I needed to draw the polycule- this isn't even all of them T0T my multishipper heart makes everything so complicated-
Anyway, I'm very happy with how Iris's hair turned out, I took inspiration from June and their female gijinka of Umbreon! I think she looks cute :]
[Start ID: Four plain head-shots of Serena, Ash, Iris and Gary from the Pokemon anime, there are arrows pointing between all of them. Serena, top left, is pale and has honey-blonde hair that's short and wavy. The Arrow pointing to Ash reads: Childhood friends to lovers (Amour), her arrow to Iris says: Friends to lover (Fairdragon) finally her arrow to Gary says Childhood strangers turned friends. Ash, top right, has darker skin and a darker blue, near black, hair he's also wearing his signature hat. Ash's arrow pointing to Gary says: Childhood rivals turned lovers (Pallet) and the arrow pointing to Iris says Friends. Gary is fair-skinned and has light brown hair, the arrow pointing to Iris says Friends. Finally Iris has darker and more saturated brown skin, and her hair is a darker purple that is styled in her champion hair-do, but are thick stylised braids, her eyes are closed and she's sticking out her tongue. End ID.]
Woke: Giovanni has mistakenly believed Ash was his hookup mistake for like a decade and is about to get the surprise of the century seeing that not only are they not related, but the employee he fired a few years ago for being too stupid is now living with him and being a more active father than he was
My personal headcanon for Ash Ketchum has always been that regardless of if his dream ever came true he'd never truly stop traveling and learning. Because despite "becoming a pokemon master" being his goal if you actually sit down and watch like Any episode of Pokemon the thing that always holds true is his curiosity and desire to learn everything he possibly can related to pokemon. And he'll try anything to! He did contests and the battle frontier. He'd do those silly little shows with Serena if they'd let him.
So I like to imagine him continuing on in life as this nomad who people don't automatically recognize as anyone important ya know? Just this goofy guy going from place to place always lending a helping hand and hes got a cute lil pikachu on him. And hes often lost somewhere with a friend just exploring the woods to see if he'll find anything cool. Ya know, as hes always been, but older now. And its only once hes drifted once more do you maybe stumble into an article on the pokeweb about him and are like... that guy??
The reason I love the idea of a kid Ash taming the legendary Pokemon Ho Oh. First, it would put any pompous person in their place seeing a child tame a legendary.
Second, it's clear that Ho Oh has been following Ash for his entire journey. If that rainbow bird is willing to follow Ash Ketcum, then they might be willing to join him.