(July 6th, 2014) Hello this is True-InTha-Blue and this is an updated and edited chapter of From One Side to Another.
Huge thanks to RubberLotusShipper who was gracious enough to edit my story starting with this one.
For those just tuning, hope you enjoy it.

From what you may be reading, you may think "Wow. This story is possibly similar to 'From Servant to Stardom' created by Mr.P." Well you're right… Almost. Though I greatly enjoyed the Stardom Stories, however, I felt they were somewhat rushed, that the characters and their actions were a bit to spontaneous. You could have noticed this too along with their personalities, especially Anabel's, were a bit ooc.

So, I took on the responsibility to hopefully write a Fanfiction that will fulfill the Stardom Stories fan's need for a good story.

However this story will differ from the plot of 'From Servant to Stardom' in several major ways. One is how Ash is reacting to becoming a frontier brain. Two is the cannon of the story (which is supposed to be in between the Sinnoh journey and the Unova journey.) so Ash will have all of his current Pokemon. Three. The second half of all of it will start being very different from Stardom. Four, the development of the relationship between Ash and Anabel. And Five is what happens after the story, which is… well you'll just have to read it for yourself.

Also I apologize for any mistakes in spelling, grammar, and incorrect information about the show.

Disclaimer: The rights to Pokémon belong to Satoshi Tajiri, and obviously not me.

Also I do not own the story 'From Servant to Stardom' That belongs to the retired Mr. P

Respect Both of them People!

Please enjoy the story.

'From One Side to Another.'

A Pokémon Fanfiction

By True-InTha-Blue

Edited by RubberLotusShipper

Chapter One

One More Frontier.

Another day in Pallet Town. Another day for its Pride and Joy, Ash Ketchum.

All hail the Conquering Hero. All hail the trainer who'd made the top four in the Lily of the Valley Conference. Never mind that he'd been beaten like a drum by the mysterious man calling himself Tobias.

It had been one of the most vicious battles that Ash had ever endured - one that saw Tobias ultimately triumph. Though Ash had managed to defeat his powerful Darkrai and Latios - a feat that no else had accomplished - it had cost him all six of his Pokémon to do it. And with great maturity and new experience, Ash accepted had his defeat.

But he wasn't on Lily of the Valley Island anymore. Now, he was sitting in the confines of his room, left with nothing to do but wonder how it could have ended differently.

I was so close...

He was happy to be home, happy to finally be in his own bed, but it was a bittersweet happiness at best. There was nothing to distract him from thinking about his defeat now. No Dawn fussing over Piplup. No Brock going gaga over the latest Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny. No Team Rocket to blast off.

A single glance down brought a small smile to his lips. Pikachu, his oldest and dearest friend, was still sleeping on his lap. Enjoying his vacation from the latest leg of their never-ending journey, no doubt.

But his owner was far from comfort, for he kept playing the battle over and over again like a broken record.

Defeat.

Defeat.

Defeat.

Defeat.

Victory.

Defeat.

Tie but still defeat.

He didn't consider it a waste. Not really. He had earned the respect of a powerful trainer. He had strengthened his bond with all his Pokémon. And he had managed to defeat not one, but two Legendaries in battle.

And yet, he'd been easily overwhelmed by Tobias, in spite of all his years of training. More than anything else, the Conference had proven just how much he still had to learn.

But where could he learn? All the nearby Leagues had just finished; it would be months before they started again. The sole exception was the Orange League - the only one that he actually had won before. Ash realized that he was still lacking the knowledge to pursue his dream to be a Pokémon master

Tired of the disheartening thinking, he got up, carefully moving Pikachu onto the bed without disrupting his friend's rest. He quietly closed the door behind him, and made for the kitchen. A snack could be the perfect thing to lift his spirits right about now.

After all, full stomachs made for lighter souls. Or something.

Delia Ketchum smiled as she heard the stairs creak. It was good to have her son back again. In fact, her son had been home for almost two weeks now - the longest he'd ever stayed since his journey began. With all the quality time she'd spent with him, she'd realized that he was maturing into a fine young man... and yet, she couldn't help but worry about his life.

She knew that he'd learned much across his journey. About friendship. About pokémon. About survival. But how much did he know about the finer qualities in life?

Still, she had faith - as always - that he would find a way to learn it. If he ever stirred himself out of that mood, anyways.

"Hey, Mom. What's cooking?" Ash sat down at the table between the two of them. On the steps down, his nose caught the delicious sent of his mother's cooking. His stomach had been craving this; Brock's food was great, but nothing could ever beat his mother's meals.

