This is the ninety-third chapter in the Pokemon Heroes story. The bounty hunters of this season are returning in this one. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the songs

(Opening song)

Night had fallen on Saffron City. Ash tried to sleep on the chair by May's bed, but May insisted on him staying with her. He was lying down by her on her bed. Her back was turned towards him, and she slept in a somewhat fetal position. She mumbled stuff in her sleep. She warned Ash that if she woke up and found his arms around her, she would kill him, so he just stared at her back. He was tired today. It has been three days since Lnoki told Ash that he had to leave his friends to go training for a while, and May had just been having a fun time in the city so far. Because she wasn't able to go out herself, she had to watch The Grand Festival on T.V. It ended today, and May was excited to go and meet the winner of the festival, Solidad, her idol. Ash didn't let her take one step out of the hospital until she was 100% better, even though she could walk again. Ash volunteered to get the girl's autograph. It was a long day, with Ash chasing after Solidad's car just for one autograph. In the end, he got one, and he was exhausted. It was under May's pillow. Ash looked at it and smirked.

"Ash!" yelled May as she suddenly sat up in her sleep, and then she fell back down on her bed and drifted back to sleep. Ash put his hand on her hand.

"Don't worry, I'm right here," said Ash. May mumbled something else and once again turned away from Ash. Ash smiled, but then frowned and looked towards the ceiling. He had to go training. He had to go training. He had to go training. It just kept repeating in his mind. He seriously did not want to leave her, but he had to.

"Is there another way?" thought Ash. He looked towards May again and saw her shiver. It was pretty cold today. Ash prepared to wrap his arms around May, but stopped.

"Touch me, and I'll kill you," he remembered May saying in his mind. Ash thought about hugging her, but then shrugged. It was worth it. He wrapped his arms around May and went to sleep.

Finish what was Started

"You heard about that guy who jumped on Solidad's car?" asked Brendan as he laughed to himself. "I wonder if he got arrested or something."

"I wonder why this generation is so fucked up," said Dawn as she face-palmed. "I hope May gets better soon. I can't wait to give her this gift." She opened up her bag and took out a photo of Solidad, and on it was Solidad's signature.

"You sure that's a good gift for her?" asked Brendan. "She is a Princess. She can just ask someone to get it for her. Maybe Ash."

"Please," said Dawn. "May can do a lot of things, but I doubt she'd actually tell Ash to go get one autograph for her." They reached her door and she opened it. When she did, she saw May looking at the large flat screen television that hung on the wall with some toast in her mouth. Ash was by her bed, with a huge bump on top of his head.

"Dawn, guess what happened?" asked May as she gulped the whole piece of bread and ran towards Dawn. "I made Ash get an autograph from Solidad for me. Isn't that so nice?" Dawn blinked, and then looked at the autograph in her hand, and then showed it to May with a weak smile.

"Yeah, I got one for myself too," said Dawn. "Awesome, isn't it?"

"But didn't you say that was May's-" said Brendan before Dawn swiftly punched him on his stomach, making him fall towards the ground.

"What the hell do you mean you're not going to do it?" asked Giovanni as he started spinning on his chair over the hologram. "Why?"

"I didn't say we were going to quit doing this job," said Lee. "This pays big bucks. Why the hell would we do that?"

"What this idiot is trying to say is that we are postponing this mission until later on," said Riku. "We've got to do another thing first."

"And what the hell would that be?" asked Giovanni. Anger was present in his voice, but he tried not to show it too much.

"If you don't mind, but I would not like to disclose that information to you," said Riku. "All I can say is that we were given a job request a long time ago, and it has showed up again. We're deciding to once again pursue it."

"And what is about this new job of yours that makes it so much more special than mine?" asked Giovanni.

"No money is present on this job."

"What!?" yelled Giovanni as he stopped spinning and looked directly at Lee and Riku from the hologram. "I'm paying you a whole lot of money, and you're deciding to leave it for a job that doesn't pay you at all. Who is the requester?"

"This mission is on our own terms," said Lee. "This is our business, not yours."

"Shut up, Lee," said Riku, and he faced the hologram again. "Like Lee said, no person had requested for us to do this. We are doing this mission because we want to. But if you're thinking it completely gets away from what you want, that's not entirely it. You see, what we want might also be what you want as well. That group of kids you want to kill is a part of the mission."

