Ash stood in front of the video caller with a twitching eye. Life was juuuuuuust~ great. He had a pervert in his team. A shameless pervert no less.
...That shameless pervert was currently lying on the ground with swirls in his eyes and bruises all over his body courtesy to Kirlia who was still angry at the Bulbasaur. Ash had to physically restrain Kirlia from outright killing the Bulbasaur.
"Ehehe...So..." Professor Oak drawled on the computer screen, "So...What did you want to talk about Ash?" He asked uncomfortably.
Ash turned to him with his normal disinterested eyes and spoke, "Ahh yes. I wanted to speak about Bulbasaur actually. During my time at your ranch...As much as I don't like to admit it, I had neglected my studies about grass pokemon..." Ash said uncomfortably...That was as sheepish as you can get with Ash Ketchum, Professor Oak thought with a smile. Ash continued, "Well...I was hoping that you will have some documents on the lives of Bulbasaurs...I know next to nothing about them except for the fact that one of their species on my team is a shameless pervert" He told the old professor.
Oak appeared thoughtful for a moment and rubbed his chin in concentration, "Yes...I believe that I MAY have something for you Ash...I will send them to your Pokedex as a message today..." Oak told Ash over the video phone.
Ash's eyes narrowed as he looked at the smiling face of the professor...He was smiling a little too merrily for his own good. Now that meant something...
Ash took a deep breath in and muttered something about 'evil wrinkly old coots' and turned to professor and asked, "Your smile isn't fooling anyone old man. What do you want?"
Oak's smile actually morphed into a grin, "Oh nothing too drastic my boy. You see these old bones have little energy left in them now..." Oak drawled with an hearty chuckle, "And there is a certain someone who I was trying to contact for a few months now. I believe he lives in a Lighthouse on the Route to Vermillion City...I am getting old Ash, I can't travel anymore. Do me a favor and deliver a message to my friend –"
"You're talking about Bill Sonezaki aren't you?" Ash interrupted him and asked.
Professor Oak smiled on the video phone and nodded, "You always had that exceptional gift of reading people like a book Ash. To answer your question, Yes. I am talking about Bill Sonezaki. I want you to visit his lighthouse when you have gotten Cerulean's badge and tell him to...You know what? Delia can you please go feed the Tauros at the ranch first? They must be getting hungry" Oak told Delia at the other end of the phone.
Ash's eyes narrowed dangerously, 'Whatever he is going to tell me he doesn't want mum to listen...Must be some delicate information...' Ash thought.
Delia waved at Ash over the video phone and said, "Bye Ashy. Mum has some work now. Maybe I'll call you later" She left with Gardie and Mimey after that.
Oak released a sigh of relief as she closed the door and turned to the video caller screen to see Ash frowning at him. Oak frowned back at him and spoke, "I know about all your endeavors Ash Ketchum. I know about Viridian, Mount Moon and now Cerulean. And I also know your reasons for lying. Which is exactly what makes you perfect for this job..."
All color drained from Ash's face as he heard that from Professor Oak. Then he realized that being a former champion has its perks. Professor Oak frowned some more as he spoke, "Yes you guessed it right. I am the former Kanto Champion Ash. How long do you think you could hide it from me?" The old professor asked rhetorically, "...Anyway...What is done cannot be undone and I will not disclose this information to anyone else. This is some high class information I am giving you to deliver to Bill and considering your unique reputation among Team Rocket I believe that you are the most suitable person for this job...But..." Oak released a heavy sigh as he turned back and spoke,
"...But...You can refuse to do this too Ash. This is a highly dangerous situation I will be handling with Bill...I don't want you to get involved...You can refuse to do this if you want. I will not hold it against you"
Ash was giving the Professor his rapt attention as soon as he heard 'Team Rocket' but now he was confused. This was apparently the job of Ace Trainers because generally it was their job to handle sensitive matters like this. He could understand why Oak was giving him this job. It involved Team Rocket. And Oak knows about his beef with them...Now the question remains should he do it?
Well...There are some good things that would come out if he accepts. He would have the chance to meet one of the most influential Pokemon Researchers in the whole world for starters...
So with a sigh he made his decision and told the Old Professor, "I accept Professor"
"Excellent. I will send a message to your Pokedex Id number about what you have to do by tomorrow along with the PDF of a book for handling Bulbasaurs. Sound good?"
Ash nodded and replied, "It is acceptable"
With that both of them smiled a little and cut the call.
Ash turned to see Tulip sitting on the nearby Pokemon Center table looking at him with curiosity. He went to her and took a seat on a chair opposite to her. She spoke first, "So you are leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes" Ash replied.
The Mega Evolution professor smiled coyly at him, "You know a certain someone will not like to see you leave?"
"If you were looking for some perverse amusement to see me all flustered about Giselle then you must be sorely disappointed" Ash replied dryly.
"Aww that sucks..." She whined childishly.
No emotion was evident on our resident aura user's face as he stared blankly at her. 'Way to go ruining my fun for me...' Tulip thought with a mental pout.
