Um...it's been a while, has it not? Too long I might add. Well that doesn't matter I guess, I'll explain why it's been so long since I've updated at the end. Right now, just read the chapter.

Disclaimer - I don't own Pokemon or any other thing mentioned in this chapter.

"She did great!" Ash exclaimed as him and Gary were on their way to get some snacks from the concession stand. "Right Gary?"

"Yeah that thing she did with her Skitty was so cool! Like when it used assist on her Blazikens Overheat to make a fire icicle thingy, it was like magical shit." You would think Gary would be used to contest appeals by now considering he's marrying one of the most known coordinators in the world...but no, he's always loved them and get's excited every time he can see one.

"Well...yeah, I didn't think it was THAT exciting, but whatever frosts your flakes I guess..." Ash responded. Next thing they knew they made it to the food stand where they took their orders. After they , or Ash ordered a feast they made their way back to their seats along with Gallade.

"And here we are folks with our last appeal of the day! He may be last but is certainly not least as he was runner-up in the last 2 grand festivals he participated in! Put your hands together for Drew from Larousse City!" There was a roar of claps and screams and such as Ash, Gary and Gallade made it back to their seats.

In the midst of all the applause you could hear one guy scream "BOOOO! You suck! Go jump off a bridge!" This guy was none other than Ash Ketchum, or Bob as others called him. He was hyped so see Drew do worse than May which he knew would happen.

"Calm down Ash, I don't want us to get kicked out alright? Jeez Louise man." Gary told his longtime friend. Sometimes Ash just couldn't shut up he guessed...

"Alright...well anywho, let's get the appeal started!" Announced the announcer. Drew then let out his Flygon and Butterfree.

"What an idiot, using two flying pokemon, how fucking basic can you get?" Ash asked nobody in particular. "He might not even pass the appeals with scrubs like those."

Drew then told his pokemon to do a multitude of attacks that resulted in Flygon and Butterfree earning 89 out of 100 points. It was better than most but not even close to May's 97.

May always seemed to have the upper hand on Drew to Ash. When they met Ash knew that Drew had been a good coordinator before they met and he respected him for that for a short period of time. Respect can be lost easily especially when someone insults your best friend multiple times but May always held him back when he got angry at him. If Ash could go back he'd change it all with a snap of his fingers.

"So how'd you think Drew did, Ash?" Gary asked.

"It was the most basic appeal i've ever seen." He replied.

"Same here, and I thought he was a top coordinator..." Like stated earlier, Gary loved appeals and such in contests, but this...it was gross to watch. He still wondered how the judges gave him such a high score for the shitty job he did.

"Okay folks it's time for the battle round. There are four competitors left so let's give a warm welcome to our first two battlers! May and Jackson!

On one side you could see a beautiful young women at about the age of 19. She wore a kind of loose fitting red sleeveless shirt with navy blue rimming and stripe going down the middle of the front along with fingerless white and blue gloves. She also wore a short white skirt with navy blue rimming the bottom, and to finish it all off she wore a red bandanna with her long brown hair flow down past her shoulders. She looked beautiful and confident when she walked out to the stage.

On the other side stood a male at the age of around 18. For a man he had long black hair that almost reached his shoulders and almost covered his left eye. He mostly wore black as he had a black button up shirt that was unbuttoned with a white t-shirt behind. He wore black jeans and black shoes with white shoelaces along with a small round ring pierced to his right eyebrow. Apparently his name was Jackson.

"Here we go, let's get this show on the road!"

"Let's go Venusaur!" Yelled May from her side.

"Show em' what you can do, Luxray!" Shouted her competitor from the other side.

"Razor leaf into Sunny Day, Venusaur!"

"Saurrr" could be heard as Venusaur let out a razor leaf at her opponent and then shot a ball of light energy into the sky, the already nice day turned into a cloudless sunny sky.

The leaves only scratched their opponent as they weren't as strong as said opponent. Grass had regular damage on electric, but electric attacks weren't very effective on grass so May still had the upper hand.

"Okay Luxray, our turn" said the mysterious coordinator. His Luxray seemed incredibly strong for its kind. "Wild Charge into Thunder Fang!" He exclaimed.

Luxray started to charge at it's opponent with a lightening infested body. As it charged its teeth were also full of yellow sparks as it came up to Venusaur and took a hearty bite. May ordered Venusaur to use toxic before it could get away, and before they knew it, there was only 1 minute left.

With Luxray poisoned by the Toxic, Jackson stood almost no chance as the next minute consisted of his Luxray taking more and more damage every move.

