Chapter Text
“Human Speaking”
Pokémon Translation
‘Thoughts’
“Telepathy”
Chapter One.
Ash is just getting off the plane in Vermilion City from Lumiose City. He and Pikachu immediately go to the Pokémon Centre to do a check up on his Pokémon first and to call his mother, to let her know that he has landed safely.
“What do you think, Buddy? Glad to be home again?” He asks his starter.
“Pi-pika chu pi!” Pikachu answers. Its feels like it's been a lifetime. Ash nods in agreement as he walks through the doors of the Pokémon Centre.
Ash walks straight to the counter to hand off his pokémon to the Nurse Joy stationed here. Once he has handed off his Pokéballs, he beelines for the video phones to call his mum.
“Hey mum, we have made it to Vermilion City and will be home in 1-2 weeks' time. How have you been?” He informs the woman quickly and waits for his mother to answer his question as soon as the phone call connects.
“Hey Ash and Pikachu! It is good to hear you are back in Kanto! You know how Mimey and I are, just doing the normal gardening and looking out for your other Pokémon at the lab. There might be a few new surprises waiting for you at the lab when you get there.” Delia answers the usual questions from her sons' frequent phone calls, while she looks to be writing a shopping list.
Ash and Pikachu share a confused glance with each other, wondering what could be happening over at the lab that they don’t know about.
“What is the surprises mum? Is it urgent? Do I need to check in with Professor Oak?” Ash tries to clarify with his mother, but she just waves him off saying, “They’ll still be there when you get into Pallet Town, no need to worry.”
Pikachu and Ash shrug at each other, deciding to worry about it later. “Alright then, I’ll make sure to - “
“Oh Ash, make sure to call Professor Oak soon he needs to ask you an important question. I'll see you at home! Love you!!” She blew them both a kiss and then signed off before they could ask any more questions.
Ash stared at the black screen wondering what that was all about. Pikachu shook his head commiserating, before his ears twitched. “Pikapi pichu-pi!” Ash! Let's go get the others back. He urged Ash toward the counter where Nurse Joy was waiting for him to pick up his Pokémon after she had just called his name.
“Oh... Yeah! Then I will make the call to Professor Oak.” Ash shook himself out of his thoughts and ran over to Nurse Joy, thanking her quickly and running back to Pikachu at the computers where he left him. Setting up the video call with Professor Oak, as soon as it connected, he immediately started asking questions. “Hey Professor! Mum wanted me to call you?” Ash asks with a concerned expression on his face.
“Hey Ash! I have a very important question for you about some of your Pokémon. Obviously, the final decision is between you and your Pokémon, but I've noticed that most of your Tauros have been getting antsy and dissatisfied with staying at the ranch all the time and it might be time to have them moved to other places as you haven't used them since your Kanto Tournament. But once again the decision is up to you and your Tauros, I thought I would let you know what I noticed and wait for you to decide on the way back to town. If you make the choice to let them move on, I will discuss with you the options you have for them when you get back. Sorry for dumping this new information on you as soon as you got back but I thought you would like to know as soon as possible.”
Ash is so shocked; he is speechless. “This is so sudden. I didn’t know the Tauros were feeling like that. I need some time to think about this situation, and I’ll have to call you back when I have come to a decision. I can’t believe I have never noticed that the Tauros were feeling like this, why haven’t I noticed them feeling this way?! Pikachu, did you know they were feeling this way?” Pikachu looked back at his trainer just as distraught as he was about this. “Pi-pi!” Not at all!
“Ash! Ash, calm down! You wouldn’t have known about it because they made sure you wouldn’t notice whenever you came back to the lab, as they knew how important your journey was, but I thought you were ready to know about this situation and would be able to calmly think about the other options for this situation. You can take your time; you have the trip from Vermillion to Pallet to think about it and you can ask some other people's thoughts to consider this more seriously. I know you will want to talk to the Tauros about it when you get into town, so I won’t rush you to answer me now. Just stay calm and go through all the options and pick the one that will fit you and your Pokémon the best.” Professor Oak calmly explained over the cacophony of noises the trainer and his Pokémon are making over the line.
Ash felt a pang of guilt and sadness for this situation. He had always tried to be attentive to his Pokémon's needs, but this revelation made him question if he had failed them when they couldn’t even show him their dissatisfaction. They already don’t see me very often and now they might even get traded away forever.
Professor Oak watches the boy on his screen with concern while he is deep in thought, as he knows this boy loves all his Pokémon as his family and now that he knows that so many of them have been feeling so dissatisfied for who knew how long and thought they couldn’t show him because of his dream and all of the travelling he has been doing, would have broken his heart.
Ash sighed and looked back at the screen. “I’m going to want to talk with the Tauros when I get back, but I know many places that could use Tauros helping them or using them in battle, so I think I will be trading them if that’s what they want to do. Please wait till I get back in town, and I will tell them the decision I have come to and talk to them about their options. I need to be the one that tells them and to talk to them about it all.”
Professor Oak looks at Ash with pride, knowing how hard this choice is for him and really seeing how much he has grown and matured through all his journeys. Pikachu jumps up on Ash’s shoulder and nuzzles his cheek to comfort him from all the new information and hard choices that have hit him all at once. Ash scratches Pikachu cheek and nuzzles him back in thanks.
“Of course, Ash, I will wait for you to be back to talk about the decision. I hope you know I’m so proud of you for making the hard decision. I hope you know I will be taking extra care with my decisions for who your Tauros will go to and will let you have the final say on where and with whom.” Ash nodded.
“Yeah, I know you will be careful with them and for keeping me in the loop in the last decision. Right Pikachu?”
“Pi-pikachu!” Of course.
“I’ll let you go on your way now. See you later, my boy.”
“See you soon, Professor.” Ash signs off with a heavy sigh before holding his arm out to his partner.
“Well then, Pikachu. Let’s get on the move, yeah?” Pikachu nods, jumping onto his shoulder and Ash begins the trip back to his hometown.