Several days later
Ash was sitting alone in his hospital room. It was 7AM and he was waiting for the routine control that was taking place every day at this hour. He was nervous, because he was waiting to get the results of his X-ray examination. His chance of leaving this place depended on them.
Also, May hasn`t arrived yet. She would come to the hospital every day at 6PM, but today she didn`t come at this hour. Ash explained to himself, that she had a lot to do in the house. But still, somewhere in his mind there was a feeling that something wasn`t right. And he had a feeling that he forgot about something very important. He wasn`t able to remember what it was, because someone opened the door to his room. He hoped that it was the brunette, but a white suit and different gender of the visitor instantly lowered his expectations.
"Good morning Ash, how do you feel today?" the man asked him. It was doctor Milito, who was taking care of the boy since he woke up recently.
"Pretty good, enough to already leave, I hope" Ash said with a smile.
"Let me check you, so I can tell if your healing process is finally done" the doctor said and started doing control. It took ten minutes to end.
"Alright, just by looking at you I can say that you are in good condition, I controlled your heart – it is working correctly…" the man in a white suit told the raven-haired boy who was still sitting on a bed in his hospital room and looking at him curiously. "Here I have X-ray images of your body, everything is perfect… Your wounds are healing quite well, so, since tomorrow is Christmas Day, I can release you from the hospital, so you can spend it with your family"
When Ash heard the last sentence, he sighed of relief. In some way, he was happy that he was in a coma for such a long time, because he started to hate staying in this building after only a few days. He didn`t want to know how would he survive in here if he wasn`t sleeping that long.
"Thank you doctor, for everything" the boy said, grateful. The doctor nodded at him with a smile and slowly left the room. Ash immediately jumped out of his bed and ran to the shower to wash himself. After that he quickly packed his belongings from the room and ran out of the hospital, remembering to say goodbye to all the nurses and doctors and to thank them for what they`ve done for him since he got there. He knew he owed his life to them. But there were more people that needed special thanks.
May and Serena.
If they hadn`t been so stubborn in rescuing him, he wouldn`t have escaped the adventure in Team Rocket`s base. Also, those women would always put their life on risk for him, and he deeply appreciated it, even if he didn`t like it much. He knew that they were the closest people to him, not counting his mother, of course. But he had a certain feeling for both of them. A feeling that was very unique among the feelings that he had for his other friends.
A feeling that could not be given to both of them.
And Ash knew that he had to make a choice between them. And it hurt him so badly to even think about it.
"May, can you finally wake up and help us with the preparing for Christmas?" Caroline yelled out of the kitchen, hoping that her shout would make her daughter come down the stairs. It was 10AM and the brunette still was in her room.
"It isn`t like her to sleep that long, Norman" she said to her husband, who was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. He looked at his wife with annoyance.
"Relax honey, let her sleep a bit longer than always" he said. "Remember that the last few days she was very energetic, it is only natural that now she is sleepy and doesn`t want to get out of bed" with those words he started reading the newspaper again. Caroline nodded and returned to washing dishes from breakfast, but she could not stop thinking about her daughter and she turned off the faucet.
"I`m going to check on her" she said and before Norman could try to stop her, she was out of the kitchen, walking quickly upstairs. She knocked quietly three times, but when she got no response, she opened the door. There was no light switched on, also the blind on the window was lowered so the sun wouldn`t make its way to the room through the glass. Caroline closed the door after she went through and she slowly raised the blind, only to see May lying on the bed. The girl had her eyes opened and she was looking blankly at one point. This point was on her bookshelf, more precisely, she was looking at a small box that was standing on the bookshelf. Caroline knew what was there even without opening it.
"I knew that you weren`t sleeping, May" she said while sitting next to her daughter. Caroline looked at May and the view in front of her made her heart hurt.
May was crying.
"Oh, honey" the woman said and hugged her child with love. May sobbed quietly into her mother`s chest for quite a long time, before she was able to calm down. After that they were sitting in a complete silence, which was regularly disturbed by May`s sniffing.
"I think that you should finally tell him, sweetie" Caroline said after a while. "Keeping it in yourself is slowly destroying you."
"I… I know mum, but I don`t know if… if he feels the same about me" May sobbed again while looking at a certain box. Caroline smiled secretly.
"Even if he doesn`t love you back, it is better to not lie to him this time, don`t you think?" Caroline asked, hoping for honest answer. May nodded and got up from her bed. She walked to the bathroom to take care of her face. Caroline watched her walk away and when May closed the door, the mother stood up from bed and slowly walked to the bookshelf, on which a box was standing. She opened it and smiled at what was inside.
