Thanks for waiting! THe prompt today is... stuff! Also warning for timeskip

chapter five

have I finally gotten stronger?

The color of the sky was a brilliant blue, from what the tall man could see at his spot in the customs line. He sighed and ruffled his hair. "Well, Bracken," he said to the nearest Pokeball. "What do you think? Our ETA looking good to you?"

Through the translucent surface of the old, weathered black ball, he saw an angular, feathered head shake and the beak make silent squawks. He laughed.

"You're right, you're right. I'm always caught up in lines, aren't I?" the ball shook, and the man took a step forward. "In lines, running late, I have a book of excuses. Ten years of excuses." He let out a sigh and Augustus Sycamore scratched at the stubble on his chin. "None of them holding any water, at that. Spent six years now away from my child…"

The last he had seen them, Ash had been poking jeans and frilly shirts and mixing their colors. The letters he had received since he left had simply referred to her as 'their little girl', well, when they had finally reached him. International mail was flighty at the best of times. Sometimes it simply got lost. All he had managed was to send photos of Garchomp and Spritzee and Kalos Pokemon alike.

He missed them. He missed her. He missed Delia, rather like you would miss the times when you didn't have a toothache.

He looked ahead of him in the line again and sighed. "One would think having my regional academic license would give us some perks, but I suppose with Rocket running about in this region it is a bit too much to ask for, no?" This time, Augustus looked down at a little hooded figure. They tightened

their grip on his fingers. He smiled, even though they couldn't see it.

"Don't worry, Ai," he said, voice soft. "We're almost there. You're going to meet Ash soon, all right?"

They looked up and bright purple eyes flickered blue. Then, Ai nodded and looked down once more.

Professor Sycamore did not look away. It took more than a fancy eye color to frighten him nowadays. He merely smiled again and took another step in line.

Just a few more hours in customs, then the bus to Pallet. Just a few more hours.

The papers in his briefcase felt absurdly heavy.

"Lea, jump!"

The Charmander backpedaled, making to leap from a pink and purple mass of energy. He twisted, and the power threw him by the tail and bottom in a failed somersault. He hit the ground and groaned in pain, eyes swirling with dizziness. Ash grimaced, her own vision starting to spin. She stepped back, squeezing her eyes shut and pulling the two of them apart from the nerves and beyond.

"Ember!" She shouted with as much fervor as possible, like it meant more.

"Thunder Punch." The responding command was only verbal for her sake. The electricity had crackled before the words had come out and Kadabra was already rushing forward.

Ash was so busy trying to combat the headache that she couldn't say where to dodge. Lea's shrieking filled the air until there was a loud thump. At the smell of singed scales, her eyes snapped open and she bolted forward, soon cradling Lea's head in her hands. She grimaced. "Sorry, Lea…"

Her charmander waved a weary claw of acknowledgement. He wasn't angry. She hardly ever knew him to get mad, which went against what little she knew about Fire types with Flying genes in their system. they usually had a bit of a temper problem. She supposed that she had just gotten lucky in that sense. She picked him up by his armpits and changed her hold so she could cradle him like a small child. He looped his stubby arms about her neck and she smiled at the fuzz feelings tickling her stomach and heart. he warmth of his tail only made it better.

Two years together, two years since she had scraped a high grade (that wouldn't fly now, her Auntie Sabrina was a gym leader and therefore intelligence wasn't just a requirement, but an expectation) and gotten the odd little egg. It had hatched into such a sweetheart. That was good because…

Gone. Her head was full of straw at least and then it was empty.

Ash rubbed her head, pushing the thoughts back, compartmentalizing the headache with the thoughts of failure. She had lost concentration and gotten too excited. She needed to relax a little more. Think about other things, like training, like the League.

But the first gym was Pewter, rocks and stones and expecting nature to weather it. She needed to counter that. Lea needed Metal Claw, or she needed a Mankey or a Nidoran. She couldn't go against one of Brock's legendary Onix and expect to get out unscathed. Not that anyone really could unless they had Bulbasaur or Squirtle, an all that took was a nice good unsettling smash of a tail and that advantage was gone. Gary and Leaf were going to be lucky during that one, maybe. After that, Leaf would be the better off.

But whatever. She could make it work. That was all she could do. She just had to-

"You're overthinking."

Ash straightened. "Sorry, Auntie." She took a deep breath then exhaled. She stilled and breathed. In and out. In and out. Close your eyes. Focus on the the image in your mind. She exhaled, thinking of reds and oranges, thinking of them becoming a solid color. She breathed slowly, watching mental embers spark, watching the sky burn in her head

When she opened her eyes again, she could almost see what she had wanted to for herself. She would be a small, persistent ember that survived any wind and storm, that grew into a blaze that ate anything in its path, that Lea could devour and bellow out from his gullet and make her anew into who she should be and-

Ash opened her eyes and straightened up. "I almost saw it, Auntie!"

"Good." Tthe limited praise was enough to bring a brighter grin to her face than the lights in the room. "Then why did you stop?"

