A sweet, summer breeze rolled over the green hills of the Kantonian countryside and gently swaying the laundry being hung up to dry by a happy Mr. Mime and an older woman who was in her 40s, although her hair was still as brown as tree bark, and her brown eyes had a soft, but motherly look to them as she went about doing the simple chores.
As she finished hanging up the last of the clothes, she turned to look up at one of the windows. It was slightly ajar and a yellow rodent seemed was snoozing on the windowsill, enjoying the warm wind against his fur.
"Oh, Pikachu!" Delia Ketchum called out. Pikachu's ears twitched as he groggily stood up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he did so, and looked out the window curiously.
"Chaa?" he asked, yawning as he did so.
"Sorry to wake you up dear, but can you let Ash know breakfast will be ready any minute?" Delia asked. Pikachu gave a happy nod, suddenly very awake now that breakfast was almost ready. He hopped down from the windowsill and to the bed of the fairly messy room.
"PiPika!" Pikachu cried, impatiently jumping up and down on the bed as he tried to wake his snoring trainer.
"Five more minutes," Ash groaned quietly, as he gently pushed Pikachu away. Pikachu's eyes narrowed as his cheeks started to spark angrily before he let out a Thunderbolt on Ash.
"Okay! Okay! I'm awake!" Ash cried, very awake now that he'd been hit by a Thunderbolt. Pikachu grinned happily, before pointing to the door and hurrying downstairs, not wanting to miss his morning meal. Ash quickly got showered and dressed for the day before following Pikachu down the stairs, all the while in deep thought over what he was going to do for the day.
He had plans to visit Professor Oak to see how his Pokémon were doing. He'd only recently returned home, having finished his attempt at the Coronation Cup. He hadn't even made it into the top 16, having drawn the short end of the straw and ended up battling Cynthia the Sinnoh League champion in the final round of 3v3 battles.
Ash wasn't bitter about his loss, but it did leave him wondering just what else there was for him to do now that he'd completely challenged every region out there, and had even spent time as a Research Fellow for an acclaimed Professor. It seems like it's something I'll just have to ask Professor Oak when I see him then, Ash thought with a frown, which quickly turned to a happy grin as he caught the heavenly aroma of his mother's cooking.
Ash rushed into the kitchen, mouth salivating at the breakfast pizza his mother had baked. The bountiful aroma of the baked egg, cooked sausage, bubbling mozzarella, and fresh spinach hit his nose and he practically floated to the table, where Mimey already had a dish ready for Ash to enjoy.
"Thanks, Mimey!" Ash said happily as he dug in, practically crying tears of joy with how good the breakfast pizza was. It wasn't long before the amazing breakfast was gone.
"Thanks, Mom! That was great!" Ash said happily, turning to see if Pikachu had finished eating up his Pokémon food. The yellow rodent's plate was completely clean and Pikachu couldn't help but let out a happy burp of content.
"Manners you two," Delia said, giggling at how alike Pikachu and Ash were. Mimey happily took the dishes to get washed, shooing Ash away when he tried to help.
"So Ash, what are your plans for today?" Delia asked sweetly.
"I think Pikachu and I are going to go see the Professor," Ash said eagerly," with everything I learned at Professor Cerise's Laboratory, I feel confident in trying to find my next challenge."
"That's a good idea sweetie, I'm sure if anyone knows where you can find a good challenge, Professor Oak can," Delia replied.
"That's right!" Ash said. scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin. He stood up from his seat, ready to get moving.
"Alright Pikachu let's go," Ash said. Pikachu didn't waste any time in hopping to Ash's shoulder, letting out a happy cry of excitement.
"You two have fun. Let me know how Samuel is doing!" Delia said, waving happily from the front door as Ash and Pikachu rushed out eager to get to the Professor's lab.
Despite Professor Oak living just down the road from Ash's house, the walk still took about twenty minutes. In recent years, a lot of the land around Professor Oak's lab now belonged to Professor, who purchased the land to expand out the Pokémon Ranch he had developed. The ranch's large size was necessary for handling all the Pokémon Professor Oak had to care for.
Ash stared at the countryside that was now a Pokémon paradise. He spotted a few native Pokémon, like Bellsprout and Oddish, and, at one point, caught sight of a Rapidash streaking happily across open fields. A few of Ash's own Pokémon he could make out as well.
He spotted Snorlax happily snoozing beneath a large oak tree, and Rowlett hanging out happily right above Snorlax, snoozing just as similarly. Swellow was racing across the skies with Talonflame and Staraptor not too far behind. Ash even managed to spot his Tauros herd, happily grazing on some fresh grasses.
It wasn't long before Ash arrived at the actual Lab building itself. He went up and just let himself in. Ash was allowed in the Oak residence, being a good friend of Professor Oak.
