The best days in the Kanto Region were always clear and sunny to people. The sun shone upon the cities, seas, forests, and deserts as wild Pokémon roam about. The flowers were blooming in the light from the warmth the star gave off. The region was always beautiful, but it was days like this that made the land feel like a paradise.

For many, it was another beautiful day, but for some, it didn't mean anything. And for people in Intihar elementary particularly, it was just another day to get beat up. A young boy stood up with fists raised ready to defend himself. Every day he would get jumped for lunch money by his fellow students, and no matter what, he would always lose. However, he wasn't ready to simply let them beat him up for laughs. Despite his will to fight, he was shaking nervously seeing them approaching him with fists raised, as he spoke.

"P-P-Please, leave me alone!" The young boy begged. Tears streamed down his cheeks as the three boys that looked to be around his age stood in front of him laughing. "W-why are you being so mean to me?"

"Aww, is puny Tommy gonna cry?" One of the boys continued to laugh.

Next to the boys were a small furry chimp creature and a tiny bird creature. The boys and Pokémon all laughed their butts off, seeing Tommy begging to simply be left alone. Tommy shed more tears but was ready to fight. He was sick and tired of being bullied by those jerks every single day. It had been like this for as long as he could remember, and he didn't know why they were so rude to him. He always went home crying, but he was sick of it. This time, he was going to show them that he wasn't some punching bag to laugh at.

One of the boys rolled his eyes and grabbed the young boy by the collar of his shirt. The boy didn't care about Tommy's feelings, and in fact, he enjoyed watching him crying like a baby. He didn't hate him or anything, but the boy just thought he and his friends were better than everyone at his school. They were all the most popular kids, but the popularity among the other students quickly went to their heads. Now, they bullied whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

Some of the other kids watched while it was going on, and some of them were chuckling. Others were busy playing in the playground or with some of the school's Pokémon, while Tommy was being beaten. The teachers were busy supervising everyone playing with the creatures to pay attention to everything that was going on. Which for Tommy was truly unfortunate, and that he didn't have anyone to count on for support.

Tommy continued to shed tears while he heard some of the laughing that occurred nearby. The bully meanwhile narrowed his eyes, annoyed, and said,

"Now then, how about you fork over the cash, and beat it!" He demanded.

The bully pushed Tommy down to the ground. He landed on his back, while the other two bullies walked toward the helpless boy and began kicking him. Hard. The young boy tried to catch the kicks being thrown at him, but he was being hit from all sides. He winced and cried as the kicks hit his back, his arms, legs and even his face. The bully's Mankey threw a few kicks and the Spearow pecked his arm with its sharp beak, which only made Tommy shed more tears.

Tommy tried to defend himself, but he was knocked back, lying on the sand. He began crying again, while the bullies just laughed at his misery. Tommy didn't try to fight back at this point. It was pointless. He just shed tears, while he heard laughter coming from all around him. His fellow students, bullies and even the Pokémon. The teachers or faculty didn't even bother to come and help. This made Tommy feel even worse. Why did this have to happen to him? Why does it feel like no one likes him?

"I want my mommy!" He whimpered.

Suddenly, a weird noise was just heard.

Thwip!

The bullies all glanced to the side, completely confused. Suddenly, a streak of red and blue landed upon the ground right in front of them. The boys quickly backed away seeing what had just landed in front of them. The figure slowly got up, which made their eyes go wide and back away further.

Tommy meanwhile looked up but could barely see what was going on. Was this supposed to be help? No one knew what was going on, and he closed his eyes. They couldn't see his face; it was covered by a red mask with a pair of black and orange goggles. He wore a red and blue hoodie with long red sleeves and a pair of blue sweatpants, and black and red sneakers, and a pair of blue gloves. What caught the boys' eyes was what was on his chest. There was a white symbol on it that looked like it was drawn on by a permanent marker and the symbol itself resembled that of an Ariados.

"Leave him alone," the man said in a bit of a deep voice.

