The Deepest Blues Are Black

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Satoshi Tajiri does. I'm just writing a story.

Chapter 1

Charmeleon rushed the Squirtle head on, trying to obey its master's command to scratch.

"Squirtle! Quick, Water Gun!" a boy yelled. The Squirtle obeyed and sprayed a powerful jet of water straight at the Charmeleon, hitting it dead in the face. The Charmeleon was knocked a dozen feet backwards and didn't get up.

"This match is over. Charmeleon is unable to battle. The victory goes to Squirtle and Joe!" Ash announced.

"Dammit! Charmeleon's a second stage Pokémon! So why can't I beat that Squirtle?!"

Ash sighed and motioned for the two combatants to come over to him. He took his hat off and ran a hand through his black hair, then looked straight at the boy – his name was Steve - and sighed again.

"Steve, I've told you this before. You can't rush head on like that. Charmeleon's not fast enough, and it has a type disadvantage against Squirtle. If Charmeleon was battling a Treecko, and the Treecko rushed at it head on, what would you do?" Ash asked.

"I'd...probably use Flamethrower," Steve admitted, dropping his head.

"See? Joe just did what you would have done in his place. So what does that teach you?"

"That I need to think instead of reacting?"

"Exactly. See? You're learning already. And remember, and this goes for everyone, there's only so much you can learn in a place like this. The real lesson is out there." Ash gestured out the window, wondering when he was going to go out and get some more real-life lessons.

It had been years since Ash and his many friends had parted ways for the last time, and now he was 23. Longest ago of all was Misty. It had been nearly 10 years since he'd seen her, and although he called her often, it just wasn't the same as actually being with her. Those video screens just didn't do anyone justice. For some reason, Brock always looked a bit odder than everyone else did on the video phone. He thought of the last time he, Brock and Misty had had one of Brock's meals together, and realised he couldn't remember.

"Ash?" Joe asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Ash snapped back to reality, startling the poor boy.

"I was just gonna ask you if you had any advice for me."

"Oh...well, you were pretty good, I gotta admit. Reminds me of myself when I was your age," Ash put his hands on his hips, tilted his head back and let out a ridiculous laugh. Nobody was impressed.

"But seriously," he continued, "if there's anything I can tell you, it's to use your environment to your advantage. Often, you're gonna find yourself on a field that has rocks, or ice, or something like that. If you're having trouble, just have a quick think about what you can use to help yourself out. For example in my first Pokémon League tournament, right here in Kanto, Pikachu and I were battling a guy with an Arcanine on the ice field. Pikachu was using Agility and the Arcanine couldn't keep up, so he told the Arcanine to use Fire Blast on the whole field. Sure slowed Pikachu down!"

"But you won, right?" Joe asked.

"Oh, sure! I told Pikachu to use Thunderbolt, and with all the water around, that guy never had a chance!"

"Wow, Ash!" Steve exclaimed. "I hope I'm half as good as you some day!"

Ha! If Misty were here, she'd have said 'That won't be hard', Ash thought to himself. He missed Misty's smart-ass comments. As much as he used to hate them, he'd grown to love her making fun of him.

"You're all well on your way to being great Pokémon trainers," he said, smiling to himself at the thought of Misty teasing him. "Keep up the hard work and you'll be just fine. Well people, that's enough for one day. I need a burger, and Pikachu needs ketchup. See you all tomorrow."

Once all the kids had gone, he sat back in a chair and Pikachu jumped up on his shoulder. He rested his chin in his right hand thoughtfully.

"You think it's time to get moving again, buddy?" Ash asked his faithful old friend.

"Pikachu!" he said, nodding happily back at Ash.

"Yeah, I think so too. This is great and all, but I need to get back out there. Maybe compete in another tournament. Anything, as long as I'm not stuck here. It must be all that travelling I've done, but I can't stay in any one place for too long anymore." He paused and looked at Pikachu, who simply placed a reassuring paw on Ash's head, followed by miming a ketchup bottle.

"Pika!" he said, jumping off Ash's shoulder and running for the door out of the practise battlefield.

