No Return (The Return Series)

The Offer

With Paul:
Lumiose City, Kalos
Paul was worried. And not for the right reasons. Ash had seemingly disappeared for 12 hours just to reappear out of thin air. He suspected that Giovanni was onto them but he had suspected that for a while it was just how much Giovanni knew. To further his previous reason for being worried Giovanni had targeted New Bark Town. For the first time in three years. Giovanni would only target that town if he knew of Jimmy and Paul's true loyalties. Jimmy had barged into Paul's room after Paul had his first battle of the day and was having a nap. "Jimmy what are you doing? Let me sleep," Paul said groggily wiping the sleep out of his eyes. Paul saw a tear roll down Jimmy's cheek before Jimmy placed his laptop on his bed and played a news report from 30 minutes ago. The title read, 'New Bark Town sacked for the first time in three years. Who is really behind this?' The news report started playing, "here behind me you will see the remains of New Bark Town. It is currently unknown who attacked the town but due to footsteps left behind it appears to be more than one person. There were no survivors left from the attack just like last time New Bark Town was attacked. It appears whoever is behind this intends to leave no survivors for a reason. We'll keep updated when we get more information on the matter.' The news report shut off. Jimmy waited for a second before saying, "I think it was Ash." "You can't just blame him for everything that goes wrong it the world," Paul defended Ash. "Are you defending him," Jimmy asked shocked. "Yes I am. Be he's my friend. No matter how fucked up he is. He's still my friend. Look at you. Your a wreck. Ash is being manipulated and he doesn't know it," Paul replied. "Even so he's gone too far just look at this," Jimmy said before clicking a few buttons and another news report came up this one from an two hours ago. "I am unfortunately here due to unexpected news. Our very own Professor Oak has been murdered. Shot once in the head. The professor has been monitored by the international police for some time and they had been using an abandoned house as their base of operations. It looks like someone broke into that house and killed every single officer before moving onto our dear Professor Oak and his assistant Tracey Sketchit. Here I am at the house now and as you can see there is a lot of damage done to this house. You can see the broken table and it looks like an officer was thrown through a wall. As we get upstairs we see that a door is slightly off it's hinges but no damage done to this room. And as you can see here it looks like the culprit threw someone onto the bathtub as we can see from the shape of the bathtub." The a bit of the front of the bathtub had come off and it looked like someone's head saw hit into the other side elf the bathtub. "We are struck with horrible news yet we pray that this region can stay strong and catch the culprit." The news report signed off. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Slow down. Are you implying that you think Ash killed Oak," Paul asked shocked. "You can think whatever. The evidence is there. Ash leaves Kalos goes and kills the Professor and visits his old home then goes to Johto to burn New Bark Town," Jimmy spoke rather calmly, "He's going to pay I don't care how much he's being manipulated I'm going to kill him." "I'm not getting involved in that it's between the two of you. If you have to just make it painless for him. Be the better man. At least show mercy," Paul told Jimmy. It was a while before Jimmy spoke again."There is no mercy."

With Ash and Yellow:
"Hello mother," Ash said cautious as to how to approach this situation. "Hello, Ash," Yellow replied dreamily. "Do you remember your father," Yellow asked. "I know he looks like me. I've seen him in pictures but I've had glimpses. Memories here and there containing him. I remember why he said he left," Ash replied. "Do you know why I am special," Yellow asked. "Well, your a child of the Viridian Forest," Ash answered. "You you know why Red is special," Yellow asked. "He's the youngest champion," Ash replied. "When trainers like that have a child together it was bound to have been something interesting," Yellow spoke the madness leaving her eyes, "I'm sorry I've been absent from your life for so long." Yellow began to cry and hugged onto Ash as if he were about to disappear. Ash just stood there hugging back awkwardly. The reason he didn't want to tell her was because his emotions would weaken him, give him something else to think about when he should be focusing on one thing. The mission. He did miss his mother and he wished he could talk but Giovanni had already questioned his loyalty and once was enough. "I missed you," Yellow cried into his shoulder. "Yea I missed you too. But we'll have to catch up another time I have to get ready for my match," Ash replied. "Oh ok... Chuchu let's go," she spoke quickly beaconing her Pikachu to follow. Ash sighed and fell back onto his bed, Pikachu and Eevee jumped onto his stomach looking at him before they both curled up into balls and fell asleep. "No, no. We don't have time we have to go because I have a battle to attend," Ash said before placing Pikachu and Eevee on each of his shoulders. As Ash walked onto the street he was met with a problem. Dawn. She was walking right at him. He tried to pretend not to notice her but she came to a halt right in front of him. "Hey," Dawn said nervously. "Hi," Ash said quickly, his blood deciding to rush to his head. "Look I have an offer for you," Dawn explained, "I know you don't fully trust us at all. But do you want to come to dinner with us tonight. Just to catch up." "What time," Ash asked. "7pm at Lumiose Café," Dawn replied. "See you there," she said then winked at him and ran off. Ash just stood there shocked. Did Dawn still love him?

