An extremely loud noise echoed across the island, startling several Pidgeys again and someone could almost feel the pain that this slap caused. Standing at the beach, May didn't welcome Ash with a friendly hug or kiss, but rather a palm across the face.

Of course, Ash didn't understand that reaction, because he considered May's feelings when he decided to come back without hesitation.

"What did I do wrong?" Ash asked sternly.

"That wasn't funny, Ash!" May replied loudly. "Again you took the consequences of my mistakes!"

The brunette had a mood swing before she hugged the boy again. It always had been a mix of fear, sadness and guilt for her and she knew that she overreacted sometimes, but Ash only had been back for a day and she already had to fear again for his life.

"That's not true, May. You don't have anything to do with Team Rocket and it wasn't that dangerous after all." Ash explained, embracing the girl again. He knew that he had to care for his own safety as well as for the safety of his friends.

"When will this all end?" May whispered sadly.

"I don't know, May." Ash replied unsurely. "Is there something that I can do for you in order to make you fell better?"

"No exceptions? …" May said fearfully.

Ash nodded, although there were a few things that he couldn't do, but it's the thought that counts after all. It had been an on-and-off reunion so far and the raven-haired boy could understand that some things should go back to normal.

"Stop being the Chosen One, Ash." May wished.

That was a huge wish and Ash didn't know what he should reply. Of course, everything would be better without his duties as Chosen One, but could the raven-haired boy really deny his destiny and fate?

"There will be a time when I don't have to be the Chosen One anymore, May, but it's not now!" Ash clarified, not denying the wish completely.

Mew just listened, knowing what Ash meant and the legendary felt bad that his kind demanded so much from this kid.

May lowered her head, having expected such an answer and she wasn't happy about that. She always had admired heroes, but it was something different when 'your' hero was in danger all the time.

"Nevertheless …." Ash wasn't finished with his explanation. " … I could at least take a vacation from my duties for the rest of the day, May."

May's head shot up again when she heard that. It was just midday and Ash said that he would do nothing today that involved Team Rocket or the tournament. It was a nice scene for the other Pokémon that saw May in her dress and Ash in his hero outfit at the edge of the beach.

"Could we just be boyfriend and girlfriend?" May asked curiously.

"Yeah, but what do you think when we bring my Pokémon to the Pokémon centre first? It was a fantastic match of you by the way …" Ash said truthfully.

"Only if we are holding hands, Ash." May demanded playfully.

"I won't run away." Ash explained.

"You're still slightly dense, Ash." May giggled slightly, loving that characteristic of him. "Holding hands is romantic and shows that we're together."

"Oh …" Ash seemed to understand.

Even Pikachu apologized to Glaceon and the ice-fox seemed to accept it, but she had a wish as well. However, it was a different one than May's and the yellow rodent thought that it couldn't be difficult to fulfill it for her.

Now it was the time where most of the trainer wanted to compete and a lot of matches were already underway. Hearing the cheers and applauds from the stadiums, Max wondered how the audience would react to him. The young Maple wasn't the best when it came to league victories, but he wanted to prove something here.

"When do you have to fight, dad?" Max asked, looking at his 'ticket'.

"In 30 minutes in stadium 4." Norman answered before he looked at his watch.

The three way matches seemed to be very popular and some trainers wondered if future bouts of this kind would be broadcasted. In addition, every winner of such a match was the centre of attention, resulting in Brock's obsession to win his one.

"I still have an hour until I have to go to stadium 2." Max responded. "I'll look what mum tells Mrs. Ketchum."

When Norman heard that his wife had a conversation with the mother of the boy that was somewhere with his daughter, he got a bad feeling and the possibility the Caroline told Delia something about Ash was very likely after all.

Everyone had different information about Ash so far, resulting in more or less weird scenes.

Father and son approached Caroline and luckily, the woman was in a deep conversation with professor Oak while Delia stood silently at their side.

"Hey, mum! Do you want to see my match in an hour?" Max asked hopefully.