"OK, OK, let's go get some food, then." Ash laughed, then ran to catch up to Pikachu.

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For the past few years, Ash had decided to take a break from battling and travelling, and with the help of Professor Oak had started up a sort of school for young Pokémon trainers in Pallet town. It hadn't started off well, Pallet town being as small as it was, but over time it had developed into a rather large and somewhat famous academy. In the beginning, it had a single classroom that Professor Oak and Tracy used to teach in, and an outdoor battlefield that Ash used to hold practise matches and demonstrations. But now it sported 2 more indoor battlefields – a rocky field like Brock's one in Pewter, and a water field like Misty's in Cerulean City – and a building that housed 4 classrooms. In addition, there were 3 more battle teachers and 6 more that primarily taught in the classrooms. Ash was proud of the place, and a lot of great young people had come through its doors and emerged as powerful trainers, all thanks to Ash and the rest of the staff. Ash's reputation had helped a great deal, being a very successful trainer in his own right. But it was mostly due to Professor Oak's broad appeal as one of the greatest authorities on Pokémon in history that the Pallet Pokémon Academy had become as successful as it was. There was no doubt about it, Ash had made quite a lot of money thanks to this place, and didn't have a thing to worry about. Financially, anyway. Being a part owner of the place had its benefits. But being financially secure wasn't everything. He was getting frustrated at all the sitting still. Even Pikachu, who was at times notorious for wanting his rest, was growing agitated. Ash had a lot of powerful Pokémon and a lot of experience. He longed for more adventure.

He got back to his place – a house that he'd bought earlier this year – and organised a burger and some ketchup. He warmed up the burger in the microwave and plonked the ketchup bottle down in front of Pikachu, who greedily began licking at it.

After all those years of travelling, I thought I'd be able to cook something more interesting than a frozen cheeseburger. Where's Brock when you need him? He thought this to himself as he watched the burger spin around slowly in the microwave.

He turned the TV on and caught the last bits of the news as he bit chunks off the cheeseburger.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried, pointing at the screen.

Ash spun away from the plate and faced the TV, almost choking on the burger in the process.

"Pika?" Ash enquired.

"A 38 year old woman from Pewter City has been hospitalised with what appears to be multiple lacerations and poisoning. A spokesman for Pewter Base Hospital has said the wounds appear to be from a Grass-type Pokémon."

The newsreader vanished from the screen and was replaced by a man of about 50 wearing a dark-grey suit.

"It's most unusual to see this kind of injury under these circumstances. The victim was walking through the outskirts of the city in broad daylight, and an eyewitness said he saw a man running from the scene. I'm no Pokémon expert, but I know they don't just attack humans. Not as viciously as this, even IF their trainer tells them to. The poor woman was left for dead by the side of the road, and there appears to be no motive."

The newsreader reappeared.

"We'll bring you more on this story as we hear it."

"Pokémon attacking humans? What's going on?" Ash mumbled to himself.

"Chu..."

Ash resolved to call Brock and see if he knew anything about it. Brock was still running the gym in Pewter City and had a knack for investigating, even if he should have kept his nose in his own business. It never stopped him before, so he might know more than the news crews. Before he had a chance to dial Brock's number, it started ringing. He answered it, and Misty appeared on the screen.

"Hey Ash!"

"Hey Mist, what's up?"

"Oh you know, the usual. Big day at the office. You don't look so good, what's up?"
"There was this Pokémon attack in Pewter...a grass Pokémon attacked someone," he explained.

"It wasn't Brock, was it?" Misty's face turned white and she just about fell off her chair.

"No, it was a woman. I was about to call him and see if he knew anything."

"Right...deep breaths..." Misty put a hand on her chest and took a few gulps of precious oxygen before continuing. "Well, I guess Brock knows how to take care of himself, after all. And if it was a woman that got attacked, he'd be the first to know. Listen, I've been thinking for some time. I'm getting sick of being at the gym all day. I need to get out and travel again."

Ash started to laugh. Even after all these years, they could still think the same thoughts at the same time.

"What's so funny?" Misty yelled.

