"Are you okay?" Dawn asked for around the third time as we walked towards the salon from earlier.
"Yes Dawn, I'm fine." I said dryly as the back of my skull seemed to throb.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." I replied.
We walked in silence after that, Dawn probably thinking about her Contest strategies while I tried to formulate a plan for taking down Fantina's Drifblim. Maybe I could substitute Buizel for Pikachu at the last minute and have Pikachu use Thunderbolt? It might work if I could get Buizel to soak Drifblim with a Water Gun, seeing as water conducts electricity and Drifblim wouldn't be able to ground itself on anything…
Speaking of Pikachu, I wondered what the little devil-rat was doing back at the Pokémon Center. It'd probably snatched a couple bottles of ketchup from one of the lunch carts after we left and more likely than not was currently passed out on my bed with a half-empty ketchup bottle in its paws.
Dawn and I continued to wade our way through the crowd of people on the street and eventually walked into the shop, 'Suzie's Superb Hairdressery,' and looking at a photo of the founder, discovered that it was the same girl who I had met back in Kanto, all those years ago.
As Dawn continued to walk right past the front desk by merely showing her pager and saying, 'I've got an appointment.' I looked at the receptionist, Samantha, according to the nametag she wore.
She was young, about eighteen or nineteen, had blonde hair that rested on her shoulders and wore a necklace with a small blue gem and a black chain.
"Suzie Yuki started this place up?" I asked casually.
"Yup," The blonde confirmed, "She started up in Kanto a couple years ago, originally it was a Pokémon-only salon, but she realized that people like to look nice too."
"Good for her, she was really nice to me and my friends a few years ago."
"You met her before she started this place up?" Samantha asked, her eyes widening slightly.
"Yeah, like I said, she was really nice; she even gave my friend, Brock her Vulpix." I said.
"Brock? The same Brock that she was always talking about back in Hoenn?" She asked hurriedly.
"Yeah, Brock Harrison." I replied.
"Dude! Suzie's had a crush on him for like… ever!" Samantha laughed, dropping the business-speak.
I couldn't believe it, Brock Harrison, the guy who fell in love with every other girl he saw might actually have a chance at a relationship.
"What about that other guy, what was his name… Zay? Zan?" I asked.
"Zane. And he settled down with another girl, they met in… Lilycove City, I think. Suzie was pretty torn up about it; she thought he was, ya know, the 'one.'" Samantha confided, placing air-quotes around the last word.
"Wow, I thought that they'd get together for sure." I said, remembering the way Suzie had talked about Zane.
"Yeah, I know. Hey, are you still in contact with Brock?" Samantha asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Here," She said as she scrawled something down on a piece of paper, "Next chance you get, give this to him and tell him to give Suzie a call." The blonde said as she handed me the paper.
"Alright," I replied, pocketing the paper, "I'm Ash, by the way."
"Samantha." She replied with a smile as she held her hand out.
We shook hands and after promising her that I'd pass along Suzie's number, I sat in one of the padded chairs. The waiting room was nearly empty, the only other person was a boy, about sixteen or seventeen, wearing dark green cargo pants and a faded grey shirt. He had his head tilted back and his dark-brown hair hung limply. The guy was asleep, his hands folded together and resting on his lap as he stretched his legs out.
The waiting-room was decorated nicely, not overwhelmingly fancy, but nowhere near bland. There were three tables, each with a vase of fresh flowers, and four chairs around them. The ceiling lights were powerful but not harsh and complemented the 'cheery' tone of the room nicely. The walls were painted in faded yellow with white baseboards and crème colored crown molding.
I leaned back in one of the chairs and let my mind wander, first thinking about all the Pokémon I had safe and sound at Professor Oak's ranch. I wondered if the poor old man had ever gotten used to my over-affectionate Muk, or the friendly rivalry between my Charizard, who had recently returned from Johto, and my Sceptile.
