Chapter 10: Like Mother, Like Son
Ash recovered from the shock Ursula provided when it was discovered that his own mother was a witch that attended Luna Nova Academy. He and Pikachu weren't the only ones who began to learn the connection. In Miranda's office, the staff gathered for Ursula's discovery. "Ursula, did something happen?" asked Miranda. Seeing everyone, Ursula broke the news.
"As we all know, the name of Ketchum had been familiar to all of us," she started.
"Right, none of us knew even though it did ring a bell or two in us," Anne confirmed.
"Well, does Delia sound familiar as well?" asked Ursula. Others blinked at the name provided.
"Delia?" repeated Samantha. "As in Delia Ket-" A pause. They soon realized the name and freaked out.
"DELIA KETCHUM!?" they shrieked.
"That's right," Ursula confirmed. "And Ash is her son."
"My god…" gulped Miranda. "I remember her alright, that little prodigy. She was a wee maiden who was a natural in witchcraft."
"Right, Bernadette helped her in controlling her magic after she made a huge mess in the chemistry lab," Samantha recalled.
"I never would've imagined a day without her cheerful personality," Miranda remembered. "I'd even argue her smile rivals the sun on a few occasions."
"And now, we have her son with us," Nelson realized. "Maybe it was a good thing you're raising him after all." Ursula giggled to the thought.
"Come now, Nelson," she teased. "Don't flatter me like that." That's when a growl sounded. The audible noise had everyone turning to Anne who wasn't happy.
"Anne, speak to us!" irked Pisces. Anne seethed, disbelief mounting.
"So, it has come full circle," she mulled. Others looked on confused.
"Full… circle?" wondered Nelson. Anne let out a snarl.
"I should've seen it for myself," she seethed. "Delia's always been so stuck-up, even when I was the star pupil. No matter what I did, she always one-ups me with something better! I wanted to sabotage all of her work just to prove that I was higher up than her!" Ursula realized Anne's frustration.
"Anne, what's this you've been hiding?" she questioned. Anne didn't hear Ursula and continued her outpouring rage.
"And now, we have her son!?" she voiced. "Her son!? THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!" Her rage had her stomping out of the office with others having nervous drops of sweat forming.
"Well… someone certainly lit a fire under her cloak," Miranda sighed. Now a problem arose.
"But Headmistress…" spoke Pisces. "What do we do?" Miranda's chin was cupped by her hand.
"This is the toughest thing to think about," she pondered. "We never have had males in our academy, but this is the son of an alum. It may be best since we don't want him going to Appleton. They'll treat him as an outsider and he'll have nowhere to go."
"Anne has treated Ash as an outsider," Nelson scoffed. "And this won't change anything." Samantha gave it a minute to think of what to do.
"It would be a decent change of pace to say the least," she pondered.
"What do you mean?" asked Nelson. As the discussions continued without Anne, Ash and Pikachu were entering the dining hall, a lot on Ash's mind.
("I'm still shocked at the discovery,") Pikachu shared. Ash slumped on a chair as Akko, Lotte and Sucy entered.
"Ash!" sang Akko. Pikachu turned and greeted the girls, but Ash didn't move a muscle since sitting down. Lotte was quickly worried about Ash's posture.
"Ash?" she called. Ash took a deep breath before exhaling in his fluster.
"Someone needs a little pick me up," Sucy suspected. "Luckily, I might have the solution." She had a cup of a pink pulpy liquid to give Ash. This attracted Ash's attention.
"What's this?" he asked.
"It's a little concoction with orange pulp and Earl Grey," Sucy briefed. Ash and Pikachu looked at it with curiosity. Pikachu whiffed at it, wincing at the smell.
("Nasty!") he squeaked. Ash took the cup, unsure of Sucy's intentions.
"What are you trying to do, lift my spirits?" he guessed.
"I'm sure she has her reasons," Akko shrugged as Wangari and Molly entered.
"Okay, Ash," Wangari spoke. "I spoke with the rest of the staff about having an interview with Luna Nova's News Network." Ash saw this as an opportunity to brief the girls on the recent development.
"Well, I think I have a front page story for you," he prepared. The offer made others curious. "Just last night, Miss Callists told me that my mom attended Luna Nova Academy with her." The students gasped in shock at the news.
"Delia!?" shrieked Akko. "A witch as well!?"
"That's spooky enough that I feel it," Sucy shuttered.
"Weird to have Sucy become spooked when she's the spooky one," Lotte gulped. "But, your mom? A witch? And a student?"
"Apparently," Ash replied. "It's still hard to believe I'm literally the son of a witch." Molly and Akko burst out laughing to the statement as the other girls gawked in stun disbelief..
