A/N: this is my first Pokemon story. I will try to update it regularly. it is going to be a mix of anime and manga, but a lot different. In this story, trainers get their first Pokemon at the age of 14 so that they can be better prepared for the life of a Pokemon trainer. Ash is going to be a competitive trainer, not some idiot. but he will have to train like every other trainer to become powerful. Ash will not be overpowered, neither will he get any legendary Pokemon. I hope you guys like it. Please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Prologue

It was a quite morning in the small town of Pallet town. In a small bedroom situated on the first floor of a small 3 bedroom home located in the middle of the town, a young boy with raven black hair and brown hair woke up after a good night sleep. He yawned as he got out of the bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up. It was going to be a special day for him. Today, after finally waiting for practically his whole life, he would finally get his first Pokemon. He will be meeting his best friend, his partner for the first time today, someone who was going to help him achieve his goal of becoming the best Pokemon trainer there ever was or will be.

He was going to become the first Pokemon master in history.

His name was Ash Ketchum and he was a 10 year old young child.

He thought of the last few months as he brushed his teeth. A few years before he was born, children would get their first pokemon at the age of 10 and go on their pokemon journey to challenge the gyms to collect badges so that they could participate in the League tournament held every year. But a lot of those children were usually never aware of the harsh realities of the world. Most of them were not prepared to raise pokemon on their own in the wild, neither were a lot of them aware of the dangers the wild pokemon presented. This usually resulted in either pokemon abandonment or a lot of trainer deaths every year. Finally after centuries of the pokemon league being established, Professor Oak, the most famous pokemon researcher in the world managed to convince the league to set the minimum age requirement for a trainer to be 14 years. It was only this year, nearly 15 years after the new law was published that the famous professor had made a change to it.

6 months ago it was announced that to better study the relationship between young pokemon and their trainers, a total of 10 trainers, all 10 years old, would be selected from around the world and given their starter pokemon 4 years before they could go on their pokemon journey. These 10 trainers would then raise their pokemon in the safe environment of their home till they are turn 14, at which time they would be allowed to go on their pokemon journey. Neither of these trainers would be allowed to catch any other pokemon during these 4 years.

To say that young Ash was ecstatic after hearing this news would be a major understatement. He practically shouted in joy that entire day. Though after he managed to calm down he was told that he would first have to pass a test to qualify for getting his starter pokemon 4 years early. He only had a month to prepare. Though living in the same town as Professor Oak and being the best friend to his grandson Gary Oak was a major help to Ash as it allowed him to study under the famous professor since he was nearly 5 years old. Although he was not as smart as his friend Gary, he knew enough about the pokemon world and its inhabitants to qualify the test. After the test was conducted, the qualified children were interviewed by the regional pokemon professors to select only a few children who were later interviewed by professor Oak himself, before finally 10 children were selected. Being a student of the famous professor Oak allowed Ash and Gary to instantly qualify for the 2 slots among the 10 children right after passing the written test.

And today was finally the day when he would be getting his first pokemon. After bathing and changing his clothes, he went downstairs to the dining room.

"Good morning, mom!" ash greeted his mom who was already sitting at the dining table, reading the newspaper.

Seeing her son brought a smile to the face of the 30 year old single mom. Her name was Delia Ketchum and she loved her son more than anything else in the world. She set the newspaper down and served Ash his breakfast.

"So, excited?" Delia asked her young son.

"Very. I can barely wait to meet my pokemon" ash replied.

"Well, we still have some time before we need to go to professor Oaks pokemon lab to get your pokemon. You finish your breakfast while I finish some kitchen work and then we will go to the lab". Delia said to her son.

"Ok mom! But are you going to open the restaurant?" ash asked his mother.

