A/N: Hello, here's chapter two! Anyone who correctly guessed the identity of the driver of the car that crashed into the tree gets a cookie. Just… not from me. Oh, by the way, please review. The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll crank out the rest of chapter three and start on chapter four.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of importance other than my own mind.

Back Again

Act One in a Tale by readerADV

Chapter Two: An Unexpected Reunion

A Gyarados reared out of the water to see what was going on as four people ran out of the forest to the east, chased by a large swarm of Beedrill. Three of them ran past Ash and Anabel, but the fourth, burdened by the young child she was carrying in her arms, could only jump into the lake in front of the Gyarados to escape. The bee Pokémon didn't take kindly to that and surrounded the blue serpent and started stinging it. The mouse and the wild man looked at each other and nodded. The mouse hurled a powerful blast of electricity at the swarming bug types, dropping them all as the Gyarados roared in pain and anger. The wild man formed a blue ball with a pale green center between his hands and hurled it at the thrashing water type, slamming it backwards into the lake. Everyone held their breaths for a moment before it lifted its head back above the surface, now smiling gently as Ash dropped to his knees, breathing hard and visibly sweating and the pair in the lake resurfaced.

Anabel gasped. "Ash, what's wrong?"

"Damn Aura Sphere took a lot out of me…" Ash looked over at the young man pulling himself out of the lake and groaned. The three who had run past Ash and Anabel walked up to them to see what was wrong, but Ash waved them off. "Just my luck. First day back in civilization and I have to save Dee Dee's sorry ass from a swarm of Beedrill." He looked at the younger of the two women disgustedly.

The blunette glared at him. "You!" she spat. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Ash ignored her. "Let me guess… Mr Know-It-All here," he nodded at the dark haired young man, "is here because wants to battle Anabel, she," he gestured at the woman who had jumped into the lake "is here to support her brother, and Dee Dee," he gestured with a single finger, "is here because May hasn't figured out that she's got fifteen other women and a few men squirreled away somewhere she visits every chance she gets." He looked at the fat man in the Hawaiian shirt. "I was wondering if that offer's still open."

"Yup."

Ash grinned. "Let's make Mr Insufferable Know-It-All's challenge a bit harder."

The fat man laughed, but the young man protested, "What do you mean, 'Mr Insufferable Know-It-All?"

"What, you don't know everything, Max?"

"Yeah, I don't know why you called my sister a lying, cheating slut!"

"What, she didn't tell you about that? I found her in bed with Dee Dee one night when I got home late after a business trip. I was tired, hungry, and not a little bit upset." Ash sighed, got up, and started walking away, but paused as he felt a tug on his pant leg.

A small blonde girl in a soaking wet orange dress looked up at him with a face unblemished except for two zigzag birthmarks under large chocolate-brown eyes and asked, "Daddy, why won't you look at Mommy?"

Ash knelt next to her to look her in the eyes. "Because Daddy said some really mean things to Mommy the last time he saw her and doesn't think she can forgive him for it."

Dawn scoffed. "She has no reason to."

"Dawn, hush. I was wrong that night and we both know it," the other woman present said, walking over to her daughter and Ash. She crouched next to them and wrapped her arms around them. "Ash, I never hated you for what you said that night. When you sent those divorce papers, I didn't even think about it. I just burned them."

Ash looked at her in surprise. "May… That was just the final piece. Our marriage was falling apart long before that. Looking back, the main reason I spent so much time away from you back then is because I didn't want to face the fact that I was beginning to realize I've never actually loved you like that. You've always been like a sister to me." He looked at their daughter. "I don't know if I would've stayed if I'd known you were pregnant at the time… Even if I had known, I wouldn't have expected you to tell her about me."

"How could I not tell little Ashley about you?"

Ash shrugged and looked at his daughter's dress. "Why'd you dress her in orange?"

"It's her favorite color. For some reason, it amuses Brock and Gary's assistants."

"Who're Gary's assistants?"

"Jessie, James, and Meowth."

"...Remind me to beat the-" he looked at Ashley and bit off what he was about to say, "snot out of those four for bringing up that memory."

"Daddy, that's not nice!"

"Daddy's not feeling very nice right n-" Ashley cut him off by sneezing in his face. "Ew… Let's get you two to Anabel's house and dried off."

"And you can crawl back under whatever rock you've been hiding under for the last three years, you stupid motherf-" Ash hurled a small orb at Dawn over his shoulder, cutting her off mid-word and knocking her out.