Unforgettable memories

Chapter 1: A forced vacation

A vacation. Something one wishes for after being stressed and tired for a period of time. A time when anyone can relax without having to worry about stressing stuff. The majority of the people took the opportunity to travel when this occurred. Either to a different town, city or even region to visit or sightsee. Some took the opportunity to visit loved ones, either family, friends or a special someone. Some, just took a trip back home.

For something that sounds so amazing, there must be a downside. And, as a lot of things in life, there is. Vacations were usually short. Either a few days or at maximum weeks. They were intended to be as an escape for the routine, not last indefinitely.

That being the reason why a teenage boy, named Ash Ketchum, was stressed and bored while being stuck inside his room in Pallet Town. He had been traveling in between regions with his new friend and partner, Goh, to help in the research of Prof. Cerise. This meant that, even if he was staying in Kanto with the professor, he wasn't around his hometown a lot.

Nevertheless, as he recalled the memory while laying on his bed in the morning, an accident occurred inside the laboratory in which an experiment with a quirky yet powerful Charmeleon resulted in a few machines and walls blown out.

Naturally, everyone was sent back to their own houses until the lab was restored back to normal. When asked about how long would that take to repair, Prof. Cerise answered calmly with "I really don't know. The damage is severe. It might be a few weeks."

"A few weeks?! Really?! Aww man! What are we supposed to do now?" asked a now discouraged Ash. He had been enjoying his new traveling experiences, along with his new partners and the Pokemon World Championship battles that he had been having lately.

"Take this accident as an excuse for a vacation, guys. You have been helping me non-stop since you came here, so, you deserve a little rest." Answered with a smile the Pokemon professor. This, however, didn't help with the Alola's Champion mood as he hung his head lower in a dramatic way. His Pikachu could only sweat drop a little at his trainer's antics while he rested in his shoulder.

"Relax Ash, it's not the end of the world. They have to repair the institute either way." Replied calmly his friend and travel partner, Goh, before giving an apple to his starter pokemon, Raboot. "I will take this opportunity to go home for a while, maybe I could catch new pokemon on the way. Or I could just try to visit my parents were they're working at the moment."

"Goh has a point, Ash. You could still continue doing similar things to the ones that you've been doing this time, but maybe from your hometown. You could train your new team for the upcoming battles or even catch more pokemon. This won't be permanent." Continued the professor in an attempt to cheer the gloomy and dramatic teenager.

He listened to their suggestions and knew that they were right. He had to train more than ever if he wanted to go up against other champion level trainers and prove that he was worthy of that same title, as he was still a reigning champion of a region. But being restricted to his own town was something that worried him.

He didn't dislike his hometown whatsoever. In fact, he loved it. Every time that he returned after a long trip, it felt amazing. Feeling the light breeze that ran through the forest of Route 1 while heading home, passing through and greeting old acquaintances on the way, smelling his mother's cooking from several feet away from his house. Yeah, he enjoyed those moments.

The only thing that he didn't liked was the part of staying still indefinitely. He wasn't a person that liked to stay in the same place for a long time. He liked to travel and explore. And the past 7, nearly 8, or more years proved it. Was it 8? Or were there more? He didn't really know.

He didn't know why he disliked staying still like that. Maybe traveling helped him forget things from his past. Like Gary's old habit of picking up on him or even memories with his fath...'Okay, where did that came from?' questioned the teenager as his train of thought was getting a little...weird.

Suddenly, a happy pokemon cry diverted their attention from the conversation and into it. What Ash saw was the thing that convinced him to comply to this 'forced' vacations. It was a simple sight of his Riolu trying to prove Mr. Mime that he was strong. Whilst Riolu took it seriously and tried to defeat one of his trainers more experienced pokemon, the latter was having fun as if a game was going on.

After seeing them fight/play/train and seeing his Mr. Mime's smile, he remembered his mom. She must have been missing Mr. Mime as it had been by her side all these past years. So, he decided to go home, so he could have some rest and his pokemon saw his old companion again without worries.

