Chapter 37
"This is it!" Ash proclaimed proudly as he pointed towards his former home in Pallet Town. Having recently gone full circle around Kanto, it felt kind of weird to finally return back to where his adventure began. Also it was kind of nice to show his Pokemon just where he had grown up…sort of. He had to remind himself that he had never actually lived here, while the Ash he had replaced had.
It was not so for Delia however.
"It actually doesn't look too bad considering we haven't been in it in a while," Delia observed, seeming pleased as she looked at the house.
"I asked one of the neighbor's Pokemon to look after it for us," Ash explained, "they were actually more than happy to do it as apparently you were pretty well liked in Pallet Town."
Delia smiled at him in thanks.
"Finally a place to sit back and relax," Jessie observed, seeming to forget the fact that they had just spent a good deal of time relaxing back in Cinnabar.
"I doubt the house will be big enough for all of you," Delia said dubiously, "just fine for me and Ash though."
"We won't be staying for very long anyway," Ash answered, "besides it's not really where it all started."
Venus smiled and said, "That would actually be back at my lab, which should actually have enough room for us all."
"Is that where we're finally going to find out if we're going to have a boy or girl?" Lugia asked hopefully.
In order to stay out of public view, she was currently flying hidden up in the clouds above them, but she could still see them, still hear them, and they could still communicate.
"Yes!" He replied back enthusiastically, "Are you excited?"
"That's a silly question, of course Ash!" Lugia replied, her excitement as well as a bit of nervousness leaking through their bond.
"I'm sure it'll be fine whichever we are having," Ash told her.
"What if there is something wrong though with our baby though?" Lugia inquired worriedly.
He was admittedly a bit worried too, but he told her reassuringly, "Don't worry, I think the fact that the baby keeps doing weak Aeroblasts inside your womb is probably a good sign that they are healthy."
Lugia then seemed to giggle as she said, "my tummy always feels funny and it makes me laugh when they do that."
"You're just ticklish," He teased her.
"Maybe a little," She was forced to agree before adding, "I'd love our baby even if it was a boy."
That stopped him as he then asked curiously, "What makes you think it is a girl then? Mother's intuition or the fact that you're a psychic Pokemon?"
"I just know," Lugia replied.
Well, they would soon find out if she was correct or not, he thought.
After spending just a bit of time at home, they headed to the lab, where Lugia met them.
Venus seemed eager to make tons of additions to her notes she had collected along their journey to her computer, but was at least nice enough to focus on Lugia as she got out her instruments to check on her and the baby and do an ultrasound while Joy helped.
As an image of the baby popped up, a strange, but proud feeling came within him. So that was his baby, he thought, his first child.
The child in question looked rather similar to Lugia, with wings and a tail and yet small compared to her even for a developing fetus. That was one thing he had wondered about, just how big said baby would be. If they were legendary sized it would definitely make diaper changing for him rather interesting he thought. Fortunately though from what he could tell they appeared to be about the size of your average Pokemon fetus for that stage, although that didn't mean they wouldn't grow a lot bigger later. Venus had guessed that they would likely be a great deal smaller than Lugia, but bigger than him when full grown, but that had been just a guess. They honestly had no way to tell.
"So is it a boy or girl?" Pidgeblast asked impatiently as she stood on her tiptoes to see better.
"It's obviously a boy," Pikachu pointed out as she also looked at the screen, "and baby Ash is clearly really large in that area. They won't have any trouble with girls."
"That's the umbilical cord Pikachu," Joy informed her gently, "and it is actually a girl."
The news hit him like the most powerful Pokemon attack ever. He was having a girl. A wonderful baby daughter.
Lugia he could tell was very pleased as she said aloud proudly, "I told you it would be a girl Ash. I'm really glad I turned out to be right."
"Me too," He agreed, before adding, "of course I would have been happy with a boy too."
"So what are you going to name them?" Misty asked.
"Ashley!" Pikachu volunteered her suggestion.
He glanced at Lugia before telling them, "We haven't decided yet."
It was a big decision of course and they still had time to figure it out, he rationalized. Even so, Lugia and him had been going over names which would be easier now that they could eliminate the male ones.
"Does it look like they are healthy?" Lugia asked Joy and Venus who were still going over the ultrasound.
"Yes," Joy finally concluded, "it appears to be a perfectly healthy, although legendary baby girl."
He only nodded, relief washing over him as he continued to stare at the ultrasound image.
