The first partner and link

A heaven, that's what it was to Ash. A place where he could he meet the pokemons he has dreamed of.

He played with the Axew in his hands, joining it in it's joy and laughter until the alpha suddenly lifted him higher and pulled away the Axew.

"We have decided... You will choose your partner yourself."

"... What? Wasn't it was supposed to be a personality matching test for deciding?"

Ash was visibly confused at the sudden change. He has personally practiced all sort of impressions for what partners he could get but this was far beyond his expectations.

The alpha look at him, all smiling from ear-to-ear to hide their nervous thoughts. At last the gardevoir sighs and brings Ash back to the ground.

"We are gonna have to tell him don't we?" The gardevoir asked the hydreigon who nods at her.

Suddenly a barrier formed, a invisible wall that trapped Ash and the alphas in a sphere of psychic energy as they oldest of them, Hydreigon came forward.

"Human child... It may sound nonsense or wierd to you but we pokemon have our own tales and folklores from ancient times."

The hydreigon begins a story, a tale telling of a past before the war with humans had begin.

"Truth be told. We Pokemon weren't the first inhabitants of the planet but rather it were the humans that did. We were... How to say it, results of mutations."

"WHAT!?"

"Shh-" , The gardevoir closed Ash's mouth with her hand, Turing to the hydreigon as she did, "Let him finish."

Ash nods, making some distance away from the pokemons which didn't go unnoticed but no one tried to stop him.

"The first pokemons were born when the God Arceus who was born from the laws of the world and imagination of humans, arrived at the planet, releasing his energy which spread to every living being on the planet."

The suspense grows as Ash sat on the ground.

The hydreigon continues, " Every being except the humans mutated, gaining powers of the elements as they evolved into better lifeforms but... The humans felt danger from this.".

All the three heads rose and went closer to Ash. Each asking a different thing.

"What do you happened next?"

"War? Peace?"

"Or maybe... negotiations?"

Ash was confused, he wasn't the best one with politics and such anyway. So he said what his heart told him to.

"They fought for control." He said, his words firm which made the alpha slightly interested.

"That's right" said one of the head.

"They did... For centuries too." Chimed the Second head.

The third head retracts back to the body and pulled back the other heads, "And that is where our current problem comes from." It told Ash with determination.

Next second the focus shifted as the Golurk made some noises which sounded like just some pokemon voice to Ash.

The gardevoir came forward and connected the Golurk's mind with Ash's, Connecting their thoughts for talking.

"Most humans have their souls tainted by the hatred of their ancestors, a hatred that had not yet died down but... You have soul completely devoid of that." The Golurk said with a firm voice, wise words that seemed to pierce deep into Ash's soul.

Now Ash saw the world from a new perspective, theories running rampant in his mind, forcing him away from the reality of things.

However, the Alphas didn't want to wait for all the imagination going on in Ash's head, so they shook him back to reality after moment of silence.

He looks around baffled like a newborn chick who was overfeed with knowledge he didn't need and turns to the alpha Golurk.

"So what is that- you know? Supposed to mean?"

"It means you are a blank slate. A person who can link with any pokemon, a being with a perfectly elastic soul."

"Which also means you won't have to worry about all the things like incompatible soul wavelength when you use link."

It took some time and a lot of explanation but Ash finally understood why he was special, it wasn't something like being a super strong guy but rather a just person who fits everywhere.

(This is his understanding of himself)

So after all this monologue after monologue just for some small questions of 'why?'. Ash was led by the Emboar to the inner regions of the place.

With the gardevoir not present, Ash didn't have a way to communicate with the Emboar but he didn't need to because Emboar was even more of a muscle brain then him.

The two then walked, passing through a variety of terrain that ranged from a forest filled with bug pokemon to rough stony area that reminded Ash of the mountains. It was then the duo reached their destination, the hatchery.

