Ash smiled as he looked over the pastures behind Professor Oak's Lab, he had been traveling across the regions from Kanto to Alola, and he knew of Galar and Paldea but had yet to travel those regions, he planned to in the future but had decided that after becoming the first Alolan champion to take a few months off to take a break and hang out with his family and Pokemon which in reality was also apart of his family but as he was watching them over the last few days he couldn't help but believe he… failed them in some way, that he neglected them. But that couldn't be true they were being well taken care of here at the corral.
At first, Ash got lost in thought as he explored his reasons for feeling these feelings of failure that he just couldn't shake off, he thought hard about this feeling. Why he felt this way when he realized that there might be some truth to this feeling, he couldn't believe it took him so long to notice, it wasn't HIM taking care of his Pokemon. Still, Professor Oak was the one taking such good care of them, he now realized how little he cared for his Pokemon as much as he hated to admit it, yes he put in the effort to catch them but what then? He only ever used them in the region he caught them poor Muk he was always so friendly with him yet he only ever used him in 2 different battles, and he hadn't even bothered to use his older Pokemon which was true for several of his older Pokemon like Kingler, and Swellow yes at the time he saw this as allowing them to rest and to bond with the new region's team but now that he was thinking about it what was the point of that? If he abandoned them too in favor of the next region's Pokemon? Or worse yet he didn't even train most of his Tauros he only ever trained and battled using the leader of the pack while the rest stampeded through the corral most days originally he caught 30 or so Tauros simply because they kept running in front of him whenever he threw a ball, but the number of Tauros increased from 30 to 55 as a several of them bred together and had a several more Tauros that joined the herd this made him even more upset as he barely interacted with the new ones they were often born while he was out traveling so they didn't know who he was whenever he did return even then besides the break he was currently on he maybe spent 1-2 weeks between regions which he had used to get acquainted with his new teammates and the newborns and they would slowly recognize him as their trainer but did he actively train them? NO! He trained the head of the herd who would pass that training down to his herd mates, Tauros were a battle-hungry species always battling with each other and only the head of the herd ever experienced battles that weren't sparring between others and Ash's other Pokemon. Ash thought about it more and couldn't resist remembering the Pokemon he had pretty much abandoned Squirtle, Primeape, and Pidgeot he pretty much abandoned these 3, yes he left Primeape to train with Anthony but he hadn't seen his first Fighting-Type in months, he rarely checked in while for Pidgeot he had left to protect the flock outside Pallet from the aggressive Fearow, but it was even less forgivable that he hadn't talked with them as they were likely just outside Pallet Town so he could've just walked out there on his two functional feet and visit them like he had promised he would do after the Orange Islands League! There was also the problem of not evolving his Pokemon, yes he never would force evolution on any of his Pokemon his problem was he never evolving the ones that had no problems with evolving or actively wanted to evolve, such as Gible the sweet bite happy land shark wanted desperately to evolve into a Garchomp but due to Ash's self-prescribed lack of care towards his Pokemon he never trained the pseudo legendary enough to give him the experience to evolve into its final form.
As Ash confronted these realizations, he couldn't help but feel remorse and guilt he always wanted to be a Pokemon Master but in his pursuit of adventures and battles, he neglected his Pokemon that despite everything remained loyal to him despite everything he did, he could and will change.
He looked at the corral and watched as his Pokemon played such as Corphish, Pikachu, and Bulbasaur played a game of tag, training such as Charizard, Sceptile, and Infernape who were the battle-hungry trio of his Pokemon and would be some of his strongest Pokemon besides Pikachu, or some of his Pokemon were just relaxing or downright sleeping such as Snorlax, Torkoal or Scraggy.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, but Ash was set in stone on his next step. He smiled determinedly as he approached the trio of three playing Pokemon stopping their game when they noticed him. "Hey, Bulbasaur, do you mind calling the rest of the family here?" He questioned the small Grass-Type, Bulbasaur was the "leader" of the group probably because he was one of the oldest and most experienced Pokemon he owned and besides Pikachu, he WAS the most experienced of his large family so everyone else respected him greatly even the cocky Charizard showed it despite not wanting to admit that a Grass-Type had seniority over him, while after being frozen by that Poliwrath and getting his butt beaten at the Charicific Valley had certainly knocked his pride down he certainly had a lot of it still there.
Confused at the command Bulbasaur obeyed and charged up before launching a Solar Beam straight up into the air alerting the rest of Ash's Pokemon to gather even the sleeping Snorlax gathered around Ash confusing the rest of the Pokemon with the serious look on their Trainer's face, yes it Ash could be serious but that was usually during a battle and even then it was a happy kinda serious not this but this was something most of them weren't used to this was a dead serious look they hadn't seen before.
