Summary: Z is for Zeitgeist
Pairing: PokéShipping, Ash/Misty
Rating: T for language and one lewdjoke.
Genre: General
Setting: This story takes place in our world, as though Pokémon is a live-action show that an actor named Ash plays Ash Ketchum in, using CGI to make him forever young. It takes place earlier in 2019, probably around springtime for the majority. And while the show is a different format in this version, I want you to imagine that it's carried on essentially the same as canon.
"You're frustrated."
"I'm not frustrated."
Ash grit his teeth and clenched his hands under the desk. He was frustrated. He'd been frustrated for a long, long time and had been holding it in. But recently, his great effort to seem appreciative and happy appeared to have spouted a leak and frustration was slipping out, steadily and persistently. It was all he could do in this meeting to keep from letting it all go here, in this office room, and be done with it once and for all.
Sitting across from him were Kunihiko Yuyama, Daiki Tomiyasu, and Aya Matsui—the big three. No one else would have been able to secure a meeting with the three of them. And it had taken a few attempts for him to be able to as well. But they couldn't say no to him forever. After all: he was Ash Ketchum.
"Well, if not your frustrations, then tell us your grievances," Aya said.
Her face was unreadable, at least to Ash. But if he had any guess, he assumed she was the one he was offending the most. She was head writer and, after all, it was the writing that he was…aggrieved by.
"Does it have something to do with Gen 8?"
That question came from Kunihiko. It was the obvious one. Obvious because it was absolutely, one hundred percent spot-on. It was, after all, once the talks of Gen 8 had taken off that his frustration leak had begun. Well, kind of. Perhaps it had begun with Movie 20. Or, if he was being one hundred percent honest, Gen 3. And then there was the beginning of Gen 5…
Maybe this had been going on longer than he'd thought.
But Ash had never been a good liar, so he went with the truth. The simplest truth, that was.
"Yes. It does."
"Well," Kunihiko continued, "feel free to elaborate."
It was lucky that Ash had been thinking about this speech for weeks, because suddenly, he felt like he was going to blurt it all out. And, since he was given the opportunity to do so, that's how it came.
"Okay," he sighed, "here's the thing. I liked Movie 20, right? And 21. But you have to admit that there was a lot of internet backlash, especially in the west, when they were announced. And the Mewtwo redo. They're not what the public want. They want to see what happens to Ash in the world that already exists. The world that some of them have been invested in for twenty years. And I know target demographic and all that but, like, really? Come on, why start Ash's story over again?"
"You sound like a Genwunner," Daiki commented.
"I'm not, believe me," Ash said. "Almost all of the things that lived and died with Gen 1 were good things to let go of. We all know that. But at the same time, risks were taken! When the most interesting risk you've taken is a soft reboot, you know you've gone wrong somewhere."
"Risks are not what the stockholders are looking for," Kunihiko explained. "After twenty years of consistency, people know what they're getting out of Pokémon. If they want a little something different, maybe they try Pokémon Origins or Pokémon Adventures Manga or even Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. But the anime has its target audience and a massive shift would ruin that in a way we might not be able to recover."
"So that what? In fifty years you're still—well, you'll be dead—but someone's still using CGI to give me the appearance of a preteen? And I meet a new friend in every episode that's never seen again? And there are thousands and thousands of newly discovered Pokémon?" Ash argued.
"We changed it up quite a bit last season and it was largely well-received, especially in Japan," Aya argued. "Certainly we've recycled storylines in Pokémon before, but it's not all we do."
"Okay, fine. I know I have no control over the plot," Ash admitted. "Or lack thereof. But hear me out. I'm a thirty-year-old man. I live the public life of a ten-year-old. In the past twenty years, I've done this for you—before you all even were here, in fact. I've done it for the brand. I've never grown so much as sideburns, or even changed my hairstyle. Enough is enough. Either things change around here or…"
There was silence across the table as Ash trailed off. It was Daiki who finally prompted him again.
"Or what?"
Ash's expression had fallen to his lap. His long bangs were covering his eyes in that dramatic way that the directors always loved when he was having an emotional moment on the show. That thought was enough to bring his eyes up.
"Or I quit."
The three across the table from him were looking at him as though he was a petulant child throwing a tantrum. Or about to throw a tantrum—he wasn't sure. But as a person who had been playing a child for twenty years, he knew that he was far from that. He was being the more level-headed Ash of XY, not the hot-headed kid from the Original Series. Well, more than that. He was being his actual adult self.
Aya sighed. "I'm sure we can find ways to incorporate past stars like we did in SM042, 43, and SM102, 103. Things like that are a big hit, and I know you enjoy them."
It was a compromise. A piece of candy to keep him from throwing a fit at not being able to buy the bag. It was not at all what he wanted.
"That's not what I'm talking about," Ash said, suddenly exhausted. "How does that even make sense with a soft reboot?"
"We'll make it work."
He knew what that meant. It wouldn't make sense. Just like it hadn't made sense with the supposed soft reboot of Sun and Moon. Just like it hadn't made sense that he was still ten in Black and White, but knew Dawn from his past travels with her. By this point it was what the public expected and understood, so it wasn't a hard sell. People would poke fun at it on the internet, but they'd hardly be mad about it. That was a tough anger to stoke for twenty years.
"Most people don't keep doing a show for twenty years," Ash said quietly.
"I don't know what you're trying to tell us," Kunihiko said.
"I don't know either," Ash said, the frustration reentering his voice. He rubbed his head as though trying to massage the thoughts out. "I just don't want to do this anymore."
"How did it go?"
Ash had arrived at Brock's house for a drink—lord knew he wasn't supposed to be seen drinking in public. Even being seen buying a six-pack would be 'bad for the kids'. Regardless of the fact that he hardly resembled the character that he played on television anymore. In 2019 there were now grocery services that would help him keep surreptitious, but he enjoyed the habit of going to Brock's. And he always paid him back for the beer.
"Not good," Ash groaned as he flopped down on the sofa. Brock put a beer in his hand in eleven seconds flat.
"Didn't hear you out?" Brock asked, sitting down with his own. Ash relished in the sound of the can being opened and then pulled the tab on his own.
"Nope. They have no interest in anything but going ahead with the plan."
"That sucks, man."
Ash took a gulp of his beer. Beer wasn't something to be savored over time; it was to be drunk quickly while it was still cold and palatable. "Nobody knows what this is like," he said finally.
Now, if most people had said that—or if Ash had said that about nearly anything else—it would have been all Brock could do not to shut them down immediately. No one's experience was unique, there were always people to talk about it; you were never alone. But this existence of Ash's…Well, Brock had lived it for about four years himself. But that had nothing on Ash's twenty. So he could relate. But not entirely.
He'd bounced, after all. He'd bounced after the OS, then come back for a few more years and bounced after year five of the show. He'd had that choice. And, sure, Samuel and Delia were still around after all these years, but only for a few episodes each season.
Actually, there were only two other people who really understood, and that was Jessie and James. But Ash wasn't meant to fraternize with them often in public for publicity. It wasn't 'in character.' And since Jessie and James were portraying adults—and not the star—things were a bit more lax for them.
"I know, bud." Brock got up again and reached for a bag of pretzels. Ash no longer ate as ravenously as his character on the show did, but Brock still showed love through offering food and drink to his friends. "What's your next move?"
Ash had to chew through the dry handful of pretzels he'd just shoved in his mouth before answering. "I don't know," he groaned. "I really don't want to do this anymore, but they've already confirmed Ash Ketchum for the next season. And, you know, my contract."
"And who can imagine the PokéAni without Ash Ketchum?"
"Ugh, don't say that," Ash moaned, throwing a pretzel at Brock's head. Perhaps he still did share some traits with his 10-year-old persona.
