Chapter 37: New Divide
Everybody was finishing up their breakfast that morning. May and Ash had finally reached their peak, Misty ate the last of her portion and Drew had wrapped up his breakfast as well. The green-haired coordinator was rather sore from yesterday and May barely let him get out of bed for breakfast until Misty and Ash convinced her that everything would be alright. From that point, Drew figured that if May almost hadn't allowed him to leave the bed than there was no chance that'd she'd allow him to go outside, unless he can miraculously persuade her, which he thought was a shot later on.
Drew was planning to be persistent about getting out of the house, he never liked staying bed. If he couldn't go training, he'd at least try to get some fresh air while sitting on the grass.
"Good thing we took a shower before eating Ash," the red-head stated to the raven-haired teen about showering before eating breakfast to leave quickly.
"I'll say, this way we get to the laboratory a lot quicker," Ash smiled as he stretched, while May and Drew stayed in the house for today, the pair was going off for some training with Pikachu.
May wondered what Ash and Misty's training session would be like today and questioned the duo, "Guys, do you know how the plans for training will work out today?"
"Yep, Misty and I discussed about it earlier in the morning," the raven-haired trainer told the brunette.
"And what's that?" Drew questioned the pair curiously, if he couldn't go training. He might as well just find out what they were going to do.
"We were just going to train individually with the Pokémon at the ranch," the red-head gym leader explained to Drew about their plans. Drew quickly acknowledged and thought how this is something they had only done once before, he wondered how much he would be missing out from it since he was kept in this house like a prisoner.
"Misty if my parents let me do that thing, we'll go to that place when you come back from training," May spoke discreetly to Misty, but she and Drew knew exactly what May was referring too since they already knew about this.
"Sure May," the gym leader smiled at her as Drew watched them talk.
The only ones who seemed awfully confused were Ash and Pikachu, who had still not known about the news May had in store. Ash asked them about this, "What are you guys talking about?"
May knew Ash could ask about this at one point, late at night she had woken up to find Misty awake as well. She had remembered that she had fallen asleep and Misty was up reading a book she had brought with her in case she was unable to sleep because of her ability to stay up really late at times. Together, they had discussed about the plans for today.
Misty was a bit startled about May waking up, but then they talked about how she had spent her time with Drew. It was a very simplistic conversation and as they talked about it him, May brought up the fact that, she told Drew about possibly staying here in Kanto, much to Misty's surprise.
The water user asked about how he took it? The brunette assured her that Drew had no negative reaction to it and accepted the news rather calmly. Misty had raised an eyebrow; she almost found it hard to believe that Drew was taking it so well. Then they recalled that Ash was the only one out of the four that had remained unaware of all this. The duo then discussed the plan on how to keep this from Ash until she had done everything that was necessary; they even came up with a fib for the story.
May was the one that had responded to Ash's question, "I was going to ask my parents if I could use some money to go shopping around here, it's one thing I hadn't done until now and I thought it'd be great if Misty could accompany me." The brunette smiled innocently as she told the lie to Ash, as Misty nodded and Drew was a bit surprised at May's ability to lie to her best friend.
"Oh, well from what I know. There isn't much shopping to do around here," the black-haired trainer informed the coordinator about the lack of stores that they have in cities like Petalburg.
"That's just you Ash, I bet I could find something I want here too," the sapphire-eyed teen giggled at Ash as he found himself a bit confused, while Pikachu had also just accepted May's response since it did make some sense. Misty was impressed at May's talent to get out of this one and Drew almost believed that May might have done that because it actually sounded like the real deal, even though it was a lie.
"Well, I guess we should get going," the gym leader from Cerulean City got up and left her plate on the kitchen sink with Ash as well.
Delia had been up showering, since May was going to stay in the house with Drew, she volunteered to help Ash's mother with anything she needed and the loving mother quickly accepted due to the fact that having four teens in the house wasn't an easy job. With her son traveling for several years now, she had gotten used to being the only resident along with Mr. Mime in the house.
"Alright guys, I think this is where we head off," Ash told the coordinators as Pikachu climbed on to his shoulder.
"Pikachu," the mouse smiled at the duo staying home as the two teens began leaving.
"Well okay guys, we'll see you later then," the brunette waved goodbye to the Pokémon and the teens as they began exiting the house.
"Have fun training," the green-haired teen next to May spoke with a taste of jealousy in his voice as he simply waved farewell to the trio he would see later on in the day.
