You can consider this the Prologue-Epilogue if I bothered to actually title my chapters. Prologue-End. Prologue-Finale. Whatever floats your boat.
The fresh morning air brought a calm to the streets of Pallet Town. It was a quaint little place, with a lot of wind turbines and rice paddies all over. The only signs of the evening rush home were the skid marks of the occasional truck, bus or sedan, but even those signs had long disappeared thanks to a brief, early morning drizzle.
The morning rush hour in Pallet Town on the other hand wasn't really much of a rush but more a bored effort to make sure people went out to whenever they needed to be on time. Though there was an effort.
The efforts done by the local government to modernize the sleepy town, which yet remained one of the last municipalities in Kanto that still used school and administrative buildings loaned from the early Meiji Restoration, were twofold in expediting the flow of traffic. Once dirt and clay roads were paved with concrete and asphalt, then bus, ferry and train lines were established, and growing tourism thanks to the historically large amount of Pokemon professionals in both the scientific and competitive fields has allowed Pallet Town to grow exponentially over the past half century.
Not bad for a small town once known for having literally only 3 major buildings in the commercial district, two of which were already owned by the Oak family.
Having said that, it still retained that small, rural town wonder. It was sleepy and quiet in all the right ways, and exciting in the others. A native probably wouldn't be able to explain, but it's a normal enough town. For a given degree of normal.
Then again, the town would probably be quite a bit more normal if there wasn't also a group of people clinging the not-quite-a-corpse of an 8-year-old boy down one of its streets rather carefully.
Or rather, not carefully at all. They weren't really hiding it, if you think about it.
Ash looked at his human body, freshly bathed and dressed in his school uniform, slung over the shoulder of the Rhydon owned by Daisy Oak as they walked down the road to his elementary school. Following after them was Daisy herself, and the Froslass that Agatha decided to lend them for a while.
If Ash wasn't currently maintaining an illusion, with a little help from Froslass, they'd be in a lot more trouble. As it stands, however, for most people concerned it was just Daisy and her Rhydon walking down the beaten path. No unconscious 8-year-old body here, nope, no sirree.
Ash shifted his gaze back to Froslass. His fluffy little face was radiating with concern. "Uh, are you sure about this? I'm not really sure how this Spell Tag thingy works. I don't know what my gut feeling is telling me, but if it screws up when I'm in the middle of swapping back, something pretty bad might happen…" Ash's gaze looked down for a moment, a flush of heat going to his cheeks.
A passerby passed through the invisible Froslass. He stopped walking momentarily, blowing warm air into his fists and shivering at her ghastly presence.
The passerby continued walking to his destination afterwards, none the wiser of what he'd overlooked.
Froslass raised a brow, then sighed. She looked back at the passerby and snorted, then returned her focus back to Ash. "You mean the specialized Spell Tag she had created, correct? When it arrived this morning, Mistress Agatha informed us that crafting the one you were assigned took a while to get into the specifics."
Froslass hummed, closing her eyes, and took in the morning air with a deep breath. "I am not privy towards any of the details, but she believed that drawing more inspiration towards that comic book she talked about the other day was a fine idea… for one reason or another." She exhaled, frigid air flowing out of her, its snowflakes wafting through the morning breeze.
With a quick focus of spiritual energies, the Spell Tag appeared between her hands. She twirled the "Substitute Ghost-type Badge" around her fingers, drawing Ash's attention as he toddled along.
"Ask me not why she decided on that." Froslass shrugged helplessly. "Nonetheless, it was a convenient enough plot device that, nonetheless, had a lot of reason and logic that went into it. I need not teach you how to go in or out, it should help you swap between bodies instinctually, and you also gain a convenient transformation tool for your tween-age geeky dreams."
"…Not that I understood how to even process that, of course." She said with a tinge of embarrassment. "It is rather interesting mechanically, but attempting to analyze the specifics myself sent even my head spinning… Well, along those lines perhaps."
Ash narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure? This seems kind of weird, and well, convenient, you know. This badge thing to just let me go in and out, I mean. I'm not sure what to think about it."
"I'm sure." Froslass nodded, mostly to herself.
"Really?" Ash blinked.
"Yes, truly!" Froslass emphasized. "Mistress Agatha examined the Professor's security footage several times already, and managed to recreate the influx of energy that allowed you to go in and out of your body without a hitch. You've already tried it back home, after all."
Froslass twirled her hands with an energy, and the Badge's insignia began glowing pink. It probably did something important. Ash still wasn't sure.
"…Does it work off my panic attacks or something? If it did, I don't really think it's worth the effort. Or maybe it is, and I just have to deal with it all the time or something, then… Whatever happens after." Ash muttered under his breath, various scenarios playing in his mind rapid-fire.
"None of the sort! The panic you felt should only be because of your apprehension of the other day." Froslass huffed, crossing her arms. "She's rather meticulous with her work, you know. It'll keep your soul snugly in your body in a more stable fashion than when your mother and the Professor tried. Mistress Agatha can be quite thorough when in a rush. As long as you keep it in your person, your soul won't just slide out like some your pants when you don't belt up properly."
