Hi, everyone I'm back with another chapter, I thought I would've gotten this written quicker but some stuff got in the way...like work.
Anyway that's enough from me time to get on with the story.
Pokémon on Hand:-
Ash:- Pikachu, Lucario, Grimm (Absol), Houndour, Typhlosion, Ponyta
May:- Glaceon, Blaziken, Lilligant, Mienshao, Mawile, Vulpix.
Chapter 21
Contest Co-Ordination
After a good night's sleep May and Ash woke up early, once they'd changed into their exercise gear and had a quick shower each they left their room making their way to the Pokémon Centre's lobby. When they were outside the Pokémon Centre they released their Pokémon and jogged to the beach. They arrived at the beach not long after and they started to stretch out, Ash and May gave their Pokémon different exercises to do and turned to look out at the ocean. The sun had only just risen and gave the water a golden sheen, the sky was an orange/gold colour and only had a couple of small clouds floating across it.
Ash quickly took off his t-shirt and sweatpants to reveal his black swimming trunks as May did the same, under her exercise clothes she was wearing the same light blue bikini she wore in Cerulean City. They both stepped into the water at the same time, May squeaked at the cool temperature while Ash didn't react other than a barely noticeable shiver that ran through his body. It took them a minute to get used to the temperature before they started swimming, the Giant Tentacruel kept his word and none of the Tentacool went near May while she was in the water. Ash and May had decided that they would swim out to a rock that was an good distance away from the shore and back as many times as they could before resting on the beach. May was the first to tire after managing to swim the course 5 times, she walked out of the surf and rested on one of the towels that she and Ash had brought with them while she waited for Ash to finish his swim.
May lay back on her towel, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of the sun's warmth on her skin. While she rested May was mentally going through the moves she needed to know for the Contest Appeal, it was still just the last few moves that she had trouble remembering but she knew that it would come to her eventually. A few minutes later Ash came out of the water, quickly dried himself off and then both he and May put their training clothes back on before they started going through their exercises.
May was steadily becoming able to do greater numbers of the exercises then when she first started but was still nowhere near Ash's level of fitness. After doing the exercises they started to train their Pokémon, they mostly used Defend The Castle to increase their accuracy, defence and endurance along with letting them devise their own ways of blocking attacks. May watched over the Pokémon participating in Defend the Castle and joined in with them using a rubber ball while Lucario sparred with Mienshao and Ash sparred with Blaziken.
After about half an hour May moved away from the Pokémon and just stood watching as she got her breath back, when she was about to rejoin them she was stopped by a pair of arms wrapping around her waist. Acting on the self-defence training she'd had May broke the hold before it tightened, elbowed the person in the stomach making them take a step back. May then dropped into a crouch and swept her leg around whipping the person up, she then moved a few steps away and turned around looking at the person lying on the sand.
The person in front of her was a man with short black hair and two scars on his hairline, he was around Ash's age and wore black pants, a black and red t-shirt, red and green trainer and red fingerless gloves. Alongside him was a white hat which spiked at the top and had a red band around the bottom with an upside down Pokéball symbol on it. He had quite a slim frame not being muscular as Ash, pale skin and red eyes.
"Sapph, what did you do that for?" he groaned, still holding his stomach, "I know we had a fight but that's no need to attack me."
"I don't know who you are but you grabbed me first." May said, keeping her distance. The man looked at May, shielding his eyes against the sun.
"Sapph, what are you talking about?"
"My name's not Sapph, it's May. Now who are you?" The man started to stand up, picking his hat up and putting it back on his head. May took another step back and saw Ash running towards her with Lucario and Pikachu behind him.
"May, is everything alright?" Ash asked when he got close, moving to stand alongside May. May quickly explained the situation to Ash and waited to see what the man had to say.
"I'm sorry about that it's just that you look identical to my girlfriend. I can show you." The man pulled his wallet out of his pocket and opened it, taking hold of a picture and passing it over to Ash and May. They looked at the picture and saw that the man was right the woman in the picture looked exactly like May. "Her name's Sapphire Taylor, we had a big fight last night and I've been trying to find her. When I saw you I didn't even stop to think you mightn't have been her. I'm sorry about that. My name's Ruby Kaiser by the way, I'm a Pokémon Co-Ordinator."
"I'm May and this is my boyfriend Ash." May said, blushing slightly as she handed the picture back to Ruby, "Ash is a Pokémon Trainer and I'm a Co-Ordinator. Are you here for the Contest?"
"No, I don't compete in that Contest Circuit. I take on the Specific Trait Contest Circuit, at least that's what I call it."
"I didn't know there was a different Contest Circuit." Ash said.
"Not many people do. It's not a popular as the Contest Circuit most people watch and compete in." Ruby answered.
"What's the difference between them?"
"The Contest Circuit I take part in has 5 different categories you can compete in. Tough, Beauty, Cute, Smart and Cool, most of the people who take on this Contest Circuit usually focus on one category but I take on all of them. There are 4 ranks in each category Normal, Super, Hyper and Master but unlike the main Contest Circuit there aren't any battles involved and there's no Grand Festival like event. You just have to collect the Ribbon's in order of the ranks."
"So I guess that means you have a Pokémon for each of the categories." May said.
"That's right. I've been taking a bit of time off from competing, I was on vacation with Sapphire but we got into a fight last night about something stupid. We went out to dinner and the waitress was flirting with me, I kind of flirted back and Sapphire stormed off. I spent all night looking for her but I can't find her anywhere. When I saw you I thought I'd found her." Ruby paused and May could see the sadness in his eyes as he took a breath and sighed. "I know I was in the wrong and I want to make it right. I love Sapphire, I really do more than anything else in the world, I don't know why I flirted back it might be because I liked the attention or because I'm an idiot. I have to apologise, she has to know how sorry I am."
"She already does." A new voice said, Ash, May and Ruby all turned and saw a woman who looked exactly like May. The woman was wearing a dark blue blouse and medium length black skirt along with black heels. A dark blue handbag hung from her shoulder. The woman started slightly when she saw May's face, surprised to see someone who looked the same as her.
"This is a little strange." Sapphire said, staring at May.
"I know." May replied. "We're identical." The two stared at each other for a minute before Sapphire turned on Ruby.
"I leave you alone for one night and you find someone else. And what do you know, you manage to find a duplicate." Sapphire's dark blue eyes hardened as they locked on Ruby's red eyes
"No, no it's nothing like that," May said waving her hands in front of her, drawing Sapphire's attention. She then explained everything that happened that morning.
"So what you saying is you," Sapphire pointed at May, "beat up him." She pointed at Ruby. May nodded and Sapphire burst into hysterics, laughing loudly at the look in Ruby. "You got beat up by a girl." she laughed, "A girl that's not me." She laughed even harder and took a few minutes to calm down.
"Sapph I'm…" Ruby started once Sapphire had stopped laughing but she cut him off by raising her hand putting a slender finger on his lips. Her lips turned into a small, gentle smile.
"I heard what you said, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't of made a scene like I did. I've been walking around town all night thinking about what happened." Sapphire put her hand on Ruby's arm. "I'm still mad about what you did but I'm willing to look past it as long as it doesn't happen again. Otherwise the beating you just had won't be anything compared to what I'll do to you. Got it?" Ruby nodded meekly, as Sapphire's voice got darker. "Good." She said her voice returning to its usual tone. She turned to Ash and May sticking out her hand. "I'm Sapphire Taylor, who are you?"
"I'm May Maple and this is Ash Ketchum, my boyfriend." May answered shaking Sapphire's hand before releasing it so Ash could do the same. "Nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too. Who taught you to fight? You must be good to get the drop on Ruby, he's not easy to take on. Even though he doesn't really look like it."
"Ash has been teaching me some self-defence stuff but I'm still learning." Sapphire nodded and turned to Ash.
