Chapter 1
It has been 3 months since the death of my mother, she got a heart valve disease and was beyond repair. Professor Oak and all of my Pokemon had been trying to cheer me up, but I could feel right now is guilt. Every day I've lived in Pallet Town, watching my Pokemon training to become stronger and stronger. Sometimes I've got visits from people all around the region because I won against Leon in that match.
But it hurts so much... when I become 10 years old, I always wanted to start my journey around the region, becoming a Pokemon Master. She always supported me, preparing new clothes for me every time I came home, and all those embarrassing talks when we contacted through the phones in the Pokemon Center. But they're not going to happen anymore...
"Ash..." I turned around to find Pikachu, who is looking at me with concern. I rub the mouse's ears and say, "I'm fine, Pikachu. How is your training with Charizard?"
Being able to talk to my Pokemon is a gift passed down from my family, inside me, there was a power known as Aura. It was never awakened inside me until I asked for help from Arceus. Arceus is an old friend of mine, as our family had been blessed by his powers for centuries. Despite being guilty, I would still train with it and my Pokemon... though I rarely got out of Pallet Town, because I decided to stay here until I was ready to leave my mother's death behind. Who knows when would it happen?
"Even though that overgrown lizard was strong, it is still no match for me because I have the Type advantage and I'm the one who beat Leon's Charizard!" Pikachu says with a proud tone.
"Heh. Glad to hear it..." Ash says. "How about let's go on a walk?"
Pikachu nods as he jumps onto my shoulder, if he doesn't want to walk, he could've just said so. I turn around and look behind my house, I still can't believe we have a large territory. My house is facing the West side, and behind my house, there is supposed to be a forest and then the cliff towards the ocean. But with Arceus gathering Legendary Pokemon, they manage to create 18 kinds of mini territories. Each territory is different depending on the Pokemon that is living there, there is a mini volcano area for Fire Types, a small desert for Ground Types, and so on.
Despite not traveling for months, I still have some trainers who admire me and give me Pokemon as presents. Although I was a little annoyed that Pokemon are being treated as items instead of living beings when they do that, and I guess this is why I decide to accept them as gifts since they deserve a better life instead of being gifts. That's funny, isn't it?
But now that I've traveled all around the world, stopped every criminal organization, and met every Pokemon if I think about it, I might have already become a Pokemon Master, am I? I think maybe I can just find a wife and start a family...
Wife... I never thought I will be thinking about this... during my travels, people say that I'm dense and I don't know anything about love. I only do this because I just don't want to be someone like Brock. But now that I think about it, I'm not like Brock, I don't flirt with every girl I saw.
"Hey, Pikachu. What will you think if I'm going to start a family?" Ash asks.
This causes Pikachu to almost fall off my shoulder. Hey! Is that really such a surprising question? Pikachu says, "I don't know. You always ignore the feelings of other girls, I don't know if you will be able to have a girlfriend, let alone a wife."
That really hurts my feelings, but what he said was right. I keep ignoring the feelings of the girls that I've met. Was it really because I was too focused on Pokemon that I ignored it? Or do I secretly believe that they are not my type?
Pikachu says, "But truly if you want to have a girlfriend or maybe a wife, what do you want her to be like?"
Damn it, Pikachu... are you going to seriously play the matchmaker? But I am really clueless when it comes to love. "To me, I never cared about their outer beauty, a lot of the girls always think that they suit me, but I don't care about that."
For some reason, my mind goes back to a lot of years ago in the forest. I always remember the straw hat girl I met who injured her knee. She was Serena, my travel companion Kalos. The way she deeply cares for me, and the fact that she kisses me after we leave... if I didn't fall in love with her, I would've been lying.
However, there is something that doesn't make sense to me. All I remember is that the straw hat girl wasn't have honey-blonde hair, but blonde. And she also has a brother... When I brought her back to the Summer Camp, he thought I was the one who hurt her knee and tried to attack me if Professor Oak didn't stop him.
Now that I think about it... the Blonde hair... didn't my classmate Lillie have the same blonde hair? She also has a brother, Gladion, who also looks actually like the boy in that same Summer Camp. But when she was little, Lillie lost her memories because of Faba, after recovering, she also didn't mention anything about meeting me in the past.
When I continue to think about everything, Pikachu has been trying to call my name a lot of times. Eventually, the familiar electricity zap hits me and I feel pain, that's when I realize that Pikachu is using Thunderbolt on me again.
