Chapter Five

The next morning Ash woke up just as the sun began to rise over the horizon line, he stretched his arms and waking Pikachu in the process. The electric mouse gave him a dirty look as he curled back into a ball trying to go back to sleep. He chuckled a bit then groaned as the couch he was sleeping on wasn't quite long enough for him. He remembered the scene from last night, when they entered his home he found out that May had been sleeping in his bed during her stay. He told her he'd sleep on the living room couch so she could have the bed, but May wasn't having any of it and argued with a few explicit words (in a hushed tone as not to wake up the rest of the house) but he wouldn't budge and having to look away from her puppy dog eyes.

He gently lifted Pikachu as he sat up to stretch his back out, he smelt coffee being brewed. He scratched his partner's ears telling him it was breakfast time but Pikachu still slept. Suddenly Ash had a thought, "Pi I know mom always has a bottle of ketchup just for you." With that Pikachu quickly jumped up gave a small stretch and hurried into the kitchen. Ash just chuckled and shook his head as he made his way into the kitchen were his mom was busy cooking. She refused Ash's help telling to sit down and have some coffee while waiting for everyone else and for the food to be done.

While the group enjoyed their breakfast Gary asked Ash, "So Ashy-boy what are your plans now that you're home." The room fell silent and all eyes turned to Ash.

"I plan on challenging the Indigo League once again, the last time left a sour taste in my mouth then after that I intend to challenge and beat the rest of the leagues I lost in." Ash stated as he ate a massive stack of pancakes in front of him, he continued "I have a couple weeks before the season begins, so I was thinking of staying close to home and taking it a little easy before I started." he explained.

After hearing that, May made up her mind right then and there, "I'll travel through Kanto with you Ash, I'm not letting you out of my sight to run off again and I want to take on the Kanto contest circuit." she said to Ash who smiled brightly. "I'd love for you to travel with me again May and I'll cheer you on in your contests all the way to the Grand Festival."

"Well this just got interesting." came a voice from the other side of the table. Everyone turned and looked at Paul who was staring straight at Ash with a small grin on his face.

"What do you mean Paul?" May asked looking at the purple haired man.

"Dawn and I planned on taking on Kanto after the honeymoon, so now we've got some strong competition. So like I said interesting." Paul said with a smirk.

"Well then Paul looks like we're gonna be rivals again," Ash said with a burning look in his eyes, "I expect you to be in the final battle against me going at it with everything you and your pokemon have."

"Dawn I expect the same thing from you, we're still tied in contests against each other." May stated with a grin.

"Don't you worry Ash, I'll be waiting for you and I don't plan on losing this time." Paul said with confidence.

"And May you'd better be ready too because I'm going to come at you with 110%," Dawn said while pumping her fist.

When everyone was finished up with breakfast and when everything was cleaned up, Dawn and Paul said their goodbyes as the climbed into the back of a silver limo as they left for their honeymoon. As they left Paul gave Ash a look he new meant that their next battle would be the toughest of his life and he smiled with anticipation. "Ash were do you think you're going looking like that young man?" Delia asked while tapping her foot on the floor, "You seriously need to shave the thing off you're face, a beard dosen't suit you."

Ash sweat dropped as everyone agreed "Alright you guys win, after I get cleaned up I'm gonna go down to the Proffesor's and let my pokemon out. You're all free to come along and see them and I'm sure they'll be glad to see all of you as well."

After a hot shower and a few nicks of the razor, Ash looked at his face for the first time in a long time in a mirror. He could see the defining line of his scar and the light image of the z's under his eyes. He walked down the stairs and everyone was taken back by his clean shaven face, they for some reason didn't expect his face to look so mature, rugged (May had to hide a slight blush on her cheeks), but his eyes remained as warm as ever. "Well with that out of the way, what do you say about going down and letting everyone out." Everyone stood up signaling that they were ready and Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder with a squeak as he rubbed his cheek against his.

"Even you like it without the beard?" Ash asked his long time partner.

"Pi pi pika chaa." Pikachu answered.

"Oh come on it wasn't that bad." Ash chuckled. As the group walked down the road they asked Ash more questions about his travels and his new pokemon. He answered all the questions about his adventures but simply said they'll have to wait and see all his pokemon at the ranch. When they reached the top of the steps they were greeted by Professor Oak who had been called by Ash to let him know that they were coming. You could see the excitement on the elderly professor's face, he knew Ash had new pokemon with him, some that he never met as the Tauros were traded secretly and knowing Ash, he would have caught a handful of new pokemon in his travels as well.

They stood behind Ash as he opened his backpack revealing all of his poke balls, he asked Pikachu, Meowth, and Lucario to help release all their friends. As they started to call out their friends, everyone was in shock of all of Ash's pokemon, as sixty five flashes of light filled the air (68 pokemon in total but Pikachu, Meowth, and Lucario are not it poke balls).

