THE AFTERMATH OF THE
AFTERLIFE
A Chromus Production
This is definitely a change of pace for me. Instead of a hapless comedy, romance or action fic, get ready for a depressing, swearing, deadly and ultimately sad story of the Poke-world. Topics in this long fic will include child abuse, death, rape, ambitions vanishing and just general sadness of the world as we look at a Pokemon Master departing.
So if such ideas may upset you, you may want to turn now. However, I promise to put all my heart into this story, my latest in a long list of Pokemon fics now.
So enjoy.
PROLOGUE: THE GATHERING
(POV of Misty Ketchum)
It happened so fast.
He was so young.
(Flashback to Ash on a motorcycle)
To this day, I have never seen the incident, but it replays in my mind.
(To the crash of a Silph Co. Lorry)
At 25 years old, Ash Satoshi Ketchum, an Indigo, Johto and Orange League Champ, head of the Neo Elite Four and my best friend, husband, brother, lover, father…
Dead.
The sky. Black. Black as the dress I am wearing. My two children, Kathryn and Kenji held in my arms, 5 and 3 respectively, are already crying as they have almost every day since the accident.
Brock is here, by my side, as he has been for almost all my life. But not even he can be happy today. I look at his side, yes, he two has already suffered before this, but I'm amazed he can still be sane now. His second wife, Suzanne, is weeping as she comes over. I start talking to her, but it is obvious that neither one of us can string a sentence together.
I hear talk behind me. Of all people why did he have to show up?
Gary Oak. Current Indigo Champion, and set to become Ash Ketchum's replacement as leader now because of his passing. Of all the bastards, why did he have to come?
And yet…his face has no touch of arrogance, only one of despair…anguish…
Tears? Gary Oak is crying? The man of the arrogant smirk, the man with infinitive confidence was crying?
I saw his bitch with him, Giselle, coming out of the limo. I never got along with her and felt that her and Gary together was a literal clash of egos. But her walk was solemn, straight, and not a word came out of that bossy little mouth.
I guess Ash touched us more than I thought.
A lot of people were here. Friends, family…my sisters had come seperately as did Brock's father and now much older siblings. Ash dies at 25 and all we can do in his death is bring people together? Heck, cameras were here, Ash was somewhat a local celebrity not just here in Pallet Town, but around the whole islands.
Yes, the funeral was at Pallet. Deliah Ketchum had arranged everything. When the late Professor Oak died just 3 years ago, in his will, his wealth had split 4 ways, 25% to his grandson Gary, 25% to the Elm Research Centre, 25% to the Hale family and 25% to the Ketchum family.
I saw two sad beautiful faces. One whilst had aged throughout the years, was still shown that innocence that her son would have been proud of. The second, a young teenage girl who's tears were flowing freely as she hugged against me.
Deliah Ketchum and Molly Hale. My older mother and young sister, maybe not by birth, but certainly by choice.
I had a lot of friends who had taken me and Ash in, especially during the early years of our romance, as Ash' fame grew, we started to move, me always by Ash' side.
I looked around this close unit family. There was Tracey, an arm around his wife, a very lovely young lady by the name of Melody that had a big part of the Orange Savings when Ash was in his Orange Island journey. I remember being so jealous of her then…who knew that she would be with Tracey 15 years later?
Ah, Tracey. A well known pokemon watcher and psychologist. Melody, a priest and scholar. I may not have always clicked with Tracey as I did with Ash or Brock, but he was always helpful and was a good friend. Melody would be part of the chorus ceremony later during the funeral.
Old friends were around, and a lot of famous pokemon trainers were there, including the other three members of the Neo Elite in A.J, Richie and Casey. Poor Casey. Such a sweetheart, and was part of what Ash and me called the Three Witches of Eastwick.
Casey loved Ash like a brother, as did a few others, and despite her job as the first female coach of the Electabuzz baseball team, she had pursued with her other dream, in becoming a Pokemon master. Her skills were already good when she was a rookie, now, she was the only female Elite.
Richie was also close to tears, despite his arm around a sobbing Casey. Ash' first true friend at the Pokemon League. 14 years ago, Richie beat Ash in the Indigo tournament, but as Ash got stronger, Ash not only beat him in Johto, but in Indigo too. There was no grudges though, and Richie as an Elite can't be that week. Richie was very close to Ash, some might have even said too close at time, making me suspicious of Richie' motives. Of course, now, it doesn't seem to matter.
A.J as usual, was the strong, serious ones of the trio, but even his strong façade was going today. As he walked to the door of the funeral (and quickly pushing the cameras back outside), one could see a weakness in his eyes which suggested he would miss young Ash Ketchum too. One of Ash' strongest rivals (and one of the few people to beat Ash as well in his strongest years), there was always grudging respect between the two and a quiet unspoken friendship.
I noticed his wife, Lara Laramie running up to the doors, crying as well. There was Atoshi, the wandering trainer, the breeders Cassandra and Melanie, a number of Nurse Joys and Jennies…
Todd. The cameraman with no camera. He was told to be a cameraman for this, and for the first time that I can ever remember, Todd was angry. He couldn't believe that they wanted him to work on the funeral, the funeral of where his very good friend Ash Ketchum was being buried today. Him and his wife had been very close to Ash to say the least and that was guts from Todd to do that, considering his reputation of being the finest photographer this side of Kanto.
As I headed in, my two kids heads were buried. I then bumped into his said wife, and probably my best friend Duplica, in the second row. She would be performing with Melody later in the chorus, but her eyes were flowing, her kid Sylia on her lap, being cradled as Todd took his seat. I sat down and hugged the three of them as Brock tapped me on the shoulder, as we moved to the front row.
Seeing everyone like this, Brock, Casey, Todd, Duplica, Richie, Tracey, Melody even Gary this upset. It made me realise how special Ash w..
