It took several minutes for Treecko to regain his composure after seeing what Ash did, but after he calmed down, he looked at Ash, and then smirked.
As per their agreement, what came next is the battle between Treecko and one of Ash's Pokémon, and if Ash wins, Treecko will join his team and become Ash's Pokémon.
Ash did win in the end, but he will never say that the battle was easy, since Treecko has proven himself to be strong, and was almost able to defeat Ash's Torchic, but in the end, after a hard fought battle, Treecko fainted just a few seconds before Torchic.
Ash captured Treecko after that, and then when he reunited with the others on the clearing not far from where Ash and Treecko were battling, he treated Treecko and Torchic for their wounds, while at the same time, he was explaining to the others what happened and what he did to the tree. Ash said that the power he used to save the tree is the power Celebi granted him with her Aura, which allows Ash to control and grow plants from nothing, or sometimes to also heal the plants which are close to their end.
They were all surprised when the Treecko colony from before approached them, with the old Treecko leading them.
Ash and his new Treecko had a conversation with the colony elder, and the elder thanked Ash for saving the tree, which he admitted no one in the colony wanted to abandon, but there was no other way, as they couldn't save it, but now that it is saved, they can go back there and continue to live in their new/old home for a long time.
After Ash's Treecko said goodbye to his friends in the colony, they all went back to their home, while Ash and the others continued their journey toward Rustboro City, though, of course, they first had to find a road which will lead them there, since they are still lost.
XXX
The next few days after Ash caught Treecko, have been very eventful for the gang, as they have all trained their Pokémon, evolving some of them, and on top of that, May and Max have caught some Pokémon. Well, May caught two Pokémon for herself and one for Max.
It all started one day while the crew was coming close to exiting from the Petalburg Forest, but to exit it, they had to get thorough Pokémon preserve area, in which the Pokémon are guarded and nursed back to health if needed by a girl named Katrina.
Katrina has two Mightyena and one Poochyena, which are helping her guard the place.
During the time there, Max took an interest in Poochyena, who he heard from Katrina is the same age as the two Mightyena, but unlike them, Poochyena never evolved for some reason, so Max decided to help the little Pokémon to train and evolve.
The gang actually stayed there for two days, and that's only because Max wanted to help Poochyena to evolve, as he was helping him train all day, but in the end, even then Poochyena didn't evolve.
Seeing Max's desire to help Poochyena, and since Poochyena actually took a liking at Max, Katrina decided to allow her Poochyena to go with Max, and become his first Pokémon.
Everyone was surprised, while Max was overjoyed, so in the end, May caught Poochyena for Max, though, they had to call Professor Birch so he can register Poochyena as Max's Pokémon so he won't take the place for any other Pokémon that May catches.
Normally, this shouldn't be possible, since Max is still too young to have a Pokémon registered to him, but in the end it worked out when Ash managed to pull some strings with his father, so Max was allowed to have Pokémon with him before he officially become a trainer, but only if Ash is with him, otherwise, Max's Pokémon will have to stay at his house.
May also caught some Pokémon for herself, and those two Pokémon were Lotad and Wurmple, which brings her team to four Pokémon right now.
While Ash and Serena didn't catch any knew Pokémon, they did train the ones they have, and this led to Serena's Wurmple evolving into Silcoon.
None of Ash's Pokémon have evolved, though all of them did learn new moves, and have become slightly stronger than they were when Ash and the gang first entered the Petalburg Forest.
XXX
Ash and the gang have finally arrived in Rustboro City, but before they go to the gym, they have decided to look around the city for a while.
Right now, they are on the highest floor of one of the bigger buildings in the City, and are enjoying the view.
"This view is amazing," May commented and she and Serena were standing next to a big window, looking at everything they can see and recognize from there.
"I agree," Serena said. "I've been though Johto with Ash and seen a lot, but I can't recall we've ever seen a place with a view like this one. And to top it all, Rustboro is a very beautiful City."
While May and Serena were watching the city, Ash and Max were also there next to them, but were watching on the city map, and casting glances to see where is what, and to see if they can see the gym from where they are, which will help them later to find it.
"There is the gym, Ash," Max said to Ash, while pointing in the distance to a rock formation, which confused May and Serena when they saw at what Max was pointing, and though he was mistaken, until they checked the map, and realized he was right.
"Look at the guide book," Max said, giving Serena a guide book for the city, which they bought while walking through the city earlier.
"Would you look at that," Serena said, getting everyone to look at the guide book. "It looks like the gym is just one big rock formation, which was hollowed and turned into a gym. The only thing on the outside which can tell someone that that place is a gym is a steel door where the entrance is, but that's about it."
