Ah, the sweet smell of reviews on a cold, rainy morning - there's just nothing better. A lot of you seem impatient to know what's going to happen between Laura and May! Well, it might not turn out quite like you think. However, no spoilers - I'll just let you read and find out on your own!

DISCLAIMER: I've been pretty bad about remembering these...but we all know I don't own Pokemon, right?

A Passion Revived: chapter 5

May bowed her head and scuffed her foot against the ground, trying to figure out a way to avoid confessing her failures to this woman. It wasn't that she was telling them to a stranger, but even Ash and Brock didn't know the full story. The truth was, she had also failed in the Johto circut, winning only two ribbons. Even those wins had been flukes, with one of her opponents being disqualified for using illegal moves and the other dropping out just before their match in Ecruteak Ctiy when he got news that his wife in Azalea Town was having a baby. To tell Laura all this, when she hadn't even trusted Ash and Brock enough to...she just couldn't do it. Especially not to Ash, who was her biggest supporter, always in the stands cheering the loudest for her, and comforting her when she had lost here in Sinnoh. Sapphire eyes closed tight, hidden by a veil of her hair. She couldn't reveal that she hadn't trusted him.

Cerbera whined pawing slightly at Laura and causing May to look up. Ash was recalling his pokemon, and Laura glanced at her watch and appeared to swear under her breath. "All right, girl, I'm sorry...I know we're usually asleep long before this." she said with a sigh, laying a hand heavily on Cerbera's head. "Well, come on then. I believe you lot came here for a place to sleep, right? Just because I'm not getting any doesn't mean you shouldn't. Now, bed."

May let out the breath she had unconsciously been holding, relieved that she didn't have to say anything, and fell into step behind Laura, with Ash and Brock flanking her.

"Hey May, we'll battle tomorrow, all right?" Ash asked, grinning.

May nodded. "Sure."

"Don't know when you'll find the time." Luara commented. "You two are gonna be helping me out around this place in the morning, and running this place is a 24-hour job." Cerbera barked in agreement as they entered the house, then barked happily again, bounding over to the group of three Pikachu playing in the middle of the room to join them.

Ash's Pikachu, seeing him, perked his ears and stood. "Chu ka, ka pi pi pi!" he explained to the other two before jumping up into Ash's arms and causing his trainer to laugh. One of the other Pikachu, Rai, didn't throw them more than a second glance before he and Cerbera began to converse amongst themselves. The third Pikachu, however, smiled and also ran over to Ash, though he tripped and rolled head over heels in the process, coming to rest at the trainer's feet. This new Pikachu was significantly smaller than Rai, and he also appeared to be younger, with no tatters on his ears or tail.

"Who's this?" Brock asked, kneeling down and offering his palm to the new Pikachu.

"Hm? Oh, that's Buster." Laura said. "He's the resident goofball, but an excellent battler. He's reached a level of strength and control to rival that even of Rai, who's many years his senior."

"Wow, really?" Ash asked, also kneeling to introduce himself. "You know, Piakchu and I would love to battle one of your Pikachu, Ms. Cooper! Would that be all right?"

Laura shrugged. "All right then. Let's see how tomorrow goes, and after all the work, we'll see if there's time for us to battle. You and May can have your contest battle too."

May didn't miss the bitterness in Laura's voice at the word 'contest.' "You don't like contests, Ms. Cooper?"

Laura snorted, turning her back on them to gather Rai up in her arms. "In my opinion, Coordinators aren't real trainers. They're just people who can't train pokemon, but still want to make themselves feel important with them. As for contests themselves..." She gave another small snort. "Worthless displays of cheap entertainment for the ignorant, drooling masses."

May stood stunned. As important as contests were to her, it was inconceivable that anyone else could feel that way about them! And...even if coordinators weren't real trainers...what did that say about her? "How...how can you...?"

"Let me ask you something, May." Laura said cooly, turning around to fix her hard emerald eyes on May's and hold her in place. "If you were in danger -- I mean, real, true, life-threatening danger -- would your pokemon be able to protect you if all they knew were moves designed to look pretty? Would they be able to overpower the danger and save you? Or would they merely make the danger go away by falling on it's back laughing at their incompetence?"'

"I...I..."

"I'll tell you the answer now. They couldn't." Cerbera growled slightly, obviously in agreement with her mistress.

May was on the verge of tears, her vision swimming and hands shaking. Barely aware of anything else, she ran for a door she could see that led out behind the house from the kitchen, sobbing. She ran on and on, stumbling over rocks she couldn't see amid the tall, waving grass, and nearly ran straight into a deep lake, stumbling back just in time. Her sobbing had stopped, but only because she was out of breath, and it soon resumed as she curled up at the base of a giant tree. She didn't notice the eyes of pokemon, both in the water and in the tree, that stared curiously out at this strange new human who had disturbed their rest, and wouldn't have cared if she did. All she saw were her gloved hands, which she had buried her face into, and the sneer on Laura's face as she tore down everything that had been important in May's world.

Betcha' didn't see that one coming! Or...maybe I'm just fooling myself and you saw it coming a mile off. I don't know. Reviews make excellent Christmas presents! ^_^