"What the hell, Pikachu?" I ask with annoyance.
"You have been ignoring me for a long time! You didn't finish your sentence and you're in some sort of deep thought..." Pikachu says with slight anger.
"I'm sorry..." I sigh, maybe Pikachu can help me with this. "Hey, Pikachu. I want to ask you something unimportant. Lillie and Serena... did you find anything common about them?"
Pikachu stares at me in shock, I am not sure what the mouse is thinking, maybe he is confused by my question? "Both of them are nice to their Pokemon, but they are the exact opposite. Lillie likes battling while Serena likes performing. Both of them don't have their goals at first until several months..."
"Okay, what about their auras?" I decide to cut the mouse off since I already know what Pikachu is saying since I feel the same way, I think I really need to ask a question that only Pokemon knows.
Pikachu says, "Aura... I think both of them give me the same soothing aura. I just like to be with them."
"Same soothing aura, huh..." Ash says as he stops at a part of the area, it is the same place where he met the straw hat girl. "Pikachu...this place is actually where I met the straw hat girl."
Pikachu says, "You mean Serena, right? She was really sad because you didn't recognize her at first."
I remember how disappointed both of them are after I said that I forgot, but that's not the reason why I said that. Maybe Pikachu can help me with this mystery. "I never forgot the Straw Hat Girl in my childhood, the reason I said that is because I didn't think that girl is Serena."
"It's not? But she did have your handkerchief." Pikachu asks with confusion.
"First of all, the straw hat girl has blonde hair, Serena's hair is honey blonde. Second, the straw hat girl has a brother, when I brought her back to the camp, he thought I was the one who attacked her and he tried to attack me. Serena didn't have a brother. And finally, the two of them remind me of Lillie and Gladion, but none of them have the memory of coming to the Summer Camp with me..." Ash says.
Pikachu just stares at me, and he asks, "Are you saying that Serena is a fraud? But the way she deeply cares for you... it doesn't seem fake."
"I know... that's why I never reacted to everything she did, and the same went with Lillie. I want to figure out what is the truth and which is the lie." I say. "But both of them are true to me... that only makes me more confused."
Pikachu says, "Now that I think of it, they never show up together at the same time..."
The words Pikachu says gain my attention, they never show up together at the same time... why didn't they show up at the same time? Was it because they're not in the same region when we met together? Or was it something else?
Lillie's parents are from the Aether Foundation after all, but we know that the organization shelters Pokémon to keep them safe from threats like poachers or mean trainers, but they also have research labs... The more I think about it, the more I find it weird. Lillie says that she hasn't met Gladion since the abduction of Nihilego, and she came to the Alola Trainer's School a week before his entering.
But after we separated, Serena was in the Hoenn Region, right? We hadn't contacted each other until the day when Goh and I head to Lilycove City. I always thought that she wanted to wait until she was attractive enough for me so that she would contact me. Weird...
"Snowy! Use Icy Wind! Sylveon! Fairy Wind!" Just then, I heard a familiar voice far off in the distance, I decide to follow the voice and finds that in the Dragon Type area, my Garchomp and Dracovish are using Iron Head and Ice Fang on the two Pokemon. One is an Alolan Ninetales, and the other one is a Sylveon. Both of them deal a lot of damage to the two Fairy Type Pokemon despite the Type Disadvantage.
"Snowy! Sylveon! No!" I look at the girl, who seems to be horrified at the sight, I quickly rush forward and yell, "What are you two doing? Stop the attack now!"
At the same time, my Noivern and Goodra also appear and they also notice the girl, they help me and Pikachu stop the two Dragons. I was angry at them, "What's wrong with you two? Why did you attack?"
"The girl is an intruder." Garchomp says. "And we just want to chase her out."
"An intruder?" I turn around and get a look at her face. Her eyes are green and her hair is blonde, but her shirt was grey and her skirt was red and white. She has red earrings on her ears, and she's wearing a grey hat. When the girl sees me, she quickly stands up and yells, "Ash!"
The next thing I know, I stumbled on the ground with the girl hugging me, not wanting to let go. I only have a question in my mind right now...
Are you Serena... or Lillie?
Welcome to the new version of Ash's New Home, this story was the second story that I wrote, but I decide to put all the content of the old one inside the Love and Despair Darker Version, so everything will be different. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be some revelations.