His mother owned a small restaurant that was just to the side of their home. It was the main source of their income. That and the amount his father sent to them every month. He knew who his father was. His mother had told him about his father very early in his life. He just didn't understand why his father didn't lived with them. According to his mother, she didn't love his father, neither did his father loved her. They had just fooled around with each other when she was young, whatever that meant, and then he was born. She was a pokemon trainer then, although not a very successful one. But after finding out that she was pregnant with him, she had decided to quit her life as a trainer. She had released some of her pokemon in the wild while the remaining still lived in the pokemon ranch that professor Oak owned. His mom and dad had decided that since they didn't love each other and didn't want to marry, his mom would take care of him and he would help her in any way he could.

His father's name was Giovanni, the Viridian City gym leader, the most powerful gym leader in all of Kanto. He had helped his mom to settle down in the Pallet town and then helped her open the restaurant. He usually visited them every other month, so ash knew about his father. On his 10th birthday, after being selected for getting his first pokemon early, his dad had told him that he would be spending every alternate month with him in his Viridian Gym to train his pokemon. He was ecstatic to know this as he knew that he could learn a lot from his dad. Though he didn't want to leave his mom, his dad had told him that he had already cleared everything with his mom and that she didn't have any problem with it.

He finished his breakfast and put the dish in the kitchen for his mom to clean later. Then he waited for his mom to finish her work. He didn't had to wait long before she came back ready to head out.

"Let's go ash" she said.

They both went out through the front gate.

"Mr. Mime! Please take care of the house. We will come back later today" Delia said to the humanoid looking pokemon watering the plants at the front garden of the house.

Mr. Mimes was a humanoid Pokémon. He had a white body and slim arms and legs. The limbs were connected to the body through large pink spheres and they had another one on the middle of their body. Mr. Mimes had five fingers on each of his white hands, and blue feet that curled upward at the tip, similar to traditional shoes. He have a round head with pink cheeks and horn shaped hair, and almost always seems to have a smile on his faces.

As far as Ash knew, Mr. Mime was his mother's starter pokemon given to her by her dad on her 10th birthday. He was also the very first pokemon that Ash saw.

"Bye, Mr. Mime" ash said to the pokemon.

"Mime! Mr. Mime" the pokemon replied in poke-speech.

Leaving the house in the capable hands of Mr. Mime, both ash and Delia started walking towards the professor's lab that was located on the edge of the small town. The lab was located in the pokemon ranch owned by professor Oak. The ranch was where all the pokemon owned by the professor or other trainers sponsored by the professor lived. He knew that his mom's pokemon were also there as he used to play with them when he was small. Now he just went there every other day to meet them. It didn't take them very long to reach the lab. There were a lot of vehicles parked outside the lab, most probably belonging to the parents of the other new trainers.

They were met by a man wearing a white lab coat at the front of the lab.

"Ms. Ketchum/1 it's good to see you here. And you too ash" the man said.

"It's good to see too Adam" Delia replied.

"Please go to the backside of the lab. There are a lot of people here today and there isn't enough space inside the lab for everyone, so the professor decided to arrange everything outside" the now identified Adam said. "All the best Ash".

"Thanks Adam!" Ash said, almost bouncing on his heels, barely able to contain his excitement.

"Calm down Ash! Your pokemon isn't going anywhere. The professor is not going to give away any pokemon till all of the children are there" Delia said to her overexcited son, smiling slightly at her little bundle of energy.

"I know mom! I'm just super excited to meet my first pokemon" ash replied.

They both reached the back of the lab. It was packed with a lot of people. It didn't take them long to notice professor Oak standing near the front of the crowd of people talking with a group of other regional professors. From his memory, ash recognized professor Elm of Johto region, professor Birch from Hoenn and professor Rowan from Sinnoh. There were some other professors also there but ash didn't recognize any other. But he did recognize the person standing to just right of the professor Oak. It was the dragon master Lance Wataru, champion of the Kanto region, one of the best and most powerful, if not the most powerful pokemon trainer in the world. He was everything that Ash wanted to become in his life.

