Castle Reunion

“Ughhh…. Big brother, did you actually have to wake us up so early?”

 

Elise was trying her best to rub the sleep in her eyes, though it only seemed to make her more tired. Leo tried his best to not show that he was still sleepy. However though, both Camilla and Satoshi yawned in tiredness as they had simply wanted to go back to bed.

 

Unlike them though, Xander was the only one who seemed ready for the day and was basically the only one to be fully dressed in their usual attire.

 

“I apologize for waking you so early, however you must remember today is the celebration for the best trainers to come and meet the royal family in order to begin our judgement of our isolated state here. We have to start cleaning early enough so no one feels uncomfortable during the celebration,” the older man explained. The other three could only groan as they already imagine how much work Xander wanted to put in making sure the castle is very well kept.

 

“Can we at least sleep a little bit longer? I know the event is really important but it won’t even begin till the sun starts going down and the sun hasn’t even come up yet,” the youngest grumbled. The other three tried their best but they all pretty much felt the same.

 

The king could only shake his head. He did have to admit, he did wake them up rather early for any real preparations to get done. Besides that, the family’s retainers as well some of the children don’t even arrive until noon so they can help out and settle in for the party.

 

“Fair enough. I still have plenty of my own duties to attend to early so the rest of you can rest easy for several more hours. I’ll have Jakob, Felicia, Flora, and Gunter to wake you all before the rest arrive to help for preparation. Please use the time to have some good rest. We have a long day ahead of us,”

 

The younger siblings can only nod as the oldest simply headed back to the center of the castle.

 

The three headed back up to their own bedrooms to rest easy before they finally had to get up.

 

--

 

‘Betrayal…’

 

He backed up away from his brothers until he was away from possible victims.

 

‘Betrayal….’

 

His heart was beating rapidly. He practically heard the beating drumming against his own ears. Tears wound up in his eyes, but nevertheless spread his arms out as if he knew what was coming to him even if it didn’t ease him in the slightest.

 

‘I AM BETRAYAL!’

 

“Satoshi!? Are you okay!?”

 

The dark haired boy gasped for breath as he immediately sat up when his voice was being called. It sounded so distant before feeling like he finally heard it next to him.

 

Felicia only gave a surprised expression as she didn't expect for her master to wake up in such a state. 

 

Satoshi sighed as he rubbed his head from an oncoming headache.

 

“I'm fine, Felicia. I was remembering some memories.”

 

“You mean with your brothe--”

 

“Yes,” the dark haired man simply said as the pink hair maid quickly got the mood and kept quiet about it any further.

 

“A-anyway. King Xander ordered for you and the others to meet up with everyone at the main hall in about forty five minutes,” the female explained before she made her way out, though not before glancing at her master to make sure he was okay before finally closing the door and exiting.

 

Satoshi sighed as he rubbed his face. It's been nearly three years since the war between Nohr and Hoshido and he still had clear memories of it to this day. Memories of the final battle cling to him more than anything. He actually died before the start of it. Everything about his vision before he came back was so surreal, waking up to Xander and Leo's surprised expressions, Camilla holding onto him like a mother, Elise crying her eyes out, and the pokemon that he had at the time surrounding them either crying or mourning.

 

However, he could never forget the face of the one they had to battle at the end of it all.

 

As much as he felt that his decision was just, even till this day he felt so much grief and regret.

 

“Hey, watch where you’re-- Oh! Satoshi dear, I didn’t realize it was you.”

 

He quickly backed from his thoughts to look at the blonde hair, blue eyed woman in front of him. She may look absolutely beautiful, though one mustn’t mess with her if her growing muscular physique wasn’t one’s first clue, even if she carried such an innocent and finicky façade.

 

Of course there was no one else fitting to be queen of the Nohrian throne with someone as strong and diligent as King Xander.

 

“Ah, Charlotte, I apologize. I’m just…” Satoshi mumbled his words as he tried his best to excuse himself. However, the blonde didn’t seem to mind as she took hold of the prince’s hand and gave him an assuring look.

 

“It’s quite alright, You were thinking about your younger brother again weren’t you?” she questioned in a much softer tone. The male could only nod at the response.