"My bad," Brock said, chuckling as he blocked the pretzel and let it fall to the ground. He'd pick it up later. "Look, Ash. All I can say right now is that you don't wanna burn any bridges until you know what your next step is. Being Ash Ketchum comes with a pretty sizable shit sandwich, but there's a reason you've kept doing this for two decades. So keep being Ash Ketchum until you've got a plan."
"Uh-huh."
It was little more than a grunt as Ash took another swallow of his beer. Brock looked at his despondent friend. It made him sad to see, but TV show or not, this was Ash. He'd bounce back by tomorrow.
"Brock, I've had a realization."
Ash was on the phone this time, instead of in Brock's living room. And, as Brock had predicted, it was the next day and he appeared to have fully bounced back. He looked excited and full of that youthful energy he'd been paid for so long to exhibit.
"What's that?"
"If the company wants me to stay on brand, than what is more on brand for Ash Ketchum than burning it all down?"
"Um, a lot of things."
"Okay, yeah, bad phrasing," Ash admitted. "I just mean being brash and impulsive. Making a big choice and sticking to it. This is all very Ash Ketchum. And besides, what hero doesn't break a few things while saving the day? Ash Ketchum has destroyed a lot of property in his day."
Brock sighed. "Ash, what are you gonna do?"
"I'm going to be myself. For fucking once."
Swearing. Very off-brand. Absolutely not E for Everyone. Brock could see where this was going in an instant.
"Ash, no."
"Yes, Brock! If they're not going to listen to me, then I'm going to have to act independently."
"And pay the sizable sum I know is in the fine print of your contract for breaching it?"
"I can afford it," Ash said, surprising Brock by having thought about it at all.
"Okay," Brock said, putting his phone on speaker so he could start texting. "You need an intervention. I'm calling for backup."
"Brock," Ash whined. "I've thought long and hard about this!"
"You've thought long and hard," Brock agreed, sending the text off. "But not precisely about this. You've thought around this, and I'm not denying that you've been frustrated for a long time. But come on, Ash. You dreamt this up last night at the earliest."
Silence. Then: "That's longer than I've thought about most things."
"Yeah, that's what happens when you're in a twenty-year long habit." His phone buzzed. "Anyway, backup is on its way."
"Brock," Ash whined again. If Brock hadn't already known Ash was in therapy, he would have suggested it be written into his contract as a necessity when playing a preteen for twenty years. It was bound to have an effect on an adult man's psychology.
"Don't even pretend to be upset about it, Ash. You'll be happy to see her."
"I see her without your help," Ash grumbled.
"Doesn't matter. Now don't do anything stupid until she gets there."
"…Define stupid."
"Ash."
"Fine, fine."
The buzz up to his penthouse came surprisingly quickly given Tokyo traffic. It must be a good day outside. Not that he'd know, because he hadn't left the house that day, as per Brock's instructions to not do anything stupid.
Then he got an idea.
Instead of buzzing her up, Ash got into his in-unit elevator and went down. He strolled through his lobby and ignored that he could see her through the glass doors in the front—her and her scowling expression. When he opened the door, he swept her into a kiss—one of the dramatic ones like in the movies. Not Pokémon movies but actual movies. Like, rated PG-13 movies. Their bodies were all twisted, and it occurred to him that this was very uncomfortable for the spine. But it always looked good in the movies, so he went with it.
Until he felt her pinching his arm terribly hard and putting firm pressure on him to retreat back into the lobby. Just to have a moment of defiance, he held on for one more minute and then pulled away, acting the part of pleased lover, accepting his publicly-known lover into his apartment building. She played along. For the thirteen seconds it took to reach the elevator. Then she thwacked him upside the head. He'd known she would.
Worth it, though.
"Brock said not to do anything stupid," Misty hissed. She should have known, though. Ash had never been good with instructions, no matter how simple they were.
"Hey, he only said until you got here. You're here now." Ash shrugged. "You went along with it."
"Yeah, because it would have looked even worse if I'd shoved you off like you were assaulting me," Misty explained. "#MeToo isn't just for America, Ash."
Ash smiled a little bit despite himself. She was always one step ahead of him—simultaneously one of his favorite and possibly the least favorite thing about her. Even surpassing her violent streak.
"Why did you do that?" she hissed.
"Why are you whispering?" Ash asked in an exaggerated whisper.
"Because you just did something stupid!" she shouted. "Stop deflecting!"
"I did it," Ash started as measured and calmly as he could. It always threw her off when he was measured and calm, "because there's no logical reason why my long-term girlfriend and I shouldn't be able to kiss in public."
Misty shook her head. "Brock was right. You have gone off the deep end."
"I'm sure Brock didn't say that."
Misty took out her iPhone. "Brock, 10:42am. SOS. Ash's gone off the deep end. You know why." She looked pointedly at Ash.
"Isn't SOS the signal they use when big ships crash? This is hardly a Titanic kind of situation."
"You're deflecting again!"
Damn, she was good.
They'd arrived in his penthouse by then and Misty had set her stuff down. Already she was heading into Ash's kitchen for a glass of water.
"Misty," Ash started in a sickly sweet tone. "Imagine how nice it would be if you could live here. If people could see you coming and going as you please."
"I have. It would be great."
She didn't make it sound great. Her tone was dry and almost angry.
"Yes, it would?"
Misty set down her glass and went to sprawl on one of Ash's too-wide couches. The seats were so long you couldn't lean against the back without bringing your legs onto the cushion. It was like they were made for basketball players. Or a thirty-year-old man-child who never sat on a couch without making himself fully comfortable. The only time his feet were on the floor was when he was leaning forward, vigorously playing one of his hundreds of video games.
"I have thought about it, Ash, of course I have. Many times," Misty said, patting beside her on the couch. That made Ash feel relatively assured that she wasn't mad at him. "I would love to live with you. And perhaps redecorate this place." She was always critical of his rather barren apartment. "But I also get why it makes sense to keep our relationship private for the show. It matters that you not really have any particular favoritism towards any of your traveling companions."
"But Misty, don't you wanna get married someday? I know you're the kind of girl who already has a wedding dress picked out and probably a whole Pinterest board about it."
She did have a dress style in mind, though not a particular one. And she didn't have a Pinterest board, but she certainly had pins that she thought might…someday be nice for a wedding. But he wasn't going to get her that way.
She groaned. "This is frustrating for me too, Ash. When we started this, neither of us thought it would have to go on like this for so long. But Brock's right. You have a contract. There's very little we can do until that contract is up."
"In another five years," Ash shouted, picking up a pillow to muffle the sound. Not because he had any neighbors who would hear, but because he felt like being melodramatic.
That little detail bothered Misty too. But Ash was not a person who needed fuel added to his fire.
"Tell me," Ash asked, face still in his pillow, "what's so wrong about breaching contract?"
"Disappointing your fans?" Misty asked. "Your fans who love you and would feel betrayed by you leaving the show?"
Ash shouted again. "I can't make all my life decisions because of other people!"
Misty put an arm around Ash's shoulder, trying to coax him out of the pillow. Then she said gently, "Sounds like something Ash Ketchum would do."
Ash leaned into her embrace and took the pillow away. But he glared at her as he said, "You suck."
She smirked. "I thought you liked that."
"See!" Ash exclaimed, bolting up. "That's the kind of thing that people say! The kind of thing that adults say! If I got caught saying that, the entertainment media would be all over me for days!"
Misty pulled Ash back down, ignoring his indignation. He let himself be pulled into her embrace.
"Give me another reason," Ash asked.
Misty had to think about that. At this point, she didn't even know the people working at The Pokémon Company very well. She had no particular loyalty to these people, and she knew that Ash's was waning. Ash had made them all rich over the years. Of course, they had made him rich as well, but that had never been what he was about. Sure, he had a bit of a show-off streak, but he was a fairly low-maintenance guy. For the huge, expensive apartment he had, it was pretty sparse with actual belongings.
