You know, it's absolutely amazing what an increased number of reviews can do to boost your desire to write. That's part of the reason I always ask for people to review. It's more than just feedback, it's a boost in general to know that people are enjoying what you are writing, and it helps motivate you to write more. There were nine reviews for the last chapter; I hope that you guys can keep it at that level. Now, to answer some comments/questions...
Lord Vurtax, it's true that May's Crush was a faster pace than this story in terms of chapters, but there are a couple of things to consider. PikamasterADV's chapters were, in general, longer on average than my chapters are. Also, his story only really had one plot running through it, while mine has three or four subplots revolving around a central plot. Lengthwise, I think a more fair comparison is to May's Crush: Final Frontier, which has several subplots and is already longer than May's Crush, with no end in sight (assuming that he updates again). And don't worry, BlackWhole I haven't forgotten about what happened between May and Drew in Johto. You'll learn more about that (relatively) soon.
Now, with that out of the way it's time for Chapter Twenty-One. This one has lots of action in it (and a couple of surprises too), so I hope that you enjoy what I've got for you!
His eyes snapped open. They roved around the room, taking in the clean stainless steel surfaces and the comfy beds of varying sizes. He sniffed the air in trepidation and scented disinfectant. A Pokemon Centre, he realized.
He sat up and swooned almost immediately as waves of dizziness and nausea crashed through his brain. "Ouch," he moaned as ripples of pain shot through his body.
"So, you're finally awake," he heard a voice say. He turned and saw who had spoken; a trainer dressed in the most ludicrous green outfit that he had ever seen.
"How long have I been out?" he asked the trainer. The trainer jerked back in surprise.
"You can talk! Wow, I can't believe it, a talking Meowth!"
Meowth glared at the trainer. "Hey! Maybe I kin talk, but dat don't mean I like bein' ignored! Who are you, and how'd I get here?"
"My name's Ritchie," the trainer answered. "I was walking through Viridian Forest when I found you. You were out cold and really badly hurt. You were alone, so I thought maybe a Fearow had attacked you or something and your pack had abandoned you. The only way I could get you here on time was by capturing you." Meowth's eyes widened in horror.
"You... you caught me?" he asked faintly. Ritchie nodded.
"Yeah, and my Tyranitar brought you here."
"No way, nuh-uh, I ain't no Pokee-ball Pokemon!" Meowth snapped. "You gotta let me go!"
"Let you go?" Ritchie asked, completely taken aback. "Why would I do that? You could be a great member of my team; maybe you'll even evolve into a Persian!"
"I ain't ever evolvin'," Meowth shrieked. He broke down into tears. "What'll Jessie n' James do widout me? I can't be a Pokee-ball Pokemon, I can't!"
"Jessie and James?" Ritchie said slowly, screwing up his face in concentration. "Wait, I remember some people with those names. They were from Team Rocket and tried to capture a Lugia. And..." his voice trailed off and he looked at Meowth with a hard expression. "And they had a talking Meowth," he finished.
"Dat would be me," Meowth glared back. "We didn' even want dat Lugia, we just didn' want Cassidy n' Botch ta steal it foist."
"Well that settles it," Ritchie declared. "There's no way that I'm going to release you. Not until I teach you how to be good, anyways."
"Dat's inhuman!" Meowth shouted angrily.
"Good thing you're a Pokemon, then," Ritchie said bluntly. He raised a Poke Ball.
"Don't you dare," Meowth warned.
"Meowth, return!" Ritchie commanded, pressing the button in the centre. A red beam of light shot out from the ball and collided with Meowth. He screamed as the paralysing effects of the beam enveloped him and he was drawn back into the Poke Ball.
Ritchie lowered his arm and stared at the Poke Ball clasped in his hand. He felt sick inside, and his heart was pounding. He delicately lowered himself into a nearby chair, never once taking his eyes off of Meowth's ball. What have I done? he wondered. Is... is this why Cruz refuses to listen to me, why it attacks me? What right do I have to keep a creature captive if it wants to be free?
He shuddered, but placed the Poke Ball on his belt. Even though Meowth clearly didn't want to be a part of his team, he would work with the Pokemon until he came to accept Ritchie as his trainer. He knew that all of those years in Team Rocket must have corrupted the Pokemon somehow, but he felt confident that he could reach the good in it's heart. He'd start in Pewter City.
Ash stepped outside of the conference building and took several deep breaths. He felt distinctly glad that he'd asked Gallade and Infernape to remove anybody who was causing a problem at the conference, but he felt a little ashamed too. Did he really have to resort to using his Pokemon as bodyguards?
"Ash?" he heard someone ask. He turned and saw Anabel standing at the doorway uncertainly.
"Oh, hey Anabel," he said. "Man, those paparazzi really get annoying, huh?"
"Tell me about it," Anabel said, shaking her head ruefully. "It didn't stop when the conference ended either. All of the paparazzi surrounded me the second that you left and started asking me the most ridiculous questions you can answer." Ash shook his head in disgust.
