Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ The Timetravelers: Who is Ash's Father? ❯ The Celedon Mansion ( Chapter 4 )

Here's another note:
-Adia: she's really Nayana's mom, but we don't like to talk about that. Nope, we don't. Oh, and Ash and co. have met her too already. [This is needed to get the last note from the last part (why Mk looks sick)]

Sorry if Meowth doesn't sound like Meowth too much. I'm not good at accents.

The Timetravelers: WIAF
Part Four: The Celedon Mansion

April 20th still
About an hour later (9 a.m.)

Ash woke up. He felt like he recently had a hot iron on his back, and he had the worst headache of his life. Delia was by the big bed he was on, holding his old clothes. Someone had dressed him up in a suit and shiny black shoes. Was someone trying to make him look like his father?

"Hi. You need to go to the bathroom and jell your hair down; mansion rules." Ash could tell already that he wasn't going to like this place at all. He went to the big bathroom and jelled it down. When he was done, Ash could hardly recognize himself. Jelling his hair down was one of the things that his mom didn't make Ash do, not even for school pictures.

His back still burned around the right shoulder area. What did they do to him? Ash tried to look, but there was gauze wrapped around it. He didn't take it off. Then he walked back into the room he was in before. This room had to be twice the size of his old one, with a big bed and shiny cherry drawers and a little table in the middle with four chairs. His mom was still in the big plushy chair she was in before.

"What's with the strict rules? And what happened to my back?" Ash asked. The last time he checked, no one had done anything to his back.

"The Celedons are strict about how the children are raised here. They want respectable evil children when they grow up. And they branded you earlier while you were still unconscious." She got up and put Ash's old trainer clothes in a bag and hid it in the closet.

"Branded?" Ash asked. That didn't sound too good.

"They brand Celedons. Since you're one, you got branded."

She was about to go more in-depth about the branding, but then Giovanni walked in with three children Ash's age. One looked like a younger version of the Adia lady they'd met in January. She was even wearing the hair in the same style. The boy in the group had brown hair, and the girl did too. They all were wearing nice clothes like Ash.

"Ash, meet your cousins: Nickolas, Angela, and Adia."[1]

"Hello," Nickolas said.

"Nice to meet you," Angela said. She curtsied.

"Want to learn some manners?" Adia smiled. She was holding a whip. Delia gave her a death glare. "Uh, this? I was doing target practice!" Adia put it behind her back.

"Come with me," Giovanni said. They went out of the room. Ash was already picked on because of his imperfect manners. Adia barked out orders to him like she was born to do it. Ash tried, but he still couldn't do what they wanted.

They went though a hallway. There were pictures of people, Pokémon, and both on the walls. Then they went to the library. It was a separate section of the mansion, and it wasn't hard to tell why. It was easily the biggest library Ash had ever been in. The group sat down at a table that had plain black books on it.

"It's study time! Now pick up your books and study! I have to go to Viridian; work calls. See you later." Giovanni gave Delia a hug and she looked happy enough. Ash shrugged and picked up a book. The cover said How to Become a Team Rocket Member. Ash wanted to scream, but he was sure Adia would kill him. He didn't want to work for Team Rocket! But he had to. It was "a Celedon's duty". What's with them and this duty thing?

Ash studied like a good boy, but loathed it the whole time. He hated Team Rocket. Then, the hour of study was over. "Good riddance," Ash thought. But he shouldn't be celebrating quite yet…

Jessie, James and Meowth were walking down the hall. They were Giovanni's personal assistants now; they needed to get out of debt fast, and this was the fastest way to do it.

"I still can't believe he wants us to stay in this mansion!" Jessie said. "Whose idea was it to become his personal assistants?"

"I think it was yours," James said. He got hit on the head with a fan. "Ok, maybe not," he said.

"Maybe if we work really hard, I'll be the top cat again…" Meowth thought. Oh, he could just imagine sitting on the boss's lap, eating sardines like back in the day. Then the boss would pet him and tell him he was the best cat in the world… But then he got that Persian. Darn Persian.

Anyway, they just happened to be told to go to Ash's room. "So the boss had a kid after all," James said.

"I haven't seen his kid before, and the boss never mentioned the kid at all before now. Wonder why?"

They walked in to see Ash and his mom sitting in the room. Jessie gasped. She could tell it was Ash, even though he wasn't in his trainer clothes. The tan skin and those weird marks under his eyes were the same still, and they were the easiest way to identify him. "It's the twerp! What are you doing here?"

"I live here," Ash replied sadly.

"No you don't! Don't you live in that nowhere town?" Jessie asked.

"I used to. Now I'm forced to live out the rest of my life in this place. I'd honestly rather be in Pallet Town, but I have no other choice."

"Are we even in the right room?" James asked, confused.

"Of course you are. You're Giovanni's personal assistants, aren't you?" Delia asked. "We're his family."

Jessie, James and Meowth gasped. They had been following the boss's kid for four years? Man, if he ever found out, he'd probably be pissed…

"Anyway, what do you want us to do?" Jessie asked. That was what they were here for: do what the boss says, or get fired.

"We'll call if we need you. Thanks anyway." They left the room. Now they had to clean up stuff for Giovanni, then go over to his gym and clean there.

"Man, this job is lousy," Meowth said.

