To be honest, I'm not really happy with the way this chapter came out. The characters took a scenario out of my hands and wrote the scene themselves. I guess it can't be all bad, can it? More of that fiendish villan, "The Plot", shows his ugly face this chapter. I guess I feel like I write better when I don't have to worry about getting from point A to point B.
"Are you gonna be alright, May?" Ash asked her, loosely running his fingers through her brown hair.
"Uh-huh," May snuggled her head against Ash's lap. She was content to lie there, having him stroke her.
"You're gonna have to get up eventually," he reminded her.
"I don't wanna," she said childishly.
"All right," Ash gave in, "You don't have to."
"Thanks," she turned her head around to look up at him. Ash lowered his face to hers and puckered his lips. May closed her eyes, waiting for him.
May opened her eyes. It was midmorning. She sat up and tried to make sense of what was going on. She looked down and found that she was wearing Ash's shirt. The events of the previous night slowly crept back into her memory. As well as the events of the previous day. "Max," she whispered to herself. Her brother still didn't know where she was. She began to look around the camp site. The fire had long since gone out. It wasn't even smoldering anymore. Ash, his backpack and Pikachu had disappeared. Across from where the fire would have been, a large, reptilian Pokémon stared back at her. His yellow eyes closely watched her as he moved the twig about his mouth. Ash had left Sceptile to guard her while she slept. She was slightly intimidated by Ash's fully evolved Pokémon, but she was glad someone was watching her. Ash must have gone in search of food or water of something, May thought. She decided that this was as good a time as any to get dressed in her regular clothes. She ordered Sceptile to turn around as she got dressed, and the Forest Pokémon reluctantly agreed. She quickly dressed herself, but when it came time to put on her bandana, she remembered tearing it in half to bandage Ash's wounds. She sighed, but a something red caught her eye near the sleeping bag-turned-blanket. Ash had left his hat there. May figured that she had worn it last night, so she just placed it on her head. I'll give it back when I find him, she thought.
"You can turn around again," she told Sceptile. The Grass-Type turned back to face the campsite. "Do you know which way Ash went?" She asked him.
"Scep tile," he pointed in the direction behind her. The trees were dense, but the sunlight filtered through the branches.
But still, May didn't feel comfortable walking out that way on her own. "Hey, Sceptile, come with me and let's go find Ash," she ordered him.
"Tile!" The Pokémon refused. He was content to stay here.
"Are you saying that you'd let me wander into the forest and get hurt?" May asked him.
But Sceptile caught her bluff. "Scep tile, Sceptile tile sceptile."
May glowered at Sceptile Thinks he's got it all together, does he? she thought at him. Well, I guess I'm gonna have to test his reaction. "Alright, I guess I'll go look for Ash on my own," she taunted Sceptile. "I'm sure Combusken can protect me…" She shouted back to him as she walked into the trees.
Sceptile knew he had no choice. He stood up and began to follow May. He caught up to her, and cursed her under his breath. May smiled devilishly, having played Sceptile like a well-tuned violin. They walked through the woods, not seeing very many wild Pokémon. May attributed that to the intimidating appearance of Sceptile. She began to hear a familiar voice up ahead. She heard laughing cheers, and the voice of Pikachu.
"Alright! Crabhammer the next one, Corphish!" Ash told his Water-Type. The crustacean Pokémon slammed his glowing claw into the next tree. A handful of large, round berries fell from the branches. Each of them had green and peach colored stripes. May looked to see Ash, with Pikachu on his head, looking very healthy. Ash had put on his hooded sweatshirt, but obviously wasn't wearing his hat. Pikachu scampered over to one of the berries and picked it up. Corphish, the small red Water-Type, having felt he had done enough, smashed one of the berries open and began to eat the sweet inner portion.
"Don't tell me you we're gonna eat without me?" May asked Ash. He turned his head to see the girl wearing his hat, but her clothes. Sceptile stepped out of the woods behind her.
"Hey, May!" Ash waved to her, "I see you've woken up." He turned to Sceptile. "Thanks for watchin' over her, Sceptile," He said, leaning down. He picked up one of the large berries and tossed it to Sceptile. The large Pokémon caught the berry and began to eat it.
"In think the rest of our Pokémon need to eat, too," May told Ash. The young trainer agreed, and they both reached at their belts and lobbed several Pokéballs into the air.
From Ash's Pokéballs came the small, purple Aipom, the nimble bird Pokémon Swellow, and a large, gray Pokémon. He had a set of tusks on each side of his mouth. His long black nose stretched down and he began to sniff around. Large ears sat atop his rather short body. The tire-like pattern on his nose continued along his back, ending on his rear. Bracer-like growths surround each of his short legs. This Pokémon runs passed Aipom and begins eating quickly.
