Amphibia ended.
I'm not crying.
I swear.
We passed 350 Follows and Favs!
I'm neither crying because of that.
Definitely.
Somewhere in Kanto.
"Mister Giovanni, Domino has arrived." A Team Rocket grunt informed as he entered the Boss' office and Giovanni simply nodded telling him to let her in, Domino then walked inside the office, holding the King's Credential in her hand.
"As you ordered me, Sir. All the information and plans you could need about Team Flare are stored inside this device." Domino left the cube on Giovanni's desk and took a few steps back before continuing. "Champion Diantha was being accompanied by Champion Cynthia, but I managed to outsmart them both and take the credential with me."
"Now that is a job well done." Giovanni answered taking the cube and connecting it to his computer. "I'd congratulate you Domino, but you know, I've been hearing rumors."
"Rumors?" Domino asked.
"Rumors about you." Giovanni continued causing her to tense up. "About how you're doubting my authority."
"I-I'd never do that, Sir!" Domino exclaimed and Giovanni then stood up from his chair, walking to her until they were both right in front of the other. "You know I fully trust and obey your decisions all the time." She said.
"That may be truth." Giovanni glared at her. "But you're wondering about this project I've been doing lately, haven't you? How we collected data from Team Galactic and Team Flare, you're angry about the fact that I haven't told you what we're doing specifically."
"S-Sir-"
"Don't lie to me..." He interrupted walking closer to her.
"... I'll admit it is slightly frustrating." Domino said. "I-I just think that as your second in command I should be more aware of the situation. M-Maybe that way I could be more useful for the mission."
"You may be the second in command, but that's exactly the thing, you're second, I will always be above you, so if I determine you don't need to know about something then it's because it's not necessary, after all I'm not obliged to tell you anything, now am I?"
"O-Of course not, Sir." Domino lowered her head.
"However, I will admit I haven't been fair with my more trustworthy general." Giovanni chuckled. "Even with your doubts you've been serving me well, Domino...so I'll give you one more mission, and if you complete it successfully, I'll give you all the details of our current main operation."
"I-I'd appreciate that, you can count on me, Sir." Domino made a salute. "What is my task?"
"You're going to Alola." Giovanni answered. "Tell me, what do you know about the Ultra Beasts?"
"As far as I know, they're species of Pokemon from alternate dimensions, they attacked Alola during the last year, but they were all stopped by a team called the Ultra Guardians which was led by Ash Ketchum."
"Of course you know all that..." Giovanni smirked. "You've been keeping track of that boy, haven't you?"
"Uh...yes, Sir, I have." She nodded. "Excuse my boldness as I say this, but he could still be a threat to our organization. He has stopped plenty of other teams after all, and what happened recently with Saturn should showcase that Ash is still around and active."
"Well, I can't deny that." Giovanni sighed. "But back to us Domino, I'll explain you the plan, I want you to go to a place called Aether Paradise, an artificial island in Alola, it's the facility with the most advanced technology in that region."
"And what will I be looking for?" Domino asked.
"As you mentioned, the Ultra Beasts all haul from different dimensions, they appeared from strange wormholes that simply spawned out of nowhere and the people of Aether investigated that phenomenon and helped the Ultra Guardians to sent them back, their head scientist Faba has been working as a spy for us there, with our generous funding he has been building a machine that could control those wormholes...Do you remember what the device that Saturn made did?"
"It created a portal that brought back his former leader Cyrus." Domino answered. "He was trapped in another dimension, and what Charon gave you were the blueprints of that device, so, if we already have that, why would you need another one from Faba and Aether Paradise?"
"What did I say about questioning me?" Giovanni raised an eyebrow.
"S-Sorry, Sir! I-I just-!" She was interested by another chuckle from Giovanni.
"No, no, that's a good question from you actually." Giovanni smirked. "The situation is that the device built by Team Galactic is very powerful but it only works from one specific zone of our dimension to that equivalent zone for the distortion World, Team Galactic had to investigate for months to find the exact spot where Cyrus was. On the other hand, Faba's device only has energy for small portals and for a short time, but it is far more precise and works back and forth, it could take anything from one point to any other point, so if we combine both technologies..."
"You'll have both power and precision." Domino said.
"Exactly, glad you understand." Giovanni answered. "But of course, like any good experiment we have to test it first. And that's where our friend comes in."
"Friend? Are you talking about Faba?" Domino asked.
"I'm not, Faba means well, but this situation calls for someone with... a different approach... and only one of my associates is prepared for that." Giovanni looked inside his pocket and pulled out a Beast Ball from it to then hand the object to Domino.
"This is one of the balls that the Ultra Guardians used..." Domino said taking it. "What's inside here?"
"A little visitor and an ally." Giovanni answered. "Someone who will be of help to us once Faba becomes useless, so I suggest you to do what he says."
"How so?" Domino raised an eyebrow.
"You'll find out." Giovanni returned to his chair. "Now go, your ship is waiting. You'll take the engine of our own version of Team Galactic's portal device and once you get to Faba you'll connect it to his tracker, you will utilize both machines together and then the experiment will begin."
"And where am I supposed to open the portal to?" She asked.
"As I said Domino... Listen to our friend" Giovanni pointed at the Poke Ball. "But if I were you, I wouldn't open that Beast Ball until you're both in Alola, he can be a little...inestable." As Giovanni said this the Beast Ball made a rather forceful wag, but Domino still held onto it. "Now, all of your instructions are clear?" He asked her.
"Yes, of course Sir." Domino made a salute to him.
"That's great...now go and make us proud, Domino...I trust you."
"...Thank you." She took a bow before leaving.
Back in Alola.
After helping out Ash preparing for his date with Acerola, the girls and him ordered Pizza like Peonia suggested and they all slept together exhausted with their first day in Alola, surprisingly they all slept nicely, with Ash in the middle of the bed and the girls surrounding him left and right, the next morning came by rather fast and Nessa was the first of the girls to wake up.
"Uh, interesting first night, at least we all fit in the bed." Nessa then looked around and saw Gloria, Bea and Peonia were all still sleeping, but Ash was nowhere to be seen. "Uh, girls...GIRLS!" She shouted and woke them all up.
"W-What happened?" Gloria asked.
"Where is Ash?!" Nessa shouted.
"Well...he's not here." Peonia answered.
"And why not?!" Nessa shouted.
"Calm down, I've been through that before." Bea told her. "He's probably outside training or preparing something for us."
"But why didn't he wake us up?!" Nessa asked.
"Sorry, you all looked adorable, I couldn't bring myself to do that." Ash talked from the door.
"ASH!" Nessa jumped out of bed and ran to him to trap him in a hug. "What was that? You wake up surrounded by your four girlfriends and you just leave? I-It was really early."
"Sorry again, I just wanted to make you all breakfast." Ash answered.
"B-Breakfast?" Nessa asked embarrassed.
"Yup, since you said you wanted me to cook for you yesterday, good thing the kitchen was already well supplied here."
"Oh, w-well, thank you." Nessa smiled blushing.
"Shouldn't we be the ones making breakfast for you though?" Gloria asked.
"Do any of you know how to cook?" Ash asked.
"...No." They all answered.
"Then you can leave that part to me." Ash smiled. "It's really no burden at all, it makes me happy cooking for you all, so I hope you girls like it."
"Aww, thank you." Nessa simply blushed harder, and then the ring of the mansion was heard, Ash and his girlfriends then went down together to open it and found Delia, Kukui and Burnet, with the latter carrying Lei in her arms.
"Good morning, all of you!" Burnet talked.
"Oh, hi guys." Ash let them enter the house. "Didn't expect to see you this early."
"We didn't want to lose time." Kukui said.
"How are you enjoying the place?" Delia asked.
"You really knocked it out of the park with all this." Ash said. "Thanks a lot, really."
"It's nothing, Ash." Kukui said. "But we came for those talks we mentioned. I'd like to chat with you in private."
"And we'll be talking with your girls, if they don't mind." Burnet added.
"Girls?" Ash looked at them and they all nodded.
"Fine, please follow us." Bea took the lead and guided the mothers to the room they were sleeping in, while Ash went with Kukui to the living room.
"Well, let's begin." Kukui talked first. "Ash, I think I understand the why, Delia told us a bit of that situation after all, all those girls make you feel special, they all love you, you feel guilty to an extent, you realize you love them all, you ask them to do this and they all accept."
"Yeah, pretty good sum up." Ash admitted. "At first I was only with Bea, but it all has been escalating quite quickly since then."
"Well, I already told you that you have our support, but not everyone will be as understanding, there will be people who won't accept your relationship and will try to separate you and the girls."
"I know..." Ash sighed. "But I won't let that happen, I'll stay with them whatever it takes, of course I'd prefer to not make it public, but for the people that will have to know, like the girls' parents for example, I guess the best I can do is show them that our relationship is serious and honest...and hope they accept it."
"And what if they don't?" Kukui asked. "Would you pull those girls away from their families?"
"No, there's no way I'd make them do something like that!" Ash exclaimed. "But I... I'd never give up on them, but I won't let anyone EVER pull them away from me either... Unless the girls themselves wanted to, after all, some of them already had to get through some rough things to stay with me."
"I see... So to recap, Bea was the first one and then it went on and on with Nessa, Peonia and Gloria."
"Yes, pretty much." Ash nodded. "And I've been doing all I can to make them happy."
"Make them all happy..." Kukui sighed. "That's easy for you to say Ash, and I know you're capable, but...do you really think all the girls are satisfied with the relationship?"
"They tell me that they are." Ash said. "And I asked them to tell me if they ever feel like I'm not being good enough."
"Well that's good on your part...but where will be the limit?"
"A limit?" Ash asked.
"I mean, how many girlfriends will you have?" Kukui asked. "Having the four of them must be exhausting for you already, it'll be five if Acerola accepts this and you mentioned other girls before Delia told you about her."
"Y-Yes, there are four other girls I'd like to ask out." Ash said. "They're named Flannery, Roxie, Jasmine and Korrina."
"So that's nine girls...but do those ones know about your shared relationship?"
"Only Roxie knows." Ash answered. "She was there when I accepted Gloria, she had already confessed to me when it happened, so I asked her if she wanted to join and she said she'd give it a thought and then kissed me."
"On the lips?" Kukui asked.
"On the lips." Ash nodded embarrassed and Kukui laughed.
"Well, I guess she's pretty much in as well." Kukui gave Ash a pat on his back. "Ash...I can see you're doing your best with all this...but have you thought about the future? As in, can you see this relationship still working in 15 years?"
"Fifteen years..." Ash looked up for a moment. "That's quite a lot when one tries to look forward, isn't it?"
"Yeah, you and the girls would all be around 30 by then, right? How will things be by then? How many girlfriends will you have? Will you marry them all? Will you have children with each of them?"
"I haven't thought about it that much." Ash admitted. "I did tell them I wanted to have children with them, but... Can I even marry them all?"
"Well, it is legal in Alola to have more than one wife as long as all of them consent." Kukui said. "So if it happens, you better let me the clergy in every wedding or in THE wedding, depending on how you decide it."
"You mean-"
"You've already decided this so I'm not gonna stop you." Kukui interrupted. "But I just wanted to make sure that you were fully understanding this choice you took, and I'm very happy for you, but please promise me you'll think about the bigger picture."
"Of course, I want to be sure that I'm truly the man who can take care of all of them, for all of our sakes, I don't want to disillusion them."
"Pretty impressive." Kukui smiled. "So that's all the more reason to show them your resolve."
"Yes, and you can be sure I'm going to do it." Ash nodded. "Thanks a lot for supporting me, professor."
"No prob kiddo... Hey, one more thing." Kukui scratched the back of his head embarrassed. "You know, I'm thinking about that time you were going to leave to Sinnoh, while we were having that chat...I think you called me Dad."
