- 3:00 a.m -

"Ash? Ash, wake up"

Ash groaned softly, rolling onto his back and slowly opening his eyes, "W-Who's there?" Ash demanded, his voice thick with sleep as he slowly pushed himself up and looked around, "Shh, up here, in the tree" The voice spoke, making Ash look up at the tree, "Meloetta?" Ash asked softly, making sure to stay quiet once he noticed Jason and Natalie sleeping near by.

Slowly standing up, Ash made sure not to disturb Pikachu -who was sleeping close to him - before making his way over to the tree Meloetta was sat in, climbing up as quietly as he could. Slowly stepping onto the thick branch of the tree, Ash sat down and slid to Meloetta's side, looking at the musical pokemon with curiosity, "Whats wrong Meloetta? You look sad..." Meloetta blinked, raising her hand to touch her cheek - surprised when she felt the wetness of tears falling down her face, "I-I didn't know i was crying...i was thinking about Ridley..." Ash nodded - he remembered Ridley as the boy who Meloetta sent back to the village with, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Meloetta seemed to hesitate as she looked down at the ground, "We don't have to talk about him if you don't want - we can talk about something else" Ash reassured Meloetta, making her nod in agreement as Ash smiled, turning his attention to the sky, "Sure is a beautiful night huh?" Ash spoke softly, hearing Meloetta sigh in relief - he didn't know why, but he had a feeling that Ridley was a sensitive topic for Meloetta right now, "Changing the subject is better than forcing her to speak" Ash thought as Meloetta looked to the sky, the millions of stars reflecting in her eyes as a smile made its way to her face.

"Thanks again Meloetta - for what you for me the other day and for coming with me today," Ash started whilst looking at the stars, smiling when he felt Meloetta's gaze shift to him as he continued, "For the past two years I've been struggling to control my emotions...especially my anger, but your singing calms me down so quickly, your amazing Meloetta..." The Melody Pokemon blushed but smiled whilst looking down at her hands, the two sharing a comfortable silence.

"Ash...what are you going to do next?" Meloetta asked after a few minutes, looking to the raven haired trainer as he smiled and looked at her with a shrug, "Some time ago I decided to travel around Kanto once again and earn my badges...so next I'm going to earn my Rainbow Badge...why?" Meloetta blushed as she looked to her hands again for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and looking into Ash's eyes, "Can I come with you?" Ash blinked at the question, opening his mouth to answer - but he was interrupted when Meloetta kept talking.

"I-I know I'm not a very strong pokemon, but I can train and get stronger!" Meloetta quickly continued, stopping when she sore Ash smile and chuckle softly, holding his hand up to calm the pokemon down, "Of course you come with me...I was actually getting ready to ask you if you wanted to join us - and your strength in battle isn't important, your my friend so if you want to come along ill be happy" Meloetta blinked but smiled, floating over to Ash, "R-Really?"

Ash smiled and nodded whilst looking at hr as she floated in front of him, "Of course...just one thing, do you want me to catch you? I just don't want people trying to catch you whilst were traveling, but if you would rather stay wild I understand" Meloetta blinked at his words - she hadn't thought about how other trainers would react to her, "That makes sense, I'd like it if you captured me, but I would like to be left outside my poke'ball so I can explore the land with you" Ash smield and nodded moving to climb down the tree with Meloetta following him.

Quietly reaching into his bag, Ash pulled out an empty poke'ball and held it out to Meloetta, "Just tap the middle button then I will let you out right away okay?" Meloetta nodded and pressed the poke'ball button, turning into red energy aas she was caught without a fight. Ash smiled and quickly called her back out, watching as she appear with a smile as Ash yawned softly, "I must apologise for waking you so late..."

"Its okay...I'm going to gt some more sleep alright, you try to as well..." Ash told his newest pokemon as he laid down on the floor once more, leaning his head back against his bag and closing his eyes, "Sleep well Meloetta" Ash spoke softly, quickly falling asleep as Meloetta flew back up to the tree and sat on the branch once more, looking up at the stars with a small smile.

- The Next Morning -

Ash stretched his body as he approached the clearing - he had just finished his jog as he slowly approached his still sleeping companions. Ash glanced down at Pikachu with a grin, which the electric mouse shot back, "Lets wake them up" Ash told his starter, who grinned and walked over to the still sleeping Natalie and Jason, "3...2...1..."

"AHHH!" The two trainers shouted as Ash dumped two buckets of cold water over the two whilst shouting, "RISE AND SHINE!" Natalie and Jason shot up, completely soaked as they glared at Ash and Pikachu, who were laughing at the sight of the two soaked trainers, "What the hell?!" Natalie demanded as she peeled away her now drenched sleeping bag, standing up and glaring at Ash as Jason followed suit, standing up and glaring at the two, "You two overslept, so I thought a little water would wake you up!" Ash laughed out as Pikachu fell backwards, rolling on his back as he laughed loudly, "What's wrong with just shaking us awake?!"

Ash snorted slightly at Jason's words and shook his head, reaching into his bag and passing towels to each of them, "Last time I tried that, it took me 10 minutes to wake you both up - this way was much faster" Natalie and Jason growled softly, taking the towels from Ash and began to dry themselves off - they were pissed that Ash had poured water on them, but he was right: they had woken up straight away.

"Don't ever do that again, or next time you will regret it!" Ash blinked but grinned sheepishly at Natalie's threat - he knew she would hold to that threat if he tried the same stunt again, "Alright, alright, I wont do it again, but you guys need to be awake in the mornings okay?" The trainers grumbled but nodded as they finished drying themselves and handed the towels back to Ash, who folded them up and placed them back in his bag

With a grin on his face, Ash picked his bag up and slung it over his shoulder as Pikachu jumped on his shoulder: looking up to the tree, Ash shouted, "Come on Meloetta, its time to go!" The musical pokemon soon appeared, floating down and landing on Ash's head as Ash began to walk away, stopping to look back at the annoyed faces of Natalie and Jason, "You guys coming or not?"

Jason and Natalie looked at each other as they packed their stuff, grins crossing their faces as they slung their own bags over their shoulders and looked back at Ash, "You better run Ash, were going to get you for that stunt the s'morning!" Ash's eyes widened at Jason's words, quickly turning and beginning to run as the two trainer's chased him: the sound of their laughter echoing around the route as they ran.