Ash listened silently to Lugia's explanation and the Chosen One only felt confirmed about his quest for the dark egg. Deep within his heart, Ash doubted that this baby legendary would be evil from its birth and the raven-haired boy wouldn't blame this Pokémon for something that it even hadn't done so far.
"Don't worry, Lugia! Leave it to Mew and me to prevent the worst case scenario." Ash said with a determined voice, praising his legendary friend for its work so far.
"(_Okay, but why are you here in Kanto, although you said that you already compete at the tournament?)"_
"(Unlike you, I can teleport to any place! I'm just more talented and cuter than you!)"
Mew stared at Lugia and the smaller legendary would demand some respect from the beast of the sea, but the Jotho legendary wouldn't give it to him like that. In the background, Ash facepalmed and the black-haired trainer shook his head at the antics of the powerful Pokémon.
"(_That's not a competition about who helps the Chosen One more, Mew!_)"
"(However, if it was, I would win any day!)"
"(_You'll never change and perhaps you already brought the Chosen One more problems than you solved. Nevertheless, Ash, I'll fly to the tournament island as well and if you need me, I'll help you, because nobody should need to carry this burden alone and Mew isn't the best help.)"_
"(Hey!)"
Finally, Ash was part of the conversation again and the Kanto trainer gave the legendary a thumbs up.
"Everything will end well, just like at the Orange Islands." Ash explained determined. "I don't think that we'll need your help, because my Pokémon never let me down and it would be too dangerous for you to show yourself at the tournament."
"(_Even now, you think about the safety of us legendaries. That's just typical for you, Chosen One, but we trust you._)"
Throwing one last glare at Mew, Lugia turned around and waited for Melody to climb onto its back, because the legendary would need to bring the girl back to her home, although Mew could teleport her in no time. Strangely enough, Melody didn't accept the offer and the girl instead walked to Ash.
"Ash, would you mind if I accompany you on your mission?" Melody asked hopefully. "It had been quite boring on the Shamouti islands and I would love to see you compete at a tournament …"
Melody slightly blushed, because the raven-haired trainer had become so handsome over the years and perhaps he wasn't in a relationship so far. Several years ago, she admitted that Misty would be the better fit for him, but it could be that it turned out to be wrong.
Ash didn't know, but he wasn't the kind of person who would deny someone a wish. After all, it wouldn't be a problem to take her with to the tournament island, thanks to Mew's teleportation skills. Unfortunately, Ash didn't know how jealous girls could be and the raven-haired trainer would cause some hard times for his girlfriend May.
"Of course, you can come with us, but you should know that - - -" Ash was cut short when Melody gave him another peck kiss on his cheek and Mew raised an eyebrow at that. Unlike Ash, Mew knew how May would react to that girl and such a kiss could tick her off.
"Thank you so much, Ash! I'll support you in every possible way." Melody explained, smiling brighter than the sun.
"(_We'll meet again sooner than later, Chosen One._)"
Lugia noted before it took off from the ground and flew away. It was a short meeting between them, but Ash learned some important facts about his mission and fortunately, he got them before something bad happened.
After the legendary vanished within the sky, Ash remembered that he initially needed to do something else first before he could think about the tournament again.
"Mew, where's May?" Ash asked hectically.
"(I sent her to Torterra, so that she would stop them to bully some of your Pokémon.)"
"I almost forgot that I was about to end this conflict. We need to go back to her immediately!" Ash explained, already dashing into the direction of the ranch again. Despite his trust for May, Ash wouldn't let handle this situation on her own.
"Who's May?" Melody asked and it wasn't a surprise that the girl would ask this eventually.
"She's my girlfriend!" Ash clarified from the beginning.
"Oh …." Melody responded quietly, wondering why Ash wasn't together with Misty. However, there was still the possibility that this thing between Ash and the girl wasn't very serious and perhaps, Melody could see how good her chances were.
