Champion of Champions

by Basic Trainer

It's been 3 years since Ash left Unova or seen his friends. He spent all that time training and now he's ready to start again. As he starts his journey to conquer the Pokemon Leagues he finds meets an old friend who has a favour to ask.

13. Chapter 13

Hi everyone, here's the next chapter.

I'm going to try and speed this story up a little bit. I'm not as far in this as I thought I would be, I'm going to shorten the side adventures between the Gym Battles and Contest.

I need to put a small message in for the reviewer quinten, I know that Ash was in the top 8 of the Unova League but when I started this his result from the league wasn't revealed yet and I think that if Ash didn't get reset every time he goes to a new region his experience would've gotten him into second place or at least top 4.

Once again I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, favourite and is following this story. It really means a lot because I didn't think that my story would become this popular. Thank You.

Now onto the story. Hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 13

On The Road

It had been a week since Ash and May had left Cerulean City and they had settled into a routine. May had asked Ash if she could exercise with him, he told her that it might be a little hard for her but she insisted so he agreed. They would wake up early and start with a run to get warmed up, they would then spend some time stretching before going on to normal exercises, press-ups, sit ups etc. May had spent a couple of days begging Ash to teach her how to defend herself, he was against it but eventually relented when she unleashed her ultimate weapon, her infamously powerful puppy dog eyes after that he started to tutor May in basic self-defense. That became part of their routine after that they would get washed and have breakfast, then they'd travel for a few hours before stopping for lunch. After lunch they would train their Pokémon for a couple of hours and start travelling again, when they started to feel hungry they'd stop for dinner and travel again until it started to get dark, setting up camp for the night and training their Pokémon a some more until they wanted to go to sleep.

Ash and May were out on their morning run, Ash wore a black t-shirt and May had on a red vest top and both wore sweatpants. Ash was running slower than usual so that May could keep up, she was getting slightly out of breath but didn't want to show any weakness and pushed herself to keep pace with Ash.

"You doing okay May?" Ash asked looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah…huh…huh…I'm fine." She panted in reply as she drew level with Ash. He could see she was getting tired, deciding to cut the run short he started to change direction back to their campsite. A few minutes later they arrived back at camp and Ash waited for May to get her breath back before starting to stretch out. May followed along with Ash as best she could, struggling for balance as she brought one knee to her chest while she stood on the other leg. Once they finished stretching Ash walked to a nearby branch and started to do some chin ups as May went up to another branch and tried to do the same but couldn't manage to lift herself off the ground enough to complete one chin up. Ash chuckled letting go of his branch and walked up to May, he lifted her from the branch and put her on the ground stopping her struggles to raise herself off the ground.

"May, why not start with something easier? You haven't been doing this for long, it'll take time to build your strength up." He said. May pouted slightly as she looked at Ash.

"But I want to be able to do that like you can." She grumbled.

"You will but it not right now, come on let's work on your strength." Ash started showing May some simple techniques to build up her strength. After a while Ash started to go through the self-defense moves he thought May might need, teaching her how to escape from grabs, how to block attacks and counter enough to give her a chance to get away from her attacker. Once they had finished Ash started to make breakfast while May went to wash and get dressed at a nearby lake, as Ash finished making breakfast May came back looking refreshed and ready for the day ahead, once they'd eaten their breakfast Ash went to get washed and changed while May fed the Pokémon. When Ash came back they packed up the camp site and started on their way to Drummond Town again. As they walked they were bouncing ideas back and forth for May's Contest appeals and how some of Ash's combos could be turned into Contest moves, like they had done with Ice Bolt. Pikachu walked in front of Ash and May with Glaceon walking alongside him, Lucario walked behind Ash and Meowth was alongside Ash and was giving some input on things that might work in a Contest.

When they decided to stop for lunch, Ash remembered that he'd been in this area before and soon found a familiar unofficial Gym with a scoreboard outside with '99 wins' written on it. Ash smiled and took a deep breath.

"I challenge this Gym!" He shouted. May looked at him in confusion and was about to ask why he was shouting when a voice answered him.

"Who challenges my gym, who's my 100th victim?" May looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man around Ash's age, maybe a little older, he had dark green, almost black, spiked hair and wore a black t-shirt with a red zigzag across the middle, he had a pair of black shorts on with a whip curled up attached to his hip. The man looked over Ash before his eyes settled on May, he ran a hand through his hair and walked up to her.

"Hey, beautiful. What can I do for you?" he said, May took a step back and stood closer to Ash. Glaceon bared her fangs and growled lowly at the man.

"Hi, AJ care to lose?" Ash said, bristling a little at the attention AJ was giving to May. AJ turned his attention to Ash and looked closely trying to work out who was talking to him.

"Do I know you?" AJ asked.

"It's been a while but I'm not surprised you don't remember me. I'm Ash Ketchum." AJ looked thoughtful for a minute then he remembered who Ash was.

"Ash, it's been a long time, you're the one who's going to lose…again. How've you been?" AJ asked.

"Good, travelled a lot and competed in a lot of leagues. I've spent the last few years training and now I'm challenging the Indigo League again. How did you do? I remember you saying that once you had 100 victories you were going to battle the Gym Leaders." Ash said.

"I made it to the Indigo League but only managed to get to the top 32. I went back to training for a few years then tried the Silver Conference and got to the top 8. Since then I've been training and started to rack up my 100 victories last year. Once I've got them I'm entering the Indigo League again." AJ explained, "Who's the babe?"

"I'm May, Ash's girlfriend," May said wrapping her arms around Ash as she suppressed a blush. Ash subconsciously put his arm around May's waist, making her fight harder against the blush.

"So AJ, what about that battle? I'm not losing this time." Ash said. AJ snorted and jerked his head towards the battlefield.

"That's what you think, come on." AJ turned round and walked over to the battlefield, uncurling the whip from his waist and cracking it. Six Pokémon ran to the field lining up ready for AJ's orders, May frowned seeing AJ using the whip but didn't say anything only holding onto Ash more as they followed AJ.

"Let's make this a 4 on 4 match, substitutions are allowed you ready Ash?" AJ asked, Ash nodded and walked to the other end of the battlefield. May stood behind Ash with Pikachu sitting on her shoulder, as he thought about which Pokémon he would use. There was something that May noticed before she stood behind Ash, there was a familiar glint in his eyes, it was his passion for battle, that spark that would always light the fire in his mind that fuelled his spur of the moment strategies. May smiled and prepared herself to watch the coming battle, before Glaceon followed May to the side of the field she quickly nuzzled her cheek against Pikachu's.

"I'll choose first, Go Beedrill!" AJ shouted cracking his whip as Beedrill flew onto the field. Ash took a second to think about the Pokémon he had with him before taking a ball from his belt he enlarged it before throwing the ball high into the air.

"I choose you Donphan." Ash said as his elephant like ground type landed on the field, making it shake slightly. Donphan bellowed his arrival raising his trunk high and stamping his foot. His body was a slightly darker shade and his tyre like hide was thicker, the tusks on either side of his mouth were noticeably larger and a lighter in colour.

"Beedrill use Bug Buzz." Beedrill made his wings move faster and faster causing rings of red energy flood the battlefield moving towards Donphan.

"Defence Curl then Ice Shard." Ash called, Donphan rolled into a ball and endured Beedrill's attack before unrolling and forming a ball of ice in front of his mouth. He shattered the ice with his tusks and a volley of ice fragments flew at Beedrill. AJ cracked his whip again and Beedrill started to weave about dodging most of the attack though some fragments did hit.

"Beedrill, Poison Jab." Beedrill's stingers glowed purple as he flew forward jabbing them at Donphan.

"Donphan dodge with Rollout." Donphan curled into a ball again, his tyre like hide finding grip easily as he sped away from Beedrill's attack. The bug type followed Donphan jabbing at him with his stingers but never able to connect properly, the odd occasion that they did make contact the attack failed as they glanced off Donphan's spinning body. "Now stop dodging and attack." Ash said, Donphan increased his speed, pulling away from Beedrill before performing a U-turn and charging towards the bug type.

"Get out of the way." AJ shouted, cracking the whip once more. Beedrill rose into the air dodging the Rollout. "Now attack with Poison Sting." Beedrill's stingers glowed purple again and multiple tiny purple missiles flew towards Donphan, connecting with him and stopping his Rollout attack.

"Donphan Rock Tomb to protect yourself." Donphan bellowed as rocks erupted from the ground and surrounded the ground type stopping the poison type attack from hitting Donphan.

"Destroy those rocks and finish this battle with Hyper Beam." Beedrill dropped lower to the ground and charged a ball of orange energy between his stingers. A beam of destructive energy flew from the ball, the beam struck the rocks blasting them to pieces leaving a cloud of dust in their place. Once the dust settled they saw that Donphan was nowhere to be seen, there was only a hole on the ground where the rocks had been. AJ, May and Beedrill looked around the field trying to locate the missing ground type. "How? Donphan can't learn Dig, where did he go?" AJ asked.

