When the attack struck Ash, it was as if the whole room lit up, along with a large amount of some sort of smoke. Rick shielded his eyes until the light fade. He stood, frozen, as the smoke began to clear. He walked forward and saw Ash lying motionless on the ground. "Ash!" He ran forward and knelt beside him. "Ash, come on, say something"

Ash sat up almost straight away and looked at him, smiling. "That was great! Lets do it again!"

"Are you mad?!" Rick asked, surprised to see Ash so full of energy after being it by so many attacks.

"Maybe" He grinned. There was a strange glow coming from behind him and he looked back to see Ho-oh covered by a goldish sort of glow.

The glow faded and Ho-oh was silent, but then it stirred and opened it's eyes. It straightened up and spread it's wings. It let out a cry then folded its wings again, then it looked over at Ash and Rick. "Thank you"

"No problem" Ash said. After over a month, he finally didn't feel tired, weak, hungry or sick. Well, maybe a little hungry.

"What happened?" Rick said, watching the Ho-oh as it stood up and began to walk over to them.

Ash looked at Ho-oh who nodded, and then back at Rick. "Well, Ho-oh needs a lot of power, so what better attacks to use then Thunder, Solar Beam, Flamethrower and Hydro Pump, they being some of the most powerful of their element. But because Ho-oh was knocked out, it couldn't absorb the power of the attacks to regenerate itself, so, that was my job. I was able to take in the power from the attacks with actually getting hit by them. Then the energy was split between myself and Ho-oh, and that's about it really"

Pikachu, Bayleef, Totodile and Cyndaquil ran over and knocked Ash over as they all tried to hug him.

Ash laughed. "Get of guys! You're crushing me!"

The Pokémon jumped off, still smiling.

Ho-oh came up to them. "Maybe you should head home"

"Ok. Are you heading back to Phoenix Mountain?" Ash asked.

Ho-oh didn't answer, it just lay down and lowered its head. "Hop on, I'll give you a ride back"

Ash shrugged and returned Bayleef, Cyndaquil and Totodile. Pikachu jumped on his shoulder and he got onto Ho-oh's back. They waited for Rick before Ho-oh faced a wall and ran towards it.

The wall opened up like a door on the last second and closed behind them as soon as Ho-oh had left. It was sunset and the setting sun cast a faint light over the land.

Ash enjoyed this ride much better than the last. He watched the land pass underneath them and felt like he was on a roller coaster when Ho-oh swooped up and down at great speeds.

The ride didn't last long though, because Ho-oh was much faster then Charizard. They landed at Prof. Oaks Lab, the reason being that it was the only place big enough for them to land.

Ash jumped off and turned to Ho-oh. "Well thanks for the ride, but I guess you've got to be going huh?"

Ho-oh nodded. "Yes, I must be leaving" Ho-oh turned and spread it's wings. It looked back at them. "If ever you are in serious danger, you know how to contact me" Ho-oh nodded to them a farewell and took off. Within moments, it was gone.

"I'm home" Ash called as he walked into the kitchen.

Mrs. Ketchum looked over at him from washing the dishes. "Oh hi honey. How've you been?"

"Fine" Ash said. She mustn't have heard about were he'd been the past few weeks.

Rick stayed out of site beside the door outside in the hall.

Ash glanced over at him and gave him a 'get-over-here-and-say-hi' kind of look.

Rick took a deep breath and stood out behind Ash, but before he could say anything he felt something hit him in the head. He fell over and looked up to see Delia holding a sweeping brush and Ash behind her, looking confused.

"Strangers in the house, I won't have it" She raised the brush again.

Ash ran out in front of him "Mam, take it easy it's..." He received a hit in the head with the brush, as Delia didn't see him.

Ash and Rick groaned and rubbed their heads.

Delia looked from one to the other. She looked at Rick, "Rick? Is that you?"

Rick looked up, still holding his head. "That's a nice way to greet someone"

Delia dropped the brush and nearly strangled him in a hug. "I thought you were dead!"

Rick looked at Ash over Delia's shoulder and whispered to him. "She's not the only one"

Delia pulled back and looked at Ash. "How did you two meet?"

Ash gave Rick a nervous look. Should he tell her? "Well....um...."

"Well it doesn't matter as long as it wasn't in a dangerous situation" Delia said smiling.

"Well...." Ash trailed off.

"No matter, I'll go make a huge meal to celebrate" Delia turned away and began to cook right away.

Ash and Rick looked at each other and sighed.

Pikachu giggled and walked into the kitchen. He jumped onto the table and began eating an apple out of the fruit bowl on the table.

Ash heard the front door open behind him and was about to turn around when he felt like he was being strangled. He looked up to see Misty, and she was hugging him.

"When your dad called us at the Pokémon Center from Prof. Oak's we were so worried" Misty said.

"Misty..." Ash choked. "I...can't...breath!"

Misty let go suddenly.

Ash sighed and looked back at her. "What was that for?"

Misty blushed. "I was just......really happy to see you were ok. Ya, that's it"

"So you try to strangle me?" Ash crossed his arms.

"I was not trying to strangle you"

"Yes you were"

"No I wasn't"

"Yes you were"

"No I wasn't"

"Yes you were"

"No I wasn't"

Rick looked at Brock. "Do they always act like this?"

"Almost every single day" Brock said, shaking his head.

After everyone had eaten, they all had headed off to bed.

Rick walked downstairs to check on some of the Pokémon at around 2am. When he passed Ash's room he stopped and saw that Ash was sitting by the window. He walked in. "Hey, you ok?"

Ash looked back at him. "Couldn't sleep"

"What's on your mind?" Rick walked over and sat beside him.

Ash sighed. "I'm just thinking about Ho-oh. What if it gets into more trouble, and I can't get there to help?"

Rick shook his head, "You know, I bet Ho-oh's thinkin' the same about you. You two have a bond and nothing's gonna break it. You'll just have to wait till the time comes Ash, there's nothing else you can do. And you'll always have your friends and family, so you're not alone. Now get some sleep, ok?" Rick ruffled Ash's hair and stood up. He walked towards the door.

"Dad..." Ash looked up at him. "Thanks"

Rick smiled back at him and closed the door behind him.

Ash walked over to his bed and lay down next to Pikachu, who had been asleep for hours. Ash looked at the ceiling and sighed. Rick was right, he just had to wait ad hope everything would be alright.

Aww, its over! Or is it? I think I may be able to make a sequel to this story. I sure hope so. Well now Ash has his father back and himself and Ho-oh are all better......for now *grins evilly*. Well I had loadsa fun writing this story and I hope you've had lotsa fun reading it. This chappy was really just to clear things up and end the story (WAA!). Well thanks for all the reviews everyone. You guys are what kept me writing all this time. I'm gonna miss writing this story because it was my fave of all the stories I've done, but maybe I'll come up with another ^_^. Well, I guess it's goodbye for now,
Bay Bay!
Bayleef
adorable_chickorita@hotmail.com