Ash S. Ketchum (Truth and Ideals)

Ash Ketchum (Japanese: サトシ Satoshi) is the main protagonist of the fanfic Truth and Ideals. He is the present day "Hero of Ideals".

Character
Ash is a kind individual, and often very helpful towards his mother by helping her out with cleaning and cooking while he was younger. However, over time, he had desired to become a Pokémon Trainer to which, until the beginning of the story, were shot down by Delia's overprotective nature towards him. Eventually he decided to talk to Delia about the matter more seriously, not knowing the exact circumstances of what happened to his father, Sirius, at the time. When Delia learns that Ash had been unwittingly holding back Cheren and Bianca on their dreams as well, as the two of them had been waiting patiently on Ash, Ash is finally allowed to go on a Pokémon journey.

As Ash demonstrates with Bianca's father, Don, he and Cheren both have a protective nature towards those who need it the most; this allows for Don to let Bianca join them on their journey. When Ash ends up stepping in to save N even when he doesn't have any actual reason to do so, he just does so since it's solely the right thing to do even with N's current position as the King of Team Plasma. In addition, the only times anybody has ever managed to earn Ash's anger were very brief, but the Genesect that appear have managed to earn a much more longterm hatred from Ash due to what their leader had done to one of his former Pokémon.

In the canon anime, Ash is normally very dense towards love; however, in this incarnation, he's old enough to not have this trait and develops feelings for Misty. Earlier in the story, Iris leaves a vague impression on Ash when they first meet, as Iris herself points herself out as a "smitten teenage girl" when they meet up again later. When Iris asks Ash if her first kiss could go to him, he only agrees with the approval of Misty; afterwards, both Ash and Misty allow for Iris to join them in a polyamory relationship with each other. Unlike Cheren towards Bianca, though, Ash does not attempt to engage in a sexual relationship with Misty or Iris just yet.

Voice Actors

 * ??? (Japanese)
 * Steven Yeun (English)

Prior Designs
 Ash Ketchum (Truth and Ideals First Half).png|Ash's original outfit during the first half of the first story. Ash Ketchum (Truth and Ideals First Half 2).png|Ash's alternate outfit during the first half of the first story. This outfit becomes his default for the remainder of the first story beginning with the second half.

Trivia

 * Ash S. Ketchum is based off of Ash Ketchum from the anime, Red from Pokémon Yellow Version, Hilbert from Pokémon Black and White Versions, and Calem from Pokémon X and Y.
 * In an ironic twist, this incarnation of Ash is more competent and older than Truth and Ideals' incarnation of Alain.
 * Ash was not going to have a Lucario join his team until the end of the story; however, due to a suggestion from a recurring reviewer for the series, and especially due to the major role Lucario has on Ash's team, Regulus joined Ash's team early in the story. As a direct result, this lead to the creation of Altair's character as a second Lucario in which Ash acquires who serves as Regulus' successor.
 * In addition, the decision on whether or not Ash's signature Pikachu would evolve or not all depended on whether or not Raichu got anything new to it in the core series games. When the idea first came up in 2015, it was shelved towards the end of the year and was replaced with giving Samurott a fan-made form change based off of Ash-Greninja. However, when the upcoming Pokémon Sun and Moon revealed Alola Form Raichu, it was ultimately decided to evolve Pikachu into Raichu as its Alolan Form.
 * Ash was originally paired up with solely Misty in this AU. However, when the idea of shipping him with both Misty and Iris at the time turned out possible considering an earlier revelation with another pairing, Ash ended up being paired with both of them. This is also the first time the author of Truth and Ideals had in any way actively shipped Ash with Iris.
 * Ash developing scars on his body mostly came from the incident in Chapter 48; though scars cover his whole body, they're only noticeably visible on his neck and face.