You know that old saying? That one about time? Oh yeah… time flies when you're having fun. Well guess what? It's true!
Chapter 7
"What is it, Gary?" Brock asked in to the video phone. Max who was sitting next to him, was holding his breath.
Gary looked at them, his face filling what seemed to be anger. Sitting a little behind him was Jordan, the same anger printed on his face.
Max gulped as he rubbed his sweaty hands on to his shorts. How long would it take Gary to spill?
"Okay," Gary said finally. "I learned some things, some not-so-good things."
That was enough to send shivers up and down Max's spine, he shuddered.
"Are you ready to hear this?" Gary asked.
Max and Brock looked at each other, trying to determine whether they were both ready. Then they turned their heads back to the screen. Max sat up straight, sagging his shoulders would be no way to take news just like the one Gary was about tell them.
"We're ready," Brock answered, at last.
Gary smiled; Max didn't know whether to interpret that as a good or bad sign. The young Maple's eyes travel back to Jordan; he decided to take it as a bad sign.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
May rubbed her eyes, smiling a small smile at Ash and Pikachu, she shook her head. It would be a waste to try to explain to them something that could only be explained in feelings.
"How do you know it's a fake?" Officer Jenny asked, turning to Martha.
"Look," Martha held the locket up. "This locket is not made of purrre gold, it's mixed with silverrr. Moonsay's locket is purrrre gold."
"Did you check the security cameras?" Officer Jenny asked as she pulled out a small notepad to note the details.
Martha nodded, "I looked overrrr it for the last days I rrrrememberrrr seeing the actual locket. And then thrrree days beforrrre I noticed it gone, the camerrras go blank, for one whole day."
"One whole day?" Ash repeated, bewildered.
"We had a city black out," Officer Jenny explained. She looked back at Martha. "Anything else?"
"Well, that one day, I rrrememberrr seeing this girrrl with steely grrray eyes, just like the one who was supposedly May Maple." Martha rubbed her chin as she tried to recall the events that uncurled that day. "Yes, she came up to me and began to talk as if we werrrre long lost frrrriends. She talked about how it was forrr herrr and herrr family, how they handled the black out. About how herrr brrrother was in the showerrr at the time of the black-out." A small smile appeared on Martha's old lips. "I rrrememberrrr thinking of how sweet she was. Oh, and how cute herrrr little vulpix was."
"Did she ever look back at the Moonsay exhibit?" Jenny asked.
"Once I think," Martha answered. "To point out her brrrother." She shook her head. "But I don't think it could have been herrr. She said she was going on vacation in Moon... say..." At that second, Martha's eyes widened so much her pupils seemed to disappear in the sea of white. "No, no, but then, no..." Her voice faded into small whispers.
"What?" Jenny asked, standing up. "Martha, what...?"
"If I am right, if she has alrrready gone to Moonsay" Martha said, looking up at Jenny, Ash, Pikachu, and May slowly. "Then the worrrld is in grrrave trrrouble."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"People?!" Max repeated, his jaw swinging open now. He couldn't believe it, he just couldn't... He stared back at Gary, trying to see if maybe it was a joke. If maybe Gary was joking, and he'd let out a big "NOT!" right about then. But he didn't.
"You can't be serious!" Brock shouted, expressing more anger and hurt Max had ever seen in his life.
Gary nodded, "I'm sorry." He said, avoiding his friends' gazes for a few seconds.
"Where did you find this out from?" Max asked.
Gary smiled sadly. "You know when I told you you couldn't come along?"
Max and Brock nodded.
"Well, we were supposed to-"
"Mr. Oak," Jordan's deep voice stopped Gary abruptly. "That is far too much to say."
Gary looked at him as if trying to see if maybe they could let this one slip, but Jordan shook his head firmly. There would be no way of going around this. Gary turned back to the screen. "I'm sorry guys, I can't tell you."
Brock nodded, understanding the situation at hand. The information they had was enough for them anyway.