Next thing they knew there was a loud beep. "Times up!" screamed the announcer. After looking at the scores it was obvious who won, even if it were only by a few points. "And the winner of this match and moving onto the finals is May from Petalburg City! We will now be taking a short 10 minute break before our final two semi-finalists Drew LaRousse and Toshiro Hitsugaya!

"Well Gary, she made it to the finals, you think Drew will too?" Ash asked.

Gary sat rubbing his chin. "I hope not. That Jackson guy's Luxray was so strong though, if this was a regular battle, he would've wiped the floor with anyone here..."

"Yeah, maybe, not against Gallade though, right buddy?" Ash asked nudging Gallade on his side in the seat next to him.

Not to disrespect you Master, but, no shit. Gallade spoke to him telepathically.

"Well I guess you got a point there, you could defeat Cynthia's Garchomp if you felt like it." Ash said back to Gallade. Gary felt a little left out considering he didn't do the whole telepathy thing but just shrugged it off.

"Okay, sorry for the wait but no worries because we have a great battle to come! Next up to go to the Finals are Drew and Toshiro!" She announced.

On one corner of the stage stood a boy that looked like he was 12 at most, but in the pamphlet the crown got at the beginning said he registered at 110. Maybe it was a typo? You'd hope so. Anyway, the boy had perfectly messy sharp white hair. He was wearing a black kimono with a white looking jacket thingy that a Japanese number on the back. In other words he looked like...well he looked like nothing anyone had ever seen...

Oh yeah, and on the other side is Drew.

"I'll let you take first move." Said the white haired youngster.

"Whatever you say, kid. Let's go Roserade!" Drew's signature pokemon popped out of the recently thrown ball and the crowd gasped in awe as Drew doesn't usually use his best pokemon until the finals.

"Did you say, kid?! That's Captain Hitsugaya to you, human! Reign over the Frosted Heavens! Hyo- cough I mean, uhh...go, Pokemon!" But he never even took out a ball. He seemed to magically pull out a sword and as he swung it forward the blade turned itself into an ice dragon and took down Drew's pokemon along with half of the stage. He returned his blade to its normal state and walked out of the hall.

Some crowd members started to slowly clap as they were unsure what to do.

"What...the fuck...was that..?" Asked Gary rhetorically.

Ash also seemed stunned, but who wasn't? That was something that would happen in a cartoon or something for crying out loud!

The announcer took her place on the half destroyed stage. "Well...uh, because of destructive reasons the match goes down to a disqualification making Drew the winner!"

"Well I guess that's too bad, huh." Gary said

"No big deal, May will win either way, you just watch." Responded Ash. Of course he thought she was gunna win, it's not like he'd think Drew would. Either way he had the confidence in her to win.

"We will now be taking a half hour wait until the final match between May of Petalburg and Drew of LaRousse, be sure to stay tuned!" Roared the announcer's voice through the entire building.

"Well, we've got time, why don't we go check on May?" Ash asked getting up, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah let's go." Gary responded following Ash and Gallade.

In the trainer rooms

"Didn't I tell you not to win?! I specifically asked for you to not make it to the finals, and what do ya do? YOU WIN LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!" Drew was screaming his head off in the trainer room. He was lucky no one else was there but May.

"I-i'm sorry Drew, it's just-"

"It's just what?! You just decided that you can't even do me ONE favor? You just want me to hit you?! Is that it May? Because I have no problem doing it!"

"It's just- it's just that you're not the damn boss of me! Why do you get to tell me what to do? What happened to us just interacting? What happened to what we had years ago?" May finally broke, finally letting herself speak her mind.

At this point Ash, Gary and Gallade were walking down the hallway to the trainer room. They told the security guard that they were friends of the competitor's and he actually believed them, for some reason. Security guard of the year for sure.

"Hmm...the doors open, I wonder why…?" Ash said silently to himself mostly. "Shh shh Gary I think I hear something." Ash interrupted Gary.

He certainly did hear something, it was Drew...yelling at May. "Well isn't this a surprise." Ash sarcastically said to no one in particular.

He asked Gary for his glasses once again and was about to walk in the room to break up whatever Drew was yelling about when he heard something he wasn't expecting. He heard May talk back to him. She stood up to him. Ash mentally pounded his first into the air. Finally she was doing something for herself.

That small moment of victory didn't last long for Ash as he saw Drew raise his hand.