"What are you...AH!" Ash suddenly remembered. "T-That...well, I guess it just came out on its own, sorry if it was awkward for you."
"Listen, I really don't mind, knowing that someone like you sees me as you father figure is probably the greatest honor I've ever received." Kukui answered. "Specially now that... Now that you know that your real father is out there."
"...You know what? Even if he's my father, I think it's clear he never cared about me." Ash sighed to then smile. "So whoever my dad is, he can go to hell, I know who my family is, the people who have always stayed with me...and that includes you, of course "
"...Thank you." Kukui smiled as well and Ash gave him a big hug. "Alright enough feels, now that you're here, there's something else I'd like to talk about with you, something regarding your champion status."
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"Well, first off, the National League officially recognized the Alolan League!" Kukui said.
"Wait, it wasn't official before?"
"It was a more or less honestly." Kukui laughed nervous. "The National League said it'd be some kind of trial, but you becoming champion out of all people helped a lot to make it count, still, Mr. Goodshow had some conditions for us if we want the League to keep going."
"Those being?"
"Well, the easiest one is that they want us to make it a full-fledged tournament, so the battle royale will be only a exhibition match next time, we'll also need a requirement for trainers who want to enter, so the people who want to participate will need to pass the island trials and beat the four Kahunas, lastly and more important, we need to get you an Elite Four."
"An Elite Four?" Ash asked. "That's quite a big deal, who are we going to choose?"
"That's one the reasons I was waiting for you to return, I seriously have no idea at all."
"I'll have to think it about it, maybe we could hold a little tournament to decide." Ash suggested.
"Sounds good, anyway, we have some time to plan it, so don't push yourself, enjoy life, you still have a lot of it."
"Thanks a lot."
"Don't mind it, now if you allow me I have a reunion pending with the Kahunas." Kukui said as he stood up. "Tell Burnet and Delia when they finish with your girls."
"Fine, take care. And say hello to the Kahunas for me."
"Sure thing." Kukui left the mansion and began to walk away thinking about his conversation with Ash. "Boy... I really hope he stops at 5 girlfriends."
Meanwhile with the girls.
Delia and Burnet were both sitting in the edge of the bed, while Lei was sleeping on her mother's arms and the four girlfriends were all standing straight in front of them, trying to look as respectful as possible.
"Fine girls, here's the obvious question." Delia took a deep breath. "Believe me I'm very happy with all this, but...are all of you really alright with this shared relationship?"
"Yes, Miss Ketchum." Bea answered firmly.
"A hundred percent." Peonia added.
"Of course." Nessa said.
"You bet." Gloria ended. "We all willingly agreed, knowing the hardships and everything."
"And well, why did you decide to share our son then?" Burnet asked.
"Our?" Delia asked.
"Oh, s-s-sorry, I-"
"Pfft, I'm just kidding, Burnet." Delia giggled. "You took care of him for over a year, of course you're his mother as well."
"T-Thanks, Delia." Burnet sighed relieved.
"Well, to answer the why..." Bea sighed. "I think I should be the one who says we had plenty of fights for Ash's love, some of us really ended with a broken heart for a moment, but... in the end, we never really wanted to hurt each other, and when Ash said that he loved us all and that he was willing to make such effort we all accepted, we love him and he loves us, that's as simple as it gets." As she ended the speech all the other girls nodded.
"Interesting, did you all start to date Ash at the same time?" Burnet asked.
"N-No, Miss Burnet." Gloria answered. "Bea was his first and only girlfriend for a time, Nessa joined them later, then Peonia and finally me."
"And it seems like Acerola will be joining us by tonight." Peonia added.
"So she did invite him..." Delia smiled. "Well, I'll talk with Acerola later, now Bea. you were Ash's first girlfriend, how was everything during that time?"
"I-It was great." Bea replied. "Ash and I had been through a lot and he was so attentive with me, and he still is, even if he's also caring for the other girls now."
"And how did everything, well, evolve into all this?" Burnet asked. "Nessa, you were second, right?"
"Y-Yes!" Nessa stuttered. "I had already confessed to Ash a few weeks before, he knew about my feelings and he finally accepted it, we then talked with Bea and she allowed me in, I guess we just rolled in with the rest."
"It sounds like you got permission from Bea, but I doubt she gave it readily." Burnet continued. "I bet Ash was so determined when he asked for it that Bea just begrudgingly allowed it."
"You're... entirely correct." Bea sighed.
"I supposed so." Burnet smiled.
"I-I was really against it at first." Bea said. "But I know Ash, we've been through so much things together and I knew he loved me with all his heart, so if he claimed to me that he loved the girls as much as that, then I had to believe him... and being his girlfriend along the rest is not all bad. I've been a... lonely person most of my life, regarding humans at least, so it feels good to have this many people supporting me."
"Ash deeply cares about all of us." Nessa said. "And everyday has been really fun since everything started."
"Yeah, it has." Peonia nodded. "Girls, I'd like you to know that I don't spent time with you all because I feel like it's my obligation as Ash's girlfriend, I spent time with you because I like you all."
"Nia..." Gloria trailed off with smile and the other three girlfriends hugged her.
"I'm glad you all get along." Delia said. "I know what kind of son I raised, and Ash must have known the trials that this kind of relationship was going to put on him, so I'm just asking you to be understanding with him and to not push him too much."
"You'll also need to be understanding with each other." Burnet said. "For example, I bet Ash loves to spend time with all of you together, but he will need to spend time with each of you individually as well, after all, if you compare it to only having to make one girlfriend happy, he'll need four times as much time now."
"Of course, we understand all that." Peonia said.
"We were just thinking about the individual thing actually." Gloria said. "We'd like to have solo dates with Ash."
"We wanted to have a little tournament to decide in which order though." Nessa said.
"We can still do that." Bea said. "I mean, Ash has to go to that date with Acerola alone, so we'll have some time for ourselves."
"That's actually a great idea." Peonia said. "And since Ash won't be here, he won't know the outcome beforehand, it'll be a surprise."
"Hmp, Ash really found some amazing girls." Delia smiled. "Now come all of you, give us a hug!" She shouted and Lei suddenly woke up and began to cry.
"Delia!" Burnet complained.
"Sorry, sorry!" She apologized.
Meanwhile in Wyndon.
It was around midnight at the Cerise's Lab, Chloe and Regina were both sleeping on the former's bed, with their respective Pokemon sleeping on their own small beds in the floor, while the Zorua they stumbled upon close to Twinleaf was sleeping next to Regina. However, Zorua began to have nightmares of the incident with Akari, imagining the things that could have happened to her and the person who attacked her, all she heard while she was under the bed was noise and explosions, the fox then started to shiver and eventually woke up Regina with her movements.
"Zorua..." She called between a yawn. "What's wrong?" She tried to wake up the fox without success and a pulse of ghostly energy suddenly surrounded the room. "What the-"
Before Regina could say anything a ghostly dark blue humanoid figure with grey eyes took place in the room and then looked at her as Zorua began to move abruptly on bed still without waking up.
"Uh, Chloe?" Regina called her friend and shook her to try and wake her up.
"For the last time Ash..." Chloe talked between her dreams. "My ponytail stays on during se-"
"KOHARU CERISE!" Regina shouted waking up their Pokemon who jumped to bed scared once they saw the ghost.
"W-What?!" Chloe suddenly woke up and looked at the spirit. "Don't tell me Dad was experimenting with corpses again..." Chloe sighed.
"HE WHAT?!" Regina shouted.
"N-Nothing! What's going on?" Chloe asked.
"Zorua is causing this!" Regina exclaimed taking the Pokemon on her hands. "She's having nightmares, but I can't wake her up!"
"C-Calm down, if it's a Zorua then this is just an illusion, right? We're not in danger, this thing is not real." Chloe then got out of bed and tried to pass her hand through the ghost to show it was an illusion, but the ghost took her by wrists before she could touch it.
"SHRIIIIIIIIIIEK!" The ghost shouted.
"AAAAH!" The two girls screamed in unison.
"Eevee!" The small Pokemon jumped and shot a Poke Ball causing the ghost to let go off Chloe, Eevee then tried to attack with an Iron Tail, but the ghost smacked her away and she crashed onto a wall.
"That scare was real enough!" Chloe shouted avoiding a slash from the ghost.
"Mirche, Ice Beam!" Regina ordered and her Glaceon shot the ray surprisingly leaving the spirit frozen solid. "I don't know how much that will hold it."
"It's a real ghost!" Chloe shouted freaking out. "I mean, is not like we can kill it again, can we?"
"Focus! We have to wake up Zorua!" Regina said. "That way it'll go away."
"My dad's got medicine in the Kitchen, there must an awakening spray there, I'll be back!" Chloe took her injured Eevee in her hands ran out of the room. Regina calmed down for a moment, but then she noticed the ice trapping the ghost was breaking.
"D-Don't leave me here!" Regina shouted following her friend while carrying Zorua.
"Here it is!" Chloe took the awakening out of a first aid kit and Regina made it to her just in time to spray it over Zorua, the ghost then rose up from the floor and looked at the two as it approached the girls, but just at that happened Zorua fully woke up and the ghost halted, the illusion then took the form of a distressed Akari before disappearing shortly afterwards.
"Oh, thanks Arceus." Chloe took a deep breath as Regina and her dropped on the floor.
"Zorua, what happened?" Regina asked and the Pokemon simply covered her face with her paws. "Hey, is it just me and did that ghost look a little like Dawn?"
"Now that you mention that, it did." Chloe agreed. "Really weird considering we found Zorua close to Dawn's hometown."
"You think there could be a connection?" Regina asked.
"Girls, what happened?!" Professor Cerise ran into the Kitchen with a tennis racket on hand, along a barking Yamper following him.
"We're fine dad." Chloe answered. "Just a... situation with Zorua."
"Situation?" He asked.
"She was having a nightmare." Regina explained. "She then created an illusion like a Zorua would do, but it was a solid illusion, we could touch it and it could touch us."
"A physical illusion..." Professor Cerise looked at the Pokemon. "I think I finally know what our little guest is then. A Hisuian Zorua."
"But Hisui Pokemon have been extinct for centuries." Regina said.
"Yes, that's why I thought as well." The Professor said. "...I have to make a call. You girls go and try to sleep again." He left them alone and both girls looked at each other quite worried.
"What do we do now?" Regina asked brushing Zorua's fur in an effort to calm her down.
"You heard him..." Chloe sighed. "Let's just get back to sleep."
Regina didn't question further and the two girls returned to bed, but this time Regina was hugging Zorua close to her, luckily no more nightmares spawned that night, but Chloe was still thinking about how similar that ghost was to Dawn. "This can't be a coincidence... I have to make a call as well."
Back in Alola, the rest of the day passed by without much worth to mention, at around 7:30 PM Ash took a boat to the south of Ula'Ula island, following Acerola's instructions to go where the thrifty Megamarket used to be. He was wearing quite the formal suit, with a dark purple tone, courtesy of Nessa, who also had the funny idea of putting an Acerola flower on Ash's breast pocket.
"Yeah... this looks like a castle." That was all Ash could say as he looked up at the giant building, that looked like the typical medieval castle. "Where did this thing even come from?" It was almost 8 o'clock so Ash walked to the front gates of the castle and was greeted by a Dusknoir that blocked the entrance.
"Uh, hi, Acerola invited me here." Ash told him, but the Pokemon simply put his hand in front of him as if asking Ash to give him something.
"Uh...oh, right!" Ash exclaimed and then pulled out of his pocket the ticket that Acerola sent him, he then gave it to Dusknoir who took it, looked at it for a second and ended up eating it, Dusknoir then gave Ash a thumbs up and opened the front gates for him. "Well, thanks." He said as he entered the castle and Dusknoir closed the door behind him.
