Before I get this story started I'd like to introduce myself, my username is Lancer2147, bu you can just call me Lance. A little more than a month ago, inspired by the high quality works from this site, I've decided to write my own fanfics, as a personal challenges of sorts. My first fic, set at the Naruto universe is still ongoing, having more than 70 K words and almost 700 followers. The surprising success of this work made me ponder about expanding to write about some other areas of interest. About a week ago, while I faced a writer's block at the before mentioned fic I've came upon some great Pokémon stories, that further motivated me to write my own story: Zero to Hero.

This fanfiction was heavily inspired by some of the common betrayal theme stories that are present on the site, although it's not a betrayal story as it diverges from canon even before Ash was born. The convergence point is Delia's death, leaving Ash alone, poor and all by himself, struggling to become a Pokémon Master.

Pokémon was a important part of my childhood as I watched the anime and played most of the games. I'm not a native English writer (therefore I apologize for any serious grammatical and concordance errors that most likely will be present at this story) and by playing Pokémon Ruby, and Pokémon Pearl I became a self taught English reader. So it's nice to finally write about something that marked my childhood. For the fans and followers of my Naruto story: don't worry, I'm not giving up or putting the project aside, I just felt that a slightly larger break would be beneficial to the story.

Now for some of the concepts of this story:

This will be heavy AU, and I plan to converge the animeverse with the gameverse, meddling the storylines and some characters as well. I've also decided to make a paralel between Pokémon battling and sports like soccer, basketball and football, as I felt it was something innovative. This chapter is a bit of a introduction and I hope to have clarified most of the incoming questions in the chapter, although I'd love to read and personally answer the readers questions at the upcoming chapter. So feel free to ask anything really, a review is always nice as it shows that my work is appreciated.

There will be romance and pairings, in the plural, it will be a harem story, a common occurrence at Naruto fanfics but not as likely at the Pokémon universe although it won't be classified as so. I'll do my best to have Ash developing his relationships with the girls personally as I plan to following the anime to a certain extent. So far the only certain pairing is AshxMayxSerena, with a 95% chance of Dawn being added too.

So without any further ado, let's get it started.

Vermilion City – Graveyard

The cemetery is a place of memories, usually painful ones, related to the sadness and grief of saying farewell to one of your loved ones. A youngster; no older than ten, with raven black hair partially covered by a worn out and discolored black woolen cap, wearing a plain black long-sleeved shirt, navy blue plain trousers and finally some worn out white shoes with red details, was kneeling to the grassy field that hosted many tombstones. The boy, devoid of any expression, stared intently to one particular tombstone.

Delia Ketchum, friend and mother, aged 34

After few more minutes, the boy's facial features started to change. The once lifeless brown eyes shined bright red for a second before locking at the horizon, staring at a far distant goal that he intended to chase. His eyebrows regained his contours. And finally his mouth, still in a neutral position, made a half smile, half grin. He then untucked a necklace, previously hidden by his long-sleeved shirt. The necklace consisted of a light silver chain and a four pointed, light blue star shaped pendant. Two small green orbs were place into opposite directions of the star core, one being placed near the junction of the pendant with the necklace whilst another stood in the opposite direction, from where a darker blue knot emerged.

"Mom, I'm not going to disappoint you."

The youngster made a promise, and got up, heading for the exit, without staring back at the tombstone, as if he tried to leave the past in the past.

Vermilion City – Possum Hole

The infamous Possum Hole neighborhood of Vermilion City was well known for the long list of appearances at the Vermilion City News, mainly at the crime segment, yet, since three years ago this was the place Ash Ketchum called home.

The youngster made his way through the shallow alleys with tremendous familiarity. He glanced around at a group of five men, all of them wearing red, either as shirts, bandanas or caps, in front of a liquor store. The leader of the group was a rather tall man; standing at about 5'9" feet (181 centimeters), he has fair skin and wears an all red outfit, crimson red jeans, a red sleeveless shirt, exposing his ripped frame and finally a red bandana around his bald hair. He also smokes a cigarette, containing illicit substances and if you looked at his waist level you can see a handgun tucked between his belt and the jeans. The man, known as T-Bone by his fellow gang members was the leader of the Vermilion City Possum Reds, a Gang that was usually involved in drug dealership activities. The man looked down at the youngster that stood at 5'1" feet (155 centimeters).

