Enjoy!
"Huh?" he says but he's completely and utterly alone in this very dark place.
A loud clap of thunder gets his attention and he makes the mistake of getting out from under the ledge he woke up at. Rain soaks him the moment he sets foot onto the pavement but he quickly ducks back into a spot where he's got a much better outlook on what's happening. Zekrom is creating this badass storm that's directly coming his way and instead of being scared, a delighted smile pushes its way onto his face. Ash feels the camera and his phone in his pocket so he quickly takes it out, to take a picture of these lightning bolts.
He's not very successful, though able to get a portion of the mad storm on video as these bolts of all colours are way quick but oh, so beautiful. Don't ask him why he's not afraid of the possible mortal peril he's in but Ash is way too excited to one: see this thunderstorm up close and two: to get a chance to see the legendary pokémon again.
"Hi, Zekrom!" he yells out as soon as the big creature is close to him and much to his delight, hears him.
The legendary pokémon lowers itself onto the roof of this tall building in front of Ash, the storm it created following swiftly. There's so much wind, it's roaring like wild, on the loose herds of pokémon and the rain is pelting the roofs of all the buildings with the streets getting a good power wash out of it too.
"Can you make it thunder, please!?" Ash yells in question, trying his best to be louder than the storm so that Zekrom can hear him.
It hears him just fine, though, the sky is suddenly lit up in hundreds of lightning bolts and yes, yes, the boy got the picture of the big, black pokémon in front of him, eyes focused right at him and wonderfully illuminated by the colours in the sky. The loudest of all thunders booms and claps through the sky and Zekrom grins at Ash as he cheers him on, clearly amused by his enthusiasm. The pokémon keeps powering up the wildest of storms just for his amusement and it's perhaps it's not the best sort of situation for this city but the teen has never seen a storm like this before and Zekrom is clearly happy for the cheering.
The tall buildings sway as the wind toys around with them and the rain falls in streaks on the streets. Ball lighting suddenly tracks through the wet layer on the ground and Ash is utterly delighted the camera captured the sight of this orb gliding through the water, at nowhere in particular, just choosing the path with least resistance. Zekrom roars one last time and Ash remembers having waved at it but then he's back in his bedroom, shaking and feeling oh, so cold all of a sudden. The excitement from earlier leaves him completely as he realises he's drenched through his clothes and that his bed has also gotten wet… but his pokémon are dry?
Ash doesn't get much time to think about what he is going to do, he's suddenly in the bathroom but the reason for his sudden arrival here is standing right next to him so that isn't mysterious at all.
"What did you do?" Mewtwo asks.
"I think I went to Black City," he answers and the pokémon baulks.
"You did not leave your room, I would know."
"Well, perhaps in my dreams then."
"By all means, this should not have gotten you in the state you're in but please, clean yourself up. It's early enough that you could get away with washing your bed linen before anyone thinks you wet your bed."
Ash would've scrambled into the shower if it wasn't for the lack of his prosthesis. He does sort of crawl into the shower, pulling his drenched pyjamas off and Mewtwo likely went to get his dry day clothes as he's left completely on his own. The warm water does him a lot of good, he feels fuzzy as soon as he's dressed again and hah, Mewtwo fetched his not-so-ironic T-shirt Will gifted him on his first ever, properly celebrated birthday.
"I feel like that is fitting for today, as it has already gotten quite weird," the pokémon says after it teleported him back to his bedroom so that Ash could get his prosthetic limb on.
He decides not to correct his legendary friend, though he's still thrilled by the memory of having been so near to the natural habits of such a powerful legendary pokémon. Even as the washing machine is spinning, Ash sits in front of it wondering if he really did something that pleased Zekrom. It must feel nice to be accepted for all that you are, both the 'bad' and the 'good', it's a morally grey decision of his but like, Zekrom is so cool! If only his dream camera and phone duo could've been his real ones, that would have been fire! Still, he still needs to put his sheets in the dryer and then go make his bed before he can even check if there's anyone who got even remotely close to taking the pictures he did.
Kozzy does come out to help him, even if it's only to keep his sleepy pokémon from trying to lay on the bed as he's putting the sheets back on but also confirms that Ash never went anywhere. He gets that but if that's the case, why was he still so soaked from the storm? It makes no sense whatsoever and the teen sags in the seat in front of his desk. Nothing would make him happier to have the pictures he remembered taking in this weirdly realistic dream but what are the chances of that, huh? His door suddenly opens and while Mewtwo and Kozzy just go 'poof' and disappear as soon as it does, his uncle's face comes peering past the door.
"Ah good, you're already awake," he says, in this sort of hushed voice. "I don't want to cook for this whole bunch but I figured you'd like some pancakes."
Ash can't get out of the seat fast enough, of course, he would like some pancakes. He snatches Meep and Pikachu off his bed and while Pikachu is sort of awake and trying to balance on his shoulder, Meep is still fast asleep and limply hangs from the arm he's carrying her in. Lance is amused when Ash drapes the pokémon onto his lap so that he can eat but in the end, Pikachu loses the battle against sleep and if it wasn't for his reflexes, the pokémon would've fallen down. But no, Ash catches Pikachu and just lets Meep hold onto him for now, that way, he can sort of prop up the dragon pokémon and hold onto both pokémon and still have a hand free to eat.
Cynthia is also awake and lucky to be on his uncle's good side as he is still making pancakes but he definitely stops as his batter runs out and likely, his enthusiasm and desire to cook running out as well. The woman is pleased to be sitting with them and reaches for the bottle of water on the table but then pauses after she tries to open it.
"… Do you have water from this bottle?" she asks him and Ash watches her curiously.
"Yes? We both have," he answers as he remembers Lance pouring a glass for himself first and then fixing one for him before the man started baking the pancakes.
"This cap is… it's still closed," she says and while Lance looks up, a little weirded out, Ash just holds out his free hand.
"Wait, I can help."
Cynthia passes the bottle over and he just cracks it open without too much fuss because yes, this cap closed on its own again but heck if he's going to spend any time trying to make sense out of that right now. Not when he's literally gotten soaked in real life by a storm happening in his dreams.
"There you go," he says and hands her the bottle back over.
"Thanks… But it really was closed, wasn't it?"
"Sure was but you know, sometimes, things aren't worth breaking your head open for."
"No, no, you're right," Cynthia agrees, though still gives the bottle a weird look.
Nevertheless, the water isn't jinxed and Ash is quick to sort of change the mood when he thanks her for the gift he completely forgot to open. The comment breaks the ice and she just smiles, telling him not to worry much about it as she kept forgetting to bring it over too, in fact, she's completely forgotten what she even bought for him.
"It's a music box," he answers, still delighted with the dainty gift no one but Cynthia would buy for him. "Though I've heard the tune it plays before, I just… it's on the tip of my tongue, ah, so frustrating."
"Well, if it's any consolation, I never really knew it was a music box. I just liked the look of it but well, me and gifts… we have a troubled relationship."
"You're doing fine, you shouldn't take the blame when people are too entitled to say 'thank you' and deal with their opinion somewhere that isn't straight into your face," he answers and she chuckles.
"Woke up and choose reason today, huh?" she asks and nods, appreciating his mood even though unaware of what created this smile on his face. "You told Lucian well yesterday too, just to let you know, I wasn't aware you had a Porygon at all, Ash. It just looked like a battle item and since you are a trainer, it seemed like a good idea."
"It was and like I said, some things don't need to be that deep. I've loved every gift I've gotten from you so far so I'm happy. Also, even if it's a gadget or something small, I don't need help seeing how ungrateful some people can be."
"But your mother made you this grateful for even the most useless gadgets, Ash," Cynthia says and the statement seems to hurt herself more than it has impact on him.
"And? I can't change that, I know what she did and I'm ready to move on. So far, I've had a lot of joy from all the gifts I've gotten, my phone, this T-shirt, and even Meep. Sure, everything has a story behind it, some good, some… not so much but I'll be the last person to tell you to change because I love you a lot, Cynthia."
She smiles a little watery at him, though hugs him tightly just before leaving the kitchen, leaving him and his uncle by themselves. Lance hasn't said much but he's smiling so all is well and the pancakes are delicious. Today is going to be great, he is looking forward to scrolling down page after page on the internet to see the photographs of Zekrom online, if anyone manages to take one, that is.
"Will called me earlier this morning," his uncle suddenly says and Ash perks up.
"He has? Is he okay?"
"More than okay, he's been discharged and planning on coming back," the man says but continues after seeing the boy's incredulous expression. "They gave him blood thinners and the blood clots in his system weren't that big initially, though still a threat to his health, they've shrunk under the effects of the medicine specifically designed to combat blood clots. So you're going to have his full attention today, just so you know."
"I don't mind, I hope to be able to tell him just how persistent pokémon can be, especially when they like their trainer," Ash answers. "But I'm way happy hearing he's okay, I was worried about him, it was scary seeing just how much he neglected his health just because people told him to do so."
"About that, can I ask what you did to find out what was wrong with Will?"
"This," the boy says as he raises his right hand and looks through his Aura at his perfectly alright uncle.
However, Lance will have had a great view of the small, crescent line in his palm opening to reveal a full, glowing eye looking straight at him. Needless to say, Ash doesn't respond to his uncle swallowing hard.
