Chapter 39
Gyms weren't just a place to prove your worth and battle ability in, they were also a home for their respective Gym leaders and families. One problem with maintaining a Gym is that there always had to be sufficient food for the Pokemon that battle there. One reason that Norman only had three Pokemon was because it was a huge hit to the wallet to constantly spend money on Pokemon food, especially food for 800 pound gorillas. Slaking ate a ton, which was no surprise, but it was certainly a pain to keep its stomach full. Luckily, Gym leaders earn pretty big salaries so money was never an issue, but it was just the pain of going to the supermarket every other day to buy more stuff.
Since Kenny's shift was over, he went home for the afternoon. With him out of the picture, Caroline had to go to the market herself to buy some food for her hungry Pokemon, as well as for her family. Before Caroline left the house to drive to the market, May eagerly insisted that she tag along, for she wanted to spend more time with her mother, not to mention the fact that she loved food. Becoming somewhat of a glutton herself, May couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick out the kind of food she wanted at the supermarket.
May grabbed her fanny pack and strapped it around her waist, but before she left the house she said goodbye to her brother and Ash. She gave Ash a noteworthy smile and nod before she went out the door, for she was pleased in her newfound confidence over her relationship with the boy. After the previous kisses and the physical contact between the two, she finally directly stated that she loved him. Ash responded with a nervous smile and some incoherent gibberish, but much like the response to their first kiss, it was satisfactory enough. She was kind of amused by the fact that Ash didn't reply with a, "I love you too!" as a response, for she thought it would be contrived, as if he said that without really meaning it. The fact that he couldn't form words as a response, but looked generally elated instead was what she much preferred. She knew he was sincere, and even though he couldn't say it yet, he loved her just as much. All in all, May was happy to finally realize something; she had a boyfriend.
As May was sitting in the passenger seat in her parents car while her mother was driving to the supermarket, a whole new world of possibilities and scenarios opened up in her mind. She sat there silently with her hands in her lap, giving off a contented expression of a daughter that was just going about buying a few groceries with her mother. In her mind however, she realized that she just entered a new segment of her life; one with a romantic relationship, her first romantic relationship, and she had to make sure she was ready for it.
One benefit about her relationship with Ash was that she already knew him for so long beforehand. They had traveled together for months and months through different regions, and she knew his personality inside and out. Unlike other teenage relationships where the guy and girl barely knew each other before dating, May and Ash were already closely knit. She knew what he liked, what he didn't like, and what his personality was all about. She knew how to push his buttons, and when to lay back. She was aware of his passion, determination, confidence and courage; four qualities that she really liked about him. She wondered, could she be in a possibly better scenario? She had thought that dating and crushes were a hectic thing in the past, but perhaps it was relatively easy after all.
One thing she was in doubt about however was if she should bring it out in the open. She suspected that her mother eluded to the fact that she knew, or at least, was aware that there was something between her and Ash that was being kept secret. Still, it was quite difficult directly saying anything to her mother, as the potential teasing would be too awkward. She knew her father respected Ash quite a bit, but she was unaware if he could decipher anything but friendship between them. At the moment, she believed that he was in the dark. She made up her mind however that she would definitely not tell Max, her little brother, as long as he were traveling with them. There was nothing more annoying than a little brother teasing and making rude comments about his sister's love life. She thought about the potential grief that Max would give her if he found out, and she sure as hell wasn't ready for that. She imagined that Ash would find it awkward too, especially since he and Max were very close, and now it would be a different ballgame. Now Ash would have to be aware that he was in a relationship with Max's older sister, and it's quite jarring to establish that right away. Nonetheless, May would let time tear away the boundaries until she was comfortable making her relationship with Ash known.
Caroline pulled the car into the parking lot of the supermarket, and shut off the engine as she took off her seatbelt. May sat there still content in her own little world, until her mother had to snap her out of it to let her know they arrived. May squeamishly acknowledged it and hopped out of the car as fast as she could.
The mother and daughter walked through the sliding doors to the busy supermarket. It was quite large, with multiple aisles and a ton of customers about. Hoping to buy a lot of food for not only the Gym's Pokemon but for themselves as well, Caroline and May took two separate shopping wagons to walk around the aisles with. They shopped together for the most part, as Caroline picked up the large bags of food for Slakoth's diet. May's mouth on the other hand was already watering when she saw the meat and deli being prepared and cooked behind the counters.
