Essence

by vincentgrey21

Ash has always wanted to be a pokemon master. When the time comes for him to pick out his first pokemon, he shocks Professor Oak with a peculiar request. One thing leads to another, and he ends up with a loyal Growlithe. How will this unique situation affect the boy's destiny?

20. Kanto 20

Kanto 20: Essence

"Ugh, Ash, you should have told me you were coming home," chided Delia as she used a pair of cooking chopsticks to dip a piece of sliced eggplant into some tempura batter, "I would have picked up something special for dinner, especially since you've brought home such an important guest."

"I know…" muttered Ash guiltily, hanging his head as he sat at the small, white, wooden table that was positioned adjacent to the Ketchum residence's average-sized, rural kitchen, "I'm sorry, Mom."

Lying comfortably on the wooden floor by Ash's feet, Growlithe looked back and forth between his trainer and Delia, carefully observing their interaction.

"Please don't think of me as a guest, Mrs. Ketchum," said Bill with a pleasant smile before taking a sip of the red wine that she had poured into a stemmed glass for him, "your son has become a dear friend of mine. I don't require any special treatment."

"Oh, goodness," answered Delia, bashfully waving the pokemon researcher off, "to think that someone as famous as you happens to be such a humble man."

"Psht…humble?" queried Ash, lifting his head and raising an eyebrow, "just wait until you get to know him, Mom."

"Ash!" scoffed Delia as she reflexively covered her mouth with her dainty hand, "I didn't raise you to talk like that. Mr. Montgomery has said nothing but kind things about you. You should speak more respectfully about him."

A smirk formed on Bill's face as he lifted both of his hands slightly and shrugged, "you know…I wouldn't hate it if you took your beautiful mother's advice and treated me a little nicer, my friend."

Narrowing his eyes, Ash glared at Bill while Delia gleefully hummed in the kitchen in response to the billionaire's compliment.

Bill met Ash's gaze with a playful smile before turning his attention towards the boy's mother, "Mrs. Ketchum, the tempura smells delightful. Ash always talks about how great of a cook you are. I can't wait to finally have a taste."

An elated grin spread across her youthful face as she fried the batter coated vegetables in a nonstick frying pan, "oh, please, Mr. Montgomery, call me Delia. I hope it's good. I'm sure you're used to eating delicacies that are way beyond anything that I can scrounge together on such short notice."

"I will only call you Delia if you call me Bill, and I would argue that there isn't a five-star restaurant in the world that can rival a home-cooked meal by a loving mother," replied Bill prior to taking a sip of his wine, "my favorite dishes are cooked by my mum. There's just something different about them."

"Awww, that's so sweet, Bill," crooned Delia as she used her cooking chopsticks to remove some of the vegetables from the frying pan before placing them on a large, fancy serving plate, "your mother must be so proud of the man that you have grown up to be."

Ash sighed and rolled his eyes at the same time.

He's really trying to butter her up.

"I sure hope so," answered Bill with soft eyes, "at this point in my life, there are very few people whose opinions about me truly affect how I feel about myself. My mother and father are certainly two of them, and so is your son."

A brief look of astonishment crossed Delia's face before she pleasantly smiled while pouring the tentsuyu sauce that she had whipped up earlier into two small dishes.

Despite the fact that Ash enjoyed giving Bill a hard time, he couldn't help but smile and shake his head in response to his mother's reaction to the pokemon researcher's words. Their friendship had become so natural that sometimes he forgot how absurd it actually was.

Delia quietly turned off one of the burners on the old gas stove that she had been using before picking up the serving plate with one hand and carefully grasping the two small dishes containing the soy-based sauce with her other hand.

"You know, when Ash first told me that you had become a good friend of his, I thought he was pulling my leg," said the young mother as she placed the tempura in the center of the table and set a tentsuyu dipping sauce in front of both Ash and Bill before making her way back over to the kitchen to grab a few plates out of the cypress cabinet and a couple of pairs of chopsticks out of one of the kitchen drawers, "but when I realized that he was telling the truth, I was floored. Ash told me that when the two of you met at your lighthouse, you removed his carry limit, and that he frequently spoke to you using the xtransceiver that you gave him, but I had no idea that the two of you were traveling together…"

"That's cause this is a new thing. Bill just started traveling with—"

Delia's eyes jerked in Ash's direction as she placed one of the plates on the table in front of Bill.

He gulped.

Uh-oh.

Here it comes…

She made her way over to him without breaking eye-contact, "young man, when was the last time you told me any significant details about your journey?"

"M-Mom, I t-told you…" stammered Ash, jolting when she roughly set the plate down in front of him, "I-I'm sorry that I h-haven't called in a couple of w-weeks. I d-don't know what I w-was thinking."

Ash felt Growlithe quiver by his feet while he quietly whined.

"You at the very least weren't thinking about me," scolded Delia with a glare as she folded her arms with dissatisfaction, "I've been worried sick."

The canine anxiously looked back and forth between Ash and Delia. It was evident that the tension between mother and son was making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Delia shifted her attention to the pup as she softened her expression, "Growlithe, honey, I'd like you to go over to Bill's side of the table for a moment while I speak with my son."

Growlithe looked up at Ash with hesitant eyes.

"Y-You should listen to her, b-buddy."

Adhering to his trainer's suggestion, the pup lifted himself up off of the ground before trotting over to Bill with his tail between his legs.

Bill's eyes awkwardly strayed from side to side as he sensed what was coming, "maybe Growlithe and I should step out for a second."

"That won't do," said Delia, turning around and facing Bill and Growlithe with an eerie smile, "I need both of you to hear what I have to say so that you can hold Ash accountable."

"Um…if you say so, Delia," replied Bill while taking a deep breath.

Growlithe nervously sat up on his haunches.

After moving her hands onto her hips, she glared at Ash for what felt like forever, causing him to avert his eyes while he steadily shriveled into his chair. When he eventually glanced back up at her to gauge whether the uncomfortable situation would end anytime soon, she abruptly grabbed ahold of his wrist.

"Yes, it's inexcusable that you haven't stayed in touch at all over the past two weeks when you have the means to call me anytime you want," admonished Delia as she angrily stared at his xtransceiver, "but, honestly, this has been going on for months."

"M-months?" sputtered Ash confusedly.

She curtly nodded, "other than your health, hygiene and general location, you've shared next to nothing with me about your journey ever since that h-horrible incident with the SS. Anne."

Ash guiltily lowered his head as his mother let go of his wrist. Due to the fact that it was intentional, the dark-haired boy was well aware of the fact that he had kept his mother in the dark. From the moment that their phone call had ended back in Lavender Town after the SS. Anne went down, he knew that he couldn't tell his mom everything.

At the time, the pain in her voice was so apparent that it had rattled him to his very core, and all she knew was that he was on the ship.

How would she react if she actually knew how involved he was with what happened on the SS. Anne?

What would she do if she knew everything that he had been up to since?

There was no way he could tell her.

She'd never let me leave the house again.

He looked up at her with a sorrowful expression, "I'm sorry, Mom."

He didn't know what else to say…

Ash understood that he had hurt her, but what killed him was that he couldn't do anything about it. His destiny was heavy, and there was no escaping it.

Without a shred of a doubt, when it came to his mother, transparency would bring nothing but anguish…

Delia's line of sight wandered down to her son's trainer belt, "the last time you told me about your pokemon was when you captured a squirtle. I believe he was your sixth. It looks like you've caught quite a few more since then…"

S-Squirtle…?

There's no way…

Has it really been that long since I talked to her about my pokemon?

Regardless of what he'd been through, there was no excuse for that.

"I have twelve now," said Ash with a strange combination of pride and shame evident in his tone of voice, "I can't believe we haven't talked about any of them."

"Neither can I," answered Delia with a frown before glancing over at Growlithe, who was watching them alongside Bill with a distressed expression, "after you've eaten, and we're done having this conversation, I would like you to introduce me to all of them."

"O-of course!" blurted Ash with an awkward smile on his face, "they would love to meet you!"

Her eyes narrowed, "don't get overexcited, young man. You're not out of the woods yet."

Once again, he gulped.

"Is the reason that you have been so vague during our calls over the past few months because of how I reacted to what happened with the SS. Anne?" questioned Delia, furrowing her thin brow, "if so, I don't think that's fair. How else was I supposed to react? You could have di—"

She choked up and tears began to well up in her eyes.

He took a deep breath in order to gain some semblance of composure.

"Y-you c-could have d-died, A-Ash!" cried Delia, bringing her hand up to her forehead, "th-that's not an ov-overreaction, i-it's a fact! M-more reports have come out s-since it happened! P-people d-died! A k-kid your a-age d-died!"

Chance Chapman.

"Mo—"

"Th-there's a mother o-out th-there that lost h-her t-ten-y-year old s-son!"

"Mom."

"H-he was a r-rookie trainer j-just like y-you!"

"Mom, it's—"

"Oh, god, that could have been y-you!"

"Mom, it's o—"

"I-I c-could have been th-that m-mother!"

He lunged forward and hugged her as tight as he could.

"Mom, it's okay…" comforted Ash as he felt his stomach drop, "I'm right here. I didn't die."

She sobbed.

"I'm not going to d-die," said Ash as his voice trembled, "it was a freak accident. Nothing is going to happen to me. I'll be okay. I promise."

As she continued to cry in his arms, he glanced over at Bill and Growlithe with solemn, guilt-filled eyes.

Bill's face was shielded by the back of his forearms as he pushed his elbows against the table and pressed his forehead into the heels of his palms.

Growlithe's ears were down as he whined.

"H-how could y-you possibly kn-know that!?" stammered Delia in-between her wailing, "an accident c-can happen to anyone a-at anytime even when y-you're not thrusting yourself into d-dangerous situations on a d-daily basis! B-by a-all means, getting on that sh-ship should have been one of the s-safest things that you've d-done on your j-journey w-with all of the security and competent people aboard, b-b-but look what happened!"

Ash did his best to ignore the knot in the back of his throat as he answered as calmly as possible, "you're right. Accidents can happen to anyone, but once you get to know all of my pokemon, you'll understand why I know I'll be okay."

Delia pulled away just a bit so that she could look him in the eye.

Her modest makeup was smeared.

Her eyes were red and puffy.

And tears had dampened the collar of her light pink blouse.

"But even if—"

"Don't take my word for it," said Ash as he forced a smile, "take theirs."

He carefully wiped away her tears as he mustered up the most confident expression that he could.

"I'm sorry for worrying you so much. Let's go outside so that you can meet all of my friends. We can finish our conversation afterwards."

"O-okay, honey," muttered Delia, "b-but what about your d-dinner?"

Ash gently let go of his mother as he stood up from his chair.

"It shouldn't take long. We can eat afterwards, right, Bill?"

At some point during the emotional interaction, Bill had started to stuff his face with tempura.

"U-um…s-sure," replied the pokemon researcher with a mouth full of food and tears in his eyes.

Ash sighed.

He couldn't tell his mother everything that had happened so far, and he couldn't tell her what was to come.

He couldn't articulate how his journey had changed him, and he couldn't express to her who he'd found out that he always was.

He couldn't promise that he'd steer clear of danger, and he couldn't explain to her that his destiny was outside of his control.

All he could do was introduce her to his friends, and hope that it was enough to diminish at least some of her fear.

XXX

The sun had long set.

Ash felt a sense of nostalgia as he smelled the pleasant scent of the sprawling pond at the base of the large, grassy hill behind his house. The surrounding area was only slightly illuminated by the bright stars in the evening sky that reflected upon the water's surface and the light from some of Pallet's other rural homes that could be seen in the distance. The pond was a place that he often leisurely walked to with his mother when he was little and skipped stones across with his best friend Gary. It was special — a place that brought to mind an abundance of priceless memories.

It's only been four and a half months, but it feels like it's been forever…

"What a brilliant piece of scenery," said Bill as he reached down and picked up a tiny stone by the edge of the water.

Carefully keeping enough distance between himself and the pond's shoreline, Growlithe sniffed around in an excited manner. Despite his elemental aversion to water, it was clear that the pup was still enjoying himself.

"There's a reason why people settle in Pallet," said Delia with a soft smile, "the quietness is good for the soul, and there are plenty of pretty spots like this all over town."

After nodding in agreement with his mom, Ash listened to the sound of Bill's stone skipping across the surface of the water a handful of times before he unclipped Clefairy and Pidgeot's pokeballs from his trainer belt. He casually lofted both of the capture-devices in the air, making sure to toss his flying-type's a little further away in order to ensure that he had had plenty of space to stretch his wings. When the shimmering white light from the two releases dispersed, Pidgeot let out his usual loud, obnoxious squawk while Clefairy's ears twitched as she carefully observed her surroundings.

Glaring at Pidgeot with a stern expression, Ash brought his pointer finger up to his lips, "shhhhhh!!! Not so loud. I told you earlier when we landed. We're going to be in town for a bit."

The avian responded by letting out a curt squawk before his line of sight suddenly shifted in the direction of Delia. He tilted his head in a curious manner, displaying interest in the brunette woman that stood before him.

In concurrence, a look of realization struck Clefairy's countenance before she gracefully skipped in the direction of Ash's mother. With recognition and respect evident in her wide, burnished eyes, the fairy pokemon lowered her head and curtsied.

"Oh my goodness!" squealed Delia as she reflexively picked Clefairy up with two hands, "you're even more adorable than I imagined!"

For a brief moment, Clefairy appeared to be startled by her forwardness, but it didn't take long for the fairy to get comfortable as Delia embraced her with care and gently ran her fingers through the curl on top of her head.

"The big, rude one is Pidgeot," said Ash, gesturing towards the large avian, "and the one you're holding is Clefairy."

Pidgeot squawked in a way that conveyed his annoyance in regard to the way that Ash had introduced him, whereas Clefairy emitted a soulful murmur while being pampered.

"Pidgeot, Clefairy — this is my mom."

Pidgeot's eyes widened, showing what Ash perceived as a sliver of veneration before he took a couple of steps forward.

Clefairy continued to coo on account of Delia's affection as Ash placed both of their shrunken capture-devices back in their designated slots before detaching three more pokeballs from his belt.

"It's nice to meet the two of you," said Delia, smiling as she slightly raised Clefairy so that she could look her in the eye, "I'm going to put you down for a second, Clefairy. I'd like to greet Pidgeot properly."

Clefairy showed Delia a slight frown and let out a disappointed groan as she was slowly lowered to the ground.

"Oh, don't act like that, sweetheart," crooned Delia, "I promise to give you plenty of attention later."

A broad smile spread across Clefairy's face, and her eyes drifted over to Ash, before she let out a resonating murmur.

"I knew you'd like her," said Ash, reciprocating his fairy-type's amiable grin.

Clefairy nodded emphatically.

"Wow…" said Delia in an elongated manner as she looked up at Pidgeot, "you're magnificent. Ash wasn't exaggerating when he said you were big."

In reaction to her compliment, the avian puffed out his chest with pride.

Delia giggled as she reached up to touch Pidgeot's plumage.

"Mom, he's not always the friendli—"

To Ash's surprise, Pidgeot lowered his head, allowing Delia to stroke some of the feathers on his neck.

The young trainer couldn't help but smile.

He must really like her.

