"So how has your life been Ashton?" Natasha asked her son.
Ashton blanched when he heard his mother ask this, he knew that it would not be wise to lie to the very powerful pokemon but he also knew that the information he would give her would make her very angry indeed. He looked to his father for help.
"Just tell her everything Ashton, it is better to tell her the truth." Aaron said, he knew that his wife would not be very happy with the information she would hear but he also knew that it was not a good idea to lie or keep things from his wife.
"Why do you I get the feeling that I am not going to like what I hear?" Natasha asked, she had seen the looks between her son and her husband. Melody, her daughter-in-law, had gone to her domain to give the family some time to get to know one another more.
And so they both told her everything. They told her about Delia the woman who raised Ashton, they told her of all the adventures and pokemon Ashton met on his journeys, they told her of all the friends he had made and how they had betrayed him and then they told her about the journey to find his true father as well as all the pokemon they met along the way.
"How dare they treat a Prince of Auran this way!" Natasha yelled, she was very angry with what she was hearing. The story had started very well and she liked that her son had made friends with both humans and pokemon, but after that she got angrier with every word that was said.
"Not defending them or anything but they didn't know I was a Prince, I didn't even know I was one until only a few months ago." Ashton said, he was not going to defend them but he did have to thank them for giving him a life he had always wanted but just didn't know he wanted.
"It is still wrong to treat other humans the way you have been treated! Sometimes I wonder why I keep them on this planet." Natasha was in full mother Arceus mode, it showed her power and anger to all those who were looking at her.
"Because it is the best thing for everyone, love you know that all pokemon love to battle and they can only do that when there are trainers." Aaron said, he knew something like this would happen.
"I know that, but I don't have to be happy about it." Natasha said calming down.
"None of us are happy about it mom, if it were up to me I would have just good humans and pokemon living in this world, but we can't do things on that big of a scale." Ashton said with a sad smile, he had accepted that there was always going to be bad and evil people in the world even if he didn't like it.
"There is one more thing you should know my sweet." Aaron said with a sheepish look on his face, Natasha turned to her son for an answer when she saw it was not coming from her love.
"And what is that?" Natasha asked.
Ashton blanched and backed away from his mother a little before he spoke. "Those people who betrayed me, they are here right now in this tournament." Ashton said quickly, but his mother was able to hear every word.
"What they are here right now?! Why were they allowed here in the first place!?" She yelled.
"Ah that was your son's idea, he thought that he would use Ashton as a cover to show how powerful he was and then he would reveal himself as once being Ash Ketchum to prove to those who thought him weak that he is strong." Aaron explained.
"Actually that is a good idea. This would show the world and the people how powerful you were and it would show those who doubted you how wrong they were. I like this plan." Natasha said, she smiled when she heard the sighs of relief from her son and husband.
"Let's take a walk around the Palace, it has been a long time since you have been here my love." Aaron said with a smile, he took her hand and they began to walk to the door of the room they were in.
"Son, why don't you call your wife? I would love to get to know her better." Natasha said with a smile, which only widened when she saw the bright eyed look her son was giving her.
"Melody, you can come out!" Ashton yelled. When the bright light died down the second female Arceus came out of the Pokeball, a few moments later and there was a young woman standing in her place.
"Nice to see you again Miss." Melody said bowing her head.
"There is no need to greet me so formally, you are my son's wife and therefore you have the right to call me mother also." Natasha said with a smile on her face.
"Same goes for me Melody, you have the right to call me father also." Aaron put in, Ashton was very happy that his parents seemed to love his wife almost as much as he did.
"Thank you mum, dad." Melody said testing the words on her tongue, she didn't know how to have parents so she had never called anyone those words before.
And with that said they made their way around the Palace. Aaron and his wife were holding hands, while Ashton was doing the same thing with his own wife. They were walking side by side and pointing out certain things about the Palace.
Once the Palace was covered they moved to the Gardens, the most loved place to the King, the Prince and his wife as well as the advisors and the people of Auran.
"Wow it is so beautiful." Natasha said with a smile, she never remembered a Garden being here all those years ago.
