I'm a little unsure at how this one went, but it'll do.
Chapter 25
Ash was very confused. After getting over his shock at seeing his dad lying there alive he immediately ran out of the house, ignoring the shouts from various people and went to his spot by the lake. He knew he was being selfish by not speaking to his mother straight away but his brain had frozen and he needed time to process the fact that not only was his father alive, but he was in his house! The mystery of how he got there didn't creep into Ash's mind once, but his father was alive! He felt very conflicted about the whole thing. It was one thing to be gathering information to go out and try and find him, with the faint hope he was still alive. It was something different altogether when that person appears, seemingly overnight, in your house! The main question in Ash's brain was 'what happens now?' he was obviously overjoyed that his mum had her husband back but for the longest time it was just the two of them and Ash wasn't sure how that dynamic would be going forward. Hearing a noise behind him Ash didn't even bother to look to see who it was. just by their aura alone he knew who it was.
"Hi mum" Ash said quietly still not looking round.
Delia was very conflicted too. Her husband was alive! And not only alive but here, in front of her, where she could actually touch him! For over twelve years now she had never given up hope that he was out there somewhere, just waiting to be found. Her aura knew it because the feeling of something missing had never affected her, she'd read many stories from the books Red had taken from Rota about the spouse of an aura user not surviving much longer because the feeling of loss was so intense and so emotional that the spouse just gave up. Delia had never felt like that, the feeling was just muted rather than gone which had helped her massively in coming to terms with her husband just being away rather than gone.
"I always knew he was alive" Delia said sitting next to him "I knew it, I felt it. I had so many people over the years telling me I needed to move on, Red wouldn't want me to be upset, or single, or lonely etc etc. But I knew Ash. I knew. And right now, I'm so happy I can't really put it into words but I'm also feeling very confused over the whole thing. And I'm also so angry at Red for staying away so long when I know it wasn't his choice to do so, I'm also very angry at whoever was keeping him away from us for doing so Ash but right now my main feeling is worry."
"About what?" Ash asked looking at her.
"You" Delia said looking back "I worry about you all the time Ash. I suppose it's because of how close we are but I'm scared for you."
"Hmm" Ash said looking back out to the lake "I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now, and I'm not the greatest at feeling emotions to start with. I'm confused, scared, angry, relieved, happy and frightened all at once and it's a lot to process."
"Well let's deal with them one by one shall we?" Delia said "talk."
"I'm confused because I feel like I have no control over anything at present, not just this but it's been building up" Ash started "I'm used to feeling in control of situations but this isn't something that I ever envisaged really. I feel horrible for saying this but I felt like I'd never actually find him. I was determined to try my best to find him, for you more than anyone else but he was gone for so long that it was more hope than anything else. I never felt you were lying about knowing he was out there mum, but he was gone for such a long time that I thought the worst. Several times actually."
"I can understand that" Delia said nodding.
"I'm scared because I don't actually know him" Ash said looking at her "for thirteen years all I've known is you. It's always been just you and I mum. I've always felt so protective of you because of what you have done for me, being a single parent with an emotionally challenged son was not and is not easy and I sometimes can't put into words how grateful I am that you were chosen as my mother. But now suddenly it's not just you and I against the world anymore. Dad's just up there, less than one hundred feet away from us and I don't know what to do. I don't know how I should react; I know how I'm supposed to react, but I just can't. Not at the minute."
"I can get that" Delia said after thinking over his words. "I'm not going to say you're wrong for how you feel, your thoughts and feelings are valid but things will change and we're all going to have to adjust, myself included. Don't forget Ash, I've effectively been single for twelve years now and I've got used to living a certain way. It's certainly going to be a challenge living with your dad again. He's been away such a long time now."
"Which leads me onto the next few feelings" Ash said "I'm angry at him for leaving us the way he did, and I know before you say anything that it wasn't his fault. But he chose to go into that building mum, he chose to fight Silver alone and his actions cost us all. But I'm also relieved and happy that he's now back so I can punch him in the face for worrying you."
Chuckling Delia hugged his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder "You won't be punching anyone. If there's anyone doing any punching it will be me."
Laughing Ash hugged her back and they spent the next few minutes in silence.
