Summary: Delia Ketchum, in an attempt to foster family unity, organizes an RV roadtrip involving her sister's family and her own family. Joining the expedition are Gary and May's families (in seperate RVs). Team Rocket also follows behind in their own recreational vehical.
Note: I know that Ash and Sabrina are NOT really blood related in the anime, it was just something I thought of while seeing her mother and Ash's mother in the same day (they look kind of similar, in my opinion). Ash is going to be a bit OOC in this chapter, but he'll recover (I think).
Disclaimer: Just be glad that I do not own Pokemon or anything mentioned in this fic...
(RV There Yet?)
"Mooom, do I have to go on this trip?" The raven-haired trainer whined, slinking along behind his mother. Mrs. Ketchum was in the middle of loading up the rental station wagon with their suitcases. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she turned to her son. "Now Ash, I really want you to spend some quality time with your family. It isn't like I'm banning you from ever training pokemon again."
Ash continued sulking as he scuffed the ground with his shoe. "Knowing my luck, my cousin probably hates pokemon battles..."
Delia slammed the back of the ugly green vehicle and rummaged in her pockets for her keys. "You don't have to worry about that. From what I've heard, she's quite a strong trainer and a force to be reckoned with." She produced the keys from her pocket, then headed to the driver side of the car. "C'mon Mimey."
"Mime!" The Mr. Mime appeared seemingly out of nowhere, donning a wide-brimmed sunhat and shades. Pikachu chirped on his perch on top of the hat. Both looked extremely eager to begin a three-month trek across the continent in a recreational vehicle. Ash sweatdropped, wishing that his Pikachu would have had the decency to at least pretend to be miserable.
With the mime pokemon in the passenger side, and Ash in back, the car revved to life and drove down the road to Viridian City.
It wasn't as if Ash didn't want to travel; he loved going to new places and meeting new people. But he liked to walk, and he certainly didn't need anyone telling him where to go. He was independent and that's how he was always going to stay.
Pikachu and Mr. Mime were on the fifty-second round of 'On the Road to Viridian City' when the station wagon entered the almost desolate parking lot. Ash kept his forehead planted on the window as his mom got out and began to talk with someone on the outside. The two pokemon had stopped singing the pokemon version of the song, and had moved on to playing I Spy.
"Ash, come on out sweetie." With great difficulty, the pokemon trainer grudgingly reached up and opened the door. He stepped out and stood next to his mother, eyes remaining down defiantly.
"My, he sure has grown up since we last saw him." Something familiar about the voice made Ash look up into icy blue eyes. The bearded man stood next to a pretty woman with brown hair. Ash's eyes lit up in recognition. "You two are--"
"--Your Aunt Dawn and Uncle Ed." Ash mom finished for him. It wasn't quite what Ash was leaning towards saying, and was certainly not what he was expecting. But if they were his aunt and uncle, that would make...
"Come on out and say hello to your cousin, Sabrina."
Another person stepped out from the other car, looking almost as miserable as Ash was. Though it was obvious that something was different about her from the first time they met, she still wasn't a ray of sunshine. Ash soon felt himself under the scrutiny of the Gym Leader's piercing gaze. Her Kadabra reflected her annoyance from behind her.
"Hello." She murmured, obviously disliking the attention focusing in her direction. Her hair was pinned back in a ponytail, and she wore a pair of jean shorts and a red tank top. She shifted her weight a little, her sneakers scraping lightly against the pavement.
Ash the adults discussed the details of the excursion, the two trainers stood off to the side and watched the three pokemon play tag together.
"This is the biggest waste of my vacation time ever." Sabrina complained. Ash nodded. "How can parents think that traveling in an RV down the highway when its ninety degrees out is fun?"
"The humidity is going to be bad." Sabrina added.
"Our clothes are going to stick to us because of the sweat, and our pokemon are going to be miserable." Ash continued.
"And not to mention everyone is going to smell like BO." There was a pregnant pause between the two; then Ash began snickering. Sabrina joined him and soon they were laughing hysterically. Pikachu and Mr. Mime watched Kadabra double up in fits of laughter during their game.
"Pikachu?" (What's his problem?)
"Mime mister mime..." (I haven't a clue...)
Meanwhile, on a hillside overlooking the parking lot, three figures watched the scene below through binoculars. Two humans in their twenties and a scratch cat pokemon, as a matter of fact.
"Will you look at that! The twerp is missing the other three twerps!" The blue-haired male, James, admonished. He lowered the binoculars from his eyes and looked at the other two.
"Instead he's got another twerp." The cat pokemon named Meowth commented, doing the same as James had done. "She looks about as mean as Jessie does."
WHAM!
Meowth lay knocked out on the grass from a well-aimed kick. "I am most certainly not mean!" The red-haired female known as Jessie roared, scaring the living daylights out of James, who was still conscious. Unfortunately. "I really wish that you wouldn't do that..."
