Story Notes:
This was a rather... interesting and cute request, that I decided to take upon, requested by the same person who I did Tragedy Brings Love for. It turned out okay in the beginning, but the second chapter... was rather rushed and could've been done better, imo. I may redo this one as well, though it's not high on my list.
Two Friends Reunited
Well, this is a request that someone on this site proposed, so I decided to take it. I hope you all like it very much. No sex in this chapter, but it has plot, which will lead to interesting events in the next chapter. Anyway, enjoy!
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Ash and his friends are in a forest, taking a break from their travels. They're traveling towards Pacifidlog Town, where May hopes to win her final ribbon so she can enter the Grand Festival. Ash has all eight of his badges, so he's qualified to enter the Evergrande City Tournament. Brock was cooking some lunch for the gang. However, one of the group is not feeling like his usual self.
"I miss her so much. I wish she was here right now." Max said to himself. Ever since a few days ago when he met a Ralts, he felt a connection to her. But he had to leave her behind, as he was too young to own a Pokémon. He had promised to come back for her when he was a trainer, so they could travel together, but he still couldn't help missing her. Ash and his friends looked at Max and sighed.
"Poor guy. I wish there was something we could do to help him." Ash said to the others.
"Yeah, ever since we left Ralts behind, he's been really depressed. I hate seeing my own brother like this." May said silently.
"Yeah, but there's nothing we can do." Brock told his friends. Suddenly, he noticed that the soup he was cooking was done. He took it out of the pot and started pouring it into bowls for everyone to eat. Everyone took a bowl for themselves, so they could start eating, except for Max. He was still lost in his own thoughts.
"Hey Max, why don't you come over here and eat something?" Ash asked his friend. Max looked over toward Ash and shook his head.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry." Max said.
"Come on Max, you need to eat something." Ash pleaded his friend.
"I'm going to go take a walk. I'll be back soon." Max announced, grabbing his Pokénav and walking off away from the group.
"I hope he'll be safe on his own." May said silently.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. If anything does happen, I imagine he'll call for us." Ash said to the others.
"Well, let's eat our lunch while it's still hot. We have a long way to go before we make it to Pacifidlog Town for your next contest, May." Brock announced to the group. The others silently agreed with him and started eating their lunch.
Meanwhile, Max was walking through the forest, trying to cheer himself up. But, he found that he was unable to, as he couldn't stop thinking about Ralts. He had saved her life when they first met and he had to go and leave her behind. Then, he made a decision on his own.
"Sorry guys, but I've got to see her again. I'll be back eventually." Max said to himself. He took out his Pokénav and started looking through the map, searching for the way back to the area where he first met Ralts. He saw a familiar area on the map, Sootopolis City, where Ash had his gym battle against the leader, Juan, a few days ago. Then, he started flipping back to where his current location was, so he could find the quickest path back to where Ralts was.
He found a path that wasn't too far from his current location and it led right to Sootopolis City. He started running in the direction toward the path that would eventually lead him to Sootopolis City. About an hour later, he found himself back in Sootopolis City. He started heading towards the harbor when he stopped to ask someone when the next boat would leave.
"Excuse me, sir. When does the next boat leave here?" Max asked a guy in the town.
"Oh, in about five minutes, I believe." The man replied.
"Oh, man! I need to get there fast! Thanks!" Max exclaimed. The guy was about to ask him why he wanted to know when the boat left when he started running off in the direction of the harbor, knowing where it was since he was here just a few days ago. He managed to make it to the boat just in time. The boat started pulling out, with a very happy Max on board.
"Wow, that was close, but I made it! Don't worry Ralts, we'll be with each other very soon." Max said a little winded from the running he just did. "I wonder what the others are doing..." Max said thinking about his friends.
***
"Where's Max? He should've been back by now. I'm getting worried." May said worriedly.
"Yeah, it is strange. I know he's been depressed lately, but you're right, he should have returned by now." Ash agreed with May's words.
"Why don't we use our Pokémon to look for him? He may have just gotten a little lost and can't find his way back." Brock suggested. Ash and May agreed with their friend's words and started reaching for their Pokéballs.
