It was after the gang ate, and since it was getting dark, they were setting up camp, or, more accurately, Ash was teaching them how to set up a tent, since May and Max had no idea how to do it.
"Okay, May, that pole goes through the loop, no, not that loop, the one on the other side."
May squinted at the mess of fabric and metal rods in her hands. "Why does this feel like I'm wrestling a Metapod?"
"Because you're holding it upside down," Ash said flatly, trying not to laugh as he finished setting up his own tent in about thirty seconds.
"I'm doing my best!" she huffed, glaring at the canvas that refused to cooperate.
Max was no better. He'd somehow tied two tent cords together in a knot so bad that even Dragonite looked impressed. "Uh… I think I invented a new type of rope knot."
"Yeah, it's called the 'we're-sleeping-outside' knot," Ash said, hands on his hips.
Pikachu snickered while Vee rolled onto his back, kicking his legs in the air laughing.
After a few minutes of watching them struggle, Ash sighed, crouched down, and started fixing both tents at once. "Alright, scoot over. You two are hopeless."
May crossed her arms. "Well, excuse me, Mr. Expert! Not all of us know every minor thing about everything."
Ash rolled his eyes and smiled. "Yeah, but it's not that hard. Watch."
He walked up, pulled one knot, and the tent stood perfectly straight. Ash tied one quick little knot and brushed his hands off. "See? Easy."
May blinked. "...You're cheating."
"Oh please, May, not everything is simple. Clearly, Ash is just better," Max said quickly, moving to Ash's side and adjusting his glasses, even though he also had no idea what he was doing.
"Pfff—" Ash held back a snort. "Okay, number one fan, how about you tie yours up?"
"Uhhhh, well I could buuutttt…" Max started, trying to think of a way to get out of it.
Ash rolled his eyes and smirked as he went to start working on Max's tent. "Fine, but you both better start finishing your chores. Those dishes aren't gonna wash themselves."
May quickly straightened up. "Wait a minute, why do we have to clean?"
Ash looked back at her, raising an eyebrow. "Because I cooked…"
May frowned, pointing a finger at him. "That's not fair! You volunteered to cook!"
"Yeah," Ash said, folding his arms, "and you volunteered to eat half the pot before anyone else got seconds."
May's face went red. "I did not!"
"Uh, actually…" Max started, then stopped when May shot him a glare sharp enough to cut a Beedrill in half. "...Never mind."
Ash grinned. "Thought so."
Pikachu and Vee were already dragging the dishes toward a bucket. Vee reached up and used [Mimic] to copy [Water Gun] from one of Ash's old Pokémon to fill a bucket. Yeah, Vee could copy moves from memory. It was a neat little trick Ash had taught him, so he could use any move he'd seen before.
May sighed dramatically. "Fine, fine. But if I get dish soap on my hands, you're giving me hand lotion later."
Ash blinked. "You seriously travel with hand lotion?"
"Not all of us have perfect skin and perfect hair like you, Ash!" May pointed at him accusingly.
Ash rolled his eyes. He didn't even flinch at that, it was kind of a meme from their childhood that Green had started. If you remembered, she once said that Ash would've been hot if he'd been born a girl, and things had kinda spiraled from there.
Ash smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks."
May groaned. "It wasn't!"
"Sure it wasn't," he said, clearly enjoying himself as he stacked a few logs for the fire. "You just can't admit you're jealous of my skincare routine."
"Jealous?!" May's voice went up an octave, totally not jealous. "Of what?! I've seen you use a bar of soap to clean your face, and somehow you still have better skin than me!"
"Hm, just better genetics. Try not to cry about it too much," Ash said, sticking his tongue out as he stood and stretched. He looked back at his Pokémon and saw Snorlax happily finishing the leftovers, even after already eating his own food.
From the trees, he noticed a Taillow watching. Ash narrowed his eyes as he looked at it and quietly pulled up his Dex, scanning.
–
[Taillow ♂]
[Nature: Adamant]
[Ability: Guts | Hidden: Scrappy]
[Mutation detected…Thunderbird Cry]
–
Ash smirked, pretending not to notice the bird. So this was that Taillow, the one from the anime the one that somehow had resistance to electricity and made that 'Thunder Armor'
Good to see. It might come in handy. From what he remembered, that Taillow had been the leader of its flock and liked stealing food. The smell of Ash's cooking probably brought it here, but, of course, Ash was prepared.
