AN: Welcome to my 2nd fanfic ever! If you guys are here from my Naruto story I'd like to say thanks for sticking with me! If you're new fans, welcome aboard! In a shameless act of self promotion, if you are a new fan and like Naruto stories where he kicks ass and all that good stuff then check out my other story, With a Little Help From My Friends.

All that aside welcome to my pokemon fic, On Brave Mountains We Conquer! By the way if you can get the reference I'm making with the title you can tell me to add in a pokemon of your choosing and also my friendship cuz you're awesome haha.

Now to the story details. Ash will be smart and retain all the crap he's done. He will also use aura but not like Sir Aaron, more to enhance his battling skills and to train alongside his pokemon. Pikachu and his original team from Kanto will be op, like Champion/ Legendary level op, especially Pikachu and Charizard. He will also use other pokemon he's caught in the past. He will be catching some other pokemon, and maybe a legend or two. Also fair warning my poke knowledge goes as far as gen 5 and that's it so no fairy's or any of the stuff from gen 6, not even mega-evolutions as I find most if not all of them stupid looking. Another fair warning it's been a couple years since I've seen the show so don't be expecting me to stick too closely to canon.

The pairing will of course be pearlshipping though I could be persuaded into throwing in maybe Cynthia or someone else.

If this story starts off similar to 0 Jordino 0's Working Sinnoh With Skill….it's cause I love that story haha. His story gave me the inspiration to do my own pokemon story so go check out his story! Its friggin amazing. Just wish he'd update the darn thing….

(Disclaimer: Me no own Pokemon, I just enjoy the franchise a lot and own a few plushies and other assorted paraphernalia. Don't sue me)

Enough of my blabbering!

Welcome ladies and gents to the first chapter of

On Brave Mountains We Conquer!

The sun shined brightly down on a cruise liner that was traversing the sea that divided Kanto from the Sinnoh region. On the dock of this very ship admiring the view and the various pokemon swimming through the seas and flying in the air around the ship was a teen. This particular teen had a head of messy raven hair that flowed in the gentle sea breeze. He was garbed in blue cargo pants, a black short sleeved hoodie with a pokeball on the front pouch/pocket, a pair of black converse (who doesn't love a good pair of converse?), and fingerless black gloves. Off to the side draped over the railing of the ship was a black leather jacket obviously belonging to the teen.

Sitting on top of the aforementioned jacket was the yellow electric mouse pokemon native to Kanto and the teen's first partner, Pikachu. Nestled in the teen's raven locks was another Kanto native, an Eevee who wore a necklace with a dark and somewhat lucid grayish gem.

Who might this teen be? Well no one of consequence unless you're talking about the numerous times he's saved the world, all the legendaries he's seen and befriended, the two leagues he's competed in, his conquering of the Orange Archipelago's Orange League, and being the first trainer to conquer the Battle Frontier challenge in Kanto. Yeah, you know no one too important.

"You ready to take on Sinnoh buddy?" the raven haired teen asked his partner with a dopey grin.

Turning to his trainer and best friend the electric mouse's face burst into an equally large grin and giving him a thumbs up the Pikachu happily called, "Pika pika!"

Grinning back he looked up to the fox…cat…dog…the Eevee on his head and scratching it behind its ears - much to its pleasure - he asked, "How about you Vee?"

The little pokemon jumped down to its trainer's shoulders and nuzzled its snout into the teen's cheek as a response.

"Haha alright I'll take that as a yes."

Looking off into the distance with a determined and excited glint in his brown eyes he clenched his fists, "This time I'm taking this region by storm. No more kiddie games. Sinnoh prepare yourself for Ash Ketchum!"

We join our hero a few scant minutes later as he takes his first steps into the new region of Sinnoh, leather jacket over his hoodie, and Pikachu and Eevee situated on each of his shoulders.

"Well professor Oak said we should head to Sandgem town first to visit his colleague Rowan to have him upgrade our pokedex and get some info on this region's league. Sooo," pulling out a Pokenav, the all in one tool from Hoenn's Devon Corporation which he had received as a gift from his mother, he looked at the onscreen map of Sinnoh and pointing ahead declared, "we're headed this way!"