 

“Hey, don’t beat yourself so much about it. You had no control of the situation. None of us did. We all followed Garon’s orders so we wouldn’t have been found out. No one would’ve suspected anything the moment we got into the throne room, and we sure as hell wouldn’t have known that last battle was going to happen. We couldn’t have saved him that day in the throne room, he was already dead when he fell from the fort. You tried so much for both sides, even when you had to follow orders. We never had a leader so rash and ruthless...but at the same time so caring and worried over everyone he cares about.”

 

The dark haired prince could only smile at the older woman’s words. To think three years back she kept up having an innocent façade and was a brutal warrior on the battlefield at the same time and didn’t really care much for anyone unless it was of monetary gain that she desperately wanted for her family. Here she is now, while still keeping a bit of her façade in the public eye, she’s both caring and harsh around those she cares for. She’s matured into her role in the royal family so well.

 

“Thank you for that, Charlotte. Either way, the tournament is rather close and such thoughts shouldn’t distract me in the present. I should use them to my strength rather than live in regret,” he answered.

 

The blonde woman nodded. “Glad to see you’re feeling a lot better. What do you say we head out to meet everyone else?”

 

Throughout the afternoon once the royal family, retainers, their children, and maids and butlers had gathered, everyone immediately went to work with decorations and set up in the ballroom of the main hall of the castle. The ballroom was immensely large to say the least as it was always used for events where many nobles across the kingdom of Nohr gathered.

 

Several of the maids had gone off to keep in order of many of the guest rooms scattered throughout the castle. The family decided to take it upon themselves to let as many, if not, all their guests stay overnight if they decided to keep on with the celebration through the night and wish not take the rather long trek back into town and to the villas. As long as their guests didn’t wander to the family’s quarters or the grand hall of the castle, the family didn’t have much of a problem with guests staying over night.

 

Eventually the time came as the sun started setting. Slowly but surely the visitors started arriving.

 

First was those of the Hoenn region. This included the gym leaders, the Elite Four, and the champion, Steven Stone, along with the regional professor, Professor Birch.

 

Next came those of the Kalos region along with champion Diantha and Professor Sycamore.

 

Following was the Sinnoh region. This included Professor Rowan along with a familiar man with his lengthy lavender hair up in a ponytail that stood as the champion.

 

Soon came the Johto region, including the champion Lance and Professor Elm.

 

Next was the Unova region though aside from Professor Juniper was a girl with long brunette hair in twintails.

 

Eventually came in the Frontier Brains of the Kanto Battle Frontier along with Scott, who made sure they all kept in line with their duties and searched for any trainers willing to participate against the Battle Frontier.

 

Second to last was the Kanto region. Among them was Misty and Brock and a young brunette girl among the gym leaders, Professor Oak and Gary, who stood beside them though with a rather sour look he tried to maintain.

 

Finally coming in last was those of the Alola region. With them was the Trial Captains, the Island Kahunas, Elite Four, Professor Kukui and a very young girl with short dark hair.

 

Every one of them were all wearing some form of semi-casual to formal clothing as they each group were led into the ballroom by Felicia, Flora, and Jakob.

 

It was a rather daunting experience for all of them as they had to cut across to a different area of the castle to the ballroom, being led by a rather narrow bridge with a large, deep crater at the bottom.

 

Eventually though, everyone made it fine to the ballroom, taking in all the beautifully crafted decorations and rather large size of the ballroom.

 

“What a wonderfully crafted place. I say overall this castle is one of the finest structures I’ve seen in years,” Steven was the first to say as everyone else was still in awe of the beautiful room.

 

“I’m glad you seem to enjoy the design. This castle has been here for decades, centuries even, even since the first of the royal family decided to settle here.”

 

Everyone turned to the new voice behind them towards the entrance of the ballroom. It was a rather large group of people unfamiliar to them, but amongst them was in fact the Pokemon League Association president himself, Charles Goodshow.

 

“Good evening. I’m so glad that everyone of you made it to this celebration. Before the ceremony of the tournament starts in a few more days, I wanted you all to have a rather formal welcome with the royal family of the kingdom for allowing themselves in letting people outside the continent of their kingdom to enter and host the World Tournament. They’ve been working diligently alongside their league members and the Pokemon League Association in preparation of this tournament,” Goodshow explained before the oldest of the family stepped forward.