"No, Donphan, wait for the others!" Ash scolded his Ground-Type Pokémon. Donphan stopped and sighed.
From May's Pokéballs came the chicken-like Combusken, the gluttonous Munchlax, and two more Pokémon. The first was a small turtle. He stood on his hind legs, balancing with his rounded tail. Other than his shell, which was brown on top and yellow on the bottom, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon was a light shade of blue. Next to him appeared a small, almost canine Pokémon. She was covered in brown fur, from the tips of her long ears to the bottoms of her small, feet. All except for a large, fluffy portion of fur around her neck. She had a fox-like tail that ended in the same pale white color that the fluff was. Her dark eyes lit up as the she and the turtle Pokémon ran towards some fruit. A nimble Munchlax, however had other plans and began scooping up the fruit in his arms. May quickly brandished her Pokéblock case and tossed a Pokéblock into Munchlax's gaping mouth. The Big Eater swallowed the block and became bloated very quickly, dropping the berries back onto the ground.
"Ewe!" the small canine Pokémon giggled as she took a bite out of the berry.
"Squirtle, Squir!" the small Water-Type agreed.
"Now, you two eat up, alright?" May had walked over to them and rubbed the back of her heads. Eevee smiled and cooed under her touch and Squirtle just laughed. May eyed the berry, and opened up her pack. Many of the items within were ruined. She pulled out a booklet, its cover claiming "Extensive Berry Encyclopedia." The pages were hard and had began to stick together, but nether the less she flipped to a page in the back of the book. She walked over to Ash and pointed at the picture in the book for him. "It says these are "Watmel Berries." They have a sweet taste to them."
Ash picked up one of the large berries and broke it open on his knee. He placed the opened rind near his mouth and took a bite. "Wow," he blinked, "that is pretty sweet." He handed the other half to May, who took it from his hand and took a bite.
"Yummy!" she exclaimed. She and Ash turned to the Pokémon. They had begun eating their fill of the Watmel berries, with the smaller Pokémon filling up before their larger counterparts. Ash walked over to ask Aipom if she was feeling better from the battle with Drew. Even though the Long Tail Pokémon bounced on her tail with a wide grin on her face, May felt a tang of guilt. May looked down at her shoes and rubbed them in the dirt.
Ash noticed and walked over to her. "Is something the matter, May?" he asked her, trying to look into her eyes.
"I still feel bad for having Aipom get hurt in that battle I got you and Drew to have," she admitted, not taking her gaze off her feet.
Ash patted her shoulder and said nothing. He turned back to the Pokémon and watched them eat. He took the half of the berry he had split earlier and continued to eat from it. May sat down and leaned her head against his leg, also eating from the split berry. "Ash…" May started, "I wanted to apologize…"
"For?" Ash asked as if he didn't know what she as going to say.
"For getting you and Drew to fight over me. It was wrong for me to play with your emotions like that," May admitted.
"I forgive you, May," Ash rubbed his hat over May's head. She looked up to see him smiling at her. She cracked a wry smile at him and smashed her half of the Watmel Berry into his face.
Ash wiped the pulp from his face and looked at May. "What was that for?" he asked her, his voice slightly irritated.
May had lept up and had taken some steps back. "Betcha can't get me!" She laughed at him. Ash wound up his throwing arm and tossed his half at May. She sidestepped the fruit, which fell harmlessly against the ground. She placed her hand on her mouth and looked at Ash. "Did the great Ash Ketchum miss? A girl?" she mocked him, trying to hide the laughter in her voice. Her mockery was cut off when Ash landed half of another berry into her chest. May clutched her chest and kneeled down, having a sensitive body part struck and wind knocked out of her.
Ash, shocked, ran over to her. "Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Ash Ketchum, this means war!" May shouted, taking the other half of the berry from Ash's hand and slamming it into his face.
The young trainers ran apart to find more berries. They each split them apart (May with more difficulty than Ash), and began to throw them at each other. When Ash had leaned over, May took the opportunity to hit him square in the end. The boy jumped, and turned to the laughing May. He tossed one at her leg, and caused her to fall. May threw another at Ash, only to have Ash's next assault catch it in the air, splating against each other. Ash followed it up with another half. May ducked, having it take Ash's hat off her head. They both picked up one last piece, and ran toward each other, holding it out in front of them, as if it were some kind of fruit joust. Ash's longer arms won out, and the fruit crashed into May's face. May's splatted on Ash's chest. Ash pulled his hand and the emptied rind away from May's face, only to have May tackle him to the ground. Ash managed to force them into a roll, with May now having her back on the ground. May, however, was able to use the momentum made by Ash to continue rolling, placing them back with May on top. May placed her hand on Ash's forearms, pinning him to the ground, preventing any further escape attempts. The boy was at her mercy. Her legs straddled his stomach, and a fearful look overcame Ash's eyes. A smirk appeared across May's face. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment. Both of them were sticky from the berry juice. Dirt had stuck to both of their faces. May felt her heartbeat quicken. She flipped herself off of Ash and laid on the ground next to him instead.