Ash just smiled as seconds later the ground underneath Beedrill cracked, Donphan came flying from the ground using a combination of Rollout and Fire Fang. He slammed into the panting bug type who was still recovering his energy from using Hyper Beam. The fire type attack caused a great deal of damage to Beedrill, the bug type crashed into the ground but slowly got back to his feet and with a bit of effort managed to get back into the air.

"I know Donphan can't learn Dig but we developed that tactic as an emergency dodge by using a combination of Rollout and Rapid Spin in one spot it allows Donphan to get underground and then he can go where ever he needs to. Rock Tomb give him time to get underground and help with the element of surprise. Coming out of the ground with Fire Fang was Donphan's idea, that's an improvised Flame Wheel we developed just in case." AJ just stared at Ash in amazement, this wasn't the kid he battled 11 years ago, this was someone completely different. He cracked a wicked smile.

"You've changed a lot Ash, this just might be fun. Beedrill use Giga Drain." He said, Beedrill's stingers turned green as energy of the same colour flow towards Donphan, the energy made contact and started to drain his energy.

"Donphan get out of there, use Rollout." Donphan once more rolled into a ball and sped across the field breaking the hold the energy had on him. "Now use Stone Edge." White rings of energy surrounded the ground type, the energy soon turned into spinning rings of sharp stones. With a bellow the stones flew at Beedrill, the bug type dodged most of the stones but was hit by some of them. "Flame Wheel." Ash shouted and Donphan used the combination of Rollout and Fire Fang again, using some of the remnants of Rock Tomb as a platform to get into the air and slammed into Beedrill, sending him to the ground. "Finish with Body Slam." Donphan unrolled and crashed down on Beedrill with his full weight, kicking a cloud of dust into the air obscuring the impact sight from the trainers. After a minute the cloud dispersed and the results of the impact could be seen, Donphan was still on his feet in front of a knocked out Beedrill panting. Without a word, AJ returned Beedrill and cracked his whip. May cheered for Ash's victory and Ash gave words of thanks and encouragement to Donphan.

His next Pokémon ran on to the field, Ash looked on as he saw an Ursaring roar into the air. Donphan shifted slightly hearing the roar, Ash was about to return his Pokémon but Donphan shook his head indicating he wanted to continue the battle, Ash nodded and waited for AJ to make his move.

"Ursaring, Hammer Arm." Ursaring's forearm glowed white as he ran towards Donphan. She swung her arm downwards in a vicious arc.

"Donphan, meet it with Bulldoze." He was surrounded by a golden light and surged forward, crashing into Ursaring's arm. They fought against each other pushing back and forth, wrestling for any advantage. A minute passed, two and still they struggled until Donphan was slowly forced backwards, he dug his feet into the ground but was still being pushed back.

"Ursaring, grab him and use Seismic Toss!" AJ shouted as he cracked his whip. Ursaring shifted her arms and grabbed Donphan's tusks lifting him into the air with ease. Ursaring jumped and prepared to throw Donphan back to the field May thought that this was the end of the match when Ash spoke.

"Reverse it with Rollout." He said, Donphan used Rollout while in Ursaring's grasp, he struggled to get up to speed to start with but soon moved fast enough to cause the normal type to spin round Donphan and lose her grip. Ursaring plummeted to the ground followed by Donphan still using Rollout as he fell towards her.

"Ursaring, Hyper Beam." An orange ball of energy formed in Ursaring's mouth and a beam shot from it hitting Donphan's spinning form, halting his descent and slowly forcing him back into the air. With one final blast of power Ursaring's Hyper Beam thrust Donphan high into the air, a few seconds later the ground type landed with a dull thud and swirls in his eyes.

"Donphan thank you, take a nice long rest." Ash said returning his Pokémon while AJ grinned wickedly in victory. Ash turned a looked at the Pokémon behind him, "You ready to do this?" One of them nodded and stepped forward to the field, as they passed Ash he smiled.

I am ready Master. He said, Ash sighed and May giggled as they were the only ones who could hear Lucario speak. Lucario squared up to Ursaring, completely unaffected by the growls and glares of the normal type Pokémon.

"Ursaring use…." AJ started to say but he was interrupted by Ash calling out to Lucario.

"Force Palm." because of the close proximity of the Pokémon Lucario didn't need to waste any energy moving and simply poured his power into a ball on his palm as he thrust it onto the centre of Ursaring's stomach. The strength of the attack was enough to throw the normal type back across the field kicking up a dust cloud as she tried to stay on her feet with little success. She went a couple of feet before she hit the remains of Donphan's Rock Tomb, tripping over them and skidding across the rest of the field on her back until she came to a stop. AJ was shocked into silence seeing the power of Lucario, Ursaring got to her feet and roared in anger.

"Ursaring, Fire Punch!" Flames erupted around Ursarings claws as she charged forwards, Lucario didn't move simply waiting for Ash's command.

"Dodge with Extremespeed." Ash said calmly, Lucario waited until the last second and disappeared in a blur, evading the Fire Punch. "Aura Sphere" Lucario reappeared behind Ursaring and fired an Aura Sphere into her back sending her across the field again. Once more Ursaring got to her feet, noticeably slower than the last time. "Lucario finish this with Dragon Pulse." An orb of turquoise energy formed between Lucario's palms and he threw it into the centre of Ursaring's chest knocking her to the ground and out of the battle.

AJ recalled Ursaring and Ash called Lucario back from the field, AJ sent out his next Pokémon cracking his whip and his Raticate ran on to the field. Ash turned around.

"Meowth, do you want to see what your training's been doing?"

"Sure why not, a cat's got to fight a rat when he see one anyways." Meowth answered and walked onto the field, AJ was amazed to see a talking Pokémon and after a minute he remembered that he'd met a talking Meowth before.

"You're from Team Rocket. Ash, what's he doing with you?" AJ asked.

"He left Team Rocket and helped me when I really needed it. I offered him a choice he could either join me or go to jail. He chose to come with me and since then we've through a lot together, now's when we find out how much stronger he is now." Ash explained.

"Whatever. Raticate Hyper Fang." Raticate opened his mouth and charged at Meowth.

"Meowth, dodge and counter with Iron Tail" Meowth dove to the side, evading the attack and then smashing Raticate in the side with his tail which had taken on a metallic sheen. Raticate was sent a few feet to the side before sliding to a stop and facing Meowth again.

"Raticate use Shadow Ball." A ball of black energy formed in front of Raticate's mouth before flying towards Meowth, AJ smirked when Ash didn't tell Meowth to dodge but his smirk soon disappeared when the Shadow Ball simply dissolved on contact with the cat's body. "What happened?" he asked.

"Ghost type moves don't work on normal type Pokémon." Ash explained, "Meowth use Slash." Meowth's claws grew and glowed white as he ran up to Raticate to deliver his attack.

"Double-Edge." Raticate surged forward and was outlined in golden energy and crashed into Meowth's attack throwing him back towards Ash. Meowth crashed to the ground in front of Ash and slowly got to his feet.

"Meowth, are you okay?" Ash asked.

"I'm fine, takes more than an overgrown rat to take me down." Meowth said with a smile, "Let's end this battle." Ash smiled and nodded.

"Meowth, Thunderbolt." Electricity crackled around Meowth's body before focusing on coin attached to his forehead. A Thunderbolt blasted from it connecting with Raticate throwing the normal type back. During their training they had found that if Meowth focused his attack on his coin it was easier for him to aim it. "Now to use the move Lucario taught you, Dark Pulse." Meowth's coin glowed dark purple as a beam of swirling black and purple rings flew from it slamming into Raticate. Raticate was pushed further across the field and stopped in front of AJ, he cracked his whip.

"Don't let that Meowth beat you, Quick Attack." Raticate ran towards Meowth at high speed, leaving a trail of white light behind him. He slammed into Meowth winding the cat Pokémon sending him to the ground, both Pokémon were breathing heavily and glaring at each other.

"Meowth, Iron Tail."

"Raticate, Iron Tail as well." Both Pokémon focused their remaining energies and their tails took on a metallic sheen as they charged at each other, at the last second they spun around slamming their tails into each other. They stayed in that position for a minute before they both fell forward, knocked out. AJ returned Raticate and Ash walked on to the field and carried Meowth off placing him on the ground next to Lucario who used Heal Pulse to start reviving Meowth. Ash turned to May and smiled when he saw the grin on her face.

"You're doing great Ash, just one more Pokémon and you've won." She said.

"Thanks May but he's going to bring out his strongest Pokémon now and I'll need to be careful. Could you tell Meowth that I'm really proud of him when he wakes up?"

"Sure, no problem Ash. Now go win this thing." Ash nodded and walked back to the field.

"So Ash this is the last battle, you can still give up you know." AJ said tauntingly, Ash just smiled at him.

"I was just about to say the same to you AJ. I'm still ahead, Lucario can still battle and I have one more Pokémon to use. I also know which Pokémon you're going to use." Ash replied, AJ cracked his whip again and his last Pokémon walked on to the field. AJ was using his strongest Pokémon and his ace, Sandslash had entered the battle.

