As soon as Torterra heard his trainer's voice, he looked away and the grass-type still felt uncomfortable to be confronted with that situation. For years, he had tried to convince the other Pokémon to say goodbye to Ash. Now that Ash had returned, Torterra felt like the bad Pokémon and at first, he didn't understand why Ash followed him.
Ash noticed his Pokémon' behavior, but the trainer wouldn't give his Pokémon a telling-off.
Looking to the tree above him, Ash noticed that it was the time of the year when fruits were at their best. Deciding that words weren't needed, Ash climbed up the tree to get some of those fruits and of course, the grass-type didn't notice anything.
The Sinnoh Pokémon stared to the horizon without anything on his mind right now.
The raven-haired boy sat on a branch and looked to the ground. Having an apple within his palm, Ash threw the fruit to the ground only a few inches away from Torterra's head. However, the large grass-type didn't even bother to look at it.
Repeating this gesture, Ash threw three more apples to the ground, but with the same result.
There wasn't just a way to get a reaction out of his Pokémon and Ash needed to be a bit more specific.
This time, Ash threw the fruit directly onto the head of his Pokémon and it became obvious that Torterra had to calm itself down to keep his composure. Nevertheless, it was a reaction and Ash already took the next fruit into his hand to come up with the next step.
Throwing the next fruit, Ash had to realize that his Pokémon wasn't so helpless when Torterra cut the apple with a razor leaf before it hit his head. Moreover, one of the leafs flew into the tree and cut an apple that was right about Ash's head. After a few moments, it was an equal one on one, but Ash listened carefully when his Sinnoh Pokémon chuckled.
Ash' competition sense was activated and the raven-haired boy immediately threw several other fruits onto the grass-type.
Keeping away most of the apples, Torterra had enough and kicked with one of his legs against the tree that Ash was sitting on.
Due to a moment of carelessness, Ash fell off the tree and the raven-haired boy crashed onto the ground. Again, there was a small chuckle from Torterra audible, but the grass-type immediately looked away again.
Rubbing his near-end, Ash wasn't finished with the stubborn Pokémon. Approaching his friend, Ash took one of the apples with him and held it in front of Torterra's face. The Pokémon, however, didn't care for it and with its gesture; it made clear that he wasn't hungry.
Pushing the fruit against the mouth of the grass-type, Ash started to force Torterra to eat it, but the Sinnoh Pokémon refused to open his mouth. Using his whole bodyweight, Ash tried to get the apple through the teeth of the grass-type, but it wasn't so easy.
The Sinnoh Pokémon pushed Ash to the side and this situation wasn't about Ash's return anymore.
Using his new abilities once more, Ash gathered his aura within his arms before he opened, much to the shock of Torterra, the mouth of his Pokémon. Putting the apple into the mouth of the large Pokémon, Ash hoped that he would finally accept the food.
Smiling, Ash waited for the response.
Unfortunately, Torterra spat the apple into his face and that meant war.
The next sequence involved an all-out-brawl and several attacks from the two. It looked weirdly, but both of them were soon enveloped by a cloud of dust that prevented anyone to see what happened in there.
According to the noises, both of them didn't hold back and all of their emotions were turned into punches and kicks. Materialized into frustration and anger, Ash and Torterra's feelings of the past five years resurfaced in this brawl.
Thanks to his aura, Ash could hold his own against his Pokémon, but Torterra's massive body turned out to be too much for Ash who was soon body slammed to the ground. Not being ready to quit, Ash used some kind f aura punch to force his Pokémon to relinquish its position.
Now it became personal and Ash took five apples at once and pushed them into the mouth of Torterra, however, his Pokémon answered with an energy ball that destroyed the apples and caused a mediocre explosion between them.
After the smoke vanished, Ash laid on his back and panted heavily. In addition, Torterra was exhausted as well and the grass-type couldn't believe that its human trainer could fight against him.
