Chapter 17

“Dad?” Ash asked, completely bewildered. Mark’s sudden fierce embrace of his 
son, not only wept a stunned boy off of his feet, but also took away his 
breath too. Ash was crushed to Mark so hard that his ribs hurt.

‘What?’ Ash felt his father shaking and wondered what was wrong. Ash 
realized that his father was crying.

“Ash!” Delilah came out of nowhere and threw herself as Ash, nearly bowling 
the two males over. If Ash didn’t have enough trouble breathing before, he 
certainly did now. Misty and Brock were clueless as to what was happening. 
Ash was smothered between his two parents, struggling to get out.

“Help!” Ash finally yelled. Their son’s yelp made both parents come out of 
their protective mode. When Mark and Delilah realized that they were 
hugging, they both stopped for a moment. The pair looked into the other’s 
teary eyes and felt long buried emotions begin to surface.

‘Huh?’ Ash felt both parents tense. Ash looked up to see his parents staring 
deeply into each other’s eyes. Ash looked at his mom, then his dad, back to 
his mom and finally at his dad again, trying to figure out a secret. There 
was a sudden squirming in Ash’s backpack

“Pika!” Ash heard a muffled warning growl from Pikachu and paled.

“Pikachu! Don’t!” Ash pleaded. Ash’s request fell on deaf ears. Both parents 
look down at Ash, not comprehending the situation

“Pika-CHUU!” A massive Thunderbolt attack emitted from Ash’s bag, zapping 
the other two pokemon in his pack, Ash and both his parents. There was a 
cough from Mark and a groan from Delilah. Misty and Brock sweat dropped, 
Togepi gurgled.

“Ash, you’re going to have to do something about that Pikachu of yours,” 
Mark moaned. Pikachu’s head popped out of the bag’ there was a barley 
audible crunch and Pikachu jumped three feet above the smoking trio.

“PI-KA!” Pikachu landed on the grass and began to blow on his tail. Misty 
looked down at Pikachu and saw a red area.

“What happened to your tail Pikachu?” Misty asked. Ash sweat dropped. Ash 
was saved by a very unlikely savior.

“Where is that Ketchum kid?!?” yelled an all too familiar voice. Ash 
recognized Ceris’ voice and moaned; Ceris was looking for a fight. To Ash’s 
left the Cherry Canyon Cadets filed out of the bushes. Ceris was leading 
them. “Ah ha! There you are!” Ceris cried when he spotted Ash.

“What do you want now Ceris?” Ash asked. Ceris looked at Ash smugly and 
whipped out his cuffs.

“Cadet Rule #17: No Cadet shall engage in battle with other pokemon he/she 
had raised while on duty. I am placing you under arrest Ketchum!” Ash didn’t 
even blink and eye. “You messed up this time Ashura.”

“Cadet Rule #7: Cadets have the right to defend themselves as the deem 
necessary if confronted with a dangerous situation.” Ash spat back. “Don’t 
try regulations on me!” Ceris became red in the face.

“Cadet Rule#4: Cadets will not battle if it places the public at risk,” 
Ceris barked.

“Cadet Rule #2: A Cadet’s duty is to protect the public as they see fit if 
an Officer of the Law is not present. I did nothing wrong Ceris and you know 
it!” Ceris took a threatening step forward and Pikachu growled.

“Pii…” Ash heard the growl and so did Ceris. Ceris stopped advancing and 
looked at the pokemon, assuming a fighting stance.

“If that rat attacks me, I’ll book it in the nearest pokemon pound for 
assaulting an Officer,” Ceris growled.

“You’re not an Officer yet!” Ash snapped. Ceris looked back at Ash now. “If 
you continue this grudge against me, you might never become on either. 
Officer Jenny wants you to uphold the law, not use your position for 
personal gain.” If Ceris was furious before, he was livid now.

