Chapter 40

When they go to the Museum, Mark has used aura to inform Ash that Serena is coming for him, and Ash just disguises himself as Alan, while Alice decides to go with her true form.

Alice and Minami are dealing with the customers at the counter, and they see Mark with Serena. Alice asks, "Mark? What is the Kalos Queen doing here?"

"She wants to apologize to Brother. Is he still here?" Mark asks.

"Well, he is here, but he is giving a tour to the others about the paintings." Minami says. "So she has to wait."

Alice turns to Serena. "Serena, right? I heard that you were helping my mom as a model, though I guess it is our first meeting."

Serena nods and says, "And you must be Alice, right? Are you Ash's girlfriend? I also heard it from your mother and your sister about it."

Alice says, "For your question, I am his girlfriend. Ash is such a wonderful prince and I am lucky to date him."

This causes Serena to frown. Alice notices it and says, "Ash says that two girls have broken his heart, which causes him to change...though Lillie's is repairing, I assume that you are the second one?"

"I didn't mean to hurt Ash...I..." Serena tries to defend herself, but Alice stops her words.

"You want to say that you were controlled by Team Rocket. Sure, that was true." Alice says. "But control or not, those words are coming from your mouth, and that is what breaks Ash."

Serena bursts out in tears and Mark hugs her, he thinks Alice is harsh and he asks, "Alice, aren't you a little too harsh?"

Alice says, "Harsh? This is just a piece of cake consider what Ash has been through. Ash has nightmares because of them, he sometimes cries out loud without warning and we have a hard time comforting him. He is not the same boy who is enthusiastic about everything, he is like a water bomb that explodes without a timer."

Minami frowns and says, "If anything, my birth father is the one to blame, not those people..."

"I know, Minami. But it is in the past." Alice sighs. "To be fair, I am not the one that can judge this, Ash is the only one. And he is the one that decides, not me."

"Are you talking about me?" Just then, they see Ash and Alan walking towards them, and Alice sighs as Ash is using his Double Team. Alan says, "Hey, aren't you the Kalos Queen?"

Ash is now trembling as he sees Serena. Serena is also surprised to see him, "Ash..."

"It's Red for you." Ash says with a cold tone. "What is she doing here?"

Mark says, "She is here to apologize to you, she knows what she had done and she wants to redeem."

"Is that so?" Ash raises an eyebrow, and Serena says, "I am sure, Ash. I know that what I did was horrible, but I still want to apologize to you..."

Ash sighs as Alice asks him, "Isn't she also your first crush before you even meet me?"

Ash frowns and says, "In fact, it is true that I had been acting dense when we were traveling together...which is probably the reason why she said those words to hate me."

Serena is surprised as she didn't realize that Ash might think that she hated her, which is why she said those words even though she was controlled.

"Then why did you act dense?" Alan asks, even though he knows why because he is Ash's Double Team. "Wouldn't it be better if you tell her your feelings so that everything would be smooth?"

"Because I was scared to confess." Ash says. "I still remembered the love novels Mother had told me to read, and there are some plot twists about a breakup and other else."

Serena is hearing this and she is surprised, she didn't know that Ash is afraid to confess. She also read a lot of love novels on the internet and she was feeling the same way as well.

"It is a different story when I meet Alice. She comes to me when I was in hell, she was the light that pulls me out of the darkness. And because of the mistake that I made with Serena, I decided to focus on Alice in order not to ruin our relationship." Ash says.

Alice says, "And I won't break our relationship either.." But then she realizes something and she frowns, "But if Serena didn't say those words to hurt you, are you going to choose her?"

Ash frowns and says, "I guess so...but now that love is broken, it is you that repaired it and no one can replace you. There are some times that I wanted to forgive her, but I can't."

"Why?" Mark asks.

"I know how sorry they are, but I am afraid that if I forgive Serena, I might be breaking Alice's heart...I learned that Alice has lower self-esteem because of what happened in school, and I don't want to hurt her more..." Ash says.

Everyone is shocked at his words. Minami asks, "Wow brother. When did you start thinking like that?"

"Since I forgave Mother, you might not notice, but there are some times when Alice and I are at the brink of our relationship. It is a good thing that we managed to forgive each other and back together again." Ash frowns.

Alice sees how stressed Ash is, she kisses him to calm him down, she says, "I really don't like having grudges, you can forgive them. I know that you aren't that kind of person that would betray the woman you love."

Ash nods and says, "Thank you. Alice." And he sighs as he knows that Serena has been hearing their conversation, he faces Serena and says, "You have heard everything, right?"

Serena nods silently and Ash says, "I will forgive you since you were my first crush, but you have to understand that sometimes things can't be the way it is before, I have a girlfriend and a future wife, so the promise of being together with you is broken. I just hope you understand and I don't want to break your heart even further."

Serena lowers her head and says, "I understand... even though you have no feelings for me...I still want to be your friend."

Ash nods and says, "That can do. Alice and I have some work to do, so we'll see you later."

After Ash and Alice leave, Alan says, "Well, I think that should be a better result."

"By the way, where is Elsa? Isn't she with you?" Mark asks.

"She is taking a rest at home." Alan says.

"I see." Mark says, and Serena asks, "So you are Ash's sister? Golly, right?"

"No, I am Minami. Golly is my younger sister." Minami says. "That is compared to age, if compared to the time in this family, she is older than me."

"How come?" Serena asks, and Mark says, "Minami is like me, she is adopted."

