Chapter 10

Without a Past

"Oh, I'm stuffed," Davis proclaimed as he finished up his tenth plate of food. "Wow, that really hit the spot! I haven't had food that good in forever!"

Mrs. Ketchum chuckled. "That's good! I always love it when people enjoy my cooking!" She turned toward T.K. "Ash? Would you like some more? You've only had a couple of plates!"

T.K. smiled thankfully. "No, but thanks. I've actually cut back a lot on how much I eat."

She blinked in surprise. "Really?" She couldn't seem to picture him eating such a relatively small amount. "I'm used to you eating more like your friend, Davis."

"Believe me, Mrs. Ketchum," Matt spoke up with a grin as some of the older Digidestined caught a hint of what he was about to say, "it still happens from time to time."

"Matt!" T.K. gave a small cry of protest at the mention of his eating habits.

Kari chuckled, covering her mouth a bit. "Oh, come on, T.K.! Admit it! You should see him when Yolei brings brownies, Mrs. Ketchum!"

The Bearer of Hope dropped his head in embarrassment, his cheeks flushing. "Aw, not you, too, Kari! You guys know I rarely eat like that!"

"Yeah, right," Patamon butted in, hanging over T.K.'s head to look at his partner upside-down. "You were doing it just this morning!"

T.K. took a friendly swat at the digimon. "I wasn't that bad!"

Patamon and Pikachu both jumped up on the table, Pikachu grabbing a spoon. "Let's see if we remember this right …"

At Patamon's words, Pikachu began pretending to gobble something up so quickly that one bite barely seemed down his throat before another spoonful was shoved in.

Suddenly, in a surprisingly good imitation of his mother, Patamon suddenly shouted out, "T.K. Takaishi!"

Pikachu sat up straight as a board and everyone in the room broke up laughing as the spoon clattered to the table, then applauded as the two hams took a bow.

"Yep, that sounds like our Ash, alright," Misty managed to squeeze out through her laughter.

Brock nodded in agreement. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep our food stocked with the way he ate? And I had to buy just the ingredients, because if I brought anything already made, it'd be gone before I could warm it up!"

"Hey," Gary interjected, "at least you never had to have a birthday party with him!" He held up his index finger. "Grandpa tried putting us side by side one time! My slice of cake was in his mouth before I could reach for my fork!"

This earned another roar of laughter from them all, and Kari put a hand on T.K.'s shoulder. "Wow, you were really a wild one, weren't you, T.K.?"

Before he could answer, Gary spoke up again. "Does he still sleep like he used to?"

This drew a confused gaze from some of them. "Sleep? What do you mean?"

Gary grinned proudly, glad to share more dirt on T.K.'s time in the Pokemon dimension. "He slept like a rock! The day we were all supposed to get our first pokemon, the klutz had thrown his alarm clock across the room in his sleep! Not only did he show up an hour late, but he came in his pajamas!"

T.K. faulted sideways in sheer shock at being reminded of that, barely missing Kari as the girl pulled her legs in. As he pulled himself back up, he turned on Gary. "Did you have to share that story?"

But Gary's smirk remained. "Well, I suppose I could tell them about how when you first tried to hold Pikachu, the rodent hated you so much he lit you up like a Christmas tree!" He didn't notice as the electric mouse in question snuck up behind him and into his seat. "Man, that rat was one good judge of character!" He went to fall back into his seat, but was promptly sent flying back up after sitting on Pikachu and getting thoroughly electrocuted.

Everyone laughed, but this time, it was at the rival. Tai leaned on his shoulder as he stood back up. "What was that you were saying about character, Gary?"

"I don't know," Yolei piped in. "I think he was right. Pikachu certainly knew a big mouth when he saw it!"

Gary let out a growl, but T.K. interrupted him. "Guys, this is great fun and all, especially now that we've gotten off of the topic of me, but don't you think we should be going? We need to at least find out how bad this tear has gotten."

Mimi let out a sigh. "You know, T.K., for the bearer of Hope, you sure have a way of ruining a party atmosphere …"

Palmon, her pokemon, patted her on the shoulder. "He's right though, isn't he, Mimi? We should get out there."

She nodded. "Yeah, we should."

Mrs. Ketchum began gathering up their plates so they would be out of the way. "You will all be careful, won't you?"

