May woke up and looked to see what time it was. Seeing that it was a quarter to six, she decided to get up and work out before they left town. As she got out of bed she noticed that Ash wasn't in his bed, she glanced towards the bathroom she seen that the light was on with the door closed. Figuring out that he was getting ready to work out she gathered her things so she could change once he was done.
Ash had just finished changing and walked back into the room seeing May waiting he smiled, "Good morning May, did you sleep well?"
"Yes I did, thank you. Did you sleep good?"
"Yes, though I'm excited to start out again today. Being in towns is a little claustrophobic to me after being in the wild for so long." he explained.
"I guess that makes sense, but if you like I'll help you get over that little by little." she said as she walked into the bathroom to get ready.
"I'd like that May." he said smiling 'Being around you makes me feel like I can do anything.' he thought.
Once May was changed and ready they made their way outside to begin stretching. Ash showed May some general stretches so she wouldn't hurt herself. After warming up They began jogging through town with Lucario, Pikachu and Glaceon running lightly behind their trainers. May was feeling slightly winded but kept pushing because she wanted to show Ash she was strong. Ash noticed that she was beginning to struggle so he turned them back towards the Pokemon Center, not wanting her to pull a muscle. May noticed they were going back earlier than she wanted but was grateful, they went back behind the center to the training fields and called out their pokemon. Ash let out Dratini, Combusken, Sceptile, Noctowl, Espeon, and Growlithe while Pikachu and Lucario went and stood with them. Though once they were out Espeon and Growlithe tackled him jumping around him and licking his face. Ash laughed, "Hahaha alright guys, I promise we'll play later but right now we're gonna train ok."
"Esp Espeon." replied Espeon as she rubbed against him.
"Growl." Growlithe answered has he licked Ash's face again.
May giggled at the exchange she then called out her pokemon Blaziken, Froslass, Swanna, Glaceon, Wartortle, Ninetales, Altaria, and Minncino stood ready before her. Ash set his pokemon out to exercise and to work on improving their accuracy and waited for May so they could to continue to work out.
"Ok guys you all did well the last few days getting ready for the contest. Just take it easy this morning and do light training." The pokemon nodded and went off in pairs to begin exercising. Once the pokemon were going May and Ash started with some exercises that would work on May's overall fitness so they could later work on more intense workouts. Ash took a break to get a drink of water and smiled as he watched everyone working hard. He watched May train lightly with Blaziken so she could understand different fighting techniques. After watching her for a few minutes he shifted his gaze to his own pokemon and taking note of how they were all doing. Ash approached Dratini to give the young dragon type some advice, seeing as she was the newest member of his team, once he finished talking to her they tried out his ideas. The raven haired trainer smiled as he step back to let his pokemon get a feel for trianing together and to try their own ideas.
"Ash I was wondering something, Dratini seems a little young and not as leveled up as your other pokemon. Why is that?" May asked as she walked up next to Ash.
"Well I caught Dratini on my way back to Kanto actually. We were flying towards New Bark Town, when we spotted a small lake that was kinda secluded. We landed near it seeing a lot of berry trees and the water looked fresh so we stopped to take a quick break." Ash glanced over his pokemon as they trained before continuing. "It turns out that it is a sort of breeding ground for Dratini, and they all became really intimidated by us, all except one. I had Pikachu quickly go explain that we meant no harm to them and we'd be on our way shortly. They all were still slightly leery of us but relaxed, then suddenly the one who wasn't afraid of us hit Pikachu with a small Twister attack. I told Pikachu to stand down, that the Dratini was just protective over its friends. I decided to let them be and we'd take off then, when a smaller Dratini approached me and nudged my leg. Lucario translated what she wanted and she said that she would like to come with me because my pokemon and I felt comforting to her. I looked to the leader of the group who simply nodded and went back to lake. I caught her and we left afterwards to come back home."
"Wow that's a cool story Ash. I never knew that there were breeding grounds like that for Dratini." May said as she watched the small dragon pokemon push her self to keep up with the other pokemon. The pair trained with their pokemon for another hour before calling it time to quit. They returned all their pokemon minus Pikachu, Lucario and Glaceon. They went inside and gave their pokemon to Nurse Joy so she get them healthy again. After a few minutes they had all their pokeballs back and went back to their room to change. After cleaning up, they made their way to Brock's house to say goodbye before leaving town. They exchanged hugs and farewells, then the duo and pokemon turned towards Mt. Moon.
They had been walking for two days through the forest towards the mountain, following a schedule of working out and training in the morning, a light lunch midway with a light training session, then towards night fall they would pick a place to camp and train for a few ours before dinner then bed. On the third morning while stretching out they heard what sounded like a pained pokemon cry.
