A month after from Delia's visit Viridian city in search of her husband Giovanni.

The sun was beating high in the sky. It was a warm autumn day, but with a nice cold wind that caressed the children's cheeks as they ran. The trees were beginning to lose their leaves and some had their leafy branches colored yellow and red.

The sound of fast footsteps of two young boys and the strong, heavy footsteps of a Tauros mingled in the quiet atmosphere of the Pallet Town days countryside.

"Hurry up Ash!",Gary Oak yelled agitatedly at his partner. His face was flushed and a few beads of sweat were beginning to appear.

Behind the brown hair boy the son of Delia and Giovanni ran, as fast as his legs would allow him. Glancing from time to time over his shoulder to make out the huge annoying figure that was chasing them closely. The snorts of the Tauros made the dark-haired boy stand on end. The bovine pokemon flapped its three tails furiously as it tried to reach the children.

"Run, run faster", Gary yelled desperately.

Ash made one last effort trying to take longer steps. His black hair was dancing in the sun as he ran waving them. His heart was pounding in his chest and for a moment he thought he would break out. His legs were beginning to weaken, but he reached as best he could to his friend. The yellow cast on his arm prevented him from running normally so when Gary had him close to him he grabbed his hand and pulled him with him dragging him next to him. The children ran together, until they reached the edge of the road, both took a look at the river that about ten meters below it looked deep and dark blue.

"Hell!", Little Gary Oak yelled with a few beads of sweat running down his face that was outlined in frustration.

The Tauros was rapidly approaching them, eyes red in fury, waving their tails in the air and scraping the ground with their hooves showing their strength and courage. For a moment Ash thought in the pokemon coming up to them and throwing them away from an onslaught, they would fall into the river and maybe they would hit each other or even worse it would drown, was it a good swimmer? His mind traveled two summers back when his father visited them and they went to spend the day at the river on the outskirts of town. It was a quiet and cool place, he remembered the pokemon he looked at that time and he also remembered Giovanni holding him while he learned to float, on that occasion his father taught him to swim. Ash squeezed his eyes shut and without thinking more, grabbed Gary by the forearm and yanked them off the cliff.

"You're crazy", his longtime friend exclaimed.

"Stretch your legs!", Ash's voice sounded like a quick shot.

The water made a loud noise as the two child figures broke their resistance. And it flailed from side to side violently. Ash opened his eyes underwater, the rays of light piercing the water mass. He instinctively began to wave his arms and legs swimming upward, where the sun now looked like a luminous sphere across the water.

The river was colder now that autumn had begun. A flock of pidgeys flew over the nearby area, and the branches of some trees flapped lightly in a gust of wind. The bodies of the children surfaced. First he was the grandson of the pokemon researcher, followed by the little scion of the tough Viridian City gym leader. Gary and Ash took a big breath of oxygen into their lungs as they felt the cool Pallet Town air hit their faces as they emerged from the river water. They looked at each other with a face of surprise and mixed emotion. Then in an almost synchronized way they took a look up where the Tauros was watching them with a discouraged face, they watched it turn around and go back the way it came. The boys gave each other knowing looks again and began to laugh. Gary slapped on the river throwing water towards Ash who did not stay still and did the same while their laughter did not stop filling the environment.

They swam to shore and came out dripping water still agitated and tired from the race.

"That was very exciting," Gary said as he dropped into the green grass.

"I know!", The black-haired man exclaimed. "I told you that the Tauros would be upset if you tried to ride it!"

Ash sat cross-legged and began checking the cast on his arm. This one was totally wet and was leaking from the inside. Both boys' hair was dripping water and their clothes were very wet. Samuel Oak's grandson glanced at his friend who had his arm bent toward the ground trying to get as much water as possible from his cast. Gary smiled with amusement and stretched out on the grass allowing histo stroke the skin of his arms and legs.

"I didn't think you were going to throw us into the river Ash, it's the craziest thing you've ever done"

"Did you want the Taurus to catch us?", Ash replied in amusement.

