139 Grandpa Canyon 2

Ash: A journey

Ever since I was a child, I always looked up to my father and wanted to become like him and even surpass him.

My father Red Ketchum…was the strongest trainer in eyes after all.

I was having a very happy life, had a loving family, and had friends like Gary and Daisy.

"A Pokemon master is a person who is hailed as the strongest trainer….who not only understands any Pokemon but can also make them the strongest they can ever be.

A Pokemon master is a person who is kind and never sees humans or Pokemon as inferior or superior to each other.

A Pokemon master is a person who everyone looks up to"

These were the words I had heard from my father before he disappeared along with his best friend Blue and with no traces to be found.

A lot of things changed after that…my mother started breaking but held on because of me….my friend Gary and Daisy who was the son and daughter of Blue Oak changed.

Gary and Daisy started to become arrogant imitating their father. Although Gary completely changed, Daisy still had some of the personality before everything went downhill.

The person I looked up to the most disappeared but my motivation never died.

He was the one who taught me how to dream…I will find him and show him that I can become the Pokemon master…

I will find him….

I started my journey when I was 17...or I was supposed to start my journey but got delayed because my starter refused to listen to me.

So I took a month time to bond him with and be prepared for the future. Surprisingly Daisy who had become detached requested to travel together with the dream of becoming a top-class breeder and groomer.

She had chosen Bulbasaur her starter.

On the first day of my journey, we were attacked by a group of Spearows followed by a thunderstorm but I saw the legendary bird Ho-oh soon after the storm faded which dropped a feather.

Apparently, it was what they call a Rainbow wing.

It signified that I had the qualifications to fight Ho-oh in the future. This filled me with more motivation than ever to become strong.

As I started late, I missed a significant event that was a tournament for beginners held at Virdirdian city.

That is when I first heard the name 'Aoki'.

A new trainer who won the entire tournament with just a Bellsprout.

My stay in Viridian City was not peaceful as I was attacked by a team called Team Rocket that wanted my Pokemon.

After dealing with the troublesome people, we entered the Vidrian forest where I found my new partners Pidgeotto, Butterfree, and Beedril.

When I fought Brock in my first battle, the name of Aoki and his strong Pidgeotto came again.

Brock was strong, stronger than any trained I had faced, and as expected I lost multiple times before finally winning.

That boy Aoki was able to defeat him on the first try.

Strangely enough, Brock joined our team and quickly became one of the best friends I ever had.

While going from Cerulean to Vermillion city, the size of my party increased again. With insane luck, I gathered all the Kanto starters and had my party wholly filled so I sent some of my Pokemon to Professor Oak as I was not able to take care of so many Pokemon together.

As time went on, I started to hear more about Aoki, especially from gym leaders. The news had become official that a new trainer Aoki had defeated all the official gyms on his first try.

Every time I heard about him, I grew excited…I wanted to fight him... I wanted to see for myself how strong he was…

And today..he was in front of me riding behind his Charizard but something unexpected happened when I saw him.

Those intimidating eyes …his Charizard….reminded me of my father.

The desire to meet him again…the urge to tell him how much I missed him again started burning brighter within me again…

******************

"You must be a participant in the youth cup right? " Aoki asked.

"Yes, I will be participating in it," Ash said.

"Let's have our battle there not now, even if we do not match with each other I promise you a battle later on. How does that sound Ash? "

"Ehh! I wanted to battle now….but if you are not comfortable now we can battel later"

They kept moving forward until they reached where the river went underground so they could no longer travel by boat.

"Do you guys have Pokemon to fly on? " Misty asked.

"I have a Fearow" Daisy answered.

"I have a Pidgeot " Ash answered.

"I have a Golbat but he cannot carry my weight " Brock answered.

"No worry, Charizard can carry you too" Aoki suggested.

"Thanks, Aoki"

Ash released his Pidgeot but instead of giving him a ride, he moved toward Aoki's golden Pidgeot and bowed his head paying his respect.

"What happened Pidgeot? " Ash was confused.

"There is a hierarchy in a Pokemon pack where every pack member bows down to the leader so I think that your Pidgeot is paying respect to a pack leader Ash, that golden Pidgeot is a born leader. " Brock said.