And there they were.
Jessie. James. Bawling their eyes out.
Probably Ash' worst enemies and best friends at the same time. After the destruction of Team Rocket thanks to Ash, Jessie and James moved to Pallet Town, where they had tried their best to change their ways (although part of them was always bad in blood) but I guess after so many years, you can change your perspective of people, and it was hard to not think of them as friends after all this time.
The priest had taken his position, I knew I'd be reading my eulogy soon.
In the front, myself, Brock, Tracie, Melody, Deliah, and on the other front, Molly, Richie, A.J, Casey, I don't think anyone had been so full of silence and grief. My own tears hadn't stopped and I probably hadn't had more than 10 hours sleep altogether since Ash died.
I don't want to say that, but it happened. My children know it happened, there is no point denying it.
Gary and Giselle were stone motionless behind me. I saw many Jenny and Joy around, there was Sabrina near the back, a rare tear creeping up her gothic yet enchanting face. Erika, a very close friend was sitting by Todd in the second row, tears flooding her beautiful face. I see Koga, with his sister Aya, wife Cassandra and daughter Janine, huddling up together. The wandering trainer Atoshi had stopped his travels for today to witness this event and to pay last respect to the man who showed him true kindness. My sisters were sitting near Brock's family, and were almost as upset as I was.
And outside…
Pikachu. Bulbasaur. Charizard. Squirtle. Bayleef. Totodile. Cyandaquil. All of his old and new pokemon, as well as many of the other people's pokemon were watching from a TV screen, Pikachu practically in disbelief and has sobbed it's little eyes since the death of it's beloved trainer. It's a known fact that Pokemon live much longer than humans. Well, poor Pikachu may have a broken heart after all this, the poor thing as my Togetic tried to calm it down, but was down in the dumps itself.
My tears were never ending. The priest continued to talk about Ash and his accomplishments, his children, his life, but to me, it was falling on deaf ears. How can someone who never knew Ash take responsibility of telling 100 or so people his life history in a nutshell?
It was breaking my heart, and the worst was yet, I had to give the eulogy. I gingerly stepped up and nearly fell if Brock hadn't caught it. He whispered to me if I couldn't do it, and if he wanted himself to do it instead. But I said no. This is something I have to do.
I stepped up and gave my speech to the forlorn audience.
"From the words of Misty Kasumi Ketchum, for my children Kathryn and Kenji, for all my friends and family here today, we honor one special person close to our hearts, who had an impact in all of our lives."
"His name was Ashton Satoshi Ketchum. I first met him when he was 10, nearly 15 years ago. I hooked him out of a river as he was escaping from some Spearow pokemon. When I fished him out, I originally thought 'What a jerk, leaving his pokemon in such a condition. And to prove my point, he stole my bike."
"15 years later, and until that fateful day, I was the happiest woman on earth. I was married to a loving husband, had two beautiful children, had my own life shown out for me and thought nothing could go wrong."
"When…it happened, I thought it was a dream. A bad dream. I thought, 'No, this is wrong! Ash can't be gone! He can't! I remember my daughter Kathryn seeing tears and she said 'Mommy what's wrong?' I couldn't tell her. Unfortunately, the news spread out quick enough and they soon knew that 'Daddy…is dead,'
I saw Kenji and Kathryn cuddle closer to Brock and Suzie, crying their little eyes out. My eyes were filled and I was struggling, but I had to carry on.
"My world crashed. A legendary Pokemon Master, only 25 had died said the news. For me, the kindest, sweetest, sometimes densest person on the face of the planet had died, he wasn't some cheap character that was created for Silph's amusement and market him. And what did it do in return? Killed him. I would rant about that, but this is a church and I won't cause blasphemies in the house of God. But because of one truck, all of our lives changed."
"Some of us lost a good or best friend, some lost a person to talk to, for some, their careers started because of Ash. But for all of us, we have lost a wonder. And for me, I've lost…my Ash."
I couldn't carry on even if I wanted to. My eyes were flooding. I saw Melody and Duplica coming up for the psalm, but they gave him a hug as I needed the comfort. No-one stopped us as Tracey and Brock stood up and held me close. The two girls obvious didn't want to continue this, but they saw my own strength, and had to continue it.
Both girls sung with the most beautiful voices, which was perfect and appreciative for today's occasion. You could hear them breaking up during the psalm, and everyone's smaller singing showed their crushing emotion. Ash had torn a lot of hearts since that day he died.
A poor young man, lost so young.
As for me…
…I don't know.
End of prologue
Chapter 1: Brock
As the funeral ends, people reflect their own opinions of Ash Ketchum, the young pokemon master who was so tragically taken away from them.
Brock has already dealt with heartache, the death of his first wife Willamena. However, his closer bond with his 'younger brother' almost brought him to the edge of insanity. Can he block out the darkness?
Author's notes:
As you can guess, this fic is definitely on the 8/9 scale of 1-10 in depression. A personal insight fic to say the least, and we'll start with Brock.
The chapters will be as follows;
Chapter 1: Brock
Chapter 2: Casey
Chapter 3: Gary
Chapter 4: Deliah
Chapter 5: A.J
Chapter 6: Jessie
Chapter 7: James
Chapter 8: Duplica
Chapter 9: Richie
Chapter 10: Giselle
Chapter 11: Todd
Chapter 12: Melody
Chapter 13: Tracey
Chapter 14: Misty
It's gonna be a long old battle to say the least, and with two crossover fics (plus university) also being worked on, it's gonna take a while, but please stick with it, I promise you won't be disappointed.
Thank you.
This fic is dedicated to the tragedy of the Sept 11th bombing in New York. On behalf of the United Kingdom, we were devastated of these acts of terrorism and we hope that the evil that is behind this is removed from this world.