"Honey, you're drooling in public again," Caroline said.
May stuttered and squeamishly turned to her mother. "H-hey, I-I can't help it that there's so much good food around here! After traveling for so long, I almost forgot how great this supermarket was! We really gotta pick up a lot of stuff here, Mom, I want to eat as much good food as I can before I start traveling with Ash again."
Caroline picked up a loaf of bread and dropped it in the wagon. "Always in such a rush to hit the road again, I suppose that's the lifestyle of an aspiring Top coordinator."
May smiled. "I'm sorry that we don't see each other that much anymore, but you know how it is. Traveling is just the best, and I can't wait until the Contest houses open up again so I can start competing for the next Grand Festival. Since we're in the off-season right now there's no reason to travel, but I don't suspect that'll last long," she said.
"Do you have any idea where you'll be heading next?" Caroline asked.
"Eh, not really. I suppose wherever Ash decides to go will be fine. I just hope there are Contests there too, or else we might be in for a bit of a problem," May frowned.
"I've thought about that too," Caroline said, turning toward May, "Would you and Ash be able to split apart for a short while if there were no Contests halls in the region he was traveling in?"
"You mean…" May said, trailing off.
"Yes, I'm curious. It seems to mostly be a coincidence that Contests happen to be in the same regions that Ash intends to compete in, your goals seem to intertwine with one another well. There are some lands out there without any Contest halls though, so I hope you make a good choice if it ever comes to that," Caroline said.
May pressed her hands against the wagon, unsure of what to reply with at the moment. Her mother did bring up a good point, especially now that Ash had become a romantic love interest, what would she do?
"I haven't really thought about it," May said truthfully, "Contests are pretty popular, it's no surprise that they happen to be in the most popular regions. I do know, however, that some lands don't have Contest halls for whatever reason, and that is kind of troubling."
May and Caroline continued to walk down the aisles, picking up various items and placing them in the wagon as they talked. May thought about how their relationship might be affected if they were traveling apart, as most long distance relationships end up falling to pieces. She also thought about if Ash would decide to just tag along with her on her Contest quest, and decide not to compete in any Gyms or battle facilities for awhile. She knew that idea had some holes in it though, as Ash was way too competitive and determined with his own dream to just sit idle for awhile, especially when it could take up to a year to collect five ribbons and finish in a Grand Festival.
Caroline continued which awoke May from her train of thought. "At that point you'd probably have to make a choice on whether you would want to continue to travel with Ash, and not compete in Contests for up to a year, or decide to travel a separate road and compete in Contests in a different region. It's probably a hard choice for the two of you, since you seem so…close," Caroline noted.
"M-mom, I know, but I'd rather not…"
"You'd rather cross that bridge when you come to it, eh?" Caroline winked.
"Right!" May said happily, "No point in worrying about it now, it's…something to leave for the future."
Caroline chuckled as she threw a box of cereal into the wagon. "You know, it's funny that your father and I pretty much went through the same thing."
"Wuh? You and Dad? What do you mean?" May asked, interested.
"You know that Dad inherited the Gym from grandpa, but of course, he didn't just get the Gym overnight. He had to prove to his father that he was worthy to become the successor of the Petalburg Gym, and thus he had to travel all over the land, defeating other Gym leaders and earning badges. He had to show them to his father as proof that he was victorious against the other esteemed Gyms. It was only after winning a certain amount of badges, that his father, your grandpa, decided to pass the Gym over to his control," Caroline said.
"That's interesting, you never told me that before. You said you met Dad when you were both very young, how did that affect you?" May asked, curiously.
Caroline continued to delve into her past, pleased to tell her daughter this for the first time. "At the time that I met your father, I was working full-time as a bank clerk. I had my own apartment at the time, and I certainly needed some money to pay the bills," Caroline said, starting to blush, "I eventually fell in love with your father, he was quite the charmer back then, really, really handsome, ahem…anyway, that was around the time he told me that he would have to travel the land in order to pursue his career as a Gym leader. He told me that he would have to bring home roughly 20 badges to prove to his father that he was worthy for control of the Gym, and that was quite a shock."
