Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
AN: For DarkAngel048. Kinda a sidestory to Miko Trainer (Brock/Kagome). Don't have to read Miko Trainer to understand.
"You did what?" Ash asked loudly.
"I did nothing. Grandpa sent out invitations to all of your friends to have a party because you are an official trainer." Gary said.
"Why would he do that?" Ash asked, he was unsure if Gary was telling the truth.
Even after all of these years, the two still were not friends but more of frenemies. It seemed that they were always in competition over everything and now that Ash had made it to their childhood goal before Gary, it had made things more heated between them, especially now that they were 17. Well more so for Gary than for Ash, who really didn't care about the whole rivalry that Gary thought was there.
"Well, gramps is just... so proud of you. That you got there first and made one of his pokemon the best." Gary gritted out with a glare at Pikachu.
"Pika, pi." Pikachu said from Ash's shoulder and turned his head to the side.
Yep, he was telling the truth all right. Only Gary would say something like that to Ash... or anyone for that matter. Now the question was, who did he invite?
"So, who'd he invite?" Ash asked.
"You'll know when they get here." Gary said and walked out his grandfathers' lab.
"Pika, pika pi, pika pika, pi. Pika, pikachu." Pikachu said, he wanted to know also but Ash shook his head.
Ash watched him go and settled himself to await Professor Oak. Only he could answer who was coming, that is if he would answer given if anything Gary said was anything to go on. It was very hard to trust anything he said but occassionally you could. He was very curious as to who was coming. It had been years since he had seen Misty and Brock, he missed them, but then there was Max and May. Those two he had spent the majority of his travels with and they had developed a tight bond. Especially May.
The day of the party had come and Professor Oak had not told him a thing about anyone that was coming, only the date of the party. Which is what he was currently getting ready for. His mom wanted him to dress up for it but he opted for his usual look, which would be new to all of his friends, but still similar.
"Pika, pika pi pika pika pi." Pikachu said as he jumped on Ash's bed.
Ash looked at his best friend and favorite pokemon. The small lightning pokemon was damp and had a brown bowtie on around his neck and looked to have been brushed. Ash shook his head, his mother tried to wash a lightning Pokemon and spruce him up.
"Mom gave you a bath, didn't she?" he asked him.
"Pika pi." he answered and pulled on the bowtie.
"Don't tell mom that you don't like the bowtie." Ash said to him.
"Pika pika pika." the pokemon said and pulled again.
Ash took the bowtie off the pokemon and let him hop on his shoulder. It was time for them to head over to Professor Oak's for the party.
When they arrived everyone was already there. Mrs. Ketchum was talking with Professor Oak and Gary was with his Bulbasaur. Over on another side of the room was Misty with Togapei talking to Max and May; and beside them was Brock and a black haired woman he didn't know and they were speaking to Dawn and Zoey. Misty saw him first and called over to him and he came over. Pikachu abandoned him to be with Meowth. Professor Oak had obtained him from James and Jesse of Team Rocket when they finally gave up and decided to just work at Pokemon centers.
Brock noticed him and slapped him on the shoulder and introduced him to the black haired woman. She was Kagome Higurashi and was his fiance. That he hadn't seen coming. If anything he thought that Brock would have ended up with that Nurse Joy or some other little Pokemon Center nurse they had ran into or even Misty but this was good for him. He talked with them all but May, she was more reserved and seemed to be observing, which was very strange to him. She was always so outspoken and if you ate her food, watch out! She would rip you apart but if you ate her cooking... prepare to be sick unless you were a pokemon.
He always liked her, still liked her, very much. If they hadn't had to of split and go their seperate ways to achieve their goals, he would have asked her to be his girlfriend. He would ask her now that is if he knew what she was feeling. But he couldn't tell what she was feeling, she had become so hard to read. She had changed so much. She was much more cryptic with her behavior, she had grown up and it showed in more than just one way.
Max and Misty then got caught up in speaking with Gary about pokemon while Kagome, Zoey, Dawn, and Mrs. Ketchum began speaking about wedding plans. Professor Oak and Brock were speaking about all that Brock had learned about pokemon medicine. All left Ash with May and he broke the ice first.
"So, how has everything been?" he asked awkwardly.
"Oh, i.. it's been great. You've made it to your dream, congratulations." she said softly.
Ash noticed even her voice had changed. It was more melodic and soft but still held that edge that helped make her May.
"Do you still have Torchic?" he asked.
"Do you still have Pikachu?" she asked with a huge smile on her face "Yeah, it's a Blaziken now."
"Did you win all of those ribbons and become a top Coordinator?" he asked.
"Yeah I did. I even beat Harley, Solidad, and Drew. They still haven't beaten me back." she said with a triumphant look in her eyes.
"That's great." he said and was still nervous.
May noticed, "Ash do you have something you want to say to me?"
He swallowed and moved his mouth in a stuttering motion but nothing came out. May raised a brow at him. He became a little red in the face and she gave his a concerned look and leaned into him. She raised her hand to touch his forhead.
"Ash, are you ok?" she asked and laid her hand against him.
Ash didn't know why it happened but it just did. All he could guess was that it was because she was so close to him and because he liked her that it happened. He kissed her! She was surprised but didn't pull away from him but fell into it and gave it back full force. Then they snapped away from each other, looking around the room to see if anyone else had noticed, no one had.
May had a blush staining her upper cheeks and fiddled with her fingers, waiting for him to say something, anything. He did say something, well he asked something.
"May, do you want to go to the movies?" he asked.
"Yeah, I would like that." she said, "Are we dating or what?"
"We're dating." he answered and wrapped an arm around her waist and led her out to take a secluded walk.
"Good. It took you long enough to ask me." she said and leaned her head on his shoulder.
Ash sighed and said nothing. It would do no good to say anything more, just let her win right now. He should have asked earlier, she was right; now that he thought on it. There had always been some sort of sign letting him know that she liked him and would love to hear him ask her. But not to dwell on the past, he focused on the there and now with May.
AN: Tell me, is the ending half kinda sappy? I think it is. Was supposed to be rated M but I couldn't bring myself to do it.