Chapter 26

In the ranch, Darkrai is now in front of Arceus, he says, "The mission that you gave me has accomplished."

Arceus nods and says, "Good. This will be a great trial for both Ash and Alice. I wonder how will they go through it."

"But are you sure this is a good idea? Alice doesn't seem to be happy about me giving Ash the nightmare." Darkrai says.

"You will worry no such thing. I will be the one to be blamed." Arceus says as Darkrai nods before going back into the shadows.

And while training the new Pokemon, Ash starts to become gloomier, and Alice seems to be worried. Whenever Alice asks about what nightmare Darkrai gave him, he always brushed it off as he didn't want Alice to worry.

They also got a Hisuian Qwilfish from Arceus, and Arceus also explains to her that he was the one who asked Darkrai to do that. As much as Alice is angry, she knows that it is inevitable if God says so. And after having the Hisuian Qwilfish, they train it to evolve into Overqwil by using Barb Barrage 20 times.

Overqwil: Ability: Poison Point. Moves: Acupressure, Barb Barrage, Toxic Spikes, Destiny Bond, Crunch, Dark Pulse

A few days later, Delia is back at her Pallet Town House when she gets a visit from Ash's former travel companions. Delia asks, "Oh, hello to you all. What are you doing here?"

Misty asks, "We're sorry for our sudden visit, Ms. Ketchum. But we want to know if Ash is at home."

Delia says, "He would sometimes come back home as surprise visits, but he's not coming home today. Why do you want to see him?"

"We haven't met him for almost 2 years." Dawn says. "Some of us have met him, but he has been acting not like the Ash that we knew..."

Delia sighs and says, "I can't blame him for thinking so, because what you said when you're under Team Rocket's control hurts him a lot. And now he is still the World Champion, he has a lot of things to do as well."

"We heard that he has been taking students, but he didn't tell us where they would train..." Mallow says.

At the same time, Ash and Alice were just coming out from the lab as their selves, when Ash notices the whole group in front of the house, he tenses up and says, "Alice, I think we should not visit Mom right now."

Alice notices the group of people and she asks, "Your travel companions from the past?"

"Yeah... I am not ready to face them yet. It only made it worse after what Darkrai and Arceus did to me..." Ash says as Alice nods, "Don't worry, we can be in Binary and Sylvan's disguises, that way they won't be able to know it is us."

Ash nods as they quickly disguise themselves, when they continue to walk forward, Goh and Chloe are the ones who recognize them and Chloe says, "Professor Binary and Professor Sylvan?"

Then they rush toward the two Professors, and Sylvan says, "I remember you were the daughter of Professor Cerise, right?"

Chloe says, "Yeah, I am. But what are you doing here?"

"We were having some business with Professor Oak, after all, we professors share our information with each other."

Then Goh wants to ask more about the Mythical Pokemon Mew, which causes Ash to get a little annoyed. And that makes it worse as the others try to ask them if they know about Ash.

"You mean the World Champion Ash? He was the one who brought us back to society." Binary says. "He has a student named Eve and he brought us to give her the recognition signatures."

"I have heard of this Eve, she is Valerie's daughter and also the youngest Professor in this era..." Serena gasps.

"Indeed." Sylvan says, "If you excuse us, we still have some work to do."

When Binary and Sylvan leave, Bonnie says, "Guys, didn't you notice something? If this Professor Eve is Valerie's daughter, don't you think it will be better if we ask Valerie if she has seen Ash somewhere?"

"Of course, I heard that she has 3 daughters and if two of them are Ash's students, then there is a big chance that she knows about Ash and his whereabouts." Clemont says.

Then they decide to leave for Kalos, but unknown them, Ash and Alice back into their normal selves as they walk towards Delia and the others. Alice says, "If they think my Mom would tell them about our whereabouts, they are wrong."

"You're right about that." Delia frowns, "But Ash, how long are you going to keep this up?"

"Knowing them, they won't give up to earn my forgiveness. A smart part of me wants to forgive them since in truth they were controlled. But a major part of me doesn't want to forgive them, as they don't know what I am feeling. All they know is that they are desperately wanting my forgiveness, but it is getting annoying time after time."

The words in Ash's mouth are making them confused. Delia says, "Ash, can you say it more specifically?"

Ash says, "For example, if the murderer of your father comes back and wants to apologize to you, your father is not going back from death. Or if your friend eating your favorite food, an apology can't bring that food back to the table, but buying another one is another thing."

Alice says, "So you mean, even though they are sorry, it can't change the fact that they hurt you? Your heart is already scarred by them and an apology isn't like a medicine that can heal it quickly."

Ash smiles and gives her a kiss, "Alice, you really are smart, and that is why I love you."

