A/N: I appreciated all the feedback from last chapter I hope I can continue giving you a reason to review. Happy late Thanksgiving for American folk! I meant to have this out sooner but I am fairly busy with job hunting. Unfortunately I am still searching for employment so that leaves me with little time to spare writing since I am mostly writing up cover letters and looking for openings. Anyway enjoy!
Chapter 5 – Waiting for the Big Bang to get me
"Ash! Hey! Is that you!" A voice cut through the crowded streets.
Ash braced himself a little at the unfamiliar voice. Without Gary around to run interference the young trainer was on his own if any of his prior friends caught up with him. Up until this point he had managed to avoid running into anyone other than Brock but Ash knew that his luck was running out. Turning around, Ash already had the excuse on the tip of his tongue that he had to get to the studio until he saw who had called out to him.
"Uh hey Ritchie!" Ash called out in surprise.
The trainer that was almost Ash's double in every aspect stopped in front of Ash with a giant smile on his face. "I'm surprised to see you here. Last I heard you were running a successful business."
Rubbing the back of his head, Ash chuckled a little. "Er yeah…well I kinda wanted to try my hand at training again." Conveniently he left out the fact that he had been fired and would not be returning no matter what the outcome.
"Well that works for me." A smile broke across Richie's face. "I've been looking forward to a rematch and when I heard you became a businessman, I didn't think I'd ever get one."
Ash couldn't help ribbing one of his oldest rivals other than Gary. "Well Ritchie, assuming you can make it past the preliminary rounds, Pikachu and I will be ready, won't we buddy?" Absently rubbing Pikachu's head, Ash shot Ritchie a confident smile.
"Cha!" The little electric rodent leaned into Ash's hand and let his ears droop to the sides to allow unfettered access to the area behind his ears.
"I'm pretty sure I should be worried about you making it through the preliminaries, not the other way around." Ritchie smirked a little before checking his watch and realizing he hadn't eaten yet. "But hey you wanna grab lunch and catch up for a bit? We still have a full week before the tournament begins and I don't have much going on."
"Sorry, I'll have to pass, Gary booked me for a spot on Battler's Review." Ash barely held the tone of contempt out of his voice at the mention of Gary. "If you're free I wouldn't mind some company on the way."
"Sure, we'll catch lunch another time." Ritchie affirmed.
"You can count on it." Ash took off down the street once Ritchie indicated he was ready. The black haired trainer glanced over at his longtime rival that he only seemed to ever run into at conferences. "So what have you been up to?"
"Mostly traveling through some of the old haunts again. I took on the Battle Frontier about two years ago. I just managed to get past Brandon by the skin of my teeth." The two chuckled at that. The man was nothing to scoff at and could easily hold his own against almost any member of the Elite Four of any region. "Course after that I heard of a new region and had to check it out."
"New region huh, how was it?" Ash asked with genuine curiosity. It seemed that the world was always expanding and once closed off regions were opening their borders on a rapid basis.
Ritchie looked up to the sky as if it would provide him some kind of answer. Seeming to find the words he was looking for Ritchie continued. "Interesting to be sure, I think you'd like it. They got this crazy thing called Mega-Evolution but it is just in its infancy."
"Mega Evolution?" Ash queried a little confused. He realized he had been out of the battle scene for a while but he would have thought something like that would have caught his attention.
Ritchie held up his left hand that had a wrist watched attached to it. "It can really boost your pokemon's stats in a battle. It only works with certain pokemon so far but they are hoping to find more. It only really works for Zippo right now."
"Huh…where can I get one of those?" Ash studied the watch that was on his friend's arm but could not really discern any visible indication that the watch was special.
Chuckling a little at his friend's obvious interest, Ritchie pointed to the top of the watch. "If you have the correct stone you load it into the little claws here. Once it is loaded in you can mega evolve your pokemon but only during a battle for some reason, they are still working on that."
"Oh man, oh man I want one so bad! Please tell me you have a spare." Ash was practically salivating at this point. Nothing else had managed to excite him as much as the prospect of a new way to battle.
Ritchie shook his head a little. "Sorry buddy no can do, these are only available in Kalos."
