Okay sorry for being about an hour late... I usually have a chapter up around midnight, but it's one and I have school tomorrow. First of all I would like to thank every single one of you for your reviews! They have been very helpful. And I would also like to say I was excited when I saw how many visitors this story had...
Well AdvancedLover, thanks for your reviews and everyone else who has favorited and followed my stories! I wouldn't have kept writing without those. I was pretty surprised when I saw that people kind of liked these.
This chapter contains the exciting part you've all been waiting for. I have to say that this is the most important chapter in the story, and that this is where it really starts building up! Funny how I was gonna make this a four parter only to decide it will have anywhere from seven to eleven chapters!
Anyways enough with my ranting... Let's get on with it!
Opening his eyes, blinking a few times, Ash lifted his head up. He groaned. His sleep kept getting interrupted with nightmares. It was still dark out though. He looked at his clock, and it displayed 5:00 in the morning. He stared at it for a second, before turning to look at the rest of his body.
He was surprised to see that despite the tossing and turning he must have done, May was still sleeping. She was in essentially the same position she was in, the morning before. He just lied there, wrapping his arm around her.
This earned a small smile from her as she slept. With nothing to do, Ash started pondering about their day today... it would be a long day.
First they have to catch the ferry. Then an idea came to him. "We should do something before we have to leave. Maybe go to breakfast." He whispered to himself. He looked towards the end of his bed and noticed Pikachu curled up in a ball next to their feet. He smiled. He was lucky enough to have the most beautiful, amazing girl in the world, in his arms. He also had the best friend and Pokèmon anyone could ask for! His life was pretty great.
After laying there for about a half an hour, he felt May started to stir. "Hey sweetie. How did you sleep?" Ash asked. She sat up more carefully this time and pulled herself to eye level with him. "I slept great, Ashy. What about you?" His face showed frustration and anxiousness. "Had better dreams, but it's always nice to wake up to see you!" He smiled. She giggled, letting her hair hang down as she kissed him.
It was still pretty dark, so Ash got up to turn on the light. He looked at May, who had stretched her arms and legs along the bed. He looked at her and grinned. "You still seem to get more beautiful by the minute!" He blurted. It wasn't that he didn't mean to say it. It was just something that came to his mind.
"You're not so bad yourself," she said as she got up. "How would you like to go for a walk until the sun rises?" He chuckled as she put her arms around him. "I'd like that, I always like being up early you know that. Plus it will be nice to be outside in the cool air, since we got back!" Ash exclaimed.
Once they were dressed, they quietly sneaked out into the hallway, and down the stairs. They then proceeded to exit the house. Once outside, they quickly and quietly ran.
They walked through the quiet and dark streets of Pallet town. No one was up, other than a few shop owners, that were opening their shops for business. They saw a flock of Pidgeotto up in the sky. They saw a few Rattata run by. It was a great morning for a nice walk.
A little while later, the sun had come up. Ash looked at his Poketch, and noticed that it was about 7:00. "May, we better be getting back. Mom wakes up around eight." He said. Then he remembered, that he wanted to go out to get breakfast. "Actually May, I was wondering if you wanted something for breakfast." He said quickly. He was annoyed by his own forgetfulness. "Sure Ash, I'd love to!" She replied as she grabbed his hand.
They walked down to a small restaurant. "So where are you going?" May asked, as they walked towards the restaurant. "Just a small place, that serves breakfast. Nothing much." He told her.
They had been seated for a minute, when the waitress finally came to them. Their mouths were watering. If their saliva had been slightly more foamy, you would have thought that they were rabid dogs! "Are you ready to order?" She asked, eyeing the two, to make sure they weren't going to eat her. "Yep!" They replied simultaneosly. "What'll it be?" She bluntly asked. She didn't seem in the mood for waiting for them to order.
May was the first to speak. "I'll have eggs, hashbrowns, an omlet, and hmmm... french toast!" She practically yelled. Slightly taken aback by her almost endless appetite, the waitress wrote it down on her notepad.
"Okay... bacon or sausage?" She asked, curious if she was human or not. "Both!" May exclaimed again. 'Wow this girl has an appetite!' The waitress thought, though she said nothing. "Okay, and how about you sir?" This made Ash dart his eyes to the ground. No one had ever called him sir... well, at least not in a setting like this. "I'll just have french toast." He said calmly. The waitress jotted it down, and left to place the orders.
May was concerned now. Normally Ash would eat just as much as her, if not more! Something was up, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. "Ash?" She asked. "What is it?" He looked at her. She could see a bit of worry in his eyes. It was barely visible, but was enough to go on. "Why did you just get french toast?" Ash sighed, and looked towards the table. "I dunno, May... I'm just worried about tonight." She had a slight suspicion of this being the cause already, but now it was confirmed. Her face filled with concern. "I understand, Ash. But I thought that you didn't really care what my parents thought." Her caring tone calmed him down a bit.:
He looked at her, and sighed again. "Alright May, here's what I think." He started. She started listening intently. This would give her clues on how to help him. "I think that if your parents don't like this, that they won't let you continue to travel with me." He paused taking a deep breath, while she listened. "I know it sounds selfish of me, but I really don't want to lose you! Not the way I almost lost you, when you were about to head back to Hoenn, with Max." He finished. He noticed that she was holding his hands from across the table now.