"So you're the fighter." She said looking Ash up and down. "I can see that you're in great shape." May held her tongue but could feel anger building in her heart. Her anger started to fade when she saw that there wasn't anything in Sapphire's eyes that showed attraction towards Ash. Sapphire's gaze was analytical, she was sizing Ash up to see what sort of opponent he would be.
"They your Pokémon?" Sapphire asked as she looked at the Pokémon who had stopped their exercises and were watching the conversation.
"Mine and May's. I'm a Trainer and May's a Co-Ordinator, we're here for the Contest tomorrow." Ash said.
"I'm a Trainer too. Fancy a quick battle?" Sapphire asked reaching into her handbag pulling out a Pokéball, Ash grinned and was about to answer but quickly glanced at May.
"If you want to battle Ash then do it. We can exercise afterwards." May said, Ash's grin grew wider.
"Ready when you are Sapphire." He said, couple of minutes later Ash and Sapphire were stood opposite each other, May was stood behind Ash with the Pokémon while Ruby was standing by Sapphire holding her handbag. Sapphire threw her Pokéball into the air wanting to start the battle quickly.
"Go Rono!" She shouted. Out of the Pokéball came a huge bipedal Pokémon, he was black with plates of silver armour on his body. The armour on his head had a pair of silver horns protruding from holes in the section covering his forehead, that section of the armour plating extended past the upper jaw finishing at a point. There were nostril-like holes on the tip of the plating and another pair of holes which let sky blue eyes look out. On the rim of his mouth there were several pointed, teeth-like protrusions. There were more armour plates on the nape of his neck and down her spine. His hide had wide, blunt spikes protruding from his shoulders and more plate circled his arms and legs. His hands and feet each had three silver claws and a thick, long, black tail dragged along the ground.
"AAAGGGGGRRROOONNN!" The Pokémon bellowed, stomping the ground. His armour shone in the early morning light but there were a number of gouges visible.
"If you're wondering about Rono's armour, he won't let anyone try to fix the gouges. Aggron are proud of the damage their armour takes, it shows how hard they've fought and how many battles they've been in. Rono was my first Pokémon and one of my strongest, so you're in for a tough battle."
"So are you." Ash said with a laugh, he looked at Rono and could see that he was indeed a strong Pokémon. Ash turned to his Pokémon, he knew that Ponyta and Houndour even though they had the type advantage they wouldn't have the strength to go up against Rono. Grimm while strong didn't have any moves that would enough of an effect, Typhlosion would have a good chance of winning with type advantage and by using his speed to dodge but if Rono managed to land a few powerful attacks then Typhlosion wouldn't last long. That left only two other Pokémon, Pikachu and Lucario. Pikachu was the most powerful Pokémon Ash had with him but like Typhlosion if he got hit he wouldn't be in the battle long. "Lucario, I Choose You."
The Aura Pokémon nodded and ran onto the field stopping in front of Ash, watching the large Pokémon before him.
"Ladies first." Ash said with a small bow, Sapphire smiled back at him.
"You're going to regret that. Rono, Autotomize." Sapphire said with a grin. Rono's body became shrouded in a bright silver light for a few seconds before it faded. "Now Iron Head." Aggron charged across the makeshift battlefield becoming covered in silver energy.
"Lucario dodge with Extremespeed." Lucario nodded but waited for Rono to get closer before disappearing., leaving a small cloud of sand behind him. "Aura Sphere." Lucario reappeared behind Rono with an Aura Sphere already formed between his paws. He threw it at Rono's exposed back the second he stopped moving.
"Deflect it with Iron Tail." Rono's large tail flicked around as it took on a metallic sheen and knocked the Aura Sphere to the side making a pillar of sand flying to the air when the Aura Sphere impacted the beach. "Now attack Lucario." Rono swung his tail back round slamming it into Lucario's side, thanks to the speed he acquired from Autotomize. Lucario rolled across the beach for a couple of seconds before he managed to push himself into the air, still spinning and landing on his feet.
"Lucario, Dragon Pulse." Lucario formed a ball of turquoise energy between his paws and threw it at Rono. Ash could feel his excitement rising as the battle got into full swing, he could tell that Sapphire and Rono had been through a lot together and that just made him want this battle even more. One of the things Ash enjoyed most about battles was when he was up against a really tough opponent, that was when he could go all out bringing all of his experience into play and show what he could really do.
"Send it back with Metal Claw." Sapphire said smirking. Rono's hand became covered in the same metallic sheen that his tail had moments ago and waited for the Dragon Pulse to get closer so he could bat it away. Sapphire quickly glanced at Ash and saw the fire burning in his eyes, she could see he was feeling the same as she was. The rush of adrenaline that came with each attack and movement the Pokémon on the field made and the buzz of their own brains as they analysed their opponents moves and called out to their Pokémon a counter attack.
"Lucario, Psychic." Lucario's eyes glowed blue as he used the attack, Sapphire's smirk fell from her face. She expected Rono to stop moving but Lucario had used Psychic on Dragon Pulse instead, weaving it past Rono's attacks and slamming it into the steel and rock types chest. "Now Aura Force." Lucario shot forward using Extremespeed while forming another Aura Sphere, as he got close to Rono Lucario focussed the power of Force Palm into the Aura Sphere changing the ball of blue energy to one of dark green. Lucario's combined attack crashed into Rono causing the larger Pokémon to skid backwards a few steps.
"Rono are you alright?" Sapphire asked, her Pokémon looked over his shoulder and nodded before turning back to glare at Lucario. Sapphire then directed her attention to Ash asking, "What the hell was that move?"
"I've spent to last few years just training my Pokémon and working on new tactics. That was a combination move I thought of, it combines Aura Sphere and Force Palm." Ash replied with a smile. "Lucario, Bullet Punch." Ash said getting back to the battle but instead of his fists and arms glowing red, Lucario's fists became enveloped by a brightly shining orange energy. The Aura Pokémon ran forward quickly ready to deliver the punches, Rono acting from experience threw his arms up, crossing them over his chest to block the attack.
May pointed her Pokédex at Lucario pressing the button that identified and explained Pokémon attacks to try and work out what move Lucario was using.
Power-Up Punch – A fighting type attack, by striking their opponent multiple times this attack caused the users fists to become harder increasing their attack power. Her Pokédex said. She looked at Ash and was about to tell him what the attack was because he'd looked as confused as everyone else but saw him smiling at her.
"I heard the Pokédex May. Lucario must've just learnt it, I can't wait to see what it can do." He said grinning wildly as he turned back to the battle as Lucario started landing punch after punch on Rono slowly forcing the Iron Armour Pokémon backwards with each strike.
Inch by inch Lucario was moving the steel type across the sand towards Sapphire. The repeated blows were taking their toll on Rono and Sapphire could see that clearly, she didn't know what the attack Lucario was using was but it kept getting stronger. She knew that if she called out for an attack it would leave Rono exposed to Lucario's assault so she went on the defensive instead.
"Rono, Iron Defense!" Sapphire shouted, Rono's body became outlined in a light blue energy before taking on a metallic sheen. This lessened the damage that was being inflicted but not by much due to the super effectiveness of the attack and the fact that each punch was getting stronger. Sapphire was wracking her mind to think of a way to turn the battle around when she remembered a move that Rono had learnt recently. "Metal Burst!" As Lucario's attack connected Rono started to glow white, releasing a shockwave of white energy hurling Lucario backwards. All of the damage he'd just inflicted had been thrown back at him all at once, Lucario landed on his back on the sand and skidded backwards until he stopped just in front of Ash.
"Lucario, are you alright?" Ash asked, slowly Lucario rose to his feet and formed a ball of pink energy and pushed in on to his chest. The scuffs and bruises he'd sustained during the battle so far fading as they healed.
I am well Master, let us continue. Lucario said with a nod, directing his thoughts through Ash's Aura so no-one else heard him speak.
"Alright then, Blaze Kick." Ash said, Lucario ran forward to behind his attack again.
