Disclaimer:- I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 6- Back to Pallet
Ash:-
Ash Ketchum was sitting in the back of a motorboat clutching Pikachu tightly in his arms and staring at the vast expanse of ocean surrounding them. The first thing they had done in the morning after finding out that the Pokemon they had saved were alright, was to find a boat that would take them from Seafoam Island to Pallet town.
Ash couldn't take his brown eyes of the water. 'Gary might be somewhere in this huge ocean, already out of my reach. If he is dead it's my fault', Ash couldn't help having these thoughts all the time. He wished he hadn't said those harsh words about Gary on his birthday. Deep down he knew that that was the reason why Gary had became so obsessed with the time-travel idea and probably resulted in his death.
He saw Misty, Brock and May munching on some chips but for the first time Ash didn't really cared about food. He had lost all of his appetite due to thinking about Gary for the whole night.
The three Pokemon had felt too scared when Ash and others had tried to leave them behind at the Pokemon Center. The two Eevees and Cleffa had thrown a tantrum and clinged themselves to Misty, Brock and May respectively. After that, the three of them had decided to take those Pokemon with themselves.
Ash saw Misty feeding little bits of chips to her Eevee while Brock brushed the fur of his Eevee. May's Cleffa had been asleep for a while but Ash was startled as he saw the Cleffa suddenly waking up and starting to cry loudly.
"Cleffa!" the Pokemon wailed in a very loud voice.
"Hey there, calm down Cleffa," May said gently, rocking the Pokemon back and forth and patting her head.
But the Pokemon wouldn't stop crying at all. It looked as though she was going through some really disturbing nightmare.
"Hey Brock, do you have any potion to calm down Cleffa?" May asked him.
"Yeah," Brock said, already rummaging through his bag, "Here it is. Nurse Joy gave me some new potions to calm down Pokemon because she felt that we might need them for these three," he said handing over the potion to her.
Ash remembered how the man named Professor Castor had called the three Pokemon 'experiments'.
"That guy must have done something horrible to these Pokemon. That's why they are having nightmares," he spoke feeling angry.
"Yeah, based on what you said that guy sounded really evil," Misty replied.
"Oh, so now you feel that that guy was evil? Then why did you stopped me from reporting him off to Officer Jenny?" Ash asked.
"We are in the past Ash. We shouldn't meddle with time, it can have drastic consequences," Misty told him.
"And you didn't had any proof against that person either. Officer Jenny would have never believed you," May said to him.
Ash glared at them and turned away. Then something occurred to him and he asked May, "Where had you gone off to early in the morning? I saw you leaving the Pokemon Center on your own this morning."
May slapped a hand to her forehead and said, "Oh, and here I forget to tell the most important person what we had been planning for him!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked sounding curious.
"Actually Ash, we realized that when we return to Pallet town, there are chances of some people recognizing that you are the Ash from the future. That's why May had gone to buy some stuff that would help in disguising you," Brock told him.
"What?!" Ash exclaimed feeling surprised upon hearing this but May had already moved from her seat to the one next to Ash's. She opened a bright yellow bag and pulled out a large straw hat and a pair of goggles.
"Try these," she instructed to Ash who put them on feeling that all of this was really very silly. What sort of person disguises themselves just because they are in the past? He wondered whether Gary would have done that and felt a strange ache in his heart.
"I prefer my usual league cap rather than this hat," he muttered but May had already opened her make-up kit.
He had no idea how May managed to expertly apply make-up on his face in a roughly swaying motor-boat but she did it anyways. And when Ash saw the result in a mirror he had to admit he looked much different than his usual self.
"You are really good at this," Ash told her.
"Thanks," May replied with a smile.
Almost irresistibly, Ash was reminded of another person who loved make-up and hair-gel, and he felt a sudden coldness settle down in his stomach. He knew his friends still felt that Gary had fallen somewhere else through the time-stream. Ash hoped that was true but if it wasn't then the guilt of what he had unknowingly done would always haunt him.