Eventually my thoughts drifted to Max Maple, I wondered how he was doing on his journey, there had been some pretty brutal weather recently, and I had made an effort to keep in contact with Max throughout that period. Last I had heard from him he was about to head out to Sootopolis City from Mossdeep. I sincerely hoped that Max was doing okay; the last time I'd seen him he looked much more rugged than he had when we had traveled together. From what I saw, the boy had ditched his glasses, favoring contacts, and had grown his hair out slightly, his bangs hanging over his forehead and grazing his shoulders in the back. His outfit had changed as well, instead of a lime-green shirt with a white collar; he now wore a dark green t-shirt with a black hem, and had swapped his khaki shorts for jeans, and around his wrist he wore a familiar red bandana.
As I thought about the bandana, May immediately jumped to mind. I worried about her often, and it wasn't un-common for me to fall asleep wishing I could hear the sound of her voice. The last time I saw her was when she was sailing off to Johto, from what I heard she did well over there, and even if she didn't, I'd still be proud of her. From what I had heard on the news, May had even managed to get her Bulbasaur to evolve into an Ivysaur, which was no easy feat.
Thinking about Ivysaur led my mind back to the time when Misty, Brock, and I had all stumbled into the Great Mysterious Garden, which was home to hundreds, if not thousands of Bulbasaurs and Ivysaurs. I wondered if the old Venusaur was still the 'leader' of that particular herd, if so, I wished the old Pokémon well.
"Hey Ash," Dawn called as she stepped into the waiting room, "My hair's done, so-"
"'Ash?'" A familiar brunette interrupted as she walked through the front door, "As in, 'Ash Ketchum?'"
"Yeah, and it's very rude to interrupt a private conver-…sation… " Dawn trailed off as the brunette squealed and threw her arms around my neck in a flying hug-tackle.
"Ash, it's been so long! I had no idea you were still in Sinnoh!" The girl said jubilantly, and with a start I recognized her.
"May!"
"No, June..." May replied playfully.
In my defense, she had completely changed her attire. She now wore a green bandana on her head, and had an orange blouse and black biker shorts. Alright, maybe not completely but enough to cause some confusion.
"And you must be Dawn!" May said excitedly as she rolled off of me and extended a hand to my other friend.
"Th- the Princess of Hoenn?" Dawn stuttered as her eyes widened in amazement.
"Oh, I wouldn't go that far, I'm just relatively skilled at coordinating," May said with a dismissive wave of the hand, "your hair looks great by the way!"
At this point, Dawn practically melted, as she squeaked out a 'thanks!'
As much as I could empathize with Dawn meeting her idol, I could tell we were causing a scene as the receptionist, Samantha, perked her head up and looked in our direction, and the guy who had been sleeping a few minutes before slowly walked past.
"Hey," I interjected between Dawn gushing praise and May sheepishly brushing off most of it, "maybe we should catch up at the Pokémon Center? Are you staying for a while May?"
"Yeah, I'm sticking around for the Contest." May replied as she walked towards Samantha's desk.
"You're competing? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, ohmygosh!" Dawn squealed.
I swear if May excited her any more Dawn would start dancing in happiness.
Dawn and I both stood near the door, and May walked back a few minutes later with a Pokéball in her hand.
"I just had to pick up one of my Pokémon," May explained as she replaced the Pokéball to her belt, "I plan on using this one in the Contest."
"Oooh, which Pokémon is it?" Dawn cooed, still in total fangirl mode.
"I'll show ya later," May said with a smile, "Ash, is Brock still traveling with you?"
"Yeah, he's out picking up groceries right now though." I replied as I pushed open the glass door and held it for both May and Dawn.
"Who taught you how to be a gentleman?" May asked joked as she walked past.
The walk back to the Pokémon Center went relatively quickly, with Dawn asking advice on Coordinating and fashion, while I asked the occasional question on what had happened in the year and a half that we hadn't seen each other.
"What happened to Drew? Is he still in Johto?" I asked as we walked past an electronics store.
"I dunno. We sort of stopped traveling together a while ago." May replied.
A few seconds of silence followed, in which Dawn shot me a look that I couldn't interpret.
"What room are you in at the Pokémon Center?" Dawn asked as we rounded the corner.
"Six."
"Well I'm in eight, and Ash and Brock are right across the hall in nine, we should definitely hang out some more tomorrow."
"Yeah." May replied.
"You okay?" I asked as the door to the Pokémon Center slid open.
"Uh-huh. I'll come over later; I need to figure out what I'm going to wear for the Contest." May said dully.
