As they road on top of Lugia, Ash didn't think twice about the boy – boy? Was he a boy? He was rather feminine looking but Ash didn't question it. They both just jumped on the Legendary Pokémon's back and were soaring high in the sky letting the wind blow through their hair and –

"My name is Gou,"

Ash blinked. "Ash Ketchum."

It wasn't uncommon that Kantonians didn't give out their surnames right away. Ash was Kantonian, but he was mixed. A little Galarian, a little Kalosian, a little bit of Johtonian. He had bits and pieces of a lot of regions mixed in his veins, which made visiting family so interesting. He could speak more than one language and dialect, but he didn't know much about Gou.

"So, what made you want to ride Luiga?"

Gou laughed, more like a snort at first and then full on laughter. He clutched his stomach and Ash laughed too – it was a silly question but hey, they were here now. Ash's mother had always scolded her son for doing reckless things when he was little. But now he had a Pokémon of his own, and he was going to be fine. Even if he and Pikachu didn't get off on the right foot, they would eventually.

"Are you shitting me? Really?" Gou's eyelashes fluttered as the silver beast below them bellowed. He still had his Rotom Phone out and was taking all sorts of photos.

Ash snorted. "Yeah, guess it was dumb to ask. I just sorta… Had a feelin' to want to do it. Like I should."

'Like I've done it before, weird.'

Gou giggled. It sounded girly – but Ash didn't comment. He knew better than to ask things like that. Maybe Gou was a girl, but Ash didn't pry. "Your weird, alright! I'll let you be my friend, Ketchum." Ash's brow twitched annoyingly at the thought of someone being cocky like that – that wasn't really how you made friends.

But ever since Serena left for Kalos and Gary well… Gary and Ash were not on the right foot for a long while. That's why Ash was in Vermillion now. To meet Professor Sakuragi, and possibly seek out his aide. At least, that's what Professor Oak had suggested. Gary hadn't liked how Ash had always achieved better than him in the battle simulators at Professor Oak's Summer Camp, so Gary decided to go out and challenge the Gyms. Ash stayed behind – Professor Oak didn't think Ash would be ready, as he had woken up late on the day of their trainer inauguration.

Ritchie had chosen Charmander, Leaf had gone with Bulbasaur, and Gary Squirtle. It was only a natural decision that Ash would stay behind a while and train and Ash did, and he choose Pikachu. Though Ash's main goal was to become a Pokémon Master, and he wanted to beat Gary more than anything and rise to the top. He wanted to –

"Earth to Ketchum, oi!"

Gou tapped Ash's shoulder and he felt his cheeks go hot. "Oh! I was just thinkin, about stuff. What I'm going to do next now that I'm in Vermillion City."

Gou hummed. The child had put away their phone and tucked it in their pocket, Lugia still soaring gracefully in the air as they were then toppled onto the grass, somewhere in a flowery field… And… "Ouch what the fuck?! I thought we were having a good time!"

Luiga bellowed again and took off, sending a powerful gust of air and knocking both Ash and Gou back several feet into the tall grass. Ash paled. He had Repels on him, thankfully in his bag but he didn't think Gou had really thought to bring anything. It was like, instinct to come prepared even though his gut told him to jump onto Lugia. Ash knew he was going to get into danger regardless.

"Uh, I have Repels…" Ash shuffled through his bag handing one to Gou. It was a Super Repel!

"Good thinking Ketchum! Man, I'd be lost if it weren't for you. Thankfully Rotom has a flashlight – got anything else in there that'll keep us going?" Gou began chattering away as he was now darting past Ash and the Kantonian native yelped out.

"Wait – don't – avoid the tall grass!"

"Huh?"

There was a Spearow. Somehow, Ash felt like this was familiar.

"Hi Spearow," Ash whispered quietly. "we're not going to hurt you," Ash got into a crouching position – why was he so afraid? This hadn't happened… And yet… Ash reached in his bag and Gou was smiling.

"Come on, it's just a stupid bird, what could it do to us?"

Ash sucked in a breath and grabbed a container of Pokémon food. Thank Arceus he was prepared for this. "Spearow! Don't worry, I have food for you – look! We're not a threat, if you come with us there's more where this came from."

Spearow raised its eyebrows curiously. "Rooo," It didn't seem aggressive like the ones that were flashing through Ash's memories were. Instead, Ash popped open the lid of Pokémon food, it was a generic diet and leaned down to slowly toss some in the flowers.

