Max was not dissatisfied or surprised at all when Ash had defeating his father, Norman, and getting the Balance Badge from the Petalburg City Gym.
After being on a such a long journey with Ash, he knew and saw that Ash's strength was something that even his father could never achieve, so in this battle, no matter which one of, Ash or Norman wins, he will gracefully accept it.
Although it would bring him some surprise if his father could actually defeat Ash, but he stayed on the neutral side throughout the whole battle.
After getting his fifth Gym Badge, the Balance Badge, according to the plan they had previously made, the group will go to Fortree City to get Ash's sixth Badge. And that was still a very long way to get there from where they were.
But now that the group had returned to Petalburg City, the group decided as a whole to go to Littleroot Town and visit Professor Birch. The last time they saw each other was months before in Dewford Island and investigating the the Evil Teams in the Hoenn Region.
"This feels so nostalgic, I rode this road to pick up my little Torchic from Professor Birch in Littleroot Town, and that's also when I met Ash there for the first time. And who can now believe we are together; from meeting you because of an accidental mistake. I really have to thank that Duskull if I ever see it again, for bringing us together." She said while holding Ash's hand near her chest.
May wanted to feel a nostalgic, so she took Ash and the gang to use this road from her home in Petalburg City to go to the Lab via this road.
"I still remember that I was not nearly as good at dealing with Pokémon at the time as I am right now, and I was so frightened by that Duskull in this forest right here that I almost fell out of itz But now, I have become a much more capable and excellent Pokémon Coordinator, and nothing like that Duskull can scare me." She said with a sheepish smile.
Seeing her like this, Ash and Brock looked at each other and smiled. May was a very talented Pokémon Coordinator and they bith believe that she really had the talent to become one of the very few Top Pokémon Coordinator.
Unexpectedly, as soon as May finished what she was saying, her same old friend jumped out to visit her.
It was the very same Duskull that had appeared before May before she had started her journey and met Ash. Now it was once again in front of May, but this time she had a group.
"Ahhh!" May still screamed and hurriedly subconsciously hid behind Ash, as if he was her brave knight in shining armor.
"LaRue!"
Ralts was also a little frightened, and then she screamed fiercely, and her whole body suddenly glowed with a blue light.
Ralts was having fun in Ash's hair while eating some candies he gave her that she couldn't even detect this incoming Duskull.
Pikachu and Ash both sensed this Duskull for a while, but they didn't do anything as Duskull didn't have any bad or malicious intentions against them at all.
Duskull even looked very happy to see the group here.
This Duskull, like most of its kind and other Ghost-type Pokémon's, loves to scare people out of the blue, but now he was trapped by a powerful Psychic bubble and smashed hard to the ground without being able to put up any defenses.
"Ralts, you seem to be getting more and more aggressive nowadays, haven't you." Ash patted her little head gently, making sure that she doesn't feel bad about this. Looking at her now, Ash thought that she might evolve very soon in the near future.
After apologizing to Duskull and giving him a few of his System made Ghost-type Pokémon food as an apology, the group continued on their way to Littleroot Town, but unexpectedly, Duskull got up from the ground after finishing his food and followed the group to where they were going.
Suddenly, a large pickup truck jumped down from one fk the hillside, and then drifted to a stop right in front of Ash and his group. The driver was naturally the mentally unstable Professor Birch, "Ash, May, Brock, and Max, long time no see! How are you guys doing nowadays? How did you all end up coming here out of the blue? You guys could have called me before, so I could have made a better entrance! Hahah!"
"Ash just got Dad's Balance Badge. So we want to come to Professor's Laboratory to have a look before we go off to our next destination." May replied with a grin.
"I see, I see, I just happened to need to go to the Littleroot Harbor to meet up with Professor Oak!" Professor Oak apologized quickly, "But I was too deep into that Wurmp- I mean field research and unknowingly forgot about out agreed upon time, so I wanted to take this high shortcut and rush out to there as soon as possible!"
'So you just perform your car stunts on this dangerous road without second thought?' Everyone in the group looked at him as if he was mentally challenged, which he most definitely and likely was.
Other than that, they all collectively decided to act like they didn't hear his accidental comment about what he did to that poor Wurmple.
"This is the first time he is coming over to meet me in my own Lab, I have to rush over there as soon as possible!" Professor Birch knew that his time was running out and he could no longer stay here to chat with everyone else.
