Pokémon Mother of Monsters

[SnowySummers]

Summary: Delia's son was not born with a tail, but it did show up when he was about three, along with claws and a sudden urge to hunt small animals. No matter. Delia loves him and all his more 'exotic' features no matter what. But what about those like Ash who were born with similar abnormalities but without a loving, understanding home? Well, Delia will just have to adopt them, of course!

Rating: T

Note: This is my first fic uploaded to the forums and would love any feedback that people are willing to give me.

Mother of Monsters - Chapter 1 - SnowySummers - Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

archiveofourown.org

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14317649/1/Mother-of-Monsters

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[SnowySummers]

Chapter 1​

The front door of the white farmhouse burst open as a man with dark grey hair rushed out into the night air with nothing but his underwear on. The loud sound of the door slamming against the house due to the force of opening startled the little Pokemon who was sleeping on the porch. It was a Chikorita. A very annoyed Chikorita who was now glaring at her trainer for interrupting her sleep.

“We’ve got to get the hell out of here, Chikorita!” The man whispered in a panic to the Pokemon while struggling to hop forward on one leg while he was busy trying to stuff his other leg into his pants. “She might have heard that! C’mon!”

“Chik…” The green Pokemon rolled its eyes before closing them and laying back down. “Chikor…”

“What the hell do you mean ‘Five more minutes?!’ This lady is fucking crazy! Now!” The man was now yelling at the Pokemon while successfully putting on his pants.

“Silver? Are you done? I’m ready if you are…” A very seductive voice echoes from inside the farmhouse, causing both trainer and Pokemon to jolt in a panic.

The man not waiting anymore as his thin, skin-colored tail whipped out and wrapped itself around Chikorita to pull her towards him quickly while he ran down the steps. Chicorita looked shocked, but not at the sight of a human with a tail.

“Chik?!” The pokemon asked as she was being carried as the man put his shirt on.

“Yes, those are bite marks! I told you she’s crazy! I swear, she liked to suck o-”

“Chikor?!” The Pokemon yelled out at her trainer while wiggling to free herself.

“Y-yeah… she used it for that too.” The man shivered as he talked while placing a now absolutely disgusted-looking Chikorita down onto his shoulder. “Don’t worry! Both of us will be taking a loooong shower after this! Now get us the hell out of here!”

The man threw out a Pokeball, causing a Salamence to appear who stared at its trainer with a very judging expression on its face. “Salama…”

“Yes, I know it’s been days! Now shut up and fly already!!” The man commanded while climbing onto the dragon's back while staring back at the house with a look of genuine fear on his face as she appeared in the doorway wrapped in a towel.

“Wha- Hey!! Where are you going?! We just got started!!” Delia yelled out towards the man with a shocked expression as he seemed to be running away with his tail tucked between his legs… literally.

“Hey! Sorry! Gotta go! It’s been fun! Never talk to me again! Bye! Fucking fly, Salamence!!!” The man yelled out without taking a single breath before using his tail as a sort of whip on the still-judging Salamence. The pokemon finally lifted into the air and flew off before Delia had the chance to say another word.

Delia couldn’t do anything but stare in shock at the fleeing shape as it flew off into the night. Merely scoffing as she folded her arms together with a light sigh.

“Oh well… it was fun while it lasted, I guess…” She muttered to herself before looking over her land and at all the cows who were now awake and staring at the woman with the thoughtless expression that cows usually hold.

“Oh, I’ll feed you in the morning!” Delia yelled out to the animals with a huff before slamming the door to the house shut. Delia gave a huff as she dropped the towel and looked around her living room with a look of shock as her cheeks began to flush red.

Her house was practically destroyed. Picture frames falling off the wall, items that should be on the counters now on the floor, the refrigerator and freezer doors having been left over for who knows how long, and to top it off, the couch had crumpled in on itself in the middle! The couch was broken! How in the hell do you manage to break a couch like that?!

“I’ll… fix that in the morning…” Delia said to herself in a flustered voice as she got a now-warm water from her fridge and closed it. Yep. All her frozen food had gone bad.

After heading upstairs, blushing at the state of her house, she opened her bedroom door to find-

“The bed?! How did I not notice the bed?? I would remember that!” The woman yelled out with her entire face a now cherry red color. Sure, she went a bit… crazy when she saw the tail… but surely she didn't get this bad! At least not enough to cause her bed to be absolutely destroyed like it was now. Even the boxspring was bent in the middle…

Delia only had to take a peek into the guest room to see the devastation. It was as if someone let out a herd of Deino’s into her house. Deinos who enjoyed jumping on every bed until it broke, apparently.

“Okay, I’m starting to see why he ran…”

---

“I got it! I got it!” A little boy yelled out as he ran through the rooms of the house on all fours with sharp claws protruding from his fingertips and feet scraping against the hardwood floors. The six-year-old named Ash Ketchum was currently chasing after the rat that had been scurrying around for a while now and Ash was sure that he had it!

“Mime! Mime!!” Mimey called out as the rat scurried between his legs, only to look up and see the toddler fast approaching.

“Hi, Mimey! I’m going to catch it this time!” Ash yells out as the Pokemon jumps up over him in the middle of his chase.

The chase was long, and it was arduous for the little boy going from room after room in such a panic until-

“Now!” Ash yelled as he jumped up and performed a front flip, causing the young boy's tail to slam down to the ground and cut the rat off, making it turn right. Right into a corner. Right where the young hunter wanted.

With one, swift motion, Ash grabbed the rat, brought it to his lips, and bit into the rat's flesh with a visceral, animalistic hunger. Grinding his teeth together in a low growl, Ash pulled back violently as he ripped the rat in two.

Its blood splattered across the boy's face and shirt with what little was left pooling on the hardwood below the now limp body as the little boy crunched the rat's now decapitated head like it was nothing more than a goldfish. Pride on his face from his successful hunt after swallowing.

“Ash…” A voice called from behind him, causing the still-eating Ash to nearly choke as his tail shot up skyward as it usually did when he was scared by something.

“Y-yeah mom…?” A nervous Ash cautiously asked while turning his head to see a woman in a straw hat and overalls looking very displeased with her arms crossed. Mimey standing right beside her with an unamused expression toward the droplets of blood on the hardwood floor.

“What did I say about hunting and eating inside the house, young man?” The woman asked while tapping her foot. Of course, she wasn't really all that mad, in actuality, but boundaries are going to be set and enforced with all children. It just so happened that Delia’s child just so happens to have a tail, some claws, and an urge to hunt and feast on living animals sometimes.

“I know… But look! I caught the rat that’s been bothering you!” The little boy smiled as he held up the half-eaten carcass. His teeth had been stained with its blood.

“I can see that, dear, and thank you. But no eating inside the house.” The mother explained while reaching out to gently boop her son on the nose. Taking her hand to ruffle his hair as he giggled lightly. “Go on and finish eating outside. Then go brush your teeth, okay?”

“Okay, mom!!” The little boy nodded before rushing out the door with a little giggle. Delia and Mimey shared a look before Mimey merely rolled his eyes and went to go get the bleach… again.

“Thank you, Mimey.” Delia said genuinely as Mimey waved the woman off with a huff.

“Mime Mime…” The Pokemon mumbled as he got the mop yet again, waving towards Delia to go off, which she understood, and went towards the front door to exit the house to get back to work.

It was a beautiful, fall day outside. A day when the leaves were just the right color and the wind flew at just the perfect speeds. The sounds of the flowing winds and the hooves of cattle and Pokemon alike stomping against the ground were the only things that you could hear. Well, that and children's laughter.

Speaking of laughter, looking over toward the side of the porch, Delia could not help but smile as she saw Ash happily holding up the rest of the rat carcass to her Pidgeot, whom the Pokemon happily accepted as a snack before cooing at Ash thankfully.

“Wasn't hungry anymore, dear?” Delia asked as she walked up behind him, smiling as his tail seemed to almost nuzzle against her like a Glameow or Litten.

“Well… kinda. But I wanted Pdigeot to have it because she does so good! Don’t you, Pidgeot?” Ash asked the bird Pokemon happily while scratching at the sides of its head, much to its delight.

“Well thank you, Ash. You’re so sweet.” Delia smiled as she gently caressed his tail as it continued to nuzzle against her. “I need to get back to it soon. What are you going to do, dear? Want to go back inside and watch TV or do you wanna come with Mom?”

“Um… I think that I’m going to go back in and watch Professor Oak’s thingy, is that okay?” Ash questioned as he looked up at his mother with that glimmer in his eyes that he always got when it came to Pokemon.

“His talk show? Alright, dear. Just remember that you're going to be at his summer camp next week. You’ll probably learn so much that your brain feels like it’s going to pop.” Delia reminded her son while gently poking at the sides of his head while making little ‘popping’ noises, causing him to giggle.

“You think I’ll make any friends?” Ash asked innocently up at his mother with a toothy smile that showed off his fangs. Delia smiled in kind and placed her hand on top of her son’s head in a petting motion.

“Of course, dear. But it won’t just happen on its own. You’ll have to work and try hard to make friends.” Delia instructed her son, making sure to add weight to her words. She knew that her son was an amazing person and deserved to make as many friends as he wanted, it was just that his unique… qualities might make it difficult.

“I can do that! I’m going to be a Pokemon Master! Compared to that, making friends will be the easiest thing ever!” Ash yelled out in confidence as his tail swayed from side to side quickly as it usually did when Ash was proud or confident.

“Okay Mom, I’m going to go back in! Bye! Bye, Pidgeot!” Ash yelled out in excitement before rushing back inside. Delia just shook her head with a smile at her son's antics as she remained where she was standing on the porch.

Watching her son through the window, Delia gave a small sigh. She never imagined that her life would play out quite like this. Of course, all children are different, naturally. But Delia doubts that many children hunt small animals and eat them raw or children who watch TV while dangling upside down from their tails wrapped around the living room fan quite like her son.

“My little monster…” Delia muttered to herself quietly as she turned away from watching her son and towards the bright, blue sky above her ranch. Just enjoying a few moments of calm and silence as she absentmindedly scratched Pidgeot’s neck.

“I wonder how many other little monsters are out there like you, Ash…” Delia wondered to herself with a sigh. It was a thought that came to her often. Surely Ash couldn't be the only one, and surely not all of them were born to loving and understanding parents like Delia. Were they safe? Do they accept themselves?

“Pidge?” The large bird Pokemon spoke gently while nuzzling into Delia to try and pull her away from her mind. Delia had torn her eyes away from the sky and the clouds to address her Pokemon.

“You’re right. Let’s get to work.” Delia spoke softly before hopping onto Pidgeot’s back. Taking one last look at her son as he dangled from the ceiling of their living room with a warm smile before giving a light kick to the sides of her Pokemon, causing the large bird to launch into the air.

Back to work, she goes. Back to providing for her home and her son. The most important person in her life. Her little monster, Ash.

 

[SnowySummers]

Chapter 2​

“Pssst… Hey! Your tail is poking out of your pants.” The boy walking alongside Ash whispered before lightly tapping Ash’s leg with his foot.

Ash shivered slightly at the uncomfortable feeling but quickly tightened the coil his tail had around his leg to retract it back into the bottom of his jeans. Hiding his tail like this didn't bother him that much, but it did suck that he always had to think about it.

“Thanks, Gary.” Ash turned towards his friend with a smile after correcting his tail. Gary just gave him a smirk in return.

“Don’t mention it. Just as long as you and me nail this thing before the other teams!” Gary exclaimed with an excited smile as he held up the camera that the duo was given for this assignment.

“Right! You got it! The assignment! Just uh… what is it that we were supposed to be doing again…?” Ash questioned his only friend with an embarrassed look as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Gah! Really dude?” Gary glared at his shorter friend for a moment before sighing. “We are supposed to be out here and take a picture of…” Gary grumbled as he shoved the camera into Ash’s hands while he took a piece of paper out of his pocket, and read it aloud.

“A Ratatta, a Pidgey, and an oddish… and we will be comparing our pictures to pictures of rats and birds back at the lab. Seems simple enough. Though I guess you could tell everyone more about rats than anyone else could.” Gary teased with his trademark smirk as he put the paper back in his pocket in order to take the camera back from Ash.

“Heh. Maybe! But I don’t really know much about them other than how they taste. I guess… kinda like your grandpa’s meatloaf if I had to compare it to anything…” Ash wondered aloud with his hand on his chin, causing Gary to wince in disgust.

“You totally just ruined meatloaf for me… ew…” Gary gagged a bit before shaking his head, causing Ash to giggle a bit. “Anyway… I did want to ask. What do Ratatta taste like?”

“Blegh!” It was Ash’s turn to gag and shake his head. “Just blegh! I don’t know why, either! I mean, it smells fine and stuff, but you actually go to take a bite and… ugh.”

“And Pidgeys?” Gary nodded as he listened to his friend.

“They taste nasty too! Well, most birds aren't good, to be honest, but Pidgeys taste really, really bad!” Ash ranted as the duo kept walking down the forest path.

“Huh… could it just be Pokemon in general? Hey! What about Slowpoke Tail? Or Chancey eggs?” Gary questioned Ash while fiddling with the camera.

“Those taste good. Mom cooks slowpoke tail super, duper good!” Ash giggled while rubbing his belly. “Hey, when is lunch supposed to be again? Think that I can go get a snack?”

“As soon as we get back from this assignment… We eat while the summer interns print the pictures and stuff. And please don’t… it still really weirds me out to see you do that stuff. I mean, it’s cool, but also super weird.” Gary admitted with a small shiver.

Ash just chuckled at that, smiling wide as he kept his eyes on the treeline for any Pidgeys to spot and take a picture of, though they hadn't had much luck, sadly.

“Hey. Trade you my fried rice for whatever your mom made you?” Gary asked the boy while walking ahead with his arms behind his head in a casual pose. Letting the camera dangle from the strap it was attached to in his hand.

“Wha? No! Mom made me tartar and asparagus today! And I know you’re just trying to give me it because it has shrim-” Ash froze as he turned his head to the left.

“Oh come on. Shrimp sucks! It’s like the rats of the ocean, and you just said that you love rats!” Gary teased as he kept walking for a few more steps. Only to stop after getting a few spaces ahead of Ash.

“Ash?” Gary asked as he stopped walking, looking at the completely frozen Ash. “What’s up? You hurt your fo-”

“Shh!” Ash demanded suddenly while not turning his head. He could swear that he could hear something… he just didn’t know what. “Do you hear that?”

“Huh? No, uh… why?” Gary questioned while tilting his head at his friend. “Is this one of those ‘instinct episodes’ or something that you get? Like when you saw that exposed wire?”

“I don’t know…” Ash admitted to his friend before jerking his head to the left. There it was again! And it was getting louder. It was like… running!

“C’mon!” Ash suddenly yelled before sprinting into the woods toward the sound that he had heard.

“W-wait! We’re not supposed to leave the path!” Gary yelled after his friend, though soon began running after him in a hurry.

The duo ran into the woods as fast as they could with Gary lagging behind as he started to pant and heave, not having the endurance of his smaller friend.

“There!” Ash yelled out while pointing ahead of him. It was a group of Mankeys! Probably 3 or 4 of them at most.

“I see them! What are they chasing?” Gary grunted out while sprinting alongside Ash, being much more careful not to trip over any roots that littered the ground.

“Ahh!” A girlish, shrill voice calls out from behind a tree, answering Gary’s question for him.

“They're chasing someone?! She’s in danger!” Gary screamed out in shock as Ash hissed. His claws erupted out of his fingertips as he let adrenaline and instincts take over.

Unfurling his tail from around his leg and freeing it from his jeans, the young boy began sprinting as fast as he could. He was going to need momentum for this!

Ash, allowing his tail to rise and hook around a tree branch, would use the speed of his running to act like a swing as he tugged his tail at the same time to launch him up into the trees, where he would then continue his chase on all fours up in the branches as the Mankeys were doing.

“Wha- Hey! Don’t leave me!” Gary called out with a scared whine towards his friend as he kept running.

“Get to the girl! I’ll be right there!” Ash demanded as he chased after the group. His claws protruding from his fingertips as well as piercing through his shoes provided adequate grip as they dug into the wood of the branch as he ran towards his prey.

Gary huffed as Ash had taken the high road. Shaking his head as he refocused his efforts on their original goal- protect the girl! And she was right in Gary’s sights.

The blond-haired girl let out a pained grunt as she tripped over a tree root, causing her to fall forward to the ground. Taking a moment to try and regain the wind that was knocked out of her, she looked back with fear as she saw those horrible Pokemon fast approaching her. Letting panic entirely envelop her, she tried to move her leg to continue running but her leg had been pinned by the root!

Letting out scared whimpers as she tried to crawl forward anyway, the young girl couldn't do anything as her pursuers grew ever closer until-

“Get away from her!” A voice from up in the trees called out before a Mankey suddenly fell from the sky. Crashing to the ground with a harsh thud. The Mankey looked confused as to how and why it was suddenly on the ground now, only for its thoughts to doubtlessly be interrupted by a young boy slamming his body down onto the small Pokemon as it screamed out. No doubt crushing a few of its ribs.

Kicking the still-alive Pokemon away with a grunt, Ash soon got into a low stance as he prepared for the three other Mankey to arrive. Barring his teeth with a small hiss, Ash stood with his center of mass low to the ground but his clawed fingers outstretched similar to Mankey’s own fighting style. His tail whipped back and forth quickly as if prepped to strike on its own accord.

“Hey, It’ll be okay.” Ash gently said back to the scared girl with a soft smile. “I’m Ash.”

“S-Serena…” The scared girl muttered quietly in response, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away from the boy's long, swaying tail.

“Key!! Keyy!!” The trio of Pokemon screamed out in rage, causing Ash to focus his attention back on them instead of comforting the scared girl whom he now knew as Serena. Ash just turned to hiss back at them as they were now on ground level and trying to encircle Ash, though his tail acting as a whip if they tried to get to Ash’s side or if they wanted to get behind him to Serena.

“And I’m Gary. C’mon!” Gary panted out as he skidded to a stop on his knees right beside Serena. Without waiting for a response, he immediately started working to free the girl's leg from the root it was trapped under.

“Key!” The one directly in front of Ash yelled out before jumping up high and trying to dive towards him. The six-year-old, not even thinking about his actions, spun to his left in response, Using his tail as a baseball bat to bat the Manky out of the sky and send it flying in the opposite direction with a loud whack!

The other two not waiting anymore upon seeing their friend get hurt, jumped straight toward Ash, Causing the young boy to let out a grunt as he hit the deck, causing the two to go flying over him as they continued forward.

“Got it! Now c’mon!” Gary yelled out after ducking as a Mankey flew right over him in an attempt to get Ash. Having successfully freed Serena’s foot, he pulled the girl to her feet in an attempt to drag her away.

“B-but what about him?” Serena asked as she looked back to see Ash catch one of the Mankeys by the tail and slam it harshly against a tree trunk before ducking under the other’s roundhouse kick without even looking at it. Using some sixth sense or something.

“He’ll be fine! We’ve got to go, now!” Gary pleaded with her as he continued dragging Serena along with him quickly.

Ash, thankful that Serena was gone, let out a small sigh of relief before letting loose another angered hiss at the two Mankeys who were still standing as he bared his teeth at them. Swiping the air toward his opponents with his claws as if trying to get them to back off.

The twin Pokemon weren’t going to take the hint though. One charged towards him low to go for a low kick while the other jumped high with its own claws out and ready to slash at the boy’s face.

Ash, upon seeing that the duck and cover trick won’t work a second time, instead dove towards the approaching duo. Grabbing onto the lower one's body and using it as a means to gain momentum, the young boy, using the strength of his wrist, spun to his right while upside down with the intent to use his tail as a weapon again.

With a loud whack, his long tail connected with the jumping Mankey and properly swatted it away like it was nothing but a butterfly. Ash, still with his hand on the Mankey he used as a tool body, allowed his claws to dig deep into the Pokemon’s skull as it screamed out.

Using his other arm, he grabbed the screaming Mankey’s tail tightly. His tail now acted as a means of counterbalance as he yanked the tail hard, causing the duo to flip. Ash used the momentum of the tail to slam the Pokemon hard into the dirt as it whined.

Kicking the unconscious body of the Pokemon away, Ash now turned his attention to the last Pokemon remaining. The one whom he had swatted away with his tail both times.

“Hiss!! You want some more?! I’m going to be a Pokemon Master! There's no way I’m going to lose to the likes of you! You’ll be listening to me one day, got it?!” Ash yelled at the pokemon with a playful smirk. Wait, playful? Yeah… Well, he was still in danger, but this was really fun too!

The last remaining Mankey, upon realizing that he was the only one left standing, remained in an aggressive pose for just a few more seconds before letting out a screech at the boy. Ash’s instincts and adrenaline demanded him to prepare for another attack, but all that the pokemon did after was turn and run away like a coward.

“Yeah, you better run!” Ash giggled as he pumped his arms into the air, satisfied with his victory over the small herd of Mankey’s. The young boy smiled ear to ear as his adrenaline and instincts calmed down slowly.

“Okay… time to find Gary…” Ash mumbled as he looked around the same-looking forest in all directions. Looking at the root that that girl – Serena, was trapped under as a means of direction, Ash quickly spotted the route that Gary and her must have taken.

“That way!” Ash exclaimed to nobody as he started on his march towards his friend quietly. The young boy took a moment to think about all that had just happened. How he absolutely shouldn’t tell his mom about all this, and how Gary is going to be so jealous of him now that he can say that he beat up a group of Pokemon all on his own.

“Hehe… Eat that, Gary… and your shrimp.” Ash chuckled while patting himself on the back. Staying focused on trying to hear any sign of the duo but all that he could hear were the sounds of the forest when…

“W-We have to go back for him! He can’t do that all on his own!” Serena pleaded with Gary while wiping her still-bleeding nose with her arm.

“I know! I know! Look,” Gary pointed behind the girl towards the treeline with the faint outline of the lab hidden behind them. “You run back to the lab. Find my grandfather and tell him that Ash needs help!”

“And what about you?! What’re you going to do?” The girl asked the boy, clearly still in a panic, as she sniffed lightly.

“I’m…” Gary gulped fearfully but clenched his fists tightly. Suddenly bending down and picking up a medium-sized stick in his right hand. “I’m no trainer yet… bet he’s still my friend!”

“Don’t worry, Ash! I’m coming for ya!” Gary yelled as he started charging straight back towards the deep woods with a battle cry. Blindly charging straight into Ash, which caused both of the boys to fall backward with a soft thud.

“Ow! Garyyyy! What was that for?!” The now peeved young boy asked his friend as he had fallen right onto his tail. Ash quickly launched back to his feet with his arm outstretched to help Gary up.

“What was it for? I was about to run back there to help you, idiot!” Gary grumbled as he accepted Ash’s help in getting back up. “Ugh. Stupid rules on being a Pokemon trainer… how come you get all the glory?”

“Mom says that I’m special.” Ash teased while waving his tail mockingly behind him for Gary to see as the boy rolled his eyes, dropping the stick in the process.

“I’ll say…” The young girl muttered quietly, causing the duo to suddenly remember that she was still there as Ash gave a meep, trying to hide his tail behind him but failing miserably.

“Uh… y-yeah. It’s just a birth defect. Don’t worry about it… I don’t like to show it off much…” Ash tried to explain with a nervous laugh. His mother would probably hit him over the head if she caught him calling his tail a ‘birth defect’ but she isn’t here right now so it’s fair game.

“Yeah! People get reaaaal jealous of it!! Hehe…” Gary chuckled, trying to back Ash up, even if his nervous laughter made the story less believable than it was.

“R-right. A…” She trailed off as she stared at the swaying tail again as the two boys approached her. “Birth defect… It’s really cool though!” Serena smiled at the two but then sniffled a bit as she rubbed her nose on her arm again.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Ash asked cautiously as he leaned in.

“I think I got a nosebleed when I fell…” Serena muttered a little while continuing to sniff.

“We’ll fix you up at the lab. Don’t worry. My grandpa is good at medical stuff.” Gary said with a confident thumbs up as Ash got closer to Serena’s face, though the girl didn’t seem to be bothered by it.

“Uh… Here.” Ash muttered as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief which his mom made keep on him to wipe any blood off his teeth if he hunted anything.

Ash smiled as he held out the handkerchief to the girl. Serena smiled in kind as she reached up to take the gift. Ash suddenly grabbed the girl's wrist as he examined the arm. It was the one that she had been using to wipe the blood off her nose.

Without even thinking about it, much to Gary’s horror and disgust, Ash leaned in to gently lick the dried, red streaks on the girl’s arm before letting go of her wrist.

“You taste… weird.” Ash mumbled while crossing his arms and smacking his lips while Gary stared at him with horror.

“Well, you act weird.” Serena giggled lightly at the boy, seemingly unbothered at the act of her arm getting licked, causing Gary to take a large step backward from the duo as Serena brought the handkerchief to her nose.

“Okay… moving on from… that…” Gary muttered while clearly fighting a gag as Ash continued to smack his lips. “We really should get back to the lab. Gramps could get in trouble if someone got hurt and he didn’t help.” Motioning towards Serena as he said that.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right… Oh hey, can you two uh…” Ash mumbled as he poked his tail.

“Right. Got it.” Gary mumbled as he turned around, much to Serena’s obvious confusion.

“Um…” The girl questioned while tilting her head.

“Ashy-boy needs to pull his pants down to wrap back up his tail because he’s a baby.” Gary chuckled as Serena joined him in facing the opposite direction of Ash.

“Hey! I can do it! It just feels weird!” Ash grumbled as Gary chuckled to himself. “There! Done!”

The duo turned back around to see a tailless Ash again. Still smiling as casually as ever as he turned to show his full body.

“Yeah, that’s good.” Gary approved the ‘disguise’ with a thumbs-up while Serena looked in a mix of awe.

“That's so cool! It wraps around your leg?” Serena asked with a wide smile, making Ash become flustered for a moment. Nobody has been that interested in his tail like that before… but then again, the people who know about his tail could be counted on one hand.

“Um… yeah. It’s actually really comfortable, if a bit tight because it’s so long…” Ash admitted while rubbing the back of his head, making the tip of the tail poke out at the bottom his his jeans and do a waving motion towards Serena, causing her to giggle lightly as she waved back.

“I…” Gary sighed as he suddenly stepped between the duo, facing Serena with a serious look of concern. “Look Serena… not a lot of people know about Ash’s tail. From what my grandpa told me, he’s… special. Really special. Like people want to take him away and study special. Can you… can you just please promise us not to tell anyone? Not even your parents?”

Serena seemed to consider Gary’s words carefully for a moment. Processing how worried and genuine the boy was being. The young girl looked intensely into the boy’s eyes before nodding slowly.

“On… one condition…” Serena muttered as he wiped her nose with the handkerchief again. Peeking around Gary, the girl looked at Ash as he held an expression with a mix of embarrassment and desperation.

“Yeah?” Gary egged her on while crossing his arms and puffing out his chest, obviously trying to look big and tough – the two things Gary wasn’t.

“Can you both be my friend!? I’ve never had a weirdo friend before! Or a friend related to a Pokemon professor!” Serena excitedly asked with a smile as she bounced up and down on her heels.