"Come on out, guys!" They all said at the same time. And in a second, all of their Pokémon were out, facing their trainers. They stood in front of their trainers, wondering why they were called out of their Pokéballs.
"All right, you guys. Listen up." Ash said addressing the Pokémon. The Pokémon leaned forward to listen to the trainer's words. "I'm not sure what happened, but Max hasn't come back yet. We're going to look for him, but we need your help. If any of you find him, let us know. Is that clear?" Ash said to the Pokémon. The Pokémon all nodded at the trainer's words, signifying that they understood.
"All right, let's all split up and look for him. He's got to be somewhere in this forest." Brock said to everyone. They all started heading off in different directions, looking for Max, unaware that he was already gone and on his way to reunite with Ralts.
"I hope he's still here. I hope he didn't run off on his own." Ash said silently to himself.
***
"All right, we're here! Everyone off the boat!" The captain announced to the people on board. About a half an hour after leaving Sootopolis City, Max had arrived back at the area where he had left Ralts. He couldn't believe it, he was finally back and he would get to see her again.
He walked off of the boat and pulled out his Pokénav. He flipped through the map, trying to find a path from his current location to the forest where he had first met Ralts. Then, he found the forest that he was looking for on the map of the surrounding area. He found a path that seemed like it wouldn't take him long to reach from his current location. He had a big smile on his face.
"I can't believe I'm going to see her again. Ralts, I'm coming!" Max exclaimed running toward the forest. He had regained his energy while he was on the boat relaxing, so he was refreshed and ready to run to find Ralts. On the way there, he couldn't stop thinking about how excited she'd be that he was back already. "I hope I can find her. The forest is a big place..." Max said silently to himself.
***
On a rock in the forest that was her home, Ralts was sitting there. She couldn't stop thinking about her friend who had left her behind a few days ago. He had promised to come get her when he was a trainer and a little older. But, she still couldn't help missing him.
"Max, I miss you so much. I wish you were here right now with me." Ralts said silently to herself. She let out a deep sigh and looked down at the ground. From not too far away, her sisters Kirlia and Gardevoir were watching her looking sad.
"She's been so upset ever since that boy who saved her life left. I wish we could help her somehow." Kirlia said to her sister. Gardevoir silently nodded to her sister's words.
"I agree, but how can we do that? I don't think there's anything we can do to make our sister feel better." Gardevoir said silently.
"Kirlia, Gardevoir, I'm going out by myself for a little bit. I need to be alone for right now. I'll be back soon." Ralts said to her sisters. Before her sisters could respond however, Ralts had teleported away from her current location and to another part of the forest.
"I hope she'll be okay by herself. I don't want her getting attacked or captured by some trainer." Gardevoir said out loud.
"Don't worry, she won't let herself get captured. She's waiting for that boy to come back and get her, so that she can join him on his journey when he becomes a trainer." Kirlia replied to her sister's words.
"I'm sure you're right. Be safe, sister." Gardevoir said silently. Then, she turned to face Kirlia. "Let's go back home for a while. I'm sure when our sister returns, we'll have found a way to help her feel better." She said out loud. Then, they teleported back to their home, to think of a way to make their sister feel better.
***
"All right, I'm here now. Where should I start looking?" Max asked himself. After about a half an hour of running since he got off the boat, he had finally reached the forest that was home to the Ralts he had saved a few days ago. Of course, he knew he would find her, he just had no idea of where to start looking.
"Well, I better just start looking for her. No sense in wasting time standing here." Max said silently to himself. He started walking forward, still holding open the Pokénav and looking on it at the map of the surrounding area he was in. He was keeping his eyes and ears out, looking for the Ralts that he had left behind.
About ten minutes after he had started looking for Ralts, he took a break from his search. He didn't expect to find her right away, but he hoped he would find her soon. Then, he heard his stomach growl, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything for a couple of days now.
"Man, I'm hungry. But, I can't let myself get stopped by this. I have to find her." Max said silently to himself. He started walking again, listening and looking all around him. Then, he heard a faint sound off in the distance as it reached his ears.
"Huh? What was that?" Max asked himself. He kept quiet and closed his eyes, trying to focus on what he just heard. Then, he heard it again: a faint sound that was off in the distance. It sounded familiar to him, but where had he heard it?
