My entry for AdvanceShipping fanfic contest. Theme chosen was quarantine, so here is my story. Enjoy everyone! Also editing was done my bestie in real life, thanks for all the grammar help ;)
Budew Drop Inn, Motostoke City
It was a gloomy day in the Galar Region, Motostoke City, where two boys both sighed in boredom in one of the many rooms in the Budew Drop Inn. One of them lay down on one of the beds, looking at one of his pokeballs, while the other looked at his Rotom phone with no interest, yawning and rubbing his eyes as he fought from falling asleep
The boy who lying down on the bed was none other than Pokemon Trainer Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. He had a red cap with a black Poké Ball design on his messy black hair and wore a blue vest with yellow outlines, a white undershirt with short sleeves and a red stripe, indigo shorts with black outlines, and black sneakers with blue highlights.
The other boy was Ash's new traveling companion, Goh from Vermillion City. He had messy black hair with two red highlights, slightly tanned skin, and blue eyes. His outfit consists of a red and grey short-sleeved top with a Poké Ball design, black tracksuit pants, red socks, and a pair of grey and black shoes.
"Goh? Any word on when we can leave?" Ash said, putting away his pokeball as he sat back up and saw as his friend seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep. "Goh?"
Goh, hearing his friend's voice, shook himself awake as he looked at his phone again "No… the news is still the same as the last time you asked me," he replied tiredly. Ash, deciding that Goh deserved a break from his boredom and also constant questions, left the room to see if he could find anything exciting to do in the hotel. Pikachu also came along as he woke up, after having a nice nap while his trainer was lying in the bed bored to death.
The raven-haired teen left the room soon after, while he thought about the whole quarantine thing. You see, yesterday, after Ash had gotten his first Galar gym badge, a deadly disease was found spreading throughout the region. Due to this, the Galar region government put all cities in quarantine until they felt it was safe for the trainers to travel once again.
Both trainer and Pokemon got off the elevator as they found themselves in the lobby. The raven-haired teen sighed, gazing at the doors he knew were locked. He shook his head and made his way over to the dining hall, passing many other trainers.
"Pika?" the yellow mouse suddenly said, turning around from his position on Ash's head and saw a familiar female face, having a surprised look on her face.
"Ash?" said the female, as if she didn't believe it was really who she thought it was.
Ash knew the voice very well and as such, turned around and saw none other than May Maple standing right there with her Glaceon at her side. Pikachu immediately jumped off Ash's head and over towards May, who caught him.
"Hey, Pikachu! Long time no see huh?" she asked, as the mouse nodded and waved at the ice Eeveelution.
Ash would have also joined in if it wasn't for the fact that he was looking at the brunette. Like him, May had changed her clothes and although different, the clothes reminded him of the one she wore during his Hoenn and Battle Frontier journey.
Overall he had to admit, she looked very nice in her new outfit, heck he could even say she looked pretty and beautiful too… wait where did that even come from!?
"Hello, Ash? Anyone in that big empty head of yours?" May jokes, as Ash sent her a playful irritated look, while his face slightly turned red… not because of the comment, but because of what he was thinking.
"My head's not big or empty either," he said as that caused a small laugh to escape from the brunette, causing Ash to smile.
"Anyway May… not that I'm not enjoying your company, but what are you doing here in Galar?" Ash asked her since he was surprised to see her here. As far as he knew, Galar didn't have any Pokemon Contests… so either she was sent here by someone or she just wanted to do some sight-seeing.
May didn't answer him immediately. Ash was about to ask her again in case she didn't hear, but she finally answered his question.
"You see… I'm taking a break from Contests. I heard Galar had this thing called dynamaxing or gigantamaxing and also a World Championship Tournament. Both got me curious and next thing I know, I jumped on a plane to Galar only to find my third day stuck in quarantine."
Ash nodded. "Yeah… quarantine sucks. I recently just got my first Galar badge from Motostoke Stadium and was excited to hit the road on another journey again."
May raised an eyebrow. "You're doing the gym challenge? I would have thought you'd want to do the whole World Championship instead."
"I am doing the World Championship… but recently I saw a battle between both Leon and Raihan in Wyndon. Both were super strong and even used the whole Dynamax/Gigantamax with their Pokemon. I mean, I also had a battle with Leon, unofficially of course, and well let's just say me and Pikachu lost," explained the raven-haired teen as the yellow mouse's ears dropped down sadly.
"Hey, it wasn't your fault Pikachu!" Ash said, seeing the expression on his starter's face. "I mean we aren't used to Gigantamaxing like Leon and his Charizard are, guess that sort of threw us off. But you did awesome during that battle buddy. Couldn't be more proud of you." he said as the mouse felt his spirits get lifted by his trainer's kind words.
May nodded as she saw the mouse still in her arms happily coo at the gentle touch she was giving his head. "I'm sure if I saw the battle, I would also agree with Ash. Besides, Pikachu, you're not a Pokemon people would want to underestimate," she said and saw Ash nod at that. "However that doesn't explain the whole reason as to why you're doing the gym challenge."
Ash sighed and looked away from May. The brunette looked at the raven-haired teen as he seemed to be having an inner battle with himself. "See the thing is… I feel like I need more of a challenge if I want to beat Leon. All the trainers who I've battled aren't weak or anything like that… but it almost felt too easy. My battle with Korrina, she's the Shalour City gym leader… It was probably the only battle I've had so far that was a challenge for me. So I thought that may be challenging the gym leaders here would help me out. I mean they are supposed to be stronger than regular trainers right?"
May was silent as she took in what Ash said. "I guess we're both kinda at a roadblock. Me taking a break from Contests and you not knowing what's the best course of action to take."
