(Flashback)

In the Aether Foundation, Lusamine is lying on the bed with Lillie and Gladion sitting beside her, she is being helped by the life supporter, and both people look at each other with uneasy feelings.

"Why of all times that this has to be happening?" Lillie bursts out in tears and Gladion hugs her.

Gladion frowns and says, "I don't want to believe it as well...but what can we even do now?"

Ash, Tox, and Alice walk toward them and Ash says, "Lillie, this is all we can do right now, but we promise we are going to find a way to save her."

Alice touches her head and sighs, "But the temperature is low...it must be the effects of the Nihilego Toxins."

Tox says, "I don't think we can just wait and do nothing, why can't we just extract the toxins in her blood?"

"It has been 10 years since she accidentally inhaled the toxins in the blood." Ash says. "They are hard to extract in this state, considering the whole blood might be affected!"

They hear a weak voice from Lusamine, and Ash tries to hear what she is saying. "No..."

When Ash tells them what he has heard, Gladion yells, "Mother? What do you mean no? You will be fine after Dr. Tox and Dr. Gus, two of the best doctors for human problems, heal you up."

"There is no need to heal me..." This causes them to be surprised. Tox asks, "What are you talking about?"

"I know my time in the world...is about to end soon...just, please...stop wasting time on a dying person like me..." Lusamine says with a weak voice.

Ash rushes towards the bed and says, "Ms. Lusamine, what are you talking about? If you are gone, what about your children? Are you going to leave them alone? How could you do that?"

"I know I am selfish...but I don't think I can stay in this meaningless world..." Lusamine replies.

"The world is not meaningless, Lusamine." Ash says, and then Lillie and Gladion start to cry out as they don't want their mother to go.

"The toxins in my body...not even the best doctors can remove them...please don't waste your time on me..." Lusamine says as she turns to her two children. "Lillie, Gladion...help Ash and Alice all you can..."

Lillie and Gladion nod, and then not long after, Lusamine's heart stops beating and all the people in the room are now crying.

"Mom...why?" Lillie cries out loud as Ash is the one that hugs her tight, feeling sad for her losing her mother. As for Gladion, he just punches the wall, causing blood to drip from his hand, he is also furious at how it happened. As for the others, they aren't as sad as Lillie and Gladion, but they also shed some tears for a person's passing.

Then the death of Lusamine has also spread throughout the whole world, people are sad at the woman's death as the Aether Foundation has given them a lot of good deeds. Everyone has come to the Aether Foundation as they come to bid farewell to Lusamine, but not all of them are able to enter because of personal reasons. Lillie and Gladion also decide to bury their mother's body inside the grounds of the Aether Foundation, since it is also where their father was buried.

Once the burial is over, Ash says, "So what are you two going to do?"

The two siblings stay silent and then Alice says, "Ash and I have been thinking about this, we have decided to let you guys become a member of the Ketchum family, how is that sound?"

"You mean... you are going to adopt us?" Lillie asks in shock.

"You two have been a part of our family." Ash says with a small smile. "I won't mind having you guys as a part of the family."

Once they get back to the Sevestar Region, Adam decides to hug them and she says, "I know it will be hard for you since your parents are long gone, but you can call me father if you want to."

"Okay...father..." Gladion says.

Ash says, "But to become a part of our family, we will have to do something to you. To be a true member of the Ketchum, you have to pass the Aura Test, a Test that will determine if you can live and use Aura, or die with tiredness."

"We will do it." Lillie says, much to their shock. "Because life isn't fair, and people think of you as a criminal for killing Ms. Ketchum. We promised our Mother that we'll help you as much as we can."

Ash says, "I see, you two really are determined." As Ash goes to prepare, Mark, Golly, Flora, and Eve are entering the room as they notice the two. Adam asks, "How are you guys doing?"

"We are having fun since Pikachu is mimicking others again." Golly says. "But where is Brother Ash?"

"He is outside preparing the Aura Test." Adam says, causing them to nod.

Now Ash is explaining the test to the two Aether Siblings. He says, "If I remember it correctly, you are going to be shown in the memories that you dread the most, and you would need to either move on or find a solution to solve it on your own. There are three kinds of memories, it will be from the least to the worst. A lot of people manage to get past the first and the second, but they would fail in the third one."

"And what if we failed? What will happen to us?" Gladion asks, and none of them want to say since it is related to their death.

