Now the not so interesting transitionary chapters start popping up. Eh. What can I say.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, May pulled away, lowering herself back down to the bed with a noticeable flush of red on her face. Ash remained hovering over her for a moment, watching her blankly, before blinking and retreating from her bed, blushing as well.
"Um..." Ash choked out, shifting his gaze to the floor almost instantly, as if realizing what had just happened.
May giggled at his shyness. "Yes, Ash?"
"I...um...well..." Ash stammered, unable to look her in the eye. "Th-that...it...that was...nice..."
"You...thought so?"
Ash glanced up at her sheepishly, subconsciously aware of the fact that they were still holding hands. "I - I guess so...I don't really know about...that kind of stuff..."
"That's okay." May assured him, giggling again. "I...I liked it...too."
The two let the silence linger for a moment, watching each other closely, still processing what was happening.
"Uh...s-so..." Ash began uncertainly, keeping his eyes locked on her this time. "Wh-what does this...?"
"I'm...not sure." May answered honestly, glancing at their joined hands, which were now resting on the edge of her bed. "I just...I've just been feeling so different about you these last few days...it just felt like the right thing to do."
Ash nodded hesitantly. "Y-yeah. I felt the same way - I even had a dream about you once, when we first got to Fuchsia City."
May's eyes widened, recalling the dream that she had had about Ash. "Really? You had a...dream...about me?"
"Well...sort of. Remember those two trainers that we fought back in Hoenn? Oscar and Andi?"
"I think so...the guys who taught us how to Tag Battle?"
Ash nodded, bringing his head up a little further as he slowly regained confidence in his words. "Yeah. I dreamed about that battle we had with them..."
"You mean the one we lost?" May cut in playfully. "From what I remember, they were convinced that me and you were in love or something..."
"Yeah...well...in my dream, we...um...beat them..."
"Really?"
"It just got me thinking...I know it wasn't real...but when we did battle them, they called our Tag Battle a contest of love..." Ash continued nervously. "And then I went out and got you that dumb flower..."
"What?" May replied, surprised by his words. "That flower wasn't dumb! I thought it was beautiful!"
Ash looked back at her, equally surprised. "R-really?"
"Of course! Why would I have told you all that stuff when you gave it to me if I didn't?" May continued, reaching across with her free hand to stroke the plant affectionately. "Trust me, Ash, I love it...and...I..."
Ash watched her closely, letting the tension hang in the air, looking almost afraid at what she might say next.
May noticed this, and thought about what she was about to say. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go flinging words around that she didn't fully comprehend the meaning of, especially in this situation.
"...I really like you, too, Ash." She finished, smiling softly at him.
Ash looked somewhat relieved, but remained as apprehensive as he had been before. "I...I think I like you, too."
"I wonder what that was all about?" Max asked as himself and Brock stepped out of the hospital lobby into the brightly sunlit city street.
"I don't know." Brock admitted, folding his arms across his chest. "Seems like a pretty unusual request, coming from May."
"Yeah, I know."
"But then again, those two have been acting a little strange lately..." Brock continued, causing Max to glance at him in confusion.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well, for starters, there was that night back in Fuchsia City." Brock began, not stopping his steady pace down the street. "Ash and Spenser had gone to the Battle Palace to see what was going on, but when we got to the Pokemon Center, May took off without an explanation to go find them."
"Oh yeah, I remember now." Max added. "And then Trey went after her, right?"
Brock nodded in response. "And then there was Lily. According to Ash, when May and him first found her in the back of the Battle Palace, she thought that the two of them were a couple."
"WHAT?" Max exclaimed in shock. "Ash...and my sister...?"
"Yep." Brock confirmed, chuckling at the young boy's reaction. "And now there's that green flower..."
"Huh? What about it?" Max questioned, confused by all of the evidence Brock was presenting. "May said she bought it herself."
"I know, but think about it for a minute. When did she have time to do that?" Brock challenged. "She didn't have it when we saw her at the beach, and we saw her go into the Contest Hall to register ourselves. But..."
"What?"
"Where was Ash during all that? I don't remember seeing him at the beach with us." Brock said.
Max was silent for a minute. "I'm sure he was somewhere...you know...doing...Pokemon things."
"Hmm." Brock responded, not convinced. "And what happened just now? She asked for Ash to stay instead of her own brother."
"What are you trying to say?" Max asked finally, halting his thus-steady pace and turning to face Brock with a defiant look in his eye.
"Look, I'm not even sure about this. All I'm saying is that there's a lot of strange stuff that doesn't all add up."
Max turned back to the hospital building, still visible at the end of the street. "Should we go back and talk to them?"
Brock laughed at this. "No, that's all right. If there is something going on, I'm sure we'll find out eventually."
About half an hour later, the doctor knocked on the door of May's room lightly. When there was no response, he slowly pushed it open, only to be met with the sight of May lying in bed, as usual, with Ash's head slumped over on the edge of the bed. Both of them appeared to be sound asleep.
The doctor stared at this scene for moment quizzically, noticing that Ash's right hand was holding her left, positioned near his head on the bed.
"Well, well. I wasn't aware that these two were..."
The doctor remained standing there a moment, staring at the two of them, before turning and leaving the room with a smile, flipping off the lights as he went.
"Ah, well. They do look nice together."
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