Ash, Gary, Bonnie, and Max had been traveling for just over 5 hours now, Ash no longer felt any sadness over what he had learned back in Pallet Town,.
Ash was not as dumb as his traveling companions thought he was, he knew when one of them had a crush on him he was not being oblivious because he didn't know, he was doing it because he was not interested. He also knew that all of those he traveled with, except Max and Bonnie, had slowed him down always wanting his help preparing for their contests or their battles, not allowing him much time to prepare for his own, and then there were all those times they got everyone lost. On top of that, he also noticed that it was always their Pokémon that was taken and captured, and it was always him that has to save them.
He was happy that he longer had to do that anymore. They were still in the Kanto Region just not in Pallet Town, at the moment they were in a forest. "Gosh, this place gives me the creeps," Bonnie said as she walked a little closer to Max, even on their journey's Bonnie had not been a fan of the forests they had to travel through so they tried to avoid them as much as possible.
"There's nothing to be scared of Bonnie," Max told her, which brought a smile to Ash's face. They may not have known one another long but Bonnie and Max were already the best of friends.
"Max is right, you have all of us with you in here, you are never going to be separated," Ash reassured the girl, who smiled at him in return, though she didn't move very far away from Max.
"Hey Ash, where are we going to go?" Bonnie asked still a little spooked.
"I have a place, I went there many years ago and haven't been back since. I met a Pokémon there that I grew very close with and I have broken her promise of returning to her soon." Ash said he remembered the promise he made with the special Pokémon years ago and he knew that he had broken it. All he wanted to do was go and see her once more.
"Oh Ash, sounds like someone has a crush." They all said together.
"What are you on about? She is a Pokémon." Ash said, although inside he knew they were right. This was why he never liked or loved any girl that had a crush on him because he knew that the only person for him was the Pokémon residing in Altomare.
"That does not matter, come on we are your friends, it does not matter to us if you like a human or a Pokémon if you like a male or female. You love who you love and that is all there is to it." Gary said.
"So what kind of Pokémon is it?" Max said. No matter how old he got he was always going to be interested in seeing new Pokémon, especially one that Ash feels so strongly for.
"Oh you will see when we get there, but I can tell you that it is going to be one hell of a surprise," Ash said.
This earned some confused but curious looks from the small group. They realized that Max would have to go home and get things from there, Paul and Gary expected this to happen so they had come prepared but it was all new to Max and Bonnie, however, she wanted to buy new things and she had her Pokémon on her, so Max needed to go and get his Pokémon.
They took a boat to the Hoenn region where Max lived with his parents Norman and Caroline, they then walked to the house as it was not far from the docks.
Norman and Caroline were sitting outside when they saw their son and his friends heading to the house. They were surprised to see that they all looked sad and that May was not with them.
"Max honey, what is wrong? Why are you all sad? And where is your sister?" Caroline started to ask questions, she was worried something bad had happened.
"That girl is not my sister any longer," Max said to his parents, with a hard tone to his voice.
"What are you on about? Of course, she is your sister." Norman said. He was worried to, his son's behavior was very strange, especially since he left so happy.
"Not after what she did." Max seethed. He knew that his parents were worried.
"What has she done, she looked so happy when she left here with you? You both did." Caroline asked.
"She betrayed us, mum. She said that Ash should give up his dream." Max said, his eyes filling with tears as he looked at his parents.
Norman and Caroline saw these tears and they were shocked, their son never cried in front of them. "What do you mean son?" Norman asked. Max however just shook his head and ran to his parents, both of whom kneeled down to hug their distressed son.
"He means just that, she and some others all said that Ash was a useless trainer and that he should just give up his dream," Gary said, he remembered Norman from when he took this journey through Hoenn and he had great respect for the man.
"I'm so sorry Ash, I had thought she liked you. And you don't listen to her, you should never give up on your dream, even if everyone else around you believes that you should. My father wanted me to give up becoming a gym leader as I couldn't win leagues, but I never gave up, and look where that got me, I have a loving wife, perfect son, and a gym that my opponents are proud of." Norman did not mention his daughter, they raised May and Max to be kind to others and that they respected the people they traveled with and she has not.
