The Playoffs

Almost two weeks had passed since May's first day of actual school. Since that time had passed, a lot of things changed for May. She had become almost fully accustomed to the school life everyone seemed to dislike so much. She learned that the hardest class for her was her English class, which was way more than what she thought it would be. The teacher was Professor Birch. She never learned his first name, but that didn't bother her. Professor Birch himself was a good teacher, just the material was iffy to her and most the rest of the class it seemed. Still, she tried her hardest and was doing alright.

The rest of the time when she wasn't at school or at home resting because of tiredness, she was either with Ash or talking to him, or she had Dawn over at her house. She didn't like to leave her house unless Ash was with her, so Dawn came over and they hung out pretty often. Dawn had apologized for what she had said on May's first day, feeling terrible about it. May told her the same thing she told Ash, that she wasn't going to let the past hold her down. This made Dawn happy and they clicked really well after that, becoming amazing friends. May had also gotten to know Ash's friends better as well, mainly Paul and Gary. She had gotten to know them pretty well during teachers caddy while she had barely anything else to do. She learned that Paul was the star quarterback for Kanto High, while Gary was ROLB(Right Outside Linebacker), being Ash's duo as he was the MLB(Middle Linebacker) and defensive captain.

May was currently sitting in her first block class, which was nearing the end. Professor Birch had given the class some time to relax before there next class. May was sitting next to one of the few people she knew in the class, Misty. They weren't great close friends like her and Dawn, but Misty was nice and they were good with each other. Misty was fiddling with her pencil while May was thinking about her plans for later. It was Friday, meaning it was Kanto High's first playoff football game. Since they had done pretty well, Kanto High was the host for the game tonight.

"Hey May," A voice interrupted May's thoughts, only to see Misty trying to talk to her. "So what are you going to do tonight?"

May had to think about this, as she was conflicted. Ash had asked her to come to the game tonight the watch him play and hopefully win, and May wanted to go, she was just undecided if she was ready. She didn't know if she could handle being around so many screaming people without Ash next to her.

"I don't know," She replied quietly. "I wanted to go to the game tonight to see Ash play, but I don't if I can handle it..." Misty gave the girl a sad look as she understood what she meant by that.

"Well then," Misty started happily. "How about you come to the game with me and Dawn?" May was surprised by this, as she wasn't expecting an invite. She had to think about it, and decided that it wasn't a terrible idea. She trusted Dawn fully and Misty as well. Besides, she would be near Ash in a sense.

"What would we do?" May questioned curiously. Misty smiled as if she knew she had convinced her already.

"Well," Misty started as she seemed to begin to think about it. "It would probably be pretty easy to just pick you up and head to the game itself around 6:00pmish, seeing as it starts at 6:45pm. Unless there is anything else you want to do." May shook her head no, thinking what Misty said was a good idea. The transition bell rang, telling them to leave.

"Text me if you wanna talk!" Misty shouted. "You have my number!" May gave her a thumbs up signaling she understood, and then made her way to the weight room. Teacher's Caddy had probably been her favorite class yet,mainly because she got to be with Ash. It also had something interesting to do, and the boys in there, including Coach Rade, never ceased to amaze her. There was always some sort of playful shenanigans going on or something like that. It was fun.

When she got to the weight room, Ash was already there, being the first one besides Coach Rade himself. This wasn't really unusual, but Ash looked to be visibly nervous. This had May worried.

"Ash," May questioned curiously. "Whats wrong? You look nervous?" Ash looked at May and smiled, something he always did when he caught sight of her. He didn't know why, but she always managed to put a wide grin on his face, even if he was nervous as hell.

"I'm alright May," Ash said embarrassingly. "I'm just a little bit nervous for today's playoff game, it's my first one as a starter and it's killing me." Ash sighed as he finished finally relieved of getting something like that off his chest. May looked at him with a confused face. He wasn't typically someone who'd get nervous unless it was something pretty big. She smiled and looked at him sweetly.

"Well don't worry you dope," She said teasingly. "I know you guys will do amazing, especially you!" After finishing her bout of encouragement, a graceful smile grew on her face as Ash pulled her in for a hug while saying "Thank You" repeatedly. This was a more usual thing for them, hugging randomly and being really close. It didn't bother the latter anymore.

