#railou writes

[its-railou]

A brief summary of The Mew Complex so far

HEY HEY HEY

So yes I finally posted chapter 10 of The Mew Complex (link!)

It has been 4 months since the last chapter, so I wrote a little summary of the main events so far. This is about 800 words (while the fic is over 40K words) so there’s a LOT missing hahah, but this is just to help you memory :)

I wrote this super quickly and didn’t really proof read it so sorry if its confusing aksjdasklj it just be like this today

DON’T CLICK IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ALL THE WAY TO CHAPTER 9

SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY

Alola timeline (younger Ash wakes up in Alola):

It’s two days after the pokemon league finals. Ash, noticing where he is, is shocked at first and so is Kukui. Ash thinks he got teleported away from the Tree, and Kukui’s worried he’s experiencing a flashback or memory loss. Burnet comes home, and Ash calls Brock. The phone call is reassuring for everyone, and afterwards they start to believe that Ash might have actually time traveled.

Kukui takes Ash to school and after the kids learn what’s going on, the class heads out so Kiawe and Ash can have a pokemon battle. However, they are stopped by a nosy sports reporter, Manu, who wants to interview the Champion. Manu has a history with Kukui as the Masked Royal, and Kukui very much dislikes his aggressive methods of journalism. He tells Manu to stay away from Ash, with little success.

They head into the forest where Ash and Kiawe start their battle. Ash attempts a Z-move, but his crystal breaks and the move makes him feel faint and ill. He later explains to Kukui that it reminded him of the feeling when his Aura was draining into Mew and he was slowly dying. This also makes him believe that since he’s still alive, that means Lucario has died. Kukui tries to comfort him and tells him to not lose hope yet.

They are home with Burnet when Tobias, who Ash doesn’t yet know, appears at the house. Tobias wants to talk to Ash and takes him for a walk during which he tells Ash something about what happened in the Sinnoh timeline. It’s not clear to the reader what Ash learns during this conversation. Tobias tells Kukui and Burnet that Ash and his pokemon are in danger, and proposes to take Ash with him into hiding. But since Ash is the new Champion, he shouldn’t just disappear from Alola without a reason, so he suggests Ash should first tell a fake story to a newspaper to stop any rumors from spreading.

 Sinnoh timeline (older Ash wakes up in the Tree of Beginning):

The swap happens immediately after Lucario has pushed Ash away from Mew to protect him. Ash, not yet sure if he’s dreaming or something else, remembers that last time this led to Lucario dying, so he gets up and pushes Lucario away, saving its life. He manages to save Mew, though he almost faints from exhaustion. While Ash recovers, he touches a time flower and lets Lucario see the message Sir Aaron left as he died. At this point, he also tells a worried Kidd that he thinks he probably time traveled.

They are interrupted when the roof caves in and Hunter J’s aircraft lands next to them. She has tracked Kidd’s equipment in attempt to locate Mew, and has finally succeeded. She manages to petrify Mew and Pikachu, but Ash protects Pikachu and tries to escape. J almost wins, but Lucario steps in and protects the two, getting petrified and captured in the process. After this, J decides to leave with just Lucario and Mew. Brock, May and Max appear, and Ash hands Pikachu to them before grabbing and holding onto J’s aircraft as it takes off.

Ash sneaks into the aircraft while they are still in the air, and confronts J in the room where Lucario is held. J learns that Lucario is the legendary Lucario of Sir Aaron’s from thousand years ago, and gets curious about Ash’s connection to it. During their battle, Ash blows up a part of the aircraft outer wall, and jumps out with Lucario and Swellow. He also drags with him the platform that has the ability to control the petrifying process, in hopes that he can later use it to help Pikachu.

During the fall, Swellow and Ash get injured when Swellow tries to slow down Ash’s speed by grabbing onto his arm with its claws. Lucario and Ash end up using Aura to protect them all as they drop into a pond somewhere in Sinnoh. They rest while Phanpy and Corphish search for help. Eventually, after much struggle, they find themselves in the safety of a poke center.

Ash meets Kellyn, and accidentally reveals that he knows him. Kellyn sees that Ash is in trouble and offers to help, though Ash tries to avoid him. During the night, Kellyn gets a message from Lance who is looking for information about Ash’s whereabouts. Lance, Brock, May, and Max get in contact with Ash and head over to the pokemon center. Ash saves Pikachu from being petrified, and later Lance tells the others about a mysterious organization called Team Corpus and their leader Saga, who might be involved with Mew’s capture.

Overwhelmed with all this new information, Ash, May, and Max decide to take a walk in the forest, where they stumble upon an injured Latias and its very pissed off trainer. This trainer happens to be no other than Tobias and Ash, again, accidentally reveals that he knows him, making Tobias very suspicious of him.

#railou writes #railou posts #the mew complex

[its-railou]

What is important

Ash has a strange way of catching pokemon, in Goh’s opinion.

And what’s up with that Riolu, anyway?

Set post New series episode 21.

Read on AO3 or below the cut

  ”Why aren’t you catching any pokemon?”

Ash turns his head and looks at Goh from where he’s lying on his stomach on the grass, currently in the process of creeping towards sleeping Riolu, and cocks his eyebrow.