They reached Pallet town after a few hours and Brock paid the fare for the boat. It was late in the afternoon by the time they had reached Pallet and all of them were feeling really hungry.
"I think we should find a place to eat something," Misty suggested.
"Look! There's a restaurant down the street!" May shouted happily and pointed towards a restaurant at the corner of the street.
It looked like a typical ordinary place. Nothing fancy but nice and cozy.
Something about it tried to trigger something in Ash's memory but he couldn't place it. He followed the others inside the restaurant but the moment his eyes fell on the interior of that place he knew where he had came.
"Guys, we need to get out of here immediately," Ash muttered to his friends who were busy searching for an empty booth.
"Why? This looks like a nice restaurant," Misty asked him.
"Because I might get recognized over here," Ash whispered as his memory of the place came back quite clearly.
"What's that supposed to-" Misty's question was interrupted by a cheerful voice which chirped from right in front of them,
"Hello everyone! Welcome to Pallet House!" a slightly younger looking Delia Ketchum greeted the four of them.
Ash saw his friends look at her and then back at him in alarm. They were clearly confused because Ash was sure he had never mentioned about this restaurant to any of them. Pikachu looked as though he wanted to jump from Ash's arms into his mother's but was restraining himself because her past-self didn't knew him yet.
In spite of the danger of being recognized Ash had to take the lead because his friends were looking too shocked to say anything.
"Hello, we are new in Pallet town and we were looking for a place to eat something," Ash said the first thing that came to his mind.
"You have came to the right place! Pallet House is the best restaurant in this town. You'll love the food over here," the past-self of his mother replied enthusiastically.
"Thanks," Ash muttered, "We'll just find a place to sit then."
He hastily guided his friends to the first empty booth that they could find and squeezed in besides Misty while May and Brock sat on the opposite side.
"Ash, is that your mom?" May whispered.
"I didn't knew you owned a restaurant in the past," Misty commented.
"Perhaps we have been send to some alternate universe where Ash's mom owns a restaurant," Brock wondered.
"No Brock, my mom did owned a restaurant in the past. But we had to close it down because there were some problems," Ash told his friends.
"Oh, I am sorry to hear that," Brock said.
Just then, a waiter came to their table and they all quickly gave their orders.
Once their food had came they started talking again. May was really happy about the fact that her make-up skills had worked quite well and Ash's mom hadn't recognized him.
"I think we should still leave as soon as possible. My mom might recognize me if we hang around this place for too long," Ash said feeling worried. He had no idea as to what would the consequences be if someone from the past recognized them.
A couple of minutes later, Ash suddenly heard a bunch of loud noises coming from the front of the restaurant. He turned around and saw few men threatening his mother.
"We are telling you this for the last time young lady, if you don't close down this place, we will break it down using our Pokemon!" one of those men shouted angrily.
"What's going on?" Misty wondered aloud.
"Those men are hired by the owner of a newly opened restaurant. They used to threaten my mom daily and since we don't have any Officer Jenny in Pallet town she had to eventually close down this place," Ash explained. He could feel his blood boiling at the sight of those men.
"Pika!" Pikachu let out a low growl, his cheeks sparkling with electricity.
They heard Delia say something angrily to those men, and after that one of those men shouted, "I don't think you will listen like this. Machoke go!"
Ash couldn't stand it anymore. " I am going to go and help," he told his friends and ran outside.
He was inwardly thankful for the fact that he and his friends had arranged to have Pokemon battles on his birthday after most of the party was over. Because of that, they all still had some of their most powerful mons with them.
"Swellow, I choose you!" he shouted and released the Pokeball which contained the flying-type.
"Machoke, use karate-chop on that useless Pokemon," the man commanded his fighting type.
"Dodge it and use double team!" Ash instructed to his Swellow.
Machoke got momentarily confused by the double-team attack. Ash used this exact opportunity and said, " Swellow use aerial ace!"
