Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Legends: Kanto Saga

Chapter One

Leaf Green

"The number of new trainers registered in the pokemon league has more than doubled in the past week. This is attributed to the recent announcement by the Elite 4's champion that he would be resigning. No trainers were available to take the champion's place, so the Elite 4 have issued a challenge to all trainers. The next trainer to successfully acquire all eight Kanto league badges and defeat the Elite 4 will become the next Champion!"

The news broadcast was enough for just about eligible boy and girl in Pallet Town to leave home and become a trainer. Included among them was the teenage girl lying on her bed watching the news broadcast. Tomorrow would be her turn to get her first pokemon from Professor Oak. The girl wasn't interested in challenging the Elite 4, however. She wanted to become a pokemon photographer.

"Ashley, are you still up?" Ashley's mother, Catherine, was standing in the doorway of Ashley's bedroom.

"Its past midnight...you should get some sleep so you'll be up in time to get your pokemon tomorrow..."

"I can't sleep, I'm just too excited." Ashley replied, smiling.

Ashley was a fourteen year old girl, a good four years past old enough to become a trainer. She had been putting it off year after year, but since everyone seemed to be leaving Pallet Town all of a sudden she decided it was her time to go as well. She also had to be at least thirteen years of age to send in photos to the Kanto Times.

She was a slender girl with well toned legs, she made a habit to go for a walk every morning in preparation for becoming a trainer. She had a modest bust for her age, though her most notable feature was her hair. Her brown hair was very long, falling to her waist in the back while only being shoulder-length on the sides. Her hair colour matched her eyes as well. As Ashley was ready for bed, she was barefoot and wearing her blue pajamas.

"Well you'll have to manage then." Her mother stated irritably. "You won't even make it to Viridian if you don't get to sleep soon."

"Fine..." Ashley sighed in defeat, sitting up on her bed and turning off her tv with the remote. Her mother switched off the lights in Ashley's room before going to her room to go to sleep herself.

"Well, a girl does need her beauty sleep." Ashley crawled under the sheets and almost instantly fell asleep.

"Ashley, get up already!" Ashley woke up startled hearing her mother holler to her. She glanced over at the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was a few minutes past nine in the morning. She was supposed to be at Professor Oak's laboratory by nine.

"Guess I'm late..." Ashley muttered sleepily, rubbing her eyes. She wasn't too concerned about it though. She already packed all her stuff the night before anyway.

"Oh well." Ashley yawned. "I doubt I'm the first person to ever be late getting their first pokemon. The only other trainers getting pokemon today are Gary and Red anyway."

Gary, Red, and Ashley had been friends since they were kids. That seemed to change as they got older though. Gary became more of a jerk and Red kept mostly to himself. Ashley believed she was the only one who hadn't drastically changed, although that wasn't true at all. When she was young, Ashley didn't really care about her appearance and would even go playing in the dirt with her friends. Now, however...

"EEK! My hair is a total mess!" Ashley shrieked as she got a look at herself in her dresser mirror. She had a particularly bad case of bed head, and quickly took a brush from her dresser to fix the problem. She had packed a brush in her travel bag as well.

Once her hair problem had been taken care of, Ashley quickly changed out of her pajamas and into the outfit she had picked out the night before. She was very meticulous in choosing what to wear since she was going to be wearing the same outfit almost all the time.

The outfit she chose consisted of a light blue tanktop with a black trim, a short red skirt that would hang down just past her thighs, a pair of long light blue socks and white running shoes with a red strap, and topped it all off with a white hat with a red pokeball emblem on the top. Around her waist she also wore a typical black belt worn by trainers with six clips for pokeballs. Her travel bag, which looked much like a really large purse with a lot of pockets, also had a special clip on it for the pokedex she'd receive.

Once Ashley was finished changing, she looked herself over in the mirror. Thinking something was missing, she remembered her watch and strapped it around her wrist.

"There! Good to go!" Ashley picked up her travel bag and slung it over her shoulder, then went downstairs to meet her mother in the kitchen.

"Well what do you think?" Ashley asked her mother, gesturing to her outfit.

"I take it you didn't have a shorter skirt?" Her mother asked jokingly, clearly in disapproval of Ashley's outfit.

"Typical answer..." Ashley said with a 'hmph'. "What would you know about fashion anyway?"

"Fashion? You're going on a journey across Kanto and through the wilderness, not out clubbing with your friends." Her mother stated firmly. She walked over to the table to set out a plate with two slices of toast, two fried eggs, and six strips of bacon. There was already a bowl of cereal, a tall glass of orange juice, and several multivitamins laid out. Ashley's eyes went wide when she finally noticed the meal set out for her.

"Mom! I can't eat all that!" She whined.

"Well with all the trouble I went through to make it all you had better eat it missy." Her mother shot back.

"Why did you make so much food anyway? I was just going to have a bowl of cereal and go..."

"Because I can't trust you to watch what you eat when you're on the road. Speaking of which, I want you to take a bottle of multivitamins with you and take them everyday to make up for the nutrition you probably won't be getting."