"Twenty badges?! That's a lot! I know grandpa was strict and serious, but wow, I never knew he worked Dad so hard!" May exclaimed.
"Yep, it was just as big a shock to me as it was to you now. We were madly in love too, it was almost heartbreaking to have him go down a separate path and travel without me," Caroline said.
"Why didn't you go with Dad?"
"I needed the job, dear, I was basically living from paycheck to paycheck. I would have loved to tag along with your father, but I decided to stick with my job while he was traveling. Having me around would also be somewhat of a burden to him, as he had very little money himself, and wouldn't have enough cash to spend feeding two people on a journey. He could also travel at a quicker pace without me, as he used to jog quickly from town to town, hoping to get to the next Gym as fast as possible. I think it was about 14 months that your father and I were apart."
"Your…love lasted though, didn't it? 14 months is a really long time," May said, astounded.
"It was grueling, let me tell you that," Caroline chuckled, "We did keep in touch via phone calls and e-mail, but as you know that's nothing like being face to face, especially when you're in a relationship. I suppose some lesser girls would have given up on a man that traveled for such a long time away, but I decided to stick with your father, as we made a promise to continue our relationship where we left off when he returned."
May clasped her hands excitedly. "And then you and Dad got back together, right?!"
"Of course! Otherwise you wouldn't be standing here right now, would you?" Caroline teased.
"I guess not!" May squealed, "That was really amazing of you to wait for Dad after all that time, you're just amazing, Mom!"
"Don't glorify me, May, I just loved your father too much to let him go," Caroline said, "Sure enough, he won those 20 badges fair and square, and eventually grandpa passed over the Gym over to him shortly after that. Once he gained control of the Gym, I quit my job and we both settled in Petalburg City. We've lived there alone together since, until…little critters decided to pop out!"
Caroline grabbed May out of nowhere and hugged her while tickling her stomach. May giggled as her mother kissed her on the head.
"Heehee, why were we talking about this again?" May asked sheepishly.
"Because you and Ash may face the same problem in the future," Caroline insinuated.
May's cheeks turned red as she pushed away from her mother. She walked toward her wagon and nervously started to run down the aisle with it.
"Did I imply something wrong, dear?" Caroline asked.
"I'll…run ahead and go pick up some stuff from the other aisles!" May shouted, running as fast as she could with the wagon.
Caroline bit her lip and watched her daughter run down the supermarket. "That sure got her," she said happily, "She must really like traveling with that boy, otherwise that topic wouldn't have made her blush."
Caroline sighed and continued picking food off the shelves. She muttered, "I just hope he remembers to always look out for her."
May pushed the shopping cart through the aisles at a blinding speed, almost bumping into other customers on the way. She ran past a center aisle filled to the top with canned foods, and nearly knocked over the stack with the wagon. She turned her head while running, hoping that she didn't accidentally knock anything over, but to her relief there were no problems thus far.
She finally got to an aisle far away from her Mom, and sighed as she leaned against her cart.
Darn, no wonder why she never told me about the way the Gym was handled until now. She was trying to figure out if Ash and I paralleled her and Dad in a way, May thought, That was really tricky of you, Mom, almost got me to admit that Ash and I were an item…geez.
May shook her head and rubbed her hand over her eyes tiredly before she started shopping again. She turned to the wagon and without looking where she was going, she accidentally bumped into the side of someone. She jerked back the wagon quickly, hoping that she didn't bother the man.
"I'm awfully sorry!" May apologized, bowing, "I wasn't quite looking where I was going, I hope I didn't bother you!"
"Meh, no biggie," the man replied simply. He was looking at the items on the shelf, and thus wasn't paying attention to what the girl looked like.
May was about to walk away with the wagon when something about the man caught her eye. He looked awfully familiar, especially since he was dressed in all black. She knew she shouldn't let her curiosity get the best of her, but she slowly walked to the side of the man to see his face.
"You," she gasped under her breath.
The man turned to her after plopping a few gummy bears from the package into his mouth. Dressed in all black leather, and wearing plenty of chains and jewelry, the man was clearly the same guy that came to the Petalburg Gym yesterday, Ross.
He did a double take before recognizing the girl that stood in front of him. He moved his hand over his shaved dome as he put on an arrogant smile.
"Hey, you're the Gym leader's kid, aren't ya?" Ross asked.