"Okay, let's go together!" Ash and Brock hurriedly got in the car, while May and Max chose to go back to Professor Birch's Lab to wait for everyone else. After all, it will the first time for the two siblings to meet the world famous Professor Oak, whom they had both very admired very much, so they couldn't be rude enough to look dumb, which will not be that hard.
"Great, May, we can finally really see Professor Oak, and so soon!" Max immediately cheered up loudly.
However, May noticed that behind her, in the shadows between some of the large dark trees, something seemed to be hidden there, and she quickly dragged Max and herself to the area of Professor Birch's Laboratory to stay safe.
Ash and Brock also followed Professor Birch on the mountain road and took the dangerous shortcut to the Littleroot Harbor. On their way over to the harbor, Professor Birch suffered from his occupational disease, again, which at this point was not even surprising. He didn't even look at the road while he was driving. Instead, he was trying to talk to a Skarmory on the roadside and because of that, he did not even see the Camerupt in front of him.
They had to pull out their big guns for situations like that.
"Professor Birch, stop it!"
The bluish-pink light appeared on Ash's Psychic gradually began to rise again, and finally Professor Birch quickly stepped on the brakes as Ash instructed to stop it. The Camerupt was also very frightened by this random madman on the road.
"Ash, what's wrong? Why the sudden stop?" Professor Birch, who was in shock, turned around and asked.
"Professor Oak was on that truck!" Ash quickly jumped out of the pickup truck and gently patted the wild Camerupts back and then he went to the top of the truck. "I'm really sorry to scare you like that!"
"Huh, young man, what's the matter with you?" The old man driving the car did not blame Ash and the other two for their sudden stop, but smiled kindly and asked his question.
Ash walked around to the back of the cart, and sure enough, Professor Oak was napping behind it like there's no tomorrow, "Professor, wake up! You have work to do!!"
"Ash, I didn't expect to see you here so randomly!" The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Ash of all people. Professor Oak was also very surprised to see him here when he hadn't mentioned to Ash that he was coming over to the Hoenn Region for work.
He waited and waited for Professor Birch to come, very much knowing that the psycho must have gone out to the field for his observation and lost track of time again like so many times before, so he tried his best to get to the Lab in his own. Unexpectedly, the first person he knew that he met in the Hoenn Region was Ash, the kid that was supposed to be in the other part of the region about now from what he got told.
"You seem to be very energetic, hahaha!" Professor Oak looked at Ash embarrassingly, and then noticed the Ralts and Togetic sitting on Ash's shoulder and his head.
He instantly recognized them from all the time he saw them by Ash and Misty.
"Oh my my, hello there, it's been a while since we last saw each other, right Ralts and Togetic? These two Pokémon are known to able to sense the emotions of those nearby, and they are so close to you. This must be that you three have a very strong bond!" Seeing that Ash was able to train these two Pokémon known for their emotion senses, Professor Oak was even more satisfied with Ash and his future.
Ralts can use the red horns on their heads to sense the emotions of the people and Pokémon around them. If their Trainer are in a happy mood, they will also feel and be happy in general. These little guy grew up practically being pampered by Ash.
Togetic can also sense the kindness in the hearts of other Pokémon and humans, and they will become listless if they are not around gentle or kindhearted people.
This little guy was the problem, but very loved Pokémon, of Ash and his group when she was still in her Togepi stage. Now that she has evolved and come to Ash's side, she is even more doted on than ever before.
But they were both very well-behaved and didn't cause any trouble to Ash at all, unless he told them to have their free time. They just stayed and played around Ash all day long.
After the two famous professors met, the conversation was not something that Ash or Brock could really intervene in. They returned to Professor Birch's Laboratory in the middle of their long conversation about being inside of a Pokémon.
The two siblings were now playing with a new batch of Royal Starter Pokémon's. She at the beginning didn't understand much or anything about even her Pokémon's, not to mention other kinds of Pokémon's. However, right now, she was really like a different person all together. This was the result of Ash's teaching her about the importance and how to train a Pokémon well, and Brock's careful planning of how and what to feed all of their Pokémon's in their long journey. She had really gained a lot.
"Ash!" Just as she was thinking of her boyfriend, Ash and the others came back, and May immediately rushed to greet them.
Max also hurriedly came to Professor Oaks side, "Professor Oakx, I can finally met you!"
This guy really took out a bunch of photos for Professor to sign, and then asked eagerly, "What kind of Pokémon are there in Professor Oak's Laboratory?"
Max was overwhelming the very tired Professor Oak, so Ash hit him in the head to calm him down, and he immediately stopped whatever he was saying.
