IDK why, but I was feeling bittersweet when I wrote this.
I felt like it would be necessary to have a 1shot involving Ash in Unova and May almost done with Johto, because we are currently blazing through the Unova Region without contests. Ash already is close to his 5th badge, and we're only one season in!
I believe there's hope for them to meet up again in a coming season. And I REALLLY hope they get together. Or at least express feelings for each other and kiss or something. I mean c'mon Pokemon. You've been building up to the moment for what feels like FOREVER.
Enough of me venting though. Here's the story.
Category: Hurt/Comfort
May looked across the sky into the ocean. Her hair was being carried by a gentle breeze. The sunset was reflecting off her skin that made her seem angelic. The oranges and yellows and reds and pinks of the sunset reflected off the water and made the day seem romantic. But to May nowadays, this meant the day was more somber. She was standing on the shore of a beach, worrying about her decision. Actually, it was more like she was regretting her decision.
Sure she was winning. Sure she had become stronger than ever before. Sure she had made it to the Grand Festival that was starting in 2 months (this time she won her ribbons before the last possible contest). But it didn't feel right.
She left to find her own battling style. She left because she somehow let the world make her think hanging around him too much was somehow crippling her potential, ruining her chances of becoming a top coordinator. She had somehow convinced herself that her battling style had to be different than his.
But after all this time alone, it hasn't changed.
She still is exactly like him. She still eats like a Snorlax, has the energy of a Vigoroth, and as loyal as a Gardevoir. But she feels like her decision made her the saddest trainer of them all.
The fact that she was standing at an ocean did not help her. It reminded May of the time he almost lost his life for a cause that she, not he, had cared about. He probably didn't care at all for the temple, or the crown for that matter. No one's lives were in danger. It was just a stupid old temple that he had no connections to whatsoever. But she cared. So he risked his life to save it.
It was then that she realized that she didn't just have feelings for him. She really loved him with all her heart.
But she let her dreams of being top coordinator get in the way. She made a rash decision that she needed to change her style to do better. Obviously a stupid decision…her style was fine. Actually it was perfect, because it mirrored the one who trained her. The one who showed her how awesome Pokemon could be. The one who has cared for her more than anyone else had on this planet. She was stupid for running away from her love. From the person who made her into who she is.
Why? Why did I run away form Ash Ketchum?
Ash looked across the sky into the ocean. His jacket was flowing in the wind due to a gentle ocean breeze. His hat was off and was being held in is hand as he sat criss-cross on the balcony. His messy raven-colored hair was glowing under the moonlight.
He was staring at the ripple of the tide and how the moon was reflecting off of it. Its beauty reminded him of a girl who had left him a few months ago. Sure he was never actually dating her, but he had a feeling it was going to happen eventually. Especially after his journey with Manaphy and the Temple.
His mind wandered back to that time as he closed his eyes and smiled, relishing the moment. He didn't know why he followed May into the temple. He didn't know why he smiled at her as they were surrounded by Luvdisc. He didn't know why he chased her into the sinking entity. He didn't know why he put her in the pod to save her life and not his own. He didn't know why he almost died for a temple he had no relations too. He didn't know why he got so angry at Phantom who had done nothing to him. Yeah he was a kind-hearted person who thought of others above himself and has risked his life on many occasions before to save the world. But he did it inexplicably and went out of his way multiple times back then.
It just felt…right.
It was then that he knew the girl who was attractive to him at first, the one whom he had mentored, the one whom he had a minor crush on before, he had fallen in love with.
But now she's gone. She up and ditched him to go on a journey by herself even though there were plenty of contests there in Sinnoh. He had seen her once during the Wallace Cup, and it was apparent that she was struggling without him. He wanted so badly to ask her to travel with him, but he would never forgive himself for stopping her journey short. He wanted to go back to Johto with her, but he couldn't quit a journey he was in the middle of.