"I guess some people have nothing better to do than spin lies about other people's lives," he said bitterly. "All my life I've wanted to be a Pokemon Master. I've caught, trained, and become friends with my Pokemon, all just to follow my dream." He gestured back in the direction of the conference room. "My dream never involved that."
"There are always a few hurdles in our paths," Anabel said. "Being a Frontier Brain doesn't get you as much publicity as a League Champion, or even a Gym Leader if you consider Juan, but there's enough of it to make your life stressful. We all handle it in different ways. Tucker can't get enough of the media attention, that's why he asked Scott to build the Battle Dome in a city. But on the other hand there's me, and I just can't stand the publicity. That's why I built the Battle Tower as far into the wilderness as you can get."
"You prefer the wild to civilization?" Ash asked mischievously. Anabel smiled impishly.
"Maybe, but I'm not a total outcast! I just prefer the quiet of the forest."
"I hear that," Ash said quietly. He looked around at the sight of Viridian City in distaste. The air seemed to cling to the skin and felt gritty, not fresh. Several pieces of litter dotted the area; as he watched, a passing teenager threw a half-empty water bottle carelessly at a garbage can. It clanged off the side and rolled to a halt at Ash's feet. He watched as the clear liquid seeped out onto the pavement and turned a deep shade of brown as it collected all of the grime stuck to the street.
"Give me a forest or a field any day," he muttered.
"Now that you've spoken to the press, where are you planning on going?" Anabel asked.
"Vermillion City, I think," Ash said. "Brock's brother, Forrest, is there training at the moment, and I think that Rey wants to have a practice battle with him. After that we can catch a Vermillion ferry to Canalave City in Sinnoh. How about you?"
"Oh, I was just going to head home to the Battle Tower," Anabel said softly. Ash looked at her curiously. She seemed almost disappointed about something, but he couldn't think why. "You know," Anabel began, "Tohjo Falls actually runs north to the ocean. There's a little port town up there that almost nobody has heard of, and it's a quick ferry ride from there to Canalave. It'll probably save you quite a bit of time since you won't have to circle Kanto, and it's really untamed wilderness up there with lots of strong wild Pokemon."
"Thanks Anabel," Ash said, "but I think I'm still going to go to Vermillion City."
Anabel looked at him, crestfallen. Her heart pounded, but she didn't know what else she could say to try and change his mind. She would never admit it out loud but she really did care about Ash, in a deeper way than mere friendship. She knew that several people including Brandon (and probably half the planet now that the paparazzi had gotten involved) had guessed her feelings, but she did her best to keep them under wraps.
Ash looked at her carefully. Although she had never said anything, he had long ago guessed her true feelings. He knew that she couldn't help it, and inwardly he admired her ability to hide how she felt. Of all the Frontier Brains, Anabel was the one he felt closest to. And maybe, in an alternate timeline, he'd have felt something more for her than he did, but...
But he loved May. It had taken him several years to realize it, but now that he had he couldn't stop thinking about her. He wanted to be with her, not Anabel. He knew that it would destroy Anabel if he openly mentioned this to her, so he had tried to keep some distance between them recently.
Too much distance, he realized. I haven't spent any time with Anabel for a couple of months. I could blame that on all of the training, but it's no excuse to shun her. Heck, I've been with Scott more often than Anabel, and he's been in Johto for two months now. He looked down at the ground uncomfortably. Anabel spent a lot of time at the Battle Tower, but the Battle Frontier didn't exactly get a lot of challengers despite it's prestige. Most trainers were too obsessed with the more famous regional leagues to spend any time challenging other championships. She must get really lonely out there, he realized, and he felt even more ashamed.
He knew that Anabel considered him one of her closest friends, more so than any of the other Frontier Brains. He also knew that it was probably all down to an age difference, since the other five Frontier Brains were all at least ten years older than Anabel. It's more than that, he thought. I don't have any issues connecting with the other Brains, but Anabel does. He sighed. It was all down to personality; where he was outgoing, she was introverted. She couldn't connect to the others because she was just too shy with the age difference.
She doesn't have many friends, and one of the only ones that she does has been shunning her. I feel so angry with myself because of that. Keeping a safe distance is one thing, but ignoring altogether... He looked up at Anabel. She was staring at a fixed point in the distance unblinkingly. Ash felt sure that she was holding back tears. It would make her so happy if we just spent one night at the Battle Tower, he thought. I can't deny her that.
"Tell you what," he said, breaking the long silence. "I'm still going to go to Vermillion City, for Brock's and Rey's sake. Plus, there's a friend there that I want to check in on too. But I promise this; once we're done in Vermillion City, we'll come back and go to Tohjo Falls. I just can't resist the chance to see all of those wild Pokemon." Anabel looked at him in surprise.
"Really?" she asked.
"I can't miss the chance to spend some more time with one of my friends, can I?" Ash grinned. Anabel smiled, and Ash realized just how long it had been since he had seen her so happy. Inside, he still felt horrible about his recent treatment to her, but he was glad that he still had the chance to mend any damage he had done.
