms with her new life in this world, Ash missed it.

It was ridiculous, she didn’t get this emotional over the Disney movies (but they were completely different to better fit the pokemon world and Disney was primarily located in America, not her home country). She had already cried herself out when first reborn so why was she crying again now? Damn, the book really must have triggered some homesickness for her previous life if it made her this much of a mess.

Tears now falling down her face in a steady stream, with small sniffles escaping from the young girl as they did, Ash managed to wrench her attention away from the book and look at her family. Yep, just as she thought, Ash internally deadpanned wearing a flat face, they were going crazy. Namely, Gary and the pokemon were hovering around her flustered as they tried to comfort her and stop her crying, whilst her mum and Sam were tearing into Red, who was completely panicking and trying to explain that he thought that Ash would like the gift and how he didn’t mean to upset her.

Using her sleeves to try and scrub her cheeks dry, Ash took in a deep breath and put down the book, ignoring the attempts made by those around her to get her attention. Standing up, and stumbling a little bit due to the pins and needles feeling in her legs, Ash walked over to the completely absorbed in their conversation adults and hugged her dad’s leg as tight as she could. This snapped him out of his ‘conversation’ and drew his attention to his daughter, latched on his leg like a shellder on a slowpoke.

“Thanks, dad.” Ash grinned up at her dad, as new tears steadily streamed from her eyes to replace the ones that she rubbed away. “I love the book, I really do.” And despite the vice that seemed to grip her heart and the knots in her stomach, Ash did love the book and despite it being so new, it now meant a lot to her. It was a very bittersweet feeling.

The man looked shocked for a few seconds, then puzzled, before finally grinning at his daughter, bending down to her as close as he could without dislodging her from his leg, taking her into a warm hug. “You’re welcome sweetheart, I’m glad you like it.”.

Pulling back from her dad, Ash was hit by a sudden thought. “Um…” Ash fidgeted a bit, fiddling a part of her shirt between her hands. “If you go to Galar in the future, can you get more stuff from there, please?”

Red looked a bit puzzled and a hint of surprise was still in his eyes, but he accepted his daughter’s odd request with a smile. “Alright, if that’s what you want sweetheart. I’ll be sure to get you something every time I go to Galar.” The man then scooped the young girl into his arms and spun her around, delighting in the loud laugh that Ash let out, before putting her down and patting her head lightly.

Ash then turned determinedly towards the rest of her family, watching the interaction she had with her dad, baffled; Ash could understand, the reaction that she had over the book was rather big, and getting so happy over something that made her cry wasn’t usual 4-year-old behaviour. Still, she didn’t mean to make them worry, as such, she thought it better to let them know how grateful she was.

“THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, I LOVE THEM ALL.” Ash yelled with the biggest smile on her face, before going over to pick up all of the presents that she got, the basket with gifts from the pokemon in the crook of her right arm, books held close to her chest by the same arm, the stone from Gary in her pocket, and the Charmander plushy in her left arm. With all of her gifts gathered up, the girl shouted an “I’M GOING TO GO READ MY NEW BOOKS, LOVE YOU ALL.” Ash then started lightly jogging back to the house.

“HEY, WAIT FOR ME.” Gary yelled, getting up and running full pelt after Ash “YOU BETTER LET ME SEE THOSE BOOKS WITH YOU ASH.”. The adults and pokemon watched for a while to see as the two went back into the house, before the pokemon started to spread out and do their own thing.

Unnoticed to anyone else, Red was worried about something, something very important. Earlier, when Ash hugged his leg and looked up at him, he saw her eyes glowing a bright sky blue, instead of the warm chocolate brown that she was born with. There was only one reason that he could think of for his daughter’s eyes to glow like that, and it would explain why Ash had the habit of seeming to be listening to conversations that only the pokemon and he could hear.

Red sighed, if Ash did get the same abilities that he had, which the brief eye colour change seemed to show that she did, he would need to talk to her and explain about them, not to mention the very important part about not showing them to anyone apart from people and/or pokemon that she trusted wholeheartedly. It was for their safety, as well as the safety of the people that they knew and cared about.

After all, aura was a very rare ability nowadays, even rarer and less known than psychics. If people like Team Rocket or poachers found out about their abilities… Red shuddered. The thought was not a pleasant one, with images of cages, restraints, torture, and experimentation running through the man’s mind. No, it would be for the best to talk to Ash about aura, and soon. But not today, today was his little girl’s birthday, it wouldn’t do to ruin the day with talks that could happen easily a few days in the future. He could wait, and then he would talk to Ash.

