Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.
Hey guys I hope you all had an awesome Christmas with your family and friends.
I could have released this two days ago but I chose to wait until New Year's Day to upload it so HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all have an incredible 2015.
I want to wish an early happy birthday to PsychicEevee0103.
I'm not making any promises on when the next chapter will be uploaded. I want to do 1 chapter of The Return of the Betrayed Guardian soon as then readers of that story have in general been very patient but after that I'll be back to writing this.
Here's chapter 42. I hope you enjoy it
In conversations:
'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it. Ash can get the gist of what his Pokémon are saying due to his close bond with them.
"- Human speech
'- Thoughts'
"- Telepathy
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Ash saw that Espeon now had a relieved look in her eyes as she stared at her newly evolved children. He looked at Eve who was now a beautiful Vaporeon and Vee who was a powerful looking Jolteon. (Both Jolteon and Vaporeon are using the colour schemes by magic-lover2128 – links to the images are in my profile)
"So are they gonna be okay with what they evolved into." Ash asked.
"Yes, luckily they touched the right stones."
"Well that's a relief. It's a good thing that you are coming with me now; otherwise I'd have to charge you for a new Water Stone and a Thunder Stone." Ash said jokingly
Ash suddenly looked at Jolteon as he realized something.
"Wait a minute how did you become a Jolteon? I didn't have a Thunder Stone in my bag."
Jolteon shrugged in response as he really didn't know; Ash scratched his head trying to think of when he may have gotten a Thunder Stone. He'd traded the Thunder Stone he won in the tournament to… her so there's no that it could be that one. He suddenly spotted a scrap of paper on the ground next to his bag, he picked the paper up and saw that something had been written in handwriting that Ash instantly recognized.
Hi Ash,
Salem told us that you traded a Thunder Stone to her because she didn't want the Deep Sea Scale that Captain Stern gave her. That was very noble of you but I'm not surprised that you did it as you always put others first. Anyway I know I gave you that Razor Claw to give to your Sneasel but I wanted to give you this Thunder Stone as a second birthday present.
Brock
P.S. Misty put an extra Water Stone in there for you; don't tell her that I told you that though.
Ash smiled and felt a tear come to his eye as he thought of the two people who had helped him so much since he'd become a Pokémon trainer, the people that were easily two of his best friends.
"I've gotta go see them on the way back to Pallet."
Ash suddenly heard Espeon moan in pain and had to move quickly to stop her from collapsing. He stood up with the unconscious psychic Eeveelution in his arms and looked at Vaporeon and Jolteon who were looking at their mother worriedly.
"It's alright you two she's still tried from the surgery and a couple of her stitches have come apart as we searched for you. We've gotta get your mother back to her room and tell Nurse Joy that she needs to sew up a couple of you mothers wounds again. Then we have the fun task of finding somewhere for us to stay until Nurse Joy releases your mother."
Ash carried Espeon out of the room and was quickly followed by Vaporeon and Jolteon who were dragging Ash's bag with them. They walked into the main foyer and unfortunately ran into Nurse Joy.
"Ash what is Espeon doing out of bed? And what happened to the stitches I did on the wounds on her stomach?" Nurse Joy asked.
"Um well it's a long story."
"You can tell me while I redo the suturing work on Espeon."
Ash carried Espeon back to her room and placed her on the bed so that Nurse Joy could stich her up again. As Nurse Joy did the suturing Ash told her what had happened and Vaporeon and Jolteon sat on the floor feeling incredibly guilty. When Ash finished telling the story and Nurse Joy had sewn up Espeon she looked at the two Eeveelutions who were still sat on the ground and smiled at them. She knelt down and stroked both of their heads.
"You two are little troublemakers aren't you but nothing too bad has happened so there's no need to dwell on this."
Vaporeon and Jolteon immediately perked up and nuzzled Nurse Joy until she stood up.
"Okay this time I want you all to stay in this room day and night."
"You mean we can stay in here while Espeon recovers."
"Yes just make sure that Espeon does not leave. Oh and Ash keep an eye on those two." Nurse Joy said as she pointed as Vaporeon and Jolteon.
"Okay Nurse Joy. Thanks for letting us stay with her."
Nurse Joy smiled and gave them a nod, she then left the room and she was quickly replaced by the Pokémon who all crowded around the bed.
"Well guys we're staying in here until Espeon recovers."
Everyone was happy enough to do that and they all settled in around the room, finding somewhere to get comfortable for the next couple of days...