"But I can tell you one thing," Gary leaned over towards the screen, his face becoming bigger to Max and Brock. "You two should get May and Ash as quick as you can and go to the entrance of Vermillion City."
Brock and Max stared into the clear screen, obviously confused by this.
"Why?" Brock asked.
"Why?" Gary sat up straight. "In order for you guys to be of any help in this situation, I need you to do this for me."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Jenny stood up. "Martha, stop talking like this, you're scaring us."
Ash stood up as well, staring over the lady. It was strange, one second, she seemed fine; as if the world's worst fears didn't faze her. And suddenly, she broke into sweat, became as pale as a ghost, and began to say things like 'the world is doomed'.
"Is she okay?" Ash asked.
Jenny looked worried. "I don't know, she's never spoken like this before." Jenny paused. "I hope she's alright. So many people in the union are coming up sick, this is the time we need her the most. I hope she's not catching it too."
"Catching what?" May asked, standing up as well. Pikachu hopped onto May's shoulder as she stood up.
Rays of the last sunlight entered the room just before the orange star disappeared behind passing clouds. Shadows fell across the room and the lights in it began to become more effective. Children passing by the museum squealed with parents trying to follow after them. Pokemon ran around people's feet; wild and captured alike rushed around happily.
"Catching... what?" Jenny repeated. She fell back down on to the couch. "I can't exactly say, i-it's not.... I'm not the best person to ask for this."
"Then who is?" May asked. "Is it – this thing – is it really serious?"
Jenny looked down towards the floor. "I'm sorry, I just..."
"Go to the gym."
May, Jenny, Ash, and Pikachu looked up to see who had been talking.
"Martha!" Jenny cried. "You're okay!"
Martha faintly smiled, but turned her attention back to Ash and May. "You two, go to the gym. Verrrmillion City gym."
"Why?" Ash asked.
"You want answerrrs rrrright?" Martha reminded them.
They both nodded earnestly.
"Well, you'll find those answerrrs at the gym, you'll find them, I'm sure." Martha stared at May closely. "You'rrre answerrrs may be a little morrrre difficult to find, my apologies."
May's eyes widened, what was Martha talking about? Answers? What answers would May want to find?
"Well, I guess we should get going," Ash said, Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder. He turned to face May, his chocolate eyes on her. "Let's go."
Answers, May stared at Ash. Was she looking for answers? What answers? Was she… was she maybe trying to figure out what to do about her and Ash? About whether she wanted them to stay friends... or something more...?
"May?"
May blushed as she remembered where she was. Thoughts like those, she realized, simply didn't belong in her brain… not now at least. "Y-yeah," she said, smiling towards her friends. "Let's go!" She bid farewell to the two women and headed out the door before either Ash or Pikachu could say anything.
Ash stared, his eyebrows raised. He had to admit, half of the time, he couldn't understand her. "Why's she in such a hurry?" he muttered.
"Pika pi." Pikachu said, equally confused.
The young trainer grinned. He turned to face the women. "I guess I'll be going."
"Wait, Ash!" Officer Jenny put up her hand.
"Hm?"
Jenny looked distracted for a few seconds. "Ne-never mind, just... be careful."
Ash looked back at her, but nodded. "Okay, I will." He grinned and left, chasing after May.
"Jenny..."
Officer Jenny looked back at Martha sadly. "Martha, why did you tell them that? I feel like maybe we shouldn't have spilled it out to them. Children as nice as them, I don't want them to be tangled into this."
"They would have learrrrned about this anyway. Soonerrr orrr laterrr, they would have been hit by this." Martha stated. "Wouldn't it have been betterrr if they learrrned it soonerrr than laterrr?"
"Yes, but…" Jenny looked down at the floor.
"What is it?"
"I don't want them..." Drops of water fell on to her notepad as her shoulders shook. "I don't want them to... be disappointed... like I was..."
"Jenny..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Is something wrong?"
"Nothing," May said, turning away from Ash, yet again.
