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letswritefanfiction · 6 years

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Pokémon Alphabet Challenge: Q is for Quota

A/N: This takes place just after XY070, Beyond the Rainbow!

Circles were a constant bother in drawing until you realize that, with perspective, nothing is ever a perfect circle. So Tracey had long since given up the elusive goal of mastering geometric shapes in favor of mastering perspective.

But the Ledyba he was currently trying to sketch was certainly making the job difficult. It was flitting about erratically as it flew from flower to flower, helpfully pollinating the more lush areas of Professor Oak’s Pokémon habitat, but constantly changing which angle it was at in relation to Tracey’s hidden spot in the bushes.

Still, a decent sketch was coming together. Working at Professor Oak’s was a dream come true. Not only because Professor Oak was his idol, but because of all the Pokémon he was able to sketch every day, all from different regions. He had even recently been able to start making some serious coin on some sketch commissions. And Professor Oak paid him for his assistance, of course, though most of that was through food and lodging.

“Ehem.”

…Speaking of which…

Tracey jolted up from his spot in the bushes, slightly startling the Ledyba as twigs and leaves went flying and Tracey began rambling. “Sorry, Professor! I was feeding the Pokémon, but I got a little distracted by this perfect Ledy—”

“Tracey.”

“Whaa? Oh. It’s you.”

Tracey rapidly calmed down as he realized that it wasn’t his boss coming to scold him for breaking on the job. There were more Pokémon sent to the lab every day and the job of feeding had just gotten to be too much for the old Professor to handle. So most of the weight had fallen squarely on Tracey’s shoulders, and Gary’s if he was available.

And it was Gary who was in front of him now, looking slightly amused at the outburst, a smirk tugging at his lips. But unlike the Gary that Tracey had met when he’d first come to work at the lab, this Gary had kind eyes twinkling along with it.

“Expecting me to confiscate your art, Tracey?” Gary joked. “I’ll give it back to you after class if you promise not to daydream.”

Tracey blushed. “Sorry. I was just about to move onto the Water Pokémon.”

“Nah, actually I’m here to take over your job,” Gary said, heaving the bag full of Water Pokémon chow onto his shoulder. Somehow he managed to do it a lot more gracefully than Tracey had ever managed to. He usually suffered a bit until the bag got down to half. “You’ve got a phone call.”

“A phone call?”

Tracey grabbed the mostly empty bag of Grass Pokémon chow he’d finished up with before getting distracted, and headed for the lab.

He was slightly sweaty by the time he got inside—early fall in southern Kanto was only modicums better than the heat of the summer—and was thankful that his headband kept the worst of it in check. After all, Gary hadn’t told him who was on the phone, so he wasn’t sure if he had someone to impress or not.

When he finally reached the monitor, it turned out that he shouldn’t have worried.

“Ash! Hey! How’s Kalos?”

“Hey, Tracey,” Ash said, his face shaking slightly in the frame. That and the background of the wilderness gave away the fact that he was using a mobile device for this call. Unusual. Tracey hoped that it didn’t signal anything urgent. “Kalos is great! I just got my fifth Gym Badge, so it won’t be long until I’m qualified for the Kalos League!”

“That’s great news, Ash,” Tracey said. “On this side, your Pokémon are doing really well. All are happy and healthy.”

“That’s really great to hear, Tracey,” Ash breathed, sounding oddly relieved. Like his Pokémon could be in any other condition in the Professor’s—not to mention Tracey’s!—care.

There was a brief moment of silence as Tracey expected Ash to continue, but as that was looking continually less likely, he took it upon himself to get to the point. “It looks like it’s starting to get dark there. Any reason why you’re calling so late?”

Ash glanced back at the sky, the screen wobbling more as he did so. It didn’t look like it was sunset yet, but the sky was looking like it was hitting that point of pale blue-gray just before it did. And since the days were still pretty long, Tracey had to bet that Ash and his friends had already had dinner, and that Ash should be preparing for sleep wherever he was.

“Uh, yeah, kinda,” Ash said, his voice higher than usual. “I guess I just have a lot on my mind.”

Tracey knew that’s when Misty would make a comment about how that was rare or dangerous, but insults aside, Tracey did know that that kind of issue was uncommon for Ash. Honestly, he was kind of flattered that Ash was turning to him instead of just laughing it off with Pikachu or whatever it was that he normally did that kept him so carefree. In fact, Pikachu wasn’t anywhere in frame, which was strange. A chill hit Tracey’s stomach as he hoped that nothing had happened to him.

“Well, what’s up?” he asked, trying not to make any assumptions.

“I…” Ash scratched the back of his head, glancing away from the camera for a second. “I just released one of my Pokémon.”

“Oh, Ash…”

A ragged laugh escaped Ash’s lips. “Yeah. Believe it or not, Lapras was the last one that I did that for. Well, except for Charizard, of course.”

“Gosh, Ash, that’s gotta be tough. I wish I had more to say.”

Truthfully, Lapras’s goodbye had been sad, but Ash hadn’t seemed devastated by it. He’d handled it like a pro. This seemed to be hitting him harder, and it left Tracey unprepared.

“Just remember that it’ll be better off for this, okay?”

Ash looked at Tracey skeptically. “How do you know? You never met Goodra?”

Ah, so it was a Goodra. That would have been interesting to study…Focus, Tracey!

“But I know you,” Tracey said firmly. “I saw what pushed you to release Lapras and it was obvious that that was for the best. Why did you leave Goodra?”

“To go back to its friends now that it was strong enough to protect them,” Ash mumbled.

“Exactly,” Tracey said. With anyone else, that kind of logic would have been a shot in the dark, but with Ash, there was no doubt in Tracey’s mind that he would only leave his Pokémon behind with the best of intentions.

