1 week later, Galar Region, Stow-on-Side
Gou watched as Ash beat Bea's Grapploct with his Pikachu after a hard fought battle with Bea's Hawlucha against his Drizzile and Hitmotop against his Dragonite. He watched as the fighting type gym leader returned her Pokemon back into her pokeball "Battling against you and your team... I hadn't expected it, but it made my heart dance. It's good to be unshakable in the face of battle. But it's good to be moved by battle, as well" she said as she walked over towards the Pallet-native
"Thanks for the battle Bea! Your team sure is tough, especially that Grapploct of yours" Ash stated as Pikachu agreed with his trainer, since he had almost lost against the Jujitsu Pokémon
"Should we meet again, I would love a rematch. Here as proof of defeating me, take the fighting badge" Bea said as she held out the fighting badge in her hand
Ash took the badge being offered and looked at it. Its design shaped like that of a fist with a trail indicating a punching motion "Alright, I just got me the fighting badge!" Ash said with a pose
"Pi Pika chu!" the electric type added with a victory sign
The raven haired teen placed his newly gotten badge on his gold-colored medallion since Galar gyms didn't make you use a badge case like the other regions he had visited before
Gou slowly made his way towards the entrance of the stadium as Ash appeared at the same time. He saw the raven haired teen looking at the gym badges he had collected since they first heard they couldn't get back to Kanto
"Great battle out there Ash! Me and Scorbunny couldn't take our eyes away from this battle, I mean it seemed like your toughest battle out of the gym leaders so far" Gou commented with his fire type agreeing with what Gou said. He couldn't help but wonder what a gym battle would be like, should his trainer one day want to try it out
Ash shrugged as he placed his medallion back into his jacket pocket, only for another object to fall from his pocket which caught Gou's attention, while Ash kept walking
Gou picked up the shiny object and noticed it was in fact half of a ribbon with a semi orange circle with pink and white ends. Looking at the condition, he'd have to say the ribbon was in a relatively good condition as he smoothen the edges of the pink ribbon
Ash finally noticing Gou no longer following him turned around and saw the Vermillion trainer looking at something in his hands. Curiosity getting the better of him, he made his way back towards his friend and saw a familiar object in his hands
Gou, seeing Ash in front of him, slowly held out his hands as he saw the raven haired teen take the ribbon from him and hold it tightly. Pikachu had a look of surprise at seeing the ribbon after so long as he saw his trainer's most prized possessions in his hands
Seeing the confused look on Gou, Ash held the ribbon for him to see "This was a ribbon I won on my journey through the Kanto Battle Frontier. One day me and my friends happened to find annual festival and saw a poster for an unofficial contest-"
"Contest? You mean those type of competition that allows umm what are they called… oh Coordinators! to show how skilled their Pokémon can be with style and grace or something like that?" Gou asked just to clarify as Ash nodded
"Ya, I participated in the Terracotta Town Contest with a friend of mine. We both ended up in the final round and battled for this ribbon here. Since there was only one ribbon, me and my friend; May, decided to split it. She has one half of it; while I have the other... it's one of my most prized possessions and also a reminder of May"
As Ash was retelling the tale about the Terracotta Contest, he couldn't help but think back to the dream he had a week ago and what May had said 'I'm not afraid to die… I'm just glad you're here in the end at my side' No matter how hard he tried to think about what it could possible mean... nothing came to mind as he sighed once again, causing Gou to look at his friend in worry
"Ash, are you alright? I mean you suddenly got this sad expression" Gou said, with Ash snapping out of his thoughts and shaking his head
"What? Yes, I'm fine. Just got lost in memory lane is all" Ash said, hoping that he sounded sincere enough for Gou to believe him. Lucky for him, it appeared he did sound sincere as Gou didn't question anything else on the matter and left it at that
"If you say so. Let's get your Pokemon healed up and turn in for the day... tomorrow we got to go see if there are any new Pokemon for me to catch!" Gou exclaimed with Scorbunny nodding as Pikachu and Ash chuckle at their antics. It was good to know that the whole ordeal happening with the world hadn't caused Gou to give up on his goal... having caught at least 20 or so Pokemon since staying in Galar
As the two walked to the Pokemon Center, Ash couldn't help but look back down at the ribbon still in his hands and stare at it 'May... even though we're regions apart know I'm you're always on my mind. Wherever it is you are, I hope your safe and being the amazing coordinator I know you are. And one day we'll see each other again'
With that in mind, Ash put the ribbon back in his pocket and caught up with Gou as the two finally found the Pokemon Center. Tomorrow they would start making their way towards Ballonlea for his next gym battle... however Ash couldn't help the feeling that had been following him since stepping foot in Galar, as if things were about to get even worse than they are right now as his eyes turned blue for a split second, but went unnoticed
Meanwhile in the Sinnoh Region, outskirts of... Pastoria City?