"Hello dear. Of course, but don't forget that your father has his match first." Caroline responded, directing her attention to the smaller trainer.

"It's great to see you, Max. You have really grown during the last year and I heard that you weren't that bad at the Kanto league a few months ago." Samuel Oak shook the hand of the trainer who had several similarities with Ash.

"I wasn't that good. Really!" Max said sheepishly, rubbing his head.

The brown-haired woman from Pallet town, however, didn't greet the boy and she felt rather uncomfortable. She wasn't used to left Pallet town, let alone Kanto for a few days, but professor Oak insisted that she would join the group.

The conversation soon ended and nobody knew what they should talk about without mentioning Ash.

"Doesn't Gary's match start in a few minutes?" Max asked out of nowhere.

"If that's the case, then we should hurry." Oak suggested and he led Delia into the direction of the stadium. She wasn't the biggest fan of Pokémon battles, but perhaps Samuel could show her that it could be fun to watch them.

Caroline, Norman and Max then had a smaller family conversation.

"Did you see, Norman? The poor woman can't take it anymore. Did you talk with Ash this morning?" Caroline asked eagerly, not being able to wait until she could tell her fellow woman the news.

"Uh …." Norman knew that this moment had to come sooner or later, although he would have preferred later.

"What Norman?!" Caroline started to demand an answer.

"Uh … I have good and bad news …. The good news are that May knows that Ash is alive and that she's perhaps somewhere with him. The bad news are …. That they probably won't come back too soon …" Norman admitted fearfully.

"Norman! How can it be that you mess up every single task that I give you?" Caroline asked rhetorically.

Max knew that his father would get problems and the trainer had to tell his mom the truth about the misunderstanding that happened this morning.

"Don't blame him, mum!" Max defended his father, being old enough to take the consequences.

"It's okay, Max." Caroline stopped his attempt. "Your father is a short tempered man, but he would always do something that harms the life of his daughter. I'm really disappointed in you Norman. You scared two teenager away that finally found each other after four years again and - - - -"

"I FORCED ASH AND MAY TO SLEEP NAKED IN THE SAME BED!" Max blurted out, overshadowing his mother.

It was quite silent after that statement and a lot of people turned around to see that 'kid' that did something like that. Multiple women shook their heads at this small pervert and even Norman facepalmed at this.

" …. "Caroline's mouth moved several times, but not a single word left her throat. She knew that her son had 'problems', but this was completely out of her mind that she raised her boy to such a behavior.

"You shouldn't have said that, Max …" Norman acknowledged.

"It's the truth, dad." Max said once more.

"You have to learn about the truth that you tells me and the truth that you tells your mother." Mr. Maple looked to his wife and she seemed to be in some kind of trance, making it easier for him and Max to live some more minutes.

"What are we doing now?" Max asked unsurely.

"Let's take her to the platform of stadium 4 before my match starts and perhaps we will have luck and she forgets your statement when she sees how I win." Norman still believed that he mad his wife proud when he defeated other trainers.

Max simply nodded.

A terrified Nurse Joy hid behind her counter, because she saw that ghost again. Leaning over the same counter, Ash waved towards the fearful woman, because he needed her help.

"Can you heal my Pokémon, please?" Ash asked once again.

"Go away ghost!" Joy said multiple times.

"He isn't a ghost!" May tried to clarify. "He's a lot. He's a fantastic trainer, a good friend, a handsome boy, my boyfriend, but he isn't a ghost!"

"Listen, Nurse Joy!" Ash tried once more. "I don't want to disturb you, but my Pokémon need your help."

Ash looked hopefully to that woman and she could see that he said the truth. Moreover, she swore that she would help any Pokémon that was in a bad condition; therefore, she tried to stop thinking about the information about Ash's death.

"That aren't any ghost Pokémon, are they?" Joy asked unsurely.

"No, it's a Charizard and a Pidgeot, but both of them had a hard match today. They deserve a rest." Ash said.

