AN: Yey, another update! ^^ Give me an award or something because I've never updated this consistently before in my life (it's a miracle)!
Anyways, on the contrary to what I usually write—lighthearted, humorous stories—this chapter is going to be a bit more serious (at least, briefly in the beginning). I'm not sure if you guys would prefer my material to be a bit more profound and meaningful, but I wanted to try it out at least once—distance, in most cases, can inflict tragically irremediable damage upon our relationships, and so I thought it was appropriate to delve into this complex aspect.
I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, though! And I would definitely appreciate your thoughts through either a review or a PM. ;)
Settled upon the hard, Pokémon center bench, May gazed anxiously at the video phone screen. "He said he'd call me soon." She repeated the words hopelessly to herself, though they didn't dampen the ache in her chest. He hadn't spoken to her in over six months.
Her heart, as usual, resisted the empty promises. She remembered when these promises were once filled with bright possibility. They had sounded especially sincere when Ash whispered them to her from over the phone, but now they spent their time, slowly gathering dust in the corner of her mind.
She sighed, combing a frustrated hand through her hair. What went wrong, she wondered. She did everything right—sent him postcards and emails and souvenirs, tried calling him every week, watched his league battles on television whenever they aired. She sought in any way possible to stay involved in his busy life, but eventually her attempts fruitlessly turned up with nothing.
Perhaps he had forgotten all about her in the thrill of his Pokémon battles and Team Rocket send-offs—he did always have a knack for adventure, and it tended to make him forgetful. Or maybe it was the dime-a-dozen girls that he so frequently collected on his journeys, nowadays. Her chest pounded painfully at the thought.
"Ash." She kneaded the name softly in her mouth and recoiled at its bitterly nostalgic taste.
Time had taken them into different places, ceaselessly battering them against opposite shores of the world. It had transported her to Johto and Sinnoh, and Ash to all diverse parts of the globe—Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos. Only now did May fathom the insurmountable distance that spread between them. And this distance continued to grow until she suspected it to displace her relevancy entirely.
His life could only fit so many people, after all.
"Where did we go wrong?" May asked ruefully into the ceiling.
And in her search for answers, she finally understood her habits of phone calls and postcards to lose their luster to the merciless wraths of irreparable separation. This irreparability had brewed slowly over the years until it reached a virtually invincible form that responded lifelessly to her efforts in reviving a lost cause.
"He isn't going to call." May concluded sadly, her eyes bristling with unshed tears. She hung up the phone before retiring for the night.
Sinnoh seemed especially cold and lonely now. As she laid in bed, she felt her thoughts sink and drift away. Then she snapped her aching eyelids shut and fell asleep, her mind restlessly tossing and turning throughout the night.
The morning light spilled from the slits of her window blinds, startling May awake. She rubbed her eyes and slowly got out of bed. And, after slipping into the bore of her routine—brushing her teeth, polishing her Pokéballs, eating breakfast—she promptly left the Pokémon center.
She sought to push the previous night's thoughts aside, so she ventured into town and occupied herself with window shopping. Her eyes flickered disinterestedly upon the store windows, and their failure to distract her from her distress prompted her to depart for the docks; she needed to take a boat to the next town anyway.
May sat beside the pier, drinking in the salty air and watching the waves roll gently beneath her feet. The raucous blare of harboring ships rang in her ears, and with their calls came a bustling horde of passengers, which leisurely passed by her. One particularly curious passerby eyed her carefully before placing a concerned hand upon her shoulder. "Hey."
"Hm?" May hummed from her thoughts and turned her head to the voice. She quickly appraised the man before her, her eyes trailing from his foreign attire to the warm smile that tugged at his mouth, and slowly, her mind recognized him. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh my gosh. Ash, is that you?"
A yellow mouse peered at her from around his shoulder. "Pika."
"And Pikachu!" May exclaimed excitedly, quickly gathering the Pokémon into her arms and stroking his golden fur. He immediately scampered onto her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek.
Ash laughed heartily. "Wow, I appreciate the lukewarm welcome." She replayed his rich chuckle and instinctively wrapped her arms around him.
"What happened to you?" May joked, gesturing to his tall, wiry body—he'd grown so much. The contours of his face, although darkly tanned and weathered with travel, were still handsomely familiar to her.
"I could ask you the same question, May."
"It's not important." May mumbled, grinning. Then she remembered something.
"Ow!" Ash yelped suddenly as his arm smashed painfully against her knuckle. "What d'ya do that for?" He cried, gingerly nursing the blunt force trauma. Pikachu snickered slyly against her neck.
"You have some nerve not contacting me for months on end and then showing up out of the blue like this!"
"Hehe... About that," he sheepishly chuckled before continuing, "I've been really busy, lately."
"Too busy to call up your own friend?"
Ash sighed again. "I know; it's wrong. But I had to straighten some things out before I came to see you." Then he added quietly, "Plus, I wanted to surprise you."
May softened visibly, noting his guilt, which sketched itself upon his frown, and mumbled consolingly, "Ah, i-it's fine. I could never stay mad at you for too long, Ash." She continued, "So what are you doing here, anyway?"
Ash, recomposing himself, answered cheekily, "Max told me that I could find you in Canalave City."
"But why are you here?" May asked again as her eyebrows crumpled together in confusion.
The trainer sighed before remarking, "Because I wanted to see you again. Is it so hard to believe that I'd want to come and visit you every once in a while?"
"Yes," May replied before gauging the hurt that flooded his face. She playfully swatted his shoulder. "I'm only kidding."
"Good," He grinned and released a breath of relief. "And don't joke about that kinda stuff, May." His face lowered more seriously. "You should know that I'd never leave you on your own for too long."
May blushed at his words. "I can take care of myself, you know."
"And I never doubted you for a second. It's just that—"
"That what?" May interrupted. "You'd miss me too much?" She teased him again.
Ash laughed nervously, his cheeks consequently heating up. Pikachu, meanwhile, squealed and combusted into a hysterical fit of chortles.
"Ha, ha! You never could stay away from my charm for too long, Ash Ketchum." She jested as they began to walk away from the dock.
He guffawed louder this time and sarcastically shot back, "Man, is it that obvious?"
The couple (along with Pikachu, of course) continued to laugh and stroll along the streets. And all the while, May smiled in her realization that, although time and distance would repeatedly reset Ash into a stranger, she didn't mind spending the rest of her life getting to know him again.