Ashes in May Ch. 24 Damned Parents

So here is the next chapter. I hope you all Like it. Its a bit sad because of a flashback, so just letting you know.


"Mmm, okay, I'm going to take a shower, you two just stay here, I'll be back in a bit," May told the two smaller Pokemon before her. With a cheerful nod from them, May took some comfortable clothes and a towel in her arms and proceeded to the bathroom. Thus leaving the two eeveelutions and starter to their own devices. Sighing at her inner turmoil entering the bathroom, Once she had the shower to the perfect temperature, she let her clothes slide off her body and stepped into closing the glass door behind her. She breathed in deeply feeling the water falls over her muscles helping to ease the soreness in them. Four weeks ago, she had been in the hospital fresh out of surgery after literally getting rammed in the stomach. The doctors had told her she had a long recovery ahead of her and would have mobility issues as well as other physical withholdings until she would be fully recovered. Things such as running or even short walks would be out of her rage for a month at least, picking up heavy items was off-limits, and worst of all, her food listing was greatly shortened and altered to help her recover fast.

Of course, that was daunting enough as it is let alone the mental struggle she already had to go through. It would be a long road ahead of her, along with her body trying to strengthen and normalize itself after her loss. Thankfully, even with Ash's feigned ignorance of the temple events, he offered to have himself and Lucario use their combined aura abilities by infusing her body with aura to heal what they could and jump-starting her body's healing process.

The progress had definitely hastened the pace of her healing thanks to the weekly aura infusions, still, she had some recovering to do and still couldn't lift anything of considerable weight, but she could at least run. Sure, nothing like a marathon but May was happy with being able to jog, after all, she wasn't the type to be in bed all day. (A/N: As a writer and homebody, I love being inside. The Sun be my enemy! Hiiiisss!). Either way, she was almost fully recovered. She mainly felt very sore and would often wince if the movement stretched her muscles more than normal. Like if she reached up to get something from a high shelf her bicep and triceps would hurt a bit. May preferred the soreness because she could at least move on her own rather than being bedridden for a few months. Okay, aura healing was super effective. (pun intended)

With a pleasant hum, she weaved her fingers through her soft locks hearing the distant sound of the pokemon battle being held outside. That got her thinking about her Alolan family and could only smile at the thought of them. The household consists of Professors Burnet and Kukui and their two boys Elio and Ash. Elio is the youngest and incredibly energetic and very loving to boot. Ash was the older brother role model for Elio's energetic personality, but in terms of dramatics, it was all Kukui. Elio had the best in the department of male role models and Professor Burnet was not to be pushed to the side. As she definitely inspired Elio to explore and think rationally and theoretically. All around Elio was a kid with a bright future. Ash was energetic, loud, and dumb. Dumb in a good way, you know like a cute form of dense. Now, Ash was very smart, it's just he didn't always use it outside of battles or strategy. May giggled to herself.

[Flashback: Three weeks ago]

The airport was bustling with people as per usual, however, unlike usual most were leaving rather than arriving. Due to the severity of damages from the hurricane, most resorts were forced to close for damage control and repair. Under normal circumstances, hotels and resorts would avoid such action at all costs but even they knew that the damages sustained because of the cursed storm were severe for all the resorts. Not to mention the thinly spread construction crew. Anyway, rushing through the halls two worried adults headed towards the exit. As soon as they had their things in the taxi, they were off to the hospital. Norman Maple remained silent in deep thought while Caroline Maple fidgeted with her fingers from worry over her daughter's condition as well as the fact that she was going to see her daughter. It was true that a parent rushing to get to their hospitalized child wasn't strange, but if they knew the things these parents had said about their own child, one would definitely feel irked. The ride itself didn't take very long, much to their relief and as soon as the car stopped Mrs. Maple shot from the car leaving her husband to pay for the fare. In the time it took Mr. Maple to pay the fare, take out their luggage, and reach his wife; Caroline had been given the room number to May's hospital room. Of course, Mrs. Maple would have wished it had been quicker, but she understood that with the typhoon and the many patients still coming in so everything was backed up. Once more they both rushed up to the room in which May was in.

