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So this is the second FanFic that I've decided to write. I've always enjoyed the Pokémon series and I own the entire collection so far but when it comes to the games I've only played up to Pokémon Black and White V2.

I must say that while I enjoyed the series I had one problem: Ash Ketchum. Not his character, but his attitude. It also doesn't make sense to me that Professor Oak gave Ash an untamed Pikachu with Ash's mindset and level of knowledge. A more experienced trainer, yes – an inexperienced trainer like Ash, no.

I've decided on not having Pikachu in this story, other than the fact that I don't like to use Pikachu in the games; I just don't really like them. Period! As far as Pokémon in the story go, I'm not including Kalos, so no fairy Pokémon and no mega-evolution.

I should point out that this story is a time-filler. I have another story I'm writing that's based on the Naruto series and I'm having problems with the way to type certain parts of the story out. I find that typing another story usually gives me that spark that gives me the idea I need.

I hope you enjoy the story!

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Chapter edited on: 20-11-2016. Mostly Grammar and the occasional re-written or re-worded sentence – along with a punctuation check. Please let me know if you spot any missed errors ne? Hopefully the changes will help it make more sense, as well. ^_^

~Piro-san~

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I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON.

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"Hello" – Speech

'Hello' – Thoughts

"Hello" – Pokémon speech/Aura/Psychic communication

'Hello' – Pokémon thoughts

[Hello] – Pokédex Entries

:Hello: - Typed Speech

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Growing up and living in a place like Pallet Town was pretty boring as it was an isolated place.

The only place of note for this little town was that it was the home of the famous Professor Samuel Oak. He was once a strong trainer that was on the level of the Elite Four – four of the five strongest trainers in Kanto. Though, before taking the Elite Four Challenge something in Samuel Oak changed. Samuel Oak just woke up one morning and realised that he didn't want to battle Pokémon anymore, no, he was much happier when studying and nurturing Pokémon instead.

So he left the life of a Pokémon battler behind and he set up shop in the town that he grew up in; Pallet Town. He and his Pokémon had never been happier as they too; were tired of battling for the sake of battling. Professor Oak became a well-known name in the Pokémon research scene and soon after he became the new Regional Professor – and responsible for setting up aspiring Pokémon trainers with their starter pokémon, and educating them for their journeys.

There were three starter pokémon for the Kanto region. They were Bulbasaur: a Grass Type, Charmander: a Fire Type, and finally Squirtle: a Water Type. There were many different Pokémon types and species and they were still learning new things about them every day. This little town would be the starting place for a new champion in the making: Ash Ketchum.

Ash Ketchum was an average size for a seven year old and had wild, untamed raven black hair that he usually hid with a red hat that bore the Kanto League logo. The hat used to belong to his father. He possessed a pair of lovely warm, chocolate brown eyes that overflowed with cheerful mirth. He was an active child, always playing in the sun if his tan was any indication and you would often see him laughing, running and playing around Pallet Town.

Ash Ketchum was clearly an energetic child before the accident – so energetic in fact, that it bordered on hyperactive and as a result was often easily distracted from his studies with Professor Oak and the little class that he taught in his spare time. The Professor had noticed this and had told Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum that he thought that Ash should be tested for any learning problems that were often found in those that couldn't stay focussed for long periods of time. Delia just waved the Professor's comment off with a statement that Ash's father was the same at his age. Professor Oak had immediately backed off after the statement as he knew who Ash's father is/was: the legendary Red Ketchum.

Red Ketchum was a champion level trainer that had decimated the Elite Four and former champion with only his six pokémon. It wasn't known why but Red Ketchum had never caught more than his original team of six pokémon but it certainly didn't matter when he not only used a single pokémon for each of the elite four members, but crushed their pokémon with said pokémon. He then went on to use only two pokémon against the former champion and like the Elite Four before him, left nothing but defeat in his wake.

Red Ketchum was the single most powerful trainer ever seen before in Kanto. Every challenger – be they a common trainer looking for fame, or another region's champion seeking a real challenge were left in defeat after battling with this seemingly godlike trainer. There was no one or nothing stopping Red Ketchum from his ascent to the top of the Pokémon battling world.

Then one day, Red Ketchum just suddenly vanished. Without any warning, without any reason – he just simply disappeared.

