A shorter chapter than usual here to bridge the gap. I got quite a few reviews over the past few days and I'm grateful for each and every one. I hope that all of those who did review, as well as other readers in the future, will continue to leave reviews. In response to a reviewer who said that May didn't have much of a part in the story, you're right about that. I think her presence was necessary, but there probably could've been more to her character. My apologies. Remember to leave a review at the bottom; I hope I can get as many this time around as I did with the last chapter! Happy reading!
The Journey Continues
Chapter 26
'Tis the Season!
Kanto Region – Pallet Town
A wintry breeze fluttered in through the opened screen window, flicking the drapes that hung from the top of the windowpane. The tendrils of wind danced over to the nearby bed in the room, towards the two shapes huddled up on the bedspread. The larger of the two shapes was very much so, curled into a cannonball position to conserve his warmth. The smaller of the two shapes was, likewise, very much so, but instead the creature was curled up on top of the bedspread, exposed to the elements as he huddled close to the Pokémon Trainer that dozed next to him.
The breeze caused Pikachu's hairs to stand on end and shook his whole body with a light shiver. The sensation caused the electric-type to awaken and then sit up on its rear, scanning the room for a moment as he adjusted to being awake. With a yawn and a few more blinks, Pikachu was fully awake. The mouse smacked its mouth as it stretched out every part of its body, before turning to the sleeping Trainer next to him.
"Pika…" Pikachu purred happily, rubbing his back briefly on Ash's face. The Trainer's face scrunched up at the sensation, but subconsciously smoothed out in ignorance. The Pride of Pallet continued to sleep, undisturbed by Pikachu's methods.
Pikachu was feeling particularly mischievous, but at the same time he was certain that Ash wouldn't be pleased with being awoken by a Thunderbolt. Instead, the little electric mouse summoned the smallest of volts from its cheeks, generating small tendrils of electricity that circled around his cheek sacs. Gently, Pikachu tapped his cheek on Ash's nose, passing the small shock onto the Trainer. Ash's body tensed, and Pikachu shocked him again in response. After a third shock, the Trainer finally opened his eyes and smiled half-heartedly at the eager electric-type.
"All right, buddy, I'm awake." Ash groaned, "You got my attention."
"Pi-ka!" Pikachu squealed as it hopped into Ash's half-opened arms and then relentlessly pushed its head playfully into Ash's chest, succeeding in making Ash laugh and scratch the top of his head at the same time.
"You're excitable today, aren't you buddy?" Ash chuckled as Pikachu burrowed its head into his shirt, "What time is it?"
The clock read 7:30 exactly, making Ash somewhat content. He had been quite tired the night before, but his biological clock refused to shut itself off after so many months of rising early.
"Wait, is it Christmas?" Ash suddenly realized.
"Pi-ka!"
"Well then we'd better get moving, huh, buddy?" Ash asked excitedly, "C'mon, let's go!"
Ash grabbed onto Pikachu haphazardly and stumbled out of the bed in a single motion. He righted himself and then threw open his bedroom door, happily bounding down the steps as Pikachu tightly clenched onto the front of Ash's shirt. The teenage boy thumped down onto the ground floor and Pikachu half-relaxed as Ash trotted into the living room. Delia was setting down a boxed present underneath the tree when she heard her son, and she turned around immediately.
"Merry Christmas, Ash!" Delia cooed, bringing her son into a hug. Unfortunately, Pikachu was still dangling from Ash's shirt, and was squeezed in between the two humans. The electric-type unhappily kicked back and forth, and Delia backed away as she felt the mouse's movements, "Well, I'm so sorry, Pikachu. I didn't even see you there. Here, how about I make it up to you with some gourmet breakfast just for you?"
Pikachu loved the sound of that, and happily let go of Ash's shirt, falling and landing cleanly on the ground before bounding over toward the kitchen. Delia chuckled and followed the mouse's lead, disappearing into the kitchen. Ash snickered and turned to the tree, reaching down and sorting out the mere handful of presents stashed underneath the branches. It had always been Ash and Delia for Christmas, so there was never very much under the tree, but it had never mattered for the Trainer.