She finished thinking about what to say, when the Waitress came back with their orders. "Ok, I don't need to be reminded of who got what, since you gave me the largest order this morning, young lady." She joked. As she was setting the food on the table, she noticed that she had interrupted something. She decided to say no more, and finish her job and be off.
Once she was gone, May decided to continue. "Ash, it's not selfish. And you are such a sweet guy. But you are acting like you've never met them. Don't worry, Ashy. I'm sure that you know deep down, that everything will be cool." She finished. He nodded and tried to shrug it off as he suggested something. "Thanks sweetie. You sure know how to comfort me, I love you." He said, as he opened his mouth to continue. "And by the way... foods here." He bluntly stated.
As soon as he said that, he looked down at her, and noticed she was tearing through plate, after plate, after plate of food. He just took a bite of his french toast and smiled as he watched her eat. She had quite the appetite for a girl that was her size. She definitely didn't look like she ate like that. Ash just thought it was cute. Plus, their appetite was one more thing that they had in common!
Once they had both finished their food, they had returned to Ash's house. It was about 9:30 when they had returned. They hadn't even gotten ready yet. Let alone tell Delia that they were going to Hoenn.
As they walked through the door, they saw Delia on the couch watching TV. "Hey Ash, May. Where'd you two run off to?" She asked happily. "Sorry for not telling you, Mom. We left around 6:00 to go on a walk, and then had breakfast." He replied. May just smiled and nodded. "And by the way, Mom, I hope you don't mind. We're heading over to Hoenn for a couple of days, before we decide where to travel next." Ash said as casually as he could. Delia just sat there expressionless until a smile appeared on her face. "Oh Ash, I had a feeling you guys were going to see May's parents at some point anyways!" She explained.
After finishing their talk with Ms. Ketchum, they decided to go and pack. They had finished at 10:30. Then they zipped out the door to catch the ferry.
Running through Pallet town, was an easy feat. Primarily because it was such a small town. Sooner than they knew it, they were on the ferry. They still had about ten minutes to spare, so they just went straight to the video phones to call May's parents and let them know they were going to arrive later that evening.
Once they had made it to one of the open video phones, the proceeded to call the Petalburg gym.
The phone rang for a few seconds. "Hello, this is the Petalburg City Gym. You're speaking to the Gym Leader, Norman Maple speaking." He was stuttered a bit on the last part, because he saw May and Ash there. "Oh hi you two. What's up?" He questioned, while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
Ash and May just sweatdropped. "Umm... hi, Dad." May said chuckling to herself. "H- Hi, Norman." Ash stuttered. Norman just shook it off as a bad connection. "We were just calling to let you know that we're coming to Petalburg, and that we're on a ferry taking us there as we speak." She said awkwardly. 'Who knew talking to your dad could be this awkward... I wonder why? Probably because of the fact that he continued telling us who was talking, when he knew it was us...' May thought. 'That's totally not stating the obvious, May' She chuckled at herself.
"May... May!" Ash was waving his hand in her face. "Wh- what? Oh sorry, Dad." She said not seeing that the monitor was off, and that it was just her and Ash. "May, your dad already said goodbye. You just spaced out while he was telling us that he'd be expecting us." Ash looked a little confused at her confusion. "Oh... o- okay then..." This was a bit awkward.
The boat had left shortly after that little bout of whateveryacallit and they were off.
The ride itself, was pretty uneventful. Other than sharing a few hugs and kisses, and a long conversation, not much happened. Pikachu, well, let's just say that he had himself a good time with Glaceon. So now they were just standing at the railing looking towards Slateport City as they arrived.
"All passengers, thank you for riding with Pokè Express ferry company and um... Have a good evening." The pilot said over the speakers.
"This thing isn't called the Pokè Express Ferry Company... That doesn't even exist." Ash sweat dropped. "Ash, I think he was just sayin' stupid things..." May replied. This was the wierdest end to a boat trip that they had ever had.
After leaving the ferry they started walking north and onto route 110. "Ashy, are you alright?" They had been walking for about an hour, and were now on rout 103. "Yeah May, I'm just a bit anxious..." He trailed off.
They continued to walk for the next half hour, and could now see the lights coming from the buildings in Petalburg. It was about 9:00 at night now.
As they entered the city they saw the Gym, which was attached to the Maple residence, where the locally famous family lived. It was just down the street from the Pokèmon Center, so trainers could take their Pokèmon there to get healed up, after getting crushed by Norman.
Ash and May quickly let go of each other's hands as they walked toward the front door. May stepped forward and opened it. "Mom, Dad! I'm home!" She yelled as they walked through the door. "On my way sweetheart!" They heard Norman yell.
