A/N: A little bit of May perspective in this chapter and a lot of Gary interaction with Dawn along with a surprise visitor or maybe not so surprising if you read the end of the last chapter. Thanks again for everyone that has reviewed. I'm glad that this has gotten so much positive attention. Please feel free to review and ask any questions you have. Just remember Ash may seem a little OOC now and again due to his mother's cancer scare and running a business. He will return to mostly IC but I am going to mature him up some so he won't be a completely immature jerk all the time like he can be in the anime. I will make sure to continue some classic Ash reactions to certain things. Anyway hope you enjoy.
Chapter 6 – Meet the Monster
A knock came to the door of May's changing room. After waiting a minute to make sure he didn't hear any screams of protest, Barry carefully opened the door. In an attempt not to rile her up any further, Barry used his offstage voice. "Hey beautiful how are you doing?"
"How do you think I'm doing Barry?" May growled out.
"Well I'm thinking you feel like an idiot for dropping that little bombshell on stage and probably getting us both fired." Barry retorted in a dry tone. Since May hadn't yelled at him he decided it was safe enough to come into the room. He carefully shut the door behind him.
"I'm sorry Barry." May muttered unhappily. She was still dressed in her on air dress as she just did not have the heart to change at the moment.
"No worries sweetie." Barry responded with a slight smile before coming up behind May and gently started to massage her shoulders. If there was a sure fire way to make May feel better it was a shoulder massage.
"What the hell am I going to tell Samantha?" May growled out in annoyance. Stupid Ash, she could not believe she let him bait her on and on until she went nuclear on him and then leave without a word. The shoot was going to be hard but she had planned on getting through it. Then she was going to avoid Ash for the remainder of the conference.
"I don't know dear, maybe the truth would be a good start?" Barry responded.
"And tell my daughter that her father isn't interested in meeting her and in fact all but ran away when I told him?" May barked out with a bitter laugh. "No thanks."
A sigh of frustration left Barry's mouth before he could stop it. "You're worse than some of my more air headed dates. In fact you both are! You both suffer from an inability to communicate. It was quite clear he never had a clue. And believe me it takes a little bit of time to get over the initial shock."
"And how would you know that?" May responded with a wryly tone.
"I've had more than a few pregnancy scares." Barry responded dryly.
"I'm glad to see you practice safe sex." May responded with a roll of her eyes. Sometimes she couldn't believe her co-host.
"Says the woman with a five year old." Barry said with a smirk.
"That's different and you know it! And I at least knew the guy I was with." May responded with a slight glare though it was lessened by the fact that she continued to let Barry continue with his massage.
"Yeah well not all of us have the pleasure of a semi stable relationship. Beside I decide to put my trust in people and that they will do the right thing." Barry responded with a small smirk.
"So you trust them when they say that they are on the pill and haven't been on any type of antibiotic that may compromise its effectiveness." May responded in a dry tone. A bemused smile played across her face.
"That only happened…once or twice and how was I to know that antibiotics interfered with birth control." Barry muttered unhappily.
"Perhaps it you actually read something scientific for once you'd know that." Mary responded with a roll of her eyes.
"I can't be bothered it's too dry and I prefer biology anyway." Barry wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at May in her mirror so she could see.
"Biology is science you idiot." May responded in a dry tone. Sometimes she found herself wondering about her co-host and how he made it through life.
"So you feelin better May Day?" Barry asked in a teasing tone.
"I told you not to use that stupid nick name." May growled.
"But it fits you so well, you're always in trouble." Barry couldn't help a grin from spreading across his face. He knew well enough when to back off before May decided to take her aggression out on him.
"I swear Barry…" May muttered before she stood up and started to gather her things. "I need to go pick up Samantha and hope she wasn't watching the show today. Then I need to go find Ash and kill him. And I swear to Mew, Barry, if call me that stupid nickname one more time I am going to kill you after I get the blessing to do so from your mother and father."
"Ok ok ok…" Barry put his hands up in a sign of deference. "You're so violent when you're angry."
"Can it Barry!" May yelled on her way out the door.
