Chapter 11: A Long Night's End
The morning sun had once again failed our hero to rise above the skies to melt the ice that laid below. Usually, in mornings, there would be birds singing, winds blowing calmly at the window, the warmth focused on the faces of people, and the smell of pancakes being made in the kitchen. But for Ash and Anabel… it was not meant to be. The birds did not sing their songs that morning, the winds that were gushing were practically blowing away the trees outside the house, the sun's ray had not shown its benevolent warmth to the earth, and their breakfast were sadly the leftover from last night's dinner.
"It looks like a storm is coming" said Ash as he gazed upon the darkened sky. In the distance, he could see several bolts of lightning being shot down from the sky, crashing against the solid earth with its invisible fist. He then turned to Anabel, who was still petting the Eevee that they've managed to help from the woods. Its leg was still broken but at least now it could move around without limping in pain. "It could be a long one too" she added. "Let's go to the grocery store and stock up. The city might close down if a typhoon hits" the boy quickly agreed and head to his room to get change.
By the time they got out, Ash turned to his little yellow pal Pikachu. "Ok Pikachu, I want you to take care of everybody while I'm away ok?" with a reassuring 'Pika' sound from his little yellow friend, Ash gave out a smile and closed the door behind him.
(Back in Pallet town)
"Now say ahh" said Delia as she began her usual morning check up on Ash's Pokemon in the ranch. Since neither Samuel or Tracey could lay a finger on them without getting hurt, it was up to the young Mrs. Ketchum er… I mean Mrs. Oak to do the task. "Bey bey!" Beyleef was more than happy to take the medicine that the mother gave out. Ever since it rained a few nights ago, the little grass Pokemon had been feeling a little weary.
A few minutes later, the professor came by, "Delia, there's a phone call for you" he said gesturing to the portable landline phone on his hand. "It's from Gary" this caught the young woman's attention quite a bit, "Oh ok" she took the phone and placed it on her ear, "Hi there Gary, how are ya?"
"Hey there auntie, I'm fine. How are ya?" came the boy's muffled voice.
"Peachy as always" she replied, "I'm doing my usual check up on Ash's Pokemon right now. What can I help you with?" the boy flinched for a moment as he tried to come up with an idea. He didn't really know why he called; it's just that he needed to hear a familiar voice for a moment. "Uh… nothing important. I just wanted to know if Ash called or something" Delia was not surprise to hear the boy worried about her son. Ever since he brought him out of prison, the two of them had become closer, which constantly reminded her of the time when the two of them were still toddlers.
"Well not yet. But I have the number of his cell phone" she picked up her phone and began scrolling the numbers. "Uh… it's ok auntie. I'll just wait for him to call me. Sorry to disturb you" the boy immediately hung up which cause the woman to feel kind of stunned for a moment. "Hmm… now that was an odd call"
(Celadon city)
Ash and Anabel were taking their precious time shopping around for things they needed for a long winter season. Food and supplies were an essential part of the trip but after purchasing a whole load of provisions and other necessities, they decided to go shopping around the fashion area for new looks. While Ash just busy himself by carrying all the heavy load, Anabel was going around looking and saying 'oh this looks cute!' or 'oh that looks soooo adorable' and many other things that's feminine.
"Excuse me sir" the salon battle maiden said to the clerk, "I'd like to buy this and this" she place two hats on the table and began looking through her wallet. "That would be nine ninety-five" replied the clerk as he checked the prices on the cash register.
Just as Ash was gazing around looking at the different modern fashions of today, his attention was grabbed when he noticed Anabel on the floor giving out fake tear drops. The boy wondered why the girl was crying but when he notice the empty wallet, he began to chuckle. Apparently Anabel had spent her entire month's pay buying all those dresses and hats and scarves.
Being the polite boy as he is, Ash pulled out a platinum credit card from his wallet and gave it to the man, "Do you take credit cards?" the clerk's eye quickly widened like a saucer plates. "How may I serve you?" the man quickly gave a bow and acted like a servant who would do almost anything for Ash. "Just the hats please" Ash replied. But before Ash could hand him the card, Anabel hastily jolted from her crying position. "Wait Ash! You don't need to do that! I mean… I mean"
But the boy just smiled, "Don't worry Ana, it's not that much. Besides, I do owe you a lot for the damage to your house" Anabel quickly remembered all the broken plates and destroyed furnitures in her house. So instead of arguing, she decided to let Ash buy it for her. Besides, he was staying in her house after all.
