Ash: The Last Stand (History)

Geez, I was not expecting such a big response to that first chapter. Now I'm all worried that I might let you down with the rest of it - I guess it's my own fault for starting with such a massive revelation. Hopefully this lives up to it all.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon. Jason is mine (I guess). You can borrow him if you like. I won't mind.


Episode Title: History Repeats Itself
Closest town/landmark: Cerulean City Central Park
Distance Travelled: 800m
Pokemon mentioned: Five
Official count - days into relationship with former best friend now girl friend: Four.
Cups of tea begrudgingly consumed: Two.
Finding out your long lost father is not only, not dead, but also the most esteemed Pokemon trainer in pretty much the whole world: W . T . F


Ash: The Last Stand - A Mother's Love

~ Nine Years Earlier: July 3006

Delia Ketchum closed her eyes, swallowing back the tears that threatened to fall from her chocolate coloured eyes. Today was going to be one of those days, and she felt her heart clench in anticipation. Over the years they had become fewer and farther between, but they always hit her hard in the end.

"Ma, look!" her five-year-old son called, bouncing on the floor in front of the television.

"What is it, Ash, honey?" she asked sweetly, taking a seat next to her son. On days like today, he was the only thing that could make her smile. But it was a bittersweet smile, because the same qualities in her son that made her smile, were the very things that made her want to cry. She cuddled up close to him, not giving a single one of her feelings away.

He was so like his father, from his raven locks to his enthusiasm and determination. She felt like her only contributions to the child in her arms were the dark chocolate eyes so different from Jason's brilliant blue.

"They gots a nu Pokey Master," little Ash announced to his mother, pointing excitedly at the television screen. Some sort of ceremony seemed to be taking place with several figures in dark cloaks – the new champion seemed to have opted to go with traditions and keep his identity secret, rather than the more open approach adopted in many of the newer competitions. Her heart saddened at this, knowing it couldn't be him.

"Someday I's going to be a Pokey Master too, Mama," he told her proudly.

"You most definitely are, honey," Delia told him with a watery smile. "You're going to be Worlds Greatest Pokémon Master."

"Do ya think Dad will come home if I's a Pokey Master?" Ash asked hopefully, glancing nervously at her mother.

Delia was shocked by his question, but didn't show it. "Why do you ask that, honey?"

"Well, 'cos Gary said that da reason Dad wasn't here was 'cos he didn't like me, and I thought maybe if I's a Pokey Master then it would be ok," Ash replied sadly, looking down at his hands.

"Don't you listen to that boy, ok, Ash," she told him sternly. "Your dad," she began, taking a shaky breath as she thought of her husband. "Your dad would be here if he could," she told him, almost believing the words herself. "I don't want you ever thinking that he left because he didn't love you. Your father had to follow his dream, but that doesn't mean he didn't love you, Ashy."

"Then why duzzin he come home?" the little boy pouted, not noticing the way his mother's body tensed at the mere mention of his father.

'Why?' Delia asked herself, feeling tears prick behind her eyes. It was a question she had wondered many a time herself, and she didn't have an answer even for herself. So instead she lied.

"Honey, your father died," she told him softly, knowing deep in her heart that the words were false even though she hadn't heard from him at all in the past six years. "You know what that means, don't you, honey?"

"It means he is gone to heaven," Ash replied with a nod, looking sad.

"That's right," she told him softly. "And he gets to be there with all the people that love him . . . like remember how I told you about your grandpa Ash and grandma Nora? Well, he's with them now."

"What 'bout Matt?" the young boy asked. "Is he with him, too?"

Delia nodded as tears pricked her eyes again. The thought of Matthew's short life and tragic end always made her cry. She made a silent prayer for Rebecca, Matthew's mother, hoping that one day the woman would be able to move on from her son's death and finally look her small nephew in the eye. He was, after all, the only link the two of them had left to Jay.

"I bet your dad is taking real good care of Matt," she told him with a forced smile.

Ash nodded, taking in her sad face. He stood up and wrapped his arms around his mother, planting a wet kiss on her cheek. "Mama, I never leave you," he told her as he leaned back to look her honestly in the eye like he saw people do in the soppy TV shows his mum liked to watch. "Pwomise."

Delia smiled, letting her self believe it was true. The Ketchum men dreamed big. She saw the same nature in him that she saw in his father – he could never be kept in one place for long; he was too restless and stubborn for that. Ash was so full of ideals and determination, and like Jay, he would do anything to reach his dream.

Even if it meant leaving her behind.

"What about when you go on your Pokémon journey?" she teased, forcing herself to appear merry in spite of her inner turmoil. "You can't expect me to chase after you the whole time reminding you to change your underwear."