Three days later Ash was allowed to take Espeon on the condition that he either send him back to Professor Oak's lap or he'd have to carry her home. Ash was going to send her back to Professor Oak just to make sure she didn't aggravate any of her injuries but the psychic type was adamant to stay with Ash so he found himself walking out of Vermillion City with an Espeon curled up in his arms. Ash wasn't complaining, he wanted to get to know Espeon, Jolteon and Vaporeon a bit more and the journey back to Pallet would be the perfect opportunity.
Ash had no intention of wasting time though so he headed straight to Cerulean City and arrived there only a few days later. He made his way straight to the gym and was curious about why the gym seemed so lifeless. Ash opened the doors to the Cerulean Gym and spotted a man sat behind a desk in the foyer tapping on a computer keyboard. He walked into the gym and over to the man who stopped typing and looked up at Ash.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes can you tell Misty that I'm here?"
"Unfortunately she is not here at the minute. She left the gym about a week ago to deal with some business."
"Oh, well do you know where she went."
"I'm sorry sir but I don't know where she went. All she said was that it was important business."
Ash nodded glumly and walked out of the gym, he looked down at Raichu and saw that the mouse appeared to be just as disappointed.
"Don't worry buddy we'll see Misty again soon." Ash said.
'Yeah I guess you're right. It just would have been nice to see her. I miss her and Brock too.'
"So do I Raichu, so do I. Come on guys let's go see if we can find Brock in Pewter."
The Pokémon nodded and followed Ash as he walked out of Cerulean City towards Mt Moon, he remembered his last visit there when the Clefairy had been preparing for their ceremony involving the giant Moon Stone. Then Jessie, James and Meowth had nearly stopped the ceremony from happening, Ash chuckled as he remembered Seymour saying about how he would stay with the Clefairy and prove that they came from space via a space shuttle made from a giant Moon Stone.
'What's so funny?' Raichu asked.
"I was just thinking about Seymour. I wonder if we'll see him." Ash said.
"'I hope we don't.'" Meowth and Raichu said.
"It may sound mean but I don't really wanna run into him either. He was a nice enough guy but he could talk your ear off and he was a little… eccentric."
'Eccentric? He thought Clefairy came from space by flying on a giant Moon Stone. That's not eccentric, that's nigh on crazy.' Raichu said.
Ash couldn't stop himself from bursting laughing at Raichu's response, the others tried to stop themselves but one by one they all joined in and laughter filled the nearby area. Trainers walked by them and gave them confused looks as they wondered what could be so funny. They all gradually calmed down and silence took over, they wiped the tears from their eyes and carried on to Mt Moon.
A couple hours later Ash spotted the entrance to Mt Moon, he walked into the cave and saw a Clefairy jumping along the path while happily cheering its name. The Clefairy spotted Ash and waved at the boy as she remembered what he done for them so long ago. Ash approached the Clefairy and crouched down in front of her, he shifted gently Espeon so that he was holding her in one hand and he stroked Clefairy's head.
"Hey Clefairy could show us the fastest way out of here? I don't want us to get lost in here." Ash said.
Clefairy nodded and then started bouncing merrily down one of the tunnels. Ash and co quickly caught up to Clefairy and followed her through the caves, as they wandered through Mt Moon several of the Clefairy and Clefable that they had helped approached them, most of them just smiled at them however some of them hugged Ash's legs. Ash wasn't sure how long they walked through Mt Moon but they finally came to the entrance of the cave, when they got to the entrance Ash knelt down and hugged the Clefairy that had led the way. The Clefairy smiled and then jumped back the way they had come from. Ash watched the Clefairy until she was out of sight and then walked out of the cave, he was surprised to see that it had gotten dark already. It didn't take long for them to find somewhere to rest and they all quickly fell to sleep.
The next morning the group headed out after eating another quick breakfast, the journey to Pewter was a lot quicker than Ash had expected and by midafternoon he was stood outside of the Pewter gym. He walked into the gym but was disappointed to find that no one was there apart from the receptionist, Ash decided that heading to Brock's home would be the next best place to try. A few minutes later he was stood outside of the house, the curtains to the front room were closed but he could make out the shapes of a Brock's brothers and sisters. He knew that Brock wasn't in the front room solely because none of them were tall enough to be Brock.
Ash rang the doorbell and waited for someone to come to the door, as he heard approaching footsteps he hoped that either Brock or Forrest answered the door since it would be a lot easier asking them than one of the younger siblings. He was disappointed when the door opened revealing one of Brock's younger sisters, Ash knew that it was Suzie simply because the orange dress she wore was torn. He crouched down so he was at Suzie's level and the young girl hugged him, Ash returned the embrace and then ruffled Suzie's hair when they broke the hug.
"Hello Ash." Suzie said.
"Hi Suzie, is Brock here?" Ash asked.
