I think this is my longest chapter yet! Anyway, I'm trying to work on
chapter 5, but since I just got a new pet bunny. that might be more of a
priority. No matter, I should have ample time to work on it though over
the weekend. Enjoy! ^^ Reviews welcomed!
Ties to Family
Ch. 4- Quality Time with Dad
As Ash and friends, and family, set off for the Pokemon Center, a small, pink pokemon appeared a few hundred feet behind them.
"Jiggly?" it said slowly, watching them walk away.
It had apparently missed all the excitement with Team Rocket; which left it very confused.
"Jigglypuff!" it said curiously, beginning to follow more closely behind the group.
Ash was talking to his father about his badges and his most recent gym match at Blackthorn. Pikachu was no longer riding on Ash's shoulder, but walking angrily next to him, shooting angry glances at Ash's father.
Jigglypuff situated itself next to Misty as they walked.
"Oh, look! It's Jigglypuff!" Misty said, interrupting Ash's long-winded account of his battle with Clair.
Ash and the others looked over at it.
"Why does it always follow us anyway?" Ash asked aloud.
Brock stopped to think. "Maybe it just likes being around us..."
Misty's eyes brightened, "Maybe it wants me to catch it!"
Ash cleared his throat loudly, "You know, I WAS talking to my Dad, who I haven't seen in a long, long time!!"
Misty went quiet. "Oh yeah, sorry!" she said embarrassedly.
Ash went back to talking and began imitating Charizard's Seismic Toss, "And then he threw it like this... roaaar!... and then before I could even realize how powerful he had become with all the training in the Charicific Valley, it was all over! Maybe sometime later you can give me some tips Dad."
Jigglypuff puffed up largely, looking angry. "PUFF?!" it said, making Ash stop in his tracks.
"What?" said Ash, looking mildly puzzled.
Jigglypuff took one look from Ash to Adam, and immediately went running off in the direction it came from.
"What, was that about?" said Misty, watching Jigglypuff's figure disappear on the horizon.
Ash shook his head. "I dunno... do you?" he asked Adam.
He too shook his head, "Haven't the faintest idea..."
--------------------------------------------------------
As they got to the Pokemon Center, Ash excitedly rushed to the phone.
"What're you doing?" asked Misty.
"Calling my Mom," said Ash, looking as if it were the single dumbest question she could ever ask. He dialed with ease, and then received a surprise when Tracey answered the phone.
"Oh hi Ash!" Tracey said, looking happy to see him, "It's nice to see you guys!"
Ash looked confused, "Tracey, where's my mom? She's usually there at this time of the day..."
Tracey smiled. "Oh don't worry Ash, your mom just went on a trip, along with Professor Oak, to a small resort island in the Orange Islands called Apricorn Island. She won't be back for a week at least."
"Huh? How'd she get enough money for that?" said a still confused Ash.
"Well, it was kinda odd... a group calling themselves the 'Moms Who Have Sons Who Want To Be Pokemon Masters Group' said that she won this sweepstakes. Sounded kinda fishy to me; but when they said Professor Oak could go with them, I figured it was okay."
Adam slapped his hand to his face. 'Moms Who Have Sons Who Want To Be Pokemon Masters Group?' he thought to himself, 'Idiots! Why am I surrounded by such half-wits? I'm surprised nothing's gone wrong so far in this plan!'
"Something wrong, Mr. Ketchum?" Misty asked, noticing his struggling.
"What?" he said, "No.. no.. I'm just getting a bit ill feeling from being hungry... can we eat soon Son?"
"Oh.. yeah!" said Ash, turning to look out the window toward a nice restaurant that he was planning to show his dad.
"I'll call you later sometime Tracey.... by the way, what're you doing at my house? Shouldn't you be at the lab?"
Tracey smiled, "Well, I just finished feeding the pokemon at the lab, so I came over here to invite Mimie over to stay with me so it won't get lonely!"
"Oh... great... now my mom has you calling that thing 'Mimie' too...." said Ash, looking utterly disgusted.
Adam piped up, "Well, your mother always did have a thing with nick-names!"
Pikachu glared menacingly at Adam, "Pi..."
