A young man was walking down the halls of a grand building, lost in thought, the sound of his boots echoing throughout the corridors. At the end of the hall, he opened 2 large doors and made his way into a large room with nothing more besides a trophy case, a few chairs along the side walls and a large desk with a monitor and a dark red luxury chair behind it. Behind the desk was a window that spanned the entire wall as it overlooked a bustling city. On the floor of the room was an insignia of a large C. The man walked to the case and brushed his fingers against a somewhat dusty trophy case, he would have to make sure to tell one his maids to clean it when she has the time, no rush though.
Beside him, a rather large orange rodent like creature stood beside him and nudged his hand with his nose until it was on his head, which got him some scratches and a happy "Raiiii..." in response to them.
The man looked down at his friend with a smile, one of his closest friends he had at that.
"I'm okay, buddy, it's just... Looking down memory lane..." The man said as he walked away to his desk, his Raichu jumping onto his lap as he turned his chair to look out the window. "Delioak City... Never get tired of seeing this place. The lights, the sounds, the buildings..." He turned and pressed a button on his desk, receiving a call back.
"Yes, Mr. Ketchum," A woman on the other end answered him. "What is it that I can help you with?"
"Yes, Olivia, when you can, I'd like for you to send a message to the Admins. I want reports onto how the other bases are doing, and if they are in need of any assistance. Thank you, my friend." The man, Mr. Ketchum, said as he looked towards his monitor, scrolling through the recent news of his city. "Also, send my congratulations to the orphanage on Trace Street , I'll send them the promised funding within the week."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Ketchum." Olivia said on the other line. "You do know even though this is your city, you do not need to help them and other organizations this much. They can fend for themselves."
Mr. Ketchum sighed. "I am aware, Olivia, but everyone needs help now and then. It's just a little pick me up to help them with whatever the children or the place needs. You understand, correct?"
Olivia had a softer tone now. "Yes, Mr. Ketchum, I do. I'll be sure to send it when I can." Olivia hung up.
Mr. Ketchum looked back at the trophy case as he had a soft smile that slowly turned into a blank stare.
"To think, it felt just like yesterday, bud..."
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It was a glorious night as a child, no older than 17 or so, stood in the center of a large arena, the bleachers of the crowd filled to the brim with people from all around the world he believed exploding with cheers and applause. Beside him were 6, realistically 7 if you counted the yellow mouse on his shoulder, Pokemon waving back to the crowd along with their trainer. In the corner of his eye, the kid saw a rather tall man in a cape with purple hair was making his way towards him.
"You know, kid, you really surprised me out there. I don't think I have ever met someone who could give me that much of a challenge! I knew that this tournament would bring strong trainers, but I never thought that it would bring someone who would give me a challenge let alone beat me." The man took off his cap and laughed, putting it on top of the cat of the kid. "Well, Ash... looks like you're the champion now." He gave a thumbs up and put his cape on the kid.
The kid, now known as Ash, smiled huge as he couldn't hold it anymore and hugged the larger man. "Thank you, Leon! I... I can't believe it... Pikachu, everyone... thank you for all that you've done! I couldn't have done it without y-" Ash was caught off guard by his pokemon tackling him and hugging him, receiving a roar of laughter from the crowd and Leon.
Helping Ash up, Leon dusted him off and put his arm around him and waved to the crowd. "So, kid, what's your next stop?"
Ash looked to the ground and then his pokemon as all he could do was smile. "I think I'm gonna head home for a while, I'm kinda hungry!" Another surge of laughter came as it drowned out Leon asking if he could come too, but asking if he could take him so he won't end up in Jhoto on accident.
Ash walked out as he met up with two of his newer friends, a girl with red hair and a boy with brown hair, who pulled him into a hug. "Goh, Chloe! I can't believe we did it!"
Goh had sparkles in his eyes as he was looking at Ash. "I know, you finished your dream!"
"You could've lost out there, you big dummy! It was so close to call!" She had abit of an angry face but it softened into a smile as she laughed abit. "But you did good out there. I'm so proud of you..."
"Thanks, you two. So what are you guys going to do now..?" Ash said as he was abit sad with the news he knew was coming.
Goh had a sad smile as he looked down. "I... still am going to travel. I haven't caught every pokemon yet, let alone Mew..." He looked over at Chloe.
