Ash... Ketchum.

[poisonandpetals-deactivated2015]

Ash walked up to the lady with a bunch of hershey's in his hands. He threw the kisses at her, and then rubbed the back of his head. "These are for... your cookies. Yeah."

Ariana glanced at Ash, glanced at the kisses now scattered liberally all over her and the floor, and grimaced just a little. 

"Oh, honey, wouldn’t it have been easier to just give me those?”

[reduced-to-ash]

"Yeah... but they said I had to hurt someone with it... but I didn't wanna hurt anyone... so I. Yeah. I can pick those up for you."

[reduced-to-ash]

Assault the next person you see with Hershey's kisses.

"Uh... okay. I gotta find some..."

[reduced-to-ash]

Tighten the Leash | Ash & Matori

[matorisoffice-blog]

The footsteps were Matori’s, as she turned to nearly run into Ash.

"Oh," she said, staring him down. "It’s you. The brat." 

She just stood there, with that look on her face. It was the same expression countless grunts, agents, and even those higher, had learned to fear. For those familiar with the secretary, a glare like that was a promise of pain and potentially worse, a threat of punishment.

She’d perfected it over the years, starting back when she was just a simple office worker. Nothing got you your way other than a well timed and placed Look at the other person.

Of course, Ash didn’t know to fear The Look. If Matori had her way, that would all change very soon.

"What do you think you’re doing out of your cage, boy?"

[reduced-to-ash]

Ash stopped in his tracks. He sort of remembered this woman. Out of the swirl of faces he'd run into before, she was the one who seemed to know most about him. Which sucked, since... he didn't know much of anything about her.

He caught the insult. He caught that she still didn't like him. Ash got the feeling there were going to be a lot of people who would never like him. But that made him just a bit more defiant; a bit more certain that he didn't belong here and never would.

"They let me out." And it was the truth. He wished it wasn't though. He wished he'd had figured out a way to bust out of his cage and rescue Pikachu and get as far away from this place as possible.

[reduced-to-ash]

Loosen the Leash | Ash & James

[rich-kid-gone-bad-deactivated20]

James was surprisingly okay with being back at the headquarters. Of course it wasn’t as exciting as the life of a field-agent, but he had a bed to sleep in and his two best friends still with him. As far as it was to this day he hadn’t gotten himself into any trouble with the crazy people roaming the halls but that was mostly since he kept himself away from the trouble. He was actually on his way to Jessie’s dorm, which he had started visiting frequently since their declaration as a couple, when he stumbled upon something he had never expected. He was not able to clearly see anyone but he recognized the voice as fast as it reached his ear. Chasing someone for years left that kind of mark on you. But he couldn’t be imagining things, could he? Even if he hadn’t forgotten about the twerp and his Pikachu their paths had seemed to turn in different directions.

“Hello?" James replied with a rather cautious voice, even if he wasn’t actually into the eye of — yeah, the last person he had expected to see. Of course this was the time for some dramatic, majestetic punch-line, but his surprise was so overwhelming he was left standing silent and just staring at the dark-haired boy.

"W-wha…?"

[reduced-to-ash]

It took Ash a moment. Even though part of him shouldn't have been surprised to run into one of the Rockets that had been following him around trying to take Pikachu, somehow Ash was a bit convinced that they would always be wandering around looking for someone else to steal from. So seeing James here was... not quite what he was expecting.

But with that said, James' surprise may have solidified Ash's guess that those three were not the ones who had his Pikachu. After all, if Ash had run into those three in Celadon, sending them blasting off probably would have been less of a problem.

So... what did you say to your enemy-yet-sometimes-ally who was simply minding his own business in the hallway? "Oh, it's you. Where are Jessie and Meowth?" Yeah, that would work.

[sadisticrocket-moved]

Welcoming Committee | Ash & Proton

[sadisticrocket-moved]

He rolled his eyes in response, perhaps a bit more dramatically than strictly nessecary. “You say that now, kid. The whole rebellious schtick won’t last forever; just give it a little bit of time. They’ll break you eventually.” Proton spoke from experience, after all. Not from having such a thing happen to himself, of course, but he had assisted in the breaking process more times than he could count- whether on account or orders, or just because he felt like fucking with someone for his own personal amusement. “Figure out just what the hell makes you tick- physical pain, mental pain or both- and use it to break you into itty bitty little pieces.”

