Red Begins
Ash knew he should have asked his mom to set her alarm so he could make sure he was awake and ready on time. But even thinking about it made him feel guilty. Mondays were his mom’s only day off, and the only day she could sleep in. Besides, since he was six he’d woken up at seven-thirty everyday so that he could eat breakfast with his mom before her shift. Ever since his dad, Redmond Ketchum had ran off to Unova after being caught dosing his pokemon during the Interregional Battle Tournament of the Eastern Republic of 3714, an event that happened every ten years, his mom had had the burden of raising him as a single mother. Mr. Mime, his mother’s pokemon helped out, playing caretaker whenever his mom couldn’t be there from the moment his father left when Ash was only six.
Unfortunately, wired with anticipation the night before he’d tossed and turned, not falling asleep until the first hour of the morning. He awoke to a quiet house and rubbed his eyes as he tiptoed down the stairs. His backpack and the second hand, trainer shoulder bag he’d saved up his meager allowance to purchase, were both on the kitchen table. He had packed them together with his mom the night before. His things weren’t the best quality, they didn;t have the money to pay for that on top of the fee for registering as a League trainer, but Ash was pretty sure that he could win a few battles and with his winnings purchase the supplies he was missing but he’d need to get his pokemon first.
He’d only just poured himself a bowl of choco-blast onyx pebble cereal when he glanced up at the clock. His eyes widened in panic. It was ten after nine, he was already late! If he tarried any longer another trainer might get his pokemon. It took him nearly ten minutes to clean up the cereal he’d spilled in his panic, throw on his favorite hat and his worn out running shoes, and burst out the door, running at full tilt across Pallet Town towards the Poke Lab that made the small town world renown.
He tripped and battered his knees when he’d had to get off the road to let the bright cherry red convertible on the road pass by.
“Smell ya later Red!” Gary shouted as the vehicle passed. Ash scowled at the back of the vehicle ignoring the cheerleaders that hung half out of the vehicle as they shook their pom poms. He continued onto the lab, delayed yet again as he held the door open for an older looking trainer, who was cradling a new pokeball in his hands.
“Hi,” Ash said. The receptionist gave Ash a polite smile. “I’m Ashtred Ketchum, I registered to get a League Starter Pokemon today.”
“Of course,” she said. “You head on straight down that hallway into the small lab on the right, Professor Oak will be there waiting.”
“Thank-you,” Ash made sure to say politely.
Ash reached the lab door just as Professor Oak was exiting.
“Oh!” Professor Oak said when he nearly ran into Ash. “I didn’t realize you were still coming Mr. Ketchum.”
“Sorry Professor!” Ash got out quickly. “I didn’t mean to be late, I swear! Mom and I packed my bags last night to make sure I’d be ready, but then I had a hard time falling asleep and I woke up late. I came here as soon as I realized the time, I swear Professor!”
“Calm down young Ketchum,” the Professor said, “Calm down.”
“I’ll take whichever pokemon is left, Professor. No complaints, I promise,” Ash said earnestly.
“I’m very sorry Mr. Ketchum, when you didn’t arrive by quarter after nine I was required to give the next trainer who inquired an opportunity,” Professor Oak said.
“I thought,” Ash cut himself off, wrapping his arms around himself in self comfort. “Oh,” his voice was small. “I understand I’ll just,” Ash had to try really hard not to cry. “I’ll go home then,” Ash turned and drew in a shaky breath. He was fighting to keep the tears from falling as he exited the lab and began to make his way down the hallway. He got nearly halfway down the hall when Professor Oak’s voice stopped him.
“Mr. Ketchum,” Professor Oak said. Ash didn’t turn immediately, his head down as he stared at the floor, a soft barely there sob escaping his lips. “I may have a solution. While he doesn’t have the training or docility of a League bred starter, there is a pokemon available to be given to a trainer in the lab.”