The boys and their Pokémon backed away slightly, completely terrified of this person. within seconds, they ran off as fast as they could. The man watched as they got out of his sight. He turned back and walked up to Tommy and crouched down to talk.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

The boy slowly looked to see the man, and his eyes went wide. He slowly moved back, with more tears running down his eyes.

"D-D-D-Don't hurt me!" He begged.

Little did the boy know, the masked stranger frowned beneath his mask.

"Hey, it's okay," he said calmly. He reached out to help Tommy up.

The young boy's eyes went wide, surprised by the sudden kindness of this person. He was a bit hesitant after just seeing him scare off the bullies. He accepted the help, and the man helped the kid get onto his feet. The masked stranger ruffled the kid's hair and chuckled with kindness in his voice.

"Don't worry. I'm gonna make sure those bullies don't mess with you again," he said. "Though, you should try to stand up for yourself." The man got up and began to walk away.

"B-But I can't..." Tommy cried.

He turned back to Tommy, surprised by what he had just heard come out of his mouth. He didn't know what happened prior to this, but it didn't matter to him. He turned around and crouched down once again, looking him straight in the eye.

"Believe me, kid. You're much stronger than you think. You can do anything," he smiled at the boy underneath his mask.

Tommy looked at the masked man, surprised by what he heard. Suddenly, a wave of hope washed over his mind. All his life, he had been told he couldn't do anything. By his bullies, neighbors, even a few of the teachers at school didn't think he could do much. He looked at the masked man but didn't know what to say to him. Maybe he was right, maybe not, but he could hope he was.

"Look, I know bullies and life makes people believe they should just drop everything and quit, but you shouldn't," he continued. "If someone tries to push you around, and says that, you plant yourself like a tree and look them in the eye and tell them 'No. I'll never give up until it's over."

The masked man raised his fist, and Tommy returned the fist bump with a bright smile on his face. The man stood up with a grin, and watched the boy run off with pure hope in his eyes. He looked back and shot a thin white web line from his wrist, but before he could leave, Tommy raised his voice.

"Hey," he said, "thank you!"

The man looked back at the boy.

"Anytime."

He then jumped up and Tommy and his fellow students watched as he swung away. Tommy meanwhile watched in awe seeing him swung off. A bright smile soon appeared on the young boy's face, forever grateful that there are people like him in the world.

XXX

The man soared through the skies above Veridian City, like he was flying. He made an in-air flip before shooting another line at the nearest tall building. He passed through multiple blocks within seconds, seeing all sorts of sights. Various reds, whites, even tan from the buildings and cars he passed. The wind rushed past him, while he heard cars honking, people running and even children playing with their Pokémon. He landed on a small brick stone building to take in the sights of the city. Buildings went on for what seemed like miles, much more than what most people thought when they envisioned it in their heads. He looked down to the streets below him and let out a sigh. It was peaceful, or at least, looked peaceful.

He searched through the streets for anything that looked out of the ordinary, whether it was just a Meowth stuck in a tree or a carjacker trying to get away. Despite the concern, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary that caught his attention. The only thing he saw that was on a rooftop was a pool party on one of the higher standing buildings in the distance. It was nice that there was peace in a city like Veridian.

The city had a bit of a bad reputation thanks to groups such as Team Rocket. It had even been rumored that they paid off the gym leader and allowed them to run rampantly. The web slinger had his suspicions about the gym, but he certainly did have a feeling those rumors were correct. He had some history with the gym, and he couldn't believe who oversaw it. Needless to say it was a moment in his life that he could never forget. And that was saying something. He has been through a lot in life, and yet, his determination to help others and achieve his personal goals has never faded away. If anything, they've only increased. All the support he's gotten along the way helped, especially from his mother and his closest friends.

The man shot another line and swung off, while feeling nostalgic. It was his main mode of transportation, and it beat walking a thousand times over. He had swung through the city so many times, he basically knew it inside out, which made his life much easier.