"If you keep saying that," Ash said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll keep asking."
"Arrggh!" May cried. "Ash, you're so annoying!" She pretended to be annoyed, but really, she was just embarrassed. The more she thought about what Martha had said, the more she thought that it was about her and Ash. It was strange, she'd never felt anything towards him before, but now...
"No, no!" May cried, shaking her head. "This is just too weird!"
"If you ask me, you're the one acting weird," Ash replied.
"Pika pi," Pikachu added.
"Yeah, thanks a lot guys," May said, rolling her eyes. She looked back at Ash. "Hey I wanted to ask you something."
"Yeah?"
"After I left, did Officer Jenny say anything? Did she or Martha say anything... important?"
"Why are you asking?"
May looked down towards the floor. "Nothing really, it's just that when I left, Jenny and Martha looked really troubled. And I was wondering if they said anything to you after I left. That's all." May smiled. "But if it's nothing, that's alright..."
"There was something," Ash said, he rubbed his chin. "Actually when I was about to go, Jenny stopped me. I think maybe she wanted to say something, but then, at the last second, she stopped and said never mind."
"Really," May looked up at the blue sky above them. The weather was beautiful today, had it been any other day, May probably would have wanted to go swimming. But today... "Hey Ash," she turned back to face the raven haired boy. "I have... I have a bad feeling about this. About all of what's been happening today."
Ash nodded, "Yeah, me too." He smiled jokingly. "But hey May, we probably never would have learned all this if you hadn't been caught by Officer Jenny. So I guess it turned out to be a good thing that you were caught."
"Yeah, I guess." May said flatly.
Ash laughed. "Hey May," He said once more as he looked over at the Pokemon Coordinator in thought. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure," She looked back at him, curious about what his question would be.
"Well," Ash started out. "When Martha said that it would be harder for you to find your answers, what did she mean by it?"
May's eyes widened. He was… he was paying attention? "Er..." May looked away, she was afraid that he would find this out. She was afraid he would ask her this. The young brunette frowned, realizing something. When did Ash get so observant?
"I mean, after that, you've been acting all weird. So maybe she said something important? And, if it was, what answers was she talking about?"
May looked around before starting to walk off again. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" She laughed. "You're so funny Ash! Hee hee." She smiled. "Well, we should get to the gym, right? Maybe Brock and Max have already gone there. So we should get there quickly."
"But May, what about my questions?" Ash asked.
"Nope! No time, maybe later!" May shouted back as she began to run off.
"Hey, wait!" Ash cried, he began to run after her. "This isn't fair!"
"Life's not fair, is it?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Can we have Vulpix, Nurse Joy?" Max asked as he stepped up to the pokemon nurse.
Nurse Joy smiled. "Of course you can, I'll just have to get it." Her smile faded. "But I...."
"What's wrong?"
"When the vulpix was being healed, we found something." Nurse Joy looked uneasy. "A small silver collar. On the collar it said something like Ribbons. We think maybe that.. Maybe that was the name of the pokemon, which means vulpix has an owner."
Max's shoulders sagged. He hadn't expected vulpix to be his, but he didn't think it belonged to anyone either. "Do you remember...?" Max began to ask. "Who the owner was?"
"I was looking into all of my files and finally found that this vulpix, Ribbons, belongs to a girl that traveled to Moonsay a while back."
"Moonsay?" Max repeated.
"Yeah, she should go by the name of Rose. I guess maybe in all the confusion Ribbons was left here. I want to have Ribbons transported to Moonsay's pokemon center but..." Nurse Joy looked over at Max. "We don't have the pokeball for him and I don't have anyone who can travel to Moonsay to hand deliver him..."
"I'll do it!" Max cried out suddenly. The words were spit out of his mouth before he had a chance to call them back.
"Hm?"
"If I lost a pokemon, a friend really close to me, I'd be sad and angry. And I'd especially want someone to return them to me." Max smiled. "Vulpix... Ribbons was never mine, so I should return him, take him to where he belongs."
