AN: Um... I can explain as to why I've kept myself off the site for almost three years (except not really; I'm just really lazy is all).
But I'm still pretty excited to show off my little story baby to you guys. :) Just promise you won't laugh or anything, or the baby will cry.
WARNING: Lots of cringe-worthy fluff and cheesiness ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you. (Also, an irrelevant and unnecessary piece of information that you don't need to know: Ash and May are around the age of eighteen, so... okay, then)
"Bet you can't catch me!" Lena hollered cheekily, extending her arms out as she zipped clumsily around the room.
May laughed and retorted teasingly, "Oh, I can't have my Pidgey flying away, now can I?" She paused and grabbed a toy from the floor, "I suppose I'll have to use my Poké ball to catch you, then!" And, aiming dramatically at the girl, May launched the item towards her spritely figure, managing to make contact with a dainty arm.
The child consequently crumpled to the carpet, "Arg! I've been hit!" She cried and collapsed onto a pile of plush dolls.
"Aha! Gotcha! Pidgey was caught!" May celebrated, "Add that to your Pokédex!" She crossed the room and sprawled out onto the mound of dolls, next to the girl. "I am the true Pokémon master."
Lena bowed her head and chuckled, "I don't know what Ash would say about that." Then she added slyly, "I am quite the catch, though."
A snort resounded beside her. "Alright then, hot-shot."
"Now, let's play another game!" The eight-year old chanted, jabbing her small fist into the air. May promptly sighed and nodded slowly to the suggestion.
"Okay, kiddo. What'll it be? Jenga? Or maybe Uno."
Lena wagged her head furiously, "No—I think I'll play with my dolls, instead." The girl propped herself up from the stuffed Pokémon pile and collected her plastic trainer dolls from the floor, lithely maneuvering through the toy-scattered battlefield before depositing herself in front of a quaint, toy contest hall. With a deft flick of her hand, the building front compliantly popped open.
May followed her in suit and plopped down beside the child. "So, which one do I get to be?" She asked curiously.
Lena flashed her a sweet, pearly smile and gingerly handed her a brunette doll. May fiddled with its rich, flowery gown, "Um, I don't think orange is my color."
"That's all right." Lena chirped, promptly rummaging through her doll wardrobe trunk, "I've got a red one in here, somewhere." After a few moments of disgruntled murmuring, the girl extracted a mahogany dress, which she leisurely passed to May. "Oh, you can't forget about this!" Lena added, hurriedly handing over a utility belt to the coordinator.
May gawked at the accessory and chuckled at the detachable, miniature Poké balls fastened to the belt loops. She secured the belt to the waist of the doll and absentmindedly smoothed her dress's crinkles.
Meanwhile, Lena continued to dress her own doll, until she settled with a particularly lurid outfit. Then, gesturing to the blonde doll in her fist, she introduced herself, "Hi, May! It's me, Lena! How do you do?" Lena pivoted the doll's arm in a feeble attempt to wave.
May giggled and replied, "Hey, kiddo! Long time, no see." May extended her doll's own arm, to which Lena laughed and offered her doll's hand in a courteous handshake.
"So," Lena whistled, "I see you were busy, competing in the town contest!" Her doll promptly applauded.
"Why, yes! How nice of you to notice." May blushed.
"Yeah, and I bet you won it, too, didn't you?"
"Heh, good guess!"
"Ooh! Can I see the ribbon?" Lena pressed.
May's doll nodded and sifted through the diorama contest hall for the accessory before locating and flaunting a small, shiny contest ribbon to the girl.
"Wow! It's absolutely beautiful! You mind gracing me with the tale of how you earned it?"
"Sure!" May grinned and began, "So, there I was down in the contest arena. The lights were blinding, and the crowd was ginormous!"
Lena listened intently as May raved further, "I stood there, and I was completely fazed by the glamor of it all, but it didn't stop me from giving it my all." May shifted her doll into the contest hall's field. "The timer was ticking down real fast, and my competitor had me down by a few points. My Blaziken didn't seem to be faring too well at all, I was so stuck in my head, and I only had a minute left on the clock. So, you know what I did?"
"What?"
"I pulled myself together and brewed up a strategy. I could see that Blaziken was tiring, but I knew he could hang tight to see the rest of the battle through.
"Blaziken had reached the end of his rope, but luckily for us, his ability, Blaze, allowed him to better deliver his moves, which I wholeheartedly used to my advantage.