She didn't give a damn about the stockholders. Maybe she should, because she and Ash were both stockholders themselves, but it would hardly ruin them if the stock went under.
"The employees," she offered after a while. There were a lot of animators who had to work towards creating the world of Pokémon and making Ash into a preteen week after week. She knew the incredible hours they worked and the burdensome workloads. Not to mention musicians and writers and all the other actors. They certainly deserved the consistent paycheck they could expect from Pokémon.
"Fair point," Ash said.
"The fans and the employees…" Misty started. "Woah, weird thought."
"What?" Ash asked, perking up. While she'd been thinking, she'd been rubbing the base of his hairline, lightly pulling his hair and massaging his scalp and neck. It had lulled him into almost a catatonic state. She redoubled her efforts.
"Never mind, don't worry about it."
"No," Ash said, pulling away, however unwillingly. "That was an idea voice. Usually a good idea voice. What was the good idea?"
"It wasn't. It was an idea, not a good one."
"Then let me know the not good idea."
"Well…" Misty started, biting her lip. "It's really half an idea."
"Then let me know the half an idea!" Ash insisted.
"Okay, okay," Misty said, still holding the idea close to her chest. "Just…what do you know about copyright law?"
It was a fucking brilliant idea. One that would probably get them both—but hopefully no one else—sued. But a brilliant idea, nevertheless. And if Ash did end up getting sued, at least that would get him the flames of glory he'd said he wanted this to go down with.
Job one was the hardest, by Misty's estimation. And when they sat down with his laptop, he realized how right she was.
"This is really for you," she said as they looked on at the blank document in front of them. "What do you want to include?"
The image felt clear in Ash's head. He felt like he knew what he wanted. And he did know the major points that the story needed. Ash had to age, the content matter should be darker, the story should progress and have a real overarching plot. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more things came to mind that he'd have to get a stronger grasp on. Certain things in the world needed to be explained more when he really thought about it. But when it came down to it—writing the script meant to rewrite the whole Pokémon universe and he had no idea where to start, even with all these thoughts bouncing around in his head.
Worse than that, he didn't want to mess up.
"I'm not a writer, Misty," Ash said, pushing the laptop toward her as he put his head in his hand. "In twenty years, I've never written a script. Hell, I've never even had significant contributions to one. Just an altered line here and there. Mostly accidents. I know nothing about this."
"Okay, let's think about this," Misty said, accepting the laptop and leaning over it. "We like Pokémon because it has good bones. It's an interesting world with great outlines of characters who lack depth. It's got a functioning if somewhat unexplored magic system. It's touched on some good plots and then backed off of them. That gives us somewhere to start."
"What, so we copy and paste the first season and then start to do our own thing?"
"Obviously not," Misty shot down. "There's no way we're doing that Christmas episode again. No Santa in this world. And no Christ, for that matter. No, there's gotta be something that makes more sense…"
"Like hiring a writer? We're hiring everyone else, so why not that?"
Misty stared at him for a second, her face contemplative. Then her eyes flew open and she kissed him on the lips. "Ash, you're a genius!"
That was certainly something he'd never heard before. Still, Misty was quick to begin typing something on the computer, and it wasn't in the text document. He leaned over her shoulder to see what it was. She was typing into the searchbar:
.
"Fanfiction?" Ash asked, almost spitting the word. "What do you know about fanfiction? Don't tell me you read that porny stuff."
"It's not all porn, Ash," she said without looking at him. "And, for your information, I really enjoy RWBY fic. You probably would too if you read anything more verbose than your scripts."
"I read!"
"Not for fun."
"…Touché."
"From my experience, most fic is terrible. God-awful. Way worse than anything Pokémon spews out. But when it's good…by God, it's incredible, Ash. I really fucking wish you read it."
"Not a chance."
"Well, you are now," Misty said as she seemed to arrive at her location on the site. "We're going to have to spend the next few days, at least, combing through this crap in order to find something promising. It's in there. Pokémon is a huge fandom, so even if only one percent of this is amazing, that's still a thousand masterpieces. We just have to be patient."
"I'm not reading a hundred thousand stories, Misty. Not in my whole life, much less a few days."
"Not to worry," Misty said, patting Ash's arm patronizingly. "I'll teach you my ways. It won't be long before we find the good stuff."
Ash scoffed. "And I thought I was the dangerously optimistic one."
"Can't be around you without being optimistic. That's the magic of Ash Ketchum."
Ash awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. At 4am. He groaned and rolled over. Obviously some American had gotten a hold of his number again and wasn't thinking about the time change. The buzzing finally abated, and Ash felt his brain turning off again, about to let him sink back into delightful sleep when it started up again. With an even louder groan, he rolled back to the other side of the bed and began groping around for the phone on his nightstand. He had to pick it up, if only to swipe away the call and block the number. But, when he picked up his demonic phone, he saw Misty's name. He really hoped her dog was dying. Or something equally tragic.
"What?" he croaked, his voice not appreciating being used at this time of night.
"I found it, Ash. This is it. It's perfect."
So, not her dog, apparently. "You found an author."
"Better than that. Way fucking better. I found a story. An actual story. Some crazy bastard is rewriting the whole anime themselves and it's incredible. I'm only about fifty chapters in—"
"Fifty chapters‽"
"—but it's perfect. Unless it goes really downhill, then I think I found our person. We can really do this now."
"Great, Misty. Glad you found it. Now kindly hang up the phone again so I don't have to look at the screen again and ruin my sleep even more."
"Sleep‽ There's no time to sleep. Gen 8 comes out later this year. By that time, we need to have enough episodes out to have built up a presence big enough that Pokémon Company will care. Our names will do a lot of the heavy lifting for us, but what we're pitching is only going to appeal to a fraction of the market audience. We're going to have to pull all of those people and new ones to make any kind of a splash. Ash? Are you listening?"
Ash had put the phone down on the pillow and was resting his head on it, eyes closed. He had been beginning to drift. But for as raspy as Misty's voice was from evidentially having been up all night, she could still make it piercing when she needed to.
"I'm listening," he grunted. Even though they had already gone over all those logistics a few days before.
"Well, we need to finish reading this story ASAP so we can see if it's really the story we wanna tell and then contact the author. They probably won't respond immediately, so we wanna be doing that as soon as we can."
"It sounds like you've got a head start on the story out of the two of us," Ash said through a yawn. "So you can finish reading it and then we'll DM the person."
"No, Ash," Misty said firmly, as though she knew he was barely listening. Heck, she definitely knew he was barely listening. "You have to read it too. We have to be sure about this."
"Fine," he groaned. "Just let me go back to sleep."
"Fine," Misty agreed. "But I'll be calling you back at seven to make sure you're up and reading. I'm putting in a scheduled delivery for a breakfast sandwich and coffee too."
"Thanks, Mist. G'night."
"Goodnight, Ash."
He was out before the call even ended.
After his false start that morning, the day had still begun too early. This was the off-season for shooting the show, so he slept in most days as late as he wanted. But right at seven, with Misty calling and his doorbell ringing, Ash realized Misty hadn't ordered the food to be nice. It was because it would force him out of bed in a way that her phone call simply wouldn't.
Devious girl, she was.
But there was a little part of Ash that felt guilty that Misty had been up all night for the sake of his project, so after downing his sandwich and starting on his coffee, he did set about clicking on the link she'd sent him in the wee hours that morning.
And he balked at what he saw.
It turned out that fifty chapters wasn't even scratching the surface. The story she'd linked to him was close to one hundred chapters and the first words of chapter one kindly informed him that this was going to be a series. A monstrous series that planned on rewriting the whole PokéAni.