"That sounds like a pokemon or someone is in trouble."Ash said as he looked towards the noise. "We need to go check it out."
"Right, let's go Ash."
They quickly made their way towards the noise when the came to the edge of a small clearing. The sight that was before them would make any self respectable training angry. A small Clefairy was caught in a poacher's snare.
"Ha, finally got you, you like sucker." came a gruff voice from the tree line. A tall man dressed in tan cargo pants and black t-shirt stepped into the light. "You'll fetch a fine price in Kalos." he said with a sadistic laugh.
Before May could say anything to Ash, or come up with a plan, Ash jumped into the clearing and landed a solid hit to the mand jaw. The poacher groaned as he hit the ground hard, slowly getting up holding his jaw he spoke to Ash "Boy you've got some nerve to do that, I've beaten men bigger than you with no problem."
"Well then," Ash spoke with venom in his voice "Bring it on scum." With that the man lunged at Ash, May was. about to call out to Ash when he quickly sidestepped the attack and forcefully kicked the man in his ribs. He gasped as the wind was forced from his lungs as he landed Ash approached him to hold him until the authorities could be called. Just as he reached the poacher, the man threw dirt into Ash's face causing him to stumble backwards and fall over.
"Now you're gonna get yours boy." he said holding his ribs lightly, with his other hand raised to strike Ash in the face a poké ball opened. Dratini landed next to Ash prepared to defend her trainer no matter what.
"Lucario, Pikachu you have to go help Ash." May urged the two pokemon next to her.
Pikachu jumped into the clearing lanlanding next to Dratini but before Lucario could enter Ash called out to him, "Lucario keep May say if he tries anything." Lucario replied with a nod and low a growl as he took a defensive stance in front of May. The poacher quickly released his pokemon in hopes of dealing with the two small pokemon in front of him.
"Really a Pikachu and Dratini are your saviors, what can an electric rat and tiny snake do against my Ursaring, Machoke,
and Ariados." he said with smug laughter.
"We'll show what we can do, Pikachu keep them busy for moment." With that Pikachu launched into Iron Tail volleys spring boarding back and forth. "Dratini can you help me clear my eyes out?" the young dragon responded my creating a very small Whirlpool that allowed Ash to rinse his eyes with. "That's better, thank you Dratini. Now what do you say we join this fight." With a gentle rub of her head Dratini shot towards and unsuspecting Ursaring with Iron Tail sending the hibernatorpokemon backwards. May stood in shock and awe at how Ash's pokemon fought and how he called attacks all while defending himself against the poacher's punches.
Pikachu made quick work of Ariados and was pushing Machoke into a corner wearing down the superpower pokemon. Dratini using her speed and flexibility was hitting Ursaring with all she had even though it was much bigger she was winning the battle. The poacher had been knocked to the ground once more and slowly pushed himself up, a small trickle of blood came from his lip as he lunged at Ash getting a lucky shot and taking him to the ground, May tried to run to his aid but Lucario prevented her from doing so.
"Master Ash asked me to keep you safe and I intend to do so. Pikachu, Dratini help Master Ash quickly!!" Lucario called through his aura so that only they could hear him. Pikachu turned to run towards Ash, but stalled when a bright light shone in the clearing, when it faded they saw Dratini had evolved into Drgonair. She hit Ursaring with a powerful Dragon Tail attack then sped across and struck the poacher with Iron Tail knocking him off of Ash and out cold. Knowing Ash was safe Pikachu struck Machoke with a Thunderbolt bringing the pokemon to the ground.
May seeing that there was no more danger she rushed past Lucario to Ash's side. He was sitting up when she reached him, knocking him back to the ground in a tight embrace. "Ash are you crazy?" She asked yelled at him with tears forming in her eyes. "You just rushed him, you didn't know what could have happened." She pulled away seeing his face clearly, his right eye was slightly blackened and his bottom lip had begun to swell. "Look at yourself you're a mess and beat to hell."
Ash looked down slightly with shame, suddenly he chuckled making May angrier. "May I am sorry for acting quickly like that but I seeing him act how he was sent me over the edge. Its like when Drew slapped you, if it hadn't been for the wedding I would have beaten him for it. I'm ok, I promise I've taken worse beatings than this." He stood up, gently pulling May to her feet as well.
"Ash you need to think about your actions and consequences of them." she said sternly. "We all just got you back in our lives, how would everyone react if they heard something happened to you while fighting a criminal?" Ash opened his mouth to respond but she didn't give him time to respond "They'd be heart broken, you have touched so many lives in so many ways that you don't even know. Ash Ketchum I'll be damned if I let anything happen to you on my watch. I may not be a fighter but I can take care of myself why did you tell Lucario to stay by me instead of having him fight along side you?"
