A raven haired 16-year-old leaned against the ships railing, a yellow mouse like pokemon standing on his shoulder. Both silent as they watched the dock slowly get closer and closer, their eyes searching for a certain brunette that he had not seen since the Wallace cup.
"What do you think Pikachu? Will she be here in time?" Ash asked the pokemon. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder onto the railing, turning to face Ash as he looked away from the port to look at his starter.
"Pika pikachu" replied the pokemon, gesturing that May would be there no matter what.
"I guess you're right. Worst comes to worst, we will just spend a night or two at the pokemon centre till she gets here. I just cannot wait to see her it's been too long since we've seen each other properly. It's hard to have a serious relationship over the phone." Ash said, looking back towards the port, once again searching for a brunette in a green bandanna. "At least this time we don't have to hide our relationship from anyone with no Brock or anyone else traveling with us." Ash pushed himself off the railing and turned towards the ship. "Come on Pikachu, let's go get our stuff, we're nearly at the port." He said as he started to walk along the ship. Pikachu jumped off the railing, running after Ash.
Ash entered his room with Pikachu just behind him. Looking around his room, he grabbed his backpack and his other belongings. He searched his backpack, pulling out a photo of him and May. Ash smiled at the photo remembering when they had taken the photo.
"Pika pika?" asked Pikachu, confused by the photo.
"This was taken after we beat Brandon at the battle pyramid. You were still resting at the pokemon centre and May thought it was a good idea for us to sneak off together for one last date before she went off to Johto and I went to Sinnoh" Ash said, remembering the date, how they went out to dinner and then went on a walk where a photographer saw them, taking a photo of them walking hand in hand looking into each other's eyes with love. Pikachu then looked at the photo of them, noticing how happy they were in each other's company. Ash put the photo back into his backpack and gave the room a once over, making sure he hadn't left anything behind, put the backpack on and left the room.
He once again walked out onto the deck on the ship, more people had appeared on the deck hoping to miss the queues to get off the ship. Ash moved towards the crowd, hoping it wouldn't take too long to get off the ship. Once Ash joined the queue, he again leaned against the railing looking towards the dock.
"This is your captain speaking, we are 5 minutes away from arriving please collect your belongings and queue in an orderly fashion until we arrive." Announced the tannoy. Ash glanced around him, seeing a few people leave the deck to get their belongings. He turned back to the port with Pikachu jumping onto the railing. Ash reached towards Pikachu, scratching him between his ears earning Ash a coo from Pikachu. In the corner on Ashs eye, he saw a flash of green moving down the port.
"Pika pika!" exclaimed Pikachu bouncing up and down, pointing towards the port. Ash smiled as he looked closer at the green flash, seeing a beautiful brunette under a green bandanna and started waving at her.
"Hi May!" yelled Ash, catching her attention. She looked towards the ship about to dock and waved back, a big smile appearing on her face as she saw her boyfriend. The ship finally docked, and passengers started to disembark. Ash headed down the ramp onto the dock, looking towards the princess of Hoenn. He made his way through the crowd, focusing on the green bandanna and the hand waving above everyone's heads towards him. He finally forced his way through the crowd around the ramp and was greeted by a tight hug by May.
"How have you been?" asked Ash as he hugged her back. Pikachu jumping off Ashs shoulder to avoid getting knocked off by May.
"Good thank you. Missed you though. I can't believe it's been so long" replied May "How are you?"
"I'm great thank you. I'm so proud of you for reaching the finals of the grand festival and for beating that dick Drew"
"Thank you" giggled May "you don't need to be jealous of Drew, you know that."
"I'm not, I know you're smarter then to do anything with Drew. I just don't like him because of his personality and face" Ash replied, smiling at May as she rolled her eyes at him. They let go of each other and started to make their way off the docks. They interlocked their hands as they made their way up the dock, happy to be together again.
