Authors Notes: And update three. No, no need to check, the sky is indeed falling. On update four, the dead shall rise. Maybe I should stop for now…
By the way: On the off chance you're both still reading this. Can Sitting on the Event Horizon and GaruAlpha both PM me? It's almost time for me to make good on a very old promise.
(It's coming, Popopoyotl. It's finally coming. Next chapter.)
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The following days passed in a quiet haze. Ash, fresh from his battles, was content to just lay around the house. It was a week when Ash finally found himself at the front door, grasping the handle, finally able to be seen by the world.
"And where do you think you're going?"
Ash's brow raised, and he turned to find Delia looking at him, arms crossed. What brought this on? "For a walk."
"Unless it's league business you are not leaving this house young man."
"Wh-what did I do?"
"Why don't you tell me?"
It'd been a long time since he'd seen those eyes. Those were the eyes that told him he knew what he'd done. She'd frequently use them in times long gone by, after his little adventures into the cookie jar, though he'd still deny it, even when his hands were lined with trances of chocolate.
So, list of things he'd done wrong recently...
Well the obvious one she'd forgiven him for.
She didn't care about the reporters. (if protection was around)
Coming back home in his condition...she didn't seem to care.
So what else was there-No, it couldn't be, it couldn't possibly be! He checked her eyes again...Oh dear Arceus she knew! How did she figure it out!? It wasn't possible! He'd been keeping that hidden for years! There's no way she could have figured that out!
Yet she had...
"Alright! When I was travelling, I didn't change my underwear every day!"
Ash's blood froze at the look he got at that. Well there went his secret-"WHAT?!"
"I'm sorry!"
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He'd take it to the grave. He'd take it to the damn grave if it killed him (don't ask about the logistics). Ash Ketchum was not going down in history as the first Grandmaster who was grounded.
(What for, he wasn't sure, Delia wouldn't even stay in the same room as him since he gave away the big secret.)
Knock, knock
Oh crap, now the first person he had to tell. Unless he could come up with a good cover story.
Actually, screw the cover story. "Ashy-boy!"
"What do you want?"
Gary grinned. "A favour! Come on! And bring Pikachu!"
"Uh, I can't. My mom... kinda-"
Gary shifted his head, yelling into the house-"Delia, can I borrow Ash?"
"Take him!"
Both of them flinched at the tone. "What'd you do?"
"Don't ask." Gary's eye twitched, and his arm reached out-"Not the ear, not the ear!"
With Pikachu trailing behind, the pair made way of the house, Ash quickly prying himself from his latest source of pain. Gary glared at him, briefly. "I'll let you off, this time. I got a problem." Something only Ash could help with, apparently. "You see, the new trainers are leaving today, and I promised them something nice, a big surprise." Oh, he could see where this was going now. "I wanted to get them some major Pokemon League big-shot, maybe a champion, but all I got was their voice mail."
Ash snorted. "Like you have their numbers."
"And you do?"
"Perk of the job. I'm technically their boss."
"Wait, can you fire 'em?"
Ash smiled. "Another perk." A smile that turned dark. "Might do it next time Cynthia thinks it funny to lock me in a tomb." He suddenly shuddered. "There were mummies in there, freaking mummies."
Not for the first time, Gary wondered just what in the hell Ash did on his adventures, but they'd reached their destination. "We're here."
"I haven't agreed to this!"
"You don't wanna let down the kids, do ya?"
At the words 'let down the kids", Ash's jaw stopped working, at least when it came to protesting. "You hate me, don't you?"
"No." Gary smirked. "But I do like watching you suffer."
"Asshole."
"It's for the kids." He pointed to the front door of Professor Oak's lab/residence "Now go do your job."
Ash started making his way up the familiar steps, as several figures made their way out, breaking into smile. Ash couldn't smile in turn. This was for the new trainers, the ones about to leave on their big journey, to venture beyond Pallet's borders. They'd leave with the confidence boost from their home-town hero.
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Then came trainers from beyond Pallet's borders. Luckily, Ash's exact address had never been made public, and the unified town had made it their solemn duty not to point anyone in the right direction, but a number of them proved stubborn, and kept looking. Somehow, Ash would find himself at the town fountain daily. It was that, or stay at home, where Delia hadn't met his eye in days. Who'd have thought, the one crime that was going too far was not changing his underwear. So for now, he was stuck evading the house, and meeting the incoming trainers.