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They decided to stay about a week in Pallet town before moving on towards Saffron for their 8th and final gym badge against Sabrina. While there, they did a few things: Venus worked on updating her research and Joy helped her, Pidgeblast went back to where she had grown up to visit with everyone she had known and show just how much she had changed, Delia did a bit at her former home. He however, in addition to preparing his Pokemon for their battle against Sabrina, devoted time to working on Aura training with Rikey.
On one particular day, Lugia decided to join them as she sat down next to them.
"I think it will be good for the baby," Lugia suggested as she rubbed her belly.
"It might be good for you as well," He pointed out, "you might not be able to use Aura, but you are still a Psychic Pokemon and it's sort of similar."
"True," She agreed, "I definitely need to relearn those powers."
Rikey however seemed to not have paid much attention to this exchange even though it was verbal as she had her eyes closed and tried to meditate before finally asking, "Are you ready to begin?"
"Yes," Ash said.
"I am," Lugia announced.
She had told them that she was extremely impressed with his progress as she said, "very well then, try to project your Aura into an actual physical form and release it."
"Like this?" Lugia asked as she concentrated.
However instead of creating an aura or a circle of blue energy, purple energy surrounded a surprised Rikey and then…she was instantly knocked out.
"Did I do that?" Lugia asked in surprise.
"I can't think of anyone else who could have done it," Ash concluded, "that was obviously Psychic."
Great move, he recognized.
"All right! I must have remembered how to use that move," Lugia answered.
Joy, who had actually been watching from a distance came over and explained, "Actually it's not uncommon for pregnant prospective mothers to sometimes perform attacks they didn't know they had. I had one mother as a nurse for example perform a thunderpunch on another Pokemon trying to rob her."
"I want to do it again," Lugia said eagerly.
"I'm not sure you want to go around knocking people or Pokemon out like that," Joy cautioned.
"Get Pikachu or Pidgeblast to do it," Ash suggested, "both of them would agree easily."
At that moment, Jessie came up to him and asked, "Ash, can you help me with something?"
"Sure," He agreed. With Rikey still knocked out, it looked like Aura training was over anyway.
Following her over to another section of Venus' lab, she showed him a map.
"This is a map of all the ruins and other ancient Pokemon settlements in Kanto," She explained, "I've been going over it and some of Venus' notes and it looks like there may be 2 or 3 that could be locations my mom might have visited."
"That's quite an assumption," Ash noted.
"True," She was forced to agree, "However I have to start somewhere. I want to find her Ash."
He understood. He had been wanting to find his real parents too…if indeed he even had any. From what little he knew it was almost like he just appeared one day.
"I will help you find her," He promised her as he put an arm on her back.
"Thanks Ash," Jessie thanked him, "of course we can wait until after the Pokemon League for it when we have time."
"Yeah, we don't exactly have a ton of time, but if you would like to make a short expedition to one of them you can right now if you want, we should be fine without you," Ash told her.
"If it would be all right with you…" She said, thinking it over, "yes, I think I will. Maybe even bring Venus along to help with the scientific stuff."
"Daisy might also be able to help," Ash observed, "I'm not really sure if she is still busy with all those Pokemon I recently turned back at her grandpa's lab, but that is certainly her expertise. Cynthia might as well."
"I will check with each of them," Jessie promised before wrapping around him in a hug and proclaiming, "I love you Ash."
It was the first time she had actually used those words, but it was easy for him to say back, "I love you too."
By this point he pretty much loved all of his Pokemon, albeit perhaps in different ways. For the Pokemon he was in relationships with it was more easy to define. For the likes of say Delia or Rikey it was less so, but he knew he still loved them.
Upon getting back to seeing how Lugia was doing, he found Pikachu and Pidgeblast surprisingly still standing.
Pikachu decided to make a joke of it as she told Lugia, "come on, I want to get knocked out!"
"I can't," Lugia admitted even as she concentrated, "I don't really know how I did it the first time."
He went and held Lugia's leg (which was as high up her body as he could reach) and told her reassuringly, "you can do it."
Yet when she tried again and again with no success, he found himself wishing and almost willing Lugia to be able to perform it.
"I'm bored-" Pikachu was just saying when…a psychic blast overwhelmed her, very nearly knocking her out.
"I did it!" Lugia said triumphantly.
"Ooh, do me next," Pidgeblast asked eagerly.
Lugia tried again and this time…Pidgeblast was instantly knocked out.
"That's awesome!" Pikachu proclaimed, "I wish I could do that."
"Sorry, Pikachu, you can't learn that move," He had to remind her.
"That's what they thought about Surf and Fly," Pikachu countered back as she flew up into the air, "I mean I can fly, that's pretty awesome too."
