Author's Note: Small break from Secret Fire, nothing big, still trying to work out the transition there to be smooth. And I am in a section that requires a lot of research, so harder to hammer out during work downtime. Pokemon Journeys launched on Netflix and inspired this. This should only be a short sequence of chapters before being "Finished". Maybe I continue this after that? I am not sure, I just kept getting stuck in Kanto recaps or the disjointedness of the timeline after a few seasons with my old pokemon fanfics.

Chapter 1: The Water Stage

I want to be the very best, Ash thought to himself as he strode out onto the arena's stand, ever since that day when Mew saved me and I met Pichu.

Pikachu's ear twitched as he sat on Ash's shoulder and Ash fondly thought back to the day he had barely woken up in time to attend Professor Oak's Pokemon Camp.

That had been a supremely exciting day. A younger kid named Goh had known so much information about pokemon that Ash had started to get jealous. They had begun to fight when a fight between a nidoking and a strange pokemon had caught their attention.

All three of them, including Chloe the daughter of a Pokemon Professor, had run off after it.

Eventually they had come to find it at a ravine with a river running at the bottom, playing with a baby kangaskhan.

When the infant pokemon had fallen Ash hadn't even stopped to think, he had leapt from the other side of the ravine to attempt to save the baby.

And, he had almost made it. Something had overcome him, empowered him, allowed him to leap that far.

But it would not have stopped him from falling to a terrifying and painful death if Mew had not intervened.

After the legendary pokemon lowered he and the baby kangaskhan to the ground its mother as well as a young pichu had come over to thank him. The pichu even leaning over to lick his cheek.

That day had cemented his friendship with Goh, the respect of Professor Oak, his drive to be better, and unknowingly begun his relationship with his starter.

"Alright, this is the first round match on the Water Stage folks! Be prepared for an exciting match that I promise will not DAMPEN anyone's enthusiasm! Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town versus the Astounding Mandi of Vermillion City!" The announcer called out.

The referee raised his flags, "Select your pokemon!"

Both trainers palmed their pokeballs and Mandi decided to partake in a little smack-talk and casually spun his pokeball on his finger, "You know I was hoping for a challenge to warm up for the later rounds, but I suppose I can take an easy win!"

Ash allowed a smirk to creep up onto his face, "How many minor gym badges did you collect to get here?" he taunted back, "I doubt you'll be anything next to Blaine or Giovanni!"

That statement shook the juggler slightly and he frowned at his opponent, now taking him more seriously. He had defeated Blaine, but barely, Giovanni...that was a gym he had completely avoided instead opting for a minor gym just as the boy's taunt had suggested.

"Begin!"

Both pokeballs soared out over the arena and a mighty kingler appeared on Ash's side of the field while a tall and robust exeggutor appeared in front of Mandi in a flash of red.

"Dive!" Ash commanded immediately and Kingler complied, swiftly leaping into the water and disappearing.

"Expose it with Psychic!" Mandi shouted out and the eyes of Exeggutor glowed with a blue light and the water near where Kingler had leapt in began to move and swirl, turning into a whirlpool.

Kingler had already moved to where he was not at the center of the phenomenon, but he was caught just barely by the side of it and was pulled swiftly into the current.

"Now, Egg Bomb it into unconsciousness!" Ash shook his head as the projectiles began to barrage the whirlpool, ironically the fast current causing Kingler to be able to shift slightly and send himself moving out of the way of the explosions.

"Now!" Ash called out as the last bomb left a large plume of water, which Kingler used as cover with which to leap out of the water and land a vicious Stomp attack on Exeggutor, causing it to flinch back in pain and shock.

"Follow up, before it gets up!" The command was swiftly followed as Kingler lunged forward from its landing position to snap its large claw onto Exeggutor in a Vise Grip, actually knocking the plant creature out.

As the pokemon was recalled, Pikachu started laughing into his little paws and Ash smiled, remembering the laughter of his starter on the day it came back into his life.

He had been heading over to help Professor Oak out with grooming the pokemon at the lab when an explosion rang out in the distance. Alarmed Ash had taken off straight towards the main lab instead of some of the stables and kennels the way he normally did.

Upon arrival he had thrown open the door to see Professor Oak sitting dazed on the floor lightly singed while a pikachu rolled around laughing, the chewed up cables behind it giving context to the entire situation.

"Hey!" Ash called out and pointed at the electric mouse, "What did you do that for? This isn't your house you know! You can't just come in here and started chewing on things!"

The pikachu stopped laughing and leapt up onto its feet, cheeks sparking, until right as it was about to fire off a Thundershock a strange look came over its face and with a burst of speed it was by Ash's side sniffing at him from multiple angles.

"Hey, uh...what are you doing?" Ash made a grab at the rodent but it was too quick, after the second grab it leaned up and licked Ash's cheek.

He froze, a memory from the most important day in his life so far coming unbidden back to his mind, "You're that...Pichu?"

"Pika pika chu!" The little guy nodded excitedly.

Ash looked deep into the pokemon's eyes, finding perhaps in some way a kindred spirit, "Hey, I become a Pokemon Trainer in a few weeks, do you want to be my partner?"

"Pika-Chu!"

