Ash Ketchum: Superman Chapter 10

--

Delia watched the news reports of the attacks with growing concern, not only for Ash, but also for the events on the TV screen. Pallet Town itself was full of worried citizens, who feared their town was next. The confusion of the reporters didn’t help much, either. Professor Oak, however, being the town’s most famous citizen, did his best to keep everyone calm. But a sense of panic still permeated the town--until they heard about Superman.

The hero of Summer City was in Star City? Suddenly the people were filled with hope. Hope that maybe this attack will end. They watched as Superman lay waste to the Team Rocket army in Star City. And once they saw that news of Superman’s appearance gave hope to the soldiers in the other cities, they started to gain that sense of hope that Team Rocket will be defeated.

Delia watched the news reports closely. The anchor was talking about how some Rocket attacks had been suppressed in Chicago and Los Angeles, but there was still heavy fighting going on in other parts of the country, and Washington was on high alert for any possible attack. Witnesses described the attacks as best they could. Some talked about Superman. It comforted Delia to know that Ash was okay, since Superman was able to successfully stop the attack in Star City. But that changed when she heard her doorbell ring. “I’m coming,” she said as she got up from her chair. She walked over tot he door and opened it. But when she saw the person behind the door she instantly regretted opening it.

“Hello, Delia.”

--

The next thing Ash remembered was a feeling of light-headedness one feels after waking up from anesthesia. It was slightly disorienting and it was difficult for him to tell exactly where he was. But there was a light, so he knew he was in a room with a window, and he could he the comforter of a bed underneath him. Slowly, his vision came back and he began to see that he was in a bedroom of some kind, although he wasn’t exactly sure whose room it was.

He made a big yawn, as he was starting to wake up more, this time positioning his body so that he was sitting upright instead of laying on his stomach, which was the position he was in when he began to wake up. Slowly, he began to see where he was. He noticed a few items in the room that—

Wait, he recognized everything! He quickly realized that he was in his bedroom in Pallet Town. But what was he doing there? Then, he remembered the Wigglytuff. Somehow, he must have been transported here. He was about to get up out of bed when he heard footsteps approaching his room. Quickly, he got back into the same position he was in when he woke up and pretended to be asleep still. Using his super-hearing, he listened for the footsteps. He heard the door open to his room and a gruff voice said. “Get up!” Ash pretended to still be groggy, getting up off the bed slowly. “I said get up! Now!” Ash had to comply with the man’s orders, since it seemed as though he was threatening him. Slowly, he turned around to notice a Rocket grunt pointing an AK-47. “The Boss wants to see you. Now.” Now since the grunt most likely did not know Ash was invincible, he had to play it safe, so there was no way he was going to push his luck. The grunt gestured for Ash to leave the room. Ash got off the bed and walked past the grunt before said grunt pointed his gun at Ash’s back to make him keep walking.

“Ash!” Said his mom. The scene awaiting Ash was not one he wanted to see once he got downstairs and into the living room. The room was filled with armed Rockets, Jessie, James, Butch, Cassidy, Domino, and finally, a man wearing a tangerine business suit.

“Hello Ash,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for some time.”

“Who are you?” Ash said.

“Why, how rude,” said the man. “Although I guess I must introduce myself. I am Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket.”

So that’s Giovanni, Ash thought. No, duh. Other people were also in the room, which was not good for Ash. His mother, Misty and Brock were seated and Pikachu was in a glass container, and appeared to be sedated. Crap.

“I know of your tricks Ash,” Giovanni said. “I’ve been watching you for some time now.” That almost sounded creepy; too creepy. “I know your tricks Ash, that’s why Pikachu here is not only contained, but sedated. Also, you’ll notice that your Poke Balls are gone.” Instinctively, Ash reached for his belt and realized that he had no Poke Balls. He was essentially at Giovanni’s mercy, and not in a great position to reveal his secret.

“What do you want?” Said Ash.