"This is the first time he's ever acted like this while meeting someone," explained Ash, walking a little closer to his mom and Pidgeot.

"Well, I am your mother," replied Delia, turning her head towards her son as Pidgeot trilled, "I'm sure the resemblance makes him feel more comfortable."

"Yeah…you're probably right," said Ash, scratching the back of his head.

Growlithe and Clefairy watched in disbelief as their teammate acted in a way that conflicted with his typically crude personality.

"Bloody hell, Delia…" drawled Bill with admiration in his eyes, "you have a king wrapped around your finger."

"A king?" queried Delia, looking back at the wavy-haired billionaire while Pidgeot cheerfully chirped.

"Don't worry about it, Mom," said Ash, beaming at the sight of his avian basking in the endearing attention that his mother was giving him.

"Okay," replied Delia gleefully, without a care in the world, as Pidgeot lowered himself even more so that she could pet the feathery crest on top of his head, "you have such beautiful feathers. I could do this all day."

Pidgeot warbled, vocalizing his excitement.

I shouldn't be surprised. This is just how she is…

After watching Pidgeot and his mother pleasantly interact for a few more minutes, the dark-haired boy tossed the three pokeballs that he had just removed from his belt into the air. They snapped open right before they hit the ground, revealing an effluence of brilliant white light. When the explosive array faded, Ivysaur, Charmeleon and Blastoise stood curiously on the shore of the pond.

Ivysaur's red eyes were instantly drawn to Delia as she diverted her attention away from Pidgeot in order to acknowledge the elemental trio's release. The saurian started to make his way over to her, recognizing right away who she was.

Charmeleon glanced back and forth between the brunette and the body of water next to them before taking a couple of steps away from the edge of the pond.

Blastoise stoically examined Delia. Despite his undemonstrative disposition, Ash could tell that his mother had piqued his recently evolved friend's interest.

"Ivysaur, Charmeleon, Blastoise — we're in Pallet," explained Ash before using his hand to gesture in the direction of Delia, "I'd like to introduce the three of you to my mother."

Charmeleon's expression lit up.

Blastoise's eyes subtly flickered.

Having already approached Delia while portraying an affable demeanor, Ivysaur let out a welcoming grunt.

"Hello, Ivysaur," said Delia, smiling as she crouched down and caressed the saurian's pink bud.

"Your bud is gorgeous, and it smells so good. It's beginning to bloom. It won't be long before you evolve into a venusaur."

Her perception when it comes to pokemon is as impressive as ever.

Ivysaur divulged a low, delighted grunt as Delia looked up at Ash.

"I still can't believe you managed to catch all three members of Kanto's elemental trio," said Delia, "Considering how rare they are in the wild, I figured they were off the table for you when you set off with Growlithe."

"So did I," replied Ash with a smirk.

After mirroring Ash's sly smile, his mother surveyed Charmeleon and Blastoise as she continued to stroke Ivysaur's bud.

The fire lizard began to saunter over to Delia and Ivysaur while Blastoise remained still with his eyes glued to the woman that gave birth to his trainer.

"I can tell that the three of you have been taking your training seriously," she said, "you've all evolved in such a short amount of time."

She momentarily focused her eyes on Ash's seldomly expressive water-type, "if I had to guess, you evolved into a blastoise recently."

Without making a sound, Blastoise slightly nodded as Charmeleon held one of his claws out in front of Delia with a friendly grin on his reptilian face.

Delia stood up before shaking Charmeleon's outstretched claw, "it's a pleasure to meet you, buddy. I heard you were in rough shape when Ash came across you. There's no way to tell now, though. You look great."

She glanced down to take a look at the tip of his tail, "your tail flame is healthy and spirited. The fire inside of you must be strong."

Charmeleon's toothy grin widened as he gently pulled his claw away from Delia before raising both of his arms above his head and flexing his biceps.

After bringing his hand up to his forehead, Ash quietly laughed while shaking his head.

At least he's consistent.

Delia lightly chuckled in response to Charmeleon's goofy demonstration before making her way over to where Blastoise stood motionlessly by the pond's shoreline.

"Back when he first caught you, Ash told me you were a bit detached from your emotions…"

While remaining still, the fully evolved turtle pokemon gazed at her as she approached.

"Something tells me you've come out of your shell quite a bit, though," crooned Delia as she reached out and stroked the top of his shell, "you may be quiet, but I don't sense any of the coldness that my son referred to back then. You've grown in more than just size, haven't you?"

Blastoise's facial expression remained the same, but his brown eyes glimmered.

"I see where Ash's affinity with pokemon comes from," stated Bill after skipping another stone across the surface of the pond, "you're a natural, Delia."

"Ahh thanks, Bill," replied Delia, blushing while she took her hand off of Blastoise's shell.

"I'm surprised that you were able to tell that Ivysaur is close to evolving," added Bill with a sincere expression, "and I'm bloody stunned that you picked up on the fact that Blastoise just evolved. You're spot on. It happened yesterday during Ash's battle against Blaine."

The redness in her cheeks brightened even more in reaction to Bill's compliments before something else that he said grabbed ahold of her interest.

"Blaine…" muttered Delia, placing her hand on her chin before shifting her attention over to Ash, "so you went to Cinnabar after Fuchsia…?"

Ash nodded while he bent over to scratch behind Growlithe's ear and run his fingers through Clefairy's curl, "yeah, we were there for about a week and a half. It took some time to solve Blaine's riddles, and we had to train quite a bit before we were ready for the gym battle."

Of course, that wasn't all that happened while he was traveling through the southern islands…

The articuno.

The egg.

The abomination fetuses in the Pokemon Mansion.

The battle at the Cinnabar Lab.

Kent.

Andrew.

JR.

Archer.

Dr. Fuji.

And his other self.

There was no way he could tell her about any of it.

…At least not anytime soon.

Maybe one day.

"Well, since there's no way you would have left Cinnabar without it, I'm assuming you got your sixth badge."

"I did," replied Ash with a widened smile as he gently patted Growlithe and Clefairy's heads before standing back up, "all that's left is Brock and Giovanni."

"Ahhhh, that's incredible!" cheered Delia, giving her son a big hug, "I'm so happy for you! You're going to have to tell me all about what your plan is going forward after I'm done meeting the rest of your pokemon!"

"No problem," said Ash with a nod, despite the fact that he wasn't entirely sure yet.

He quietly sighed.

I have a lot to sort out…

"Let's keep going, honey," urged Delia, twiddling her fingers with a look of anticipation, "as upset as I am that you haven't kept me in the loop, the fact that I don't know what's coming next is exhilarating."

With a massive grin on her face, she looked over at Growlithe and the other five pokemon that she had just met, "I'm already absolutely in love with these six, I can't wait to meet the rest of them!"

"I'm excited for you to meet them, too, Mom," replied Ash, smiling from ear to ear as he clipped Ivysaur, Charmeleon and Blastoise's empty pokeballs back into their designated slots before detaching a great ball and a pokeball from his belt.

He'd never seen his mom interact with a ghost pokemon before.

This should be interesting…

While grasping Eevee's pokeball in his left hand, Ash lofted Haunter's great ball out in front of himself. It clicked open right away, unleashing a burst of radiant, incandescent light. When the energy subsided, there was nothing.

Delia looked around in confusion.

Ash sighed.

He just can't help himself…

"No funny business, Haunter. This is my mother," warned Ash the moment he noticed that his ghost-type wasn't in his corporeal form, "be polite and introduce yourself."

As soon as Ash finished his sentence, the apparition phased into corporeality, appearing directly in-between the boy and his mother. Since Haunter's back was facing him, the young trainer couldn't see his facial expression, but he could tell by the way his mom kindly smiled that his ghoulish friend had presented himself appropriately.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a ghost pokemon. It's nice to meet you, Haunter," said Delia, examining the ghoul before holding out her hand, "I'm assuming you're a bit of a prankster, but I don't see the harm in that as long as you're loyal to my son."

While letting out a friendly guffaw, Haunter used both of his disembodied hands to gently shake Delia's hand. After he let go, he cheerfully bobbed his body up and down a handful of times before floating the short-distance over to Ash's side.

"I'd be lying if I said that he doesn't like to joke around, but his heart's always in the right place. Haunter's as loyal as they come. I trust him with my life."

In reaction to Ash's words, Haunter turned to his trainer and divulged a grunt that conveyed emotional tenderness before affectionately patting him on the back with one of his shadowy claws.

"There aren't many ghost pokemon that have the kind of depth that Haunter has when it comes to personality," said Bill, placing a hand on Ash's shoulder, "He's a bloody gem."

Appreciating the compliment, the ghoul turned to face Bill before flattening one of his disembodied hands and holding it out in front of the pokemon researcher.

Bill's demeanor lit up as he reached out and gave Haunter an emphatic high-five, "you're a stand-up bloke, my friend. Don't you ever forget it."

"Awwww, Bill's right, you really are a gem," crooned Delia, taking a couple of steps closer before raising her hand in hope of receiving a high-five of her own.

Haunter voiced another affable guffaw as he gave Delia the high-five that she was looking for.

"Where'd you catch him, Ashy?" asked Delia.

"I caught him at the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town," replied Ash, laughing as he recalled the encounter, "he was playing the piano when I found him."

"The piano?" queried Bill, raising an eyebrow, "you've never told me about that."

"Really…? Well, I haven't heard him play since I caught him, but from what I remember, he's pretty good."

Bill shrugged, "Hmm…good to know. We'll have to take that into consideration the next time we come across a piano."

"Oooh, I think the Hachimuras have a piano," stated Delia as she clasped both of her hands together, "I'm sure they'd let Haunter play for us if we asked them."

Excited by the idea, Haunter repetitively clapped his hands together as he emitted a burst of ghoulish laughter.

"Who are the Hachimuras?" asked Ash curiously.

Taking into consideration Pallet's small population, it was rare that he didn't recognize a family name.

"Oh…yes, I forgot. You've never met them. They're a sweet elderly couple that moved into what used to be the Midori's home a couple of weeks after you left on your journey."

Ash's eyes widened, and he got a sickening feeling in his gut.

The Midori family…

That house…

Leaf…

"What's wrong, honey?" questioned Delia, "you look like you've seen a ghost."

She briefly turned her attention towards Haunter, "no offense."

Unperturbed by her comment, the ghoul had zeroed in on his trainer with a look of concern.

Growlithe let out a worried and inquisitive howl as he nudged his head up against his best friend's leg.

Clefairy, Pidgeot and all three members of the elemental trio focused their eyes on their trainer, sensing that something was wrong.

"Are you okay, my friend?" asked Bill, placing his hand back on the dark-haired boy's shoulder.

"I-I-It's nothing," stammered Ash, quickly snapping out of it on account of the uncomfortable weight of their collective concern, "I just remembered something."

"Was it about your old friend, Leaf?"

Friend…?

"You know, Samuel told me that she decided to start her journey in Kanto."

He clenched his fist.

Friend!?

"Apparently, she came to Pallet to get her starter pokemon on the same day that you left."

He bit his bottom lip.

Friend!?!?!?!?!?!?

"If you hadn't gone to the lab so early in the morning, you probably would have run into her. Maybe you could have rekindled your friendship."

Rekindle our friendship!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

After what she did!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Just as Ash was about to open his mouth to rant, Growlithe intuitively let out a harsh bark that cut through his spiraling thoughts.

He took a deep breath.

He put on a fake smile.

And he pushed her out of his mind.

"Let's talk about going over to the Hachimuras later, Mom," said Ash calmly as he held out Eevee's pokeball, "for now, let's just focus on you meeting the rest of my friends."

"Oh, okay. That sounds good to me," said Delia, coming to the conclusion that it was best to allow her son to change the subject even though she didn't comprehend the true emotion or reason behind his strange shift in behavior.

She pointed at the pokeball in his hand, "show me what's inside of there."

Without saying a word, he softly lofted the pokeball to the right of where he stood. As it snapped open, Ash could feel that the only person or pokemon that wasn't still staring at him was his mother.

Please…

Just forgot about it guys.

I'm okay…

The moment Eevee appeared, Ash could have sworn that his mother's eyes were about to pop out of her head.

Eevee took a couple of seconds to look around, likely taking note that most of the team was out of their capture-devices, before she settled her attention on Delia.

"Oh my Gawwwwd! Look at your coat! You're absolutely stunning!" blurted Delia, practically foaming at the mouth.

"Eevee, this is my mom."

After gesturing towards his mother, he pointed down at the evolution pokemon, "Mom, I'd like you to meet Eevee."

When she reached down to pick up Eevee, Ash expected his friend to be reluctant due to her brash nature, but surprisingly the opposite happened.

The silver kit joyfully jumped into her arms.

Woah…at this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if Gyarados took her for a ride around the pond.

"Honey, where did you come across this little beauty?!" squealed Delia as she held Eevee in both of her arms and buried her face into her fur, "she's so soft and sh-sh-sh-shiny!"

Ash could practically feel the jealousy radiating from Clefairy as Eevee emitted a series of jubilant murmurs.

"I met Eevee in Celadon. She was bred by a man that used to be a pokemon coordinator named Ruphus, who I met after becoming friends with his daughter Skylar," explained Ash, "their relationship was somewhat strained because Ruphus had retired from competing in contests and wasn't training his pokemon like he used to anymore."

Delia listened attentively as she continued to snuggle Eevee.

"One thing led to another, and Skylar suggested that Eevee should come with me. Ruphus was fine with it as long as she agreed."

When Eevee suddenly peeked her head out from Delia's embrace, Ash smirked and looked her in the eye.

"It turned out that Eevee was more interested in traditional battles than contests. However, she wasn't fully convinced that I was worthy of training her until she watched my gym battle against Erika, and we had a little battle of our own."

The moment Ash was finished telling his unproblematic, truncated version of the story about how he and the silver coated kit had met, Eevee wriggled free from Delia's grasp before bounding over to Ash. With one graceful leap, she perched herself up on his shoulder before affectionately leaning her head against his.

"Needless to say, I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out," chuckled Ash while being tickled by Eevee's fur, "and I couldn't thank the Worthingtons enough."

"Damn you, Ruphus!" cursed Bill with tears in his eyes, "I'll never forgive you for hiding a one in a million specimen like Eevee from my father and I!"

"Ruphus Worthington…" muttered Delia, bringing her hand up to her chin, "that name sounds famili—"

Recognition struck his mother's face.

"You met Ruphus Worthington! He wasn't just a pokemon coordinator! He was the best pokemon coordinator! I'm pretty sure he still holds the record for winning the most Ribbon Cups in the history of the Kanto Grand Festival!"

With an awkward expression on his face, Ash scratched the back of his head, "yup, that's Ruphus."

Ash knew he was famous. Ruphus was friends with the Montgomerys and had won three Kanto Grand Festivals in a row. However, for some reason, the fact that his mother knew his name and accomplishments put into perspective just how big of a deal he actually was.

"Oh, wow…so many of my friends growing up had crushes on him," said Delia, taking a trip down memory lane, "I was a little young at the time, but now that I think about it, he really was handsome. I wonder what he looks like now?"

Gross…

"Eww, Mom, I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about things like that."

"Pshht…oh, come on, Ashy," replied Delia, waving him off, "all I said was that he was handsome."

