So here's the next chapter. I guess I'll just keep going and see what happens, ni? This should clear up a few points… (previous chapter has been updated for a few continuity changes a.k.a. Pikachu is male)

And for those interested, I am realizing how many ideas I'm getting from RavenK7's story. You can read some of it over at Alex Warlorn's page.

Ash woke up with a groan. He glanced out the window at the sunrise, smiled, and collapsed back on his pillow, still letting it sink into his mind that he didn't have to get up with the sun and hunt for nine hungry mouths. Slowly, he reached across the bed and touched Misty's arm, letting the backs of his fingers glide along her smooth skin. After six months of fur, everything old was new again.

Why is it that good moments always seem to get ruined?

"Ash, dear," Delilah said through the closed door, "You need to get up if you're going to work for Professor Oak like you promised."

"Yes, Mom," Ash groaned. Misty stirred at the noise but didn't wake up. Ash slowly slid out of the covers and walked over to his dresser, being careful to step over the kits and Pikachu on the floor.
—-

Misty whacked the sleeping Ash in the face again with her tail. "Get some food," she nearly yelled. "I'm fricking starved! I haven't had anything to eat all day!"

Ash opened one eye. "You had the raticate this morning, the two pidgey and the spearow before lunch, and the freaking weepinbell I dragged in here ten minutes ago."

Misty whacked Ash again; no easy task considering the six kits attached to her underside nursing. "Go get me some food!" she yelled again.

With a sigh Ash pulled himself up and headed out the door.

Pikachu was sitting calmly outside gnawing on a piece of a tree root. "Ah, the trials of the afflicted," he muttered as Ash exited the den.

"Shut up," Ash said with a smirk. "You know you'll be doing the same thing someday."

Pikachu took the root out of his mouth and held it triumphantly over his head. "But today is not that day!"
—-

"Ah, so good to see you again, Ash," Professor Oak said as Ash walked into the lab wearing a button-up short sleeved shirt and khaki pants. "You'll need a coat; they're in the closet to your left."

Ash sorted through the closet and finally found a white lab coat in his size. "Thanks for letting me work here, Professor," Ash said as he tried to find his way into the coat.

Oak waved his hand. "It's nothing, Ash. You show up after everyone thinks you're dead, you deserve a break or two. Besides, I know how much you like research."

Ash rolled his eyes. "You're kidding, right? That class was one of the most boring things that's ever happened to me."

"Yes, but your paper on the social structure of pikachus and raichus was one of the best works of research I've ever read. You really should consider going back to school, you know. I hear Saffron College is offering a scholarship for qualified individuals willing to study eevee and its evolutions."

Ash bristled at the mention of eevee, but did his best not to betray any feelings. Calm down, he thought to himself, he doesn't know about what happened. "I don't know," he said out loud, "I'd kinda like to stay out of the big city for right now."

Oak chuckled. "Maybe so," he said. "But you've got the same eye for behavior your father did."

Ash jumped. "You knew my father?" he asked quickly.

Oak smiled. "Not personally, no. But he was an assistant for a colleague of mine when I was still working for Silph. He wrote some remarkable material, and while it wasn't extremely scientific, it was incredibly revealing about the culture and social institutes of many different pokmon. And then…" He drifted off, apparently lost in thought.

"Then what?"

"He disappeared. He was exploring a bit of wilderness near Silence Bridge and called in one day, saying he had found something and he wasn't sure when he'd be back. Next thing we know he starts disappearing months at a time. He drops out of the research business, gets married, moves to Pallet, and just… disappears."

Ash stared off into space. He had seen his father's death certificate in the league's computer system, but his mother had always said that he was still alive.

"I was almost afraid the same thing had happened to you, Ash," Oak continued. "Especially when you sent all your pokmon back to me. But your mother was optimistic as always," he added with a smile.

Ash nodded. "So what are we doing today?"

