Chapter seven
The next morning Ash woke up before everyone else and starting to do a work out routine he came up with, (he thought if his pokemon were training then he needed too as well) but before he began he stared at May as she slept. He couldn't help but think of how beautiful and peaceful she looked as she lightly slept. 'Why am I thinking like this? Am I falling for her? I need to think about it more, I can't hurt her.' he thought to himself. After he got out of his sleeping bag he started off with a light jog/run through the trees, using nature as an obstacle coarse, he then found a sturdy branch and began doing pull ups. He would then swing his legs over the branch and do ab work outs, and he finished by sparing with one of his pokemon, today it was Lucario who had woken up just as Ash returned from his run.
The sounds of grunts and thuds woke May from her sleep, she opened her eyes and rubbed the sleep from them. When she could see clearly she was instantly wake and her breath were short and fast. She could see Ash and Lucario trading blows against each other, she was in awe of the sight of Ash with out his shirt off. His body was firm, his muscles were toned, and he was not over muscled, she could see a few scars on his arms from his journey and the large jagged scar on his abdomen from Team Rocket. She knew he had bulked up during his time away but she had never seen him shirtless until now and she was breathless to say the least. May watched the pair spare until Lucario got in a lucky shot and sent Ash flying to the ground. Ash got up he brushed himself off and to May's surprise he was laughing.
"That was a good shot Lucario, you caught me off gaurd but don't expect it to happen again." He said laughing as the pair fist pumped.
"Master you've only beat me twice so we will see next time." Lucario replied with a smirk. A sound of clapping drew their attention. May had climb out of her sleeping bag, she was clapping and giggling at the exchange between the two.
"I never knew that Ash Ketchum was an early riser, the one I knew would sleep past eight most days." she said teasingly as she handed him a towel to dry off.
"I had to learn in Rota and when I started training I figured that I needed to be training right along side my pokemon." He said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. After May released her pokemon, they fed all the pokemon they then cooked their own breakfast. After they had finished eating, Ash cleaned himself up, they packed up camp and returned their pokemon. They began walking towards Viridian City, Ash took them through few short cuts he'd found over the years. He showed her where he had fell into the river with Pikachu and where they washed up and stole Misty's bike. Then he showed her and Glaceon where he andPikachu made their stand against the Spearow, Pikachu laughed with Ash as they remembered the events causing Glaceon and May to sweat drop.
They walked for another hour or so when the out skirts of the city came into view. Glaceon and Pikachu walked in front with their tails rubbing occasionally, May and Ash walked next to each other. She wanted to reach out and take his hand but resisted the urge knowing that time would work all this out. Lucario walked on the other side of Ash as he always did following the code of Aura Guardian and Partner. They walked past the gaurd station where he first met Officer Jenny and had his wild ride to the Pokemon Center. They decided to spend the day in the city seeing the sights, since neither of them had done it in their travels through the city. When they reached the center, they handed over their poke balls to Nurse Joy as to make sure everyone was healthy and Ash made his way to the video phones to let his mom know that they made it safely. After their pokemon had been given a clean bill of health Ash called the professor to exchange his pokemon so he could keep his training with them constant as possible.
Ash sent Primeape, Gyarados, and Goodra back in exchange for Tyranitar, Typhlosion, Heracross. He knew going into Viridain Forest the would come across some very hostile Beedrill and other territorial groups of pokemon so he wanted a good variety of types on his team. May also changed up her team as well she exchanged Munchlax, Masquiern, and Sawsbuck for Ninetales, Altaria, and Minccino. After changing their teams they explored the city, doing a little shopping, grabbed lunch at a homey little Italian restaurant and Ash refused to let May pay for the meal saying its gentleman thing to do. They returned to the Pokemon Center, put their purchases in their rooms and went behind the center to do a little training.