Professor Oak looked at the siblings expressions of pure admiration and smiled, "Don't be so anxious, wait until I show you something better!"
With that said, Professor Oak took out three Poké Balls from his backpack. These are the three Royal Starters of Kanto Region, Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle.
Ash had long caught all the three of these Pokémon's in the Kanto Region, and now all three of them have elolved into their final form and are some of the strongest of their species, especially his Charizard.
There are very few Trainers and Pokémon's that can challenge him to use his full powers.
Suddenly, a light flashed from the corner of Ash's eyes, and Ralts had teleported out of his shoulders.
Tehy saw a low-powered Shadow Ball smashing over at something without any explanation, and the same Duskull hiding in the shadow not far away was knocked out.
"Huh, it's the same Duskull we met before!" May recognized it the instant she saw it.
The Duskull then just floated in front of Ash for a couple of seconds. His scarlet eyes under the skull mask showed a look of joy, but the laughter was cold and terrifying, not matching his very warm eyes. Ralts teleported back again and stepped on its head, but he didn't seem to care care about the existence of Ralts.
"Do you want to follow me?" Ash understood what Duskull was trying to tell him.
Duskull nodded heavily many times.
"Wow, I'm so envious!" Max hugged the in his Bulbasaur even harder and said with envy, "Big Bro has such a powerful aura that even wild Pokémon he has never seen before come to him to be captured! Now this is what I call aura."
Ash ignored whatever brain rot Max was saying and took out an unused Poké Ball, "Then please to meet you, Duskull!"
Duskull: 120/140
After staying in there for a day, they decided to go off to continue on their journey again from Professor Birch Laboratory, the Pokémon around Ash also some change in them.
In addition to his Pikachu, Ralts, Togetic and Dratini, the four main Pokémon that are always around him now, there are also his Torkoal and Duskull, both of who have recently been caught by him by complete luck.
Next, the group headed towards the high Fortree City. The journey was quite far from where they were, essentially half away into the mainland Hoenn Region. The group re-planned their road again and chose a more interesting route, then being forced to be plunged into the deep forests of Hoenn again.
The main thing the group always had to go through in their journey was always these damn forest.
Now, May suddenly and unexpectedly proposed a practice match to Ash, using her Torchic.
This most likely stemmed from after she saw the newbie Torchic in Professor Birch Laboratory's being trained for their future Trainers, and thinking that the same newbie Torchic that Ash gotten much later than her had already evolved in its next form, she started to worry about the future of her own Torchic.
"Alright then, I will humor you, love. Stand by for battle, Torkoal!"
It was broad daylight now, and the more nocturnal and Ghost-type Duskull was seeming to have trouble moving around in all this light. He had always been used to the dark place of his home back in Littleroot Forest. And now since it was a special training for May's Torchic, it was more appropriate to use Torkoal, which was also a Fire-type Pokémon than the Ghost-type Duskull.
Ash likes to use the same type of Pokémon as his partner to practice their synergy with each other. Just like his Charizard who was now finishing his special training in the Charicific Valley, his other Pokémon's in the backyard of Professor Oak Laboratory are also continuing to make their moves adjustments and do one-on-one training under the notes and instructions he gives to his Slowking every time he makes a call to the Professor.
"Torrr..."
Hearing that he will be going to help Torchic with his special training, Torkoal was immediately moved to tears and spit up his very thick smokes again.
This guy was emotional in everything he did, which was cute in a sense.
"Torchic, we have to work hard!" May encouraged her confused looking Torchic, "Use Ember!"
However, when Torchic's Ember hit Torkoal she'll, Torkoal didn't react at all, it seemed that he hadn't even felt the attack. Truth be hold, Torkoals shell was a little hotter than Torchic's Ember. Instead of being disappointed, Torkoal spit up his smoke again, cheering loudly for Torchic, his good friendoo.
"Torchic, Torkoal is too powerful in his defense, Torchic, we have to use the skills that Ash taught us last time!" May's heart hardened in preparation, with Ash's power and all of his experience helping her out, of course she would make good use of what her boyfriend was providing her.
After hearing May's words, Torchic also showed a new more serious expression, one that even he didn't he quite possessed.
"Torchic, use your new Flame Charge attack!"
That's right, it was the move that Ash had originally taught to his Combusken to power up his speed, along with it being a decently powerful move. Ash made his Combusken learn this attack when he was still a Torchic, this move was used repeatedly to build up the speed and strength on its legs for his future evolution into a Combusken and then to a powerful Blazeiken, so May naturally wanted to learn this form Ash to improve her own Torchic and his future evolutions.