"Getting the starters ready," Oak said with a twinkle in his eye. "Time to send out the next group of future pokmon masters, eh, Ash?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Is it going to be more than four kids?"

"A lot more," Oak said, walking towards an outside door. "Since the Viridian Gym's been doing so poorly, they're sending the kids from Viridian down here to get starters."

Ash chuckled. "Is that bonehead Peter still trying to run that thing?"

"Not for much longer, I'm afraid. He's resigning at the end of the week."

Ash stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"Ash, you knew he was a temporary replacement from the beginning. Ever since Giovanni was asked to leave they haven't been able to keep a steady leader at that gym for more than a year. Peter's hung in there as long as he could, but he's not cut out to be a gym leader. You and I both know that. So he's closing up in time for the league championships. After that, they'll probably pick a new leader. And he'll quit after a year." Oak sighed. "If they don't fix this problem soon Viridian's going to go to pot. And Pallet won't be far behind."

"But you're here," Ash said.

Oak sighed. "Ash, I perform research here. I don't hire many people; I just send people out on their journeys. I'm not exactly a boon to the town's economy." Suddenly he brightened up. "But, enough of all this. We've got to get these pokmon ready."

Ash followed Oak at a small distance. "Yeah," he muttered sadly, "get the next group of trainers ready."
—-

"What's a trainer, dad?" the six eevees asked simultaneously.

The jolteon looked at them quizzically. "What?"

Sparky spoke up. "Uncle Pikachu was warning us to look out for trainers when we were playing outside. He told us to ask you what a trainer was."

Ash looked at Pikachu who was hiding in the back of the den wearing a sheepish grin.

"Well, you know what a human is, right?" Ash began.

"They're those tall pokmon with no powers, right?" yelled Dewdrop.

Ash made a face. "Not really, but you get the idea. Now, a trainer is a human that catches and trains pokmon to fight. They look for weak pokmon, catch them, and teach them different ways to attack other pokmon."

The kits were all horrified.

"They—they make pokmon attack each other? Just for fun?" Ember said weakly.

Ash opened his mouth to answer, but he stopped before any words could come out. He looked toward the ceiling, trying to come up with an answer.

"Not just for fun," Pikachu said, walking over to the conversation. "Some trainers want to help their pokmon become better, so they teach them to use their abilities in new ways. For example, my trainer taught me how to focus my electricity into one powerful thunderbolt that's strong enough to bring down a growlithe."

The kits responded with general exclamations of wonder while Ash slowly slipped outside. Pikachu continued the talk. "And not all trainers are mean, either. Some trainers" He glanced toward where Ash had been, but finding nothing, continued. "Some trainers actually try to become friends with their pokmon. My trainer is one of my best friends, and he and I have had so many adventures you could talk for hours about them."

"You must have had a very good trainer," Blossom said in her usual wise manner.

Pikachu looked her in the eye. "The best. And he still is the best."
—-

Professor Oak sent Ash over to check on the group of charmanders while he got the pokballs ready. The charmanders, all five of them, were excited to see him. He was a human, and humans brought food.

Ash slowly handed them a small bit of food each, trying not to think about what was going to happen to them. Would they get good trainers? Bad ones? And what right did humans have to take them away from their families? How could he support an institution that—
Ash banished those thoughts. He was a trainer. And now he saw both sides of the equation.
—-

"What happened back there, Pikapi?" Pikachu said as he walked out of the den.

Ash sighed. "I don't know…" he muttered. "It's like… I don't know, everything my life has been so far looks…"

"Looks different from the other side?" Pikachu asked.

Ash nodded.

"Well, quit worrying," Pikachu said with authority. "Any pokmon in the world would give half their powers in order to have you as a trainer."

Ash looked back towards the den, the sounds of playful roughhousing drifting out. "But how many of my pokmon were like that?" He looked at Pikachu. "How many of you guys did I steal from this?"