The two separated and went to what they had to do for class. May was mainly cleaning up for the weekend and keeping water bottles filled up while Ash and the others players in the class were doing a light workout to keep themselves active while trying to not stress themselves to much for the game.

The class itself went by pretty quickly, and before everyone knew it, the school day itself was over. Everyone had been wishing Ash and the other players good luck on tonight's game, which they said thank you to and went on there way to the locker room to prepare for the game. May met up with Ash right before he left with Gary and Paul.

"Hey Ash," May said excitedly. "Good luck tonight, I'll be watching for you!" Ash heard this and smiled at her, giving her a signature grin and thumbs ups. He was happy to hear that she was coming to the game tonight, and even more so that she'll be rooting for him. With that, he made his way with Gary and Paul and May went to her mother, who was waiting for her in the car.

The hours seemed to pass by quickly, as May suddenly found it to be 5:45pm. Misty had texted her earlier confirming the plans that they had for tonight, so she was just waiting for Dawn and Misty to actually get here. Caroline had given her some money to get in the game and get something to eat if she wanted too. Norman was resting in there room as he was tired from work, and Max... well Max was in his room playing video games to no end. He'd been playing Call of Duty quite a lot recently, saying how he'd managed to win some money from it. She didn't know how, but it made her a bit curious, she would have to look into it later.

May was currently sitting on the couch, ready to go and all. She had grabbed a brush and began to groom Eevee, as she seemed to enjoy it and had learned the proper way to do it in her 4th block. Eevee seemed to enjoy it as well, so she was happy. Eevee had turned out to be a very energetic one, being very playful and always running around happily. After about 20 minutes passed, someone knocked on the door. May got up normally to answer it to find Dawn standing at the door with a large smile on her face. She was wearing a green hoodie that said "Kanto Knights" on the front of it.

"Hey May," Dawn greeted ecstatically. "Are you ready to go?" May nodded at her, having already told her mom that her friends would be here soon, she grabbed her phone and her money and made sure she had everything she needed. She noted she had everything, and made her way to the car with Dawn were Misty was. Misty drove a yellow Beetle, which was fine with May and Dawn apparently, as they had no problem with riding in it. The ride was smooth and it went pretty quickly. The girls didn't talk about much except for Dawn, talking about how she couldn't wait to see how Gary did tonight. From what May had heard, she made the educated guess that Dawn had a slight thing for Gary # %&^*% Oak. She thought this was funny that a girl with the energy and outgoing nature of Dawn had a heavy girl like crush on a Football player.

When the girls reached the school, it was around 6:15, so there was about half an hour before the game was set to start.

"Hey Misty," May questioned curiously. "Who is Kanto playing tonight?"

Misty turned to her and gave her a smile. "They're playing the Lumiose Lanterns." She said happily. "We played them at the beginning of the regular season, beating them pretty bad too. We should have this game in the bag!" May smiled at Misty's nice answer. As the girls were walking out to the stadium, they were stopped by a yell.

"Hey girls," A familiar voice called out, but muffled. The girls turn around to see this mystery person. Misty and Dawn smile, seeming to know who it is already, but May is left in the dark. She just see's a random person who's obviously a football player wearing there helmet. It then clicked in her mind who it had to be.

"Ash?" May questioned confused. The person laughed and lifted there helmet, revealing the one and only Ash Ketchum in his football gear.

"I had you confused for a bit, didn't I?" Ash said with a playful grin. He knew May wouldn't recognize him. "So May, how are you liking the place so far?" Ash asked nicely. May smiled as she heard him speak directly to her.

"Well," May started normally. "I haven't really done anything here yet, but so far It's alright." Ash smiled at her answer, happy that she wasn't sad or unhappy.

"Well, have you guys bought your tickets yet?" Ash asked? The girls all shook there heads no. Ash smiled at this, because it was what he was hoping for. "Come with me then, I can help you guys out!" he said happily. He signaled for the girls to follow him to the front gate. Once at the gate, the ticket lady was about to ask the girls for the money to buy the tickets, but Ash held up his hand.

"It's alright," he said smoothly, "they're with me today." The lady smiled at Ash and let the girl in along with him. Dawn was the first one to speak up about this.