"Congrats again on making it to the semi-final at the Lily of the Valley Conference, I can't believe you not only beat Paul but two legendary pokemon as well! You were definitely the best trainer there. Tobias only won due to him having legendries and you were better than who Tobias faced in the final."
"Thanks May. Hopefully, next time I enter a league, I'll be holding the trophy with you next to me when I enter the next league"
"Just got to make sure that my Grand Festival isn't the same time as your league this time"
They made their way off the dock and towards the pokemon centre as the streetlamps slowly came on as they walked. They saw the pokemon centre at the end of the street and walked slowly towards it happy to be with each other in person finally. They entered the centre into a large room with a reception desk with a woman with pink hair and wearing a nurse uniform.
"Welcome to the pokemon centre. How may I help you?" asked nurse Joy, looking up from her desk at Ash and May, smiling as she saw them holding hands.
"Could we please get a room for one night?" asked Ash "and could you direct us towards the cafeteria as well?"
"Could you take a look at my pokemon as well please?" Said May. "Don't you want to give her your pokemon Ash?"
"Only got Pikachu on me at the moment, sent the rest to Professor Oak before I left Sinnoh."
"Of course, please put your pokeballs in the tray. Our cafeteria is too your right and here is your room key"
May placed her pokeballs into a tray then Ash and May turned to the right and wondered into the cafeteria. They looked around as they entered, it was mostly empty with one or two groups of trainers having a late dinner. they grabbed a tray each and filled up their plates with porkchops, mashed potatoes and vegetables and sat down in the corner, away from the other trainers. Pikachu jumped on to the table and sat happily lapping up ketchup from the bottle that was on the table.
"How is Max doing?" Ash asked as he tucked into his dinner.
"Good thanks, it's his tenth birthday next month so he'll be starting his journey soon."
"That's amazing.I can't believe he's nearly ten already. What pokemon do you think he'll choose as his starter?"
"After seeing you and Sceptile, he'll definitely pick Treecko." Ash smiled to himself after hearing that. He looked up at his girlfriend, staring into her sapphire eyes as May met his gaze. They looked into each other's eyes as they slowly ate their dinner.
"Do you think? I think he will pick a Torchic after being around you and Blaziken. He looks up to you and can see how powerful your pokemon are. I'm guessing he'll start his journey in Hoenn?"
"Yeah , he's going to head to Littleroot Town to get a pokemon from Professor Birch then make his way through Hoenn."
"I look forward to seeing how he does against his Dad; he was a hard fight."
"I know, I'm looking forward to it as well. I hope he finds good friends to travel with like I did."
"Are you not going to travel with him?"
"No, I think it's best if he goes out on his own at the start, find his own friends and rivals and all that" They finished their dinner and went up for desert, Ash grabbing a slice of cake and May grabbing a slice of apple pie and then both sitting back at their table, Pikachu still sitting in the centre happily lapping up ketchup.
"How far do you think he'll make it in his first league?"
"I'm not sure, I think he'll get through to the preliminaries and maybe get through to the final rounds, but I doubt he'll make it to the quarter finals or anything" May said as she finished her apple pie and looked up at Ash, smiling as she watched him make a mess of eating his cake.
"I made it to the top sixteen in my first league. You never know, he might become a coordinator." Ash joked and smiled with cake covering his face.
"I could face him in the next grand festival then, show him who's best." laughed May, grabbing a napkin, passing it to Ash.
"That would be the day." Laughed Ash as he wiped his face and smiled at May.
"Pikachu" exclaimed Pikachu, putting down a now empty bottle of ketchup and laying down on the table, full and a big smile on his face as he slowly fell asleep. They looked at the sleeping pokemon and laughed.
"I think that's our cue to go to bed. We've got a boat to catch tomorrow and I want a good night's rest first" Ash stated, picking up Pikachu and grabbing his tray. They left the cafeteria and headed up to their room.