“I just wish it wasn’t so hard. Or that I could see how things turn out.”

As Ash was looking at the ground, the bill of his hat completely shielding his face as the grief seemed to strike him anew, Tracey was hit with an idea.

“What if you could?”

Ash’s head shot up. “What? How?”

“Well, not exactly,” Tracey quickly amended. “But why don’t you give a call to your friend Iris? She was the one you were with when Charizard rejoined your team, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah…” Ash affirmed, looking confused as ever.

“She’ll be able to give you a firsthand account of how great Charizard was doing after spending time away,” Tracey explained. “Just to give you some reassurance.”

Ash nodded slowly. “Right…” Then, all at once, he perked up. “Thanks, Tracey! That’s a great idea!”

“No problem, Ash! Now, if you don’t mind, I have a Ledyba sketch to finish before Gary realizes I’m off the phone,” Tracey said slightly conspiratorially. He rarely planned to goof off at work. It just seemed to happen before he realized it…

“What? You didn’t finish the first time around? You’re usually so fast!” Ash exclaimed.

“Yeah, well this Ledyba wouldn’t stop flittering about and pollinating all the trees.”

“You know what Brock told me?” Ash started. “Just feed it a Nanab Berry. That will keep it from flying so irrita—wait, no—errat…so crazily, you know?”

Tracey thought about it for a second, and it checked out. To think, a piece of advice from Ash, when Ash had been the one looking for advice. Who’d have ever thought such a thing could occur?

“Thanks, Ash! Now, don’t forget not to be a strang—”

Tracey cut himself off when he realized that Ash had already said goodbye and hung up. Tracey shook his head with a good-natured smile as he turned off his own monitor. The kid always had been one-track minded…

Being a new Gym Leader was hard. It felt like every day it was being proven why she wasn’t competent in the job. Yeah, she managed to cream the weak, little kids that showed up thinking that just because she was the newest Gym Leader in the region, she would be a pushover. But then stronger Trainers came to her Gym, thinking the exact same thing. But they destroyed her, especially if they had a solid team of Ice Types. God help her if Fairy Types showed up. Her only blessing was that they were rare in Unova.

Every day was hard. Living in the city still sucked, losing sucked, and to top it all off, she felt like the PIA was looming over her, waiting for her to lose too many Battles.

The only thing that was really getting her by was that she knew what it was to be in this city and hate it. That had been when she’d been in school at the academy. At least here the challenge was Pokémon Battling and proving herself.

That she was prepared to do.

And she’d gotten a membership at a rock climbing gym so that Officer Jenny didn’t have to ride her ass about climbing on city buildings this time around.

She was training her Emolga and Excadrill—her only hopes against Fairy Types—when the phone rang. It was irritating to be interrupted, but when she saw Emolga come to a landing, panting heavily into the dirt floor, she realized that maybe it was time for a break anyway.

“Get some water, guys!” she shouted as she tried to remember where the phone was. Luckily she could just follow the ringing.

Finally, she managed to locate it—left on the kitchen counter—and panted into it, “Hello?”

“Iris?”

“Ash?!” Iris went on the hunt again, this time for the monitor to which the cordless phone was attached. Fortunately, that never moved, so it was much easier to locate, she flicked it on, saying “What a surprise!”

“Yeah!” Ash said. “Listen, I’m calling because, well, see, I caught a Goodra—well, it wasn’t a Goodra then, it was a Goomy—but—”

“You caught a Goodra!” Iris gasped, eyes instantly lighting up. “I dream of having a Goodra on my team!”

Iris let herself fangirl for a second before she noticed Ash’s perturbed expression.

“Sorry. Go ahead.”

“So, the thing is, I just had to release it back into the wild,” Ash admitted. “And, well, I was wondering what you thought of Charizard when you first met him? Since he’s a Pokémon that I let go of, you know?”

Well, now it made sense. Why Ash was calling, why he looked particularly disturbed. And, honestly, now that she knew where it was going, she figured that altering the course was the best route for both of their sakes.

“Oh, Ash, I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, Charizard was strong and very impressive when he returned to your team.” Then, in a grumble: “I mean, he would have beaten me and Dragonite, even though you two had spent years apart from each other.”

Ash was looking at her expectantly, as though he was hungry for more affirmation.

“I don’t think you should regret that choice, and if that helps you feel better about Goodra, then great. But I get the feeling you’re looking for emotional support and, uh, I’m not so good at doing that with humans. I think you should talk to Cilan about all this instead. He might be able to give you what you want.”

Ash’s brow furrowed, like he wasn’t completely following her. “But I don’t know what I want.”

Iris shrugged, offering the best she had: “He might give it to you anyway.”

“Fair enough!” Ash exclaimed. “Good luck with everything at the Gym! Not that you need it, I’m sure!”

“Oh, I need it,” Iris said. Her voice was light with good humor, but something deeper in her expression said that she really believed it.

Ash, who had looked like he was about to hang up, stopped and looked at Iris. “Is everything okay at the Gym?”

Iris sighed heavily, feeling her emotions bubble up a bit as she did so. She took another steadying breath to squash them down. “People just keep on coming in with type advantages and sweeping the floor with me. So many Ice Types…”

He seemed to consider her for a moment before he said, “Well, Excadrill is your only Pokémon that isn’t weak to Ice, so maybe focus on strengthening his Steel moves?”

Iris rolled her eyes. What a kid! “I’ve been doing that already, Ash,” Iris said dryly.

Ash didn’t seem to catch on to her derogatory tone and went back to thinking. Don’t hurt yourself, Iris thought to herself. “Maybe you need to train yourself?” Ash finally suggested. “Maybe part of the problem is that you’re still afraid of Ice Types.”

