Chapter 3: Happy Comforts
"Why would my friends do this to me?! Why?! I never did anything to them that would hurt them, so why did they have to hurt me?", sobbed Ash to himself.
As he looked into the river, he saw a reflection of himself. But it wasn't him. It was the picture as a complete failure. It was true. He never seemed to win anything important apart from Orange Island League and the Kanto Battle Frontier. He always wanted to win a regional league, but just when his victory was only a grasp away, it had to be taken away by his own stupidity in battles.
"Maybe they are right. Maybe I should give up my dream of becoming a Pokemon Master. Because now that I think about it, it's impossible to achieve such a huge goal.", said Ash to himself in a low, sorrowful voice.
"Don't you ever say that, Ash Ketchum! Don't you ever say that in front of ME!", said a voice behind Ash. He turned around and was surprised to see Professor Oak, his mother, Mr. Mime and the rest of his pokemon.
Professor Oak and Delia both went up to Ash and sat next to him. His pokemon all followed and sat around him. They, even Charizard, all had tears in their eyes. They couldn't believe that their great trainer would begin to give up on himself and his dream just because some bratty kids said mean things about him that were not true at all. Torkoal was crying up a river because of his soft nature.
Delia faced Ash with a look of worry on her face for her son. "Ash, I want you to tell me and Professor Oak what had happened and why you are acting like this. Go from start to finish and don't leave out a single detail. Understand, young man?".
Ash turned to face his pokemon. They all nodded to Delia's request and showed Ash that she needed to know what happened to him so she could understand. They all sat down on the ground around them, not wanting to leave him. Even the herd of Tauros settled down even though there were masters of stampeding.
With that, the raven haired trainer began to talk, but in a strong clear voice instead of one that sounded dead. He told them how he heard them saying rude things about him, how they were going to tell him to give up, how he felt to that and why he wanted to be by himself to think this over.
By the time he was done, both of the adults were shocked at his story, but the pokemon were now more angry instead of tearful for hearing the story a second time.
Professor Oak always thought that Ash's friends would be with him no matter what since he was always there to support them and they supported him. He knew that May and Dawn looked up at to Ash like their older brother and mentor because he helped them start on their journeys, but he guessed that they were so full of themselves nowadays that they no longer need him. Even as a friend. He also knew Brock was most long- lasting friend because he travelled with Ash for the longest above all others. Now he wanted to get rid of Ash; probably because he was getting more attention from so many girls and that was starting to affect his love life.
Delia was feeling great rage for his former friends. She had met them all when they came today to congratulate Ash. She thought that they all nice people who knew Ash as not only a valuable member to their group, but also as the one who kept them on their feet towards their own dreams. She could only imagine what they had said about Ash.
"Ash, just because they want you to give up doesn't mean you have to. I may not know them that well, but I know you far to well and I know you'll never, ever give up on your dream to become a Pokemon Master.", said Delia softly to Ash.
"Ash, my boy. I want to tell you something important that I think you ought to know. This is something that I told all the other trainers who left Pallet Town on their journeys before you and Gary.", said Professor Oak
"Ok, Professor. What is it?", asked Ash, who was now wiping tears from his cheeks.
"You see, your journey is about you and achieving your dream. It isn't about others and their dreams. They'll just start holding you back to make you help them achieve their goals. And from you've been telling us, it sounds like another reason that the others have abandoned you is because they think you are starting to drag them down.", said Professor Oak.
Ash looked at him with confusion. "Do you think that's true to you, Professor?"
"Absolutely not, my boy,", responded to man, "if anything, it's them holding you back, not vice versa."
"He's right, Ash,", agreed Delia," because when they journeyed with you, its somehow seemed to me that they always cut into your training time so you could help them. So I think that you are much better than all of them combined when it comes to battling right and treating your pokemon with plenty of love."
Ash was starting to feel something. Their words were breaking into him and beginning heal him on the inside, but he was still feeling a little bit uneasy. Then he just remembered something.
