A/N: Here's the filler as promised. This gets a little dramatic and wordy. It should be a little funny though.
Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. But this time I do own most of the dialog. It came from my head.
Chapter 7 Locked away feelings
May and Growlithe walked out of the pokemon center. Nurse So gave them a late, but very good lunch. May wondered if Nurse So would still make them dinner.
(Today was very eventful. I came to Slateport, trained a lot, searched for Capt. Stern, found him but ran into Team Aqua, fought them and found out that they wanted to expand the sea. At least I got to spend time to look at some interesting things at the museum. I also met the Aqua leader, Archie. And some Aqua grunts thought I was a part of some team called Magma. So much happened. And yet... the day is still going on.)
With Team Aqua gone, they could relax in Slateport. May started walking around and looked at the marketplace. There were some cute pokemon dolls, but she didn't buy any. They left the market and May saw a phone booth.
(That's right! I was going to call Mom. I'll go do that now.) "Growlithe and Taillow." May said.
"Growlithe?"
"Taillow?"
"I'm going to make a call. I'll be right back."
Taillow flew off her shoulder and the puppy and bird pokemon waited outside while she went in. May put some money in, dialed and held the phone to her ear. Back in Littleroot...
Ring....Ring....Ring....
May's mom quickly looked around the house. "Oh drat. Where is the phone?" (I keep thinking of the place where the phone was in the old house. Where is this one?!)
Ring....Ring....
"Ring! Ring! Shut up!" Ruby yelled in frustration.
She finally found the phone and picked it up. Despite her frustration, she answered it sweetly. "Hello."
"Hey Mom." Came from the other end.
"May! It's you. I was just thinking about you. Why haven't you called sooner!? I love you so much. I missed you. It's been days! What were you thinking?! How have you been?"
May paused before saying, "Wow... you're just as crazy as ever."
"Haha I guess you're right."
"Anyway, I'm doing fine. I actually have two badges already."
"That's wonderful! How is Mudkip? Has he evolved?"
"I traded him that same day I left."
That surprised Ruby. It's not often a trainer trades their first pokemon. "Oh? What pokemon do you have now?"
"A Lapras, Growlithe and Miltank." May answered.
That made May's mother think. (Strange, all are pokemon that would never be found in Hoenn in the wild. A rare find.) "That's very nice. Have you bonded with them?"
May paused before saying, "I don't know if you can say bond. But we're starting to be good friends."
"And... do you still have nightmares?" Ruby asked her daughter.
" ...That doesn't matter."
"It does, May. I know you don't want to talk about it, but the police need-"
"I don't want to talk about it!" May hit the side of the booth and spooked Growlithe and Taillow. They looked at her through the glass in confusion. May heard her mom sigh.
"You're not the same."
"What are you talking about?" May asked.
"You're locking away your feelings. Everything else is the same, but... Oh never mind. I'm sorry. I'm being insensitive."
"It's okay Mom. Um... sorry I yelled." May said sincerely.
"It's alright. Anyway, you need to call more often."
"I'll try. It's just that I'm busy. And I want to call after I get my next badge."
"When will that be?" May's mom asked.
May checked her Pokenav. The next gym was in the next city. Mauville city to be exact. "The next Gym is in Mauville. I'll try to get a badge tomorrow."
"So you'll call tomorrow?"
"If I remember-"
"May!"
"Just kidding! Yeah, I'll call you when I'm a step closer to beating Dad."
"That's right, he mentioned something about you having to get 4 badges before fighting you." Ruby said.
"I have to go now. I'll call tomorrow."
"Bye May, I love you sweetie!"
(Oh brother... She's an oddball. But I still love my ma.) "Love ya too Mom. Bye." May hung the phone up. Her mom had both cheered her up and depressed her. (I haven't locked away my feelings... Have I?) She came out of the booth and saw Growlithe and Taillow waiting patiently. "Let's go look around some more."
Taillow flew to her shoulder and they went to look around Slateport. They saw a big lighthouse. A man there was looking at it too. "The light of the lighthouse reaches dozens of miles away. I wonder if it doesn't startle pokemon in the sea." The man said to them.
They went on and met a few more interesting people. May walked by the shipyard and saw two sailors. "Hey lass, do you know what they do with old ships that become too creaky to sail?" The sailor asked.
"Destroy them?"
"Nope, they sink them in the sea so they become habitats for pokemon."
(Isn't that littering?) "Interesting..."
She decided to move on But she saw another sailor staring out at the sea talking to himself. Or thinking out loud. He was very thoughtful. "The sea is just so vast... Could the sea have been made by the tears shed by pokemon?"
