Chapter 25: Life of a Trainer

"Yes, Ash," said Norman sadly. "I'm your father."

"But..." Ash's mind almost exploded with questions. Finally, he asked, "Why didn't you ever tell me? You could've lots of times."

"Because your mother and I thought it would be best for you," answered Norman quietly.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. But I talked with your mother last night, and we both realized that we've... had other for keeping the truth from you."

"So why'd you leave in the first place?" demanded Ash. It was still extremely difficult to believe what Norman was telling him. Ash had always viewed Norman as the selfless father, who had tended to every need of his children, even sacrificing his own hopes and dreams to do so. He had thought of his own father as egocentric, too absorbed in his own quests and achievements to have any time for him. Never would he have guessed that the the two men were one and the same.

"First," said Norman, "I need to explain my career in training. All through my teens and early twenties, I worked to become a top trainer. I was never a natural at battling like you are."

"Really?"

"Yes. I had to work for over a decade to get where you are now. You are competing in your first Champions' League at sixteen. I competed in my first when I was twenty-three." Ash's mouth dropped open. Norman gave a small smile before continuing. "I never had a real method or style for my training at that time. I'd heard about two philosophies about training— that a trainer should bond with his Pokemon and teach through empathy, and that a trainer should be a taskmaster who teaches through a military-like discipline. I'd just thought that since each style had its pluses and minuses, I shouldn't make any effort to choose between them. However, in my first ever Champions' League match, that all changed."

"How?"

Norman sighed. "Because my opponent was unlike any trainer I'd ever faced. He was haughty, and cold toward both his opponents and his Pokemon. I struggled all through the battle, and lost painfully in the end. But what he said to me afterward was worse than him beating me."

"What did he say?"

"He gloated that I had no coherent battle style. He said I needed to use more leadership with my Pokemon, or I'd never get anywhere as a trainer."

"So how do me and Mom fit into this?"

"Well, I spent that night on the town, trying to forget all about that loss. And that's when I met your mother, Ash."

Norman walked out of the bar, oblivious to both the bright neon lights that lit Celadon City by night and the cool November air, whooshing past his face and into his unzipped jacket. He was not even looking up as he walked down the sidewalk, because his night was going as badly as his day had. This was the fourth bar Norman had visited in one night, hoping to find a lady friend to dull his pain. However, with his loss on everybody else's mind as well as his, none of the usual girls would have anything to do with him. In this situation, he might as well call it a night. Hanging his head in defeat, he slowly made his way back to his hotel.

Norman had walked two blocks when a gorgeous pair of legs caught his eye. After seeing the blue high heels on her feet, he looked up, turning around as he did so. His eyes rested on the young woman's sleek brown hair, tied into a ponytail. Norman smiled to himself. It couldn't hurt to try just one more time. Taking an elaborate bracelet from his pocket, he got down on one knee, and made his signature pickup move. "Hey, miss, you dropped something!" he called to the girl.

"Huh?" The girl turned around, treating Norman to the sight of her face, with brown eyes that shone at least as brightly as the neon lights.

"You dropped this bracelet," said Norman, getting back up and walking over to her.

"But..." She looked at it, bewildered. "That's not mine."

"Really? Well, it should be. It would look amazing with those earrings."

The girl smiled. "You think so?"

"Yeah, of course. But if you want, you can try it on and make sure."

"Okay. If you say so." She held out her arm, and Norman took his time in undoing the bracelet's clasp. He slowly slipped it onto her wrist, clasped it again, and took a second to look at her.

"See?" said Norman. "I told you it would look great on you."

"Wow. You really know how to pick accessories for a girl."

"Well, that's what you get with Norman," said Norman with a wink and an even wider smile.

The young woman's expression changed from delight to puzzlement. "Norman?" She held out her hand for Norman to shake. "Hi, I'm Delia."

"Nice to meet you," said Norman, shaking Delia's hand. He hesitated. "So you've never heard of me?"

"No," said Delia. "Why?"

"Um, nothing," answered Norman nervously. "I'm, uh... some people have heard of me."

"How?"

"Oh, umm... I was competing in the Champions' League." Norman waited for the sword to drop. Did he blow it by mentioning the Champions' League?

"Oh," said Delia. "So you're one of those guys the Pokemon League fan girls drool over?" She giggled slightly.

"Not anymore," said Norman, relieved that Delia wasn't trying to leave. "I... uh... lost today."