In his mind, he vaguely heard the words Misty had said on the phone to that effect, but by now that phone call felt like little more than a dream. The only way he knew that it had actually happened was the fact that the consequences of that call had led to him being awake at this almost equally unholy hour.
After breezing past the author's note informing him of the impending series, as well as a whole website devoted to further resources—this person had rewritten the whole Pokédex!—he began the first chapter. It actually started with Ash Ketchum as a child, younger than ten, and seemed to be giving some back story to the characters of Pallet Town. Delia, Professor Oak, and Gary Oak were all appearing, as well as a number of new characters. He was intrigued. And then…he wasn't.
Well, he was still intrigued, but he found himself skimming some of the longer paragraphs and soon he found himself on Twitter. He only scrolled for about ten minutes before he realized what was happening and closed the tab. Well, minimized it. He wanted to save his spot.
He called Misty.
"How do you read?" he asked after she said hello.
Usually a stupid question like that would have prompted either a sarcastic comment, or straight-up laughing at his expense. But, instead, Misty said. "Ugh, Ash, it's already 8:30. Please tell me you've read something."
"I've started chapter one."
"Started chapter one‽"
"I'm almost finished!" Ash defended.
"God, I forgot about your ADHD," Misty moaned. "Okay. You're going to have to figure out what works for you and figure it out quickly if we wanna move on this. Try copying and pasting into a text to speech website. It'll sound unnatural, but if you can listen to that while reading or listen to it while doing a coloring book or something maybe that'll help. Or find something to do with your hands while you read. Chewing gum might help? I think I've heard that? Or google it. I'm sorry, Ash, I don't know as much about it as I should."
"No, that's a good start," Ash said quickly to appease his girlfriend. Sometimes Misty came off as tough or even mean, but she really wasn't, otherwise Ash wouldn't have dated her for so long. She did make fun of him often, but he did the same to her. It had been their dynamic on the show when they'd first started; it was the basis of their chemistry. But she wouldn't ever make fun of him for a behavior disorder. He just didn't want her to feel bad for not being able to help. "I'll give those a try."
"Okay," Misty said, sounding a touch more relaxed. "I'm almost done with the Kanto arc and I've gotta say, this story is still really good. They're incorporating the bones of the anime, and weaving in the first movie whilst also having more through-lines and stuff. Fewer CotDs and instead really focusing on us discovering stuff about Pokémon. And, like, growing up. And you should really read the resources they've created; they're amazing."
"I will," Ash said, hoping that he'd actually be able to. "Try to get some sleep, okay, Mist?"
It was as though the word 'sleep' triggered her to yawn. He heard the sound on the other line and then she said, "I will. I just wanna finish this arc."
"And then sleep. Immediately. Okay?"
"Okay, Ash. I will."
"Good. You sleep. I read."
As if emulating a sports huddle, she said, "Okay, break."
"Go team," Ash said with a little chuckle.
He hung up the phone and set about finding a blank coloring book page on the internet. He'd make this work however he could. He wasn't going to get tripped up at stage one.
He didn't read as much as Misty did. It turned out Misty was a fairly quick reader and, as he already knew, he was very, very slow. But he read a good portion of the first story in the series that day and texted Misty to let her know that he agreed. The story was as close to what he had been murkily envisioning as possible. Well, much better, actually. He could see it on the screen, could feel the choices he'd make as that version of Ash Ketchum in his muscles as he was reading. He even found himself saying his character's lines out loud.
After that came the strange moment that made it all real. It turned out Misty already had an ffnet account—which he fully intended to explore later—and all they had to do was send the author or authoress in question a PM. That's where things became sticky. What they were going to offer—payment for the use of an adaptation of her story, plus for her continuing writing the story, as it was still ongoing—was going to sound illegitimate. One hundred percent fake.
"We just have to go for it," Misty said on the phone. "And hope they're a good person and won't leak this first thing. I mean, that should be our real concern."
That hadn't even occurred to Ash. He'd considered the fact that they would need a large team of people to pull this off, and that that would significantly drain his overflowing bank account. He hadn't considered that he'd have to have absolute loyalty from the people he was asking to be disloyal to the company that had employed all of them at one time, at least as far as the actors were concerned. Except this mystery writer, of course. He'd have to get his lawyer to start drafting some NDAs.
"Yeah, we'll just have to hope for that. You don't have any identifying features on your account, so worse comes to worse, you just tell the public it wasn't you and there's no way to prove you wrong."
"And then we're back to square one."
"Let's not worry about that now. Just cross your fingers and send the message."
"Okay. Crossed. And…sent."
Ash realized he was holding his breath. This was the biggest thing he'd done since he was ten and had first accepted the role of the then-unknown Ash Ketchum. And, while that had been big, since he'd never had a star acting role before, he'd had no idea of the implications. No one had known the international phenomenon Pokémon would become. This, he knew, would be big. Whether it ended in the biggest success of his life, or destroyed it.
As Ash and Misty were on an internet frenzy, looking up people for all the different roles they needed to fill. Animators was the number one job in their list. They were hunched over their computers, doing search after search, occasionally exchanging work and sending out emails. Then, suddenly, Misty's phone rang.
She groaned. She and Ash had managed to rein in his attention and they'd had a vibe going. Now he'd probably get up saying he needed to pee and wanted to order take out and it would take an hour to get him back on track. When she saw Brock's name, she cringed. She showed it to Ash, wordlessly, and they exchanged worried expressions, the corners of their lips pulling to the side. This wasn't great. But it wasn't like she could blow him off, right? With a steadying breath, she answered the call.
"Hey, Brock, what's up?"
"What's up?" Brock echoed, his tone one of disbelief. "I thought I'd get some kind of update on the…you know, situation by now. A text at least. It's been two days!"
Misty looked uneasily at Ash. The phone wasn't on speaker, but she knew he could hear every word. Not that she cared if he heard—he fully knew what Brock was referring to after all. But still, Ash was a bit of a blabbermouth…
"Everything's under control, Brock!" she said, trying to keep her voice down from the strident place it wanted to go.
"You mean you've talked him off the cliff."
"That's right!" Misty exclaimed. "Absolutely no cliff here!"
Misty couldn't so much as glance at Ash. He was making all kinds of facial expressions—she could practically see the subtitles below his chin. He clearly thought she was doing a terrible job lying, but also wanted to jump in and spill the beans himself.
Like he could say anything. He was a good actor, but a truly horrible liar.
"Okay, good to hear," Brock said, a little sigh of relief pressing into the phone. "I was concerned about that picture of the two of you online…"
Ash and Misty had both forgotten about that. There had been a number of snaps taken of the dramatic kiss they'd had outside Ash's building, which had led to a lot of scrutiny online. Most people were under the correct but unconfirmed assumption that they were dating, while others said that it was so dramatic that perhaps it was some kind of stunt. Little did everyone know that both were right, more or less.
"Oh, no nothing to worry about there," Misty confirmed.
"Good. I really was worried about him."
"I was too," Misty agreed, her voice nice and easy this time. "But we've got a plan now."
Ash and Misty hadn't planned into their timeline the time it would take to build trust between themselves and the mystery writer, who they now knew as Tess. She was a young American woman who just happened to love Pokémon and fanfiction; she wasn't even a professional writer. Not yet, at least. But Ash and Misty quickly realized that they were basically performing an interview. However, instead of each question taking a few seconds to answer, they took hours to get a response. They had to get this right, though. No horsing around.
Fortunately, after a few correspondences, both parties seemed confident in each other to move to Skype and expedite the process a little bit. Their first interaction went a little like this.
Tess: "Oh my God, it really is you!"
Ash: "Heh, yeah, sure is."
Tess: "I really just thought this was some really elaborate troll! I was prepared to change my Skype name after this."
