i have a soft spot for xy and greninja dont worry about it

It's staring at him like he'd hung the stars for it. Ash isn't sure where it came from, or why it helped him, or why it's looking at him like that. The sheer awe makes him feel small, and yet… giddy. Like he could be important to someone.

Ash is cradling his injured wrist, face wet with tears. His bruised knees hit the floor, uninjured hand curling into his shorts. The pokemon snap out of its reverie. "Froa!" It chirps, bouncing closer, face colored with concern. Ash has already forgotten about his injuries, chest bubbling with giddiness. He grins.

"Hi!" He says, wriggling, barely able to contain himself despite his exhaustion. "Um… thank you!" Ash giggles, scooting himself closer. No matter how traumatic it may have been, it's nothing in light of meeting this pokemon. The frog meets him halfway, trembling for a moment as it halts, as if restraining itself. From what?

"What sort of Pokemon are you?" Ash wonders, awed. His bloody hand reaches out, but stops before touching in a remarkable show of self-restraint. He doesn't want to scare it off — he gets excited sometimes, but this is important.

"Froa-kie!" Almost overeager, Froakie leans into Ash's hand. Now, Ash could be distressed by the spark of pain caused by the extra weight, but he has much more important things to worry about. Like the fact a pokemon seems to like him, and it's so cool! Ash giggles again, all of his emotions from the event that lead up to this fading like mist.

"Yeah! I'm getting my starter Pokemon tomorrow!" Ash tells the screen, vibrating in place. Froakie, by technicality, probably counted as his starter, but Ash had never advertised him as his. Once, sometime after school, a bully tried to catch him - something never repeated after Froakie gave them a piece of his mind.

"Already?" N smiles. "What were you thinking of starting with?"

Ash had met N a year or two back. They were pretty close. He already knew most of N's secrets!

"I don't know!" Ash's head thumps against the table. His friend laughs, so Ash lifts his head up and spins the chair he and Froakie were sitting in. "They're all so cool, y'know?" N nods.

"There's no way to gauge whether they will be a good partner based on their species," N says, very wisely. Ash throws out his hands and spins his chair again. Froakie grumbles. "Ash, stop that." N chides, and Ash groans.

"Exactly!" He says, and gropes around the table for a pen to fiddle with. He has too much energy to contain. It was happening so soon! "I think I'd be happy with any of them though," He grins down at the froakie sitting next to him, stopping himself from spinning the chair again. He wouldn't be able to stand N's disappointed voice. "Even Squirtle!" He says, just to emphasize how little he cared about his starter. I mean, he's already gonna have one water type on his team.

"Having a well-rounded team is less important than being friends with them," N reminds unnecessarily. Ash sticks out of tongue.

"I already knew that!" He says, sulking. N smothers a smile. "But don't you already kno -" Ash starts, skeptical, but N cuts him off. "I'm not telling you anything,"

"Awww …."

Ash's hands feel jittery. Froakie was missing, having not turned up since running off the night before. It was an accident, right? Froakie had promised to be there. But he wasn't. Ash takes in a shaky breath and runs a hand through his hair. He'd have to make do, then. Froakie would turn up later. Ash had been late to the lab, anyway. He'd have to look when he got back.

"Hey, professor," Ash greets, subdued. He lifts a hand to wave. "Sorry I'm late... are there still any Pokemon?"

"Hello, Ash!" The Professor says, enthusiastic despite being unable to meet his gaze. "Well... not any standard starters. But I do have one I captured just last night,"

So… Potentially, a wild Pokemon. Ash can live with this. Especially once Froakie shows back up. "I'll take it!" Ash perks up, grinning. He'll have to get used to wild Pokemon anyway, right? Not that they were technically wild after being captured, but they were still different from hand-raised pokemon, like starters. "What's it like?" He prompts.

"Ah, I'm glad! It's a Pikachu," Professor Oak explains, approaching the pedestal where the other starter's pokeballs used to be. He presses a button, and a fourth pokeball appears. "It has quite the shocking personality!" He laughs. Ash groans.

"Are you implying something?" He points an accusing finger at the professor. He didn't particularly care for getting shocked by a Pikachu. If all else failed he could probably call N ….

