Sorry for the delay. its school holidays and i'm too busy sleeping in than writing. don't worry. i'm getting back into the groove of writing. Sorry for the delay.

~midnight

Shippings in this chapter: Slight Negai? I can't tell. =P

Rating: PG (K+)


Chapter eight

"I promise to look after you while we are in Unova." Iris placed her hands onto her waist and grinned at us proudly. "So I shall present to you, the Royal Unova!" Iris lifted her hand and showed us a huge golden cruise ship. My father looked at the ship in a terrified manner.

"The last time I went in a cruise ship like this I nearly died." He spoke and glared at Iris. "I don't want to put Maykel and Ashlyn in a ticking time bomb."

"Don't worry Ash." Iris smiled. "Royal Unova is known for their high standard of safety as well as their high standard of hospitality!" she raised her arms in the air. "Shall we go in?" father looked over his shoulder.

"What about you two?" He asked. "Aren't you coming?"

"Coming." Aunty Mimi cheered. "I always wanted to to ride in a ship like this!" her auburn eyes began to sparkle.

"Same here." Alex crossed his arms and sighed. "I want to speak with father as well." Father nodded as he turned back at what seemed to be our Unova travel tour guide.

"Well then let's head in." Iris flashed her back at us and led us into the big and well renowned cruise line.

As we all were about to enter into the rooms I took the time to look at the appearance of the ship. It was golden and in the middle of the ship it had many floors stacked up on each other. All the windows had rich golden orange curtains across them and it had heaps of machine equipment on the roof of the ship. On the deck looked like lots of activity on it like a giant swimming pool and lawn bowls. I grinned softly.

"Maybe going to Unova isn't such a bad thing after all."


The rooms where as fancy as the outside interior of the ship, each room had either rich crimson or deep cerulean blue wallpaper and the beds were covered in luxury thick white blankets and were super soft to the touch. I felt like sleeping on the spot when I felt how soft it was. I looked out of my window and saw the blue sea shining like a bright polished diamond. I turned around to face the door when I saw my father putting our luggage into our room. He looked really exhausted while Maykel was by his side, smiling while holding his backpack in his hands.

"This is fun!" my younger brother cheered. My father looked at him in a tried manner.

"Says you." He sighed afterwards. I laughed right afterwards. My father looked up at me. "I'm going to get some rest. Look after your brother alright?" he asked. I nodded.

"Sure thing dad!" I cheered. "Let's go out onto the deck Maykel." I ran to the door and grabbed Maykel by the hand and ran out to the deck.

The deck was much bigger than I had first thought. The deck was made out of hard timber and was just recently polished as Maykel and I could see our own faces on it. We put on a few funny faces and laughed at it before we moved on before people started to think as us as weird children. We ran to the end of the boat where we watched the Sinnoh region fade away from our sights.

The deck was surrounded with white rails so nobody could fall off. I placed my hands on the rails tightly as Maykel climbed up the rails until he was my height. He had his feet on the first rail and his hands on the top. We looked at each other and smiled. We never had this much fun after mother's death but the feeling of begin in such an expensive cruise line made us feel really happy.

"Hey sis." Maykel asked. "I saw mother the other day."

"Really?" I asked. "Did you found another photo of hers in dad's bag?" I asked as I looked at the lump of green faded from my sights.

"No." He shook his head. "It was at mommy Dawny's home. Up in the tree." I quickly flashed my attention back to my brother.

I felt my heart race and my eyes open wide in shock. I looked down at my hands which were tightly gripping the white railing. They soon began to shake. I shook my head afterwards.

"So that wasn't an illusion?" I asked in confusion. "So mother is really alive?" I looked up at my brother.

Should I really ask such a deep question to my five year old brother? Would he understand me? Would he give me the right answer or yet if what he was saying was true to begin with.

"She said to me not to give up. She will come back." He held his hands tight on the rails and leaned back and let the wind rush past his face and through his short brown hair. "Mommy is coming back!" He smiled and laughed. "Yay!"

That's right. Father also saw mother at the Sinnoh league a few days ago. This was no coincidence.

Mother is alive.

But where was she?

Why hasn't she come back yet?

Why wasn't I happy mother was alive?