Dawn and I watched as the brunette trudged down the carpeted hall, opened the door to her room and disappeared.
And all of a sudden a fist collided with my arm.
"Why would you ask her about Drew?" Dawn asked angrily as she pulled her arm back.
Stop for a moment; all I had done was ask May what had happened to one of her traveling companions! How did that make me responsible for May's sudden mood-swing? And was the punch really necessary? I mean, it didn't hurt but still.
I looked over at Dawn who was standing there, arms crossed and a glare on her face.
"What do you mean, 'why would I ask her about Drew,' I was curious!" I said angrily.
"You never ask a girl what happened to friend!" Dawn spat.
"And why not?"
"Because everyone has a reason for leaving someone behind! Sometimes those reasons hurt to bring up!" Dawn retorted.
"Well they shouldn't!"
"Oh yeah? Hey Ash, where's Pidgeot?" Dawn asked venomously.
Instantly I felt my heart tighten and my throat clench. Memories of Pidgeot throwing itself at all of the opponents and risking extreme bodily harm, just because I told it to flooded through my mind, each of them tearing open wounds that I thought had long-since healed. I remembered releasing it so that it could protect that flock of Pidgey. I had promised it that I'd come back for it and never did.
The thought of Pidgeot returning to that spot in Pallet Town expecting to see me, only to find no-one there tugged at my heartstrings and I felt tears well up in my eyes. What kind of a Trainer was I? I couldn't even keep a promise to one of my most loyal Pokémon!
I glanced up at Dawn and saw her expression soften as she took a step towards me.
"That… I'm sorry Ash, that was wrong of me." Dawn said softly.
"Yeah, it was." I said and walked to the video phone in the corner of the lobby.
"I'll see you later," Dawn said awkwardly, "thanks for dealing with me all day."
"Uh-huh." I grunted as I dialed Professor Oak's number.
Dawn walked down the hall and I focused my attention on the video-screen.
"Why, hello Ash! It's been some time since we last spoke," The professor said, a wide grin breaking across his face when he picked up the phone, "oh one moment please!" Oak said with a grimace as he moved to the left, out of range of the camera.
From off-screen I heard, "Oh for Heaven's sake!" The professor re-appeared a few seconds later, his hair messy.
"You'll be glad to know that despite your lack of physical presence Muk is still very much attached to you." Oak said in an annoyed tone.
"That's good, but I called to ask you about Pidgeot. Has it come back to Pallet?"
The professor was quiet for a second, before replying with, "Yes, it did."
My heart soared and I quickly asked to talk to it.
"That's the thing, Ash," Oak said slowly and my heart plunged into my gut, "Pidgeot flew off a month or so ago, it had returned to that hill where you released it every day when it got back. Ash, I think that it gave up on waiting for you."
I stood in silence for a few seconds after that. My most loyal Pokémon, one of the ones that had been there for me at the start of my journey had given up on me. I had failed it.
"Thank you, Professor." I said, reaching for the END button.
"I'm so-" The screen flickered out before Oak could complete his sentence.
I walked towards the room that Brock and I shared feeling hollow. Looking around, Pikachu was nowhere to be found. As soon as I closed the door the floodgates broke and I collapsed onto my bed crying.
Pidgeot couldn't have been the last. How many other promises did I break? Did all of them come back to where we had last seen each other expecting me to be there and fulfill my promise, only to be met with nothing? Dear lord, how many of them thought that it was their own fault?
I sobbed into a pillow, not just out of the hurt that I was feeling, but because of the pain that I had undoubtedly caused some of my best friends. I cried until I ran out of tears, then I cried some more.
Firstly, I'd like to thank you for reading this. Every hit that I get means a lot to me. I enjoy knowing that others enjoy my work, and I hope that I can improve as time goes on.
Secondly, I realize that it's been quite some time since I updated this. All I can say is that my personal life suddenly got very complicated very quickly. Yes this is a short chapter. The next one will be longer, and hopefully up relatively soon, but I'm not making any promises.
Like A Boss2, consider this your 'welcome back' present. Congrats on the Air Force man.
Lastly, if anyone can notices typos or grammar mistakes, please point them out. I want this story to be as well-written as possible.