"…Even if I sneeze or stuff? Someone might end up slapping me in the back and I'll fall off, then they'll see me all sprawled on the floor or something.…" Ash continued pensively.
Froslass sighed. "It's a fortunate thing that we haven't had time to test it yet because I think you'd spend far too much time looking through each and every scenario instead of on your studies. Keep in mind, Ash, you'll be in school the entire time, and any extraneous variables would be just that: extraneous variables. That is to say, worst case scenarios. Which shouldn't happen with the constant threat of the couple dozen elite Pokemon loaned here by professionals the world over."
Ash whimpered, and Froslass kept herself from being any more exasperated than she needed to. She understood. These were still new horizons they were exploring, after all.
Froslass hesitated for a moment, before continuing. "…If you need more details, there was a case involving the Saffron City gym some time ago that helped her narrow down some of the specifics." She sighed. "The former gym leader's daughter was quite a gifted psychic, but she developed a megalomaniacal alternate personality in the process… She'd begun enslaving the minds of young trainers into becoming her playthings. Her first victim was her mother, too."
"Long story short, the League was given a call by anonymous tip, Mistress Agatha personally intervened, and I was there to assist. The girl was sent to a licensed psychic therapist, and word goes that she has been there ever since." The ice spirit shivered. "I hadn't seen her so furious in a long time…"
She began absent-mindedly playing with some snow on her hands, morphing it into a ball, tossing it over into the distance. She sighed deeply, mind still deep in thought. Ash contemplated over her story for a moment. And then she blinked.
"Hm?" Her head suddenly shifted right, noticing something over the horizon.
Froslass released another sigh. "It appears we've arrived. Get ready for your class, Ash. And good luck on your first day since recovering from your illness." She asserted, pointing at the school building just some yards away.
Ash's eyes widened in alarm as he saw Rhydon and Daisy run into an alley next to the school walls, hiding next to a car parked there covered in a silver tarp. Panicking, he ran over as well. Froslass floated over, still twirling the badge between her fingers. She slowly moved the illusion to cover their tracks, humming all the while.
The school wall was rather ancient, to say the least. Ash can't say he had the privilege of walking through this alley very often in the past with how dingy and craggy it was, but life always had time for firsts.
As he arrived, Daisy crouched down, and Rhydon did his best to not seem suspicious. A few passersby gave them weird looks, but didn't ask any questions. Given that Rhydon was a walking rhino made of rock and dirt, Ash thought he did a decent enough job.
"Ash, you got the thing?" Daisy asked. Then Froslass floated over, holding the Badge over to her. "Oh. Well, okay then. Thank you, Froslass."
Froslass gave Daisy a carefree wave back, then leaned against the wall. Thereafter, Daisy held up the badge near Ash's face.
Daisy signaled Rhydon to put Ash's body over the car hood, then crouched down again, reaching into her bag. "You remember how this works, right?" She pulled out a cloth to wipe some dust off Ash's body, then looked back at Ash himself.
Ash tilted his head, analyzing the badge for moment, and nodded. He jumped up and took the badge, then focused his energy onto the emblem.
It took a while for him to get the feel for it, but the pull was just right around the corner. With that sweet spot, he finally felt himself getting sucked in.
Froslass popped the illusion she was holding immediately after.
Just a moment later, Ash woke up inside his human body, coughing and motioning for some water. With one quick move, Daisy took a bottle of water from her bag, squirting a whole bunch of liquid down his throat. With one big gulp, he was sated.
But Daisy didn't really notice. She kept pouring more water down his throat, holding him down to keep him from moving. An excess of water fell down his chin, soaking his button-up shirt.
He finally chokes.
"Gyack!" Ash shouted out, and he shot up, starting to cough out the excess water down the edge of the hood. He hammered his chest, still feeling the half liter Daisy decided to haphazardly shove down his throat. He glares at her.
"What the heck was that for?" Ash grunted out, still feeling his throat burn. "I could have suffocated!"
Daisy did a nonchalant shrug, shaking her head all the while. "Oh, please. I was just making sure you were fully conscious. And that woke you up, didn't it? Didn't have to shake you awake or anything like that." She huffed, the smirk hiding nothing and saying everything.
Ash kept staring at her until his glare faded. He hopped off the hood with a sigh, then patted himself dry, reaching up to his soaked torso.
He returned to staring dryly at Daisy.
Daisy raised an eyebrow. "What? You'll be fine, it'll dry off in like an hour or two. It's not like we haven't already been seeing record high temperatures around the country already." She grinned. "Besides, aren't you glad you aren't still using those Winter uniforms? Can't imagine a gakuran being all that comfortable when wet and all."
Ash looked down. "…I mean. Still."
Daisy sighed. "Listen, if the teach is gonna give you an ear for the wet t-shirt, just tell them you tripped and fell in the bathroom. I wouldn't say it sounds unrealistic, either, considering the cover story we went with for your absences. You don't usually expect a formerly bedridden kid to get back in the spirit of things immediately, you'd still be too groggy to even sit up properly."
