Been a little while. I know. Sorry!
"Ash!" May called out again, chasing after him alongside Brock and Max as he ran out of the Battle Palace and continued down the road, his pace quickening as he heard his friends following him. "Wait!"
"Ash!" Brock echoed.
"Come back!" Max cried.
Ash continued running for a moment, then, gradually, he began to slow down, finally coming to a stop in the middle of the street. He was still holding Pikachu's unconscious body, and his head was bowed slightly.
"...Are you okay?" Brock asked slowly, looking firmly at the back of Ash's head.
There was no answer, other than the slightly muffled sound of the young boy's sniffling as he looked down at his companion.
"A-Ash...?" May said slowly, tentatively stepping forward and peeking around to see the front of his face. She recoiled slightly, softening her expression, when she saw tears cascading down his cheeks.
"It's..." He began slowly, in a small voice. "It's my fault! I'm the one who made them battle!"
"What - ?" May began, but he was already running again, sprinting down the street and around the corner. "Ash, wait!"
May took off running after him, and before Brock or Max could follow, they were interrupted by Spenser's voice from behind.
"Excuse me, could I speak to you two for a moment?" He said politely, stepping out of the Battle Palace with staff in hand.
"I - ah - " Brock stuttered, glancing between the Frontier Brain and May's shrinking form for a moment.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll make this fast." Spenser assured him, grinning. "I just wanted to ask if your friend there planned on coming back for a rematch sometime soon?"
"Wh - " Brock started, still partially distracted by Ash's behavior a minute ago. Max turned to face the old man as well as Brock finished, "What?"
"I don't mean to intrude. I just got the feeling that he was angry with the outcome of our battle just now, and I didn't want him to walk away from here with a bad impression of this facility." Spenser explained pleasantly, seemingly oblivious to his actions in the battle mere minutes ago.
"Look, if you don't know why Ash stormed out of there just now, I don't really know what to tell you. I really don't know if we're coming back or not." Brock said hurriedly. "But if you ask me, I'd have to say no."
"Ah." Spenser said, seemingly taken aback slightly by Brock's words. He didn't speak for a moment. "I see. That's unfortunate, but I suppose that's his decision."
He turned away and retreated back into the Palace. Once he was out of sight, Brock turned to Max, who nodded back at him. The two turned away from the facility and took off running after their friends.
Ash wasn't even sure where he was going, but it didn't really matter to him, either. He simply ran, following the street wherever it took him, cradling Pikachu in his arms the whole time. He'd never felt this terrible before - due to his poor battling, two of his Pokemon ended up severely injured. He didn't know what to do at this point, so he did the only thing he could do - run.
Eventually, though, the road came to an end. He stopped at the edge of the street, which branched off both left and right, leading down to the rest of the city. The street happened to end on a ledge, walled off with a metal fence, which gave him a decent view of the rest of the city.
"Ash!" May called again, but Ash didn't react when he heard her voice. He simply continued staring out over the top of the railing. He felt her run up beside him on his right side. "Why'd you run off like that?"
He turned his face away from hers. "I - I wanna be alone right now."
"Huh...?" May breathed. Those words didn't come from Ash's mouth very often. "That battle must have shaken him up worse than I thought..."
She continued looking at him for a few more seconds, but when he remained silent, she shifted her gaze to Pikachu, still lying faceup in his arms. "Is it okay?"
Ash didn't respond for a long time. The two stood there in the silence, letting the brisk coastal breeze sweep past them for what seemed like an eternity.
Then, Ash turned and looked May in the eye, allowing her to see the tears brimming up in his own eyes. "I - I don't know."
May took another step toward him, raising her right hand and stroking Pikachu's fur a couple of times. "It...looks okay. Just tired, maybe."
Ash felt a strange sensation wash over him as he watched her analyze Pikachu. He couldn't explain it, but he suddenly felt that it was okay to talk to May about this.
"It's...my fault, you know." Ash said softly, causing her to look at him in confusion. "I'm the one who asked Pikachu to fight that guy. Swellow, too."
"Ash - "
"I just wanted to beat him." Ash continued. "But look..." He said, his voice beginning to get louder. "Look what happened!"
"How can you say that this's your fault?" May asked incredulously.
"I told them to battle!" Ash said in frustration. "I was the one giving them orders, but - I couldn't help them - "
"You were just battling like you always do!" May shot back. "If this is anyone's fault, it's Spenser's! His Claydol went way overboard with those Hyper Beams - "
"But that's what I'm saying!" Ash exclaimed, the tears beginning to flow again. "If I was a better trainer - I could've gotten them out of it - "
"Ash, listen to me!" May cut in, grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him around to face her. "You didn't do anything wrong! You couldn't have done anything different to help them, and I don't think Swellow and Pikachu are blaming you, either!"