Chloe had a much more positive smile. "Well... I plan to travel with him, I enjoy seeing the world. You're... really going to be going home?"
Ash just smiled and gave Pikachu a few pets. "Yeah, I miss my mom and pokemon, you know? Hey, listen..." He put his hand out for a fist bump. "When we can, let's meet up again!"
The other 2 joined him in a fist bump, giving a hearty "YEAH!" in response as they walked out with him and got into a cab on its way to the airport. Ash had gotten out, staring at the ticket as he looked back at his friends, he always hated the part of leaving his new friends as he gave a thumbs up and walked onto the plane, first class as he sat in disbelief of his new title of world champion. He couldn't believe it, as it felt like a while ago he first left on his journey, but now here he was, on his way back home...
The next day, he got off as he gave a large yell out. "HELLOOOOOO, KANTO!" Ash ran down the stairs and stumbled abit but still made it to the bottom without falling. "He should be around soon..." Ash heard a cry from the sky as he saw a shadow getting close, a smile creeping onto Ash's face as the shadow came into view. "CHARIZARD! Hahahah-" He got hit with a flamethrower from his giant lizard friend that had a happy face, and fell over all charred up. "I missed you too, buddy..." He got up and shaked the soot off as he hugged his Charizard. "Ready to go home?"
"Roaar~!" His Charizard exclaimed happy as he got ready for him to get on. He flew off as Ash held on, the wind hitting his face and closes his eyes as Charizard flew. What he didn't know was that it wasn't just his Charizard that came for him, as when he opened his eyes, he was met with many of his flying/levitating pokemon flying beside him, giving him the grand treatment.
After the long flight, he was let down in front of his house as he waved by to his pokemon. "I'll see you all at Oak's lab!" He grabbed the doorknob and was about to turn it, but he heard something inside, he heard... voices. Slowly opening the door... He was met with many of his old friends inside, balloons and streamers all around.
"SURPRISE!!!" Many voices shouted at once as Ash was caught off guard as he looked towards the crowd of his friends me made along the way, even a few old rivals.
Ash held his hat down as his smile grew huge. "Everyone?! You're all here?!"
Brock was the first to go up and congratulate him and shook his hand. "Of course we are! You did it, Ash!"
Misty hugged him and Brock too as he was close, also to make sure the other girls didn't get too jealous. "Truth be told, we were gonna be here even if you lost, but... well forget about that! We're here to celebrate!"
Tracey got up from the table to pat Ash on the back. "Yeah, I called them all here. Here, I also made this!" He showed Ash a drawing of him in his champion cape.
Gary and the other rivals that were there...Barry, Ritchie and even Paul... ganged around Ash...and hoisted him up in approval. "Well, y'all, let's party!"
As the day went on, Ash and his old friends and rival partied through out the night, with loads of games and food that could feed a small village or at least 1 Ash and a group of friends.
The next day...
Ash was in his bed as he got up, shaking his head as his vision slowly came back. Getting up, he held his arm our for Pikachu to climb onto his shoulder as he made his way to the living room. It still showed some remains of the party. Mostly all his friends made their way back home within the morning, the only people left being Misty and Brock who were already awake and helping to clean. "Morning, guys..." He got to helping them clean. However, instead of a good morning back, he was met with silence. "Uh... you guys okay?"
Brock was putting empty bags and plates in the trash as he smiled. "So, Ash, you're done with your dream now?"
Ash looked at Brock confused. "Uh... what do you mean, Brock? I'm not dreaming, I'm awake!"
Misty gave an angry sigh as she washed the dishes. "Not like that, you dumby! He means like... aren't you done? You did it, you're the best in the world! Don't you think it's time to retire?"
Even Pikachu was just as surprised as Ash. Ash looked even more confused. "I'm not done! I mean, I'm not a pokemon master yet, I'm just the top trainer, those are different things!"
"That's... nice..." Brock sighed. "But maybe... it would be best if you did retire. At least for a while, Ash! You could join me over at the pokemon hospital for a while, it could be nice!"
"Or you could stay with me at the gym! I... wouldn't mind it if you were there. It could be nice, we uh... Could run the gym together..." Misty said as she put the dishes away, trying to hide a blush.