Rolling her eyes, she cracked open her phone for a moment to check the time. "But hey, it's still like a quarter to 8. You've got an hour to get settled into your class again, meet your friends before your first period and stuff, then get back to your usual routine. Simple enough, don't you think?"
Ash rolled his eyes, but didn't attempt to refute her statement.
She motioned for Rhydon to pull down the school bag they nestled on his forehead horn. "You put everything you need in here already? Any homework they wanted you to pass, then your textbooks and notebooks?"
Ash grunted out a yes.
"Papers, sharpeners, pencils? The works?" Daisy continued.
"Yeah, I've got everything I need. Mom already looked through everything I needed, then helped me print out the homework I needed back home yesterday. She even had the time to put in my lunchbox before you arrived to pick me up…" Ash scratched the back of his head.
Then Ash blinked. Something else came to mind, and it involved Gary.
He slowly turned his head to Daisy. "If you had the time to walk me to school, then what's Gary going to do? Don't you usually walk with him instead?"
Daisy chuckled under her breath, then motioned Ash to watch from the side of the alleyway. Blinking, he did what she asked him, moving over to the other end of the road from the car.
With a flourish, she slowly unfurled the bright silver tarp, revealing a ruby red convertible. The black soft-top was matte and sleek, the spoilers a sharp carbon steel black, and the body kit Ash was certain wasn't stock as well as all of the other unmentioned conversions confirmed to Ash that it was a passion project of a tuner.
All in all, the car looked very, very expensive…
Weren't the Oaks going through some financial trouble!?
Ash slowly glanced at Daisy.
She just grinned cheekily.
"Voila! The car Gary asked for his birthday a few months ago!" She glided her hands over the vehicle's contours, feeling the frame on her fingertips. Standing in front of the bumper, she hopped in place. "Doesn't she look beautiful? Just needs some cheerleaders or something to model for it."
Daisy whistled innocently, humming a tune. "It usually gets parked back home, but I left it out here after a long night with friends last Friday. Couldn't be bothered to drive back at the time."
The boxes full of Daisy's favorite chocolate milk brand in the back was probably the reason why, but Ash chose not to voice that particular concern.
"That doesn't sound particularly responsible…" Ash let a thought linger in his head for a moment, restraining the urge to groan. "…Wait a second, why'd you park it next to my school? Your house is just as far as away from the school as mine is, and I can't imagine your mom or the professor just letting you leave the car next to our elementary."
His eyes arched even further, pointing at her angrily. "Hey! You don't even have a driver license yet, do you?" His finger wobbled from the intensity of the point. "You're still 16, which means you're two years too young to get a driver's license. How'd you get away with hanging out with your friends when you shouldn't even be driving at this age?"
Daisy nonchalantly pointed at her chest. Her eyes wandered around for a moment until she realized the real question he was asking. "Oh, you mean why I parked it here. Honestly, I have no idea. Seemed like a good idea at the time."
She shrugged.
Ash's mouth opened, and closed. He furrowed his brow.
"That doesn't explain why you went out with friends without permission, Daisy." Ash asked.
Daisy raised an eyebrow. "Is that a real question?"
Ash stared even more, until he gave up. Barely resisting the urge to slump forward, he finally rolled his eyes in defeat. "…Okay, sure. Doesn't feel right, but sure."
Daisy winked at Ash, then gingerly returned Rhydon to his ball. She pulled out the keys to the car then unlocked it. After starting up the car, the engine roared to life.
Revving the convertible as the soft-top slowly assembled itself over her, a powerful growl made the otherwise picture-perfect young lady grin and squeal in excitement.
"Miss Froslass here will stick around in the shadows to watch over you. You know, like if the Spell Tag fails or something. I don't expect it to, but it never hurts to be too careful." She poked her head out of the car for a brief moment, pointing at Froslass, who acknowledged her presence with a brief nod.
"Just be sure to take care of yourself, alright, Ash? I'll pick up Gary back home, drive back, then you can have your long awaited reunion or whatever. Should be a fun school day." She began fiddling around with the controls and adjusted her seat for a moment, then nodded, satisfied.
Closing the door, Daisy gave Ash a peace sign before driving down the alleyway. The car slowly turned towards the direction of Daisy's home, speeding up the hill, and becoming just another flicker in the distance.
Ash sighed. He did some quick stretches, slung his backpack on, then walked round the road to his school.
As for the school itself, well…
Pallet Town Elementary School was an institution established during the mid-1950s to replace the former school building near the docks which had burned down years prior. Using an old administrative building once owned by the Shinsengumi and Tokugawa government, dating back to the early Bakumatsu era, the building was eventually furnished and cleaned up for modern use.
The lower levels were confirmed in recent history, however, to be full of Ghost-type Pokemon, especially around the restrooms. Make of that what you will.
