Pokémon, I Choose You

AN: This is my Pokémon story, Great Migration. This story starts with the basis of a great migration between all seven regions. Now it is important to state that this will be a smarter Ash story, but no psychic or aura Ash. Also, if there is a pairing, it will not be until much later in the story. Another thing of note is that Ash will travel through his journey a lot like how I play the games. I only play with a select six Pokémon and they are all generally overpowered from grinding. This is not to say that Ash will research his team beforehand, but he will not catch more than I allot him. If he does catch more Pokémon, it would probably be around the time that he travels to another region, but I am not completely sold on the idea. Any way I hope you enjoy the story, and I do not own anything, rights go to Satoshi Tajiri.

The Great Migration is an amazing moment in history that brought about many changes of society. The Great Migration happened in 1987, when for no apparent reason Pokémon started migrating from their native regions to other regions. Suddenly Pokémon natively native to regions such as Alola or Hoenn could be found everywhere. It is noted that the only way possible for this to happen is if the Pokémon worked together to make it to other regions safely. An example of this is seen when a large ice bridge was created over the ocean connecting Sinnoh and Unova, due to the help of several thousand ice types. Pokémon that would not have been able to traverse the sea now had a way to move across the vast expanse of the ocean. At first many of the Pokémon professors from each region, including myself, were worried about the consequences of this migration. What would happen to the landscape, as new Pokémon moved into areas, that they would hope to call home. How would this migration affect the chain, in particular resources? But since this migration was purely Pokémon induced instead of human, we decided to see how it would playout. The event would give us a large insight on how Pokémon interact with one another, especially those from different regions that never have interreacted before, without any human interference. While there were quite a few conflicts around the beginning of the migration, soon Pokémon seemed to have reached a state of harmony as they all settled in their new homes.

The Great Migration brought a great deal of advancements to the way we think about Pokémon. For the first time there was a real need for more collaboration and communication between all of the Pokémon professors. Due to a vast exchange of knowledge we learned a fair bit of information. For one was the introduction of the Steel and Fairy typing. These typing came about due to inconsistencies between notes on Pokémon containing the typing. To fix this the professors in a combined effort and hours of constant study came the creation of these two typings and the changes in our databases of Pokémon who were miscategorized such as the Snubble line and the Aron line, who were both categorized as normal and rock respectively.

Due to constant interaction with different Pokémon, we have learned that Pokémon have come to learn new Pokémon moves that were not previously seen. In addition to an updated move pool, we have created new egg groups due to Pokémon producing viable eggs with Pokémon considered out of their egg group.

The event also brought about new evolutions. Some Pokémon who were thought to not evolve or only evolve to a certain point gained new evolutions have evolved. Great examples of this is the Ancient Pokémon because these Pokémon only evolve after learning the move Ancient Power, which they did not have access to otherwise. Pokémon in this group include, Yanma, Swinub, and Tangela. Pokémon like Electabuzz, Magmar, Rhydon…etc. all gained evolutions when introduced to specific items, only found in certain regions. Pokémon also have gained evolutions due to specific weather patterns or environments. Examples of this is the Goodra line, and the Grubbin line. It also brought about a concept known as mega evolution, in where with the help of a mega stone a Pokémon can push past its natural limits for a short period of time to a new form. As well as Z-moves, which is a specific move that any Pokémon can learn as long as they have a Z-stone and a move that matches the specific Z-stone. The Z-moves are incredibly powerful moves, that could change the way people battle in the long run.

The event was quite remarkable, and it is unlikely that it would ever happen again. What drove the Pokémon to move? No one knows, but I am glad that I got to whiteness it in my life time. If there is anything that this event taught us is that there is always more to Pokémon than we know.

By Samuel Oak, world renowned Pokémon professor.

Little Ash, who was seven at the time, just finished reading professor Oak's report about the Great Migration, a fascinating event that took place nearly seven years ago. Ash had always had a deep love for anything and everything Pokémon, which is why he took to studying all different types of Pokémon whenever he got the chance. Although the Great Migration had happened seven years ago, right around the time of his birth, learning about the event always excited him because it meant that he could interact with many different Pokémon without out having to leave his home region. He held the book containing the report close to his chest, as he let out a small squeal. He was so excited to start his Pokémon journey in three years' time.

