Ash was in a better mood than normal. He was doing a semi-important delivery to Alamos town. His mom was having one of her scheduled appointments, and they were hopeful that the tests that she took would reveal she was finally cancer free. It hadn't been easy, and Ash had to make a lot of personal sacrifices over the years. But knowing his mom was finally healthy again would be all worth it.
Ever since that mess in Cameron Palace and the sudden return of a rather famous Pokémon that had been the partner of a long dead knight, Ash had been able to take longer deliveries to new regions. Lucario was still apologetic about nearly hitting Ash's mother with his attack, but in his defense he was still groggy and half-blind from the events leading to him being sealed away.
It had taken a lot of therapy before Ash was even remotely okay with that event, but Lucario had at least been making it up to Ash by taking over some of his duties so that he could branch out at work.
Because of that, Ash's rank as a courier skyrocketed to the point he could take the high profile (and thus very well paying) jobs. Which consequently meant his mother was able to pay for the better medicines and treatments, which meant they had been able to perform the necessary surgery to remove the parts that were diseased in the first place.
That had been beyond nerve-wracking, and Ash was glad to have Pikachu with him.
Seeing the famous towers, Ash leaned slightly and Charizard veered left. Thankfully he had gotten permission to land there ahead of time, since he had called ahead.
Seeing the platform, Charizard made sure to place the package down first before landing.
"Hi there! Are you the special delivery we've been waiting for?" a young woman called out.
"I'm Ash from the Courier Guild, Kanto division!" he said cheerfully in reply. "This is Charizard!"
Charizard let out a light roar, making sure to aim any fire away from the package and the building.
"I'm Alice. My friend Tonio is the one who sent for the delivery. You made great time!" she said.
Ash patting Charizard on the head, which made the fire-type rumble happily.
"Charizard specializes in heavier orders. I normally use Pidgeot to make the extra-speedy runs, but this was a bit too heavy for us to fly with," said Ash proudly.
"Well he did a good job," said Alice. "I thought for sure it would have taken longer to get those replacement parts."
"Replacement parts?" said Ash.
Alice nodded.
"See the towers you're on right now are called the Space-Time towers. One of the gears in the Space tower became so rusted that it was unusable, and the box we keep the replacements was completely empty. Fortunately there was a place that was able to make custom orders, and we still have the blueprints for the whole tower. The box you were carrying has the parts we needed, as well as extra parts in case others go out."
Ash called out a different Pokémon to help carry the box down to where it was needed...Charizard was a bit too big to fit in the hallway.
"Alice! Oh, you must be the Pokémon courier with the delivery," said Tonio.
"Ash from the Courier Guild, Kanto division," he said, tipping his hat. "The contest committee upped the priority level due to the location. You can't have a proper Pokémon contest in a historical landmark famous for the music if the player isn't working correctly."
"True," said Alice. "This region is famous for the towers, and the timing has been a bit off since the gear went out. That and we're scheduled to have a contest in three days."
"Which is why they sent me. I was in the area and I'm fast enough to get the package here with enough time to fix the problem in time for the contest. And I'm getting paid extra for the speedy service," said Ash.
The Pokémon Contest Committee was paying for a mini vacation (within reason) if he got there fast enough to have the towers repaired for the contest.
It had been a while since he had seen a contest.
"I know. Why don't I take you for a tour of the city while Tonio fixes the tower?" said Alice.
"Really?" said Ash with open interest.
"It shouldn't take more than an hour or two for the tower to be fixed, and the gears re-calibrated to the right time," said Tonio.
Ash was all for that. Locals always knew the best places to eat, and he was starving.
It was while he was having a fun Pokémon battle with another trainer that he spotted a familiar face.
"Hey, Brock!"
Brock turned and he had a massive grin on his face seeing Ash.
"Hey Ash, fancy seeing you here! On vacation?"
"Nah, had to do a priority delivery," said Ash.
"Hey Brock, who's this?"
Ash looked past Brock to his traveling companion. He raised an eyebrow, but Brock shook his head discreetly. The girl completely missed the byplay and silent question.
"This is Ash. He's from the same region I am, just a few towns over," said Brock. "Ash, this is Dawn. She's a coordinator."
Dawn looked at Ash properly. His hair was well kept, but had a 'windy' look. Which made sense as he had been flying earlier. He wore tight fitted clothes, and had a belt with at least three Pokéballs on it. He also had a badge with an unusual emblem on the side, and from what little she could tell he seemed to be fairly high ranked even if she didn't recognize it.
There were also a few patches sewn into his jacket, which was unzipped. He looked rather ripped, more so than Brock, and had a lean build that was almost all muscle. He didn't look much older than she was.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ash Ketchum of the Pokémon Courier Guild, Kanto division."
"What's the Courier guild?" asked Dawn.
"We specialize in delivering packages, letters...pretty much anything really all over the world. Ever wonder how the professors get the starters they hand out to children every year?" asked Ash. Dawn shook her head. "Well, a courier picks up the Pokéball case from the specialized breeders and delivers them to the labs in time for the registration period for new trainers. Only those with high clearance and the right paperwork are allowed to visit the breeders."
"Ash here is one of the youngest special couriers in the business," said Brock.
"Special Couriers?" asked Dawn.
Ash pulled his patch on his arm forward so she could get a better look.
