Sorry it's a little late. I've had internet problems from being home... as well as Wii taking up my time. Ehehe... Anyway, lets get started!
"Blaziken, Blaze Kick!" May shouted to her starter Pokémon.
"Sceptile, Slam!" Ash countered.
The two powerful Pokémon crashed their strikes against each other. Sceptile successfully force Blaziken back. Both trainers' points took a hit.
"Sceptile, Leaf Blade!" Ash ordered.
"Blaziken, Sky Uppercut!" May fired back.
His blades glowing, Sceptile lunged at Blaziken, who had leapt up into midair, clashing her fists against his blades. The counter strike proved effective, forcing the other Pokémon to stand down. Again, Ash and May both lost points.
"Blaziken, Overheat!" May ordered an attack that could finish the match.
"Sceptile, Solarbeam!" Ash pulled out his most powerful move. Both Pokémon readied their moves, and leapt at each other, the powerful Overheat and Solarbeam colliding in the air. A massive explosion overtook both of the fully evolved Pokémon, clouding who had won their match.
May recalled in her mind how the events lead up to this encounter.
It was late in the day in the Kanto Region, but Ash had never felt brighter. The Pallet native had just conquered the Battle Frontier by defeating Brandon and his Regice using a team comprised of his three Kanto Starter Pokémon plus Pikachu and won his final Frontier Symbol. After being awarded a Victory Plaque with his seven Symbols embossed on it, Scott offered Ash the ability to become a Frontier Brain.
"No thank you, Scott," Ash told the large man. "I'm going to travel more. Pokémon contests don't stick around in one location, so if I'm going to stay with May, I better keep moving as well."
"Ash," the girl smiled at him. "Really? Turning it down for me?"
The raven-haired boy affixed his auburn eyes on the girl he loved. "Of course, May," he said into her bright sapphire eyes. "You're more important than a title."
"So I see…" Scott said, a depressed look on his face behind his sunglasses. "Is there anyway to get you to reconsider?"
"No," Ash shook his head. "I'm sorry, Scott, but it's just not in the cards for me."
The large man put his hands in his bright Hawaiian print shirt. "I guess it can't be helped," he shrugged. "Do you have any plans on where you and your lovely girlfriend are traveling next?"
May blushed at the implication of being lovely. "We haven't really decided yet," she smiled, spinning her black-and-white gloved fingers around each other. At the end of each glove was a green ring around her wrist. "We were going to hang around Pallet for a while so we could search for a new place to go."
"I hope you all have a good trip back to Pallet," Scott smiled. "I hope we meet again."
Max became downtrodden, his glasses falling to the edge of his nose. Brock placed his hand on the smaller boy's shoulder. Max knew that as soon as they got to the port, his adventure with his sister and their friends would be over. He kept it to himself, hoping that May would tell the group before then so he wouldn't have to.
That was a few days ago.
May went to buy a ticket for Max to travel back to Hoenn, but kept it under wraps, not wanting to deflate her boyfriend's ego he had developed from defeating the Battle Frontier.
While the group traveled around the bustling port, May spotted a poster for a local Pokémon Contest.
"Oh, look guys! A Pokémon Contest! I'm gonna enter!" the girl was ecstatic. "I've needed some practice, and this contest will be perfect!"
"But sis," Max tried to remind her of his trip.
"We can talk later, Max," May hushed him. "I want to enter this contest!"
"I'll enter, too!" May, Brock, and Max all turned their heads to see Ash and his partner, Pikachu, looking at the poster.
"Ash?" May tilted her green-bandana clad head to the side. "Why are you gonna enter the contest?"
Ash leaned his lithe body backwards. "Well, I just happened to have won the Battle Frontier," the egotistical boy smirked from under his red and black hat, "so I'll just bless this Pokémon Contest with my amazing Pokémon training skills."
"Pi pikachu!" the yellow electric Pokémon cocked his hand backwards in an affirmative position.
"Oh, brother," the older breeder sighed. "And I though his head couldn't get bigger."
