Chapter Eight! The puzzle finally starts to fit together!

As always, I love to hear your thoughts on this fanfiction! I'd love to see what ships you'd like to see, which anime characters, and who Ivy should end up with romantically! Also, what do you think this business with Team Rocket and the New Legendary Pokémon has to do with Ash and Ivy? Tell me all your thoughts about these things in a review!

Enjoy! :)

After a long, long silence, Daisy mumbled, "So...are you...siblings?"

Ash and Ivy remained silent, as they and their Pikachus stared at each other, trying to piece everything together. They looked so much alike that it was uncanny. They both had Pikachus. They both...had the same last name.

"Well," Peter gulped. "At the very least this means that you two are related. But...being siblings would explain why you two are nearly identical."

"So we're twins?!" Ivy inquired loudly, clearly overwhelmed.

"No, I'm not saying that," Peter said, trying to calm his friend down as he laid his hands on her shoulders. Looking back to Ash, he asked, "How old are you, Ash?"

"I'm...I'm sixteen," Ash stuttered, unable to stop staring at Ivy.

"Okay, and Ivy's fifteen," Daisy chimed in. "So you two aren't twins."

"But there's still a lot here to figure out," Peter said. "Ivy, why don't we pay a visit to your dad? He's got a lot of explaining to do."

The two Ketchums were still struck silent, so Peter and Daisy decided to take action for them. They caught the first bus back to Star City, and after an awkward two-hour bus drive, arrived in Ivy's hometown, and were off to her home.

David Ketchum, the father of Ivy, and now possibly Ash, was in his backyard, behind his Gym, training with his Pokémon. His loyal partner Sandslash was swimming, to decrease its weakness to water. Nidoqueen and Nidoking were in the midst of a friendly training wrestling session. His Donphan were practicing using their Rollout uphill. Marowak was practicing using his Bonemerang to chop down branches of the surrounding trees. Meanwhile, he was encouraging all of them, while Ivy's Phanpy followed him by his side.

"Great work, everyone!" David called out to all his beloved Pokémon. "Keep it up!"

David and Phanpy then turned around to go check on Marowak, and when he did, he caught a glance of four figures by his fence. It was Ivy, and her two friends Peter and Daisy, and a boy...a boy…could it be? No. No.

"Ivy, home so soon?" he hollered with a grin, as he and Phanpy approached the fence. He was trying to stay calm, even if the presence of the unknown boy...who also had a Pikachu on his shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"Dad," Ivy called, with that brazenly determined attitude she got when there was something on her mind. With Pikachu on her shoulder and her egg in her arm, she hopped the fence in one, graceful, fluid motion, and approached her father fearlessly. She pointed a finger back at the unfamiliar boy, and asked, "Is he my brother?"

Realizing that he had to keep everyone calm, David suggested, "Why don't we all come inside to talk?"

Sheepishly, everyone agreed, with Ash and Ivy leading the way behind David as they went inside. He guided everyone to the living room, where they sat on the sofa around the coffee table, and David served them lemonade and cookies. Only Daisy got to eating and drinking, which she did in an extremely embarrassing manner, while everyone else was too tense to even think of eating or drinking, even Ash.

"Is your name Ash?" David inquired, as he took a seat in the armchair near the sofa.

"Um, yeah," Ash nodded, still overwhelmed by everything that seemed to be happening so, so quickly.

"Are you from Pallet Town, in Kanto?" David questioned.

"Uh-huh," Ash nodded again.

"And your mother's name is Delia, correct?" David inquired.

"Yeah," Ash replied, eyes widening in awe. If Ivy's dad knew all of this...did that really mean that...he was his dad, too?

"Hmph," David sighed. Arms crossed, he closed his eyes and leaned further into the armchair, and took a deep breath. Once he opened his eyes, he made one of the most defining statements of his life, saying, "Ash, Ivy...I'm just going to say it - you two are brother and sister."

A long silence passed, except for the noise of Daisy munching away on the cookies and slurping down her lemonade, before both Ash and Ivy decided to pipe up. In synch, they exclaimed, "Wait! What?! HOW?!"

David sighed once again, trying to remain cool and collected in the given situation. He asked, "Would you two like to hear the whole story?"

"Please," the two begged. Once again, they spoke in synch, much to each other's distaste.

"Alright," David agreed. "This is a long story. Are you prepared?"

"Yes," Ash and Ivy nodded. They were too in synch to stop now.