Pikachu put his paw on Ash's side. "I'm not going to answer that question," he said. "This is the way the world works. Everyone leaves home eventually. Human kids go off to be trainers or work or whatever, and pokmon go off to start their own families or train with humans." He sighed. "I know I wasn't the most agreeable at first, Pikapi, but I wouldn't trade my life with you for anything. Anything. And I'm sure your kits are going to have good trainers too."

Ash stiffened. "But I don't want to lose them…" he whispered.

Pikachu sighed. "Forgive me for being blunt, but won't they be better off trained than dead?"

Ash glared at Pikachu, growling. "What?"

"They won't be around forever, Pikapi," Pikachu said calmly. "Either they'll evolve and leave on their own, they'll get caught by a trainer, or they'll be lunch for a charizard. Ho-Oh forbid the last thing happen, but you're in the wild right now. That's what happens."

Ash backed away from Pikachu and lay down. Before he could say anything else, however, he smelled someone coming out of the den.

"Hey, Blossom," Ash said weakly.

Blossom cocked her head. "Are you alright, dad?" she asked.

Ash nodded slightly. "What's up?"

"What was your trainer like?"

Pikachu looked at Ash worriedly, but Ash simply looked straight at Pikachu and said, "He was one of the best friends I ever had." Turning to Blossom he continued. "He taught me how to be strong, how never to give up even when things look bad, and how always to follow what you know is true, even if you get hurt."

"Did you see the world?"

Ash looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Blossom looked up at her father with a dreamy look in her eyes. "I want to see everything Mom was talking about. The sun setting over the ocean, the mountains that touch the clouds, the rock towers the humans build… I want to see it all."

Ash nuzzled his daughter. "And you will, Blossom."
—-

"Everything all right, Ash?" Professor Oak said, placing his hand on Ash's shoulder.

Ash blinked out of his trance. "Yeah," he said quietly, "just thinking about someone."

Oak smiled. "Well, if you're back down to earth, I need some help. One of the squirtles isn't feeling very good, and you may be able to help. I have to go answer the door, but if you could check on that, it'd be great."

Ash obediently made his way towards the pond. Several of the squirtles were crowded around one particular squirtle who was lying down looking slightly pale.

"Well, what happened to you big guy?" Ash asked, stroking the squirtle's bald head.

Another squirtle tried to get Ash's attention. "Squirt squirtle irrrr squ," it said worriedly.

"I just want to see what's wrong with him," Ash said gently.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Ash caught himself. Glancing around to make sure Professor Oak wasn't nearby, he leaned down closer to the squirtles.

"What happened to him," he said in Jolteon.

The squirtles were taken aback by his change in language. The one that spoke first recovered the quickest and asked, "How does a human speak another's language?"

"It's a long story," Ash said. "I'm here to help your friend, and I need you to tell me what happened to him."

The squirtle let loose a long rant that, roughly translated, portrayed the sick squirtle as a stupid idiot that ate the plants that everyone told him several times not to eat. She pointed at a small grove of plants growing near the pond.

"I told him not to eat them, his mother told him not to eat them, but did he listen? No!" the squirtle finished.

Ash sat there, very amused. Double checking to make sure Oak wasn't coming, he said, "I'll take care of him." He picked up the sick squirtle and headed back to the laboratory.

He opened the back door to the lab and was mobbed by five eevees dashing out in a headlong, rough-and tumble free-for-all. Stumbling, he managed to trip his way into Misty.

"Hey, Professor," Misty said.

Ash straightened his coat. "Not 'Professor' yet."

"Yet?"

"Well, I don't know. League champion isn't exactly a full-time job, you know."

Misty shrugged, then looked at the squirtle in Ash's arms. "What's wrong with him?"

"Food poisoning. A little ipecac and he'll turn."

The squirtle groaned.

"Shut up," Ash said playfully. "It's better than having your gut explode." He winked at Misty.

Misty giggled. "I'll leave you to your work," she said as she walked out the door.

