Chapter 44
Silence filled the room as most of the crowd are in disbelief at the sight of 8 people who look just like Ash Ketchum, the person who was declared dead 10 years ago. Everyone can't believe their eyes as Delia introduce her children.
"From the youngest to oldest, we have Lillie Aether Ketchum, Insey Ketchum, Trenor Ketchum, Golly Ketchum, Minami Ketchum, Gladion Ketchum, Mark Ketchum, and finally, Ash Red Satoshi Ketchum."
Everyone widens their eyes as they can't believe the world champion Red is actually Ash Ketchum himself, which means he is always there the whole time. Even though his former friends already know the truth, they still can't believe their ears. And not to mention Lillie and Gladion have become a member of the Ketchum family, that is also shocking.
"Someone please hit me." Clemont says. Bonnie hears it and gives him a slap on the face, causing him to fall on the floor. "So it is not a dream..."
"Now for this occasion, I will like my eldest son, Ash Ketchum, to represent all of the new princes and princesses on the stage with the vow. Please step forward." Delia says.
Ash nods as he steps forward, and he is kneeling from Delia's knee. Delia says, "Ash, my son. Right now every one of you are the last members of the Ketchum Family, are you willing to be the heir of the Rota and bring happiness to the people?"
Ash says, "Yes, mother."
"And are you ready to face the upcoming obstacles that might determine the fate of this kingdom?" Delia asks again.
"We are ready, mother. We are willing to face it." Ash says.
Delia looks at Ilene, who smiles back at how Delia is doing, then Delia turns to Ash and smiles, "Very well. My other children, please step forward."
The other seven are kneeling in the same honor as Ash, and Delia says, "As the new queen of this kingdom, for now, the eight of you are the prince and princesses of Rota." She has 8 servants holding 8 crowns and she places the crown on each head. The crowd is also cheering for what is going on on stage.
After the coronation is done, Delia says, "Now that the coronation is done, we should continue the music and the ball."
As the music starts, the girls are trying to find Ash and dance with him, only to find him gone. Those who know about Ash and Alice's relationship can also find that Alice is also gone.
"Just where did he go?" Misty says in frustration.
"How come we can't find him?" May says in the same tone. Those people want to dance with Ash so that maybe they will have a chance with him even though he is already taken.
As the others are looking for Ash, the said person is sitting near the lake as Alice walks towards him. "Aren't you enjoying the ball?"
"Well, to be honest, I enjoy having a dance with you and your sisters. But my mood to dance is killed because of them wanting to dance with me. They hurt me and how dare they ask me to do that."
"I am sorry to hear that, but they were controlled by Team Rocket back then. I am not going to plead for them, but are you still hating them for something they didn't mean to do?"
"Well, to be honest, it has been traumatizing me, and I just don't want anything to remind me of it." Ash smiles at her. "Why don't we have a fly in the starry skies?"
"As long as I am with you, I like it." Then they have wings on their backs and they start to take off.
"Though we have been flying for a lot of times, this is so beautiful." Alice smiles.
"I know, but you are also beautiful as well." Ash says as Alice blushes.
Inside the ball, the people are still searching Ash, but he is nowhere to be found. But when Clemont and Sophocles see Lillie talking to Flora, Clemont asks, "Lillie, there you are."
Lillie turns at the group and says, "Oh, hello everyone."
"Is it true that you have become Ash's sibling? Since when and how come we didn't know about this?" Mallow asks.
"As we said, it is a long story, let's say that Ash approaches us after our mother's demise, he decides to adopt us so that my brother and I would have a family. And we also proved to Ash that we are not going to waste our chance to earn his forgiveness."
"If that's the case, do you know where is he now?" Lana asks.
Lillie looks at them and says with a frown. "I know where he is, but I don't recommend you to follow him for now."
The champions and Ash's former friends gather around Lillie and May says, "Please, Ms. Lillie. We really want to apologize to Ash for the incident 10 years ago..."
"I know, I was in the same shoes as you guys, but I want you to know." Lillie says as she closes her eyes, "Ash is not the forgiving type like he was 10 years ago. In fact, he had a hard time forgiving me back then..."
Everyone can see the sadness on Lillie's face, then Max sees a window and a glow just goes through. "Hey, what is that?"
Then they see two glowing pairs of wings. Kiawe asks, "Is that a Pokemon?"
"I have no idea." Lana says, but then they hear the Urup family talking to each other as Eve asks, "So Dad, where is Alice again?"
They look at the family and find that their youngest sister is missing, but Wulfric doesn't seem to be worried and he says, "She is going outside to have some air. Maybe I should call her to see if Ash is outside."
"Delia, do you want to come with us?" Valerie asks the queen, who is just about to walk past them. She agrees, but unknown to them, the former friends are also following them to see if Ash is there as well.
Ash and Alice are flying as they see the group of people getting close by, then Ash says, "Oh no, they are outside..."
Alice says, "Well, I have to go down first." Then Alice shoots down from the sky to the ground and then pretends that she is humming at the lake.