The next morning, Ash and May made their way into the cafeteria, seeing it nearly full with trainers. They grabbed a tray each, Ash picking up bacon, fried eggs, and toast while May grabbed a bowl of oatmeal. They both got a glass of orange juice and Ash grabbed a bowl of poke food. They sat down at one of the last free tables, placing all the food on the table and moving the ketchup to a different table. Pikachu glared at the pair as he slowly tucked into his food.
They ate breakfast in silence, enjoying each other's company as they ate. They finished when finally, Ash spoke
"So, tell me what's your plan now, what region do you think you'll go to next?"
"I'm not sure yet, probably will go to Sinnoh next. It's the only region I haven't been to yet, but I haven't decided yet. What about you? What's your plan now?" Replied May.
"I think it's time I took a step back from pokemon leagues. I want to focus on just training my pokemon, getting them stronger and building up my team. I think I'll just travel around the regions for the foreseeable future and then I'll enter another league eventually."
"That's a great idea, you could travel with me if you'd like. It would be like old times."
"I think that I want to stay out of Sinnoh for now, but I'll definitely come visit you and travel with you at some point." Ash smiled "we've got a bit of time before we need to make a decision. Let's get to Pallet town first." Ash said, slowly stroking Pikachu as he spoke. "Thank you again for coming to the party, she always does this after I'm in a league."
"You don't need to thank me; it'll be nice to see everyone again. Who will be there do you know?"
"Misty, Brock, Tracey and Gary will be. I invited Max and Dawn but I'm not sure if they'll be there or not. We'll just have to wait and see… As we're on the subject of everyone, I want to tell everyone about our relationship, I think it's time May." Ash said.
"I don't know Ash, we've kept it secret for so long that I don't know how everyone will take it, they won't be happy that we didn't let them know sooner."
"They'll be happy that we're together. We've been together for a year now, we have to tell them at some point. Brock already suspects something is up between us, I think he noticed us vanishing during the Wallace cup. I think this will be a great time to tell them."
"I'm not sure Ash, if you tell them, Max will find out and then my parents will, and my Dad won't be happy. I just think we should wait a bit longer."
"Do you want to tell your parents in person, will that make it easier for you?"
"Yeah it will but still, my Dad will not be happy to find out I'm dating."
"And that's why you're telling him, and I'll be hiding behind you." Ash laughed.
"Okay fine, we can let people know we're together, but we need to make it clear that they're not to tell anyone till we first tell my parents." Said May. They then left the cafeteria and went up to their room, grabbing their bags and checked out of the pokemon centre. They walked slowly towards the port, ready to get on the ship to Kanto.
They arrived in Kanto the next day and spent the next week walking towards Pallet Town. They finally made it onto route 1 late at night, they lit a campfire and went to sleep. High above them, unnoticed by either of them was a hot air balloon in the shape of a meowth, following them.
"There's the twerp, we can finally grab his Pikachu." Said a redheaded woman, her hair pointing sharply to the left of her head, reaching around two feet.
"Let's do this." Said a blue haired man, standing next to her. They were both wearing white trousers and a black long sleeved shirt under a white shirt with a big red R on the chest. "Let's land next to that abandoned building, it'll be a good hiding spot after we steal Pikachu."
"Agreed." Said Meowth. They landed behind the abandoned building, hiding the hot air balloon inside. "That is an awful smell!" Said the cat pokemon. "It smells like a sewer in here"
"Must be why they abandoned these buildings. We'll be fine for the time being." Said Jessie, leaving the building and looking up at the moon. "So Meowth, what's the plan?"
"We're going to do things simply this time, we'll wait an hour till the twerp is definitely asleep, then we'll sneak up on them and quickly steal Pikachu and put him in the cage, then we get back here, make sure we weren't followed then we fly away."
