Charlie: A Pokemon Cinderella Story. Chapter 24 by troy168 < Submission

Keywords male 1301179, female 1183207, pokemon 213805, human 112016, fantasy 28485, gardevoir 3860, mightyena 2108, delphox 1467, rattata 1310, greninja 1074, persian 672, liepard 513, gallade 309, alakazam 226, fairy tale 221, gothitelle 206, galarian rapidash 105

The Invitation to the Grand Ball

At the castle of Espérer. With the news of Emily’s traitorous plan exposed in the kingdom, the word was spread around about the kingdom, including how they will be branded as traitors if they decided to work with Emily. And in the courtyard, Maria met up with her parents as they learned some details from Nicole as King Lionhart said: “So… We’ve learned about how you would sneak out of the castle and disguise yourself as a commoner, is that true?” While Maria is hoping that they wouldn’t find out about her secret, she knows that she can’t keep it forever so she says: “It is true, Father.” Then King Lionhart proceeded to say: “I see… In that case, you must have known about Emily’s true nature for quite some time.”  Maria then says: “Of course, Father. But have I known that she would’ve gone this far, I would have stopped her plans earlier…” This causes Lionhart to say: “You know… We were disappointed in you for leaving the castle on multiple occasions. And until yesterday, we wouldn't believe you that Emily is plotting to take the kingdom from us.” Then both Lionhart and Oracle turn to their daughter as Lionhart then says: “But now. You have proven to us that you matured into a proper princess.”

Hearing that has touched her heart as she is glad that her parents are able to see the mature side of her and she’s glad that they’re safe. “It seems that my lessons had helped her in taking the castle back. It pleases me that you were paying attention to my lessons this whole time.” Said a familiar voice that Maria hasn’t heard for a long time as she turns around and to her surprise, sees Khan in the courtyard as Maria says: “Khan.” As it turns out, when they arrested Maximillian and interrogated him about Emily’s plan, they learned about the real reason why Khan was let go and they reinstated Khan as a tutor for Maria and as the King and Queen’s assistant in running the castle. Khan then says: “To think that you matured into the proper princess that they want you to is much of an accomplishment than my years as a tutor. Just hearing about it has brought me to tears.” As Khan starts to tear up as he grabs his handkerchief as Maria says: “Khan… There’s no need to cry, your lessons have really helped me out.” Khan then says: “Then if you don’t mind me saying this… I would like a suggestion on how we should do this…”

After she meets with her parents, Maria proceeds to go on her practice bout with Skarlet as the two clash blades, while Nicole watches and supervises the bout. As the bout continues, Maria told the two about what happened at the meeting as Skarlet says: “So you agree to the grand ball?” And Maria says: “It’s not that I have a choice, I was outvoted so I couldn’t refuse.” Skarlet then says: “You do realize that they’re trying to find you a husband, right?” And Maria says: “Oh, I know.” Nicole then says: “Look on the bright side, at least you will be able to see that boy again, Maria.” Hearing that has caused Maria to stop her bout as she recalls the event with Charlie yesterday as she looks at Nicole and says: “That reminds me. Do you think that he’s mad at me?” Nicole then says: “Hm? What makes you say that?” Maria then says: “Well it's just that when I looked at Charlie yesterday, he suddenly proceeded to leave the castle before I had a chance to say something.” Nicole then thinks to herself as she says: “Are you sure that’s the case?” While Maria is confused, Nicole then says: “If anything, I would say that he is more shocked about your reveal as the princess, instead of him being mad.” It was then that Maria knew what she’s talking about. She was so focused on Emily that she revealed herself as a Princess and didn’t get to explain to Charlie why she goes out in the first place. It was then that Nicole said: “I’m sure that once Charlie receives his invitation, I’m sure it will put his worries at ease.” Maria agrees as she knows she still has feelings for Charlie, regardless if she’s a Princess or not. And once Charlie enters the ball, she’ll gladly confess her feelings to him.

