Fanfic / Another Road

"The Lily of the Valley Conference was Ash Ketchum's greatest showing yet. Naturally, the trainer from Pallet Town wasn't satisfied with that! Reflecting on his past choices, Ash decides to focus on growing alongside the loyal roster of pokémon he's already accumulated, with the same goal in mind they've always shared; to be the very best!"

Official Summary for Another Road Repaved - The Climb

Another Road is a series of Pokémon: The Series fanfics written by Mezamun. Set after the Diamond and Pearl saga of the anime, the series covers a training interlude before Ash attempts to push his limits further than ever before with the Kanto Gym Circuit, and various other perils along the way. Dawn decides to accompany him as well, in her bid to be Top Coordinator, and truly make her Pokémon shine!

Seven parts of the series have been published, with the last complete entry being completed on July 04, 2023!

Another Road Repaved consists of the following stories:

• Another Road Repaved - The Climb
• Another Road Repaved - Conception
• Another Road Repaved - Companions
• Another Road Repaved - Contemplation
• Another Road Repaved - Coordination
• Another Road Repaved - Consequences
• Another Road Repaved - Convergence

Another Road contains examples of:

• Age Lift: At the beginning of the story, Ash is said to be 15 years old after Diamond/Pearl, rather than perpetually 10. He turns 16 later in the story.
  • Dawn is also said to be nearly 14, during the story, retconning her canon age of 10 in the anime. She decided to leave home later than Kenny out of pride when she was 10, and missed the starter giveaway the following year due to an unfortunate illness. Thus, she was 12 when she joined Ash and Brock, and is 14 by the end.
• Anger Born of Worry: Nurse Joy chastises Ash several times for putting himself in danger.
  • Delia scolds him for the same, once he reveals the injuries he took on Mt. Silver, and demands he return home.
  • Gary snaps at Ash for his and Dawn's rescue of Silph Co. after Dawn rescues Ash and Pikachu from Ariana's Team Rocket base. Gary comes to admit that he feels guilty for having failed to help them.
• Aura Vision: Rosemary naturally possesses this as a Lucario. Ash is trained by Riley to be capable of the same.
• Bad Date: Thanks to the intervention and directing of their team, Ash and Dawn's first date goes horribly wrong.
• Brainwashed: Pikachu is captured by the Dark Ball from Pokémon 4ever, burying his psyche in a violent rage.
• The Bus Came Back: More like a fleet of buses. Pretty much every Pokemon that Ash has befriended or caught in the past returns to join Ash's team, be it Lapras, Pidgeot or Tyranitar (from the Larvitar in Johto). You name it, it's there.
• Canon Foreigner: Ash has a Misdreavus, a Lucario, and a Zoroark. Dawn has an Absol, a Houndoom, a Clefairy, and a Zorua.
• Challenge Seeker: Ash, challenging the Kanto Gyms after his training, finding himself with little to do until the next League season.
• Children Raise You: Raising Rosemary has given Ash a greater sense of responsibility, and he even begins to make remarks about how he understands how his own mother feels, dealing with his reckless behavior.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Lampshaded and deconstructed. Ash feels the impulse to get involved in any danger he finds if he can help someone else, which Rosemary is also guilty of. Although Ash also fails to recognize that his friends and Pokémon are similarly committed to doing good at their own risk, to Peeks and Dawn's chagrin.
• Confusion Fu: Ash's unorthodox tactics and techniques are often one of his greatest assets in battle.
  • A particularly strong example is his Gengar seemingly lighting his mouth on fire by accident with Surge's Rotom's Will-o-wisp, and comically panicking before knocking on Rotom Wash's door for a drink. When Surge humors this for a Hydro Pump, he reveals he was holding the Will-o-wisp on his tongue, and used the opportunity to turn their own status move back on them in the confusion. Ash admits he planned this with Gengar when their initial approach failed.
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: After a mostly successful scheme to capture many Poison-type Pokémon, Meowth is confronted directly by Janine's Whirlipede. Whirlipede berates him for his evil deeds, and hits a particularly sore spot in his conscience. Meowth lets Whirlipede free in a huff, and makes excuses when Jessie and James question him.
  • Although Jessie, James, and Meowth are thrilled that Giovanni has finally taken interest in them capturing Pikachu, they're horrified to learn that he wants them to catch him in a Dark Ball to force out his power and loyalty. They've seen its effects on Celebi before, though with his direct orders, they have no choice. They linger against direct orders from Ariana to keep an eye on Pikachu. They witness Pikachu's vitriolic and hollow personality in his conflict with Ash, and are so disturbed by the sight that they agree to sabotage their own successful capture.