Walking through the woods, Ash hoped that his Torterra wouldn't do anything wrong. As he walked, Ash could hear Mew within his head and it seemed that the legendary wanted a conversation in private with the Chosen One.
"(Why did you allow her to come with us, Ash?)"
"What's the problem with her, Mew? She's a good friend and you can teleport us all back to the tournament island anyway." Ash whispered to the legendary, making sure that Melody didn't hear anything from this dialogue.
"(Don't you think that May could have a problem with her?)"
"Why should she?" Ash asked naively.
"(Isn't it weird that she kissed you on your cheek?)"
"That's just a welcome kiss from the Shamouti islands, Mew. It doesn't mean anything and besides, I already told her that May is my girlfriend, so everything will be alright." Ash whispered towards Mew and the legendary wasn't convinced. It didn't matter if the girl knew about Ash's relationship, because girls could be like furies.
The trio walked, although Mew preferred to fly, through the woods to reunite with May who had her hands full with a huge argument between Torterra and Meganium. Only Ash's appearance could end this now and the raven-haired trainer would apologize to his Pokémon for letting them alone four years ago.
Max, Brock, Norman and Gary won their first-round matches, but Misty and Paul's still had to come and actually, they should start within the next hour and nobody had seen them for quite a while. It was unlikely that Misty would voluntarily miss her match to support Delia and Paul wouldn't be Paul if he didn't compete at every match.
Meeting in front of the stadium, the group would need to come up with a very good plan.
Brock left the entrance of the stadium and the rock-type gym leader still rubbed his cheek after he received that echoing slap from AJ. It was senseless to deny it, because the girl was pretty and Brock really thought that he had a chance with her.
"Congratulations, Brock!" Norman said, patting his fellow gym leader on his shoulder.
"It was uh … another kind of match, I guess." Gary said, but he started to worry about his unofficial girlfriend.
"Let's go back on topic! I slowly but surely doubt that Misty took Delia with to a café or so." Caroline explained, being good friends with Delia ever since day zero.
Gary lifted his hand and waited for attention before he put a mobile phone next to his ear. Everyone wondered whom he wanted to call, but the researcher soon explained it.
"What?! I call Misty on her mobile phone, so that I can tell her that she doesn't have much time until her match." Gary said casually, not understanding the puzzled faces of his fellow friends.
"Why didn't you call her earlier?" Max asked.
"Oh, she doesn't like it when I clinch too much." Gary answered without thinking.
"What does that mean?" Max asked puzzled, not understanding this term.
"Nothing , Nothing, just that she doesn't like it when I call her without a reason, he-he." Gary said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his phone. The rest of the group looked with a knowing look at the researcher, not believing one word of him.
Gary's phone rang once, twice, trice and four times, but nobody answered his call. Not losing hope after the first time, Gary tried again, but this time, it was blocked after the second ring and the researcher couldn't come up with a reason why Misty shouldn't answer him. Perhaps she was still mad at him, but she wouldn't stay away only because of that.
"Sorry, but she doesn't answer …." Gary informed the other members of his group.
That were bad news for the group, but they still had some time and it shouldn't be wrong to create some teams to search for them. It wasn't just Misty, because Delia, Dawn and Paul were missing as well.
"Listen, we will create three groups to search for our missing friends, okay? Misty took Delia to some location, but I don't have a clue what Paul and Dawn are doing …" Gary explained.
"He-he …" Norman laughed gloatingly.
The subsequent slap from Caroline didn't surprise anyone, because Norman shouldn't share his dirty thoughts with the rest.
Gary ignored this interruption and continued.
"The first group will consist of Norman, Caroline and Max! You'll look through the alleys and shops within the city." Gary informed then and the 'family' seemed not very excited about there location, at least not the males.
"Please no!" Norman and Max whispered to Gary.
"What's wrong with that?" The researcher asked confused. It was perhaps the best location to find them, but Norman seemed to be rather nervous about this.
Norman and Max silently pointed to Caroline.