"Yo Young Smoke, how you doing?"

"Fine…" Ash said dismissively "Also I still don't get why you call me Young Smoke… I don't smoke anyway…"

"Well, where there's smoke there's ash. I mean who names his kid after burnt remains?" T-Bone said, causing the remaining gang members to bark in laughter. Ash stood a bit down headed.

"Now, let's cut this bullshit." T-Bone said "How you dealing with your mother's…" he said, before being interrupted by Ash

"Fine, thanks for asking." Ash said, still keeping his dismissive tone.

"Hey, if you need help, look out for me. The Possum Reds are always looking for new blood. It's not the most glorious lifestyle, but in here you'll always have a family."

Ash looked uncertain, before he once again remembered his late mother.

"Mother wished so much for my future, I won't disappoint her by becoming a run-of-the-mill thug."

He then smiled. "I'm sorry T-Bone, but I still want to try some things before I make my decision."

The gangster just sighed. "It's your loss then."

After walking for some more minutes Ash reached his final destination.

A five pavements building, where his apartment stood. The building was a rather plain one. He went up the stairway as he finally entered his apartment.

The apartment was a hidebound one, a small kitchen that only had room for the oven, the fridge and a small kitchen cabinet. The room was so small that Ash usually had to eat in the living room as there was no place to a table.

If the kitchen was small, the bathroom was minuscule only leaving an inch of room around to move between the shower, toilet and the sink.

The bedroom was comfy at least, a single bed, a bedside table and a small television atop the dresser. It belonged to his mother, now that she's gone he would sleep in here.

Finally the living room was the biggest room in the apartment, not that it meant a lot considering the other parts. A bookshelf filled with some old books, a coffee table, that Ash and Delia usually improvised as a dinner table and Ash's most faithful companion, the couch, where he slept when his mother was still alive. He looked to the couch.

"I wish I still had to sleep here." He thought, obviously thinking about his mother.

He then looked at the door and realized that he didn't paid attention to the two letters that were thrown under it.

He picked both, and sat at the couch opening the first one, it was from his landlady.

Ash Ketchum,

My condolences for your loss. Delia was a great woman and I honestly hope she finds peace wherever she is right now. The reason I'm writing this letter is to inform you of the rent. Delia paid for three months in advance just a week ago, so you won't have to worry about if for some time. That being said I'd like to know if you intend to continue living under this roof. I won't change the price of the rent, so I recommend you to start looking for a job if you wish to keep living here.

Ash quickly wrote a letter to the landlady, stating his desire to continue living at the building and proposing a meeting where they could discuss the matter furtherly.

He then opened the second letter, it was from the Youth and Adolescence Association.

Ash Ketchum,

The Youth and Adolescence Association sends his most profound condolences for your loss. We write this letter to inform you that due to having no living relatives you're entitled to receive emancipation. To do so you'll have to convince the social worker that's scheduled to visit you in a month that you're able to feed yourself, pay your bills whilst maintaining a regular attendance rate at the school.

Good Luck.

The raven haired boy just sighed, it seems like he had work to do: finding a job.

Vermilion City – Harbor

Ash was half-heartedly walking towards the Harbor. Soon in the morning he went out, trying to get a job at several kinds of stores that could conciliate the work and study time. So far he has been unsuccessful. He decided to check on the Vermilion Harbor as he heard that they were recruiting.

He was welcomed by the manager, a man on his early fifties, with balding grey hair and small rimmed glasses.

"I assume you're looking for a job." He said, eyeing the youngster

"Yes."

"What are your qualifications?"

"I have none, sir." Ash replied

The man once again eyed Ash.

"Well, I may be able to find something for you, at the docks section of course. After the PPA (Pokémon Protection Agency) prevented us from using Machoke at the Harbor because we didn't met their stupid regulations we're always looking for able bodied men." He said angrily, before clenching his fists and calming a bit "You'll have to help with the discharge of crates and run some errands around the town. We pay the usual rate for hours, I gather you'll be working half shift."

"Yes."

"Okay." He said, looking at a pile of papers.

"This will work." He said, still eyeing the papers.

"This is a contract of employment at the docks. You'll work for the Vermilion Harbor Company for the basic fee of 6,5 Pokémon Dollars/ hour for six hours during workdays and ten hours during the weekends. Is that okay?"

"More than okay." Ash said, grinning before shaking the manager hand.

