Chapter 3: Destination 102

Friends to Lovers

Chapter 3: Destination 102

Ash and May were continuing their trek on the path leading to Petalburg City where Ash was going for his first Gym Badge in Hoenn. As the two were walking, they glanced up to see that there was a white sign beside the path with the words 'Route 102' printed on it in blue paint. "Guess we must be headed in the right direction: it shouldn't be too long until we get to Petalburg City. You ready for that first Gym battle, Pikachu?" Ash asked, turning to his partner on his shoulder. "(I sure am!)" Pikachu replied with a bright smile; he had just as much anticipation to get that first Gym Badge as Ash did. Ash then started to continue off ahead while May was still staring up at the sign: the route they were on was undoubtedly the route to Petalburg City, and that meant that Ash was soon going to find out who the Gym Leader was. She then looked away to find that Ash had already gone off ahead, so she immediately rushed forward to catch up with him.

"Hey Ash, hold on a second!" May called. Ash stopped in his tracks and turned around to see May stop short having just caught up with him. "May, what's up? How come you were just standing there?" Ash asked. May bent down, resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath before she looked up at Ash and stood upright.

"Well, I was just wondering. You're heading for the Gym battle, right?" May asked. Ash nodded in agreement with an expression of puzzlement on his face, like he was wondering what May was getting at. "Well, don't you think it would be a good idea to really make sure that your Pokemon are ready for the battle? You wouldn't want to be caught off guard when you get out there, right?" May suggested. Ash stared in silence for a few moments trying to figure out what May was saying, before he smiled as it made sense to him.

"You mean as in training?" he asked. May promptly nodded in agreement. "May, that's a great idea! Then we'll both ready when we arrive in Petalburg City. Good thing you thought of it." Ash commented, showing May a thumbs-up. May brightly smiled and nodded once: she was glad that she thought of it as well.

Back with Ash and May, they were both sending out the Pokemon they had. "Larvitar,Poochyena,Electrike,Treecko,Pidgeot come on out!" Ash said, throwing out the Pokeballs Larvitar Treecko and Pidgeot was in, causing it to open and release the little Rock Skin Pokemon,The Wood Gecko Pokemon and the Avian Pokemon to be just stared at Ash While Pidgeot gave Ash a chirp of acknowledgment And Larvitar happily flailing his arms around with a big smile on his face.

"Torchic, Azurill, let's go!" May added, throwing both Pokeballs with her Pokemon inside into the air, causing them to both open and release Torchic and Azurill who landed safely on the ground beside Larvitar. Torchic rapidly shook her feathers and then opened her eyes, while Azurill bounced up once into the air and then dropped on the ground. Pikachu then jumped off Ash's shoulder and stood beside the others. Once they knew all their Pokemon were out and showing their undivided attention, Ash and May bent down to their height.

"All right, everyone, we're almost at Petalburg City. But first we're going to do some training so we'll be ready for that first Gym battle. So let's give it everything we've got!" Ash explained. The group of Pokemon started to cheer, with Pikachu lifting both his fists up in the air in excitement, Larvitar happily clapping before his smile was replaced with an expression of confusion and he tilted his head wondering what was happening and Torchic and Azurill jumping up into the air with bright smiles on their faces. Seeing that everyone was ready to start training, Ash and May stood up properly and turned to each other. "So, May, how do you think we should do this training?" Ash asked.

May looked down to think pressing one finger under her chin. After about a few seconds to give it some thought, May immediately snapped her fingers as a bright smile crossed her face. "I know! How about we split up?" she suggested. She then pointed to the left of them. "You can go that way, and I'll head down this way." May explained as she then pointed to her right showing Ash which direction they would go: he would go to the left while she went to the right. Ash had a look in both directions May was pointing to and then turned to her with an expression of concern on his face.

"Are you sure? Will you be all right by yourself?" Ash asked: since he knew that this would be the first time May was training, he wasn't sure of whether or not she would be okay doing this on her own. May didn't seem to be as worried about her arrangement, as she happily nodded with a confident smile on her face. "Yeah, don't worry! I'll be fine. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have any Pokemon at my side, would I?" May asked in response. That seemed to be a reasonable enough answer for Ash as his concerned expression was replaced with a smile and he then nodded: it seemed that he now agreed with May's suggestion.