"So… What do you see?"
"Your health, actually."
"… Is everything good, then?"
"You're okay," he says and Lance sags in his seat. "Why, do you feel like something's wrong?"
"No, no, it's just… Ash, I don't understand why Riley ever thought you to be scary, this is just care, isn't it?"
"Yeah? That's why I forgave him, I can't help it if he spooks himself but I was there when he finally came to his senses. I don't want to hurt nobody, even though my Aura has become a little lighter, it couldn't have been mistaken for red, not now or at the time he claimed it was red."
"That's the colour of your father's Aura, though," the man answers and shrugs. "It's not like he had an especially driven need to cause harm either but his Aura is a deep, crimson red. Blood red, to be honest, yours is much lighter."
"Gurkinn gave me a book but it doesn't say much about colours, in the sense that they have a bigger difference in power than any other Aura user," Ash answers. "But the man also called Riley out on his Tauroscrap so I'm not going to sit here and claim he wasn't being a dumbass, being scared of me."
"I'm not, I admire you a lot. And I wanted to ask you something, in regard to that comment Clair made yesterday."
"What did she say, then?"
"You don't remember? About me not having gotten you a gift?"
"Oh, that, I didn't forget but if you hadn't reminded me, I surely would have. Why, did she have a point?"
"Not at all, I did get you a gift, I just can't give it to you now and I was hoping to keep it a secret."
"I mean, you still can? I don't need to know, like I said, I'm grateful to you for putting up with me and my shenanigans. I'm glad you got me a gift but you didn't have to, you know?"
Lance just smiles and reaches over to give his a kiss on the forehead, before sitting back in his seat. He seems lost in thought so Ash leaves him be, if that little smile on his uncle's face can be an indicator of the gift he has, the boy figures he's got something to look forward to. However, this random sneeze of his catches him off guard.
"The heck did that come from?" he asks, mostly to himself because he's not sure if his uncle was paying that much attention.
"Maybe a stray hair from Pikachu floated up?"
That was oddly specific, it's the last week of December now so if there's anything a pokémon doesn't do if they have hair, or rather fur, is losing it. Because it's cold outside, pokémon don't shed at this time of year so yeah, whatever. He's warm and fuzzy after these pancakes, they were good enough to warrant a little nap on the comfortable couch. Lance won't mind it if he goes to have a snooze, it's early and there's no one else awake to hog the couch. Meep and Pikachu also could benefit from a bit more sleep, he ended up going to bed late last night, or rather, morning so yeah, a nap sounds good.
Oh, where is he now? It's warm but it's dark outside and all he sees is a red glow of something high in front of him, in the distance. He's attracted to it but Ash doesn't know where he is or how to get there. As fuzzy as he is feeling, not helped by how humid it is here, the teen figures that he's looking at a volcano. He's not sure why he feels like it is one, as he can't see the shape of it clearly but the sight reminds him of having stayed on Cinnabar Island. Yeah, that's what it looks like, where that daredevil Gym leader Blaine is at, though Ash isn't sure whether he'll be able to look that man in the eyes any longer as Mewtwo recognised his name from its past. That can only mean one thing and the teen knows that he will need all his willpower not to push Blaine into the active volcano unless this gutsy person has proof he wasn't a part of Team Rocket or even affiliated with them.
He shakes his head, the chance of him ever seeing this Gym leader again is small. And he has better, more pressing matters to attend to, namely trying to figure out where he is. But it sure is humid here, drops of sweat tickle his forehead and wiping them off does nothing to stop the itch. He's out of breath as he blindly walks around but his eyes adapt in the dark. So far, Ash can tell he's in some kind of forest and the smell of salt water drifts past him. He spots this big pond but a rustle behind him makes him turn around. Nothing to be seen, of course. But he's got his dream camera with him again so even if Ash can't see anything, he still takes a picture from the ground up into the trees with this panoramic program he's read about in the booklet that came with the camera. He never minded what his phone received from the camera, it'll only scare him if he takes a look now… because there's this mood in this place that puts him on edge. A brush of warm wind just comes a little bit too close and Ash can't stay still. He goes down this hill, straight to this pond that's a lot bigger when he reaches it. And just when the boy takes out his camera as he believes he sees something move, this big Water-type pokémon jumps out of the pond.
"Whoa," Ash utters as the pokémon lands in the pond behind him, one he hadn't noticed before.
Whatever that creature was, it was huge but well, he's not staying here just in case this is one of the rare meat-eating pokémon out there. His Aura doesn't work here but he's dreaming again, isn't he? But if that's the case, why do the pokémon here see him… or are they also not real? This is all very confusing to him, especially when he follows the trail down the hill and arrives in a city. The place looks like Celadon, like these buildings are put down here for tourists but then again, maybe he's found the place where all the tourists who like this kind of style come from? Ash isn't sure, though continues his way down towards the end of this city. He smiles when he smells the sea, it's a familiar scent, after all. Having grown up in Pallet Town, the only thing he misses is the seaside. The rustling of the waves and the soft, warm sand was always his go-to solution to get the cobwebs out of his head.
While he's grateful to Lance for housing him, as he told him recently, Ash misses the beach a lot. But then again, he doesn't have that many cobwebs living in Mahogany either so maybe that checks out. He plops down on the sand, figuring it might end up in his pockets but right now, he doesn't care an awful lot. As strange as it is for him to be sitting on his own, without a pokémon to mind, he's unsettled by the lack of weight on his shoulder. And that's when the sand next to him comes to life, it's… a sandcastle? The teen blinks but makes no move to touch this strange pokémon as it doesn't approach him either… and he's sort of glad for it too because a much, much bigger version suddenly rises up behind that small one. He's able to take one picture before the sight is gone so yeah, he's convinced that these were Ghost-type pokémon but what the heck was up with the size of that big one? That pokémon was nearly as big as a house, talk about one heck of a sandcastle!
Ash sits there, a little befuddled as he doesn't expect any more of these pokémon to pop up like those ones but still, expect the unexpected, right? Nothing happens for a while so his eyes start to wander and land on the moon… and frowns. Did the moon just get a little smaller? He remembers it being a full one but now half and being crescent? As he keeps watching, the moon starts to disappear in front of his eyes, though he stares long and hard at it. And then, just when he thinks it couldn't get any weirder, the moon becomes red, with this beautiful, white edge going to almost blue where the sun's reflection persistently hits the edge of the moon's surface.
"Wow," he utters and fiddles with his pocket to get his camera out.
And he takes the picture, Ash doesn't see anything move but the water makes a noise and the loud splashing sound indicates something moved. So now he's sitting there, trying to look at what moved in the sea but it's even darker now that the moon isn't too visible, being red like that. The teen would've checked his phone if he was able to get it out of his pocket but his dream doesn't seem to allow it. And he's bothered now, why does he feel the need to keep taking these pictures when his phone might not even register them in real life? It's not like this dream seems to want to end so he might as well take advantage of being here, at this beach. He kicks his shoes off and sinks his foot into the sand, smiling when the familiar feeling of the comfortable sand perfectly folds around his feet.
Wait.
Feet?
His hands find their way down his legs quickly and he gasps. He's got both his feet! O-oh, this has to be a dream but then, why does he feel his eyes get all teary, he's happy it's not like he-
A cold hand suddenly touches his forehead and the moment Ash recoils, he knows he's no longer dreaming. When he opens his eyes, he notices his nose feels stuffy and his head hurts… and he barely sees Steven through the tears in his eyes.
"Hey buddy, are you okay?" the man asks, making it harder for the teen not to continue crying.
He can't deal with this, not now. Especially not when Steven is looking at him with pity shining so brightly in his eyes.
"'m Sorry," he mutters but he's done for, his voice breaks and it's gotten his pokémon's attention too.
"Chu?"
"It's stupid, I-I had a dream, that's all."
Pikachu eagerly presses his face into Ash's palm, the pokémon's twitchy nose is nice and cool and it calms him down slightly but not completely.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Steven asks, still looking concerned but at least not overly so.
"I… I was at a beach," he answers, figuring he can get away with at least telling them why he's sad. "I like the beach and how the sand feels so I took my shoes off, both of them and I… I had both of my feet still."
"Oh, buddy," the man sighs but pulls him into a sideways hug.
"I'm sorry, it's stupid of me."
"It's not, it's really not at all, Ash," Steven says. "We all have these strange dreams that make sense and then don't and it must have hit right home because you only had a light reaction to your accident."
The teen looks up at him, watching him very carefully because as far as Ash remembers, his reaction wasn't that light. It was just that he had a lot of other things to mind.
"You can look at me like that all day, I know I would be way more upset from the get-go than you are right now."
"… It's not like I don't mind, it's that I don't have another choice. You can kick and scream at the unfairness of the matter but it doesn't change anything. But I wouldn't… have thought about it this way if it wasn't for that dream."
"I won't pretend I understand, all I want you to know is that your feelings towards the accident and your prosthesis are valid. And even if you are calm and have accepted it, it doesn't mean that it can't be raw to be confronted with it again."
Ash nods and looks down, though leans his head against Steven's arm, feeling a little forlorn. He liked that dream with Zekrom's storm tormenting Black City much more than this one, it highlighted all his weaknesses and that red moon… Ah, if only his phone captured something, that would have been great but it's likely a bigger dream than the ones he's been having. Instead, he focuses on how dizzy he suddenly becomes when he sits up.
