Chapter 9 - Acceptance

Back at Kanto, both Rico and Serena are in separate houses, all nervous and shaking in a revelation that they were both cousins. At his house, Rico, in distress and anxiety, asked his mother, "Mom! Why did you hide this?! You didn't tell me I had a cousin!" His father and brother are there for him to calm down, along with their Pokémon.

"Sorry, it just...I always forget to introduce you to her," Rosario answered with any guilt. "And we could only see her rarely." Calming down, Rico replied, '"Oh, I get it now. But, why she and her family doesn't have the 'Algavas' name?'" Listening to him attentively, Rosario revealed why: The 'Algavas' name Rosario had is actually a given name by her friends in the Philas region, a custom by the region's tradition of middle names for the new generations. And Rosario accepted that customized name upon birth.

"Oh, I understand then," Rico calmed commented in understanding, "but...but, why uncle Lester didn't accepted it?"

"It was his choice," answered his mother back, "that tradition was never forced into our family, but it doesn't matter whether he had a surname or not, as long as bloodlines are still connected. Hearing her words, Rico calms down even more and replied, "Oh, I understand you. Well, that's alright, mom, I just wanted to find it out for myself. It's okay, that was good that I know that. I forgive you." Shedding tears, Rosario hugged her son and responded, "Thank you, son, that was a good thing you had ever said." Lucas, Jonathan, and their Pokémon then feel in emotion, as if to say "aww...." Rico had accepted this fact in the end, with no hesitation whatsoever.

In the meantime, at Ash's house, Lester, Isaiah, Red, and Catherine are trying to calm down Serena, who was nervous about the fact that she was Rico's cousin.

"Dad! Why you didn't tell me that I have a cousin?!" Serena demanded an explanation.

"Woah, Serena, calm down, girl," Red said in response.

"Just let your father explained everything," Isaiah suggested to her. Serena then calms down and took a deep breath.

"Alright, dad, tell me about this," she calmly and briefly asked. Agreeing to her request, Lester fixed his sitting position, took a deep breath, and slowly, but surely, started explaining to his daughter about the reasons behind the unrevealed family connections: He was simply afraid of introducing his sister and her family to his daughter, and was always hectic and busy in his work in Unova. Also, Jonathan's sudden disappearance had deepen his fears of introducing, and even after Jonathan was found alive and had returned to his family, he was still in afraid. But now, he had the time and courage to face Rosario's family and told Rico about his own daughter. Hearing his reasons, Serena calms down more and responded, "Oh, I see. Thanks, dad, for telling me all that. It's okay, I understand everything, but, I wanted to find out for myself. Well, I had grew up not finding this out, but now, I am very happy to accept all of this, because, I still love you." Lester was happy to hear that.

"Thank you, Serena, for acknowledging that," he thanked her gratefully. The others then became happy about it. Meanwhile, Ash and his team are coming home.

Shortly after lunch, Lester and Rosario suggested to their children to go out and know each other's similarities for a while before night time. Serena and Rico, thinking about this, then accepted this without any hesitation, and they prepared for going out. This is not for romantic purpose, just to get along and develop a cousin-to-cousin friendship. Isaiah and Catherine, however, are doubting about this when Ash and his team arrived.

So, as the sun sets over the horizon, Rico and Serena, along with their Pokémon, went out to town together with hidden words to say. Walking down the streets, Rico is about to say something to her, but he hesitated immediately.

"What is it?" Serena responded to his response.

"Nothing," replied Rico back. This follows with a short silence, with them turning to the right towards a street fair. Hoping to distract themselves from anxiety, they decided to buy some dessert snacks like ice cream and eat at a bench. After all that, while licking their ice creams, Rico started the conversation with Serena, "So, uh, what do you like to do? You know, your hobbies?" Serena then think about it for a bit, and then answered, "Fashion."

"Fashion? That was a good fit for you," Rico replied back with positive response. "Well, for me, I loved to cook and bake, play guitar and piano, and making drawings, commentaries, and themes of my journals."

"What? That was amazing," Serena positively responded back. Rico then looked at her in a surprise look as his loosed hair partially covered his right eye.

"Yeah, it is," Serena happily responded, "I loved to make macarons." Clearing his throat, Rico replied, "Mine are like cookies and brownies, because they're... they're sweet and good. Also, I cooked non-dessert food like Yellow Curry because it's our cultural delicacy in our region. Really popular across all areas."

"Wow, that was amazing," replied Serena brightly, "your region is amazing." Chuckling a bit, Rico responded back, "Thanks." It was an amazing time for them to get along and talked about their similarities.

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N/A:- I am trying to think new ideas of Rico in other regions like Kalos and Unova, and be inspired by them.