Pathway to Petalburg
May awoke the following morning to another incredible scent. She looked over to see Ash finishing cooking breakfast; so, she got up and walked over to him, "Morning Ash!"
"Mornin' May," he made her and all the pokemon a bowl of eggs, rice, and berries before making his own. "Did you sleep well?"
"I did," she smiled before she began to kill her food, "How about you?" She noticed Ash chuckle as he ate his meal, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing, just remembering something," he realized he might've offended her, but he couldn't help it. Watching her eat made him realized that's how he must've looked while eating around other people on past journeys. "To answer your question, I slept alright."
"Just alright?" She asked as she grabbed another serving of food.
"Yeah," he took another bite, "I woke up a couple of times feeling uneasy, like something was watching us."
"Really?" She looked around the surrounding area, "Have you had your pokemon check the area?"
"Yeah, I had noctowl do a sweep one of the times I woke up and had everyone else check this morning," Ash took a drink of water, "I guess it was just my imagination."
"I guess so," May looked around a few more times nervously.
Once breakfast was finished, and Ash had packed up the campsite, the two plus raichu, mudkip, and torchic continued their way to Oldale Town. Ash was fine the whole trek there, but he noticed May was constantly looking over her shoulder. He decided to wait to talk about it with her until they made it to the Pokemon Center.
Around noon, Ash caught sight of a building with a red roof amongst a few other buildings, "There it is!"
May was brought out of her paranoia by Ash's exclamation, "That's great! Let's hurry!" She began running to the center with Ash, raichu, and mudkip tailing behind her.
As soon as they entered the Center, a pleasant voice greeted them, "Hello and welcome to the Pokemon Center."
Ash noticed the pink haired woman and walked up to her, "Hello Nurse Joy!"
She smiled at him, "What can I do for you young man?"
Ash motioned May to come to him, "Could you check my friend and I's pokemon?"
"Absolutely," she smiled and brought two trays for their pokeballs with torchic, mudkip, and raichu following behind.
As Nurse Joy went through the doorway, Ash and May walked over to one of the couches in the lobby. After a few minutes Ash broke the silence that settled between them, "Hey, is everything okay?"
May faked a look of confusion, "What do you mean Ash?"
Ash could see right through the ruse but decided to play along rather than call her out, "I mean, on our way here you seemed a little… off."
She looked around the virtually empty pokemon center, "Well, it's about what you said earlier. You said you felt like something was watching us."
"Yeah, I remember," he gave her a nod to continue.
"Well, I have heard reports of dangerous trainers in the region, and I thought that one of those trainers might have been following us." She spoke with a more hushed tone as she finished the sentence.
"Really? What dangerous trainers?" Ash gave May his complete attention. He had no idea of any criminal activity in the region, but it didn't surprise him too much.
She looked around the Center once more and noticed a news bulletin with the tagline mentioning the two Teams, "There, that might help!"
Ash followed her gaze and saw the tv where a well-dressed middle-aged man was standing in front of an area that looked charred and destroyed, "This is Chomsky reporting from the entrance to Meteor Falls, North of Route 115, where earlier today small groups from Teams Aqua and Magma battled it out. Most of the members involved in the fight were apprehended, but a couple managed to escape using the caves of Meteor Falls. In addition to the destruction of the area, a local fisherman was rushed to a local medical facility in critical condition." The screen then showed various individuals dressed in blue and red. The red individuals wore hooded cloaks and the blue individuals appeared to be dressing like pirates. "If you see any individuals dressed like these, local police urge you to leave the area and call your local emergency hotline. This is Chomsky signing off!"
As the channel went back to local news coverage, Ash soaked in the information. May looked over at him, "That's why I was paranoid the whole way over here."
"Understandably so," Ash closed his eyes, "People that can hurt others without any remorse are terrifying." He opened his eyes once more, "Thankfully, I have my pokemon and my pokemon have me. No criminal grunt is going to cause any harm to us, I can promise that."