"Of course not…" Professor Oak says shiftily. Ash sighs, and grabs the pokeball from the pedestal. He tosses it in his hand, and grins gleefully as it hits him. He's going to be a trainer. And he was going to be the best trainer! Maybe not this year, or the next, but he and Froakie and hopefully this Pikachu would get there someday even if it killed him. His grin is hurting his face, Froakie's absence momentarily forgotten. He spins towards the door.

"I'm going to release it at home. See ya Professor!" Ash shouts and makes a run for it. Behind him, Professor Oak sputters. He doesn't call Ash back, though, so he figures it's fine.

When he gets home, he finds Froakie smiling sheepishly on the table as his mom fusses over him. Ash nearly drops the Pokeball in his haste, but puts it safely it on the table before joining them.

"What happened?" Ash asks, plopping into a chair and dropping his chin to the table. He's happy — Ash is so happy that Froakie is back, but it explained nothing. He doesn't look badly injured, but he's still scraped. "Where were you?" He reaches across the table slowly, expecting an intervention from his mother that never comes. Ash places his hand on Froakie's head, which he leans into.

Avoiding an actual response, Froakie shrugs. "Froa Froa," It says, as though that's answer enough. Before Ash can push, Froakie motions to the pokeball still on the table, barely wincing as Delia finishes spraying it with potion. Ash perks up, successfully distracted.

"I picked up my starter!" He explains, withdrawing his hand to pull the pokeball over. "Professor Oak said it was a Pikachu. I haven't let it out yet though." Ash runs a finger over the lightning sticker on the front, already slumping back over the table.

"And why not?" Delia prompts, looking satisfied with her work as she puts the potion back into a box. Froakie makes his escape over to Ash. Froakie gives the pokeball an once over, seeming almost surprised. Ash shrugs. "Professor Oak was being shifty." He says. He rolls the pokeball between his hands. He means it affectionately, but describing a Pikachu solely as "shocking" was suspicious.

Ash turns away from the table. "I'll let it out now, though," He tells them with a deep breath. He clutches the pokeball tight in his hand. Then, extending a hand, he presses the button. And, true to Professor Oak's word, a Pikachu forms. Already, Ash loves it.

"Woah!" He says, beaming. No sudden moves, no teeth, don't touch it. Those were guidelines N had given him for interacting with pokemon. Froakie has already hopped to the ground, greeting it. Ash hasn't seen Froakie so enthusiastic to meet another Pokemon before. The Pikachu's cheeks spark warningly. Oh. He sees.

"Careful, Froakie," Ash warns unnecessarily. Froakie already seems to have realized, backing away, grumbling. Ash smiles at it, dropping from his chair and onto his knees next to Froakie. His mom overlooks it all, wary. Ash doesn't think she has anything to worry about — Froakie can probably handle it if things go sour. If not, well, mom's Persian is already somewhere in the house.

"Hi!" He greets, placing his hands onto his knees. Talk about deja vu — hadn't he greeted Froakie this way, too? Stay on its level and introduce yourself as its equal. N had taught Ash a lot about communicating with Pokemon. N wasn't fond of Pokemon battles themselves, but he'd seemed to like Ash enough to teach him. To be fair, Ash had been awfully careless about interacting with Pokemon when he was little. "I'm Ash! This is Froakie." He introduces. It… doesn't seem particularly impressed. In fact, it's so impressed that it lashed out another Thundershock at both of them. Froakie, immediately fed up, takes the whole attack in Ash's stead. And, with a cry, launches himself at Pikachu with an Aerial Ace.

"Please don't fight," Ash begs, walking ahead of the squabbling duo. Froakie had formed what would probably be a lifelong grudge the moment Pikachu had attacked them. For now, the water-type was just unnecessarily herding their new teammate along. Not that the Pikachu had made any real attempts at getting away. Ash had long since given up trying to intervene, and they had given up using stronger attacks since Ash had bodily intervened. If nothing else, it seemed to have gotten him a little respect from the mouse pokemon.