Why?

"You two alright?" a voice suddenly called. Maykel lost his grip in the sudden call but luckily the person who called to us caught my brother. She held Maykel in their arms. I turned around and saw it was Miss Iris Llynn. "Be more careful next time?" Iris patted my brother on the head. Maykel nodded and Iris placed him on his feet and quickly ran to my side. "I heard that your mother is alive. You don't seem happy about it."

"I'm not happy because if she is alive why isn't she here?" I looked away from her and fixed my eyes on the crashing waves colliding to the ship's metal wall. "I thought that when I found out my mother was alive I would be happy but now I just feel so angry." I tightened my grip on the rails. "I hate her!" I felt water build up in my eyes. "If she is alive why isn't she here when I need her the most?" I soon felt a warm soft hand come on top of mine. I opened my eyes and saw teardrops on the rail and on my hands, even on Iris's as well.

"It's alright to feel like this. Be glad your mother is alive to begin with." I moved my head to face her and saw her looking at me with her auburn eyes.

And for a second there I felt like I was looking into my mother. The way she looked at me pierced through my heart and released my weakness. The way she held my hands with her soft gentle hands felt so comforting. She raised her hand and brushed my black long hair in the same way mother would always do. She placed both her hands on my cheeks and tilted my head up to hers. She soon began to wipe my tears away with both of her thumbs.

"I never got the chance to meet my mother. My father raised me and hardly spoke of her. Be glad your father lets you talk about her when you want; even it hurts him to hear her name again and again. To be honest I wished my father was similar to yours. He is such a caring man I admire." I released my grip on the rails and let my hands fall down onto my sides. Iris picked my hands and held them close to my heart. "Take all the angry away from here." She tapped my heart using my hands. I knew she was talking about my heart. "Be happy that your mother is alive and still wants to see you. Be happy that you still remember her and treasure the memories you have with her. Never take them for granted." She held my hands tighter slightly, but her gentle hands felt like she held my hands looser. "You don't know why she left a year ago but be happy she is starting to come back into your lives. Be happy she still remembers to come back for you guys." She smiled at me. "Okay?"

I felt a few mores tears run down my face as I released my grip on Iris's hands. I wiped them away and faintly smiled at her.

"Alright Miss Llynn."

"Shh." She placed one of her fingers over my lips. "Call me Iris please."

"Yes Miss-I mean Iris." I giggled.

"That's better." She laughed. "Smile more. Children like yourself shouldn't worry things like this." She looked down to Maykel who was hiding behind my legs. "Alright?" She patted Maykel once more." Maykel nodded. Iris soon stood up. "I have to go now." she spoke in her normal cheery voice. "I still have to show your aunty the fashion area. I don't know why she wants to waste money on fashion stuff." She sighed. "Now you two better head back. Your father might be worried about you two." We both nodded. She smiled. "See you later." She waved before leaving Maykel and I back alone on the deck. I looked down onto my brother.

"What do you say we head back and annoy father by doing a human version of a tackle attack?" I grinned. "Just for fun." Maykel smiled back.

"Sure!" He cheered.

I held his hand and we quickly ran back to our rooms, smiling along the way.


"So that's why they couldn't come over." My father sighed. Maykel and I entered into our room and he soon turned to us. "I was wondering where you guys went." I noticed he was holding his red poke gear in his hands.

"Who are you calling?" I pointed at my father's pokegear. He looked at the device he was holding. He chuckled.

"This?" he smiled. "I just got a text from Dawn and Paul saying they couldn't come to the league since Daniel got sick suddenly. I replied saying that we are in Unova now so if they want to come over they should call me instead of texting." He sweat dropped. "Your mother was better at texting than I am. My fingers are too chubby so I sometimes press two keys at once." Maykel and I laughed afterwards.

"You don't need mother to help you text on here." I ran up to the bed and jumped on it. I looked down at my father and pointed a finger in the air. "Your wonderful children are here to help their clueless father!"

"Clueless father!" Maykel copied my actions and raised his hands in the air. We turned to each other and laughed once more.

"What wonderful children I have." My father said in sarcastic tone. I dropped down which made the bed shack a little and I took a seat next to my father. Maykel dropped to his knees and threw his arms over my father's shoulder and hug him from his back.