"May..I..I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I never thought that way before about consequences, I always just acted on instinct and went for it. I just want to protect everyone I care about and all pokemon I encounter." Ash said looking lightly ashamed. "Its my nature to to be a protector and now that I'm an Aura Guardian it is part of my duties to stop criminals."
May looked at Ash with a softened look "Ash." she said as she put her hand on his arm "I understand what you're saying but if any of the people on your life or your pokemon lost you, our worlds would crash down." Her eyes began to water as she explained all this to Ash, when suddenly even surprising even herself she slapped Ash. "I'm sorry Ash, but it's so frustrating to see you get injured from the sidelines. I cannot bare the thought of losing you again, you mean too damn much to me."
Ash shook his head clearing the shock from the slap he look at May as tears rolled down her cheeks. He knew everything she said was true and that he had never thought of what would happen if something happened to him. He looked and seen Pikachu with Glaceon closely by his side, Lucario and Dragonair looking at him with similar looks. When he looked back into May's sapphire eyes his heart ached seeing the pain and sadness in them, he stepped forward pulling her close. He gently wrapped his arms around her softly whispering in her ear how much she meant to him and that nothing was going to happen. It took Ash almost five minutes to call her down and the pokemon stood close to their trainers to comfort them the best they could.
They pulled back from the hug looking deep into each other's eyes, Ash began to feel a warmth deep in his chest. He let his heart take control of the situation and he started to talk "May I've got something I've been trying to figure this out for awhile but I'm just gonna go for it. May I.." Just then he was cut off by May screaming in fright as she felt a firm grip around her ankle. Everyone was caught off guard as the poacher had came to and grabbed May. She acted on instinct stomping her opposite foot on his other hand making him yell out and causing him to let her go. She spun on the ball of her foot bringing her foot in contact with his face with enough force to him onto his back and knocking him out again. Ash looked shocked seeing May knock him out and with the amount of force she had. She turned and seen the look on his face, she explained to him that her dad had taught her and Max some simple self defense just in case anything were to happen. Ash quickly pulled out a length of rope from his pack and quickly hog tied the poacher and took all his poke balls. Just as they finished taking care of the poacher, they heard someone enter the clearing.
"What is going on here?", came a authoritative voice. They turned to see a woman with green colored hair and a blue uniform, it was the Officer Jenny assigned to the Pewter side of Mount Moon. The pair quickly explained the situation to her, she wrote down their statements and got a good look at the poacher's face.
"This is Nelson the Poacher, we've been after him for a few years but always he always manages to escape at the last moment. Thank you both very much for capturing him." She said as she paged for other officers to search the area for his traps and campsite. May and Ash finished filling out their statements and told Officer Jenny if they found anything they'd call her. The pair turned and continued along their way towards the Mt. Moon entrance, walking slightly closer together than normal after what had happened before the poacher grabbed her. Ash was slightly frustrated at once again being interrupted when he and May were having a tender moment. May could tell that when Ash was talking to her in the clearing that his feelings were coming out, she was saddened that the moment was interrupted but wore a happy smile knowing that he was getting closer to understanding his feelings.
They had been walking for about thirty minutes when suddenly Lucario alerted Ash, "Master I'm sensing a small group of pokemon and their auras feel distressed." Ash closed his eyes focusing the area around them, when his eyes opened they had a bluish tint to them.
"I cam feel them too, lets go. I'm sure that's the poacher's campsite." May nodded in agreement and they turned back into the woods with a quick pace when they came upon an area surrounded by camouflage tarps. Ash quickly pull one of the tarps to the ground revealing numerous cages holding pokemon that all looked extremely frightened. Ash quickly told May to contact Officer Jenny while he and Lucario tried to calm the pokemon with aura and make sure that none of them were seriously injured. It took the police about ten minutes to reach them with their trucks so they could transport the pokemon to the Mt. Moon Pokemon Center for a check up before they could be released back into the wild. Ash was checking the pokemon anger boiled deep in his stomach, none of the pokemon were severely hurt but they had definitely sustained injuries from traps on over powered attacks. One pokemon in particular had gotten his attention, it was a Sandshrew that appeared to have only hatched a few days prior.
They helped the officers load the cages gently into the trucks and took Officer Jenny's offer to accompany them to the center. Ash especially wanted to go with them because the young Sandshrew was very nervous and was feverishly attacking the cage in an attempt to escape. Ash placed the cage on his lap letting his aura flow unseen by anyone to help calm the ground type. They reached the Pokemon Center quickly and began to help examine and treat the pokemon, once Nurse Joy or Chansey gave a clean bill of health they would release the pokemon and move to the next one. Nurse Joy had moved onto Sandshrew, she opened the cage door but immediately shut when it swiped her hand with a Scratch attack. She let out a yelp which alerted Ash, he quickly made his way to them to make sure everything was ok.
