Kanto's Pride

Chapter 29

"Yo Ashy-boi," Gary greeted with a smirk. Ash just rolled his eyes.

"Hiya Ash," an excited voice of May said as she got up from her seat and sit beside him, intentionally leaning against him.

Serena and Dawn were sitting across from them, but didn’t do anything as they were too shy from their early encounter with the boy. Ash met their eyes as the two girls looked away with a blush.

'I have to fix this,'  he thought with a sigh.

"Hey Ash. Glad you came. Gary thinks that I can't beat Darkrai with my Sceptile just like you did," Max complained to which the young professor rolled his eyes.

Ash was about to answer when Brock interrupted.

"I am sure you can. But you need to train harder just like he did," the doctor advised.

"Yeah Max, don't lose hope," Ash said with a reassuring smile.

The young trainer looked happy when Gary spoke again.

"Whatever. I still think Sawyer has a better chance than him," he said bluntly. Max just ignored him for now.

"You guys are talking like Darkrai can only be taken down by Sceptiles," Clemont stated his opinion after listen to their argument.

Gary and Max looked at each other for a second and started laughing.

"You do have a point there Clemont," said Gary.

"Yeah. Seeing the battle seem to have placed the thought in our minds," agreed Max.

"Say Ash, I see you have reunited with Latias again," Misty said with a knowing smile. Ash swallowed some food before he replied.

"Looks like you figured it out. Yes, I met her a year ago or so when I revisited Alto Mare. Bianca and her Grandfather was happy to see me too as well. Latias was still playing her role as the only Guardian of the city, but she was still weak at that time. So, I decided to train her occasionally with my other pokemons and now she is just as strong as them," Ash explained the story briefly as the others listened.

"Wow. You seem to have more Dragon types in your possession than me, and I was the one who is supposed to be the Master of it," Iris said with a pout as Ash chuckled.

"You know," Goh started as Ash looked at him. "I get the feeling all those times I met those rare and mythical pokemons, its only because you were with me," he said with a wonder.

Brock laughed. "It's not you Goh. All of us have encountered rare pokemons on our journey with Ash," he said as the others thought about how precise he was.

‘Protagonist Facts,’  Pikachu thought while drinking his bottle of ketchup.

"It's just a coincidence," Ash said, laughing the topic off as he proceeded to quickly eat his food.

"Don't eat so fast Ash," May scolded him with a caring tone.

"You are not his mom May," said Max in a blunt tone just to receive a Brick Break on his head from his older sister, and it was Super Effective.

At the mention of his mom, Ash frowned. He remembered how his mom used to scold him about shoving his food down his throat without chewing it properly. He smiled, remembering all those memories he spent with his mom. It was quite short. Because he always kept himself busy with travelling across other regions. His mom always had to spend almost a year alone without him. Ash felt bad. He regretted that he didn’t give his mom more time than he did on other things. Now he was willing to do anything just to see her heart warming smile once again.