Now, they expected to see their daughter in a hospital gown, laying back recovering, probably a few monitors around her. However, they did not expect to be greeted by a man's back with his hands on their daughter's chest. Conveniently, ignoring that a certain aura jackal was also in the same position as the young man. So, of course, the parents didn't even notice that Gary and Pikachu sat near the foot of the bed or Max who sat on the opposite side of the room yet noticed that their daughter had her eyes shut and her lip bit. As soon as they walked in the young man stood and turned to them only to be grabbed by the collar and pulled slightly down to meet eye to eye with Norman, the Petalburg gym leader. See, now Ash was surprised with the fact that Norman's emotions shifted so suddenly, he had sensed their aura's as soon as they had walked out of the elevator and could feel their worry, then suddenly it was overwhelming rage. "What the hell are you doing?!" Normal yelled seeing nothing but red as he glared at the boy in his grasp. Ash's eyes widened but said nothing out of pure confusion and simply held his arms up in surrender. Don't get him wrong he wasn't a pushover, but these were May's parents who for some reason were pissed at him. When it comes to angry parents one should always tread carefully, especially considering that he wanted to date their daughter and didn't need them hating him, at least more than right at this moment.

"Dad! What are you doing?! Let him go!" May shout from her bed looking just as angry as her father but for different reasons. The older man turned to her looking at her as if she had a second head replying, "This pervert had his hands on your chest, and you want me to let go of this scum bag?" May gaped from a second before groaning in frustration. Facepalming the coordinator looked to her parents with irritation, "Ash is by no means a pervert, second he wasn't doing anything inappropriate or harming me, in fact he was doing the exact opposite." For an extremely long awkward moment, they all remain in silence as Normal glared at Ash as if to confirm the statement to be true. Ash, of course, feeling everyone's emotion felt very embarrassed. Sure, he hadn't done anything wrong but here he was standing in the grip of an enraged father, yaaay…anyway with a disgruntled sigh the gym leader released the kid's shirt watching as the boy straightened his shirt then took a few cautionary steps back being a subtle and gratifying snort from the gym leader. From the beginning, the pokemon trainer had been using his aura abilities to help heal her damaged body. Unfortunately, that wasn't explained when Mrs. Maple moved to her side. Choosing to ignore…all that…Caroline stepped up to May's side with unease. "May, how are you feeling? The doctors told us you were in critical condition and well, as soon as the airlines to Alola were open we rushed over," Caroline said shakily, placing her hand over the girl's only for the girl to pull away. Caroline winced know she deserved that pang to the heart, "We, uh, we wanted to come and help with anything you need and help you get through this-"

May scoffed softly causing her mother to go quiet.

"Ahh, (huff!) haha, really?" May asked incredulously.

Caroline moved to speak but was at a loss for words.

"Ha, please forgive me, mom, if I don't believe a word of what you just said." She said with venom. The sheer hatred in her voice brought about genuine dumbfoundment in all others present.

Norman tried to add in by saying that they truly did want to help only to be cut off as well.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I truly don't believe you. After all, weren't you the one who disowned me after I had suggested keeping my child!" May yelled rage in her eyes.

Jaw clenched Norman gulp painfully, Caroline flinched, and Max gasped with utter disbelief.

By this point the two pokemon trainers and their partners were beyond stunned. Had they heard her words correctly? Did her parents truly do what she had just said? Ash felt his brows contour into a deep frown as one question came to mind. Back when May had first arrived he could sense that their coordinator had held something back, was this what she had kept to herself.

"You did what?!" Max exclaimed getting up from his seat looking to his mom who looked away then to his father who remained silent. He had hoped that either one of them would confirm the accusation, not that he thought his big sister was lying but didn't want to believe that his parents could say such a thing to May. Max asked again but got no answer and when he saw the tears streaming from May's eyes, he concluded it was true. "…May, we said a lot of things and…" Norman spoke softly, feeling his words die in his mouth. Words are a powerful thing and once said they can never be unsaid, so what could he say to remedy the hurtful thing he and his wife had directed at their daughter, when she needed them most. "Yeah," the young woman nodded, "You did say a lot of things, both of you did. I'm not going to say you shouldn't feel disappointed in me. I know that if it were the other way around, I'd feel the same disappointment, but, why did you say those things about me, to me, mom, daddy?" May's eyes were becoming a bit puffy as streams of tears slid down her cheeks, "You fucking disowned me!"

Caroline brought her hands to her chest, holding herself back from reaching out to her daughter.

May was seething with such anger and longing. One didn't need to have aura abilities to see May desperately wanted to jump into her mother's arm just as much as Mrs. Maple. May wanted to be held by her mother, to be assured that everything will get better soon, but the girl knew she could. The reason why is due to the fact that immediately the thought of what the older woman had said betrays her every time.