"Metal Claw." Sapphire said sounding slightly annoyed, if Lucario hadn't healed himself then this battle would've been hers given the damage that Metal Burst did. As Lucario got closer to Rono Ash made his move, calling out to Lucario.
"Low Blaze." Lucario smirked as he skidded under the Metal Claw as Rono swung in for the attack and delivered a combination of Blaze Kick and Low Kick knocking Rono off balance causing him to topple towards the ground.
"Rono, Heavy Slam." Rono became surrounded with a yellow energy as he fell and using the speed boost from Autotomize twisted so that he landed on top of Lucario sending a shockwave through the beach and sand flew into the air. "Now Flamethrower." Rono rose from the sand, opening his mouth to release the fire type attack.
"Lucario, Shield!" Ash shouted as the flames spewed forth from Rono's mouth. The pit where Lucario lay from taking the Heavy Slam was filled with flames, after a minute Rono stopped the Flamethrower. Steam and smoke blocked everyone's vision of what had happened to Lucario, everyone except Ash who was using his Aura Senses. There were a few seconds of silence before an Aura Sphere blasted through the smoke sending Rono reeling backwards. Lucario jumped out of the pit, his fur singed slightly and he was surrounded by an Aura Shield. The Aura Pokémon hadn't been able to create the shield in time to block all of the Flamethrower but he'd managed to avoid being knocked out.
"Aura Sphere again." Ash said, Lucario reacted instantly dropping the shield and firing off another Aura Sphere before Rono was able to regain his balance. The second Aura Sphere toppled the Iron Armour Pokémon. "Let's finish this Lucario, Close Combat and Power-Up Punch." Lucario ran at the downed steel and rock type jumping into the air so that he'd land the first strike with his whole body weight behind it.
"Rono," Sapphire said pausing as she waited for the right moment to use this final move. It was a gamble but it was her last resort if she was going to win the battle. "Endeavor." She shouted out just before Lucario landed his attack. Rono glowed gold and punched Lucario in the chest at the same time Lucario punched him. The Aura Pokémon was thrown back into the air by the attack and landed on the beach in front of Ash, there were a few seconds of silence before both Ash and Sapphire ran onto the makeshift battlefield and checked on their Pokémon.
"Lucario's knocked out." Ash said sadly, he'd enjoyed the battle and really wanted to win.
"Same with Rono." Sapphire replied, "Looks like a draw."
"Yeah, looks like." Ash said kneeling down to pick Lucario up, sending a pulse of Aura into him at the same time. The Aura going un-noticed by Sapphire or Ruby, as Ash sat the Aura Pokémon up slowly. Lucario's eyes fluttered open as he groaned. "You did great Lucario, it's probably a good idea for you to return to your Pokéball for now. We'll get Nurse Joy to give you a check-up when we get to the Pokémon Centre."
Lucario nodded as Ash helped him stand, he wanted to protest and stay out of the accursed ball but he knew that right now he was in no shape to argue or battle if he needed to. He sighed in defeat and tapped his Pokéball disappearing in a flash of red pixels. Ash turned and saw Sapphire had returned Rono and was now walking towards him with Ruby alongside her, holding her hand. May had walked over to Ash while he helped Lucario and stood close to his so their shoulders were touching.
"That was a great battle Ash, I haven't had that much fun in a while. What did you mean when you shouted Shield?" Sapphire said extending her hand out for him to shake. Ruby looked a little annoyed at the statement but soon forgot about it when he felt Sapphire squeeze his hand to say she was only referring to the excitement of battles.
"Same here, Rono's really tough. Lucario used his Aura to make a Shield to block the Flamethrower but it looks like some of the attack got through. Any chance of a rematch in the future?" Ash asked talking Sapphire's hand and shaking it.
"Sure, next time we meet there's going to be a clear winner and it's going to be more than a one on one battle." Sapphire replied with a grin. A beeping could be heard coming from her bag. "Oh, excuse me a minute." She said taking her bag back from Ruby and pulling out a Pokégear. She walked a few feet away from them and answered the call. After a few minutes she ended the call and walked back over to them. "We've got to go Ruby, Professor Birch needs our help with some research. He says it's urgent."
"Okay Sapph." Ruby said, he turned to face Ash and May. "It was nice meeting you, see you around I guess."
"It was nice to meet you too." May said.
"Yeah, hope we meet again soon." Ash added.
"You're just saying that so you can battle Sapphire again." May giggled.
"A little bit." Ash said with a grin.
"Bye guys and Ash, keep training cause you're going to need all you can get if you want to beat me." Sapphire said.
"Don't worry I will be." Ash answered, Sapphire smiled as grabbed Ruby's hand before they both walked down the beach presumably towards their hotel. "Let's go back to the Pokémon Centre, I want Nurse Joy to take a look at Lucario."
"Okay Ash." May said as they returned all of their Pokémon except for Pikachu and Glaceon before collecting their things and walking back to the Pokémon Centre holding hands. When they got to the Centre Ash handed Lucario's Pokéball over to Nurse Joy and they were about to go out to the training fields with May to continue their training but both of their stomachs started growling.
"I guess we should go and get some breakfast before we start training again." Ash said, May agreed with a nod. First they went back to their room, got showered and put on a fresh pair of clothes before going back to the cafeteria to get their breakfast.
After they'd eaten Ash went back to the main desk and asked Nurse Joy how Lucario was, while May went out to the training fields to start practicing.
"Lucario's fine he just needs to rest for a little while." The pink haired nurse said.
"That's good to hear, we had a tough battle against an Aggron this morning and I wanted to make sure Lucario didn't get hurt too badly. Aggron used Heavy Slam." Ash said.
"Don't worry your Lucario is a very strong Pokémon, like I said he just need to rest now and he'll be fine."
"Thanks Nurse Joy. If you need me for anything I'll be out on the training fields with May, helping her training for the Contest."
"I'll do that, now you go and help your girlfriend." Ash blushed and walked away from the desk. When he got out to the field were May was practicing he stood there for a minute just watching her, he intended on watching how she did with the Kata but after a minute he stopped paying attention to the Kata and was just watching May. Watching how she moved, how her hair flowed and shone in the morning light, the way she'd bite her lip while remembering the next move in the sequence, Ash saw every little thing and was mesmerised by it. Just before May finished Ash managed to snap himself out of his stupor, What's happening to me? He thought for what must've been the millionth time, he shook the thought out of his mind and walked over to May.
They spend the rest of the morning practicing the last few moves of the Kata and by the time they stopped for lunch May could perform the Kata from start to finish without having to stop and remember the next move. While they were training Nurse Joy had given Lucario a clean bill of health and he'd come out to the training field to help Mienshao prepare for the Contest, going through the Kata and also giving her tips on how to fully utilise her ability with Aura.
"I did it!" May said happily jumping at Ash and giving him a hug. Ash wrapped his arms around May's waist lifting her off the ground and spinning around with a massive grin on his face, May squealed and started to playfully hit Ash's shoulders. "Put me down." She giggled as Ash continued to spin her around after another minute he slowly put her down but kept his arms around her waist in case she was dizzy, he didn't want her to fall over and hurt herself. May leant forward and gave Ash a quick peck on the lips.
"Thank you Ash, if you weren't helping me I'd never would've been able to learn those moves." She said moving out of his arms and taking a few steps away from him as she started to go through the Kata again on her own. Ash stood there with his arms hanging limply by his sides, even though the kiss didn't even last a second he was still stunned by it. A Thunderbolt from Pikachu brought him back to reality though, as the sparks from the attack crackled across his body Ash focussed his attention on May this time keeping his focus on how she performed the Kata.
"That's it May, you've got it. The only thing I can see is you need to work on the different speeds of the moves but that's easy enough to fix with a little practice and slowing down the slow moves even more. I don't think you'll need to worry that much about it though, the Judges probably won't know about the changes in speed. Come on let's go and get something to eat." Ash said once May had finished. May nodded and they returned most of their Pokémon, leaving Pikachu, Glaceon and Lucario out, they handed their Pokéballs over to Nurse Joy so she could take a look at them.
