I'd Sacrifice My Happiness for You – An AdvanceShipping/Pokémon Story
Chapter 1 – Revelations and Hidden Truths
Normally, May would've been ecstatic about the idea of moving to another region as, while she had a very close bond with her parents and her younger brother, Max, she loved exploring new places, especially other regions. But she was not this time, as she would be moving to a life of abuse, sorrow and regret.
She was to move to the Unova Region in three days, and she was dreading that day. For she was to move in and start a relationship with Trip, a Pokémon Trainer from Unova, but she didn't want to. She didn't love him. In fact, she felt nothing but disgust towards his egotistical attitude, often reminding her of how her rivals Drew and Harley used to treat her. She had only reluctantly agreed to move in with him out of desperation and fear.
Trip was a rival Ash, a Pokémon Trainer from the Kanto Region, who May had travelled with, alongside Ash's best friend, Brock, and Max, through her home – the Hoenn Region – and the Kanto Battle Frontier, had met throughout his travels in Unova. Ash had beaten Trip in the First Round Match of the Unova League, leaving Trip bitter at Ash and vowed revenge on him. One day, Trip had shown up at the Petalburg Gym to challenge her father, the Gym Leader, to a Gym Battle. During that time, he had fake-flirted with May, which really annoyed her, and he eventually revealed to her who he was and his backstory, even revealing he knew that she used to travel with Ash, demanding she comes back to Unova with him and date him, or Ash would suffer. When he had challenged her father to a Gym Battle, Trip had made this demand to him if he won. Her father had initially refused, but May, in desperation to protect Ash from Trip's wrath, reluctantly pleaded with her father to accept Trip's demands, even if she hated the idea of dating Trip. Norman had tried his best to beat him, but in the end, Trip had won.
Ash was the guy May was truly in love with. Throughout their journey in Hoenn and Kanto, their bond had grown to having such a strong friendship, and she had developed strong feelings for him, those feelings being love. She had never confessed them to Ash because she didn't want to come between him and his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. Somehow, Trip had discovered her feelings for Ash and had decided to use her as part of his revenge on Ash for his defeat in the Unova League.
Trip had threatened to hurt Ash and all of his Pokémon, that he would hunt them all down non-stop, if May didn't agree to move to Unova and be in a relationship with him. And neither Ash nor May could stop him, because ALL of their Pokémon had mysteriously disappeared a couple of weeks beforehand. He had also gotten his Serperior to watch May all the time, and to torture her if she revealed his plans to anyone, even potentially torturing and hurting anyone she tried to tell.
May thought there was no stopping Trip, and wouldn't be able to live with herself if anything happened to Ash or any of his beloved Pokémon, especially his loyal Pikachu. So she had only agreed to date Trip to protect Ash and his trusty Pokémon. She'd do anything to protect Ash, even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness.
And now, she had no one to talk to about what was really going on. From Serperior watching her all the time, preventing her from talking about it with any of her friends or family, to her Pokémon being missing, meaning she's unable to talk to her loyal Glaceon, Blaziken or any of the others.
Suddenly, Max burst into her room and exclaimed: "MAY! I CAN'T LET YOU DO THIS!"
May turned around to face her brother. "Max, please, stay out of this."
"I WON'T!" Max exclaimed. "You're my sister! I can tell you don't love Trip, and I know Ash's the one you REALLY love."
May looked at her brother, shocked that he had figured out her feelings for Ash. Maybe he had seen them all along. But she'd have to worry about that later. She needed to keep her brother safe from Serperior.
"Max, this is something I have to do." she retorted.
"Why? Is Trip making you date him?" came another voice. It was Brock, who had just entered the room too. Two other people followed behind him: Misty, the Cerulean Gym Leader, who had travelled with Ash and Brock through the Kanto and Johto Regions, and Dawn, a Co-ordinator Ash and Brock had travelled with through the Sinnoh Region, along with her Piplup. May had met Misty when Misty had come with her Togepi to Hoenn for what had turned out to be a fake Togepi festival, and had met Dawn when she had come to Sinnoh to visit Ash and Brock and compete in the Wallace Cup.