All of Ash's pokemon looked at each other in confusion as they tried to follow the conversation.

"Meh, at the end of the day, I guess you could say that he's aged well," grumbled Bill, "but he's still just a middle-aged prima donna. In my opinion, Ellen has always been way out of his league in terms of looks. Her personality, on the other hand…"

Bill glanced over at Ash.

"Don't look at me. I mean…sure, she can be pretty excitable, but I have nothing but positive things to say about the Worthingtons. Besides, who are you to talk? I would argue that you're more eccentric than both of them combined."

The wavy-haired billionaire scoffed, "how dare you, my friend!? You're just saying that because you hit it off with their daughter."

"Oooooh, is Skylar more than just a friend, Ashy?" questioned Delia with a look that oozed intrigue and a desire to know more.

Ash's face started to turn red, "not at all, she's just a friend!"

His mother moved closer as she inspected him with scrupulous eyes, "hmmm…I'm not so sure about that. Your face is as red as the top half of that pokeball you're holding."

Eevee leaped off of her trainer's shoulder, snickering as she landed next to Growlithe.

"Mom, I—"

"Andrew told me that you were on a date with Skylar the first time he met you," added Bill to Ash's dismay as he made an obnoxious kissy face while clasping his hands together in a dramatic manner, "he said that you two had natural chemistry."

Dammit, Andrew!!!!!!!

You really do have a big mouth!!!!!!

"Oh my God, does Ashy have his first girlfriend!?!?" shouted Delia, momentarily covering her mouth with her hand as if she'd just been told the greatest secret in the world, "I have to meet this girl! I have to meet her parents!"

Stop.

"Wait…that means I get to meet Ruphus Worthington! "

Please, stop.

"Oh, but aren't you kind of young to have a girlfriend! Well, I guess it's okay as long as you're responsible!"

For the love of God, please stop.

"On the other hand, I'm not sure how I'd feel about being a grandma before you've grown up to become a proper adul—"

"For God's sake, Mom, what are you even saying!?!?!?!? I'm ten!!!!!!" shouted Ash at the top of his lungs as he pulled his cap down and looked away while feeling like he was about to die from embarrassment, "she's just a friend! Can we please get back to what we were doing!? I still have four more pokemon that I want to introduce you to!"

After raising his voice, Ash thought he was going to be eviscerated by the combined gaze of his mother, Bill and all of his pokemon until he felt the familiar sensation of Growlithe brushing up against his leg.

He needed to calm down.

The combination of Leaf's name being brought up and his relationship with Skylar being blown out of proportion within a matter of minutes had caused him to get way too worked up.

Ash raised the brim of his cap and looked his mother in the eye.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that…"

"Oh, no, it's me who should be apologizing, honey," shaking her head and placing both of her hands on his cheeks, "I'm sorry for getting carried away."

She let go, "will you forgive me?"

He took a deep breath and smiled, "of course, how could I not after what I've put you through?"

His mother smirked before firmly patting him on the shoulder a couple of times, "when you put it that way, maybe you got what you deserved."

Ash lightly chuckled under his breath.

Unfortunately, I deserve a lot worse than that…

"Ahem!"

Ash turned to Bill after hearing him clear his throat.

"I'm sorry, my friend," said Bill with a guilty look on his face as he scratched the back of his head, "I thought we were just chopping it up like usual, but I went too far. Whether it was a date or not, that wasn't my bloody business to share."

Yeah, you should tell Andrew that…

"It's okay. I overreacted. Let's just forget about it," replied Ash as he clipped Haunter and Eevee's capture-devices back to his belt.

The pokemon researcher nodded before holding his hands out in theatrical fashion, "your kindness is wasted on a loose-tongued talebearer like me! Father, Mother — I've forsaken the lessons that you've taught me!"

He predictably fell to his knees.

"Does Bill do this often?" asked Delia with a confused look on her face.

"He does it enough to where it doesn't surprise me anymore," replied Ash, shaking his head.

"W-why oh w-why did I stoop so low…?" mumbled Bill.

She raised her hand to her chin, "is there something you can say to get him to snap out of it?"

"Meh, I usually just let him work through it on his own," answered Ash with a shrug before detaching Rhyhorn and Scyther's safari balls from his trainer belt, "it doesn't usually last long. He should be fine in a couple of minutes."

"Interesting…" drawled Delia as she folded her arms, "billionaires sure are different, aren't they?"

Ash wasn't sure if they comprehended the concept of what a billionaire was, but several of his pokemon groaned in agreement.

"You can say that again," said Ash, laughing as he tossed both of the specially-designed capture-devices into the air.

The two safari balls erupted simultaneously, unleashing a sizable burst of resplendent bright light. Once the energy dwindled away, Rhyhorn made a low, trumpeting sound as he rocked his body back and forth; whereas, Scyther's eyes immediately grew larger, indicating that he discerned who Delia was. By the time Rhyhorn noticed Ash's mother's presence, the mantis had already stretched one of his blades across his body, took a knee, and initiated a deep bow of respect.

"These two look tough," complimented Delia.

"All of my pokemon are tough," replied Ash matter-of-factly, before addressing Scyther and Rhyhorn.

"Guys, come say hello to my mother."

While deferentially lowering his head, Rhyhorn let out a series of breathy snorts as he slowly approached.

After using his wings to smoothly lift himself back up to his feet, Scyther ambled over to Delia while emitting a quiet whirr.

Due to the fact that he was the first one to close the small amount of distance between them, she focused on Scyther first.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Scyther. You remind me of a chivalrous knight," said Delia, before leaning forward and whispering just loud enough to where Ash and a few of his other pokemon with acute senses of hearing could also hear what she was saying, "I can tell you're a lot further along than most of the others. Please, protect my son."

Taking what she said to heart, the mantis's disposition intensified before he kneeled once more, bowing even deeper this time. When he lifted his head, Scyther emitted an adamant, resonating whirr.

"Good," said Delia with a big smile, "I feel much better knowing that a pokemon with your level of experience is looking out for him."

Scyther remained on one knee, seemingly reflecting on what Delia had just said.

She pivoted her attention to Rhyhorn, who was waiting his turn next to Ash as he lightly stroked his horn.

"Hello, Rhyhorn. Your horn is spectacular," praised Delia as she reached out and felt the dual-type's well-groomed pride and joy, "it looks like Ash has been taking good care of it."

The hulking brute nodded, divulging a mellow, but affirmative, grunt as he brought his head closer to Delia.

"I can tell you're strong-willed and a great battler, but you have a tender side to you, too, don't you?"

Rhyhorn let out an inquisitive squeal that conveyed that he didn't quite understand what she was talking about.

"Don't worry about it," giggled Delia, "just remember who you are when you evolve. Considering how robust your hind legs are, I'm confident that it's going to happen soon."

When it comes to pokemon, nothing gets past her…

Ash could see the excitement in Rhyhorn's eyes at the mention of his impending evolution.

"It looks like you caught Scyther and Rhyhorn in the Safari Zone," stated Delia, noticing the distinct design of the two shrunken capture-devices in Ash's hand.

"Yup," replied Ash while placing Rhyhorn and Scyther's safari balls back in their proper slots before unclipping Dratini and Gyarados's capture-devices from his belt, "as you can see, I caught the last two in the Safari Zone as well."

"Oh, really…?" queried Delia, "Knowing you and your standards, I'm somewhat surprised. Sounds like a productive experience."

"That's certainly one way to put it," answered Ash as he contemplatively gazed down at Gyarados's safari ball.

He doubted that his mom would be overly intimidated, but figured that he should save Gyarados for last just in case she ruined the mood.

Casually lofting Dratini's safari ball directly in front of himself, a massive grin spread across Ash's face as he anticipated his mother's reaction.

The dratini line had always been her favorite after all.

The moment that the white light from the release receded, the majestic serpent was revealed. He immediately began to gleefully bounce the top half of his body up and down as he took in his surroundings.

Just as Ash expected, his mother brought one of her hands up to her mouth and gasped.

"Hey, buddy, this is my mom," said Ash, gesturing in her direction.

Dratini let out an elated coo as he quickly sidewinded his way over to her.

"Mom, meet Dratini."

By the time he turned to face her, his dragon-type had already begun to gently wrap himself around her legs as he hummed a soothing melody.

She was completely speechless.

Dratini steadily began to climb up Delia's body while being mindful not to restrict any of her limbs. When his head stretched up above her shoulders, he made eye contact and curiously cocked his head.

She blinked a couple of times.

If Ash had to guess, he'd say that she was still having a tough time believing what she was seeing.

"Meowth got your tongue, Delia?" laughed Bill, having broken out of his self-deprecating episode, "isn't Dratini brilliant? Ash was the first person to catch a member of the species in the Safari Zone in eight years."

"I-I just c-can't b-believe it," stammered Delia.

"I can tell," snickered Ash, "but you need to try and pull yourself together. Dratini is waiting for you to say hello."

The draconic serpent tilted his head to the opposite side as he raised the tip of his tail to pat Delia on the top of her head before letting out an adorably puzzled murmur.

All of a sudden, she came to her senses. Her stunned expression turned into a rapturous, twinkling smile.

"I'm honored to meet you, dear."

Dratini happily squealed and loosened his grip, allowing Delia to lift her hand up so that she could caress one of the sleek fins that protruded out of the side of his face.

The dragon-type responded by softly pressing his round snout up against her cheek, causing her to giggle.

"Oh my goodness, Ash!" exclaimed Delia, "I'm in love! He's so sweet and affectionate!"

"Whenever any of us are down, we can always count on Dratini to cheer us up," replied Ash before surveying the rest of his pokemon, "right, guys?"

Other than Pidgeot, who was too busy preening his feathers, and Blastoise who at some point had submerged himself into the pond, his pokemon emphatically vocalized their agreement.

"Awww, it seems like you have a very important role on my son's team, Dratini," crooned Delia.

The serpent merrily cooed while bouncing his head from side to side.

"However, it's not going to be all sunshines and rainbows," she said in a more serious tone of voice, "you're going to have to work hard if you want to grow up into a big, strong dragonite."

While starting to hum once again, Dratini affirmatively bobbed his head up and down.

"Don't let his personality fool you," insisted Ash, "Dratini takes his training very seriously. He's going to be a hell of a dragonite one day."

"I don't doubt it," she replied before winking at Dratini, "but every once in a while, he needs to be reminded of what he is."

She paused as she placed her finger on his round, growing horn, "you are joyful by nature, but deep inside, you have an indomitable spirit that needs to be fed. I can feel it."

Suddenly, the dragon's purple eyes glowed in response to her words.

What is—

"You can feel it, too, can't you, Dratini?"

The majestic serpent harmoniously hummed a distinct and coherent melody. Ash knew for a fact that he'd never heard it before, but for some reason it sounded familiar.

They all listened, collectively understanding that there was a deep meaning behind Dratini's song.

It lasted for a couple of minutes. When it was over, there was a brief moment of silence before Delia and Bill gave the dragon-type a round of applause.

"That was beautiful, Dratini!" cheered Delia.

"Utterly splendid, chap!" exclaimed Bill, "all that was missing was Haunter on the piano!"

Ash and his pokemon remained quiet for a little while longer.

Well, that was new….

After letting out a series of coos, Dratini pressed his snout up against Delia's cheek one more time before slithering down her body and making his way back to Ash's side.

"What was that about, buddy?" asked Ash curiously.

Growlithe softly growled in a way that suggested that he was just as intrigued as his trainer.

Dratini reacted by simply bobbing the anterior half of his body up and down per usual while blithely murmuring.

Ash sighed as he scratched the back of his head.

Welp, I guess there's no need to push it.

His mother brought her hand up to her chin, "how does he do in battle, Ashy?"

The young trainer shrugged, "he's great at sparring, but we've been taking things kind of slow so far. Dratini still hasn't participated in a live battle yet."

"I see…" replied Delia, "I know you're probably trying not to overwhelm him, but that needs to change soon. He may be young, but he needs to battle. As his trainer, it's your job to nourish that spirit I was talking about earlier."

Ash lowered his line of sight down to Dratini, "I know, I know…I originally only planned on holding him back for a couple of weeks, but the right opportunity has yet to really come up. I'll figure something out soon."

Dratini glanced up at his trainer with a gleam in his eye before letting out a playful squeal.

Ash couldn't help but smile.

"Good," answered Delia with a nod as she pivoted her attention to the safari ball in her son's hand, "so, I guess this is the last one…"

"Yeah…" said Ash in a drawn-out manner while tightly grasping Gyarados's safari ball, "Now this one's a little different. Once I let her out, try your best not to show any fear. She'd never try anything with me here, but if you want her to respect you, stand tall and don't back down."

"If I want her to respect me?" queried Delia — confused, "what are you talking about, honey?"

"She's a gyarados," answered Ash in a straightforward manner.

Her eyes widened before she took a deep breath, "oh, okay…point taken."

Bill folded his arms before chiming in, "technically, this is my first time meeting her as well. There's no way she noticed me during your gym battle yesterday, my friend."

"You're right. She probably didn't," replied Ash as he casually handled his leviathan's safari ball, repeatedly bouncing it up and down in his hand, "but a pokemon researcher like yourself shouldn't need any tips on how to behave around a gyarados."

The wavy-haired billionaire chuckled, "fair enough. I was just pointing it out. I've spent plenty of time over the years around wild and trained gyarados. I can handle myself just fine."

"I know better than to worry about you when it comes to stuff like this," he said before turning to face his mother, "are you ready?"

Without showing any apprehension, she nodded.

"Go ahead."

Ash proceeded to survey the pond in order to locate Blastoise's current position. After spotting him a short distance to the right — with nothing but his head above water — the dark-haired boy decided to let his leviathan loose on the left side of the pond in order to lessen the likelihood of an altercation. Up to this point, Gyarados had yet to establish a meaningful relationship with any of her teammates, but the tension between the two water-types was noteworthy. Truthfully, he would have preferred that Blastoise was on the shore while Gyarados was out, but he could tell that the turtle pokemon was enjoying himself and figured that he wouldn't respond well to having his actions limited on behalf of the sea serpent's presence.

Hopefully this goes well…

He pointed the safari ball in the direction that he wanted Gyarados to be released before pressing the button in the center of the capture-device. Ash made sure that the radiant red beam that streaked through the night made contact with the surface of the water far enough away from their position on the shore to where they wouldn't be hit by an excessive amount of water.

"Growlithe, Charmeleon, Rhyhorn — be mindful of the splash!"

There was an expansive billow of gleaming, bright energy that surged up and out of the water like a mighty geyser. Ash felt a couple of droplets belonging to the pond spatter against his face as the long, shadowy mass enshrouded within the light divulged a deafening outcry that without a doubt echoed across the entirety of his hometown. When her roar concluded, and the energy that was unleashed waned, the towering form of his twenty-foot-plus leviathan could be seen peering at them from across the water with her blood red eyes.

Jeez, after that, I wouldn't blame Pidgeot if he's ticked off that I scolded him for being loud.

He checked to make sure that his two fire-types and Rhyhorn didn't get too wet.

There wasn't a drop on them.

Perfect.

"Gyarados, come over here!"

