The 23 challenges

Chapter 1 (Edited)

Ah, the Pokemon world and beautiful and dangerous world full of mysteries, with Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar being solid ground for promising young trainers. But our story starts in Kanto in a small town called Pallet Town where we see a child seating on a rock in the woods sobbing with his hands covering his face. 

"Sniff...why...did he have...to be so...mean..." said the child. 

While the child was crying, he did not notice the many tiny Pokemon watching him. Until the silence was interrupted by a loud rustling of bushes which gradually got louder and louder. 

Until a small metal-looking Pokemon with a hex nut was now being front of him. The young boy was now looking at the small Pokemon with fascination since he has not seen this Pokemon before. 

But then the boy did something that went against his mother's rules, he went and picked up the small Pokemon and cradled it. At first, the Pokemon was terrified but slowly calmed down seeing that Ash had no harm.

 But that peace was then cut by a man with black clothing with a red R in the middle. 

"Hey, you, kid! Hand me that Pokemon at once!" said the Rocket Grunt. 

Which scared both the young boy and the Pokemon knowing that the man had bad intentions. But then the boy did something reckless and shouted "NO!". At first, this surprised the Grunt but then his face turned into a smirk knowing that the boy is too young to have his own Pokemon. 

"No huh? How about I teach you about messing with grown-ups!" said the Grunt sending out a Radicate. 

At this point, the small Pokemon and the young boy were shaking and facing the Radicate. 

"How about you give me that Pokemon and join Team Rocket then we will all be happy." said the Grunt full of confidence. 

"NO!" said the young boy tears flowing out from eyes full of fear. 

"Well your funeral, Radicate use Hyper Fang!" said the Grunt full of confidence. While the Raticate charged at the boy who was bracing for impact. Shielding the small Pokemon with his body. However, something unknown blocked the Raticate.  Ash saw a huge white Gengar using Protect in front of him. 

"Alright Gengar uses Thunderbolt!" said a high-pitched voice. 

The boy then turned to see a middle-aged woman with a tablet in hand and a lab coat covering most of her body. The Gengar then swiftly defeated the Radicate and sent the grunt packing. After that, the boy fainted from all the stress and fear that just happened a few amount ago. 

The boy then awoke in his bedroom but with his mother Delia and the women from before right beside his bed.

"Uhh...what happened...?" said the young boy with a blurry voice. However, all the memories were struck back in an instant and he quickly went to search for the little Pokemon. 

"Where is it?!" said the young boy scaring everyone there until the little Pokemon then appeared on his shoulder. 

"Well it seems that Meltan loves you." said the woman in the lab coat

"Meltan?" asked the young boy.

"Ah... I'm sorry for the unfortunate meeting but my name is Seri and that is the Mythical Pokemon Meltan, the only discovered Mythical Pokemon able to evolve," said Seri.

 "Oh...I'm Ash and hello Meltan" said Ash realizing that he forgot about his self-introduction. 

"So you are quite special aren't you little Meltan," said Ash. 

He petted the little Hex Nut Pokemon which enjoyed making a cute squealing noise that warmed everyone's heart. 

"Now that is settled Ash I will be taking my leave for a while," said Seri leaving the two family members. 

"Ash what did you do this time that lead you into that situation," asked Delia with a worried face wanting to know what could drive her son into the situation. 

"I was bullied again by trying to communicate with Pokemon," cried Ash feeling sad again remembering the past events

Delia then pulled Ash into a hug knowing what her son has to endure. Unknown to them Seri was outside, and hearing the conversation made her blood boil. Understanding the feeling since she has also felt the same pain from her previous decades before her mentor took her in. 

'Well, it seems that your legacy continues my dear teacher' said Seri in her head knowing what she wants to do now. 

(Editor's note: I'll be revisiting these chapters and giving a more polished edit. Even though it is old fanfiction doesn't mean it can't be improved. It will take some time, so if you just tuning in on this story I'm sorry/not sorry)