"Mom..."

Ashley quickly ate the large meal her mother set out for her, starting with the cereal so it wouldn't get soggy. Her mother stood over her the entire time, making sure she ate every bite of it including the vitamins. As per her mother's orders, she also packed a bottle of them.

The items stuffed into Ashley's travel bag included soap, a towel, pokemon food, an empty TM case, her trainer's license, a cellphone, and a camera with extra film. Everything she thought she might be needing at least until she got to Viridian. Like most trainers, her plan was to make sure she had what she'd need to go from town to town.

Once Ashley had finished eating, she said goodbye to her mother and her mother wished her good luck before she left the house. Ashley walked from her place to Professor Oak's laboratory, which was down the street. When she arrived at the lab, one of Professor Oak's aides was waiting outside for her.

"Ah, Ashley...its about time you showed up. The professor has been waiting for you." The aide stated indignantly.

"Sorry..." Ashley apologized. The aide said nothing else, but lead Ashley into the lab.

A narrow corridor went through the inside of the lab. Branching off from the corridor were many large laboratories filled with various machines as well as many computers. At the end of the hall was a fairly large office, which was where the aide took her too. Professor Oak was in the office, typing away on his computer when Ashley entered. The aide bowed respectfully to Oak and quickly left.

"Ah, good! I was worried you weren't going to show! Ash and Gary were both already here to get their pokemon and left already. Though I suppose you're not all that late, and I do have one pokemon remaining." Professor Oak got up from his computer and walked across the room to a small table with a pokeball on it, then motioned for Ashley to follow.

"Ash?" She wondered as she walked over to the table. "Oh right, Red's real name. I've been calling him Red for so long I forgot..."

"This is my last pokemon." Professor Oak stated, gesturing to the pokeball on the table. "Bulbasaur."

"Bulbasaur's the grass type, right?" Ashley asked. Professor Oak nodded.

"Indeed it is, I see you've done your homework. My grandson, Gary, took Squirtle and Ash took..."

"Charmander?" Ashley asked, cutting Professor Oak off.

"Yes, Charmander..." Oak coughed to clear his throat. "Anyway, this Bulbasaur is your's. You may get acquainted with it while I set everything up. Of course, I'll need to see your trainer id."

Ashley took out her id card then handed it to Professor Oak. The professor quickly scanned her trainer id in a machine setup on the end of the table, then set it to register Bublasaur as her pokemon. Ashley, meanwhile, took Bulbasaur's pokeball from the table and turned around to release it where there'd be more space.

"Bulbasaur, come on out!" Ashley pressed the button on Bulbasaur's pokeball then lightly tossed it to the floor. The pokeball split open down the middle and a red beam shot out onto the floor, forming into a short blue-ish green pokemon with a bulb on its back. Bulbasaur gave a yawn as it was finally released from its pokeball, then looked up at its trainer.

"Hey Bulbasaur! My name's Ashley!" Ashley greeted her pokemon enthusiastically.

"-Oh wonderful.-" Bulbasaur grumbled. "-I get the only girl trainer to come by today. Judging by the look of her I'd say she couldn't battle to save a life. Lucky me.-"

"Sounds like you two are friends already." Professor Oak commented, approaching Ashley with a red pokedex in one hand and five pokeballs in the other.

"-Friends...right...-" Bulbasaur rolled its eyes.

"This is a pokedex." Professor Oak explained to Ashley, handing her the small red device. "It will automatically record information on any pokemon you see or catch. It can also tell you what techniques your own pokemon knows and has many other functions. Its an indispensible tool for any pokemon trainer."

Ashley took the pokdex from Professor Oak and attached it to the clip on her travel bag's strap.

"Now, this is just a personal request, however I would like it if you could catch as many pokemon as possible to fill the pages of that pokedex. I asked the same of both Ash and my grandson. Ash told me he only planned to catch pokemon he intended to raise. I can understand that completely."

"Don't worry about a thing, professor! I'll help you fill this pokedex!" Ashley said reassuringly.

"Thank you, Ashley. Also, you may take these..." Professor Oak held out the five empty pokeballs for her. Ashley quickly clipped each to her belt, even though there were no pokemon in them.

"-I don't much care for this Ashley girl.-" Bulbasaur stated stiffly, although no one could understand it. "-I'll definitely make sure she helps you out though, Professor Oak.-"

"So is that all I need then?" Ashley asked the professor.

"Well, you might be wanting this back..." Professor Oak held out Ashley's trainer license to her.

"Oh...right..." Ashley replied sheepishly, taking her card back.

After receiving her Bulbasaur from Professor Oak, Ashley left the lab and continued north out of Pallet Town towards Viridian City. Bulbasaur walked alongside her, still being kept out of its pokeball by Ashley.

"-You know, most trainers keep their pokemon in pokeballs.-" Bulbasaur commented idly as the two of them continued north through Route 1.