It took a few minutes for the man to swing back to a rather decent apartment complex. He landed on the side of the building and easily clung to the surface of the wall and crawled along the side. He peaked through a window along the upper right of the building seven floors up. He turned to a small table next to a bed and spotted a small yellow mouse Pokémon with red sacks on its cheeks, brown stripes along its back, and two ears pointed upward as well as an electric shaped tail. The Pokémon sat peacefully on a cushion being used as a seat with the TV turned on. The man smiled underneath his mask, as he opened the window, and made a small jump inside.

The Pokémon glanced to see the figure and let out a happy cry.

"Pika!" He squeaked.

The man closed the window, as Pikachu jumped on his arm and crawled up to his shoulder, like it was routine.

"Hey, buddy!" He said, petting the Pikachu.

Shortly after petting his partner, he grabbed the top of his mask and pulled it off his face, revealing his shadow black hair, brown eyes, and electric shaped birth marks on his cheeks. His real name was Ash Ketchum, the first and only champion of the Alola Region.

"Sorry for not letting you tag along again. It's just better this way," Ash said in a somewhat down voice.

Pikachu nodded, understanding. As much as they had been through together, the electric Pokémon knew why he couldn't tag along with him. Ash had made a rule that Pikachu or any of his most powerful Pokémon couldn't come with him when he was out unless he wasn't doing what he just did. Pikachu smiled and raised his paw, and Ash smiled. He gave his partner a fist bump before sitting him down and walking to the bathroom.

After a while, he got out of the bathroom wearing a robe. He had just taken a hot shower and took the time to shave off the stubbles that were growing across his face. There were times like that where he missed being ten. Having adult responsibilities was a pain, but he at least had the money thanks to his status as a champion.

Even after taking some time to relax, Ash's mind was still deep in thoughts. So much had happened in such a short time, some decent but mostly bad.

Ash looked at his left wrist.

"Man... To think this all happened because of a Pokémon..."

6 Months Ago...

Pallet Town was always known to be a relatively quiet farming town, with a population of over forty thousand. It didn't have much compared to other cities around the country, or the world at large, but people liked it that way. The only notable aspect that caught people's eye was it being where Samuel Oak, the region's leading expert on Pokémon was located. However, that all changed a few months ago when a large laboratory owned by the corporation Alchemax opened up just outside the town.

Inside the facility, a small green and blue Pokémon with red fangs descended to the ground of a dark room upon a thin line of string shot. It crawled along the ground quickly, entering an air vent, while a few sharply dressed men walked along the hall. Once it was inside, the Pokémon crawled straight, and looked around for any sign of light. The Pokémon crawled through the vents quickly, going from left to right, and even upward. Then, it saw a dim white light coming from the left, and it sped up. Soon, it made a small leap out of the top of the vent and landed on the outside of the building on all its legs. It was free.

The Pokémon crawled all along the roof of the building, seeing a small town in the distance. It spun a string shot and crawled downward, until it was on the dirt road, leading to the town.

Meanwhile in the small town, people roamed the sidewalks along with their Pokémon, cars cruised by, and shops were around many corners. Everything was peaceful, and no one could imagine lives without the amazing and powerful creatures. People and Pokémon have had a symbiotic relationship as long as there has been recorded history. They helped each other with almost everything, from creating art and buildings to more minor things such as gardening. But one aspect of this relationship has had a dominant effect on society, that being battling. And currently, The Alolan champion was busy having one.

"Alright, Charizard use Flamethrower!" Ash commanded.

A large orange dragon like creature nodded with his trainer's orders and fired a giant blast of fire straight out of his mouth. The fire went straight toward a large metallic serpent creature. It was completely silver, with long spikes protruding from the sides of its body. The Pokémon was ready to take the fire head on.

"Steelix, dodge it, and counter with Hyper Beam!" Another trainer ordered.

