Around The World (Re-Write)

Setting Off On A New Adventure

Ash sat up in his bed as the sound of everyone else hit his ears, soft but still audible through the closed door. With only a moment of thought, and a tired groan, Ash fell back down to his bed and let his eyes close once more. However it was no more than ten minutes before his door opened with a loud creak; Delia Ketchum's head peeking through.

"Ash~" 

Hearing his name, the teenager did what any self respecting teenager would do. He let out a tired yawn and rolled over, a pillow over his head as he tried to sleep.

"Ash, if your not careful I'll let Pikachu wake you up..." 

The young man new better than to risk getting electrocuted by the pokemon, it was something he sometimes wished he wasn't so used to.

"Fine, I'm moving."

"Good. And here, some new clothes I got for you to wear."

Ash heard a bag hit the floor and the door close, but not before Pikachu scampered in and hopped up onto the bed with its trainer. Tapping the teenager on the nose with its paw, Pikachu let out a squeak as Ash sat up once more; this time sliding from the bed with a groan. Ash lifted the bag from the floor, smiling as he thought back to the day he began his adventure. He has been so young then, so naive and confident. Smile never leaving his face, Ash pulled the clothes from the bag; revealing a pair of dark pants and a simple black t-shirt. He slipped them all on before pulling out the jacket, it was a lot like his old one. The color was different, but he liked it, it was red with a white collar and long white sleeves instead of short ones like his old one. Soon followed the simple black half-finger gloves and the black and red running shoes. 

The hat was what shocked the young man, it was a hat he had seen before. It was mostly red, with white on the front of it. It was the same hat he had seen in a picture, one that hung on Professor Oak's wall. The picture of a great pokemon trainer. It was, according to the professor, a picture of Ash's father. The picture was of that man standing along side Gary's father and the professor, who looked no younger to Ash, it had been taken on Victory Road. Ash smiled as he looked at the hat, he didn't know his mother had it. Pikachu clambered up onto it's trainers shoulder with a happy squeak as the teenager opened the door. 

Turning the corner at the bottom of the stairs, Ash was met with a sight to behold. He wasn't the only one who looked different, Clemont and Bonnie sat on the couch in the living room dressed in very different clothes. Clemont wore a pair of simple blue shorts with an orange shirt, and Bonnie was dressed in more sensible traveling clothes with a pair of simple pants and her ever present brown shirt covered by a vest.

"Ash!" Bonnie grinned when she saw the older boy, "You look so cool!" 

"Thanks Bonnie," Ash grinned back as he moved into the room, "you both look awesome too!"

"Well thank you Ash." Clemont never looked up from the small device he had in his hand, a screwdriver present in the other as he tinkered away.

"Where's Serena?" Ash questioned, glancing around as he noticed the blonde was absent from the room.

"Here!" the familiar cheerful voice came from behind Ash, and as he turned around he saw that Serena looked different too. She wore a more intricate shirt in addition to a red skirt that was longer than her old one, "How do I look?"

"Awesome as always!" Ash gave a thumbs up to the girl as he grinned before wandering into the kitchen in search of food, leaving behind an amused Bonnie and a somewhat downtrodden Serena.

"I bet you wanted him to say you look ho-" Bonnie's teasing was cut short as Clemont pressed his hand down on her head just a little harder than she liked,

"Bonnie..." Clemont sighed heavily, although Serena noticed a small smile on his face as he stood up beside his sister, "Be nice to Serena, and you'd better not say what I think you were about to. Ever."

"Fine." Bonnie pouted, crossing her arms as she too wandered off into the kitchen.

The morning seemed to fly by faster than Ash would have liked and before any of them knew it; the time had come. The large ship was anchored just off the coast of Pallet Town and they would all be heading there on a small boat. Ash stared back at the town as the boat sped across the water, a small smile was on his face as he thought about the journey ahead but he still knew he would miss his home; he always did after all. Serena's voice broke him from his thoughts, 

"You okay?" her hand was on his shoulder, gently squeezing as she smiled at him.

"Yeah," Ash nodded, his smile growing wider as he turned to face her, "I always miss home a bit when I leave, but I can't wait for this awesome adventure to start!"

Serena opened her mouth to speak as she nodded, only for a spray of water to crash into her face as the boat hit a small wave. Ash couldn't help but laugh a bit at his friend as a pout came over her face, a her wet hair covering one of her eyes. Ash couldn't help but think it was kind of cute.

A sudden shriek pulled them both back to reality, and turning to look Ash saw the now soaked Clemont sitting next to Bonnie; who was laughing at her brothers feminine shriek of terror at the water. They all laughed together as the boat continued on towards the ship, the driver silent in the back as she steered them towards the side of the ship.  Ash grinned as the sight of various flying type pokemon grew larger, some of them with trainers riding on their backs as they waited for the four of them to arrive. Before long the four friends, and Pikachu and Dedenne, were on board the large cruise ship; their futures looking brighter than ever as the sun shined down upon them.

"This is it," Ash turned to look at his friends, a grin splitting across his face; "it's time for our new adventure!"