"Ash dinner is ready." Ash's mother voice echoed throughout the house.

"Coming mommy." Ash said as he put the book back on his shelf in his room. Before going down stairs, Ash washed his hands in the bathroom sink. After entering the dining room, he saw his mother's Pokémon, Mr. Mime, using telekinesis to wash the dishes. Ash sat down, as his mother brought out a plate for both her and her son. "Thanks mommy." Ash said as he grabbed a spoon and dug into his mash potatoes.

Delia, the name of Ash's mother, smiled as her son ate enthusiastically. "So, Ash are you excited to be going back to school. The aforementioned school is a Pokémon school in Viridian city that prospective trainers in southern Kanto attended before being able to go on their journey. There were only four schools in Kanto, one for each district, and any child from their respective district must attend school. A school required that one must at least spend five years learning about Pokémon before one could be considered a graduate. The five year minimum was established mostly for people who were not looking for a career centered around Pokémon like business or restaurants. The minimum was established after the Great Migration for people's safety. With over 800 species of Pokémon roaming around each region, people needed to have some basic knowledge of each one in order to avoid harm of themselves and Pokémon. However, for those looking to become a Pokémon trainer, contester, breeder etc. they could further their education for an extra three years to be thoroughly prepared for their journey. The eight year maximum, is why most parents enroll their children into school at age three.

Ash had been attending school since he was three, and he was halfway done with his education. "I am so excited, this year we are finally going to be able to interact with Pokémon." Ash said in between bites of pork. The first four years of Pokémon school were purely theoretical as students learned about each type, different Pokémon moves, the food that Pokémon use, and finally go through a deep analysis of each Pokémon. In the fifth-year students learn how to interact with different Pokémon. Generally, the first trimester is done with Pokémon that are more docile or have calmer temperaments., such as the Skitty line or Caterpie line. The next trimester students interact with Pokémon that are slightly more aggressive, but generally only when they feel threatened. Pokémon that fit this category include such as Charmeleon from the Charmander line or Haunter from the Gastly line. The last third of the year students learn how to placate/ interact with Pokémon that are commonly aggressive such as Gyarados from the Magikarp line or Tyranitar from the Larvitar line.

"Well I am glad that you are excited honey. Just make sure to pay extra attention to the teachers, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I will mommy."

"So, have you put any thought on what Pokémon you want as your starter?" Ash took moment to think about his answer. Choosing a starter had become a lot more complicated due to the Great Migration. Back in the day a prospective trainer was responsible for their own Pokémon education, which meant that there were some trainers that had a vast amount of Pokémon knowledge and some with the bare minimum required to pass the trainer examination. In order to prevent unnecessary injuries or Pokémon death/abandonment Pokémon professors had a set of three Pokémon that were better suited to a Pokémon trainer with a lower base knowledge. But now that there was a set curriculum and more of the rising Pokémon trainers were more knowledgeable professors did not have to worry about making sure that they all had Pokémon that were conditioned to be suitable for a newbie. Generally, a Pokémon professor had a collective of twenty Pokémon that would be offered up. Of course, a trainer could make a request as long as they followed the guide lines; a requested Pokémon must be in its most basic form, for example a newbie could not ask for a Kingdra, but a Horsea was fair game. The requested Pokémon must be young, older than a hatched Pokémon but younger than two years, in order for a proper bond to be established. Lastly, they must show competent knowledge of the Pokémon that they are requesting as well as any Pokémon in its evolutionary line.

Ash shrugged, "I do not have a specific Pokémon in mind, although a water type would be cool. I was kind of hoping to get one that is not overly popular, because I want to prove that any Pokémon can be a good Pokémon." Ash said with a smile. Delia was proud of her son, he was always on the mature side of his age group.

"Well you do not need to know now. I remember your father saying that he did not know until the day of, in fact. Although he said that as soon as he saw his starter he knew." Delia said with a bit of fondness in her voice as she scooped up some peas. With that the rest of the dinner passed with little conversation, and when Ash finished his food Mr. Mime used telekinesis to grab his dishes before returning to the sink.