He walked over to Snorlax, returning him to his Poké Ball after he'd "conveniently" eaten all the leftovers. From the corner of his eye, Ash could see the Taillow looking annoyed.
As he started putting the pots away, Ash gave Pikachu that look. Pikachu nodded. Ash nodded back. Vee, looking confused, also nodded.
Ash carried a pot over to May and Max for them to clean when he "accidentally" dropped a bar of chocolate he'd been saving for the Ralts. Then he kept walking.
The Taillow's eyes lit up. It swooped down fast, dive-bombing toward the chocolate, talons outstretched. But just a fraction of a second before it could grab it, Pikachu fired an [Electroweb], wrapping around Taillow's wings and beak so it couldn't fly or call its flock. A jolt of electricity followed, shocking the bird.
By now, May and Max finally looked over, and froze.
"A random Taillow?!" May gasped.
Their jaws dropped, but Ash didn't look worried in the slightest. He saw the Taillow still standing, even after Pikachu's attack, and shook his head.
"Yeah, not the smartest move, chief. There are more ways than just electricity." He snapped his fingers.
Pikachu grinned, jumped up, and swung the Taillow like a wrecking ball. The impact shattered the rock it hit, knocking the bird out cold.
For a moment, no one said a word. The smell of dust and burnt feathers hung in the air.
May's jaw dropped. "W–what the heck was that?!"
Max blinked several times, adjusting his glasses like he needed to make sure his eyes weren't lying. "Did Pikachu just… yeet a Taillow into a boulder?"
Pikachu landed gracefully, brushing off his paws like he was cleaning dirt off his hands.
Ash strolled over casually, hands in his pockets like this was just another Tuesday. "Yeah, and?"
May stood up, pointing toward the fainted Taillow. "Ash! You can't just, just body slam a wild Pokémon like that!"
"Why not? Besides, it attacked chocolate. I was morally obligated to defend it," Ash said, like that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
"That's not, ! That's not how that works!" she sputtered, still holding a soapy sponge. "You didn't even warn it!"
"Talking ain't a free action," Ash replied.
"...I mean… he kinda has a point," Max started.
"Don't encourage him," May shot back, then sighed. "So… what are you gonna do with it? Are you taking it back into the woods?"
Ash looked at May, then at the Taillow, then back at May. He walked over, picked up the Taillow in one hand, tucked it under his arm, and started walking back to his tent. "Nope. Too bad, it's mine now."
"..." May and Max stayed silent at that one, watching Ash walk away and leaving them to finish washing the dishes.
Inside his tent, Ash pulled out one of his PokéBalls, a custom one he'd made himself. Yeah, fun little fact, he'd been making his own Pokéballs during his downtime. They were about as strong as Ultra Balls, and they were in his colors, blue and black. Pretty neat.
He pressed it against the bird, catching it. Then he released Taillow again and started healing it with Aura. Yeah, remember, May and Max didn't know about Aura yet. He'd tell them… probably….Eventually…Just not right now.
Once the Taillow was healed, he returned it to its ball. Finally, Ash lay down with a sigh, pulling out his phone to check his messages. There were the usual chats from his friends sending updates. He replied to a few, scrolling until he saw a picture Yellow had sent of her first night trying to camp by herself. Ash smiled, liked it, and kept scrolling.
Then he landed on a text from Brock. He read it, smirked, and typed back a quick reply.
—
{A few days later}
The gang had been walking for a few days to get through the woods, and a few things had happened. Like a certain Knickerbocker who dressed up as Pokémon to "see them better," coming out of nowhere and challenging May just because she was wearing shorts. Yeah… that was weird. And no, you're not imagining it.
Anyway, Ash was looking for something, a certain tree in the middle of the forest. He pulled up his DexNav, searching for the Pokémon that lived on that tree while also using Aura Sight to scan the area.
As for May and Max, Ash was coaching May on how to actually defend herself, since there'd be times he'd go off to do "Ash things." And, well, everyone knew how that usually turned out.
He also used the time to train his Hoenn team, except for the male Ralts. He put him into the PC for later
But as for how things were going… well, you could take one look and guess.
Max was pointing accusingly at May. "Great, we're lost! And if the blame belongs to anyone, it's you!"
May looked offended. "Why is it my fault?!"