Once again, David took a deep breath and gathered himself together, before he began to tell the story.

"I was born and raised here in Abuna, right here in Star City, in this very house. My family was a Pokémon-loving family. My older brother, Ivy, your Uncle Damien, was a member of the Abuna Elite Four. My father was a renowned Pokémon Coordinator, and my mother ran the Star City Gym, as her family had for generations. So, naturally, I wanted to become a Pokémon Trainer as well when I got old enough. I got my starter Pokémon, a Vaporeon, from Professor Yew, the current Professor Yew's father, and started my journey.

I travelled the whole Abuna Region, with Vaporeon at my side. The first Pokémon I ever caught was a Sandshrew, who is now my Sandslash. Sandslash was my solid number two, but Vaporeon and I had the kind of bond that rarely forms between Trainer and Pokémon. We competed in the Abuna League and actually came in as runners-up, and from then on, we decided to travel the other regions to conquer all the Gym Leaders and Leagues.

After Abuna, we went to Hoenn, the Orange Islands, Sevii Islands, Sinnoh, and then, Kanto. By the time Vaporeon and I arrived in Kanto, I was no longer a boy, but a young man. Also, I'd begun to believe that Vaporeon and I were invincible; I'd gotten a bit of an ego. The first place I went in the Kanto Region was Professor Oak's lab, so I could pick up some of my Pokémon that had been transported there. On the way out, I literally ran into Delia - your mother - and I swear to Arceus, it was love at first sight. We were both young and dumb and in love, and I ended up staying in Pallet much longer than I had anticipated, because of Delia. Months later, I was still there with Delia, and suddenly, we found out that Ash was on the way.

So, we had a hasty wedding in Professor Oak's backyard about a week later. Ash, you came along not so long after that. I was happy, with a beautiful wife and new son, but I was restless. I still wanted to go on my journey, and Delia, your mother, sensed that. She urged me to go on, so I did, and made it all the way to the Kanto League. I became so wrapped up in my journey again, that I forgot about my new family back in Pallet Town, and went off to the Johto League. By the time I came back to Pallet, Ash, you were already a year old, and Ivy, you'd just been born, and I missed it.

Needless to say, Delia wasn't happy with me. She said she didn't want a thing to do with me anymore if I didn't care about her and you two. She'd even tried to call me in Johto to tell me about Ivy, and I didn't answer. She kicked me out of the house that night, and I was more angry than I'd ever been in my entire life.

I went out in Pallet and challenged a Trainer named TJ who had a 199 winning streak in battle, because I was just so mad that I needed to battle. But, TJ wiped out all my Pokémon, even Vaporeon, who was seriously injured. Of course, as you know, Pallet doesn't have a Pokémon Center. And, I didn't have Vaporeon's PokéBall - it hated being in there, so I'd lost it long ago. I tried to sprint to the Viridian City Pokémon Center, but it was too late - Vaporeon had already died before I left Pallet.

But, after losing my best friend, Vaporeon, and my family, I had no reason to stay in Pallet, or Kanto at all, for that matter. I talked things out with Delia, and we worked out an arrangement. Ash would live in Pallet with her, since you already had little friends there, and I would take Ivy with me, since I still wanted to be a father. Even though I still loved Delia, I left, with Ivy strapped to my chest, and finished my Pokémon journey through the regions as a young dad carrying his baby girl around. By the time you turned two, we'd come back to Star City, so I could take over the Gym. And that's the way things stayed, for the longest time. Ivy and I in Abuna, and Delia and Ash in Kanto. Until now."

"Dad," Ivy mumbled, seeing the pain in her father's eyes. As soon as she saw the tears form in his eyes, she rose and went over to embrace him. "Dad, c'mon, don't cry."

"I'm sorry," David replied, composing himself. "Ivy, I'm sorry I kept this all from you. And Ash, I'm sorry I was never around to be a father to you. But, I promise you, that if you want me in your life from this point on, I'll be there for you, 110%."

Ash took a moment to think for himself. He'd wondered about his father his whole life, and now everything, the whole story, was laid clean out in front of him. He found his sister and his father, together, just by chance, and he didn't know how he felt. Sure, a part of him felt relieved and joyous to finally find the missing pieces of his family, but it was still overwhelming. Still, he picked himself up off the sofa, and approached his father and sister.

"Alright," Ash nodded. David reached out a hand to shake, which Ash accepted. Father and son smiled at each other, as Ash said, "Dad."

Then, looking to Ivy, he added, "Sis."