Hello, everyone. Northstar Pokeshipper here. I have some bad news for you all. On April 17th, 2020, at 6:00 in the evening, central standard time, Grandpa Northstar just passed away from COVID-19. (I wanted to post this the Saturday after he died, but I was focused on Ashachu's Crush for that week.) That means I no longer have any grandparents alive on my dad's side of the family. And that got me thinking: how would Ash react to losing the closest thing to a grandfather (and to a father, in that matter), Professor Samuel Oak? Well, he would undoubtedly need comfort from his friends. More specifically, his best one, Misty. How will she help Ash out during a tough time of his life? Well, you have to read to find out. Now, time for our very-special chapter of the 151 Pokeshipping Stories.
Misty Waterflower was in her room in Cerulean City one beautiful evening. She was resting after a long day of fighting trainers in her gym and was looking forward to relaxing. Just then, she got a call on her cell phone.
"I wonder who it is," she said as she looked at the phone. It was Ash. Her friend of so many years. She wondered why he would be calling her. "It must be urgent," she thought as she picked up the phone. "Hello?" she asked.
"Hey Misty," Ash said slowly. Misty listened on. It sounded like Ash was… crying.
"Ash?!" she asked her friend, "What is wrong?"
There was a long silence before Ash sighed and broke the news to her through his tears. "Didn't you hear it?"
"No," Misty said, "What is it?"
"Professor Oak. He's dead!" Ash explained.
Misty gasped and dropped her phone. Thank Arceus, it fell onto the round tummy of her Marill, who was sleeping and bounced back up. She caught it as Ash explained what happened.
"He did not eat much over the past week or so," he said. "So Gary took him to the hospital in the hopes that he would get better. Unfortunately, the nurses told him he would not make it. Gary was saddened by the news."
"What did he say to him?" Misty asked Ash.
"He said that he would take good care of the lab for him and that he loves him. According to him, Oak's final words before passing away were, 'Thank you, my grandson. I love Pokemon, I love all the trainers I taught over the years, but most importantly, I love you.' Then he took a nap that he never woke up from." Ash's eyes then burst into tears as he cried like he never did it before, "I never even got the chance to say goodbye to him!"
"Well, you will get the chance once the funeral happens," Misty pointed out, "When will it happen?"
"Tomorrow," Ash said, "And if you can come, please do, as I need all of the moral support I can get right now."
"Alright then," Misty said, "See you tomorrow. Goodbye." she then hung up before waking her, Marill up.
"Ma?" Marill asked, wondering what was going on, and why her trainer was waking her up.
"We need to get to Pallet Town," Misty explained. "Ash is distraught and really needs us to come and help him."
"Ash?" her ears perked up at the sound of his name. She smiled, "Yay!"
Misty smiled as she picked her up. She then did everything she needed to do to get ready for tomorrow. Misty packed a couple of sets of clothes and other things she needed while in Pallet Town. Then, Misty asked her sisters to look after the gym during the time she was gone. Misty then headed off. Even though she had a few hours of daylight to work with, she had to get to Pallet Town to comfort her best friend!
The next morning, Ash was sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. Although his mom would be happy to make him anything he wanted, he was not in the mood to eat anything. But Delia insisted he eats SOMETHING, so he settled on a bowl of corn flakes and a cup of hot chocolate.
"Upset about Oak?" Delia asked as she looks at her soon. He hardly touched his breakfast.
Ash nods, "Yeah." He felt a tear roll down his cheek, "I didn't think I would have to say goodbye to the closest thing I had to a father so soon…"
"Well, he has been getting old," Delia told Ash, "And people die every day."
"Yeah," Ash said, "That does not stop it from hurting." When he finished his bowl of cereal, he heard a knock on the door. He got up to go and answer it. He smiled when he saw who it was: Misty. She was standing there with her Marill in her arms.
"Marill!" Marill said with a smile on her face, happy to see her trainer's friend.
"Hey, Marill," Ash said as he looked at the orange-haired girl, "And hello, Misty. I am glad that you came here to help me out."
Misty nods, "You are welcome," she said before asking where Pikachu was.