And off the teen ran, an excited grin on his face and with his pokemon mirroring that same feeling.

Ash was even more excited than usual as he had stayed in Pallet Town longer than he had planned but in the end it had been for the best. While there he had decided to start becoming a little more serious about achieving his life goal of becoming a Pokemon Master. To do that he had decided to learn as much as he could about, not only his pokemon, but pokemon in general from Professor Oak. Under the tutelage of the travelled and knowledgeable Professor he had come to realize that while he was pretty well versed in pokemon battling and the like, he still had a lot to learn. Too many times had he forgotten or simply not known the simplest of things leading to many of his more humiliating defeats.

While on this self-imposed vacation/training period he had also decided to ask his mom to help him learn how to properly cook meals for himself, needing the skill even more so now with Brock having to once more take over the responsibility of being the Pewter City gym leader. Surprisingly Brock had even stopped by to help his young friend become even more prepared for going out on his own.

While it was true that at the age of 14 he had accomplished more and seen more of the world than most people Oak's age had the fact remained that he was still just that, a 14 year old. Nonetheless Brock, Oak, and his mother knew that no matter what Ash would manage to find himself in some unbelievable situation somehow. That in mind they decided that it would only benefit the teen trainer to know how to properly read a map, distinguish which berry did what, and be able to survive in any situation he may find himself in.

During the month and a half period that he was bettering himself Ash found himself slowly growing more and more mature. With this maturity came a few epiphanies. The biggest one that motivated him to become an even better trainer was the realization that he had subconsciously been trying to recreate the joy and wonder of his first trek through Kanto by "starting over" each time he came to a new region.

While this had led to him making new pokemon friends and such it had also led him to stunt not only his own growth as a person and trainer but the growth of his pokemon as well. By leaving all of the pokemon he had trained and shared hardships with behind at Oak's Ranch or wherever else he had done so he was almost throwing away all of that hard work for the sake of chasing something that he would never be able recreate.

That in mind on the day he had left his small hometown of Pallet he had decided to take with him some of his older pokemon; namely his trusty Noctowl, the shy Quilava, and the training nut Primeape. With two slots left on his team for any new pokemon he may encounter and the resolve to rotate pokemon when he could he had planned to set off for his latest league.

Of course that HAD been the plan but Professor Oak had confronted his young charge on why the sudden change in training method. When Ash explained to the elderly Pokemon expert the man had only smiled and patted him on the back then lead him back to his lab. It was there Oak had revealed to the teen that as the regional professor for Kanto and one of the most respected officials in the Pokemon World Committee that he had the power to lift the six pokemon limit on those he deemed capable. What Ash had told Oak made the teen more than capable in his eyes.

A short process later involving Oak reprogramming Ash's PokeDex and Ash was given the legal right to be able to carry up to two full teams of Pokemon.

Another visit to Oak's Ranch and Ash was sent on his way with a full team consisting of Pikachu, Noctowl, Quilava, Primeape, Corphish, and the ever excitable Bayleef.

Over all the reason he was so happy for this region more so than usual were these many changes. Sure his outlook and such had changed but that made it that much more fun. He was done holding back. He was going to make sure that he and his pokemon did the best they were all possibly capable of, but first he had to make his way to Sandgem town.

At the same time we find a certain bluenette who had finally become old enough to start her own pokemon journey. The first order of business in doing so was to head to Sandgem town to meet with Sinnoh's regional Professor, Rowan, to receive her starter. However that was easier said than done as she had bumped into some…"trouble" that was not her fault *cough she got lost cough*. Lucky for her she had accidentally bumped into Professor Rowan himself who had volunteered to lead her back to his lab.

With the jitters that came with starting a new journey and meeting the pokemon that would accompany her on her journey through Sinnoh she opened the door to his lab, only to have to quickly duck out of the way as a chair flew through the door. Looking up in shock she and Rowan found a Starley and its final form, Staraptor, causing quite the mess in the professor's lab. Helping to make the mess were the three starter pokemon of Sinnoh.