"Yeah...but..." Ash trailed off as Pikachu slowly came to in his arms.
"Pi...ka..." Pikachu mumbled quietly.
"Huh?" May said, looking down at it in concern.
"Pikachu!" Ash cried, happy to see that it was all right. His face quicky fell, however, as he thought back to what happened during the battle. "I...I'm sorry, buddy. I thought that I knew how to beat it...but..."
"Pi-ka, pi-ka-chu." Pikachu said softly, shaking his head as he looked up at his trainer.
"But...I..."
Ash was cut off, however, when a blinding flash of light signified Swellow's forced emergence as it appeared, perched on the railing that overlooked the other side of town. It still appeared to be exhausted, as well as significantly injured.
"Swellow!"
"Huh? Swellow...?" Ash said slowly as May lowered her hands from his shoulders.
"Swellow! Swell-ow!"
"You guys..." Ash said soberly as a solemn grin appeared on May's face. "I'm so...sorry..."
"Pika..."
Ash continued to stand there for a moment, grateful for the support of his Pokemon. He looked up at Swellow, who looked back at him knowingly before he called it back into its Pokeball. Pikachu, also exhausted, fell asleep again not long after, leaving Ash and May standing on the ledge as the midday sun hovered low in the sky.
"So...what are we gonna do now?" Max asked, looking around the room at his companions. All four of them were back in their room in the Pokemon Center, where Ash had dropped off Pikachu and Swellow for recuperation.
"I dunno..." Ash replied.
"I guess we should head to Crysanthemum Island...for now, at least." Brock suggested. "You sure you don't want to challenge Spenser again?"
"Yeah." Ash responded instantly. "Well, at least not for a while. I know I need his Symbol to complete the Battle Frontier...but still..."
Brock nodded knowingly. "Well, either way, we don't really need to stay here any longer." He rose from his seat on the foot of one of the beds. "I guess we should go and get our tickets for the ferry, then. Anyone else want to come?"
"Sure!" Max responded happily. May was momentarily confused by his sudden excitement, but as he walked out the door alongside Brock, she heard him eagerly mention the words 'Safari Zone'. She giggled as Ash rose from his seat as well.
"I think I'm gonna go check on Pikachu and Swellow." He said, heading for the door.
"Okay. I guess I'll come, too." She said, shrugging. "Better than sitting around here.
They went down to the lobby, where Ash asked for the status of his Pokemon. He was told that they still had a few minutes left before they were ready.
Ash grunted as he sat down on an empty bench hugging the wall of the building. May promptly sat took a seat next to him.
"Hey, May..." Ash started slowly after a few moments of silence. "Listen..."
May turned to face him questioningly as he struggled to form the words.
"I just...wanted to say thanks. You know, for before." He said, blushing slightly for reasons unknown to him. "You really snapped me out of...well, myself."
May smiled lightly at his words. "Sure, anytime. I just hope Pikachu and Swellow are all right."
Ash nodded. "Yeah. Me too. I still can't believe that he would do something like that...I haven't seen anyone battle like that in a long time."
"I know..."
There was another short moment of silence between the two.
"So, I bet you're gonna have fun at that beach later on." He said, attempting to start another conversation. "You know, when we head down there to catch the boat."
"Huh? Oh, I don't know..." She replied, staring at the floor. "I don't really feel like going to the beach anymore...you know?"
Ash most certainly did not know. He had never known May to turn down an opportunity to go to the beach. "Uh..."
Just then, however, he noticed one of the Pokemon Center's Chansey rolling a cart out of the back room with two Pokeballs on it. "Hey...!" He said slowly, jumping up from the bench and crossing the room to retrieve his Pokemon.
May stood up to follow after him, but stopped as she watched him release Swellow and Pikachu from their Balls. Swellow cawed happily as it emerged on the ground next to him, and Pikachu rapidly shook itself off and stretched before filling the empty position on Ash's shoulder.
As she watched him grin and laugh as he spoke to his two companions, she felt something stir deep within her. She continued to watch him for a few seconds, unable to move or shift her gaze as she came to grips with this new feeling.
Before she knew it, however, Ash had already returned to her side. "Hey, uh, May?"
"W-what?"
"Oh, nothing. Just thought you looked a little out of it for a second." He replied, recalling Swellow into its Ball. "C'mon, let's go back upstairs."
And then he was walking away again, and the feeling was gone, leaving May slightly confused as to what exactly had just happened.
Please R&R!