"What happened? I finally got rid of Ketchum, that's what happened. But that doesn't matter anymore since I realised how much of a bitch you are. You think you can talk back to me? I do everything for you! You have no right, no right I tell you!"

Drew raised his hand, ready to strike. May braced herself for what was to come. Her eyes squinted and her hands up trying to block but she knew it was useless, it never worked in the past.

But this time, she seemed to be bracing herself longer than usual. She opened her eyes and saw Drew's fist in front of her left cheek ready to punch her but it was still. The only thing different from the usual hand of his was that it seemed to be surrounded by some sort of pinkish aura.

Pink air? What's that mean? May thought to herself. She decided it was time to look up to see what had actually happened and when she did she saw her two new friends; Gary and Bob.

"Bob?! What are you doing here?" May exclaimed running over to him and Gary. She knew they were at the contest but she didn't think they'd come to the trainer rooms.

"Bob?" Ash asked. "Who's Bo - oooohhhhhh! Oh yeah I'm Bob, yep, that's my name!" Ash said nervously. "Dammit Gary." He swore under his breath.

"Yeah what Bob means is that we came to congratulate you on making it to the finals and we came in to see this." Gary talked for Ash.

"Well thanks, but what just happened exactly…?" May asked unsure.

"That doesn't matter." Ash spoke up. "Cause it's about to end anyway." Ash finished as he twisted his hand to the right with a grunt. What happened when he did that surprised both Gary and May. As soon as he twisted, Drew's hand, which was still surrounded by the mysterious pink aura, twisted the same way as well. May could hear a crack as Drew screamed out in pain.

"Ahhhh!" Drew screamed. It seemed Ash was somehow manipulating that pink aura somehow. Then as quick as it came the pink air faded away, but it seemed like Ash didn't need it anymore.

Ash ran up to Drew and grabbed the collar of his shirt. He pulled him up off the ground and lightly slammed him into the wall. "What's with you, huh? What did she ever do to you?" Ash asked as nicely as he could.

"Why do you care? You're just a random stranger, you know neither of us! So stay out of our business!" Drew exclaimed. He didn't want to be too rude knowing what this guy was capable of, but, it's Drew, he always seems rude.

"Why do I care? Why wouldn't I care you heartless bastard! I'm not just going to watch some innocent girl get -get abused by you!" With clenched teeth, Ash went on. "And I may have only seen you today but I'm starting to get sick of you. So here's what I want you to d-"

He was cut off by Drew. "You can't tell me what to do, you piece of shi-"

Now it was his turn to be cut off. Ash let him go with a shove to the floor and raised his hand pointing toward Drew's neck. The pink aura seemed to form again before their very eyes. It incarcerated Drew's neck and lifted him up. It wasn't enough to choke him to death but enough to definitely get the point across.

"Now you listen here you friggin' eye sore, and listen clearly. I don't want you to touch her ever again." He spat as he pointed across the room at May. "And if I see that you touch her, slap her, even look at her I will be up your ass in a second, you hear me?" Ash asked not hoping to be answered. Drew nodded with wide eyes, starting to lose breath by the second.

While Drew was coughing up in the corner May was thinking to herself. Who exactly was this Bob guy? He comes randomly to a contest all the way in Kalos with Ash's long time friend Gary Oak as well as an obviously powerful Gallade. Also he some how manages to save her from a beating not once, but twice. But the thing that caught her the most off guard about this handsome stranger was this seemingly psychic power of his. I just can't put my finger on it. May thought to herself.

While May was thinking hard Ash had other plans for Drew. He used the same seemingly psychic technique and used it to lift Drew up and bring him up to himself. "Okay, now that we're somewhat clear, you think you can do me one favor?"

Drew nodded quickly.

"So this is what I want you to do." Ash started. "You're gunna go out onto that stage and tell the entire crowd that you forfeit the contest. Can you do that for me?" Drew nodded once more. "Okay, good, now May along with Gary, Gallade and I are going to head down to Kanto and you can stay here and finish the contest season. C'mon guys." Ash finished roughly patting Drew on the back as he started heading out the door motioning for the rest to follow.

Gary and Gallade seemed to go without hesitation but May seemed a bit...hmm, what's the word? Confused.

By now Drew was out of the room.

She turned around and looked at Bob and Gary. "W-what are you talking about Bob? I've only known you for like a day, why would I go with you guys to Kanto?" Traveling halfway around the planet with a random stranger didn't really seem like the finest idea to her. Well not random stranger, more like aquated stranger. But still, it's all the same in the long-run.