Spearow began to gobble down the food in one gulp. It cooed happily like it wanted more. "Roo!" It spread its wings.

"How did… You do that?" Gou blinked, astounded.

"I don't know. I've always been afraid of Spearow since I was little and I don't know why, it was like something happened to me a long time ago I can't explain," Ash breathed and reached out to scratch Spearow's head. "Like I was hurt by one but I wasn't, it's weird."

Gou blinked. "What the fuck?"

"I keep getting memories now, when I road on Lugia with you. Like that wasn't the first time I encountered Legendary Pokémon."

Spearow seemed to like Ash.

"You encountered another Legendary before?!" Gou squealed excitedly, almost did a dance. "Tell me!?"

Ash winced at the sound of the kid's voice. "I don't know, I get dreams about them, like it's real, but Lugia's the first. Like I said I don't know why but I feel like all of it just is coming to me now. Say, Gou, what do you want to be?"

Ash knew he had been wanting to be a Pokémon Master for the longest time. Even before that – and that weird – he couldn't imagine why, he just felt like it was something he was destined to do. Like he was bound to do eventually but he had never gotten a chance to… Like reincarnation or something?

"I wanna catch all the Pokémon, and catch Mew!"

Ash's eyes went wide. So did Spearow and it squawked. "Why?"

"Dunno, just feel like that's something I'm meant to do. Like with Lugia I had a hunch to jump on it's back. Like you, but I've always loved science and research, which is why I'm now a student of his," Gou smiled. "Spearow seems to like you, why don't you catch it? Maybe it'll help you get over your fear."

Gou gave Ash a thumbs-up. It was so genuine and honest.

Then Ash felt something when he saw Spearow's eyes connect with his own. Ash gulped. "I – okay. Spearow, my name is Ash. My goal is to become a Pokémon Master. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I want to enter at least one of the Pokémon Leagues and win them at some point. Do you know about the Pokémon Gym Challenge?"

Gou's eyes went wide. "So, you wanna be a trainer, huh?" He smirked. "Collect badges."

Ash smiled and reached a hand out for Spearow. He had already touched the Tiny Bird Pokémon and it hadn't attacked him yet, which was good. The bird cooed and nuzzled into Ash's hand and Ash smiled. Ash explained to Spearow about the Gym Challenge, to collect eight badges and take on the Gym, to beat the Champion and be an Elite. But he wanted to be a Master, and Spearow was interested.

'Catch me,'

A voice resonated inside Ash.

Ash took out a Pokeball from his pocket. "Come on! Welcome to the family Spearow!" It felt so weird, calling a Spearow family. He felt like he was doing this differently and this wasn't supposed to be his first catch, due to the dreams and nightmares he had had when he was little. But who's to say Spearow wouldn't make a great Pokémon?

Ash laughed. Fell back, and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "Ash Satoshi Ketchum,"

Gou blinked. "Eh?"

"That's my full name. I'm a little bit of Kantonian, Galarian, Johtonian and I think Kalosian. I speak several languages and I pick them up easily, I don't mean to pry, but," Ash held up a hand and Gou helped him up off the ground. "What are you? Just Katonian?

"Actually, I'm half Kantonian half Galarian too. I don't know much about the other regions since I've only been to Galar, my cousins live there which is how I speak English so well…
Also, my full name is Gouko Scarletta Edwards. But please, just call me Gou… That's what Koharu and Professor Sakuragi call me… And what Victor calls me… I mean… Sometimes Victor calls me Red, cause that's my favorite color. Andi hate pink,"

Ash blinked.

Red.

That sounded familiar.

"Okay, get the picture. So, you're a boy?"

Gou smiled. "Yup!" He did a peace-sign with his fingers that formed into a V. "Man I can't wait to get my starter! You're already a head of me, Ash!" Gou giggled, it sounded girly, they were walking ahead. "How old are you?"

"Ten, well ten and a half since I had to stay behind and study a little bit with Professor Oak since I didn't get my starter on time." Ash frowned and scrunched up his nose. "You?"

"Eleven! I've been a student with Professor Sakuragi for two years now, he really knows his stuff. He studies Pokémon Behavior and Ecology, tryin' to understand Pokémon better and studied under Professor Birch in Hoenn," Gou babbled as they walked.