The mirror-images disappeared and the real Swellow used aerial ace on the Machoke.
"Machoke return," the man grunted with a disappointment upon seeing his Pokemon injured.
Another man sent out a Scyther. " Scyther use double-team!"
However before Ash's Swellow could do anything a voice shouted from behind, " Blaziken use flamethrower!" Scyther and his copies were surrounded by the blazing fire and soon the copies disappeared leaving a very scorched up Scyther behind.
Ash saw May, Brock and Misty standing behind him with their pokeballs ready in their hand.
"Do you really want to fight with all of us?" Brock asked those men in a calm but threatening voice, " I think it would be best if you leave now."
Those men glared daggers at Ash and his friends and finally left muttering amongst themselves.
"Thank you so much!" Delia said once those people had left, "I am really grateful for your help."
"You should complain about them to someone," Misty said glaring at the retreating backs of those men.
"I have thought about it. But there is no one in Pallet town to whom you can complain. It is a very small place," Delia replied.
"We didn't knew that. We are er, new over here," Ash said to her.
"Really, and where are you staying?" she asked staring at their little group.
"We haven't decided yet," Brock told her.
"Actually we are a group of travelling trainers who wanted to meet Professor Oak," Misty spoke and Ash was quite impressed by the way she had came up with a story which wasn't entirely false.
Delia thought for a while and then said, "Well, you can stay at my place if you want. I know Professor Oak very well, so I can take you up to his lab. And in the meantime you can rest at my home."
"We don't want to trouble you," Ash said hurriedly. He couldn't imagine staying in the same house where the past-selves of his mother and himself lived.
"Oh, it won't be a trouble at all! I love having guests at my place. It can get really lonely in this small town," she said to him.
Ash couldn't really see a way out of this. His mom could be very persuasive at times. He looked at his friends for help but they looked like they didn't knew how to turn down her offer either.
"Alright, we will come," Ash spoke in a small voice.
Ash and May asked Swellow and Blaziken to return to their Pokeballs. And once they had finished paying for the meal their little group followed Delia Ketchum to Ash's home.
Ash was walking at the back of the group. He wanted his mother to notice him as little as possible. Ash saw that Misty and Brock had managed to get their Eevees inside Pokeballs by now. But May's Cleffa was refusing to go in a Pokeball. The little Pokemon's eyes filled up with tears every time she saw a Pokeball.
"It's alright May, sometimes Pokemon don't like to stay inside a Pokeball. My Pikachu doesn't like it either," Ash told her while Pikachu shuddered slightly at the mention of his dislike for being in a Pokeball.
"I know Ash, but I am worried about Cleffa. She is really scared of something and I don't know what to do," May replied sounding quite concerned.
"You need to take this slowly May. If you keep trying you will eventually get her to trust you and maybe then we'll find out why she is so scared," Ash answered. He loved giving advice to May. He had mentored lots of young trainers on his journeys but May was the first person to learn things from him. It was really special for him in a way.
"Thanks Ash, I hope things work out with Cleffa," May said with a small smile.
"So, what are your names again?" Delia asked from the front of the group.
"I am Maria Sapphirestone. And these are my friends Mia Bluecascade and Brett Greyboulder. We are all from the Hoenn region," May replied in a hurry.
Ash understood why May was using fake-names but he didn't quite got why she had told that Misty and Brock were from Hoenn as well. When in reality they were from Cerulean city and Pewter city respectively.
"And what is your name young man," Delia asked Ash.
"Tom Redheart," May answered promptly before Ash could say anything.
"Oh, nice to meet all of you. I am Delia Ketchum by the way," she replied and continued walking.
"Tom Redheart!" Ash whispered angrily to May, " Where did you came up with that name?"
"We can't tell her your real name for obvious reasons Ash. So I came up with a fake name for you. It is the name of the protagonist in a romance novel I had once read," she told him.
"And what if my mom has read the same novel? She would realize it's a fake name?" Ash asked.