May looked inspired by his confidence, "You really think so?"
"In my experience, people like that have little to no training and think they're strong because someone gave them a pokemon," Ash scoffed in disgust, "People that use pokemon as tools for evil don't deserve a companion."
This drew a silence among the two trainers for a couple of minutes before Nurse Joy's voice broke it, "Your pokemon are fit and back to full health."
"Thanks Nurse Joy," Ash's face went back to a comforting grin as he grabbed his pokeballs, mudkip jumped in his arms, and raichu curled up next to him. As soon as torchic jumped into May's arms, Nurse Joy headed back to the counter. "Well May, want to grab some food from the cafeteria here before we head the rest of the way to Petalburg?"
"That sounds wonderful!" May jumped up and speedily walked to the cafeteria with Ash, mudkip, and raichu attempting to catch up.
After the two finished their meals, Ash noticed a video phone, "Oh yeah! Hey May, I forgot I promised my pokemon I would switch up the team a little bit once I reached Oldale, is that alright with you?"
"Yeah Ash, that's fine!" May nodded and followed him to a video phone booth. After a couple of rings an older man in a lab coat appeared on the phone.
"Ah, Ash so good to see you!"
"Good to see you too professor," Ash said with a grin.
"What can I do for you my boy?" Oak shuffled a few papers into a folder before returning his attention back to Ash.
"I'm actually calling to change out a couple of pokemon," Ash pulled two pokeballs out of his jacket.
"Excellent, who would you like to switch them with?"
Ash thought about it for a moment, "Send me heracross and Quilava!"
"Can do! Just give me a couple of minutes," he got up from his chair and walked off screen.
"Hey Ash, who is that?" May's curiosity got the better of her no matter how hard she tried not to be nosy, but Ash didn't seem to mind.
"That's Professor Oak, he is the pokemon professor in my hometown."
"Wait, the Professor Oak? The one that had a radio show?" May sounded excited.
"Yeah?" Ash answered in more of a question due to May's question throwing him off a bit. He remembered the Professor had a radio show, but he never really listened to it.
"We used to listen to him all the time in Johto growing up!"
"You're from Johto?" Ash sat there confused, "I thought you said you were from Petalburg City here in Hoenn."
May nodded, "I do live in Petalburg City, but me and my family are originally from Olivine City in Johto."
"Oh okay, that makes a little more sense!"
Right as Ash replied, Oak appeared back on the screen, "Sorry that took a little longer than expected. It seems Quilava was in the middle of a game of hide and seek with some of the other pokemon."
"That's okay Professor! Can you do me a favor and tell charizard and primeape to continue to work on speed training when I send them?"
"Sure thing Ash! Go ahead and place them in the transfer tray!" Oak set his two pokeballs in his tray at the Lab and in a flash of light the other two pokeballs appeared before him.
"Thank you so much Professor!"
"Not a problem my boy!" Oak gave friendly grin and was about to end the call before Ash spoke up once more.
"Professor, can you tell mom that I'll call her when I reach Rustboro City? I would, but I need to get my new friend here to Petalburg," Ash motioned back to May.
"Absolutely! I'll be sure she gets the message!"
"Thanks Professor!" Ash waved goodbye before ending the call.
As the two trainers continued across Route 102 to Petalburg, Ash would occasionally stop to battle a younger trainer or collect information on new pokemon he saw. If someone else had been traveling with him they might've gotten annoyed with him stopping every few minutes, but May found his eagerness for battle and excitement for new pokemon oddly charming. She would catch herself staring and would quickly try to find something else to look at, but Ash piqued her interest for some reason.
After about a couple of hours of walking, the two stopped and took a break next to a pond with lotad and surskit playing in the water. May sat with her feet in the cool water playing with torchic, raichu, and totodile, "So, have you seen any new pokemon you want?"
Ash looked over at her while he played with mudkip in his arms and Quilava rested against his leg, "Plenty, but I'm trying to even out my team and be a bit more patient before capturing one. What about you?"