"Hello, guys I'm happy you came so soon there is something I wanna tell you" He spoke hopping off the fence he had been sitting on. "I wanna say I have failed you," He said causing an uproar among the crowd of Pokemon calling for denial of the words. Ash waited for the uproar to calm down. Before he interrupted.
"Please calm down, I know this admittance upsets you all but as much as you say that it's wrong It's the truth" He raised his hand to stop the next round of denial.
"Tell me this If I was such a great trainer as you insist I am then why have I not been training you only in the region I caught you in?" He questioned confusing them "Like Infernape you were a part of my team during Sinnoh I trained you and worked hard to get you where you are today," He said causing the starter to puff his chest out in happiness the memories "But besides the Sinnoh League have I used you in any official league sanctioned events? Have I used you in any battles outside sparring battles here at the ranch?" he questioned causing the fire monkey to think and then realize his trainer was correct.
"But that is not the worse thing I have done" He motions to Kingler and Muk "I didn't use you in any battle besides the ones in the Indigo League but I haven't used you since in any form, I could've brought you to another league or at the very least brought you with me to other regions even to just let you see the sights but no I chose only to bring Pikachu with me to experience the thrill of building a team up from scratch to bond with the Pokemon again but when I should've been bonding you, training you and allowing you to grow, I promised several of you that I would help you become the strongest you guys could be and I haven't" He was getting emotional.
He looked at Pignite and Gible "You two want to evolve don't you? I can tell you wish to reach the final evolution in your lines and I can't even help you do that" He said, causing the duo to look at each other with a mix of determination and sadness most of the Pokemon had similar expressions on their face.
"That's not even the worse thing that I have done most of you don't remember but traveling through Kanto I had a Pidgeot and Primeape part of my team, but I had practically abandoned them I left Primeape to train with a complete stranger known as Anthony, while for Pidgeot I left them to protect the flock of Pidgey and Pidgeottos outside Pallet, yes I did these things because Primeape and Pidgeot wanted to do those things but I still see this as my fault as I had never bothered to try and keep in contact with them I mean Pidgeot's flock is just outside town I could've walked out there and said Hi or something but I never did!" Those who had been around long enough to remember the mentioned duo looked down saddened. Most of his Pokemon gained similar looks having not known of these extra family members.
"But that ends now, I asked Bulbasaur to bring you all here to make a promise to you, I will no longer be the neglectful idiot you know, I WILL be better I will not leave you guys behind in fact I won't be leaving Kanto until we've properly trained, and trained harder than any of you have ever trained, and I promise that for those of you that wants to evolve that we will work you to the bone until we reach you desired level of strength and I promise that we will be reuniting with EVERY member of our family!" He promised with such conviction and determination that it became infectious and his Pokemon began cheering in excitement and determination.
"Do not worry I won't force any of you to evolve if you don't want" He assures those of those listening who released a breath they didn't know they were holding Pikachu and Bulbasaur were the only ones that didn't want to evolve that could evolve the rest were cheering happily.
"I also have another announcement," Ash said loud enough to get over the cheering this quieted down the group allowing Ash to talk further without speaking over them "This really only involves my Tauros so if the rest of you aren't interested feel free to begin some simple battles against each other I will be over soon and then we can plan some tougher training" Nobody moved all curious on what he had to say, he takes a deep breath and steels himself.
"I've noticed that besides the head of the herd, I haven't used anyone else in the herd so I'm here to give you a decision do you wish to stay with me or would you prefer to be traded away to a different trainer?" He questioned shocking most of the Pokemon present, Ash was contemplating trading them. None of them could believe this but it was happening right in front of them.
"Now I'm not gonna force you to do this but for those who wish to be traded please can you approach me?" He asked the herd looked at each other, most of them had been together since the beginning but as the shock settled among the Tauros, they exchanged glances with each other most not knowing how to react, and thus stood still before one of them stepped forwards, this was one of the younger Tauros he wanted to roam the regions beyond Kanto but more importantly, he wished to battle against the vast variety of Pokemon out there and with so many Tauros in Ash's possession he knew the trainer would likely default to the strongest in the herd despite the youngling not wanting to he had to admit he was far from the most powerful, as he walked forwards more began to join him starting with the younger ones of the group before transitioning to the older ones soon only one Tauros remained with the group the rest huddled around Ash 54 wishing to be traded away, As the herd of Tauros huddled around Ash, he looked into their determined eyes and felt a mix of pride and sadness. He admired their courage to step forward and express their desires, but it also reminded him of the responsibility he had as their trainer.
"Thank you all for being honest with me," Ash said, his voice steady despite the emotions swirling inside him. "I understand your wishes, and I promise that I'll do everything in my power to find you the best trainers who will appreciate and support you in your goals."
"I'll go tell Professor Oak the news please say any goodbyes you need to" Ash turned to the main building and left the group to say goodbye to each other and to their former leader several getting emotional.