Obviously, they believed that the brunette would exploit the situation and look through some shops and of course, Max and Norman could carry bags through the streets. It didn't matter how important it was to find Delia and the others, Caroline couldn't withstand her urge to buy something.
"The Maple family!" Professor Oak said with a happy tone before he noticed something. "Didn't you have a daughter?"
Caroline and Norman looked at each other and they had to admit that they hadn't seen May in quite a while. However, unlike Oak, they knew that she was probably somewhere with Ash and after that stunt of Norman the past morning, it should be a miracle if they showed up today at all.
"She enjoys a nice day on her own." Caroline said and the rest believed her, because Caroline should be the last person that would need to lie.
"Let's go on!" Gary said, ignoring Norman's wish to be appointed to another location. "Brock, you'll go with uh … Ritchie and uh … Morrison, right?"
The two additional members nodded, feeling rather uncomfortable between all those people that knew each other for so long.
"Brock knows you the best, therefore you'll take the forest and the park, okay?" Gary explained and Brock's group didn't have a problem with that suggestion.
"That only leave Tracey, grandpa and me then." Gary said, hoping that three groups were a good possibility to find his girlfriend and Ash's mother in time. "We'll take the beach and the holiday houses."
With the exception of Norman and Max, everyone was okay with the groups, therefore they splat up to search for their friends. It wasn't normal that already four people were missing and they would even ask Officer Jenny for help if they had to. Of course, Brock would do this task voluntarily.
Misty looked to the people in black that caught her and Delia. It happened too fast, the redhead couldn't even try to defend herself or Ash's mother, and now she could miss her tournament match that would start within forty minutes at stadium three.
Moreover, she didn't know where she was at all, because those criminals put a sack over her head during the trip to this building.
Of course, she was tied up to a chair and the water-type trainer was even gagged, so that she couldn't yell for help. Next to her was Delia and the woman just sat silently there as well, not seeing a reason to move much during this situation.
Misty hated it, because she saw her Pokéballs on a table next to her, along with the rest of her utensils.
After she heard it last night from Gary, Misty assumed that this had to been the Team Rocket members that stole the list with the participants last day. The redhead wasn't the typical helpless girl, but at the moment, she wouldn't mind some help.
Suddenly, her phone started to ring and Misty assumed that it was one of her friends, most likely Gary.
Hearing the sound as well, one of the Rocket member walked to the table and picked up the phone to see who could look for the redhead. After a few moments, it stopped before it started once again to ring and this time, the men in black pushed the red button to cut it short.
A second member entered the room.
"What was that?" He asked.
"Just the phone of that girl, but I already blocked the call. It was some guy who's called Gary honey. Stupid name." The black Rocket explained.
Misty blushed, because she didn't intend that anyone else would look at her phone besides her and now Delia heard it as well.
"Check the list and look if he's a participant as well." The second Rocket asked and the man near the table immediately looked through a list until he found a name similar to that one on the phone.
"I only found a Gary Oak, but according to our newest information via phone, he already won his match today." He answered, putting his hands on his hips, so that the list was at the back of his back. It was only a short time, but Misty could throw a look at the list.
There were hundreds of names, but the gym leader could see that her name was marked with red, obviously implying that she was 'pulled' from the tournament. However, she saw another name that made her suspicious and the gym leader didn't believe her eyes at first.
It was Ash Ketchum.
Misty winked several times before the Rocket put the list onto another table, but the idea was within Misty's head.
'Could it be that Gary was right? ….' Misty thought, although she wouldn't believe it immediately. There was always a chance that this list wasn't correct, but on the other hand, it was confirmed that the list was stolen and the redhead looked slightly to Delia.
It was weird, but after a few seconds, the Rockets started to talk again and this time, it was actually about Misty.
"It was a lucky shot that we caught Misty Waterflower and I'm sure that our teammate won't have a problem now to win her match after we removed the only threat within the match. Of course, she would have won anyway, but we can't take a risk this time. There are only three of us left within the tournament and it would be a disaster if all of us would be eliminated today." The smaller Rocket explained to his 'friend'.