“Come now, don’t get too testy,” said Giovanni. “You’re not exactly in a position to fight back, so I suggest you do what I say, and sit down.” With the Rockets pointing their guns at him, he slowly sat down on the couch, in between Misty and Delia. “Bring him in,” Giovanni said. Ash could not tell what he was talking about until he saw the front door open and Professor Oak stepped in with his arms raised and a Rocket grunt pointing a rifle to his back. Next came Tracey and Gary, who were also being held at gunpoint. This was not good. “Well then,” Giovanni said. “You have been interfering with my plans for some time now, Ash.” Oh, crap! Did he know he was Superman? As got nervous, thinking Giovanni had discovered his secret identity. “You and that Superman!” Ash had to take a sigh of relief. Giovanni did not know he was Superman.

“So what do you plan to do with me?” Ash asked.

“Oh, don’t ask that,” Giovanni said. “But don’t worry, it won’t be anything too bad.” He didn’t know whether or not Giovanni knew he was coming across as a predator. “However, I might go lenient on you.”

“Oh really?” Ash asked. “What?”

“Oh, forget it, I really want to enjoy this right now. But I’m not sure if you know this Ash, but you and I have connections,” he said. He turned to Ash’s mom and said, “Delia, would you care to explain?” Delia? Did he know Ash’s mom or something?

“I refuse to speak to you,” she said. “I refuse to be associated with a criminal like you.”

“Oh, come now Delia,” he said slyly. It wasn’t a funny sly, but a menacing one. “You can’t deny what happened in the past, so admit it!”

“Mrs. Ketchum, what’s he talking about?” Misty asked. She only moved a little bit, but a Rocket grunt held her down by grabbing onto her shoulders.

“Now now, don’t get too hasty little girl,” said Jessie. “Let the Boss speak and wait your turn.”

“Thank you Jessie,” Giovanni said. He turned to Delia again and said, “Remember, when we were at UCLA? When he had Professor Oak as our professor?”

“Um, mom?” Ash asked. “What does he mean?”

“He was just a classmate of mine, Ash,” she said. “I didn’t really know him and I never talked to him.”

“Really Delia, if you’re going to lie, then do a better job,” Giovanni said in mock offense.

“Mom, he knows you by name,” Ash said. “What’s he talking about?”

“Yes, Delia, what am I talking about?” Giovanni asked. “Or, if you don’t want to answer, then I’ll ask Professor Oak. Professor?”

“The only thing I’ll say is that though you were one of my bests students, your megalomania began to manifest early. That’s all I will say,” Professor Oak said.

“My, Professor Oak, that wasn’t very nice,” Giovanni said. “Well, Delia?”

“Mom?”

“He tired to ask me out once,” she said. “I turned him down because he had a reputation—“

“Delia, stop beating around the bush and answer him!” Giovanni yelled.

“Talk to the Boss now!” Jessie yelled, making a move towards Delia. It was a bad move and Ash got up from his seat to stop her, but the Rocket grunts grabbed him. Now he could have easily overpowered them, but the situation didn’t call for that.

“Jessie, I specifically ordered you not to touch or harm the hostages,” Giovanni said.

“My apologies, Boss Giovanni,” said Jessie, backing off from Delia. Giovanni gestured to the Rocket grunts and they let go of Ash, who sat back down on the couch.

“Now the, where were we,” Giovanni said. “Oh yes, Delia, tell them the truth about us!”

Delia looked at everyone in the room. She deduced she had no other choice, since Giovanni could easily order them to be killed if she stalled any further. She took a deep breath and said, “Alright, I’ll tell.”

“Good then,” Giovanni said. “Delia, tell them.”

“Giovanni and I used to date in college,” said Delia. The rest of the room, save for the Rocket members and Professor oak were in total shock, as they had no idea about this. “But we broke up after only two months.”

“Now what did I say about lying, Delia?” Giovanni asked. “You’re dragging this out too long. But since you got this started, then I guess I’ll continue it and tell the truth. We did date in college, true. But we started in our first year and ended in our second year. When Delia left school. Or was it our third year?”

“Mom, you dropped out of college?” Ash asked.