"Besides," Ash added, "you're always saying how we need to do more stuff together, May."
May stood in her primarily red and green outfit. "That's true, but just because you're my boyfriend, don't think I'm gonna go easy on you."
Ash smirked, clad in his blue sweatshirt and baggy jeans. "I wouldn't expect any less from you, May."
They entered the contest and appealed. Because it was such a small contest, only two trainers were chosen to advance to the battle round. And thanks to an ingenious appeal courtesy of Pikachu, Ash was able to advance. May relied on her Eevee and established Contest experience to see her through, making it a boyfriend versus girlfriend match in the finals. Ash and May were out warming their Pokémon up when Jessie, James and Meowth, the infamous Team Rocket trio appeared, and attempted to steal all of the Pokémon that entered the contest. Through the quick work of Ash's Sceptile and May's Combusken, however, their plan was thwarted. However, during the battle, May's Combusken began to glow, and she evolved, leaving Sceptile duly impressed by her new Blaze Kick technique. Psyched even more for the battle, Ash and May entered the battle arena from opposite sides.
"May the best coordinator win," May grinned at her boyfriend from across the stadium.
"You better be careful, May," Ash returned. "I've seen your contests, and I know how to be a winning coordinator. After all, I've helped you from the start of your journey."
The smoke was clearing as the buzzer sounded for the contest battle. The time was up, and Sceptile and Blaziken fell from their conflict in the middle of the air, landing, facing each other, the fatigue of the battle apparent on their faces. Sceptile shot a smile at his opponent, catching Blaziken off guard before she smiled back at him. The smoke cleared showing that Ash and May both had the same amount of points remaining. The display changed to show both Ash and May as the winners. The couple was surprised at the decision, but ended up smiling to each other.
Ash and May, both standing along side their Pokémon, smiled as the crowd cheered for the excellent battle. The judge, a middle aged man with brown hair, stood to present Ash and May with the winner's ribbon.
"Congratulations to both of you for a spectacular battle," he said to them, stepping closer with a case. "Unfortunately," he added as he opened the case, "we've only got one ribbon. So I guess you two'll have to do some kind of joint ownership."
Ash looked at it for a second and thought. "I have an idea," he smiled. He took the ribbon from the box and tossed it into the air. "Sceptile, cut it in half with Leaf Blade!" His large, reptilian Pokémon smirked, leaping into the air and severing the ribbon down the middle. Ash and May ran under the falling parts and both caught one.
Ash and May both caught the falling parts as Sceptile landed frightening close to the judges. Standing side by side, the opponents struck a pose, holding the ribbon so that it would appear full. "I got a ribbon!" Ash and May shouted in triumph.
"Pi pikachu!" Ash's partner added, grinning.
The sun was setting at the port as Brock placed the food on their plates. May sat next to Max on one side, the boy fidgeting uneasily. Ash, unaware, smiled at all of their Pokémon as they ate happily.
A red crustacean stepped close to a small turtle. "Corphish," he held out his claw.
"Squirtle," the turtle responded, shaking the claw. Corphish and Squirtle began to strike up a conversation, the former telling the latter jokes.
Pikachu sat along side a purple Pokémon with a long tail that tormented him by tapping him on the shoulder and pretending not to know. Pikachu glared at the monkey Pokémon for a moment, and continued eating. To his left (as opposed to his right where the monkey was) sat a small canine Pokémon whom Pikachu started off a friendship with recently, seeing as their trainers were a couple now. While the small one always seemed full of friendship for the Electric-Type, Pikachu always saw Gary's Eevee, who had defeated him, when he saw the species. Pikachu, sighed, hoping he wouldn't become too much more like Ash.
To Eevee's left sat May's pink feline Pokémon, who had already finished eating was napping happily in the sunset. A larger, gluttonous Pokémon snuck by and stole the little bits of food that she had left in her bowl. After licking the feline's bowl clean, the glutton snuck looked around for his next victim, and another way to steal more food.
