Chapter 6: Surprises

It was so much fun, to be able not to be worried about giving away my secret. But Giovanna is here too, there's no telling what she could do here. Well, it's time to leave that adventure behind and came back to traveling with Ash, Misty and Brock. I got on Lance, the male Fearow, and flew back to Pallet Town.

At about noon, I find the place and see Grandma and Mr. Mime outside, doing what they usually do. So I called,

"Hello, Mrs. Ketchum. You remember me don't ya? I'm Ashley."

"Oh, hi. I remember you Ashley, the last time I see you, you were with Ash and his friends."

"Are they home?"

"Nope, they're up on the mountain where an archaeological site looms."

"Oh, they'll come back when it's dark. So don't worry if you see anything strange on that mountain."

"Okay. Want to come in and help me work on a nice big dinner for them?"

"No, but if you need me to buy anything for thing for the dinner, ask away."

"No thanks, Ashley, I'm all ready to cook. Come back for dinner if you like."

I thanked her and went to Prof. Oak's lab. Professor Oak is doing what he usually does, you know what.

"Hello Prof. Oak, remember me?"

"Yes, I remember you Ashley. How's your Pokedex coming along? How much badges have you earned? And how many Pokemon have you captured?" I handed him the Pokedex he gave me and answered,

"You'll be surprised." Prof. Oak's eyes practically popped out when he sees that I've seen and capture every single kind of known Pokemon. There was silence for a while, and then he asked,

"How can you do that without needing to send me some Pokemon?"

"Oh, I store them somewhere. But if you want to research any of them, I'll let you. By the way, I've won 28 badges." Prof. Oak is still very surprised,

"You can consider yourself master," he praised. "And can I study Gengar, Ninetails, Aerodactyl, Clefable and Zapdos for now?" I took them out and let Prof. Oak study them.

"There's more if you have the time, professor, I promise." Then I went outside to see the Pokemon habitats.

Suddenly, much to my surprise, Ring, Ring, Ring, my Pokegear rang. Who could possibly be calling? I never let anyone know that my Pokegear can be used as a phone too.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Ash, how are you doing?" my best friend and traveling buddy asked.

"Fine, but don't you think it's a little too risky to call?"

"Maybe for you, but not for me. Mt. Silver is a great place for shelter, if one has protection. Where are you hiding?"

"Mine is much, much, much safer than yours."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm even surprised that a Pokegear call can get here. I'm in the past. You know, the time when our parents are ambitious Pokemon trainers?"

"The past when the threat is non-existent? You are such a coward, Ash."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Why are you being so much like your father?"

"You're no different either; they've passed this down to us, fortunately not all of it."

"Fine. So how is everything back there?"

"Well, since I'm hiding and training in Mt. Silver most of the time, all I know is that now people all have to carry ID cards with them at all times. But that's not all Ash, only Rockets are allowed to have Pokemon, I figure that every single one of us has to go into hiding because of this. What have you been doing? Dozing off?" she joked. Man, I'm gonna destroy Team Rocket if it's the last thing I do.

"I'm training just as much as you are. And by the way, I saw Giovanna here; she's been with the Rockets here and promised that they'll win. What can we do? Giovanna's one of the best Team Rocket agents and since we're in the past, she can easily change history. Any bright ideas, pal?"

"Well Ash, just be careful and make sure that history isn't changed is what you can start with. But Ash, promise that you'll be safe and be back here someday."

"Okay, but promise that you will too. By the way, how long has it been since Team Rocket took over?"

"Oh, it's been about a year since. Don't forget our annual reunion that's coming up in a week, okay?"

"Okay, see you then," and we hang up.

It's good to know how my friends are doing. Well, it's time to go on. My look at the time, it's almost six; I went back to Grandma's and made sure that my face is concealed by my hood. When I got there they've just got back and dinner is just about to be served. Misty sees me coming in and greeted,

"Hi Ashley, I can see that you're back. What have you been doing over these past few weeks?"

"Like I said before I have something to do. Aren't you dying to find out what I've written on the paper?"

"Yeah!" they answered in unison and gave me the paper. And I said before I read,

"In case you think that I've missed out on a lot of adventures, well I didn't I know exactly what you've done these past few weeks." Ash answered sarcastically,

"Oh really? I would really like to know."

"Okay, so after I left you called home, no one was there," I red. "But when the three of you are on the way here, you see a Mr. Mime, which is Mimey here. That day, you all went to a Pokemon Circus, met the Ring Master, Stella. Since the Mr. Mime at the circus won't perform, Ash put on a Mr. Mime costume and played the Mr. Mime. But then, as usual, Jessie and James barges in and took the 'Mr. Mime,' I'm not gonna get in details about how you get back. But the next day, the three of you want to Professor Oak's laboratory to figure out where the Pokemon League is. While you're there, he gives you a tour of what he does, how he takes care of the Pokemon the trainers send him. Gary was there too, he has capture about 200 Pokemon while you've seen almost every single known Pokemon. A couple of days later, you went to Seafoam Islands to solve the mystery of Slowpoke's evolution with Professor Westwood V. While you're in that area, you trained there a little and met a surfer named Victor that has a Pikachu that can sense the waves. Victor's dream was to be just like Jan. In the end, his achieved his dream, together with Puka, they surfed Humonga Donga. Later, when you all came back from Seafoam Island, Mrs. Ketchum here tells you to go to a nursery nearby to bet some fertilizers. But that day, you went to the nursery anyway¡K" I fought back a giggle as they all freeze as if Pikachu shocked them.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?" asked Misty, the first one to react.

Sorry, I know that it's been more than a year. But it's back!