In any case, Ash had the time to look around for a bit and notice the occasional Pokemon going in and out of the premises. Laws involving young Pokemon ownership basically went that children were allowed to handle pets at a young age as long as ownership officially went under their parents.
Bringing them to school on the other hand was a little hazier. But they usually went with a yes as long as they kept the Pokemon in their balls. If not, the children made sure they behaved and weren't a nuisance.
There's a lot to go over, but the Professor prepared the paperwork to ensure Froslass could remain to be their eyes and ears. Samuel for his part wrote her down as Ash's guardian, with approval from Delia Ketchum and Madam Agatha. If need be, she could always be retrieved using the Pokeball inside Ash's bag.
Froslass floated next to him, maintaining her invisibility with ease. She floated in and around walls, and occasionally brushed through some people just to see their reactions.
Getting into back into the feel of things was going to be rough, Ash was certain, but he had some ideas. It was about as standard an elementary school went, about as unremarkable as the few thousand more that the country had, but that didn't mean he wasn't trying.
He just had to wait for everyone else to slot in, then he'd be just fine sitting bored on his chair next to the window like always. His first period had a habit of only arriving around 5 minutes after time, so that much could be said. And boy, did it feel like the 10 minutes before their first period was forever.
He lazily waved hi to Marina, who waved back at him. Tierno read through his notes, and Gilbert was anxiously looking around for any wild critters crawling near him. He felt just a little bad about the last one. Just a little bit.
Ash leaned on his table, closing his eyes just to get some sleep in before the teacher dropped in.
Just a few moments later, the door got kicked open.
Ash lifted his head momentarily from his desk just to see Gary angrily stride in towards him. "Oh, hey Gary." Ash muttered, then hid his head under his arms again, feigning sleep once more.
Gary gaped at Ash, then pulled him by the hair. Ash didn't seem to care that much, though.
"What the heck happened to you, Ash? I kept hearing from the teachers that you got bedridden so sick, I almost thought you were gonna die or something!"
Ash gave Gary an uninterested stare. "I guess I'm not dead, but I feel like I could drop dead at any moment. Still feel like that, you know. I really feel like junk right now."
Gary rolled his eyes. "Yeah? Well, you could probably do with a few stretches or something during PE class tomorrow. But seriously, what the hell happened? I don't know what kind of flu does whatever the heck it did to you after summer break, but damn it sucks to see you like that."
Ash gave Gary a scathing glare. "Gary. It's a flu. They do that sometimes. I can't do much when a really bad one hits, you just gotta wait it out. Your sis was too busy gave me an earful over the last few weekends, if you're wondering why she left your house so often."
"…Really?" Gary blinked.
"Yeah, I guess. Might have hit a few really bad streaks of luck. I want to pretend the last 3 weeks were great for my free time, but I didn't really get to do much." Ash improvised smoothly.
Ash wasn't even kidding. Now that he was actually up and moving instead of being stuck in one of the laboratory bedrooms for several days, he had to smooth out the kinks on his body. He heard a few bones pop back into place when he was stretching near the alley, and he swears this was the stiffest neck he'd had, like, ever. Muscle atrophy was a real pain, that's for sure.
Just when he was going to continue elaborating, floating outside and near the window was Froslass. She gave Ash a thumbs up, and motioned for him to continue.
Her gaze turned towards his classmates, and immediately flushed away from the window after they rushed towards her when they noticed, just as she flew away.
Gary hummed, eyeing the intruder turn into a speck in the distance. He turned back to Ash.
"Okay, fine. I guess that makes a lot more sense now that I think about it. But I'm keeping an eye on you." He looked away, the ground being a more interesting shade of black that morning. "You're a dork, Ash, but you're my best friend. I talk big a lot, but I don't like seeing my friends get hurt."
Gary paused. "You take care of yourself…" With a quick pat on the back, he finally smiled.
After a moment to let Ash process all of that, he walked back to his seat near the front, leaving Ash alone.
Ash tilted his head, then shook it. He took a tumbler from his bag and took a slow, methodical sip.
Sighing, he stretched over his seat, looking over the rest of the class, who were all… slowly walking over to him.
He froze.
With Gary's last comment… Now everyone else's attention was suddenly on him. The flurry of questions, he really wasn't prepared to deal with this early in the morning, or ever for that matter…
Damn it, the headache he's had since that morning was getting…
"Ash, are you okay? It's almost been a month since you got hospitalized, right? Please tell me you're okay—"
"Where have you been!? It's felt like forever since you were gone—"
"Listen, if you wanna talk to somebody—"
"We're just really really happy you're back, okay—!?"
He was just going to tune all of this out. He was starting to get dizzy, anyway…
"I heard that your mom carried you all the way to the Professor's office the other week, dude, seriously! What the hell happened—"
"Hey Gary, your sis has been hanging out with your best friend a lot lately, right!? Dude, she totally rocks—!"
"Come on, Ash looks like he really doesn't wanna talk about it, don't just go and pressure him like this and that—!"
