Responsibilities Chapter Two
So the first chapter was rather slow, this one too isn't the fastest but fast development is often the downfall of fanfictions, as I have seen from my experience.
Three Invitations
The ride back to Pallet Town was bumpy as normal, Ash wasn't quite sure if she knew it, but his mother was actually quite the dangerous and reckless driver, seriously contrasting with her sweet and kind attitude which was famous in his hometown. It was as if she became a different person when she drove, nonetheless they got home with no serious injuries, just a few bangs on the head from jolting around in the car.
Afterwards, Professor Oak, Gary and Tracey returned to the lab, each giving Ash one last congratulations before returning to their work. Ash felt appreciative, because he knew all three of them were working on an important project, but took time out of it to watch him battle Red, the champion of the Kanto Pokémon League for the last fifteen years.
"Wow" was all Ash could mutter as the sheer volume of his accomplishment hit him. "I defeated the person who has been the champion since I can remember" Ash said with a genuine smile making Delia and Brock, who had decided to go to Pallet with them, nod as if confirming his words.
"I'm so proud of you sweetie" Delia told her son as she entered the house and called out to Mimey, her Mr. Mime.
"Thanks" he said again, noting that he'd been saying that a lot since his victory. "Though I wouldn't have achieved it without having such good friends with me" he said as he entered the house, accompanied by Brock who walked over to the kitchen instinctively to see if Delia needed any help.
Meanwhile, Ash walked over to the sofa and switched on the TV. At the same time Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and ran over to the kitchen, Ash guessed that Brock had put some food out for his first Pokémon.
Coincidentally the news was on and unsurprisingly enough the report was on himself and his victory over Red. The headline read 'Biggest Underdog Victory of the Decade' which kind of insulted him to some degree. Sure Red was a fantastic trainer, who had battled plenty of trainers, but he too was an experienced trainer, having been the champion in the small time Orange League and defeating the battle frontier, an achievement that to this day he was proud of.
Over the course of the following thirty minutes he watched an in-depth analysis of his background, he of course knew everything, but it was nice to see how people viewed him, and his accomplishments. He was surprised that they highlighted his top four spot in the Sinnoh League as a turning point in his career, having defeated two legendaries of the trainer Tobias, who went on to win the final without losing a single Pokémon.
When the show was over, Delia called him over to the dining room where all his favourite home-cooked meals were laid out bare, ready to eat. Ash could feel his mouth salivating at the sight, and this small fact made Delia feel as if the effort was worth it.
"Can I start?" Ash asked his mother who nodded with a smile.
"Of course sweetie dig in!" she chimed, making him practically attack the table, Delia and Brock on the other hand sat down and started eating normally, both noticing that some things about Ash hadn't changed over the years, like his messy eating habits.
"Wow this tastes so good!" Ash said ecstatically, making Delia feel even happier. "This is the best yet" Ash continued heap on the praise, Delia despite having heard it every time she made him a special meal, still revelled in his praise.
"I must agree with Ash, Mrs. Ketchum" Brock added making Delia giggle slightly, she also noted that regardless of how old Brock got he was still hopelessly attracted to most women, such as herself.
"Oh please you two you're embarrassing me" she said coyly at their praise as she looked at the empty fourth seat which was next to Ash. "You know what would have made this more enjoyable" Delia started, catching the attention of the two young men.
"What Mrs. Ketchum?" Brock asked attentively.
"Yeah what is it mum?" Ash asked through a full mouth, embarrassing Delia slightly, her son wasn't very good with table manners, and it was too late to just teach her son that.
"If Misty was here to join us" she informed the two who looked at each other at the same time, it was no secret that out of all the friends Ash had encountered, he was closest to his original group of travelling companions, Misty and Brock. That didn't mean he wasn't as fond of his other friends, but the original group had a special connection that couldn't ever be changed.
"Yeah" Brock said, being the first to agree, inwardly cursing Misty's lie about having a date, Ash would never get jealous, or so he thought. He always suspected the two harboured feelings for each other, but one was as dense as rock and the other was hopelessly in denial about it.
"It's just a shame she had that date..." Delia added "right Ash?" she asked her son who had already started attacking his food again.
"Yeah" Ash said absentmindedly much to the surprise of the two present before adding "it would be better if Misty were here" which kind of deflated the hopes of his mother in the process.
"Don't you feel a little disappointed that she's not here?" Brock added casually, as if he wasn't forcing an issue, so it went down well with Ash who merely shrugged in response.