"Sorry Ash but he left here a couple of days ago with Nurse Joy."
"That sucks."
"Dad's here if you wanna see him or you could stay for dinner."
"No thanks Suzie I really need to get home so um say hi to your brothers and sisters to me."
"Ok bye Ash."
"Bye, Suzie I'll try to stay longer next time."
Suzie nodded and closed the door leaving Ash feeling disappointed again, he walked down the path towards Viridian Forest and sat on one of the rocks on the outskirts of Pewter. His was quickly joined by his Pokémon who sat around him.
"Remember the first time we were here buddy?"
'Yeah we met Flint and he showed us where the Pokémon Centre was.'
"Then we went and challenged Brock, Arceus I was so stupid back then."
'You weren't stupid Ash; you were inexperienced, excited, rash but most of all determined.'
"Thanks buddy."
Ash smiled at his best friend and scratched behind the mouse's ears, he then let out a sigh.
"I can't believe he's gone somewhere without saying just like Misty."
"Maybe there's some Gym Leader meeting or something." Meowth said,
'That would make sense but why would Nurse Joy go with him then?' Raichu said.
"Let's not worry about that, I'm sure that it's something really important." Ash said.
Ash got up and started walking towards Viridian Forest, he stopped on the outskirts of the forest when he heard the sound of Beedrill flying through the woods nearby.
"You know what I really don't feel like walking through Viridian Forest and then all the way back to Pallet. Celebi can you psychically carry us like you did before?"
"Sure Ash I'd be happy to."
"Thanks Celebi."
Ash smiled at the legendary and pulled Aerodactyl's Pokéball off his belt, he then sent out Aerodactyl who looked around the area and knew why he'd been sent out. He bent down which allowed everyone to climb on to his back, this time it was even harder for him to stay upright due to Jolteon, Espeon and Vaporeon adding the extra weight. He muttered something under his breath just like he had before and Ash was pretty sure that it was something similar to what he'd said last since Celebi swatted him again.
"Okay guys let's go."
Celebi and Aerodactyl nodded and the former lifted everyone up with Psychic and Aerodactyl shot into the air. They soared over Viridian Forest in about half an hour, Ash looked down as they passed over Viridian City and saw kids pointing up at them ad giggling. Ash waved down at the kids who waved back until they were out of sight. They landed on the outskirts of Pallet Town a few hours later, Ash returned Aerodactyl and then since it had gotten dark Ash decided to head home instead of going to Professor Oak's lab and disturb him.
Ash arrived at his home a few minutes later, he gently placed Espeon on the ground as he knew that the second that door opened he'd be pulled into a bone crushing hug. He rang the doorbell and the door opened moments later revealing Mimey.
"Hi Mimey can you tell mum that I'm home?"
Mimey nodded and led Ash and the Pokémon into the house, Ash was about to step into the living room when Mimey whacked him with his broom, Ash looked at Mimey who was now pointing his broom at his feet. Ash looked at his shoes and saw that they were covered in mud and snow...
"Oh sorry Mimey I forgot."
Ash took off his shoes and followed Mimey into the living room, the second he walked into the room Ash was pulled into a hug by his mother. Ash returned the embrace but could feel the air being gradually squeezed out of his lungs. Her grip on him gradually loosens and Ash took a few deep breaths to refill his lungs.
"I'm so happy to see you and have you home for Christmas." Delia said.
"I'm happy to be home too."
Delia smiled brightly and then looked at all of the Pokémon surrounding Ash, she spotted the Eeveelutions and knelt in front of them. She already knew Glaceon but the other three were new faces.
"And who are these three adorably Eeveelutions."
The Eeveelutions blushed and all mumbled a thanks to Delia who then hugged each of them tightly. Ash knelt too and stroked the Eeveelutions.
"This Espeon is Glaceon's mother, Jolteon and Vaporeon are Glaceon's brother and sister."
"Well it's nice to meet all of you. Mimey and I have started cooking dinner so if you wait here we'll cook up something special.
Everyone nodded and cheered happily, Ash couldn't wait to taste some of his mother's cooking again. Delia smiled at the enthusiastic response and followed Mimey into the kitchen. Ash and the Pokémon took a seat on the chairs and settee while they waited, after half an hour the smells of various foods wafted through the air and made everyone's mouths water. After another fifteen minutes they couldn't take sitting and waiting anymore so they got up and entered the kitchen.
"Dinner's served." Delia said.