"Why are you frightened?" Delia asked "You've already said why you're scared but frightened is a different thing altogether."
"I've heard so many stories over the years about who dad was" Ash said after thinking over his answer "but what if that's not how he actually is? People tend to romanticise loved ones who they've lost and tend to forget the bad things they did. I read about it all the time in the papers or hear about it in the news "Johnny was such a lovely bloke, would do anything for anyone" but they conveniently forget that he was an arsehole 99% of the time and no one mentions that."
"Well your dad certainly had his moments" Delia said "and Arceus knows the number of times I had to shout at him to pick up after himself or to mind his manners with some people. But the majority of what we told you was the truth, he was a very decent bloke, would do anything for anyone and he was willing to put his life on the line if it meant they'd survive. Does that remind you of anyone?"
"Who?" Ash asked confused.
"You" she said looking at him "for all intents and purposes you are exactly like him, down to the way you carry yourself. You only have to watch your battles back to see just how similar you two are on that front too. And nearly every single time you've been in a spot of trouble it's been because you wanted to help people. It's maddening because you and Red are both idiots, but you're my idiots."
"What if he doesn't like me mum?" Ash asked quietly.
"Ah" Delia said nodding knowingly "we come to the main reason you ran away back there. I won't sit here and say 'you're worrying over nothing' Ash because it has been thirteen years but I will say this. The moment you were born I didn't get to see you for nearly a full day because I had such a traumatic labour and I was on so many painkillers they had to knock me out. Your father sat in the chair holding my hand and you in his lap the entire time, only moving to get food and to go to the loo. When Ilene asked him to go on a peace mission three days after you were born he told her flat out "no", it was the first time he outright refused to fulfil his duty as an Aura Guardian because he felt looking after us two was a more important duty. It's one of the reasons Ilene was so envious of me. Not only did I marry Red but he made it crystal clear to everyone who was there that day in Rota that we were far more important to him than she would ever be and he walked out before anyone could say anything he left. The next time Rota got in touch with him was a month before he disappeared and he came back from that without his Guardian lapel. He had quit being a Guardian because we were his to guard and no one else would ever be able to convince him that anything or anyone else was just as important."
"Wow" Ash said pondering over what his mother had just said "I'm still frightened though. I've not had a father figure other than Sam for thirteen years, what do I do when he tries to tell me off? I mean I have my own home, my own money, my own Pokémon and my own life now. I'm hardly going to be here over the next few years too as I'll be travelling and competing in other leagues so there's always going to be a distant relationship."
"That's going to be the most difficult part I believe" Delia said knowing Ash had a point "however it's going to take you both to put in the effort Ash and make a relationship work."
"I know" Ash said nodding "I just don't know what I'm going to say to him."
"Me either" Delia said standing up and holding out her hand. Ash grabbed it and they began the short walk back to the house "we'll figure something out though."
Walking back in they ignored the mass of people gathered in his living room and walked up the stairs and stopped on the landing. Taking a deep breath Ash walked forwards with his mum and into his dad's room and stopped. For the first time in living memory Ash drank in his dad's appearance. He was very tall, around 6 foot 2, had pale looking skin likely due to being kept out of the sunlight for over a decade but it was his hair that shocked them. It wasn't the jet black that Ash had seen in his matches, it was startlingly silver/grey.
"What did they do to you Red?" Ash heard his mum ask as she let go of Ash and walked round the bed to grip her husband's hand. Without thinking Ash walked out of his room and into his mums and retrieved the chair that was at the foot of her dresser and walked back into the room and placed it behind his mum so she could sit down. Thanking him she continued watching him, hoping for any sign of movement but all she received was the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed and the continuous beep of the machine he was still tied to.
"Somethings wrong" Ash murmured making Delia look at him in surprise. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he finished quietly, looking at his father intensely. Strangely enough it was Blue walking in and telling her his own personal doctor was on the way to see what is going to happen next who gave Ash the clue about what the issue was. "Blue" he murmured "why is blue the answer?"
"What do you mean Ash?" Delia asked concerned about her son's behaviour looking at Blue. "what's Blue done?"