"Let me just say that I can't believe you're giving us such an easy job," said Lee. "It's kind of a waste of my time that we have to go kill them. We almost did actually-"

"Almost?" asked Giovanni. "You've seen them but didn't even think about killing them first."

"We did not fight them," lied Riku. "We just saw them, but decided not to fight because of the old mission that turned up."

"So how does your mission compare to mine?" asked Giovanni. "I want those kids killed immediately. They interrupt my plans every time."

"You see, there's a kid in that group who has something special that we want," said Riku. "Something we thought had disappeared a long time ago. We want what he has, and his friends might intrude in that, so we'd have to kill them as well."

"I don't have time to kill just a bunch of kids," said Lee. "Let's quit this shit and go on another one."

"Your friend there has a sassy mouth, doesn't he?" said Giovanni as he started to spin in his chair once again. "Fine, I'll let this slide, only because this might kill the kids as well. I want them all dead, and you will get your reward."

"Our mission comes first," said Riku. "If we get him alone, we leave. It's only if he's with his friends at the time. But we will come for your mission later on."

"Why don't you just let my send some grunts to retrieve what they have so you might continue on with your mission?" asked Giovanni.

"No!" yelled Riku, making Giovanni stop what he was doing, and then he looked sternly at Riku. Riku regained his composure and cleared his throat. He looked back at Giovanni.

"I apologize for that," said Riku. "Let us take care of this. We don't want any intrusion from anybody else." Giovanni just kept looking at him, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine, but get it over with quickly," said Giovanni. "I'm planning something, and I'm waiting on you guys to finish the job so they won't intrude with it. I don't like waiting. Every day you're late, it takes away more money from what I'm gonna give you."

"Wait, what!?" yelled Lee, but Riku pushed him down.

"Understood," said Riku. Giovanni nodded and closed the video phone. Lee sat there with his mouth open, and then slowly looked at Riku.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" asked Lee. "Do you realize how much money they plan on giving us? Why did you just agree on that?"

"We don't need the money anymore," said Riku, and he stood up and walked deeper into the forest, and Lee followed.

"You must've gotten hit on the head when we were fighting against those kids," said Lee.

"I haven't," said Riku. "We really don't need the money he is offering us to kill a bunch of weak kids."

"That means we're done with that mission? We're just gonna ditch it?"

"Yes."

"What happened to you?"

"The Inheritance happened," said Riku as he kept walking, but Lee stopped. He then shook his head and continued walking with Riku.

"Do we even have proof this kid holds The Inheritance?" asked Lee.

"You're the one who said he did," said Riku. "You said he has the same eyes and face as Jonathan."

"I know I freaking said that," said Lee, "But right now, I'm talking about the money that basterd is offering us. Are we really going to let that go?" Riku stopped, and then faced Lee with stern eyes.

"After we get what we want, we won't need his money anymore," said Riku. "We won't need to get jobs. Why? Because when we get The Inheritance, we'll be asking people to do jobs for us. We'll become powerful. So powerful we might be able to become the most feared men in all of Ransei."

"I know that," said Lee. "But we killed the last man who had it. Are we really sure he passed it on to his weak, fragile son who was so scared of even talking to us."

"Might actually be possible," said Riku. "We were too late in retrieving The Inheritance from Jonathan, and I think he might actually have sent it on to his son instead. That's what we need. We need to get his son and take The Inheritance by force if we have to." Riku turned around and continued walking. Lee sighed and walked after him.

"Fine then," said Lee. "But if this plan fails, you're gonna owe me big time."

"Whatever," said Riku.

"So you're actually going?" asked Brendan as he ate his meal in the hospital's cafeteria. "I thought Lnoki would've forgotten about that already."

"I know," said Ash as he sat with Brendan and Dawn. "I don't feel like going though. I don't trust May alone with you people."

"I take a great offense to that," said Dawn.

"Go ahead," said Brendan. "I don't mind. As long as you don't kill yourself during your training though. You have to get stronger. I've noticed your skills have been getting sloppy lately. You should at least go for about a month or something, just to make sure." He then looked at Ash, and saw the boy looking sternly at him.