“I just got Riolu yesterday, though”, he uselessly points out, looking back at the vibrantly blue pokemon. Riolu twitches in its sleep, and Ash grins at it, before glancing back at Goh curiously. “What’d you mean?”

“I mean”, stresses Goh, leaning heavily against a cherry tree in Professor Cerise’s garden, and looks at Ash with a raised brow, “when we go out to catch pokemon, you never actually get any! We’ve seen lots of cool and strong and rare pokemon, and I know you could catch them even if I can’t, but you never even try! You’ve only caught three so far, and those catches weren’t really…”

He trails off, waving his hand around vaguely, like he’s waiting for the right words to appear so he could grab them from the air and hurl them at Ash’s direction.

He doesn’t need to say anything, though. The way Ash’s mouth thins into a line tells Goh Ash knows exactly what he means.

Those hadn’t really been proper catches, not the way the general world sees it – the pokemon had essentially walked into their poke balls with no effort from Ash’s side.

Ash abandons his plan to approach Riolu and he pushes himself up to sit cross-legged on the grass, shoulder hunched and tense.

“Well, I’m not trying to catch every pokemon”, he says with a slight frown. “I already have loads of pokemon, and anyway, I’m mostly gonna catch pokemon that…” His voice drops, face settling into a look of uncertainty.

“That you already like? That like you, first?” hazards Goh, thinking about Dragonite, and Gengar, and Riolu.

Ash looks at him blankly for a second, before shaking his head slowly.

“…That I feel some sorta connection with, I guess.”

 Of course.

Go huffs, “You know, I really don’t get you sometimes. What connection?”

“Eh, y’know that”, says Ash, his face lighting up with a thoughtful smile, his eyes drifting to the side to look at his pokemon playing on the other edge of the garden. “That thing where you just know you belong together with someone!”

But Goh doesn’t know, and isn’t that exactly the problem here?

“You mean something like what you had with Riolu?” he asks haltingly. “Like sensing the egg and stuff?”

Ash’s gaze snaps back at him and then at Riolu. He stares at the sleeping baby pokemon, his eyes going vacant for a second before he jumps a bit, startled by something invisible, and turns back to Goh.

“Ah, no…” he mutters. “Riolu is… different.”

He doesn’t elaborate, and despite how curious that statement makes him, Goh suddenly gets the weirdest feeling that he shouldn’t press.

Not this, not now.

He swallows down his questions and asks, instead, “Okay, then what?”

Now it’s Ash’s turn to wave his hand around desperately, trying to find the right words. He gives up after a moment and flops back down on the grass, his fingers idly grasping the blades of grass by his sides and his eyes trained somewhere far away. He sighs, and Goh watches as some of the tension drains out of him, his body relaxing bit by bit.

“Man, I dunno how to explain it any better”, he eventually replies with a pout, but smiles then, eyes shining in the sunlight. “You have it with Raboot, though! I mean… You would do anything for it, and it would do anything for you. And back then in Galar, you knew, right?” He stares intently at Goh, the look in his eye simultaneously assertive and oddly fragile. When Goh doesn’t reply, he continues: “You ignored it at first, cause you were so focused on Mew, but you knew Scorbunny would become your partner from the moment you met. That’s the connection I meant! When you both know, deep down and all over, that you got no other option but to be there for each other!”

He sits up suddenly, grinning, alive in a way he hadn’t been earlier, the oddly pensive mood he had been in apparently lifted.

It takes a beat of silence and then he chuckles, rubbing a nervous hand against the back of his head.

“…Right?”

Goh realizes still hasn’t said anything, totally blindsided by Ash’s words, and he jerks his head for a nod.

“Right”, he chokes out.

Ash is… correct, as much as the concept confuses Goh. Scorbunny is something special to him, and has been from the start. Compared to the dozens of other pokemon he has…

Wait.

“Hold on”, he splutters, eyes widening. “You mean you have that- than connection… with all of you pokemon?”

Ash nods, and grins. “Yep, for sure!”

“How many pokemon have you owned, anyway?” demands Goh, since he actually has no idea.

Ash starts to count with his fingers but quickly gives up, mouthing something so quietly Goh can’t make it out. Listing his pokemon, Goh realizes. Ash stares into space for a moment longer before shrugging, glancing at Goh thoughtfully.

“A bit under a hundred, I think.”

Goh blinks. Ash goes on: “I’ve released some of them, though. And not all of them are staying in the same place with the rest of them. And thirty of them are tauros.”

“Thirty of them are…” mutters Goh, before yelping: “No way! I’m not buying that, you don’t have it with all of those tauros, right? And how come you’ve released some of them if they were that important for you?”

Ash flinches minutely. His fingers curl into fists and he takes in a sharp breath, heels of his shoes digging into the soft ground.

“Oh, Butterfree and the others needed to go – um, they had more important stuff to take care of. They’d never have been as happy living with me.”

Ash is smiling, but there’s a longing edge in his voice, and his eye are downcast, wistful. It twists something deep in Goh’s chest, and he glances around, seeing all of his pokemon milling around, and he wishes… he’s not sure. That he can feel like that about someone, eventually. That he can know, really know, what truly is best for them – and be strong enough to give that to them, even if it hurts.

