Ash 17
Serena 17

Four years before tournament

It's early in the morning in Pallet town, all is quiet. That is until a large Charizard breaks the silence as he comes in for a landing in front of is trainers childhood home. This trainer was none other than the Alola champion Ash Ketchum. "Good work Charizard, you probably just woke up the entire town," Ash said sarcastically as he climbed off. Charizard just grined, he wasn't one to be subtle, especially after he helped Ash win the title of Alola Champion he would let the whole region know he was there if he could. Ash just shook his head as he helped his girlfriend and Alola Queen Serena off of Charizard. Ash then walked to the door and tried to open it, it was locked. Ash wasn't surprised, it was still early enough that she might not have woken up yet. Ash then pulled out his key and tried to unlock the door, "That's weird." "What is it." "My key isn't working." "Could she have changed the lock?" "Maybe. MOM," Ash yelled for his mother and started banging on the door. Soon Ash heard some noise from inside the house and soon the was thrown open by a man he had never seen before. "What in the hell do you think your doing kid, do you have any idea what time it is," the man said angrily. "Who are you? What are you doing in my house? Where's my mom?" Ash questioned, very confused about what was going on. "This my house, I bought in on foreclosure about six months ago. As for your mother I have no clue, I never met her." the man said much more calm realizing Ash's confusion. "Thank you, sorry to bother you." Ash said as he turned and began to walk away, concerned and confused about what's happening. "Ash, we'll find her. We'll ask around, somebody must know something." Serena said, trying to be optimistic. "Your right, and I know exactly who to ask first. Charizard, take us to professor Oaks lab," said Ash with a determined tone that could inspire anyone.

Charizard flew at great speed, knowing the urgency of the situation. Soon they arrived at professor Oaks lab, with Charizard letting out an even louder roar than before to let the professor know they were there. As Ash was helping Serena off of Charizard someone who wasn't professor Oak came out side. "Ash where have you been? I've been searching all the regions looking for you," said Gary, excited to see his old friend. "I heard what those bastards said to you. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to have your back." Gary said. "It's ok, I wasn't alone," Ash said as he looked to Serena. "I can see that," Gary said as he checked out Serena. This didn't go unnoticed by Ash, "Gary focus, where's my mom?" Gary's expression changed quickly, "You should come inside, gramps knows more about that then I do."

The group walked into professor Oaks home and into the kitchen where the professor was drinking coffee and reading the local news paper. "Gramps, we've got visitors." Gary said gesturing to Ash and Serena. Professor Oak looked up from his news paper and saw Ash and Serena, "Ash, Serena, it's good to see you two again. Oh and congratulations to the two of you, professor Kukui has been keeping me updated on you two. Alola Champion and Alola Queen, quite the accomplishments," said the professor as he walked up to them and gave them both a hug. "Thanks professor," Ash's expression quickly changed to one of concern, "professor, do you know where my mother is?" The professor knew this was going to happen and dreded being the one to tell Ash, but knew he had to. "You should all sit down, it's a bit of a long story." After they all took a seat he began, "according to your mother it started about a month after you left. She said she checked her bank account on her computer before she paid her bills and saw all her money from her checking and savings were cleaned out. She said she went to the bank and they did and investigation. A few days later they called her, telling her all the money was transferred to a bank in the Hoenn region, when they called that bank they said the account was drained and closed the same day. They have no idea who did it, but that your mother's money was gone. They opened her another account and she transferred some money from your trainers account to pay her bills, but before she could the money was gone again. This time the money was moved to a bank in the Unova region before the account was cleaned out. They said the money was taken in less than an hour, so whoever it was was defiantly targeting your mother. She tried again, this time with another bank, same thing happened. She didn't even go home to find out, she moved the money in using her cell phone and then tried to just withdraw the money out right away but it was gone within minutes. That bank gave her the same story as the other except this time the money went to a bank in the Sinnoh region. I contacted the banks and offered my services, I was going to use one of my trainers Porygon, but they wouldn't allow it saying that it would be a breach of there security. Your mother tried using her credit card at first, but after two months of bills and no way to pay it off it was maxed. She had a yard sale to try and make some money, but it wasn't enough. I offered to help and give her money, but she refused. She said she didn't want to get me targeted also, combine that with the fact she seemed very scared, I think she knew who was behind this. I still managed to get her to come here for most of her meals, this way she didn't have to worry about food. After four months of this the bank foreclosed on her house, I offered for her to stay here but see refused again. She only asked that I took care of Mimey and held onto a few box's of your things. I don't know exactly where she is now, only that she's somewhere in Veridian city. She hoped she would be able to find a job there that would pay her enough to survive on."

