Ash was now world famous as one of the greatest pokemon trainers ever! And despite all the fame and money Ash had never forgotten where he started out on his journey and he never would. With the millions of fans that gathered to see him he always found time to slip away back to Pallet Town to see his mom and the Professor, and the three of them would sit together and talk about what they got up to since the last visit but the conversation would always turn to Ash's youth years and when he first became a pokemon trainer.
They would sit and talk for hours on end about all different types of stories, like his first encounter with Pikachu, and the eventual capture of him, The Charmander which he had saved from torture in Lake Acuity and raised to be a strong but defiant Charizard, and then always back to the friends he had made Brock, Misty, Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Bianca, Iris and Cilan and the trouble they would get in to. From there conversation usually turned to some other people Ash had met, but not friends no Team Rocket's James, Jessie and Meowth, and how they always wanted to steal Ash's Pikachu- as well as his other pokemon- and were everywhere he went.
Ash's mom would bring across more snacks at about this point in the evening and the conversation would continue and delve deeper in to Ash's journey, and the Professor would usually mention one or two of his own stories which would make Ash and his mom laugh. Ash had noticed that the relationship between the Professor and his mom became closer every time he came round, he hoped that they would get together one day, his mom deserved that at the least and Ash new the Professor would treat her with respect and he would be a great step-dad to Ash. Ash sometimes imagined what it would be like if they did get together if anything would change but Ash wouldn't mind as long as they were happy with each other and he never thought the wouldn't be happy.
It was about time for Ash to leave he had an important battle in Unova in two days and had to catch a luxury cruise-liner to get there, Ash's mom told him to wait a minute and that she had a present for him, Ash chuckled as him mom rushed up the stairs and passed his old room, Ash remembered his room, the wallpaper was blue like the ocean and pictures of pokemon faces on it, his bed was wooden with a soft, bouncy mattress, he had a duvet that matched his wallpaper and so did his pillowcase, he had a toy box under the window filled with all kinds of pokemon dolls and figurines. Ash headed toward the stairs and then his mom appeared on the landing "I've got it!" she called down the stairs, Ash just smiled still staring at his bedroom door, his mom had noticed "Go in," she motioned her head toward the door.
Ash climbed the stairs one at a time and when he reached the top he twisted the handle of the door and held it shut for a minute, as he pushed it open he felt like something had hit him front on with great force, flooding his memory, he flicked the light switch. The wallpaper had faded now and you could barely make out a single pokemon face. His bed and pillow had gathered dust over the years and he knew how long it had been since any one had gone in the room. He went over to the toy box and opened the lid, it was still full of his old figures and dolls, Ash stood up and sat down on his bed, he took a few deep breaths and then stood up and left the room closing the door behind him, "I'd like to come stay a while," he said "After the battle I mean" Ash's mom burst in to tears "Of course you can Ash this is still your house you can come whenever you want," she hugged him, "Now hurry up you'll miss your boat. She passed him the gift- it was a book filled with pictures of his travels and the places he had been and little quotes she had taken from the stories they had shared "Thanks," he said "I should erm go now" and he hugged his mom waved goodbye to the Professor and left the house.