Pokemon The time traveler

Ch 27 May's Feelings

"Ow, ow, ow! It really hurts, Ash!"

"Don't move, then," Ash stated as he examined her right foot. "It could be serious."

They had quickly left Professor Oak's lab to get back to Delia's house. May had been forcefully, and painfully, dragging Ash by the hand down the road on which they had come from, eager to get back and eat a delicious meal. They were practically running at the speed they were moving. However, May was not paying attention when she suddenly rolled her foot on a rock imbedded in the dirt path. She immediately let go of Ash, dropped to the floor in pain, and gripped her foot, complaining about the agony she was feeling. Ash had not reacted quick enough to catch May, but he quickly knelt to check her injury.

"Well," Ash began as he finished looking at her foot, "there's good news and bad news."

"It seems like there's only bad news to me—I'm feeling a lot of pain," May sobbed while she held her foot.

"The good news is you only twisted your ankle," Ash stated calmly, ignoring her statement. "The bad news is that you have to stay off of it for a few days. It could turn into something worse if you try pushing it."

"How do you know I twisted my ankle? And why did you take off my shoe?"

"I've hurt myself plenty of times like this to know what it is," he explained knowingly. "And I took off your shoe because your foot is going to swell pretty quickly...it's better to do it now than later."

May briefly closed her eyes and sighed in frustration. "Why do these things always happen to me?!" She practically yelled, mainly at herself. "Maybe I just have the worst luck in the world. Go ahead and say it, Ash. Say that it's my fault and that you were right and we should've taken it easy!"

"May, you know I wouldn't tell you anything like that. Besides, it could've happened to anybody. You just weren't paying attention, is all."

"Then why didn't it happened to you, huh?" May said with hint of anger.

Ash shrugged. "Well, for one you were walking ahead of me, so tripping on that rock was more likely gonna happen to you than me," he explained to her. "And two, maybe tripping on that rock was meant to happen to either one of us. It just so happens that you took the fall—literally."

"What are talking about, Ash?" May stated confusingly but still angry. "You're not making any sense."

"Yeah," Ash continued. "Think about it—if it didn't happen to you, then it probably would've happened to me, right?"

May nodded slowly, trying to think where he was going with this.

"That means you saved me from that vicious rock and its plan to hurt me. So, instead of being frustrated and angry for getting injured, I think you should be happy because you saved me, May—you saved me, and I should be saying thank you..."

May stared at him blankly for a few seconds before bursting into laughter at his ridiculous notion. The sudden outburst had startled Ash at first, but then he realized his plan to make her forget about the pain worked. And it was apparently so funny to the coordinator that Ash swore he could see tears forming in her eyes.

"Was it really that funny?" Ash thought curiously. He glanced at Pikachu who looked just as confused about the girl's reaction as he was. "Should I be worried?"

After another minute of laughing, May was finally able to recollect herself and breathed in a deep breath while she wiped away a tear.

"That was a good one, Ash," she said in between giggles. The more she thought about it the more she found the urge to laugh. May put a hand on her chest and coughed to clear her throat. She smiled brightly and played along. "Okay...then you're welcome. I'm glad I could save you from that vicious rock. And if it tried to do something else, I would gladly do it again just so you know."