"Um, I don't really know. I'm still new to having a pokemon; so, I don't exactly know how to catch one," she grew an embarrassed look and avoided Ash's eyes.
He chuckled, "May, its nothing to be embarrassed about," he stopped to look around and heard the noise of a pokemon he had been studying up on in Pallet. "Here, come with me!" He held out his hand to help her up, "Totodile come with me! Raichu and Quilava watch mudkip for me, please." Totodile danced over to them and followed behind.
As they got closer the noise got louder and more obnoxious, "Ash, what is that noise?"
"Come here and I'll show you," he knelt and pulled out his Pokedex.
"Nincada, the Trainee Pokemon. Nincada lives most of its life inside the earth and uses its sharp claws to tap into roots extracting nutrients and moisture."
"I'll show you how to capture a pokemon real fast," he got up and totodile stepped out in front of him catching the attention of the bug pokemon. It began to swipe at the air toward totodile to attempt to scare him off. Ash smiled, "Alright, totodile use ice fang!" The water type leapt at the bug with blue fangs emanating cold air. Nincada tried to dodge to the side, but totodile caught its back leg and caused the leg to frost over a bit. The bug made multiple attempts to swipe at the big jaw pokemon, but it was slowed down enough to give the water type time to dodge. "Use water gun!" On nincada's last swipe attempt, totodile jumped back a bit and launched a stream of water knocking the bug against a tree. "Go Pokeball!" Ash threw a pokeball and watched the sphere twitch three times before making the noise confirming he caught it. He went over and grabbed the ball and put it in his jacket. "See? It isn't too hard. Just get the pokemon weakened and throw a ball at it!" Ash smiled and picked up totodile, "Thanks a lot buddy!" Totodile affectionately danced in Ash's arms before running back to the other pokemon at the pond.
"So, I just need to find a pokemon I want and go after it?"
"Basically, although that's just my method. I know trainers who catch just about every pokemon they encounter for a variety," Ash walked back and sat on the bank of the pond.
"Okay! Well thank you Ash!" She sat next to him and shot him a kind smile. "So, when would you like to continue our trek?"
Ash leaned back, "Here in a minute, I want to give my pokemon a chance to relax outside of their pokeballs, but I want to get nincada to the Pokemon Center in Petalburg too."
After Ash had returned everyone minus mudkip and raichu, the two trainers continued the trek to Petalburg. Ash continued to battle and train while trying to help May catch a pokemon. Eventually, she caught a wurmple after a taillow ran from her.
After about another couple of hours, May noticed the city coming up through the part in the tree line, "There it is!"
Ash looked to where she pointed and saw several small buildings filling the sides of the road further ahead leading to a few larger buildings in the distance, "Alright! Let's pick up the pace then!" Ash began to run forcing May to keep up.
Just as they neared the city, Ash heard someone yell out back in the tree line.
May caught up to Ash, who had stopped in his tracks, and looked to where Ash was looking, "Why did we stop Ash?"
"I thought I heard someone yell," he began to make his way toward the tree line when he heard it again, but this time a lot more clearly.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"
Without hesitation, he and raichu bolted through the trees with May playing catch up. They made it through and stopped just short of a clearing behind some bushes. Ash saw a tall figure and a skarmory standing over two smaller figures. One was a boy about eleven with tea green hair wearing a gray sweater, light khaki pants, and white shoes though his clothes are much dirtier than they probably were earlier. The other small figure was a ralts, one of the pokemon that Ash studied up on a lot back home.
As the taller figure walked closer to the two on the ground, the light from the sun began to show his features a little better. He had long, black hair slicked back and a black goatee. He had on a brown trench coat with a white button down on underneath, blue jeans, brown boots, and a brown leather eye patch over his right eye. With each step, the boy crawled away trying to stay between the man and the ralts, "Come on kid, you don't have enough training to compete with my skarmory. Let me have your ralts and I promise you won't be too severely maimed."
