Happy new year!
Thought of following this up quickly while working on the next chapter of Fighting Dreamers.
Kingdom of Kanto, 11 years ago.
"Ash, this is Jeanette Fisher, she is my protegee and if everything goes accordingly, she'll take my place as the castle steward." Fantina explained. "I hope you two can get along."
"Uh, pleasure to meet you, young prince." Jeannette said taking a bow at him. "I'll be at your service."
"Guess I'll be in your care then." Ash answered before taking one of her hands. "Let's be friends, Kay? I've been feeling really lonely inside here."
"Uh, I-I... Is that allowed?" Jeanette asked looking back at Fantina who simply smiled and gave her a nod. "Then, uh, It'll be my pleasure, young prince."
"Just call me Ash, fine?" He asked still holding her hand and Jeanette eventually started to blush.
"I... I-If those are your orders..." She whispered.
"Hmm... Well, Ash, why don't you give Jeanette a little tour around the castle?" Fantina asked.
"Sure! Come with me, Jeanette!" Ash shouted running away while still holding her hand and dragged her along with him.
"W-Wait, young prince!" Jeanette shouted trying to keep up the pace.
"Just Ash!" He replied again while Fantina looked at the two leave.
"This is... Interesting." Fantina said to herself with a smile.
Back in the present.
"Well, well, I'll be doing the introductions just in case, Beatrice, this, as you may have guessed, is Satoshi, the prince of the Kingdom, my only son and heir, as for you, Satoshi, this is Beatrice, one of the best knights we have and from now on she will be your personal bodyguard."
"HIS WHAT?!" Jeanette suddenly shouted while Satoshi and Beatrice stared at each other.
"..."
"..."
"EEEEEEEH?!" The two shouted together.
"Wait, wait, wait a second, mother, a personal bodyguard? What for?" Ash asked.
"I... Don't really think it's fair to have you stuck inside the castle anymore." Delia said. "You're already 18 so... you're free to go outside from now on, but only if Beatrice is accompanying you."
"T-That's not necessary, my Queen!" Jeanette shouted. "Ash is perfectly safe here inside the castle, with m- ...I-I just doesn't see any reason to put him in danger."
"It's not quite healthy to assume that Ash will just be automatically in danger once he is outside." Delia said with a sigh. "This is mostly my fault, after what happened to the king, I conditioned both you and Ash to think you'd be safer here. But I feel like you've grown enough to realize that such thing is wrong, even then, a future king still needs protection, which is why I'm requesting Beatrice's help, as long as you're on board, young Dame."
"I- uh, o-of course, my Queen!" She answered standing to attention. "It'll be an honor, I swear I'll protect the prince with my life!"
"That's what I'm counting on." Delia said with a smile. "So, to go accordingly with that, you'll live here in the castle from now on, Jeanette, please make sure the staff has a room ready for Beatrice, as close as Ash's room as possible."
"I... Yes, my queen." Jeanette replied.
"Very well, Ash, why don't you get yourself ready? Beatrice will accompany you to your first exit right now." Delia said. "I'd also suggest you to visit Beatrice's camp so she can pick up her things and inform her partners about what's going on."
"Sounds like a good idea, my Queen." Bea said to then look at her Sirfetch'd. "How about you go ahead and inform the girls to have everything ready for the prince's visit?" She said and Sirfetch'd saluted her before jumping with an Aerial Ace and jumping off a nearby window. "Yeah, he likes to have dramatic exits like that..."
"Queen Delia." Jeannette called her. "May I go with them as well?"
"Uh, what for, Jeanette?" Delia asked.
"It is true that Dame Beatrice is very capable, I did see her reports before she arrived, but..." Jeanette stared at Bea for a moment before looking at Delia again. "As the castle steward I feel like I should judge personally if she's really suited to take care of the prince."
"Hmp, I guess that's only fair." Delia said with a short laugh. "Alright then, you can go with them, you know what? Feel free to follow them every time you see fit, as long as it doesn't get in the way of your work."
"Thank you, my Queen." Jeanette said taking a bow. "And please, rest assured that my role as the steward is the most important thing in my life... After the prince's safety of course." She said before walking out of the throne room leaving Ash and Bea behind her.
"So... Ladies first?" Ash asked her.
"I mean, I am your bodyguard so I have to go first, but I appreciate it, my prince." Bea replied leading the way while Ash walked behind her and the two left the throne room as well.
"My, poor Jeanette was so jealous." Delia said under her breath while letting out another laugh. "At least everything's going according to Fantina's plan."
After that, Ash had to be the one leading the way to guide Bea to his room, but the two remained in a awkward silence until they made it there.
"So, this is my room." Ash finally talked. "If I had to guess yours would be that one at the end of the hall, no one's used it for a while."
"I see..." Bea trailed off.
"By the way... It's nice to see you again, Bea." Ash said.
"I'm honestly surprised you still remember me, A- ...M-My Prince."
"Come on, you don't need to be so formal." He said. "Just Ash is fine."
"Sorry, but I'm a knight now, I must follow protocol." Bea replied. "But... May I ask one question?"
"Uh, sure, what?"
"Why did you... Never visit me again?" She asked scratching the back of her head while looking away.
"Oh, that, well you see, I got myself in quite some trouble with mother that time I was visiting you." He said. "She pretty much locked me up inside the castle since then, I wouldn't have been able to visit you again even if I wanted to."
"That does makes sense." Bea said. "The prince shouldn't be going outside on his own like that, at least not a prince of that age, but, still, while I didn't know you were the prince, I was hoping we'd meet again, I... I wanted to say thanks for healing me back then."
