How to Train Your Pokémon

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How to Train Your Pokémon

A/N: Okay, I think this is the chapter that is the longest so far, the most epic and has the most bombs dropped. But I hope you guys like stuff like that, because I have worked a few days on this.

Now, let's get on with Chapter 20! Roll it!

Chapter 20

Answers Received

After the Ketchum family finally broke the heartwarming hug, Ash looked over to where Aiden was standing. He tilted his head slightly, like a curious Pokémon. "Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked him.

Aiden was a little surprised that the Chief of the Trainer faction, thought to be long dead, was speaking to him. He cleared his throat to erase any nervousness. "I'm Aiden Newton, Chief." He introduced himself.

Ash then took in the Newton boy's auburn hair and dark blue eyes. "You're Ritchie's boy, aren't you?" He asked him.

Aiden's eyes widened slightly. The three Ketchum siblings looked between their father and their friend. They slightly remembered Aiden's father, Ritchie Newton. Mari then remembered something else about him. He was taken hostage when she and Aiden were about ten years old. It was sometime after his capture that Aiden completely turned her away.

Aiden nodded slowly. "You knew him?" He asked.

Ash nodded at him with a fond smile. "He and I have been pretty close friends since we were kids, even younger than all of you now." He said. "If I had a brother, it would be him." Ash then looked between Aiden and his daughter. "And it seems that you two are pretty close still, even after all this time."

Mari and Aiden looked at each other and smiled bashfully. They remembered that when they were little, their parents would bring them together for playdates. Even after Ash and Pikachu got captured, Dawn still brought her children to play with the Newton kids.

It was after Ritchie's disappearance that the playdates stopped altogether. Aiden avoided Mari like the plague, Keira and Luke lost touch for a while, but then Keira became heavily infatuated with him. The only childhood friendship that remained was Jenna and Evan's.

Pikachu then came into the conversation. "Also, Sparky and I were left as caretakers watching over you two little tykes."

"Sparky?" Luke asked.

"Ritchie's Pikachu." Ash explained.

Aiden was now completely floored, and his knees started to wobble. His father owned a Pikachu? However, the more that he thought about it, the more he remembered a yellow blur on his father's shoulder, similar to Mari's own memory of her father and his Pikachu. But instead of saying "Pika", he said "Spar-ka." Was he trying to say "Sparky"?

"I think I remember something about Sparky." He said.

Ash smiled. "Well, you were just a little toddler like Mari, about the same age." He said. "I've learned about what happened to the Pokémon after Pikachu and I were captured."

"Was Sparky one of the Pokémon that was sent away?" Aiden asked.

Ash nodded. "He told me once he and Ritchie were brought here." He said.

Aiden's heart leapt joyfully for the second time that night. "My dad's here?" He asked, a hopeful smile on his face. Mari had a small grin on her own face when she saw that. It had been a long while since she had seen him smile like that.

Ash nodded his head again. "But he's not here right now." He said. "He is probably still in interrogation."

"For what?" Evan asked. "And what exactly is this place?"