The man's evil smile was enough to give May the chills, but Ash continued to watch and glare at the man. Ash turned to May and whispered, "Go get the police. I'm staying here to make sure he doesn't get away."
She was surprised that Ash didn't sound the least bit nervous or scared but nodded and ran toward the city.
"Kid, I'm giving you a chance to save yourself some pain. Make the smart decision," he continued toward them with his skarmory walking around to the other side.
"N-no! I'm not giving up ralts! H-he's my friend and you can't have him!" The boy was doing his best to sound brave but the tears running down his face told another story.
The man sighed, "That's too bad, and I was going to let you go home alive too." He looked to his pokemon, "Skarmory take to the air!"
Skarmory began to rise in the air and circle his target. Ash quickly grabbed a ball from his jacket, "Quilava use flamethrower!" The volcano pokemon jumped out of the bushes and launch a stream of flames toward the bird.
"Skarmory dodge!" The armor bird pokemon banked to the left just missing the attack. "Who's out there?! Show yourself!" Ash walked out of the bushes without his bag, raichu, or mudkip. The man laughed, "A kid? Seriously?" He continued to laugh, "I don't know why you are trying to play hero, but you should move along before I decide to take your Quilava too."
"I'm not going anywhere; I won't stand by and let you take this kid's pokemon," Ash kept his focus on the evil man.
The man sighed once more, "Stupid kids today, you should learn when someone is letting you off the hook." He pulled another pokeball from his jacket, "Come on out Kangaskhan!" The normal type materialized before him.
Ash also grabbed a ball from his jacket, "Come help heracross!" The single horn pokemon appeared and began to size up his opponents.
"Oh good, you know type advantages," he slow clapped for Ash, "That won't help you here kid. Skarmory use air slash on the bug; Kangaskhan use fake out on the Quilava!"
"Heracross use double team and follow it up with brick break on the kangaskhan! Quilava dodge and use flamethrower once more!"
As skarmory launched the flying type attack, heracross split into multiple copies of himself effectively dodging the attack and began to head for the normal type.
Kangaskhan ran for the fire type with hands glowing orange. Quilava tried to jump out of the way, but the parent pokemon clapped its hands together and sent a shockwave toward the fire type pushing him back and stopping his attack. Unfortunately for the normal type, skarmory missed its target allowing heracross to blind side her with a strong brick break.
"Skarmory use steel wing to knock that bug away!" The bird shot toward heracross with glowing white wings and connected sending him back toward Ash. "Not bad kid, but I'm just getting started! Skarmory begin storing power! Kangaskhan use mega punch to keep them away!"
Skarmory's body began to glow a light orange signaling to Ash what was coming, "Quilava use flame wheel and stop skarmory! Heracross keep kangaskhan busy with megahorn!"
The bug/fighting type launch himself at the normal type with his horn glowing green. The parent pokemon launched a glowing white fist clashing hard with the powerful bug attack knocking it back a bit. She saw the quilava heading for skarmory but didn't have enough time to launch another mega punch; so, she dove in front of the attack instead. Quilava couldn't change course in time causing the attack to be delivered to the wrong opponent.
Skarmory cried out signaling it was done, "Here we go! Skarmory use sky attack!" The glowing bird launched out of the air and dove toward the single horn pokemon.
"Heracross look out!" Ash tried to get his pokemon out of the way, but he didn't react fast enough. He watched as the bird closed in on heracross as he tried to move out of the way.
As soon as skarmory got within a few yards of heracross, a white stream of flames shot out of the trees to the left connecting with the steel/flying type sending it to the ground. "Skarmory!" The armor bird pokemon tried to get up but couldn't muster the strength after such a powerful fire type attack. "Who else do you have out here with you kid?!"
Ash smirked, "That was most likely a police officer's growlithe! You are finished!"
The man returned his skarmory and started to back away, "Conniving little brat! I'll make you pay the next time I see you! Kangaskhan return!" The man then turned and began to run.