"Uh... Pikachu!" said Ash, staring reproachfully at Pikachu, "Anyway, see ya later Tracey!"
"Bye Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Togepi, and, er, sir!"
"Bye!" the rest of them said in unison.
Ash hung up the phone. "Okay, let's get something to eat!"
Together, they all walked into the small restaurant across from the Pokemon Center. It was a little too small, and they couldn't find a table large enough, so the had to split into two groups; Ash and his father sat at a table with Brock, and Misty sat by herself with Pikachu and Togepi.
"Oh that's okay!" she said, when Ash asked her to sit at the other table, "I'd love some nice quality time with Pikachu and Togepi!"
Ash looked a bit confused, "Uh, gee, I thought you'd be really mad..."
"Not at all!" she said cheerfully. The truth was, she really didn't want to sit alone, but she didn't want Ash to have anything ruin his day with his dad. She would've wanted the same respect had her parents suddenly shown up. In fact, she envied Ash for having now spent time with both of his parents; something that she would probably never get to do.
Misty took her seat next to Pikachu and Togepi. Togepi was in the baby seat, waving around a little piece of bread happily.
Pikachu was still sulking. 'Here's my chance to find out what's wrong with Pikachu!' Misty thought slyly.
Ash, Adam, and Brock al sat at a small table, and waited for the waitress to bring them the menus.
"So," began Ash, "Why'd you want to see me anyway?"
Adam looked puzzled, "I thought I told you, I wanted to see how much you've grown."
"I know that, but why now?" he said, looking interested.
"Well, I picked now because I knew I'd be passing close by you. I just called your mother a few weeks ago, and she said that you were probably nearing the end of your journey in Johto soon. So, I decided to take my chances, and leave the note for you in the Pokemon Center."
"Wow, that's pretty thought out... and lucky!" said Ash, sounding impressed.
"Speaking of lucky!!" said Brock loudly, goggling at the waitress bringing their menus.
Ash rolled his eyes.
"Oh thank you so very much lovely maiden!" said Brock, as the poor girl handed him the menu.
Adam chuckled, "What about you Ash, you want to oggle at the poor thing too?"
"Huh? You mean like Brock? Nah, I don't do that kind of stuff... Brock's just weird..."
Brock turned his head quickly to face Ash.
"Oh really?!" he said savagely, "What about Giselle? And Tracey told me about someone called... Melody? And then there was the time Misty wore that yellow bikini... And the time Misty dressed up for the Summer Festival... And the time Misty--"
"Okay okay! Shut up! She'll hear you!!" Ash whispered, looking to see if Misty had heard anything.
Adam forced a laugh. 'Ugh... I hate laughing at stupid childish jokes....'
Misty, trying to ignore that fact that she heard both hers and Melody's names in the same sentence, looked curiously at Pikachu.
"What's wrong with you Pikachu?" she asked.
"Pi?" said Pikachu, surprised that she was curious to know, unlike Ash.
"Pikapi pika ka chu!" he said sorrowfully, pointing at Ash's dad at the other table.
"I don't understand... why do you not like Ash's dad?" Misty asked, getting to the root of the matter.
"Pi pika Pikapi chu!" he said, hoping that Misty would get it.
"I don't think you're being fair, I mean, he's only just got here. Why don't you give him a chance?"
"PIKA!" he said loudly.
"Shhh!" Misty whispered, starting to get angry, "Look Pikachu, there's no reason to get all upset! It's not like Ash's father is some mass-murderer or something! He's just a dad! And you're not going to get anywhere with Ash if you keep insulting his father!"
Pikachu slumped in his seat. Why would no one understand him? He wished that Meowth was there to translate for him... but then again, Meowth's probably on Giovanni's side... What was he gonna do?
Togepi felt sorry for Pikachu. "Togi togi?" it said, offering Pikachu the last of its bread piece.
At the other table, Adam was now busy telling the story of how he won his Kanto badges. Ash listened to every word with pure delight.
"So that's how you won the Volcano Badge?" said Brock in an awed voice.
"What about Sabrina and the Rising Badge?" asked Ash.
"Well, that one was particularly hard to do... but with some help from my Persian... I eventually won."