T.K. nodded to his mother. "Don't worry, mom. We'll be fine."

She wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, Ash, I hope so. I've missed you so much. I'd hate to lose you again."

T.K. hugged her back, but hesitated before speaking. "Don't worry, we won't lose."

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T.K. looked back at the others as they crested the first hill outside of Pallet Town. In a way, it almost felt like his first adventure in this world, except this time, he had a far more serious mission than just to be the best pokemon trainer.

He wasn't any less enthusiastic, though. With only three trainers to eleven Digidestined – neither number counting him – it looked unbalanced, but each trainer had six powerful and loyal pokemon, and all of both groups had proven their mettle. Counting all members of this party, humans, pokemon and digimon, they numbered at an astounding force of forty-eight, and if he counted himself and Patamon in the Digidestined and added his six pokemon to the other side, it came out to a precise twenty-four on each side – perfectly balanced. There was no way they could lose.

Brock came up beside him and pointed ahead. "Hey, is that who I think it is?" On the hill up ahead, drawing a sketch of a couple of playing Rattatas, was a young man with black hair held up out of his face with a red bandana.

Misty came up, too. "It is! It's Tracey! Hey!" She waved toward him as she called out, and Professor Oak's assistant stood up as the group arrived, not looking anywhere near the numbers they really were, since the digimon were hiding in their partners' packs to stay out of sight and all the pokemon but Pikachu were in their poke balls.

"Oh, hey!" Tracy waved back in greeting. "Brock, Misty, good to see you two! Quite a crowd you've got with you! What's the occasion?"

Misty, Brock and T.K. looked at each other, considering telling him, but then Misty shook her head. "New trainers," she explained, gesturing to the Digidestined. "We're taking them through Viridian Forest to the gym in Pewter City. We thought it might be helpful if they could get some lessons there."

"Oh?" Tracey asked curiously. "I didn't know Pewter Gym was giving trainer lessons."

"This is the first group," Brock stepped in. "Sort of like a trial run. If it goes well, we'll probably be having regular schedules for them. You'd be kind of bored there, though. We'll be covering a lot of basics that would just put you to sleep."

"Oh, alright," the pokemon artist agreed. "If you insist." His eyes landed on T.K. and Pikachu and his face lit up. "Well, how about that? Another trainer with a Pikachu! That brings back memories?"

They all sweatdropped. "Um, Tracey," Misty interjected, "this is one of our guides … Actually …"

"It's me, Ash," T.K. exclaimed.

Tracey stepped back and observed the outfit and all. "Wow, you've got a good impersonation, I'll give you that! Your outfit looks a lot like him! But you don't." He dug into his folder and came out with a sketch he had done of Ash and Pikachu several years earlier when he had been traveling with them. It showed Pikachu on Ash's shoulder and both of them holding up their victory sign.

"Oh, that! Yeah, that's easy, look!" He grabbed a pokeball off of his belt and held it out in front of him as he held his fingers up in a victory sign, and with a happy cry, Pikachu hopped up on his shoulders and mimicked him, just like they had done so many times.

"Ooh!" Tracey grinned and applauded. "Oh, yes, you're very good! That's just how he always did it!"

T.K. growled in frustration. "That's because I AM Ash!"

Tracey stepped back in surprise, but shook his head. "No … Ash has black hair and brown eyes …" He turned to Misty and Brock. "Is he … uh … okay upstairs?"

Misty sighed. "Tracey, this really is Ash. He always had his hair colored and wore contacts before."

Tracey looked from Misty to T.K. and back to Misty again. "Really? But why?"

"I had amnesia," T.K. answered. "Mom adopted me when she found me and nobody came for me. The face of a stranger that I saw every time I passed a mirror bothered me so much that she gave me contacts and dyed my hair. I had kept the look ever since, until the memories came back to me."

"Wow." For a moment, Tracey seemed to have been struck speechless, then he shook his head. "Wow, well it's good to see you back, Ash! We missed you around here when you disappeared!"

He grinned in response. "Thanks! I'd love to catch up with you more, but we really should be going. We want to be done before the day's out."

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that." Tracey waved after them as the group passed. "Take care, and good luck with the classes!"