As his sea serpent's lengthy body rippled up and down while she made her way over to them, Ash could hear the hollering sounds of several pokemon in the distance reacting to the raucous clamor.

"Yikes, I sure hope that there weren't too many people that decided to turn in early tonight," said Ash while guiltily scratching the back of his head.

Bill laughed, "this is going to be the talk of the bloody town tomorrow. You better make this quick before a bunch of your neighbors come over here to see what's going on."

Delia was quiet as she watched Gyarados's gigantic frame steadily close the distance.

"Ugh, I wanted to stay and do some training with Eevee before I headed back to the house," groaned Ash, "I guess I'm going to have to pick another spot."

Unbeknownst to Ash, Eevee's ears perked up for a moment at the mention of training.

As soon as the monstrous sea serpent reached the edge of the pond, Ash could hear the sound of his mother muttering something quietly under her breath. He listened carefully in order to try and make out what she was saying, but had no such luck.

While keeping an eye on Gyarados as she lowered her head and made a deep, guttural clicking noise, Ash glanced over at his mother to see how she was doing. She stood up straight and confident, but he could tell by the flushness in her complexion and the way that she dug her nails into her left forearm that she was nervous. For the sake of his mother, he'd return Gyarados without a second thought if he sensed that she was getting too overwhelmed. However, it appeared as though she was trying her best to fight through whatever fearful thoughts were penetrating her mind.

"Gyarados, this is my mother and my friend Bill. Expecting you to be friendly is probably asking too much, but I think you can manage to say hello," said Ash firmly, folding his arms and furrowing his brow.

After patiently listening to her trainer speak — which was progress in and of itself — a grin that was sinister in appearance spread across the atrocious pokemon's face before she scrupulously examined Delia and the pokemon researcher.

"O-oh my, I've never been this close to a Gyarados b-before," stuttered Delia as she tried her best not to look away, "you sure l-look strong."

Hold it together, Mom.

You can do this.

With a goofy smile on his face, Bill casually waved, "greetings, Gyarados. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Ignoring Bill, the leviathan focused her attention on Delia before swaying her head from side to side in an intimidating manner. The malignant smile on her face grew even wider when Growlithe, Clefairy and Scyther protectively stepped forward and stood beside their trainer's mother.

So much for taking her on a ride around the pond.

"G-Growlithe, C-Clefairy, S-Scyther — thank you for l-looking out for me, but I'm okay," mustered Delia before taking a deep breath and standing up even taller.

Ash pumped his fist.

Way to go, Mom.

While continuing to wave the anterior half of her body from left to right as the guttural noise she was making started to drop in pitch, Gyarados's lips began to vibrate while she slowly lowered her head even closer to Delia.

She didn't back down, but Ash noticed that her hands were starting to tremble.

His grip tightened around Gyarados's safari ball, and his countenance intensified, "that's close enough!"

The sea serpent's eyes darted in Ash's direction as she halted her movement.

"The intimidation needs to stop! The concept of family may not amount to much when it comes to your kind, but it means everything to me!" admonished Ash.

Without breaking eye contact, he pointed in the direction of his mother, "she gave birth to me! She raised me! Without her, I wouldn't be here, and you would never become the strongest gyarados in the world!"

His other self abruptly pushed up against his psyche, but abstained from taking over.

"Disrespecting her is the same as disrespecting me!"

Gyarados leered at him for a split second before the low-pitched, reverberating sound that she was making ceased, her lips stopped quavering, and her barbarous grin was wiped from her face.

Ash narrowed his eyes before gesturing towards his mother one again, "That's what I thought. Now be a good girl, and say hello to my mom the right way."

The sea serpent pivoted her attention back to Delia. However, this time, she refrained from utilizing any of her hereditary scare tactics.

His mother exhaled, and let go of her forearm. While wisely maintaining her self-assured posture, she let go of the rigidness that the last couple of minutes had caused.

"Hi, Gyarados," she said while waving at the behemoth, "my name is Delia. You may not care for me, but I'm glad I got the chance to meet you. I wish you the best on your journey with my son. Please use your strength to take care of him."

Gyarados remained still for a moment. Ash briefly thought he saw a sliver of warmth in her eyes, but when another perverse smile appeared on her face, and she began to disdainfully cackle, he came to the conclusion that he was just seeing things.

He removed his cap before scratching the back of his head.

Eventually, the ice in her veins will thaw out.

"Gyarados, return," said Ash.

A ruby, red beam of energy pierced through the dark and enveloped the entirety of the sea serpent's lengthy body before sealing her back inside the safari ball in Ash's hand. Throughout the entirety of the process, they could hear the sound of Gyarados's wicked laughter resonate around them.

He sighed as he put his hat back on, "well, it could have gone worse. At least she heard you out."

An abrupt scowl formed on Delia's face as she clenched her fists, "humph! Listened!? She laughed in my face! You've got a lot of work to do when it comes to that one, young man! Who does that big, limbless fish think she is!?"

"At least she bloody acknowledged you!" howled Bill, seething with rage, "she didn't even look in my direction! Am I invisible or something!? We might as well have been back in Blaine's volc—"

"Don't let her get to you, Mom!" blurted Ash, purposefully talking over Bill in order to stop him from spouting out information that he'd prefer for his mother not to know about, "that's kind of just par for the course when it comes to her species."

"I know that's how they are, but it doesn't make being taunted like that any easier," griped Delia before taking a deep breath in order to calm herself down.

"I get it," replied Ash with a nod, "but, trust me, regardless of her reaction afterwards, the fact that she pulled back and listened to what you had to say says a lot. Not only does that mean that you handled yourself well in front of her, it also means that she's making progress. If I would have introduced you to her a few days ago, she wouldn't have done that."

"Sheesh, if that's improvement, I shudder at the thought of what she must have been like when you first caught her," retorted Delia.

Her demeanor suddenly softened, "I've got to say, though, the way you stood up for me gave me goosebumps. Thank you, honey. What you said to her meant a lot."

"Of course," replied Ash earnestly, "I meant every word of it."

Bill scratched the side of his neck before casually placing both his hands behind his head, "all things considered, if you look past her nasty personality and complete lack of manners, it speaks volumes that she responds to you the way that she does, my friend. I doubt there's another kid your age in Kanto that can check a gyarados like that and still get it to obey."

Ash humbly shrugged, "I wouldn't go that far. I can think of at least one other off the top of my head."

Misty Waterflower.

Bill shook his head before placing his hand on top of Ash's head, disheveling his cap, "gym leaders don't count. Misty was raised around powerful water-types like gyarados. You shouldn't discredit yourself, Ash."

"Bill's right, honey, the fact that you've managed to gain the respect of all of your pokemon in such a short amount of time is a testament to your character and the hard work that you've put in."

She smiled tenderly before wrapping her arms around him, "you should be proud of yourself. I certainly am."

A warm and pleasant sense of fulfillment spread throughout his entire body.

"Thanks, Mom."

She pulled back a little bit, keeping her hands locked around both of his shoulders while looking him in the eye.

"You were right."

He blinked a handful of times in confusion.

"About what?"

"After meeting all of your friends, I feel like I can rest a little easier."

A big toothy grin naturally formed on his face, "I told you that there's no need to worry."

She giggled as she moved her delicate hands from her son's shoulders to his cheeks.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, mister. Just because I said I'll rest easier, doesn't mean I won't worry. It wouldn't matter if you were the Champion of Kanto, I'm still your mother."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ash, subtly tilting his head.

"Oh, Ash…" sighed Delia, shaking her head, "there's a lot about this world we live in that I don't understand, but there's one thing that I can guarantee you with complete and utter certainty."

With a bewildered look on his face, he gave her his undivided attention.

"No matter the circumstances, a worthwhile mother always worries about her child."

Bill chuckled, "those are some true words of wisdom, my friend. I'm nearly thirty-years-old and my mum still calls me to make sure that I'm eating three square meals a day."

Ash and Delia quietly looked at each other for a second before bursting out into laughter.

"Laugh all you want," quipped Bill unashamed, "but I'm proud to have a mum that thinks about me every time she sits down to have her supper."

"And you should be," answered Delia, "You know, Bill, that kind of reminds me of how I'm always bugging Ash about changing his—"

"Mom!" shouted the dark-haired boy, cutting her off before she could finish telling Bill about her strange obsession regarding whether or not he was frequently putting on clean underwear.

Growlithe howled in amusement, knowing exactly what his best friend's mother had wanted to say as the rest of Ash's pokemon seemed perplexed.

Bill snickered, "what's the harm in letting your mom finish her sentence, my friend? Was she about to tell me something embarrassing? I wan't to know. Come on, tell me."

Ash glared at Bill for a succinct moment before letting out a sigh, "ehh, if you spend enough time around her, it'll slip out eventually. I'm pretty sure the whole town has heard her say it at some point."

She shook her head with an annoyed look on her face, "I've never understood why everyone makes such a big deal about it. It's just basic hygiene."

Ash groaned, "yeah, basic hygiene that nobody else needs to hear about.

"Psht…whatever," said Delia with a shrug, "anyways, like Bill suggested earlier, we should probably get out of here. It won't be long before some of the neighbors head over to see what all the commotion is about."

Ash nodded.

He was tired from the insanity that had occurred over the last couple of days, and still wanted to fit in a training session with Eevee before he crashed in his own bed for the first time in four-and-a-half months, so the last thing that he wanted to do right now was explain to several of his neighbors what the source of that obnoxiously loud roar was before inevitably having tell them stories about his journey up to this point.

"Good point," replied Ash as he started to unclip several of his friends empty capture-devices from his belt, "let's get out of here."

As he began to round up and return his friends, his mother watched with a fervid smile and a great sense of pride, admiring the fact that the son she had raised was growing up and steadily working his way towards accomplishing his dreams.

All the while, Ash was subconsciously doing everything he could to suppress the pain he felt, knowing that it would be a long time before he could tell the person that he loved more than anyone else in the world about who he really was.

XXX

As Growlithe and Eevee eagerly sniffed around, and his mother casually leaned up against the white, trimmed doorway, Ash surveyed his modest-sized bedroom with mixed emotions. He would be lying if he said that he didn't miss it, but so much had happened since the last time he stood within the bounds of the four poster-covered walls that surrounded him that he couldn't help but feel like it belonged to someone other than his current self.

"Other than changing the sheets and doing some minor dusting, I haven't touched it since you left," said Delia, smiling with her arms folded, "after being on the road for so long, I'm sure it'll feel good to sleep in your own bed."

Ash's eyes wandered over to the wooden, full-sized, loft bed frame. The bed was neatly made with a royal blue comforter embroidered with a sequenced pattern of pokeballs and great balls, and the two soft pillows with silk pillow cases that matched the comforter were perfectly laid out.

The dark-haired boy yawned as he took off his hat and tossed it on top of his desk — which was perfectly centered underneath his bed — before slipping off his backpack and setting it down on the honeysuckle carpeting, "yeah, I can't wait to climb up that ladder."

"I figured you were exhausted," said Delia, placing her hand on the doorknob, "I know we didn't get a chance to talk about your plans moving forward, but we can save that for tomorrow. After introducing me to all of your pokemon, and finishing up our conversation from earlier, it's time for you to get some rest."

Ash removed his trainer belt, placing it on the desk next to his hat, "sounds good to me."

She nodded, "There are clean pajamas in your closet, and I'll put a brand-new toothbrush and some toothpaste by the sink in the bathroom. Don't forget to put all of your dirty clothes in the hamper, and place it outside the door, so I can wash them for you tonight."

"Okay. Thanks, Mom."

He shed his black sweatshirt and pulled off his fingerless gloves before walking over to the hamper by his closet and dropping them inside.

"Believe it or not, I've been staying on top of my laundry with the help of Blastoise's Bubble. This is the only pair of dirty clothing that I've got, so I'll put the hamper out as soon as I'm done changing."

She let out a low whistle, signifying that she was impressed.

"I'll leave you to it then, honey. I'm going to head downstairs. Clefairy's waiting for me, and I need to get Bill situated on the couch."

He yawned again before making his way over to the door.

"Alright," said Ash as he ran his fingers through the hair on the back of his head, "I know Clefairy was excited about sleeping in your room tonight, but feel free to send her in here if she's bothering you. She doesn't usually bug me while I'm sleeping, but she's nocturnal by nature, so she can get a little restless."

"Good to know," replied Delia with a twinkle in her eye, "but even if that little cutie doesn't sleep a wink, she'll be staying with me tonight. I'm looking forward to the snuggles."

He chuckled.

She's in heaven right now.

Her attention pivoted to Ash's silver kit, who had her nose pressed up against the large, snorlax-themed beanbag chair that was positioned in one of the corners of his room, "as a matter of fact, if Eevee changes her mind, my doors open."

The evolution pokemon's ears twitched before she momentarily glanced over at Delia and playfully snickered.

His mother raised an eyebrow.

Ash facetiously smirked, "That's her way of saying she appreciates the offer, but fat chance. Growlithe and Eevee sleep with me every night. You'd be hard-pressed to convince them otherwise."

Delia gave her son a dramatic pouting face as she crossed her arms, "I knew I didn't stand a chance with Growlithe, but I thought I might be able to convince Eevee after the little cuddle session we had by the pond."

Eevee snickered once more before she leaped up onto the beanbag chair and made herself at home.

"Nice try, Mom, but you're going to have to be way more persuasive than that if you want to have a shot."

She giggled while shaking her head, "fine, fine, I guess I'll surrender this time. Anyway, I love you, Ash. Have a good night's sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"I love you, too, Mom. Goodnight."

Delia shifted her line of sight to Ash's canine and kit, "Goodnight, Growlithe. Goodnight, Eevee."

Growlithe temporarily stopped exploring aromatically, emerging from underneath of Ash's desk to let out a goodnight yip.

Eevee followed suit, lifting her head up before affectionately snarling.

A soft smile appeared on Delia's unlined face as she started to close the door.

"Wait, Mom!" blurted Ash right before the door shut.

Ash felt like he had to say it one more time before his conscience would be clear enough to fall asleep.

She slowly pushed it back open, "what is it, honey?"

With an earnest expression on his face, he responded, "I really am sorry."

"I know you are, sweetie," said Delia in a tone of voice that accentuated her forgiveness.

She kissed her hand before gently pressing it against his cheek, "let's leave it in the past. I'm just happy you're home."

"Me too."

They said goodnight to each other one more time before his mother shut the door, leaving him alone with his pokemon for the first time since he and Pidgeot touched down at the southern edge of Pallet.

He let out a long, deep sigh.

"So…what do you guys think?" asked Ash as he slid open his closet door and grabbed a basic, solid gray pair of pajamas off of one of the hangers that was hooked to the closet rod, "not too long ago, I used to sleep in this room every night."

Answering their trainer, Growlithe divulged a jovial bark and Eevee emitted a cheerful yap.

"I'm glad you like it," said Ash with a half-hearted smile as he quickly undressed before changing into his pajamas, "but it feels kind of weird being back here."

He could feel their inquisitive stares as he removed his pokedex from the pocket of his dirty, black joggers prior to putting them and the rest of the clothes that he had worn that day into the hamper as his mom had kindly requested.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I feel uncomfortable or anything like that," explained Ash, putting his pokedex on his bed so that it was within reach when he inevitably decided to scroll through it until he had winded down enough to actually fall asleep, "I just think that I've gotten so used to sleeping under the stars and traveling to different cities that it's hard to believe that I have a space like this."