Meanwhile, at the Lestorm’s house. Charlie is busy grabbing the plates from the tables from yesterday’s costume party as Zeus, Jen and Ruby are talking to themselves how the Maria that Charlie knew is the same one as the Princess and that the two should belong together. Charlie, on the hand. All he wants is to focus on getting his job done and forget about the events from yesterday. Especially since he feels guilty for the way that he treated the Princess when they first met. As he brings the plates into the kitchen, he overhears Alex and Max discussing the news that was announced earlier as Alex says: “Man… To think that Emily has an ulterior motive to take over the kingdom…” Max then says: “Yeah… I even asked Father about it and even he was surprised that she was plotting to take over the kingdom.” Alex then says: “At least our Princess was on to her and put an end to her traitorous plans.” Max then says: “Yeah. And soon, I’ll be the one to marry the Princess.” And Alex says: “That’s not going to happen.” As the two brothers continued to bicker, Charlie brought the plates over to the counter in the kitchen… Only to drop them on the counter as he stares down at the plates. Did I… Did I make the right decision yesterday…

In the town. The citizens were going on with their usual lives when they spotted a bunch of the carrier’s carriages as they rode the streets. These carriages proceed to stop at houses as the messengers proceed to pass invitations to the bachelors of the house. It was Khan’s idea to run a royal ball and invite all of the eligible bachelors of the kingdom as well as some bachelorettes as they could try and woo the bachelors. Though Khan’s main goal is to see if the Princess could find the bachelor that captures her heart. And with Khan’s focus on getting the royal ball to be a successful one tomorrow, the messengers are busy handing out the invitations to every bachelors and bachelorette in the town. And once they learned of the royal ball tomorrow, the town became busy as the bachelors are hurrying to find the best suits that they can find and buy.

Back at the Lestorm’s house. The messengers arrived at their house as Albert, Alex, Max and Charlie stand in the lobby as the first messenger reads the note he has as he says: “If I may have your attention. I would like to announce that the castle of Espérer is proud to announce that they’re throwing a royal ball tomorrow and every eligible bachelor is invited to the castle.” As the family’s getting excited, the messenger then said: “We would like to invite from Duke Albert’s family, both Alex and Max Lestorm’s. Please come and receive your invitations.” As both Alex and Max nodded, they made their way to the second messenger as they grabbed their invitations, the two looked at their Father as Alex says: “Isn’t this amazing, Father?” And Max said: “Yeah. I can’t wait to meet the Princess.”

As Albert is glad that his sons are getting invited, the messenger then said: “And for the Duchess Nancy’s family. We have Charlie Lestorm. Please come and receive your invitation.” This surprises Albert, Alex, Max and even Charlie himself as both Alex and Max look at each other as Alex says: “Charlie gets an invitation too?” And Max whispers back: “I’m just as surprised as you are…” This causes Albert to say: “Hold on. Charlie is invited to the ball. There has to be some mistake.” But the messenger then proceeds to say: “It is as we said before. Every eligible bachelor is invited to join the royal ball. And I’m quite sure that this invitation is for Charlie.” The messenger then looks at Charlie as he says: “Here you go, sir.” Even though Charlie is surprised, he nodded as he said: “Okay.” Charlie then proceeds to walk towards the messenger as Albert, Alex and Max looked at Charlie with a fierce look on their faces. Once Charlie gets close to the messenger, Charlie grabs the invitation from him as he is still surprised that he is getting invited to take part in the royal ball as he says: “Thank you…”.

The messenger then proceeds to say: “And here’s your invitation to the ball as their chaperon, Duke Albert.” Albert then grabs the invitation as he says: “Well, of course.” As Albert, Alex and Max quickly read their invitations, the messenger then said: “Our majesty eagerly awaits for your arrival. We’ll be on our way, sirs.” As the two bow their heads and take their leaves, both Alex and Max are excited to go to the ball as Albert says: “Stay calm, you two. It’s important that we must keep these royal invitations as if we’re guarding these with our lives.” As the three continue to look at the invitations, Charlie steps outside as he sees the carriage heading off. Charlie then looks at his invitation as he has never expected that he himself would get invited. Just then, he looks up and sees Zeus, Jen and Ruby looking at him as they knew that if Maria was mad at him, she would have not invited him to the ball.