“Do you think…” he begins, deciding to say what's on his mind before he can back out, and contain it within himself for the rest of forever. Ash looks at him curiously, and Goh grimaces, says, “Am I a bad person for catching pokemon the way I do? You know… Like it’s nothing more than a challenge?”

It’s been his ambition as long as he can remember – filling the pokedex, catching them all – but for the first time in his life he’s starting to wonder if it’s not as good a goal as he’d thought.

“Huh?” says Ash, his smile slipping, his head tilting in confusion. “But you’re working for your dream, right? And it’s not like you’re collecting them and then abandoning them, like some people do. Your pokemon are all really happy – they have lots of friends here and a great place to live!”

He sounds genuine, and Goh would trust Ash in matters like this – more than anyone else – but he’s not so easily swayed from his doubts.

“I mean, yeah, but still…” he murmurs. “I don’t wanna treat them like they’re just tools, or some sort of achievements. But I dunno… am I too late? Maybe I should’ve been more careful when catching them – maybe they didn’t wanna come with me at all…!”

Ash grabs his crossed ankles, leans backwards, and looks up to the glass ceiling. “Man, no way Goh, you’re not late”, he says kindly. “But if you wanna get to know them all, it’s better to start pretty soon.” He pauses for a moment and smiles at Goh. “I used to be kinda like you in the beginning. I caught a lot of pokemon in a really short time, and didn’t get to know many of them until way later. Like my tauros! But I know them now, and they know me, and I wouldn’t give them up for anything. Sure, I do it differently now, but in the end I think that’s what matters.”

Goh nods, a heavy lump in his throats, and sighs, “Thanks, Ash.” Oddish skitters past him, chased by Rattata, and Goh reaches out and grabs it gently, bringing it onto his lap. Oddish croons, its eyes twinkling with joy.

“Hey there”, Goh says softly. “Are you happy here?”

“Dish!” Oddish nods, its tiny mouth stretching into a grin. Rattata stops next to Goh’s leg and pulls on his shirt with its sharp nails.

“Ra-tat!” it chirps, annoyed by the interruption in their game. Goh lets Oddish go, and the two pokemon run off again, leaving behind only the sound of their shrieks of excitement.

Meanwhile, Ash has turned around again, this time on his knees as he crawls towards Riolu with a carefulness Goh had rarely seen him execute. He reaches out his hand, his fingers inching closer to the sleeping pokemon, ever so slowly.

Goh not sure what happened then, but one second everything is calm and serene around them, and the next the air is crackling with danger and Riolu is on its feet, vacuum wave building between its paws. On the other side of the garden, Pikachu’s ears perk up and Gengar fades out and in of existence, appearing next to Ash in a flash.

Riolu glares at them all, eyes full of mistrust. Ash hasn’t backed off, though, and he’s still smiling, arm reaching out to block Gengar. Goh can see it in his mind’s eye – how he’ll get blasted back by Riolu, how he’ll yelp in pain and tumble around on the grass-

But Riolu doesn’t attack. Instead, it relaxes, the move dying out and its arms dropping to its sides.

Ash sits back on his heels, resting his forearms on his knees. “Hey”, he greets it softly. “Didn’t mean to startle you. You were having a bad dream, right?”

Riolu glowers at him for a moment before admitting, “Lu…”

“I thought so”, chuckles Ash. “It’s okay though. We’re all friends here.”

He glances at Gengar, who makes a face before disappearing and appearing a bit farther away. Pikachu has crossed the park and hops onto Ash’s shoulder, pushing its paw against his cheek.

“Pikapi”, it says, tone demanding. Ash laughs and brushes a hand through its fur.

“Don’t worry, buddy. Riolu is still getting used to its new surroundings. It’s just… like you know.” His tone quietens, his eyes fixed on the baby pokemon and Goh is not sure he’s doing it intentionally or not. “When Riolu is feeling anxious, I can’t help feeling a bit… off, too. But that’s fine. We’ll get used to it.”

“Pikaa…”

“Olu?” Riolu asks, its annoyed look morphing into something softer, almost worried, as it stares up at Ash.

“It won’t be just for the bad emotions!” Ash hurries to say. “I’m accustomed to it, anyway. I always know when my friends are feeling strongly about something anyway – with you all that’ll just be a bit more intense, that’s all.”

“You always know when your friends are feeling strongly about something?” repeats Goh incredulously, because in his opinion that needs to be addressed.

Ash seems a bit tense as he shrugs, “Eh, a little bit, yeah? But it’s not as weird as it sounds…”

He stands up suddenly and rubs his stomach conspicuously. “Man, I’m so hungry! Are you hungry, Riolu? We should have lunch!”

“Wait-!”

“Right, Pikachu?”

“Pi-ka!”

Ash pumps his fist and grins, hollering across the park to Dragonite and Mr. Mime, “Come on guys! Let’s go eat!”

He starts to jog off, and Goh scrambles up and after him, not aiming to be left behind.

He feels like every time he has a conversation with Ash, he only comes out with even more questions. But maybe that’s okay.