"Simple, I like it." Said James. They waited an hour before they slowly made their way towards Ash and May. They entered the camp, seeing a tent set up 15 feet away from a dying fire, only embers coming off the logs. James slowly unzipped the tent with Jessie right behind him, holding up the cage, ready for Pikachu. James slowly entered the tent, carefully making his way towards Pikachu. He saw that the Twerp lying in his sleeping bag, his arm wrapped around the Twerpette, with a sleeping Pikachu on his chest. Jessie moved the cage to the opening of the tent, giving James the best shot of throwing Pikachu in. James moved slowly closer then very quickly picked Pikachu up and threw him into the cage that Jessie then pulled out of the tent and slammed the cage shut.
"Pika." Said a sleepy Pikachu, opening his eyes as he hit the cages floor. "Pikachu! Pikapi pika!" yelled Pikachu. James then run out of the tent with Jessie and Meowth into the forest.
"Pikachu!" Yelled Ash as he was woken up by Pikachus scream. May sat up quickly, looking around at Ash as he wriggled out of his sleeping bag. "Come on May, Team Rocket has stolen Pikachu. We need to get after them!" Ash then ran after Team Rocket with May just behind him. They followed Team Rocket into the forest but quickly lost them in the darkness of the night. "Damnit, we lost them!" yelled Ash, kicking a root.
"It's alright Ash, we'll get Pikachu back don't worry. I have a plan on how to find him." Said May, grabbing a pokeball and released Glaceon. "Glaceon, we need to find Pikachu, can you find his scent?" Asked May. The ice pokemon lowered her head and smelt the ground, going in circles till she picked up the scent. Glaceon then started to run, following the scent, followed by Ash and May. Glaceon lead them to an abandoned building. Glaceon then pointed towards the building. "Great work, Glaceon." Said May as she reached for another pokeball. "Blaziken, come on out!" She yelled as she threw a pokeball into the air.
They entered the building and immediately was greeted by a awful spell. "Smells like a Muk in here!" exclaimed Ash. "Pikachu had better be in here." They made their way through the building, searching every room they came across. "Pikachu! Are you here?!" Yelled Ash, into the building, hoping that Pikachu will hear him.
"Pikapi!" echoed back through the building. Ash and May looked at each other then made their way down the hallway.
"Blaziken take the lead" directed May. They made their way down the hallway where they ran into Team Rocket with Seviper and Carnivine already released.
"Blaziken use skyupper cut on Seviper and Glaceon use tackle on Carnivine!" Commanded May. The pokemon closed in and bent his knees, pulling back his elbow then swung his fist upward, straightening his legs as he did. Blazikens fist began to glow and connected with the snake's head, causing it to fly backwards. Glaceon sprinted towards Carnivine, slaming her body full force into the green pokemon. Team Rocket looked at the pair angrily.
"Seviper use bite!" Yelled Jessie.
"Carnivine use vine whip!" Yelled James. The snake pokemon slithered towards Blaziken opening its mouth while Carnivine released two vines that reached out towards Glaceon. As the pokemon fought and everyone was distracted, Ash silently made his way around the room towards Pikachu's cage.
"Not so fast Twerp!" yelled Meowth, jumping on top of the cage, claws glowing as he used fury swipes. Ash stepped back to avoid the first swing, ducking to avoid the second.
"Blaziken, use quick attack on Meowth!" yelled May, as Blakien then disappeard in the blink of an eye and appeared next to Meowth, smashing into Meowth. Ash used the opportunity to get to the cage. He opened the cage, allowing Pikachu out.
"Pikapi! Pikachu." Yelled Pikachu as he was released. Jumping out of the cage, his cheeks sparking.
"Let's get out of here!" Yelled Ash as he and Pikachu made their way to May.
"Blaziken, use flamethrower on Carnivine!" Yelled May, as her pokemon unleashed a torrent of flames that hit Carnivine, flinging it into the wall where it cracked under the force. A hissing then appeared through out the room. A pipe had snapped in the wall, releasing gas.
Blakizen, finishing his flamethrower attack, did not hear the hissing, unable to end the attack quick enough. The gas escaping interacted with the flamethrower, causing it to ignite. A flame then was created by the gas creating a flamethrower out of the wall. Everyone in the room turned to look at the flame coming out of the wall.