(Time skip 1 hour)
After the two of them were done shopping, Anabel decided that it was time for them to head back home. But just when they were heading towards the city entrance, an awkward silence came over them. They were walking through a small park in the afternoon in their winter coat attires which were surprisingly matching. But the most awkward thing was that during this time of day, there were seeing a lot of couples holding hands and snuggling close to each other. If one should see these two walking around, they could easily be mistaken as a couple as well.
The two of them blushed as they saw two couples kissing each other. Ash looked away from Anabel and Anabel looked away from Ash hiding their red hot faces since it was so embarrassing to show their embarrassed faces to each other.
Not wanting to let this feeling go any further, they hastened their pace and quickly made their way to the city gates. Once the gate was in sight their hearts began to relax a little bit.
"So…" Ash began which caused Anabel to turn to him, "What do you want for dinner Anabel? Since we bought so much, I thought you might want something different for a change" he gestured to the large plastic bags he was carrying on both of his hands. "Oh really?" Anabel replied. She then thought for a moment on what she would like for a special meal, "Do you know how to make Roujuladi?" she asked with a humerous tone. It was an odd dish name, but very popular in Shinou. She wouldn't be surprise if Ash didn't know.
"I think you mean Ra-o-ju-lida" Ash corrected her which surprised the girl quite a bit. "I had it back when I was fighting in the Shinou league. I think I have the recipe in my recipe book. I think I can make it, but don't expect it to be as good" he let out a small laugh which Anabel followed as well. After a few minutes of walking with a better mood, a scream caught their attention like an anchor towing their heads to the source of the scream.
To their surprise, a child, probably about four years old was walking down the crowded road oblivious to the danger around him. "Someone save my son!" shouted the mother.
Like the speed of a living bullet, Ash dropped the package and dashed faster than Anabel could even speak. The crowd around saw this and was immediately astounded by the boy's amazing feats.
Just when a truck was about to ram the child, Ash grab him with his arms and gaze at the truck as it hit the breaks giving a screeching sound to the atmosphere. At that very moment, Anabel's heart slowed and so did time itself. Everything was happening in slow motion like what you see in the Matrix. As the truck slowly approached the young Pokemon Master, Anabel could only gasp in fear of what could happen. But Ash was not going to die now. He has to move on with his life… and no truck was gonna stop him from becoming the greatest trainer in the world. Using his lightning fast reflexes, Ash rolled his body towards the sidewalk, avoiding the truck just by a millisecond.
While the baby was laughing happily like nothing happened, Ash felt like his life escaped the grim reaper's scythe. He held his heart tightly as he stood up.
"My baby!" the mother cried out. Ash gladly handed her back her child and began panting heavily like he was about to have a heart attack. "Oh thank you, thank you good sir!" the mother praised the boy as she held her son back in her arms. By the time the incident ended, Anabel came to Ash.
"Ash! Are you ok?" she asked with a terrified face. But Ash just smiled like it was a common experience for him, "Yeah I'm ok. I just got my coat dirty hehehehe" he chuckled slightly. "That's not something to laugh about!" she snapped back at him which caused the boy to flinch a little. He didn't really expect her to burst out like that. In fact, he never saw her with such an angry expression before. "The next time you throw yourself into the road, you should look both ways first!"
"Ahehehe…" Ash once again smiled back, "Sorry Ana, it's just that my body reacted on its own. So I couldn't really help it (crack) Ouch!" Ash quickly felt a pain coming from his ankle. The anger inside Anabel quickly vanished as she went to tend to the boy's feet. "Are you alright Ash?" she touch his ankle a little which the boy flinched again more painfully. "I think you sprained your ankles" she analyzed, "Come on. I'll take you back home"
"But what about the groceries?" Ash inquired as he pointed to the shopping bags on the other side of the street. Anabel quickly pulled a Pokeball from her belt and called out Metagross, "Metagross, can you help us carry these back home?" the Pokemon smiled and nodded.
(Back at Anabel's place)
The trip back home was pretty much uneventful. When Ash and Anabel got back to the lodge, they weren't surprise to see Pikachu with a bucket over his head. The little electrical mouse now found that to be some sort of a hobby or something.