Learning, figuring things out... These things take time. And maybe, in the end, he’ll be stronger too.

#pokeani #pokemon #pokemon ns #pokemon journeys #goh #Ash Ketchum #riolu #ns021 #goh tries to understand the mystery that is Ash #he's not entirely successful #Ash it's not as weird as it sounds Ketchum #Riolu is a cutie #railou writes #railou posts

[its-railou]

Fragile, broken, found

Ash and Go talk about Gengar, and pokemon training, and friendship.

Or:  Ash adopts another abandoned pokemon. Go watches and learns. 

Episode tag to New series episode 16.

Read on AO3 or below the cut

“Hey, uh, maybe you should go back to bed, Ash.”

Go waits, and waits. It’s like talking to a wall. Ash is still sitting on the floor, buried under a mountain of apples (where the hell did Gengar even find those?) and laughing his head off over his new friend.

So, nothing new really, in other words.

“Where do you think it went, Pikachu?” Ash wonders, mouth full of apple mush. He cranes his head back and yells, ear-piercingly loud: “Gengar!”

Go winces. “Jeez, Ash.”

Ash grins up at him. “Eh, sorry. I just really wanna get to know it more, you know? But I guess it’s a bit shy.”

“Pika-pika!”

“Maybe”, allows Go, pursing his lips. “Anyway, I don’t think you should be up yet. You had a really high fever, if you happen to remember.”

Ash shrugs, dismissive. “I don’t have it anymore, though. I feel fine.”

“Really.” Go cocks his eyebrow, head tilting. “You passed out in the middle of a street and slept for fourteen hours.”

Ash just looks at him, like he’s still waiting for the point to be made.

Go throws his hands up in frustration. “That’s not normal, Ash! I know I teased you about the curse, but you really should’ve told me that you were feeling sick. Instead you went for a run and had a pokemon battle!”

“Mm, but pokemon battles always make me feel better”, is all that Ash says. He digs himself out of the apple mountain and stands up, brushing a hand casually over his clothes. Go shakes his head.

He’s making no sense.

“You’re making no sense”, says Go. “Come on, go back to sleep.”

Ash glances at him and Go knows him well enough by now that he can tell he’s not all fine yet. His face is pale and his vivid eyes dull and slightly squinted, and he agrees all too easily to Go’s command.

“Fine, okay.”

Ash crawls back under the covers and says, after a minute of silence, staring intently at the bottom of the top bunk: “I have met pokemon like Gengar before, you know.”

Go blinks, taken aback. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“Pokemon abandoned by their trainers.”

Ash turns his head and looks at Go and there’s something dark and sorrowful in his eyes Go has never seen before. It makes him pause, and any retort he might‘ve been about to say dies before it reaches his lips.

“It’s not easy for anyone”, Ash continues, turning his gaze back at the top bunk. He smiles slightly, deep in thought. “One of my first pokemon I ever got was abandoned by its previous trainer. Charmander was waiting for him in the rain and even though it was in a really bad shape already, it still wouldn’t listen to us when we tried to help it. It loved him too much.”

“But it started trusting you eventually, right?” asks Go.

Ash laughs shortly. “Well, yeah. Charmander was really great! But when it evolved it started acting out, and had some issues. But so did I, I guess. We kinda grew up together.”

“You were even worse before? I can’t imagine”, jokes Go, just to see Ash grin. He laughs wearily, and Pikachu stretches over his chest and curls in for a sleep.

“Man, there are all kinds of trainers out there, Go”, Ash says. “And not all pokemon are a good fit for a certain trainer, like not all trainers are good fit for a pokemon. I got an incredibly strong Infernape from a trainer whose training style was pretty much the opposite of mine. Paul gave up on it when it was still a Chimchar ‘cause he thought it was too weak. It really wasn’t weak, but it just wasn’t fit for Paul’s team.”

Go tries to imagine a trainer that’s Ash’s opposite. Opposite of this caring, fun-loving, selfless Ash…

Go decides he doesn’t like Paul.

“Do you think Gengar wasn’t fit for it’s trainer, then?” he asks uncertainly.

Ash frowns. “Well, yeah, for sure. He wouldn’t have abandoned it otherwise. I’m certain Gengar didn’t do anything wrong, but that guy was just an idiot who thought all of his bad luck was Gengar’s fault. He probably needs an easy and compliant pokemon that never causes him any trouble.”

Go nods empathically. “Yeah, well, I hope he never gets another pokemon.”

Ash smiles mildly at him. “Yeah, me too.”

He yawns then, color washing away from his face, and he throws an arm over his eyes. “I’d never abandon a pokemon, Go”, he mumbles drowsily. “They’re all my friends, like you are. And I’d never abandon a friend…”

He trails off, halfway asleep already. Warmth spreads through Go, and he leans his head on his hand and grins so wide it pinches on his cheeks.

He feels seen, and so lucky.

He stands up to leave the room, and almost crashes into Gengar who had appeared from thin air to silently stand behind him.

It’s looking at Ash, its eyes wide with wonder, and Go can tell it’s feeling the same.