SPACE

WOO BOY, HOLY SHIT, over 7 thousand words in this chapter, longest one I have written yet, also taking me the longest time to finally write it because god the writer’s block was a bitch, and so is procrastination. With that all said I hope you all liked the chapter because I put a lot of effort in to writing it.

Now, as a side note, for those of you confused over Ash’s reaction to the book, here is a hopefully helpful explanation. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I have autism and (maybe or probably) a bit of ADD (used to be diagnosed with ADHD but that was years ago and I have since calmed down so we removed the H), as such, as any other autistic person could tell you, we have different reactions or things that set us off that could seem weird to other people.

My attention tends to get torn away from things easily and as such I easily get sidetracked a lot of the time, I have a bad memory and can forget quite a few things, I talk out loud a lot, not exactly solely autistic behaviour but moving on. I don’t like change and it upsets me, I don’t tend to like surprises and I like to be able to confirm or deny things to have a sense of control, I am bad at socialisation and communicating my thoughts to other people, especially through speaking, I sometimes have complete meltdowns over things that seem trivial to other people, I cry at sad scenes in books or movies, I sometimes find it hard to understand other people and as such can come off across to them as cold, mean, or lacking empathy. These are most of the things off the top of my head that I can list.

Now picture this, I, a person with autism, and the list of things mentioned up above have been reincarnated into a completely new world after probably dying but being unable to remember how or why. If you remember Ash’s reactions in the first chapter of this story then you know what I am talking about.

Not only have I been torn away from everything I knew and loved but reincarnated as a person known to have gone through some crazy and traumatic shit, with references to things that I know not making sense to other people. This is going to stress me out and aggravate my autism, especially since EVERYTHING has changed, and as I have mentioned, I’m not good with change.

Fast forward a few years, I’ve gotten used to everything but still miss the BEFORE and everything that I had there, THEN, I get something that despite being different is a connection to what I had BEFORE. This leaves me happy, sad, angry, a whole cocktail of emotions but joy is prevalently the top one because I got back a connection to what I used to have, no matter how obscure. This helps to reassure and ground me, lessening the homesickness and making a bigger connection to the world around me, which helps a whole lot to accept the changes around me that I only just accepted through getting used to but was still iffy about. Galar, while not England, is based on it and thus has a very close resemblance, even closer than Kanto, which makes her feel at home.

I hope that the above explanation made sense and helped to lessen confusion about Ash’s reaction to the book that Red got her. If it doesn’t, I’m sorry and I will try to give a better one.

IMPORTANT, I have some more writer’s block and on posting this I have not had much luck in writing, plus I have recently gotten into the Jojo’s bizarre adventures fandom and I love it, I keep finding lots of amazing stories that grab my attention and give me IDEAS for my own JJBA story, so that’s taken up most of my time; BE SURE TO COMMENT BELOW IF YOU WANT ME TO WRITE MY OWN JJBA STORY.

Also, due to the lockdown leaving me fed up and somewhat depressed my sleep schedule has gotten a bit wacky, and by wacky I mean I have started to develop a bad habit of staying up until 3 in the morning and waking up around 1 in the afternoon, which sucks but I can’t seem to stop doing it. I know it’s bad for my health but lockdown is messing with everybody so I can’t be the only one facing some depression in these times, luckily there’s fanfiction to take up my time and cheer me up.

As such, due to all of the above-listed reasons, the next chapter is probably going to be a bit (cough A LOT cough) later than usual, probably will post around late march or early april? Really sorry for this you guys and I hope you all aren’t too upset.

Finally, weird question, but on Fanfiction.net, if I reply to comments do people get those replies, or do I have to send it separately than as a response to a comment on the story? Just asking because I have sent replies to comments that should have probably got me responses back to them but didn’t. Did I do something wrong? I’m not the best at technology, I’m just scraping by with the basics.

Moving on, hope you all enjoyed and I will talk to you all in the next chapter.

Chapter Text

Hello everybody, sorry for the late update but not only is writer’s block a complete and utter bitch, but procrastination is a terrible habit of mine, as is the bad sleeping habit I recently picked up that I mentioned in the previous chapter. Also, do any of you know that feeling where you are on a time limit and panic over not finishing whatever you’re doing by that time limit, and then afterwards, you still don’t finish doing it because you’re already late so what’s another few days right? That feeling plus being way too tired to deal with shit has basically been my state for the past two to three months. So I am very sorry.