"-Speaking of typical trainers, you seem to be a bit old to just be getting your first pokemon...-"

"Look! Pidgey!" Ashley spotted a flock of Pidgey nearby pecking at the ground. Ashley got down on the ground and quietly crawled closer to them through the tall grass.

"-Ah, silly me. Humans are stupid and don't understand a word we say. Forgot about that.-" Bulbasaur grumbled to itself before following Ashley.

"This is the perfect opportunity for me to take some pictures!" Ashley whispered excitedly. She reached into her travel bag to take out her camera. The camera had a wide view finder and used film that would instantly print out the pictures she took.

"-What?! You should be catching them in a pokeball! Not on film!-"

"Bulbasaur, be quiet!" Ashley whispered to it. "You'll scare the Pidgey!"

"-Scare the Pidgey?! Why I oughta...-" Bulbasaur remembered the empty pokeballs attached to Ashley's belt and suddenly had an idea.

"Well if she's not going to catch a Pidgey then I think I will!" Bulbasaur thought to himself, extending its vines towards Ashley's belt and carefully plucking a pokeball without making a sound. Ashley was trying to line up a good shot to take a picture of the Pidgey and remained unaware of Bulbasaur's activities.

"Got it!" Bulbasaur pulled the pokeball back, placing it on the top of its bulb for safe keeping.

"Perfect!" Ashley whispered to herself as she was finally satisfied she had the shot lined up perfectly. She clicked a button on her camera to take the picture. Almost simultaneously, she could hear the startled cries of the Pidgey and the flapping of wings as they tried to escape.

"-Oh no you don't!-" Bulbasaur extended its two vines again, reaching to grab one of the Pidgeys as they all tried to fly away. One of its vines wrapped around each of the Pidgey's wings and Bulbasaur slammed the small bird into the ground.

"What IS he doing?" Ashley wondered, taking her newly printed picture out of her camera. At first it was nothing but black film so she watched it for a moment as the picture began to develop. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur was still locked in combat with the wild Pidgey. Its opponent was having trouble fighting back, though, with Bulbasaur's vines wrapped around its wings.

"-Let go of me!-" The Pidgey demanded.

"-Not a chance!-" Bulbasaur launched a Leech Seed from the bulb on its back, carrying the pokeball along with it. Both the seed and the pokeball struck Pidgey simultaneously. The seed latched itself onto the Pidgey, but then fell off as the pokeball opened up and fired a red beam into Pidgey. The Pidgey was converted into the energy beam and pulled inside the pokeball.

As the pokeball began shaking on the ground, the result of Pidgey's attempts to escape, the picture Ashley took fully developed. The picture showed the group of Pidgeys, six in total, starting to take off as Bulbasaur dashed towards them.

"BULBASAUR! You ruined my picture!" Ashley shouted angrily, not noticing the click from the pokeball as it locked shut with the wild Pidgey inside.

"-Ruined your picture?! I just caught you a-ack!-" Bulbasaur wasn't watching Ashley, and as he turned around to face her his face was met by Ashley's foot, knocking it on its back. Bulbasaur got up and glared at its trainer.

"-The heck was that for?!-" Bulbasaur growled at her.

"Thats for ruining my shot!" Ashley scolded Bulbasaur before picking up the pokeball now containing the wild Pidgey. She held up the pokeball and pointed it at the ground, then pressed the button on the front of it. The pokeball split open, releasing a red beam of energy that formed into the captured Pidgey. The Pidgey looked around cautiously, spotting Ashley but then fixing its gaze on Bulbasaur.

"-You're just lucky you got the drop on me.-" Pidgey said to Bulbasaur.

"-Like I'd need luck or the element of surprise to beat a lousy Pidgey.-" Bulbasaur shot back.

"Are you ok?" Ashley asked Pidgey, interrupting the pokemon's bickering before they could even start.

"-Well, I suppose all things considered I'm doing fine.-" Pidgey replied, nodding to Ashley since it knew she wouldn't understand it.

"Good, because otherwise SOMEONE would have gotten another kick!" Ashley said to Pidgey, though speaking loudly for Bulbasaur to hear as well.

"-Yeah, your welcome for catching you that Pidgey by the way.-" Bulbasaur shot back. "-I swear of all the trainers I could have been stuck with you are by FAR the worse.-"

"-She doesn't seem that bad to me.-" Pidgey said to Bulbasaur, shrugging with its wings.

"Just whats your problem anyway?" Ashley asked Bulbasaur, glaring at him.

"-My problem? It might be that pokedex you're supposed to...why the heck am I explaining this to you? You can't even understand me...-" Bulbasaur reached out with one of its vines to point to the pokedex clipped to Ashley's bag strap.

"Thats what all this is about?" Bulbasaur nodded. "Hmph...well I haven't forgotten about Professor Oak. I can catch pokemon after I take pictures of them."

"-I can already see you two get along just great.-" Pidgey commented sarcastically.

"-Can it, bird brain...-" Bulbasaur grumbled.