#pokeani #pokemon #pokemon ns #ns016 #Pokeani spoilers #pokemon fanfiction #my fic #railou writes #episode tag #Ash Ketchum #gou #gengar #pikachu #I have never posted my fic on tumblr before #i hope i don't mess it up #railou posts

[its-railou]

What do you think about Ash?

Go has some doubts about Ash and about friendship in general. He attempts to understand his feelings. Ash, meanwhile, is just being the chaotic good that he is.

Set during New series episodes 2 to 10.

Read on AO3 or below the cut

”What do you think about Ash?” Go asks Koharu that evening, after supper. After they had made their way back from the field. Where Lugia had dropped them off.

Koharu shrugs. “That new kid? A bit strange. Is he going to stick around or what?”

“Didn’t you hear?” asks Go, mildly annoyed. Typical Koharu to not give a shit about anyone. “He’s moving into the Institute with me.”

“Really?” Koharu purses her lips. “But he seems a bit like…”

Go crosses his arms. “Like what?”

“Like trouble.”

Go pauses. She’s not wrong, exactly.

“He seems cool”, he argues then. “He’s super into pokemon and really funny.”

Koharu huffs. “Yamper doesn’t like him.”

Go rolls his eyes. “Yamper doesn’t like anyone, Koharu. What’s your point?”

Koharu does not look impressed.

“Did you really ride on Lugia?” she asks suddenly.

“Yes”, says Go smugly. “It was so amazing! It took us high into the sky and deep underwater and then we flew way outside of town! But then it just left us there… Can you imagine? In the middle of nowhere! That’s why we were so late today!”

He realizes he’s explaining with his hands, getting too carried away, and he quickly folds them back around his body. Koharu is looking at him strangely, and he hopes he only feels like he’s blushing with embarrassment.

“You really like him”, she observes quietly.

“I don’t!” Go yells out of habit. Koharu raises her eyebrows at him, and now Go is blushing. “I mean…”

“Uhuh”, she drawls, and Go glares at her.

“Just… just look after yourself, Go”, she says then, seriously. “Is he actually nice or do you just want him to be nice? You don’t really know him yet, after all.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that”, mutters Go.

“I’m just saying”, says Koharu pointedly.

Go glances through the big window and sees Ash outside playing with his Pikachu. He’s grinning from ear to ear, eyes fixed on his little companion, and he doesn’t look like he could hurt anyone, but then again, they usually don’t.

“You don’t know him either”, he says then, low, uncertain. “I feel like I can trust him.”

Koharu leans her chin on her hand and looks at him closely.

“Okay. Just don’t come back crying to me if he turns out to be one of those jerks.”

Go grins. She says that, every time, but she’s never complained before.

  ***

  “What do you think about Ash?” Go asks Scorbunny one night as they sit on the Institute roof and gaze at the luminous full moon above them.

Scorbunny doesn’t answer, of course, but it stops playing with the firefly it picked up from somewhere, tilts its head and looks up at him.

“Do you think he’s nice?” Go asks, and Scorbunny nods empathically. “But he’s a bit weird, isn’t he?”

Scorbunny nods again and grins widely.

“You like that?”

“Scor!”

It hops on its feet and explains eagerly, its little hands waving, and Go has no idea what it’s saying.

He needs Ash for things like that.

“Hey, calm down!” Go laughs, when Scorbunny just keeps going. “I get it, you think he’s funny, right? But… do you think he’s honest? Can we… can we trust him?”

Scorbunny stills, and it has a similar look in its eyes as Koharu had, a couple of days ago.

“Buni?”

“I guess you wouldn’t really get it”, Go muses. “He’s just… so unlike any of the other kids I know. What’s up with that? What if he’s just putting up an act?” He pauses, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “Ugh, I don’t even really know what I’m complaining about…”

He looks ahead, far over the city and down at the calm, glimmering ocean. At the place where he first saw Lugia.

In just a week, his life has turned upside down.  He has travelled a lot, got his first own pokemon and then more, had some crazy adventures and now he even has an actual friend to stress about.

He thinks about Ash protecting the bulbasaur and ivysaur with his body. He thinks about Ash mistaking the crossing signals in Galar for the dynamax phenomena. He thinks about Ash climbing the giant snorlax like it was as easy as a walk in a park for him.

“You like him, right?” he asks Scorbunny after a moment of silence.

It looks at him with bright eyes and whips its head up and down so fast it’s a blur. “Scorbu!”

“I like him too”, mutters Go, and maybe that’s enough for now.

  ***

  “What do you think about Ash?” whispers Go, one quiet morning, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

He’s still exhausted. Last evening Ash and he came back from Dragonite Island. From an island that, just one day ago, was only a rumor.

Koharu was right, he thinks idly. Ash is trouble. But not quite in the way they were afraid of.

He’s freedom, and adventure, and an unyielding source of support. He’s reckless and silly and unafraid when it comes to helping others. But then again, when he wants to be, he can be observant and thoughtful as well. He’s nothing like those jerks Go has spent his whole life avoiding.

The bathroom door bangs open and Ash barges in. He trips on the floormat, yells incoherently and grabs the sink for support, breathing hard.