“How dare you! You accuse me of using my position for personal gain! You are 
the one abusing power around here!” Ceris snipped back. Ash was now out of 
his parent’s grip, arguing with a boy Brock and Misty had never seen before.

“How?” Ash demanded. “Tell me how am I abusing my position? I’m just a Cadet 
and a working boy. When do I have time to abuse anything?”

“Wrong!” Ceris yelled, making everyone save Ash jump. “You’re not ‘just a 
Cadet’; you’re the Cadet freek`n Champion! You’re not ‘just a working boy’! 
Men, do you here me? Grown MEN have worked for Bruce and never even came 
close to being his second!”

“So?” Ash simply asked. “What does that have to do with anything?” Ceris 
blew.

“So? So! It has to do with everything! You waltz into town three months ago 
and you change everything! Everything is now ‘Ash’ this or ‘Ash’ that. You 
know what? I’M SICK OF IT!” Ceris gave Ash another threatening step.

“Pikaaaa!” Pikachu warned, again making Ceris stop.

“That’s another thing! You think you’re so hot because you have you own 
little world outside this place. You flaunt your friends like they were 
trophies. That stupid pokemon of yours is always outside its pokeball! You 
have all the girls inside Cherry Canyon drooling and you don’t care! You’re 
always the hero and I can’t hate you because- because you don’t gloat or- or 
show off or-.” Ash’s eyes went wide.

“What did you say?” Ash asked, interrupting Ceris. Ceris froze on the spot. 
Ash finally noticed the crowd from the beach was surrounding them in a 
circle, listening to the fight. Ceris finally realized what he had said and 
turned away.

”Damn you Ketchum!” Ceris ran between the crowd of shocked faces and 
disappeared into the brush. Ash stared at where he left for a moment and 
swallowed.

“Nick?” Ash asked with a dry voice. Nick was among the group, watching.

“Yes, Little A?” Nick asked timidly.

“I think it would be wise for you to go after Ceris. Make sure he doesn’t 
get himself hurt or into trouble.” Nick nodded and scampered off after 
Ceris. Misty then walked up to Ash and put a hand on his shoulder, turning 
him around.

“Ash, where is Team Rocket?” Misty asked seriously. Ash sweat dropped and 
sighed, this wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Um…well…” Ash started to say. Misty watched Ash put a nervous hand behind 
his neck and she inwardly groaned.

“What did you do this time, Ketchum?” Misty asked. Ash was about to say 
something when his father suddenly loomed over him with thunder crackling 
behind his head.

“Yes son, would you mind explaining where Team Rocket is, right now!” Ash 
formed a gigantic sweat drop on his head and backed off.

“I’m…wh…er…you see…” Ash trailed off. Mark crossed his arms, waiting for an 
answer. Pikachu decided to help Ash out.

“Pika! Pika-chu-pi!” Pikachu got everyone’s attention by yelling. 
“Pikapi-pikachu-pi, pi-pikachu-pi.” Pikachu pointed at Ash and himself.

“Ash, do you know what Pikachu is saying?” asked Brock. Misty intervened.

“I think Pikachu’s trying to tell us what happened,” Misty said.

“Looks more like a game of charades to me,” Delilah giggled. Pikachu was 
running around in a circle when he pretended to bump into something.

“Pikapi.” Pikachu pointed at Ash. “Pika-chu-pi. Pika-pi-chu.” Pikachu made 
Brock’s lovely-dovey, girl-swooning face. Pikachu then took out a whistle 
from out of nowhere and blew it.

Tweet! Pikachu then put up his dukes and shadow boxed. Making an uppercut 
blow, Pikachu fell over as if in a faint and then ran to one of the Cadets.

“Hey!” Frank growled as Pikachu stole his handcuffs. Pikachu then proceeded 
to pretend to cuff himself to a bench.

“Pi-ka!” Pikachu bowed with his paw still in the cuffs. By now Ash was beet 
red because of the way his pokemon was acting along with Misty’s running 
commentary.