"I haven't done anything" Blue said holding his hands up in protest "I haven't even touched him."
"No" Ash said shaking his head trying to puzzle it out." Not Blue, blue" he murmured confusing everyone even further. Closing his eyes he opened his palm and conjured an Aura Sphere. He was often seen to be doing this when trying to figure out an issue s it wasn't a shock to people anymore that this was his way of trying to recall what the issue was. As if on cue he opened his eyes and gasped, looking at the ball and then to his dad.
"Blue" he said causing the ball to disappear before rushing over and grabbing his father's other hand, dropping it in shock and looking over at his mother "blue" he reiterated "his aura. It's gone!"
Elsewhere
The days slowly crept by and the general public in Kanto began to get more and more annoyed by the lack of news coming from Indigo Plateau about Ash's challenge against the Elite Four. Several eyewitnesses had seen him come racing out of the stadium before being whisked away but that had been four days ago now and the public wanted answers. The media outlets had been going crazy with conspiracy theories about what had happened, they knew he must have beaten Koga, Lorelei and Bruno because he was seen four times entering the main stadium before emerging from stadium two hours later. He wouldn't be coming back if he lost unless he was repeatedly trying to beat them and kept losing. But even then they speculated there must be a limit of how many times you can battle the Elite Four before they refused his challenge, they were very busy people after all.
But there was media silence from Ash's camp. A few reporters had tried to get onto his land only to be attacked by the Pidgeotto clan as they weren't any of Ash's workers. Nurse Joys Houndoom had taken to sitting at the gate for the last few days along with Ash's Machamp so no one was getting in that way. And they certainly weren't going to get around that by flying over as Samuel Oaks Charizard and Ash's had taken to doing hourly patrols of the skies and had viciously defended Ash's home from anyone trying to enter via the air. The were careful to not directly attack anyone but they quickly made sure that people realised they weren't messing around.
No one from Silph was saying anything either. The only statement they received was "We have no comment on the Elite Four Challenge until Ash or Charles Goodshow releases a statement" which was maddening and further increased the speculation. The Elite Four had gone into hiding too, so that was a no go. All the public could do was wait and hope the blackout would soon be lifted.
For Ash he wasn't concerned in the slightest about what the public thought. He had had conversations with Hatori about what happened and Hatori had told him not to worry about anything, just to tell them when the Championship battle was scheduled for and hopefully his dad got better soon. Hatori was planning on visiting Ash in the next week anyway as he had some business they needed to discuss but other than that he just told Ash to focus on his mum and dad.
Much to everyone's irritation Ash had sent all of the researchers home as he didn't want a single leak to the media. There had been a lot of kicking up fuss on missing key research but Ash was firm with everyone, he paid their salaries after all and told them to come back after Christmas.
"Usually, you'd think people would be happy at being told they have all of December off work, and paid at that!" Ash groused as he sat downstairs talking to his mum. They were waiting for the doctor and his team to arrive and were speculating on what was going to be said.
"Some people really love their work Ash" Delia said smiling "as I've said before what you've created here is remarkable so it's no surprise really that people want to come to work, is it?"
"I suppose not" Ash conceded before he stood up and walked to the window. Looking out and not seeing the usual rabble of people moving around was very strange. "It's weird this place being quiet, isn't it? I'm not sure how to feel about it."
"It really is" Delia said looking up from her magazine "it's nice. I quite like the peacefulness, especially after the hectic last few days."
"I'm worried about him mum" Ash said not turning around "to have no aura left is very strange. How does someone get drained of their aura? There's only one type of person I've come across that has no aura and that can't be what happened to dad."
"Why?" Delia asked curious setting down the magazine.
"Because" Ash said turning to face her "he's clearly still alive. Only the dead have no aura because it leaves you the moment you die. Wherever you die is where your aura settles before it's then assimilated into the air, grass, ground etc. but dad is clearly still breathing, he clearly still has a pulse so we know he's not dead."
"So, he must have some aura" Delia said looking thoughtful "he wouldn't be alive if he didn't."