"Pikachu, I choose you." Pikachu jumped off May's shoulder and ran on to the field, sparks coming from his cheeks. "Iron Tail." Pikachu's tail glowed with a metallic light as he ran.

"Sandslash, Dig." As Pikachu got close Sandslash dove into the ground.

"Pikachu, Thunder on the field." AJ was confused by Ash's command and had to cover his eyes from the immense light as Pikachu's attack demolished the field throwing Sandslash into the air. "Now Iron Tail again."

"Defence Curl." Sandslash rolled into to a ball, seconds before Pikachu's tail made contact protecting him from the brunt of the attack. Sandslash hit the ground rolling away to a safe distance, AJ couldn't use Dig again or Fissure because of the state of the field. "Sandstorm." He shouted. Sandslash unrolled himself and crossed his arms over his chest before starting to spin creating a funnel of sand that soon covered the battlefield, shielding everything from view. "Sandslash, you know what to do." AJ smirked and crossed his arms.

"Pikachu, keep moving round and keep your ears open when you hear him move and counter." Ash said, May was worried about Pikachu and grew confused when she saw Ash close his eyes.

There is no need for concern Mistress May, Master Ash and Pikachu have trained for these situations. The reason that Master Ash has his eyes closed is so that he can see what is happening inside the Sandstorm with his Aura. He can focus his Aura Sight better when his eyes are closed. Lucario explained so only May could hear him. May nodded and waited to see what would happen in the battle, having recovered enough Meowth also watched as the battle unfolded. Glaceon stood close to May's legs worried for Pikachu's safety and the last thing she saw before he disappeared into the Sandstorm was a knowing smirk and she swore he winked at her as well.

The battle inside the Sandstorm could be heard but was mostly unseen apart from the occasional flash of Pikachu's electricity. AJ was still smirking and Ash's face didn't show anything other than belief in Pikachu's abilities. There were the sounds of Metal Claw and Iron Tail clashing, attacks exploding against each other and the ground. Minutes passed, the entire battle between Pikachu and Sandslash was only between the Pokémon their trainer had no say in it anymore. The Pokémon acted from instinct and experience, May saw Ash's eyes snap open and seconds later the Sandstorm faded, Ash smiled as he saw the field. It was more damaged than before, it would take AJ weeks to repair the damage even with his Pokémon helping. Both Pikachu and Sandslash were still standing but Pikachu was in better condition, even though he had taken damage from the Sandstorm. While the Sandstorm had covered the field Pikachu had been using the only move he had that was super effective against ground types, Grass Knot, Sandslash was trapped within a net of grass and unable to move.

"Sandslash use Rollout to get out of those weeds!" AJ shouted. Sandslash curled into a ball and started to spin at high speed, at first he stayed in the one spot but after a few seconds the Grass Knots holding Sandslash in place were shredded and the ground type shot across the field towards Pikachu

"Pikachu finish with Iron Tail." Pikachu nodded and his tail turned metallic.

"Pika Pikachu Pi Chu Kachu." (This is for Pidgeot and Butterfree) Pikachu said as he started to turn. AJ could do nothing but watch as Pikachu swung his tail round hitting Sandslash's rotating form, knocking him across the field and out of the battle. May and Glaceon cheered for Pikachu as he delivered his final blow.

"But…but how? I had the type advantage, I should've won." AJ said quietly.

"Type advantage isn't everything in a battle, you need to look past that to win. Before you said you've been round Kanto and you went to Johto right?" Ash said walking onto the field to get Pikachu. "Good job buddy." He said as he lifted Pikachu onto his shoulder.

"Yeah, that's right." AJ answered recalling Sandslash.

"Why not try the other regions? There's great Pokémon and trainers there so you can get stronger and create your own unique battle style. You don't need to get 100 wins before going to the Pokémon League the time you spend here waiting for those wins you could be out travelling and battling even more trainers."

"I might just do that Ash, thank for the advice but what do you mean by create my own battle style? I've already got one." AJ asked.

"Yeah, you've got a battle style but it's not unique, a lot of other trainers have the same one. Power and speed is the style you're using, you hit hard and fast to get a quick win. It'll work on new trainers and ones with a year or two of experience but older, more experienced trainers will get through it like I did. You need to add your own twist to it, make it different. The best way I can describe it would be to use May's battle style, hers is unique, she's a Pokémon Co-Ordinator but she's different to all other Co-Ordinators, she has something that they don't. All other Co-Ordinators the focus of their training is their Pokémon's control of their attacks, along with the way they move. Most Co-Ordinator's Pokémon lack the strength that a normal trainer's Pokémon has. May though she's found a way to use both that as far as I know no other Co-Ordinator can, she blends the beauty and of a Co-Ordinators with the power and tactics of a trainer. The only other person that has a style close to hers is a friend of our called Dawn. May is one of a kind, there's no one that can match her style." Ash explained.

"My style's only unique because of your help Ash. You taught me everything I know about Pokémon and battling so in a way you created my battling style." May said blushing slightly at the way Ash had described the way she battled. Ash told AJ that it would be a good idea to stop using the whip as it sends the wrong message to trainers, AJ understood what Ash was talking about as he'd already had a couple of inspections from the Pokémon Trainer Committee because of trainers reporting him. Ash also explained that the only reason Meowth was able to draw with Raticate was because of his Technician and the hard training he had been doing.

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While their Pokémon recovered and they had lunch, Ash and May told AJ about some of the adventures and the Pokémon they'd seen on the journeys. A couple of hours later Ash and May said goodbye to AJ and carried on their way to Drummond Town, AJ left his Gym as well and started to walk in the opposite direction towards Cerulean City to start his own journey. Ash and May travelled for about an hour before they stopped again to train their Pokémon but not for their usual length of time after they had battled hard against AJ. After the short training session Ash and May started walking again reaching a small town just before they were going to stop for dinner, they went straight to the Pokémon Centre, booked a room for the night, Ash exchanged his Pokémon sending Meowth, Donphan and Sandshrew to the Lab and adding Houndour, Infernape and Shinx to his team. Ash wanted Meowth to train with his other Pokémon as they would be able to help him more than Ash could. Ash planned to have Sawk and Lucario continue working together a little more, Houndour and Infernape could work on fire type attacks, Infernape could help Sawk as well while Lucario helped Houndour learn Dark Pulse. Pikachu was going to work with Shinx on increasing his speed and stamina so he could dodge and move his attacks faster. Once Ash finished collecting his Pokémon and phoned home to let his mom know where they were and how they were getting on he went to find May, he found her quickly as she was waiting in the main reception for him.

"Ash, while you were on the phone I called home and my mom said there was a letter waiting for me. I told her to open it and read it for me, it was from the magazine that your mom showed us." Ash paled slightly but nodded for May to continue. "The letter said that they thought I'd given permission for the photograph to be taken and they only found out the truth when they contacted people I know asking who you were. They apologised and said they would put a written apology in the next issue saying that they would respect our privacy, they also said that although they wouldn't print anything about us it wouldn't stop people bothering us. I think we should be okay though if we keep a low profile and don't stay too long in the towns with Contests."

"Why just towns with Contests?" Ash asked.

"Because they only recognised me, they don't know who you are so they won't be looking for you. They'll only be looking for me at Contests, we'll just have to hope that they don't talk to Drew, Harley or Ursula. If they do then they'll find out who you are, that would cause problems for your mom and everyone else you know."

"May, it's okay. You don't have to worry so much, if my mom can handle anything they could do and so can everyone else. It'll be fine." Ash said putting a hand on her shoulder. "Stop thinking about that and start focussing on your Contest, it starts in a few days right?"

"Yeah, six days and then I get my next ribbon." May said with a nod.

"The way we're going it should take two maybe three days to get to Drummond Town, tomorrow I'll get some more supplies and we'll start moving again. Unless you want to stay here for a bit."

"Let's leave tomorrow I want to get there early so I have time to prepare for the Contest." Ash nodded in understanding.

"I'm going to do a little exercise and talk to Houndour and Shinx before we eat." Ash said, "Do you want to meet them as well?" May nodded and flashed a bright in agreement, together they went outside to the battlefields. Ash threw four of his Pokéballs into the air and the Pokémon inside appeared in a flash of light, Sawk, Infernape, Houndour and Shinx stood in front of him. He knelt down so he could look at Houndour and Shinx on their own level. "Hey guys, I'm Ash, I'm going to be your trainer. I'd like to be your friend as well, this is Pikachu, Lucario, Sawk and Infernape." Ash said gesturing to his other Pokémon, "Pikachu has been with me since I started on my journey, I met Infernape four years ago in Sinnoh and Lucario joined my team 3 years ago. Truthfully I see all of my Pokémon as my family and now that you and the other Pokémon my dad sent over the years, you're part of that family as well. I only met Sawk a week ago but we're friends already, right?" Ash looked over his shoulder at the blue fighting type.

