Chapter 17

"You were amazing Ash!" exclaimed May as she snuggled into him even tightly exploiting the chance.

Ash blushed from the praise and the contact of the hot brunette.

"It was all Pikachu May, he deserve the credit," Ash said as May picked up the mouse and gave it a hug. In response to which the mouse squealed in delight.

"I was worried for a moment but damn you are strong," said Max as he ran upto them.

"Pikachu has got a lot of new moves. I have to study hard before I challenge him again," Sawyer murmured as he kept writing on his notebook.

The crowd around them cheered before they started to leave.

"Hey Ash? Are you free now??" May suddenly asked hopefully.

"Yeah I -"

"No wait I didn't have my battle yet," said Max with a cry.

May wanted to stuff a pokeball in his mouth but controlled herself before saying,

"Alright then, you two have your battle. But make it quick. Ash and I have something to do," she said.

Max looked at his sister suspiciously before looking at Ash, who just shrugged showing he didn't know either. Max shrugged it off as well. He then pulled Ash to the battlefield before both of them positioned themselves.

"I will be the referee, " Sawyer volunteered as May stood beside him.

"One on one, same rules, agreed?" he asked receiving two nods from both sides.

Max pulled out a pokeball and threw it, revealing a bipedal green and white creature who stood gracefully. It had red piercing eyes and two blades attached to both of its arms.

"Alright Gallade let's do this," Max yelled as the Blade pokemon nodded and got into a battle stance.

Ash analysed his opponent's pokemon before throwing out his own.

Another bipedal blue frog like pokemon was revealed. It stood proudly with arms crossed in the battlefield. Its pink faded eyes were focused and narrowed, a tongue wrapped around its neck as it glared at its opponent.

Sawyer looked excited to see how much stronger that pokemon has gotten.

"Greninja vs Gallade. Battle Begin," he declared and immediately took his notebook, not to miss any detail specially about Ash's Greninja.

'Greninja is a part dark type so I have the advantage. But still I have to be careful,' Max thought before giving his command.

"Gallade use Close Combat." The blade pokemon was closing the distance between them quickly. Before it could land a hit, Greninja sunk into the shadows with a blur leaving a confused Gallade.

'What? Where did it go?' Max was thinking when Greninja suddenly appeared behind Gallade and gave it a barrage of Aerial Aces before sending it back to Max. He was dumbfounded.

"Greninja used Shadow Sneak to dodge and then counter with Aerial Ace. Flying type moves deal damage on fighting types like Gallade," Sawyer analysed carefully as Max gritted his teeth. May wanted to cheer for Ash but couldn't betray Max as well, so she quietly but attentively watched the match.

'Have to try something different,' Max thought.

"Use Psycho Cut."

Gallade rushed towards Greninja by gathering psychic energy in its blades before swinging them towards the ninja pokemon.

Ash gave a nod and Greninja summoned two long sharp blades made out of water and countered against Gallade's move.

"Switch to Leaf Blade," Max commanded with a smirk as Gallade started to attack with the super effective grass type move.

Greninja still kept countering with cut when suddenly there were many copies of Greninja surrounding Gallade.

"Night Slash," Ash commanded as the blades of the real Greninja turned purple and struck Gallade several times. It was a normal damage but still pretty effective as Gallade looked hurt.

Some people already gathered to see the battle, mainly because of Ash. Some of the Kalos native even recognised his famous Greninja.

"You alright?" Max asked worriedly to his pokemon.

Gallade nodded and stood up, ready to fight.

Max smiled, "Ok then use X-Scissor."

The blade pokemon was fast this time and hit greninja in the chest with the super effective bug type move. Greninja grunted and fell on its back.

"While its on the ground, use Brickbreak."

Gallade was about to hit the fallen ninja when Ash commanded, "Dodge and use Lick."

Greninja dodged the Brickbreak with another blur and grabbed Gallade tightly, wrapping it with its long tongue. Then he slammed the psychic type on the ground after swinging it around with the ghost type move.