"Hm, well, we've seen a lot of different and sometimes weird gyms, so I'm not really surprised," Ash commented. "Besides, this gym is Rock Type gym, so it would be even weirder if it is colorful. Brock's family gym is similar, though it is technically completely constructed building against this one, which is carved into a rock formation."
"Yeah, I guess you are right, we did see several weird gym building's in Johto," Serena said, and then she and the others started walking through the floor on the way out, since they have been there for a while, but stopped, when they saw a Poliwag under the bench, cowering in fear.
The gang approached it, with Max being first.
"Hey, Poliwag," Max said to the Pokémon, which got scared even more, and turned around from him, but still stayed under the bench. "You don't have to be afraid, we want to help you."
As Max said that, Poliwag stopped cowering in fear, and turned around to look at Max, after which it got out from below the bench, and jumped in Max's arms.
"Hm, I wonder what that is," Ash said, pointing at the Poliwag's tail, which had a white band with some symbol on it.
Before they had a lot of time to think about it, a female voice called for Poliwag, making the gang look at her, and noticed a very good looking girl in her mid-twenties, dressed in a long-sleeved purple/bluish dress, which covers her upper body, and goes to slightly below her ass, while on her legs, she was wearing very tight, red pants. She also had a small red tie.
As soon as it saw the woman, Poliwag jumped from Max's arms into hers. "I was so worried about you, Poliwag," the woman said, while holding Poliwag, and then she looked at the others, gaining a small pink hue on her cheeks when she saw Ash, but managed to not make it very noticeable, and asked. "Are you the ones who saved Poliwag?"
"Well, I'd say we found it, more than saved it, since I don't think it was in danger," Max said, and the woman nodded. Before she can ask anything else, several kids, Max's age along with some Pokémon, appeared from behind the woman, and looked to be happy that Poliwag was found.
While most of the kids appeared to be happy, there was one kid, who wasn't happy, and looked more like he doesn't want to be there. Max and Ash noticed this, while May and Serena weren't paying attention at him, with all the other kids and the woman there as well.
A small red-haired girl with a Pidgey in her arms, went to the boy and told him everything was fine, making Ash and Max think that he is the one who had something to do with Poliwag being lost, but then another brownish haired boy went in there as well, and yelled how their class trip is ruined and Poliwag is scared.
The little boy apologized, and the girl jumped to his defense, saying how he can't help himself since he is afraid of Pokémon.
Ash and the others realized what the problem was, and watched as the woman broke the argument between the girl and brownish haired boy.
The woman gave the scared boy, whose name was mentioned to be Kenny, a pep talk, trying to convince him that there is no reason to be afraid of Pokémon, and he nodded, though it was obvious to Ash and the gang this didn't exactly work, and that the kid is still afraid of Pokémon.
Once the woman mentioned that they are to go back to the academy, Max interrupted and asked. "What's that?"
"It's a Pokémon Academy here in this City, where kids can learn everything about Pokémon," Roxanne said. "These children are in my Beginner class, and we were here on the school trip, but it's now time to head back."
Max was amazed by the Pokémon Academy, and wanted to go there, trying to convince May to let him.
"You should ask Ash if you want to go somewhere, since you literally can't go anywhere without him if you want to continue to carry your Pokémon with you," May said, and Max all but jumped at Ash, trying to convince him to go with him to the academy.
Ash sighed, and then said. "Fine, we can go and check it out if you are so interested in it."
Max was happy, and was smiling like crazy, not noticing the brown haired kid from earlier was giving him curious look.
XXX
It didn't take long for the gang to arrive in the Pokémon Academy, even though it wasn't exactly close, but since Max was in a hurry to get there as soon as possible… well, they got there pretty darn fast.
As they got there, all of them saw that the Rustboro Gym was right next to the Pokémon Academy, and this made Ash and Serena smile, since they now don't have to go to some other location just because of this little side-trip.
Once there, Roxanne let one of the people who works in the academy to give the gang a tour of the place.
As the guy was leading them through the long corridor, he commented how he knows that May and Max's father runs the Petalburg Gym, and he also knew who Ash and Serena were, since he has watched their battles in the Pokémon Leagues they have participated. He even praised Ash, and said he is one of the best Pokémon trainers he has ever seen, while also saying that even though she was a trainer for only a year, Serena managed to get very far in the Silver Conference, and should be proud of herself and her success.