"Persian? What pokemon is that?" asked Ash curiously.
"It's the evolved form of Meowth, here, I'll show you." Adam brought out a pokeball and in a flash of white light a Persian emerged.
"See, it may not be my strongest pokemon, but it certainly is my personal favorite."
"My favorite's Pikachu," said Ash, with a sad look on his face, "Too bad he doesn't like you."
"He'll get over me," said Adam kindly, "Maybe he's just a little jealous that you're paying so much attention to me..."
Ash glanced over to Pikachu, "Yeah... I guess so..."
'Ugh...' thought Giovanni, 'Why do people like him always care so much about their pokemon? They're meant to serve our purposes, not be our friends. What a way to waste the energy of a powerful pokemon... on friendship... and love...'
He watched Ash's face as he peered over sadly at Pikachu.
'Perhaps those two incompetents were right... I might not be able to persuade Ash to join... no matter, if he refuses, I'll just have to steal his pokemon. But we'll see. I might actually convince him... I've done it to others before... why not this little boy? Besides, it would be the perfect revenge...'
Brock just sat there, watching Adam's expressions closely.
After everyone finished eating, Ash and company decided to go on a walk to enjoy the beautiful sunny day.
"It's perfect!" said Misty, taking in the scenery.
Pikachu was still walking a ways from Ash.
Ash sighed.
"Uh, can we stop here? I need to talk to Pikachu," he said to Adam and Brock.
And with that, he motioned for Pikachu to follow him away from the group.
"Pikachu... look, I know I haven't paid much attention to you since my Dad came," Ash paused, wondering which was the best way to phrase it, "But there's no reason to be afraid that I won't ever pay attention to you! He'll probably just want to leave in couple of days anyway..."
Pikachu looked at Ash. Then at the ground. Ash looked so sad about all this... How could he really keep making his best friend feel this way? But if Giovanni was up to something... But what if he really is Ash's Dad? But then why all the make-up? Maybe that's what he normally looks like and he just changes his looks for Team Rocket...? Pikachu didn't know what to believe. It was all so confusing!
"So," Ash said, finally breaking Pikachu's concentration, "Will you just try to be nice to him?"
Pikachu reluctantly nodded. But he would be keeping an eye out for anything suspicious...
Meanwhile, Adam took this time to ask Brock and Misty about their families. "That was, um, interesting Brock... how about you Misty?" asked Adam, after Brock had told him about his less-than-sane parents.
Misty easily replied, "They left like you did. Except, they left right after I was born, not when I was two. I don't remember them at all, but my sisters do. They tell me that my parents had some crazy idea about catching, or using, I don't remember which, a legendary water pokemon in some far-off land... That's about it."
"Hmm..." said Adam, "Seeing me come back to Ash probably makes you a bit jealous, right?"
Misty looked a bit flustered, "No, of course not! I'm very happy for Ash!"
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset..." said Adam, a dark smile on his face.
Brock just stood watching, taking it all in. Thinking quietly to himself.
Ash came back a moment later; Pikachu perched happily, yet not relaxed, on his shoulder.
"What's goin on guys...?" he asked, seeing Misty's embarrassed face.
"Nothing," said Misty quickly, she didn't want Ash to know that she was jealous...
Brock said nothing, knowing that if Misty had wanted Ash to know, she would have just told him.
Just then, Adam's cell phone went off. "Oh, excuse me, I must take this call..."
He walked off behind the trees next to them, so that no one could hear.
"Sir," said his assistant's voice on the phone, "We have sensors that indicate Jessie and James in your area... I don't know how they got there after you Hyper Beamed 'em, but they're there. I just thought you might like to know..."
"I can't have those two around me... they might blow my cover. They almost already did from their bad acting skills earlier... I will deal with them tonight, after dinner."
"What about the brats? Won't they follow you?"
"I'll make sure none of them do... and if by some chance they do... I won't be responsible for what happens..."
"Right sir."
"Good-bye."
"Goo--"
Click. Giovanni cut her off, quickly went back to Ash and friends, and continued walking with them.
"Come on!" said Ash eagerly, "I want to take you to this city's best attraction: the Mountain Town Amusement Park!"