Norman came into the room, and looked like he just had been doing hand to hand combat with his Vigoroth! "Hey May, Ash. It's great to see you two." He said in a friendly matter. This calmed Ash's growing anxiety levels, as they shook hands. May then noticed that Caroline wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Hey Dad, where's Mom?" She asked. "Oh she just ran out to the garden to feed the Pokèmon." He replied. "She should be back in a minute, so do you two want something to drink?" He asked them. "Sure!" They both said. They had just walked all the way from Slateport without a drop of water.
He left the room and then returned with Caroline and two glasses of ice cold water! Without ackgnowledging Caroline's appearance, they ran straight for the water and chugged it down in an instant!
Norman and Caroline just laughed. "Well, some things never change..." Caroline said, giggling. "So, Ash, congratulations on getting to the top 4 in the Sinnoh League. That's no easy feat." Norman congratulated once they were all sat down on the couches.
Ash and May didn't sit too close, because they were yet to tell them about their relationship.
"Thanks, Norman. It wasn't nearly as impressive as May though." Norman smiled. "Yeah I saw. Great job, May!" He said not leaving his daughter out. "Yeah, congratulations to the both of you." Caroline added.
"Wasn't that girl that won the Grand Festival traveling with you two and Brock?" Norman asked. "Yeah, she was. Her name is Dawn. I'm sorry she couldn't come," May lied. It wasn't that she didn't like Dawn, but she was happy with getting to be alone with Ash. "But she got offered a Pokèmon modeling job in Hearthome City." May continued. Ash nodded. "Well good for her! Well anyways you two, what else is new?" Caroline asked. Ash and May froze.
"Well, that's part of the reason we came today." May said. "Yeah, so uh..." Ash trailed off. Norman and Caroline shot them confused glances. "What's up?" Norman asked. They weren't usually like this.
May and Ash took a look at each other before nodding, and Ash was the one to start. "Well... we wanted to tell you guys something." Norman looked puzzeled. 'Why are they so nervous?' He asked himself.
"What Ash is trying to say," May started. "And by the way, please don't get mad, Dad!" May quickly added in. "We've wanted to tell you guys when we left for Sinnoh, and we weren't sure what you guys would think..." Ash cut May off.
May grabbed Ash's hand. Norman looked a bit confused, he still didn't know what was going on yet. Caroline just focused her thoughts on the hand holding. The room was awkwardly silent.
With no Max to break apart moments like this, since he was on his journey collecting badges, everyone waited for either Ash or May to talk...
"Well, as you know, Dad, Mom... Ash and I are best friends, and that we care about each other." Norman nodded, not sure where she was going with this. "Norman, I think I should just come out and say it," Ash paused, as he tensed up. He squeezed May's hand and she looked over at him. "May and I, well... we're... together." They both felt incredibly tense, and anxious.
Norman nodded, clearly processing what Ash had just told him. Caroline on the other hand had a completely expressionless face. Ash and May looked at them nervously as the silence just turned in to a suspensful atmosphere.
...
...
...
Suddenly Norman spoke up. "Well... I've given this a bit of thought and, I can't say that I'm that surprised." He paused. "But, I'm perfectly fine with that." He smiled. "Ash, I trust you, and I'm sure that, despite my input, you two would remain." They sat there, completely startled. "All I want to say is: Ash, I'm glad it's you and not that Drew kid. I swear that would look a bit... disgusting, no offense May." May laughed. "N- none taken at all, Dad. That guys kind of an ass." She continued to giggle. He smirked.
All three of them noticed that Caroline had said nothing. "Honey, do you have anything to say?" He asked his wife. Slowly her face turned from expressionless to a slight expression of indifference.
It stayed like that for a while. Although this silence was better than the last, one. It was still pretty intense.
Suddenly that indifference turned to pure rage! "What is wrong with you two!?" She screamed! It was so menacing, that even Norman hesitated. "Caroline?" He had never seen his wife like this. "I let you go on a STUPID Pokèmon journey, and THIS is what you do during that time!?" Caroline was furious!
"Mom, I didn't plan on this!" May retorted. "Just because I meet someone that I have feelings for you freak out on me!?" Her tone was filled with horror and anger. Her eyes started to tear up. "And YOU! You have the audacity to sit there an play kissy face with my daughter!?" This was directed at Ash. "Just because I let May go with you, didn't mean she could go around picking up boys!" What had gotten into her, they all wondered.
May couldn't take it anymore. She quickly let go of Ash's hand and ran out the door crying. At this Ash almost started to cry himself. "May!" He yelled toward her. He quickly went after her, and left Norman alone with Caroline.
Her face was still covered in rage, and fury! "What was that for!?" Norman raised his voice. "I thought that you would be at least okay with them!" His voice at a steady level. It wasn't calm but too calm for the situation that he was in. "What's gotten into you?" He almost stated as he walked out of the room towards the gym.
He needed some time to sort this out.
Well this is my first cliffhanger in this story... It feels kind of mean to leave it at this, but I hope you guys enjoyed my little surprise... And for those of you who still didn't get it, the surprise was which parent was actually pissed off about it.
Thanks for reading!
~PearlxAdvance
