Chương 11: Homecoming

"Finally! Almost home!" I exclaimed as the ship we were on rounded the bend that would take us to Pallet town, holding onto the railing with my good hand while May and Dawn stood on either side of me.

The day after Giana visited me I had been discharged from the hospital, as most of my injuries had already been healed by that point with the technology and emergency measures used by the staff at the time. Of the numerous bandages that covered me, only the casts on my arm and leg remained, but they too could be taken off in another week.

When the bandages covering the lacerations and burns had been removed though, they revealed numerous scars that now crisscrossed my entire back, a bite mark on my left leg, and a line across the left side of my chin.

While I had joked that it would be easier to tell Ash and I apart from now on, mom appeared sad as she thought about me carrying these scars for possibly the rest of my life. The only problem I had with them though was that the majority of them were on my back, which people would often see as a mark of cowardice.

Anyways, after being released from the hospital we didn't head south straight to Pallet town, as the way was rather rocky and jagged for someone on crutches, but instead headed east to the harbor of Viridian city. There we got on a ship and had spent the last day sailing around the southern point so we could return home.

"Being at sea is nice, but I'd like to see more of Kanto one day." May said suddenly, earning her a nod of agreement from Dawn as she added,

"Right? It's so different from Sinnoh that I want to explore more of it in the future as well."

"Then you both should come back when I begin my journey." I told them with a smile, getting looks from both girls before they contemplated what I asked.

During the trip home we had all discussed our plans for the future and what we wanted to do. May, like both her anime and game counterpart, wanted to travel the world while helping her father with his research. Dawn, also similar to both her counterparts, wanted to help professor Rowen like her father, but she was also interested in contests like her mother.

Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, I continued telling them,

"There's many more and rarer Pokemon throughout Kanto than what professor Oak was able to obtain before you guys arrived, so coming back would give you both a chance to catch them to send home to the professors. Plus I intend to visit each region eventually, so May would be able to see the world, and there are Contest Halls located in the majority of those regions as well Dawn."

As they thought about the idea of the three of us traveling the world together, each one living out their dreams as we did so, both girls were soon looking at me with sparkling eyes before seizing each of my arms to snuggle up against my sides. The moment was so nice, that I pretended not to hear the conversation going on behind us.

"Delia, that Ace of yours is a real lady killer!"

"I know! Only a few days of knowing each other and he's got those two fawning all over him!"

"I'm surprised you're taking it so well Birch."

"Well... Ace was prepared to give his life to save theirs, and as a father there's little more that I can ask for from a future son-in-law..."

"Indeed... If only he wasn't such a playboy."

The rest of the adults made comments and noises of agreement at the comment Dawn's father made, while my brow twitched in annoyance.

What playboy? I just accepted the affections offered to me by two lovely ladies. That doesn't make me a playboy.

My mind was filled with indignation at how the adults thought of me, but I soon forgot about it when we rounded the last bend.

I felt as if my jaw hit the deck of the boat when I saw that the mountain behind my house had a massive channel gouged out of it.

"Man.....Dragonite really is powerful..." May uttered as she and Dawn also gaped at the channel, while my head turned as if on a rusty swivel towards the dragon type in question.

"Dro?" Dragonite asked when he saw the look I was giving him, before my eye began twitching slightly.

It wasn't fair....

When was I going to get my chance to watch the badass pseudo-legendary tear shit up?

I had to fight back tears of frustration the majority of the way to the beach, until one of the girls nudged me while pointing forward.

There, on the same beach we greeted the two professors and their entourage, was the population of Pallet town along with dozens of professor Oak's Pokemon that had come to welcome us home. And at their head was a certain fifteen year old blonde with a pampered looking Vulpix at her feet, who jumped around excitedly as they watched us approach.

"ACE!" Daisy's voice carried over the wind to us, beginning the chorus of cheers as everyone shouted my name to welcome us.

"Why are they cheering like I'm a hero coming home?" I asked while scratching the scar on my cheek awkwardly.

A hand on my shoulder made me look back at professor Oak, who showed me a warm smile as he said,

"Because to them, you might as well be." He then pointed to the area behind my house, at the bottom of the gorge Dragonite carved out of the mountain. There the green and lush vegetation had been burned to ash, as the trees and ground sat blackened like an ugly scar on the mountainside.