"Eh, it was nothing." Ash said. "I wasn't going to leave you hurt like that anyway. Now, wait for me here, I just need to pick up something real quick." He added before walking inside the room and closing the door behind him.
'Should I tell him about the consequences of healing magic?' Bea asked in her mind. 'N-No, if he's a sorcerer then he must know himself. I don't need to bring that up and make the situation more awkward than it already is.'
"So, Beatrice..."
She heard someone calling her from behind and saw Jeanette now wearing a shorter purple dress with her Bellsprout by her side. "I imagine you weren't expecting the Queen to give you a mission like this."
"You can say that again." Bea replied. "I'm still processing everything honestly, this was all a bit too sudden... N-No offense of course!"
"Oh, no, there's no offense taken." Jeannette said with a smile. "So, just to be clear, judging by your reactions, both you and the Prince have met with each other before, correct?"
"I... Y-Yeah, we have." Bea admitted.
"So you lied to the Queen?" Jeanette asked with another smile.
"S-Sorry! I-It just looked like the prince didn't want me to tell her." Bea shouted. "Besides, we only met once."
"Is that so?... Don't worry if that's what Ash wanted them I won't tell her either." Jeanette replied. "Anyway... You must be that sword girl he was talking about some years ago."
"He was... Talking about me?" Bea asked.
"Yes, now I remember, he mentioned you a few times over a week." Jeanette replied.
"I think I'm remembering something now too." Bea answered. "The lady that went after the prince mentioned that a Jeanette was the one to reveal where he was."
"Why, of course." Jeanette said. "After all, I had to prove I was trustworthy to become the castle steward; and Ash had better things to do than spend the days gawking at a knight wannabe."
"Like... Being with you, I imagine." Bea said.
"What are you trying to say?" Jeannette asked.
"You definitely don't look comfortable with this." Bea said. "Seeing how you referred to the prince by his nickname I imagine you two must be quite close."
"Just for the record, we indeed are." Jeanette replied. "I've been the only friend that the prince has had for years; and believe me, you're not the first girl to place your eyes on him for the wrong reasons."
"I'm just here to follow my orders." Bea replied. "It's not like I planned any of this, the Queen was the one who called me here."
"You can put on that facade if you want, but I can't tell what's in your mind." Jeanette said. "You should ground yourself, a knight has no chance of ending up with the prince."
"Even if I wanted to be with him, I imagine you don't have a chance either." Bea said. "Like, from what I've seen, a steward isn't an actual noble to begin with, he'll surely marry a princess or something-"
"Princess?" Jeanette asked letting a small laugh before suddenly grabbing Bea by the neck of her armor to pull her closer to her. "Listen here, you berserker, don't you say that FUCKING word in front of me! Do you know how many princesses have come to visit Ash? None of them cared about him as a person, they only saw him as the prince; and that better be exactly what you do, I'm letting you be for now because I know going outside is what Ash wants, but I'll have my eyes open, you make even the tiniest mistake and trust me, I'll make the most of it. After all, who do you think Queen Delia would believe? Some rusty knight or the person who has been her helper and friend of her only son for years."
"I-I-I..." Bea simply stuttered surprised by the tonal change of the girl.
"Just know your place." Jeanette whispered to her. "And all of us will be happy." She said before suddenly pushing Bea away while her Bellsprout summoned a small Grass Knot and made the knight fall to the floor.
"Hey! What's your deal?!" Bea shouted quickly standing up and unsheathing her sword to then point it at Jeanette, who grinned from ear to ear before suddenly letting out a scream.
"Uh, what was that for?" Bea asked.
"What's going on?!" Ash shouted suddenly opening his door finding himself in front of the scene with still Bea pointing her sword at Jeanette while the latter was trembling in fear.
"I..."
"What do you think you're doing?!" Ash shouted jumping in front of Jeanette to shield her. "P-Put that thing down! I-I-It's an order!"
"I, uh, I'm sorry, Prince!" Bea shouted sheathing her sword just as quickly. "I-I just-"
"I simply told you that you had to take this job seriously!" Jeanette shouted. "You had no reason to threaten me like that!"
"D-Don't worry, Jeanette, everything's fine." Ash said giving her a hug and Jeanette stared at Bea before grinning again.
'This little...' Bea simply muttered in her mind.
"Sorry to you, Bea." Ash said. "I'm sure you'll take this job seriously, Jeanette is just extra worried about this since she's my friend."
"I... Understand that." Bea sighed. "Please, forgive me. I shouldn't have pulled out my sword without an actual reason. It won't happen again."
"Don't worry about it, now, let's get out of here." Ash said and Jeanette held onto his arm while the two walked together and Bea started following them from behind, not without Jeanette staring at her one more last time.
'This will be a long day, huh?' Bea asked in her mind.
And that's it!
So Bea and Jeannette are already not in the best terms.
What do you think that will happen between them and Ash now, huh?
Find out next time in "Chapter III: Crowd"
Now let's see if I can keep this story with some shorter chapters (I say that everytime and they always end up being long, I don't know why I even bother, sigh)
Anyway, I already decided some of Ash's Pokemon, but suggestions are still welcome!
Reviews:
R. Vital
I'm on it!
Caballero de Huitzilopochtli
Yeah, Jeanette fan works are really scarce
KGBeastboy
You never fail to deliver crazy and interesting suggestions, mate. As always, I'll consider them.
UltimateCCC
Arcanine would def work!
Holdonlupin is out!