"Oh, he is already at the lab with the rest of my Pokemon. Oak said in his will that he wanted both humans and Pokemon to attend his final farewell." Ash explained to his friend.
"Alright then," Misty said, "Then it is a good thing I brought some of my Pokemon!"
Ash nods before the two trainers headed out to Oak's lab.
When the duo got to Oak's lab, they saw it was pretty crowded. There were a lot of people who were in attendance, mostly people notable in the field of Pokemon. All of the other seven gym leaders of Kanto were there. As were most of the other renowned professors from other regions. Some of the students of Samuel were there as well. Misty recognized two of them as Serena and Go, as Ash told her a lot about both of them. And of course, as this was the funeral of Professor Oak, most of his family members were there as well. The person who would succeed Samuel, Gary, was crying the most. Ash and Misty saw an adult talking to him. They had no idea who he was.
"Excuse me?" Ash said as he walked towards Gary, "Who is the man you are talking to, Gary?"
Gary looked up and wiped his eyes. "Oh, hey Ashy-boy," he said. Although Ash hated being called that when he was little, he was more tolerant of the nickname now. "Dad, I want you to meet my friend, Ash Ketchum."
"Hello," the man said to Ash as he offers him his hand, "My name is Benjamin Oak, but most people call me Blue."
Ash gasped. He was familiar with that name, as his dad told him a lot about Blue through the letters he wrote. "Blue as in the rival of my father, Richard 'Red' Ketchum?"
Blue nods, "Yeah. I am surprised you knew that. When most people hear my name today, they associate me with the fact I was champion for only 20 minutes. Not days, not hours, minutes. The title was taken from me by your dad, Ash."
Ash chuckled. He knew that as well, from the song that he learned that listed all of Kanto's champions in chronological order. "Yeah, but I like to talk about the more positive things than the negative ones. I would dislike it if people only talk about my Charizard falling asleep during my first league. I would also hate it if they also talk about me losing to a rookie who brought five Pokemon to a six on six battle. That way, no one will remember my successes. After all, I was the one who beat the Battle Frontier, the first champion of Alola, and the winner of the Orange League."
"Very well then," Blue said. The two then proceeded to talk about how Oak positively affected their lives, with Misty and Gary joining in. Misty smiled, happy that Ash had so many happy memories of Oak. Just then, there was a knock on the door of the lab. Everyone turned around to see the door open. In the doorway was a man in a red jacket and jeans. He had a black beard that covered most of his face and a lot of muscles. His untidy hair was kept under a baseball hat. This man was Richard Ketchum, Ash's dad.
"Hello, everyone! Am I late?" he asked everyone. Ash put his conversation with Gary on hold and ran towards the man in the doorway.
"Dad! It has been so long!" Ash said as he threw his arms around the man.
Richard chuckled, "It sure has been, son. Sorry I could not have been in your life more."
Misty then walked up to the father and son. "So, are you Ash's dad?"
"I sure am," Richard said as he looked at the girl and gasped. She looked so much like Micheal, the gym leader before the Waterflower sisters took over the gym, as well as their dad. "Are you, by any chance, Micheal's child? You looked just like him."
"The youngest one, yeah," Misty admitted with a smile, "My name is Misty, by the way."
Richard smiled, "That's great to hear! How has he been doing recently?"
"Didn't you hear?" Misty said with a gasp before tearing up, "My daddy died trying to protect me from Beedrill!"
Red gasped at his mistake and hugged her, "Well, I am so sorry to hear that, Misty." He was embarrassed by the mistake that he made. He came down from the mountains after years of training after learning that his Professor and mentor died. And finding out that his best friend died some time between when he first went up and now.
"If you want to, I can bring you to his grave after we are done here." Misty offered.
"Thanks," Red said, "I would love that from my son's girlfriend."
Misty blushes, as did Ash.
"Dad!" Ash said as he and Misty ran towards where Oak's body was being displayed for all to see for one final time.
"So Ash," Misty asked the black-haired trainer, "What was your favorite memory of Professor Oak?"