"No" Ash said "he wouldn't. for decades now researchers and scientists have debated at length whether anyone can survive without aura but there has never been a living person to confirm this. I've had this talk before with a few researchers, what people think is the soul is actually our focal point from where our aura resonates from throughout our body. It's a very real thing, that has actual mass which has been proven many times by people suddenly losing weight at the moment of death. Our aura literally bursts and disappears almost instantly."
"And your dad has none?" Delia asked concerned.
"None that I can find" Ash said "however I have been getting a strange feeling from him from time to time over the last few days, sort of like it's there but either blocked or hidden away. It's maddening and I'm scared to try and see if I can re-ignite his aura with my own without killing him in the process."
"Well hopefully Dr Lucas can tell us what the issue is" Delia said breathing out "anyway let's talk about something else. What have you got everyone for Christmas?"
"Nothing" Ash said before laughing at the reaction he got "sorry, had to. I have got Zoe a pendant with her and Ava's picture inside, I gave Nia hers the other day, I got Sam a leather bound book of all his poems he's scribbled down over the last year and left lying around, Tracey helped with that by keeping them hidden. Sam has been questioning his senility because he thinks he's forgetting where he put them but I've already told Blue so he's not worried about his dad. I got Joanne two tickets for the SS Anne, she deserves time off with how busy she's been the last year so she should be leaving Vermillion later on today. And I'm not telling you what I've got for you."
"That was nice of you to think of Joanne" Delia said "why did you choose that?"
"I forgot to get her something last year didn't I" Ash said ruefully "and I felt bad that I did so, so I bought her tickets for this year to make up for it. Hatori wasn't best pleased that I'd taken one of his staff members away from him but as it's Christmas he said he'd let it slide. Having said that Joanne hasn't taken a days holiday all year so she used them up and now has six weeks off on a cruise. Some people are born lucky" he finished laughing.
Chuckling Delia asked "so what did you get for Nia?"
"I gave her a Lapras to travel around on" Ash said "she's travelling to the Orange Islands, she arrived on Valencia Island a few days ago and she didn't have a ride so I asked the pod if there was anyone who wanted to travel and one of the young bulls said yes because he will be leaving the pod in a few years once he's old enough so he needs to know what his journey to the Orange and Sevii Islands will be like when he does. So, Nia has him until she comes back."
"And myself?" Delia asked slyly. Ash however gave her a look which started off more chuckling "worth a shot."
"I've had to change what I gave you" Ash said "I had two presents already for you but in light of dad coming back I had to scrap one of them. Hopefully the second one is good enough."
"So, you can tell me what it was then?" Delia asked.
"Yes, I suppose so" Ash said "I was planning on taking us back to Mandarin for a holiday and then the Clay Pot Village again. I bought two tickets to the same hotel seeing as it was very nice last year."
"Can you believe it's been a year already since we were last there already?" Delia asked shaking her head "it's crazy how quickly time has flown."
"I know" Ash said "and come March you'll have had your business for 2 years! I'm so proud of you mum."
"It's been amazing" Delia said nodding "it's a shame that the holiday has gone to waste though. That would have been nice."
"Ah, about that" Ash said scratching the back of his head "I may have given our tickets to someone else already."
"In the five days since your dad returned?" Delia asked astounded "to whom?"
"Jess and Travis Pool" Ash said earning a confused look "they were the Nurse Joy and Doctor who looked after me and my Pokémon at Porta Vista."
"Oh yes" Delia said "he was a nice man Travis, I likely owe him an apology for how I was those first few days."
"He told me it was fine" Ash said laughing "he gets it a lot."
"So why them?" Delia asked as the walked to the kitchen to get another cup of tea "I wasn't aware you were particularly close to them."
"I'm not to Travis" Ash said "but I've met Jess a few times on my travels. She was the Joy who nursed me and my Pokémon back to health after the Granpa Canyon incident and she was also the Nurse who helped me discover Kabuto Island. I arrived there first to get some information for Sam about the limestone deposits there and I found the Kabuto."
"And he nearly reanimated the whole lot of them on top of us" Pikachu said coming into the kitchen through the back door "he would have kept picking them up had I not shouted at him."