Max crossed his arms. "I said we should've taken a right at that fork in the road, but you insisted on going the other way, and now we're lost!"
"But this path looked prettier! It had all those awesome flowers! There's nothing more dreamy than strolling through lovely flowers."
Max raised a fist like he was about to argue, then glanced at Ash, then back at May, and lowered it. "You know what, you're right, May. Let's keep looking for another path with even more flowers!"
May huffed in victory, crossing her arms. "Exact-wait." She froze. "Did you just agree with me?" She eyed him suspiciously.
"Nothing at all," Max said quickly, looking away and whistling.
May narrowed her eyes. "...You never agree with me. What are you plotting?"
Max gave a little smirk. "Nothing! I just realized maybe I should be more supportive of my big sister's instincts."
"Max…" May squinted at him suspiciously as he started searching for a bigger flower path.
Ash watched the two and chuckled. "Well, in that case, how about we stop for a break?" He reached into his bag and pulled out a plate. "I made a few sandwiches for lunch."
May perked up instantly. "Oh, finally! I was starving!"
Max blinked. "Didn't you just have breakfast, like, two hours ago?"
"Yeah, but that was two hours ago!" May shot back, already grabbing one of the sandwiches. "Besides, traveling burns calories, right? And hey, if you don't want it, I'll eat yours."
"I didn't say that," Max mumbled, grabbing one too and sitting on a rock.
Ash chuckled, shaking his head as he handed Pikachu and Vee their share. Pikachu's tail sparked happily while Vee was already stuffing his face.
Meanwhile, Ash placed the rest of the sandwiches on a large rock and stretched. There was a glint in his eye, he'd found what he was looking for. "Alright, since we're taking a break, I'm gonna go on a walk, 'kay?"
—
{Meanwhile}
Misty was feeding the Lapras in her Gym, humming to herself. But halfway through feeding a baby one, she froze and looked toward the sky. "I feel like something stupid is gonna happen…"
—
"Mmmm, okay," May said with her mouth full, giving a thumbs-up, completely unaware of the impending doom she was unleashing.
Max nodded too, scrolling through his PokéNav to find another path for when Ash got back.
Ash turned and started walking. For some reason, both Max and May heard someone yelling 'NOOOO!' off in the distance… but, eh, it was probably nothing.
As they watched Ash disappear into the trees, Pikachu and Vee exchanged a tired look and sighed before following after him.
They didn't know that Ash takes very enthusiastic walks. The fools let him go alone. They'd learn soon enough.
As for what Ash was looking for, it was a tree. Specifically, a certain dying tree deep in the middle of the forest.
As he walked, he could see some Treecko nearby watching him. Some jumped away, others just stared, but none of them seemed particularly aggressive.
Ash kept walking until he found a clearing. In the center stood a massive tree, probably the largest in the entire forest. But it was old and clearly dying. The Treecko that lived there were starting to leave, their expressions heavy with sadness as they looked back at their fading home.
But there was one Treecko that refused to leave. This one was dragging a leaf filled with water and pouring it carefully over the tree's roots, hoping it might help.
Ash watched quietly as Vee and Pikachu climbed onto his shoulders to get a better view. He focused his Aura to better understand the situation.
An elder Treecko walked up slowly and looked at the younger one.
"Tree… [What are you doing, young one? This tree is dying. We need to find another home.]"
The young Treecko scowled, "Treecko! [It's too soon to give up! I was born in this tree, it protected us! Now it's my turn to take care of it. Whatever happens, I'll stay until the end, and I won't give up!]"
Ash watched, fascinated. This was better than most things on TV. Of course, he recognized that Treecko, it was his Treecko from before. The one that used to spend most of its time Aura farming.
Well… this was going to be fun. And he already had just the plan to get his Treecko.
—
{Meanwhile}
May and Max had just finished eating their sandwiches happily. As May reached for another, she realized they'd already eaten the last one.
"Aww, hey Ash, isn't there any mo-" She stopped mid-sentence when she looked around. "Uhh… Max?"
"Yeah?" Max looked up.
"Where's Ash?"
"He said he was going for a walk, didn't he? Didn't you hear him?" Max raised an eyebrow.
May opened her mouth, then laughed awkwardly while scratching the back of her head. "I…er, well…"
Max sighed, glancing around. "He's not back yet, huh? I wonder where he went."
"Hmmmm…" May crossed her arms, thinking. Then she looked up. "Well, we should go look for him!"