"Oh nothing much, just a soup that you used to enjoy while you were young," his mother smiled, serving him a bowl.

He grinned at that. "Aw, Mom. You know I like anything you make."

Delia smiled as she saw her son take to the soup. She'd raised his spirits, if only for the moment. She knew that she'd have to find a way to raise them longer than that, but there never seemed to be a right time...

Ash slurped down the soup, loving that hot, creamy feeling it sent down his esophagus. It was enough to almost make him push all his other thoughts into the back of his mind.

But eventually - almost unconsciously - his eyes slid to the fireplace. His previous badges, and ranks sat behind a glass case on the mantel, displayed for all to see.

Delia noticed her son's eyes glazing over. She glanced at the half-empty bowl of soup, and frowned.

"Okay, Ash. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong." He whipped his head back toward the soup.

Delia raised an eyebrow, but decided to drop the matter.

For now.

But it got Ash thinking again.

It would be so easy to become a doctor, or a breeder, or a stylist, or a coordinator, or anything else. There was barely any competition in those fields to begin with, and where there was, it wasn't much. Dawn. Brock. May. Even Misty... they had iteasy.

But him? He was aiming for a title that thousands of other trainers wanted a crack at. Thousands of trainers with thousands of unique combinations of Pokémon and strategies, all strong in their own way. Usually.

Was it wrong of him to worry over his current situation? He had trained and traveled for over four years! Four years of villains like Team Rocket. Four years of gym leaders. Four years of friends, Legendary Pokémon, ancient conspiracies, and other impossible odds. Then along came a random trainer and bam. Back to square one he went.

It wasn't fair.

A voice in the back of his mind reminded him of a certain fellow he'd met in Sinnoh. Of how strong that fellow's pokémon were. He swatted it aside.

He would never resort to Paul's methods. His pokémon deserved better than that.

So he turned his head and glanced at the glass case in the side of the wall. Every badge and trophy he'd ever won stared right back at him. Kanto. Orange Islands. Johto. Hoenn. Sinnoh...

They were laughing at him. Flukes. Those were his victories.

His head tilted down. What could he do?

"What is… wrong… with me?" He said slightly hitting his fist down on the table.

"Ash!" Delia said sharply. Something - Oak might have called it "maternal intuition" - told her that he was still thinking about the Lily of the Valley Conference.

"Oh, sorry Mom, I didn't mean that—"Ash tried to catch himself.

"Oh, no you don't," she scowled. As if her request was answered she now saw it as a perfect time to talk about his problem "You've been like this ever since you left the League."

Instead of answering, Ash tilted his head further down. Delia bit her lip and decided to cut to the chase.

"Ash, ever since you got back, all you've done is train with your Pokémon and coop yourself up in your room. And I know you're still thinking about your semifinal battle with that Darkrai trainer! You hardly said hello to anyone in town. I honestly expected you to rush up to Cerulean City to see your friend Misty as soon as you got home!"

Her son narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. Delia softened her voice before continuing.

"Ash…. You mustn't let this get to you. It's... well, it's a learning experience."

"Mom..." he murmured "... I... I know that. But… what I really learned is that I'm still missing so much on my journey as a trainer." He then turned his head at her. "No matter what I do with my Pokémon or… myself even… I always come up with a wall in the road a … someone I just can't get past. And I'm not just talking about Tobias, it's also Paul and others too. Sometimes I honestly feel like my battles are just a fluke and-"

"NOW THAT IS JUST ENOUGH, YOUNG MAN!" His mother practically yelled at Ash causing him to nearly jump out of his skin.

Delia heard enough. She would not allow her son to be in such… in such a pity party! Couldn't he see that he was a wonderful trainer? That he has done things most trainers couldn't? No, this was not the Ash Ketchum she raised.

"Mum?" Ash cringed at the disapproval in her eyes.

"Ash." She placed her hands on her hips. "You are not allowed to say another word about all of this."

She narrowed her eyes, threw a hand at the trophies, and continued.

"You have done more than most trainers - most people, for that matter - could ever do! I know that this is a tough time, but! I know that you've gotten over these situations before. And I know that you can go even further if you just stop this self-inflicted DEPRESSION!

Silence filled the room. The temperature seemed to plummet twenty degrees.

Finally, Delia took a deep breath and spoke again. "Now since that's settled, how about you finish your soup before it gets cold?"

She was right.

He had inflicted the depressing state over himself. A bad mood would do nothing to help his cause. Why on earth had he put himself through this? Was it because he felt sorry for himself?

