Pokemon The time traveler

Ch 16 Growing up

Four hours into the trip to Petalburg City, Max was getting restless. He and May had been sitting in their room ever since they waved goodbye to Ash and Brock; the reason being that May did not want to do anything but stay in the room until they arrived home. Max was getting tired of waiting, though, as he was very eager to share his stories and adventures with his parents.

May and Max had one of the only rooms on the ship with a window that overlooked the ocean. It had two beds, a small cabinet, and a table that included two chairs to sit on. The room was not fancy, but the two siblings thought it was really nice. They were both at the moment sitting around the table. May was staring out the window looking at the ocean. She seemed to be concentrating deeply on the movement of the waves.

"May!"

May jumped and snapped out of her trance from the sudden outburst. She looked angrily at her brother. "Why are you yelling at me, Max! I'm right next to you!"

"Well, you weren't paying attention to me when I asked you a question," Max argued as he crossed his arms.

"What do you want?"

"I asked you what are you going to do until you travel again? I also asked if you were hungry because I'm starving."

"That's none of your business," May ignored.

Max sighed. "Come on, May, don't act like that."

"Well, if you must know, I'm going to do a lot of shopping," She said looking away from her brother and towards the window again. "I'm really just going to relax. I need to figure out where I'm going to compete in next."

Max looked at his sister a little confusingly. "Why don't you just follow your rivals?" He asked. "I heard Solidad say she was going to Johto to compete in the Pokémon Contests. Why not just go there?"

"I don't know..." May said softly as she continued looking at the waves in the ocean. "I do want to go to Johto, but I'm interested in another place that also has contests..."

Max looked at her curiously before realizing what she was talking about. "Are you thinking about going where Ash was talking about?" He questioned. "I can't remember the name of it...maybe because I'm hungry," Max tried hinting to her. "Hey, why don't we try to remember while we get some food?"

"It's called S-"

Knock. Knock.

May stopped and turned her head when she heard knocking on their room door.

Max got up from his seat and walked over to open the door. He opened it and looked shockingly at the familiar green-haired guest.

"Drew?!"

"So this is your room," Drew smiled as he flicked his hair. His eyes scattered the room before he continued. "Can I come in?"

"No."

"Max!" May yelled at her brother.

"What? I thought we were going to get something to eat," Max argued. "Besides, it's almost five o'clock, and you know we have to get some rest because the ship is going to arrive in Petalburg early in the morning!"

"Yeah, but Drew can come in for a little bit," May countered.

"Thank you, May," Drew walked passed the two siblings and into the room. "Oh, I almost forgot—here," He handed May a red rose before taking a seat where Max was previously sitting.

"Thank you for the rose," She said politely. May put it on her bed before turning back to Drew. "So why are you on a ship heading towards Petalburg City? I know you don't live close to there."

"Yeah," Max interjected. "Why are you here, Drew? Here to get to some tips from the person that beat you?"

"Max!"

"What?" The young boy shrugged to his sister. "I'm just saying that could be why he's here." The green-haired coordinator glared at Max for moment before turning to May. "Well I wanted to talk to you...and I don't mind the walk to my city," Drew flicked his hair. "It'll give me time to come up with new strategies to win in future contests."

"What did you want to talk about?" May asked completely ignoring his last statement.

"I wanted to know when you planned to leave for Johto; I know the contests start in a six months," He explained. Drew then stood from his seat and looked May in the eyes. "I wanted to know if you considered the offer I told you back at the Indigo Plateau...about traveling together."

May looked away from him and stared at the ground. "I don't know, Drew..."

The cocky coordinator sighed. "It's okay," Drew stated sincerely. "I understand...well when do you plan on leaving for the Johto Region?"

May sighed. "I'm not really sure I'm going to Johto either..."

Drew's eyes widened. "Y-you're not going to give up contests are you? If it's because you lost to Solidad in the Kanto Grand Festival, just know that I also would've had trouble beating her, too."

Max glared at Drew with a dumbfound look. "This guy's an idiot..."

"No, no, I'm not giving up on contests," May looked up and reassured her rival. "I just think I might travel somewhere else."

"Where?"

"The Sinnoh Region," May answered. "Ash told me about it. He said it has have gyms and contests. So I might travel to Sinnoh..."

Drew cringed when he heard Ash's name. "Ketchum told you this? How did he find out about this place?"

May shrugged. "I, honestly, don't know," She said. She then turned away and smiled softly. "These past few days I've noticed a change in him," May paused before she continued. "It's hard to describe, but he's seems different—he's more mature and well-aware of his surroundings...he's more thoughtful, caring, compassionate, and kindh-"

"We get it!" Max interrupted.

May blushed deeply from embarrassment.

Drew noticed her expression and decided to change the subject away from Ash. "So you want to go to Sinnoh?"

"I don't know—maybe," May replied honestly. "But I also want to go to Johto because that's where all my rivals are going..."

"Well I think you should go to Johto," The green-haired coordinator said desperately. He knew she would be making a huge mistake if she traveled to this 'Sinnoh' place and meet up with Ash. Drew then thought of a good explanation to try and convince May to go to Johto. "I think it would benefit you more to travel alone and develop as a coordinator than to travel with a trainer like Ketchum. Trust me—I know what I'm talking about."

May put her hands behind her back and stared at the ground thoughtfully. She was not ready to make this decision yet, and Drew was demanding a response from her right now. The Hoenn Princess then remembered what Ash had told her about making decisions: they should be made for herself. May looked up to her friend and her brother who were both staring at her cautiously waiting for a response. "Drew, thank you for caring about me..." May paused before she continued. "But I can decide for myself what's best for my career, and I don't like that you're trying to make my decisions for me...I can do that for myself."

Max grinned at his sister's comments.

Drew realized he said something wrong and tried to correct his mistake. "I'm sorry, May," He sincerely apologized. "I didn't mean to say or do anything to get you upset."

"I know you didn't..." May responded. There was a brief silence before she spoke up again. "I think it's time for me and Max to go get something to eat."

"Finally!" Max said in relief. "Let's go because I am starving."

"I guess I'll be leaving then," Drew slowly got up and walked towards the door. He did not want to say anything else to further damage his situation. Just as he was about to close the door behind him, May called to him.

"I'll see you around?"

Drew stared at her blankly for a brief moment before smiling confidently and flicking his hair. He nodded and closed the door.