A Journey's Link

Chapter 23 - Sighting

"Hurry up, Serena! You're taking too long!" May yelled through the door that led into Serena's room. Technically it was May's family's guest room, but Serena had been living there for so long it had kind of morphed into her own room with her decorations and posters.

"Hold on! I'm almost finished!" Serena yelled back, gazing back at her mirror. She had decided to tag along with May to stop the person who used the crystal to cause the rain. At first, it was because she knew May would stop at nothing to fulfill her goal, but now she wasn't sure if that was the only reason. She gazed at her bag where her crystal was until May yelled again, breaking her trance.

She tidied up her outfit a little more and grabbed her bag full of supplies and makeup. Opening the door, she saw May tapping her foot impatiently with a pouty look on her face. "Why do you take so long?" she asked grumpily. Serena simply glared at her and walked down the hallway towards the front door. "Because I like to look nice," she replied. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

"There is when you take forever to get ready," May muttered. She adjusted her bag and began to walk out the front door when they heard a nasal voice yell, "Wait for me!" Both Coordinators turned around, knowing instantly to who the voice belonged.

Serena giggled when she remembered the argument Max and May had earlier. "I may not be old enough to be a Pokemon trainer, but I'm still good at battling!" Max had yelled at her sister. While it was true he still wasn't ten years old, the normal age for a trainer to be entrusted with a Pokemon, he was still quite the avid battler. "I understand, but we'll be gone for a few days!" May replied. "We're going all the way to Kanto, so it might not be safe for you to go!"

Max stomped his foot upon hearing this and continued trying to convince May, eventually doing so with enough persistence. Now, he was frantically getting his supplies together and running up to both Coordinators to make sure they didn't leave him behind. "I'm ready!" Max said, beaming at the opportunity to get to go to Kanto. May just rolled her eyes and opened the front door saying, "Alright then, let's go."

Max excitedly ran ahead of May, who ran after him in an attempt to slow him down. Serena giggled at the scene; siblings merely messing with one another whether they knew it or not. "Wait for me!" Serena happily yelled, running after May and Max towards the airport.

Serena lost sight of the two but didn't care much, because, by the time she caught up with them at the airport, May was already scolding Max and getting tickets for their flight. As she got closer, she could hear some words May was saying to Max.

"You can't act so immature, especially when we might be fighting against someone dangerous!" May scolded. Max didn't quite understand the gravity of the situation but nodded with a blank face. May just sighed and shook her head, saying, "I'm not even sure why Mom and Dad agreed to this."

May looked up and saw Serena, so she began desperately apologizing. "I'm sorry for my brother's behavior," she said with visible guilt. Serena just smiled and shook her head. "No big deal!" she said. "Besides, we got here early, so we won't need to worry about missing the flight."

May softly smiled and nodded with affirmation. "Yeah," she said. "I guess it is! No big deal!" May looked back at the receptionist who was giving them their tickets and thanked her. She glared at Max and said, "This time you actually can't run off! Understand?"

Max pouted but reluctantly agreed, as he was smart enough to understand that running away in an airport was reckless. The siblings started walking towards their gate, with May turning around and urging Serena to hurry up.

"Oh yeah, coming!" Serena responded mindlessly, lost in her thoughts. She was still thinking about Ash and whether or not she should see him again. While she didn't know it, her fear of seeing him again stemmed from the fact that she was subconsciously worried about how he would react to her. Of course, she would never openly admit it to anyone else, let alone herself, so she attempted to forget about it while she boarded the plane.