One Love, One Heart

Chapter 3: Young Blood

Ash was drooling over his mother's wonderful cooking. The meal today was one of his favorites; barbecue sauced ribs with a side of potato salad. He almost got into trouble with his mother earlier for going out in the rain. She worried about him catching a cold, so she quickly sent him upstairs to change to dry clothing. He responded quickly and rushed upstairs to change, not wanting any sort of punishment.

"Man, good thing Mom wasn't that upset over being out in the rain," Ash turned to Pikachu.

"Pika chu chu," the rodent a

greed with his trainer.

"Don't forget that tomorrow we are going to visit our friends at Oak's Ranch and get some training done. That means we can't sleep late pal," Ash informed Pikachu with enthusiasm in his voice.

"Chu," his yellow friend acknowledged.

Ash quickly opened his closet once he entered his room.

Despite the amount of time that had passed since Ash turned 10, his room remained mostly the same. "How hard can it be to find clothes that fit me?" the messy-haired boy

complained with low patience as he dug through his closet. "Pikachu, can you help me please?" he asked his pal.

The yellow mouse sighed and jumped into the sea of clothes Ash accumulated as he tossed stuff out of his closet. Ash smiled, appreciating his assistance. A couple of seconds later, Pikachu surfaced, biting onto a plain white shirt along with regular black jeans. The electric-type handed it to his trainer, who thanked him and petted him a bit. Pikachu cooed as his friend scratched him behind the ear. Then he immediately turned around when his partner started changing.

"Okay, all done. Hmm not bad. At least they fit," Ash noted as he got a feel for his clothes, finally finding something that fit him. Since he barely stopped by Pallet during his journey he would quickly outgrow his clothes, which was something that frustrated him, but today was a relief.

Ash set aside his hat and shoes, but he kept his socks on. He threw his wet clothing in the laundry basket. Then he quickly ran downstairs while telling Pikachu, "Come on buddy, I'm sure you're just as hungry as I am."

Pikachu couldn't deny that and gladly rushed back down too. When they reached the table they saw Delia serving herself and Ash, while Pikachu already had his bowl of Pokémon food set next to Ash's chair.

"Glad to see you changed sweetie, you're lucky I bought those clothes a week ago since I knew you would come home and needed a new wardrobe," Delia cheerfully told him.

"Thanks, Mom, I appreciate it," Ash returned the gesture with a grateful smile.

Ash quickly settled down and started eating as if he hadn't eaten in years. Pikachu shook his head and looked at Ash eat like a dog, he had no manners when it came to eating food. His mom, on the other hand, just giggled a bit and smiled, knowing some things would never change about her son.

"Wow, Mom, you outdid yourself. This food is really good!" Ash congratulated his mother with food still in his mouth and shoved his fork in the air.

"Thank you, honey, that's sweet," Ms. Ketchum simply responded, remaining oblivious to Ash's childish manners.

Ash cleaned his plate after eating the twelve barbecue-sauced ribs his mother made for him and finished up the entire potato salad. Delia wondered how Ash's appetite could be so huge. No one in the Ketchum family, including herself, ate as much as the boy who hadn't even reached 100% adulthood yet. She started to doze off into her thoughts and recalled memories with her son.

He had grown a lot since the start of his adventure and matured little by little every time she saw him. He was no longer a kid, but a teen of 15 years old who would turn sixteen soon. Something about her son that never changed was his passion for Pokémon, which he held ever since he was an infant. She assumed that her son would be on the road again soon.