Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
A/N: Alright, here's the third chapter of my fanfic, this time with AdvanceShipping. Again, with the title, I didn't really put any thought into it. I just took the old saying "April Shower Bring May Flowers", and since Ash was spending time with May, well... you get the idea. There is no giving-of-flowers in this chapter, so the title might be worse than it seems when I picked it. Anyway, on another note, I have received a review mentioning that Ash and Misty were out of character in Chapter 2 "A Misty Day". However, all readers should take into account that the characters ARE older than they really are in the series, as I have stated back in Chapter 1. And since they're older, it's almost a given that the characters would be somewhat more mature and thus out of character from their anime counter-parts.
-Chapter 3: May Flowers-
The following morning, Ash was once again the first to wake up. He quickly got dressed and then headed down into the kitchen to get himself some breakfast. Brock woke up short after hearing sounds coming from the kitchen and got up to look, only to have a completely surprised look on his face again.
"Ash? What the heck?" Brock questioned.
"Not again, Brock. I thought I already told you yesterday what I was going to do," Ash said, giving his friend a blank stare.
"Oh, right," Brock said.
The eldest of Ash's friends stood up and walked into the kitchen to get himself some breakfast as well.
"So who are you going to spend time with today?" Brock asked.
"I think I'll spend time with May. After all, the last time we saw her was during the Wallace Cup Pokémon Contest back in Sinnoh," Ash answered.
"That's true. It has been a while since we've seen her. So, what do you have planned?" Brock asked.
"Well, while I was hanging out with Misty yesterday, I overheard something about some kind of Pokémon contest that's going to be held today and tomorrow. So I'm sure May will want to take part in it," Ash said, though didn't mention that he and Misty were in a play together, for fear his friend might assume Ash already picked to be with Misty.
"I see. That's a good idea. We both know how much May loves Pokémon Contests," Brock said.
"Yeah, and since it'll be here tomorrow as well, I think I'll do the same thing with Dawn," Ash stated.
"It is true they both like Pokémon Contests. But Ash, I'm going to give you some advice right now. Going to that contest twice might not exactly be a good idea," Brock warned his friend.
"Huh? Why not?" Ash asked, curious about the warning.
"Well, if you're going to go to it with May today, you may get bored with it tomorrow when you go with Dawn. If she sees how bored you are, she might think you don't like spending time with her," Brock answered.
Ash just simply froze. He hadn't thought of that. Sure, he'd enjoy seeing May take part in it today, but tomorrow with Dawn is another story. Since he would've seen it already the previous day, there would be a chance Ash would get bored when it's Dawn's turn. Then what would she think of him?
"Just think carefully about what you're going to do, Ash," Brock said.
"Yeah. Thanks for the advice, Brock," Ash said.
Brock just nodded. Then the two of them could hear the others starting to wake up, so Ash calmed himself down and continued to eat his breakfast. Again, when Delia, May and Dawn walked down into the kitchen and saw Ash up already, they were in complete disbelief, only to get the same blank stares from Ash that he gave them yesterday. But this time, when Misty came downstairs and saw Ash, she blushed slightly, remembering from yesterday and Ash's face turned slightly red as well, but quickly shook it off. When everyone was done eating, Brock and Delia started cleaning the dishes. But this time, May and Dawn were asking Misty what she did with Ash yesterday. Ash just sat in a chair and watched the three girls talk. He knew he couldn't approach May while Misty was there or she might think he really didn't like spending time with her the day before. Luckily for him, Misty got up to go use the bathroom. Ash took this opportunity to walk up to May, who was still talking with Dawn.
"May, could I talk to you for a few minutes?" Ash asked.
Both May and Dawn looked at Ash and then at each other, tilting their heads and wondering if it was about what happened yesterday with Misty.
"Of course, Ash," May said.
The brunette stood up and Ash led her outside, just as he did with Misty the day before. Once outside, the two just stared at each other a bit. May was still wearing her green and orange outfit from when she went to Sinnoh for the Wallace Cup.
"What is it, Ash? Is something wrong?" May asked, a bit worried that something may have gone wrong yesterday.
"No, nothing's wrong. It's just that… I was wondering if you'd like to spend the day with me," Ash asked.
May was a bit shocked at this. Did he really not like being with Misty yesterday? Or did something go wrong and he just doesn't want her to worry about it?
"May? Are you feeling alright?" Ash asked when the brunette didn't answer.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," May said as she regained her composure. "But mind if I ask why?"
"Why I want you to spend the day with me?" Ash asked.
May just nodded.
"Well, we haven't seen each other since the Wallace Cup in Sinnoh. And I'd like to know what you've been up to from when you first left for Johto up until you went to Sinnoh and then from after you left for Johto again after the Wallace Cup until now," Ash said.