"Man…how am I gonna compete with that in the tournament." A forlorn expression started to creep across Ash's face. He had been hoping that he would have a shot but if Ritchie had access to this mega evolution he doubted he would last long and Ritchie only had one pokemon that he could mega evolve. Who knew what else he may face in the tournament. Thoughts of a super team of mega evolved pokemon started to enter his head. 'Crap what would a mega evolved Eevee look like, a mega evolved Jigglypuff! Or a Magikarp all powered up on mega stone power.'
Ritchie couldn't help but laugh at the forlorn expression that was currently on Ash's face. Patting his friend on the shoulder a little, Ritchie managed to hold in his laughter long enough to assure Ash of his chances. "Don't worry Ash other than Kalos the use of mega evolution has been banned for official tournament and league battles."
"Well that's good at least." Ash muttered. "But I still want one of those cool watches. I would love to see Pikachu mega evolved, isn't that right buddy." Ash patted Pikachu's head fondly.
"Pika!" Pikachu responded to Ash's inclusion. A slightly dangerous grin crossed Pikachu's features. The little rodent started to fantasize about mega evolving into a 10 foot Pikachu. Literally crushing his opponents by squashing them under his foot, a mega evolved Pikachu was a scary thing to behold indeed.
"Sorry Pikachu they haven't found anything to mega evolve a Pikachu." Ritchie interrupted the little pokemon's day dreams. A soft chuckle escaped both the trainers upon seeing Pikachu's disappointed look.
"Don't worry buddy. We don't need any mega evolution. You're powerful enough just the way you are." Gently scratching Pickahu behind the ears, Ash smiled when the little rodent started to make crooning sounds from the action.
"And Sparky still wants a rematch, Ash…it looks like we're here but don't forget…I want to face off again and see if you really got your spark back." Ritchie came to a stop outside the door that prominently displayed the logo for Battler's Review.
"Don't worry Ritchie you'll get your rematch." Ash shot a confident smile to his rival before clasping Ritchie's hand. Ritchie responded with his own smile before breaking the clasped hands.
"Well good luck in there. I hear that Barry and May can be a handful." Ritchie chuckled a little.
Ash barely kept the disgruntled look of his face as he responded. "Yeah tell me about it." Waving once more to the laughing auburn haired trainer, Ash turned the knob and entered the building. Once more he found himself wondering what fresh hell Gary had cooked up for him this time. 'One day I am going to just kill him, it will happen, just a matter of time at this point.'
Sighing in defeat, Ash started to walk down the hall towards his fate. He could only hope that the interview was quick and painless. As usual though anything having to do with Ash turned out to be anything but simple and to the point.
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Ash actually found that he was feeling a little nervous about the upcoming interview. At this point he was just waiting for the go head to enter the stage. He knew the reason for the nervous feeling gathering in the pit of his stomach was not due to being interviewed, he had been on more than a few TV shows during his time as CEO to Pallet House. No the reason was in fact May. It had been years since he had spoken to her and he was worried about how this would turn out.
"Dammit Gary." He wasn't sure what the jerk had planned but he was sure that whatever it was Dawn had a hand in it. When Gary woke him up this morning the researcher was in a disturbingly good mood. When Gary was in a good mood it normally meant bad things for Ash.
"Almost time Pikachu, you ready buddy?" Ash asked his traveling partner and undisputed best friend. It seemed that the little pokemon had mostly forgiven him for his time away. Well mostly, the electric rodent was more than happy to dole out electrical blasts with fervor when Pikachu deemed it necessary.
"Cha…" Pikachu gave his trainer a thumbs up before his ears perked up at the mention of his name. Without another word the little electrical rodent spring boarded off of Ash's shoulder and ran out onto the stage.
"Hey Pikachu! Wait!" Ash cried out before following Pikachu out onto the stage in an ill-fated attempt to grab the little mouse.
Just as Ash entered the stage, Pikachu leaped into a surprised May's arms.
"Well hello Pikachu. Long time no see." May said before a smile graced her face. She was happy to see the little guy again it had been a long time since they last were together.
Barry laughed aloud at the little rodent's entrance. "Well as you can see our next guest for Battler's Review has arrived. Ash and Pikachu!" Barry shook Ash's hand the moment the young trainer made it over to where he and May were sitting.