"Mist said she was forced into it right?" Ash asked the two, using her nickname that he only used with a slightly serious tone and both nodded in agreement. "Then it's not her fault, I'm sure she'd be here with us otherwise" Ash said voicing his full confidence in the woman he'd known over half of his life.
Ash's declaration of confidence did nothing to stir Delia's beliefs, she was sure that her son and the young woman whom she had a motherly affection for, had feelings for each other. In fact it just gave her more reason to believe that one day, perhaps her son would finally realise the woman's feelings for him, after all he seemed to understand how she worked already.
"So we should just stop talking about it" Ash finished, not wanting to talk about the fact that Misty was not with them. To most people it would sound like hurt, but these two people knew Ash the most, and there was certainly no hurt in it, just annoyance.
"Ok Ash" Brock replied as before taking another mouthful, when a thought hit him. "Hey Ash, what were those envelopes you showed us earlier?" Brock asked curiously, making the new champion raise an eyebrow in confusion before snapping his fingers.
"Oh those envelopes, I nearly forgot thanks Brock" Ash replied as he got out of his seat and fetched them from the living room. When he returned he placed all four on the table, the three white ones in one pile and the gold one on its own.
"Mr. Goodshow told me not to open the white ones before the gold one" Ash informed them before snatching up the gold envelope and untidily ripped it open without damaging the contents. "Hm" Ash murmured as he unfolded the letter inside, which he hastily read to satisfy his curiosity.
"Huh, I see" Ash commented as he read it.
"What does it say?" Brock and Delia asked curiously making Ash smirk slightly.
"First of all I'll hand you each one of these envelopes" Ash told them as he placed a white envelope in front of both of them. "Ahem" he started.
"Congratulations Ash Ketchum, In the light of this momentous occasion we are proud to inform you that in a week from now, there will be a party held in your honour at the Grand Hotel in Celadon City. Accompanying this letter are three invitations for whomever you wish to invite. Yours sincerely, Mr. Charles Goodshow – President of the Pokémon League" Ash read out with a poor impression of an upper-class accent.
"And that's it" Ash told them before diving back into his food much to his mother's chagrin.
"That's it?" Delia asked the young man, "Ash do you understand how important this party is?" she asked the man who shrugged unenthusiastically.
"Just another party right?" Ash asked in a simple manner, "like the one I received when I returned home from the Indigo League" Ash finished making Brock sigh.
"Ash remember that really tall building in Celadon City?" Brock asked the man who scoffed slightly.
"Brock all the buildings in Celadon are tall, I think you'll have to be more specific" Ash mocked lightly, annoying his best friend of the last decade in the process.
"Ok that really, really tall building" Brock explained in a simple manner. "The one that we weren't allowed into, remember?" Brock finished, luckily sparking the young man's memory. Ash wasn't a stupid person, he had intelligence, but most of it only centralised around Pokémon battling.
"Ah that one... so?" Ash asked, as if it held no meaning.
"Simply put, this isn't going to be a town party, this is going to be a formal party, with what I guess to be a few celebrities and other well known people, do you think it's not an issue now?" he asked his long time friend who nodded.
"Nope, no problem" Ash responded making Brock face palm. "Anyway those two invitations are for you, which leaves me with one more" Ash said as he picked up the third letter and waved it side to side. "Who to pick" he murmured, waiting for the hints that were bound to come.
"You know Ash, if this is a formal party you're going to need a date" Delia told her son in a deceptively cheerful tone, Ash could tell she was scheming something, that tone always meant she had something in mind.
"Really?" Ash asked in an exasperated tone, he'd been on plenty of dates, but most were boring since he didn't have much in common with them.
"Yes" his mother replied with a smile, one finger lifted in the air when saying it. "And I know just the person you should take" Delia said with a small smile, Brock caught on and also donned a small smile.
"Who?" Ash asked unenthusiastically and truth be told, slightly unnerved about what her answer was going to be.
"Why Misty of course" Delia answered, gaining a disguised thumbs up from Brock for her effort. Ash on the other hand did something he rarely did, put down his food to pay full attention to what was being said.
His expression wasn't as shocked as both expected, his mother expected Ash to start furiously denying the possibility, but she guessed Ash had become mature quicker than she thought. As silence filled the room, Ash opened his mouth to speak.
"Why Mist?" Ash asked both of them, his expression suspicious, yet when the pair looked at him carefully they noticed an uncharacteristic look of worry in his eyes.
