Scott sat in his hotel room in Viridian City. It had been two days since Ash had left saying that he planned to travel to Pewter City next, Scott had remained in Viridian to catch up with some friends he had in town. After he had spoken to his friends however, Scott's mind had turned to concern, for Ash. He had heard about the battle Ash had had the day before his match against Brandon, with a trainer named Simon and his Lucario. Scott had heard several rumors ranging from the Lucario refusing to battle after the experience, to Lucario needing emergency surgery and dying during the operation. After some digging Scott had managed to get the real story, the Lucario had been severally injured and had to go through emergency surgery. Lucario had lived however it had lost the use of its right arm, as for the rumor of Lucario refusing to battle Scott had discovered that Simon didn't have the heart to make Lucario battle so soon after the experience.
Scott had gone back and forth about what to do. He had seen trainers fall off the deep end before, he didn't usually interfere with trainers besides maybe pointing them in the direction of something like his own Battle Frontier, but Ash had the potential to be an epic trainer and if he got lost he might not find his way back. But what the heck was he supposed to do? Sighing Scoot realized that maybe the reason he didn't usually interfere might be because he wouldn't know how to help anyway. This however was one thing that he wouldn't be able to ignore, walking over to his phone Scott dialed Professor Oak's number. The phone rang a few times and then Scott heard Oak's greating.
"Hello this is Professor Oak from Pallet Town speaking, and who is this?"
"Hi professor, it's Scott"
"Oh hello Scott, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
"Well professor…" Scott paused, "I met with Ash the other day in Viridian City, he wanted to re-challenge Brandon and the Battle Pyramid."
"Oh I see, was it a good battle?"
"Well yes the battle was amazing, but… I heard rumors around town that Ash had been involved in a battle that didn't end well, for the other trainer."
"Scott, what do you mean by that?"
"Professor, I think it's best I tell you about this in person, I can be in Pallet Town tomorrow by noon, and you should probably tell Ash's mom to come too, she should know what he's been up to."
"Very well Scott, we'll meet at my lab tomorrow, and I'll tell Delia to meet us."
"Thanks professor, I'll be there, bye" Scott hung up, leaned back in his chair and sighed. It was a good idea to talk to the professor in person but that only left him with about twenty four hours to figure out what to tell the professor and Delia.
*The Next Day*
Professor Oak stood outside his lab with a very upset Delia Ketchum. For the last hour Delia had been pestering the professor with questions of what it was that Scott wanted to tell them about Ash.
"I'm sorry Delia," the professor said, "but Scott wouldn't tell me anything, so we'll just have to wait until he gets here." Delia although not happy was silent. Then suddenly Scott's jeep came screaming up the path to the lab, the breaks squealed and Scott jumped out.
"Hi professor, sorry I took so long."
"It's fine Scott, please come inside." Delia and Scott followed the professor into the lab and into the living room, after being seated the professor said, "Alright Scott what is it that you needed to tell us about."
"Well it's not good," Scott began, and then proceeded to tell them everything he knew about what had happened to Ash while he was in Viridian City. "And that's everything I know." Delia and Professor Oak were silent for moment.
"So you mean to tell me," Delia said, "that Ash lost control in a pokemon battle and is now seen as some sort of delinquent?"
"That seems to be the case Ms. Ketchum ," Scott sighed, "I don't know what happened to Ash, but in his battle with Brandon something seemed off and then I heard the rumors so I decided to investigate."
"This is indeed troubling," Professor Oak said, "Ash has been in a rut ever since his hard loss in the Sinnoh League, but I would never have suspected that it would grow into this big a problem."
"Exactly what I thought professor, it's best to do something now before Ash falls off the deep end"
"Hmmm, yes that's true," Oak said slowly, "but what can we do?"
"Well now that I know what's happened I can't just sit around!" Delia practically yelled, "I need to go help my boy!"
"I don't believe that's a good idea Delia." Professor Oak said.
"But I have to go!" Delia shouted
"I'm afraid the professor's right Ms. Ketchum," Scott said calmly, "We need to help Ash, but any of us running to him might do more harm than good, every trainer needs to walk their own path."
"But if we can't go ourselves than what can we do?"
"Well…. admit ably that's why I'm here, I don't know what to do but I couldn't just let Ash be lost." Scott however was met with silence.
"I think at this time it would be best for Ash's friends to help him," said the professor at last, "Along his journey Ash has always allowed himself to depend on them and it sounds like he needs to now more than ever." The professor's suggestion was met with approval although somewhat grudgingly from Delia.
"If I can't go myself I suppose that is for the best," she said "Thank you for telling us all this Scott, now if you'll excuse me I believe if Ash has left Viridian City he will being traveling to Pewter City next, I'm going to call Brock and explain things to him."
"Thank you Delia, that would be excellent," the professor stood up and turned to Scott, "yes thank you for bringing this to our attention Scott."
"No problem professor, I only hope me doing so can help Ash" Scott said his goodbyes and walked to his jeep. He drove away hoping that his interfiering in Ash's journey would help rather than hurt him.