“Hey!” Gary yelled out, his face not flush with red. “I’m not valuable just because I’m related to Gra-”

“Deal!!” Ash yelled as he grabbed the side of Gary’s nagging face and pushed him out of the way before he could continue, causing Serena to laugh lightly.

“Awesome!!” The young girl smiled as she held the hand not holding the handkerchief up high. “Friends?”

“You bet!” Ash yelled as he raised his arm to give her a loud high-five. The two of them then turned to Gary with similar smiles as he grumpily rubbed his cheek.

“Ugh… fiiine. Friends it is!” The boy relented before joining the duo in their high-five. “Now can we please get back to the lab? Gramps is going to have a meltdown!”

Gary's exaggeration about his grandfather's panic seemed to be enough as the trio broke their stance and started on their way toward the lab.

“I don’t know what mom was talking about… Making friends is super easy! And fun, too!” Ash chuckled as they walked out of the woods with his arms behind his head casually.

“Yeah… all it took was fighting off four Mankey’s at once without Pokemon…” Gary added sarcastically while rolling his eyes lightly.

“And my face almost getting torn off!” Serena added with an almost too casual giggle.

“Oh, if you think that was bad, then you should have seen Delia’s house when his claws were coming in. Gramps has pictures! C’mon!” Gary laughed as he started running towards the lab, leaving the two behind.

“H-Hey wait!! Those are private! And aren’t I naked in some of those?!” Ash demanded as he started to run after Gary quickly, leaving Serena behind.

“Oh! I wanna see Ash’s baby butt! Wait for me!!” Serena laughed as she started running after the duo of boys, doubtlessly having the most interesting summer camp of her life!

 

[SnowySummers]

Chapter 3​

“Bib?” The beaver Pokemon questioned the human in front of him while tilting his head, clearly confused.

“C’mon Bibarel! I know that I can do it! Just focus really, really hard for me, okay?” The seven-year-old boy pleaded with the Pokemon in front of him while sitting on the couch. He knew that he could do this! He just needed to focus even harder!

“Ash?” The boy's mother called out from the kitchen before poking her head around the corner to view the very strange scene of her son, with his hands on each side of his head, glaring at her Bibarel as the Pokemon stood there with a puzzled, yet dopey expression.

“Um… are you busy here, Ash? You and Bibby up to something?” Delia asked with a puzzled tone as she stared at her son, trying to decipher what exactly was going on.

“Yeah!” Ash grunted, not even turning to his mother as he glared in Bibarel's eyes. “I’m just trying to talk with Bibby! I know I can do it! I just gotta…”

Ash let out a loud grunt as he suddenly fell backward fully onto the couch while breathing hard. Delia just held a smile on her face as she made her way toward her son, making sure to pet the dopey Bibarel on the way, of course.

“I think one of the first lessons they teach you in magic is to breathe, silly.” Delia teases as she looks down at the boy with her hands on her hips. Taking a few seconds to stare at her adorable mess of a son before reaching out to gently boop his nose, which caused him to giggle.

“Mooom… It’s not magic! Gary says it’s psychic! Telepathy stuff I think. I told you that I heard Mimey thinking about what groceries to get last week!” Ash pleaded with his mother while whining slightly. It was true! He could do it! It just wasn’t working right now for whatever reason.

“Now, Ash. I know you’re bored and I know you hate winter but please don’t give yourself a migraine from straining too hard, dear.” Delia chuckled as she bent down to lift her son back up into a sitting position. “Besides, you don’t want to have a headache when talking to Serena, do you?”

That certainly got the boy’s attention. The tail that was previously lackadaisically swaying from side to side was now straight as a board. A wide smile on his face as he rocketed up from the couch onto his feet.

“Really?” The boy asked with excitement up at his mother. “Is she on the phone right now?”

“Yes, dear. Go ahead before she gets bored and hangs up.” Delia giggled at her son's excitement. Scratching under Bibby’s chin while watching her son run out of the living room.

Ash ran towards the phone console as fast as he could. Slamming his butt down onto the chair as he gave a big, toothy smile at the girl on the opposite end of the screen. The boy’s tail was waggling side to side almost like it was some freakishly long Lilipup tail.

“Hey, Serena!” Ash practically screamed out in excitement. His elation to be talking with his friend was very clear on his face.

“Hey, Weirdo!” The girl on the other end of the screen laughed. Her laughter doubtlessly came from her friend's stupidly excited expression as well as his unstoppable tail as it oscillated back and forth quickly.

“It’s been too long, weirdo!” Ash jabbed back with a grin. He honestly didn’t mind the nickname she had chosen for him as, as much as Delia argued otherwise, Ash was, in fact, really freaking weird sometimes.

“Sorry! I’ve been super busy! School and modeling and practicing for Ryhorn races and ughhh…” The young girl on the other end of the screen whined out with a small groan as her head rolled back.

“Hehe.” Ash giggled at the girl's misfortune. “I guess not everyone has an awesome Mom like me who does homeschooling. And I get to work with Pokemon and stuff on the ranch, too!”

“Lucky…” Serena whined with her cheeks puffed out a bit.

“But…” Ash paused for dramatic effect before suddenly holding a magazine to the camera with a wide smile. “I don’t get put on stuff wearing awesome clothes like you do!”

“You saw?! I didn’t know they sell all the way in Kanto!!” A shocked gasp escaped from the girl as her hand came to her mouth.

The cover of the magazine Ash was holding had the title of ‘Young Fashion! Kalos Edition!’ with pretty much the entire cover filled with the image of a seven-year-old Serena smiling wide with a black, sleeveless shirt, red, frilled skirt with pockets sewn in, and black socks that go all the way up to her mid-thigh with matching, black hightop shoes which is all topped with a red, felt hat that brings the entire outfit a clear black and red theme.

“We did! Mom was the first one to notice so we had to get it! You look great! What was it like?” Ash grinned from ear to ear. He was truly excited to hear from his friend and learn all about her experiences and success.

“Well… I don't know! Don’t put me on the spot like this! Uh… I guess it was kind of fun! They gave me all these different outfits to wear and took pictures at different places. I liked it! There’s going to be another one that we are going to do in the spring that I’m excited for!” Serena told of her experience with a wide smile on her face.

“Wow… I don’t think that that’s really for me. You don’t even get to work with Pokemon?” Ash asked with a small frown. Not to mention having to keep switching clothes like that with his tail wrapped up would suck majorly.

“No… but apparently I’ll get to hug a Cottonee in the spring shoot! That’ll be fun! Anyway, what about you? Tell me about everything at the farm and your weirdo stuff!” The girl asked, changing the subject away from her and onto more interesting matters for the girl.

“Oh uh…” Ash muttered as he rubbed his head. Not expecting the topic of discussion to be thrust upon him so suddenly. “I’m trying to talk with Bibby.”

“That’s your mom’s Bibarel, right? And you know that Bibarel can’t talk, weirdo…” The girl shot her friend a questioning, doubtful look from the other side of the screen as a sweatdrop rolled down the side of her head.

“Hey! I know that!” Ash demanded back, quick to defend himself from Serena's judgment. “It’s just that… I don’t know… It’s like I can hear Pokemon’s thoughts sometimes. My tail gets like, jittery or something. It’s really hard to explain.”

“Hm… I don’t know. So you say that you hear Pokemon thinking in their head? Isn’t there a word for that?” Serena wondered as she placed her finger on her chin to think.

“Gary says it’s something called ‘telepathy’.” Ash finished his friend's thought for her, adding air quotes when he says ‘telepathy’. “But he doesn’t think I can do it. He says that I’m going crazy because I hate winter.-”

“Which you do!” Delia yelled out from the other room.

“... Which I do…” Ash confirmed his mother as Serena giggled slightly before going back into her thinking pose.

“Well, the word I was thinking was ‘weirdo’,” Serena stopped to giggle as Ash poked his tongue out at her. “But anyway, if you feel it in your tail… why not try and use it?”

“Use it how?” Ash asked while tilting his head. The boy’s tail almost leaned in like it was trying to hear what was being said.

“I don’t know! I’m not the weirdo with the tail who thinks that my blood is tasty!” Serena scoffed a bit at her friend with a light, playful smile.

“Blood is what…?” Delia questioned as she poked her head around the corner with a puzzled and worried expression. The woman was currently wearing a pair of reading glasses with a pencil resting on her ear.

“Oyster blood, Miss Ketchum! It's rich people's food over here in Kalos!” Serena blurted out quickly with a nervous smile on her face.

“... Okay… just checking…” The woman slowly nodded before simply staring at the smiling do for a few more seconds. After seemingly being satisfied, she ducked back into the living room as Ash let out a sigh of relief as Serena giggled.

“Seriously? Can you not bring that up, please? It’s so weird!” Ash pleaded with the girl after picking up his stomach which he dropped at his mother’s voice.

“Exactly! You’re my weirdo so no! I refuse to stop bringing it up.” Serena stated with childish glee which seemed to only occur when teasing or embarrassing either of her two Kanto friends.

“Anyway…” Ash groaned while rolling his eyes. “You think that… using my tail would help?” Ash asked while he looked back at his swaying tail.

“Maybe! I mean, why not try it?” Serena suggests while tilting her head, also seemingly staring at the tail. “Anyway, I’ve got to go! See you later, Weirdo!”

“Bye Serena! Call again soon!” Ash waved goodbye with a smile before the screen suddenly went dark. Ash took a moment to himself before getting to his feet with a small grunt.

“Ash, dear? Are you done in there?” Delia called from the living room, causing Ash to start on his way towards her.

“Yeah, Mom. It was awesome to talk with her! She’s doing good!” Ash stated with a smile as he entered the living room to see an all too familiar sight: catalogs. Housing catalogs to be precise. All splayed out on the coffee table with one even being held in Bibby’s mouth, though he didn’t seem to mind… or notice.

“That’s wonderful to hear, dear! Now, which of these colors do you think looks better? Mimey can't seem to decide.” Delia asked her son before suddenly shoving two identical-looking cards of color into Ash’s face. Mimey stood to the side with his face in his hand as he sighed.

“I- Uh… what for? Are you painting the walls again?” Ash asked with a gulp as his eyes darted between the two blues presented to him. They looked exactly the same, or if they weren't, the difference was so minor that Ash couldn’t tell in the slightest.

“Of course not, dear! I’m thinking about repainting the barn!” That was Ash’s mother, of course. She always had to be renovating something if she wasn’t knee-deep in farmwork or homeschooling or else she would go insane.

“Oh… Uh okay.” Ash chuckled nervously while nodding slowly. This hobby of his mothers had always either gone amazingly, or disasteriously. On one hand, his mom turned the basement into pretty much a jungle gym for him to practice his agility with his tail, which is awesome! On the other hand, scenarios like the attic incident still give him nightmares… so much flooding just from one, simple pipe…

“Hm… I’ll just go with this one!” Delia muttered while taking the cards away from Ash’s face, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.

“R-Right. Good choice…” Ash muttered with a light chuckle. “Hey uh… I’m going to go outside and walk around and find something to scratch on, okay? My claws are starting to feel sore.”

“Alright, dear! Stay warm.” Delia called out to her son whine not tearing her eyes away from the catalogs she’s currently enamored with. Ash had learned to stay far away when she gets like this or else he would wind up getting sucked into a grocery run or having to measure something.

“You know I will! Bye, mom!” Ash called out while exiting the warmth of their house and into the windy, frigid chill of the outside in just shorts and a tee shirt. The cold has never really bothered the boy all that much. Sure, Ash could recognize that it was cold outside, it’s just that Ash was rarely ever cold unless he was wet or something.

---

Ash yawned as he walked the paths of his mother's ranch quietly. It was quite a pretty day outside! It was a shame that it was too cold for Gary to come over and hang out. He and his stupid need to stay warm and junk.

“Ugh… Why can’t it be summer alre-” Ash stops and turns his head towards the utility and feed barn as he sees the lights inside flash and flicker before going out with a click.

“That’s weird…” Ash mumbled as he began to make his way towards the tall, wooden building with the tin roof. Getting power surges or outages wasn’t normal, even in this windy weather.

As he grew closer, Ash began to hear the sound of… rustling. Like a bag being jostled around or something. The young boy smiled slightly at the thought of removing a pest to his mother's work… as well as potentially getting a snack before dinner.

Poking his head into the dim building, Ash was surprised to find that the wires that connected the light switch to the actual lights on the ceiling were frayed and bent unnaturally as if they had been jostled around by something.

‘Find…’

Ash froze with bated breath as his eyes grew wide. Had he just heard when he thought he did? Of course it would happen again when he wasn’t even trying!

The young boy slowly turned his head in the direction his head felt the ‘voice’ come from to find… a tail? Yeah, it looked like a tail. A black, angular tail that was currently poking its tip out of one of the bags his mother uses to store extra batteries for the various pieces of equipment she uses.

‘Find… food… help…’

Okay, now Ash was sure he had heard this little guy ‘talk’! The young boy started to creep slowly toward the unsuspecting Pokemon, using his inhuman dexterity to his advantage as he gained ground. Once Ash was close enough, the boy reached out and gently pinched his fingers onto the sharp, angular tail to lift the unknown Pokemon out of the bag.

“Oh! Its a-”

“Pi-CHUUUU!!!” The Pokemon screamed out before Ash was barraged with an arc of electricity. Ash didn't have time to react and yelled out loudly in both surprise and light pain as he dropped to the ground onto his butt while shaking his arm. Grimacing slightly as it didn’t hurt too badly, it just startled him.

“OW!! That really freaking hurt!” The young boy whined while continuing to shake the hand that had held onto the Pichu when he was shocked. “If you need help, then just freaking ask!”

The tiny, yellow Pokemon who now stood on top of the work counter after jumping away from Ash as he fell now looked both confused and surprised at the boy's words. The mouse tilted its head slightly as his large ears flopped to the side.

‘Understand?’

“I don’t know… a little? It’s hard. Hold on…” Ash grunted as he got to his feet again and closed his eyes. Trying to follow Serena’s advice, the tip of Ash’s tail began to shake quickly like an Ekans tail as his face scrunched up slightly.

‘Is he pooping? I didn’t know humans had tails.’ Ash heard the Pokemon more clearly as the boy gasped in surprise and excitement.

“I heard you! And no, I’m not pooping, I’m doing telepathy!” Ash yelled out with an excited smile on his face as his eyes glittered with excitement. He could do it! He could hear what Pokemon say! This is awesome! Oh, he is going to rub this in Gary’s face so much!

“Pi?!” The tiny Pokemon jumped back with a horrified expression on his face at the reveal that the human could hear his thoughts. However, after taking a moment to collect himself, the tiny Pokemon moved back to the edge of the table and stared up at Ash intensely.

‘Help… Mama… dying…’ Were the only words that Ash could get through the still-unstable connection but that was more than enough to make the boy understand as he nodded quickly.

“I’ll help your mama! I’m really good friends with a- hey wait!” The boy yelled out as he couldn’t even get through his explanation before Pichu had climbed down from the counter and subsequently scurried out the door in a dash.

‘Follow! Lead!’ The Pichu called out to the now lagging boy as Ash followed the fast, yellow blur into the woods behind the medium-sized barn which Ash had used both as a playground and hunting grounds many times before, so he knew the land, or at least his way back to the house, decently enough.

“I’m coming! I’m right behind you!” Ash grunted as he sprinted behind the Pokemon, reminding himself how lucky he was not to feel the cold like regular humans did. Running behind the quick mouse would be so much harder if he was trapped in some jacket and long pants!

“Pi!! Pichu Pi!!” The Pokemon called out to pretty much nobody as he stopped, Ash skidding to a stop right behind the tiny Pokemon with a few feet to spare as he looked around in confusion.

“Hey, where’s your mam-”

“Kang!” A small, squeaky-voiced called from the woods caused Ash to whip in the direction it came from. Pichu bolted off in that direction as well, causing Ash to follow close behind as the duo came across a large, rocky outcropping that Ash remembered from the time he and Gary thought about making a fort out in that very spot.

“Kangas…” A more mature, deeper voice spoke out as the duo approached. Ash took note of how this one sounded… weaker, in a sense. That was probably ‘Mama’ whom Ash was called to help save. And the baby Kangaskhan was there too, sitting beside the mother who was sitting with its back against the back wall of the outcropping.

“Oh… Okay…” Ash gulped as he stopped a few feet away from the Pokemon it glared at Ash, though Pichu quickly got onto the Pokemon’s belly with its arms outstretched to block Kangaskhan's view of the human.

“Pi! Pichu pi! Pi pi!” Pichu called out to the hurt Pokemon. Though he couldn't exactly hear what was being said, Ash got the gist that Pichu was trying to tell Kangaskhan to trust him, which might have been a taller task if the poor Pokemon wasn’t incredibly hurt, which seemed to be the case given the blood and marks all over its body.

“Hey… hey, I’m just trying to help… please?” Ash whispered as he crept closer to the Pokemon with his arms up and claws hidden. A soft smile on the young boy's face as the Pokemon let him approach, but never taking its eyes off Ash.

‘Can you help?’ Pichu asked through their still shaky connection as Ash hummed a bit. It… wasn’t the best. The scratches and scrapes that the Pokemon had didn’t seem to be too deep, but the problem was that there were a lot of them. Pretty much all over her body. If it was just a few, then all that would be needed was one or two potions and she would be fine, but with so many…

“We should go get my mom. She will know what to do.” Ash stated plainly as he rose back to his feet while smiling at Kangaskhan and her baby genuinely. ‘Don’t worry! We have a friend who loves to help Pokemon of all kinds. You will be fine! I promise!”

Ash’s words seemed to resonate with the hurt Pokemon as its face softened as she stared into Ash’s eyes. Kanhaskhan merely rubbed her baby’s head as she nodded slowly.

‘Trustful eyes. Kind…’ Ash barely heard whispered from the Kangaskhan's mind as Ash turned to start running back to the house, though not behind Ash felt something latch onto his leg and begin climbing up onto his shoulder. It was Pichu!

‘Come too! Help!’ The Pokemon smiled at Ash, who simply smiled back before starting to sprint in the direction of his house to go get aid from his mother as he had honestly no idea how to help the poor Kangaskhan except to get it to Professor Oak’s lab.

“Oh yeah! How did she get like that? What attacked her?” Ash questioned the shoulder rider as he sprinted through the woods towards his goal. Pichu’s cheeks started to spark a bit.

‘Mean Pokemon. Spearow. Lots of them hurt Mama when Mama hurt one for bullying sister.’ Pichu growled out while his thoughts made their way to Ash, while nodded.

“Don’t worry! Me and Mom will do everything we can to make your mama better! Look, there's the house, right there!” Ash called as he pointed ahead as the duo burst out of the woods. Ash didn’t slow down as he made his way toward their large house while panting.

“Mom!” Ash yelled out as he slammed open the door to his house. Delia and Bibby in the same spot that they were previously when the boy had left.

“Ash!” Delia called out in both surprise and exacerbation. “How many times have I told you to please not sla-”

“Help! A Pokemon needs help!” Ash called out while panting, interrupting his mother’s scolding.

“What happened? Explain it to me slowly.” Delia gently demanded as she got up and quickly ran to her son, getting onto one knee with her hand on the shoulder that Pichu currently wasn’t standing on, though still acknowledging the new arrival's existence with a glance.

“I found Pichu in the feed barn and he said that his mama needs help so I followed him.” Ash started explaining carefully while looking into his mother's eyes after she had stopped scanning Ash for any sign of injury or a struggle. “I found his mama and-”

“Wait, you talked with this Pichu?” Delia accidentally interrupted her son in shock with her eyes wide as she stared at Pichu for a few seconds before turning back to look Ash in the eyes again. “How?”

“Not important right now!” Ash demanded while shaking his head quickly. “Mom, there's a hurt Pokemon and we have to do something! Please!” Ash pleaded with his mother, unable to get the thought of Kangaskhan lying there in pain, hoping for Ash and Pichu to get back soon. His empathy always overtook everything when it came to Pokemon.

“Yes, you’re right, Ash. Let’s go!” Delia nodded before she got up to quickly put on her jacket as she made her way to the door with Ash right behind her. Once they were outside, Delia put her fingers to her mouth and made a loud whisper which always made Ash feel like he needed to cover his ears.

“Okay! You ride on Pidge-Podge and I’ll lead you! Um… Pichu, can you shoot lighting into the air or something?” Ash stopped as he turned his head towards the Pichu riding on his shoulder, who nodded quickly. “Okay! Then Pichu will shoot up lighting and stuff to get your attention!”

“Alright Ash, just please stay safe, okay?” Delia pleaded with her son after climbing onto the back of Pidge-Podge, her Pidgeot who had just landed in front of the house and stared at Ash intently, probably able to tell that this wasn’t just some sunset joyride that he and Delia were taking.

“Got it, Mom! Follow me, Pidge!” Ash commanded before jumping over the railing of their front porch to begin sprinting towards the woods again as Pichu struggled to hang onto Ash’s shirt from the sudden burst of speed. The boy smiled as he heard the bird Pokemon caw out as he rose into the air.

‘Thank you!’ Pichu thought while looking at Ash while he ran through the forest for the third time in such quick succession. Ash just smirked at the Pokemon in response.

“I’m going to be a Pokemon Master someday! You can’t do that if you don’t try and help and be friends with every Pokemon you meet! So don’t mention it!” Ash genuinely explained to the Pokemon while smiling happily. As much as he hated the fact that Kangaskhan got hurt, Ash really did love helping Pokemon. Well, he enjoyed helping pretty much everyone, but Ash enjoyed helping Pokemon in particular!

‘I don’t even know your nam-’ “Pichu!!” Pichu’s train of thought was interrupted as he pointed at the outcropping of rocks where Kangaskhan lay. Ash nodded in understanding as he ran over and let Pichu off.

“Hey! We’re back! Mom is right behind us, too! Don’t worry. You won’t be in pain much longer, okay?” Ash smiled genuinely at the hurt mother with his hand resting on top of hers while Pichu shot up thin bolts of electricity into the sky with small, strained cries.

That seemed to have been enough as not even a minute later, Pidge-Podge landed nearby with Delia still on his back. The woman quickly hopped off and ran towards Ash with Pichu right behind her as the boy waved to his mother.

“Okay, dear. I’m here! Where is- woah. Is that Mama?” Delia stopped in her tracks as she turned to see the hurt Kangaskhan under the outcropping. The woman just stared for a few seconds as she examined the Pokemon up and down quietly.

“Yeah! What are we going to do?” Ash asked his mother with an excited smile, sure that she would have all the answers, just as most children expect of their parents. Pichu climbed back up onto Ash’s shoulder as the tired Pokemon continued to pant from the effort his signal took.

“I… well… When you said ‘Mama’, I expected maybe a Pikachu or Raichu, something that I could just carry back to Professor Oak’s. Not a Kangaskhan…” Delia mumbled while slowly she slowly stepped towards the hurt Pokemon who was currently staring at Delia while keeping her baby on the other side of her body, away from the human. Delia got onto her knees to appear smaller as well as making it so she wasn’t talking down to the Pokemon.

“I… well… shoot!” Ash grumbled a bit as his hands went to scratch at his head in an attempt to think of a different solution.

“Now hold on, Dear.” Delia turned to her son, asking him to calm down before turning back to Kangaskhan. “Hi… My name's Delia. That boy over there is my son. He asked me to come and help you. I know of a place that can, but that will mean that you have to go into a Pokeball for a while. I promise you that you will be released right after, but you need to trust me, okay?”

Delia finished by taking out an empty Pokeball from her jacket pocket and holding it out for the Pokemon. Kangaskhan looked a tad nervous at the thought as she most definitely didn’t fully trust Delia yet, so instead, the Pokemon looked to Ash and Pichu.

“Pichu Pi!” Pichu called out while nodding quickly with a smile.

“Yeah, what Pichu said! And I promise that we are good people! We’ll get you all healed up and then you can go wherever you want!” Ash tried his best to reassure the scared, hurt Pokemon with a bright smile while standing behind his mother.

‘Kind eyes…’ The Kangaskhan thought briefly before lifting her baby to place her back inside the Pokemon’s pouch before looking back up at Delia. The duo shared a nod before Kangaskhan tapped the Pokemon, getting sucked inside. The Pokeball shook three times in Delia’s hand before a gentle ‘click’ sound could be heard as Delia stood back up with a resolute expression.

“Okay, I’m going to Oak’s. Will you be okay, dear?” Delia asked as she speed-walked back to Pidge-Podge. Swinging her leg onto the bird Pokemon in one swift, quick motion.

“I’m right behind you! Me and Pichu both are, right?” Ash smiled at his mother as Pichu let out a loud ‘Pi pi!!’ in response to Ash’s question.

“Good!” Delia smiled at the duo genuinely. “Ash, you did so well with this. Thank you. I’m so proud of you. See you at the lab!”

Pidge-Podge took that as the signal as the Pokemon jumped up into the air with the aid of his powerful wings. The duo of Ash and Pichu watched as the large Pokemon rose slowly until they were past the treetops, where the Pokemon shot forward with a burst of speed and out of the duo’s view.

‘Weird…’ Ash suddenly heard from the Pokemon’s mind, unprompted.

“Hey! What’s weird?” Ash asked with a mildly stern expression as he crossed his arms. Pichu had jumped slightly in shock as he clearly didn’t expect his thoughts to be called out like how they just were.

‘Give me a warning! I forgot you could do that.’ The Pokemon commented after collecting himself. ‘It’s weird that she doesn’t have a tail like you. And that you have a tail. I didn’t know that humans could have tails.’ Pichu’s comments just made Ash smile as he was reminded how unique he was.

“Yeah, okay, I guess I am a bit weird. My friend's nickname for me is ‘weirdo’ even.” Ash smiled as he explained the situation to Pichu. The light started to leave the woods quickly as Ash began walking towards the lab. All the running he had done in the last half-hour had tired him out…

‘And what is your real name, then? I asked before but we got to mama.’ Pichu asked casually as his large ears bounced up and down with each of Ash’s steps.

“Oh! I’m Ash. Ash Ketchum.” Ash introduced himself with a bright smile. “Wanna be friends?”

‘Pichu. Just Pichu. And sure! I love having friends!’ Pichu returned Ash’s smile with one just as bright. The duo stared into each other's eyes for a moment.

“Awesome!! I got another friend!” Ash smiled wide as his arms with into the air with excitement, nearly causing Pichu to fall off, but he just jumped onto the top of Ash’s head.

‘So… if you are a weirdo-human with a tail… are there any others like you?’ Pichu asked as his arms crossed and he tapped his foot while thinking.

“Well… my mom tells me that I got my tail and stuff from my dad, but other than that, nah. It’s just me! Well, there could be others but we don’t know them. Eh. No use worrying about that stuff. Wanna go see your mama?” Ash shrugged off the question as Pichu began nodding quickly and pointing forward.

“Pi? Pi pichu!!” The little Pokemon called out while stomping his foot on Ash’s head. Becoming the human to go faster as Ash started jogging his way toward the lab while laughing at the Pokemon’s demands for him to hurry up.

---

Hours later, miles and miles away from Pallet Town, on one of the many beaches in Vermillion City, something washes ashore. What it is, not even the thing itself, is sure given how it seemingly pulsates and stretches out randomly in a direction before turning to its proper, amorphic shape.

People could have guessed it might have been some beached jellyfish or some misshapen Pyukumuku if there were any around, but given how it was the dead of night, nobody was. Just an assortment of trash and items people forgot to collect before returning home for the day.