 

“I deeply apologize for our league’s lack of show tonight. Not only do they have their duties for the league, but the kingdom as well, which includes to resolve any types of conflict or agreements with neutral countries near the borders. They’re currently handling an agreement out in Nestra, a neutral kingdom south of Windmire within the Nohrian border. You can expect them to arrive in time of the ceremony,” the blonde man explained, allowing for each regional league to take in the explanation.

 

“With that out of the way, I believe the family would now like to introduce themselves to you all,” added Goodshow before he stepped aside to let the large group show themselves to everyone.

 

First of them came the young blonde twintail girl with streaks of lavender in her hair. She wore a pink and lavender dress that reached her knees adorned by ruffles and bows. Behind her were both a blonde man and woman.

 

The blonde man was very muscular, but was mostly covered by the suit he wore with a red and blue striped tie. The blonde woman beside him also had a rather muscular physique and also wore a suit, but unlike the larger man, her jacket was open and she lacked a tie of any sorts.

 

“Good evening, everyone! My name is Elise and I’m the youngest princess. Behind me are my retainers, Arthur and Effie. I really hope you enjoy your time tonight here!”

 

Next was the short haired blonde male wearing a suit with the jacket open revealing a maroon vest and navy tie. Behind him was an older platinum shaggy haired male with an eye patch on his right eye and mainly wore a dress shirt with a light navy vest and black tie and dress pants. The other was a messy short haired blond male who wore clothes similarly to the white haired man beside him, except his vest was a dark red and had a golden colored tie.

 

“Greetings to everyone tonight. I am Leo and I am the youngest prince of the family. Behind me are my own retainers as well, Niles and Odin. Any questions you have, you’re more than welcome to approach me about them afterwards.”

 

Following was a very beautiful lavender haired woman wearing a simple, sleeveless long black dress with slit on her right side from her thigh down. Behind her came a woman with short teal hair wearing a suit with an open jacket, black vest and gray tie. Next to her was a red haired twintail woman wearing a black and maroon dress with a bow on the side of her waist.

 

“Welcome to our lovely home and kingdom. You may call me Camilla, the eldest princess of the family. Behind me are my darling retainers Beruka and Selena. Please treat them and the rest of us well and enjoy the festivities.”

 

The next caught the eyes of many. His unusual features showed and yet he looked all too familiar. The ebony haired male wore a suit with the jacket open revealing a dark gray vest and silver tie. Behind him were the long pink haired maid in her usual attire and a man with green hair that was a bit longer than normal wearing a dress shirt and pants with a forest green vest and maroon tie.

 

“Pleased to meet everyone here. My name is Satoshi and I'm the middle prince of the family. Behind me are my retainers Felicia and Kaze. Please do know that although we have maids and butlers, they are treated as family so please respect them as such.”

 

Several were confused by the strange request. Though others picked up that it was possible past guests have probably treated the maids and butlers as servants rather than normal people just doing their job.

 

“That’s the guy from earlier along with the maid. So he really is one of the princes afterall.”  whispered Misty towards Brock, though it was obvious from her tone that she did not like that prince at all.

 

Finally came forward the blonde man from before. He wore a suit with a maroon vest and a dark red tie. Beside him was a lovely woman with long blonde hair adorned in a pearly white bow. She wore a long white and ice blue dress with ruffles below the waist. Behind the pair was a man with dark gray hair wearing dress pants and shirt with a gray vest and navy blue tie. Next to him was a rather strange woman with teal blue hair in twintails with bubblegum pink color on her tips and bangs. She wore a light gray suit with a near white vest and light gold tie.

 

“As previously said by my siblings, it is a pleasure for you all to be here. I am Xander, eldest brother and crowned King of Nohr. Beside me is my wife and Queen, Charlotte, and behind me are my retainers, Laslow and Peri. I hope you enjoy this evening. Guest rooms have been prepared for any and all who do not wish to leave if it gets too late into the night. All is asked that everyone stays within the main hall and guest room areas. Thank you for being here and once again, enjoy the celebration.”

 

Soon enough everyone, as well as those who weren't formally introduced scattered about as either one went for food, sat down, danced or were talking with the royal family.