"At last!" Paul shouted triumphantly, bursting from the shrubbery. The Celebi whirled in surprise. It eyed the lavender-haired trainer in puzzlement. Then it's eyes fell on the black sphere in the trainer's hands; they widened. That ball was all too familiar to Celebi. It turned and made to escape, but Paul was ready.
"Mismagius, Mean Look!" he shouted. The Mismagius emerged from the shadows; Celebi was flying straight for it and had no chance to avoid looking in it's eyes. Twin pupiled purple orbs floated through the air from the Mismagius and sank into Celebi's eyes. The legendary Pokemon desperately tried to teleport away, but to no avail.
"Dark Ball! Go!" Paul barked, throwing the ball at the Celebi. Celebi screamed as the ball made contact and it was sucked inside by a navy light; the ball rolled once and then clicked. Paul then did something very rare for him. He laughed. From the nearby bushes, James shuddered at the sound. He had never heard a laugh sound so cold-hearted and evil before. Still, he had to admit; Paul's strategy of sending out Mismagius ahead of time in anticipation of Celebi trying to escape had worked wonders.
"James!" Paul barked, halting his laughter abruptly.
"Yes?" James asked nervously, moving into the open. Paul's eyes bored into him coldly.
"We're finished here," he said. "It's time to go back to Rocket Headquarters." James paled.
"Will... will the boss let me live?" he asked hesitantly.
"Who knows," Paul said, shrugging uncaringly. "That's for him to decide. I'll put in a word for you, but to be honest, a couple of days work doesn't exactly make up for ten years of incompet-." He paused as his Poketch vibrated in his pocket. Grimacing in annoyance, he fished it out and punched in a few buttons.
"Text message," he muttered as he read the screen. His eyes narrowed and he stuffed the Poketch back into his pocket, along with the Dark Ball. "Right, change of plan," he said, stretching his legs. "We've got a stop to make on the way back."
"Where?" James asked.
"Azalea Town," Paul answered. He set off at a run through the forest. Sighing, James shifted the plate under his shirt so that it rested more comfortably against his stomach, and then followed Paul into the undergrowth.
"So you're telling me that instead of travelling on a luxury cruise ship, we have to struggle through a heck of a lot of untamed wilderness, fighting off all of these wild Pokemon?" May asked, her arms crossed and her foot tapping the ground as she leaned against a wall.
"Uh.. yeah, that's pretty much it," Ash said from his bed with a nervous grin.
"And why exactly do we want to do that?" she asked. Ash sighed and looked around the Pokemon Centre bedroom where Brock, May, Rey, and himself were staying, trying to come up with an answer.
"It's been a long time since I was in the field; and I mean actually out training where there aren't many people. I'm tired of being stuck near cities and being mobbed by the press and hundreds of fans. It won't be any different on the boat than it is here in Viridian."
"At least on the boat you have a shower and a bed," May pointed out. "Besides, what's wrong with training in the forest on the way to Vermillion?"
"It's still too close to the city," Ash said. He paused and tried to think of the best way to word how he was feeling. "It's not... it's not pure enough," he finished.
"Pure enough?" May asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"Vermillion's only a day or two away from Viridian. The route's pretty busy, and you're never far away from all of the city grime, even if you take Diglett's Cave. I want to feel a clean breeze. I want to walk through forests, not parks. I want to see clear streams, not sewer lines." His voice had a pleading note in it, and May sighed relentingly.
"Okay then, Ash, it's fine by me if we go north through Tohjo Falls." Then she smiled. "I can understand how you feel. I love the city, but after spending so much time travelling I just get urges to spend some time away from the cities too."
"Thanks, May," Ash smiled back, giving her a quick hug. There was a shattering sound and Ash and May leapt back, their faces both scarlet. Dawn looked back at them, a broken glass of juice at her feet.
"Oops," she said, beginning to blush. "Umm, sorry... I think I'll just go over here now," she indicated, pointing in the direction of the lobby. Ash groaned and held his head, collapsing back to his bed.
"Brilliant," he muttered. May giggled, and he turned to look at her in exasperation. "What?" he asked.
"Your face,' she grinned. "You look so embarrassed!"
"I'm not surprised," he muttered. "Now Dawn's going to think that there's something going on between us."
"Maybe there is," May said without thinking. A full ten seconds of silence passed in which Ash and May just looked at each other. As she realized what she had said, May's cheeks began to resemble the shade of ripe tomatoes. She felt sure that somebody could have toasted bread on them if they wanted to at that moment.
"Do you... do you really mean that, May?" Ash asked quietly.
"Well... yeah. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't, Ash," she responded.
"Wow, this is kinda awkward now, huh?" he said after another brief silence. May knelt down next to him and looked him in the eyes.
"Only if you make it that way," she said quietly.
Ash gazed into her eyes, losing himself in the deep sapphire pools that radiated light, joy, compassion, and love. He didn't know how it started, or who began it, but when he regained some semblance of organized thought he realized that he and May were locked together in a tight embrace with their eyes closed, their lips glued together, and their tongues on fire.
As always, please review!