Ash was on top of the world for the approximately twelve whole minutes it took for him to get his new pokemon, set up his League provided pokedex, register his new pokemon, and exit the lab. The pokemon, an adolescent male of the Mouse Pokemon line, specifically a Pikachu, was not happy to see Ash, or maybe it was the pokeball he held in his hands since the painful Thunder Wave was directed straight at it. For a moment Ash was frozen as the fuzzy feeling of electricity, not enough to be truly painful but enough to paralyze, ran through his body and exited into the ground at the bottom of his feet. He’d have to check when he got home, but he was pretty sure there would be small burns on the soles of his feet.
Pikaa Chuuu! The young Pikachu said angrily, stomping his little feet.
“You don’t like your pokeball then?” Ash asked when his ability to speak returned. The Pikachu’s tail sparked angrily. “Okay, okay,” Ash said. “That’s fine, but you can’t go around shocking things. If you do, I'll be forced to put you in the ball.” The Pikachu’s tail sparked again. “Not ‘cause I’ll want to, but because it’s the law, and I’m your trainer now,” Ash clarified.
Pika Pika, the electric mouse said softly. To Ash, the pokemon’s tone sounded thoughtful, and almost curious.
“You were caught,” Ash said, trying to explain. “And I was given your pokeball, and you. Which makes me your trainer.”
Pika Piiika, the Pikachu poked Ash, shocking him very lightly. The Pikachu almost seemed expectant for an answer.
“Yeah yeah, I’ll take care of you, promise,” Ash said, hoping that was the answer the young pokemon was looking for.
Pika, the pokemon said huffily. Ash got the feeling that the pokemon was judging him a little.
“Well,” Ash said. “I’m still in my pajamas, so how do you feel about coming home with me and meeting my mom? You can stay out of your ball, as far as I’m aware the only place in Kanto that has a carry restriction that would apply to you is in Fuchsia City’s Safari Zone, and I won’t be there anytime soon.”
Pikachuu. This time the pokemon seemed happy, and Ash couldn’t help the small wiggle of happiness that escaped him, making his body twitch. Ash babbled to the Pikachu the entirety of the walk home, telling the young pokemon all about his dreams of becoming a pokemon master and one of the best trainers in Kanto.
His mother was awake by the time he returned and was quick to usher him into the bath, citing that his dirty bare feet needed to be cleaned so he may as well do it properly before he left her care for who knows how long. Pikachu seemed to laugh at Delia Ketchum’s mothering, but even he accepted a gentle pat on the head from her. Ash was a little jealous, when Ash had tried to touch the pokemon to help the mouse up the stairs he’d been lightly shocked, almost like a reprimand.
Less than a half hour later, hair still slightly wet, Astred Ketchum was on his way to Viridian City, the first real stop of any trainer’s journey when they started in Pallet Town. Four hours later and Ash was ready to go back home. First there was the pack of Spearow, which he could admit was purely his fault, he really shouldn’t have kicked that rock but Pikachu just wouldn’t listen, he shouldn’t have taken that bike and he definitely deserved Miss Misty’s anger since it was so destroyed. Then there was Pikachu himself. That electric attack was pretty powerful, taking out all those Spearow, but in the end he’d had to run the rest of the way to Viridian City, unconscious Pikachu in his arms. He wasn’t sure he could have done it if he wasn’t already so close to the city. Thankfully, that Jenny had been so willing to be helpful and drove him from the outskirts of the city straight to the PokeCenter. Then Misty had burst in, and Gary and Harry Oak had already been there, and then Team Meowth. Ash had even had to put Pikachu in his ball which he was sure he’d get shocked for later, then Harry had protected them all and now there was so much blood.
Ash couldn’t even appreciate the battle that was performed between Gym Leader Giovanni and the two human members of Team Meowth, he couldn’t stop staring at Harry Oak, Gary Oak had wrapped Harry’s scarf around the wound as the man clearly passed out. Still the puddle of red was growing larger. Ash stayed standing where he was looking at the puddle of blood on the floor even after the Joy’s picked him up onto a gurney and rushed him into the back. He stood there until one of the Joys gently directed him into the back too, where they helped him crawl onto a gurney. He released Pikachu and hugged him to himself while silently crying, the pokemon seeming to sense that the brown eyed boy needed comfort didn’t even shock the boy with static electricity.
