We're now into Chapter 3 of 'Chasing May'! This finds the gang in Pastoria City, just after Ash's match with Crasher Wake. We may also get an update on May's Johto progress too. HERE WE GO!
It's been three days since the end of the Wallace Cup. Ash, Brock, Zoey and Dawn have since reached Pastoria City. The Croagunk Festival had finished with Nurse Joy's Croagunk winning out after sending Team Rocket to kingdom come. The day afterward, Ash defeated Crasher Wake to claim the Fen Badge - his 4th Sinnoh Gym Badge. We now find Ash in his room at the Pastoria City Pokemon Center. As he put the badge in his Badge Case, he looked up to the ceiling of his room, thinking about a certain sapphire-eyed brunette.
"May...oh, May...I miss you so much..." Ash said to himself. Pikachu was asleep on his lap, but could still make out his best friend singing an all-too-fitting song.
"This is when the feeling sinks in, I don't wanna miss you like this; Come Back...Be Here, Come Back...Be Here..." Ash sang to himself. But this attracted Zoey and Dawn's attention.
"Taylor Swift, Ash?" Dawn asked.
"How'd you know, Dawn?" Zoey asked Dawn.
"One - because Ash is the only guy I know who'd even think of listening to Taylor Swift and two - he only quotes Taylor Swift songs when he's really troubled."
Zoey was amazed at how well Dawn knew Ash. She had only met Ash a few months ago, but it was like she was a sister to him. "Dawn, it's almost as if you're his sister..."
"I never thought of it that way, Zoey."
"Something tells me Ash needs his sister right now," Zoey said as she placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder. With a nod, Dawn went into Ash's room.
"Oh...hey, Dawn," Ash greeted the blunette. "Didn't see you there. How long have you and Zoey been standing outside my room?"
"Long enough to hear you sing a Taylor Swift song. Let me guess...May got you into Taylor Swift?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah. I've actually been in her room during my Hoenn travels. She is quite possibly the biggest Swiftie that I know. I know I got my 4th badge and all, but something just feels different...like I've lost a piece of myself..."
"And May was that piece..."
"Yeah. She was always there for me in Hoenn and the Kanto Battle Frontier. It took until before she left for Johto for me to figure out that she was crushing on me. After she left the second time, that's when I realized that I was in love with her."
That's when Zoey came in. "Sounds like we got us a Romeo on our hands."
"You too, Zoey?"
"I may be a tomboy, but a girl knows love when she sees it. You, Ash Ketchum, are definitely in love."
Ash sighed and lowered his hat. "I'm totally surrounded. Fine...you guys caught me. I'm in love with Maybelline Allison Maple. Her silky brunette hair...her sparkling sapphire eyes...she's just so beautiful," Ash mused, then looked at his badge case. "4 down, 4 to go...halfway home. Halfway to seeing my May again. Next stop - Celestic Town for the next Pokemon Contest. Then on to Hearthome City for my next Gym Battle!"
"Ash is back!" Dawn and Zoey said in unison, remarking at the return of Ash's confidence.
Meanwhile...
We catch up with May on Blue Point Isle in the Whirl Islands. She had just won the Inland City Pokemon Contest resoundingly over Drew to claim her 4th ribbon, leaving her one ribbon shy of the 5 needed to enter the Johto Grand Festival.
"There we go..." May said as she put her new ribbon into her Ribbon Case. "...1 more to go! Then I can hop the next boat to Sinnoh and surprise Ash."
This got the attention of her older sister figure Solidad. "So, May...you're looking back to your old self now, I see."
"Yeah. I just need one more ribbon to enter the Grand Festival and if I get it soon enough, I can hop the next boat to Sinnoh and surprise Ash."
Solidad smiled, this was going according to her plan. "Which brings us back to what we were talking about when you got back from the Wallace Cup. With you already having 3 ribbons under your belt, my idea was to help you get your last 2 ribbons as fast as possible so you can be reunited with Ash. So Drew and I devised a way to combine your new defensive-minded style with the hyper-offensive style you learned from Ash."
"Apparently it worked here. I just got my 4th ribbon."
"If you can battle like that again in Ogi City on Yellow Rock Isle, you'll be the first of us to 5 ribbons."
May was up on her feet quickly at hearing that. "Yeah! Grand Festival's not until November and it falls just before my 13th birthday so if I can get the Ogi City ribbon, I'll have more than enough time to get back to Sinnoh to cheer Ash, Dawn and Zoey on!"
"But mostly Ash..." Solidad said, causing May to blush.
"Yeah...mostly Ash. Next stop, Ogi City!"
Next up is Celestic Town and Dawn and Zoey's next Pokemon Contest, but is there a hidden ribbon in Zoey's stash? And with Ogi City on May's horizon, will she win her 5th ribbon before Dawn and Zoey? We'll find out...AS THE JOURNEY CONTINUES!