Tune it out… Just tune it all out…
Gary angrily stormed right back, pushing some of their rowdier classmates away from Ash's seat. "…Hey. Hey, step back, he just come back, can you all just give it a rest—!?"
"Yeah, he needs the space! Do you guys ever let up, come on—!"
Tune it all… out.
…
…
…
By the time the 12th person started talking, Ash was fast asleep, and irresponsive to any of their queries.
The sound of the frogs and crickets outside took the place of the rapid-fire questions and queries. Well, until everyone started groaning in disappointment after they realized.
"Jeez, he's really out like a light…" Tierno pushed through the crowd, poking at the side of Ash's face with a discarded pencil.
"Someone should really wipe the drool coming down his face…" Gilbert muttered, looking around wearily. Yellow blinked in realization, then gingerly pulled out a pack of tissues from her bag to dab at the side of his face.
The whole class muttered between themselves. Gary stared everyone else down, and did his best to keep anyone else with less than benevolent intentions at a distance. When he heard the sounds people to his right complain yap in pain, however, his eyes were drawn towards the conspicuous hole formed in the conga line.
Damian crawled in through the gap, took Ash in, and shook his head in disbelief. "…Really? Is he really that tired…?" He clicked his tongue. "Damn. I wanted to know how much of a dope he was if it was that easy for him to get sick from a little sunlight."
Damian pointed, his usual group following shortly after. "C'mon, guys, look at him!" The laugh that followed was as condescending as it was grating.
"Mr. Ono's gonna get real pissed with ya, sleepy head." His arm moved to ruffle Ash's scalp, but Gary slapped him in return. "Hey— ow!"
Yellow was about ready to set up check on Ash's vitals with her own personal medical kit, but shot a quick dirty look at Damian, shaking her head in disapproval. "Come on, Damian. You heard Gary, didn't you? Just leave him be, he's had a long month."
A few "Yeah!" s followed her voice, but Damian was undeterred. "Please. Like that matters when you're such a nerd like him. Didn't he yap about Champion Leon winning a championship battle winning a tournament battle when he was sick with the flu or something? Who the hell even cares about that? Nerd."
Marina sighed, tapping absentmindedly at her desk with a shrug. "…Come on, guys, give it a break. Even if he was awake, he probably wouldn't tell you anything substantial. He doesn't need to tell you a thing."
The sound of shuffling pulled everyone else's attention to the back of Ash's seat, where Tierno was ruffling through his personal details. Gary gave him a dry look, but didn't interfere.
"…Judging by the clear file here, he's actually done all his homework before you did, Damian." Tierno noted, pulling out the files in question out of Ash's bag with a cheeky grin. "If you're so confident about your standing, try explaining that to Mr. Ono instead, why don't you?"
Everyone clapped and muttered in agreement. Barely a moment later, someone else found the time to shovel through Damian's own pack and shouted aloud. "He's right, he hasn't done a darn thing! Haha!"
Damian's eyes widened in alarm.
"G-Gimme that back!" Damian pushed through the crowd to snatch the files away from the classmate, even as all eyes were suddenly on him.
Gary was about done with the whole thing, but seeing the crowd disperse slightly, took the opportunity to march closer to him, his eyes belying the sheer lack of interest he had with the other boy at that very moment.
"Damian. You've got the class all riled up again. Just give it up already." Gary warned, putting his arm on Damian's shoulder, an action that Damian responded with immediate revulsion, almost tripping on himself as a result.
The class rep slowly creeped up on Damian and snatched the sunglasses away from him, pushing the other boys away. The voice of frustration crawling up his throat was silenced the moment the rep's finger was raised. "And you shouldn't be wearing this in class either. Either let me hold on to this till the end of school today, or I'm tossing it in the lost and found section later. Your choice, Damian."
Damian bristled, and stomped out of the classroom in frustration. The remainder of his friends looked around in bewilderment, who followed after him like a bunch of lost ducklings.
Yellow blinked, and sighed, patting dry the wet spot Damian left behind from his water bottle with a dry rug.
The mutters slowly crawled to a halt, until the rep marched towards the front of the teacher's desk. He coughed into this fist, drawing everyone else's attention.
"Get back to your seats, everyone! Mr. Ono might drop by all of a sudden, and you know what happens if we aren't in our places when he does." The class rep took another glance at Ash before adding. "And try to make sure to wake up Ash a few minutes before the clock. Just not any earlier, he probably needs the sleep."
Everyone shouted in agreement, and the shuffle of feet and moving chairs filled the room until it finally stopped into pleasurable silence.
Watching them go, Gary huffed and gave Ash a playful flick to the head. "I'll catch you later." He walked back to his seat with a stride.
Yellow slowly followed after with a small smile, her gaze not leaving the sleeping boy until she finally sat down.
On the seat behind Ash, a pink-haired student who hadn't moved at all since arriving started giggling. Some of the other students gave her odd looks, but continued on as if she wasn't there.
