Hello everyone! I didn't manage to post this earlier, so sorry for that. On with the chapter!

Today's topic was suggested by a guest reviewer!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Playmate-Switch

Grade Two

May (7), Leaf (7), Misty (7), Gary (7), Drew (7), Ash (7)

It was the weekend, and May, along with Drew, Ash, Misty, Gary, and Leaf, was at the park near Pallet Street, where Ash, Misty, Leaf, and Gary lived. The only one of her friends who was not there was Paul, but that was okay, because she had plenty of other friends to spend time with. Even if they weren't here, she would still probably manage to find enough playmates, since there were more kids than usual at the playground.

"Let's all have a race!" Ash challenged while they were deciding on what to do.

"Nah." Gary declined. "Drew's not that fast, so it would be just me versus you. And that won't be fun, cuz I'm probably faster."

"What about us?" Misty demanded, gesturing to Leaf, May, and herself. "We'll be racing too!"

"Well you're girls." Gary replied, as if it explained everything.

"So? Why aren't we allowed to race?" May questioned, frowning a bit.

"Yeah, why?" Leaf put her hands on her hips.

"'Cuz you'll lose. Boys are faster than girls." Gary rolled his eyes, acting as if it were obvious.

"Hey, what makes you so sure?" Misty said boldly. "I can run faster than you, no problem!"

"So can I!" Leaf chimed in.

"Ha, as if! I bet even Drew can run faster than you!"

"Why don't we just play something else?" Drew suggested. He'd rather have fun instead of arguing. And he felt a bit annoyed that Gary kept pointing out how slow he was, despite it being true.

"Yeah." Ash agreed. "We can play hide-and-seek, or tag, or..."

"No!" Misty interrupted stubbornly. "I want to show Gary that I am faster than him!"

"But Misty, you're not." Ash tried to reason, earning a glare from her.

"What?! What's that supposed to mean?!" she yelled.

"Well, remember when we were both racing yesterday?" Ash reminded her. "I was faster, and Gary's as fast as me, so..."

"I don't think you remember that I didn't win because I fell because my shoelace was untied!"

"But still..."

"I'm not going to race you girls." Gary said, in a final sort of way. "It'll be too boring. We should just do something that you can handle."

May folded her arms. Gary was starting to really bug her!

"You know what?" Leaf began walking away. "I don't want to play with you anymore. You probably won't think we can do anything!"

"Yeah!" May nodded her head and started following Leaf. "Let's go, Misty and Drew and Ash!"

"Not Ash! He doesn't think we can do anything either!" Misty said, still annoyed at Ash's claims.

"Aw, c'mon, Misty!"

"But he is right." Drew tried to say. "Girls are slower than boys. They just are." At least, that's what everyone said.

"Fine, you can't play with us either!" May yelled, feeling betrayed.

"But I didn't mean... let's just all play something together." Drew tried to say, hoping they'd agree.

Unfortunately, the girls had their minds made up, and they left to another part of the playground. Gary, Ash and Drew stared after them.

"They can go play alone if they want to." Gary said finally. "We'll have just as much fun!"

"But it's a lot more fun when we all play together..." Ash mumbled.

They just stood silently for a moment before Drew spoke up.

"So, what do you want to play?" Drew asked, rubbing the back of his head. He wasn't feeling very happy about the fact that three of his friends were angry at him, but he also didn't want to stand around doing nothing.

"Yeah, let's play something!" Gary said quickly, trying to sound enthusiastic. "Let's... let's race! he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"I don't feel like racing anymore." Ash muttered.

"Hey, don't worry about the girls!" Gary tried to reassure Drew and Ash, as there was no way they'd manage to have any fun if two of them were feeling down. "They'll come back as soon as they realize how bored they are without us!"

"I think we're the bored ones." Ash said glumly.

"Yeah." Drew concurred. He pointed to something in the direction where the girls had gone. "Look, they even found new friends now."

Gary and Ash looked, and sure enough, May, Misty and Leaf had joined a few boys their age in making sandcastles in the playground sand.