Max stared at her. "Wha-? That sounds like the worst thing we could do."
"What happened to my instincts being right? Now my instincts are telling me to go look for Ash, and I'm going. You can stay here if you want~" May stuck her tongue out and started walking off.
Max sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "Ash went the other way."
"I knew that," May said quickly, doing a full 180 before marching off in the opposite direction. Max groaned but got up and followed her anyway.
–
Back with Ash, he watched as the Treecko argued, until the young one finally shoved the elder aside and ran protectively back to the dying tree.
Ash smirked. "Showtime."
He slid down the crate the tree was growing in, landing softly and finally catching the attention of the surrounding Treecko. Some jumped into defensive positions, growling, but Ash raised his hands calmly.
"Hey, I'm not here to fight you. If I wanted anyone hurt, it would've already happened," he said with a smirk that somehow made the younger Treecko shiver. The one by the tree, however, stood tall, refusing to be intimidated.
Ash met its gaze and walked closer, step by step. The Treecko tensed, ready to leap, but Ash just grinned. "So, you want to save this tree, don't you?"
Treecko froze and narrowed its eyes. "Tree… [Yeah, and a human like you isn't welcome. So leave.]"
Ash shook his head. "So, what's it worth to you?"
Treecko stared at him as the others watched silently. It took a breath. "...Treecko. [...Everything.]"
Ash's grin widened. "Then I offer you an accord. I can save your tree, restore it completely, as if it never started dying. In return, I want your loyalty… and for you to become my Pokémon."
The Treecko around them gasped. The young Treecko looked at Ash, then at the great tree, trembling. "Tree…co? [And you promise the tree will live?]"
"Of course. I'm a man of my word," Ash said, raising his hand as it began to glow faintly blue with Aura. "So… do we have a deal?"
Treecko hesitated, then reached out, gripping Ash's glowing hand firmly and shaking it.
Ash smiled wider and walked up to the massive tree, placing his hand against its trunk. "Pleasure doing business with you. And I hope you're satisfied, no takebacks."
He released his Aura into the tree. Blue light spread through the cracks of the bark, pulsing upward like veins of energy. The glow brightened until the entire tree shimmered like a living crystal. Slowly, the light began to fade, and where the dead wood had been, fresh bark sealed over, green leaves unfurled, and new growth flourished at the crown. The once-brittle branches were vibrant again, alive.
Ash stepped back, shaking his hand. He didn't feel as drained as he expected, guess Mew's little "power-up" really did strengthen his reserves.
Around him, Treecko began to return from the shadows of the forest, staring in awe at the fully revived tree. Young ones whispered; the elders could barely believe their eyes.
The young Treecko looked up, trembling, voice soft with wonder. "Tree… Treecko… [It's alive… you really did it…]"
Ash lowered his hand, exhaling slowly as faint wisps of blue Aura drifted off his fingers. "Told you. A man of my word."
"Now it's your turn. I did my part, now it's time for your side of the deal. That's the art of the deal," Ash said, holding out a Poké Ball toward Treecko.
Treecko turned toward the others, the younger ones watching in awe, the elders still frozen in disbelief. For a long moment, no one spoke. Only the soft rustling of the newly restored leaves filled the air.
Treecko finally said, "Treecko… [I did promise, didn't I?]" Then it reached up and tapped the Poké Ball's button with a small fist. The ball clicked shut immediately without even shaking once.
Ash smiled, grasping the ball. "My work here is done. Take care, okay?" he said, turning on his heel. But just as he started walking up toward the crater's edge, he froze.
May and Max were standing at the top, staring down at the massive tree, then at Ash, then at the Poké Ball in his hand.
"...Oh," Ash said awkwardly. "Hey, guys… how long were you standing there?"
"Uhhh… long enough to see what you did with the tree," Max mumbled.
"...How?" May asked, pressing her hands together in disbelief.
"And more importantly, can you teach me to do that? That was awesome!" Max blurted, only for May to smack him on the head without even looking.
Ash sighed, glancing down at Pikachu and Vee, who both looked away and shrugged like, You're on your own, buddy.
He ran a hand down his face. "Figures I'd let my guard down." Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. "Alright… guess it's better to spill the beans sooner or later."
When he opened them again, his eyes glowed faintly blue.
"So," he said with a small grin, "you ever heard of Aura?"