"Then again, after what you had done for him recently, there is no chance that he doesn`t love you" she said quietly to herself. She closed the box and left May`s room, still having a small smile on her face.
Although Ash really wanted to come to visit the Maples, he could not come there yet. He was sitting in a milk-bar, where he ordered a breakfast. It wasn`t something sophisticated , only two pancakes. He wanted to forget about his dilemma for at least a second, but it was impossible. His mind was fully occupied by thoughts about May and Serena. He was so desperate to decide what to do that he even considered talking to Brock for a moment. He quickly decided that it was a stupid idea, since he wanted it to be his own decision. He would still sit there and think, not even touching his breakfast for a longer time, if his phone didn`t start ringing. He picked it from the table and saw at the number which was calling.
It was from Kalos.
Serena.
"Hello?" Ash answered the phone call.
"Hi Ash, it`s me" Serena said, but without any life. It really scared the boy.
"Serena? Something happened?" he asked.
"No, nothing really, but I have an important message for you" she said.
"Okay, go on" Ash raised his eyebrow in curiosity.
"You see, tomorrow is the last day when you can take the challenge and battle with Elite Four and Diantha. I explained your situation to them, but the rules are very strict and they could do nothing to make even the smallest exception for you."
"I see…" Ash answered.
"I don`t know if your health condition is good enough to even think about travelling, but I felt I must tell you about it. Because I knew that the title of the champion was important for you."
"Yeah, to be honest, after winning the League I totally forgot about this part" Ash facepalmed. How could he be so ignorant to not remember about something like that?! It was probably the thing that was bothering him from the beginning of the day. "Thank you so much Serena, what would I do without you!"
"You don`t need to thank me, that`s what friends are for, right?" Serena giggled, but her voice suddenly became less emotional. "But I have to tell you one thing."
"Yeah?" Ash asked, his heart skipped a bit.
"If you beat the Elite Four and Diantha, you become the Champion of the Kalos region"
"… I think I knew about it before. What about it?" Ash asked.
"The point is, you become the champion of the KALOS region. When you beat Diantha, you will have to stay there until the next tournament, or even longer. You will have to be on every event the government want you on" Serena said. Ash felt that she was doing everything to dissuade him from the idea of challenging the current champion. And he wanted to know why.
"So, what is wrong with that? I mean, I like travelling, but it shouldn`t be a problem to just stay at one place for a longer period of time…"
"Ash, can I be honest with you?" Serena asked, her voice was shaking a little. Ash had a bad feeling about it.
"Sure, you can tell me everything" he responded.
Serena sighed quietly.
"I don`t think that it`s the best idea for you to come here"
That sentence made Ash pretty shocked.
"But… why do you think so?"
"Because I know that you should stay in Hoenn, with May. It is the best option for you, believe me." Serena sounded sad while saying this. "She loves you more than anything in this world, and you deserve such a great women like her in your life. And I know that you have a certain feelings for her too. Coming here, to Kalos, would only mean that you would live in separate places, because I don`t think that May would leave her family."
"..." Ash didn`t say anything at first, because his mind had to analyze everything he had just heard. "How… do you know about how she feels about me?" He knew about May`s feelings for him. He only wanted to know about how Serena gained this information.
"Ash… I know that she loves you, because… I`m in love with you. Since the beginning of our journey around Kalos. That`s why I was acting weirdly all the time. Maybe you weren`t thinking about it a lot, but my behavior in your last days in my homeland was awful. I was jealous of May and the level of your familiarity with her. I saw in which direction it was going and I tried to do everything to not let it happen. But what I did was making a fool out of myself. Thanks to you and May, I matured and now I see that what I really want, is you to be happy. And I know that you will be happy only with her by your side."
Ash remained silent, analyzing Serena`s words.
"And, I think that living in one country with a girl who has feelings for you isn`t a great idea, because you would often think about me and feel bad about your choice. Believe me, I really don`t want you to surrender from the battle. I want you to make a decision that you won`t regret ever in your life. That`s all, I said everything I wanted to say, think about what I said, but the last word is yours. Bye, take care" and with those words Serena hung up.
Ash put the phone in his pocket and looked at the already cold pancakes. With an uneasiness on his face he started to eat them. This day was going to be the one of the worst days of his life.