Iris was about to cut him off and say that that was not true when he barreled on forward.

“Ooh! You should talk to Misty! She totally knows what it’s like to have to bring a Gym up and she has Ice Types! She could totally help you! I’ll give you her number!”

Ash proceeded to do just that while a bewildered Iris sat by, copying the number down out of habit, not even knowing if Misty would know who she was upon calling—she, herself, only had any concept of who Misty was through the stories Ash had told including her back when they were traveling together.

“Great!” Ash exclaimed, clearly excited by his assuredly amazing idea. “Now you call Misty and I’ll call Cilan! Bye-a, Iris!”

Iris sat, looking at the numbers she had scrawled on her arm. She sighed and looked back at the video phone.

It was worth a shot.Things had been tense at the Straiton Gym since Cilan’s return. Unfortunately, that had been many months ago, and Cilan was feeling much like a tough pie dough: overworked.

Somehow, after the debacle with Morana, his brothers had decided that he was head Gym Leader. Even though he was the one who wasn’t even technically in the Trainer class. He was a Connoisseur in addition to being a Gym Leader and restaurant co-owner. So shouldn’t they be the ones picking up the slack?

The problem was, it had happened so subtly that Cilan hadn’t even noticed anything was wrong at first, like unknowingly drinking a mixed cocktail: by the time you realize something’s off, it’s already been going on far too long. Chili and Cress would just hand Battles off to him in favor of working at the restaurant. Cilan hadn’t thought anything of that, especially since Chili usually passed it off with the excuse that Cilan needed to make up for his time away. The excuse had seemed suitable at the time, but now it was past its expiration date. Surely, his brothers couldn’t be holding a grudge against him for that long! They had encouraged him to continue on his journey with Ash, after all.

Cilan was currently trying to work his way out of that very situation with Chili, who was insisting he take on a Battle against a girl and her Pignite. Sure, Chili’s Pansear wasn’t strong against a Pignite, but poor Pansage was weak against it! If anything, Chili should have been bothering Cress, who was only doing some simple baking in the kitchen.

Fortunately, the phone began to ring at that very moment, and Cilan called out a brusque, “I’ll get it!” leaving Chili with his Gym Leader responsibilities.

Saved by the bell, Cilan thought.

The strange thing was that the ringing was the sound of the brothers’ personal phone rather than the restaurant phone. That’s why he was rushing to answer it at all, rather than letting the current hostess on duty answer what would assuredly be nothing more than a reservation or question about the menu. Phone calls in the restaurant were completely ordinary. But Iris and Ash weren’t great about using the phone, so it was more frequent that he made outgoing calls than he or his brothers received any.

“Hello, Striaton Restaurant and Pokémon Gym, Cilan speaking.”

“Hi, Cilan!”

“Ash!” Cilan said in surprise. “A call from you is like an extra helping of dessert! What can I do for you?”

Ash quickly caught Cilan up on what had led up to this particular phone call, and Cilan was left perplexed. He was flattered that Iris thought that he was well suited to the task, but he honestly thought that she was selling herself short. Iris had proved herself to have great empathy, not just for Pokémon, but towards Ash and himself many times over. But he supposed that was a train of thought for another day. Right now, his friend, Ash, needed him.

“Well, if you’d like an ex post facto evaluation between you and Charizard, I can give you one,” Cilan offered.

Ash paused. “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m looking for.”

“The bond between you and Charizard was like that of a fine ganache. Two ingredients long separated, and wonderful on their own, but whisked together into one perfect creation, glossy, seamless, and delicious. And somehow better together.”

Ash’s head had tilted to the side through the explanation, almost falling out of frame. “Huh? What’s a ganash?”

Cilan sighed; he should have known better than to fall into a food-related rambling around Ash. Inevitably, it would either confuse the boy or make him hungry. “Ash, it was clear that you and your Charizard continued to carry a strong bond even in the years you were apart. That is why you were so strong, even upon your first battle reunited. N said the same thing.”

“He did?” Ash said, looking slightly more interested. “What did he say?”

“Oh, I don’t remember exactly.” It had been a while back; it wasn’t as though Cilan could remember word for word. But somehow, the things N said, tended to resonate more with people than just any old passing phrase. “He said he could sense the bond from when you’d been together, and how strong that was, and he could sense the time that you were apart. But that you were, uh…er…Oh! You were the truest of friends.”

Ash seemed to smile at that, perhaps slightly buoyed by Cilan’s words. Cilan sure hoped so.

“Does that make you feel better?”

“Yeah, a little!” Ash said, cheerily. His inflection sounded more enthusiastic than the paltry words that came out of his mouth. Cilan wasn’t sure which to believe; either way, it made him feel as though he hadn’t completed his duty as a friend.

“You know what?” Cilan asked, struck with inspiration. “Didn’t you trade one of your Pokémon to Dawn back when you were traveling with her?”

“Yeah,” Ash responded, confusion clouding his face once again. “Her Ambipom used to belong to me as an Aipom.”

Cilan almost laughed at Ash’s lack of understanding. Why, it was totally obvious! “You should call Dawn and ask about her Ambipom. Because she knew it when you had it and she can tell you how well it’s been doing since she’s had it.”

All at once, Ash’s face lit up to the expression that Cilan had been hoping to see: Ash’s usual tangible excitement. “That is a great idea, Cilan! Thanks!”

“Wait one second! Cilan is getting no thanks around here!”

Cilan turned around in his chair, surprised to see Chili standing behind him, sweat beaded on his forehead and dampening the shorter sections of his hair. “Chili? What happened? Aren’t you supposed to be battling that challenger right now?”

“I lost, okay? Again! I was going to win, but then his Pignite had to go and evolve into an Emboar!”

“Ooh, cool!” Ash said. Cilan cast him a look, but Chili pointedly ignored him.