"Uh….NO!" May yelled, almost instantly, as she walked back to her wagon and started pushing it down the aisle.
Ross quickly darted in front of her wagon to slow her down, and placed his hands on the front of the cart to stop her in her tracks.
"Whoa, whoa, what's the rush, kid? You seem to want to avoid me or something, can't we talk for a bit?" Ross asked, cracking a grin.
"Talk?" May asked, "No, I'm busy, can you please let go of the wagon so I can continue?"
"Fair enough," Ross said, letting go of the wagon and stepping to the side. As May started walking however, he quickly walked next to her and tried to talk to her. May kept her head facing forward, but apparently this wasn't turning Ross off at all.
"You're Norman's daughter, I'm sure of it," Ross laughed, "Why did you lie and say you weren't?"
"I-I don't know. Does it matter?" May scowled.
She picked up the pace and wheeled the wagon down another aisle to avoid him, but Ross jogged next to her.
"Well…yeah! Of course it matters, girl….hey slow down a bit!" Ross called out.
"I told you I'm busy, let me be," May said.
"Ok, ok, I just want to ask you one thing and then I'll go," Ross said, pleasantly.
Almost vehemently, May turned to him and permitted him to speak. "Fine, what do you want?"
"You see, I'm in a bit of a problem here, doll face. That Pokemon league competition is coming up pretty soon, and I'm a badge short. As you know I tried to win a badge at your father's Gym but that didn't go too well. I don't think your father will allow me challenge him again, but I was wondering if you could be a doll and get one of your Daddy's badges for me?" Ross asked.
"You mean give you a badge for free? Why the hell should I do that?" May asked boisterously.
"Because your dear old Pops banned me from the Gym, and I need a badge to meet the competition deadline. I'm sure you know where your Dad keeps the badges, and I only need one of them. How's about being a pal and getting one of them for me?"
"After the way you insulted my Mom and Dad? Of course not!" May yelled, "Even if you were a decent trainer, I wouldn't give you a badge because that's cheating. I'm not supposed to be taking my father's badges and simply handing them out to anyone, you know!"
Ross was starting to lose his temper, but he calmed himself to keep his cool. The veins on his forehead were beginning to bulge. May noticed it, and realized this was a good time back off. She pushed the wagon and continued walking down the aisle, hoping to meet up with her mother again as soon as possible.
"That's un-cool, way un-cool, little miss!" Ross said, waving his arms. He then quickly thought up a plan, and ran up beside May once again.
"What are you still following me for? I said no!" May shouted, angrily.
"Whoa, keep your shirt on, girl! No need to get so angry," Ross snickered, "How's about we work out a little deal? You get me a badge, and I'll give you something in return. Sounds good?"
"No, I'm not helping you cheat," May said, "I think you're a disgusting person for what you said to my parents, go away."
"Wow, this is un-cool, very un-cool. I suggest you don't piss me off, girl, this is something for our mutual benefits. I'll get you anything you want for a badge, anything," Ross pleaded.
May knew this guy wasn't going to give up, and she cursed herself under her breath for running away from her mother to begin with. Out of all the rotten luck, why did this guy have to be in the supermarket at the same time she was?
"Want a Pokemon? I can give you one of mine," Ross offered, showing her a Pokeball, "If you don't want that, how about some money? 20 bucks for a badge sound nice? I can offer you other stuff too, want a pack of cigarettes? Drugs? You name it, girl, I'll give you anything for one measly badge."
May ignored the man and continued down the aisle. As she was passing by other customers, she thought about talking to them to get this guy away from her, but she wasn't sure if she should do it. She also thought about yelling in the store to draw attention to herself, to possibly scare this guy off, but she wasn't sure if she should do that either. He was sticking to her like Beedrill on honey, and it didn't look like he was going to back down until he got what he wanted.
As May was roaming down the aisle, one of her Pokeballs inside her fanny pack wobbled and flashed open. "What?!" May exclaimed.
The beam of light formed into her Munchlax, who let itself out on his own. The small glutton Pokemon looked around eagerly, and was quite thrilled to be inside a supermarket with plenty of food.
"Munchlax? Munchlax!" Munchlax exclaimed.
"Darn, Munchlax you need to get back in your ball!" May said frantically.
