Author's Note: So I've actually been playing around with this idea for almost 2 years. Kept hitting 'keeping pre-Sinnoh canon in line' issues with my other pokemon fic so I am gonna do something from the ground up here. I will be having the pokemon journey start at 14 instead of 10 bc frankly that's horrifying and limits storytelling options anyways. I'll be taking a lot of inspiration from Traveller and Challenger but still be going my own direction with this Kanto redo. I'll be treating egg moves similar to how Challenger does so that they aren't overpowered for example, however unlike both there will not be an alternate starter to Pikachu (sort of) and I will only slightly diverge from Ash's canon Kanto pokemon, and only to add other, reasonable, Kanto pokemon. (He will not get all three starters however). Also unlike both he will have traveling companions that are at least a little more than guest stars. It probably also won't be near as brutal as Origin of the Species or some of the post-SS Anne Traveller chapters.

Don't worry, Ninjetti and Secret Fire aren't cancelled, I just needed to shift what I was writing for a bit.

Chapter 1: Town of Beginnings

Our story begins on the second week of spring in the region of Kanto. Butterfree, pidgey, and all kinds of bug and flying pokemon could be seen flying back into the region as the snows melted. In particular the first flock of butterfree had already reached the Viridian Forest and begun laying the eggs that had resulted from last year's matings.

Young pokemon of all non-migrating species had begun hatching almost immediately. Within a month of the start of spring nidoran of both genders would leave their parents and live in large but weak herds with the occasionally nidorina or nidorino to protect them.

All around this spring was shaping up to be a fine one, especially for the teenaged humans of the region.

Every year at the beginning of Spring the Kanto Pokemon League accepted new trainer registrations, hundreds of newly fourteen year-old trainers registered. Some purchased a starter their family could afford, others were gifted a newborn bred by family, and some were just gifted a weak pokemon a friend or family member had gone out to catch for them.

However every year a lucky and talented few are given starter pokemon bred by the esteemed Professor Oak of Pallet Town. They are selected to carry Pokedexes and act as wandering research aids for the professor, collecting data as they are training and raising pokemon. Only trainers to be who score higher than ninety percent on his aptitude test are given these well-bred starters.

This year four teenagers from across Kanto qualified, and two were from Pallet Town itself.

It is not surprising when a child from Pallet qualifies, Oak often has interested pre-teens and teens working towards becoming trainers help around his research ranch. They care for pokemon, inspect enclosures, and often run small errands for him.

The two from Pallet Town were his own grandson, Gary Oak, and his top pokemon caretaker, Ash Ketchum.

Gary had scored the highest on the battle focused sections of the exam, to no surprise of his grandfather or really anyone that knew him. All Gary had ever wanted to be since he was a small child was the Pokemon League Champion, just like his idol, Lance. Now one would think Gary would take the idolization further and choose Charmander as his starter, however being around his grandfather's ranch he had already met all the starters, and he had found the Charmander to be uncannily shy and timid. That wouldn't do for his ambitions, so he was going to pick a spunky Squirtle that had already taken a shine to him.

Ash had a special touch when it came to caring for pokemon, in particular the problem cases. He just had a natural kindness and empathy to him when it came to the creatures. He had scared his mother to death when she came to bring him his lunch one day when he was ten and had just started working on the ranch and she had found him buried underneath two nidorino that had to her knowledge been very aggressive and been giving the Professor many problems. It wasn't until she had run over screaming that she saw that the two creatures had been nuzzling her son and licking at his face while he was giggling.

Delia Ketchum had never forgotten the sight of that and her little boy's stories of calming and playing with normally aggressive pokemon only grew with time.

That aptitude had greatly impressed Professor Oak, and after Ash had scored off the charts on pokemon care, psychology, and nurturing he had decided to give the boy a special treat upon his induction as a trainer.

The other two trainers were from other parts of Kanto. Leaf had been raised by her grandfather in Viridian City and had been attending Oak's summer camp every year since she was ten so she could realize her dream of becoming a Pokemon Researcher like him. She was bubbly in social interactions but very booksmart and intelligent. She was planning on picking the Bulbasaur so she would have a sturdy pokemon with plenty of ways to capture wild pokemon for study.

The final trainer was Damian Cross. He was from a wealthy Saffron City family and as he had done significantly worse on his short answer section of his exam than the multiple choice portion, just barely scrapping the ninety required, Oak had his suspicions that he had cheated somehow. However without proof he was going to have to give the boy the Charmander and a Pokedex just like he would with any other qualifying trainer to be.

So there they were, standing in Professor Oak's main lab receiving their pokemon. The professor had pulled Ash to the side before they began and explained he would receive his starter last, but that it would be worth the wait.

And thus Gary Oak got his Squirtle, Leaf her Bulbasaur, and Damian Cross his Charmander. It was only then that Oak turned to Ash, "Now Ash, since you scored highest on the pokemon care sections I have a special starter for you, one you may know already." He held off a hand to cut off the protest of special treatment from Damian, Gary would have likely protested himself, but he had become slightly attached to the young Squirtle he had chosen in the past few weeks while he researched his options.

After quieting the boy the old man produced a pokeball from his belt and released a pokemon that immediately turned into a yellow blur and latched itself onto Ash's neck.

The surprised young man let out a yelp and then when he regained his balanced his surprise switched to excitement, "Dio? Professor thank you!" Attached to his neck was a young pichu, Dio, short for Diode. It was the several months old offspring of the first problem pokemon he had handled for the Professor, a troublesome pikachu that had been eating the wiring of the lab when he first became one of the Professor's interns.

That Pikachu had swiftly become a hassle for the entire lab. Shocking the research assistants at inconvenient times and frying the machinery when frustrated.

It had taken months, but Ash and Professor Oak working in tandem had finally gotten through to the little creature.

And once they earned his trust all that was needed to get the little ball of energy to help out around the ranch, even protecting it from wild pokemon, was a consistent supply of ketchup.

Pikard, as Oak had named him in some pun on a television character he liked, had taken viciously to defending his new home. The Pikachu had reached astounding heights of power in the four years since Oak had captured him. And last year Oak had finally found another Pikachu that was acceptable to Pikard for mating and they had produced offspring. The professor was seriously considering consistently using Pichu from the two for extra starter pokemon in the future, it seemed Pikard passed down a proficiency for both Iron Tail and Volt Tackle, though those skills would still need to be heavily practiced to be useful.

This year was the experimental year, and Ash was the best to carry out that experiment.

"Oh a baby pichu? Wow, I thought you were getting special treatment but really you're just getting shafted there," Damian's input was scathing and bullying as usual.

Ash turned to Damian with a deep frown on his face, "Listen, I would not have picked any other pokemon than, Dio here had I been given a choice from every pokemon on the ranch! I helped tame his father and bottle-fed this little guy since he hatched! He's going to give you a big surprise by the time he reaches maturity."

A snort was his only response as Damian turned and exited the building with his charmander and new pokedex.

Once he was gone Leaf let out a high-pitched hiss, like an angry persian, "I hate that guy! He was a total jerk at the testing center too!"

Even Gary, who was confident to the point of cockiness at times had to agree, however, "Well he's never seen Pikard in action. I still remember seeing that tiny guy take out that fearow after only being grandpa's pokemon for like a week."

The professor harrumphed, "Indeed, now I think you all have other places to be? Such as fetching me a package from Viridian, Gary? Or seeing your mother before you run off, Ash?"

Both boys blushed, muttered apologies and began to run out of the lab.

"Ah! Also don't forget to send check in reports on anything interesting!" The professor's voice called out after them as Leaf followed them out at a more sedate pace.