• Cub Cues Protective Parent: On Mt. Silver, Ash met a young Teddiursa and befriended them out of loneliness, despite Dexter's warnings that he'll evoke the wrath of an overprotective parent. He fell prey to just that when their Ursaring mother appeared and attacked him viciously. The incident left Ash with several claw scars on each of his triceps, and nearly pushed him off a cliff, had Lao not rescued him.
• Deadly Training Area: Mt. Silver is full of deadly and dangerous Pokemon, to the point that Ash needs a letter of endorsement from Professor Oak just to even attain access to the area.
• Déjà Vu: When Rosemary steals Max's chocolate, it reminds him of Sir Aaron's Lucario.
• Distressed Dude: Despite attempting to rescue Pikachu, Ash has to be rescued by Dawn.
  • Lampshaded afterwards, when Ash and Delia's elder neighbors praise Dawn and then tease Ash when he seemingly becomes embarrassed. Ash takes offense to the idea that he'd have such chivalrous notions, though Dawn confirms that his frustration is an issue of personal pride and not gender norms.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: There are multiple scenarios where the heroes face villains where they or their teams are handicapped in some way, due to the severe power or skill imbalance between them and villains who, while fairly strong, are more career criminals than professional trainers.
  • When Ash sneaks into the Rocket Game Corner heist with only Rosemary; still a Riolu; to avoid appearing conspicuous with a full belt of Poké Balls.
    • When Archer, whose team was flattened by Pikachu alone, uses a Misdreavus to sink the mouse to a lower floor and steal his Poké Balls, leaving Ash with only Rosa.
    • When Dawn faces Ariana, Empoleon is already exhausted from fighting through Rocket grunts, and her Absol can't afford to battle as she's their guide.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Lieutenant Surge takes on this role to discipline Ash, during and after their battle.
• Doting Parent: Ash, with Rosemary. Although he won't hesitate to correct her on her flaws, he speaks very highly of her, rather often.
• Eager Rookie: When Ash battles Brock, Rosemary secretly swaps her Poke Ball with Bulbasaur's, leading to Ash calling her out for his rematch with Brock. Since she'd technically been sent out in battle, Ash was forced to battle with her against a far more experienced Rhyperior. Although Ash's tactics and her Prankster ability help her hold out, she's ultimately no match, and is scolded for her irresponsible behavior.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Common in Ash's battles, and sometimes in Dawn's, as well.
  • When Ash is struggling with Brock's combination of Stealth Rock and Roar + Dragon Tail, he invents the use of Rapid Spin to clear field hazards.
  • During Ash's rematch with Bertha, he discovers a new use for Torterra's Rock Climb to reinvent his battle style, based on recent game of tennis he'd played.
• Even Evil Has Standards:After the ransacking of Ariana's base, Giovanni orders the three to kill Ash and Dawn to send a message. They find themselves unable to commit, and covertly agree to intentionally fail their mission.
• Evolution Power-Up: When Gible evolves into Gabite, and later into Garchomp.
  • When Piplup finds himself stagnant after the Mulberry Contest, and with some prompting from his peers, decides to evolve into Prinplup to continue protecting and grow alongside Dawn.
  • When :Prinplup suffers a nasty defeat to Brendan and his Swampert, he wills himself to evolve into Empoleon to become strong enough to help Dawn succeed.
  • When : Misdreavus chooses to evolve with the Dusk Stone Ash acquired for her, in order to wield supernatural powers great enough to help Ash become intangible in their efforts to rescue Pikachu.
• Famed In-Story: After their defense of Silph Co, Ash and Dawn become nebulously known as the Silph Co vigilantes, though they manage to hide their identities at first. This changes when Dawn rescues Ash from Team Rocket, thereafter Officer Jenny manages to get Dawn to admit her part in the former. Her raiding of the base gets her and Ash's names on Kanto television for both incidents.
• Friendly Rivalry: Dawn and Ciara.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Downplayed. Giovanni finally starts taking an interest in the Ash that Jessie and James have pursued once he's become strong enough to take down Tobias's Darkrai and Latios, though he still thinks his subordinates have wasted too much money.