"Oh... goodie..." said Adam, looking absolutely not thrilled.
Ties to Family
Ch. 4- Quality Time with Dad
As Ash and friends, and family, set off for the Pokemon Center, a small, pink pokemon appeared a few hundred feet behind them.
"Jiggly?" it said slowly, watching them walk away.
It had apparently missed all the excitement with Team Rocket; which left it very confused.
"Jigglypuff!" it said curiously, beginning to follow more closely behind the group.
Ash was talking to his father about his badges and his most recent gym match at Blackthorn. Pikachu was no longer riding on Ash's shoulder, but walking angrily next to him, shooting angry glances at Ash's father.
Jigglypuff situated itself next to Misty as they walked.
"Oh, look! It's Jigglypuff!" Misty said, interrupting Ash's long-winded account of his battle with Clair.
Ash and the others looked over at it.
"Why does it always follow us anyway?" Ash asked aloud.
Brock stopped to think. "Maybe it just likes being around us..."
Misty's eyes brightened, "Maybe it wants me to catch it!"
Ash cleared his throat loudly, "You know, I WAS talking to my Dad, who I haven't seen in a long, long time!!"
Misty went quiet. "Oh yeah, sorry!" she said embarrassedly.
Ash went back to talking and began imitating Charizard's Seismic Toss, "And then he threw it like this... roaaar!... and then before I could even realize how powerful he had become with all the training in the Charicific Valley, it was all over! Maybe sometime later you can give me some tips Dad."
Jigglypuff puffed up largely, looking angry. "PUFF?!" it said, making Ash stop in his tracks.
"What?" said Ash, looking mildly puzzled.
Jigglypuff took one look from Ash to Adam, and immediately went running off in the direction it came from.
"What, was that about?" said Misty, watching Jigglypuff's figure disappear on the horizon.
Ash shook his head. "I dunno... do you?" he asked Adam.
He too shook his head, "Haven't the faintest idea..."
--------------------------------------------------------
As they got to the Pokemon Center, Ash excitedly rushed to the phone.
"What're you doing?" asked Misty.
"Calling my Mom," said Ash, looking as if it were the single dumbest question she could ever ask. He dialed with ease, and then received a surprise when Tracey answered the phone.
"Oh hi Ash!" Tracey said, looking happy to see him, "It's nice to see you guys!"
Ash looked confused, "Tracey, where's my mom? She's usually there at this time of the day..."
Tracey smiled. "Oh don't worry Ash, your mom just went on a trip, along with Professor Oak, to a small resort island in the Orange Islands called Apricorn Island. She won't be back for a week at least."
"Huh? How'd she get enough money for that?" said a still confused Ash.
"Well, it was kinda odd... a group calling themselves the 'Moms Who Have Sons Who Want To Be Pokemon Masters Group' said that she won this sweepstakes. Sounded kinda fishy to me; but when they said Professor Oak could go with them, I figured it was okay."
Adam slapped his hand to his face. 'Moms Who Have Sons Who Want To Be Pokemon Masters Group?' he thought to himself, 'Idiots! Why am I surrounded by such half-wits? I'm surprised nothing's gone wrong so far in this plan!'
"Something wrong, Mr. Ketchum?" Misty asked, noticing his struggling.
"What?" he said, "No.. no.. I'm just getting a bit ill feeling from being hungry... can we eat soon Son?"
"Oh.. yeah!" said Ash, turning to look out the window toward a nice restaurant that he was planning to show his dad.
"I'll call you later sometime Tracey.... by the way, what're you doing at my house? Shouldn't you be at the lab?"
Tracey smiled, "Well, I just finished feeding the pokemon at the lab, so I came over here to invite Mimie over to stay with me so it won't get lonely!"
"Oh... great... now my mom has you calling that thing 'Mimie' too...." said Ash, looking utterly disgusted.
Adam piped up, "Well, your mother always did have a thing with nick-names!"
Pikachu glared menacingly at Adam, "Pi..."
"Uh... Pikachu!" said Ash, staring reproachfully at Pikachu, "Anyway, see ya later Tracey!"
