Kanto Region.
Pallet Town.
The night was deep and silent, with not a single sound stirring in the stillness.
Only one standalone two story house emitted a faint but lively glow.
Inside a room on the second floor.
On the screen.
A Pokémon battle had reached a blazing climax.
On one side of the field, a Nidorino was panting heavily, its eyes fierce as it stared down its opponent.
Facing it was a Gengar floating in midair, a provocative grin hanging on its face.
In front of the television.
A boy wearing a limited edition red and white League cap was watching the match with complete focus.
At this moment, the Nidorino on the field had already collapsed after being hit by Gengar’s Hypnosis, yet the boy in front of the TV was not disappointed at all.
Instead, his expression grew even more excited.
Because he understood that what came next would be the true turning point of the match.
On the television screen, the defeated trainer recalled Nidorino and immediately threw out another Poké Ball.
A flash of white light burst forth, and an Onix appeared on the field, letting out a thunderous roar that echoed through the arena.
“It’s actually Onix!!”
The boy shouted excitedly.
Then, in his enthusiasm, he grabbed a Poké Ball shaped alarm clock from his bedside table, raised it high above his head, and struck an incredibly passionate pose.
After that, he pointed the alarm clock toward the television, gathered all his strength, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“It’s going to be my turn soon! I can’t lose either! I’m going to make a declaration to all the Pokémon in the world! The strongest Pokémon Trainer, no, the Pokémon Master!”
“That person is me, Ash!”
The moment Ash finished speaking, there was a click, and the door to his room was pushed open.
The sudden sound startled him out of his fantasy.
His whole body trembled, his hand slipped, and the alarm clock he had been holding like a Poké Ball flew out of his grasp, tracing a perfect arc straight toward the doorway.
At the entrance to Ash’s room stood a woman quietly.
Facing the incoming object, she simply raised her hand calmly and caught it with gentle ease, holding the alarm clock steadily in her palm.
The person who had entered was Ash’s mother, Delia.
‘I’m done for.’
The instant Ash saw her, his expression twitched, and he immediately realized he was in trouble.
There was no way he would escape a scolding this time.
However, what surprised him was that Delia did not show her usual gentle smile, nor did she scold him for shouting so loudly so late at night.
She simply stood there silently, staring at him somewhat blankly.
Everything felt so familiar.
Yet also so distant.
This room…
It was their home in Pallet Town.
But this Ash…
Was Ash at ten years old.
And tomorrow was the day he would set out on his journey.
Delia’s mind was in complete disarray.
She clearly remembered that not long ago, she had been watching Ash’s Masters Eight finals.
She had even seen the moment he lifted the championship trophy with her own eyes.
So how had time suddenly reversed in the blink of an eye?
Was this a dream?
Or…
Had she somehow traveled through time?
Delia blinked, trying to wake herself from this absurd reality.
She reached out and pinched herself.
It hurt.
Then she stepped forward and pinched Ash as well.
“Ow, that hurts!” Ash covered his face and stepped back, looking at her with suspicion.
He had known that staying up this late and shouting in his room would definitely get him punished, but he never expected to be punished by having his cheek pinched.
Why change the punishment method right before I leave home?
Ash wailed inwardly.
Across from him, when Delia saw his aggrieved expression as he endured the pain, she finally realized—
This was not a dream.
Several seconds passed before Delia seemed to reboot like a system restarting, finally finding her voice again.
She tried her best to make her tone sound as normal as usual, but that sense of disorientation spanning across time still left a faint trace of hesitation in her voice.
“Tomorrow is the day you set out to become a Pokémon Trainer, Ash…”
She paused, then added the rest of her reminder.
“…remember not to stay up late, and go to bed early.”
One second she had been pinching him, and the next she switched to a gentle tone.
‘Mom is acting really strange today.’
Ash thought.
‘Could it be because I’m leaving home tomorrow and she’s too sad?’
A realization dawned on him, and he suddenly felt emboldened.
“But I can’t fall asleep right now! I promise! Just let me watch for a few more minutes! As soon as this battle is over, I’ll go to sleep immediately!”
Ash swore confidently.
Delia looked at him, her expression complicated.
In the past, she would have emphasized again and again the importance of going to bed early.
But now…
Forget it.
Being late is part of his fate anyway.
Since oversleeping is the first step of this child’s journey, there is no helping it.
Thinking this, the hesitation in Delia’s expression suddenly melted away into relief.
It was as if she had figured something out, and the corners of her lips even curved into a faint smile that she herself did not notice.
Even at her age, her playful side stirred.
She almost wanted to tell him to sleep without worry, that even if he was late it would not matter, and that he would instead encounter a fateful meeting afterward.
But then she thought that if she spoiled the future, she might get struck by lightning or something.
So she suppressed her urge to reveal anything and casually tossed the Poké Ball alarm clock back to him.
“Fine, do whatever you want,” she said softly, more like murmuring to herself than speaking to him.
“The result will be the same anyway.”
The alarm clock traced an arc through the air.
Ash fumbled and barely caught it, his face full of confusion.
“Huh? What do you mean the result will be the same?” He looked up at his mother, puzzled.
He could not understand why she was acting so strangely tonight.
Her words were vague and hard to grasp, and her behavior was completely different from the usual caring and attentive mom.
Just as he was about to lower his head to check the alarm clock and see how much longer he could legally watch TV.
The button in the center of the Poké Ball alarm clock suddenly popped open with a snap.
Immediately after, a Pidgey model sprang out from inside, and its sharp beak pecked directly onto Ash’s nose as he leaned forward.
“Pidgey! Pidgey!”
The crisp and loud chime rang abruptly throughout the room.
“Aaah!”
Ash let out a miserable cry, falling backward onto the bed, clutching his nose and rolling around, while the alarm clock dropped to the floor with a thud.
“Ahh! My nose…”
“He really hasn’t changed at all…”
Seeing Ash’s clumsy behavior, Delia could only press her forehead helplessly.
Then she turned and left the room, leaving behind only her retreating figure and the soft sound of the door closing.
Ash sat up on the bed, still holding his nose, staring at the now empty room in a daze.
A strange feeling rose from the bottom of his heart.
Mom really is acting a bit off today, right?
But that odd feeling did not last long.
The battle on the television had once again reached a heated stage.
Onix let out an angry roar, its massive body lunging forward as it slammed toward Gengar, the entire battlefield trembling from the impact.
Ash’s attention was instantly pulled back.
“So awesome!”
He once again voiced his thoughts toward the battle on the screen.
…
The night grew deeper and deeper.
The moon quietly slipped behind the clouds.
And in that room, the confident boy was still passionately commenting on the battle playing on the television.
Completely unaware that a morning filled with surprises and unexpected encounters was waiting just ahead.
And that starting tomorrow, his journey would undergo earth shaking changes.
(End of Chapter)