The thing, seemingly having had enough with the ocean, began to crawl itself forward onto the beach. Though ‘crawl’ might not have been the best word. Dragging itself or rolling might be a better description, but it was nearly impossible to tell due to the thing's uncanny ability to writhe or reach out randomly in a direction before seemingly giving up and returning its ‘limb’ back into its main body.

The pulsating mound of… something had eventually reached its goal of escaping the waves. Now sitting in naught but the damp, compact sand and berated by the freezing, harsh winds of the winter weather, the thing shook, shivered even. As if it could feel the chill or it could express fear in any sense, it sat there shaking unnaturally, at least until the wind caused something to blow directly into the mound's body.

A forgotten magazine, forgotten by its owner and carried by the wind, slams into the shivering thing's body. A magazine with the title ‘Young Fashion! Kalos Edition!’ on the cover.

 

[SnowySummers]

CHAPTER 4​

“Mom!! Are you coming or not?” The now nine-year-old Ash called out while standing near the front door with a groan. He had been ready for forever by now, according to him.

“Pi pipiiiii!!” The Pokemon on the boy's shoulder whined out as well after his young trainer got done complaining.

“Now, hold on, and let me make sure I have everything before we go. Do you have the item capsules?” Delia asked as she rounded the corner while adjusting her purse as it rested on her shoulder. After all, it had been a while since she had been to Pewter City.

“Yep! I have them right here.” Ash smiled brightly as he held up the two, specialized capsules which the good Professor had kindly let the duo borrow for today. Inside each one was a large fossil that Ash and Pichu had stumbled upon deep in the woods on Delia's property.

It had taken Ash and Tibby, Delia’s Timburr who always helped with any renovations or building, over half a day to unearth the gigantic things from the ground and Ash was currently dead set on having the Pokemon revived as soon as possible. Of course, it didn’t help that the topic of Oak’s talk show last week was on fossil Pokemon so Ash currently held a special interest in them.

“Okay, good. Now do you promise not to get upset if the scientists can’t revive them, Ash? They’re not miracle workers, after all.” Delia gently reminded her son as she wanted to set expectations so he wouldn’t be as heartbroken if this trip didn’t go according to plan.

“Yep yep!” Ash and Pichu both nodded vigorously up at the woman, causing her to giggle slightly. Those two had been attached by the hip since they found each other that day two years ago. It was hard to believe that it had been that long, now that she thought about it.

“Alright, you two, settle down. We have a long flight ahead of us. Tail tucked in, Ash?” Delia asked as she rubbed her son's head while walking toward the door, causing him to giggle a bit.

“Tucked and ready!” Her delighted boy piped up with a wide smile while following his mother. She felt bad that Ash always had to hide his tail like this whenever the two went out but… Oak was right when he warned that not everyone would be as gentle and patient in their study of Ash as he is. Delia prefers not to think too deeply about what he meant by that.

“Alright, dear.” Delia piqued back up after shaking the previous thought from her mind. “Let's get going. Could you do the honors? You need to practice your whistling, after all.”

Ash didn’t need to be told twice as he ran out the door and put his fingers to his mouth with Pichu folding his ears closed in anticipation. It took him a few tries but the ear-piercing sound of a loud whistle erupted out of Ash’s mouth and echoed around Delia’s property. It only took a moment before Pidge-Podge cried out as he landed down the steps of the house's front porch.

“Hi, Pidge!” “Ash called out with an excited wave as he ran over to the friendly Pokemon to begin petting him. “You ready for a big fly today? We are going all the way to Pewter City! Think you can make it?” There was a small pause as Ash looked into the Pokemon's eyes as the bird seemed to be smiling at him before Ash let out a laugh.

“You talking with Pidge-Podge? What did he say?” Delia asked as she walked up behind him and gently rested her hand on his back. The way Ash can just talk with Pokemon was both incredible and kinda bewildering sometimes.

“He says that he can do that in his sleep! And that he’s ready to go- woah!” Both Ash and Pichu yelled out a bit as Pidge lifted the boy by the back of his shirt collar, only to place the boy down on his back before he looked at Delia expectantly.

“That’s the spirit!” Delia smiled as she got on the bird Pokemon’s back behind Ash while Pichu jumped off Ash’s shoulder to sit in front of him.

“Let’s go!” Ash shouted out excitedly.

“Pipipi!!” Pichu yelled out along with Ash.

“Up up, Pidge-Podge!” Delia yelled while she leaned forward to secure Ash as best she could. The Pokemon let out a screech before lifting into the air easily with its powerful wings.

---

Delia… had seen a lot of things. She was a special woman, after all. Her amazing and loving son was quite different from other children, but that was fine. She took that in stride, just as she did with many things in her life. However… she had no idea what to do about this.

“Are you sure that it isn’t hurting you, dear?” Delia asked up at her dangling son as calmly as she could muster with a small gulp. Yes, dangling. As in being suspended in the air by this… pokemon.

“Haha yeah! Dracovish is being super gentle! He says that my hair tastes good!” Ash laughed happily while he was currently being held in the air by nothing but his head by a gigantic, newly-reborn, surprisingly friendly Dracovish. Said Dracovish who hadn’t stopped smiling as he held the top of Ash’s head in his mouth.

“Oh… okay, dear. If you say so…” Delia nodded with a slight, nervous laugh as a sweatdrop rolled down her cheek.

“Pichuuuu… Pi pi Pichu chu…” Pichu grumbled a bit, seemingly in the same state that Delia was in at the moment as he sat on Delia’s shoulder while shaking his head. Ash seemingly understood his partner and brought his arm up to his chin in a thinking motion.

“Yeah… I guess that’s a good point. Okay, Dracovish. Why don’t you go ahead and take a break? Our friend is really smart with Pokemon, and he’s going to check you out when we get home, okay?” Ash smiled as he talked towards Delia since he couldn’t exactly turn to face the dragon with the boy’s head in his mouth and everything.

“Draco…” The Pokemon seemed a bit sad but slowly lowered Ash to the ground before unlatching his jaw from Ash’s head as he nodded. For just how strange this situation was, Delia couldn’t help but admit that the Pokemon was rather cute… if a bit odd. Though that went for everyone in their little family, so Dracovish will fit right in!

“Okay, buddy. Take a nap and get used to the Pokeball. I’m pretty sure you guys didn’t have these back from where you came from.” Ash gave the Pokemon one last smile before he held up a regular Pokeball it shot out a red beam towards the dragon type, the massive beast having gotten sucked inside without issue.

“Well, this has been an adventure, hasn’t it, Ash?” Delia smiled as she walked behind her son and placed her arm on his shoulder comfortingly. Pichu took the opportunity to scurry down her arm and back to his proper spot on Ash’s other shoulder as well.

“Yeah, it’s been super fun! Can we go eat now? I’m starting to get hungry…” Ash asked his mother while he smiled up at her with his hand on his stomach Delia could hear a faint growling noise radiate from it as well, to add emphasis.

“Hm.. yeah, I guess it is around lunchtime. I know a good cafe here too. Let’s go.” Delia smiled as she offered her hand to her son. The boy happily took it while his other arm reached up to scratch Pichu’s cheek as the tiny Pokemon made a satisfied ‘Chuuuuu’ noise.

The duo started on their way down the sidewalk quietly as Delia focused on trying to remember exactly where that good cafe that she and Gary’s parents used to frequent whenever they were in the city for whatever reason.

“Hm? Oh yeah, I guess so…” Ash muttered while looking at Pichu with a smile. He does that often, just talking out of nowhere to Pichu or one of her Pokemon. It was kinda surprising how used to it Delia had gotten by this point.

“Pichu say something smart?” Delia absentmindedly asked as the duo turned the corner. Now having a straight shot into downtown where their destination was.

“Mhm. He said that he really wouldn’t like living here, and yeah… having to keep my tail and stuff in my pants all the time would get really sore.” Ash grumbled a bit as he shook his leg. Delia was sure that her son’s tail was getting uncomfortable, but that was something that he was going to have to get used to if he still planned to travel the world as he said.

“Hm… yeah, the city certainly isn’t for everyone, that’s for certain…” Delia muttered as she held Ash’s hand tightly while glancing down one of the many alleyways between the downtown shops.

“Pichu…” The yellow mouse on Ash’s shoulder nodded, causing Ash to giggle.

“I think that you might get overcharged if you try and eat from these powerlines, buddy.” Ash grinned while scratching a very disappointed-looking Pichu’s head with the Pokemon’s cheeks puffed out as he looked up at the power lines above them.

“Yes,” Delia giggled lightly at Pichu’s apparent thirst for power. “I think that that may just be too much for you-”

“I told you that I don’t have your money, brat!” A loud, curt, masculine voice cut through the trio’s conversation. The man’s aggressiveness caused Delia to grab onto Ash’s shoulders to keep him from walking. The direction that the sound was coming from was a few feet ahead, around the corner into one of the many alleyways of the city.

“B-but! P-please, sir! I promi-Ah!!” A meek girl’s voice yelped, followed by sounds of a hard smack and clattering of knocked-over trash cans.

“Don’t you fucking touch me, cunt!” the man yelled one last time before turning the corner, only to find Ash and Delia giving him a firm gaze. Delia slowly pushed Ash (and his cheek-sparking Pichu) behind her and brought her hands close to Kangy’s and Tibby’s Pokeballs… just in case.

“What the hell are you two looking at?” The baldheaded man in the black, leather jacket scoffed softly before he turned and started walking in the direction opposite of them.

Delia was able to spot something white under his arm as the man was walking away. Some package of some kind. However, Delia didn’t have much time to focus on the man as Ash had run out from around his mother towards the alley he had emerged from. Right! That girl from before!

“Hey, are you okay?” Ash called out as he ran into the alley, followed closely behind by Delia as she took note of the scene. It was a little girl.

She was on her knees and holding her cheek while sniffling lightly, clearly in pain from the man’s unseen blow which had sent her reeling and knocking over the two metal trash cans which were now toppled over. Though for some reason, something… bothered her about this girl. Something that Delia just couldn’t quite put her finger on for some reason.

“Y-Yeah. I’m okay…” The girl tried to reassure Ash as she sniffled lightly while trying to blink away some tears that were threatening to form in her eyes. She only took a moment before she grabbed the hand that Ash was offering to help lift her up onto her feet.

“Sweetie, that man hit you. Are you sure? It’s okay not to be okay…” Delia gently spoke to the little girl as she squatted down to get eye level with her. She couldn’t be more than seven or eight at the most…

She noted that Ash had taken a step back with his hand on his chin. Both he and Pichu stared intently at the girl. Maybe she was giving the same off to them that Delia was feeling?

“O-oh. Um… well I’m still okay. It doesn’t hurt that bad.” The girl flashed the mother and son a reassuring smile. “Really. I’m okay. Um… my name is-”

“Serena?” Ash interrupted the little girl with a cautious, questioning tone. Delia’s eyes widened as she stared at the girl. He… he was right!

“Oh, um… yeah!” The girl smiled a bit and turned to Ash to smile at him more. “You must be a fan of my modeling stuff. Not many people recognize me here.”

“I… Serena, sweetie, it’s us. It’s Ash and Delia. When did you get to Kanto?” Delia glazed at her son in complete bewilderment. He and Pichu looked back at her with the same shock and disbelief that she was no doubt experiencing.

“O-Oh!” The girl's smiling expression almost immediately fell as she took a step back. “W-well um… a few days ago, yeah! There was… a shoot here and um…”

“Serena, are you okay? Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to be in Kanto?” Ash spoke up again, taking a few steps forward as the girl continued to step back away from the two humans and the Pokemon.

“I-I… well… It’s really, really hard to keep up with all my fans… And I… forgot your number. I'm super duper sorry…” Serena apologized sincerely to the duo, thereby confirming to Delia that there was something seriously wrong going on here. Not only was there something wrong with Serena’s mind, but she also just looked… younger, somehow. Maybe it was less muscle mass in her arms and legs or it was her height but she looked at least a year or two younger than she should. Could she not be eating enough?

“Serena…” Ash stopped as he had practically corned ‘Serena’ against the back wall of the alley. “I’m not a fan. I’m your friend. Do you know who I am?”

“Sweetie, if something is wrong, we can help you. Something… something is wrong here.” Delia pleaded with the now terrified girl with her back against the wall. Seeing Serena in this state, this amount of fear while not being able to recognize anyone, hurt Delia greatly but she was determined to help this girl no matter what.

“I… Um… You’re… You’re Ash! And uh… Uh… you’re Delia! See, I know you!” The girl desperately called out with a terrified tone. She no doubt just wanted her and Ash to disappear by now, but she and Ash weren’t going anywhere.

“No. What’s my nickname.” Ash now demanded from the girl as he crossed his arms with an intense stare into the girl’s eyes. The girl, in response, just whimpered fearfully with her legs shaking. The poor girl looked ready to burst into tears at naught but a soft breeze,

“I… I don’t… Um…” The girl trailed off before looking to the ground as she whimpered childishly. “I’m sorry…”

“Sweetie,” Delia gently spoke as she walked forward to stand by Ash but stayed a few feet away from the terrified girl. “I told you that we can help you. You just need to tell u-”

“I’m sorry! Astonish!” The terrified girl yelled out before Ash, Pichu, and Delia all heard the recognizable sound of a Pokeball pop. Not even Pichu could react in time as a tiny Mawile jumped at the trio.

“WILE!” The tiny Pokemon yelled out loudly when it was just a foot or two away from the group. Startling them and causing Ash to stumble back onto his butt with Pichu falling off of Ash’s shoulder while Delia covered her ears.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!!” The girl was sprinting forward to lift the noticeably small Mawile even as she repeated herself desperately. As she scooped up the Mawile with one hand, with the other she shoved something into Delia's stomach. However, Delia didn’t have the time to grab onto whatever was pushed against her as Serena was sprinting out of the alley.

“Hey! Come back!” Ash suddenly yelled out as whatever Serena tried to give Delia clattered to the ground. Pichu started the chase with Ash not too far behind, though Delia waited.

Delia bent over to pick up what was pressed against her stomach by the scared girl. It was… a potion. An opened, dirty, half-used potion that was well past its expiration date, but it was a potion nonetheless. She wasn’t trying to hurt them at least. Or, that’s what Delia took the potion to mean, anyway. Though there's time to worry about that later! She needs to catch up to her two boys and Serena!

“Hey!! Come back!!” Ash yelled out loudly, allowing Delia to easily spot her son while he ran down the sidewalk behind Serena as Pichu had scurried up a power pole and was currently running across the power lines.

“I’m sorry! Please stop following me! I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!” The scared girl called out while turning the street corner in a panic, only to bump into someone and cause them to follow over as Serena yelled out.

Ash had stopped to help pick the man up, allowing Delia to catch up with him as they shared a knowing look.

“I don’t think that’s Serena,” Ash mumbled to his mom while Delia nodded. Pichu called up to them from up on the power pole as he pointed down the direction that Serena had run.

“Let’s go!” Delia encouraged her son as he started running again with Delia not far behind the boy. Pichu called up to them as they could still see the running girl, she was just a long way off.

“Serena! Or erm… whoever you are, slow down! We aren’t mad or anything! We just want to know what you did with the real Serena!” Ash called with his hands forming a cone in front of his mouth to yell louder.

“Nothing! I didn’t do anything! P-Please just leave me alone! I’m sorry!!” The girl looked behind her while yelling back at the boy before turning into some alleyway, causing the trio to lose sight of her.

“Sweetie, we just want answers, not to scare her. Don’t yell too much.” Ash tried to remind her son while dashing along with him. The running was starting to get to her though. She may be an active woman but she wasn’t quite this active!

“Yeah, I know, I know.” Ash brushed his mother off before running ahead of her, turning where the two had seen the girl turn, only for Ash to let out a surprised yelp as he ran headfirst into a boy. The two collapsed into a crash with Ash lying on top of him as the unknown boy held his head while groaning.

“Oww!! What the hell was that for?” The boy asked as Ash rolled off him with a pained groan, allowing Delia to get a good look at the boy as Pichu hopped down onto Delia’s shoulder with a confused look.

The boy couldn’t be but a year younger than Ash and had quite the stylish, if blue, outfit on. A long-sleeved, blue jacket with white accents, simple blue jeans with a pair of black hiker boots with blue laces on them all topped with a red-billed cap on his head. His eyes were a cool, slate grey which worked well with his dark hair.

“Sorry! Sorry…” Ash hissed to himself while rubbing his now-red forehead as he climbed to his feet. “Hey, did you see a girl run by here? A blonde girl with like, black leggings-”

“Black thigh socks-” Delia corrected her son while helping the knocked-over boy up.

“Black whatever socks on? Did you see her?” Ash asked the boy as the stranger adjusted his cap and nodded at Delia.

“No… I was trying to find Grimers here so I didn’t see anything…” The boy answered as he shook his head with a half-annoyed expression. It was as if the new arrivals' mere presence was bothering him. Though Ash did run into him head first so that may be warranted.

“Pi! Pichu cu!” Pichu suddenly called out to Ash with his arms crossed. Delia just reached up to gently pet his head as he was clearly torn up about something.

“Sorry buddy… I thought I saw her come this way too but I guess not… Dang.” Ash huffed a little as he rubbed his forehead a bit more. He looked to his mother for answers but Delia found that she had none. She just sighed as she placed her hand on the top of her son's head.

“Ugh. Whatever.” The mystery boy responded as he rolled his eyes while walking towards the exit of the alley. “Good luck finding your mystery Mawile girl, or whatever. And try not to hit people next time, got it?”

The boy’s bad attitude and general demeanor certainly weren’t the kindest that Delia had come across. She just stepped aside to let the boy walk by as she stopped to think about that girl, the Serena look-a-like again. The ‘Mawile girl’ as the boy said. That would be a good name- wait…

It only took one look at her son to confirm that he had come to the same conclusion that she had: They never mentioned a Mawile.

“Dracovish, help me out! Grab that guy and lift him up!”

“Mimey! Wall off the alley!”

The sound of twin pokeballs opening echoed against the bricks of the thin, trash-filled alleyway as the now incredibly suspicious boy tried to make a run for it. Though he hadn’t gone far before he stumbled back after running into one of Mimeys invisible barriers.

“Shit! Mawi-” The boy who was now sitting on his butt tried to call out while reaching for his pocket but was interrupted by Ash’s newest Pokemon catching his prey. The boy was unable to do anything as the giant, friendly Pokemon had bitten down on his hat and lifted him into the air, where he now dangled helplessly.

“We never said she had a Mawile, did we Pichu?” Ash asked as Dracovish turned the boy to have the trio. Ash sounded annoyed as he stood with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face.

“Pi… Chu pi.” The Pichu on his shoulder shook his head while Ash flashed his teeth to the helpless boy, showing off his unnaturally large canines. The poor boy now looked terrified as he seemed to clam up, just whimpering as his arms desperately tried to open Dracovish’s jaws.

“Sweetie…” Delia interjected as she stepped in front of her son, as a means to try and de-escalate the situation. “We don’t want to hurt her, I promise. Is she your friend? Well, the girl that she looks like is our friend too. We just want to make sure that she isn’t doing anything wrong that could get our friend in trouble.”

“I… I… it hurts!” The boy whined out as Dracovish adjusted a little, clearly in an attempt to not harm the boy. However, that didn’t do much to satisfy him as he kept whining and squirming helplessly. Dracovish was holding him as gently as he did Ash, which Ash said felt perfectly fine. And to add to that, the boy was being held by his hat, which should have at least provided some cushioning as it began to stretch downward- wait what?

“Owowowow!!” The boy cried out as tears formed in the corners of his eyes as, to the shock of all that were present, the top of the boy's head, as well as his hat, began… stretching. It was as if the strange boy was malleable like wet clay or Play-Doh as his head stretched enough that the boy's feet were now touching the floor.

“D-Dracovish, let go!!” Ash yelled out in abject shock and horror at the visual. It wasn’t as if the skin was tearing or anything, it was just stretching. Same as his hat, which hadn’t shifted on his head at all like it was attached to his body directly instead of sitting on one’s head like regular hats do.

“Mime! Mime!” Mimey agreed with Ash in a panic as Dracovish got the message, opening his jaw wide and allowing the human(?) to go free. The boy’s head corrected itself as if it were some elastic band as he fell to his knees clutching it.

“Oh Gods, sweetie,” Delia called out while rushing ahead to get on her knees in front of the boy without even thinking. “We are so sorry. We didn’t know that would happen. Here, shhhh… show me where it hurts. It’s okay.” Delia tried to comfort the clearly distressed child as he gently took his head in her hands to examine it.

“I... I’m sorry…” The boy whimpered with tears falling down his cheeks as Dracovish nuzzled his back in a clear apology. “I-I didn’t mean to copy y-y-your friend. I-I just… I just…” The boy attempted to speak, only to burst into a barrage of sobs as Delia gently brought the boy to her chest to let him cry into her bosom.

“Mime…” Delia could hear Mimey sigh behind her. “Mi? Mi mime mi!!”

“Yeah, hold on… That’s actually a really good point…” Ash spoke up from behind as well. Delia listened intently while also rocking the sobbing child back and forth slowly as a means to soothe them. “Did he say ‘he’ didn’t mean to copy?”

“Pi…” Pichu vocalized as well, though Delia didn’t know if he was just reacting or wanting to be a part of the conversation.

“I…” The boy Delia was holding against her chest spoke up as he slowly pulled away. Delia allowed him to but still kept her hand on his shoulders as the boy was still sniffling and in clear distress. “I’m… not normal.”

“That’s…” Delia trailed as she turned her head to glance at her son, who seemed to be just as curious about this as she was. “That’s okay, sweetie. You can show us. We aren’t all that normal either.” The woman encouraged the boy with a bright smile.

“Okay.” The boy nodded and gently pulled Delia’s hands away from his shoulders. Delia obliged as he rested her hands in her lap, only to watch in shock as the boy who she was previously holding not but mere seconds ago began to mold and shift. Not just the skin, but the clothes as well, rippled and reshaped themselves to look like-

“Serena.” Ash muttered with his jaw firmly dropped in complete awe. “That’s so… I mean… that wasn’t what I thought was going on…”

“Pi…” Pichu agreed with a slow nod. The small Pokemon looked away from the sight to rub his eyes intently, only to open them and see the same sight that he had previously.

“I… I’m sorry. I need to go.” The girl- boy- child muttered while slowly, shakily getting to their feet. Not meeting either the humans or their Pokemon eyes. “I’m not normal. I shouldn't show anyone this. R-really, really bad things always happen when I show-”

“Serena, wait!” Delia stopped them as she grabbed onto the child's arm. “It’s okay. It’s okay. We aren't normal either.” Delia smiled genuinely as she gestured to her son.

“Yeah. Being normal sucks.” Ash smiled wide, looking half relieved and half excited as his incredibly long tail emerged from his waist, only for it to make a waving motion toward Serena. At the same time, Ash held out his arms with fingers outstretched, only for thick, black, sturdy claws to emerge from each of his digits.

The sight seemed to leave Serena in a state of shock as she simply stared at Delia’s beloved son proudly showing off his ‘monstrous’ features. Only for a small smile to form while she looked at the waving tail as she raised her arm to return the wave.

“See, sweetie? You can trust us. Really.” Delia gently reminded the child with a warm smile as Ash hid his tail and claws again. Mimey also took the opportunity to drop his barrier now that it seemed like everything had calmed down, though Dracovish still stood at the entrance, just in case.

“I… I didn’t… I never thought that… there would be m-more like us.” The clearly shocked and still emotionally distraught child mumbled while they continually looked back and forth between all the Pokemon and humans present.

“Us?” Delia asked as she tilted her head slightly. “Do you refer to yourself as ‘us’, dear?”

“What does ‘refer’ mean?” The child innocently asked Delia with inquisitive eyes. The question caused Delia to pause a moment. From how they were acting and speaking, they seemed young. Younger than how they look, at least.

“Well… refer means how you direct something. Like, for example, I refer to myself as Delia and say things like ‘I want’ or ‘I think’. Does that make sense?”

“And I refer to myself as Ash! And I think that you’re really cool!” Ash piped up, causing Delia to giggle at her son's antics and Serena to smile subtly at the compliment.

“Oh um, no. I um… I use ‘I’ and stuff. I like to use the name ‘Serena’ when I look like this and ‘Seth’ when I look like a boy.” Serena nodded in cautious understanding of the two’s explanations.

“Okay then, why did you say ‘we’ before, sweetie? Were you talking about you and Mawile or some friend?” Delia questioned the girl again. If she knew of others like Ash, Delia simply had to know who and where.

“Mhm!” Serena nodded with a smile. She seemed to be slowly recovering from her breakdown and shock from earlier. “I have a friend who’s like us! He’s really smart and really nice and he’s helping me learn how to read, too!! I can say the whole alphabet from memory now!!” The girl spoke loudly in childish excitement at her knowledge with a giggle.

“That’s fantastic, sweetie. You must be so happy.” Delia smiled as she placed her hand on top of Serena’s head to gently rub in as the girl smiled ear-to-ear.

If Delia had suspicions before, that pretty much confirmed it. This child clearly either isn’t the age she’s appearing to be, was kept sheltered heavily, has some mental handicap of some kind, or is some mix of these. Whatever it was, this poor girl clearly wasn’t ready to be on her own like how she was. She reminded Delia of Ash back when he was three or four, not the seven or eight-year-old Serena whom she had phone calls with regularly.

“Who’s your friend? I wanna meet him! Can he do that Ditto thing that you do?” Ash asked excitedly as he smiled at Serena wide as he stepped closer.

“Yes, I would quite like to meet him too. Can you introduce us, sweetie? I want to thank him for teaching you how to read.” Delia smiled as she gently booped Serena’s nose.

It felt… weird, to be honest. Talking to a girl who she knew for certain was 10 and in another region, but to be looking at a slightly younger-looking version of her while treating and envisioning this version of her as even younger than she appeared was honestly messing with Delia’s head. She was going to need a drink later. And she needed to build a new fence. That always seemed to clear her head.

“He um… he asked me um… t-to not tell people about his things. B-But he never said I couldn’t show people! I think he would really like to meet you two! Do you want to come?” Serena asked with a wide, expectant smile up at the duo.

“Lead the way, dear.” Delia smiled as she took out a Pokeball. “Thank you, Mimey.”

“Mr. Mime!” The chipper Pokemon called cheerfully with a thumbs-up before being returned.

“I’m right behind you! Oh, this is going to be so awesome!” Ash chuckled before copying his mother. “You too, Dracovish. We don’t want people to accidentally bump into you.”

“Vish Vish!” The Pokemon seemed to understand with a nod. His last action before being returned was to smile at Serena, who just gave a small wave while returning the smile. Delia hoped that the two didn’t start off on the wrong foot.

“Okay! Let’s go! It’s a bit far away but it’s a really nice walk!” Serena smiled as she rounded the corner with Delia and Ash right behind her.

The start of their journey across the city started quiet. The most noise that was made was Pichu yawning after about 3 minutes of silence. Delia didn’t know if she should be thankful for the moment of calm or to initiate conversation. She had so many questions after all! So many things clawing at the back of her mind. Luckily, she wouldn’t need to be the first to break the silence.

“We… need to wait.” The girl muttered as she stopped before a crosswalk with a gulp. The girl looked intensely across the street at the electronic sign that dictated whether to stop or go as if her life depended on it.