"Really?" asked Delia, now with an air of pleased surprise. "Well, it's better for me, I guess. I know a good guy when I meet one, whether he wins or loses anywhere else. So how long are you staying here?"

"I was going to leave tomorrow morning, but that was before I met the prettiest girl in the city. Now, I think I can stay a little longer. So how about dinner at Balducci's at 5:30 tomorrow?"

"Sure," said Delia, smiling widely again. "It's a date."

"So in about six years, we were married," said Norman. "I knew even then that I shouldn't have kept your mother waiting like that, but I'd formed a rivalry with the trainer who'd beaten me in that first battle. We crossed swords several times during that period: twice more in Champions' League matches, once in the finals of the Johto League, and in about two or three smaller tournaments every year. Every time, I was determined to win, but every time, my nemesis beat me. Every time I lost, I would doubt myself, but my relationship with your mother was what sustained me. After every defeat, she would always remind me that there was more to life than Pokemon battles."

"So why'd you leave?" Ash was getting impatient. If his parents' relationship had been that stable, why would his father suddenly walk out?

"Well, Ash... you were born the year after I married your mother. I was training hard at the time, hoping to win the upcoming Sinnoh League. It was much harder on her than I realized at the time, since I wasn't helping her out around the house anywhere near as much as I should have been. And when we did spend time together, it was usually in front of the TV." Norman paused, and then continued. "I should have spent my time caring for you and your mother, but I was training almost nonstop instead. My rival was on my mind when my family should have been. Unknown to anyone else, I was slipping toward my rival's way of training with every loss to him. The change had happened gradually, and by that time, I thought the only way to beat him was to learn from him. I knew that I would compete against him in the Champions' League again, and the Sinnoh League was just a warmup for that. So I trained all day, leaving you and your mother home alone all day, only coming home at night."

"Wait a sec," said Ash. "Who was your big rival that so wanted to beat so bad?"

Norman waited another second before answering. "It was Roger," he said.

"What? Really?"

"Yes."

Ash's anger that had been building up against Norman suddenly vanished. The same trainer that had had such a destructive influence over his own training habits had had the same influence on his father so many years ago. Ash remembered the feeling of inevitability that Roger had seemed to project about his own training style, and it seemed completely understandable that his father had gotten the same sense. "So what happened with the Sinnoh League?" he asked, wanting to know more.

"I won," said Norman. "But I had made a desperate promise to your mother to get the training time I wanted. I promised to spend more time with her after the Sinnoh League. But the way I saw it, I couldn't reasonably keep that promise. The Champions' League was on my mind, and after the Sinnoh League, I only trained harder than before."

"I'll bet Mom was pissed off," said Ash, "but what about your Pokemon? How'd they take it?"

"They didn't really take it too badly. Remember, this whole transformation of my training style took about seven years. Also, I'd always been a little strict with my training, so it was really nothing new for them.

"But your mother's reaction was a different story. She nagged me, begged me, pleaded with me to train a little less every day, to do my duty as a husband and a father. For all the good it did, she might have been talking to the front door. I only intensified my training, oblivious to anything else. But one day, a couple weeks before the Champions' League was due to start..."

At the Ketchum house in Pallet Town, the sun was almost below the horizon. Delia Ketchum was pacing back and forth on the front path, impatient for her husband's return. Her infant son, Ash, was in a stroller nearby.

Norman walked up the road leading to his house. He was dirty, winded, and staggering slightly, having trained hard all day. He turned onto the front path.

"Norman," shouted Delia immediately, "where have you been?"

"Sorry, hon," said Norman. "I was training."

"Training? It's the same all the time. You're always training."

"Delia, we've been over this. It's really important that I do well in the Champions' League."

"Don't give me that garbage!" yelled Delia, pointing a finger at her husband. "Tomorrow, you will not leave right after eating breakfast. You will not leave the house without me. You won't train at all. We need to have some time together, Norman!"

"Trust me," said Norman, "I would spend the day with you tomorrow if I could afford it. But now's not the time to take a break from training."

"Well, what is the time for a break? This has been happening more and more lately. You'd compete in a tournament, we'd have maybe a day or two together if we're lucky, and then we catch the next bus back to Pallet Town and you're training again like it's your whole life!"

"Please, Delia, I need this time for training. I'll cut back after the Champions' League, I promise."

"That's what you said after the last tournament! And look at you! You're just spending more and more time away! I barely even see you now! Why should I think you'll change just because this year's Champions' League is over?"