The first class which Ash and the gang visited, is the one where students learn to be a Pokémon Doctors. This reminded Ash and Serena about Brock, and they mentioned to the others how he decided to stop his journey to become a Pokémon doctor.
Max was OK with the class, but he wanted to go to the Beginner's Class, so the tour continued.
The next class they visited was a specialized class for Pokémon Contests, but even though May and Serena found it entertaining, none of them saw each other as Pokémon Coordinators, so they proceeded to the next class, which is about Pokémon battles.
All four found the class fascinating, but Max was so into going to the Beginners class, that he practically made their guide take them there.
Few minutes, later, they were in front of the door to another room. "Here we are, Max," the old man said to Max. "This is Miss Roxanne's, Beginners Class."
Max was overjoyed, and once the man opened the door, letting Max and the others inside, they immediately heard the voice of professor Oak. He was apparently giving the class a lecture about the Pokémon through the big screen which was attached on the wall at the front of the class.
Ash and the others said 'hi', to Professor Oak, and he greeted them, back, though Max was embarrassed a little, since this is a first time he saw the man, while May has seen and talked with him on one occasion when Ash and Serena were talking with him.
Miss Roxanne said that in the Academy, they receive the lectures from Professor Oak via a video phone, and the gang nodded.
Professor Oak then brought up that since Ash and the others are there, then that means they have finished their battle, and asked who won, Miss Roxanne or he and Serena, which confused Serena, May and Max, since they didn't know that Roxanne is a gym leader there, while Ash knew, he just didn't bring it up when they saw Roxanne earlier.
"We didn't have out battles yet, Professor Oak," Ash said. "But I'm sure we will soon, and I'm sure Miss Roxanne here will be a great opponent."
The gang's tour guide mentioned how Roxanne is a graduate from the academy who had the highest scores ever, and was quickly promoted to gym leader.
Roxanne then mentioned that she will be busy with the class until tomorrow night, and Ash and Serena will have to wait until the day after, which was fine by them.
When Professor Oak was about to hang the line, Max suddenly said, how he is Professor Oak's big fan as he has read all his book and has watched his shows.
Max's words led the kid with brown hair from earlier to go and ask him a bunch of questions to see if Max is really that smart as he makes it look like he is.
When Max knew the answers, the kid started another argument, but was stopped by Roxanne, who lectured him about the Pokémon Academy being a place to learn with friends and not compete.
After that, Max ended up being invited by their tour guide, who ended up being a headmaster, to spend the next day in the academy and learn more. Max immediately accepted.
The next stop on the tour was in the Pokémon Academy vault, which holds hundreds of Poke Balls with Pokémon inside of them, which are used by Academy students.
Max asked about how all the different students can use those Pokémon, when he thought that Pokémon are trained to be used only by their trainer.
"Usually Pokémon are trained to listen to only one trainer," Roxanne said. "But here in the Pokémon Academy, Pokémon are specially trained to listen to anyone from the academy."
Max then asked if they will listen to what he says, but Roxanne said she will tell him that tomorrow.
XXX
After they finished with the visit in the Pokémon Academy for the day, the gang went in the Pokémon Center, where they will stay for the next few days.
That afternoon Ash and Serena picked the Pokémon they will use in the gym battles against Roxanne, with Serena choosing Mudkip and Ralts, while Ash chose Treecko and Duskull.
As soon as they picked them, they went out the training field outside of the Pokémon Center, to train them.
Ash spent several hours after lunch and then a little more after dinner, trying to teach his Treecko some moves which will be useful against Rock Types, like Iron Tail, and like always, Ash was helping both Treecko and Duskull to perfect Protect, which they learned, but it knows to fail them from time to time since it's not perfected. Ash wanted to teach something else to Duskull, but since Duskull can't learn Iron Tail, as he doesn't have a tail to begin with, Ash focused on Protect and few Ghost moves which Duskull knows. There was simply not enough time for anything special.
Serena also trained her Pokémon to prepare them for the Gym battle, and she was in similar situation as Ash, since she can teach Mudkip, Iron Tail, but can't teach it to Ralts, so she had Mudkip perfect his Water Type attacks, as well as Protect and had him learning Iron Tail, while Ralts was perfecting his Psychic moves, as well as Protect.
XXX
The next day, while in the Academy, Max met the girl from yesterday, learning that her name is Anita.
She told him that she is not so interested in battling, and that she only attends the academy since her parents are making her attend. She also mentions that she is not the only one, since Kenny is so afraid of Pokémon he can't even touch them, but he is also there since his parents want him to get used to Pokémon when he is still young.