• Graceful Loser: After Ash and Torkoal suffer a nasty defeat to Blaine and his Rhyperior, Dawn is quick to try to comfort them. Ash shakes it off quickly, expressing gratitude that he had the chance to lose to him outside of his Gym, so he could use their defeat to devise a future victory. Lance praises Ash for his forward attitude.
• Happily Adopted: Rosemary designates Dawn as her mother, early in Contemplation. The sentiment surprises Dawn, but she grows used to and accepts it.
• Has a Type: When discussing one of Dawn's rivals and his chivalrous, or really misogynistic behavior, Ash offhandedly expresses distaste for the "damsel in distress" trope, despite erroneously calling it "Damsel in that Dress." Dawn prods for more information, and says that his type is someone with more "oomph." Someone with guts and a dream who he and they can encourage each other towards their goals. Dawn recognizes she fits the bill, to her satisfaction.
• Heroic BSoD: Following It's All My fault, Ash internalizes, falsely, that Peeks has been captured and brainwashed all because of his heroics. He drops to his knees and slowly loses the will to fight, as his team offers no resistance to the berserk Pikachu. Although he doesn't say it outright, in a grim unspoken turn, Ash implicitly gives up and tells Pikachu to just kill him, outright. His attitude only starts to break when Pikachu scolds him harshly for his lack of self-care.
• Honor Before Reason: Ash repeatedly expresses distaste towards any tactics or interference in his Gym Battles, due to being acutely aware of how dishonorable a lot of his victories were in his first run. Sabrina suggests he uses his and his Riolu's Aura to counter her telepathy in battle, but Ash puts up a lot of resistance to the idea, believing it to be cheating. Sabrina points out that she's allowed to use her powers to communicate with her Pokémon, and that his pride is getting in the way of his judgement. Ash concedes, and communicates telepathically with his team through Rosemary in battle, until she grows tired.
  • Repeated in Ash's battle with Erika, where she calls for a tea break when their match becomes particularly tense. Ash objects to the premise in the first place, and becomes even more frustrated when she offers Typhlosion a Cheri Berry to heal his paralysis. He doesn't want any outside advantages to interfere with the integrity of their battle. Erika gets him to see reason, drawing attention how even their first battle brought worthwhile experiences and brought light to his strong character as a trainer, despite him not winning. He then prioritizes his Pokémon and friends' comfort, agreeing to battle after the pleasant break.
• Intergenerational Rivalry: Dawn's rivalry with Glenda.
• Invisible Parents: Ciara often mentions her parents and runs off to speak to them on the phone, but they haven't yet been seen.
• It Amused Me: When Gary is revealed to be the Viridian Gym Leader, Ash asks him why he didn't tell him about his acquiring the job in the first place. He supposes Gary had some profound or strategic reason from hiding their eventual showdown, but Gary denies this, and admits he just wanted to see Ash's reaction to it for kicks.
• It Runs in the Family: Brock remarks that Ash and Rosemary have both their headstrong nature and rambunctious behavior in common.
• It's All My Fault: When Pikachu was captured in the Dark Ball, Ariana mocked Ash, claiming that he only had himself to blame; his insistence on interfering with Team Rocket's attempted takeover of Silph Co. drew Giovanni's attention to Pikachu's spectacular power in the first place.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Ash learns to use Aura Sphere through Riley's tutelage. Rosemary also learns the move after evolving.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: When Ash confronts Giovanni at the Silph Company, Giovanni boasts that he has no intents to cause wonton death and destruction, and only desires power. As he sends out Nidoqueen against Pikachu, he boasts that electric attacks won't work, and earth-shaking Ground-type moves would be dangerous, so their struggle will be reduced to pure skill and power; "the most beautiful kind of battle."
  • Immediately subverted as Giovanni starts to lose, and has Nidoqueen blind Pikachu, and weakens him with a Level Modulator chip to ensure his victory.
• Mama Bear: Ash's Zoroark; Meema.
• Meaningful Rename: After the Dark Ball fiasco, Professor Willow helps Ash officially regain ownership of Pikachu. Ash's Pokédex requests to nickname his technically newly caught Pokémon. Although Ash admits he usually dismisses the option, as he's not good with nicknames, Professor Oak suggests that a new name could symbolize a new beginning. Pikachu agrees with the sentiment, and calls on a moniker given to him by Bertha, who infamously gives people she's familiar with nicknames, whether they like it or not — "Peeks." To signify a new era of their friendship, he formally agrees to be renamed Peeks.
