The final part of this story is now up! But do not worry, this is not the end of the saga, far from it. There will be multiple stoires about this universe, not all based around Anabel and Ash but all part of the story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon


Brock wasn't sure what to say on the matter. In all of his years of friendship, and traveling together, the question of Ash's father was never brought up. It was taboo, like talking about Misty's parents or Professor Ivy. Brock wanted to hide in the corner, but now was not the time to do it. He needed to help his friend.

"Ash… you aren't your father." Brock wasn't entirely sure of the reason for his bitterness, so he played it safe.

Ash pointed to the picture. "Really, Brock? I look just like him. And from what my mom told me about him, we are a lot alike. His traveling companion was Pikachu, his powerhouse was a Charizard, and his wisest pokémon was a Bulbasaur. He used to travel around with 2 friends, one a gym leader and the other was a girl's bike he destroyed. He was dense and once fought against a Raichu with a Magikarp. He loved his pokémon a lot and never gave up on them. He was kind, and gentle, and brave. I am just my father, just younger." He slammed the photo album shut and dropped it on the floor next to him. He wanted to burn it, but his mom would kill him if he did it. He just looked at it, the photo album mocking him by re-opening to the face of his father. The more he looked at that picture, the angrier he got. It showed, so Anabel swooped in and tried to calm him down.

"So, what? That is just a bunch of coincidences. Did he ever win the Orange League, or beat the Battle Frontier? Did he ever save the world from half a dozen legendaries threatening it? Did he ever have friends as good to you as Misty, Brock, Dawn, Cilan, Iris, May and Max? Did he?"

Ash shook his head. "No. But he could have done a bunch of things just like that." He shook his head more vigorously. "And it does matter! I am a lot like my father in every way imaginable. And it makes me feel horrible." Anabel looked on in care, with Brock in deep thought.

"And if you are like your dad, why does it matter to you so much?" Anabel asked, touching his shoulder, but Ash brushed it off, a look of annoyance on his face, directed towards Anabel.

"You don't get it, do you?" He asked himself aloud. "I mean, I can understand why, but still. Why don't you get it?" He asked Anabel directly.

Anabel was being controlled by her emotions as she screamed, "Get what?"

Brock cut in at that moment, preventing a response by Ash. "What really happened to your father, Ash. I asked your mom once, but she said he was on his journey. But I want to know what really is going on."

Ash had a look of disgust when he turned to Brock. "I told you to never bring that up, Brock. The one thing I asked we never talk about between us. We all agreed to it when we began our trip to Johto. We don't talk about my dad, Misty's parents, and whatever the fuck happened in the Orange Islands between you and Professor Ivy. And you go behind my back, talk to my mom about it. What the hell, man? What the hell?"

Brock was so into this conversation he didn't sulk at the mention of Professor Ivy. "I was curious, ok? I'm sorry that I'm human." He huffed. "And now, it really matters. It actually matters what the hell happened with your father, because it is messing with you now, hurting the girl that loves you and pissing off one of your best friends. So just tell us!"

Ash could be stubborn at times. "No. Not unless you tell us about what happened with you and Ivy."

Brock moaned. "Really? How old are you Ash? This is not when we began, when I let some punk kid get away with a badge since he set off some fire sprinklers to weaken my Onix, and I decided to travel with that punk to help him on his way. You are almost an adult, Ash. Act it!"

Ash smirked. "Then you need to grow up, too. You hit on every god damn girl that he cross that you find a little bit attractive, and it is really fucking annoying. Sure, there was always a Misty, a Max, a Croagunk to stop you. But it really is a kid thing to do. Hell, I'm surprised you never hit on Anabel! She's really hot, too!"

Anabel blushed in spite of herself. "Ash, I'm asking. I'm asking as your friend. What happened in between you and your father?" Ash relaxed at the question and sighed.

He gave a quick glance to Brock. "You will tell us what happened with Ivy, since I have to tell you this." Brock just nodded, wanting to hear the story. "The truth is nothing ever happened with my father." Anabel and Brock had confused looks on their faces, so Ash continued." The truth is, I never met my father. He met my mom, fell in love for a while, found out she was pregnant, and left to continue his journey. He doesn't even know my name, what I look like, anything. He just got up, said he needed to do it for his quest to be a pokémon master, and left my mom. And I hate him for it. He didn't even have the courtesy to meet his son, his own flesh and blood." He began to cry at this point, and Anabel held him. "And my mom had a tough time raising me, you know? Had to work 3 jobs, look for help from friends, know the right people. If she never won that mini-lottery, we would have been screwed. And I'm scared." He paused, controlling himself so he would stop crying. "I'm scared that I will do the same. Meet a girl, like you Anabel, fall in love, get her pregnant and leave. I saw what my mom went through, remembered her working like hell to give me a good place to live. I remembered not getting dinners some nights, because I got sick and she couldn't work, so we lost a bit of the food budget. I don't want a kid to go through that, someone I love to go through that."

Brock had a guilty look on his face, and turned away from Ash, unable to look him in the eye. Anabel held him close to her chest, not letting him leave. Ash was crying his eyes out still, though he was trying to stop. Anabel buried his face in her chest, trying to help him cry out the pain. Ash realized where his face was and stopped crying. He was now embarrassed.

"Anabel?"

"Yes, Ash."

"Why are you trying to suffocate me with your boobs?"

Anabel blushed, but didn't let Ash go. Brock chuckled, mainly at Ash's childish reaction to the situation.