"Blaziken, Glaceon return now!" May said, holding two pokeballs. The pokemon were covered in a red glow then returned to their pokeballs. Both Jessie and James followed suit and returned their pokemon as well. "We need to leave now!" Yelled May. The floor began to rumble as the flame made its way into the wall as the hissing stopped. Everyone ran out of the room and into the hallway. The walls started to rattle as the pipes inside them shook violently. Team Rocket and the pair ran through the hallway and towards the exit as floor shook beneath them. They had made it outside as a "BOOM!" was heard as the forest was lit up by light as they all ran away from the building. They turned and were meet by an explosion as the building went up in flames. Shrapnel was thrown out by the explosion, Ash leaping in front of May as building first went up.
Ash gasped suddenly, his shoulder suddenly started to hurt, his left arm completely numb and then he felt a pressure in his gut as the light died down. The explosion finally finished, all that was left was a burning building. May looked up from the ground, seeing a short piece of metal covered in a shiny red liquid coming out of her boyfriends' shoulder. Ash turned towards her and she saw a foot of pipe sticking out of his shoulder and some metal sticking out of his stomach, his clothes soaking wet, covered in blood, his left arm hanging off him. Ash collapsed onto his back as May moved towards him.
"M-May." Stutter Ash.
"I'm here Ash, you're going to be okay. I promise, just hold on!" May yelled, holding Ash.
"May" He said, bringing up his right hand and placing it on her cheek. "You really are beautiful."
"It's going to be alright, Ash. You're going to be fine." May said, crying as she looked into Ash's eye, she moved the hair out of his eyes as he looked up at her. Ash then moved his hand off her face and down his body. He then held out his hand for May, she grabbed it and felt a small sphere in his hand.
"Take care of Pikachu for me." Ash said, releasing her hand. May looked down at her hand and saw a pokeball with a small lightning bolt above the white button. A crackling noise began in front of May, she looked up to see that the forest had caught fire and was making its way towards her. "You need to go, May" coughed Ash, spitting up blood as he spoke. "Now! Go!" Ash yelled. Still, May didn't budge, looking from the fire to Ash in her hands.
"Pikapi, pikachu pi pika pikachu!" said Pikachu, crying next to May.
"Pikachu get May out of here please. I love you both so much" Ash said smiling through the blood at his starter and girlfriend. "Now go!" He roared with the last of his strength, as he saw the fire getting closer to him.
"Pikachu, pika pika!" yelled Pikachu, pushing May away from the fire.
"I'm so sorry Ash! If you hadn't stepped in front of me, you'd be fine"
"No May, you haven't done anything wrong, don't blame yourself." May slowly stood up looking from Ash to Pikachu, pushing her away from the fire as it got closer and closer. She looked once more at Ash, crying as she did.
"I love you Ash so much" She said as the fire closed in on Ash. She grabbed pikachu and ran away.
"You too May." He got out watching May run away, feeling the flames start to lick his feet. May ran, not stopping till she made it to the path on route one. She stopped, falling to her knees and started crying. She dropped Pikachu and brought her hands to her face, crying into her hands.
"I can't believe he's … he's…" she couldn't finish the sentence as she sobbed. Pikachu moved next to her, placing a hand on her arm as she sobbed, the fire growing larger behind her. She knew she had to keep moving before the fire catches up to her. "Come on Pikachu, we need to keep moving." She sobbed, standing up and stumbling down the path, Pikachu following her, crying as they walked. She could hear sirens in the distance, coming to take care of the fire.
May continued to walk down route one, tears rolling down her eyes, Pikachu walking next to her, weeping at the loss of his trainer. 'I can't believe he's actually gone' thought May as she walked, her tears slowly stopping as the Sun began to come up. 'I promise I will look after Pikachu.' She thought as she looked at the pokeball in her hand. "Pikachu" She said, causing the pokemon to look up at her. "Ash gave me this." She said holding up the pokeball. "I promise to both you and him that I'll look after you, if that's okay with you?"