"I can hear something, but what is it?" Max asked himself silently. He was still trying to focus on the sound, but couldn't figure out what it was. Then, he heard it a third time and it finally dawned on him what it was. He opened his eyes and smiled widely.
"Ralts, I'm coming!" Max exclaimed, running off in the direction of Ralts' voice. He hoped she would keep making that noise, so he could find her and reunite with her. He figured she probably had to be missing him as much as he missed her.
***
Ralts was sitting in front of the lake where Max had first found her. She was looking at the lake trying to think of anything else, but she found that she was unable to. She couldn't stop thinking about Max, he had saved her life and could never find a way to repay him for that.
"I know he said he'd come back for me, but I still can't help missing him. I wish he was older when we had first met, so I could've gone with him right away. Oh Max..." Ralts said sadly to herself.
Then, she started crying softly. She couldn't hold back her sad feelings any longer. She knew that she wanted to be with him, but had no idea of where he was or how she would find him. It seemed that she would just have to wait until Max came back for her, like he promised. This just made her cry even louder, unable to hold back the tears that were now all over her face.
***
Max had been running for about five minutes now since he had first realized that it was Ralts' voice he had heard. Her voice seemed to be continuously making a noise, Max figured she must be doing something that she's unable to stop. Maybe she was crying? But Max didn't think that she would ever cry, because she understood when he had left, but things change, as he knew well.
He could hear that he had gotten a lot closer to her voice since he had first started running in the direction her voice seemed to come from. He slowed down a little bit, sensing that he was close. He listened closely, trying to locate her from where her voice seemed to be coming from at his current location. He heard her voice coming from his left, so he started walking left of his current location.
Then, a couple of minutes later, he saw Ralts. She was at the lake where they had first met. He thought back to that wonderful memory and smiled to himself. But he was quickly drawn out of his thoughts, as he noticed that Ralts was indeed crying, as he had suspected. He had realized that she had indeed missed him, just like he missed her. He decided to try to get her attention, to get her to stop crying and to let her know that he was there.
"Ralts?" Max said. It seemed she hadn't heard him, because she was still crying rather loudly. He figured he'd need to say it louder, in order to get her attention. "Ralts!" Max said louder than the first time.
Ralts had heard him that time and stopped sobbing for a moment. She feared she might be going crazy, because she thought she had just heard the boy who she had grown to miss these past few days. She turned her head around slowly, looking over her shoulder. She gasped when she saw Max standing there right behind her, with a smile on his face.
"Max? Is that really you?" Ralts' voice asked in Max's head. She didn't know how he could really be here, she thought he was still traveling with his friends. She saw him give a slight nod.
"Yes, it's really me. I'm back." Max said silently, not wanting to ruin the moment. Then, he ran forward and hugged Ralts closely to his chest, not wanting to let her go. "I missed you so much!" Max exclaimed, still holding Ralts closely to him. He heard her familiar voice enter his head.
"I missed you too. I can't believe you're here." Ralts replied, looking up at Max with a smile. He looked down at her and gave her a smile too. Then, he saw her face had been wet with tears, so he touched her face and started wiping the tears away with his hand.
"To tell you the truth, I can't believe I'm here, either." Max said laughing. He couldn't believe that he was finally back with Ralts, whose life he had saved a few days ago. He had left his friends to come back here and find her all by himself. He heard her voice in his head, asking him something.
"You can't? Why not?" Ralts asked. She didn't understand why he couldn't believe he was here, either.
"Well, I..." Max replied. He was trying to think of a reason he could give to Ralts. He figured she could just read his mind, like all Psychic-types, so why hadn't she done it already? Maybe she wanted to hear it directly from him? But his thoughts were interrupted as her voice spoke in his head once again.
"Hold on. Where are your friends? Aren't they with you?" Ralts asked. She had seen that his face had a look of worry on it. She figured she knew the answer, but still wanted to hear it from him.
"I...snuck away from them. I missed you so much, that I had to leave them, just to see you again." Max replied. He saw that her face had a look of confusion on it, so he braced himself for what he knew she was going to ask.