Barry drew a huge sigh of relief when May walked out. He could count on one hand the number of times that May was close to making good on her threats and for some reason he had a feeling that he would have to revise that to on two hands.
A _ A
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"Ash!" Dawn cried out in surprise. Gary told her earlier that it had been a possibility but after traveling with Ash for so long the bout of violence surprised her. Sure there had been a few times where his anger got the better of him during the travels but never to the point of a physical fight.
"Jeez Ash…calm the hell down." Gary glared at his friend while carefully rubbing his jaw. He couldn't say that he was surprised at Ash's reaction but even he wasn't expecting a punch to the face. Perhaps some yelling and grumbling but Ash was clearly on a whole new level of angry.
"Calm down Gary? Calm down? Are you kidding me you insurmountable jackass!" Ash growled out while shaking his left hand a little. Despite his anger, landing a solid punch on Gary's jaw hurt…a lot. Luckily his anger was currently carrying him through the majority of the pain from landing the blow. "This never would have happened if I had just stayed home!"
"Says the one that provoked May in the first place on national broadcast!" Gary responded hotly while he cautiously pulled himself back up to a sitting position. Wary of any further movement from Ash, Gary straightened himself up.
"Whatever." Ash grumbled. "I knew this was a mistake."
"What do you mean?" Gary asked a little bit of worry making it into his voice. The last thing he wanted to deal with was soothing Ash's sometimes surprisingly fragile ego. Beat the kid in a pokemon battle and he would work twice as hard next time, lie to him and you would have thought he just saw his puppy get kicked.
"You heard what I said. I'm packing my stuff up and leaving." Ash growled out. Truthfully he was still pissed off at Gary for signing him up and bullying him into this tournament. Originally he had gone along with it since it seemed like less effort than fighting him on it and his mother had more or less forced him into it. Now though he just didn't want to deal with this shit. Perhaps he was being a little hypocritical after accusing May of running away.
"Are you kidding me right now Ash?" Dawn finally decided to intervene as Gary was making no moves to really dissuade him from leaving. "You're just gonna walk away from your own kid of all people and not even try and meet her? I thought you'd understand since you were in the same situation when you were younger!"
"She seems to have gotten along fine without me so far." Ash sneered before he ended the conversation in a somewhat mocking tone. "Anyway no worries right? That is what you always told me. May clearly hasn't been worried about me being a part of my daughter's life so why should I?" The stunned silence he was met with was all he really needed, he turned away from the two and stomped out of the small diner with Pikachu in tow. The small electric type had wisely kept counsel to itself and had not attempted to reason with Ash in his current state.
"That jerk!" Dawn growled as she glared at Ash's retreating back. "I can't believe I felt sorry for that jerk he hasn't changed at all! In fact I think he is even worse than before!"
Gary sighed while running his hand through his hair absent mindedly. "Just let him cool off Dawn. It may not look it but he is hurting."
The blunette rolled her eyes a little in disbelief of Gary. Was he really trying to defend Ash after the jackass made it quite clear that he was leaving and clearly didn't want to make any attempt at reconciliation over the past if his exit was anything to go by. Sure she had come up with this little plan and wrangled Gary into it but maybe Ash had changed more than she thought. "Somehow I doubt he is hurting much. Maybe my grand plan to bring everyone back together wasn't so grand after all."
"Cheer up Blue." A light smirk played across Gary's face. He lifted his hand up to Dawn's face and gently tilted her face so she was no longer staring at the table any longer. "You just don't have the perspective on Ash that I got."
"Oh yeah and what perspective is that?" Dawn queried with a small smile. Despite his teasing nature, Gary, was probably one of the sweetest guys she knew. You just had to dig down under the layers of jackassery to find it. Really after her misaligned crush on Paul she could handle anything and Gary was nothing compared to that talking ice chest.
"Hn you've never seen his real anger." Gary stated before absently waving the waitress. If Ash was truly leaving he needed to go find him and stop him before he got too far. If he knew Ash and he did, once the anger wore off he would need a friend. "Sure he'll get pissed off from time to time maybe throw a temper tantrum but he normally cools off pretty quickly. If I know you and I do." Gary winked at that causing Dawn to blush prettily.