Some bruises and scratches were visible on Ash's skin, but the trainer suddenly started to laugh.
Not knowing why, Torterra smiled and the grass-type realized that it was some kind of childish to argue about fruits like that. It seemed that Ash could break the ice between them without using words and Torterra couldn't be mad anymore.
"It's great to see that you're still in a great shape, my friend." Ash noted, speaking for the first time in several minutes.
The grass-type closed its eyes, not answering for now. However, a few seconds later, Ash stood in front of his Pokémon and patted it onto his head. It was a bit confusing for Torterra, but he accepted the gesture for now.
The whole frustration and anger of Torterra towards Ash's disappearance four years ago was gone and the grass-type felt free for the first time. Perhaps it were bad ghosts that haunted Torterra all those years, but fortunately, they faded away.
"I'm proud of you that you cared for some of my Pokémon and I can imagine that it wasn't easy to handle the situation. Of course, there had been some arguments, but let's try to look forward, okay?" Ash explained and fortunately, his grass-type agreed.
Ash then looked at his clothes and skin.
"Oh boy, I hope that May isn't angry that we've beaten up each other …" Ash chuckled nervously.
Nevertheless, Torterra felt uncomfortable to think about the reunion with the other Pokémon, because he didn't treat them in a perfect way.
"Don't worry!" Ash said with a convincing voice. "Meganium and the others will understand it when I explain them everything. It's my duty as your trainer to help you with that."
Torterra still couldn't believe how much understanding Ash showed him and that the raven-haired trainer wasn't mad at him. After all the grass-type had always said that Ash wouldn't return, but now, he wouldn't lose hope in him ever again.
Both of them walked slowly back to the group, but due to some bruises, they were slower this time.
May still looked at this new girl and the brunette wondered why she was here at all. Under normal circumstances, she shouldn't be jealous, because she and Ash were already together, but May would protect Ash even more after she had him back.
"I asked: Who are you?" May repeated again after she didn't receive an answer from the maroon-haired female that sat on the ground.
Mew wasn't quite sure whether he should tell May the facts or not. In the end, it didn't matter, because Melody was able to introduce herself to the girl that seemed not very sympathetic at first to her.
"I'm Melody and I'm a friend of Ash." Melody responded politely, standing up again.
May raised an eyebrow at that, because she assumed that this girl took Ash with her into the forest. It didn't matter why she did it, because May became furious that Ash was almost robbed again from her and this time, she would clarify that Ash belonged to his beloved ones.
"I'm May! Ash's **girlfriend**!" May emphasized the last word and her smile turned upwards down. "I hope that you didn't drag Ash into the forest, because he doesn't have time to waste with games like that. Ash's Pokémon need him and you almost destroyed his whole reunion with them!"
"(May, it's not like that and …)"
"Stay out of this, Mew!" May said in her rage and even some of the Pokémon became fearful.
"What are you talking about?" Melody responded with an annoyed voice. "I took Ash to a meeting with - - -"
"You took him to the forest and not to a meeting!" May said angrily. "If I see you one more time how you drag Ash away from us, I'll make sure that you'll hear a melody within your head!"
Mew giggled at this play of words, but he immediately realized that the situation was a bit more serious and the legendary should try to interact with the two females. An argument was the last thing they needed, because Ash and Mew had to do a lot of work.
"(She's right - - -)"
"You don't have to be so cynical!" Melody interrupted Mew again. "Perhaps Ash wanted to go with me into the forest to see an old friend again."
"I'm quite sure that Ash wants to be with his girlfriend and not with you!" May couldn't control her words anymore and she knew that it wasn't a good idea to shout like that, but it was just her fear to lose Ash.
"I can't remember that Ash has anything against me, at least he didn't mind the kiss that I gave him some minutes ago." Melody mentioned the 'welcome kiss' she gave to Ash after he agreed to take her with them.