He was worried Drew would captivate her and by the time he got to see her again, she would be going out with him. He would be ok with it as long as she was happy, but he wouldn't be ok himself. He was the tougher individual and wasn't doing too badly without her. But he kept losing to one rival over and over again like an amateur. It wasn't his style to lose to a rookie so much since he overcame his rivalry with Gary. He had lost his veteran status since they separated in his mind, and that was tough enough for him.
He hasn't told Brock, Dawn, Cilan, or Iris about the tears he sheds by himself at night. The only one know really knew was Pikachu. And Pikachu himself was used to crying at night. He missed May too. Not as much as Ash, because he more or less missed that Eevee of May's. He was worried when he learned it was now a Glaceon that his chances would go from little to zero. But it was harder when the ice cat told him she loved him after her loss to Dawn.
Ash looked back in the room and saw that Iris and Cilan were sound asleep, so he thought it would be safe to take the item out.
He reached into the inside of his jacket and pulled out his most prized possession, the Terracotta Ribbon. He lifted it up to the moon and saw it shimmer off of the ribbon's metal center. When he was struggling during his journeys in Sinnoh and Unova, he would pull out his ribbon and stare at it, remembering May.
He held it in close to his chest and started to tear up. But something stopped him short. He saw a glint in the distance, like the sun reflecting off of a piece of metal. Normally this wouldn't mean much to him, but something was different about it this time.
He stared at the spot the glint came from for a few seconds. Everything was paused around him. Only that gentle ocean breeze dared to move during this moment.
Then he smiled and got up, wiping the tears from his eyes with the back of his palm. That glint was the one thing he needed to know he had a chance. He vowed to himself to find her after the Unova League. That glint restored all his energy and rid him of all his worries. Because now he knew that May still cared. Somehow he knew that glint had carried across the huge expanse of the ocean.
Somehow he knew May was looking at the ribbon too.
And this told him that she probably loved him too.
May sighed and felt her eyes start to water at the thought of Ash. She knew he would be worried about Drew getting any closer to her. Sure she thought she liked him at first, but when she was separated from Ash it was clear to her she loved Ash a whole lot more.
She cried on a daily basis knowing he was so far away from her. May didn't care anymore whether she won the Grand Festival or not. She just wanted to get back together with Ash so she could express how her feelings for him truly were.
She reached into her bag and felt around for her three most important items. The first was her red bandana. When she arrived home after she left Ash and Brock, she felt like she needed to change outfits to change her style, kind of like a symbol of her shedding herself of her old styles. But she held on to her red bandana. She didn't know why…it just felt right to keep. And now so much later in her solo journey she knew why she likes it so much. This bandana was the reason Manaphy disappeared to chase it down when she lost it. Then she and Lizabeth and Ash and the rest went after Manaphy, and then the whole temple excursion unfolded. She figured out that she loved Ash because of this bandana.
She untied her green bandana and put it in her bag. She started to put on the red bandana but not before noticing the note she had scribbled on the inside of it.
'I love you Manaphy.'
But underneath that was another note.
'+Ash.'
She started to let loose some tears at this sight and scrunched up the red bandana and held it close to heart, wanting her love for Ash as close to her heart as possible. She fell to her knees because standing had become too much for her. She reached onto her belt and released her Glaceon from her pokeball. Glaceon was used to being called upon during May's routine of tears to comfort her. Glaceon snuggled close to May and thought of Pikachu, wondering if Pikachu even wanted to be her friend after she expressed feelings. At the thought of this she started to shed some icicle tears herself. She lowered her head onto May's lap and started to weep.
May tied the red bandana on her head, loving the way it felt against her hair.
She reached into her bag and pulled out her second item. It was her wishing star form her time with Jirachi. She currently had a big crush on Ash back then and wished for him to love her back. But she was so distracted by that night that Butler released the evil Groudon that she forgot to wish the last night. She held it up to the sun and noticed it was still in its position where she left it…all the points of the star closed down except for the seventh and last one.
Her hand started to shake as she held the star and she eventually dropped it onto the sand as she started to cry at a faster rate. She was starting to think about what would have happened if she had just remembered to wish that last night. Her right hand went up to her face and made a feeble and unsuccessful attempt to wipe away her tears. Her left hand reached down into the sand and scooped up her wishing star. She put the star next to her on the ground and reached for her third and most important item.