"I also think you caught a little bit of a cold," Steven says, explaining what the man was doing, putting his icy hand on his forehead.
"I'm going upstairs for now," Ash sighs. "I'm not feeling so good."
"Are you sure? You've spent a lot of time in your room as of late," the man says and the boy looks up.
"But I'll just infect you with this cold?" he asks, unsure what to do now.
"Try me, I've got a titanium immune system," Steven chuckles.
Apparently, everyone in this room has it, except for him so Ash just agrees to watch a movie with these people, not sure if he'll make it to the end because he is tired but if Steven wants him to fall asleep against him, who is he to try and change his mind. Cynthia seems eager to get him to choose a movie but he's not keen on many of them until he sees the one he watched a couple of days ago. There doesn't seem any issue with watching 'Belle' with him, even Lorelei looks interested. Is it so special for him to make a choice or something? Either way, Ash cradles the cup of hot chocolate his uncle hands him. And it's funny, Mr. titanium immune system gets kicked out of the couch and Lance settles next to him which the boy appreciates as his uncle's hands are warm and he's wearing a nice, soft sweater so leaning against him is very cosy.
He can't remember the time where he was able to do something like this, even Brandon is watching the screen intently, like… it's silent. All these people with such big opinions are suddenly so silent, it's amazing. But then again, maybe it's him but back in Pallet, no one complained when he left them to their own devices. Having his uncle's arm slung around his shoulder is a comfortable feeling, it's alien but good alien. He's very comfy and feeling fluffy, perfect for a nap but he likes this movie too much to close his eyes. That doesn't mean he doesn't fall asleep but by the time he does, the movie has ended and Lance has him resting over the full length of the couch. It's alright, though, being sick is a good excuse to hog an entire piece of furniture and Ash isn't aware but Lance will gladly sit on the floor to keep a close eye on him and make sure no one, not even the boy's pokémon, disturb his slumber.
Wallace squirms in discomfort when it's clear he can't pull Lance's attention away from the sleeping boy for even a split second. He really wants to ask the man something but he doesn't dare speak up this closely near the man since he could risk waking Ash. And Wallace doesn't even care if Lance would rip him a new one, he would never forgive himself for waking up the clearly sick boy. So when he sees Karen pass by, knowing she's going to pick up Will from the hospital, he decides to take the risk and follow her.
"Karen? Do you think you could pass by Goldenrod for me?" he asks and she blinks in surprise.
"Do you need something?"
"I…" he utters, looking back into the living room, a little afraid someone might overhear him. "I want to get Ash some clothes."
"Didn't Lance get some when he knew Ash was going to stay here?"
"Yes, but nothing airy. What's the boy going to do when he's in a region that's so much warmer than Johto? Or Kanto, for that matter?"
"Oh, holiday clothing, huh? Sure, I'm sure Will would be all for helping. He's grateful to Ash for having looked out for him so I wouldn't be surprised if he would ask me to go to Goldenrod for a little gift either."
"That'd be great, really," Wallace says, secretly jumping for joy inside.
He's quick to tell Steven he's going to leave for a little while and while his partner looks at him in question, all Wallace can squeeze out is that he promises he's not going to buy another boat. And while this makes Steven smile widely, it stings just how stupid he had been and all he can do is laugh it off, not knowing what else to do. Karen isn't a troublesome character either, she likes to drive her car, whether or not someone is in there with her or not. Once at the hospital, Will is already waiting on the outside, waving when he sees the car approaching.
"Well damn, you would've gone on foot too, huh?" Karen chuckles, not even getting out of her car as she's able to park right next to him. "Was the stay there that bad?"
"Nope, but I don't enjoy being there. Too… many people. And the noise these carts make when they roll down the hallway, gah, why do they even have these deep grouts between these floor tiles?" Will complains as he clambers into the passenger seat right next to her but all it earns him is a gentle pat on the shoulder.
"Well, you're clearly ready to leave, so let's. Do you mind if we pop into Goldenrod for a bit?"
"That would be perfect, are you reading my mind?" the young man chuckles, looking a little surprised.
"I just know you pretty well, I guess," Karen says. "And then again, Wallace did want to go there too."
"Oh?" Will asks and it's clear he's only now spotted the man in the car, who waves a little sheepish at him from the back seat. "Whatever for?"
"Holiday clothes for Ash," she answers in Wallace's stead. "But talking about summer clothes, how sure are we Ash is going to want to wear shorts? We had a good look at how he truly felt about his accident and prosthesis, I never realised just what sort of effect it must have had on him either and I feel so bad about it now too so I don't want to force him to do something he doesn't want to either."
"He had no qualms showing me his prosthetic limb, though," the man in the backseat pipes up. "So maybe not really shorts? Maybe a bit longer so they don't see the part that connects his leg to the prosthesis?"
"Let's just see what the stores got, do you know his size, by the way?"
"I do," Will pipes up happily. "I asked Lance before I went to get Ash the T-shirts for his birthday but he also sent me the size of the trousers since he wasn't aware of what I wanted to buy."
"Great, that's a good start, then. Let's get going, then."
It's not that far to the department store either and Will's quest for something small is quickly completed since he finds the ever so daintiest charm of a Cutiefly. Now, Karen does warn him that it might give Ash an idea of what surprise Lance has planned for them but when Wallace finds a nice sleeveless shirt with a zipper, Will claims he might as well hang the charm on that zipper. So seeing he won't change his mind, she leaves him be. And then he has this idea to go and get donuts for everyone so yeah, they're all being kept a little busy in that department store.
However, the teen still peacefully asleep on the couch is already somewhere else again, though he can't keep himself upright in that dream either and feels even fuzzier than in his previous dream. Two little pokémon dart into his field of vision, they're purple with darker details on them but pretty cute so Ash smiles.
"Impy!" one of them says.
"Dimpy," the other says.
He chuckles, they're pretty cute indeed and before he knows it, they speed off. Before he's able to push himself up, this very big pokémon comes to pick him off the ground and helps him walk straight. And well, despite the grizzly look this huge pokémon is sporting, it has a heart of gold to walk ever so slowly so that the boy can keep up with it.
"Sorry," Ash mumbles. "I got a cold."
"Snarl," it says and leaves him be for a while, dropping him off in the most ethereal-looking place Ash has ever seen.
It's pink, purple and blue, he's not sure where the light is coming from but he sees big mushrooms and he blinks because he sees another pokémon approach him. The tall, unfortunate-faced one is there too and for a second, Ash figures that the second pokémon is small but perspective makes him see that this tall one is just… well, huge. Needless to say, this second, fabulous one is pretty big too but as this pokémon darts closer and closer, he sees the grown-up version of Bonbon, just in purple and pink, instead of yellow and green. The pokémon quickly pushes its nozzle against his arm and drops a strange-looking leaf on his lap.
"Rapi," it says and pushes its wet nose against his arm again.
"Err, hi," he answers, confused and tired.
"Rapi," it says again and repeats the action, now pointing its wet nose towards the leaf in his lap before pushing against his arm once more.
Ash isn't sure what to do, his head sort of hurts and he's not on top of his game at the moment but then the other pokémon puts their huge… well… hand on him and motions for him to eat? He's even more confused now, though, do they want him to eat this leaf? Apparently so, he's unsure of it but heck, this wouldn't be the weirdest thing he's ever done… but as soon as he's got this leaf in his mouth and chews on it once, he feels his headache lift. Once he's done chewing -it doesn't even have a bad taste and the texture is a little like a cabbage leaf- Ash feels as good as ever, all that's left is his confusion over this situation but this is another one of these dreams he knows isn't going to make sense to him, no matter what.
So he thanks the two pokémon for their care and well, the tallest one of the two, with the smaller one being the Rapisdash he believes to be Bonbon's final evolution, starts grooming him, like, actually going through his hair and searching for something on him and he doesn't stop the pokémon from doing so since it's pretty funny to him. These pokémon sit with him for some time, in fact, it's only when the Rapidash looks up, that Ash spots the sun looking a little… weird. The sky starts to change colours too but he refuses to believe he's been sitting here for too long, his bottom isn't even near being numb which it usually does after sitting on hard soil. But after having a dream of a Blood Moon which is basically an eclipse of the moon, he's now watching the sunlight change so drastically that he believes he's watching a Solar eclipse… Why, though? What does it mean? Is this what Kozzy meant by this cosmic disturbance? And is he really to blame for any of this?
"Impy!"
The little pokémon is back, with another one following closely.
"Dimpy," it adds and both these pokémon make themselves at home on his lap.
Ash feels the larger pokémon's hands on his shoulder tense slightly and the Rapidash keeps putting its nose against his arm, which he knows pokémon who aren't comfortable tend to do. So are they nervous because of this eclipse? He sure isn't, it's just the moon's shadow sliding ever so slowly over the sun, it's a big deal to astronomers, astrologers and some unfortunate superstitious people but Ash isn't part of any of these groups and doesn't even look at the sun because he knows he shouldn't look straight in the sun at any time of the year, be it an eclipse or not. The last thing he wants now is to go blind, he'd break his neck over the first thing in his way, not to mention the major disability of only having one, properly functioning leg left. Still, he's at peace here, next to these pokémon but again, he's determined to eventually take out his phone when he wakes up and have a look whether all his pictures are real… So now he takes a photograph of the Solar eclipse, which isn't perfectly timed but he's hoping to have the smaller pokémon's ears sort of sticking in front of the scene. And Ash sits there for a while longer, gently stroking through the Rapidash's luscious manes and the larger pokémon continues its grooming but all of a sudden, a loud voice rings out.