"Later guys, we'll see you in the afternoon," the cerulean-eyed teen next to Ash waved to them as they walked off.
"Pika pi!" Pikachu also waved back to the pair as he smiled.
"See ya guys, tell my mom we said goodbye," Ash smiled cheerfully as he looked back at the two friends a bit behind now. There was still a sense of fear inside Ash, he was relieved thanks to what Drew said yesterday, but it wasn't Drew that he was worrying about now. It was May…she has been showing her rival a lot more affection than she used to before they found him, two days ago and to make things worse, they were leaving tomorrow. If they were to ever see each other again, there was feeling in Ash's gut that made him believe Drew and May could be a couple, but he quickly rubbed it off. The future was full of surprises and he should drop his paranoia for now, he'd confide in Misty about this later and she'd probably want to discuss the little peck he had given her last night.
Pikachu hadn't also forgotten about any of this and had it on his list of things to do for the day. Misty was wondering that training wouldn't last very late like other days since she had promised May to go with her to the port, she was still amazed that had gotten away with untruthful response May had given him.
Drew and May soon vanished from sight as they kept walking on. There was a bit of silence between them until Ash decided to start a conversation with the red-head, "So you're really going shopping with May?"
"Yeah, she wants to explore and she would like a girl to come along and I wouldn't mind," Misty carried on the lie the two girls had built on their own.
"Oh," the raven-haired trainer just answered to her.
Misty found Ash calmer than usual, he wasn't acting like an antisocial type of person, but he wasn't very excited like usual. She just knew what might have been bothering him, "You think you can handle Drew and May being alone again like this after some time?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal," the messy haired teen walked as he lied.
Misty along with Pikachu, weren't buying it, but the red-head knew if she couldn't take it out of him now, then she could do it later. Ash would spit it out eventually, a personal thing on her mind was the fact that Ash had given her a peck on the cheek last night and it had left her almost dumbstruck for the rest of the night. She wasn't able to sleep until she spoken to May about their plan, what left her confused is why did he do it? Didn't he like May? More importantly why was she taking this so literal? Last night, she had felt so great yet so dumb about that incident, but why, the only reason she would take this so strongly was if she…had feelings for him, but that was impossible. She had dropped those feelings a long time ago, around the time Misty had gone to Hoenn to reunite with Ash and Brock as well as meeting May and her little brother, Max.
The ties of friendship were becoming very fragile among the four teens in Kanto and that sensation was all over Pallet Town, by this point Pikachu had witnessed how dramatic humans can really be about things such as love and he thought Brock was the worst love case he could ever see in his life.
Some point later…
Drew was on the couch watching some cooking show on Poffins and Pokeblock. It had been an hour and a half since Ash and Misty had left, he had changed in to his usual attire as well as May who was just helping Delia around the kitchen. He watched the cooking show for a second until he got bored and continued flipping the channels. The emerald-eyed coordinator groaned at the killing boredom he felt inside. He could at least be on the exterior part of the house just for fresh air because he hated staying indoors.
Finally, he lost his patience and turned off the T.V and began thinking about something that was on his mind for some time since he got back here. That succinct conversation he had with Ash last night really made him think about the difference between the Drew that first got to Pallet Town and the Drew that returned to Pallet Town. He was willing to do whatever it took to take Ash down and have May, but now it was different.
Now, he had agreed to a friendly rivalry with Ash, but it really didn't feel like one for him anymore. After last night, he realized that maybe he should just dropout because Ash's friendly attitude to him last night, showed that the Pallet teen was willing to get along with people that are or were as spiteful as he was. He clearly deserved May more than him, everything he had done for the pair from Hoenn showed that he was a much more capable companion in life than Drew could be.
Ash had rescued Drew; he had convinced him to stay, despite all the havoc he had caused amongst the group. Ash had comforted May in her time of need, he had taken her for ice cream, to the park, to the carnival, and he accompanied May in the search for him, he was clearly the winner, but for some reason May wasn't paying too much attention to Ash since he got here and he knew it must've been killing the trainer inside, but Drew knew that inside May she was waiting to tell Ash about all this.
The green-eyed coordinator was snapped out of his trance by the voice of his rival right behind me. "You alright Drew?" the Petalburg native questioned the boy about his status.
Drew sighed, "May, I would at least like to get some fresh air. At least let me lie down on the tree behind Ash's house." The coordinator took this chance to complain to the female and put on a look that begged for some fresh air.