Vermilion City – Vermilion City Pokémon Gym

After his meeting at the Harbor, Ash went directly to the city's Pokémon Gym. His future could start here. He remembered promising his mother that he would become a great Pokémon Trainer. Not only it was his dream but was something that could send him away from the Possum Hole and send him in a journey through the Kanto Region.

Being an Elite Pokémon Trainer was rewarding financially and gave people a great deal of respect. To the Japanese people in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, being a Pokémon Trainer was the same as being a famous soccer player in Europe or South America or a NBA/NFL player in the USA. Recently the Pokémon League made efforts to expand the Pokémon Battling Brand to USA, establishing a league in the Unova region, and to Europe, where another league was established in the French region of Kalos.

Besides the leagues some places around the world like Alola and Orre, both States in the United States, developed interest in Pokémon interaction. Also Fiore, in Italy and Guyana , a country in South America were famed for having some legendary Pokémon living in its territory.

About ten years ago, a Pokémon Slavery scandal came out to the public and shocked everyone. Pokémon were being used as a cheap replacement for human workforce. Several prominent Japanese multinationals were amongst the companies that used this kind of work. The other international governments, like the U.S. and Russia were outraged as their companies were prejudiced by the unfair competition put by Japanese companies that used this method.

Pokémon species are spread around the world, but in an unbalanced manner. Recent studies appointed Japan housing about 85 % of the entire Pokémon population in the world, with the U.S. coming second with only 5%. The remaining 10% was the rest of the world Pokémon population, with countries like France, Italy, Brazil and Guyana having the most noticeable percentage amongst those, even though they, when accounted alone couldn't get past 1%.

After several reunions amongst the world power governments it was decided that Pokémon should be preserved and prevented from working in those companies, with Japan giving reassurances that his companies only used human labor.

To properly supervise the use of the Pokémon, the PPA (Pokémon Protection Agency), a NGO, based in Saffron was created. After another round of meetings it was decided that Pokémon competitions, like Pokémon battling and Pokémon contest would be allowed, but only under some extremely strict rules.

The problem came when the Pokémon League realized that they couldn't properly watch over a increased number of trainers, so they decided to "elitize" the access to Pokémon.

A Trainer License that allowed a person to properly own, and compete with Pokémon was currently priced at 100,000 Pokémon Dollars, roughly three years of Ash's income. Besides that, the person interested in obtaining such a license would also be required to pass a test about Pokémon Habits

However it was possible to get a discount of sorts as long as you got a recommendation letter from a Gym Leader, Elite Four or a Pokémon Professor. Usually the max discount you could get is a 50% rate, so instead of paying 100,000 Pokémon Dollars, the recommended trainer would "only" pay 50,000 Pokémon Dollars.

Pokémon Storage and PokéBalls were overpriced too. To use the storage system you would need to pay an extra 100,000 Pokémon Dollars fee to the league, besides paying for land and the machinery to properly transfer Pokémon. The cheapest Pokéball is tagged at 2,000 Pokémon Dollars, and could only be sold to certified trainers, that possessed the Pokémon Trainer/Coordinator License.

In another measure to prevent Pokémon abuse, the PPA established that trainers should only be allowed to leave in a journey after reaching a certain age. Ash lucked out in this department as Kanto, alongside Johto had the lowest age requirement, being 12. Hoenn and Unova allowed trainers to leave after they were 13. Sinnoh's age requirement was 14. Finally, Kalos only allowed trainers to leave in a journey after they were 16.

So, Ash was planning to get everything set to go on a journey as soon as he reached twelve, which meant that he needed to amass a huge amount of money for the license and hopefully find a breeder to sell him a Pokémon Egg for a reduced price. He also intended to hone his skills as a Pokémon trainer even before he got himself a Pokémon, so he decided to study some old databooks that he found at his school library. But why he was standing in front of the Vermilion City Gym? Well, Ash planned to…

The raven haired boy's musings were stopped a teen, around fifteen years, stormed out of the Gym, knocking Ash to the ground with the door, in the process.

Ash stood a bit confused for a few seconds, still sitting in the ground, until a figure blocked the sun, offering him a hand. Ash reluctantly accepted the help to get up. Finally having the chance to look at who offered him the help, Ash gasped as he saw the towering presence of Vermilion's most famous inhabitant: Lt. Surge, the Flying American.

