Hi and hello! SJShark23 here, bringing you my second AdvanceShipping tale! This is going to much more serious than the other one I wrote (Figure It Out), and should probably be better as well, since I'm not writing this fully on impulse. It will likely also be a lot shorter, although that (and the rating) could change depending on how the story goes, as well as the reactions from readers.

Couple of things before we begin. This story disregards anything past BW108 (the end of the Vertress Conference), on account of I know very little about the anime beyond that point, since I pretty much lost interest after the Diamond & Pearl series ended. Also, some of the previous storylines from the anime are turned a little on their head, e.g. the whole May going to Johto thing and Ash's psychological reaction, as well as their reunion at Valour Lakefront. All other storylines are of my own invention (I should hope so, anyway).

Alright, now that that's cleared up, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon; Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri do.

INCONCEIVABLE

CHAPTER 1-A SHOCKING REVELATION

"Now we've gone and done it," Ash Ketchum thought bitterly as he tried to compose himself. "Why is it that when things are finally going right, everything collapses around us?"

Just a few weeks before, life had been almost perfect. The Vertress Conference hadn't ended the way he'd wanted it to, but he knew he could count on his friends to help him celebrate another respectable finish. As she had in the past, his mother had thrown a party at their home in Pallet Town, and all his old pals and traveling companions had come to offer their congratulations.

The usual suspects had been there, of course. Brock, Misty, Dawn, and Ritchie had all made their way to Pallet Town to celebrate. Even Iris and Cilan had followed him home from Unova to join in the fun. Professor Oak, as always, was on hand to congratulate Ash on his achievements, as were Tracey and Gary. Not to be outdone, all his Pokémon had given him a rousing welcome, and spent quite a bit of time getting to know Ash's new acquisitions from Unova.

But prominent among the guests had been a girl he'd been hoping to reunite with ever since their brief meeting in Sinnoh during the Wallace Cup. This girl had arguably been the best companion he'd ever traveled with; she'd started out an inexperienced young trainer who didn't even like Pokémon, but had eventually found her niche as a Pokémon Coordinator and gone on to place high in the Hoenn Grand Festival. She'd stuck with him even through the Battle Frontier challenge in his native Kanto, and entered the Grand Festival there as well, going all the way to the semifinals before a crushing defeat to one of her rivals. Only the prospect of challenging for a third Festival in Johto had separated the two, if only for a while. Now at the age of seventeen, she had finished yet another regional challenge and finished high in another Festival. Her name was May.

Ash hadn't been able to understand why he'd been so much more eager to see her than any of his other companions, at least at first. Brock and Misty were his oldest friends, and Dawn had been like a sister to him through their Sinnoh journey. But with May, things were different. Sure, they'd been together for nearly three years, with Ash taking it upon himself to be her mentor through her formative months as a trainer. The mentorship had been less prominent after the Hoenn Grand Festival, with May having much higher self-confidence and feeling more able to fend for herself, although she often came to him for advice. But his feelings somehow went beyond that of simple friendship, or even those between a mentor and student. Through it all, Ash had always been unsure of why he felt this way, but after a heartfelt discussion with his mother, Delia, he'd realized it: he was in love with this girl. The feeling came as a surprise, but his mother reassured him that the feeling was natural, and more importantly genuine. Ash had never really shown an interest in girls before, but May was something else. She'd stirred feelings he never knew were possible, and he knew he ought to act on them.

Unfortunately, by the time he'd figured everything out she was already gone, off to Johto to compete with her Contest rivals. Among them had been a green-haired Coordinator named Drew, who had apparently been much more forward about his feelings for her (as May had told him later). Ash had been understandably depressed by the proceedings, and these feelings carried over to his first forays into Sinnoh, where he'd had to rescue his Pikachu from Team Rocket for the umpteenth time. Even reuniting with Brock hadn't helped him enough to break him out of his depression, and the presence of Dawn, despite the nature of their brother/sister-esque relationship, served only to remind him of what he had narrowly missed out on. Defeats to his own new rival, Paul, had also dropped his mood, but eventually he got going again and blazed a trail all the way towards Veilstone City.

It was just outside Veilstone, at the Valour Lakefront, that May had reappeared, coming to compete in the Wallace Cup. Ash had been thrilled when he got the call: he could finally reunite with her, even if only temporarily, and he could possibly admit how he felt about her. She'd been excited to see him, too, and their lasting friendship had confirmed by the split Terracotta Medal they had both retained. The sight of the other half of the medal brought the old feelings back, and though May didn't say anything else about it, Ash could tell his feelings for her would soon come rushing back to the surface. They both competed well in the Wallace Cup, with May reaching the semifinals while Ash fell in the quarterfinal round. It was after that quarterfinal that Ash decided that he would finally confess to her, and see how she reacted.