“Wow Ash! I didn’t know Pikachu could imitate Brock so well,” Misty said 
while watching the electric pokemon. Ash fell over.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brock demanded, producing a pair of sly eyes 
for Misty. She responded with her back turned.

“It means that Pikachu did a pretty good imitation of your behavior around 
any girl.”

“That’s not true Misty,” Brock said in his defense. Misty turned around and 
crossed her arms.

“Oh really?” Misty demanded. Brock had hearts in his eyes when Ash decided 
to join the conversation.

“He’s right, Misty. Brock does that only around pretty girls,” Ash stated. 
Ash then leaned over to the closest Little Society member, which happened to 
be Gizmo.

“That’s why he never does it around Misty,” Ash whispered in Gizmo’s ear. 
Gizmo’s head blew up two sized larger than normal, trying not to laugh; it 
didn’t work.

“What was that?” Misty yelled after Gizmo had snickered. Both boys ran for 
it.

“Waaa!” both of them yelled, running into the bushes with Misty hot on their 
tail.

“Get back here! I KNOW where you SLEEP, Ketchum!” Brock sighed and started 
after them.

“When are those two going to grow up?” Brock wondered aloud. Brock then 
noticed he was being followed by… Ken? Yes, that was the boy named Ken and a 
boy he recalled Ash greeting as Robert. Brock then noticed that they weren’t 
alone either. Candy and a girl he though he heard Ash calling Sheri also 
followed.

“Wow! That Misty sure has a temper!” Robert panted, running beside Brock.

“You got that right!” giggled Candy. “Gizmo’s usually not one to run from 
the ladies.” No one in the group noticed that Sheri almost tripped at 
Candy’s comment. Sheri caught herself just in time and a nice red blush rose 
from her neck that spread to cover her entire face.

Later

Pant, pant, wheeze. Gizmo and Ash had collapsed on the sandy beach, too 
exhausted to go any further. Misty had been lost about half way through the 
run and both boys were struggling to stay awake.

“I didn’t know I could run that fast,” Gizmo finally wheezed out. Ash lazily 
rolled over in the sand, gasping for air.

“I didn’t know I had any energy left to run that fast,” Ash gasped shortly 
after that. The sun was covered by a cloud the next minute and Ash shivered. 
Ash was still in this beach clothing: his backpack, sandals and swimming 
trunks.

“Do you tease he like that often?” Gizmo asked. Ash didn’t answer at first 
but slowly sat up.

“Ummmm…kinda,” Ash said in a small voice. Gizmo smiled at Ash’s answer.

“Well, well, I never thought I would live to see the day that Ash Ketchum 
would willingly incur a girl’s wrath upon himself.” Gizmo sat up beside Ash 
in the sand and poked him.

“Misty walked right into that one! I couldn’t help myself!” Ash snickered. 
The sun went behind another cloud, causing Ash to shiver again.

“Thinking of the reception she’s going to give you once you go home?” Gizmo 
teased. “Honestly, Ash! That girl cannot take a joke!” Ash snickered.

“It’s a Misty thing.” Gizmo looked at Ash, confused.

“Is that like ‘don’t ask, it is a girl thing’?” Gizmo asked, watching Ash 
get up.

“Nope. It’s just a Misty thing. Come on, it’ll be dark soon and I need to 
put on some appropriated clothing, like pants.” Unknown to Ash and Gizmo, 
Misty had just found them and heard the rest of their conversation quiet 
clearly.

“Your fan club will be disappointed,” Gizmo said, scampering after Ash. Ash 
had a little blush in his cheeks when he replied.

“Ergh! Be glad that you don’t have one! I swear, they’re more persistent 
than my mom when she wants something to be done.”

“Persistent? How so?” Gizmo inquired. Ash saw Gizmo’s sly eyes and sweat 
dropped.

“They are all acting like Sasha t Sheri’s birthday party. If I see one more 
pair of Bambi eyes, I’m going to be sick!” Ash complained. Gizmo shook his 
head and sighed.