Ash raised her head and huffed. "Because it's time for chores!" Her Aunt Sabrina had slammed the routine in her head enough over these past few years. Train, meditate, chores, eat, study, train, study, sleep and repeat. It was almost enough to keep her visions from peeking back into her head. Almost. It wasn't like they could just go away.

Sabrina almost smiled. "Are you certain that it's time for chores?" At Ash tilting her head, she did laugh, outright. That was enough to make Ash step back a little. Her auntie didn't just laugh out of the blue. She watched with trepidation as her aunt pulled a pink light from thin air. It formed into a simply wrapped box. "Isn't today a little different?" She floated the box over and Ash caught it. Her eyes slowly went wide as her aunt laughed, taking pity on her. "Happy Birthday, Ash."

Ash stared for a moment at the large box. Then her eyes went wide and she leaped up into the air, almost a whole foot. "I'm ten!" Her voice almost squeaked with delight. "I'm ten! I get to go to the League! I can apply for the League!"

Lea let out a confused croon and Ash scooped him up the second she hit the ground again. "We get to go on an adventure, Lea! We're gonna make an all new team and become the best of the best, together!"

Lea still looked puzzled, but the fire-type nosed Ash at the feeling of her enthusiasm. That was enough to her and she spun them around more, letting Lea's tail make smoke in the air.

"Well, you have to get registered first," mused Sabrina. "But, if you would rather dance around the arena all day, be my guest."

Ash jolted. "Ahhhh, you're right, I have gotta clean up and get dressed!" she made to run out of the room before pausing at the box she had dropped. "Ah, auntie, that's…"

"Your birthday gift, from me. Your mother wants to give you hers in person," Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to open it?"

Ash slowed to a halt. "Ah… yeah… sorry!" she hurried over to it, and carefully began to undo the paper and tape. There was more than one box, she realized. There was a lot in this… she picked up the first and unfolded…

"A dress!" She tried not to frown. She liked dresses, but she had always just preferred jeans for training, especially with the robes psychics had to wear every single day. Her aunt was a taskmaster after all. Granted, she bet money this was no ordinary outfit but still. She ran her fingers over the soft eggshell white and sky blue, marveling at how soft it felt. Then Ash's eyes went wide as she caught sight of the tag and the leggings just below. This was a battle outfit. This was the outfit you caught Leaders and Elite in on the cover of magazines. It was part and parcel of the ace trainer brand, what made you stand out no matter how many fights you did in regular clothes.

"I expect you to adjust to that," Sabrina supplied, almost chuckling at the hem of each sleeve and fabric piece. "for now, the next one."

Ash obediently opened it, moving to quickly fold the first outfit back up as neatly as she could with her shaking fingers. She grinned at the sight of jean fabric. Much better. Trainer clothes, rough fabric prepared for night after night of sleeping under the stars. The clothes were even loose enough and the jeans were softer than she remembered her Viridian clothes being. There, next to the trainer belt, was a box with the Devon logo. She pulled it out and blinked. "the pokeNav looks funny." never mind that she had a PokeNav period. Communicators were a standard for trainers after the disappearance of Aurea Juniper blasted over every regional news station. She betthis was still a pretty penny. "I thought we still get PokeGears," she said.

Her aunt shook her head. "Silph and Devon are in a partnership at the moment, so they're trying to expand brands to other regions to connect the technology. Cross-compatibility for phone devices has caused too much havoc."

"Oh." Perhaps all of her studying with her mom's abra was paying off. With a sudden, renewed burst of energy, she tackled Sabrina. "Thank you, auntie!"

Sabrina went stiff, psychic energy threatening to lash out. Then she relaxed and her arms looped around the younger girl. "You're welcome." Feeling Ash freeze up with shock almost made her smile. Sabrina was not known for her affection, particularly the physical kind. She had no real inclination towards it (more of one towards insanity if her mom wasn't exaggerating), so Ash decided to enjoy it while she could.

Then Lea pawed at her leg and Ash pulled away to scoop him up. She scratched at the patterns of his scales. He had hatched this way, all splotchy and different, and she wouldn't trade him for the world.

She stood there with her aunt and her friend, thinking to herself, trying to breathe this in, to memorize it. Because once the journey began, there was no guarantee she would get to experience this again any time soon, if again. After all, the next time she would officially see her aunt, it would be as an opponent. There would be no softness, no mercy.

That was a terrifying thought.

So Ash enjoyed what she had. The future was coming no matter what she did anyway.

Hunger.

Hunger drove any surviving creature forward, heavy with the burden of simply wanting to live.

This creature was no different. It moved on its hind paws, forepaws bleeding into the thin early route grasses. He kept walking, cheek pouches twitching. His long ears drooped dangerously close to the earth.

It was close. So close.

Eventually. He would make it. To food. To drink, to sleep. And then, when he survived, it would be to break that bastard human's nose.

See if they put him through those paces ever again.

Pikachu reached the sweet smell of his target, reds and blues and plastic. Without hesitation, he bit down.

Something proceeded to explode.