I guess I'll break the news, incase you haven't heard yet. May has been removed from the cast as of the Diamond/Pearl Anime. The news kind of made me sad, but I'm going to keep on going. I mean, Pokeshippers have held on, so why can't we?
Enjoy the next chapter.
"That was fun!" May smiled, as she placed the empty bowl in Ash's backpack.
"I agree," Ash smiled back at the happy girl. "I'm kinda glad no one was watching us from the bushes like earlier today." Ash folded up the blue cloth used to wrap the rice balls and placed it in his backpack, as well.
"I still kinda wish I didn't back down from that, though," May eyed him sheepishly.
"From what?" Ash asked, oblivious to the situation.
"Oh, you know," May walked up to him and grabbed his hand to jog his memory, "we were about this far apart…" She pulled herself and the boy close together. Ash could feel May's chest pressed against his own. "…and you could feel my breath on your face…" she cooed. Ash felt his face light up. "…and I could tell you were looking at my lips…" she whispered sweetly, licking them.
"I-I was going to-I mean, Pikachu!" Ash turned to his partner to avoid facing the girl any longer. "Are you awake, buddy?"
Pikachu had not stirred from the slumber he had begun when Ash had gotten May to talk about what she and Misty talked about during their picnic.
"Oh, come on, Ash," May playfully slapped his back, "I was just kidding around!"
"Easy for you to say…" Ash grumbled.
"What was that?" May looked suggestively at Ash.
"I mean…" Ash was stuck. He had to let it out, now. "I… guess… I wanted… to kiss… you… a little…"
"Oh really?" May smiled, blushing.
"Just a little!" Ash protested. "None of that tongue stuff!"
"Ash, knowing about deep kissing?" May raised her eyebrow. "Will wonders not cease?"
Ash blushed. "I… I saw some people on TV doing it a few weeks back, and I…"
"Go on," May nudged him, a giant smile having grown across her face.
"…I… I thought about doing that…" Ash muttered, barely audible.
"With who?" May giggled. She was having a ball.
Ash, however, wanted to curl up into a ball. He didn't, however, and somehow managed to get out, "…with you…"
May hugged Ash tightly from the side. "That's so cute, Ashy," she smiled.
"You… You don't think I'm weird?" Ash gulped, looking at the coordinator.
"Nu-uh," May grinned. She ran her hand through his black hair, knocking off his hat. "As a matter of fact, we could right now, if you wanted…"
Ash turned deep red and backed out of May's embrace. He quickly picked up his hat and shoved it on over his head. "N-no…" he mumbled.
"Oh?" May peered into his eyes from under his hat. "I thought you wanted to?"
"The mood's not right," the boy grunted, turning from her again.
"And what would be the perfect mood to kiss me in, hm?" May smiled. This is gonna be good, she thought.
"I… I guess…" Ash turned on his imagination, "we'd be standing on top of the Battle Pyramid…"
"The Battle Pyramid?" May sounded displeased. "I think your imagination's broke."
"Hear me out!" Ash pleaded, before he realized that he was pleading to tell May about a fantasy. He had already said it, though, so he decided to continue. "It'd be night. All the stars would be out, and from being so high up, we'd be able to see all the lights in the city below. So, it'd kinda be like there's a sky on both sides. I'd be showing off my final Frontier Symbol to you, and we'd talk about how far we had come since we met all the way back in Hoenn. I'd tell you that I'd never have gotten this far without you, and you'd think it's all sweet and stuff, and then…" Ash gulped, "…I'd kiss your hand."
"Just my hand?" May was surprised.
"Y-yeah…" Ash looked over at Pikachu, silently pleading for him to wake up. "This is a stupid story, anyway," Ash tried to dismiss the entire thing, "why don't we get back to Cyndi's? Everyone's probably waiting for us."
"Well, even though we probably should get back," May said, walking over to Pikachu, "I didn't think your story was bad. I thought it was kinda cute. I like how you'd be a gentleman about it and not kiss my face without me making a move, first." She picked up the dozing Pokémon and held him in her arms, forcing Ash to eye her instead of his stalwart Electric-Type. "Let's walk back, and you can tell me more as we walk."
"Fine," Ash submitted. They began retracing their steps back to Cyndi's house. Ash remained silent as they walked.
May grew concerned. I hope I didn't hurt his feelings trying to get him to talk to me about love and stuff, she thought. She worked up the courage to break the silence. "Ash…?" May asked, walking next to him, taking his hand in hers.
"What is it, May?" he asked.
"I'm sorry I made you feel uncomfortable back there," she smiled at him. "I know I was prying, and you didn't really want to talk about it. And all I did was embarrass you."
