Hello everyone. It has been…almost two years since the last update. I would like to apologise to everyone who have taken the time to read this story and then been disappointed at how it was never finished. Well, now we're continuing it. I might also like to add that this was my entire fault. I lost the story a year and a half ago and just lost the will to write since I lost about 7000 words. Now, this chapter was originally supposed to be the last chapter, which was why it was going to be part two. But I've changed it so this is now chapter six, because if this was the last chapter, it would have been rushed and abruptly finished. Now, seems to really hate me as I've been trying to upload this for a week. It hasn't let me upload it as a document. But thank you all for putting up with me and also reviewing asking me to update, that along with my co-writer managed to get me to actually continue. So thank you, this chapter is dedicated to you.
An Unexpected Detour:
It was early morning as Max woke up in his bed in the Pokemon centre. He yawned as he clambered down the ladder and put his glasses on. Straight a way Max saw a sight he'd thought he'd never see. Max pinched himself to check if he was having a nightmare, it hurt it was real. His sister and Drew were cuddled up together in bed.
"HOLY COW!" Max screamed waking everyone in the room up and causing Brock to fall out of his bed in shock.
"YOU BETTER NOT HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO MY SISTER!" Max shouted this comment directed at Drew, May blushed crimson
"N…nothing….hap…pend!" May stuttered. There was the sound of a girl's laughter from the door.
They all turned to see Rosina standing there
"You know when I said get a room, I meant one alone," Rosina joked before laughing again
"Anyway I only came to say keep the noise down…some of us are trying to sleep" Rosina added before leaving.
Suddenly the phone rang and Brock who was nearest to it answered, everyone turned to watch him.
"Hi Ash…yeah…ok…see ya," Brock answered before putting the phone back and turning back to the others
"Caitlin's fine….she's just woken up" Brock informed. Drew nodded, May slipped out of bed so Drew could get out. Drew got out of bed and pulled his jacket on.
"I'm going to the hospital" he said before leaving the room. As soon as he was outside Drew sighed with relief not knowing that May was behind him.
"See, I told you she was going to be fine," May spoke barely above a whisper.
Drew slowly turned to look back at her.
"Yeah, well I was hoping so. I'm going to the hospital to say sorry in person," he said turning back in the direction he was headed.
May continued to gaze at his face that he seemed to be hiding. May never thought she's miss the old Drew. The sarcastic, ego-centric Drew who would often poke fun at her at every moment possible. He seemed to more sensitive though, it was the fact that he seemed depressed ever since the incident. She could understand why though, but hopefully the visit would prove that Caitlin was indeed alright and he could find a way to forget it.
"Wait!" May yelled all of a sudden raising her hand in the air as a natural habit.
He had walked only a few feet away from her and stopped as she called out to him, wanting to see what she wanted. Drew turned with a plain expression on his face, waiting to see what she wanted.
May paused for a second remembering why she held Drew up. She released the strength in her arm and lowered it to tightly grip her other hand while fidgeting.
"I'll come too" she managed to get out. "It's an hour's walk to the hospital and I want to see her too."
Though one of Drew's features was spending time in solitude, he though a companion on the way would be a pleasant change.
Drew, hands were tightly inserted in his pockets, simply looked at May and turned back around. May shrugged, he could have said something for better indication. She walked up to his left side at her usual pace feeling slightly awkward; she wanted to get a conversation started in hope to revive Drew's old personality. May opened her mouth to speak but she immediately stopped herself. She always did that at an uncomfortable moment but she never knew to herself why.
"First, I need to give my Pokemon to Nurse Joy. I want them to be in great health for the competition. I suggest you do the same unless you want my victory to be a clean sweep."
Well, at least his old self was dwelling in there somewhere and managed to resurface every now and then. Drew made his may to the counter with May behind them. Both of them withdrew their pokeballs from their selected casing and placed them on the desk. May noticed that Drew had only placed five; Drew noticed her look and answered her inquiring look.
"I'm holding on to Masquerain, just incase."
She nodded and they proceeded to walk outside the centre. The silence and awkwardness returned and May once against felt pressure to make conversation. At the corner of his eye, Drew could see her struggling to get something out. To avoid getting the situation more discomfiting he decided to break the silence.
"Thanks for coming with me," he said simply without diverting his gaze from the road they were walking.
His hands were still in his pockets; he wasn't even smirking which was defiantly out of the ordinary for him. May looked at him sincerely while she felt a little more confident to talk and maybe bring up a conversation.
"You're welcome. Like I said I want to see her too," she said smiling.
Drew smirked while turning his direction away from May's constant gaze "Yeah, maybe that's it."
May glared at him surprised. He seemed to be turning back to the original Drew.
The morning sun was glaring down on them. May looked up observing the sky looking thoughtful while listening to the noises of the area such as the birds softly twittering and the ruffling of the leaves. The signature smirk said it all. Maybe he was getting over the incident.