After Froslass was done with her sweep of the campus for the morning, she melded through the walls to return to Ash, just in time to catch the girl at the peak of her laughter. Froslass tilted her head at the girl, and rolling her eyes, resolved to simply continue her vigil for the meantime.
The sunset was a ray of deep, orange light into the Pallet Town landscape, as the crowd of schoolchildren slowly dispersed from Pallet Town Elementary School. The smell of homecooked food penetrated the environment, as well as the playful voices of school children playing in the streets and parks around Pallet Town.
Ash rode home with Daisy and Gary, staring out into the rice fields as the farmers were about to finish their rounds for the day. Ash didn't really talk much on the way there, just that Daisy was already outside the gates and she waved over to him to join the two of them home.
Gary's face was unreadable. He didn't seem particularly chatty, only giving clipped responses to either his sister or Ash's queries. Though whether it was because of what he'd been doing for Ash that morning or the fact that Daisy's Rhydon was riding shotgun, Ash wasn't sure. But it did make the ride back more awkward than it had to be.
Rhydon was sipping on a soda, and gave everyone outside dirty looks. The fact that he could fit in the front seat at all was something no one else wanted to address, much less the people watching the car drive by.
Behind all of them, Froslass flew like a flag. As they passed by Samuel Oak and a few assistants arguing just beyond the laboratory gates, she gave a salute to the group in front of the car before she left, the car flying past the Professor's laboratory.
The drive back was mercifully short, at least. Daisy gave Ash a peace sign and shouted at Ash as she drove up the hill to the Oak residence.
"Good night, Ash, and see you next time!" She shouted. The lazy wave Gary gave from the backseat was something Ash was glad to see, at least.
Standing just outside his house, Ash waved goodbye to the red convertible as it turned into a tiny speck in the distance for the second time that day.
He sighed, and sighed even deeper the second time, looking over the distance still.
"That was better than I expected. Still kind of sucks though." Ash muttered, putting his hand to his lips as he breathed in. "I wonder what mom made for dinner…"
He shook his head, but blinked, turning his head around.
The sound of footsteps interrupted him.
"What sucks so much, dear?" Delia Ketchum's amused voice cut through, the door into the Ketchum household slightly ajar as she held out a casserole with some cooked macaroni. "And it's some macaroni. Come inside, you should talk about your little problem with him in person."
She chuckled, leaving the door open for the boy to waddle right in.
Ash blinked, jogging inside as he closed the gate, dropping the bag over the couch and hugging the man of the hour.
Then, the hours passed.
One moment he was hugging his father, then the next they were already on the table, animatedly talking about the past few weeks, messy as they were. He let his mother explain the medical issues he'd been facing the past month, and the Pokémon battle he fought the other day.
To prove her point, he left his body to sag like a sack of potatoes over the dinner table. The white fox on the table yipping was far too much for the Ketchum patriarch, and shortly after he started heaving on the kitchen sink. After sinking to his knees, leaning under the kitchen counter, a panicking Ash forcibly returned himself to his body in a panic, wagging his arms like a flapping chicken.
Ignoring him, Delia Ketchum pushed her husband down, wiping the foam dripping out of his mouth with a cloth, and started performing CPR on him with tired, practiced ease.
After his father finally recovered a few minutes later, a haunted look was clear on his face that slowly morphed into embarrassment. Delia started nagging after Ash for recklessly endangering his father. Ash didn't blame her.
When the time finally went past 7, Mr. Ketchum excused himself and went up the stairs to go get some rest. Ash was still busy eating his fifth plate, given it being his first real meal since regaining full access to his body, and didn't notice his father leaving the dining table. He did notice something else, however.
A flash of yellow dashing through the hallway catches Ash's eye. He started tracking a small critter waving at him by the living room, a cheeky grin on its face to his incredulous gaze, before it continued running.
"What the heck…" Ash began, staring back at the hallway as if it was holding hostage an eldritch entity that would warp his soul from the inside out.
"What was that, Ash?" Delia asked, as she carried the plates over to the sink to… wash the dishes? Huh? Now that he thought about it…
"Wait, where's dad?" Ash asked, rapidly turning his head around the room. Shortly after he blinked, slowly turning his head at his mother, a blush growing on his face after realizing he asked that out loud.
Delia rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Oh, Ash… Don't worry, your father's doing just fine after your stunt earlier, though he's probably sound asleep by now. He left a little after he was done eating, you know."
She chuckled nervously. "Can't blame him for being weirded out by you turning into a Pokemon during his vacation and all that, but now he knows. That's the important part. You shouldn't talk to him whenever you're having another of your out-of-body moments, but he'll get used to it."
"He… Honestly didn't seemed as bothered about the whole ordeal, but when you brought that part up during your stunt…" She paused, looking up the ceiling innocently. "I honestly hadn't seen him that pale since I told him about the time, I was pregnant with you almost ten years ago… Oh, how time flies by."
Ash turned green. Delia gave him an apologetic grin.
Ash shook his head, then blinked, looking around the kitchen. "What do you think dad's doing right now?"