Growlithe and Eevee listened attentively to their trainer as he continued to talk, lowering his voice while he opened the door and placed the hamper in the hallway.

"When I left Pallet, I never would have guessed that coming home would be an adjustment…"

He walked over to his desk and pressed the button on Haunter's great ball while it was still attached to his loose trainer belt. As the sound of focused energy and glimmering white light filled the room, Ash swiveled his line of sight between Growlithe and Eevee.

"I guess you never know exactly how you're going to feel about something until you experience it firsthand."

As Haunter appeared, letting out a quiet guffaw while taking in his surroundings, his pup and kit nodded, understanding and agreeing with their trainer's thoughtful words.

"Depending on how things go tomorrow, we may be here for a while…" muttered the dark-haired boy, trying to wrap his head around the idea.

He tried to take a mindful breath before suddenly shaking his head.

There's no point in racking my brain about this until Bill and I have talked to the professor.

"Oh well…I appreciate you guys listening to my rambling," said Ash before turning to face Haunter, who had quickly found an interest in the collection of pokemon figurines that were tidily displayed on top of his wooden dresser.

"I've had most of those since I was really little," said Ash, sauntering over to take a closer look.

Growlithe followed closely behind, and Eevee stood up on top of the beanbag chair she was lounging on in order to catch a glimpse.

For obvious reasons, Haunter seemed particularly enamored by a small figure of a gengar that Ash must have set up at some point to appear as if it was facing off against the steelix figure that was placed directly in front of it. His memory was a little fuzzy when it came to the eve before he left on his journey, but if he remembered correctly, Bruno and Agatha of the Elite Four had a mock battle that was on national television that night, so he was more than likely influenced by that.

"Why don't you pick it up?" suggested Ash.

The ghoul glanced at him with a look that the young trainer interpreted as ardor before carefully scooping up the gengar figurine with one of his disembodied hands. He brought it as close to his face as possible, inspecting its intricate details.

"It won't be too long before you look like that," encouraged the dark-haired boy with a smirk, pointing at the figure, "you haven't started to show any of the physical signs yet, but my gut tells me you're not far off."

Haunter's ghostly eyes widened, and his jaw comically dropped in response to Ash pointing out his forthcoming reality.

While the boy the apparition would gladly immolate himself for if it meant it would bring him one step closer to his dream busted out laughing, Haunter elatedly began to levitate around the room, hoisting the gengar figurine in the air like it was a glorious championship trophy.

As Haunter's demonstration caused Ash to hunch over at the waist into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, and Eevee rolled around the cream-colored, plush belly of the snorlax beanbag chair, snickering in a similar manner, Growlithe honed in on an arcanine figure that stood on the front right corner of the dresser.

The moment Ash calmed down after regaining his composure, he noticed that Growlithe's attention had been grasped by the inanimate object that portrayed his final form.

"Are you thinking about evolution, too, buddy?" asked Ash, picking up the arcanine figure prior to sitting down next to his pup, "we've talked about this. You've got to master your moveset first. Unfortunately, we've got a lot of work to do before you're ready."

Growlithe let out a throaty groan and shook his head in a way that conveyed that Ash had misinterpreted what he was ruminating about.

For a split-second, the young trainer was confused until an image of Gary and him playing with a powerful, albeit warmhearted, arcanine popped into his head.

He gently scratched behind his best friend's ear, "I see…you're thinking about your mother, aren't you? We'll go see her at the lab as soon as we're done training tomorrow morning."

Growlithe hesitantly nodded.

"Aren't you excited?"

The pup divulged a low-pitched moan before burying his head into Ash's chest.

Ahh…I get it.

He's nervous.

"Don't worry, it's normal to be a little apprehensive," emboldened Ash, rubbing his pup's side, "I was nervous before I saw my mom, too."

As Eevee hopped down from the beanbag chair, and Haunter floated over in order to support his teammate, Growlithe gazed up at Ash, yearning for more words of encouragement.

"I know when we left Pallet, you probably pictured that you'd be an arcanine the next time you saw her, but that doesn't matter," said Ash, petting the tuft of fur on top of his pup's head, "your mother knows better than anybody that the evolution of a growlithe is a decision made by its trainer. You've grown up so much since the last time you saw her. There's no way that she won't be proud of you."

After listening to what his best friend had to say, Growlithe instantly cheered up, lifting his paws up on top of Ash's shoulders before repeatedly licking him on the right side of his face.

On account of the fact that he was ticklish, Ash laughed for a few seconds before quickly jumping up to his feet.

"Come on, buddy, you know you're not supposed to lick my face," implored Ash, wiping the slobber from his ear and cheek.

Growlithe playfully and unapologetically yipped as Eevee pranced back over to the beanbag chair and Haunter went back to gallivanting around the room while enthusiastically holding up the gengar figurine.

Ash smiled as he pulled his shaggy hair back, "eh, I guess I can let you off this hook this time.

Even though Growlithe had only harmlessly breeched a minor rule that Ash had made not too long ago after getting tired of being bathed in saliva, it reminded him that he still needed to talk to his pup about what happened on the third floor of the Cinnabar Lab. Granted, it would have to wait until later. After seeing how anxious his pup was about being reunited with his mom, he didn't have the heart to dampen the mood now that he had just finished cheering him up. Not to mention the fact that he himself was emotionally exhausted from the past several hours of sorting things out with his own mother. Right now, the last thing he wanted was to have another serious conversation.

It definitely needs to be addressed, but not today.

Stretching his arms up above his head, Ash let out his biggest yawn yet, "I'll be right back guys. Stay here."

Growlithe, Eevee and Haunter waited in his room as he promptly went and brushed his teeth in the small, quaint upstairs bathroom that was right across from his room. When he was done, he came back to find that Growlithe and Eevee had made themselves comfortable in his bed while Haunter had absurdly started to play pretend with the gengar and steelix figures, enacting what looked like an intense, simulated battle.

Ash quietly snickered under his breath.

As amusing as it was, he didn't want to do anything to disturb Haunter's fun.

"It looks like you two are ready for bed," said Ash, directing his statement towards Growlithe and Eevee.

The silver kit responded with an adorable yawn.

Growlithe nodded before laying his head down on the comforter.

On account of the fact that he didn't have to worry about his ghost-type's vision in the dark, Ash reached for the light switch on the wall adjacent to the door, "make some room. I'll be right—."

His other self swiftly ambushed his consciousness.

Open the prophecy and read from its pages.

…Tonight? But, I'm exhausted.

Tiredness is an excuse. Read the book.

But—

There will be no more procrastination! Read!!!

Even though his other self's blaring demand wasn't audible, he reflexively covered his ears in order to try and escape the harsh echo that rang in his head.

Okay! Okay! I get it! I'll read!!!

Satisfied with Ash's answer, the deafening reverberation ceased, and his other self receded back into his subconscious, giving him instant relief.

With his eyes closed, he took a meditative breath as he rubbed his temples.

Dammit! That sucked!

When he finally opened his eyes back up, Haunter had stopped playing, levitating in front of him with a concerned look on his typically animated face, whereas growlithe and Eevee were sitting up on their haunches at the edge of the bed with similar countenances.

"D-don't worry. I'm fine," assured Ash after initially stuttering, "my other self just reminded me that there's something that I need to do before I go to bed."

They silently stared at him as he walked over to his desk and pushed his hat and his trainer belt to the side before flipping the switch to the LED desk lamp that was positioned in the back left corner of the flat top surface. Then he crouched down and unzipped his backpack, taking out the depository case that he stored the prophecy in.

"I'm going to read the prophecy for a bit," explained Ash to his confused pokemon as he maneuvered the menu on the high-tech storage device.

As soon as the thick book was released from the confines of the depository case, Ash picked it up and set it down in the center of his desk before ambling his way back over to his room's light switch.

Sensing that his friends needed some more detailed direction after his abrupt change in behavior, he addressed his ghoul first, "Haunter, keep having fun until I go to bed. Just don't forget that you need to eat Bill's nightmares tonight, too. When you go downstairs, please phase out of your physical form. I don't want you to accidentally freak my mom out in the middle of the night."

Realizing that Ash was okay, the apparition let out an exultant guffaw.

Once his ghoul returned to entertaining himself with the figurines, Ash smiled at his two friends that currently occupied his bed, "Growlithe, Eevee — I won't be too long. Go ahead and get some sleep."

His pup and kit were a little more hesitant to sweep what they had just witnessed under the rug, but after succinctly looking him over, they ultimately came to the conclusion that their trainer was just fine before returning to their cozy positions on his bed.

Ash sighed as he hit the switch, turning off the main light in his room.

So much for scrolling around on my pokedex tonight…

The dark-haired boy checked the time on his xtransceiver, confirming that it was already getting pretty late as he ambled over to his desk and sat down in his cushiony armchair. Even though he'd committed to his other self that he would read from The Legend of the Chosen One, he only planned to do so for about a half an hour. Ash wanted to do some training with all of his pokemon, who weren't recovering from his gym battle against Blaine before he and Bill headed to the professor's lab in the morning, so it was imperative that he got a goodnight's sleep, especially after the chaotic and exhausting last couple of days he had.

Before opening it up, and turning the pages to where he last left off, Ash abruptly felt compelled to run his fingers across the distinctive, golden characters on the black leather cover that Bill had called, The Insignia of the Unknown — a legendary power said to exist everywhere in the world. As he took the time to carefully touch each and every character like a blind man reads braille, the boy felt a subtle sense of serenity that initiated somewhere in his gut before slowly traveling up his spine and settling at the forefront of his mind.

What was that?

What is this feeling?

He could feel his other self again, except this time, it drifted through his consciousness like a whisper in the grass.

It is the Unknown. Now that you know who you are, they have decided to bless this reading…

You?

What are the Unknown?

They are many, yet singular. Connected to all languages, they are some of the oldest. When they are united, they've been given the power to reshape reality. They are pivotal to the essence of this world…

Woah… Are they pokemon?

They are whatever they want to be…

What do they have to do with me?

We are the Chosen One. They have everything to do with us.

You?

We?

Us?

But…I thought you were me?

We are the same, but for now, our identity is fragmented. Read and you will understand more. What is incomprehensible to you now, will be unveiled when the time is right.

Fragmented?

Huh?

Of course, just when he started to get some interesting information from his other self, it withdrew into the depths of his mind, leaving him with even more questions.

Why the hell does everything have to be so complicated?

He opened the massive book, immediately locating the page that he was on due to the fact that he had wisely folded the top left corner of it. However, even though it had been over a month since the last time he'd read from it, he somehow knew that he would have found where he left off right away regardless.

Pulling his desk lamp closer to the book, so that the pages were well lit, he started to read.

XXX

After being guided through the lab's main hall by the same tall, greasy-haired assistant that had worked at the front desk the day that Ash had started his journey, he and Bill were let inside the professor's personal workspace. It was the same confidential room where his life had changed forever; the place where he met Growlithe and officially assumed the privilege of becoming a pokemon trainer.

"Th-the p-professor's in the d-data room, I-I'll go get h-him," stammered Thomas, dealing with a rather obvious case of rapturous awe on account of Bill's presence.

Thomas, whose name the young trainer had embarrassingly forgotten the last time around even though he'd supervised the Trainer Qualification Exam, toddled out of the room and shut the door, leaving Ash and Bill to their own devices.

"Bloody hell…that bloke was a disaster," groaned Bill, shaking his head, "you'd think working with Professor Oak would make him less susceptible to celebrity adoration."

Ash shrugged while his eyes wandered, examining the various pieces of high-tech, scientific machinery that were precisely positioned throughout the room.

"I don't know…I think your flamboyant public persona and the fact that you're a billionaire is a little too much for regular people to handle," replied Ash, unclipping his pup's pokeball after being asked by Thomas to return Growlithe while they were in the lab's pristine foyer, "even though he's famous, the professor's pretty normal. I bet most people would find him more approachable."

"I should probably be offended by that…" replied Bill, rubbing his chin, "but since I can't think of a rebuttal, it's probably an accurate statement."

Ash chuckled before curiously looking up at Bill, "so what do you think about the equipment in this room? Is it going to work?"

Bill kept his hand on his chin as he surveyed the room. When the wavy-haired billionaire was done, he confidently smirked, "it doesn't have everything that I need, but if the professor has all of this in just his personal lab room, I think we're going to be A-okay. This is a large-scale, state-of-the-art laboratory. He's got to have all the bloody bells and whistles scattered throughout the building."

Unsurprised by Bill's answer, Ash nodded.

From the moment his eccentric friend had suggested that they utilize the professor's lab to construct a sub-zero incubator with the capability to defy the suspended animation that occurred within a depository case, Ash was fairly certain that from an equipment and material standpoint, they had nothing to worry about. However, he would be lying if he said that the looming conversation that needed to occur in order to get to that point wasn't making him nervous.

There weren't very many people that knew him better than the old man. He might be able to get away with a well-timed fib or two, but there was a reason why Ash went ahead and told the professor everything that occurred on the SS. Anne when he had to rely on him to take care of the deceased Chance Chapman's pokemon.

The professor asked a lot of questions and had an impeccable ability to see through lies and erroneous answers.

Ash's grasp on Growlithe's pokeball tightened as he started to become more tense.

This isn't going to be easy…

The way I got the egg is intrinsically linked to my identity as the Chosen One.

The professor won't be deceived by a phony story.

Should I tell him everything?

No, I can't. He'll tell my mom.

Maybe if I—

Just as his racing mind began to completely spin out, the door swiftly swung open.

"Ash, my boy, what a pleasant surprise!" exclaimed the professor the moment he laid eyes on him with a massive grin on his lived-in face, "I couldn't believe my ears when Thomas said that you were—"

His booming voice came to a sudden halt when he noticed Bill, who at some point during the young trainer's spiraling thought exercise, had wandered over to the professor's lavish, L-shaped desk made out of black oak to explore in more detail a pricey-looking, heavy-duty, compound microscope that reminded Ash of the ones he saw in the Cinnabar Lab's East Wing.

"Bill Montgomery?" queried the professor, raising both of his bushy, black eyebrows, "what in the world are you doing here?"

Ash's wavy-haired friend laughed, pulling his head away from the microscope's two eyepieces before adjusting the collar of his shirt, "I don't think that's how you're supposed to greet a colleague, professor. Didn't your assistant give you a heads-up that I was here with Ash?"

The professor awkwardly smiled, and a drop of sweat appeared in the top right corner of his forehead as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "ahh…my apologies. Now that I think about it, he was acting strange and sputtering on about something when I rushed off the second he mentioned Ash's name."

The dark-haired boy glanced back and forth between the two famous pokemon researchers. Despite his deep-rooted, strong bonds with both of them, he wasn't too naive to realize how remarkably fortunate he was to get to witness the two of them interact in the same room.

"Eh, no worries," replied Bill, giving a half shrug, "I'd react the same way if I was told that Ash had come to visit me."

The professor gave Bill a slight downward nod before sticking his left hand in his lab coat pocket and using his right to close the door behind him.