"Wow Ash!" She said happily. "That was amazing, thank you!" All three of the girls thanked Ash immensely for getting them in free of charge, and May ended up even giving him a warm hug.

"Well," Ash started, almost as if he was sad. "I have to get ready with the rest of the team. The game starts in about 20 minutes and we have to warm up. I'll see you guys later." Misty and Dawn waved goodbye and went to find a seat, while May stayed back with Ash for a few more seconds, to talk.

"Hey Ash." May said regularly. "Good luck tonight, I know you'll do nothing but great!" Ash and May both smiled at this. Ash because of May having faith in him, and May because Ash was there with here for now.

"I'll try and win this game," Ash said slowly. "I'll try and win it for you May, that's a promise." He smiled at her deeply and gave her a large thumbs up. This caused May to blush, but she didn't mind, it was nice.

"Hell, maybe after the game," Ash stuttered almost nervously, which confused May. "Maybe we can go get something to eat, you know, together..alone." May was almost in shock at what just happened. She quickly shook her head and gave him a hug and walked towards were Misty and Dawn went, confused by what just happened.

As Ash was walking back towards the team, Gary came up to him.

"Hey Ash, why do you look so freaked?" Gary asked almost sounding concerned. "You getting nervous?" Ash looked at Gary like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Gary...I think I just asked May out on a date..." Ash mumbled. Gary looked at Ash with a dumbfounded look on his face, then he began to laugh.

"Well what do you know," Gary started to shout teasingly. "Ashy boy here actually does have a pair or two. HEY PAUL, GUESS WHAT? ASH JUST ASKED OUT MAY!" Gary was tackled to the ground quickly by a furious Ash.

"Gary!" Ash said, sounding infuriated. "Remember about your secret thing for Dawn? She can learn quickly if I want too." Gary gave Ash a death stare, mainly to try and see if he was bluffing. He finally broke.

"Alright Ash," Gary said defeated. "I'll leave you alone on it, just don't be a pansy and mess this up, you're ugly and this opportunity won't come along often." Gary finished with a chuckle and a water bottle chucked at his head, which he dodged quickly. They both just went to focus on the game, which was the main priority.

Apparently, neither where focused well at all, because the first half of the game was a complete slop fest by both teams. Neither offense could keep the ball moving, and the defense was missing easy plays that should have been easily routine ones. At the end of the first half, Kanto was leading 10-7, and both touchdowns by both sides were both mishaps that led to scores. The only consistent player on either side was the kicker, who had made several decent distance punts and nailed a 39 yard field goal right down the middle.

May and the girls, on the other end, were having an ecstatic time. May didn't really know how the game went but she caught along really quickly and learned what most everything was and the objective. There was a student section of the bleachers that most of the people were, doing random chants trying to cheer on there team, but May and the girls tried to stay away from around there because of all the people and noise. They were sitting near were the players entrance was, mainly to see the other players and Ash. When the players went to the practice field to warm-up and talk to there coaches, Ash and Gary stopped to talk to the girls, only saying hi and seeing if they were having fun, which they were. The boys bid a quick goodbye to go see coach Rade.

The beginning of the second half was upon them and the announcer was trying to hype the home crowd.

"LET'S GET IT GOING FOR OUR KANTO KNIGHTS EVERYONE!" The announcer announced. May could see the team huddling together, and from what she could hear, Ash was in the middle speaking to them.

"Guys, this is my first playoff game here, and I don't know what you guys want, but I don't want to lose. THIS IS OUR HOME AND WE TAKE THIS WIN. HANDS IN THE MIDDLE. HOORAH ON THREE.

"ONE

"TWO

"THREE

"HOORAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

After Ash's pep talk, the team took position to kickoff. The kicker started with a beautiful kick down the middle. Number 87 from the Lanterns was the one to field the kick and made it about 15 yards before being hit hard by number 48 of the Knight's, Ash Ketchum. The ball carrier lost the ball as soon as he'd been hit and number 42, Gary Oak, jumped on the ball right away, giving Kanto possession right away. This got the crowd louder than it'd been all night, and it didn't look like they were going to quiet down anytime soon. Gary and Ash got back to the sideline shouting happily and bumping fists, proud of what they'd done. Coach Rade seemed to yell something towards Ash, causing him to put his helmet back on and run onto the field. This confused May.