"Alright Pidgey, you can return to your pokeball now." Ashley stated calmly, holding up Pidgey's pokeball. She pressed the button on the front of it and the pokeball split open, firing a red beam towards Pidgey and recalling it inside.

"Come on, lets go Bulbasaur...maybe we'll find a Rattata or something to catch to satisfy you for a while..."

"-Rattata are definitely not on my menu. Oh wait, you meant catch one so I wouldn't bother you about catching pokemon. Which you should be doing for your own sake as well as Professor Oak's. As powerful as I am you won't get through the gyms with just me alone...-" Bulbasaur's comments went unnoticed, not that it was really expecting a response of any sort from Ashley.

After a bit over half an hour of walking, with no sign of any Rattata, the trainer and pokemon duo reached the outskirts of Viridian City.

"Viridian City...its been so long since I've been here! This is the first time I actually walked all the way here." Ashley commented as she glanced around the city. "I guess since I'm a trainer now the pokecenter should be my first stop."

"-How does one travel without walking? Surely one would not use a 'car' as they are merely a myth!-" Bulbasaur commented sarcastically. At that moment a red sports car drove down the street before them, driving through a puddle directly in front of Bulbasaur and splashing the grass pokemon with water.

"HEY! YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST SLOWED DOWN!" Ashley called out after the driver, despite the water missing her completely.

"-Ah...the irony...-" Bulbasaur muttered.

As planned, Ashley made a quick trip to the city's pokecenter to heal her pokemon. She had to put Bulbasaur in its pokeball briefly when she handed her pokemon over to the pokecenter staff, but when she got it back she quickly released it again. Bulbasaur still didn't really understand why Ashley was intent on keeping it out of its pokeball, especially since the two of them didn't seem to get along so well.

After healing her two pokemon at the pokecenter, Ashley headed west of Viridian to the route that lead up to the Indigo Plateau. Home of the Elite Four. Of course, Ashley had no intention of going there. She was just looking for pokemon.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure what pokemon show up around here..." Ashley commented idly, looking around the grassy plain around her. There were a few clusters of trees and a steep hill nearby.

"-Probably just more Pidgey and Rattata. In other words, a waste of our time.-"

"Ah! A Spearow! And its all alone!" Ashley pointed out excitedly as she noticed a Spearow hiding in the grass further ahead. She kneeled down and got out her camera, focusing the lens to zoom in. Bulbasaur rolled its eyes in disgust.

"You know, I've heard Spearow and their evolved form are stronger than Pidgeys and their evolved forms..." Ashley commented as she lined up the shot.

"-Great. Catch it and toss out that Pidgey then.-"

Ashley finally got the shot lined up and the camera focused just right and took the picture. When the picture printed off, though, she found she had a picture of the Spearow as it was flying away.

"Stupid Spearow..." Ashley grumbled, crumpling up the picture and tossing it into the grass.

"Guess I'll have to keep looking..."

Ashley wandered further into the route, sticking a bit closer to the trees now. She didn't have to go much further, though, before noticing three pig-like monkeys with brown fur hanging around in a large tree.

"Aha! Here we go!" Ashley quickly set up, kneeling down on the grass to line up a shot of the Mankeys.

"-More pictures...-" Bulbasaur rolled its eyes. "-Hey, here's an idea. Catch the pokemon...THEN take pictures of it!-"

"This time I've got you..." Ashley quickly snapped a picture of the Mankey, the flash from the camera capturing their attention. The three of them started jumping up and down on the tree branches while screeching and yelling while Ashley's picture printed out.

"Whats with those three?" Ashley wondered, taking out her pokedex to check them out. "I'm not even sure what pokemon they are honestly..."

"Mankey, the pig monkey pokemon." The pokedex read out. "Extremely quick to anger. It could be docile one moment, then thrashing around the next instant."

"That doesn't sound good..." Ashley whimpered. Bulbasaur tapped her on the shoulder with a vine.

"-Catch one, damn it...-"

"Let me guess, you want me to catch one?" Ashley muttered. Bulbasaur nodded in response.

"Fine then...but first we need to separate one of them from the other two."

"-Easy enough...-" Bulbasaur extended its vines towards the tree and wrapped around one of the Mankey's legs. It pulled the pokemon out of the tree then let go, letting the pokemon fall to the ground. The other two Mankeys stopped jumping around and looked at their friend, who now laid on the ground in a daze. The fallen Mankey quickly jumped up on its feet and glared at Bulbasaur and Ashley angrily.

"I don't think its too happy!" Ashley began backing away slowly, but Bulbasaur stood its ground.

"-Well how would you feel if you just got pulled out of your tree?-" Bulbasaur commented, extending its vines towards the pokemon to whack it in the face. The Mankey stumbled backwards as it was struck, falling back against the trunk of the tree. It quickly recovered though and began charging towards Bulbasaur.

