Hi everyone!

Each of the chapters is an independent fic relating to the Pokemon New series and most will be canon compliant and feature Ash, Goh, their pokemon and various side-characters. There will be an episode tag and a short summary added to each chapter.

The chapters are in the order of publication, NOT in the order the events happen in the series. Ofc you can read them in any order you like or skip over the ones you're not interested in.

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The chapters so far:

1) Fragile, broken, found (ep 16)

Ash and Goh talk about Gengar, and pokemon training, and friendship. Or: Ash adopts another abandoned pokemon. Goh watches and learns. (21/March/2020)

2) Giga-sized trouble (eps 12-13)

Professors Kukui and Burnet see the news from the Galar World Championships finals, and instantly worry about Ash. (25/March/2020)

3) What do you think about Ash? (eps 2-10)

Goh has some doubts about Ash and about friendship in general. He attempts to understand his feelings. (4/April/2020)

4) The fire in you (ep 17)

Scorbunny evolves into Raboot and Goh struggles to deal with the changes in their relationship. Good thing Ash is there to shed some light on the situation. (14/April/2020)

5) What is important (ep 21)

Ash has a strange way of catching pokemon, in Goh's opinion. And what's up with that Riolu, anyway? (31/May/2020)

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Now, please enjoy the first chapter!

Fragile, broken, found

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"Hey, uh, maybe you should go back to bed, Ash."

Goh waits, and waits. It's like talking to a wall. Ash is still sitting on the floor, buried under a mountain of apples (where the hell did Gengar even find those?) and laughing his head off over his new friend.

So, nothing new really, in other words.

"Where do you think it went, Pikachu?" Ash wonders, mouth full of apple mush. He cranes his head back and yells, ear-piercingly loud: "Gengar!"

Goh winces. "Jeez, Ash."

Ash grins up at him. "Eh, sorry. I just really wanna get to know it more, you know? But I guess it's a bit shy."

"Pika-pika!"

"Maybe", allows Goh, pursing his lips. "Anyway, I don't think you should be up yet. You had a really high fever, if you happen to remember."

Ash shrugs, dismissive. "I don't have it anymore, though. I feel fine."

"Really." Goh cocks his eyebrow, head tilting. "You passed out in the middle of a street and slept for fourteen hours."

Ash just looks at him, like he's still waiting for the point to be made.

Goh throws his hands up in frustration. "That's not normal, Ash! I know I teased you about the curse, but you really should've told me that you were feeling sick. Instead you went for a run and had a pokemon battle!"

"Mm, but pokemon battles always make me feel better", is all that Ash says. He digs himself out of the apple mountain and stands up, brushing a hand casually over his clothes. Goh shakes his head.

He's making no sense.

"You're making no sense", says Goh. "Come on, go back to sleep."

Ash glances at him and Goh knows him well enough by now that he can tell he's not all fine yet. His face is pale and his vivid eyes dull and slightly squinted, and he agrees all too easily to Goh's command.

"Fine, okay."

Ash crawls back under the covers and says, after a minute of silence, staring intently at the bottom of the top bunk: "I have met pokemon like Gengar before, you know."

Goh blinks, taken aback. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Pokemon abandoned by their trainers."

Ash turns his head and looks at Goh and there's something dark and sorrowful in his eyes Goh has never seen before. It makes him pause, and any retort he might've been about to say dies before it reaches his lips.

"It's not easy for anyone", Ash continues, turning his gaze back at the top bunk. He smiles slightly, deep in thought. "One of my first pokemon I ever got was abandoned by its previous trainer. Charmander was waiting for him in the rain and even though it was in a really bad shape already, it still wouldn't listen to us when we tried to help it. It loved him too much."

"But it started trusting you eventually, right?" asks Goh.

Ash laughs shortly. "Well, yeah. Charmander was really great! But when it evolved it started acting out, and had some issues. But so did I, I guess. We kinda grew up together."

"You were even worse before? I can't imagine", jokes Goh, just to see Ash grin. He laughs wearily, and Pikachu stretches over his chest and curls in for a sleep.

"Man, there are all kinds of trainers out there, Goh", Ash says. "And not all pokemon are a good fit for a certain trainer, like not all trainers are good fit for a pokemon. I got an incredibly strong Infernape from a trainer whose training style was pretty much the opposite of mine. Paul gave up on it when it was still a Chimchar 'cause he thought it was too weak. It really wasn't weak, but it just wasn't fit for Paul's team."

Goh tries to imagine a trainer that's Ash's opposite. Opposite of this caring, fun-loving, selfless Ash…

Goh decides he doesn't like Paul.

"Do you think Gengar wasn't fit for it's trainer, then?" he asks uncertainly.

Ash frowns. "Well, yeah, for sure. He wouldn't have abandoned it otherwise. I'm certain Gengar didn't do anything wrong, but that guy was just an idiot who thought all of his bad luck was Gengar's fault. He probably needs an easy and compliant pokemon that never causes him any trouble."

Goh nods empathically. "Yeah, well, I hope he never gets another pokemon."

Ash smiles mildly at him. "Yeah, me too."

He yawns then, color washing away from his face, and he throws an arm over his eyes. "I'd never abandon a pokemon, Goh", he mumbles drowsily. "They're all my friends, like you are. And I'd never abandon a friend…"

He trails off, halfway asleep already. Warmth spreads through Goh, and he leans his head on his hand and grins so wide it pinches on his cheeks.

He feels seen, and so lucky.

He stands up to leave the room, and almost crashes into Gengar who had appeared from thin air to silently stand behind him.

It's looking at Ash, its eyes wide with wonder, and Goh can tell it's feeling the same.

Thanks for reading! Feedback is greatly appreciated!

- railou

P.s. If you have suggestions for episode tags, I'd love to hear them! No promises I'll write it, but it just might give me the needed inspiration!