"Lorelei! Please forgive me!"
He sits up, no longer in the forest but equally confused when he sees his uncle scramble upright from the floor, loudly proclaiming about how he's 'had it' and Wallace sort of darts behind the wall which is also a little bizarre, to be honest.
"The heck?" he asks, looking around at all these incredulous faces around him.
"I figure that's Lorelei's ex-boyfriend," Brandon says, face grave.
"… I bet he's a Scorpio," Ash answers and the man turns to him, grave expression gone completely.
"How'd you…? You know what, never mind," the man chuckles and leaves it be.
For now, the teen has no idea what in tarnation happened, he's feeling right as rain again, though but Steven doesn't believe that for a minute and as such, suggests they play a little game, to see if he's really feeling so good as he claims he is. It's simple to win from anyone who thinks they're better than him because they're older but Ash has the advantage of having a couple of friends who want him to win so while this could certainly be classified as cheating, no one's making a remark on it, rather more intent to try and beat him. They've even roped Agatha in to try and beat his poker face but nope, Mewtwo's all-seeing eyes and mind are unbeatable. Cynthia seems aware something is up as she tries to make him guess what card she's holding but he's not going to blow his cover and the pokémon don't even like this type of game, since it's not challenging enough for them and thus, don't help him.
It's only after they convince Lance to play a game with him that Ash deliberately loses as he also notices that there are quite a lot of people suddenly missing. Including Agatha who he swears had been sitting in the same seat Lucian is currently asleep at. But he's amused when his uncle blows off all of the suspicions of him having cheated since the man claims that he wouldn't have been able to win from someone who cheats.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some cleaning up to do since some people don't even know how to leave a guestroom tidy," Lance says and he sounds very annoyed so Ash doesn't ask him where everyone went.
However, it's a bit of pretence since Lance just has better things to do than try and help unmask his boy's cheating, if he even cheated at all. He's quite charmed by Wallace's thoughtfulness, the idea that Alola has a different climate than Johto completely passes him by since he gets all the more annoyed at his guests. But now he's facing the daunting task of putting all these new clothes in the laundry and drying them without Ash noticing anything. So far, it seems like they've changed plans and got the boy enthused with another game so he's not at risk of getting caught but still, he pauses when he sees that the washer and dryer are… well, clean. In fact, the filter of the dryer is still being aired out, something only one person in this entire household thinks of.
"What's the matter?" Wallace asks, noticing his sudden silence.
"… Someone has already used the washer and dryer today. And I can tell just by the way it was cleaned that my boy did it but… but he's been with us all day, hasn't he? I sat next to him most of the time and if it wasn't me, it was Steven who kept an eye on him so when did he…? Wallace, I'm so confused."
"Am I allowed to be annoyed that a teenager's way of cleaning is so noticeable? Because that's something normal teenagers don't even think about."
"Please, don't, I know but it's not a bad thing, it's just something I noticed and for once, it's a useful habit."
"Yes, but I will scream if he doesn't know what donuts are."
"Please, no, Ash knows what his mother did to him, just be kind and don't put him in the spot," Lance all but pleads. "He knows what he's been missing out of but you saw exactly why he's still got a therapist for earlier today. It's the first time he opened up to his actual feelings about his accident and even if he rebuffed Steven's sympathy, he's never mentioned anything of the sort before. So if you keep getting upset because of something his mother did, he's not going to say anything any longer either because he doesn't want you to be upset."
"So you're not mad at what's happened?" Wallace asks, knowing where Lance is coming from but there has to be a law against people like this, right?
"Yes? But so is Ash, just a little different because he realises damn well what has happened to him. He just never was able to do anything against it and at some point and time, his mother was all he had left. That's until pokémon came into his life and he started depending on them since she clearly couldn't be bothered and we're damn well seeing the effects of this still. You heard how he would have rather called himself stupid as if Steven would have believed that sort of excuse but it wasn't until Pikachu got into it too that Ash started speaking about it. And I know that it's not fair but it is what it is. Like my boy said earlier this morning, he can't change what's happened but it's not rolling with the punches any longer either. And it's us who are making such a difference for him now so don't give him any more toxic traits to copy like his mother did."
"Toxic traits?" the man repeats, sounding affronted but at this point and time, Lance doesn't care whether the truth hurts.
"Getting upset because something isn't going to way you would have preferred it, isn't what I would call a healthy response. Especially since it's unavoidable at this point, I thought you would have already made up your mind not to give Ash any more reasons to dislike people."
"… I could tell that. He'll do favours but further than that… Surely this can't be because of his mother, though?"
"It's not," Lance sighs and leans heavily against the dryer machine. "It's one of the many peeves I've got about Alola, it's the fact that the Principal of that big school there is professor Oak's brother."
"Then avoid it altogether, can't be too hard, can it?"
"Yes, except for the immensely likeable pokémon professor who is a teacher there and will likely get Ash interested."
"Not as a student, I feel like there's nothing anyone can tell the boy anything about pokémon he doesn't know yet. Pretty sure if that professor is able to catch him unaware of something regional the boy couldn't possibly know, Ash will just plain up go and ask the pokémon itself, he's just that practical and that's also a trait I really like about him."
"Not taking a person's word for something, you mean?"
"Not when it comes to pokémon, no," Wallace says. "I remember all the lessons I took and not even a year later, everything I learnt was proven to be false or entirely the other way around."
"Alright. Don't project on him, though, I get where you're coming from but the last thing I want any of the Island Kahunas from Alola to have, are suspicions that Ash can communicate with pokémon."
"Oh… You might have a point there. Are you sure this is going to end up as a holiday for you, Lance? With all these worries eating away at you?"
"I'm not worried about Alola, Ash is pretty capable of telling people to go away too so it shouldn't be a problem to enjoy ourselves there… But I have a suspicion that we might end up to our neck in some sort of business."
"Sounds like you know more than I do, why don't you share that load with me? It's no good trying to swallow every issue either."
"You've not heard Alola is trying to get into the pokémon league?"
"Don't they need to have a yearly tournament in order to get accepted there?"
"They do, yes. Take a wild guess when professor Kukui has it planned and no, I didn't know about this in advance," Lance says but Wallace's face lights up like a Christmas tree.
"Oh but Ash is a brilliant example of a pokémon trainer, a specific example but a wonderful participant, nonetheless," the man answers and sure, he nods along in agreement but still…
"And that's what I call being up to our neck into business."
"Don't be so gloomy, if there's anyone able to put a spotlight on Alola, Ash is the perfect trainer for the part. And I've just made sure he'll look the part too so don't worry so much, Lance, it'll be alright. Even if those Island Kahunas have a stick up their behind about how Ash is more in tune with pokémon than they'll ever be, it doesn't mean that they usually aren't chill about matters that don't involve them. And if anything, a group of islands in such a natural environment will do the boy so much good, as a young boy but also as an Aura user."
"Maybe you're right. I just hope Ash feels the same way about it too."
But then again, his boy had been looking forward to Kalos too and while Lance isn't sure whether his presence is going to make any difference in the amount of Tauroscrap that usually happens around Ash, he'll be damned if he's going to let it up to chance. Even if the region is sticky enough for his boy to want to stay, so will he. If Mr. Goodshow made it clear to him that online meetings were a thing, that he didn't even need to leave his house to do his job, well, that means he doesn't even need to be home for it either. And yeah, he'll get it organised, for once, Lance actually will be having a holiday, knowing fully well that Ash made an effort to stay out of trouble when he was around, as there aren't any Gym leaders in Alola to make the kid any moodier either.
Lance, however, pauses again when he pulls out a pair of shorts out of the two bags full to the brim of clothes. They're not exactly normal shorts since they're a little longer but still…
"Really?" he asks, giving Wallace a doubtful look.
"It's worth the shot."
It certainly is, the man sure did his best to find these clothes which is why Lance paused. It'll be a waste of time and money if Ash won't use these, he's never even considered buying anything but regular jeans and trousers since the prosthesis was extremely noticeable and he's always known his boy wasn't happy with how his future turned out, especially not how a pokémon would ever hurt him so badly. Yes, Ash tried blaming everything but the pokémon but in the end, it's impossible to pin it on anyone else since the boy was at home, already suffering from a mysterious injury… there's nothing that condones the sudden attack on him, absolutely nothing.
"Hey, Lance?" Wallace pipes up, still snipping tags from his recent purchases.
"Yes?"
"You said you were worried but is it really just about the people there? Those Kahunas aren't that bad, right?"
"They're not, no."
"Then why are you feeling that way? Is there something you think Ash won't like or something?"
"… Yes," Lance sighs and flings the next piece of clothing roughly inside the washing machine since the idea of this issue already frustrates him. "Alola is a perfect holiday area… but that's where the Ultra Beasts who hurt Ash so badly live, or at the very least, appear quite often."
