Author’s Note: Finally…a story without an R as the beginning letter in the title. Seriously though, this is my first story using a May perspective, not counting Relent. This is basically a conversation between Ash and May, about of all things in the world…Misty.

- Meaning -

- By Brian -

“Pikachu, use Thunder!” he commanded, and soon his cute-yet-powerful Pikachu unleashed a devastating bolt of thunder to collide with Team Rocket’s latest contraption, causing it (as well as them) to blast off into the sunset.

“Team Rocket’s blasting off again...!” they cried out, their voices getting dimmer by the second. How come they always seemed to follow us, no matter how matter times Ash manages to stop them?

I watch with interest as Ash picks up Pikachu and congratulates her on a job well done. In the short amount of time that I’ve known them I’ve seen that they are as close as a trainer and a pokémon could get…

I wonder…does Pikachu get a lot of experience points whenever she makes Team Rocket blast off into the sky? Or has she always been such a powerful electric type?

After making sure that there are no extra holes in the ground from Team Rocket, we continue on our journey to Maulville City, in order to for Ash and I to get our Dynamo Badges.

* * *

“So Brock,” I say out of the blue, attempting to make some conversation, “have you ever had a girlfriend?

There’s a long silence as Ash, who’s been quiet for most the walk, suddenly starts laughing…hard. He’s holding his mouth with both hands as he attempts to stifle his laughter, which only grows louder.

What’s so funny? Brock’s 15 by now, while Ash and I are only 12…so surely he must’ve had some dating experience-

“No…not yet.” he says, sighing dejectedly, “All the girls I’ve met so far are not interested in a caring, loving, wonderful guy like myself.”

Ash starts laughing harder, causing Brock’s shoulders to slump slightly as we continued walking.

“Someday, Nurse Joy…or Officer Jenny…I’ll win your heart…or hearts!” Brock announced out of nowhere, looking into sky with a determined look in his…uh…eyes. He sounded kind of corny…but it was sweet, nonetheless.

To this, Ash, and now Pikachu, snicker even more so…as if they were in on some big joke…

I felt left out, since I had no idea what was so funny. Poor Brock…

* * *

“Hey Misty, can you hand me those blocks of firewood?” Ash says casually, as he attempts to get a fire ready.

Just as I’m about to hand him a few blocks I do a double take. Did he just call me Misty?

“Ash,” I ask uncomfortably, “why’d you call me Misty?”

He looks at me, and his eyes go wide. “I…I’m sorry, May, I didn’t mean to call you that…it just slipped out…”

His cheeks are a bright red as he says that, causing me to blush slightly, although I don’t know why.

“It’s okay Ash…” I reply, as I sit down on a nearby rock, “I guess you must’ve confused my name with your girlfriend’s-”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” he replies hastily, as he starts the fire, “she’s just a friend…”

Why is he so touchy about this “Misty” girl? I was only teasing him…

“Who is she, anyways?” I ask casually, hoping not to get him suspicious.

Ash didn’t know it, but sometimes at night I would catch him leafing through a photo album, filled with pictures of his mom, Brock, pokémon of his that I’ve never seen before, and a red haired girl that always seemed be smiling…which I suppose must be Misty…

In fact, it seems that every picture had Ash and her together, smiling, as if they had just won the lottery or something.

He looks at me for a few seconds, and then looks up into the starry night sky, his eyes focused on the full moon that was out tonight. “She’s my best friend…”

Best friend? If she’s your best friend, then why isn’t she with you right now, like Brock?

As if reading my thoughts, he replied, “She used to travel with Brock and I…but she had to stay in Cerulean City, to be the gym leader there…”

“Oh…” I said, trying to hide my shock that his friend, who looked no more then 14, was already a gym leader of a major city…

He smiles a toothy grin at me. “I’m sure she’s happy taking care of the gym though. She always wanted to bring some respect to the gym, ‘specially since her sisters sort of disgraced it.”

So Misty was the girl who traveled with Ash and Brock. And now I’m the girl who’s traveling with Ash and Brock.