He knew, however, not to try anything with Blaziken. Even before her evolution, he had been disciplined by the Fire-and-Fighting type for trying to steal food in the past. So he only watched from a distance and drooled for a moment at her food as she lazily popped another kernel in her mouth, relaxing next to Sceptile, who sat in meditation, having already finished his meal.
The hungry Pokémon looked about his allies for an easy target. A powerful elephant Pokémon glanced over at him, letting the smaller Pokémon know that his visit would not be appreciated. Next to the stocky, powerful elephant was a bagworm, encased in a steel shell. His gaze also narrowed at the watcher, who smiled back and turned around, truly depressed at his lack of easy targets.
Meanwhile, a moderately sized blue Pokémon watched from a distance at Sceptile and Blaziken. He rubbed his feet against the ground as he watched them from a distance. He cursed his shy ways and returned to sitting in the grass, by himself. He looked up to the sky to see two flying Pokémon circling over head. He chuckled to himself, one of them was a butterfly.
"Hey, Marshtomp," Brock called for him, "you wanna help yourself to some of these leftovers?"
The blue Pokémon smiled as he stepped over to Brock. The breeder could tell that his Water-and-Ground Pokémon was feeling a bit lovelorn, so he tried to cheer him up.
May watched her boyfriend eat with some kind of morbid fascination, similar to the kinds that made her watch wild Pokémon attack each other on television when her brother elbowed her in the side.
"May," he pleaded "please tell 'em…"
"Alright, Max," she sighed, not wanting to send him off. She turned to the table. "Hey, guys?"
Ash looked up, his mouth full of noodles. Brock affixed his gaze on her as he sat down.
"I've been talking to my parents," May explained. "Max's tenth birthday is coming up pretty soon, and Dad wanted me to send him back to Hoenn so he could become a trainer."
"That's great, Max!" Ash smiled after swallowing his noodles. "You've always wanted to have your own Pokémon!"
"No, it's not…" Max sighed, slipping off of the fold up chair and stepping away from the table.
"What'd I say?" Ash became slightly confused.
May looked at him from across the table. "He doesn't want to leave the group, Ash. We're not going with him."
"Oh," Ash began to understand. He left the table and followed Max who had wondered further into the park they had set up their dinner in. He saw the boy swinging by his lonesome on the rusty swing set. "Hey, Max, I'm sorry I didn't think about you not wanting to leave."
"It's alright, Ash," Max looked at the dirt under him. "I really have wanted my starter Pokémon for a long time. But now, I don't really wanna leave you guys. You're all the best friends I've ever had. Even if one of 'em is my sister."
Ash sat on the swing next to the one Max sat on. "We have had quite the adventure, haven't we?" He looked up at the orange sky. "You've been a good friend Max," he told him. "I don't really want to see you go, either. But if your dream takes you away from your friends, then we shouldn't stand in your way. You want to be the Petalburg Gym Leader someday, right?"
Max smiled. "Yeah, I've always wanted to succeed my Dad as the Gym Leader. I guess I won't be able to prove to him that I can be a great trainer if I keep following you around, will I?"
"Max," May called as she stepped into the park. Brock followed closely behind her. "I really don't want you to go."
"You know as well as I do that I have to, sis," he smiled at her.
May threw her arms around her brother. "I know," she cried silently. "But I'm really gonna miss you. I love you, Max."
"I love you, too, May," he said, returning his sister's affections.
May stood up and rubbed her eyes. "I-I wanted to give you something for your journey. To remember me by." She began fishing something out of her pack.
"You don't have to give me anything, sis," he was embarrassed.
"I insist," she said. "I think you'll need this." She took out a Pokéball and handed it to him.
"The thought's nice and all, May," Max said, clearly underwhelmed, "but Professor Birch will give me some Pokéballs."
"That's Squirtle's Pokéball," May said.
"What?" Max looked back at it. "You're giving me your Squirtle?"