On the one hand, May's face grew red with anger that the girl claimed that she kissed Ash, but on the other hand, May's eyes watered up at the thought that Ash perhaps didn't mind a kiss from another girl.
"That's a lie!" May said with a mix of sadness and anger in her voice.
Mew looked away, because the legendary knew that such a kiss happened, although it was only a peck kiss on the cheek. To be honest, Mew knew that it would turn out like this, because both May and Ash were still emotionally instable and every thought of a lose of the other one could make them very upset.
Manaphy looked around and the prince of the sea hoped that this wasn't true. His dad shouldn't be together with anyone, but his mama. Feeling the sadness of his mother, the water-type started to cry and it was rarely as of late that Manaphy cried.
May immediately moved around with Manaphy in her arms.
"Don't cry, Manaphy! Ash would never do something like that!" May clarified, hoping that her Pokémon would trust his daddy. Unfortunately, Pikachu knew that Melody kissed Ash once, but he wasn't sure if his trainer allowed it again.
Melody didn't understand this whole scene very good and the girl already had a bad start with May.
Besides May, it was also Meganium who wasn't very fond of that new girl and the grass-type had already too much competition. The situation seemed to became weirder by the moment and who knew how it would end.
Some Pokémon heard a noise in the back and they turned around.
Being back, Ash and Torterra approached the group again and the trainer saw the two girls. In the perfect world. May and Melody would be friends, but Ash had to realize that it wasn't everything perfect.
Meganium shot some death glares to Torterra, but Ash immediately raised his hand to motion to his Pokémon that there wasn't a reason to be mad anymore. Of course, most of the Pokémon noticed the slight change in Torterra's facial expression and maybe Ash was right.
"Ash, you have to clarify that ….." May wanted to ask Ash about melody to calm down Manaphy, because the prince of the sea still sniffed within her arms. Unfortunately, she noticed Ash's dirty clothes and the bruises. "What happened to you?!"
Ash sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"It wasn't much, May, because Torterra and I had a small fight." Ash explained.
Meganium growled and the fully evolved grass-type stepped towards Torterra.
"Let me finish!" Ash demanded with a harsh voice and Meganium was startled at the tone of her trainer. "It was a small brawl between two friends and it solved many of our problems. We had been at a point that couldn't be solved with words, but I'm sure that you girls don't understand that so good, right?"
Melody didn't understand a word, but she was still mad at Ash's girlfriend for being so rude.
"(Ash, there's a small problem between our two females here.)"
Mew informed his apprentice and the Chosen One looked to Melody and May. At first, he couldn't believe that those two couldn't coexist, because both of them were nice girls and Melody even became friends with the hothead Misty.
"May, that there is Melody and she asked me to take her with us to the tournament so …." Ash couldn't even finish his explanation when May interrupted him.
"Did she kiss you?" May said hectically.
"Uh … it was just a peck kiss on my cheek …" Ash said confused.
"Oh …." May said with a disappointed voice. It wasn't the feared real kiss, but it hurt nevertheless to learn that your boyfriend received affection from another girl. Biting on her lower lip, May tried to stay focused, but she didn't intend to apologize to Melody, at least not yet.
"Is she really your girlfriend, Ash? She's a bit short-tempered for my taste." Melody noticed.
"We don't have time for such things!" Ash grabbed his head, hating those arguments between girls. "We only have this one day to get everything back to normal; therefore, I suggest that Melody and Meganium go to the other side of the lake to inform my other Pokémon. I can't wait until all of them are reunited again."
"Do you send me away because of her?" Melody asked.
"No, but there are some things that May and I have to do anyway and it'll take some time." Ash explained quickly.
The maroon-haired girl turned her head away from the group before she and the grass-type walked along the lake to the other side of the ranch. It would take some time until she would return, but at least, Ash would finally have the time to get some things done.
"(Wouldn't it have been easier to send Swellow to the others? Even I could teleport to them and tell your Pokémon the News.)"