"Okay …. It could take until this evening until they are fit again …" Joy assumed.

"That's not a problem. I wanted to spent the day with May anyway and I won't have a match until tomorrow." Ash said, smiling at the nurse that still felt uncomfortable when she saw that boy.

After he gave her the Pokéballs, Ash and May left the centre before the brunette became curios about Ash's plans for today. She couldn't deny that she didn't expect him to be like that and that he knew how much it meant to her that they would do some normal stuff.

"What are we going to do?" She asked curiously.

"I know it's not very romantic, May, but I really want to see my mother …." Ash lowered his head, feeling terrible that he spent so less thoughts on his mum during the last time.

"It would be great to tell her that you are back, but she's in Kanto and the tournament will continue tomorrow …." May didn't want to destroy Ash's hopes, but they had to be realistic.

"That's not the problem. Mew can teleport us to any place of the earth as long as I had been there once." Ash said happily, looking to the second Pikachu on the ground.

"(Do you think that it's a good idea to leave the island right now?)"

"It will only be for a couple of hours, Mew." Ash said casually. "You don't mind, May?"

"Of course not, Ash." May wouldn't prevent her boyfriend to follow his heart.

"(Okay, then concentrate on the spot where you want to be right now.)"

Ash closed his eyes and remembered the small garden in front of his mother's house, enjoying the feeling that he could see it again. In his fantasy, the whole area was green and that it was the perfect home for him.

Mew located the spot and enveloped the whole group into a blue light again, sending them immediately onto a trip to Kanto.

"Isn't that a great match, Delia?" Oak asked, sitting right next to the woman while the whole audience cheered for the participants of the three-way match. It was already a few minutes underway, but the action was far from over.

Mrs. Ketchum didn't reply, but she forced a smile to acknowledge Oak's attempts to cheer her up. Unfortunately, the whole scenario reminded her on Ash and the way Gary fought reminded her on that match between him and her son.

Samuel sighed, but soon Tracey joined them as well. The assistance of the professor brought some snacks and drinks to the small group, hoping that it could make it more comfortable.

"Here, professor! A cold juice and some little muffins." Tracey handed the utensils to the grey-hared man who was thankful for this.

"Do you want a muffin, Delia?" Oak asked hopefully. "You need to eat something; otherwise you won't be able to follow the match."

The woman shook her head, refusing to have a good time. It always had been like that since Ash's death and the woman only did the most necessary things.

The professor sighed when he bit into his muffin.

Gary's match lasted already several minutes, but the researcher could hold his own so far. The two opponents were from Sinnoh and Jotho respectively, but no one of them was a notable accomplished league winner or so.

For this match Gary had chosen Umbreon and Blastoise and both Pokémon completed each other perfectly so far.

One of his opponents was Stan Spear and the Sinnoh trainer was known to reach the Top 4 of the last Sinnoh conference, although he won the quarterfinals through forfeit. After the first minutes, he only had a Buizel on the field anymore. His second Pokémon was Golem, but the rock-type Pokémon already fell victim to Gary's Blastoise.

The Jotho trainer Steve Mundo still had two Pokémon in the form of Girafarig and Sneasel. Unfortunately, he didn't have such an impact either and the advantage was on Gary Oak's side so far, much to the delight of his grandfather.

It was time to continue the match and the researcher was ready to show the power of his duo.

"Blastoise, prepare your Skull Dash and Umbreon, cover him with Reflect!" Gary always used this method to guarantee that his water-Pokémon wouldn't fall victim to a sneaky attack.

The turtle prepared the powerful head butt, increasing his defense at the same time.

His two opponents weren't very eager to fall victim to Gary's combination, therefore they concentrated their attacks on the Kanto trainer. As long as they couldn't speak with each other, it wouldn't be a handicap situation in the eyes of the committee.

The water Pokémon Buizel immediately performed an Aqua Jet towards Gary's Pokémon, trying to ignore the Reflect that only helped against physical attacks. Gary's dark Pokémon still concentrated on its attack; therefore, it couldn't do anything against the oncoming attack.