"It's just that I was just thinking the exact same thing. I'm tired of teaching. It's fulfilling and everything, but I'm tired of being in the same place all the time. It's been almost 4 years now, and I've only been out of Pallet town twice."

"I know what you mean," Misty said, slumping back in her chair. "I miss travelling with you. And Brock, of course," she quickly added, "...for the food."

"The man knows how to cook, that's for sure."

Misty grumbled and glared at him. He still couldn't pick up on Misty's clumsy hints. She deliberately dropped the most obvious hints sometimes, and he still didn't have a clue. Or so she thought. Ash winked at her.

"Did you just wink at me?" she asked, astonished.

"Me? No, no way! You know me, Mist. I don't know what you're talking about," Ash smiled goofily at her, then continued. "Anyway, since we're both getting bored of our lives, let's go travelling again. We could meet up in Pewter and see if Brock wants to come."

"Yeah! That sounds awesome! Well, it'll only take me 2 days to get there, but it'll take you about 5. And that's if you hurry." Misty's eyes were lit up like floodlights, and she wore a grin the size of a Snorlax.

"Misty, please. I'm part owner of the Pallet Pokémon Academy. I can get transport to Pewter. I can even get YOU transport to Pewter if you want." Ash gave her a smug grin, waiting for the retort.

"I forgot about that...well, since you're so keen to tell me how successful you are, I'll take you up on that offer. I'll see you in Pewter city tomorrow night."

"OK, see you then. I'll have someone waiting to pick you up around 1 o'clock." He still had the smirk on his face.

"What? No argument? Nothing? You've changed, Ash Ketchum." She gave him one of her cutest smiles. Ash blushed, much to her surprise. She was about to say something about it when he interrupted.

"Bye Mist, I'll see you tomorrow night. Don't tell Brock we're planning on travelling again. It'll be more fun if we surprise him. Oh and by the way, you look gorgeous." He winked again.

"Say wha-?"

"Bye!"

He quickly ended the call, probably leaving Misty wondering what the hell had happened. He smiled to himself proudly. He'd never spoken to Misty like that before. He'd never told anyone this, not even Brock, but every week since he'd settled back down in Pallet, he and Misty had talked on the phone. It started off with him just wondering how she was, but over time he'd rekindled the spark of lust he'd always had for her. But it was different now. He was a kid back then, and hadn't really known what to do about it. He never let on that he liked her, and the only indication she had was when she found out she had to return to the Cerulean gym. He'd cried while trying to say goodbye to her and Brock. Not because of Brock, but she didn't know that. It was speculative at best. Now he was an adult, and he understood perfectly what was going on. Moreover, he understood the signs much better than he ever did as a kid, and wondered how the hell he ever missed them before. "Someday, we'll be married." Come on! It doesn't get much more obvious. If she said that now, he'd probably do back flips and dance around the town for a few days.

"Pika pi?" Pikachu drew his attention again, and Ash realised he'd been daydreaming since ending the call with Misty.

"Sorry 'bout that buddy. Well, did you hear all that? Looks like we're going travelling again! Better get some rest, we'll have to leave early if we're going to find transport to Pewter City in time to meet Misty. I don't particularly feel like pissing her off."

"Chu..." Pikachu agreed, often refereeing Ash and Misty's arguments in the past, but quickly looked excited again at the prospect of seeing the world once more.

The two went off to their respective beds, and Ash thought about which Pokémon he should bring with him. It was too early for him to be tired, but he had to try. If he didn't get enough rest, he'd be history tomorrow. He set his alarm clock and stared at the roof while trying to decide who he should bring. He'd go and see Professor Oak in the morning before he left. Maybe he could help him.

He stared at the roof for about half an hour, unable to make up his mind. Frustrated, he gave up and rolled onto his side, thinking about Misty. He always tried to think about her before he went to sleep. His mom once told him that if you think hard enough about something when you're nodding off, there's a good chance you'll dream about it. He didn't really believe it, but he was willing to try it anyway. Dreams about Misty were damn good dreams.