"You never actually lied to him. In fact the most you probably did was withhold information. Not enough to let loose the monster inside." Gary turned to the waitress momentarily. "I'm sorry m'am an emergency came up and we have to go. Any chance we could just get a premade sandwich special for each of us and the daily soup to go?"
"Of course, let me go get that ready for ya!" The lanky red haired and green eyed woman dressed in the diner's standard issue white and yellow sun dress shot a smile to the couple before disappearing off to go get the order ready.
"Anyway where was I?" Gary asked Dawn with a slight smile.
"About to tell me how pretty I am." A joking tone played across Dawn's words as the blunette gave Gary a wink to show she was kidding.
"Har har har." Gary responded dryly accompanied by an exaggerated eye roll at his girlfriend's antics.
"Hey you asked me." Dawn responded in an innocent voice.
"Well anyway…getting back to the point." Gary pointedly gave Dawn a mock glare before continuing. "If there is one thing that man doesn't deal well with it is lying and deception." After pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts, Gary leaned back in the booth seating a little and let himself sink into the faded yellow pleather cushions. "I'm surprised he has dealt so well with this whole mess I drug him into. Then again we never really lied to him we just failed to mention the plan to him. I think it all goes back to his father disappearing when he was younger. Mrs. Ketchum made up the whole traveling trainer because it hurt a lot less than the truth. When Ash found out he kinda went ballistic. After that he never took lies too well."
"Still…" Dawn ventured tentatively. "I think he's going a little overboard here. He just found out he has a kid and he's just planning on leaving just like that? I would have thought he would've wanted to at least talk to May about meeting her…especially after his own childhood. I know he had some real issues with his father never being around."
The pair was interrupted by the returning waitress. After providing the appropriate amount of money to the waitress the pair took the to go boxes and made their way out of the diner.
"I think that is the exact reason…the guy is plagued with self-doubt when it comes to kids. He gets along with them great but anytime Mrs. Ketchum mentioned the lack of grandchildren he'd seize up. Probably paralyzed with fear over screwing up after what his old man did to his mother and him. We met the kid and she was a sweetheart. Annoying as shit but a sweetheart." Gary mused more to himself before Dawn punched him in the arm for the comment about the child being annoying. "Dammit woman!"
"Don't call me woman jerk!" Dawn punched him in the arm again before blowing a raspberry at him." And don't pick on children Mister I was a bully when I was a kid."
"Fine fine." Gary grumbled as he gently took Dawn's free arm not loaded down with her carry out bag and led her back towards the apartment building that he and Ash were staying in for the tournament, though if he were honest he would have preferred staying with Dawn. "We better get back before he really does something stupid like leaving."
"You really think he'd actually leave?" Dawn asked with a slightly raised eyebrow. "I'm used to hot headed decisions of his from traveling in Sinnoh with him but it seems contradictory to the whole cool and smooth attitude he portrayed on Battler's Review with May. Not to mention downright mean to May."
"That bastard has perfected cool and calm in the face of adversity…at least when it comes in the form of verbal sparring." Gary a loose a small chuckle as the pair weaved in and out of the other pedestrians and finally made it back to the apartment building that Gary and Ash were stationed in. "Board meetings will do that to a person. He may be good ol' Ashy boy at his core but being in charge of a company has changed him on the surface…most of the time anyway. It is almost like he is in permanent battle mode."
"Hmm." Dawn made a noncommittal shrug over the matter. Now that she thought about it when he was tormenting May, it did kind of remind her of when he got serious in a battle. Sure it was a more refined serious that seemed to have smoothed over the rough edges of his usually swirling emotions but it was still Ash. It was just a little hard to reconcile how Ash used to be prior to running a company compared to how he was now. Dawn shook herself out of her thoughts when she realized that Gary was opening the door to the room he shared with Ash.
