Pokemon: The Journey

Professor Oak saw Ash try to understand what he was telling him and fail.

He had given him a book to read about a procedure for some basic first aid. Ash was still failing the task.

It's been an hour, but he was still unable to tell the Professor how to perform first aid for a fracture, among other things.

"Ash."

Perking up, he looked at Professor Oak and said with a confident smile, "Oh, Professor, don't worry. I will have it in no time. I just a little bit of..."

"I am disheartened to say that you do not have the talent for it. Just give..."

"Professor! Can you give me one more chance?"

Sighing, he said, "Fine. Only once more."

He then saw Ash go quiet and start nodding.

"You alr..."

"Professor, can you show and teach me about them by hand?"

Taking a moment to recover from being interrupted, he nodded.

'Eh. It won't change much.'

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Ash got how to tend to fracture on the third try after being shown on the human ballistics dummy.

What? Did you really think they would practice on real injured and non-injured people? He is a professor and teacher, of course he would have one. He also doesn't have assistants.

Ahem...

Professor Oak was surprised. He was not expecting that. He was so surprised that when Ash was calling him to show the next one, he was just standing there processing the fact.

"E-err, okay. Here is the next one."

Finally getting out of his stupor, he showed him the next one thinking that it was a fluke.

It happened again

And again.

And again.

'Is Ash a kinesthetic learner?'

To test this theory, he started to subtly teach about the topics that should have been taught in the school.

He was correct in his assumption.

Ash was really a kinesthetic learner.

He then remembered all of the times he had seen Ash struggling in class and being made fun of by the kids.

The thought put a knot in his stomach.

'I failed him.'

After going through the stuff today, he decided to teach Ash about everything taught in the academy along with first aid and taking care of Pokémon as much as he could.

Ash deserved that much.

After going through what was taught today, Ash felt satisfied.

"I will admit that you surpassed my expectations. Keep up the good work and you might just be properly prepared for your journey. There isn't much difference in giving first aid for some basic things in both Pokémon and humans."

"Professor, can I ask you for something?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Can you give me the books on nutrition for Pokémon, so that my mom can help me there as well? I would also like to take some books on berries and the neu-try-sion-al values."

"You mean nutritional values for different berries and other such cooking ingredients?"

Nodding, he said, "Yeah!"

Blinking twice, he chuckled and motioned for Ash to follow him.

Going to the library in his lab/house, he pointed towards some books.

"Take those. Have Delia start from the basics for you. Building a solid foundation is more important than any advanced stuff. If you catch any Pokémon, and do not know how to cook proper diet for them, then call me from the nearest Pokémon Centre. I can provide a guide for that for you. This is the responsibility of a professor after all."

He ruffled Ash's head and found something.

"Ash, did you hit your head some time ago?"

It took all of his will power to not flinch, and said, "Hahaha, I just hit my head on a rock yesterday after slipping in the rain. I will be going now, bye."

Professor stared at his hand and asked something while looking at Ash who was going back to his home.

"Did somebody push you while playing?"

If he had not been looking and noting his expression at that time, Professor Oak would have just dismissed it completely and not think about it.

Ash had a miniscule flinch, and his smile dimmed for the first part of the question.

Instantly recovering as if practiced a lot of times before, Ash replied, "Do not worry Professor, we were just playing that's all. There is no need to bother anybody. See you tomorrow."

After Ash had left the lab, he stared at his hand again and said in a low voice, "I, no, we have really failed you, Ash."

In his hand, as if mocking him and saying that Ash had no friends, were grains of dried blood.

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When Delia was approached by her son to teach him how to cook, she had stopped for few moments.

Pinching herself first, to see if it was a dream, she found out that she was actually not dreaming.

Then she touched her son's forehead to see if he had a fever and found out that he did not have a fever or was sick.

She was actually starting to think she had been hypnotized by a psychic Pokémon, when she saw her son's face. He was disappointed and hurt that she thought so little of him.

"Sweety, I was just surprised that you want to learn how to cook at all. Why do you want to do that?"

After giving the same explanation that he had given to Professor Oak, she was surprised.

With all the seriousness he could muster, he said, "Mom, I have decided to learn about how to take care of my Pokémon and myself from Professor Oak. Can you teach me about how to cook properly using the different berries and other stuff? I will be learning from Professor in the morning, and you will teach me in the evening. Is that okay for you?"

Finding a chance to spend some proper time together before he goes on the journey and leaves her alone for how long, she agreed.

"There is one condition. You will have to follow my instructions carefully. Is that understood?"

"Yes! I will now be going to Professor Oak's lab. See you in the evening!"

"That boy..."

Shaking her head, she started cleaning the morning dishes. After she had done so, she had gone to her restaurant, the Pallet House where she will from morning till evening. It was the family's only source of income, after her husband had...

Shaking out of her thoughts, she started to go through the everyday routine of customers.

In the evening, she had closed the Pallet House, returned home, and started preparing for the lesson.

Her son arrived a few minutes afterwards with a few books.

"Ash, what are those?"

Looking at the books in his hands, he answered her.

"Ah, these are the books Professor Oak gave to me to learn about Pokémon nutrition so that you could teach me about them as well. I also took some books on berries and how they are used."

Delia was impressed with her son's thinking. She felt guilty for actually doubting his resolve. It would seem that he was serious in being properly prepared for the journey.

'Well, I can't seem incompetent in front of my son, now, can I?'

The first day will involve teaching him how to cut the berries, and vegetables. Showing how to properly use a knife and such other purely basic stuff. Without proper foundation, he will only end up in wasting the ingredients, and other cooking items. The cooking utensils also need to be taken proper care of.

Mentally prepping herself, she started her lesson which extended into the night.

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'Man, am I tired...' ...Yaaawwwnnnn

Looking at the clock which showed that it was nearing 12 o' clock, he started changing his clothes for bed, but before that...

'Let's read some of this firstttt... yawwnnn'

'You cannot read anything now. Go to sleep. Your body needs rest. A lack of proper sleep will impede your growth. Well, we can discuss about various tactics, but you first need to know how to traverse a place, camping among other such things. We will spend two hours. In your mindscape, the temporal flow is faster than in the real world. Spending a few solid two hours here is equivalent to one hour in the outer world. You can read that first thing in the morning.'

'Okayyyy.'

Ash had gone to sleep smiling.

He had learnt a lot today and will continue to do so under Professor Oak, Delia Ketchum, and Roshi Netero for the next two weeks.

Then, the day when the trainers leave for their journey arrived faster than anybody could imagine.

Time sure does fly fast for the ones that are busy.

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(AN: Is there any issue with the chapter. It was supposed to be divided into a few more, but then I decided to skip what was being taught to dive into the story. Will there be any issues from any of you if I reveal what has been taught in the form of small flashbacks in the future?)