He squeezed May's hand. "It's alright. I know you're into that romantic stuff. I guess I'm not really that good at it."
"You better than you think you are…" she said, resting her head on Ash's shoulder as they walked. "I thought the part about a sky on both sides was pretty romantic."
Ash felt himself blush. He looked down to the girl at his side. Her eyes looked intently at the path ahead of them. She held his most trusted partner in one of her arms, and in her opposite hand was his. His eyes moved to the green bandana he had bought for her. It was lovingly tied around her head, possibly even more so than her previous red one. Ash felt himself swell up with pride that he and May had become so close. He was afraid of trying to kiss her, afraid that he'd be trying to rush the relationship too quickly and end up destroying it. He also knew, that after they kissed for the first time, there would be no going to back to being 'just friends.' Because of this, the trainer restrained himself from kissing the girl at the top of her head, something he wanted to do. Instead, he made himself content with what they had together at the moment.
I feel kinda weird, Ash thought to himself. I mean, not bad weird. A good weird. It's like… he thought for a moment. It's like how I feel about my Pokémon… some kind of caring that extends further than plain old friendship. I want to care for her. I mean, I care about people like Brock, but I don't want to make it my duty to care for him. But it's different with May. I want to care for her. I want to bring her ramen like I did earlier. I want to help her win her contests. I want to see her smile. Her happiness makes me happy. I want her to stay with me and Pikachu forever. I… I really do love her…
"Are you okay, Ash?" May looked up at him. "You haven't been paying much attention to the path, and you've kinda been staring at me for a bit."
"Oh, I was just thinking," Ash smiled, turning his gaze back to the path.
"Oh really?" May asked him. "May I asked about what?"
"It's nothing, really," Ash shook his head as they stepped out of the bushes.
"C'mon, tell me!" May cutely begged, squeezing Ash's hand as they both ran down the road.
"I don't have to," Ash smiled, stopping close to the door.
"But I want you to," May laughed.
Ash turned the door knob and stepped inside. Max and Cyndi looked up from the toys they were playing with to see the two enter.
"Hey, guys!" May smiled. "What are you two doing in here?"
"Us?" Max asked, annoyed. "What are you two doing holding hands?"
Ash and May looked at their hands, each with their's tightly gripping the other's. They quickly fumbled their hands loose and turned away from each other. "We're not doing anything, Max," May smiled, still holding a napping Pikachu.
"You two have been gone for a while…" Cyndi raised an eyebrow.
"I bet they were kissin' each other and stuff," Max laughed.
"'Oh, Ash, I love you!'" Cyndi mimed the coordinator.
"'Oh, May, let's kiss alone in the forest away from everyone!'" Max mimicked the trainer. They both burst into laughter.
Ash didn't find it to be a very laughable matter. "Hey, May and I haven't kissed yet! So don't go saying we've done stuff that we haven't!"
Max pushed up his glasses. "So you haven't 'yet', right?" he smirked. Laughing, he added, "When's the wedding?"
Ash tried to defend himself, but he continued to stumble over his own words.
Luckily, May knew how to handle her brother. "That's big talk coming from someone who's been hanging around Cyndi a lot recently," she smirked back.
"What do you mean by that!" both the children exclaimed.
May had him where she wanted him. "'Oh, Max, let's practice kissing!'" she stood in front of Ash and leaned her head against his chest and looked up into his eyes.
Ash wrapped one of his arms around May, and used the other to mime pushing up glasses. "'Practice? Why not kiss for real?'" They broke the mock-embrace and snickered.
"Hey!" both of the children began to blush. "That's not fair, or accurate!"
"C'mon, Ash," May smiled, "let's leave these love birds alone."
"Yeah, I'd hate to interrupt their kissing," Ash laughed as they both stepped into the other room, closing the door behind them.
"We're not in love!" Max and Cyndi shouted in unison.
Ash and May saw Brock watching television on the couch. The breeder looked up. "Hey, I'm glad you two are back," he smiled. "Max and Cyndi have been bothering me with their 'Ash and May are kissing' talk. I finally got them to leave me alone not too long ago."
"We're sorry, Brock," Ash sighed. "We didn't mean to leave you high and dry like that."
We? May thought.
The breeder shook his head. "It's cool, don't worry about it."
"Is there anything good on?" May asked, sitting down next to the breeder. Ash followed her and sat at her side.
Brock looked over at the two. "Not really… mostly junk, a few animes and infomercials." Brock looked over to Ash and saw the boy's arms laying across the top of the couch behind the lad. Brock motioned with his eyebrows to him, to try to tell him to place his arm around May.