"I was just about to come out and get you actually Mr. Ketchum." Nurse Joy said as she took the Pokéballs from them. "There's a phone call for you, it's on the phone in the corner just take it off hold and the call will come through."
"Okay, thanks Nurse Joy." Ash said walking over to the phone, he sat on the seat while May and Lucario stood behind him, Pikachu sat on his shoulder and Glaceon sat at May's feet. Ash picked the phone off the hook and pressed the hold call button, a couple of seconds later Professor Oak appeared on the screen.
"Ash my boy, I'm glad I could get a hold of you so quickly." The elderly researcher said.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Ash asked, worry creeping into his voice.
"Oh no nothing like that, it just Gardevoir has been asking me to get a hold of you and she's been getting a little impatient."
"What do you mean by that?"
"She's holding my pizza hostage. It's hovering above my head nearly touching the ceiling."
"Why does Gardevoir want you to call me?" Ash said trying not to laugh, he knew how much Professor Oak loved pizza.
"She wants to join your team again. I know you want to train the Pokémon you already have so I've increased the amount of Pokémon you are allowed to carry. You can now carry eight Pokémon with you at any one time, I've talked to Professor Birch and he's agreed to increase May's limit. I just need each of you to insert your Pokédex into the slot under the screen so I can transfer the information." Ash inserted his Pokédex and then swapped it for May's once the Professor told him the process was complete.
"How come you've increased our limits? I though a trainer was only allowed to carry six Pokémon at a time." May asked.
"That's right but Professors, like myself and Professor Birch, are allowed to increase the amount of Pokémon a trainer can carry if we deem them experienced enough. You see the reason why trainers have the limit of six Pokémon is because 6 Pokémon to 1 trainer is the Pokémon League's ruling that a trainer can only give the appropriate amount of care and love to no more than 6 Pokémon at a time. Over time though they understood that experienced trainers are able to give care and love to a greater number of their Pokémon because of the bonds that have formed between them. It is at a Pokémon Professor's discretion as to whether a trainer who came to them for a starter Pokémon can handle the increase in number."
"I think I get it now. What you're saying is that the strong bonds we have with our Pokémon allows us to carry more and form bonds with any new Pokémon we catch because we don't have to create a bonds with the Pokémon we already have." May said.
"Essentially yes." Professor Oak said with a small smile. A beep could be heard in the background and the Professor turned to the side and typing something before he turned back to face the screen. "I've just had confirmation from Professor Birch on your increase May. Both of you can now carry eight Pokémon with you, if you wish."
"In that case can you send me Spoink and Delcatty please?" May asked.
"Can I get Gardevoir and…." Ash stopped to think about who else he wanted to bring onto the team. "Meowth?" He ended after a minute.
"Of course you can, I'll get Tracey to go and get your Pokémon May. Meowth is in the next room tinkering with some left over pieces of metal and bits out of some of the old machines I have lying around, I've no idea what he's building he said it's a surprise and Gardevoir's right here." Professor Oak said, Gardevoir appeared on the screen a second later, moving back again as the Professor's pizza fell catching it just before it landed on the elderly researchers head by using Psychic. She lowered it gently onto a plate that sat next to the Professor. "Thank you Gardevoir, can you go and get Meowth for me please." The psychic type nodded and left the room, Professor Oak then called for Tracey asking him to go and collect Spoink and Delcatty for May. A few minutes later Tracey came back holding two Pokéballs and Gardevoir returned into the room just behind him, her eyes glowed blue for a second as she spoke to the Professor. He then turned to the screen, "Meowth said could you give him about an hour, apparently he's at delicate point with whatever he's building and can't leave it until he's finished this section."
"Sure that's no problem. Just let me know when he's ready." Ash said curious about what Meowth was building, he wouldn't say it out loud but he was a little suspicious briefly wondering if Meowth was reverting to his former ways.
"Okay I'll send the Pokémon over now…Oh there's one other thing Ash I'm going to give Gardevoir something your mother got in the mail it came addressed to you. She asked me to send it to you the next time you called to exchange your Pokémon."
"What is it?"
"We have no idea, you'll have to wait and see. If your mother found out I'd opened it you know how she'd react and I'm not going to get on her bad side by telling you." Ash nodded in understanding, he knew what his mom could be like when she got angry. He'd been on the receiving end of the anger quite a few times before and since he became a trainer.
Professor Oak disappeared from the screen to collect Gardevoir Pokéball and returned her to it. He then sent Gardevoir, Delcatty and Spoink to the Porta Vista Pokémon Centre for them to collect. Ash and May thanked him and went to retrieve their Pokémon, as soon as Ash picked up Gardevoir's Pokéball it burst open releasing the Embrace Pokémon who smiled at Ash once the light from the Pokéball had faded. In her hands she held a small parcel, she passed it over to Ash.
"Come on Gardevoir, we're about to go and get something to eat." Ash said returning the smile. Gardevoir turned to May and bowed slightly.
"Mistress May it is an honour to see you again. Have…..Have you forgiven me for what I did?" Gardevoir asked nervously.
"I've already told you Gardevoir, there's nothing to forgive and please stop calling me Mistress. How have you been?" May replied, Gardevoir's eyes widened slightly before she answered.
"I have been well, I trust you are well too, Sandshrew spoke of how you seemed to enjoy the Festival in Vermillion City." There was a slight teasing undertone to the psychic type's voice as she spoke. Ash didn't notice the undertone in her voice but May did causing her cheeks to flush red.
"L-let's go and get some food." May said before walking off quickly with Glaceon alongside her, Ash watched May leave with confusion written across his face.
"What was that about?" He said to himself as he followed her, Pikachu sat on his shoulder as he went leaving Gardevoir and Lucario to exchange a look and shake their heads as they laughed chasing their trainer a second later.
While they ate Ash opened the parcel revealing two X-Transceivers, one outlined in blue, the other in red and a note nestled between them, May picked up the note and started to read it out loud.
Ash,
I know that you spend a lot of time on the road and can be hard to find at times so I sent these to the one place I knew you'd go to eventually, home. I'm giving you and May these X-Transceivers so that you can contact people without having to find a Pokémon Centre first. When you check the phonebook in them you will find there are three numbers already entered, they're already named so you know what they are. One is the number of the X-Transceiver, one is the number of the other X-Transceiver and the final number is mine just in case you want to talk to me for any reason.
You can choose which one you want and give you number to whoever you want. I just ask one thing in return, if either of you see any trainers you think might be suited for the Battle Frontier let me know.
Your Friend,
Scott
"That's really generous of Scott to do that." May said putting the note back in the box and picking up the X-Transceiver with the red outline, strapping it to her wrist as Ash did the same with the other one. They spent the rest of their lunch looking through the instruction booklet and testing the various different functions. When they looked at the phonebook Ash saw a number with the name Red and May saw one saying Blue, they changed the names so that Red was now May and Blue was now Ash. They was another number called My Number and left that as it was, after reading the instruction booklet they worked out how to input more number and started to enter the numbers they might need along with a few more such as Brock's, Misty's and Dawn's among others.
After they ate their lunch Ash and May collected their Pokémon from Nurse Joy and Ash ran up to their room to get his bag before he returned to the training fields to meet May and do a little more training. They released all of their Pokémon and let them have a couple of minutes to greet the newcomers, Ash then explained about Professor Oak and Professor Birch allowing them to carry more Pokémon.
"Mistress May, I have been doing as you asked and helping Spoink increase the strength and dexterity of her Psychic attack. Please allow us to demonstrate how far her training has come." Gardevoir said, May nodded readily wanting to see what Spoink had learnt.
