Midnight Festival

MIDNIGHT FESTIVAL
By Random Phantom

Ah… this feeling…

…Where am I? I… don’t remember getting here… I just know that… I got here, somehow… but where is ‘here’? This is a beach, it seems… but I don’t remember going anywhere, since yesterday…

“Pikachu?” I asked, but no response came. Again, I was alone… just like the last time…

…‘last time’? But… this didn’t happen before! Did it? I’ve just found myself here, in this beach, alone and…

Er…

Looking down at myself, I noticed that I was, at least, clothed… if only my shorts counted as enough clothing. I sure hoped nobody was around to see me… if an accident happened, that’d be too embarrassing, for me. But it seemed everything was fine, for now… that’s good.

Now, what was I thinking about, again…?

“Ash?” a voice asked, disturbing my thoughts. As I looked towards it, I happened to see my old friend, Misty… who apparently, had finally got the looks age had denied her, before; she looked just as pretty as her older sisters, and I couldn’t help but stare at her. She was dressed in her old clothes, right now, that yellow top that was stretched by her growing bust, and blue jean shorts that looked awfully tight, too, despite the overalls’ aid in keeping them in place. Her long, red hair was set loose… that only added to her prettiness; I suppose that, once she realized she wasn’t as different from her sisters as before, she stopped trying to be unlike them and took on their looks as well.

“Oh, hey, Misty,” I greeted her, and she looked particularly cheerful about it. Strange… hadn’t we met some time ago? What could have made her feel so happy?

“I’m so glad I found you! I thought you were busy, traveling across Hoenn again, but I guess I was nervous for nothing… I can’t believe you came to our Cape, here!” she told me, which was surprising. I had traveled through Hoenn two years ago, but she was speaking like I had been doing that just now… and what was that comment about ‘again’? I had only traveled through it once!

“Misty… are you feeling okay? I think you’ve confused yourself,” I asked, and she blinked. How did I get here, anyway?

Misty looked at me with some worry in her eyes. “…Ash? You… don’t remember a thing?” she asked, nervously. I shook my head, looking at her face, directly.

“No, I… don’t…” The more I stared at her eyes… the more familiar they looked. It was surprising and odd, but… these eyes… they didn’t look like Misty’s. They were familiar, but… they… were…

“Aigh!” I cried out, holding my head in pain. Thinking that hard hurt… and gah, I couldn’t believe how sudden it had come to me. That was unexpected… but then Misty approached me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

“Ash! Are you okay?!” she asked, nervous. I just smiled and looked back at her, noticing she looked worried.

“Yeah… it was nothing, Misty. Don’t worry…” I replied, in my calming tone. She glared at me for a second, before giggling. I blinked, though. Did I say some kind of joke?

“Ash, Ash, Ash… you’re always going to stay the same, aren’t you?” she asked me, and I blinked. In fact… now that I had noticed it, we were awfully close to each other. Too close, in fact.

Maybe too close, even for being too close, as I thought I could see my whole face in her eyes.

“Um, Misty…” I began, trying to take a step back, but she just took a step forward… no, she came closer, even though I was stepping back. “Are you okay? I’m the one who’s starting to get worried now…”

“Oh, I’m fine, Ash…” she said, one of her hands slipping closer to my waist, pulling me forward despite my attempts to retreat. Her other hand went towards my head, trying to do the same. “I’m peachy, really… now that I finally have a chance to…”

I tried to take one last step back, but by now I was too nervous… I simply didn’t know how to react to this, and the fact that her grip was tighter was simply too unnerving… I had a feeling I knew what she was going to do, but now I just… I couldn’t… I…

*FLASH*

…eh?

My eyes shot open, as I realized I was in a different place. This time, however, I had the feeling that I hadn’t moved at all… or something. Still, the fact that I wasn’t on a beach anymore, but on a forest now, was a surprise alright.

As I realized I was lying on the ground, I got up again, looking around me. Now I was clothed again… how weird! Why did I get here so suddenly, without even realizing it?! And… where was Misty? This was too strange…

“Ash?” I heard, coming from a different direction than the one I was currently looking at. As I turned in that direction, I saw it was… May!

The brown-haired girl still looked as pretty as she did the last time we met, with her long, brown bangs hidden beneath a green and white bandanna. She still wore that outfit from the last time we met; a small, sleeveless red long shirt with a zip line on the front, a green fanny pack, green wrist protectors, white and black gloves, black shorts, and red and white shoes.

And, well… it seemed like her chest had grown at least a couple of cups since; as she was running towards me, it was like her clothes were trying hard not to rip apart, and I was trying to not pay attention to that. It wasn’t nice, after, all, but… it was so hard to not look at them…

“Oh… hi, May,” I replied, trying to shake off my confusion. “Do you know where I am? I… think I hit my head or something.”

“You… you did?” the girl asked, pressing a hand against her mouth. “Ash, that… that’s awful! I knew I shouldn’t have left you!”

“Left me?” I repeated, confused further, and she nodded.

“Yeah… you told me I should go and pick up some food for today’s dinner, and that we should set up camp, and you would be the one to pick up the firewood… and then I return, here, and see you’re knocked out! You’ve probably fallen and hurt yourself!” she explained, before coming nearer me. She pressed one of her hands against my head, and-

“OW!” I cried out, in pain. Yeah, my head did hurt! I guess it wasn’t just an accident, after all… and then, she seemed to let out a gasp.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-” May apologized, accidentally pressing herself against me. “Ash, I was just trying to help you, I-”

“M-May, you…” I tried to say, but her body was making me lose balance, and soon enough we had fallen down, with her on top of me. And her chest and hips ended up pressing against mine, as well… “C-calm down, please…”

Though I couldn’t see it, I was sure I was blushing… and the fact that May was blushing too didn’t encourage me. Carefully, she began to get off me, before pulling me up. “Sorry, I… I was just too worried, Ash… if anything happened to you, I…”

I smiled, however. “Don’t worry, May… nothing bad is going to happen. You know I wouldn’t let anything like that happen, right?” After a few moments, she nodded, seemingly relieved.

“Yes… that’s true, Ash…” she said, smiling in a nice way. “And I’m very grateful, too… in fact…” Slowly, she began to approach me, in a manner that reminded me of how Misty had done it before… but why? Why did I think of that? I… can barely remember it, and yet…

At this point, she was coming close to me, and my curiosity grew further. What was it they were doing? Was it something important? Or was it…

…ah! My head… it’s hurting again! I… I can’t handle this… it’s too much, I… I…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Again, Ash woke up, all of a sudden. The young man gasped for air, his body trembling as he recovered from his odd dream. While he didn’t know what exactly he had been dreaming about – again, it had started to slip from his mind very quickly – this time, however, he could remember that it was something involving his friends…

…but what it was, he quickly forgot. That… it didn’t make much sense… why? Why was he having such dreams? That was the second time in a row…

“…I think I need to stop eating so much before going to sleep…” he muttered, wiping his face clean.

…

Meanwhile, in another city, far away, a young girl grunted, before waking up. After realizing what had happened, she sniffed, and began to cry once more.