"You stay on the couch Ash" Anabel ordered to which he had no objections to, "I'll get my first-aid kit and fix you up in a minute" with the girl gone back to get her medical equipments, Eevee took this opportunity to jump onto Ash's lap. "Oh, hey there Eevee" said Ash as he rubbed the mane on its neck. "I see your leg's all better now. That's good" when Pikachu was finally able to get the bucket off his head, he quickly joined his master on the couch for a nice relaxing R&R.
"Alright Ash, lift you feet up" said Anabel as she returned with a first-aid box. The boy refused her treatment at first, but with her insistence, Ash complied and allowed her to wrap his ankle with bandages. The first few minutes went like a breeze but during the middle of the process, Ash began to feel slight pains as Anabel was using one of her techniques which Greta taught her when you have broken bones. At the end of the process, a thought came to Anabel's head.
"Hehehehe… hahahahahaha" she laughed slightly which caught the boy confused, "What's so funny Anabel?" he asked. The girl took a moment before she replied. "You know what? Maybe next time you'll order the whole package" this made the boy even more confused. But then… after noticing the bandages on his head, he quickly realized what was so funny.
Ever since Ash came to Anabel's house, he had been wrapped with bandages around the waist and stomach, then the head during the fight with the Frontier Brains and now the leg. If he had all those bandages put together, he would almost look like a mummy from one of those movies on TV.
"I'll go and prepare dinner" Anabel said finally as they both finished laughing, "You sit back and relax and watch TV. We wouldn't want you to sprain another ankle now would we?" she smiled as she disappeared back into the kitchen.
(Battle Frontier HQ)
Scott arrived at the main office of the Battle Frontier with his secretary to meet two people. "Gentlemen…" the chubby man waved up to greet them, "I hope you saw the reports given" the two old looking people nodded. "As you can see… the price for the new Battle Facility had just doubled since the materials we need are much expensive than we had imagined" the first man then replied, "We heard about this Scott and we agree to it whole heartedly. The new battle facility is much larger than all of us could've anticipated, but when it's done, our profits will definitely double as well"
"So we agree to it?" Scott asked in an untrusting tone. The old man gave out a grin, "Of course… this will be more beneficial to us. That is for certain" with a reassuring nod from the two old men, they immediately left the room without anyone to escort them.
"Mr. Scott… sir" the secretary began, "I may be too impose, but I… I don't trust those guys one bit"
"You're not the only one" Scott replied.
(Back with Ash)
Just as Ash was sitting on the couch watching TV and scractching both Pikachu and Eevee's ear, Anabel came in with a bowl of rice on her hands and she was wearing a white apron to protect herself from any spills. "Ash, can you help me with the table?" the boy quickly lifted himself up and slightly limped towards her. "Sure thing Anabel, I'll be there in a second" he began setting up the table putting the plates and other eating utensils on its proper place.
"Thanks Ash, just let me get the soup and you can call Pikachu to eat with us" the boy agreed and quickly called his two Pokemons to join him on the table. "Hey Ash? Have you seen Espeon? I haven't…" just before she could finish her sentence, the said Pokemon suddenly appeared out of nowhere which caught Anabel with a slight surprise. "Ahh!" she screamed. But during the process of that scream, she accidentally threw the bowl of soup in her hand onto Ash's pants.
The intense heat of the soup burned through his underwear making him feel like his (you know what kohones!) were bearing chicks already. After holding the pain for about a couple of seconds, Ash yelled out like a mad man, "EEEEEYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT! HOTTTTTT!" he ran around the room screaming the same thing ignoring the pain on his sprained ankle.
"Ash calm down, I'm soooo sorry!" Anabel tried to calm the boy down but to avail. The pain on his pants was too much to bear for any man and I mean ANY MAN. With the boy running around like a goofball, Anabel took out the bucket that Pikachu got his head stuck on and quickly filled it with water. But when she threw the water filled bucket to the boy, her hand slipped and made the bucket go along with it. The metal container slammed against Ash's face but not a drip of water managed to reach him.
Ash was daze for a moment and slowly lost his balance. By the time he got to the snow outside the house, the only thing he could say was, "Ahhhh… snow never felt so cool" Pikachu, Eevee and the rest of Ash's Pokemon laughed so hysterically that they clutched their stomachs like their guts were gonna spill out.
