Hello. This is my first fan fiction, so I'm not very experianced. Any suggestions, comments, questions, etc., will be greatfully excepted. And this is Advanceshipping/AshxMay/SatoHaru, so if you don't like the paring, please don't just mindlessly bash my fic because of it.
This fic takes place after AG182 (Aipom and the King!), so there are spoilers here for those of you who don't keep track of the Japanese Episodes. Just warning you.
Recently, I redid the first two chapters so that the thinking parts are in italics, instead of looking normal. I used and > to act as the thought dividers in Word, but that doesn't transfer very well onto this website. Not that you would notice, anyway, seeing as to this is only two days old.
The sun was shining brightly over the Kanto Region. The sky was a clear blue, not a single cloud in the sky. Four travelers marched on in the cool shade of a cliff face in spite of the late afternoon humidity. The clear sky didn't stop a certain brown-haired girl from getting her head in the clouds, however.
"C'mon May! Try to keep up!"
May was brought out of her daydream by a boy calling to her from further up the road. She looks up to see that this boy with a yellow Pokémon sitting on his shoulder. Next to him was her brother, staring at her from behind her glasses. A close friend of theirs whom they were also traveling with had a concerned look on his older face. The group of them was stopped about ten yards ahead of her, all of them staring in her direction.
"Honestly," the boy in the red hat complained as he approached her with Pikachu sitting on his shoulder, "You've been a space-case ever since the end of the Grand Festival. What's up?"
"Oh, it's nothing!" May assured him, not making contact with his auburn eyes. She'd always been a terrible liar, especially to her friends. Not looking into his calming eyes makes this easier , she thought. She instead decided to focus on his blue sweat shirt, his baggy jeans, his strong arms…
May refocused her thoughts on his Pikachu. He beamed a smile at her face with large, dark eyes. The red patches on his face concealed a massive electric charge. He had bright yellow fur, a lightning bolt shaped tail, and-
"Hello, earth to May?" The boy who owned the Pikachu waved his hand clad in black fingerless glove in front of her face. "Are you feeling alright?" he said as he looked into her large, sapphire colored eyes.
"Oh, I'm fine, Ash!" May waved her white gloved hand in front of him in an attempt to shoo him off. She turned away from him and looked up at the cliff. "I guess I just feel like I'm being followed, I guess."
Her brother walked closer to her, knowing that there was more to this than she let on. "I think you're hiding something, May. What is it this time? Did you waste all of your money again?"
"Of course not!" May retorted to her dark-haired brother, "How irresponsible do you think I am?"
Adjusting his glasses and smiling, he knew she just took the bait. "Oh, I'd say VERY irresponsible. Remember that time your Bulbasaur was eating things and getting lost in trucks back in Hoenn?" he started
Ash knew where this was headed, so while May and her brother argued with each other, he approached his older friend, who had focused his narrow eyes on a small, yellow device. He pressed its buttons, growled when the outcome wasn't what he wanted, pressed more buttons and let out a sigh when he had got it to work properly.
"Did you figure out how to work it, Brock?" Ash asked his friend.
Brock furrowed his eyebrows. He reached into the pocket in his brown cargo pants and pulled out the manual to the small device. The word, 'PokéNav' was written in small letters. "This stuff is just too hard for me to read," Brock explained. "I figured I'd just play around with it until I figured it out." He sighed, "This is just like video games. I'm simply no good." His look returned to cheerful. "I did, however," he told Ash sounding like he had just achieved a great victory, "get it to display the map."
"That's good," Ash said, smiling. "Are we gonna reach a Pokémon Center before nightfall?" Ash asked him, "I think May and Max are gonna need to take a long sleep after this one."
Brock focused his gaze on the LCD display on the PokéNav. He hit a few buttons an cracked a smile. "There's a Pokémon Center not far from here. We should be able to see it soon." Brock told his traveling companion.
"Aha! I knew it!" May's brother, Max, exclaimed. Ash and Brock looked over to see Max pointing at his sister's blushing face.
