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Ash stood overlooking the quiet Pallet Town from the entrance to Route 1. He was finally home. He ran with all his might eager to see his mother. He didn't bother to stop for anything until he reached the small gates that lead to his house. He quickly unlocked the gate and knocked on the door. He waited for some time before he heard shuffling of footsteps behind the door.

The door opened and a pair of arms pulled him into a hug, a bone crushing one. He didn't say anything or even attempt to stop her. She had missed him and she deserved this much. She didn't say anything either. She was just content with being in her son's presence. Her only son. She was happy he was safe.

The hug went on for about a minute before she pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "My Ashy," she muttered before pulling him into another hug, although less bone crushing than the first. "Welcome home son."

"It's good to be home mum."

She pulled out of the hug and looked at him all scratched up but nevertheless okay. "Now I assume you must be hungry. Go up to your room and freshen up. I'll make dinner for you."

Ash smiled. "That would be nice."

He took off his shoes and immediately made his way to his room which looked a lot nicer than it was when he left. 'She must have cleaned it.'

He placed his bag on his desk next to his PC and went to take a quick shower. As he emerged from the bathroom, he quickly changed into a shirt and a short before booting his PC. He wanted to check the trainers that had registered for the gym challenge and familiarize himself with the kind of pokemon he would be seeing at the league. He had been there for about an hour when his mum called him for dinner.

Ash hurriedly made his way down to see Mimey and his mum. On the dinner table was a meal fit for a king… at least a king like Ash. She had made his favourite. Pancakes. Seven different Pancakes were on the table. She may have just gone all out. "Thanks mum."

He turned to the delicious spread in front of him and he too went all out. He threw all graces out the window as he downed the pancakes one after the other, going from spread to spread. It wasn't as though he wasn't eating anything good while he was on the road. It was just that his mum's cooking was once of a kind. Nothing or no one could beat it in his opinion.

-Break-

Ash sighed as he patted his stomach. That was nice. "Thanks Mum. Thanks Mimey," he said as the psychic type cleared the table.

"Ashy," Delia said as she got up. "Could I see your pokemon?"

"Sure thing mum," he said as he unclipped the pokeballs he had on him and released the pokemon that were within them. Multitude of white light filled the house and they coalesced to reveal his pokemon.

There was Blaze who stood tall his tail flame swishing behind him as the temperature of the room increased. Golduck quacked as he came out, Blastoise giving a grunt and flexing his cannons. Venusaur came out giving a lazy sigh as he immediately laid down. Riolu gave a yip before sitting down next to Night. Volt gave a lazy yawn as Butterfree stood on his antennae. Beedrill spun his drills and Glaceon sat down, chilling the atmosphere around her slightly. Emerald slithered over to Ash, wrapping herself around the trainer's legs. Tyrunt merely gave a roar as he made his way over to Blaze, clearly enjoying the heat that was emanating from the fire type.

Delia stood proud looking at the team that he had been able to amass in the period since he had become a trainer. She was impressed and each of them looked healthy. Her son was definitely doing a good job.

"They all are looking healthy." She walked up to her son. "Now, I want you to go upstairs and get yourself ready for tomorrow. You know what I mean right?" her stare was neither stern nor cheerful. It was a mixture of both.

"But-"

"No buts young man. Your pokemon will remain here. I am going to prepare a little meal for them but you are going to rest. You've travelled almost the entire region and as much as I am aware you have been sleeping, I am not sure you have been doing it properly."

He opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it. He knew that at this point it was impossible to argue with her, well not impossible, but for his own safety, he'd better not. He doubted if he's own pokemon would be able to protect him from his mother's rage.

He just sighed and walked up to his room.

-Break-

Ash grunted as he pulled the sheet over his head, flinching as the light blinded his eyes. He pulled it back over his head before rolling off of his bed covered by the sheet and made his way to the bathroom, hoping his eyes would get adjusted to the light slowly. He didn't spend a long time in the shower as he was eager to get to the Professor's.

He quickly ran down stairs and recalled his sleeping pokemon with a smile on his face. He was just about to run out of the house when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Not. Another. Step."

He paused and turned around to see his mum with a ladle in her hand. "And where do you think you're going on an empty stomach?" she asked.

"The Professor's?" he replied sheepishly.

"To the dining room," she said as she made enough space for him to walk past, directing her hands towards the room, "have breakfast first."

Ash nodded. He knew she was just looking out for him so he couldn't actually say anything. The spread was similar to the dinner he had last night though not of the same quantity. He made sure to take every last bite of the pancakes before thanking her and running out of the house. There was only one place in his sights. The Professor's Ranch and Corral.

He had to stop himself from rapidly knocking on the doors. He was excited to get started as soon as possible. He gave three knocks on the door and waited. He was about to push the doorbell when he heard shuffling of feet behind the door.

It opened to reveal a girl who looked to be about the same age as him or maybe perhaps older. "How may I help you?"

"I am here to see the Professor." He tried to see if maybe he could recall her but to no avail. Must have been a new assistant.

"The Professor's out back with some interns at the moment. If it isn't too much trouble, I can take a message for you."

"Umm… just tell him Ash Ketchum is here."

She looked at him taking note of his persistent nature. "I'm sorry," she said slightly, "but could you come back at a later time."

Ash was about to grumble when he noticed a figure behind her. "Daisy."

The brunette turned as she heard her name. Her eyes widened as she saw who had called her.

"Ash," she said as she came towards the door. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he replied. "I thought you where still in Unova."