"Oh, would you Max?" The nurse asked happily. "That would be great!"
"We're going to be passing by Moonsay anyway."
"Okay, I'll go get him." Nurse Joy disappeared behind her desk.
"Max."
"Brock?" Max turned to see the young pokemon breeder staring at him thoughtfully. "What's wrong? Did Gary call again?"
"No, he didn't," Brock shook his head and smiled sadly. "I was thinking about Vulpix, or Ribbons."
Max's hands balled up to fists. "If you're worried about me, you don't have to be. I knew Vulpix wasn't mine, I knew someday I'd have to give him up, right?" Max grinned. "And besides, Moonsay isn't really that close to Vermillion, is it?"
"I guess not," Brock replied.
"Hey Max, here is Ribbons!" Nurse Joy's voice called.
Max looked up to see none other than the vulpix he'd given to Nurse Joy to heal. "Vu-!" He stopped himself before he could continue. "Ribbons!"
Ribbons looked up when his name was called. His eyes traveled from Nurse Joy, to Brock, and finally Max. His eyes stayed there for a while until finally he let out a "Vulpix!"
"Wow," Nurse Joy smiled. "I think Ribbons really likes you."
Max beamed. "I think so t-" he began to answer before being shoved out of the way by his older friend. "Wah!" he cried as Brock made his way to the young Nurse.
"Oh, Nurse Joy!" He said suddenly, bringing his arms into the air. "Your eyes are like the moon looming over me on a beautiful spring night. Your voice is the sweet melody that puts me to sleep every night, your-!"
"Enough of that," Max said, pulling on Brock's ear. "We need to get going."
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Nurse Joy smiled, "well," she said to Max. "I hope you two have a safe journey back."
"Yeah," Max looked towards Ribbons once more. "Come on, Ribbons we have to get to Moonsay for you."
Ribbons stared, but jumped out of Nurse Joy's arms before the nurse had a chance to give him to Max. Ribbons hopped into Max's arms and made himself comfortable.
"Wow," Joy said. "It looks like Ribbons likes you a lot more than I thought."
Max tried to smile just as he had before – but failed. The sudden realization that the small pokemon wouldn't always be with him had hit him then. He knew that if they got close it would make it harder to leave Ribbons later.
"You know Max," Joy began noticing the sadness in the young boy's eyes. "Even if you two have to leave each other someday, that's nothing to be sad about. Focus on the time you have together, don't regret when you have to give him over. Enjoy his company."
"Yeah," Max nodded. He looked down at Ribbons, and smiled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Here it goes," Ash said. He put his hands down on his knees, panting. "It took us some time, but we're... finally here."
"Pi...ka," Pikachu nodded, panting as well.
"Wow, so this is the Vermillion city gym." May gazed up at the building. Its long gray walls shone brightly in the sunlight. A little above the gray walls sat the sign VERMILLION CITY GYM.
"Heh, I can't believe it hasn't changed." Ash said from behind May.
She looked back at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that I haven't been here in so long, I thought maybe they'd have changed the gym a little, but they haven't," Ash smiled. "Heh, it brings so many memories from when we first came. Pikachu lost and then I asked him if he wanted to evolve into a raichu."
"What happened?" May asked, curiosity overflowing from her words.
"Pikachu didn't want to evolve and proved that a pikachu can beat a raichu," Ash replied. He smiled as he scratched Pikachu behind his ears. "That was a great battle, huh buddy?"
"Pika pi!" the small mouse replied happily.
May smiled. "So let's go in!"
Ash looked up from Pikachu and to May, confused. "What?" he said.
May looked back at Ash, smiling. "If you and Surge had a great battle before, I bet you want to see how good he's gotten and how good you've gotten, right?"
"I guess," Ash said standing up straight.
"Let's go then!" May took hold of Ash's hand and pulled him towards the gym with Pikachu following behind them.
"But May, I…" Ash began before pausing.