He thought about everything once more, and he was able to make a decision he had to make. He took Serena`s advice to heart and he decided to do what was best for him, probably for the first time in his life.
"Ash?" You wanted me to come here?" a voice could be heard at the biggest quay in Petalburg. This place was fantastic to be at, especially at the evening, when the sun was hiding in the sea. And Ash chose it wisely, especially for this moment.
"Yeah, I did, May" the boy responded with a weird anxiousness in his voice. May started feeling weird when she noticed his uneasy face.
"You look sad" she pointed out. "If it`s because I didn`t come to the hospital this morning, I`m sorry, I overslept today, I had a hard night. If it`s something different, feel free to tell me"
"No, it`s not about the hospital, in fact, the doctor let me out for good today morning" the boy responded to the girl. He looked at her and he immediately started understanding, how hard was this conversation going to be.
Ash looked at the waves on the sea. They were moving so peacefully and with so much grace and charm. He would always calm down while looking at them. This time, however, was different.
"To be honest, I wanted to tell you something." Ash started, not looking at her. "Today Serena told me that tomorrow is the last day when I can challenge Diantha and achieve the title of champion in Kalos. She also told me what are the responsibilities of the champion, and she revealed her true feelings for me. She also told me about yours and suggested me not to take the challenge and stay here. And I made the decision"
May listened to everything perfectly, and from smiled girl that came to the quay she turned into a bundle of nerves. In her head there were two scenarios, both of them possible to happen. She was grateful to Serena for telling Ash those words, even for telling him about her own feelings towards the boy. Sure, she was surprised at first about it, but she still wanted to reveal her secret for Ash today, so it wasn`t a big deal.
"And I decided… to not come back to Kalos to get the title…" Ash turned to her.
After hearing those words May should be overwhelmed by joy and happiness. It sounded like pretty good news for her.
But the look on Ash`s face made her think otherwise.
"… but I`m not going to stay here either."
May lowered her head and looked at the ground. She should see it coming from a long time. She nodded with understanding . She really wanted to just run away and cry on a bench under some trees. She turned to go back from where she had come there earlier, but Ash stopped her by catching her hand.
"May…" he looked deeply into her eyes. "I don`t want you to imagine any stupid things. The truth is, that I really love you both, in a way that is different than the way I love my other friends. And right now, I really can`t choose one out of you. I need some time alone to properly prepare for the right moment. I hope you understand."
"I do" May said. She smiled to him and hugged him, understanding what he meant. He nodded at her and, after waving her a goodbye, quickly walked away. She looked as he disappeared in the dark of the city with peace in her heart. Why was she so calm now?
Because she, like Serena, understood that she wanted him to be happy. And she knew that one day, she will get the answer. Even if it wasn`t going to be the answer she wants to hear, she would still wait for it.
All right, this story can be finally marked as done, after nearly a year. I`m pretty glad that it ended like that, and I`ll tell you why.
Since the beginning of the story, I really wanted it to be an Advanceshipping story. It is visible till the last chapter, but as you see, it ended in a different way that I have originally planned. I had some problems with writing the last chapter, which is, why it took so long to post it. I was thinking about this story for quite a long time, trying to decide which ending would be the best. And after talking with some people who pointed out a few things to me, I chose this ending. You can interpret it how you want, I`m not going to write more chapters explaining Ash`s choice. And there will be no sequel for this story either.
Since the beginning of writing this story, I wanted to create something different. This story was meant to have something, that would stand out this story from the others on this site. And I`m sure that this kind of ending is something different :D
I realize that the Pokemon in this story had a poor role and I occasionally forgot about them after using them in the battles etc. I know it may look bad, but I really wanted to focus mainly on emotions and feelings of the characters. This is why Pikachu "magically" disappears somewhere, and I don`t want to edit every chapter to change it, because it would ruin my conception, which by the way was hard to work at. I spent many evenings thinking about something that could be added in this story, and I leave it to you to rate my efforts.
I wanted to apologize for grammar errors in the text. Those were visible mainly in the first chapters, but I rewrited them to make them look better (it doesn`t mean that there are no errors now, I`m sure that there are a lot :D). I like English, but it isn`t my native language. I`m still learning, and this story really helped me to improve my abilities. And this is the most important thing in writing.
I really appreciated every review from you, especially when they had some criticism in them. You really helped me in improving this story in many aspects.
That`s all I have to say. Thank you for reading this story and staying with me till its very end. God bless you all.