"I'm thankful for what you did for me n' all, but I don't think I can just go with you guys all the way to Ka-" She was cut off.

"May," Ash started seeming a bit annoyed. The moment of truth will finally come around. Gary and Gallade were watching with large eyes both crossing their fingers in front of their faces, ready to see how she reacts to knowing that he's actually Ash! Oh my god it's gunna happen! Gary shouted in his head.

"Stop calling me Bob, it's driving me nuts!"

"..."

"..."

May seemed a little struck by his question. Stop calling this guy by his actual name? Does he prefer a nickname? "Uhm...i'm sorry, what would you like me to call you?" May asked as clueless as ever. She looked over at Gary and Gallade and noticed they fell on the ground seemingly disappointed for some odd reason...Didn't realize how weird these people actually are…

"Well I thought you'd be able to figure it out by now, but I guess not." Ash said with the slightest annoyance in his voice. He flew his hand up to his face and pulled Gary's glasses off and flicked his hair to the side. Now that she could see his actual face, without anything hiding it, she should be able to tell, right?

"...Um...still drawing a blank here…" May said timidly.

*facepalm*

"It's me, y'know, your best friend!" Ash exclaimed.

"I'm pretty sure you're not Dawn, sir." May retorted.

Are you serious… Ash thought to himself. Have I really changed that much?

Ash decided that he'd have to spell it out for her to get it. She obviously didn't recognize him.

"It's me, Ash. Ash Ketchum." He finally said.

As soon as May heard that name she went into a deep state of thinking. She tuned out everything around her and looked straight forward, just thinking.

It's me, Ash. Ash Ketchum His voice rang in her head.

It's me, Ash Ketchum it rang again.

It's me, Ash

me, Ash

Ash

With his voice ringing in her head and her finally knowing who he was, she fell forward. She blacked out mid fall and fell straight into Ash's arms. He caught her of course. When he caught her Gary could see the slightest of blushes on his face as he picked her up and put her on his back.

"Do I really look that different, Gary?" Ash asked looking at the ground. This thought hit him like a bullet train, how could it take this long for him to realize it? She didn't even recognize him, what kind of friend was he? He's been gone for 4 years now and he's changed so much without his best friend seeing. Even when he finally got to see her again he's changed so much that she didn't even recognize him.

Gary didn't really know how to respond. He thought for a minute and finally spoke up. "Well it has been four years Ash and you've changed more than me or any of our friends. You just have to face that you're not that little push over 10 year old wanna be anymore. Don't worry about it though, I like the new you way better than the old you and I'm sure May will too."

"You really think she'll like the new me? I mean, yeah, I look much better but i'm not that sweet friendly kid that she was friends with. I don't know, I'm probably just overthinking this but I can't help but think she's just gunna not like me anymore." Ash responded walking out the door with Gary and Gallade.

"C'mon you're not the only one who's changed y'know. I'm sure May's changed a ton, maybe you're similar, who knows?" Gary joked with his friend, nudging his side.

"Yeah I'm positive she likes to live in the forest with no friends besides one pokemon and clothes that haven't been washed for months." Ash responded shaking his head in amusement.

It was fun for Gary to laugh with his childhood friend again. It had been so long since he's been like this with him and it felt great. Plus, the new him had a much better sense of humor than his old self.

"Wait, Ash," Gary started as they walked out of the contest hall, yet to be seen by anyone. "won't people stare when you're walking through town with a petite 20 year old girl unconscious riding on your back?"

Ash thought for a bit as they continued walking. His cheeks suddenly went bright red and he gave off one of his rare smiles. "I already got that covered. I got my buddy Calem to get us a ride to the hotel before we went to get May. And he should be right, over...oh! There he is." Ash said pointing at the small car.

The car stopped in front of him and motioned for Gary get in front so he could get May into the back. The driver of this vehicle was a black haired man about the age of 17. His hair was shoulder length and he wore shades over his eyes. His get-up was more of a mix between blue red and black. Gary's never seen him before.

"Oh hey Ash, it's been awhile, who's your friend here?" The boy named Calum asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah that's Gary, an old friend of mine." Ash responded.

Calum put his head in his hands. "I'm not stupid Ash, I know who Gary Oak is, everyone does. I meant the unconscious girl you just put in my backseat."

"Oh, hehe," Ash started feeling stupid "this is May. She's a coordinator." He finished scratching the back of his head.

"Oh pokemon contests, eh? Not really too fond of those, whatever i'm sure she's good." Calem said as he turned into a street which went through downtown. "Oh yeah and it's nice to meet you too Gary Oak, I've heard much about your research."