"May, we've all seen how much you love Ash," Dawn said, "and trust me, we've all noticed he has the same feelings for you. So why do you feel you have to date his NASTIEST rival?"
Serperior went to try and grab Dawn, only for Piplup to step in to defend its trainer. A small fight pursued between the two Pokémon. While they collided, the five friends continued talking, with May being taken aback by what Dawn had said about Ash having the same feelings for her.
"May, you're making a big mistake." Brock said, "You love Ash. We can all see that. HE'S the one you should be with."
"Believe me Brock, I know I'm making a mistake." May told him, "And I don't want to do this."
"Then why?" Misty pleaded, "You and Ash clearly love each other, and Trip's trying to destroy that. Why do you feel you have to go with him?"
Serperior shook off Piplup and tried to grab Misty and Brock. Just then, a Drapion appeared and used Pin Missile on Serperior, sending it flying far away out the open window. May, Brock, Dawn, Max and Misty turned around to see who had summoned that Drapion. It was Paul, Ash's rival from Sinnoh, as both Brock and Dawn had recognised him.
While May hadn't met Paul before now, Ash had told her all about him when she had visited in Sinnoh, and had told her more about Paul after the Sinnoh League, how Paul used to be cold towards his own Pokémon, only wanting them for their power, even going as far as to abandon his Chimchar, who Ash had then taken in, and after Chimchar had evolved into Infernape, it and Ash showed Paul by defeating him and his Electivire at the Sinnoh League. After that, Paul began showing his Pokémon and Ash more respect, the two developing a respectful friendship.
"Now that you no longer have that pathetic Serperior watching you all the time," said Paul, "You're free to tell them that the only reason you had agreed to date Trip was to protect Ash."
"Protect Ash?" Brock, Dawn, Max and Misty all asked, puzzled by what Paul meant.
May hesitated for a moment, afraid of what would happen if she revealed the truth. But Paul was right. Serperior was out of the way, so maybe she could finally let them in. Once Paul had recalled his Drapion, May took a deep breath and started explaining.
"Paul's saying the truth." May began, "Trip had threatened to harm Ash and ALL his Pokémon if I don't move to Unova and date him, claiming he'd hunt them down across the world if he had to. And neither Ash nor I have any of our Pokémon around us, nor do our parents nor Professor Oak, since they've all mysteriously disappeared, so it's not like I could stop him or ask for Ash's help, especially since every Officer Jenny across Kanto and Hoenn have been unable to find them. And Serperior was in charge of keeping an eye on me to ensure I don't reveal his plan, and to harm anyone who dared to interfere. Hence why it went after your Piplup, Dawn, as well as Brock and Misty."
May broke down into tears as she blurted everything out. Max gave his sister a hug, while Brock, Dawn and Misty put a hand each on her shoulders.
"I'm really sorry that you had to go through all that, May." Brock said, comforting his friend.
"Me too." Dawn added, "Sacrificing your own happiness for the rest of your life to protect the man you love must not be easy."
"But it still doesn't explain why Trip was determined to date you, May." Misty asked, confused, "He doesn't even like you."
"No." May answered, "He's… just… using me-"
"To get his revenge on Ash." Paul chimed in.
Brock, Dawn, Max and Misty looked up at Paul and retorted at the same time, "Revenge?"