“It’s dangerous.” The girl mumbled to the two while not tearing her eyes off the sign.

“It is. Do you not like crossing the street, dear?” Delia asked as she stopped right by Serena, smiling warmly at the girl in an attempt to comfort her and her obvious trepidation.

“No…” The girl answered while shaking her head. “It’s kinda scary… it gets really, really scary at night, too.”

“Really? I mean, I guess you can get hit by a car but that- eep!” A sharp glare from Ash’s mother cut off his curious ramble. Pichu stifled a chuckle.

“I understand, dear.” The woman went back to comfort the girl. “Would you like to hold my hand as we walk? Holding hands helps me when I feel scared.” Delia smiled as she extended her arm slightly for the girl to take if she wanted.

“I… I want to be brave, though…” The girl whimpered a little, only breaking eye contact with the sign to look at Delia’s hand for a split second before she instantly went to look at the sign again.

“I understand, dear. But… I know a secret.” Delia smiled as she leaned down to gently whisper into Serena’s ear while cupping her hands around her mouth. “Accepting help is super brave. Not even adults are brave enough to do that, sometimes.”

“R-Really?” The girl recoiled in shock with wide eyes. The reaction caused Delia to smile even brighter as Serena gulped. “O-Okay…”

The girl slowly reached up to take Delia’s hand but was clearly not comfortable with it. Not looking at Delia at all or squeezing very hard. This felt wrong to the girl, so…

“Ash, you too. It’s unsafe to cross the crosswalk alone. Come on.” Delia smiled back at her son while extending her other arm.

“Wha- but mom? Really?” Ash called out in exasperation with an embarrassed blush.

“No ‘buts’, young man,” Delia demanded while she opened and closed her hand repeatedly. The message went through as Ash let out a small groan but grabbed the hand nonetheless. Pichu, likely seizing the opportunity, quickly ran across the bridge of humans to sit on Serena’s shoulder and nuzzle into her.

“Oh! Um… H-Hello Pichu…” She giggled lightly as Pichu continued to nuzzle her. Seeing that that was likely Pichu’s plan, to calm her down, Delia took over watching the light. And luckily for them, it was right on time.

“Okay, dears. Here we go.” Delia started walking while holding both of the children's hands tightly so they didn’t slip out. Serena was following as close to Delia as she possibly could while as stiff as a board whereas Ash dragged behind with an expression of embarrassment and agony on his overdramatic face.

---

Delia smiled softly as she made her way across the street while holding the two children’s hands. Sure, to Ash, this was nothing but his mother being overprotective and overbearing, but to Serena, or this child who mimicked her appearance and name at least, this was a matter of life and death. So Delia decided to treat it as one. Only slowing her stride once the group was safely back on the sidewalk on the other side of the road.

“T-thank you. They scare me a lot. I’m worried that me or Mawile are going to get hit by a car…” Sen mumbled once they reached the other side of the street as Ash took his arm back. Delia continued to smile at them warmly in an attempt to encourage them.

“You’re very welcome, dear. You did all the work, after all. I just walked with you.” Delia reminded the girl, her words leading to one of the many questions that she’s been wanting to ask. “Oh yes, I did want to ask about Mawile. Where did you get one? Those are not very common here.” Delia asked as she began walking forward again while still holding Serena's hand.

“Yeah! And it looks a bit small compared to the one that I saw on Oak’s talk show, too!” Ash chimed in, likely wondering the same as Delia, though probably not for the same reasons as he would find any excuse to talk about Pokemon.

“Oh! Um…” Serena smiled at the question. Pichu tilted his head while still on her shoulder as he likely wanted to know as well. “Well… I found him as an egg. He was all alone in the sewers when I went down there to look for the thing I was supposed to get. He um… I waited for a long time but his mommy never came to check on him so… I took him to a place where people who know a lot about Pokemon are! That’s actually how I met my friend, too! He helped me take care of Mawile’s egg and he hatched just a week ago!”

“Woah! That’s so cool! I’ve never helped hatch an egg before. Lucky… and so Mawile is a baby. That’s why he’s so small compared to the one with Oak. Awesome…” Ash chuckled. Serena's genuine excitement and happiness as she explains how she hatched her Pokemon had infected Ash. It would have infected Delia as well if she hadn’t been thinking about other things.

“What were you supposed to get in the sewers, sweetie? It’s dangerous down there.” Delia asked as she looked at Serena intently. Her worries for this poor child had been growing by the second.

“Oh! That. Sometimes, people leave things in weird places. What I’m supposed to do is go get those things and then deliver them to a person and I get paid sometimes. Like a mailman!! It’s what I was doing when you two first met me… I didn’t get paid that time though… but they pay me most of the time, so it’s okay.” Serena explained as Ash tilted his head.

“Oh… okay? So like a mailman for secret stuff that you need to find? That's cool!” Ash nodded with stars in his eyes. Delia didn’t share her son's enthusiasm. She knew what that was. It wasn’t a mailman and it certainly wasn’t ‘cool’. It was smuggling. It was smuggling and they were using this poor, desperate, gullible girl as their damned middleman.

“That's…” Delia trailed off a bit. Trying not to let her absolute disgust in the exploitation of this young child be apparent. “That’s quite the job you have, Serena. Do the people you work with know about your special skill that you have?”

“No.” Serena stated plainly while she shook her head. “The only people that know in this city are my friend and you two. Everyone before either screamed or tried to hurt me or throw Pokeballs at me…” The girl mumbled a little as she looked down at the ground. Delia simply squeezed the girl’s hand gently in response.

“Pi…” Pichu’s ears drooped as he nuzzled into Serena again in an attempt to cheer her up. Delia tried to think of something to say to comfort the girl, only to come up short as nothing came to mind. The woman was left merely stammering when-

“Well, that's just freaking stupid.” Ash scoffed from behind them with his arms behind his head. “You’re awesome and anyone who screamed or stuff is just stupid, jealous idiots who wish they could do what you can.”

“A-Ash! There's no need for that… even if you're right…” Delia stammered in shock at her son's sudden harsh tone before turning back to Serena. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, sweetie. So did you leave town whenever a mean person found out your secret? Where did you come from?”

“Um… yeah. I leave when people find out. I um… I started in Vermilion City, but then went to Saffron, and then to Cerulean. S-some trainers chased me out though when I thought that I was alone and changed after bathing in a river. They thought I was some kind of new Ditto or something. Their Pokemon hurt a lot. I-I managed to lose them in Mount Moon but… it was really, really scary. I’ve been super duper careful since.” Serena explained as she gulped. Her fear was clearly rising as she spoke of how she had to run from the pursuers.

“It’s okay, Serena. It’s okay…” Delia stopped to embrace the emotional girl in a hug as her hands slowly caressed down the girl's golden hair. “It’s over now. You’re safe. They won’t get you.”

“I… I’m so sorry, Serena. That isn’t… that shouldn’t… trainers shouldn’t do that.” Ash sighed as he looked down while Delia continued to try and comfort the girl. “Well, what about family? Do you have a family and stuff back in Vermilion? If you got separated, maybe me and mom could help you find them again?”

“N-no…” Serena slowly pulled away while shaking her head. “It’s just me. I um… I woke up alone on the beach. Mawile is the first family I’ve ever had…”

“And how long ago was that, sweetie? Do you remember?” Delia just couldn’t take it anymore as she asked the question she’d been wanting to ask since she had met this poor child. She isn’t the age that she pretends to be by using Serena’s appearance. And if she is the proper age, then this girl may have some deep mental troubles that made Delia equally as worried.

“I um… I don’t know. I know um… your friend, the real Serena, was the first thing I saw when I woke up. And I copied her without even trying. It was apparently a super new thing too because they were still being sold and stuff. It’s how I learned my name, from people recognizing me.” Serena explained slowly while she closed her eyes to try and think.

“Hm… Serena was the first thing you saw? That would be…” Ash mumbled as she rubbed his chin a bit. “Maybe her first modeling thing? The fashion stuff. Yeah… did you get your boy look from that magazine too? I thought he looked familiar.”

“Mhm. Yeah… I thought that he looked cool and strong and wouldn’t cry much!” The girl nodded quickly at Ash as Delia’s eyes widened in abject horror.

“T-that…” Delia stammered a bit as she looked deep into ‘Serenas’ eyes. “Hold on… That means that you’re only two years old.”

Serena simply looked up at the sky as she seemed to be thinking. “Um… yeah! I think that's right. I remember that it was really, really cold so it was winter. And it’s been two winters since then so yep, I’m two years old!” The girl explained with an innocent smile on her lips.

Ash and Pichu seemed to be just as surprised as Delia was at that revelation. The duo looked at each other for a moment before Ash seemed to remember to speak. “T-that uh… you look- you act really old for your age!”

“Really?” The girl turned to Ash with a wide smile as Delia merely kept staring at the girl in frozen disbelief. “You think so? I just try to be happy and not bother people and stuff!”

“Yeah!” Ash responded to the girl with a wide smile. “I never could've done all the stuff that you can do at your age! You travel around, have a job, and even have your first Pokemon!”

Ash’s words seem to elate the little girl. She just giggled happily as she nodded. “Thank you so much!! Oh! We should get going! My friend doesn’t really like it when I go to try and talk with him while he’s working but he usually eats lunch and stuff around now!”

“Alright, deal. Lead the way then.” Delia nodded as she couldn't stop staring at the poor girl in utter disbelief that she had even survived this long. Sure, she may have some fantastical abilities, but mentally she is just a child! Practically still a toddler, even. Just the thought of Ash, or any child for that matter, being forced to survive on their own like that made Delia sick to her stomach.

“Yeah!” Ash yelled with excitement. “I’m super excited to meet him! Let’s go already!” Delia's son yelled before jogging forward with a smile, causing Serena to begin running after him with Pichu’s ears bouncing up and down with every step the girl took.

Delia had to shake off her shock to keep up with the two kids. She put her horror at the girl's situation aside for the moment as she called out. “Hold on, you two! Please don’t run!”

Serena just yelled back. “But we’re almost there! And he might get busy later!”

“Yeah! Come on, mom! I thought you wanted to stay active!” Ash teased his mother as she scoffed. Of course, he would use her words against her! Maybe he’s spending too much time with Gary…

“I-” Delia found that she had no words as she groaned to herself with lighting jogging behind the two while trying not to come off as weird to any others who would be watching the scene. “Just hold on! Please!”

“You can do it, Mom!” Ash grinned back at her while running behind Serena. “Just keep pushi-”

“Here!!” Serena yelled before suddenly stopping on a dime, which caused Ash to run into the child again. Though, Ash was the only one to fall this time as Serena stumbled a little while their body seemed to ripple a little like it was jello. Even their clothes rippled as well.

“And that's why I say not to run.” Delia reminded her son after catching up with the duo as she stood over him with her arms crossed.

“Yeah… yeah…” Ash grinned, showing that he wasn’t bothered by it at all as he accepted Serena’s arm to help lift him back to his feet.

“Here we are! My friend lives and works here so it’s really easy to find him!” Serena excitedly exclaimed with a smile while she pointed to the large building in front of the group.

“Are… are you sure?” Delia asked as she looked up at the intimidating building. If another one of Ash’s kind did exist, she certainly wouldn't have expected them to be living here of all places. Though the phrase ‘hiding in plain sight’ did scratch at the back of her head so she couldn’t discount it entirely.

“Mhm! Come on!” Serena nodded as she began walking up the walkway as Pichu hopped back onto his proper spot on Ash’s shoulder to admire the building along with his trainer.

“You think that we can ask for a gym battle while we’re here, Mom?” Ash smiled at his mother with stars in both his and Pichu’s eyes as Ash clasped his hands together in a begging pose.

“Not until you get a League Official Trainers Card, dear…” Ash reminded her son as Ash and Pichu slumped in disappointment. Though she couldn’t be mad at her son for at least asking.

After all, what other reason would anyone walk through the doors of the Pewter City Gym?

 

[SnowySummers]

CHAPTER 5​

“Hello? Mister Brock? Is now a bad time?” The young girl who looked like Serena called out as she entered the doors of the large building. She was being followed closely behind by Delia and Ash with Pichu sitting on Ash’s shoulder.

“Serena?” A deeper voice called out from the opposite side of the room. It paused for a moment before speaking again. “Serena, I told you that you are welcome anytime but now while I’m wor- oh! Erm… hello.”

The boy speaking to Serena seemed to suddenly realize that there were others alongside the girl as he sheepishly waved. Delia noted that while he seemed older than the two kids, he was much younger than she thought this ‘friend’ of Serenas would be. He couldn’t be much older than 16 at the maximum.

“You must be here for a gym battle… Ahem!” The young man cleared his throat and raised his shoulders to appear bigger than he had previously as his voice gained some gusto. “I am Brock Harrison, the Gym Leader of the Pewter City Gym! Are you here to challenge me to a gym battle to earn the Boulder Badge?”

“You bet I am- ack!” Ash was interrupted as he was flicked on the side of the head by his mother with a very unamused expression.

“No, not yet, Ash.” Delia sighed as she turned back to a now very confused gym leader. “Hello. My name is Delia Ketchum and this is my son, Ash.”

“I made new friends, Mister Brock!” Serena yelled out with a huge smile as she hopped up and down with excitement. “And they’re like us, too!”

Brock suddenly seemed very concerned while he began walking towards the excited girl. Delia merely smiled at him as she could understand his concern completely. This poor girl has shown that she can be easily tricked so Brocks's hesitancy and guard are completely understandable. Though she couldn’t help but wonder how he could walk so well with his eyes closed like that.

“They are like us in what way, Serena?” Brock asked with a smile as he placed his hand on Serena’s shoulder like an older brother or responsible adult while his other hand palmed a Pokeball, no doubt ready to throw it.

“They’re weirdos!” The child exclaimed with an innocent smile like she had no idea the insulting implications behind that description.

Brock's face seemed to flush red with a bright blush as she suddenly turned to Delia and Ash, who were still standing there patiently. “I am so sorry about her, you two. She um… she has trouble expressing herself, is all.”

“Nono! I’m totally a weirdo!” Ash smirked as he looked around to see if anyone was in view before his tail poked itself out of his waist as he waved with his claws outstretched.

The sight seemingly froze Brock in place as his jaw dropped but his eyes remained shut tight. The young man stammered over his words a bit before eventually he eventually stuttered out. “D-do… we should talk in the back. I’ll uh… close up early today. Serena, you can lead them to where we do lessons, okay?”

“Okay!” The cheerful girl nodded and waved to Ash and Delia before she skipped off towards the doors to the right of the arena. Ash followed immediately but Delia stayed to watch Brock, still probably in disbelief, shake off his shock and walk towards the front door to probably lock it.

“Woah… I never thought I’d see the back of a gym before... It’s just a house.” Ash mumbled as he walked through the doors while holding them open for his mother. Delia couldn’t help but agree with her son in that regard. The place did seem quite cozy. At least, the entrance to the housing portion of the building did.

“Right in here!” Not Serena walked through the hall and gestured to an expansive dining room/kitchen with a huge dining room table with 12 chairs in total at the rectangular table. Behind it seemed to be a pretty clean and tidy kitchen. The appliances such as the stove and oven seemed to be a tad old but that didn’t matter as long as they functioned fine.

“That… is quite the large table!” Delia remarked with awe as her hand went over her mouth. The thing was so big that it nearly took over the entire room. Anyone would have to hug the wall in order to get around the thing, and that certainly wasn’t happening if the table was currently in use.

The sound of a door closing caused Delia to turn and see Brock walking towards them with a smile. “Yeah, I have quite a big family. There are ten of us total but don’t worry, they're all in school right now and won't be back for a couple of hours. They also know about my and Serena’s… abilities so you don’t have to worry about them.” Brock explained as he walked to the kitchen.

“A family of ten… wow.” Delia remarked. The concept of having a family that large both terrified her and caused her heart to flutter. Sure, it would be difficult, but it would also be so rewarding. She would have liked to daydream of that a bit more but her mind got snagged on something else. “Hold on… all of them are in school? What about your parents?”

Brock seemed to pause a little at that, causing Ash to look up at his mother with a look of mild concern, which she met with one of her own.

“Would you all like some tea?” Brock suddenly spoke up again. Not giving anyone time to speak again before talking once more. “Serena, why don’t you let Mawile out onto the table and let me have a look at them while the water gets hot?”

“Yes, please! And okay. He’s doing really good! Thank you again for those vita… veto-mans, Mister Brock.” Serena nodded as she opened her Pokeball for the tiny Mawile to appear while sitting on the table. Pichu almost immediately jumped over to give a chipper wave to the Pokemon, which the baby copied.

“Vitamins, sweetie. Vi-ta-mins.” Delia corrected the little girl, causing her to nod and mumble the word to herself quietly. Gods how she reminded her of Ash when he was younger. Though pushing her feelings of care for the girl to the back of her mind for the moment, there was a matter of a dodged question that needed to be addressed. “Brock? You didn’t answer my question. What do your parents do for a living?”

“Yeah. I wanna ask them how you become a gym leader!” Ash chimed in while sitting opposite Serena with a smile as he watched Pichu and Mawile play.

“They travel a lot. But it works out.” Brock half-answered as he placed the kettle on the stove and turned around with a smile. “Also, that is a very long and boring process, Ash. And I’m sure that there are some more important questions that we need to talk about…” The boy trailed off as he sat at the table beside Serena.

Delia wasn’t satisfied with his answer to her question but it would have to do for now. He was right, after all. There are more important things to discuss. “So… I guess I should get the big one out of the way… are you like my son and Serena, here?” The woman asked while gesturing to the two children.

“Yes, I am. I’m the only one in my family like this as well.” Brock nodded as he clasped his hands together while looking intently at Delia and Ash. Serena seemed to be uncomfortable with the serious tone of the conversation but didn’t speak up about it. Instead, she just sank in her chair a little as she hugged Mawile and Pichu to her chest.

Ash was the first to speak up. “Wait, you’re the only one in your family to be born with specialstuff?” The boy asked with his eyes wide in disbelief. Delia was going to ask that question as well, Ash just beat her to the punch.

“Yes. I got it from my mother. Only me and the second oldest of us, Forrest, are blood-related to her. The rest of my siblings are technically only half-siblings as we just have the same dad. Though Forrest is perfectly normal for some reason.” Brock remarked before the kettle went off. Delia was about to rise for her seat to get it out of muscle memory but Brock had it covered.

“Maybe it’s just dominant or recessive genes? It could skip a generation for him if that’s the case.” Delia wondered as Ash and Serena looked at her like she was speaking another language. She did need to get around to teaching Ash about biology sometime soon…

“I had the same thought.” Brock nodded as he took what looked like orange flower petals from a jar and ground them up using a mortar and pestle. “But it works for him. I’m happy that he doesn't have to hide who he is like we do. Have you two had to go through what happens when people find out?” Brock asked as he looked back at Serena, who was now hugging the two Pokemon tighter as her legs came up to mimic a cradle position as she sniffled.

“No. But Serena told us about it…” Delia answered as she held out her hand across the table for Serena to take, which she sadly didn’t as her body morphed to the appearance of Seth. The now boy shook his head at Delia. The woman slowly retracted her hand while admiring the child's uncanny ability to just swap forms at will.

“It’s okay. I’m strong. I’ll be okay. I don’t need help.” The boy gave a little ‘hmph’ with a nod to Delia as he placed Mawile and Pichu back on the table while trying to slyly wipe his eyes on his sleeve to hide any tears that had formed.

Ash looked over to Brock as the older boy poured the hot water into tea cups. “Some regular people know about me though. Professor Oak, his grandson, and my friend Serena over in Kalos. They’re all nice people though so we haven’t had to… yeah…” Ash trailed off as he glanced at Seth.

“So a Pokemon professor knows about us and isn’t trying to track us down? That’s… interesting. Also, wait, did you say you had a friend named Serena in Kalos?” Brock asked as he walked over to hand out the cups of tea to everyone present. Even Mawile and Pichu got their own little cups!

“Yeah!” Seth answered for Ash. “I was Serena at the time and they recognized me, or well, they recognized what I looked like.”

“Yeah.” Ash nodded, confirming Seth’s story. “I have a friend I met when I was six named Serena who does modeling now. Her first modeling thing she did was in a magazine and it turns out that that's the one Seth used for Serena.”

Delia nodded as she took a sip of her tea, feeling a comforting warmth permeate through her entire body as she smiled. “Yes. We would have had no idea that anything was off if they looked like anyone else. So this is just one huge coincidence.”

“That… wow. What are the chances?” Brock shook his head a little in disbelief as he sighed. He then looked at Ash and raised an eyebrow. “So… you have a tail and claws? Did I see that right?”

Ash nearly spat out the tea he was currently chugging. He most certainly wasn’t expecting the conversation to turn to him again anytime soon. “Oh! Uh… yeah! It’s super cool! I also have this, like, sorta telepathy with Pokemon. I can hear what they say pretty much perfectly if they let me. But some are harder than others. Me and Pichu got it without even trying but Mom’s Bibarel… I get nothing.” Ash admitted with a sweat drop rolling down the side of his face as Pichu rolled his eyes.

“And he also has these… instincts. We call it the itch. He needs to go out and hunt something once in a while or he starts getting stir crazy. Usually, it’s just like a mouse or a rat or something, but-”

“One time, I brought back a deer!” Ash interrupted with an excited, prideful glee in his voice as his arms went out wide to show the size of the thing. Pichu just giggled at the sigh of Brock and Seth’s faces as they stared at the duo.

“A baby deer, but yes, a deer. Other things like him not being bothered by the cold or him not getting motion sick are notable too but that’s not that important.” Delia corrected her son and finished her statement as Brock nodded. “Brock… what is your special trait? I understand if you’re uncomfortable showing us, but I hope we’ve proven that we’re trustworthy.”

Brock remained quiet for a moment as he looked at Seth. The boy just nodded quickly with a smile in response to Brock’s silent question, causing the older boy to run the back of his head as he turned back to Delia and Ash. “Alright… if Seth trusts you enough to bring you here, I guess I might as well trust you too. Just, please don’t freak out, okay? I swear that it doesn't hurt or anything.”

Ash tilted his head a little as Pichu took his spot back on Ash’s shoulder to join the view of Brock’s secret. “What doesn’t hur-”

“We promise.” Delia nodded with a smile as her hand covered her son's mouth. She loved him greatly, but Ash could be quite dull when it came to keeping up in conversations such as these.

Brock nodded and crossed his arms. Delia’s eyes widened as she stared into Brocks ‘eyes’ as his eyelids opened. His left eye was entirely red. It wasn’t even an ‘eye’ at all, for that matter. It looked like some gemstone or rock. A ruby, perhaps?

Meanwhile, his right eye wasn’t an eye either! She could see into the back of the socket, unlike with the left, but this one seemed to hold a small… bud? A flower bud, if Delia had to guess. Delia was no gardener (Perhaps in another life…) but would be willing to bet that it was some sort of flower that had yet to blossom.

“That is… wow. I certainly wasn’t expecting that…” Delia mumbled as she found herself swapping which eyes to stare at in disbelief.

“That is so freaking cool!” Ash exclaimed with a big smile on his lips. Delia couldn’t blame him for his excitement at all. Finding others like him must be something he hadn’t expected to happen at all. It’s a good thing he was so adamant that he and Delia go today or else they might have missed all this.

“Yeah. It freaked me out a lot the first time I saw it.” Seth nodded with a smile as he stared at the flower bud in Brock's eye socket. “But it stopped being weird when I realized that Mister Brock is actually super nice!”

“Yeah…” Ash nodded in agreement as he leaned in to squint as he kept staring at Brock's previously hidden ‘eyes’. “How do you see, by the way? And do you have weird instinct stuff like me?”

“Well, the flower eye-” He points at his right eye. “Can’t see. That's just a flower that grows out of my skull and blooms if I keep my eyelid open long enough. It gets big so I can’t close my eye again unless the flower is erm… plucked.” Ash winced at that and Delia grimaced slightly at the unpleasant thought of her eye getting ‘plucked’ as Brock described.

“But the ruby one-” Brock then pointed to his left eye. “Sees just fine. Even with my eyelid closed, I can see through it near perfectly. As for having weird traits, I… erm…” Brock stopped as he turned his head with a small blush while muttering something that Delia couldn’t make out.

“What's that, dear? There's no need to be embarrassed.” Delia smiled at the boy genuinely, hoping that he didn’t feel ashamed of his differences like she was scared that Ash was going to when he was young.

“I… eat rocks.” The boy admitted sheepishly, only for silence to begin to fill the room for a moment as Delia tried to process that information. Sure, Ash had the itch, but it wasn’t like his entire biology was different from that of humans, unlike Brocks.

Ash seemed to be in a similar state of bewilderment. “So… you can’t eat rice balls and stuff? What happens if you do eat regular food, anyway?”

“Well… I know I kinda…” Brock paused as he put his hand to his chin while rubbing his stomach with the other. “My stomach breaks down rock and stuff. And food gets crushed too, I guess my body just doesn't absorb it. I have to throw up any regular food I eat. So I don’t get sick or anything. It’s just sort of nasty.”

“So…” Seth was the one to speak up this time. “Can you just eat any rock? Lucky… finding food must be super duper easy for you…” The child whined as he crossed his arms with a small ‘huff’.

“Well, not any rock, but kind of?” Brock tried to answer as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Take your time. Sorry that we are asking so many questions. It’s just that this is new to all of us and we’d love to know more.” Delia tried to comfort the boy who was likely feeling overwhelmed and pressured.

“Yeah, no. Don’t worry. This is nothing compared to all the questions my siblings ask daily.” Brock chucked while waving Delia off lightly. Delia wasn’t quite laughing at the mention of his siblings again. “I can eat most rocks, yeah. But I guess if I had to compare just a regular pebble you find lying around to anything, I guess it would be fast food or junk food. I mean, it’ll do but it won’t make me feel good or anything. Things like obsidian, limestone, quartz, and precious gems are what equates to healthy foods.”

At Seth’s look of confusion, Delia smiled as she turned her attention to the boy. “Those are all different types of rocks and minerals, sweetie.”

“Yeah!” Ash smiled at Seth as well. “I think I have a book on different rocks and stuff. I’ll show it to you if you’d like!”

“O-Oh! Um… sure, whatever.” Seth gulped as he looked away, having been the one unprepared for the spotlight this time. “I mean, only if you want to. I still can’t read good.”

Brock gave a little hmph as he looked at Seth. “Yeah, about that. We still need to practice, don’t we? Do you still remember the alphabet?”

That seemed to perk Seth right back up as he turned and nodded quickly to Brock. “Mhm! I’ve been saying it to myself a whole lot so I won’t forget! I’m trying really, really hard, Mister Brock.” The sight caused Delia to smile. It seemed that they were telling the truth when they said that this ‘friend’ was teaching them how to read.

“Well, that’s good! And what did Mister Steve have to say about that?” Brock asked with a smile. The mention of this ‘Mister Steve’ grabbed Delia’s attention. There was someone else who this child was associated with?

“Well…” Seth frowned as he looked down slightly. “I didn’t see him last night… But I think that he’s proud of me!”

“You have another friend?” Ash asked as his tail circled the giggling Mawile as if it was just begging to be chomped down on by the Pokemon’s second mouth. “You didn’t mention that guy before!”