This year, Ash's wrapped up presents were at a grand total of 2, but as Ash had gotten older he had become less and less concerned with the number of presents he received. Delia returned from the kitchen without Pikachu, who was most likely chowing down on whatever delicacy she'd prepared for him. She sat down in the singular chair next to the couch, holding a cup of coffee. "Well, Ash, do you want to start opening?"
"You bet I do!" Ash hollered, immediately grabbing the closest box and wasting no time in tearing the wrapping paper apart. Underneath the paper was a traditional large rectangular box, which Ash mindlessly pulled open without much thought. Inside the box was a brand new backpack, primarily colored slate grey with navy blue zippers and the outline of a Poké Ball printed in red and white in the center.
"Woah, this is one of those brand new backpacks!" Ash hollered, examining every inch of the bag, "Thanks, Mom."
"That's not all that's in there." Delia added, "Unzip the top pocket."
Ash cocked an eyebrow and then reached for the nearest zipper. The sound made by the new zipper was music to Ash's ears, and his eyes lit up as he spotted the treasure trove of items inside the backpack.
"A new belt for my Poké Balls, some new gloves, and a new hat, too!" Ash listed, grabbing each item one at a time and pulling them out of the bag. The new hat was an inverse of his previous hat; the bill and sides was navy blue, while the front and top of the hat was red. The half-Poké Ball print was also white instead of light blue, and was outlined by a black trim. The gloves were fingerless as always; colored navy blue and ending at the wrists with a stark red trim.
"I figured I would put everything I could fit into the backpack so I could save on wrapping paper and boxes." Delia explained, "Do you like them?"
"I love them!" Ash assured her, immediately forcing his hands through the new gloves and clenching his fists to test out the fabric, "The inside of these gloves feels a little different."
"It's some new fabric technology that they've come out with recently," Delia said, "Something about being extra-breathable." Ash squeezed the hat onto his head as Delia spoke, adjusting it constantly so he could try and find the best fit.
"How do I look?" Ash asked with a grin, "Like a Pokémon Master in the making?"
"You sure do, sweetheart." Delia answered with a chuckle, "Now, open the other one so you can run off and see your Pokémon. I'm sure you'd like to."
"Sure thing, Mom!" Ash declared, grabbing the second and final box. This one was much smaller; being more of a flat rectangular prism than the box the backpack had come in. Ash examined the box for a second before shredding the wrapping paper and pulling the box open.
Inside the flat box was a neatly folded new top. A navy blue vest-like jacket not unlike his original one was on top, with various red and white trims on areas such as the pocket and the hem. White sleeves extended from the shoulders of the jacket. Folded underneath the jacket was a black undershirt and a pair of dark blue jeans.
"I was looking at the first outfit you wore when you traveled Kanto, and I thought I might look into a different color scheme." Delia explained as she noticed Ash had gone silent, "Do you not like it?"
"No, no, I do, I'm just…thinking back, you know? It's not the same colors and all, but it brings back memories, that's for sure."
Pikachu bounded into the living room from the kitchen at that moment, chewing up the last of his breakfast. The electric mouse hopped onto the couch where Ash sat, and sat happily down on the cushions as he noticed the new set of clothes in the box. The mouse cocked his head curiously, one of his ears bending down with him.
"Hey, Pikachu, remember our first day together?" Ash asked with a sudden grin, "You were not a fan of me, were you buddy?"
Pikachu purred nervously and reached back behind his round yellow head, bending one of his ears down again, "Pii-kaaa…"
"Man, that seems like so long ago." Ash said absently, "Everything we went through, all the friends we made and the Pokémon we caught. I wouldn't trade that journey for anything."
"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed, hopping onto Ash's shoulder and nuzzling up against his Trainer for a brief moment. Ash giggled and grabbed at the mouse playfully while Delia watched with a wistful smile. Her boy may have been growing up, but there was still plenty of childishness left in him.