“That’s not the most shocking thing about this story Ash,” said Delia.

“Well, now, let’s move on,” Giovanni said.

--

Flashback

UCLA campus, 17 years ago

A young Delia Ketchum, age 19, hurried to her next class, Pokemon Biology. She was already late, since she woke up with about 20 minutes to go until class started. She was forced to rush through her morning rituals, which included a shower and breakfast, but that had to be postponed until later today. She bumped into a few people along the way, apologizing as she did. She really had to hurry, as there was only two minutes left until calls started. “Oh, Professor Oak will kill me if I’m late again!” She said to herself. She finally reached the classroom building where the class was held. One minute to go! She had to pick up the pace in order to get there in time. With 30 seconds left, she found herself in the hallway where the room was. Fifteen seconds! She found the door where it was and opened it—

“Ms. Ketchum,” said Prof. Oak. “I’m glad you could join us, but I would appreciate it if you were less than 2 minutes late!” Delia was panting hard, having just ran from her dorm to the room.

“I’m sorry Professor, my alarm—“

“I don’t take excuses for being late, Ms. Ketchum,” said Prof. Oak. “Now please, take your seat. Now then, despite this little intrusion, what do you say we get started?”

Why did my alarm clock have to choose today to stop working? Delia thought to herself. What was even worse was the nasty vomiting she had been dealing with for the past 3 days. She felt that she’d have to go to the doctor at some point in order to find out what exactly was going on. What was worse, she was late with her period. If what she suspected turned out to be the case… oh, dear. She didn’t want to think about it, but if it did turn out to be the worst-case scenario, then she’d be in a lot of trouble.

--

“Oh, what’s wrong with me?” She said to no one in particular after leaving the class. Professor Oak had given her a firm yet calm tongue lashing that excuses were for politicians going through a sex scandal. I’m not really sure how that analogy relates my problems though, she thought. But her problems were getting to her. She had been dealing with nasty morning sickness and she was suddenly getting a bigger appetite. While she didn’t want to rule it out, she knew of the possibility that she was... oh, dear.

“Delia!” Came a voice from behind her. She turned around to see her classmate, Spencer Hale.

“Oh, hello Spencer,” she said.

“Delia, why were you late today?” He asked.

“My alarm clock didn’t work today,” she said. “I woke up 20 minutes before class started.”

“That must be bad,” he said. “But you don’t look so good, either.”

“I think something’s wrong with me,” she said. “I’ve been having morning sickness lately.”

“Oh,” he said with concern on his voice. “Do you think…”

“I’m not sure right now,” she said. “But I really don’t want that to be the case.”

“Jeez, maybe you should tell your boyfriend—what’s his name?”

“Giovanni.”

“Maybe you should tell Giovanni what’s going on,” Spencer said.

“I guess I should,” she said. “Hopefully, he’ll understand.”

--

Later that night, Delia and her roommate Lola were studying in their dorm room when they heard a knock on their door. “Who is it?” Lola asked.

“It’s me, Giovanni, let me in,” came the voice from behind the door. Lola, with Delia’s permission opened the door for Giovanni. “Hello Delia,” he said as he entered.

“Hi Giovanni,” she said in response. It was a half-assed response, one that caught Giovanni was surprised by.

“You seemed stressed Delia, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“Giovanni, promise me you won’t get mad if I tell you this,” she said. “And close the door, I don’t want anyone else besides Lola to hear this.” Giovanni did as he was asked and closed the door behind him.

“Well, what is it? And I won’t get mad,” he said.

“I’m not sure, but I might be… I really don’t want to say this,”

“Come on Delia, what is it?” Lola asked.

“Giovanni, I might be pregnant.” She said. The look on her boyfriend’s face was one of shock and completely blank thoughts.

“What…?” He asked after maybe a whole minute of silence.

“I’ve been having morning sickness and an increasing appetite for the past 3 days,” said Delia. “I’m not sure if I am, but I’ll need to be sure.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to be supportive,” he said. “I’ll do what I can, babe.” He went over to her and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

“Thanks, Giovanni,” she said.