She hesitated and started to pull back her hand, not knowing if she had the strength to look at it. She looked down at Glaceon. Her loyal cat looked at her and nodded its head through its own ice tears. May made a weak attempt at a smile and nodded back. If Glaceon had the strength to go through this, then she could too.
She reached inside the bag and pulled out her most cherished possession—her Terracotta Ribbon. She felt her heart melt at the sight of it and she lost control of her arm as it started spazzing out and shaking all over the place. She started to weep even more bitterly, her tear ducts struggled to keep up with the amount of tears she was shedding. She was starting to choke on her tears at this point. If it weren't for her Glaceon emanating its cold aura around her, freezing her tears before they hit the ground, she would have been drenched by them by now. She was struggling to stay conscious from the sight of it. She started to breathe heavily as her chest heaved up and down, up and down, up and down…
She fell onto all fours, repeating phrases over and over again like "I love you Ash!" and "Why did I leave you Ash?" and "How could I do this to you Ash?" and "Please come back Ash!" and things of that sort. Her Glaceon looked at her with worry and sympathy. Even at her worst, she never was this bad. Maybe the fact that her last opponent had a hat on backwards and used a Pikachu revamped these feelings she had.
With the world spinning around her, she looked at the ribbon through her barely-opened eyes and lifted her head slowly to stare across the ocean with her eyes wet with tears and red with pain. She held up her ribbon to the sun and let it shine off of the metal. She though it was appropriate since it reminded her of the boy with a shining personality.
She had lost a lot of her will recently and her usually happy, bubbly personality had depleted a lot recently. It was making her rethink whether she should even be a coordinator or if it was worth living without him. She dropped the ribbon and collapsed onto the ground, her breath taken away and her noose running as fast as her eyes were bawling.
But then something happened. She saw from the corner of her eye a shine of a light that looked like it was reflected off of a piece of metal. Her crying and heaving suddenly stopped as she stared at it. It looked at her in the face for a while, like it was meant to tell her something. She was choked up looking at it, and she continued to look at it until it disappeared. Normally this wouldn't faze her in any way, but something about it was different. It didn't seem like some ordinary light that had traveled the vast distance of the ocean to her for no purpose at all. It looked like it came from the direction of Unova, the place Dawn told her Ash was.
She stared for a second.
Then another second.
And another one.
She stared and stared until at least 10 minutes had gone by. Then she did something she hadn't done in a while. She smiled a smile.
A big, genuine, happy-filled smile.
Her eyes sparkled with happiness and she got up on her feet, and couldn't help but squeal with glee. She started to giggle uncontrollably, and then she started to dance about on the beach like she was in the ball back at Cameron Palace, imagining Ash was in her arms. Giggling all the while. Glaceon lifted its head and looked at her and smiled. She had noticed the glint too and felt revitalized as well.
May was overjoyed and felt a new surge of confidence and power envelop her being. Tears started falling from here eyes again, but these tears weren't painful. They were tears infused with happiness.
She knew what that shine was. Somehow she had a feeling that she knew that it was related to her special ribbon. She promised herself that she wouldn't give up, because that's not what Ash wanted. She vowed to win the Grand Festival for Ash. And after she won, she would run back to his house at Pallet Town with her trophy and her Pokemon before she stopped at her own house at Petalberg City. And there she would wait and wait and wait until Ash showed up. Right then and there she would embrace him and spill her feelings to him with no fear of what he said.
Why did she do this? Well it's simple. She somehow knew that shine was Ash looking at his ribbon.
And this meant he was still caring about her, and he was still thinking about her.
How was it? I thought I ended it on a good note.
Normally I don't like oneshots that involve this kind of thing of May and Ash never seeing each other, just noticing they care for each other, but something's different about this one. It's more...optimistic.
Please R&R. I will get up my main ADVS story's first chapter soon I hope.
-Px