Misty: "Well, hopefully there won't be a need for that."
Tess: "Right. Oh my God. Okay. Professional. That was my fangirling, and now this is totally professional. Promise."
It did proceed to be fairly professional after that, though Tess did seem to be in a rather constant state of disbelief. Behind the scenes, Ash and Misty had already been working on turning her narrative into a script and translating it into Japanese. Which, when fluent in both languages, sounded easy. But it—like everything—was more time-consuming and way more specialized than they'd hoped. They'd have to hire someone soon.
But after growing confident enough with Tess to send her a contract—and an NDA—everything became real. And instead of being a project of three, it was going to have to become a company of dozens.
"You're going to have to be the one to enlist everyone," Misty said the night after they'd finished the list of all the people and resources that they'd thought they'd need for the pilot episode. Or at least finished as far as they could tell. They'd need Ash, Gary, Samuel, and Delia at the very least, plus a couple other voice actors that they liked, preferably ones who'd be able to play most of the other Pallet human characters and Pokémon, since they wanted to start with as small a cast as possible. They'd need a recording studio and a number of animators, plus whatever equipment those animators would need.
The show was going to have to be different than Pokémon at heart. Instead of the quasi-live action with heavy CGI that Ash had physically been starring in for two decades, this was going to have to be full animation. Live action would simply take up too many resources, not to mention that meant they'd be acting out on location, where people would see with no small amount of curiosity what all the stars of Pokémon were up to. This meant that they'd have to create a fresh animation style, since there was no way to copy Pokémon's current look.
"Why do I have to enlist everyone?" Ash asked. "This idea was both of ours."
"Because you have that magic Ash Ketchum extroversion. Everyone loves you and will follow you wherever you go. They won't do that for me."
"The execs sure didn't do that for me."
"They had no reason to," Misty explained. "But these people might. They do. Everyone loves this show and they'll want to see the story that Tess has created. They'll want to be a part of that. So long as you're the charming Ash Ketchum they've all fallen in love with."
"Charming like this?" Ash asked quietly, leaning in to give Misty a kiss. They'd become more lax with having her over to his place more often. After all, soon that would be small potatoes compared with the bomb they were planning to drop soon.
"Charming with your words," Misty whispered against his mouth. But she didn't seem to mind his advances as she closed the gap and began kissing him in earnest.
They didn't get much else done that night.
The first episode took over a month to create. They'd had to work back and forth with Tess for script rewrites, not to mention that this was being done in both English and Japanese, plus including English subtitles. If they wanted to gain an audience, they'd have their best bet by engaging both Japanese and English audiences. And, best case scenario, many more languages after that.
Then there was finding actors. This was the most painless of all the processes, except for where the lawyers had to get involved. It was always sticky to present legal documents to friends—and after all these years, Samuel, Delia, and Gary were dear friends of Ash's—but they were receptive. And, most importantly, they thought Ash and Misty's idea was good. Of course, they thought it was batshit crazy, and none of them were afraid to say that. Which they all did on separate occasions. But they still got on board. That was more reassuring to Ash and Misty than most anything else.
The hardest part was assembling an animation team. They had no idea how many animators were needed, how responsibilities would be split up, how they would work together or anything. Plus, they couldn't just poach from the show for two reasons. 1.) Ash didn't intimately know any of the animators. They had no loyalty to him and no reason to jump ship from the show. 2.) They were working on an entirely different kind of animation. Ash and Misty didn't know the repercussions of that, but they were sure they must exist.
But after a frustrating amount of trial and error—and a lot of money bleeding from Ash's bank account—there it was. A final product. And a polished, decent one at that. Everything was professional quality, it was a standard twenty-seven-minute length, despite the fact that there would be no advertisements, and it had subtitles in both Japanese and English. Then it was all about what to do with it.
They did nothing. For a time.
In the process of working on the episode, they'd realized they'd need the next couple stocked if they wanted buzz to continue around this series and for people to take it seriously. Fortunately, it only took a few weeks to create the next two episodes. The bulk of the work on their end at that point was in the script, but Tess had been prolific with her turnout of drafts. They were already interviewing a few impeccable translators, as they had quickly realized what specific skills were needed for subbing versus dubbing and that simply being bilingual wasn't going to cut it.
Then it was time. Ash would have to go back to the real show soon, and they had to drop these before that happened. So Ash made a YouTube channel—because where else could they put something like this? The show had to be free, otherwise they'd be sued faster than someone could watch the first episode.
That part wasn't stressful. Uploading a video to a YouTube channel with zero subscribers was hardly a leap of faith. It wasn't like Ash was a master of search engine optimization. No one would find this thing.
Until he tweeted it. When he tweeted it, there would be no going back.
"Are you ready?" Ash asked Misty as his finger hovered over his laptop's touchpad.
He wasn't really asking it for her. He was asking it for himself. Not out of selfishness, even though his job and reputation were the ones on the line. Sure, Misty had done a couple episodes recently, but she was a relic of the show, not a star. And he, next to Pikachu, perhaps, was the star. And people would either love him or hate him for this.
But he just wanted a little reassurance. That they hadn't gotten swept away in the excitement of it all in the past few months. That all the work and dedication hadn't clouded the possibility that this wasn't a good idea after all. But Misty just took his other hand in hers.
"We're ready."
He had to look away as he clicked to send the link to the video out to the world. He was fully wincing, as though the action would send a shock wave through his system. He stared at the screen for only a second, his live tweet burning into his retinas before shutting the laptop screen violently and recoiling onto his couch. Misty, meanwhile—seeming much calmer than he—was on her phone, hopping over to his Twitter account to retweet the post. Then she, too, put away her phone.
"Wanna watch some anime?"
"God, yes."
"Misty, what the fuck?"
Brock's was the first call they bothered taking. Their phones had started blowing up with notifications soon after the video had gone up and they'd silenced all alerts. They'd already ignored a few phone calls. But Brock was the couple's best friend, just like in the show. There was something about spending your formative years together that left a lasting bond. They owed him an explanation, at the very least.
"Hi, Brock!" Misty said, sounding fake with cheer. "What brings about this call?"
"I thought you had talked him off the edge? But you've been doing whatever this is for however long you have. I assume you're a part of this, right?"
"I did talk him off the edge, Brock," Misty said, her phone on speaker between herself and Ash. "Instead of self-destructing he crafted a beautiful and intricate bomb and threw it at his whole life."
"Oh, my bad. That sounds like a great idea, Misty."
"Yeah, you didn't make that sound any better," Ash agreed, making himself known on the call.
"Hello, crazy man," Brock greeted. "Glad to know your bosses haven't harpooned you yet."
"They'll have to go through my doormen before they can come up here and harpoon me."
"Lucky dog," Brock said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry we didn't tell you, Brock," Misty said, getting at what she suspected was at the real root of this call, whether Brock knew it or not. "We were already having everyone sign NDAs. It didn't seem smart to tell anyone who wasn't absolutely necessary to the beginning of this project."
"Beginning?" Brock said. "There's more?"
"We've already got the next two episodes in the bag and are in production on the fourth and script-writing up to the sixth."
Brock was quiet for a second before he asked, "Just how long are you planning on doing this?"
"Don't worry, your character is coming," Ash said with a laugh.
"The writer we've employed already has a story loosely plotted all through Kalos. They're nearly done with all the specifics of Kanto—though we have slowed down her progress significantly since starting this."
"Kalos‽" Brock exclaimed. "You have eighteen years worth of content for this?"
That was putting it in a perspective Ash and Misty hadn't yet thought about it. Would they be fifty years old and still working on this project?
"We truthfully have no idea how long we have, Brock," Misty admitted. "This could be shut down at any time by something we haven't foreseen. So we haven't looked that far into the future."