"That must be him." Acerola said inside a room of the castle where she was with Caitlin, Shauntal, Phoebe and Delia.
"Here, put this on." Phoebe offered a small earphone to Acerola. "Right in you ear, we'll tell you everything you need to do and say from there, Ash won't even notice."
"And there's plenty of cameras around the castle so we'll be keeping an eye over you." Shauntal said. "Thanks again for paying all this, Caitlin."
"Anything for love." She answered.
"Do we really need to do all this?" Acerola hesitantly put the device on her ear.
"We just don't want you to get nervous and black out." Shauntal said.
"Girls, I appreciate a lot what you're doing for Acerola." Delia said. "But I think it'd be the best if you just let her be herself with Ash. After all, Acerola won't have that headphone when Ash and her start a relationship."
"Trust us Delia, this is for her own good." Phoebe said. "And I'm sure she'll learn enough things to be proper when they get together, now go for your dress Acerola, Ash must be waiting for you already."
"And remember." Caitlin cleared her throat. "Perfect posture, crisp and clear diction, voice pleasing to ear, legs crossed when seated, pointed toes, raised pinkies while drinking, you mustn't tattle, gossip, spit or curse."
"Specially curse!" Phoebe exclaimed.
"Never scratch, burp or sweat." Caitlin continued. "Remember the types of knives, forks and spoons, don't slurp, always say please and thank you sir or madam, never brash, never loud, never putting on a show, a lady must be always be demure, reserved and proper."
"See? Super easy." Shauntal said.
"You can remember all that, right?" Phoebe asked.
"I... Of course." Acerola sighed.
"Then go for him!" Phoebe cheered on.
"Alright, here I come, Ash." Acerola took a deep breath and left the room, but Delia followed her and put a hand over her shoulder to stop her.
"Acerola, is this really what you want?" Delia asked.
"Miss Ketchum... what I really want is being Ash's girlfriend and if I have to do all this to be the one person he loves then so be it!"
"Uh, right, the one person..." Delia let out a nervous laugh. "About that, Acerola, there's something I forgot to mention to you, uh, Ash already has four girlfriends."
"What?" Acerola asked.
"FOUR?!" Phoebe, Shauntal and Caitlin came out of the room after hearing that.
"Right, I forgot about the cameras too." Delia sighed.
"Ash has four girlfriends?" Phoebe asked.
"Those girls that were with him on their way to the hospital, right?" Shauntal asked.
"Yes, that's the four of them." Delia nodded.
"My, this changes a lot the plan." Caitlin said.
"I knew Ash was popular with the girls, but him having that kind of relationship is... Acerola, look at me." Phoebe put both hands over her shoulders. "Do you still want to do this?"
"I-I-I think, but-"
"Acerola, if it serves of anything, I told Ash about your crush on him yesterday." Delia said.
"What?! Why would you do that?!" Phoebe complained.
"When Ash presented me his girlfriends, he told me there was still room for more girls." Delia explained. "So I thought It'd be the best to tell him and the girls about Acerola, I promised I'd help her after all."
"M-Maybe, but we wanted Acerola to confess her feelings to him tonight." Phoebe said.
"She can still do that." Delia assured. "After all, Ash doesn't know I'm here telling you all this."
"...What did Ash say when you told him about me?" Acerola asked.
"He didn't give me a direct answer, but he told me you are a helpful and caring girl, and by the look of his face I'm sure he'd love to have you as his girlfriend too." Delia smiled. "Not to mention his other girls already approved you."
"T-They did?" Acerola asked.
"They did." Delia nodded. "They're all amazing and kind girls, I'm sure you will all get along."
"Then I... I want to give this a chance!" Acerola shouted.
"Are you sure?" Shauntal asked. "Polygamy isn't exactly an easy task."
"Ash is willing to have me in, of course I'm sure!" Acerola assured and then laughed. "Besides, if it works out that'd make me his fifth girlfriend and five is my lucky number! I'll be the fifth wife with the five kids!"
"Not exactly the best reason to agree, but okay." Shauntal said.
"Fine, but make sure to follow our plan." Phoebe told her.
"I will." Acerola answered. "Thank again Miss Ketchum, for everything, I really hope that after tonight I'll be worthy of being one of your daughters-in-law."
"Just be yourself, dear." Delia told her again. "I'm more than sure that Ash will love you just the way you are."
Acerola nodded silent and ran to another room to change herself for the date, while the rest went to the control room.
"These cameras were a great idea, and Ash has no idea we're seeing him." Caitlin said.
"Well, it's the most efficient way to keep track of the date." Phoebe said.
"And we'll look at those two wherever they are, in the kitchen, bedroom, even in the bathroom!" Shauntal exclaimed.
"Uh, Shauntal..." Delia gave her a discouraging look at that last part.
"Yeah, maybe we don't need the bathroom channel." Shauntal admitted and turned off that section of the cameras.
Meanwhile at the mansion.
"Alright, Ash isn't home, the first phase of the tournament has been decided!" Gloria said to the other girlfriends while they were all standing in the battlefield behind the mansion. "First, it will be me against Nessa, secondly it'll be Bea against Peonia, the two losers of those fights will then fight for 3rd and 4th places, while the two winners will fight for 1st and 2nd, and that will be the order of our solo dates with Ash. Each match will be a two on two single fight and you have to use different Pokemon on both fights. No megas, no Dynamax, no Z-moves, no switches, understood?"
"Understood." The other three girls nodded.
"Then let's rumble, girlfriends!" Gloria shouted with excitement.
"We're going first then." Nessa prepared a Dive Ball and Gloria ran to the other side of the battlefield while Bea and Peonia sat in the stands. "I was actually hoping to have a rematch with you, Gloria. Aside from Ash you were definitely the best challenger I had in a long while."
"That means a lot." Gloria smiled. "Now I'll show you how much I've grown since then!"
"Then let's dive! Barbaracle, on stage!"
"You're up, Indeedee!"
Both Pokemon appeared in front of each other at the same time, Indeedee then took a bow at his foe while his Psychic Surge changed the battlefield and Barbaracle crossed his lower arms in a defensive posture.
"If both trainers are ready then the battle begins now!" Bea gave the order.
"Razor Shell!" Nessa shouted and Barbaracle attacked first with a blade on each of his four hands.
"Expanding Force!" Gloria responded and Indeedee absorbed the energy around the battlefield and shot a massive pink ray from his horns, Barbaracle then tried to block it with the edges of the Razor Shell, but was quickly thrown back by the psychic attack.
"Stone Edge!" Barbaracle stood up and stomped the ground summoning a trail of huge pointy rocks that reached Indeedee before he could react.
"Hey, that move is way faster than it was in our last battle." Gloria said.
"You're not the only who was improved. Shell Smash!" Barbaracle crossed his four arms and his shell broke apart to boost its attack and speed while sacrificing defenses.
"Our turn, Psych up!"
"Cross Chop!" Barbaracle quickly dashed forward with his four arms crossed before Indeedee could prepare the move to mimic the stat changes. "You're not going to do that!" Nessa smiled.
"Fine, Drain Punch!" Indeedee jumped at him with an energy charged fist.
"Razor Shell!" Barbaracle simply made an slash and knocked back Indeedee without much effort.
"T-Try to use Psych up again!"
"Stone Edge!" Barbaracle once again stopped the copying move frustrating Indeedee.
"Tri Attack!"
"Razor Shell!"
Indeedee prepared tree orbs of Ice, Fire and Thunder while Barbaracle quickly ran at him, Indeedee then tossed his move, but Barbaracle deviated each orb with one slash, ending with an upper slash from his fourth arm which sent Indeedee flying up and then falling defeated.
"Indeedee is unable to battle! Barbaracle is the winner!" Bea announced.
"It seems like your Indeedee relies too much on copying the enemy's stats." Peonia said.
"Yes, my bad." Gloria sighed returning her Pokemon. "Hmm, my next Pokemon needs to defeat Barbaracle and whoever Nessa could use next... I got it! You're up, Volcarona!" Gloria tossed the ball up and the moth illuminated the night with her glow.
"A Bug/Fire against a Water/Rock?" Peonia asked. "Yeah, she's Ash's fan alright."
"Let's begin! Quiver Dance!" Gloria ordered and Volcarona quickly flapped her wings as her stats were raised.
"Stone Edge!" Barbaracle stomped the ground again, but Volcarona avoided the trail of rocks without much issue.
"Quiver Dance again!" Gloria gave the command again and the scene repeated.
"I see what you're doing." Nessa smiled. "Give me a flurry of Razor Shells!"
"Keep dodging!"
Barbaracle tried to attack Volcarona with his four claws, but the latter kept dodging as he flew around in the air.
"Now Fiery Dance!" Volcarona spun around Barbaracle summoning a huge fire tornado that surrounded Nessa's Pokemon burning him.
"Stone Edge!" This time Barbaracle summoned a circle of pointy rocks that rose around him dispersing the fire and landing a clean hit on Volcarona. "Now Razor Shell!" Barbaracle jumped out of the circle and slashed Volcarona down the battlefield, but he activated the Flame Body ability and burned himself further.
"Bug Buzz!" Volcarona took the skies and began to vibrate his abdomen, causing powerful green sound waves that damaged Barbaracle. "There's the problem with having so many heads, give me a Fiery Dance!" Volcarona quickly spun around Barbaracle burning him with a tornado again.
"Razor Shell again!" Using his four arms in different directions Barbaracle managed to knock Volcarona down, but the burn was finally too much and Barbaracle fell defeated shortly afterwards.
"Barbaracle is unable to battle! Volcarona is the winner!" Bea informed as the moth lifted itself with difficulty.
'Volcarona already took too many hits considering her typing.' Nessa though as she returned Barbaracle and looked for another Dive Ball. "I'll end this fast. Drednaw, on stage!" She called her ace who entered the scene with a roar.
"And Giga Drain!" Gloria ordered as Volcarona's wings illuminated with a green light and the life energy of Drednaw was quickly stolen and reabsorbed by the bug, leaving Drednaw knocked out with that single hit.
"Oh, come on!" Nessa complained. "If you had Giga Drain why didn't you use it with Barbaracle?!"
"Sorry, had to play safe." Gloria laughed.
"Drednaw is unable to battle! Volcarona is the winner and the victory goes to the Gloria!" Bea exclaimed.
"Quite anticlimactic." Peonia said. "But I see what you did, you made Nessa believe you didn't have coverage so she'd try to beat you with another Water/Rock."
"And I fell straight for it." Nessa sighed.
"Alright!" Gloria cheered on herself as Volcarona danced around her.
"We're next, Bea." Peonia told her and they both walked to their spots of the battlefield.
"You ready?" Bea asked.
"Sure, show us what you can do!" Peonia exclaimed. "It's time to rampage, Tyrantrum!" She called her ace who roared in the battlefield.
"Going with your strongest right away?" Bea asked.
"I know that means I won't be able of using him later, but I have some tricks up my sleeve." Peonia said.
"Alright then, Hitmontop, let's crash!" Best called upon her Pokemon who rotated on his head as always.
"If both trainers are ready then the battle begins now!" Nessa exclaimed.
"Here goes, Fire Fang Bomb!" Tyrantrum roared again and jumped in the air with his mouth engulfed in fire, he then fell down and tried to bite down Hitmontop but the smaller Pokemon quickly dashed away, leaving Tyrantrum to bite the battlefield and create a small fiery explosion.
"Use Drill Run!" Bea shouted and Hitmontop rammed against Tyrantrum's head and landed a clean hit with his spinning attack.
"Head Smash!" Tyrantrum's crown illuminated as he tried to go for a heavy headbutt, but Hitmontop once again avoided the hit with his speed.
