Chapter 2

Welcome back. It took a bit of thinking how to get them to come here but I got them to come. Apple bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootleloo come on out. *The three of them stand front and center by me* they are going to help me catch the road runner and hopefully get their cutie marks.

"Yeah, Cutie mark Crusader Bird Catchers"

This story will have several differences from my other story. I will not be using the level system. Instead Pokémon will be gym leveled (this one is based on the gym that a person just beat), league leveled, elite leveled, Champion leveled and finally legendary. All of Ash's Pokémon that he caught in Kalos is at least elite level. Pikachu, Charizard, Ivysaur, Squirtle, are high-champion, low-legendary level and the legendary Pokémon are well legendary level with the exception of Zygarde (his 10% form is Elite level, 50% form is high Champion, low legendary level and his 100% form is High legendary). His Pokémon that was at professor Oak's or training somewhere are either high-, low-, or mid- league level after the month training trip. Finally the Onix, Gengar, and Alakazam are high-league, low-Elite leveled. Enjoy my story and remember I own nothing. Now girls it's time to catch us a bird. Let's go.

Age of Character:

Ash – 14 (11 before Kalos)

Serena – 14 (11 before Kalos)

Misty – 13

Brock - 15

Professor Oak – 52

Delia – I may be the human embodiment of Wiley E Coyote but even I am not dumb enough to incur Delia Ketchum's wrath. She scares me.

Legend:

"Speaking"

"Pokéspeech/telepathy"

*Sound effects"

Pokedex/ Holo caster / X-watch speech

"Announcer/referee"

*Location, more specific location, exact location; general time or time passed, time until (insert event here), exact time*

Chapter begin

*Victory Road, Indigo Plateau; 10 AM*

"No freaken way."

By his feet was a torch with a flame on it but it was not just any flame it was the torch used to light the podium and signal the start of the Indigo league. The flame was said to be from Moltres, itself and had been heavily guarded. Ash picked up the torch and looked around for the runner that should be carrying the torch. Ash and Serena looked around for a bit and eventually found a person lying on the ground near a parked bus and motorcycle, being checked on by an Officer Jenny and a man with long white hair and a beard. Ash recognized the man as Mr. Goodshow, the president of the Pokémon league and one of the few people who was not in Kalos that knew about the time dilation incident and Ash's secret. Ash and his friends met him before he left to go train and he explained several events that happened when Kalos was off the grid.

Ash cleared his throat to get Mr. Goodshow's attention. "Hello, Mr. Goodshow. How are you today?" Mr. Goodshow looked up from the man and saw a young man holding the and women looking at him. It took a few moments but he recognized them. "Ash Ketchum, Serena, it is good to see you again. I am sadly having a bad day. The torch runner tripped and sprained his ankle and we still need to bring it to the stadium but we need a league competitor to bring it and it will take them a while before they can get here." He explained.

Ash chuckled a bit at Mr. Goodshow's forgetfulness before speaking, "Mr. Goodshow, we met a little under a month ago and you forgot that I am competing in the tournament." Mr. Goodshow looked a little sheepish at forgetting that important fact before he spoke, "Alright, since you are the only leaguer near here, will you take the torch?" Ash nodded and started stretching. While the two men were talking, Serena and Jenny got the runner on to the bus.

Serena seeing Ash stretch put together what happened and walked over to Ash. He had finished stretching when Serena reached him. "Hey Serena, I need you to look after the runner and Mr. Goodshow while I take the torch." "I can do that Ash but you better hurry up. If not then you will miss lunch and I am cooking." She said before pecking him on his lips. Ash nodded hastily and was about to start running when one of his pokeballs popped open. Out of it came a light purple catlike Pokémon called Espeon. Ash caught her in Kalos and she had the ability to sense emotions.

Ash knelt down near Espeon and asked, "So you want to run with me, Espeon?" Espeon nodded her head before she got into an offensive position. "Ash, there is someone here with malicious intent" Espeon told Ash telepathically. Ash nodded before he whispered, "Espeon, use Psychic and hold them in place." Espeon's eyes glowed blue and suddenly three figures shot into the air. Ash got a good look at them and saw that they were Jessie, James, and Meowth. Meowth looked really annoyed at being caught before yelling, "What's the big idea twerp?"

Ash sighed, he had spent nearly three years away from them and he forgot how annoying they could be. "The big idea is that you thought you could steal the torch and I am stopping you. Espeon, send the three bozos flying!" Ash commanded. Espeon's eyes briefly glowed a brighter shade of blue before Team Rocket was shot into LEO. A cry of "Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again!" could be heard faintly before all was quiet.

Ash turned around and clapped his hands to break everyone out of their shock. "Alright, now that that is over, let's get the torch to the stadium." Everyone nodded and got into their mode of transportation while Ash started running towards the stadium with Espeon on his heels. At some point the bus passed Ash but he just kept running. Eventually, Ash and Espeon got to the stadium and saw a large group of people gathered around the road. He could faintly hear the announcer explaining the delay and introducing him. He reached the stadium and gave the torch to the attendant waiting for him before he left to find his friends.

He found his friends at his cottage getting ready for lunch. Ash opened the door and entered speaking, "Hey guys, I am back." Misty looked up from setting the table but looked confused, "Shouldn't you be at the opening ceremony with all the other trainers?" Serena answered that for Ash, "He doesn't need to. Very few people know this but it is optional and Ash only needs to know who he faces." She sent a pointed glare at Ash, "Who do you face? I know you hacked into the database to find out the information." Ash shrank a little at Serena's glare, looking a little sheepish, "I have the first battle of the tournament and is facing a guy called Mandi in an hour."