Just as he was about to go running to meet his idol, he heard the voice of his best friend shout from the crowd.

"Hey gramps, look, even Ashy boy is here now! Can we get started please" Gary shouted, coming to stand by Ash's side. Ash scowled at Gary's nickname for him. He hated that name, and no matter what he did, Gary refused to call him anything else.

The professor turned around to see that yes, Ash was indeed here. He then said something to his fellow scientists and moved to the front of the crowd.

"Hello everyone! Thank you for coming here today. My name is Professor Samuel Oak, as some of you may or may not know" professor Oak said. "Today is a very important day for all of us, and it may take some time to do everything, so please have a seat and let's start what we have all gathered here for"

Everyone took a chair and sat down. Gary motioned for ash to follow him back to his table where his mother, father, and his older sister Daisy were already sitting. Ash and his mom greeted them as they took their seats.

"What took you so long Ashy boy? I've been waiting for you to come for ages." Gary said to ash.

Just as ash opened his mouth to reply, professor Oak started speaking.

"Now that everyone is settled, let me introduce you my fellow professors." professor Oak started. "We have here with us today professor Elm from Johto, professor Birch from Hoenn, and professor Rowan from Sinnoh"

The respected professors who were sitting on the chairs behind professor Oak waved their hands as their names were called.

"And I'm sure you all know our Champion Lance Wataru, the dragon master" professor Oak said. Lance stood up from his seat and waved, "hello everyone, I hope all of you are good and as excited for this as I'm"

"Now, congratulations to all of you children. You all have the potential to be the very best and brightest of your generation. The reason we have decided to provide you with your first pokemon years before the set age is that we wish to see how it would affect you and your pokemon if you were allowed to spend some time together before you could go on your journey. In the last few years, the pokemon abandonment rate among the trainers have increased." The professor said.

A lot of people sitting their looked shocked at that bit of news. Ash was sad to hear about that even though he already knew about it. He had seen a lot of abandoned pokemon in the pokemon ranch. He just couldn't understand how someone could abandon their pokemon. Abandoning your pokemon was like abandoning your family. The very concept of abandoning your pokemon, the very same pokemon who you had captured to train, to take care of, was horrifying to Ash.

"When we investigated the reason behind it," the professor spoke again, "we found that since a lot of trainers are better prepared for their journey, they expect more from their pokemon. And when the pokemon don't perform to their expectations, they abandon them. The league asked us, the professors, to find a solution to this problem. After a lot of research, we have concluded that a lack to attachment to the pokemon, a lack of feelings towards them plays the most important role behind pokemon abandonment. So we decided to try an experiment. The 10 of you today will get a pokemon, and then raise them for the next 4 years at your homes before you are allowed to go on your pokemon journey".

Every child present perked at the mention of getting the pokemon. Professor Oak chuckled seeing the children getting excited.

"Well that was the plan at first, but we have decided to change it somewhat" ash was sure that his heart skipped a beat just as the professor said this. He had been looking forward to get his first pokemon practically all his life. Looking around told him that all the other children present were getting nervous.

"Now, now, no need to look so nervous. Don't worry, you will all get your pokemon today, just not directly" professor Oak said.

Now everyone was looking round confused. Well everyone except the professors and the champion.

"We have decided that instead of just providing you with a starter pokemon, we will provide you with a pokemon egg and you will be responsible for hatching it and taking care for the baby pokemon after it hatches. We think it will allow you to bond with your pokemon more easily and it will also teach you a lot about taking care of the pokemon" professor Oak said.

Everyone started chatting excitingly. Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. He would be getting a pokemon egg instead of a pokemon. It was unbelievable. He knew he was extremely to be present here today because not just anyone could a pokemon egg. Pokemon eggs were considered extremely precious in the pokemon world as they contained the baby pokemon and required very good care.