"Bye Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Togepi, and, er, sir!"
"Bye!" the rest of them said in unison.
Ash hung up the phone. "Okay, let's get something to eat!"
Together, they all walked into the small restaurant across from the Pokemon Center. It was a little too small, and they couldn't find a table large enough, so the had to split into two groups; Ash and his father sat at a table with Brock, and Misty sat by herself with Pikachu and Togepi.
"Oh that's okay!" she said, when Ash asked her to sit at the other table, "I'd love some nice quality time with Pikachu and Togepi!"
Ash looked a bit confused, "Uh, gee, I thought you'd be really mad..."
"Not at all!" she said cheerfully. The truth was, she really didn't want to sit alone, but she didn't want Ash to have anything ruin his day with his dad. She would've wanted the same respect had her parents suddenly shown up. In fact, she envied Ash for having now spent time with both of his parents; something that she would probably never get to do.
Misty took her seat next to Pikachu and Togepi. Togepi was in the baby seat, waving around a little piece of bread happily.
Pikachu was still sulking. 'Here's my chance to find out what's wrong with Pikachu!' Misty thought slyly.
Ash, Adam, and Brock al sat at a small table, and waited for the waitress to bring them the menus.
"So," began Ash, "Why'd you want to see me anyway?"
Adam looked puzzled, "I thought I told you, I wanted to see how much you've grown."
"I know that, but why now?" he said, looking interested.
"Well, I picked now because I knew I'd be passing close by you. I just called your mother a few weeks ago, and she said that you were probably nearing the end of your journey in Johto soon. So, I decided to take my chances, and leave the note for you in the Pokemon Center."
"Wow, that's pretty thought out... and lucky!" said Ash, sounding impressed.
"Speaking of lucky!!" said Brock loudly, goggling at the waitress bringing their menus.
Ash rolled his eyes.
"Oh thank you so very much lovely maiden!" said Brock, as the poor girl handed him the menu.
Adam chuckled, "What about you Ash, you want to oggle at the poor thing too?"
"Huh? You mean like Brock? Nah, I don't do that kind of stuff... Brock's just weird..."
Brock turned his head quickly to face Ash.
"Oh really?!" he said savagely, "What about Giselle? And Tracey told me about someone called... Melody? And then there was the time Misty wore that yellow bikini... And the time Misty dressed up for the Summer Festival... And the time Misty--"
"Okay okay! Shut up! She'll hear you!!" Ash whispered, looking to see if Misty had heard anything.
Adam forced a laugh. 'Ugh... I hate laughing at stupid childish jokes....'
Misty, trying to ignore that fact that she heard both hers and Melody's names in the same sentence, looked curiously at Pikachu.
"What's wrong with you Pikachu?" she asked.
"Pi?" said Pikachu, surprised that she was curious to know, unlike Ash.
"Pikapi pika ka chu!" he said sorrowfully, pointing at Ash's dad at the other table.
"I don't understand... why do you not like Ash's dad?" Misty asked, getting to the root of the matter.
"Pi pika Pikapi chu!" he said, hoping that Misty would get it.
"I don't think you're being fair, I mean, he's only just got here. Why don't you give him a chance?"
"PIKA!" he said loudly.
"Shhh!" Misty whispered, starting to get angry, "Look Pikachu, there's no reason to get all upset! It's not like Ash's father is some mass-murderer or something! He's just a dad! And you're not going to get anywhere with Ash if you keep insulting his father!"
Pikachu slumped in his seat. Why would no one understand him? He wished that Meowth was there to translate for him... but then again, Meowth's probably on Giovanni's side... What was he gonna do?
Togepi felt sorry for Pikachu. "Togi togi?" it said, offering Pikachu the last of its bread piece.
At the other table, Adam was now busy telling the story of how he won his Kanto badges. Ash listened to every word with pure delight.
"So that's how you won the Volcano Badge?" said Brock in an awed voice.
"What about Sabrina and the Rising Badge?" asked Ash.
"Well, that one was particularly hard to do... but with some help from my Persian... I eventually won."
"Persian? What pokemon is that?" asked Ash curiously.