There were a variety of pokemon standing guard, however they all just bowed to Emboar, their eyes filled with respect as none of them dared raise their heads until Emboar told them to.

With giant steps, Emboar walked in with Ash behind him as they reached a dimly lit place with a lot of oval roc- eggs with variety of patterns on them.

Emboar made a few noises, which Ash didn't understand in the slightest bit he didn't need to as he watches all the newborns being carried by the caretakers.

There were a lot of baby pokemon, from swaddles to pidoves, from sableyes to cleffas. Every pokemon from Unova was here including some from the other regions as well.

Emboar raised it's hand as if saying something to Ash, no words needed for Ash understood what the gesture meant and begins walking forward slightly.

One by one Ash went to every baby pokemon, trying to communicate with them.

He visited each one, memorising their traits one by one until he saw it. A small Oshawott looking at him with curiosity as it's tiny feets cared it forward until it was right in front of Ash.

It smiled, a smile filled with courage as it lifted it small shell and pointed it at Ash and then fell face first, only to pull itself up and act as if nothing happened.

Ash looked with amusement, feeling sympathy for the small child and then noticed it looking around crazily. It was looking for its shell that was anywhere to be seen.

The Oshawott looked around, panicking as it searched each corner nearby but failed to find its shell but refused to stop searching.

Ash saw in the Oshawott, a splitting image of himself, a weak child that wanted to do something and had luck mess him up.

He brought out his hands and pulled the Oshawott into his hands, raising it high above from where he saw the shell pocking out of the ground.

Slowly Ash carried the Oshawott to the shell and watched as it jumped down from his hand and danced in joy while raising it towards Ash again.

"You want to be my partner?" Ash asked with anticipation bubbling inside him, his vision narrowed down only to the pokemon in front of him.

"Osha.", the Oshawott nods frantically as if it has been waiting for the question, jumping around in approval with a smiling face.

The Oshawott was small, so small that it was barely was the size between Ash's elbow and palm. Yet it was more energetic than every other pokemon in the hatchery.

" Its decided then, you will be my partner."

"OSHA"

The little guy lunged onto Ash in a hug, landing on his shoulder gracefully as it waves its shell at all the other pokemons who waved back aswell. Some pokemon even made noises which Ash didn't understand much of but he was pretty sure it meant bye.

Now, Ash prepared to finally do what he had been waiting for all this time- the link.

He grabbed the Oshawott in his hand looked at it before placing it down and sat in front of it. Then he proceeds to raise his palm in front and begins trying to connect with Oshawott on the level of soul.

He felt his world fade away, noise and light completely getting removed from his senses as he now only saw the Oshawott who was looking at him confusion.

He focuses further, sensing both of their souls inside their body which he found thanks to his beginner level Aura control.

Now, he tried to connect with the Oshawott by sending a string of aura that linked then two, however Ash suddenly felt a sort of backlash as he felt he was losing control of his body.

He persists, gritting his teeth as felt himself mold to match the Oshawott's soul and after what felt like hours, he finally opened his eyes.

His vision was doubled, it was like watching yourself through a camera and watching the front of the camera at the same time.

"I feel wierd."

Ash heard a tiny voice in his head, the small innocent voice of Oshawott who was very confused. The voice filled Ash with joy as he talked back.

"Can you hear me?"

"!!! Why can he talk without moving his lips!?"

"We talking in our mind."

"What does that mean? What does mind mean?"

Ash then tried explaining 'Link' to Oshawott but the child was not very bright just like him. So he just stopped the link after he felt himself getting exhausted.

The vision returned to normal as he felt his connection with the Oshawott break but he was inwardly so happy that he wouldn't mind dancing, but he had to maintain his dignity so he stopped.

With some effort, Ash pulled himself back to his feet and lifted his partner to his shoulder and turned to Emboar.

The giant alpha nods and now the trio begins walking back to the exit. Now Ash was filled with excitement, a journey back to Unova was the next thing he wanted.