Moreover, the Sneasel on the other side of the field fastened up with Agility before it dashed towards Gary's Pokémon as well. It became quite complicated for the Kanto researcher when even the Girafarig started to ran towards his team.

Blastoise was almost ready and the water-Pokémon glowed slightly, signaling that the Skull Dash could follow. Signaling his Umbreon to lower down the shield, Gary hoped that the next attack could make the situation better again.

The otter Pokémon almost reached the dark type when Gary's Pokémon jumped out of the way to allow Blastoise to ram its head onto Buizel, tossing it back onto the Sneasel Pokémon. The offense was a success and Gary could catch his breath.

Nonetheless, Girafarig aimed for Umbreon and Gary wondered what the Pokémon wanted to do.

After a few seconds, Gary noticed that the Pokémon directed his head towards Umbreon, obviously planning a Zen Headbutt. Under normal circumstances, Girafarig wasn't an opponent for Umbreon, because his psychic attacks were useless against Gary's dark type.

"Use Double Team!" Gary ordered.

The Eevee-evolution created several images of itself before the Girafarig could reach it. Using this ninja technique, Umbreon circled around the opponent and waited for the next order of his trainer. It was clear that this match wasn't as good as 'Ash's', but at least Gary could show that his years as a researcher didn't make him weak.

The Pokémon was slightly confused, but this was the opening for Gary.

"Finish it with Shadow ball!" Gary shouted.

The dark-type attack almost always hit and the psychic Pokémon was hit hard, knocking it out immediately. It wasn't a dramatic fight, but Gary wasn't finished yet, still having to deal with Buizel and Sneasel that were back on their feet.

Gary still had his two Pokémon while his opponents only have one each. It shouldn't take much time until the Kanto trainer could celebrate another victory within the tournament, although he had yet to face a real challenger.

"That's my grandson!" Oak said enthusiastically, hoping that some of his happiness could influence Delia, but the woman only smiled sometimes.

Sipping some of his juice, Samuel almost lost his hope.

Tracey knew what could make Delia happy and he started to write a picture of the match, hoping that his art could bring some emotions into her heart. The assistance remembered how he and the professor had to convince Delia to leave her house for once to spend some time with friends of her.

Every time Gary hit a move, Oak smiled and it reminded him of the good old times were everybody waited for Gary or Ash to win a big league.

Delia looked to the railing and she had a weird feeling. It was a feeling that told her that she should be at home right now and not here.

The cold summer breeze touched May's skin and she almost froze a bit, but she didn't dare to whine. It was nice nevertheless and she loved the nature that she saw here. It had been quite some time since she was in front of the Ketchum residence, but this time she actually loved it.

Ash reminded several things from his old home, including the flowers, the grass, the fence and several other things. It calmed him down that the garden still looked good and that nothing had changed too much for four years.

"It has been some time, hasn't it?" Ash asked no one specific.

"Yeah, Ash, but shouldn't we tell your mum about you?" May said.

"You're right, May, but what should I tell her? Hi, mum! I'm back?" Ash wasn't sure how his mother would react to his presence.

"It doesn't matter. I'm sure that there won't be many words between you." May explained, remembering her reunion with Ash where they just looked into each other's eyes.

"I'm still nervous …." Ash said fearfully.

May knew that and she took Ash gently to the entrance door where the trainer hesitated to knock on the door. It took some willpower from him until he slammed his fist onto the door, hoping that it wasn't too loud for his mother.

Several seconds of silence followed before Ash knocked again.

Eventually the door was opened and a smaller creature appeared on the scene. Its pink cheeks looked rather cute and its blue ears made it an adorable Pokémon. The clown Pokémon kept a hand on the door and Mr. Mime didn't know who was on the door.

Ash smiled at the only Pokémon of his mother, but it always made him happy when he saw that old friends of him were okay, including Pokémon.

"Hey, Mr. Mime!" Ash said with a comforting voice.

