Chapter 5
A few days after Ash reunited with his siblings, it was now his birthday, Delia decided to have Ash become the Champion of Sevestar as well. Of course, Ash was a bit hesitant, but after encouragement from the others, he also accepted the offer.
Now on his birthday, he went downstairs to see his friends and family waiting for him.
"Happy Birthday Ash!" Everyone cheered as Pikachu rushed over and nuzzled Ash, while Ash himself was in happy tears.
"Guys, you...aww guys..."Ash couldn't finish his response before hugging all of them the best he could.
"So Ash, we wanted to know if you'd like to go to Silkan City with us." Mark stated, "We wanted to spend some time with you and show you around."
"Y-yeah...we'd love to hang out with you again Ash..." Golly said, however, she seemed a bit worried.
"Golly? What's the matter?" Ash questioned through concern for his sister, "Why...why aren't you being your normal cheery self?"
"Oh, yeah we didn't tell you about that..." Insey sighed, catching Ash and all of his friends' attention, "You see, when she was killed, Mother restored her to normal, but there was a massive problem that's still present..."
"Hold on, there's a what now?!" Pikachu gasped, "What's the problem? What happened?"
"Golly...originally I was trying to keep her spirit freely roaming, however, a greedy Spiritomb came around one day and snatched up her soul, and forced her to commit many atrocious acts for a whole year before I managed to track down the Spiritomb thanks to Giratina." Delia explained, "This was before I decided to revive her still, and the next thing I chose to do was to limit her spirit to stay inside the castle, even if no one else was in with her. However, I stopped that only after a few days after we heard Golly crying in her ghost sleep, the pain she endured still haunts me to this day..."
"I'll take it from here..." Golly sighed, as the others let her explain the rest, "All I could do was watch as everyone played outside, I even watched people play sports, go on picnics, and whenever the others went shopping. I had no company even though Mother told me I could telepathically talk to them at any time. Eventually, for a time it felt like I had lost the ability to love entirely...even after getting a new body, the only thing that snapped me out of it was when I met Dusknior as a Duskull, she helped me find the ability to love again after so long." Ash hugged his sister, wanting to comfort her, and everyone began to smile after that.
"That must've been very hard for you, I'm sorry I wasn't there to comfort you, sis..." Ash cried a bit as Golly says she was alright but thanks, Ash.
After that emotional chat, the gang starts to head to Silkan City. The only one who wasn't in the best mood was Lillie. Partly because Minami decided to put a pink little collar and ribbon bow on her, and while Lillie knew it was with good intentions, Lillie thought it looked very stupid on herself. She kept it on however because Minami said she worked really hard to make them, and Lillie didn't want to hurt her feelings, and it wasn't that bad. The main reason however is due to the fact Ash hadn't spoken a word to her for the past couple of days, and the fact she found out Ash had deleted all the pictures with her from Ash's phone. Still, he's a kind and caring person! He never would do that to torture or hurt her feelings.
Anyways, eventually, they stopped at the mall in Silkan City, the RPA Department Store (normally it's Ash's company but I decided to change it to Delia's for the sake of this story), as Delia decided to offer something to Ash and his siblings.
"Hey, I got an idea, how about since Ash is the World Champion now, you all can try your skills against his team?" Delia suggested to Ash's siblings, which everyone, including the ones who didn't feel like battling, agreed with the idea, they eventually decided on one versus one, with Ash using, his team from the Masters 8 minus Pikachu against Mark's Lucario, Insey's Scizor, Golly's Dusknoir, Trevor's Mudsdale, and Minami's (Shiny) Sylveon, effectively Ash's Latest full team minus Pikachu against his siblings' Ace Pokémon. The reason why Pikachu was going to sit out was due to the fact Pikachu himself pointed out that he's facing them at all would be insanely unfair to anyone. The rounds were decided: Ash's Lucario vs Golly's Dusknior, Ash's Sirfetch'd vs Minami's Sylveon, Ash's Dragonite vs Insey's Scizor, Ash's Gengar vs Trenor's Mudstale, and Ash's Dracovish vs Mark's Lucario. And one battle gimmick per match.
"Wait, why can't I try to battle?" Lillie wondered, but Delia looked at her with a bit of a terrified and slightly 'are you serious?' kind of look.
"Lillie, you aren't ready for that, you still have your unstable forms currently. Heck, you can barely use move correctly right now!" Delia explained with a bit of a slightly harsh tone, but Lillie knew for a fact she was right, so she just kept her mouth shut, looking pretty upset. Ash noticed her frown but just chose to just pat her head and asked Serena to keep her company.