--

A week later, Delia brought a pregnancy test with her from Walgreen’s. With Lola helping her she took the test. And to her dismay, it came up positive. But because of the possibility of error, she went to the doctor on campus. And once again, the test results came up positive. Delia’s worst fears had come true. She was pregnant. Her mom and dad were furious, saying that she should have been much more careful when having sex with Giovanni. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about.

But for most of her pregnancy, she and Giovanni remained close, with Giovanni actually proposing to her when she was 4 months pregnant. She said yes. But the engagement would not last. Although he was mostly kind to her, Giovanni had a dark side that Delia did not see. But Spencer did.

“Quit lying to her,” Spencer said to Giovanni one day. “I know you’re not as kind as you let on.”

“Why Spencer, what do you mean?” Giovanni asked.

“I read your notes,” Spencer said. “You talked about world domination. I’m up to your plans, Giovanni. Once I notify the FBI, you won’t get to lead this ‘Team Rocket’ you talk about.”

“You won’t get anything from that,” Giovanni said in response. “The FBI will think you’re crazy and won’t even pursue the manner. Besides, you wouldn’t want to end your research on the Unown, do you?”

“What do you mean by that?” Spencer asked with venom in his voice.

“Let’s just say that journal does not exist anymore,” Giovanni said.

Dammit! Spencer thought. I didn’t go to the authorities fast enough!

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Giovanni said. “I have a date with my fiancé.”

--

But Spencer was not going to give up anytime soon. Sometime later, Spencer decided to tell Delia the truth about Giovanni. If only she would believe him.

“Oh, hello Spencer,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“Delia, it’s about Giovanni,” he said with concern on his voice. “There’s something about him that you should know.”

“What is it?” She asked.

“A while ago, I saw some writings in his notebook,” he said. “I noticed that he was writing about this group called ‘Team Rocket’ and world domination. Delia, I think your fiancé’s a potential terrorist!”

“What?” Delia said. “Why are you saying that about Giovanni?”

“Because it’s the truth, Delia!” Spencer said. “Please! Believe me!”

“I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Delia said. “He’s always been so good to me!”

Does he have some sort of hold on her? Spencer thought. Hell he decided to say it out loud. “Why won’t you listen? Does he have some kind of hold over you?” He asked while grabbing her arms.

“Spencer, please! Let go of me!” Delia cried. Spencer was shocked, and then realized that he was squeezing Delia so hard that he must have been hurting her.

“Delia, I’m sorry,” he said. “I just don’t think Giovanni is a good person. I think he might be a megalomaniacal terrorist!”

“Well I think he’s a good man Spencer,” she said. “I’m sorry you have to feel that way about him.” With that, she turned around and walked away, leaving Spencer behind.

“Delia, please believe me.”

--

Little did Spencer know though, Delia would eventually see that he was telling the truth. It happened during her 8^th month of pregnancy. That day, Delia and Giovanni were in her dorm room at UCLA. Like I said, Delia was 8 months pregnant, so her stomach would have been looked pretty swelled. “What should we name the baby?” Giovanni asked.

“I like Ash,” she replied.

“Ash?”

“Well, for short,” she replied. “If it’s a girl, we call her Ashley, if it’s a boy, we call him Ashton.”

“Both are fine names,” he said. “They’ll sound even better when they’re ruling the world,” he said under his breath. But Delia heard something.

“Um, what?” She said.

“Oh, I didn’t say anything,” he said quickly, to cover up his statement.

“No, I certainly heard you say something, something about ruling the—oh, no.”

“What is it, Delia?” Giovanni asked.

“Oh, no, you said ‘ruling the world,” she said. Now she was starting to catch on. “Oh no! I think Spencer was right!”

“Right about what?” Giovanni asked. His face was getting much firmer, and his dark side was starting to manifest itself.

“He said you might be a megalomaniacal terrorist!” She said. “I think he might be right!”

“Really?” Giovanni said. “He said that?”