Standing at an astonishing height of 7'4" (224 centimeters), Surge looked more like a basketball player than a Pokémon trainer. He has a spiky, short blond hair, and blue, piercing eyes. He wears a sort of military outfit, although he opts to leave his shirt open, showing his extremely ripped physic, that made him one of Vermilion's most well sought bachelors.

Surge gazed at Ash.

"You fine, brat?"

"Yyeah, thanks."

"Okay, now get out of the way, I need to close the gym." He said firmly

Seeing a good chance to impress the leader and hopefully acquire the chance for a apprenticeship at one of the region strongest gyms, Ash offered to help. The Lieutenant just raised an eyebrow, before accepting the help.

The help Ash provided basically consisted on pressing on and off security switches, allowing Surge to properly check on areas of the gym without being electrified. The raven haired boy kept glancing around, trying to find a good subject to engage in conversation with Surge in order to find an opening to ask for a internship. The chance never came, and he was heading to the exit he felt the doors locking, as he turned to question the gym leader, he felt a heavy hit at his head and collapsed.

Unknown Location

Ash woke up, with a heavy headache. He opened his eyes, only to see nothing, pitch black darkness. He tried to get up, but found his arms and legs tied, being unable to move.

"Ash Ketchum… age 10, son of Delia Ketchum and an unnamed father, born in Pallet Town where he lived until he moved to Vermilion, alongside his mother, three years ago. Delia Ketchum is dead now and nothing ties you to this city anymore, so you decided to steal the city gym…" came the accusatory voice that Ash recognized belonging to Lt. Surge.

Ash tried to reply but found his mouth gagged.

"..but not in my city. My Gym my rules, so give me a reason for not kill you right now." Surge said angrily, before removing Ash's gag.

"Everything you said about me is true, I'm ten years old, son of Delia Ketchum and an unnamed father, born in Pallet Town until I moved to Vermilion when I was seven… My mother is dead too… but I never intended to steal anything." He defended himself

"You dare to lie to me?"

"I'm not a liar." Ash yelled angrily

Surge then removed the blindfold in Ash's eyes, allowing the youngster to see once again. Without taking his eyes from Surge, he quickly looked around, he was in a sort of interrogation room, why Surge had one of those in a Pokémon Gym he didn't knew.

"So you decided to kindly help me without asking for anything in return?" the American asked ironically

"What's the problem with that?" Ash asked

"Nobody does anything for free, lest anybody from your area." Surge replied

"Okay…" Ash said downheartedly "… I wanted to help so I could get an apprenticeship here, I'm from the Possum Hole, but I'm not a thief, I'd never steal your Pokémon."

"Apprenticeship? Don't make me laugh. I doubt you have a Pokémon Trainer License."

"I don't. But I plan to, so I wished to prepare ahead."

Surge then locked eye contact with Ash.

"I will tell you a story, Ash Ketchum. I was born in Unova, an important state of the USA. I had this guy who was my best friend, Kent Chancellor, we did everything together, study, party, we even got to a threesome together." Surge said shocking Ash by the sexual connotation.

"I fucked her mouth while Kent got her pussy." He continued, before realizing Ash's shocked expression.

"But that's off topic, I got carried away. Anyway, Kent and I decided to join the Air Force. Boot camp was hell, but we managed to pass. Then came the damned Gulf War, and they sent us two unexperienced pilots to fight. Those damn Iraqi shot our planes gas tank. I was lucky to have an electric Pokémon by my side, as I used its electricity to power my plane. Kent didn't had the same luck."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Ash said honestly

"It was the government fault. They sent two unproven boys to war, to their graves. If they had your mentality to be prepared before something really occurred, Kent would still be alive. I don't compliment people very often, but I admire your willingness."

"So this means you'll accept me as your apprentice?" Ash asked hopefully.

Surge just grinned , before standing behind Ash's figure, that was still tied to a chair.

"Not yet." He said before hitting the boy's head once again, sending him to unconsciousness.

Unknown Location

When Ash woke up once again, still blindfolded, gagged and tied. He felt like he was in movement somehow, quickly coming to the conclusion that he was being transported in a vehicle of sorts. His pained groans didn't go unnoticed by the Lieutenant, who proceeded to give a speech.

