Pallet Again

Ash smiled as he stood overlooking Pallet Town. He had spent roughly a year preparing for the league and now he was ready. He looked at himself, his clothes were pretty rough. It was the evidence of the training he had put himself through.

He had opted to let Blaze rest while he trekked the rest of the journey. The events of the past year were still fresh in his memory. Now, he was even more confident in his abilities as a trainer. He and his team had faced a lot of obstacles but they had overcome all of them. Above all things though, he had missed his mother's cooking.

He practically ran to his house and opened the door to let himself in. He would have knocked but he was tired and he was hungry.

"Who's there?" came a voice from the direction of the kitchen. He was glad that she was preparing something.

"Relax mum," he replied casually.

"Ash… Is that you?" the voice had gotten closer and when she came into view, she couldn't help but hug him. "My Ashy. I have missed you so much."

"I've missed you too mum, but I can't breathe," he said as he struggled to return the bone crushing hug. He feared for his ribs and his lungs.

She pulled out of the hug to look at him before pulling him into another one, tears filling her eyes as she did so.

Eventually, she let him go. "Welcome back Ash."

"It's good to be back mum." As if on cue, his stomach growled.

She giggled at that. "You must be quite hungry. That may have been your loudest growl yet."

He gave a laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

The meal was incredible as always and Ash, ever the hyperactive kid, was on the move. He was currently taking his pokemon to the professor to have a brief checkup.

He rang the doorbell and one of the assistants let him in.

"Good morning. Is the professor available?"

"You must be one of his trainers. Yes he is currently out back."

"Thank you," Ash replied as he made his way to where the professor was.

"Ash my boy!" the older man exclaimed upon seeing the familiar raven-haired trainer. "You're back."

"Yes I am Professor. I've sure missed things around here."

He gave a nod. "Truly Pallet Town has not been the same without you, Leaf and Gary."

That reminded him. "Aren't they back yet?"

"Not yet. It seems you arrived before them. I assume you're here to have your pokemon checked out? Let them out then and I'll call the ones that are here."

Oak gave a whistle as he called his Arcanine before instructing her to go and get the members of Ash's team who were at the Corral. As she did so, Ash released the twelve who were with him.

Within moments, seventeen pokemon were assembled before Professor Oak and Ash. The checkup was quite fast, lasting about thirty minutes. The Professor didn't worry much because Ash was taking good care of all of them.

After the checkup, Ash let them run free and go about their activities. They all deserved rest and so did he.

Ash opted to just rest alongside Blaze under the shade of a tree. He didn't fall asleep but rather just rested.

"Damn… he beat us here."

Ash opened his eyes. He had no idea how long his eyes had been closed and he was resting but he was surprised to see Gary and Leaf in front of him.

"Gare-bear, Leaf, good to see you both."

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

"Hmm… I think it was a few hours ago."

Leaf bent down to look at him. "You seem awfully tired."

"Of course I am… I have been training for about a year."

"So have we," Gary retorted.

"Well… guess you haven't been training as serious as I have been."

"As if," Leaf said as she lightly kicked him. "I'm almost done with the Kanto pokedex."

"That's impressive Leaf… how's the researcher training going?"

"You shouldn't be asking that. I just remembered you missed Serena's Grand Festival."

At the sound of that, Ash flinched and so did Blaze.

Gary pretty much threw himself on the ground as he laughed at his best friend. "Ashy-boy's in trouble."

"Shut up Gary."

Leaf was right. He was in trouble with Serena. She'd probably eat him up. He had heard that she had done well in the Grand Festival. She had placed in the Top 16. He decided to focus on something else.

"So Gary… how prepared are you to face me in the Indigo Conference?"

"I'm ready to demolish you of course."

"Can you do that really?" at this point, Ash stood up and he was butting heads with Gary.

"Cool off, both of you," Leaf said as she stepped in between them. "Save it for the conference. Why not compare pokemon instead?"