Steelix nodded to his trainer's orders, and dashed to the right, making a small leap, avoiding the flamethrower. Then, the steel and ground type narrowed his eyes toward Charizard. His mouth began to glow a bright purple, and began to open, snarling at the opposing Pokémon in front of him. The steel serpent Pokémon then let out a large blast, straight toward Charizard. The fire gritted his teeth, and opened his wings, ready for a strike.

"Dodge it!" Ash directed.

Charizard nodded, and quickly flapped his wings, and flew straight to the left, avoiding the blast.

"Double edge!" The trainer ordered.

Steelix stopped his hyper beam and was surrounded by a bright white aura after a few seconds. He was good, Ash knew. A lot better than the last time they met. No one had ever trained a Pokémon to learn how to quickly recover energy from a move like hyper beam. But, it was time for this battle to end.

"Alright, Charizard, let's finish this!" Ash said, excited.

"RRRAAAARGH!" Charizard roared, as he flew straight toward the opposing Pokémon. Steelix charged straight toward Charizard, ready to land a hard hit, like a speeding train. Then suddenly, Charizard grabbed Steelix's throat.

"Use Seismic Toss!" Ash commanded pumping his fist into the air.

"RRARGH!" Charizard cried as it lifted Steelix and flew upward into the sky. The fire Pokémon used all his might as he continued to fly into the sky. Then he made a few loops through the air, and divebombed to the ground. Then, Charizard threw Steelix straight to the ground hard, and smashed into the battlefield like a meteor. The force of the crash sent a massive shockwave of wind to blow in every direction, followed by a large dust cloud. Charizard roared feeling proud of what he just did. As the dust settled, Steelix was on the ground, unable to move another inch.

"Steelix is unable to battle, the winner is Charizard!" A woman said.

The trainer recalled his Pokémon and walked up to Ash and smiled. He had spikey brown hair that went in just about every direction, dark tan skin, and his eyes were always squinted. He was wearing a black and orange sleeveless coat, a green collared shirt and khaki pants, and black lace less shoes. He reached out to the young champion to shake his hand.

Ash smiled and returned the handshake.

"That was an awesome battle, Brock," Ash said with excitement in his voice.

Brock nodded.

"Thanks. You really have grown since we last saw each other," the pewter city gym leader remarked. "Congratulations on becoming the champion."

Ash smiled.

"Thanks. It's still surreal to believe."

"Well, you've more than earned it," the two heard a woman speak, which meant a lot to the champion.

The woman clapped for the two, extremely impressed by Ash's Charizard and Brock's Steelix. She had long raven black hair with scarlet red stripes on the front of her hair, resembling that of fangs. She had blood red eyes and wore a purple sleeveless shirt revealing her stomach, with purple gloves to match. Along with the purple, she wore a gold diamond shaped belt with black pants and purple heels. Her whole motif was based on a Serviper, but many trainers have commented that she is scarier than one. With her reputation, Ash understood why. She was Lucy the frontier brain of the battle pike and known to be one of the strongest trainers in the region.

She smiled at the two before pecking Brock on the cheek, which made him turn bright red. There was a bit of a blush on her cheeks, while Ash just looked on not wanting to ruin the moment between them.

Brock quickly broke out of his lovestruck trance and nodded with her.

"She's right. After everything we went through, you've deserved to win a league for a long time."

"Well, it wasn't just me who won," Ash turned back to see his Pokémon playing and relaxing and gave them all a proud grin. "It was all of us."

Brock and Lucy nodded in agreement. They were both proud of Ash for getting one step closer to achieving his dreams. They knew he had the talent and determination that a Pokémon master needed to have if he wanted to be one.

Soon after, Brock recalled his Steelix and the trio headed out of Professor Oak's lab. Brock and Lucy walked hand in hand in the opposite direction Ash was going, as they had to get back to Pewter City by the next week. Ash and Brock fist bumped before they headed out. The young trainer and his partner Pikachu gave the couple a wave goodbye.

"You guys take care!"

"Pika!" Pikachu squeaked.