“Please tell me he’s wrong, Giovanni,” she said. “Please tell me you’re a kind person.”

“He’s not wrong,” Giovanni said. “One day, I will rule the world!” Delia’s face changed from one of worry to absolute shock.

“No, Giovanni, no! I don’t want this!”

“You don’t want this?” Giovanni said with pure malice on his voice. “How could you not want it? How could you not want to be married to the future ruler of the world!”

“Spencer was right, you are a terrorist! No, you’re a monster!”

“You’ll take that back,” Giovanni said. “Or I will make you pay!”

“Never!” She said. “I don’t want this Giovanni! We’re through! And I’m going home to Pallet!”

“No, you’re not!” Giovanni yelled. He lunged at her and grabbed her. Delia, meanwhile, screamed at the top of her lungs to get anybody’s attention.

“Help me! Somebody, he’s trying to hurt me!”

“Silence!” Giovanni said. “No one will save you!” Except he was wrong about that. At that moment, Spencer and Lola burst into the room and grabbed Giovanni and pulled him off Delia. Spencer then punched Giovanni and shoved him against the wall of the room while Lola rushed over to help Delia.

“Delia, are you okay?” She asked.

“He’s a monster!” She said. “Spencer, you were right, he is a terrorist!”

“She’s on to you Giovanni!” Spencer said. “Leave, now!” Giovanni looked at Spencer with a purely venomous look before turning around and leaving. Then Spencer went to comfort Delia, who had started crying.

“Spencer, I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have listened to you. Please forgive me!”

“I do, Delia,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

End flashback

--

“You bastard, you threatened my mom!?” Ash yelled once the story was finished. But at that point, Giovanni pulled a pistol on him and pointed it at him.

“I suggest you calm down Ash,” Giovanni said. “You’re not exactly in a position to threaten me.”

“She was right to deny your relationship!” Said Misty. “You are a monster!”

“Now now, don’t get testy with me, young lady!” Giovanni said. “You’re not in a good position, either.”

“Whatever you’re up to,” Brock said. “Superman will stop you!”

“Oh really? Superman?” Giovanni asked. “That fiend has been interfering with my plans for some time now! I would love to see him dead! And so have you, Ash,” he said as he turned to Ash. “Your meddling has caused me a few headaches.”

“Yeah, I’m glad I have,” he said. “My mom was right to leave you!”

“Now, now, don’t get too hostile,” Giovanni said smugly. “You may not know this, but Superman can’t help you or this country.”

“What?” Brock said.

“What do you mean?” Asked Misty.

“As of this moment, Team Rocket military units are prepared to march on Washington, DC, London, Paris and Moscow!” Giovanni said. “Those fools in al-Qaeda are mere cavemen compared to us, and we will show them our power! We are now in position to take over the world!”

“No!” Cried Misty. Giovanni, however, pointed his gun at her, which made her sit down again.

“Now then Ash,” Giovanni said. “I have a proposition for you. There’s a very good chance your friends and family and possibly you will be enslaved or killed when we take over the world. However, you can avoid that.”

“What are you talking about, Giovanni?” Ash said.

“If you agree to join me, then I shall give you a high position in Team Rocket… son.” The eyes of the rest of the people in the room, save for Delia and Professor Oak, widened in complete shock at Giovanni’s statement.

“Son?” Brock asked. “Ash, is he your father?”

“No way!” Ash said. “He’s not my father, nor will I join him!”

“You don’t have much of a choice, Ash!” Giovanni said. “I know you’re my son. When I first heard about you, I realized that you were Delia’s son. After our little spat, she left UCLA and returned here. I deduced she must have given birth after that, and since you were a year old when I hear she first started talking about you, I realized that you are my son.”

“Even if you were my father, there’s still no way I’d join you!” Ash said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop you!”

“Ah, so rash,” said Giovanni. “I’m not sure whether that comes from your mother or me.”

“I still won’t join you!” Ash said.

“You’re foolish to pass this up Ash,” Giovanni said. “You’re not in any position to argue with me at all.” He pointed his gun at Misty.