"-About as intelligent as a...well...Mankey.-" Bulbasaur fired a seed out of the bulb on its back, hitting Mankey directly on the nose with it. The pokemon stopped in its tracks for a moment, looking at the seed curiously. It screeched in pain when the seed sprouted vines that latched onto it and began draining its energy.

"I guess this would be a good time to try a pokeball..." Ashley took an empty pokeball from her belt and gave it a hard toss at the wild Mankey. The pokeball struck the pokemon in the head and captured it inside. The pokeball began shaking for a moment, before it clicked and confirmed a successful capture.

"Alright! We caught another pokemon!" Ashley scooped up the pokeball and clipped it back onto her belt.

"-WE? Excuse me, but I did all the work.-" Bulbasaur growled. "-What are you so excited for this time anyway? You KICKED ME last time 'we' caught a pokemon...-"

"Hmph...there's just no pleasing-OW!" Ashley found herself being hit in the back of the head with a nut. When she turned around to see who attacked her, she got another nut in the face. The remaining two Mankeys weren't too happy that their friend was caught and were throwing nuts at her now.

"STUPID MANKEYS!" Ashley called out to them as she retreated from the trees. Bulbasaur followed behind, walking slowly since the Mankeys were only really targetting Ashley.

"That was pathetic..." Ashley looked up towards the sound of the voice and saw her old childhood friend, Gary, standing nearby. Gary was a brown-haired boy the same age as Ashley, wearing a black shirt and a pair of purple jeans. He was also the grandson of Professor Oak from Pallet Town.

"Gary..." Ashley growled through gritted teeth.

"Chased off by a pair of wild Mankey with nuts..." Gary taunted her.

"Oh yeah?! Well I'd like to see you catch one!" Ashley growled back.

"Hmph..." Gary drew a pokeball, approaching the tree where the two Mankey were still perched.

"-My money's on Gary.-" Bulbasaur commented, sitting back on its hind legs to watch. It had more faith in Gary, a trainer he hardly knew, than Ashley as far as catching pokemon went.

"Spearow, go!" Gary called out, releasing a small red and brown feathered bird to battle.

"Spearow, attack one of those Mankey with Peck!" Spearow quickly flew up into the tree towards the Mankey. The two of them threw nuts at Spearow but the bird remained undetered. Spearow flew into one of the Mankey and struck it with its beak, the force of the impact knocking it off the branch and to the ground below. The remaining Mankey quickly fled into another tree when it realized it was alone.

"That should do it." Gary took an empty pokeball from his pocket and lobbed it at the wild Mankey as it was getting up off the ground. The pokeball struck the Mankey and pulled it inside. It rolled around on the ground for a moment before locking shut, sealing the Mankey inside. Without a word, Gary recalled his Spearow and calmly approached the pokeball to pick it up.

"Hmph...too easy." Gary stated as he placed the pokeball on his belt and turned to Ashley, four pokeballs now clipped to his belt.

"A wild Mankey is nothing to catch...not that I actually plan to use it." Gary stated stiffly.

"Show off..." Ashley muttered. "Well if you're so great a trainer then why don't you prove it in a battle!"

"Maybe I will!" Gary shot back, already reaching for his first pokeball. "We'll use two pokemon each."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to interrupt your battle kids..." Ashley and Gary bothed looked to the side to see a yellow-haired man wearing black sunglasses. He wore a pair of brown khaki shorts, a white shirt, brown vest, and a wide brimmed hat. On the right side of his vest were the letters 'GH' in gold and the number five. Standing next to him was an electric dog-like pokemon called Jolteon wearing a strange collar around its neck.

"According to my data, you two recently received pokemon from Professor Oak..." The yellow-haired man stated in a deep accent.

"So what if we did?" Gary asked indignantly.

"I'll be relieving you of those pokemon, kids. A Bulbasaur and a Squirtle would fetch a pretty price on the black market."

"There's no way I'm handing over Bulbasaur!" Ashley growled defiantly.

"-I don't like Ashley much, but I like the sound of that even less.-" Bulbasaur added.

"You don't seem to realize who you're dealing with, kids." The man stated, laughing quietly. "The name's Shocks, Grand Hunter number five."

"The Grand Hunters?" Ashley thought. "I heard of them...they're as bad as Team Rocket, only they work in smaller numbers and are very skilled trainers. They steal and poach rare pokemon to sell to other criminals on the black market. The last group of officers trying to track down their leader turned up dead and their pokemon missing. Only the highest members have their own pokemon, the rest use slave collars like the one on that Jolteon."

"Even if you are one of the Grand Hunters there's no way I'm giving up Squirtle!" Gary shot back, reaching for a pokeball.

"Heh...if you honestly think you can take down my Jolteon, just go ahead and try it..." Shocks folded his arms and chuckled to himself. "Jolteon, just dodge whatever comes your way for now. These kids couldn't hurt you if they tried."

"Oh yeah? Bulbasaur, Leech Seed!" Bulbasaur fired a seed from the bulb on its back. Jolteon didn't move from its spot, though, and instead opted to destroy the seed with a short blast of electricity. The charred remains of the seed fell to the ground.