Ash saw Brock's motioning and quickly realized what the breeder was trying to get him to do. Thinking himself smooth, he let out a large, false yawm and draped his hand over May's shoulders. May's eyes looked over to see Ash smiling at the television, knowing full well what he was doing, but not letting the girl know he knew. May giggled at the boy, and snuggled closer to him, allowing his arm to hang off her shoulder and his fingers to rest on her upper arm.
Brock smiled. If I can't find love for myself, the breeder sighed happily, the least I can do is help other people's love grow.
A huge slam erupted from the front room. Pikachu leapt up and tumbled to the floor. Ash, May, and Brock all stood up and rushed to the door, with the mouse Pokémon leaping to Ash's shoulder. Before the humans could open it, however, it slammed open, revealing Norman as he stepped inside the room followed by his wife, and Ash's mom.
Ash's thoughts immediately turned to his imminent demise. Norman was going to turn him inside out and nail the body outside the Petalburg Gym as an example of what happens when you get cozy with a Gym Leader's daughter.
However, his premature funeral was halted when Professor Oak carried Raine in on his back.
"Mom, Dad?" May asked as they all approached the couch. "What happened to Raine?"
"We ran into trouble on out way home…" Norman began. Oak laid the woman down, her left eye black. Even though she was in pain, she still cracked a grin.
"Mom!" Cyndi ran into the room and to her mother's side. "What happened?"
"On our way home," Norman explained. "we ran into the Nurse Joy of Cerulean City."
Ash, May, Max, Brock, and Cyndi all let out a gasp.
"Well, if it isn't little miss upstart!" Joy spat at Raine as she and the entourage passed by the Pokémon Center. "Don't have you're precious Officer Jenny to save you, do you?"
The normally timid Raine stood her ground. "You're the one who called the police last time," she shot back, "and you're also the one who trash talked to a girl who's not even ten years old!"
"I can't stand you, you skank!" Joy growled. "If you didn't have a gang with, I'd take you on right now!"
Oak, Norman, Caroline, and Delia all blinked at being implicated as a gang.
"Why are you letting that stop you?" Raine taunted. The fist of the Pokémon Nurse hurtled into her eye, knocking her off her feet.
Norman began to step forward, buy Raine held up her arm for him to stay back. She lunged at Joy and threw a powerful punch into her stomach. The winded nurse dropped to her knees and caught her breath, and then leapt on top of the mother. A flurry of hair pulling, punching, slapping, and wrestling ensued with the nurse getting the rawer end of most of the action. Raine managed to roll Joy face to the ground. The mother sat on the nurse's back, and used her arms to put her opponent into a choke hold. The nurse's face began to turn red, then blue.
Before any further damage could be done, Norman stepped in and pulled Raine off the Nurse. "It's over, you've won," Norman tried to calm the raging woman.
Raine caught her breath and calmed down. "You don't have much fight in you, do you?" she smirked at Joy.
The nurse's face had begun to return to their regular color. She coughed for a moment, and then looked up at Raine from her crouched position. "If you didn't have that stupid store, you wouldn't have been able get these friends of yours to save you," she curse.
"I don't think I needed any help to kick your butt," Raine glared, a smile on her face.
"Well, if that's the case," Joy smiled, "how about we make a wager?"
"Depends," Raine looked serious. "What are the terms?"
"The battle between you daughter's idol and the Cerulean Gym Leader is tomorrow, right?" Joy asked. "How about, if the boy wins, I'll trade Center duties with Joseph."
"Sounds good," Raine smiled, "but what if the Gym Leader wins?"
"You'll have to sell that crumby store of yours and get out of town!" Joy exclaimed. "And take that punk kid of yours with you."
Raine smiled and held out her hand. "I think we have a deal," she said.
Norman, Caroline, Delia, and Oak all gasped.
Joy shook the hand of her adversary. "Good. It'll be great to never have to see you again."
"Really?" Raine smirked. "I was thinking the same thing. It'll be good to have Joseph closer to home."
Joy stepped back and walked into the Pokémon Center. Raine smiled a bit, and then fainted. Delia rushed behind her and caught her as she fell. Oak offered to carry her back to the house so she could rest. The group helped place the woman onto the professor's back and the began to rush back to Raine's house.
"Mom, I can't believe you!" Cyndi shouted to her newly conscious mother. "You're gambling our future on a Pokémon Battle?" The girl burst into tears and ran up to her room.
"Cyndi, wait!" Max shouted, following the girl before getting cut off from her room by a slammed door.
"This is my chance to get her out of my hair, once and for all," Raine said, sitting up. "That cousin of Joe's has been harassing my family ever since we came here." She looked down at her lap. "I know Cyndi's upset, but I knew that this was our chance. Even if we have to leave town, at least we'll never have to see that Joy again."