Ash let a large smile cross his face in what his mother called his "Public Mode" which he tended to use at any events and also during board meetings. "Hey Barry great to see you again!"
"Likewise Ash, now why don't you have a seat and we'll get started." Barry gestured to the chair that was set up next to the table so Ash could see both of the hosts.
Ash nodded in agreement before taking a seat at the indicated chair. Glancing over at May and Pikachu, Ash couldn't help feeling a little jealous of the little pokemon. Pikachu was currently being held in May's arms and May was nuzzling the little guy.
Chuckling a little, Barry gave May a mock glare. "Hello dear, we're here to do an interview not molest this poor man's Pikachu."
May gave Barry a dirty look before lifting her head in a mock superior pose. "I'm sorry Barry, I forgot you hate competition but I'm sure our fans would much prefer a Battler's Review with me and Pikachu over you and me." Giving the audience both in studio and at home a wink, May set Pikachu down on top of the desk.
"If you had it your way we'd just have a slide show of cute baby pokemon playing in a loop." Barry commented dryly. Turning his attention back to Ash, the younger man shot Ash a mock apologetic smile over the entire incident. "I'm sorry you know how May is."
"I certainly do." Ash commented with his ever present smile. If there was one thing he loved to do despite his age, it was pushing May's buttons. "She isn't the easiest person to travel with."
"And what do you mean by that Ash!" May cut in with a serious glare being leveled at the black haired man and her one fist visibly clenching under the table so only Barry and Ash could see.
Barry put his arms up and attempted to make calming motions with his arms. The last thing he needed was a fight breaking out on stage. "Come on now you two…"
"Oh nothing just that you always tended to be a little hard headed and it sometimes made traveling with you…" Ash paused a moment trying to find the right word. "Challenging."
"Is that so…" May was attempting not to jump across the desk and kill him. The jackass had the audacity to call her a challenge. Really he was the most dimwitted man she had ever met and she could remember many a time she had to try and drag him away from a life or death situation. "Shall we bring up the questionable decision making you used to make during our travels?"
Ash let a smug smile settle over his face. He could see that she was on the verge of exploding. If he really thought about it, he couldn't even tell anyone why he was doing this. Oh yeah now he remembered. "I don't know if I remember correctly you were the one that decided to leave me when I found out my mother had cancer."
"Wow…we are wildly off topic…so Ash what have you been doing with yourself!" Barry attempted to interject.
May's left eye started to twitch a little. Had that insurmountable jackass really tried to bring that up and make her out as the villain? Oh she was having none of it. Not after the stressful month she was having. "And once again everything is all about you Ash! Once again no one else could possibly be going through anything that would warrant their attention other than what poor little Ash is going through!"
Barry started to see his career as a TV host end right before his eyes. He was suddenly starting to regret agreeing to this even if it was a favor to Dawn. "Interesting counter point May. You know what I want to know though…"
The pair cut him off though. "Stay out of this!" They both turned towards the blonde haired man with twin glares before continuing to bicker.
"Well folks…haha…" Barry laughed nervously attempting to be heard over the pair. "They certainly do have a colorful history. Normally we don't see this side of May!"
At this point the pair was not even paying attention to the blonde host. Instead they were solely concentrating on winning the little fight that Ash had started.
"Oh come on then May, enlighten me! What was so important that you couldn't be bothered to come back to Pallet Town with me?" Ash conjectured with a perfect smile still resting across his face. While May kept getting redder in the face, Ash stayed completely calm and in control despite his argumentative tone. Perhaps board meetings did more for him than he gave them credit for.
"No answer May?" Ash shook his head in mock disappointment when May seemed to have clammed up. "Then of course you run away and don't see any of us for years. You know I guess I'm not surprised. Deep down you are still the little girl that never knew what she wanted to do with her life. Hell you only became a trainer to travel. So did you get scared again and run away?" Ash smirked a little. Getting all the frustration he had over her disappearance and communication black out felt great. Even better it appeared that May was about to explode.