Gallade was injured and at that moment, Ash decided to end the battle.

"Water Shuriken."

Greninja summoned a large shuriken, bigger than the normal ones and threw it at a bullet speed towards Gallade. It made contact and there was a small explosion. The dust revealed a knocked out blade pokemon.

"Gallade is unable to battle. Greninja wins and the victory goes to Ash," Sawyer declared as everyone cheered a bit.

"You were amazing. Take a good rest," Max said while returning Gallade.

"Excellent job Greninja, return," the frog nodded and was returned as well.

Both trainers then shook hands with each other.

"Guess I still have a long way to go," Max said chuckling.

"You are a very strong trainer Max. Don't think I am telling this to cheer you up. But I think you have a lot of potential. Keep working hard with your pokemon and you can achieve anything," Ash said truthfully.

"Thanks Ash I will keep that in mind," said Max nodding.

"Both of you were great," May said as she came and grabbed Ash's arm.

"Yeah it was really fantastic, I got a lot of details as well," said Sawyer.

'Ash didn't even need to use the transformation to defeat Max's strongest pokemon. Greninja is already strong without that. I have to train even harder if I want to battle him again,'. Sawyer thought with a frown.

"Hey Sawyer let's go and have a sparring match between our Sceptiles," Max suggested interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah sounds great," Sawyer said.

"We'll see you guys later," Max said as they left Ash and May, who was still hanging onto his arm.

Ash let out a small sigh as he looked down at the brunette who was giving a cute smile at him.

"So?" he asked trying not to blush.

"Hmmm...?" she hummed looking intently at Ash.

"What....do you wanted to do?" he asked again.

"Oh..yeah... right," May said breaking out of her trance. "Well... I was thinking if you wanted to hangout today? Just... the two of us?" asked May hopefully.

Ash's heart skipped a bit. He thought about it. 'It can't be bad I guess'.

Due to Ash taking his time to response, May started to get a bit sad. She thought about dropping the idea when Ash said, "Yeah sounds great May," he said with smile.

May smiled brightly. "Alrighty let's goo," she said excitedly dragging Ash out of the campus.

***

Few hours passed since Ash and May started to hangout. Lumiose City was huge. It had lots of restaurant and numerous places for entertainment. The duo tried out a restaurant first being a food lover they were. Next they went to a theatre to watch a horror movie. May didn't like horror films but still insisted on it so she could hold Ash tightly during a scary scene. Their pokemon, Pikachu and Glacion seemed to be enjoying as well with each others company.

They decided to call it a day with a walk in a park. The park was peaceful at the afternoon, with few people and some wild pokemons around. May talked about a lot of things during their time together which mostly included contests. Ash was a good listener and also suggested her some tips on it which surprised the brunette.

"Wow I didn't know you knew so much about moves and combinations Ash," asked the Hoenn Queen.

"Well being a good trainer doesn't mean only a good battler. It means how much trust and bond you have with your pokemon. If our bonds are strong, we can do anything together starting from battling to coordinating, performing, breeding and many more," Ash said smartly impressing May.

She smiled. "You know Ash, you've matured and changed a lot," May started while getting close to him.

"And I like this Ash much more," she said almost whispering in his ear.

Ash's face turned totally red. He controlled his emotions before replying, "Th-thanks May." He looked away and May giggled triumphantly realising she was now in the lead.

Their walk ended, which was very romantic in May's perspective.

"Thank you Ash, I had a lot of fun today. Let's do this again sometime," said May happily.

Ash smiled, seeing his friend happy made him happy as well.

"Sure May. I had fun too. Take care," Ash said biding farewell to her. She nodded and walked towards the academy with her Glacion.

"Pi pikachu pikapi," the rodent said snickering.

Ash rose an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by 'The start of my harem'?

"Pika," the mouse just shrugged.

"You're weird sometimes," noted Ash receiving a glare.

***

Ash decided to stroll through the forest a bit. He liked to have some time along to himself. Pikachu was doing same with its trainer. Suddenly, Ash felt a another presence behind him. He looked around to see no one. But he was sensing another aura hiding behind a tree. He looked at Pikachu who was confused too. Ash just decided to continue his stroll.