Everyone took a seat around the dinner table and started digging in, Ash would usually take his time and eat in far more polite manner but his mother's cooking was so good and he hadn't eaten her food in so long that he really didn't care about manners. The Pokémon were just as fast if not even faster than Ash, they had never thought that someone could cook such delicious food. The food was quickly devoured by everyone leaving a table of empty plates and glasses, Ash and his Pokémon let out a satisfied sigh and the Pokémon all yawned as their eyes started to get heavy, Ash smiled as he watched Glaceon let out a large yawn and fell to sleep.
"I'm going to go put these guys to bed, I'll see you in the morning."
"Actually Ash I need to talk to you."
"Okay I'll be back down after they're in bed."
Delia nodded at Ash who picked up Glaceon and led the rest of his Pokémon out of the kitchen and upstairs. He walked into his room and turned the light on so he wouldn't fall over anything. He then pulled back the quilt on his bed and placed Glaceon on the mattress. The rest of the Pokémon jumped onto the bed and got comfortable, once they were all settled Ash placed the quilt over all of them and placed a kiss on Raimodo, Kirlia and Glaceon's foreheads. He walked to the door and switched off the light.
"Goodnight guys."
Ash walked back downstairs and saw his mother now sat in the living room, he took a seat on the settee next to her and picked up the mug of hot chocolate on the table near him. He turned to look at his mother and was confused by the slightly sad and serious look on her face.
"So what did you need to talk to me about?"
"Ash I know about Salem."
Ash felt a sudden pain in his heart as he thought about Salem, he was sure that he had gotten over her and moved on but the mere mention of her name had brought back all the feeling he had bottled up. He felt the betrayal, the heartbreak and the immense pain he had felt when she had revealed her true nature. Tears started to trail down his face and he put down his mug as he felt himself start to shake.
Delia pulled Ash to her and wrapped her arms around him tightly, Ash held on to his mother and cried into her blouse. His iron grip on her started to loosen as he was gradually falling to sleep, he finally lost consciousness and she continued to hold him tightly. She pulled back a bit so she could see his face and felt tears come to her eyes as she looked at his cheeks that were shiny with dried tears.
"Oh, my poor baby. I'm so sorry Ash." Delia whispered.
She grabbed the blanket that was draped over the settee and she lied down, she pulled Ash close to her and covered them both with the blanket. She watched as his face started to look peaceful in sleep and she rested her head on top of his as she started to drift off.
"If I ever meet that girl I'll make sure that she pays for hurting my baby." Delia thought moments before she fell to sleep.
Ash let out an annoyed grunt as he was woken up by the sunlight which was shining through the gap in the curtains, he squinted and shielded his eyes. He turned away from the bright light and threw the blanket off of him, he sat up and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He thought back to last night and remembered eating dinner, putting the Pokémon to bed and then his mother holding him as he broke down thanks to Salem. He was surprised find that the pain he had felt when thinking of her was now lessened, it was more of a dull ache and then an intense rush of pain.
"I guess I bottled all those emotions up and I just needed to let them out." Ash thought.
Ash heard sizzling coming from the kitchen as well as the very noticeable smell of bacon. He stood up and walked into the kitchen, he saw his mother at the cooker and she turned around when she her him step on the creaky floorboard.
"Good morning Ash, did you sleep well?" Delia asked.
"Good morning mum. Yeah I slept fine thanks. I'm sorry about last night."
Delia turned down the heat on the cooker and walked over to Ash, she pulled her son into a hug and smiled when she felt his arms wrap around her.
"Ash I'm your mother, it's my job to be here for you through the good and the bad. I wouldn't be a very good mother if I only stuck by you during the good times."
"Thanks mum."
They held onto each other until the smell of something burning filled the room, they broke the hug and looked over to the counter where the smell was coming from and saw black smoke pouring out of the toaster. Ash quickly unplugged the toaster while Delia ejected the completely burnt toast which now looked more like charcoal than toast.
"Well this is pretty much useless now it's completely burnt."
"I don't know about that mum it would probably make a pretty good Frisbee. Or we could cover it in ketchup and give it to Raichu."
Ash and Delia stared at each other for a few moments and then burst out laughing, the sound of Ash laughing was a relief for Delia. After what she'd seen last night it was nice to see that he was back on the road to recovery. She knew how he felt; finding out that the person you love isn't who they said they were and she knew that was one of the worst feelings you could possibly experience. Ash wiped a tear from his eye and chucked the burnt toast in the bin. The sound of footsteps walking down their stairs made them both turn their attention to the Pokémon who had walked into the kitchen and were now sat around the table.
"Hey what's so funny?" Meowth asked.
"Nothing Meowth, mum and I were just having a laugh."
'Okay. So what are we gonna do after breakfast?' Raichu asked.