"Attacking a pokemon straight out when its focusing solely on defense won't work." Gary chided Ashley. "That Mankey I just caught seems to know an attack to remedy that though. Mankey, go! Use Taunt!"

Gary released the newly caught Mankey from its pokeball. The monkey pokemon hesitated for a moment when it appeared, as if unsure of whether or not it should obey its new trainer, but in the end it started hollering at Jolteon and jumping around.

"-Comeon!Comeon! You gonna stand there all day or are you going to fight?-" Mankey's taunting seemed to go unnoticed by Shocks's Jolteon though. Shocks just snickered.

"Even if you taunt it, Jolteon will only do what I tell it to do. But since you want it to attack so badly..." Shocks snickered again. "Jolteon, use Thunderbolt on Mankey!"

Jolteon's fur stood on end and sparked with electricity. The charge gathered and a powerful lightning bolt was fired at Mankey. Mankey tried to get out of the way but the attack was too fast for it. Electricity coursed through the pokemon's body as the attack hit it and Mankey was instantly out, collapsing to the ground with smoke rising from its charred body.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!"

"Jolteon, dodge it and use Thunderbolt again." Bulbasaur reached out towards Jolteon with a pair of vines to attack, but the electric pokemon easily evaded the attack and fired another bolt of electricity at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur cried out in pain as the Thunderbolt struck and electricity flowed through its body. Bulbasaur slumped forward as the electricity finally faded, nearly collapsing but catching itself as the last moment and struggling back to its feet.

"Still standing...I'm impressed..." Shocks grinned widely. "That just means it'll be worth even more."

"-Damn...that things strong...-" Bulbasaur muttered. "-Well I'm still not going down...without a fight...-"

"You're not taking my Bulbasaur!" Ashley stepped in front of Bulbasaur defensively.

"Squirtle was given to me by my grandfather, there's no way I'm handing it over..." Gary also stated his defiance, recalling the fallen Mankey.

"Have it your way, kids. Taking those pokemon from your cold, dead hands will be much easier." Ashley's eyes went wide with fear as she realized he intended to kill her and Gary. There was nowhere for either trainer to run.

"Dragonite, Brick Break!" A beige pokemon looking a lot like a dragon out of a children's cartoon came barreling down out of the sky towards Jolteon before Shocks even had a chance to issue an attack. The Dragonite slammed its fist into Jolteon with crushing power, hammering Jolteon into the ground then hopping back to put itself between the Grand Hunter and the trainers.

"Damn it! Retreat!" Shocks quickly dropped a small black ball that released a cloud of smoke, concealing himself and Jolteon within.

"Dragonite, don't let them escape! Twister!" Dragonite began flapping its tiny wings, whipping up a visible vortex around the cloud of smoke. The smoke was sucked up by the Twister attack and sent up into the air. When the smoke was cleared, however, Shocks and Jolteon seemed to be gone.

"Damn it...he got away..." Ashley and Gary finally turned around to see who had saved them. Standing behind them was a red haired man with a cape draped about him. Both trainers immediately recognized him.

"Lance!" Ashley and Gary both shouted in surprise.

"Are you two alright?" The dragon trainer asked them. Noticing the condition Ashley's Bulbasaur was in he fished a small potion bottle filled with a green liquid from his pocket and tossed it to Ashley.

"Use that on your Bulbasaur." Lance instructed her. "Its a full restore. It'll sting a bit but Bulbasaur will be back in fighting shape."

"Not to sound ungrateful, but what are you doing out here anyway?" Gary asked Lance as Ashley applied the full restore to Bulbasaur. After a few quick squirts Bulbasaur seemed to regain its energy and was fully restored.

"-Damn, I feel as good as new!-" Bulbasaur looked up at the Dragonite standing in front of him. "-Hey, you! Care to go a round?-"

"-You wouldn't last five seconds...-" Dragonite replied, its voice dull as if bored.

"When I heard there were three new trainers leaving Pallet Town I thought I'd patrol the area." Lance explained. "I had a feeling the so-called 'Grand' Hunters would try something like stealing pokemon from new trainers."

"Well I'm glad you showed up when you did! I thought we were goners for sure!" Ashley said to Lance. "Thanks for the full restore too..."

"You two should keep an eye out for the Grand Hunters." Lance cautioned them. "Their pokemon, although enslaved, are well trained. They only keep the strongest for themselves."

"Right, whatever..." Gary grumbled, reaching for a pokeball and turning to Ashley. "Now weren't we about to battle?"

"What?! How can you think about that after nearly getting killed?!" Ashley asked in surprise.

"-Honestly, I'm with this guy.-" Bulbasaur commented. "-I need a real battle! All the battles I've had so far were either too hard or too easy!-"

"Actually I wouldn't mind watching you two battle." Lance commented, a slight smirk forming on his lips. "I'm always curious to see the new competition, so to speak."

