Hi and hello! Chapter 10 is here, mercifully on schedule! This chapter will cut away from the main characters and focus a little on their families as they realize that Ash and May are probably not coming home any time soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon; Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri do.

INCONCEIVABLE

CHAPTER 10-PARENTAL ANXIETY

It had been at least three weeks since May had left for Kanto, and Caroline Maple was worried.

May hadn't contacted her since she last called from Terracotta Town. Caroline wondered why: the Contest would have been long over by now, of that she was sure, and May should have been back two weeks ago. It wasn't like her to disappear like this without telling anyone, and Caroline was also concerned that Ash had dropped off the radar as well. If May had actually gone missing, or if something had happened, he would have told them, right?

Norman had become concerned as well, but he coped in a far different way than his wife. His idea of overcoming stress was conducting longer and more intense training sessions than usual at the Petalburg Gym, and this normally meant that very few challengers left the Gym with a Badge when they battled him. Caroline had warned him about overexerting himself, particularly since Max would want to spend some time with him once he returned home from his journey, but Norman, stubborn as ever, made no indication that he had heard her.

Looking over from her chair, Caroline saw a picture of Ash and May that had been taken the day of Ash's homecoming party; May had framed the photo and placed it among the array of family pictures around the house. Ash had his arm around her, and May was relaxing into his chest; the picture was the first one of its kind, the two former traveling partners in love, a codifier of their young relationship. May had endured Max's taunts about the entire affair the whole way back to Hoenn, but to her credit she didn't react the way she would have if she was younger; instead of physically assaulting him, she retaliated by bringing up his budding romance with Vivi Winstrate, the youngest member of the battle-obsessed family they'd met outside Mauville City. Caroline had met Vivi once, when she and Max had buried the hatchet over their battle years earlier. She seemed like a nice girl, at least.

The sight of the photo pained Caroline a little. She was anxious about where her daughter had gone, and even though she had assured herself things would turn out alright, it wasn't easy not knowing where she was and what she was doing. She knew May couldn't have gone to Unova; a trip like that would require a lot of pre-planning, and besides, she would have told them anyway if she was going that far from home. She could have gone to one of the other regions, but someone would've told her by now if May had done so; the tabloids Caroline read all the time may have tipped her off as well. Only once had one of her rivals called since she'd disappeared; Drew was wondering if May was planning on coming to Unova to catch up with them, but Caroline had told him she wasn't around.

Shaking her head, Caroline headed towards the kitchen to start preparing for dinner. She'd begin trying to find her daughter tomorrow.

The phone rang a few times before Delia Ketchum picked up.

"Oh, hello, Caroline! This is unexpected."

"I know it is, sorry for the timing." Caroline wasn't sure if Delia knew where May was, but if Ash was with her Delia probably knew where he was at least. "Just wondering, but have you heard from Ash recently?"

"Ash? No, he hasn't called in a while." Caroline's heart sank. "Why do you ask?"

"Because May's missing too. She was supposed to meet him for the Contest, and she called when they got there."

"Odd. Ash never called me when he arrived."

"When was the last time he did call?"

"I haven't heard anything from him since he left for Terracotta Town."

"Really? That's not like him, is it?"

"No, and I'm a bit worried. He always tells me when he's going off on a journey, so this is unusual in the extreme."

"I know how you feel. May doesn't call a lot when she's out and about, but dropping out of contact like this is cause for alarm."

"Do you think they're still together out there?"

"They could be. They just became a couple, after all, so it makes sense for them to be together."

"Oh yes, I forgot about that. It doesn't make their disappearance any less strange, though."

"No, it doesn't. I just hope they're okay. I know they'll look after one another if they are together, but I really wish they'd contact us soon, if at all. Not knowing where my daughter is is painful."

"I know. I'm really worried about Ash too; he's a big boy and can handle himself, but he could at least phone in and tell me what's going on."

"It would be nice. Okay, Delia, thanks for your help. I'm going to contact a few other people and see if they can help find May."

"Okay. I'll talk to Samuel—Professor Oak, I mean—and the Pewter and Cerulean Gyms to see if they know where Ash is. I'll phone back if anything comes up."

"Sounds like a plan." Caroline bade the Pallet mother farewell, then killed the link as she thought of who to call next.

Neither mother's search yielded any useful results. Professor Oak had been as perplexed as Delia regarding Ash's disappearance, and neither Brock nor Misty knew anything about it. Caroline had rung Johanna, Dawn's mother, who hadn't seen either of the wayward teenagers, although she had promised to contact Dawn and her friends to see if they had seen them. Norman had talked to his contacts at the Pokémon League, but no-one had a clue where they might be, which Norman couldn't believe because as a perennial contender, Ash was even more noticable than a talking Meowth.