It was shortly after his mysterious disappearance that Team Rocket, a criminal organization that originated in Kanto, was ruthlessly annihilated by an incredibly powerful and unknown trainer. An unknown trainer that caused so much destruction in so little time that by the time Temporary Champion Lance: the Dragon Master arrived he could only stand there and witness the after effects of the slaughter.

The death toll was high, with Team Rocket's members numbering in the high hundreds, bordering on a thousand members. The strangest death recorded after they were able to identify who was who, was Giovanni: the Viridian City Gym Leader's twin brother, Antonio. It was unclear why Antonio was there but it was clear to see that Giovanni was absolutely livid, and he swore revenge despite Lance's assurances of justice. There were some survivors though, if you'd call them that.

There were a few grunts and scientists that were discovered to still be barely alive. They were questioned once they were given medical treatment, all of them immediately refused to talk about the massacre that had occurred, and became hysterical when asked about the trainer responsible. The doctors soon diagnosed them, both grunt and scientist alike, as insane with severe paranoia and were placed on a suicide watch. Despite the efforts of the Elite Four, Temporary Champion Lance or the doctors – the survivors all managed to kill themselves within the months following the massacre.

Those that left reasons claimed that it was out of fear induced paranoia. They were terrified of the monster of a trainer that had decimated their friends, and lived in fear that he would return with his legendary levelled pokémon to finish the job … just what kind of a demon could cause such a desire to die?

So in the aftermath of the massacre, the Elite Four and Lance had nothing but a big mess to clean up – no leads and more importantly, no Red Ketchum to help keep the calm.

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The incident in question – the incident that started the destiny of Ash Ketchum – occurred when Ash had turned seven years old.

For his birthday, Ash and his only friend Gary Oak: the grandson of the Professor, were given permission to play with the pokémon in the Plateau. Being seven year old boys, they grew bored and wandered off. And it was by the outskirts of the Plateau – where the pokémon of the many trainers that started their journey in Pallet Town … it was there it happened. The shadow of a pokémon with a trainer on its back suddenly appeared over the two children.

The pokémon and the trainer were unidentifiable because they were hovering in the glare of the sun, but a giant blue sphere of energy was unleashed from them. Ash – despite it being his seventh birthday – feared the worst and reacted quickly by pushing Gary out of the way before the strange energy could hit him. Ash wasn't as quick to protect himself though, so he ended up being engulfed by the energy.

Ash had screamed so loudly that the professor had heard him all the way from his Laboratory, and rushed as quickly as he could to find the children – but it was too late. The professor made it in time to see the shadow of the pokémon, its trainer and the strange blue energy, but by the time he blinked both the shadows and the energy were gone.

Gary Oak, who had never seen either the shadows or blue energy, had blamed Ash for getting hurt when Ash pushed him out of the way and in a fit of rage, told Ash that they weren't friends anymore. As Gary stormed off in anger, Ash fled the scene with tears running down his cheeks.

Ash didn't hear the professor shouting at him to stop. He didn't listen to his body as it screamed at him to stop either … he just ran and didn't stop running.

Ash ran until he came upon the cave like ridge that helped make up the cliffs that surrounded Pallet Town. The Cliff protected Pallet Town from the outside world, and there Ash collapsed. As Ash slept, something amazing was happening to his body. All the pent up energy that was blocking his mind from learning properly broke free and surged through his body. It didn't stop there though – it continued onwards and saturated his muscles, his internal organs and his brain in the same blue energy that had hit him earlier. It unlocked his mind and body to the fullest potential that it could be for a seven year old.

However, it came at a price.

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A week later, Ash was found by the professor's Dragonite and he was immediately taken to the hospital in Viridian City. It was there that they discovered that his vocal chords were damaged. He would be able to speak again eventually, but it would be immensely painful for Ash to do so and it was permanent. That wasn't all though. Ash's eyes had changed from their warm and inviting chocolate brown colour to a rather intimidating shade of red – the exact same shade of his father's eyes.

Delia was beside herself with grief for the week Ash was missing, and when he awoke at the hospital a further seven days after he was found, Delia proceeded to scold and ground him until he was to become a trainer – like he wanted to become – before she smothered him in hugs and wet kisses.

She wondered about his lack of response when the doctors told her the news.