"Well I think we should head to Professor Oak's lab so I can get some Pokéballs and officially catch Espeon, Vaporeon and Jolteon. Then I thought that we could introduce them to the rest of the family."
"Sounds good to me." Espeon said.
Vaporeon and Jolteon nodded in agreement and then started to demolish the food in front of them. Everyone else started eating and the food was quickly cleared as they wanted to get to Professor Oak's as soon as possible. Ash helped Delia clear the plates and wash up, he then went upstairs and got changed after having a shower. He came back downstairs and put on his coat, gloves, snow boots and hat.
"I'll see you later mum."
"Bye honey."
Ash opened the door and walked outside, he shivered as the cold winter breeze cut through him. Although he hated the icy cold wind Ash couldn't deny that he loved this time of year, he loved gazing at the snow covered buildings and hills that glistened when the sun came out. He bent down and scooped up some snow from the garden, he squashed it into a ball and lobbed it at the wall. He smiled as he watched the ball hit the wall and fell apart.
"I love this time of year." Ash said happily.
Ash walked down the snow free path and stepped on to the sidewalk, he loved the sound of the snow crunching under his boots and he headed towards Professor Oak's lab.
Ash arrived at the lab a few minutes later, he walked through the open door and saw the Professor walking out of his office.
"Good morning Ash." the Professor said.
"Hey Professor Oak I wondering if I could drop off my Pokémon with you and if you had some spare Pokéballs so I can catch Espeon, Vaporeon and Jolteon."
"Okay Ash give me your Pokéballs and I'll go get you some empty ones."
Ash nodded and took all of his Pokéballs off of his belt apart from Raichu's, Meowth's and the G.S. Ball and he gave them to Professor Oak. The old man left Ash and sent out all of Ash's Pokémon in the coral and then went to the room where the Pokéballs were kept. He placed the Pokéballs Ash gave him with the rest of his Pokémon and grabbed half a dozen spare ones. He walked back to Ash who was sat on a chair and was talking and laughing with his Pokémon, the scene brought a smile to Professor Oak's face.
Ash saw Professor Oak and stood up, he took the Pokéballs from the Professor and held them in front of Espeon, Vaporeon and Jolteon.
"Alright guys this is your last chance to change your minds. If you still want me to capture you now and then press the button and then I'll send you straight back out."
The Eeveelutions wasted no time and tapped the buttons on the Pokéballs, they were sucked inside instantly and the Pokéballs dinged immediately to indicate that they'd been captured. Ash sent them back out moments later and they jumped at him which knocked him to the ground and they nuzzled him. Ash hugged the three of them tightly and laughed as their fur tickled his skin, they eventually got off of Ash and let him get back up.
"I'll take these Pokéballs Ash. There's someone who wants to see you." Professor Oak said.
Ash handed the three Pokéballs to Professor Oak and waited to see who wanted to see him, he was surprised to see Gary walk into the lab from the coral.
"Gary? What are you doing here?" Ash asked.
"Well I work here now." Gary replied
"What? Why? Shouldn't you be in Hoenn winning gym badges?" Ash asked.
"The thing is Ash that after our battle at the Mirage Kingdom I did a lot of thinking and decided that I wanted to give up battling and become a researcher like gramps. So I came back to Pallet to learn from gramps."
"But I thought that you were determined to become the greatest Champion ever."
"Come on Ash everyone knows that out of the two of us you're the battler. You've always been the one that people thought would be the first to succeed and become a Champion and I've finally realized that they're right."
Suddenly the front door opened revealing Leaf, she walked inside and smiled at Ash.
"Hi Ash, Gary."
"Hi Leaf what are you doing here? I thought that you were in Hoenn." Ash asked.
"I came back for the holidays. I'm here now because when I got up this morning Gary called and said he had something that he needed to talk to me about."
"I need to talk to both of you actually. I called your home too Ash but you'd already left."
"Okay so what's so important?" Ash asked.
Gary walked out of the lab and headed into the home part of the lab, he sat down on a chair in the living room. Ash and Leaf quickly followed him and sat on the settee opposite him, they watched as Gary was looking at them guiltily.
"What's wrong Gary?" Ash asked.
"Listen Ash, Leaf I owe you an explanation about the way I've acted towards you both over the last five years."
Ash and Leaf stay quiet as they waited for Gary to continue.
"The truth is that I resented you both."
Leaf felt pain shoot through her, she knew that Gary had for some reason started to drift away from them but to hear that he resented them was heartbreaking. Ash saw that Leaf wasn't taking what Gary said very well and he pulled her into a hug. Leaf wrapped her arms around Ash and then looked at Gary.
"Y-you really resented us?" Leaf said.