"Ash, are you ok?" asked Anabel as she rushed towards the boy's side. "If you count off my head… I'm practically cool" he moaned in reply.
After treating Ash's large bump on his forehead, and getting him back inside the house, everything has not been going well for Anabel. When Ash asked for more rice, Anabel dropped the cup (Japanese tradition in eating rice use cups not plates) on the boy's head making him look like a snowman at some perspective. When the boy asked for water, she put 'accidentally' put soup in the glass instead of water which made the boy burst out the taste.
And the rest… well… I guess it just wasn't a good night for Ash.
By the time dinner was done Anabel sulked her face into cleaning the dinning room. Ash had to take a little shower to wipe off the soup smell, the rice, the soy sauce and everything else that was on him.
Just when Anabel was finishing with the last of the plates (which she newly bought) a sudden ringing sound caught her attention. "Huh?" she looked around at first, but after seeing her video phone was off she then noticed that it was coming from Ash's dirty pants. "Ash" she called the boy through the bathroom door. Your cell phone is ringing" she picked up the phone from the pocket and knocked it on the door.
The boy opened it slightly and picked the phone from her hands. "Thanks Ana" he appreciated then he clicked to see who's calling, "Hello?"
"Hey Ash! Wazzup!" it was Gary his old friend. "Oh hey there Gary, where are you?" Ash was quite surprise to hear his friend since he just recently got a new cell phone a couple of weeks ago.
"I'm in Pallet town" Gary replied happily, "I'm just about to set on another journey to Hoenn, so I just wanted to know if you got any tips on the trainers there. Since you're a Pokemon Master, I thought you might have some useful tips on the gym leaders"
Ash thought for a moment and look back at the time when he competed in the Hoenn league, "Well… my guess would be to go through Littleroot town. The nearest gym from there I guess would either be Mauville city or Petalburg city. Norman is the gym leader there, he the dad of M…"
May… May Maples, another one of Ash's friend who had betrayed him.
The sudden thought of the chocolate haired girl saddened the boy almost completely. The images of her angry face and her Pokemons brought back some terrible memories which he thought that he had erased already.
"Ash? Ash? Are you there?" the boy quickly bounced back from the wall and back to the phone, "Huh, oh sorry Gary, I'm in the showers right now. I'll give you the details some other time ok?"
"Oh… ok. I'll you tomorrow then. Sorry to bother you" with a click of the cancel button, the signal was cut.
A wave of emotions flooded the boy's body like a tsunami overtaking him. Why? That single question echoed back and forth over and over again and again like a recorder that badly needs fixing. Some people believe that Ash had moved on through that old pain and false guilt, but that was only half true. A part of him had moved on forward, but if you see him now, you would think otherwise.
(Pallet town, Gary's place)
Gary hung up his cell phone and quickly made his way towards the living room where he was packing for the long trip into another region. Several pile of clothes were littered around the area making the place look like a total mess. The boy didn't bother cleaning it up. The moment he comes back from his journey the place will probably be sparkly clean again. "Oh well…" he sighed, "I guess I should turn in for the night" he quickly lock the door and turned off the lights on the first floor. "Come on Umbreon" he gestured to the black cat. "Time for bed"
(Oak's residence)
Delia was cleaning up the house after another successful dinner at the table. She was glad she could keep herself busy by doing all the household chores and at the same time, maintaining her old house down the streets. Even though she moved into a larger, wider house, she couldn't bear to leave the other place unattended. So with the professor's permission, they decided to use that other house as a treating center for injured Pokemons. It may not be as big as a Pokemon center but with Delia acting as a Nurse Joy and Samuel acting a doctor, the place won fifth place in Pokemon day care prize award.
While she swept the dust off the second floor hallway, she finally came to Ash's room which the boy barely uses at times. And since no one occupied the place for awhile, all that room could do was collect dust.
"Oh my" she said giggling, "Ash still never cleans his room. Teeheehee. That's my Ash. Never caring for his own personal hygiene" she then began whistling her favorite Pokemon tune which was surprisingly the same as Ash while sweeping and dusting the place not ignoring one piece of furniture in the room. No matter if it was the outside or the inside of the fan, nor the inner part of the cabinets, no dust escapes Delia Oak, the Dustinator…
After five minutes of cleaning, the mother looked around to see what she might've missed, "Hmm… let's see. Closet… check, table… check, ceilings… check… and then… huh?" while she swept the area one more time to tie up any loose ends, her broom suddenly made contact with a box which was neatly hidden under Ash's bed. "Hello, what's this?"