A further call to the Terracotta Pokémon Centre didn't help either. Nurse Joy had seen them, but only for a couple of days. They had disappeared since then, she told Caroline, and had left their room key behind, which led her to believe that they'd either found somewhere else to stay or skipped town entirely. The whole thing was strange because they would've needed to heal their Pokémon eventually, unless they were waiting until they got back home to do so, which was unusual and dangerous. She promised to contact the Contest organizers and see if they had any leads, although she cautioned that the odds of finding any were slim. Caroline thanked the Pokémon Nurse and ended the call, then returned to the living room and sank into a chair.

As she looked wistfully at the photo of May and Ash, she heard a knock on the door.

"Mom?" a familiar voice called out. Caroline jumped out of the chair and hurried for the door, knowing who was there. She opened the door and there stood Max, a few inches taller than when she'd last seen him. There was a tear in his green shirt, and his brown pants were rumpled and travel-worn.

"Oh, Max, you're home! I didn't think you were going to arrive for another few days."

"I had Gardevoir teleport me to the outskirts from Mossdeep City. She's proven really useful that way, although nothing beats walking." He entered the house and hugged his mother, then set his pack on the floor. "Where are Dad and May?"

"Dad's at the Gym, training as usual. May..." She paused, wondering what to say to him about his sister. "She's not here right now. In fact, I don't know where she is at all."

"That's weird. May's not the kind of person to just up and disappear like that."

"I know. Drew called asking for her, and I had to tell him she wasn't here. Delia—Mrs. Ketchum to you—doesn't know where she is, and none of her other friends have any idea either."

"What about Ash? He's her boyfriend, maybe he knows where she is."

"That would be true, except Ash is gone as well."

"What?" Max couldn't believe it. Ash and May were both gone? "Did you talk to Brock, or Dawn, or even those two people from Unova we met?"

"I talked to Brock, and Dawn's mother, and we had no luck. This whole thing is strange. May would have told us if she was going on an extended journey, especially with Ash."

"They probably thought it would be cool to run away together, and make us really uncertain for a while. Maybe they even eloped or something. It's an idea straight out of those movies May always watches..."

"Max!" Caroline snapped, and Max shut up instantly. "How could you think such a thing? They can't have eloped, they just started dating. Besides, they would never do that to us, they know better than to put us through that kind of stress!"

"Do they? They might've wanted to create some distance..."

"Alright, that's enough. I know you sometimes like to have fun at your sister's expense, but now is not the time, especially when she isn't here to defend herself. This is serious business, Max."

"Okay, okay, I know." Max knew that when his mother was this upset, it was usually advisable to get out of the area quickly. "Listen, I'm gonna dump my stuff upstairs, then head over to the Gym."

"Alright, just don't interrupt your father if he has a challenger." Max shouted in acknowledgement and ran upstairs, and Caroline sighed as she heard the phone ring again.

She headed over and saw the caller ID display of Terracotta Town Pokémon Centre. After pushing a button, Caroline saw Nurse Joy on the other end, a serious expression on her face.

"Thanks for calling, Nurse Joy. Any news?"

"Yes, and you won't like it. I've just spoken to the organizers of the Pokémon Contest. Apparently Ash and May never even entered the Contest, which makes sense since they took off so fast."

"What?" Caroline asked, shocked.

"Yes. Nobody in town has seen them, and the organizers don't have any leads. Do you want to involve the police?"

"Don't bother, they have enough to be getting on with. Did they have their Pokémon with them?"

"Yes, I saw them training the day before they disappeared."

"Okay," Caroline breathed a sigh of half-relief; if they had their Pokémon with them, they couldn't be in that much trouble. "Could you tell the other Centres in the region to be on the lookout? I'm not looking to start a nationwide search, but I want to make sure my little girl is alright."

"I'll do that. Don't worry, Mrs. Maple, we're here to help."

"Thank you." Caroline cut the transmission and put her head in her hands, struggling to hold back the tears. She had to face it; May was all but gone. Max came down the stairs and saw his mother there, and he rushed over to see if she was alright.

"Mom, what's wrong?" He hated seeing his mom this way, and knew things must be bad. Caroline dried her eyes and shook her head.

"Nothing...nothing's wrong, Max. I'm alright, don't worry. Go on ahead to the Gym, your father will be thrilled to see you." Max looked at her doubtfully, but turned and hurried to the door. Caroline watched him leave, then looked at May's photograph again, feeling tears come to her eyes again.

"Oh, May," she whispered to herself. "I hope you and Ash are alright."

And we're clear! Bit shorter than the others, but trust me, the families will be important later on. Honestly, I wasn't sure where to put this chapter, but the plotlines will now likely interlace at times as the story progresses. I apologize if this was jarring, but you'll see why it's necessary later on.

Standard operating procedure is still in effect. Please read, REVIEW and tell me what you thought! Until next time, namárië!