Before them stood a what seemed like. small army. Ash's pokemon: Venusaur(Bulbsaur chose to evolve), Blastoise (Squirtle came back as he past by Vermilion), Charizard, Primeape (came back per his own request after he watched the Kalos league), Pidgeot (Joined as Ash flew over the forest on Charizard), Muk (who immediately tackled the proffesor), Butterfree (who found Ash in the Seafoam islands), Tauros, Snorlax, Typhlosion, Meganium, Feraligator, Noctowl (with an additional sparkle due to his shinny nature), Heracross, Donphan, Sceptile (with his trademark twig), Swellow, Torkoal, Galalie, Crawdaunt, Torterra, Infernape, Staraptor, Floatzel, Garchomp, Gliscor, Serperior, Emboar, Samurott, Unfezabt, Gigalith, Seismitoad, Leavanny, Krookadile (with his black glasses), Scrafty, Talonflame, Hawlucha, Noivern, Goodra (came back to Ash after he left Rota), Greninja (found Ash shortly before he went to Mt. Silver). His newest catches Gengar (He returned to Saffron and captured him with Sabrina's consent), Gyarados, Areodactyl (the one from Grandpa Canyon), Houndoom, Tyranitar (the Larvitar he helped in Johto), Luxray, Electivire, Zoroark (the Zorua he helped find her mom), Dratini, Mightyena, Growlithe, Umbreon, and a shiny Zangoose. His trades for his Tarous: Machamp, Flygon, Eevee, Espeon, Joltieon, Gardevoir, Beedrill, Combusken, Marshtomp, Meowstic (F) (Meowth quickly went and stood next too her.) And of course Pikachu, Meowth and Lucario.

"Ash you weren't joking when you said you have a lot of new pokemon." Gary said with an awe shocked expression.

Ash just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said, "I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"Ash my boy this is amazing, you've gathered an amazing amount of pokemon and from what I can see they are very well trained." Professor Oak stated while admiring Areodactyl.

"Ash with all these pokemon by your side I don't think you'll have a single problem at any of the leagues you enter." Gary said in awe of all the pokemon in front of him.

"Thanks Gary but there are some incredibly strong trainers out there." Ash said with smile "But, that doesn't scare me one bit. I love a strong opponent."

Over the course of the next few hours Ash explained about his new pokemon and a few of his old ones. He did his best to answer the profeasor's questions about Lucario, Areodactyl and how he and Greninja bonded in battle.

While everyone was chatting and admiring all of Ash's pokemon, he took the chance to talk to Brock. "Brock can I talk to you privately for a minute?" Ash asked in a hushed nervous tone.

"Sure thing man," the pokemon doctor replied as they walked a little ways from the group. "Whats up Ash, you look a little nervous and confused?"

Ash explained to Brock what happened the night he left how he felt when he saw May, about the feelings seeing her again for the first time in five years, how angry he got when he seen that Drew had slapped her, and finished by telling him, "Its strange to me Brock I missed everyone while I was training but at least once a week I'd dream about her, Iwould see her face and hear her voice. I don't know what that means."

Brock chuckled as he placed his hand on Ash's shoulder, "Ash in all the years I've known you, you've only ever paid attention to pokemon, battles and food. Don't try to tell me otherwise we both know its the truth." He said as Ash opened his mouth to argue but closed it knowing Brock was right. "Ash I can't tell you what all of that means, thats up to you. Do some thinking and look in your heart and search your mind I'm sure you'll find the answer."

"Ok Brock thank you for the help, I'll try meditating to try and clear my thoughts." Ash said.

"Anytime Ash, when you get to Pewter we'll talk more and see what you've found out then." The older man said with a grin.

"Sounds good man thank you again." he said as they walked back to the group. "By the way Brock I've been meaning to ask, how did you and Lucy end up together."

"After you left we all started looking for you or where you might be going. I had a thought that you might have thought about taking Scott's offer to be a Frontier Brain. So I went to the Battle Pike to ask Lucy if she'd heard from you, when I explained what had happened she contacted the other brains and they a tried to help look for you. After a few months she and I were having dinner after looking around some parts of Kanto that you were rumored to have been seen in. One thing led to another and we ended confessing our feelings for each other at the same time and thats how it all started." Brock said while looking at Lucy as they walked up.

Ash smiled and said, "Well thats two relationships that started because of me. Guess it wasn't all bad that I left." Ash felt a slap against the back of his head "Owe Brock what the hell."

"That's for leaving and saying that, but I will say thank you for bringing us together even if you didn't know it." Brock said with a smirk.

As the day went on everyone began to return to their homes bidding Ash, May Delia, Gary, Zoey and Professor Oak good bye until they met again. Ash promised everyone he'd keep in touch with them and let them know how is journey was going. As Brock, Lucy, Misty, and Tracy (who wanted to spend more time with Misty) went to leave Ash had a request, "Brock, Misty will you two do me a favor?

"Sure Ash anything you need." Said Brock.

"No problem Ash. What do you need?" replied Misty.