Ash took out his Rotom Phone and found a direct route back to Vermillion City, fortunately it wasn't very far and the ten-year-old sprayed Repels and Bug Spray around them to make sure they wouldn't encounter any wild Pokémon they couldn't handle.

They finally made it back to Vermillion City, seeing the city skyline just above the horizon – both of their stomach's growling and Ash sighing. "I should've packed some food if I knew it was going to be like this," They didn't even have the energy to run to Professor Sakuragi's lab. Gou just brushed arms against Ash's and the ten-year-old blushed.

Why was he feeling this way around Gou?

He had never felt this way around anyone before. Not Serena, not Leaf and especially not… Gary. Not Ritchie either… So… Why now?

They had arrived in Professor Sakuragi's lab, and Ash met Koharu, who was a little awkward at first. She reminded him of Serena when they first met. Ash offered her his hand and she shook it reluctantly. But when she had heard about the incident with Lugia – Koharu scolded them both. "I can't believe you, Gou!"

Gou still remained calm and cool as always and flipped the tuff of his hair. "But my sweet Koharu!" His voice deep and sullen – Ash's heart racing suddenly. How did it manage to get so deep? He was so high pitched just now! "I did it all for the sake of science!"

Koharu's Pokémon, Yamper, which was a Galarian-native Pokemon charged up at Gou and shocked him lightly. "Yap, yap!" 'You should be more careful!'

Ash chuckled. He bent down and held out a hand but was shocked by Yamper too. "Yip, yip!" 'You too, stupid boy!'

Oh bother… And now he had to deal with his mother egging him about things for the next few days – and she was going to leave Mimey at Professor Sakuragi's lab. He had two Pokémon, he could take care of himself! He trained and studied for this!

"Now, now Koharu, Yamper I don't think that's necessary. Besides, Ash and Gou did get a lot of information that would help with our research… Right?" Professor Sakuragi was kind and obviously a dad, Ash still didn't know who his dad was, but Professor Oak had been more like a grandfatherly figure to him than anything.

Ash had explained from his perspective, and then Gou showed Professor Sakuragi the video and gave a very analytical and scientific deduction about Lugia. From the anatomy and to how Lugia flew… Ash knew that Gou didn't mean any harm. From all the things he had seen in his nightmares – Gou wasn't one of those people. The people who did bad things to Pokémon, though could Ash really trust Gou with those dreams?

He didn't want Gou to push his ideals for love of science to go too far. Because, Ash liked Gou. He had a strange connection to the boy that butted heads with him when Professor Sakuragi compared their research notes. Ash wasn't good with school or maths, but Gou was. When Gou said that because they were now rivals – and Ash froze at that – he didn't want a rival like Gary – but Gou had mentioned they would help each other out… Because what's the point in a rivalry unless neither of them get better?

That was something Ash had never heard before. Ash laughed, he almost wanted to cry. He almost wanted to hug Gou, and yet instead he held Gou's hand tightly in his own. It was the start of a beautiful friendship -a and a flaming rivalry. Ash was looking forward to it. Maybe Ash could convince Gou to take on the Gym Circuit… Maybe.

And that's how Ash Satoshi Ketchum became an assistant to Enzo Sakuragi of the Vermillion Sakuragi Research Institute.

So I had a theory that the Ash in the 'reboot' series is the Ash of the old series. not necessarily like Ashes of the Past more like - think like The Legend of Zelda every incarnation of Link, if Link had remembered all his past adventures somehow. Imagine if in the anime, instead of just continuing on with the series as Ash was still 10 every time and never aging him and dying over and over, I'd like to think if they made it more like Zelda and started with a new series and made it more mature where Ash 'remembers' that would've been much more interesting.

Or not, but this is what I interpret the reboot will be like. There will be mentions of past characters, though it'll also focus on Gou and Ash. I haven't seen the new episode yet because it's going to come out on December 2nd, I believe. I am going to also make references to the Reboot Movies (I choose You and the other one I think it was Power of Us?) as those have some significance to it. I really enjoy the new series and I can't wait for more, and if your wondering if Gou is based on Red -

Maybe, there is a high possibility that she/he is. Or maybe someone else from another timeline, either way, I'd like you to stay tuned, and no matter which way the series goes I hope to add my own original twist to it. I also made Professor Sakuragi's goal a bit different. Also, Sakuragi is his surname, and Koharu's surname is Sakuragi and Sakuragi's name is Enzo. cause... yeah. Just letting you know.