Ash sent out his pokemon having Heracross have a light battle with Tyranitar, Typhlosion was racing Pikachu working on their speeds, Butterfree helped Eevee with her distance on her attacks, Lucario and Pidgeot were sending an Aura Sphere back and forth working on timing. Ash moved between the groups giving pointers and advice to his pokemon smiling at how well they were all doing.
May was shocked watching the small Eevee launch powerful attacks, "Ash your Eevee is so amazing, she is so fast and strong. Why hasn't she evolved yet?" she asked him.
"Eevee wants to become as strong as possible before she even considers evolution. She has trained right next to my most powerful pokemon since day one, she has never given up and I am extremely proud of her and all my pokemon for the effort they put in." He explained scratching behind Eevee's ears getting a happy yip. May smiled at the sweet moment between the two 'His pokemon really love him deeply, and so do I.' she thought with a light blush 'I hope he will return the same feelings to me.' As Ash continued his training May sent out her pokemon wanting to work on her appeals for the upcoming Pewter City Contest.
Blaziken, Froslass, Swanna, Glaceon, Wartortle, Ninetales, Altaria, and Minncino all stood before May ready to start training. She started out by having her team stretch out and run a few laps around the practice fields to warm up. After they warmed up May had them start out by focusing their attacks to have better control and to improve their ability to bring out the colors and flash of the moves. They did training of that nature for about an hour, when May had them change it up to powering up their attacks. She liked being able to show the beauty of the attacks but her edge was that her pokemon trained in battles so their attacks had more power than other contest pokemon.
Ash was calling his pokemon together to go over training and what they could work on. Once he had finished discussing training with his pokemon, he walked over to where May was training, Ash watched her moving in between the pokemon giving her insight. He didn't know why but he was mesmerized by her movements, her hair, and the way she interacted with her pokemon. She turned to see where Ash was whenher sapphire eyes locked onto his chocolate eyes he became completely lost in them. He felt his heart rate increase and a feeling of warmth spread through his chest. A sudden jolt of electricity ran through his body bringing him back to his senses, when he heard May asking, "You there Ash?" while knocking on his head.
"Huh? Sorry May I was just thinking." he said.
"Hmmm, knowing you it was probably food or pokemon." May said with a giggle.
"Hey I think about other stuff, like.." he searched his head, he didn't want to tell her what he'd been meditating on, "Okay maybe you have a point." with a chuckle. They recalled all their pokemon and went into the Pokemon Cented cafeteria to grab a quick dinner. Once they got their pokemon and themselves fed they went back to their room, Ash let May shower and clean up first. She came out shortly after with her hair in a towel letting Ash go get cleaned up, he came out with a fresh pair of shorts and a clean tshirt. He sat on his bed, Pikachu jumped on his lap and started scratching behind his ears getting a happy relaxing 'Chaaa'. They stayed up for an hour or so watching a movie before they called it a night. As May fell asleep she thought she heard Ash mutter something but figured she was hearing things. Unknown to May, Ash rolled on his side, he could make out May's outline he softly whispered, "Goodnight May, sweet dreams. I'll figure out my feelings soon enough." With that he feel into a gentle sleep.
The next morning Ash woke up and the sky was still dark, he glanced at the alarm clock in the room seeing it was five thirty he decided to get in a work out before they started through the forest. Lucario and Pikachu stretched and waited for Ash to finish changing and to write a quick note to tell May where he'd gone if she woke up before he got back. The trio walked out of the Pokemon Center into the quite city, they started out with a light jog towards the Pokemon Gym. As they got closer they increased their pace, when they reached the front gates they turned back around, but not before Ash felt a familiar presence, he had felt it before but couldn't place it. They continued their pace eventually beginning to run back to the training grounds behind the center. After taking a moment to catch their wind Ash released his pokemon and had them begin working out while Lucario and him went through movements to help with aura. The group had been at it for a about a hour and a half when May came out side, she stopped and watched the training session amazed at how much they'd all grown.
"Oh, hey May," Ash said with a smile, "How did you sleep?"