"Don't worry, the novel hasn't been published yet," May replied with a wave of her hand.
"Whatever," Ash mumbled. He still felt that his fake-name was silly.
"Why did you tell her that Brock and Misty were from Hoenn though?" he asked.
"We had planned that this morning itself. It would be easy for someone in Pallet town to check in Cerulean or Pewter. But comparatively difficult to cross-check in Hoenn," May explained.
Once they reached Ash's house Delia showed them the couple of extra rooms. Misty and May chose the spacious room overlooking the small garden at the back of the house, while Ash and Brock were left with a slightly smaller room. They thought it would be rude to stay over there free of charge so they had insisted on paying while they stayed at Delia's house.
Ash had taken a nice shower in the bathroom attached to his and Brock's room. But the moment he stared at his reflection in the mirror he realized that he was in for some trouble.
The make-up which May had done had gotten washed away. And he couldn't possibly move about the house wearing a straw-hat and goggles. So he just put on his usual league cap and pulled it way down on his face, trying to cover as much of it as possible.
He went in search of his friends and saw the two girls staring at a little figure sitting in the living-room, with surprise and wonder etched on their faces. Ash looked at the little figure and his jaw dropped open in astonishment.
It was his younger-self, propped up on a sofa and eagerly watching Pokemon battles on the television.
Misty walked up to him and whispered, "He looks so adorable! I didn't knew you were that cute when you were a little kid."
Ash startled and blushed a little upon hearing that. He saw his younger-self turn around and give all of them a wide smile.
"Hello, my name is Ash! My mom told me we are going to have guests in the house. Nice to meet all of you," he spoke in a cheerful tone.
"Nice to meet you too Ash," Brock said emerging from the kitchen wearing an apron. Ash guessed he must have been helping his mother with the cooking.
"Ash you have been watching the league matches all day long, why don't you go outside and play with Gary?" Ash's mom came out of the kitchen and asked his younger-counterpart.
Ash flinched at the mention of Gary. He was still very much worried about him.
Younger-Ash spoke in a small voice, "He doesn't want to play with me. He has stopped talking to me after my birthday party."
Older Ash remembered that incidence very well. Just a few weeks before his birthday Gary had been feeling upset about not having a lot of friends. So Ash had called loads of kids from his school for his birthday party, hoping that Gary would be able to make some new friends. He also remembered how angry Gary had been when he had jokingly called one of the kids his best friend. He hadn't really meant it and the other boy knew that as well but Gary had taken it way too seriously and wouldn't accept an apology at all.
"You should go and talk to him. If he is your friend he won't be able to stay angry with you forever," Ash said to his past-self in an encouraging tone.
"Really, you think so?" younger Ash asked innocently.
"Yeah, if there has been some misunderstanding between you then maybe you can clear it up," Ash suggested to his younger-version.
His past-self looked deep in thought for a while and then said, "I think he has misunderstood me. I'll go and explain everything to him."
With that he got up and ran out of the house in the direction of Professor Oak's lab.
"Wow Tom, you give really good advice," his mother said and beamed at him.
"Thanks!" Ash replied. He saw his friends and Pikachu smiling proudly at him.
But just then a small pink Pokemon came running out of Misty and May's room.
"Cle! Cleffa!" Cleffa cried angrily as though she had just woken up from a nightmare and blindly ran outside the open door from where younger-Ash had just left.
"Cleffa, wait! Come back!" May cried and ran after her Pokemon. Ash, Misty and Brock immediately followed them.
Gary:-
Gary had spent the entire morning and afternoon working hard at his grandfather's lab. Professor Oak was so impressed by his work that Gary had became worried of being over-worked on the first day itself. But luckily, he got a break in late afternoon.
Gary was glad about this because although he had gotten a lunch break too it was simply not enough to do what he had planned since morning. He took out from his pocket a neatly folded sketch of him and Ash drawn by his younger counterpart.