"Okay, Mom, it's time for your presents." Ash decided, reaching down with Pikachu to the tree for the two boxes labeled 'To Delia, From Ash & Pikachu'. One box was very small, while the other was about the size of Ash's head. "They're not much, but I hope you like them."
Delia graciously took the two boxes with her hands and placed them on her lap, going for the smaller one first. The wrapping paper came off easily and revealed a grey box. Delia moved to open the box and found a golden locket inside. The front of the locket had a script letter 'D' engraved on it.
"Oh, Ash, how sweet of you."
"Open it up." Ash insisted, prompting Delia to pull the locket out of the box. She gave the necklace a once-over, running her fingers over the metal. She then pulled open the locket and gasped. Inside, placed on both parts of the locket, were pictures of Ash and Pikachu together. One picture was a simple shot of them in Pallet Town, while the next one was a snapshot of the pair on the hilly sections of a mountain range.
"What did I do to deserve a child as sweet as you?" Delia asked with a tear in her eye, "This is so thoughtful, Ash."
"Oh, stop." Ash complained jokingly, "Now open the other one."
Delia tied the locket around her neck and let it dangle as she unwrapped the larger present. Just like Ash's second present, underneath the paper was a plain white box. Delia opened this box and found a pair of picture frames stacked up. As she pulled both frames out to look at them, Delia saw that both already had pictures placed in them. One frame had a picture of Ash, May, and Dawn standing together somewhere in Johto, while the second frame held a nature shot on a snowy mountain. In the second picture, Ash could be seen pointing his hand forward in a commanding way, and Pikachu was releasing a Thunderbolt as the picture had been taken.
"What beautiful pictures." Delia commented, "I'll have to add them to the memory shelf."
"Yeah, as short as it was, the last six months were still a journey, so I figured we needed a picture to commemorate it. That second one was taken during our training on Mt. Silver. We were really high up when we took that! Do you like them?"
"Ash, you have no idea how happy it makes me that you think of me so much." Delia said as she wiped a tear from her eye, "Of course I like them. You're the best child a mother could possibly ask for."
Ash went to hug Delia and then helped her place the two pictures on the cluttered shelf where Ash's memorabilia from his journeys sat. "Any more journeys and we'll probably need a second shelf." Ash commented.
"Might get one anyway, just so we can space everything out instead of cluttering everything together." Delia answered, "Well, I know you want to go and see your Pokémon, so I won't hold you prisoner here anymore."
"Y'know I've never heard of a prison that serves food as good as yours." Ash joked back, "But yeah, I'll go see everybody. Might even get in a little bit of training." Ash briefly hugged Delia, before letting Pikachu jump up to his shoulder and heading for the door.
"Have fun with your Pokémon, Ash."
"I will! Merry Christmas, Mom." Ash hollered back as he disappeared out the door. The door slammed shut, leaving Delia alone in the house again. Holding the locket in her hand once again, Delia smiled gleefully before heading to the kitchen to prepare ingredients for Christmas dinner.
Ash washed his hands as he finished eating his breakfast. The waffle, drowned in syrup, proved to be stubborn, forcing the Trainer to chew more than he had wanted to in order to get the food down. After washing his hands, Ash went to clean the empty plate with warm water and soap, cleaning the dish somewhat and placing it in the dishwasher before washing his hands a second time. With his morning chores done, Ash trotted back into the living room.
Delia sat on the couch, calmly drinking from a cup of coffee as she flicked between countless channels on the TV before finally settling on the morning news. The anchor droned on about something or other before changing over to the weather.
"Well, Mom, I guess I should head out soon." Ash decided, "The ferry should be leaving in around an hour and I need to pick up my Pokémon from Professor Oak's lab."
Delia stood up from the couch, setting the coffee mug on the nearby table and walking over to her son, "All right my dear, give me a hug." Delia half-ordered, getting her wish immediately, "You have lots of fun traveling Sinnoh again. Say hi to Johanna and Dawn for me."
