The year is 2039.
Very few people are still living in homes. The unemployment rate is at 92 percent. The suicide rate per day is 8,000. Ten years ago today, the economy suffered a major crash, and despite the best efforts, never made itself back up.
Scientists predict humanity will be wiped out within ten years unless something majorly turns around. At the same time, reports of a secret cockfighting ring for money are coming in; while all this could just be a big hoax, people are certainly interested.
Ash approached the door to his house. He pulled the key off his raggedy old bag and placed in the door, which caused it to make a loud creek.
"Mom, I'm home!" Ash shouted. He was twelve years old, and went to a small school in Tokyo; very few children made it in because the schoolhouse had been downsized so much only one hundred kids could be accepted.
Ash somehow was one of the lucky ones. His mom had a job which kept the lights on and let him to go to school. Though he didn't have television, Internet, or radio (to be honest, no one did, as no one had managed to keep these things running through the economy crash). He had rice and beans for dinner every night with his mother, particularly because they were cheap. Sometimes it was the only meal he had that day, as the school couldn't afford to provide lunches most of the time.
His main outfit was a red hat, blue jacket with white collar, jeans, and black and white sneakers. They were starting to get beat up, but Ash tried his best to keep him together, as he knew he probably wouldn't be able to get anymore for a long time.
And his most prized possession with his bike - which was actually his father's old bike, before the economy crashed, and before he...
Gulp. Ash felt a lump in his throat as memories flooded back to his head, but tried his best to brush them off. He walked down the hall of his house, trying to find his mother.
"Mom? You here?"
Where could she be? At the grocery store, maybe? No - they had plenty of rice and beans, enough to be stocked for an entire month. What would she be out for?
"Mooooom?" Ash continued. He looked in her room. Nothing except her main (and only) outfit - a blue dress.
Now he was really confused. Mom wasn't at the house...and she was out somewhere naked? Ash blushed at a brief off-color thought he had with those implications.
The living room? Nope.
The dining room? Zip.
His room? Nada.
There was nowhere else Ash could think to look, except for the bathroom. As Ash approached the bathroom, he noticed the door was cracked open a bit, and he hesitated for a second.
What if she's naked in here? That'd be embarrassing, Ash thought to himself. I'll just take a quick peek inside, and if she's naked, shut the door real fast.
Ash slowly began to open the door, enough to notice she wasn't on the toilet.
He opened the door a bit further, slowly coming closer to the bathtub...
SLAM!
Ash quickly slammed the door, starting to hyperventilate. He saw something there - some sort of red, by the bathtub...no, it couldn't be...
He knew he had to open the door again and find out.
"Come on, man up, Ash!" Ash scolded himself, slapping himself in the face. "Ow."
With that, Ash slowly began to open the door again, hoping that maybe what he was seeing was an illusion...
A dark shade of red painted the bathtub. It was overflowing, pouring out into a puddle on the floor. A cheap razor sat by the side of the bathtub - and inside of the bathtub, Ash could see his mother's head poking out.
She was sideways, most of her body covered in the red fluid...no, he couldn't keep calling it that, Ash knew well what the fluid was...he just didn't want to accept it. Her eyes were shut tightly, and Ash knew it wasn't just a nap.
Looking down, Ash saw his mother's wrists were painted red, with deep marks representing what she had done to herself. Ash screamed in horror after the image slowly began to make sense in his head.
"No...no, not again..." Ash cried out, falling to the ground sobbing. This had to be a dream. A really bad dream.
There was no way for Ash to get help. The police didn't really exist anymore since nobody had a phone, and unless you were lucky enough to be neighbors with a police officer you were out of luck. Which explained the drastic increased rate in crime since the crash.
Finally, Ash noticed what appeared to be a piece of paper sitting on the side of the bathtub, most of it painted red. He only hoped it'd still be legible as he picked it up.
On one side was one of Ash's homework assignments.
The other side had a message written out darkly in pencil:
SORRY.
Ash dropped the paper and held onto the bathtub as he was feeling faint, but quickly pulled his hand off, not wanting to touch the scene. He never thought he'd have to see something like this again. With a quick turn, he vomited into the sink, falling over on the floor after doing so.
He picked himself up and ran off. Where was he going? He didn't know. He knew this one runaway who was lucky enough to get employed after doing so. Maybe he'd fall under that category?
No. He had too much luck in his life, and clearly now it was all backfiring on him. Nowhere to go, nowhere to run.
Ash's feet decided to think for themselves and carry him wherever he could run. His brain was turned off, trusting his feet to take him to the path of his destiny.
Well, he managed to get somewhere like that.
NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW:
"Misty? I haven't seen you since third grade!"
Ash reunites with an old runaway friend and becomes involved in a secret underground cockfighting ring involving a mutant species known as "Pokémon". Can Ash get away from his morals for cash?
A/N: How was the first chapter of Pathways? This chapter was pretty dark, but next chapter will have its lighthearted moments. However, be aware this is a darker spinoff of Pokemon, meaning it will go into more mature territory later on. No smut or lemons, but some pretty heavy stuff. Not recommended for readers under thirteen (though they are certainly allowed to read if they feel they can handle the content; I was reading Latias' Journey a bit younger then that.)
If you liked this chapter, have constructive criticism, an idea, or anything else, please leave a review. You'd also really make my day if you R&R'ed, but I know this is a pretty big section so I don't know how much recognition I'll get here.
