Work Text:
Ash has been tense all day, and the class knows it. He's barely been able to manage a shaky smile for the class, and when they asked about it, he said he was alright. It was worrying.
Even more worrying was Ash turning down Kiawe's offer to train after school.
"Sorry Kiawe, I've got something to do after school," Ash gives him a thin smile, definitely not the bright grin Ash usually gives.
"Like what?" Mallow cheerfully asks. They could come with him and try and cheer him up.
"Just stuff," Ash tells her, turning away and falling quiet, mindlessly petting pikachu on his desk.
The entire day pikachu had never left his side, even as Ash's other Pokemon went and played with the rest of the class's Pokemon.
Pikachu even glared at a few people who prodded Ash for too much information.
Just as Mallow was about to respond, Ash suddenly got up, leaving his unopened lunch on the desk and announcing, "ive gotta go to the bathroom."
Pikachu jumps up on Ash's shoulder as he walks away from the rest of the class, who have all pushed their desks together during lunch.
"What's up with Ash today" Sophocles frowns "he's been acting weird."
"I don't know, but it must be pretty serious if Ash doesn't want to train." Kiawe shakes his head. Ash is always wanting a battle.
"He hasn't even opened his lunch" Lana tilts her head towards the unopened food.
The group frowns at the empty desk.
"Im gonna follow him after school. Anyone coming with?" Mallow suddenly says, making the group snap their heads towards her.
"I don't know, isn't it kinda invasive?" Kiawe reluctantly says, averting his eyes.
"But we won't know what's bothering him if he doesn't tell us, and he just avoids or lies every time we ask. I say we go to figure out what happened," Lana says, moving towards Mallow's side of the desks.
"If he doesn't want to tell us he doesn't have to, we should support him and not force it out of him." Sophocles frowns, looking at the girls as he moves over by Kiawe. The four have a standoff for a brief second.
"I'll come." Lillie's steely resolve is surprising as she agrees to go. The rest of the group looks at her in disbelief.
"Ash is always there for us when we are upset. Isn't it our turn to do the same?" Lillie says a fiery resolve she must have gotten from Ash firm in her eyes.
"Thats right!" Mallow says as she jumps up from her seat, standing next to Liliie, "Ash is our friend! We should help him!"
That convinces the boys, and they agree to go with them to follow Ash. They form up a plan quickly. They don't know how much time they will have before Ash returns.
Ash eventually returned to the room, and they hushed, not wanting to give away the plan. Ash doesn't notice the sudden silence as he returns to his desk. He doesn't get a chance to start eating his lunch before professor kukui arrives, announcing the end of lunch.
The rest of the day went by quick, too busy learning to worry about Ash, though they don't miss the worried looks their teacher gives him. Looks like they aren't the only ones to notice the change in him.
As soon as the bell rang and as soon as professor kukui dismissed them, Ash grabbed his bag and returned his Pokemon in a flash of light.
Ash rarely puts his Pokemon in their pokeballs, and when he does, it's because there are strict rules about large Pokemon. He even returned Rowlett!
Rowlett is small enough to stay in his bag, so he only returns him if it got knocked out or injured.
Ash heads out, pikachu on one of his shoulders and his bag thrown over the other.
"Come on! Before we lose him," Mallow whisper yells, rushing out the door, Liliie just a step behind her, leaving the rest of the class to scramble to catch up.
They follow Ash as he trudges into a nearby forest, staying out of sight while not losing him.
Eventually, Ash arrives at a clearing with some sunshine peeking through the tall trees.
Thankfully there was a bush nearby that would give them coverage while also letting them see Ash.
Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out his flip phone. Ash doesn't want a modern touchscreen phone, something about him always traveling and fragile phones. It's apparently a miracle he even has a phone at all, he told them.
He told them about the times he traveled in Kanto, only being able to call people at Pokemon centers and paying a small fortune if you wanted to call outside the region.
Ash looks at the phone hesitantly for a second, a long time for Ash, who seems to never put a thought behind his actions and never hesitate.
He sighs before pikachu nudges his cheek as if encouraging him. Ash smiles at the small mouse before returning to the phone and dialing a number.
"Who do you think he's calling?" Lana whispers to Sophocles, who shrugs.
"Maybe it's misty or brock, but why would he be so nervous?" Sophocles ponders, only to get shushed by Mallow and Kiawe.
Ash pulls the phone to his ear, and the currently hidden group strains to listen.
As soon as it picks up, Ash starts speaking in a positively fake cheerful tone.
The problem?
They forgot Ash could speak different languages and was definitely not speaking alolan.
They only learned a little of kantonian, just enough to know he was speaking actual words and not just gibberish to them and to pick out a few cognates. They knew the basics, but then a sentence they couldn't understand came up, and Ash reacted visibly to it. They could understand the first part of it, with Ash and what they think is his mom, if his cheerful "mom!" was to go anything by asking how each other are and saying hello.
He straightened, his eyes widening in shock as he stood there frozen.