He then quietly slipped out of the house and made his way over to Ash's house. He had reached about mid-way up to the house when he saw a young kid with messy dark hair and brown eyes walking in the opposite direction towards him.
Gary couldn't believe his luck. He wanted to find younger-Ash and he was coming directly towards him. Okay, maybe not towards him but rather going in the direction of Professor Oak's house.
Gary was hit with a plethora of childhood memories as he continued to stare at the younger-counterpart of his best friend.
Finally, he stopped younger-Ash in his tracks and asked him, "Hey kid, your name is Ash right?"
"Yeah," younger-Ash answered with a smile.
"I am Professor Oak's new assistant. His grandson Gary wanted me to give this to you," he said and handed over the picture drawn by younger-Gary to younger-Ash. He knew his past-self would be really mad at him if he found out about this but he knew it was necessary to do that. He wanted Ash to see that sketch and understand how much Gary actually cared about it.
"Gary drew this, really?"younger-Ash asked looking amazed. It was a cute picture of Ash and Gary eating candies together.
"Yes, it was a birthday present for you," older-Gary replied.
"I should go and thank him. Thanks for giving this to me!" Ash said and ran towards Professor Oak's lab with a renewed vigor clutching the picture tightly in his hand.
Gary saw his best-friend's younger-counterpart run towards the lab and sighed in a contented manner. He was doing his job well. But almost immediately, he heard a loud screech of "Cleffa!" from behind him.
A Cleffa came running down the street and halted beneath a large tree taking deep breaths. Gary being the observant researcher that he was noticed that the Pokemon was seriously scared of something. Almost as if she was going through some trauma.
Just then he realized that the tree beneath which Cleffa was standing was swaying violently. He realized the danger a moment too late.
He started running in the Pokemon's direction but knew he wouldn't make it in time. But at the same time he saw a girl sprinting at a fast pace towards the Cleffa from the corner of his eye. She hastily grabbed the little Pokemon and ran away as the tree collapsed with a loud thud on the ground.
"Oh Cleffa, are you alright?" the girl asked her Pokemon, "For a moment I was worried that I won't be able to save you in time."
The girl had tears in her eyes and the little Cleffa was staring at her with wide eyes filled with astonishment. Gary suddenly realized that this was probably the first time someone had been nice to the little Pokemon. He didn't wanted to imagine what might have happened to her in the past.
With a jolt of surprise he realized that he had seen the girl at Ash's sixteenth birthday party. She shared her first name with his sister. He felt another jolt of surprise when he saw three figures running down the road towards the girl and Cleffa. Brock, Misty and an older Ash Ketchum.
He and Ash looked at each other at the same time. Grey eyes met brown ones. Brown eyes stared in confusion for a moment, then widened with surprise and happiness once they realized who they were staring at.
Gary couldn't do anything more than stand in surprise as Ash Ketchum threw himself forward with full speed and enveloped Gary in a tight hug.
"I thought you were dead!" Ash whispered against him, "I thought I would never see you again. But you are alright. And alive!" he almost choked on the last word, sounding close to tears.
"Ash? What? How?" Gary didn't knew what to say. There were too many questions. And he couldn't think clearly about any of them. The only thought going through his mind was that Ash had hugged him. The last time he had hugged Gary they had been little kids. Now it suddenly felt different.
"Gary is that you? Why have you colored your hair?" Misty asked sounding confused.
"To disguise myself," he answered and then finally asked, "What's going on over here? What are you all doing in the past?"
"We came in search of you," Ash replied, "I was going to explain to you why I said all that stuff at the party. But then we saw you walking towards the forest and talking to Celebi and then you just disappeared in the time-stream."
It took some time for Gary to process all this. He remembered hearing Ash's voice just when he was about to step into the time-stream created by Celebi. "So did you followed me in the time-stream?" he asked.
"Yes," Misty answered, "But we landed in a different place. Brock figured out that you must have landed somewhere else but Ash was really worried. He thought you were dead!"