"My opponent's Swellow swooped in from the air with a quick attack, but upon my insistence, Blaziken swiftly countered the attack with a sky uppercut." May paused and looked to Lena. "Hey, can I borrow that?" She directed her hand towards a Blaziken doll lying on the ground, which Lena gladly handed her. May smiled and continued, demonstrating the move to the girl, "Though there was a bit of friction from the counter, I instructed Blaziken to follow up with a sound blaze kick." May stabbed the Pokémon's leg into an imaginary opponent. "Then, I wrapped up the battle in a neat bow by ending with a double kick that launched the Swellow back onto the arena floor!" Grabbing the doll by both legs, May pumped them in rapid succession and dropped the Pokémon gracefully back onto the arena ground.
"By the time the Swellow met the ground again, the last seconds fell away, and a fair covering of dust surrounded the field.
"I waved away the dust and looked to the scoreboard. And to my joy, I discovered I had hacked a few points from my opponent's score—enough points to land me a solid victory!
"And the crowd went wild!" Lena whooped in response, swinging her doll's hand into a celebratory fist pump.
She remarked jubilantly, "That sounds spectacular! I'm so proud, May!"
"Haha, I appreciate it!" May's doll sheepishly rubbed the back of its head.
Lena's doll offered May a high-five. Then she paused, turning her doll's head towards the entrance of the contest hall. "Oh, look! What a surprise—it's your boyfriend and Frontier Brain, Ash Ketchum, coming to congratulate you!" Lena exclaimed in mock astonishment, setting her doll down on the floor and hastily fishing out a male doll.
May immediately felt the blood flock to her cheeks. "Huh?"
Lena exchanged the doll's coat for a vest and promptly adjusted his cap. "Wait a second—I wanna get the outfit just right."
The coordinator sighed. "That doesn't even look like Ash."
"I know, but you can't expect the doll company to get his hair exactly right."
"And, clarification, Ash is not my boyfriend." May blubbered nervously.
"Not in real life, anyways." Lena dismissed, "But here in Lena's world, anything's possible." She continued to straighten his baggy pants.
"But I don't like him like tha—"
"Save the explanation! Don't cha think that I've already noticed you checking him out before?" May's cheeks heated up brightly. Lena whispered mellifluously, "And if it's any comfort to you, I think that you two are perfect together!"
May squeaked anxiously. "This is so wrong." She sighed, erratically rubbing her fingertips to her temples before responding hesitantly, "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to play along," She briskly added, "for the sake of the game, I mean."
"That's the spirit!" Lena cheered and cleared her throat. Lowering her voice to a gravelly intonation, she strained, "Hey, May. It's me, your loving and caring boyfriend, Ash—" May promptly facepalmed. "I saw your performance from the audience box and had to come over to congratulate you."
May gulped visibly. "Um, thank you, Ash?"
"You were totally awesome." The doll enthused further, "I especially liked the part where you smashed that Swellow's face in with that blaze kick."
"Haha!" May guffawed, a smirk folding over her lips, "Yeah, that was my favorite part, too."
The Ash doll nodded and replied, "I knew you had the contest in the bag when you first walked up on the stage." Then, affectionately, the hoarse voice commented, "That's my girl."
May blushed, clutching her heart nervously. "Ah... It's not a big deal, really. It's just a silly contest."
"But you earned it! You blew the contest right outta the water!"
"Gosh, Ash, I—"
She was immediately interrupted by a stiff, overly-theatrical exclamation from Lena, "Oh, no! Now, here comes Drew—your raging, jealous ex! And he doesn't look happy!"
"What? Really, Lena? Is that necessary?"
"Yup!" Lena chimed excitedly. "Love triangles always spice up the story!" She drew another male doll from her lap and began to fix his clothes.
"This is too far of a stretch, even for you." May grumbled, her brows knitted tautly together. "Drew and I never dated either."
"Well, it's not my fault that you don't date much!" Lena countered.
"Hmph! And what about the hair?" May bitterly asked, gesturing to the doll's brown hair.
Lena sighed exasperatedly, "Give me a break, May. They don't sell any green-haired dolls, and I don't blame 'em."
Lena continued her theatrics, shaking the Drew doll to indicate a voice change. "Congrats, May, on your win. I thought you did okay..." The doll, hand clutched tightly to the stem of a small rose, nudged the flower towards May's doll, which she reluctantly accepted. Then, Drew pointed his arm accusingly towards the Ash doll, which resided in Lena's left hand, "As for you, Ketchum—what's a loser like you doing here?"
Lena uneasily switched back to the gruff drip of Ash's voice, "I could ask you the same question."