"Well she knows you the most right?" Brock offered for Delia who was too intrigued watching her son's reaction to reply. "You two haven't spent time with each other recently either, so I think it would be a good thing" Brock said convincingly as he turned to Delia. "Right Mrs. Ketchum?" he asked her, snapping her out of her stupor.
"Yes that's right..." Delia said uncertainly, that really wasn't her intention and Delia wasn't a good liar.
"Uh-huh" Ash replied as he slipped some food into his mouth. "I think she'd probably kill me for even asking" Ash suggested warily, he knew the temper of his favourite red head and he wasn't sure how she'd react to such a thing, he guessed a kick to the face or something.
"You're both adults now, I'm sure she wouldn't react like that" Delia chimed as if trying to remove the potential of that outcome, she did know that Misty could very well react like that, but she doubted she would if it was Ash asking her.
"No offense, but I think I know Mist better than you two do" Ash said with a hint of possessiveness in his voice. He was sure that he knew Misty better than pretty much anyone, perhaps even more than her own sisters did. The only person he thought could know her more than he did was her older sister, Daisy Waterflower, Tracey's girlfriend.
When Ash said this he noticed that Brock gave him a knowing smile, it irritated him but he didn't want to talk about it, so he just allowed Brock to think whatever he was thinking. "It's probably crazy nonsense as usual anyway" Ash assured himself.
"If you say so Ash, you do know her better than us" Brock conceded with a sly grin before starting to eat again, not pushing the issue, Ash then noticed his own mum giving him the same smile.
"What's all this about?" Ash thought curiously. "Why are they acting like this, maybe they just want Misty to come with us?" Ash thought as he stuffed some more food in his mouth. "Maybe" Ash then blurted out when he finished the food.
"Hm?" Brock hummed in question, Delia just watched as her son's eye twitched.
"Maybe I'll invite Misty ok" Ash conceded, he was 'smart' enough to know that they would never stop asking him to do it, so he thought he could at least tell them there was a chance he'd ask her. "Though I probably still won't" Ash thought in fear of his life, or at least his pride, getting rejected in a humiliating way would be horrifying for him.
Moments afterwards Ash spotted Brock give Delia a thumbs up much like Brock had done so earlier. This time however Ash noticed it and stared at it suspiciously. "I wish they'd just tell me what they're planning" Ash thought as he pushed himself away from the table. "Thanks for the food mum, it was delicious" Ash informed as he pocketed the final invitation. "I'm going to go watch some more TV" he let his mother know before leaving.
Once he was out of the room Brock turned to Delia who was smiling brighter than she usually did, which was quite the feat. "That went better than expected" Brock whispered as he picked up a few plates and cleaned them up, he always did these jobs at the Ketchum household, ever since the incident with Professor. Ivy.
"He's always so stubborn when it comes to relationships, especially whenever Misty is mentioned" Delia informed Brock who actually laughed.
"One day he'll be like me in that regards, I'm sure of it" Brock said making Delia sweat slightly.
"I really hope not" Delia thought whilst still smiling at the young man. "Brock, haven't you got things to do like the rest of Ash's friends?" Delia asked the young man who stopped briefly and turned around.
"Not really I took some holiday time off , some things you can only see once after all" Brock informed the woman who smiled at his words, Brock had always been dedicated to Ash, despite their five year age gap, kind of like the sibling Ash never had.
"Thank you Brock" Delia said appreciatively before helping him with the dishes. "I'm glad Ash got a sibling figure, I always wanted it for him, but Derek..." Delia thought in a rare case of anger. She couldn't forgive her husband, even though she always spoke nicely of him in front of Ash. This was done mainly to spare his feelings.
"No problem Mrs. Ketchum" Brock replied with a smile, completely unaware of Delia's inner torment.
As his mum and Brock did the dishes Ash just lounged around on the sofa watching more TV, in fact once again it was on his victory, but it was a recording of his battle. He was surprised how battles looked from the spectator position and how calm he looked when Zapdos defeated Charizard. In actuality Ash was panicking at that moment in time, he completely underestimated Red's Zapdos, even though he knew of its tremendous power beforehand.
"Do I really look like that when I battle?" Ash wondered curiously before smiling when he saw himself do his signature cap turn and call on Pikachu, who started trading blows with the legendary bird Pokémon.
Pikachu himself was also watching the show with Ash, when witnessing himself getting hit by a powerful thunder attack Pikachu physically shivered. Ash assumed that attack really hurt Pikachu, but the electric mouse just kept getting up every time he was hit, as if he was using sheer will to stay in the battle.
