Finally, now May was also eligible to participate in the upcoming Hoenn Region Grand Festival.
This was truly a moment to remember for her.
Although it was true that without anyone as strong as Ash or the likes at the top of the pyramid appearing out of nowhere, May would have been able to win more and be more efficient in getting the necessary amount of official Pokémon Contest Ribbons, but it was precisely because of Ash's teachings that her strength has improved to this level at such speeds.
(She is stronger in this timeline because of this Ash present, the same can also be said for Drew, who trained even harder to catch up to Ash's level.)
She will shine at the upcoming Grand Festival in Slateport City.
Now, the group had to take another boat out to sea again, and this time they came to a decently small island with a very pleasant scenery, a perfect place for a date.
And that's what they were here to do, just relax before the storm. This was also to celebrate May winning all five her needed official Pokémon Contest Ribbons, this does also unfortunately mean that the groups journey in the Hoenn Region was coming to an end.
—
"Wow, there are so many different fruits on the trees here!" The biggest attraction of this island was undoubtedly the large variety of fruits and berries that grows on this island all year around, which Max rarely got to see before in his mostly sheltered early life.
"Big Bro, look, those are some MASSIVE Cheri Berries, some sweet sweet looking Pecha Berties, and those blue milky Oran Berries..."
Ralts on Ash's shoulder casually used a Confusion, picked up some of her few favorite berries from here and there, and shared them with her best friends, Pikachu and Togetic. And then finally, she floated over some to Ash's and Mays mouth.
"Ra ra!" She said happily.
"It taste really good, it's much better than those we bought last time on Sootopolis City," May said in dlight.
Ash just smiled at his girlfriend acting like a child get their favorite candy.
As usual, the group went to the Pokémon Center of the island and handed over their Pokémon's to Nurse Joy. May was pleasantly surprised to find that there was also one of the newest models of the Pokéblock machine that she could use here. The only times she could practice with something like this is inside of the official Pokémon Contest Halls and when sometimes Ash shows her how to he makes them with a mix of his Aura powers and Psychic powers.
And though she was disappointed to realize that she didn't have either of those said powers, she knew her lover would help her get stronger.
Additionally, as a Pokémon Coordinator, May has always been keen on making energy cubes, so of course she wanted to give it a try this time on the new that she never got to use before.
Since May was busy practicing making the things she needed, Ash lightly kissed Mays lips before he walked out of the Pokémon Center to give his Phanpy some special training, as it was very important right now.
The little guy was getting stronger and stronger now after the last period of training under its two very powerful "parents." After such time and training, it was almost time to evolve into its next form.
Recently, he also seemed to be very excited, maybe he managed to forget what Tyranitar and Rhyperior were doing...
Since Phanpy was hatched from an Egg that Ash reactant took very good care. Their shared Bond Value has also been very high from the get go. Once Phanpy evolves into a Donphan, Ash believe that they could achieve a Bonds Evolutions, it was almost certain at that point.
Ash always felt that the Pokémon's in his team that hatched from Eggs under him were a little more different than the ones that didn't, he just felt a more special connection towards them, almost like a parent, and so for those said Pokémon's that were born under his direct watch, Ash really hoped that they can slow down the pace of their evolution a little bit more.
Although he made sure that he had laid a solid foundation for them since childhood, he also hopes that they reach the level of evolution in a more perfect way. So he decided to only let them evolve when they had waited enough time for their bodies to grow to a more mature state. A coming of age thing, if it could be summarized.
After Phanpy evolves into a Donphan, he will grow a pair of long and powerful tusks, which were know to be quite sharp and hard, and they will continue to grow gradually with daily training and maintenance.
It was a common knowledge amongst Trainers that raise Donphan that in the Donphan tribe, the larger and stronger the tusks, the higher the status, and the more women that will follow.
So Ash decided to train him into a powerful Donphan, the strongest one there ever was!
-
"Alright,Phanpy, Lairon, it's time for some special training!" Ash immediately called out his Phanpy and Lairon from their Poké Balls once he reached his training place.
He also wanted his Rhyperior to be here to teach him a cool new trick, but that guy recently went on a "business trip" to accompany Groudon in the volcano of Cinnabar Island because his wife, Tyranitar, beat him up for scaring their child, Phanpy, so Ash took care of these ones as they were about to evolve.