Lugia giggled at that.
He however just shook his head at how his life was. At any rate, any psychic moves would be good to know about against Sabrina, he concluded. Out of all the gym leaders he knew of, she was the one he was most worried about. In his coma adventures, he'd only beat her because Haunter had made her laugh so much that she had been unable to continue battling. He very much doubted the real Sabrina would be that easy to beat.
So he spent plenty of time trying to train up his Pokemon in preparation for her. He had elected to use both Misty and Joy as the ones to concentrate on a bit more as they both had moves that were supereffective against Psychic types. Even so, Psychic types were probably some of the ones he had the most challenge countering. Fortunately he had a bit of an expert in Celebi, which he was very grateful to. She had proven to be a very valuable asset to the team.
He chose to tell her so one night while they were alone.
"Thanks Ash," She thanked him, "I've enjoyed being here with you…in spite of my circumstances."
"I'm sure you'll turn back eventually," He promised her.
"Just as long as I don't turn instead into something weird or awful like Darkrai or something," She joked.
He joked right back by saying, "well I could use a Dark type against Sabrina."
"Oh very funny," She answered back before saying with a sly smile, "you know there is one way we could test in trying to turn me back."
He just nodded and said, "If you mean sex then that's fine with me."
"Really?" Celebi asked.
"Sure," He told her, "I've had sex so many times with so many different of my Pokemon, I'm kind of used to it by now."
"Well having sex for the first time can be a powerful thing," Celebi observed, "it can help you truly know how you feel about someone once you are able to express it in such a way even if you didn't know before."
"How would you know?" He teased.
"I'm a legendary, not a virgin," Celebi pointed out, "why there was one time when me-"
"I don't need to know that," Ash stopped her.
"Well it's an awesome story," Celebi insisted, putting her hands on her hips.
He was about to reply when he sensed something…something that definitely worried him.
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Rikey had finally made her decision. She was leaving. Ash had always told her she could stay as long as she wanted to and leave whenever she wanted to. Well right now, she was leaving.
Things had just gotten too complicated for her. Ash and everyone else were great and the time spent with them was far better than any she had yet experienced. Yet…she just felt so confused…unsure of how to deal with everything she was feeling. It was more difficult than having to play sex slave or fight to the death. What with most thinking those things to be incredibly stressful and difficult, it only showed the challenge of it for her. She just wasn't cut out for it, she recognized, she just couldn't be happy and be part of a team that loved and appreciated her.
Besides, she couldn't even rationalize that they could even really appreciate her anymore. The rest of the team was definitely now all stronger than her and without her Ash still had a full team. Also while she hadn't yet admitted it, what little she did know about Aura abilities Ash had already been able to very quickly master in a very short space of time. With a true master, he would become very skilled indeed with time and practice.
So now, it was time to move on, move on to… The thought struck her that she honestly didn't know where she would go. Before she had always been forced into things, and no matter how unpleasant, she at least knew what was expected of her, but now she would be free to choose for herself. A small wave of panic hit her as she realized this. In comparison being with Ash was so wonderful, so nice to be a part of and yet…that also made her content and happy, and in her experience, those feelings simply didn't last long. It was better to-
"Are you leaving?" Ash suddenly asked, appearing out of the trees behind her with a sad expression on his face, surprising her.
He'd even managed to learn how to mask his presence so she wouldn't be able to detect it as he approached her. Even she couldn't do that.
"Yes," She finally admitted.
To her surprise, he did not ask why. For all she knew, he might have already gotten why directly from her brain. Instead, without saying anything, he merely reached in and hugged her, which she gratefully took.
And then the biggest shock of her life…she immediately burst into tears. It was so uncharacteristic of her, something she hadn't done since the day she had been forced into sex slavery, causing a wave of emotion to fill her as all those awful things she had been forced to endure and endure without showing any sign of weakness came back to her memory.
Ash however just continued to hold her as she sobbed, "I HATED IT! I HATED HAVING TO DO THOSE THINGS JUST TO LIVE AND NEVER BE ABLE TO SAY NO! THEY WERE SO AWFUL AND YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL AND I DON'T DESERVE YOU AND-"
She broke down after that, continuing to sob before continuing, slowly and haltingly letting herself to finally get it all out. It felt so hard yet so good to finally be able to do so while Ash just listened patiently, not saying a word which she was grateful for.
When she finally finished however he said, "I know you've had a hard life and it is difficult to move past all that, but I want you to know that you are worth it to me even if you don't think so. We'll work on this together, okay?"