"You're too slow." Bea grinned.
"We'll see about that, Draco Meteor!" Tyrantrum opened his mouth and shot a huge purple orb to the skies, it then exploded and several meteors rained over the battlefield.
"Rapid Spin!" Hitmontop spun at high speed and the meteors that reached him were kicked away, some of them being sent back to Tyrantrum and exploding onto him. "Now combine it with a Triple Axel, like we practiced it!" Hitmontop boosted even more the speed of his spin, picking a small tornado with the dust of the battlefield, he then used Triple Axel and his feet were covered in ice that transformed his attack into an icy tornado.
"Head Smash!" Tyrantrum crashed against the attack and caused an explosion that sent Hitmontop flying back, but the lizard was left with part of his head frozen. "Fire Fang Bomb!" Tyrantrum charged his attack again, but this time Hitmontop couldn't move far enough due to the damage he got from the Head Smash and was impacted by the explosion.
"Fire Fang Spin!" With his mouth covered in flames, Tyrantrum bit Hitmontop's lower body and started to spin him around.
"Come on Hitmontop, it's a spin, take control of it!" Hitmontop took a moment to process that, but he eventually had an idea and dug his pointy head on the battlefield stopping Tyrantrum's spin. "We got you!" Hitmontop spun again on his own while Tyrantrum still bit him and began to be spun around without letting go, Hitmontop's speed quickly became unbearable and Tyrantrum let go off the bite, being sent to crash against the ground.
"Head Smash!"
"Drill Run!" Without losing momentum, Hitmontop shot himself at an almost supersonic speed and dashed right through Tyrantrum, leaving him defeated.
"Tyrantrum is unable to battle! Hitmontop is the winner!" Nessa said.
"Bigger they are, harder they fall!" Bea said, but Hitmontop fell defeated as well.
"And that's a tie!" Nessa said.
"Looks like it was too much for the little guy." Gloria said as both girls returned their Pokémon.
"Fine, come on, Dracozolt!" Peonia released her second Pokemon, calling upon her hybrid. "Primal Law!" She ordered and Dracozolt roared to then change the battlefield and drastically boost his power.
"I thought Ash's Dracovish was the only Pokemon who could do that." Bea said.
"And he was." Peonia said. "So I asked Cara Liss for a bit of help with that, as a fossil expert I couldn't lose the opportunity of having such power, it could have been better to use him first, but I wanted to make it a surprise."
"Then Cranidos, let's crash!" Bea released her own dino who was then boosted by the Primal Law. "This was what you wanted, wasn't it?"
"A good ol fashioned fossil fight! What else can one ask for?" Peonia said. "Electro Ball!" Dracozolt raised his tail as the spikes on it created a sphere of electricity and he then hit the ball with his tail like a baseball bat to throw it at Cranidos.
"Thunderbolt!" Cranidos responded and lowered his head which then shot an electric blast from his dome, his attack then deviated the Electro Ball sending it back to Dracozolt, the Hybrid avoided the ray, but the ball landed a clean hit on Dracozolt, although the hybrid simply laughed as he received no damage at all.
"Volt Absorb." Peonia smiled.
"Then use Dragon Pulse!"
"Dragon Pulse too!" Both Pokemon made the same attack with a purple dragon shaped energy, but they exploded in the middle of the battlefield cancelling each other.
"Bolt Beak!"
"Head Smash!" The two Pokemon then ran at each other with their respective moves, but Cranidos quickly overpowered Dracozolt and bashed him away, leaving his beak apparently broken.
"Got your nose!" Bea said.
"Worst joke I've ever heard." Peonia answered trying to contain a laugh. "Dracozolt, can you keep going?" She asked and the Pokémon nodded. "Then Earthquake!" Dracozolt jumped in the air and caused the ground to shake at Cranidos.
"Cranidos, Head Smash again!" The Sinnoh Pokemon didn't flinch a centimeter and ran at Dracozolt despite the earthquake Headbutting any rock that rose from the earth as the ground fall apart and landing another huge headbutt on Dracozolt. "Now Thunderbolt!" Cranidos rammed headfirst again and shot the beam from the dome of his head, sending Dracozolt flying back to Peonia, leaving him defeated after he fell.
"W-what?!" Peonia shouted. "...Mold Breaker!" She facepalmed remembering she was there when Cara Liss showed them Cranidos's info. "Dracozolt could absorb his own Electro Ball, but Mold Breaker got through it."
"Seems like I got you." Bea nodded.
"Dracozolt is unable to battle! Cranidos is the winner and the victory goes to Bea!" Nessa said.
"Great job, Cranidos!" Bea cheered on her fossil who roared victorious.
"Alright, Bea wins." Nessa clapped to congratulate her. "So next round will be me against Peonia for 3rd and 4th places, while Bea while fight 1st and 2nd."
"Let's keep going then." Gloria said.
Back with Ash.
"Wow, I thought my mansion was big, but this place is massive. Acerola really put effort into all this." Ash said making his way through the main corridor until he made it to the lobby of the castle. "Acerola, are you here?"
"She'll be here in a moment." A voice talked behind Ash and he turned around, finding Nanu in a butler outfit. "Don't ask." He said reading Ash's confused expression. "She forced me to do this."
"Right, I forgot how close you two are." Ash talked to him. "I suppose you know-"
"That Acerola wants to date you?" He asked. "Yes, I'm aware, she has spent day after day telling me how much she wants to be with you, and Ash, that little girl is the only person who I really care for in this world, so, if you break her heart I'm breaking your legs, capisce?"
"Uh...y-yeah, message received." Ash chuckled nervously. "But seriously, where is Acerola?"
"I'm over here!" She talked from the top of the stairs, wearing a fancy purple princess gown adorned with pearls and pink petals, a tiara with amethysts on her head and violet slippers with bows and mid heels on her feet. "Welcome to night of your life, prince Ash!"
"Uh, prince?" Ash asked embarrassed.
"Just play along." Nanu whispered at him while Acerola giggled.
"Please excuse me, I'm getting ahead of myself." She smiled.
"Well, guess I'll follow your game, my princess." Ash winked at her and Acerola did her best to not pass out after hearing the man of her dreams calling her like that.
"I'll go prepare the dinner, too much diabetes here." Nanu rolled his eyes and left the two alone, more or less.
"That was a great entrance, Acerola!" Phoebe told her by the earphone. "We got him hooked. Now go down the stairs, slowly. Make him beg."
"Sure, slowly..." Acerola repeated under her breath so Ash wouldn't hear her and began to go down the long staircase while Ash stood at the bottom waiting for her, after roughly two minutes, Acerola had barely walked a third of the stairs and was already starting to get tired.
"Why are there so many steps here...?" Acerola said bored.
"It's for dramatic effect." Phoebe told her.
"Hmm..." Acerola looked at the handrail and then down where Ash still was.
"Uh, something wrong?" He asked.
Acerola looked at him a bit more and giggled. "Hey Ash, think fast!" The girl then jumped on the handrail and slid down jumping off right before the trail ended to then fall on Ash's arms.
"Heh, gotcha." Ash smiled.
"I knew you'd catch me." She laughed to then plant a kiss on his cheek. "Now that's a proper greeting for you."
"What the hell was that?!" Phoebe exclaimed on the earphone.
"Uh, s-sorry, I-"
"Hey, don't worry, that was quite an introduction." Ash interrupted Acerola.
"I...yes, I guess." Acerola blushed. "Ash...c-could you put me down?"
"How funny, I've been saying that to someone quite a lot lately." Ash said.
"A-Ash..." Acerola called him again.
"Sure, sorry." He apologized and carefully put her back in the floor. "Now that I have a closer view of that dress, I have to say you look beautiful."
"Tell him he also looks handsome." Phoebe said.
"You think I don't know I should do that?" Acerola whispered.
"What?" Ash asked.
"Ash, uh...T-Thank you, you look really fine yourself." She answered. "And thank for accepting my invitation too."
"Well, seeing how much effort you put into this I'd honestly feel bad if I didn't accept it." Ash answered. "And I wanted to talk with you honestly... But where did this castle come from?"
"T-That's not important." Acerola let out a nervous laugh. "Now, let's do what we came to do. You didn't bring any Ghost Type?"
"I did actually." Ash pointed at his shadow and Drakloak quickly emerged from it, floating around the two. "Acerola, this is Drakloak, he's a Ghost/Dragon type I met in the Galar Region."
"Very nice to meet you!" Acerola offered her hand and Drakloak answered the gesture with his translucent tail, which Acerola could oddly touch, but Ash decided to not mind that. "Of course, I brought my own partner too. Mimikins!" She called out and the shiny Mimikyu appeared floating to her side to then greet Ash and Drakloak with one her claws.
"Nice to see you again, Mimikins." Ash said.
"Now please come with me, I have lots of things to show you!" Acerola exclaimed.
"Right behind you." Ash smiled taking her hand. "Lead the way, my princess."
"Hehehe..." Acerola made a smug smile for herself and began to guide Ash through the halls of the castle.
"Alright, the date officially begins." Phoebe told her by the earphone. "First off, ask him how has everything been for him since he left Alola, but don't ask him about his girlfriends, at least not until he mentions it."
"Tell me Ash, how has been everything for you after you left Alola?" Acerola asked following Phoebe's instructions.
"Well, plenty of things happened." Ash answered. "I stayed in my hometown in Kanto for a while, then I received an invitation to Galar and I've been exploring that region, I took the Gym challenge there and I currently have five badges, I also made a small trip in Sinnoh to see a friend, then I returned to Galar and came here."
"Wow, you never rest." Acerola said.
"I move a lot, yes." Ash replied with a laugh. "Now I'd like to make you a question. Why did my princess decided to invite me to a date in this lovely castle?"
"Tell him you only wanted to meet him better." Phoebe talked. "Remember that Miss Ketchum may have told him about your crush, but he doesn't know she told you that."
"Well, Ash since I first met you here in Ula'Ula, I've always...I've always thought you were an interesting person, so I invited you here today to get to know you better."
"And just that?" Ash asked with a teasing look.
"Y-Yes, just that indeed." Acerola nodded blushing.
"He's suspecting, that's good, that's good." Phoebe said. "It'll work for us later, you're almost in the ballroom, so for now just dance until the dinner is ready, remember, calmed, collected and precise."
"Hmm..." Acerola remained in silence for a moment.
"Acerola, you okay?" Ash called her.
"Y-Yeah, just thinking..." She trailed off. "Ash, do you want to...I..."
"Would you care for a dance?" Ash was the one to ask, noticing the open room they were now in. "That was one of the things you mentioned we'd do, right?"
"R-Right!" Acerola stuttered blushing. "L-Let's try a waltz, s-shall we?" She looked at Mimikins who nodded and floated to a nearby green record player, where Phoebe's Sableye was sleeping, Mimikins then woke him up and Sableye turned on the player, placing one of his claws on the spinning disc and opening his mouth to let slow music come from it for Ash and Acerola.
"Y-You know how to dance waltz, right?" Acerola asked.
"I do, courtesy of a friend." Ash chuckled. "What about you?"
"Tell him that of course you know." Phoebe said.
"N-No, I don't." Acerola admitted.
"What?!" Phoebe shouted.
"I-I tried to practice for this occasion, but I'm still nowhere good enough." Acerola explained with a sigh, but Ash took both her hands, causing her to blush harder than she already was.
"I'll be taking the lead then, don't worry." He said guiding her to the center of the room, Ash gave her the basic explanations and made sure to go slow enough for her to catch up, while Drakloak and Mimikins danced around the other above their trainers.
"So you began to practice waltz solely to be ready for this date?" Ash asked Acerola.
"I did plenty of things solely for the purpose of being ready for this date." Acerola giggled. "I mean, just look at this castle, this whole thing was too much, wasn't it?"