“That’s it! I’m officially kicking you out of the male race! How dare you 
mock the eyes of the most beautiful women in town? You should be shot!” Ash 
made a face at Gizmo.

“Nyaaa! You’re just jealous. I can have any girlfriend I want. I just have 
to ask.” Misty, who had listened to all, gave a jealous growl and turned 
red. Gizmo lifted an eyebrow at Ash.

“How about that friend of yours? Misty?” With that thought in the open, Ash 
stopped and went beet red.

“Ok…so maybe not every girl,” Ash mumbled. Gizmo began to poke Ash in the 
ribs. He was enjoying Ash’s discomfort.

“I can’t hear you!” Gizmo snickered. Ash threw his hands up in defeat.

“You mad your point. Let’s just drop the subject shall we? Or do we want to 
discuss your love life?” Now it was Gizmo’s turn to blush.

“H-how d-do you knowaboutthat?” Gizmo stuttered. Ash gave Gizmo a wink.

“You look at her the way Brock looks at an Officer Jenny. I can’t believe no 
one else has noticed yet.” Ash smacked one on Gizmo’s back. “How long has it 
been going on?”

“Not long,” Gizmo muttered.

“Pikapi!” Misty looked ahead to see Pikachu and the others headed their way. 
Misty smiled and then walked out into the open, making the entire search 
party freeze in fear.

“There you are Ketchum,” and the chase continued.

Later, around a beach bonfire.

“He did what?” exclaimed Brock and Misty in surprise. Ash wished the ground 
would swallow him whole right then and there. Sheri had just relayed the 
most embarrassing moment of Ash’s young life to Brock and Misty.

“Ash! I had no idea you were capable of something like that!” Misty giggled. 
Ash’s blush deepened.

“Thanks a lot Sheri!” Ash growled, red as a tomato. Brock was laughing so 
hard that he fell over.

“You’re just luck that you were never caught by any of the grownups. That 
would have been worse,” Richard sniggered. The Little Society, Brock, Misty 
and Ash were situated around a fire, talking. The topic of choice; Little A 
or Ash’s past.

“Remind me to tell a few of your interesting life slip ups,” Ash sulked. 
Richard nearly choked on his drink.

“You wouldn’t!” Richard squeaked. Ash gave Robert a big grin that made him 
sweat in fear.

“Try me!” Ash replied. “Did I ever tell anyone about the time that Robert 
and Raina got-”

“Nooo!” Robert literally leapt over the fire to stop Ash’s story. Ash 
expected that and he rolled over the back of the log, escaping the attempted 
strangulation.

“I’m just kidding!” Ash chocked out between laughs. Robert’s face was bright 
red from anger while Ash’s was red from laughter.

“Not funny, `Shura!” Robert growled. Ash laughed for a while longer. “Let’s 
change the subject,” Robert said, sitting back down.

“So, you two were gym leaders?” Candy asked. Misty and Brock smiled.

“Yes, we decided to follow Ash on his pokemon journey before it 
was-interrupted,” Brock said carefully.

“I don’t know why you would want to go with this chump. Waaa!” Ken was 
thumped by Ash.

“What was that creep?” Ash growled. Ken nursed his aching head. Misty and 
Brock snickered.

“So, I guess that makes you pokemon trainers too,” Robert said off hand.

“Actually, no. I want to be the world’s best pokemon breeder,” Brock said. 
Ash turned his attention to the conversation, not liking where it was going 
to lead.

“Really?” Sheri asked. “What about you?” Sheri gestured to Misty. Misty 
smiled and hugged Togepi close.

“I want to be a water pokemon master.” A silence passed between groups. 
“What about you? What are your plans for the future?” To Ash’s surprise, it 
was Ken who answered first.

“My brother and sister are going to continue the family business, so I 
though I could stick with Ash for a while.” To that Misty and Brock smiled.