Someone was following him indeed. He spotted Ash at the campus entrance and decided to stalk him, to see what he does. Ash seemed to have sensed him as he turned around for a bit. He hid behind a tree to avoid getting spotted. Ash shrugged it off as he continued to stroll. He sighed in relief and continued his stalking.

Suddenly Ash seemed to have disappeared in thin air. He looked around for a bit until he heard a voice.

"Looking for me?" a voice said as he turned around to see Ash staring at him with a frown.

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked with a serious tone.

He gulped.

"Calem? "

***

May was walking to her dorm with a very happy mood. She entered her dorm and saw her two friends talking to each other. Serena and Dawn looked at the person who entered the dorm.

"Where were you??" asked Dawn.

"Yeah, we've looked for you everywhere but couldn't find you," said Serena.

May just gave an innocent smile before replying, "Oh I was just hanging out with Ash," she said bluntly.

The girls seemed to take time to process what she said before screaming in unison, "YOU WHAT??!!"

***

Calem was tensed. He didn't know himself why he followed Ash in the first place, but he had to say something.

"I was just hanging around before I noticed you and decided to come and say hi?" he said nervously, making it sound like more of a question than an answer.

Ash could see straight through his lie. He could tell it when someone's aura was nervous and flickering. But he decided to let it go anyways.

"Fine. But don't do that it's creepy," Ash said with a sigh.

Calem nodded as he watched Ash going towards the academy, not in the mood to stroll anymore.

He thought about a certain blondie haired girl he took a liking to recently. Her smile was something he would die to see anytime. But he soon learnt that the girl was interested in someone else. And that was Ash.

"Hey you WAIT!" Calem said more harshly than he intended to.

Ash stopped and turned around. Frowning about the sudden change in tone.

"What?" Ash said in a cold tone as well.

Calem didn't flinch and walked towards Ash who seemed unfazed. Pikachu seemed curious as Calem glared at Ash.

"I challenge you to a battle."

***

Dawn and Serena couldn't do anything except listen to May's blabbering about the time she spent with Ash. They had lunch, watched movies and most of all, had a romantic walk in the park.

Their face were fuming with jealousy before Dawn spoke, "That's not fair!"

May looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"You should have told us too about your hangout," Serena replied.

"Which you are now claiming as a date ?! Dawn added outrageously.

May just stuck out her tongue giggling.

"I had my time. Besides, its not like you guys can't go out with him too," she smiled slyly before adding, "I won't mind sharing him with you if he becomes my boyfriend."

The two girls went bright red as their face exploded into eruption from the blunt statement of the brunette. They started chasing her around the room, followed by a series of screaming, giggling and yelling.

They really were good friends.

***

Ash stared at Calem for a moment. He sighed before replying, "So that's whats all about. Yeah sure, I accept. Tomorrow morning at battlefield 6 agreed?" Ash said casually thinking of this as a normal challenge. But what he didn't know that to Calem, it was much more than just a challenge.

"You're not getting it," said Calem a bit angrily.

"I don't understand," Ash said obviously confused.

"I know how strong you are Ketchum," said Calem to which Ash cringed. Only a few people called him with his surname.

"I want a 4 vs 2 battle," Calem said.

'Of course you would,' Ash thought.

"If I win you will have to stay out of my way," Calem said and Ash immediately interrupted.

"Hold it right there," he said, now confused as hell, "How and when was I in your way in the first place??!"

Calem smirked.

"You wouldn't get it."

With that, he walked away from there towards the academy, leaving a confused Ash in the forest.

"Pika chu pikaa?" Pikachu asked sarcastically which Ash translated as, 'And you thought I was weird?'

The Champion took a deep breath before sighing heavily. It was already starting to get dark.

"Just a good nights sleep. Yeah. That's just what I need right now."

Ash started to walk towards the academy as well, with a snickering rodent on his shoulder.