"Yes, thank you" Ash said ignoring his mums' giggles "anyway some arsehole decided to try and kill the research team that Jess led by dropping boulders on them while they were in a cave blocking their only exit. It took us half a day to rescue them from the landslide and get answers. Apparently his family were keepers of a prophecy and he was trying to warn us away and rather than speak to us he thought lobbing boulders at us would help his case. It wasn't. Anyway I gave Jess my notes on the Kabuto and the Island and she wrote a dissertation on it. She wasn't happy I didn't want any credit so I jokingly said I'd happily be an honorary uncle to her future children and to keep in touch.
Well it turns out that she was so relieved at getting back to her husband after nearly suffocating in that cave that they pushed forward on their plans to have a family and she gave birth to twins in August. She rang me out of the blue just as I got to Mt Silver after the Agatha battle and asked me to be Godfather. I know, I was just as surprised too but I said yes and every now and then I get a few pictures."
Pulling out his Pokégear he flicked through to Jess' messages and showed his mum the pictures. She sat down as she went though them all and Ash placed her brew in front of her.
"They're so adorable" Delia said smiling at them. Ash saw the wistful look on her face and waited for her to finish. Finally, she did and handed it back. "What are their names?"
"Tammy and Poppy" Ash said "so anyway, I knew you wouldn't want to go away when dad has just come back, so I gave her the tickets. It'll be their first time in just under four months that they'll have some time to themselves since they had the kids so…" he finished shrugging his shoulders.
"That was nice of you" Delia said getting that look on her face again.
"You know you're still young enough to have more kids mum" Ash said making her look at him confused "I know what that look is mum. I've seen it several times from women in my travels whenever they see a baby or a toddler. And dad is back now, so if you're worried about my reaction then don't be, I'll happily be the best big brother I can be."
"I'm not sure what's going to happen yet" Delia said wryly "we still need to find out what's wrong with your father first before anything like that is even thought about."
As if on cue the doorbell rang making them jump and Delia scrambled to the front door. Opening it she saw a tall man, very athletic looking with grey/black hair, and grey eyes looking back at her. "Delia is it? I'm Dr Lucas, this is Beverley and Grant, my aides."
"Yes" she replied stepping back to let Lucas and his team in. "If you would follow me I'll show you to my husband." Leading them upstairs, with Ash at the rear she gave them the details about what had happened and what had been done since.
"Ok" he said picking up the chart from the end of the bed that had been filled in from the on-call doctor that was part of the Silph contingent. "This looks like ok. This looks good too. No aura? From a guardian?" he asked looking up confused "that's not possible."
"Trust me" Ash said "I've just been telling mum the same thing. Every living thing has aura so to have none at all means they're either dead or a rock."
"I knew I recognised the name" Grant said looking at Delia "You're Delia Ketchum, my wife loves your restaurant at Indigo Plateau! It's been our go to place for a date for the last six months now. The Carbonara is unbelievably good."
"Oh, thank you" Delia said happily "It's nice to hear good feedback, I didn't come up with that recipe though, Ash did."
"Really?" he asked looking at Ash.
"Yeah" Ash said nodding, "well, I came up with the version mum makes. Italians would hate it though as certainly not a traditional one."
"That's on the menu too" Delia said laughing "as you said, certain people would go mad if I said something was Carbonara and gave them your version."
"Anyway" Grant said "it's amazing. We're going there again in a few weeks. Beth will be amazed to learn I've met you."
Ash had been observing Dr Lucas while the conversation was going on and took note of every grimace, head shake and nod that the man gave. It was getting to the point after five minutes that he was running out of patience.
"So, what's the score?" Ash asked, "what's up with dad?"
"I have no idea" Lucas replied looking up at Ash from the clipboard "all his vitals are good, very good in fact. His body looks to be in incredible shape for someone who's been missing for al those years, in fact if I didn't know any better I'd say he still looks the same age he was when he disappeared. His skin is very strange though, almost like he's been reanimated but that can't be right, I wasn't aware technology had developed like that."
"It is" Ash said as he walked out of his room and found a folder in his top drawer. Walking back in he passed it to Lucas who gasped when he saw what he was reading.
"He's been frozen for the last thirteen years?" he asked outraged "how the hell is he still alive?"