“Really?” Brock blinked a bit in surprise at Ash before he turned his attention back to Seth. “That’s a surprise. Why didn’t you bring it up to them before?”

Seth merely turned away again while scratching his cheek with his finger. “Well… he wasn’t here so… I didn’t feel like bringing him up.” He stopped and turned back to see the questioning faces of Delia and Ash. “I have a friend who only shows up at night and stuff. He’s really nice and helps teach me things like left and right and how to eat neat with a fork and spoon.”

“Oh, okay. So if you get taught things from two people, who do you usually stay with? Where do you sleep, sweetie?” Delia asked another question that had been bugging her for a while now. While Seth/’Serena’ looked clean and well-fed, this child can literally make themselves look any way that they want, so looks can be deceiving.

“I usually fall asleep to Mister Steve's lessons! I stay with him. His voice and his Lilipup, Goldie, barking are really nice. They make me feel nice and stuff.” Seth answered plainly as Ash grimaced.

“You fall asleep during lessons? Mom might just throw me out a window if I did that…” Ash groaned as Pichu giggled. While Delia wanted to reprimand her son and defend herself by explaining that she wasn’t that bad, Seth’s delighted giggle stopped her.

“Hahaha! I wish that I could learn more but he always repeats lessons or I fall asleep too soon… I don’t like how he’s only here at night when I’m tired…” Seth whined a bit at their desire for learning being unfulfilled as Brock took the time to get up and grab a piece of paper off the counter, bringing it back.

“Well if you want to learn,” –He slid the piece of paper in front of Seth-- “Start tracing the letters and sound them out.” Brock assigned the child with their task as he smiled, much to Seth’s joy. Seeing a child who seemed to be so excited about learning as they were made Delia smile. Their joy at something that so many children took for granted was infectious! If not a little saddening considering the circumstances.

“Yes sir! You got it!” Seth nodded quickly before looking to Ash and Pichu, who seemed to just be watching their excitement and smiling as well. “Um… do you want to help me a bit, maybe, please? I want to be sure that I say them right…”

“Me?” “Pi?” the duo asked with their hands on their chest, causing Seth to laugh a little as he nodded. “Uh… sure! Do you guys mind?” Ash asked as he looked at Delia and Brock with both of them shaking their heads.”

“Go ahead and help them, dear. I want to talk with Brock anyway.” Delia smiled at Ash while she spotted Brock gulp in discomfort out of the corner of her eye.

“Pi! Pi chu chu!” Pichu nodded as both he and Mawile began to dash to the other side of the table, away from the kitchen and their tea. The two Pokemon were followed by Seth and Ash as they too moved further down the dining room table.

“Quite the big table…” Delia remarked as she turned to face Brock again. The woman stared deep into his ruby eye with an intensity that she rarely showed. “Do your parents often join you for meals?”

The question seemed to hit home for the older child. He merely grimaced slightly as he went to collect their cups. “That… that shouldn’t be your concern, Miss. Respectfully…” Brock tried to sound firm but it lacked the key element needed for it: eye contact. Brock wouldn’t even look at her as he turned to walk towards the sink.

“But it does,” Delia exclaimed calmly as she got up to follow Brock to the kitchen. She was trying to keep her voice at a moderate level so as to not draw attention from Seth or Ash. “Brock, I can’t help you if you don’t at least tell me what’s going on. You're only…” –Delia paused for a moment– “How old even are you, sweetie?” Her voice grew softer as she realized that he never told his age. Delia had guessed he was maybe sixteen, but as she was quickly starting to grow accustomed to, looks can be deceiving.

Brock didn’t answer at first. He just remained looking into the sink as he scrubbed the cups with a sponge. “14… but I’m fine. We’ve been fine for a while now…” Brock’s head hung low as he weakly tried to appease Delia, but the woman wasn’t having it.

“And how long is ‘a while’, Brock? Weeks? Months?” Delia pressured the boy with a worried tone. Her hand reached to grab Brocks, pulling it out of the sink as her hands interlocked around it in a comforting gesture.

Brock finally looked into her eyes as she held his hand tenderly. It was only a glance, but it was enough. She could see it in his eyes. The anger, the sadness, the confusion. “A… a little over a year now.” He spoke softly as he looked down into the sink again in shame.

“A year?!” Delia gasped as she squeezed his hand tight. Stammering as she tried to process that information. “W-what about your parents? Where are they? Do you know?”

Brock solemnly shook his head. “I don’t know. Dad was the first to leave, then Mom, not even a month after. I called so many times but… nothing. I got the message anyway.” He huffed as his other hand gripped the rim of the sink.

“They abandoned you…” Delia affirmed with Brock's solemn nod as his eyes closed again. “How many people know? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Because… I…” Brock trailed off as he couldn’t find the words. “Because we are fine… It’s just how it is. Besides, they could come back at any moment, after all.”

“No!” Delia hissed, her voice raised but she quickly got it back to a reasonable level so as not to draw the attention of Ash and Seth. “Brock, sweetie, that shouldn’t be ‘just how it is’ at all. It’s wrong! They should be here to love, support, and care for you! You deserve that. Your siblings deserve that, Brock.”

“I know.” Brock answered softly. His body was shaking lightly as if he was struggling under immense pressure.

“Are you scared? Are you worried that you and your family will be split up? I have connections with Professor Oak and from back when I was a trainer. I can make sure that won’t happen.” Delia reassured the boy while rubbing his back as he breathed deeply.

“I just don’t want to… to give up, I guess. I mean, I’m supposed to be a gym leader. The guy whose will is as solid as stone. This gym has been in my family for four generations now, too.” Brock let out a shaky sigh as he shook his head. His hand went to his face in order to rub his still-closed eyes as Delia could hear him sniffle.

“Brock… you're only 14.” Delia reminded him as she kept rubbing his back. ”You’re not ‘giving up’, you're asking for help, sweetie. And there's nothing wrong with that. It’s unfair and cruel for your parents to leave you like this. It isn’t right. But we can make it right, Brock. If not for you, for your siblings? They deserve to have parents.”

“I get it…” Brock sniffled as he looked back into Delia’s eyes with a small smile. “But, to be fair, you haven’t ever even met any of my siblings, Miss Ketchum.”

“I don’t need to!” Delia returned the smile with her own as she clasped her hands around Brocks once more. “If they’re anything like you then they deserve more than anything. And so do you… so will you please?” Delia pleaded with the boy with a solemn, pleading tone in her voice.

“I…” Brock trailed off, just staring into the woman's eyes quietly, then looking to the massive table that stretched across the room. It was too big. Simply too big for such a small living space. It felt as if it suffocated the space more than adding anything to it.

“I’ll do it.” Brock softly stated as he looked back at Delia. “I need to make a call.”

Delia nodded slowly. “Alright sweetie, I’ll be here the entire time.”

---

Delia sat outside the gym quietly as she waited for the police to finish questioning Brock and the other children who had gotten back from school in the time between Brock reporting his parent's abandonment to now. She had offered to take the younger children off their hands so that the police could do their jobs and her request was thankfully fulfilled.

So now Delia sat watching a group of kids all chase Ash around the park giddily as they tried to dogpile her son. Seth currently sat beside her on the bench as he continued to redo their task of writing the alphabet over and over with Delia supervising.

“So… the ‘K’ makes the same sound as the ‘C’?” Seth asked cautiously as he looked up at Delia.

“Hm?” Delia hummed as she was pulled from watching Ash get pulled to the ground. “Yes, sweetie. It’s a little confusing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Seth nodded with a nervous whine as he bit his thumb a bit. “Reading is super, duper hard… and I feel bad for bothering Mister Brock about it too.”

Delia gently reached over and pulled their hand away from their mouth gently. “You shouldn’t bite yourself like that, Seth. You could accidentally hurt yourself. And I understand, dear. Learning can be hard but it's also so worth it.” The woman smiled as she caressed the back of the child’s head gently.

“Sorry. I do that when I get nervous…” Seth admitted, making Delia wonder if it was some equivalent to sucking on their thumb, reminding Delia of how young they are in contrast to the facade that they put on.

“Don’t be, dear. Here, want me to help you? I taught Ash how to read after all.” Delia offered with a smile, though she got distracted by the pop of a Pokeball. She turned her head to watch Ash escape from the dogpile with a triumphant laugh as he was now on top of Dracovish’s head.

Seth watched Ash and Dracovish run around for a moment before seemingly remembering Delia’s question as he turned back to her with a surprised expression. “Oh! Um… sure. Only if you’d like, Miss Ketchum.” Seth responded formally, most likely copying Brock from before.

“Just call me Delia, sweetie. And okay, let’s start.” Delia smiled as she began to teach the alphabet to Seth slowly. Before she had even realized it, the police had begun to leave the gym and the sun was starting to set on this most unexpected of days.

Having brought all the kids back inside, Ash looked as if he was about to pass out in exhaustion from running as Pichu fanned the boy with his large ears. “Well, that took a bit longer than I thought it was going to.” She smiled at Ash as they walked into the main doors of the gym.

“Yeah.” Ash agreed with a slight groan “My freaking tail is sore. I think these jeans are getting tighter on me.”

“Hmmm… you may be getting a growth spurt again. You do look a bit taller than before.” Delia smiled as she ruffled Ash’s hair.

Seth tilted his head as he walked beside them. “Do growth spurts happen often? Am I supposed to have one? Getting looking stuff right is super hard.” The boy whined softly as he looked down at himself. Sure, he didn’t exactly articulate his thoughts perfectly, but Delia knew what he meant.

“They do when you're growing, Seth. Kids around the age you look like grow a lot, after all.” Delia smiled as Ash went to get the door for both of them. Pichu just stood with a bow as he beckoned the two in like a little gentleman, causing Seth to chuckle lightly and Delia to smile at her two, little gentlemen.

“Thank you, Ash!” Seth smiled as he waved, and Delia entered the housing part of the gym as he did.

“How very kind of you, dear.” Delia praised her son as Ash followed them in behind. Delia turned to look ahead once more as she spotted the large family all huddled around Brock in a big hug.

“It’ll be okay. I promise that I’ll do everything I can. It’ll be okay.” Brock softly spoke in the big group hug as Delia stepped forward while clearing her throat, causing some of the kids to turn and make way for Delia to see Brock as he was sitting at the end of the table in a chair with his arms around his siblings.

“Is… is everything alright, Brock?” Delia questioned as she stood in front of the family. She had a feeling that she knew the answer to that question already but she simply needed confirmation.

Brock didn’t respond for a second. The boy just took a shaky sigh before opening his mouth. “They… didn’t say that they were certain but…” Again, he took another deep sigh. Clearly trying to hold himself together. “They said that they can’t guarantee that they can keep us all together because of how big we are. Something about how some of us may go to Johto or go to separated girls and boys homes.”

Delia didn’t say anything. She just took the few steps forward that were needed in order to lay a hand on Brock’s shoulder. “I won’t let that happen.” She declared while staring into Brock’s ruby eye. Noting how the flower bud located in his other eye twitched slightly. “Brock, I promise you that I-”

“We!” Ash yelled out from behind his mother, interrupting her as he ran forward to put his arm onto Brock’s other shoulder. “I’ll help too! I promise!”

“Pi pi!!” Pichu chirped up while jumping into one of the youngest’s arms and smiling up at them. The little Pokemon patted his chest as if he was drawing attention to himself.

“M-Me too! If you’ll let me!” Seth nodded as he joined Delia and Ash in crowing Brock. “You’ve helped me so much with Mawile and learning how to read and just being so nice and everything! I wanna help you so please let us?”

Delia couldn’t help but smile as her chest filled with pride as the others joined in with her to back her in helping the Harrison family. As both of his shoulders were now taken by the kids, Delia extended her hand as if offering it to Brock. “Will you let us help you? We will do it all together.”

Brock remained silent for a bit. Just looking at the faces of the nervous, lost children as they looked to their guardian for guidance. They were looking to Brock for his answer. Brock, having seemingly made up his mind, reached out to clasp Delia’s hand. “Please… I don’t want them to be taken away.” Brock pleaded as the bud located in his eye socket began to flower into an absolutely gorgeous orange lily with white accents.

Delia smiled. The mother felt that warmth of pride that was glowing in her chest burst into a flame of determination and drive as she stared into Brock’s stunning eyes. “Then let’s go home and get to work.” Delia exclaimed as she pulled Brock to his feet.

 

[SnowySummers]

CHAPTER 6​

Delia hummed softly as she stood before the stove, preparing breakfast for the morning. The events of last night happened so quickly that she barely even remembered getting home. She remembered calling Professor Oak and asking for his Alakazam’s assistance in bringing her, Ash, Brock, and Seth/’Serena’ home and then they pretty much all went to sleep after that. Having Ash carry that Ring Target around with him at all times came in handy or else Ash would have had to fly back the long way on Pidge.

“I hope they slept alright down there…” Delia muttered to herself as she looked at the door leading to the basement. While it was quite the large and comfortable basement, having a large bathroom that neither she nor Ash used as well as Ash’s jungle gym that he used to get better dexterity with his tail, most of it was just empty, unused space. Yet Seth was adamant about sleeping down there no matter what because ‘they look scary when sleeping’ or something.

Deciding that she would unravel that mess of trauma later, Delia turned her focus on the problem more evident. “How in the world are we going to keep those kids together…”

“Why not just have them all move in with us?” A voice softly spoke from behind Delia, causing her to turn and spot Ash walking through the front door in his pajamas with a bloody… something in his hand. Her son’s mouth had blood smeared on it as he had most certainly hunted and feasted on whatever it was he was currently midway through eating. “I mean… we have the space, right?”

“Ash… it’s not that simple. Adopting all those children all at once draws attention. A lot of attention and a lot of paperwork. I’ve had it on my mind but… let’s just say that it’s a backup plan, alright?” Delia tried to explain to her son as best she could as she turned back to focusing on the eggs.

Seeing her son covered in blood was something Delia had surprisingly gotten used to. Though the two guests staying with them likely weren't as accustomed to it so, “Ash, can you please finish that… that… actually- what even is that?” Asked Delia, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Ash gave a big, toothy smile with his teeth stained red with blood. “It’s a possum! I think…”

“Well, can you finish your possum outside and clean up before coming back in, please? I don’t want you scaring Brock or Seth.” Delia politely asked her son, though her tone made clear that it was most certainly a demand.

Ash seemed a bit disappointed as he had just sat down at the table but nodded. “Alright, Mom…” Her boy grumbled but did as he was told, leaving the house not a moment too soon as Delia heard another door swing open as Ash closed the front door.

Turning towards the direction of the basement, Delia smiled as she saw the young child with the appearance of Serena enter the room. “Good morning, Serena, dear. How did you sleep? You know that you could have sleepy in one of the guest rooms.” Delia politely reminded the girl with a worried, caring look.

“I slept good, miss Delia. And um… It’s okay. I just didn’t want to accidentally scare anyone if um…” The girl trailed off as she looked down at her feet, leaving her in an awkward silence.

Deciding that she had had enough of the silence after a few seconds, Delia gently replied. “Why don’t you come sit at the table? Breakfast is almost ready.” Letting the topic of sleeping arrangements go for right now as Delia changed the subject.

“Oh! I get to eat with you all?” Serena asked as she moved to sit at the table like she was suggested to. The girl was looking around Delia’s kitchen as if it were a completely different world. “You get to live here, miss? It’s so big! And so nice. Oh! Where’s Mister Brock? Is he up yet?”

Delia giggled at the girl's awestruckness and curiosity. “Brock is still asleep. Let’s let him sleep in, alright? Who knows how long it has been since he got to do that…” Delia trailed off with a frown as she thought of Brock’s situation before remembering that Serena had other questions. “And yes, sweetie. I live here with Ash and all of my Pokemon.”

“Wow… this is so… wow.” The girl continued to be in awe of the house. Serena was so lost in her trance that she didn’t even notice as Bibby approached the new arrival with a tilted head. “How many Pokemon do you have- woah!!”

The girl’s shock caused Delia to whip around to see if everything was alright, only to smile as it seemed that Bibby was just being himself. “Well, I have lots of Pokemon. That right there is Bibby, my Bibarrel who helps out getting the fields ready for spring. I also have Mimey, Pidge-Podge, Kangy, Timbby, and some others but they’re old and stay with Professor Oak a lot.”

“W-wow!” Serena exclaimed with excitement as she gently patted Bibby’s head. “ You have so many Pokemon, miss! How can you afford them all? I spent everything I had on the vitamins for Mawile. It… was hard finding food for him too so that’s why I got that mailman job. I hope they won’t be mad at me for leaving to help Mister Brock.”

Delia frowned at that. While it was certainly true that newborn Pokemon such as Serena’s Mawile greatly benefited from vitamins, someone in this girl’s situation shouldn’t be forced to care for a newborn Pokemon. Especially if it means resorting to crime, such as this poor child had done, even if they didn’t realize it. “Well you’re doi-”

“Mailman job?” Another voice called from the stairs, causing both Delia and Serena to look and see a very groggy Brock with a Pichu on his shoulders stepping down the stairs. Pichu had wanted to sleep with Seth last night but settled for Brock when Seth had told him no.

“Well, good morning, sleepyhead.” Delia smiled at the very groggy duo as they entered the kitchen. Pichu jumped onto the kitchen table as Brock went to stand by the counter.

“Morning…” The boy grumbled lightly as he rubbed his eyes with a yawn. “What do you need me to do for breakfast?”

Delia frowned lightly at that, though her face brightened back up quickly. “Nothing, dear. Nothing at all. Breakfast should be done in a few minutes so why don’t you go sit and relax with Serena, okay?”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind cooking or anything. Could I at least make you some coffee or tea?” Brock offered again, causing Delia to shake her head.

“Brock,” Delia stated with a more stern tone than usual. “Go and relax. Please? You can go call your siblings if you want.” She didn’t like that he seemed too uptight. All that Delia wanted at the moment was to help the Harrison family in any way that she could, and that included making sure that Brock was properly cared for and given adequate rest.

“Um… you could maybe look at Mawile, Mister Brock? I remember that you wanted to do that yesterday, right?” Serena offered a small smile as both of her hands were occupied. One scratching Bibby and the other scratching Pichu.

“If… if you’re sure,” Brock verified with Delia after he nodded to Serena.

Delia just smiled and waved Brock off casually. “I am. Breakfast will only take a few more minutes.”

With that, Brock relented and went to sit at the table with Serena. Delia had the opportunity to fully focus back on her cooking as she hummed softly, only to be once again interrupted by the back door opening. “Ash? Did you finish your… meal?”

“Yeah, Mom!” Ash called as he rounded the corner. Now looking blood-free and with a wet shirt since he most likely used the garden hone in the back of the house to wash the blood off. “It was pretty good. Oh hey guys! Hey Pichu!”

“Pichu Pi!” Pichu called out as he jumped at Ash, causing the boy to giggle as he caught the jumping mouse.

“Morning, Ash.” Brock smiled with a wave at Ash as he turned from looking inside the tiny Mawile’s second mouth.

“Hi, Mister Ash!” Serena waved happily at the boy with her other hand still resting on Bibby’s head.

Delia laughed at that. “Serena… you don’t need to call everyone mister or miss. We are all friends here.”

“Yeah.” Ash nodded as he went to sit at the table with the other two. “It feels weird to be called ‘sir’ when we look pretty much the same age. That and the read Serena doesn't call me ‘sir’ so it’s double weird!”

Ash’s comments were meant to be lighthearted but they seemed to have the opposite effect as Serena frowned. “Oh… Should I um… should I change back to Seth so it isn’t confusing> I just felt like being Serena today but I’m super sorry-”

“Serena.” Delia patently called to her. “You are fine. Ash was just trying to make you feel comfortable. You can look like or be whoever you want. Anything is fine here, alright?”

“Yeah, I never had a problem with you changing before, why would there be any difference now that we are here?” Brock tried to comfort Serena as Ash nodded.

“I… alright. I like to be Serena… she’s really pretty and I like feeling pretty.” The girl gave a smile as she looked down at herself in the dress that the real Serena had worn for the magazine.

“Yeah? Well, you picked a good one! Serena, erm, the… other one is really cool and pretty!” Ash stated as she smiled wide. Though the boy gave a hum as he began to rub his chin while continuing to stare at Serena. “Serena… Serena…”

Delia turned to her son with a look of mild concern. “Ash? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah! Yeah…” Ash spurted at his mother before he turned back to Serena. “It’s just that it’ll be hard to tell the difference when talking about them… Hmmm…”

“Oh…” Brock joined in on the chin rubbing as well. “So you’re thinking of maybe changing this Serena’s name?”

“Or a nickname. Whichever she prefers.” Ash continued Brock’s statement while gesturing to the very confused-looking Serena.

“Well…” She trailed. “I don’t mind changing it all that much… what did you have in mind?” She sounded rather interested to know what the two had in mind for her new name.

Ash gave a loud ‘Hm’ as he continued to rub his chin. The Mawile and Pichu currently sitting on the table now looked between the two boys with very judging expressions. “What about… Se… viper?”

Brock turned and gave Ash an unamused look. “Seviper? Really? That’s just a Pokemon.” Ash merely rubbed his head in embarrassment due to Pichu’s disappointed glare as Brock turned his attention back to Serena. “What about Topaz?”

“Um… probably not…” Serena shook her head. “I um… I know it’s a minor thing but I like my two names to sound- I don’t know- similar. I like the ‘Se’ start, if that’s okay. I’m sorry…” The girl trailed off while sounding a bit guilty about her preference.

“Hey, that’s okay.” Delia smiled as she plated the food which she had been preparing for the children. “I think that Serena is a pretty name. You didn’t expect to have to change it like this so it’s okay. We can take it slow.”

“Yeah,” Ash agreed with his mother with a nod. “Serena is a nice name… Hm… What if we keep the name, but change how we say it?”

At Serena’s, Brock’s, Pichu’s, and Mawile's looks of confusion, Ash chuckled lightly as he rubbed the back of his head. “Like… We say ‘Sirena’ or something? Hehe…”

“Pi… chuchu…” Pichu muttered with his head in his hand. Causing Ash to scoff lightly.

“Hey!” Ash cried. “It isn’t that bad of an idea!”

“Actually…” Brock added while rubbing his chin. The morning sunrays came through the window and hit his ruby eye, causing it to sparkle. “I agree with Ash. I think he’s on to something. We just aren’t calling her ‘Sir’. I think we can do better than that.”

Delia had had enough of the banter for now. She was finally done with breakfast and was excited to see her two guests' reaction to the near mountain of food she had prepared. “Okay, you three, this is exciting but first, we need to eat.” Delia smiled as she turned and placed the largest plate in front of Serena.

The only thing to escape Serena's lips was a light gasp at the large plate she was presented with. “This is… I…” Serena just trailed off as she stared at the plate, causing Delia to gently lay her hand against the girl's back with a smile.

“Is something wrong, sweetie?” Delia asked gently as Mawile hopped into Serena’s lap to look up at his trainer.

“It’s just um…” The girl started while continuing to not tear her eyes away from the plate. “It’s a lot of food.”

Brock seemed to frown slightly before speaking up. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t offer you more when you ate with me and my family. Lots of mouths to feed and I didn’t earn enough as a gym leader to give such big portions.”

While the idea of a 14-year-old having to singlehandedly care for and feed 9 other children disgusted her to her core, Delia merely nodded in response to Brock. “Well, while you’re here, you can eat as much as you want, Serena. Okay?”

“Okay!” The girl nodded, a small smile having formed from Delia’s affirmation. “Can I share it with Mawile and Pichu?”

Delia couldn’t help but smile at that. However, Ash was the first to speak up before she had the chance.

“We have dedicated Pokemon food here. That’s all for you. Actually, I’ll go make them a plate. Come on, you two!” Ash exclaimed as he hopped out of his chair to head towards the pantry while Pichu and Mawile hopped down to follow the cheery human.

Delia smiled as she watched her son take charge of feeding the Pokemon as he usually does before returning to look at Serena. “Go ahead and eat, sweetie. While you do, I’ll try and find something Brock can eat.” Her gaze turned to Brock.

“Oh! Please don’t worry about me, Miss Ketchum. Seriously. I don’t need to eat that often.” Brock shook his head while waving his arms in front of his chest. Delia took note that watching the flower sprouting from his eye wave around as he moved was quite fun to watch.

“You don’t need to eat often?” Delia asked as she tilted her head. “Well then how often is ‘not often’?”

“Usually just once a week or so, if I had something good like limestone and get a lot of sunlight in the meantime,” Brock exclaimed while pointing to the flower.

“Oh! So you photosynthesize?” Delia asked with a curious tone in her voice as she leaned in closer to examine the flower. “That is really neat! You are such a special young man. You should be proud!”

The unexpected praise certainly caught Brock off guard. His face soon flushed with red as he rubbed the back of his head. “Oh um… T-Thank you, Miss Ketchum. But um… can we please talk about something else? I don’t like to talk about myself much.”

Delia didn’t know if his response was cute or sad. Sure, embarrassing Ash with affection always made her day, but Brock’s embarrassment seemed to come from a place of a lack of experience getting praise. “Well… alright, dear. I guess we should move to talking about your family and their situation next.”

“Yeah!” Ash yelled out, nearly startling Delia as she had completely forgotten that her son was there as he sat back at the table. “What can I do to help?”

“Fee foo!!” Serena called out with her mouth full of food.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, sweetie.” Delia gently reprimanded the child almost on instinct, causing the girl to make a big gulp.

“Me too!” Serena once again sounded out, though much clearer this time.

The exchange caused Brock to chuckle. “Well… As much as I appreciate the excitement to help… I don’t really know what we can do right now.” Brock admitted with a small sigh as he rubbed his chin.

Ash frowned at that. “Aw man… we can’t do anything? I was ready to like… go make fliers or something.”

Brock smirked and Delia giggled at that. “We’ll keep that in mind as a backup plan,” Delia told her son as she turned back to Brock. “We could maybe go talk with Professor Oak? I’m certain that he might have some connections that he could use.”

Brock seemed conflicted with that. The boy’s expression turned to a frown. “As much as I appreciate that, I… well, I can’t. That would be a big ask from anyone, let alone someone who I had never met before.”

Ash shook his head quickly with his tail flicking the air like it usually did when excited. “Well, then you gotta meet him! Professor Oak loves to help people and I’m sure he’d love to help you and your family.”

“Ash is right.” Delia nodded. “Samuel is one of the kindest people I know. I’m sure he would consider it a pleasure to help if you explained your situation to him.”

“I… I don’t know…” Brock admitted as he rubbed the back of his head, though soon turned to Serena as she gently grabbed his other arm.

“Please, Mister Brock? You wanted to help me when you didn’t even know me. Why can’t someone else do the same for you?” The girl reminded Brock with a kind smile after finishing her plate in record time.

“I… Alright then. Let’s go ta-” Brock was interrupted by a loud knock on the front door.

“I got it!” Ash excitedly yelled as he started making his way toward the door, only to be stopped by Delia grabbing onto his tail tightly. The woman had to remind herself every time that even though her son’s tail looked hairless, it certainly didn’t feel it due to the microhairs that encased the extra limb.

“Ash…” Delia reminded her son with a tug on his tail.

“Oh! Right!” Ash nodded as he began to tuck his tail into his pajama bottoms. Delia then turned to Brock as he made his way to the kitchen counter.

