The Call...

Chapter 7 - The Call...

Ash, Pikachu, Riolu and Mewtwo headed out towards Professor Oak's laboratory. A quick walk later, they were in front of the lab's door. Ash rang the door bell. A moment later a teenager a few years older than Ash opened the door.

"Hey Ash, hey Pikachu. Good to see you again!" said Tracy, not noticing Riolu or Mewtwo.

"Pi pikachu!" greeted the yellow mouse while waving his hands.

"Same to you Tracy. How have you been?" replied Ash.

"Good, thanks. What brings you here?"

"I'm here to see Professor Oak and to pick up my pokémon."

"Okay sure, I'll go get him. Wait for us in his office."

"No problem Tracy."

The group stepped inside and walked down the hall with Ash leading the way. Soon they found themselves inside the Professor's main office. As they waited for Professor Oak and Tracy, they looked around the room and saw that it was pretty organized except for some papers spread out on the desk in front of them.

Must have been researching something or analyzing another professor's work, thought Ash.

He wasn't surprised since Professor Oak was one of the most respected and famous pokémon researchers in the whole world and as a result, was always busy. They heard the door open behind them and turned to see the professor and Tracy step into the room.

"Ah, it's good to see you Ash. How have you been my boy?" asked Professor Oak as he hugged Ash. He treated the boy as his own and cared for him deeply.

"I've been great professor. I see you're busy as always," commented Ash after they released each other, gesturing to the papers on the desk. "I have a couple friends to introduce to you. This is Riolu and this is Mewtwo," Ash said to Oak. Oak nodded at Riolu and when he turned to face Mewtwo, he at first couldn't speak. Tracy then noticed the other two pokémon. For a pokémon watcher and Oak's assistant, he should've noticed them before, but sometimes it seems he was just out of it.

"Did you say Mewtwo?" whispered Oak as he stared in wonder at the purple feline.

"Ah yes, I did. I should've mentioned that Mewtwo is Mew's brother. He is the only one of his kind and also a powerful psychic type legendary pokémon." Ash didn't mention the cloning part as he felt it wasn't necessary. Mewtwo caught this and nodded in appreciation.

"How did you capture him?" asked Tracy, also in awe.

Ash laughed, causing Oak and Tracy to snap their heads to face him. "I didn't capture him. I don't think anyone can capture him. I met up with Mewtwo a while ago and we decided to travel together for a little while." As the two glanced at Mewtwo, the feline nodded.

"Well, I must say, you always seem to run into legendaries and grand adventures. Just please be careful okay?" sighed Oak at last.

"Will do professor."

"Alright then. So, what brings you back home? I take it you already visited your mother?"

"Yes I did. I saw mom already and wanted to see you for a couple things."

"I see. Well ask away and let's see what I can do for you."

"Thanks. Well, I wanted to pick up my pokémon and to make a group call using your phone since it can do that, if that's okay with you?"

"Is that all?" chuckled Oak. "Okay, let us take care of the first thing. Which pokémon did you want?"

"All of them."

Oak and Tracy stared for a moment.

"All of them? You know that you can't use all of them in official battles right?" asked Tracy

"Yea, I know. I just want to take them all with me as I'm going to go into some heavy training and I don't want to constantly transfer them out."

"I see. Well, this is something we can do. Tracy, would you please go get all of his pokémon into their poke balls and bring them here?"

"No problem professor," replied Tracy and he left the room.

"Okay, you'll be able to take them with you, but you won't be able to enter any official battles or tournaments while you carry them all with you."

Ash nodded. He knew that's how it was going to be. Well, that's how it was going to be if he didn't have his own special island and aura crystal which will allow him to completely bypass those limitations.

"Good. Now, did you want to make that group call? You can take care of that while Tracy gets your pokémon ready."

Ash glanced at Riolu and Mewtwo, then faced Oak once more and nodded. Oak set up the phone for a group call for Ash. Ash thanked the professor and asked if he could have some privacy. Getting the hint, Oak nodded and left without a word. Riolu and Mewtwo leaned against the book shelves on opposite sides of the room with their arms crossed. Pikachu was on Ash's shoulder, excitement building in him. He missed their friends and wanted to see them. Ash input several phone numbers into the system and was about to hit the dial button when he hesitated. He didn't want to do this but he had no other choice. He pushed the connect button. The system sent out calls to all the dialed numbers. After a moment, several boxes appeared on the screen, each one showing a different person, yet every single one of them had a look of surprise on their face as soon as they noticed who called them.

"Ash!" Several of them called out his name together, causing the raven-haired trainer to blush slightly.

"Pikachu!" greeted the electric mouse to the people on the screen, waving frantically and smiling at them. Most of them laughed a little at the pokémon's actions.