"Okay, I'll take it. I'll go back home for vacation. But please message us whenever we are allowed to come back." Complied a little bit nervous and slightly anxious the raven-haired trainer. Pikachu released a satisfied cry before going to join the others in their "game".

"Sure, Ash. Don't worry about it. I know that you'll have a lot of stuff to do, so, you won't miss a lot the tasks here." Kindly answered the professor. Whilst Goh simply sighed happily, as it had been easier to convince Ash than he thought it would be, the experienced teenage trainer could only reply with a smile towards his companion and the owner of the institute.

After that conversation, his memory of the travel back home was kind of a blur. He remembered explaining to his pokemon that they were going to be meeting his other friends that he had caught on the past, which made them pretty excited to leave and meet their trainer's other partners. He also remembered when he grabbed his stuff, bid goodbyes to Goh, Prof. Cerise, Chloe (who even smiled at him as she said goodbye too), Ren and Chrysa.

He recorded their contacts in his phone to have updates of the status of the institute and also their activities on this forced vacation. After that, he started his journey back home. He decided to take a ferry and travel without telling his mother. He wanted to surprise her.

As he arrived to Pallet, he first went to Prof. Oak's lab to introduce his new pokemon and see the older ones again. When he was introducing his new team to his other friends, someone slapped him upside the head. As he turned around ready to yell and possibly argue with the person that hit him unexpectedly, he heard a particular sentence that, albeit bothered him a little, made him relax at the situation.

"What's up, Ashy boy? Thought you were still traveling. Why come home so soon?" Asked his old rival and one of his best friends, Gary Oak.

"I'm on vacation. Something happened at the lab were we were staying, so they sent us home for a while." Answered calmly the black-haired teen. "And don't call me that way, we're not kids anymore." Continued a little bit annoyed towards his childhood friend, while the other chuckled at his antics. It was too easy to mess up with him sometimes.

"What are you doing here anyway, Gary? Weren't you studying to be a pokemon professor?" Asked sincerely the raven haired teen. He had lost track with him a while ago and, even though he didn't like to admit it, he missed him. As he missed all his past companions. Or even more.

"That's exactly what I'm doing, with gramps' help of course. He let me stay here for a while to study more about pokemon and their habits, using yours and mine for the research here in the lab." Answered the other teen towards his former rival. It was true that they had rough spots in their relationship, but they had been friends for so long, that it didn't matter too much. "So, in other words, I'll be here for a while. If you want to battle sometime and train for your upcoming challenge at the PWC, I'm down." Finished the redhead before pulling out his phone and showing it to Ash, signaling to record his contact information.

Ash blinked a couple times before smirking slightly and accepting the phone. Having the same thoughts as his childhood friend, he quickly agreed and thanked him for the offer. They spoke for a while before Prof. Oak appeared and smiled at the two young adults in front of him. It was good to see an old, damaged friendship starting to reconnect and rebuild itself.

After a while, Ash decided to leave Dragonite, Gengar and Riolu in the lab so that they could get along and play with his other pokemon. He promised to visit often to train with all of them, but he has to go home only with Pikachu and Mr. Mime. They understood everything when being told about and left their trainer to play with their new friends.

And so, after a long goodbye with Prof. Oak, Gary and Tracey, who had been in other part of the lab when he arrived, he took off towards his house. He walked slowly, enjoying and reminiscing the scenery surrounding him whilst also remembering his travels and experiences. After having reconnected a little bit with Gary and recorded his contact information, he wanted to keep in touch with all his former companions and friends. So, he decided that that might be a good thing to do on this vacation.

He arrived home just in time to find his mother in between cooking and cleaning the house, a little stressed out due to the lack of helping hands. When she saw him enter the house, she left everything she was doing and ran to gave her little kid a hug. He was growing so fast. He was now a young adult, trainer of multiple pokemon, world traveler and a regional champion. But he would always be her little boy.

After almost dying from asphyxiation, Ash called out Mr. Mime, whom was eager and really happy to see his old companion. So much, that it gave her a hug too and started to clean afterwards. He explained the reasoning of his return and his plans for his vacation, these being of course relax and train for the PWC, before going back to the institute.