"Thanks Mr. Mime. Thanks Mom."

"Mr. Mime" replied the Pokémon. Delia just nodded as she grabbed her dishes.

"You have school tomorrow, so make sure to go to bed at a decent time, we leave for Viridian at six."

"Okay." And with that Ash went back up to his room to continue reading.

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(Three years later)

An alarm blared that was quickly shut up when a hand tapped the button on top of the clock. Ash groaned as he rolled out of bed. He quickly rubbed his eye as he went to the closet to get a clean pair of underwear before heading to the shower. After a thorough shower, Ash was more alert than when he just woke up. Looking at the clock and noting that the time was 7:30. Since Professor Oak's doesn't open until ten, to give prospective trainers who live farther away a chance to make it on time, Ash had plenty of time. Putting on form fitting black skinny jeans, as well as a white shirt before making his way down stairs. His mother was hard at work diligently making pancakes for breakfast.

"Good morning mom."

"Good morning sweetie. Are you ready for your big day?"

"Yeah, I can't wait to get my journey started." Ash said while thinking of all of the adventures that he and his Pokémon would go on.

"Well I'm glad to here it, just make sure to pack everything before to go. And come back here to show me your new Pokémon." Delia said as she placed a stack of pancakes in front of Ash. Ash nodded as he poured syrup onto his pancakes, and enthusiastically dug into them. When he finished his pancakes, he quickly downed a glass of orange juice.

Quickly retreating into his room after a thank you of course. Ash grabbed a pair of socks and his black combat boots before sitting on the bed to get them on. After tying his laces, he went to the closet to grab a sleeveless grey zipper hoodie and threw it on. With his outfit complete, he pulled out his official league backpack. It worked like a regular backpack, except it came with pockets lined with Pokémon technology, that allowed for more things to be put in the backpack. I grabbed three shirts and two pairs of pants as well as a pair of shorts. Opening up my dresser I grabbed six pair of socks as well as ten boxers. After putting them in their allotted slot and locking it with the zipper, Ash grabbed a case from the top of his dresser. This was his TM case, which held all of the TM's that he would get in the future, as well as being his way of administering the TM to his Pokémon. It was a gift from his mother after acing the Trainer examination. He put it a slot and zipped it up. The next thing he grabbed was a berry capsule to organize any berries he might find in the future. After that his medicine bag, which was empty now but would fill as he progressed through his journey. He also gathered some camping equipment as well as some cooking utensils.

With one more check around his room, he nodded to himself satisfied that he had everything. Before he left, he grabbed a necklace with a life like depiction of Uxie, the legendary Pokémon of knowledge. Knowledge, Ash learned, is power and it is because of his knowledge of Pokémon that his team will be the best. Looking to the clock, 9:30, he put the backpack on before heading down the stairs. "Mom I'm going to Professor Oak's, I will be back soon." Ash yelled as he was opening the front door.

"Okay have fun sweetie." Delia yelled back from somewhere in the house. Ash made quick work of the ten-minute journey to Oak's lab. He could already see that there were around fifteen kids there already here. Opting to just silently wait in the back of the group instead of chatting with the other hopeful trainers. Ten minutes and nine more arrivals later the door to the Lab opened. "Why hello future trainers. I am glad to see so many smiling faces this fine morning. If you could follow me inside, we can start the process of getting you your starters." Professor Oak said. Slowly we all filed into the lab. When we were all inside Professor Oak showed us into a large room with nothing in it except a table with about two dozen Pokéballs. "Okay boys and girls here is how it works. I will reveal all of the Pokémon that we have today. After seeing all of the Pokémon, I will ask those who want to request a specific Pokémon to follow my assistant Charlie." He points to the back, where a man with large glasses stands. "After that you will have a chance to walk around the room. When you have found a Pokémon that you want, just stand by it. If more than one person wants a specific Pokémon, then we can do one of two things. One option is for you all decide amongst yourselves who will get it and the other people go look at the other Pokémon, or we can put in requests for how many people want the Pokémon. Sound fair?"