"What? Are you challenging me right now, Ketchum?" Drew snarled in his nasal inflection.
"That depends if you're ready for my fists to go all plastic surgery on your face."
"Is this really happening right now?" May muttered, stealing a glance at an enraptured Lena.
"Now I'm mad." The Drew doll venomously hissed before colliding his open hand with Ash's plastic face. Lena proceeded to wave the two male dolls frantically in the air as she smashed their bodies jarringly together in an attempt to simulate a fight scene. She roughly handed the Ash doll to May and instructed, "Hit me! Quick, May! Don't you want Ash to win?"
May groaned and lightly pressed the doll's arm to Drew's chest. "Harder!" Lena urged, slapping Drew's hand across Ash's face once more. May blushed and karate-chopped her doll's hand into Drew's shoulder, to which he howled. The two dolls continued to tussle for a while, before May landed a final blow to Drew's sternum, knocking him down onto the ground for good.
"Yeah! Conked him out cold!" The Ash doll yelled jauntily.
"Um, my... hero?" May said uncertainly, lifting her doll from the ground and passing Ash back to Lena.
"Looks like he won't be messing with you for a while!" Ash/Lena reassured her. Lena briefly eyed the doorframe from across the room before returning her gaze back to the dolls. "I love you, May." She murmured softly in Ash's deep voice, fully facing her doll towards May's.
May's eyes widened. She bit her lip, forcibly pressing her palm to heart in order to calm its violent drumming. The air sustained its long, awkward pause as Ash's face lowered slowly towards hers, his lips delicately grazing hers.
After a few moments, Lena gently straightened the Ash doll back up and peered into May's contemplative face. "Uh..."
"Then what happens next?" A voice echoed from doorway. May and Lena swiftly turned towards the sound, focusing their eyes on the figure that leisurely leaned against the doorframe.
"Ah! A-Ash!" May quickly stammered. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, first off, I live here," Ash said, "And Lena, your mom called—said she's waiting for you outside, in the car."
"Oh? Alright, I guess I better pack up and head out, then!" Lena brightened, kneeling to the ground to collect her toys.
May crouched down beside the child and helped to deposit the toys back into Lena's backpack. After the items had been gathered and returned, Lena turned sharply on her heel and ran towards the front door, past Ash. Pausing, the girl giggled and waved her hand in farewell, "Bye, May; I had fun! Bye, Ash!" Then she scampered out the door.
"Bye, Lena..." May sighed and picked herself up off the floor. 'If I plot a safe escape route now, maybe I can outrun Ash.' She shot a glance at the man blocking the living room doorway and reevaluated her plan.
"Heh, she's a cute kid." Ash huskily said, approaching the coordinator. "So, mind telling me what just happened here?"
May nervously grinned and hesitantly answered. "I heard from your mom that Lena was visiting." She breathed deeply, "I don't get to see her as much anymore, so I came over to hang out with her."
Ash laughed, nudging her shoulder with his own. "I get it. No person can resist spending the day with my fabulous cousin, after all."
He rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "So, how does the story end?"
"It ends with you forgetting you ever saw it." Ash chortled loudly at her response. "But, seriously, did you see all of it?"
"Oh, yeah. From beginning to end." Ash clarified. "A better question to ask me is if I saw that pathetic fight between me and Drew, in which case I'd answer, 'yes, and it was hilarious.'"
May groaned and slapped a hand to her forehead. "Things happened today, and I will be spending the next week trying to erase them from my memories."
"Aw, don't be like that." Ash replied, "It wasn't that bad." He promptly knelt down by the coffee table and patted an empty plot of carpet next to him, encouraging her to take a seat. May dropped down next to him and frowned. He smiled and snatched a coffee mug and coaster from the table. "Pretend this," He waved the cup, "is me." He gestured the coaster, "And this is you."
May laughed and nodded.
"Hey, May!" The cup wiggled in his hand as he spoke, "Wanna go out with me?" He handed her the coaster and cocked his head in waiting.
May's face reddened in response. Then she sighed and answered, "Yeah, Ash. I would like that, actually."
"Good. I've been practicing that line for a while now." Ash nudged her again and lifted himself off the floor, offering his hand to May. May laughed some more and gripped his hand softly as he picked her up from the floor.
See? I told you there was gonna be some seriously painful fluff in this one. Man, are you proud that I managed to pack in so many words this time? I think this is an all-time record for me, and I must say, I'm a little proud.
Let's celebrate with some apple juice! (because I love me some apple juice). Gosh, I missed you guys sooooooo much! ^^
Okay, bye! :)