"Sawk." The Karate Pokémon said with a swift nod and a small smile.

"So what do you two say, will you be my friends and part of my family?" Ash finished turning back to the Pokémon in front of him. Houndour barked his agreement and licked Ash's cheek, Shinx stepped forward and rubbed against Ash's leg purring. May watched them and smiled at how easily Ash was able to get along with Pokémon, she giggled a little when Houndour put his front paws on Ash's shoulder causing him to fall backwards. "That's May she a friend I'm travelling with, she's part of the family too." Shinx walked over to May sniffed at her leg before rubbing up against her, May knelt down and petted Shinx's head feeling the tickle of the static on the little Pokémon's fur. Suddenly May found herself falling to the side as a dark shape leant on her shoulder, May turned her head to see Houndour leaning over her and starting to lick her face. She could hear Ash laughing and after a minute she heard him talking to Houndour.

"Okay Houndour, I think she knows you like her, let her get up." He chuckled, Houndour moved away from May and sat at Ash's feet. May got to her feet and started to wipe Houndour's drool from her face. "Here take this." Ash said holding out a towel for May, she took it and wiped her face.

"Thanks Ash but that wasn't very funny, I hurt my elbow when I fell over." May said looking down and gently rubbing her arm. Seconds later she felt another hand on her arm, looking up she saw Ash examining her arm to see how hurt she was.

"I'm sorry May, I didn't think you'd get hurt." He said sincerely, May felt her face heating up. Gently, and reluctantly, she pulled her arm away from Ash's hand.

"It's okay Ash, I know you didn't mean it. It's only a graze, I'll be alright." May took her Pokéballs out of her bag, "Come on let's do some training." She threw the balls into the air and released her Pokémon, they spent the next couple of hours training their Pokémon and Ash spent a little time teaching May some self-defence, ending up on his back after showing May a throw to use against bigger opponents. Ash groaned as he stood up and brushed off the dirt on his clothes, he looked at May and smiled.

"That's great May, just remember that and anytime someone grabs you, throw them." He said, May nodded and they returned their Pokémon leaving Pikachu, Lucario and Glaceon out to walk with them. They went into the Pokémon Centre and gave their Pokémon to Nurse Joy to get the healed, while they waited they talked about how they would travel to Drummond Town and some plans on how to train for the Contest and Ash's upcoming Gym battle in Vermilion City. Half an hour later Nurse Joy called them over and gave them their Pokémon back telling them that they were back to full strength and in perfect health, Ash and May thanked her and went to their room. They put their things in the room and went out to find somewhere to eat, they found a small café which wasn't too busy and had dinner there, ordering some food for their Pokémon as well. After eating and paying for their food, they went back to the Pokémon Centre and spent some time just playing with Houndour and Shinx so they would feel comfortable around them. The room they had booked had two single beds, a small bathroom, a desk and chair. It was small but enough for the two of them to be comfortable with their Pokémon who now stayed out of their Pokéballs.

Eventually Ash and May realised what time it was and got ready for bed, wishing each other good night they went to sleep, little knowing that they were dreaming of each other. Lucario leant against the wall to sleep, crossing his arms over his chest, while Pikachu and Glaceon curled up at the bottom of their trainer's bed.

---

The next morning at 6 o'clock Ash woke up and groaned quietly as he stretched, he looked over at May and decided not to wake her because of how peaceful and perfect she looked. Slowly he got out of his bed and went into the bathroom to change into his exercise clothes, when he came out he saw that Lucario was awake so they quietly left the room and walked out of the Pokémon Centre, surprising Nurse Joy who not used to seeing people at that time of the morning. Ash said good morning to her and left the building to start his run, together he and Lucario made a circuit around the small town, using things like benches and bins as obstacles. As they got close to the Pokémon Centre they could see someone standing outside with two small Pokémon standing at their feet, it was May and she wasn't very happy.

"Ash we're meant to be exercising together, why didn't you wake me?" She asked angrily turning her face away from him.

"You looked really peaceful when I woke up and I couldn't bring myself to disturb you. I'm sorry." He replied. May turned back to face him and saw the truth in his eyes, he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings he just wanted to let her sleep.

"It's okay Ash I probably would've done the same thing. Now come on we've got some exercise to do." May turned on the spot and jogged to the battlefields followed by Glaceon. Ash stood there and found himself just watching May jog away, he wanted to follow her but his body wouldn't move. A couple of seconds later however it did move because Pikachu sent a couple hundred volts up Ash's leg to snap him out of it, it also sent Ash to the ground and small amounts of smoke floated off of his body.

"Thanks buddy." Ash groaned as he slowly got back to his feet and followed May, Lucario walked behind him leaving Pikachu in front of the Pokémon Centre snickering. When he got to the battlefield he saw that May had started stretching out, Ash walked over to her and started to do his own exercises starting with some press-ups. Once May finished stretching she started to copy Ash's workout but not at the same speed he was capable of, for every press-up she did Ash did three. They stopped after a few minutes and let out their Pokémon so they could get a little exercise as well. They finished their exercises two hours later and went back into the Pokémon Centre to get ready for the day ahead, after getting washed, changed and having breakfast Ash and May left the Pokémon Centre with their things. They walked towards the shops to get some supplies for the next part of their journey, May went to get the food they'd need and Ash went looking for anything else such as rope, extra towels, utensils etc. After an hour they met up and once they packed their supplies into their bags they started on their way to Drummond Town again.

---

A couple of days later they came across a large building in the middle of a forest. Ash recognised the building this was something he planned to do while he was travelling, he planned on visiting most of the places he'd been when he first went through Kanto.

"Pokémon Tech." He said looking at the building. May turned to look at him, a confused expression on her face.

"You know this place?" she asked.

"Yeah when I first came through Kanto me, Brock and Misty found this place when we got lost." Ash then quickly explained to May what had happened and how the school worked giving trainers a way into the League without challenging the Gyms. "When I was training I decided that when I started travelling again I would try to visit most of the places that I did when I first set out as a trainer, this is the next stop on that journey. I hope you don't mind, I know I should've told you earlier but I kinda got distracted by everything else happening."

"I don't mind Ash," May said smiling brightly, "I like the idea, it's like starting all over again."

"Thanks for understanding May. Come on let's go and take a closer look." Ash said, May nodded in agreement. They were about to walk up to the entrance when they heard some voices coming from within the forest close to them. They walked through the trees until they found a clearing, in the clearing they saw a group of children wearing school uniforms and two adults, a man and a woman, standing in front of them. Just when May was about to walk into the clearing Ash stopped her and shook his head, she was confused as to why Ash stopped her. Her confusion increased when she saw Ash grin devilishly as he looked at the man, she wondered why he was grinning and assumed that Ash knew the man. She was about to ask why he stopped her from entering the clearing but when she opened her mouth Ash placed his finger on her lips to silence her, her heart skipped a beat before it started hammering against her ribs, at the contact and she looked away from Ash into the clearing so he wouldn't see her blush. May tried to slow her heartbeat by focusing on the man Ash was grinning at, the man looked to be in his mid-twenties, he was a little over six foot tall, had a muscular build but not overly so. He was quite average looking and he had a kind smile on his face as he spoke to the class in front of him. His hair was short and black, he was wearing jeans, a white T-shirt under an open black short sleeved shirt, he had black trainers on his feet and a blue satchel bag hanging across his chest. A Lucario stood at his side and a Shiny Pichu sat on his shoulder.

Ash nodded to his Lucario, who nodded in return. Lucario closed his eyes and the four appendages on his head became outlined in blue raising slightly into the air. The Lucario in the clearing turned her head to look at the place where Ash and May were hiding and gave a barely visible nod before looking back to the group of children.

"Now who can tell me what matters in a Pokémon battle?" The man asked, his voice calm and even. The children started to raise their hands when one of them, a young boy shouted out.

"The only thing that matters is type advantage." The boy said arrogantly, the man raised an eyebrow as he looked at the boy sceptically. The boy was about ten years old, had blonde hair and had the look of a person who thought they knew everything about everything.

"So you're saying that you could beat my Lucario with any fire type?" The man asked.

"No problem."

"Alright then," The man said, "let's see what you can do. It wouldn't be fair to battle you with one of my Pokémon so with the permission of your teacher and the other students I'll use one of their Pokémon which has a type advantage to yours and we'll see how the battle goes shall we?" The man looked at the woman and she nodded her agreement with a small smile on her face. "Okay then you choose which of your classmates Pokémon do you want me to use?"

The boy looked at his classmates and his eyes stopped on another boy, who was the same age, had light brown hair and wore a pair of round glasses perched on the end of his nose. The boy pointed at the boy he was looking at, "I choose Kyle's Oddish."

