Kanto

Once the other Pokemon let go, Muk, the Tauros and Milktank group had surrounded Ash and taken their time to cuddle and groom him much to Brock's and the Professor's fascination. Ash had quietly taken the care without complaint knowing full well if the others found out about his near death, it would be endless amount of worrying. The next day the birthday party for Gary was in full swing and the birthday boy was hiding with Ash and Misty who looked at him exasperated. Gary hated crowds and although he didn't freeze up like Misty or become nauseous like Ash, when they were faced with their phobias, Gary became rude and snappy. Brock found the three of them snuggling on the couch, Gary in the middle with Ash and Misty on his sides, whispering with each other.

Brock, "Everything good?"

Misty looked up, "Yeah! We are good."

Ash, "Well you know another weakness of our little group, now."

Gary was grumbling, "I hate crowds."

Misty pat his shoulder, "I hate bugs, so I'm not judging."

Ash, "And I hate small spaces, it'll be fine, besides Zoey will be here after a long time."

Gary huffed, "I know, so will my Gramp's cousin and his classmates."

Ash's eyes sparkled, "The one obssessed with Pokemon poetry?"

Gary nodded grumbling, "He is cool and all, but sometimes he puts poetry in every thing he says."

Misty chuckles, "It'll be fine."

Brock, "You lot are quite something, you know, most people would rather pretend they have no problem whatsoever then admitting it."

Ash looked at Gary and Misty, "We probably would have been the same way, if we did not have each other to support us."

Gary nodded smuggling into his two friends, 'I would probably have been a real brat if I didn't have them with me."

Blue's voice came from behind them, "So you are hiding here."

Gary squawked at being lifted, "Blue! Put me down! Don't I weigh anything to you?"

Blue chuckled, "Nope! In fact it doesn't take much effort to carry you. Now come on you lot it's time for cake."

Misty, "Yes!"

Ash, "Coming."

The group went outside where the whole town were celebrating the birthday and Gary was sitting a bit grumpy surrounded by his friends and Pokemon. Ash and Misty sat on both his sides and Gou, Chloe, Horace, Ritchie, Duplica, Leaf and Green made it to the party and surrounded him followed by Zoey who introduced his classmates to then, only Serena was missing from their group. There was Kiawei, Lana, Sophocles, Lillie and Mallow who were part of the same class as him and came to Kanto to see the Pokemon and check out the Pokemon.

Kiawei, "So that's what a Shiny Charizard looks like."

Ash smiled, "Yup, he's my handsome boy, aren't you, big guy?"

Charizard rumbled as he greeted the other Charizard and Pokemon who were checking their Kanto counterparts out. Lana and Mallow were checking out the Kanto water and grass types and were mesmerized by Ash's Milotic and Gary's Venasaur. The party went full swing with everyone enjoying the food and the little show Ash and his Pokemon put up for them. Gary insisted he sang for him as it was his birthday and Ash complied and sang 'Happy', it was pretty upbeat and the Pokemon enjoyed it a lot.

Gary leaned against Ash once he was finished performing, "Thank you Ashy!"

Ash made a face at the name but didn't protest, "No problem! Do you feel better? No more tendency to snap at others?"

Gary huffed out a laugh as he hugged Ash, "I'm good now, don't worry."

Lana whispered to Misty, "Are they?"

Misty, "Together? No, but they are best friends."

Mallow, "Like Lillie and I, I get it."

The two groups of friends mingled together sharing tips on care of Pokemon, their journeys and adventures. Kiawei was very interested in the gym challenges while Lana looked takes by Pokemon choreography and Lillie had a fear of Pokemon. Ash and the others just looked at her with understanding telling her it was normal to be scared of something and it was not odd. This started another discussion of the different phobias they had and how they were trying to get over their many weaknesses. Ash hated small spaces, Misty's was bugs, Gary's was crowds, Tomo's loosing his family, Zoey's was ghosts, Brock's was leaving his family to fend for themselves, Jameson and Jessilina had the fear of loosing their loved ones and Lillie's Pokemon. Lillie started to relax and smile as she enjoyed herself and didn't freeze up over and over again everytime she saw a Pokemon, it was not much but it was a start.

Professor Kukui grinned, "Your kids were actually able to calm Lillie down."

Samuel, "They are good at handling phobias."

Samson laughed, "You got some interesting kids cousin."

Ash looked at Lillie seriously, "Do you want to get over your phobia? I mean seriously get over it!"

Lillie nodded, "Of course I do! I love Pokemon more than anything but, my fear keeps me from taking care of them properly."

Ash nodded before turning to Beedrill and Butterfree, "Guys, could you help out?"

Beedrill observed the girl before nodding and flying off, "Bzzzzz!"

Lillie, "Um.... What's going on?"

Butterfree cooed, "Creeee creeee."

Ash smiled, "You'll see, look."

Lillie looked and saw Beedrill flying back from the large lake behind the Professor's, "Is that... Is that an egg?"

Ash took the egg from Beedrill, "Thank you beautiful girl."

Ash turned to Lillie, "Lillie I want to give this egg to you. I know you are scared of Pokemon but this is an egg, not a Pokemon. I want you to care for this egg, maybe after you have taken care of it, you will not be scared of the Pokemon who hatches from it."

Lillie looked reluctant before she became determined, "I can do this."

Lana, "Yeah! Lillie!"

Mallow, "We are here for you."

Zoey, "You can do it girl."

Kiawei, "Go for it."

Sophocles, "Just take it easy."

Ash, "No rush, the egg won't go anywhere."

Lillie took a deep breath and touched the egg, "I... I did it! I touched it."