Ash handed the squirtle off to one of the attendants and went looking for Professor Oak. He found him near the X-ray machine attending to a growlithe that was obviously in pain.

"Is Ifrit going to be okay?" a girl, apparently the growlithe's trainer, asked.

Oak said something back to her, but Ash didn't catch it. He took another hard look at the girl, trying to figure out why she looked so familiar. He racked his brains, trying to sort through the difficult memories attached to her. When he finally did figure it out, he walked out of the room as inconspicuously as he could and sat down heavily on the floor.

Of all the trainers to show up… she had to be one of them.
—-

Sparky ran into the den at full speed. "Blossom's fighting a human!" he yelled.

Without thinking Ash bolted out of the den, nearly running Sparky over in the process.

"Ash, wait!" Misty yelled, "Don't get caught too!" She turned to Pikachu. "Can you…?"

Pikachu nodded. "I'll keep him out of trouble," he said, running for the door.

"And Blossom too!"

Pikachu turned back to Misty with a worried look that said everything before running off.

He ran as fast as he could toward Ash's scent, even performing an Agility technique for good measure. He finally managed to catch up to Ash and brought him down with a well-aimed tackle.

Ash brushed off the attack and muttered, "Stay out of my way, Pikachu," before running off again.

This time Pikachu bit Ash on the tail. "Stop before you get yourself caught," he yelled.

"Better me than her," Ash shot back.

"Wrong!" Pikachu said. "At the very least, let's approach calmly and not rush in headlong."

Ash glared, seething with anger, but followed Pikachu's advice nonetheless. Much more quietly, he poked his head through to the clearing where Blossom's scent led.

She was fighting a growlithe. From the looks of things, it was very young and hadn't seen much battling experience. Both it and Blossom were putting up a good fight. The growlithe's trainer was to the left of Ash and Pikachu and was wearing a dark spagetti-strap shirt and white capri pants with several stains on them. Her belt had no pokballs on it, but she had one enlarged and ready in her hand.

"Tackle it again, Ifrit," she yelled. The growlithe barked in reply and charged toward Blossom.

"Run, Blossom!" Ash yelled.

Blossom dodged the tackle and looked at Ash who was silently pleading with her to run away. She looked at the growlithe and its trainer, then looked back at Ash with a determined look in her eyes. She turned to face the growlithe and barked in defiance.

This time, she wasn't able to dodge the tackle. She collapsed on the ground and barely stirred.

The pokball seemed to fly in slow motion. Ash watched helplessly as he saw his daughter pulled into it, praying it wouldn't hold her.

Ash couldn't see the light on the pokball turn green, but he heard the loud rejoicing from the trainer. He wanted to run, to show that trainer what he felt like, to beat that growlithe into the ground, but his growing feeling of helplessness combined with Pikachu's firm grip on his tail kept him in his place.

The trainer and her growlithe began walking away, but the growlithe noticed something and stayed back a little. When the trainer was out of the clearing, it turned to Ash.

"Don't do anything stupid," Pikachu whispered.

Ash bared his teeth and growled, "Make sure the human takes care of her."

The growlithe nodded. "I will," he said. With that he bounded after his trainer.

Ash stood still in shock for five minutes before he whispered to Pikachu, "I could have helped her."

"Really," Pikachu said, not sounding convinced at all.

Ash snapped. He charged Pikachu and knocked him into the clearing.

"For once, could you not be so fricking practical?" Ash yelled.

"What would you have done?" Pikachu answered.

"This!" Ash attacked Pikachu again. But this time, Pikachu was ready. He quickly side-stepped the attack and bit Ash on the tail, sending an electrical attack through the bite. Ash howled in pain and flung Pikachu against a tree.