"They-they can't do that!" Gary sputtered. "They can't just... go find someone else to play with!"

"Why?" Ash asked curiously.

"They're replacing us!" Gary furiously stomped his foot in the sand. "We're supposed to be friends! They can't just replace us like this!"

"Maybe we really hurt their feelings." Ash figured worriedly. "What if they never want to play with us anymore? We should go say sorry."

"No!" Gary refused stubbornly. "They should be saying sorry to us! They're the ones who said they didn't want to play with us anymore!"

Drew frowned as he watched the group consisting of the girls and the three other boys laugh at something. There was a strange feeling inside of him, and while he wasn't sure what it was, he knew one thing: he didn't like it. He didn't like being replaced just like that, especially when he hadn't done anything to deserve it. At least in his opinion.

"We should stop them." he declared, knowing he'd feel a lot better if they did.

"Yes, we should." Gary folded his arms. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. He turned to the other two, smirking mysteriously, with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "And I know how."

"Can you pass me the pail, Virgil?" May asked.

"Here!" The boy named Virgil happily complied, handing her a yellow one. May filled in with sand, and turned it upside-down, creating her third castle. She admired her work before adding a stick to the top as a flag.

"Look at my castle!"

"Wow May, it looks great! And look at mine!" Misty presented her's to everyone. It was decorated with small stones.

"Yours is the best!" one of the other boys proclaimed.

"Thanks, Rudy!" Misty thanked him, smiling proudly.

"Wait, mine's even better!" Leaf finished up her castle. "Ta-da!"

"One more thing..." The third boy stuck a large leaf on the top. "There! Now it's perfect!"

"You're right, Bill, it looks much better that way!" Leaf looked over the now-complete creation.

"Let's make another one!" May exclaimed. "If we all make one big one together, it'll be the best of all!"

The six of them got to work on May's idea. It looked like May was right! They were almost done, and it seemed that what they were going to end with was nothing less than a masterpiece!

"Woohooo!" Their hard work was demolished within seconds when someone purposely ran right through the sandcastle, completely flattening it, and causing the surrounding group to get covered in sand.

"GARK OAK!" a fuming Leaf shrieked, standing up, facing the direction where her spiky-haired friend was running.

"Our castle!" May cried, trying to pile the remains back up again. But it was in vain, because in less than a minute, a certain green-haired boy decided to follow Gary's example.

"Drew, stop it! I got sand in my hair!" May whined.

"Run, Drew!" Gary called out to his friend as he looked back over his shoulder. Drew would have continued running anyways, since Leaf had begun chasing after the two.

"Wait, guys! You shouldn't do that!" Ash yelled out, running after them, using the same path his two friends had. But instead of being successful in his pursuit, he tripped over the lump that used to be a castle, sending sand flying everywhere.

"Ash!" Misty, who was now mostly covered in the sand, shouted in fury.

"Uh oh." Summoning up as much speed as he could, Ash got up and sped off, a raging orange-head hot on his trail.

"Who're they?" Virgil asked the only remaining girl, May.

"Gary, Drew and Ash." May responded, still miserable about her destroyed creations.

"They're running as fast as Rapidash!" Bill remarked.

Rudy looked thoughtful. "Misty and Leaf need help!" he said, standing up. "I'll catch those mean bullies for you!"

May was a bit puzzled. Gary, Drew and Ash weren't mean like bullies. But then again, they were being a bit mean right now.

"Come on, Bill, Virgil," Rudy ordered. "Let's go help out our new friends!"

Before May could say anything, the three had sprinted off, ready to assist the two girls in their mission to teach their friends a lesson. May watched them for a minute, before darting after them, yelling, "Wait!"

Misty, being the fastest runner of all, managed to catch up to Ash, knocking him down, and standing over him.

"Okay, Ash Ketchum!" she snarled. "You are going to pay for that! You made me get sand in my mouth!"

Before she could carry on with her threat, Ash struggled up, accidentally kicking up more sand in the process, and tried to make his escape. Only to be tackled down by Rudy.

