As Ash came back to Pallet Town he appeared in a dark room, the lights were off, immediately Pikachu was surprised as his cheeks sparked using [Flash] starting to light up the room.
And immediately as he did that and the room lit up they saw that they were in the Restaurant, pallet house, and when he looked around he saw a bunch of close people from Pallet town standing there.
Of which included but was not limited to; Delia, Oak, Gary, Green, Misty, Yellow, and others which included Tracey. As soon as the light coming from Pikachu lit up the room he could see that Delia was holding a cake and Gary was over ready to turn on the lights.
Ash and Pikachu had prolonged eye contact with everyone as Ash pulled on Pikachu's tail, turning off his sparking cheeks like a light switch, going back into darkness.
Gary flipped the light switch almost immediately, "I told you all a surprise party wouldn't work,"
"Uhh, I can still act like I'm surprised if you want," Ash said
Just then the door of the main kitchen opened, and from it, Brock and Mimey walked out each holding plates of food, "Well, since he isn't going to be surprised let's just start the party!"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"
—-
A bit later as the party was going on Ash was sitting at a table with Gary, Green, Misty, Yellow, and Brock.
Gary punched him on the shoulder, "So, how's it feel to finally be 11, you sure kept us waiting,"
"Yeah yeah, I know I'm the youngest one here, we've been here before,"
"By the way, why- no, how are you guys here?" Ash said pointing at Misty, Yellow, and Brock.
Brock's face darkened as he looked down, "I don't want to talk about it, let's just say I left and came back to Kanto,"
Yellow scooted over and whispered in Ash's ear, "He hasn't told us why, and he gets really sad whenever anyone asks."
Ash frowned, it was never actually revealed what Professor Ivy did, we just know that she didn't hate Brock and Brock never wanted to talk about it, "Dude what did she do to you," he mumbled.
"I don't want to talk about it,"
"Yeah, we kinda gave up trying to find out what happened to him, he just gets like this," Misty said
"Hmm, well back to my question I can get Yellow being here, Viridian City is like a day's trip, but how about you Misty, you'd have to travel at least a week none stop to get here from Cerulean City,"
Delia came over and put a plate of food in front of Ash, "Oh, it was Abra, she helped out a lot, by the way, I gave her a cute nickname, hope you don't mind,"
"What was it,"
Delia giggled, "Abby, it's cute isn't it!"
"*sigh* Yeah it's cute," Ash said rubbing his eyes and then looking at Abra, "Is that why you weren't there with 'that'"
Abra nodded and put another piece of candy in Ash's mouth, before teleporting out.
"I swear that Pokemon is going to be the end of me," Ash mumbled as he chewed on the candy.
Gary shook his head, "So, we made a bet, you gonna keep calling Abra by that nickname?"
"Depends, which side did you bet on," Ash said, "And how much did Green bet,"
"I said you would since it would be funny seeing you call out 'Abby' but Green said you wouldn't and put a lot on it,"
"Wow, these are really tough choices, on one choice I don't do nicknames for a reason, and on the other, if I do it will be funny just to mess with Green,"
"What do you mean tough, you don't nickname any of your Pokemon," Green argued.
"Yeah but for the memes tho," Ash said with Gary nodding his head.
Green pouted and glared at Ash which only served to make Ash and Gary laugh, "Wow, hey Gary, doesn't she look like a Skwovet,"
"Hmm, I was thinking more of Greedent," Gary said, holding his hands out in a frame position.
"Hey, I do not look like a Greedent jerk! At least Skwovet is cute," Green said angrily.
Ash and Gary laughed at her reaction, Ash was banging the table and Gary was falling over, "Ok ok ok, I won't use the nickname, there you won the bet,"
Green's face immediately changed and she raised her arms in victory, "Booyah, I win, I expect my bets to be given accordingly!"
"Ok sure," Gary said as he wiped a tear from his eye, "Anyway now that bit went on way too long, what is 'that' you talked about?"
"Oh it's nothing," Ash said, completely lying since his chest still hurt.
Misty sighed, "Well, knowing you it's going to be a waste trying to get more information isn't it,"
Ash snapped his finger as he pointed at her, "You know it! I knew we were friends!"
"Umm, then can you tell us what you were doing in the orange islands," Yellow asked,
"Well, there's not much to say, I went there and caught some interesting Pokemon, saw a cool Pokemon caught it and I'm just looking forward to kicking Gary's teeth in with them"
"What the heck man,"
"Don't pretend you didn't see this coming, I mean you know I bully the people I like,"
"I mean…yeah, I did kinda expect this, and yes I'm already planning my get back, but still," Gary argued.
"Right, anyway, that's more or less it, didn't really train much, and absolutely nothing else happened,"
"When you say it like that…"
"Nothing happened,"
"But why are you saying it li-"
"Nothing happened,"
"...Ok, we aren't getting an answer are we," Brock said
"That depends, you gonna tell us what happened with Ivy," Ash jabbed back
Brock fell on the floor, "Nothing happened, I don't want to talk about it,"
"Come on dude, you turn 16 next month, pull yourself together," Ash said, getting him back on the chair.
"Anyway enough about me, what's been happening with you guys?"
"Well same old same old, I went to the Sevii Islands and did my magic," Green said winking.
"Well that's not comforting," Misty said, "But I've pretty much just been training, and hey, Lapras don't seem to hate me as much so that's something."
Yellow was silent for a moment playing with her fingers, "So…I-I've been battling Uncle Wilton…so he could tell me more..and I managed to win but I think he let me win…"
"Alright, so what did he tell you?" Ash asked, "You never actually told us what he told you originally did you,"
"No, and what he told me this time…it was….nevermind, it's not important," Yellow said, trying to change the conversation, whatever she found out was clearly uncomfortable for her to say.