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One of the biggest changes to Ash's personality was easily his ability to get up early. He didn't always do it, but if he needed to he could. He thought back to his very first day as a trainer, and laughed at how immature he'd been. Not that he was exactly old now, but he was old enough to know better than to sleep in when something important was waiting.

"C'mon, Pikachu. Let's rock!"

"Pika." Pikachu just rolled over and faced the other way.

"Dammit, Pikachu, you haven't changed at all! You wanna see Misty, right?"

"Pi"

"So let's get going! I've got all your stuff packed except for your sleeping bag, which you're currently in. We need to go see Professor Oak first and grab some friends, then it's straight to Pewter!"

"Pi-ka-chu..." Pikachu gave up and got out of his little bed, being dragged by the arm by Ash.

The two set off with their backpack of supplies: toothbrush and paste, 2 spare sets of clothes, 15 pokéballs, some snacks in case of an emergency, spare shoes, and 2 sleeping bags. They made their way down to Professor Oak's place, passing many new houses along the way. Most of them had familiar faces, as Ash often walked this way to the Academy. He said hi to them all, but kept walking. He couldn't be late.

He arrived at Professor Oak's place, but couldn't hear anyone. No one answered the door.

"Hello? Professor? Anyone home?" He called, but still no answer. It was unusual for Professor Oak to leave the door unlocked when he wasn't in. And to his knowledge, Oak didn't have anywhere to be today, so he should have been there.

Ash walked towards one of the research labs, but there was no one there either. He checked out the kitchen, and found his mom's Mr Mime in there.

"Hey Mr Mime, how've you been?"

"Mime, mime!" Mr Mime cried out.

"Where's the professor? And if you're here, then that means-"

"Ash! Where do you think you're going?" Delia Ketchum appeared in the doorway he'd just walked through.

"Hi mom! How did you know I was going somewhere?"

"Please, Ash. I'm your mother. And you're wearing a backpack."

"Oh. Right."

"Ash! Out here!" The Professor called, standing out the back feeding one of Ash's Tauros.

The three of them went outside, and Ash realised why he hadn't been greeted at the door. A little slow on the uptake, aren't ya bud?

"So, Ash. What brings you here today? Shouldn't you be preparing your classes?" Oak asked.

"Well, you see Professor, I've decided to go on another journey. It's been way too long and I'm feeling a little restless. I wanna travel through Kanto again, maybe I'll even enter the Pokémon League." Ash explained.

"But who's going to take care of your classes at the academy? You teach 9 classes there a week. You can't just leave, can you?" Delia asked.

"Mom, relax. I've called a couple of graduates, and they're gonna take care of my classes for me. They know all the stuff I taught them, and I've given them my outline for the next year. They'll be fine. And they said they could use the money anyway."

"Well, since that's all taken care of, I don't have a problem with it. We've made the academy quite self-sufficient now, so it should be fine without you. Obviously it would be better if you were there, but if you need to leave for a while, then you need to leave for a while."

"Thanks, Professor!"

"Don't thank me, Ash. It's been your hard work as well as mine that's produced that place. And now, have you given any thought to which Pokémon you're going to bring with you this time? You're not going to do what you did before you went to the Hoenn region and only bring Pikachu, are you?"

Ash thought about this for a second, then replied.

"I don't think that'd be wise. I've done it before, and I know I could do it again, but it's really not going to help me this time. I think I'm gonna need all the power I can get for this journey. And seeing as it's Kanto I'm travelling in, maybe I should use some of my Pokémon from this region."

"That sounds good to me. So I guess it's a good thing I brought this guy back with me after I did some research on him and his friends."

Professor Oak produced a pokéball and pushed the button, aiming it in front of them. A bright flash of white light appeared, and formed into the shape of a large orange Pokémon.

"Charizard! It's so good to see you! How've you been? It's been so long!" Ash was ecstatic. It had been a very long time since he'd seen Charizard, and it'd done a lot of growing. Charizard was at least half a foot taller than he remembered, and it looked like it had tanked up a bit too. But it had lost none of the friendly-but-tough disposition that had taken so much work for Ash to develop.