In Charlie’s room. Zeus, Jen and Ruby are looking at the details in the invitation as they’re glad that Charlie is going to meet Maria again. Just as they wonder what Charlie is going to wear, they look over as they see Charlie pulling an old suit out of one of his luggage. Charlie sees the three curious about the suit as he says: “This is an old suit that my late father used to wear. And it’s also the very same suit that brought my mother together during the ball.” And as the three were amazed by the suit, it was at this point that it was a point that he’s still a nobleman, yet it doesn’t feel right in Charlie’s mind. Even though it hasn’t been a year since he’s been with his new family, he felt like he’s been doing this for his entire life. As Charlie places the suit to the side, he then grabs a small box from the luggage, which catches their attention. Charlie then turns around as he says: “Here. Let me show you guys something special.” He then places the box on the ground and opens the lid as Zeus, Jen and Ruby look at it as they see…

...the glass shoes. This causes the three to be surprised and amazed by them as Charlie explains: “Yeah. These glass shoes belong to my father as well. I remember hearing from my mother how on the day of her wedding, my father would come in a glass clothing to show how pure he is. And although it made my mother smile, the only thing that was left was these glass shoes.” This pretty much got the three excited as they can’t wait for Charlie and Maria to meet again at the ball. Charlie, on the other hand, proceeds to walk to the window and stare out at the view. I know that they want me to be with Princess Maria again… But she’ll be the future queen of Espérer someday. And I don’t know if she’ll let me run the kingdom with her… If she wants to talk to me at the ball, then I’ll gladly talk with her… But I know that once we do, I’ll apologize for my cruel actions against the Princess and wished her the best of luck in the future…

In the dressing room, Alex and Max are looking through the suits that they have as they’re deciding on what to wear to the ball tomorrow night. As the two are deciding, Max looks at Alex and says: “Man, I can’t wait to meet the Princess at the royal ball. Aren’t you excited about it, Alex?” Alex then looks at Max as he says: “Of course I am. And I know that you’ll be waiting a long time to dance with her when she’ll be dancing with me.” This causes Max to say: “Oh yeah. We’ll see about that.” The two then resume their search for the best suits that they should wear. Eventually, Alex grabs a dark blue suit as he says: “I’ll go with this suit.” Max, on the other hand. He has decided to grab the dark red suit as he says: “I’m sure that this suit would catch the Princess’s attention.” “Let’s hope for your sake that it is.” Said Albert’s voice as the two brothers look over and see Albert in the room.

Albert then says: “Now listen up Alex and Max. This ball is very important for the two of you. So we must make sure that your looks are at your best if you want the Princess to notice you. Understand?” Both Alex and Max proceed to say: “Yes, Father.” Albert then says: “So we must make sure that there are no mistakes with your suits. Charlie!” This causes Charlie to say: “Coming!” Charlie then enters the room with his sewing kit ready as Albert got the boys to get their suits on. And as Alex got his suit on, Albert is pulling hard on Max’s belt to ensure that his pants won’t fall as Max says: “F-Father… I-I can’t breathe…” But Albert says: “Hold it together, Max.” Once Albert got Max’s belt properly worn, Albert steps back as he takes a look at his sons. He then proceeds to say: “They look fine. But there’s a high chance that the Princess won’t notice you by wearing them alone. Charlie, write the following things down.” Charlie then grabs the paper and a pen a
s he says: "Okay." Albert then says: "For starters... I want you to smooth out his pants here…" And as Charlie writes the details down as he says: "Okay." Albert then says: "Make sure that he has a crest on his bowtie…  Put in some pins on each sleeve… Make the laces evenly matched and hidden…" And as Albert continues with his descriptions, Charlie continues to write it down on the papers about the changes he needs to put in their suits.

As the night skies shine over the house, Charlie is busy working on making adjustments for both Alex and Max's suits. Zeus, Jen and Ruby are also helping Charlie out on the suits as they notice that Charlie is behind on his work. As Jen and Ruby are working on sewing the suit with their mouths, Zeus is padding the pants with his body while Charlie is busy working on modifying the suit to match Albert's description. As they continue with their work, both Jen and Ruby are getting annoyed and frustrated as Jen says if Albert is so concerned with making their sons look great, then he should do the work himself. Ruby agrees with Jen as Charlie notices them as he says: "Don't worry. I'm sure that Alex and Max are very grateful for the work." And as Ruby and Jen look at Charlie, Charlie then says: "Sure, they sound ungrateful. But I'm sure that they're just having a hard time expressing how grateful they are."