Ash smiled. He knew there was only one answer to the question. "Him giving me Pikachu," Ash said as the boy smiles at the memory. During the moment, he was embarrassed that he woke up late and missed the chance to get a conventional starter like Gary did. But now, Ash could not imagine what it would be like if he ended up getting a stater that was NOT Pikachu. But he doubted that other people were the same, as he heard of stories written by his fans of him getting other starters. While he never read any of them, being a very busy trainer and all, they sounded interesting.
"That is great to hear, Ash," Misty said as she looked at Oak's corpse.
"Anyways," Ash said, "What was your favorite memory of Oak?"
Misty was silent for a moment. She did not have an answer to the question as she did not know Oak, like Ash did. The only reason Misty even came to this funeral was to give her boyfriend emotional support. But how would he react when she said she did not have any good memories of the only Professor that Ash ever knew?
"Uh," she said, "Helping him and Tracey out at the lab!"
"You helped them at the lab?!" Ash asked with wide eyes.
"Yep!" Misty said with a smile, even though she knew the face was not appropriate for the setting. "Oak asked me to help check to see if the water starters were ready to be given out to trainers while you were in Kalos!"
Ash nods, "Interesting…" he said, "Tell me more about this."
Misty nods as she tells him about what 'happened' when she went to go and help Oak and Tracey. She talked about how Oak told her a lot of information about water Pokemon that she never knew before. She was happy to get the info from Oak, and that helped her with new strategies in the gym.
"The only negative I can think of is Tracey being really creepy around me," she said, "I dislike it."
"Well, you are beautiful," Ash said, "And Tracey was a top candidate for your boyfriend before we started dating."
"That's true," Misty said with a nod as she looked at Oak's dead body. And despite knowing very well that he cannot hear her, she whispered in his ear, "Thank you for the advice, Professor."
After an hour, Ash, Misty, and the others have talked about all of there memories of Oak. Now it was time for them all to take one last look at him before his casket was closed forever. As per the wishes of the Professor, he would be cremated by his Dragonite's Flamethrower attack. Oak's ashes were then to be scattered across the perimeter of the reserve. It where he looked after so many Pokemon for all of the years he was the Pokemon Professor of the Kanto region. Ash felt a tear roll down his cheek as Gary closes the casket of his grandfather.
"I cannot believe he is really gone, Misty," Ash said.
"Don't worry," Misty said, "When I lost my daddy, I had no friends to help me through the difficult time. You do, Ash."
"Are you using a line from a sitcom just to make me feel better, Misty?" Ash asked the orange-haired girl from Cerulean.
"Maybe," Misty said with a smile as the casket was closed. Gary stepped back and told the other funeral attendees to do the same. He then gave the Professor's grieving Dragonite the thumbs up.
"You can burn it now, Dragonite!" Gary said. Dragonite gave a sad nod as he faced the casket of his former trainer. With a sigh, he used Flamethrower on the wooden box that contained the dead human. It caught fire as everyone watched. Ash was crying into Misty's shoulders.
"Do you want me to stay for a couple more days, Ash?" Misty asked him.
"That would be nice," Ash said as Oak's casket was reduced to a pile of soot. "All of the support that you can give to me would be very much welcomed."
Misty smiled and gave him a kiss. Ash smiled and returned it. He was lucky to have a girlfriend like Misty. With her, he would never be alone in the times of his greatest crisis.
And with that, we have finished the twenty-third chapter of this series! This week's question is this one. How close do you think this is pandemic to breaking you? My answer is that it already broke me. First, my Disney World trip had to be postponed until November at the earliest. I then had to do school work with little understanding of what I am supposed to do. And as mentioned before, I lost Grandpa Northstar to the disease. And to make matters worse, the Sunday after Granpa died, the Pokemon Anime decided to halt production due to the coronavirus! Doesn't Game Freak know we need a thirty-minute distraction from the real world every week to see what Ash is up to?! Way to go, Game Freak. *slow clap* My trust in you has reached an all-time low! Anyways, if you want some GOOD news, be sure to come back next week! It is going to be at the beginning of the story I planned for THIS week. Anyways, I will see you all next time, farewell Grandpa, and dare to Pokeship!
This story is for Grandpa William Northstar (June 25th, 1931- April 17th, 2020)... And everyone else who lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will ALL be missed dearly.