"Well," Brock said, finally at a bit of a loss for words. "I just can't tell you how heckin' proud I am of you crazy bastards. This was the biggest leap of faith I've ever seen."
That brought a big grin to both Ash and Misty's faces. They looked at each other and nearly giggled. If Brock was on their side, then they were doing just fine.
"You watched the episode?" Ash asked.
"Of course I did. And it was great. Truthfully, I'm not sure everyone cares 100% about a Pokémon prologue, but as soon as it becomes evident that you're going to continue this…I can't imagine the response. Seriously, you guys shouldn't read the comments but…they're mostly really good. People like it. They love it."
The conversation with Brock petered off after that. He'd said his piece, but really he'd just affirmed everything they were doing. That was all they wanted out of their best friend.
"I didn't realize people would think of it as a prologue," Ash said once Misty had hung up.
"Yeah," Misty agreed. "We might be out of the woods until we get to the part where this story meets up with canon."
"Which gives us the time to build up loyal viewers and get the hang of this producing thingy."
"This producing thing-a-ma-bob."
"Producing thing-a-ma-jigger."
The two stared at each other for a moment, the laughs building up in their throats before they burst out, laughing hysterically on the couch.
It was done. It had started. They'd done it.
"My reviewers think you've stolen my story," Tess said on their next Skype call, going over one of the scripts. "They're indignant on my behalf and ready to burn the show to the ground."
The words were dark, but Tess looked practically giddy.
"Honestly, even if you had, I'd have counted myself lucky," she continued. "It would have been the most flattering thing that's ever happened to me. Certainly more flattering than my 150 reviews for 93 published chapters of labor."
"You need to make an announcement," Misty said. "Also, your name is in the credits, but do you want us to add your username so that people will be able to see that? Or do you not want the two tied together?"
"Hmm…" Tess intoned, considering that. "Fanfiction has always felt like a secret identity to me, so my impulse is to say no. But now my name is on the show anyway…Tell you what. I'll scrub up my profile and delete some more indulgent author's notes tonight and then you can include it next time. No need to make any changes to the episode that's already out."
"By the way," Ash butted in. "We probably should have talked about this earlier but…are you going to be continuing your story on ffnet?"
Tess sighed. "No. I don't think I'd have the time even if it weren't probably a breach of the NDA at this point. So I'll have to include that in the announcement. I'll make an author's note chapter telling everyone. All 28 followers of mine."
"Well, that's one potential drama storm put out," Misty said.
"There is actually something I wanted to talk about," Tess said slowly. "Regarding the longer arching plot."
"Shoot," Ash said.
"Well, regarding the ships—er, relationships," Tess corrected. Misty knew most fanfiction terms well enough, but Ash knew next to nothing. He was learning, through talking with Tess and Misty, but it wasn't penetrating very much. "Uh, what are we going to do with them?"
"What do you mean?" Misty asked. "I thought you had things basically plotted out through the Kalos League?"
"I do," Tess said. "For my story. My story that's a love letter to the anime and the fandom. Where I've basically taken the most popular couples and rolled with it. In PokéAni fanfiction there are basic couples that are usually grouped together. The two of you, May and Drew, Dawn and Paul—"
"Dawn and Paul‽" Ash interjected.
"That's why I'm bringing this up!" Tess said. "Yes, Dawn and Paul, Cilan and Iris, and Serena and Clemont. And Gary with Leaf, but there's no way we're doing that. I personally think some of these pairings are pairings of convenience than real chemistry or shipping hints from the anime. But they're what the fans have accepted. Just like the fact that your last name is Waterflower, Misty."
"Which it isn't."
"Well, mine isn't really Ketchum!" Ash said. "That would be too ridiculous."
"I know, I know," Tess said. "These are things that wouldn't matter in fanfiction, because they're accepted. But for a broad audience where this is essentially television and not fanfiction…I'm just not sure about pairing any of you together."
"Well, there has to be romance," Misty argued. "We want these characters to grow up, and that's a part of most people growing up. We can't assume all these characters are ace and aro."
"No," Tess agreed. "Though I think we should include some."
"But that doesn't help us with the issue at hand," Misty said.
"Well, what about us?" Ash asked, taking Misty's hand. "I think we should end up together."
Those words made Misty's ears turn pink. It was the kind of thing Ash didn't say in real life. She felt it, certainly, but being in a relationship when you were thirty and not having any particular talk of marriage and engagement was discouraging. Of course, that was part of why they'd undertaken this whole project to begin with. But still, even hearing Ash talk about the fictional versions of themselves 'ending up together' was heartwarming.
"Yes, I totally agree," Tess said without hesitation. "You two and then May and Drew are basically non-negotiable for me. But with the others I've been of many minds. First of all, people should date around. My whole thing with this series is that it should be realistic. People don't all end up with the first person they partner with. They don't all get married in their early twenties. That's not the story I wanted to tell."
"I don't want that either," Misty agreed. "But if this story is a love letter to the fans, then when do we indulge them and when do we not?"
"Well, not everyone ships the same people," Ash said. "I said that right, right? Ships?"
"Yes," Tess answered quickly, smiling at Ash sounding like such a fanfic nerd.
"Right. So what's the point in pandering at all?"
Misty looked surprised, eyebrows raised. "The man makes a good point."
"Really, it all depends on how long this goes," Tess said. "If the show finishes after Kalos, then only a few couples should be together. If it goes into adulthood, then more should be together, though not everyone with their #endgame. If it goes into next-gen—"
"Next-gen?" Ash interrupted.
"Kids," Tess clarified. "Your kids."
"Oh," Ash drawled, a blush coloring his cheeks as he glanced at Misty.
"If it goes into next-gen, then even more people will be paired off…but then there should also probably be divorces and separations. But those things would really anger the audience. Especially if we've been working towards a pairing being together for a long, long time. Have you ever seen How I Met Your Mother?"
"Nope," both Ash and Misty said in unison.
"Oh," Tess said, her energy dropping a bit. "Well…if you did you'd know what I mean. But you'll just have to take my word for it. Even if we're not pandering to the fans…I'd rather not anger them. But, like I said, it comes down to when this story ends. And, well, I hadn't quite gotten that far in my outline yet, since the actual anime isn't over yet."
Yet. That sounded suddenly ominous. Perhaps this was the moment Ash was first realizing it, but it suddenly occurred to him that that's what they were working toward. The actual destruction of the show that just wouldn't end. It felt like the intentional murder of a life-long friend. He had to brush that feeling away immediately.
"Right," Ash said. "So, perfect world, how long is it?"
Tess just pulled the corners of her lips down and shook her head to show she had no idea. Ash turned to Misty.
"Ideally? As long as Ash has a story."
"Ash?" Tess asked.
"That's the one thing the Pokémon anime has right. This story is Ash's. So, as long as he has a story to tell, then we keep going for as long as we can."
Finally, Ash had to address the elephant in the room. Well, the room that all this had begun in, which is to say Kunihiko Yuyama's office. His agent had informed him that Kunihiko, Daiki, and Aya insisted on seeing him again. Suddenly, Ash felt like he had been summoned to the principal's office. He wasn't far off.
It turned out he didn't have to do much haphazard explaining as to what he'd done. They could already guess that Ash's new show wasn't just a prologue, but out to rewrite the whole anime. And they knew exactly what that might mean for the show. But it turned out Ash didn't.
"Ash," Kunihiko seethed, barely able to keep his voice under control. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"If you're talking about a breach of contract, I've taken that into account and am willing to—"
"Of course it's a breach of contract!" Kunihiko exclaimed. "But that's not what I'm talking about. You're not just out to destroy the Pokémon anime, but all of Pokémon as a franchise. That number one media franchise slot? Gone."
"What are you talking about?" Ash asked, genuinely confused.