The next day. Charlie is feeling tired from having to do all of the work as he says: "So… How're your suits…." And as Charlie sees both Alex and Max in their new custom-made suits, Alex says: "Much better." And Max says: "Yeah. Now I can actually breathe in this new suit." While Alex and Max love their new suits, Albert is examining the suits as he notices something as he says: "The lacings are not evenly matched. Though fortunately… These laces are well hidden enough that they won't get spotted from some keen eyes unless they're close." Hearing that, this causes Charlie to say: "Really? If you want. I can redo the lacing." This causes Albert to say: "As much as I want to, I'm afraid that we do not have time for a redo. So they'll be fine for now. However, you still have a lot of work to do. So make sure that their top hats are properly made, their baths ready and make us something to eat." This causes Charlie to say: "Yes, Father…"

In the halls. Zeus, Jen and Ruby are relaxing in the halls when they hear Alex saying: "Charlie! Hurry up with the hat!" And as Charlie says: "Coming!" Max then says: "Charlie! Where're my shoes!" And as Charlie once again says: "Coming!" Albert then says: "Charlie! I need you to hurry up with the meal!" And once again, Charlie says: "Coming!" As this was going on, the three knew that they were demanding Charlie to do all those things as they get ready for the ball, while Charlie is forced to do them while leaving little to no time in preparing himself for the ball. They pretty much believed that they are doing everything they can to make sure that they look perfect in front of the Princess while making Charlie look like a wreck. They then hear Alex and Max yelling out: "Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!"

As the sun is setting. The family had their meal and are ready to head out to the royal ball. With the family finishing any last minute check-ups and Cesar ready with the carriage outside, Albert, Alex and Max make their way towards the entrance with their invitations in their hands as Albert says: "Remember, boys. You must be on your best behaviour when we enter the ball. We must make a very great impression on the Princess if you want to marry her." This causes the two brothers to say: "Yes, Father." But just as they reached the door, they heard a voice saying: "Wait, Father." The three then turn around as they see Charlie on the second floor with his late father's suit and his invitation in his hand. With having to do all of their stuff, Charlie barely has any time to get himself prepared for the ball as he only got his hair done as well as got his suit and glass shoes on as he says: "I can come to the ball too, right?"

Albert then proceeds to say: "And what makes you think that we will be taking you?" Alex then says: "And what's with that ridiculous suit of his?" As Charlie makes his way down, he says: "This suit used to belong to my father… He left it to me in his will." Albert then says: "Are you trying to embarrass my sons in front of the Princess?" This causes Charlie to quickly say: "No! I wasn't going to-" Albert then says: "Aren't you even aware that this ridiculous suit went out of style for years?" Charlie shakes his head as he has no idea as Max then says: "If Charlie came with us, the other guests are going to make him into the biggest laughing stock of the ball." Albert then says: "And when that happens, it'll leave a bad impression on us with the Princess. And that's something we can't afford to make." As Charlie lowers his arms down over the shock of his late father's suit being outdated, Albert sees an opportunity as he says: "This is all you're doing, Charlie. As a result, I cannot let you come to this ball. And to make sure of it…" Albert then swipes Charlie's invitation from his hands and he proceeds to tear the invitation up, which shocked Charlie. Albert continues to tear the invitation up, before proceeding to toss the ripped pieces of the invitation in the air as they scattered. As the scattered pages of the invitation lands on the ground, Albert then says: "For those that don't prepare themselves should never deserve the future. Let's go, boys." Albert then turns around and leaves through the entrance with Alex following him. And as Max stands there in silence at first, he ends up turning around and following the two. Charlie then drops to his knees as he is shocked that after all the times that he helps them, they wound up having his invitation destroyed right in front of him.

In Charlie's room. Charlie sits alone in his bed as Ruby, Jen and Zeus look at him with sadness in their eyes. And they can't blame him, since Albert destroyed his invitation and prevented his chance to meet Maria again and they have no idea how they can help him now. "Don't cry, Charlie. Good fortune is coming your way." Said a familiar voice as Charlie looks up and towards the sound of the voice as he spots Cinder in the room, which caused him to say: "Cinder…" Cinder then says: "It's time for you to get prepared for the most important day of your life, Charlie." This confuses Charlie as he says: "Prepare for what?" Cinder then says: "Why... To go to the royal ball, of course." Cinder then casts her spell from her magic wand as the spell hits a different window, which Charlie didn't know existed, as it reveals a view of the castle of Espérer. This causes Charlie to say: "Castle of Espérer… I didn't know I had the view of the castle the entire time…" Cinder then proceeds to grab the glass shoes that Charlie took off earlier and places them near him as she says: "I'm sure that your Father would have loved to see you in that suit and in these glass shoes." And as Charlie asks: "But how did you know?" And Cinder then says: "Because it was I that gave them to your father as a gift." This surprises Charlie as he says: "Really?" Cinder then says: "Of course. And now he has passed them on to you." Cinder then cast her spell at his glass shoes as it shines brightly. This amazed the four as Charlie goes and tries on the shoes, which fits him perfectly. As Charlie is amazed by the glass shoes, Cinder proceeds to say: "Now… Your suit is pretty much dated, so we'll have to fix that… And I just so happen to have that idea." Cinder then cast her spell as Charlie's suit.