She wailed in sorrow for days and never left Ash's bedside – unless it was to eat or to use the bathroom. When Ash was finally discharged and able to return home to Pallet, she never let Ash out of her sight. What began to worry her though was Ash's new attitude. The doctors told her that Ash would never be the same again after they discovered that the foreign energy had been absorbed by his body. That, along with the nature of the trauma – caused by the unknown energy in the first place – led them to discern that Ash would never return to being that happy go lucky, hyperactive child he once was.

It was like all that extra pent up energy had finally found where to go.

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It was a strange young man dressed in blue that provided some of the answers to Delia.

He arrived out of nowhere one day with a strange, blue jackal like pokémon. He informed her that her child was emitting an Aura so powerful, that pokémon everywhere could feel his presence. He informed her that he had journeyed all the way from Sinnoh because he felt the disturbance in the Aura of the world and had followed it to Ash. The strange young man introduced himself as Riley and asked for permission to speak with Ash.

'This is all so strange,' Delia mused – her inner turmoil raging.

She allowed him to enter and showed him to where Ash was. Delia wouldn't let the man be alone with her little boy, so all of this happened under her scrutinizing watch. He soothed her worry when he didn't touch Ash, but simply looked into his eyes. Delia jumped when his eyes began to glow a pale blue.

The man, Riley, looked deep into Ash's eyes and concentrated. His glowing, pale blue eyes shone brighter as he proceeded to gaze into Ash's mind. Everything was going well when Riley suddenly grasped his head in pain. Ash's eyes changed from their eerie red and began to glow a bright blue … they seemed to radiate greater power than Riley's in retaliation to the man's prodding.

Ash then said the first thing since the incident.

"Stay out of my head," Ash stated – his voice crackly but powerful. He began to harshly cough soon after speaking and he gripped his throat painfully. Delia rushed to get Ash some water and Riley managed to gather himself and his wits. Riley was speechless and stared at Ash in shock and even a little fear … no one had that much Aura.

Ash's mind was so well fortified that he was blasted out quicker than he could blink, but what scared him more, was the fact that Ash's subconscious had penetrated through his mind's defences and copied his knowledge on Aura. 'Like a parasite feeding on the energy of another, instantly learning and adapting.'

Ash's mind was learning on its own and that was quite the unnerving thought.

Delia had returned soon after but almost dropped the glass of water that she'd gotten Ash when she witnessed Ash lift his palm up and produced a glowing blue sphere of energy. It vanished as soon as it appeared and Ash simply nodded to the man and his pokémon while taking the offered water. The pokémon, a Lucario she later learnt, stared at Ash and Ash at the Lucario for about ten minutes before Lucario smiled and nodded to Ash with a gruff grunt of its name.

Ash's eyes returned to their creepy red colour and he blinked once before greedily drinking the water to soothe his aching throat. Glancing out the window, he stared for a few minutes before he spied Gary hiding off to the side of his peripheral vision. Providing a much needed distraction, Ash turned and stared at him – though Gary ran away after a few seconds under Ash's intense gaze.

'What is his problem, isn't he the one who ended our friendship?' Ash pondered. Whilst Ash was deep in thought, Lucario seemed to have a brief conversation with Riley before Riley nodded and turned to Delia.

"It seems I don't need to teach Ash to control his Aura after all. He has taken the knowledge for himself and all he needs is practise and mediation," Riley kindly and calmly informed Delia. "I've seen into the minds of many others – both human and pokémon – but his mind is so powerful it scares even me!"

Delia was speechless, how does one respond to a statement like that?

"If you don't meet an Aura using pokémon before you decide to travel to Sinnoh, look me up Ash," Riley spared another glance at Ash before his gaze returned to Delia. He smiled at Delia before nodding with a slight bow and leaving, Lucario in tow.

Delia was shocked to see Ash nod back, tilting his head in respect and smiling softly for the first time since his birthday.

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It didn't get any easier for Delia.

For a while she found herself at a loss in how to communicate with this new Ash. Of course Delia never stopped loving him, and while Ash had become rather withdrawn and apathetic, she could still somehow sense that he loved her as dearly as she loved him. Over time they became even closer than they were before, each taking comfort in each other's company and even though it was painful for him, eventually he started to say simple things like 'please' and 'thank you' or her personal favourite: 'I love you mum'.

Something that Professor Oak pointed out to her was Ash's astoundingly high grades. He had improved so much that he was now scoring in the top 2% in the whole of the Kanto region and the top 10% in the whole regional scoring system, a scoring system that included all the other regions.