"You don't need to worry about chances of failure, I am sure that you two will succeed because you are my successor as the Alola Champion, and Gladion is a good rival of mine back in the Alolan Times." Ash says after setting up another fog. "The test is ready, now before I start, I want to know, are you two ready to do this?"

Gladion says, "We are ready to do this."

Ash and Alice bring them to the entrance of their castle. Ash and Alice look at each other and then watch Gladion and Lillie. Ash raises his hand and says, "The Aura Task starts now!"

Lillie and Gladion take a deep breath as they walk into the fog, as for the others, they are worrying for the two, and Golly asks, "Are they going to be alright?"

"That will be up to them." Eve says with a serious tone. "They are the ones that determine their fate."

After a short while, Lillie and Gladion are now lying on the ground. Ash notices the hair color as well as their eye colors, all he can do is smile at Alice and Adam. "The task is complete, Lillie and Gladion are members of the Ketchum now and they can use aura."

This causes the others to be happy. Lillie and Gladion slowly wake up, Lillie holds her head and says, "My body is really sore..."

"Does that mean we passed?" Gladion looks at Lillie, but he gasps and says, "Lillie! You look different..."

"You too, brother. In fact, you look like Ash..." Lillie gasps. "Wait, does that mean me too?"

"In fact, you look like me means you pass the task." Ash says. "Congratulations. You are now members of the Ketchum. I am proud of you guys. If you want to change your blonde hair and facial appearance back, you can use the Aura Disguise."

They nod and Lillie says, "Well, I want to be in this form for now."

"Same here." Gladion says. "Though it is kind of awkward to call you my brother."

"I know." Ash laughs as they all go inside the castle to let them meet others and show their new skills.

(Flashback Ends)

"Lillie, are you okay?" That night, everyone is staying at the Lunar Villa, and Alice is the one asking. Ash, Alice, Lillie, and Gladion are now sharing the same room, while Ash and Alice are sharing the bed while Gladion volunteers to sleep on the couch.

"I'm just thinking about the day when you adopted me into the family. I still remember my mother's words about how we should help you prove your innocence." Lillie says.

"And we're still thankful for that... I still remember how you're willing to consume the White Pepper, something that you're allergic to, to help me with my revenge." Ash says.

"After learning what happened to Mallow and the others, I cut ties with them and we decided to walk this path. And we're glad that this is the right path to take, despite a lot of hardships that we need to face."

"I agree." Alice says. "You know, it's a good thing we have the artificial daytime sky, so we'll know that daytime has arrived."

Ash says, "And we just need to take on two more gyms before we can finish the whole challenge."

"The Mind Plate is also located here, and it is a good thing that none of the Team Rainbow has come to search for the plate." Alice says.

"Considering how Phoenix was feeling, it doesn't seem that the Legend Plate is the true goal for them, I still remember the battle we had back in the Pixetty City."

"It sure is the final battle." Ash sighs.

At the same time, Serena is alone in her room, and she is having a nightmare. She found herself wandering in the forest alone, and in front of her, a younger Ash Ketchum is standing there, he shows a newspaper of how he is proven innocent and the real murderers are arrested.

"You had the chance, but you had to throw me away like some sort of trash. Look what happened? My wife found the evidence and proved me innocent, and what about you?"

"I..." Serena feels like Ash's murderous glare is looking at her, and for some reason, Ash's face starts to distort into Red's face, Red says, "To think the Kalos Queen like you would do false accusations without trying to learn the truth. Are fame and fortune really blind you to what's really right?"

"No! You're wrong!" But then Red's face turns back to the Ash Ketchum that she met during the coronation. "You know what? I don't care anymore. If this is who you've become in the end, I wish I never meet you when your knee is injured! I wouldn't have supported you to do Showcases!"

Then Ash pushes her and Serena realizes that she's falling into a pit, she keeps screaming until she bolts awake from the nightmare.

"It's just a nightmare..." Serena sighs as she holds her head. "But what was that mean? Was Red right? I was blinded by fame and fortune?"

She shakes her head and says, "I hope none of it is true... Cynthia, Steven, and Leon also believed it as well..."

Unknown to her, a Darkrai was floating outside of the room, heading towards Ash's room to get some rest that he needed. Ash is busy cuddling with Alice to care about Darkrai coming out of his Pokeball.

Here is a new chapter, and as you can see, I decide to go with Lillie and Gladion's past of how they're adopted. But if you really want to see what the Aura Test is, let's say that it is similar to the one in the Normal version. I hope you like this chapter and I will finish the last two gyms in the next two chapters.