"I am alright Ashy," he muttered and gently detached himself from Ash's hug. He needed to think clearly about things right now. Ash and his friends coming to the past had only complicated his plans.
"Where are you staying?" he asked them.
"At my mom's place," Ash replied and hastily added, "But don't worry, she hasn't recognized us yet. And I think we won't get caught in the future either."
Gary simply nodded his head then finally feeling that he couldn't take any more of this he snapped and asked angrily, "What were you all thinking, jumping behind me in the time-stream like that? It could have been dangerous! And what if someone would've recognized you all? Here I was taking all the precautions to hide my real identity and you guys were just roaming around carelessly?"
"We weren't being careless! I had personally applied a ton of make-up on Ash's face and even came up with fake-names for everyone," the girl named May spoke looking indignant.
"Sorry, but I don't see any make-up on Ashy-boy's face. Unless of course it is some invisible form of make-up," Gary said to her.
"I took a shower," Ash muttered.
"Maybe you badly needed one," Gary retorted feeling his temper increase.
"There is no need to be so angry Gary. We were just worried about you so we followed you through the time-stream. And we took all the necessary precautions," Brock replied.
"But you don't understand!" Gary wailed now feeling frustrated at all of them, "You are going to ruin everything. All of my plans for changing the past would get spoiled."
"Why do you want to change the past anyways Gary?" Misty asked him.
"It's about me, isn't it?" Ash asked, "You want to change your behavior in the past and repair our friendship, right? But there is no need to do that. I have forgiven you and we can start our friendship from the beginning again. You have always been one of my best friends Gary."
At any other moment Gary would've been besides himself after hearing that Ash had called him his best-friend. But right now he needed to make himself clear.
"This isn't just about you Ash," he said to him, "I need to save my parents too."
"What?" Ash looked momentarily stunned upon hearing that.
"Your parents?" Misty asked.
"Yeah, they are going to come to Pallet town in a few days. And after that they are going to leave for a research expedition in Johto, where they will die in an earthquake," he spoke the last part with difficulty.
"And you want to prevent that," Brock said gently as a look of understanding passed on his face.
"Yeah, and that's why I am staying at my grandfather's place. I have disguised myself to be his assistant called Harry Greenwood," he told them.
"But we need to meet your grandfather. We wanted to go back to our time and thought that Professor Oak could help us with it," Misty said.
"I don't think my grandfather knows anything about time-travel. He didn't even knew that Celebi was spying on him," Gary told her.
"But then how will we go back to our time?" May wondered.
"I have arranged this with Celebi. The moment my job in the past is completed he is going to bring me back to the exact time when I had left. I think he'll do the same for you all," Gary guessed.
"Going back to the same time when we had left? That sounds alright, we won't miss anything," May said.
"And if Celebi forgets to transport the four of you I can always remind him the moment I go back to the future," Gary explained to them.
"That sounds like a good plan Gary," Brock said, "We will find something to do in the past while you do your job."
"And we won't let anyone find out our secret," Misty promised.
"And if you need any help in saving your parents you know whom to ask," Ash said and gave a tight squeeze to his arm.
"Thanks Ash," Gary replied with a smile. When he looked in Ash's eyes he felt as though half of the reasons which had made him come to the past didn't even existed in the first place. Ash could never hold a grudge against someone and his eyes only reflected concern, care and something else for Gary which Gary couldn't really understand.
"I'll see you all later. Stay undercover," he muttered and turned to leave when he heard May's voice,
"It was nice meeting you Gary!" she called out.
"It was nice meeting you too! And the way you saved your Cleffa was incredibly brave," he said to her.
She smiled and he made to leave. But just for a moment, his eyes rested on the little Cleffa. He couldn't understand whatever could have happened to make that Pokemon so scared and frightened. He hoped everything would be alright, but he had no idea how soon things were going to start falling apart.
Author Note:- Tell me what you think of the chapter or if you have any suggestions. :)
Hope you enjoyed it!