Meanwhile, Ash and Delia were still in Ash's new room. There were so many questions Ash wanted to ask, but he wasn't sure where to start.

"Why are we here anyway?" It seemed kind of dumb, but it was best not to start off with difficult questions.

"Your father wanted us back, that's why. Normally I don't think he would of just taken us, but… I don't know. Something must have pushed him over the edge." [2]

"When did you two get together?" Ash was very curious about this. His mom never talked about what happened in her life beyond the age of thirteen, and he always wondered why. What was so bad about her past?

"A long time ago. I was young, just moved to Celedon City, had no friends, fell into the wrong crowd…"

"So why did you run away from here?" Ash asked.

"Do you think you'd ever like this place?" Delia asked.

"No," Ash said. That was an easy question to answer. Ash hadn't been here a day and he already loathed this place.

"That's the reason. I thought running was best for you. I had no clue you'd be so special. I just ran because no child deserved this kind of life…"

"Did he know that you were leaving, or did you just leave?" Ash asked.

"I knew he'd never leave. He always wanted to rule the world, and Team Rocket was the perfect group to do it with. So I just ran one night."

Ash sighed. Sometimes he didn't get his mom at all. "Why get together with him if he wanted to rule the world?"

"You don't understand. That's never really bothered me at all," his mother said. "So what if he'll do anything to take over the world? He still has so many other good qualities…"

Ash sighed again. So his mom doesn't care that his father's trying to take over the world using Pokémon? Weird. And he thought he had pretty much had his mother figured out.

"So are you two getting together again?" Ash asked.

"That's the main reason we're here, I think. I'm assuming that your father wanted me back and he didn't want to leave you behind. That, and everyone's still talking about a Celedon's duty, and you have to fulfill yours one day."

Ash wished he had a normal father. He'd even let Brock be his father at this rate. Why did his father have to be an evil criminal mastermind? Why couldn't it be someone else? He looked down at the ground, not wanting to be here at all.

"I should have never brought you into this," Delia said. "I feel so guilty." Then the room was silent for a while.

"So, did you ever work for Team Rocket?" Ash asked. He wanted to know so badly. It seemed like a good reason to never talk about one's past. Nobody wants to talk about a past with Team Rocket in it.

"Yes, I did, a long time ago." Delia pulled out a picture. It was her in… a psychic grunt's uniform? That confused Ash.

"You're psychic? Or did you just like the blue uniforms?" That would not surprise Ash, not after all he had just heard.

"No, I'm psychic. I never told you. It's weird though; I'm one of the strongest ones ever, and no one in my immediate family is psychic at all."

"I guess…" Ash replied to the comment. They sat in silence some more. Then, it was time for dinner.

Same time
Pallet Town

Everyone was still shocked, even though it was seven o'clock. Misty was still sobbing, but it wasn't so bad now. Pikachu was with her, silent. Everyone else didn't talk unless they needed to. The group seemed subdued without Ash around.

"Do you think they'll ever come back?" May asked.

"We're doing the best we can, but…" Mk said. The Timetravelers were searching for ways to get them back, especially Ash. She wondered about something.

"Professor Oak, do you think Ash is gonna get branded?" she asked.

"Most likely. He is a Celedon, and they have that duty thing."

"What duty thing?" Max asked, wondering what Ash's duty was.

"All Celedons must serve Team Rocket. I feel so special; I don't have to serve Team Rocket, but my mum still branded me." She showed everyone her upper right shoulder blade. There was a pretty rose on her back. Under it read Celedon, symbolizing that she was a full-blooded Celedon.

"Cool! Did it hurt?" Max asked.

"Oh yah. I was conscious and everything." She looked up at the ceiling. The memory hurt so much. "My mum was pissed that I got adopted, so she decided to brand me to make my life difficult. I got it shortly after we all parted in Hoenn. To her, it was my punishment. I don't understand why she even bothered. The Celedons might take it the wrong way, and the conspiracy might be discovered. And trust me, serving in Team Rocket is one thing I don't want to do in my lifetime. I'll stick with the Timetravelers."

"So Ash is gonna get it too?" Max asked. Mk nodded. She knew that Giovanni would have to. Misty looked horrified. She didn't want Ash to suffer like that. Getting branded wasn't right! Plus, that would ruin his perfectly good back! Then she sobbed because she wanted Ash back with her where he was safe. That, and he still owed her a date…

The Other Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, unfortunately. Do you think a psycho like me would? It wouldn't be a kid's show… wait, that's a lie. Just not this part; the kiddy-ness of Pokémon is part of the fun. If it were all like this, it would be sad, just like the song that I'm listening to right now. It's pretty instrumental music from Inuyasha.

Notes:

[1] Think. Mk's mother is Ash's cousin. Mk never knew that at all. That's why she was sick. And yes, this is the incest I mentioned.[Author's notes: The Beginning... wait, you can't see them anymore. Sorry. It was one of my warnings there] It was a pure accident… it happened to be incest when I changed my idea… oh well. It's not a big deal to me.

[2] Need a better explanation? Ok, here it is. When Lucille let the good Giovanni free, the other one was actually kind of afraid, but it was more like jealous. He thought that maybe if that Giovanni was around, Delia wouldn't love him anymore (that is, if she still loved him…). So he kidnapped them. Simple as that.