"Delia, I love you. You know that. You know I'd do anything—"

"Save your breath!" Delia interrupted, her voice shaking. "If you'd do anything for me, cut back on your training time! And one more thing!" Delia walked over to Ash's stroller, pushing it right in front of Norman. "We have a son!" she continued. "He barely has a father in his life! How do you think Ash will feel growing up when his daddy has no time for him, because he's always training?"

"By the time Ash is old enough to remember, I'll be training a lot less. I'll be spending more time with him, as well as with you."

Delia made a noise of disbelief. "If you beat this stupid rival of yours! I've noticed that the training always gets harder after you battle with him! The justification is always, 'Oh, I need to train some more so I can beat Roger.' But it never works! You train at least twice as much as you did when we first met, but Roger still beats you whenever you face each other! Plus, I'm always the one who pulls you out of your funk when you lose!"

"Don't you see, Delia? This is my chance! If I beat Roger this time, you won't have to always cheer me up. I'll have much more peace of mind if I can win just once! And emotionally, I'll have more to give you and Ash."

"You don't know that you'll beat Roger. And you don't know that you'll just be okay afterward. What if you're wrong about just one of those things? What are you gonna do, train even harder? Get up before dawn and come home at midnight?"

"I'll have to risk it!" exclaimed Norman desperately.

"Were you listening?" screamed Delia. "We can't live like that! You have a wife! We have a son!"

"And I also have a tournament. And a rival. I need to do well in the Champions' League, if not win it, and for me, I need to beat Roger!"

"Is that so?" By now, tears were streaming down Delia's face. "If that's the way you want it, you can just get out! I'm sick of hearing you say you just need more time to train! You have more than enough! If you need more and more and more training time when you already don't have time for your family, then maybe what you need is to live by yourself!"

"Delia—"

"Don't 'Delia' me! Get out of my life! Get somewhere else to live! You're not the man I thought you were! Tomorrow morning your stuff will be on the lawn, ready for you to pick it up." Norman walked away, now crying as well. Delia stared after him pitilessly. She looked down at her right wrist, which was wearing the bracelet that Norman had given her when they had first met. She ripped it savagely off her wrist, threw it hard onto the ground, and stamped on it repeatedly, wanting nothing more than to crush it into dust. When she could no longer see the remains of the bracelet, she walked back inside the house, taking Ash with her.

"So that was it?" Ash asked after hearing about his parents' separation. "You never tried talking Mom about it, and she could never let you say 'Sorry?'"

"No," said Norman, sighing again. "I'd been so negligent to your mother and to you that her mind was made. I knew that begging her to let me come back would be a waste of time, so I concentrated on preparing for the Champions' League. So I kept up my hard training, and when the tournament started, I reached the semifinals, the farthest I'd ever gotten, before I had to face Roger."

"And all the training paid off, right? Did you beat him?"

Norman smiled sadly. "I didn't. That was my worst defeat ever. I could only knock out three of Roger's Pokemon."

"You're kidding!" exclaimed Ash.

"Tell me about it. I was surprised too. And that was when I realized that I'd been training too hard. Since I'd always kept my Pokemon on their toes and gave them hardly any relaxation time up to the League itself, they had no energy to win the real battle. And by that time, I'd lost your mother, contact with you, my confidence as a trainer, the thread of my training, and almost the respect of my Pokemon. I would have to rebuild my life from the ground up."

"So you went to Hoenn after that battle with Roger?"

"Yes. Your mother divorced me in absentia while the Champions' League was still going on. It produced a lot of gossip throughout Kanto, so I decided to set up my base of operations in Hoenn. Soon after I got there, I was in Petalburg City. I saw a flier advertising that the local Gym Leader's position was vacant. I thought I'd give it a shot, since I'd always loved the versatility of Normal-types. As you can probably guess, I got the job."

"So was that when you met our mom?" asked Max, speaking for the first time since Norman had started telling his story.

"You got it," answered Norman, smiling a little more widely than before. "When I met her, I was determined not to make the same mistakes I'd made before. I saw it as a golden opportunity to turn my life around. I was there for you and May when I should have been there for Ash, making the sacrifices necessary to raise a good, loving family. But still," he continued, turning back to Ash, "all the time, I could only hear from your mother— I'd started calling her to hear about you soon after remarrying— how my first son was doing, growing up without a dad. We'd made a pact, both thinking wrongly that it was for the best that you would not know my identity. At that time, you were two years old, and already into watching Pokemon battles on TV. And as I'd heard from your mother, the trainer who'd really captured your imagination was—"

"Roger," Ash finished.