"You told me you agreed with the views Drew has over my child, my child, not yours, my baby!," May hissed, wiping away the tears with the blanket. Her voice cracking from the intensity of her volume, "It was be-tter to get rid of it before I wa-s labeled a slut, whore or worse! Of course, not once did you ask me what I wanted, what I was feeling, let alone how I was dealing with the fact that I had broken up with Drew only hours earlier because he cheated on me." May balled her fist when she realized her parents literally just remembered that little detail. fuck, did that stab horrible into her heart watching the realization of such fact as they remember an important, but ignored truth. Was this for real? Did they really focus so much on the part of wanting to abort her pregnancy, ignoring the fact that Drew had betrayed her?

"Then let me ask you this, do you remember the last thing you said to me before you hung up on me that day I called you?" A second later, Caroline broke down crying begging her for forgiveness, while her husband went pale as a sheet. Gary and Ash turned to each other with worry knowing the general idea of what had been said to May. Max, however, needed to hear it come from their mouth, glaring at his parents for answers and by their reaction he knew it was bad. It was taking so damn long that Max snapped, "Answer damn it! What did you say to May?" Once more Norman said nothing hiding his face in his shadow and Caroline sobbed continuing her pleas for forgiveness. Seething with rage and sorrow May answered for them, "After I told you I was thinking of keeping the baby, you told me, 'With any luck, you'll lose it and come to your senses,'. Y-You'll be glad to hear...I lost it."

Silence….

Once more Ash, Gary, Pikachu, and Max felt as if the world had fallen on top of them crushing their bodies, keeping them from breathing.

"Y-You don't mean…" came the almost silent whimper from the pathetic crying woman.

"Congratulations, your wish was granted,(sniff) last week, I got hit by an fucking uprooted tree, I almost died, but lived. Instead, I lost my baby, m-my precious ba-baby, you hated so much."

The air in the room grew cold and the air was stiff and hard to breathe, all but the sounds of Mrs. Maple's sobs.

"Get out."

"May, we-"

"Get the fuck out!" May practically screeched. Still, neither of the adults dared to move.

"Ash, Gary, please escort them out, they seem to have the wrong room," May said, turning to the two adults' tears running like rivers down her cheeks, "They're not my parents. They're mistaken, their daughter isn't here."

Nothing more was said as both teens ushered the adults out acting as a larger wall separating May from their view, thus leaving Max to comfort her sobbing sister.

[Present Time]

Shaking her head, she turned the water off and stepped out to dry herself. Slipping into a pair of comfy white sweatpants and a loose pink shirt. Sure, it wasn't all that late and all but she didn't have any plans for the rest of the afternoon so wearing this was fine. Granted if the house didn't have air conditioning she would never put on sweatpants, she chuckled at the thought of melting because of the heat. Nevertheless, she stepped out of the bathroom to drop off her dirty clothes in her room. By now she didn't hear any signs of the battle between rivals outside, so she was curious as to who had won their match.

Upon opening the door May saw Pikachu on her bed looking down at Glaceon. Pikachu looked totally nervous while Glaceon and Umbreon looked like they couldn't take the hint. 'Oh boy, this can't be good,' May thought awkwardly.

"Okay then Glaceon, Umbreon, how about you and I go for a walk. I'm sure Pikachu would like to go back to Ash. Plus, it'll be a much-needed bonding time for us," May suggested gently brushing her hand through the ice type's cool fur, and giving the dark type's head a scratch. The canine Pokemon tilted their heads to the side before looking between the trainer and potential mate. Showing a brief expression of refusal and debate, Glaceon turned back to her trainer with a gleeful smile jumping up excited to have some time with her trainer. Umbreon was a bit more hesitant, all things considered, but he did want to spend some more time with the human female that Gary was so close to.

It was pretty easy for May to know when her Pokemon had a serious crush on her own crush's Pokemon. Apparently, so did Umbreon who was slowing much of the same signs too. So, that would explain their lash-out back at the pokemon contest a few weeks ago. That being said she could also see how Umbreon and Glaceon may be stressing the poor Pikachu out with their insistent feelings. She giggled petting her little ice queen looking up at Pikachu who gave a very grateful smile before heading for the door. Not paying attention to the electric type's departure she instead worked to pet both eeveelutions who purred softly at her touch. Unbeknownst to the three, Pikachu had only gotten to the door before stopping as Ash was already standing at the doorway looking at him with an eyebrow raised. Pikachu made an 'X' with his arms signifying that he wouldn't say a word before scampering off to find Elio for much-needed cuddles.