"Brock will you tell Forest that I'm coming for my first badge from him and I'd like it to be a full six on six battle, I want his absolute best. Misty I would like the same kind of battle from you, I know you've gotten stronger and I want you to give it your all. I would also ask both you to call the other gym leaders to tell them I'm coming and I want full battles from them all as well. I want to earn my badges the right way this time." Ash finished with a determined smile on his face.

"You got it man I'll make sure Forest brings his a-game to the battle and I'll call up a few of the gyms." Brock said with a chuckle and a hand shake.

"Don't worry about me Ash, you'll have to give it everything you've got to beat me. I'll call up the girls and tell them to put the hurt on you." Misty said jokingly with a friendly hug. She turned to May and gave her a tight hug, "May take good care of him, I can see he is crazy for you, even if he is too dense to know it just yet. Make sure he never leaves again, ok."

"Don't worry Misty I'll keep him in line and never let him out of my sight. He's dense like a rock, but a very handsome rock." May replied with a blush hugging her dear friend.

The next day after everyone had left, Ash and May went to the market place to start gathering supplies for their up coming trip. As they did their shopping Ash thought about what Brock had said, he tried to understand what his heart felt and what his mind was saying. He was deep in his thoughts when he heard May yell "Earth to Ash!! Are you awake?" She said while waving her hand infront if his face.

"Sorry May I kinda zoned out." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"What were you thinking so hard about?" she asked.

"About our new journey, all the places we'll see and people we'll meet." Ash said hoping she'd by his lie.

"It'll be fun, traveling with you is always a blast and you always seem to meet the best people." May said.

'Glad she bought it, trying to figure this out is more difficult then I thought.' he said in his mind as they continued shopping and talking about their up coming travels.

When they got back to the house and put their items away, they decided to go down to the lab. As they walked down the road Ash asked, "What new pokemon do you have May?"

"I'll show you when we get to the lab, I had them transferred here since we all started spend more time in Kanto. It made it easier to train them all for contests and to make sure they're all being well taken care of, I like to be really hands on with my pokemon." May explained to Ash. They knocked on the door and were greeted by Zoey.

"May, Ash whats up guys?" she asked.

"We finished our shopping earlier than we thought, so Ash asked to see all my pokemon." she told the red headed coordinator.

"I never thought I'd here you say you finished shopping early." Zoey teased May, which caused Ash to laugh though he stopped as May shot a glare at him.

"Ok you two I'm gonna go hang out with Gary while he finishes up the last part of his thesis." she said, followed by a whisper only May could hear, "No hanky panky now." With a wink she walked down the hall, while May swatted at her with a bright red blush. Ash was totally oblivious as he was stepping out the door, when May caught up with him she managed to control her blush.

May called out her pokemon and pulled six spheres from her belt and released them. As they stood in front of the two trainers Ash was impressed at all the pokemon she had caught and trained. May's pokemon Blaizeken, Beautifly, Delcatty (May found a moon stone while looking for Ash near Mt. Moon.), Venusaur, Munchlax (who doesn't want to evolve yet), Wartortle (also choose not to evolve.), Glaceon (she skipped to Pikachu and nuzzled him). She caught Altaria (the Swablu she helped with injured wing.), Ninetales, Froslass, Shelder, Ampharos, Sunflora, Swanna, Florges, Sawsbuck, Vivillon, Minccino, Lumineon, and Masquerain.

"Wow May your pokemon look amazing and you've caught some really impressive ones as well." Ash said looking over the pokemon in front of him. "Hey Glaceon, how are you girl?" He asked as he scratched behind her ears. She yipped in response. He watched her again go sit unusually close to Pikachu, who did't seem to mind. 'That's weird I've never seen them sit so close.' he thought to himself but he shrugged it off as they talked about her new pokemon.

Poke speech

"Pikachu its been along time, I've missed you like crazy." Glaceon said rubbing Pikachu's cheek.

"I've missed you too. I'm sorry we were gone for so long but Ash is my brother and I will follow him any where he goes." he replied apologetically.

"I understand, I feel the same about May. I'm just glad you guys are back. May was devastated when Ash left, she cares so deeply for him. This is the happiest I've seen her in a very long time." Glaceon said looking at May's smile.

Pikachu smiled, "I agree, I haven't seen Ash smile like this in a very very long time. I hope he'll start to understand what his feelings mean before too long, he's not as dense as he was but he still has no idea." he said with a chuckle, he gave Glaceon's cheek a quick lick before going to meet the rest of the pokemon.

End poke speech

May looked over just as Pikachu licked Galceon's cheek, she giggled seeing the shocked loom on her pokemon's face. 'Seems those two understand their feelings. I hope Ash can do that too, but no matter what I'm never giving up on him.' she thought with a smile. The duo spent the rest of the day playing with their pokemon and relaxing. As the day drew to an end they went back to the house to eat dinner and continue mapping out their travel plans. Knowing that the next few days would be over before they knew it. After dinner with Delia and watching re-runs of a few past leagues they called it a night and went to bed. uUnbeknownst to Ash and May, they fell asleep dreaming of the other.