Pikachu picked himself up. "Forgive me, Pikapi," he said under his breath. At the other end of the clearing Ash watched Pikachu, the fur on his back bristled in anger. He launched a thunderbolt at Pikachu who thrust his tail into the dirt, grounding himself. He immediately followed that with a Quick Attack. Pikachu rolled along the ground and righted itself in time to launch a Quick Attack of its own straight into Ash's side, knocking him onto the ground.

The two combatants faced each other again.

"Done yet?" Pikachu said.

Ash growled threateningly. Summoning all his rage, he built up his electrical field, yellow sparks jumping among his fur. Pikachu anticipated the attack and started backing away slowly.

With a primal scream Ash released his electricity in an undirected attack. Pikachu attempted to ground himself again, but the force of the attack knocked his balance off. The electricity charred the trees around the clearing, and a resounding thunderclap could be heard through the forest.

Pikachu opened his eyes slowly. He saw Ash trying to get up, staggering, and finally collapsing again. Slowly, Pikachu crawled over to his friend. Both of them were charred, bruised, and in all other ways worn out.

"Done yet?" Pikachu said.

Ash opened one eye. "Yeah," he whispered. "Sorry, pal… I guess I just…"

"Don't worry about it," Pikachu said. "You had to release it somehow. And I'm sorry I was so blunt. I just didn't want you to do anything…"

"Stupid?"

Pikachu nodded.

"Thanks," Ash said. "She—she's going to be okay, right?"

"Yeah…" Pikachu said. "She wanted to go." He looked once more in the direction the trainer had left in. "She's off to see the world now."

Ash squeezed his eyes shut, pointed his head to the sky and howled mournfully.
—-

Ash collected himself, drying the tears starting to form and clearing his throat to make sure his voice wouldn't crack. He wasn't afraid of showing emotion, he was afraid of having to explain his sudden change of character to Oak. With a deep breath, he walked back into the room.

The girl was still there, sitting off to the side dangling her legs impatiently—or in anxiety—while Oak was in the process of putting up the fluoroscope.

"Ah, there you are, Ash," Oak said quickly. "Keep an eye on this Growlithe, will you?"

"His name is Ifrit!" the girl said with an air of annoyance.

"Right, Ifrit," Oak continued. "I have to lead Julia outside and get someone who can set Ifrit's leg. It looks like it's broken."

"Was she pushing him too hard," Ash muttered under his breath.

Julia appeared not to notice, but Oak made a face and whispered to Ash, "Behave yourself, Ash. It got into a fight with a wild Mankey, that's all. Now just keep an eye on it until I get back."

Ash nodded. "Sorry," he said as Oak led Julia out of the room.

Once the other humans had gone, Ifrit tried to stand up. Finding that the pain was still there, it settled itself back down.

Ash walked over to the growlithe and steadied it. "Take it easy, fella," he said. "Don't overwork yourself."

Ifrit sniffed Ash's hands and looked up at him, startled. "You are the Jolteon from the forest," it growled in its language, "yet you are human. How?"

Ash sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "English?" he asked.

Ifrit nodded. "I can understand you."

"How did you know it was me?"

The growlithe gave a toothy grin. "Your scent hasn't changed."

Ash smiled. "No… I guess not…" He looked towards the ground and asked softly, "Is… is she…?"

"Is she your daughter?" The growlithe asked. Ash nodded. "Then you have every reason to be proud of her. She is an excellent fighter and a good friend."

Ash couldn't help but let a small smile tease his face. "And your trainer?"

"Julia spoils us rotten." Ifrit smirked. "But in all seriousness, she is a good trainer for us. She will not accept anything less than our very best, and she is a good friend and companion to us all."

Oak walked back into the room with another aide in a similar lab coat in tow. "Thank you, Ash," he said, motioning to the aide where various items were. "If you could go outside and check on things, that would be great."

"Right," Ash said in a daze.

"Grace and Peace follow you," Ifrit growled.

Ash bowed his head slightly towards the growlithe. He wanted to return the gesture, but he couldn't do anything obvious without attracting the attention of Professor Oak. Slowly he made his way to the back door and stepped through, apprehensive of what he would find once he got out there.