"Pikachu pi" said the pokemon, slowly nodding at the brunette.
"Thank you." She said, glad to hear that she could keep her last promise to Ash. They continued to walk to Pallet Town. The tears stopping for both till they saw the sign for Ashs hometown. They both began to weep again when they saw it. They slowly walked into Pallet Town, making their way to Ash's house. They arrived at Ash's house with the Sun directly above their heads. May knocked on the door, trying to stop herself from crying. An older woman opened the door, smiling as she opened the door.
"Ash!" Delia said as she opened the door, expecting to see her son and his friend but only saw a crying brunette and a sobbing Pikachu. "What's wrong May?" She asked, leaving the doorway to comfort May. "Where is Ash?!" She asked, getting worried as to the whereabouts to her son.
"H-he's… he's…" stuttered May, unable to say or believe what has happened to Ash. May then latched onto Delia, crying in her arms. Delia led her into the house, where she was greeted by a group of people. Brock stood up upon seeing May being led in by Delia, her eye's blood shot.
"What's happened May?" Brock asked. "Where's Ash? I thought you two were coming together"
"Knowing Ash, he's off looking for a rare pokemon" Misty said, smiling at the thought of her friend, then she saw that Pikachu was with May, and that May's eyes were bloodshot. "Where's Ash?!"
Everyone was silent, staring at May and Pikachu, waiting for her to say Ash is fine, just out looking for pokemon.
"He's… he's dead" May finally said. Everyone looked at her, shocked at what they heard. Delia's knees began to shake, unable to support her weight and she sank to the floor, unable to process what she heard. Professor Oak got up and started to comfort her as she cried into his shirt.
"What do you mean?! How is that possible?!" bawled Misty, tears in her eyes as she looked at May.
"Team Rocket stole Pikachu from A-Ash while he slept, and we followed them into an abandoned building. We fought and caused the building to blow up. Ash put himself in front of me and he… he…" She started to weep again. Brock went to her and pulled her into a hug. She cried into his shirt for five minutes. May pulled away from Brocks chest and looked at the room. "He put himself in front of me and he was impaled by shrapnel from the explosion. He died in my arms as the flames from the explosions got closer." May finished, looking around the room, everyone was now crying, unable to hold back their tears as heard what happened to Ash.
The next day, Officer Jenny knocked on the door to the Ketchum residence and was greeted by an old man wearing a lab coat. A pair of backpacks in her hand.
"Professor Oak, may I come in?" The officer asked, seeing how blood shot the professors eyes were. Her officers had already been at the house to get statements about what had happened on route one. Professor Oak did not say anything, just moved backwards, out of the way of the doorway. Officer Jenny then entered the home, walking into the living room, full of people, their eyes bloodshot like they had been up all-night crying. She noticed however that there were two people much worse than everyone else. An older woman and a young brunette, sitting next to each other with the brunette having a Pikachu on her lap.
Officer Jenny sat down and placed the backpacks in front of her. "I'm here today to tell you what happened on route one two nights ago." Everyone looked up at her as she removed her hat and sat down in front of them. "The building that blew up was originally abandoned due to a gas leak in the vents. The owners made complaints of their building smelling like a sewer. This is due to a gas called methane being leaked. They were supposed to have the gas leak fixed, but never did. So, when you fought with Team Rocket and broke the pipe, it caused methane to spill out that was ignited that then slowly made its way down the pipes that then reached a large container under the building. The amount of gas in this space caused the explosion."
"Have you found Ash's body yet?" Asked Gary.
"No. No body has been found and we have completely searched the area. His body must have been burnt up in the fire. We were able to find these backpacks, however. I'm sorry there isn't more we can do."
"Thank you, Officer Jenny." Said Delia. The police officer stood up, putting her hat back on.