“I bet she’s happy that she’s able to train her water pokémon more. She always loved water pokémon, but for some reason, she was afraid of bug pokémon…” he says, his voice fading into a low whisper.

He’s looking at the moon, no longer focused on lighting the fire. It breaks my heart to see him like this, since he looks so sad. I don’t want to see my only friend (besides Brock) to be sad.

“You know, May,” he says, motioning for me to sit down next to him, “Misty and I used to watch the moon together…”

I’m not Misty. Misty knows what’s so funny about Brock’s love situation, and she knows how Team Rocket works. She totally knows what’s going on, unlike clueless me.

I’m totally different from her. I have brown hair. I like fire pokémon. I hate sappy romances. I’m afraid of heights. I have a little brother, not three sisters, I-

I sit down next to him, and gaze at the moon, wondering why it’s so significant. “Why did you and her watch the moon together?”

“No reason, really. There’s nothing deep to it, at least, I didn’t think. She always seemed to enjoy it, though.” he replies softly, not taking his eyes off the sky.

I have to admit, the moon did look beautiful tonight. I never particularly noticed that fact until now.

“I miss her. A year is a long time to wait for someone, even if she did make fun of me and constantly make fun of my skills as a trainer.”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never met someone like that.” I say, and it’s the truth. I was never much into that lovey-dovey sort of thing…it was the sort of thing my father didn’t approve of.

He lays back on the ground, not really caring that he’s messing up his new jacket that his mother had given him. “You know…I had my mom send my favorite hat to Misty…do you think she’ll wear it or something?”

“Why did you do that?” I ask, ignoring his question for the time being, more interested in why he had sent a hat to his best friend.

“Well,” he scratches the back of his head, and reaches into his pocket, where he pulls out a feminine-looking handkerchief, “before we left, she gave me this…I just wanted to give her something that meant a lot to me, too.”

I gaze at the handkerchief, instantly remembering what it meant when you gave a handkerchief to a boy. My mom used to tell to bring a handkerchief when I started my journey, so I could give it away to a boy I liked. I never followed up on that piece of advice, since I knew that would never happen. That’s for girly-girls, anyways.

“You do know what that means, right?” I ask, knowing how dense Ash can be…sometimes.

He blushes and shakes his head mutely, as if to say that he tried to find out what it meant, only to fail miserably.

“Well…are you sure you want to know what it means?” I ask in a teasing sort of tone, intending to use this situation to my advantage. I need a good laugh anyways.

He nods vigorously, still hanging on tightly to that handkerchief. It’s sort of cute, in a way.

“Well…maybe I shouldn’t tell you…” I say slowly, which results in him giving me an “Awww-why-do-you-have-to-be-so-mean?!” type of look.

“Please tell me, May!” he looks at me, using those puppy dog eyes that I can’t seem to resist.

“Well...I don’t know…she might not like it if I told you…”

His eyes go wide with childlike fear. “You really think so…?”

I punch him lightly on the arm. “Of course not. So…still wanna know?”

He grumbles but nods, obviously anxious to know.

Just as I’m about open my mouth and tell him, I wonder…wouldn’t she be mad that I told him? Perhaps she’s as shy as he is about her feelings…perhaps she wanted to tell him herself. Maybe that’s why she gave him the handkerchief with no explanation…

Do I really have the right to tell him?

No, I don’t.

I smile at him. “Maybe you should wait for her to tell you what it means.”

He frowns. “Why should I wait for her to tell me? I really wanna know…”

I stay quiet for a few moments, watching the luminous glow that the moon was producing. Misty’s quite a lucky girl, if you ask me…I know I certainly wouldn’t mind being-

“Don’t worry Ash…you’ll find out when the time is right…and when you do, it’ll be like magic…”

- End -

Just a short piece from me, since I need to constantly keep writing. I hope whoever reads this enjoys it, even though I feel the story is kind of messy. -_-;

Next story:

Misty is having a tough December…