"You left without telling them? Won't they worry about you and wonder where you went?" Ralts asked him. However, she saw that his face had a smile on it. She knew that he had to be worried about his friends since he wasn't with them, yet he was smiling.
"They probably will, but I'm going back to them, so they won't worry too much, I hope." Max replied, looking down at Ralts. He soon noticed that her expression was a sad one. "Hey, what's wrong?" Max asked her. She spoke with a sad tone in her voice.
"You said you're going back to your friends." Ralts replied. She looked up at him and saw that he was still smiling. She didn't understand how he could be smiling if he was leaving her again. "Why are you smiling?" Ralts asked.
"I said I was going back, but I didn't say I was now. Let's spend a little time together, before I have to go back." Max replied. He could see that she agreed with his proposal as she nodded.
"All right, let's do that. Let's take a walk through the forest!" Ralts exclaimed in his mind. He agreed with her proposal, as he nodded at the idea. He stood up and placed her feet back on the ground. She stood up and looked towards his face. He had a curious look on his face. "What's wrong?" Ralts asked in his mind.
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering what my friends are up to. I'm sure I can guess." Max said laughing. Then, he heard Ralts laugh in his mind as well. He grabbed her hand with his and started talking again. "Well, enough chit-chat. Let's start exploring the forest while we can!" Max exclaimed. Ralts smiled back at what he said as they started walking.
***
"Hey, did you guys find him?" Ash asked May and Brock.
"No, I couldn't find him anywhere." Brock replied sadly.
"It's like my brother just vanished into thin air." May said silently. They had been looking for Max for a while now, wondering where the last one of their group could be. They didn't know he was long gone though, reunited with Ralts back at where they first met.
"And the Pokémon haven't had any luck finding him either." Brock said looking at all of their Pokémon that were standing not that far away from them. Ash let out a loud sigh, which made May and Brock look to him.
"Something wrong, Ash? You look like you want to say something." May asked with curiosity in her voice. Ash silently nodded at what she had said.
"You guys know how upset Max has been lately right?" Ash asked his friends. He knew they knew the answer, but he still wanted to ask them. They both silently nodded at his question.
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with our current issue?" Brock asked with curiosity in his voice. He didn't like the look that Ash had on his face, he was sure it was something bad that Ash was thinking of.
"Well, when we started our search, I had a thought that maybe Max ran away and went back to the area where we met Ralts. I know it sounds crazy, but he's really been lonely ever since we left Ralts behind. Maybe he decided to go see her because he didn't think we'd go back, what with your upcoming contest May." Ash said to his friends.
"Maybe you're right, Ash. He has been acting really strange for the past few days. So, if he has gone back to see Ralts, what should we do?" May asked out loud.
"What else is there to do? We go back there and find him." Ash replied. His friends looked at him in confusion.
"But how do we do that, Ash? He probably has the Pokénav, so I'm sure he used that to find his way back to where he needed to go, so how are we going to get there?" Brock asked. Ash shrugged his shoulders in response.
"I'm not sure." Ash replied silently. Then, an idea must have come to his head, because he had a small smile on his face. "Maybe we can use the compass and that could help us find our way back to the path to Sootopolis City." Ash said. His friends just looked at him in amazement.
"Well, that's as good as we can do, I guess." Brock replied. Then, he pulled out the compass from his backpack. He looked at the compass and then turned toward his friends. "Let's recall the Pokémon and get started." Brock said. They pulled out all of their Pokéballs and recalled all of them back.
"I hope Max is okay. He doesn't have any Pokémon, so I hope he hasn't run into any trouble." May said silently. Ash looked over at May.
"Well, let's get going. Don't worry, May. I'm sure he's fine." Ash said smiling. Then, they started walking in the direction the compass told them to go.
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Well, that's the end of the first chapter. I hope you all liked it. There is one more chapter to go for this exciting story and I guarantee that you will all like it. I should have it up by next week, but we'll see.
Thank you for reading,
Daniel, the Tinkler
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Ash and his friends are in a forest, taking a break from their travels. They're traveling towards Pacifidlog Town, where May hopes to win her final ribbon so she can enter the Grand Festival. Ash has all eight of his badges, so he's qualified to enter the Evergrande City Tournament. Brock was cooking some lunch for the gang. However, one of the group is not feeling like his usual self.