"Professor Oak?", said Ash.
"Yes, Ash?", replied Professor Oak.
"Do you think that Gary is in on this, too?", asked Ash. He was beginning to wonder if his best friend from childhood and arch rival was siding with the traitors.
Professor Oak looked at him with surprise. "No, Ash, he isn't. In fact, he called me at the lab just a few days ago from the Sinnoh region. He told me that when you come home, he told me to tell you that he was impressed by your placement in the Unova League and asked me to congratulate you for him. So…congratulations, Ash!"
Ash smiled. When Gary was his rival back during his Kanto journeys, he would always boast about how he was going to be the greatest Pokemon Master to have ever left Pallet Town. He always treated Ash like an inferior, but when he lost at the Kanto League before Ash did, he must have changed for the better and began to treat Ash like his best friend just like in the childhood days. But after he said that he was going to become a researcher instead of a trainer, that practically meant that the rivalry between the two could end and the friendship could continue to live on.
Ash was starting to feel better about himself now, but there was still one more thing that he was quite unsure about. And that was his abilities as a trainer. He didn't know what to think of himself, so he was going to ask for the opinions of his family and pokemon.
Thank you, everyone. I'm starting to feel like myself again, but I still need your opinions on something.", said Ash.
"Of course, Ash. What do you need our opinion on?", asked Delia.
Ash took a deep breath. And then he spoke clearly. "Do you think that I'm a good trainer to you all, even after…what they said?"
The group was shocked. They all thought he was an extraordinary trainer. One that was full of spirit, energy and the guts to continue even at a devastating loss. He showed he was one to never give up under any circumstance by wanting to challenge the league in every new region he travelled in. But here he was now, asking his pokemon and family if he was still worthy of being their trainer.
"Of course you are, my boy." said Professor Oak, "As a matter of fact, you are the pride of Pallet Town. After the Pokemon Centre here was established, a lot more visitors, tourists and trainers have been coming to see the home of our most famous trainer of this generation. My laboratory has also been a great hit, but mostly because children want to see your pokemon. They admire you as their idol. It would be a shame you were to quit now. I'm sure you don't want to let down your fans, do you Ash?"
"I don't at all, Professor!", said Ash, who seemed now to be in more cheerful spirits.
"Ash, no matter what happens, you'll be the greatest trainer in my heart any day.", said a happy-looking Delia, "Your father would be very proud of you no matter what if he was with us right now.
The pokemon began to cheer. They were all very joyous to see their old trainer back to his old self again. Some even went up to him to show their happiness. Gible and Totodile latched to both sides of his head, Bayleef nuzzled against him and Sceotile decided to give him a pat on the back. Torkoal was crying tears of happiness.
"Thanks, you guys.", replied Ash happily. "Hey, Corphish, can you do me a favour?"
"Corphish?", said Corphish.
Ash pulled out two items from his pockets. They were a fishing lure that he had received from Misty and half of the Terracotta Medal that he had won during a contest with May.
"Can you please use Crabhammer to pulverise these things? They bring back bad memories."
Corhish obeyed his trainer, knowing there were no good memories in those objects. One of his pincers glowed white and hit the ground where the items were. When he lifted his pincer, the lure was snapped in two and the medal was broken into three pieces. The ribbon parts were also torn.
Ash thanked Corphish for the favour. He was about to throw the remenants of them into the river, but his mom spoke up.
"Actually, Ash could I have those? I might need them." Ash gave her the pieces, which she put into a small bag. He was still confused at why should would want that…trash.
Suddenly, Ash saw the two new comers within the crowd. At first he seemed a little bit agitated to see Axew and Buneary because they belonged to two of the traitors, but then something told him that the two pokemon were on his side.
"Axew? Buneary? What are you two doing here?", asked Ash. Gible and Totodile let go of his head and landed on the ground.