"TAKE THAT BACK!" May screamed at him. She clenched her gloved fists and was about to punch him. Max quickly turned in his green sneakers and ran back towards Ash and Brock. He ducked behind Brock's leg. Brock stepped up to protect Max from his raging sister.
"Whoa! What's up now?" Brock said, trying to mediate the situation.
"Yeah, May," Ash turned to her, "What's up?"
Before she could say, Max interrupted, "May's gotta crush on a boy!"
With that, May's face turned deep red, almost the same shade as the tight zip-up blouse that she was wearing. "MAX!" she screamed, "You're gonna get it this time!" She lunged at Max, but Ash restrained her by holding her arms from behind, with Pikachu pulling on her red bandana. Brock stood in between Max and his raging sister. "If Ash and Brock weren't here, you'd be dead!" she growled to her diminutive sibling.
"If Ash and Brock weren't around, would you have met your 'boyfriend'?" Max taunted her.
Ash was just about to give in and let the girl tear her younger brother apart when he heard a familiar voice calling from atop the cliff they where traveling next to.
"I thought that screaming was familiar" the green-haired boy said, looming over the cliff.
"Who's that?" Ash said, turning to him.
"Isn't that Drew?" Max said, adjusting his glasses.
May's disposition changed from anger to surprise as she looked up to see Drew, her rival, looking down at her and her friends. His purple jacket was hanging open, exposing his black shirt and slim physic. "It is Drew!" she exclaimed. "Hey, Drew! What are you doing out here?" she holler at him, "The Grand Festival is over. I thought you'd have gone back to Hoenn by now."
"I've decided to train in Kanto some more before I head back." Drew told her, flicking his hair in a showboating manor. "What are you all doing?" he asked her back.
"Ash is going to the Battle Pyramid, and we're going with him." May replied, indicating Ash by pointing at the young trainer.
"Oh really?" Drew said with a smirk on his face. His green eyes appeared to glow. "Mind if I travel with you guys as far as the Pokémon Center?" He asked them as he let his hand fall along side his green pants. "It's close by, and I'm staying the night there."
"Yes, of course!" May bubbled. Then she realized that she was in front of the rest of her friends. "I mean, if you guys don't mind."
"I don't mind," Ash smiled.
"The more the merrier, as they say." Added Brock.
After getting down from the cliff, Drew, along with May and her friends, began walking to the Pokémon Center. Drew asked May what training she has done since the Grand Festival. May shrugged the question off and tried to talk about other things. Before she could change the subject, Brock asked him what kinds of food he fed his Pokémon, noting that at the Grand Festival, they all looked remarkably healthy. Max walked up to Drew and commented on his excellent battle with May, to which Drew thanked the young boy, only to have the brother of May deflate his ego by saying that May was awesome and completely outclassed him.
Ash found himself glancing backwards at May, who was focused on Drew, who had made himself the center of attention. He looked at her red tennis shoes, and his eyes followed past her short, black socks, up her smooth legs, to where her black shorts and short, white skirt intermingled to give the impression that she, while liked to show off her body, she was also quite modest. His eyes continued upward to her pack that hung on her wide hips and helped accentuate her hourglass appearance. He gazed upon the curves of her body until he found himself looking at her chest. Ash stared for only a moment before he realized what he was doing. He turned his head back around and focused on the road ahead of him. He berated himself for looking at a girl, much less a close friend of his, in such an objective way. He blushed slightly, hoping no one took notice of what had just transpired.
Unfortunatly for him, Pikachu had noticed him staring at May. Concerned over his partner, Pikachu tugged on Ash's unkempt, black hair in an attempt to grab his attention.
"Pikapi, pika pika?" the mouse Pokémon asked him.
"Nothing's wrong, Pikachu" Ash smiled, lying to his long time friend.
"Pi pika chu ka, Pikapi," he sighed. He looked at him with a concerned expression over his small face.
"Uh, I dunno, Pikachu." Ash's face went from a false grin to a grimace. "I guess I never thought of May and Drew like that before. Max said she's gotta crush on someone, and she's happy to see Drew…" he trailed off.