Professor Oak then continued, "no one knew why the Houndour were attacking, they only saw the pillar of smoke created when the Houndoom set the forest on fire. If you hadn't stopped them in the forest, then the entire pack could have very well followed the three of you into town, and caused untold damage to the people and Pallet town itself."

May and Dawn leaned in a bit closer to me as we listened to professor Oak explained the people's reaction, which in turn made me feel even more awkward. I was used to attention from being a famous MMA fighter in my previous life, but I'd never been called a 'hero' or anything like that. And even if that wasn't the exact term being used right now, it still felt the same.

As we got closer to the docks though professor Oak was called by one of the ship's crew mates, presumably over the supplies he'd bought while we were in Viridian city. While he went to deal with that, we finished docking at the town's small pier, which Daisy raced down with her Vulpix following as May, Dawn and I stepped off of the gangplank.

"Ace!" Daisy cried as crashed into me while wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug, threatening to topple me over with my broken leg as she did so.

"Hey Daisy." I said to her lamely, to which she only tightened her hold on me while I saw May and Dawn narrow their eyes at the scene. And even worse, I could hear the mothers murmuring behind us.

When Daisy finally let me go she looked me over with concern, her gaze lingering on my casts and the scar on my cheek, before she asked, "are you alright?"

In response I just held up my left arm to indicate my casts as I said, "I will be once these damned things come off. I'm getting bored as hell, and there's a spot that itches like you wouldn't believe under them."

Daisy just laughed wryly at my joke, while her little Vulpix leapt up into my good arm to nuzzle me while licking my face. The little girl had been a gift to Daisy from her grandfather on her last birthday, since she planned to be a groomer instead of a trainer like Gary, Ash and I.

After scratching her behind the ears for a moment, I then said after a thought,

"But you know what I want to do most now that I'm back?"

"What?" Daisy asked, before I told her with completely serious deadpan,

"I want to take a nice hot and LONG bath."

My words, combined with how serious I'd been when I said them, made Daisy break out laughing despite how serious I was. I hadn't gotten the chance to try and shower or anything during my time at the hospital, and I couldn't wait to just soak in the burning hot water.

What surprised me though was when Daisy soon stopped laughing, and began saying with red cheeks,

"You know Ace, since I've been learning to be a groomer, maybe I can-!!!" Whatever Daisy had been about to say was suddenly cut off as May and Dawn suddenly hooked their arms into both of her, and dragged her away.

"Let's go have some 'girl talk'." May said dryly, while Dawn nodded in agreement.

"Wait-what!? Vulpix!" The little fox-like Pokemon however just nuzzled me some more, while releasing a soft "vuuuuul."

Daisy's eyes were filled with betrayal from how her Pokemon abandoned her, but then I was surprised when the three moms passed me as well as they followed the three girls.

"What's that all about Aniki?" Ash asked when he too stepped off of the ship, to which I said wryly,

"I'll tell you when you're older." Though Ash protested at my silence, I was more preoccupied when I looked back to see Birch and Dawn's dad staring at me dryly, presumably from the way Daisy had greeted me.

Not used to dealing with fathers, except for running from their shotguns after they caught me screwing their daughters, I pretended not to notice them as I set Vulpix down at my feet so I could use my crutches. There it began looking over Riolu curiously, who had spent the entire time on the ship exploring since everything was new to it.

"Wanna go see your new home?" I asked him, earning me my partner's full attention as we made our way towards the beach, where we first had to deal with the crowd waiting for us.

"Welcome home Ace!"

"We all owe you one Ace!"

"You're so cool Ace!"

I scratched the scar on my cheek awkwardly as everyone showered me with praises and greetings, while a bunch of the younger kids also looked at me with stars in their eyes.

"Chop! Ma chop cho!" The little Machop from professor Oak's Pokemon said to me suddenly, asking how I got my butt kicked so easily.

I knew he was just playing around, but apparently my partner didn't seem to think so, or didn't care about the difference as he proclaimed,

"Ri! Lu o Riolu!" Arguing on my behalf, Riolu told Machop off as he said that I did better than the other fighting type would have in my situation, making Machop notice him for the first time.

"Ma cho chop!" Machop said, stating that a 'runt' like Riolu had no place to talk here.

Sensing a possible fight breaking out between the two, I sent Ash a look that conveyed what I wanted him to do, so my twin hurriedly scooped up Riolu as the two of us went on our way.