"of course you are not expected to take care of the eggs and then the babies all by yourself" professor Oak elaborated, "you will be provided all the help and the knowledge you will need to take care of the eggs and the baby pokemon. Now for those of you who requested for a particular pokemon as your starter, we have tried to find the eggs of the pokemon of your species. So now, without wasting any more time, I will call your names one by one and you will come to the front to take your pokemon egg."

I don't think I could wait any longer. Looking to the side told me that Gary was just as excited as me. I know he had requested for a Squirtle and knowing that his grandfather was the one arranging all this, he was pretty sure that Gary would get a Squirtle egg. Ash had not requested for any particular pokemon. He loved all the pokemon equally, though he preferred some over others. But he was just happy to finally get a pokemon to call his own, his best friend, and his partner.

"Alakazam!" professor Oak called and a bipedal pokemon appeared to the side of the professor. Ash knew that it was the professors own pokemon. He was one of the most powerful psychic pokemon in the world, having been with the professor for more than 50 years. Ash knew that the professor was a trainer in his young age and had a whole team. He didn't know all of the pokemon that the professor owned but he knew that the professor had a really powerful Dragonite, who lived in the small mountains around the town, a monster for a Charizard, having seen it once some years ago when a new pokemon at the ranch had become angered and started to thrash the habitat. The Charizard had been circling the skies above the pallet town at that time and had taken a ice beam to the face without any damage and then proceeded to defeat the angered pokemon with just a single flamethrower. Other than that the professor also had an Arcanine who was the fastest pokemon ash had ever seen. He was also the most fun loving pokemon and the caretaker of the pokemon of the ranch. But ash also knew that he was just as powerful as any other pokemon that the professor had, having been told by Gary that Arcanine usually went in the mountains to spar with the professor's Dragonite. Ash didn't know about any other pokemon that the professor had but he knew that there were many.

By the time Ash focused his attention back to the professor, 3 children had already gotten their pokemon eggs, present inside an incubator. The professor would call a name, and the person would go the front. Then the Alakazam would teleport the pokemon egg from wherever they were stored to the professor who would tell the person somethings about the pokemon present inside the egg before giving it away.

"Gary Oak" professor Oak called after the last potential trainer returned to his seat.

"well, look closely ashy boy, I'm finally getting the most awesome pokemon and once he is ready to battle, we are going to beat you and your pokemon before becoming the champion" Gary said to ash, standing up and moving to the front before ash could retort.

"Ass" ash muttered scowling at the remark.

"Language ash!" his mom admonished him.

"Don't worry ash! You know how Gary is" Daisy Oak, Gary's older sister and a top pokemon coordinator said to him. "Don't pay him any attention".

Ash knew how Gary was. Even if Gary was his best friend, he couldn't deny that he was also the most arrogant person Ash had ever met.

Everyone clapped when Gary finally received his pokemon egg and returned to his seat carrying it. He held the incubator containing the egg close to his chest and sat down without taking his eyes of the egg. Say what you will about Gary, Ash knew that Gary loved pokemon just as much as ash did.

"Ash Ketchum" professor Oak called. Finally, it was ash's turn. He got up from his seat and started walking towards the professor. Even if he projected calm demeanour, he was a nervous wreck inside. He thought about what pokemon he would get, if he would be a good trainer. But he set his doubts aside and focused on finally meeting his pokemon for the first time, even if he or she was inside the egg.

"Well, ash my boy, it is good to see you here. Since you didn't ask about any particular pokemon, I had to think about what pokemon to provide you with. But I finally settled on one" the professor said to ash and nodded to Alakazam who popped away for a moment then came back just as quickly. The teleport was so fast and smooth that one moment Alakazam was just standing there with his psychic spoons in both hands and the next he had an incubator with a reddish-orange coloured egg floating in front of him. The incubator then floated in front of Ash who placed his hand on the glass of the incubator behind which rested his first pokemon, sleeping peacefully in his egg.