The man nodded and walked over to Kyle, he knelt down looking the boy in the eye, "Can I borrow your Oddish for a little bit?" he asked, Kyle nodded meekly and handed his Pokéball over. "Don't worry," the man said comfortingly, "Oddish will be fine." The man stood up and walked to the side of the clearing, facing the boy who challenged him, "Miss Giselle would you act as the referee?" he asked the teacher. She nodded and stood between them after ushering the other children to the side of the clearing. The man looked at the other children "I will now demonstrate that in a Pokémon battle, type advantage isn't everything." He released Oddish from her Pokéball and asked that the grass type listen to him for the battle, Oddish nodded and walked onto the field. The Pichu that sat on the man's shoulder jumped on the shoulder of the Lucario who stood at the man's side, Lucario then walked over to Giselle and waited for the battle to end.

"This is a one on one battle between Robert of Pokémon Tech and Adam of Celestic Town, trainer are you ready?" they both nodded, "Begin."

"Growlithe burn him away." Robert shouted throwing a Pokéball onto the field and a Growlithe appeared in a flash of light., "Use Fire Fang!" Growlithe's mouth erupted in flames as he charged across the field at Oddish. Growlithe was getting closer and closer to Oddish as Adam did nothing except watch and wait.

"Oddish, Sleep Powder and dodge." Adam said when Growlithe was a foot away. Oddish's leaves released a cloud of sparkling blue powder before the grass type jumped to the left, Growlithe wasn't able to get out of the way of the attack and was soon put to sleep. "Now keep using Absorb." Oddish fired a red beam from her leaves, the beam connected with Growlithe and the fire type became enveloped with red light as his energy was drained. Robert was getting angry that his Pokémon was being beaten by a grass type and started shouting.

"Growlithe wake up now! I can't believe I wasted my time training you when you can't even beat the weakest Pokémon in the class. You're weak and useless. You'd better wake up now or I'll…" Robert's voice was drowned out when Adam raised his voice.

"YOU WILL DO NOTHING!" He roared, "There is no such thing as a weak Pokémon there are only weak trainers." Adam looked at his Lucario and nodded, she nodded in return and placed Pichu in Giselle's arms before disappearing by using Extremespeed. She reappeared by Adam with a Pokéball in her grasp, Adam took the Pokéball and returned Growlithe, he then returned Oddish after thanking her for her help.

"You cheated." Robert said as he stalked across the field towards Adam. "And give me back my Growlithe."

"No I didn't, all I did was show that type advantage isn't everything all you need to do is work out how to use the situation to your own advantage. You're not getting Growlithe back until you can show that you are capable of taking care of him and not blame him for your own failings." Adam said as he walked past the boy and handed Growlithe's Pokéball to Giselle, Pichu jumped from Giselle's arms onto Adam's shoulder.

"What Adam says if true, when I was still a student here I met a boy who beat my Cubone with his Pikachu. In that battle I was arrogant and that cost me the battle, one day I hope to meet that boy again and thank him for showing me what a trainer is meant to be. In battle the things that matter most is the trust that a trainer has in their Pokémon and the belief that they will always do their best no matter the situation. That's all that any of us can do and as long as you know that both you and your Pokémon did all you could, then it doesn't matter if you won or lost as long as you did your best. The best way to know that your Pokémon did their best is to be more than their trainer, you need to be their friend, their family. By being close to them they will always do their best for you no matter the situation. Now, it's time to go back to the class room to go over what we've learnt." Giselle said to the class, the children then made their way back to the school leaving Giselle and Adam in the clearing. Ash signalled for May to stay where she was and whispered something to Pikachu, the electric type grinned and ran off into the trees while Ash disappeared in the other direction leaving Lucario with May and Glaceon.

May was about to ask Lucario what was going on when she heard him speak in her mind.

Mistress May do not speak, the man in the clearing is a friend of Master Ash and this is a common greeting between them. Just stay quiet and watch. May nodded and turned back to look into clearing.

Adam and Giselle were standing in the middle of the clearing talking, after a minute Pikachu came running out of the trees using Quick Attack towards Adam. A small grin crossed Adam's face as he moved forwards, wrapping an arm round Giselle's waist as he spun both of them out of the way of Pikachu's attack. They stopped by the other side of the clearing and Adam released Giselle from his hold and quickly apologised for grabbing her like that as he took a couple of steps away from her. Adam stood still casting his gaze around the clearing, a leaf fell past his face and he dove to the side and rolled as he barely dodged Ash as he dropped from the tree branches above where Adam had previously been standing. Adam rose into a fighting stance and Ash did the same, they stood staring at each other, after a minute they dropped their hands and they started laughing.

"You almost had me there Ash, you're getting better but you still need to try harder if you want to get me." Adam said holding his hand out to Ash, Ash took it shaking his hand. May walked out of her hiding place and made her way over to Ash, Lucario and Glaceon followed her. Pikachu jumped on to Ash's shoulder and Adam rubbed the mouse's head. "You'll have to do better than that to get me you little menace. You need to try harder as well." Adam said to Ash, Pikachu playfully shocked Adam's hand at the nickname. Adam chuckled then saw May walking towards them. Ash's Lucario walked over to Adam's and held his paw out, Adam's followed suit holding her palm out an inch away and a flash of Aura sparked into existence between them. Both Lucario nodded to each other and stood next to their trainers.

"Ash, what's going on?" she asked

"Ash? Ash Ketchum?" Giselle asked.

"Yeah that's me." Ash answered turning to look at Giselle, his eyes grew wide as he recognised her and he whispered one word that only May was close enough to hear and that word broke her heart, "Beautiful." May felt her heart shatter into a million pieces at the word and she dropped her head as she tried to control herself, if she didn't she'd start crying and never stop. Adam saw this and quickly worked out what was going on. While Ash was talking with Giselle he decided to talk to the girl who appeared to be travelling with Ash.

"Hi, I'm Adam Henry Williams. What's your name?" he asked to try and distract May from whatever was bothering her. May sniffed and raised her head to look at Adam, she could now see that he has a kind face and hazel eyes, his smile was gentle and warm. Seeing his smile cheered May up slightly but she was still depressed.

"I'm May Maple." She said half-heartedly. They shook hands and Adam bowed slightly before lightly kissing the back of her hand. May felt her face heat up at the action.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Maple. Are you related to the Petalburg Gym Leader?"

"Yeah he's my dad. Do you know him?"

"Not really, when I was in Hoenn for the Ever Grande Conference a couple of years ago he gave me the best battle I had while I was there. I knew he had a daughter but I didn't know she was so beautiful. I've actually seen you compete in the Sinnoh Grand Festival last year, you were amazing."

"Thank you," May said shyly as she blushed and looked away, "I remember your name now, my dad said that his battle with you was the hardest and the most fun he's ever had as a Gym Leader." Adam smiled.

"So how do you know Ash?" He asked.

"When I first started as a Co-Ordinator I travelled with Ash through Hoenn and again in Kanto when he took on the Battle Frontier. I've been friends with him since and we started travelling together again a little over a month ago. What about you, how'd you meet Ash?"

"A couple of years ago we battled each other in a tournament, nothing big just a small one as part of a town festival. We both made it to the finals and after a really hard battle I won. After that we talked and started training together, then we became friends if either of us thinks of a new battle idea or move combo we'll call the other and talk it out. We've met up every now and then sometimes planned, other time like now it just happens."

"What did you win at the tournament?"

"A set of evolution stones, there were a couple of each type." Adam said, it was then that May noticed that the Pichu on Adam's shoulder was hiding slightly from her. She smiled at him and Adam noticed and looked to Pichu.

"It's okay, May won't hurt you." he said lifting the small electric type from his shoulder and cradling him in his arms. May slowly moved her hand to stroke Pichu's head looking at Adam for permission, he nodded and she gently caressed Pichu's fur causing the electric type to nuzzle her hand in return.

"How long have you had him?" May asked.

"Only a couple of days, I haven't actually caught him he just likes being round me. I found him looking for food and gave him some, after that he started to follow me and I asked if he wanted to come with me and be one of my Pokémon. He wasn't sure so I said that he could stick with me until he decided one way or the other." May nodded in understanding and they stood in silence as she continued to stroke Pichu's head.

"Hey Adam," Ash asked as he walked over followed by Giselle, "What are you doing here?"

"I got a call asking if I'd come here to talk to a class of new trainers about competing in the various leagues."

"Yes," Giselle said, "The School Dean thought it would be good to have a league champion tell the children how much work it takes to become a strong trainer." Ash and May's eyes widened as they looked at Adam, he smiled sheepishly.

"When did you win a league?" Ash asked.

"Last year, I won the Silver conference." Adam answered. May was surprised to meet a league champion and Ash was shocked that his friend hadn't told him the last time they talked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ash asked.

"You didn't ask and it's not that big a deal is it?"

"Adam," May said resting a hand on his arm, "You won a Pokémon League of course it's a big deal, it shows that you're an amazing trainer and that all of your work was worth the effort. It means that you can take on the Johto Elite Four. What did your parents say when they found out?" Adam's face fell, he moved his arm away from May, lifted Pichu back onto his shoulder and slowly walked away, his Lucario followed him and placed her paw on his shoulder.

"Lu Rio Cario Lu." She growled softly. Adam looked at her and smiled sadly.

