Chapter 4
"A Fairy Tale"
Mayo…er, May, I guess…had been like a sister to me when I was growing up. I didn't have any other siblings, and she didn't particularly care for hers, so it was fun to pretend that we were brother and sister…Sometimes, we even forgot that we weren't…
…Gary hated that, of course……I was supposed to be his friend…not Mayo's…Mayo was supposed to be the annoying little sister of the best friend, but…I liked her. I tried to get all three of us to do stuff together, but the two of them just couldn't get along…
I wanted to be friends with both of them…I tried to take turns siding with each of them, but that just made them both mad at me…I guess it all came down to me feeling sorrier for Mayo than I did for Gary……
…It didn't happen suddenly. I was still good friends with Gary while it was just the two of us, but whenever Mayo came into the scene……I guess it was my fault that Gary hates me now…but I had to choose between them……
…Gary and I hadn't been an unlikely pair……We both loved Pokémon, and we got into a lot of trouble together because of that………It was the fact that Mayo and I had gotten along so well was what was surprising.
It was when we first met that we got the nicknames Asha and Mayo. After Gary had briefly introduced us then begged her to go away, she refused to call me anything but Asha. After a long time of trying to convince her that my name was Ash and that Asha was a girly name (which is one of the reasons why I don't like "Ashura"), I gave up and decided to fight fire with fire. That's how I came up with Mayo. We'd never addressed each other as anything else since…
* * *
I went to bed that night feeling a little awkward……Misty and Billie had been giving me strange looks ever since Mayo left…They also refused to talk to me…Kind of freaky…
* * *
'Ashura…'
'Not you again.'
'Why don't you like me?'
'You won't tell me who you are!'
'You'll find out when the time is right, Ashura.'
'Quit calling me Ashura!'
'But isn't that your name?'
'That doesn't mean you have to call me that!'
'Would you rather I called you…Asha?'
'What!? Only Mayo can call me Asha!'
'Only Mayo………your friend…'
'No, she's May. She only lets me call her Mayo.'
'…Only you…'
'That's right……'
'…Poor Ashura……'
'Not again…'
'……Poor, dear Ashura…'
'I wish you would stop……'
'Poor, poor Ashura…'
'Stop it, will you? Why do you keep bothering me?'
'…I'm just making sure you don't forget what you are……'
'……What are you talking about?'
'I think that's enough for one night, Ashura. Goodbye…'
'No, wait! I'm not done with you yet!…..Hello?…Answer me!! Who are you!?'
……
* * *
I woke up early somehow…Earlier than usual, at least. I'm not a morning person…although Pikachu thinks I am…
After breakfast, which went fast, like always, I announced that I was going to Professor Oak's for a while. Pikachu volunteered to come with me, and so did Brock, but I only let Pikachu come.
I met Mayo at the same place we had always met before. It was halfway between our houses, and close to the center of town. That's not really saying much though. Pallet isn't exactly the biggest town in the world…
"Hey, Asha!" Mayo called.
"Hey, Mayo!" I replied.
"You ready?" she asked.
"Yep."
"Then let's go."
"Sure."
We started walking to Professor Oak's. Pikachu was riding on my shoulder, as usual…Well, what used to be usual, I guess…
"I like your Pikachu," Mayo said.
"Thanks."
"……It's really strong, isn't it?"
"Uh-huh."
"…Do you think while we're over there, I can ask Grandpa if he'll give me a starter Pokémon?"
"…I guess so."
"…You okay, Asha?"
"Uh-huh……"
"That's not the answer I was looking for."
"…We're almost there…You see it?"
"……Yeah…"
"…………I'll race you."
"You won't win!"
"Wanna bet!?"
I broke into a run. Mayo did too, and soon we were both sprinting up the hill to Professor Oak's lab. I kind of tripped on the way, and Mayo pulled ahead easily. When I caught up to her, I put my hand on the door.
"I win!" I shouted for no good reason.
Mayo laughed. "You weirdo! The winner is usually the one who gets to the finish line first!"
I just grinned.
I can still make her laugh…
One little thing was tugging at the back of my mind though…That hadn't been a very long or excruciating race…I shouldn't have been as tired as I was……I ignored it for the moment…
"…Do you think we should go in?" I asked, still grinning.
She just laughed some more.
"…Nitwit…That's what we came here for!"
Confident that at least one person still thought I was funny (when I was trying to be), I knocked on the door.
It took a while for him to answer it, but that was expected. It always took him a long time to get to the door. He has too many Pokémon around that keep him busy all the time.
"…Ash!…May!! What a pleasant surprise!"
Yeah right…
"Um…Hi Professor!" I said, "We were wondering if we could look at your uhh…"
"…books," Mayo finished for me.
"My books…?"
"Uh, yes. That's right. Umm…Pokémon books!"
"That's right. We want to look at your Pokémon books!" Mayo added.
"I just said that!" I whispered.
She only smiled.
"Hmm…If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were planning something against me……but…I'll believe you. You know where they are, I take it?"
"Uh-huh," I said.
"Yep!" Mayo agreed.
"Then go ahead."
"Thanks, Professor!" I said.
"You're the best, Grandpa!"
"…Gee, thank you, kids…"
We headed off to the cramped section of the building that housed all of his Pokémon books. I still can't understand how he fits all of those books into such a small area…
"…Okay, Asha!" Mayo declared, "Let's start looking!"
I looked around the room at all the different books.
"This could take hours!"
"…No……It's probably on one of the lower shelves, right? I'm not that tall, you know."
"Yeah, I know."
"Asha!!"
"I'm kidding!!" I protested, before she could hurt me.
"…Pikachu, you help too, okay?"
"Pikachu!"
'Okay, Ash!'
I closed the door, then transformed back to normal……
…Let's get started.
"Pika!"
'Right!'
"Right!"
* * *
It actually didn't take as long as I had expected. I think I have a stronger psychic sense when I'm a Mew, and that could have been part of the reason. It still wasn't an instant find though…It didn't occur to me to try to "sense" the book, at first…When I did try that, I still had some trouble. There were a lot of books in the room on evolution and the roles of humans. "The Legend Of Mew" was a short story, so it was harder to find……but it was the first book that I found that mentioned Mews at all.
All three of us read it together……It left me with the shivers…
"…Wow…" Mayo commented, "…It makes a lot more sense now…"
Uh-huh…… I said dryly.
"No, really! When I first read it, I thought it was a fairy tale, so it was just kind of amusing…but now it really makes sense! And it explains why you evolved in the first place."
………It makes me sound special…
I felt like that wasn't a good thing, for some reason…I was scared…
"Yeah……You're really a rarity, you know?"
Uh-huh………
"Pikachu……"
'Wow……'
I was scared. I was seriously scared…
…Mayo………do you think there're other books on……Mews?
"It wouldn't hurt to look, would it?"
…………I sure hope not.