"Oh."
Lance's arms hurt so much after having needed to do the laundry for so long, that he couldn't be bothered to iron it either. Most of the things Wallace ended up buying were synthetic, soft and airy fabrics which were already such a bother to fold as they sort of flutter out of their folded shape if he grabbed them wrongly so yeah, ironing, no way. It's only after he puts everything away that Lance sighs and trails back to the living room, where Will is sort of trying to explain the issue Ash managed to spot but the teen is blissfully unaware as he's fallen asleep again. Strange how much the boy is sleeping today but maybe he didn't have a good night's rest? He did apparently wash and dry something before anyone was awake so while Lance isn't sure what the kid had been doing, it's pretty obvious that his early rising is slowly catching up with him.
However, Ash doesn't get to rest for much longer, the doorbell rings and Lance jumps slightly as he forgot there was still one more guest arriving, someone who he trusts not to make a scene. He quickly goes to answer the door and smiles widely as he sees an exasperated taxi driver zooming away and his good friend in the doorway, looking a little frazzled.
"Do I want to know what happened, or…?"
"Knob heads, the whole lot of them," Leon sighs. "Can't drive but still call themselves professional drivers."
"I wish I could've given you a ride but it's been a bit hectic as of late. But come in, it's chilly out there."
"Thanks, mate. How's your kid been doing? Any issues?"
"Not really, no, just some weirdness but other than that, he's been alright. Bit sleepy as of late but nothing I'm overly worried about yet."
"Did you tell him about his dad yet?"
"No," Lance sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know how to breach it, thought I had some time today but then Wallace went and bought Ash some clothes for the holiday I planned so I ended up being busy with that and I'm not sure whether I can just say it in front of anyone else, I don't want them to meddle or make Ash feel even worse."
"Whatever you do, know I've got your back. I know that the news hurt you as well so let me know if there's anything I can do for you, 'kay?"
"Thank you, I'm just… he's been doing his best trying to please us, he fled upstairs when no one paid attention to him and I think he figured he'd be in the way but the moment he's got anyone on their own, I couldn't be more proud of how he holds himself and treats other people. He's been such a support for Cynthia too but as soon as there's a bit of a crowd, he disappears in the background."
"Yeah, alright, I'll keep that in mind, I'll try not to put him on the spot, though I can ask him about the Dreepy, right?"
"Dragloak, more rather, he's called it Meep. But yes, that's more than fine."
"Oh, he evolved it too? Awesome."
Lance smiles as Leon ventures into the living room, immediately the life of the party too. He's a good friend too, very unproblematic and especially not the person to call someone out on their Tauroscrap. All Lance hopes for is that he and Ash get along, the chances of this not happening aren't big because Leon is as unbothered as any person can come but there's always a chance things can go south. Like Clair, he'd never imagined her to work her frustrations about her situation out on the boy, he would've kicked her out the moment he witnessed one of these tantrums but at the time, neither Wallace nor Steven had the power to do something about her.
"That's way cute, I do that with my Dragapult and she'd bite my head clean off," Leon says, hushed and yep, Ash is pretty good with pokémon alright.
The dragon has made herself at home in the sleeping boy's arms, looking pleased as punch even though she's not sleeping. It's clearly protective behaviour, though Lance has seen Pikachu do the same thing just to make himself comfy and still fall asleep so he's not sure how seriously he needs to take this kind of behaviour. Leon is keeping a close eye on the boy, though, likely also recognising the behaviour of this little dragon but then Cynthia's Togekiss releases itself and well, the easy mood is disturbed by the boy suddenly jumping up, face anything but happy as he feverishly searches for something in his pockets. He's quick to pull out his phone and even quicker to call someone. No one is ready for what he says as soon as the call is answered, though.
"Professor? Professor, you need to take shelter, there's a tornado approaching."
Leon's head snaps so quickly into Lance's direction the man fears he went and broke his neck but no, Leon's fine. And probably, thanks to Ash's intervention, that professor likely will be okay too.
"Ash?" Lance carefully asks as the boy gives his phone a sullen look once the call ends. "Is everything okay?"
"Huh?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay, it's just… I've never seen a tornado like that, a couple of waterspouts, yeah but that… that was a big one. A real big one… If I didn't say anything to her, it would've killed her, for sure, it might still, I dunno, i-it's real big."
Lance quickly grabs him in a hug, his boy is so cold too.
"You're like ice, what the heck, buddy…" he mutters, rubbing Ash's back to try and heat him up a little, though Cynthia's Togekiss has it covered.
The pokémon is nice and warm, settling nicely in the boy's arms and humming a calming tune which will likely end up with Ash falling asleep again. It's weird how in tune the Togekiss is, breaking out of the pokéball at the right time but that also means that the dragon's protectiveness also meant exactly what both he and Leon thought it had. But now that he's got the boy calm and not yet asleep…
"Ash?"
"Mm?"
"I need to tell you something. I… I've been putting it off for a bit now since it's painful to me and sort of sensitive but you deserve to know it as well."
"What's the matter, uncle?" the boy asks, turning fully towards him, face still a little pale but some colour is returning to his face.
It makes Lance doubt whether he should tell the boy now since he's just woken up in fright but he can't keep putting it off, it's unfair to Ash because what if it's too late, already?
"Your father isn't doing so well, he's been very confused and forgetting things here and there, they… the nurses took him to see a doctor and he's been deemed to have a case of young dementia," he answers and can't read anything from the teen's face.
"That's… I don't want to be insensitive, uncle but… do you know when he's been having these issues first?"
"Err…"
"Was it before I told Cynthia she was pregnant or after?"
"Definitely after. Why?"
"Is Red confused about where he is? In the way that he doesn't seem to realise he's still in the care facility and thinks he was somewhere else recently?" Ash asks and now Lance can't make heads or tails out of this but yes, that's exactly what Red's been suffering from.
"Yes? How do you know?"
"It's… been a weird time for Aura users as of late. You might remember something Brandon said about there being a disturbance and sort of blaming me for it?"
"Please tell me there's no merit in his Tauroscrap?"
"No, he… maybe at some point, he was right but no, astronomy and astrology have nothing to do with what's happening," Ash says and nervously scratches his hand, a habit Lance has spotted often when the boy is uncomfortable. "Does Red have any pokémon left or did he need to surrender them all when he was admitted to the care facility?"
"No, he was able to keep his original team, he never caught more than six anyway. Why?"
"His starter pokémon would be ideal to keep him… sort of grounded? Pikachu would be giving me the stink eye all day if I suddenly left anywhere at night or during a nap so he'd realise he never went anywhere if the pokémon didn't act bothered."
"He had a Pikachu as a starter as well, I suppose he'd recognise that indeed," Lance chuckles but his boy isn't so amused. "How about you come along with me tomorrow? We can see if there's something we can do."
"Oh yeah, the Raichu I met. I'm still glad that she's not… you know, a Kakachu," he says and Pikachu is in stitches the moment the strange word leaves Ash's mouth. "What? It's the truth, isn't it? All the other Pikachu and Raichu we've met sort of have this assholery about them that's so not it. There's no way I'd be able to convince such a pokémon to do anything at all."
Pikachu chuckles something but Ash isn't convinced yet.
"Sparky might be an exception but it's been a while since we've seen him. You're not going to tell me this is an age thing, are you?"
"Chu pi," Pikachu answers, still amused though settling back in the boy's arms with years of experience developed smoothness.
"Thought so."
Lance watches his boy with a smile on his face, if this is indeed Red's issue and not the bad omen for his future the doctors claimed it was, that would have been awesome. Ash, however, seems to be able to read his mind.
"I'm more than willing to go see him, uncle, and even more willing to try and help him but… but I don't want to give you false hope either. Doctors, they don't entertain this sort of mystical thing and it might not be helpful either, it's just… worth a shot, I think because if my father has been having the same experiences as me, with the dreams feeling so real, to the point where rain in a dream will literally drench my clothes, to the point where they'll still be wet when I wake up, it's got to be so jarring for him. I didn't notice anything of this cosmic disturbance before Christmas Eve, meaning this is where the disturbance will be at its highest but I'm protected. My father isn't, unfortunately. So… so he might still be ill but this thing might not be… well, it's worth the endeavour, I think."
"You're right, it is certainly worth a try, it can only help. Is that why you ended up using the washer and dryer before?"
"Yes," the teen sheepishly admits. "I didn't… How would I have explained this to you, anyway? It's so weird."
"So where have these dreams been taking you then?" Leon asks and the boy looks up, blinking once and then once more.
"… Leon?"
"Yeah?"
"How long have I been ignoring you?"
"Don't worry about it," the man chuckles. "You clearly have other things on your mind."
"Well… I suppose so. I think I went to a couple of different regions. In fact, you're from Galar, right?"
"Yeah, did one of your dreams take you there?"
"I figure it did, I saw the evolved version of my ride pokémon who was introduced to me as a Galarian Ponyta and there were these two, cute little pokémon where one said 'Impy' and the other said 'Dimpy'. And there was a huge pokémon with about the same colours as those two tiny ones, just a little more hairy. I'm not sure if the place would be familiar to you but it seemed like an enchanted forest with big mushrooms glowing pink, purple, blue and green."
