Chapter 8 – Surf's Up Cerulean City

The next morning the four of them woke up, all of them raring to go. Max shot out of the door to get a bit of practice in before the race started, dressed only in a pair of lime green swimming shorts he and Corphish went onto the beautiful golden sandy beach of Cerulean City, overlooking the glistening and the twinkling calm ocean, the ocean itself was a beautiful aquamarine colour, it was so clear that you could see the shoals of Corsola and Magikarp swimming around, Max could swear he also saw a magnificently beautiful Milotic swimming near some Feebas, it was definitely a gorgeous sight to behold.

Back in the cabin, Brock was busy cooking breakfast for Ash and May, Brock thought to himself 'Those two wouldn't miss food for anything,' after Brock had finished laying the food out on the table, he actually thought the way that Ash and May had gone for the food that he was going to lose his fingers, they all sat down and ate, the breakfast looked divine, There were sausage, bacon, eggs, oran berries, pecha berry juice, and Miltank milk. Ash and May made no pauses when it came to eating they both wolfed down the food, thanked Brock for the meal and made headway to the beach themselves. Brock finished washing the cooking stuff up and made his way to the beach as well.

Ash got to the beach wearing a pair of white and black chequered swimming shorts, that were specially designed with holders round the waist band for his poké balls, May was wearing a white bikini with red hearts printed all over it, and Brock had green swimming shorts with an orange trim around. Each of the gang had their Pokémon out and were helping them train. Ash decided to take Oshawott into the ocean and practiced swimming around, Oshawott showed real speed when it came to being in the water, Max had Corphish pulling rocks across the sand to ensure it would have enough strength to pull the float he would stand on, May had Manaphy in the water practising with the float, making sure the little legendary had enough strength to pull it, and lastly Brock and Marshtomp were sat on the side of the beach just where the surf reached their toes, relaxing before the uproar from the crowd and competitors came along.

It was nearing noon, there were 50 competitors at the start line, 4 were Ash, Brock, May and Max, all of them were waiting for Misty to call out for the start of the race, the track marked out as far as Ash could see had artificial walls to make it like a maze, to Ash and Brock it seems that Misty had the walls represent the ones from Alto Mare, Misty was going through the rules to all the contestants and then telling them about the course.

"The course consists of a 2 and a ½ mile circuit, during the circuit there shall be different obstacles to block your way, you must get past the obstacles in order to complete the race, should you fall of your float you will be disqualified from the race, there will be no attacking other racers, if you do you will be disqualified. The first one back to the start wins the grand prize."

After hearing the mention of a grand prize everyone was spurred on, the eruption of the crowd made the anticipation of the start even greater. A minute later a start signal was made and the race was underway. As the race started not even 1 metre past the start line ten people fell off their floats, leaving only 40 contestants left. At the front of the pack was Max, it seemed that having Corphish pull the rocks really helped as he had a commanding lead, In 2nd was May, Manaphy was swimming through the water with ease, in fact it was more like gliding the little blue pokémon was making it look way too easy.

Ash was sat in 10th place, eager to get to the front and catch up with May and Max, Brock however was sat deep in 23rd, Brock and Marshtomp seemed to be taking it easy, making the swerves of the corners like they weren't there, Brock new that it was only the start of the race and there was ages before he had to make it to the front, at the same time he knew the pressure would be getting to whoever was in first place, due to them needing to stay in first place. As the contestants rounded turn 3, 15 more contestants came flying of their boards, because the turn was so tight.

Back in the front of the contestants Ash had moved to 4th place with some brilliant manoeuvre work from Oshawott, he was swimming through the water with complete ease, Ash then ordered an Aqua Jet from Oshawott, in which he was bumped into 1st place above Max and Corphish, whilst at the back Brock was having trouble dropping into last place which was now 19th place. Up at the front there was a huge wave coming at the contestants, Max and Corphish made it through without falling of the board, however 7 of the contestants didn't 2 of these were Ash and May, leaving only Max and Brock out of the four of them still in the race. Brock could see Marshtomp was feeling tired, but also wanted to win, the next minute Marshtomp stopped and was being surrounded into a bright white light, in fact it was that bright that one contestant looked and was that distracted fell of his board. Just then Marshtomp evolved into Swampert, and then started sprinting through the water, Swampert's speed was virtually unbelievable they were coming into the last stretch of the race as Brock moved into 2nd, Max couldn't believe he was about to win, he was almost there just a little further, however Brock moved side by side with him as they crossed the finishing line, it was down to a photo finish.

Every contestant and spectator was intrigued as to who won the prize, I took a few minutes to analyse but they had come to the conclusion of who had won. Misty had the two of them stood either side of her, to allow for her to give it to either one of them. After leaving everyone in suspense as to who won, especially in the blazing heat which made it even longer, Misty declared that the winner was... Brock. Swampert had just edged Corphish as they crossed the line, meaning that it was Brock and Swampert who won, Brock was ecstatic especially as it was Nurse Joy who handed him the egg, whilst at the same time giving him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek, to which Brock passed out.