"Oh, he went up to the toilet. Said that he'd go to sleep a little after that. You know how it is with him. Overworking's in his blood." Delia sighed. "I always told him to take it easy, but he never learns…"
Delia shook her head, sighing even more deeply as the day slowly drew to a close.
After she was done, Delia closed the curtains, walked around the room to lock all the doors and windows. Sighing to herself, she locked gazes with Ash straight in the eye as she slowly walked back.
He looked away.
"How was school?" Delia asked. "Like really."
"It was okay."
"Hmm…" Delia hummed, putting the last dish and glass into the respective dish rack. "Haven't gotten into trouble?"
"Nope."
"Is that right?" Delia repeated monotonously. She pulled a chair from the dining table and sat on it, leaning closer to Ash. Her expression was unreadable.
Ash was silent for a moment, taking her in. After a while, he sighed, holding an arm closer to himself.
"You know how Gary's been bullying me for a while now?" Ash began. His gaze slowly met hers again.
Delia clicked her tongue. "Oh yeah, I've heard all about that. I really hope he outgrows that sooner than later…"
Ash slowly nodded. "He just says it's hard love and all that, but I didn't think any of that meant anything until something happened this morning."
He looked out the window.
"When I walked into class, Gary started stomping over to me like I did something really bad. He told me he didn't like seeing me hurt, then. Any of his friends, really." Ash's face was a complex mix of emotions as he continued. "Told me to take care, or something…"
He sulked, sighing deeper as he felt his mother's arms hold him close.
He gave a token amount of resistance, but didn't truly force her to move away. As his resistance slowly let up, he inched up his own arms over to her shoulders in embrace.
Delia's gaze softened as she looked at him closer.
"Tierno told me after our first period that Gary did his best to keep the rest of the bullies at bay while I was asleep. It's not that I'm surprised that he said all of that, it's just…" Ash shrugged, unsure what else to say.
"Go on." Delia urged.
Ash looked up again, then sighed, the break in his voice creaking through. "I didn't expect him to actually care…"
The boy's grip tightened and trembled as he buried himself closer to his mother's chest. His tears soaking into her chest, she gently stroked the back of his head with a weary smile.
"Oh, Ash…" Delia muttered. "It's alright. I'm right here."
Another sigh. Another sob.
Delia Ketchum continued to hold him close, letting him weep until he simply didn't have any tears left to cry anymore.
The moon rose ominously above the horizon, piercing through the evening summer rains like light through a curtain.
Ash slowly turned his doorknob, feeling the urge to jump on his bed at every waking moment, but hesitated. He knew a certain someone was waiting for him.
After holding in a breath, Ash finally turned the knob and walked inside. The room was exactly how he'd left it that morning, the rush to dress himself up as Daisy pulled his drawers and shorts up like he was still a little kid rubbed Ash the wrong way and was probably going to be a memory he would never forget anytime soon.
Now that he thought about it, the fact that he didn't just use the Badge up here and walk himself to school was something that none of them really thought about. But ah well, mistakes were made.
Ash breathed in, and dropping his bag over the bed, himself following shortly after. The squeak of a mouse squeezing through the cabinet followed.
Pichu crawled up over his torso, just close enough that he could see him from the corner of his eye. The yellow mouse raised a brow.
Ash reciprocated, slowly turning his head down to look at Pichu.
"I had a feeling you were up here." Ash noted. He picked Pichu up, and raising his torso up, placed him on the side of the bed. Looking around, after flicking the lights open, he could distinctly tell how much cleaner the place was. Several files were more organized, and all the expired coupons he forgot to use neatly tucked away over the trash can.
His hat was perched over a coat hanger, the winter coat he quite frankly forgot to put away for a quarter of a year finally hanging loosely on the open closet, and his other personal effects on the table. There were a few other
Although imperfect, he had a gut feeling the patchwork handprints here and there over the dust and grime left exactly one possible culprit for everything that's happened in there.
"Why'd you clean up my room?" Ash asked, an eyebrow raised.
Pichu shrugged. 'I wanted to.' Ash could surmise from the carefree gesture alone.
Ash hummed. "Okay… I guess that's fair." Or something.
Another moment passed. Ash looked at the remote controller next to his television screen, and almost moved to get it until deciding against it. Instead, he turned his gaze back to Pichu.
"How about… Why are you here?" Ash furrowed his brow at Pichu's sordid look, for reasons he didn't really know about. "Something up?"
Pichu sighed.
With a quick gesture, Pichu pulled out a cardboard cutout badge from out of nowhere. It had a design that was…
Wait.
Ash picked up the badge, looking it over as he tilted his head. "That's a surprisingly accurate drawing… Did you want to tell me something about my Substitute Ghost-type Badge?"
Pichu nodded furiously, a frown on his face. Jumping up and snatching the cardboard cutout, he pointed at it a few more times, then motioned a sucking in motion with his mouth.
"WHOOOOSH." The surprisingly accurate sound of a breeze echoed through Pichu's lips, as he somehow waved his entire body as if he was being sucked in by a black hole. Then, repeating himself a few times, slammed his fist against his chest.
