章 3: New Life

The years passed by and soon Ash was turning five and Red would be ten. Red and Blue had started a rivalry since a year ago which had become bigger and bigger till they would do nothing but annoy and irritate each other whenever they met. Ash sighed everytime it happened and left the two to their bro fight/rivalry thing they had going between them. He would grab Gary not wanting him to be influenced by them and spend time together in the play room playing with the Pokemon toys or colouring.

Gary sweatdropped, "They at it again."

Ash, "Yep. Let's just play video games or something."

Daisy had already left on her journey when she turned thirteen years old a few months ago. Ash had mock cried for Daisy to not leave him and Gary with the crazy rivals getting mock glares from the older siblings. Gary had snickered at that and had gotten over the upset feeling that had been bothering him since morning. He had not wanted Daisy to leave either and had cried the night before when he realized she wouldn't be home much anymore. Daisy had left a few months ago promising to send letters and photos of her Pokemon when she caught a new one.

Daisy's starter was her Oddish that she had hatched from an egg, her grandpa was very proud of her for taking good care of the little lady and allowed it. Her second Pokemon was a Spearow she caught, apparently she had attacked them for food but after battling and catching her she joined them. Gary showed Ash the picture of Spearow, Oddish and Daisy all messy and dirty smiling together. Ash had another flashback to the episode of a flock of Spearows chasing a boy and a Pikachu. He shook his head at that, the flashbacks were not much anymore but they did happen from time to time.

Blue was very proud of his older sibling, most trainers did not dare to try catch a Spearow on their first day. Even grandpa Oak was very impressed with his granddaughter and praised her when she called from the centre in Viridian. She had told her grandpa she was not sure about what she wanted to do at that point. She was going through some posters and saw one for a Pokemon contest and she was torn whether to do the gym circuit or the contest line.

Samuel only had this to say, "Why not try out both? You can decide which one you want to take seriously from second year. Use your first year to test the waters. Besides there is no rule forbidding you from entering anyway."

Daisy contemplated the advice before nodding in agreement and entering both gym circuit and contest line. The first contest was in Viridian City itself and when Delia and Rose heard about it they squealed and made plans to go to the city to watch. They had roped the Professor into joining them and, the group of seven had cheered Daisy on as her Oddish performed in the first round with sweet scent and aromatherapy that relaxed everyone in the audience and judges. Spearow in the second round who battled in style and speed not allowing the opponents attacks to even touch her, well almost.

She had won the first ribbon by a mere point and that had settled her choice to go into contest line as a definite. She would still take part in the gym circuit as it was a tradition of the Oak family to collect badges of the regions they were journeying in. Her second letter had a picture of Oddish, Fearrow and a shiny Eevee that she had caught. Ash had a small flashback to seeing a shiny Magikarp which was not what he expected but shrugged it off as he listened to Blue read the letter talking about how Daisy had saved the poor Eevee from being attacked by other Pokemon. Gary felt really bad for Eevee, she was really cute too despite the odd black fur she had.

In Daisy's third letter, she had caught a Squirtle in the wild. Professor Oak was honestly surprised by that, when Ash had asked why the Professor explained that most wild Squirtles lived by the ocean not deep in the forest. Red had agreed it was really weird considering how rare Squirtles were thanks to their iconic status as a starter but did not comment on his suspicions further. The Squirtle was a tough guy and gave her a run for her money when she tried to catch him.

That was a week ago, Ash was happy to see Daisy doing well in both contest line and gym circuit. In four months, she had collected three ribbons and two gym badges. It was a decent start according to grandpa Oak and Blue had taken to bragging about his sister everytime he got a chance much to her embarrassment and everyone else amusement.

Ash, "I wonder what I should do in the future!"

Gary, "What do you mean? Don't you want to become Champion?"

Ash looked at Gary, "Being Champion is cool but aren't Champions like stuck in one region?They are responsible for the safety of the region right? So they cannot leave unless there is something big going on in other regions like an opening ceremony or a new league being introduced. I want to check out every region out there, not be stuck in just one."

Gary opened his mouth then closed it frowning, "I had not thought about that."

Ash smiled, "I think you will be a good Champion. Hey I was thinking do you want to come with me on a picnic by the river bank?"

Gary, "Picnic? Sure, help me with this contest first! We can go after."

Ash looked at the page Gary had opened, "A quiz contest with the first prize being two Cherish balls, the latest pokeballs to be designed and released. Second prize being two normal pokeballs and third prize is a friendship bell you can give to your Pokemon. Huh! Those are pretty good prizes!"

Gary grinned, "And we get our own pokeballs. Wanna try winning second and first places? That way we have four pokeballs."

Ash nodded, "Why not? We can gift one to our big brothers too."

Gary got up, "Yes! Let's win this!"

Ash couldn't help but think how cute and huggable Gary looked being excited over winning a few pokeballs. He all of a sudden had a thought of fighting off girls and boys wanting his best friend with a gun Hitman style. He shook his head at that thinking his mother like senses were probably working up again making him feel protective of his friend who was a kid. He wondered how his journey will turn out, he may not remember details but he remembers Ash getting into a lot of trouble. Well time will tell, he supposed sitting down next to Gary to answer the quiz and try to win a few pokeballs.