Ash could hear the pain in Leaf's voice and saw that Gary could too as the professor in training averted his gaze.
"I'm not proud of it but yes I did. It wasn't your fault, it was everyone who was rooting for the three of us while we were in school. You two were the ones that people praised whenever you did something. What made it worse was that it didn't matter what I did as it was expected of the grandson of Professor Oak. I hated you both for not being put under the same pressure that I was. The fact that you seemed to have a bond with Pokémon that I couldn't understand didn't help either." Gary paused and then looked straight at Ash and Leaf. "I truly am sorry guys. I know that an apology won't fix everything I've said and done but it's all I can offer you."
Gary turned away from Ash and Leaf, he couldn't bring himself to look at them anymore. The guilt he felt from what he had done made impossible to face them. He heard the sound of them getting up and assumed that he was about to hear a door slam shut, what he didn't expect was to feel to pairs of arms wrap around him. He looked forwards and saw that Ash and Leaf were both smiling at him.
"L-Leaf? Ash?"
"We forgive you." Leaf whispered.
"R-really?" Gary replied.
"Yeah, your behavior is understandable now that we know about it but if you ever start acting like that again I'll have to kick your arse." Ash said.
"Okay Ash that's fair."
Gary wrapped his arms around his childhood friends.
"Thank you guys, I really do appreciate this."
"Don't mention it Gary." Ash said.
"Yeah let's just put it behind us." Leaf added.
The trio held the embrace for a few minutes and then split apart, Ash looked down at his Pokémon who were staring at him, Gary and Leaf with smiles on their faces.
"I need to go see my Pokémon so can I meet up with you guys later?"
"Sure Ash." Leaf and Gary replied.
Ash left Leaf and Gary to catch up and was followed out of the lab and into the coral by his Pokémon.
Ash felt the ground to begin shake, he looked to where the tremors were originating and saw a massive dust cloud being created by his Pokémon charging towards him. As they got close Ash saw Meganium jump towards him happily, he knew what was going to happen and could only brace himself for the impact. He hissed in pain as he hit the ground with Meganium pinning him, he couldn't stop himself from though as he felt her nuzzling him.
"I missed you too Meganium but can you let me get up please?"
The grass type was reluctant to do as Ash asked but did as he asked, Ash stood up and saw that the rest of his Pokémon were poised to swamp him.
"Wait guys. Follow me guys we need to go somewhere private."
Ash's Pokémon nodded and followed him to the most secluded area in the entire coral, Ash knew that Professor Oak had set up cameras around the coral for both safety and research. He had found out a lot more about Pokémon by watching how they behaved without any humans around them.
"Alright everyone I wanted to bring you here to introduce to the secret member of our family. Celebi you can show your true form."
Celebi did as Ash asked and showed everyone her true form, they all stared in wonder as she flew off the ground and landed on Ash's shoulder. She hugged his cheek and nuzzled him tenderly, Ash placed a hand on Celebi's head and stroked her gently which drew content sighs from the psychic type.
"Celebi's the Pokémon that was residing in the G.S. Ball. She saved my life as well as everyone who was with me in the Team Firestorm base and I'll be eternally grateful for that."
"I'm just glad that I was there to help you."
Ash took the legendary off his shoulder and hugged her tightly, after a few moments he released her from his grip and she flew back onto his shoulder. Ash then started to talk with all of his Pokémon and get up to speed on their training, before he realized it he'd been there for several hours. He heard his stomach growl and he chuckled, he looked at his watch and saw that it was already half past two.
"Holy crap I didn't think I'd been here this long. Guys I'm gonna head home for some lunch and then I'll be back a bit later."
Ash's Pokémon all nodded at him, he turned around and started walking towards the lab when he felt something very cold hit the back of his head. He faced his Pokémon again and saw several of them holding snowballs.
"So you want a snowball fight then? Okay but I have to get some of you on my team."
'Okay who do you want?' Raichu asked.
"I only need Espeon, Celebi, Togetic and Meowstic but I want Vaporeon, Jolteon, Glaceon, Kirlia and Raimodo too."
Everyone was looking around in utter confusion and they were wondering why Ash had chosen so few but they weren't going to argue with him. The group he'd chosen stood alongside Ash and looked up at him quizzically.
"Ash why did you want us four specifically?" Espeon asked.
"Why would I want twenty Pokémon who can throw them when I can have four who can not only create but fire several at a time using psychic? I asked for young ones simply because I don't want them getting bombarded. Let's do this." Ash whispered back.
The psychic types nodded and smirked. Ash then knelt down and scooped up some snow, he pressed it into a ball and got ready to throw it. He looked from at the majority of his Pokémon who all had a couple of snowballs in hand.