This causes the suit to transform from the old suit to a suit with a fresh fabric light blue suit with black buttons. The sleeves of the suit contain diamond pins with white chaff. The neck of the suit contains a bright white diamond necktie with red emerald coating. And Charlie's hair went from being messy from months of serving the Lestorm's family, to a smooth look with no single strain of hair leaving his body. Once the spell is finished, Zeus, Jen and Ruby are quite astonished by his beautiful transformation as Charlie walks up to a mirror as he says: "Is this… Me…?" As Charlie takes a closer look at himself, he still can't believe that he is looking at himself as he believes that he is looking at a different person altogether. This causes him to say: "I don't know if this is a dream or not, but I'll gladly live this dream to the fullest." And Cinder proceeds to say: "I can assure you, Charlie. This is no dream." As Charlie is enjoying his new looks, Cinder proceeds to head into the kitchen as Zeus, Jen and Ruby follow her. Once there, she looks around as she says: "Now… What to use…:" Cinder then notices the large basket full of some pumpkins as she says: "I can use this." Cinder then notices a hole on the side of the wall near the floor as she says: "And I could use your help." Cinder then casts her spell as the spell drags the four Rattatas out of the hole.

Charlie then leaves the house as he sees Cinder standing with Zeus, Jen, Ruby, a pumpkin and the four Rartatas next to her. Cinder then says: "Now them. It's time for your ride." Cinder then cast her spell at them. The spell lands on the four Rattatas and the pumpkin as it transforms into a royal pumpkin-shaped carriage and four Glarian Rapidashes. The spell also transformed Zeus, Jen and Ruby into humans with carriage's servants uniform on them. With Zeus looking like a veteran soldier, Jen looking like an old mature woman and Ruby looking like a young, beautiful lady, the three look at themselves with astonishment and confusion as Charlie is surprised by the transformation. Cinder then says: "Jen, if you please." Jen then looks at Cinder and says: "With pleasure." Jen then walks over to Charlie as she says: "Let me escort you." Charlie says: "Jen… Is that you…?" Jen then giggles as she says: "Of course." And as Charlie grabs Jen's hand as they head to the carriage, Ruby says: "We're here to help you, Charlie." And as Charlie says: "Ruby… Zeus…" Zeus then says: "Don't worry, Charlie." As Charlie enters the carriage, Cinder casts her spell to reforge the invitation as she says: "Don't forget about your invitation, Charlie." As Cinder hands Charlie the invitation, Charlie says: "Thank you, Cinder." As Jen and Ruby get on the back of the carriage, Zeus sits in front as he starts driving the carriage as he says: "Hiya!" As the carriage drives off, Cinder proceeds to say: "Oh, that reminds me! The spell will run out by the 12th stroke at midnight. So you must make sure that you leave the ball before that happens." Charlie then looks at Cinder as they're driving off as he says: "I will!" The carriage continues to drive on as they head towards the castle.

At the castle. The royal ball is going off without a hitch as the guests are enjoying themselves. And among the guests that are dancing to the sounds of the orchestra, Maria is dancing with one of the guests in the ball. As the dance continues, Nicole and Skarlet are standing by as they watch the dance while Khan is standing by near Lionhart and Oracle as he listens to the rhythm of the orchestra. And of course, many of the bachelors are waiting for their chance to go dance with the Princess. And among the bachelors are Alex and Max as Albert is with them as he whispers to his sons: "Now remember. Once the music has ended, hurry to the front so you'll have the best chance of the Princess spotting you." The two brothers nodded as they whispered back: "Got it, Father." Once the orchestra has ended, they stop dancing as they bow to each other as they take their leaves. Once Maria sits back on her throne, the bachelors, including Max and Alex, hurry over to go meet the Princess. Unfortunately for Alex and Max, they get bundled up with the other bachelors as they end up in the middle of the group, causing Albert to sigh as he says: "They didn't get to her in time…" Outside the castle, the guards are doing their patrolling when they spot the royal carriage heading towards them as they can't help but be amazed by the carriage. Once the carriage reaches the entrance, Charlie steps out of the carriages and heads inside. And once Charlie handed his invitation to one of the officials, Charlie proceeded to head upstairs to join the ball. As he's heading upstairs, he feels like that this is a dream since he would have never imagined that he would be joining the ball. But as he makes his way up, he notices the railing that was slashed from a couple of days ago from that shocking day as Charlie remembers the moment that… But he decides to continue up the stairs as he makes his way to the ball.

