A Dream, A Destiny 2

Departing away

Ash POV

My eyes narrowed at the way he said the last part. Like there was absolutely no room for discussion, which meant that mom had pretty much agreed to whatever decision dad had made. But why? The answer dropped into my mind with ease and I sighed. Of course. A common tactic of the conniving business man.

"Dad," I said firmly, waiting for him to make eye contact before I continued. "Did you bribe her into doing this?"

His next words threw me off, so condescending and utterly pompous was his voice.

"I made her an offer that she couldn't refuse." He said, staring down at me. Face to face. "Anyway, you wanted to bond with her, now's your chance."

Did he never understand? He actually thought he was doing me a favor? Sure, I wanted to bond with my mother, but not this way! This just seemed too forced for my liking, catering to what Giovanni Ketchum wanted without much regard to anybody else.

"But she'll hate me for this," I whispered, my body growing cold.

I never thought that my acting out would impact so many people on so many different levels. I ran a shaking hand washing over my face, trying to slow my heart rate with deep breaths. Was this it? I had to leave behind everyone and everything I loved and all because I tried to be a total degenerate to get my dad's attention? Well, I had certainly succeeded at getting him to pay attention, but at what cost? Now my mother was giving up her dream, not to mention her whole life, for me. I wondered what the hell dad had offered her to get her to agree and groaned as the sudden answer hit me. He'd offered her me.

"No. I won't hate you, Ash."

I gasped as mom walked through my room's open door, her hair flowing over her ears.

"Mom, I don't want to go. Don't do this," I pleaded, starting to get to my feet and groaning with pain as my head pounded. With a grunt of frustration, I sat back down, my hands clenched into fists. "Don't give up your life for me." I knew I sounded as melodramatic as a soapie actor but I couldn't help myself.

Mom smiled serenely as she sat down next to me. "I'm not. Well, I am, but it's for the best." She stroked my forehead as she went on. "I'd rather practice medicine in an office in Pallet and have you near me than be out in Kanto knowing that you're here. Your dad has had you to himself for all these years. Now it's my turn and if I have to go into private practice to have you, then go into private practice I will."

"There you go, everything's settled," dad exclaimed, a mock hearty note in his voice as he clapped his hands. "Get some sleep and read up on your new school in the morning. I pulled a lot of strings to get you into Kanto and I don't want you to mess it up."

I knew full well what that look on his face meant. Case closed, class dismissed. That could only mean one thing. I was going to Kanto region in just two weeks' time. How the hell was I going to break it to Sere?

Dropping a kiss on my cheek, mom whispered, "Goodnight, Ash. I'll be here bright and early to explain more."

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Making things right with a specific ex friend was only part of my preparations to leave Kalos. The bigger and most important part was telling Sere I was leaving. I still hadn't done that yet.

My flight was just over a week away and I still couldn't muster up enough courage to tell her I would be gone for a year. That's right, I would rather apologize to Calem for punching him than tell Sere I had to leave due to my own stupidity. My one-way trip had only started to sink in when I had to explain to Leaf why people were packing up my stuff at home. I was only taking a couple of cases of stuff with me, the rest was going into storage. Having to hold Leaf as she cried wasn't something I ever wanted to go through again.