"So who won?" Ash asked her after a moment.
"I think it was a draw," May answered.
Using Squritle's Water Gun as a make-shift fountain, Ash and May washed their faces, arms and legs. May collected some of the Watmel berries and placed them in Ash's pack; her own could only hold one. After their Pokémon ate their fill of the berries, Ash and May sent them back into their Pokéballs (except Pikachu, of course), and walked through the woods back to the campsite. The only things remaining to be collected where the clothesline, Ash's sleeping bag, and the shirt May wore yesterday. Having forgotten about them, May realized that they wouldn't fit with the Watmel berries they had collected, but by taking the largest out of Ash's pack, they managed to barely fit it all in.
"I guess we can snack on it while we walk…" Ash mentioned to her, handing it to the girl while he put his pack back on.
"No!" May's arms cradled the berry protectively. She had actually had a chance to read her Berry Encyclopedia. "Watmel Berries are really rare! It's a miracle we found an entire grove of them! These can be used to make some very good Pokéblock!"
"Fine," Ash resigned, "but you're carrying it."
"Fine," May flatly stated.
"Pika…" the Pokémon sighed.
They walked down the road, neither of them saying anything to each other. Who does she think she is? Ash pondered to himself. Pikachu had taken residence on May's head, because she still wore Ash's hat. He found the hat more comfortable than Ash's hair, and napped on May as they traveled in the forest. Ash returned to his inner monologue. Does she think because I like her, that she can walk all over me like that? he fumed silently to himself. I mean, I was glad to help her yesterday, but does she think that she can just say 'Jump' and I'll go 'How high?' He looked over at May's content face, seeing her smile at the berry in her arms. His anger quickly dissolved, the happiness on May's face filling him with a gladness. She doesn't think like that, he told himself, She was just keeping it like she originally planned. Ash's thoughts wandered to the food-fight earlier that morning. He had seen something in May that he hadn't noticed before. Inside the seemingly innocent young woman, a wild girl came to the surface. She smiled slyly and had a fight with him. She took it into her own hands and wrestled him to the ground. She pinned him there, under her body. The look of the wild girl was what he saw on her face. The look of a girl who knew what she wanted and knew what she had to do to get it. As quickly as she came, the wild girl was gone, and the sweet, kind, innocent May whom had captured Ash's heart in the first place returned. He had never seen May act like that before. He wondered briefly what could have been the trigger for May to act like that. But when Misty and I traveled together, I remember her going from sweetly hanging around to being sour and hitting me, he sighed, I guess I'll never understand girls.
They came to the edge of the woods. They stepped out and a dusty road stretched to the left and right of them. To the right was a tall mountain, but to the left was a small, old signboard. He walked up to it and began to laugh in amusement. When May asked him what was up, he replied, "I know where we are, now!" May turned to the sign and read it.
EAST: CERULEAN CITY
WEST: MT. MOON
Upon closer inspection, in the lower right corner of the sign, there was a worn, almost indecipherable phrase written. She drew her face closer and was able to read it.
GARY WAS HERE! ASH IS A LOSER!
She gasped at what she read. Ash saw her reaction. "That is actually quite a few years old," he remarked.
"Gary really did antagonize you, didn't he?" she asked him.
He nodded. "I was reminded of him by the way Drew treated you the first time."
May looked at the sign again and came to a realization. If I were a boy, would my rivalry with Drew be the same as Ash's was with Gary? Does he only treat me nicely because I'm a girl? She felt herself become disgusted with Drew for a moment. She reached into her pack and pulled out a marker. She scribbled over Gary and Ash's names, and then rebolded the rest of the words in the original sentence. The reformatted phrase stated:
MAY WAS HERE! DREW IS A LOSER!
"What was that for?" Ash asked her as they walked toward Cerulean City.
"People like him have it coming," she replied, still sour over what she thought of Drew.
Ash sighed as they stepped into town and he guided them through it to the Pokémon Center.
This chapter is shorter than the previous two, but it leads us to the next part of the story. And for what it's worth, I believe I did better than I thought I did when I wrote the note at the beginning of the chapter. Let's see what fun I can rustle up in Cerulean City. The thoughts are already pouring into my head. Pokéshippers, beware! You may not like how I convey Misty's relationship to Ash.
Anydangway, please review/question/whateverthatthirdthingIkeepaskingyoualltodo!