Green Gold Fox
It is a few weeks after the Hoenn League Championship and Ash had place fourth. Ash, May, Max, and Brock, along with Tracey, Gary and Misty are traveling to New Bark Town to spend a few days with Professor Birch and then board a ship to Pallet town. They have been traveling around to catch some more pokemon and especially for Tracey to sketch the pokemon of Hoenn. Ash's mom and Professor Oak are home in Pallet Town planning for a party they will be giving Ash when he gets back. They are currently in Oldale Town at the Pokemon Center and all are eager to get to New Bark Town.
Ash was in the restroom changing his soaking wet cloths. As they entered in Oldale Town, someone was recklessly driving by in a car and Ash had been splashed with the water on the road. Pikachu doge the soaking by jumping on Max's shoulder. He got a second soaking from Officer Jenny as she was chasing the other driver. He pulled out his new cloths and food for pikachu and quickly changed. As he was repacking his things, he did not notice that something of his fell to the ground with a soft thud.
He quickly gathered his items and exits the bathroom to return to friends in the main area of the Pokemon Center. He walks over to his pokemon who were eating their lunch. Pikachu was sitting patiently for his trainer to return with his. Ash walked up and pikachu noticed that he had a bottle of ketchup with him. Ash smiles at this. He still does not get why his friend loves ketchup and if it had a choice, it would only eat the ketchup.
Brock and the others watched as Ash gave pikachu his lunch and hands over the bottle of ketchup to him. Quickly, Pikachu squirts out a large amount of ketchup on his food and Brock, Tracey, and Misty start to laugh, while May, Max, and Gary have puzzled looks on their face. Ash takes the bottle away and places it in his bag and walks over to his friends. Max excused himself to use the restroom as Ash comes closer to them. Ash set his bag down with his friends.
"Guys I be right back, I have to go to the pokemart."
"Okay Ash. What do you want for lunch?" Brock asks
"A hamburger and fries will be nice." he said and left
As Max was leaving the bathroom, something caught his eye under one of the sinks. He picked up an item and looks at it for a moment. It is a leather cord, but he can not see what it is attached to it, because a piece of paper is wrapped around it and tied with a green string. On the cord itself are seven different colored beads placed together and kept together by metal beads, but at the top with the clasp. He looks at the paper and finds that the words were mostly faded, he could only make out Ash.
He walked out and back to the group to see if it belonged Ash. As he came closer, he sees he is not there and that pikachu was walking away from Ash's bag with the bottle of ketchup in his paws. Max smiled at this and sat back down with his friends to finish his lunch. May noticed that her brother had something in his hand.
"Bro what do you have?"
"Oh, I found it in the restroom, it has Ash's name on it. Where is he?"
"He went to the pokemart for something. Can I see that?"
Max hands it over to his sister. She fingered the beads.
"I like the color of the beads; it reminds me of a rainbow."
"May what is that paper wrapped around it." Tracey asked
"I do not know, but it looks like a picture to me." she said as she sets its down to undo the string.
"Do you think you should take that off?" Brock asks
"He won't mind, I want to see what the picture is and what is attached to the necklace."
She untied the string and unrolled the picture to reveal what was attached to the necklace. She finds that it is a pendent is attached to the leather cord, and it in the shape of a feather with the same colors as the beads. The quill of the feather is pointed up and the leather is attached behind the feather in the middle, with a d-ring. The feather itself is in a curved fashion with the outer curve pointing to the left. Everyone looked at it with wonder. From the top of the feather and down, there were the colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The trim of the feather and the quill are in gold. There are two more sets of beads that are attached to the necklace with a small space between them and the pendent. The beads follow the same color order as the feather. The feather itself is three inches in length with the curve.
Every one gazed at the pendent as the light from the sun reflected off of it. May passed it the others so they could have a closer look at it.
"Hey, who is in the picture?" Gary asks
May unrolls the picture again and finds that there are four people in view. She looks at the back of the picture to see what was written.
"I can't read what is on the back, the words have faded, expect for Ash."
She turned the picture back around and looked closely at the four people. She passeed the picture around to the others and they each saw who was in the picture.
A man was sitting down in a chair with brown hair slicked back with a young boy. The boy had a cast on his right arm. On the left side of the man was a muscular man with black hair pulled back in a small ponytail, kneeling down on one knee. To the right of the brown headed man, was a man with short red hair standing. All of them seem to be very happy. They are outside on a large grassy area and in the background was a large house, five stories tall. Each of the adults, are dressed in suits in some fashion.
"I bet that is Ash's father?" Tracey asks
"I guess we would have to ask him when he gets back and speaking of, here he comes." Brock said
Ash came walking into the Pokemon Center and found all of his friends gathered up in the dinning area. He sees that they are all looking at something. As he entered, they all looked up at him. He walked up to them wondering what was going on.