"I miss her so much. I wish she was here right now." Max said to himself. Ever since a few days ago when he met a Ralts, he felt a connection to her. But he had to leave her behind, as he was too young to own a Pokémon. He had promised to come back for her when he was a trainer, so they could travel together, but he still couldn't help missing her. Ash and his friends looked at Max and sighed.
"Poor guy. I wish there was something we could do to help him." Ash said to the others.
"Yeah, ever since we left Ralts behind, he's been really depressed. I hate seeing my own brother like this." May said silently.
"Yeah, but there's nothing we can do." Brock told his friends. Suddenly, he noticed that the soup he was cooking was done. He took it out of the pot and started pouring it into bowls for everyone to eat. Everyone took a bowl for themselves, so they could start eating, except for Max. He was still lost in his own thoughts.
"Hey Max, why don't you come over here and eat something?" Ash asked his friend. Max looked over toward Ash and shook his head.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry." Max said.
"Come on Max, you need to eat something." Ash pleaded his friend.
"I'm going to go take a walk. I'll be back soon." Max announced, grabbing his Pokénav and walking off away from the group.
"I hope he'll be safe on his own." May said silently.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. If anything does happen, I imagine he'll call for us." Ash said to the others.
"Well, let's eat our lunch while it's still hot. We have a long way to go before we make it to Pacifidlog Town for your next contest, May." Brock announced to the group. The others silently agreed with him and started eating their lunch.
Meanwhile, Max was walking through the forest, trying to cheer himself up. But, he found that he was unable to, as he couldn't stop thinking about Ralts. He had saved her life when they first met and he had to go and leave her behind. Then, he made a decision on his own.
"Sorry guys, but I've got to see her again. I'll be back eventually." Max said to himself. He took out his Pokénav and started looking through the map, searching for the way back to the area where he first met Ralts. He saw a familiar area on the map, Sootopolis City, where Ash had his gym battle against the leader, Juan, a few days ago. Then, he started flipping back to where his current location was, so he could find the quickest path back to where Ralts was.
He found a path that wasn't too far from his current location and it led right to Sootopolis City. He started running in the direction toward the path that would eventually lead him to Sootopolis City. About an hour later, he found himself back in Sootopolis City. He started heading towards the harbor when he stopped to ask someone when the next boat would leave.
"Excuse me, sir. When does the next boat leave here?" Max asked a guy in the town.
"Oh, in about five minutes, I believe." The man replied.
"Oh, man! I need to get there fast! Thanks!" Max exclaimed. The guy was about to ask him why he wanted to know when the boat left when he started running off in the direction of the harbor, knowing where it was since he was here just a few days ago. He managed to make it to the boat just in time. The boat started pulling out, with a very happy Max on board.
"Wow, that was close, but I made it! Don't worry Ralts, we'll be with each other very soon." Max said a little winded from the running he just did. "I wonder what the others are doing..." Max said thinking about his friends.
***
"Where's Max? He should've been back by now. I'm getting worried." May said worriedly.
"Yeah, it is strange. I know he's been depressed lately, but you're right, he should have returned by now." Ash agreed with May's words.
"Why don't we use our Pokémon to look for him? He may have just gotten a little lost and can't find his way back." Brock suggested. Ash and May agreed with their friend's words and started reaching for their Pokéballs.
"Come on out, guys!" They all said at the same time. And in a second, all of their Pokémon were out, facing their trainers. They stood in front of their trainers, wondering why they were called out of their Pokéballs.
"All right, you guys. Listen up." Ash said addressing the Pokémon. The Pokémon leaned forward to listen to the trainer's words. "I'm not sure what happened, but Max hasn't come back yet. We're going to look for him, but we need your help. If any of you find him, let us know. Is that clear?" Ash said to the Pokémon. The Pokémon all nodded at the trainer's words, signifying that they understood.
"All right, let's all split up and look for him. He's got to be somewhere in this forest." Brock said to everyone. They all started heading off in different directions, looking for Max, unaware that he was already gone and on his way to reunite with Ralts.