His mother smiled, grateful for the company of her son in the house and assured him that he might have something else to do during this time. She knew him pretty well and how he could get impatient and easily bored after a while. He could only smile at his mother's optimism, before heading to his room to search for some items he was remembering about during his way back from the lab.

And thus, he remembered that he still had stuff to do in his vacation as to not die of boredom. He got up from his bed slowly, trying hard not to wake up his oldest companion who was peacefully sleeping in a curled-up position near his feet, and started rummaging in his room. He had to find it. And after a while of searching, he did found what he was looking for.

A little blue box with a golden pokeball kind of decoration, closed by a lock and a little covered in dust. He rummaged a little more in his stuff to find the key, waking Pikachu in the process, who was genuinely confused and interested in his trainer's antics at this moment.

After a while, he found the key and attempted to open the lock. When it did open, he sighed happily. He then took a look at his trophy and memories collection on his room, smiled a little, and proceeded to open the box. When he did so, he found different pieces of paper. Each one of them with different messages or text written in it.

By this point, Pikachu had climbed to his trainer's shoulder due to curiosity and routine. Ash was still rummaging his stuff when his mother opened his room door.

"Oh, Ash. You're up already. I thought that you'd still be sleeping by now and came to wake you up for breakfast." Spoke his mom with a caring tone before noticing what his son was doing. "What're you doing?" Asked happily the woman standing by the doorframe of his room.

"Oh just rummaging through my memory treasure box. I have been storing letters, photographs, messages and such from friends that I've met since I started traveling, mom." Started answering the teenager with a smile. "I'm trying to find contact information of them so that I can keep up with them better. I've found most of them and already talked with some. Brook and Misty already know that I'm here and they said they'd pay us a visit sometime. I've also spoken with May, Dawn, Paul, Gary, Tracy, Richie, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, Mallow, Lana, Kiawe, Sophocles, Lillie and some other trainers I've met during my travels." Continued happily the black haired teen.

His mom was impressed. He had met a lot of people during his travels and made a lot of good friends. She was proud of him. Her little boy was almost a grown ma...

"Although..." She refocused her attention in her son due to the mood and tone change in his voice. "There's someone I've tried to contact but haven't succeeded. I can't seem to find anything with her information. And I really want to talk to her again. It's been so long..." finished the boy with a thoughtful and a little sad expression plastered on his face. This girl must've caused something within her son to make him act this way.

And then it clicked. She knew what was happening and, although she didn't want to cry about the thought of her little kid growing too fast again, she smiled. But that smile lasted a few moments before turning into a smirk.

"Her, huh?~" Asked the mother of the household with a playful and teasing tone. "Is she someone special that I should know about?~" Continued asking until she saw a huge blush plastered on her son's face. "Uh, let me guess. Is she the girl from the islands you once told me about? Or the girl from the Pokemon school? Uh! I know! Is she the girl from the...?" Asked relentlessly until she was almost pushed outside the room by her son.

"MOM! S-stop! P-please. It's none of them. I'll tell you later, okay?" Almost pleaded her son, whilst looking clearly embarrassed. She only chuckled and told him to accompany her to eat breakfast. And so they did. While eating his breakfast, he recalled mentally what he had to do that day.

He had planned a few training sessions with his pokemon and arranged a few training battles with Gary and Tracey at the lab. When he checked the clock to see the time, he saw that he was running late as always. So he finished his breakfast as quickly as possible while trying not to choke, before he bid goodbye to his mother.

And just before he could step outside his house and sprint towards the lab with Pikachu behind him, his mother reprimanded him.

"Where do you think you're going Ash Ketchum?!" Asked a bit annoyed, Delia Ketchum. "Um...towards Prof. Oak's lab? I was going to train with my pokemon for a while, mom." Answered sheepishly the teenager. Also a little afraid. He might not be a kid anymore, but he knew better to not anger his mother. She could be pretty scary when she wanted to.

"I know that. You've already told me about it." She answered calmly, whilst the expression on her face softened, which calmed him a lot. He wasn't in trouble. Or so he thought for a second before noting the huge smirk on his mother's face. "I meant that you haven't told me about this mystery girl you desperately want to speak to again.~" Finished the older woman with a teasing tone in her voice that made him start to sweat. And blush. A lot.