"What?" She asked him.
"Never mind," Ash replied. "I want to see Surge too, so I can beat him again!"
"Ash," May giggled. "One of these days, your head is going to get too big for your shoulders to carry!"
Ash only smiled in return.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Maybe getting to the Pokemon Gym is the right thing to do," Brock said as he ran. "I mean, that's where we were supposed to meet to anyway. I bet we'll find Ash and May here."
"Yeah!" Max panted.
"Vul!" Ribbons commented. For a pokemon who'd just been released, he looked great.
"There it goes!" Brock shouted, excitedly.
Max looked up to see the gym coming closer to them with each step they took. He looked up at it in amazement. This gym, Surge's gym, it was so different from his dad's. Max's eyes dropped, trying to see everything of the dream. And that's when he noticed a girl in red, a boy in a blue, and a Pikachu standing there. His eyes widened. "May!"
Upon hearing her name, May looked around until she saw her brother along with Brock and a small vulpix rushing towards them. "Max!"
Ash smiled to see his friends. "Hey guys!" He waved to them. "Long time no see!"
"Same!" Brock replied.
"Pikachu!"
"Vulpix!"
Brock, Max, and Ribbons finally reached Ash, May, and Pikachu.
"Aww," May said as she looked down at Ribbons. "Who's this cutie?"
"A vulpix we found," Max answered. "We found him injured on the road, but he has a trainer in Moonsay."
"Vuuu!" Ribbons wrapped himself around Max's leg.
"Either way," May giggled. "He seems to have a liking to you."
"Well," Max smiled as he bent down. "I like Ribbons too." He petted Ribbons's maroon fur.
"Aw, his name's Ribbons?" May squealed. "How cute!"
"Pi!" Pikachu hopped in front of Ribbons. "Pi pi chu ka pichu chu pi ka ka."
Ribbons stared for a few seconds but replied. "Vul pix pix pix vu vu pix."
"Pi?"
"Vuuuu!"
"What do you think they're saying?" May asked, she had bent down as well to reach the pokemon's heights.
"I don't know," Max replied. "Pokemon stuff?"
"So, you guys are done checking the pokemon centers?" Brock asked as he turned to face Ash.
"Actually," Ash broke into a smile. "We didn't even check one."
"Huh? Why?"
"May was caught by Officer Jenny."
"May was... what?!" Brock's jaw fell open. "What did she do? What did you do?!"
"Nothing! Nothing!" Ash replied, putting his hands up in defense. "We didn't do anything. It's just that they thought she stole something when it turned out that she didn't. When we asked about something, they sent us here, saying we could find our answers here." He looked at May as she laughed with Max.
"Ash?"
"They told May that it would be harder to find the answers she was searching for."
"Answers?" Brock repeated. "To what?"
"I don't know!" Ash cried out in annoyance. "I keep asking her, but she won't say." He paused. "Hey, are you guys done?"
"Not even close," Brock shook his head. "We found Ribbons on the floor and took him to the Pokemon Center. Gary called us and told us to get you and then we ended up here."
"Some turn of events," Ash said. "But hey, we should get going inside the gym now."
"Why?"
"We were sort of told to."
"That's right," May stood up. "We have to get in the gym to find the answers."
"Answers to what?" Max asked, following behind his sister as she walked over to join Brock and Ash.
"I guess we'll find out." Ash replied.
The four of them as well as the two pokemon were now standing in front of the Pokemon Gym.
"Well," Ash took in a deep breath. "Here goes..."
He slowly pushed the doors open, the doors in response allowed a gap between them so the children could see what was inside. For a few seconds, they all continued to stare, their eyes wide open and their jaws swinging. May fell down to her knees.
"No," she said. "No, this couldn't be..."
End of chapter 7
Well that's it! I hoped to accomplish more in this chapter, but I guess I couldn't. Hmm, I think this will just be titled as the first "filler chapter" of the story so far. So… have you enjoy its filler-ness?