Dawn could only stare in shock at what she was seeing. Rowan pushed her aside and rushed in and attempted to help his assistances calm the pokemon only to have the ornery Staraptor use a powerful Gust attack breaking a window, allowing it and its child Starley to escape. Hot on the tail of the two flying types was the fire starter, a child sized brown monkey with a small flame as a tail, Chimchar. In the madness the water starter, a small blue penguin, Piplup was also able to escape leaving the still eating grass starter, a small turtle with a small plant sprouting from its head, Turtwig.

In a rush of adrenaline, Dawn volunteered to go out and look for the pokemon in exchange for receiving one of said escaped pokemon as a starter. The professor hesitantly agreed as he had had to worry about getting his lab cleaned up and making sure nothing important was damaged.

The forest surrounding the lab was thick which made it hard for her to navigate through and have any chance of finding the missing pokemon. In another fortuitous turn of events she happened upon a small lake where she found the water starter, Piplup, attempting to fight its way out of a massive web just on the edge of the tree line. Walking up to the struggling pokemon she was able to calm the almost hyperventilating penguin and free it from its prison. Grinning in victory she looked up only to be mesmerized by the faint silhouette of something floating feet above the lake.

Before Dawn could really ponder what she had seen she was snapped out of her reverie by the sounds of something scuttling amongst the trees. She turned to run only to find herself running into yet another spider web. Fear coursing through her and adrenaline fueling her actions she was able to free herself from the web only to see a pack of the poisonous and massive arachnids from the Johto region, Ariados. The pack saw that their meal was going to escape and so fired off multiple blobs of the poison type attack, Sludge Bomb, while another fired off a String Shot, trapping her.

Eyes clenched tight and covering the equally frightened Piplup in her arms she thought, 'Can't believe that I haven't even gotten my first pokemon and I'm already gonna die.'

Those would have been her last thoughts had it not been for the cry of, "Light Screen!"

Opening her tightly clenched eyes she saw a tiny yellow mouse literally faze into existence in front of her and erect a glowing yellow barrier. The Sludge Bomb attacks collided with the barrier only to fizzle out of existence. Dawn turned her shocked gaze from the pokemon she recognized as a Pikachu to the older looking teen who now stood in front of her, protecting her.

With barely a few seconds between the previous command the unknown teen called out, "Noctowl! Air Slash!"

Down from the tree line came a somewhat small owl with light brown feathers covering its torso and red feathers on its wings denoting its shiny status. Without any hint of hesitation on its part the pokemon did as its trainer asked and gathered a large ball of gathered wind energy between its upheld wings. The next second the stoic owl unleashed the attack on the pack of arachnids. As it hit one of the group it exploded, releasing several blades of wind which severely damaged and cut into the Ariados and its brethren.

Before the bug pokemon could even think of countering Ash called out, "Extrasensory!"

In a show of skill the shiny pokemon was able to encompass all of the gathered Ariados in a psychic aura and send them tumbling through the trees, a feat some Psychic types would be hard pressed to accomplish. With their survival instincts kicking the pack knew they wouldn't stand a chance against the stronger pokemon and so began to flee the scene to lick their wounds.

The shiny owl pokemon saw its job done and perched itself on its trainer's shoulder. In return Ash scratched under its beak, "Good job Noctowl."

The owl pokemon crooned under the praise of its trainer. Ash clicked its ball open and returned the owl pokemon to its pokeball for some rest.

Turning around he saw the girl whose life he had just saved and with a grin on his face he offered his hand to her, "You ok there?"

Blushing up a storm the young bluenette took the offered hand and nodded her head in confirmation, "Yea thanks for the save. I would have been a goner!"

Now standing on her feet Dawn took the time to admire her savior in all his glory and boy did she like what she saw. He had that rugged handsome look with some boyish charm from still being relatively young that many girls found attractive. However what really caught her attention was the…feeling he gave off. He just exuded confidence, happiness, and - risking sounding like a hippy - good vibes. His pokemon seemed to pick up on this as well, looking completely relaxed and happy in his presence.