"I'm just telling the truth."

"I know you are," said Ash. "I was just expecting you guys to tell me not to go."

"And why would we do that?" asked Dawn.

"You guys are useless," said Ash, and he stood up and walked away. Brendan and Dawn shrugged and continued eating. After a while, Dawn's Pokewatch started to ring. Dawn picked it up. It had a number on it Dawn didn't recognize.

"Hello?" said Dawn.

"Is this the parents of Drew Hayden?" asked a man on the other side. "This is the Saffron Police Department."

"What did he do?"

"He was stalking Solidad, and then when she went out of her hotel to her car, he jumped on it just to get an autograph from her," said the man. "This is dangerous and irresponsible. He told me he did it because some other kid did it before, but we caught this one. He gave us this number, and we want you to come and pick him up."

"Alright," said Dawn. "We're coming." She closed the call, and then stood up.

"Come on, Brendan," said Dawn. "We have to get Drew."

"Where is he?"

"Police Department," said Dawn as Brendan threw away the rest of his food. "I'll explain what happened along the way, but right now we have to put makeup on to make us look like adults. Let's go."

Ash went into May's room. It was getting late, and he was getting tired. He went towards the chair to sit by May, but saw a note on it. It read.

Dear Ash,

Sleep on my bed tonight. Don't sleep on this chair. If you do, I'll kill you.

Love, May

"Yeah, I see a lot of love there," thought Ash, and he threw away the note and got into May's bed and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

"You sure this is safe?"

"Heck yeah it is."

"But what if I get hit in the face with that ball?"

"Then stand up and toss it at my face," said Aaron as he held a baseball in his hand. A young Ash stood away from his father, Aaron, with a baseball glove on his hand. He was looking like he was getting ready for some kind of impact, which he was. His father was playing catch with him, but he wasn't playing a normal catch game. He was playing what he called extreme catch.

"You're ready for the next one?" asked Aaron.

"No," said Ash, but of course, his father didn't listen and threw the ball with full force. Ash yelled and covered his face. The ball miraculously landed in Ash's glove, but the force of the ball pushed the boy backwards, and he fell down. He got back up and rubbed his head and looked at the ball on his glove. Aaron was laughing.

"Why do you throw it that hard?" asked Ash, slightly annoyed. "It hurts." Aaron stopped laughing and sighed.

"Ash, you're just gonna have to deal with the pain sometimes," said Aaron. "You're always gonna have to experience pain at least every day in your life."

"But didn't you say we were here to just play catch?" asked Ash. "Why are you throwing like this?" Aaron walked towards Ash and helped him up. He rustled through the boy's hair.

"Because I'm trying to help you," said Aaron. "Ash, one day you're going to feel pain much bigger than the one you're feeling now. I'm trying to make sure that you can take care of that pain and to ignore it. I'm trying to help you become a big tough man like me."

"But why are we doing this with a ball?"

"Just trust me," said Aaron. "So how about we do it again." He took the ball from Ash's glove. Ash thought, and then smiled and nodded.

"Yup."

Ash woke up. He slowly sat up and looked at the clock. It was the middle of the night. He tried looking at his hands, but then saw May holding onto one of his arms. He knew she was going to hit him because she might think he did that. Ash lied back down and looked up at the ceiling.

"You were training me this whole time, weren't you?" thought Ash, and he fell back to sleep.

The next day, May finally got checked out of the hospital. Ash didn't want her to walk, but May insisted that she could. They both walked towards the lobby to their friends, with Ash watching her every move.

"I can leave now," said May as she ran towards Dawn.

"That's great," said Dawn as the two girls hugged. Pikachu went towards Ash and jumped on his shoulder as Ash scratched behind its ear. Ash looked around at his friends. May and Dawn were talking as Brendan and Drew were playing rock-paper-scissors. He saw Lnoki off to the side, and then the old man walked towards him.

"How is she?" asked Lnoki.

"She's doing well," said Ash.

"Good enough to go training?"

"I guess so," said Ash. "But-"

"We can't keep postponing your training all the time, Ketchum," said Lnoki.

