Chapter 2: Missing Babies
"Good morning." May said as she woke up to see Brock cooking.
"Morning." Brock said to her. "How are you feeling?"
"The hurt's still there." May admitted.
"Here." Brock said handing her his cell phone. "Since it's Saturday, I have free minutes. Why don't you call Misty?"
"Misty?"
"Yeah. She had to say goodbye to her baby." Brock told her.
"True." May said taking the cell phone.
"Ash and I called her last night and he explained Manaphy to her." Brock admitted. "Just push the TALK button twice."
May did so.
"Hello?"
"Hello. Misty? It's May. Can we talk?"
"Is this about Manaphy?"
"Yes."
"Go ahead."
"Is it supposed to hurt like this?"
"Yes. And I hate to have to tell you this, but the feeling won't go away. I still feel the hurt about leaving Togetic. But the good new is, the hurt will lessen."
"I miss my baby."
"I miss my baby too."
"Do you also miss your baby's Daddy?" May asked.
Pause
"How did you know Togetic thought…?"
"Mother's intuition." May teased.
"Yes. I do miss Ash."
"You know, I could have meant BROCK to be Togetic's daddy."
Silence
"C'mon Misty. EVERYONE besides Ash knows you have a crush on him."
"If I admit it, will you SWEAR not to tell him."
"I promise."
"I'll admit it then. What is he doing?"
"Sleeping." May told her.
"Typical."
0000
After a few more minutes,
"Thanks for the chat, Misty. I feel better." May told the gym leader.
"Anytime May."
The two girls hung up.
"Thanks Brock." May said handing the phone back to Brock.
"No problem." Brock told her. "And just in time for breakfast."
May and Max sat down on some rocks and started eating.
"Hey Brock?" May asked. "Is it true that you took Togepi's egg from Ash?"
"Yeah." Brock admitted. "He was young and foolish back then. At the time, I wasn't sure he could handle the responsibility."
"So…Togepi rightfully belonged to Ash?" Max asked.
"Yeah. In more ways than one. Team Rocket had stolen Togepi's egg. When we went to go save it, it hatched. It was going to be in my and Ash's arms. However, Misty took it from us and it hatched. We had a little tournament. Ash won it, but Misty got Togepi because of the whole Mother thing. But after a while, it took to Ash. Not as much, but enough. Truthfully, I think it began to think of Ash as its father."
"Misty also told me how Togepi was her secret weapon." May said.
Brock nodded with a laugh.
"Ash and Misty both threw a Lure Ball at a Totodile. One person caught it. The only problem was, the balls had gone behind bushes. So, we didn't know which ball belonged to who. So, we had a tournament. Three on three. Ash naturally chose Pikachu first." Brock explained to a confused Max.
"I get it. Because Misty trains water pokemon." Max stated.
"Right. Well, none of us was expecting Misty to use Togepi against Pikachu. Pikachu refused to battle."
"But Ash won the tournament, right?" Max asked. "Because he had a Totodile at Professor Oak's."
"Right."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ash asked as he woke up.
"Togepi." May told him.
"Did Brock mention that Togepi was rightfully MINE?"
"Yes." Max said.
"Misty confirmed it." May added.
Ash looked around to look for the redheaded water pokemon trainer.
"I called her earlier." May explained.
"Oh." Ash said.
The others caught the hint of disappointment in the trainer's voice
"Pikachu pika pichu?" (What are we going to do today?)
"Growlithe!" (You're coming with us.)
The gang looked around and saw that they were surrounded by Growlithe, Mightenya, Poochinea, Houndour, Houndoom, and an Arcanine.
"It can't be." Ash said quietly as he stared at the Arcanine.
TBC