She nodded and continued to hold him. He really was amazing, she concluded, better than any other she knew, and at that moment she decided, no matter how difficult it might be in having to face her own complicated emotions, she would stay with him, no matter what.
"Thank you," She told him finally.
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By the time he finally got Rikey calmed down and okay on her own, he expected Celebi to be gone. Yet no, she was still there. He supposed having lived for a few thousand years a few hours really wasn't all that big of a deal.
"Did you overhear any of that?" He inquired.
"Just when she was shouting," Celebi admitted, "I wasn't trying to listen in of course, but I still got the gist of it, not that I'm surprised. It's good for her that she finally allowed herself to get it all out. Believe me I know."
"Yeah," Ash said with a sigh, "I just wasn't sure what to say so I just let her keep talking and I think it helped. It's hard finding out about all those things though."
"You'll be okay and so will she in time you're both tough," Celebi advised him wisely, "besides, it's not like it's the only issue you've had to deal with with one of your Pokemon, just the hardest. I mean from what I can tell most of them have had something: Joy had difficulty being in a relationship, Jessie grew up unloved in a poor foster home, Lugia still doesn't have all of her memories back, Delia had to give up Pokemon training at a young age to raise you, Pidgeblast had issues of self-worth, Misty was overshadowed by all of her supposedly better older sisters, and of course, Pikachu, you yourself, and me never knew our parents."
He just shook his head, unsure where to begin with all those issues as he commented, "go figure that Venus would be the only one not messed up."
Celebi merely smiled and commented, "All I'm saying is that through all of those issues you've done very well in handling them and I'm very impressed. The love and support you show your Pokemon is definitely something I admire and one reason why I hope to be your Pokemon one day."
"Thank you," He answered unsure how to reply further.
"I mean my issue is somewhat similar to yours," She observed, "I never had parents, legendaries usually don't but I was still expected to show love and devotion to others even if I didn't really receive it myself. Still I think it helped in me wanting to make sure others did and even though I couldn't have children of my own, I sort of thought of all forest dwelling Pokemon as my children."
"I see," He replied, understanding better why Celebi would want children of her own before adding, "once this is over with the Pokemon League and whether you are back to being a Pokemon or not…if you want to have children of your own…"
"You know of a good sperm donor?" She teased, but thanking him nonetheless.
"Some of my Pokemon have already expressed similar desires," Ash admitted.
Celebi grinned and asked, "Starting a family early I see?"
He rolled his eyes and commented, "I already started in case you haven't noticed."
"Oh I noticed alright," She agreed, "I love Lugia's pregnant look."
"Yeah so do I but probably differently from you," He confessed with a grin.
"Do you think she's sexy?" Celebi asked.
"Yes," He responded without hesitation.
"Do you think I'm sexy?" Celebi pressed, "I mean I'm not a legendary anymore-"
In order to silence her, he kissed her on the lips before suggesting, "now then, I do believe you mentioned something about sex earlier?"
She grinned and said as she took his hand, "I do believe I did."
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When Delia had left Cynthia, Cynthia had promised to visit with and talk to her again soon. She just hadn't been expecting it to be this soon.
So when Cynthia showed up unexpectedly she was a little surprised, but grateful nonetheless.
"Would you mind if I borrowed Delia for a little bit?" She asked Ash, "With your permission, there is a move I would like to teach her that I think would help."
"Absolutely, go ahead," Ash instantly agreed, recognizing any move that Cynthia wanted to teach one of his Pokemon could only help. Of course, she knew Cynthia likely had other reasons for making such a request.
Once she had left with Cynthia and gotten far enough away, they teleported surprisingly into a well-lit cave. Inside however were also signs of rather nice accommodations brought here: large beds, a desk, a bookshelf filled with books. All together it provided a rather quaint but functional living situation.
"This is Cerulean Cave," Cynthia explained, "sometimes I come here to train when in Kanto as it has a reputation by the locals of being too dangerous to explore with many fierce Pokemon inside it, a rumor that I have let continue to grow in order to maintain my privacy."
"I see," Delia observed, "so what was it you wanted to bring me here for?"
"While of course I intend to talk to you, I did not lie to Ash about wanting to teach you a new move," Cynthia explained, "that's why I brought you here so we could do so in privacy."
That reminded Delia of something as she asked, "How is it that if you are a Pokemon you can still be a trainer?"
