Disclaimer: We do not own anything to do with Pokemon. We just like writing.
This Final Goodbye….
By: Shadow Pikachu and Shadow Squirtle
Ash sat on a small hill in Sinnoh, staring up at the night sky. It had been nearly eleven years since he had left Pallet Town in Kanto to achieve his dream of pokemon master. He had met so many great friends, even greater pokemon, and the weirdest rivals. Sighing, he look over his shoulder to his camp. There were his current traveling friends. Brock Slate and Dawn…something. Never could remember her last name. Ash could feel a sudden weight upon his chest. Most nights, he sat by the fire with them telling stories and laughing, just as they were right then. But tonight…tonight was different.
Slowly, Ash made his way back to the camp. Pikachu looked up at him from beside Brock and it’s face paled. It knew something was about to happen.
“Hey Ash!” Brock exclaimed happily, “Where ya been?”
“Just looking at the sky,” Ash sighed sitting down.
Instantly, Brock was tuned into Ash’s face. The only time Ash ever took time to look at the sky was when something was terribly wrong.
“Well, why were you doing that?” Dawn asked, still oblivious.
“I needed to…think…about something,” Ash said, sorrowfully.
“About what?” Brock and Dawn asked.
“About this journey of mine,” Ash stated, looking away.
Finally, everyone at camp was silent. Even the pokemon.
“What I’m about to do…trust me, I’ve really had to think about it,” Ash sighed.
“About what?” Brock asked again.
Ash was silent for a moment and then said, “I think it’s time that my journey comes to an end.”
“WHAT?!?!?” both of his friends snapped.
“Listen, I’m one of the strongest trainers in the world. I’ve been given so many offers for jobs because of it. I’ve always turn them down because I wanted to get stronger. But there comes a time that you reach a limit. I’ve reached mine so many times but over come then,” Ash started to explain.
“Then why can’t you do it again?!” Brock snapped at the young man.
“That’s just it. It’s something that I can’t overcome. That’s why I left on my journey so long ago. I thought that if I did, then I could really become the best in the world. That I could be myself for the rest of my life,” Ash paused and started to walk to the hill, “but that was my foolish mistake. After all of these years, I’ve realized that I picked the wrong path.”
Ash looked back at his friends, his eyes starting to fill with tears as he looked at them in hopes that they’d understand.
“I don’t regret my journey. I really don’t. It just turned out not to be the way to go for me….I really loved meeting all of my pokemon and all of my friends. For those reasons, I don’t want to stop. It hurts me so much.”
“Then don’t stop! Keep doing what you love!” Dawn cried.
“I can’t. This is something that I can’t deny. I’ll travel with you guys to the next town and that’s where we’ll part. You to the next town and contest and me back to Pallet town. Maybe with luck I can still take Scott up on his offer,” Ash said, turning his back to his friends.
“Ash!” Dawn snapped.
He didn’t turn around. Dawn was about to smack him when she saw Brock stand up. Slowly, the oldest of the three made his way to Ash. Brock placed a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Is this really what you think is best? Are you going to release all of your pokemon or just keep them to train for something that will never come?” Brock questioned.
“T-Train them…” Ash stuttered, trying his hardest not to cry.
“…Good…” Brock smiled.
Pikachu jumped onto his trainer’s shoulder and rubbed its cheek against his. At that time both trainer and pokemon broke down to cry silently together. Dawn and her pokemon just stared at Ash. He looked so fragile but yet he was still trying to stand tall. Slowly, her own tears started to trickle down her face. It wasn’t long before everything in camp was crying.
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