"Phanpy, let's begin this by using a Rollout!"
Here in this more secluded area, while Ash was giving some special training to his two Pokémon's nearing their evolutions, his girlfriend May was using her own unique creativity and prowess to make some special pieces of purple Pokéblocks. Just by looking at the color alone, it looked like a perfect thing for Dark-types and Poison-types.
Brock and Max, who were now being used as the lab rats of May's new food, both doubted if they could live another day of this.
Unexpectedly, just as they gave up on their life, a Munchlax appeared out of nowhere.
Munchlax, a little dude, was the pre-evolution form of Snorlax, a Pokémon that all three of them saw training under Ash some times.
Ash's Snorlax was very different than the siblings first imagined it to be.
Although it was very lazy like the rest of his species, the moment Ash ordered it to do something, it would do it.
Like that one time where it dropped its food and began to do some pushups.
-Lore Drop-
And their species was also a big eater. Munchlax, as the pre-evolution of Snorlax, was obviously much smaller than it, with a height of only around 0.6 meters.
But that didn't mean that it couldn't still eat the same amount a Snorlax would eat for its snack, which was more than a regular Pokémon would eat for in a months period.
Additionally, they have to eat the same amount of food as their body weight — in one sitting — every day — to feel even remotely satisfied, which was a whooping 105 kilograms!
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(For my fellow Americans, that weight is more than 2 bald eagles, 7 American flags, 4 McDonald meal, minus 1 healthcare insurance.)
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Munchlax was the exception to the taste of the Pokéblocks it seems, even showing particular enthusiasm about it. He really enjoyed May's dark creative work, and ate all them in just a few seconds after being allowed to.
This is simply fate for them to meet.
If Ash were here to witness the scene, he would definitely find that the compatibility between this Munchlax and May was very high, astonishingly high even. They were practically meant to be a match.
Otherwise, there is really no way to explain why May's dark dishes are so popular with this little guy.
May, who had seen both the Snorlax in that Slakoth Banana Paradise before and the one belong to Ash a few times, immediately decided to catch this Munchlax for herself, which was also approved by both Brock and Max.
Plus, they, especially Brock, didn't have to worry about the disgusting amount of food that Munchlax can pretty much inhale with its every breath because of the special Pokéblock Ash himself made for his gigantic overpowered Snorlax.
Additionally, May was the only daughter of Norman, one of the strongest Pokémon Trainers in all of Hoenn and also the Gym Leader of a Normal-type Gym, so it definitely made some very much reasonable for her to catch a Munchlax.
Not to mention that as long as she can be properly train this little guy, he could definitely become one of May's future strongest Pokémon's.
Training up such a special Pokémon was another good learning process for May, especially if she wanted to get a Milotic of her own without anyone else's help.
But Munchlax was not that easy to be caught, even with the amount of food that its been promised.
"Munchlax, let's battle, I'm going to catch you—" But before May could even have the time to finish her sentence and begin the battle with the looked to be ready Munchlax, the little guy suddenly disappeared.
"Where did it go?"
After looking around for a few second, she realized that the little guy jumped out of the window and escaped from here, and happened to run in the direction of where Ash was training his Pokémons, and also the place where there were a large number of berry trees and fruit greens were growing at.
"Is that a Munchlax? Here?" Ash was also happy when he saw the little guy running towards him.
He honestly liked Munchlax even more than a Snorlax because of what he experienced when he was still Luke Skywalker. But that's a little changed now because of how he enjoyed using his Snorlax in battle, and also as a bed on that random occasions in the wild.
"Babe, please stop that Munchlax!" It was May who chased after him with tired breaths. Munchlax was surprisingly very fast for what it was.
Hearing this, Ash just gave a nod and immediately took action, "Phanpy, you heard it, right!"
Phanpy decisively rolled and stopped in front of Munchlax, rolled his long nose over, and held Munchlax in place with great force.
"Munchlax, don't run away, you already agreed to join me, so I'm going to catch you now!" May finally stopped when she got there and stood next to Ash, and took out her very "delicious" dark cuisine.
"Munchlax, look, this is delicious thing that you are so much of, I call it the May Food!" She really did name her Pokéblocks May Food. She is so confident!