The redhead listened carefully, because it seemed that she was only caught, so that she would miss her match and lose it via forfeit. Somehow, those Rockets knew that Misty would face one of their members and Misty was seen as a threat.
It was a cheap trick, but as long as Misty wouldn't come out of this, she couldn't do anything at this.
However, Gary called her already and perhaps, the researcher already searched for her, although it could be too late.
The Rocket then approached Misty before he smirked right into her face and the girl wanted to punch, kick or spat at this idiot, but nothing of that was possible at the moment.
"It was quite easy to catch despite your status as gym leader, redhead." The Rocket explained before he turned to Misty's belongings. "Nevertheless, your Pokémon seem to be strong enough four us and I'm sure that you won't mind if we take them."
Misty murmured something through the cloth that was wrapped around her mouth, but it wasn't understandable.
The criminals just laughed at the pathetic girl, but they had to keep her here until the tournament was over and after that, it didn't matter if she went to the police.
As of now, Misty had to rely on help from her friends.
Fortunately, Misty could free one of her legs from the chair before the man approached her once more. With a lot of momentum, Misty lifted her feet and kicked into that place where it hurt the most and the redhead showed that nobody should mess with a gym leader from Cerulean city.
"They aren't here, Paul!" Dawn exclaimed, coming out of the hideout where Ash had been yesterday, but today, there wasn't anyone or anything. She put all her hopes into this attempt, but now, she didn't have a clue where Misty and Delia could be.
"It was to be expected that they wouldn't use this hideout again." Paul said without any care in the world, only pointing out the obvious.
"Could you at least try to sound worried?" Dawn said annoyed, although she was known for her catchphrase 'No need to worry'.
"Would it change anything? If you worry, you're weak and we can't afford something like that." Paul explained his attitude before he looked into every direction. There wasn't much beside the forest and the Sinnoh trainer had to keep an eye on his watch, because his match would start soon as well.
""You said that you would help me!" Dawn countered, putting her hands on her hips.
"I said that I would look for some competition." Paul 'apologized' himself.
Dawn growled, but she stayed calm.
"Time runs out and we still don't have a clue where they are! It would be terrible if Misty missed her match, so that some stupid Rocket could advance instead." Dawn repeated the situation and Paul couldn't hear it anymore.
The purple-haired trainer just walked into another direction.
"Where are you going?" Dawn said sternly.
"Does it matter? We don't have a hint, therefore every direction is better than standing senseless around." Paul's calmness could rive someone crazy and the blue-haired coordinator hated to admit, but Paul was right.
Dawn followed Paul until she caught up with him and now they were on their way into a direction that nobody of them explored so far and hopefully, it could be the right one. Nevertheless, Paul looked onto his watch and the trainer wouldn't miss his match in favor for Misty.
"What do you think May and Ash are doing?" Dawn said casually.
"Waste the day with senseless emotions, maybe?" Paul suggested, but the following slap on his head showed that Dawn wasn't that opinion.
"They are a nice couple and you should look at them as a role model." Dawn said, speaking with closed eyes.
"What should I possible learn from their behavior?" Paul replied, shrugging.
Dawn sighed, because she hadn't the perfect 'boyfriend' in Paul. Nevertheless, she made process during the last days and sooner or later, Paul would open up completely. Walking through the woods, the pair looked for a hint that could lead them to another hideout of Rocket.
According to the last one, it seemed that they preferred locations within a forest and disguised as ugly buildings that nobody would look through.
Suddenly, they heard how someone yelled in pain.
May couldn't look how Meganium and Torterra would jump each other and the girl immediately released her remaining Pokémon from her balls. It became obvious that May couldn't stop this argument, therefore she had to buy some time for Mew.
Munchlax, Wartortle, Skitty, Blaziken and Beautifly stood in a row in front of her and her team waited for orders.