This is the case with most of the kids in the academy, whose parents think that they should get used to Pokémon and learn about them before they start their journey and while they are still young.
When the brown haired kid showed up again, and told to Max how they will continue what they started yesterdays, Anita said that Tommy, which is the boy's name, thinks that he is the best, and that yesterday was her favorite day in the academy, since Max showed him that he is not the smartest by answering all of Tommy's stupid questions.
When Miss Roxanne showed up and started the Beginner's Class, Ash and Serena who were watching over Max, noticed that May is gone.
May is later revealed to have went to watch Pokémon Battles in the other class so she can learn something.
Back in the Beginner's class, Ash and Serena ended up roped by Roxanne into showing their Pokémon to the kids in class, so they let out the Pokémon they caught in Hoenn, and Serena also showed up her Delphox and Seadra who were with her. Ash on the other hand decided to leave Tyranitar and Aggron in their Poke Ball's, since the kids might end up getting scared by them.
Roxanne also mentioned that Ash is the winner of Kanto, Orange Islands and Johto Leagues, and was even able to defeat members of Kanto Elite Four, while Serena was able to reach quarterfinals in Johto Silver Conference just a year after she started her journey, and maybe would have gone farther if she didn't run into Ash in that quarterfinal match where she lost.
While all the children in the class were playing with Ash's and Serena's Pokémon, Ash saw Kenny in the background, standing alone, and miserable, so he decided to approach him, and he brought Torchic with him.
"Hey there, little guy," Ash said to Kenny as he appeared in front of him, with his Torchic next to him. "Why are you here alone? Come here with the others to play with the Pokémon. I promise nothing will happen to you."
Kenny looked unsure, and wanted to go away, but Max approached him as well, and tried to convince him to touch Torchic, who is more than willing to allow the kid to touch him, since he can tell that the kid is afraid of Pokémon.
Tommy, who was with the other kids, saw Ash and Max talk with Kenny and are trying to convince him to join the others and play with Ash's and Serena's Pokémon. Tommy frowned for a second, and then smirked, deciding to play a little prank on Kenny and Max, who he doesn't like, as he is a competition to him.
Tommy walked toward Ash, Max and Kenny, before he 'accidently', tripped and stepped on Poliwag's tail, making the water Pokémon scream in pain and then fired a Water Gun at Kenny, but Max jumped and pushed Kenny aside, saving him from being drenched in water.
Tommy apologized, playing it like an accident, but Anita yelled at him that he did it on purpose, making Tommy ask her why would he do that.
In the end, Roxanne defused the situation, though Tommy did mock Max without anyone noticing it.
Of course, nothing really can escape Ash, so he did know that Tommy stepped on Poliwag's tail on purpose and was mocking Max and Kenny, so he approached him when no one was watching them. "That arrogance of yours is got to go, kid," Ash told to Tommy with serious voice, and Tommy looked at him with wide eyes. "Otherwise, you are going to have a lot of trouble in the future, and no one is going to like you."
With that said, Ash moved away from Tommy, leaving the boy to think about what Ash told him, while Ash joined with the other kids to teach them something about Pokémon along with Serena, who was already giving some lectures about what she learned so far.
XXX
Later that same day, there were several battles between the students in the Pokémon Academy, and in the first battle, Tommy and Max battled using Magby and Poliwag, which ended in a tie. Max did have the type advantage, but he only went with defensive moves, and it was too late to pull a win after he moved in the offence, since his Poliwag has taken a lot of damage by then.
What was surprising though, is that Kenny is the one who said to Max that he would have won easily if he went on the offence from the start, which surprised everyone, since no one thought Kenny was going to say anything, or that he knew anything about Pokémon battles since he is afraid of Pokémon.
Kenny surprised everyone even more when Roxanne had him in a Pokémon match first against Tommy and then against Max, and managed to defeat them both, by using tactics over power, and neither Max nor Tommy could keep up with that.
Ash was impressed by Kenny's battle style and he told him that and praised him, which made Kenny smile, along with Anita and Roxanne who were happy for Kenny.
They were even happier when Kenny was able to touch the Pokémon he used to defeat Max and Tommy, which were Rattata and Totodile.
All in all, the day was a success, since Max got to enjoy being in the academy, Kenny got over his fear of Pokémon and Tommy showed some changes in his personality by the end of the day.
After the day was over, and Ash, Serena, May and Max were to go to the Pokémon Center for the night, they first talked with Roxanne, and agreed to meet in the Rustboro Gym tomorrow at 11 in the morning.