Having curiosity take over her, Delia pulled out a medium size cardboard box which seemed to be strangely heavy for its size. "Hmm… I wonder what could be in here" Ash had always kept things under his bed back in the early days, but most of time they would just be candies and snack food he would eat before going to bed.
But this time however… it was a box. But it wasn't just an ordinary box… it was a cardboard box that radiated a large amount of sadness and despair. Delia could feel a strong essence of dark energies running through this box and soon began to wonder why Ash would keep such an object under his bed. After a few moments of starring at the 'WARNING' sign, she quickly opened it up to find a large amount of objects in the plastic container.
The mother gasped and closed her mouth with her hand as she gaze upon many prizes and trinkets that the boy had earned during his Pokemon journey. The trophy on top was the final trophy Ash had ever earned during the Pokemon master league in the Indigo Plateau. It still shone brightly against the light like it had just been made yesterday. Under the trophy was a diploma stating that Ash was an official Pokemon Master to the world and to every man, woman and child. Delia smiled as those lively memories returned to her. "Why would Ash keep all this under his bed?" she asked herself.
Her question was soon answered when she picked up the next item. Beneath the diploma and the trophy, was a bunch of newspaper that would imbed the word fear back into her heart. "No… Ash… no you couldn't..."
Three newspapers, all neatly lined up in 'date of publish' order. All of them different in colors, with only one thing in common. There was a picture of Ash in all of them. All of them humiliating, discouraging, and ridiculous pictures. The mere sight of these photos tore the mother's heart into billions of pieces. She suppressed the tears pouring from her eyes, but no matter how strong she was, the words that were printed on these papers could not erase the guilt of the country.
She quickly put them away on the side and out of her sight and reach out for the final item at the base of the box.
At first she thought there was no more since the box was now hallow, but when she touched the bottom part of the box, she felt one last object that would destroy her soul completely…
The professor was walking through the hallway with a mug of tea in his hands. He was humming happily until he heard a silent sob coming from Ash's room. At first he believe it to be just the wind, but after hearing a 'thunk' sound, he knew that someone was there.
The old scientist opened the door letting the light in the hallway illuminate the dark bedroom. He looked around to see where the sobbing sound was coming from and when he saw Delia crying he drop his mug and rush over to her side, "Delia! Delia, what's wrong?" he asked worryingly while holding onto his wife's shoulders. "Delia, control you…" before he could finish, his eyes caught sight of several objects that were scattered on the floor.
A trophy, a diploma, some newspaper… and a picture frame.
Samuel reached out for the frame that Delia dropped and gazed at it. With the help of the moon's light, he was able to see the picture clearly.
The man's heart sank like cannonball in the Atlantic Ocean. Fear crept into his skin as the picture become more and more clear to him. It was a drawing that Ash made when he was just three years old. It was made with crayons that showed little amount of talent but symbolized more than the critics could ever imagine. There was a drawing of Ash's house and of course, Ash and his mom. Then there was a picture of an old man wearing a white coat with a big wide smile on his face. Below each of the people in the picture were the names. Ash… mom and…dad.
Ash had considered the old man as his father…
If this picture was shown to him a few years ago, Samuel would've burst with happiness. But now… once he looked at the picture again… his heart… broke.
The name dad was scribbled off with dark permanent ink and the picture of the old man was cut with an X mark. Samuel couldn't bare to look at the picture a second later. He place it down and turned his attention back to his wife. "Delia… I…" he was going to say sorry… but the words didn't seem to come out. Instead, he hugged her and placed her face on his chest as she openly cried. "Forgive me Delia…" he manage to mutter out.
But those words only made Delia cry even more. "I hate you…" she said in a sobbing tone, "I hate you… I hate you… I hate you… I hate you!" she tried to say it louder but her voice kept holding back at her throat. "I hate you!" she tried to scream the last one… but it was no use.
That single phrase alone… was more than enough to break the man's soul in two.
In the end… the two of them just sat there together… holding each other tightly, never letting go. A long night has past… but this will probably be the first… of many more to come.