"Listen, we need to stop this argument, but please, don't hurt anyone." May explained, not making the perfect orders right now. It would be difficult to stop an argument without putting someone onto the backseat.
Blaziken jumped between the two grass-types and tried to push them away from each other, but both Pokémon were bigger than the fire-type and it became a test of strength to keep them away from each other. May's other Pokémon pulled on the tails of both Pokémon, but once again, it became obvious that Ash's Pokémon were stronger than May's.
Pokémon after Pokémon was kicked away from the tumult and Beautifly couldn't even move Torterra one inch. Without attacks, it wouldn't be possible to fulfill May's order.
May held Manaphy in her arms and the brunette became slightly desperate, because she didn't know what took Mew so long. Moreover, she started to worry about Ash as well.
Meganium and Torterra pushed Blaziken to the ground before they started to attack each other.
Meganium put her whole body weight into a Bodyslam and the grass-type nailed Torterra's head onto the ground, but the Sinnoh Pokémon countered with a Tackle attack that pushed Meganium to the back.
Pikachu, Glaceon and some other Pokémon tried to reason with the two battling Pokémon, but both of them fought with belief.
"Stop! Can't you see that this is insane!" May pleaded them, but the two grass-types didn't even listen to her.
Every attempt to calm them down was ignored and Torterra to solve this problem with violence. There wasn't place for the belief that Ash would return and the grass-type evolution prepared for a Leaf storm that would beat some sense into Meganium's head.
The attack approached the other side of the argument and Meganium didn't know how it should counter now. However, before the Jotho Pokémon was hit, the attack was stopped a few inches before her and everybody wondered who it was. Unexpectedly, Mew appeared and the legendary glared at both Pokémon before it turned around.
"STOP, TORTERRA! It's enough!"
Torterra immediately seemed to be confused, because this voice seemed to be similar to that of his old trainer, however, that couldn't be possible. Looking with disbelief into the space, Torterra shivered a bit at the tone of the words.
The other Pokémon watched puzzled as well as their leader seemed to be in some kind of shock.
Without any introduction, Ash appeared from the woods and the Kanto trainer seemed to be very emotional right now.
"ASH!" May exclaimed happily after she almost lost hope that the trainer would return again.
Pikachu, Glaceon and Manaphy sighed in relieve while Meganium sat down and the grass-type almost forgot that she didn't have a reason to be so angry towards Torterra. It was an awkward silence for the next few seconds and Ash could almost feel how every glare was directed towards him.
Being lost of words, Ash didn't know what to say to Pokémon that fought because of him.
Snorlax, Swellow and Torkoal ran towards their trainer with tears in their eyes and soon, the trio surrounded their trainer. Swellow almost pushed Ash to the ground when it flew against his chest and Snorlax would have crushed Ash, but fortunately, its empty stomach didn't allow such a behavior right now.
The small crybaby Torkoal had his cry-attack again and the fire-type couldn't stop with its tears.
Holding Swellow in his arms, Ash couldn't explain how much he missed him and the raven-haired boy just smiled at Torkoal. It was amazing to reunite with them and even Snorlax seemed to be excited despite its empty stomach that would usually cause a disaster.
The bird soon sat on Ash's shoulder and the Kanto trainer looked to the other Pokémon.
Torterra looked like as if he saw a ghost and too some degree, it was right. Not winking a single time, Torterra stared at the raven-haired boy that appeared out of nowhere after four years and the grass-type didn't know what it should believe.
Torterra's camp stood in silence when their trainer interacted with some Pokémon from Meganium's camp and nobody of them seemed to be more confused than Torterra.
Ash approached his Sinnoh Pokémon, but every time, he took a step, Torterra took a step to the back.
Ash was confused and the trainer approached his Pokémon faster, but suddenly Torterra turned around and ran away as fast as it could, leaving a puzzled Ash behind.