"Ma!" he complained, his cheeks turning red. "That doesn't even count," he argued, changing the subject, "cos even though I's gone, I'll come home heaps of the time so won't really be gone."

Delia pretended to look thoughtful, as though contemplating his promise to her. "Well, what about when you get married?" she asked, smiling a genuine smile when she saw her little boy make a face like he had just bitten into something rotten (or worse – healthy) at the thought of marriage. "I don't think your wife will want you returning home all the time. She might get jealous that you like my cooking more than hers."

"That's gross, Ma," he said, poking his tongue out in disgust to emphasise his point. "Girls are just icky, and I's nevah gettin' married if it means to a girl."

Delia chuckled at this, and Ash's face brightened at the sound. He had missed his mother's laughter. "Yours the only girl for me," he told her cheekily, smiling broadly at her.

"But you haven't even met her," Delia countered.

"Who?" Ash asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Why the girl you're going to marry. You'll change your mind when you see her."

The little boy scoffed. "Nevah," he announced. "I'll nevah evah like a girl."

"But she's not like other girls," his mother promised. "You see . . . she doesn't wear dresses or ribbons, and she won't even care that much if you put mud in her hair."

She watched her son, noting his reaction. He was intrigued, and her teasing of him was doing wonders for her mood. "But even though she won't care," she continued, a warning tone in her voice, "you better not cross her, 'cause she's got a temper as fiery as her hair."

"Fire hair?" Ash asked, tilting his head cutely to the side in confusion.

Delia smiled, ruffling his messy black hair. "And eyes like the sea," she promised him. "And lips like two roses. And skin as light as snow."

"She sounds weird," Ash muttered darkly, but Delia knew he was just covering up her interest and smiled placidly at his comment. To think that such memories wouldn't even occur to him when he met her years later.

"You know what I think?" she said finally. "I think we should go see the professor. What do you think, Ashy?"

Ash nodded excitedly. "We'll go see the Pokey Mons!" he cried happily, racing upstairs to get himself ready without needing any further encouragement.

Delia made her way to the door, knowing that her son would come barrelling down the stairs in a couple of minutes, and given it his momentum it was best to remove all potential barriers. She was surprised to find a figure on the other side of the door with his hand poised to knock.

"Samuel," she said surprise. "We were just coming to see you. What are you doing here?"

The professor ran a hand absentmindedly through his hair, and Delia tried not to laugh at the poor dye job. He really did humour his eldest grandchild too much sometimes – May Oak had her grandfather completely wrapped around her little finger.

"I just saw the news, and I was coming to see how you were doing," Oak told her with a sympathetic smile.

She smiled weakly in response. Professor Oak was one of the few people that had never passed judgment on her or Ash or even Jay who had come under much scrutiny from her apparent friends and family. The professor was always understanding, and they had become fast friends over her many years in the Pallet community.

Her parents kept telling her just to give up and move on with her life – it had been close to seven years, after all, since she had seen him, and that was apparently long enough for him to be presumed dead by law. She was starting to dread evenings with her parents, especially as they tended to involve some eligible doctor type they were trying to force on her to fill the gap that Jay's absence had left in her life.

Her mother's words still rang in her head. The disappointment was more than evident in Daphne Goodwin's voice.

"What kind of wife would let her husband gallivant over the country on a childish quest? Really, Cordelia, you don't know how this looks to people."

But Delia had never stopped believing in his dream, and even though it was his dream that ultimately brought them apart, she would never stop supporting him no matter how far he was.

"Mama, we gots to go see the Pokey Mons," Ash insisted, drawing her back to the present.

"Alright, Ash," Professor Oak said warmly, ignoring the strange look Ash was giving him thanks to his blue/black hair courtesy of his granddaughter. "You can help me feed the starters."

Ash nodded excitedly, dragging the professor down the road towards the lab with great enthusiasm. Delia followed, smiling bittersweetly at the scene. He was just like his father.

And on today of all days, it was the only thing that could make her smile . . .

. . . and the very thing that made her cry.


Jason Ketchum directed his dragonite to dive as he spotted the familiar red roof from the air. He smiled to himself, feeling completely at peace for the first time in eight years. Just knowing she was near was enough to make him feel at home.

He dropped himself down on her front lawn, but ducked behind a bush when he saw her open the door suddenly to a strange dark haired man. He couldn't help but frown – she had opened the door without him even needing to knock, almost as though she were expecting him.

He watched the two conversing for a moment, noting the smile shared between them. But hope remained, and he tried to convince himself that it was just friendly and that Delia was still his and would be his forever just as they promised on their wedding day. He had faith her – she was his love, his life, and he knew she felt the same.