'Damn, I'm acting like her' he thought. "Mom, I'm in a hurry, so I have to go." He answered, hoping that he could escape the torture that would be answering that question to his mom. "ASH KETCHUM! You will answer me right now or you will be grounded for the rest of your vacation with no more food cooked by me!" Reprimanded his mother.

'Shit. I don't want to cook. My cooking's not that good and mom's is awesome...But she'd know...But, food...' started a debate inside the teen before sighing in defeat and answering towards his mom.

"It's...it's Serena mom. I miss her. I haven't spoke with her since we separated at the end of my travel on the Kalos region." Spoke a little flustered the teenager. "Serena? Are you talking about the girl of Prof. Oak's camp whom you made friends and reunited on Kalos? That Serena?" Questioned with a smile on her face the older woman. "Yes, mom. Her. Are you happy now? May I go train?" Asked shyly and defeated the Alolan champion. 'Unbelievable, a Legendary pokemon can't defeat me, but my mom can.' Thought quickly before receiving a happy nod from his mom and a 'Good luck on your day' from her.

"Ugh! This is going to suck. Now she knows." Spoke out loud the teen whilst walking towards the lab with a defeated expression on his face. "Pika?" Asked curiously and a little worried his partner perched on his shoulder.

"Ah, don't worry Pikachu. It's just that...I didn't want mom to know about my feelings for Serena. It's all." Answered the teen before catching a confused glance of his partner. "That I like her, Pikachu. In a romantic way. Geez, speaking of this stuff feels weird. Let's just focus on today and our training with the others, what do you say?" Asked towards his best friend and oldest companion, only to receive a loud and enthusiastic 'Pika!' As an answer, so he continued his way towards the lab to train for the day. Little did he know that this knowledge would unleash something good for him.

After her son left, Delia spoke to Mr. Mime and told him to open a certain drawer on one of the cabinets on their living room. As he did, she went and started searching for something. When she did found it successfully, she smiled and went to grab a phone not before thanking Mr. Mime for his help.

She turned around the photograph in her hands, dialed the number on the back and waited a few seconds on the line until someone answered on the other side.

"Gabena Residence, Grace speaking. Who is it?" Spoke a voice that she'd heard once by the other end of the line. She smiled.

"Grace? It's me, Delia. Delia Ketchum. Mother of Ash Ketchum. From Prof. Oak's Camp that happened a few years ago." Answered Delia with a cheerful tone on her voice. "Delia?! Oh God! It's been so long. How have you been? How's your boy doing? I mean, I know what's he been up to due to my daughter. She has a huge crush on him, just so you know, and she doesn't stop talking about him." Replied an even happier voice on the other end of the line.

"I think I noticed that on the last day of that camp." Answered shortly before releasing some chuckles, which Grace shared. "Listen, I'm calling you to propose you a plan to reunite those two. Ash seems to really want to see you daughter again. So...what do you say? Want to reunite them and embarrass the hell out of them?" Asked with a playful and teasing tone the Ketchum household's owner.

After a few seconds of silence, Grace spoke. "I'm in. I'd love to embarrass those two. But before you tell me your idea, how'd you get our number? Did Ash gave it to you?" Asked curiously the brunette.

"No, he doesn't have any way of contacting you or your daughter. That's why I'm speaking right now with you. And as for your number...Do you remember how insistent your little girl was about the picture on the last day of camp? Well, behind the picture was written your information." She answered happily.

"Oh, right! I forgot about that picture! Serena used to loved it! I remember your kid hugging that annoyed Poliwag during the photograph. It was hilarious. I must've stored it somewhere here. I'll find it to show it to her." Replied Grace excitedly, "So, what's the plan?" before asking this.

"Ok, so, hear me out..."

When he arrived to Prof. Oak's lab, Ash had expected shouts and screams towards him due to his tardiness. Again. But what he didn't expect to see, was Tracy excitedly motioning him to follow him to the back part of the lab. When they arrived to the back, Prof. Oak and Gary were waiting for him. One happy and one with an expression of an excited challenger. When he was about to ask about that, Gary spoke.