“I’m already doing what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’m going to 
run my sweetshop until I’m old and grey,” Candy cut in. Ash already knew 
that dream. The talk of dreams got rolling and everyone had a story to tell.

“I’m going to be a highly sought after computer expert,” Gizmo said smugly.

“You already are a highly sought after computer expert. Now if only you were 
well paid highly sought after computer expert…” Ash joked. Robert took his 
turn after Gizmo finished his raspberry.

“I thought my dream was to become the next Aqua City head librarian.” Ash 
jumped up, forgetting all about Gizmo’s retort.

“What? You thought?” Ash interrupted.

“Yes, but now… I think my dream is to teach young kids all about the world.” 
At this Ash blushed and began to sputter.

“Really?” Ken said, smiling. “Whatever changed your mind?” Ken asked, 
staring straight at Ash. Ash let out a nervous laugh.

“What about you, Sheri?” Misty asked. “What’s your dream for the future?” 
Sheri was taken aback by Misty’s sudden intrusion.

“Um..I..err..well..” Sheri blushed deeply. “I know I’m going to take my 
mother’s place as mayor one day but…” Sheri’s blush spread. “One day I’d 
like to be a mother.” Every boy there turned red.

“Um, um, um,” Gizmo stuttered. Robert cut in, hoping all would forget the 
embarrassing moment.

“What about you Ash?” he asked.

“Huh?” Ash tensed. His two worlds were about to collide.

“What’s your dream?” Robert asked with a little smile. Ash relaxed and 
stared into the fire.

“That’s easy!” Misty said with a laugh. “Ash wants to be the greatest 
pokemon master in the world.” The response from the group, or lack thereof, 
caused Brock and Misty much confusion. The Little Society stared at them, 
then at Ash, then back at them.

“No way!” Ken sputtered out in disbelief.

“I-I don’t believe it!” Gizmo coughed out. Robert and Candy’s reaction was 
the same: silent shock.

“Th-that’s ridiculous!” Sheri yelled. “Why would Ash waste all his talent by 
doing that? If you said world’s best doctor, mechanic or police officer, I 
would have agreed. A Pokemon Master?”

“Are you out of your bloom`n mind?” Candy screeched at Misty. She had 
finally snapped out of it. Misty was shocked to near speechlessness at the 
young lady’s outburst.

“Wha-?” Misty repeated over and over again, trying to figure out what she 
said wrong.

“She’s not crazy, I am,” Ash said, commanding the whole group’s attention to 
him again. Ash had never looked so serious in his whole life as he did right 
then, in that fire light.

“Ash?” Sheri spoke, unbelief written on her face. Ash answered, not tearing 
his eyes from the fire.

“I know that it sounds like a little kid’s dream but it’s what I want to 
do.” Ash closed his eyes. “Being a pokemon trainer…Cherry Canyon is 
isolated. You’ve never seen a real pokemon battle before. I had no idea what 
I was dong when I first started out.” Ash opened his eyes.

‘That look!’ The Little Society had seen this look in Little A’s eyes 
rarely. A flame of pure, refined passion burned in his eyes, matching that 
of the bonfire in front of them.

“But, it was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Life and death 
situations, winning badges, making friends, defeating the bad guys.” Ash 
went silent for a moment. “What a pokemon master is, that’s just the end 
result of what I want to do. I want the journey, not the end result.” Ash 
closed his eyes again. Brock, who had been silent the whole time, decided to 
join in.

“I take it we’ll be leaving soon then.” Ash opened his eyes to ask ‘what 
makes you thing that?’ Brock’s smile was enormous. “You can’t fool us, 
Ketchum!”

“You’re thinking of battles, badges and captures. You’re positively drooling 
to get back to your pokemon journey,” Misty said, smiling. “We also know 
your father can’t hold you down forever.” Ash responded by staring into the 
fire once again.