You know the answer to that, you shameless liar.

He did. Just a moment ago, he'd been going over how easy other people had it. The thought made his stomach turn.

It was almost funny. He'd spent the last two weeks being a massive hypocrite. Turned out his mother couldn't stand such a thing, for he'd never seen her act that way before. Well, except for maybe that time he'd tried to wander off to the forest alone. He'd been young. He'd been dared by Gary. That had not been a pleasant night for him or for his rear end.

But never mind that. It was time to consider his options. For real.

He could reenter one of the Leagues. But if he did that, he would have to wait a good seven months to actually compete again. And seven months sounded like a recipe for his skills to rot. Most of his friends lived cities away from him - too far to set up any kind of practical training schedule. Pallet Town itself only had Tracey, and he... really wouldn't be much of a challenge.

Ash sighed. What else could he do? Become a random battling hermit who lived in a mountain, challenging anyone who climbed up there as soon as their eyes met? What kind of nitwit would do that?

(Several answers came to mind. Every single one of them made him shudder.)

He thought and thought and thought. And ran into dead end after dead end after dead end. This was not good.

Better training came from from action and experiences, not just practice. And there was no way he was going back to Pokéschool again. Not for all the championships in the world.

The hermit idea was beginning to look strangely appealing now.

No, wait. People learned from experiences. So all he had to do was recall his own, right?

His eyes drifted toward the fireplace. He had done more than most people could in a lifetime, he supposed. But that still didn't tell him what he could do to further himself. He closed his eyes and began to tick off his previous League positions.

Indigo Conference.

Top Sixteen.

Silver Conference.

Top Eight.

Ever Grande Conference.

Top Eight. Again.

Lily of the Valley Conference.

Top Four.

His eyes snapped open again. Another sigh escaped his lips. Always near, never there...

But he had to smile as his eyes fell on a certain trophy behind the glass.

And next to that trophy sat the plaque containing all of the Symbols of the Kanto Battle Frontier. It might not have been an "official" league, but he couldn't help but be proud of winning it. Every battle had been different. Every battle had been unique. And winning the Battle Frontier had been the truest, sweetest victory he'd ever known.

Winning the Battle Frontier…

... Battle Frontier...?

Frontier Brains…

Winning... the…. Frontier Brains…

"THAT'S IT!"

He sprang from his seat and rushed over to the plaque, a string of words running through his mind. Words that had been spoken a year ago but might as well have been spoken yesterday.

"… You have a choice to become a Frontier Brain yourself…"

"Ash, dear, what's wrong now?" Delia said cautiously, worried that her soon was still brooding.

For a moment, Ash said nothing. Then-

"I... I..." He trembled slightly. "I think I want to become a Frontier Brain..."

He'd spoken so quietly that it took his mother a good minute to piece the words together. And another one to realize what they actually meant.

"A Frontier Brain?" Delia blinked. "Oh! Do you mean like the ones on the Battle Frontier?"

Her son turned to her. "Exactly. This is perfect. It's what I need to help me! Something entirely new! To be on the other side of the battlefield!"

As he spoke, he felt a fire burning inside him, from the tips of his toes all the way up to his amber eyes.

"The Frontier Brains are stronger than the gym leaders! Heck, they could even be on par with the Elite Four-"

He stopped as he heard a noise from above. It sounded remarkably like a panicked squeaking of, "PIIIKAAAA? PIIIKKKAAAPIII!"

"Ah! Pikachu!"

Before Delia could blink, her son was already halfway up the stairs, a trail of dust in his wake.

Ash rushed into his bedroom and grabbed Pikachu by the paws. Without missing a beat, he began to spin in place, swinging the small pokémon around by the arms.

"Pika?" Pikachu yelled. His efforts were now split between figuring out where his trainer's sanity had gone and making sure his lunch stayed it belonged. And quite frankly, didn't have high hopes for either goal.

"What do you say Pikachu?" Ash asked as he finally stopped spinning, all excitement spent. For now. "Do we want to pursue the path of a Frontier Brain?"

Pikachu made a warbled noise that might have been a "Ppi-kaaa?" distorted beyond all recognition, and promptly slumped over.

Ash took that as a yes.

End of Chapter 1

I hoped you all liked it. I am a bit worried that this is a bit rushed too. Please let me know. Oh and remember this is my first fic but I promise you that I will put all my effort in it.

Thank you for your time.

(July 6th, 2014)
Can't believe I was such a noob.
Oh well gotta start somewhere.

Enjoy the rest of the story.
Future editing will be done eventually.