"All right then. I guess that's not a problem if you think it isn't. We'll meet back here in a few hours, okay?" Ash asked. May promptly nodded in agreement: that sounded good to her. With this, Ash looked down at all of his pokemon. "All right, let's go, you guys!" Ash all of his pokemon nodded and Ash started to head off to the left with all his Pokemon following not too far behind. Once he was out of her clear vision, May looked down at both her Pokemon.

"Well, guess it's just us. Torchic, Azurill, follow me!" May said. She then stood upright and started to rush off into the forest with Torchic and Azurill following right behind her. Once they got to a good enough distance, May stopped running and starting looking around the trees to see if she could find any Pokemon in the area. "Now let's see. What kinds of Pokemon would I be able to find around here?" May wondered as she pressed her finger underneath her chin as she was trying to think. Torchic turned her gaze to a tree beside her and, getting an idea, ran over to it. She looked up at the tree in silence for a few moments and then, with her beak glowing bright white, she started rapidly pecking against the bark. Azurill bounced over to see what her fellow Pokemon was doing and then May turned her head to notice this.

"Torchic, what are you doing?" May asked. She then glanced up to see the leaves on one of the branches up near the top of the tree starting to shake. Torchic stopped pecking against the tree and then she looked up with a bright smile noticing that her attempt at finding a Pokemon seemed to be successful. Up on the tree, the leaves continued shaking for a few moments before a little worm-like Pokemon crawled out onto the branch: it had bright scarlet red skin with a cream coloured underbelly, a little yellow spike on the top of its head, yellow eyes with big black pupils, ten little stubby white legs and two yellow spines at the end of its body. "What sort of Pokemon is that?" May asked with an expression of surprise on her face. She grabbed her Pokedex out of her bag and opened it to find out what Pokemon she found.

"Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon. Wurmple primarily lives off sap from trees, and the suction cups on its feet keep it from slipping." The Pokedex explained. May stared at the information in fascination and then she looked back up at the tree to watch Wurmple slowly turn around, crawl across the tree branch and start munching on the leaves from the branch. May was silent for a few seconds as she, Torchic and Azurill stared up at the little worm Pokemon before she smiled and nodded with a determined expression on her face, coming to a decision. "I'll try and catch that Wurmple!" she stated. With this, she walked over to the tree, grabbed hold of it and slowly started to make her way up trying to get up to that Wurmple.

Meanwhile, Ash had arrived out to his area of the forest with Pikachu and Larvitar while trrecko easily sat near a tree and right beside him and he turned to his six Pokemon. "Well, this looks like a good place to get started on training. Pikachu, you go and see if there's any Pokemon around here we can battle." Ash said, looking down at the Electric Mouse Pokemon. Pikachu nodded in agreement and started to scout off ahead while Ash turned his gaze to Larvitar, and then he knelt down so he was close to the little Pokemon's height. "Larvitar, you can just watch this time around. I know that battling might worry you, so I don't want you to get involved in something you don't want to do. Does that sound good to you?" Ash asked, rubbing the Rock Skin Pokemon's head. Larvitar brightly smiled and nodded in agreement: he was glad to hear that Ash understood how he was feeling. Ash showed a bright smile in return, happy to see that Larvitar was okay with that idea.

He then looked up in the direction May went off in, and an expression of concern quickly crossed his face. "I wonder if May will be all right by herself." Ash commented to himself: he knew that May was just starting on her adventure as a Trainer and, as much as he wouldn't admit it out loud, he didn't want to her to do anything that could get her hurt. Ash suddenly felt a bright smile cross his face at the mention of May's name and he had to wonder: what was it about May that made him feel so happy inside?

"(Pika!)" Ash's thoughts were promptly interrupted when he heard Pikachu calling his name and he ran over, with Larvitar following, to see Pikachu standing at a tree he had come towards and he was excitedly pointing at it with a big smile on his face. "(Pikapi Pika Pika pikachu pi pika!)" Pikachu explained. Ash looked up at the tree Pikachu was pointing at and, after about a few seconds to think it over, smiled and nodded in confirmation.