A child's voice carried to his ears, and the sight of the small boy broke his heart. The child must have been about three – he was rather small so couldn't be older than four and a half. He had dark hair, similar to the man in the lab coat, and Delia's dark chocolate eyes.

Jay could do the math. He hadn't seen her in more than six years, and even by the most lenient calculations, there was no way the little boy was his.

He had lost her. He had gone off to chase some stupid dream, and in the process had lost the thing most important to him. He had finally returned home with his title, ready to settle down and hoping that he was now worthy of Delia, but it was too late. She had moved on.

He wanted so badly to hate her, to hate all of them and their happy little family, but who was he to deny her happiness. It was better this way. He would just keep to himself, and let Delia go one believing he was dead and gone so she could go on with her life. He would let her go – let her be happy – even though it would break his heart.

And so he just watched the scene play out, never knowing the truth. For Jay it was a little four-year-old boy dragging his father up the road while his mother watched over the two with a happy smile. In truth it was a boy of six (well, almost, he would be next month) dragging along an old family friend while his mother smiled, because it was the only thing that could stop her from crying.


~ Present: August 25, 3016

A trio of tricksters sat crouched in the bushes, stunned into silence. Team Rocket had watched the whole battle, waiting for an opportune moment to steal the elusive Pikachu when the twerps least suspected it.

"That's the twerp's dad?" James gaped with wide eyes as they watched the older twerp, the redheaded twerp, and the interchangeable female twerp chase after the main twerp. The man, who by wonders of strange events turned out to be the father twerp, just stared at the point through which they left, still trying to come to terms with the information.

Unexpectedly, Jesse was the first to make any movement, stepping out from their hiding place into the clearing so she now stood before the man in question.

"No more battles," he said absently, not even really attending to her at all, his eyes focused on nothing but the break in the forest where his apparent son and his friends had left. When she didn't move he let his gaze fall on her, a look of annoyance on his face.

He took in her features - blue eyes so like his own, long pink locks that reminded him of a man that had been like a father to him all his life. "Josephine?" he asked unsurely. She nodded and threw herself into his arms, tears streaming from her eyes as she clung to his chest.

"Uncle Jay," she sobbed, her whole body shaking with tears. Jay just held his niece tighter.

Today was certainly one for the record books. First, he found out he had a son – apparently - and now he found himself embraced by his young niece whom had been lost to her family for almost fifteen years. The little girl he had known so well, who he had been as close to as his own sister, had now grown to a beautiful young woman. She looked so like her father – the sapphire blue eyes the only evidence of the Ketchum blood running through her veins

"Josephine," he said quietly. "Your mother has worried herself sick all these years, and here you are, safe and sound."

"How are they?" Jesse asked him, her face contorted with guilt.

Jay sighed, a sad look on his face. "Your father hasn't been well since you left," he told her sadly. "I don't think he could handle losing both his children like that. You were always his little princess, Josie. Losing Matt was one thing, but losing you was too much. I think he held on to his hope as long as he could, but it wasn't enough."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, looking at the ground.

"You should go see your mother," he said in response.

"You should talk to your son," she countered, meeting his gaze pointedly with a smug, almost callous smile. The walls had been broken down momentarily, but the strong, cold Jesse was back now with a vengeance.

"I don't have a son," Jay responded. "The only woman I was ever with . . . the only woman I ever loved . . ." he sighed sadly. "She gave up on me."

"Maybe she didn't," Jesse said softly. "He looks like you," she offered helpfully, "and sometimes he does things and I think to myself, 'that's exactly what Uncle Jay would have done'.

"He reminds me of Matthew," she finished, her eyes filling with tears.

"Hey, Jos," he said quietly, taking his niece in his arms once again. "It's okay. You don't have to be sad about it anymore. He was never meant for this world."

Jesse nodded as she blinked back tears, pushing herself from the familiar embrace. "You should talk to him," she told him again. "And her," she added.

Jay nodded and sighed. "He has her eyes," he admitted quietly, realizing just what about the boy had broken his heart. "And her smile. I haven't even seen her in over sixteen years, but I'll never forget that smile."

"You saw their reactions," Jesse told him. "They've got no reason to lie about this."

"It's a lot to take in."

"You think it's a lot for you?" Jesse asked incredulous. "I just found out the kid we've been stalking and trying to rob for the past six years is my friggin' cousin, so deal with it!"

Jay was a silent for a moment taking in her words. "It's good to see you, Josie."

Jesse nodded. "You too, Uncle Jay. You too."

~ to be continued ~

So technically this inconsistent with canon, but Rocket Canon isn't even consistent within itself so I think it gives me a bit more artistic license here. It's too bad I can't add pictures to this, cos I could totally draw you a family tree, but all it would amount to would be me saying that Jesse (Josephine) is Jason's sister's daughter AKA his niece and therefore Ash's cousin.