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Ash simply devoured books – one after another, he absorbed them and remembered them all with perfect clarity – and by the time he was eight, a year after the incident, he had read the entire library in Pallet Town, all the way up to college level material. He particularly liked psychology and science.

It was then that Ash turned his attention to the books in his father's personal library. Battle tactics, pokémon nutrition, pokémon behavioural and migration patterns and training techniques for every pokémon type were some of the books that fell to Ash's seemingly insatiable quest for knowledge. He finished reading and comprehending his father's work and library by almost age nine.

Professor Oak, who had noticed Ash's ability to absorb and retain knowledge secretly watched him one day and felt a cold shiver go down his spine. "Just like his father when he was serious. If Ash turns out even half as good as his father then look out Elite Four, look out Lance and more importantly … look out world!"

Professor Oak had given him permission and encouraged Ash to use the Lab's library as long as he liked on the condition that Ash provided reports, showing that he could understand the material covered in the Professor level books and by assisting him in the care of the pokémon in the plateau. Ash had nodded his consent and by the time he was ten years old, he had covered the professor's entire library and had helped the professor make several breakthroughs in the study of pokémon.

Gary was torn between anger, jealousy, and guilt. You see the professor had explained what really happened, how bad Ash was injured, and why Gary wasn't injured as well. Gary had immediately jumped up and dashed over to the Ketchum residence to beg Ash for forgiveness. He got to the front gate and noticed Ash gazing out the window with his apathetic and glazed look. Once Ash had noticed Gary and turned that look towards him, Gary did the only thing he could: Gary fled. That wasn't the Ash that was his old friend. Gary was filled with guilt and became more frustrated with himself for ending their friendship without knowing what had really happened, but Gary knew it was too late – the Ash he knew was gone.

Well, not gone – just buried under this quiet and reserved Ash.

The anger and jealousy was petty in nature, he knew it was, but when he saw the extraordinary rate that Ash was learning he was intimidated and scared, and when Gary Oak was intimidated or scared he resorted to covering it up with bravado and his arrogant attitude.

It was an attitude that only grew as time went on and was becoming truly insufferable to those in Pallet Town.

The professor had tried to straighten his grandson out but nothing he tried worked. The professor was saddened by how things had turned out between his grandson and Ash, and he did try to bring them back together by having them both help out at the plateau. Ash was mature enough to seem to try, even if it was in an apathetic kind of way, but with Gary's attitude and with how he now believed that he really was better than everyone; it was impossible. Gary resorted to teasing and belittling not just Ash, but the other potential trainers. Ash responded by just staring at Gary in his creepy, blank, and apathetic gaze but one thing was clear and that was – it would take Gary growing up to reconcile their relationship.

'Those eyes are scaringly creepy though,' Professor Oak found himself thinking. 'I swear I saw them glowing once.'

The professor was otherwise amazed at Ash's progress. Ash seemed to have a gift with pokémon, even the mightiest and grumpiest of pokémon fell victim to the invisible power that Ash seemed to possess. All Ash had to do was simply give his new patented apathetic gaze and after a few seconds, the pokémon were suddenly calm. This power was nothing short of miraculous. Once, an entire herd of Tauros went on a stampede, and usually he would need his strongest pokémon to quell their fury, but Ash just stepped in front of them and after staring them down just said one word: "Stop" and that was all it took! The Tauros instantly calmed themselves and even seemed to slowly back away from the child.

He was further astonished by the reports that he was receiving once a week from Ash, as per their arrangement. They were informative and from an entirely new perspective than he'd never thought about before. It was shortly after that that he had Ash start assisting him in his research. What he'd done though (without Ash knowing) was publish the papers as a joint effort. Soon professors from the other regions were asking about this 'Ash Ketchum' that was a genius.

Imagine their surprise when they found out that he was only ten years old, and since trainers could begin their journeys on their tenth birthday – the professor had no doubts that Ash would go far.

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Ash awoke to the chirps of the wild Pidgey and glanced at the clock. It was 5:45am. Ever since his brain 'copied' Riley's knowledge he had instinctively woken up at that exact time every morning.

He followed Riley's knowledge of proper mediation and practised his Aura abilities. It seemed to give him a link to the consciousness of any pokémon and read their thoughts and understand them. Once he'd mastered communicating with his Aura, he began to learn how to use it for offensive purposes, such as augmenting his strength and speed.