She sighed and bid him goodbye.
Ash sat silently in the Pokemon Center close to the High School thinking about what Oak had told him. This...pseudo-mission thingy was going to be certainly troublesome. He could already predict that much.
And he was slightly behind his schedule. His original plan had been only 1 week outside Cerulean but it had already been 6 days, he couldn't hope to reach Cerulean in one day could he? And so with a sigh he went to his reserved room and settled in for the night.
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"Goodbye Ashy~" An enthusiastic Tulip Carter glomped Ash into a big teddy hug and started to ruffle his hair.
Ash's eyes twitched. Okay. He had gotten somewhat used to getting called Ashy. (Which he obviously wasn't. HEY! Having Ash Grey colored hair does NOT make you Ashy) But he would never get used to being smothered in between large, bouncy watermelons. Leafy was okay but his aunt too? Definitely not!!
Nevertheless he couldn't get any more embarrassed, '...or suffocated' His mind very helpfully added. He couldn't get any more embarrassed than by being smothered by Tulip at the school gate while he was just about to leave silently.
...Apparently 'Tulip Carter' and 'Silent' are NOT two words that can be said in a single line.
And therefore there were quite a few people who came here to goodbye him. A certain brunette girl with latent but not-so-hidden affections for him included.
After Tulip released him from the bear hug he fixed his black-streaked silver hair and looked at Giselle who tapped him on his shoulder.
"Yes Miss Yu – I mean Giselle?" He corrected himself and asked her.
She blushed in embarrassment and twiddled her fingers together shyly, "...I brought something for you today..."
Ash's eyebrows rose in curiosity as the girl took out...a small doll. It was about the size of his middle finger. The doll looked quite old actually. It was a small Barbie doll with pink hair flowing freely up to its hips. It had an elegant pink dress on it with floral patterns.
His eyes softened as he looked at the embarrassed girl. It was really sweet of her to give him something that must have been important to her, judging by the age of the doll.
Ash smiled at her and softly took the doll from her hands. He took the doll in his hands and smiled at it.
"It's...It is beautiful Giselle. Just like you" Ash told her with a smile on his face.
The girl's cheeks reddened as she spoke, "Just keep it with you...I wanted you to remember me"
"If that's the case then..." Ash trailed off in the end as he put down his own bad from his shoulders and opened the zipper.
He searched inside it and soon he took out...A long hair clip designed to look like 5 light blue flowers netted together in an intricate pattern.
Originally Ash had bought it in Cerulean for a certain blonde little hyperactive sister of his. But unfortunately due to circumstances he had to leave Cerulean without saying good-bye to her. That's why this clip remained in his bag since he was unable to gift it to her.
Ash smiled at her and said, "Then I want you to have this" He uncurled Giselle's hand gently and put the hair clip in her hand.
The brunette blushed up a storm as she stared at the gift given to her. She lunged herself at Ash hugged him tightly. Ash let out a silent sigh...What's up with all these people today? He is not a teddy bear dammit!
Ash made absolutely no effort to hug back. Just kept the usual disinterested look in his eyes with a small smile on his face...Apparently he was still getting used to being used as a teddy bear...That sucks. But this was a girl who had a thing for him...Which also sucks. This sheer absurdity of all the things that sucked made him want to laugh.
"...You know I have decided..." Giselle murmured into the hug, "...I will graduate as a 8th grade trainer and fight with you at the Pokemon League by the end of eleven months..."
Ash was surprised by this. He smiled amusedly and told her, "I will be happy to oblige Giselle"
"Thanks..." She hugged him even tighter and said meekly, "...I promise the next time we fight we do it as equals..."
Ash nodded as he looked at the determination in her eyes. When she let go of the hug blushing profusely Ash bid her the final goodbye, "...Well my time's up here Giselle. One day we will fight in the Kanto League...I'm sure of it. So without further ado...Goodbye Giselle. Goodbye Aunt Tulip, I hope to meet you again too...Hopefully we will be in contact for some...reasons" Ash said slyly hinting to her spy network.
Tulip smiled back at him, "Certainly Ashy!"
Ash turned back towards the path that led him out of here and was going to set the first foot of his return-journey when he heard an indignant shout, "HEY!"
He looked back to see a familiar boy. It was that boy whom he rescued from the bullies. What was his name again? Joe?
The boy approached him with an expression he couldn't properly decipher and panted for breath, "You...*pant**pant* You've gotta *pant* teach me to be like you! PLEASE!"
Eh? Ash blinked in confusion.
"Y-You got the ice princess in the whole school after you!" The boy shouted out indignantly, "...You've gotta teach me how to do that!!"
And how the hell was he supposed to do that? So he settled for a very classic Ketchum like answer,
"Kindly go fuck yourself with a Cacturne...Or Maractus. Meh, I don't give a fuck either way..." Ash turned on his heel and left without a word.
Tulip wiped a proud tear from her left eye as she looked at the disappearing figure of her nephew like figure on the horizon and the gaping mouth of her student with a single thought on her mind,
'Now that's what I call badass...'