Chapter 5
May had all but forgotten her sadness earlier when her mother skipped over the history shared between mermaids and humans as she swam through the palace's network of corridors, heading towards her chamber. It wasn't long before she arrived and found her sisters floating there, removing all their decorations from their hair.
"May, there you are!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Where did you swim off to?" Serena asked.
"To see the sunrise," May said. "Sorry, I didn't leave you drifting, did I?"
"No, it's fine," Serena assured her. "You just disappeared without saying anything, that's all."
"We were looking for you," Dawn said. "Remember our childhood friend, Ash? He came to the –"
"I know, Dawn," May smiled. "We swam into each other and watched the sunrise together. It was great to see him again."
"Okay, good," Misty said. " We were worried that you missed your chance to see him."
"That's sweet of you, Misty," May smiled warmly at her. "Thank you."
"Of course," she returned the smile, although it was quickly replaced by a quizzical expression. "But why were you watching the sunrise? I thought you didn't care for stuff like that."
"It was the sunrise after a full moon," May explained. "I watched it from under the surface. It's ten times more beautiful than a normal sunrise."
"I fail to see why that is," Dawn said. "I've watched the sunrise many times, even when the moon was full, and it never looked any different."
"Were you under the surface?"
"No. Why would I be? The sun is rising above the surface, not under it."
"True, but the light pours down through the ocean when it rises. After a full moon, this creates an amazing spectacle in the water that only lasts for about five minutes."
"Well, if you think that's nice, you should see the sunrise from above the surface. It's really something else."
"Ooh, I can't wait to see that one of these nights!" Serena squealed.
"I know what a sunrise looks like from up there," May said, folding her arms across her chest. "Serena's collected dozens of lost paintings from human shipwrecks, and some of them depict a sunrise. If it's anything like those paintings, then I don't see anything special about them."
"But May –" Dawn started to say, but Misty floated between them.
"I think it's time for us to get some sleep," she said. "The sun's climbing higher in the sky, which means we need to go to bed. We can talk about the surface more tomorrow."
Her sisters agreed and, with their hair finished up, they swam into their rooms to get ready for bed. May floated in and sat down to take care of her tail. Popplio swam up to her, smiling.
"Hey Popplio," she smiled, petting the Pokemon on the head. "Thanks for behaving while I was out," she said as she started taking the pink scales out of her tail. Popplio smiled and swam into May's shoulder, nuzzling her. "Hey!" she giggled at her touch. "That tickles!"
It didn't take long for May to remove all the pink scales. Once she had them all in her hand, she swam over to her small treasure chests and placed them back where she got them.
"Tomorrow, we're gonna get right back to work finding your home," May said as she floated over to her shellbed, glancing at Popplio. "Now that Serena's had her rite of passage, things can go back to normal." Popplio smiled back at her and curled up in her bed to sleep. May did likewise, curling into a perfect sphere in the middle of her shellbed as it closed down on top of her.
Well, at least they can go back to being some sort of normal May thought. Now that we've all been through our rite of passages, I get the feeling that they're gonna be spending more time at the surface. She sighed as her eyelids drooped. Well, I guess that gives me more free time to take care of what I love, right? She relaxed into her bed and fell asleep.
May floated out of her shell the next morning feeling refreshed after a good day's sleep. After stretching and letting out a long yawn, she floated over to Popplio and gently nudged her. Apparently, the little Pokemon wasn't too deep in sleep, as she looked up straight away with wide, innocent eyes.
"Hey, Popplio," May smiled as the Pokemon swam up and snuggled into her chest. May smiled as she hugged her. "Ready to start looking for home again?" Popplio barked happily, prompting May to giggle. With that, she swam about her room, gathering supplies for the day ahead. She took two packs, one slung over her shoulder like a human knapsack, the other hanging behind her like a human backpack, both with straps made of seaweed. Once she was ready, Popplio perched on her shoulder. May smiled at this as she swam up through the corridor and out of her room, into the outer room. There, her sisters were floating about. Dawn was doing her hair, while Serena was next to her, flicking her fins impatiently.
"Oh, good!" Dawn grinned. "You're up!"
"Say, what's with the sacks?" Serena asked.
"I'm going scouting in the ocean tonight," May grinned.
"Scouting?" Misty blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm gonna work on helping Popplio find her home," May said. "If I can calibrate my makeshift map just a little more, I think I'll be able to find it!"
"Wait a minute," Serena said, floating up to her, "you're spending the night in the ocean?"
"Uh, yeah," May nodded. Ah, jeez. Here we go.
"But what about the surface?" Dawn asked, swimming away from the mirror so that Serena could take her place. "Tonight's the first night we can all go up there together as a family, so we were all planning to go up once we were ready."
"Sorry," May replied, folding her arms across her chest, "but I have other plans."
"May, come on now," Misty said, floating to her. "We've been planning this for weeks! All of us are finally allowed to go to the surface together, and you wanna spend your night floating aimlessly in the ocean?"
"I'm not floating aimlessly," May retorted, annoyed. "I have a goal I'm swimming towards, and I gotta keep swimming until I get there."
"Gee, that's nice," Serena muttered sarcastically as she finished up her hair. "You could spend time with us and see the wonders of the human world, but instead you're gonna waste your time in the ocean."
"Did you not hear what I just said?!" May snapped at her little sister. "I'm not just floating around because I'm bored! I'm trying to help Popplio find her home!"
"But don't you want to swim to the surface with us?" Dawn asked. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen you swim up there since your rite of passage."
"Yeah, and there's a good reason for that," May replied. "I almost suffocated when I went up there for the first time, and I'm not interested in suffocating again!"
"Whatever," Serena rolled her eyes as she swam over to the group. "You just overreacted. All I had to do was take a few breaths to get used to the air up there. It felt so much more liberating than this stifling water we have to breathe in and out every single day."
"Maybe it felt that way for you, but not for me," May said.
"Maybe if you gave the human world a chance, you'd see just what you're missing out on," Serena said. "Humans are –"
"Yes, I know," May shot back, annoyed. "I've heard it all before, so please spare me the details."
"Or maybe you just hate humans," Serena snapped.
"What?!" May shrieked, now thoroughly angered. "That is not true, Serena!"
"Then prove it!" she said, challenging her sister. "Come to the surface with us!"
"Not gonna happen!" May shot back.
"Okay, that's enough!" Misty said, getting between them. She turned to May. "Are you really gonna skip out on spending time with us just because we're going to the surface?"
"I'm sorry," May said sadly, "but I just can't handle the air up there."
"Hmph," Serena muttered as she swam out the hall. "Loser."
"Serena!" Misty shouted after her, following quickly at her tailfin. Dawn turned to May.
"Maybe Serena's right," she said. "Maybe you just got scared by how different air feels in our lungs and felt like you were gonna suffocate. You should at least give the surface another try, May. It's not gonna feel the same spending time up there without you." With this, Dawn swam off to join her sisters, leaving May floating there to ponder her words. As she thought about it, her memory drifted to her conversation with Ash the night before.
"She's right," May sighed. "I should at least give the surface another try." She shuddered at the thought of breathing air again. "If I have trouble breathing again, I'll know that what happened years ago wasn't just a fluke." She turned and looked at Popplio on her shoulder, smiling. "But tonight," she said, "we scout for your home." With that, she swam out the hall her sisters swam out earlier. After saying goodbye to her mother, she swam out of the palace, heading for the open ocean. As she did so, she smiled as she once again felt the water flow across her skin, twirling through the water as she swam.
"It doesn't get much better than this, does it?" she smiled at Popplio swimming beside her.