"Fuji needed him for experimentation, so he apparently took dad out of cold storage and performed tests while he was drugged up to his eyeballs" Ash said bitterly "Fuji was trying to find the aura gene that certain people have for his own benefit but claimed he came up empty."
"Well, someone managed to do it" Lucas said looking up from the document to Red "he's been drained of it, which means it's stored somewhere. His aura is still connected to him, you see this line, kind of what you'd see in a flatline? Well you'll see every now and then it jumps a millimetre, that's your aura line. Everyone in the world has that kind of line, only for some it is different. For instance, if I connected you to this machine it would be a wave, one that would look exactly like your heartbeat line but would be seen on the chart as though it's your heartbeats shadow. There's a clear pattern you can see. That's what your fathers aura is trying to do, it's trying to keep in time with his heartbeat. If that should stop then I fear so would his heart. As I said before no one can live without aura."
"So, it's somewhere out there then?" Ash asked looking out of the window.
"Yes" Lucas said "Now do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"News is news" Delia said "just tell us."
"Red's vitals are strong and I expect him to wake up in the next few weeks" Lucas said making Delia smile "however he will be extremely weak, it will take several months, quite possibly years before he will be able to move around properly and it will take a lot of physiotherapy. His body is strong, so I'm not worried about that. He is also breathing unaided so that's a very good sign too. I am worried about how he will be mentally though; he's been gone thirteen years; a lot has changed in that time. It will take a lot of patience and adjustment from you both so please do not hesitate to reach out if you're having a tough time with it. For now, I suggest you keep talking to him, let him get used to hearing your voices and hopefully he adjusts quickly."
"Thank you" Delia said as the three doctors gave their goodbyes and left.
"Where's he going to stay mum?" Ash asked after a few minutes silence "what I mean is he'll need looking after, I won't be home, and you have your restaurant to run. He'll need a carer, which will be easy to sort out but do you want him at yours or for him to stay here?"
"I'll be honest Ash, I have no idea" Delia said sighing "come on, we'll go have a cup of tea and discuss what's happening going forward."
A few days later they had decided he would be moved into Ash's old room and they would employ a carer. Ash had paid a company to strip out his old room and his gear was put into Delias attic for now. They planned to try and make the change as late in the evening as possible so very few would know about it but the chances were they would still be seen. After all Red was still hooked up to a life support machine. Luckily Sam had had a brainwave and four days after the meeting with Dr Lucas both his and Blue's Alakazam teleported Red and the machinery into the room. Setting up everything else was easy after that.
Ash had mounted his old TV on the wall just after the Indigo League so he had that permanently on, playing back Reds matches and even some of Ash's on loop to try and subliminally prepare Red for the fact he had a teenage son. They had found a woman by the name of Amy who after signing an NDA had taken over caring for Red during the day, with Delia doing the evening shift when she returned home from work. Life carried on for everyone in Pallet Town and Ash let the workers back on site the day after his dad had been moved which created a bit of a stir, but that soon passed after they started work again. Ash never mentioned to anyone what the issue was.
Two week after the return of his father he received a strange message from his uncle saying that he was required to attend a phone meeting later that week to discuss why he still hadn't had his championship match with Blue yet. The public had been causing a bit of a stir and the Kanto Board had decided enough was enough and he needed to explain himself.
He had completely forgotten the meeting was due to take place on the Thursday after all that had been going on, so much so he was at Sams ranch going over the plans for the battle with Blue and strangely Charles Goodshow who wanted to be a part of the battle meeting over dinner.
"Oh yeah," Ash said sheepishly as he brought out his ringing Pokégear "I forgot about this."
"What is it?" Sam asked.
"Well apparently the Kanto board are being a bit pissy because we've still not let anyone know when we're due to battle" Ash said nodding at Blue "so they're ringing me to get answers."
"That's strange" Blue said putting down his fork looking puzzled "why haven't they demanded the same from me? You'd think as Champion I'd have to answer to them too."
"They have also failed to contact myself about this too" Charles said affronted.
"I suspect this is a way to try and get back at me after the whole Orange League debacle earlier this year." Ash said wryly "can I use your video phone Sam?
"Sure" Sam said looking concerned "do you want us to leave you to it?"