"Perhaps a little." Ash admitted. "But I kinda like it, knowing you made all of this just for me makes me feel really special."
Out of a sudden, Acerola rested her head on Ash's chest trying to hide her blush while they continued to dance. "You also make me feel special, every single day."
Hearing this, Ash stopped dancing and hugged Acerola closer to him with both arms, causing to blush even harder, but Acerola looked at him directly despite her totally red face. "You look beautiful Acerola...isn't there something you want to tell me?"
"I..."
"Ehem, please excuse me your majesty." Nanu called them entering the saloon. "The dinner is served, please follow me." The two nodded and Nanu guided them to a simple table that only had two chairs, quite contrasting with the whole castle, but perfect for the occasion. "I'll ask you two to wash your hands first." Nanu pointed at the separate bathrooms and each of them took a different one.
"T-This is really going well!" Acerola smiled looking at herself in the mirror.
"You've ignored some of our tips, but we've been able to save the situation." Phoebe said in the earphone. "Now brace yourself, the confession will be after the dinner, we'll tell you what to say and you have to repeat it exactly."
"Phoebe, I'm really thankful for your help, but this is a confession, is really important, can I just say it by myself?"
"No, sorry, but it's exactly because this is so important that we can't let you do it on your own." Phoebe answered.
"You're making it sound like you don't trust me." Acerola said saddened.
"Acerola, I do trust you, but this situation is quite hard, if Ash is having multiple girlfriends he's surely making some kind of deep analysis on his prospects, and I just want you to be happy with him, so you trust me, all I'm doing is for your own good."
"Right...I-I get it." Acerola sighed and both Ash and her returned to the table, Ash then pulled out a chair for Acerola and the two chuckled at this gesture, but Acerola sat there nonetheless and Ash then sat in the remaining chair, right in front of her, while Drakloak and Mimikins shared some Pokemon food in the floor. Nanu then brought over their dinner, a single plate of spaghetti and two forks.
"Hey, Nanu! You only brought one plate!" Acerola complained and Nanu simply raised an eyebrow, Acerola analyzed the situation for a moment until she finally understood what was going on. "Oh, I-I see..." She blushed to then look at Ash. "I-I hope you don't mind sharing."
"Of course not." Ash answered and they both took their forks.
"I'll leave you two alone." Nanu said walking out of the room.
The duo began eating the spaghetti and after a few minutes the obvious scene happened and they had each an opposite end of the same strand, but Acerola quickly cut it by half with her fork due to the embarrassment while Ash let out a laugh, after they ended the dinner, the next thing Acerola did was guide Ash to a balcony of the castle so they could both see the stars together.
"Alright, time for the bomb." Phoebe said. "Shauntal take a microphone and give her the script."
"Why, of course." Shauntal did what Phoebe told and started talking. "Alright Acerola, simply repeat everything I say...Ehem... Ash Ketchum, I feel like I've been delaying this long enough."
"Ash Ketchum, I feel like I've been delaying this long enough." Acerola repeated as Ash looked at her. "You probably already noticed I didn't bring you here just to get to know you... t-truth is that I love you, I've been loving you for a really long time and I was hoping you and I could be together."
"Acerola..." Ash smiled at her and took both of her hands. "I...I'd love to be your boyfriend, for real, but I need to explain you something first, those four girls that were with me when you saw me at the hospital."
"You're betrothed to them." Acerola interrupted, still following Shauntal's instructions. "They're all your girlfriends, I supposed so, but... Are you really willing to love me as well?"
"Yes, I am." Ash answered. "I already told them about you and they'll welcome you in if you want to join."
"And I'd love to do so... so, tell me, my prince." Acerola took a step forward to get closer to him. "Does that mean you'll let me be your fifth girlfriend?"
"Of course Acerola." He answered and Acerola did her best to not squeal.
"Bingo, where's my Pulitzer prize?" Shauntal asked confident.
"Perfecto!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Now just tell him that he will have to prioritize you over the other girls and you'll be all his."
"I just want you to prio...w-wait, what?" Acerola asked after hearing clearly.
"What's wrong?" Ash asked.
"Ash, uh... g-give me a moment to think!" She shouted running to a nearby bathroom and locking herself in. "Phoebe, what are you talking about?" She whispered to the earphone.
"What do you think? If he's making you join that harem instead of being with just you then he has to give you priority." Phoebe answered. "That's the least you deserve."
"N-No!" Acerola shouted. "I mean, I don't want it to be like that."
"Don't you want to be the special to him?" Phoebe asked.
"Being his girlfriend would already mean I'm special to him, besides, it wouldn't be fair to tell him to prioritize me, specially if the other girls who joined before me already accepted me to join in."
"Listen Acerola, is either that or tell Ash to dump the other four girls." Phoebe continued
"I won't do that either! H-He loves them! Probably more than what he loves me, but that's okay, because I'll get closer to him and if I want to do that, I'll have to get along with them all, this kind of relationship has to be equal or it could crumble apart all together."
"Wouldn't it be better if that happened?" Phoebe asked. "That way you could Ash all for yourself!"
"No, it wouldn't be better!" Acerola shouted. "Because everyone would have a broken heart, specially Ash!"
"Acerola, you're not valuing yourself!"
"Yes, I am! You're the one who's not valuing me! Because if you did you would have let me do this on my own, but instead you have me here following your every will, and you're not valuing Ash's other girlfriends either!"
"Acerola-"
"Shut up!" She interrupted. "When did your turn into such a control freak?! I was doing what you told me because I trusted you, but this was obviously a mistake, I'm done! I'm going to tell Ash about the cameras, the earphone, and how I really feel! I'll tell him everything!" Acerola then ran out of the bathroom and back to Ash.
"W-Wait, Acerola!" Phoebe tried to call her again, but she didn't respond.
"Ha! You screwed up!" Shauntal said.
"We told you that was a bad idea." Caitlin added.
"I'm just thinking about her future!" Phoebe defend herself. "I don't want her to end up being just one of the bunch!"
"My Ash will make sure she doesn't feel like just one of the bunch." Delia answered with a smile. "Go for it, Acerola..."
Meanwhile with the girls.
"The second round starts now everyone! Let's begin with Nessa and Nia!" Gloria said as the aforementioned prepared their Poke Balls.
"Aerodactyl, rise up!" Peonia tossed her Ball first.
"Dragalge, on stage!" Nessa released her shiny.
"If both trainers are ready then the battle begins now!"
"Smack Down!" Peonia shouted and Aerodactyl shot an orange rock at high speed to the dragon.
"Let's answer with Play Rough!" Dragalge's fins illuminated with pink light and he slapped the rock away to then jump using his tail as a spring and slap Aerodactyl right in the face causing him to fall off the skies. "Who's smacking down who?"
"Aerodactyl, Dragon Breath!" Peonia ordered and her Pokemon used the attack still on the floor.
"Dragon Pulse!" Dragalge used the move while falling down and easily overpowered the Dragon Breath to then keep going and exploded onto Aerodactyl. "Aqua Tail!" Dragalge charged the attack right in the moment before he landed on top of Aerodactyl striking him full force with his tail.
"Dual Wingbeat!" Aerodactyl took the skies again and pushed Dragalge away, his wings then illuminated and he flew back to the dragon.
"Play Rough again!" Dragalge didn't faze and traded blows with Aerodactyl back and forth, eventually landing a hit on the latter's neck that caused him to fall on the ground one more time.
"Use Crunch!" Aerodactyl roared and bit down Dragalge, forcing him down to the floor.
"Bad idea!" Nessa exclaimed with a smile, Dragalge then wrapped his arms and tail around Aerodactyl to pull him closer to him, Aerodactyl tried to bite harder in response, but Dragalge's body began to secret toxic ooze.
"N-No, get out of there!" Peonia called to no avail as Aerodactyl was surrounded by poison, Dragalge then let go off him and Aerodactyl fell knocked out.
"Down goes one." Nessa said.
"Aerodactyl is unable to battle! Dragalge is the winner!" Gloria informed while Peonia returned her Pokemon.
"That was too quick... Carracosta, you're next!" Peonia said releasing the turtle.
"Wow, a Carracosta!" Nessa exclaimed. "This is the first time I see one in person, maybe Drednaw and him could be turtle buddies."
"We can think about that later." Peonia replied. "Let's start with Ice Beam!"
"As you wish, Dragon Pulse!" Dragalge answered and both moves canceled out each other.
"Aqua Jet!" Carracosta jumped forward and the move guided him at a surprising speed despite his size and weight.
"Play Rough!" Dragalge tried to counter with his own attack, but Carracosta's mass combined with the speed of the Aqua jet was too much and he was easily thrown down by the turtle, who landed on top of him and was now using his weight to keep him down.
"Carracosta, Head Smash!" Still pinning down his opponent, Carracosta's head illuminated and he then landed a strong headbutt that caused the ground the shake, the attack heavily damaged Dragalge, but it also left Carracosta a bit dizzy, the turtle then tried to land the attack again, but Dragalge continued to secret toxic ooze and Carracosta had to separate from him.
"That thing again..." Peonia trailed off. "We can't get close for much time."
"Aqua Tail!" Nessa shouted.
"Head Smash!" Once again, Carracosta's weight helped him get out victorious of the struggle and he sent Draggle flying away. "Use Aqua Jet!"
"Give me a Dragon Pulse!" The attacks met again, but Dragalge finally managed to overcome and push Carracosta back.
"Now let's try our special, Algal Bloom!" Dragalge jumped in the air summoning a wave to make a move akin to surf, but then he dove inside the wave and released the algae around his body, letting it spread as it turned into a poisonous red tide that swept Carracosta away and left the battlefield covered in toxic algae, Carracosta then tried to stand up but the algae around him weakened him more every second.
"Argh, use Rain Dance!" Carracosta roared to the skies and it quickly started to rain, washing away most of the algae as Carracosta's body illuminated in blue light.
"Swift Swim?" Nessa asked.
"Yes, but I didn't want to use Rain Dance earlier because all your Pokemon are aquatic so it could have transformed into a disadvantage to me, but it seems like I'm out of choices. It's all or nothing, Head Smash!" With a speed now doubled thanks to the rain, Carracosta rammed against Dragalge with his head, knocking the Dragon to the floor again.
"Use Algal Bloom one more time!" Nessa ordered and Dragalge summoned the red tide again, the size of it also increased due to the rain so Carracosta had no chance to avoid it and was then struck down by the poisonous water, this time being affected by the poison status condition.
"Use Head Smash and boost it with an Aqua Jet!" Carracosta combined both moves and fired himself as a missile with extra force.
"Dragon Pulse to the floor!" Dragalge quickly shot the move beneath him and sent himself flying upwards, while the expansive wave of the move reached Carracosta and made him lose balance to then fall and roll along the ground, Dragalge then glided to him and spun to strike an Aqua Tail on the turtle as he landed finally defeating Carracosta.
"Carracosta is unable to battle! Dragalge is the winner and the victory goes to Nessa!" Gloria said.
"Amazing! That was a clean 2-0! Congratulations, Dragalge." Nessa said to her Pokemon.
"Dang it, this really isn't my day." Peonia sighed returning Carracosta. "Thanks, buddy. Guess the recoil of Head Smash was too much."
"So Nia will have the 4th place and Nessa will have the 3rd." Bea said. "That leaves you and me for the top, Gloria."
"I'll give you my best!" Gloria assured.
"Good luck you two." Peonia said.
"I'm rooting for both of you!" Nessa cheered on as the girls switched positions and the next battlers quickly released their Pokemon.
"Braviary, let's crash!"
"Let's go, Sandaconda!"
"If both trainers are ready then the battle begins now!" Peonia gave the order.