"You know, when I joined the army we had a rite of passage of sorts. Before we were even allowed to join the battalion and train at the barracks we were dumped at a hazardous location, in order to prove we had the wish to survive. I was left at the Valley of the Death, in the Mojave Desert. It was awful, dehydration, heat, cold, poisoning or being eaten to death by coyotes and pumas were all viable options. My commander dumped me there with a canteen of water and a pistol, loaded with a single bullet. Even thirty years after this, I still keep that bullet, the day I became a man wasn't when I first had sex, or I had to kill in war, no, the day I became a man was the day I managed to survive at the desert."

"So I'll tell you right now. Your fate is horrible, honestly I can't help but see you joining one of the gangs at the Possum Hole and ending up selling drugs, still I'm willing to give you a chance to change this. I've lost a thing here, I won't tell you exactly what the thing is, but you need to recover it. If you do so, I'll accept you as my apprentice."

After several minutes, the vehicle stopped. Surge then threw Ash on the ground and put a knife on his still tied hand.

"I'm making things easy on you. I'm giving you a knife, a canteen of water and a Pokéball, more than what you could've hopped for."

"Don't die." He said before once again starting the vehicle's engine, leaving Ash alone.

As soon as Surge left, the raven haired youngster tried to use the knife to cut the rope that was restraining his hands. After about thirty minutes he finally got loose, and quickly managed to free his legs and remove his blindfold.

Glancing around he noted that he was in a forest, although he couldn't know exactly the exact time, as the dense trees didn't allowed the sun to enter the area. He then eagerly took the Pokéball Surge gave him.

"Let's see what he gave me."

"I choose you." Ash said, eagerly, barely containing his excitement. Only to see the bright figure of… nothing.

He stared blankly at the scene for a few seconds before yelling loudly.

"Who gives a kid a Pokéball without any Pokémon in it? It's like giving someone a gun without any bullets." Ash complained

After some more moments he sighed. He was all alone in that one.

Carefully walking into the forest, being extra careful to not trip on any tree branches or angry the inhabiting Pokémon, Ash wandered around for some hours. He cursed his luck until came upon a tree, stuffed with several, round, small and blue berries.

"Oran Berries." He thought

The greater part of the fruits were placed on higher branches, being unreachable for Ash's small body, but he managed to climb into some lower branches and picking up some of the fruits that felt to the ground too, amassing the amount of fourteen berries.

"At least I have something to eat for a few days, now I just need to find water."

He munched one of the berries before setting out to explore the forest once again. He continued to look around until he saw a sign.

"V…idi..…F….r….st" Ash narrowed his eyes, trying to decipher the rest of the sign, but was unsuccessful as the letter were totally faded.

He shrugged before resuming his journey once again.

Twenty minutes later, he found a river that flowed crystalline water, he the refilled his canteen and looked around, noticing a rocky structure, that resembled a cave of sorts. The entrance was awfully narrow and he had a hard time to crawl into the structure. He noticed that this was a very naturally protected structure.

After some pondering he decided to set camp at the rock as he felt protected and was near to a body of water, allowing him to be at the best of his game when he woke up, as he needed to be to find Surge's missing item.

As he lay down he noticed a nest of sorts, and to his surprise an egg. He quickly got close to the nest, touching the egg, feeling its warmth. The egg was a complete golden yellow, with exception of its lower part, which was a fractured black segment. The egg was warm but there was no sign of any activity at the area, his parents probably being attacked, caught or just decided to abandon the egg.

He decided to sleep, leaving the decision regarding the egg to tomorrow. As he drifted off to sleep he subconsciously started to get closer and closer to the egg .

After some hours an out looker would see Ash peacefully sleeping, whilst hugging the egg.

Ash woke up with a sensation of warmth, heat. As he regained consciousness he found himself hugging the egg, which was glowing white. Much to Ash's surprise, the egg hatched, giving place to a small rodent like creature, with golden fur, pink checks and black neck, ears and tails. The creature eyes were black with white irises.

The rodent looked at Ash, tilting his head to the side.

"Pichu?"

First chapter is done, and I plan on releasing the second one soon, please review and tell me what you thought of the story so far.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE 04/06/2019: This story is being rewritten, to get rid of the grammatical errors, fix some plot holes and change somethings as reader's recommendations, the first chapters of the new story are already published, this won't be updated any further, so it will continue at "Zero to Hero - Reloaded" whose link is in my profile.