Better or worse than before?
Chapter 3 – Does everybody know Ash?
It was a sunny day in Johto as a certain female coordinator slowly makes her way towards Violet City. Well I might as well have some company…She grabbed a pokeball and released a cute, brown feline pokemon.
'Vee…' yawned the little cat-like Pokemon,
'Oh are you still tired Eevee?' asked May,
'Vee!' Eevee shook its head and looked around itself,
'I was wondering if you wanna travel with me outside your pokeball, I could do with some company' May smiled at her little pokemon, Eevee looked at her trainer with a puzzled expression. May sighed, she knew that her newest pokemon wasn't used to being outside her pokeball except for when it needed to sleep, play, battle or eat.
'Vee!' exclaimed Eevee as she leapt into her trainer's arms and snuggled against her.
'So I take it as a yes' said May, 'Let's go!'
'Vee! Vee!'
It's just like Pikachu and Ash! May smiled, she stroked her Eevee's fur lovingly. The evolution pokemon cooed and made itself more comfortable and May's arms.
'Just two hours walk away from Violet City, excited?' May asked her newest traveling companion,
'Eevee Vee!' it replied
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
'There's Sinnoh!' said Brock, pointing at the horizon
'I don't see it. Where is it?' said Ash and he squinted at a small dot in the distance, 'That dot?'
'That's the one!' replied Brock.
'I'm gonna go get some food, you coming?' said Ash, 'Boat journeys make me hungry'
'No, I'm fine, I think I'll stay out here for abit,'
'I'll be back soon…' said Ash, the trainer signaled to Pikachu, the yellow mouse hopped onto Ash's shoulders. 'Let's go Pikachu'
'Chu!' replied Pikachu
With Pikachu on his shoulder, Ash walked down the stairs into the food court. His stomach grumbled as the scent of food reached him. Pikachu's stomach also grumbled at the delicious scent of the food.
'Guess you're hungry too buddy' Ash teased,
'Pikachuu…' said Pikachu embarrassed.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
'There it is Eevee, Violet City, home to my first Johto Ribbon' announced May,
'Vee?' Eevee looked at its trainer, its stomach grumbled quietly,
'Let's go look for a restaurant then' May suggested,
'Vee!' Eevee squealed happily.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
'All you can eat buffet for two please' said Ash,
'Would that be for you and you Pikachu?' asked the waiter,
'Yes it would'
'Follow me please.' The waiter walked over to a table by the wall, 'When you're ready, take a plate and go choose what you want to eat, please enjoy your stay'
'Thank you' said Ash politely. 'C'mon Pikachu let's eat!'
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
'Could I take your order please Madam?' asked a posh waiter,
'Yes…I'd like the "Fish chips and peas" and five plates of "Pokemon Tasties" please' said May,
'Very well, anything else Madam?' asked the waiter,
'No thanks' replied May, she handed the menu back to the waiter. She took out five pokeballs and threw them up in the air. Five Pokemon jumped out from her pokeballs.
'The food will be ready real soon guys so just sit quietly and wait okay? No trouble making…' May told her pokemon, 'Here Munchlax, if you're still hungry after the meal, have one of these' May held out a small pink pokeblock.
'Munch!' replied Munchlax taking the pokeblock,
'Don't eat it now Munchlax!' said May, 'Save it for after the meal,' the pokemon looked down at the pokeblock and nodded at May.
'Good boy…' May said, giving the hungry pokemon a gently pat on the head.
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
'Aww my stomach…it hurts so much' Ash complained,
'You need to learn to stop Ash, eating too much is bad for you' said Brock, 'and you don't want May to see you as a fat kid do you?'
Ash blushed, 'Guess not…' As he remembered what happened the previous night, a tear rolled down Ash's cheeks.
'What's wrong Ash?' asked Brock, the breeder was concerned, Ash doesn't normally act like this…
'It's just May' said Ash, 'She sounded like she didn't care about me on the phone…and you know how I feel about her…'
'I'm sure she does care…' replied the breeder,
'You're just saying that, you weren't even there when I was talking to her' Ash retorted, more droplets of tears rolled down the trainer's cheeks. 'I really cared about her Brock; all she could say was that she missed you cooking!' Ash was crying now, the trainer buried his face into his soft pillow.