"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu ran up and sat on Charizard's shoulder, and the big orange beast smiled back and let out a little roar of delight. Delia backed up a few paces, putting her hands to her mouth.

"Well, it looks like I made the right choice. I had a feeling you might be heading off again soon. And I also had a feeling that you'd want to take Charizard with you. After seeing it in the Charicific Valley, I think I understood that it was feeling a little pent up in there. It made me realise that you might be feeling the same way. That, and I wanted to do a little more research on it here. But I've finished all that now."

"Thanks Professor, I owe you one."

Ash was delighted to see his old friend again. Charizard was one of his first Pokémon, and seeing how it had grown over the years really brought it home just how important it was that he get moving.

"Um, Professor? Do you think you could help me make a decision on which Pokémon to bring? I kinda have no idea."

"You're the teacher, Ash. But if I had to make a suggestion, I'd say try and cover most, if not all, of your bases as far as type advantages are concerned. And you said you wanted to bring Kanto Pokémon with you, so a good start would be Pikachu, Squirtle and Charizard."

"But Squirtle's with the Squirtle Squad, I can't bring him with me." Ash stated.

"Well, that's not entirely true." Delia said. "An Officer Jenny from some town between Vermillion and Saffron Cities came by the other day with your Squirtle. He's been a great help with my garden. I would have brought him to your place, but I thought you'd be tired from teaching. That's why I'm here, I was going to leave him with Samuel."

"Wow! Thanks mom!" Ash beamed at his mom, then turned to face Squirtle, who had appeared from behind a bush with Bulbasaur.

"Squirtle Squirtle." Squirtle said with style, posing with his sunglasses on.

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur yelled, saluting everyone by using a vine.

All of Ash's oldest Pokémon reintroduced themselves to each other, running around and playing for a little while as Ash, Delia and Oak watched on in amusement.

"Wow, this is like a big reunion! Just wait till you see who you guys are gonna see tonight!" Ash said his old friends.

"Who are you seeing tonight, dear?" Delia asked sceptically, wondering who Ash was hanging around with now.

"Well, it's kind of an old friend. My oldest friend, actually, apart from Gary. She's part of the reason I wanted to go on this trip in the first place."

"She, Ash? So who's this mystery 'friend' of yours, hmm? Secret girlfriend you've been seeing this whole time? How come you never introduced her to me? Pikachu, do you know who he's talking about?"

"Pi." Pikachu nodded slyly.

"Can you tell me? Come on, I'm Ash's mom! You can trust me."

"Chu." Pikachu shook his head.

"Mom, please! I can't tell you, 'cause I want it to be a surprise for all these guys. I don't wanna ruin it."

"So it's not a girlfriend, then?"

"Not exactly..." Ash trailed off.

"I know who it is." Professor Oak said matter-of-factly, miming the name 'Misty' to Ash. Ash nodded, then looked at his mom, who somehow learned to lip read in the last 10 seconds.

"Oh! M-" She started, but Ash had already covered her mouth. "Right, sorry dear."

"Keep it down, mom! Bulbasaur's getting suspicious."

"So you're travelling with her again! Oh I always liked her, very polite young lady. This is so exciting, Ash! I always knew you two would get together some day! You make such a great couple!"

"MOM! Please! Anyway, can we get to the part where I choose my Pokémon already?" Ash complained.

"Right...this way, then." Oak directed, leading them to the room where all of Ash's pokéballs were kept, and chuckling to himself quietly.

Every time Ash walked into this room, he was more and more surprised at how many pokéballs were actually in there. And he couldn't help but notice that the number that were on the 'Ash' wall were catching up to the number on the 'Gary' wall. They weren't rivals anymore, they'd actually become quite good friends. Gary had even spent some time as a guest teacher at the academy. The kids all loved him. Especially his Umbreon and Blastoise. But he still liked beating Gary.

"So you've decided on Squirtle and Charizard, that leave you with 3 more choices."

"Well I'm gonna need a grass type. Is it OK if I take Bulbasaur?"
"It's fine with me. I've done all the research I need to on him. But you better ask him yourself."