Munchlax looked up at the guy standing next to her, and noticed that he was holding a bag of gummy bears. Without hesitation, Munchlax leaped off the ground and grabbed the bag out of his hands.
"Hey, those are mine!" Ross shouted.
Munchlax ignored the man and opened the top of the bag, and without shame dropped all the gummy bears into his mouth. The Pokemon chewed quite sloppily in front of Ross, who was kind of pissed off about his favorite fruit snacks being eaten.
"Hey! Don't you have a leash on this thing or something?" Ross said, angrily, "It just ate my entire gummy bears!"
"MUNCHLAX!" May shouted, struggling to get its Pokeball out of her fanny pack.
Munchlax looked around the aisle and spotted some delicious watermelon sitting on the counter. It quickly ran over to them while slobbering all over the place with its mouth. Before it could get a hold of the watermelon however, May retracted it into its ball. The red beam of light struck Munchlax just as its hand was an inch away from the watermelon, and the poor Pokemon was recalled.
May held the ball to her face disappointingly. "Munchlax, you can't eat stuff before buying it," she sighed.
"Especially my fruit snacks," Ross scoffed.
"I'm…I'm sorry," May apologized, somewhat uneasily, "I – I can buy you another bag to make up for Munchlax eating the first…as much as I hate to do this."
Ross grinned with a devious smile. He knew the perfect opportunity arose, it was time to do take advantage of the poor, naive girl. He was going to blackmail her.
"Here's the deal, get me one of your father's badges, and I'll pretend your Munchlax never ate my candy," Ross said.
"That's crazy! I'm not trading you something as valuable as a Gym badge for a pack of candy!" May yelled, "I'll just buy you a new bag to replace the old one, and that's that."
"Let me put it this way, you don't want to get on my bad side," Ross warned.
"You're an idiot. Never mind, maybe I won't even bother with buying you a replacement bag for the gummy bears. I have to return to my mother now, go make yourself useful and ram yourself into a wall or something," May scoffed.
May walked down the aisle herself as Ross watched her from afar. He smiled confidently, while twirling the gold chain in front of his chest.
Her mother is here too? That's interesting, thanks for telling me that, girl, Ross said to himself.
Near the front of the store, May met up with her mother again and began placing things out of her wagon and into the other one. After chatting briefly with her Mom about unrelated events, she looked back over at the aisles to see if Ross was still following her. Her eyes scanned everywhere in the close vicinity, and he was nowhere around. To her relief, she hoped that he just gave up.
After finishing their purchases in the supermarket, May and Caroline wheeled the wagon into the parking lot and filled up the trunk of the car with the groceries. Unbeknownst to them, Ross was spying on their car from afar. As the mother and daughter were placing packages inside the trunk, Ross was snapping pictures of them with his digital camera. He was standing in between the ferns on the other side of the parking lot, and since it was dark out, he blended in nicely with the background. His dark clothes also kept him relatively well hidden from the girls.
As Caroline slammed the trunk down, she noticed a couple of flashes come from somewhere. She turned around curiously to see where they came from, but she was unable to spot anything.
"Hm, that's funny," Caroline said, uncertainly.
"What's the matter?" May asked.
Caroline glanced around the lot for a few more moments.
"Um, nothing. Nothing, let's go home," Caroline replied.
They entered the car and proceeded to drive off the parking lot, but not before Ross took a couple more photos of them in the windows. As they left the premises, Ross stepped out of the shadows and viewed the pictures that were stored on the memory of the digital camera. He flipped through the shots, and cackled after viewing each one. There were about nine photos in all that he managed to take, most of them featuring Caroline in prominent view.
"Norman's wife is such a fox," Ross said to himself, "How can such a loser like that guy manage to get such a hot wife?"
He muttered some more to himself before slipping his camera back into his pocket. He took out a Pokeball and released it in front of him. The light formed into his Sableye, the same goblin Pokemon he tried to defeat Norman's Slaking with.
"Sableye, I have a new job for you," Ross said, crossing his arms.
"Sableye!" Sableye replied, nodding obediently.
"We're still going to get that Gym badge no matter what it takes, but perhaps we can have a little fun with Norman's family in the meantime, eh? Heh, I'll show that loser Norman not to mess with me," Ross grinned.