"I see," May said. 'Is this what he did with Misty yesterday? Just hang out? I guess that's not so bad. But I do wonder what Ash is planning with this, spending time with both Misty and me. Is he planning on hanging out with Dawn, too?'
"May?" Ash asked.
"What?" May asked, startled by Ash.
"You still didn't answer my question. Would you like to spend the day with me?" Ash asked again.
"Sure, of course I would," May finally answered.
Ash let out a sigh of relief, but in truth was just a little irritated. There were times in which May had her head in the clouds, but then again he shouldn't be one to speak. But this really would be the only time to see if May might or might not be the girl he really wanted to be with.
"So do you have anything planned, Ash?" May asked.
"Actually, I do have a little something planned," Ash answered.
"What is it?" May asked.
"It's a Pokémon contest. I overheard it yesterday when Misty and I were hanging out. I thought it would be something you'd like to do," Ash said.
Hearing this, May's eyes enlarged and started to sparkle a bit. Ash took a small step back, knowing what was about to come next.
"A Pokémon Contest? Here? I can't wait! Oh, but I won't have any time to practice. What if I mess up? If only I'd known about it sooner I could've prepared better," May started to rant.
"May, calm down!" Ash had to yell over May's ranting so she could hear him.
May stopped instantly.
"I'm sorry, Ash," May said, a little upset that she provoked Ash to yell at her.
"It's okay, May. You'll be fine. Besides, it's not an official Pokémon Contest. It's just for fun," Ash said as he patted May's shoulders to give her a little confidence.
"Thanks Ash," May said as she smiled.
"Don't worry about it. Now then, shall we get going? Oh, but first, do you have your Pokémon with you?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, I hardly go anywhere without them," May said, but then noticed something was missing. "Ash? Where's Pikachu?"
"I'm having Brock look after him and my other Pokémon. After all, I want to make sure we have fun. So I left them here so I don't start looking for a battle," Ash answered.
"I see. Alright then, let's get going," May said as she started to walk off.
A small smile appeared on Ash's face as he followed behind May. The brunette may be obsessed with Pokémon Contests, but as Brock said, she probably got it from Ash since he's always been obsessed with becoming a Pokémon Master. May then turned around to face Ash as she walked backwards.
"So Ash, how have things been in Sinnoh after the Wallace Cup?" May asked.
"They've been great. Both Turtig and Chimchar evolved into Grotle and Monferno respectively, Gligar evolved into a Gliscor and Staravia evolved into a Staraptor. Paul is still as much of a jerk as always, treating his Pokémon like dirt," Ash said, though spat out what he said about Paul.
"Well I'm glad your Pokémon evolved and things are going so well for you, Ash. But that Paul sounds like such a bad trainer," May said.
May had never met Paul, so she didn't really know him, though Ash practically hit the nail on the head.
"I actually think that's an understatement. I beginning to wonder why isn't banned from being a Pokémon Trainer," Ash said.
"I actually don't think it can be done, Ash," May said.
"Really? I heard from Misty that, a few years back when you and I were travelling together in Hoenn, Misty was challenged by three guys for a Gym battle and were banned from any official Pokémon battles," Ash said remembering what Misty told him.
"Maybe it's just because that's how he trains them. He isn't exactly breaking any rules," May said, which was true.
"I guess you're right," Ash said.
After minutes of walking, Ash and May arrived at the spot where the contest was being held. Ash slightly blushed as he remembered being in the play from Misty yesterday, but quickly shook it off so May wouldn't notice it.
'What the heck am I doing? I'm trying to spend time with May today to see if she's the one I want to be with. But I guess doing the play was a bit embarrassing for both Misty and me. After all, we were giving the lead roles after all,' Ash though to himself.
A man then walked up to Ash and May. Ash recognized the man as the play director from yesterday, but thankfully for Ash, the man didn't recognize Ash since the raven-haired boy wasn't wearing the costume.
"Hello there, are you two interested in signing up for the Pokémon Contest today?" the man asked.
"I am," May answered cheerfully.
"Nah, I left my Pokémon at home. Besides, I think I have more fun watching them than taking part," Ash said.
"Alright then, I'll just need you to sign your name here," the man said as he held out a clipboard with some sheets of paper that had a few people already signed up for the contest.
"Whoa, I didn't think anyone would be up earlier than this to enter the contest," Ash said as he saw that the first sheet of paper was alright three-quarters full of names.
"Some people think it's better for them to register early and get some extra practice without worrying about being late for signing up. Not that it really matters. There are no ribbons for this contest, it's just for fun. So there's no pressure," the man said as he handed a pen to May.
May then signed her name onto the list and gave the pen back to the director.
"Thank you. We'll be starting in two hours, so if you feel the need to prepare yourself or just relax before the contest, you can go right ahead," the man said.
"Thank you very much," May said as she bowed.
She and Ash then walked away from the director and the stage.