"Wow…that…that was wildly inappropriate." Barry once more attempted to cut into no avail. Silently he was cursing the fact that they were a live broadcast and there was no way that they could cut or go to commercial. The entire time they were here at the tournament the League was paying for their program to be commercial free. Of course after this stint he somehow doubted that would continue. "Seriously…though…Ash…May…"
"You wanna know why I left Ketchum! You want to know?" May practically screamed completely losing her composure. The fact that Ash just sat there with a smug smile just drove her over the edge.
Ash gave May a roll of his eyes before responding. "Sure May, I'd love to know why you disappeared completely after we started to travel together again in Unova."
"I found out I was pregnant and I panicked!" May growled while glaring at the man sitting there still looking like a smug jerk. It was a small victory to see Ash's composure crumble into a confused look. Her smile turned absolutely predatory. "Is that what you wanted to hear? That little May didn't know what to do and ran away? Because guess what Ash! That's what happened!"
While Ash appeared to be dumbstruck by the comment and sat there with his jaw unhinged, Pikachu looked back and forth between the two in confusion. The little guy didn't quite understand what was going on but he knew that the two were angry.
Barry well the poor guy just sat there bracing for what was to come next. A small part of him was excited for what this would do for ratings. Everyone loved a good scandal especially when it was right out in the open on live air.
Laughing at the look on Ash's face, May dropped the bombshell. Perhaps if she was in a better frame of mind she would have found a gentler way to break this. "I didn't know what to do Ash! You were completely broken when you heard your Mom had cancer and I didn't want to put more on your plate. I mean what was I going to say Ash? "So sorry to hear about your mother oh and by the way I'm pregnant with your daughter hope your mom gets better? Oh so what do you want to do about the child? Should we surprise Mrs. Ketchum?" Really Ash maybe I didn't do what I should have but I did what I felt was right!"
Barry cleared his throat since Ash was currently shell shocked and May appeared to have just realized the bomb she had dropped on live air. "Well in an exciting announcement um…Ash and May have been entered in a doubles contest as part of our tournament promotion…I guess this concludes this episode of Battler's Review."
That ended what would probably be the highest rated episode of Battler's Review ever.
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"Oh my…well that was unexpected." Delia commented to Professor Oak. She had been invited over by Professor Oak to watch the episode since her little Ash would be featured. "I really need to have a word with him about picking on girls he likes."
Professor Oak looked slightly worried about how Delia was handling this revelation. The girl had quite a temper on her when she got worked up and boy did he remember. "How he treats girls? Is that what you are concerned about?"
"Of course, Ash has always had problems communicating with girls that he likes. I've tried to tell him numerous times that picking on them is not the way to show that you like them but he never seemed to listen." Delia responded with a cheery smile.
"Right…" Professor Oak nodded hesitantly. "So you're not angry about your son having a child then?"
"Of course not!" Delia responded with the cheery smile still on her face. "I'm a grandmother! Though I will have to talk to May about not bringing her grandchild over to see me until now…" Delia mused more to herself than to Professor Oak.
"Yes of course." Professor Oak responded. This was not exactly the response he had been expecting.
Delia stood up and took her purse off the table before grabbing her coat off of the back of the sofa. "Well I should be going Professor."
"Where do you have to go in such a hurry?" Professor Oak queried with a slightly confused look on his face. He thought that they were going to go and grab an early dinner at the Pallet House after Battler's Review.
"Oh I have to go to Indigo and see my granddaughter." A slightly devious smirk crossed the normally gentle woman's features. "And have a word or two with my son and my daughter in law."
"But…they aren't married." Professor Oak fruitlessly called out but by the time he made his observation Delia was long gone and heading back to her house to pack for an impromptu trip to Indigo. Heaving out a breathe he didn't know he had been holding in, Professor Oak glanced at the TV screen again to see the next show starting.
"Well Ash I hope you survive until I can see how my new pokedex has been working." Professor Oak mused to himself before standing up and turning off the TV. With a slight sigh of disappointment he made his way over to the fridge and rummaged through the takeout menus he had in a box next to the fridge since it looked like he wouldn't be eating out tonight.
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"Wow."
"No worries…" Dawn commented hesitantly. "I'm sure it'll turn out fine."
"Yeah fine for you maybe…but Ash is going to kill me now." Gary muttered unhappily.
