Disclaimer: All characters used are copyright to their original owners of their original fandoms. I am borrowing the characters simply for this fan fiction.
Chapter One: Keeping Mum
Ash had been travelling with a young woman in Obida named April. When she lost her job as a secretary, she decided to travel around the world and live an expensive lifestyle. Ash had recently attended a pokemon convention in Obida that hosted a variety of tournaments. He managed to win one of the tournaments and come out with a large cash prize.
Ash remembered seeing April out and about when he was a kid in Pallet Town. She was a friend of Molly Hale, someone that Ash had known for all his life. April also claimed to be pen pals with Serena. He knew that some of his old friends were at the convention, but he never got the chance to speak to any of them as it was such a big hall.
From the surface, April appeared to be a warm and bubbly woman. Her pink hair always matched her equally bright pink clothes with huge heart-shaped buttons. Her voice was high and squeaky and she had plans to become a nurse. April didn't attend the convention as she said there was not enough shopping stalls that took her fancy.
April owned a slyveon named Pinkie that she owned as a pet. She would often spoil creatures of any kind, even if they weren't pokemon to a variety of puffins that she buys from the market. She treated them all as if they were her own babies. At times Pikachu didn't like being squeezed by her large chest but overall, April seemed like a nice girl.
Ash was walking back from to the hotel when he took the elevator to his room. It was only him, Pikachu and another lady in there. Pikachu had not long woken up from a snooze as he leaned against Ash's neck.
"The convention was great, Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed. "I'm sure April will love to know about it."
"Excuse me," the woman said. "You remind me of somebody. Any chance you're related to Delia?"
"Yeah," Ash replied. "That's my mom!"
"I went to school with your mom," The woman explained. "We were in the same class in third grade. She was a really clever and kind. By the way my name is Nancy. My youngest son is the same age as you."
"Is he a pokemon trainer like me?" Ash asked.
"Not really," Nancy said. "Both of my sons own digimon. They do like pokemon though, especially T.K. Do you know what a digimon is?" Ash shook his head. He felt really dumb as he felt like he should know, but he didn't have a clue. Are they similar to pokemon or were they different? He shook his head as Nancy smiled at him. "Well in some ways there are similar to pokemon; they are many kinds of digimon, some good and some bad. All digimon can talk whilst most pokemon can only say their name. The real difference between a digimon and a pokemon is when a digimon evolves it can de-evolve back to it's original state whilst once a pokemon evolves it stays as it is. But both pokemon and digimon can share bonds with the world to make it a better place."
"That sounds really cool."
"It is cool," Nancy replied. "I'm so proud of both of my sons for saving the world many times." The elevator pinged and the door opened. "Oh this is my floor." She closed her eyes and waved. "It was nice talking to you. Tell your mom I said hi next time you hear from her."
"Okay, goodnight, Nancy."
As the elevator closed, Pikachu jumped onto the floor and picked something up with his mouth.
"What's up Pikachu?" Ash asked. He crouched down and found a sparkling diamond in Pikachu's mouth. Pikachu opened his mouth and placed the ring in Ash's hand. He swapped the ring for a pair of keys. "This ring? Could this belong to Nancy?" Ash quickly tried to push the button to open the door and the doors swung open on the same floor that Nancy had left. "Pikachu, go back to the hotel room!" Ash ordered as he leapt out of the elevator and began running in the corridor following the clanks of high heels. "I'll be back in a bit."
Ash halted at sound of two slash. Something wet splashed on Ash's cheek. He faced the open hotel door and heard a clash on the floor. Trembling, he walked into the room. The smell of fresh blood overwhelmed him as yelled at the sight of a chopped up corpse. It was Nancy, the woman he had spoken to on the lift. His first instinct was to go over to the body, doing so got him covered in blood. He stood up and looked around. The door had closed and in the corner of the room was April walking over to the body and as forced Ash to grip the sword in his hand.
As Ash was about to scream, April gagged him with a gun. "Your mom is in my car," April whispered to Ash. "If you want your precious mom to live, you must confess to killing Nancy. And if you're found guilty then I will free her, but it you are found not guilty then I will kill everyone that is precious to you." April giggled. "Oh Ash, you're such a silly boy."
Ash froze to the spot, only polluting his clothes in Nancy's blood more as April walked out of the room. Ash burst into years and in Nancy's blood he wrote with his fingers: I have lost my mind. He panted as he crashed into the bathroom with the sword in his hand. He tossed it into the bath tub and washed used the soap to wash his hands and the soap. No matter how hard he tried to wash the blood, the red remains. He panicked. He had just lost everything including his sanity within a few minutes. All of his dreams and everything he had worked to achieved had been crushed. He had been betrayed, as much as he wanted to kill himself, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had to be guilty to save his mother.
Ash woke up to the site of bars and grey walls. He knew that he had been arrested for Nancy's murder. He only prayed that Pikachu and his mother were safe. He had only known April for a few weeks, and he had put her whole faith in her, but now he can't but his faith in anyone. He didn't care if he was going to be sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit, he wanted to know about his pokemon and how his mother was, and there was nobody about apart from a guard who stood awake on the spot.
His head was ringing and his heart was pulsing. Two people came into the room. A giant man in a trench coat, and a slender woman with blue hair and a whip. "Mr. Ketchum," the man said. "I'm Detective Gumshoe, and this is Franziska von Karma, the prosecutor in charge of the case. Do you know why you're here?"
Ash nodded. "I killed Nancy."
"You've been placed under arrest for the murder of Nancy Takaishi," Franziska confirmed. "When we arrived at One A.M we found you sleeping next to Nancy's body."
