Bad day
May's POV
"Ash, where are we going?" I asked as I was dragged by my hand by an overly enthusiastic Ash. I mean really, he was meant to be 18, but you wouldn't guess it with the way he acted. With my other hand, I held tightly to my brother's hand, despite his protests of being able to keep up himself. I wasn't holding him because I was scared of losing him, I mean; he was 15, perfectly capable of looking after himself. I was afraid I'd get lost if I let go. Ash's hands were slippery and I wasn't quite as fast as them.
"We have to get to the train," Brock yelled back at me, "before it leaves." Yes, I had somehow ended up with these boys again. We had split up when I was 12. Brock and Ash went one way, Max and I went another way. When he was ten, Max then left me to go on his own journey, apparently sick of the way I dragged him to all my contests. How we all met up again and decided to start travelling together was a complete mystery to me.
"Whew, we made it," Ash said, "and just in time."
"Ok guys, really. Tell me where we are going and why?" I asked.
"We're going to LaRousse City so I can battle in the battle tower," Ash said. LaRousse City? I frowned. Why did that name sound so familiar?
"Hey Max, have we ever been to LaRousse before?" I asked.
"I don't think so," he replied, "Why?"
"No reason," I said, "I just think I've heard of it before."
"Well, it's known for its high tech," Brock said, "maybe that's where you've heard of it."
"Yeah," I said, but really, I was confused. No, it wasn't just because it was high tech. There was something else, teasing me at the back of my brain. Nope, it just wasn't coming to me. Maybe I was imagining it.
"Hey look, the train's here," Ash exclaimed. I jerked forwards as Ash pulled me through the doors. I barely could keep myself up. Before I knew it, Ash had pushed me down into the train seat, swinging into the seat next to me. Brock and Max laughed at Ash's excitement, slipping into the seats opposite us. I crossed my arms. They wouldn't be laughing if they were the ones being dragged around like this. I mean honestly, I wasn't a ragdoll. The train jolted as it took off and I smacked my head on the seat in front. I rubbed my forehead, wincing. There would be a bruise forming, surely. I sighed. This was going to be a bad day. I just know it.
"All people for LaRousse City please get off the train now."
"C'mon May, that's us," Ash said, dragging me to my feet. I groaned and made a weak attempt to free my wrist from his grasp. I was too tired to be dragged like this. Most likely I'd fall over if he continued to pull me at the too-fast-for-my-feet pace.
"Let me go," I said, "I can walk without you pulling me around." Ash ignored me.
"Come on guys," he said. A blast of hot air hit me in the face as I was pulled out of the train. I fanned myself with my hand. I looked around. This place wasn't high tech at all. In fact, I even recognised this town, even if I hadn't been here for a few years.
"Why are we in Lilycove City?" I asked.
"LaRousse is too high tech for normal trains May," Brock explained, "So we have to stop at the closest town to switch to a higher model train."
"Fussy city," I muttered. I wasn't happy right now. I was hot and bothered, and I still hadn't figured out what was so familiar about it. It was bugging me to my wits ends. LaRousse City. I mean really. Where had I heard it?
"Gee May, and you wanted me to let go," Ash said snapping me out of my thoughts.
"What?" I asked.
"You've been daydreaming again. I said that we have to get onto the next train now," Ash said. I pulled a face at him and stepped into the next train. It was white and looked fancy and modern. It was also cool inside. Thank goodness.
"We're off to LaRousse!" Ash exclaimed; looking out the window as the train started up again. I sighed and took to looking out the window.
"How long til we get there?" I asked.
"I dunno," Brock said, "10 minutes? Not that long."
"Oh good," I said.
"Why?" Ash asked.
"Trains can sometimes make me a little bit dazed and groggy," I explained, "it's a horrible feeling."
"Ah, I guess that's why you were zoning out on us before," Max said.
"Yeah," I lied. No, I was thinking. No, that's not it. The familiarity of this place was going to drive me up the wall.
I looked around in wonder at all the advanced technology that surrounded us. I wobbled slightly as I stepped onto the escalator, taking a moment to adjust to the different surface. When we got to the bottom, there was a floating block shaped robot with a face that came up to us.
"Welcome," it chirped, four blocks sprouting off it and gathering together to spell 'welcome' on top of it, "You are now in LaRousse City. Welcome again."
"Cool," Ash said, running up to it.
"It's so cute," I said, following after him as it formed its original shape again.
"What a cool robot," Max said.
"What could be better than that?" Ash asked. Well, I could think of a lot of things that could be better than a robot, but I think he was asking a rhetorical question. Unfortunately Brock felt the need to answer him.
"Being greeted by a real live beautiful girl could be one thing," he muttered. I shook my head and shot a quick glare at him before turning back to the robot that was now hovering right in front of my face. Without warning a camera appeared from one of the panels.
"Smile," it chirped. Dazed and slightly shocked, I ended up pulling a funny face just as the light from the camera flashed. I sighed. Didn't I tell you this was a bad day? I frowned in annoyance as the robot photographed Max, Ash and Brock and none of them were quite as dazed as I was.
"These will serve as your passports," The robot chirped again. A different panel opened and a red and black card was extended towards Brock.
"Our passports?" Ash questioned as he took his.
"While in LaRousse city, keep them with you at all times," the robot explained, "Your passports can be used for shopping and other needs." Max took his and looked at it.
"Basically you use this to get around in this high tech city," he said. I took my passport, pouting at my not-so-flattering photo. Of course I had to be the only one to get a bad photo.
"Come on, let's go," Ash said, "I want to get to the battle tower now!"
"Slow down Ash," Brock said, "I think we've all done enough running for today." I nodded quickly, agreeing with Brock. We HAD done too much running for one day, not to mention there was only so much pulling and tugging my arms could take. Ash nodded and we started on our way out again.