"Nurse Joy are you alright?"
"Yes, he only manged to graze my hand. I might have to sedate him, which I don't want to do, it might traumatize him further." she said with a small amount of sadness in her voice.
"Let me try and calm him down." Ash knelt so he was level with the cage, making eye contact with Sandshrew, he slowly opened the cage door. Talking in a soft gentle voice, he reached in and lightly stroked the mouse pokemon's head. "Its ok little one, you've been through a lot, I know you're really scared right now. The lady behind me is Nurse Joy, she is very nice and just wants to make sure you're ok, before we let you go and find your family. Can I hold you so she can look at you?" Sandshrew stared at Ash for a moment then at Nurse Joy the back to Ash. SlowSlowly he walked to cage door and allowed Ash to pick him up. May was standing a few tables down watching everything happen and couldn't help but smile at how Ash could handle any pokemon and earn their trust, Well except for when Charizard evolved" May thought with a giggle.
Once they had finished examining Sandshrew, Nurse Joy said he was in good health and could be released. Ash carried him around to the back of the center, gently placing the young ground type down he said, "Ok little guy, you're free to go and find your family I'm sure they've been looking for you."
Sandshrew looked at Ash with his head slightly tilted, "Sand sand shrew." he said.
Ash tried to understand what Sandshrew had said but couldn't quite grasp it, Lucario came over to translate for him, "He says that he doesn't have a family, he hatched at the cage area."
"San sand sand sandshrew." he said.
"He says that you seem really nice and that he'd like to be apart your family."
Ash looked at the young pokemon with surprise, "Are you sure you want to come with me and not be free?" Sandshrew looked at Ash and gave a nodded and walked over to him and jumped into his arms. Ash chuckled, "Well then, welcome to the family, but first I need to send someone back to the lab so I can catch you, ok." With that Ash carried Sandshrew back into the Pokemon Center with Lucario by his side. When they got inside, they seen that all the pokemon had been released.
"Ash, there you are. Is something wrong with Sandshrew?" May asked.
"No, he's just fine, although he asked to become part of the family since he doesn't know his."
May smiled and said, "Welcome to the family little cutie." She gently reached out to stroke his head but he flinched slightly.
"It's ok, May is part of our family too. She's one the most important parts of it." May had to fight a blush back hearing Ash say that. Sandshrew looked into May's eyes and slowly pushed his head into her hand as she lightly petted him. Ash smiled seeing Sandshrew warm up to May so quickly. He made his way to the computer and called his mom and checked in, but he left out a lot of the stuff about the poacher so she wouldn't worry. After saying goodbye, he called Professor Oak to exchange his team for the journey through Mt. Moon and so he could catch Sandshrew. He sent Espeon, Growlithe, Combusken, Dragonair and Noctowl back and asked for Aerodactyl, Meowth, Samurott, and Noivern. May decided to swap her team as well, she sent Froslass, Ninetales, Altaria, and Minncino back and received Sewaddle (she wanted to train the bug type a little more), Sawsbuck, Venusaur, and Florges.
While May was changing her team and calling her parents Ash pulled out a poké ball and asked, "You're sure you want to come with me Sandshrew? It'll he hard work to train with me but it pays off sooner than you think."
"Sandshrew shrew." he said as he punched the center of the ball, the red beam pulled him in and the ball instantly dinged singling he was captured.
Ash chuckled, "I think he'll fit right in don't you Pi?"
"Pi pika cha." Pikachu said with a smile.
"Ready to go Ash?" May asked as she walked up behind the pair.
"Yep, on to Mt. Moon and the next adventure." Ash said with a grin. They bid farewell to Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy, Ash promised both of them he'd take great care of Sandshrew. They walked the short distance down the path, until the reached the cave entrance. Ash subconsciously reached out and took May's hand as they entered the darkness of the cave. Feeling his finger snake in between hers, her heart sped up and she was thankful for the darkness to hide her blush.
Together hand in hand with, Pikachu and Glaceon out front and Lucario and Meowth by Ash's side the made there way down the path, excited for the next adventure.
I know a lot of stories have Ash get a Sandshrew around Mt. Moon and for some reason I like the match up. Thanks for reading and leave a review and let me know what you guys think. Until next time.
Ash's pokemon: Pikachu, Lucario, Meowth, Sceptile, Sandshrew, Samurott, Noivern, and Areodactyl
May's pokemon: Blaziken, Glaceon, Sewaddle, Venusaur, Sawsbuck, Florges, Wartortle, and Swanna