“Oh man Go, you won’t believe what I just saw outside!” he shouts right into his ear, arms flying in every direction, Pikachu perched precariously on the top of his head. “Wanna come see?”

His shirt is inside out, and even though it’s barely eight in the morning, he’s acting like he just downed Go’s entire supply of energy drinks, his whole body vibrating with excitement.

Go can’t help but throw his head back and laugh; so hard that tears build in the corners of his eyes.

Ash grins widely at him and Go turns away from the mirror and grins back.

“Alright”, he laughs. “Let’s go!”

#pokeani #pokemon #pokemon ns #pokemon 2019 #pokeani spoilers #railou writes #episode tag #Ash Ketchum #trainer go #scorbunny #koharu #go has trust issues #and friendship issues #character study #railou posts

[its-railou]

The fire in you

Scorbunny evolves into Raboot and Gou struggles to deal with the changes in their relationship. Good thing Ash is there to shed some light on the situation.

Episode tag to New series episode 17.

Read on AO3 or below the cut

   The morning after Scorbunny evolved, Gou drags Ash into the hallway while their pokemon are distracted by their breakfast.

Ash follows after him like he’s a sack of potatoes, limp and distracted. It’s funny, thinks Gou, how Ash is only ever either as hyper as a kid pumped full of sugar, or full on asleep on his feet. Today is one of those slow mornings for him, and Gou has to physically move him to get him far enough away from the others.

“How do I know if I messed up?” he demands, right after he’s planted Ash against a wall and settled in front of him with his arms crossed.

Ash blinks slowly. “Huh…? Messed up what?”

Gou glares at him. He doesn’t want to spell it out, he just wants to talk about it.

“You know”, he grumbles. “With Scorb- with Raboot.”

Ash just looks at him blankly, evidently not comprehending.

“What d’you mean?” he eventually asks, his gaze still slightly clouded.

Gou sighs. Too bad Ash doesn’t understand even the least vague of clues.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t see how it was after it evolved! It- it didn’t even look at me, let alone talk to me! Oh jeez, it must really hate me…”

Ash lets out a short, startled laugh. “What, no way! Raboot doesn’t hate you!” he exclaims, life returning to his eyes, his body. He looks at Gou with some humor, head tilting. Gou frowns even deeper.

“Don’t laugh at me”, he snaps, and watches as Ash’s smile falls. “After everything I said to it, it probably doesn’t trust me anymore! I messed up real bad...!”

Ash keeps looking at him calmly, but now his face is unreadable. It annoys Gou, who is so on edge and worried about his friend that he just wants to argue with somebody.

“Of course Raboot still trusts you, Gou”, Ash says then, his brow creasing a little. “I mean, I could clearly see that from the way you battled together!”

Gou stills, blinks. Suddenly, there’s a heavy lump in his throat and he struggles to speak.

“R-really?” he forces out.

“Oh yeah!” Ash nods, smiling again. “You must’ve felt it too! Raboot was really powerful when it did that move, and you were in perfect sync with it! You two’re gonna be a really good team, Gou.”

He’s crying now, and Gou turns away, wiping his eyes furiously. He was expecting a scolding from Ash, not… this. When he turns back around, Ash is still smiling at him in that supportive way of his and it makes Gou feel small – like an ant next to giant. He feels insignificant compared to him, like there’s something unreachable about Ash, something bigger than life.

“Why is it a-acting like that, then? If it doesn’t hate me?” Gou asks in a strangled voice, and a new wave of tears spills out of the corners of his eyes. He’s too emotional to care about hiding it this time, and Ash doesn’t seem to mind anyway.

“Pokemon always change a little bit when they evolve”, Ash says softly. “Some pokemon change a lot more than others, and it often depends on how and why they evolved too. Like, if they’re very angry or scared when they evolve, suddenly that emotion gets way bigger… I mean, they feel it even more strongly, you know?”

Ash doesn’t really wait for him to answer to that, of which Gou is thankful for.

“I guess since Raboot is a fire type pokemon, it wants to learn fire type moves really badly”, Ash continues, his eyes wandering to the side. Thoughtful. “Right before it evolved, it was probably feeling like it was failing itself and, by extension, you. And most pokemon will do anything to not let down their trainer.”

Gou wipes his face with his sleeve, feeling terrible. He never wanted Scorbunny to feel like it wasn’t enough. In fact, he tried his best to tell that to it; that it didn’t matter if it didn’t know certain moves. That it could be strong in other ways, instead.

“But it wasn’t letting me down”, sniffles Gou miserably. “I don’t care if it knows or doesn’t know fire type moves! Why doesn’t it understand that?”

“It’s Raboot’s power, Gou”, Ash says quietly, and Gou looks up, startled. Ash leans against the wall and looks at him carefully. “In the end, it’s Raboot’s right to decide what moves it wants to learn. When you told it you wanted it to stop trying, it might’ve thought you didn’t trust it enough to believe that it even could learn. I know you didn’t mean it like that, but those kinda words can really hurt a pokemon.”

Gou’s eyes widen in realization and he folds his arms around himself. “I– I didn’t respect it’s opinion…”

He looks at Ash, who nods silently. “I didn’t respect it”, Gou repeats, the words tasting sour in his mouth. “And now… it doesn’t respect me.”

