CHAPTER 4:
                          CAUGHT?
              WORD COUNT: 2231
       CW: LANGUAGE, DECEPTION
      PUBLISHING DATE：31/12/2023
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3 weeks had passed ever since Ash had stolen the Pokemon from Professor Oak's Lab, every week Ash would choose a day to feed Pokemon food for the Pokemon in"Route 1" as well. But Ash isn't feeding them, but his own Pokemon and training them as well. 

In the morning, like usual Ash washed up and went downstairs but found an unexpected guest, a woman with dark teal hair, wearing a purple cap with a black rim, a red top, and a gold star, a sign that she was a police officer. When Ash saw her, his body shook a little, clenched his fist, scared that he would get caught because of stealing Pokemon but then Ash took a deep breath and went downstairs.

"Mom, who's this?" Ash asked and sat straight on the couch beside his mother, with the female officer on the opposite.

"Oh, Ash! Your awake, this is Officer Jenny!" Delia smiled when Ash arrived and introduced the female officer who was called Officer Jenny.

"She's a police? Why is she her Mom? Is she your friend Mom? That's so cool!" Ash asked confusingly, then thought of something and looked at her mother with stars in his eyes.

"No, no Ash. Officer Jenny is here to investigate!" Delia shaked her head and explained.

"Investigate? Investigate what? Did someone break into our house Mom?" Ash asked with confusion and "worried", "worried" if his house got robbed.

"No Ash, Officer Jenny because someone stole the Pokemons in Professor's Oak Lab" Delia sighed but still explained patiently.

"What? They stole the Pokemon from Professor's Oak Lab? They didn't steal the starters did they?!" Ash stood up when he heard the Pokemon was stolen.

"Ash Ketchum! Sit back down, there are still people here, Apologize! And I am not sure what they stole either, and go eat your breakfast!" Delia scolds Ash for being discourteous in front of other people.

"Okay, Mom...I'm sorry Officer Jenny!" Ash bowed to Officer Jenny apologizing, then went to the dining table to eat his breakfast.

"...This police...Hope she won't find out, or else she needs to be gone"The moment Ash turned his back, his face changed to a very serious and annoyed expression, he took a peek at Officer Jenny and started eating breakfast with his usual face.

"What was that..." Officer Jenny noticed someone looking at her, when she turned her head it was Ash, a cheerful boy from his impression, but the stare he looked at her, was nothing like the boy from just now. 

"Mrs. Ketchum, I'm afraid my colleagues and I will need to inspect your house, please understand as the the whole village will be getting inspected as well." Jenny frowned starting to get suspicious of Ash, and she took out an inspection paper and gave it to Delia. 

"Is okay, I understand" Delia agreed to the inspection, since is not like she had anything to hide.

While Ash was enjoying his breakfast, he suddenly felt his back cold, like something bad was about to happen, his eyes stared at where the living room was. Ash stood up and placed his ear on the wall wanting to eardrop on their conversation, what he heard was not the thing he wanted.

"Hello? Officer Jenny speaking, please send some comrades to XXX to inspect their house." Officer Jenny used a walkie talkie.

Ash knew he was going to get caught sooner or later, it would just take time, as the pokeballs were just hiding in his room under the bed, and they would definitely find it, Ash started to panic, but he forced himself to remain calm, and thought of a way, as it was the only thing he could think of. Ash threw his half-ated breakfast into the trash can and went upstairs.

Officer Jenny saw Ash walk up the stairs, in her eyes Ash looked like he was in a panic, like something bad was about to happen, Officer Jenny frowned as her suspicion got even deeper, and then her comrades arrived.

"You come with me, the rest of you check downstairs" Officer Jenny instructed, then turned to Delia and asked. "Mrs. Ketchum, may I know where your son Ash Ketchum's room is? I have reason to suspect your son stole the Pokemon from Professor Oak's Lab!"