Gardevoir and Spoink moved to stand at opposite sides of the training field Ash and May had chosen to use. Gardevoir spun in a circle releasing a flurry of multi-coloured leaves towards Spoink, the pearl on top of the Bounce Pokémon's head glowed blue as a look of concentration formed on her face. The Magical Leaf attack was surrounded by a blue light and started to slow down, gradually coming to a stop just before making contact with Spoink. She then manipulated the grass type move, after a minute it had been moved to form the rough shape of a Celebi. Once the rough shape had been completed, Spoink released the Psychic attack letting Magical Leaf fade away. It was clear on her face that the demonstration had taken a lot of her strength from her.
"Spoink understands the basics of the technique, it's just a matter of working on the strength and finer details now, that will come with time and practice." Gardevoir said as she walked back towards May and Ash after having Teleported over to Spoink and picking up the tired Pokémon. "She just needs to rest for a little while and remember what I've taught her, she spent most of her energy trying to stop the attack as individual leaves instead of as a set. I'll work with her more once she's recovered.
"Thank you for everything you've done Gardevoir." May said gratefully taking Spoink from the Embrace Pokémon's arms, cradling her as her eyes drooped closed. "I'm so proud of you Spoink, you'll be strong in no time. I just know it." May whispered to the sleeping psychic type. After returning Spoink to her Pokéball May and Ash continued their training with the Kata to make sure she understood the pattern properly after they fed their Pokémon and let them do their own training.
Once they'd trained for a couple of hours they stopped so that May could get her costume ready. It was only when they stopped that Ash realised Professor Oak hadn't sent Meowth to join them yet, Ash assumed that Meowth hadn't finished with whatever it was he was doing at the Lab and needed more time to do so. Ash and May left the training field and went back to their room, after showering and putting on clean clothes May kicked Ash out of the room not wanting him to see her costume until the Contest.
Ash went for a walk around Porta Vista, Pikachu on his shoulder, Lucario and Gardevoir walked alongside him, they earned a few looks from people as they walked past but the glances didn't bother them as they continued on their way. Ash went into a few different shops picking up various supplies, extra potions and medical resources, food and spices along with some other things like rope, extra towels and things like that just in case they were needed. It took Ash a couple of hours to finish his shopping and afterwards he started to walk back to the Pokémon Centre.
"Gardevoir, how's everyone getting on back at the Lab?" He asked.
"Everyone is well and training hard, Meganium misses you and the other Pokémon from…that you received recently want to meet you. Butterfree is working hard to be ready for the upcoming Gym battle. He's trying to increase his resistance to his weaknesses along with his strength and speed." Gardevoir answered.
"It's okay Gardevoir don't have to avoid mentioningmy dad, I haven't forgiven him for what he did but it's nice to know he was watching." Ash said noticing the pause, "Once the Contests over I'll ask Professor Oak to send some of them over and we'll spend some time together. Houndour and Absol can go back to the lab and train there for a while, Krookodile can help them practice their dark type moves and everyone else could help with other moves. What do you mean about Butterfree increasing his resistance?"
"He's asked the other Pokémon to use attacks at a low power to gradually increase his resistance to fire, electric, ice and rock type moves."
"When we get back to the Pokémon Centre I'm going to call Professor Oak. I want him to tell Butterfree not to strain himself, I might get him to ask Venusaur to watch him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself."
"I was helping him work on keeping his focus against the confusing effects of psychic attacks."
"That's a great idea, I never would've thought of that. You're a lot smarter than I am Gardevoir." The Embrace Pokémon smiled at the praise. Gardevoir started to tell Ash how his other Pokémon were doing along with what his newer Pokémon were like. They kept talking until they arrived back at the Pokémon Centre, Ash went straight over to the phone and dialled Professor Oak's number. After ringing a couple of times the Professor's face appeared on the screen.
"Ah, Ash my boy I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon. I did intend on sending Meowth over to you but he said that whatever he's building is taking longer than he thought so you'd probably be better requesting another Pokémon. Is there anyone specific you'd like me to get for you?" The elderly researcher asked.
"That's okay I understand. Any clue what he's building?" Ash replied.
"Not a clue but I can't wait to find out what it is. So which Pokémon would you like me to get for you?"
"Bagon, I want to get a little training done with him."
"Her, your Bagon is female Ash."
"Okay then I want to train with her."
"Give me a few minutes to go and collect her." The Professor rose from his seat but stopped when Ash started speaking again.
"Professor, before you go and you pass a message on to Butterfree for me?"
"Of course I can, what do you want me to say?"
"Can you tell him not to push himself so hard, Gardevoir told me the type of training he's been doing for the next Gym and I don't want him to hurt himself. Will you ask Venusaur to keep an eye on him, just to make sure Butterfree's alright?" Professor Oak smiled at how much Ash cared for his Pokémon.
"Don't worry about it Ash, I'll tell him and I'm sure that your other Pokémon are already watching Butterfree. I'll go and get Bagon for you now." Professor Oak then disappeared from the screen, after a couple of minutes Ash heard a familiar voice.
"Professor? Are you in here?" The voice said a second before the person the voice belonged to appeared on the screen.
"Mom!" Ash said, his mother turned to look at the phone and smiled.
"Ash, how are you?" She asked taking a seat in front of the phone.
"I'm doing great, what about you?"
"Oh I'm just fine dear. Where's May?"
"She's in the room working on her costume for the Contest. She kicked me out because she doesn't want me to see it until the appeals, I've been wandering round Porta Vista for the last couple of hours picking up a few supplies."
"Well you'll have to let me know what her costume looks like."
"Pika!" Pikachu squeaked as he jumped in front of the camera.
"Hello Pikachu, are you looking after Ash for me?"
"PiPikachu." Pikachu nodded, grinning.
"I'm glad to hear that and see you're looking as cute as ever." Lucario moved slightly, bowing to Delia and Gardevoir gave her a shy wave. Even though, like Ash, Gardevoir had forgiven Delia for what had happened but because of her past Gardevoir was still rebuilding her trust in Delia. Lucario understood what Delia had done and had forgiven her before Ash, knowing that it was done so he could make his way in the world without his father's help. "Lucario, Gardevoir it's nice to see you're both healthy as well."
They talked for a couple more minutes before Professor Oak came back holding a Pokéball.
"Ah, hello Delia. What brings you here?" The Professor asked.
"I just came over to visit Ash's Pokémon and ask whether you and Tracey would like to come over for dinner?"
"I see, well I will gladly join you for dinner, Tracey is making the rounds with Meganium feeding the Pokémon but he should be finished soon if you'd like to go and ask him. I did pass him on the way back, he was making his way towards Ash and May's Pokémon."
"I'll go and see if I can catch up to him, that way I can ask him and see Ash's Pokémon at the same time." Delia stood up from the chair, "Goodbye Ashy, and remember to change…"
"I know mom, you don't have to tell me every time we talk." Ash interrupted. His mother giggled and walked off as Professor Oak took his seat in front of the phone again.
"I have Bagon here, it took me a little longer than I thought to get her. She's quite shy, it may take her a while to fully come out of her shell but I'm sure you'll be able to help her with that. Are you ready for her to be transferred to you?" The greying Professor asked.
"I'm ready, Professor." Ash answered, "I know once she meets my other Pokémon she'll fit in quickly."
"Okay then," Professor Oak said placing the Pokéball on the transferred machine next to him. "Transfer commencing." Ash could see a flash of light alongside the Professor and a second later the transfer podium next to the phone flashed with the same light. "Transfer complete."
"Thanks Professor." Ash said picking the Pokéball up off the podium, "I'll let you know how it goes with Bagon. Bye."
"Goodbye Ash and good luck." The Professor ended the call and Ash stood from the chair.
"Let's go and see if May's finished with her costume yet." Ash said to the Pokémon surrounding him, picking up the things he'd bought and walking toward their room, Pikachu jumped on to his shoulder while Lucario and Gardevoir followed behind him.
When he got to the room he saw that Delcatty was sat outside the door of their room curled up in a ball. Seeing Ash walking toward her Delcatty got to her feet and stood guarding the door.