"If we find anything else, we'll let you know" Officer Jenny said as she slowly started to walk out of the room. The group watched as she left, all of them unable to accept the fact that Ash was really gone. May followed her out of the room.
"Thank you officer for coming" May said, Officer Jenny nodded at her as she walked out of the house. May closed the front door behind her and turned around to face Brock.
"I wanted to ask you something, privately." Said Brock, gesturing towards the kitchen. May lead the way, with Brock following. They entered the kitchen and May leaned against the counter while Brock stood in the centre of the room.
"What's up?" Asked May, her eyes staring down at the floor.
"I wanted to ask you if you and Ash were a couple?" May looked up at Brock, before slowly nodding at him. "I thought so, was it serious?"
"Yeah, we loved each other and were planning on telling everyone at the party."
"You should tell Delia that. I think it would make her feel better to know he died in the arms of the woman he loved." May slowly nodded again.
"I know, I just need to find a good time to tell her."
"I don't think you will find a good time, you will just have to tell her." Said Brock, turning to leave. "I'm sorry May, I know it won't be fun to tell her, but it will help her." He said as he left the kitchen leaving May to her thoughts.
May entered the living room to see that Ash's backpack had moved in front of Delia but hadn't been opened. Delia crying as she stood up, passing May to leave the room and upstairs to her room, where they heard a door slam.
"What happened?" Asked May.
"She couldn't open his backpack, she just broke down as she reached for zip." Replied Gary.
"I'll go talk to her." Said Professor Oak, Tracy helping him stand up and slowly made his way towards the door.
"No, I'll go. Please." May said, standing in the doorway. Professor Oak looked towards May, surprise in his eyes as he gave her a short nod and went back to sit down. May left the room and went upstairs, slowly getting closer to the sounds of sobbing. May could hear something small running up behind and saw a yellow pokemon run past her leg and up to Delia's bedroom door. He stopped and turned to look at May, waiting for her to open the door. May made it to the door and slowly opened it, gently knocking on the door as she entered. Pikachu ran into the room and jumped on the bed, going up to Delia to comfort her. May looked into the room to see a crying woman lying on her bed, her back facing May.
"I know I shouldn't break down, I just couldn't help it. Seeing his backpack, it … it was too much." Delia sobbed, pulling something in her arms closer to her chest.
"Pikachu, pika pika. Pika pikapi." Said the pokemon, putting his paw on Delia's shoulder. May sat on the end of the bed, looking at Delia, seeing that she was hugging a photo.
May took a deep breath.
"I wanted to tell you that… that" May couldn't finish the sentence, she started to cry as she looked down at her knees, trying to gain control of her emotions.
"I know that you too were a couple. Ash was always awful at hiding things from me." Delia said, sitting up from the bed, next to May.
"How did you know?" Said May, looking at the older woman through tears.
"Whenever he spoke about his adventures and his friends, he would always have the biggest smile when he spoke about you and your name came up the most during his stories." Delia said, a small smile crept onto her face as she remembered her son telling stories at the table while they ate. She then showed May the photo she had in her arms.
May took the photo and saw a young Ash playing with pokemon. She smiled at the photo.
"Ash always loved pokemon, from when he could walk, he always wanted to be around pokemon, always trying to go out and see them or go to Professor Oaks raunch. He never stopped."
"He was the same when we travelled together. A lot of our dates were us camping out so he could try to find and capture pokemon." May chuckled as she remembered, hearing Delia give a small laugh as well. They looked at each other and smiled.
"We should go back downstairs. I need to go through his bag." May got up and slowly started to walk out of the room as Delia put the photo back on her dresser. "Thank you, May. It helps to know you were with him at the end."
They entered the living room again, everyone became silent, looking at them. Delia sat down in front of the backpack, determined to open it. May then sat next to her, watching as Delia slowly opened the backpack and pull out the first thing she felt, a framed photo.
"Pikapi pikachu." Said Pikachu pointing at the photo then to May. Delia looked at it.