 

“Satoshi! Leo! Camilla!” the three turned from their conversations to see two familiar people approach them.

 

“Prof. Kukui. Luna. It's been awhile,” started Satoshi as the Alolan professor and dark haired girl came over.

 

“It surely has. Probably since after you all helped Luna and Lillie out with Hapu at Poni Island,” answered the professor.

 

“I didn't think we'd have an experience such as that for our first vacation outside the continent, though with our luck, something was bound to happen eventually,” commented the blonde prince.

 

“How has sweet little Lillie been? I heard she left Alola after our departure,” questioned Camilla.

 

“Mmhm. She sent me a letter the other day that her mom has been recovering well during their stay in Kanto. It'll probably be a few more months before they come back. She even said she befriended and caught her very own Pokemon so she can travel around the region till her mom is fully recovered. She also told me good luck in the tournament, that she'll be watching it and she sent letters to Hau and Gladion. I heard they're competing in the tournament too,” explained Luna.

 

“Familiar faces are always welcomed here. I send my regards to my darling Lillie and her mother,” responded Camilla. She has always had an affinity to the blonde ever since they met her with Luna on Melemele Island. Just like towards several others, Camilla was very motherly and protective of Lillie every time they saw her. When she saw Lusamine for the first time, the lavender haired woman nearly resented the woman but still took Lillie’s feelings into consideration.

 

“Satoshi, I heard you and Hapu still keep quite the contact,” spoke Prof. Kukui in a teasing manner. The ebony haired prince blushed lightly from embarrassment while the others in the group laughed at the teasing.

 

“It's not like that. We just like talking and giving each other advice on how we raise our pokemon.”

 

“Oh let them say what they want. You know when we start getting farther into the tournament then we'll see who's teasing who now,” speak of the devil, the group look towards the Poni Island Kahuna making her way to them wearing a simple short sleeved dress shirt and pants.

 

“Your timing is always impeccable I see,” Leo commented with a scoff though in a joking manner.

 

“So what's this about your league being here till the ceremony?” The small teen lifted a brow in amusement with both Kukui and Luna giving questioning looks to the trio as well. Unlike the other regions, the members of the Alola League as well as the Kahunas and a few of the Trial Captains were very aware of Nohr's league recently due to the constant contact.

 

“Quite simple really. We want everyone else to be just as surprised as the audience for the ceremony. Though not only that, we’re planning to reveal Satoshi's past identity to figure out what impact it brought to other regions. Mr. Goodshow said he made quite an impact from what he told him and Xander, but we're still not aware to the extent,” explained Camilla.

 

“I see what you mean. I still remember eleven years ago when I received an email from Kanto’s professor over a desperate need of a missing trainer by the name of Ash Ketchum. I never responded or questioned the email further as I was only starting out as a professor and was very focused on my research at the time,” explained the Alolan professor.

 

“This whole mystery over Satoshi’s past identity is just becoming more confusing every time some new information is brought up. Nothing is really adding up and why is Goodshow so bent on not telling us anything about this past information…” Leo mumbled on though before he could continue on his rambles, another had decided to approach the group.

 

“Pardon me to interrupt, but may I ask Prince Satoshi a few questions?” The group turned to see a woman with magenta hair in a ponytail with pink framed glasses wearing a sleeveless black blouse and black dress pants with thin orange lines on the sides and orange heels.

 

“I don’t believe we’ve gotten a proper introduction,” Camilla stated in a cautious manner.

 

“Oh, my apologies for my manners. I’m Malva of the Kalos Elite Four as well as a reporter on my off time. I wanted to ask a few questions to each of the royal family individually. I’ve already gotten my answers from King Xander, I just thought to pick out Prince Satoshi next for a few questions.”

 

“Very well. I’m sure you rather get back to activities of the evening than drag on asking questions of us,” Satoshi smiled at the woman’s reasoning.

 

“On the contrary, this is part of my job that I do enjoy. I promise it won’t take too long though,” the elite began to lead the ebony haired male to a more secluded area of the room. The group all had their own different expressions as the woman made off with the prince.

 

“I want to know if you and anyone else in your family have traveled outside the continent.”