Of course, now that Ash's Combusken has completed his evolution, there are many new skills that are needed to be better practiced and improved more with time.
Flame Charge was also one of these moves that needed to be improved because of the ultimate form of this move, Flare Blitz!
However, May and Torchic are special, they can sometimes do it without any major issues happening while other times they can't even control where the flames appears to make the move stronger.
However, they are working very hard to improve on their current level.
This was also related to the fact that May had previously focused most of her energy on her Beautifly and Skitty to get them ready for their Pokémon Contests.
The training foundation of her Torchic was not as solid as her other two Pokémon's, even though Torchic was the very first Pokémon that she had ever owned.
It was the same this time, being very close to ding the move correctly. Torchic stomped hard on the ground and new hotter flames appeared to be burning on its body.
"That's right, come on, hold on and let your energy burn to increase the power of your flames!" Ash looked at the flames on Torchic's body, nodded slightly, and quickly gave more advice to let Torchic get a better hang on his new move.
Unexpectedly, the flames went out out of the blue, and Torchic stopped while breathing heavily. His physical strength was far inferior to Ash's Combusken when he was still a Torchic.
This was another of the reasons why Ash's Combusken didn't like May's Torchic much, as he sometimes too lazy to even try to train his body and the lives he knows. This was the complete opposite of Ash's, who always trains when he has the chance.
"Aww, dang it! We failed again, and we were so close too!" May felt let down again for a moment, but did not give up and continued to push on forward with her Torchic.
"Babe, let Torchic follow Torakoal during his training period. After all, he will evolve into a dual Fighting-type Pokémon in the future, and physical strength is very important. And Torkoal can be the perfect partner to improve Torchic's attack with his own defense. This can also improve my Torkoals defense in the long run." Ash gave her some suggestions with a few small peck to her lips.
"Torkoalllll..." Torkoal was moved again in pure happiness.
"You two are so in love over there!" Suddenly, a man and woman dressed in luxurious and glamour clothes came to Ash's and May's side. Brock was cooking up some food while Max was helping him out with the fire.
"My name is Oscar!"
"And my name is Andi!"
Seeing a beautiful blonde girl like Andi, Brock's eyes suddenly filled with love, "So beautiful!"
"We can see the deep love between the two of you. We have something to ask you. Please accept our challenge in a Pokémon Battls!" These two seem to have a good tactic understanding with each other, they even say the same things at the same times.
Ash will never refuse an invitation to have a battle, especially when it could help him and May figure something out.
"But what we are proposing is not an ordinary battle, it is a Pokémon two-player cooperative match to test the tacit understanding between two people, especially loving couples like you guys and us."
It's a two-on-two battle, but instead of one Trainer commanding two of their Pokémon's, it has been increased to two Trainers commanding one Pokémon each. Very similar things with some changes to the number of Trainers and Pokémon's, but these two things can bring emmense change to something like a Pokémon battle.
It sounded very interesting, so Asg and May looked at each other and decided to accept this new challenge as a couple.
"Miss Andi, please let me, a talented Pokémon Breeder and your new massive fan, be the referee!"
Boom!
The Poké Ball on Brock's waist exploded on its own, which was very reminiscent of something that will happen to Brock very commonly in the future.
Spinda actually jumped out and hugged
Brock's leg. His next words of how loyal he was going to be for her immediately stopped, and he honestly announced the start of the battle without anything else to add.
Spinda doesn't hurt him physically, she just makes sure that he is single, and for the foreseeable future.
Now that Pokémon are supposed to be released, Ash and May decided to use their Torkoal and Torchic to get a better understanding of their synergy.
The Pokémon used by Oscar and Andi turned out to be a Nidoking and Nidoqueen couple. And at a glance, one can tell that these two people have trained these two Pokémon's since they were in their Nidoran stage. It was very obvious that their Bond Value was very high, and the tacit understanding between them was also some of the best one can find in the wild.
The most important thing is that these two Pokémon's were Ground-types and could restrain Ash and May's two Fire-types.
"May, you can do whatever you want to them, and I'II make out a formation for you! This will test what I have taught you all this time." Ash didn't panic at all by seeing these two fully evolved Pokémon's that were also stronger in types, he planned to give May more opportunities to fight and get a broader sense of her strength and intelligence in a battle, especially in a battle like this where she had to consider what her and her partners Pokémon's can do.