"Bulba. Saur." Bulbasaur nodded grimly, as always, and agreed to go with Ash.

"Awesome! OK, well I'd like a flying type, but I don't have Pidgeot anymore. And taking Heracross would be great! A bug type is always handy."

"Why don't you take your Staraptor, or Swellow, or even Noctowl?"

"Noctowl! I almost forgot about it! That's great, I'll take those 5 then!"

Professor Oak trundled over to the shelves and picked up the 5 pokéballs.

"Now Ash, I'm going to need the 5 pokéballs you have with you. You know the rules, of course."

"Of course, professor. Here you go." Ash handed him the pokéballs, and the professor gave him the 5 he was holding. He took Ash's current 5 and scanned them in before putting them on the shelves again.

"Right. Oh yes, I almost forgot. I have a new Pokédex for you. It has some new information on attacks and such, a couple of new Pokémon, and a much nicer voice."

"Thanks! Right, how do I scan these in again?" Ash mumbled to himself.

He pushed a red button on the inside of the Pokédex, and it came up with a list on the screen on all the Pokémon he had with him. Only Pikachu's picture came up. He ran each pokéball past the Pokédex, and it beeped an affirmative each time it registered. Slowly, all 6 Pokémon appeared on the Pokédex screen. Ash shut the Pokédex and put it in his pocket.

"You'll only have to do that when you're here. Otherwise we'll do it the old fashioned way." Oak said.

"Cool. Well, I guess this is it, then. I've got a plane to catch if I'm going to meet M-" Ash stopped himself. "My friend in Pewter City by tonight. Later!"

Professor Oak, Delia, Mr Mime and Ash all said their goodbyes, and Ash walked out the door. A taxi was waiting for him out the front.

"You Ash Ketchum?" The driver asked.

"Yeah, that's me. You're right on time."

"Pallet airstrip, right?"

"Yep. Thanks, bud."

Ash hopped in the cab, and within 10 minutes he was at the little airstrip which passed as Pallet town's airport. Nobody had much need for a big airport in Pallet, it wasn't worth the cost of building one when you could just go to Viridian City and catch a plane from there. He paid the driver and walked up to a little private plane sitting on the runway.

"Is this the plane going to Pewter City?" Ash asked. He'd never been on a plane before so he was nervous.

"Sure is. We're departing in 10 minutes. Ash Ketchum, right? You're right on time." The Stewardess said.

"Awesome, thanks!" Ash replied.

"T-t-take a seat. W-w-would you like something to d-drink?" She started stuttering when Ash confirmed his identity.

"Um, yeah sure...a beer would be great. Are you OK? You're going all red, and stuttering."

"I'm f-fine...um...COULD I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!" the stewardess suddenly screamed and literally shoved a pen and paper in his face.

"Waahhh!!!! Sure! Just don't hurt me!" Ash yelled. He signed the paper for her, reading her name – Rose- off her badge and including it.

"Wow! I've really got Ash Ketchum's autograph! This is the best day of my life!" she danced off down the aisle to get Ash's beer.

Oh boy. Misty's gonna be mad when I get off the plane. And I have to put up with this for the whole flight? I'm flattered. Really.

Ash suddenly realised that he thought sarcastic thoughts to himself.

"Excuse me, Rose? How long is the flight anyway?" Ash called to the stewardess.

"Oh not long. If it was a jet, we'd be there in an hour. But since it's not, it'll take about 2 and a half." Rose sung happily back at Ash while pouring the drink.

Oh great. 2 and a half hours of this?

Ash looked at his Pokédex. The time read 14:04. He was going to be early. Which was fine by him, he'd get to spend some time with Misty before they meet up with Brock at the gym. He took his pokéballs out and fumbled around with them, staring out the window the whole flight. He told Pikachu to warn him if Rose the crazy fan-girl stewardess came back.

Author's note: Well, that's the first chapter of my first fanfic. Hope I didn't draw it out too much. There was a lot of stuff to say before I moved on to meeting up with Misty. I didn't want to exclude anything and risk it being not detailed enough. Anyway, please review this beast, I'd love some feedback before I start writing chapter 2!