Hello readers, I thought I'd take a crack at writing a fanfic. I've decided to put up the first chapter as a kind of teaser which is why it's short. I hope you'll enjoy this and please leave any comments you have whether it be praise, criticism or ideas, I would love to hear from you.

'– This will be Pokémon Speaking (People cannot understand it unless I say otherwise. Ash and a few others can get the gist of it due to his close bond with his Pokémon.

Italics – This will be telepathy

"– Is of course regular speech.

Let the story begin!


Ash had just arrived back in Kanto after his defeat in the Sinnoh League. He was walking back towards his home town while he thought about the adventure in Sinnoh which had taught him a lot about Pokémon, about battles and most of all about himself. He couldn't help but feel pride for doing as well as he had, coming in the top four and only being beaten by Legendary Pokémon was a massive improvement. He glanced to the mouse sat happily on his shoulder and remembered the moment he saw that Pikachu had taken down Latios with him. He'd never been prouder of his best friend who had constantly given him reasons to be proud after all he had defeated fully evolved Pokémon, a Dragonite and even a Regice. This was different though this time it was in a proper official league which was televised worldwide.

His pride soon turned to guilt as the thoughts he had briefly after his defeat came back. Hindsight was both a blessing and a curse, when he looked back at his plans before the match he could see the clear mistakes he had made. The biggest mistake was that a couple of his Pokémon choices had been questionable to say the least, Torkoal being the first coming to mind with Gible coming in a close second. The other four had proven themselves time and again and while Torkoal and Gible had had their moments neither could be considered in the same league as his stronger Pokémon.

He then started to wonder whether things would have been different if he had called over a couple of different Pokémon, Charizard had fought and even beaten legendary Pokémon in the past and Ash was sure that when push came to shove Bulbasaur, Squirtle and even Infernape could have at least put up a very good fight. Ash quickly shook away the thought, there was no use wondering what could have been all he could do is learn from the mistakes he made against Tobias and ensure that the he doesn't repeat them.

Pallet Town suddenly came into view prompting Ash to start running home so he could see his mother again. If there was one thing he did regret about exploring the world it was leaving his mother so frequently, he knew that deep down she was lonely as she was all alone apart from Mimey and Professor Oak which made him guilty that apart from the month or so he spent home after a tournament he would be in another region and only able to contact her via phone. This time would be different though, he was intent on staying in Pallet for a few months so he could not only train for the next League but also spend time with his mother.

After a few minutes Ash arrived home, he looked in the front window but could see nothing but darkness as all the lights were off. Ash already knew what this meant so he got into acting mode and opened the front door, he walked inside and quickly shut the door behind him.

"Mum are you in here?" he yelled.

Ash's question was answered by giggles coming from the living room, he knew that some of his friends could see him so he whipped his head in the direction of the lounge and took a few tentative steps hoping he was acting well enough to deceive them. When he entered the living room he flicked on the light and saw that the whole room had been decorated to celebrate his performance in Sinnoh. He was so distracted by the decoration the he didn't notice he friends creeping up behind him.

"Surprise!" the y suddenly yelled.

Ash spun on the spot to look at all the friends and had to admit that this time they had shocked him. The surprise quickly wore off though and he approached his mother who brought him into a bone crushing hug which Ash returned. He then hugged or shook hands with the rest of his friends, happy to see them all once again. Ash pretty much went through the motions for the duration of the party, he'd had one for each region as well as one for the Orange League and Battle Frontier so it wasn't anything new. None the less he always loved spending time with his friend who he had experienced so much with and he knew that his mother had worked hard on organising this so he would enjoy the party.

As night fell Ash's companion gradually left until it was just Ash and Delia helping Mimey tidy up the house. After a concerted effort by the trio the house was quickly cleaned up leaving them tired and ready for a good night's rest. Delia yawned and wished Ash a good night before she headed upstairs leaving Ash alone in the living room. He sat on the sofa and started to plan what he was going to do now, he wanted to be fully prepared for his next attempt at a League. His thoughts drifted to his Pokémon and his desire to train hard for the next League grew.

"I promise I won't fail you all again." Ash murmured to himself.


Author's Notes

Thank you all for reading I hope you enjoyed what you read. All future chapters will be longer than this one, I just wanted to put this out as a teaser.

If you have any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.