He passed by the charmanders and the squirtles just to make sure nothing serious was happening… and to delay running into Julia as long as he could.

Ash played over the scenario several times in his head. Once he punched her, then Misty yelled at him and… he didn't want that to happen. Once he yelled at her… with similar results. Ash clenched his fists and told himself to keep his emotions in check. The most important thing to remember, he thought, is that she doesn't know the connection I have to Blossom, so anything I do would just look stupid and uncalled for to her.

He had tried to guess where Julia would be. He hadn't guessed next to the pond chatting away with Misty.

She was wearing essentially the same outfit she had been wearing in the wilderness, except now Ash noticed her top was red, not just dark. Having been a colorblind jolteon, he hadn't noticed before. She and Misty seemed to be carrying on a lively conversation while several pokmon played with each other next to and in the pond.

Ash's heart skipped a beat when he saw the eevees playing a short distance away. 1, 2, 3… 6. All six of his children were there.

"Ash, there you are!" Misty called. Ash jumped, startled, as Misty and Julia walked over to him.

"Ash, this is Julia," Misty said, motioning towards the young trainer. "Julia, this is Ash."

Julia was visibly impressed. "Woah," she nearly yelled. "Ash Ketchum? The Ash Ketchum?" She extended her hand which Ash shook.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Ash managed to say.

Julia opened her mouth to continue, but she appeared to change her mind and looked off to the side, embarassed.

"What?" Ash asked, slightly amused.

"Well, it's just…" she said with a slight flair. She was obviously trying to figure out what to say. "Well, Misty was telling me about how you and her were training these eevees—"

Ash shot a look to Misty who returned it with a look that seemed to say, "What, you thought I'd tell her the truth?" Neither went noticed by Julia.

"...and so I was just thinking," Julia continued, "that, well… I just feel-well, bad about catching Crystal-I mean, Blossom. You named her Blossom, right?" Ash nodded slowly. "Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is… well, do you want her back?"

The question caught Ash off guard. Did he want his daughter back? What kind of a question was that? Of course he wanted his daughter back!

But before he blurted out an answer, he stopped. He was deciding his daughter's future, and it wouldn't be a good idea to just rush into things like he usually did.

First, he saw the uneasy look on Julia's face. It was someone trying to be happy, but knowing that she was making a decision that wasn't easy. It was the same emotion he had had whenever he had given one of his pokmon to another trainer or set one of them free. All those times he had wondered whether he had made the right decision. And now someone was asking him to do what he had asked of so many other trainers.
—-

"How high are the stone towers, Dad?" Blossom asked.

Ash furrowed his brow. "They're pretty tall…" he began.

"Taller than the trees?"

"Oh, they're much taller than the trees," Ash laughed. "Some of them are so tall, the humans say they touch the sky."

"Wow…" Blossom said, a faraway look in her eyes. "And they climb to the top every day?"

"No," Ash said. "Some humans just live in them. And they don't have to climb; they have machines that carry them to the top. You just get in a box, and it lifts you all the way to the top of the tower."

"Will you take me to ride in one of those someday?"

Ash smiled at his daughter. "Of course."
—-

"More than anything," Ash whispered.

Julia's face fell. But before she could call Blossom, Ash stopped her.

"But," he said, "I know that's not what she wants." He looked over at the playing eevees. By now, Blossom had noticed the third human and was slowly walking towards Ash.

"Does she like you?" Ash asked, a little louder.

"I think she does," Julia said. "She and Ifrit get along really well."

Ash smiled. "Promise me two things," he said. "One, I need you to be her friend as much as her trainer."

Julia nodded. "Don't worry about that, sir!"

"And second," Ash said, leaning in close, "make sure she gets to ride in an elevator."

"What?" Julia asked. When she saw Ash was serious, she nodded. "Whatever you say, Mr. Ash."