Shaking herself out of the little reverie she had found herself in, she remembered exactly why she was out in the middle of the forest and risking her life in the first place.

"Oh no! The other pokemon! How will I…" and thus started a panicked rant of how she would never become a good trainer now.

Ash just stood to the side shaking his head and chuckling at the, admittedly very attractive, girl. It had taken him awhile but thanks to being around Brock for so long and having his mother give him the dreaded "talk" he had finally realized there was more to life than just battling and training every day.

Along with his newly found maturity and his being 14 came something else - hormones and puberty. However considering how many times he had risked life and limb, all of the things he had learned and seen on his travels, and his still somewhat one track mind; controlling his raging hormones wasn't that big of an issue. That didn't mean that he wouldn't admire the female body when given the opportunity it just meant that he wasn't going to be turning into a mini-Brock anytime soon.

After he had gotten all the amusement he could out of seeing the girl panic he turned to his yellow partner, "Think we've let her worry enough?"

The little yellow mouse adopted a mock-thinking position, putting its paw under its chin. He turned to look at the girl in question and chuckling in his own Pikachu way he turned to his trainer and nodded, "Cha!"

Ash walked up to the frantically pacing bluenette and attempted to get her attention. Not knowing the girl's name meant he had to settle for fake coughing and calling out, "hey". Unfortunately she seemed to be too into her own little world and so Ash had no luck with any of his more subtle attempts.

The childish part of Ash briefly entertained the idea of having Pikachu give the girl a light shock to gain her attention but he had learned that other people weren't as resistant to his partner's "light" shocks as he was. Also he didn't want to piss off yet another girl he had just met upon entering a new region. He still got crap from Misty and occasionally May about their bikes and he did not need anymore of that added on to his plate thank you very much.

Looking up to the little brown evolution pokemon currently nesting in his hair he asked, "Hey think you can get her attention Vee?"

With a nod of its head the baby pokemon jumped from its perch on its trainers head and landed lightly on the bluenette's shoulders. It then proceeded lick the side of the girl's cheek, finally catching her attention.

Seeing the adorable pokemon up close Dawn was snapped out of one tangent only to succumb to another; gushing over the cuteness of the small pokemon now struggling to breathe in her arms.

Chuckling once more at the girl Ash decided to intervene on behalf of his pokemon, "As much as I agree on how cute my Vee is I think he needs some air."

The girl began to blush again noticing how the little brown guy was struggling to get out of the "hug of doom". Still blushing enough to give a tomato a run for its money she released her tight hold on him allowing the somewhat scarred Eevee to scamper back to his resting place in his trainer's hair.

The bluenette looked down to cover up the embarrassed look on her face and muttered a small, "Sorry."

"No harm done right Vee?" he asked the Eevee comfortably resting in his hair.

Getting a reluctant nod from him Ash continued, "See? So don't worry…uh…"

"Oh right sorry!" The now excited bluenette stuck her hand out, "My name's Dawn Berlitz!"

Grasping her smaller hand in his larger gloved one he shook it gently, "Names Ash Ketchum! Nice to meet ya!"

Neither of the two trainers knew that this was the moment that would forever intertwine their lives, that this was the instant that would send them walking down a path fraught with danger, beauty, life changing experiences, and possibly love.

EDIT: As a brief rerun of why I'm doing this: I recently got back into Pokemon and then decided to re-read this fic, like I have with a lot of my stuff, and saw the various mistakes and stumblings that came with being a new writer.

However I feel that my writing has become even better and in an attempt to renew the passion I had for writing this fic I have decided to go back and redo all the chapters with a much more critical eye.

At the start I didn't think I would be changing that much, merely making some grammar fixes and what not, but I got hooked and added damn near 1000 or so more words to this chapter alone. I've also fixed some of the "holes" in the story and rearranged quite a few things so if you're new to this fic then enjoy.

If you're an old reader I highly recommend rereading the chapters as the changes and fixes are significant enough that if you don't you may be confused reading the new stuff, when I do release said new stuff.

Until next chapter

Peace

Out