I added a flashback in here.

Chapter 19

Dillon, Aurora, her brothers, and the electric mice make their way to the outskirts of Vermillion City. They enter a run down neighborhood with litter all over the streets. Eventually, they arrive at a small house that looks like it's seen better days. They walk inside, and Aurora has Dillon sit on the futon while the boys go do their homework.

Dillon notices the living room has a small TV and one futon. The boys are doing their homework on the ground. Pika and Pachirisu had run off to the backyard to play while Aurora was in the kitchen getting a cup of water. Dillon decides to go to the backyard and let Coal and Pidgeotto play too. Aurora had already let out Venus to join them.

"They don't have much, but they're happy." Dillon thinks to himself. "No wonder why she wants that bike money." He chuckles to himself while thinking about his own family. Broken or not, they are a family. "Fucking Ash!" Dillon angrily mutters to himself.

Flashback

"You will face me when I'm speaking to you, young man!" shouts the redheaded mother.

Groaning, 11 year old Dillon turns to face her with his busted lip and black eye. "What?"

This disrespectful tone earns him a hit by her mallet as she exclaims, "You need to stop running around already, Dillon! I need your help at the gym, and if you don't want to help me, then just stay out of trouble!"

Rubbing the spot he was hit, Dillon glares at her. "You can't stop me!"

"I can, and I will, Dillon Ashton Ketchum!"

"You can't even stop dad from leaving, so you can't stop me!" He expects another hit from her mallet, but instead, Dillon sees his mother's angry glare turn sad.

As quickly as it appears, her face is fuming with anger again. "This and that are different! You are grounded!"

"Why?" shouts the boy.

"Why do I always have to explain it to you?" She annoyedly shouts. "Because you get in trouble every time you step outside this house! I need a break, especially with the gym inspector due to come any day now!" Misty hates arguing with her son because he just never listens. This all started last year when Dillon joined his stupid little street gang after Ash had missed his birthday again. She understands that her son is rebelling, but it's causing more problems for her!

"Dad's right." Dillon scowls at his mother who raises a questioning eyebrow at him. "It's better not to come home." He then sidesteps his mother and storms out of the house, which makes Misty sigh in frustration.

"Psy?" the yellow pokemon asks as he walks in from the kitchen.

The first few times Misty and Dillon had argued, she would get so angry with him, and he'd hide away in his room while she cried on the phone to Ash in her room. Ash came home the first time Dillon got arrested; however, he has been nonexistent since. With time, it's gotten harder to reach her husband, and she's not sure if she can take this anymore. It's a good thing Amy is in school right now because Misty can't put on a smile, not even a fake one.

She looks over at the concerned Psyduck. "Let's go train. These Ketchum boys suck at family."

Flashback Over

Dillon and Aurora think about informing Granite of dinner at her place when they both realize they don't know how to contact him. He's the only one with a pokenav, and they don't know his number. While they make a mental note to get his number next time they see him, the front door opens and in runs a toddler with purple hair.

"Hi LayLay!" Aurora laughs while picking up the toddler. She hugs Aurora and then looks at Dillon and hugs him too. "Her name is Lavender, but we call her LayLay. She likes you, Dilly Boy." Aurora smiles at Dillon.

"Better get used to it." Dillon thinks to himself as he remembers his pregnant mother and his chest tightens. "Hey." He says to the toddler while picking her up. She grabs his hat and puts it on her head.

"I Lay Lay!" She giggles and Dillon can't help but crack a smile. He notices her eyes are a light blue color rather than the green her siblings have.

"And don't call me that." He snaps at Aurora.

She giggles. "What? Dilly Boy?"

He glares at her, but can't retort because the front door opens again and a blonde boy with the same green eyes as Aurora's walks in with bags of groceries. He carries them into the kitchen with Aurora's help and then walks back to the living room.

"Who are you?" He asks Dillon annoyedly. Dillon glares at the boy who looks his age, and he sets down LayLay.

"Aurora invited me." Dillon says while standing in front of the boy. Aurora walks between them.

"Guys. Don't. Duke, this is my traveling partner, Dillon, and Dillon, this is my brother Duke." She interjects. Duke scoffs at Dillon and turns around to the kitchen to cook. Dillon glares at the boy, and the triplets look on worriedly. "Sorry, Dillon. Duke doesn't trust new people." Aurora apologizes. Dillon walks to the backyard and decides to train to calm down.

Aurora's POV

"How are you going to bring a him into our house?" Duke asks me angrily as we prepare dinner.

"I saw Braxton today when picking up the triplets." I tell him.

"Don't avoid my question." Duke shoots at me. Gosh. My little brother is growing up too fast.

"I'm getting there." I tell him. "I've seen Team Rocket grunts twice now too." At this, I see Duke flinch.

"Are you okay? You didn't say anything yesterday." he asks me concerned.

I smile at my overprotective brother. "Yeah. I'm fine. Every challenge I've faced on my journey has been taken care of by Dillon." I think back to when Pachirisu fainted from the Spearows, the first and second time Team Rocket attacked, and to earlier today when my bully Braxton teased me.

Duke gives me a look. "Don't tell me you like him."

I pale. "No! Heck no, Duke!" I exclaim. "We're just traveling together until he pays me back for that bike you worked so hard to save up for." Gosh. I don't like that annoying asshole.

Duke smirks and luckily for me, he drops the topic. "Okay. So what about Braxton?"

"Let me tell you!" Blaze says excitedly as he enters the kitchen with his homework for me to check. Duke smiles and I read over Blaze's homework. "School got let out early because we heard 2 former students were going to battle outside and the teachers wanted us to see a real life battle! We get outside and I see Aurora and Braxton! She should've lost, but she won! Venus beat up a Fearow and then Pachirisu finally beat Marowak! And then we met Dillon and Pika!" Blaze explains quickly.

Duke laughs. "Okay, champ. Now go check on LayLay. Dinner will be ready soon." Blaze smiles and runs off while Duke gives me a look.

"What?" I ask innocently.

"So you want me to believe that you challenged Braxton on your own?" he says.

"Actually, I did. I have a gym badge now. I can take him." I tell him confidently.

He responds, "Braxton has 2 badges. He's been on his journey longer than you, and he just beat Lt. Surge."

"Well, I was confident." I say to my brother.

Duke smirks at me. "I bet your crush outside had something to do with it. You wanted to impress him." I glare at Duke.

"He is not my crush, and yes. Maybe Dillon did help motivate me in beating Braxton." I cross my arms. "Is dinner ready yet?'

Duke laughs and tells me to get our younger siblings washed up.