He stayed that way until Professor Oak arrived, with his mom, Delia in tow. Ash wasn’t really sure about everything that was discussed, but he knew he was going back home. He recalled hearing something about having won some pokegear, but that since he wasn’t going to be using it right away much of it would be sold, and a good portion of that profit would be given to Miss Misty, in compensation of her bike. Ash didn’t truly come out of his catatonic state of silent crying until after Sultan, Professor Oak’s Gardevoir teleported him, Pikachu, and his mother home.
He barely made it two steps into the house before the silent crying turned loud and hysterical. He remembered nothing else of the night beyond his mom picking him up with a grunt and carrying him all the way up the stairs to her bed. She took off his shoes and changed him into pajamas like he was four years old again, before crawling into bed with him and Pikachu, holding him until he’d cried himself to sleep.
The next morning Ash was feeling a little better, though he was pretty sure he wanted to stay home for a bit before he tried going on his journey. He had to figure out what he was going to do during that time however. His mom tried to convince him to just stay home but he wasn’t sure he could just do nothing all day. Plus as much as he knew his mother would never tell him, they were really counting on him being able to contribute a bit of his winnings towards the household expenses especially because continued education was too expensive right now. He tried applying to the same Market Shop that his mom worked at but they weren’t hiring, especially with his mom taking on full time hours in anticipation of Ash being out of the house on his ‘coming of age’ pokemon journey. A commitment she couldn’t exactly back out of now. He checked to see if the pharmacy could use a cleaner, or if the Pallet Town Pub could use a bus boy, but both positions were already filled and neither place was looking for another employee. Finally Ash checked to see if maybe the Pallet Town Lab could use a cleaner or even a mail boy.
He got lucky. Professor Oak had returned to Pallet Town to grab some important paperwork or something and got the receptionist to set him up with a sort of internship. It was minimum wage but it was something. The young scientist, nineteen years old, who showed him around was nice enough, the mailing system was easy enough to figure out, and the paddock feeding system was straightforward. He was warned that he wouldn’t be able to touch any of the lab equipment without both permission and supervision, and that he would be expected back every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
It was the start of his third week as a Lab intern when Professor Oak entered the lab with his grandson in tow.
“It is good to see you not just on time this morning, but actually early young Mr. Ketchum,” Professor Oak said.
“Mom bought me an alarm clock yesterday and showed me how to set it, Professor,” Ash answered, bouncing a little. It was true, Ash had given her a little of the money he’d earned so that she could buy him a proper alarm clock instead of just relying on hers. “I won’t be late again I swear! It’s set for six o’clock every morning.” He hadn’t actually been late since he started this internship but he was sure that Professor Oak wouldn’t be forgetting trainer registration day anytime soon.
“That is good to hear,” Professor Oak said. “As you can see, I have brought my nephew today, he will be joining you every Tuesday and Thursday, while coming in alone on Mondays. You will still be alone on Fridays. If you wouldn’t mind showing Gary how to sort and deliver the daily mail to the right cubbies, then feed the pokemon in pen twelve. Finish by ten and then come to my office, I'll have more for you to do by then.”
“Of course Professor,” Ash said, bouncing up on his toes again.
“Good,” Professor Oak said. “Show Gary where to store his trainer’s field bag and hop to.” The Professor all but spun around on one foot as he left Gary and Ash alone in the lab room.
Ash saw the smirk that crossed Gary’s face and knew what was coming before the annoying blue eyed boy even opened his mouth.
“Hey Red,” Gary said smugly.
“Hello Blue,” Ash said happily, wiping that smug look from the other’s face. Just as Ash hated being called Red, Gary hated the nickname derived from his middle name.