Mizu: I don't own Pokemon. There. The disclaimer is done so onto the fic.
This Final Goodbye….
Ash sat on a small hill in Sinnoh, staring up at the night sky. It had been nearly eleven years since he had left Pallet Town in Kanto to achieve his dream of pokemon master. He had met so many great friends, even greater pokemon, and the weirdest rivals. Sighing, he look over his shoulder to his camp. There were his current traveling friends. Brock Slate and Dawn…something. Never could remember her last name. Ash could feel a sudden weight upon his chest. Most nights, he sat by the fire with them telling stories and laughing, just as they were right then. But tonight was different.
Slowly, Ash made his way back to the camp. Pikachu looked up at him from beside Brock and it's face paled. It knew something was about to happen.
"Hey Ash!" Brock exclaimed happily, "Where ya been?"
"Just looking at the sky," Ash sighed sitting down.
Instantly, Brock was tuned into Ash's face. The only time Ash ever took time to look at the sky was when something was terribly wrong.
"Well, why were you doing that?" Dawn asked, still oblivious.
"I needed to…think…about something," Ash said, sorrowfully.
"About what?" Brock and Dawn asked.
"About this journey of mine," Ash stated, looking away.
Finally, everyone at camp was silent. Even the pokemon.
"What I'm about to do…trust me, I've really had to think about it," Ash sighed.
"About what?" Brock asked again.
Ash was silent for a moment and then said, "I think it's time that my journey came to an end."
"WHAT?" both of his friends snapped.
"Listen, I'm one of the strongest trainers in the world. I've been given so many offers for jobs because of it. I've always turn them down because I wanted to get stronger. But there comes a time that you reach a limit. I've reached mine so many times but over came them," Ash started to explain.
"Then why can't you do it again?" Brock snapped at the young man.
"That's just it. It's something that I can't overcome. That's why I left on my journey so long ago. I thought that if I did, then I could really become the best in the world. That I could be myself for the rest of my life," Ash paused and started to walk to the hill, "but that was my foolish mistake. After all of these years, I've realized that I picked the wrong path."
Ash looked back at his friends, his eyes starting to fill with tears as he looked at them in hopes that they'd understand.
"I don't regret my journey. I really don't. It just turned out not to be the way to go for me….I really loved meeting all of my pokemon and all of my friends. For those reasons, I don't want to stop. It hurts me so much."
"Then don't stop! Keep doing what you love!" Dawn cried.
"I can't. This is something that I can't deny. I'll travel with you guys to the next town and that's where we'll part. You to the next town and contest and me back to Pallet town. Maybe with luck I can still take Scott up on his offer," Ash said, turning his back to his friends.
"Ash!" Dawn snapped.
He didn't turn around. Dawn was about to smack him when she saw Brock stand up. Slowly, the oldest of the three made his way to Ash. Brock placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Is this really what you think is best? Are you going to release all of your pokemon or just keep them to train for something that will never come?" Brock questioned.
"T-Train them…" Ash stuttered, trying his hardest not to cry.
"…Good…" Brock smiled.
Pikachu jumped onto his trainer's shoulder and rubbed its cheek against his. At that time both trainer and pokemon broke down to cry silently together. Dawn and her pokemon just stared at Ash. He looked so fragile but yet he was still trying to stand tall. Slowly, her own tears started to trickle down her face. It wasn't long before everything in camp was crying.
"I guess this is goodbye, guys," Ash sighed, looking at the clock, "My boat leaves in 20 minutes and I probably should be one it unless I want to swim back"
The other two just gave a shrug. Brock couldn't believe that it was Ash leaving this time. After everything he had done, Ash was the one quitting. It just didn't feel right to him.
Dawn was avoiding eye contact with Ash. She would have broken down into tears and begged him not to go if she did. Besides that, she'd confessed that she had a small crush on him. Not that that would stop him. Dawn knew that he was set on this decision and that he felt nothing like that towards her. But it still hurt.
"Come on guys. At least smile at my jokes. I don't want this last memory to be sad," Ash stated.
"Last memory?" Brock questioned, "Are you implying that if we let you quit, we won't ever see each other again?"
"Um…er…I don't know, Brocko. I honestly don't know," Ash sighed, "But I give you my word that I'll do everything in my power to make sure that that DOESN'T happen."
Ash gave them his famous grin. It made them feel a little better.
"Man, you two are really a bunch of Krabbies today. Maybe I need to stay and push those sad thoughts away," Ash joked a bit, looking back to the clock, "Well, I'd best be off."
"Right…" The other to stated.
"Oh, before I go, I did manage to get you each something," Ash smirked.
The other two looked at each other in confusion then back to Ash. He pulled two big boxes out of nowhere.
"Now, you two can't open these till you can't see my boat anymore, ok?" Ash said before heading to the loading ramp, "Catch ya later!"
With that, Ash ran up the ramp and out of sight. Brock and Dawn looked at the boxes and decided to sit down on a bench. In silence, they waited an hour before they could no longer see Ash's boat. By that time, both had started to cry at the lost of their closest friend.
"So…should we open them?" Dawn asked, staring at her present.
"Y-yeah," Brock stuttered, "You first though, Dawn."
Dawn nodded and slowly started to open her present. What she found was stunning. Over 300 seals for contests, new hair pieces, several cute outfits for her pokemon, and at the bottom of her box, there was a small booklet. Inside it Dawn discovered that Ash had written some ideas for combinations for her next contests. He even rated them from easiest to hardest. Dawn broke down into tears of sorrow, surprise, and joy. He was still going to look after her training even from afar.
Brock, after calming Dawn down from her present, slowly began to open his. Inside was several new cooking books with recipes circle, stuff that Ash knew that Brock would love; there was also a tuxedo for himself and a note saying that he just needed to be persistent and that he'd eventually get a girl. Along with that, there was a new cologne that Brock had wanted for his birthday from several years past. Brock was stunned that Ash remembered about it. At the very bottom of his box, there was a little booklet. Inside of it was a listing of all the Joys, Jennys, some famous women, and a few poems that Ash thought would help Brock out. Unlike Dawn, Brock just started laughing, but he still started to cry.
"That little twerp…I thought that he just ignored my gaga attacks all of these years…" Brock laughed, crying at the same time, "Next time I see him, I swear that I'm going to punch him."
Brock packed his presents carefully away and then helped Dawn with hers. Then, he pulled out his map and smiled.
"Come on. We've got to get you to the next town so you can use those new techniques Ash gave you," Brock smiled.
Dawn nodded and the two were off. But before they got off, they turned back to the port. It felt weird…It felt as if Ash had lied to them. That, maybe…just maybe, they really wouldn't ever see him again…