"Thanks Luna." He said to her, he turned back to look directly into May's eyes, "I'm sorry May I don't like talking about my parents much." He moved his gaze to Giselle, "I'm going to go back to the school now and show the kids some of my Pokémon." Giselle nodded and Adam left the trio standing in the clearing watching him walk away. May looked at Ash and remembered what he had said about Giselle and while she couldn't deny that Giselle was beautiful she still felt betrayed that Ash had said it out loud. May pushed those thought to the back of her mind and spoke to Ash.

"Why doesn't Adam like talking about his parents?" She asked. Ash sighed and was silent while he thought about whether to answer the question or not.

"May, I know why but I can't tell you. It's Adam's story to tell and as far as I know there's only me and one other person who knows it outside his other family and the people in the area of Celestic Town he lived in. If you want to know you'll have to ask him, he asked me not to tell anyone about it. I'm sorry but I won't break that promise." He replied. May wanted to push the issue but knew that once his mind was made up Ash wouldn't change it. She nodded and walked after Adam to apologise for bring up an obviously painful memory, she could hear Ash and Giselle following her but she increased her pace trying to get away from the demons in her head. They whispered to her saying that Ash was going to abandon her and travel with Giselle instead, tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she made herself walk faster to escape the voices, to drown them out with the sound of her footsteps. Glaceon walked alongside May trying her best to comfort her trainer but with little success, May stared at the grass below her and continued walking oblivious to everything except her own feeling of betrayal and the incessant voices in her head.

Adam could here footsteps behind him and looked over his shoulder seeing May fast approaching not looking where she was going. He stopped and moved to the side and as she got close he spoke to her.

"May, is everything alright?" he asked concerned. May's head snapped up from staring at the ground to see that she was now face to face with Adam. She noticed that the whispering demons had been silenced when she heard his voice.

"I just wanted to say sorry for what I said earlier, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm really sorry." May said bowing her head. Adam smiled sadly and put a hand under May's chin raising her face so he could see her clearly.

"There's no need for you to apologise, I should be the one to say sorry for the way I acted. The truth is my parents died not long after I became a trainer." May's mouth fell open when she heard that, she now realised why Adam reacted like he did and she was amazed that he was being so open with her even after only knowing her a matter of minutes.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"It's my way of apologising, I want you to understand why I reacted like I did. I know I've only just met you but I can see that Ash trusts you and that means that I can too." Adam paused to gather his thought, he offered May his arm and she took it. Together they carried on walking to the school, "I didn't start my journey in Sinnoh like other trainers from Celestic Town, I wanted to start in Johto because that's the region my parents came from. When my boat arrived in New Bark Town and after I registered for the Johto League at Professor Elm's Lab I started my way to Cherrygrove City I had some trouble on the way but that a story for another time. When I got to Cherrygrove City Officer Jenny was waiting for me," Adam stopped to control his emotions as the painful memories returned, May put a comforting hand on Adam's arm, "She told me that my parents had died in car crash on their way back home from dropping me off at the ferry terminal. I took the first boat back home and stayed there for a couple of months before setting off for Johto again. When I got back to Johto I went and bought a couple of months' worth of supplies and walked deep into the forests to train. I only went into cities and towns when I wanted to get more supplies, change my Pokémon or get them healed after a really hard battle but I was usually a week or two's distance away so I had a lot of medical supplies with me and through a lot of trial and error I found ways of making medicine from the plants and berries around me. I even mixed them with the medicine I bought and made them more effective. I would go straight back to the wild after finishing in the town or city I was in and continue to train, after a year and a half I decided to take on the league." Adam looked over his shoulder to see that he and May were still quite far ahead of Ash and Giselle, he could make out the angry expression on Ash's face as he stared at where Adam and May's arms joined.

"I managed to get to the top eight after that I went to Sinnoh and did the same sort of thing, I spent some time in the hard to reach parts of the region before taking on the league there where I placed in the top eight again. I did the same for Hoenn, Kanto and Unova before stopping for a while to reconnect with the people I knew. I talked to an old friend of mine, Cynthia and she helped me train, giving me tips on where I could improve and new places to train in. I was on my way to one of those places when I met Ash. Last year I decided to try competing again and you know the rest." Adam turned his head to look at May, "I've told you my secret, now you tell me yours. What's going on with you and Ash?" He asked, May looked away.

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly, still looking at the ground.

"The way I've trained, it's put me in the path of some," Adam paused to think of the appropriate word to use. Not wanting to use bad language in front of May, "dangerous people so I've developed the ability to read people quickly. When you first came into the clearing you went straight to Ash, showing that you care about him and that you trust him. I could see in your eyes that you feel more than friendship towards Ash but he said or did something that hurt you not long after you came into the clearing. What's going on between you?"

May sighed in defeat and quickly explained to Adam about the favour, everything that had happened since except for the Legendary events in Rota and what Ash had said about Giselle. Adam took all the information in and thought for about it for a minute.

"May," he said, "I'm going to be blunt with you. Ash is an idiot about everything except Pokémon Battles, I can tell he likes you a lot, probably the same way you like him but like I said he's an idiot. Give him time and he'll realise, I know he didn't mean to hurt you. From what you've told me he might be starting to realise it now, so until you actually become a couple I'm going to do whatever I can to help you." He finished smiling at May. She smiled back and gave Adam a quick peck on the cheek, not knowing the anger that now raged through out Ash's body, his fists were clenched tight and starting to shake.

"Thank you Adam." May said, "Where are you going after you've finished at the school?"

"I'm going to make my way to Vermillion City and spend a couple of days there to relax before heading to Lavender Town. What about you and Ash, where are you going?"

"We're going to Vermillion City too but were stopping at Drummond Town for my next Contest."

"Do mind if I travel with you and Ash seeing as were all going the same way?"

"I don't mind, "May said shaking her head, "I'm sure Ash won't either." May paused and thought about how to phrase her next question.

"What'd want to ask me May?" Adam asked seeing the look on May's face.

May lower her voice so Ash wouldn't hear what she was saying by mistake, "I told you about my feelings for Ash, do you have feelings for anyone?"

"There is someone I like," Adam said keeping his voice low blushing slightly, "I've told no one this, not even Ash. You know the friend I mentioned before, Cynthia," May nodded, "I've known her since we were kids, she left on her journey a year before I did and when she heard about my parents," Adam stopped, taking a deep slow breath to calm himself, "she came back to Celestic Town from her journey to help me through it. When I got home, I closed myself off from everyone. I only talked to my Pokémon, Shinx, Eevee and Riolu. When Cynthia came back a couple of weeks later she spend two weeks trying to get me to talk to her, eventually I did start talking but it was only to her. A month later she had to get back to her journey and that was when I decided to start travelling again. Part of the reason I get away from everything to train is because nearly everything reminds me of my parents. I owe Cynthia a lot more than I can ever repay and she's always been there for me. It started as friendship but after that it turned into something…more. I can't tell her though"

"Why not?"

"She's a very public figure and she deserves someone a lot better than me." May's eyes widened as her mind put together the pieces of information Adam had mentioned.

"You mean Cynthia the Champion of Sinnoh!" she nearly shouted before stopping herself. Adam nodded quickly while looking away from May.

"Please keep that between us." Adam said in an almost pleading tone. May nodded and they soon arrived at the school, eventually Ash and Giselle caught up with them. Adam released May's arm and walked over to Ash, motioning for him to follow. Ash walked after Adam and when they were out of ear shot Adam stopped and turned to Ash.

"Before you start shouting, I know about the situation between you and May. I'm not going to get between you two so don't worry about that. May's a great girl but I don't see her that way, so wipe that angry look off your face and get over it." Ash was shocked to learn that May had told Adam about the favour.

"She told you?"

"Yeah, she told me everything that happened since you two met in Viridian City. I've got the feeling that she left something out from when you were in Rota but that doesn't matter. I'm going to Vermillion City as well so if it's alright I want to travel with you two till we get there."

"Not a problem with me," Ash said, "Why would May tell you about the favour?" Adam shrugged.

"I must have a trusting face." Adam started to walk back towards the girls when he looked back over his shoulder, "You might want to keep an eye on May, she's a little upset with you."

"Why?" Ash asked concerned.

"Not for me to say," Adam stopped and turned to face his friend, "Ash, if you're going to be her boyfriend then you need to figure out why for yourself." With that Adam turned back around and said to Giselle, "Why don't we have Ash and May help with the class, show them what a battle between two experienced trainers is like and how a Co-Ordinator controls a stage?"