“What about your- erm… extra thing, Brock? Delia asked as she stood up from the table.

“Don’t worry. I got it.” Brock answered reassuringly as he lifted a pair of scissors and brought them to his flow. The boy winced lightly as a small ‘snip’ could be heard, only for the flower to fall to the ground as Brock closed his wondrous eyes. “It grows back.”

The trio stared at the flower sitting on the floor for a few seconds with a sense of sadness welling in Delia’s chest. The fact that Brock had to dismember such beauty so regularly just didn’t feel right to her. Though she brushed off the feeling for now as she nodded. “Alright, dear.” Delia nodded at Brock before she turned to make her way to the door.

Another knock at the door caused Delia to speed up. While she certainly wasn’t expecting anyone to show up to her farm, much less this early, Delia tried not to be caught off guard by it. “Coming!” Delia yelled as she finally made it to the door with Mimey and her grabbing the door handle at the same time.

“Mime…” Mimey scoffed as he let go of the handle to let Delia take over, clearly disappointed that he didn’t get there first.

“Sorry, Mimey.” Delia smiled at her Pokemon before opening the front door and looking out. “Good morning! How can I help… you…” Delia’s voice slowed as she stared at the man standing on her front porch in both awe and worry.

“Hello.” The pink-haired, caped man greeted Delia in a pleasant tone. “Is this the Ketchum residence? I was told that Brock Harrison could be found here.”

“I-It um… it is! Please excuse me…” Delia nervously chuckled as sweat ran down her forehead.

“Of cour-” The man was interrupted by Delia slamming the door on him. Her jaw was on the floor as she turned back to the kitchen.

“B-Brock!” Delia yelled. “You have someone here to speak with you!”

Brock poked his head around the corner with a raised eyebrow. “Who is it? Please don’t tell me it’s more police…”

“It um…” Delia stammered lightly. “It’s Lance…” Delia's voice admitted with a squeak.

“LANCE?!” Delia’s son screamed out in a squeal as Ash sprinted around the corner with an excited Pichu right behind him. They were out the door before Delia even had the chance to try and block it.

“Who’s Lance, Mister Brock? I think I hear that name sometimes from the TV…” Serena asked as she poked her head around the corner just as Brock did. She was probably just copying him, as most young children do.

“He’s um… a really important guy, Serena. I should probably go talk with him.” Brock explained as he rubbed the back of his head while walking towards Delia. “He’s probably here to say that going to the police was a bad idea.”

“Brock… what else could you have done?” Delia questioned the boy, though he merely shook his head.

“Let’s get this over with.” Brock sighed before opening the door to see Ash staring up at the man with stars in his eyes while Lance stood there with a slight smirk and his arms folded. “Hey Lance…”

“And then I’m gonna train really, really hard and beat all- Oh hey Brock!” Ash was interrupted from his ranting to the amused man to wave at Brock. “Oh erm… where was I?”

Lance chuckled at that. “You were telling me about how you were ‘Gonna get strong enough to kick my butt’, I believe. I’ll hold you to that, Ash. But please, I need to talk with your friend first.” Lance reminded Ash while gesturing to Brock.

“Oh! Right! You’re here for Brock! My bad.” Ash chuckled in embarrassment as he suddenly looked extremely embarrassed. “So… what would you like me to d- gah!” Ash yelled out as he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and yanked back inside the house by Delia before the door slammed shut once again.

“Sorry about him. I think he’s just excited to be a trainer. He tried to fight me for a gym badge before even having a League Trainer Card.” Brock apologized for Ash’s antics with a slight smile.

“That isn’t a problem.” Lance waved it off like it was nothing. “That excitement and drive is good. It shows that he’s serious about taking on the gym challenge.”

“Yeah…” Brock nodded as he glanced at the door to the house before going silent. The two remained in an awkward silence for a few more seconds after that.

Lance, probably deciding that the silence was too much to bear, spoke up first. “So… I wanted to apologize. Personally apologize.” Lance added with emphasis. “On behalf of myself and the entirety of the Pokemon League. Your situation… it shouldn’t have happened.” The tone and cadence of speech were… off. It was apparent that this apology wasn’t practiced or thought out thoroughly. However, that made it feel much more genuine.

Brock remained silent for a few more seconds after that. The 14-year-old merely crossed his arms as he looked to the ground. “I…” Brock took a few more seconds while he shook his head. “I take it that I’m fired?”

“Yes,” Lance answered plainly with a nod. “As of now, you and your family no longer have any connection with the Pewter City Gym. You won’t be tied down there any longer.”

“Tied down?!” Brock looked up at Lance while grinding his teeth. “That gym has been in my family for three generations! You can’t just take it away! You can’t kick my family out!”

“I can, and I will,” Lance stated plainly as he looked down at Brock, seemingly not phased at all by the boy’s anger. “If your parents were so adamant about the Gym remaining in the Harrison family, they should have thought about that before running off to God-knows-where. And don’t worry about your family. I am taking care of it.”

“The hell do you mean ‘taking care of it’?! You guys don’t even take care of your gyms properly! I can't even remember the last time that the inspector came! And you just expect me to trust you when you say that you’ll ‘take care of my family’?!” Brock demanded answers from the man, pulling from rage and frustrations that he hadn’t even known he had.

“I mean that I am personally making sure that you and your family stay together,” Lance spoke clearly as he stepped forward while not breaking eye contact with Brock. “No getting split up. No going to separate homes. And absolutely not getting sent to different regions. This isn’t The League taking care of it, this is me doing it. And don’t worry about our gyms. That is changing. I promise you that.” The man’s voice leaked frustration for the first time at the mention of the gyms.

Such words certainly caught Brock off guard. The boy stammered and tried to find more words, more frustration to draw from but just.. Couldn’t. The man in front of him seemed… genuine. “I… What do I do?”

A small frown formed on Lance’s face as he reached out to gently lay a hand on Brock’s shoulder. “Let adults take care of it. I understand if you don’t trust that, but know that I mean it with every fiber of my being. I will take care of them. Let me carry your burden.” Lance pleaded with the boy with a frown.

Brock remained silent for a time. The only things that escaped the boy were soft sniffles. “Alright… I… I trust you. I’m sorry about yelling before. Do I go with you now?”

Lance smiled lightly at Brock. “Not if you don’t want to. I’m not going to force you to do anything. But I would like to speak with Miss Ketchum again if you’re staying.”

“I’ll go get her.” Brock nodded and backed away from Lance a little, causing the man to let go of his shoulder before Brock walked back into the house to see Delia, Ash, Serena, and all the Pokemon sitting in the living room. “Miss Delia, he um… he wants to speak with you.”

Delia couldn't say that she was caught off guard by the champion wanting to speak with her again, but what did surprise her was the state of Brock. He looked to be near tears. Wordlessly, Delia stood up and made her way to Brock. “Okay, dear. I’ll be right back.” Delia gently wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close to lay a single kiss on his forehead while rubbing his upper back. After gently trying to comfort the boy for a few seconds, she gently let go and allowed Brock to sit on the couch, where Pichu hopped up onto his lap worriedly.

“You wanted to speak with me?” Delia asked as she walked through the front door to find Lance standing there and looking over her land as he watched Timbby and Kanggy carry a large wooden beam towards some project Timbby had started again.

“Hm?’ The man turned his head to see Delia before fully turning himself to face her. “Yes, I just wanted to apologize and clarify some things.”

Delia nodded a bit as she stepped forward while closing the front door again. “Alright. I’m listening.”

“It seems that Brock wants to stay here with you. Is that alright with you?” Lance asked with a slightly worried tone and body language.

“Yes. I’m fine with that.” Delia answered with a smile on her lips, causing Lance to seemingly relax.

“That’s good. Thank you.” Lance nodded as he smiled at her. “I’ll make sure to get you the adoption forms as soon as possible.”

If Delia had a drink, she would have just choked. Her face morphed into one of shock and panic. “O-oh!! Y-you mean that!! I- well, I-” Delia’s mind was racing with panic and disbelief. She had never thought about adopting anyone before, much less an ex-gym leader!

Lance seemed to be fighting not to laugh at Delia’s reaction. “Ah. It appears that I’ve misjudged. My apologies. I will just say that he’s staying with friends then.”

“N-nono!!” Delia shook her head wildly. “It’s fine! You just, well… you just caught me off guard. I honestly never thought about it like that…” Delia mumbled as she looked back towards the window to the living room. She had never thought about having- or adopting- more children after Ash. The idea… well, it’s just an idea, of course, but one that caused butterfree to flutter in her stomach. “I’ll talk with him.”

Lance nodded at that. “Very well. And I wanted to apologize for showing up unannounced, especially when it is this early. You and Brock will be informed as new information comes to light but we- I- have a lot of work ahead of me… I don’t even know where to start…” Lance admitted with a small scoff as he turned to look over at the fields in front of Delia’s house.

“Well…” Delia walked up beside the man. “Why not start in Pallet Town? There are lots of families here and I know that many of them are good people.”

Lance seemed to take note of that. The man rubbed his chin as he hummed. “That… certainly isn’t a bad idea. Thank you, Miss Ketchum.” Lance turned to the woman and graciously smiled at her. “Oh! And by the way, your property is beautiful.”

Delia smiled at that. “Well, thank you! My mother bought it after selling her old Bed and Breakfast in the middle of town. She just wanted to get away from all the people, you know?”

Lance nodded with a satisfied grunt. “I certainly understand that. This is the type of place where you can live free. Be who you truly are without having to hide, am I right?” Lance asked while side-eyeing Delia with a light smirk, causing Delia to tense up lightly.

“Well, yes, I imagine so. It’s what my mother wished for, after all.” Delia nodded with her usual smile, just trying to keep calm and not panic. Surely he doesn’t know. He had just met them, after all.

“Mhm! Well, your mother was a smart woman!” Lance nodded. “It might be best to follow in her footsteps and install some motion sensors around the property just in case someone might show up at the wrong time when you or your son are unprepared or being who you truly are. Do you understand?” Lance questioned Delia as it felt like gravity had doubled in power over the woman. A sense of dread blanketed her mind as she nodded.

“Y-Yes… of course. I’ll do that right away. Thank you so much for the advice.” Delia nodded as sweat rolled down her forehead and her breathing grew deeper. She didn’t know how much he knew, but it was clear that Lance knew something.

“Good! Safety is something that I take seriously.” Lance replied with a friendly smile. The sense of dread and worry seemingly escaping her mind he held such a genuine smile. “I would hate it if your family were unprepared for guests and caught you nude… or worse. I’m sure you understand.”

Delia seemed to finally understand what the man was saying. It wasn’t a threat or means of blackmail – it was advice! “Certainly!” Delia cried with a smile on her lips. “I understand completely! Thank you so much. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

Lance nodded at her seeming understanding of what he was saying. “Good! Well, I must be on my way. I’ll send you whatever you need as soon as I can. Check your mail often and take care. From the brief interaction I had with your son, he seems quite special.” Lance smirked at Delia knowingly as Delia held her hand in front of her mouth to giggle.

“Of course he is.” Delia smiled. “He’s going to be a Pokemon Master one day, after all.”

That answer caused Lance to let out a large ‘Ha!’ as he tossed a Pokeball, releasing a Dragonite. “I look forward to seeing him again! And you as well. Perhaps over dinner sometime after the Harrison situation is over?” Lance asked as he walked down the steps of Delia’s porch as Delia smiled.

“I must say that I’m flattered, truly. But I prefer my partners to be a bit more… exotic if you catch my meaning.” Delia tried to let him down as gently as he could as he climbed onto his large Dragonite.

“Ah. I understand completely.” The man nodded, seemingly not being that disappointed by the rejection. “Nevertheless, thank you for your time. Tell Brock that I will be giving this my full attention until the very end.”

“I will.” Delia nodded seriously. “Have a nice flight. Thank you for stopping by.”

And with a last nod from Lance, the Dragonite launched into the air, leaving Delia alone as she was the only one outside now. “So… the government knows. Or, Lance does, at least.” Delia nodded to herself before turning to walk back inside.

“Oof!” A grunt from Ash was the first thing Delia heard, causing Delia to rush back into the living room. “How in the heck are you so heavy, little guy?!” Ash questioned the tiny Pokemon currently standing on Ash’s chest as he lay on the floor.

“Bonsly! Bonsly!” The rock-type Pokemon cried out cheerily while giggling lightly.

“Sorry, Ash. He likes to sit on people.” Brock smiled, looking much better than he did when Delia had left to go talk with Lance.

“Is… everything okay in here?” Delia walked in with a confused look. “Why is Ash on the ground? Where’s Serena?”

“Serena is following Mimey around,” Ash answered while lifting Bonsly off his chest with a grunt so he could sit up. “And I am on the ground because Bonsly wanted to cuddle.” Ash answered with a smile up at his mother.

“Oh! I take it that Bonsly is your Pokemon, Brock?” Delia asked as she turned to the smiling boy. Now noticing a tiny, pink Pokemon sitting in his lap. “Oh? And that one too, I take it?”

“Yeah,” Brock answered with a smile. “That’s Bonsly and this is Happiny. I have Onix as well but I didn’t want to destroy your house.” Brock answered, causing Ash to chuckle lightly. “What did Lance have to say?”

“Oh! Erm…” Delia thought for a moment, debating on whether she should tell the kids about Lance knowing about them. “He just wanted to make sure if you staying with me was alright. And it is, of course.” Delia smiled as she sat down on the couch.”

“Awesome!” Ash yelled. “So if we don’t have to go to Oak’s place yet, do you want me to show you around the farm, Brock?”

“Sure, Ash!” Brock answered with a wide smile before turning to Delia. “Is that okay, Miss Ketchum?”

“Of course it is, Dear. But Brock, please just call me Delia, okay?” Delia asked as she smiled at the two boys. Happy to see that Ash is so excited to be sharing the space with others.

“Oh! Okay, Miss- erm… I mean, okay Delia!” Brock corrected himself before nodding to Ash, who practically sprinted out the door with Brock not too far behind him.

Delia giggled at the two. “Well… At least they are getting along.” Delia mumbled to herself as she looked out the window. She was happy that Ash seemed to have made more friends. Friends who were like him as well! They may even become as close as brothers if given enough time.

Still… Delia couldn’t shake that thought from her head… Adoption. She had never even considered it a possibility before. She had always just thought that Ash was one of a kind and the chances of finding anyone who would accept her son for the way he is, much less a child who accepts him, were slim to none. Now, here she is with not one, but two children in her house who are not only incredibly kind, but also desperately in need of parents…

“I’ll… have to talk with them later,” Delia muttered to herself with a sigh as she lowered her head into her hands with a sigh. The past two days had been a lot. There was so much she needed to wrap her head around.

“Bib?” A sound caused Delia to look up to see, who else, but Bibby staring at her with a tilted head. The sigh of her dopey Bibarel always caused Delia to smile.

Opening her arms, Bibby seemed to get the message and walked over to gently place his head in her lap, allowing Delia to pet him. “I have a big decision to make, Bibby. One that will change our lives forever…”

 

[SnowySummers]

CHAPTER 7​

“This is simply incredible!” The excitable elder Oak exclaimed with a wide smile on his face, showing a light into Brock’s mouth.

Brock glanced over at the embarrassed expression of Delia, feeling awful about the two Oak’s excitement being directed at the boy, before speaking up. “It is…?”

Gary, holding a stethoscope to Brock’s stomach, scoffed lightly. “Well, yeah! Of course, it is!! Not only are there other people like Ash, but you guys have wholly different, like…” The nine-year-old trailed off while trying to find the right words. “Who different insides!”

At the non-scientist's looks of confusion, Professor Oak chuckled lightly. “I believe what Gary is trying to say is that Ash, Serena, and Brock have such different physiologies and biologies that it’s incredible!”

Well… I guess that makes sense…” Delia mumbled to herself while glancing out into the corral to watch Ash and ‘Serena’ run around in the cool, morning air with Dracovish. It hadn’t been but two hours since Lance had left but Delia had a feeling that the craziness of the day was just getting started. “We did this that Ash was one of a kind, after all.”

“That idiot still is one of a kind,” Gary smirked while rolling his eyes. “A one of a kind moron.” While his words were meanspirited, his tone was light enough that it was clear that the young boy was just playing around.

“Well, that feels a little mean…” Brock remarked with a frown while looking at Gary. “He’s been nothing but nice to me since yesterday. Please don’t speak about him like that.”

“That’s just Gary’s way of showing affection, my boy.” Professor Oak stated while placing a hard on Gary’s head and ruffling his grandson’s hair, causing the boy to let out a groan as he shook his head. “It’s just their dynamic. Gary doesn’t mean that, right?” The elder Oak asked with a small glare at the boy.

“Yeah, yeah…” Gary answered his grandfather with an eye roll. “Now, can we please refocus, here?” Gary pleaded while gesturing at Brock, who was sitting on the examination table and watching this exchange with a puzzled expression.

“Ah, yes. My apologies, my boy.” Professor Oak apologized while rubbing the back of his head. “You know how I get…”

“Scatterbrained?” Gary smirked as he walked to the nearby computer.

“Overexcited?” Delia sweatdropped with a light laugh.

“Driven?” Brock sighed.

“Driven! Yes!” The elder Oak responded, now red in the face from all the teasing. “A-anyway… Yes. You said that you chew rocks, correct?”

“Yeah,” Brock answered with a plain nod. “I guess that my teeth are just special I guess. The only thing I can’t really chew are diamonds. But I’ve only tried that once.”

“Well, the reason that you’ve probably had trouble with diamonds is because your teeth are diamonds,” Oak exclaimed with a smile. “Well, partially, at least I’m no dentist or archeologist but this does seem to be diamond coating your teeth.”

“And to add to that…” Gary mumbled while typing away at the computer. It wasn’t too long before two images were shown on the screen. One being a side profile of Brock and the other being a side profile of a Sableye. “Your jaw muscles are, like, mega strong. Just like Sableye’s.”

“So you think that… what?” Delia asked while tilting her head. She was trying her best to keep up with this conversation but, sadly, she was no scientist.

“Well,” Oak started, his hand coming up to rub his chin as he looked at Brock. “I have a theory that these aren’t just strange mutations, but more… specific, somehow. But please, just humor me: If we were to use Pokemon as points of comparison for Brock’s and the others… differences, what would they be?”

“Well, Sableye for sure. I researched that pokemon to help with things like my diet. But that can’t be the whole thing, right? I mean…” Brock opened his eyes once again, revealing his ruby eye as well as the tiny flower bud which had already begun to grow back. “What about my flower?”

“And should we be using it to make tea?” Delia asked, causing everyone to turn and look at her for a few seconds. “What? It’s good tea…”

“Well, hold on.” Gary sighed and turned back to begin typing at the computer again. It wasn’t long before the x-ray of Brock was shown, just being Brocks's head for now.

“You see this?” Gary asked as he pointed to a thin line connecting the top of Brock’s neck to his eye. “That isn’t normal. Well, I mean, I think it isn’t. Gramps and I aren’t exactly people professors-”

“You aren’t even a professor yet, Gary!” Ash yelled into the room while he poked his head through the door while giggling. “Quit jumping the gu- Ah!”

Ash let out a yelp as he ducked back out of the door as Gary threw a pen at his head. “Shut it, Ash! Ugh! I hate that idiot sometimes.” Gary sighed, shaking his head slightly as Brock was trying, and failing, to not giggle at the duo.”

“I think I’m getting ‘their dynamic’ now, Professor.” Brock turned to the elder Oak with a smile before refocusing on a very annoyed Gary.

“Can I continue?” Gary asked with an exasperated groan. “Anyway, that line isn’t there normally.”

As Brock squinted to try and see the ‘line’ that Gary was talking about, Delia walked over and gently rested her hand on Brock’s back. “So it’s… connected to his spine? Isn’t there an erm… health thing or diseas-”

“Kuru, and no. There isn’t an issue about that at all.” Professor Oak answered before Delia could finish. She could hear Brock let out a sigh of relief as the tension left his body. “I was looking at the flower that you brought in while we got Brock’s x-ray. And found none of the signs that would make using Any part of the flower dangerous in any way.”

“Okay… Okay…” Brock sighed in relief again as Delia kept rubbing his back and presenting a hand for him to hold, which he thankfully took. “So… I’m sorry if I’m asking too quickly but, what is the flower?”

At that, Professor Oak let out a small grunt as he sat down in the chair which he had shoo’d Gary out of. Typing away for a moment before the picture of a Pokemon appeared on the screen. “Let us assume that your right eye and means of consumption are patterned like a Pokemon. Do you know what Pokemon this is?”

The Pokemon on the screen was one that Delia had never seen before, but she had to admit, it looked quite beautiful. It seemed to be humanoid with leaves as hands and dress frills with orange eyes. However, what caught Delia's attention at first was the giant, crowned, excentric orange flower resting on the Pokemon’s head.

“No. I can’t say that I have, Professor.” Brock answered while asking his head.

“Woah! Pretty!” A voice yelled from behind them, causing the group to turn and see ‘Serena’ poking her head through the door. “It’s a Lilligant!”

Oak, looking quite surprised at the girl, smiled wide. “Why yes, my dear. It’s a Pokemon from the Unova Region, across the ocean. How did you know?”

“Mister Steve sometimes has one. I always think that it’s super pretty.” The young girl answered as she walked through the door and into the examination room. Serena stopped beside Delia as she looked up at the woman with a smile, which Delia returned in kind.

“Oh shoot!” Delia blurted out in sudden realization. “We never told ‘Mister Steve’ where you are! He must be so worried about you! Do you have his phone number or anything, sweetie?” She asked ‘Serena’ gently, worried that she might have startled the young child at her revelation.

“No.” Serena shook her head, seemingly unbothered by the outburst. “I sometimes don’t see him for a while, so it’s fine. He always seems happy to see me no matter how long it’s been.” The young girl answered with a wide smile. “And he gets a lot of phone calls and letters from people but I don’t know his number…”

“Wait, so he doesn’t always take care of you at night?” Brock asked as he turned to face ‘Serena’ fully. “I thought that you said that he has a place in Pewter City?”

“I have a place where I see him, yeah! But he isn’t around sometimes so I just sit nearby and hope he comes by usually…” Serena trailed off with a small frown as she looked to the ground, causing Delia to reach out and gently rub the girl’s back. There was more to this, Delia was sure of it. But now wasn’t the time and this isn’t the place.

“It’s okay. We’ll talk about it later. Don’t worry.” Delia gently lifted ‘Serenas’ chin up and brushed the girl’s hair out of her eye and behind her ear.

“But- hold on.” Brock insisted. “You sai-”

“Brock.” Delia interrupted sternly while facing the boy. “Later, I promise you. But for now, we should focus on you, understand? We will talk at home.” Not catching that she just addressed her house as Brocks’s home as well, Delia turned back to the very uncomfortable-looking, ‘family drama is happening in front of me’ Professor Oak.

“Ahem…” Professor Oak gulped lightly after clearing his throat. “Where were we?”

“You were about to talk about Lilligant, Gramps,” Gary answered as he leaned against the wall with a silent Ash and Pichu beside him. The younger Oak seemingly experienced less discomfort at the scene and held more of a sense of wanting to grab popcorn, unlike his Grandfather who most definitely didn’t want to be there. “You want to talk or should I?”

“Nono, my boy. Thank you, but I should be fine.” Oak answered with a small chuckle as he refocused. “So, yes. That is a Pokemon called Lilligant. A Unovan Pokemon that has a very familiar-looking flower, wouldn’t you say?”

“Oh hey… That flower looks a lot like yours, Brock!” Ash excitedly pointed out as Brock sweatdropped.

Gary, who was standing beside Ash, scoffed slightly. “Yeah, doofus. Welcome to five minutes ago.”

“Hey!” Ash called back, causing Gary to chuckle.

“Yes, yes.” Oak sighed at the duo’s usual bickering as he turned back to the trio who were still paying attention. “This Pokemon is practically on the other side of the planet so I didn’t expect you to know of it. Its flower is said to have a calming, relaxing scent to it. Eating its petals or leaves is said to have many medical benefits. See where I’m going with this?”

Brock nods slowly. “Yeah, I noticed that, when it bloomed, my flower seemed to help me and my siblings relax. I tried making tea with it and, well, everyone loved it so I just kept using it for that.” Brock hummed as he reached up to touch the bulb forming his eye. “It helps when my siblings are feeling anxious or angry.”

“You are releasing those spores even now.” Oak pointed out, causing Brock to seem shocked. “Even when your flower isn’t bloomed, I think you release spores through the pores in your skin. I’ll have to do more testing to determine how, but it’s just a theory until then.”

“Huh…” Ash leaned back with his arms resting behind his head. “I guess that you’re just a naturally calming guy, Brock. That’s super cool!”

“I… guess I am, Ash. Thanks.” Brock turned to Ash with a smile.

“Not a problem.” Ash smiled and gave a thumbs up with Pichu copying him.

“Ahem.” Oak cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to himself. “So, to summarize and theorize, Brock not only has the traits of one Pokemon, but two. The digestive and possible visual system as a Sableye, but also the spore-producing, and flower production and regrowth abilities of a Lilligant. This is very interesting indeed.” Oak finished as he rubbed his chin.

“So we can be two Pokemon at once?” Ash asked as he tilted his head.

“Have traits of two Pokemon, my boy.” Oak corrected the young boy as he continued to caress his chin. “And yes, that does raise several questions about you, doesn’t it, Ash?”

Ash gulped lightly at that look of inquisitiveness in the elder Oak’s eyes. “W-well what about Serena? Don’t you want to check her out first?”

The professor nodded and turned towards Serena. “Yes, I believe that you are correct, my boy. Let’s get started on that immediately.”

“Hm?” Serena tilted her head up at Professor Oak. “Started on what?”

“Well…” Professor Oak answered with a smile. “Started on seeing exactly what you are, my dear.”

---

Lance sighed as Dragonite finally touched down back in front of the Pokemon League after 2 hours of flying. He could have asked Dragonite to go faster, of course, but Lance honestly just wanted the chance to think on the fly back. He had been up nearly the entire night with stress due to this… this embarrassment of a situation.

“Thank you, my friend. Take a rest. I shouldn’t be needing you anymore today.” Lance smiled as he laid a hand on Dragonite's chest.

“Drago…” The large, gentle Dragon merely leaned down and pressed his forehead against Lances for a few moments of serenity before the large Pokemon stepped back to take to the skies again. Lance remained there as he watched the Dragonite leave with a sigh.

“You talk with the eldest?” A voice rang out from behind him, yet he already knew who it was.

Upon turning around, Lance nodded at Lorelai with a sigh. “Yeah, I did. I thought he might punch me, to be honest…” Lance huffed as he began walking towards the doors to the building. “I might have even deserved it.”

Lorelai, who was now walking along beside him, shot him a disapproving look. “Lance, You know that these are unique circumstances-”

“Has Koga gotten to the gym yet?” Lance interrupted his colleague, not wanting to hear another word about how this wasn’t his fault or problem.

Brock's anger, his resentment at his situation. It’s the only thing that Lance could think about. The boy's words reverberate around inside Lance’s head in a perpetual echo chamber

‘You guys don’t even take care of your gyms properly! I can't even remember the last time that the inspector came! And you just expect me to trust you when you say that you’ll ‘take care of my family’?!’