"It's better to let Meganium do that and besides, I can finally start to teach May some basics of aura now." Ash said, smiling at his girlfriend. It had been his intention since he arrived in Pallet town and Ash seemed convinced that the brunette would learn it without bigger problems.
May was a bit surprised, because she totally forgot about her classes that she would have today. Actually, she wanted to ask Ash more questions about Melody, but she didn't want to break that promise. If she learned something about aura, Ash would take her on a date tomorrow and that was more important right now.
"(I have a bad feeling about that …)"
"Be quiet, Mew!" Ash said before he sat down into a cross-legged position. Motioning to his girlfriend to come closer, Ash crossed his arms as well, because he thought about possibilities to explain this whole stuff to a girl.
May approached him with Manaphy in her arms before sitting down as well, only two feet away from the boy.
Pikachu and Glaceon sat down near to the as well, while Ash's remaining Pokémon gathered around the two humans, being curios about Ash's new abilities that he had from Mew. It felt strange that so many eyes were glued on him, but Ash tried to concentrate on May.
"Let's start your aura lessons!" Ash announced before he frowned a bit.
"What's wrong?" May asked, tilting her head.
"I don't know how I should start right now. When Mew started to teach me, I already had some experience with aura, but now I need to start at zero. Of course, we have to assure ourselves that you have the right aura, although Mew said that you have the same as me right now." Ash explained, looking around into the nature. "It would be much easier if we had a time flower …."
Ash then looked to Mew and the Pokémon understood.
"(Okay, I'll be right back.)"
With those words, Mew vanished in a bright light, leaving May wondering where the legendary Pokémon went to.
"Don't worry, May. He just teleported to the tree of beginning to get a time flower for us." Ash explained before he sighed. It would be more difficult than he expected to teach someone about the secrets of aura, but it would pay off in the end.
"Okay …." May said unsurely, feeling the pressure that was on her right now.
"At first, you could tell me what you think aura is." Ash said, smiling. It was an attempt to calm May down a bit. "I know that you saw the time flower as well and what it does, but perhaps you learned some other facts over the years."
"Uh …" May thought a bit. "Aura is the energy within every living creature and plant, right? Everyone has it within its body, but only a few are capable of using it …"
That was everything that May knew so far, but Ash wasn't disappointed.
"At least, you know what we're talking about." Ash smiled once again. "As soon as Mew is back with the flower, we'll start with the real education."
May smiled weakly, because she feared that she could disappoint Ash with her lack of abilities.
Right on time, Mew returned in a bright light and the small legendary held a time flower with his psychic about the ground. He didn't want to risk that he activated the flower, but it wasn't so that it was just a one-time plant.
"Thank you, Mew." Ash thanked his 'mentor'.
All the Pokémon looked curiously at the strange plant, but it was now May who had to take it within her hands. May's heartbeat fastened, because the moment of truth came awfully close and she feared to fail at this task.
Mew then sent the flower to the brunette who opened her palms to hold the aura plant.
One of the Rockets laid on the ground after he received that low blow from the girl. Of course, it hurt like hell, but Misty would pay for her behavior. Strangely enough, Misty smiled towards them, because she was sure that the scream of the man was loud enough to gain some attention from other people.
"You stupid brat! Who do you think you are?" The other Rocket said harshly before he gave the redhead a slap across her face that was almost as loud as the scream of the man.
Fortunately, Misty was tomboyish enough to ignore the pain from that.
"I'm Misty, a better trainer than you and gym leader from Cerulean city!" She said proudly, glaring at those thieves.
"Oh … right, I forgot …" The Rocket said sarcastically before he turned his attention to their second 'guest' in the form of Delia.
"I swear if you touch one hair of her, I'll kick you back to Kanto!" Misty exclaimed, defending the woman that didn't react much to the threats.