Ash was amazed to see such a scene in front of him while Daisy began clicking pictures.

After packing up the boat, they started flying toward their destination which they would reach in a few minutes.

As they looked down, they could see a lot of trainers going towards the same place too.

Both Aoki and Daisy found themselves looking at a car being driven by a boy. Daisy had a thin smile but Ash didn't give any reaction.

"If you don't mind, is your Pidgeot by chance a royal gene Pokemon? "Daisy asked Aoki.

"Where did you hear that term ?"

" I had heard Grandpa mention it before and as this Pidgeot is different from shiny or totem so I assumed it to be of royal gene"

"You are correct about it, my Pidgeot is a royal gene Pidgeot. "

"What is a royal gene, Daisy?" Ash and Brock asked in unison.

Daisy said the same thing that professor Oak had said to Aoki months ago after seeing his Pokemon.

"It's so amazing….do you have more large Pokemon? " Ash asked.

"All my Pokemon are large… especially due to their different diet " Aoki replied.

"You must be a very good cook then "

"You should try his food once, I still remember the late of his food. That was the best thing I had ever eaten " Brock said.

"Can you please let me try some of your cooking too Aoki? " Ash asked.

"I will make lunch for all of you when we reach our destination so don't worry about it"

***********

By the time when they landed, there were already around 50 trainers present each with different tools.

Most of them looked at the Golden Pidgeot with awe and jealousy but no one approached the group as the intimidating Charizard was standing there.

Among those trainers, three of them paid extra attention to the Pokemon, especially the Pikachu.

Yes, they were the infamous Team Rocket trio Jessie, James, and Meowth. They are very skilled in the art of deception and had done very big robberies over the years.

"What do you say, James, should we go after the kid with the Pikachu…it's been a while since we last saw him," asked Jessie.

"Maybe, it's not like we have anything to do now anyways. That Charizard and Pidgeot look tempting too.

But I don't think taking action today is a good idea. There are a lot of trainers here, our identity can be exposed" James said.

"Open your eyes idiots ~nya, don't you see who that Pidgeot belongs to, did you forget the guy at the fire-type gym who had a golden Pidgeotto~ nya" Meowth said.

Jessie and James froze as they remembered Aoki.

" I completely forgot…let's not take any action now. We wait till everything is over and follow a trainer that is easy to rob" Jessie said.

" Good plan nya~"

*********

"Hey Brock can you set up our camp, I am going to see the situation," Aoki asked calling back his Pokemon.

Brock agreed with the request and began setting up their camp.

Misty and Daisy decided to stay at the camp while Ash tagged along with Aoki.

There were multiple tents with the symbol of archaeological alliance where staff members were surveying the fossils found or giving demonstrations on the correct way of fossil excavation.

After asking around some more, Aoki found that the event would be beginning after an hour as some preparations were not completed yet.

Now for the main attraction of the palace, the excavation site.

It was a giant hole with terrace farming-like structures made for convenience. Multiple caves were made in those steps for trainers to enter and search for fossils.

And finally, large machines ensured that that place didn't collapse.

While Aoki was surveying the place, Ash bought some equipment for himself to participate in the event.

Aoki was not really interested in fossil Pokemon but would catch one if he liked. He had Nidoking with him who could dig so he didn't need fossil equipment.

'Darkrai do something for me' Aoki whispered to his shadow.

[What ?]

'You have been practicing the creation of mega stone for a while right? so you should be able to detect similar energies'

[Yes, I can detect their presence]

'Good, now I want you to survey the entire excavation area and search for Pokemon eggs and mega stones.

Although the chances are nearly zero, If you by chance find any prehistoric Pokemon alive invite them to our dimension. '

[Meet you in an hour…..] Darkrai said as he disappeared.

After taking the mining kit, Ash came back.

"Don't you need them? "

"I have a Pokemon that can dig very well so I don't need them. "

"Let's get back to the camp then, " Ash said.

While on their way to the camp, Aoki made some small talk with Ash about his life, his Pokemon, and his badges which made him realize that some things are the same as the anime events.

His team was almost the same but with the addition of Haunter, Beedrill, and Pidgeot.

Ash was the same light heard cheerful guy but he didn't feel like an idiot that was a good point.

