When Anime Worlds Collide p.12

Chapter 12
Reunion and Departing

May and I ran out of the bedroom, leaving Kaito standing alone. I led May to Rin.

"Okay, where did you say the boys went?" I asked Rin.

"I was gonna tell you. They said they were going outside to see if there were any...Pokémon to catch," Rin replied. She pointed to a window. "They should be in the front yard."

"Thank you, Rin-San!" I said. I went out the front door and May tagged along. Sure enough, there were Ash and Brock, with confused looks on their faces.

"Eh? Why are there no wild Pokémon here?" I heard Ash say.

"I don't know," Brock replied in a how-could-you-not-know-the-answer-to-that sort of tone, "maybe because we're in someone's front yard?"

"Oh, right," Ash said, sweatdropping. Suddenly, he turned around.

"Ash-Kun! Brock-Kun!" I exclaimed, running toward them.

"Max-Bozu! May-Chan!" Ash and Brock responded in unison. We all ran up to each other and (I'm sure Ash and Brock only did this because we all found each other; awkward) group-hugged.

"We were all worried! We have no idea what could've happened to you!" Brock said.

"Worried about me?! I was worried about you!" I replied. We all laughed, the kind of laugh that just naturally comes out of friends at certain moments, and headed inside.

"Oh, good to see you found everybody!" Len said at the sight of the group.

"Well..." I replied, suddenly realizing something sad. "I can't exactly stay here, and by the looks of things, you live here, Len-Kun..."

"Yeah," Len replied. He looked down slightly, and I could've sworn I saw a small tear fall out of his eye as he forced the next words out. "I guess this is goodbye."

"Well, it's not like you guys aren't gonna see each other again," Ash interjected. "You guys can always come back to Hoenn whenever you like!"

"Pika!" Ash's Pikachu added.

"And you're welcome to visit here again whenever you want," Rin said.

Len paused for a moment. "...We'll see each other soon."

I fought back the tears. "Yeah."

Then, after a ton of resisting, I ran up to Len and hugged him. "Bye!"

He hugged back and replied, "See you sometime soon."

The portal re-appeared and everyone boarded Altaria. Then it flew right through it.

I glanced back as the sight of Len grew smaller and smaller, then dissappeared behind a curve in the portal.