"Vigoroth and Electivire are unable to battle!"

No one said anything. A tie?

Ash and Max walked over to May, who seemed to be frozen on the spot, staring at Paul, who was looking back at her in a similar way. Putting his hand on her shoulder, Ash started thinking. This was something that he hadn't talked to May about. A tie was an irregular occurrence. Ash gives Ash a look as if to ask what he was going to do. He decides that, rather than telling May what she should do, he would let her figure it out.

After the pair called their Pokemon in, Paul approached May. His expression doesn't change from his usual moody expression. All the while, May was trying to figure out what she should do. Before she could say anything, she hears a rough sigh from Paul.

"I'll be back in a couple of weeks… I mean it this time." He grumbles before turning around to leave. Before could, May grabs him by the shoulder.

"Wait, Paul." She says, causing him to turn back around. She takes a badge from her pocket and drops it into his hand, without taking her gaze from him, "You put up a good fight."

Ash and Max watch this without saying anything, the younger boy notices a small smile appearing on the older male's face.

Paul doesn't say anything apart from a muttered "thank you" before going to leave. May sighs and walks back to Ash, who puts his arm around her and kisses her on the top of her head.

"You did well, May." He smiles at her.

"But I didn't win…"

"Well… yeah, technically but it's hard to admit defeat during a tie. I mean, you could have-"

"Hey, Maple!" Paul's voice suddenly calls, causing Ash and May to turn and look at him. He walks up to them but stops when he is several meters away from them.

"Yes?" May asks him.

Paul doesn't reply. Instead he shuts his eyes for a moment and gives her a slow nod. It takes May a few seconds to figure out what that meant. She returns his nod. Paul then gives her a rough smile.

Seeing Paul's gesture of respect, Ash smiles. The boy then turns his attention to Ash.

"And Ketchum- Um, Ash." He says, and continues when Ash looks at him "I'm sure we will run into each other again." He says, a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, probably." Ash smirks back at him. The male gives Ash a small nod before exiting from the gym. May sighs and leans on Ash, making him pet her shoulder.

Max looks at May and lowers his gaze "You did really well, May." He says quietly but gives her a smile at the same time.

"Thanks, Max." his sister relies, ruffling his hair.

The boy shuffles on the spot a little bit, "I'm still so sorry, though… for everything…"

May pulls her younger brother into a hug "I know you are." She says "But I've been thinking… you said that you wanted to be gym leader, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So… when you're old enough, you want to share this position with me?"

Max's eyes flash "Really? You would do that?"

"Sure!"

Ash smiles, it feels good to see May gain respect from Max as well as Paul.

"So, May. How do you feel about being gym leader now?" he asks, still smiling. The girl looks at him and sighs softly.

"Quite good, actually." She admits after a few moments.

"Pfft, I'd say more than that." Ash puts his arm around her again "You think you'd manage on your own?"

May squeezes his arm "You mean you're going?" her blue eyes looking into his hazel pair.

"Ha, I didn't say that. I've told you a million times, I'm not in a rush." He softly grabs May by the chin and gives her a kiss on her lips, which she was just as eager to return. Max made a childish gagging sound and said something about them getting a room before leaving the gym.

Ash laughs as he watches Max go before turning back to his girlfriend.

"So, you want to head to dinner now?" he asks, putting his arm around her waist. May nods in agreement. At this point her stomach was rumbling so much she was partly surprised the walls hadn't caved in. Ash laughs and half leads, half carries May from the gym and off to the right, leading into the town.

After a few moments, May spoke up.

"Ash? How would you have felt if I had kept the badge?" she asks, as this is a question that had been going through her head.

The boy, who still had his arm around her waist, gave a little shrug "Don't know. I think the better question is: How would you have felt?"

May had to think for a moment.

"Well… Since neither of us won… it only seemed fair to give the badge to him… I mean, keeping the badge and making him come back seems rather…"

"Selfish?"

"Yes! But I just didn't feel that it would be right to do that. I'd feel guilty…."

Ash smiles and kisses May on her cheek "May, I know you made the right choice. It was probably quite hard."

"It was."

"Yeah. Bu here's the thing. When you're a trainer it's not just about winning battles and such. You have to know how to be a good sport and to be mature in these things. Well, not that I'd consider myself 'mature'," Ash laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck "But my point is, by doing that, you showed him that you do have the strength and maturity to be a gym leader. I think that means more than how many people you defeat."

May smiles at him, feeling enlightened by this. She nuzzles his neck gently "But, will everyone else see that?" she asks, still a bit anxious "What if they still think I'm weak or a coward? That I just wanted to get rid of him or-"

Ash silenced her gently by putting a finger to her lips. He looked ahead at the buildings approaching them as well as the clear evening sky which was a light shade of magenta.

"Well, let's just wait and see, shall we?" He asks her. May waits a moment before nodding. With this, the pair walked into the heart of the city, hands connected and heads high to face the oncoming crowd.

~Epilogue~

Three years later

Ash enlarges a ball behind his back, his hazel eyes poised forward and focused on his opponent at the opposite end of the gym. His eyebrows lower as he studies them. He had heard a lot about this person on his travels. Setting three records of the gym leader to go undefeated the longest, breaking their previous record each time. Many had wished him the best luck as they could send a trainer far back in their travels. How long had they gone without a defeat? Fourteen months? Breaking the last record of eight months, set by themselves? And the one before that? He had decided that morning that he was going to be the one to break the chain.

He raised his head to look the leader in the eye.

"Just because we're together doesn't mean I'm going easy on you, May!" He shouts, a wide smirk on his face.

"What did you expect?" She answers back, also smirking.

Ash couldn't help but smile. Funny how things had changed in only three years. How did she get from that nervous, sad girl who had completely lost hope turn into such a strong and determined leader? Once rejected by everyone but is now beloved. Even the people who believed the least in her all said the same thing:

She could give Norman, himself a run for his money.

Aaaaand… FIN! *Claps hands together* The end! Oh my god I really wish this didn't have to end but, it must. I loved writing this fic, even if it took me a while to finish it and I hope you enjoyed it! I'd like to thank this story's 60+ faves, 70+ followers and 40 reviewers, you are the guys who kept me going and I appreciate it so much! My next big fic will be on Franticshipping but I am not abandoning Advanceshipping! You will see some one-shots and another full story sometime in the future! Once again, thank you all so much for supporting this story and I'll see you in the next one!