"Well if I had a pokemon I would have given it a fight" He stood up looking at Ash "I'm going to be a great pokemon master" He declared with a fist in the air.

Little Gary Oak spoke with great confidence in himself what he passed on to his friend. Ash's chocolate eyes sparkled with excitement and forgetting his annoying cast, he jumped off the ground to stand next to Gary as well.

"Me too!" He declared intrepid.

Gary stopped in front of his partner and looked at him with determination, reached out his hand towards him to shake it with his, Ash looked at him confused.

"We will be rivals!" The boy in the purple shirt smiled, Ash did the same and shook his hand.

"Rivals!" The dark-haired little boy repeated. If Delia had seen that determined and emboldened face of her son, her heart would have melted at the great resemblance of character between him and his father.

Ash and Gary had known each other since they were little with diapers. When Delia went to live in Pallet Town with her son who was just a baby in arms, she found that her childhood friend had also recently had a little boy, who was only three months older than Ash.

Delia fondly remembered those first months back in Pueblo Paleta with her husband and son. Giovanni, who used to be so reserved and quiet, he decanted to pamper his baby and hang out with him. He more than once he had fallen asleep on the living room sofa with the child resting on his chest, moments like that filled the heart of the gym leader's wife with warm feelings.

They used to visit Professor Oak and his family. Sammy's wife was a lively and helpful young women who delighted Delia very much from their first meeting with her. The son of her childhood friend was a charming baby with gray eyes and brown hair. He was very much like his father and grandfather. Of those months in Pallet Twon Delia kept a photograph taken one afternoon at the professor's house. It was what she considered her family, her husband and her son, and her lifelong friends, the Oaks. In the photograph, two fathers were carrying their babies with their wives by their side. Giovanni with his always serious face and Sammy with a big smile from ear to ear. But time passed very quickly and those days dissolved like the steam from a cup of coffee in the air. Giovanni returned to Viridian City and Delia was left alone in her house with Ash. However, she had her friends close to her and that comforted her. She thought that raising her child in that quiet and welcoming environment had been the best option. The boys grew up together sharing family moments that they would cherish forever.

But not everything was flowers and colors, everything changed when Gary's mother fell ill when the child was only four years old. An illness that left her bedridden for months and from which she could not recover. Dark days came for the Oaks, the professor did everything he could to keep his son and grandson from going on with their lives, but that blow had been fatal for Sammy who turned cold and distant. Soon his son began to feel displaced. Delia couldn't do much for them and it tormented her. Sammy decided to leave Pallet Town, leaving behind his son and his father.

"I'm going to be gone for a while", Sammy's voice was cold.

"But… Gary needs you…", Delia waited, standing near the door to Sammy's office.

"He is a strong child, he does not need me more than he needed his mother, he will be fine with my father"

Those words made Delia want to beat the man in front of her. She couldn't believe what she was hearing from someone she thought she knew well. Which hurt her.

"I'm going to work on an investigation on legendary pokemon, it will be a wonder you'll see", he said agitated trying to make Delia understand what he believed was the right thing to do.

"No Sammy, this is not about your job. You're just running away…" her chocolate eyes looked at him in disappointment. "I hope you think better of this", she looked one last time at her friend and left the office. Outside, Ash was waiting for her playing with Gary in the living room.

"My sweet, it's time to go home", Ash stood up and took his mother's hand.

"Are you leaving?", Gary said with a small voice, looking at Delia with pity.

The woman leaned over and hugged the little boy who was already teary-eyed. That little face of him filled her with tenderness and she wanted to be able to hold Gary in her arms and not allow anything to hurt him.

"We have to go home Gary, but I promise we'll be back tomorrow and you can come see us whenever you want." She wiped the tears from the boy's face with the palm of her hand and kissed his cheeks. Gary smiled calmer and nodded.

Sammy Oak left of Pallet Town leaving behind his son with whom he now had little communication. He became a researcher dedicated to the study of little-known and legendary pokemon. Delia never left little Oak alone whom she adored as a nephew. She was very fond of the professor who had been her mentor and a great friend of her parents and also Sammy, although they no longer spoke.