"It seemed like a cruel twist of fate," continued Norman. "My own son, hero-worshipping my rival. Still, if training Pokemon was your dream, and Roger was the one inspiring you, I didn't want to hold you back from that."

"So by the way, did you ever beat Roger?" asked Ash.

"No," said Norman. "That last loss to him was pretty much the end of our rivalry. I was exceedingly cautious of hard training from then on, not wanting it to get in the way of my family life like it had before. As a result, my performance in the Champions' League became less impressive from one year to the next. I never made it as far as the semifinals again. Roger, as you know, kept pursuing his goal relentlessly, eventually becoming the national champion."

Ash thought it over. He then asked his original question again: "So why didn't you tell me all this when I first came to Petalburg City?"

"Again, Ash, I was trying to protect you from my own checkered past. That's why I never said anything, and that's also why I told May and Max to keep it quiet—"

"So you guys knew too?" asked Ash incredulously, looking around at his half-brother and half-sister.

May nodded silently, while Max said, "Yeah. Sorry, but my dad— I mean, our dad made us swear not tell you."

"So how long did you know?" Ash asked the pair of them.

"Actually— it was before I even saw you," Max answered.

"Three... times... eight... equals... twenty-four," said Max, finishing up his math problem. "Man, I'm bored," he said to himself, looking down at his half-finished homework. Then, he glanced up at the clock on his wall. Oh man, he thought to himself. Today's Silver Conference match must be almost over! Max, an enthusiastic fan of Pokemon battling, was taping all the battles in this important tournament, but he always liked to watch the live broadcasts if he could. The trouble was, he wasn't supposed to be watching TV before finishing his homework. But with his mom in the kitchen and his dad battling the latest challenger to the Petalburg City Gym, he could probably get away with it. He peeked out his bedroom door to make sure the coast was clear, sat down on his bed, grabbed the remote, and turned the TV on.

Immediately, a fireball appeared on the screen, the result of two Flamethrower attacks colliding directly. After the smoke had cleared, the camera cut to one side of the field, where a majestic Charizard stood ready to do battle. It cut again to a Blaziken on the opposite side of the field. "Only one Pokemon remains for each of the two competitors!" said the announcer. "It's anyone's guess who will pull this one from the fire! Anticipation hangs like a fog over the whole stadium!" The camera then showed the two trainers, determination etched onto both faces. One was tall young man with a purple t-shirt and short black hair, while the other was a boy of about twelve or thirteen, wearing a blue and white jacket over a black t-shirt, and a red and white baseball hat over his messy black hair.

"Cool!" exclaimed Max. "I'm really glad I caught this! This battle's gonna be great!" He leaned closer to the screen.

"Charizard," ordered the younger trainer, "Flamethrower one more time!"

"Blaziken, dodge!" called the older trainer. Charizard sent a powerful jet of fire at its opponent for the second time, but Blaziken avoid the attack in spectacular fashion: bending its knees, it jumped high in the air, apparently higher than the stadium's nosebleed section.

The referee gave his commentary. "With incredible jumping power, Blaziken successfully dodged Charizard's Flamethrower!"

In awe, Max watched as the trainers continued to call out orders and the two powerful Fire-types each tried to land the first hit.

"Okay, Charizard, Dragon Rage!" Charizard sent another attack sailing toward its opponent, who was still in the air.

"Dodge and use Quick Attack, now!" Blaziken maneuvered its falling body to the side, ready to land right on top of Charizard, who was still on the ground.

"Charizard, fly up!" Charizard took to the sky, and Blaziken barely managed a soft landing.

"Alright, Blaziken, Flamethrower!"

"Charizard, dodge it!" Gritting its teeth, Charizard narrowly avoided the blast of fire speeding toward itself. "That's it, now Flamethrower, go!"

"We'll use Flamethrower too!" Charizard aimed its attack at the ground while Blaziken's attack shot skyward; the two Flamethrowers collided, producing another fireball.

After this, the two Pokemon started pummeling each other with one attack after the other, neither even trying to dodge. A Blaze Kick from Blaziken, a Mega Punch from Charizard, Quick Attack, Dragon Rage, Flamethrower, Take Down... Both Pokemon seemed evenly matched.

"Wow," said Max, "This battle's awesome!"