"I just came to get some things checked out. What are you doing outside?"

"I just arrived yesterday and I am here to see the Professor."

"Well in that case, come on in," she motioned as she walked in.

Ash looked past the weird look that the research assistant was giving him and walked into the house. "Thanks Daisy," he muttered. "So where's the Professor?"

"I think he's out back. I am pretty sure he took an intern with him."

"I guess I'll see you later then," he said as he made his way towards the house. Years of playing around in the laboratory had given him a mental map of the entire place. It didn't take long before he had reached the entrance to the ranch. Ash smiled at the sight of it all.

There was a part of the Ranch that he regularly used for training. That was where he was headed. He'd see the Professor later. Within minutes he made his way to his spot. He smiled as he took the pokeballs that were on his belt and released the pokemon within. As the lights coalesced into his friends, he gave an aura powered whistle. He wanted to catch the attention of just one pokemon. He knew it wouldn't take long if she heard the whistle, a loud bark catching his attention.

"Hey girl," he greeted as he reached to scratch the Professor's Arcanine behind the ear. She wagged her tail at the attention she was receiving from the raven-haired trainer. "Thanks for coming. Could you help me alert the rest of my team to my location? I'd love to see them."

She nodded enthusiastically before turning around, a bark being the only signal she gave Ash before she disappeared in a blur.

He gave a sigh as he turned around to watch his pokemon. Blaze and Tyrunt where lying against each other, with the rock lizard enjoying the heat that his senior fire type was emanating. Blastoise was in the pool joined by Golduck. Glaceon and the rest of his team were all under the shade of the nearby tree.

He turned his head suddenly and noticed Primeape all but barreling into him in a hug. Scizor followed lazily behind alongside Clefable. He wondered where Porygon was before realizing that the pokemon was both digital and organic. He would just have to ask the Professor.

"Okay guys," he said as all of them gathered near him, "we've got just one more badge before we qualify for the league, and that person is going to be tough. Now, I have already chosen my team for the match but that does not mean the rest of you are going to relax. After today, we will be having a very extensive training session."

There was a cacophony of sounds, each of them voicing their agreement at that. He waited for their cries to die down before he spoke up once again. "Until tomorrow, you lot are free to do whatever you want. Just don't cause any trouble."

He dismissed them and decided to take shade under the comfort of a tree.

-Break-

Ash woke up to the sound of mumblings. He didn't open his eyes though neither did he let his aura wash over him. He already had an idea on who the voices belonged to.

"Didn't think he would be sleeping so carelessly."

"I know right."

"Please go away."

The voices giggled rather loudly and Ash gave a scowl. He opened his right eye to see his best friends in front of him.

"Good to see you Ashy-boy. When did you get back?"

"Last night," the raven-haired trainer said as he opened his other eye and stood up. "Didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"Well… had to come train for Giovanni."

Ash's eyes glanced over to Leaf and she looked like she was pouting. "Sorry Leaf… didn't see you there."

The brunette huffed and glanced away. "I'll be waiting for your apology then," she said quietly.

"Aww Leaf. You know you can't stay mad at me."

"We'll see about that."

Ash and Gary laughed before turning to face each other. "So," Ash started, "you've gotten seven badges." It wasn't a question.

"Yep… Blaine was a stretch but Blast had it covered. He's plenty strong. I'd like to see you take him on."

"Same here. All that's left is Giovanni. I'll be training for about a month. Giovanni's real reckless if anything my dad has said about him is any indicator. I need to be prepared for anything."

Gary nodded. "Got anything planned out."

"I was going to lay out a training regime after I woke up but seeing as you're here, we can get started on something."

"We'll have to check in with Gramps."

"Definitely."

Both kids turned around and began their journey towards the laboratory, seemingly ignoring the brunette that was with them.

-Break-

Ash and Gary sat under a tree. They had just finished meeting with the Professor and were pretty eager to get on with designing a training plan. The Professor had given them a few ideas and they wanted to at least stick with it up until the league.

The training plan was rather simple but it was effective, at least it seemed so in the plans. They would be drawing the plans together, yes, but they wouldn't be training together. Neither wanted the other to know about their secrets, so they would be making adjustments to the plan to get one that would work for them individually.

After drawing the main plan, Ash broke up from Gary with the brunette deciding to join his fellow brunette.

Ash called to his Xtransceiver. "Xceed… hologram note mode."

The device beeped in response to his voice command before displaying the note version. "Let's make a header for this document. Hmm… make the header 'Training Regime'." As he said this, Xceed typed. He went on dictating the idea he had in mind and in the end he was happy with the result. Sure it wasn't and would be subject to change, but this would be the foundation of his future training regime.

The summary of the training regime was basically starting with warmups. Flexing of claws, flapping of wings, stretches, running around the clearing etc. Once they were done, they would be going for a long run to strain the muscles. No flying would be employed, just running across the ground, after which they would practice their moves. Working on the ones that needed polishing and maybe learning a new one, if the practice had become sufficient enough.

Once this was done, they would move on to power training. Power training was basically maintaining one particular move for an extended period of time, like for example flamethrower.

He smiled as he went over the rest. It was all in all a nice idea. It was a bit upsetting that he wasn't starting today. He couldn't wait for tomorrow. Speaking of which, his hand made way to his belt where he took a normal pokeball. It was Porygon's and he wanted to work with the normal type and familiarize himself once more with his moves. It would be tomorrow, but Porygon would be spending the night with him.

Ash smiled. Tomorrow was going to be awesome.