"I will, I promise." Ash answered as he hugged his Mom, "Pikachu, you ready to go?"
"Pi-ka!" Pikachu squealed agreeably, hopping up onto Ash's shoulder. The electric mouse glanced to Delia and raised its front leg to wave goodbye, causing Delia to laugh.
"Goodbye, Pikachu. You have lots of fun too." Delia said through her chuckles.
Ash then headed for the door, opening it and listening to the wind chimes sing in the winter breeze. The Trainer turned and glanced back at Delia, who was doing her best to hold her smile, and then departed, closing the door soundly behind him. The chilly wind was a welcome sensation on Ash's body as he adjusted his jacket and pulled his cap down so that it fit more squarely on his head. He clenched his hands into balled fists for a moment before sighing.
"Okay, Pikachu, let's head to Oak's." Ash decided. The electric mouse purred in agreement, and the Trainer took off, escaping onto the main road and heading straight for the Professor's lab. The jog there wasn't too long, so Ash found himself running up the curved steps on the hill within minutes. He skidded to a halt and knocked repeatedly on the door, which opened only a handful of seconds later.
"Hiya, Ash. You're right on time!" Tracey greeted, "The Professor's in the back with your Pokémon."
"Thanks, Tracey!" Ash answered as he barged into the building, immediately bounding to the backside of the building where he could get to the Ranch. Indeed, Professor Oak was tending to the five Pokémon Ash had chosen to initially bring with him to the Sinnoh Region: Buizel, Sceptile, Charizard, Glalie, and Heracross. Along with Pikachu, Ash would be carrying six Pokémon with him when he arrived in Sinnoh, something that he hadn't traditionally done during his time as a Trainer.
"Professor!" Ash called, getting the researcher's attention. Oak smiled contently, walking toward the teen.
"Hello there, Ash! You sure seem to be in a rush." Oak commented, "I promise I won't keep you too long. Here, I've fetched the Poké Balls of these five Pokémon for you."
"Thanks, Professor." Ash said as he grabbed four of the five Poké Balls. He robustly held them all in his two hands, pointing each of the capsules toward the group of Pokémon, "Okay, everyone, return!" The capsules shot a beam of red light to Buizel, Sceptile, Glalie, and Heracross, sucking each creature back inside the Poké Balls. Charizard was left as the only one still out of his Ball.
"I'd venture to guess you're ready to go?" Oak suggested.
"Seems like it." Ash half-agreed with a sigh, "I do need to get going. Professor, I'll call you when I get to Twinleaf Town tomorrow."
"That sounds like a plan, young man. Don't hesitate to call me if you need to exchange your Pokémon, either. I'll be around."
"Thanks, Professor Oak. Tell Tracey I said bye." With that, Ash ran over to Charizard, who obediently hunkered close to the ground to allow the Trainer to climb on its back, "Okay, Charizard, we're headed to Vermillion City. You ready?"
Charizard roared, beating his powerful wings twice in order to get into the air. The fire-type climbed higher with each beat of his draconic wings, and with a quick maneuver, accelerated forward in the direction of Vermillion City.
Sinnoh Region – Canalave City
The ferry ship pulled into port around sunset. The water was colored a brilliant orange by the sun, which seemed to dip off the edge of the world out on the sea. Ash impatiently waited on the deck as he watched the port city grow larger and larger with each passing second. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the ship had docked, and all passengers were cleared to disembark onto the port.
Faceless people surrounded Ash as they all walked down the ramp leading to the port. They walked slower than Ash would've liked, but he reluctantly tolerated their lack of hurry. After all, he wouldn't be reaching Twinleaf Town that day. His trip to the small town would have to wait until tomorrow.
Eventually, Ash reached the port, and he expertly maneuvered around the hordes of people in order to reach an open space on the concrete. "Man, Pikachu, we're finally back in the Sinnoh Region. Have you missed it?"
"Pika-pi, Pikachu…"
"I hear you buddy." Ash agreed, "Now, let's get to the Pokémon Center and book us a room. We won't be heading for Twinleaf Town until tomorrow."