Alice smiles back and says, "And I love you too, Ash."

"You know, Valerie, Wulfric, and I would really want you two to have a wedding." Delia says. "You two are inseparable after all."

"We've already had a paper marriage after all." Ash says, and Alice nods in agreement. "There are still a lot of things we want to do before we have our ideal wedding..."

"It is your choice after all." Delia says with a nod. "I know how it feels...but I just really don't want the same thing that happened to me to happen to you as well."

Ash knows what Delia means, because of his parents' wait for the marriage, he lost his father and his twin sister. Ash says, "There aren't any evil teams that are still on the loose, I promise there won't be anything to stop our wedding."

"Ash..." Alice smiles a little.

"I hope so." Delia says, "If it is possible, can I talk to Alice alone?"

Ash nods as he goes upstairs to his room to rest, and Alice asks, "What's the matter, Ms. Ketchum? Why do you want to talk to me alone?"

Delia says, "That's because it is very important. Ash told me that you had a bad past of being bullied in school, I want to ask, when did you hear about Ash and when did you start to treat Ash as your idol?"

Alice says, "It was because of his Sinnoh League performance. He was the first one who managed to defeat Tobias' Darkrai, he picked my interest and I decided to search for his deeds in the past. I also follow his journey through the news or media, and that's when I started to get fond of him. My classmates are just jerks because they don't think Ash is a good model because he lost all the Leagues, and he was just trying to be a hero."

Delia sighs and says, "So this is how your classmates see Ash..."

"I know very well that Ash stops those evil teams because he wants to save those Legendary Pokemon from pain, not trying to be a hero." Alice says. "And the bully becomes worse to the extent of dropping me out of school. It was after that I heard how Ash won the Alola Champion."

"So you didn't get to see their reactions when you proved them wrong." Delia smiles.

"I don't really care about them anymore." Alice says. "But I admit...all these times, I was just acting as Ash's number one fangirl. I didn't think I would be able to meet Ash in person, not to mention becoming a couple..."

"Then what changes from admiring into love?" Delia asks.

"When Ash was badmouthed by people because of Team Rocket's Dark Aura, our family was watching how the media keeps booing Ash. All five of us are very angry, to the extent that we forgot what we were supposed to do...and it was then that I got separated from my family in the blizzard...that's when Ash found me and asked me to help him."

Alice frowns once more and says, "After Team Rocket is destroyed, that's when I was capable of wielding aura and I noticed his heart...it was filled with negative emotions...Sadness, Anger, Yearning for love, and Pressure. But there is a light in his heart, that is hope...it feels like he has put all his hope on me..."

Delia smiles, "I have told you about Ash's former travel companions, right? He has actually loved two people during his journeys, do you remember?"

Alice nods, and Delia says, "Ever since Team Rocket's control, he starts to doubt his feelings towards them. Not only that, being the World Champion, Ash has been wondering if they try to apologize is just not want to be on his bad side."

"I see..." Alice nods since she knows it is reasonable. Delia says, "But I can tell Ash really likes your company. He really thinks you are his hope to make him feel like his old self, that's why he wants to do those disguises with you. Just promise me...save Ash from the darkness."

"I am going to do that. I love Ash so much that I can't bare seeing him miserable again." Alice says as she excuses herself to find Ash.

But just as Alice opens the door, she is shocked to see Ash holding a knife and a scar on his skin. Alice yells, "Ash! What in the world are you doing?"

Ash frowns and says, "I was trying to see if I am still in a nightmare or not..."

"But you shouldn't try to cut yourself!" Alice says with tears in her eyes, then she starts to find a bandage and heals him up. "Pikachu, why didn't you stop him?"

Pikachu says that he didn't know what Ash is doing because he was eating ketchup in the kitchen, and when he hears the sound, Alice was already there.

Once Alice ties the cut, she says, "Never do that again...I know why you have suffered hurt you a lot, I had suffered as well. I love you and I don't want you to leave me..."

Ash realizes what Alice said is right, and he frowns, "I'm sorry, Alice. I promise I won't try to hurt myself again."

Then he decides to reveal the nightmare to Alice, and Alice says, "Ash. Team Rocket is no more, I am not going to be killed by them."

"I know... it's just... your death seemed so real to me..." Ash says. "I can't really bear your death..."

"That doesn't mean I can bear your death as well!" Alice says while hugging Ash. "You're not alone, and we're already a couple. All we can do now is move forward."

Ash nods as he was also happy that Alice is really different from the other friends. And he's also lucky to have her as his wife.

This is an original chapter that I haven't put in my older versions. I want to put in the mother-to-daughter-in-law talk in this chapter since Alice is the only one who can save Ash from hell. I hope you like this chapter.