Kiawei, "Our Lillie is growing up."

Sophocles nodded, "Yeah! You did it Lillie."

Lillie smiled brightly at Ash, "Thank you."

Ash smiled back, "Don't thank me yet, thank me after you have hatched the little one."

Chloe, "Is this gonna be your thing then?"

Ash, "What thing?"

Gou, "Giving poke eggs to others."

Ash hummed, "Only those who deserve the poke eggs otherwise no."

Gary hugged Ash, "Hey Ash! Are you trying to make me jealous? Today is supposed to be my birthday."

Ash snorted, "Don't be jelly Gary! You know you are my first friend, always will be, besides the gift I gave you, you'll love it more."

Gary held up a palm sized packet, "This huh? I will take your word for it."

Unable to contain his curiosity, Gary opened the packet up only to look dumbfounded at what he saw. The Kanto and Alolan Professor and the Headmaster gasped at seeing the gift while the students from Alola lookex at it shocked. Misty and the others looked at them curious about their reactions and before they could ask anything, Professor Kukui took the stone for examination. The kids looked at each other before shrugging and Haxorus pushing the other gifts towards Gary to open them. Gary smiled and opened the gifts while telling the others about his adventures through Kanto and how half his Pokemon are actually rescues from poacher's camps. Ash gave him a hug telling him about his Pokemon and how some of them were rescues as well, not only from poachers but also from abusive trainers. Kiawei, Mallow and Lana were furious when they heard about Charizard, Wartotle and Ivysaur's back stories about how they were abandoned.

Kiawei, "If I ever run into them, I'm kicking their asses."

Lana, "Same."

Lillie, "I for one am very happy you took them away."

Professor Kukui came at that instance, "Ash! You found this stone, right? Where exactly did you find it?"

Ash blinked, "Mt Moon, I thought it felt very powerful so I decided to give it to Gary, on his birthday."

Samuel, "Are you sure it's Mt Moon?"

Ash nodded, "Well it was in one of the loopy tunnels, yeah!"

Samson, "The more you know!"

Gary, "Is something wrong Gramps?"

Kukui handed the stone to Gary, "Sparkling stones are very rare, even more rare than Z crystals."

The Alolan Professor launched into an explanation about Z crystals and the history of Z crystals in Alola. Ash and the others listened fascinated by the story and the very big role the crystals played during the big warm in keeping Alola safe. It was fascinating to learn about the deeper details about the history of a region, Ash concluded, there were facts that were not covered in the anime. Like how the war between Kalos, Hoenn and Unova affected other regions very badly, economically and environmentally. It was the main reason why negotiations and trade between the regions took so long, in the first place, despite the war being almost a thousand years ago.

Kukui offered to turn the sparkling stone into a Z ring for Gary and he agreed to it, although he didn't know how to use one. Gary figured he would go to Alola one day to learn how to use it properly and also find Z crystals which were apparently important to use it. Haxorus rumbled in content behind him and Dragonite purred, their Meema was getting stronger and stronger everyday and they would not follow anyone but him. Lucario huffed and Charizard rumbled their Ash was just as strong as Gary prompting another battle between them that the other Pokemon had to break up.

Ash, "Lucario, Charizard, no fighting, I know you are itching for a match but not today okay."

Gary, "Hoe about we just battle and let them let off their steam, it would cool them down a bit."

Ash, "That's probably a bad idea, but meh! Let's go for it."

Mallow, "Ooh! Oooh! I'll referee."

Samuel, "Please don't destroy my lab!"

Gary, "We won't Gramps! Let's go Dragonite!"

Ash grinned, "You're up first Charizard."

Mallow, "Begin!"

The two Pokemon went at it before a command could be heard, they clashed using dragon tail and iron tail, before they separated and took to the air. Charizard used a powerful flamethrower while Dragonite used dragon breath to counter the attack while Ash and Gary grinned at each other. They both called for dragon dance and the fire lizard and teen dragon danced around each other in the sky getting mesmerized looks from the audience below. They looked amazing dancing around each other in the evening sky before going at it again and both Pokemon returned to ground level and continued the battling till there was a double knock out.

Mallow, "Charizard and Dragonite are unable to battle, this match is a draw."

Ash chuckled, "You good big guy?"

Charizard shook his head and rumbled, "Rrrrrrrrr!"

Gary, "That was a fun battle, next time however we will win."

Dragonite got up and roared at her opponent who grinned back at her, Kiawei approached Ash for a battle after they separated and Ash agreed seeing how Kiawei's Charizard looked interested in his. After the birthday party ended the class from Alola stayed for a few more days during which Ash and Kiawei battled one on one with each other. Ash's Charizard had the upper hand especially with the metal armor against Kiawei's Charizard but with the Z crystal, Kiawei's Charizard matched Ash's. Gou had a fun time recording the battle and his Scorbunny evolved into a Raboot while training with the two powerful Charizards. The class left at the end of the week and the group also went their own ways to train for the Grand Festival and the Indigo League.

Ash looked forward to training in the Shaumatii Island, there were hardly any memories of his late father that he could hold on to. Red however called Gold and told him Ash's plan and the Jhoto Champion agreed to keep an eye on Ash the moment he reached Shaumatii. It was pretty well known secret that the infamous Islands were the resting place of the Legendary Pokemon Lugia of Kanto. One of the two main Legendaries of the Jhoto-Kanto region Gold has been itching to meet, Red had told him about running into Mew when he followed Ash to New Island, perhaps Gold would be lucky too.

[A. N.: I wanted to make the birthday party short but it ran off and became long once I started to write.

Ah well!

I'll put the first chapter for Orange Islands tomorrow.]