"Sableye, Sableye," Sabeleye agreed.
~*~*~*~
"How about you let me on top this time?" Ash asked.
"No, it's my room and I set the rules, mister! I prefer you on the bottom," May giggled.
"I don't mind being here, really, but it's more comfortable the other way around," he said.
"I know it is, but like I said, it's my room! You're lucky that Mom agreed to let you sleep in here in the first place!" she exclaimed.
"PIKACHU PIKA!" Pikachu screamed.
"You're upsetting Pikachu, May!" Ash said.
"No I'm not, he just wants you to stop yelling!"
"PIKACHU!" Pikachu said, irritably.
"Pikachu, calm down a bit," Ash motioned.
Caroline knocked on the closed door. "Is everything alright in there?" she asked.
May turned to Ash and lowered her voice. "Now you're getting Mom suspicious, way to go," she said sarcastically.
"Fine, I guess," Ash sulked.
"Everything is OK, Mom!" May yelled out.
"I hear a lot of screaming, are you sure?" Caroline asked, putting her ear to the door.
"Sure!" May replied anxiously.
May and Ash were in their sleeping clothes, getting ready to call it a night. She was sitting on her bed while Ash was down below in his sleeping bag with Pikachu. She got up off her bed to say goodnight to her Mom face to face, but Ash noticed she was about to step on Pikachu's tail. Before Ash could warn her, she stepped on the poor electric type's tail, forcing the Pokemon to unleash an electric attack against its will. Ash and May were caught in the blast, as the room was encompassed by Pikachu's electricity. Caroline noticed the seams of the door glow in a yellow hue, and wondered what the heck was going on in there.
"Pikachu, pika," Pikachu panted, having unleashed too much electricity.
Ash and May were fried by the attack, their sleepwear having several burnt marks scattered about.
"You need to watch out where you're going," Ash grunted, falling back on his sleeping bag.
"I think I'll take your advice to heart," May replied, holding her ears and trying to get the ringing out of her ears.
"Chu, pika," Pikachu sighed.
"Next time, Ash, let's not fight about the sleeping arrangements, ok?" May asked rhetorically.
"I kind of miss sleeping in a comfy bed, but if you say so, I'll sleep on my sleeping bag on the floor. Like I said, I hate being on the bottom," Ash sighed.
"You were fine the first night, why the big deal now?"
"I think it's something to do with this floor, the tile hurts my back," Ash said, rubbing his lower back with his hand.
"Through your sleeping bag?" May asked, as she raised an eye brow.
"Hehe, yeah," Ash said, smiling.
Caroline knocked on the door once more. "Are you two ok in there?" she asked.
"Wuh? Mom, you're still there!?" May asked, startled.
"Sure I am, you never answered the door," Caroline reminded her.
Pikachu jumped into the sleeping bag next to Ash, as May walked toward the door and opened it a crack. She opened the door only slightly so her mother couldn't see the inside of the room. She thought it would be better not to upset her if she knew that Pikachu's electricity managed to ruin some of the furniture.
"Everything is fine, Mom, Max is sleeping already?" she asked, hoping to draw the subject away from herself.
"I assume so, he went in his room a while ago," Caroline said. She sniffed the air around her and noticed the burnt smell. "Did something happen with Ash's Pikachu?" she asked.
"Uh…hehe, you can say that. It's nothing serious though!" May said sheepishly.
Caroline chuckled, she could tell her daughter was lying right through her face.
"Whatever, I'm sure you'll show me in the morning," Caroline said uneasily, fearing that the whole room was scorched. She bent down and gave May a kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight dear, and remember not to wake your roommate up with your snoring."
"Hey, Ash is usually the one who snores and wakes me up!" May retaliated.
"No I don't!" Ash yelled from inside the room.
May and Caroline sweat dropped, exchanged a few comments, and then shut the door. May walked back toward Ash with her hands on a hips, the entire room did have the smell of burnt wood.
"It's starting to smell really awful in here, I might as well open a window," Ash said, getting up from the sleeping bag.
May pulled on her burnt t-shirt and raised it to her nose, her clothes smelled awful as well. Unfortunately for Ash, he only had one set of sleeping clothes with him, in which he had to stay in his fried t-shirt and sleeping shorts. May on the other hand had a wide range of apparel in her room, and could change to another pair of clothes quickly.