In the ballroom. The orchestra is playing different music as Maria sits in her throne as she looks at the many bachelors in front of her, while the guests continue to dance. What Maria is doing is pretty much stalling for time as she looks for Charlie from within the group, since she plans on confessing her love to him at the ball. But she knew that there are still other bachelors that are wanting to dance with her. So she chose some bachelors that she knew that they wouldn't expect anything more than a simple dance. But now that the choices she can safely make are thinning, she knows that she'll have no choice but to dance with someone who expected to be with her. And as Maria says: "I must say that I feel honoured to have you all come to this wonderful royal ball." However, Khan made his way towards her as he whispers to her: "I know that you've been talking with them, but you'll have to dance with one of them eventually." Maria then proceeds to whisper back to Khan: "Do you think they'll notice if I have Skarlet to dance with the guest as me in disguise?" This causes Khan to whisper: "Oh, your highness…" Just then, Maria notices that the guests are crowding around in the back as she wonders what's going on. But when Maria gets a good look, she notices a gentleman with a light blue suit and clean hair as she can't help but say: "Say… Who is that gentleman?" Khan looks and sees the gentleman walking away from the crowd as he says: "To be honest, I have no idea." Maria doesn't know either, but she can't help but find this gentleman to be… Familiar...

This causes Maria to get up from her throne and make her way to the gentleman as she walks past the bachelors, who had a confused look on their faces when she passes them. As she gets close, the gentleman turns around as she gets a good look at him as she notices the red emerald coating bowtie with a diamond crest, as well as his face as she can't help but find him… Charming… And as the gentleman blushes and the orchestra notices this as he prepares to play a different tune, the gentleman bows his head as he says: "Princess Maria. It's an honour that you invited me to join the royal ball." This causes Maria to say: "Pardon me for asking, but have we met before?" And as the guests whispered to each other about this gentleman, the gentleman proceeds to say: "No, your highness." This causes Maria to say: "In that case… Would you like to dance with me?" This causes the gentleman to say: "Of course." This causes the two to get together as the orchestra proceeds with their music. As the music fills the room, the two dance to the melody of the song with grace. I don't know why… He looks like a complete stranger to me… And yet… I feel like I'm dancing with someone I know for all of my life… As the dance continues, Alex and Max return to their Father as Alex says: "I don't believe it. This guy shows up late to the ball and already she's dancing with him." And Max says: "Yeah. What makes this guy so special?" Albert then says: "Stay calm. The night is still young. I'm sure that she'll stop dancing with him and you'll still have your chance." Meanwhile, Khan joined up with Skarlet and Nicole as Khan says: "You know, Maria did say that she wanted you to go in her stead." Skarlet then says: "I guess this is one dance she can handle on her own." Nicole, on the other hand, proceeds to say: "If only we knew who the other dancer is…"

Despite Albert's hope, the two danced for hours. Once the dance finished, the two made their way to a private courtyard as they sat near the fountain as Charlie can't believe that he had danced with her for so long. Charlie then proceeds to say: "You know, I'm glad that we had spent this time together." Maria then says: "Yeah… Though I guess I am a bit sad that he didn't show up." This causes Charlie to say: "Huh? You were expecting someone?" And Maria says: "Yeah… But he didn't show up." As Charlie is shocked to hear this, Maria then looks at him and says: "Maybe he's shy about his dancing skills." Hearing that has caused Charlie to say: "Hey. I wouldn't go that far." The two then looked at each other, then they started to laugh. Maria then says: "Still… I never would have expected that you would be such an amazing dancer." Charlie then says: "Yeah… Though I can imagine you must have some experiences with dancing as a Princess. Having a lot of people loving you..."