"I got him!" Rudy announced.

"Get off me!" Ash and Rudy struggled, rolling, trying to best the other, before Rudy, being older, finally came out on top. With some great effort, he had Ash pinned to the ground.

"I got him, Misty!" he said proudly.

"Well, get off of him, then!" Misty ordered, bewildered at the fact that Rudy had unexpectedly tackled down her friend. "And let go of him!"

"Hm?" Rudy was confused. "Okay..."

Once Ash stood up, he grumbled and emptied his hat of sand that had entered it. Misty walked up to him and gave him a small whack on his head.

"Ow!"

"That's for getting me covered in sand!"

"Um..." Rudy rubbed the back of his head, wondering what was going on.

"Rudy, you shouldn't hurt my friends." Misty said, turning to him. "I don't like it when you're being mean like that."

"Huh? But..." Rudy was officially confused. Friends? Wasn't Misty furious at this boy just a few seconds ago?

Meanwhile, Leaf, Virgil, and Bill were gaining ground on Gary and Drew. And then there was May, trying to catch up to all of them to explain that Gary and Drew weren't bullies, and instead some friends that were being annoying at the moment.

"Gotcha!" Leaf succeeded in grabbing a fistful of Drew's shirt, causing him to come crashing down. But as Drew wasn't her initial target, the only punishment she gave him was an angry scowl, before she set off after Gary. Bill and Virgil slowed to a stop beside the green-haired boy.

"That wasn't very nice, what you did!" Virgil scolded, folding his arms. "You need to apologize for ruining our castle."

"Okay." Drew coolly got up, dusting himself off. "Sorry."

"And you have to stop being mean to Leaf, Misty and May." Bill added. "They were very upset."

Drew blinked. Were they really that upset? It was just a joke...

May finally caught up to them, huffing. "Bill, Virgil." she said through gasps.

"Don't worry, May." Virgil reassured her. "He's not gonna be mean anymore."

"Sorry, May." Drew apologized calmly, as Virgil had told him to.

May stared at him for a bit before responding. "Umm... it's okay."

She couldn't really remember what she was going to say before, but it didn't matter. It felt nice to be apologized to. Whether Drew was apologizing for disrupting their play or for saying girls are slow was unclear, but May felt her grudge seep away.

"Leaf, just give up already!" Gary could be heard shouting. "You can't catch me; you're too slow!"

But Leaf wouldn't hear any of it. Her determined green eyes pierced into the back of her run-away friend's spiky hair, and his words just fueled her will to show him how fast she could go. With a sudden spurt of speed, she made it right beside him, but she didn't stop there. She kept going, until she was well past him. She finally halted, turning to face Gary.

"Ha!" she punched the air victoriously. "Who's the slow one now?"

Gary scowled, not liking his loss. "We weren't racing, so it doesn't count."

"You just don't like it that I beat you." Leaf accused.

Misty, Ash, May, Drew, as well as Rudy, Bill, and Virgil, came running up to the two.

"Did you get him?" Misty asked.

"I beat him in a race." Leaf boasted. "I was faster than him."

"We weren't racing!" Gary tried to clear up.

"You beat Gary? Ha!" Misty turned to him. "See? Girls can be faster than boys!"

"She didn't beat me!"

"Now that we saw how girls are just as fast as boys, maybe we can all play something together." Ash suggested.

"Yeah. It'll be a lot more fun." Drew chimed in.

"Okay!" May agreed happily.

A smiling May, a triumphant Misty, and a proud Leaf headed off to play with Drew, Ash and Gary, leaving three very confused boys, Rudy, Bill and Virgil, behind them. The three boys that were now standing alone, watching the group walk away, looked at one another confusedly. Weren't the girls just playing with them? How did they suddenly instantly forget about them? All three had the same line running through their heads.

"What just happened?"

Whew! Posted late, but still posted! At least I managed to get you guys this week's chapter!

Please review, and thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! And have a smiling day! :)