Both boys liked to run around the gardens and vast fields, full of pokemon that Professor Oak had. They used to have fun playing games and investigating while walking around. Gary was a very daring, stubborn and proud boy and on the part of him Ash used to be very considerate, cheerful and adventurous. They complemented each other very well and whenever they could they spent it together, from summer afternoons eating ice cream in Delia's garden or movie days where they were accompanied by the professor and the black-haired mother.

Ash used to talk a lot about his father to Gary. Giovanni was like a hero to his son who looked at him with eyes of greatness and like someone invincible. To the boy he was an incredible gym leader who never lost or gave up. However, the brown haired boy rarely spoke to his friend about his father and although he will have a hard time accepting it he envied in a good way that Ash had such an amazing one in his own words.

"Mom is going to be upset", Ash said walking alongside Gary through the lush trees of a small forest. After letting his clothes dry for a while in the sun, they decided to go home as the star king began to descend on the horizon.

"Don't be a crybaby", Gary laughed. "Anyway, that cast will be removed tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, but ..." Ash replied, "look at this thing! Besides, if Mom knows we jumped from so high she will scold us".

"Then let's not tell him", Gary smiled and put his index finger against his mouth as a sign of silence. "At least you won't need that cast anymore, so it'll be more fun".

"I would have liked dad to sign it", Ash commented, patting his cast. That now it was dirty and wet.

"It's strange that he didn't come to see you after you fell"

"Mom says he has a lot of work, I only saw him one night when Mom went to look for him in city. I forgot to ask him to sign my cast then".

"Your father don't come to town that often anymore, do you?", Gary asked as they walked over a fallen tree.

He held out his hand to his friend to help him climb over the tree blocking the path, most likely it would have fallen in the storm from a few days ago.

"He always calls us, but since before that night he visited us, he has been less", Ash answered, looking up where he could make out faint rays of sunlight that sneaked through the leaves of the trees. "I think that It's been a month since the last time I saw him, , I hope he comes back soon", he said while smiling.

"Well at least you look at him from time to time, I haven't seen my father in a long time", Gary's tone of voice sounded melancholy.

They continued on their way through the forest, Gary had a stick in his hands with that hit the air playing time by time removed branches that were in the way. Ash had always thought that his friend was very strong, but he also understood that it hurt Gary not to have a mother with him and that it bothered him that his father had chosen his job to be by his side.

It was something else they both shared, absent parents. Although for Ash it was different because he grew up watching his father come and go from home. He used to understand the situation and thought that the time he could spend with his father should be made the most of it. Sometimes it was difficult for him not to be able to see him every day as he wanted, but he could call him and hear the stories of him in the gym. Instead, Gary he did not look at his father, but he didn't talk much to him either.

When Giovanni came home he always brought gifts for Ash and his mother and they spent whole days together, playing, laughing, sharing like a normal family. But he always had to return to Viridian City. At nights Ash thought a lot about the idea of living with his father permanently. But he knew that he and his mother should be in Pallet Town because there was their house and their friends. He couldn't live happily in the city without seeing his friend Gary, and Professor Oak every day, who was like a grandfather to him and taught him about pokemon. Ash also thought that soon in a few years Professor Oak would give him a pokemon companion to start his journey. Ash imagined that maybe then he could go to the city and compete against his father. So he thought about preparing a lot to do his best and get a medal from his father. So him would be very proud of him, the gym leader's little son thought.

The sun was setting almost completely on the horizon, the environment had an orange hue. Those were the beautiful autumn afternoons in Paleta Town that the townspeople boasted about. Gary and Ash walked out of the woods on the outskirts of town. A dusty road would lead them back home. They stopped for a while to watch the sunset, which was drawn like a beautiful painting similar to the ones that hung on the walls of the Oak house. The two boys walked together for a while while chatting about their day which had started with lunch at Delia's house. Then a visit to the professor's laboratory and finished with them walking through the forest of Pueblo Paleta as so many times before. When they reached the fork in the path that would send them one way to the little white house and the other to the ridge where Professor Oak's farm was, they both smiled with almost no light around them.