"Are you guys ready?" Ash yelled.
'Yeah we are. Are you?' Raichu replied.
"Oh we're more than ready. Guys you know what to do!"
Espeon, Celebi, Togetic and Meowstic nodded and their eyes turned blue, the snow around them then started to glow blue as well and it then flew into the air and turned into hundreds of snowballs. The rest of Ash's Pokémon looked at horde of snowballs now levitating above them and their jaws dropped as their eyes widened, they dropped the snowballs they'd been carrying and took a few steps back.
'W-w-wait a second Ash. W-we surrender.' Raichu said.
"Sorry Raichu but there's no mercy in a snowball fight. FIRE!"
The snowballs poised overhead rocketed towards the ground straight towards Ash's Pokémon. Moments later the snowballs crashed into the Pokémon and buried them all under a mountain of snow. Ash, Espeon, Celebi, Togetic, Meowstic, Jolteon, Glaceon, Kirlia and Raimodo all burst out laughing as they saw the Pokémon push their way out of the snow and glare at them.
"I'm sorry guys but I couldn't resist doing that. Anyway it's great seeing you again but I'm wanna go and get something to eat. I'll see you later."
Most of the Pokémon were still grumbling at what they saw as unfair play by Ash and stomped off. Raichu and Meowth followed after Ash who had Celebi sat on his shoulder again. He walked through the lab and saw that Gary and Leaf were missing.
"Maybe they went to have lunch somewhere." Ash thought.
He left the lab and headed down the path towards his house, he chuckled as he heard Raichu and Meowth complaining about being cold now thanks to him and his 'dirty tactics' while they pushed through the six inch deep snow.
When Ash got home he saw Mimey getting off a ladder after putting the last of the lights up, he followed Mimey inside and saw his mum putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree. He looked around the room at all of the decorations and was amazed at how incredible it looked.
"Hi mum the house looks amazing."
"Thanks Ash. Are you hungry?"
"Yeah, is there something I can help you make for lunch?"
"Actually Ash I have a surprise for you but you're going to have to put this blindfold on."
Ash was confused but put the blindfold on as asked, he felt his mum grab arm and slowly lead him. He knew they'd gone outside when he felt the cold winter air cut through him again and heard snow crunching behind his boots but this just made him all the more confused about what where they were going and why it had to be so secret. He felt himself be forcibly stopped and he heard a door open, he was then guided inside and stopped again. The blindfold was removed and all Ash saw was darkness, he knew by the size of the room that they must be in the Town Hall.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" everyone yelled as the lights turned on and Merry Christmas Everyone by Slade boomed out of speakers.
Ash looked around the room and a smile came to his face as he saw so many of the friends he's made over the course of his journey, everyone from his Pokémon, Brock and Misty to Jessie and James. Meowth charged past everyone straight towards his former comrades, Ash felt happy for the cat as he saw him hug his friends. He knew that the cat had been missing Jessie and James badly since they'd parted all those months ago. Ash turned his attention away from the former members of Team Rocket to Misty, Brock and Joy, he walked over to his best friends and hugged them tightly.
"It's good to see you guys. I want to thank you for the Thunder Stone Brock and you Misty for the Water Stone."
"You're welcome Ash." They both replied.
Ash spent a while catching up with Brock and Misty before he moved around the room reuniting with so many of the people who had influenced him throughout his journey. Most of the time Kirlia, Glaceon, Espeon, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Raimodo and Celebi had either stayed by his side or had clambered on to his shoulders. The only time that hadn't been the case was when he'd been dancing and he'd been on the dancefloor more times than he could count. Sometimes it had been with some of the girls he'd met during his journey however most of the time it was either Kirlia, Glaceon, Espeon, Meganium, Vaporeon or Celebi who had changed her appearance from an Eevee to a Sylveon.
As darkness began to fall people started to gradually leave the party until it was only the residents of Pallet Town, Ash, Leaf, Delia, Gary, Brock, Joy, Misty, Jessie, James and their Pokémon. As the last of the residents of Pallet Town left the Town Hall Delia decided that it was time to take everyone home for their own party. They left the Town Hall and walked towards her home, at some point during the part it had started snowing again and there was now a fresh layer of snow that crunched under their boots. They weren't surprised to see most of the Pokémon heading over to Professor Oak's lab to get some rest.
They arrived back at the Ketchum residence and they walked inside, music filled the building as Ash, Brock and Delia went into the kitchen and starting preparing food for everyone and the party started again. After a little while the fire started to die down, Delia spotted the dwindling flames and an idea popped into her head. She turned her gaze to Ash who was laughing with Gary and Leaf, Delia was pleased to see the trio laughing together again. She walked over to them and tapped on Ash's shoulder, the raven haired boy turned around and looked at his mum.