"What? No! My son wouldn't do that, and he's only a child! He wouldn't steal! "Delia stood up, disagreeing in anger, feeling furious that Officer Jenny thinks her kind son is a thief.

"We'll know soon. Now please lead the way" Officer Jenny reached her hand, telling Delia to lead the way to Ash's room.

Ash's Bedroom, 

The minute Ash took a step into his bedroom, he locked the door and grabbed the Pokeballs under his bed. Then he took a bag that he rarely uses and stuffed the pokeballs into it except Persian's pokeball. 

"Persian, take this bag and go hide in Route 1! Don't let anyone see you okay?" Ash opened his windows, and sent out Persian, giving him instructions.

Outside Ash's Room,

"This is Ash's room," Delia said pointing at Ash's door, still unhappy about Officer Jenny's accuses of his son being a thief.

"Ash Ketchum, please open the door as we need to inspect the room!" Officer Jenny knocked on the door.

"Shit! Persian jump out of the window! Don't come back until midnight!" Ash rushed Persian to leave and then opened his TV and took out snacks that he had been hiding for a long time.

"Ash Ketchum open the door! Or I will have no choice but to break in!" Officer Jenny's suspicion rose higher, and a few seconds passed, Ash still not giving a reply. Officer Jenny kicked the door open. What she saw was Ash watching TV and suspiciously hiding something behind his back the moment he saw her and Delia.

"Mom, Officer Jenny, is there anything you need?" Ash rubbed his nose, in his other hand was behind his back, like he was hiding something.

"What are you hiding behind your back?" Officer Jenny walked to Ash, standing in front of him, looking at his left hand.

"Uhm....Nothing..." Ash's eyes kept staring at his bed like there was something important hiding there.

"Oh really? Dan, check his room" Officer Jenny stared at Ash for a few seconds with suspicion in her eyes, then waved her hand and let his comrade check Ash's room.

"Hey! What's with this? I didn't give you permission to check my room!" Ash shouted with anger, but his left hand was still hiding behind his back, his eyes looking at his bed from time to time as well.

While Dan started to check the bed, Officer Jenny noticed that Ash's body shaked a little, so she is certainly confirmed that Ash was the one that stole the Pokemons from the Lab.

"Officer Jenny, I found something under his bed" Danny said, while reaching his hand under his bed, grabbing the things that were underneath the bed.

"It can't be!" Delia thought, looking at Ash's and Officer Jenny's expressions.

"Hmph, Ash Ketchum! You are arrested for stealing Pokemon!" Officer Jenny grabbed Ash's left hand, and a bag of chips fell.

"Hey! What do you mean? I didn't steal anything!" Ash shouted out loud trying to break free from Officer Jenny.

"A bag of chips?" Officer Jenny mumbled with disbelief in his eyes, then turned her sight to Dan. "What did you find underneath his bed, Dan?"

"I found a backpack full of-" Dan replied, but was cut off by Officer Jenny.

"A backpack full of pokeballs right?" Officer Jenny said.

"No, It was a backpack full of snacks." Dan frowned, unpleased that he was cut off.

"Mom! Help me! I didn't steal anything!" Ash shouted for Delia's help, still struggling to break free from Officer Jenny.

"Let go of my son! I told you he wasn't a thief!" Delia pushed Officer Jenny and hugged Ash, like a Mother Chicken protecting his child.

"If he didn't steal! He wouldn't be so nervous!" Officer Jenny said, still suspicious of Ash.

"That's...That's because Mom doesn't let me eat snacks...so I hid them underneath my bed....if you guys find it, Mom will scold me and I won't be able to eat snacks forever!" Ash shouted, and then stuffed his head in Delia's hug and started crying.

"That is indeed true Officer Jenny, now that you have inspected my house, please leave!" Delia said with loathe, she shouldn't have let her inspect the room, or else Ash wouldn't be like this.