It didn't surprised anyone that the Rockets weren't much intimidated by that threat and the men in black grabbed some hair of Delia before forcing her to look up to him. For his surprise, there wasn't any fear within the eyes of the woman and it was rather scary to him.
"Did you already give up all of your hopes?" The Rocket asked.
He was right, because Delia lost all her hope that her son was still alive, but she wouldn't tell it to this stupid man.
"Not very chatty, huh?" The criminal noticed before he released his grip on Delia's hair rather harshly.
Misty growled towards that man, but he just shrugged it off before looking onto his watch.
"Only 15 minutes until the match." He announced, meaning that Misty was only fifteen minutes away of being disqualified in that tournament. A lose wouldn't be that bad for the redhead, but the circumstance that a Rocket would advance, made her very angry.
"Where do you have the other trainers that you caught?" Misty demanded to know, feeling that she needed to assure herself that Ash's name on the list was really there.
"Why should we tell you that?" The Rocket asked. "We won't let you away until the tournament is over and after that, you can complain as much as you want, but it won't change the fact that we have the prize."
Misty should have known it that it wouldn't be that easy to get information, but on the other hand, she couldn't mention Ash's name without risking a breakdown from Delia next to her. It was just desperate and slowly but surely, Misty wondered why nobody searched for them.
"Perhaps we should look which Pokémon the redhead has." The Rocket said casually before taking Misty's Pokéballs. Of course, the red-haired girl protested, but she wasn't strong enough to get rid off those ropes that tied her up to the chair.
"Okay … *cough* …" The Rocket who received the kick to the groin slowly stood up again and he was anything, but happy about the behavior of the gym leader.
Suddenly, someone kicked against the door, but it didn't open. It was weird for the Rockets, because they didn't expect any visit right now. Taking their own Pokémon, they waited before they would do something. There was always the possibility that it was just a stupid kid that kicked against a door of an empty house without a reason.
"Pathetic …."
Misty heard this familiar voice and only one trainer used this word more than anything else.
"What?" Another familiar voice said harshly and Misty knew that it had to be Dawn. It seemed that she and Paul searched for them, but the interaction between those two was always a bit strange.
"You said that you would kick this door open, but that was just a small nudge! Typical girl, but now let me do this! I don't have much time until my match!" Paul said with a demanding voice before he kicked against the door and this time it actually opened.
The bright sunbeams shone into the dark room of that hideout.
Seconds later, Paul entered the room, but unfortunately, he received a hit with a chair against his head.
"Paul!" Dawn screamed, not expecting such an attack from out of nowhere.
Running to him, the blue-haired girl looked for the trainer and luckily, Paul wasn't unconscious. Some blood dropped down from his head, but that wasn't a real problem now. During Dawn's first aid, she was surrounded by some men and the blunette immediately recognized them as members of Team Rocket.
"That's interesting! This young guy is a competitor in the tournament, right?" One of them said satisfied.
"That was a cheap shot, you pathetic loser!" Paul said, sitting up.
"We'll see who will lose and now don't make any protest and give up!" Those Rockets already had some ropes with them to capture some other trainer, but Dawn had enough to be the small defenseless girl.
"Come out, Pachirisu!" Dawn called her electro-type Pokémon that should be able to fend of those Rockets, at least she hoped so.
"Is that everything you got?" Paul said, looking at the seemingly weak Pokémon from Dawn.
It didn't matter, because Dawn and Paul had to free Misty and Delia. Moreover, they were under pressure, because with only a bit over ten minutes left, it would be difficult to beat those criminals and return to the stadium.
Max and Norman had complete other problems, because their female family member couldn't withstand her urge to look into some shops. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen a sign of Delia, Misty or even May and slowly but surely, it became worrying.
"Mum, could we please look for our friends? You can look through the shops tomorrow!" Max said.
"It's possible that Misty and Delia are within a shop, therefore we shouldn't miss the chance to look through every single one of them." Caroline explained, already glaring at the next shop of the street.