"Close Combat!" Bea ordered as Braviary dove down and kicked Sandaconda several times with his talons, Sandaconda was then pushed away but the hits activated his Sand Spit ability and summoned a Sandstorm.
"Try to blow it away!" Braviary flapped his wings and tried to push away the sand, but this quickly turned out to be too much for that to happen. "Fine, give me a Brave Bird!" Braviary nodded as he was surrounded by a fiery red, white and blue aura and descended to Sandaconda, using his sharp vision to find him despite the sand.
"Sandaconda, use Glare!" The snake's eyes illuminated with yellow light and Braviary was suddenly paralyzed causing him to fall down to the battlefield. "Now Poison Tail!" Sandaconda jumped forward and his tail glowed purple to then smack the fallen avian with it multiple times.
"Braviary, Crush Claw!" The bird did his best to return to himself and slashed Sandaconda away, but the paralysis prevented him from getting any closer after that.
"Use Dragon Rush!" Sandaconda jumped in the air again and dashed against Braviary tail-first with a purple drill shaped Dragon Rush that hit the bird directly.
"Sky Drop!" Braviary miraculously broke out of the paralysis and grabbed Sandanconda by the head with his talons to then raise him up.
"Poison Tail!" Sandaconda uncoiled part of his tail to charge the move and hit Braviary on the legs, a shock of paralysis then suddenly hit Braviary and both Pokemon fell together, hitting each other with Crush Claws and Poison Tails back and forth until they crashed against the ground defeated at the same time as the sandstorm subsided
"Both Sandaconda and Braviary are unable to battle! This fight is a tie!" Peonia said. "Let's go for the great finale, girls!"
"Is up to you, Inteleon!"
"Chesnaught, let's crash!"
Both starters were the final Pokemon and Chesnaught stood in his usual defensive posture, while Inteleon pointed at him preparing to shoot.
"Here it goes, Hammer Arm!" Bea gave the order and Chesnaught ran at Inteleon, but the latter dodged the attack without much trouble thanks to his speed. "Try to dodge this, Spiky Shield!" Chesnaught joined his fists and summoned a green shield that quickly shoot its spikes as missiles. Inteleon did his best to dodge them, but the spikes were too many and some of them landed and exploded onto him.
"Do it again!" Bea ordered.
"Use Air Slash to counter them!" Inteleon drew several withe lines in the air with his fingertips, the lines then turned into arrows that flew towards the spikes, with all of then exploding in the middle of the battlefield before they could reach the other.
"Chesnaught, Seed Bomb!"
"Inteleon, Watery Grave!"
Chesnaught opened his mouth and fired a huge green seed at Inteleon, the Water type quickly answered and tossed a Shadow Ball from his hand to then push it further with a Snipe Shot from his other hand, the two moves met with each other and exploded, once again without either beating out the other.
"It seems like this is the most even match we had so far." Nessa said.
"We have to get closer, Dragon Claw!" Chesnaught roared and ran at Inteleon as he charged the attack.
"Use Fell Stinger!" Inteleon pointed the tip of his tail to Chesnaught and fired quick green arrows from it, but Chesnaught deflected them with his claw to then land a huge upper slash on Inteleon.
"Now Hammer Arm!"
"Air Slash!" Inteleon had to make a smaller number of arrows to make it in time, but he managed to push Chesnaught away with his attack. "Now B.A.A.T.H.!" Gloria shouted and Inteleon drew a longer line, taking it by the middle with his hand to then use it a spear and slash Chesnaught several times.
"Spiky Shield!" Chesnaught quickly covered himself and Inteleon was way too close to either dodge or deflect all the projectiles that struck him. "Seed Bomb!"
"Counter Shield!" Inteleon drew several lines around him and then spun around summoning a tornado to protected him from the Seed Bomb, he then guided the tornado with his tail and the sharp wind left several cuts on Chesnaught.
"Inteleon, Camouflage!" The lizard nodded and disappeared in thin air.
"Guards up!" Bea ordered and Chesnaught raised his shields, but he was suddenly slashed right on his face. "He's somewhere close, Hammer Arm!" Chesnaught roared and threw several attacks to the air but all them seemed to miss while he continued to receive hit after hit.
"Just where is... Chesnaught look to the floor!" Bea shouted and Chesnaught obeyed, he looked down and noticed Inteleon's footprints in the battlefield that was left covered in wet sand thanks to the previous battles, Chesnaught then saw how a new footprint formed and extended his arm to grab Inteleon by the neck causing his camouflage to disappear.
"Fell Stinger!" Inteleon pointed the tip of his tail right to Chesnaught's face and shot the green arrows again, causing the Kalos starter to release him. "Now Air Slash!" This time Inteleon drew a circle in the air and grabbed it by one of its borders, tossing like a flying disc as it flew right through Chesnaught sending him flying away and leaving him knocked out.
"Chesnaught is unable to battle! Inteleon is the winner and the victory goes to Gloria!" Peonia informed.
"I-I won!" Gloria jumped in the air. "We did it! I'm first place! I'm having the first date with Ash and I'm...I-I'm taking his..." Gloria quickly blushed madly after remembering the first place wasn't only for the first date. "I'm...I-I'm taking Ash's..."
"Gloria, you okay?" Nessa asked.
"I'M GOING TO TAKE ASH'S VIRGINITY!" Gloria suddenly shouted and then covered her mouth as she began to hyperventilate. "Sorry, I-I just need to c-calm down...m-my nose is bleeding, m-m-maybe I should...maybe I should-" Gloria suddenly passed out and fell backwards, but Bea ran to her and caught her before she could hit the floor.
"...She'll be fine." Peonia said while Nessa cleaned Gloria's nose with a napkin.
"Get back here!" A voice unknown to the girls shouted and shortly afterwards a Jangmo-o suddenly ran out of a nearby bush being followed by Decidueye, while the latter was followed by a girl with pale skin, black hair, green shorts, a loose yellow t-shirt and a curious red hat.
"Uh, hello there." Bea greeted her still holding the unconscious Gloria.
"S-Sorry about trespassing." She talked. "I was just following that godammned Jangmo-o!" The girl quickly tossed a Poke Ball, but the lizard avoided it jumping to Bea's head. The girl then tossed another Poke Ball at it, but the Pokemon jumped away again and landed on Gloria's face waking her up.
"What's going on?!" Gloria moved abruptly causing Bea, the Jangmo-o and herself to fall to the floor, some of Bea's empty Poke Balls rolled off and the Jangmo-o ended up stumbling into one of them, being absorbed and caught without resistance.
"Huh, what an interesting timing." Nessa said.
"Uh...well, I guess I caught a Jangmo-o." Bea said standing up and taking the Poke Ball.
"Oh, come on!" The girl ranted and then took a deep breath, while her Decidueye put a wing on her back trying to comfort her. "No. You know what? I don't care, that little one was one idiot, good luck in surviving him... sorry for bothering you again, my name is Selene."
"Well, my name is Peonia."
"Nessa here."
"I'm Bea, and don't worry, I'll take care of the fella."
"My name is Gloria, nice to meet you." She said standing up to get closer to Selene. "That's a nice hat you have."
"You think so? Thank you, a good friend of mine knitted it and gifted it to me when we were younger." Selene answered blushing. "Your hat is also quite nice, it actually reminds me of him... Hey, wait a second!" She shouted abruptly taking the hat from Gloria's head. "Where did you get this from?!"
"G-Give that back!' Gloria complained.
"No way! This belongs to my friend!" Selene shouted.
"So you were talking about Ash?" Nessa asked.
"Yes! And you stole this from him!" Selene exclaimed.
"You're calling me thief?!" Gloria tried to grab the hat back, but Selene kept her away with an arm. "Ash gave me that hat!"
"You're lying!" Selene answered. "I know him! His mother made this hat for him, there's no way he'd hand this over to some random girl!"
"Random girl?!" Gloria shouted. "First off, I'm his biggest fan! And second and more important, I'm one of his girlf-"
"Biggest fan?" Selene interrupted and then laughed. "Yeah, sure, I'm Ash's biggest fan!"
"No, you're not!"
"Yes, I am!" Selene continued.
"Bea, bring me the cider!" Gloria said.
"I'm not going to do that." Bea answered blankly.
"Fine! If you're not giving me my hat back, then I'm taking yours!" Gloria quickly took Selene's hat out of her head.
"G-Give that back!" Selene shouted.
"You give me mine!" Gloria answered.
"This isn't yours!"
"Yes, it is!"
"No, it's not!"
"Wow, you too are really alike." Peonia said.
"Where?!" The two ranted in unison.
"So this girl is like an Alolan version of Gloria?" Bea asked.
"Or is Gloria a Galarian version of her?" Nessa asked as well.
"Who are you calling version?!" The two shouted together. "Stop copying me!"
"I'm gonna punch you like your name is Mertle!" Gloria shouted.
"I'd like to see you trying, Irish!" Selene stuck out her tongue.
"I'M SCOTTISH! YE BASTARD!" Gloria shouted and then threw herself over Selene.
"Shouldn't we do something about this?" Peonia asked the other girls.
"Gloria got into that mess, she better gets herself out." Bea answered.
"Dueye..." Selene's Decidueye simply nodded standing next to the girls, not wanting to intervene either.
"I suppose we should wait until Ash return then." Nessa said. "I wonder how is he doing."
Back in the castle.
"ASH!" Acerola shouted returning to the balcony. "I'm not gonna base our relationship on a lie!"
"Uh, what?" Ash asked.
"Ash, I have to tell you something, you'll probably hate me, but I can't with this anymore, this whole time I've been-"
"D-Don't tell him!" Phoebe called her I the earphone again. "If he finds out about all this, he'll think you're a weirdo!"
"Just like you think I am, right?!" Acerola shouted taking the device out of her ear.
"A-Acerola..."
"Phoebe, you know I love you as a sister." Acerola interrupted. "Thanks a lot for trying to help me, but I can't do this, I'll never be what you want me to be, I can't be like you."
"Acerola, I want you to be better than me." Phoebe said.
"And I want to be myself!" Acerola answered. "J-Just like Miss Ketchum said...I can do this on my own, I want to do it on my own...please just leave us alone."
"...Yes, of course." Phoebe sighed and turned off all the microphones and cameras.
"Well, what do we do know?" Shauntal asked.
"...We go home." Phoebe answered.
.
"Ash, forgive me, my friends have been watching the date and telling me what to do this whole time..." She confessed.
"...And why were they doing that Acerola?" He asked.
"I asked them for help...I was trying to impress you." Acerola said.
"So when you said you wanted to be my girlfriend..."
"...Let me do this again." Acerola tossed the earphone to the floor and stomped it to then look firmly at Ash. "Ash Ketchum...I, Acerola, really, really, really really, really love you!" She shouted. "And I really, really, really, really, really want to be your girlfriend! That's why I allowed all this! The whole damn castle! I already wanted to impress you lots, but when your Mom told me you already had four girlfriends then I felt like I had to put even more effort into it or I'd feel like I wouldn't be good enough to 'qualify', but I'm done with that! I'm standing here, being honest, I'm okay with sharing you! I'm sure all your girlfriends are lovely and I can't wait to meet them! So please, let me be your princess for real!"
"So all this was to impress me..." Ash let out a short laugh and took the tiara from her head and took both her hands again. "But you were already a princess even before this...well, guess I only have more thing to say... would you like to be my girlfriend?"
Acerola blushed madly and was about to let out a big scream, but she contained and took a deep breath. "I... I'd like to make two little requests first." She said.
"About what?" Ash asked.
"First, I don't think I've mentioned this to you, but I'm an orphan, I never met my real parents and don't have a last name, so..." Acerola blushed further before continuing. "C-C-Can I be Acerola Ketchum from now on?"