"It's not exactly like that." Maria says, which surprises Charlie. Maria then says: "They only love the image of me. The image that I'm some kind of a perfect Princess. The kind of Princess that has no faults whatsoever. And that's not what I want to become." As Charlie is surprised by her words, he ends up saying: "Then… What kind of Princess do you want to be?" Maria then says: "That, I don't know. Which is why I want to find out myself. I know that in the past, I would rather go out and do my own things and have fun instead of doing some important stuff. But now… I want to learn so much about who I am and what I want to do. Instead, I'm here in a ball that I didn't want to go and I ended up wasting my time until you showed up. Which is why I must learn about my responsibilities if I want to help with the kingdom." This surprises Charlie as he never knew this side of Maria before… Granted, she did tell him that she was just an ordinary girl when they met again, but he didn't believe it back then.  But when he looks back at the times they've been together, he understands where she's coming from. Especially since he helps her out on some occasions that involve one of Emily's plots. Maria then looks back at Charlie as she says: "Sorry about that. I guess you think that I'm not that kind of princess now…" But Charlie proceeds to say: "No… It's fine…" And just as things are going well, Maria proceeds to lean forward as she goes for the kiss, leaving Charlie to feel his heart beating rapidly.

BONG! The first bell has stroked as it catches Charlie's attention and breaks Maria out of hers as Charlie looks up and sees, to his horror, that it's exactly midnight. As it turns out, Charlie lost track of time when he was dancing with Maria and he has forgotten that the spell will run out at midnight. As Maria looks worried as she says: "What's wrong?" BONG! Charlie knew he must go now. But as he stands up, Maria quickly grabs his hand as Charlie says: "I'm sorry. But I just remember something important and I must take my leave." And as Maria says: "Wait. Can I least know your name?" BONG! Charlie then says: "I know that we have some wonderful moments together, your highness. And I will never forget them." BONG! And as Maria says: "Why are you saying as if you're saying goodbye forever? I think that we can become friends." But Charlie pulls his hand away from her as he says: "I'm sorry, but I must go now!" BONG! Charlie then runs away as Maria says: "Wait! Come back!"

In the halls, Charlie is quickly going down the stairs as he wants to hurry home as fast as he can. His mind scrambles through what happens if the spell runs out while he's still in the castle. The thought of his Father finding out he went to the ball despite him destroying his invitation and the punishment follows. Or the thought of the crowd angry at him for hogging the Princess all to himself. Or the thought… The thought that Maria will see the real him and would hate him for lying to her for the entire night. BONG! With the spell about to run out, Charlie continues to hurry down the stairs. Unfortunately for him, he ends up tripping down some stairs as he ends up losing one of his glass shoes. BONG! As Charlie gets up from that, he turns around and sees Maria on the top of the stairs. It was then that he had two choices in his mind. Either go upstairs and grab his shoe, while leaving a good chance that Maria will catch him and prevent him from leaving the castle before the spell runs out. Or he leaves the shoe behind and leaves the risk of having them track the owner of the shoe back to him. BONG! In the end, he ends up leaving the shoe behind as he rushes back downstairs as Maria tries to follow him as she says: "Wait!"

Once Charlie reaches the entrance, he rushes towards the carriage as Jen and Ruby are waiting for him as they say: "Hurry!" BONG! Once Charlie enters the carriage, Zeus takes off on the carriage as they leave the castle. BONG! They continue to ride down the path as they try to hurry back home in time. BONG! As they were hurrying back, the spell that was on Zeus, Jen and Ruby had worn out as they reverted to their original selves. BONG! Once the twelfth and final bell was struck, the spell worn out as the Galarian Rapidashes returned to being Rattatas, the carriage reverting to a normal pumpkin and Charlie reverting to his original self. Though this also causes the four to be sent flying into the forest as the pumpkin breaks apart as bits of the spell dust leave the pumpkin. In the castle, Maria notices the glass shoe on the stairs as she goes and picks it up. And as she does so, the spell flies off the shoe as she wonders if that came from the gentleman that left her behind. It was then that a thought appears in her mind as she says to herself: "Charlie…?" Outside, the four are staring at the castle as Charlie has only one glass shoe left as pain in Charlie's heart starts to manifesting as they wonder what will happen in the future…

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Charlie: A Pokemon Cinderella Story. Chapter 24

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