“So?” Chili started, impatiently tapping his foot. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Uhh…”

“Sounds like it was a great Battle!”

Chili turned to take in Ash for the first time since he had arrived in the room. “Weren’t you listening? It wasn’t a great Battle! We lost!”

“Everyone loses sometimes,” Ash replied easily. “Losing makes you better too!”

Cilan and Chili turned fully to Ash, considering him more seriously now.

“Besides, it must have been a pretty close Battle if Emboar had to evolve to keep it going, right?”

Chili seemed to soften, some tension releasing from his shoulders, and the veins going back into his neck, like a boiling broth cooling down to a simmer. “Yeah, I guess it was pretty close in the end.”

“I bet it was,” Ash said confidently. “You guys are all such great Trainers!”

“Really?” Chili asked. “But the last time you heard about us battling, Cress and I had just almost lost the Gym.”

“But you learned a lot, right?”

By this point, Cilan was sitting back, watching the exchange between Chili and Ash with a light smile beginning to show on his face.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“And you’ve learned a lot since then, right?”

“Yeah…”

“And I bet you learned even from this battle you just had, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Chili said, some of that fiery light beginning to return back into his eyes.

Ash pumped a fist and returned Chili’s expression. “So now you’re even more prepared for the next Battle that comes your way!”

“Yeah!” Chili exclaimed, returning to the doorway. “Bye, guys! I need to train!”

“Bye!” Ash said, waving despite the fact that Chili was long-gone.

“Thanks for that pep talk, Ash,” Cilan said after a few moments’ quiet.

“What pep talk?” Ash asked. “We were just talking.”

Cilan smiled. Typical Ash. “Yeah, well, thanks for that.”

“Anytime!” Ash said cheerfully. “I have to go call Dawn now. Bye!”

“Goodbye, Ash.”

Not a moment after the call ended, Cilan heard shouting from the kitchen.

“Cilan!” Cilan reflexively turned at the sound of Cress’s voice. “Chili? Anybody?”

Cilan remembered at just that moment that Cress had been holding down the restaurant all by himself that whole time. He hurriedly got up to help his brother serve. Perhaps they would all be a little more balanced in the days to come.

Over the years, Dawn had learned that losing streaks weren’t as bad for her as they were for others. Typically, they brought her down for a bit, but she always bounced back stronger. She’d begun to realize that back in Sinnoh when she’d manage to win the Wallace Cup—over May of all people!—and it had come back a few times since when she seemed to be losing Contest after Contest.

But Johto had not been treating her well.

May had said it was fantastic there, and Dawn had been quick to believe her, since it was where May had built up a lot of her reputation as the Princess of Hoenn. But Dawn was feeling more than a little chewed up and spit out.

Not that she’d been totally failing. She’d lost the Wallace Cup this time around, but there’d been no need to worry, because the season in Johto hadn’t even technically started yet. So she’d come back from the defeat and charged headlong into the Contest season. So far she had four ribbons. Which wasn’t bad. But the Grand Festival was only weeks away, which was very bad.

To top it all off, the only friend that Dawn had in the whole region was Kenny, who’d also traveled down for the Wallace Cup as well, then deciding to stay for the season. May and all her friends had already done Johto and had circled over to Kanto, only staying in Johto for the duration of the Wallace cup. None of Dawn’s other rivals were there either, not even Ursula, for Mew’s sake!

Nevertheless, Dawn was enjoying the fact that she and Kenny had just so happened to end up at a lot of the same Contests. It was nice to have at least once old friend to decompress with every once in a while.

She was currently on the road to Azalea Town for her penultimate shot at that last ribbon when her new Pokégear began to vibrate. Dawn stopped in her tracks, causing Piplup, who had been trailing behind her and wasn’t able to hear the near-silent vibrations of the device, to run into her legs.

“Oh, sorry, Piplup!” Dawn hastily apologized before answering the call. “Hello?”

“Hi, Dawn! It’s me, Ash!”

A thrill looped around Dawn’s stomach as she searched for a place along the well-trod road to sit. There was a decent-sized rock only a few feet away, and Dawn plopped down on its smooth surface, resting her elbows on her knees. “Hi, Ash!”

Dawn was immediately overcome with the impulse to high-five Ash, but of course she knew there was no way to do that through a phone. Piplup scrambled up onto her shoulder and waved. “Piplup!”

“Oh, Piplup says hi, too!”

“Hey, there, Piplup!”

Dawn expected Pikachu to pop into frame just then, but it seemed like it was just Ash on the other side of the line. But judging from the shadows all around Ash, it was rather late in—Kalos, was it?—so perhaps Pikachu was already asleep. Dawn took that moment to take off her hat to keep her own face from being shadowed in the video camera. “What’s up?”

It had been a while since Dawn had heard from Ash. First of all, the boy just didn’t call a lot in general. He wasn’t even good at keeping in touch with his own mother. But, usually, he seemed better at keeping in contact with the friends who weren’t traveling—like Brock or Misty—as Dawn always was. Even though everyone had mobile devices now, Dawn supposed there was something strange about being called on the road. It was like taking a pit-stop while you were still surrounded by trees and nothingness.

Ash gave a little chuckle. “Heh, it’s a bit of a long story at this point,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

Dawn twisted into a slightly more comfortable position, taking one hand and resting it behind her on the rock. “For you, Ash, I’ve got all day.”

Fortunately, she was ahead of schedule for arriving in Azalea Town, so—despite the time crunch she was on for the Grand Festival—her next Contest wasn’t going anywhere for the moment. Besides, it might take her mind off things.

Nevertheless, Ash recounted the last few calls in the only speed he had—full throttle—going through Goodra and Tracey and Charizard and Iris and Cilan, leading all the way to Ambipom and Dawn.