Ash looked at Gary and he caught the message jumping in, "Soo, what I did was way more interesting, you wanna hear it!"
"Yeah sure my dude," Ash played along.
"Yesh, so remember how I got Electirizer for Electivire in exchange for helping Professor Rowan on something, yeah he called in that favor,"
"So, he asked me to go and check out a region called Orre," Gary revealed.
Ash almost spit out his drink because he recognized that name, but kept his composure, "Orre? I thought that place was a wasteland,"
"It was, but turns out they are doing better, apparently they are getting support from the League and they're starting to rebuild, and yeah he asked me to go check some stuff out, under the name of a researcher,"
Ash smiled and slapped his back, "Well, sounds like you did a good job, I guess that means you are legally a researcher now,"
Gary punched Ash in the shoulder, "I hate you, I knew you were going to say that! Well guess what Green beat you to it,"
"Yeah yeah, but still Orre huh, seems like an interesting place, I might visit one day,"
"I was going to ask if you wanted to join me, but then I heard that Gramps told you to go to the Orange Islands,"
"Yeah, but it was more to kill time, and hey now were all 11, which means we can sign up to get a license to challenge Johto,"
"Actually, this one is yours, boys," Green said, "I'm not going to participate in the Silver Conference,"
"Really, why is that? I'd thought the thought of getting back at us would be too strong,"
"Don't get me wrong, I like training Pokemon, and I like traveling and all that, but meh, now that we finished one I don't really see the appeal in continuing to do it," Green said.
"I mean that's understandable actually, I was expecting you to say you got banned from participating," Gary said.
"Hey Jerk, I'm still going to Johto, after all, my Little brother needs help from his generous big sister,"
"You know enough time has passed that I forgot you asked Silver to call you sis," Ash said blankly.
Brock and Misty were confused but Yellow pulled them aside and explained everything,
"So then I guess it's going to be me and you plus Silver huh Gary,"
"Stop trying to make it more exciting than it is, we both know Johto isn't known for producing the strongest trainers, I'm planning on training up an entirely new set of Pokemon just to get a challenge,"
"Same here my dude, I mean, who starts a new region with Pokemon they traveled around with for months and nothing else," Ash said, sounding a lot more personal than anyone wanted to admit.
"Yeah, but I got someone back," Gary said smiling
"Wait, did you get 'him' again!" Green said, looking excited.
"Yep, figured it was about time," Gary said, pulling out a Pokeball and releasing, Eevee.
Green came up and grabbed the fox, "Eevee, hey you miss me, it's been so long,"
Eevee smiled and accepted the hugs, after all, Ash and Green both knew this Eevee.
—-
{Flashback 1 year ago}
It was the day before Ash, Gary, and Green went out on their journey, and Gary was talking to his sister Daisy before handing her a Pokeball.
For a long time, Gary did actually have a Pokemon, it was a gift from Oak, an Eevee.
Gary went back to his room where he was surprised to see Ash and Green waiting for him, Green having Eevee on her lap.
"So, you're seriously not going to take Eevee with you?" Ash asked.
Gary shook his head, "No, Eevees need a experienced trainer and I can admit that I'm not that, besides, if I do end up winning you can just say I won because Gramps gave me a special Pokemon,"
"But aren't we all going to receive a Pokemon from him," Green added.
"This is different, besides, as much as I'd like to take him with me, I know which evolution we want to do, and I need more experience before I can train him properly, like let's be honest out of the 3 of us I'm the worst at training."
"Yeah you have a point," Green said patting Eevee's soft hair, "So you're just going to leave him with Daisy?"
"She's a Pokemon groomer in training, maybe it will help her, though I'm still surprised she chose to leave her career in Pokemon contests," Gary said.
Ash smiled weary, not because of anything here, but because he knew something, specifically what happened to make Daisy leave Contests, and it all revolves around her friend Courtney, yes 'that' Courtney, back when they still both did contests.
Ash shook that thought out of his head, "So, you think you'll come get him before the league? Or are you just going to wait,"
"I dunno, I guess it depends on how my final team is looking and if I need an all-rounder," Gary said.
Green who was sitting next to the drawers noticed a framed picture and laughed, "Wow you still have this picture,"
The picture in question was a photo of back when they were around 5 years old, and all 3 of them were playing while Oak was struggling to not drop Pokemon food, in it Ash even had his Lab coat and wore it like a cape.
"Wow we used to be so cute," Green laughed as Gary sighed,
"It was Daisy's idea, after all, she took the photo and told me to keep it in here,"
"Pshh, so the tsundere brother strikes again, or does this make you our tsundere friend," Ash said with Green laughing behind him.
"I hate you both," Gary said taking the picture and Eevee, "Now get out of my room!"
—-
"Yeah good times, good to see you decided not to forget about the little guy," Ash said.
"Yeah whatever, just be ready, I'm coming after you to get my revenge, just you wait"
Ash smiled, "I look forward to seeing you try, but that reminds me, one more thing did happen,"
Everyone looked curious as Ash grabbed his bag, "I hatched a new little guy, meet,"
Then a small Togepi popped her head out, "This is Togepi,"
Togepi looked around and waved, "prrrrrri!"
"Awww, she's adorable," Green said.
"Was that the Egg you got way back then?" Gary asked
"No, that one hatched a while ago," Ash said holding his hand out as Dratini slithered out, "This is the one I got for winning the S.S. Anne,"
"Of course you did. Why wouldn't you," Gary said still not understanding how he wasn't used to this by now.
"But anyway," Ash said looking at Brock, Misty, and Yellow, "You guys up for going at it again? You want another adventure,"
"You don't even need to ask me," Brock said giving a thumbs-up
"Not like I have anything better to do, so sure," Misty said
"I'd be happy to go," Yellow said with Chuchu nodding happily on her lap