"Hello! Professor Oak? Tracey? It's me, Ash!" Ash called out as he entered the building, looking around for anyone. It seemed the main residence was empty, which meant that the Professor and his research assistant were probably out on the ranch. Ash made his way through the residence and outside and was surprised by who he found.
Gary Oak, Ash's old rival, was knelt in front of Professor Oak's Dragonite. He seemed busy pulling out something from the Pokemon's foot, and the Dragonite looked quite uncomfortable.
"It's okay Dragonite, just one more pull and…" Gary said, his voice sounding labored as he pulled with all his might, before triumphantly holding up a rather large thorn from some tweezers he had held, "there! Now let me just apply some disinfectant so the wound doesn't get infected and you can go back to playing on the ranch."
Dragonite looked visibly relieved and gave a happy cry, sitting patiently as Gary applied the disinfectant.
"Now make sure not to put too much pressure on that leg. Go and spread your wings for today instead," Gary suggested. Dragonite happily gave a nod and took off without delay, causing Gary to step back and avoid the gust of wind Dragonite caused.
Ash slowly began clapping, which finally caught Gary's attention.
"Pokémon Researcher and Pokemon Doctor, eh?" Ash said with a grin.
"Nope, just a Researcher in training. It's important to know how to do basic first aid though," Gary replied, with a similar grin, as he walked up to Ash, giving him a tight hug before stepping away.
"It's been a while Ashy-boy," Gary teased, "I watched your battle with Cynthia on the television. Intense match but Cynthia is no pushover."
"Yep, I know what you mean," Ash said with a smile, "next time I'll be sure to win!" Ash had a confident look in his eye as he spoke before his smile faltered slightly.
"And that's why I was hoping you or Professor Oak could help me," Ash said, "I haven't got a clue on where to go next."
"Hmm, well Ash, from what I can think of, you've already journeyed through every region already haven't you?" Gary asked, "I can't think of anywhere else you might want to go to, but I'm sure Gramps can help you out. Why not wait for him to get here? He went to the general store to run a quick errand so he will be back any minute."
"And Tracey?" Ash asked, finding it a bit unusual to not find Professor Oak's assistant at the lab.
"Oh, Tracey's doing Fieldwork for Gramps. He's currently in Vermillion studying the effects of some Frillish that have been released into the ocean by trainers who didn't want them anymore. Thankfully, Frillish occupies the same ecological niche as Tentacool so all it's resulted in is competition between the two species," Gary explained to a very confused Ash, before being interrupted by the sound of a sliding door opening.
Professor Oak stepped outside, putting on his usual lab coat as he did so.
"Oh Gary, no need to confuse the poor boy. Ash, it's so great to see you. How have you been?" Professor Oak asked with a jolly smile on his face.
"Oh, hello Professor! I was actually hoping you had any recommendations on where I could go for my next challenge!" Ash asked excitedly.
"Oh my, only a day since returning from Alola and already you want to go and experience a new adventure," Professor Oak said with a laugh, before frowning and shaking my head, "you've traveled through all the regions at this point Ash, I'm sorry to say."
"So you're saying.." Ash asked with a slight pause in his voice.
"If you want to go on an adventure, it will have to be through a region you'd already revisited," Gary replied, shuffling his feet awkwardly as if not fully being transparent with Ash," it wouldn't be too bad of a thing Ash. When you traveled through all the regions before, you mostly only went for the most popular gyms or the gyms that were the closest. Each region has about thirty League sanctioned gyms, except for Alola. If you went through each region and didn't face the same gyms you did on your first time around, I'm sure you'd still have a blast. It'd be like an entirely new adventure."
"You could also talk to Scott about becoming a Frontier Brain Ash. Remember he did give you the opportunity before," Professor Oak reminded the young trainer.
Ash deliberated on the options the two Oaks had provided him with. There was truth behind their words. The thought of becoming a Frontier Brain was already too much for Ash. He was young, he wanted to finish his travels before he talked to Scott about becoming a Frontier Brain.
"Sorry Professor Oak, but I don't think I want to become a Frontier Brain just yet," Ash admitted.
"So which region will you be going through again then Ash?" Professor Oak asked. Ash hesitated in answering before shaking his head.
"I know Gary said I could go through a new region again but...that just isn't something I want to do. I want to do something new where I can still test myself in battles and going around to regions I've already visited facing different gyms...that's not it either. There has to be somewhere new for me to visit," Ash stated, beginning to feel slightly nervous at the possibility of not going on an adventure.
Gary, feeling sympathetic to his old rival's situation, decided to speak up.
"You know Gramps, we could tell him about…" Gary began. Professor Oak's eyes went wide with realization at just what his grandson meant.
"Out of the question Gary, you know we aren't allowed or supposed to talk about that place," Professor Oak said sternly.
"About what place?" Ash chimed in, confused but also hopeful that there just might be another league he could challenge. Professor Oak sighed in defeat, with Gary having given even the slightest of hits, there was no point in trying to hide anything now.