"I think I'll go home", Ash said in a tired tone. "My mom must be waiting for me by now".

"Yeah, my grandfather must be worried too, it was fun today", Gary put a hand on the back of his neck.

"I'll see you tomorrow after I go to the hospital, Gary", Ash smiled pointing to his yellowish cast.

"Okay, I'll be in Grandpa's lab helping with the pokemon", Following this he shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "See you later then"

"Yeah see you soon", They both turned and walked in opposite directions.

Ash and Gary had the same dream, to become pokemon masters. Although for different reasons. One wanted to be one to make his father proud and be like him. Instead, the other wanted to follow a different path from his father. He wanted to train and become strong next to his pokemon, he did not want to study them. Only time would tell if they would achieve their goals.

Delia took a look through the window of her room, she hoped that Ash would come home soon, it was late and she didn't like that he was alone outside when it got dark. She looked at the clock on the wall. Seven minutes had passed since she came out of the bathroom. Her hands were shaking. She have to go back for the plastic toothpick waiting for her on the toilet. After a few days with discomforts that she thought were due to a stomach disease. She decided to do a home pregnancy test. Doubt gnawed at her. She looked at the plastic toothpick and took it with her eyes closed. When she dared to open them two little pink lines made her shudder from head to toe. She put a hand to her chest and felt the floor under her feet move. She gripped the sink tightly and closed her eyes trying to ease the dizziness that was beginning to threaten her. Well she thought, she was a married woman and she was pregnant, it was good news, right? She couldn't say that it surprised her. But if she made her think of many things that made her uneasy.

"Mom! I'm back," she heard Ash's voice calling her.

"Alright darling, now I see you", she screamed leaving the plastic toothpick in the trash can.

She wet her face, the warm water helping to calm her thoughts. She looked at herself in the mirror before leaving to meet her son. She thought of calling her husband that night, but the idea quickly faded from her head. She was not the best thing to talk on the phone, she preferred to see him in person. However, Delia was not able to see her husband face to face because Giovanni had not returned to Pallet Town, claiming that he had important things to attend to in the city such as the gym and the reopening of the casino in Azulona, among other things.

Present.

"Boss, the team we sent to watch over Cipriani was discovered"

Giovanni tensed and a wrinkle creased his forehead. He was frowning a lot lately. If he continued like this he would grow old in the blink of an eye. He swiveled in his chair to the window behind him. He stood silently looking at the natural landscape of Mahogany city, clasped his hands in front of him.

"Do we have casualties?", He asked in a calm tone to his subordinate who was waiting standing near the door.

"No sir, the team we sent was of few men and they were able to escape, only one is serious. They all receive medical attention at our facilities".

"I'll see they later, you can leave", The guard left the office.

Three weeks before, he had learned the name of the man who manipulated the threads of the mysterious men that moved through Kanto invading the territories of Team Rocket. He commissioned his executive Petrel to investigate Leo Cipriani who turned out to be a businessman just like him. This man mainly moves in Hoenn and used to appear in finance magazines as a great investor. He was the owner of several charitable hospitals and had recently purchased a research laboratory in Kanto, and was beginning to do business in the region and also in Johto. After Atlas did not find the report about his family on Route 7, where Cipriani's man had told him it was, Giovanni began to worry more about this matter. He didn't know if that report had gotten to Cipriani or if it was just an ace up the sleeve of the guy they captured to let go.

In addition, after returning from the casino in Azulona city, he had received a call from his manager who was also a member of Team Rocket, he had informed him about the visit of an International Police agent who was very interested in talking with customers and also wanted an appointment to chat with the owner. Giovanni was now dealing with two problems at the same time on the one hand Cipriani and on the other this agent, Looker, who did not give him a good feeling.