"Think about it," Kunihiko explained. "When a new anime season comes out, the new games come out. The new manga comes out. New trading cards. New merchandise. All these things support each other. If one of them deteriorates, they all do."
Ash's heart dropped. He actually hadn't thought about that.
"The anime is what a significant portion of our fans follow. It brings in new eyeball for the youth, some too young to even play the video games. No anime, fewer game sales. Fewer merch sales. Fewer trading cards. Then boom, Hello Kitty is the top franchise again. Are you a closet Hello Kitty fan, Ash?"
"No, sir," Ash answered, suddenly feeling even more the part of the primary schooler being chastised by his teacher.
"So, what do you suggest as a solution, Ash? I know what I want. But I'm curious to hear your thoughts."
"You want us to stop production," Ash said, evading the question. "At least before it starts to replace the anime."
"Of course. Do you have any plan of doing that?"
Ash wasn't a child. These people might think of him as a ten-year-old—and he was really good at being one. But in the last couple months, he'd like to think he'd gotten pretty damn good at being an adult too.
"No, sir."
"So I'm forced to ask once again, what's your solution?"
His solution was to go back in time and have Tess's story be the PokéAni from the start. Then she never would have felt the need to clean up the mess that the original writers had made before they'd known the phenomenon Pokémon would be. That it would one day be the top grossing media franchise. Then Ash never would have felt trapped by this show. The show that had given him everything. But, unfortunately, this was the real world. It wasn't Pokémon. He couldn't get a magic necklace or travel in a magic elevator to a different time period. He was stuck here cleaning up the mess that he and everyone else had made.
"You wanna know what my perfect solution would be?" Ash said finally. "If you let Ash Ketchum go. We can keep doing our show, hopefully with your blessing. Maybe even with your support, so that it could earn us some money to keep it going. And you keep your anime going, but with a new star. Because, like I tried to tell you, I can't do it anymore."
"But there is no Pokémon anime without Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu," Aya insisted, finally speaking up. "He's synonymous with the show."
"So make it the next generation," Ash blurted out, thinking of his conversation with Misty and Tess. "In our show—" Kunihiko scoffed at the word 'our,' "—Ash Ketchum and Misty are eventually going to get married and have kids. Let the Galar region be about that kid. He'll—or she, I guess, I don't actually know—be really similar to Ash Ketchum. Maybe even with another Pikachu. And then Ash Ketchum will be able to make cameo appearances. C'mon, the viewers would love that."
"No," Aya said. "That adds too many complications. Where's Professor Oak? Is he dead? And Ash and Misty getting together canonically isn't an option. We want Ash to stay relatable, and getting married to one of the Pokégirls isn't a part of that."
"Well, I don't want to say take it or leave it," Ash said. "But that's the best compromise I have for you right now. We can both keep thinking, but my hope is that this new show will reignite the fans. It will make them feel that we care. Since it's actually me and Delia and everyone in it, and not just a fanfiction in the corner of the internet. This is the kind of thing the diehard fans want, even if the youngsters don't. But, then again, what difference would the youngsters know between Ash Ketchum and his kid?"
The group across from him was silent for a second. Then Kunihiko put his hands on the desk.
"Fine. We'll adjourn this meeting for today. But don't think you're off the hook, Ash. Any change to the current track for the anime would mean a delay in production, which we can't afford for the aforementioned reasons of the games and merch already in production. That would be millions and millions in losses. Our stock is set to plummet at any wrong move."
"I understand that," Ash said, though it hadn't occurred to him until just then. "But I hope you'll consider the idea."
"I suppose we don't have much of a choice," Kunihiko said. "We'll just have to speak with the heads at The Pokémon Company and to see."
It turned out Ash had left Pokémon Company with very little choice. In only a week their pilot episode had gone viral and, since Ash hadn't received a cease and desist or anything like that, they followed up in posting their second video which accrued almost the same number of views, proving that their audience was captive.
Perhaps if they hadn't done that, the Pokémon Company could have tried to sweep it under the rug. But with the first and second episodes already out, damage control was needed more than anything else. To their advantage, all that had been announced about the Gen 8 anime so far was that Ash Ketchum would continue to be in it and that there was a new traveling companion. These things would technically still be true, under Ash's compromise, though a bit of backtracking would be needed. Surely, Ash Ketchum would still be in the anime. Just in an entirely different capacity.
There would be backlash. No one knew whether it would be more from the fact that 10-year-old Ash was being retired or because Ash and Misty were going to be canonically married with progeny, but Pokémon Company had to be prepared to handle both of those. They were bound to get an even bigger reaction than the debacle about the lack of a National 'Dex in the games—though admittedly more mixed rather than overwhelmingly negative. Ash and Misty had agreed to be a part of the damage control process. And what they realized quickly was that they needed to do something that no other television show ever had to do: state its intensions.
Of course, Pokémon Company would first have to air its trailer as usual, which would be a bit of a rush-job, since so much would need to be reanimated. Its release would have to be pushed back, but that wasn't too bad, since it hadn't had a public announcement. The drop was meant to be a surprise. Then Ash and Misty would have to issue a follow-up video to what was sure to be a big reaction from a trailer of a new generation of the anime in which Ash was not the protagonist.
After that, Pokémon: The Retelling, as they had been bold enough to name it, was up and running. And with greater ease than ever because, while Misty now had a small role in the anime to fill, Ash was basically jobless. Compared to his schedule as the star, at least. So they could put all their time into the new show. Well, all their work time. Because now, for the first time since he was ten, Ash was able to have a personal life.
A dozen episodes of the show had now been released and the original—or new, depending on how one wanted to look at it—anime had just started generation 8. For once in his life, Ash was a free man. He could go to bars, he could swear, and, best of all, the world now knew he had a girlfriend. Some AmourShippers, among others, were a little peeved about this revelation—and what they correctly guessed it would mean for The Retelling's plotline—but Ash didn't care. They could get married. He could propose.
And propose he did.
Even though this whole saga had begun with the Pokémon writers refusing to change the script for him, Ash managed to eke out one tiny favor. Sure, he'd been in their bad graces for a while after The Retelling had dropped, but as the anime continued to do well—as well as could be expected, since PokeAni viewership had been down for years anyway—it seemed he was forgiven.
It showed growth in the PokeAni that a line at all about romance was even able to make it in, but Ash managed to squeeze a line into one episode that Ash Ketchum had proposed to Misty Waterflower on a certain day in 2020. The same day that episode was set to air. And, thusly, Ash proposed in real life.
In the future, Ash would regret that move. He would be able to see that he'd done that as a result of his censorship of the past years and he wanted to be overly-bold. He'd wanted the proposal to make a big, public splash. It had been an overcorrection. In the midst of their engagement, he realized that something more personal and intimate might have been better. But, as Misty reassured him many times over the years, she would have been happy for it either way.
Of course, the other issue was that fans were quickly able to suss out when that would mean that their child, the current protagonist, would be conceived and born, assuming their real life relationship was to match that of the characters in the show. That led to some embarrassing and surprisingly aggressive hounding from the fans. Of course, their first child didn't end up being born for a few more years, and they were quite different from the Ketchum child on the show.
Years later, after the PokeAni had run its course and The Retelling had come and gone with massive fame and success, Ash had one final interview before declaring himself fully retired. Of course, his interviewer was some youngster who hadn't even been born when The Retelling first came out.
Three cameras were focused on the two of them sitting across from each other in lounge chairs. The set was sparse, but when Ash looked beyond what was visible in frame, he saw dozens of pieces of expensive film equipment. There were booms, monitors, and lots of people with headsets fussing about. Frankly, it was much more pared down than what he'd worked with for much of his career. The technology had grown so much smaller—tighter and better than when he'd gotten his start in the '90s. But no matter the differences, he was perfectly at ease as he fell into the role of interviewee and focused all his attention on the young man in front of him.