"Finally decided to show up, huh, Ketchum? What do you say if we battle right now?" Asked defiantly his oldest rival. "Sure, I'm down. Pikachu, your t..." and before he finished, Gary interrupted him.

"Seriously dude? Didn't even check your other Pokemon who might want to battle?" Replied a clearly annoyed teenager. "Geez Gramps, why go through all that trouble if he's not going to pay attention to them?" Asked the redhead to his grandparent, who just sweat dropped at their antics.

"What's he talking about, Prof. Oak?" Asked curiously the black haired champion. After a few chuckles, the eldest man answered "Ash, why don't you try to look around and see all of your pokemon to pick a decent team for the fight."

"Um, sure." Answered with a little bit of uncertainty the aforementioned teen. He was getting confused and, honestly, a little bit scared. "Let's see. Who wants to battle against Gary?" Spoke out loud towards his pokemon while all of them gathered near him.

"Riolu and Gengar, I know you're eager. Come here." Started to scout the teen his battling team. "Let's see. Quilava, come too. Sceptile, your turn too, buddy." Spoke too all his pokemon whilst gathering his team. "Don't worry guys, everyone will have a chance to fight. Right now I need someone who can fl...ouch!" He started to speak when he felt something falling and hit his head. "Pidgeot, I know that it was you! Come down this momen...wait a second...Pidgeot?!"

As he turned his head upwards, he saw his old friend who had returned and cried cheerfully towards his old trainer. Before bawling his eyes out due to seeing an old friend, the bird pokemon turned his head to signal somewhere. And then, he saw them. Each and everyone of his pokemon that had been released or at training. They had came back to be by his side once more.

"G-guys! B-but...how?!" Spoke incredulously the now shocked young champion, before being tackled to the ground by his partners.

"Surprise!" Answered Tracy. "Prof. Oak and I have been trying to found your pokemon for months. We figured that they'd miss you and you'd miss them and, with the PWC right now, what better than having all of your roster full?" Finished the pokemon artist.

"So, what do you say, Ashy Boy? Want to take a moment to think before our battle?" Asked with a smirk his redheaded rival.

"Oh, you bet! So, guys, who wants to battle?!" The newly pumped up trainer asked excitedly towards his group of numerous pokemon before receiving happy cries of them.

In another part of the world, a honey blonde teenager had just woken up and was starting to head down to eat her breakfast. She was taking a really deserved break after traveling through Hoenn and Sinnoh to compete in contests. She was grateful to her mother that she'd understood that she needed to rest. And that meant, no chores or loud noises around the house.

She arrived to the kitchen to say good morning to her mother and start to eat her breakfast with her, but rather caught a weird sight in front of her. Her mother was chatting animatedly on the phone, giggling and almost jumping with joy. She thought that she had to be dreaming. This was really weird. And before she could say something, her mom ended the call with a "Sure, I'll let her know. We'll be there in a few days. See ya!"

"Um...mom? Is...is everything fine?" Asked nervously the performer, not certain as what to say in this situation.

"Oh, Serena! Just in time! Eat fast, we have to pack!" Her mother started hurrying her to eat, almost forcing feeding her as she was a still a baby. "Wait...pack?! Fpr whaht?!" Questioned in between muffled bites of her pancakes the honey blonde.

"Oh, right, hehe, sorry. I forgot. We'll be going to Pallet Town in Kanto for a vacation. I'll be meeting an old friend of mine there. Surely you'll found stuff to do there. Now, hurry up." Spoke Grace half happily and half teasingly towards her daughter.

"Oh, okay. Sure, I'll accompany you to...Pal...let..." It took her a few seconds of processing before she shouted "WE'RE GOING TO PALLET FOR VACATION?!"

*phew* Damn! This was a pretty freaking long chapter. I wasn't entirely planning on writing something this long but I guess that inspiration came through. Hahahaha.

Please tell me what you guys' think! I'd appreciate the feedback. I'll try to update as soon as possible, but, with the pandemic and work right now, it might be a little while. Although, I'll do my best to update in these next days.

Hope you liked it! See ya later!