May had to admit that she didn't like to be locked up in a house all day. She looked at Drew, who had a face of misery; this looked like the first time Drew might've been locked up, according to the look on his face. They both shared the same spite towards this experience, even though she enjoyed helping Mrs. Ketchum with the kitchen. On the other hand Drew was hurt and anything could happen, she didn't know if she could risk it.
Drew knew that she was uncertain, but he just couldn't sit on the couch all day. "May please, you know you don't want to stay in here all day as much as I do. The tree is just a few feet away and if anything ever happened we could come back here in a rush, besides we have our Pokémon. I could use one of my Pokémon as a guard if anything happens." May's rival took out a Pokeball and showed it to her, assuring her that nothing would happen and even promised.
The brunette sighed, if they had a guard and were that close to the house then she really couldn't see the real harm done. "Ok, fine, but we won't go anywhere besides the tree."
A smile crossed Drew's face and spoke, "Thank you May." He knew he would have his way at some point as he smiled slyly and flicked his hair. The male from Hoenn was able to walk better today and no longer felt the pain on his leg thanks to the medical attention for it.
They both walked in to Delia's kitchen and informed the mother about what they were going to do. "Delia, we're going to lie under the shade of the tree behind the house," May told the mother of Ash politely.
"Yeah, we'll be back soon," Drew added in to May's statement.
Delia put on her signature grin and nodded, "Ok kids, just remember to be careful and come back if you need anything."
"Thank you," May thanked the older female as well as Drew and the two left to the door that left the house.
Ash's mother just washed the dishes and felt the strange feeling in the air. The friends Ash had made were really something else, but they also one of the reasons he might have been going through all these kind of emotions he might not have experienced in his life and was now experiencing it in just a week. She was fully aware of May's possible extended due to wondering the halls late at night to go to the bathroom to fetch something and had heard the girls say all these type of things since they thought they were the only ones awake. From what she heard, the atmosphere in her house was now completely different, especially because of the attitude Drew had now. She was also aware of Ash being the only one not to know and knew why, she just hoped things worked out somehow for all of them though.
Drew and May were walking to the field behind the house and saw a peaceful tree that stood alone. There were no Pokémon by here, probably due to the fact that it was by the town, but it seemed very quiet and a good place to relax.
They approached the tree and slowly lied down on the trunk of the tree. It was big enough for May and Drew to lie down on it and sit next to each other. Drew closed his eyes for a few moments and embraced the fresh air of the outdoors; the Pokémon in the air soared peacefully and the winds gently brushed the tree and the blades of grass surrounding Pallet Town.
May took note of Drew's relaxation, she was glad that he had calmed down and was enjoying nature. She could tell how upset he was in the house and she could do this for him at least, "You look really calm Drew."
"Yeah May, I felt I could suffocate inside. I was never the type of guy to stay inside all day," the green-haired coordinator flicked his hair with a smirk.
"Your hurt Drew, you just got back, and I'll do anything to satisfy you," the brunette smiled sweetly at her rival and clutched his hand with her hand.
Drew saw that she was holding his hand and found it unexpected. He just grinned at her gesture; it was just innocent hand-holding. "I'm glad you're here May, you are willing to give up training to aid me and you have been so attentive to all my needs," the emerald-eyed teen thanked her for everything that she was doing and squeezed her hand a bit.
"Your my friend Drew, I'm supposed to look after you and I've missed you so much. Drew, I actually thought I might not ever see you again, but I would look for you till the ends of the Earth, I wanted to see you at least one last time, no matter what kind of person you were," the coordinator from Petalburg City explained to her rival.
The male coordinator could never understand why May would do such a thing, he was a hateful monster the days before he left and she would still seek him out. "May, why? I left you at that point, and I had no intention of coming back…"
"I don't care Drew, I know deep down that it wasn't you and the frustration had built up to make you that by force. I care about too much you to let you go like that and I'll make sure you don't go again because I'll be right beside you," the sapphire-eyed female looked at Drew tenderly.
Her rival looked in to May's eyes and saw how pure her heart was, she was willing to give him chance after chance. Other than Ash, May was the only other person that had openly admitted that she would give him yet another chance at redemption. Her blue eyes were glistening and the girl as a whole looked beautiful, there was no one else like her.
The beating of the each coordinator's respective heart increased significantly for some reason and soon they were only gazing at each other intensely. May moved her eyes and analyzed the look in Drew's eyes and leaned in for a kiss. Drew followed her action and was leaning towards her lips, the brunette thought that this was it; Drew would never leave her ever again because the deal would be sealed with a kiss.