May thought, (That's a little morbid. But It does make you wonder. Does staring at the sea make everyone think that way? Sea... Sea... Oh yeah, I should tell Mr. Briney that I succeeded.)
May ran back over to the large beach. She didn't have to look long for the old man. He and Peeko were resting on beach chairs. Mr. Briney spotted her. "Hey May." (I hope she doesn't want to sail again. I want to relax for now.)
"I delivered the goods." May told the old man.
"That's wonderful. I'm glad I could help. Do you need another ride?" (Please say no. Please say no. Please say no.) Mr. Briney thought.
"No. I'm going to the next city. I don't need a boat." May said.
Mr. Briney Briney smiled before saying, "Okay then." (Yay! Tan time!) Growlithe looked at Mr. Briney and wondered why he sensed him feeling very happy right then. "You should relax here too May."
"Wingull!"
"Peeko agrees." Mr. Briney said.
"I guess I can take a break. There isn't really anything else to do here." She said.
Mr. Briney nodded and laid back. He was really enjoying his time. May started walking to find a beach chair to sit in when she saw an old man. This man had a Zigzagoon with him. And it was picking up trash. The man decided to talk to her. "Hello there young lady. Please remember to clean up after yourself."
(What is he talking about? Is he trying to be rude?) May thought.
He saw the look on her face and explained himself. "I tell that to all the people who come here. The water around these parts is clean. But, I get my Zigzagoon to pick up litter from the shoreline at times."
Now May understood. "I see. So you're just trying to keep the place clean. You weren't implying anything."
The old man nodded and continued. "That is correct. No offense at all. Some people are careless. And don't know that dirty water becomes rain and joins our rivers, which we drink from... Always remember, If we pollute the sea, it all comes back to haunt us eventually."
The old man and his pokemon continued walking down the beach picking up trash.
(What a weird old man. But I guess he's right. Boy I'm learning a lot about the ocean today.) May started heading towards the water when she saw two kids making a sand castle. It was a boy and girl.
"Our sand castle's taking a long time to make." The little boy said with a frown.
The little girl agreed. "I know. Oh look! That lady has pokemon. Hello missy."
(Missy?) "Hey."
"You can have this!" The little girl gave May a little bag with Soft Sand in it. May put it away.
"Thanks. But why did you give this to me?" May asked.
The little girl answered, "You can help build our castle with that. We're going to get all the sand from the beach and make a big castle! And then we're going to be king and queen. We'll let you be a servant."
May laughed a little at that. "Ah... I don't have time to build a sand castle. Sorry." (A lie. But there's no way I'm doing that.)
The boy sighed and asked, "Aw... can you at least let us see your cool pokemon?"
"Yeah! Please." The little girl asked as well.
" ...Okay fine."
May let Lapras and Miltank out. Lapras was released in the water.
The little boy was amazed at May's pokemon. "Wow. I only know what Taillow is. I have no idea what the other pokemon are called."
May decided to explain her pokemon to them. "The dog pokemon is Growlithe. The cow pokemon is Miltank. And the... sea monster pokemon is Lapras. None of these pokemon live in Hoenn. You normally find them in Kanto and Johto."
The boy kept staring at Growlithe. Growlithe felt a little uneasy and started to walk away. But the boy followed.
"What are trainers? My parents never explained that to me." The little girl asked May.
The boy actually started chasing Growlithe. But May didn't notice. Lapras and Taillow watched in sympathy.
"Well, trainers train pokemon and win badges. The stronger the pokemon the better. A trainer becomes friends with their pokemon and leads them."
"What do you mean by "lead?"
May thought about an example to use to make her understand. She looked at the sea and it came to her. "Think of a captain to a ship. The captain tells his crew what to do. And they do what the captain says because they trust them. As long as they trust the captain, they will do as advised. And the captain has to know a lot. So if the crew doesn't know what to do, they can turn to the captain for help. Being a trainer is like that. We tell the pokemon what moves are best and they'll do it if you're friends and know your stuff."
Miltank walked over and listened to the conversation.
"I think I get it." The little girl said.
Growlithe actually was starting to have fun. The boy was a little too slow.
"Being a trainer has its ups and downs. And one of the ups is getting paid for winning battles. A person can do this as a living. As long as they're good. If you stink, you'll have no money." May finished.
The little girl responded by saying, "Maybe I'll be a trainer when I grow up. It sounds like fun. Wait a second... If you had time to explain this, then you had time to build a sand castle."
"Oh would you look at the time. We have to go. Come on Growlithe!" May quickly ran off with Miltank.