“I won’t join you,” Ash said firmly.

“You will join me or I will end your friend’s life here and now!” Giovanni said. Misty looked down the barrel of Giovanni’s gun in sheer terror. It reminded her of the time the Rocket grunt threatened her in Summer City during that heist. Even though it was also the time she first met Superman, the reminder of that nearly traumatizing experience frightened her. But what really scared her were the words Ash said.

“I. Said. No.” Brock, Misty, Tracey and Gary looked at Ash in a completely shocked way. What was he thinking?

“Well, then,” Giovanni said. “Then I guess you don’t care about your friend!” At that moment, he fired his pistol at Misty. Misty’s face contorted in absolute terror. Brock tried to get up from his seat to help, but a Rocket grunt held him down, which kept him from moving. The same with Gary and Tracey, who were held back by two Rocket grunts. That only left Ash. Acting quickly, Ash got up from his seat and tried to get in front of Misty. Then, the look on his face contorted in pain and the room was filled with his painful scream before he dropped to the floor. The room was silent. Misty, Brock, Gary and Tracey looked on in horror at Ash’s motionless body.

“No, no, no,” Misty said, her voice shaking in terror. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The only sound in the room was her blood-curdling scream of emotional agony. She tried to get to Ash, but the Rocket grunt held in place. Tears flowed down her face as she looked at Giovanni with a mixture of sadness, pure anger and absolute hatred. "You monster! You fucking monster!"

“Don’t take that attitude with me, young lady!” Giovanni said. He turned to Delia and—to his surprise, Delia and Professor Oak were perfectly calm, which surprised all of them.

“Ms. Ketchum?” Misty asked.

“Giovanni, I should probably tell you what happened after I left UCLA,” she said. “A month after we broke up, I gave birth. But to my horror, the doctors told me that the child was a stillborn. They had no explanation why. After that, I got my own house, this one and lived alone for nearly a year. And then, something happened that changed my life.”

“Ms. Ketchum what are you talking about?” Brock asked.

“You mean,” Giovanni said, coming into realization.

“Giovanni, Ash is not your son,” the rest of the room gasped in response, save for Professor Oak.

“What do you mean? Then whose is it?”

“I’ll tell you,” Delia said. “It happened when I was 21 years old.”

--

Flashback

14 years ago

It was a lovely day out. It was probably close to 75 degrees outside, and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect day for a walk. And that’s just what 21-year-old Delia Ketchum was doing right now. After her baby was delivered stillborn, she suffered terrible emotional grief, something no one should have to go through. Because of that, she became something of a recluse after her baby’s death. The doctors said it was a boy, and had it lived, she would have named him Ashton. But with the help of a therapist, her old professor at UCLA, Professor Samuel Oak, and old classmates Spencer Hale and Lola, she had begun to recover somewhat. And taking daily walks was part of that therapy. But she did not know that this walk would not only change her destiny, but the destiny of the whole world.

While she walked, she timed herself to see how long she could be outside for and feel comfortable. She checked her watch and noticed that she had been walking for 15 minutes. A pretty good time, if she said so herself. Suddenly she heard a loud noise coming from the sky. “Now what could that be?” She asked to no one in particular. She looked up and to her surprise, noticed a good-sized fireball careening from the sky and right towards her. Instantly, she hit the ground and covered her head while the object sped past her and crash-landed some good distance from her. “What was that!” She said. Quickly, she got up from the ground and ran over to the crash scene to investigate.