All Ash had to had to was to look at that purple menacing looking Pokéblock and realized that this thing was anything but delicious.
Almost as the one that purple-blue haired kijin assistant made for her master. Almost.
But when Munchlax saw this thing, his eyes lit up brightly and he came closer, swallowing several energy cubes in one gulp.
"Alright, Munchlax, it's time to battle!" May quickly got into her battle position, "Combusken, use Sky Uppercut!"
Combusken was getting stronger and stronger now after realizing how weak it was. Although he is still far behind Ash's current Phanpy and Lairon, who were also around the same age, but for May, Combusken was already pretty much her strongest Pokémon. With only her Gorebyss and Beautifly behind it.
Soon after, Combusken landed a punch, and… Munchlax disappeared again…
Facing the Munchlax who didn't want to fight at all but also wanted to be caught in a fight was something that even Ash never happened to hear about it.
Like how would you be caught in a battle when you run the very first chance you get?
(Stick to one thing, fr fr.)
May had no idea how to deal with this at all... She caught most of her Pokémon's like Gorebyss as a Clamperl without needing to battle them, and even that was because Clamperl accepted the exchange and quickly accepted May.
The other time she needed to battle was for like her Skitty, who was like a normal Pokémon, who accepted the battle from the beginning and then later accepted its defeat and joined May.
But this Munchlax now only refused to back down, but also wanted to fight and run away immediately. And every time that it's happening, all he did was to want to eat more.
"Where did Munchlax go this time?" May was about to flail around in disappointment, but she noticed the direction of her boyfriend smirk while his finger was glowed a little in his Psychic powers. It turned out that when this little guy was about to make a run for it again, Ash casually used his Psychic powers to catch and levitate him.
Munchlax was now floating mext to a tree while holding a few blue Oran Berries and eating them like it was the last thing he will ever eat, not even caring or questioning why he's floating above the ground.
"Love, since all it wants to do it eat, run away, and also happens to like to eat the Pokéblocks you made, try to use your 'May Foof' to catch it." Ash gave timely advice, and the Cumbusken behind them quickly nodded, he never wanted to eat something that "delicious" ever again. It was simply the worst.
May never thought of such a way to catch a Pokémon, even though she did some times hearing stories from Ash, Brock, and her friends (Ash's other girls) about some of the ways they caught some of their Pokémon's in.
"Is this going to work?"
"Of course it would, why wouldn't it would be the better question, a catching battle is just the process of establishing recognition bond between a Trainer and a Pokémon. In fact, as long as Munchlax wants to recognize you as his Trainer, the method you can use to build this initial bond can be very flexible, pretty much anything you can think of." Ash said slowly to let May think about this more clearly.
But what Ash didn't say was that it was all but guaranteed that May will catch this Munchlax, he can practically see the high level of compatibility between them.
{True, but I do wonder what is going on that little guys head to be constantly running away from May despite liking her so much.] Ciel said to Ash, who nodded in turn, also asking himself if Munchlax was just too hyperactive or what.
Now that May has reached a sufficient level to call herself one of the more experienced rookies, Ash as her lover was very happy to see this progress. To him, it was like seeing a seed bloom into a beautiful flower.
Hearing this, May nodded, came in front of the Munchlax who now realized that it was now back on the ground and squatted for a few seconds, "Come on, Munchlax, there are many delicious May Foods here!"
Munchlax buried his head in the food container that May pulled out and started to grunt in happiness. Looking at the way it was eating, May gently touched its head. It felt really comfortable, not on the soft way, more like it was just meant to be.
Then she raised a simple red and white Poké Ball and said, "Hey, Munchlax, do you want to become my Pokémon? I know you already agreed, but you kept running away from me."
Hearing her voice, Munchlax really raised his head and looked on her eyes, taking the Poké Ball and May's hand into his mouth with pure joy.
"Ahh!"
May suddenly screamed, but she did not feel any sort of pain, just shocked. Instead, the moment the Poké Ball was pressed in its mouth, Munchlax was taken in.
The red light only flashed twice and then went out!
After being stunned for a while, May finally realized that she had caught herself a Munchlax!
All she needed to do from the beginning was to give him more of her "delicious" May Food.