As they headed on past, Davis came up next to T.K. "Hey, T.J., don't you think we should have told that guy what was going on? I mean, if he's such a good friend of yours, he deserves to know, right?"

Gary spoke for him. "Not really. How would you like to tell one of your friends that the world was going to end and there was nothing they could do about it? It's not exactly easy on the nerves. Ash was just being the normal mushy fool he always was!"

Tai nodded in agreement. "While I don't really care for how he said it, Gary's right. We should try to keep news of this quiet. The last thing this world needs is widespread panic."

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Shawn pushed through the underbrush at the head of the group. Immediately behind him was Domino, and behind her were Jesse, James and Meowth. They had started moving as soon as Jesse and James came to, and were now nearing the middle of Viridian Forest.

Domino looked around as they went, her eyes filled with wonder at everything they passed. She had most definitely lost her memory, and was learning about everything around her all over again. She turned to one side and let out a small gasp, gripping Shawn by the shoulder. "Shawn … I know I'm new to all of this, but … I thought we were further from the city?"

Shawn turned to look and froze in surprise. "We are … But that's not Viridian City …"

The other three came up behind them and James was the first to speak. "Well, what is it, then, if it's not Viridian City?"

The Rocket Executive was silent for a bit before he answered. "It's my home."

"What?" Meowth squawked, jumping up on Jesse's shoulder. "I thought your home was in the other dimension! What's it doin' here?"

"Well, that's the question, isn't it?" she growled in annoyance, prying the cat off of her head. "Get off of me, you talking fur ball!"

"It's not," Shawn answered, staring at the sight, drawing their attention all back at the statement.

"It's not?" James asked. "But if it's not here, then what is it doing here?"

"It's not," he repeated simply, then pointed down at the ground. The forest stopped at an exact line, and the street picked up immediately on the other side of that line. They could even see the cars and people traveling by on the other side, though for some reason, they couldn't see the forest, or were ignoring it. "It's not here. It's there. The dimensional tear has grown so large that we can see my world through it."

"Wow, that's kind of scary," Domino responded, taking a step back from it.

"Yeah, really," James agreed. "It's like the universe ripped a hole in its underwear, or something."

"More like she did," Shawn answered, pointing to Domino, who looked up at his finger in confusion.

"Me? Why would I do something so horrible?"

Jesse gave the blonde girl a dirty scowl. "Because you were horrible, you dumb blonde…"

Shawn snapped his fingers at Jesse's words. "Jesse, do I need to remind you who the superior officer is here? Do you really want to know what I will do to you if I hear you utter another disrespectful word toward Domino? She may have lost her memory, but she hasn't lost her rank. She is still a Rocket Executive and you are still a grunt with a bad track record."

Jesse swallowed quickly and stood up straight at the sudden change in tone to Shawn's now-stern voice. "Uh, yes sir, I understand, sir!" She turned back and glared at James and Meowth, who were laughing at her predicament.

Shawn turned his attention back to the portal before them. He reached down to the ground and picked a stone up off of the ground. He bounced it in his hand for a moment in thought before throwing it through. The scene seemed to waver, like a puddle, as it passed through, but then they saw it clearly clatter to the pavement on the other side.

Jesse watched the stone in silence for a moment before speaking what was on everyone else's mind. "We're not going through there, are we?"

Shawn smirked, a particular smirk that he had developed as a Rocket Executive. "Oh, not only are we going through, Jesse. You're going first."

"You're kidding, right?" she demanded, an expression of sheer shock on her face. "This is because of what I said to Domino, isn't it?"

Shawn just nodded to her. "Yes, Jesse. That's exactly what it's for. Now get going."

In the next chapter of The Pokemon Master's Return:

T.K. and the others make their way into Viridian Forest, unknowingly right behind Shawn and Team Rocket, who step through the portal to return to the Rocket Executive's world. However, MewTwo appears before the Digidestined with yet another grave warning. Meanwhile, Shawn seeks out the help of an old friend. What danger has the psychic pokemon foreseen this time? Will Shawn be able to convince his friend to aid them? What about Giovanni? Now that Shawn is back home, how will he avoid the all-seeing eyes of the tyrannical emperor of his world? Find out next time on The Pokemon Master's Return: Chapter 11 – Home Sweet … Home?