Ash was about to send heracross after the man but stopped when he saw the man halt in front of a houndoom. "A houndoom? I didn't know the police use them."
The dark/fire type surrounded itself in a dark aura and launched into the man knocking him on the ground and winding him.
"Ash, are you okay?!" May rushed through the bushes followed by raichu, mudkip, two officers, and their electrike. She heard the thud of something hitting the ground and was scared Ash bit off more than he could chew.
"I'm fine May," Ash turned and smiled calming her worry. He looked back to his opponent and saw the man on the ground, but the houndoom had disappeared from the area. Ash looked around to the surrounding trees and could have sworn he saw the silhouette of someone walking behind a tree but couldn't find it again. Looking back to the clearing, he saw that the boy and his ralts had passed out at some point during the battle. He quickly ran over to the boy, "May grab my bag and mudkip! We need to get this kid and his ralts medical attention!" Ash and heracross scooped up the boy and his ralts and began running back for the road into the city with May, raichu, and quilava following behind them.
After a couple of hours in the waiting area in the pokemon center, Nurse Joy walked over to the couches in the lobby where Ash and May were resting. "Excuse me Mr. Ketchum?"
Ash looked up at the Nurse, raising his head from his hands, "Are they both alright?"
The pink haired woman gave a comforting smile, "They will both be just fine. They are lucky you got them here quick enough to prevent any wounds from getting infected."
Ash felt relieved and a weight lift off his shoulders, "That's good to hear!"
May also relaxed into the couch holding torchic close to her, "When will they be able to leave?"
"We will need them to stay here a couple more nights for observation. From what I overheard you tell the police officer, that boy and his ralts could use the rest anyway." She turned on her heel and headed back to her desk.
"Well, now that we know they will be alright, we should probably get you back to your house before your parents really begin to worry," Ash grabbed his bag and mudkip, who had fallen asleep.
"Yeah, you're right," May mimicked his motion and led him out of the door of the Pokemon Center.
After a few minutes of walking, May and Ash stood outside of a good size building with a home attached to the side, "Um, May?"
"Yes Ash?" May looked at him quizzically.
"I don't recall you telling me what your parents did for a living."
May smiled at him and began to walk to the house portion, "I didn't."
Upon hearing the door open to the home, Ash saw a brown-haired woman wrap May in a tight hug. Torchic just barely managed to dodge out of the way, "Oh May! We were so worried! We thought you might've gotten lost or hurt!"
May struggled against the tight hold, "I'm fine mom!"
A man's voice entered from behind the woman, "Your mother was worried, but I knew you would be alright!"
The woman let go of May and turned around, "Who was the one preparing a rescue party?"
The man chuckled before walking up and hugging May as well, "It's good to have you home sweetie! Was the trip successful?"
May sweat dropped and laughed, "Well, kind of. I did get some help on the way back!"
"You did?" The man looked genuinely surprised.
"Yeah! My new friend Ash helped me out!" May moved over and pulled Ash forward.
"Uh, Hello there Mr. and Mrs. Maple!" Ash tried to give his best greeting under pressure from getting thrust into the middle of the reunion.
May's mom clapped her hands together, "That's wonderful! Please don't be shy, come right in! You can join us for dinner!" May's mother led the way through the home to the dining room and motioned Ash to sit down.
After a wonderful meal and some explanation of the events that had transpired in the last twenty-four-ish hours, May, Ash, May's little brother Max, her mom Caroline, and her father Norman sat around the table in idle conversation. Norman, taking a swig of his water, turned his attention to Ash, "So, what brings you to the Hoenn region?"
"Oh, I came to challenge the league conference here," Ash answered with an excited smile while mudkip rested in his lap.
"The conference you say? Well, I look forward to meeting you on the field in the near future.
Ash looked at him confused, "Are you a trainer as well?"
Max chuckled, "You came to the region and can't recognize the Petalburg City gym leader?"