"That's a great idea," Giselle said smiling, she turned to May, "Would you do that? Please." Although May held a grudge against Giselle for getting Ash's attention she agreed to help. Together Adam, Ash and May spent the rest of the day at the school showing the children what experienced trainers could really do. Adam and Ash had a four on four battle for the children which Adam won because his Lucario managed to knock Infernape out with a close range Aura Sphere as Infernape focused his power into an Overheat and May put on a show that would out most other Co-Ordinators to shame. During the day Ash did what Adam had said and kept an eye on May but he couldn't tell any difference to the usual other than May seemed to be keeping her distance from him and every now and then he'd see May glaring at Giselle. He used his Aura abilities to try and figure out what was happening but he couldn't understand the mixture of emotions May was feeling. Every time Ash tried to talk to May something would stop him, one of the kids would ask a question or Giselle would ask him to show the class something else, eventually he forgot what Adam had said and became distracted by the class and their Pokémon. Adam however did notice that May's smiles seemed forced and the expression on her face although she wore a happy one for the class to see it would slip when she thought no-one was looking, showing sadness, anger and disappointment. Adam shook his head, he decided to talk to Ash the next day if this problem wasn't resolved, even though he hadn't known May for a full day yet he felt a connection to her because they shared secrets. The only other time he had felt this kind of connection was when he met Ash, it was a feeling that he could trust them with his life if he needed to, sometimes Adam thought that there was a Legendary Pokémon somewhere looking over him and steering him into the path of either people he could help or people who could help him. He chuckled to himself as he watched a couple of the children copy Luna's movement and try to form an Aura Sphere.

Once school had ended for the day Adam, Ash and May relaxed and shared stories of their journeys, when it started to get late Adam told Ash and May to take the room that the school had given him as he preferred to sleep outside with his Pokémon. The room that he'd been given was one that was used by any visiting families or guest tutors such as himself, there were multiple separate bedrooms and bathrooms, a joint kitchen and living room. Once Ash had gone to sleep May quietly made her way out of the room to make a phone call, when she got to the phone she quickly dialed and waited while it rang.

A minute later the phone was answered and she was greeted by the face of the Battle Frontier's Pike Queen.

"Hi Lucy, I'm sorry for calling so late but I was wondering if I could talk to Brock quickly." May said. Lucy could see that May was sad and looked like she might start crying.

"Sure, I'll get him now May," Lucy turned her face from the screen and called Brock's name, she looked back at her brunette friend on the phone screen. "May, what's wrong? Where are you?"

"I'm at Pokémon Tech and Ash...he..." Tears started to slowly roll down May's cheeks as she fought back her sobs, "he said that another girl was beautiful and he's been smiling at her all day." May started to cry openly after that, Lucy shouted for Brock to hurry up. When he appeared on the screen Lucy quickly told him what May had said, he was about to start speaking when he heard another voice from May's side of the screen.

"May, why are you crying?" said the male voice, Adam appeared on the screen net to May and put an arm around her shoulders, May leaned against Adam and cried into his shoulder. He turned to the screen, "What's going on? Why's May crying?" he asked.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked, not wanting to discuss something so sensitive with a stranger.

"I'm Adam, I met May earlier today, we started talking she told me about how Ash is helping her. I've known Ash for a couple of years. Wait, I know both of you, you're Brock the Pewter City Gym Leader and Lucy from the Kanto Battle Frontier."

"May said that Ash called another girl beautiful and he was smiling at her all day." Brock said.

"Yeah, it's one of the teachers here. Her name's Giselle." Adam said as he slowly rubbed May's back trying to comfort her. He saw a spark of realisation on Brock's face along with a frown, he motioned for Adam to cover May's ears, this wasn't something he wanted May to hear. Adam put one side of May's head against his chest and cover her other ear with his hand, May was so taken with her emotions and crying that she didn't notice what was happening.

"Giselle is the only girl I've seen that Ash has shown actual interest in without it having anything to do with Pokémon but after she beat Misty's Starmie with her Graveler he didn't show any interest in her at all. After that he didn't show obvious interest in a girl." Brock explained.

"Obvious interest?" Adam said. Brock nodded.

"I've travelled with him longer than anyone else so I think I know him better than most. I've seen him show unconscious interest in May...there was slight interest in others but mostly May."

"Adam, I know we've only just met," Lucy started, "but would you look after May for me. Please she need someone to talk to and I can see that she trusts you for some reason so please take care of her." Adam nodded in agreement.

"Let's just say that May and I shared secrets." Adam replied, "Don't worry I'm travelling with her and Ash until we reach Vermillion City. I'll help her through this and hopefully get her and Ash on the right track. I can see in Ash's eyes he cares for May, I told him earlier that May was upset with him and to keep an eye on her but obviously he didn't look close enough." They talked for couple more minutes when Adam realised that May had fallen asleep in his arms, he ended the call and gently lifted her up and carried her to the room. He knocked on the door and after minute Ash answered, he moved to the side letting Adam into the room.

"What happened?" Ash asked concern evident in his voice. Adam gently lay May on her bed, putting the covers over her, he then turned and grabbed Ash's arm dragging him out of the room.

"You happened," Adam said angrily, "I told you to keep an eye on May and all you did was look at Giselle. You are meant to be May's boyfriend so start acting like it." Adam turned and stalked down the corridor not looking back as he left a stunned and confused Ash behind him. So much for raiding the cafeteria Adam thought as he left the school building to return to his campsite.

Ash knew that he'd done something wrong because Adam rarely got angry at anyone, the only reasons he would were if he saw someone was being cruel to another person or Pokémon and when something had upset his friends. Even though they had only met that day Adam and May seemed to have become friends quickly, Ash would've been lying to himself if he said he wasn't jealous of how close they seemed. Ash quietly opened the door of his room and walked in stealing a look at May as she slept, he got as close to her bed as he dared without making a sound, he could see that her cheeks were tearstained and her eyes looked a little puffy, he could hear her sniffing slightly as she breathed. Ash hung his head in shame as he slowly left the room and lay down on his bed staring at the ceiling, Pikachu had woken up when Adam knocked on the door and was concerned about May.

"Pikapi Pika Chupi Kachuka?" he asked, Ash kept looking at the ceiling and placed his hand on Pikachu's head, rubbing it gently.

"I've messed up again buddy." Ash sighed, "I've made May cry and Adam's mad at me as well. What am I going to do?" The answer to that question was out of Ash's reach. Lucario had seen and heard everything that had happened and knew that there was nothing he could say to help his partner in Aura but he tried anyway.

Master try and get some rest, while you sleep the answer you seek may come. But Ash didn't sleep, he spent the whole night awake just staring at the ceiling and every time he closed his eyes he saw May's crying face.

Morning came and Ash quietly left the room to go and do his exercises, he considered waking May but the way she looked last night still haunted him. He wrote a small note to say he'd gone to talk with Adam and would be back soon. He left the school building and walked into the woods, after a couple of minutes he heard Adam's voice as he talked to his Pokémon. Ash walked up to the campsite and saw Adam doing his own exercises and talking his Pokémon through their own. A Luxray was practicing Thunder Fang on a nearby rock, biting off chunks at a time, an Umbreon was running laps around the campsite, and Luna, Adam's Lucario, was stood in front of Adam holding a block of wood. Pichu was sat on Adam's head watching everything around him. Ash watched as Adam took a deep breath and launched a punch at the piece of wood breaking it in half with a shout. Ash cleared his throat as he entered the campsite, Luxray and Umbreon nodded a greeting at his arrival before carrying on with their training. Adam turned around and when he saw Ash his face darkened slightly. Adam was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a vest while he trained, Ash could see a couple of scars on Adam's upper arms and another on his collar bone.

"What are you doing here Ash?" he asked.

"Why was May crying?" Ash asked in return. Adam bent over and took a small bottle from his bag, opening the lid he squeezed more gel out of it. Replacing the lid and dropping the bottle back into his bag Adam rubbed the gel on the knuckles of the hand he'd just used to break the wood.

"You need to either work it out for yourself or ask May but I don't think she'll tell you."

"Why can't you tell me?"

"I sort of told you last night but you're still as dense as ever."

"What do you mean by that?" Ash said starting to feel angry, his hands curled into fists. Luxray and Umbreon stopped what they were doing and looked at Ash while Luna took a step forward. Adam raised his hand to stop her.

"What I mean is you have to start thinking about what May's actually asked you to do."

"What do you know about that?" Ash said taking a step forward, Luxray and Umbreon started to growl but once again Adam held up his hand and they stopped.

"I told you this yesterday as well, May told me about the favour and how you're helping her with a guy who won't take no for an answer. She told me you've defended and complimented her since you started travelling together and how much fun you've had together in Rota and when you had that date in Cerulean. Ash, I've known you for a couple of years, I know that's nothing compared to how long other people have known you but I can tell that you care a lot for May. You owe it to her to listen to what she says and notice how she acts around you and other, you need to see how she reacts when you do stuff as well." Adam stopped and sighed, "I won't tell you why but I can help you work it out for yourself. Sit down." Adam dropped to the ground and waited for Ash to do the same. Luxray and Umbreon lay down next to Adam resting their heads on his lap, Luna stood behind him and Pichu stayed on his head. Ash sat down opposite Adam and waited for him to speak.