The psychic Pokémon was confused, because he didn't know that man. Ash's voice was deeper and his appearance had also changed slightly. Moreover, Ash's clothes were something that Mr. Mime had never seen before.

Ash wanted to embrace the Pokémon, but Mr. Mime backed down. It was confusing for Ash, but he tried it once more, but this time Mr. Mime ran away, fearing that Ash was a thief and that he intended to rob the house.

"Wait! It's me, Ash!" Ash yelled to the Pokémon before he followed him.

May scratched the back of her head and Pikachu, Manaphy, Mew and Glaceon were confused as well.

Dashing through the living room, Ash saw how Mr. Mime entered the kitchen and the Kanto trainer intended to do so as well. As soon as he reached the door, he collided with something and the raven-haired boy fell to his back.

"Ash!" May shouted, hoping that this didn't hurt too much. She couldn't say that her boyfriend ran against the wall, but something was on his way.

Soon Ash tried to stand up when his head collided with another wall. It didn't take long before Ash realized that he was in a cube of barriers that were seemingly created by Mr. Mime in order to stop the thief.

Ash yelled something, but it wasn't audible for the other ones.

May ran to her boyfriend and she knocked on the 'prison', trying to get Ash out of there. Soon she directed her attention towards Mr. Mime and the Pokémon jumped happily into the living room before Pikachu approached the 'unknowing' Pokémon.

The yellow rodent immediately shouted at Mr. Mime and the clown Pokémon made big eyes when he remembered Pikachu. It had been ages since the psychic Pokémon had the electro-type as a guest in his house.

"Mr. Mime, could you please get Ash out of there?" May pleaded, using her puppy dog eyes to get her wish.

Mr. Mime tilted his head when he heard that name and he wondered when he heard it for the last time. It caused mixed emotions within the Pokémon before he remembered that Ash was Delia's son and the clown almost toppled over when he looked to its prisoner.

"That's Ash, Mr. Mine!" May said once more.

Mr. Mime's eyes watered up before the psychic freed Ash from his prison before the human-like Pokémon embraced the Kanto trainer. It was always too nice to be true, but the Pokémon was happy that the 'thief' was his friend.

Ash patted the Pokémon on its back before he released the hug.

"I missed you, Mr. Mime, but could you tell me where my mother is?" Ash asked sternly.

Mr. Mime immediately looked sadly to the ground and Ash almost feared the worst, but the clown Pokémon told in its language how the situation was. Unfortunately, Ash couldn't understand the explanation, but luckily, Mew could.

"(It seems that you came at the wrong time, Ash. Mr. Mime said that she was invited by professor Oak for a small trip and that she left this morning.)"

"I wonder where she is …." Ash said sadly, because he looked forward to this meeting with his mother. It wasn't his day, but at least Delia spent some time with professor Oak.

"The thought counts, Ash." May said with a comforting voice, knowing how disappointed Ash had to be.

Mr. Mime looked at them and the Kanto Pokémon wanted to cheer them up. Pointing to the kitchen, Mr. Mime suggested that they would eat something at first, because he knew that both Ash and May were their happiest when they could eat a lot.

Right on time, May and Ash's stomachs growled and even their Pokémon were a bit hungry after the chaotic day so far. Soon all of them were in the kitchen were Mr. Mime showed off his cooking skills and the Pokémon was more than happy that Ash hadn't lost his appetite.

Gary's match was still underway and the researcher knew that his foes would join forces in order to take him out of the competition. Thinking about some combos, the brunette motioned to his two Pokémon that they should stay next to each other.

Not hearing the orders of the other trainers, Gary could only assume what they were planning.

After a few moments, Sneasel jumped into the air before it started an Icy Wind attack on Umbreon. Blastoise showed his teamwork ability when he stepped in front of Umbreon to protect the Pokémon from the attack. Being a water type, Blastoise wasn't very influenced by that ice attack and it was time for Gary to start with a counter.