"… That sounds like Glimwood Tangle, actually," Leon answered. "When did you have that dream? Did you see anyone in there?"
"No one but pokémon, they gave me a lead that cured my cold," Ash says and shrugs. "I had that dream a little earlier today, just before Lorelei's boyfriend made that ruckus that woke me up. I saw an eclipse there."
"Hey, but there was actually an eclipse today, it's why I was so bummed that I was on the plane!" the man says, all excited. "Please tell me you got a picture of it?"
And Leon probably didn't mean anything by it but from where Lance is sitting, he has a great view on his boy hesitating. It's clear from the understanding of Red's issues that Ash is also troubled by these dreams, in fact, so is he already because what if something bad happens to the boy in one of them? He can't get to him or even help him, sheesh, Lance doesn't like the idea of it, at all.
"Ah, whatever," the teen then says, throwing his hands up before aggressively pulling his phone back from his pocket. "At least they'll be brilliant 'cause I took them with your gift," he adds, pointedly looking at Steven and Wallace -who both shrink a little under the attention- before focussing on his phone.
And he stills. However, nearly everyone's phone suddenly pings, except for the ones who put them on silent mode, like Leon, who glances at his device after having felt it buzz but considering his eyes widen, Lance knows he got the same news.
"Someone, please, put on the news," he all but begs as he desperately needs to see the live report.
The pokémon league's e-mail made it clear that there currently was an emergency in Unova, that the communications with said region were down and if the professor Ash called was professor Juniper, it would make sense. A tornado obviously is a menace in its own right but to suddenly see the news that has an emergency edition pop up, depicting the natural crisis, Lance very much understands why his boy ended up so upset. It's a big tornado, scientists at the news station claim to have found evidence of it being of an EF 4 category but claim that there is potential of it reaching EF 5, which would be bad news for many of the people living there despite tornadoes being pretty common in Unova. Just not one of this size, Lance is in awe but his attention is pulled away from the horrible news when he hears his boy pray for Landorus, Thundurus, Enamorus and Arceus to help these poor people and dammit, the news is depicting a life feed right at that moment and the tornado literally moves into an open field as soon as Ash starts his prayer and slowly but surely, shrinks until it's nothing but a bit of wind that blows some leaves around, dissipating completely.
And yes, the news channel did say that people witnessed Landorus, Thundurus and a strange, mostly pink pokémon also on a cloud like the other two previously mentioned pokémon on the premises so that prayer did what it intended to so, needless to say, he doesn't bother correcting Ash when the rest of his prayer mostly dissolves in gratefulness. Lance does grab a hold of the child, this must have been incredibly traumatizing for him to not only have that dream that's actually a real-life experience verified but also seeing the path of destruction and distress the tornado created. Lucian clearly also doesn't appreciate the name-calling of Tornadus being to blame for this, though Lance isn't very sure about that being too far from the truth, and switches the channel to a harmless music video show.
"It's noon, shall we get some lunch?" he then says.
"I'm not very hungry," Ash squeaks, still probably too impressed by what happened, which is more than understandable.
"How about some donuts?" Will offers and puts his hands up at Lance's judging look right at him. "It's better than nothing,"
"Right," the man sighs, figuring that it indeed is better than leaving this boy to his own devices.
"I… I'm lactose intolerant, though, will it be okay?" Ash asks, clearly paying attention but sounding so young and unsure that it's raising something ugly and protective in Lance that he knows won't do the boy any good.
"Yes, I know, I kept it in mind. I got you three donuts, one chocolate abomination that's made with almond milk, one that's based on everything coconut, including the base of it being coconut milk and the most normal looking has chocolate ganache over it, which is based on caramel with pure chocolate and on the inside, it's got vanilla pudding made of soy milk," Will says, all too happily and honestly, it's impressive how he indeed paid attention to that oh, so important detail.
"Oh, wow, that's sort of cool."
"I thought so too. Let me go get them for you."
Will chuckles and Karen does follow swiftly, likely to go and get the boxes that had intimidated Lance a little. He's not big on sugar but honestly, this isn't an everyday thing and considering everything, it will do Ash some good to have some more energy if he's indeed been suffering from these dreams so badly. When he sees the teen push himself up a little and grimacing, though, Lance can't help but ask if he's okay.
"Just a bit of muscle ache. Maybe I'm finally growing a little," Ash answers, with a bit of mirth.
That's highly likely but that doesn't mean Lance won't keep a close eye on the boy. It takes Ash way too long to finish that one dark chocolate donut, which can only mean that something is on his mind that's pulling his attention away or that his desire to eat suddenly dropped because something is worrying him too much. Considering everything that's happened today, the man will let it slide, it couldn't have been nice to see that tornado up close nor would Lance have expected his boy to be level-headed enough to make sense of the bad news regarding his father. Especially not since Ash made it perfectly clear that he's considering his feelings too. It's flattering to be respected like that so Lance returns the favour to make sure no one else bothers him but truth to be told, the boy seems fine enough on the outside.
"Oh," Ash pipes up, looking at the TV that's still showing pretty old music videos. "I remember this one."
"You do?" Lance asks, being the one to sit closest to him.
"Mm, that's Beverly Craven singing Promise Me. My mom likes that song a lot, in fact, I'm pretty sure that if I still had that CD and gave it a little push from the centre, it'd come loose at track fourteen exactly. Mom really did put it on repeat so often, the CD reader must have burned its way through the disk."
Right, well, needless to say, no one is surprised when Ash knows the exact lyrics when the TV connection glitches a little but it does tell Lance that he's at least doing his best not to worry anyone. Which just fails miserable on him but that's entirely Lance's problem… Though, in the evening, at dinner, his boy fails to eat much too but again, everyone leaves him be as a lot happened today. And with the connection between Unova still failing due to the damage the tornado created, there's still the issue that they can't be sure that, despite Ash's warning, professor Juniper was able to get herself to safety. Maybe that's what's worrying the teen too, he's often caught looking at his phone and well, he retires for the night pretty quickly. But it's okay, Lance will have plenty of time to speak to Ash tomorrow anyway.
It's literally the crack of dawn when they're on the way to Red's care centre. With the building open all day and night, Lance doesn't foresee any issues getting in and frankly, he wants to avoid the plethora of doctors who usually linger around Red. Ash had been downstairs before him too, so it's highly likely that the teen had as much of a good night's rest as Lance had, which is to say, not much. Yes, the man is nervous, he's never wanted his boy to be right this badly but not nervous enough to blindside Ash's lack of… well, excitement.
"Is everything alright, buddy? You know I won't hold it against you if this somehow turns out faulty, right?"
"Err, I hope so yes. I just want to help my father and I mean, it's been a while since I've seen him. Also, as a mentally unstable, PTSD-riddled Aura user, there's an awful lot of other issues Red could have, next to the cosmic disturbance," Ash answers and turns to him with an easy, though slightly uncomfortable smile. "As many of these doctors will say, it's usually always the mystic mumbo-jumbo that sort of derails the theories they have, not many of them are happy to be proven wrong either."
"Oh, I have my ways, I know who pays for Red's care too, there are always other options," Lance answers. "I'm worried about you, though, it couldn't have been easy, dealing with that on top of that tornado. I'm really sorry I put you in the spot there."
"Please, no, I'm glad you told me, Red has suffered enough already. And it's… it's not that I'm thinking about. All I could do for professor Juniper was tell her in advance so that she could save herself and as many people as she could. But I… I've got a different issue."
"Is there something I can do to help?"
"Not sure," Ash says briskly. "Professor Elm likely but…"
"Well, then after we've visited Red, we'll give him a visit, okay?"
"Mm."
But they don't get to see Red as quickly as Lance would have wanted it, despite the doctor being a little iffy about Ash being there, Lance isn't going into the doctor's office without him so the man just lets go of the small issue and sits both of them down to discuss recent developments.
"Developments?" Lance asks, already triggered by that small word.
"Yes, it seems like we forgot how cunning Mr. Red can sometimes be to go and sneak about and actually read other patients' files to then try and fake having symptoms of that other patient's illness."
"You have to be joking me," he grits out.
"Not quite, it took us a little while to realise why the hospital blew us off like that but it seems that his immaculate test results such as the brain scan showing a perfectly health, fully functional brain irked the professor who was in charge of his case. And it was yesterday evening, when it appeared Mr. Red found it hard to grab his own glass yet managed to snag it before it dropped after a sudden twitch from the nurse… Well, he's currently having a little chat with his psychologist, to see why he's not even doing this for attention."
Lance has already half a mind to up and leave but he can tell by Ash's expression something isn't quite right, he recognises that look.
"How about a properly functional lock with a badge so that people can't start snooping in other people's personal files?" the boy says and the doctor shrinks into himself a little.
"Well, it's an investment that we-"
"This is a private clinic, deal with it," Ash persists. "If this information leaks, it'll be a much bigger wad of cash you or whatever other clown at the top of this organisation is going to need to cough up. And just because my father got tortured and injured doesn't mean he suddenly became an incapable imbecile."
"… We know that."
"Knowing and understanding are two different things. I want some respect for my father, this is probably his tactless taste of humour showing but you are one of the people entertaining his Tauroscrap. But if you know the story of the boy who cried 'wolf' then please try and get it through my father's thick skull that he's being the imbecile we all know he's not."