If only you knew how she feels towards you…thought Brock, he swore to May that he wouldn't tell Ash about her feelings, This is gonna be one tough promise to keep…
-- -- -- -- -- -- -
'Good night everybody!' May yawned, she had been lucky enough to get the last room in the Violet City pokemon centre. It was almost 11pm in Johto, way past her normal bedtime, but she couldn't sleep. The coordinator sat up on her bed and looked at her sleeping pokemon. They all looked so happy and peaceful. May smiled. She reached inside her fanny pack and pulled out a pokenav and a poke-talk card, May swiped the poke-talk card into her pokenav and a series of numbers appeared on the screen.
Should I call Ash? No…he's probably still sad from yesterday. Maybe I'll call mum and dad.
The coordinator touched a few of the numbers with her finger lightly. The pokenav rang for a few seconds, and then a familiar face appeared on the screen.
'Hey Mum it's me May.' May greeted her mother,
'Hey honey…what time is it in Johto?' asked Caroline,
'Eleven o'clock…I can't really sleep.' replied May, fortunately, none of her pokemon has woken up,
'Well you can talk to me until you get tired honey' said Caroline, May smiled sweetly at her mother,
'Mum…can I trust you with something. I'm itching to get it out…' asked May, blushing,
'Sure honey, what's been bothering you?'
'Promise you won't tell Daddy?' asked May, the last thing she would want is for her father to know that she's in love.
'Of course honey, you can count on me. Your dad has three gym battles to deal with anyway.' Caroline smiled at her daughter This is probably about Ash…
'Well the thing is, I think I'm in love with a boy…' said May, the brunette coordinator felt her face warming up, 'but I don't get to see him much anymore and it's killing me'
'Oh May…I'm sure Ash misses you too…' said Caroline,
'How did you know it was Ash?' asked May, 'Was it really that obvious?'
'Well…you can't slip anything past me May.' replied Caroline calmly, 'Remember when Ash came over to challenge your dad? And you accidentally fell on top of him and kissed him?'
'Yea' May felt her face getting even hotter, 'It was an accident, I slipped on a pillow when you came into the room.'
'Yes I remember,' replied Caroline, 'I also remember Ash going upstairs to you and you came back down with a huge grin on your face'
'Oh yea…' said May, remembering 'You knew that I loved him from a grin?'
'I started to look out for other signs then,' Caroline began, 'After that I noticed many smaller incidents between you and him'
'Oh I'm so embarrassed!' May cried, Eevee stirred in her sleep, 'Oops…nearly woke Eevee…'
'Don't be embarrassed! It's nothing to be ashamed of; Ash is a really great guy! And from what I've heard from Max, he cares a lot about you'
'Really?' asked May,
'Yes dear, really, there's nothing to worry about' said Caroline, 'By the way honey what did you say to Ash on the phone? He was awfully upset after that.'
May looked at her mother, 'How upset was he?'
'He sat at the bottom of the staircase and cried for a long time. May, what did you say to the poor boy?' May's mother enquired,
May sighed, she began to tell Caroline everything that she said on the phone, 'Was it too harsh?'
'I'm afraid so honey, you sounded like you didn't miss him at all' sighed Caroline,
'Oh no!' exclaimed May, Eevee woke up at her trainer's voice,
'Vee?' she said, blinking sleepily,
'Oh Eevee I'm so sorry I woke you,' May bent down and scooped up her little travelling companion. Eevee snuggled in her trainer's arms and quick fell asleep again.
'Hey mum, can you hear me if I whisper like this?' asked May, 'I don't want to wake Eevee again' She looked at the feline pokemon resting on her chest,
'Yes I can, quite clearly too' smiled Caroline, 'I think it's time I heard the whole situation between you and Ash, I want every detail, otherwise I can't help you.'
'May sighed, 'Are you sure? There might be bits that you might not like'. Caroline looked at her daughter thoughtfully,
'Just tell me honey, I'm not like your father,' she joked, May smiled.