"Where is my mom?" Ash asked.
"I'm afraid we've been unable to contact her," Gumshoe replied. He lowered his head. "If you would like an adult to be with you or if you want to hire a defence attorney."
"I don't want a defence attorney," Ash muttered. "You guys know I killed her. Why don't you put me on trial right now. Give the guilty verdict and get it over and done with!" Ash slammed his fist. The quicker he admitted defeat, the quicker April would be able to release his mother into safety. Ash could tell from the look of Gumshoe's face that he wanted to cry. "We can't just chuck you into prison like that, Pal... We need to go through the proper procedures. We need to get the facts."
"Mr. Ketchum," Franziska hissed. "You must co-operate with us. I am going to ask you questions. Your statements must be factual and not contradict with the evidence we have. In Miss Takaishi's bathroom we found the murder weapon in the bathtub." Franziska presented the katana with diluted blood wrapped in a plastic bag. "It has your fingerprints and the victim's blood on it. Who gave you the sword?"
Ash shrugged his shoulders. "Found it in her room."
"I have already interviewed both of her sons," Franziska hissed. "They know nothing about the sword. Which concludes that the sword doesn't belong to her. And there is no way you could have just found it in her room. Either somebody gave it to you or someone bought it for you."
"Was there somebody with you?" Gumshoe asked. "Did somebody hire you to kill Miss Takaishi or did you witness the crime. We can't help you if you don't know the truth. But you're the prime suspect Pal, you were the last person to see her alive."
"I TOLD YOU I KILLED HER AND THAT'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW!" Ash yelled. Whilst the hot questions were being thrown at him, all he could picture in his head was April killing his mother in many different ways. Even though it was killing him inside, he knew that he couldn't win. He broke down into tears, he looked up at Franziska and said, "WHY WOULD I CONFESS TO A MURDER I DIDN'T COMMIT? WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE ME?"
"Tell me where the sword comes from?" Franziska said. She was about to grab her whip, but Gumshoe intervened.
"He's only fifteen..."
"I found it in the trash can," Ash snapped. "I can't remember which trash can, there's so many."
"Are you sure you didn't have any accomplices that assisted you?" Gumshoe asked Ash.
"I was alone."
"What was your motive?" Franziska asked Ash.
Ash squinted at Franziska. "Huh? Motive?"
"Why did you kill Miss Takaishi?" Franziska rephrased her question. "Is it because her sons were part of the original digidestined? Are you against digimon?"
"Digi-What?" Ash shouted, shaking his head. "No I'm not against digimon at all. In fact I've never met one. Anyway this has got nothing to do with the case. She talked about her sons and the differences between pokemon and digimon, but that was it."
"What are her sons names?" Franziska asked.
Ash shrugged his shoulders again. "Tom and Jerry!"
Franziska shook her head and presented a picture of Nancy and her two sons. Nancy was sandwiched by her two sons with her arms around their shoulders. The taller one had more messier hair whilst the shorter one wore a white hat. Franziska had her finger on the boy with the hat, "This is T.K, the youngest son." Her finger swayed to the other boy in the picture. "This is Matt, her oldest son."
Ash couldn't believe how much the boys resembled their mother. Ash opened his mouth and buried his face with his hands. Then he remembered Nancy's ring. The ring wasn't on her finger in the photo. "The ring..." Ash mumbled.
"Is that your motive?" Gumshoe gasped. "Miss Takaishi's engagement ring?"
"That's it," Ash nodded. Every lie weather big or small was grinding his headache. With every lie, he was creating more lies to back up his "I killed her for the ring. I was going to give it to someone very special."
"You're a famous pokemon master!" Gumshoe roared. "You've got everything a pokemon trainer could ever have. Why would you throw it all away like this?"
"Fame isn't everything," Ash sobbed. "Sometimes it just eats you up. That why I wrote that message in Nancy's blood because I have lost my mind." He had to change the topic. "Where are my pokemon?"
"Your pokemon are back in Kanto," Gumshoe responded. "Your friend, Misty is looking after them."
Ash smiled to himself. Pikachu and the gang would be save with her.
The court appeared to believe in the lies that Ash had testified in court. His defence attorney, Kristoph Gavin had announced that Ash was suffering from temporary insanity following the disappearance of his mother. With the attorney's smooth talking, the charges had been dropped from first degree murder to manslaughter. The trial was overall a quick process. With the confession and evidence going hand in hand, the judge saw no reason to prolong the trial. Ash was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced ten years.
The bare walls and grey bars were what welcomed him. Handcuffed and escorted to his cell, which would be his home for a decade. It was light years away from the joyful world he knew. He banged his head against the wall as his fists clanged against the wall. If only he had never met April, then everything would have been fine. He would have still been a pokemon trainer carrying on with his quest.
He knew that as soon as he was released from prison, he would have to start his quest all over again. All of his achievements have been stripped from him and his pokemon taken away and into the care of his friends. Friends that he doubt he would ever see again. Ash believes it is for the best, he would not want anybody close to him to see him in the state he is now.
Until he was 26, Ash would be spending time with killers, thieves, perverts, fraudsters and gangsters. But underneath all the labels and hours of overhearing conversations, he found a plethora of occupations of what the other prisoners did in their past live. There was one man that Ash knew straight away that he was not going to enjoy their was a tall man who was rarely seen with any clothes on. He would flash his bottom to prison guards at every opportunity for unknown reasons.
He crawled to his bed and held back the tears. He never heard anything about his mother so he assumed that April had killed her. Taken over by anger, he vowed to avenge his mother and kill April.