Once the duo had a night long rest at the Pokemon Centre, Ash and Brock made their way to professor Birch's lab to see if they could learn a little bit about the Hoenn region from him. Shortly after they entered the lab they noticed that there was a girl dressed in red standing by the professor, who appeared to be explaining the basics of being a pokemon trainer to her. Neither of them had noticed the two trainers come in, as the girl was clearly dozing off from hearing Birch's words and the professor himself was so focused on explaining every detail. Trying not to chuckle from the silly sight, Ash chose to intervene.
"Hey, so are you here to pick your first Pokemon?"
The girl nodded, "Yeah, are you?"
"Nope," Ash shook his head. "But I haven't been to Hoenn before and I've been wanting to travel here, collect badges and participate in the league for a while now."
"Ah, you must be Ash then," professor Birch smiled. "It's good to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, professor!" Ash grinned, then pointed at Brock. "This is my friend Brock: he used to be the gym leader of Pewter city, but now he's aiming to be a Pokemon breeder."
"Hey, pleasure to meet you," Brock shook hands with Birch.
"You too," Birch acknowledged him. "So Ash, I'm guessing that you want to see the starter pokemon?"
He answered excitedly, "Of course I do, you know I love pokemon!"
"Clearly," Birch sweatdropped at remembering Ash's battles in several pokemon leagues. "Well, they're this way."
"Hey, I never got your name," Ash stated, trying to start a conversation. "By they way, are you excited to choose your starter pokemon?"
"Sure," The girl rubbed her neck with uncertainty. "I'm May, by the way."
Picking up on how unsure her response was (mainly with his aura), Ash smiled, "You don't have to become a pokemon trainer, not everyone does. Some people prefer to travel and just have fun with pokemon, whilst others like to work or perform with them. In fact, some people don't even end up liking Pokemon at all and that's okay. It doesn't really matter what you end up doing and that's the whole point of having a journey- to know what it is you really want to do for the rest of your life."
Stunned at how quickly he recognised her emotions, May replied, "Thanks, that actually took a lot of weight and pressure off from my shoulders."
"I guess you must be related to some strong trainers, huh," Brock mused.
"Yeah, my dad is the gym leader of the Petalburg gym: he trains normal type pokemon," May gushed. "He's pretty strong."
"I bet he is," Brock agreed.
Soon, they arrived in the room where the starter pokemon were and Professor Birch introduced them. "You've already seen one of them May, but I'll fully introduce all of them for Ash and Brock. Treecko is the grass type starter, Mudkip is the water type starter and Torchic was the fire type starter."
"I remember Mudkip- when I told it to use water gun on the poochyena that were attacking you, it used water gun on me instead!" May folded her arms and rolled her eyes.
"That was Mudkip," Birch confirmed. "I guess that you won't be choosing her."
"Definitely not."
Ash held in a laugh, "That's quite a funny story."
"Not quite as interesting or bad as how you first met Pikachu," Brock commented.
"Oh shush," Ash laughed what he mentioned off.
"Ooh Brock, I'll need to hear this at some point," May squealed.
Brock smirked, "I know someone who can tell you a much more vivid story than me."
"Brock, you are not phoning Misty for this-"
"Eh, I might."
In attempt to move on, Birch clapped his hands, "I'll be letting them out from their pokeballs one by one... this is the grass type starter, Treecko."
"He's awesome," Ash admired him. "What do you think, May?"
"He's cool, but he creeps me out a little bit."
"This is the water type, Mudkip."
"Aw, she's so cute!" Ash stroked her head. "She can't have been that bad, surely..."
"Nah, she just has attitude against me for some reason," May shrugged.
"Hm, sounds familiar."
"Brock, stop."
Birch coughed, "Finally this is the fire type starter, Torchic."
Unlike the other two starters, the fire chick approached May and nuzzled her shin. Finding the action cute, she picked up the starter Pokemon gently and announced, "I pick Torchic."
"Good choice, it looks like she has taken a liking to you," Birch approved of her decision. "When you get home, say hello to your father for me."
"Will do."
"Man, this is the complete opposite of what happened to me," Ash sighed, whilst Pikachu was just laughing at his trainer along with Brock. "I'm happy for you though, I'm sure you'll be great friends with that Torchic."
...
Ash, Brock and May were chilling at the Pokemon Centre, eating at the restaurant there. May asked them, "Hey, do you think that I can come along with you guys on your journey."
"Sure, the more the merrier," Brock bit into his jelly filled doughnut.
"Plus, it might help you figure out what you want to do," Ash took a sip from his orange juice. "Whatever you decide, we'll support you as much as we can."
"Even if I just want to travel?"
Ash nodded, "Even if you just want to travel: after all, there's nothing wrong with that."
"Right, just don't tell my parents or my younger brother that."
"Ah, I see the problem," Brock nodded. "Okay, my lips are sealed."
"So are mine."
"You guys are seriously the best."
"Hey, we should give Misty an update," Ash suggested.
May was curious now, "You've mentioned her a couple of times now, who is she?"
"Brock and I travelled with her through Kanto and Johto, but we couldn't travel together anymore because her sisters ditched the Cerulean gym to travel the world after they won a beauty pageant and now Misty has to run it by herself," Ash frowned. "It's a water type gym, in case you were wondering. I also travelled the Orange islands with her and another friend of mine, Tracey."
"Jeez, that seriously sucks."
"I know, but let's phone her- hopefully she'll pick up."
Brock nudged Ash, "Oh I'm sure she will, Ash."
"Not if she has a challenger," Ash rolled his eyes as he dialled the number.
She picked up shortly after getting the call and greeted, "Hi Ash, Brock!"