The group set down for a delicious meal of burgers and fries made by Serena and Brock making some small talk about the upcoming tournament. "Ash, what Pokémon are you going to use?" Brock asked, curiously. Ash leaned back putting his hands behind his head, a thoughtful expression on his face. He responded, "I plan on keeping that a secret. Serena knows but it's up to her to tell you." Serena shot Ash a betrayed look before going back to her food. The rest of the meal went in silence, with Ash being the first person to finish his meal. Taking his plate, he put it in the sink and walked out the door with Pikachu jumping on his shoulder. "I am heading to get my Pokémon and then to the stadium for my first battle."

*Indigo Plateau, Water Stadium; one hour later, 1 PM*

Ash stood on a platform across a large pool with several floating platforms all across it. On the other side of it stood a man with an arrogant expression on his face and dress up in ridiculous clothing. All around the pool, were stands with a giant crowd of cheering fans. "Are you ready to lose to the Astounding Mandi?" man now known as Mandi sneered. Ash just shook his head taking a pokeball from his belt, "Are you going to just stand there talking or are you going to battle?"

"Welcome folks to the first battle of the Indigo League taking place at the water field. This battle features returning fan favorite the Astounding Mandi and substituting torch runner and newcomer to the league Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. Are you ready for this folks?"

The referee stood to the side of the pool holding a red and green flag, "This will be a three on three Pokémon battle between Mandi and Ash Ketchum from Pallet town. Substitutions are allowed. Are both trainers ready?" He continued after they both nodded, "Trainers release your Pokémon." Mandi released a Exeggutor and Ash released a large Kingler. "Let the battle begin!"

*Up in the stands*

Brock and Misty looked shocked at the Kingler while Serena looked calm. "When did Ash get a Kingler?" Misty asked. "Krabby evolved over the month of training." Serena responded with a smile. "Why did he not tell us?" Misty yelled. "He wanted to surprise you." She explained. Misty looked like she wanted to continue but a look from Brock, quickly shut her up. "Shhhh, you two. The battle is about to start." He hissed. The three of them turned their attention back to the battle.

*Back at the battlefield*

"That's the Pokémon you are going to use. This is going to be easy." Mandi exclaimed before ordering, "Exeggutor use psywave." Ash calmly commanded "Kingler jump into the water then wait." The walking palm tree fired a small wave of psychic energy at Kingler who jumped in the water avoiding the attack. Mandi smirked, "Use psychic on the water to create a whirlpool. Then when Kingler gets swept up into it, bombard it with egg bombs." Exeggutor's eyes glowed blue and the water started to swirl and create a whirlpool. The whirlpool swept Kingler into it and Exeggutor started firing bombs at him.

"Kingler, ride the waves. Then jump on Exeggutor and use Vice Grip." Ash ordered. Kingler, to the shock of everyone watching, got above the water and started surfing over to Exeggutor. When he got close enough to attack, he jumped up towards the palm tree and wrapped his claw around its head causing it to cry out in pain and fall on the ground. "Kingler finish it off with stomp!" Ash told the crab Pokémon. Kingler slammed his foot on top of Exeggutor's head and knock it out.

"Exeggutor is unable to battle. Trainer, send out your next Pokémon." Mandi returned Exeggutor and sent out a Seadra. "Seadra start this out with Agility." Mandi said. "Kingler use water gun and bubble to hit it." Kingler started firing attacks at Seadra, while it sped forward with impressive speed and continuously dodged his attacks. This continued for about a minute before Kingler fired his bubble attack in widespread attack. This hit Seadra and caused it to go flying in the air. "Kingler use crab hammer." Kingler jumped into the air and hit the airborne water Pokémon with a glowing claw. Seadra was hit towards a platform and collided with it knocking it out while Kingler landed on the platform in front of Ash, perfectly fine.

"Seadra is unable to battle. Trainer, send out your final Pokémon." Mandi pulled out Seadra's pokeball and returned it. He pulled out another pokeball, "Come on out Golbat." Out of the ball came a large two winged purple bat with an overly large mouth. "Kingler jump into the water," Ash told Kingler. "Golbat stop it by using take down," Mandi ordered. Kingler scuttled toward the water but before he could reach it, he saw a purple blur coming towards him. "Kingler catch it with ice grip." Kingler's claw opened up and swung up in the path of Golbat and clamped onto its right wing. Golbat could only just barely stay up in the air and was screeching in pain. "Kingler finish it off with hyper beam!" Ash commanded. A glowing orange orb formed around Kingler's mouth, when the orb was about half the size of Kingler a beam of energy fired from the orb and enveloped Golbat. When the beam stopped, it showed a knocked out Golbat laying on the platform. "Golbat is unable to battle. All of Mandi's Pokémon are unable to battle. The winner is Ash and his Kingler."

The people watching this erupted into cheers. "There you go folks. Mandi was completely dominated during this battle by newcomer Ash and his Kingler. Let's hope that this battle is a sign of an amazing tournament." Ash returned Kingler, while waving to the crowd and walking out of the stadium.

Chapter end

*Wheeled in on a furniture dolly covered from neck to toe in bandages.* You don't want to know how this happened. Unfortunately the bird got away and I got injured, again. "We're sorry Mr. Coyote." It's OK, girls. You tried your best; just put me over here and you gals can head home. There's cookies and punch by the door so enjoy them before you leave. "Thank you. Goodbye." Ah glad that that is over. I will catch that bird eventually!

Anyway, thank you for reading my story and I will try to have this updated soon. I also have a few ideas floating around my head and I want to know what you guys want me to work on for a third story. Do you want a Bakugan fanfic, Digimon fic, Pokémon/Digimon fanfic, an Ash goes to the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon universe or do you want me to rewrite Ash's true strength revealed. Send a review and I will give it until Sunday to start working on it. It's the first chapter that is always the easiest for me so this will be done fairly quickly. Chou for now and I will see you later.