Ash and Pikachu waved goodbye to Brock and Lucy. The duo then turned and began walking back home. The duo walked down the long dirt road leading back into Pallet Town feeling peace like they usually did. The cool Spring breeze blew across the duo who and the surrounding trees. It was peaceful moments like this that reminded the young champion why he loved the thick forests around the world.

Meanwhile, the Spinarak crawled along the sidewalk directly by a large crowd of people roaming through the city. The bug Pokémon glanced upward, seeing a few people walk by, and it avoided a few people from stepping on it. It crawled on top of a few people's feat, but eventually got back onto the ground. Some people ended up kicking the Pokémon away from them, which annoyed it. It crawled away faster, almost like it was hunting for something.

The light soon turned to walk, and a small group of people then began crossing the street. Unknown to them, the spinarak slid right through the crowd, and got onto one person's shoe, and began to crawl up his leg. It made its way up to his backpack, and then latched onto his hand slowly. At that moment,

"Agh!" Ash winced in pain. He and Pikachu both looked to his hand to find a spinarak bit him hard. Its fangs breaking through the fabric and piercing through his skin. Ash's eyes went wide with shock. "What the?!"

The young champion shook the bug Pokémon off, and it landed on its back, but for some reason, it didn't move. Ash and Pikachu looked at each other confused, and tried to poke the tiny spinarak, but it didn't move. Was it... dead? The young trainer wondered as he poked the bug type Pokémon again to be sure, and like before, it didn't move. Pikachu looked at his trainers' hand in concern.

"I'm fine, buddy. Just a little spinarak bite." Ash said with a smile.

"Pika..." Pikachu nodded. still concerned.

The duo continued to walk through pallet town content by today's intense training session. Pikachu however couldn't help but glance at Ash's hand, noticing the bite looked to possibly have gotten swollen. The electric mouse looked to Ash with a bit of fear in his eyes, but Ash notices and gives him a smile.

"Don't worry, buddy. We've been through worse than a Pokémon bite," Ash chuckled. Pikachu nodded in agreement.

Ash and Pikachu arrived back at his home on the edge of town. He quickly ran through the small pathway, and up the stairs, entering through the front door. The young trainer, however, felt extremely hot for some reason. It wasn't that hot outside, and Pikachu felt completely fine. As the young man entered the house, a woman in her mid-forties with long brown hair and eyes turned her head toward him. She wore a nice pink buttoned shirt, with a green skirt and pair of slippers. She set her book down onto the coffee table and got up to greet her son.

"Welcome home, sweetie," Delia said with a warm grin on her face.

"Hi, Mom," Ash said, returning a smile.

As the young man walked into the living room of his home, his vision began to become blurry. Soon, he stumbled and tripped over himself, and fell forward onto the ground. He knocked into a small brown table with a vase sitting on it. The table fell quickly to the floor, and the vase followed. However, a blue light surrounded it before it could smash into the hard wood, and Pikachu jerked his head seeing her Mr. Mime with its hands raised and eyes glowing.

"Ash, are you okay?!" Delia shrieked.

The young man slowly got up, holding his head, but gave his mom a smile.

"I'm fine."

He managed to get back onto his feat, he felt a little wobbly like his legs were made from jelly. Delia caught her son, and felt that he was burning hot, and sweating. Immediately, she becomes very concerned about her son's health.

"Did anything happen?" she asked nervously.

"I'm fine. Just a weird bite," Ash replied, becoming annoyed by his mother's worry.

Ash managed to get his balance back and began to walk upstairs. Delia watched Ash walk up to his room with concern. Ash never came back from training just to take a nap. Something was up, she knew.

Upon entering his bedroom, Pikachu jumped off his trainer's shoulder and onto the bed, while Ash began to stumble again. Within a moment, Ash collapsed onto his bed, his vision became dull and blurry and soon went black. Pikachu panicked, nuzzling his trainer to wake him up but nothing worked. He was out cold.