"'Son of a witch'!" Akko chortled. "Oh, I can't stop!" Lotte rested a hand on Ash's shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay to be a child to someone who knows magic," she assured. "Most of us come from magical families." Ash looked to Lotte, wanting to believe her as Akko and Molly settled..
"It's not that you're wrong," he understood. "It's… something I wasn't expecting. Witches are still rather new to me, and so is a school that has it."
"But I'm sure there was a reason your mom never brought it up," Molly spoke. "After all, she probably had it in mind if she had a daughter." Ash and Pikachu had a second to process the suggestion.
"It is an all-girls school," Sucy added. Pikachu squeaked in agreement.
"Yeah…" shrugged Ash. "I guess I'm not quite used to the feeling." Wangari held Ash's hands, getting his attention.
"Trust me, it's not a feeling to get comfortable quickly," she eased. "Besides, you have an opportunity to know what your mom's known for." Ash nodded to Wangari's advice.
"Do you have your mom's picture?" asked Molly. Ash realized that Molly and Wangari hadn't seen Delia. He brought out the photo before showing it to the girls.
"Oh, not too shabby!" cooed Wangari. "I can imagine what you got from her and your old man." Ash mulled to the mention of his no-show father. Akko reached Wangari, grabbing at her head.
"Ash doesn't know of his father," she whispered.
"Oh, sorry," Wangari apologized. "What I'm saying is that your dad must be really special if you have this skill of magic." In a moment of understanding, Ash nodded with a smile.
"Thanks," he accepted. Akko came to Ash and opened the tome.
"I'm still surprised that you can read this," she awed. "Maybe you can do a few spells from it." Ash smiled and wanted to give it a try. Akko gave the book to Ash before he saw.
"Vobv hoz zio levi!" he chanted. That's when eyes emerged from the wall. The girls awed the spell.
("Now I know what it's like being watched,") Pikachu shuttered.
"Talk about keeping an eye on everything," Lotte enjoyed. The eyes vanished after a few seconds.
"That was a good attempt," Sucy praised. "It seemed like that was out of a horror film that I've seen." Ash snickered to the claim.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he denied. "Anyway, next spell." He flipped through the tome before finding one. "Let's do this: Hvksom Hokrl!" That's when a beam shot from the tome and Ash's hand to Pikachu. There was a pause before Pikachu collapsed. Ears drooped, Pikachu felt drained. His new condition made Ash stop in a panic and tend to his friend. "Pikachu, are you okay!?" With limited energy, Pikachu rose a paw.
("It's nothing,") Pikachu muttered. Molly studied Ash's spell that hit Pikachu, causing the Mouse Pokémon to be lethargic.
"It looks like an energy absorption spell," she figured. Ash decided on one more attempt for magic.
"Okay, I'll try not to tag you again, Pikachu," he promised. "Here we go… Glmtfv lu gsv Zmxrvmgh!" That's when his blue eyes and the tome lit the room up as everyone covered their eyes. After a second, the light vanished. Nothing changed as everyone checked themselves. Then a laugh, Ash liking what he saw. "I unlocked it! I managed to get this to let anyone read!" Akko came over to see Ash's accomplishment… only to see the same thing.
"It still looks unreadable," she pointed out. "Maybe take off your blue eyes to see what I mean." Ash looked to Akko, his eyes being chocolate brown.
"Huh?" he irked. "What do you mean?" He turned back to the tome, his eyes becoming blue again. "I can read them normally." The students seemed to realize the oddity of Ash's eyes with the tome.
"Methinks Ash and the tome are interlinked," Molly guessed. Diana, Hannah and Barbara entered the room as they gathered around Ash.
"What's going on?" asked Diana. Hannah and Barbara looked to the tome as Akko, Lotte and Sucy approached with a sleepy Pokémon in Akko's arms.
"He said that he unlocked the book's language," Lotte informed. "Of course, this is after he accidentally sapped Pikachu."
("I'm okay otherwise,") Pikachu assured. Ash approached and palmed his free hand on his Pokémon's head.
"This should help you," he promised with his glowing blue eyes. "Spell of Rejuvenation." His hand and Pikachu's head were aglow. Suddenly, Pikachu felt lively and sprung from Akko's arms to Diana's shoulder and to her head. The students awed Pikachu's recovery with that one spell.
"Wow, Pikachu!" gasped Diana. "There's a spring to your step!"
("And I feel better!") cheered Pikachu. To Diana, the English speaking from Ash was proof of Ash achieving a secret of the tome.
"Remarkable, Ash!" she praised. "I can sense that you are becoming a wiccan in the making."