"Well, let's see what we find. Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Ash called. With this, Pikachu charged towards the tree at full speed and rammed straight against the bark. Poochyena!"Tackle Attack, Poochyena Also Rammed At The Tree, Treecko Pound!" Ash Ordered and Treecko raised his tail and slammed it on the tree. After a few seconds, the leaves on the top of the tree started to rapidly shake and Ash and Pikachu both showed a big smile, thrilled by this. "All right! I think we found something!" Ash cheered, while Pikachu happily jumped into the air at this. The Other Pokemon stared at a confused manner clearly not understanding what their trainer was they looked back up at the tree watching it shake for a few more seconds before the shaking stopped, which caused Ash and his five Pokemon to stare in confusion wondering what was going on. But then, a horde of bug Pokemon slowly came out from inside the tree: they were all bright yellow with black stripes at the bottom of their body with a stinger on the abdomen, big bright red eyes, four legs with two legs on the bottom of their bodies and two arms that were tipped with long, conical stingers, antennae in the shape of the number seven and two pairs of rounded, veined wings that were fluttering rapidly to keep them in the air. They all glared at Ash, irritated by being disturbed from their snack time. Ash, at the meantime, slowly backed away with an expression of fear: he could recognise what those Pokemon were right from the top of his head.

"Beedrill!" Ash yelled out; he honestly couldn't believe how many hordes of those Beedrill there were and he had run into quite a few in his past travels. Pikachu slowly stepped forward with a determined glare and sparks of electricity crackling from his red cheeks. The Beedrill then charged forward ready to attack Ash, but Larvitar, who had received a large fright from seeing those Beedrill so close up, suddenly let out a loud high-pitched scream that immediately prompted Ash and Pikachu to both cover their ears: the scream was so loud that light blue sound vibrations could be seen emanating from it.

"Larvitar's using Screech again!" Ash cried out, just barely being able to hear himself over the volume and pitch of the screaming. "(Pikachu Pika Pi Pika!)" Pikachu yelled, having pulled his ears down and immediately covering them; he found the screaming to be just as unbearable to listen to as Ash did. The Beedrill were all so frightened by the loud screech that they quickly started to fly away in panic. Once they were gone, Larvitar stopped screaming and watched in surprise as the Beedrill horde flew away in fright. Ash and Pikachu both uncovered their ears once they knew that the screaming stopped and they both looked down at Larvitar with a big smile on their face.

"Larvitar! You chased those Beedrill away!" Ash cheered, happily picking up Larvitar and tightly hugging him while Larvitar stared in puzzlement wondering what was happening. "(Pikachu pikapi Pika pika!)" Pikachu added having jumped up onto Ash's shoulder in the meantime. Larvitar then realised that he had actually been successful in a battle, even if he didn't mean to get involved to begin with, and showed a big smile happily clapping all the while. Ash then released his embrace on Larvitar and turned his gaze in the direction the Beedrill flew off in.

"Looks like they headed off to the right..." Ash said to himself. He then caught his own words and gasped when he realised who was in that area. "They're flying straight towards where May is! We have to hurry before they catch up to her!" he then quickly added turning to his two Pokemon. Pikachu and Larvitar both nodded in agreement and they rushed off to the area that May would be in, certain that was where the Beedrill were headed. "Don't you worry, May. I'll stop those Beedrill before they catch up to you." Ash promised, saying that more to himself than he was to anyone else.

At the same time as Ash's training, May had just finished climbing up the tree and she was slowly crawling across the branch over to the Wurmple, making sure to be as quiet as possible so the Wurmple wouldn't hear her coming. Down on the ground, Torchic and Azurill were watching all the while with expressions of concern as they were both wondering if May was okay. "(May, is everything all right up there?)" Torchic asked. "(Are you okay, Miss May?)" Azurill added, tilting her head as if she was wondering what was going on. May looked down to see her two Pokemon watching in concern and she showed a confident smile.