"Hey guys! It's been a long time. How have you all been?" The people he was talking to were his closest friends and he would do anything for them. Of course he would help others whenever he could or whoever he came across who needed help, but for his close friends, he would gladly go to the ends of the world for any one of them. The group of friends he called were Brock, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Gary, Richie, Clemont, Bonnie and Serena.

"We've been good. We've kept in touch with each other," said Brock.

"Yea, unlike some trainer who barely visits anymore," added Misty with some annoyance in her voice. Ash rolled his eyes at her comment, earning some chuckles.

"Yea, May and I have been going shopping together. You should come with us!" said Dawn.

"You only want me to come with you two so I can hold your bags!" laughed Ash, seeing through her attempt to be sneaky.

"Well yea, but we still would love to have you with us again!" chuckled May, seeing Dawn's plan fail.

"You should come see my new invention Ash!" said Clemont excitedly.

"It's not going to blow up in my face is it?" asked Ash, making Bonnie and Serena laugh as they shook their heads.

"Of course not! What kind of inventor do you take me for?" replied Clemont with an angry look but it was soon wiped from his face when one of his inventions spontaneously exploded behind him.

"Still haven't learned have you brother?" asked Bonnie as she giggled and several others laughed.

"So how did training at Mount Silver go Ashy-boy?" asked Gary.

Ash was stunned by that. He hadn't told anyone about his training on Mount Silver. Only Professor Oak knew and he made him promise not to tell anyone. Looks like Gary made him break that promise.

"What?!" yelped Misty as her eyes grew wide in shock as several things ran through her head. Ash trained at Mount Silver?

"Mount Silver? How can a little kid like you expect to survive training there by yourself?" asked a bewildered Iris.

"Now Iris, you know that if the Pokémon League officials didn't believe he could handle it, then they wouldn't allow him," answered Cilan.

Brock nodded in agreement as he knew the rules as well. He had a slight suspicion that a certain professor may have vouched for his best friend.

"Looks like the cat's out of the bag huh Pikachu?"

"Pika…" sighed the yellow mouse.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense Ash!" said Richie suddenly.

"Yea, tell us Ash!" agreed Max.

"Tell us before I use one of my brother's inventions on you!" threatened Bonnie as Clemont face palmed.

"They're not meant to be used as weapons Bonnie!" yelled Clemont.

"Alright, alright, just keep his inventions away from me."

Ash quickly explained he's been training at Mount Silver, looking for ways to become stronger, while also leaving out certain details. Riolu and Mewtwo would glance towards Ash once in a while, usually because of something the teenager said. They both were relaxing in their positions, as they figured that the talk would probably take some time.

"So that's what you've been up to Ash. We haven't heard from you for a while. We were beginning to think something happened to you," said May. Most of the others nodded in agreement.

"Yea…I'm really sorry about that guys. So what have you guys been up to? How's your guys' progress?" asked Ash.

Ash and his friends then discussed what they've been up to; May and Dawn both won contests and were now taking a break, Brock was finishing up some advanced classes to becoming a pokémon doctor, Gary was working on his pokémon researcher's license, Misty was busy upgrading her gym, Max was journeying on his own adventure and had captured the Ralts he had befriended years ago, Iris was training her dragon types back in her village, Cilan was at a connoisseur convention, Richie was busy challenging gyms trying to get badges to enter that year's pokémon league competition, Clemont had reprogrammed his Clembot and now it was a butler for him and his sister Bonnie and Bonnie was getting ready to get her first pokémon and trainer's license since she just turned ten years old a couple weeks ago. After finally catching up with everyone, Ash decided it was time to tell them what he called them for.

"Guys, I have something else to tell you, something important."

"What is it?" asked Misty, a hint of worry in her voice that nobody caught. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to like what was coming.

May, Dawn and Serena had concerned expressions appear on their faces, while Iris and most of the guys kept stoic. Brock however, narrowed his already squinty eyes further. He knew Ash was going to say something that he didn't really want to. He knew his best friend well, as they were very close and viewed each other as brothers instead of just friends.

Mewtwo and Riolu glanced at each other. They could sense Ash tensing up and becoming anxious. They nodded over an unspoken agreement; they would help Ash through if he needed it.

Ash took a deep breath; Well, here goes.

"I didn't just call to see how all of you are doing, even though I really enjoyed hearing what you guys have been up to. There's something important that you should know. But first, I know I've been gone for a while and haven't kept in touch these past couple months and for that I apologize and for making you guys worry. And it looks like I'm going to owe you guys another apology later on…"

"What do you mean by that? What's going on Ash?" asked Brock suddenly; a little anxious and scared at what he was hearing. The others were waiting to hear what their best friend was trying to say.

Ash didn't want to lie but he knew he couldn't tell them the whole truth. So he had decided it would give them a little bit of it.