As Ash was walking to the other side of the room to raise the windows, May knew she could change real quick without much commotion. She wasn't wearing anything underneath her sleepwear, but it was easier to change in the room than to run outside the hall to the bathroom. She sheepishly walked over to her dresser and pulled out another pair of shorts and a t-shirt, while she heard Ash raise the window.
"Ah, now we can get some fresh air in here!" Ash said, raising the window, taking a huge sniff of the air from outside.
"Just stay there looking out the window for a moment, Ash, I want to change my clothes real quick," May said, holding her apparel.
"Hm? Why?" Ash asked, turning around.
"I don't think I'll enjoy sleeping in clothes that smell like smoke, Ash, I need to change, see?" May smiled, holding up her clothes for Ash to see.
It took Ash about half a minute to realize what she was getting at, and then he nervously turned around and looked out the window again.
May looked down at Pikachu who still lie contently in the bag.
"Do I have to say the same to you too?!" May mused.
"Pikachu, pika!" Pikachu shook his head, and then timidly ran over toward Ash by the window.
The human and Pokemon stared outside with embarrassed expressions on, as May stood near the closet on the opposite end of the room and slipped off her clothes.
"Do you think you could find me another pair of clothes too, after you're done changing?" Ash asked, still staring outside.
She pulled her new white T-shirt over her head before tossing her smoked clothes into the hamper near the door. Fully changed, May pushed her hands through her long hair before pulling on the bottom of her tight black shorts a tad. She walked next to Ash and lowered her nose to his shoulder. She took one sniff of his shirt and then backed away in disgust.
"Yuck, your clothes smell awful," May said, waving her hand over her nose.
"Yeah, and it's your fault too," Ash winked.
"Chu, pika," Pikachu sighed.
"No, he's right Pikachu, you don't need to apologize about releasing the electricity," May said, comforting the little rodent, "I really need to watch where I'm going."
She thought to herself for a moment and quickly came up with an idea.
"I'll go run out and see if I can grab an extra pair of sleeping clothes from my Dad. You just need a new T-shirt, right? I can get you one of my Dad's for the night," May offered.
"Well I could use a new pair of shorts too," Ash said, looking down at his knees, "But I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable wearing one of your Dad's!"
May giggled, "Nah, I'll just get you a new T-shirt. Hopefully with our old clothes in the hamper and with the fresh air in the room, this place won't smell as bad for the rest of the night."
Ash agreed to the idea, and was relieved to be able to sleep in a clean set of sleepwear. After she left the room, he rested his head on his hand and continue to stare at the night sky through the windowsill.
"It's a beautiful night, right, Pikachu?"
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded.
"I'm glad that May suggested the idea to get a new shirt from her father, it sure beats sleeping with this charcoal-like smell on my clothes. She's always so helpful and kind, she's a great friend," Ash noted.
"PIKA!" Pikachu shouted.
Pikachu jumped on the windowsill and slapped Ash gently in the cheek with his paw.
"Chu, Piika!" Pikachu reminded him anxiously.
"Hm?" Ash asked, confused, "Oh right! I mean she's a great girlfriend."
"Pikachu," Pikachu said, which could be translated as, "Damn straight."
Ash chuckled. "It's still so weird to think of her like that now, you know, Pikachu? I still think of her more as my best friend than I do as a…what do you call that again?"
"PIKA!" Pikachu shouted irritably.
"Yeah….that's right, "girlfriend." Thanks, buddy!" Ash said.
"Chuuuuu," Pikachu sighed in disbelief.
"Heh, I guess the feeling just hasn't sunk in yet. She's been a close friend for so long that sometimes I forget that there's something more between us now. I really do like her a lot, but this is going to take some time getting used to. I've never…dated...a girl before, but since we're always traveling together, I guess there's no real difference, is there?" Ash asked. He lowered his voice and pushed his hand through his dark mane of hair. "I'm kind of nervous about the whole thing, I'd be lying if I said I was perfectly comfortable with it."
"Pikachu, pika," Pikachu cooed.
"By the way, Pikachu, did…you release that Thunderbolt on purpose?" Ash asked, slyly.
"Pika?!" Pikachu denied, frantically.
"Tell the truth, now!" Ash grinned.