"Nope… we'll save it for the league. Better to be surprised."

"What's the matter Ash? Scared?"

"He's right," Leaf said. "You guys live in the same town and your pokemon stay in the same corral. Eventually, they're going to cross paths and you're going to discover them anyways. Why not start now?"

Ash could see reason with that statement. "Fine. Can you call the others buddy?"

The fire type gave a roar as he spread his wings and took off in search of his teammates.

"Why don't you start us off," Ash offered.

"Fine," Gary said as he tossed a couple of friend balls, releasing the pokemon within.

Ash recognized nearly all of them. Blast came out flexing his cannons. Pupitar was next. Ash was impressed. Gary's pseudo-legendary was in his second evolutionary stage. Pidgeot was as regal as ever, stretching her wings as she came out.

Absol crouched to the ground as soon as she came out. Gary's Arcanine was a sight to behold. He was already bigger than the Professor's. He barked as he saw Ash, clearly recognizing the trainer. Golem was as menacing as ever. Dusclops was the next one, its sole eye glowing a bright red.

Gary's Krabby had evolved. The Kingler in front of him was an impressive species. Nidoking was an even more impressive of a species. It was clear that Gary had been taking care of him. Speaking of strong species, Gary's Ampharos and Alakazam had evolved. An Alakazam… now that intrigued Ash. He was eager to see the beast in battle. There was the familiar Umbreon and a ferocious looking Seadra.

It was at this moment that Ash noticed the two Kirlia that were behind Gary. Probably the two Ralts he was gifted.

"Impressed are you Ashy-boy."

"I'd expect nothing less from the great Gary Oak," Ash replied rather sarcastically. "I'm betting you'll be all the more so when you see my team."

As if on cue, Blaze descended with a roar and like trainer like pokemon, he and Blast squared off against each other. The rest of Gary's team came to back up Blast but Blaze wasn't one to be outdone. Ash's team was right behind him.

Blastoise, Aerodactyl, Venusaur, Golduck, Volt, Glaceon, Scizor, Butterfree, Beedrill, Clefable, Lucario, Emerald, Tyrunt, Primeape and Zorua, all came to support their trainer's oldest pokemon.

"I'm guessing we'll have to wait and see whose team is the best when the Conference rolls by."

"I guess so."

It didn't take long for the tension to die down. Both Ash and Gary were merely just keeping up with appearances and so were their pokemon.

-Break-

Ash was currently in his room, enjoying the comfort of his bed. He was content with just resting on it with no plans for anything. He suddenly sat upright. It only had just occurred to him that he hadn't checked up on his friends in the past year.

He would have to rectify that immediately. The first person he placed a call to was Misty.

The call connected and he could see the face of the familiar redhead on the screen.

"Hiya Mist."

"Ash, it's so good to see you. How have you been?"

"I've been fine, just got back from the wilderness," he said with a light chuckle.

"Well that's nice to hear. Boy have I got news for you."

"What is it?"

"Well, you're looking at the current Gym Leader of the Cerulean City Gym." She puffed her chest in pride as she made this statement, obviously proud at her achievement.

"That's great Mist. Congratulations. What about your sisters?"

"Well they were so happy I became Gym leader that they decided to go on tour. They've decided to focus full time on their shows apparently."

Ash never did understand the shows the Waterflower sisters performed but he was happy for them nonetheless.

"So… how's it being the Gym leader?"

"It's awesome but it has the pressure to it. The Gym Leader conference was the perfect example of that."

And it clicked in his head. The Gym Leader Conference was scheduled for this year. Apparently it had concluded.

"How'd you do?"

At this, her mood turned solemn. "I did terribly. I was actually knocked out on the first day."

"That fast. Who were you paired against?"

At this her solemn mood turned into sobs. "It was Volkner, an electric type gym leader from the Sinnoh region."