“Well, Ash, you don’t even need me for this!” Dawn exclaimed with a giggle as soon as Ash had finished blurting everything out. “You had Buizel. You know he was happier battling with you than performing with me!”

“I guess that’s true…”

“Oh, man, even better example!” Dawn exclaimed. “Infernape! You can’t even pretend to me that he would have been better off with Paul than with you. And—no, Ash, I can see on your face what you’re about to say—no, he wouldn’t have been better off in the wild either.”

Ash seemed to pout, maybe even blushing a little—though the lighting on his side was so terrible that everything just looked kind of gray-blue. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Yes, you were. But you brought out the strength in him that only a trainer can do. In fact,” Dawn began, her eyes alight with a new idea, “you should just call Paul. I’m sure that even he would admit it.”

Ash was in deep at that point. Even he knew that. He’d made so many calls his phone was hot in his hand. But at this point, what was one more call?

“Fine,” Ash surrendered. “You and Ambipom win your next Contest, okay?”

Dawn sighed. “I’m not so sure that’ll happen. I haven’t won anything in weeks.”

“Aw, that’s too bad,” Ash said. “But what’s that got to do with your next one?”

She sweatdropped. Surely he was joking? “I’m not doing well, Ash,” she explained as though she were speaking with a small child. “That means that I’m likely not to do well next time.”

“But you’ve won a lot in the past too,” Ash said simply. “You’ve won a lot and you’ve lost a lot. Me too. I have no idea how I’m going to do at the Laverre Gym. But I’m still gonna try my best!”

Dawn looked at Ash, dumbfounded. How could someone go from saying something so stupid to sounding so wise?

“Thanks, Ash,” Dawn said dumbly. Then she shook out of it and gave him a fiery look. “Now go call Paul.”

“Will do!” Ash grinned.

Paul was training in Unova. He’d done Kalos the year before—he was not amused by Diantha’s career choices. He was in the midst of comparing two Roggenrola when his phone rang. He let it ring once. Twice. Then he was irritated. He yanked it out of his pocket and spat, “What?”

“Hey, Paul! I—”

Click.

Ash sat dumbfounded for a second. He was certain Paul had picked up. Why would he hang up on him? He looked at the phone as though it was the one that had done him wrong. Paul was probably busy with something. Maybe he’d call back later. It had been too long since they’d last caught up! Maybe Ash could call Reggie to see what Paul was up to…

No, no, he was getting off track! Well, if Paul didn’t want to talk, there was one other person who was there with him in Sinnoh…

Let no one be fooled: Pokémon med school for was just as hard as human med school.

Scratch that—it was harder. Because all humans share near identical bodily functions. Brock had been busy learning about 800 different Pokémon and what would be unique about treating every one.

Frankly, it had been making his head spin.

Fortunately, he had come into school with a lot of practical experience—one of the reasons he’d been accepted into the best med school in Kanto—from his travels with Ash, his internship with the Pewter City Nurse Joy, and he time on Valencia Island with…you know who.

Nevertheless, he was loving it. He felt confident that the Gym was in good hands now that Forrest was the official Gym Leader. And now that both his parents were back home, he knew that he didn’t have to worry about the kids either. But still, it was nice to know that he was only in the next town over and could visit home any weekend he wanted to. He hadn’t made much use of the fact, but it was comforting nevertheless.

But at just this moment, Brock wasn’t thinking about school or family or being a doctor; he was thinking about the plausibility of taking a brief nap. He’d just come from his lecture class on Fairy Types—the Type class that he was doing the worst in. He’d tested out of the Ground and Rock Type classes because he knew a lot about them, but Brock knew hardly anything about Fairies. Understandably, the class exhausted him.

His next class was a practicum class that—so far—was mostly reiterating the work that he had done with Joy. And, more importantly, it wasn’t for a few hours. So he could probably squeeze in a nap…

Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!

Well, not with that going on.

Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!

He really needed to change that ring tone.

Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!

Most people just kept their phones on vibrate.

Ring ring ring! Ring ring—

Better answer it. It could be the fam.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Brock!”

“Ash!”

Suddenly feeling a bit more awake, Brock opened up his laptop to switch the call over to a larger screen. “Hey, man! How’s it going?”

“Well, Paul hung up on me, so I thought I’d call you.”

Brock blinked. “Um, okay.”

Ash seemed to maybe, possibly realize that his answer hadn’t been much of an explanation. His face took on a strangely serious shape and he tried again. “I’ve been trying to figure out if releasing my Goodra was the right decision.”

“And you thought Paul was the best person to ask about that?” Brock deadpanned.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. “I was telling Dawn: it’s kinda a long story at this point.”

Dawn too? Was Ash trying to meet his quota for calling his friends this year all in one day?

Brock glanced down at the time on his laptop screen. His next class wasn’t for a couple of hours. He’d still be able to fit in a healthy nap, even if he did settle down for a chat with Ash.

“Okay, I’m confused,” Brock said, when Ash had finished recounting what, at this point, was definitely a mess of a story. “Why do you think that Lapras is the last time that something like this has happened?”

Ash eyed Brock with a narrow gaze, almost condescendingly, if Ash were capable of such an emotion. Brock would have been offended, if he had any shame left. “Because Lapras is the last Pokémon that I released?”

“Yes,” Brock agreed, nodding his head. “But you leave all of your Pokémon at Oak’s lab every time you start a new journey. You don’t just have a handful of outlier Pokémon that you’ve released; you’ve left almost every Pokémon you’ve caught at Oak’s lab. Most have probably spent more time there than with you.”

When Brock saw the way Ash’s face fell, he realized that maybe his clinical assessment didn’t make his friend feel better. Oof, maybe he’d been spending too much time in the classroom and not enough with his friends and family. Like, talking to people. He really needed to go home. Or visit Misty. Or something.

