Left Behind

The Status Quo

ASH KETCHUM had always been too busy traveling on the road to pay much attention to those in his circle of friends and acquaintances. He always remembers a face when he'd see them again but in transit it was always what was in front of him or a second step ahead that mattered – long term plans were kept vague and that's how he liked it. "Day by day" in his words.

As he aged, however, that philosophy began to get challenged. It was after Alola when he took notice. Ash hadn't paid attention to the social media accounts that Bonnie had made him set up, so one day when he went to Kalos for Professor Cerise, he had a huge shock when he noticed a ring on Clemont's finger.

"Hey, Clemont, what's that about?" he asked eventually has they conversed over tea and cake.

"Oh, didn't you see, Ash?" replied Clemont. "I proposed and got married to Serena two years ago. The wedding was eight months ago. She and I posted about it on InstaShoot."

The black-haired boy blinked in shock. Had he really not noticed, he thought. Strange...

"Er – yeah, I-I must've forgotten about it! Haha!"

Clemont cocked his head to one side. "Yeah. I-it's okay." Something in his voice told Ash it wasn't though...

Stranger things happened still. Soon he found out Bonnie and Max had crossed paths somehow and were now dating; Kiawe got engaged to Mallow (he'd been apparently developing feelings for her the whole time when they were in school together. Ash seriously questioned how he hadn't noticed before. Wouldn't that have been obvious?); Brock got engaged to Lucy; May and Drew got married and already have a kid on the way.

The then 24-year-old was incredibly confused and wondered: had he never really noticed any of these relationship signs? It seemed odd to Ash...and the worst part was learning all of this either on his new social media accounts or by directly encountering those friends and apparently being the only one not to know.

Worse was to come. He returned home to Pallet Town a few days after learning about Kiawe and Mallow's engagement to each other. He wasn't physically or psychologically tired from the journey as Goh and Professor Cerise suspected but he took the vacation regardless because he needed a break from all the shocking news he was enduring.

"Ah, Pallet Town," sighed Ash when he saw it once he ascended to the top of the hill. "Doesn't look like much has changed." Ash huffed with content; it was a line he uttered every time he saw the place. Then has grew closer and closer he heard an orchestra of familiar sounds, sounds that didn't belong to Pallet Town. "Er..."

Past the thick tree lines that filled his right vision stood familiar yet alien buildings. There stood several new suburb blocks with several more under construction nearby. "Um, no one mentioned those last time we talked..." Ash groaned.

As he entered town, the changes hit him in his heart more. Now there were shopping strips, more than ever before, the once quaint and quiet town now a hustling bustling place. A whole crowd of elementary students rushed by him from a café he usually only saw in the big cities – the sight of it in his hometown hurt his head. He sought out his family home, yet once again, it hit him like a bullet train to the solar-plexus, and that hurt. "Oh, what in the hell is this?" asked Ash Ketchum.

Now his house was replaced with a bigger one, the material the same, now with more storage rooms and a bigger kitchen, dining, and living room. Ash slept that night, not feeling at home at all.

The next day he found his Mom already out of the house. Not thinking this strange, Ash went about his breakfast before he headed for Professor Oak's Laboratory. His time in the company of his Pokémon at the corral went by peacefully. Professor Oak and Tracey were as cordial as ever with him and nothing seemed amiss to Ash in comparison to the shock he had had for a homecoming yesterday.