"He deserved it." Jessie argued. Wobbuffet chose this moment to pop out of its pokeball. "Wobbuffet!" It answered. Jessie pointed to the blue psychic blob.
"See, even Wobbuffet agrees with me." She then continued to watch the twerp below. "I think they're going to travel cross-country in an RV."
Meowth recovered from his lapse of consciousness, the only evidence of an attack being the large bump on his head. "I got an idea. Why don't we follow them and steal all three pokemon." His human companions looked at him. "So we can give them to the boss?" They half-asked and half completed Meowth's statement.
"Of course!" Meowth boasted. "Just imagine the boss..."
The scene suddenly cuts to one of the boss, Giovanni, sleeping in his bed. "One morning he'll awaken to find that he overslept." The boss wakes up to find that his digital alarm clock has broken, and he begins to panic. He runs into the bathroom and begins to rush around in order to get ready to go to work. "Just as he's about to use his razor and shave, he discovers that he's out of shaving cream. And since the power is out, he can't use his electric razor either."
The boss, complete with five o'clock shadow, begins to show signs of worry. "But then he'll remember Pikachu, and with the pokemon's electricity, he'll be able to shave." The boss hands the cord of the razor to Pikachu, who happily jolts it into working.
"After the boss has shaved, he'll go out to his car and find that it doesn't work. Mr. Mime will pop out and begin to fix the car for him." Mr. Mime does just that, much to the boss's delight. "Yet he doesn't have the time to wait for it to be finished, so Kadabra happily Teleports him to his office." Once again, the pokemon of choice suddenly appears, and the boss finds himself sitting in his office.
"The boss will be so happy that he'll say, 'I really must remember to thank Meowth and his friends for these wonderful pokemon.'." The scene resumes back to the three Rocket members.
"I say we should go for it!" James replied, eyes sparkling with anticipation. Jessie agreed. "Guys, we're going on a road trip!"
By this time the RV had arrived. It was lilac-colored, with yellow shooting stars decorating the sides and bright green squiggles weaving alongside. It had smiley face bumper stickers, and played La Cucaracha when the horn was honked. It was a very good quality RV, but kind of tacky. Actually, very tacky.
"Eww..." Ash blurted. Sabrina looked uneasily at the paint job. "Did a Mankey paint this? In the dark maybe?"
Her father lay a hand on her shoulder, eyes glistening with unshead tears. "It's a beauty!" Ash's mom added her own comment. "How adorable!" Ash and Sabrina sweatdropped. "Why do parents think that what's tacky is the best thing since shredded cheese?"
They were dragged out of their adoration (or loathing) of the recreational vehicle by another round of La Cucaracha from yet another tacky RV. It was a bright burgundy color, and was painted with bright yellow silhouettes of people jumping up and down in excitement. Or possibly to try and jump to their death to escape being on such a tacky vehicle.
Four people left this monstrosity, and they were quite familiar to Ash. May and Max looked ashamed about riding in the RV of such an awful color. Their parents, Caroline and Norman, looked about as pleased as a Meowth that had nabbed a Pidgey. The two adults joined the other adults and began talking about how cute the vehicles looked. The two kids joined with Ash.
"I was okay with this trip," May began calmly. "Then I saw what an awful-looking thing the RV was!" She hissed the last part. Max comforted her.
"I don't understand why we can't just leave already." Ash commented. Max paused in his comforting of his sister. "I think that we're waiting for one more family to arrive."
"I pity that poor sap." Sabrina stated.
The final tacky recreational vehicle pulled up, and the trainers gaped at it. It was bright yellow and was painted to resemble a Pikachu. Out stepped Professor Oak and his granddaughter Daisy. They both held their heads up high, proud of their Pika-RV. A third figure, wearing a brown cape that hid his face and body, slunk out afterwards. He joined the embarrassed group quietly, hiding his true identity from everyone.
"Hi Gary." Ash commented. The figure shifted. "I'm not Gary. He died of embarrassment miles back at the RV place." The others merely let him seep in his delusions for a bit. "So, Person-who-is-not-Gary, besides the RV, what do you think of this trip?" Sabrina asked.
"I hate it." Not-Gary said. "Its going to be hot and I'm going to ride in a thing with sweaty people who think the glass is half full." He indicated the professor and Daisy, who had joined the adults in complementing the RVs.
Since everyone was there at this point, the adults finally decided to start the trip. The trainers slowly made their way into the ugly RVs, and they headed towards the interstate and to the next adventure.
Meanwhile...
"Hi, we're looking for an RV to rent..."
(To be Continued...)
Can you tell that I'm going to enjoy making their lives miserable? A few more questions will be answered later on in the fic. And writing Meowth's fantasies is fun...