"Yeah, I'm all right! You don't need to worry!" May replied, waving to the two Pokemon down on the ground to let them know of her status. With this, she resumed crawling across the branch slowly making her way over to the Wurmple who was still munching on branch leaves, unaware of May approaching behind it. "Wow, I can hardly believe that I'm about to catch my third Pokemon. I can't imagine how Ash will respond when he sees that I was able to pull off something like that. Oh, he'll be so proud of me!" May commented to herself, with her cheeks lightly glowing red at the thought of being able to impress Ash with such a successful feat. But then she realised that she was talking a bit too loudly for her own good and looked down to see Torchic and Azurill staring at May in confusion, wondering what she was talking about. "Oh, don't mind me. I was just...talking to myself." May said, showing a nervous smile while a sweatdrop appeared on the side of her head from embarrassment.

Torchic and Azurill both stared at each other as they were both wondering what May meant when she mentioned how Ash would respond to her being able to catch a third Pokemon. "(For torching torch tor)" Torchic squeaked. Azurill turned her head to one side while showing an expression of puzzlement wondering what that word meant. "(Torch torchic tor torchic.)" Torchic explained.

"(Azurill azu rill azur azurill.)" Azurill innocently replied. Torchic stared at her new friend in disbelief at the mention of the possibility of May liking Ash. "(Torch tor torch torchic.)" Torchic commented: since she was inside her Pokeball while they were on Route 101 and at Oldale Town, Torchic didn't notice everything that happened with Ash and May. However, since Azurill was outside on their way to Oldale Town, she noticed what had happened with them.

"(Azurii Azu rill azur Azuril.)" Azurill explained. Torchic slowly nodded as she listened; she could understand where Azurill was coming from with all of this.

May could hear Azurill talking to Torchic all the while and she showed a small smile; she had to admit that, even though she wasn't able to understand what Azurill was saying, she got the basic essentials of the explanation and she couldn't deny it: she, in fact, had taken a liking to Ash. However, she wasn't sure of whether or not he felt the same way and whether he would actually return her feelings. But then she remembered what happened at Oldale Town: Ash showing her around the Pokemon Centre and reassuring her that Nurse Joy would take good care of her Pokemon, him standing in front of her and protecting her against the group of thugs that they had now identified to be Team Magma, him complementing her on her battling capabilities and when the two were down in the underground cavern, he held her hand to make sure that she would know that she was safe since he knew that she was worried about going down the staircase and he never let go once. Remembering all of that made May's smile grow larger in size and her cheeks start to glow, and she mentally decided that she would wait for the right time; she would wait and make sure that Ash was ready to learn about her newfound feelings and then that would be when she would tell him the truth.

Suddenly, her contemplative thoughts were rudely interrupted when she heard a loud scream coming from the area of the forest that she knew Ash would be in. She looked up to see loud blue vibrations echoing through the air and piercing the silence around them. "What's that?" May asked from surprise as she, Torchic and Azurill all looked in the direction the sound vibrations were coming from. May then looked back to see that Wurmple had turned around to her and was staring her straight in the eyes. May then suddenly screamed in shock, which prompted Wurmple to quickly scamper away and hide into the tree bushes, and then she lost her grip on the tree branch and dropped down on the ground in front of her two Pokemon, landing on her head with a loud thud. Seeing this, Torchic and Azurill both immediately rushed over with expressions of worry as May slowly sat up rubbing her head to make sure she didn't damage it too much.

"(Torchic tor torch chic?)" Torchic chipped . "(Azurill Azu Rio Azu?)" Azurill asked. May turned to see her two Pokemon looking up at her in concern and then she smiled and slowly shook her head just to be certain that it was still intact from that impact.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You both don't need to worry. Hopefully that will be the last time I end up landing on my head." May replied. Once she made sure that her head was still safe, she looked up at the tree that she had just climbed up and fell off at the same time, and noticed that the Wurmple had scattered off from fright. "Oh, I let it get away. How could I make such a silly mistake like that?" May sighed in dismay, looking down at the ground feeling reasonably disappointed with herself for her failed attempt to catch another Pokemon. Torchic and Azurill both showed expressions of concern: they didn't want to see May feeling down on herself like this. Just then, the three could hear the sounds of hovering wings and looked up wondering what was causing this. "What's that sound?" May asked, as she immediately got up on her feet and slowly stepped forward to investigate the cause of the hovering sounds. Before she could go any further, a large horde of Beedrill suddenly rushed forward having been frightened by the loud screeching that May and her Pokemon heard. Upon seeing this, May jumped back and screamed in fright.