There were mumbles of okay. Oak nodded and gathered two Pokéballs, while his other assistants grabbed two as well. At the same time, they released the Pokémon, which also released a lot of light. Ash put his hands up to block out the light. When the light faded, Ash blinked away the spots before observing the Pokémon. There were twenty-four Pokémon, three of them being the Kanto "original" starters, as well as an Oddish, Swinub, Snorunt, Gastly, Whimpod, Heracross, Shinx, Murkcrow, Mareep, Ralts, Gothita, Klink, Cutifly, Dewpider, Sandshrew, Scatterbug, Sneasel, Rufflet, Goomy, Horsea, and finally a Mantyke. "Now does anyone want a request Pokémon?" No one said anything. "Okay well check out the Pokémon." Without a second to spare there were kids racing around to see each Pokémon.

Ash stayed back just observing. There was a nice selection of Pokémon, but none really stood out to him too much. The more popular Pokémon like Sandshrew and Heracross of course got a lot of attention over a Pokémon like Scatterbug, but each Pokémon seemed to have garnered interest from one person, all except Mantyke. The Mantyke looked so excited to meet all of these people. It flew through the air trying to get anyone to play with it, but everyone took one look at it, and turned back to the Pokémon that they were admiring. The more and more it got rejected, the more frantic it got. Finally discouraged it sunk to the floor and settled underneath the table, just looking at all the happy faces of the ten-year-old kids. It was through watching the altercation that Ash knew. He walked over to the table and knelt, so that he was level with the Mantyke's face. The Mantyke looked up with clear tears in its eyes. "Hi I'm Ash." Ash says as he held his hand out. The Mantyke scooted closer to his hand. It sniffed his hand before stilling. Ash took this as a sign and inched his hand onto the Mantyke's back giving it small rubs, that made it vibrate in happiness. Without warning the Mantyke shot into the air and swam around him going in between his arms before finally settling on his chest. Ash let out a long laugh as the Mantyke tickled his sides with its antennae. "You're a cheerful one aren't you. Say do you want to come on my Pokémon journey?"

The Mantyke enthusiastically nodded its head. "Mantyke!"

"Awesome. I know we are going to great things Mantyke!" Mantyke yelled its name again.

"Ah young Ash it seems that you found your started. Well if you would kindly wait at the front of the room until the rest of the youngsters have chosen their Pokémon." He nodded and settled on the ground near the entrance. Mantyke and Ash played a game where Ash would trace figures with his finger, and Mantyke would try to replicate them in the air. It took twenty more minutes for everyone to pick their starter, surprisingly enough there were none left over each person choosing one. "Okay it seems that everyone is all set. Well then it is my pleasure to welcome you into the Pokémon world. Now I urge you to meet with your district sponsor, as they will be the ones to provide you with the materials you will need on your journey. If I can have the residents of the southern district stay behind, that would be great." With that most of the children made their way out of the Lab. The only ones left were Gary Oak, Professor Oak's grandson, a girl named Leaf, and a boy name Ritchie. Gary chose Squirtle as his starter, while Leaf chose Bulbasaur, and Ritchie chose Charmander.

"Okay trainers, as your sponsor, it is my job to make sure that you are prepared for your journey. First things first, I would like to offer each of you a Pokédex." He pulls out four Pokédex. There was a blue, green, red, and yellow Pokédex. Ash grabbed the yellow Pokédex, mostly because yellow was his favorite color. "The Pokédex will provided you with information of any Pokémon you scan. If you have caught a Pokémon, the Pokédex will give you a more in-depth analysis of said Pokémon. It is imperative that you do not lose this device, as it will also act as your trainer ID. Now if you would like to register for the Pokémon league, you will need to do so at any of the Pokémon Centers, most likely it will be the one in Viridian. The last thing of importance is that you can only carry up to six Pokémon at a time. There are exceptions to this however, obviously any baby Pokémon that have just hatched can stay with you. In addition, you can register to be a Pokémon rehabilitator, this means that if you run into a Pokémon that needs rehabilitating because it is either injured or it has mental health issues, you may keep it in your party without having to take up a slot in your party. Lastly if you find yourself wanting to have a larger team, this is mostly for people who only catch a select few Pokémon, you can petition the league to carry up to 12 Pokémon. However, you must have at least 3 Pokémon badges, you will learn if you get approved after you collect your fourth badge. Without further ado, here is five extra Pokémon balls, have a great journey."