Ash quietly listened to the story, after the professor was done Ash's heart was racing and his fists were clenched tight. Serena noticed this and put her hand on his to calm him down, that worked a little, just enough for him to speak. "Thank you professor," with that said Ash stood up and began to walk out. "Ash where are you going," the professor Asked. "Veridian city, my mother's there somewhere, I'm going to find her," Ash responded. Serena stood up and began to walk with him. Once outside they climbed on to Charizard and were about to take off when, "hey wait up." They turned there heads back to the lab and saw Gary walking out to them. "What is it Gary, we need to get going," said Ash. "Veridian city is a big place, your going to need an extra set of eyes to help you look for your mom," said Gary as her released his fearow. "Gary you don't need to do this." Gary looked down, "I know, but I wasn't here to have your back when they betrayed you, and when your mom was having troubles I was out there looking for you. Maybe if I had been here things would have turned out different." Ash climbed off of Charizard, walked to his friend, and put his hand on his shoulder, "You can't dwell on those things, things probably would have happened the same regardless, but if you want to help then your welcome to join us." They both then climbed onto their Pokemon and flew off for Veridian city.

They arrived in Veridian city in about fifteen minutes, and after landing they discussed how they would find her. Ash suggested that she was probably working at a restaurant since she hasn't worked in awhile and he last job was at a bakery. They all agreed with Ash, they looked at a map and found several areas in the city with a high concentration of restaurants and decided to go to these areas together and check at each restaurant. They checked every restaurant in these areas with no luck. It was getting late now and they were all tired from running around all day, so they decided to spend the night at the Pokemon center and try again in the morning.

They were walking to the Pokemon Center, and as it came into sight Ash's stomach rumbled. Gary and Serena laughed at this, until there stomachs started to rumble too. "I guess we should go get some food," Gary said sheepishly. They saw a diner on the way and decided to stop in, and when they did they saw her, Ash's mother waiting a table. Ash froze, after all day searching here she was. She then looked up and saw him, she froze as well, tears welling up in both there eyes. Then they both ran to each other and hugged each other. During the hug Ash could tell something was wrong, her hug was weaker than he was used to, also he thought he could feel her bones while he hugged her. When they broke the hug he could see that she looked frail and her eye's looked very tired. "Mom, are you ok? You don't look so good." Before Delia could respond, "Delia, get your slow ass back to work." Delia sighed, "that would be my boss. I need to keep this job, so I better get back to work." "Mom, do you want to work here?" "Of course I don't. I take it Professor Oak told you what happened. This is my only choice now." Delia started to walk away but was stopped by Ash, "mom, if you don't want to work here then don't. I did it, I won the Alola league and now I'm the league champion. I'll take care of you, you'll never have to put up with this ever again." Delia was in tears from hearing the good news. She then took Ash back into a hug, "Thank you Ash." The happy moment was then ruined by her boss coming out of the kitchen yelling, "danm it you lazy bitch get back to work." Delia broke the hug with and smiled, then looked at her boss throwing her apron at him, "I quit," and they all started to walk away. However her boss was not pleased, "oh no you don't you are going to..." He stopped right there as Pikachu jumped onto the counter right in front of him sparking his cheeks, causing him to stumble backwards in fear of getting shocked.