"Now to start off you have to click on this blue notebook. This is contacts and that's where you can put your friends' numbers in." I explained as father looked at me and Maykel. He faintly smiled.

"Yes Maim." Father slightly giggled. The three of us soon joined him as well.

"Hey Ash." Iris asked quietly as she knocked on the door afterwards. She looked quiet shy that she had interrupted my family moment with my brother and my father. "I just want to tell you that we will reach Castelia City tomorrow afternoon."

"Castelia City eh?" My father raised an eyebrow. "I heard that is once great city in Unova." Iris nodded.

"It is." She smiled. "In fact it's a great place for a family holiday. And not far from Castelia City is Nimbasa City. That place is filled with amusements parks and pokemon Musicals." My eyes glowed with glee. I turned to my father and started to use my puppy eyes begging trick at him.

"Can we go please?" I clasped my hands together in a praying manner. "Can we?"

"Sure. Just as long you two behave." He patted my head and me and Maykel cheered. While Maykel and I were jumping on the bed with such excitement my eyes came across Miss Iris looked at us.

She looked like she wanted to have her own…children.

But it didn't make any sense. I only knew Iris for only a few days and her personality; the wildness and the cheekiness didn't really match her to become a mother. But the way she looked at us it was either she wanted children or she used to have children. I was only ten but the way she looked at us was just like mother.

Whenever I was having fun by myself or with Maykel I would just see by the corner of my eye that mother was watching us with glee and happiness. Just like Iris was doing; but in her eyes had more the happiness and glee. She was envious and somehow depressed.

Was her acting like a child really hid something more deep?

But my train of thought was interrupted when my feet hit the edge of the mattress and I fell down to the carpet backwards; hitting my head onto the crimson carpet. Iris entered into the room with my father coming down to help me. Iris helped me onto my feet as Maykel watched me from the bed. Father also helped me back onto the mattress. I scratched my head. Father was sitting onto my left and Iris on the right.

"Sorry." I said. "Didn't mean to make you all worry about me."

"Be more careful next time Ashlyn." Iris patted my cheek on the right softly. "You're like a younger version of your father. So clumsy everywhere he goes." She giggled and I joined her as well.

"I agree." I took a break of laughing before breaking into laughter once more. "He doesn't even know how to text properly without us to help him." Iris laughed with me once more.

"It's not funny anymore guys." My father spoke in an irritated manner. Iris swirled around before taking a seat next to my father.

"Don't cry Mr. Grumpy Gills." Iris poked at his cheek. "I will help you." My father stared at Iris in an annoyed manner. "Hey. Don't look at me like that." She placed her hands firmly on her hips. "I have my ups and downs. I can be useful." Father soon busted into laugher. "Hey, what's so funny?"

"It's nothing Iris." Father soon stopped laughing. "It's just you remind me of my wife, May. She is just like you." Father sighed. "I shouldn't be talking this to you." He placed his hands over his face sadly. "I shouldn't be getting down like this." He lifted his face up again. "Sorry." My father apologized. I didn't understand why he said sorry since he did nothing wrong to Miss Iris. "Every time I mention my wife I get slightly depressed."

"…Be glad your father lets you talk about her when you want even it hurts him to hear her name again and again."

Iris was right. Every time I or Maykel would say my mother or her name near him was like him getting punched in the gut or a cut getting deeper and deeper with each new slice. My father's heart was still beaten up and painful from my mother's death which I don't know if it's still real or not anymore. My father was enduring the painful words that came out of our mouths and act like it didn't affect him at all. I felt so guilty within myself. I was such a selfish child.

"Hey if you need to talk about her, anything at all, I'm here." Iris patted my father's back. Father looked up at her.

"Thanks Iris." He smiled at her faintly. "You're a good person you know. I've known you for a few days and you act so kind to me and a wonderful mother to my children. Thank you for begin a mother for them. Even if it's temporarily I'm still glad you can give some motherly love they need so much." Iris smiled back and placed her hand on top of my father's.

"Anytime Ash." She smiled. "Anytime." And father smiled back at her, warmly.

End of chapter eight