On the night before the final two rounds, he'd met with her in the shadow of the Hotel Grand Lake and spilled his secret. He was irrevocably in love with her, he'd said, and that he wanted to get it off his chest before she left, since he knew he may not see her again for a long time. To his pleasant surprise, May reciprocated, admitting that some of her struggles in Johto had been partly due to his absence, and that she'd grown to miss his encouragement and mentorship. She also pointed out that Drew, while he had at one point increased the aggressiveness of his advances on her, had fallen in love with another girl in Johto, leaving Ash with no real competition from her rival. The pair had shared their first kiss that night, unseen and unknown by any of their friends. No-one, human or Pokémon, bore witness, and they promised never to tell anyone what had transpired that night.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and after May's defeat to Dawn in the final she returned to Johto, not before promising Ash that they'd meet again someday. Buoyed by this promise, Ash had rolled through the rest of Sinnoh and kept up the momentum through Unova, culminating in his quarterfinal appearance at the Vertress Conference. Now back in Pallet Town, Ash and May were back together, and the ensuing events were what had thrown everything to hell.

It had been a raucous affair as usual, with everyone enjoying the vast spread that Delia had provided, and Ash was happy to see all his friends together in one place. The party raged well into the evening, and once all was said and done Ash and May were the only ones left. Her brother Max had gone off with his parents to the hotel they were staying at, but Norman and Caroline gave their permission for May to remain behind, vaguely aware of their young relationship. May had been just as pleased as Ash: she knew Delia wasn't likely to be too nosy, and with no Max to make fun of them they could enjoy each other's company without too much concern.

They say absence only makes the heart grow fonder, and in hindsight the intense feelings the two teenagers had for one another had taken them too far over the edge. It started innocently enough, with the couple sharing a typical romantic night in, watching a movie and sharing the odd kiss. But an even stronger feeling came over the pair of them, and everything from there seemed to happen in fast-forward.

He gave himself to her that night. Despite years of separation and uncertainty, they had spent the night in the most personal and intimate way possible, with little thought to what could possibly happen. At that point they didn't really care, either. They had let their feelings out, and pledged their love to one another, each promising the other that they would keep this up as long as they could. May had left with her family the next morning, and the couple planned to stay in regular contact. It was one of these conversations that flipped their whole lives upside-down.

Ash had gotten a call from the Petalburg City Pokémon Centre, and was happy to see May on the other end. Despite the distance between them, they still managed to express their love for one another, and had been making plans to see each other in person sometime soon. He couldn't help but wonder, though, what she was doing calling from the Centre instead of her home phone, where she usually rang him from. May, for her part, looked less than thrilled, and Ash immediately felt a red flag shoot up in his mind.

"Hey, May, how've you been?"

"I'm fine, Ash. You?"

"Good." He swallowed hard and continued. "Uh, May, if you don't mind my asking, why are you calling from the Pokémon Centre? All your other calls have been from your house phone."

"Oh, I'm calling from the Centre because I don't want to be overheard, not by Max or my mom, and especially not my dad."

"Why not? He already told us he was okay with our relationship, so we've got nothing to hide."

"Yeah, but this isn't something I want him hearing." Ash felt his nervousness increase, and decided to drive straight to the point instead of dancing around it.

"What do you mean, you don't want him hearing? It's about that night we spent together, isn't it?" May nodded, and Ash's eyes widened. "Oh, no, he didn't find out did he? That's all we need, your dad going nuclear on us." May smiled weakly as she shook her head.

"No, he didn't, but this is a lot worse than him just finding out about what we did."

"Worse?" May gulped, and then spoke three words that threw Ash into a panic.

"Ash," she said quietly, "I'm pregnant."

Okay, a nice little cliffhanger to end on there. This chapter is just barely over my usual 2,000-word minimum target range, but I think I set the story in motion okay. I'm sure by reading the summary the whole phone-call scenario should've been obvious, but then again summaries don't tell the whole story. So next time we'll see what they plan to do now that they've got a little secret to hide, and how they're going to cope with the adversity. Depending on reaction, the story's rating may change, so be prepared in case it does.

Alright, I'm going to assume standard operating procedure is still in effect, so please read, REVIEW and tell me how it went. And of course, no post-chapter wrap-up in a new story is complete without a shameless plug, so please feel free to check out my other main projects, Figure It Out (completed), and Double-J Adventures (in-progress). Until next time, readers, namárië!