 

“Yes. Recently about a year and a half ago Leo, Camilla, and I had traveled out to Alola for a vacation though we all wound up with some complications with events that were going on there at the time,” the dark haired trainer explained without putting much detail to the whole ordeal with Team Skull and the Aether Foundation. 

 

“Alright. This may seem like an odd question, but do you know of someone by the name of Ash Ketchum?”

 

From a distance, Xander had overheard the interview going on and could only give a stern look at their direction of the Elite Four’s question.

 

“I’m sorry to say, but I do not know of such a person. May I ask why?” The prince was genuinely curious about what she knew.

 

“Unfortunately I don’t know all the details of his impact in the other regions aside from his performances in the leagues, however, he’s made quite a name for himself in the Kalos region. Around eleven years ago he was the finalist in the Kalos League, just shy of winning with his team that consisted of a Pikachu, Talonflame, Noivern, Hawlucha, Goodra, and a Greninja that was able to perform an evolution unlike mega evolution known as the bond phenomenon. Not only that, he was one of the main people to take charge in defeating Team Flare. You can get the gist why he’s of importance.

 

“Sadly it was heard when he arrived back home in the Kanto region, he had completely disappeared not even a few days after. There were reports circulating around the six regions from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos and not very good reports to say the least. It was said that the regional professor of Kanto accused him of pokemon abuse from his pokemon left behind at the time. However, unlike most professors and champions at the time who absolutely believed it and went on a frenzy to search, I knew there was something suspicious about the claim. I, along with many, are still looking for him, wanting to uncover the real truth to it all.”

 

Satoshi at that point was in disbelief, trying to process everything that was told. However even with so much new information given…

 

‘I don’t…remember any of that. It feels like I’m listening to the story of a completely different person…’

 

“I can understand your worry,” he finally uttered a word and looked at the magenta haired woman, “I can assure you if we ever come across this person, we’ll be sure to let you know immediately. I’m sure he would prefer to encounter a familiar face.”

 

Malva gave a smile at the prince. It was strange, everything about this man resembled that to who she was looking for, even if the prince seems to carry himself more with both a strong and regal air on him. He seemed awfully wise for his years.

 

“Thank you so much. I believe your answers will suffice. I should go finish up my questions for the others. I hope you enjoy your night, Prince Satoshi,” the woman did a small bow to excuse herself before making her way to Satoshi’s group to pick one of the other two siblings next for questions.

 

“I didn’t expect we would get so much information from that encounter.” The prince turned to see the eldest royal near him outside of earshot of some of the champions he was previously speaking to.

 

“So much information, yet it only raises more questions to this mystery of lost identity. If...Ash is said to be praised for doing so much for these regions, why would he be accused for something he might have not even done?”

 

“It’s possible something personal must have happened between him and the professor who gave those accusations,” the blonde paused as his eyes locked to the Kanto professor from another side of the room, “Will you be ready to deal with everything being thrown at you once you’re revealed at the ceremony?”

 

Satoshi only sighed. After what Malva had explained to him, everything was surely going to be much more difficult for him to deal with when a life he doesn’t even remember is announced to all who’ll be watching the tournament. It’s easy to say he won’t have much privacy over the next few weeks or even time to figure everything out to trigger any memories.

 

He surely didn’t want anything drastic again to happen to finally trigger past memories.

 

“I’m not so sure honestly. However, I have to at least be ready with whatever faces me when that happens.”

 

“Well put. If you need any assistance or just make sure no one makes you uncomfortable from the situation, we’ll all be there for you.”

 

The prince nodded his head. “Thank you, Xander. What would I do without a family like you all?”

--

 

A/N: maybe i should like not update nearly once a month on this?

 

anyway, i don't have much to say for this chapter. it isn't heavily editing from the original draft like the other two chapters, thankfully. hopefully i wont take a whole month to update the next chapter, though the original draft was only about a quarter of the way done but hopefully i'll get through with it.

 

next chapter will be the "last" pre-tournament chapter. i say in quotations as the chapter after the next will be the ceremony and exhibition match. the actual tournament will start on chapter six along with actually moving the plot of the story itself.

 

i...still have no idea who ash will end up with in the end or if i'm just going to stick with the original ship i planned in the original drafts to this. i'll see the more i move the story along.

 

anyway thanks for reading.

 

-Rae