Back at Ash's house, everyone was sat around a large table in the kitchen, eating Christmas dinner. Misty and Tracey were catching up on old times with Brock, and they were soon friends with Dawn. The four of them were also telling Delia how they were getting on.
Ash, however, sat in silence, staring gloomily at his plate, which had barely anything eaten off it. He was still disappointed that May hadn't turned up, and he didn't know whether she would. Pikachu sat at his feet, worried about him.
"Ash, honey," said Delia. "Why don't you eat some food? You've hardly eaten anything, and Brock and I have worked hard to cook this.
"Sorry, Mom." Ash scooped up a spoon of peas and held it to his mouth. He opened his mouth, then closed it.
"Ash, what's wrong?" Delia asked concerned. "Are you sick?"
"Mom, is May definitely coming?"
"I really don't know, dear. I couldn't even tell if you were all coming. I just found out when you turned up. We've saved her and Max a plate of Christmas dinner. I'm sure she will come. She'd be so delighted to see you again!"
Not likely, otherwise she'd be here, thought Ash sadly. I bet right now she's celebrating Christmas under a mistletoe with Drew. I wouldn't be surprised if she forgot I exist.
Outside, Team Rocket were watching through the kitchen window, freezing in the cold blizzard.
"Can we go in already?!" moaned James. "I don't think I can take much more of this freezing weather!"
"No! We have to wait!" snapped Jessie, her cheeks red. James and Meowth couldn't tell whether they were red from anger or being cold.
"Dis fur I have is supposed to supposed to keep a cat warm!" complained Meowth. "But it's not doin' a good job!"
James watched Ash looking down at his plate of food through the window. "If that twerp isn't gonna eat that nice warm meal, I'll have it! It'll keep me warm - and satisfy my hunger!"
Then all of a sudden, the trio heard a loud banging noise coming from the front of the house.
Inside, Ash and the others had heard it too, and knew it was someone banging on the front door. Delia smiled at Ash. "What did I tell you, honey? There's May now!"
"Alright!" Ash cried happily, and he jumped up from his chair and raced to the front door, and flung it open, beaming.
Then his face changed to a shocked expression.
"Max?!"
Max was standing in front of him, stood out in the blizzard. He was shivering and hugging himself to keep warm. Ash saw that he was not wearing any Winter clothing.
"A-Ash! Th-thank g-g-goodness you're here! Y-y-you have t-t-to help May!"
"May?! Where is May? Is she okay? Are you okay, Max?! You must be freezing!"
Delia then came to the front door from the kitchen. "What's going on?" Then she saw Max stood out in the cold. "Oh my goodness! Come on in, you poor thing! You must be freezing!"
A few minutes later, everyone was sat in the living room. Max was wrapped up in some dry towels Delia had brought him, telling everyone about why he and May were late and what had happened to her, much to the others' shock.
"So you see," he finished, "she told me to fetch Ash to help her."
At that moment, Ash got up and headed towards the front door.
"Where are you going?" asked Dawn.
"Where d'you think I'm going?" scoffed Ash. "I'm going to save May!"
"Ash! You can't go out there!" cried Delia. "That's a fierce blizzard!"
"I don't care, Mom! I'm going!"
"No! I can't let you go out in a blizzard!"
"What do you expect me to do, Mom? Just leave her trapped in that cave?!"
"We can call other people and send them to help her!"
"No, Mom! I can't just sit here and leave May trapped in that cave. When I took her as my travelling companion, it was my responsibility to look after her. Now that she's somewhere nearby, trapped in a cave, that responsibility has to come in."
Delia turned to the others for support, but they said nothing. They were all touched by what Ash had said, and therefore, had earned new respect for him (even Misty). Knowing she was fighting a losing battle, Delia sighed and admitted defeat. "Alright, Ash. But you'd better be careful."
"Don't worry, Mom! Going on so many adventures during my Pokémon journey, I'm used to situations like this. I can easily handle them. You're just being overprotective." Ash grabbed a Winter jacket off a coat stand and put it on. Then, Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder. Ash picked him off and held him in front of him. "No, Pikachu. You can't come with me!"
"Pika!" The mouse Pokémon retorted angrily.
"I know you wanna help. But that's a fierce blizzard out there. I can't let you go out there. I-" Ash stopped. He looked away from Pikachu, and turned to Delia and the others, who were all grinning. "What?!"
"Now who's being overprotective?" asked Delia.
"As everyone knows, you two are both as stubborn as each other," chuckled Misty.
Ash smiled, realising how silly he was being. He turned to Pikachu. "Alright, buddy! You can come! Maybe I could really use your help!"
"Pika Pi!"
Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder. Ash opened the front door, receiving a cold blast of air, and started to run out of the house and into the cold blizzard.
The others all ran to the open door and watched him head away from the house. "Good luck!" They all called, but Ash didn't hear them, as their call was drown out by the strong wind.
They all worriedly watched Ash head away from the house, then closed the door.
Just then, Team Rocket, who had heard them call out, crawled around to the front of the house, and spotted Ash with Pikachu, about to head out of Pallet.
"Where's the twerp going with Pikachu?" asked Jessie.
"In weather like this?" wondered James.
"I dunno," added Meowth. "but if Pikachu's with him, den we'd better go too!"
So the trio sneaked away from Ash's house as headed after Ash. They were quite a distance away from him, but they did their best to keep him in sight.
And so, Ash heads off to rescue May - but we're gonna have to wait until next chapter when we see him do it!
Now time is kind of running out. I hope to finish this by Christmas Eve. I was planning to make this a three chapter story. I didn't think it would be this long. Now it's a week away until Christmas. But hopefully, I can get this finished.