"No" Ash said "if you can stay quiet it would be great to have witnesses. I did say I'd be alone."
Gaining nods Ash typed in the code and immediately many of the squares lit up and faces appeared.
"You are late" the obnoxious woman stated looking irritated.
"Yeah, well I'm a busy man" Ash said as he surreptitiously pressed the record button on his Pokégear. There was no way he was doing this without having back-up.
"As are we Mr Ketchum" she said "Now, explain yourself."
"Explain what?" Ash asked "and where's the other five members? Aren't there eight of you?"
"We're more than competent enough to hold a meeting without them, we speak for them with their full backing" the woman said "Now, explain why you've not informed the public about how you got on with the Elite Four Challenge."
"Why do you need to know?" Ash asked "you have nothing to do with it."
"Do not be insolent Boy!" the walrus faced man said "and answer the question."
Ash simply stared at him before ignoring him and waiting for the woman to respond.
"Well?" she finally asked.
"Well, what?" Ash replied "I don't have to answer a question if I don't need to."
"As a matter of fact, you do" the man interrupted "you are Kantonian, we make, break and uphold the laws of Kanto and therefore have absolute jurisdiction over every single one of its citizens."
"My battle is next Sunday" Ash said shaking his head wanting to get the conversation over with.
"Sorry, we've booked Indigo Plateau for a conference meeting that weekend. It'll have to be changed." The woman said.
"Fine, we'll move it to midweek after" Ash said getting that sinking feeling.
"I'm afraid it's a very long conference" she said smirking "it could go on for several weeks. Oh, don't you only have a month left before your challenge becomes voided?"
"I see what's going on here" Ash said chuckling "I take it Indigo Plateau is 'booked' for the entire month."
"It could be" the man said smirking back.
"I'll let my sponsor and his son know then that we can't have our battle" Ash said "I'm sure we'll find an alternative."
"He won't be your sponsor for much longer" the woman said "Samuel Oak has stuck his nose into too many of our affairs and won't be the Professor for much longer."
"And again, you don't have the authority to make that decision" Ash said holding his hand up off screen to those who were about to butt in "that lies with Charles Goodshow and the board of directors for the Pokémon league and not the Kanto board. We went over this last time."
"Charles Goodshow will have no option but to listen to us seeing as we own the land Indigo Village is built on" another woman put in "we have life and death over your Championship battle so I would suggest you listen up. If you want to have your match to take place then we have some orders that you will adhere to. We will be sending a representative round to your little home tomorrow with a contract for you to sign and on it will state that you will agree to sign over your stewardship from Samuel Oak to us, we will have part control of your property so it partially belongs to the Kanto Board. You will also agree to be our representative to any meeting we deem you must attend, failure to do so will result in forfeiture of your Kantonian citizenship and that of every member of your family."
"Is that why you told me I couldn't have any form of representative on this call?" Ash asked outraged "so they couldn't refute what you're saying? Because we all know that what you've just said is complete bollocks. I work for Professor Oak, not you. I won't be signing anything without my lawyer present."
"You will not be having your match at all should you not sign it" the third woman said "I have decided that you have waited too long and have therefore forfeited your right to said match, not only that but should you attempt to have the match anywhere on Kantonian soil you will be stripped of your citizenship and your little project will be demolished. Not only that but you will be exiled from Kanto for the rest of your life. Is that understood?"
"Maybe next time you will take notice of our authority" the man said nastily before he hung up, quickly followed by the rest.
"No, I don't think I will" Ash said smirking at the blank screen before immediately ringing up Trevor. Logging onto his Professor emails he sent the file from his phone to there and then onto Trevors emails.
"Hi Ash" Trevor said coming onto the screen "everything ok?"
"No" Ash said "we need to act quickly. I've just sent you a file from my works email, can you let me know when you've received it?"
"Hang on" Trevor said standing up from his couch and sitting down at his computer. Logging on he looked for his emails and nodded "yes, there's a ten-minute voice note here. Is that it?"
"Yes" Ash said "I need that voice note distributed to every media outlet in Kanto by tomorrow morning. The Kanto board have just tried to blatantly blackmail me into signing away everything I own so that I could be able to have my Championship match with Blue."