"Walk me through what happened yesterday since you woke up." Adam said. Ash did as he was asked telling Adam how he and May had woken up early and exercised together, had breakfast and started to travel. As he spoke Ash tried to analysis every detail to see where he had gone wrong, when he got to the point where he and May arrived at the school he saw Adam lean forward a little, Ash assumed that this meant he was getting close to where he'd gone wrong. "Keep going Ash, what happened next."

"Me and May were about to walk into the school when we heard voices, that's when we found you. We watched you have a battle with that kid, then me and Pikachu tried to ambush you."

"I know the usual greeting." Adam said a small smile on his face as he scratched Luxray and Umbreon behind their ears. "Go on."

"We started talking and Giselle heard my name. I said….." Ash's voice trailed off as he finally realised where he had gone wrong. "I called her beautiful." He said quietly.

"That's right and May heard you." Adam said, "You are meant to be May's boyfriend, you never call another girl beautiful, pretty or anything else unless that girl is a baby. Like you I've never had a girlfriend but I know what you do and don't do. Seeing a baby girl is the only acceptable time to call another girl beautiful. Ash, you need to pay attention to what you say and do, otherwise you'll just end up hurting her again."

Ash looked at the ground, How could I have been so stupid, yeah I thought Giselle was beautiful but she's nothing compared to May. Wait there it is again, why do I keep thinking that May's my friend I can't think about her like that…..can I? he thought to himself. Adam could see that Ash was lost in his thought and reached into his bag pulling a small object out of it and threw it at Ash's head. The object hit him and bounced off, Ash looked up startled then turned his gaze to the object that had hit him, it was an energy bar.

"Eat up," Adam said getting off the ground, "We're going to spar." Ash grinned and quickly ate the snack as he got up.

"This time you're going down." Ash said with a grin as he settled into a fighting stance, his eyes glowed slightly with Aura.

"You keep saying that but it's always you who ends up looking at the sky." Adam replied smirking as he readied himself, "And you know that your Aura doesn't scare me." Luna stood between them and held her arm in the air, she looked at Adam then at Ash and brought her arm down.

"Lu!" she said, Ash shot forward closing the distance in a matter of seconds. He threw out a punch directed at Adam's jaw.

Twenty minutes later

"You need a hand?"

"No, I'm fine." Ash grumbled as he rolled onto his front and lifted himself off the ground, as Adam stood to the side smiling. "How do you keep beating me?"

"Simple, I've got more fighting experience than you and you're telegraphing your attacks."

"No, I'm not."

"You are, not much but I can tell. It's only a slight shift in your body weight but it's there if you know what to look for." Adam explained, his head snapped to the right he'd heard something in the trees. "Who's there?"

A couple of seconds passed and May walked into the campsite followed by Lucario, Pikachu and Glaceon. Ash looked at Adam and Adam nodded to him.

"Come on guys," he said to his Pokémon, "Let go for a run. I'll see you in a few minutes May." Adam smiled at her as he passed. May smiled back but wondered why Adam was leaving so soon after she'd arrived and the scars she could see on his body. Pikachu, Lucario and Glaceon sensed that Ash and May needed sometime together and went with Adam. Adam placed Pichu on Luxray's back and started his run, with all the Pokémon following behind him.

"May, about what happened yesterday." Ash said quietly. May looked away from him and crossed her arms.

"What about it?" May said crossly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making you cry, for making you angry, for not being the kind of boyfriend you've asked me to be." Ash stopped to take a breath and May turned to look at him, "I promise that I'll try harder and I want you to know that….I think…I think you look nicer than Giselle." Ash said the last part quietly dropping his head to look at the ground. May heard what he said, she smiled and walked towards him. Stopping in front of him she placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling as he looked at her.

"It's okay Ash I know you didn't mean it, it hurt hearing what you said. Even though you've apologised I'm still a little mad that you had Adam tell you what was wrong and I'll need to talk to him about that…."

"Adam didn't tell me, he helped me work it out for myself. Don't blame him he was only trying to make you feel better by helping me understand." Ash interrupted. "I don't know what you and Adam talked about yesterday but whatever it was made both of you close." Ash sighed, "Adam doesn't have many friends, he might seem outgoing but it's all a mask because of all the time he's spent on his own training with his Pokémon he doesn't have much experience with people. He's gotten into some dangerous situations since he became a trainer and he's adjusted to that by forming masks."

"What do you mean by dangerous situations and masks?" May asked.

"He hasn't told me much about the dangerous situations he's been in other than they've been with team Rocket and other organisations like them but not like Jessie and James, the ones he's run in to were more serious than those two. If you want to know more then you'll have to ask Adam. As for the masks Adam explained it to me once, I think I understand what he meant but I'll explain it as best I can." Ash said, "When Adam meets new people he get an idea of who they are and creates a mask to use around those people, if there happy then he's happy, if they read a lot then he'll talk about books. That I know of we're the only people that Adam is himself around, did you notice how he changed when there was someone else with us. I only notice because Adam told me about it, sometimes I think that Adam doesn't even notices that he changes between them."

After Ash finished talking he and May were quiet for a few minutes both of them feeling sad for Adam until May broke the silence.

"He told me about his parents," She said, "He said it was his way of apologising for the way he acted when I mentioned them. I could hear the pain in his voice, I can't imagine how it felt for him, to lose his parents just after he left home." Tears formed in the corners of May's eyes, "You said that Adam doesn't have many friends, well he has us and I guess we'll just have to introduce to all of our." May smiled, a couple of minutes later Adam came back from his run along with the Pokémon. Adam could tell from their body language that Ash and May had sorted out their differences.

"So, who wants breakfast?" Adam asked. They all ate a quick breakfast before returning to the school for Ash and May to collect their things. On the way there to the room they ran into Giselle, May took an involuntary step back and forced a smile.

"Are you leaving already?" Giselle asked walking towards them.

"Yeah, me and May are just going to get our stuff and then were going to Drummond Town for May's next Contest, Adam's going to travel with us for a little while." Ash replied. Giselle stopped in front of Ash with a small smile on her lips, she held out a small piece of paper.

"Here, give me a call." She said with a little giggle. Ash took a step back and put his arm over May's shoulder.

"I'm sorry I forgot to introduce you to May properly yesterday, she's my girlfriend." He said, May blushed slightly and quickly pecked Ash on the cheek. Giselle looked shocked and embarrassed, she put the piece of paper away and turned to Adam. Adam put on a goofy grin and put an arm around Luna's shoulders.

"Girlfriend." He said smiling as he nodded towards Luna. Luna shrugged off Adam's arm and slapped him across the back of his head, walking away shaking her head. Adam rubbed his head and still wore his goofy smile. "Oh well guess I'm single now." Everyone laughed at Adam's behaviour, Giselle thanked Adam, Ash and May for their help, once Ash and May collected their bags from their room they all left the school making their way to Drummond Town again.

As they left the school behind May wanted to ask Adam about his scars but couldn't think of a way to bring it up in conversation. Later that day when they stopped for lunch Adam could see that May was struggling with something.

"What's wrong May?" he asked.

"What? Oh nothing, I was just thinking." She replied.

"Something's bothering you, I know you want to ask something so just ask it. I won't be offended or angry."

"Well," she said quietly, "I was wondering how you got your scars." Adam looked into the cooking fire for a minute before answering.

"I told you that I've met some dangerous people, that's how I got my scars. Since I started as a trainer I've run into members of every criminal organisation that's around today and I couldn't stand by while innocent Pokémon were being hurt, I had to interfere a couple of times I had to fight my way out and I don't mean Pokémon battles. I don't want to say anymore, it's best that I keep the specifics to myself. I'm not being evasive it's just that I don't want you to be burdened by the knowledge of what I've been through." May nodded slowly taking in this information, she wanted to ask more questions but the hollow look in Adam's eyes as he looked into the fire again stopped her, it was obvious to her that once again she'd brought up some painful memories.

"I'm sorry for making you talk about it Adam, I didn't meant to upset you." May said apologetically. Ash smiled sadly as he turned to look at May.

"It's okay May, I know you were just curious." Adam unconsciously rubbed his arm were his scars were. The rest of their lunch stop was silent and a couple of hours later when they stopped to train Adam had started to return to his usual self.

They travelled together for a couple of days, Adam would help them in their training and their exercises. He showed an ability to create combination moves and determine which would work best with a certain Pokémon. He demonstrated to May ways of improvising moves such as his Luxray using Thunderbolt and Tackle to create Volt Tackle. They walked out of the forest and up a small hill, stopping at the top they could see Drummond Town before them. The bushes nearby rustled, Pikachu and Glaceon ran in front of them ready for whatever might come out. The rustling continued and then a large shadow jumped out, landing a couple of feet away from Pikachu and Glaceon.

"EELEKTROSS!"

---

So I've introduce a new character, Adam Henry Williams is my OC. Hope you like him, the description is based on me, his personality however is the way I'd like to be. I couldn't help using Cynthia as a love interest, let me know it you want her and Adam to get together.

The Drummond Town Contest will start in the next chapter and there will be a twist to make it different to the other Contests so far.

That's it for now, please review and let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading.

Until next time

Basic Trainer