That and I have really gotten into Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town. While I don’t have the game myself yet, I love watching all of the different youtube videos regarding it and that has taken up a lot of my time. I just really like the look of the game okay? On the 3DS, between all of my games, Harvest Moon: A New Beginning was my favourite game and I loved playing it. Seeing a new and similar game for the Nintendo Switch has gotten my attention, and I don’t count the other games in the franchise for Nintendo Switch because 1) I only got a switch in December 2020, and 2) I’m not a particular fan of games where the characters look as if they are chibis, I just prefer full-scale characters.

Moving on, I’m pretty sure I have already mentioned this, but I am a casual pokemon fan, and I am not the biggest fan of the anime, by which I mean apart from glimpses I saw when my little brother used to watch it and random snippets, I don’t watch it at all.

Because of this, while I am writing this fic, it isn’t going to be my top priority and I am going to probably have lots of hiatuses and late updates while I dredge up the motivation to write it. I hope people are enjoying this story but I am warning you all now, it is going to be a long time before this story reaches its end if ever. Especially now that I need to focus more on getting a job and making some money, real-life priorities.

IMPORTANT: I am planning on involving some things from the movies with Zeraora, Ho-Oh, Zarude, and Ryme city in the future. Because of this, I am currently facing a conundrum.

While we all know Ho-Oh is from Johto, the regions the other pokemon are from is less than clear. As the city in the Zeraora movie and Ryme city are based in America, I was planning on having them in Unova, but in the movies, there is a lot of pokemon that are not from the Unova region.

Therefore, my question is this, do you think I should set the areas based on where the pokemon from the movie are found natively or in the region that shares a common trait with them being based on the same real-life country.

So Zeraora and Ryme city can be based in either Unova or Kalos, and Zarude can be based in either Kalos or Galar. PLEASE, COMMENT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU ALL THINK because this is probably going to keep bugging me and as I write my chapters after I create a basic plot on my timeline that I made specifically for this fic, I need the information to plan where and when certain events are going to occur.

IMPORTANT INFO FOR THE FIC

First off, in the future, I am planning on having chapters similar to this where instead of an actual chapter, I give some lengthy and in-depth answers as to why I have written some things the way I have, such as my way of writing some of the characters and story in the fic. I will also be listing some of my inspirations, and give some answers to questions that you may have.

Speaking of questions, a commenter asked me five questions a few months ago that I will be trying my best to answer here for them if they are reading.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO THE PLOT, BESIDES WHAT WAS SAID IN THE SUMMARY? A good question. The main focus of the story is on Ash and her adventures, similar to the focus on Satoshi’s adventures in the anime, but I will also be trying to emphasise the stress that Ash is under from her position, the struggles that she has to go through, as well as to do some world-building. I will also be including some of my headcanons/ideas on things like aura, mega stones, z-moves, or gigantamaxing.

Ash will be, eventually, delving into more development with the aura guardians, rangers, g-men, international police, etc… Basically, I will try to write my version of the pokemon world and convey the wonders of that world to the readers. Make sense? If it doesn’t, I’m sorry, I tried.

I am also planning to make friendships and family a big part of the story, healthy relationships, and support systems for characters, no more unresolved trauma. Hopefully.

WHAT LOCATIONS ARE BEING USED IN THE FIC? The eight regions leading up to and including Galar, plus the Orange Isles. I will be trying to fit in some extra cities in some regions as I mentioned near the start of the chapter, but the locations used are essentially the same as the places that Satoshi went to.

WHEN DOES IT TAKE PLACE? I have created my own timeline for the story, which I may or may not have put too much effort into, but I think that it was worth it. Anyways, I set the timeline so that Ash was born in 1998, can’t remember why but I did.

Fun fact, I based the majority of my timeline on the two-part video series ‘How old is Ash Ketchum?’ by Game Theory on youtube, so if you want a better idea of how my Ash is going to age, you should go and watch those videos. I also made my timeline with a lot of help from Bulbapedia’s episode list and official timeline. It’s not the same, but I based a lot of my timeline, off of the three previously mentioned items.

WHO IS IN THE FANFIC? So, characters from the anime, maybe some characters from the movies, some original characters, all up to the newest pokemon anime that should have been set in Galar. So many random characters and interactions that I probably won’t even properly write (sigh).

HOW OLD IS EVERYONE IN THE FIC? Refer to my previous answer regarding what time I have set this in, and my comments on how I have made my timeline, and it’s essentially that. I might post the timeline I have made in the far future, but it wouldn’t be a whole line until the end. I split up the timeline into several parts separated by region. So I will probably post my split-up regional-specific timeline outlay at the end of every regional journey. Thoughts for the future.

So, with those questions answered, I guess that’s it for this chapter-not-a-chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it and had your questions answered. With all that said, I will see you all in the next chapter sometime in the future… who the heck knows when.