"Bun Buneary Bun Eary.", said Buneary while making hand gestures to herself, Axew and Ash.
"If I'm not mistaken, I think you just said that you don't agree with the traitors about me being weak. Am I right?", said Ash. He was starting to know where this was all going.
She nodded. Pikachu began to talk to Ash, even though he could only understand a small amount of what the mouse actually said.
"Are you saying that they want to join our team, Pikachu? But they still belong to Iris and Dawn.", said Ash with a bit of confusion on his mind. Pikachu nodded.
"Pika Pika Pikachu.", exclaimed Pikachu while pointing back at the ranch. He then took off in a sprint. Ash got the idea that Pikachu wanted him to follow.
"Come on, guys. I think he wants to show us something.", Ash said to the others. They all went in the direction Pikachu took off to and soon stopped where Pikachu was waiting.
"Pika Pikapi", said Pikachu while pointing on the ground in front of him. Ash could see the remenants of what had been Buneary's and Axew's pokeballs. All of a sudden, Ash understood the whole thing.
"Did you two break your own pokeballs just so you can join not only me, but Scraggy and Pikachu too?!", asked Ash to Axew and Buneary. They both nodded.
"Well then welcome to the team, you two.", said Ash while shaking hands with the two new recruits. Buneary then hopped over to Pikachu and hugged him, overjoyed that they would a couple soon and forever.
"I guess I can understand that they value you in some ways more than they did with their previous owners, Ash.", said the professor to the trainer.
"Yes, Samuel. I'm just glad that some didn't think of him negatively.", added Delia as she bent downto pet Buneary and Axew. They liked that a lot.
Just then, something really big stomped up right behind them and cast a shadow upon them all. Everyone turned around only to have a gigantic Tentacruel robot stare back at them. A hatch on top of it wit ha big red 'R' opened up to reveal the attackers, Team Rocket. But right where James was supposed to be was a different person with short orange hair and sunglasses.
"Prepare for trouble and for a fight."
"Make it double and-"
"TEAM ROCKET", exclaimed Ash. The pokemon got ready in battle stance and growled. Delia, however, was dumbfounded.
"Ash, who's Team Rocket?", asked his mother with a bit of fear in her voice.
"Mom, they are an evil organisation who steal other people's pokemon and use them for evil purposes.", replies Ash while still facing his archenemies.
"Hey! We didn't get to finish our new motto, twerp. Don't you know it's rude to interrupt other people when they are talking?", shouted out Jessie in rage. Her face was beginning to go a light tinge of pink at this.
"Don't you dare call my son a twerp, you preposterous old witch!", yelled back Delia in frustration that someone insulted her son. The pokemon were not happy at this either and their growls just turned into roars.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!", screamed Jessie when she heard that. Her face was so blood red, it matched her hair colour and she looked like a tamato berry.
"Come on, Jessie. We have to stay focused on the mission here or the boss will surely be angry with us.", said the new person.
"Where's James?", asked Ash, who seemed to be losing his cool.
"He decided to ditch us and go on his own journey,", said Meowth, "so the boss recruited Kaleb here to be our new teammate."
Ash was actually surprised. He always thought that James wasn't meant for Team Rocket because of his distraction to 'vintage' bottle caps and his childish nature. Not to mention that he made some truces with him and his friends, such as the time at his Nanny and Pop Pop's summer cottage. Ash was finally glad that James decided to make something of himself and prove that he can actually be somebody instead of a criminal who barely pays attention. This new Kaleb guy sounded like he wasn't going to be any smarter than James was.
Meowth continued. "But enough chitter-chatter. With our new Tentacruelbot Mark Four, your pokemon will soon belong to the boss and we will be his best agents in the entire organization, twerp."
"Like that's ever going to happen, you pathetic excuse of a furball. We'll just defeat you and destroy your silly contraptions, again and again.", said Sceptile.
"Yeah!", said Gible while licking his lips. "How about I'll just eat it again like the last two times?"