"Wow Pikachu, you're amazing" Ash complimented making the electric mouse almost blush from happiness before jumping onto Ash's shoulder. "We're just lucky Zapdos didn't stay in the sky and came down to get you, otherwise we would have never got on top of him" Ash commented with a smile, watching his battle.
"Pi-ka!" the electric mouse protested, seemingly offended by Ash's compliment, but it was true, it was Red's mistake ordering Zapdos to drill peck Pikachu.
"It doesn't matter though, you're the greatest" Ash told his Pikachu whilst stroking its head.
The mutual pride between trainer and Pokémon was clear as day for Delia and Brock. Once the show ended, Ash decided to head off to bed. He'd been battling exhaustion since the battle after all.
As the young champion entered his room, he noticed as always it still retained its childish design. After all, Ash wasn't home much, he never settled down and he was always travelling. Besides keeping his old things as normal gave him a blast of nostalgia every time he entered it. It helped remind him of what drove him, what he desired, and now, what he'd accomplished.
His first act was to pick up his black and gold coloured Pokégear which he left on his bedside cabinet, he picked that model because it seemed the most masculine whilst not imitating Brock's Pokégear. He was just picky like that. As he flipped open the device he spotted a small icon that read '29 messages in inbox' making him smile.
Most of the messages were from friends whom asked for his Pokégear number, accompanying these people were messages from Cilian, Iris, May, Dawn and even Paul. To be honest he only read the messages briefly, his tiredness prevented him from taking too much interest that was until he got a new message.
The display screen read Mist and unconsciously Ash got onto his bed and opened up the message which was longer than the other congratulations messages he'd received. This one included an apology for not being there after his victory and practically an essay which expressed her joy about his victory. The thing that caught his eye the most was the phrase 'I haven't been this happy in a long time' which made Ash smile without realising it.
Unlike the other messages it was clear to Pikachu that Ash was fully engrossed in reading it, so whilst his master continued reading, he climbed into the bed and fell asleep.
Ash however stayed awake, re-reading the message, not understanding why he was doing so. He eventually sent a message in reply. 'Thanks Mist. How was your date?" he asked, frowning at the message before sending it. It didn't take long until a message was sent straight back.
'...Boring, I wish I never went, damn Daisy' it read with a bored emoticon included. This message made the young champion laugh, he was happy that she responded like that. Before he could reply another message came through. 'Sorry I wasn't there Ash, I really am' she messaged with a sad smiley at the end.
'It's okay Mist, I'm just happy you were watching' Ash replied, hesitating before sending it.
'Okay' was the only response, Ash wondered if he said something wrong and mentally cursed at his stupidity. However this didn't last long since another message came right through. 'I still feel bad though' she responded which made Ash frown, after all Misty was forced into the date, so he wasn't angry.
Before replying Ash thumbed the final invitation and pulled it out of his pocket observing it and then his Pokégear. 'Say Mist, I'm going to be in Cerulean in a few days, want to hang out?' Ash texted as he continued to look at the invitation, it was clear that he'd made his mind up.
'Really?' the message started making Ash grin. 'I think that'll be fine, I can always hand Gym duty to Daisy in revenge' Misty's reply continued, accompanied by a devilish grin smiley. 'I'll make it up to you for not being there today for sure' Misty promised. 'Well anyway, I think I'll go to bed now, I'm tired, goodnight Ash' the message finished with a smile. Unknowingly giving Ash the exact same expression, except his was softer.
'Goodnight Mist' he sent a reply before closing the device and going to sleep, feeling much happier than he was before.
(End Chapter)
Mrs. Ketchum and Brock are such matchmakers, seriously though I think anyone who has seen Pokémon's original series would agree that Misty is the only one for Ash. I adore the pairing too much; have done since I was a little kid.
I'd like to thank all the reviewers of the last chapter, to be honest I was surprised with the attention Pokéshipping fictions receive, I mean the pairing is over Ten years old by now, nearly fifteen lol, so to have such a loyal following is nice to see, and it's even better to see that other people besides me still give this pairing the love it deserves :)
Special thanks to Nyislandersgirl for the long review, it made me smile and forced and motivated me to write out this chapter earlier than expected, and I should let you know I am studying right now for my University Exams, so prying me a away takes some effort.
Next chapter will probably include the meeting between Ash and Misty, damn they are such an adorable pairing :').
Hope you enjoyed and I'll try and write chapter three soon.
-Aquilon