“I’m sorry, Ash,” Brock said. “I didn’t mean it like that. Starting fresh has given you the opportunity to bond with new Pokémon.”

“I hope that I would have done that anyway,” Ash mumbled.

“And it’s given Professor Oak the opportunity to easily study Pokémon from all over the world,” Brock continued. “That’s been invaluable.”

“I didn’t really set out to do that, though.”

“That’s kind of my point!” Okay, it hadn’t been, but Brock was improvising here. “You never plan out what you’re doing, but you always end up doing the right thing and helping people. Releasing your Goodra is just like that. Letting Professor Oak care for your Pokémon while you’re not using them does that.”

“I just…” Ash began. “Doesn’t it sound like I’m abandoning them?”

“No,” Brock said firmly. “Abandoning them is like that what Damien kid did to your Charizard. You give your Pokémon a choice. When you tried to leave Pikachu, he came back because that was what he really wanted, and you welcomed him with open arms.”

“I guess that’s true.”

Brock looked at Ash. It was hard to read his expression, as it seemed to be growing quite dark in Kalos, but he was looking down, which usually wasn’t a good sign for Ash.

“Am I making you feel any better?”

Ash’s head shot up. “Oh, yeah! Totally.”

Definitely not. That was Ash’s fake happy voice. He sold it well, but Brock had never known anyone to fall for it before. The kid was just too dang easy to read. Brock sighed. He was really out of practice with the older brother act.

“Okay, look, why don’t you continue your apparent night of calling everyone you know and call May?” Brock suggested. “She was there when you first left your Pokémon behind. I’m sure she can objectively tell you that you’ve always done the right thing when it comes to your Pokémon.”

“Um, okay?”

“She’ll probably be better at boosting your spirits than I am.”

Brock hung up the phone, feeling strange about what had certainly been his weirdest conversation with Ash to date. He wished that he could have helped more, but he had an idea of who could really knock some sense into Ash Ketchum.

And May was the perfect person to stall him out until Brock talked to her.

“Yeah, I would do that too,” May said into her phone.

Drew was leaning against a tree, brushing through his hair with his fingers. He didn’t think that May even realized that she had stopped walking some time ago. So, Drew was left bored, watching as May gesticulated, talking on the phone with Dawn.

He thought about doing something passive aggressive, like getting a Pokémon out and beginning to train (loudly) right there in the middle of the road. Or maybe just continuing to walk. But, knowing May, she probably wouldn’t notice.

They weren’t officially traveling together anyway, so if he did walk far enough ahead to lose her, she’d probably just think they were going their separate ways again.

So, there he was, waiting on her. As per usual.

“Wait, Dawn, I’m getting another call…Oh, wait, it’s from him! I’ll have to call you back.”

It took everything Drew had in him not to groan.

He knew he should have traveled with Solidad.

“Hey, Ash!” May chirped.

This one was a video call, leaving Drew privy to both sides of the conversation as May held out the phone in front of her.

Lucky him.

“Hey, May,” Ash said, his tone coming out duller than Drew was used to hearing it.

“Dawn told me that you feel kind of crummy about letting go of one of your Pokémon.”

“Oh, she did?” Ash asked, surprise coloring his voice.

“Yeah. Not that we were talking behind your back or anything!” May frantically added.

Drew scoffed. “Technically, you were.”

If May heard him, she ignored him. But Drew would have bet his aqua pants that she didn’t even remember that he was there.

“Yeah, well, I just got off the phone with Brock, and he said that I should call you and, uh, ask you what you thought about my leaving all of my Pokémon from Kanto, Johto, and the Orange Islands behind with Professor Oak.”

“What I think?” May echoed. “I think it was fine. I mean, did you love them any less?”

“Of course not!”

“And they know that,” May stated. “I mean, look at me. I haven’t used my Munchlax in a Contest in ages because it just doesn’t make much sense there. It doesn’t mean that I favor my other Pokémon to it. And it doesn’t make me a bad Coordinator. Right?”

Drew blinked. That was surprisingly astute for May.

“Right,” Ash echoed.

“So then the real problem is just that you’re sad about one of your friends leaving and you need comfort, so you know what you’re gonna do?”

Ash looked taken aback. “What?”

“You’re gonna call your mom.”

“I am?”

“Yes, you are.”

“O-Okay,” Ash said. “I’ll do that right now…Bye, May.”

May lost her authoritative expression and gave Ash a glorious smile and a wave to boot. “Bye, Ash!”

May clicked the phone off and slipped it into her fanny pack, completely unaware of Drew’s dumbfounded expression.

“May…” Drew began. “That was…wow. I can’t believe you thought of that all yourself.”

“I didn’t.”

Drew narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“All of that is just what Dawn and were talking about on the phone. We both said that if we were upset like that, we’d call our moms.” And then she turned to him, catching him completely off guard with a stricken expression. “Drew, am I a bad Coordinator for not using Munchlax?”

Drew sighed. There was the May he knew.

“Not if you let us get to the next town before nightfall.”

Delia was getting started with lunch. Since her household was only made up of herself and Mimey—who didn’t usually eat human food—this shouldn’t have been a big to do, but for the past couple of years, Delia had been making lunch for herself and the Oaks. It had started with her bringing over little things like pies and casseroles—she knew how busy the Professor was and Tracey had better things to do as an assistant than make a meatloaf.

This custom had slowly evolved into her staying at the lab so they all could eat whatever she had made, which had evolved into her inviting them over to her house for dinner—why bother transporting the food when you could just transport the people?—which had somehow become lunch for four at the Ketchum residence every afternoon. This being because she knew those boys, what with all the time they had to spend feeding the Pokémon in the lab, had no time to feed themselves. She hardly liked the idea of them living off of protein bars and coffee for lunch.