As she got to the crash scene, she noticed that there was a long trail that the mystery object clearly left. And there were also no fires, which surprised her. But what was even more surprising was the object itself. It didn’t look like a meteorite. I looked like. Like. “Is that a rocket?” She said as she ran over to it. Certainly, once she got a closer look at it, it did indeed look like a rocket. And on the side of the rocket, she noticed strange-looking marks that looked like hieroglyphs on it. Clearly, this thing was manufactured! She put her hand to her mouth. Actual evidence of life in outer space! Once the media heard of this—but her plans ended when she heard sounds coming from the rocket. It sounded like…

“Is that a baby crying?” she asked to herself. She went over to what looked like the window, or whatever it was called, and tried to look inside, but to no avail. If only she knew how this thing work! She felt all around the rocket, looking for anything to open it with, before finally finding what felt like a button. Since this was most likely what opened it, she pressed the button. There was a hiss, and the windshield, or whatever it was, opened up to reveal—

“It is a baby!” She said. Sure enough, there was a baby inside, and it looked to be about a year old. And it was crying its eyes out. Obviously it had just woken up. Something clicked in Delia, most likely her maternal instincts. Poor thing, it doesn’t have its mom with him, she thought. She reached in and picked up the baby, which was wrapped in a red blanket. “There, there,” she said. “You don’t have to cry anymore.” As she held the baby, it began to calm down, especially once it looked at her. Delia smiled, as this baby was melting her heart right then and there. “Since you’re here all by yourself,” she said. “I guess I’ll be your mama.”

End flashback

--

“Ms. Ketchum?” Misty asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t fool around with me, Delia!” Giovanni said as he pointed his gun at her. “Who’s the baby you found?”

“The baby’s name was Kal-El. He was born on the planet Krypton in a far-away galaxy. We found this out through data disks and the hieroglyphs on the side of his spaceship,” she said.

“Quit beating around the bush, Delia!” Giovanni yelled. “Who is he!?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Delia asked.

“Mrs. Ketchum what--,” Brock’s question was cut off when suddenly, Ash began to stir on the floor. The looks on everybody’s faces changed to pure shock—with the exception of Delia and Prof. Oak—when Ash began to rise. Giovanni looked on in fear as Ash stood up and looked at him in a very dramatic way.

(Soundtrack: Daaa, da na na naaaah, daah daa naaah, daaah, da na na naaaa, DUN-da-na!)

“I am,” Ash said as he faced Giovanni with the most firm look imaginable. The faces of Brock, Misty, Gray, Tracey, and just about everybody else besides Delia and Prof. Oak were in complete shock. Jessie and James quivered, holding on to each other and whimpering in fear/surprise. Wasn’t he dead!? Or at least just shot!?

“I… thought… he… was… dead!” Jessie said, her voice shaking.

“His real name may be Kal-El, but everybody else knows him by another name,” Delia said. “Superman.” The whole room gasped in shock, at the revelation of Ash’s true nature.

“But… that’s impossible!” Giovanni said. Jessie and James were till holding each other and shaking in fear, and the rest of the Rocket soldiers were shaking, too.

That’s when Ash held out his hand and opened it—revealing the bullet Giovanni fired at Misty. It was spent, and Ash dropped it to the floor. “He caught it!?” Brock said in complete shock.

“Ash, I’m sorry I had to reveal it to them,” Delia said.

“That’s okay mom,” Ash said. “Misty, are you alright?”

“Um, yes,” She said. She had no idea that the person she got into so many fights with and the man who saved her life were the same person!

Ash gave her a small smile, and said, “That’s good. Although I guess this explains why I’ve been acting different.”

“You’re Superman!?” Giovanni said in fear.

“I suggest you put the gun down Giovanni,” Ash said.

“No!!!” Giovanni yelled as he fired his gun at Ash. But like so many times, the bullets just bounced off Ash like nothing.

Ash simply shook his head in annoyance and said, “Why must they always do this?” Giovanni continued to fire until his gun started clicking, indicating that he was out of bullets. Ash then reached for Giovanni’s gun and stripped it out of his hands. Then, he squeezed the gun and crushed it like a paper cup into a ball shape. Then he dropped it to the ground. A quick look at the other Rockets in the room made them practically piss their pants. “I suggest you all leave. Now.”

“Um, Boss, I suggest we do what he says!” Said Jessie. Giovanni did not like the situation, and it clearly showed on his face. But with the person he thought was his son staring him down, and giving him a Look, he had no other choice.