"Oh..." Serena nods. Mark says, "Since you are here, how about I show you around this place?"

"I have been here before, I remember that I also helped Alan with the opening of the museum, right?" Serena says.

"That's right. But our paintings are changing every day as some people are buying paintings from us or selling to us. Not all the paintings are the same as 2 years ago."

"I see." Serena nods as she decides to walk with Mark to see the pictures.

When they are watching the paintings, Serena asks, "So what is Ash doing during these years? It has been 10 years since I saw him...I feel like he changed a lot..."

"Well, he has done quite a lot of things, and I won't doubt that Brother has become a millionaire with what he has done." Mark says.

"Millionaire?" Serena asks in confusion, and Mark says, "You see, D&W, Helen's Kitchen, Resout Cafe, FS Resort, Lumiose Museum, Jewelove, even the RPA Company is owned by Ash and Alice together."

Serena gasps as she has heard some of the places, and she can't believe all this time, Ash is actually the president of these stores. Mark says, "Not to mention that besides management, he is now a stylist, a pilot, a doctor, a rider, an assassin, an inventor, a band member, an actor, a scientist, and a Professor."

"That is quite a lot of achievement...that Ash gains everything during these 10 years?" Serena widens her eyes in shock. "But I thought he wants to hide from the world..."

"He does, that's why there is something known as disgusting and under alias." Minami comes and she says.

"Oh...I mean, it sure is obvious, going under a different name and disguise, how come I never thought about that?" Serena asks.

"Now you do." Mark says as they continue to look at the stuff.

Ash and Alice are now at the company, as they are going to have a chat with Mr. Goodshow, the president of the PLA. Alice says, "Are you nervous, Ash?"

"I mean, I am nervous, since it has been a while since we have this serious discussion. Even though I hated that old man, but I think it is time to do something."

As the screen line meeting is now on, Mr. Goodshow is on the screen and he says, "Oh my, if it isn't Red? What is the matter that you call me here?"

Ash says, "Well, it is a good day, Mr. Goodshow. But I am here for a discussion, and that is about a person named Ash Ketchum."

This causes him to frown as he says, "I knew that we have mistakenly framed a talented boy named Ash Ketchum. That's why our priority is to apologize to him, but there is a problem, we don't know where he is."

He sighs and continues, "And this is the strange thing, he somehow disappeared off the face of the Earth. We searched all 7 regions and nobody knows where he is."

Ash says, "That is indeed true, but I guess after all the disguising as my father, it is time to reveal my true identity. I am Ash Ketchum."

This causes Goodshow to be surprised, he can't believe that Red is actually Ash in disguise. "Ash...is that you?" Goodshow is surprised to see that the boy he had met is now a handsome young man. "You look different now..."

"What should I say? 10 years ago, everyone treated me as a public enemy. I did tell you that when I lost for the seventh time, I lost everything. My friends, my Pokemon, and even my family abandoned me since I was a pathetic trainer. I was booed wherever I go before I had to wear this cloak to hide my face. Since that day, I have been in a place known as hell, and all of you are the demons that live in this hell."

Goodshow says, "So that is what you meant...but if you hated us, why are you contacting me?"

"I know for what you have done to my family, I shouldn't be even talking to you. Let me get straight to the point. You see, these 10 years might be hell to me, but I also gain a lot of stuff in these years. I want to purchase the company PLA under my company."

This causes shock to the old man as he says, "You are going to buy PLA?"

"Yes. We already brought the Aether Foundation and even found them for future projects, you only need to set the cost and we will buy it." Ash says.

Goodshow asks, "What are you going to do if you buy PLA?"

Ash says, "It is simple. The reason why I suffered a lot is because of Team Rocket, as they manage to do some tricks to control the whole world to get rid of me. Giovanni has been the Viridian City Gym Leader and yet a lot of people didn't notice. That is why that if we brought the company, we will make sure that all the resources will be thoroughly checked and nothing like this will happen again."

"So you're saying that it is our fault that we were controlled by Team Rocket?" Goodshow wants to be mad at him, but with the glare from Ash, he couldn't do it. Ash says, "Calm down, I am not saying that it is your fault. My life turns to hell doesn't mean I want others to do the same thing. Since the criminal teams are now eliminated, I want to use our welfare of RPA to help the regions."

Ash gives him the paper of the job warrants and the introductions, he then says, "This sounds promising. And since we're really sorry for what we did, I'll send you the cost, but can you afford it?"

Ash says, "This is not a problem for me. And the second thing I want to discuss is about my aunt, the Kalos Champion Diantha. I want to know that she hasn't been in the meeting for a while, right?"

Goodshow frowns as he nods, he says, "I know what I was doing is wrong, but I never thought I would be doing violence on your family..."

"It is in the past, but it will also be a problem if Kalos continues not to attend the meeting. So that is also a reason why I should purchase the company."

"I see." Goodshow says. "You have a deal, but we will need to discuss this face to face."

"No problem, I will come within few days." Then Ash ends the call and turns to Alice, "This will be the punishment for Mr. Goodshow. He is really old and I think he should step down as the president."

"Whatever it happens, I am always by your side." Alice says with a smile. "Maybe we should go see how Mark and Serena are doing, shouldn't we?"

"Well, I am sure there might be something with the two of them." Ash says. "We should help them tie the knot if we get the chance."

Alice nods as they leave the company.

Here is a new chapter, and Ash forgives Serena and takes over PLA, trying to force Mr. Goodshow to retire. I hope you like this chapter.