His men hadn't accomplished much by following Leo Cipriani and the Black Knights continued to sneak into his territory, interfering with his business. He was starting to get fed up with this situation, and he knew that he would very surely end up meeting Leo Cipriani head-on soon, so he should be prepared. This man seemed to mock his intelligence by always being one step ahead of him. The crime lord was feeling upset and was making it known against anyone who will approach him in recent days, he was more sullen and did not sleep well at night. He hadn't been back to Pallet Town for almost three months now. Giovanni remembered with longing the last time he was with them. The quiet dinner he shared with his wife and son, feeling so relaxed. He had cooked for them that time, the Viridian gym specialty as he called his spaghetti peperoncino. Since then he had only called them on the phone a few times and those calls were now being delayed further and further by the whole mess with the Black Knights and their infuriating puppeteer. The decision not to return was due to the fear he felt that Leo Cipriani will find them and use them against him. He didn't want his mood to affect them either.

He looked at the phone on the desk, he really wanted to hear the sweet voice of his wife and the anecdotes of his son. He rummaged in the inside pockets of his coat for a moment and took out the keys to his apartment, laid them on the desk and then took out his cell phone but it wasn't the one he needed. He eventually found his other cell phone the one he used to use to communicate solely with his family. Upon unlocking the screen a photograph of his son and his wife appeared. A smile crossed his face without realizing it. He waited patiently as the call connected, very attentive to the sound on the line. When he heard Delia's voice on the other side, he felt the fatigue and stress of those days leave his body.

"Giovanni?"

"Yes dear", He leaned back in his executive chair and put his feet up on the desk.

"How are you? You haven't called in a long time", Delia's tone of concern did not go unnoticed by her husband.

"Sorry, there were a lot of problems to attend to here", Giovanni closed his eyes as he focused on the voice of his woman on the other end of the line.

"But are you okay, Gio?", Delia was laying on the couch in the living room with Ash next to her who had fallen asleep while watching a movie.

"Yes, don't worry, how are you two?".

"We're fine...", Delia paused while stroking her son's hair. "Ash misses you a lot, we haven't seen you for months ..."

"I'm going to make it up to you, I promise… but I can't go home yet".

"I need to see you soon, I need to tell you something important", Delia's voice contained a slight tone of concern.

"What happens?", Giovanni fiddled with a pen in his free hand, passing it between his fingers.

"I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I wanted it to be in person", She hesitated for a moment. "'I am..."

A knock on Giovanni's door made him abruptly cut off the call and quickly collect himself in his chair.

"Go ahead", he replied with annoyance.

"Sir…", An agent poked his head through the door as he looked into the boss's cold and angry gaze. He gulped. "I'm sorry sir, but Dr. Fuji is here".

Giovanni nodded and waved his hand for him to stand back, the agent left. The gym leader looked at the cell phone in his hand and cursed under his breath. He hoped he could call Delia again later and apologize for cutting off the call. After going through some old files of his mother, he had found an old investigation into a mysterious pokemon named Mew. He was very interested in its psychic ability and overwhelming power. So he wanted to conclude with that idea of his mother and create for himself the strongest pokemon with which to face any challenge.

Delia put the phone on the table next to the sofa and stroked her son's hair again. Her call had been cut off just as she was about to tell her husband about the news of her pregnancy. She sighed wearily. She then she began to slowly call her son to wake up and go to sleep in his bed.

"Mommy?", Ash said sleepily as he rubbed his face.

"Come on honey, you must go to sleep in your bed".

"Good, good," he stood up and walked with his mother holding hands. "Mommy I dreamed of Daddy."

"What did you dream of?", He asked him as they climbed the stairs.

"That she came to see us and didn't leave anymore."

Delia gently squeezed her son's cheek. She didn't say anything else, it was a very nice dream. She took Ash to sleep and that night she too dreamed of Giovanni staying by her side. She dreamed of him carrying Ash while she held a small bundle of blankets in her arms with a wide smile on her face. It was a nice dream.