"-Oh please...-" Lance's Dragonite rolled its eyes. "-They'll be just like any other trainer...no skill at all.-"

"-I don't know about that.-" Bulbasaur commented in response. "-Gary's the grandson of Professor Oak, I'm sure he has some talent for battling unlike this pathetic trainer I got paired with.-"

"Fine..." Ashley muttered, drawing a pokeball. "Two pokemon each?"

"Two pokemon each." Gary replied, nodding affirmitively as he also reached for a pokeball.

"Go, Pidgey!" Both trainers called out simultaneously, each releasing a Pidgey as their first pokemon. Dragonite quickly flew past the two trainers to stand next to Lance on the sidelines.

"They're both starting with the same pokemon." Lance commented to Dragonite. "This should be an interesting match, we'll certainly see which trainer has more skill here."

"-Oh, I'm sure it will...-" Dragonite commented idly. "-I'd watch, but I'm pretty sure this here grass is growing...-"

"Pidgey, use Air Cutter!" Ashley commanded. Her Pidgey quickly brought its wings together, creating a v-shaped blade of air and firing it at its opponent.

"Pidgey, counter with Steel Wing." The wings of Gary's Pidgey took on a metallic appearance. The pokemon then raised one of its wings to block the incoming Air-Cutter attack.

"Is that the best you've got, Ashley?" Gary taunted her. Ashley gritted her teeth, silently fuming. "Pidgey, attack now!"

"Pidgey, fly up a bit and use Gust!" Ashley's Pidgey quickly flapped its wings to fly off the ground a few feet and began flapping harder to create gusts of wind as its opponent drew closer with its wings still ready for a Steel Wing attack. Gary's Pidgey ended up eating a beak full of dirt, however, as the Gust attack forced it into the ground.

"Now land and use Air-Cutter!" Pidgey quickly landed in front of Gary's Pidgey and launched an Air-Cutter at pointblank range as the pokemon was trying to get back on its feet. The blade of air slashed across the side of Gary's Pidgey and sent it rolling back a few feet.

"Whats the matter, Gary? Don't look so smug now!" Ashley taunted, now having the upper hand.

"Grr...Pidgey, don't let that loser beat you! Tackle attack!" Gary commanded his Pidgey.

"Pidgey, Tackle attack!" Ashley likewise commanded.

"Seems to be a heated rivalry between these two already..." Lance thought to himself, observing the trainers. "Rivalry among trainers is always a good thing. It means having someone who forces you to give it your best and constantly pushes you to become a better trainer."

The two Pidgeys took off towards each other, seemingly on a collision course. Ashley was watching closely, however, as she had other plans.

"Pidgey, now! Up!" Ashley's Pidgey angled upwards at the last second, soaring straight up into the air as Gary's Pidgey flew underneath it. Ashley's Pidgey continued to climb while Gary's was trying to regain its bearings.

"Pidgey, up! After that coward and use Steel Wing again!" Gary's Pidgey spread its wings, which again took on a metallic appearance as it took off into the air after its opponent. Ashley was waiting for this, however.

"Now, down again! Air Cutter!" Ashley's Pidgey dove down again, facing its rival as it brought its wings together to fire off another Air Cutter attack. The attack struck Gary's Pidgey head on and sent it spiraling down towards the ground again. Ashley's Pidgey was quickly catching up to it in its dive however.

"Now lets finish this!" Ashley began, pointing her finger towards Gary's Pidgey. "Tackle attack!"

Ashley's Pidgey quickly caught up with its falling opponent and slammed into it with a Tackle attack, pushing into Gary's Pidgey to send it into the ground faster and pulling up at the last second so it wouldn't crash as well. Gary's Pidgey hit the ground with a tremendous impact for such a small bird and the dazed expression on its face showed that it was knocked out by the impact. Gary gritted his teeth as he begrudgingly recalled his pokemon.

"Ok, maybe I was wrong about this kid..." Bulbasaur thought. "She actually handled herself pretty good...not that I'll ever admit that to anyone.."

"Seems this battle's been decided..." Lance quietly said to himself with a smirk. "The more skilled trainer has come out of the battle victorious and with barely a scratch."

"-Well she was a bit more interesting than the grass I guess...-" Dragonite said, giving a loud yawn.

"You shouldn't be so relaxed, my friend." Lance said to his Dragonite, chuckling mildly. "You may find yourself losing to one of these trainers someday."

"-I don't think I'd mind the loss.-" Dragonite replied with a shrug. "-A good challenge would be nice for a change...-"

"Well looks like my next pokemon's just going to have to make up for lost ground..." Gary commented bitterly, taking out another pokeball. "Squirtle, come on out!"

Gary held out the pokeball as he pressed the button on the front of it, releasing a blue turtle pokemon with an orange shell to battle. It was Squirtle, the pokemon he had received from Professor Oak.

"Alright, Pidgey, you can sit this one out!" Ashley said to her pokemon, not bothering to recall it. Pidgey got the message though and flew over to land next to Ashley. "Bulbasaur, this ones all your's!"