Caroline was shocked and didn't want to believe that May would do something like this, but these 4 people would not lie and they looked to be telling the truth. "Yes quite right love, you must not let what these people have said get to you. You have your true friends and your Pokémon, you have got all you need." She said this earned her another look of sadness from Ash.
"The looks that they, gave him, mum they looked so mad. Not one of them regretted what they had said." Max said.
"Well, she is no longer a daughter to us. She can't respect others and takes Pokémon from other trainers, I'm a gym leader to me this is an offense and by my own daughter!" Norman yelled. He cared for all Pokémon, he saw and battled all sorts of Pokémon and his own daughter shows no respect to trainers and steals Pokémon.
"Yes Norman dear, and where is it that all of you are planning to go?" Caroline asked.
"We are going to head to Altomare," Ash said.3"Yeah mum, dad, Ash has a crush on a Pokémon. How cool is that?" Max said. Ash was worried, what if they didn't accept him because he had these feelings for a Pokémon.
Norman and Caroline were shocked, they were not angry just curious. "Really well I think that's wonderful. There have been some reports of this happening in the past and we believe that no matter who you love, as long as you love them, you will always be happy." Norman said, his wife nodding in agreement. "Thank you. Norman, Caroline." Ash said gratefully.
"How about you pack up, head down, and then we can leave for Altomare," Caroline said.
"Well, Ash before you leave for the boat want to have a Pokémon battle?" Norman asked. He remembered that Ash was very strong and he wanted to see how strong he was.
"Sure, there's a box outback," Ash said before leaving the room. Norman and Caroline liked to hear that term on the boy's lips, the boy had been through so much that they were glad he was finally with people who loved him for who he was.
The battle began. "Vigoroth!" Norman had yelled."Hawlucha!" Ash also yelled. This was when Norman realized that Ash had many Pokémon that he didn't know about and that he had never battled. He had a feeling Ash was going to win this, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.
The first match between Vigoroth and Hawlucha resulted in Ash winning. For the second match, Norman used Spinda and Ash Noivern, Ash once again coming out as the winner. For the last match Norman chose Slacking while Ash chose Greninja, Ash and Greninja joined as they were able to control it now and beat Norman once again, resulting in Ash being the winner.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Norman asked.
"Well in the last region I visited I learned that there is something called Mega Evolution. This evolution can only take place when a Pokémon has reached its final evolution form. It involves two stones, a keystone held by the trainer, and a mega stone on the Pokémon, now each Pokémon has a certain type of mega stone and can only do this if they have the right stone. As well as this the Pokémon and the trainer have to be really close to one another in order for it to work. With me and Greninja, we have been told that we are so close to one another that we actually merge into one, which is why he looks so much like me when he mega evolves, if Pikachu became a Raichu then the same thing would happen with him as well are so close." Ash explained "Although when mega evolution happens without a mega or keystone it is usually a result of the Bond Phenomenon.
Norman didn't even have time to say anything as a horn went off at the docks, they bid goodbye to Nurse Joy who wished them luck, and then saw the 4 racing down to the banks of the dock. Max took one last look at the region he had left and then boarded the boat.
Altomare was not part of the regions it was on its own. Ash had learned that Altomare did not want to be a part of the 5 regions and had settled somewhere far from where the regions were. This meant they had their own leagues within the area, Ash was going to visit the regions again one day as he wanted to catch more Pokémon from them, but for now, Ash was content relaxing and staying low with his new family for now. Besides, there was plenty of Pokémon to catch in Altomare and get even stronger.
They were on the boat for the entire night and when they woke up the next morning Altomare was in sight, Ash remembering all the memories he had made here, how beautiful the area was, and a certain gorgeous Pokémon that he was in love with.
"Everyone Welcome to Altomare," Ash said as they got off the boat.
However, Ash, Max, Gary, and Bonnie did not know that they would be going on one great adventure, one filled with surprises along the way.