Growlithe tried to run after her. But the boy tackled him. "Aha! I finally caught you."
A few minutes later... May and Miltank got further down the shore and looked around. "What happened to Growlithe and Lapras?"
"Millo moo?" Miltank had no idea.
"Taillow!" Taillow pointed a wing at the sea. Lapras was swimming over. And she had Growlithe on her head. Lapras came close and lowered her head. Growlithe jumped off and walked over to May.
"I'm glad to see you're okay. I didn't want to lose you." It was close though. The little boy wanted to play more. Luckily for Growlithe, Lapras lowered her head and let him jump on for an escape. "Anyway, let's just sit here and try not to run into any more people."
May sat down on one of the many beach chairs. Growlithe settled on her right, while Miltank sat on her left. They looked at the ocean together. Lapras swam around a little since she moved best in the water. Not really doing anything made May think about her phone conversation. (Locking away my feelings... I'm an open person. Just not about that. I don't know why mom keeps picking at that.)
Back in Littleroot. May's mom was thinking too. (I remember how she used to be so happy. I wish she didn't have to deal with this on her own. May... I know it's hard. I just don't want you to think you're alone. I want you to be happy.)
Neither knew that they both thought of the same memory at the same time.
FLASHBACK
An 8-year-old May climbed on her dad's lap.
"Whoa. You're getting heavy. You're growing up to be a big girl." Norman said.
What he thought was a complement, turned out to be something else in May's eyes. "Mommy! Daddy called me fat!"
Norman panicked as his irritated wife walked in. "I didn't... I just... I would never..."
Both girls laughed.
"Couldn't you tell she was joking?" His wife managed to say in-between laughter.
"What?"
May jumped down and smiled. "Yeah dad. I can't believe you fell for that." The girls continued to laugh. And Norman joined them after a while.
END OF FLASHBACK
(May grew up and-) Ruby thought.
May thought, (I was still the same. In ways. But after what happened... I guess I must have-)
Ruby thought, (Changed a little. But I can tell her fear is still there. And she wont open up about it. I guess-)
(It's to be expected. Even if a month passed It still probably wouldn't be enough time.) May put on the silk scarf since it was getting a little cold. Growlithe looked at her and wondered why it smelled like.... he wasn't sure. It was a mix between sadness, confusion and... anger? No. He debated that. Miltank had no idea about any of that. She just stared at the scarf adoringly. May stood up. "Listen everyone."
All her pokemon and Taillow listened closely. "Ever since I was young, my dad loved normal type pokemon. He wanted to have his own gym. His constant training caught the media's attention. And he even went here to Hoenn and caught three Slakoths. He wanted to prove that normal pokemon were strong. All his friends supported him and he actually became famous. My family was constantly interviewed. And I was always known as Norman Sapphire's daughter. Never May. I became accustomed to it. Not really noticing that I was being pushed to the side. After moving here. I realized I had the chance to make my own life. I can be May. If I can become a strong trainer, and beat my dad. I can finally be my own person. Becoming the champion will make me May Sapphire. Not Norman's daughter. I want to beat my father. And together, I think we can do it. I love my dad. But we're gonna beat him in battle."
Her pokemon stared for a while. Before they suddenly started to cheer.
"Growlithe!"
"Moo!"
"La!"
Taillow stayed silent. This didn't really involve the little bird.
"Glad to see you're with me." (See? I can be open. Just never about that.) May thought.
For the rest of the day, they just hung out. May eventually recalled Lapras and Miltank and went to the pokemon center to sleep. Just when May planned on going to bed, she saw Growlithe about to jump in the bed. (I don't want Growlithe to see me like that anymore.) "Actually, I'd like it if you went in your pokeball."
Growlithe knew her real reason. So he asked a favor. "Growl growl growlithe growl?"
Taillow discreetly nodded. Then Growlithe went in his pokeball and May laid down. As expected, May had another nightmare. She was jostled out of her sleep by what felt like a peck. May didn't think of that until after she calmed down. She took a deep breath and looked in Taillow's direction. The bird pokemon didn't appear to have moved. Taillow seemed to still be asleep. May got up and decided to take a shower. She was sweaty and needed to do something to calm her nerves. Just before she left the room... (I'm glad that I didn't have to endure that dream anymore.) "Thank you."
She left for her shower and even with his eyes closed, Taillow smiled.
Preview: May travels to Mauville and gets ready to take on the Gym leader. It's time for Growlithe to shine! But is he strong enough to take on an evolved pokemon? Taillow flies away? Someone blocks the entrance to the gym? Electrifying battles are ahead. Next time... Chapter 8 Between friends.