"You see, Gary and I were hanging out at the Pokémon Centre last night. You know, as some of the toughest rivals Ash has ever had, we wanted to get to know each other better." Paul explained, "However, Trip was on a phone call from Unova with some weird, long-haired, guy dressed like a Cacturne who was at the Centre too. I think he said his name was Harley. There was also a girl on the phone who we don't know. She was also part of the same phone call. They had formed an alliance, as they all felt bitter towards Ash and May. The girl felt strangely bitter towards the latter, because apparently she had a crush on Ash and had even confessed those feelings to him, but Ash didn't return them. Harley apparently wanted revenge on May for defeating him in both the Hoenn and Kanto Grand Festivals. Meanwhile, Trip wanted revenge on Ash for defeating him in the first round of the Unova League. So they were talking about how well their plan was going. It was because of Harley the other two had found out that Ash has feelings for May and vice-versa, which made the girl REALLY have a vendetta against you, May. They had decided to hire some members of Team Rocket to capture ALL of Ash's and May's Pokémon."
"Thank you, Paul," said Brock, "for telling us all this."
"I knew Harley likes trying to ruin me, but I NEVER thought he'd go THIS FAR!" May exclaimed, "I can't believe he'd team up with Trip to orchestrate all this!" She began to feel anger grow within her.
"What about the girl, Paul?" Max asked, "What did she look like?"
"She had blonde hair, wore a red top hat, and had a Fire-Type Pokémon called Braixen, which Gary and I had to look up, since neither of us had ever seen one before. I think she had at one point during the conversation mentioned she had an Eevee that had then evolved into a Sylveon." Paul explained.
May's eyes widened. "That must be Serena!"
Paul's face went puzzled. "Serena?"
"Serena was one of Ash's travelling companions when he had journeyed through the Kalos Region." Brock explained, "Ash had mentioned her to me when he had returned home from the Kalos League, as well as how she had feelings for him, but he saw her as nothing more than a good friend."
"He had mentioned all that to me too." said May, "When he had talked to me after his travels in Kalos, he had told me about the new friends he had met there and in Unova." Dawn and Misty said how Ash had told them about Serena and his other new friends from Unova and Kalos too.
"Some good friend she is." Max said, angrily, "Teaming up with Ash's meanest rival and my sister's own, all because she couldn't accept that Ash didn't have the same feelings towards her that she did towards him."
"And being part of the orchestration of the kidnapping of EVERY ONE of their Pokémon?! That's going too far!" Misty exclaimed.
"That gives me an idea!" Dawn announced. Everyone else looked at her, curious at what her plan might be. "I say we head for the Kalos Region! Every Officer Jenny in Kanto and Hoenn hasn't found a single trace of any of Ash's or May's Pokémon in either of them, and Professor Rowan has recently confirmed no such luck in Sinnoh either. I think Professor Elm had recently confirmed the same results for Johto, right?"
"Right." Confirmed Misty.
"But now that we know Serena's behind all this, she could've hidden them in the Kalos Region, so I'd say we look for them there!" Dawn suggested, "Not to mention, it'll be a good opportunity to give that girl a PIECE OF MY MIND!"
"Hold on, Dawn!" Brock interrupted, "We haven't check the Unova Region either. Trip's behind their kidnapping too. They could be there instead of in Kalos."
"Brock's got a point." Max agreed.
"Then how about we split up and look for them in both regions?" Dawn asked.
"That's a good idea." said Paul. "I'll look in Unova, and I'll let Gary know of our plan. And when I encounter Trip, I'd certainly like to give him a little talk, rival to rival."
"I'll go to Kalos with you, Dawn." said Misty, "I'd also like to give Serena a PIECE OF MY MIND!"
"I better go with you two before you get carried away with your own revenges on Ash and May's behalf, and end up doing something you'll both later regret." Max said to Dawn and Misty.
"I'll go with you, Paul." said Brock, "You might need help."
"I'll go to Kalos." May said, "Someone needs to find Mine and Ash's Pokémon while you guys are busy dealing with Serena and Trip. And if they're not there, I'll search in Unova. But now that I have a lead, I can go looking for them myself. It's the least I can do."
"Then it's settled." said Brock. So the gang started heading for their next destinations: Brock and Paul boarded the boat for Unova, while May, Dawn, Max and Misty boarded the one for Kalos.