May nodded, tears in her Sapphire eyes. "I know how much you love Pokémon, and I wanted to be the one who gave you your first."
"Thank you, sis!" He hugged her tightly as she leaned down and took him in again. "You're the best sister ever!"
"J-just make sure you let him see a contest every once in a while, Max," she choked out. "I'm gonna miss you so much, little brother."
"I'm gonna miss you, too, May," he sobbed. "I don't know when we'll be able to see each other again. I-I'll take good care of Squirtle."
"C'mon, guys," Brock placed his hands on each of their shoulders. "Lets get finished eating one last meal as a team."
The brother and sister broke apart and walked back to the picnic table, tears sliding down their smiling faces.
They sat and spoke of their great adventures together. Max remembered fondly his encounter with Jirachi, while May spoke mostly of Manaphy. Ash remembered the fallen Lucario fondly, and Brock reminisced to the group about all the girls he had lost during their journey. Max made an off color about how Brock couldn't have lost any girls because he never got any. While the breeder sighed at the boy's observation, Ash and May enjoyed Max's razor-sharp wit for what would be the last time for a while.
After finishing their meal, Brock began to pack Max for his trip back to Littleroot and Professor Birch's Laboratory. The boy held Squirtle in his arms. May had discussed going with Max to Squirtle in private (even Ash was unaware), and the Kanto Water-type agreed to go with him. Max slipped the Pokéball into his pocket, and thought fondly of his sister.
Ash felt like he had to give something to Max, as well. He quickly tore through his backpack, looking for a memento to give his girlfriend's brother. Ash certainly thought more of Max than just 'his girlfriend's brother.' He and Max had become very close in their travels, and he was going to miss the lad as well. Not finding anything he was willing to part with, he sighed and dropped back, placing his hands on his head. He was then struck with inspiration as what to give his departing friend.
Max turned to see Ash handing him his red-and-black cap. "Here," Ash smiled at him. "You'll need something to cover your eyes when it gets really bright."
"Ash…" he smiled at him. He took the hat and held it in his hands, dropping Squirtle, who stood next to his new trainer. "You've done so much for me. I… I couldn't."
"Take it, Max," Ash grinned. "You've done some pretty brave stuff during our adventure. You deserve it."
Max smiled and put the hat on his head. Squirtle leapt to his shoulder as May and Brock approached him. May presented him with his pack. "We've got it all ready for you to go," she smiled, fighting back tears again.
"Thank you, May," he smiled at her, also fighting back tears.
"I've made you a snack, Max," Brock handed him a small covered bowl. He placed a metallic fork and knife on the bowl. "And you'll need these to eat it."
"Thanks a lot, Brock," Max took the food in his free hand.
"Take it easy, Max," May mothered him. "Don't push yourself too hard."
"I won't, May," he smiled.
The boat pulled into the port. Ash, May and Brock watched the boy begin to walk away toward the boat. May cried silently, watching her brother leave her. Ash took her hand in his, trying to ease her distress about Max leaving. The boy stopped walking to the boat. Turning back to his friends with tears in his eyes, he ran back into his sister's arms. Ash, May, and Brock all held Max in a group hug, unsure when they would have the opportunity again. With that, he set off to board the ship again.
As the ship pulled out from the port, Max and Squirtle waved to Ash, May, Brock and all of the Pokémon who watched them go. Ash resumed holding her hand to prevent her from losing her composure. As the ship disappeared from view, Pikachu sighed, depressed having to have watch another friend leave.
The remainder of the evening was spent in relative silence. After recalling their Pokémon, Ash, May, and Brock set up camp in the park. Even though he is normally uncomfortable with close sleeping arrangements, Ash allowed May to lay her sleeping bag next to his to comfort her since Max had left. Brock slept on May's other side, to make sure she felt surrounded by her friends. As they set up the camp that night, Brock told May that it was hard for him the first few weeks he was out being away from his brothers and sisters. The story comforted May as the boys drifted off to sleep. Feeling lonely, she looked over to the sleeping Ash (complete with Pikachu sleeping in his lap on the sleeping bag) and watched him sleep for a moment. Slowly, she unzipped her sleeping bag to allow her arms freedom of movement. She reached over and unzipped Ash's sleeping bag to reveal his chest. May felt her cheeks light up as the boy turned in his sleep away from her. Scooting closer, she wrapped one of her arms around him, holding him close for comfort during her sleep. May smiled as she let herself fall asleep holding Ash in her arms.