Meowth was hit hard by the insult."You are going to regret saying that, you big lizard."
As the trio re-entered the cockpit of the robot, the tips of the tentacles opened up to reveal claws. Two of the claws suddenly tried to grab Pikachu and Snivy, but they both dodged their fates. They other claws looked ready to grab the other pokemon
"That's enough. Everyone, how about we give them a good blasting off with one huge combination attack?", said Ash to his pokemon team. The pokemon nodded and roared at the robot jellyfish. Then they launched their own special attacks varying from Pikachu's Thunderbolt to Corphish's Bubblebeam to Krookodile's Stone Edge. Even Buneary and Axew helped by adding in Ice Beam and Dragon Rage.
As the attacks came closer, they all merged into a huge ball of hot fire surrounded by streaks of coloured lines of the other attacks. When it collided, a huge explosion occurred that completely destroyed the robot and sent the trio of rockets flying into the sky.
"Hm, so this is what it feels when you guys lose to that boy.", said Kaleb calmly to the others as if he didn't even care what just happened.
"I was sure that the big robot was the key to putting the twerp in his place and us on top of the Team Rocket rankings.", pouted Jessie.
"Well the only thing this situation unlocked for us is a big punishment from the boss when he finds out about this.", said Meowth.
"AND IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN", yelled out the three as they disappeared into the sky with a twinkle.
When the smoke cleared , Ash his pokemon cheered for another victory against Team Rocket. Delia and Samuel just watched at how Ash was acting like himself again, knowing that they won't be seeing a gloomy face from him for a while.
xxxxx
After the traitors heard the explosion from Professor Oak's laboratory they all raced outside the Ketchum residence to see what had happened, but the smoke from the robot's explosion had already cleared. This left them all very confused.
"What was that?", asked a shocked looking Iris.
"Maybe that was just Gible trying to scare Ash's other pokemon with his Draco Meteor."said Brock as he was washing dishes from the lunch they all just ate.
"Ash has a Gible?", asked Cilan.
"Yeah, but a dumb one.", replied Brock with a sneer, remembering that . Then Dawn came into the kitchen in a hurry.
"Has anyone seen Buneary? I haven't seen her since my nap and I can't find her anywhere.", said Dawn.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen Axew since I went to Viridian Forest to get some berries.", said Iris with a worried expression on her face for her little dragon.
"And where on earth is Ash?", groaned out Max. "It is already two o'clock and he was supposed to be here at noon." He was really starting to get impatient.
"Well, Iris and I are going out to look for Axew and Buneary.", said Dawn to the others. "We'll be back in a little while. Besides, if Ash is so late, he's probably being chased away by Beedrill."
Xxxxx
"You know, Ash,", said Delia to her son, "now that Team Rocket is gone and you look like you're back to normal, why don't we have a celebration?"
"That's a great idea, Mom.", said Ash, "What did you have in mind?"
"Why don't we have dinner back at home? You can bring all the pokemon over and we can eat outside under the stars tonight as a family?", replied his mom with her idea.
"But the traitors are back home. What do we do about them?", asked Ash, suddenly remembering the people who abandoned him. His mom chuckled.
"Don't wory about them.", said Delia and turned to Mr. Mime, "Leave that to me. Come on, Mimey. Lets go home and 'prepare' for dinner." They both headed home and with mischievious grins on their faces.
That only left Ash, Professor Oak and the pokemon gang.
"Say, Ash?", said Professor oak.
"Yeah, Professor Oak?", replied Ash.
Professor Oak continued. "Since you are back to your old self, and you still want to achieve your dream, I'll bet you'll be getting ready to go on another adventure soon. Correct, am I not."
"That's right, Professor Oak.", said Ash with his classic smile. "During dinner tonight, I'll tell everyone my new plans for my new journey."
All of Ash's pokemon were all eager to find out about the journey so they could go too, but it looks like they'll have to wait until dinner tonight.