"Hey guys, what are you up too?" he asks
"Max found this in the restroom, is it yours?" May asks
Ash looked at the object she held up. His face flashed with dread at seeing the necklace. He quickly looks around for the picture that was with it and saw that Gary was holding it. Tracey noticed Ash's facial expression and started to watch him closely.
"Yes, I thought I lost it a long time ago." he said
He walked over to an empty table and set the packages he was holding down. He turns around to the group hoping they would not pry into his life.
"Where did you get this necklace Ash, it is wonderful." May asked
"My grandmother gave it to me a long time ago." he said
"Who are these people in this picture Ash?" Misty asks
"No one important." he said sitting down by May
"No one important, this must be your father." she said grabbing the picture from Gary and pointing to the man in the chair. "So you never talk about your father Ash. Who are these other people in this picture and what was you father like?" Misty asks
"I don't know and I rather not talk about it." he said
He looked away from his friends wishing they would quit prying and set his french-fry back down he was eating. He started to rub his right arm absentminded as bad memories started to come back to him.
"Can I have them back?" Ash asks looking up at Misty who was in front of him.
"Not until you tell me who these people are in this picture." Misty ask teasingly
"Cant you just drop it, I don't want to talk about them."
"Why not Ash?" May asks
"I just rather not." he said
"Ash what's the matter?" Tracey asked seeing how his friend was acting
"Nothing is the matter, so just drop it." he yelled
He got up and grabbed the necklace from Misty and ran out of the Pokemon Center. His friends where stunned that he did that. Pikachu came running up to them and picked up his trainers hat that fell off when he took off.
"What was that all about?" Misty asked
"Who knows, but I think we pushed him too much." Brock said
"Yah, I guess we get our stuff and head after him before he gets lost." Gary said
They quickly gathered their stuff; Brock wrapped Ash's lunch for later. They recalled their pokemon and luckily/unluckily Ash left his pokeballs behind. Pikachu road on Max's shoulder, while they were off finding Ash.
As Ash ran out of the Pokemon Center, he could only think of all the bad memories that where brought back to him when his friends started to ask questions. The constant arguing between his father, his two uncles and his grandmother. When he was three, she passed away and it became worse between the three men. His mother quickly made plans to leave once their auguring broke out into fist fights between the three. They left and he never knew what happened to them after that. He does not even remember what their names were.
He ran not caring where he went. He quickly ran in the forest south of Oldale Town, running a few more minutes till he finally collapsed to the ground. He stayed their trying to hold back his tears. He started to rub the beads on the necklace thinking back.
Old Memories:
It was his second birthday. He had been speeding a couple weeks at his grandmother's place, since his mother went to visit a friend who was in the hospital. He really did not like his grandmother, but did have fun around her, and his two uncles. They always fought, but tried not to around him. His grandmother had been teaching him how to climb trees. He had fallen out of a tree and broke his arm. There was a huge argument between his father and grandmother, but it all seamed all fine the next day. It was his birthday, but he still saw some resentment between the four and wished his mother was there. It took his grandmother sometime before she got his father and uncles together to take a picture. Later that night, after he had gone to bed, there was a huge argument between his uncles and father. It resulted in many items being broken including a large picture window. He was very scared and hid under the bed. He heard his grandmother shouting at them and more things breaking. Anytime his mother was gone, the fights and arguing where worse. He soon heard people running up the different stairs and head doors slamming shut. His room was on the fifth floor, his grandmother's floor. His father came walking in with a cloth over his face. He tells his son to go back to sleep and that everything was fine.
The next morning his mother was suppose to be back and his father told him if his mother asks what happen to the window, is that they where playing baseball yesterday and it went through the window. Ash told his mother the lie when she asked him, but she knew better. She saw that one of Ash's uncle was favoring his side and one of her husband's eyes where puffy but did not show any bruising. She knew he masked it with makeup.
A year and a few months after he turned three, his grandmother passed away. The fighting got worse and he never knew why. His mother one night came in his room at their apartment in town and started to pack all of his clothes. He did not know what was going on, but as they left, he saw that one of her eyes where bruising up and she had been crying. He never knew what happen to his father and uncles after that. He did not care.
End of old memories:
He sat there remembering all the bad and good times. He was glad his mother got them out of their. He did not want to know what would happen if they had stayed. He got up and moved to a tree and sat down against it. He did not fell like confronting with his friends right now, even pikachu. He placed the necklace around his neck and stared at the feather.
A few minutes passed and Brock and the others where catching up to Ash. They had to stop a couple times to catch their breath. They see him up ahead and call out to him. Ash looks up with tears in his eyes. They watched as he stands up and quickly runs off again, deeper into the forest. Pikachu watched as his trainer ran off become sadder himself.
"Why would he run off like that?" May asks
"Who knows about him? Let's just find him." Gary said
They got deeper into forest following Ash's trail. They hate it since they can not keep up with his pace.