“Retreat,” he said. “We’ll retreat back to base on the Rocket jet. You haven’t seen the last of me!” The Rockets departed the house with their tails between their legs. About a minute later, the sounds of a jet could be heard, and Gary looked out the window just in time to see the jet take off, no doubt bound for Team Rocket’s base.

“Aren’t you going to go after them?” Gary asked. “They could escape easily!”

“I’m going to give them a head start,” said Ash. “And I suppose I owe each of you an explanation.”

“Of course you do, Mr. Ketchum!” Misty yelled. She had gone from beyond grief to angry in a matter of minutes, apparently. “Why didn’t you tell us you were Superman!?”

“Don’t you read comic books?” Ash said. “I can’t reveal my identity to anyone, otherwise my enemies would exploit that and go after you!”

“He’s got a point Misty,” Tracey said.

“Then I guess you have to explain for playing dead and nearly causing me a shit load of grief!” She yelled as she slapped him. She didn’t know why, she just did. Of course, Ash didn’t flinch one bit.

“That didn’t exactly hurt,” he said. “Although I suppose I deserved that.”

“Of course you did!” She yelled at him. “I thought you were…” Her voice began to quiver, which confused him even more. Then, without warning, she threw her arms around his neck and began crying her eyes out. “You bastard! I thought you were dead!” She said in between sobs. To comfort her, Ash wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug, which comforted her more.

“I’m sorry I worried you,” he said softly. “I just saw Giovanni shoot, and I guess I just panicked.”

“I didn’t expect a superhero to panic,” though she said. She felt the same warmth she felt when she first had her flight with Superman—er, Ash—and during her kiss with him. Now that she knew who he was, she still couldn’t believe that the cocky, hot-blooded and sometimes cowardly Ash Ketchum would be the one who saved her and other people’s lives.

“I hate to interrupt your romantic moment,” said Gary. “But shouldn’t you be going after Giovanni, Ash?”

“You’re right,” Ash replied. “I’ve given him enough of a head start. Given the technology he has access to, it’s most likely he’s gotten to the Tram Rocket base by now.”

“Do you know where it is, though?” Tracey asked.

“Most likely,” he said. “I can probably use my hearing to lock in on his location.”

“Then get going,” said Brock. “We’ll get Pikachu out of that case, you worry about Giovanni.”

“Alright then,” said Ash. He turned to Misty again and said, “I have to go now, okay? I have my duty to fulfill.”

“Do what you must,” said Misty. “I won’t stop you, this is your fight.”

“Thank you Misty,” he said. He let go of her and walked to the door. Tracey, Prof. Oak and Gary made a path for him while Brock freed Pikachu from his confinement. Neither of them said a word as Ash walked out the door and into the front yard. He stood there for a moment, taking a deep breath and preparing to lift off. But then he heard a voice from the doorframe.

“Ash!” He turned around to see who it was. It was Misty. “Promise me and everybody that you’ll come back alive, okay? I know this might not be the way I normally act, but we all want you to come back alive. I’m not sure if we could live without you.” Ash smiled in response. Then, he walked back to the doorframe where Misty was. Then, to her amazement, he removed his ball cap and handed it to her. Because she knew how much it meant to him, to give her his hat must have meant she was very special to him. “Ash, I—“ She said, but she was cut off when Ash placed his lips upon hers. She was surprised at first, but she sank into the kiss and enjoyed it as much as she could before her broke it off.

“I will be back, Misty,” he said with a confident smile. “I promise.” And with that, he took off right from the stoop in front of his house and flew into the air. Misty stood there, and watched as he turned into Superman before accelerating. As she stood there, she was filled with a sense of hope and optimism that he could stop Giovanni and save the world.

I believe in you, Superman. No, I believe in you, Ash.

--

End chapter

YES!!! You have no frickin’ idea how long I have been planning that scene where Ahs reveals himself. For three fucking YEARS!!! I have been planning that for three years! And I knew that I wanted the soundtrack as part of that! At least use the ‘Superman’ fanfare for that scene.