"Yo, Mist."
"Hi, Misty."
"Hey, I'm May," she tried to grab Misty's attention. "I'm traveling with Ash and Brock!"
"Oh nice, how did you guys meet?"
"We saw her getting her starter pokemon at the lab," Brock explained.
"Ah, that makes sense," Misty nodded. "Which one did you pick?"
"Torchic, the fire type starter."
Misty gasped, "Aw she's adorable, what was the water type like?"
"Just as cute, her name was Mudkip," Ash grinned.
May rolled her eyes, "The only thing that stopped me from picking her was when she used water gun on my face..."
"She only used water gun in the wrong direction," Ash pointed out. "At least she somewhat obeyed you..."
"That's reminds me, could you tell me about how Ash met Pikachu?" May wondered.
"Sure, I'd be more than happy to- their story was absolutely ludricous," Misty could only giggle at the memory.
Ash chuckled, "Well, you girls have fun with that- I'm just going to head upstairs."
"What about Brock?" May looked around. "Where did he go-"
"He likes to chat girls up, who are older than him," Misty informed the new friend.
"That's weird," May scrunched her nose up in slight disgust. "He's only a few years older than us..."
"Yup, his favourites are nurse Joy and officer Jenny," Misty counted. "But he'll chat with just about any pretty girl."
"Yikes..."
...
"I don't think either of us wanted to stay for that," Ash massaged his forehead.
"Yeah, I hate remembering those stupid spearows."
"Couldn't agree with that statement more," Ash sat down on his bed. "You know... I'm excited to travel Hoenn."
Feeling inspired, Ash got his notebook out and scribbled a few words. He hummed the tune aloud and eventually managed to put song together. Once the song was almost complete, he tried to sing as much of it through as he could. Naturally there were still a few gaps, but Ash knew that he'd be able to fix it at a later date.
Full of courage and exhilaration
We're excited, ready to go!
Towards the end of the song, Pikachu was also singing along and he felt just as pumped up as Ash did.
"Are you excited to make new friends, guys?"
"Yeah and I want to see them grow older and evolve like I always have," Pikachu smiled.
"I never knew that you were such a grandpa," Ash laughed.
Pikachu pouted, "I wouldn't go quite as far as grandpa."
"Hmm..." Ash thought for a moment. "How about great uncle?"
"I give up, let's just go along with that."
"What about you, Phanphy?"
"I'm not too sure," he answered honestly. "I guess that I just want to get stronger and maybe even evolve. Then again, I'm not sure if I feel ready to go through such a large change to my body yet."
"You don't have to decide that yet," Ash stroked the elephant's head. "You're still young and you haven't trained that much yet."
Accepting the advice, Phanphy beamed, "Okay."
"I wonder if Misty and May are still on the phone, why don't we go and check on them?"
...
"Oh and did you know that Ash can sing?" Misty moved on to another topic. "He's amazing at it too."
"Wow, that's awesome!" May gawked. "I would've never thought that was something he'd do."
"I know, it's great-"
"Hey girls, still talking?" Ash showed his face on the videophone once more.
"Yup, we were just talking about your singing," Misty winked.
May grinned, "Why don't you sing us a little bit?"
"Yeah, it's been a while since I've heard you," Misty smiled.
"Fine, I guess there's not that much harm..."
Walking alone and the shores are longing
I miss your footprints next to mine
Ash opened his eyes and gazed deeply right into Misty's.
Sure as the waves and the sands are washing
Your rhythm keeps my heart in mine
"Ooh, this is a new one," Misty fangirled. "It sounds great."
"Thanks," Ash accepted the compliment, choosing not to mention the fact that he just made something up on the spot because he couldn't decide which song to sing.
"Anyway, it's starting to get a little bit late now," Misty grimaced, not wanting to hang up just yet.
"It's okay Mist, you need to get lots of rest." Ash lectured her slightly. "Besides, we should probably keep Brock under control before things get too crazy."
"Right, it was great talking to you Misty," May waved. "Let's talk again sometime."
"Sure, I'd be glad to."
"Before you hang up," Ash bothered her again. "Is Tracey still helping you out?"
"Yeah, he comes once a week," Misty answered. "So does your mum... even Ritchie and Gary show up every now and then."
"That's really great to hear, that actually makes me happy," Ash said genuinely. "It makes me happy that you have some company, as well as your challengers and your pokemon."
"Of course," Misty nodded. "I'm not completely lonely."
"Talk to you soon," Misty said her last words before hanging up.
"By the way, May," Ash faced her. "Do you have everything you need, like a sleeping bag? You can buy everything here before we leave."
"It's fine," May shook her head. "It doesn't take long to get from here to Oldale town and doesn't take long to get from there to Petalburg city either. I'll just grab my sleeping bag from home."
"Okay, I just wanted to check."
"Also, my little brother might want to come."
"How old is he?"
"Eight."
"As long as he's not annoying."
"You're a nice guy, I'm sure you'll survive," May said sarcastically.
"Right..."
"Should we get Brock?"
"Nah, he'll come in his own time," Ash said as they both made their way to the hotel room. "Plus, I can't be bothered."
"Fair enough."
"I just pray that he doesn't go on about his experiences tonight for too long."
...
Author's notes:
Song 1: advance adventure- English cover by JorporXx (Mark de Groot)
Song 2: Carry on- Kygo and Rita Ora (detective pikachu movie)
Sorry I haven't updated for so long:
I have been very busy with school and for the last week, I've been ill with a virus.
I can't promise that I'll update frequently, but I will as much as I can.
Thanks for bearing with me.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and maybe I'll see you again soon :)