"First, you don't need to buy something to leave a shop again …" Norman started, carrying some bags. " … and seconds, Misty wouldn't miss her match because of shopping!"
"I would." Caroline said.
Max and Norman sighed, because it was hopeless with that woman.
The time had come at professor Oak's ranch and Mew would finally see if it was possible to give the 'Chosen aura' to another one. Of course, Mew had to see May and Ash to separate them, because their auras where completely identical.
At first, May hesitated to take the flower into her hands, because she remembered that she couldn't activate it all those years ago during the Cameron palace incident.
"Don't worry, May." Ash said with a comforting voice. "I won't be disappointed if you can't activate it, but you'll never know if you don't try it."
Ash was right on that and May took the flower into her hands.
During the first few seconds, nothing happened and Ash already sighed. However, after some more moments the plant started to glow in a bright light and opened its bloom to reveal the past that it had saved.
Ash smiled cheerfully.
The surroundings were immediately covered with an illusion from the past and Ash knew that it was the tree of beginning, however, he didn't know from which time it was. All the Pokémon looked with confused eyes at the scene before they spotted a second Ash.
The Chosen One frowned, because he couldn't remember that he activated a time flower during his time in the tree of beginning, at least not intentional.
May watched curiously, because she didn't know anything from Ash's stay at the tree of beginning. This version of Ash still wore his old Sinnoh clothes and seemed to have activated the time flower while walking past it.
At first, the Illusion-Ash looked at his hands before forming a small aura ball.
The real raven-haired trainer gulped, because he knew that scene and he wasn't very eager that someone knew from it, not even May or Mew. Ash wanted to close the flower again, but Mew blocked him with his psychic powers. The legendary was interested to see how this scene ended.
Next, the Illusion closed its palm again before he punched the ground for some reason.
"_Damn it! Why couldn't I control my aura that good when it was needed!_"
May listened carefully to Ash's voice and she seemed to understand what the illusion was talking about.
Mew tilted his head, because he hadn't seen the Chosen One like that during his time in the tree.
The illusion then stood up again and walked to a small opening at the side of the tree. Looking once more, the onlookers saw that it was a way to an abyss. Nobody knew what that 'Ash' wanted to do, but it seemed to be dangerous.
Ash wasn't proud of that thought that he during that time.
Lifting one foot off the ground, the Illusion-Ash seemed to jump into the abyss. Not able to look on any longer, Corpish jumped towards the trainer to prevent him to do something wrong. Unfortunately, the water-type jumped through the 'ghost' and landed on its head.
Manaphy closed its eyes and buried his head in the chest of his mama.
Actually, the prince of the sea should know that Ash wouldn't jump, but it was nevertheless a shocking experience.
The illusion didn't move anymore when he turned around. Only Ash knew that he did it because of Mew that talked to him via telepathy. Putting his foot back onto the ground, the illusion sighed and after that, they could hear a growl from a Pokémon.
Many onlookers knew that it was the growl of Charizard, Ash's trusty fire-Pokémon. Leaving the opening again, the illusion walked towards the growl before the 'look into the past' ended.
The time flower closed its bloom again and all the pictures from the past vanished. At first, there was a big silence among the group until Ash started to say something.
"It worked! I'm proud of you, May." Ash said, smiling and hoping that nobody would ask him about that scene. Unfortunately, many eyes looked at him and the raven-haired boy felt uncomfortable right now.
Pulling down his head, Ash tried to avoid the curios looks until he felt how someone wrapped her arms around him. It was surprising, but as soon as Ash looked up, he saw how May buried her face into his chest this time.
One after another, all of Ash's Pokémon surrounded him. His yellow rodent climbed onto his shoulder before cuddling to his cheek. It seemed that many of his friends only now realized how hard this four years were for him.
Patting May's back several times, Ash thanked them for that, but it wasn't so important anymore. It only mattered that everyone was fine and past was past now.
"Now we can start with the real training!"