"Hey, Delcatty has May finished yet?" Ash asked, kneeling down to stroke the normal type.
"Del Delcatty." The Prim Pokémon said shaking her head, Ash knocked on the door.
"May, you finished yet?" He asked.
"No, not yet. I had to call Dawn to ask her opinion on something and I needed her help with how to make a few of the details." May's voice came through the closed door, partly muffled by the wood. "Give me a little more time, I'm nearly finished."
"Okay, I've bought a few things for when we leave. I'll leave them with Delcatty and go out to the training fields, Meowth's still working on whatever he's building so Professor Oak's sent me Bagon. I'm going to go and get to know her, I'll introduce her to my other Pokémon as well."
"I'll come down and meet you when I've finished."
"Alright see you later." Ash said, leaving his bags with Delcatty and walking back through the Pokémon Centre and out onto the training fields. Ash was alone on the fields and took the Pokéballs from his belt. "Okay everyone, come on out." He called as he threw the Pokéballs into the air, in a large flash of light four Pokémon appeared. Ponyta whinnied and stamped her feet, Typhlosion let his collar burst into flames, Grimm stood quietly eyeing his surroundings and Houndour surged forward tackling Ash to the ground, licking the face of his trainer.
"Calm down Houndour, there's someone I want you all to meet." Ash said and with one last slobber covered lick the Dark Pokémon jumped off of Ash's chest and sat next to Ponyta. Pikachu, Lucario and Gardevoir joined the line while Ash got back to his feet. "Most of you have probably met her before I know that Pikachu and Lucario haven't so please welcome Bagon to the family." Ash opened his last Pokéball and sent out the little dragon type.
"Bagon." She said timidly, Ash could immediately see that Bagon was healthy, her leathery blue hide was smooth and had no blemishes, the fangs that protruded from her lower jaw were sharp and bright even in the low light of the evening. The protective grey helmet like covering on her head looked strong and seemed to be a little bigger than normal. Bagon hadn't move from where she landed after coming out of the Pokéball, staring at the ground not meeting anyone's eye.
"Hey Bagon, my name's Ash." Ash said kneeling down to look Bagon in the eye. He caressed the grey helmet, causing Bagon to raise her eyes from the ground. "Would you like to be my friend?"
"Gon Gon, Bagon Ba?"
"Lucario, what did Bagon say?"
She asked why you want to be her friend. The Aura Pokémon translated.
"I want to be your friend because you're part of the family now. Just like everyone else here." Ash said to Bagon gesturing to the assembled Pokémon. Bagon looked around and hid behind Ash peeking out from behind his back. The raven haired trainer reached behind him and cradled Bagon in his arms. "You don't have to be scared, no-one here will hurt you. We all want to be your friend." Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder and looked down at Bagon smiling.
"Pika Pikachu." The electric type said, greeting the newest arrival to the team. One by one the other Pokémon stepped forward and introduced themselves. Over the next half hour Bagon started to come out of her shell and was playing Tag with Pikachu, Houndour, Typhlosion and Ponyta, while Lucario, Gardevoir and Absol did a little more training.
"I wonder what the Pokédex has to say about Bagon?" Ash asked out loud, he pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket and pointed it at Bagon.
"Bagon, the Rock Head Pokémon. Harbouring a never-ending dream to fly amongst the clouds Bagon will practice by jumping off of cliffs every day. To try and dispel the frustration of not being able to take flight Bagon will shatter huge rocks into pebbles by charging at them head first. Gender – Female. Moves Known – Headbutt, Rage, Ember, Hydro Pump, Dragon Dance, Dragon Pulse. Ability – Rock Head – This ability nullifies any recoil damage from moves the user performs."
Ash was surprised to hear the number of moves that Bagon knew. Looks like she's done some training of her own before I met her. I just need to think of a way to get her to overcome her shyness. Ash thought as he put his Pokédex away and carried on watching the Pokémon play. As he watched them he kept an eye on Bagon, seeing what her speed and agility where like. Pikachu knew what Ash was doing so he tried to push Bagon a little bit, every now and again he's run towards her a little faster than needed to see if she'd be able to dodge or he'd dodge quicker than normal to see whether she could adjust and still tag him.
A pair of hands covered his eyes a little while later as the Pokémon were resting after they'd finished playing and training.
"Guess who?" A sweet voice asked, Ash smiled and put a hand on his chin tapping his finger against his jaw.
"Nurse Joy?" He said.
"No, try again."
"Officer Jenny?"
"No." The voice answered, it still sounded sweet but there was an obvious undertone of annoyance in it.
"Okay, I think I've got it now. It's, oh what's her name? That Co-Ordinator from Hoenn. Mary? Maddy? Macey?" The hands were taken away from Ash's eyes and he felt a couple of playful punches on his back. He stumbled forward pretended to be more injured than he actually was, dropping down to one knee and putting a hand on his back. "Ow, I was only kidding May. There's no need to try and kill me."
"Oh stop being dramatic Ash, I didn't hit you that hard." May said folding her arms over her chest and turning slightly away from him. Ash chuckled and stood up walking up to her, he smiled and put a hand on her shoulder which she shrugged off. Ash frowned and took his hat off putting it on May's head, Pikachu looked on in amazement Ash never voluntarily gave anyone his hat.
"I'm sorry May, I was only trying to have a little fun. Is there anything I can do to apologies?" He asked, regretting it the second the words left his mouth. May smirked knowing she'd won, she turned and hid her smirk.
"We're pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend right?" She asked after checking there wasn't anyone around to hear what she said.
"Yeah." Ash said suspiciously, wondering where she was going with this.
"Well, the few times we've kissed properly, I've been the one to take the lead. I want you to kiss me…on the lips" May said blushing, she knew that this was her chance to get Ash to take a more active role in their 'relationship' and it might get him to look at her in the same light she look at him in.
"Are…..are you sure?" Ash said nervously, he wasn't fully comfortable with taking a lead in their 'relationship' as he didn't know what he actually had to do. May nodded and took a step towards him so they were nearly touching. Ash hesitantly moved his head forward, his face slowly inching towards May's. May could feel her heartbeat speeding up and her mouth going dry, she wanted to grab Ash's head and smash her lips against his but knew that Ash needed to do this on his own if she ever wanted him to understand how, according to everyone else, he felt about her.
After what seemed like hours Ash's lips gently pressed against May's holding them there for a second before leaning in to it a little more, closing his eyes as at the same time May closed hers. His heart was racing just like May's and after a couple of seconds he pulled back starting to feel panicked about the way he was feeling. His heart still raced, his lips felt dry, his palms were sweating and he felt lightheaded but the combination of all these things created one of the greatest things Ash had ever felt. That scared him more than when he'd faced down the criminals, rampaging Legendries or any other dangerous situations he'd gotten into over his years of travel.
"W…Was that okay?" Ash asked quietly, not meeting May's eyes as they slowly opened again.
"Yeah, that…that was good Ash." May replied trying to calm herself down, she took his hat off and put it back on his head. "You just need to do that a little more often so that it keeps up the appearance of us being a couple."
"Right…..Hey come and meet Bagon." Ash said wanting to change the subject and rid the air of the tension between himself and May.
"Okay." May said happily, even though the kiss had been short it was a start and she could build on that foundation. Everyone told her Ash felt the same way she did and now she was starting to believe them, she just needed to get him to realize it himself and with this being Ash she had a lot of work to do.
They walked over to the Pokémon most of who had started playing again, Lucario, Gardevoir and Grimm continues to train with Blaziken joining them. Ash picked up Bagon as she ran in front of him, the dragon type giggle as Ash tickled her sides and spun her around while cradling her in his arms.
Ash would be a great parent. May thought, she stumbled slightly when she realised what had just passed through her mind. She shook her head to get rid of the idea before it brought a blush to her cheeks and walked up to Ash as he turned to face her.