So it was quite a hitch in her routine when the phone rang as she was dropping some potatoes into hot water to cook.

“Ketchum residence.” Delia said as she grabbed the corded phone off the hook and continued with the potatoes.

“Hey, mom!”

“Ash!” Delia, making a quick decision, left her potatoes—they’d be fine on their own for a few minutes—and ran to the video phone in the living room. “Darling, how are you?”

“I…I’m sad,” he admitted.

“Oh,” Delia said, taken aback. Ash didn’t usually come to her with anything but good news, so this was a switch. More than that, she knew her little boy to be a very happy kid. So once her feet were back under her, her mom alarms were blaring in her ear. “What’s wrong?”

Ash had never been one to hold back information, so before he knew it, he was spilling the whole stupid story to her. He was sad about something that he’d done half a dozen times before with nary a qualm. He’d been telling all his friends the same dumb story for the past, what? Half hour? Hour? He didn’t know, but long enough for it to get pretty dark out.

“Aw, Ash, I wish I could give you a hug,” Delia said, her forehead scrunching with worry. Ash suddenly saw how much deeper those lines had gotten since the beginning of his journey, and he wanted to give her a hug too.

Saying: “Thanks, mom,” was the best he could do, however.

“I have to say, though, Ash…has it made you feel better to talk to all of your friends?”

“Huh?” Ash blinked. “Well, yeah. May gave good advice, and so did Cilan and—”

“No, Ash,” Delia interrupted gently. “Hasn’t it felt good just to talk to your friends? Regardless of what they say. Isn’t it nice to check in with them? See what’s happening in their lives?”

“Sure,” Ash said. “Of course!”

“Because,” Delia explained, “it seems that that’s your whole problem.”

“What do you mean, mom?”

“Your Pokémon are you friends. And you’re sad to leave them. And you continue to have to do it. Perhaps you’d feel better if you kept in better contact with your friends, both Pokémon and human. And your mother.” Delia added that last sentence with just a hint of a scolding tone.

“Maybe you’re right,” Ash said, a new smile growing on his face.

“Of course I’m right. I’m your mother.”

They both laughed and Ash felt a better than he’d felt all night. Not a lot, but just enough.

“So, you’re going to continue what you’re doing,” Delia commanded. “Why don’t you give Gary a call? He’s your oldest friend, and I didn’t notice him on your list of people that you’ve talked to this evening.”

“Nope, not yet!” Ash affirmed.

“Then call him. And make sure to tell him that if the mashed potatoes are gluey this afternoon, it’s because you were chatting my ear off.”

“Gramps! We really have to scrape up the cash to hire a secretary!”

Gary had just come inside from finishing Tracey’s job of feeding the Pokémon. And he had to say, he was much more time effective than the Pokémon Watcher was.

And now he was off to do another thing that wasn’t his job. Answering the phone.

Again.

“What?” Gary asked sharply, his tone clearly telling whomever was on the other end that he was sweaty from being outside feeding dozens of Pokémon.

“Er, hey, Gary…”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Gary turned on the video feed and gave Ash a look that he hoped put forth the fact that he was one hundred percent done. “You again?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s me.”

Ash answered like it was a real question, and Gary couldn’t help but feel his sharp edges dull a little.

“What do you need, Ashy-boy?”

“I just wanna talk. Oh, and tell you that if the potatoes are gluey it’s because I was talking to my mom.”

Gary shook his head, deciding not to touch that one and instead focus on Ash’s first statement. “Really? It seemed like you actually had something that you wanted to talk about when you were looking for Tracey.”

“I did,” Ash said simply. “But now I just want to talk to you. If you’re not busy!”

Of course he was busy. He lived at his place of work. Even when he was sleeping it felt like he was on the job. Every moment spent relaxing was a moment that he was supposed to be working.

But…he could make time for Ash.

“I have all the time in the world, Ashy-boy,” Gary said kindly. And then his expression took on its normal edge and he somehow managed to look down at Ash through the screen. “Time for you to explain why you were on the phone with Tracey, then your mom, then me when you haven’t talked to any of us in months.”

Ash—or what little Gary could see of him in the dark—looked taken aback. Gary figured as much.

Ash had never much been able to keep up with Gary.

Gary became more incredulous as the story fell out of Ash’s mouth. He’d hardly known Ash as a person to lack confidence or ever second guess his decisions. No wonder the kid’s behavior of the last hour had been so erratic.

Still, when the story came to a close, Gary had only one thing to say:

“Ash, you’re an idiot.”

Ash, for his part, looked a little offended, leaving Gary glad that he still had the ability to rile up his old rival. Ash had become so mellow in recent years he hardly resembled the hotheaded kid that Gary had set out with at the beginnings of their journeys. Sure, Gary had changed too, but he could appreciate the joy in going through a good-old regression every once in a while.

Gary could practically see Ash’s brain stagger as he asked, “Wah…Why?”

Such a simple boy.

“Just call Misty. She’s the only one of us who’s ever been able to knock any sense into you. I mean, you called Paul before Misty?”

Gary couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Sure, he’d never had the pleasure of meeting Paul himself, and Ash couldn’t bring himself to say too much negative about the Trainer, but still. He seemed like someone you’d cross the street to avoid.

“Well, my mom said that I should call my friends, so I guess—”

“I don’t care. Call her.”

Misty had been surprised to see Brock show up unannounced at her door. Ever since he’d begun university in Cerulean she’d told him that he could drop by any time he wanted, but…well, he hadn’t done it yet, so she figured he hadn’t taken the invitation literally.

Well, apparently he had.