The Executive shot him a grin at that, jabbing a thumb into his chest. “You know why it’s a good thing they haven’t sent you to me?” Of course he didn’t. Thankfully, Proton was more than willing to explain; he did enjoy hearing the sound of his own voice, after all. “I’m the guy that does that sort of crap, you know? Killing, maiming and torturing; that’s my job around here. You make shit difficult for us, they send you to me, shit goes down from there.” He shrugged. “Probably be in your best interest to cooperate with us, but I’m pretty sure you’d probably spout some shit about Team Rocket being evil if I asked, so I’m not. Don’t really have it in me to give much of a fuck either way; you wanna be rebellious and give us trouble, be my guest.” Hell, he even encouraged it. The more plucky new recruits Proton got a chance to set straight, the better.

"Do I look like Giovanni to you, kid?" The Executive asked, raising an eyebrow. "Just because I run shit around here doesn’t mean I know absolutely everything. Got my own personal area of expertise, and it sure as hell doesn’t involve dealing with newbie Grunts." He shoved his hands into his pockets, letting out a sigh. "Read your file, yeah." Or, to be exact, he skimmed it. "Got a pretty interesting history there, so I was just trying to see if that shit was the truth. Figure out if you’re really worth the time and effort the people around here are putting in." That, and he just wanted to heckle the prisoner. But the kid didn’t need to know that.

[reduced-to-ash]

Ash took a step back, finally letting go of the bars. There were a lot of things he didn't get, but he knew a threat when he heard one. And this one was entirely new to him. Team Rocket just stole things... didn't they? Ash looked up at the Executive, initially wary, but then a little suspicious.

"My file?" Add that to the list of things Ash didn't fully understand. Why would they have a file on him? What did it even say? And how could he have a history here when he'd never been here in his life? All of the frustrations that he had had earlier about not understanding things were coming back to him. In fact he was starting to miss the Team Rocket he knew. At least they always said what they were gonna do and what they meant.

[reduced-to-ash]

What is your opinion on motor oil?

"Huh?"

[reduced-to-ash]

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

"That's easy. It's the Sinnoh League. I didn't win, but I made it to the top 4, and I was even the first one to beat a Darkrai, so I can never be too mad about it."

[reduced-to-ash]

.

[reduced-to-ash]

.

[reduced-to-ash]

Loosen the Leash | Ash & ???

Not being caged up took a surprising amount of getting used to. Team Rocket had never actually let him go before, although he wasn't exactly in a position to leave. After all, he still didn't know where Pikachu was.

And now that he had free time, no instruction, and no clue of where to start looking, Ash mostly looked like a sad, lost, Lillipup wandering the hallways. He was consistently hoping he wouldn't run into anyone, although there were a couple of people he would have been okay with seeing...

Ash turned around with a jolt as soon as he heard quickening footsteps. Secretly, he was a little paranoid about being put back in the cage. If he was going to find Pikachu, he certainly wouldn't be able to do it in that position. He faced the shadow in the hallway and clinched his fists, trying to sound intimidating when he just wasn't.

"Who's there?"

[flares-imperfect-world]

Ash walked up to the stranger with a beanbag in his hand. He was surprised to find such a big... target. He shrugged, unsure what the point of this was and said "welp, here goes." And with that he tossed the bag in the red-head's direction.

Lysandre caught the beanbag effortlessly, and cast an annoyed glare at Ash.

"Thank you for the free beanbag. You may leave," he said coldly.

[reduced-to-ash]

"You're... welcome, I guess..." Ash didn't really get the whole "you may" thing, but he left anyway. Geez, these people were weird.

[reduced-to-ash]

Lucian approached Ash rather slowly, swallowing hard in hopes of clearing out some of the peanut butter he just ate, he cleared his throat one last time before speaking, "If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain." He gave a cough and blushed in embarrassment, some of the words had come out rather slurred from the peanut butter.

Ash didn't understand any of that and the look on his face couldn't make that clearer.

[reduced-to-ash]

Run up to the next person you see and throw a beanbag at them.

"A beanbag...? Okay."

[reduced-to-ash]

I think... there's something special about today...?

Or something?

[no26-kaichu-deactivated20250211]

The Promise

I just wanted to write something sad and a bit dramatic. I have a long way to go before I’m good at this, I think. @.@ Anyway, here’s some Delia Ketchum, if you like. Oh. Hm. There’s no particular meaning behind the ex’s name. I just chose one.