"O-Of course you can!" Ash stuttered blushing as well, Acerola smiled seeing him like that and then she built up her courage to then give him a quick kiss on his lips.
"Thank you, Ash." She giggled embarrassed. "I'll be the best friend, girlfriend and wife you could ever have, I swear."
"I'll do my best for you too." Ash answered. "All that's left now is introducing you the girls, ready?"
"Y-You said they already kinda accepted me, but I'm still a little nervous."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you will all get along."
"Fine, I trust you..." Acerola took Ash's hand again.
"Hey wait, you said you had two requests, didn't you?" Ash asked.
"Oh right, sorry, I forgot for a moment, my second request is that I want you to make me a promise."
"Of course, whatever you need." He said and Acerola let out a smug laugh.
"I want to have 5 kids with you, Ash." She bluntly told him as if it wasn't big deal.
"FIVE?!" He shouted.
"Five." Acerola nodded. "So promise it."
"I-I... sure, it's a promise." He accepted despite the embarrassment and Acerola went for another kiss on his lips.
"Perfect, our first daughter will be called Zarala, we'll decide the rest of the names later, now come on, I want to meet the rest of our family."
"Our family..." Ash smiled and guided Acerola out of the castle.
"YAHOOO! ALRIIIGHT! YIPEEE!" Nanu suddenly shouted appearing behind the two with a huge smile. "WHAT AN ABSOLUTE CLUTCH COMEBACK! IT'S A COMEBACK HOME RUN! WE GOTTA CELEBRATE! CELEBRATE, BABY!"
"Uh..."
"Blame her for it." Nanu pointed at a laughing Acerola.
Meanwhile in Aether Paradise.
Domino made it Alola rather quickly in a Team Rocket Helicopter, the next thing she did was dress herself up as an Aether Employee and used a false ID to get in, she then met with Faba, who told her to simply act normal until the night fell, since he made sure no one would be there for the night shift, unknown to Wicke and everyone else.
"Ah, you finally made it." Faba smiled once she entered his lab.
"Well, you were right, there's no one else here besides us." Domino answered.
"Then why are you still wearing that uniform?" Faba asked.
"Because I look fabulous!" Domino answered laughing. "I'd like to try wearing white more regularly, but the color isn't exactly stealthy."
"Pfft, teenagers, do you have the device?" He asked and Domino pulled out a small blue engine from one of the pockets in her uniform.
"An updated version of Team Galatic's transdimensional portal machine." Domino said.
"How peculiar, Team Rocket knows how to supply, I'll give them that." Faba said. "Now, our visitor."
"Of course..." Domino looked for the Beast Ball that Giovanni gave her and opened it, letting out a black and yellow Naganadel out of it.
"A Naganadel?" Domino asked.
"I'm not just any Naganadel..." The Ultra Beast answered.
"...Did it just talk?" Domino asked.
"Silence! You bug!" The Naganadel exclaimed.
"Who are you calling bug?! BUG!" Domino shouted.
"Cut that off, you two!" Faba told them. "We're alone in here, but let's try to not bring any attention to us until we have finished the setting. Stinger, are your troops ready?"
"They are." The shiny Naganadel nodded.
"Stinger, that's your name?" Domino asked.
"General Stinger to you." He answered. "I'm in command of this operation, so you two start preparing the device and follow all my instructions clearly, understood?"
"I don't take orders from you." Domino answered.
"Oh, but you take them from Giovanni." The Naganadel approached her.
"How do you-"
"I know lots of thing, Domino." Stinger interrupted. "Or should I say Kerry?"
Hearing him calling her like that struck a nerve and Domino and she almost instantly pulled out her tulip staff charging an electric blast in front of the Naganadel's face. "Call me that again and I'm frying that wasp brain of yours!"
"Giovanni won't be happy if you do that." Stinger smirked and flew above the two. "Get to work. Now. The machine must be finished before sunrise."
"And what am I supposed to do?" Domino asked to Faba.
"I'll be taking care of the machinery, don't worry." Faba answered holding up the engine. "You just stay up and be the guard...hmm, no wait, there's something else you can do meanwhile, follow me."
Somewhere not far.
"Aether Paradise, this is Yukiga Airlines private flight 1138, ordered by Sinnoh Champion Cynthia Shirona. Lt. Earhardt speaking." The woman piloting the private jet talked. "We're currently at 4.5 kilometers from your airport and request to land as programmed."
"Aether employee 15673 reporting." Domino answered the communication. "We apologize, but you'll have to refrain yourself. There has been a weird energy anomaly and it has been determined to be harmful to planes, you won't be able of landing here."
"Understood, we'll be taking the main Alolan Airport then." The pilot answered.
"That won't be possible either, the mentioned anomaly is quickly expanding around Alola, it'll be the safest for you to back down before you end up trapped."
"Roger that, Miss Cynthia will be disappointed, but safety first. Thank you for informing us, Aether." Earhardt answered cutting the call and making a U-Turn with the plane.
"That's one problem less." Domino said.
.
"Why are we turning away, Taylor?" Cynthia asked entering the cockpit of the jet.
"Oh, sorry Cynthia, I thought you were sleeping like May and Dawn. It seems there's this strange energy surging in Alola that's dangerous to planes, so we won't be able to land in the region."
"That's quite weird." Cynthia said. "Lusamine would have told me about something like that, she said we could land in Aether no problem."
"Well, you know those people are always experimenting with weird things, anything can go to hell within a second."
"I suppose that makes sense, you'll take us back to Sinnoh then?"
"Unfortunately the fuel isn't enough to get back to Sinnoh, so we'll have to stop in the nearest airport to refill, that being Mistralton City in Unova."
"Got it, I hope the girls won't be too mad about all this when they wake up."
Meanwhile in the Ketchum mansion.
Ash and Acerola found Pikachu resting in the living room along his Alolan team, Ash woke him up and then asked where the girls where, Pikachu simply pointed at the back of the mansion and returned to sleep, so Ash took his newest girlfriend there.
"Hey girls, I'm back with Acerola..." Ash walked to the scene and found Gloria and Selene still throwing hands in the floor, while the rest of his girlfriends were playing cards with Selene's Decidueye as they waited for those two to end fighting. "What's going... Selene!"
"Ash!" Selene looked at him and distracted herself enough to give Gloria an opening to punch her right in the face and then tackle her down to the floor.
"Ha! Did you see that Ash?" Gloria exclaimed.
"Gloria, what the hell is wrong with you?!" Ash shouted as ran over to help Selene.
"Wait, what?" Gloria said.
"Selene, it really is you, are you okay?" Ash asked.
"I-I'm so glad to see you." Selene smiled at Ash. "This little girl has been bullying me since I got here!"
"Don't try to play being the victim!" Gloria complained.
"Gloria, why were you doing that?" Ash asked as he helped Selene stand up.
"Y-You're seriously believing her?!" Gloria shouted.
"Well, first thing I see when I get back is that you punched and tackled her." Ash said.
"She was being so mean!" Selene exclaimed hugging Ash's arm and shedding fake tears.
"You were the one who started!" Gloria pointed at Selene, who did her face on Ash's chest and she continued to weep.
"S-Selene, I'm so sorry." Ash said trying to comfort her.
"Stop brushing her hair!' Gloria demanded.
"Hi, I'm Acerola!" She introduced herself to the rest of the girls while Selene and Gloria continued with Ash.
"Why were you two fighting anyway?" Ash asked.
"She took my hat!" Gloria shouted.
"O-Only because I recognized it from you!" Selene answered to Ash showing him the hat. "I-I thought she stole it."
"Selene, thanks for worrying, but I gifted that hat to Gloria." Ash answered.
"Of course, silly me!" Selene smiled.
"You haven't changed, huh?" Ash smiled as well and then looked at the object Gloria was holding. "W-Wait, that's..."
"It's the hat you knitted for me!" Selene answered.
"Wow, we were like 7 years old, to think you still have it-."
"Why wouldn't I?" Selene giggled. "Like sure, I've had needed to give it some fixes here and there as times passed by since it was a bit small, but it's the same hat, it's my dearest possession after all!"
"...Fine, I want you two to give back each other's hats back and apologize." Ash said looking at the Gloria and Selene.
"Sure thing, Ash!" Selene nodded and offered Gloria's hat back to her. "Sorry about the confusion Gloria, I hope we can forget all this mess and get along!"
"Hmm..." Gloria simply made the trade and both girls put their hats back on their heads. "Yeah, sorry."
"I can't believe you're here, Selene. How long has it been since last time we met?" Ash asked. "You're all grown up."
"You're also quite a man now." Selene laughed. "Hmm, now that I think about it I never got a proper introduction to your friends." Selene looked at the girls as her Decidueye returned to her side. "My name is Selene Taiyuki, from Pallet Town, pleasure to meet you all, Ash and I became good friends when we were younger."
"Alright, so we have a girl with a childhood friend complex." Peonia said.
"I guess you can say that." Selene blushed embarrassed.
"Her twin Elio and her lived a few streets away from my house, we used to play together a lot." Ash added. "Hey, where is him by the way? You two aren't traveling together anymore?"
"Nope, my brother and I took different paths some time ago, while I was doing the island trials here, he decided to stay and settle down in Alola." Selene answered. "He has a girlfriend and everything, her name is Kahili."
"Kahili? Well, I'm glad for those two." Ash said. "So you're taking the Island Trial?"
"And I can imagine you know what I'm aiming for." Selene giggled. "Knowing you became champion really motivated me... I'm going to win the next Alolan League and then I'll challenge you."
"...I'll be waiting then." Ash answered and Selene gave him a hug. "I've missed you, I-"
"You're not angry about the fact she's actively saying she wants to take your title away from you?!" Gloria shouted.
"Well, it's all part of the champion gig, isn't it?" Ash asked.
"Argh! Enough!" Gloria suddenly pulled Ash away from Selene. "Ash, this friend of yours called me a 'random girl'! Tell her who I really am!"
"Uh...sure. Selene, this is Gloria, she's my girlfriend." Ash presented and Gloria stuck out her tongue to Selene.
"So this girl is your girlfriend..." Selene trailed off.
"Y-Yes, but it's a bit more complicated, actually all these girls are-" Ash stopped mid-sentence once Selene cupped his face and planted a kiss on his lips.
"You deserve something better, think about it!" Selene told him and then stuck out her tongue to Gloria again. "I don't think this little one will be able to satisfy you."
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Gloria tried to get her again, but Selene quickly ran away in the same direction she came from.
"I love you, Ash! Hope we can talk about this later!" She shouted out loud waving before disappearing in the distance and Gloria gave up on the chase.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN KISS MY BOYFRIEND LIKE THAT RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME?!" Gloria continued. "NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU'RE DEAD! DEAD!"
"I...I guess I should have seen that coming." Ash said while Selene's Decidueye sighed and began to follow her.
"That was a little unexpected." Acerola said.
"You'll get used to it." Bea told her.
"Are you serious?!" Gloria shouted at the other girlfriends. "T-That girl just came out of nowhere, kissed our boyfriend in less than five minutes and then simply left without elaborating at all! None of you are going to complain about that?!"
"...Gloria, have you forgotten the situation we're in?" Nessa asked.
"Uh yeah, I mean, we don't know that girl, but it sounds a little hypocrite to get jealous." Peonia said.
"This is not the same!" Gloria shouted. "And why didn't any of you defend me while she was accusing me?!"
"Well, she took you hat, but you were the one who started throwing punches." Bea said.
"Don't you dare pull the 'I don't care who started' card!" Gloria shouted.
"Fine, let's calm down, with all that happened, I didn't even got the chance to tell you how was the date." Ash got the girls' attention again and Acerola walked to him and took one of his hands. "I'd say it turned out pretty well, so...due to how things panned out, would you girls mind accepting Acerola as my newest girlfriend?"