Yeah, Ash's opinion is a sledgehammer and the doctor appears not to have had his coffee yet. However, it's jarring to hear such words from such a young boy, even at fifteen, Ash does not sound like a child but in cases like these, it's okay as Ash does have a say in Red's treatment also. They don't get to see Red at all, though, especially not when the doctor recalls acts of this 'tactless' taste of humour pretty quickly so Red will likely be grilled a little harder by the psychologist now since this isn't funny. Ash was also right in touching onto the criminal part of this act, though Lance knows he's paying enough for their services so there better not be coming anything out of this.
But yeah, they have a whole lot of free time now, professor Elm likely won't enjoy them being at his doorstep at nine in the morning. So instead, Lance takes his boy to a little café he's visited often through the years, not having any qualms about walking in right after opening time. And it gives him some time to speak to Ash, the boy will have questions, after all.
"I remember he had an awful lot of fun antagonising my mother by putting the round block through the square hole," is the first thing Ash says and Lance chuckles.
"Ah, that does explain a fair bit. I hope you're not disappointed you didn't get to see him?"
"No, not really. More relieved that there was no reason to worry about him, or that I need to feel guilty for something I wasn't aware of. I am, after all, the reason for this cosmic disturbance, it would have bothered me a great deal if he would have suffered from it but knowing he's still the same little shit as he was when I first got to know him sort of relieves me."
"You've got a point, I suppose I already had a bit of hope he would have been alright. Red laid it on thick that he wasn't alright last time I saw him so to hear this… let me tell you, there's relief but also something a little uglier in the feelings I'm experiencing."
"But that's the thing, is it? Dreams are just dreams but if he really had been suffering from dementia, it still wouldn't have killed him. Instead, it probably would have hurt us and tried to kill us from the inside out. Because Red wouldn't have remembered what we meant to him but we certainly would. So it's anything but a nice thing to do but he must be incredibly bored there. They ought to find a way to entertain him or something."
"I bet they will, after what happened," Lance says, still remembering the affronted look on the doctor's face when Ash called him out on his Tauroscrap and unable to keep a smile from appearing on his face. "So far for professionalism, though."
"Eased into comfort, more rather. Would you really have gone there today if it wasn't for me?"
"Probably not, like you said, it would hurt me more than Red so no, likely not, no."
"And you would have kept paying them for any of the tests they did and medicine he actually wouldn't need, right?"
"… Are you saying you would also suspect them of embezzlement…?"
"It's not embezzlement if they don't know any better. But why correct a successful thing? Even if someone suspected something, why bother if you would keep paying them anyway?"
"... Right, maybe I'll pop around a little more often, keep them on their toes," the man utters, for once happy for the criminal suspicions that his boy shares with him. "Are you okay, though? I did worry you yesterday and now you discover your father is more of a clown than anything."
"He didn't need a red nose for me to realise that. The first thing he did when we last spoke was complain about my mother but he married her, knowing fully well what sort of person she was. I mean, it's not because it's the right thing to do but don't complain about things you know were going to happen, you don't walk into a Beedrill nest not fully expecting to get stung, right?"
"Yes. But are you okay?"
"Sure."
"What was that thing in the car, though? Why don't you trust me?"
Ash watches him carefully for a little while before pulling out his pokédex, though being careful not to jerk his shoulder too much or else he'd wake his napping Pikachu curled up on it. He's busy with it for a bit before handing it over to Lance, who takes and he can tell that this is the page where the image of a Typhlosion should have been but there isn't. And the dex page isn't complete, instead, there are three question marks in the text box… though the typing of this pokémon is… weird, to say the least.
"Fire/Ghost-type? Is this the dex page of a delta pokémon?"
"No," the boy answers softly, eyeing the people who enter the café, as if they'll overhear him. "They… He evolved a little differently. I don't know what happened. Buizel was fine, he's a pretty normal Floatzel now and Cookie never noticed anything either."
"Who is Cookie?"
"My shiny Noibat. Didn't you notice I'm not lumbering an incubator around any longer?"
"Ah, my bad. Still, this isn't too worrying, is it? It could be coincidental, right?"
"Not when it happened twice," Ash answers and motions for the pokédex back so Lance gives it to him but gets it handed back quickly too. "That's Samurott's page."
"… Water/Dark-type, huh? Yeah, maybe it's not that bad of an idea to go and check in with professor Elm. Are they good to you, though?"
"Yes, that's not the issue. Samurott has become a little colder to my other pokémon, except for Pikachu and Typhlosion is pretty chill for a Fire-type," the boy answers, shrugging. "I don't think of them any differently either, I just wish… it would make a bit more sense why they evolved differently from all the other pokémon I trained and was planning to train over there."
"Where's 'over there'?" Lance asks, knowing Ash hadn't left the house at night except for that one time with Steven and he couldn't have left at night either because he's got a security alarm.
Any door opening or closing is going to give off a hellish screech that will wake the whole house up so there's no way Ash could have snuck out. The device had worked even when the Dreepy phased through it, needless to say, that only happened once before the pokémon learned it also didn't enjoy the sound the security measure made when challenged.
"… The past."
Right, well, that would also explain a lot, all Ash needed for that was the help of Dialga, who didn't need to open any doors to get anywhere.
"Look," Lance says, sliding his chair a little closer to the table. "I get that it's hard for you to keep still and I'm not going to ask you to quit any of these shenanigans because you need to lose your energy somewhere and if that is something you don't want to share with anyone, that's fine. But don't be like me and keep these sorts of issues to yourself. You're good with pokémon, I'll admit that but at the same time, what if you got hurt?"
"… I'm sorry, uncle. I didn't know how to approach it, no one was paying attention to me and you seemed happy to talk to people. I… I would have told you sometime anyway but I didn't know when."
"I'm not going to be a hypocrite either, I too stalled telling you about Red's faked condition. But let's make this absolutely clear, I'm always there for you. No matter if there are twenty pregnant women around me or the flipping king of some other, faraway region, you will always be more important to me. So if you want to talk to me, I'm always available, okay?"
"Okay. I'm sorry."
"So am I, buddy. How about we order a little sandwich or something and get going, hm?"
And at last, he's witness to his boy actually eating something, if it wasn't for the fact that it was sandwiches yesterday evening for dinner, Lance would have considered stocking up on them but no, it's clearly got nothing to do with the kind of food he's eating and more the people he's eating it with. He'll remind himself to have this sort of conversations with him a bit more often since there's been no one trying to keep contact with Ash, in fact, Lance will likely remain in the background at professor Elm's laboratory and try to call Meyer to ask why the hell his kid who tried to twist everyone's heartstrings so often by saying he missed his friend so much, couldn't even be bothered to answer his friend's messages. Yes, Lance had seen Ash sending Clemont messages, also seeing that it was becoming quite the one-sided conversation from Ash's side.
However, as they gather their things and raise, the boy fails to stand up at once, momentarily sinking back on the chair with a grimace, one hand instinctively going to the spot keeping him seated.
"Ouch," Ash utters, though successfully getting up from the chair, despite Lance's hands already open to help or catch him.
"What's ailing you, buddy?"
"Back pain, I don't know where it came from."
Well, as he keeps a close eye on the boy, Lance figures he might need to make another call soon. After all, Ash has been walking on this prosthesis for a year now and puberty will come knocking soon and seeing that he's walking with a considerable limp… yeah, an appointment with the physiotherapist in Celadon Central might be necessary soon.
"Goodness, it's so good to see you, come here and let me give you a hug."
Ash isn't nearly as bewildered about professor Elm's enthusiasm as Lance is, also the victim of the man's exuberant feelings. Being a professor does sort of get lonely, the teen remembers the times when professor Oak did enjoy coming to visit them, especially in the holidays when Gary had decided not to come back from his research in Unova. However, there's something about the professor's actions that makes Ash feel like the man is genuinely happy to see him.
"I've been hearing a lot about you recently, in fact, I was planning on passing by later today but seeing you came to me instead, I suppose I can introduce you to my recent lodger," professor Elm says, specifically to Ash and oh, as soon as the man calls out to 'Aurea', his heart makes a jump.
"She's here? Professor Juniper is here?"
"Yes, I was notified that she was looking for somewhere to stay, preferably a safe place without too many natural disasters so I happily volunteered, seeing she wanted to be close to you as well. And I've got plenty of room, after all, I… I did buy this house for more people but it just wasn't meant to be."
Ash smiles at the man, putting his hand on his shoulder because he can sort of fill in what the professor would have said in that short while of hesitation instead. After all, professor Oak once was serious about Agatha too but that too wasn't meant to be. He doesn't need to know the man's history to imagine that being alone in this laboratory wasn't planned, or at least, not what he would have hoped for.
"You ought to ask her to make you a baumkuchen, it'll do both of you good," he says, softly so that only professor Elm can hear him.
"You think so?"
"Mm-hm."
Professor Juniper looks a little… shaken but her smile when she spots him couldn't make her any prettier, or at least, that's what Ash feels like. She doesn't actually say anything when she grabs him in a close, comfortable hug and he realises that she doesn't just look a little shaken up.
"Are you okay, professor?"