When he awoke in the morning, Brock looked over and saw that May had wrapped her arms around Ash. He sighed; it was a sight that was becoming too common to him. All the young couple reminded him of was his own lovelorn life. He tried to make the best of it today. Because today, he was leaving, too.
Ash yawned as he turned over to see May's sleeping face. Startled at first, he listened to May snore quietly and smelled her breath. Ash slipped out of her loose grip and stood up. Pikachu yawned as well, and began to stretch. May rolled over in her sleep, continuing to sleep soundly. Ash couldn't help at how cute she looked while she slept. The smell of food, however, proved to be a stronger lure as he found himself walking over to Brock. "Hey, that smells really good, Brock," Ash complimented. "What's the occasion?"
"Nothing, really," Brock lied. He knew he'd have to make it as quick and painless as possible after what happened with Max yesterday.
Soon after, May woke up, and the group released their Pokémon and all had what under normal circumstances would be an uneventful morning. Brock smiled to himself, enjoying the interactions between Ash and May as they competed to see who could eat the most of Brock's cooking before they were too full to eat any more. The Pokémon were fed, with Brock's own Pokémon knowing only as much as Ash, May and the rest of the Pokémon did.
They packed up camp and began heading down the road. Ash gloated over his win against May that morning, but the girl didn't seem to mind, although she took measures to deflate his ego when she felt it was too large. More significantly, Ash and May looked at the ribbon they had split, each happy that they could share a win in battle together. Brock allowed them to remain blissfully unaware. He knew it would be hard to say goodbye if they knew he was leaving.
The group came to a fork in the road. As Ash and May began turning down the road to the south, Brock stood still.
"This is it, guys," he told them. "I'll be leaving, here."
"What?" Ash and May were shocked.
"I've got to visit my family in Pewter," he told them. "I told them I would after every adventure and our journey though the Battle Frontier ended not to long ago."
"Not just Max, but Brock, too?" May stepped backwards. "Why didn't you tell us you had to leave?"
"If I told you," Brock explained, "you would have been more upset, and it would have ruined your day. And as your honorary big brother, I can't let that happen."
Ash's expression darkened as Pikachu let out a sad coo from his trainer's shoulder. "I'm gonna miss you, Brock," Ash said to his long time traveling partner. He held out his hand to him.
"Same here, Ash," he smiled. "And depending on where you two decide to go, I might be able to join you, so unlike Max's, my departure might only be temporary." He took Ash's hand and gave him a firm handshake.
May placed her hand on theirs. "I don't know what to say, Brock," she smiled, tears in her eyes, "except that you better get back to us as soon as possible."
"Don't cry, May," he smiled to her as a single tear slid down her face. "I'll have to come back, someday." He tried to disarm the subject with a joke. "I mean, who will feed you and Ash? Instant Ramen can only take you so far."
"Hey, Instant Ramen can take me plenty far!" May retorted, smiling.
Brock broke the interlinked hands. "And with that, I bid you adieu," he bowed like a gentleman. Brock stepped away from them, and then began to walk up the road to Pewter. Ash and May waved to him for a bit before heading south towards Pallet Town. Pikachu sighed as he saw Brock leaving.
In a certain Normal-type Pokémon shaped balloon overhead, a trio plus two Psychic Pokémon watched through binoculars.
"Parting is such sweet sorrow," a woman sighed.
"But Pikachu is much sweeter," a man followed up.
"I prefer lemon in my tea," a Pokémon said.
"Wobbuffet!"
"Mime, mime!"