“That’s what you think,” Ash said, weariness lacing his tone. The bonfire 
was put out after that and everyone went home. Ash, Misty and Brock walked 
up the read to Ash’s father’s house in near silence.

“Ash?” Misty asked? Ash responded with a haphazard yes. “There something 
that’s been bugging me. Why did Sheri go ballistic on me back there? What 
was with the chocked expressions? I though the would have known.”

“Misty, I think it’s best we leave Ash alone until tomorrow,” Brock said, 
trying to silence his friend.

“It’s all right Brock,” Ash interrupted. “I’ll answer that.” They walked for 
a bit before Ash started. “They never knew because I never told them. They 
just assumed that I would have a higher goal than that.”

“It doesn’t get much higher than that,” Misty barked out a laugh. “What else 
could you be?”

“Just like Sheri said; I could become a doctor, mechanic, police officer, a 
computer expert, a teacher. I could be anything.”

“You are that stubborn,” Brock said with a laugh. Ash shot him a dirty look.

“There’s a fine line between determined and stubborn, you know,” Ash 
growled. “Anyways, I could never truly show them my interest in pokemon. 
There are little pokemon around the Canyon and the Forest doesn’t help any.” 
They walked on again in silence. When Ash got home, all that changed.

“Creep!”

“Harpy!”

“Jerk!”

“Vixen!”

“Loser!”

“Pika-CHUUUU!”

“Ahhhh,” screamed two voices in unison.

“I wondered how long the cease fire would last,” Ash sighed. Misty and Brock 
gave an exasperated look.

“Man, Ash! You were expecting this?” Brock asked, somewhat surprised. Ash 
nodded.

“Maybe your father shouldn’t be so stubborn,” Misty said offhand.

“Wha-? He is not!” Ash said in his father’s defense.

“He is too! You get your stubborn streak from him. I’m sure of it,” Misty 
said, her voice becoming higher.

“I do not!” Ash growled.

“You do too!” Misty retorted.

“Do not!” Ash yelled in Misty’s face.

“Do too!” Misty yelled back.

“Not!”

“Too!”

“Cut it out you two. You sound like them,” Brock said, interrupting their 
spat. Then, the pair realized how close they were and jumped apart, 
blushing. Brock almost laughed at the situation, but before he could…

“Pikapi!” Pikachu launched itself as Ash and nearly bowled Ash over. Ash was 
knocked into Misty.

“What’s wrong, Pikachu?” Pikachu was shivering in fright, clinging to Ash. 
Suddenly the front door opened to reveal two equally angry parents. “Oh…” 
Ash said quietly.

“Where are you, you little rodent?!” Mark roared. Pikachu and Ash paled.

“ASH!” Delilah roared as well. “Where are you!?!” Ash did the smartest thing 
he could.

“Tell them I went to a friend’s for the night,” Ash whispered. Ash jumped up 
and disappeared before Misty and Brock could say anything.

“Coward,” Misty muttered under her breath. Misty and Brock carefully, 
quietly and quickly made their way around the back, up the stairs and into 
their respective rooms for the night without detection.

“That was close!” Ash breathed. Pikachu had stopped shaking and sorrowfully 
looked up at Ash.

“Pika Pikapi. Pika-chu pika pikachu pika-chu!” Ash accepted the pokemon’s 
apology and sighed.

“It wasn’t your fault. When they get that angry. It’s hard to concentrate on 
what you’re doing exactly. You just broke up the wrong fight, that’s all.”

“Pika!” Pikachu sighed along with Ash and then grinned evilly. Adults have 
more resistance to electricity than kids; the fact that he had given them a 
Thunderbolt probably didn’t help their mood. Oh well, at least they had 
stopped fighting. Ash looked at his pokemon pal who was snickering oddly.

“Come on. It looks like we bunk outside tonight,” Aster surprising Digger 
and company by opening his bag and showing that they were at Crystal Lights, 
Ash had another night full of dreams that resembled long forgotten memories.