"There you are, Alice." Eve says.
"Hey, Dad, Mom, Sisters. Wait, why is there a lot of people here?" Alice is surprised as she then hides behind Valerie.
"Have you seen Ash anywhere?" Valerie asks.
"Well, I did see him rushing towards that way since he said something about avoiding everyone in the room as soon as possible."
This causes heartbreak for some people and a frown from the others, Bonnie asks, "Did we really hurt him that bad to avoid us?"
"I guess so..." May says. "What should we do?"
Then they hear a sound and then they rush to see the sound, only to see Ash lying on the floor with Pikachu and Sylveon asking him if he is alright.
"Thanks for concerning, I shouldn't be so reckless." Ash rubs his hair, but then he notices the approaching people, he decides to ignore the others.
"There you are, Ash." Delia says.
"Mother, I know you are the queen and I shouldn't yell at you. But how many times do I have to tell you, I am not the weakling Ash Ketchum who can't win a league. My name is now Red." Ash says coldly, which surprises the others.
"I am sorry, Red...I forgot..." Delia frowns. Valerie says, "Red, don't say that again, you won the leagues in your second try, right?"
"That didn't change the fact that even the Champions of all seven regions say that to the media, which results in the fact that I can't be safe on the roads." Ash says coldly. The Champions realize their mistake and Lance says, "Ash, but we..."
"I don't want to hear your explanations." Ash says. "Yes, you are controlled by the Dark Aura created by Giovanni Sakaki. But that wasn't a simple control, it enhances the power of your thoughts, if you don't have that thought in your hearts, then you wouldn't be saying that even if you were controlled."
The Champions can't retort back as they know that Ash has changed. Brock says, "Ash, but..."
"Don't get me started with you guys as well." Ash says coldly. "I lost the Alola League, you all saw it as well. I don't know how you guys go to Kanto before me." Ash refers to the Alola natives. "But do you know what I got when I opened my house door? You guys saying how I was weak and even abuse me with words. Not only that, my mom, all my Pokemon including Pikachu also agreed with you guys. I have to be alone, no Pokemon, no shoulder to cry on."
Misty says, "But that is not true! We didn't want to say that to you..."
"It is too late, you made your own beds, now lie on them." Ash says, but when he turns to Valerie and her family. "I am sorry to let you see this."
Wulfric says, "It is fine. You deserve to burst out your anger, after everything you have been, it is natural to be this angry."
Lillie says, "So what are you going to do next? Now that you meet them again..."
Ash says, "Since I am not in the mood for dancing, I might as well get to my room and rest." Then he glares at the people before leaving. But the hands of Misty, May, Iris, Bonnie, Mallow, and Lana are stopping him.
Mallow cries, "Please Ash, can you hear us out? We are really sorry..."
Ash doesn't know why, he has been telling them to give up, but they are too stubborn. Ash says, "If it was the past me, I would forgive you. But the current me was freed from the hell, so I am not going to forgive you, and I am not going to be with you."
This makes them heartbroken and crying, but they are still refusing to let go. Alice feels that his anger is about to burst, she rushes in front of Ash and takes out an Electric Saw, much to the other's shock. "I am sorry, Ash." She uses the saw to slash Ash, causing him to fall on the floor.
Ash says, "Thanks, Alice. I really needed that Thunder Wave."
"Anything for my prince." Alice says as Wulfric tries to help him up.
"What just happened?" Cynthia asks.
Delia says, "This is the power of the Aura, there are 18 auras and each one corresponds to a type. The Electric Aura takes the form of a saw and she just used Thunder Wave to stabilize the anger inside Ash."
"So does that mean you guys are Aura users?" Brock asks Eve, who nods and says, "We are the Masho Family, one of the two Aura Families."
"No way..." Clemont says. "Then you can also use those?"
"Of course we can, it is thanks to Ash and Alice that we are capable of learning it." Flora says.
Lillie says, "Ash is also training me and my brother to use those weapons since we have the Ketchum Aura, that is also one of the reasons why I looked just like Ash."
"So you having raven hair like Ash is a side effect of the aura..." Cilan mutters.
Then Ash says, "You are lucky that Alice has stabilized my aura, or else I can't control me and hurt you."
Misty says, "Please Ash. We are sorry, we will do anything to get your forgiveness."
Ash says, "Please stop, true, you are sorry. Then if I accept your apology, will you leave me alone? Or being persistent like now?" This causes them to be silent.
"That is what I thought." Ash says as he takes out a Cheri Berry and eats it. Then he can walk on his own again. Then he leaves without looking back, the Masho family, Lillie, and Delia follow him.
"Ash really takes the grudge seriously..." Alder says.
"Yeah...it will be a miracle if he decides to forgive us..." Lance says. "And I guess it is the reason to use Legendary on us back when he challenged us...he wants to express his anger to us..."
Then the group is sad as they head back to the castle.
Well, looks like Ash is still mad about what happened 10 years ago, even though he has already opened up to some people in the past. What will happen next? I hope you like this chapter.