His mother continues with another sentence they couldn't understand, only picking out the word trainer.
Ash blinks and looks at his phone as if something was wrong. He eventually responded to his mother, his fake smile wiping off his face.
His mother snapped back a few words as Ash seemed to be at a loss for words.
"What do you guys think they are saying?" Mallow whispers. The group doesn't answer, too fixated on their friend, slowly showing signs of anger and sadness.
Ash's brows furrow as he starts to pace around, pikachu jumping off to sit only a few steps away from the bush they were hiding in. they all stiffen, pikachu could blow their cover.
Ash's words become fast-paced and upset, making it even harder to understand what is happening.
Their voices slowly gain volume until they are screaming at each other, anger visible on his face as he picks up his pacing. Pikachu nearby lowers its ears in worry.
She says something that angers both trainer and Pokemon, Ash picks up in volume, and pikachu growls, standing up and letting out little sparks.
Eventually, one sentence makes Ash stop dead in his tracks, his anger dissipating from his face, instead filled with shock and pure grief.
"Mom?" Ash asks, barely above a whisper.
One sentence comes out in a harsh cold tone they could barely even tell was from a mother echos out through the phone.
The phone goes dead, and Ash looks ahead, processing the words. The group still has no idea what they were, but they must have been pretty brutal if Ash's face screws up, tears appearing in his eyes.
The group covers their mouths to hold in a gasp as they see it, Ash rarely cries, and they've never even seen it. They just kinda assumed he did after nebby.
"Pika" pikachu calls sadly, climbing up Ash, who has dropped his arms to be limp beside him.
Ash falls backward onto his butt, pikachu on his lap. He pulls his arms around pikachu as he starts to cry harder.
Lillie stands up from the bush, Ash not even registering her as he pulls his legs up, as if he was hiding from the world.
Lillie plops down next to him, rubbing calming circles on his back pikachu gives her a nod.
Kiawe and Mallow were the next to join her, Kiawe sitting next to Ash and pulling him into a side hug, Mallow sitting across from him as she pulls out tissues from Lillie's bag.
Lana and Sophocles are next, sitting next to either side of Mallow creating a small circle.
Ash eventually notices the group of friends as he leans into Kiawe's hug.
"guys? What are you doing here?" he asks, slurring his words a bit.
"We were worried about you, so we followed you," Mallow sheepishly admits. Ash lets his knees fall so he's sitting cross-legged.
He wipes his tears with his arm, and Mallow hands him the tissues.
"What happened? We've never seen you so emotional." Liliie asks, withdrawing her arm from his back.
"I… had a talk with my mom…" he says, lowering pikachu into his lap and looking down sadly.
"She told me that since I was sixteen, I should let go of my silly dream and head home." Ash's face screws up as he thinks about his mom.
"She basically gave me two choices after I told her I didn't want to give up my dream.." Ash bites his lip as if he was holding back more tears.
"i could come back home, give up on my stupid dream and become a farmhand… or i could keep traveling…" a fresh set of tears starts to fall, "and get disowned."
They all stiffen a few, letting out gasps.
"Why does she think your dream is stupid? I think it's admirable," Lana asks softly, not even her daring to make jokes or light-hearted teasing.
"She said I wasn't a good enough trainer and should have given up after six months like the rest of the kids." Kiawe scowls. Ash is a great trainer. Even their island guardian itself agrees.
"She kept going on about how Gary, my formal rival, had amazing trainer potential and he quit years ago," Ash admits, his voice barely above a whisper.
Kiawe scowls harder as his fist clenches. Lana taps him on the arm to tell him to calm down.
"That's awful Ash…" Mallow frowns. Who would do such a thing?
"She never believed in me. She was always expecting me to give up." Ash's lip quivers, and he brings his knees up again.
"Ash, you were the one to inspire me to never give up and believe in myself," Liliie smiles softly, "we all believe you can do it, no matter what your mother thinks."
The rest of the group confirms to let Ash know they agree.
'Thanks, guys" Ash gives a wobbly smile before dropping it again.
"Where am I gonna go?" he asks himself mostly.
"Well, You may not be wanted back at pallet town, but alola will always welcome you," Sophocles tells him, a smile on his face forming.
"Yeah, I guess it will" Ash smiles warmly, the first genuine smile all day.
Another round of crying starts as Ash buries himself into Kiawe, everyone else joining in the group hug.
Pikachu hops out of Ash's lap before it gets squished.
The small Pokemon smiles, however.
Finally, a group pikachu believes Ash can be his best with.
No having to hide any emotions in case of getting teased (or called a little kid, pikachu gruffly remembers Unova), no having to pretend he doesn't have any negative feelings in case the people around him get mad for not fitting the pedestal they built for him.
He can be sad without worrying about others and having to shut down instead of letting his emotions out.
Pikachu is the only one who can see the toll their adventuring has had on Ash. Still, unfortunately, pikachu is only a pokemon and a single being. He needed friends he could rely on to be his worst. And here they are, helping his human.
Pikachu likes it here in alola.