Without another word, the teenager and the electric mouse sprinted away from the port, leaving the sea behind. The city soon swallowed the foreigners as they searched for the Pokémon Center, blissfully unaware of the goings on around them. Eventually, they reached the Center, and the pair eagerly entered, where they disappeared for the night.
Just down the sidewalk from the Pokémon Center, a young man with shaggy hair watched the teen vanish inside the Center. He had seen the foreigner enter the city, and tailed him to see just where he was going. The shaggy-haired man wore a raggedy grey jacket with black-striped sleeves, and smoky grey sweatpants on the bottoms with grey-and-black sneakers. Sunglasses hid his eyes, and the true unruliness of his hair was mostly shielded from view by the hood that he had pulled up to protect his face from the cold. Under normal circumstances, his hair would've been cut short and guarded by a grey beret, but since his assignments had been undercover operations and recruitment, he had been permitted to adopt the look of a vagrant.
Having seen all he had needed to see by that time, the stranger stepped into a nearby alley, taking care to make sure no authorities had been present. He passed a dumpster, and immediately next to it was an old, rusted ladder that went all the way up to the top of a building. The man began to climb as he had done several times before, each of his steps making a scratchy noise on the aging ladder, until he reached the roof of the building. The building was far from the tallest in the city, but from its roof he could see most of the island. The Pokémon Center could also be clearly seen from his vantage point. Flocks of people meandered up and down the sidewalks as the vagrant watched from above.
After a few moments of watching, the man fished for his phone from the pocket of the jacket. It was a small, round flip phone, outdated in the current time but still plenty effective in its purpose. While it would work perfectly fine down on the ground, the man's superiors had required that operatives find a secluded place such as this building before sending reports. It was best that their operations remained as low profile as possible for the time being, especially considering the suspicious language that operatives used when trying to reach the base. The phone began dialing the familiar number, and the line bleated for several seconds before someone finally picked up.
"Information."
"Hail Giovanni." The man replied quickly and robotically.
"…One moment please."
The line went silent for a few seconds, as was protocol. After a few seconds of crackling, a new voice came through the line.
"Agent, please report."
"This is Agent C-2, with a report on a sighting near the Canalave City Harbor."
"Roger that, C-2. Proceed."
"I've just spotted Ash Ketchum coming from the Harbor." The man said.
"…Pardon me? You said you saw Ash Ketchum?"
"That's correct, sir. I'm not quite sure what he's doing here, but he just entered the Pokémon Center. I'm on the roof of a nearby building where I'm keeping watch." The operative explained, "What are my orders?"
"Remain where you are, Agent. This is an—unexpected—turn of events, and our operations are still too primitive to take immediate action on this." The voice answered, "We cannot be sure of his reasons for being here, so we will resort to keeping an eye on him. Call off all objectives today, and get a hold of your fellow operatives in the city. I want that building and Ketchum watched around the clock, no matter where he goes. But until instructed otherwise, you will not interfere with him. Radio back here if and when he goes on the move. We can't afford to let him roam free."
"I understand, sir. Consider it done."
"Hail Giovanni." The superior on the other end recited.
"Hail Giovanni." The agent answered back before immediately hanging up. He pocketed the phone into his jacket. By nightfall, there would be half-a-dozen agents on the block keeping watch for the boy with spiky raven hair and the Mouse Pokémon that traveled with him. Their orders would be to simply tail him for as long as they could. If he left the city, they were to abandon their pursuit, and the call would be put out. Agents in other nearby cities as well as those in places such as airports, seaports, and bus stations would begin keeping an eye out in their area for him. While they were not authorized to interfere with him, and likely wouldn't be for a long time, the teen's track record with the organization did not bode well for their goals in Sinnoh, and his presence was more than enough to warrant being watched. With a little luck, the teen would be none the wiser, and as long as he didn't get in the way, they wouldn't be hurting a hair on his little head.
Either way, Ash Ketchum couldn't be allowed to stand in the way of Team Rocket's ultimate victory.