"Okay, Lucario you're up!" Ash called out his Mega Evolving Partner and decided to instantly Mega Evolve his Fighting/Steel Type, while Golly had her Dusknior instantly Dynamax'd, and Ash noticed her expression going from slightly shy looking but still trying to look happy to a cold and serious look with a smirk on her lip.
"Max Phantasm to put pressure on early!" Golly ordered as Ash told Lucario to use Double Team to try and avoid it, and his siblings were surprised by Lucario managing to dodge the Max Move. Golly then ordered Max Flare, only for Lucario to bust out the G-Max Aura Sphere (Or the big Aura Sphere Spirit-Bomb) to cancel out the Fire Attack. Dusknior then tried to use Max Knuckle, only for it to be met with a flurry of Bullet Punches, which overwhelmed Dusknior as it went back to normal. One more Bullet Punch was able to take down the Ghost type, but suddenly, this purple beam came out of Dusknior's mouth. This ended up taking down Lucario due to using Destiny Bond.
"Tee hee, not letting you get a win that easily, brother." Golly giggled, as Ash thanked Lucario for his hard work and returned his Mega-Pokémon.
"Oh, that reminds me!" Delia rushed over to Ash and asked to take the Dynamax Band, Z Ring, and Mega Glove for a moment. Ash was confused but decided to hand them over to his mother. Later she came out with these bracelet things, with this scrolling thing on each of them.
"Mom? What's that?" Ash questions, looking at the device.
"A 4-Star Ring." Mark explained, confusing everyone that wasn't familiar with it, "It's a device in Sevestar that allows you to use Terastalization, Dynamax, Mega Evolution, and a Z-Move all in one battle!"
(AN from UltimateGoomba: Okay, for those of you who don't know: This is Ray's Battle Gimmick thing and it allows you to use all four gimmicks of the main games in a battle, not just one per battle, all four can be used in a single battle! Check out his "The Sevestar Story" thing as it goes through it like a game for a better explanation.)
Anyways, Ash and his friends were confused by Terastalization, so Insey gave them a quick run down, and Ash chose to try it out with Pikachu, who surprisingly had the Water Tera Type.
"Anyways, the drawback is you need to recharge it in order to get the said gimmicks you use back. Also, due to weaker but still Legendary and Mythical Pokémon being abundant here, you don't have to worry about any of the shenanigans that happened with your battle with Leon." Trenor reassured the gang as they all had a sigh of relief.
"Okay, say Trenor, want to go next?" Ash offered, as Gengar got ready while Trenor and Mudstale got to their side of the field, "Okay, Gengar, start off with Will 'o Wisp!"
Gengar went ahead and sent the purple flames which burn Mudstale, as Trenor sighed and called for High Horsepower, which did a decent bit but was weakened by the Burn, and Ash started to hold nothing back with a Dazzling Gleam and Sludge Bomb Combo from Gengar, as Mudstale got knocked back.
"Dang, I'll have to go ahead with the Z-Move then!" Trenor started the Ground Type Z-Move Dance, as Ash quickly went ahead and G-Max'd Gengar, which rendered the attack even less effective, and G-Max Terror easily finished off Mudstale, "Man, no wonder why Steven's Aggron went down to Will-O-Wisp and Dazzling Gleam..."
"Yeah, still a great job! So, anyways, who wants to go next?" Ash asked as Minami and her Shiny Sylveon, as Sirfetch'd seemed ready for combat. As Minami almost immediately Terastalized Sylveon to a stronger Fairy Type!
"Quick Attack first off!" Minami ordered, and it seemed to have a pink tint to the lighting as Sirfecth'd got knocked back hard, "Surprised? It's Pixilate, which boosts Normal Attack moves while making them Fairy Type. Now, Shadow Ball!"
"Sirfetch'd don't give up, use Brutal Swing!" Ash ordered as the duck threw his shield and sliced the Shadow Ball in half then hit Sylveon, only to be met with a Moonblast right after, "Sirfetch'd!"
"I'm not...done yet!" Sirfetch'd groaned, as he watched Minami call for another Quick Attack, but Sirfetch'd used Detect, and leaped into the air, only to be surrounded by this glowing aura, "Whoa...heh heh..."
Everyone was confused, except Delia, who noticed this was Brave Bird, as Sirfetch'd dive-bombed Sylveon, as his shield started to glow green afterward, seeming to be Leaf Blade, as it did a lot to the Fairy Eeveelution.
"Brave Bird, AND Leaf Blade?! Man, Sirfetch'd is not holding back!" Delia gasped, as Ash Terastalized Sirfetch'd into a stronger Fighting Type, and after a few minutes, a Meteor Assault Quick Attack combo happened, with Sirfetch'd barely coming out on top, but still winning nonetheless.