Ash wanted to give Max an annoyed glare but thought better of it. He turned his attention back to Norman, "That explains the larger building next door."
"I thought you would be surprised to find that out," May chuckled at his realization.
"Wait, does that mean I can challenge you for a badge right now?" Ash began to get riled up and pumped.
"Well, probably not tonight, but we can tomorrow if you like! Though, it depends which gym route you want to take," Norman smiled at his enthusiasm.
"Which gym route I want to take?" Ash looked confused but tried to think back to his studies on Hoenn.
Caroline spoke up to help him out, "Gym routes are just what trainers in the region call them. It is just the order in which you want to challenge the gyms of the region."
Ash understood that a bit better, "That makes sense. Is there a particular route that is better or worse?"
"Not really," Norman answered with a smile. "Some trainers believe it doesn't matter which order you face the gym leaders in; while other trainers from other regions or ones just starting out prefer to take what they call the True Hoenn Gym Challenge." Ash gave him another confused expression.
"The 'True Hoenn Gym Challenge' follows the order new trainers starting in Littleroot Town use to take. The order is as follows: Roxanne in Rustboro, Brawley in Dewford, Wattson in Mauville, Flannery in Lavaridge, Dad here in Petalburg, Winona in Fortree, Liza and Tate in Mossdeep, and Juan in Sootopolis," May finished the list with an overexaggerated deep breath.
Ash chuckled before mulling over the list of names, "Wait, I thought Wallace was the gym leader in Sootopolis City."
"He was up until this past league conference. He said he would be stepping down to help build up Pokemon Contests throughout the region and attempt to build up the Coordinator scene. In his stead, he left his right-hand man Juan in charge of the gym," Norman nodded at his own explanation as if agreeing with himself.
"Does that mean the gym has changed type?"
"No, Juan has said it will remain a water type gym."
Ash nodded at this information, "Well, I guess since trainers first starting out in Hoenn take that route, I will as well! I guess that makes my battle with you a bit of a proving ground before I take on the remaining gym leaders!"
Norman's smile grew into a more competitive look, "If that is the way you want to view it; I will make sure I prepare my best team for you."
"Don't count on beating dad! He is the best gym leader in the region and has the record to prove it!" Max follows his statement up with a cocky smirk.
"Max, what have I said about gloating?" Norman gave a stern look to Max who just looked down.
"Gloating doesn't win battles," the boy got up from the table and slowly walks out of the room.
May sighs, "Sorry about that Ash, Max is a bit of a pain. He views other trainers that challenge Dad as incompetent or worthless and lets them know it."
"It's fine, I just hope he doesn't do that when he becomes a trainer. I have met a lot of people who wouldn't take kindly to that attitude," Ash stretched back in his seat before looking outside and realizing how dark it had gotten. "Aw man, I can't believe its gotten so late. I was hoping to get part of the way through the next route tonight."
"Oh, we're sorry, we didn't mean to keep you!" May's mom gave a sorrowful look before an idea came to her, "If you don't have a place to stay tonight, you can stay in the spare room in the gym! We have a spare mattress and it'll give your pokemon a place to sleep out of there pokeballs!"
Ash wasn't expecting such a warming offer, "Oh no, I don't want to intrude on you. You all have already treated me to dinner, asking for a place to sleep would be rude."
"But you didn't ask, we offered," Norman smiled at the young man's sincerity, "Besides, that room goes unused most of the time; so, you aren't putting us out if you stay there tonight."
Ash looked between the members of the family before sighing in defeat, "Well, if you insist I appreciate it!"
"Good! May, help Ash get set up for the evening please!"
"Will do mom! Follow me Ash, I'll take you on a tour of the gym on the way!"
As the two of them left the room, Norman turned to his wife, "Caroline, I know what you are trying to do."
Caroline let out a giggle, "Oh don't spoil my fun. Besides, when is the next time a kind and caring young man is going to be brought home by May?"
"Hopefully not for a long time!"