He particularly liked using his Aura to 'push' the other person or pokémon's own Aura into submission – it was like the manga stories about people using KI to intimidate the other person. Once he'd learnt and mastered how to do that, he began the physical training. Again, having learned from Riley's knowledge of fighting Lucario – it was child's play for Ash to adapt and perfect the techniques of the Aura Pokémon. Ash didn't stop there though – he made it a point to observe the various fighting pokémon from the many regions and research how they used their bodies to fight. After the time and research he put in, Ash instinctively picked up their styles and meshed them with Riley's own style.

Ash finished his morning meditation, and as he'd be walking a lot starting today – opted to skip the physical training. He walked to the bathroom to shower, and once he had finished showering, he went back to his room to dress for the day.

Since his eyes seemed to startle pokémon and human alike, he had taken to wearing either a hood or covering them with his ever growing hair. He stared at his reflection for a good few minutes before dressing himself.

His tan had faded considerably since the 'change'; his usually tan skin was now a creamy pale with just a slight hint of a tan, and he had a good, healthy build. The only other noticeable change, other than his eyes of course, was his hair. While it was still raven black, it had tamed itself completely and fell flat against his head in soft waves. He kept it shorter in the back while leaving enough hair in his fringe to cover his eyes with his bangs falling to just above his chin in length.

After his short assessment of his changes, he decided to dress himself in his new clothes as he wanted to eat breakfast before heading to the lab to collect a starter pokémon from the professor.

He wore simple blue jeans of a lighter wash with his usual green and white sneakers. He wore a light weight sleeveless hoodie that looked similar to the red coloured jacket that his father wore – except his was in a blue with white trim colour. The hoodie didn't have a zipper so it was worn like a t-shirt. He did, however, choose to honour his father by wearing his father's green, fingerless trainer gloves instead of his father's hat that he used to wear when he was younger.

Staring at his reflection for another moment, he huffed silently then, while moving towards the door, he smoothly grabbed his larger on the inside backpack without breaking stride. He stopped to turn back to his bedside table and collected his MP3 player. He clipped his detachable earphones to the front of his hoodie and left his room. He did reflect on the fact that he wouldn't see his room for quite some time and he was glad that he was smart enough to clean it before leaving.

He slowly descended down the stairs and to the kitchen where his mother sat at the table drinking her morning tea. Her posture screamed sad and she was deep in thought. Ash sat in the chair beside her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. Delia jumped a little before following the arm up to Ash's concerned expression. She liked that, he only truly expressed himself to people he could completely trust or loved unconditionally – which meant the pokémon, the professor, herself and few others that were lucky enough to be considered precious to Ash.

"Mum?" Ash spoke quietly.

He'd made progress in his speech. He could hold an entire conversation like he used to before the accident now, but it did still hurt him so he refrained from speaking as much as he could.

"Oh Ashy," Delia hiccupped. He spied the fact that her usual light makeup was marred with tear marks and that her eyes were puffy: she was clearly upset. "I-I'll miss you … my little Ashy."

She'd whispered the last bit but she knew he'd heard her; he seemed to hear everything, which was why he was the one to discover the Mr Mime hiding in the garden shed one stormy night. Ah! Speak of the devil!

"Mr Mime," it spoke quietly, as not to interrupt the moment.

"Don't worry mum," Ash started softy. "Mr Mime will be here and I'll write and call as often as I can – I promise."

Ash coughed lightly and took a sip of water from a glass on the table before offering her a rare smile. A smile that was full of love. Delia smiled back and they settled to eat breakfast. Ash sipped at some nice hot tea, it was good for his throat and it calmed him greatly. Delia giggled about it a lot though – apparently it was something about being too young to drink tea like that?

'Odd,' Ash pondered. 'What's wrong with enjoying tea?'

After breakfast was finished he glanced at the clock. It was already 7:00am? He had to leave if he wanted to make it to the professor's lab on time.

"I have to go," he murmured.

"I'll see you at the lab later then dear," his mother responded with a soft smile.

He nodded and left through the front door, pulling up his hood as he left.

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So what do you think? Please let me know. If you have read my other story you'd know that I'm in hospital so updates may be sporadic at best.

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PLEASE READ AND REVIEW

\^o^/