"Shit." Gary muttered unhappily when he realized that all of Ash's things were gone. They had packed light due to Ash wanting to relive his trainer experience. That meant only a backpack and whatever one could fit on their person. In this case it only aided Ash in making a quick escape.
"Do we go after him?" Dawn asked with uncertainty in her voice. On one had she really wanted to go find Ash and drag him back here kicking and screaming. On the other hand she didn't want to push him away any more than she and Gary inadvertently had by dragging him kicking and screaming back into the spot light. It was up to Gary at this point to decide what to do as she did not have the life time experience of handling Ash in all of his moods.
A quick look around the apartment and Gary came to the conclusion that Ash had completely packed up and left. There was no sign that he had ever been in the apartment other than the unmade bed. It had only been thirty minutes since Ash walked out on them but that would have been more than enough time for him to get out of Indigo. "No point…he is long gone from Indigo at this point if he really did leave which I think he did. I don't even know where he'd go but I'll call Gramps and see if he's heard anything."
"Great I'll call Misty and let her know what happened and to be on the lookout." Dawn called out to her boyfriend before grabbing her pokedex and dialing in Misty's number. A moment later Misty picked up. "Yeah Misty it's Dawn. Listen…"
A _ A
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"Pika…Pi Pi chuuuu." Pikachu chattered at his trainer in an attempt to break the ice. While Ash packed his bags earlier he had stayed silent. When they made their way out of Indigo he had also chosen to stay silent. Now though he felt his trainer had calmed down enough to attempt communication.
"No Pikachu we're not going back." Ash responded to his ever faithful electric type. The path that Ash had chosen to leave Indigo on was the normal road for visitors. Victory Road seemed a pointless task since they had taken the path to get to Indigo. Ash also didn't feel like flying out on Charizard he just wanted a nice cathartic walk.
"Pi Pika chu." The electric pokemon responded in a demanding tone. Bright black eyes stared down at Ash in something akin to a glare.
"Don't worry Pikachu I promised that you wouldn't go back in the ball. I won't break any more promises to you guys." An amused tone entered Ash's voice before he gently rubbed the spot behind Pikachu's ear that the little guy enjoyed so much.
"Pika!" With a slight glare that held the tone of 'you better not if you value your life' Pikachu pointed back towards Indigo with a slightly confused look. "Chu?"
"No Pikachu we're no longer participating as far as I'm concerned." Ash muttered unhappily. Originally he had been kind of excited and even had been looking forward to seeing everyone but after the little run in with May he was in no mood. He still couldn't believe that she never told him that she was pregnant. It wasn't as if he had never told May exactly what his childhood was like. What pissed him off even more was that the last time he had managed to get in contact with her she had lied to him.
The little electric type's ears drooped a little. Unsure how to help comfort his trainer in his current state the rodent settled for nuzzling his trainer's cheek affectionately in an attempt to cheer him up. "Pika."
"Thanks buddy." Ash returned the small pokemon's affections with a slight smile. "So you wanna try an adventure in that region that Ritchie was talking about? I bet we can get you mega evolved yet."
"Pi Pika Chu!" Pikachu responded enthusiastically.
The excitement of his electric type was infectious and Ash continued on his walk with a spring in his step. By taking the visitor route that took the paved bicycle path that was cut through the mountainous area which ran parallel to the road for cars and trucks. Indigo due to its terrain required most of the items used to be imported which meant substantial vehicle traffic. Due to the fantastic scenery there were a few pull off points for visitors arriving by car and by bike that over looked parts of the small valleys or provided beautiful views of the mountain.
Nightfall was fast approaching when Ash and Pikachu took a stop at one of these look out points. The pair made their way over to one of the ledges that had a safety barrier right near the edge to keep people from an unexpected plunge. A moment later Pikachu hopped down off of Ash's shoulder and took a seat on one of the safety barrier's posts. Ash leaned against the barrier and looked out over the view of the valley below.
A smile spread over Ash's face at the scene playing out below. The setting sun was just starting to disappear under the mountains to the west in Johto and the shadows were creeping across the valley. In the valley the a Snorlax was resting against one of the larger trees while a group of Butterfree were making their way towards the safety of the trees for the night. The butterfly pokemon trailed wisps of their powder that sparkled in the sunset.