If Ash wasn't mistaken the boy across from him looked a little nervous himself. But, nevertheless, he gave one final look at his first note card as people around him moved and called for the cameras to start rolling.
"Hello, Ash, we're so pleased you could join us here again today."
"Happy to be here," Ash replied, the old song and dance coming off his lips as easily as any script had.
"We both wanted this final interview of yours to be the definitive Ash interview, so do you mind if I just get into it?
"Not at all."
"Great. So what led you to betray the show that gave you your fame and success?"
That was a planned question. The one he'd shown Ash before so that it wouldn't come across too harsh. But it wouldn't have anyway. All of the drama of that time was so far in the past, it was easy to talk about. So he did.
"All I wanted was to have my life. And the fact that it led to Ash Ketchum finally having one himself has made me very happy."
The interviewer leaned back, settling into it. "You have played the role of Ash Ketchum in various capacities for nearly your whole life. Do you think his character has greatly impacted who you feel you've grown to be? Is that why it was important to give him a fuller life in The Retelling?"
Ash chucked, his laugh sounding nearly like a croak in his old age. "That boy and I have been together so long, I nearly couldn't tell you where he stops and I begin. Even at my most frustrated with the role, though, I always had this love for him. I think people all over the world have held a deep love for all versions of Ash Ketchum in their hearts. He's the quintessential hero, and his many failures never impeded that."
"You speak of this love for Ash, yet you ultimately caused the character to change entirely after a pretty consistent twenty year run for him. Did you ever have small regrets about that or grieve the ten-year-old version of the character?"
"I definitely never regretted it," Ash said firmly. "This is the one great truth of my life. But did I grieve the boy I knew? Sure. I'd grown up with him as he'd stayed the same. Constant. Suddenly having such a role in his shaping, his adolescence, adulthood, marriage to my wife's character, having kids…it was hard. The fans didn't like everything we did with him unanimously, of course. But for me, I knew if I misstepped with this boy, it would break my heart."
"Did it break your heart when the show ended?"
"Which show?"
The interviewer thought for a moment, then answered, "Both."
"Well, the answer is yes, for both," Ash said, then chuckled. "I suppose I didn't have to ask 'which show,' then."
"We always like clarity around here."
"Right, me too," Ash agreed. "The truth is, when we started The Retelling, I'd been ready to quit the Pokémon anime. In fact, I'd been all set to do so before we came up with the, in hindsight, very complicated solution of entirely rewriting the show. The Retelling, of course, ended up being the best decision of my life. At the time, it was part of a handy solution to keep me from causing an abrupt end to the anime. I think the show ending there would have upset me, but at the same time, it was easy to feel it had run its course. I truly think nearly everyone involved in the show at the time felt that way.
"But then we ended up breathing new life into it. And I was so glad the show hadn't ended and that the creators thought there was more to add to this world. They started taking fan-created Pokémon for new generations and it really felt like the show was doing more than ever. But still, its time came and went. It was sad, but it was like the passing of a grandparent. You mourn, but you now it's right."
"And the Retelling?"
"That show was a blessing, top to bottom. An incredible amount of work, but it saved me in so many ways. We were so lucky to be able to tell that story to the end, to the end of Ash Ketchum's life. That was the only natural end, and we concluded that early on. Of course, it seems as though some fans continue to write about the children and the next generation, but those stories belong to the fans. Ours was only Ash's. We told it to the best of our ability, from his birth to his death, and I'm ever so grateful that we got to give him that life."
"You're leaving so much behind in your retirement and I wonder, is there any one thing that you'd like the people to remember about Pokémon or Ash Ketchum or your legacy?"
Ash was quiet. In his old age, he'd come to take his time a little more. The impulsive, rash Ash of his youth had been left behind, and now he was ponderous. "There is no right way to tell stories," he said finally. "I think that when we first started, myself, Misty, and Tess were arrogant enough to think that our way was the right way. The original show had gotten it wrong and we had to right it. But the truth is, that show was wonderful. And our show was wonderful. And every other story out there about Pokémon is equally wonderful. I'm lucky that the story I wanted to tell about these characters had the gift of a large, kind, and receptive audience. Not all stories get that. But they're no less valuable. Pokémon is such a gift. It provides an amazing world that we all have spent so much time playing in. You, sir, have you ever watched the show?"
The interviewer nodded. If he was taken aback that Ash had turned the tables to ask the questions, he had the professional veneer not to show it. "I grew up watching reruns."
"And did you play the games?"
"Some, not a lot."
"That's wonderful," Ash said. "I'm so happy to hear that. They say that generative pieces of art, the books, movies, television shows that inspire people to create themselves, these are sacred. Pokémon, for me, has been the gift to never stop giving. It's given me my wife, my livelihood, my dearest friends, and the ability to make change in this world. Now, it hasn't given all those things to most of its fans, but they too have received things. There's a reason Pokémon kept on coming back, that the new generations of kids kept playing the games. There's something magic about it. I'm still arrogant enough to like to think I was a part of that. But it will continue to be there after I'm gone as well. And that's the beauty of it."
"…So you'd like to say that Pokémon is for everyone?"
"Yes," Ash answered firmly. "It's yours. Take it and do with it what you will. I did just that for a long time and it's brought me much of the joy of my life. I hope it does the same for all of you."
"Well," the interviewer said, folding his legs and looking a great deal more comfortable. "I'd say that that's the end of our exclusive final interview with the inimitable Ash. Thank you, Ash, for speaking with us one more time."
"Yes," Ash said, also leaning back and relaxing, looking into the camera one last time. "Thank you as well."
A/N: Wow, this is surreal. First off, thanks to C'sMelody for beta reading this chapter for me. Though she hasn't betaed many of these chapters, she's been a great sounding board for multiple ideas, throughout this process and simply invaluable to me as a human being.
Secondly, regarding the use of real people in this story. Kunihiko Yuyama is really the chief director, Daiki Tomiyasu is really the deputy director, and Aya Matsui is really the head writer as of 2019. However, the personalities of these people was wholly fictionalized for this story and, tbh, I'm positive that I didn't depict their roles accurately. But we're going with it anyway!
Thirdly, I really wanted this last chapter to really be something special. A million years ago, I read an alphabet challenge by dinobot with a special Z chapter about a 'perfect' ending for the Pokémon anime. Emulating that idea has been sitting in the back of my mind for a long time, though I only had this crazy idea two months or so ago. It's not perfect. These characters are Japanese, and I definitely made them very, very American. I apologize for that. Also, there definitely would have been a complicated legal battle to come of all this that I just brushed under the rug. But please consider this my 'anime finale' attempt for Pokéshipping Week 2019, haha. It's a little odd, but this is how I would want it to go.
Finally. This is the longest WIP I've ever had. Longest over time, that is. I started this story my senior year of high school. Before I even knew what college I was going to. Then it came with me through all of college and now I'm post-college and have been living in NYC for over a year. It's taken me from childhood, 17, into adulthood, 23. I've used it as an amazing place to experiment. There are genres, styles, voices, and formats in this series that you won't find in any of my other stories. The freedom to play has been one of a kind. And even though this chapter has been 95% written for over a month, I can't believe that this series is now officially over. But I'm so happy I stuck to my goal of finishing it this year. I have so many exciting things slated to go up in 2020 and I can't wait.
Thank you so much to all of my readers and reviewers. I know these chapters are all so different that not all of them suit everyone's tastes, but I'm so happy people have given me a chance as my style has changed over the last 5+ years. If you stuck around all the way to the bottom of this author's note, thank you so very much. I hope you enjoyed and that you'll come back for my next venture. Hopefully it'll be coming out soon. If Ash's last words in this story are thank you, let them be mine as well. Thank you all.