Chapter 49 - 8 - Ash's Family

After that, Ash asked Rico, "So, uh, do you want to go to my house? Because I want to introduce you to my family."

"Sure!" Rico responded sharply in positivity as he stand up, "I want to meet your family."

"Okay!" Ash replied. He then stand up, and he, Rico, and their Pokémon then left the hill together and towards the town.

In no time, they arrived at Ash's house, which is close to Rico's house, just at the other side of Rico's backyard. And they entered the house through the front door, Ash greeted, "Mom, dad, I have a new friend here." Rico was a bit shy to show up.

"Oh, Ash, you're back," Delia greeted him back, "Do you have someone to show us?"

"Rico, meet my mom," Ash said to Rico. Rico then showed up slowly, deteriorating his shyness.

"Um, hi?" Rico greeted Delia.

"Oh, you must be Rico," Delia greeted him back while washing some dishes. Both boys and their Pokémon then come in and sat on an armchair and a sofa, while their Pokémon are on the sofa except Pikachu was on the armrest with Ash in the living room. Delia then come out of the kitchen with a white ceramic plate of two glasses of water. Rico then picked one of them, and drink it, refreshing his body and satisfying his thirst. Ash then the remaining glass and did the same thing as Rico.

"So, mom, where's dad?" Ash asked his mother.

"Oh, he's in his gym cleaning and polishing the metal," Delia answered him, "And I think... he'll be back this lunchtime."

"Oh, okay," Ash replied.

"I'll wait," Rico added. And as Delia went back to the kitchen to get some snacks, Red, Ash's cousin, came downstairs, only to see a kid. Upon noticing him on the staircase, Ash greeted him, "Oh, hi, Red, you're here. Meet our new neighbor." Upon noticing him, Rico greeted him calmly. Red then greeted him back, and sat down next to Riolu.

"Woah, who's that Pokémon?" Red asked upon seeing Riolu, "And those Pokémon?"

"Oh, this is Riolu, a Fighting-type," Rico brightly explained, "And this one is Litleo, A Normal and Fire-type, and this is Piplup, a Water-type." Amazed by these new Pokémon, Red retorted, "Wow, those are awesome. I never seen those before."

"Why?" Rico asked him in puzzling, "You never been outside of Kanto?"

"Well..." Red replied while scratching his head a bit, "...yes actually."

"He never went outside of Kanto," Ash cleared out Red's explanation.

"Oh, okay," Rico calmly replied. And then, Delia came back to the living room with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and some strawberry muffins, and gave them to the kids.

"Ash, your father was a bit busy at his gym, so he wouldn't come home for lunch," Delia delivered them bad news, "He's eating his own lunch. And I think he'll be coming home on dinner time." Ash then stand up and happily replied, "That's okay, mom, I know he's busy most of the time. Besides, we already had mealtimes together in the past. Right?" Realizing it, Delia replied, "Oh, right." Ash, Red, and Pikachu then became happy. Rico stared at them for a few minutes, thinking, "Wow, they're so happy as a family. I think that's my ideal family then;" he then grabbed a cookie and a muffin and eat them. And then suddenly, a Pikachu appeared on Red's left shoulder, seeing the commotion.

"Woah!" Rico responded while almost choking on the cookie pieces. He then swallowed it softy and sharply, and asked Red, "Is that your Pikachu?"

"Oh, this?" Red replied while referring to his Pikachu, "Yes, that's my Pikachu." His Pikachu then responded in greeting. Riolu, Litleo, and Piplup then greeted it in response, but Riolu was confused at the two Pikachus, as they were the same to each other.

"Okay, me and Riolu are super confused by these Pikachus," Rico commented in dizzy puzzling. Chuckling a bit, Ash responded, "Well, you can tell by their responses to us when we call them." Both Pikachus then jumped from their trainers to demonstrate the calling responses. Ash and Red then called them, and both Pikachus then jumped back to their respective trainers, concluding the demonstration.

"See?" Ash said to Rico. Snapping out from confusion, Rico replied, "Oh, that's how. Make sense."