Ash for some reason was abit taken back by this. "But guys, I can't just... do that! You know I love exploring traveling, what if I want to explore another region again, or try to take on the gyms again?!"
Brock got abit more serious. "You serious? That's... that's idiotic! You already got the badges, you can't just do it again to double up. Ash, as your friend, I am asking nicely, stop for awhile, enjoy life! You don't need to keep moving, relax!"
Ash got angry, something in him was turning, something he normally doesn't like... Anger. "I can't just do that! Journeying is my relaxation! Come on, you two, how about this, we go again and explore Kanto, maybe we missed a few things!"
Misty put down the rag as she looked at Ash. "Ash, you know he can't. He and I... we both have jobs to do, we can't just leave them to... to bum around!"
Ash looked down. "Bum..? You think... You think what we did, all that we've done... all that I'VE done... is 'bumming around'..?"
Brock put his hand up. "N-now Ash, she didn't mean it like that, she means-"
"Out."
Misty took a step back. "A-Ash, I'm sorry, can we talk-"
"I SAID OUT!" Lifting up both Misty and Brock as if they were weightless, he practically kicked his own door open and dropped them out as he closed and locked the door... Forgetting that he broke the door when he kicked it so it didn't close at all.
"Hey, you're acting like a brat, Ash!" Misty said as she tried to look intimidating, abit scared and somewhat amazed how he was able to carry them both like they were weightless. "Come on, be serious! What are you going to do?! You did it all, there is nowhere else to go and nothing left to do!"
Ash shook in anger, somerhing in him was twisting more and more as he shouted at her. "Shut up! Why would I listen to you?! You... you don't believe in me at all! You..." He didn't finish his thought as he ran to Oak's lab, leaving Misty and Brock in his dust. However, they didn't leave; they gave chase.
Brock explaimed as he got up. "Ash, wait!" As they ran, they somehow found themselves way behind him, they don't remember this guy being this athletic.
Ash made it to the lab, tears in his eyes as he looked around and found the fhing he was looking for, a device that Oak picked up in a trip to Galar, a Pokemon Box Link. "Sorry, Professor..." He heard a voice behind him, it was Tracey.
"Ash, what the hell? Why did you just break in-" he didn't have time to finish his sentence as Ash ran out to the fields.
"Come on, come on... There!" Ash ran to his Charizard and spoke to him quick. "Charizard, no time to explain. We... we need to go!" At first Charizard was confused, but he could see the pain on his his trainer's face as he agreed. Giving time for Ash and Pikachu to get on, he flew up and over the fields of Oak's lab. "Charizard, tell everyone to get ready fo leave." Charizard just nodded as he let out a roar as it awoke the flying types first, as they carried on the message. Ash activated the PBL as beams of light from all over came into fhe box. Before he knew it, all his pokemon were in.
Misty and Brock finally made their way to the labs as thdy found Tracey looking at a screen fhat showed cameras, confused as he saw Ash's pokemon being zapped away. "What is going on?!"
The three of them ran out as they saw the sky. What they saw was someone on the back of Charizard gathering the pokemon. It was too late for them to stop them as by the time they sent out their pokemon, it seemed as through... the Charizard, trainer and the pokemon that belonged to Ash were just gone.
Misty fell to her knees as she saw everything happen, the past hour or so felt like itnwas dragged on. As she saw the shadow leave in the skies, she felt tears down her face, only being able to let out a single word. "Ash..."
Tracey looked confused. "So that WAS, Ash?!" He looked around and saw that something was missing, the PBL. "He... he stole something..."
Brock looked taken back. "Ash... stole? He's..."
Tracey looked down. "He's a... criminal..?"
Misty got up and tried to calm them down. "M-maybe he has a reason! He wouldn't just steal from Professor Oak like this! Maybe he's just... bringing it to him, thats it!"
Brock put his hand on Misty but she smacked it away. "Misty, Ash stole from the professor, we... we need to call Officer Jenny... He's... He's a criminal..."
"No... no, you're lying! You're lying!" She ran out this time now and to Ash's house, getting whatever she can, and tried her hardest to find a way to get to Cerulean as fast as she can. "Im gonna find you, Ash, I promise!" She yelled to the sky, hoping, praying he somehow heard her.