"-Alright, you better put up a good fight pal.-" Bulbasaur said to Squirtle as he took up position for battle.

"-Hmph. Try not to lose too badly.-" Squirtle shot back, surprising Bulbasaur with his attitude.

"Geez...its as if Squirtle's become a bit like his trainer..." Bulbasaur thought to itself. "Well that won't happen to me, no way am I going to become like Ashley." Bulbasaur shuddered at the thought.

"Squirtle, start off with Yawn!"

"Bulbasaur, Leech Seed!"

Bulbasaur fired a seed from its back while Squirtle breathed out a cloud of white gas. Almost simultaneously, the seed reached Squirtle and sprouted vines to latch onto its stomach and the gas reached Bulbasaur and was inadvertedly breathed in.

"Yawn? What does that attack do?" Ashley wondered, taking out her pokedex to check. "So its a delayed sleep technique...Bulbasaur should still have time for one more attack though!"

"Bulbasaur, use Bullet Seed!"

"Squirtle, Withdraw!" Gary's squirtle immediately withdraw its head, arms, and legs into its shell to protect itself from the incoming attack. Bulbasaur spat out seeds like a popgun, three in total, each hitting Squirtle and bouncing off its shell. Shortly after firing the attack Bulbasaur fell asleep and Squirtle came out of its shell again.

"Bulbasaur may be asleep now..." Ashley thought. "But Leech Seed will still keep draining Squirtle's energy, and it won't be able to hurt Bulbasaur much with its water attacks. Even less since the energy drained from Squirtle will heal Bulbasaur. This pokedex really comes in handy!"

"Now hit it with a Tackle attack while its asleep!" Gary commanded. Squirtle rushed forward and slammed into Bulbasaur with a Tackle, knocking the grass pokemon onto its back. Surprisingly, though, this failed to wake it up.

"Tackle it again!" Squirtle once again slammed its body into Bulbasaur, this second attack causing him to land upright as well as finally waking Bulbasaur up.

"-Ok, I'm just slightly mad now.-" Bulbasaur muttered, staring down Squirtle.

"Bulbasaur, attack Squirtle with Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur gladly extended a pair of vines from the base of his bulb, striking Squirtle in the chest with both of them and knocking him to the ground. Squirtle slowly got back to its feet, appearing to be quite exhausted by this point. For a moment it still seemed capable of continuing, but the Leech Seed sapped its remaining strength and Squirtle collapsed. Gary scoffed as he recalled his Squirtle.

"You just got lucky, thats all." Gary grumbled. "I'm out of here."

"Alright, we did it! We won our first trainer battle!" Ashley shouted in excitement, jumping for joy while her Pidgey chimed in.

"-Tch, that was nothing...-" Bulbasaur muttered. Gary ingored Ashley's cheering as he slowly walked towards Viridian City.

"Well congratilations, Ashley." Lance said to her, interrupting her celebrations. "I look forward to one day seeing you at the plateau."

"Huh?" Ashley blinked and paused for a moment. "Thanks but...I'm not planning on challenging the Elite Four..."

"I see..." Lance replied remorsefully. "A shame, someone with your talent could go quite far I'm sure. In any case, I should be off. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ashley."

Lance hopped on Dragonite's back. He gave a final wave to Ashley before Dragonite took off northwest towards the Indigo Plateau.

"Well I guess I'm finished here then..." Ashley said to herself. "Back to Viridian City, then to the forest next."

"Ashley doesn't plan on challenging the Elite Four?" Bulbasaur thought to itself, frowning slightly. "Well we'll just see about that..."

Author's Notes: Though I don't make an overly big deal for 'levels', I do assign and keep track of them as a general gauge of how strong the pokemon in question is and what techniques it should have available/whether or not it can evolve. Of course, I won't have the pokemon evolve just because they meet the level requirements. Anyway, reason I'm saying this is I have the pokemon's levels starting at 10 instead of 5 to make early battles more interesting. Gave them a few special attacks too.

Oh, this should probably be obvious, but Ashley FR/LG girl. Name's origins should be fairly obvious. Ages are relatively high (for new pokemon trainers) cause the official art makes the characters look fairly mature, so it seemed appropriate. The male FR/LG character's actual name, in this story, is Ash though he prefers to go by Red. The 'color names' just don't seem very fitting, though Red works well enough in my opinion. Ash is just a commonly accepted name (likely due to the anime), same for Gary.

Their personalities are based more on the games though, not that Red actually made an appearance yet. Originally, Red was going to make a brief appearance in this chapter but it just didn't seem to add up so I left it out. Red will be making appearances in later chapters though.

Much later in the story, this will start to tie in with Pokemon: Legends in Hoenn as was hinted in that fic.

Edit: Changed Ashley's Mother's name to "Catherine". Her name was mentioned so briefly in this chapter I actually forgot I gave her one and ended up using Catherine later in the story. Whoops...