Froakie, giving up on shadowing Pikachu, grumbles. Making the mature decision to separate them, he hops up onto Ash's shoulder. Pikachu growls, apparently agitated by this despite his dislike of Ash. Pointedly, Pikachu steps into line with Ash. Ash, personally, could live without this drama, but he's of the opinion it's better to have Pokemon outside of their pokeballs when possible. Plus… well. Pikachu hates his pokeball, and Froakie just prefers being with Ash, and glaring at anyone who looks at them wrong. Froakie had a protective streak a mile wide, and Ash would love to claim he didn't understand why, but then he'd be a liar. And he wasn't a liar! It was just… he got into a lot of trouble. He was a little too careless, got a hurt little too often… all that.

"There's not a lot of Spearow today," Ash notes, trying to break the tension. Ash loved all Pokemon, but he… might have to make an exception for Spearow. He had more than a few scars from trying to befriend them when he was younger. The Spearow on this route were wildly aggressive. Professor Oak had been trying to encourage trainers to catch the flock leader that was encouraging it, but… nobody had any luck so far. Ash had no particular interest in dealing with a violent Fearow, and Froakie would probably smack him for considering it. Maybe Gary would like to.

"Kie," Froakie agrees. Pikachu doesn't even acknowledge him, which is about as much as Ash expected. But Pikachu hadn't dashed off into the world unknown, so Ash would count that as a win. They'd get there someday.

Eventually, they're forced to set up camp due to the rain. They'd never figured out how to set up the tent, and the rain has soaked Ash to the bone. He's shivering as he leans against the tree trunk, envying the content, if worried, Froakie all the while.

"I'll get a raincoat later," Ash sighs, squinting at the slowly clearing skies. He'd almost convinced Pikachu over so he doesn't freeze. Pikachu only came as far as pressing into his thigh. It's fine. It's a lot of progress, considering how much the guy hated him at the start of the day. "It'd suck if we froze in the rain before we got anywhere!" He grins, knocking his head against the tree and closing his eyes.

"Well," He amends. "Froakie would be fine. Must be cool to be a water type," It must be cool to be just about any type. There were so many things they could all do! Froakie agrees and nudges him until he opens his eyes. "Sorry, just tired," It's not that late yet, but the day had been exhausting. He wishes they were at Viridian already, he's not sure how much more he can take! And to think, they hadn't even gotten any training done!

Ash zones out for a while longer. They'll be able to walk to a better camping spot soon. There was barely any rain, now, just droplets dripping from the tree. It was also so quiet during storms. It was nice to hear life slowly coming back.

It's Froakie who alerts him. Ash jolts at Froakie's cries and nudges, following the Pokemon out of the shade. He stops dead. Pikachu lifts a head drowsily, agitated by the sudden lack of warmth, but ultimately stumbles over.

"Oh," Ash breathes, mesmerized. Far over their heads is a… bird. Not even a bird, really. Even from a distance he can practically feel its power. Its wingbeats are strong and sure. It's so vivid, and so big.

He's not sure how long they stood there, watching. Ash doubts it was that long though. And once it's gone, Ash blinks blearily down at his partner...s. Partners.

"That wasn't just… a weird Fearow? Or Talonflame?" A massive, shiny Talonflame was more likely than… whatever that was. It had to be a Legendary. It had to be. Ash had consumed books after books on them when he was little, absolutely mesmerized. He'd wanted to see all the pokemon in the world — even the ones nobody else saw.

"Piii…" Neither Pokemon says anything for a long moment. Pikachu's ears prick. He says nothing, but Froakie picks up on it in Pikachu's stead. "Kie!" He tugs on Ash's pant leg. Ash, jelly-legged, just stumbles in the same direction. In the mud, just barely out of sight, is a feather. Red and green and white and entirely unstained by the mud it's landed in. Wordless and with no real thought, Ash cradles it in his palms. As silently as he approached, he tucks it into his coat pocket.

This means something. He's just not sure what.

Peace signs this is technically a rewrite of a different fic on a different account. But the plot is very different. Despite this,,,I'm still not a very good writer yet. I'm open to advice, though. Be warned im considering this a draft, so i'll do stuff like rewriting some things or adding and removing chapters. I'll try and have an update log on my profile if you want to keep up.

I didn't rewatch any the anime before i wrote this. So, part of behavior differences are plot-relevant, some are them are just cause im dumb.