"I guess," Ash shrugged. "I can only imagine how Mom was when she attended Luna Nova Academy." Diana, Hannah and Barbara gawked to the news.
"Your mom is a witch!?" questioned Hannah.
"And she attended Luna Nova Academy!?" repeated Barbara.
"And you've just learned magic!?" finished Diana. Ash and Pikachu sighed to the reactions of the girls.
"Those were the same reactions Pikachu and I had when we found out about it," Ash compared.
"I bet," Molly believed. "So, now what?" Akko giggled to Molly query.
"The answer is easy," she replied. "Ash will attend Luna Nova Academy like Delia did." The others irked to the response with huge doubt.
"Did you get a concussion from your last broomstick training, Akko!?" snapped Hannah.
"Luna Nova Academy is an all-girls school!" reiterated Barbara.
"But Ash has what it takes to be in this school with the rest of us!" hoped Akko. "If anyone can give Ash a chance, Headmistress Holbrooke can do it! Of course, there's going to be a caveat or two like how we interact with him and how to perform in class!" Diana had doubts to the claim.
"Even then, what makes you think that Headmistress Holbrooke will allow a boy to become a witch?" she questioned. "Or wiccan for that matter, let alone in this school?"
"I have my beliefs," Akko wished. Ash and Pikachu could only look to each other, wondering if Akko would be right. Night fell and Ash and Pikachu returned to the tower where they ate.
"It's been a trying day, hasn't it?" wondered Ursula.
"It has been," Ash sighed. "I've just found a way to unlock the tome's language and now…"
"Headmistress Holbrooke is in serious contention about having you attend Luna Nova Academy." The answer had Ash and Pikachu irk to Ursula.
"How did you know?"
"Keep in mind, I had gone to her office this morning to tell them about your mother and how we attended classes together. Anne- I mean, Miss Finnelan seemed utterly disgusted with the news."
"Let me guess: she was with Mom as well?" Ursula's reply was a giggle.
"She nags that she's the top student and that she was better than her, but I know the competition she and Delia had." That's when she pulled out a scrapbook and pulled pictures of Delia with Anne and Ursula. Delia hadn't looked too different.
("Mom hadn't changed much,") Pikachu noted. Ash picked one photo of Delia in the school uniform with black Mary Janes dress shoes than the loafers the other students wore with Miranda and Samantha and Anne sulking in the background.
"Mom wore different shoes than the rest?" he pointed out.
"Delia said the shoes the other students wore kept slipping off her feet," Ursula admitted. "So, the Mary Janes she wore fit her just fine and Headmistress Holbrooke allowed it." That's when Ash noticed a lavender-haired girl in the same uniform.
"Hey, who's this?" Curious, Ursula looked to see the lavender-haired.
"Another classmate of ours: Croix Meridies. We were the best of friends." The briefing had Pikachu awe her. A question came to Ash about Delia's past.
"What was my mom good at with magic?" he asked.
"She was highly skilled in supportive magic like healing and growth," Ursula replied. "Heck, she had a keen touch with greenery. She could make any kind of plant grow with the slightest touch. She was also adventurous, always wanting to test her durability around aggressive animals and people, but she always valued us first, even if Miss Finnelan didn't want it." Ash and Pikachu seemed in awe to their mother's abilities.
"No wonder I was such a wild child around the time I got you as my first Pokémon," Ash joked. "And it makes sense with her garden."
"Oh, she's got a garden of her own?"
"Yeah, around the house in Pallet Town."
"I'm glad some things haven't changed. By the way, what is your mother doing?"
"She runs a diner around Pallet. My grandma gave it to her when she retired."
"And I bet she uses those greens that she grows into the diner, huh?"
"Oh, does she!" That's when Ursula had a surprise.
"Before I forget, there's a gift I want you to have." She retreated before coming back with a broomstick.
"This is what I saw from Miss Nelson's class."
"This is a broomstick for beginners. This way, you can learn how to fly on one. Delia's broomstick is more advanced after all." Ash took the broomstick and pondered.
"Thanks a lot!"
("We can practice flying!") suggested Pikachu. Ash and Ursula heard Pikachu and grinned.
"Someone seems eager for the sky," Ursula teased. Ash could only picture. They stepped outside with Pikachu on Alcor's back. "Ash, you must have a firm grip on the broomstick as you ride!" Ash nodded, he and Ursula straddling their broomsticks. "Now, ascend!" Ursula's broomstick rose to the sky. Ash felt ready.
"Ascend!" he repeated. Ash's broomstick listened and took off. It was like the first night with Ursula, except they rode on different broomsticks. Ursula led Ash in flying with Alcor and Pikachu not far behind. Suddenly, Luna Nova Academy just became more interesting.
TO BE CONTINUED...