"Apparently the old advisors had this Garden put together for us, when you were supposedly dead and I disappeared from the Kingdom they thought the worst had happened. They took on the crown together and ran the Kingdom in our stead, but they did not want the people to forget about the King, his Queen and their little Prince." Aaron said, he then looked to Ashton to continue the story.
"So they built this Garden with the flowers that they knew you two loved, there are statues of you two in your human forms as well as in your pokemon forms, there is even a statue of me as a child being held by the both of you." Ashton said, pointing in the direction to where the statues were located.
"What are they building now?" Natasha asked when she saw all the carving equipment.
"There will be a human form to Ashton and Melody as well as their pokemon forms as well as the updated version of me and you, they wanted the whole family to be up to date." Aaron said, he had been filled with happiness when the townspeople came and asked him about this.
"I love it." Natasha said, it was the most beautiful place in the whole of Auran.
"Wow how gorgeous is this place?" A female voice said from behind them, one that Ashton easily recognised.
"What are they doing here? They are not allowed inside the Palace." Aaron said, he was casting looks to his wife to make sure that she was still beside him.
"Who are they?" Natasha asked confused.
"Those are the people who betrayed me, they were invited here from outside of Auran and know they are not allowed to be inside the Palace grounds." Ashton said before he and Melody walked over to the group, Aaron and Natasha not far behind them.
"What are you doing here?" Aaron demanded.
The kids before the group all jumped around to see who had spoken to them, when they saw who it was their eyes narrowed in hate.
"We were just having a look around the place, you said that was okay." Dawn said with a smirk, the King had said visitors were allowed to explore the area as long as they did not take anything or any pokemon from where they looked.
"If you remember we said that you can go around the town, you and all those who are not from Auran are forbidden from entering into the Palace grounds." Ashton said, he could see his mother was getting angry with the group before them.
"We are not in the Palace grounds." Serena said, looking at Ashton like he was a fool.
"Oh really, look how close to the Palace you are." Melody said. She watched as the group did as she told them, she smiled brightly when she saw how they reacted to the Palace being so close to them.
"I swear we didn't know we were this close!" May yelled out, she kept on looking around as if looking for something or someone.
"The Palace is big enough for you to see!" Natasha said with a sneer. As soon as Brock saw the girl he was on his knees in front of her and asking her out, this made Ashton and Aaron very mad with the dark-skinned boy.
"Get away from my wife!" Aaron yelled.
"Get away from my mother!" Ashton yelled, both of these sentences being said at the same time.
"We were told the Queen was killed by hunters." Cilan said.
"She was hunted for some unknown reason, but she was able to escape. She has only just returned because she thought we were both dead." Aaron said with a sneer to the group. First they betray his son, then the eldest goes after his son's love and now he went after his own love, Aaron was not impressed.
"I seriously hope you are not doing this to every woman that you meet Brock, if I get too many complaints then we will have no choice but to make you leave this place." Ashton said with a hidden smirk.
"You can't do that, he had already signed into the tournament he can only leave when it is completed." Iris said, she had studied battles and tournament rules so she knew what she was talking about.
"That maybe how things are done in other tournaments but this is unlike any you have ever faced before, the rules are a whole lot different." Aaron said.
"Now leave, you are not welcome in this area of the Kingdom." Natasha said, it was taking all of her willpower not to blast these children of the face of the Earth.
"Before we do, could we ask a favour?" Dawn asked her head was bowed.
"Depending on what it is." Aaron said in return.
"Would someone be able to go and collect a friend of ours? She has not been able to make it when the tournament began and she really wants to see us battle." Clemont asked the family.
"Very well, what is her name?" Aaron asked, he didn't want to help the group but he didn't want anything to go wrong until his son was ready to reveal himself.
"Delia Ketchum." May replied.
Ashton had to hold in his sneer at the mention of the woman he once thought was his mother. "We will send someone for her when she arrives, let the advisors know when she has reached the entrance and someone will be sent to collect her." Ashton said with a barely hidden sneer.
And with that the groups headed in opposite directions.