"I think this is for you May." Said Delia, passing the photo to her. May looked confused as she took the photo and looked at it, a smile appeared on her face, but also tears. A photo of her and Ash stared back at May.
"What is it May?" Asked Brock. May turned it over, showing everyone a photo of Ash and May holding hands, looking into each other's eyes, smiling. Everyone looked at the photo surprised, it looked like they were a real couple.
"Something you want to tell us May? It looks like you two are a couple in that photo." Asked Misty, amazed to see what appeared to be Ash in a real relationship.
"We were a couple for a year and a half. This photo was taken the same day as Ash said he loved me for the first time." May said. Pikachu jumped from the sofa onto the coffee table in the centre of the room, looking at the photo of his former master, his vision becoming blurry from tears.
Ash's eyes slowly opened, seeing nothing but white. There were no features around him as he got up, he was surrounded by pure whiteness. Ash looked down, seeing his clothes were in pieces, hanging off him, there was no metal sticking out of him, his left arm was put back together. In place of the metal, his body was covered in scars, his arm the worst of it. He moved his arm, no pain, no problem with it, it was just covered in scars. Same with his shoulder and stomach.
"Hello!" yelled Ash into the void. No echo or any other sounds. Ash began to walk, looking for anything that would tell him where he was.
"Hello Ash." Said a booming voice. Ash looked around, seeing no one
"Where are you?!" Ash said, spinning on the spot.
"Here." Replied the voice. Ash turned again and saw a large pokemon in front of him, a large white four-legged pokemon, resembling a centaur with a golden cross-like wheel coming out of his abdomen.
"Arceus." Said Ash, shocked to see the God of pokemon in front of him. "Did you bring me here?"
"Yes, I did. I also healed your wounds. You really destroyed your body, I am unable to remove your scars due to the damage you took and that I will not be able to save you again if you are badly injured. If your body cannot heal itself, you will die."
"Thank you Arceus, but why did you save me?" Ash asked.
"I believe the world owed you this. You have not only helped the me and other Legendries but helped all the pokemon you have encountered on your journey. You died protecting the one you love." Arceus said, looking at the young man in front of him.
Ash nodded as he listened to Arceus. Amazed that his deeds through out his life had been noticed by the God of pokemon.
"What happened to May? The girl I was with?" Ash asked, concern in his voice.
"She is fine, physically. She is however emotionally devastated. She believes you are dead and has told your friends and family."
"The sooner I get back, the sooner I can help her and everyone else." Ash said, looking down, sad to hear that May thought he was dead.
"Before I send you back, I must ask a favour of you." Ash tilted his head up again, looking into Arceus' eyes. "My world is sick, Ash. People have upset the balance of nature. They are terrorising not only pokemon but humans as well. Team Rocket has expanded into all the regions after you helped to stop Team Magma, Team Aqua and Team Galactic. I need your help to stop Team Rocket once and for all."
"Of course I will help." Ash said, without a second thought. "I'm sure my friends will help me too with stopping Team Rocket."
"Ash, if you help me, you should not return to your friends until you have completed your task. The world believes you to be dead, you must use this to your advantage. If you go back to your friends and then try to stop Team Rocket, they will use those closest to you to stop or hurt you. If you remain dead to the world, your friends will be safe from Team Rocket." Ash just looked at Arceus, trying to process what had just be said.
"Why can't you just stop them?" Asked Ash.
"I cannot directly interfere with the world in such a large way. I am still believed to be a myth by most of the world, if I stop them, both people and pokemon would become dependant on me to solve their problems. That is not the world I wanted when I created it. Instead, I must help indirectly, so people learn to help themselves. That is why I ask you to do this and I will help you however I can."
Ash turned away from Arceus, his mind racing as he processed everything. He brought up his hand to his chest, grabbing his necklace and pulled it off him. He opened his hand to look at half a ribbon. He turned back to Arceus, tears in his eyes as he made his decision.
"I'll help you Arceus." He said.