“Yes, he arrived there this morning with the doctors. All of the children have a clean bill of health.” Lorelai stated calmly, seemingly undeterred by the man’s interruption. “They seem… distrustful, but Koga assures that it will be no problem.”

Lance scoffed with a scowl. “Why would they be distrustful? It’s not as if we were kicking them out of the only home they have ever known and are told that they might be separated.” Lance’s voice dripped with sarcasm as he shook his head. “And the parents?”

“Nothing yet, but we are looking. We are also getting help from the Jenny’s and have flagged their trainer cards.” Lorelai stated calmly. Her heels clicked against the tile floor of the building as they made their way down the hall.

“Media?” Lance asked as he opened the door to his office.

“Nothing yet,” Lorelai noted as she walked ahead and placed several papers down on Lance’s desk. “But it’s only a matter of time until someone squeals. You’ll have to have a statement and action plan ready.”

Lance scoffed as he sat down, scanning the papers. It was the medical documents of all the children. “The plan was for this to not have happened in the first place.” Lance scoffed, bitterness seeping out of his voice like a Seviper’s venom seeping out of its fangs. “But yes, I understand. I’ve already got a few ideas. Paldea’s yearly gym inspection is usually done in person and not delegated to by some intern who doesn't even bother to…” Lance trails off, grinding his teeth as he clenches his fist.

Lorelai patiently waits for the man’s temper to cool down. “Yes, well, that's good, but I was more focused on the kids. People aren’t exactly going to be happy if they learn too many details.”

“Yes, yes.” Lance sighed, looking over the papers slowly. “As usual, you’re right. Any progress on finding a potential home?”

“No. At least, not if you want to keep them all together.” Lorelai shook her head. “I mean… we could try and reach out to the Morgans perhaps? Their only son ran away a while ago and hasn’t been seen since, after all. And they’re millionaires. What kid doesn’t want to get adopted by millionaires?

“No.” Lance shook his head. Just thinking about those two made his head hurt. There was no way in hell he would subject those children to those two aristocrat assholes. “Absolutely not. They are the worst and you know it.”

Lorelai scoffed as she leaned forward to put her hand on the desk, glaring at Lance. “Alright then what do you suggest?”

At that, Lance looked down at his desk once more, scanning the different pictures of all the Harrison children. “What if… instead of sending them to one home, we send them to different ones, but still close?”

“Isn’t that what we are trying to avoid?” Lorelai tilted her head as she looked at Lance as if he were a madman.

“Nono. Well, yeah.” Lance had to admit, but he sighed and shook his head. “We try and get them all adopted by a small, tight-knit community so that, even if they aren’t all living together, they're still together.”

Lorelai tilted her head at the suggestion. The woman remained silent for a moment before speaking up again. “Okay, I see where you are going with this… but which town would we try first?”

Lance smiled lightly at the question. It was as if destiny itself had presented him with a lock that a certain brunette woman gave him the key for. “How about Pallet Town?”

 

[SnowySummers]

CHAPTER 8​

“Hmmm…” The elder professor grumbled as he looked into his stethoscope. The man had been doing nothing but making noises and staring at the blood sample that he had drawn from the transforming child for quite a while now.

Said child, who was currently in the form of Seth as the needle that Professor Oak used to extract their blood scared them, thus making them switch to Seth because ‘boys aren’t scared of needles’, rubbed his arm uncomfortably where the bandage rested. “Does he… usually do this?” The boy asked up at Delia with a worried whisper.

“Only when he’s really focused, dear…” Delia answered with an embarrassed chuckle. Sadly, seeing Oak like this was quite rare, but not always a good thing. The last time that he got like this was when Ash was three years old and his unique ‘features’ were starting to form. Delia couldn’t remember if the good professor got any sleep for even a whole week during that time. “Just give him a moment, please. Are you okay? Did that shot hurt?”

“Yeah, that needle looked really big!” Ash piped up with a smile, causing Pichu to facepalm at seeing Seth’s nervous expression. The duo were standing on the other side of the examination table from Delia, right next to Brock. “I would’ve been super freaked out if I were you!”

Brock chuckled at that. Reaching over and gently resting a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “I think what Ash is trying to say is that you are really brave, which you are! You did good.” The elder boy's words of praise along with Ash’s and Pichu’s excited nods caused Seth to smile again while looking at the trio.

“Thanks! And nope! It didn’t hurt at all!” Seth smiled wide and gave a little flex. The boy suddenly winced afterward as he dropped his arm to rub the bandage again with a light hiss, causing the boys to smile awkwardly with a sweat drop as Delia worriedly rubbed his arm.

“Did you have to use such a big needle, Samuel?” Delia turned back to the professor with her hands on her hips as she leaned forward to glare at the man’s back. “The poor boy is in pain!”

“Miss Delia-” Seth tried to call out but was quickly stopped by Ash and Pichu shaking their heads quickly.

“W-well, I’m sorry, my dear!” Oak turned to the now peeved Delia with his hands up like he was surrendering. “But their blood was too thick for my regular, human need-”

“Oh, so your regular needles aren’t good enough? Hmmm??” Delia questioned further, cutting the man off as she now glared at him in the eyes.

“Erm… Delia?” Brock slowly stepped forward, trying to get the woman’s attention. “What I think that Professor Oak means is that he couldn’t take their blood.”

“Yes!” Oak piped up before clearing his throat. “Precisely, my boy. Their blood was too thick to go into my regular needle, so I used the one we have in order to take blood samples from things such as Ditto, Muk, and other thick-blooded Pokemon.”

“Hmmm…” Delia crossed her arms as she stared at the man for just a few more seconds. “Well, alright. I just don't like seeing them hurt. I apologize.” Delia then turned and went back to sitting beside Seth. Said boy was currently staring at Delia with a mixture of awe and wonder.

“Wow…” The boy exhaled slowly. “I’ve never had someone stand up for me like that before. You really didn’t need to but… well, that was kinda cool!” The child’s wide smile at Delia nearly caused her heart to skip a beat as she smiled back happily. All her frustration at seeing the boy in pain evaporated away as if it never existed before. “So thank you!”

“Yeah.” Ash nodded with a small smile. “Mom can be scary sometimes…” Ash trailed off with a light chuckle as he scratched his chin. “Oh! Thanks for the help, Brock.”

“It’s what I do.” Brock smiled confidently while rolling his shoulders as if he just lifted something and was proud of it. “But anyway, do you know anything, Professor?” Brock asked as he turned back to the man who was back at his stethoscope.

“Hmmmm…” Oak grumbled to himself while fidgeting with some knobs on the side of the device. “Fascinating…” The man spoke to nobody in particular.

“Is he broken?” Seth whispered to Ash worriedly. “Did I break him?”

“I don’t think so…” Ash answered while rubbing his head. “He’s just focused.”

“Pichu pi pi pichu.” Pichu chuckled, causing Ash to snort loudly as his smile widened.

“Yeah, yeah. Like me with battles.” Ash admitted as he sighed. “But please don’t shock him… that might actually break him, Pichu,” Ash told the Pichuon his shoulder. Said Pichu looking down with a pouting face and a halfhearted ‘Piii…’

Seth laughed at this display. “You two are funny!” Delia smiled alongside him.

“Yes, Pichu, no hurting the professor,” Delia teased as she reached over to rub Pichu’s head. “Even if he is getting more deaf by the day.”

“Hey!” The professor shouted. “I take offense to that!”

“So you do hear us!” Ash yelled while pointing at Oak with a shocked face. “Well!? How is Seth?”

Professor Oak just gave Ash a look as his eyes squinted. “I don’t know yet, my boy. I can’t say anything for certain until Gary gets back with the analysis of the rest of the blood. Anything before that is just conjecture.” The exasperated professor admitted to the group.

“Okay then… tell us about what you see inside the stethoscope?” Delia offered with a smile. “Theorize.”

Professor Oak sighed in defeat as his shoulders drooped slightly. However, he quickly recovered and adjusted his lab coat before beginning to speak again. “I think that these aren’t human blood cells. I am by no means an expert on the topic but, to me, these seem more like strange stem cells than anything else…”

The professor then gestures to Ash and Brock. “For example, you two have normal red blood cells, just like a regular human.” The old man gulped as Delia glared at him for implying that the children were anything other than ‘regular.’ “Meanwhile Seth’s, here, seems to be something different.”

“Oh, they’re different, alright.” A new voice chimed in. The voice belonged to Gary as he turned the corner to see the group while holding a blood vial. “This stuff is wild. I ran it against some stuff we have here in the lab and, yep. They share a lot with Ditto cells.”

“So… I’m just a Ditto?” Seth asked Gary with a frown. Delia noticed the boy’s expression and gently reached out to hold his hand. “I’m not even hu-”

“Now, hold on.” Gary interrupts the boy. “Don't be like Ash and jump to every conclusion. I wasn’t done talking. You share a lot with Ditto DNA, yeah, but you are also definitely a human. Like, you have all the important things like the uh… the…” Gary scoffed and just handed the paper to his grandfather when he couldn't find the words. “Gramps will explain it.”

The kindly professor smiled at his grandson requesting his help before looking down at the paper. “Oh… fascinating!! This is quite the read, my boy! I’m quite proud-”

“Um… Professor?” Ash tilted his head. “What does it say?”

At the sight of practically the entire group staring at the old man with annoyance, the professor gulped nervously. “R-Right, anyway… Gary is right. You are most certainly a human and not a Pokemon. For one, you are missing the element in your cells that allows you to be caught by a Pokeball. Another is white blood cells. Pokemon and humans have different white blood cells with Pokemon’s being much more powerful. Yours are most definitely human.”

“Oh… okay, good.” Seth let out a sigh of relief as he smiled at Delia, and then at Ash. “I didn’t want to… you know…”

“I understand, sweetie.” Delia smiled as she reached out and rubbed his back. “You just wanted to be sure that you are who you say you are.”

“And we would like you no matter what,” Brock smiled at Seth. “You understand that, right?”

“Right!” Seth nodded with a smile that reminded Delia so much of Ash from when he was younger.

“But um… what else do you see, professor?” Brock asked, his attention turned back to the elder Oak.

“Hm…” The man murmured over the paper while stroking his chin. “Well, according to this… Seth also has the same property in their cells, allowing ghost types to be immune to normal-type attacks…”

“Yeah,” Gary raised his hand slightly. “I think that that’s a glitch. At first, it flashed up with Dragon-immune, then Ghost-immune, and then finally landed on Normal-immune. If anything, I would say that the machine got confused with their ditto cells. That or we need to recalibrate it. The tech is brand new, after all.”

“Hm… maybe…” Oak mumbled to himself while he continued to look over the paper.

“Could we maybe have types?” Brock wondered aloud as Ash looked down at himself. “I mean, it isn’t that far out there, is it?”

“It’s certainly a theory…” The elder professor nodded at Brock before looking back to Seth. “Anyway, back to the here and now instead of theorizing. Seth, tell me, are either of the forms you've shown us your actual form?”

Seth suddenly got very tense. The boy squeezed Delia's hand tightly as he gulped. “Um… why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just that Dittos usually have much more simple forms that they take when they are at rest. I was just wondering if you had one as well.” Professor Oak explained himself with a smile.

“And if you do,” Gary added. “What differences it has from regular ditto would be useful information.”

“I… um…” Seth trails off and looks to the ground.

Ash noticed the boy's hesitation and tilted his head. “Hey, what’s wrong? You know that you don’t have to be embarrassed, right?”

“I know… It’s just… I look scary.” Seth admitted while looking down at his hands with a gulp. “You know how I said some people and their Pokemon attacked me. It was because they saw what I really look like. So… I don’t want you guys to hate me. I’m sorry.” The boy then shook his head quickly.

“Is this why you slept in the basement last night, sweetie?” Delia asked with a frown. “You were afraid of us seeing you– the real you?”

The boy’s silence and look of shame as his eyes trailed to the ground told Delia all that she needed to know. She turned to Brock and Ash to see their reactions and while Ash seemed to be mostly confused, Brock had a hurt expression.

“Alright…” Oak sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. Delia had forgotten that he was even there in those few seconds. “So, if we aren’t going to see what your true form is…” The main trailed off as he looked down at the paper again. “Then I guess that I will keep testing both of your blood. Ash?”

“Yeah, professor?” Ash turned to the man, clearly puzzled that he was brought to attention.

“Would you mind giving us some blood? Sorry, but the concept of you kids having typings like traditional Pokemon has certainly piqued my interest.” Professor Oak asked with a half-apologetic look. Delia doubted if the man or poor Gary was going to get any sleep tonight.

“Pi!!” Pichu, who was currently standing on Ash’s shoulder, suddenly cried out with his arm raised. “Pichu pichu!!”

Ash let out a soft giggle, his hands over his stomach as he leaned back. “Yeah! But only if Pichu can give blood too.” Ash chuckled as he reached up to scratch Pichu’s head. “Oh! And if Gary doesn't take it.”

“Oh, come on!” Gary yelled out, his face a bright red. “That was one time, Ketchum!! One!”

“And once was enough!” Ash challenged back, yelling at his friend. “You remember what happened last time!”

---

“What happened last time?” Brock leaned over to whisper to Delia while watching the two nine-year-olds yell at each other for the next while.

“Blood…” Delia whispered, her eyes glazed as she relived the last time Gary was allied to take blood. “There was so much blood. Everywhere. And panic, but mostly blood…”

“Doesn’t… doesn’t Ash eat things raw sometimes? Like, blood included raw?” Brock asked, with an eyebrow raised.

“Oh yes.” Delia nodded as she watched the two argue. “It was a big problem when he was little. If he got too messy and I didn’t want his trailing blood around the house, I made him go downstairs and sit on the blood couch until I could run him a bath.”

“Oh, a bath sounds nice…” Seth chimed in as he stared off into space.

“I’ll run one for you when we get home, sweetie.” Delia smiled as she caressed the boy’s head.

“I- Um…” Brock stammered for a moment. “Excuse me but… what’s the ‘blood couch’ that you just said?

“Hm?” Delia tilted her head but then chuckled. “Oh! Sorry, dear. I forget that not everyone has been dealing with this. So, when Ash was younger, his hunting drive– or ‘The Itch’ that we call it, was higher. I would be busy on the farm or cooking and Ash would come up to me with blood all over him from some raccoon or baby deer he got. Usually, I would wash him. But if I was busy or anything, I would tell him to go home and hang out downstairs on the blood couch because I didn’t want him to track blood all through the house.”

“That sounds…” Brock trailed off as his expression held a mixture of bafflement and amusement.

“Kinda cool?” Seth smiled up at Delia. “Having a place where you don’t have to care about being dirty for a while sounds really awesome.”

Brock chuckled at Seth’s response. “I was going to say that it sounded like a pain to clean, but you are right, Seth. It is cool.”

“Well, it’s certainly less of a pain than having to scrub dried blood off the upstairs floors.” Delia giggled. She was happy the two seemed to not be disgusted by the concept and seemed more intrigued than anything.

“Ugh. Tell me about it. Anytime my siblings got hurt, I would spend like an hour trying to get blood off the carpet.” Brock smiled at Delia, the duo remained smiling at each other for a moment before turning their attention back to the bickering boys.

---

“And I’m telling you that it wasn’t on purpose!” Gary groaned as he explained himself once again.

“Oh yeah, totally!’ Scoffed Ash as he glared at the boy. “I’m sure it was an accident and not because I wouldn’t let you trade your shrimp with my lunch!”

“You are so Insuf-”

“Shrimp Boy!” Ash yelled out with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. “You won’t eat shrimp!”

“Shrimp is gross!!” Gary defended himself. “Like you, Ash!”

“At least I can eat my shrimp! Unlike you, Shrimp Boy!” Ash jabbed again with Gary’s new nickname as Pichu looked to be growing more and more tired of this topic by the second.

“I am not a Shrimp Boy!” Gary screeched out before nearly lunging at Ash, only to be stopped by a-

“Piiii-CHU!!” The little, electric mouse Pokemon yelled out with a bright flash, causing everyone to look away. When the others turned back, they saw Gary and Ash on the ground with smoke rising from their bodies as they groaned.

“Thank you, Pichu.” Professor Oak nodded to the Pokemon. “That was going nowhere fast.”

The Pokemon nodded with his hands on his sides. “Pi!!”

“Anyway,” The Professor then turned to the group of three who were sitting there by the examination table still. “I will take some of Ash’s blood and send you on your way. Thank you so much for your patience. I’ll give Dracovish and Mawile a full examination as well. Brock, would you like me to look after your Pokemon as well?”

“Oh!” Brock seemed surprised by the offer, his eyes wide. Though he eventually shook his head. “No thank you. I’ll hold onto them, at least for tonight because you’re probably going to be really busy.”

“While that may be true, I assure you that it is no issue.” Professor Oak offered once again with a smile, only for Brock to shake his head.

“I mostly have baby Pokemon and they are stressed with being in a new place,” Brock explained to the man with a smile. “I don’t want to stress them more by me being away from them.”

“I understand completely.” The professor nodded. “Not to worry, my boy. Now come along, Ash. Up up. Let’s get that blood sample and send you on your way.” The professor lifted the groaning boy by the arm and carried him off to sit in a chair where the man had access to his arm.

“So are things usually this…’ Brock trailed off as if he were trying to find the correct word. “Interesting around here, Miss Ketchum?”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Delia answered with a giggle as she watched her son cough out more smoke.

“Well, I like it here!!” Seth declared with a bright smile. “It’s fun!”

“I’m sure you do, sweetie.” Delia smiled as she rubbed the boy's back gently. “How about, when we get home, I run you a nice bath and we talk? I wanna know more about you!”

“Really?” The young boy gasped, stars in his eyes. “You wanna know about me?”

The reaction caused Delia to giggle. He was just too precious. “Of course I do, sweetie! I want to know all about you! Both of you…” Delia smiled as she reached over and took one of Brock’s hands into her own. “You’re both so special and wonderful. I want to give you both the attention and care that you've been missing…” Delia forced herself to remain smiling. Having reminded herself just how these two came to be with her currently tugged at her heart.

“Y-Yeah…” Brock nodded slowly. “We, uh… we’ll talk.” The boy was almost certainly caught off guard by Delia’s sudden affectionate gesture, but not pulling away from it either. He merely seemed conflicted or wary. Delia couldn’t tell which.

“Totally!” Seth smiled wide as he squeezed Delia’s hand. “But… I get my bath first, right?”

“Of course, sweetie! We’ll do it as soon as we get home.” Delia nodded and then looked back to the charred figure of Ash. “But… Ash may need to be washed off with the hose first…”

“My… everything feels tingly…” Gary whimpered from his spot on the floor as Pichu stood atop his head.

 

[SnowySummers]

CHAPTER 9​

The rest of the morning went by relatively quickly for the group after leaving the Oak Lab. While Delia, Seth, and Brock returned straight home, Ash went and got some lunch for himself. It wasn’t long until he had found a suitable meal in a badger.

All it took was one, swift bite to the badger's neck to end it. With a sense of pride at his easy kill, one which would have taken considerably more effort if he were younger, he began making his way home while tearing away at his meal’s flesh hungrily. This feeling was strangely normal to him. While others might see a child ripping away the flesh of a fresh kill, Ash viewed this as no more different from eating a sandwich. A very messy and bloody sandwich, but a sandwich nonetheless.

Walking up the stairs with his prey hanging from his mouth, Ash opened the back door to the Kitchen and stepped inside. “This is big… I’ll finish it later…” Ash mumbled to himself while he held the corpse in his hand.

“You uh… hunt often?” A bewildered voice asked from behind Ash, causing him to let out a yelp as he turned to see-

“Brock!” Ash gulped as he put the corpse of the badger behind his back once he saw Brock standing in the doorway to the kitchen. While Ash knew that Brock knew about his hunting, his mom did tell him to not wander around the house with his kill while Brock and Serena/Seth were staying with them to not freak them out.

“I- Uh…” Ash mumbled, trying to change the subject. “What are Mom and Seth up to? And Pichu?” Where did he run off to?”

Brock, clearly trying his best to avoid seeming freaked out, though sadly failing, merely pointed behind him. “The two are upstairs. Your mom said that she was going to give them a bath. And Pichu is downstairs playing with Happini, Bonsly, and Mawile. Mimey is watching them.”

“Oh! Okak, good.” Ash nodded as he shuffled backward towards the back door while still holding the badger behind his back. “I’m going to go ba-”

“You don’t need to, you know.” Brock interrupted the younger boy, causing Ash to look at him with confusion. “I mean, if I’m going to be staying here for a while and we are going to be friends, I might as well try and get used to… this.” Brock finished as he gestured to Ash and the blood on his cheek.

At the words of Brock noting that he wanted to be friends with Ash, the boy stopped in his tracks. He didn’t have that many friends apart from Gary or Serena, so the concept of new friends excited him. “I… yeah. So you don’t mind?” Ash asked as he held up his kill so that Brock could see it.

“I… admit that it is kinda weird…” Brock paused for a moment as Ash gulped nervously. “Okay, really weird, but so was learning how taxes work or how to change diapers so…” Brock just shrugged nonchalantly before gesturing to the dining table. “Y’know, you never answered my question; Do you hunt often?”

“Well, yeah, I guess.” Ash nodded as he sat at the kitchen table. “I mostly just do it if mom doesn't have any food plans or if I get ‘The Itch’,” Ash said his last two words with quotation marks from the hand which currently wasn’t holding the badger.

“Oh yeah, I think your mom said something about that. So can you only eat meat? What are the rules?” Brock asked as he sat at the table opposite Ash. A clear interest developed from Brock as he smiled casually, even if he occasionally glazed at the corpse that Ash was holding.

Ash shook his head at that. “No. I can eat whatever I want, like most people. I just can eat raw stuff super easily. And as for the rules… uh…” Ash mumbled as he took another bite of his badger while thinking. Sinking his teeth into the red flesh of the corpse, only to then pull his head back and allow the meat to tear off of the main body.

“Okay!” Ash yelled before gulping his latest bite. “So, I guess I’ll explain it the best I can. So, ‘The Itch’, it doesn't happen that much. I get jumpy and shaky during it. Like I have to move or something. When I was younger, I would sometimes even not remember much when I felt it.”

“You blacked out?” Brock asked with his eyes wide, causing Ash to see that the flower bud which was located in his eye socket was slowly getting bigger. “You couldn’t control yourself?”

“No!, I mean, yes!” Ash blurted out, causing Brock to look at Ash like he was crazy. Ash just took a breath before answering properly. “Kinda. I knew that I wanted to hunt and where I was, but once I caught what I was hunting, poof. The next thing that I remember would be getting washed off by Mom or Mimey.”

“That is… worrying.” Brock gulped a little as he stared at Ash, who was currently taking another bite of his lunch. “I mean, what if the blackouts come back? You could hurt your mom or Pichu.”

“Oh! Don’t worry about that.” Ash shook his head. “I don’t like eating Pokemon. I tried to eat some when I was really young and they all taste horrible. Kinda like shoveling sand in my mouth.”

“Well, sand doesn't taste that bad.” Brock commented with a mutter.

“What?” Ash asked.

“What?” Brock asked back at him, causing the duo to stare at each other silently for a moment. “Anyway, what about people?”

“I haven’t tried a human before so I don’t know…” Ash mumbled slightly as he thought. “Well, there was this time when I licked my friend. It tasted really funny but she seemed to like it.”

“I… w-what?’ Brock stared at Ash as his face went pale. “You did what?!” His voice cracked as he yelled at the younger boy.

“What do you mean?!” Ash asked with a shocked expression. “All I did was taste her blood! It isn’t that weird! But still, please don’t tell mom! That would suck.”

Brock, after taking a deep breath and curing himself of the misunderstanding, let out a light sigh as he rubbed his eyes. “Just… never mind. This is all just too weird.”

“Heh.” Ash chuckled as he grew a wide smile. “That’s the nickname she gave me. ‘Weirdo.’ I like it!”

The boys unbridled cheeriness caused Brock to chuckle. Returning Ash’s smile as he shook his head. “I see. I guess it kinda fits.” The boy took a small sigh before deciding to get back on track from their conversation. “So do you just like raw meat or do you like it cooked?”

“I can eat it either way, usually. Like I don’t like raw fish that much, but I like cooked fish.” Ash explained with a smile.

“I see.” Brock nodded while rubbing his chin. “Well would you like me to cook… that–” Brock pointed at the bloodied corpse Ash was munching on “For you?”

“Hm? Oh! No thanks. This is fine.” Ash shook his head. “But right! You did mention that you can cook. Are you good at it?”

“Yeah. At least, all my siblings say that I am.” Brock admitted with a sheepishly proud smile on his face while rubbing the back of his head. “I’m not that good, I’ve just had a lot of practice.”

“Heh. That’s exactly what Mom says!” Ash chuckled at the similarity. “Y’know… I can kinda see it.”

Brock blushed a bright red at that. “S-see what?? I’m not some mom or anything!” Brock stammered out, causing Ash to let out a hearty laugh. “I swear, the number of times that my siblings accidentally called me ‘mom’ or ‘dad’, you could swear that I… that I…” Brock trailed off as his gaze met the floor in what seemed to be reflection. A deep frown on the boy’s face as his emotions seemed to be getting the better of him.

Ash frowned at the sight of Brock getting so troubled out of the blue. He didn’t know if it would be better to change the subject or to push Brock to open up so… Ash went with his gut. “That you what, Brock? You can talk.”

“That I… well, that I was their mom and dad, I guess.” Brock finally answered after a short pause, likely to collect his thoughts. “I don’t know. I guess I just kind of realized that I never got to be my siblings’ big brother. At least, not the way I thought I was going to be back when Mom and Dad were home.”

Ash nodded while listening closely. “Well, what’s stopping you from starting now? I’ve always wanted to have a big brother. And you seem like an awesome one!” Ash cheered excitedly before suddenly stopping himself as he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. I kinda forgot that you were only staying here for a little bit.”

Brock seemed to be taken aback slightly by Ash’s words for a moment. He merely shook his head with a soft smile as his friend's kindness seemed to be just exactly what Brock needed. “You’re fine. Don’t worry. Thank you for that… really.” Brock said with a smile as he wiped his ruby eye to stop any tears from falling.

“No problem!” Ash grinned wide before he took another bite from his hunt. “So… what do you wanna do now? We could head down to the basement with the baby Pokemon if you want.”

“Yeah, sure! That sounds good. Just… please finish your food. That might scare Bonsly and Happini.” Brock asked Ash with a small glance at the mangled corpse that the younger boy was nearly done with.

“Oh, sure!” Ash nodded with a smile. “But, you know, they might be more alright with it than you think. I mean, you’re not as creeped out about it as you were before!” Ash pointed out before taking a large bite out of the thigh and grunted as he pulled back, tearing the flesh and tendons off the corpse which caused small splatters of blood to drip onto Ash’s jeans as he gnawed at the tough meat.

“Yes,” Brock exclaimed dryly while staring at the gory scene. “Not sure what that says about me, though.”

---

Delia couldn’t help but smile as she watched Seth play with the rubber ducklett that Ash used to always play with during bath time. Running her fingers through his thick hair with a small hum. Though the voice in Delia’s head told her that the boy was far too old to get bathed by her, she continually reminded herself what age this child truly was. However, the voice telling her that bathing a child while they were fully clothed was wrong just wouldn’t go away.