"I slept good, how long have you been awake."
"It was around five thirty when I woke up."
May chuckled to herself, "Its still hard to believe that you wake up this early."
"Hey now, people change." He replied with fake hurt in his voice, just then his stomach growled loudly causing May and the pokemon to laugh. "Okay maybe somethings don't change."
He recalled his pokemon, they headed into the center to have Nurse Joy check his pokemon. When they were given a clean bill of health the group when and ate a hearty breakfast afterwards Ash took a shower. They returned the room key to Nurse Joy and started their journey out of town towards the forest, when they stepped into the tree line Ash took a deep breath enjoying the forest air. May and Ash walked along the path they made small talk swapping stories and taking in the sights of the surrounding area. A little ways into the path they came across the spot where he caught his Caterpie, they journeyed on finally finding a good spot to make lunch. After cleaning up they ran into Samurai had a brief catch up they were on their way with a warning from the bug type trainer.
"Be careful my friends the Beedrill have been very hostile latley, be sure to mind the hatchings grounds." he called out as they walked down the path into the forest.
"Thank you for the warning, and we'll see you around." Ash said back waving as they turned the corner of the trail disappearing into the woods. The group continued walking for a few hours trading stories and training tips when May seen a strange pokemon come out of the bushes a head of them. "Ash what pokemon is that?" May asked quietly hoping not to scare it away.
"Its a Sewaddle, they're from Unova but they've been spreading out more now that regions have better trade paths." he explained. "Your pokedex should be updated and have to info on it if you want to know more."
"Thats right Professor Oak gave us both the new model." May pulling out her pokedex and scaning the Sewaddle.
Sewaddle, the Sewing Pokémon. Sewaddle hides from its enemies by covering its head with a hood made from a leaf, and is known to eat its leafy clothing when food is scarce.
"Sounds like a good pokemon and helpful for contest. I'm gonna catch it." she said pulling out Minccino's pokeball. "Minccino take the stage." the pokeball released a bright white light that died down revealing the brown colored pokemon. "Minccion use Swift with Thunder Wave." She called out. Minccino swung her tail releasing a shower of golden stars which mixed with the weak electricity causing them to spark and crakle. The attack hit Sewaddle who tried to dodge with String Shot but both attacks have a zero chance of missing. The power of Swift sent the sewing pokemon across the ground, as it stood up noticable static electricty crackled over its body showing paraylsis. Knowing she had a shot, May threw a pokeball at Sewaddle, the ball bounced off the pokemon's head sucking it in with a red light. The Pokeball landed on the ground shaking three times before dinging signaling she had caught Sewaddle, May ran to collecet her new pokemon. As she shrunk the Pokeball it transfered itself back to the lab with her other pokemon.
"Congradulations May that was a great combo idea using two unavoidable moves like that." He said as he patted her shoulder.
"Thank you Ash that means a lot." May replyed while turning her head slightly hiding her blush.
They began walking once more seeing the sun slowing moving towards the horizon line. After a few hundred yards they came upon a section of the path that was completly destroyed.
"Looks like a pokemon battle happened here, and not too long ago seeing as how its still smoking." Ash said as he examined the damage. "I'm willing to bet its the Beedrill and Pinsir fighting for teritory. We better hurry so we don't get caught in a fight." As he took May's hand leading her through the wreckage. They silently hurried through woods until an explosin knocked them off their feet and throwing debri over them and dust into the air
"What was that?" May asked coughing through the dust.
"Its the Beedrill, its a huge swarm of them and they are really pissed." he said as he called out his pokemon, May stood up and doing the same. As soon as all their pokemon came out the swarm of Bedrill atracked with out mercy, they began calling out counter attacks and dogdes while trying to move down the path. While May was calling out her pokemon she didn't notice the Poison Sting and Sludge Bomb attacks coming at her back. Ash looking around the battle, seen the attacks out of the corner his eye, he dove towards May taking them full force. He cried out as he felt all the needles and poison impact his skin, May turned and saw him fall to the ground.
