Hello! Welcome back, hope you enjoy! (I still don't own pokemon)


Chapter 1.

The infamous Team Rocket duo (trio, quadro, whatever) had found their stay in Alola to have been rather relaxing. Well, besides the Bewear constantly chasing their group down. And the Twerp's pikachu blasting them off every episode or so.

The famous duo's plane had just arrived at their destination, and the two were extremely tired from the long flight. Jessie and James had been called back to headquarters in Kanto by that smug little purple-haired rude bit— ehm… Matori, had recalled them for their 'lack of progress. Why she of all people was the one giving them orders was beyond them. Seriously, the boss was sitting right next to her!

Despite it all, James tried to be optimistic about the whole thing. As he turned to look at his trusty companions, his eyes swelled with their usual pride - no matter what, they stuck together through it all. Jessie had always been a beautiful woman, but her age… or perhaps more like the stress of the job and Pikachu's electric attacks had not been kind to the poor lass. Her long lustrous purplish-pink hair already had streaks of gray forming at the base. Of course, James didn't dare point this out to her - he didn't need another beating this early in the morning - but he quietly noticed it all the same.

And the final member of the team, Meowth. The poor cat especially was starting to show his age… gosh… how long did they live for? Fifteen years? Meowth was already over a dozen. And wasn't that a sobering thought. It feels like yesterday that they first met up. How time flies when chasing an immortal child.

Because it hadn't escaped Team Rocket's notice that the Twerp hadn't aged. Sure, they might not have noticed it for those first few years… but when Jessie turned thirty and went through a mild mid-life crisis… well, safe to say they looked through their life from a new perceptive.

James had a hunch that Twerp's ability was one of the reasons Boss was happy to let the duo chase Pikachu. Not for the rat, despite his abilities - but for the constant news, they provided him about the boy's whereabouts and exploits.

But alas, James' trip down memory lane was quickly shattered by a familiar voice… Were they cursed? What was the twerp doing back in Kanto? He was still enrolled in that school! That didn't get out for a few more months at least! The reaction of his group was instantaneous. Any soreness from the trip was forgotten, and the squad hid quickly behind one of the airport's pillars. If Meowth had to hop up on Wobbuffet… neither of the two humans were going to say anything. Together, they peered out from behind their cover and found the object of the noise. The Twerp… meeting with the original Twerpette and Eldest Twerp… who were honestly old enough that they really didn't deserve those titles anymore.

Those two were obviously having a hard time seeing the Twerp again… Twerpe— Misty - was clearly struggling the most. Team Rocket knew she once had a crush on the oblivious boy, and as such seeing him in his current state was likely giving her a worse time than Brock was having. For, the Twerp still - despite all odds and scientific research - looked the exact same as he did when he first set off on his journey. But the girl did not share in whatever power kept Twerp the exact same. She had grown to become quite the woman, rather good-looking if James was being honest. Of course, James only had eyes for Jessie… but that didn't mean he couldn't still be objective.

Brock was truly an adult now too. He had taken back ownership of the Gym, if James recalled correctly - letting his father retire and spend time with his children. One of Brock's younger siblings was apprenticing under the man, and there were rumors that she would take over the gym later this year. Brock also ran a Pokemon clinic next to the gym, and apparently brought challengers there to teach them how to heal their pokemon in case they were injured out in the field. The man was in his early twenties now, and often gifted promising challengers training tips and even sometimes pokemon from his breeding facility!

Eventually, though, the two original companions managed to recover - and clearly elected on pretending nothing was wrong. The moment of hesitation apparently gone, the two happily greeted the Twerp with a wave. The rest of the Alola school children were there too, along with that Professor/Teacher and the Alola variant of Professor Oak. Seriously, was Oak a type of Pokemon? Was the Twerp? Were… Joys and Jennys also pokemon?

The group watched as Pikachu happily lept into Misty's arms… whatever that had affected the Twerp seemed to have applied to Pikachu too, the rat was over eight years old… it shouldn't have been able to have such grace at such an elderly age. But the Rocket Trio had long since come to terms with that. But once again the appearance of the electric rat had captivated them… old habits were hard to break.