"I'm going away for a while," he said bluntly.

"What?!" yelped out Misty, May, Dawn and Serena together.

"You can't leave! I won't let you!" cried out Bonnie.

"Why are you leaving? Do you need help?" asked Brock. The others merely stayed quiet with shocked expressions on their faces.

"It's not for forever and no I'll be fine. There are some things that I found out about and I need to go figure out some stuff and to take care of some things. I would have asked each of you if you wanted to join but I need to do this on my own and I couldn't ask you guys to leave everything for so long anyways."

"What do you mean by 'for so long'?" questioned Richie, catching what he let slip.

"How long are you going away for?" asked Cilan.

Ash sighed. He couldn't answer that. Not without letting some things out that he was supposed to keep secret.

"Let's just say, I won't be competing in tournaments for a while."

If his friends were shocked before, it was nothing compared to how surprised they were now. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Their friend really was leaving for a long time.

"What?! No, you can't leave. At least not alone. I'm coming with you. I'll be there tomorrow morning!" said Dawn. Misty, Serena, May, Max and Richie voiced their thoughts in coming as well.

"I'm sorry, but unfortunately, you can't come with me. The place I'm going, it's not for you guys. It's not for any of you."

Some of his friends scowled at the comment, which told Ash that he wasn't explaining things well and hurried to fix it.

"I don't mean it that way. It's just something that is about me, and nobody can help me with it. I need to do this on my own."

Brock and Cilan understood what he was trying to say since they were older than the rest, but they still didn't like it. They however still nodded in agreement. The others were still a little annoyed over what was happening and some were muttering under their breath. Ash spoke again and they went silent, listening to him.

"Look, I know you guys don't like what I'm saying, but this has to be done, I must do this. I wanted to see and talk to you guys at least once more before heading out. Also, I'm sorry for not keeping in touch as much as I should have been."

"Okay, something's up Ashy-boy. You're not like this unless something big is involved. What aren't you telling us? Tell us now!" demanded Gary, his temper rising.

"I can't tell you guys. I told you, this is something that needs to be done, something that I must do alone. But there is something I want, no need, for you guys to do for me, which will help me. Can you promise me you can do these two things for me?"

"Yes we promise, but only if you tell us what's going on!" snapped Misty. Ash nodded when he heard Misty say that they promise, but blocked out the rest.

"Okay, thank you. The first thing I want to ask is for all of you to keep up your training and to take care of each other."

Ash took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, as his emotions were beginning to overcome him.

"The second thing I ask is….is…."

He couldn't finish. He looked down at his feet, tears filling up his eyes. He was always an emotional person and his friends knew. But he had to finish. Pikachu patted his head gently, encouraging him to continue. Riolu and Mewtwo had glanced at Ash, once things were starting to get hectic with his friends, but now were standing in front of Ash, away from the video camera though, to help if needed. The girls began to tear up at the sight of him being so sad. He wiped his eyes dry with his free hand and looked up.

"The second thing that I ask, is please don't forget me!" Ash cried out.

All of his friends' jaws dropped over his silly outburst, but quickly recovered themselves.

"How could we forget you, you big dummy?" said Misty, barely holding back her tears.

"That's not even something you should even have to worry about Ash. You're more than just a best friend to me. You're my brother," added Brock.

"How can I forget my biggest rival? I may not be a trainer for much longer, but don't think I'll let you get ahead of me, Ashy-boy!" quipped Gary.

"We can never forget you Ash," said May sadly and Max nodded. He was crying already, since he was the youngest of the group. He was being very quiet, which wasn't normal for him. Maybe he was growing up or the sudden upsetting news was hitting him harder than the young trainer thought.

"How can I forget my mentor? How can I forget you helping me become a great coordinator?" said Dawn with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"You know we can't forget a good friend Ash," said Richie, with Serena, Clemont and Bonnie nodding in agreement. Serena even mentioned how she couldn't forget the one who helped her when they were kids.

"If it wasn't for you, I would never have learned so much and traveled all over the place. I can never forget that or all you have done for me," said Cilan, with Iris also saying the same thing, but in different words.

"I know guys and thank you. I just have a feeling I'm going to be gone for a long time but I won't forget any of you, and will always remember you guys!" Ash choked out.

It was much harder to do than he thought and he broke down, crying. He didn't care if Riolu and Mewtwo saw or if they made fun of him, but they didn't. Not even Gary, for he knew when to be serious on rare occasions and this was one of those times. The girls all started to cry as well, seeing Ash so upset and finally understanding that they won't be getting seeing him for a long time. Most of the guys kept stoic faces, except for Brock, who let tears form in his eyes, but they didn't fall, and Max, who was straight up bawling his eyes out.

About a minute passed before Ash put himself back together again, at least until he could say goodbye.