With a set of thank yous we were left to our own devices. "Well losers I would say it was nice to know you, but it wasn't" with that Gary ran out of Pallet Town. Ash just rolled his eyes at Gary's arrogance. Leaf ignored him altogether and headed to her house, while Ritchie chased after Gary saying something along the lines of payback. Ash turned to Mantyke who was floating about. Thankfully Mantyke was a flying type, or else travel would be more difficult. "Okay Mantyke, why don't I scan you with my Pokédex."

"Mantyke."

"Okay stay still." Ash lifted the Pokédex, to scan Mantyke. In a masculine voice, the Pokédex recited Mantyke's information.

"Mantyke, the kite Pokémon. It's highly friendly and easily tamed. Tours that take people swimming with Mantyke are a super-popular beach activity. This Mantyke is Male with the Water Absorb Ability. This Mantyke has a four times weakness to Electric type moves and a two times weakness to Rock type moves. Due to its typing and ability it is immune to Ground and Water type moves. It is resistant to Fire, Bug, Fighting, and Steel type moves. This Mantyke knows the moves Bubble, Tackle, Supersonic, and the Egg move Mirror Coat. The nature of this Mantyke is Jolly."

"Wow Mantyke you have a nice move set, especially Mirror Coat, which will come in handy. Plus, your ability makes you immune to water type moves, while also healing you. Your nature makes you faster in exchange for a reduce in your special attack, but Mantyke are not known for their attacking capabilities anyway. If we play our cards right, we can make you into a great tank." Ash finishes his analysis with a smile.

"Mantyke… Mantyke…Mantyke!"

"Yeah, but before we can start our official journey, you have to meet my mom." With that Ash leads Mantyke to his house, where Delia was already waiting at the door.

"Ash you're back. And who is this?"

"Mom this is Mantyke, he is my new partner." Mantyke squealed its name.

"Well he seems to be full of energy doesn't he." She said as Mantyke swirled around her. She laughed at his antics. "Well I will let you get to your journey, but I have one last gift for you."

"What is it?" Ash asks.

"You will see." She goes back into the house and comes back out with a box. "Here Ash. This was a gift from your father. He left it with me and told me to give it to you when you started your journey." Ash looks at her with uncertainty. He takes the box in his hands and lifts the lid. Inside is a long black trench coat. "This was apparently his brother's, but he never got to use it on his journey, so he wants you to use it."

Ash takes the trench coat out and slips it on. The trench coat hugs his body, and while the outside is thin, it feels warm. "Thanks mom. I will make sure to take care of it." Before Ash can get another word out, he is crushed by a hug.

"I am so proud of you Ash. You have grown into a fine person, and I am so excited to continue to watch you grow." She pulled back, and Ash saw the tears that fell from her eyes. "You will do amazing things I know it."

"Thanks Mom!" Ash exclaimed.

"Okay now get, you have a whole world to explore." Ash nodded and with Mantyke made their way back to the entrance of Route 1. Before they were out of eyesight they turned and waved once more to Delia.

At the entrance Ash stopped. "Okay Mantyke, this is it. Our journey starts now!" And with that Ash took his first step onto not only route one but his Pokémon journey as well.

AN: I hope you guys like this. I have never written a story about Pokémon, so it will be interesting how I write it. This story will be a mix of both the anime/ animation and the games. The theme for this story is definitely Pokémon that I feel are either underappreciated or never get used in any of the stories that I have written. I have already tweaked many things in order for this story to make sense, expect many more. Also, just to clear up move pools I am counting transfer only moves as just regular TM moves for each Pokémon. In addition, I do not normally like stories with shiny Pokémon in them, but I myself have had shiny Pokémon on my teams before so I will probably have one or two.