"You beautiful boy, you saved so many people, you likely have no idea," she sighs, sounding near to tears but he feels like she doesn't want to cry in front of him.
"I'm relieved, I was scared for you, professor, it was such a big tornado too, I've never seen one that big. I just had to let you know, I mean, you would have heard it but then it would have been too late and I just couldn't risk it, you mean too much to me for me not to want to save you when there's something I could do. I prayed so hard for the powerful pokémon in the vicinity to help all of you, you probably have no idea how relieved I am for you and the whole of Unova either," he answers full of concern, looking straight into her teary eyes. "You must have come straight to Johto too, did you get some rest?"
"Let me hold onto you a little longer."
"That's okay."
She's nice and warm too, Ash really does like her but he'd rather have her in bed now instead of trying to fight the jetlag that's probably going to floor her in a couple of hours. Not to mention the stress, even if she survived the ordeal by sitting it out in a tornado shelter underground, the howling wind and thunderous noise any tornado makes would scare even the bravest shitless. And knowing her, she will have kept her brave face on for all her younger assistants.
"Excuse me for asking but… you sound like you saw it happening, Ash. How is that possible?" professor Elm asks softly, probably not wanting to interrupt but pokémon professors typically don't have a lot of patience when they have questions.
"Err, I'm a little weird. My dreams take me places, it all feels so real until I recently discovered that my dreams are actually very real and not actually predictions. I was there when Tornadus produced that tornado, it seemed proud of it until Thundurus punched that smug look off his face with a mean left hook."
"… Is that so…?"
"I have it on picture too. It's the last thing I remember doing in the dream, outside of panicking. When I woke up, the first thing I did was call professor Juniper, oh but professor Elm, water spouts here are common too but when you see trees being blown to the right, it's usually a sign the tornado is approaching from the left. Oh, it was so creepy to see."
"I… I can imagine, thank you for the information, I didn't know it did that… and I would very much like to see that picture, Ash. If only for me to see that the pokémon who created that monstrous storm had some sort of consequence for the action it took," the man utters, clearly having underestimated how deeply involved the boy actually is.
Even Lance is reeling when he sees the photograph, it's a high-quality, excellent piece of art but at the same time, it makes all of the things Ash said a lot more real. It does seem to relieve professor Juniper, as if validating her feelings meant so much to her, even when it's a young, sort of helpless boy who does so. But oh, Ash cares, oh boy, he cares an awful lot and professor Elm seems to appreciate how thoughtful he is about professor Juniper, who now looks awfully tired now that she isn't so tense any longer.
When professor Elm returns from having helped his fellow professor on the stairs, he's all ready to help Ash.
"So, what can I do for you?"
"Well, you know how I said I'm a little weird, right?"
"… Yes?"
"So I felt like giving all my pokémon the equal choice to be trained to the strongest they can get, no matter the disadvantage and I… to do that sort of training, I need them to fight against a certain amount of the same pokémon… and call me silly but I… I travelled to the past for it. Because the kind of pokémon my pokémon need to fight are so abundant there, it seemed easier for me as it recently started to snow outside and then the road was at risk of icing over and… and now Typhlosion and Samurott evolved looking a little different than what I know they should have evolved at. And I guess I just want to know if they're as okay as they assure me they are because Typhlosion is so calm, I would imagine he would even look peaceful bleeding out in front of me and… Samurott is so cold and curt, that I think it would hide things from me. Not to avoid worrying me but because he would think it's none of my business. Or at least, that's the impression I'm getting."
"I don't know much about Samurott but I think I will enjoy seeing a calm Typhlosion, as a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind him infecting all the other ones that usually end up here," professor Elm says. "As for the matter of training… Do you think it really mattered where you were when they evolved?"
"You tell me if you've noticed anything weird about Floatzel, I evolved him there too."
"… Hm, it's odd. Are there any other differences outside of behaviour wise?"
"Yes, Typhlosion has purple flames now and Samurott has black shells."
"Alright, let us go somewhere safe so I can take a look."
Lance gingerly follows, he'll have plenty of time to go and contact the hospital but if that means passing up the opportunity to see these special pokémon, it can certainly wait a little longer. A couple of minutes longer won't hurt, right? And well, his boy went and gave an apt description of the two pokémon, the bigger one of the two just sages down as unbothered as can be and the Samurott is staring at professor Elm, as if daring him to make a move.
"Dear lord, they do look and act very different," the professor utters, deciding to walk around the Samurott looking for a fight, to go and pat Typhlosion on the belly. "Will you assist me to get their check-up? I might be able to get away with this one but like you said, the other doesn't seem to like me very much."
"Of course."
None of the pokémon make a move to strike either of the two, though, Samurott seems to give up aiming at professor Elm as the pokémon lays his head on Ash's shoulder, eyes closed. But just like the boy suggested, they're healthy and utterly fine, in fact, the professor is pleased he came to see him about this.
"Now I can finish their registration so they won't show up as an anomaly in your pokédex," the man says, chuffed to bits.
"Won't that show up in everyone's pokédex too, then?"
"Not really, unless they manage to catch one too. It will be made public with all of the other professors but I can guarantee you that there will be little to no traction following this. The only professor I know who is a little bit interested in different looking pokémon is professor Ivy but with them having evolved from a regular starter pokémon, they're not registered as Delta pokémon so it's highly likely she won't pay much attention to the e-mail. After all, professor Jacques has been vocal recently about the special versions of pokémon he's been seeing recently and while they simply got registered as pokémon able to be caught there. Now, I know that yours are a little unique so that's also how they will register."
"Doesn't that put a big, red flag over my head, though?"
"Not a bigger one than being a young, walk-about family member of a champion has put over your head, no."
That seems to have been the wrong thing to say, Samurott turns his head towards professor Elm and Meep, who had been hiding in the hood of Ash's jacket, raises her head in alarm. To his credit, Pikachu just rolls his eyes at the histrionics of these two pokémon but well, it proves that whoever wants to do something against the boy better be ready for a rumble.
"Oh," is all Ash says.
"Also, I'll make sure they're put on the same page as your legendary ones."
"That's visible too?"
"Protected, only a handful of people will be able to see. It also requires login details and a professor badge as well as a certain waiting period in front of a webcam so that the most grumpiest, unlikeable person from the pokémon company can answer your call and allow you passage," professor Elm says. "In fact, I would much rather call you to bring the pokémon in than go those lengths. Whenever you have the chance to ask another professor, ask them how long it usually takes for that person from the pokémon company to answer them. My record was three weeks, needless to say, I had forgotten why I needed to have access to that trainer profile page so that also didn't make that person any nicer. The shortest I've ever had was nine hours and no, sitting in front of the webcam with pyjamas and a sleepy face wasn't successful in getting me a passage pass."
"Sounds like they're not happy to let you in, huh?"
"No, and also, the login request has a certain amount of time before it automatically logs out again."
Ash chuckles at professor Elm's peeved face, amused at the fact the pokémon league's way of ensuring secrecy is a battle of patience. Lance has seen the benefits of this, though, criminals usually never even think of approaching the pokémon league. That's why Team Rocket went and approached trainers personally, in the hopes of overpowering them and sure, his boy has a couple of trigger-happy pokémon near him but that's the least of anyone's worries. Even if these fellows are hiding, it's always the ones no one sees that will make trying to overpower Ash a fight the criminal will remember for quite a while. Lance will never forget that alien, standing there so still at the other end of the hallway, as if it wasn't creepy enough to just see it stand there. His palms get sweaty just thinking of it barrelling towards him and no, that Ash told him that this alien was blind didn't ease any of his worries. These kinds of pokémon compensate for their lack of sight and also, not all of the pokémon the boy has lingering around him, invisible and certainly not registered, are blind so… Nah, Lance wouldn't know where to begin, like professor Elm said, he would rather just be nice to Ash and ask.
"I'm relieved they're okay," the boy says, gently patting Samurott on the back. "It's my responsibility to see them right and I don't care that they look different, I'll always love them, no matter what but I'll be damned if they get hurt because of something I did."
"It's occurred before, that pokémon evolve differently according to what a trainer feels like. As weird as it is, I wouldn't worry so much but I'm happy I could make a difference for you. After all, a smile suits your face a lot more," the professor says and he's damn right about it too.
Ash might not have a spring in his step when he gets into the car, more than ready to go back home but that blank look on his face has vanished completely and now has a bit more colour. It's Lance's turn to be relieved when the boy asks for some food, sure, it's those two leftover donuts he couldn't finish yesterday but of all the donuts Will ended up selecting, Ash's donuts are likely on the healthier end. Not by much but no one has died from a snack in the afternoon.
Yes, by the time they're home, it's a little past one in the afternoon so those donuts will do fine. Lance doesn't have any appetite, his sandwich at the café had been much bigger than Ash's and his stomach always needs a bit more time to digest leafy greens. And as his boy is snacking on the donuts, he's got some time explaining to everyone that his half-brother is a cheeky little shit who likes causing a bit of a panic. When he's done giving these people an update, Lance goes ahead and makes an appointment with the hospital, which apparently takes this issue very seriously. Now it remains to be seen whether Ash will want to give up his prosthesis for a while since they need to re-measure everything, and see what sort of wear and tear his current prosthesis has so that they can make a new one that will fit him a lot more.
End of chapter forty-four