Buizel started his own attack with a Quick attack and the otter aimed for Blastoise' left leg. It hit right on its knee and the large turtle kneeled slightly down. It was important for the fully evolved Pokémon that he had healthy les to carry the huge weight.

It was a sneaky attack, but it wasn't against the rules.

"Umbreon, distract Buizel with a Sand attack and Blastoise, lay yourself flat on your chest and use withdraw!" Gary ordered, implying that he would give Blastoise a small rest within its shell.

The sand of Umbreon's attack hit Buizel in its face and the water type tried to wipe this soil out of his eyes.

Meanwhile, Sneasel attacked Umbreon behind its back and followed it up with Metal claw. It hit full on and Gary's dark type fell to the ground, although it wasn't knocked out so far. It was one of only a few hits that Gary had to deal with.

Gary thought fast and the Kanto trainer immediately ordered Umbreon to jump onto the shell of Blastoise.

"Umbreon, use Quick attack and ran in circles on Blastoise shell!" Gary shouted, preparing a combo.

Blastoise was still in his shell when Umbreon started to ran fast on its shell. Due to the speed, the shell started to rotate and soon Umbreon fastened Blastoise' shell enough and the dark type jumped to the ground again.

"Blastoise, use this additional speed and use rapid spin to shoot yourself towards Sneasel!" Gary ordered the next move.

Blastoise' shell started to rotate even faster, reaching an incredible speed before the water Pokémon approached the poor Sneasel. Being confused by the rotating shell, Sneasel couldn't do anything and was hit. It was enough to knock it out, but Blastoise immediately aimed for Buizel as well, but the otter jumped out of the target' zone with a quick aqua jet.

However, Buizel and his trainer didn't notice that Gary's Umbreon prepared a Skull dash on its own and now it was time to unleash that power.

Avoiding the dangerous front of the aqua jet, Umbreon rammed its head into the side of Buizel. That impact sent the water Pokémon back to its trainer, giving Gary Oak the clean victory in this bout. Gary had a standout performance and the Pokémon researcher waved for his fans.

It was one of many three-way-matches, but Gary prevailed and moved on to the next round.

"That was quite amazing from your grandson, professor. I always thought that he would lose his talent when he stopped with his trainer career." Tracey acknowledged.

"There are more ways than one to become a better trainer, Tracey. One, of course, it's the way of challenging gyms and leagues, but you can also become better when you learn as much about Pokémon as possible like Gary." Samuel answered honestly.

Delia clasped weakly, knowing that her son would love to have a match with Gary once again.

Mr. Mimes' food was delicious and Ash and May ate several times before they could say that they weren't hungry anymore. Glaceon, Pikachu and Manaphy shared some Pokémon food while Mew got another drink again.

May cleaned her mouth before she thought about what they should do next. Delia was on a trip with the professor and even Mr. Mime didn't know when she would come back, making it rather unlikely, that Ash could see her today.

"What should we do?" May asked curiously.

"I don't know, May. Originally, I wanted to spend the whole day with my mum, but now …." Ash said thoughtfully.

Suddenly he had another idea how he could spend the day.

"What do you think when we go to Oak's lab? I'm sure that at least Tracey has to be there and I would love to see my old Pokémon again." Ash said with a lot of enthusiasm in his voice.

"That's a good idea, Ash." May smiled at him, although she wouldn't mind to spend some time alone with the raven-haired boy. On the other hand, it still felt weird that they were in Pallet town wile their friends and family were on the island.

"I hope that they aren't mad at me, May. After all I abandoned them four years ago …." Ash almost felt terrible that he was so egoistically.

"I'm sure they will be everything, but mad, Ash." May reassured the boy.

With a last big hug, Ash said goodbye to Mr. Mime and promised him that he'll be soon back again. It was visible that the clown Pokémon was happier than ever and the psychic would wait a few days before the trainer would use his room again.

May, Ash, Glaceon, Pikachu and Mew made their way towards Oak's lab, hoping that they would at least meet Tracey there.