Read More

[reduced-to-ash]

((Did I ever tell you guys I actually have sorta headcanon-ish-thing for Ash-Daddy cause I totally do and I've written it and for some reason it was on my mind today. ._.))

[sadisticrocket-moved]

Welcoming Committee | Ash & Proton

[sadisticrocket-moved]

The Executive sighed, making a big show out of rolling his eyes before beginning to pace in front of the cell. “The hell do you think I mean by keeping you around? Already said I wasn’t all that sure about the reasoning.” He paused then, tapping a finger on his chin absentmindedly in what was presumably an over-dramatic display of thinking. “To be fair, though, if I were to guess, I’d probably assume they’re probably thinking they’ll be able to make some use outta you. Waste not, want not or some shit; ain’t really the type to memorize stupid sayings like that.”

Though the question was, why the hell were they wasting their time with some kid? From what he could tell, the brat wasn’t exactly a genius. Stubborn- Proton would give him that much, at least- but he was liable to get himself killed if he thought hanging onto eclectically-charged bars was a smart move. “Geez, you must’ve fucked up big time to get your ass landed down here.” The Executive felt the need to note, folding his arms behind his back and rocking back and forth on his heels, in a manner more befitting of someone much younger than he was. “Who the hell did you piss off? On the bright side, they haven’t sent you to me. Yet.”

"More curious about this whole thing than anything else, you know?" Proton said, shooting him a look that made it quite obvious that was by no means a good thing. "Wondering just what the hell is so special about Ash Ketchum.” He continued, making it a point to put emphasis on his name. “What’s so important about you that they’d put so much time and effort into taking you in alive and shit.”

[reduced-to-ash]

"Make... use of...?" Ash echoed this, quietly and primarily to himself. Team Rocket didn't actually think he'd do anything for them... did they? All the times he fought them, ruined plans, caused blast-offs, they really thought he'd do anything to help? That was silly. "No way! I'm not doing anything for Team Rocket!" His grip tightened some, but Ash was far from looking like he was trying to hurt anyone. He was just getting more and more annoyed with everything--closer and closer to awake.

As for him messing up, well... Ash had nothing to say to that. He just looked at the floor, looking and feeling incredibly guilty. He had messed up. He fought hard and he believed in what he did but... he lost. He lost his Pikachu, and he owed everything to him. He just had to save him. But right now... he was stuck behind bars, and, with none of his other Pokemon around, he had no idea how to do anything remotely like saving his best friend. Ash looked up at the "yet". He had no idea what the um... Executive? Meant by that. At all. He looked inquisitive, yes, but for now--astoundingly--he was sick of asking questions.

Ash gave the man before him an incredulous look. How was he supposed to know? Of course he knew how much he'd run into and defeated Team Rocket, but really he was finding out that he didn't understand a thing about how Team Rocket worked. And even though that was scary, he wouldn't show it. All he really showed was his annoyance. "I thought you said you ran things around here. Shouldn't you know?"

Okay so maybe he had one more question. But it wasn't really inquisitive.

[reduced-to-ash]

Visitation Hours | Ash Ketchum & Grant

[universalfootsoldier]

He had to admit he felt kind of bad for the kid. He seemed extremely distraught without that Pokemon of his by his side. Every movement he made was steeped in apathy, and Grant was almost uncertain what to do. There again, he worried that this guy, in his state of emotional turmoil, would keep launching himself at things and breaking them.

"Come on, Jenna, go and check it out," he whispered, in a theatrically enthusiastic tone used for commanding small children and canines. Once the Mightyena had eagerly bounded off, baying and sliding on the smooth, hard floor, Grant turned back to Ash.

"Betcha it’s a false alarm. She tends to get a little overzealous," He sat down again, mentally shaming himself for neglecting his actual job. "So, what’s special about this Pikachu of yours?"

[reduced-to-ash]

Ash's hands wandered to take hold of his legs. It was about as close to hugging himself as he was going to get--especially with an audience around. He watched as Jenna ran off. Something that would usually humor him greatly just had him staring blankly. 

He really missed his Pokemon right about ow.

Ash wandered his attention back to Grant, watching him with a blank, fuzzy gaze. He was starting to go out of it, and honestly Ash wasn't sure if it was because he was sleepy or feeling too many things at one time. 

His mouth lingered open, as though he had to consider the question. He didn't--he was just running at half speed. "He's my best friend." Simple as that.