"I guess I should have stopped when he asked." Misty said
"It is not just your fault, we all got him upset." Tracey said
They walked on, having pikachu track Ash's trail, but within a few hours they lost his trail. They sent out their flying pokemon to search for Ash, but they came back emptied handed.
"Will at least we are kind of getting close to New Bark Town." Gary said
"Yah, but we are going have to make camp soon. It is getting late and we were suppose to meet up with Professor Birch today." Brock said
At the mention of his name, Professor Birch popped out of some bushes in front of the group.
"Did someone call my name?" he asked
Everyone jumped when he appeared.
"Professor!" May yelled at him "I thought you will still at you lab?"
"I was, but I had the urge to go out again. Where's Ash?"
"He took off, we got him upset." Misty said "Did you see him come this way?"
"No I have not. How did you get him upset?"
They told their story of what happen.
"I see, It sounds like you stirred up some bad memories. I suggest we make camp now, it will be dark soon and we can't track him in the dark. He may not be too far off and may come back to us tonight or in the morning. If not, we all will go looking for him in the morning, but I do hope he comes back tonight, there is suppose to be a rain storm coming in."
Everyone did as he suggested and made their camp. Misty cracked a joke about that once Brock started to cook, he would come back, but their laughter died quickly when Ash did not show up. After dinner they pitched their tents and as the last stake was droved into the ground, the rain started coming down in heavy sheets.
Ash was getting tired of running. He wants to sit down and rest, but does not want to risk being found by his friends, just yet, but he doubt they will catch up too him soon. He just does not want to face them and their questions of why he ran off.
"Just why did they not just stop with the questions. Cant they tell I did not want to talk about those people in the picture."
He stopped again and could not hold back the tears. When the tears stopped flowing, he got up and continued walking on into the forest.
Soon night was coming and he knew he needs to find a place to rest. He smelled the chance of rain and hoped he would find something soon. He came across a clearing with a good size lake. He walked up to it and looked into the lake. He was sad at the condition of it. It was brown and mucky with trash all in it. He looks around and sees that the grass around it was dying from the foul water. He walked away from it even thirstier and hungrier. He looked around for a spot for the night, but he did not want to sleep on the ground. It started to rain and he was not too pleased with that.
"I guess it fits my mood right now. I have to find some shelter."
He walked around the perimeter of the clearing looking for some sort of shelter under the trees. His eyes caught the sight of a huge tree, on the other side of the lake. He walked over to it and looked to the top. He laughs at himself for he never knew his grandmothers tree climbing lessons would come in handy. He started to climb and finds that the top of the trunk is big enough for about two people to lie down in. As he sets himself down in the center, he takes off his vest and shirt and rings the water out. He was soaking wet, but he did not care. He puts his shirt back on and uses his vest as a pillow. The tree's foliage shielded him from most of the rain. He looked back down and sees he was a ways up and that the tree leans towards the lake.
"Grandmother would be proud of me, this tree is bigger then the ones I climb at her house."
He laid there listing to the rain and soon fell asleep to the gentle patterns of the rain.
Few hours later the rain stops falling. In the clearing where Ash is in, a fog rolled in obscuring the clearing and the surrounding area from view. Something is in the fog and knows where it is walking. It entered into the clearing and walked over to the lake. It is sad with the condition of the lake. It can see that the grass and other plants were dieing from the contaminated water. As it was about to step into the lake, the wind changed and it caught a familiar sent. It looked around and finds it is coming from a tree across the lake. It tilts his head at seeing the human. It looked around and it does not see any of his friends with him and his pokemon.
It stepped into the lake, but its feet do not sink in the water. It walked on it like a surskit. As each step is made, the ripples move through out the lake. Once in the center, the lake glows brightly and starts to dim as quickly as it appeared. In the wake of all of this, is left a crystal clear lake. The pokemon moved to the end of the lake and looked up into the tree Ash is in. It stands there for a while and jumps up on a tree limb. The tree limb itself is about three inches thick, but it supports the weight of the pokemon.
It looks around again for the boy's friends, but it does not sense them. It comes closer to the boy and looks down at the sleeping form of the boy. As clouds moved away from the moon, it can see that the boy had been crying. It lays down close, but not too close and wonders why he was sad and where his friends were. He watched as he starts to move in his sleep and curled tighter into a ball and talk in his sleep. He starts to shake from not cold, but from fear in his dream.
"No!"
The pokemon jumps at the sudden outburst from the boy. It would have left, but it stayed once Ash started to cry in his sleep. It came closer, sad and wondered what was going on. It rubbed its head on the boys check to calm him down and try to wake him. It calmed Ash down, but he did not stir from his sleep. Ash reached up and started to pet the pokemon, thinking it was pikachu. The pokemon was startled at this, but allowed him to pet him. It found it actually enjoy being petted and was sad when it stopped. It decided to stay till morning. It laid down along Ash's back and it noticed the boy went deeper into a peaceful sleep.