"So?"

"Could you stop suffocating me with your boobs?"

"What, don't you like my boobs?" Brock began to laugh loudly at the ridiculousness of the conversation.

If Ash wasn't buried in Anabel, his blushing would have been obvious to the entire town of Pallet. "Umm… they are…very…VERY nice, but…I would rather like the ability to breathe!" Anabel relented, smiling at the now only mildly blushing Ash who rested his head on her chest. Ash gave a look at the still giggling Brock. Brock sobered up temporarily, but began to laugh again.

"Come on, Ash. I don't get the problem. A girl was coddling you in her chest. That would be a dream of mine. Why are you looking like it's a bad thing?" Brock had managed to stop giggling by the time he finished.

Ash glared. "Have you already forgotten the soul-wrenching confession I gave almost a minute ago explaining my fears of being a bad boyfriend and terrible father?"

Brock shook his head." No, but I think you are being ridiculous. Sure, you might be like your dad, but you aren't your dad. You wouldn't be the type of guy who would leave a girl pregnant and never look back. You have too good of a heart."

Ash looked up at Brock with wide brown eyes. "How do you know, Brock? For sure? My mom thought the same thing about my dad, but she was wrong."

Brock just had a distant look in his eyes." If I know one thing, Ash, is that you are not the type of guy who would leave someone like that. To do that, there has to be something in your personality that would let you do that. And you don't have that."

Ash looked down, and smiled. "Thanks, Brock. I needed to hear that. If I can trust anyone's opinion, it would be yours. You have known me forever."

Brock broke away from the distant look on his face to smile at Ash. "Thanks, Ash. And, I'm curious about one thing." Brock put up one finger. "Now that I think about it, the face in the picture looks familiar, and I just don't mean 'cause it looks like yours. Who was your dad?"

Ash sighed. "I told you this much, so I might as well tell you this. You probably recognized him from the hall of champions at the Indigo Plateau. He is considered the youngest champion in history. My dad is the former great Red Sato."

Anabel's eyes popped. "Red Sato?" Surprise filled her face. Ash nodded his head. Anabel looked away, thinking to herself.

"Then why haven't I heard of him before? You would think he would be really famous and stuff." Brock asked.

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "He was champion for a few years when he was younger than me, but he lost it to some guy named Silver Soulster. Then, his main pokémon got really hurt, so bad they couldn't battle anymore. He was left to start over, but he didn't find pokémon strong enough to regain his throne. He tried to train, but mom said it didn't work, so he left again to find pokémon who would be strong enough so he could become champion. I haven't heard of him since."

Anabel raised her hand. "I have." Ash looked up at the girl he had been laying on, confused. "He was the most recent runner-up of the Hoenn League Championship. He only lost since his powerhouse was too hurt too battle for him. He looked like you, but I thought nothing of it." Ash and Brock had confused looks on their faces, as if to ask Why would know that off-hand? Anabel became slightly defensive. " It's my job as a Frontier Brain to look for possible participants of the Battle Frontier, and a league championship is the best way to do this. It also seemed like a good redemption story, a former champ trying to reclaim glory. I even, kind of, "Anabel gulped," made a strong suggestion to Scott about letting him compete in the next go around of the Frontier year."

Brock looked on in horror. He wanted to yell at Anabel, but what could he say? It was not like she knew. He turned to his attention to Ash, curious about his response. Ash had a dead look over his face, one no one could read. Eventually, he spoke.

"If he gets in…"Ash pause, making sure he wanted to phrase what he said next like that, "I hope he manages to get up to my girlfriend. Heck, I almost hope he can beat her. That way, it would show that it was worth it. That losing your family and ignoring your son for training was worth it."

Brock and Anabel nodded, understanding where Ash was coing from. Anabel then paused, mid-nod, as one word echoed in her head. Girlfriend…

"Did you just call me your girlfriend?" Anabel asked hopefully. She squealed as Ash nodded.

"Though I am not convinced I won't turn out like my dad, I believe in what Brock said enough to take that chance. And I just assumed you would say yes, since we both know that we love the other." Ash said, oddly calm. Not oddly, though, since a great fear was finally (mostly) unclouded from his mind. Anabel was so happy at hearing this since she was literally frozen in her spot, unable to move towards Ash. Ash noticed this, and gave a light laugh. He moved towards her, and grabbed her around the waist. "I think I need to do this again, since I threw you off of me the first time." Anabel melted as his lips connected with hers, and Ash began to push in passionately. Anabel recovered and pushed back, and the two began a rhythmic motion to keep up the kiss. Anabel tried to let her tongue in, but Ash lightly declined, knowing Brock was still watching them. Anabel realized this too, and they abruptly stopped, slight blushes covering their cheeks. Brock grinned, happy at the love between his best friend and the Salon Maiden. Ash smirked at him, knowing the best way to wipe the smile off Brock's face.

"So, when are you telling us about Ivy?"

Brock grimaced at the thought, now feeling worse than ever about telling his young friend. Though Ash didn't see the grimace.

He was too busy looking at his girlfriend, and thinking how great it was to say he had a girlfriend. He wanted to think about it more, but he was too surprised about Anabel's lips meeting his for another round.

Ash could get use to this.


And... done. I hope you liked it, and like all the loose ends for future stories to tie up. My next story will probably deal with Anabel and Delia, and it will be a good one! Many others will folow. Please, like and review!