Two Hours Later:
"Pikachu is unable to battle, the winner is Electivire," the ref announced, "will Trainer Ash please send out his last Pokémon." Ash looked up at the scoreboard. Five of his Pokémon were blacked out. Fainted. And one of them were greyed out. Infernape. "Infernape, I choose you," Ash yelled. He mentally cringed at his old catchphrase. "Electivire use Thunder," Paul yelled, "answer with Flamethrower," Ash yelled back. "Electivireeee/Infernapeeee," both Pokémon cried as they launched their attacks neither seeming to be stronger than the other. "Use Flare Blitz," Ash yelled, "Protect," Paul replied. Sparks flew as Flare Blitz clashed with the energy field. "Flamethrower," "Thunder," "Close Combat," "Thunder Punch." "Use Flamethrower," Ash yelled. "Use Thunder," Paul yelled. "Infernape, run at Electivire," Ash yelled. "Electivire get ready for anything he does," Paul said. "Slide under then use Close Combat," Ash yelled. Electivire had not expected that and was caught with the full force of Close Combat. "Now use Flare Blitz," Ash yelled. After the barrage of attacks, Electivire was still standing. "Use Dig," Ash yelled. Paul smirked, it was time for him to take back this battle. As soon as Infernape went underground Paul said something that shocked Ash. Ash knew he was far from ready but Paul had prepared a lot. Ash's strategy with Eevee versing Paul's Drapion had barely worked and now Ash didn't know if he could come back from this. "Electivire use Earthquake," Paul yelled. "Shit," Ash muttered, "Infernape try to dig out." "Electivireee," Electivire cried as it smashed its fists into the ground making the ground shake and it made Infernape fly out from the ground. Ash was silent but Infernape refused to go down like that so it got back up. Infernape's flame started to get bigger and more intense. "Blaze," Paul muttered under his breath. "Infernape use Flamethrower," Ash yelled. "Electivire use Thunder," Paul yelled back. Electivire managed to block Flamethrower with Thunder. Barely. "Flare Blitz," "Thunder Punch." "Infernapeeee/Electivireeee," both Pokémon cried as they slammed into each other as sparks flew from the contact. Smoke covered the battlefield blocking everyone from seeing the outcome of the battle. When the smoke cleared everyone saw the winner. Infernape had fainted and Electivire was sitting down breathing heavily looking like it was about to faint. Ash looked where Infernape lay fainted before pulling out a Pokeball and saying, "you battled well my friend take a rest." Paul smiled, perhaps there was more of the old Ash in there than anyone realised. Ash walked towards Paul in the middle of the field. "You battled well Shinji," Ash said, "you too Ketchum. Kinda reminds me of the first time we had a battle with a large audience in a stadium," Paul replied. "Don't remind me," Ash muttered, "come on we need to go find some people."

10 Minutes Later:
Ash had found the group of people he was looking for. His seniors. The ones that knew he was Yellow's son. They were in a secluded area so it worked in his favour. "Which one of you ratted me out," Ash yelled at them. "They all turned around shocked. "What are you talking about," Crystal asked. "Don't give me that bullshit," Ash yelled louder this time, "one of you ratted me out to Yellow. I was in Kanto for business and I come back to find her in my apartment. So I'm asking, which one of you told her." "It was me," a voice said. It was Blue. She pushed her way to the front. "I told Yellow," Blue confirmed. "What? You feel bad about what you did," Ash asked mockingly, "I was lied to my entire life and you expect me to be grateful? And I specifically told all of you not to tell her." "She deserved to know," Blue muttered. "Bullshit! You just felt bad. You wanted a way out. From the grief. From what you did," Ash yelled at her. "Don't speak to her like that," Green's voice erupted. "What are you sorry too? Sorry that you optimistically believed that Red would return? He can't because he's dead," Ash yelled, "now if you'll excuse me I have a battle to attend to." "Ketchum," a voice erupted from behind him. Ash turned around and it was Jimmy standing there fists clenched. "Here you are speaking about what other things people did. Yet you admitted you were away from Kalos. And you know what I know what you did," Jimmy yelled. "Please enlighten me," Ash spoke in a condescending tone. "New Bark Town burnt to the ground. No survivors. Pallet Town attacked. Professor Oak murdered," Jimmy yelled. "I was in Celadon, speaking with Giovanni and some of his associates. Plus why would I attack my own home Town," Ash spoke with certainty. "Who are Giovanni's associates," Jimmy asked, Ash replied with an answer that shocked Jimmy and Paul. "The Four Horsemen of Team Rocket. The very thing we created."

2784 Words.