Tangled up in the bushed were three forms listening to their conversation.
"Now I can't hear anything" the woman complained while fidgeting from between the other two.
"That's cause dey stopped talkin'" one said annoyed glaring at her in the dark.
He had a thick Boston accent and the voice was rather raspy. The other figure found his way out with difficulty and came out with scratches detailed on his arms. He breathed heavily as a relief to the lack of oxygen in the bushes.
The woman emerged from the bushed obviously irritated. She was holding in her tight grip, a cat like Pokemon known as a Meowth. They were the not so industrious members of the infamous 'Team Rocket'.
"Well they're walking all by themselves so they're defenceless" Jessie spoke up joyfully.
The others stared at her as if she was stating the blindingly obvious and in several cases, she was. James and Meowth exchanged odd looks as they gazed back up at Jessie to see if they could figure out what she was thinking.
"They're finalists in the contest they must have pretty decent Pokemon. And we know the twerp pretty well so this should be easy enough!" Jessie announced.
"But they're going to the hospital to see someone" James informed a little surprised.
"Then we'll drive them there" she proclaimed winking.
The other two simply sighed. It was useless fighting Jessie, she always ended up victorious in any case.
The sounds of birds singing and leaves brushing against each other once again surrounded May and Drew and they walked steadily to the hospital. They each regularly stone glances without each other knowing. May was smiling brightly and every time she looked at Drew he appeared to be his regular self. Hands in his pockets and a smirk planted on his face; May was pleased he was pretty much over the accident. The silence was slowly breaking her so she went to steal another glance. Her eyes turned to focus on Drew and she noticed his eyes were already transfixed on her. He was smiling warmly as they walked along the dusty track. Drew's face suddenly altered to a surprised look, his eyes blinked twice and he diverted his gaze by looking down toward the ground. His cheeks were tinged light pink out of embarrassment of being caught staring at her. May blushed slightly and turned to look back to the road ahead of them. She hated every second of the silence so she had to break it.
"Drew?" she asked inquisitively, still not looking at him.
"What!?" he responded almost too quickly.
He sounded a little apprehensive and his quick response gave May a little jolt. She felt nervous now, she hadn't actually thought of anything to say. She looked at Drew noticing that for one of the first times in his life he looked nervous. Without noticing, they stopped walking down the track to stand still. There was yet another silence between them that was very awkward. Drew didn't even notice that he was stepping closer to May. He was now close enough to brush the small strands of hair away from her face. Suddenly the sound of tires pushing against the road could be heard in the distance growing louder till a red medium-sized convertible came to an abrupt stop in front of the two. The doors sounded as two figures emerged from the car. One was a man with light purple hair that was almost completely hidden by an old-fashioned cap. His clothes contrasted with that to resemble a velvet green suit. A lady stepped out with magenta hair tightly tied up in a high bun. She wore small glasses with lilac frames to match a loose lilac blouse and a long white skirt. They appeared to be middle aged judging by the light wrinkles on their faces.
"Hello children what are doing walking in the middle of the road all alone?" the man asked nicely.
Drew and May looked up at them cautiously. Drew stepped in front of May is a protective manner.
"We're on our way to the hospital to see someone if you must know" he answered irritated.
"Oh but dears, that's almost and hour away by foot. We're on our way to the hospital as well, why don't we give you a ride?" the woman offered sweetly.
Drew leaned his head back and whispered "No big surprised that they're going to the hospital". May giggled lightly trying not to offend them in case they heard what Drew had said. May contemplated for a second and shot a concerned look towards Drew's face. He nodded and faced the two adults.
"No we're fine to walk thanks" Drew responded a little rudely.
Drew didn't like them; his intuition told him that there was something suspicious about them, something he couldn't trust. He took hold of May's hand and began to walk around the car to leave the two standing there.
"Alright then, I see can see you would rather be alone with each other" the female said slyly.
A blush the hue of red crept up on both their faces and May ripped away her hand away from Drew's grip out of embarrassment. She then turned to face them trying to return her face to its original pigment.
"Alright we'll come!" she half-yelled trying to hide her embarrassment.
A malicious smile crept on both of the adults faces. The opened the back doors to let Drew and May in. May placed her left foot on the frame of the door and looked back at Drew who appeared to be half shocked and half disappointed. She gave him a sympathetic look while prompting him to come over. He just gave up on his thoughts and shrugged as he walked toward the door and followed May into the back seat of the car.
It was only a few moments after the car took off that the older couple proposed a topic of conversation.
"So, is there a reason you two are going to the hospital?" The women asked politely yet, in such a way that caused Drew to slightly raise his eyebrows.
"We're going to make a short visit to see a friend," he replied with indifference in his voice.
He felt that even though they were doing them both a favour, it gave him less time with May which was his highlight of their journey. The woman who looked back to see their faces, held an expression of clearly forged sadness.