Well, I've got a little bonus here for you, just by way of introducing Jason/Jay.


Extra: Know Your Master – an unpublished interview with Jason Takeru Ketchum from SuperPoké (a biweekly special interest Pokémon magazine)

Amy Masters interviews recently Jason Takeru Ketchum after his big win against the former champion, Lucian Eli Cowley.

AM: Jason, let me just say a big congratulations from all of us here at SuperPoké magazine. It really was an incredible battle, and a well-earned results. Now, seeing as this is your first interview, we're going to start with the basics. Name, age, etc. Just tell us about yourself.

JK: Ok, well, my name is Jason Ketchum, I'm twenty-eight. I was born in Pallet Town, but grew up in Vermillion, and then back to Pallet after I graduated. That's it really.

AM: That's a good start. How about we talk about your Pokémon? You must have had a pretty impressive team to beat the reigning Champion, as well as the elites.

JK: A great team. All six of them have been with me if not from the start, then pretty damn close to it. Nidoking, Jolteon, Houndoom, Machoke, Dragonite, and Lapras have all been a huge part of my journey right from the start.

AM: So what was it like growing up for you? I know that the journey to being a Pokémon Master is not an easy one.

JK: No, I suppose they really make you work for it. I think I had a pretty good childhood. My parents died when I was about eight, but my sister Rebecca has always been there for me. Her and David pretty much raised me, and they made sure that I never felt like I was missing out. My family has always encouraged me to follow my dreams, and I know I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

AM: But, of course, it wasn't just your sister and brother-in-law supporting you. Let's talk about your 'someone special'.

JK: [With a warm smile on his face] Can't forget about her, can we? More than anyone else, Delia has been my driving force in all of this. Everything I've gone through has been for her, to bring me closer to her. None of this, even reaching my dream like this, would mean a thing without her.

AM: That is so incredible to hear. Are you guys planning a family?

JK: It's definitely on my list. Now that I'm here, I hope to finally get the chance to have a normal sort of life and raise a family together. Maybe one day, when I'm defeated, it'll be my own son to whom I'll be handing over the title of Pokémon Master. That would definitely be something.

AM: I bet. Now, speaking of the title, let's talk about your journey a bit. How long did it take you to get to where you are?

JK: A long time. I was twenty when I started my journey, but it was something I had been building towards since I was ten. I thought I knew everything I needed to know and thought I was going to win the whole thing based on type trumps and levels. My first wakeup call was getting beaten – badly – by Will in Cerulean; he took my magneton out without breaking a sweat with a goldeen of all things. The next was getting knocked out early at the Pokémon League, and running back home with my tail between my legs.
It was only thanks to Delia that I kept going, kept learning. It took eight years and three attempts at Indigo before I finally reached my dream.

AM: It sounds like she's been a real inspiration to you throughout your whole journey.

JK: She has, and it's going to be good getting back to her.

AM: So, what was your first Pokémon?

JK: My starter was Ash. She was a charmander if it wasn't obvious enough by the name. Technically, my first Pokémon was a pikachu, which I accidentally caught when I was sixteen, but being under-age I wasn't allowed to keep it.

AM: How do you accidentally capture a Pokémon?

JK: [laughs] Long story. Too long for this interview.

AM: Well, seeing as we're on the topic, how do you feel about the reforms going on that may potentially reduce the legal age for owning Pokémon to as young as twelve?

JK: I think it's good. The reasons behind the age limit were fears over how dangerous Pokémon might be, but these are truly unfounded. Yes, some Pokémon may be violent, but the same can be said about any creatures. Your Pokémon become like your best friends, and I think every kid should experience that sort of relationship as soon as possible.

AM: So, you're all for it? How are you going to feel defending your title against kids half your age?

JK: I don't see it as a problem. If they're a great trainer, then age doesn't come into it.

AM: Such wise words. Well, that brings us to the end of the interview. Is there anything else you wish to say before you leave us?

JK: Just to keep on reaching for your dreams. There are a lot of things that make a Pokémon Master – luck, skill, hard work – but I think the number one attribute that determines it in the end is tenacity and you need that by the bucket loads.

AM: Thank you. It's been a pleasure talking to you, Jason, and I hope you stay with us for years to come.

Interview conducted June 28th 3007.


P.S. If anyone spotted any continuity errors in ages or years or time frames etc. let me know please. Every time I edit this I decide to make Ash at least a year younger for one reason or another (he started off nine but then the language wasn't right so dropped to eight, then six going on seven and now five going on six because nine years seemed a long time to spend on a journey when you've got a life waiting for you back home).