Chapter 79 - 38 - Darkness

The next morning, as the sun rises over the horizon, shining everything on the land, everyone in the house are having a good breakfast. Today's breakfast are: Toasted Bread with buŧŧer, peanut buŧŧer, and strawberry jam, wheat cereal and cornflakes with MooMoo milk, and coffee. The atmosphere there is lovely, with steams from hot foods emitting across the room. Their Pokémon are eating their special food next to the coffee table.

"So how's the food?" Rosario asked Isaiah brightly. Her Sylveon then responded with soft happiness.

"Very nice and yummy," Isaiah happily answered while eating and chewing his food. "Thank you, Mrs. Cruz."

"Well, I hoped Ash will be happy to see you," Rico brightly said to him. With hesitation, Isaiah replied, "Uh, I'm not sure about that."

"Why not?" Jonathan responded with a puzzled face.

"I think Ash will be upset about me," Isaiah responded with concern. Then, putting his left hand onto Isaiah's right shoulder, Rico softly replied, "It's okay. You just needed some courage to do so." Feeling better, Isaiah replied, "Thanks."

After that was settled, Ash came for a visit, knocked at the front door.

"Rico, are you home?" he cheerfully asked them. His Pikachu then responded with greeting. Alerted by this, Isaiah panicked, standing up and quickly hid at the kitchen next to the refrigerator. While Lucas was going to the door to answer, Rico looked at Isaiah, confused; he then asked him, "What are you doing?"

"Is that Ash outside?" Isaiah asked him with shivering.

"Yeah, I think so," Rico answered him while recognizing the voice outside the door.

"Please tell him I'm not here," Isaiah pleaded him with panic.

"Seriously?" Rico replied. But Isaiah looked at him with pity, sad eyes. Finally, Rico sighed in annoyance, replying, "Fine." Then, Lucas called him, "Rico, Ash is here!" Isaiah panicked a bit and shut his mouth, while Rico ran across the house to the front door.

"Hi, Rico, good morning," Ash greeted him brightly. "How's your vacation?"

"Hi, Ash, good morning," Rico happily greeted him back. "My vacation went well, very well. I even bought some souvenirs for you." He then went to the kitchen to get some souvenirs and went back to Ash to give them to him.

"Here you go," Rico happily said while giving them to him. "Souvenirs from Philas." Accepting them, Ash brightly responded with amazement, "Wow, those stuff are good-looking and delicious." His Pikachu then responded with excitement and happiness.

"Well, I'll see you later then," Ash said to him; he and Pikachu then left Rico's house with the souvenirs.

"I'll see you later!" Rico happily exclaimed while waving his hand goodbye; he then closed the door and sighed in relief.

"Man, that was close," he commented in relief. Lucario then responded in plain. Coming out from his hiding place, Isaiah thanked him for hiding him from Ash.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Rico replied as he lowers his nervousness down. "That was nerve-racking."

"Wait, you're saying Ash had many friends?" Isaiah asked him in puzzling.

"Yup," Rico happily replied. Lucario then responded with happiness. In no time, they had arrived at the tree where Iris and her Pokémon resided. Iris was eating an apple when then two boys came. Upon seeing them, she greeted them with a good morning.

"Morning, Iris," Rico happily greeted her back while raising his hand a bit. "I would like to introduce my new friend." He then refer him to Isaiah and said, "This is Isaiah, Ash's brother." Then to Isaiah, "Isaiah, this is Iris, Ash's friend from Unova."

"Hi, Iris," Isaiah happily greeted her. But his appearance, thought like a nerdy genius, caused Iris to be stunned, and then, her cheeks are blushing. And she kept staring at Isaiah in zoning out, Iris thought, "Woah, he's handsome and cool." Her Axew and Excadrill were surprised by Iris' intention of falling in love to the young boy.

"Iris, are you okay?" Rico asked her in confusion. He then snapped his fingers, causing to Iris to snapped out from her romantic zoning out.

"Oh, nothing," she responded to Rico with making an excuse. She then nervously chuckled, thinking, "I must hide this from them."

A bit later, meanwhile, Ash and his Pokémon are finding Rico in the fields, calling him for training.

"Rico, where are you?" he called him at somewhere. Pikachu then responded in calling him.

"Where is that kid?" Ash asked himself while scratching his head a bit. His Pokémon, Greninja and Lycanroc, then responded an relation to Ash's question. Then, from the forest, an explosion has occurred, following the rise of smoke as well. In alert, Ash and his team ran to the direction to where the explosion came from.