• No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: When Dawn defeats Ciara in the Vermilion Contest, she grasps that she may have only won because Ciara choked under the pressure of facing her. She's ultimately disappointed that she potentially won by a fluke, and not by beating her rival at her full capacity, and asks for a better battle, later on.
  • Dawn is on the other end of this in Contemplations, when she faces her rival Maddox in a Contest in Saffron. Although their battle was neck-and-neck, Dawn saw a chance for a creative and decisive victory, but its explosive nature reminded her of Petrel's remarks about recognizing her battle style, several days before. Fearing being recognized by Team Rocket and endangered, she made a sub-optimal play, losing her the battle. Although he's oblivious to the context of her decision, Maddox expresses a very rare show of disappointment in her throwing the match. Dawn now knows what it feels like to do this to someone else.
• Not Good with Rejection: Subverted. Ash is rejected by Misty, who's moved on from their childhood affections. However, this doesn't sting Ash quite as much as he expected, as he mostly finds it embarrassing.
  • When Kenny is back on the scene, he learns that Ash and Dawn are now dating. While he'd believed himself over his crush on her, the news reopened the wound, and he became uncomfortable around Dawn.
• Oblivious to Love: Following Not Good with Rejection, Ash comes to the conclusion, with Misty's help, that he's been dodging the topic of love since her departure from the group, finding avoiding it preferable to the uncomfortable possibility that Misty didn't reciprocate. He was never truly oblivious like he appeared to be.
  • On the other hand, Dawn was completely oblivious to the fact that Ash's fascination with Misty was making her jealous, believing herself to be jealous of how impressive Misty is as a person, instead. When the Gym Leader spelled it out for her, she was moreso humiliated that she "wasn't even jealous of something cool."
• Olympus Mons: Moltres, who serves as the final boss for Ash to face on Mt. Silver, and the culmination of his efforts there.
• Overdramatic Dating Commotion: When Ash and Dawn confess to liking one another, they briefly celebrate, but otherwise make no big deal of it, simply returning to the Pokémon Center to rest. Some of their Pokémon are baffled; Prinplup and Buneary in particular, and insist that Ash and Dawn properly celebrate, going to comical lengths to arrange the 'perfect' date.
• Parental Hypocrisy: Called out. Ash scolds Rosa for her recklessness after their attempt to foil Team Rocket's plot at the Game Corner. She rightfully counters with the fact that Ash would have done something similar, were she in his shoes. He had no counter for her argument.
• Parental Substitute: Nurse Joy, who, being Ash's only instance of human contact during his training regiment, finds herself acting as a sort of surrogate parent, by her own admission.
• Parent-Child Team: Ash and Rosemary simultaneously fighting Pierce's Pokémon. While holding off Pierce's Absol, Ash intentionally knocks them into Rosa's opponents to allow her a strategic leg up. They also worked together to infiltrate the Game Corner in the first place, and did the same at Silph Co.
• Parents as People: Although motherhood is one of Meema's defining traits, her own psyche is occasionally delved into, as well.
• Passing the Torch: Riley trains Ash with the intent of him carrying the responsibility of being an Aura Guardian; perhaps a more effective hero than he's been, himself.
• Ping Pong Naïveté: When Ash meets up with Dawn at her home, he veers between teasing Buneary about reuniting with Pikachu, and seemingly losing his understanding of her feelings immediately afterward, referring to them as friends. Although there's reason for his behavior, it strikes Dawn as odd at the time.
• Pom-Pom Girl: Prinplup attempts to encourage Dawn to cheerlead for Ash during his rematch with Sabrina, but she refuses for personal reasons. She does do her cheer routine for Ash's rematch with Lt. Surge, however. She also takes up the Pom Poms for Ash's rematch with : Gary.
• Power of Friendship: After Pikachu was brainwashed by Team Rocket's Dark Ball, Ash makes numerous attempts to break through to his partner, to no avail. Only when he begins to empathize with Pikachu's underlying frustrations with him, does he meet him halfway and heed his concerns. The connection of their hearts finally allows Pikachu to break the Dark Ball's spell permanently.
• Pride Before a Fall: When Ash battles Lieutenant Surge, Pikachu becomes massively overconfident, attempting to steamroll a three versus three battle by himself. Pikachu's arrogance becomes infectious to Ash, and they fail to see the forest through the trees, losing a massive amount of momentum and the battle with it for their hubris.