"Ash!" May cried out.
Grunting as he pushed himself to his knees, "We need to end this." he said in a pained voice, "Typholsin Overheat, Pidgeot Air Slash, Butterfree Silver wind, Tyranitar and Heracross Hyperbeam, Lucario Aura Sphere, Eevee Swift, Pikachu Thunder!" All of the pokemon launched their attacks together creating a blinding white beam that crashed into the Beedrill knocking them out or sending them flying into the trees. "Good job everyone, that should by us some time." Ash went to stand up but the poison took effect and he started to pass out.
May rushed to Ash as he began to fall foward catching him before he face planted into the ground. With Lucario's help they move a good distance down the path to setup camp and heal everyone's injuries. She spent the next few hours tending to everyone and giving Ash some Petcha berry with Lucario's help once more. As night began to fall she made a simple dinner, fed the pokemon and kept checking on Ash seeing that he was doing better made her smile. She put a blanket over him kissing his forehead lightly whispering good night to him. After the eventful day and adrenilne rush sleep quickly took her, while they slept Lucarion kept watch over the camp for the night.
The next morning Ash groaned as he opened his eyes, feeling the pains from the day before. He looked around his surroundings seeing that the sun was above the horizon already and all of May's and his pokemon were eating breakfast. His gaze fell upon May who was currently cooking over the fire, he couldn't help but think of how beautiful she looked in the morning sun shining off her hair. Hearing Ash's groan May looked up to see him slowly sitting up, she moved over to him helping him to an upright position. "Ash how are you feeling?" she asked worryingly.
"I'm alright May, I've been through worse." he replied with a small grin.
"Well good," she said as she slapped him upside the head "Don't do anything stupid like that again Ash, you had me so worried." He rubbed his head gingerly looking at May seeing the worry in her eyes.
"I'm sorry May, but I couldn't let you get hurt. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if it would've happened to you. I care too much about you to see anything happen to you or anyone else I care about." he said while grasping her hands in his, as he spoke their faces slowly moved closer together. When he finished talking they realized how close they were and quickly backed up with blushes covering both their faces.
Trying to ease the tension they felt Ash asked, "May how did we get here, I don't remember anything after the last attack from the pokemon?" May went on to explain how Lucario helped her move him and that the other pokemon helped find berries and over things they'd need for the night. He looked at her and couldn't help but smile and pull her into a tight hug, "Thank you May." he said gently next to her ear causing a shiver to run down her spine. She pulled out of his arms reluctantly, returning to the breakfast she had started while hiding her blush.
"Are you feeling ok to travel Ash?" May asked finally getting her face back to her normal color.
"I'm fine to go May," he said while jumping up and down while waving his arms around "I've been through worse than that." May raised an eyebrow questionably at him.
"Miss Maple I will vouch for Master Ash, he may have been injured yesterday but he has been far more injured by is own doing though." Lucario chimed in with a smirk.
"Hey they weren't all my fault some were freak accidents and don't call me master." Ash shot back to his aura partner. Lucario just shook his head with a smirk as he went back to his breakfast with the other pokemon.
May giggled at the exchange "At least I know someone was taking care of you and keeping you in line while you were away." she said then suddenly smacked him upside the head again, "That's still for leaving, you're going to get many of those from a lot other people as well. You had so many of us worried when you left." As a small tear formed in the corner of her eye, Ash gently reached out and wiped it away.
"Hey now no need to cry May, I'm here for good and I'm not leaving again." She smiled at him knowing he was telling the truth and she also knew that even of she tried she wouldn't leave his side again. After they ate their breakfast and cleaned up the campsite, they started back down the path. After walking for a few hours they finally reached the edge of the forest and stood on a hill over looking Pewter City sight of Ash's first battle on his new journey and home of May's first contest. They looked at each other with confidence in their eyes and continued into the town knowing that they were going to give it their all.
