Return of the defeated (on hold)

Part 17

Ash could see the look in her eyes, "Sometimes you have to sacrifice a little sleep to achieve your goals." He said and then added in a reassuring tone, "But don't worry May, we took care if ourselves and made sure we all got plenty of rest."

"I just don't want you to push yourself so hard and exhaust yourselves." She said squeezing him tightly, "I want you to be strong but healthy too."

Ash squoze her back with a light chuckle, "Ok May we'll promise to make sure we take care of ourselves." He smiled at her, "Now how about we finish training with your pokemon." May smiled back as they turned back to the pokemon and continued training. Over the next hour Ash and his pokemon gave May and her pokemon tips and advice while the mock contest battled.

Two distinct grumbling sounds were heard and all the pokemon turned to look at both May and Ash. As if they were both one mind the sheepishly rubbed the back of their heads and in sync said, " It must be breakfast time." Looking at each other blushing lightly began to laugh as did the pokemon.

"May if I start cooking would you mind feeding the pokemon?" Ash asked as he turned towards the fire pit.

"Sure Ash." May said cheerily, "Plus I really like your cooking."

While Ash busied himself with preparing the food while the fire began to get hotter, May started passing out everyone's food bowls with Lucario's help. May had told him to sit and relax but he wouldn't listen, being just as stubborn as Ash, May just giggled and shook her head. Just as they finished filling the last bowl May heard Ash call out, "May breakfast is ready."

May thanked Lucario for his help before going and sitting next to Ash. She looked at the bowl Ash handed her a little confused, "Ash what is this?" She poked it with her spoon inquisitively.

Ash let a light laugh, "Its a porridge that is full of nutrients for energy and it's really feeling. It'll keep you full most of the day, I learned how to make it when I was spending time in Rota." Ash explained, "The chefs there wanted me to stay full for a longer period of time after seeing how much I could eat and they knew once I left I would only be able to carry limited food supplies."

Now it was May's turn to laugh, "Well at least they found a way to fill the Ash black hole." May teasingly said. Ash opened his mouth to argue back but he knew she was right so he joined her in laughter.

They finished eating and cleaned up after themselves before returning their pokemon, obviously besides Pikachu, Lucario, and Glaceon. Once they had everything in order they went back to the road and continued on their way to Vermillion City. As they walked May had questions rolling in her head and she was trying to figure out how to ask them. Before she could ask one she heard Ash's voice, "Is something on your mind May?"

She looked up at his bright smile her eyes briefly landed on the scar crossing his eye. "I was wondering about you training from when you left and your training now."

"What would you like to know?"

May linked her arm through his as she figured out how to word her question, "When you were gone was your training like what I seen yesterday?"

"To an extent it was, but most times it quite often more intense. We always picked areas that we wouldn't disturb to many pokemon because we could clear out large areas of trees, rocks, or whatever was in that particular area. Though when we finished, a part of our training was to repair the area the best we could before moving on. Once we reached Mt. Silver it became a daily battle to reach the top, the wild pokemon there are something else. You could almost consider them vicious," Ash paused for a moment after seeing the look of shock on May's face. "not like crazy vicious but just very territorial and many had never seen a human until me." He added reassuringly.