When they finally brought Brock round they were all back in the beach shack, he was sat on the bed,

"I'll never wash this cheek again" He grinned whilst going bright red

"Same old Brock, he's definitely fine" Max said laughing and shaking his head

"Well I for one want to know what Pokémon is in the egg" May piped up

"Yeah same here" Ash said

"Well we'll find out when it hatches" Brock said "First things first though, what's the next stop we have?"

"The Battle Factory" Ash said calmly "Max's first challenge on the Battle Frontier"

"Yeah, I really can't wait" Max said eagerly

The gang spent the rest of the day at the beach, just relaxing, taking the nerves of Max before his big battle, though he didn't show them Ash, May and Brock new they were there. Everyone had their Pokémon out on the beach, Swampert, Oshawott, Manaphy and Corphish were all in the beautiful blue Ocean, no wonder it was named Cerulean City thought May. Both May and Ash's Pikachu's were cuddled up together. Flygon was taking all the little Pokémon up for flights, whilst everyone else just sat back and relaxed for the day. Brock was sat at the top of the beach, caring for his egg. Whilst May and Ash were taking a stroll along the surf, both of them moved their arms, to which their hands came together, with both of them pulling back out of sheer embarrassment.

"I'm sorry May I didn't mean to" Ash said stuttering

"It's okay Ash I think it was nice that you wanted hold hands" May replied

"Really because I've been thinking and its been like this for a long time now" Ash said

"Go on Ash thinking what" May said, feeling butterflies in her stomach

"I've missed you ever since we split after I won the Battle Frontier, and I really wanted to see you again, so when I saw you in Sinnoh I was over the moon, but I went straight back to missing you again when you left. What I'm really trying to say is I" Ash gulped "I love you May"

"Really Ash, that's so sweet but the thing is" Ash looked sad as she said this thinking she was going to say she loved someone else. "I love you too" "I wish I'd have gone to Sinnoh with you Ash, I missed you ever since I went, in fact the reason I caught Pichu was because she reminded me of you" replied May

"Really May that is brilliant, I was panicking thinking maybe you didn't love me, but now I know you do" "I couldn't be happier right now" Ash said, going bright red in the face.

"Ditto" May said holding her heart.

The two then held hands and carried on walking down the surf line, Brock witnessed the whole ordeal.

'I knew it was only a matter of time' Brock thought to himself

As night approached the gang spent their last night at the beach shack before getting up in the morning to head towards the battle factory. Morning came and all four of them had breakfast before heading out the door towards the Battle Factory, which Max was so excited for. They were heading through a thick forest, the trees were a beautiful green colour, the sun made the morning dew glisten, making the trees look as if there were emeralds branching from them. The wild pokémon were out by the dozen. There were Caterpie's, Ratata's, Bulbasaur's, and many more just wandering around, as they kept walking there was a silhouette standing in their way it was a huge pokémon with a big mane and black stripes around its body, as they got closer, Brock noticed it was an Arcanine. Last time they travelled Kanto May wanted to catch one, so she got her pokéball and threw it calling out Manaphy.

"Manaphy use Scald" May cried, Manaphy did this with a direct hit, causing a lot of damage due to the type difference.

Arcanine struck back using ExtremeSpeed, which was a head on collision as May didn't see it coming. However Manaphy sent another Scald, followed straight after by a Surf straight at Arcanine, both attacks were direct hits, making Arcanine now really weak, May then ordered a Bubblebeam which hit Arcanine head on, knocking the strong fire type out. May then threw a pokéball and watched in suspense as the ball rocked from side to side, bleeping with a red dot as it did so. May relaxed when the ball stopped and made the locking sound.

"I've just caught an Arcanine" May shouted, striking a victory pose.

"Well done May" Ash said

"Thanks Ashy" May replied, winking at him, to which as just blushed

"Hey May, what was the wink for" Max said, looking curiously at his sister

"Erm oh yeah I forgot to mention didn't I, me and Ash are now together, it happened whilst we were on the beach, we both said we love each other" said May very embarrassed

"Its okay guy's I already knew, I watched it happen" Brock said laughing

"Well now you all know, we should head on to the Battle Factory" Ash said smiling

With that the four of them headed towards the end of the forest where they were greeted by a gigantic silver building, that Ash recognised all too well, there it was in front of them, the Battle Factory. There they were greeted by Noland's assistant, who mentioned that Noland wasn't there and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, but they were welcome to stay for the night until he returned, to which they all said thank you and headed to their rooms, there were only two rooms so Max and Brock shared whilst Ash and May shared.

The rooms were really well decorated, black and white, with plants and pictures to make it more 'homey' in Ash and May's room, Ash noticed that one of the pictures was of a shoal of Luvdisc, he thought it was very appropriate given the circumstance. There was also only one double bed, which May was already laid in, wearing red pyjamas with pink hearts all over them, where Ash just slept in his underwear.

Max and Brocks room was decorated the same, the only difference was that they had two single bed's rather than one double. Everyone then fell asleep, with all in Max's mind, winning the first symbol in his Battle Frontier Challenge.