"Wow, I should have expected such skill from a Pokemon that went toe to toe with Cynthia's Garchomp and Leon's Rillaboom despite being weakened." Minami was amazed as Sirfetch'd bowed to her and Sylveon with chivalry!
As for Mark's battle, well Ash decided not to use a gimmick to see how well that would go, and Mark's Mega Lucario did struggle for the first half of the fight.
"Erg, this guy's tough, use Extreme Speed, then Aura Sphere!" Mark ordered as Lucario started to outrun Dracovish, dishing out many powerful hits, but Dracovish kept pushing through, and even noticed Sirfetch'd cheering, which made Dracovish jump over the final Aura Sphere, and cause Lucario to slip with Water Gun.
"Alright, use Fishious Rend!" Ash ordered as Mark opted for Flash Cannon, but Dracovish wasn't having it, and slid to the left before dealing the final blow, as Sirfetch'd and Dracovish high-fived afterward.
"Man, they seem very close." Minami was interested in the bond the two Pokemon have, as Ash explained how they helped train for Meteor Assault and Dragon Rush together to defeat Drasna, and also strive to push each other forward, and even was willing to avenge each other in the Masters' Tournament.
"My turn, go Scizor!" Insey quickly got to position and sent out her Scizor, and spent no time Mega Evolving instantly, as Ash sent forth Dragonite, even after setting up Dragon Dance, Scizor kept up with Bullet Punching, along with Acrobatics, X-Scissor, and Close Combat, for more damage, while Dragonite was hitting a few Dragon Claws, but was struggling a bit, it also wasn't helping Dragonite's only not resisted attack was Hurricane. Eventually, Insey and Scizor went in to use their finishing move: X-Scissor on the Psuedo Legendary, but Ash smirked and ordered one last attack: An up-close Draco Meteor, which exploded in both Scizor and Dragonite's faces, as both fell to the ground, out cold.
"Well, that was awkward..." Insey sighed, "I thought I'd at least get one win for us, but I guess not, good job brother." The gang went to eat lunch, before heading back...
(Also for why Lucario and Dragonite tied, they're the ones who have higher than 50% win rates from Journeys on Ash's Team excluding Pikachu)
That afternoon, at Otem Town.
Ash was currently trying to train Lillie to use attacks in her Eevee form, but for some reason, she seemed to take a few tries at a command for her to even attempt the attacks, but she seemed to get worse and worse every time she tried. Eventually, Ash said she needed to talk to Lillie and started to take her to Route 1.
"Okay, Lillie, we need to talk." Ash sighed, "I can't help but feel like something is bothering you." Lillie seemed nervous as the Meowth was out of the bag so to say.
"Yeah...I noticed how for a while, you've basically been ignoring me, and there's also the fact you've refused to let me ask something important about the fact you deleted the pictures with my human self in your phone!" Lillie explained, "What's going on?" Ash suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, as he looked down, shaking.
"You saw that...didn't you..?" Ash sighed deeply, as Lillie confirmed this by confirming it, then growled out, "I didn't give you permission to enter my phone, Lillie!"
"I know, but please, I'm still myself, you can be honest with me Ash! What's going on?! Ever since I became an Eevee, you've been neglecting me more than ever before, not as much as my family before I met you, but still!" Lillie pointed out, "Like, I love you still Ash, we can still fix thin-"
"ENOUGH!" Ash yelled, as it sent a shock wave that sent Lillie into a tree, "You really think you have a chance don't you, I'm already with Serena, and while she isn't perfect, she's not as clingy as YOU! I never bothered keeping them because they always reminded me of that betrayal! But since you are clearly not understanding that, and bothered going into my phone without my permission, I'm the one being neglectful towards your happiness! I'm trying to make up lost time with my siblings, and you DARE to try and take away from that, that's disgusting! You know, maybe I should've left you behind when I had the chance, maybe then I wouldn't have to deal with your damn wants to be clingy!"
Ash soon realized what he just yelled out of his mouth, and looked at Lillie. To say she was heartbroken and devastated would be a massive understatement. In her eyes, Ash just did the equivalent of the one you love the most saying they hate you. Lillie started to cry hard after that but muttered some words.
"I...I understand Ash, you're better off without me!" *She sent a Shadow Ball at the ground, which make a massive dust cloud, and when it cleared, Ash didn't see Lillie anywhere.
"I gotta go find the others!" Ash gasped, as he rushed to get help.
TO BE CONTINUED!