"I hope he's still here. I hope he didn't run off on his own." Ash said silently to himself.
***
"All right, we're here! Everyone off the boat!" The captain announced to the people on board. About a half an hour after leaving Sootopolis City, Max had arrived back at the area where he had left Ralts. He couldn't believe it, he was finally back and he would get to see her again.
He walked off of the boat and pulled out his Pokénav. He flipped through the map, trying to find a path from his current location to the forest where he had first met Ralts. Then, he found the forest that he was looking for on the map of the surrounding area. He found a path that seemed like it wouldn't take him long to reach from his current location. He had a big smile on his face.
"I can't believe I'm going to see her again. Ralts, I'm coming!" Max exclaimed running toward the forest. He had regained his energy while he was on the boat relaxing, so he was refreshed and ready to run to find Ralts. On the way there, he couldn't stop thinking about how excited she'd be that he was back already. "I hope I can find her. The forest is a big place..." Max said silently to himself.
***
On a rock in the forest that was her home, Ralts was sitting there. She couldn't stop thinking about her friend who had left her behind a few days ago. He had promised to come get her when he was a trainer and a little older. But, she still couldn't help missing him.
"Max, I miss you so much. I wish you were here right now with me." Ralts said silently to herself. She let out a deep sigh and looked down at the ground. From not too far away, her sisters Kirlia and Gardevoir were watching her looking sad.
"She's been so upset ever since that boy who saved her life left. I wish we could help her somehow." Kirlia said to her sister. Gardevoir silently nodded to her sister's words.
"I agree, but how can we do that? I don't think there's anything we can do to make our sister feel better." Gardevoir said silently.
"Kirlia, Gardevoir, I'm going out by myself for a little bit. I need to be alone for right now. I'll be back soon." Ralts said to her sisters. Before her sisters could respond however, Ralts had teleported away from her current location and to another part of the forest.
"I hope she'll be okay by herself. I don't want her getting attacked or captured by some trainer." Gardevoir said out loud.
"Don't worry, she won't let herself get captured. She's waiting for that boy to come back and get her, so that she can join him on his journey when he becomes a trainer." Kirlia replied to her sister's words.
"I'm sure you're right. Be safe, sister." Gardevoir said silently. Then, she turned to face Kirlia. "Let's go back home for a while. I'm sure when our sister returns, we'll have found a way to help her feel better." She said out loud. Then, they teleported back to their home, to think of a way to make their sister feel better.
***
"All right, I'm here now. Where should I start looking?" Max asked himself. After about a half an hour of running since he got off the boat, he had finally reached the forest that was home to the Ralts he had saved a few days ago. Of course, he knew he would find her, he just had no idea of where to start looking.
"Well, I better just start looking for her. No sense in wasting time standing here." Max said silently to himself. He started walking forward, still holding open the Pokénav and looking on it at the map of the surrounding area he was in. He was keeping his eyes and ears out, looking for the Ralts that he had left behind.
About ten minutes after he had started looking for Ralts, he took a break from his search. He didn't expect to find her right away, but he hoped he would find her soon. Then, he heard his stomach growl, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything for a couple of days now.
"Man, I'm hungry. But, I can't let myself get stopped by this. I have to find her." Max said silently to himself. He started walking again, listening and looking all around him. Then, he heard a faint sound off in the distance as it reached his ears.
"Huh? What was that?" Max asked himself. He kept quiet and closed his eyes, trying to focus on what he just heard. Then, he heard it again: a faint sound that was off in the distance. It sounded familiar to him, but where had he heard it?
"I can hear something, but what is it?" Max asked himself silently. He was still trying to focus on the sound, but couldn't figure out what it was. Then, he heard it a third time and it finally dawned on him what it was. He opened his eyes and smiled widely.
"Ralts, I'm coming!" Max exclaimed, running off in the direction of Ralts' voice. He hoped she would keep making that noise, so he could find her and reunite with her. He figured she probably had to be missing him as much as he missed her.
***
Ralts was sitting in front of the lake where Max had first found her. She was looking at the lake trying to think of anything else, but she found that she was unable to. She couldn't stop thinking about Max, he had saved her life and could never find a way to repay him for that.