"I know, I know," said Ash. "It's just that-"

"So when are you leaving?" asked May as she jumped in front of Ash. Drew popped his head up, finally listening to the conversation.

"Ash is leaving?" asked Drew. "For what?"

"Oh yeah, I never told you before," said Brendan. "We were too busy preventing you from being sent to jail."

"You're leaving now?" asked Dawn. Ash thought, but then nodded.

"Yeah, but not for too long," said Ash, "I'll be back."

"We know," said Brendan. "When are you going to leave though?"

"We should leave as soon as possible," said Lnoki. "I'm thinking that we should split paths outside of Saffron City. What do you think, Ketchum?" Ash nodded. Ash looked back at May, and noticed a sad expression on her face, but she quickly replaced it with a smile.

"We're ready to go," said Brendan. "We have nothing else we need to do in this city." The group nodded, and they prepared to head out, but stopped when the hospital's doors opened up. The King walked in. May looked at him, and then her eyes grew wide.

"Grandpa!" yelled May, and she jumped on the old man and hugged him.

"I'm glad you're okay," said The King. "I was too busy lately, but I found some free time now." May started crawling all over the tall man until she got to his shoulders.

"I got you some chocolate," said the old man as he handed May a box. She ripped it open and devoured all the candy that was inside. The King looked towards Ash and his friends. They all immediately bowed, except for Drew, who was eating a bag of chips.

"Drew, bow!" ordered Dawn.

"Why?" asked Drew. Dawn took the boy and forced him to bow in front of The King, who was chuckling.

"No need to be all formal," said The King. "You are friends of May, so you're friends with me as well."

"Can I have more candy?" asked May. The King gave her another box, which she devoured quickly. "Hey Grandpa, wanna go hang out with my friends and I today?"

"Sorry dear," said The King, "but I have go now. I only came to say goodbye to you and to talk with Ketchum for a minute."

"Me?" asked Ash.

"Yes."

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, not yet," said The King as he motioned for Ash to step outside with him. Ash nodded and followed him. Before they exited the building, The King took May and placed her on the ground.

"No, you may not come with us," said The King, and then he tossed her one more box of chocolate and went out with Ash. May started eating the chocolate, with no intention on sharing it with the others.

The group of kids and Lnoki exited Saffron City. They walked along the path, the same path Ash took to head towards the mountains. They just followed the path, and as they did, they finally went towards a fork in the road.

"We should split here," said Lnoki. "Ketchum and I shall take the left one while you kids take the right."

"Where can we meet up?" asked Brendan. "At least tell us what direction we're supposed to be going."

"We should all at least meet up at Cerulean City," said Lnoki. "I'll contact you if I have to change it."

"Do you need the map?"

"No," said Lnoki, "I've already made a copy of it some time ago, but we won't even be using it. We're going to be going off map towards isolated areas so it should be safe for not getting anybody hurt." Brendan nodded, and then Drew walked towards Ash.

"Be careful though," said Drew. "Don't die out there."

"I know that," said Ash. "I'm worried you will."

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Drew. Dawn pushed Drew aside so that Brendan and she went up to Ash.

"He's right though," said Dawn. "You do a lot of crazy things. Don't get too crazy without us now." Brendan nodded.

"I've got Lnoki with me," said Ash, and then he faced Brendan. "Brendan, listen. I know you are the man of this group, now I trust you to make sure May will be okay. Make sure you keep a close eye on her, and don't let her get too far away from you, got that?"

"What about me?" asked Drew. "I'm a man too." Ash looked at him, and then back at Brendan.

"Understand?" asked Ash, ignoring Drew. "I trust you, man."

"No problem," said Brendan. Brendan then looked at the map to see where Cerulean would be. Ash smiled. He knew they were going to be okay. He had faith in them. He then felt something getting removed from his pocket and looked behind him to see May eating from a box of chocolates.

"These are good," said May. "Where'd you get them?"

"Those are mine," said Ash. He was about to say something else, but then May placed chocolate in the boy's mouth to shut him up.

"Good luck," said May. "Promise me you'll be okay."

"Aye," said Ash.

"And also don't fight anyone unless Lnoki tells you to," said May.