After leaving the diner they were all still hungry so they went to find another restaurant to eat at. After being seated Delia kept the conversation mostly on Ash and Serena's journey through Alola, which Delia was happy that they still hadn't finished by the time the food arrived. The one thing Ash, Serena, and Gary noticed was how much food Delia ordered, it was almost as much food as Ash eats. While Serena thought she found out where Ash gets his appetite from, Ash and Gary, who have both eaten meals with her, knew something was up, but decided not to draw attention to it for now. After dinner they went to Delia's apartment to get her things as the three of them were leaving for Alola the next day and Delia was going to stay at the Pokemon center with them. When they arrived they were a bit shocked at the apartment, it was a very run down one bedroom apartment, quite possibly the cheapest in the city. When they walked in Serena went into the bedroom with Delia to help her pack while Ash and Gary were waiting in the living room, however Ash had other plans and headed to the kitchen. "So you noticed too," said Gary as he followed him. "She never eats that much, and you saw her physical state, something isn't right." They both started opening all the cabinets and the fridge. "Gary, I wanted to say thanks for helping us. It means alot to me," Ash said as he checked the cabinets. "Don't mention it, you know I always got your back." " feel free to say no to this. You know I need to pick an elite four for Alola, I've already got two people and I just need two more, are you interested?" Gary looked at Ash, " you're asking me to be one of your Elite Four in the Alola region. A region known for crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, and beautiful girls in bikinis. Tough decision," Gary said, the last part sarcastically. "honestly, you had me when my best friend asked me to have his back in Alola." They then shook hands and continued there search. "So who's going to be your fourth member," Gary asked. "Not sure yet." "During my search for you I ran into an old rival of yours, his name was Paul." This got Ash's attention as Gary continued telling him about his meeting, which leads Ash to say he will call Paul and offer him the position.

After checking everywhere the only food they found was a single slice of bread in the fridge. At this time Delia and Serena came out of the bedroom with a single suit case in hand. "Alright I'm ready to go," said Delia. Ash looked at her with a concerned look, which she noticed along with all the open cabinets. "Mom, before dinner when was the last time you ate." Delia put on a fake smile, "this morning, why do you ask?" "What and how much?" Delia looked down realizing he knows, "just a slice of bread and some water." Everyone looked at her shocked. "I didn't make enough at the diner to live on. Just enough to pay the bills for the bear essentials, minus food. After the bills were paid I wouldn't have much left so all I could usually afford was bread. My former boss wouldn't even let me eat food they were going to throw out, when I tried once he caught me and said if he ever caught me again I would be fired. It was hard enough just to find that job, I couldn't risk losing it." Everyone was angry about how much Delia had to endure, but none more than Ash. "Danm those cowards. Going after you to get to me. I'll make those traitors pay dearly," Ash said with more anger than anyone had ever seen in him before as he hit his fist on the wall. "Ash, it wasn't the traitors," said Delia. This earned her a confused look from everyone. "Mom if not them, then who?" Delia looked at Ash, she knew he would go to any lengths to make things right, and that was what concerned her. "Ash, I'll tell you, but you need to promise me that if you go after them you'll do it the right way. I don't want you to end up in prison." Ash nodded agreeing with her terms. "A few days before you arrived, your former friends families arrived. They told me what was going to happen when you came home and that I was going to help them. I refused of course, but they threatened consequences if I didn't help. They weren't specific on what they would do, but they made it clear they would ruin both of us. But when the time came I couldn't do it, I had to hope that they couldn't hurt us both. And it looks like I was right, here you are ok." Ash's fists were clenched tight he wanted to hurt them, but knew he had to keep his word. "Wait, they hurt you financially. Made you lose everything, why didn't they do the same to Ash," Serena asked. "That's easy," all eyes were on Gary now, " Ash's money is in a trainer's account. Those are held by the Pokemon League, and are untouchable. They have the best cyber security protecting them, better than any bank could ever afford. Trying to hack in and steal a trainers money is impossible. It said that people have tried, but no one has ever succeeded and gottin away with it. I've heard of only one who managed to get the money, but the security was so good they were able to track him down and he was arrested the next day." Everyone nodded in understanding. Ash then put his hands on his mother's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "mom, I promise you they won't get away with this. I'll see to it that they face justice for this."