"What are those?!" she basically cried out, while Torchic and Aurill both jumped up into the air and both yelled out in panic at the same time. Not willing to take any chances to find out, May promptly turned around and started to run away, with Torchic and Azurill running right beside her and the horde of Beedrill chasing after them. "Why is it always me that manages to get into danger?!" May yelled. This was now the second time she had managed to get herself into trouble: first the Mightyena attacking her and now this. May looked over her shoulder about a second to see the Beedrill following her; from the looks of the horde, it seemed like there was more than a dozen of them. She then gasped in shock and quickly looked away, not wanting to get another glance of those Pokemon. Torchic then turned her head to see the Beedrill horde and, with an expression of determination crossing her face as she got an idea, turned right around and stopped right in her tracks. May and Azurill both turned to find that Torchic had stopped and was staring the incoming horde straight in the eyes so they both turned and ran right over to her. "Torchic, what are you doing? You're going to hurt yourself if you let that horde get near you!" May called. Azurill, on the other hand, seemed to understand what Torchic was trying to do because she showed an expression of determination just like Torchic and bounced over to stand right beside her.

"(Tor Chic chic)" Torchic stated. May stared at her two Pokemon in surprise noticing now confident they were that they would be able to chase the horde of Beedrill away, and they were just waiting for her to tell them what to do. Understanding what they were both trying to tell her, May showed a smile of confidence and then she simply nodded: she felt ready to help them out. With this, the three glanced up to see the large horde coming right towards them.

"All right, let's go! Torchic, use Ember and Azurill, use Water Gun!" May said, pointing directly towards the horde so they knew who to attack. With this, Torchic and Azurill both jumped up into the air and Torchic shot out small blasts of fire from her beak while Azurill shot a strong blast of water from her mouth. The two attacks directly hit the Beedrill horde and they immediately turned and buzzed away retreating into the trees ahead while May watched. Once the horde was completely out of sight, May showed a bright smile and she jumped up into the air in excitement. "Yes, we did it! Great job, you two!" May cheered. Torchic and Azurill both smiled at each other and started jumped up and down, thrilled by their successful effort.

"May!" Hearing that voice, May slowly turned around to see Ash run over with Pikachu sitting on his shoulder and Larvitar running beside him; she could see that he had a concerned expression on his face and he also looked worn out like he had been running over to find her from a long distance. As soon as he approached her, Ash stopped and placed his hands on his knees and then looked down to catch his breath. May couldn't help herself smiling a bit as she noticed how exhausted Ash was from running to find her; it suddenly made her imagine him running all this way just to make sure that she was okay. Sure enough after taking a few seconds to get his breath back, Ash looked up at May and then adjusted himself so he was standing upright. "I started to run over here when I noticed that those Beedrill were coming towards where you were training. Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you?" Ash asked almost rapidly, as if his worry that something might have happened to May had caught up with him.

May happily giggled a little listening to Ash's concern for her safety before she turned to him and shook her head showing a reassuring smile. "No, I'm okay. That horde had another thing coming trying to attack me, Torchic and Azurill." she replied. Ash stared in surprise hearing May sounding so confident after she was just nearly attacked by a horde of Beedrill, but then he started to smile once he figured out why that would be.

"You mean you battled them yourself and chased them away?" Ash asked. May promptly nodded in agreement; while she did get a fright after seeing the horde at first, that was indeed the case. Ash's smile immediately grew larger upon hearing this: it was obvious that he was largely impressed hearing that May had yet again been successful in battling on her own. "May, that's great! You're really starting to get better at battling by yourself." Ash commented. "(He's right. Good job, May!)" Pikachu agreed showing a big smile all the while. May showed a bright smile and she couldn't help giggling to herself; though she wasn't successful at catching another Pokemon on her own today, she knew that her battling skills were starting to show improvement, and that was something she knew Ash noticed.

After that, Ash and May were heading back to the area where they decided to split up with their Pokemon following right beside them; Pikachu was sitting on Ash's shoulder and Larvitar, Torchic and Azurill were all walking on the ground. "Man, today was definitely crazy, wasn't it? I certainly didn't expect for us to get attacked by a Beedrill horde." Ash commented. May nodded in agreement; she didn't see that coming either. Ash then turned to May with a smile and she looked over at him with the two looking at each other straight in the eyes. "I have to be honest, May. You're really doing very well with battling considering that you're just getting started with it. I wouldn't be surprised if you were even able to compete in the Pokemon League." Ash added. May couldn't help but show a bright smile; she couldn't believe that Ash already thought so highly of her battling skills, considering that she had only battled one wild Pokemon and one other person so far.