'Memo, memo to me, grill Pikachu until he spills later,' Ash said, bringing his pointer finger to his temple. Knocking on the door frame he made his presence known, "Uh, hey, May." "Huh," looking up she saw a boy she held her own crush for, "Oh hi, Ash, what's up, did you finish your battle already?" Ash nodded before pulling up his hand to scratch at his cheek. "Let's just say, even if Gary isn't an official trainer, his Pokemon are still very strong, especially that Alakazam of his." May grinned teasingly, "Oh, so the unbeatable Alolan Champ has actually lost, ah, I'm flabbergasted!" At this Ash burst out in hard laughter, May following his lead, "Okay, haha, fweuff, okay, ha-ha, May, I see what you meant, but lucky for me it wasn't an official battle so I am still the undefeated Champion of Alola, thank you very much."

During this May had stopped brushing through the feline-canine Pokemon's causing it to give a chirp to get May's attention. May rolled her eyes but continued to pet Glaceon. "Sooo….May, um would you mind going out…later," Ash began trying his best to sound nonchalant though but with the unsteadiness of his voice you could tell he was not. May shrugged, "Oh, sure. I'm sure the three of us will find something fun to do. Gary is always acting like he's not excited to go out with us, haha." Ash stiffed at the mention of Gary. "Well, no…I mean I was hoping to uh…" Ash said as he began to sweat, "Gary is busy, so…see I was hoping to a-ask you on a date."

Time froze for a bit.

Neither one of them would believe that Ash had actually said it. Ash's cheeks were stained a rosy color as he looked at the girl in question, anxious to hear what she'd say, begging Arceus that she'd say yes. May quickly heated up and turned red as a tamoto berry. For a brief moment, she remembers her earlier chat with the man's mother. Okay, yes, Ash and Gary were attractive physically and personality-wise, and yes, she was trying to give a thought over it, but damn, she didn't even get an hour before one of them asked her out! Mmmm, maybe thinking about it, she shouldn't be complaining…

Taking a deep breath followed by a gulp, then finally opening her mouth she let her voice out, "I'd like that v-very much, it's a d-d-date." All of a sudden both heard none other than a robotic and high-pitched voice, "Nice! I got it on viiideo! Zzzt, Professors, everything was caught on tape!" Immediately upon Rotom Dex's exclamation, the teens realized that the parents had been standing behind Ash the entire time! Burnet screamed with glee, "Great Job Rotom, I knew it was going to happen soon!" "Atta Boy, Ash!" Kukui cheered and brought an arm around his son's shoulder and gave him a hard side hug, "I knew you had the guts to do it!" "Yay, my baby's finally growing up! Kukui!" Burnet exclaimed, opening her arms comedically, tears streaming her face. "Burnet, you're so right, I'm So Proud of our boy!" Kukui replied, taking his wife in his arms as they cheered and danced. Elio jumped for joy not fully understanding why they were celebrating. Ash turned a deep hue resembling Magicarp's shade at his parents' action as well as Glaceon, and Pikachu began to hop around cheering.

"Mo-ahm! D-Daaaad!" Ash exclaimed his voice cracking with embarrassment wanting for his soul to be sucked away by a Dusknoir, "Pikachu, Rotom, why are all of you like this?!" After being ignored Ash took May's hand before dragging her out of the house and out onto the porch. By then Ash had calmed his nerves, thanking that his current rage for his family allowed him to drown his embarrassment. Steeling his nerve and feeling a spark of daring, Ash leaned over to May and whispered in her ear, "Meet me at The Boulder on the beach where you told me about...you know; meet me there at 8 o'clock. Wear something casual, but I'm sure you still look stunning as always." then ran off making his getaway. When May heard that she could have sworn that she felt her mind explode. Then, when she felt his warm breath on her neck, she felt a shiver course through her body with anticipation. What did he have planned?"

Moments later Pikachu and Rotom Dex flew out after the black-haired boy calling out to him. Pikachu laughed his mind off, while Rotom called, "Ash, wait, We're sorry! Pikachu shut up! Ash, wait up!"

A certain young man had been leaning back against the side of the building, just around the corner from the other two's view. He felt a burning sensation waking the boy lean in to whisper into the girl's ear. Disgust coursed through his body before walking away in a stupor.


Will Ash know what to do for this date? How will May react to the date? What surprise does Ash have in store for the girl he loved. All that and more in the next chapter, so STAY TUNED!

AS THE JOURNEY CONTINUES!