"You are kidding?" he asked "why would they be that blatant?"
"Because they think I'm a naïve little kid" Ash said "I even had Sam, Blue and Charles Goodshow here as witness to the video call, and I'm pretty sure Sams video phone has a playback option which has recorded all of it. They're utterly stupid."
"I do" Sams voice drifted over. Looking and he saw Charles and Blue on their phones, furiously talking to someone on the other ends. Looking back at Trevor he waited as he listened to it shaking his head every now and then.
"I mean, it's ridiculously blatant" he said looking at Ash "there's no way…"
"I know" Ash said interrupting him "but I need this given to trusted members of the media that will release this as soon as possible. However they did say something that concerned me, I only have a few weeks left before my challenge time runs out. I have an idea, but it all depends on how quickly this can get sorted out."
"Ash," Trevor said "this won't be sorted for months, this is going to be an absolute shitstorm of legal issues. I will need Sam's, Blues and Charles' statements but no doubt their own lawyers will help with that. Give them my email address so we can collaborate, will you?"
"Will do" Ash said as Trevor hung up. The next few hours were crazy for Ash. Many conversations were had with Trevor, Silph, Charles, Blue and Sam. Hatori was apoplectic with rage when he found out he'd been bypassed by the Kanto Board and immediately got in touch with the media arm of Silph who would be releasing a statement in the morning. It was as the conversations were winding down that Ash remembered something. They needed a venue for their match fast and struggled to come up with one as there was certain criteria that had to be met for it to be an official Championship match. "I have an idea" Ash said cautiously "I just don't know the legalese behind it though."
"Go on" Charles said.
"Pummelo Stadium" he replied looking at them all.
"Well, it could easily fit 20'000" Sam said "so the audience part is ticked off, it regularly hosts exhibitions and recently a partially finished Championship match so it's structurally sound."
"But it's not a part of Kanto" Charles said tiredly running his hand down his face.
"Does it have to be?" Sam asked.
"Kanto Champion" Charles replied "there has never been a Championship match held outside their own jurisdiction."
"Well I'm currently the last member of the Elite Four, you've already offered me that post" Ash said "if I officially take that slot in the next few days my challenge is complete for that part and I can challenge Blue anytime I want after that is signed off. And we currently have the Champion of Kanto, the Regional Professor of Kanto and the head of the Pokémon League in the same room. Who else has to sign off on this ultimately?"
"No one" Charles said "it's ultimately my decision but there's a lot of problems to cross off before a decision is made. Can you two give me two weeks? We'll suspend your challenge for now Ash and tell the people there's a few legalities before you can battle Blue. In the meantime, I will go over what I can to see if there's a precedent for this. I don't want to make a snap decision, but Pummelo may be our best bet as it used to be in Kanto. We'll need the Orange League to sign off on this too."
"That's fine" Ash said nodding "I'm sorry to have caused such issues."
"Oh it's not your fault" Charles said waving away his apology "for years now those three have been a pain in my arse. Hopefully this sees them imprisoned and gone from our lives."
At that moment Ash's Pokégear went off confusing him. Looking at the number he was a bit confused.
"Hello uncle?" Ash said putting it on speaker phone "what can I do for you?"
"It's the time we scheduled for our meeting Ash" Giovanni said sounding confused "We did say 6pm didn't we? I have several members here with me to discuss the time and place for your battle with Blue and to get to the bottom of why it hasn't happened yet."
"What?" Ash said "I've already had my meeting and I'd suggest you all lawyer up very quickly. Shit is about to go down after what was said in that meeting."
"What do you mean?" a lady's voice asked "we haven't had a meeting with you."
"No, but three of you did who claimed they spoke for all of you" Ash said "and during that meeting they attempted to blackmail me into signing over everything I own over to the Kanto board so you guys would let me have my match. Not only that but they threatened to revoke my citizenship if I didn't comply so as far as I'm concerned, you're all in the shit. Like I said, I suggest you all lawyer up as this is going to hit the news very quickly, tonight at the earliest but definitely tomorrow morning at the latest and if those three are on this call I wish you the best of luck." Hanging up Ash shook his head. The next few weeks were going to be very stressful.