"I'm so sorry to hear that. But you'll get their faster with us driving."
The reminder of being driven caused him to scoff and fold his arms with an evident frown planted on his lips. Being assisted was something he was unfamiliar of, and having May see him requiring help had somewhat hurt his pride. A few minutes of silence passed until a light laugh was heard from the front. Feeling even more suspicion, he opened his mouth to ask what she found so hilarious however, the car halted. His mistrust of the couple was rewarded when they exited the car and removed their disguise which revealed them as Jessie and James from Team Rocket.
May gasped and Drew growled. He knew he shouldn't have entered the car. He swiftly grabbed the door handle and pushed the door to escape the convertible. May followed as he ran out to face Jessie and James.
"Why have you dragged us all the way out here?" Drew demanded.
They both laughed; proud that they had begun their trap without fail.
"To steal your Pokemon, naturally. Now hand them over now and we won't battle you!" James exclaimed.
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we don't have our Pokemon with us!" May yelled.
This caused both of them to falter in their laughing and their smiles dropped.
"What!?" came a voice from the boot of the car.
Meowth emerged from the boot with a brown box with neon red numbers on the front reading the number '3.' It soon became apparent to both Drew and May that what he was holding was a bomb and it was currently activated at three minutes and counting.
"Dey got no Pokemon? Then what's the point of this?" Meowth yelled.
Drew was contemplating over the situation and believed that the only way they would get out of the situation was by battling with Masquerain. He reached down to his belt where he kept his pokeballs and grabbed the only one present.
"This is the only Pokemon we have. And if you want it, you have to fight me!"
With this, he threw the ball and a white light released itself from the spherical container. In an instant, the white light grew and took shape of Masquerain. When Team Rocket finally acknowledged the scene taking place, Jessie withdrew a pokeball of hers and released Dustox. The bomb indicated that only two and a half minutes were left until it exploded.
"Dustox, use toxic!" Jessie commanded.
"Dodge it!" Drew yelled towards his Pokemon.
Masquerain did just as it was told and quickly flew out of the firing range of Dustox's toxic attack.
"Masquerain, use quick attack now!"
The flying Pokemon sped quickly towards its opponent and collided with it head on multiple times. After a few strikes, the attack ceased and left Dustox slightly injured. In anger, Jessie grabbed a second pokeball and threw it into the air.
"Go, Seviper!"
With that, a glowing white ball released from the pokeball and then took the shape of Seviper.
"What!" exclaimed Drew and May simultaneously.
"This is a one on one battle. We don't have another Pokemon to fight with," Drew yelled heatedly at Team Rocket.
"Exactly! It makes it easier for us to win then doesn't it." James yelled.
"Seviper, poison tail!" commanded Jessie whom now wore a smug expression at her plan.
Drew was focused on his anger at their unfair game play and couldn't call out a command it time. Masquerain was hit by Seviper's attack and fell to the floor in pain.
"No! Are you alright Masquerain?" Drew asked anxiously as he ran over to his Pokemon's side.
May wore a worried expression as she watched Drew look fearful. It was an emotion that she never associated with Drew. He was always calm, cool and often smug. But after knowing Drew for a while, she was able to determine that he was not the type of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve. He only showed his worry when there was no other way to overcome it, or when his Pokemon were injured. She loved how he was so caring about them, something she grew to be like after she began co-ordinating. But she didn't want to stand idly by and watch Drew save them both. She wanted to help and actually contribute to saving the, from Team Rocket.
"You can do it Masquerain! Just try to get up, I know you can do it!" she cried joyously.
Motivating Masquerain was all she could really think of. She though she sounded somewhat stupid for a moment until the Pokemon began to get up from the ground. Within a few second it was back in the air and ready to fight. Drew looked back at May, slightly surprised. She smiled nervously and Drew returned the favour by smiling back. The clock read '1' indicating that the box would explode within 60 seconds.
"Good! Use stun spore now Masquerain!"
Just as commanded, Masquerain released a yellow spore that was making its way over to Dustox. In a moment of panic, Jessie commanded Dustox to use gust. It did as ordered and flapped its wings fiercely and created a wind that propelled the spore away from them. Noticing this move, Drew commanded gust from his own Pokemon and Masquerain followed. Suddenly, the gust was travelling in both direction and fashioned a small whirlwind that carried the stun spore to both opponents. Unable to avoid the spore, they covered their eyes with their hands and all became stunned and therefore were unable to move. All they could do was stare at each other until it would ware off but this assumption was proved incorrect when they heard a sudden beeping noise. An explosion erupted from the box and sent Drew, May and Masquerain into the air. They landed a few hundred meters away and into the forest. All members of Team Rocket and Jessie's Pokemon escalated into the sky high enough for a small twinkle to form. However due to being stunned, they were unable to recite their most common phrases of 'Team Rocket's blasting off again.'