Drew, however felt as though he was doing this without a reason, it just felt like a mysterious force was controlling him like a puppet. What was he doing? He couldn't, if May fell in love with him, he couldn't grant her the same happiness Ash gave her, the type of way Ash made her feel was unique and even though things did work out, Ash would always be the better man, he had faith in him. Was she doing this just to be with him forever? That couldn't be possible, May would never find eternal joy because she is forcing herself to love the wrong person, Drew had learned by now that he would never be May's type and doing this would be her way of assuring herself that he would never leave again.
He scarred her with the first experience of her losing a friend as important as him, but he would never be able to be as committed as Ash, his rival for attaining May's love. The LaRousse native had hurt her too much to accept himself as May's lover; he then remembered how he had almost left May again without even speaking to her that morning Ash had caught him. Ash was the major reason that convinced him to stay, he begged him to do it for May, but Drew had his doubts about it until he agreed to settle the rivalry once and for all, but in 24 hours he had learned that Ash was clearly better after hearing everything he had done and had seen him do. The conclusion was, he could no longer belong to May even if it would take some time to actually accept this; Ash Ketchum was the winner in his mind…
Drew's eyes widened and realized how close he was too kissing May, who still hadn't pushed herself away. "May, stop…" the coordinator pushed himself away from May and went back to leaning on the tree.
May opened her eyes and saw that Drew had backed away, she was immensely confused. Why had he had done that, being her lover was his goal his whole time in Kanto, unless he had given up on her, "What's wrong Drew?"
"I can't May," the green-haired teen told her seriously.
The brunette was struck by his words, did he not want this? "Why not?"
"I just can't May," the rival turned away from her. Suddenly, he was regretting coming outside with May, if they had stayed inside this might not have happened.
"That's not a reason!" the brunette exclaimed at the boy.
Drew shut his eyes for a few seconds and thought about what to do. He opened his eyes and thought it was time to confess and tell the truth once and for all, this had been endured for much too long; he had to accept the fact that it was time dropout he just couldn't keep up the act of sounding like he had the will to keep trying to get May's heart because Ash had already showed how much more compassionate he was. This next week would only be Ash and May, he was sure of it.
"Do you really want to hear it?" the green-haired spoke sadly and saw the girl nod at him with curiosity. He sighed, "May, I know that the whole reason behind the trip to Pallet Town was to finally tie the loose ends between him and you, to become the couple you had always dreamt about in Kanto. You love the wrong person, you love Ash and the reason you extended your trip was to stay here and finish it up with Ash."
May gasped, she squeezed the part where her heart would be and felt her body strain itself. She looked at Drew, her rival had caught on and revealed it to her at least, but was she sure that it was all about Ash or did Drew really conquer her heart in the end, regardless of every conflict spawned by him.
She took a look at him again, his eyes were sad and she remembered that Drew was a very important person she never wanted to lose; their friendship was strong yet fragile at the same time. May didn't want to see Drew leave again; she wanted him with her always. She then spoke; her face looked like she had determined who she loved, finally. "Drew it's you…" the brunette closed her eyes and prepared to lean for the kiss that was never sealed.
Drew got up, not wanting to kiss her like this. The brown-haired Hoenn girl was surprised at his action yet again, the green-haired teen frowned at her, and he couldn't kiss her like this. "May, I'm not the right person for you, I hurt you and left you, and something I never told you was that I almost abandoned you again yesterday, morning."
The brunette was shocked to hear that Drew had almost left them again, "Why Drew?"
"Because May, after everything I didn't think I deserved a second chance at true redemption. I was going to leave a note telling you that I had left and when you woke up that morning, it explained the reason why I had already been dressed. I was going to head back to Hoenn without you; I thought no one would want a friend like me around, until I decided that it wasn't the right thing to do in the end."
Drew's rival got up and frowned at him, but then formed a smile and held Drew's hands. "Drew, it doesn't matter if you almost left. I'm just glad that you realized on your own what was best for everyone and that was stay here with the friends you could be happy with."
The boy from LaRousse City let out a deep breath, "I didn't decide this on my own. I would have left if Ash hadn't woken up."
May raised an eyebrow, "What does Ash have to do with this?"
