The Ketchum residence was usually a calm, cheerful and quiet place but on the present night it was anything but. Ash stormed across the hall and once inside of his room he slammed the door as hard as he could not caring whether the door would brake. Ash was furious. Pikachu stood outside of his room and stared at the door curiously. Delia, Ash's mom, stormed up the stairs and tightly gripped the doorknob but as she tried to turn it she realized Ash had locked himself in.
Delia was furious at Ash.
He had awoken at 4:50 in the morning to go out with his friends leaving behind a note which only stated that he was going to be out all day long and had no idea when he would return. When Delia read the note she was crushed and angry at the same time.
Ash, Brock, May, Max, Tracy, Todd, Gary and even Misty had gathered in Pallet Town for a small reunion, not to mention Ash wanted to see his mother very badly. But ever since Ash arrived he had only been interested in hanging out with his friends.
Delia was crushed for Ash had promised that for the entire day they would hang out all day long to talk and catch up. When Ash returned at a quarter past midnight Delia asked him why he had canceled on her and so the fight between mother and son erupted.
Delia knocked on the door as she said, "Ash, you open this door right now!"
"No!" Ash barked back at his mother. Delia knocked again but Ash simply knocked back hard.
"You know what? I'm going out by myself since you don't seem to want to hang around me."
"It's after midnight, stupid!"
Delia, Pikachu and even Mr. Mime, who had heard the shouts from the kitchen and came running, gasped in shock from hearing Ash call his mother 'stupid'. Delia groaned loudly and stormed down the stairs. Ash then opened the door and walked down the stairs. At the front door Delia and Ash shot daggers at each other by the stares they gave each other. Pikachu followed Ash and Mr. Mime followed Delia.
Delia headed off in the direction of Viridian Forest while Ash headed off in the opposite direction. Delia noticed that Mr. Mime was running behind her so she turned around and said.
"No, Mimie, I need you to stay and look after the house."
"Mr. Mime!" Agreed the Pokemon as it smiled but Delia was just too upset to smile back so she simply turned around and walked away.
"Pika pi!" Pikachu called out to Ash who stopped dead in his tracks and said in a very serious tone, "Stay in the house."
"Pi pika pi…"
Ash sighed deeply and slowly turned his gaze towards the electric mouse and said firmly, "I said, 'stay in the house!'"
"Chu?" Pikachu could tell Ash was infuriated and that he wanted to be alone so it turned around and trotted back to the house. Ash walked on as he slipped his hands into his pockets. He knew his mother was right but his stubborn attitude and the fact that he was angry prevented him from thinking straight. Ash figured a walk would cool him off and as soon as he and his mother were both out of their angry state they could talk things over.
After an hour and a half Ash had decided to walk back to his house since he had cooled down and was now able to confront his mother without bursting into another rage attack. He had walked as far as he could but his legs were getting tired and for some reason he just knew he had to get home. After a while Ash could see Professor Oak's lab meaning that just around was his house and hopefully his mom would be there as well. Ash walked on and just as his house was on sight so was a huge crowd of people. Ash found this odd so he picked up the pace to fin out what was going on.
As soon as Ash came over to the huge crowd in front of his house he saw the front door was wide open but he could not see all too well for the crowd would move blocking his view. After trying to see he began to move forward making his way towards the front door but as he moved and people saw him they fell silent.
Ash noticed this but paid little attention to it. Once he managed to squeeze out of the crowd he saw all of his friends and Professor Oak standing in the front door. The look in their faces was deathly and the red in their eyes pointed out to the obvious action of crying. Once they saw Ash May gasped as she put her hand on her chest in an action of surprise but at the same time fear.
Ash stood in the garden wondering why they were acting the way they were. From behind Professor Oak came Officer Jenny with an even more deathly look upon her face. Both Jenny and Oak walked over to Ash while Brock and the others remained sitting at the front door weeping. Ash's breathing became accelerated as Oak and Jenny approached him. He knew something bad had happened but he was about to find out just how bad it really was.
Professor Oak sniffled a bit as he placed his hand on Ash's shoulder and Officer Jenny kneeled down so that she would be looking right into Ash's eyes. Ash's fear was now growing much faster. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster as the seconds became minutes and the minutes became hours. Finally Officer Jenny spoke as the crowd fell silent.
"Ash…this is not easy for me to say but…there was an accident."
Ash gasped a little as he wondered what kind of accident happened and whoever it was he knew that Officer Jenny knew that Ash and the person she was about to mention were close so it made it even harder for him to even breathe. Officer Jenny lowered her gaze since looking into Ash's eyes knowing she was about to destroy his entire world was too much of a burden for her.
"There was a man driving his car and he was drunk…" Those pauses were what were killing him, he needed to know who had been in an accident but at the same time he didn't want to know in order to avoid the painful knowledge. Suddenly he gasped loudly and looked at the front door as he asked the one question they all feared he would ask.
"Where's mom? Where…where is she?"
Officer Jenny closed her eyes shut and Ash began to breathe unevenly as he looked at her and then back at Professor Oak. Ash began to tremble as he saw May and Misty holding each other as they wept and saw Brock and Gary lowering their gazes in a gloomy matter. It was all falling apart but what made it worse was when Ash laid eyes on Pikachu and Mr. Mime as both Pokemon wept.
"Tell me she's inside. I need to hear it, tell me my mother is in the house safe and sound. Please…I'm begging you."
Officer Jenny knew Ash's mom personally, they just spoke from time to time whenever she would visit Viridian City which was often. Telling her only son grave news as the one she was about to drop on him made her cry. Ash's eyes were beginning to water as he noticed no one would tell him where his mother was.
"Ash listen to me, a man was driving drunk along the road to Viridian Forest and your mother— "
"No! No, no, no! That's not true! That's not---You're lying!"
Ash struggled to back away from Jenny and Oak but Jenny wrapped her arms around him tightly while Oak held his hand. Ash kept screaming and trying to break lose but Oak and Jenny would not let him go. Brock, May, Max, Tracy, Todd, Gary and Misty couldn't help but run over to him and hold him as tight as they could.
Ash wanted to break away from the group and run as fast and as far as his legs could carry him but the more he struggled and yelled the tighter they held him. After a while Ash finally clamed down and dropped to his knees as he began to cry.
That fateful night had ruined a life and damaged many more but just how much was that life ruined and how those other lives were affected? Everyone would soon find out.
The following day Ash ruled out as the worst one of his entire life. He had not slept at all and spent the entire night sobbing and trying to overcome the overwhelming guilt that seemed to swallow him. The last words he had said to his mother circled his mind and haunted him to the point where he would break down and cry. At times the feelings got so intense he bit the pillow he wept on.
Professor Oak and Officer Jenny knew Ash was crushed so they handled all the dreadful arraignments for the funeral so he wouldn't have to go through more than he needed. They thought it better to just get it over with quickly.