Ash waved it off. "It's just Ash." A nudge at his ankle caught his attention. Ash looked down to see his daughter looking up at him with a very confused expression.

Slowly, Ash knelt down and rubbed her head with his hand, letting her catch his scent. "Your name's Crystal, now, right?" he said softly.

"I'll leave you two alone," Julia said, walking back over to Misty.

Crystal nuzzled closer to Ash. "What happened to you and Mom," she said in her language.

Ash glanced over to make sure Julia was out of earshot before answering, in Jolteon, "I don't know for sure." He scratched her behind the ears. "I'm so happy to see you."

"Me too," Crystal said. Suddenly she perked up. "Oh, Dad, it's so cool! Julia's going all over the place! I get to fight battles, and I didn't like that so much at first but Ifrit—he's the growlithe that attacked me—anyway, he's been helping me out and I'm getting really really good at it! And we get to stay in Centers with really nice beds. And Julia says she's going to take us to the mountains next, which is so cool! I wish you could see all this!"

Ash smiled. "I did see it."

Crystal stopped. "You did? When?" Her eyes opened wider. "You—you're a trainer too?"

"Me and your mother," Ash said with a smirk. "Your Uncle Pikachu was the first pokmon I ever got, and he's still my best."

"Wow…" was all Crystal could say. "But… then who were you talking about when I asked who your trainer was?"

Ash furrowed his brow as he tried to remember the conversation. "Oh, that? Yeah…"

"Did you lie to me?" Crystal asked in mock offense.

"Not exactly," Ash said. "I was talking about Pikachu."

"Oh…" Crystal said, nodding her head in understanding.

Ash looked over his shoulder and saw Julia coming back. Quickly he turned back to Crystal and said, in English, "Crystal, listen; don't tell anyone about—you know, your mother and I."

"What, that you're human?" Crystal said, cocking her head.

"Yes. Other humans just… well, I'm not ready for anyone else to know yet."

"But what if Julia asks me?"

Ash sighed. "If she can understand you, if you feel like you can trust her with a secret, then you can tell her. But make sure she doesn't tell anyone."

"Okay," Crystal said.

Julia walked up. "You almost ready, Crystal?" she said. "We need to leave soon if we're going to get to the next town before dark."

"Vee," Crystal yipped. She turned to Ash and said, "Eeee, vee-ee."

"I'll miss you too," Ash whispered. "Now go say goodbye to your brothers and sisters; they're going to miss you too."

Crystal ran off towards the other eevees, and Ash turned to Julia. "It was nice meeting you, Julia," he said, shaking her hand one more time. "Will I be seeing you at the tournament in two months?"

Julia shook her head. "No, I still need to get four more badges. I just came over here to catch some different pokmon."

"That's good. Getting a diverse team?"

Julia nodded. "Though I don't know what Crystal'll want to evolve into. Do you?"

Ash thought for a second. "No."

Julia shrugged. "Oh, well. C'mon, guys, let's go!" she yelled.

Ash watched her go, followed by a ratatta, a spearow perched on her shoulder, and a small eevee at her feet.

"Goodbye," he said softly.
—-

"I'm proud of you, Ash," Misty said that night as they got into bed. "You acted very civil today."

"'Acted' is the key word," he grunted.

Misty nodded. "I know. It's hard for me, too, Ash."

Ash looked at his wife as she continued. "I mean, I don't show it as much as you do. I know you two were very close, but it's for the best."

"It's okay," Ash said, pulling up the sheets. "You don't have to console me." He took a deep breath. "I'm glad I saw her… I finally got to say goodbye properly."

"I see…" Misty said. "Before it was like she was stolen, but now—"

"Now it's like we let her go." He smiled. "And you're right; it is better this way. We can't hold on to them forever."

"Pii pika kachu, Pikapi," Pikachu said from the floor.

"Silence from the peanut gallery," Misty shot back.