Pokemon: The Journey

"So, your name is Roshi Netero, right?"

Ash Ketchum asked the man and saw him go into contemplation as if remembering something painful. He knew he had poor people skills and was only able to express himself as a confident person with an overly friendly personality.

He did not know how to talk properly to a person, being friendless and all...

Lonely.

Lonely.

Friendless.

"Freak..."

"...worthless..."

"...pathetic"

"...loser"

Losing himself in the myriads of negative emotions and memories, an awkward and suffocating silence enveloped the room.

The walls seemed much closer...

The room seemed darker...

Lost in their thoughts, neither of them noticed the rain outside, as if it symbolized the grief and thoughts of the room's occupants.

...

Breaking out of his stupor, [Redacted] noticed Ash's state and was shocked and concerned.

Shocked at his panic.

Concerned as to how he did not know this side of him.

Truth said this was Canon, right?

...Why was Ash panicking then?

...If this was Canon, so where is the confident as hell Ash?

...Is this a parallel universe of Canon?

Or was this the true Ash Ketchum, behind all of his bravado and endless courage?

Realizing that he should start talking to him to break him out of it and end the silence.

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...cough...cough...

Ash was thankfully broken out of his thoughts by the sounds.

"Ash."

Then he remembered where he was, and who he was talking to.

"I-I am sorry..."

*sigh*

"It does not matter with which name you call me," said the man in a tired and resigned manner.

"Why?"

Opening his eyes to show the lingering sadness in them, he responded in the same tone.

"As you can see, I am old. I had died. During those moments, I was prepared to leave behind my everything and pass on to the afterlife. Now, stripped of my face, place, being, and body, I am now only a soul with only his memories and knowledge of my people."

"Who am I?"

"What am I?"

"What is the meaning of my existence?"

"I am just an old man who should have died and gone away peacefully. I do not know the reason of my form or existence; those can be solved with time."

"I am nameless, but everyone should have a name to identify themselves. You called me Roshi Netero, right?"

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Ash felt sad for the man. 

He had died and did not have a name to call himself by.

He was talking to the soul of a dead man.

He was talking to a dead man.

Wait... Did I just die?

What about his journey that he wanted to go on?

Before he could start spiraling down in his thoughts, he heard, "You called me Roshi Netero, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Hmmm. I can take that name. What do you want to do in the future?"

"Wait, are you seriously just going to take that name?"

"What harm is there?"

"None, but..."

"What?", [Redacted], no Roshi asked with one of his eyebrows raising.

"I-I-I am dead..."

With a jolt Roshi sat straight and asked like any person in his situation, "H-huh?..."

"I can see you... A dead man... I cannot see a dead man without being dead," Ash choked out in crying.

Roshi stared with a straight face.

"Okay, calm down boy. I did tell you that we are in your mindscape, right?"

"Y-yes..."

With a slow and steady voice as if he was explaining something obvious to a child..., oh, oh, he, a dead man, was actually talking to a living, and breathing literal child. Shit.

"You are not dead," Roshi said with a kind voice.

"H-Huh..."

"You are alive. We are in your mind. You still have a lot of time to live."

After some time that involved calming down a hyperventilating kid by an old man in shirt and pants with a turtle shell trying to explain about the intricacies of the mind and failing and then succeeding somehow in the end...

"So, you good?"

"Yeah," sniffed Ash in response.

"Phew..." crisis averted.

"So, proper introductions are in order. As you now know, my name is Roshi Netero? Your name?"

"Ash Ketchum"

"So, Ash Ketchum, let's talk about each other and get to know each other," Roshi said with a smile that seemed to calm him down.

"Okay..." Ash nodded.

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After talking to each other, the two of them started to relax and become more comfortable in the room, with the sound of rain gradually slowing down.

The clouds started to part ways to make way for beams of sunlight to fall on the rain-soaked grounds.

Fall through the window...

Into the living room...

Brightening the atmosphere...

"If this is my mind, then how do I wake up?"

"Huh..."

"You do not know it now, do you?"

"No."

Silence.

"Uh...Was that door always there?"

"What?"

Turning to the side that Ash was pointing towards, Roshi saw an old door made of mahogany wood with a Poké ball motif on the surface. There was also a clock face on the top of it that currently showed 7 o'clock. Previously, there was nothing there.

"Maybe."

Ash went to the door and put his hand on the knob and asked, "Will this be the last time we see each other?"

"I don't know."

"Will-will you be my friend?"

"Yep."

With a smile on his face, he turned the knob and said with a voice of gratitude, "Thank you."

The light blinded all.