Ash fought back the urge to laugh. That was just plain bad luck on her part. Ash had heard of Volkner. He was a trainer that was considered near elite four level, so Misty getting paired up against him wasn't her fault. Didn't stop her predicament from being funny though.

"How was the tournament organized?"

She placed a finger to her chin. "For the first day, it was two-on-two battles and fourteen players were eliminated. The second day was pretty much the same format except with double battles, leaving seven players to advance. The third and fourth days were for resting and I met Janine. She too was knocked out on the first day."

That was good. Janine had taken over for her father which meant Koga was now an elite four member.

"For the quarter final, the remaining trainers drew numbers and were paired up based on that. The matches here were full six-on-six matches. Three quarter final matches were held and the lucky trainer got to bypass this and automatically enter the semi-finals. The next day was the semi-final match and on the last day we held the final."

"So… who won?"

"I was expecting that question… but I am not going to tell you."

"Why not?" Ash asked in almost a whine.

"That's your punishment for not contacting me all this while," she retorted, a confident smirk on her face.

"That's harsh Misty."

She didn't say anything, opting to just stick her tongue out at him.

"I'll find another way to get the information I need."

"Too bad the league doesn't release information like this." Before he could retort though, she hung up on him.

"That sly girl… too bad I have my ways." He typed away at his Xtransceiver and within moments, he had the information he needed.

"Well that's surprising," he said as he looked at the tournament result. Without wasting time, he started typing again. This time he was looking for information about Koga. Apparently, he had become the second elite four member of the Johto elite four.

As he played out some scenarios in his head, he made his next call.

"So the famous Ketchum returns."

"What's up Trip?"

"Nothing much Ash, just some light training." Ash had an explosion in the background.

"That doesn't sound like light training to me."

"Well with you in the Conference, one can't be too careful."

Ash raised an eyebrow at that. "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm a target of some sorts."

Trip merely shrugged his shoulders. "How are your pokemon doing? I assume they must be resting after the tough training regime you put them through."

"Hey! It wasn't that tough. Where are you anyway?"

"Saffron City. I have been spending my time at the fighting gym and once in a while, I go to challenge Sabrina's students."

It would seem like his Unovan rival was pulling out all the stops in preparation for the conference. It almost made him want to resume training again.

"Just wanted to check up on you… I'll be calling Paul now. Take care then."

"You too."

And the line was disconnected. Ash placed his next call to the Sinnoh native. After letting it ring for almost a minute, the line connected.

"Ketchum," he said, a smirk playing on his features.

"Shinji," Ash replied, returning the smirk.

"I see you've decided to join us."

"Yep." It was at this moment that Ash noticed where he was. "Where are you?"

"Where do you think?"

"You're at the Game Corner, aren't you?"

"Ding ding ding. We have a winner."

"What are you doing there?"

"Come on Ketchum, as if that answer isn't obvious."

Ash smacked his head lightly as he rephrased his question. "What pokemon do you have your sights on?"

"Because you're close to getting the right question, I'll answer you. It isn't so much as what pokemon I have my eyes as much as it is what pokemon I have already got."

There wasn't any emotion on his face as he said this, so it was clear to Ash that he was serious. The raven-haired trainer knew not to ask the pokemon his rival had gotten.

"Guess we'll see at the league."

"Hope you're prepared to lose Ketchum."

"I doubt that would be happening though. I have to ask though, why have you been spending so much time in the Game Corner."

There was a slight blush on Paul's face but it faded immediately. Paul himself wasn't even aware of it. "Well it's the one place where trouble won't enter."

Ash was about to ask who that was before he realized. It was Dawn.

"Don't you dare laugh Ketchum."

Ash couldn't make any promises. Paul of all people was running from a girl. Before he could laugh though, Paul disconnected the call.

Ash fell back on his bed. It would seem everyone was preparing for the Indigo Conference. He was starting to wonder about Trip, Chase and Elaine. He hoped they had qualified for the Conference.

.