"Hey Misty," May asked. "Why did coach send Ash back onto the field?"

"Well," Misty started. "Ash is fast, so he usually plays both ways when they need him too, and seeing how the other RB has been doing, they need him too badly." May shook her head in understanding, seeing that Ash was very important to the team apparently.

Ash got onto the field and was greeted by Paul, who seemed to tell Ash the play they were about to run. Ash nodded and went to his position behind Paul. Paul shouted set three times before the ball went into play, were he handed it directly to Ash, who in turn, sped off down the middle past the D-line quite easily due to his sheer speed. After about 20 yards, Ash would be home free after he made it past there safeties, so he put it into overdrive, beating one safety in speed, but he still had one coming in from the side. Ash knew the only thing about to happen was a collision, so he decided he would hit harder. After 5 more yards, the safety collided with Ash, trying to knock him down and out, but was met with a force greater than he thought. The safety was expecting such a strong push back from a receiver that he was thrown completely back onto his ass, leaving Ash home free for the touchdown.

Once Ash entered the end-zone, the crowd went wild while the announcer and the student section was chanting Ash's name. May and the other girls were screaming ecstatically as they were amazingly happy Ash was able to score. Ash ran around to his teammates to receive there praise, and when they left him, he looked up at May and smiled threw his helmet and mouth guard, giving her thumbs up and a goofy smile.

After Ash's touchdown, the Kanto Knights went on to dominate the game from there on out. Ash ended up with another touchdown run after his first and an interception in the 4th quarter to seal the deal. Gary had also managed to get another fumble recovery deep in the opponents territory for a touchdown, along with 3 sacks to his name. Paul added a small touchdown pass as well later on. The final score was 38-14 with Kanto's victory. The Lanterns managed a touchdown when Coach Rade pulled all the starters out to give the 2nd and 3rd stringers a chance to play.

After the timer hit 0:00, many students stormed the field in happiness that there team won. Everyone was congratulating Ash and Gary on basically winning the game for them. Coach Rade eventually ran the students off to give his players some room. After talking to his players about how they did good and stuff they need to improve on. He eventually let his players go, telling them to get some rest and that they deserved it.

May had told Misty and Dawn she would go home with Ash, which they were fine with. They told her goodbye and went home. May had texted her mother during halftime asking if she could go with Ash to get something to eat, and she responded with an "of course, be safe!" This made May happy that her mother trusted her and Ash. After about 5 minutes of standing outside the locker room waiting silently, someone spoke up.

"So, you ready for some dinner?" May turned around and saw Ash standing there with a duffle bag and a huge goofy grin on his face. This made May smile and almost laugh.

"Yes I am," She responded sweetly."Where do you want to go?"

Ash thought about it for a bit. "How about I get Gary to drop us off at the mall and we can eat at Showmars?" May smiled at the idea, because she thought it was sweet to go where they first ate together, couple or not.

"I'd love too!" May said ecstatically. "I can get my mother to take us home after." Ash smiled goofly, and held out his arm.

"Then after you madam, your chariot awaits." Ash said playfully, holding his hand out for May to take it. This caused her to blush a bit.

"Well I would be delighted to, Sir." May said playfully, taking Ash's hand and walking towards the parking lot. If only they both knew how excited and nervous the other was, hell, who wouldn't be on there first date?

AN: Well here's another chapter so soon Lol. I had so much excess time today it's not even funny, so I got around to finishing this chapter. This chapter is pretty big in the series shipping wise and the next chapter will be huge to the plot and shipping!

I hope you guys like the football game because I was incredibly nervous on how it would come out. I thought it was just fine but that's me. I'm very knowledgeable on Football so that wasn't the problem, I just wondered if it would keep everyone else's interest.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter as I had actually been planning this one out for a bit now, and I think it came out better than I thought it would. If you liked the chapter or story overall, leave me Favorite/Follow because they really help and motivate me! Leave me a review telling me what you think and if you have any criticism, good or bad, then I'll take it! Anything makes me happy! Thanks for reading, peace!

Next Chapter: The First Date