Ash and May looked at each other, and then to the ground. Raine looked up to them as Pikachu let out a discouraged coo. "I'm sorry that I've put even more pressure on you than you already have in the coming battle."
"Raine," Delia came over to her and placed her hand on the other mother's shoulder, "I think you need to talk to Cyndi about this. You need to show her your confidence."
Raine nodded and stood up, teetering slightly. She hobbled over to the stairs. Brock moved over and helped her up the stairs to find Max sitting with his back to the door. Brock led the small child downstairs as Raine knocked on the door.
"Cyndi," Raine called.
"Go away!" the girl shouted.
"Please let me in," Raine calmly stated. She heard the girl get off her bed and walk over to the door and unlock it. Raine opened the door and stepped inside to find her daughter already back in bed. Her eyes were red from her crying. The girl sniffed audibly, looking at her mother like one would look at someone who has pushed them down.
"It's alright, Cyndi," Raine said, sitting next to her daughter on her bed.
"It's not alright!" Cyndi cried. "I know we've almost lost the house in the past, and you've somehow held onto it during all this time, because you love it so much! And now, you're going to let Aunt Joy take it if Misty beats Ash?"
"Cyndi!" Raine gasped. "I'm surprised at you! I thought you were the one who was always saying that Ash could never lose!"
Cyndi sniffed. "It…it's not Ash I'm worried about losing. It's May," she admitted.
"I see," Raine rubbed the young one's back. The girl placed her head in her mother's lap. "If you know Ash can win, then you should have faith in his decisions."
Cyndi looked up. "What do you mean?"
"If Ash didn't think they stood a chance," Raine explained, "I don't think he would have joined forces with May. And even if he didn't think he could win, Ash would fight anyway, and find victory even against the most difficult odds."
Cyndi smiled at the thought of her idol. "I… I believe in him…"
"Can you believe in May?" Raine asked, stroking her daughter's hair.
"I… I guess so…" Cyndi looked at her carpet.
"Then you don't need to worry anymore. And besides, won't you like having Daddy around more often?" Raine smiled.
"Yeah!" Cyndi jumped up. "Skarmory and I can play together more!"
"That's my girl," Raine smiled. "Now let's go back downstairs and rejoin everyone."
When Raine and Cyndi returned downstairs, the mood had returned to a calm one. Norman, Caroline, Oak and Delia sat around the room, discussing each of their homes. Max had joined Ash and May outside, playing with Ash's Noctowl that Oak had brought with him. Brock sat out there with them, coddling his small, tree shaped Pokémon. Cyndi headed outside to join with the other children.
"We sent them outside when you went upstairs," Oak began as soon as Cyndi closed the door. "And we heard Cyndi shouting from upstairs." The professor sat up, "Are you having financial problems, Raine?"
Raine sat down in a small chair opposite the couch that Delia and Oak sat on. "I really didn't want to bring you all into this," she muttered.
"Hey, we're friends," Norman gleefully smiled. "We're supposed to help!"
"I hardly know you people…" Raine looked down into her lap. "… and already you're willing to help me?"
"Of course!" Delia smiled. "You've helped our little ones along, especially after that nasty Nurse Joy sent them packing. You're a good friend, now!"
"Yeah, but I don't want any hand outs," Raine sighed. "I don't want to be a charity case…"
"Then we've just got to find a way to use this publicity from the battle and turn it to our advantage," Oak thought out load, his hand moving to his chin.
"We could pass out flyers at the battle," Caroline suggested.
"Before we count our chickens, though," Norman mentioned, "if Ash and May don't win the battle, there won't be a store to advertise for."
The group all sighed.
"Hey, I believe in them," Norman smiled. "As long as Ash and May support each other in battle, I'm sure they'll win."
"Hey, Delia, why don't we have a talk in the kitchen?" Caroline smiled at the mother from Pallet.
Delia smiled back. "Sure, we can talk while we fix dinner!" The two women stood up and walked into the kitchen.
"Now that sounds like a good idea," Norman joked. "I'm going to go see how the children are doing." He got up and left the room.
Oak began to stand up, but heard his arthritis crack. "I think I'll just see what's happening on the television," he sighed.
Raine sat there, wondering how her life got so complicated just by advertising in a phone book.
Poor Raine. She didn't ask for any of this to happen, but now it seems like her life is out of her control. Caroline and Delia are gonna talk about something. I wonder what? Norman seems confidant. Oak… is just old.
Yeah, I'm kinda bummed that May's gone. Probably moreso because I liked her as a character than because of Advanceshipping. But she can still appear. And I'm gonna stay an Advanceshipper forever. Even if the 'canon' goes up in my face, so to speak, this is a cute couple and I'm gonna support it.