"Max!" said a loud voice from the door. "Are you finished with your homework?"

"Y-yeah," stammered Max as his father walked into the room.

"Then what's this?" pressed Norman, holding up the half-done math assignment.

"I-it's just... I was just checking up—"

"Max," said Norman sternly, "no TV until you're done with your homework. Then you can watch the Silver Conference—" Norman stopped speaking, and his mouth dropped open. He recognized the young boy wearing the cap and the jacket, even though he'd seen only a few photos of him. It couldn't be... "Max," said Norman in a much quieter voice, "do you know who that trainer is? The younger guy?"

Max, puzzled at his father's sudden change of mood, said, "Not really, but he's a pretty awesome trainer!"

"So I told both Max and May about you," said Norman. "I told them how your mother and I split up and how I came here to start another family. When I heard that you'd be traveling in Hoenn, I told May and Max about our agreement of secrecy, and I told them to uphold it if they ever met you, as May would be starting her journey soon and there was a good chance you'd come by the gym sooner or later."

"So... wait a minute... was that the real reason your let me stay at your place? And why you let Max come with us?" inquired Ash.

"Well, I would have let you stay with us in any case. I would have been hospitable to anyone who'd helped May out as much as you had. But, yeah, I let Max travel with you because... well... he wanted to get to know his big brother."

"But when you first came into the gym," said Max, "I almost let it slip. I was just so excited that I really got to meet you, I almost told you all about how excited I was."

"So that's the real reason you were so excited," said Ash.

"Yeah," said Max. "I remembered what Dad told me just in time, and I just said I recognized you from the Silver Conference. But I still took the chance to annoy you like a real little brother would," he added with a mischievous smile.

"So there you have it, Ash," said Norman, sighing again. He looked Ash in the eyes, but his feelings of shame still showed on his face. "I'm sorry that you had to grow up with no father because I was too stubborn about training, and I'm really sorry I kept from you for this long. I wish I could say it was for your own good, but it wasn't. I hope you can forgive me for everything, and give me another chance to be the father I should be."

"Dad," said Ash, "all this time, I thought you were just traveling around, and you never wanted to have any time for me. I'm just really happy that my dad's someone who still cares about me. I wish you'd told me everything before, but I'm still happy to hear it now." He shook hands with his long-lost father, and then pulled him into a tight hug.

"Thanks, Ash," said Norman, who was now crying. "I'm glad you can accept my apology. It's really more than I deserve. If you want, we can have a couple days of father-son time before the quarterfinals start, and get together on Christmas and New Year's too. I know that we both have to train for our matches, but we can work something out."

"That would be great!" said Ash. "Some time to catch up with my dad... I can't wait!"

"Great!" said Norman. "I'd better go pay for our food now. I'll be right back." He left, leaving Ash with May and Max, his friends who were now revealed to be his half-sister and half-brother. He looked at them both. Max looked extremely happy, and May looked very pained with a touch of guilt.

Speaking at last, May said quietly, "I never knew most of that stuff about Dad."

"Huh?" said Ash. "I thought you knew everything before."

"Well, not all of it," said May. "All he told us before was that you were his kid by a wife we he had before. He just told us that it didn't work out, but he didn't tell us why. I guess that Dad just loved us and cared for us so much that I could never see him as... someone who didn't have time for his family, or who would push his Pokemon so far past their limits. I guess he needed another chance to get those parts right. Which tells me... Ash, I'm really sorry about the way I've been acting. Dad's right, it's really immature. If Dad needed a second chance for some really big stuff... well, I guess you do too."

"It's okay, May," said Ash. "I'm just happy to have you back on my side. And as my sister too!" Ash held his arms out wide, and May and Max both hugged him at once. From the front of the nearby cash register, Norman watched his three children, glad to see them back together on the best of terms at last.

Author's Note: Wow, I can't believe I've been working on this fic for a whole year! That's right, a year! By the clock on my computer (USA, Eastern Standard Time), I'm posting this on April 24, 2011: one year to day after posting Chapter 1.

So Ash learns the whole truth about his father. It unexpectedly leads May to make up with him. However, amid the happy reunions, Ash's battle with Paul is still coming up, and Ash has other obstacles facing him as well. Can Ash hold everything together?

By the way, I'm also posting this in the early morning on Easter. So a Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it!

P.S. Apparently, this is the longest chapter so far as well. I wasn't planning on it being so long, especially with no battles except in one of the flashbacks!