"This is a growlithe egg as far as I can tell. It is last remaining egg from the few that your mother's ninetales laid few months ago. The father of this egg is my own Arcanine. I was expecting the other eggs of its bunch to hatch into little vulpix but they all hatched into growlithe puppies. So I'm expecting it to hatch into a growlithe as well." The professor said to ash who still hadn't taken his hand of the glass pane. He finally took the incubator in his hands when Alakazam moved it towards him.

"Thank you professor" ash finally said to the professor, taking his eyes off the egg and looking to the professor.

"You are welcome my boy" the professor said. "Now, your mom's ninetales is a really strong pokemon, almost on the level of elite four pokemon, and the less we say about my overgrown puppy of a pokemon the better. Your pokemon has the potential to be one of the best one day, so take good care of him and train him well"

"I will professor" ash replied and went back to his seat. His mom and all the others at the table congratulated him but he just couldn't take his eyes of the egg. He couldn't stop thinking of the time when his pokemon would finally hatch and he could meet him or her.

The professor gave another small speech after handing out all the pokemon eggs in which he mainly told them to contact him or any of the other professors if they had any questions or any problem. After that everyone started to leave the lab, going back to their homes.

"See you later ashy boy" Gary called after him as ash was leaving the lab with his mother.

"Bye Gary" ash called back and then left for his home already dreaming about all the things he and his pokemon would do together. Delia just smiled seeing her son clutching the incubator to his chest and smiling happily.

Back at the lab-

After all the children and their families had left, the champion and the professors gathered inside the lab to have a discussion.

"So, who do you think is going to be the best trainer among the children?" professor Elm asked

"I think, Paul, the kid from sinnoh has the potential to be great one day" professor Rowan replied. "I don't think I have seen anyone as determined as that kid for quite some time."

"What about you professor Oak, what do you think?" professor Birch asked.

"I think all the kids has the potential to be great trainers one day" professor Oak replied.

"Now don't be like that." Professor Rowan said, interested in knowing who the older professor thought was going to be the best trainer. "We all know that all of those kids are going to be great trainers. Hell, by the time they start their journey, they will have 1 fully trained pokemon with them. What we want to know is who you think is going to be the best among the children".

"Well, if I had to choose, I would say Ash Ketchum" the professor finally replied after a moment's thought.

"Your other student, the one you teach alongside your grandson?" professor Elm asked

"Yes, the same one" professor Oak said.

"Not your own grandson, professor?" lance asked.

"Gary is a lot like me. I would like to say that I know him better than even he knows himself" professor Oak elaborated. "he is going to be a great pokemon trainer one day, I have no doubt about that but somewhere along his journey he will probably realize that he doesn't like battling pokemon as much as he thought and that he would rather prefer to learn about pokemon instead of fight with them. I had the same realization when I entered my second pokemon league tournament."

"Ok! But why ash?" lance asked again.

"Ash is a special kid. He has a connection with pokemon that I have never seen before." The professor said. "Mark my words Lance, that kid is going to defeat you one day".

The other professors looked shocked at this. Hearing that some kid was going to become a great trainer someday was one thing, but to hear that the same kid was going to defeat the champion one day was another matter.

Lance thought about it for a few moments and then smiled.

"I'll forward to that day professor" lance finally said.

"Now, is there anything else anyone would like to discuss?" professor Oak asked after a moments silence.

Seeing that it was time for a serious discussion, Lance took a disc from his pocket and set it on the table.

"We have identified 3 new Alpha level pokemon in the last 6 months" Lance said.

Thinking about the sensitivity of the matter that was going to be discussed, professor Oak called his Alakazam, who appeared by his side immediately.

"My old friend, would you please seal this room, we are going to discuss some information about Alpha level pokemon" professor Oak asked his trusted companion.

"Of course, Samuel!" the professor heard Alakazam's voice in his head. Saying this the pokemon vanished and the room glowed blue for a moment signifying the use of psychic energy.

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