Ash shared some stories about releasing his Butterfree, and the sinking of a cruise ship that he boarded from Vermillion city.

The incident where he could not defeat Surge and Nurse joy offered him a thunderstone, his Charmander not listening to him after evolving, etc.

One thing to note is that Ash did not win against Sabrina even after getting a ghost Pokemon from Lavender town.

"This is your starter right," Aoki said touching the cheeks of Pikachu who almost melted with his touch. This shocked Ash as Pikachu shocks everyone that touches him.

The energy levels of the Pikachu were only a few steps away from reaching elite rank.

'So this is the legendary Pikachu I loved so much in my previous life' Aoki had a wide smile while petting the Pikachu.

"I have a way of getting along with Pokemons, Pikachus usually get angry if someone touches their cheeks but there is a specific way for them to feel comfortable enough not to shock you,"

As Aoki was petting Pikachu, he heard a voice that was meant for the person with him.

"Well, well ~if it isn't our Ashy Boy with the electric mouse ~," said the new person.

He wore a violet shirt with a gold chain around his neck. He had spiky brown hair and an arrogant smile on his face.

He was professor Oak's Grandson Gary Oak.

From the things he was carrying it can be inferred that he had bought his own mining kit. Behind him were a group of women in cheerleading uniform with an expression that say they were completely unbothered by

"Ugg! What do you want Gary ?" Ash said in an annoyed voice.

Although he showed annoyance on his face, deep inside he was still sad that his good friend turned this way.

"What ~ barely two words in and you are making an expression as if I took away your Pokemon.

That aside how many badges did you manage to get?

I already have 10 badges " Gary said showing his badge case.

Aoki saw that Gary had 5 official and 5 unofficial badges. Out of the official he had the ones from Pewter, Cerulean, Vermillion, Flanery, and Celedon. And for the unofficial badges, he only recognized the ones from the bug-type gym and fighting-type gym.

"I only have 6 but having more badges doesn't prove anything"

"Of course it does and I don't have to tell you what it means. Now tell me how many Pokemon did you catch 7 ? 8?

You know that you don't need to tell me, I had already caught more than 60 Pokemon.

So suck it looser~" Gary said with an arrogant smile.

Ash didn't give any reaction to that information and just stood there with an expression that he didn't listen to a single thing Gary said.

Since Gary realized that he didn't get the intended reaction from Ash, he left after giving Aoki a last look.

'This guy sure loves to brag.'

Somehow Gary felt like he knew the guy that was with Ash but couldn't point his finger at it.

"Interesting friends you got Ash. "

"Ah~ haha don't worry about him, he just wanted to brag, " Ash said with a nervous smile.

Aoki looked at his watch and decided to return to the camp and make lunch.

Just like any other time, three new people joined the line of people who were conquered by Aoki's food.

Aoki and Misty didn't take out their Pokemon as they were fed a few hours prior.

"Can I borrow your Nidoking for this event? " Misty asked.

"Sure" Aoki handed Nidoking's Pokeball to her.

"You have a Nidoking !? I wanted to catch one but could not find any wild Nidoran" Ash said.

"They are rare in the wild and generally found alongside their pack so it's difficult to get one. But if you still want to get one you can go to the Safari zone in Fuchsia city." Aoki said.

"Thanks for the information, I didn't know that Safari zone had rare Pokemons too"

After a few minutes of relaxation, it was time for the event to start.

The staff members made a stage for the announcement around which all the trainers stood.

Aoki, Brock, and Daisy stayed back as they were not interested in participating in the event. As Ash didn't have any Pokemon that was good at digging, he borrowed Brock's Gravelar who was the evolved form of the same Geodude that Aoki fought in his gym.

"Ahem! " a high-ranking member took the mic.

"I Welcome all the trainers and aspirants to our 1st open excavation event.

I am today's chief organizer Houser and will be giving you some important tips and specific rules for the event….

…

…

There would be various staff around the mining area helping you all to identify the fossils and if they can be revived…

We will be giving out name tags for sticking them on the fossils to avoid conflict.

Although the use of Pokemons is encouraged, some of them like Onix, Steelix, Gyarados, etc. are too large and disturb others so they are banned from use.

That's it.

So enjoy the event!!!"