"Couriers have a ranking system, much like Rangers do," explained Ash. "Special couriers are those who have completed enough missions and have proven themselves trustworthy enough to handle the really high profile cases. Think of them as the 'Elite Four' of the Courier guild. We're called in when something needs to be delivered fast, and with the utmost security and we can be hired direct by either the league, the committee or even the ranger union to deliver important packages."
Dawn was suitably impressed, and for good reason. Most people didn't realize the courier guild was on par with the league or the contest committee.
To be fair, the incident with the Manaphy and that blasted pirate were the main reason Ash had finally been upgraded to Specialized Courier. The ranger he was delivering to had made a special report about how he had gone above and beyond helping Manaphy out when he could have just as easily left once he had delivered his package.
It meant a nice pay upgrade and had been the main reason they could afford the surgery to hopefully remove the cancerous tissue in his mother's chest that had made her so sick.
"So what brought you to Alamos town?" asked Brock.
"Had to make a priority delivery to the people in charge of maintaining the towers," said Ash, hooking a thumb to the Space-Time towers. "Apparently a part broke and the box that had the replacements was empty. The Contest Committee paid me extra to have it delivered in time for the contest in a few days. Means I get a free vacation out of it."
"Hey, that means you can watch the Pokémon contest!" said Dawn excitedly.
"I get the best seats since I did them a solid and got here so fast."
The next morning...
When given a choice, Ash was not an early riser. This was supposed to be a mini vacation. So you could imagine his surprise to waking up and finding the whole town in an uproar.
"What's going on?" asked Ash.
"It's Darkrai! Darkrai is going on a rampage!" said one random trainer.
The closer he got to the situation, the more confused he became.
"So let me get this straight. Everyone believes Darkrai is behind why things are going screwy, is that correct?" said Ash.
Dawn nodded.
"He started shouting and saying 'leave' and 'you don't belong here' before hitting everyone with his power!"
"Uh-huh. What exactly did he do besides knock everyone out?" asked Ash.
The more Dawn explained, the more incredulous Ash became. Then he went to find Tonio.
Tonio was one of the few people who didn't think Darkrai was responsible.
"I've been tracking strange readings for days...and it only got worse after that gear snapped."
"How did the gear break anyway?" asked Ash.
Tonio pulled it out. It looked...warped...for lack of a better term.
The moment Ash touched it, a talking Meowth ran inside. He was shouting about how the sky had turned weird.
Ash had seen too much to be fazed by a Pokémon speaking the human tongue normally. Much less without psychic abilities.
He took one look at the sky, then at the fact they were essentially cut off from the outside world before sighing.
"I knew it. There's no way this is Darkrai. This looks more like the work of Palkia."
"Palkia?" said another trainer.
"Palkia, a legendary Pokémon with dominion over 'space'. It's counterpart is Dialga, who controls 'time'. I bet you anything Darkrai was sensing Palkia getting too close and was trying to scare it off, but since it's not here yet, everyone is blaming him for the effect Palkia is causing," explained Ash calmly.
Everyone looked to Ash.
"I practically live next door to a Pokémon professor," deadpanned Ash. "He has me proofread his research papers all the time before he sends them off and doesn't care if I read his books or files. Hell, I know more about his research than his own grandson does at this point!"
"Which professor?" asked Dawn.
"Professor Oak," said Brock.
Ash found it amusing that Brock name-dropping the man he considered a surrogate grandfather lead to the trainers listening to him, rather than the local nobleman. Then again Baron Alberto only saw Darkrai as the issue and refused to listened to any arguments against that train of thought.
As he predicted, Darkrai was trying to scare off Palkia, but had been unsuccessful. Ash didn't know why Palkia and Dialga were fighting but at least the recently repaired towers were able to calm them down.
The light show was impressive though.
Ash returned home and waited with baited breath to hear the results.
Finally he heard the one thing he had wanted to hear for the past six years since his mother first got the diagnosis.
"The surgery was a success. I'm in remission."
Ash broke down crying in pure relief. Six years he had thought his world had ended, and now finally a ray of hope.
He crashed on his bed from pure emotional exhaustion, as they had thrown a small party to celebrate the news.
When his mother shared the news, Ash had thought to throw a small party to celebrate. Instead it turned into a massive one, as he hadn't realized he was the only one suffering from her condition. Even the boss of the Kanto division came over, since Ash was her best freelance courier.
"Congrats brat," said Anise. "All that hard work you put in finally paid off."
Ash's eyes were red, but no one blamed him for crying with relief. After all, he had made countless sacrifices to insure his mother made it to this point, even if it meant growing up way too fast.
Ranger Aaron threw an arm around his surrogate nephew. He had seen the kid grow up to be a fine young man, and had been one of the people who recommended him to Special Courier status.
Unnoticed by Ash, his mother sidled up to Professor Oak to have a quiet chat with him.
Ash went to bed exhausted, but happy. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his back.
Unknown to him, Oak was quietly making a few calls to his colleagues in other regions. Ash had put his dream of becoming a Pokémon trainer on hold for six years...it was past time he was allowed to start his journey and see if he had what it took.
Though he was going to make very, very sure it was not in the same region as Gary. Oak honestly didn't know where he went wrong with his grandson, but he had given Gary quite the earful the second he returned home long enough to understand why his remarks regarding Ash's decision to stay behind were unacceptable.
While Gary had formally apologized to Ash and his mother, the friendship he had with Ash had taken a massive hit. Ash still hadn't forgiven him completely over the matter.
Oak didn't know how to resolve the issue, but hoped things could become better once Ash started his journey. If not, well then he'd settle for the odd truce the two had at the moment.