"Why would he kill you?" Dawn queried a confused look on her face. Absently mindedly she continued to page through the diner's menu where she met Gary to watch the Battler's Review while they had lunch. Of course that bomb shell was unexpected. Even she didn't have an idea that May and Ash had a child and honestly she was the largest gossip of their group.
Sighing a little, Gary let his head fall to the table and just let it lay there buried in the menu. Speaking out of the corner of his mouth, Gary made no move to pick his head back up. "About a week ago we ran into a little girl that looked just like May."
"Oh." Dawn could see where this was going. A slightly worried expression crossed her features upon seeing that Gary was still making no move to pick up his head. "Well no worries…it isn't like you knew it was Ash's child…but seriously did that bonehead really not make the connection."
Chuckling a little, Gary closed his eyes in hopes that this would all just go away. "Of course he didn't but I'm sure even he will be able to realize that Sammy is his daughter. Once he realizes that I knew the child was May's he will be on a war path."
"Still…I'm sure…" Dawn trailed off a look of concern still plastered across her features when she realized that Ash rarely was one to listen to a long winded explanation. Sighing a little, Dawn reached out and patted the top of Gary's head. "Well I'm sure you'll get through it. I mean think of it this way! Without us getting him onto Battler's Review he never would have known!"
"Yeah I'm pretty sure Ashy Boy isn't going to see it that way." Gary muttered before finally dragging his head up and staring at Dawn with what appeared to be some amount of fear. "You haven't ever been around him when he truly is in a rage. I am legitimately concerned he's gonna kill us."
Laughing nervously, Dawn found herself absently twirling her hair. "But you'll protect me right, Gary?"
A slight smirk crossed Gary's face before he reached out and gently squeezed her gloved hand. "Course Blue, what kind of boyfriend would I be to let my girl get killed by my insane best friend?"
A slight blush crossed Dawn's face as she tried to get herself angry over the nickname he imposed on her. Seriously who would name their child Blue? A lazy parent with no imagination and must have just looked at a color wheel and figured good enough, it was almost as bad as naming your child Red or Yellow or another color. Shaking herself out of the mini day dream, Dawn shot her boyfriend a mock glare. "I told you not to call me that!"
"Come on now Dawn, it just suits you. I mean you're as bright as the dawn but only I've ever seen you when you were truly blue." Gary almost gagged at how punny and terrible his words were.
Dawn apparently thought so as well since she had her hand over her mouth and was attempting not to laugh in his face. "Really Gary…that…that was absolutely awful." She managed to get out between giggles.
A mock offended look crossed his features at her response. "And here I go trying to be all romantic and crap and you just laugh it off."
"It's terrible but I love it." A smile slid across Dawn's face in an attempt to show Gary that she wasn't going to continue laughing at him.
Gary's smile slid off his face when he saw Ash enter the diner and appeared to be heading their way. "Uh oh…"
"What uh oh?" Dawn responded with a slightly concerned look due to Gary's face going white as a sheet.
"Hurricane Ash is about to make landfall…" Gary muttered just in time for Ash to come up to the two of them. Gary made a move to try and placate the angry young trainer by getting up to greet him and hopefully divert most of his anger away from Dawn.
"Hey Ash…so about." Gary was abruptly cut off when Ash unexpectedly clocked Gary in the face which sent the young researcher tumbling back into the booth. This caused quite a commotion as Dawn gasped at the unexpected action and most of the other patrons stared on in curiosity.
A/N: So there we go. I was toying with making the child someone else's and I had a story line all written up to make it either Paul's kid or a random trainer. Unfortunately for those of you that wanted the child not to be Ash's…well the scene kinda ended up writing itself. I didn't want May and Ash to have a nice nice pretend we're happy with each other reunion. So instead of having a small fight I just basically let it roll. Hope you guys are alright with the Dawn and Gary pairing. It probably isn't super common and I kinda ended up making it happen at the last second. I will of course give a back story to their dating but I figured if writer's can make a Paul/Dawn pairing believable and work out. I can make a Gary/Dawn believable and work out. Let me know your thoughts and feelings! If you have any questions I will try to answer them either by PM or in a following chapter.