"I'm sorry for making you guys sad. Take care. I have to go now."

He was about to break down again. Before he could do anything else the girls spoke.

"Ash…please…" piped up Misty first, but couldn't finish. Her voice had such a sad tone that it caused Ash's eyes to fill up with tears again just by hearing it.

"Be careful!" cried out Dawn and May together and continued crying.

"And come back soon!" finished Serena with her voice cracking, who had put herself back together, though barely, as she was trying to be strong for the others, even though her bottom lip was quivering.

Ash then noticed something from the four girls that he thought he was imagining before and it made his heart break. He couldn't dwell on it though and forced himself to look at the others. The guys each nodded at Ash, who returned a nod of his own to each of them.

"I'll try….I will miss you all…." said Ash, his trademark goofy grin appearing on his face as he said those words, causing some of his friends to form slight smiles of their own, even while still crying. His grin shortly faded away before saying his last words to them for a long, long time.

"Remember me…" whispered Ash and immediately disconnected his call after.

His image quickly blacked out on his friends screens. Shortly afterward, the group of friends choked out farewells of their own to the blank screen and disconnected from the call. Each and every one of them was saddened over what just happened. Some cried their eyes out, while others simply kept it in until it caused them to have an emotional outbreak later on that day.

Ash cried for a good while after disconnecting. Pikachu was silently crying next to him and patting him softly on his shoulder, while Riolu and Mewtwo stood in their stoic positions, allowing him time to let it all out at once. Finally, after several long minutes, Ash slowly began to stop crying and pulled himself back together. He took many deep breaths and finally stood up, glancing at Riolu and Mewtwo.

"Okay…sorry about that. Let's go."

The raven-haired trainer walked out of the office, Pikachu on his shoulder and Riolu and Mewtwo following behind him. They found Professor Oak and Tracy in front of the main door, and Tracy was holding a large bag, which held all of Ash's pokémon. Tracy noticed Ash's eyes were red and puffy and was about to ask what happened when Oak caught his assistant's attention and shook his head slightly.

Tracy handed Ash the bag and Oak told him to be careful and to update him when he could. Ash gave a small smile and nodded. He was about to leave when Oak asked if could see his PokeDex. Ash handed it to him and Oak disappeared into a nearby room. He soon came out with his PokeDex and another item, a Poketch Plus.

"Here you go Ash. I've updated your PokeDex with more data on all of the known pokémon in the world. Also, I'd like to give you this, it's the newest Poketch Plus, which can help you contact anyone who has your number or you have theirs. It comes equipped with several applications that can help you and it can also be upgraded with many others."

Ash smiled. "Thanks Professor and thanks Tracy. Take care guys and we'll see ya."

"Good bye and good luck."

Ash, Pikachu, Riolu and Mewtwo headed back to Ash's house. Oak watched them leave and returned to their studies. Tracy stared after him for a few minutes as they became dots in the distance, thinking about some things before heading back inside the laboratory.

They picked up the readied supplies made by Ash's Mom and said their goodbyes, Ash being a little louder than usual to stop his mom from telling him to change his underwear every day in front of the group. Ash nodded at Mewtwo, who in turn had his eyes glow blue and the four of them vanished, appearing back on New Island. With their supplies in hand and all of Ash's pokémon from the lab with him, he only had to check on the ones he let go around the world to see if they wanted to come back, before going out and finding other strong pokémon.

"Well guys, it's gonna be a long and hard journey. But I'm sure we'll be able to do what needs to be done. We just have to not give up and take things one day at a time," remarked Ash.

"Pika!" cheered the yellow mouse, pumping his fist, while Riolu and Mewtwo nodded in agreement.

Ash smiled. He knew they had a lot of work to do but he wasn't going to let that bother him. He glanced up towards the sky in thought.

I have time, good friends with me and a good plan. We can do this.

After Ash's tearful farewell, his friends were crestfallen for a long time. Their saddened state left them with no energy to do their day to day tasks for a few days as they realized that their close friend, their best friend, had gone away. They had no idea when he would return and who knew if he would even come back safely or come back at all. This unknown thing caused several of them, especially Misty, May, Dawn and Serena, to stay up late at nights, crying, for the next several weeks.

Each of the four girls tried to find the raven haired trainer in the coming months but none of them had much luck. Somehow, he just vanished and nobody had luck finding any trace of him as nobody heard or seen of him. All of Ash's friends decided to train more than usual in the beginning, attempting to keep their promise but soon lost heart in it. The group of friends contacted each other constantly and their bonds grew and soon they were able to bury their sad feelings and thoughts because of focusing on their duties and spending time with each other. Yet each of them, especially the four girls, secretly prayed for the raven haired trainer to come back safe and sound and to come back soon.