• Rage Against the Mentor: Ash eventually reaches a point of frustration during his training with Riley, and snaps at him for his strict, callous methods.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Dawn and Ciara, respectively. Dawn is passionate, stubborn, and headstrong, while Ciara is far more reserved and passive. She's also a touch more logical and socially aware than her more experienced rival.
• Relatedinthe Adaptation: While not blood-related in any sense, Bertha essentially adopts Ash as her protégé and grandchild. When he tries to assign her a nickname as she's done for himself and Peeks, Bertha reminds him to respect his elders, and if anything, to call her Meemaw. Shortly after, he does so.
• Rescue Arc: When Pikachu is kidnapped, in Consequences.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: See: Dawn's entry in Took a Level in Badass.
• Secret Relationship: After the events of Silph Co and Pikachu's kidnapping, Ash and Dawn feel particularly down in the dumps, and with Dawn's urging, agree not to make their relationship public until they're feeling in better spirits. The bid isn't out of embarrassment with one another, but an act of Dawn-inspired vanity.
  • Ash kisses Dawn in front of Ritchie, and seeing that the cat's out of the bag, they try to proudly announce their relationship. Ritchie very flatly explains that Delia had already told him, revealing that Delia already knew. Ash and Dawn express exasperation, and Ritchie awkwardly apologizes, befuddled by them.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Lieutenant Surge reveals that he and Raichu are an example of this; Raichu, in particular, is triggered by moves like Self-Destruct and Explosion, and thus, Surge doesn't use any such moves in his Gym, despite training Voltorb and Electrode.
  • Surge and Raichu take Peeks on a training trip to help him confront his own trauma, and speak of their time at war. Their erratic, violent, and brash behavior from the first series of the anime was a result of their unattended trauma, nearly causing Surge to lose his Gym, once the Indigo League went through reforms.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Although Ash can't fluently speak Pokémon (yet), he's slowly gaining the capacity to speak to his Pokémon telepathically, under the condition that there's a strong sense of mutual understanding and trust on both ends, through what Riley describes as "Window to the Heart."
• Struggling Single Mother: After Ash catches Meema to get her medical care, Nurse Joy discovers that while her Zorua cub is perfectly healthy, she's underweight.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Dawn's Buneary has often found herself lost in her own little world, in regards to her love for Pikachu. It tends to backfire by making Pikachu uncomfortable, and even made a small disaster of a 'date' between them that was arranged by their trainers, unbeknownst to them.
  • Subverted, afterwards. Buneary becomes more thoughtful of Pikachu's feelings from this point onward. While showing a few more signs of impatience, she gradually gains a more healthy respect for him taking his time.
• Took a Level in Badass: Ash, by the end of his training on Mt. Silver.
  • Team Rocket (specifically, Jessie, James and Meowth) definitely take this, perhaps even multiple levels, being able to defeat Pikachu and make Ash doubt his own strength.
  • Dawn when : she stormed Ariana's Team Rocket base by herself and laid waste to a majority of its staff, including defeating Executive Ariana herself in a battle. On the news, her exploits were broadcast to all of Kanto.
  • Misty is said by Kenny to be rising as one of Kanto's most powerful Gym Leaders, even rivaling the Seafoam and Viridian Gyms. She displays her skills when Ash faces her in a rematch, where she corners him with ruthless weather strategies, abilities, status effects, and even a Huge Power Belly Drum Azumarill. She forces a hard-earned victory from Ash, despite him using the likes of Snorlax and Pikachu, and even a Sheer Cold from Lapras.
• Training from Hell: Trekking Mount Silver every day and its hellish opponents is enough to qualify for this.
  • Ash's unforgiving training with Riley also qualifies; wrought with physical challenges, strict diet enforcement, and honing of discipline.
• Trauma Button: When encountering a squad of Team Rocket members, Peeks witnesses one of them force their stolen Pokémon to fight him. This triggers a traumatic episode in him, reminding him of the Dark Ball turning him berserk against Ash and his teammates.
• Villainous Rescue: Jessie, James, and Meowth create commotion and flood Ariana's base with Haze to distract her and make her drop Pikachu's Dark Ball, and divert her to be ambushed by Dawn. Meowth covertly rolls the Dark Ball to Ash and Pikachu, so that they can 'get it to one of their brainy pals' to assure Pikachu's health.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Team Rocket serves as this towards the end of Ash's stay on Mount Silver, making him wonder if he really has gotten any stronger.