Not that had she minded. Sure, she’d been wet from a swim and her skin had been peeling—the chlorine dried it out—but he’d seen her far worse. She could hardly bring herself to care at all.

At the present moment, they were seated on the couch with some tea, Brock spinning threads about his apparent social incompetence—and maybe that’s why he couldn’t get a date? But he said to put a pin in that until later—and Ash being sad about releasing a Pokémon.

Well, Misty had been there for every instance of Ash giving up a Pokémon. Butterfree (both times, if the St. Anne counted), Pidgeot, Lapras. And then, of course, Primeape, Squirtle, and Charizard. Charizard had been by far the saddest, if she remembered right, and it had taken Ash a while to bounce back from that one. And then there was the instant buyer’s remorse that he’d gone through with Butterfree and that Raticate (which had almost led to their demise…she should probably remind him of that fact. He’d grown far too comfortable since she’d gotten her bike back and she needed something to nag him about).

But if she compared both of Butterfree’s goodbyes, then it was clear that the difference was in whether Ash thought what he was doing was right for Butterfree. It had nothing to do with selfishness and it was…just pure Ash.

Somehow, it wasn’t altogether a surprise to Misty or Brock when Ash called. Brock even had the good sense to leave the room. Misty only hoped that it wasn’t with the intent to snoop through her sisters’ stuff. He’d been creepily disappointed enough when she’d told him they were out of town.

“Hi, Ash,” Misty said, unable to keep a full smile off her face, even though she knew she was supposed to have sympathy for the tough time Ash was going through.

“Hey, Mist.”

“Brock told me about your day.”

Ash chuckled, which Misty took as a good sign. “Yeah, apparently it’s been traveling through the group.”

“So, what chain of events brought you to call me?”

“Well, mom said I should keep in better touch with my friends and Gary wants you to knock some sense into me,” Ash recited perfectly, as though the second part of that wasn’t completely insulting.

Misty smiled. He was just too adorable. “Well, you’ve come to the right place.”

Ash laughed, more fully this time. “I figured.”

“You wanna know what this sounds like to me?” Ash nodded. “It sounds like you’re growing up.”

“Growing up?”

“Yeah. You’re feeling connections deeper, you’re becoming more emotionally complex, and you know better the consequences of your actions.”

“Heh, that doesn’t sound like me.”

A laugh escaped out of Misty. Ash was nothing if not honest.

“I just mean that you’re not the hopeful kid sending worms out against birds anymore. Now you know that if you leave a Pokémon behind, you may never see them again. That’s scary. And your body is, you know, processing that.”

Ash shrugged. “Well, yeah,” he said soberly. “I know all that because…well, it’s happened now.”

Misty smiled, shaking her head. “That’s called life experience, Ash. That’s growing up.”

“I’m not sure I like it then.” Ash pouted, jutting his lip out at Misty like it was her fault.

“Well, then I think now’s the time when I knock some sense into you,” Misty said, cracking her knuckles. “You’re a good person for releasing Goodra, Ash. Of course, I don’t know the circumstances, but you’re you, so of course it was the right thing to do. And the advice that our dear friend Brock should have given you is that if you feel bad about leaving so many of your Pokémon with Professor Oak, then you can always trade them in for a bit. It’s not like it’s a mistake that you can’t rectify. Just like you’re checking in with me right now, you can check in with them any time.”

“You’re right,” Ash admitted sheepishly. “Of course you’re right.”

“Like I said. You came to the right place.”

There was a small pause as the two looked at each other, Ash’s expression morphing into a grin somewhere along the way.

“You really think that I’m growing up?”

Misty felt just a hint of a blush kiss the tips of her ears, but she chose to ignore it. “Well, if any of us thought that you were ever capable of growing up, then yeah. We’ve just decided at this point that it’ll never happen.”

“No,” Ash said, his voice full of jest, “I heard you say it. You said that I’m emotionally complex and I understand the consequences of my actions.”

“Yeah, like now,” Misty said. “If you don’t stop pulling at that thread, then I’ll figure out a way to punch you in Kalos without ever having to leave my Gym.”

“Why are you so mad?” Ash asked through a laugh. “We’re just talking about my emotions!”

“And we’ll have one more to talk about when you receive that punch. Pain.”

“…You know, I bet my friend Clemont could come up with a machine for that.”

“Great, I’ll call him.”

Again, silence settled over the phone line, the two of them waiting to see who would break out of their violent scenario first.

It was Ash, of course.

“Thanks, Mist. For the talk.”

Misty breathed out, the violent energy seeping out of her and rendering her posture hunched, but comfortable. “Of course. Any time, Ash.”

“Maybe…Maybe more often than I’ve been doing?”

Misty felt a bit of joy bubble up in her stomach, but she suppressed it, let it bring a blush to her cheeks. “That would be great.”

“Cool,” Ash breathed, looking relieved, as if he’d thought she’d say no. “In that case, I’m gonna go, so that we have more to talk about later.”

Misty shook her head. Leave it to Ash to come up with the ironclad logic.

“Sure. Talk to you later.”

“Bye, Mist!”

“Bye, Ash.”

The phone clicked off and Misty pressed her fingertips to the still-warm screen. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a rasped, “Bye, Mist,” behind her.

“Brock!”

“ ‘We’re just talking about my emotions.’ ”

“Brock,” Misty said again, this time devoid of fear. Instead, her voice was low and dangerous. “If you heard all that, then you also heard the part about me punching him. I’d like to remind you that that was a very real threat, and he’s in Kalos.

“You’re in my living room.”

The threat was just enough to draw a very feminine squeak out of Brock as Misty proceeded to chase him around the house.

Brock ended up taking a swim that day.

#pokemon #oneshot #fanfiction #pokeani #anipoke #pokeshipping #aaml

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