"So May, what Pokémon are you going to use?" Ash asked.
"I'm not really sure. Since it's just for fun, I think I might use Skitty, Beautifly, Wartortle or Glaceon. Venasuar is way too big for the stage," May said.
"You're right. Venasaur wouldn't be a wise choice for a stage like that," Ash chuckled a bit, causing May to giggle. "So are you going to get in some practice or what do you wanna do?"
"Well, we do have two hours. I'll try to decide who I'm going to use for the contest. But in the meantime, what do you say we go for a bit of shopping?" May asked.
Ash figured this would happened and sweatdropped.
"Okay, but you can't really get too many things. I didn't get enough money from the Sinnoh League to buy a bunch of expensive things," Ash said. 'Plus something tells me I may need to save some money for Dawn tomorrow in case she wants to go do some shopping.'
"You don't think I'm that bad when it comes to shopping, do you?" May asked, though with a tiny, tiny hint of annoyance.
"N-no, of course not. I'm just saying I can't buy a whole lot of things. Remember, I need the money for myself as well," Ash said as he waved his arms defensively.
"Don't worry, I'm only teasing," May said as she giggled and stuck out her tongue.
Ash sweatdropped a bit at May's actions.
'Sometimes her humor scares me a little. But then again, what's life without a little adventure?' Ash thought to himself.
May then grabbed Ash's wrist and dragged him to the nearest store, where she looked at everything and her eyes got all big and sparkly at all the jewelry and beautiful clothes and dresses. Ash just followed her, not really saying anything since he wasn't that big on shopping, much less when it came to shopping for women's clothing. Since Ash followed May everywhere, every time he walked past the girl's undergarments, he'd turn his head to look away and slightly blush. May picked out a few things to buy, making sure not to go overboard since Ash was somewhat limited for cash, and she took them up to the cash register where Ash bought them for her.
"Thank you so much, Ash. I think these will look great," May said.
"Sure thing, May," Ash said.
Once Ash was done paying for the new stuff May bought, she ended up making him carry them. He didn't really mind though. The two then left the store and started to wander around to town.
"So May, how have things been going in Johto?" Ash asked his brunette friend.
"They've been going okay. Though Harley is still trying to embarrass me in some way or cheat to beat me at contests, though usually by trying to slow me down from getting to the registration desk on time," May answered.
"Speaking of Harley, I still can't really tell whether he's really a guy or a girl by the way he talks. I mean seriously, I think something's really messed up with his head," Ash said as he got a distasteful look on his face, remembering how Harley would usually speak.
May just giggled.
"I'd have to agree with you, Ash. There are moments in which I wonder the same thing. After all, he has a bit of a feminine figure and sometimes he makes his voice sound a bit girly, but it's when he starts yelling that you don't want to question him on it for the rest of the day," May stated.
The two of them continued walking around, talking about what they've been up to and making fun of Harley whenever May mentioned him. Eventually the time came to head back to the stage and get ready for the contest.
"So May, did you decide who you're going to use?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, I've thought about it in my head. I have the perfect Pokémon to use for this," May answered.
"Alright, good luck May," Ash said.
"Thanks, Ash," May said as they walked away from each other, May to get back stage and make some final preparations and Ash went to find an empty seat.
The contest was rather fun to watch. All the contestants used cute, beautiful or small Pokémon due to the size of the stage. Most of the Pokémon consisted of Lopunny, Meowth, Vulpix, Cleffa, Mareep, and others that would fit into either cute, beautiful or small. When it was May's turn, she sent out her beautiful Glaceon, its shining fur coating seemed to shine brighter in the sunlight than it would in any contest hall. Ash cheered for May and her Glaceon as they put on their performance (A/N: Again, I apologize for not going into detail since I don't want to make the chapter too long and also because I'm not really that good at being very descriptive) and when the contest ended, it was May who was declared the winner. None of the other contestants were saddened or depressed since they knew it was only for fun to show off their Pokémon. Once everything was done and the other contestants and audience left, Ash and May started to wander around town some more.
"That was an excellent performance, May. And you did a great job at raising your Glaceon since I last saw it," Ash congratulated and applauded her.
"Thank you so much, Ash. But now I'm started to get a little hungry," May said as she put her hand on her growling stomach.
"Yeah, that contest did take a while because of all the contestants and neither of us really got anything to eat beforehand or brought anything to eat for afterwards," Ash said as he put his hand on his growling stomach.
"Think we can find some place to eat?" May asked.
"Sure. But remember, nothing too expensive," Ash answered and reminded her.
"I know, I know," May said, letting out another giggle until her stomach growled again.
The two of them continued to walk, trying to keep their stomach quiet, until they found a restaurant. About an hour or so after, they walked out with full stomachs and then went back to walking around Pallet Town talking about how they've been and strolling down memory lane. Once they were at a silent moment, Ash sort of looked at the ground after an old memory came into his head.