"May meet Bagon. Bagon meet May, she's one of my best friends. We're travelling together and I want both of you to be friends." Ash said, May smiled and waved at the small dragon. Bagon stared at May for a second before burying her head in Ash's chest. "Sorry about that May, Bagon's shy. It might take a while for her to get used to you."
"That's okay Ash, I'll just keep trying." May said slowly reaching out and stroking the grey ridged helmet on Bagon's head. Though she wouldn't look at May, Bagon purred softly in to Ash's chest at the feeling of May's hand. Ash smiled as he felt the vibrations Bagon's purring sent into him.
"You mightn't have to try that hard May, Bagon like's how you're stroking her head." May grinned and carried on stroking the dragon types head for a bit longer.
"Ash, let's go and get something to eat. I'm getting hungry and I want to get a little more training down before the Contest tomorrow." She said as she pulled her hand back from Bagon. Ash nodded and started to return his Pokémon, deciding to leave Bagon out of her ball for now so she could get used to him and May. Once he'd recalled his Pokémon and May had done the same with hers except for Glaceon, both her and Ash went into the Pokémon Centre with their Pokémon following them.
Lucario and Gardevoir walked side by side, Pikachu and Glaceon were in front of them while Bagon was still resting in Ash's arms. From the way she was acting and from the information Ash had seen in his Pokédex it looked like Bagon was only about 2 or 3 year old, which did explain why she was so shy. Pokémon aged differently from people so while being a year old chronologically by her species Bagon was actually around 5 to 6 years old.
They went into the Pokémon Centre's cafeteria and as usual due to their oversized appetites their plates were stacked high and near overflowing with food as they sat down to eat. Once they were finished and their Pokémon had eaten as well, Ash and May went back out to the training fields. May started going through the Kata pausing a few times to remember the next move but after a little prompting from Ash and a few more tries May was able to perform the pattern of moves without having to stop. Her movements weren't as precise as Ash's, Lucario's or Mienshao's, either her feet weren't placed properly or her strikes would be off target but it was good enough for the Contest Appeal.
After practicing for a while longer Ash was helping May to correct some of the little mistakes she had been making, he didn't see a need to since the judges wouldn't be looking at the Kata itself but at how May and Mienshao moved together. The reason May had asked for his help was so that her movements would be closer to Mienshao's and by having that little bit more similarity between them, her Appeal would look better.
They worked together for a few hours on fine-tuning May's movements and made some improvements on them. Her feet were now placed closer to the correct positions then they were before and her strikes were on target most of the time, occasionally they went to the wrong place but they were close enough not to make much of a difference. Once they'd practiced for a few hours and May was confident in her ability to perform the Kata they finished, going back to their room and each of them took a shower before changing to into their nightclothes.
Ash was flicking through the channels on the TV when May came out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. She was wearing a light blue T-Shirt and shorts, the T-Shirt was loose yet still managed to show the contours of her curvy body. May sat on the edge of her bed as she finished drying her hair, watching the TV while she did it.
"Oh, Ash go back I love that movie." May said, dropping the used towel and pointing at the TV. Ash did as May asked flicking back through the channels until she said stop. The movie on the TV showed a group of Pokémon there was a Swanna looking sad in the middle of a lake, a Politoed, a Wartortle and a Delibird. A large white castle could be seen looming in the background with towers reaching towards the sky and a bridge stretching across the lake to the castle's gates.
"What's this movie called? It looks familiar but I can't place it." Ash said. May got off her bed and sat down next to Ash, looking him in the eye as she put a hand on his arm.
"It's called The Swanna Princess. I watched it all the time when I was a little girl." She answered before turning round and lying next to him, resting her head on his shoulder getting herself comfortable so she could watch the movie. The movie had only just started and when it came to the first break May told Ash about the part they'd missed. (AN I know there's meant to be a Puffin but there aren't any Pokémon that I think looks like a Puffin and according to Bulbapedia Delibird is based on a Puffin)
They stayed next to each other throughout the movie, Gardevoir and Bagon had returned to their Pokéballs to sleep while Pikachu and Glaceon lay on May's bed and Lucario leant against the wall, meditating on his Aura and possible ways to use it that went beyond battling. When the movie ended the sequel started soon after so Ash and May decided to watch that as well, while the movies played May had turned on her side, her head now lay on Ash's chest and Ash's arm had found its way around May's body his hand resting on her hip. It was late when the movie ended, Ash and May had fallen asleep by then. Lucario came out of his meditation shortly after Ash and May had fallen asleep and switched off the TV letting the light from the screen fade and the room to darken like the night outside the window.
It was early morning when Ash woke up, he was confused at first wondering why there was a weight on his chest and why he couldn't move his arm. Looking down Ash saw the familiar brown head of hair that belonged to his current travelling companion along with her arm draped across his waist and shifting his gaze let him see that May was lying on his arm. Ash was about to try and wake May up bit stopped when she shifted in her sleep, rubbing her head against his chest moving it up to his shoulder. The movement of her head left Ash a sight he never thought he'd see, he could see right down May's T-Shirt. It took him by surprise and caused him to stare for a few seconds before he was able to come back to his senses, tearing his gaze from her chest to her beautiful sleeping face. Ash smiled and felt like he could stay in this position for days but he knew he couldn't, he needed to go to the bathroom so he gently tried to pull his arm from beneath May's body. As he tried he heard May groan looking to her face he could see her features creased into a frown and felt her arm tighten its hold on him.
"Five more minutes." May mumbled, her frown fading into a pleased smile as she once again made herself comfortable. Ash didn't want to wake May up but if he was going to make it to the bathroom he needed to, using his free arm Ash started to lightly shake May gradually getting more forceful but she just slept through it. Ash then remembered how he had woken her when they were camped to Mount Moon and how she had gotten through to him in Vermillion City after Pikachu had shocked him. A blush came to his face when he remembered what had happened afterwards, he shook his head to try and clear the blush he then made sure his face was out of the way not wanting a repeat of what happened at Mount Moon.
"May, breakfast's ready." He said, May's eyes opened and she bolted upright releasing Ash's arms from under her.
"Breakfast, where?" May said sleepily. Ash got off of the bed and ran to the bathroom, May was confused before she realized that Ash had told her there was food so he could get out of the bed. It was then that it hit her she's spent the night sleeping cuddled up to Ash, her face flushed a deep red as she leapt from the bed with a gasp. She hadn't meant for that to happen but was secretly happy that it had, the blush on her face had started to fade as she started gathering her exercise clothes and she was flattening her hair when Ash came out of the bathroom.
"Sorry about waking you," Ash said, "I really needed the bathroom and you were lying on my arm. I wouldn't of been able to get up without waking you up."
"It's okay Ash, I did want to wake up early to get a little more training done before the Contest." May replied before walking past Ash and into the bathroom. She came back a few minutes later dressed in her exercise clothes and moved out of the way to let Ash go and get changed. Once he was ready they woke their Pokémon and went down to the main floor of the Pokémon Centre, startling Nurse Joy who wasn't used to seeing Trainers up so early.
Like they'd done the previous day, they jogged to the beach but didn't go swimming instead they did their stretches. Ash and May then went through the Kata slowly at first but gradually got quicker as they repeated it and after five repetitions they had gotten to the speed it was meant to be performed at. They then jogged back to the Pokémon Centre and round to the training fields, once there they released all their Pokémon and May went through the Kata once again but this time with Mienshao instead of Ash. While May and Mienshao worked together Ash and Lucario watched them, stopping them to correct a mistake every so often.
"You still sticking with that stupid routine?" They heard a voice say. They'd been awake for about an hour now and May nearly lost her balance by the unexpected interruption. Ash turned around and saw the familiar peach hair belonging to Ursula, he nodded a brief greeting before turning back to watch May as she continued her Kata with Mienshao alongside her.