"Pi pika pi Chuu, Pikapi?" Pikachu asked him.
"So what if I am?" Ash grunted quietly, so only Pikachu could hear him.
"Pi pika chu ka pikaka chu Pikachu, pika?" Pikachu said as he cocked his head to the side.
Ash's heart leaped up into his throat. Even though he couldn't understand what Pikachu had just said, he knew his Pokémon had hit the nail on the head. "Yeah, I do." He cringed at the thought of Pikachu's response.
Instead of laughing like Ash thought he would, Pikachu licked his face, causing him to look up at the Electric-Type again.
"You knew?" Ash asked Pikachu. He nodded. "How did you figure it out?" he asked his Pokémon. Pikachu returned him a knowing look. "Yeah," Ash laughed, "I guess given as close as we are, you know all about my secret, don't ya, buddy."
"Chaa!" He cooed as Ash rubbed his head.
"But what am I supposed to do about it?" Ash said to Pikachu, thinking. Pikachu got his attention and made some aggressive poses. "You're right. It's do or die time. I have to do something about it. I'll try to find the perfect time tonight. Thanks, buddy." He said. He rubbed behind Pikachu's ears again.
The fivesome arrived at the Pokémon Center. Ash, May, Brock, and Drew walked up to the desk and rung the bell. The Pokémon Center was relatively empty, but that could be understood, because this particular center was quite a ways out of the way. They waited there only a moment or two before the door behind desk opened up, revealing a man in doctor's scrubs. The dark red hair under his cap floated over his sharp blue eyes. A mask hung over his shoulders and a smile grew on his face as he approached the children.
"Welcome to our Pokémon Center!" He greeted Ash's party, "How may I assist you?"
"No offense," Ash started, "But I was expecting a Nurse Joy."
"I'm not surprised," the man sighed.
"What do you mean?" May asked him. "What's your name?"
"I'm Doctor Joseph, and I run this Pokémon Center along with my partner, Skarmory!" At the mention of her name, Joseph's Skarmory waddled through the door Joseph came out of.
"Skyaa!" it's shrill voice made Ash and his friends cringe.
"You mean there's no Joy?" Brock cried to himself.
"But, are you even related to any of the Joys?" Ash asked him.
"Of course I am!" he stood up for himself. "I am the younger brother of the Joy who works in Petalburg City in the Hoenn Region."
"Oh! My little brother Max and I are from Petalburg City!" May started to introduce herself.
"Oh, are you little May and Max, the children of the Petalburg Gym Leader?" He asked, his eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, have you heard about us?" May asked her apparent fan.
"My sister talks about your father all of the time!" Joseph explained. "And she says that Norman's always talking about his children, saying that they went on a journey with a great Pokémon Trainer." After he said this, Ash stepped up with a knowing smile on his face. "I believe his name was Alf!" Joseph said, smiling. Ash sighed as a depressed look came over his face.
"Actually," Ash said, correcting him, "my name is Ash."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Joseph laughed, "Well, anyway, can I help you folks?"
Ash and May, left their Pokémon with the doctor, except Pikachu, and then went with Max to get some dinner.
"Hey, Drew" Brock asked him after leaving his own Pokémon with the doctor, "are you hungry? Max and I are going to follow Ash and May and see if they're going to leave anything for us to eat."
Drew shook his head. "Nah, I think I'll do a little more training. May's yelling earlier distracted me."
"Alright, suit yourself." Brock shrugged. "See you around Drew."
Oh, I wouldn't count on that, Drew thought to himself smugly.
He hadn't really been training. Drew had been trailing May and her friends since he saw them pass a few days ago. He had already acknowledged to himself that he liked May. And he had over heard that May had a crush on some boy. Given how he had been continuously dropping hints at the contests they had competed in, he thought it was a safe bet that the crush was him. He knew that this was his chance. He was done laying hints. This time he was going to ask May if she would like to travel with him.
Well, that's the first act. Did you enjoy it? Are you gonna review it? I'll try to put up the next portion in a timely manner (even though its already typed for several more pages, I want to do a little at a time).