"Hey May," Ash said.
"What is it, Ash?" May asked, looking a bit concerned his Ash was still looking at the ground.
"Do you still miss… him… at all?" Ash asked.
May knew exactly who Ash was talking about and a small smile appeared on her face.
"Yeah, I do. I can't believe how long it's been, though. I just hope Manaphy's doing alright," May said as her eyes started to water a bit.
"I'm sure he's fine. He has Kyogre to look after him after all. And you've been an excellent mother figure to him," Ash said to try and comfort her.
"Thank you, Ash," May said as she wiped away the tears in her eyes.
"And if it wasn't for the both of you, I wouldn't be here right now," Ash said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" May asked.
"When I was trying to fix the damage The Phantom did to the Sea Crown, I nearly drowned as I was about to put the last crystal back in. I suddenly heard your voice and knew Manaphy was connecting us. Hearing your voice gave me the strength to keep going," Ash said.
May blushed at Ash's words.
"Thank you, Ash. That's very kind of you," May said.
"No, thank you, May. You were the one who pushed me forward. You were the one who kept me alive," Ash said, causing May to blush some more.
There was a bit of an awkward silence when Ash looked up at the sky and noticed it was starting to get dark.
"Guess we'd better be getting back," Ash said.
May only nodded. The two of them headed back to Ash's home, at which point May took the bags that she made Ash carry and she walked in first followed by Ash. However, when Misty saw them walk in, she looked away in disappointment, think that Ash didn't like hanging out with her yesterday. Ash saw Misty's look but didn't know what to say.
"Alright everyone, dinner's ready," Delia said cheerfully.
Everyone sat at the table and ate their dinner before going to bed. Ash went to his room but felt a bit guilty about not telling Misty that he was going to hang out with May. But if he had, she probably would've bit his head off and assume he didn't like hanging out with her. However, when Misty, May and Dawn went up to the guest room, May saw Misty's expression.
"Misty, what's wrong?" May asked.
"It's nothing…" Misty said.
"Is it because Ash and I were gone for nearly the whole day?" May asked.
Misty stayed quiet, so May took this as a yes. Dawn was actually wondering what the heck was going on since Ash had spent a day each with Misty and May.
"Misty, it's okay. Nothing happened. Ash just wanted to catch up and see how well I was doing in Johto," May said.
Misty looked up at May.
"Yeah. We were only hanging out. We didn't really do anything," May said.
"Hey May, do you know if Ash is going to ask me to hang out with him tomorrow?" Dawn said, somewhat eager to spend a day alone with Ash just as Misty and May have.
"Probably," May said.
"But Dawn, wouldn't you have had plenty of time to hang out with him in Sinnoh?" Misty asked.
"Not really. Either he's been to busy training for his gym battles or I've been to busy training for my contests," Dawn said as she sulked a bit.
"Well, just be ready in case he does ask you," May said.
"You bet," Dawn said with a huge smile.
"But I wonder what he's doing this for. I mean, if he's going to spend time with the three of us, why not do it on just one day with him and the three of us together?" Misty thought aloud.
The three girls started to think about Ash's reason for this.
"Do you think…?" Dawn asked.
Both Misty and May knew what she was going to ask.
"I doubt it. He's always been so dense, so I don't think he'd be capable of something like that," Misty said.
"I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see," May said.
The three girls went to bed shortly after. And in Ash's room, the young trainer just laid on his bed.
'That went well. Though I think I might have upset May when I brought up Manaphy, not that I meant to of course. And Misty seemed really upset for some reason. I hope she didn't get the wrong idea,' Ash thought to himself as he stared at the ceiling. 'Well, tomorrow I'll be spending time with Dawn. Maybe now I'll get to know why she doesn't like being called "Dee-Dee" and why she doesn't want me to know how she got that nickname. Guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow.'
Ash then fell asleep as he thought about what he and Dawn will do tomorrow.
A/N: So here's chapter three, only two chapters left until I'm done. It took a while to upload this chapter since I was having trouble thinking of what to write for the most part. Though the reason why I'm uploading these faster than I probably should is because of one reason: If I don't finish something I'm working on quick, I'll end up forgetting it completely and it'll never be finished. So, as stated, chapter four WILL have PearlShipping. However, I'm thinking of waiting a bit until someone who has seen the 12th Pokémon movie (which features Arceus) could let me in on what happens in the movie so I can use it for Dawn's chapter (In a Private Message, of course. And with as much description/detail as possible). And as for the final chapter (Chapter five), it has still already been decided. So I don't want any complaints about who I picked if it wasn't the girl you wanted Ash to end up with. Though I will give a tiny, tiny hint of what will be on the final chapter... however, I'll wait until I'm done chapter four to give out the hint. Don't want to spoil anything too early.
Please R&R