"Oh really?" Gary responded. " I didn't know people actually knew me for anything besides being the grandson of Professor Oak." Gary finished a bit astonished.

"Well yeah but you're the Professor Oak now. It's not easy following in your grandpa's shoes, especially ones that big."

As Calum and Gary chatted about random pokemon research topics Ash started thinking to himself a bit.

I know I've changed a lot, but just because that doesn't mean she's gunna not like me, right? He asked himself.

'Not that i'd know anything on the topic, Master, but I don't think she'll hate you or anything. I mean you're not the same as you were but no matter what the circumstance you're still the same person.' Gallade spoke through telepathy. That's the thing Ash most liked about Gallade. No matter what he was never alone with him. Even though it could get annoying having a pokemon listening to all your thoughts he still liked that he always knew the right things to say, or rather tell him.

Ever since May didn't recognize him a bit ago Ash had been a little skeptical about taking May with them. But after what Gallade said he is confident that she'll want to. If not, well we'll just see.

They arrived a few minutes later and Ash thanked Calem for the ride and they headed inside their hotel.

They got a few weird looks when they walked through the the lobby to the elevator but just ignored em'. They got in the elevator and hit the button to their floor. They soon got there and Gary opened it with the card key since Ash's hands were full with May on his back.

When they got in Ash set her on the bigger bed and threw the blanket over her.

Two hours later Ash and Gary found themselves eating room service at the small table in the room. It was now 8 p.m. and they decided they'd get head to the airport around 9. Gary called up someone to get him the tickets before they ordered their food.

They were just chilling watching some random Comedy Central show waiting for May to wake up. If it got too late before she woke up they'd just wake her up but since they had some time they thought it'd be better to let her wake on her own.

"Morning sunshine." Ash said with a smile after her heard some movement on the bed next to his. She looked up confused and soon remembered why she was there and who she was with.

"A-Ash?" She asked hopefully looking at him.

"Yep, it's me. Been awhile hasn't it?" Ash said standing up in between the beds.

Next thing he knew May jumped up on the bed and flew toward him and tackled him onto the bed. "Where've you been this whole time?" She cried into his shoulder while she hugged him on the bed.

Ash didn't know what to do, so he hugged back. What was he supposed to say? He didn't want to go into details of why he did right now. "I'm sorry, May. I'll explain later though, okay?" He asked hoping she'd drop it for now.

"B-but-" May started

"Ash is right May" Gary said standing up. "We don't really have time right now, we need to get to the airport right now. We're going to Kanto." He finished, reminding her that they were going to Kanto.

May got up off the bed and sat on the edge. "Okay…" She responded. She really wanted to talk to Ash right now, but she guessed she'd have plenty of time later.

They didn't talk much for the ride to the airport. What was there to talk about? About how he was sorry for letting a dickhead beat her for almost a year now? Ash thought it'd be better to talk about that in the morning.

They showed their tickets and got through onto the plane which was scheduled to leave in a few minutes. They didn't have any bags or anything besides their backpacks so they didn't have much to bring.

They sat in their seats. Ash on the window, May in the middle and Gary on the end. What surprised Ash the most was that May soon fell asleep when the plane flew off. She looked so peaceful leaning onto his shoulder that he couldn't help but smile at her sleeping face.

"I missed this." He whispered to himself.

Not my best chapter. You can probably tell the half that I wrote in April and the half I wrote in this last week.

Well now it's time to explain myself a bit. So these last 3 months or so that I haven't updated I've been sort of busy. I've had baseball almost everyday and it's still going on. It's not the easiest thing in the world to find time to write but I had plenty of time to get this done a long time ago so this isn't really the best excuse.

There's a bit of writers block added into this along with laziness, but don't worry! I have the next chapter already planned out! It's a flashback just to get some questions answered.

Oh yeah and I've been really hooked to Bleach for these last few months(As you could tell by this chapter). I decided to re-watch it and I just got done. I really have to catch up with the manga though.

Well now that i'm done explaining myself somewhat, what did you think of the chapter? I thought it was a bit fast but that's just me. Opinions would be great!

Thank you guys so much for the reviews btw, a few of them really got me into a good mood. The last anonymous one actually inspired me to write the rest of this chapter because it was so nice! Thank you random anon!

I don't know why I have so many reviews favs and follows, but thank you guys so much seriously. I'm not even close to as good as other people and i'm still getting support, so seriously, I can't thank you enough.

Welp, that's it. Review!