'Alright then Mum…Here goes…' May began with the day when she met Ash, how she adored the way he cared for his Pikachu. May then slowly told her mother how she had slept on Ash's shoulder and how he was looking at her when she woke up. May told her mother how Ash had encouraged her before contests, how the trainer cared for her when she lost a battle, how the trainer stood up for her when Harley and Drew laughed at her. How Ash had saved her life more than once, how he risked his own life to protect her. As May relived old memories and told them to her mother, tears rolled down her cheek and dripped on to Eevee's head. The young evolution pokemon looked up and saw her master crying, she lifted her paw up and wiped the tears away. May smiled at the pokemon and the pokemon nuzzled its nose into her chest. May looked at her mother, Caroline looked back at May lovingly. May then told her mother in great detail how they met Manaphy and how Ash almost lost his life saving May and the Temple of the Sea. Finally May told her mother of the time when Ash and she got lost in the woods and were separated from the group.
'We got stuck in a forest and Ash tripped on a tree root, he was terribly hurt and he couldn't walk. I bandaged his broken ankle with my bandana and carried him as we looked for shelter. Soon we found a cosy cave where we could stay for the night. I went outside to gather some firewood while Ash got changed into his sleeping clothes. When I came back, he told me that I should get changed too so I went into the forest and slipped into my pyjamas. When I got back, Ash had got the fire going with the help of his Torkal.'
'Right, please continue,' said Caroline,
'I'm really uncomfortable with telling you the next part mum…' said May blushing,
'I won't judge, I'll just listen'
'Well ok…please don't hate me mum.' Said May, 'We were just about to go to sleep when Ash had remembered that he left his sleeping bag with Brock and Max. He said that he would just sleep by the fire and that it would be ok but I didn't want him to suffer anymore so I slipped him into the sleeping bag.' May paused to look at her mother,
'What's wrong with that?' asked Caroline,
'Well Ash complained for abit then gave up when I wouldn't listen. It was getting quite cold outside and even the fire was slowly going out. Ash saw this and he pulled me into the sleeping bag with him.'
Caroline gasped, May looked at her mum, 'Sorry dear, I was just wondering how the two of you would fit inside your sleeping bag. Do carry on.'
'Well it was pretty difficult, fitting two people inside the sleeping bag, we were quite tightly packed together and we were facing each other. Ash knew that this was awkward too so he told me that he wouldn't take advantage on the situation. I was a little too embarrassed to say anything back. During the night, a blizzard started and it was really getting cold even inside the sleeping bag, I started to sneeze a lot and soon caught a cold. Ash got really concerned and took off his sweater and wrapped it around me, but I was still sneezing quite badly so he gave me his shirt too…' May could hear her mother gasp but didn't stop, 'He then put his arms around my body and I was starting to feel a little better. We both drifted off to sleep,' May purposefully didn't tell her mother how comfortable Ash's bare chest was and how great she felt when his arms were around her as her mother would probably freak out and hate her forever.
May cried as she remembered all that Ash has done for her, she held Eevee closer and tighter, the little evolution pokemon cooed happily.
'Oh May…have you told anyone besides me?' asked Caroline,
'I've told Brock…' said May, 'But Brock had already figured it out'
'I see I see, don't get upset May.' Said Caroline, 'Next time you talk to Ash, drop in small clear hints that you still care for him'
'Oh mum thank you so much, I thought you would hate me after the incident inside the cave.' May cried out, 'Of course Brock doesn't know about the cave'
'Why would I hate you? Ash said he wouldn't take advantage and he only took his clothes off to protect you…'
'I just wish that Ash won't go after some other girl' said May,
'From what I've heard, this boy'll follow you even if it kills him!'
May blushed, 'Thanks mum I feel much better now…Good night, give my love to Max and Daddy please. Bye!'
'Bye honey, don't worry too much about Ash,' Caroline hung up, Oh my little baby girl's in love she smiled to herself. Just then the Petalburg Gym leader came into the room,
'Why so happy?' asked Norman,
'Oh nothing, I just got off the phone with May. She send you her love by the way'