"He convinced me to stay May, he begged me to stay because he said you were extremely worried about me when I was gone and if I left again you would be torn. Ash was the one that reminded me why I came here and that was to stop you from falling in love with him and get you with me, but these days I noticed that Ash was the better man all along, he is the one you belong with May."
His sapphire-eyed friend shook her head sideways and wanted to release the tears forming from stress. Drew shook his head up and down, "May, you say you love me, but I know it isn't true because I can feel it inside of you, you're uncertain about it in the end. The only reason you think you love is because you think if you don't I'll leave you again, but May I promise I won't ever forget about you and I won't ever leave you again because I know what it is to value a friend." May's rival grabbed May's head and kissed her on the forehead.
The brunette stood still only a tear escaped from her eyes and looked at Drew, the kiss on her forehead made her feel warm, but did he make a point. Had she become so paranoid of losing Drew again, that she thought that if she loved him there would be guarantee that he would never leave again?
"Remember those days I was gone? Think about how Ash did his best to cheer you up, think about the carnival, the ice cream, the park, think of all the moments he made you smile in a sad time. He cared for you all of those days, the affection between you two must've been more prominent than ever, I know he's in love with you May and you have to realize that he's the one you came for and the one you're leaving with, he's you beloved."
May recalled the ice cream, the park, the carnival, the times they slept together, the times they had embraced each other. All those times they had been there for each other, when they both lost a friend for a while. There was no other feeling like it, Ash had filled the empty hole in her for some time and did his best efforts to please her, and he was the one after all…
Drew gazed at her and smiled; the brunette looked at him and gave a sheepish smile. "Thank you Drew, for opening my eyes," as the girl spoke the boy leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek, making her blush.
"You're welcome May; I think I've had enough fresh air for now. What do you say about going back in and watch T.V, a movie, or eat if you'd like?" the emerald-eyed coordinator grinned at her sweetly.
"I'd like that…" the brunette smirked at her friend; it was a good way to kill time and also call her parents for permission, and see where that leads May. The pair then walked back to Ash's house and was relieved that they had at last solved one of the largest issues that had been so conflictive since they arrived.
"Snorlax use Hyper Beam on the Tauros to stop the multiple Take Downs!" Ash snapped at Snorlax and his gigantic Pokémon opened wide to charge one of the most devastating attacks known.
The Tauros were coming straight at Snorlax with a full power, combined force of Take Down. They showed no signs of fear towards the Hyper Beam and began charging much faster, Ash thought they were building up more strength and speed for a much more powerful attack.
Without warning, the herd of Tauros was surrounded by the powerful energy produced by Giga Impact. Ash had learned about all of the Tauros knowing this attack the days before Misty, May, and Drew had arrived, but he was impressed at the way the Tauros were using it now. It was the most powerful form of Giga Impact he had ever seen, never had he witnessed a herd all use it simultaneously.
Ash and Pikachu, who had also been observing turned to Snorlax who showed no signs of worry. The two species of Normal-type Pokémon had finally gathered enough to power to go head on.
"Snorlax!" the huge Normal-type unleashed Hyper Beam at the herd, while the Tauros let out a noise that seemed to be their way of declaring triumphant. Giga Impact and Hyper Beam collided to create a tremendous explosion that had been heard from another part of the ranch, where another battler was training.
"Ok Corsola use Stone Edge on Noctowl and Swellow!" a red-head girl screamed and her tiny, but powerful Johto Pokémon unleashed a barrage of sharp stones at the pair of Flying-type Pokémon.
These two birds from different regions had battled against each other, but now they had teamed up to test their combined strength on Misty's Pokémon. The two birds smirked cunningly and turned their wings in to steel and smashed through the stone with carefulness yet agile at the same time and the two had shattered the mighty rock move in to nothing, but pebbles.
Misty groaned, "You want to play it like that huh? Alright Corsola, use a full power Ice Beam that can shoot them right out of the sky!"
Corsola gather power and let the Ice Beam loose, Swellow and Noctowl had trained for moments like this. The Hoenn and Johto Pokémon had learned from Ash to train a lot, but specifically on their weaknesses such as Rock and Ice-types and they appeared like they were ready for the Ice Beam.
The pair then dived down towards Corsola at full speed, it was like two predator missiles coming at once, but the birds were both using Brave Bird instead and were encircled by a fierce aura. Brave Bird and Ice Beam then clashed to provoke yet another explosion that was on par with the one caused by Ash's Normal-type Pokémon, the two teens were clearly going all out today with training.