Cynthia nodded and said, "If you remember from viewing my memories, Cresselia warned me about my desire to become both the greatest Pokemon and trainer at the same time. Unfortunately everything seems to have pushed me in that direction. I was forced to become Mewtwo and Mewtwo's personality is one that includes the desire to be able to train and control Pokemon and in that regard I am rather unique in being able to do so. Besides I tried to release all of my Pokemon but they stubbornly won't leave me, the bond between us too strong."
Delia understood that. She could never permanently leave Ash.
"Unfortunately," Cynthia continued, "even if I was to release them, my Mewtwo side would only eventually seek to get them back and force them to do their will anyway. So you see while it is a constant battle within me to achieve balance, ultimately that side will still take over, and only Ash will be strong enough to control it."
"So you keep saying," Delia observed, "I still can't figure out exactly how though."
Cynthia however surprisingly took her hand and looked directly into her eyes before saying, "I can think of one thing, he has you."
Delia looked back at her, unsure how to reply to that, focused instead upon Cynthia's gaze, so powerful and terrible and yet beautiful at the same time.
"Ash really has no idea how amazing you really are," Cynthia insisted with absolute certainty, "sure he loves and respects you as a mother figure and as a wonderful addition to his Pokemon team with your sheer strength, courage, and resourcefulness, but not how irresistibly beautiful and sexy you are. It truly is a shame."
Cynthia reached up and tucked an errant strand of hair out of her face.
Delia blushed at all the compliments, but now figuring she needed to reciprocate.
"You're really beautiful too Cynthia," Delia declared.
Cynthia started playing with her hair again before inquiring, "You really think so?"
"Of course," Delia answered easily. She was a woman herself, but even she knew that Cynthia was a very attractive, very desirable woman.
"Thank you," Cynthia replied gratefully before adding a strange remark, "You know Delia, love can be found in some rather interesting places."
She wasn't sure just what Cynthia meant by that, but then again Cynthia was usually rather cryptic.
Instead of explaining however Cynthia suggested, "Let me show you that new move I wanted to show you. It's called Dragon Dance."
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A few days later found Delia and Cynthia currently standing in front of the Viridian Gym.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Cynthia asked her.
"Yes, I really feel the need to," Delia replied.
"Very well," Cynthia agreed with an approving nod, "I'll come in after you in a minute.
Delia started walking inside.
Having already gotten the badge meant she really didn't need to show up for this, but with them having stopped very briefly in Viridian she felt the need to. She needed to have a little talk with Giovanni even though undoubtedly one of the reasons why he had chosen to give her the badge in the first place was to avoid having to battle her or more in particular Ash. He was just hoping that Ash and Cynthia would destroy or weaken each other enough for him to capture them both.
She walked inside the gym to find the usual bunches of gym trainers and their Pokemon all milling about which would only make talking to him tougher. He likely wouldn't agree to a one on one with her.
However when she finally found him at the back of the gym, she gave him a tight smile.
"Remember me?" She asked.
Giovanni seemed surprised but he tried to cover it up as he answered, "Delia? What a lovely surprise but you really didn't need to come here to battle me? Unless of course this is a social visit and you just wanted to see me?"
He winked at her, causing her to roll her eyes as she told him, "Save it. I know who you really are."
Giovanni took noted of that before responding simply, "I see."
She asked, "I must ask however what is it that you hope to accomplish?"
Looking around at the gym trainers, Giovanni observed, "I am merely trying to improve society for both people and Pokemon alike."
"So you claim," Delia replied disapprovingly, "personally I think it's just because you're greedy. Money and power, it's all guys like you want."
"I haven't the foggiest idea what you mean," Giovanni insisted, playing dumb, "now then, I'm afraid I can't talk more though. As you are aware, I really am behind on performing my duties as gym leader so unless you are here to battle me-"
"Oh but I am here to battle you," Delia claimed with a bright smile.
Some of the gym trainers laughed and one even pointed out, "Where is your trainer then?"
"Right here," Cynthia announced as she strode into the gym.
Immediately Delia had the satisfaction of seeing Giovanni look like he was going to be sick as worried as he was. Indeed everyone in the gym looked that way, confirming her suspicion that everyone in the gym were actually members of Team Rocket. They were also, very, very familiar with Cynthia and what she could do.
She was now very glad she had come up with the idea of having Cynthia come and fill in as trainer for her for this exchange. Beating Giovanni would be so satisfying especially using the move Cynthia was still trying to teach her. She couldn't do it perfectly yet, but it would be good enough for this.
"Cynthia," Giovanni managed to say without losing his lunch.
Cynthia smiled back at him with a deliciously menacing smile and asked, "Ready to battle?"
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