“So… You just always make clothes not because it’s decent,” Delia rephrased in hopes of better understanding this child. “But because you don’t know what people look like under them?”

“Mhm!” The boy replied cheerfully. “I mean, I know what people look like without hats and stuff… but not much else. It isn’t a problem though.”

“I guess…” Delia agreed with a nod. “But bathing someone in their clothes does just feel a tad silly.” Delia remarked with a soft smile on her face as she poured the cup of water over Seth’s head.

“Well… I’m sorry, Miss Delia.” Seth admitted with a frown. “I just don’t know.”

“Well, why not go into your regular form then? The one that you sleep in?” Delia offered gently with a smile on her face. She wouldn’t force the child to show her, but she did have to admit that her curiosity was killing her!

“Nope! Nuh-uh!” Seth stated clearly while shaking his head, causing water to fly everywhere due to his wet hair. Some of which landed on Delia, which caused a small ‘Eep!’ to escape her lips. “I really like you so no way!”

Making a small sigh to herself as she wiped the water off her shirt, Delia admitted defeat. “Well, alright. But know that I will still lo- care for you and your well-being no matter what.” Delia coughed lightly as she nearly misspoke.

“I… I know. But no way!” Seth continued to shake his head, causing water to fly everywhere exactly like Herdier did when she bathed him. “Can we talk about something else please?”

“Alright, sweetie.” Delia nodded as she scrubbed at the boy’s fingers with a loofah. Deciding to go back to a previous topic as something had been bothering her for the longest time. “So… why didn’t ‘Mister Steve’ teach you what people look like under their clothes? Most would think that teaching you how to copy people and look as good as you can would be important for your safety.”

That question caused Seth to pause for a moment. Though just a bit as he mumbled his response. “He’s not really… that kind of teacher, I guess. He’s really good at teaching me things like numbers and left and right, but not stuff like what people look like without clothes.”

“Hmmm…” Delia nodded slowly as she carefully thought about her next words. “You seem to trust him. What does he teach you that helps keep you safe?”

Seth nodded and put his finger on his chin as he looked to the ceiling in thought. “Well… he tells me to go to people like Jenny’s or Joy’s if I’m ever hurt or feel unsafe… And tells me stuff like-” The boy cleared his throat before putting his fists onto his hips as his posture straightened, talking in a deeper voice. “-Just because you know them, it isn’t okay if a friendly adult touches you or does something that makes you feel unsafe or bad.’ Or stuff like that… I don’t know. I haven't watched that episode in a long time.”

And there it was. Delia had to hide her frown as her suspicions were sadly true. “You haven’t watched the episode? Sweetie… is Mister Steve someone you watch on TV at night?”

The boy’s gasp and his sudden movement to cover his mouth with his hands was the final nail in the coffin for Delia. “I-I mean… Um… He… show’s me TV…” The boy stammered out with all the confidence and tone of a Whimsmurr. The look Delia was giving him caused him to frown and look back down at the water. “Don’t… don’t be mad. Please?”

“I’m not, dear,” Delia reassured the boy as she reached out to gently caress his head with a concerned frown. “I just want to know why you lied to me and Brock. You know that Brock would have helped you if you just asked him…”

“B-but that’s it!” Seth yelled up at Delia with his voice raised as his head snapped in her direction. “He had all his siblings and their stuff… and the gym to take care of. I didn’t want to make him take care of me as well!”

Delia’s heart dropped as she was, once again, reminded of the horrible situation that Brock was forced to live with for so long, as well as this child’s selflessness to rather stay alone than be one more mouth to feed in an already struggling home. “Oh, sweetie… that-”

“I know. I know.” Seth interrupted Delia with a frown as he shook his head once more. “I know that he would’ve told me to stay if I told him that I didn’t have anywhere so I just… told him the first thing that came to mind. And I always watch Goldies Oddities when I can. It makes me feel… good. Like I’m normal.”

Delia frowned in recognition. Goldies Oddities. It was a children's show about a shiny Lilipup and his trainer getting mail and using clues to solve things. She used to watch it with Ash back when he was a toddler. Though, of course, Ash was only interested in the Pokemon. “So if you didn’t go to someone's house to sleep, where did you go?” Delia asked the boy as she remained gently rubbing her fingers through his hair in a soothing motion.

“There’s a TV seller place that has a TV that’s always on near the glass and I can hear it a little. It usually has the channel that Mister Steve is on and I watch it until I feel tired. I don’t like to move until I feel super tired because watching it makes me feel safe. Then I usually just go into the alley behind the store and crawl under the dumpster. The Rattatas there are nice. I share my food with them sometimes and they cuddle me when it’s cold.”

The pit inside Delia’s chest was growing with every word. This child was homeless. They were sleeping in filth. They had nobody… and that made Delia furious. Though she made sure not to show it to this poor victim of life. “I’m… so sorry to hear that, sweetie. The dark is really scary. Do you want to talk about it anymore?”

Seth shook his head at that. “The dark isn’t that scary. It makes me feel safe kinda. I just get scared that people are watching me and being near Mister Steve makes me feel better until it’s time to sleep. Then the dark watches me while I sleep.”

That was certainly a way to cope with loneliness, Delia thought to herself. She had expected that the child would be afraid of the dark, especially after what happened to them at Mount Moon, but apparently, it was the opposite. “Well… I guess that I’ll just have to thank ‘Mister Darkness’ for watching over you while you sleep.”

The cheery giggle that escaped the child’s mouth caused Delia to smile. “No, Miss Delia! You mean ‘Miss Darkness’. The dark is a girl!”

“Oh really?” Delia questioned with a soft smile as she went back to scrubbing the child. “And what makes you so sure?”

“I dunno…” Seth muttered a little as his voice trailed off. “I just know that she’s a girl.” The boy sounded so sure of himself on the topic that Delia couldn’t help but chuckle. “And that she’s here with us, watching over everyone!”

The boy’s tone was bright and cheery but there was something about his words that caused Delia’s skin to crawl. ‘She’s here’, he said. “She… she is, huh? Well then, where is she hiding? I want to thank her in person!”

“Hiding?” Seth questioned with a tilted head before pointing past Delia. “She’s right over there!”

Delia’s head instantly whipped in the direction that he was pointing as a harsh chill enveloped her entire body. Though all that she could see was just her toilet in the corner of the room, she could almost swear that she saw something dive back into the shadows behind the toilet, where the light of the overhead light didn’t reach.

“Are… you okay, Miss Delia?” Seth’s worried tone caused Delia to break from her trance and remind herself that she needed to breathe. “Are you scared of the dark, Miss Delia?”

“N-no…” Delia answered as she slowly turned to look back at Seth before clearing her throat to regain some composure. “No, sweetie. I was just thinking about teaching you what we look like under clothes.” Delia answered as she gently booped Seth’s nose with a smile.

That caused a big gasp to escape the boy’s mouth. “Really?! You’d do that!? How??” A wide smile on his face as he wiggled around so much that some water spilled out of the tub and onto the floor.

“I should have some pictures of Ash during bath time when he was younger. And an old textbook that I had when I was pregnant with him that should have a diagram of what we look like. Just hold on, okay, sweetie?”

“Okay!” Seth declared cheerfully while smiling from ear to ear. “But be fast, okay?? I’m super DUPER excited!”

“Alright.” Delia smiled as she booped Seth’s nose again, causing him to giggle. “No putting your head underwater while I’m gone!” Delia stated while pointing at him with the same finger she used to boop him as she got up to leave the room.

“Okay! Go go!” Seth excitedly demanded Delia to hurry from the tub as Delia stepped out of the bathroom, taking one last glance at the toilet before exiting.

“Must be my imagination…” Delia mumbled to herself as she walked out the door of the bathroom, now walking with a quick pace towards her bedroom. “It’s probably nothing… I’m just stressed and worried.” Delia spoke to herself with a sigh.

“Mime?” The puzzled sound of the friendly Pokemon could be heard as Delia opened the door to her bedroom to find Mimey changing the sheets. Though he merely gave her a wave once he realized who it was. “Mister Mime!” The Pokemon greeted cheerfully.

Upon seeing her friendly and faithful Pokemon doing chores in her room, Delia gave a scoff as she placed her hands on her hips. “Mimey! I’ve told you that you don’t need to do housework in my room. We’ve gone over this before.”

The friendly Pokemon, in response, merely smiled wide with a light chuckle. “Mime mime…” The Pokemon waved her off with a friendly smile, signifying that he didn’t mind.

“Well… we’ll discuss this later, young man!” Delia glared at her Pokemon before going to her bookshelf. “I’m trying to find the books I had when I was pregnant with Ash. Do you know if they’re here or in the attic?”

The Mime Pokemon hummed as he rubbed his chin before pointing at the bookcase. “Mister!”

“Yeah… I thought so too.” Delia agreed with her Pokemon while trying to focus, yet her mind was… elsewhere. Particularly on Seth’s words about the darkness and that shadowy something that she could swear that she saw… “Say, Mimey, dear? Have you been able to sense something here in the house with us? Maybe a ghost Pokemon?”

“Mime…” Mimey hummed as he closed his eyes, causing Delia to get the tingling sensation on her skin that she had when Mimey or other psychic Pokemon expanded their senses. The duo waited in silence for a few seconds until Mimey opened his eyes again and smiled with a shake of his head.

“Mime Mime!!” The Pokemon announced while standing at attention in a salute. The house was all clear, it seemed, and Delia didn't know if that put her at ease or made this feeling in her chest get worse.

“Thank you, Mimey. Sorry if it was a strange question.” Delia apologized with a sigh. “I could swear that I… Never mind. I need to find that boo- oop?”

Delia was interrupted by Mimey placing the back of his hand against Delia’s forehead with a worried expression, causing Delia to smile and gently take the Pokemon’s hand in her own. “Mimey… I’m fine. It’s probably me just overthinking everything.”

Mimey didn’t look too satisfied with that answer. Crossing his arms and tapping his foot as he looked up at Delia with an intense expression. “Mime…”

“Really!” Delia pleaded while putting her hands on her hips and staring at Mimey with the same, intense expression that he held at her. “Well then, what do you think it is?”

At that, Mimey turned around and walked to Delia’s bedside table, lifted the picture that was resting on it, and walked back to show it to Delia. It was a picture of Delia and Ash when Ash was 5 years old and she had taken him to see a Pokemon contest that was being held in Viridian City. Delia was holding Ash up with both of them smiling wide.

“Yes, I remember this. What about it?” Delia asked as she held the picture, only for Mimey to point at it and then use his index finger and thumb to form a ‘U’, or probably he was saying ‘tiny’.

“Mime.” Mimey practically whispered while getting his fingers closer. The Pokemon then pointed to the bathroom where Seth currently was, then down below him to where Ash and Brock were. Afterward, the Pokemon then extended his arms apart like he was expecting a hug, or rather, was signaling ‘bigger’, is what Delia was guessing.

“You…” Delia trailed off while glancing back at her picture of her and Ash. “Want to add these two to the family?”

Mimey just smiled and shook his head. Only to step forward and poke his finger against Delia’s chest with a grin. “Mister Mime!”

“W-wha-?” Delia stammered as she stepped back, feeling her face get warmer with a blush. “Y-you think that I want to add them to the family?!”

“Mime! Mime!!” Mimey nodded quickly with the confident smirk that he always had when he knew he was right.

“I- Well-” Delia stammered with a gulp. “I guess Lance did mention something like that before… But it’s such a big change. And poor Seth doesn't even have things like a birth certificate. So… so…” Delia trailed off as she was quickly running out of excuses. The woman silently admitted defeat as she turned back to the bookshelf so that she could stop staring at Mimey’s smug face.

“Mimemimemime~” Mimey teased at her with a chuckle before taking the picture from Delia and placing it back in its proper place on the nightstand.

“Oh look!” Delia smiled as she reached to the bottom shelf. “Here it is! Thanks for the talk, Mimey! Byeee!~” Delia spat out quickly as she exited the room, not allowing Mimey any time to try and stop her as she slammed the door.

---

The next few minutes seemed to pass by relatively quickly. As they usually do when Delia is homeschooling. Today’s lesson: anatomy. Or at least that’s probably what this lesson could be the closest with. Teaching a child how to properly shape their body to that of a human certainly was never on the list of things that Delia thought that she would need to teach but… here they are.

“You’ve almost got it! You can do it!” Delia cheered the boy on while she sat on a stool outside the tub with the boy’s feet in her lap. “You’re almost there. Remember that there’s one big toe on each foot.”

“Hgnnn…” Seth strained as he glared at his body while squinting his eyes. “I know, I know!” The lump of the feet that were lying in her lap started to form into a more defined shape.

“You’re almost there!” Delia smiled softly at him, trying to be encouraging. How this child managed to form clothes so perfectly but struggles to make things like shoulderblades and toes will probably always puzzle her, but practice makes perfect so maybe Seth only struggles with things at first.

“There!” Seth called out with a grunt as he formed it, causing Delia to smile wide and clap her hands happily as Seth wiggled his toes in what seemed to be awe. “Haha! I did it!” Seth cheered as he jumped out of the tub, examining himself fully in the mirror as Delia stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders and a warm smile on her face.

“Such a handsome, young man.” Delia praised the naked boy with a smile. “Nice and clean, too! I knew that you could do it! I’m proud of you, sweetie.”

Delia’s praise seemed to elate the child even more as he swiftly turned to wrap Delia in a hug by her waist. “This is super cool! Thanks, Mommy!” The child laughed in excitement and broke the hug while Delia was frozen in shock by what had left the boy’s mouth.

“I’m gonna go show Ash and Brock! Bye!” The boy cheered before rushing out of the bathroom while still dripping wet with water.

Delia didn't chase after him. Her feet were rooted in the same spot as she stared wide-eyed into the mirror. “Y-you’re… welcome.” Delia staggered out long after the child had left the room. Her words seemingly broke the paralysis that she was put under.

“Mime…” A certain, smug voice called from the doorframe. Delia turned her head to see, who else, but Mimey. It seems that he was walking back to Delia’s room with the mail and had seen all of what had just transpired.

Delia simply stared into her Pokemon’s smug face for a few seconds as the child’s words repeated over and over in her ears.

Mommy.

He called her Mommy.

“Did we…” Delia paused to clear her throat and shake her head. Standing up straight, Delia took a deep breath. “Did we get any mail from the Lance or the Pokemon League?”

Mimey, in response, just shrugged as he didn’t know how to read before reaching into the pile underneath his arms and pulling out an envelope with a wax seal. A wax seal of a red dragon!

“That’s probably it.” Delia smiled as she took the envelope from Mimey while walking out of the bathroom. “Thank you, Mimey.” She added in a hurried tone as she practically ran down the hall towards the office, where the Communication Station in the house was.

“Mime!” Was all that Mimey responded with as he gave a salute to his friend, to which Delia responded with a wave as she closed the door to the office.

“Okay… number… number…” Delia muttered to herself as she opened the letter and began scanning through it quickly. “There we go!” Delia exclaimed in excitement as she found it. She was about to put it into the machine when-

“Ahhhhh!!!” She heard two voices yell out from below her, probably from the basement. “Why are you NAKED?!”

Delia couldn’t help but chuckle at that as she dialed the number to Lance’s personal phone. “Things are certainly going to get more hectic around here…” Delia smiled wide as she waited for the call to go through, unaware of the fact that the shadows behind her were warping to form a mass with six tendrils and a pair of blood red eyes that simply stared.

 

[SnowySummers]

Chapter 10
​

“Maybe things will finally begin to calm down around here?” Lance sighed as he hung up the phone with the excited mother. The man brought his hand to his face while he rubbed his temples with a slight groan, just thankful that this was done already.

“Calm?” A voice scoffed from outside the door to his office.

Before Lance could speak up to stop the incoming lecture, the door was kicked open by the tiny, old menace who was Agatha of the Elite Four. Lance’s employee, technically, yet she always made the man feel like he was back in grade school when she got on a roll with one of her lectures, as she had been doing a lot recently. “What was that about swearing to the boy that you would, and I quote: ‘Make some changes.’ or something?”

“Yes, Agatha…” Lance sighed as the headache which had just started to disappear returned with full force. “But that wasn’t what I meant and you know that.”

“Oh? Well, then what did you mean? Speak up!” Agatha demanded while slamming her cane down onto the tile floor. “And I mean that literally. I can’t seem to find one of my hearing aids this morning… blasted things always like to disappear on me…”

“I mean that I can finally get back to what I’m used to: League matters. As much as making sure that the Harrisons staying together needed to get done, taking care of things like that certainly isn’t for me.” Lance admitted while rubbing the back of his head. “I’ve got more respect for social workers now, at least… Damn.”

“Hmmm… fair enough, I suppose. However!” The little, old woman walked over and smacked her cane onto Lance’s left arm. “Don’t think that we are even halfway done. I always said that you weren’t paying enough attention to Kanto! Playing some agent or something and focusing any other attention on Johto and none of Kanto. Now look at you- having to play Ketchu- ahem! Erm… catch up. I told you this would happen.”

Lance merely groaned while rubbing his arm where the lady had hit. “Original Dragon, just bite my damned head off already and be done with it…” Lance cursed under his breath as he rolled his eyes at probably the fiftieth ‘I told you so’ from this damned lady and Bruno. And even if Lorelei wasn’t saying it, he knew that she was at least thinking it.

“What?” Agatha asked with a slow blink while staring at Lance. “I told you that you need to speak up. Hearing aid, remember.”

“I said thank you for reminding me.” Lance spat out through clenched teeth while gripping his desk tightly. “It isn’t like you've told me thirty times already.”

“Oh, don’t be a baby, boy.” Agatha rolled her eyes at her colleague. “I’ve only told you twenty-seven times already.” The woman states so ‘matter-of-factly’ while Lance had to use every fiber of his being not to slam his head into the desk so violently that his neck would break and he would finally be free of this she-gremlin who exists only to torture him.

“Could I help you with anything else, Agatha, or were you just passing by and decided to give me another lecture?” Lance sighed in defeat, knowing that he would never be rid of this woman. There wasn’t even doubt in his mind that this decrepit goblin would outlive him just out of spite and enjoyment. “Because I have some work to do. Mostly in the Kanto area so you can finally stop saying ‘I told you so’!”

“Oh, you still got at least another month of ‘I told you so’ to go before I even think about letting up on you.” The woman grinned with a sly look at Lance which made the man question if the consequences for murder were really that much worse than his current situation. “But yes, Lorelei told me to tell you that she has the reports of the recent news coverings of the Harrison debacle.”

“Ah, yes. Public opinion and the media. My two favorite things…” Lance rubbed his face with a sigh. This certainly wasn’t going to be pretty. But at least he might sway the public opinion back around to his side once the gym reforms and inspections start back up again. Changes will be happening, after all. Lance wanted to be sure that another scenario like this doesn't happen again. Both for his sake and for others such as the Harrison children. “Thank you, Agatha. Tell her that I’ll meet with her after I make some tea.”

The woman seemingly had nothing else to say as she turned and exited the room, leaving Lance in silence. “Oh! By the way!” Agatha poked her head back in with a smile. “She also wanted me to tell you: I told you so.” The lady smugly remarked before slamming the door closed.

Lance couldn’t take it anymore as he popped a blood vessel. “Oh, for the love of-” He interrupted himself as he slammed his desk with his fist so violently that all his papers flew off.

---

“And that’s pretty much it.” Lorelei finished her debrief with a sigh while sliding the clipboard onto Lance’s desk and reaching for her cup of steaming Sencha tea.

After a small pause, followed by a slight grunt, Lance would nod and take another sip of his sencha. “Not as big of a hit as I thought that it would be, at least.” Lance trailed off for a bit as he thought. “But, that may just be because we aren’t exactly as well regarded by Kanto as we would like.”

“I concur,” Lorelai stated dryly after finishing her sip. “If anything, I would guess that most Kantonians are thinking something along the lines of ‘Well, that’s expected’ or something. They truly seem to not expect much from us.”

Lanced winced at his colleague's words “Damn, Lorelei. There's no need to rub it in… I get the idea.”

“I imagine so. I only see Agatha that pleased with herself after she makes you debate if jumping off a building is the only way to get rid of her.” Lorelei shot her boss a slight smirk after she reminded him of that woman and her neverending nagging.

“I was actually thinking of murdering her this time,” Lance admitted while rifling through the various papers on his desk. “I stopped thinking about the original plan after about… ten ‘I told you so’s’, I believe?” Lance’s tone rang of uncertainty as his eyes trailed upward in thought. “Yeah. At around ten.”

“Wow, Lance the murderer. I somehow doubt that.” Lorelei teased with a slight smirk while refilling her and Lance’s cups with the teapot.

“Yeah. That feels like maybe something you’d read in a manga or something…” Lance mumbled under his breath as he finally found the folder of the Kanto Gym Leader files he was looking for. “Here we are. Do you know if these are still up to date, Lorelei?”

“Well, instead of asking me, you could just look up the files in your computer that you have sitting right beside you.” Lorelei reminded her boss with clear annoyance in her tone as she gestured to the dusty computer monitor so far on the edge of Lance’s desk that it threatened to crash to the floor.

At that, Lance went quiet and turned to look at the dusty monitor for a few seconds. “...No. Anyway-” Lance tried to get back on topic while ignoring Lorelei’s annoyed groan. “Are these up to date or not?”

“Damned country bumpkin…” Lorelei swiped the folder from Lance’s hands to begin rifling through them while grumbling.

Lance rolled his eyes at the insult. “I’m just saying. When an army of Porygon and Rotom attack our databases and steal and delete everything we have, you will thank me for having everything in physical copies.” Lance finished while leaning back in his chair and smiling smugly at her through the mountains of unorganized papers on his desk.

“And I am just saying that you sound like one of those conspiracy theorist nutjobs or that stupidly religious sect of Original Dragon worshipers over in Unova. Come on, Lance. This is the future.” Lorelei tried to plead with her boss.

Lance wasn’t having it. “Hey. Which one of us has been to Cyberspace?” Lance asked while he crossed his arms. “I’ve seen firsthand what a Porygon can do, and it’s terrifying. I have half a mind to ban the creation of that Pokemon entirely.” Lance shivers as he remembers what went on on that fateful day. “They're lucky that Professor Oak and Bill vouch for them so hard.”

“I am getting you to tell me what the hell happened in there, one day…” Lorelei sighed in defeat for the time being as she brought the topic back to the Gym Leaders. “But to answer your question: Yes. These are up to date.” Lorelei nodded as she held the folder out for Lance to take back, which he did.

At confirmation that the files in question were up to snuff, Lance nodded while rummaging through them. “Alright… So, do we have a good first target in mind?”

“Don’t say it like that!” Lorelei grimaced in discomfort while shaking her head slightly. “They aren’t your ‘targets’ or anything, Lance. Get out of Interpol mode and into Champion mode.”

“Alright, fine.” Lance sighed while rolling his eyes. “Well then, who do you think we should inspect first?”

“Any should do, to be honest. I just want us to get on this quickly. We already have the press breathing down our backs enough as it is.” Lorelei sighed as she finished before taking a sip of tea. Lance could tell when the usually immeasurably cool was stressed, and now was certainly one of those rare times.

“Hm… Agreed. Very well. If I have to choose…” Lance leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea while thinking. It only took a few seconds for the man to let out a soft chuckle.

Lorelei’s expression held a mixture of worry and amusement at her boss's sudden laugh. “Hm? What’s so funny?”

The Champion just continued to chuckle for a few more moments before leaning forward again. “I just had a thought. Since I already fired the gym leader most aspiring trainers usually face first on their League Adventure, what do you say we ‘run the circuit’ as we trainers used to say?”

“Cheeky.” Lorelei shot her boss an unamused glare for a bit, but her stature slowly shifted as she thought about it more. “But… It would come off as you stepping into the trainer's shoes. Trying to identify and connect with them. I… damnit.” She cut herself off.

“Hm? You were saying something?” Lance grinned at his colleague as he knew what was coming. “Please continue.”

With a soft scoff and an overdramatized eye-roll, Lorelei looked like she was about to throw her cup of tea onto her boss. “It’s a decent idea. Fine. There. I said it. Can we move on now?” Lorelei glared at the man while he gave a stoic, simple nod. Lance knew when to shut up. After a deep breath, Lorelei spoke in a much less tense tone. “So you want to run the circuit. That would make the Waterflower sisters of Cerulean our first stop.”

“Yes.” Lance nodded as he looked down at the file again. “Their file says that they test their challengers by using the Triple Battle technique from Unova along with their battle arena being entirely in a pool with floating platforms…” Lance hummed a bit as he rubbed his chin. “Seems a bit intense for an intended second gym, doesn’t it? If it was just one or the other, then sure. But this, to me, feels more like a sixth through eighth badge gym sort of challenge.”

“Hm…” Lorelei hummed to herself while taking the file from Lance. “Agreed. But maybe they realized that. It seems that their number of wins began to slowly decline about a year ago. Now, they barely beat any challengers.”

“Overcorrection to the extreme?” Lance questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

“That would be my guess.” Lorelei nodded to Lance while keeping her eyes trained on the paper. “Unless they're literally giving out badges, I doubt that that could be any other reason.”

“Ha! That would be funny. Seems like the opposite issue we had with Clair.” Lance chuckled at his colleague's joke. “Anyway, do you have any objections to starting there?”

“Not really. When do you want to head out?” Lorelei placed the folder back onto Lance's desk and stretched a little as it seemed like their meeting was about to be over.

“Right now,” Lance stated with a small, yet excited smile as he rose from his office chair. “Will you join me or will I have to drag Bruno along?”

Lorelei’s eyes widened at the realization that Lance was about to head out now. “Oh! Wow, I guess you are taking this seriously…” The woman blinked away her surprise and rose out of the chair just as Lance had. “And probably not. I honestly don’t look my best and it might look bad if something happens and the press gets there.”

“Hm? Nonsense, you look fine. And I doubt that it’ll be a total nightmare like the Harrison situation. We’ll have a mock battle. You’ll get to freeze the pool. Come on.” Lance tried to entice his colleague with a smile. Spending the flight with Bruno sounded boring. Lance had nothing against the guy, to be honest. Bruno could just be way too intense sometimes. And Lance would rather shove nails into his ears than spend any more time with Agatha while she was in such a gloating mood.

“Hmmm…” You do know that I like to freeze large bodies of water…” Lorelei hummed as she put her hands on her hips. “Alright, fine. But if it turns out to be a disaster and I look bad on national television, I’m changing your hair dye out.”

“You won’t have to do that terrifying and cruel thing because this will be fine, Lorelei.” Lance smiled at her as he walked to the door to his office and held it open for her. “Again, there's no way that this can go any worse than it did with the Harrisons.”

“Don’t jinx it, Dragonmaster…” Lorelei warned as she walked out of the office. Her heels clicked against the tile floors of the League headquarters very rhythmically as she walked towards the Pokemon Corral. Lance caught up to her with a light jog so that he could walk alongside her.

“I’m not going to. Trust me. I have a good feeling about this.” Lance truthfully spoke with a smile as he opened the set of double doors to the Corral, where he saw his Dragonite playing. “Besides, what’s the worst thing that can happen?”

---

So sorry it took me so long to get this out. I hate the warm months. I'm also working on a oneshot that I'm really passionate about and hope you guys will like. I'm just waiting on the cover art to get done on that and it'll practically be done.

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