He had captured most of his pokemon with Pikachu's help, either with battling or by his unyielding faith in his trainer convincing the pokemon to come along.

And that had led in turn to all of his pokemon having very strong bonds with him.

"Grr...well let's see how that big lug takes on a real water pokemon! Go Seadra!"

Next victim, Ash thought amusedly before commanding, "Stomp!"

Ash hoped to cause another round of flinching to get some early damage in order to wear the seadra out before it could really get moving.

Unfortunately that was not to be, the seahorse pokemon quickly flickered into an Agility and over to the other side of the pool.

What came next was a frustrating cat and mouse game, Kingler's massive defense and attack stats meant that Seadra had to resort to hit and run tactics where Kingler could not get a solid hit in. However Kingler was used to sparring with Misty's own seadra, so he knew to be patient, Ash had spent weeks after he evolved teaching him to use his massive claw as a shield for defense as well as offense.

Time and time again the seadra attempted to sneak a Water Gun, Ice Beam, or even a physical Waterfall attack, and yet the claw always got in the way.

"Uggh! What a brute! Fine, Seadra! Use Focus Energy!"

That was the opening Ash had been waiting for, as soon as the seadra paused to gather its focus he gave the command for the combination that they had developed against Misty's own seadra, "Aqua Breaker!"

With a push of all of his powerful legs, Kingler went flying into the air at the seadra, landing with a vicious stomp, the flinch almost guaranteed from interrupting the seahorse's focus allowed him to wallop the creature with a vicious Crabhammer attack, sending it soaring up into the air.

For the finisher another leap powered by his mighty legs allowed Kingler to follow the seadra up into the air and grab it with a Vise Grip, bringing it down head first onto a platform knocking it out.

"Ash and Kingler win again! The Astounding Mandi is now astounded to be down to one pokemon!"

Ash coolly looked on and snapped his fingers, causing Kingler to quickly leap back to a platform on his side of the field.

Mandi was now visibly fuming from the displayed talent and calm from his opponent.

Ash was a very passionate trainer when a good fight got his blood up, but this was not one of those fights.

"That's it! It's down to you, Slowbro!" Mandi sent out a hulking beast of a slowbro, the part psychic-type had a focus on its face that Ash did not normally associate with that species.

"It weathered Exeggutor's Psychic, so we need to stop it in its tracks! Thunder Wave!"

That surprised Ash, usually a Slowbro would have coverage moves not crippling moves, "Jump!"

Kingler's leap barely took it over the wave of electricity that rippled out from the immobile hermit crab pokemon.

"Stomp!" Ash called out the attack that Kingler was already in the midst of executing, training your pokemon into certain tactics and calling out the moves late was an acceptable tactic, unlike calling out fake or incorrect moves.

"We've got him! Disable!"

Ash and Kingler both were taken by surprise and Ash began to feel his blood boil in anticipation and excitement for the first time in the battle. He was starting to think Mandi had started with two of his weaker main team members thinking he could save his strong ones for later.

Everything sharpened in his mind, he became hyper aware of his own body and that of his pokemon's, and he could sense the psychic energy enveloping Kingler.

He was reminded of the first time he had felt it, when he had fought Sabrina the first time.

Her kadabra had been a monster, certainly he should have not attempted her for his fifth badge after Celadon.

Pikachu had been dodging with Agility for a solid five minutes, just to stay out of the way of telekinetically thrown bits of the arena and to keep ahead of the psychic pokemon's targeting ability.

And then he had run smack into a Reflect barrier that Kadabra had secretly lured him into. That was when the Psychic attack took hold. Ash had been able to feel the constriction around Pikachu and felt as if he were being suffocated himself.

"S-stop! I forfeit!" He had called out in response, ending the match.

He spent the next month and a half heading over to Lavender Town to catch Haunter and then heading down to Fuschia to train both Haunter and himself for the rematch.

In the end, Ash mused as Kingler shot off a Hydro Pump to propel himself away from the slowbro, it had definitely been worth it.

Now, how to end this? Ash wondered as Kingler acted independently, poking and prodding at the hermit crab's defenses to allow Ash to analyze the opponent, a tactic all his pokemon knew how to perform for him.

When not being given active commands they all knew to stay mobile and keep up a change of varying attacks so Ash could see how his opponents reacted and come up with a solution.

When another Thunder Wave went off chasing Kingler out of the water Ash found his solution.

The slowbro was visibly tiring out, the exertion of its earlier attempts to catch Kingler finally catching up to its glacial speed nervous system.

"Sword and board maneuver!" Ash called out as Kingler landed and psychic energies coalesced around him.

A Protect shield shimmered into place, its green clashing horribly with the wavy and faint purple of the psychic energies, then as the energies from both techniques faded, a piercing yellow-orange of a Hyper Beam shot out from Kingler's large claw and took the slowbro straight into its gut, and fifteen meters back into the stadium wall, just underneath where psychic barriers took over from Pewter City concrete.

The referee waited for a few counts before Mandi withdrew his slowbro in disappointment.

"And the winner is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

The crowd went wild, Ash grinned as he withdrew Kingler and followed it up with a high-five, hand to tail, with Pikachu.

"The first step, buddy!" He was going to take Indigo by storm.