"What are you doing back so soon, my boy?" asked the old man, refocusing his attention on Ash, "I didn't expect to see you here for at least a couple more months."

"I earned my sixth badge in Cinnabar yesterday," answered Ash with a toothy grin, "since I was so close by, I figured it was as good a time as any to come home for a bit."

"Six badges, already?" questioned the gray-haired professor with an astonished expression, "I know it's been a couple of months since the last time we talked, but if my memory isn't failing me, I believe you had three at the time."

He paused, bringing his hand up to his well-defined chin, "I think Gary only has four…"

For a split-second, the dark-haired boy thought about giving the professor a hard time by slipping in a jab regarding his grandson, but considering the fact that Gary's travel plans got obliterated when Sabrina was forced to close her gym in order to prioritize the deconstruction of Ariana's mental battier at the Indigo Plateau, Ash decided that any joke would be in poor taste.

Ash shook his head, "I talked to him a couple of weeks ago. He ran into some bad luck when Sabrina closed her gym and refused to settle for the Fighting Dojo — otherwise, he'd probably have five."

The professor scratched the back of his head, "fair enough, although I'm not so sure that he would have defeated a gym leader of Sabrina's caliber right away now that he's no longer dealing with League-registered teams. My grandson can be level-headed at times, but when it comes to his rivalry with you, he almost always loses sight of himself. Since you've already got the Marsh Badge, it's more likely that he would have gone in guns blazing and gotten his keister kicked before he realized that he needed to take the time to train and raise some mental barriers."

"Hmm…maybe," answered Ash with a stiff shrug, "but I don't think you're giving him enough credit. Gary knows what he's doing."

Sure, Gary was arrogant, and the professor wasn't wrong when he said that his grandson could get carried away when it came to his life-long friendship and rivalry with Ash. However, he had a tendency to undermine Gary's competency while simultaneously lauding Ash's. It was something that his best friend was well aware of and often made self-deprecating jokes about, even though it was obvious that it bothered him deep down inside. As a matter of fact, the frequency in which it occurred was so prevalent that even though Gary had never shown it, Ash wouldn't blame him if he had some built-up resentment towards him.

The professor let out a lengthy sigh, "I hope you're right, Ash…"

"I know I am."

The old man smiled softly, "anyway, since you left Cinnabar with a badge, you must have met Blaine. We go way back. How's he doing?"

Ash did his best to suppress the image of Blaine's pale, white face when he was trying to come to grips with Archer's claim that the abomination had killed Dr. Fuji shortly after its birth.

"He seemed good when I battled against him," said Ash, maneuvering around the question without technically telling a lie, "he asked me to say hello to you for him the next time I saw you."

"I'm glad to hear he's doing well. I've been meaning to go visit him, but things have been so busy here at the lab that I haven't gotten the chance."

Unbeknownst to the professor — who was laser focused on him — Ash noticed out of the corner of his eye a prominent frown on Bill's face.

Keep it together, Bill. The last thing we want to do is draw attention to what happened at the Cinnabar La—

Wait a second, it's been more than twenty-four hours since the Cinnabar Lab was destroyed.

Shouldn't the professor know about it?

It was on Cinnabar's local news the night that it happened.

A story of that magnitude should have been on the national news all day yesterday?

Now that I think about it, my mom didn't say anything about it either…

Is Lance trying to bury the whole thing?

No, that's not possible. Too many people had to have seen what happened in the sky and outside the lab.

There's no way to limit the reach of a story with that many eyewitnesses, so he must be trying to slow it down by delaying access to the major, national news networks.

How is that feasible without the fear of a leak?

No way…Did he shut down the whole island?

How much power does the Champion have?

Ash did everything in his power to keep his composure in front of the professor.

"You should go see him as soon as you get the chance, professor," said Ash, forcing himself to display an earnest expression in spite of the flood of thoughts that were rushing through his head, "I got the feeling that he really misses you."

"Meh, Blaine's not that sensitive," answered the professor, waving him off, "if anything, he's probably bored. He's very good friends with the Cinnabar Lab's head scientist, Nathaniel Fuji, who's been on leave for quite some time. If you told me that he missed Nathaniel, though, I'd believe you."

As Ash began to mentally scramble in order to try and find a way to reroute the direction of the conversation, the professor shifted his attention towards a visibly solemn Bill.

"Did I say something wrong, Bill?" asked the professor, noticing the look of anguish on the billionaire's face.

"I-I just m-miss the doc, too," sputtered Bill while holding back tears.

"Ahh, yes, I forgot that you have a longstanding relationship with Nathaniel as well," replied the professor, placing a hand on Bill's shoulder, "no need for the long face, though. I'm sure he will be back from his research trip soon."

It obviously wasn't intentional, but instead of comforting Bill, the professor had just delivered a metaphorical gut punch.

Realizing that Bill was on the verge of breaking down, Ash did the only thing he could think of that was guaranteed to change the subject.

He tossed Growlithe's pokeball.

The sharp pinging sound that the red and white capture-device made when it clicked open immediately captured Professor Oak's attention, and the beaming array of energy that burst forth created a temporary veil that shielded Bill's sorrowful tears.

When the light from the release disappeared, the professor's entire demeanor changed.

He stood up straight.

His eyes dilated.

And he grinned from ear to ear.

Ash quickly glanced over at Bill while the professor was distracted. His friend hastily rubbed his eyes with the long, button-up sleeve on his collared shirt before making eye contact with the young trainer and forcing a painful smile.

I hope he's okay…

"Oh my! Growlithe, look at you!" exclaimed the professor, taking a couple of steps towards the pup before squatting down to the ground, "you've grown so much!"

The pup let out a delighted yip before immediately bounding forward and leaping into the professor's outstretched arms. Having unintentionally gained too much momentum on account of sheer excitement, the canine incidentally knocked the professor backwards onto the hard, vinyl tile.

"Oomph."

"Are you okay, professor!?" shouted Ash as Growlithe pulled himself off of the professor with his ears down and a guilty look on his face before making sure he wasn't hurt.

The professor immediately sprung back up into a sitting position while retaining the same giant smile that he had just a few moments prior.

"I may be getting old, but I'm not feeble! Get back over here, buddy!"

Ash smiled as Growlithe perked back up and instantly severed the distance between himself and the first human that he'd ever known. The professor reached out and pulled the pup in close before showering him in affection.

He ran his fingers through his tuft.

He scratched behind his ears.

He stroked both sides of his neck.

He massaged his hind legs.

And when the canine eventually rolled onto his back, he rubbed his belly, causing Growlithe to let out a soft, relaxed groan as he repetitively and reflexively kicked out one of his hind legs.

He sure knows his way around the species.

When the professor let up for just a short moment, the canine bounced back up onto his feet and licked him all over his face.

"Growlithe, don't li—"

Ash stopped himself mid-sentence when he heard the sound of the old man's roaring laughter. It was so infectious that he couldn't help but bust a gut himself.

"Alright, Alright, put that tongue back in your mouth, pal!" bellowed the the old man in-between laughter, "anymore and I'll pull a muscle!"

As Growlithe heeded the professor's request and stopped saturating him with slobber, Ash peaked over at Bill. Despite the conversation from earlier, he wore a closed mouth smile. It appeared as though the joyful scene that had just taken place in front of him was enough to at least partially lift his spirts.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

Crisis averted.

"You've done a great job with him, Ash," complimented the professor, picking himself up off of the ground before wiping his face and wringing out the excess saliva from the collar of his lab coat, "he's healthy, strong, and I can tell he's procured a lot of experience over the past four and a half months."

He paused, looking down at Growlithe and shaking his head with a gentle smile, "they're the spitting image of one another. He reminds me so much of his mother at that age."

At the mention of his mother, Growlithe's ears instantly pricked up, and his tail began to rapidly wag before he sounded a series of ecstatic, anticipatory barks.

"Speaking of Arcanine, can we go see her?" asked Ash, adjusting his cap before gesturing towards his pup, "as you can see, Growlithe's been really looking forward to it."

"Of course!" answered the professor in a cheery tone of voice, "I was just about to suggest that myself. How about we head out back?"

Ash clipped Growlithe's empty pokeball back to his trainer belt before grabbing ahold of the straps on his backpack, "let's do it!"

"Ooooh, a reunion between mother and son!" exclaimed Bill, acting more like his usual self, "I can't wait!"

"Perfect, I'll lead the way!" exclaimed the professor before making his way over to the door.

Growlithe let out an exultant bark before he, Ash and Bill followed the old man to his renowned pokemon corral.

XXX

Ash breathed in the mildly earthy scent of the long, winding river that flowed horizontally across the lush, open field behind the lab. The outer edges of the pasture consisted of numerous tall, deciduous trees that had shed most of their leaves for winter, and there was a far-reaching, wooden fence on the opposite side of the river that stretched out for as far as the young trainer could see, marking the initial boundary of the preserve. Just past the fence was a gentle, grassy slope that led up to a thick, verdurous forest with greenery that was impervious to the cold, and beyond the forest — outside their view — were several more natural habitats that could accommodate just about every type of pokemon imaginable.

Although it wasn't nearly as expansive as the Safari Zone, the second largest privately-owned preserve in the region was impressive in its own right. If it weren't for the fact that the corral was only accessible to the professor, his staff, and the many sponsored trainers whose pokemon roamed within it, Ash was fairly certain that it would be a popular point of interest for people traveling around the southwestern corner of mainland Kanto.

After strolling past the plethora of grassland pokemon, belonging to the ratatta, oddish, doduo, and nidoran — male and female — evolutionary lines, Ash, Bill, Professor Oak and Growlithe approached the small timber bridge that the aforementioned species often used to cross the river in order to graze, mingle and play as close to the lab as possible. The professor once told Gary and him that they did so in order to ensure that they were the first to be fed by his field assistants, but the dark-haired boy never subscribed to that theory. Ash had always been under the impression that the pokemon in the corral adored the old man to the extent that some of them went out of their way to increase the likelihood of receiving his coveted attention.

"Alright, this is as far as we'll go," stated the professor, reaching into one of his lab coat pockets while a couple of oddish giggled as they playfully scurried in circles around him.

"Wait…what?" queried Ash — confused, "I thought we were going to go see Arcanine?"

Concerned that he wasn't going to get the opportunity to see his mother, Growlithe whined and his ears drooped.

"Bloody hell, professor!" chided Bill, furrowing his brow, "don't tell me you're about to sabotage a precious moment between a mother and her son!"

The professor briefly glanced at Bill with a dumbfounded expression before shifting his attention to Ash and Growlithe.

"There's nothing to worry about, you two. You'll get to see her," sighed the professor, removing a pokeball from his lab coat pocket, "I just can't let you into the corral."

Growlithe's mood instantly rebounded back to how it was in the moments leading up to the old man's peculiar decision before his nostrils started to flare, and he pointed his snout towards the forest, likely in attempt to pick up the scent of his mother.

Even though Ash felt a significant sense of relief after being reassured that Growlithe would still get to see his mom, he was completely bewildered by the professor's choice to deny them entrance into the corral.

He used to let Gary and I explore every inch of this place when we were little.

What reason could he possibly—

"Sorry, but quite a few of Gary's pokemon are past that fence," said the professor, understanding full well that Ash was taken aback, "I made a promise to the two of you before you set off on your journey that I wouldn't disclose any information to either of you in regard to the other's pokemon. I know it would be difficult to figure out which specimens in the corral might belong to my grandson, but I'd rather not open that can of weedle. I don't believe it should come as a surprise to you, but when I give someone my word, I take it very seriously."

Ah, I see…

That makes sense.

"No problem," replied Ash with a sincere nod, respecting the professor's principled integrity, "I get it."

"I knew you would," answered the professor with a soft smile.

He enlarged the pokeball in his hand as his smile turned into a smirk, "and just to be clear, I'm not playing favorites. If you had any pokemon in the corral, I wouldn't let Gary cross that bridge either."

Ash chuckled, "I figured as much."

"Wait a second," interjected Bill, using one of his index fingers to point at himself in an animated manner, "I have nothing to do with the promises that you made to Ash and your grandson, professor. Why can't I go inside the corral?"

"No can do, Bill," answered the professor, shaking his head and wagging his finger, "if you've become good enough of friends with Ash to where you would accompany him to a sleepy little town like Pallet, I'm afraid the corral is off-limits to you as well. I can't run the risk of you passing along information."

"What information!?" retorted Bill, clearly peeved, "I've never even met Gary! How the bloody hell would I know what pokemon are his!?"

The professor crossed his arms and furrowed his bushy brow, "your short temper reminds me of your father when he was your age, so I'll tell you the same thing that I always used to tell him. No amount of yelling is going to get me to change my mind, Montgomery!"

The professor and Robert know each oth—

Ash shook his head, realizing that he was being stupid.

Of course, they do…

They're both titans in related fields.

Bill gasped before making a childish pouting face in response to the professor putting his foot down.

Ash rolled his eyes.

It was times like this that he was reminded that his wavy-haired friend was a spoiled billionaire that was used to getting whatever he wanted. So, when he didn't, his reaction was almost always guaranteed to be off-putting.

Good thing he has plenty of redeeming qualities.

"Oh, come on, Bill. What kind of look is that?" groaned the professor, "you're a grown man. Instead of pouting, you should be setting a positive example for Ash."

"Don't mind him, professor," sighed Ash, "he's just not used to being told no. He'll get over it."

"Like hell I will…" muttered Bill under his breath with a snide expression, "just you wait, professor. Pretty soon I'm going to be here all the time. At some point, when you're not watching, I'll sneak away and enter the corral just to spite you."

So much for those redeeming qualities…

"Huh?" queried the professor, perplexedly wrinkling his nose, "did I just hear you say that pretty soon you'll be here all the time? What reason could you—"

"Ignore what he just said, professor!" interrupted Ash while frantically waving his hands, "let's just focus on Growlithe and Arcanine for now."

"For now…?" questioned the Professor, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head to the side, "I had a feeling something more was going on the moment I realized that a Montgomery was in the room. What's the real reason that you've come to visit me, Ash?"

He gulped.

Sometimes he forgot how intimidating the professor could be.

"Errr… th-there's something that Bill and I h-have to talk to you about after we're done seeing A-Arcanine."

Bill's smug smirk turned into a guilty frown, recognizing that his immature behavior had put his friend in an uncomfortable position.

The professor raised his hand to his chin as he meticulously examined Ash's demeanor, "is there a reason it has to wait until after Growlithe sees Arcanine? You're nervous, so it must be important. Why don't you tell me now that way you can get it off your chest?"

"I c-can't," responded Ash, anxiously scratching the side of his face, "it involves showing you s-something, and I can't t-take it right n-now."

"Why not?" pressed the old man, glancing down at the two oddish that were still frolicking around him, "there's no one else close by other than these two."

In an attempt to regain his collectedness, Ash took a meditative breath through his nose, "I'm sorry professor, but I can't take it out in the open. It's too risky."

The old man's entire disposition changed after hearing Ash's resolve. His bushy eyebrows arched, and his lips parted just enough to show his growing curiosity before he broke eye contact to ask Bill a question, "this is a really big deal, isn't it?"

Bill wiped the contrite look off his face and nodded, "professor, big doesn't do it justice. It's bloody massive."