"I'm supposed to be someone else's pet now?" asked Ash. May didn't respond. She just put another piece of chocolate in her mouth. She giggled and then gave Ash a kiss on his cheek and walked off. Ash felt his cheek, and would've enjoyed it if not he noticed his friends had noticed it.

"Dawn, you want some chocolate?" asked May.

"Um, sure," said Dawn, stunned at what she saw. Brendan and Drew then walked towards Ash.

"I knew this day would come," said Drew. "The day my boy finally got a girlfriend."

"Yeah, so Ash, you and May finally hooked up or what?" asked Brendan. Ash just looked at them, and then back at Lnoki.

"Let's go," said Ash, and he took Lnoki and they both walked off. Lnoki nodded at the kids and went off. Brendan and Drew looked at each other.

"He didn't deny it," said Brendan. Drew smiled, and they both walked back towards the girls. Ash looked back at his friends one more time, and saw them heading out in the other direction. May looked at him once more and waved goodbye, and Ash waved back, and then looked forward again.

Flashback

Ash and The King walked outside of the hospital. The King turned to Ash and looked down at the boy.

"Ketchum, will you promise me one thing?" asked The King.

"If I can, then yes," said Ash.

"I want you to make sure my granddaughter stays safe," said The King. "I didn't want to say this in front of her, but I wanted to take her back to the castle. After I learned what happened, I just knew making her go on this journey was a bad idea, but now I'm taking that back. You tried your best to protect her, and I absolutely respect that. I believe that as long as you're with her, she'll be fine. I'm glad I got to see her smile and be happy, even though she knows she's in danger. She smiles now because she knows she's with you, and that makes me happy. I want you to promise me to protect her, no matter what happens."

"Of course," said Ash. "I've been doing that for a long time."

"Thank you so much," said The King. "You remind me of your father sometimes."

"Thanks," said Ash. Suddenly, a box of chocolates was thrown at his face. He looked down at it and then back at The King, who looked down at it as well. He looked back at Ash and gave a weak smile.

"Sorry," said The King. "Habit."

End of Flashback

Ash smiled when he remembered when The King talked to him. He felt good inside thinking that even The King of all of Ransei actually trusted him in taking care of his granddaughter. He smiled.

"Let's go, Lnoki," said Ash. "I want to get close enough to our training spot before it gets dark!" Ash then ran off. Lnoki sighed.

"We don't have to rush things, Ketchum," said Lnoki. Ash stopped and turned back to Lnoki. Lnoki looked at his face, and his eyes widened at what he saw. He saw Ash with a smile.

"I want to rush things, old man!" yelled Ash. "Hurry up!"

"Pika!" yelled Pikachu. Ash continued running. Lnoki blinked a few times, and then smiled.

"Alright!" yelled Lnoki, and he ran after Ash.

Lee and Riku stood on top of a tree. Riku was looking through binoculars as Lee was looking at a device in his hand.

"Yo," said Lee, making Riku look at him, "I found something. They're here." They looked down the tree, and after a while, they saw four kids walking by. Those kids were Drew, Dawn, Brendan, and May. They were laughing, talking about some story. Riku put his binoculars away.

"Let's go," said Riku. "You ready?" He looked at Lee, who continued looking down at the kids. Riku traced his eyes, and saw him looking down at Brendan. He looked back at Lee.

"Lee?"

"What?" asked Lee, finally snapping out of it.

"Are you ready?" asked Riku. Lee looked at the man and smirked.

"Hell yeah," he said, and they jumped towards another tree, following the four kids.

(Ending song)

Next Time on Pokemon Heroes:As Ash is being trained by Lnoki, Lee and Riku show up once again towards Brendan and the others, and this time their doing this to get Brendan. Brendan is just going to have to get over his past in order to save his friends, and especially May, who he vowed to protect. Will they beat the bounty hunters without Ash, and will Brendan be able to protect May from them? Next Time: Second Round.

That was that chapter. Now Ash has left his friends to go train, and Lee and Riku will encounter the kids once again in the next. Now for the movie, let me just announce that in my outline of the movie, Drew and Misty are confirmed for their first appearance in a movie, and Gary is also confirmed to come for his second movie. Next chapter should come on Monday on its normal schedule, because I'm starting to get my shit together. See you next week!

Read and Review please :-)

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