"I am sorry Ash and Mrs. Ketchum, I shouldn't have accused him just because I thought his actions were suspicious...Me and my comrade will leave now" Officer Jenny bowed at Delia and Ash, then left, but before leaving she took a glance at Ash and found him smiling at her, it was a provoking smile.

"He..." Officer Jenny left the house unwillingly because she knew Ash was the culprit or he was related to the case. But it's too late now, there's no evidence and no one would believe her, before leaving Pallet Town, Officer Jenny looked at Ash with disinclination.

"Ash Ketchum, you can get away with your lies for a while, but you can't forever, your lies will be exposed one day, and I will catch you and put you in jail! " Officer Jenny said to herself and rode her motorcycle back to Viridian City.

"Mom...can I keep the snacks please?" Ash plead with puppy eyes staring at his mother, with tears still in his eyes.

"I'll allow it but you can't always eat it okay Ash?" Delia agreed, her heart felt broken seeing her beloved son crying, Delia took care of Ash very well, so he rarely cries, it had been very long since Ash had cried this much. Heart in pain, and wanting Ash to feel better, Delia kissed Ash's forehead.

"Thanks, Mom!" Ash showed up a smile. Even though his mother could be annoying sometimes, he knew it was a sign of a caring mother.

"I'll leave now Ash, go wash your face, you don't look handsome when you cry" Delia cracked a joke to make the atmosphere better and left Ash's room.

"I will Mom....haha!" Ash waved her hand when Delia left the room and Ash lay on the floor feeling tired. "Who knew acting was this hard..." Ash mumbled, and sat up, worried Officer Jenny would encounter Persian. "No, Persian is an intelligent Pokemon, she'll probably be fine.." Ash thought, after the 3 weeks of spending time together, gaining trust for each other and knowing their exact personality as well.

Time flew by and it is now Midnight.

Ash isn't asleep yet as he is waiting for Persian to show up. Time went by, and Ash became more and more anxious, since Persian hadn't returned yet, Ash stood up to go get a drink as he felt thirsty. Reaching out for this water bottle, Ash took a sip of his water and heard sounds coming from his window, he saw Persian outside the window and she was biting the bag. Ash felt relieved and put down his water bottle to open the windows.

"Persian your back" Ash said with a relieved tone, and opened his closet to get the Pokemon food to feed them. And then he opened his backpack to find the pokeballs all there, Ash was now assured. He sent the Pokemons out and fed them Pokemon food, they ate it all up with pleasure as they were really hungry. 

"Good job Persian" Ash patted Persian's head and praised her.

"Purr!" Persian meowed as a reply and she continued to eat her Pokemon food since she was starving.

After the Pokemons had finished eating, Ash returned them all to their Pokeballs and went to a night of deep sleep, since he's usually an early sleeper, it's been a while since he slept this late.

2 months later, the night before Ash needs to choose his starter Pokemon.

"Those professors said that so-called Pikachu would be given to a trainer as a starter Pokemon..." Ash thought, since if he had a different starter than normal people, it'd be cool. And he'd rarely heard the word"Pikachu" so it may be quite rare. 

"If I slept late, could I acquire that so-called Pikachu?" Ash thought. Ash doesn't care if he gets a starter or not, since he has Pokemons now, so why not give it a try?

Then his door opened, scaring Ash, he subconsciously looked behind him and eased. It was good he didn't let the Pokemon out, but to think he forgot to lock the damn door.

"Ash! Why aren't you asleep yet? It's 11 o'clock and you should be asleep!" Delia opened the door and showed a clock to Ash, and the clock had turned to 11 o'clock.

"I will go to sleep now Mom! I was just thinking about what to choose as my starter!" Ash jumped to bed and covered himself with blankets as he replied to Delia.

"Good" Delia turned off the lights and left the room.

 When Delia left, Ash kicked the blankets off him, as he couldn't sleep, so he stared at the roof, and slowly his eyes began to shut close, and started to fall asleep.

               TO BE CONTINUED...