"I see…" mulled the professor, scratching the gray hair on the back of his head, "I guess we shouldn't waste any more time then."

Professor Oak tossed the pokeball that he had been hanging onto into the air. Once it clicked open, and the beaming light that was released vanished into the daylight, a graceful, purple bug/flying-type hovered above them, flapping its beautiful white wings with black venation.

"Butterfree, could you please track down Arcanine for me and send her our way?" requested the professor, glancing down at Ash's pup, "tell her it's urgent, but don't mention that there's a growlithe waiting for her. I want it to be a surprise."

The flying insect's two black antennae wiggled, its large, red eyes glimmered, and the round, light blue snout in the center of its face vibrated as it let out a joyous squeal. A second later, the butterfree's wings emitted a soft, whirring sound as it took off past the river and fence before ascending over the top of the corral's forest habitat.

"Is that butterfree yours, professor?" asked Ash, squinting his eyes as he watched the dual-type's form steadily grow smaller while it flew farther away in search of Growlithe's mother.

The old man shook his head, "no, he actually belongs to—"

He cut his sentence short, seemingly bothered, before bringing his hand up to his mouth and blatantly faking a cough.

"Butterfree belongs to another trainer that I sponsor," he resumed disconcertedly, "I was logging his measurements in the data room when Thomas informed me that you were here."

Ash raised an eyebrow.

Did the professor really just slip up?

…Does Gary have a butterfree?

Hmm…that's definitely unexpected.

"Nice try, professor!" jeered Bill in-between laughter, "you should consider investing in some acting classes. That was a bloody masterclass on how not to play it cool after a verbal miscue. Now, Ash knows that Gary has a butterfree."

For a split-second, Ash thought he saw a look of relief on the professor's face before he exaggeratedly slumped his shoulders and lowered his head.

"Darn it," groaned the professor, culpably scratching the back of his head, "let's just pretend that never happened."

"No can do, professor," quipped Bill, sarcastically wagging his finger in the exact same way that the old man did earlier, "unfortunately for you, once a slip of the tongue happens, there's no taking it back."

As the old man's nostrils flared, and his jaw tightened, Ash fully expected to witness an explosive comeback.

However, it never happened.

The professor let out a deep sigh as he exasperatedly used two fingers to rub his right temple, "fair enough. I'll have to tell Gary that I screwed up."

Huh?

First the slip-up. Now he's caving in.

Something's off…

This isn't like him.

Bill blinked a couple of times in a confused manner. It was apparent that he was just as surprised as Ash that the professor had conceded the exchange so easily.

"Ah, that's no fun," muttered Bill under his breath, clearly let down by the fact that his hijinks didn't get the escalated reaction he was looking for.

Ash shook his head exasperatedly.

Why does he always have to be so—

A-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Ash's thought was interrupted by the loud, impassioned sound of a powerful canine's howl, coming from somewhere deep within the corral.

Growlithe's tail started to wag like a rapid-fire metronome before he excitedly let out a resounding bay of his own.

The dark-haired boy couldn't help but smile.

"It sounds like Gary's butterfree spilled the beans," laughed Bill.

The professor shook his head with a big grin on his face, "I doubt it. It's way more likely that Arcanine just noticed Growlithe's scent. You better brace yourself, she'll be here any sec—"

VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!

Ash was forced to grab ahold of his cap in order to stop it from flying off of his head when a large, orange and black blur that stirred up a sizable gust of wind rocketed out of the forest, streaking right past them at an absurd speed. Subsequently, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Growlithe as he rapidly turned around — all the while loading up power in his hind legs in preparation to catapult himself forward.

"Go get her!" bellowed Ash, beaming from ear to ear as he turned to watch.

The pup took off, leaving a flurry of afterimages in his wake as he chased after his mother.

She gradually decelerated, lowering the velocity of her Extreme Speed so that her son had a shot at keeping up.

The orange and black blur and Growlithe's slew of afterimages expertly weaved around the many alert pokemon — who had stopped what they were doing in order to witness the scene — as the distance between the two canines abated bit by bit.

"Absolutely brilliant!" exclaimed Bill with enthusiasm in his voice, "look at them bloody go!"

"Growlithe's Agility is remarkable for his age!" lauded the professor, "I can tell by Arcanine's movements that she's having a blast!"

"So is Growlithe!" replied Ash, excitedly tugging on both of the straps on his backpack.

Good for you, buddy.

For the next several minutes, they kept at it. Each time it looked like Arcanine was going to let her son catch up to her blurry form, she sped up, mischievously leaving him in the dust. However, despite her lopsidedly superior speed, Growlithe never got discouraged, giving chase with the type of tenacity that would make any mother proud, including his own. Just when Ash thought that they might never stop, the fully mature canine slammed on the brakes, sliding across the grass until she came to a sudden halt. Growlithe reacted right away, throttling out of his full tilt Agility before settling into a middling lope.

Woah…

It had been quite some time since the young trainer had laid eyes on her, but now that the details of her form were no longer obscured by the ridiculous rate at which she moved, he was instantly reminded of just how incredible of a specimen she was.

Professor Oak's arcanine was close to eight feet tall with a gorgeous orange pelt marked by black jagged stripes. The shaggy, cream-colored fur that sprouted from her head, muzzle, chest, elbows and ankles perfectly matched her billowing tail, and her orange, diamond-shaped ears, round, black nose, adamant, black eyes as well as the two sharp teeth that protruded from her upper jaw portrayed an air of regality.

He'd seen quite a few arcanine since he started his journey — including Kent's dominant, shiny specimen — but none of them held a candle to her.

Growlithe's mother was truly legendary.

After meticulously observing her son's appearance while Growlithe cantered towards her, Arcanine sounded a low, concise bark, causing the pup to come to an abrupt stop just shy of her position.

That was fun, but this is the moment that Growlithe's been waiting for…

With authoritative, yet loving eyes, Arcanine looked down at him.

Desiring her affection and approval, Growlithe looked up at her.

Without checking to see if the professor and Bill had followed his lead, Ash hastily moved forward, keeping his eyes glued to the two canines. They remained still for a while, which allowed the young trainer to get much closer before anything he perceived to be significant happened.

Suddenly, while letting out a soft, but high-pitched growl, Arcanine stretched out her forelegs. Then she lowered her chest and raised her rear end into the air, entering a play bow. Initially taking his mother's lead, Growlithe got into an identical stance before divulging a jovial yip. Arcanine happily barked back as she gestured with her head and lifted one of her front paws off of the ground before raking it against the grass a few times, enticing her son to make the next move. The pup didn't need to be convinced. While maintaining his posture, he bounced from side to side in attempt to incite a reaction. He looked delighted to see that she followed along, perfectly replicating his actions. As they took turns mirroring each other, their movements evoked an expressive dance, and the canine utterances that they vocalized resembled a spirited conversation.

The dark-haired boy was completely enthralled.

So much so that he wanted nothing more than to drop his backpack and join them, but that wasn't an option.

The moment belonged to them…

And even though Growlithe was his best friend, Ash knew his place.

The exuberant game that the two canines were playing ultimately came to an end when Arcanine stopped dead in her tracks, sitting down on her haunches before letting out an inviting groan. Despite the fact that he was panting heavily as his tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth — which was more than likely a byproduct of his prolonged use of Agility while he was chasing Arcanine earlier — Growlithe's ears perked up and his tail wagged rapidly as he bounded over to his mother. After the fully-evolved canine finally permitted that the space she had intentionally kept between them could be erased, the mother and son wholeheartedly embraced.

"I haven't seen Arcanine this happy since the day that Growlithe and his brother hatched," said the professor, patting Ash on the back as Growlithe brushed up alongside his mother while receiving several affectionate licks to his face, "I can tell this means everything to her."

It means everything to Growlithe, t—

Ash's eyebrows arched, and his lips slightly parted.

Wait…

Brother?

"It doesn't get much better than this," stated Bill, smiling as he casually placed his hands behind his head, "it's moments like these that remind me of why I became a pokemon researcher."

"That's one of the most thoughtful things I've ever heard come out of your mouth," quipped the old man with a sarcastic smile.

Bill shot the professor a glare before crossing his arms in annoyance.

"Professor, did you just say that Growlithe has a brother?" asked Ash as he attentively watched his pup and Arcanine begin to mirthfully wrestle.

Ignoring Bill's non-verbal fit, he turned to Ash with a look of confusion, "Ash, my boy, I'm fairly certain that I told you before we decided Growlithe would be your starter that Arcanine had hatched two growlithe pups."

The young trainer's eyes widened, causing his forehead to wrinkle as words were somehow pushed from deep within his unconscious mind to the forefront of his thoughts and perceptions.

Arcanine.

Hatched.

Pups.

Gary.

Birthday.

Present.

Temporarily disregarding the strangeness of the anomaly that was taking place inside his head, Ash pieced it together the best he could.

Gary must have been given Growlithe's brother as a birthday present.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure he had two pokemon on him when we met in Viridian…

I know I was excited about getting a growlithe as my starter, but how could I let something so important go in one ear and out the other?

Was I that much of an idiot back then?

Was I only thinking about mysel—"

He shook his head in attempt to escape his meandrous rumination, realizing that he was falling into a mental pit that consisted of detractive thoughts about himself.

"Oh, yeah… I don't know what I was thinking," said Ash, sheepishly scratching the back of his head with a fake toothy grin on his face, "you gave the other one to Gary for his birthday. I guess I just got confused because I didn't know if it was a male or a female."

The professor brought his hand up to his chin, "ah, yes, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I didn't mention gender."

The old man proceeded to breathe out a massive sigh of relief.

"Phew! For a second there, I was starting to second guess myself. I've already had one gaffe today. I don't know how I would have been able to face Gary if I'd had another one."

A drop of sweat formed in the top right corner of the boy's forehead as he quietly tittered.

"Hey, guys," said Bill, snapping his fingers in front of their faces in order to get their attention.

He pointed towards the two canines, "Growlithe having a brother is certainly a riveting topic of conversation, but I think those two are waiting for you to go over there."

After focusing his line of sight back on the mother and son, he saw that they were both comfortably lying down on the grass, cheerfully barking as they looked their way. They both periodically gestured their heads backwards in a herding motion that Ash interpreted in the same way as Bill.

It was an invitation.

He hurriedly jogged over to them as he listened to the professor grumble behind him.

"It's not like you two don't have legs! Did all that running around with Extreme Speed tire you out, Arcanine!?"

Brushing aside the old man's snarky remarks, a giant grin formed on Ash's face as he approached Growlithe and Arcanine, "that looked like a lot of fun, buddy. I think that was the best I've seen your Agility look yet."

He bent down on one knee before using both of his hands to ruffle the fur on his pup's neck. Growlithe responded by sounding a low-pitched moan as he nuzzled his head against Ash's chest.

The young trainer turned to face his best friend's mother.

"Hey, Arcanine, it's been awhile," he said, maintaining his widened smile, "it's great to see you again."

The mature fire-type let out a soft, affable growl before leaning forward to tenderly rub the side of her muzzle up against Ash's cheek.

Feeling ticklish, the dark-haired boy laughed prior to running his fingers through her mane, "he's grown a lot, hasn't he? I hope you're proud."

Arcanine pulled back enough so that she could intently gaze into Ash's brown eyes. Then she divulged an affirmative, close-mouthed bark while giving a slight downward nod.

An overwhelming sense of excitement surged throughout his entire body. He looked back at Growlithe as an even bigger grin than earlier blossomed on his smooth face.

"See, Growlithe! I told you there was nothing to worry about!"

His pup pointed his snout up in the air, letting loose a prideful and spirited howl before wedging himself in-between both Ash and his mother.

Professor Oak and Bill fondly watched while Ash and Arcanine inundated Growlithe with warmhearted affection. The prodigious canine repeatedly nestled, snuggled and licked her son as the young trainer scratched, stroked and tousled his best friend's fur. The doting display lasted a couple of minutes, until Growlithe had to wiggle his way out from between them in order to catch his breath.

Ash chucked, "did we overwhelm you with love, buddy?"

Growlithe shook out his fur before nodding and letting out a playful yip.

"We did our job then," said Ash, turning his head towards his pup's mother, "right, Arcanine?"

After picking herself up off the ground, she briefly looked over her son with tenderness visible in her black eyes before barking in agreement.

"That was special," said the professor in an earnest manner as Gary's butterfree fluttered above his head after returning from the corral at some point during the moving moment, "I'll never forget it."

"Neither will I," replied the young trainer.

There were a lot of things that he'd seen throughout his journey that he wished he could forget, but this most certainly wasn't one of them.

Unsurprisingly, Bill wiped the happy tears from his eyes as he cleared his throat, "b-bloody hell, after witnessing such a beautiful exhibition of l-love, I'm starting to miss my own m-mum."

The old man sighed as he reached into his lab coat pocket and took out a handkerchief.

"I kid you not…" said the professor in a prolonged manner as he handed the small piece of white cloth to the wavy-haired billionaire, "you Montgomerys could end a drought with all the tears you shed."

Bill didn't respond as he took the handkerchief and immediately blew his nose into it.

"Welp, if either of you wants to burn that once he's done with it be my guest," groaned the professor to Arcanine and Growlithe.

Heeding the old man's suggestion, Growlithe made his way over to Bill, seeking an opportunity to show his mother the growth of his internal flame.

Ash snickered.

"Don't get carried away, buddy. It's just a handkerchief."

As Bill purposefully prolonged the amount of time it took to clear his sinuses in an attempt to get a reaction out of Growlithe, the professor turned to Ash.

"Anyway, my boy, as much as I'm dying to see what you've brought to the lab for me to take a look at, I'm also very interested in finding out what kind of team you've put together over the past couple of months."

He paused, shaking his head with a look of disgust on his face, "ever since you asked me to help you turn off the 'captured pokemon' feature on your pokedex after that dreadful experience you had on the SS. Anne, I've been completely in the dark when it comes to what pokemon you've caught."

"Oh…when we did that I didn't realize that it blocked your ability to see my pokemon as well," replied Ash, without giving any attention to the comment about the SS. Anne.

"Yes…" said the professor dejectedly, "unfortunately, when I designed the software, I didn't think to include an override option on my end, so any integrated features that are disabled by you become inaccessible to me."

"I see…" drawled Ash, scratching the side of his neck as he tried to remember what pokemon he had when he decided to inactivate the feature.

Let's see, right after the SS. Anne I had…

Growlithe.

Pidgeotto.

Clefairy.

Ivysaur.

Charmander.

Squirtle.

Haunt—

Just like his mother, he came to the conclusion that the professor couldn't possibly know about any pokemon he caught after squirtle.

"Do you want me to just tell you?" asked Ash with a shrug, knowing full well what the professor's answer would be.

"Actually, there's a reason that I brought this up now," responded the professor with an eager smile, "since we're already outside, I was hoping that you could introduce me to all of your pokemon."

The dark-haired boy smirked, "sure, let's do it.

"Oh, come on, my friend," interrupted Bill as an irritated Growlithe incinerated the handkerchief that the billionaire had finally tossed up into the air, "we just bloody did this last night with your mum. It's going to take even longer with the professor wanting to examine every little detail."