“It loves you, Gou”, Ash says plainly. “And it trusts you. But you’re a team. You gotta work together like one.”

Gou bites his lips and nods, slow tears rolling down his face. From the kitchen doorway down the hall, Pikachu’s head peeks out, and it looks towards Ash with curious eyes.

Ash smiles, wider now, and reaches his arm towards it. “Don’t feel too bad about all this”, he says to Gou reassuringly, while Pikachu leaps onto his arm and skitters over to his other shoulder. “It took me a long time and a lot of mistakes to realize this stuff. You got lots of time to spend with Raboot and earn that respect back.”

Gou nods again, numbly. He watches as Ash and Pikachu rub their cheeks together, giggling, and it looks so effortless. He really, really wants that.

“I want to get stronger for Raboot”, he says emphatically, wiping his face clean, this time for good. “I want to show it that I’m worth its trust.”

Ash grins. “Good”, he replies, throwing his arm around Gou’s shoulders. “And I’ll help you with that.”

They start walking back towards the kitchen like that, and Gou feels like smiling, for the first time since Raboot turned its back to him in the park.

Respect, he thinks, turning the word over in his mouth.

He can do that.

#pokeani #pokemon #pokemon ns #pokemon 2019 #pokeani spoilers #ns017 #raboot #trainer go #Ash Ketchum #gou has a lot to learn #ash is a surprisingly good teacher #railou writes #railou posts

[its-railou]

Giga-sized trouble

Episode tag to New series episodes 12-13 (the midpoint of ep 13)

The news about the incident at the World Championships finals reaches the professors back in Alola, and they wonder if there's any chance that Ash is currently in Galar, attending it...

Yeah, he probably is.

(Or: Kukui and Burnet’s Oh-shit-Ash-is-in-trouble -senses are tingling).

Read on AO3 or below the cut

”Hey Kukui, come see this quickly.”

Professor Kukui raised his head from his papers, throwing a questioning look towards Burnet. She sounded weirdly serious and worried, considering she had been yelling at the tv just minutes ago in pure excitement.

“What is it?” he asked, sipping his coffee, pen still in one hand. He was only as far as across the room, but he’d have preferred not moving if not absolutely necessary. There were still too many pages of course material to shift through.

Burnet shook her head, her hand cradling her swelling stomach protectively. Her eyes were fixed on the tv and something in her expression made Kukui’s brow furrow with concern.

“Something’s happening”, she said, quietly, urgently.

Kukui was up in seconds. “Is it the baby? Are you okay?”

Burnet sighed exasperatedly, waving her hand at him. “Ugh, no! Just come here!”

Kukui walked up to her, and when he saw the tv he stopped on his tracks. Eyes wide, he stared at the screen.

“What’s going on? Is this still from the Wyndon Stadium?”

Burned nodded, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. “Yeah, it’s live feed. The ceremony for Leon was still going on when suddenly a gigantamaxed pokemon crashed through the wall – no one knows why!”

On the tv-screen, a giant head was swinging around, dust billowing over the arena grounds. Kukui could see Champion Leon still standing in the middle of it, staring at the rampage in obvious bafflement. Kukui picked up the remote and turned up the volume.

The commentator was yelling. “This gigantamax drednaw is out of control! Where did it come from? Wait, it has pulled back! Is it preparing for another attack?”

The camera was pointed at the giant hole the pokemon’s head had left behind, and on the edge of the screen Kukui could see Leon taking out his poke ball, preparing for a battle. All of it reminded him an uncomfortable amount of the Alola league finals, and he edged closer to Burnet as they continued watching in anxious silence.

“Wait a minute people, I just got a report telling me that the gigantamax drednaw has turned its attention elsewhere! Someone is challenging it outside, and the audience at the stadium have been given a chance to evacuate through the east-side doors! I assure you, dear viewers at home, all the authorities have been alerted and no injuries have been reported as of yet! Rest assured; this situation is well under control!”

But Burnet was still holding her breath, and Kukui certainly wasn’t feeling relieved. Not yet.

No, he had a really bad feeling about it.

He begun: “Do you think…”

“That Ash could be attending the finals?” finished Burnet softly. “That’s what I was thinking about.”

“He would love to see the World Championships finals, and I think he would’ve had the chance to go there, too, because of his current position”, nodded Kukui seriously.

They hadn’t heard from Ash in a couple of weeks, not since he’d called to tell them he was going to be staying at Vermilion city to help Professor Sakuragi with his research. They had been very proud to hear that, and certain that he would be in great hands.

But Ash was also a certified trouble magnet, and the Professors knew that very well.

Kukui rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Maybe we should call Sakuragi’s lab and –“

The commentator was yelling again, and something he was saying caught their attention. “What is this that I just heard, people? The stadium wall just shook violently and there is a giga battle happening outside! A gigantamax pikachu has just now appeared and seems to be battling the gigantamax drednaw! Who is that brave trainer who has challenged the rampaging pokemon?”

“A pikachu?” murmured Burnet.

