Pokemon: Before The Beginning

Ϟ - Chapter III - Ϟ

Ash wandered through the forest with Spark, looking for Pokemon. So far he'd seen a Caterpie, a Weedle, and some Kakuna. Just then, a Poliwag ran past him. It stopped, and then looked up at him curiously. "Oh!" it exclaimed, before hurriedly bowing its head. "Prince Ash!" it exclaimed. Ash squatted down. "Hi there." he said. "I'm Swirl!" the Poliwag said. "Nice to meet you Swirl! I'm Ash! That's Spark!" Ash replied. Spark waved a paw. Ash had made him invisible to people, but not Pokemon. He figured no Pokemon would be blabbing on them anytime soon. "Hey! Wanna play tag?" Swirl asked. "Sure!" Ash and Spark exclaimed. Touching Ash with his tail, Swirl took off running. "You're it!" he shouted. Spark followed Swirl, and Ash began the chase.

Swirl ran through some bushes, and Ash and Spark followed. Then, Ash heard someone shout. "Stay here." he whispered to Spark, who nodded. Ash pushed through the bushes, and spotted a girl on the ground.

"Hey, are you alright? My name's Ash. What's wrong?" he asked. "I-I hurt my leg!" the girl replied. Ash bent down. "Don't worry." He reached into his pocket and took out a handkerchief. "This will help." he said, as he tied it around the girls leg. "All done." "I-It still hurts. I can't stand up!" the girl whined. Ash stood and reached his hand down. "Don't give up until it's over. Come on." The girl reached her hand forward and Ash grabbed it and pulled her to her legs. "There you go." Ash said, giving a small smile.

"We should probably be getting back to camp soon." Ash said. The girl gave a small nod and Ash helped her keep walking. *Go find Swirl and tell him that something happened. Then come back to camp.* Ash told Spark, as he walked away with the girl. *Ok!* Spark replied. There was a small rustle in the bushes as he ran off.

"You never did tell me your name." Ash said, looking back at the girl. "O-oh. My name is Serena." she replied.

⊱⌁◓⌁⊰

One of Professor Oak's assistants took Serena to treat her scraped knee. Ash noticed a small rustle in the bushes. He walked towards it, separating the bushes to see Spark and Swirl.

"Spark! What's Swirl doing here?" Ash whispered, trying to avoid being noticed by anyone. "Sorry Ash. Swirl insisted on coming to see that you were okay." Spark replied. Swirl steeped forward. "Sorry. I just wanted to see that you were doing fine. Besides, you owe me a game of tag." Swirl puffed up at that last part, causing Ash to smile. "Alright. If you want to be with me, you'll have to stay with Spark and stick to the shadows." Ash said, petting the Poliwag. Swirl wagged his tail in happiness. "You got it!" Ash nodded and walked back towards the group before they could notice his absence.

As he walked back, he noticed Goh giving him a strange look of...was that suspicion? Ash shook his head. When he looked back, Goh was gone. Ash shrugged and walked back towards his cabin.

⊱⌁◓⌁⊰

It was sunset, and all the kids were in the Mess Hall. They ate dinner and chatted with their friends about the first day of camp.

After he finished, Ash snuck outside. The bushes rustled as Ash walked over to them, and he pushed them aside. "Hey guys. I brought you something." Ash said, to Spark and Swirl who paused their game of chasing each other in a circle. Ash pulled a napkin out of his pocket, and unfolded it to reveal some Oran Berries and a couple of Pecha Berries. "Yes! Thanks Ash!" Spark exclaimed. "Yeah! Thanks so much!" Swirl said. The two ate up the fruit, and when they finished, Ash said, "Wait here."

He ran to his cabin and took two blankets from the spare cabinet. Then he took some Pokemon food from his bag, before running back to where Spark and Swirl were waiting. "Follow me." he said. He entered the forest, looking around before spotting a reasonably large tree. "This tree is hollow and large enough to fit four pokemon. You should have enough space. You can sleep here tonight." Ash said.

He pushed aside a bush that was up against the bottom of the tree to reveal a medium sized hole. "You can get in through here." He closed his eyes and willed him self to become small. Then, with a small glow, he transformed into a Pikachu. He motioned to the shocked Swirl and the somewhat annoyed Spark to follow as he walked inside. He dragged the blankets and the container with the Pokemon food inside with him. He arranged the blankets in a nest-like shape and opened the container of Pokemon food.

"There. That should be good." he said. He turned to Spark and Swirl. "I'll be back early in the morning to check up on you guys." he said. They followed him out of the tree as he turned back into a human. Swirl was still gaping. "Thanks Ash." Spark said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." he smiled and waved before walking back to the Mess Hall.

An hour later, everyone went back to their assigned cabins to retire for the night, drifting off into their own dreams.

Just to be clear, this is not Amourshipping. I just added Serena in because she was at a summer camp, so I figured why not? This book won't be having any ships in it, but I hope you'll keep reading anyway!