A lot of them just came to meet the new Grandmaster, get a picture with him, and some advice. A few wanted battles, and when they came in groups Ash made them fight each other first, with the winner's Pokémon often too exhausted to continue fighting. Ash refrained from battling, most of the time, but there was one trainer who was particularly insistent, proclaiming his Infernape to be invincible.
Pikachu had needed thirty seconds
Ash guessed Infernape would be treated at the Pokémon Center within thirty minutes.
Ash expected a return some time within thirty days.
How many times did somebody have to keep showing up before Ash could file for a restraining order...
On the bright side, it was a good example. Trainers stopped asking for battles after the public beat down.
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If one were to ask Ash Ketchum what his favourite tabloids were, then one had to be asked if they really knew anything about the Grandmaster.
(One'd also have to tell Ash what "tabloid" meant.)
If Ash had ever read an article from beginning to end, he couldn't recall it. He got the occasional magazine when he was much younger, but it wasn't really for reading. He supposed if he really had to sit down and choose a favourite paper, it might have been "Masters Monthly", for the simple fact it had the best photographs of battles (for what other reason would a boy under ten years of age be reading such things?).
It would be decades before Ash looked back, and mused his first interview ended up being with "Teen Trainer". In hindsight, it was hardly the most respected tabloid for such a prestigious title.
The questions weren't exactly battle-related all of the time either.
"Do you have a special someone?"
Ash's brow raised. "Special someone?"
"A girlfriend," the interviewer clarified, "or boyfriend?" she swiftly added.
Well, that was one to think about, mainly for the fact he'd never had a girlfriend in his life. What did you even do with one, anyway? And who would he even want to do such things with? He'd seen couples, and all that lovey-dovey stuff that came with it-why? Why did couples act so weird? He didn't wanna do that! Talking weird, kissing, hugging-his thoughts, and form froze. Misty. In that locker room, his arms around her-"No, I don't."
The reporter's expression briefly becoming difficult to read, had she read his mind?-no, no, he was being stupid. "Boxers or Briefs?"
"Boxers."
One could write that it took Ash a few seconds to realize what he just admitted, but such a thing would be written about Ash Ketchum. There were subtler ways to weave lies into words.
Days later, a former Grandmaster would facepalm, wondering just what he'd let loose on the world.
"Masato must be rolling in his grave."
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Alone, in front of a mirror in his room, Ash was nearly nude, save for the cloth wrapped around him. Finally, the bandages could come off. For the first time since the battle, Ash could finally see the extent of his injuries. Ash stripped off the cloth, seeing his body in full for the first time since the battle with Quentin.
If there was an apt response to what he saw, he couldn't find it at that moment. Even if he had, he wouldn't have given it. Frankly, he'd expected worse.
Ash ran a hand over his chest, not quite able to keep down a sense of pride. While never a "fat" kid, he wasn't quite on the opposite end of the spectrum either. One upside to his job, was that to train truly powerful Pokémon, one often needed a powerful body to do so. His body had been shaped to train the strongest of Pokémon, to strive through, and overcome anything that'd stood before him. His body had become built to endure punishment. It had endured punishment. Every mark was a story. The backlash of the Leaf Storm Blade was just one. His body held stories older than that. The older the story, the fainter the mark. Worthwhile battles always came with the risk of scars. Recent years had come with a share of them, some visible, and some not.
How long before the scars faded, was something only time would tell.
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Misty picked up the mail, shifting through the pile. She'd seriously considered hiring somebody to do this job, when your address was both a gym and a local attraction the mail tended to pile up. Fan mail, fan mail, fan mail, junk mail, bill-oh, something from the League. Briefly setting down the mail pile, she opened the letter, hoping it wasn't some kind of reprimand for her-
It wasn't a reprimand.
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Ash lightly put down the phone, an almost prancing Delia (she was just barely resisting the urge) behind him. His head bowed slightly, neither a smile nor frown finding home upon his face. Neither excitement nor dread finding home in his heart. He closed his eyes.
It was time.
It was time for the new Grandmaster's coronation.
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End of Chapter
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Author's Notes: Couldn't pass up a gag about Ash's underwear.
P.S: New Ash outfit ideas
Now you can guess why I want them. Come on people, suggestions please, I want art examples of a more "adult" Ash.