"I know he said he'd come back for me, but I still can't help missing him. I wish he was older when we had first met, so I could've gone with him right away. Oh Max..." Ralts said sadly to herself.
Then, she started crying softly. She couldn't hold back her sad feelings any longer. She knew that she wanted to be with him, but had no idea of where he was or how she would find him. It seemed that she would just have to wait until Max came back for her, like he promised. This just made her cry even louder, unable to hold back the tears that were now all over her face.
***
Max had been running for about five minutes now since he had first realized that it was Ralts' voice he had heard. Her voice seemed to be continuously making a noise, Max figured she must be doing something that she's unable to stop. Maybe she was crying? But Max didn't think that she would ever cry, because she understood when he had left, but things change, as he knew well.
He could hear that he had gotten a lot closer to her voice since he had first started running in the direction her voice seemed to come from. He slowed down a little bit, sensing that he was close. He listened closely, trying to locate her from where her voice seemed to be coming from at his current location. He heard her voice coming from his left, so he started walking left of his current location.
Then, a couple of minutes later, he saw Ralts. She was at the lake where they had first met. He thought back to that wonderful memory and smiled to himself. But he was quickly drawn out of his thoughts, as he noticed that Ralts was indeed crying, as he had suspected. He had realized that she had indeed missed him, just like he missed her. He decided to try to get her attention, to get her to stop crying and to let her know that he was there.
"Ralts?" Max said. It seemed she hadn't heard him, because she was still crying rather loudly. He figured he'd need to say it louder, in order to get her attention. "Ralts!" Max said louder than the first time.
Ralts had heard him that time and stopped sobbing for a moment. She feared she might be going crazy, because she thought she had just heard the boy who she had grown to miss these past few days. She turned her head around slowly, looking over her shoulder. She gasped when she saw Max standing there right behind her, with a smile on his face.
"Max? Is that really you?" Ralts' voice asked in Max's head. She didn't know how he could really be here, she thought he was still traveling with his friends. She saw him give a slight nod.
"Yes, it's really me. I'm back." Max said silently, not wanting to ruin the moment. Then, he ran forward and hugged Ralts closely to his chest, not wanting to let her go. "I missed you so much!" Max exclaimed, still holding Ralts closely to him. He heard her familiar voice enter his head.
"I missed you too. I can't believe you're here." Ralts replied, looking up at Max with a smile. He looked down at her and gave her a smile too. Then, he saw her face had been wet with tears, so he touched her face and started wiping the tears away with his hand.
"To tell you the truth, I can't believe I'm here, either." Max said laughing. He couldn't believe that he was finally back with Ralts, whose life he had saved a few days ago. He had left his friends to come back here and find her all by himself. He heard her voice in his head, asking him something.
"You can't? Why not?" Ralts asked. She didn't understand why he couldn't believe he was here, either.
"Well, I..." Max replied. He was trying to think of a reason he could give to Ralts. He figured she could just read his mind, like all Psychic-types, so why hadn't she done it already? Maybe she wanted to hear it directly from him? But his thoughts were interrupted as her voice spoke in his head once again.
"Hold on. Where are your friends? Aren't they with you?" Ralts asked. She had seen that his face had a look of worry on it. She figured she knew the answer, but still wanted to hear it from him.
"I...snuck away from them. I missed you so much, that I had to leave them, just to see you again." Max replied. He saw that her face had a look of confusion on it, so he braced himself for what he knew she was going to ask.
"You left without telling them? Won't they worry about you and wonder where you went?" Ralts asked him. However, she saw that his face had a smile on it. She knew that he had to be worried about his friends since he wasn't with them, yet he was smiling.
"They probably will, but I'm going back to them, so they won't worry too much, I hope." Max replied, looking down at Ralts. He soon noticed that her expression was a sad one. "Hey, what's wrong?" Max asked her. She spoke with a sad tone in her voice.
"You said you're going back to your friends." Ralts replied. She looked up at him and saw that he was still smiling. She didn't understand how he could be smiling if he was leaving her again. "Why are you smiling?" Ralts asked.