Ash let his thoughts wander as he continued to stare out at the setting sun. A sense of guilt was starting to fill in the pit of his stomach. Could he truly walk away from the daughter he never knew? Was it fair to Sam to leave again and step out of her life like his father had? Maybe not from her perspective but he was going to be a trainer again. How could he justify coming into this child's life only to leave again with an explanation that she wouldn't understand. What child would want to meet a father they never knew only to be abandoned again? A firm nod later he knew he was set on his course. He wouldn't cause Sam any pain by entering her life just to leave again. He would make the sacrifice not out of selfishness like his father but to protect his daughter from meeting her father only to lose him again.
"Ash?" A confused voice cut through the nearing darkness causing Ash to look up with a startled movement of his head towards the voice.
"Huh?" Ash replied unable to make out who it was since his eyes were unable to pierce the shadows.
Mrs. Ketchum stepped into visual range. She didn't say anything at first and came up to the safety barrier and joined her son in admiring the view below.
For a few minutes the two stood there in companionable silence until Ash decided to break the silence. He was wondering what his mother was doing here to be quite honest and he still didn't have the patience to wait his mother out.
"So Mom…what exactly are you doing here?" Ash asked quietly, his attention split between the sunset and his mother.
"Can't a grandmother get to see her grandchild?" Delia asked with a small smirk playing across her lips at her son's inability to link the obvious together.
"So you heard?" Ash replied softly.
Chuckling a little, Delia gently took her son into a one shouldered hug. "I think the whole region knows dear and by now most of the world."
"Yeah." Ash replied awkwardly unsure where his mother would go with the conversation. Truthfully he just wanted to get going but if he tried to leave now he wouldn't make it far before Delia pulled him back by the ear.
"So why is my handsome son alone outside of Indigo with his traveling backpack fully loaded?" Delia asked her eyes never leaving the sunset.
"I could ask my mother why she is at a random tourist overlook on the way to Indigo." Ash responded with a slight smile gracing his face. He already knew he was about to spill to his mother but he rather delay the inevitable scolding he knew he was going to get. No matter how he explained things and how it made sense in his head he knew his mother probably would not agree.
"Mother's instinct." Delia gave Ash a wink before a laugh escaped her lips when she saw the sour look on Ash's face from her response.
"Somehow I doubt that." Ash responded in a petulant tone. "I'm not five anymore."
"I suppose not." Delia responded with a ghost of a smile crossing her face at the memories of a five year old Ash. "Truthfully I just wanted to watch the sunset and thought it would be a good spot. Guess we both had the same idea."
"Yeah." Ash responded with a slight nod while trying not to look back at his mother. No need to rouse any further suspicion.
"So are you leaving?" Delia queried softly.
"Yeah." Ash responded again in no more than a whisper.
"Hmm." Delia gently rubbed Pikachu's head much to the little electric type's excitement with her free hand. "You know you're not your father, Ash, you are you and I am sure there is a little girl in Indigo that would love to meet her father."
Ash had been in the middle of inhaling and his mother's point on observation caused him to seize up momentarily before he started to cough from choking on his own saliva. After he recovered he gave his mother a nasty glare. "You planned that didn't you?"
"I would never do anything to cause my child pain for my own amusement." Delia responded with a playful smile.
"Uh huh."Ash muttered a little before glancing over at his mother. "I know but I've decided it would just cause less pain if she never meets me."
"Oh?" Delia asked without any real surprise in her voice. "I'm sure you've consulted May and my granddaughter about it then? All three of you are in agreement?"
"Well no. I just…" Ash searched for the right words but found himself coming up short.
"Hmm…" Delia responded with a knowing smile. "You know I bet you would have loved to meet your father when you were younger. If I asked you when you were younger you would have jumped at the chance and I still regret not letting you meet him. There were a few times he was in the region and probably would have come to meet you if I had asked."
"Yeah but you did it to protect me!" Ash responded hotly with conviction of his mother's decision in his voice. "If you let me meet the bastard who knows how I would have turned out!"