"I don't think I'll be sending this one home," I said grouchily, still semi-upset about my photo. Nobody said anything. I guess they were sick of hearing about it. I sighed and shoved it into my bag.
"I wonder which way to go for the battle tower?" Ash asked. I looked up as I heard him cry out in complete shock. He was being carried away on some sort of flat escalator along the ground.
"Help!" he yelled, trying to run against it. He ended up falling over and going on the faster track.
"Hey Ash!" I yelled, "Quit messing around!" Maybe I was just a little grumpy from previous things in day. Oh who cares? I was tired and Ash was not cheering me up at all with his stupidity. Couldn't he see that the opposite direction was right next to him?
"A moving sidewalk," Max said, "That's pretty cool."
"Also pretty lazy," Brock added. Not if you're Ash, I thought. The idiot was still trying to run against the current. I watched as I saw four people come towards us on the other lane. Two were boys and two were girls. The girls looked like they were identical twins. Both had short brown hair, cut level with their chins. Both had dark brown eyes. Both were wearing a similar outfit as well; including matching hats. The only difference was the colours. One wore pink and the other wore orange.
One of the boys had black eyes and black hair held back by a red sweatband. Hey, we had matching head accessories! That was cool.
The last boy had dark brown hair, but I couldn't see his eyes; there were closed. He had a smug look on his face. He opened his mouth, saying something that I couldn't quite hear. After replying, Ash once again tripped over. The brown haired boy tossed a Pokéball into the air. I gasped at the Pokémon that came out. It was a Blaziken. I had a Blaziken too. Wow! The boy opened his eyes and I finally saw their colour. Brown, dark brown. Blaziken jumped to where Ash was, picked him up and then put him down in the middle of the group. Well, thank goodness for that. I thought I'd be here all day waiting for Ash to get off this stupid thing.
"Hey thanks," Ash said, finally close enough for me to hear.
"Sure, no need to thank me," the brown haired boy said, "I just couldn't continue to watch you look like a fool." My mouth dropped. Arrogant guy! He didn't even know Ash and he had already made fun of him. Ash angrily turned to the boy. Watch out, I thought, you'll trip if you continue to stand backwards.
"What!" Ash yelled. And cue Ash falling backwards.
"So I guess You're all new in town," the boy with the sweatband asked.
"Well if you're heading for the battle tower, you should try going this way," the other boy said, moving onto a different path. Ash followed, this time getting on the right side of the moving sidewalk.
"Be careful," One of the girls teased, "don't fall." Max and Brock ran onto it, jerking slightly as they adjusted to the different surface. The boy with the sweatband looked at me for a moment. I gave him a small smile and headed after the boys.
"My name's Ash, from Pallet Town," Ash said, introducing himself to the boy with brown hair, "How's you like to battle with me?" Typical Ash. Challenging anyone and everyone to battles.
"Watch out," the girl in pink warned, "my brother Rafe's really strong." So that was his name. Rafe. Weird name, but ok.
"Blaziken too," the girl in yellow added, reaching up to him as if trying to show him off.
"Yeah, I'd love to have a battle with you Ash," Rafe said, "Let's get together at the battle tower ok?"
"So we're finally going to settle this, right Rafe?" I looked up, surprised to hear yet another voice. It was another girl. This one was older. She had purple hair and thin black rimmed glasses covering her purple eyes. She was typing something on her laptop as she sped past us on the fast track.
"Ahh!" Brock exclaimed, "hello my perspectical beauty! I'm Brock!" He jumped forwards.
"Stop!" Max yelled, catching his ear as Brock's feet touched the fast track. Brock's feet slipped from underneath him, causing the same effect on him as if he were being dragged by the ear.
"I guess you could really say that your friend here has really fallen for Rebecca," the guy with the sweatband next to me said. I jumped, not even realizing that he had caught up to me. Max yanked Brock back to his feet.
"She's a good Metagross trainer, likes to use her laptop for strategy," The boy continued, "So, my name is Sid. Blastoise is my partner." He pointed a thumb to himself. I looked away from Brock tentatively fanning his red ear to look at the boy; Sid.
"Hi, I'm May," I said eventually.
"And this is Max, my brother," I added, realizing he wasn't going to introduce himself. He leaned a little closer, looking me up and down.
"Hey, you're kinda cute," he said. My eyes widened. I had never had a compliment like that from a guy.
"Kinda?" I questioned.
"And kinda crazy too," Max added under his breath.
"MAX!" I yelled, whacking him over the back of the head like Misty had taught me. She'd taught me how to hit the sensitive spot, causing discomfort in the victim. I was glad Ash had introduced me to his assertive girlfriend. Her techniques were useful.
A/N: I am so excited to start this. So much fun to start a new story where none of you have any clue the sorts of twists I'm going to be including at this point. Again they are older. If you are unsure, the ages of the main characters are as following;
Ash-18
May-17
Max-15
Brock-24
Drew-17(not in the story yet but will come in at some point because you can't have contestshipping without Drew)
Tory (again not introduced yet, but soon)-14
Rafe-18
Sid-18
Audrey and Kathryn (Rafe's twin sisters)-14
Rebecca-20
I think that covers everyone that you really need to know. I think. If there's anyone else, I'll leave a note at the bottom of the page for you. And yes, If you noticed at the end, I did make Misty and Ash already in a relationship. I felt bad because this time Misty will not be included as a main character so I put in a little hint of pokeshipping instead. I know, it doesn't quite make up for it, but what can you do? Don't answer that! It's a rhetorical question! And well, I have nothing else to say except ENJOY! and review of course. All your support is very encouraging.