Ash blinked.
Then he sighed.
He pulled out the badge in question from his pocket, and closed his eyes.
Without a word, a gust of energy enveloped Ash as his soul was flushed out of his body, the fox-boy looking himself over nonchalantly as his body suddenly flopped over the bed, a pillow that leaned against the railing falling then covering his face shortly after.
Resisting the urge to smirk, Ash turned to Pichu.
"Well, here I am. What did you want to say?" Ash asked.
Pichu raised an eyebrow. "Not much. How was school?"
Ash blinked. "Huh?"
"Well yeah, doofus, how was school?" Pichu asserted, flopping his fluffy butt over the bed as he crossed his legs over the mattress.
After another moment, Ash began. "It was okay. Felt weird to be on my own two feet again, but I guess I managed alright."
Pichu hummed. "I sure hope so."
Merciful silence passed for a short while. Ash's tail wagged every now and again, his eyes wandering the room.
"Cleaning up your room took a while." Pichu began.
"Was trying to figure out a way to sneak inside before your mom noticed. When I learned that she spends most of her day in that restaurant of hers, I just crawled in." Pichu sighed. "Nice girl, your mom."
An indescribable look of pain flashed on his face, but disappeared just as quickly.
Ash didn't notice.
"Mm hmm…" Ash responded.
A moment passed. The tension flew in like a breeze from the window, and disappeared just as quickly.
Or maybe it was that creepy pink smear he kept seeing sometimes, Ash didn't really know or care.
Pichu sighed. He finally stood up and stretched, looking out the window.
"I visited my parents at the forest nearby. Told them I wanted something new with my life, so I let a trainer catch me." Sulking, Pichu kicked a leftover coin on the bed, ricocheting on the wall and falling on the floor.
The Zorua stared wide-eyed, turning his gaze towards Pichu. "W-Wait, huh? I thought the Professor was going to release you after a while. You already did your part in his research project, right?"
Pichu smirked, then winked an eye. "That's only half of the story. I came back to you specifically when I realized a dumb kid like you needed an older kid to look up to. Don't think I could ever go back, is all."
"An older kid to… Huh." Ash leaned against the cushioning, lost in thought. "Huh."
Another moment passed. The evening breeze picked up once again, the curtains fluttering about.
"I never really thought about it, but you guys don't really get many opportunities to say goodbye to family, right?" Ash started. "Must've been quite a shock from your parents that you even bothered."
To that, Pichu snorted.
"Oh yeah. The standard was and still is for a challenger Pokemon to get used to their new accommodations as soon as possible. Getting to say goodbye to old friends and family doesn't come up often." Pichu sighed, finally sitting down.
"…But it still does happen." Ash tilted his head.
Pichu shrugged. "Old man Linoone told all sorts of crazy stories about his time in the tournament circuit. Said his mom and dad couldn't believe the big scary Linoone was their precious little boy when he came back – since they never evolved – now a 'trained killer' smacking his belly whenever they were hunting for prey or what have you." Pichu chuckled.
Some more time passed.
Ash yawned, and Pichu yawned just after. They laugh together.
Pichu thought about what else to say again, as he shook his head in a silent beat.
After some soul searching, Pichu finally found it.
"You ever wonder why trainers get jumped by wild Pokemon so often? Especially the kids… Well, the dirty little secret is that we just like fighting as much as you guys do." Pichu continued, frowning. "Anytime a kid 'whites out' or whatever, everyone else in the Route keep watch to make sure he doesn't get hurt, keep the challenger in check. Or at least that's how it worked back home."
Humming a tune to himself, Pichu finally turned around. The moonlight covered him from head to toe, leaving behind a shadow that Ash could just barely make out the details of. But Ash could still see the smile on his face.
"There's a lot of glory to be found in Pokemon battling… And there will always be a lot of heartache. Mom and dad weren't sure what to tell me when I told them I was leaving for good, but they hugged me all the same." Pichu asserted.
A smile slowly returned to his face.
"But everyone has to grow up some day, and I knew my ticket to ride was ready to go when I first met you."
Ash looked at Pichu, tilting his head. Slowly, realization struck, and he understood what Pichu was asking for right there and there.
"Wait, you're telling me…" Ash began, practically gobsmacked. "B-But we barely met each other the other day, why are you…"
Pichu's smirk grew larger. "Like I told you before, I felt like it. Now come on—"
Pichu offered his hand, holding it out wide open.
"How about it, partner?"
Ash slowly stood up, looking Pichu over, over and over again, to make sure it wasn't some cosmic joke. But it was real.
A wide, mirthful grin crossed his face.
And Ash finally took his hand.
Yes, that was in fact Yellow Poke Adventures. Wanted some background characters to pad things out over the story. She'll definitely be one of them, though, if you were wondering about that.
Some more revisions can be expected over the next few weeks. I just wanted as many plot threads cleaned up now to prep for episode 1 proper by the next chapter.