"Chaaaaaa," Pikachu chortled, and nodded.
"I knew it!" Ash exclaimed, "May didn't even step on your tail that hard and you unleashed a Thunderbolt attack! I noticed you managed to control the electricity well, so that while it didn't destroy anything in the room, it still gave it that faint smell of smoke and burnt furniture. So you DID release that attack on purpose…but what was the point?"
Pikachu pulled on the sleeve of Ash's shirt, with a mischievous expression.
"You wanted to get us to change in front of each other! What!?" Ash shouted, "You're not trying to help our romance, are you?"
"PIKACHU!"
The bedroom door suddenly slammed open as May walked in with one of her Dad's T-shirts on her arm.
"Pikachu, you're a small little devil!" May exclaimed, "I just heard that whole last bit of your conversation, Ash! I think Pikachu is trying to set us up!"
"Pikachu, pika, chu, pika!" Pikachu shook his head feverishly.
May placed the new t-shirt on the bed and hovered over Pikachu overbearingly. She scrunched up her nose and began to lecture Pikachu about how while it had good intentions, it was going about it the wrong way.
"Pikachu, you didn't really have to pull a stunt like that just to get me and Ash to like each other more," May sighed, "There are…uh…other ways to do that. Besides, some of the furniture in here is still fried, and my Mom is going to be furious. I don't know what to say other than to place the blame on Ash, because you are his Pokemon after all."
"Hey! It's not like I told Pikachu to do this!" Ash said, annoyed.
"What else can I say? Unless you want to explain to my Mom that Pikachu wants us to change in front of one another!" May argued.
During the argument, Pikachu snuck its way behind May without them noticing. Ash was standing next to his sleeping bag now, and held Norman's t-shirt in his hand. May and Ash were standing a few feet apart, both somewhat enjoying the bickering, oddly enough.
"Pika," Pikachu shook its head.
"I don't think I should be taking the blame though, Pikachu was just…uh…"
"…helping us out?" May concluded.
"Possibly. Anyway, it would be nice if we could get some rest now, after all this nonsense," Ash said.
May sighed, "I agree, I want to wake up nice and early tomorrow too. Do…do you still want to sleep on my bed for tonight? If it's alright with you, I'll switch places and sleep in the sleeping bag instead."
"Pika?"Pikachu said to himself, noticing that May was in perfect position.
"Really? Why the change in heart?" Ash asked.
"I don't know, maybe I realized I shouldn't be so bossy or whatever," May said, "You want the bed?"
"Ok," Ash replied.
"Pikachu!"
Before May walked out of the way, Pikachu jumped into the air and did a headbutt against her backside in an attempt to get her to fall. She did so accordingly, as May fell down into Ash on top of the sleeping bag.
"Pikachu," Pikachu snapped its fingers.
May lie on top of Ash completely bewildered, both resting on the sleeping bag. She picked up her head feverishly to look back at Pikachu, who was already chuckling. Pikachu hopped on top of May's bed, and made itself at home on her pillow.
"I think Pikachu just claimed your bed for himself!" Ash said, sitting up a tad while May still rested in his arms.
"Geez, I didn't know Pikachu could be so mischievous!" May said, astounded.
She turned back toward Ash and gently pushed him back down on the sleeping bag. She rested her head on his chest and smiled contently. The smell of his burnt clothes filled the vicinity, but May didn't seem to mind anymore.
"What about your Dad's T-shirt? This shirt smells, remember?" Ash reminded her.
"Who cares," she replied, "Now that I'm resting on you, I have the smell on my new clothes too. Guess there was no point to that plan."
"And the sleeping arrangements?" Ash asked, raising May in his arms as they looked at one another.
There was a brief silence, a small hesitation before May moved in and kissed the boy softly. Their lips only touched for a few seconds, but that was all she wanted.
"I think I like the sleeping arrangements the way they are right now," she smiled, resting herself on Ash's shoulder, "It's really comfortable here."
Pikachu cackled to itself as it raised its head to see May resting on Ash contently. Its first plan may have raised some ruckus, but the second one was for the win.
"There's going to be one problem with us sleeping like this though," May said, softly.
"What's that?"
"We're going to absolutely stink tomorrow morning," May snickered, moving her hand gently along Ash's burnt shirt.