"Ash would you mind going outside and getting some logs for the fire?"
"Sure mum."
"Oh and Leaf could you give him a hand."
"Okay Mrs. Ketchum."
Gary was about to offer his help but stopped when he saw Mrs. Ketchum send him a subtle nod. He looked from her to Ash and then to Leaf and he suddenly realized why she had nodded at him.
Ash and Leaf stood up and squeezed out of the living room and walked out of the back door. They shuddered as the cold winter night froze them and they picked up a few logs, they headed back inside and Ash held the door open for Leaf who blushed and thanked him. They walked back into the living room and crouched down so that they could place the logs on the fire, once the fire was roaring again they stood up. They were confused when they saw that everyone was looking at them.
"What? Why are you looking at us like that?" Ash asked.
"Um Ash look up."
Ash did as Leaf asked and looked up; he felt his cheeks redden as he saw the mistletoe dangling from the ceiling above them. He turned his gaze to Leaf whose cheeks had also turned crimson.
"I-I guess we've got no choice." Leaf said.
Ash gulped and nodded, he knew that his face was now lighting up like a Christmas tree but he didn't care. He pulled Leaf to him and looked into her eyes, she stared back and their faces slowly started to move closer. They closed their eyes and felt their lips brush against one another, despite not wanting too Ash found himself comparing the kiss with Leaf to those he'd had with Salem. The ones with her had often felt rushed, aggressive and emotionless, this kiss with Leaf on the other hand was nothing like that; it felt loving, genuine and truly tender.
Meanwhile Leaf felt like she was in heaven, she'd been dreaming about this for a while now as she had realized when she saw him at the Togepi Festival that she had fallen for him. Since then she had imagined this moment so many times and was happy to see that it didn't disappoint. She knew that this was a kind of forced kiss thanks to the mistletoe hanging over them and that he wasn't ready for another relationship if what Mrs. Ketchum said was true; but it opened the door for the future.
The pair broke apart and found themselves gasping for air, they breathed deeply a few times to refill their lungs and then Ash hugged Leaf tightly again.
"Merry Christmas Leaf." Ash murmured in her ear.
"M-merry Christmas Ash."
The party carried on after that and everyone was having so much fun that it wasn't until the clock struck midnight that anyone realized how late it had gotten, since it was so late Delia invited everyone to stay for the night. They were grateful for the offer and everyone apart from Leaf and Gary accepted Delia's offer, Ash gave up his room for Brock and Nurse Joy while Jessie and James took the spare room. Ash and Misty got some blankets and pillows and set up a couple beds in the living room, they quickly got comfortable and fell to sleep. The next morning everyone thanked Delia for letting them stay the night and then left the house leaving Ash, Delia and their Pokémon to enjoy the holidays together.
Christmas quickly came and passed and before anyone had really had time to appreciate the holidays it was New Year's Day. Ash had decided that he'd leave today, he had spent nigh on a month at home and he felt like he was finally ready to head back to Hoenn and beat Norman.
Ash had gone to the lab and after a lot of picked his team that he'd bring to Hoenn for the time being. He said goodbye to the rest of his Pokémon and left the lab, he walked down the path where his mother and almost all of Pallet Town were waiting. He said his goodbyes and was about to head out of Pallet when he felt a hand grab his shoulder, he turned around and saw Gary.
"Wait Ash before you go I want to make sure you're ready to get back to your journey." Gary said.
"And how are you gonna do that?" Ash asked.
"By challenging you to a battle." Gary replied.
Ash grinned and pulled a Pokéball off his belt.
"You're on."
Notes
Despite the kiss under the mistletoe between Ash and Leaf there will not be any Further Shipping or any shipping for that matter in Ash's Journey Through Hoenn. Salem's betrayal will make Ash wary of committing to a relationship for now. The sequel on the other hand is a completely different matter.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.
If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.
Ash:
Kanto - Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x24), Snorlax, Sandshrew, Jolteon, Vaporeon & Aerodactyl
Johto - Totodile, Meganium, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy, Hitmontop, Togetic, Sneasel, Espeon & Celebi
Hoenn - Marshtomp, Ninjask, Shedinja, Treecko, Vibrava, Zangoose, Sableye, Plusle, Minun, Raimodo & Kirlia
Sinnoh - Monferno & Glaceon (Shiny)
Kalos - Meowstic & Amaura
Pokémon on hand – Raichu, Meowth, Celebi & seven other Pokémon.