"Ursula, please go away. You should be getting ready for the Contest like May is." Ash said without looking back at Ursula, keeping his attention on May as he moved her arm into the right position. May struggled to hide a smirk as she saw Ursula fume out of the corner of her eye but quickly focused her attention fully on her movements as she placed her foot wrong and nearly lost her balance before she managed to shift her weight and reposition her foot.
Ash kept watching May as she flowed from one move to the next and had to keep control of his reflexes as he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. He turned his head a fraction, just enough to look over his shoulder out of the corner of his eye.
"How about you help me get ready?" Ursula asked in a sultry voice, "I might need help getting into my dress." She started to rub Ash's shoulder with a smile and half lidded eyes. Her eyes widened and her smile faded when Ash shrugged her hand from his shoulder.
"I'm helping May so you're going to have to find someone else to help you." He said before once again bringing his attention back to May taking a couple of steps up to her. "That's great May, you've nailed it. Let's go and have some breakfast then you can get ready for the Contest."
"Hey, don't ignore me!" Ursula growled, grabbing Ash's shoulder and spinning him round but her anger quickly turned into surprise and fear when she saw that Ash's fist was less than an inch from her face. The fist was shaking from stopping so suddenly, Ursula stumbled back a few steps out of shock at how close the fist had been to connecting with her face.
"I'm sorry," Ash said quietly dropping his fist, looking just as shocked as both Ursula and May. "I wasn't ignoring you, I'm busy helping May. I, I….I'm sorry." Ash bowed slightly before turning and walking away to go back into the Pokémon Centre leaving a stunned May and still scared Ursula behind. Pikachu and Lucario followed Ash a few seconds later with May, Glaceon and Mienshao behind them, Ursula was left on her own still processing what had nearly happened.
When May finally caught up to Ash he was sat at a table in the cafeteria just staring into space. She sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, the Pokémon stayed a few steps back to give their trainers some space.
"Ash, are you alright?" May asked tentatively, Ash nodded but kept staring at the wall. May moved her hand from his shoulder and put it around his, giving him a hug. Ash slowly turned to look at her and gave her a weak smile.
"I'm just scared about what I nearly did. I nearly hit Ursula, I didn't want to I knew it was her but my reflexes took over and I only just managed to stop the punch. If I'd hit her I don't know what I would've done."
"Don't worry Ash the important thing is that you did stop yourself. Let's get you something to eat then we can go and find Ursula so you can explain what happened. Okay?"
"Okay." They were about to stand up when a plate nearly overflowing with food was placed in front of each of them. Looking around they saw that Lucario had put the plate in front of Ash and Mienshao put a plate in front of May. Gardevoir was stood behind them using Psychic to hold Lucario and Mienshao's plates along with a plate each for Pikachu and Glaceon, while Ash and May had been talking Lucario had used Psychic to take Gardevoir's Pokéball from Ash's belt and release her.
Ash and May thanked their Pokémon for getting the food and dove straight in clearing the plates in a matter of minutes and once the Pokémon had finished their food Ash collected the plates and took them over to the sink to clean them but was chased away by one of the Pokémon Centre's Chansey. They then went back to their room and changed into their everyday clothes, with May carrying a bag which held her costume for the Contest along with the few accessories she'd need.
On their way out of the Pokémon Centre they saw Ursula waiting at the counter for Nurse Joy to come back with her Pokémon. Ash told May to go on ahead while he talked to Ursula, he wanted to explain why he reacted the way he did earlier. He asked Pikachu, Gardevoir and Lucario to go with May and walked over towards Ursula not noticing that May stayed where she was, he stopped a few steps behind Ursula and tapped her on the shoulder. Ursula jumped slightly as she didn't hear anyone walking up to her, she turned round ready to shout at whoever had startled her but the frown on her face faded when she saw it was Ash.
"Hi Ursula," Ash said.
"Ash? Why aren't you with your girlfriend? I thought you two were stuck together." Ursula replied.
"I wanted to say sorry again for what happened earlier. It was a reflex action, I didn't mean to scare you and I don't want to hurt you either." Ash explained, he went on to say that the reflex came from his training in Rota. Ursula's face softened slightly as she listened to Ash, she could tell he really was sorry but he was nervous as well and starting to babble. She raised a hand putting it on Ash's shoulder.
"Ash, it's fine. After seeing you fight in Rota I should've known that you had some reflexes like that. I think we're both a little at fault, I shouldn't of gotten angry like I did. Let's just forget about it and move on. Okay?" Ursula smiled sweetly, Ash returned the smile and nodded.
"Okay." He said before turning and walking towards the door where May and the Pokémon where waiting for him. Ursula turned back to look over the counter and allowed a small smile to play across her lips.
I think I've just gotten in to Ash's good books, let's see just how far I can get. She thought, chuckling quietly to herself as she waited for Nurse Joy to come back with her Pokémon.
After about half an hour Ash and May arrived at the Contest Hall with their Pokémon, they still had about an hour before May had to go and get ready for the Contest so they waited patiently working out what their next move would be once they left Porta Vista.
Eventually it was time for them to split up and for May to go and get changed into her costume. As she stood up to leave Ash took hold of her wrist, as he got up from the bench they'd been sat on.
"Good luck May." He said smiling.
"Thanks A..." May started but stopped when Ash quickly leant forward and pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. It lasted less than a second but it was more than enough to cause May's brain to misfire and leave her speechless. The Pokémon surrounding them were just as shocked as May, Pikachu nearly fell off of Ash's shoulder while Lucario and Gardevoir's mouths fell open. Glaceon just stared at the pair of them in surprise and happiness, knowing that her trainer's dream was coming true.
"May? Are you alright?" Ash asked once he pulled his head back and saw her glazed over eyes, he waved his hand in front of her face causing her to jerk back to reality.
"Wha…What?" May asked shakily as she regained the sense of her surroundings.
"I asked if you were alright. You spaced out for a second."
"Yeah, yeah I'm alright you just caught me off guard by doing that."
"So I shouldn't of kissed you?" Ash ask quietly.
"No, no it was good that you did it without being told, you just surprised me that's all." May pecked Ash on the cheek, "I'm going to go and get ready now, wish me luck."
"You don't need it but good luck May." He smiled.
"PiPika ChuPi Kachuka."
Mistress May, I wish you the greatest of luck
"I too wish you luck Mistress May."
May smiled at the four of them and nodded taking her X-Transceiver off her wrist, handing it over to Ash before turning and walking down the corridor that led to the Co-Ordinators dressing rooms. Ash stayed in the lobby for another half hour before he was allowed to go to find a seat with the other spectators. While he waited he saw Ursula and Kenny arrive along with some other participants as they entered the Contest Hall and walked towards the Co-Ordinators room.
Ash walked to find a seat with Pikachu on his shoulder, Gardevoir behind him and Lucario behind her. When they found some seats that gave them a good view of the Contest floor they sat down waiting a little while longer before the Contest MC walked on to the stage.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Porta Vista Contest. This Contest was devised to allow Co-Ordinators to display the bonds they share with their Pokémon by allowing them to perform together. The Co-Ordinator who wins this Contest will receive this, the Vista Ribbon." Julia, the Contest Announcer said. Holding up a Ribbon with a golden diamond in the middle and sea green ribbon attached to the back. "So our Co-Ordinators are ready, you our glorious audience are ready all that's left to do it introduce our Judges. Please welcome Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo and Porta Vista's very own Nurse Joy." The audience cheered for the Judges and stopped when Julia held up her hand, "Now let the Contest begin!"
The audience cheered again as the first Co-Ordinator walked on to the stage.
Pokémon on Hand:-
Ash:- Pikachu, Lucario, Grimm (Absol), Houndour, Ponyta, Typhlosion, Gardevoir, Bagon
May:- Glaceon, Blaziken, Mienshao, Mawile, Lilligant, Vulpix, Spoink, Delcatty
And that's it from me for now. Please review and let me know what you think.
Until Next Time
Basic Trainer