Ash nodded and felt his eyes drift back towards her sapphire blue eyes. Neither one broke eye contact as they just kept staring at each other. Pikachu and Glaceon smirked in content as they looked at one another and nodded happily.
However, the moment was soon cut short, when all of a sudden two other trainers came in. Looking at them, you could right away tell they weren't your regular type trainers.
"Can we help you?" Ash asked after seeing the creepy smiles on both their faces. May kept close to him as she felt herself become tense.
"No, you can't," said the one with blonde hair.
"But she can," said the one with blue and green hair as he had an expression neither teen liked. "You're May Maple aren't you? The girl who lost for the fourth year in a row at the Sinnoh Grand Festival last year. No wonder you don't join in any Contests anymore. Perhaps that's why you quit. Finally saw the loser you are."
Ash didn't like the sound of how these two strangers were making fun of May and her contests. So what if she didn't win a Grand Festival yet! It took him 6 attempts to finally win a league after all!... Not counting the Orange Islands or Battle Frontier that is. Looking at May, he saw the poor brunette fighting to not let the tears in her eyes fall.
Luckily for him, it seemed he wasn't alone in his opinion of these two trainers. The mouse slipped out of May's grip and got into a defensive stand in front of the two teens, Glaceon following his lead as she stood beside him with narrowed eyes.
"Oh? Is the little boy gonna play hero and save his girlfriend?" asked the blonde mockingly as his friend laughed with him.
Ash felt himself get angry. These two shouldn't even be allowed in here… they should go and die for he cared. No one and he means no one. Messes. With. His. Friends!
"Yes, I am. May is a great coordinator and will become the best Top Coordinator ever. So don't you dare say she's a loser when I bet she's done way more than you two clowns have done with your lives," the teen finally answered the two, who both stopped laughing and looked at Ash shocked. However, none were more shocked than May herself.
The brunette felt herself feel better at the thought of Ash willing to help her… however she then felt herself turning red once she realized Ash didn't argue on the whole girlfriend comment.
'Could he… like me… the way I like him?' she thought.
The blonde looked at the two Pokemon on the ground and knew he was out of his league. "Let's go, Jet," he said, shooting a glare at Ash. "No point staying with these two losers. Besides unfortunately we can't do any battling, else they're gonna kick us out."
Jet didn't seem to agree with his friend as he full-on tackled Ash. Both boys could be seen wrestling on the ground, with May pleading for Jet to stop as Pikachu and Glaceon ran off to go and find one of the hotel managers
"Get off me!" Ash said, trying to not get physical with Jet as he struggled to get the angered teen off. Jet didn't seem to want to, as he went for a punch. Ash saw the punch coming, however, because he was on the ground, Ash wasn't able to dodge the punch as it hit him straight in the face.
"Stop it!" May screamed again, failing to get away from the blonde's grip. "Let me go! Help! Some-"
"Shut up! We don't want the whole damn cavalry here after all," said the blonde, as he whispered in May's ear while he forcefully placed his hand over May's mouth to prevent her from screaming.
The brunette stared sadly as she watched the one person who stuck by her side since the beginning. She remembered all the moments they had together; training with one another, cheering the other in a contest or gym battle, the ridiculous arguments they had for some reason. May shook herself, she needed to be strong! Ash got into this mess because he defended her against these two stuck-up trainers… now she needed to be the one to do something. May used her foot and stomped as hard as she could on the blonde's right foot. As she expected, he released her from his grip and May took this chance to kick him once more, causing him to fall to the ground in agony.
She looked back over at Ash and Jet, as she tried to think of a way to help Ash. She knew the reason why Ash wasn't fighting back and wished she could do something other than stand there. She did just escape from the blonde jerk for crying out loud!
Luckily at that moment, Pikachu and Glaceon returned with one of the hotel managers. "What is going on in here?" he demanded and saw Jet go pale as he knew he was caught in the act. No way would the manager believe him, especially since he didn't have any injuries like Ash currently had. "I can explain!" he tried to say, but it didn't reach the manager's ear.
May watched as two hotel guards, plus the manager escorted Jet and Nolan (the blonde) away. The brunette sadly smiled at the two Pokemon. "Thanks, guys. I don't know what would have happened without you."
"May? Are you alright?" Ash asked as he held a bag of ice over his nose.
"I should be the one asking you that. After all, you took most of the beating… you shouldn't have had to Ash… I'm used to hearing that."
"Well, you shouldn't! Like I told those two dummies, you're a talented coordinator, May, and an amazing girl too. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend… I'm lucky to have you as my friend," Ash said as May wiped away some tears.
"Oh Ash!" she said and pulled into a tight hug, which he returned. "I'm also lucky to have you as my friend too… You've been there for me since the first day of my journey and for that, I can never thank you enough."
Ash shook his head. "I don't need you to thank me… but I do want you to go back out there once this whole quarantine is over and show all those people who May Maple is. I mean you're smart, talented, creative, pretty-" he said and then cut himself off at the last word he said, his face turning red in embarrassment at having said it out loud this time around.
May also felt as she blushed at hearing Ash call her pretty. She looked over at him discreetly and saw him blushing too. The brunette doesn't know what happened next, but she does know that she felt her hands reach over to Ash, as she turned his head to face her own and leaned into him; her lips met his.
Ash was surprised but felt himself kissing her back. Neither one shoved the other away. Nor did they want to either. What they knew was that everything they felt for each other was being transmitted through that kiss. This was the beginning of a new type of relationship between the two and both of them loved the feeling of it.
My first one shot! Hope you all like it enough. I really do want to see Ash and May reunite in the anime soon, especially since I think Dawn, May and Serena are gonna return. Hopefully some AdvanceShipping moments will be added into the reunion too ;)