May looked at the map in her hands and back at the path in front of her. She turned the map around as she sighed in defeat… she was lost. It was times like this that she missed Max or Brock, both of whom were the ones to have a better sense of direction than her and Ash
"Maybe I shouldn't have declined that offer in Jubilee City for one of those X-transceivers... could have helped me out right about now since I think it had a map and GPS feature" she sighed and took another glance at her map and then at the path before her
"How is it Brock and Max never got lost! I was lucky while traveling through Johto, but now it seems my luck has run out" she said in disappointment and took out a pokeball "Beautifly help me out!"
The butterfly Pokemon appeared and flew over towards her trainer "I need you to fly up and tell me if you can see any sort of city or town nearby" May said, with Beautifly nodding as she flew up to get a bird's eye view
While May waited for the butterfly to return, she couldn't help but think about Ash. For some reason her thoughts kept going back to the raven haired teen these last few days and she couldn't understand why that was
Like don't get her wrong, of course she missed the teen, after all he was her best friend and mentor after all... but this feeling wasn't one of missing a friend... it felt deeper than that
Unknowingly, the brunette's hand slowly trailed towards the pocket where she kept her half of the terracotta ribbon again 'Ash... what is it about you that is making me feel this way? When I think of my other friends or even my rivals, none of them make me feel the way as you do... we're regions apart and at times I wish you could just be at my side. Everything just felt better, easier with you at my side'
Holding the ribbon at her heart, suddenly she heard the sound of her Pokemon as May looked up and saw Beautifly coming back down. The butterfly Pokemon used her little hands to point in the direction she had seen the nearest town
"That way?" May asked as soon as she saw where the butterfly Pokemon was pointing and saw her nod "Great! Than lead the way!" May happily said as she followed after Beautifly
'I've said it before, I'll say it again... we'll meet one another again. When that time comes, I hope you like the person I've become'
Unknown to the brunette, a small blue Pokemon was looking at her from a distance. Its eyes trailed after her as it disappeared from its spot in the direction that May was heading
Another time jump! 1 week from the last chapter and now we get some Ash and Gou here!
Alright some background information for this chapter; Ash's team! As you read at the beginning, Ash used his Pikachu, Dragonite and a Drizzile against Bea (Sorry the battle wasn't included) So yes I decided to give Ash a Sobble which was given to him by Professor Magnolia when the two of them met her around 1 month ago or so and also cause I really wanted Ash to have gotten Sobble when he was introduced instead of Gou. Also another thing to note is that Ash is doing the gym challenge instead of the World Coronation Series, mainly due to the fact that I wanted to give Ash something to do while he's in Galar and thought 'Why not the gym challenge?'
Now we get to May! Yes our Princess of Hoenn has returned in this chapter as well ;) She and Ash are both thinking of one another, yet have idea about what it is they are feeling... and who was that mysterious Pokemon at the end? (You're welcome to try and guess :p) Till next time where we have another time jump ^^