But James was the first to break away from the fixation. He pulled the rest of his team back behind their hiding spot and began to speak, "Alright. Listen - Jessie, I want you to tail behind the Twerp and track his position. We have to see where he's going. Meowth and I will speak with the Boss, so we won't get into trouble. Once we're done - text us your location so we can make another attempt against Pikachu."

Over the years, the strategies had fallen onto James' shoulders. Jessie was more interested in the disguises and engineering side of their operations, and let James do more of the overall planning. Meowth had been keeping both of them on track and solved the occasional dispute. They truly had become a well-oiled machine… with admittedly the same track record all of their other well-oiled machines they built over the years had fared - but that's beside the point.

—-—

Ash glanced at his companions, Brock and Misty, as they walked together alone at the Oak Ranch. As oblivious as people liked to call him, over his journeys he had learned to pick up more… things about human behavior. He still struggled to put things into words, but he had noticed the split second of initial shock, surprise, nostalgia, and almost a hint of disappointment when they first found each other at the airport. He, after all, had seen them first, and got a front row seat to see every shift in their expressions after they noticed him.

Ash even knew what it was about. It was a topic he admittedly didn't like to think about much… one that he could ignore when he wasn't around them. One that was ever so much more obvious after he saw his mother, Professor Oak, Gary, or really any of them. Anybody he had known, whether for a long time or not, just enough to remember them…

They all looked so old. Ash was ten. He knew that, and it seemed everybody else who knew him had accepted that. But Ash also knew, somewhere deep down, that Misty simply wasn't ten anymore. She has grown, in every aspect a person can grow. She looked… like an adult, now. And oh, how that hurt.

Not just the physical changes - those were jarring enough, but it was the way she held herself, the newfound confidence in her eyes, the way she spoke…

How he had noticed Brock had stopped chasing after girls at the airport, and how there was some stubble on his chin, those eyes of his burning with determination and clinical efficiency…

The silence between these old friends was palatable, hung thick on the air with a pressure Ash had though only Legendaries could exclude. All three of them had tried to break the ice: bringing up memories, pointing out pokemon, even shooting for comedy… Not that any of those were successful per se - but it was the thought that counted. Right?

Eventually, Brock spoke up to address the elephant in the room with a soft voice. "Hey, Ash… Misty and I have been talking… and uh…" the man tried, struggling to find the words to put this situation just right, "Any ideas on why you haven't, uhm, aged?" And he visibly cringed, eying Ash's expression with a worried expression.

But that explanation… that admittal, broke whatever dam Ash had built up within himself. Any denials, delusions, wonky explanations he might have made for himself… crumbled like paper when the problem was exposed from an outside source. It no longer was just something that could be true… it was real. This… whatever this was, wasn't normal…

He wanted to explode - to shout out in rage… act out in anger like any ten-year-old would do… But that was just it, wasn't it - he wasn't ten anymore. He wasn't supposed to be at least. It hadn't passed by him that the calendar said he was supposed to be eighteen. That eight years had passed on his journey, and that he had done arguably worse in his seventh league challenge than his second.

So instead of shouting out in rage, all of that anger went inward. And the poor boy, who bottled up his emotions, who waved off problems for later, who was unaccustomed to such waves of depression, confusion, and whatever else this horrible feeling was… crumpled to the ground, to do nothing but rasp out dry sobs.

Brock immediately went into recovery mode, dropping down to the curled-up boy and providing a gentle hand. "Breathe with me. Ash, breathe. It'll be alright, ok? We'll figure this out, you just got to breathe with me."

Misty gave the two some space, not wanting to crowd the boy - knowing she'd just get in the way. Brock was the doctor here - if he needed something he'd know to ask her. But she was worried, and sort of just hovered over them, anxious and praying everything would be alright.

It seemed like an eternity went by, an eternity of Ash crying his guts out, drenched in a cold sweat, curled up in a little ball on the forest floor. After waiting a while, Misty had left to grab a cold washcloth and a glass of water, and had already returned before Ash was able to recover.

"S-so," Ash carefully stood as he leaned on Misty for support, "That kinda sucked."


Hello and thanks for reading! In case you can't tell - this takes place during the Alola crew's trip to Kanto. Figured it was only proper to have the 'talk' in Kanto, and I didn't want to do it between regions.

I know I said this would be 'funny', but it kind of naturally went dark. Well, immortality tends to do that.