"So you admit that your mother was right to lie to you?" Delia's eyes danced with amusement. "Because I seem to remember my son yelling and screaming at me that I lied to him and that I was a horrible mother."
A flash of guilt crossed Ash's face before the younger man dropped his head a little. "I'm sorry mom…I guess I kinda see what you were trying to do and you had no idea the bastard had become a gym leader."
"Yes but I suppose I should have told you earlier. I knew it was a possibility he was quite a talented trainer but nowhere near as talented as my special little boy." Delia said with a smile.
"Mom…public." Ash halfheartedly grumbled over her attention. "Still I never expected to meet him or for him to tell me that he resented you for getting pregnancy and he never wanted me." The last part was said in a bitter tone.
"I can't say I'll ever forgive your father for what he did but he was never interested in having children. You were unplanned but I wouldn't have it any other way." Delia squeezed her son a little with her one armed hug. "He never wanted the family life and he grew to resent what you represented. Eventually his wanderlust took over and he just left. I knew it would be better if you thought your father was on a journey rather than he resented you. When you grew older I just didn't want to revisit those years. I guess I just kept telling myself that one more year wouldn't hurt which turned into another year and another year after that."
"I…I forgive you mom." Ash blushed before his voice dropped a little in embarrassment. "I guess I may have overreacted."
"Hm…and you don't think you're overreacting now?" Delia responded calmly.
"No." Ash muttered with doubt starting to enter his voice. "I just know I would have been shattered as a child to find out who my father is only for him to leave me to travel."
"Oh and you think my granddaughter is better off with only a mom and grandparents?" Delia commented smoothly.
"Well…yeah May has a stable job so it isn't like she would want to pick up and go traveling again. I mean what kind of life is that for a child?" Ash responded with some confidence entering his voice. He knew he was right about that part at least.
"Perhaps it isn't fair to expect May and my granddaughter to travel but would it be that hard to visit in between your journeys to new regions." Delia commented with an amused smile. "You know you don't have to be the best in the world in under five years. You've covered more regions and attended more conferences in the time it takes most trainers to get through one. I think you don't give yourself nearly enough credit for how talented you are." Delia squeezed her son with another hug. "Besides you're already the greatest in my book. I want you to be the best and achieve your dream but perhaps having a family wouldn't be so bad would it?"
He could already feel his resistance crumbling. "But what if I make the wrong decision? What if I cause Sam the same amount of pain that my father caused me?"
Delia felt her heart break a little. She never wanted her son to feel so scared about being like his father. Unfortunately by meeting him the damned man had placed just that fear into his son. With a determined fire in her eyes, Delia, suddenly gripped her son by both shoulders and stared right into his eyes. "You're not your father and you never will be Ash Ketchum you are my shining star, the reason I wake up in the morning, and the reason I know there is good in the world. You will never hurt your child like Damien hurt you. I promise you will be a great father if you only try."
A moment later Ash felt hot tears streaming down his face and he unconsciously grabbed his mother in a bone crushing hug. He sobbed into his mother's shoulder letting the pain that his father caused him start to flow out of him like a river.
Delia somehow managed to comfort her son without losing her composure. She just held him there and let him cry out all of his pain. It had been a long time since he had cried like this and she was mindful of how vulnerable he always felt to cry. A small smile graced her lips as she gently made soothing sound. Perhaps they could both truly move on after this and put the past behind them. Damien would never care and she had accepted this a long time ago. She could only hope that Ash would be able to put his past pain behind him and do his best for his daughter just like she had done for Ash.
The pair stayed like this with no concern for the time. The shadows turned to night and the automatic lights came on to illuminate the area in a soft yellow glow. It was some time later before Delia gently moved her son and Pikachu along to the car and got back on the road to Indigo again.
A/N: Well hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought of it. I love Delia and any chance I can get to use her I will. I really hate I don't have her available in my other story so you better believe she will be featured in a fairly prominent role in this story. Anyway Read, Review, and tell me what you loved or hated. Thanks again for reading.