"It's the evolved form of Meowth, here, I'll show you." Adam brought out a pokeball and in a flash of white light a Persian emerged.
"See, it may not be my strongest pokemon, but it certainly is my personal favorite."
"My favorite's Pikachu," said Ash, with a sad look on his face, "Too bad he doesn't like you."
"He'll get over me," said Adam kindly, "Maybe he's just a little jealous that you're paying so much attention to me..."
Ash glanced over to Pikachu, "Yeah... I guess so..."
'Ugh...' thought Giovanni, 'Why do people like him always care so much about their pokemon? They're meant to serve our purposes, not be our friends. What a way to waste the energy of a powerful pokemon... on friendship... and love...'
He watched Ash's face as he peered over sadly at Pikachu.
'Perhaps those two incompetents were right... I might not be able to persuade Ash to join... no matter, if he refuses, I'll just have to steal his pokemon. But we'll see. I might actually convince him... I've done it to others before... why not this little boy? Besides, it would be the perfect revenge...'
Brock just sat there, watching Adam's expressions closely.
After everyone finished eating, Ash and company decided to go on a walk to enjoy the beautiful sunny day.
"It's perfect!" said Misty, taking in the scenery.
Pikachu was still walking a ways from Ash.
Ash sighed.
"Uh, can we stop here? I need to talk to Pikachu," he said to Adam and Brock.
And with that, he motioned for Pikachu to follow him away from the group.
"Pikachu... look, I know I haven't paid much attention to you since my Dad came," Ash paused, wondering which was the best way to phrase it, "But there's no reason to be afraid that I won't ever pay attention to you! He'll probably just want to leave in couple of days anyway..."
Pikachu looked at Ash. Then at the ground. Ash looked so sad about all this... How could he really keep making his best friend feel this way? But if Giovanni was up to something... But what if he really is Ash's Dad? But then why all the make-up? Maybe that's what he normally looks like and he just changes his looks for Team Rocket...? Pikachu didn't know what to believe. It was all so confusing!
"So," Ash said, finally breaking Pikachu's concentration, "Will you just try to be nice to him?"
Pikachu reluctantly nodded. But he would be keeping an eye out for anything suspicious...
Meanwhile, Adam took this time to ask Brock and Misty about their families. "That was, um, interesting Brock... how about you Misty?" asked Adam, after Brock had told him about his less-than-sane parents.
Misty easily replied, "They left like you did. Except, they left right after I was born, not when I was two. I don't remember them at all, but my sisters do. They tell me that my parents had some crazy idea about catching, or using, I don't remember which, a legendary water pokemon in some far-off land... That's about it."
"Hmm..." said Adam, "Seeing me come back to Ash probably makes you a bit jealous, right?"
Misty looked a bit flustered, "No, of course not! I'm very happy for Ash!"
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset..." said Adam, a dark smile on his face.
Brock just stood watching, taking it all in. Thinking quietly to himself.
Ash came back a moment later; Pikachu perched happily, yet not relaxed, on his shoulder.
"What's goin on guys...?" he asked, seeing Misty's embarrassed face.
"Nothing," said Misty quickly, she didn't want Ash to know that she was jealous...
Brock said nothing, knowing that if Misty had wanted Ash to know, she would have just told him.
Just then, Adam's cell phone went off. "Oh, excuse me, I must take this call..."
He walked off behind the trees next to them, so that no one could hear.
"Sir," said his assistant's voice on the phone, "We have sensors that indicate Jessie and James in your area... I don't know how they got there after you Hyper Beamed 'em, but they're there. I just thought you might like to know..."
"I can't have those two around me... they might blow my cover. They almost already did from their bad acting skills earlier... I will deal with them tonight, after dinner."
"What about the brats? Won't they follow you?"
"I'll make sure none of them do... and if by some chance they do... I won't be responsible for what happens..."
"Right sir."
"Good-bye."
"Goo--"
Click. Giovanni cut her off, quickly went back to Ash and friends, and continued walking with them.
"Come on!" said Ash eagerly, "I want to take you to this city's best attraction: the Mountain Town Amusement Park!"
"Oh... goodie..." said Adam, looking absolutely not thrilled.