Kukui sighed. Too late. They would just have to wait, and see, and hope.

  A quick call to Professor Sakuragi confirmed that Ash was currently in Wyndon, (how surprising, thought Kukui), and he should be staying in a pokemon center near the stadium. He wasn’t answering their call, however, and the news were telling them nothing about the incident, nothing except that the situation had been resolved and no serious injuries had occurred. The “mysterious trainer”, as the reporters called him, had not been reached for an interview.

About an hour later they finally got a call from Ash. He appeared on the screen with a bright smile and a second trainer by his side – a young man with tanned skin and a scorbunny wrapped in his arms.

“Alola, Professors!” Ash greeted happily. “Nurse Joy told me you’ve been trying to call me! Sorry, we only just got back!”

“Alola, Ash, good to see you!” Kukui greeted, and felt an instantaneous smile stretching across his face.

“Hey, dear. How are you doing?” asked Burnet. ”We heard you were at the finals, and we saw the news from the Wyndon Stadium, so we were a bit worried about you.”

Ash waved his hand nonchalantly. “Ah, yeah, we’re fine! That drednaw was just startled after it suddenly gigantamaxed. It wasn’t really trying to hurt anyone!”

The other trainer side-eyed him, muttering: “Are you sure about that….”

“So you saw it up close?” asked Kukui. “You weren’t hurt, were you?”

“Nope! When it crashed into the stadium, we ran outside so we could lure it away from the audience. We got it to battle us so everyone could get out in the meanwhile!”

“You lured it away intentionally?” yelped Kukui, though deep down he wasn’t that surprised. “That’s too reckless, Ash! That pokemon was out of control and very dangerous!”

“Uhuh. It was his idea, actually”, said Ash’s friend under his breath.

Ash turned to look at him. “Come on, Go, you thought it was a good idea too!”

“Go?” asked Burnet, while Kukui rubbed at his temples wearily. “You’re also helping at Sakuragi’s lab, isn’t that right?”

Go turned back to the screen and waved his hand awkwardly. “Um, that’s right! I’m Go from Vermilion city. Ash told me you are professors in the Alola region, and he stayed with you while he was there.”

“Yes, we got very close with Ash during his stay, so you understand why we wanted to make sure he was okay after an incident like that”, replied Kukui. “Also, we heard that there was a gigantamaxed pikachu on the scene…?”

Ash jumped excitedly, and his smile was as bright as the Alolan sun. “Oh yeah, it was super awesome! We didn’t really mean to do it, but suddenly Pikachu just started growing and it got super big and everything got like woosh, bam, bow! Then mister Leon came and helped me battle with Pikachu and we won against that drednaw!”

Pikachu hopped on his shoulder, and Ash turned his grinning face at it and petted its neck. Pikachu cooed happily, and Kukui took the moment to digest his words.

Mister Leon?

Wait, Champion Leon? World Champion Leon?

“Hold on, Ash, Champion Leon helped you?” he repeated blankly. He shared a look with Burnet, and she shrugged helplessly at him.

Ash nodded, calming down slightly. “Well, yeah. He was watching our battle, and Pikachu was really confused about the giga-form, and I didn’t really know how to help it, so mister Leon told me what to say to get it to do the right move!”

“And afterwards, when he came down to thank us, Ash straight up asked the Champion to battle him…” added Go with a roll of his eyes.

That caught Kukui off guard, and he burst into laughter. “Oh, really?” he chuckled. “Why am I not surprised?”

“He didn’t answer me, though”, said Ash with a disappointed pout. “We kinda had to leave pretty fast ‘cause all the police officers and reporters were coming closer, and we didn’t wanna get stuck doing all that stuff.”

“I wouldn’t have minded”, stated Go with a shrug.

“Anyway, how are you doing, Professors?” asked Ash excitedly. “We haven’t seen each other in a while! How’s Lycanroc and Rowlet and everyone?”

And that was that about the Galar incident.

With a content smile, Kukui let Burnet answer all of Ash’s questions – he took his time to hang back and just watch his previous student gush excitedly over all the cool and awesome things they had done so far; all the pokemon they had met and helped and the wonders they had witnessed.

Ash might be a trouble magnet, mused Kukui, but he was also a miracle magnet.

And he was just getting started.

#pokeani #pokemon #pokemon ns #ns012 #ns013 #pokeani spoilers #pokemon fanfiction #my fic #railou writes #episode tag #Ash Ketchum #trainer go #professor kukui #professor burnet #pikachu #Ash has worried parents back in Alola #and they KNOW when he's in trouble #railou posts

[its-railou]

Clemont, but dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, wearing Ash's hat from Alola.

Art from my Pokemon adventure fic Together We Are Stronger (AO3), chapter 10.

#Clemont #pokeani #pokemon xyz #pokemon sumo #pokemon art #pokemon fiction #railou writes #railou draws #man i havent drawn anything in a while #even this took way too long #maybe i will finish it some day #railou posts

[its-railou]

I’m writing a fic where a character has his pokemon use hyper beam a couple of times, but I keep accidentally writing hyper bean and then giggling at the mental image

#it's so stupid #i'm probably way too tired for this #railou writes #railou posts