"Wait! It's me! Ash!" Ash reached with his arm for his Pokémon, but the grass-type was already out of eyeshot.
Feeling bad, Ash knew that he couldn't let him go like that, but before the Kanto trainer could follow him, he was tackled to the ground by the rest of the Pokémon. Unlike Torterra, the remaining Pokémon couldn't believe their luck.
When Ash sat on the ground, he noticed that someone crawled onto his lab and the trainer then saw that Corphish searched for his attention. After a few happily calls, Corphish lowered its head and the water-type felt bad that he didn't believe in Ash's return. Understanding his Pokémon, Ash place his palm onto Corphish's head before he would free him from his worries.
"Come on, Corphish! There's no reason to feel bad." Ash smiled comforting. "It was my fault that I put you in front of the decision what to do after my disappearance."
Ash looked around to see that Staraptor, Buizel and Noctowl looked also to the ground, feeling bad as well. Of course, it bothered them that they lost faith in their trainer and now that he was back, how could they ever hope to get his trust again.
Ash placed his arm around Buizel and pulled the otter closer to his body and with his other arm; he did the same to Staraptor. All other Pokémon gathered around their trainer and even, Primeape and Gliscor came as close as they could come.
May, Pikachu and the others looked on as Ash pulled his hat deeper down into his face to cover the obvious sadness that he felt right now. Mew expected that he would love nothing more than reuniting with his Pokémon, but the moment itself, was always difficult to handle.
Corphish looked up when a small tear fell onto his head and the water-type looked to its returned trainer. Several streams of water went down his face and the group of Pokémon was confused about Ash's reaction, because it should be them who would need to cry.
After a few moments of silence, Ash lifted his head up again, showing his watered eyes.
"I'm so sorry that I left you alone …." Ash bit on his lips, because he felt so bad, but he finally admitted it.
The Pokémon were shocked to hear this and they immediately comforted their trainer when Buizel hugged Ash's torso to comfort him. Ash sniffed before he realized how much luck he had and that he couldn't ask for better Pokémon.
"I'm the luckiest trainer ever to have Pokémon like you …" Ash explained slowly, not understanding why his Pokémon forgave him that quick.
May giggled slightly in happiness and Mew felt once more confirmed that it was the right decision to start this whole Ash's return stuff.
After a few moments, Ash stood up and slowly walked away to catch u with a Pokémon that needed his apology as well. At first, Buizel and the others wanted to follow, but this was only a conversation between Torterra and Ash. From out of all Pokémon, Torterra had to feel the worst and Ash knew that it needed more than a few comforting words to close that wound.
"Please, it's better when I go alone!" Ash said before he walked into the distance.
May wanted to say something, but Mew stopped her and the legendary knew that the raven-haired trainer had to do this. Looking after him, the group hoped that there wouldn't be any bad feelings after this day.
Suddenly, they heard noises from the bushes before a girl fell out of the woods and she seemed to be out of breath. She looked to the group, but she couldn't spot Ash anywhere and Melody had to admit that the Chosen One was very fast.
"Who are you?" May asked confused and Mew smiled weakly, because it would start right now, what he had predicted.
Ash went across the ranch, but he wasn't in a hurry, because he would take as much time as he needed to talk with Torterra about the past and the Kanto trainer knew that it needed time to handle such things.
It was a short walk until Ash spotted the large Pokémon next to a tree.
Slowly he approached the Pokémon and Torterra didn't even notice its trainer and soon, Ash was almost behind the grass-type. Thinking about a way to start the conversation, Ash needed to trust his feelings to understand Pokémon and perhaps, he could erase the blame from both sides.
Instead of approaching Torterra from the front, Ash sat down and leaned against the tree before he pulled his hat once again deeper down into his face. He didn't know, but he could handle his emotions better when he didn't have to look at anything. On the other hand, the raven-haired by knew that he needed to talk a bit different to the proud grass-type.
A slight breeze went through the leafs of the tree.
"Wanna talk?"