"I said I was going back, but I didn't say I was now. Let's spend a little time together, before I have to go back." Max replied. He could see that she agreed with his proposal as she nodded.
"All right, let's do that. Let's take a walk through the forest!" Ralts exclaimed in his mind. He agreed with her proposal, as he nodded at the idea. He stood up and placed her feet back on the ground. She stood up and looked towards his face. He had a curious look on his face. "What's wrong?" Ralts asked in his mind.
"Oh, nothing. Just wondering what my friends are up to. I'm sure I can guess." Max said laughing. Then, he heard Ralts laugh in his mind as well. He grabbed her hand with his and started talking again. "Well, enough chit-chat. Let's start exploring the forest while we can!" Max exclaimed. Ralts smiled back at what he said as they started walking.
***
"Hey, did you guys find him?" Ash asked May and Brock.
"No, I couldn't find him anywhere." Brock replied sadly.
"It's like my brother just vanished into thin air." May said silently. They had been looking for Max for a while now, wondering where the last one of their group could be. They didn't know he was long gone though, reunited with Ralts back at where they first met.
"And the Pokémon haven't had any luck finding him either." Brock said looking at all of their Pokémon that were standing not that far away from them. Ash let out a loud sigh, which made May and Brock look to him.
"Something wrong, Ash? You look like you want to say something." May asked with curiosity in her voice. Ash silently nodded at what she had said.
"You guys know how upset Max has been lately right?" Ash asked his friends. He knew they knew the answer, but he still wanted to ask them. They both silently nodded at his question.
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with our current issue?" Brock asked with curiosity in his voice. He didn't like the look that Ash had on his face, he was sure it was something bad that Ash was thinking of.
"Well, when we started our search, I had a thought that maybe Max ran away and went back to the area where we met Ralts. I know it sounds crazy, but he's really been lonely ever since we left Ralts behind. Maybe he decided to go see her because he didn't think we'd go back, what with your upcoming contest May." Ash said to his friends.
"Maybe you're right, Ash. He has been acting really strange for the past few days. So, if he has gone back to see Ralts, what should we do?" May asked out loud.
"What else is there to do? We go back there and find him." Ash replied. His friends looked at him in confusion.
"But how do we do that, Ash? He probably has the Pokénav, so I'm sure he used that to find his way back to where he needed to go, so how are we going to get there?" Brock asked. Ash shrugged his shoulders in response.
"I'm not sure." Ash replied silently. Then, an idea must have come to his head, because he had a small smile on his face. "Maybe we can use the compass and that could help us find our way back to the path to Sootopolis City." Ash said. His friends just looked at him in amazement.
"Well, that's as good as we can do, I guess." Brock replied. Then, he pulled out the compass from his backpack. He looked at the compass and then turned toward his friends. "Let's recall the Pokémon and get started." Brock said. They pulled out all of their Pokéballs and recalled all of them back.
"I hope Max is okay. He doesn't have any Pokémon, so I hope he hasn't run into any trouble." May said silently. Ash looked over at May.
"Well, let's get going. Don't worry, May. I'm sure he's fine." Ash said smiling. Then, they started walking in the direction the compass told them to go.
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Well, that's the end of the first chapter. I hope you all liked it. There is one more chapter to go for this exciting story and I guarantee that you will all like it. I should have it up by next week, but we'll see.
Thank you for reading,
Daniel, the Tinkler
Chapter End Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended, and is applicable for all consecutive chapters that follow.
Date:Aug 11 2013 Chapter:Two Friends Reunited
Other than that good job.
Well, even though I haven't checked this out in a long time, I don't think they meant to imply that it would be the same as in the games, since the episode this story is based on and the first one in Sootopolis take place right after each other. And pretty sure in the anime (which I'm guessing you're not a fan of and/or don't watch), they were traveling on foot for a bit after Ash was done in Sootopolis to get to Pacifidlog (I didn't really base how to get there off the games because I never got that far in any of the Gen III Hoenn games, even though I got them all years ago), but I didn't exactly do my research here, and it would have to be like that in order to work. At least, for them to not notice Max is missing for a while, even though like most of my other work on here to date, this was kinda written in a rush. But still, thank you!