"Ash, come inside, we need to talk," Professor Oak said, sighing as he led Ash and Gary into his study, closing the door behind them.
"Ash, what I am about to tell you is confidential. You mustn't tell anyone, not even your mother unless having been given my permission," said Professor Oak, directing Ash to a map of the regions that he had upon his wall. The map was larger and very detailed, However, instead of pointing to any of the regions on the map, Professor Oak pointed to a small set of unnamed islands, about one-thousand miles south of the Hoen region.
"This small set of islands are the Finnx Archipelago, and it's home to the strongest league in the world," Professor Oak said as he stared at Ash," and honestly, I don't think you're up to the challenge yet Ash."
"W-wait what?" Ash asked, shocked that the Professor didn't believe in Ash.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Ash. You're strong for sure, but the gym leaders of this region are way stronger," Gary told Ash," and there's a lot more of them too. The Finnx Archipelago is made up of eighteen islands, each island has a type specialist, with the five strongest of those type specialists acting as the Elite Four and Champion per se."
"B-But their gym leaders can't be that strong," Ash tried to reason, he was sure he would have noticed such strong trainers at the Coronation Cup.
"Ash, each one of these gym leaders has enough power to be an Elite Four member easily if they wanted, and some of the older gym leaders were once Champions, in fact, each member of the top five was a previous champion of a region before they formed the Finnx League," Professor Oak said.
"Also Ash, when you would challenge gyms in the past, most gym leaders hadn't even heard about you. In the Finnx Archipelago, it's different. All the gym leaders are... let's just say they're very close. If they feel like you're going to beat them, they'll try to find out your strategies and then share it with the other leaders. If they get really desperate, they've been known to go back and check old recordings of your battles from earlier leagues, anything that could give them the edge. I'm telling you, Ash, if you really want to face this league, then you need to train, and train hard," Gary said.
Ash looked stunned at the information the two researchers were giving him. Was there really a league that had trainers as strong as they claimed. He frowned.
"Why were you trying to hide this from me. Did you think I couldn't train up my Pokémon for a year or two before going?" Ash asked, an evident frown on his face. Pikachu's cheeks sparked slightly as well, angry that neither Professor Oak nor Gary seemed to trust in his trainer's strength.
"No Ash, that wasn't it. You see, the knowledge of the Finnx Archipelago...well it's kind of secret. The only people who know about it are Pokémon Professors, Researchers, and the Elite Four of each region," Gary explained," the islands are a nature reserve. It's a goldmine for researchers like Gramps and I. They're also largely unspoiled by human hands. Each island has the necessities for battles and a Pokémon Center with an active Nurse Joy, but that's about it. The Pokémon League made the islands a reserve to protect the unique ecosystem from being destroyed by oil companies and ask that they are kept a secret so tourism doesn't pollute the islands. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, these islands don't exist and it needs to stay that way."
Ash stopped frowning, immediately understanding why the knowledge of the islands had been kept secret. However, he had to wonder
"Professor, what exactly is the reward for beating everyone in the Finnx Archipelago?" Ash had to ask, "if there are eighteen gym leaders who all can rival members of the Elite Four, then what is the prize for beating them?"
"Ashy-boy, you might not believe this, but if you can beat the entire league, then you can challenge the Elite Four and Champion of any region you want, without having to compete in the Pokémon League Tournament of that region nor in the Champion's Tournament. And if you can beat the Champion of the league you've selected, you become the new Champion for that league," Gary said. Ash's eyes went wide at the news. He took a deep breath to try to take in what he'd just heard before looking at Professor Oak.
"Professor Oak, how many people have actually beaten the Finnx League?" Ash asked. Professor Oak sighed, knowing Ash wasn't going to like the answer to his question very much.
"You see Ash, to actually be allowed to take part in the Finnx League, you first must receive a recommendation from a person of authority, which would mean you'd have to have an Elite Four member, Champion, or a regional Professor give you the recommendation. I'd provide you with one, but as I stated before, I don't believe you're quite ready to try to take the league on," Professor Oak said, "as for the exact numbers, in the 20 years the league has been open, a little over a thousand trainers have shown the skills needed to take part in the league. Out of those thousand, only fifty-four trainers have managed to make it the top five, and out of those fifty-four trainers, only five have ever won the league. Cynthia Shirona, the current Sinnoh Champion, is the only one to successfully defeat the Elite Four and Champion of the region she challenged afterward."
Ash turned to look at Pikachu at Professor Oak's words. An unsaid message was said between Pikachu and Ash and they both nodded, with determined looks on their faces.
"Professor, give me two years. If in two years you don't think I'm ready, then I'll retire from going on adventures and become a Frontier Brain," Ash spoke confidently. Professor Oak was surprised to hear the conviction in Ash's voice but nodded.
"Two years."