Chapter Two: Ferries and Danger
May walked back into her room. The call she'd been waiting for had finally come and she was going to see Ash again soon. She yawned, ready for bed. Her heart leapt with eagerness as she thought about getting on the ferry tomorrow and the trip to Pallet Town. But before she went back to bed she walked over to her travel pouch and pulled out her half of the Terracotta Ribbon that she'd tied with Ash for. Her good luck charm which reminded her of everything he'd taught her when she'd first started her journey.
May smiled fondly as she recalled the times she'd spent traveling with Ash. Those endless walks they went through from town to town. Crossing through forests, deserts, and many other terrains. The times they'd trained, ate, and played together. They'd had so many adventures together along with Max and Brock. They'd camped out in places like Dewford Island or in the forest somewhere, swimming in the water at various locations. There had been some bad times like a couple instances in which she'd fought with Ash (and to a greater extend, Max), he'd yelled at her for checking herself in a mirror while he'd been waiting to leave. Or when she'd refused his offer for help in one of her early contests after she'd gotten two ribbons and thought she could now handle everything herself. But they'd pulled through and stayed close despite it all.
And of course, there were the scary times when she or one of her companions had been in danger. But May wouldn't have traded them for anything, in fact she hoped to be able to go through more of them with Ash soon. Now that her journey through Johto was done and she'd broken up with Drew (even though they'd only been together for less than an hour), she could return to Ash, as well as Pikachu and Brock. Max would probably go off on his own as a trainer again but they would see.
Looking at the half ribbon for a few moments and recalling many of her memories with her friends and brother, May held it up to her heart. There was no denying it any longer, she had feelings for Ash, and the reason she'd denied them would soon be gone. Within less than seven months, she'd be fourteen and he'd be sixteen. That had to be close enough, right?
It was time, she told herself.
Setting the ribbon back into her pouch, May went to bed, sleeping soundly. Morning came, she dressed, and walked to the breakfast table where her family was now at. Four plates of human food lay on the table for them. In the backyard May saw her father's three Pokemon, Slakoth, Vigaroff, and Slaking eating their pokemon food along with her brothers newly built team. He'd started with a Slakoth and Zizagoon, two pokemon that his father had caught himself. Good thing too, Slakoth were notoriously lazy and slow, so it would have been difficult for Max to win a battle with just that pokemon. Max used others as well, he had Ralts (the same he'd befriended three years ago when accompanying his sister and the others), he'd caught a Poocheyena, a Wingull, and a Zangoose. By having three normal types, Max was somewhat following in his father's footsteps as Norman's specialty was that type of Pokemon.
They ate breakfast then walked outside to find a group of reporters.
"Ah Norman!" the reporter said. "I saw a sign on the door to the Gym this morning! Is it true you are taking a short time away from the Gym!"
Norman gave an amused chuckle. "Gym Leader's life."
He then composed himself. "Well… even Gym Leaders need some time off. A good friend of my kids is returning home to the Kanto region so we are going for a visit. I encourage all of you to take some time and enjoy yourself whenever you feel you are working too hard! I'll be back in a few days to see any challengers!"
With that, the Maple family began their walk to the Petalburg Marina. They soon boarded a ship to take them to Kanto.
…
In Sinnoh, Ash, Pikachu, Dawn, Piplup and Brock were all boarding the ferry to Kanto as well.
"I'm glad I get to stay with you guys for one more week before Buneary enters the modeling career. I don't think me and Piplup are ready to say goodbye just yet," Dawn said.
"Piplup!" the blue penguin pokemon looked sad.
"It's always hard whenever you have to say goodbye to a friend," Brock said. "Me and Ash have done that lots of times over the years since we've been traveling together."
"Yeah, I know" Ash nodded. "I had to say goodbye to my Butterfree so it could leave and have babies. Misty, May, Max, and Tracey as well. But we're all still friends, and I'll be seeing them soon. They're all gonna be there."
Dawn smiled tearfully. "That makes me feel better. Thanks. So even if we split up from here we'll always be friends and will see each other again sometime?"
"Lup!" Piplup said, cheered up a bit.
"We sure will Dawn. You're now among my honorary travel siblings!" Brock said putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ash and Max are like little brothers to me, so that means Misty, May and you would all be my sisters."
"Wow! Thanks, big brother Brock!" Dawn said. "Guess I'll get to meet the rest of the family when we get to Pallet Town."
"Yeah," Ash said. "Misty, May, Max, and Tracey. Everyone should be there."
…
Little did they know, a trio of familiar thugs were listening in on their conversation. A woman with long reddish pink hair and green earrings, a man with bluish purple hair, and a short man that was really a talking pokemon called Meowth wearing a coat and mustache.
"Sounds like there's a big twerp reunion coming up!" Jessie said.
"They're having themselves a party for doing so well in the Sinnoh League and Grand Fesitival no doubt!"
"Well I say we crash that party and steal all their pokemon!" Meowth said. "That will make the boss happy!"
"Meowth we tried that when they all came back from Hoenn! And there will be even more twerps this time!" James said.
"Oh yeah. That could be a problem," Meowth said.
Jessie sighed. "We keep trying and trying. We've never given up after five years of chasing that Pikachu around but all we get are blast offs! How are we ever going to get into the boss's good favor?"
Suddenly a beeping sound echoed nearby from her pocket. She gasped and pulled out a small device with the rocket R on it. It flickered red while beeping.
"That's the signal to contact headquarters! The boss must want to speak with us!" Jessie said.
"Oh, this can't be good!" James said.
"For us? Or someone else?" Meowth asked. "I hope it's someone else!"
…
In Kanto, Giovanni, the billionaire leader of Team Rocket, sat in front of his computer. He had just seen the news that Norman was planning to visit a friend of his daughters in the region. He knew of the girl, she'd been traveling with Ash Ketchum, the boy who those fools Jessie and James were always trying to steal the Pikachu from. Giovanni never actually had any interest in that Pikachu despite those idiot's delusions it was something special. He was content with letting Jessie and James embarrass themselves. However, he had begun to take an interest in the boy after Ash had thwarted Professor Namba's operation to capture a Luigia in Johto. Ash had also finished in the Top 8 of Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Johto Leagues, as well as become Champion of the Orange Islands and the Battle Frontier. In addition, he'd been a key figure in the disbanding of Team Magma, Aqua, and Galactic. Giovanni was smart enough to put two and two together after seeing Norman's brief statement as the Gym Leader parted. Ash Ketchum had to be who he was visiting, the time seemed right for the boy to be returning soon.
"Ash Ketchum… you have gone from being a thorn in the side of my most useless underlings to an interesting trainer," Giovanni said. "If I could get you on my side… I could have a good pawn to bring about my goal at last. You could be the key to my success."
Well, I just noticed that Norman actually has a pretty fitting name for a normal type specialist. Also, Giovanni has decided to come after Ash! He is pretty much the overarching antagonist of the series so I thought it would be good to have him as the main villain in this fanfic. We'll see how puts everyone in danger soon, will May be in the center of it, or will Ash? Misty, Dawn, Brock, Tracey? All of them? Only time will tell as I write out this fanfic. Please review. I don't know how often I'll update this fic, whenever I have time to work on it I guess. I'm also writing a fanfic for Fairy Tail and Star Wars as well so you guys can check those out if you're fans of that as well.