"Charizard, use Flamethrower!" Isaiah commanded Charizard in seriousness. Charizard then used Flamethrower, opening its mouth and scorched an intense blast of fire towards Piplup.

"Piplup, dodge it!" Rico quickly commanded Piplup. Piplup then jumped out of the way.

"Then use Hydro Pump!" Rico then commanding Piplup. While in the air, Piplup used Hydro Pump, blasting water at high power, striking Charizard with great power and extinguishes the Flamethrower. Nearly soaked, Charizard was weakened and then shake itself up to remove the water.

"Charizard, don't give up!" Isaiah commanded Charizard seriously. "Use Wing Attack!" Getting up, Charizard used Wing Attack, spreading its wings and charges at Piplup in a fast pace, striking Piplup effectively. Piplup was then blasted back towards a tree, weakening it bad. Watching this, Rico was surprised and alerted, thinking, "Oh, no, Piplup..."

"Well, my Charizard is lot stronger than your little Piplup," Isaiah commented to him in style.

"Piplup!" Rico said to Piplup with commanding. "Don't give up! You can do it!" And as Piplup get up in recovery, Ash and his Pokémon came and intervened into the scene, asking, "What is going on here?" Pikachu then responded with asking.

"Ash!" Rico called him in positivity back upon noticing, "Hi there." Putting his two hands on his waist, Ash replied, "Rico, where had you been? I thought we had a training today." Lycanroc then responded in relation to Ash's question. Isaiah and Iris' attention got caught when they see Ash. And as Piplup recovers, Rico scratched his head a bit in embarrassment and responded slowly, "Sorry, Ash, I got stuck in a battle with your brother." The last part shocks Ash and his Pokémon a lot and Iris got shock-struck by Rico's intention to tell Ash about Isaiah.

"What?" Ash commented in a sharp shock. "I had a brother?"

"Rico, why did you tell him about him?" Iris asked Rico why in a fast pace. Her Axew then responded with shock.

"Sorry, but I had to release it," Rico answered her with embarrassment. Then to Isaiah, "Isaiah, this is Ash." Upon seeing him, Isaiah nervously raised his hand in greeting a bit and greeted him slowly, "Hi...Ash, brother." Because of this, Ash was down a bit, slowly succumbing into his dark anger and clenched his fists in stress and anger. Alerted by this, Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulder and joined its fellow Pokémon friends in watching Ash going dark mode.

"Uh... what's going on here?" Rico nervously asked while backing away a few meters. Luckily, Serena and Delphox came, and Serena explained, "Ash is going dark. This is what happens when you make him mad. I didn't mean ordinary mad, I mean emotional mad." Hearing her explanation, almost everyone got surprised and scared in the same time, backing a few feet away in defense. But, as his dark increases, Ash eventually calmed down, raising his head up in calming down.

"Calm down, Ash," Ash said to himself in calming down. "It's just something you had discovered in your life." He then took a deep breath and said to his friends clearly, "Well, that was shocking to me then." This opposite reaction shocks everyone, including their Pokémon.

"Ash, you're not mad?" Serena asked him in shock. Rico's Lucario then responded in asking.

"Nope!" Ash happily answered while crossing his arms. "I'm fine with that." Then to Isaiah with opening his eyes in positivity, "Hi, there, brother, it's been a long time. How are you?" Happy that Ash is back to his normal self, Pikachu ran to him and jumped to his shoulder and looked towards Isaiah and his Charizard. The rest of them became positive, sighing in relief.

"I'm Isaiah," Isaiah introduced himself to Ash in positivity while raising his hand a bit.

Later, after pausing the battle between Rico and Isaiah, everyone is now settling down in peaceful terms.

"So why did you left us?" Ash asked Isaiah in puzzling. Pikachu then responded in asking.

"Because I really wanted to see the world," Isaiah answered him with remorse, "shortly after I got my Charmander, and I wanted to be a journalist and reporter, you know, documenting happenings and events, and, like that. I'm sorry, brother." In concern, Ash put his right hand onto Isaiah's left shoulder and replied, "It's okay, as long as you're alright." Then in a little smiling, "Welcome home, brother." Feeling better by Ash's statement, Isaiah hugged him in embrace and responded, "Thank you, Ash!" He then cried with waterfalls of tears as Ash comforts him back. Everyone are now in emotion and happiness, as two brothers reconciled with each other. Housing is not a problem, because Isaiah and Catharine will had a room to share and Catharine will work for the family. For Red, he was living at his parents' house a few blocks away.