"Ash told me about all of you in the way here!" Acerola said. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you personally, Bea, Nessa, Peonia and Gloria, I hope we can all get along... Hey, all of our names end with A, isn't that wacky?"
"I'll admit I haven't noticed that." Nessa giggled. "We already agreed to welcome you in, Acerola, so don't worry."
"Thanks a lot." Acerola continued. "Now listen girls, I don't mind sharing Ash with you, but I'll have to give you all a fair warning."
"And that is?" Bea asked.
"When we all have Ash's kids I'm gonna be the favorite Aunt." Acerola answered.
"...I guess I can live with that." Peonia said.
"You're saying that now." Acerola smirked. "But when your children end up spending more time with me than you, I don't want to see you crying."
"You're really eager to be a mother, aren't you?" Gloria asked.
"Why, of course." Acerola nodded. "Ash already promised he'll give me five kids after all.
"FIVE?!" They all shouted.
"W-Well, that's what she wants." Ash answered embarrassed.
"How many kids are you all planning to have?" Acerola asked them.
"I-I don't know." Peonia stuttered. "I mean, we all said we'd like a family in the future, but we haven't thought of the details, you know?"
"Well, that's okay." Acerola laughed. "Just imagine Ash, it could be at least 10 children, it'll be so funny seeing you trying to handle all of them, but I know you'll be a great dad!"
"I-I hope so, because handling all of you is already quite the challenge." Ash laughed.
"That reminds me Ash, while you were away we had that tournament we mentioned." Peonia said. "The fights were great, and Gloria will have the first place."
"R-Right!" Gloria stuttered blushing. "S-So...uh...yeah."
"Girls, how many times do I have to say, this is not-"
"This is not a competition." The first four interrupted Ah and ended the phrase.
"We know that Ash, but we just thought that would be the fairest way to decide." Peonia said.
"We all did our best and Gloria won fair and square, none of us are going to complain about it." Bea added. "So, sorry Acerola, but you'll have to be fifth."
"No problem, I had quite the date with Ash just now." Acerola giggled. "Besides, five is my lucky number."
"Yeah, about that, Bea." Gloria called her. "I'll be taking the first date, but I think you should be the one who gets the first chance in bed."
"Uh, are you sure?" Bea said. "I mean, you won our match fair and square."
"Yes, I'm sure, you're the 'Alpha' girlfriend after all." Gloria laughed. "Besides, when I...when I imagine the scene, I really don't feel ready for it, but I still have time to grow and improve, so you take the first shot and I'll be second, don't worry."
"Fine, if that's what your prefer." Bea accepted.
"Well, that's just great." Nessa said. "But since we're at that Ash, tell me, bunny girl or maid?"
"W-What?" Ash asked.
"Just tell me..." Nessa hugged him planting a kiss on his lips.
"W-Well...bunny girl maybe." Ash answered blushing perfectly knowing what Nessa meant.
"Heh, did you hear that Bea?" Nessa asked.
"Keep your fetishes away from me, Nessa!" Bea shouted.
The next morning, at Oranguru's place.
"There you are..." Lana said relieved after finding Mallow in the bar. "I thought you'd be going home."
"That's what I said." Mallow answered between hiccups with a coconut filled with juice in her hand. "Because I knew you'd be telling Ash the truth, so I came with Oranguru anyway."
"Did she sleep here?" Lana asked Oranguru who nodded to her. "Alright, let's take you back home, your dad must be worried."
"FOUR GIRLFRIENDS!" Mallow suddenly shouted. "He's got four girlfriends!"
"I think you've drink too much." Lana said pushing the cup away from her friend.
"You don't understand..." Mallow trailed off.
"I think I'm the only person in the whole world who truly understands." Lana answered placing a hand over her shoulder. "Listen, it'll be fine, we just need to ask Ash and I'm sure he'll accept the three of us."
"But..." Before Mallow could answer, the ground suddenly began to shake violently and then stopped just as abruptly after a few seconds, the girls then ran to the nearest window to see the situation and saw several Ultra Wormholes opening in the sky.
"It's happening again..." Lana trailed off worried.
"The sky is falling!" A still slightly drunk Mallow shouted.
Meanwhile at the Ketchum mansion.
After some introductions, Ash and the girls went to sleep much like last night, but this time Acerola was resting on top of Ash, not like he minded since she was pretty lightweight. Gloria was the first to wake up and walked to the window of the room to get a look at the first sun rays.
"Good morning, starshine, the earth says hello... what the-, GUYS!" Gloria called them and they all woke up to go the window with her, seeing the numerous Ultra Wormholes in the sky, many thunders were heard despite the clear skies and several hordes of shiny Ultra Beasts came out of the portals.
"What's going on?!" Nessa exclaimed.
"Ultra Beasts..." Ash trailed off. "It's like...o-one of those nightmares I had that time..."
After Ash said this, the TV of their room along all of their Rotom Phones began to show static.
"YOU...ARE NOT...ALONE." A message was shown in the screens. "YOU...ARE NOT...ALONE... YOU...ARE NOT...ALO-"
"Hello, Earth! Congratulations on being conquered!" A white and yellow Poipole appeared on screen and waved at it, but he was then pushed away by the Shiny Naganadel.
"My name is General Stinger." He started to talk to the screen. "I am leader of the Lightbane, a highly evolved race of Ultra Beasts, we come from a world far from yours, we have journeyed across an ocean of stars to reach you."
"We have good news and bad news." The Poipole returned. "The good news? Your planet is rich in the resources we'll need to conquer more impressive worlds. The bad news? We'll need to destroy your civilization to get those resources. Omelet, broken eggs, you get it."
"To the false gods you idolize, to the Ultra Guardians, and anyone else who dares to oppose us, I say this: We are not like our 'cousins' that you faced." Stinger said.
"Yeah! We're not some monster of the week format!" The Poipole added. "We're straight up generals and main villains!"
"Surrender immediately or suffer the consequences." The Naganadel said. "The signal in Aether Paradise that stops Poke Ball from catching Wild Pokemon has been modified and empowered. Nobody in this region will be able of using their Pokemon neither capture our soldiers, and once we shred Alola down to its last atom, the rest of your world will be next." He ended before the transmission was cut.
"Well, that was quite dramatic." Domino said to them back in Aether Paradise.
"Leave." Stinger talked. "We don't need you anymore, you have completed your part."
"Maybe, but..." While checking the security cameras Domino stumbled on the videos from yesterday that showed Ash was already in Alola. "I think I'm staying here, there's a person who could give you trouble..." She smiled. "And I'm really excited to see him again."
"Just don't get in the way." Stinger told her as he flew away along the Poipole.
Back in the mansion.
"An alien invasion?!" Nessa shouted.
"A-Ash, what should we do?" Acerola asked.
"We're fighting back, aren't we?" Bea asked.
"Yes, but first we're going to the Pokemon School." He answered. "We need Ultra Guardian power now."
"It's hero time!" Gloria exclaimed excited. "I'll finally get to see Ash saving the world in person!"
"You really shouldn't be excited about this!" Peonia shouted.
Meanwhile in Mistralton City.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING IN MISTRALTON CITY?" May shouted after she got out of the plane alongside Dawn.
"I'm sorry, it seems like there's something dangerous happening in Alola." Cynthia told them.
"This isn't fair! Ash is already there!" May complained.
"Hello there Miss Cynthia!" A voice called from afar and the three girls saw Skyla running at them. "Pfft, it's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Skyla, I'm the Gym Leader of the city and head pilot of this airport, I was informed you were going to land here, so I thought it'd be a good idea to receive you."
"Well, thanks." Cynthia answered.
"If you're a pilot can you tell us what's going on in Alola?" May asked.
"Uh, I think I know." Dawn presented them her Rotom Phone which showed Stinger's message had been emitted worldwide.
"And once we shred Alola down to its last atom, the rest of your world will be next."
"That doesn't sounds good." Skyla said.
"We have to go there and help Ash!" May shouted.
"I for once agree with you in first term." Dawn nodded. "He'll surely want to intervene, and he left me behind while all the Team Galactic incident happened, this time I'm going to help." After Dawn said this, her phone ringed showing that Chloe was calling her, but Dawn quickly cut off the call.
"You're not going to answer that?" May asked.
"She'll probably just keep complaining about me making her waste her visit to Sinnoh, I'll hear her rants later." Dawn said. "Let's get going."
"I'd like to help girls, but after that ascended Beedrill threatened the whole earth I don't think they'll let us take any flight to Alola." Cynthia said.
"They definitely won't." Skyla nodded. "So I'll be taking you three there, don't worry!"
"Are you sure you can take us?" Dawn asked. "I mean, isn't it illegal or something?"
"It probably is." Skyla laughed. "But this sounds really exciting! I always thought it'd be fun to get into some kind of world saving situation! And as I told you I'm a head pilot, I have some bits of authority. Besides, I've been wanting to see Ash again for a long time."
"I suddenly have a bad feeling about you." May trailed off.
"Either way, I'll go prepare my cargo plane." Skyla continued. "It'll be the safest if that invasion hits us."
"Fine then, were counting on you, Skyla." Cynthia said.
"Let's go kick some alien butt!" Skyla exclaimed.
And that's it! This chapter turned out way longer than I first expected. It is the new longest chapter of the story actually. Been a while since the last trainer battle so here's four, hope I still got the touch.
Acerola is in! Ash now has five girlfriends!
Five stars shining in the heavens! Gosei Sentai! -pose- Dairanger!
That will make sense next chapter. This Alola Arc escalated faster than a Regular Show episode. The Ultra Beasts are coming and Domino is finally facing Ash directly, what's going to happen between the two?
We'll find out in 'Silver Clouds with Grey Lightning'.
Can we take the world back from the heart-attacked?
And in case you're wondering the shiny Ultra Beasts in this fic and the shiny Nigilego from the latest anipoke episode (which was beautiful) is a quite curious coincidence actually.
Also, did you any of you expect to see Selene here? I always thought it'd be funny to introduce her as a sort of rival character to Gloria, as in Gen 7 protagonist vs Gen 8 protagonist.
Quick review answer:
Lycanrogue
Good old days when the story was simpler.
We'll have more of Ash and Lei soon.
I also ship Samcoln.
UltimateCCC
Maybe soon.
Yep, yep.
Reaper36
Aside from the ones already in the harem, the only confirmed girls are the ones that Ash mentioned to Kukui this chapter, those being Roxie, Flannery, Jasmine and Korrina, the rest of the harem isn't decided yet, so any other girl besides them is a maybe, even if some of them seem to have a higher chance, and while I don't take girls requests I love to read what you all have to say in the reviews.
So, tell me guys, who should join the harem in your opinion?
Anyway, have some previews for the next chapter:
"I'M NOT GONNA WEAR PINK!"
"Z-Mode Brace!"
0-0-8# Super Sky Diving!
0-1-1* Aura Power!
0-2-1* Cyber Slider!
0-2-9# Green Ground!
0-3-0# Sagasniper!
0-3-4* Windrive!
0-4-1# All Star Crash!
"My name is Special Duty Officer Jiélā'àolā, I'm the second in command of this invasion."
"Unbreakable body! Ultra BlackKnight!"
"I'm not letting you escape again, Domino!
"Ash, I...I want to be your girlfriend too."
"The lightbane also destroyed my world."
"I'll call off this whole invasion if SM-55-994 and Ash Ketchum defeat me in single combat!"
"I should kill you!" Ash shouted. "I should kill you right now with my own hands!"
Yup, there's a lot going on next time, also both my phone and my computer died while I was writing this chapter, BOTH, I managed to finish this one, but next chapter could take some time until I find replacements.
Holdonlupin is out!
KIRAMEI GOOOOOOO!