The Pantheon

Pallet Town

The toast on Ashley's plate was going cold, mostly because she'd forgotten it existed the second her mom casually dropped the you should be heading back to Pallet soon comment like it was just part of the weather.

She blinked at her mother across the table, then looked at her dad, then back at her mom like maybe she'd misheard it the first time.

"Wait. What?"

Delia didn't look up from buttering her croissant. "Pallet Town. You should go back soon. You've got training to do, don't you?"

Ashley blinked again. Her brain felt like it skipped a gear.

"I mean—yeah—but... what about the Gym?" She turned to her dad. "You still need backup, right? I've been covering Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the challenge schedule's been picking up. I thought—"

Her dad shook his head, calm as ever. His coffee steamed gently in front of him, untouched. "Ashy, you've done enough. More than enough. Your duty now is to your team. The Gym will be fine."

Ashley stared. "But you've been juggling ranger shifts and leader duties on your own for weeks."

He smiled. "Not anymore."

Delia reached over and passed him the sugar bowl with that look she got when she was about to drop a bombshell with perfect poise. "Agatha and Bruno came by early this morning."

Ashley's stomach did a weird flip. The Elite Four members have been checking on the Gym periodically for a while, always trying to get close to her. Agatha was especially insistent. The old crone had even cornered her outside the kitchen once, practically appearing from thin air like all good Ghost trainers did, eyes sharp behind her smirk. "You'll have to bond with one eventually, girl," she'd said, like she was delivering a prophecy and not just picking on her over toast.

Ashley wasn't scared of Ghost-types. She just didn't get them. They were weird. Intense. Dramatic in a different way than Chione, more like Proserpina but with way fewer boundaries. Every time she got close to one, it felt like the air changed, like the world tilted just slightly off its axis. Not bad. Just... weird.

Why should she put a poor Pokémon through the problem of being coached by a trainer that cannot even understand their nature. That was cruel. But that was Agatha for you. Never subtle. Never done meddling.

Snapping back to the present, she stared at her parents with trepidation. "...Why?"

"To name Red as the official Viridian Gym Leader," her mom said.

Ashley's fork paused halfway to her mouth. "...Dad?"

"The one and only," her mom said, sipping her tea like she hadn't just rerouted Ashley's life plan over breakfast.

Ashley put her fork down slowly. "And you're just telling me now?"

"We wanted you to sleep," Delia said sweetly.

Ashley turned to her dad, eyes narrowing. "You knew this was happening."

"I suspected," he said with a small shrug, like this wasn't world-shaking news. "Didn't want to say anything until it was finalized."

"But—you—what about your ranger work?"

"Passed that on to Zoey," he said, reaching for his coffee at last. "She's been ready. Field Captain, as of yesterday."

Ashley's mouth hung open. "Zoey's a captain now?!"

Her dad nodded.

Her mom smiled. "And your father can finally focus on running the Gym the normal way. With normal hours. And no juggling."