The more intense a battle is for a Trainer, the more they are likely to gain some insight in their power from this.
"Okay!" With Ash being by her side, May was finally able to be at ease, well some what. Even if the two Pokémon in front of her are of a much higher levels, she was not afraid to going all out.
"Torchic, use your Ember attack!"
Torkoal didn't move to attack like Torchic was, and Torchic took the lead in attacking according to May's orders. This time it performed exceptionally well in fomg so, and Ember's temperature was even higher than the usual that they practiced with.
However, such flames were nothing to the likes of Nidoking and Nidoqueen, who were known for their very strong defensive powers.
"Nidoking/Nidoqueen, use your double Dynamic Punch!"
Oscar and Andi took action at the same time. The movements of these two Pokémon were unsurprisingly very consistent with each other, and they got ready to Torchic with their strong fists.
"Noo, Ash!" Seeing that her Torchic was in very much danger, May quickly called out to Ash.
However, Ash did not seem to be panicked by their thei combined attack, "Sun Smokescreen!"
Torkoal usually spit up a thick layer of Smokescreen from his nostrils whenever he moved. Now that he purposefully activated the move, the smoke immediately enveloped Nidoqueens and Nidokings bodies.
When everything went dark, they immediately stopped attacking and felt parts of their body was being slowly burned.
This was a newly created move by Ash, especially made for his Torkoal and maybe his other Fire-types when was has the chance.
The Heatwave move was combined with the hiding properties of Smokescreen to fully enclose the opponents and make sure they are unable to do much of anything while also getting damaged by the small burns happening on parts of their bodies.
"Shoot!" Oscar and Andi exclaimed together. Since now that they couldn't see or yell out to their Nidoking and Nidoqueen, how can they direct them to fight?
And even if they really hear it, whag if they launch an attack and accidentally hit their other companion?
"Torchic, use Ember!"
"Let me add some fire to yours, Torkoal, Flamethrower!"
Even though Ember's power was of a much lower level, Flamethrower's power had further increased its own. The newly combined fire pillar penetrated the thick smoke and hit Nidoking hard in one of its weekend spot from the previous burn damages.
"KING!"
Nidoking immediately cried out in pain. Not only that, he also fell into a more serious condition of burn than the previous ones.
"Noo, Nidoking!" Oscar suddenly became worried when he saw his Nidoking being so injured.
"May, focus on continuing to attack that injured Nidoking!" Ash made a quick decision on the spot. The two of them fought as if they were one single person, well more like Ash was the brain while was controlling the hands, so all they needed was a simple word to convey each others instructions to the other to understanding.
"Okay, Torchic, let's go for your Flame Charge!" May really gave the orders to her Torchic to use Flame Charge again at such a time.
She was going to fully trust in her Torchic's abilities to pull this off.
And Torchic didn't let May down. While at the beginning, he struggled to continue his spend on the ground, he gradually began to wrap himself into a fireball to increase both his power and speed stat.
"Nidoking/ Nidoqueen, use your destroyer Hyper Beams!" Oscar and Andi also used their ultimate move.
The two destructive Hyper Beams were perfectly integrated in terms of power and strength with each other, which also shows how much they had to train together to do something so amazing, especially with extremely powerful moves like Hyper Beam.
"Torchic, come on! You can do it!" At this moment, the flames on Torchic's body were burning like never before. Torchic gritted his teeth and ignored the destruction that the incoming Hyper Beams front of him was doing.
May also did g stop Torchic as she saw that Ash was watching all of this very calmly, and she had the highest trust in her lover.
Finally, Torchic successfully used Flame Charge and rushed towards Nidoking and Nidoqueen. Like May had thought, he completely ignored the destructive Hyper Beam that was about it hit him.
Ash smiled slightly, of course he would not disappoint May and her Torchic, "Torkoal, burn it out! Overheat!"
This was the decisive move that puts Torkoal's full strength on the line. At the expense of harshly lowering his Special Attack, the power of the Overheat had increased to its current limit.
Torchic's Flame Charge hit the already very seriously injured Nidoking hard in the weak point that Ash had told her about.
"Great, Torchic, we successfully used Flame Charge!"
And the terrifying pillar of fire of Torkoal under Sunny Day had also defeated the double destructive Hyper Beam and had also knocked Nidoqueen away.
"Both Nidoking and Nidoqueen lost their ability to fight, meaing Torkoal and Torchic won this battle, so the winner of this match is the team of May and Ash!"
"TOR..."
This was the victory roar of Torkoal.
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