I knew that Machop and Riolu would definitely duke it out in the future no matter what, but there was no reason to do so here and now. Riolu of course didn't seem to think so, but he couldn't break out of Ash's hold no matter what he did, thanks to my brother's numerous years of washing numerous Pokemon what didn't like baths.

"Ri!" My partner cried out in indignation as I politely excused us from the crowds, demanding to know why I kept him from fighting the Machop.

I shot a look at him as I said, "because there was no reason to fight right now, and you'd lose anyways. You're only a few days old, while that Machop is several months old with tons of training already.

"Ri!"

"Yes you would. And I'm not saying you can't fight him, just not right now. Wait a few days so you can start your own training, and I can teach you a few moves too. If that's not enough of a reason, then how about that I was the one who taught Machop how to fight?"

Riolu was silent when he heard that, as he started to both pout and contemplate my words. When we first met we had synchronized our auras to allow him to draw on my fighting experience and moves, and in that time Riolu had felt just how much skill and experience I had. He didn't know about me reincarnating, but he did know that if I taught Machop how to fight then it would definitely be stronger than him, for now.

Unfortunately though training would have to wait until tomorrow, today was about going home and settling in. And as we got onto our road, I pointed our house out to the little Pokemon while saying,

"There it is, our home."

By this point Ash put Riolu down so he could walk alongside us as we got to our front gate, where one of the neighborhood 'aunts' exited our house.

"Welcome home Ace, Ash. I'm glad to see you're doing better. Your mother asked me to keep an eye on the place while you were all in Viridian, so I was just giving one last sweep to make sure there wasn't any dust inside before you all got home."

""Thank you Mrs. Anders."" Ash and I both said to her while she passed us, stopping only long enough to to try and pet Riolu, who quickly dodged her hand warily.

Once she left, the three of us entered our house to find it already lit up and warm, as if we had never left.

"Ah! It's nice to be home!" Ash exclaimed as we kicked off our shoes and went inside, with Riolu looking around at everything curiously.

"Yes it is. I'm heading up to my room." I told him tiredly, as the feeling of wanting to just crash came over me. I recalled it from my previous life whenever I got home from a match, as you never truly seem to relax away from home.

Hopping up the stairs on my good leg, I guided Riolu through the halls until we reached my room, and I opened the door to reveal the interior to him.

"This is my room, though it's both of ours now." I told him as the little Pokemon looked around interestedly.

Not much had changed in the last five years, aside from there being less toys and more items used for exercise, while more of my own drawings decorated the walls. There were also a number of stuffed Pokemon dolls around as well, one of which was a large Camerupt doll that I grabbed and put at the foot of my bed.

I then crashed on my bed while putting my broken foot up on the back of the Camerupt doll, while Riolu leapt up onto my bed with me. I then plopped my hand down on top of his head, which he didn't dodge, and began ruffling his ears and fur playfully.

"So how do you want the sleeping arrangements to be? On my bed with me like at the hospital, or do you want your own bed?" I asked him suddenly.

While I had no problem with Riolu sleeping on my bed right now, as it was like sleeping with a pet, it might be a little more awkward when it evolved into a Lucario. And, at least for the time being, I refused to put him in a Pokeball if I didn't need to.

"Ri!" Riolu stated after a moment of thought, stating that he would sleep with me for the time being.

Nodding in affirmation, I leaned back onto my pillows as the tension began to leave my body, feeling far more relaxed than I had at the hospital. And as I did so I felt my eyelids slowly getting heavier.

With Riolu curling up next to me, I quickly drifted off to sleep in the comfort of my own bed and home.

...

"Ace! The bath is ready!" I awoke with a start as I heard my mom saying my name from the other side of the door.

It was significantly darker than before I drifted off, and I was alone as Riolu was nowhere to be seen. I wasn't worried though, as through our link I could feel that he was merely exploring the forest behind the house.

Knowing I'd be able to tell if he got into trouble or something, I didn't worry about Riolu as I groggily got up from my bed, and clumsily got some clothes together. I then hobbled out of my room and to the bathroom, looking forward to soaking in the hot water the entire way there.

What I wasn't expecting though was to find the bathroom occupied when I opened the door, as a completely naked May, Dawn, and Daisy waited for me, with blushes so intense they went all the way down to their chests.

"""C-can we wash your back?"""