The professor narrowed his eyes while leering at Bill, "you better shut it, Montgomery. It's your fault that I even have to ask. If it weren't for the fact that you pulled some strings to have Ash's carry limit removed so early on in his journey, I'd have some of his pokemon running around my corral right now."

"Really, old man, you're going to nag me about that now!" retorted Bill, furrowing his brow, "I called you right after I talked to Lance! You didn't seem to have a problem with it at the time!"

"I don't have a problem with it!" replied the professor, raising his voice, "I'm just pointing out that, because of what you did, I don't get to take care of Ash's pokemon!"

"What are you even saying!? The fact that you're even bringing it up clearly implies that you have a bloody problem with it!"

"Hmm… I don't know, professor. Bill kind of has a point," cut in Ash.

"Ash, let me make this clear, I don't have the slightest issue with you keeping all of your pokemon on hand," insisted the professor, calming himself down, "I just—"

"Yes, you do!" blurted Bill, unable to contain himself.

The professor's jaw became tense as he clenched his fists, "no, I don't!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No, I don't!"

"Yes, you do!"

Ash sighed as he unclipped Pidgeot and Clefairy's pokeballs from his belt.

If everything works out with the egg, I guess I'm going to have to get used to this.

XXX

"What are those for?" asked the gray-haired researcher, raising an eyebrow with his arms crossed while Bill laid a couple of towels down on the vinyl tile.

"You'll see," replied Bill with a cheeky grin.

The professor grumbled, "this had better be as good as you guys are leading on."

Bill glanced over at him, likely debating whether he wanted to answer in a witty manner, before giving an earnest response, "trust me. It's better than anything you can imagine."

The old man straightened his posture and started to restlessly tap his foot, "I see…"

"Professor, I'm going to have to let out Blastoise," stated Ash, placing the depository case that contained the egg on the old man's desk before unclipping his fully-evolved turtle pokemon's pokeball.

"Is that really necessary, Ash?" queried the professor as he eyed Growlithe and Arcanine, who were lying next to each other on the floor by the door, "it's already pretty tight in here."

"I don't have a choice," answered Ash sincerely, "knowing you, you're going to want to inspect it for a while."

"What does—" the professor shook his head, stopping himself mid-sentence, "never mind, go ahead. The more, the merrier."

After choosing an open section of the professor's private lab room, the young trainer pointed his water-type's pokeball at a declining diagonal angle before pressing the return button. When the red beam of energy and the subsequent white light subsided, the bulky, shelled reptile surveyed his surroundings. As soon as Blastoise noticed Bill, squatting down next to the overlaying towels, he slowly made his way over, recognizing immediately what it was that he had been called upon to do.

"I know I just told you this out back, but I still can't quite wrap my mind around the fact that you've got a blastoise before Gary," sighed the professor, placing his hand on the side of his face, "I can only imagine how he would react if he found out."

"I'm sure his wartortle isn't far behind," replied Ash, retrieving the depository case from the professor's desk, "he's Gary Oak's starter after all."

He shifted his attention over to his turtle pokemon, "Blastoise, if you see any liquid, you know what to do."

Without making a sound, the shelled beast nodded his head.

"Thanks, buddy."

"Liquid?" muttered the professor under his breath — just loud enough for Ash to hear.

Disregarding the old man's comment, the young trainer proceeded to advance through the menu on the depository case before selecting the option that had been automatically named 'unknown item' when he originally deposited the egg. Once the word 'withdraw' appeared on the touch screen, he placed his eyes on the professor.

"Professor, before I take it out, I need you to promise me that you won't tell anybody about it — not even my mom."

The old man bit his bottom lip as he processed what the dark-haired boy had just said.

"Ash, my boy…" said the professor in a drawn out manner, "how can I make a promise like that without knowing what it is?"

The ten-year-old boy stood tall, realizing that he needed to be firm, "I know it was upsetting when I told you about what happened on the SS. Anne, but this is different. I'm not trying to be rude when I say this, but even though Bill and I could really use your help, I can't take it out unless you guarantee me that you will keep it to yourself."

The professor's eyes initially widened, indicating that he was surprised by the young trainer's unyielding words and behavior, before Ash noticed a significantly strange glimmer of recognition in his expression that lasted for a fraction of a second.

What was that?

Did he just realize something?

Ehh, it was probably nothing…

"Don't worry, my friend," reassured Bill, who was shockingly even-keeled, "the old man will agree to your terms once he knows what he's dealing with."

"I need to know beforehand," answered Ash, keeping his attention fixed on the professor while waiting for a response.

As the gray-haired researcher gazed back, looking into his brown, resolute eyes, it was fairly obvious to Ash that he was trying to ascertain something.

The intense, long-lasting visual lock eventually came to an end when the professor let out a deep sigh.

"Alright, alright — whatever it is, I promise that it will stay between us."

A radiant smile formed on Ash's face as he relaxed his tense muscles, "you're not going to regret it, professor."

"How could he!?" blurted Bill, "he's about to lay eyes on one of the greatest discoveries in the history of Kanto!"

"One of the greatest discoveries in the history of Kanto!?" parroted the professor, abruptly changing his tune as he quickly shuffled over to where Bill was still kneeling down next to the towels, "if that's the case, let's get this show on the road!"

Ash couldn't help but laugh.

Unsurprisingly, now that the professor was no longer bogged down by the weight of having to make a decision, he was beaming with excitement.

"Okay, here we go!" exclaimed Ash, pointing the depository case towards the towels before pressing withdraw.

Once the blue ray of energy that poured forth from the depository case illuminated the area where the towels were laid, Bill repositioned himself so that he was sitting cross-legged while the professor anxiously waited to see what was revealed. As soon as the light from the high-tech storage device receded, a thick block of ice that contained a sublime, limpid egg made of hallowed hailstone came into view. Cloistered within the crystalline egg's frozen shell was a glowing pink and black embryo in the form of an avian. It oscillated several times per second, resembling a rapid-paced heart rate.

Immediately noticing the little bit of liquid at the base of the block of ice, Blastoise emitted a gentle, low-velocity Ice Beam that blocked Ash's view of the professor's facial reaction.

"W-What is— G-Good h-heavens! I-Is th-that what I th-think it i-is!?" stammered the professor.

"That depends on what you think it is, professor," replied Bill, with a sarcastic smirk.

Once the professor's countenance was no longer obstructed by the manipulated streak of ice, an amused smile appeared on the boy's face.

Accompanied by an intrigued Arcanine and Growlithe — who just wanted to stay close to his mother — the old man's lived-in mug was a mere inch away from the ice as he scrupulously analyzed what was inside.

His complexion was flush.

His mouth was agape.

And his body was trembling.

"It's a-an ar-ar-articuno egg, i-isn't it?" stuttered the professor.

"It is," answered Ash, with a simple nod.

"Bingo!" exclaimed Bill, "we have a bloody winner!"

As Arcanine entrancingly sniffed around the block of ice, the professor was speechless for a minute, likely trying to grasp the realities and ramifications of what the possession of such a creature would mean for Ash.

"Profess—"

"Th-this is a-absolutely u-unprecedented. H-how o-on earth d-did you c-come across s-such a thing!?" spurted the old man, breaking his silence.

"Before I tell you the story, there's something I need to ask you," replied the dark-haired boy in a serious tone of voice.

"Wh-what is it, my boy?" queried the professor as he looked at Ash with his dilated eyes.

"We need to create a special incubator in order to hatch it."

The old man listened intently.

"Bill's already laid some of the groundwork, but without the use of a lab, we're kind of stuck."

With his mouth still wide open, the professor nodded along.

"After discussing it, we both decided that you were the only person we could trust."

His eyes magnified even more.

"The incubator has to be capable of being stored in a depository case without entering suspended animation."

The professor muttered something to himself under his breath. Ash could tell that the gears in his brilliant mind were already starting to turn.

"As you can see, it also needs to be able to maintain a freezing cold temperature at all times."

"I-I see…" said the old man, placing a hand on his chin.

"So…would it be alright if Bill and I used your lab?" asked Ash earnestly, figuring it was probably best for him to stop beating around the bush.

"Pretty please, professor," begged Bill as he clasped his hands together and dramatically batted his eyes.

Ash knew that the likelihood of the professor refusing was low, but he said a prayer in his head to an unknown higher power anyway, in order to soothe his nerves.

After taking a meditative breath, the old man shook free from his flabbergasted state of being before addressing the young boy and the wavy-haired billionaire as calmly as he could.

"I will allow you to use my lab under one condition," stated the professor as he stood up tall and held his index finger out in front of their faces.

There was no need for the old man to say it out loud, the young trainer already knew what his demand was going to be.

"Of course you can help with the incubator," replied Ash with a big toothy grin, having already anticipated that the professor wouldn't be able to sit back and accept having a passive role in such a monumental project.

"But, I didn't even—"

"I know I've been giving you a hard time," said Bill, scratching the back of his head semi guiltily, "but I'd never expect you not to be involved after asking for such a big favor. I've got too much bloody respect for you to do something like that."

Professor Oak shifted his attention between both of them before bursting out into laughter, "golly, have my actions really become so predictable in my old age."

Ash chucked, "I wouldn't say that. I think I just know you pretty well at this point."

Bill nonchalantly shrugged, "in my opinion, predictability when it comes to something like this is a good thing. I don't think there's a single worthwhile pokemon researcher in the world that wouldn't jump at an opportunity like this."

The professor smiled, acknowledging both of their responses before his eyes wandered back down to the pulsating egg, "so we need a sub-zero incubator that is unaffected by suspended animation when it's put into storage…"

Ash and Bill both nodded.

After racking his brain for a couple of minutes, he pivoted his line of sight back to Bill, "it's going to be difficult, but I can't think of anything that would make it unachievable. I'm assuming you've brought what you've got so far, Montgomery."

The wavy-haired billionaire smirked as he removed a small depository case from his pant pocket, "I've got my notes and sketches in here. I don't have a blueprint yet, but I'm getting bloody close."

"Perfect," said the professor with a no nonsense look on his face as he made his way over to his desk, "would you mind taking them out? I'll look them over while Ash tells me how he came across the egg."

"Not a problem," said Bill as he began to tap at the miniature screen on his depository case.

Now for the hard part.

Ash took a deep breath as he prepared to walk a tight rope between telling the professor the events that took place on the Seafoam Islands while not giving away his identity as the Chosen One.

XXX

As they left the large group of portable canopies that made up the outdoor market in the center of town, Ash held a couple of brown paper grocery bags that contained several of the ingredients that his mother needed for the udon she planned on making for dinner as soon as they got home.

Strolling alongside him, on the dirt path to his right, were Growlithe and Eevee, who were both in a chipper mood after getting to breathe in the many pleasant scents of the natural foods that their trainer's friendly neighbors were selling at the market, and walking to the left of him was his mother, who was gleefully humming as she carried a grocery bag in one arm and a jubilant Clefairy in the other.

"Are you sure we shouldn't have gotten enough food for Bill, honey?" asked Delia as a sudden look of concern appeared on her unlined face, "what if he's hungry when he gets back from the lab?"

"He told me not to bother," said Ash with a shrug, "since he won't be back until late, I'm sure he'll get a bite to eat with the professor."

Delia sighed, "Okay… hopefully, Bill's more responsible when it comes to taking care of himself than Samuel, though. I swear, if it weren't for me and his assistants, that man would starve to death."

"Bill's used to being on his own, so there's no need to worry about him," answered Ash.

He paused as he flashed his mom an amused smile, "as for the professor, no comment."

Delia giggled before raising an inquisitive eyebrow, "Speaking of Samuel, how was your visit?"

"It was good. I introduced him to all of my pokemon, and Growlithe got to see Arcanine, which was amazing."

He turned his head and looked down at his best friend, "right, buddy!?"

Growlithe nodded as he let out a jovial yip. After the quality time that he got to spend with his mother, the pup was clearly still on cloud nine.

"Aww, good for you, Growlithe," crooned Delia, "I wish I had come along. I would've loved to see that."

"We're going back tomorrow after I have an early training session with some of my pokemon," said Ash while shifting the angle in which he held one of the grocery bags in order to stop a spring onion from falling out, "why don't you join us?"

"That would be lovel—" Delia started to say before having an abrupt outburst of excitement, "I assumed you would be heading out in the morning! Does that mean you're going to be staying home tomorrow, too?!"

Ash came to a stop, chuckling in response to his mother's overjoyed reaction, "I actually planned on talking to you about this tonight over dinner, but since it's already been brought up, I guess I might as well do it now…"

"What is it, Ashy?" asked his mother, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"There are still some pokemon I'd like to track down, and I have to go back to Pewter and Viridian to beat Brock and Giovanni, but now that I've got a saddle for Pidgeot, I can fly pretty much wherever I want."

She blinked a couple of times in confusion, "what do you mean?"

"Well… I've already seen most of Kanto, so it doesn't really make sense for me to spend the next five-plus months all on the road while I'm preparing for the League tournament."

"Honey, what are you—"

"I'll also have to go on trips to get supplies, and there are quite a few people that I met during my journey that I'd like to go visit."

"Ashy—"

The thought of an imminent confrontation involving many of the most powerful forces in Kanto and the abomination popped into his head.

"Not to mention, I have a few other things that I need to take care of—"

"Ash Ketchum, will you please stop rambling and just tell me exactly what you're getting at!?" shouted Delia in frustration.

"Uh…yeah…sorry, mom," replied Ash with an awkward smile."

If it weren't for the fact that his hands were full, he'd sheepishly scratch the back of his head.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that, as long as you're okay with it, I'm going to be home quite a bit until after the League tournament."

His mother went silent as she processed her son's words.

"H-honey, if you're messing with me, it isn't funny," stammered Delia as Growlithe, Eevee and Clefairy fixed their eyes on their trainer with looks of enthusiasm on their faces.

Ash earnestly shook his head, "no, I'm serious. I wouldn't joke around about something like that."

Utterly shocked, Delia dropped the bag of groceries that she had been carrying as Clefairy anticipatively jumped from her arms.

"R-Really? You're not p-pulling my l-leg?"

"Yes, really," laughed Ash, "I'm not pulling your leg."

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

She reached out with both of her arms before pulling him into a tight embrace. It reminded him of when he first came home, except this time, he could breathe.

"I don't have words for how happy this makes me," whimpered Delia in a soft trembling voice.

Growlithe cheerfully barked.

Eevee warmly yipped.

Clefairy heartily murmured.

And Ash wrapped both of his arms around his mother.

The next several months would bring a lot of uncertainty, but there was one thing he knew for sure…

The love of his mother was always there to help him push through.

XXX

To be continued…

XXX

A/N: First things first, I want to say that I hope all of you had a great holiday season and Happy New Year! The end of 2024 was crazy for me, but if any of you saw my most recent profile update, things are clearing up. I wrote the majority of this chapter over the past three weeks, so hopefully it's a sign of what my schedule will look like in the coming months. As for the content of Kanto 20, I know it's similar to Kanto 19 in the fact that it's very dialogue heavy. Kanto 21 should have a lot more action for those that enjoy that aspect of Essence more than character-driven chapters like this one. Anyway, please review if you have the time! Your thoughts on each chapter are always appreciated!

Thanks for reading!

Much love, vincentgrey21