"You...really think so?" she asked. Ash simply nodded in agreement; he was very certain that May would be able to do well. May could feel her cheeks start to glow for the third time in this day alone. She wasn't even sure how Ash had this effect on her, but she liked it regardless. As the two brightly smiled at each other, Ash looked up to see that evening was slowly coming their way as the sun was starting to set over the horizon.

"Looks like it's getting late. We better start setting up camp for the night." Ash commented. May looked up with him to see what he was talking about and she could see that sure enough, evening was approaching. The two soon arrived at the area of the route they split up at and Ash turned to May. "I'm going to go grab some firewood. May, how about you see if you can find us some food?" Ash suggested. May nodded in agreement and she had a big smile on her face: she had to admit that she was impressed by how Ash knew what he was doing. With this, Ash headed off to grab some branches for firewood while May turned and looked down at Torchic and Azurill.

"Come on, you two. Let's see if we can find some food for tonight." May said. Torchic and Azurill both nodded in agreement, so the three headed off into the forest to see what they could find. Once they got to a good area, May started to look around the trees. "Let's see. What would we be able to find around here?" she wondered as she slowly walked having a look around the trees to see what there was on the branches. She then turned her head to find that on a tree beside her, there were several big blue berries hanging on the branches: she could identify them as Oran Berries. "Wow, those look so tasty. They'd make a pretty good meal." May commented. With this, she walked over to the tree and started to pluck a few berries from the branches.

"(Miss May! Come look at this!)" Recognizing those squeals to be coming from Azurill, May turned and rushed off to find where her two Pokemon had gone off to. Meanwhile, from where they were, Torchic and Azurill were staring at a bush in front of them with their eyes having gone large from excitement and they could see that there were various kinds of Berries on it. The two could hear May approaching and turned around to see that she had just arrived.

"What's happening? What did you find?" May asked. She then looked down to see the bush that Torchic and Azurill were looking at and she gasped in awe to see how many kinds of Berries there were: there were Oran Berries, Pecha Berries and many others that May couldn't even indentify. And to make the deal even sweeter, there was a lot of them too: this was just what she was looking for. "Wow, this is amazing! We've got more than enough of what we need. I have to say, not only are you two great battlers, but you're also great food hunters as well." May commented, bending down to Torchic and Azurill and happily rubbing their heads. The two Pokemon both happily smiled: they are more than glad to help May out. "Come on, let's grab how much we need and meet up with Ash." May then added. Torchic and Azurill nodded in agreement and with that, the three got to work picking several Berries from the bush.

Meanwhile, Ash had just finished placing the sticks and branches he found in place for the campfire. "Now the campfire's in place. We just need to wait for May to come back with our food." Ash said, looking down at Pikachu with a satisfied smile.

"Right here!" Ash turned his head to see May walking over with Torchic and Azurill, and he nearly jumped back in surprise when he noticed that May's arms were filled with different kinds of Berries, as well as Torchic and Azurill carrying a few on their back and head respectively. "We found a bush that had a lot of Berries on it, and we just grabbed what we needed from there." May explained noticing Ash's expression of shock.

"Well, I can agree that we have what we need. But don't you think that was a few too many?" Ash asked, noticing just how many May had in her arms alone. "That's okay. We can save whatever we don't eat for later down the road." May replied. Ash then showed a smile and nodded: that sounded like a good idea to him.

Sometime later, night-time had fallen and Ash and May were sitting on the grass next to each other cooking the berries they placed on a stick over their campfire while their four Pokemon were munching on a bunch of raw Berries the two Trainers left for them. "I have to admit, I feel like I'm out on a camping trip. Sitting out in front of a fire set up on our own, eating food that we find out in the forest. And it's better than I thought it would be." May commented as she and Ash looked over at each other.

"Yeah, it really feels that way, doesn't it? And the best part of it is you also have a great view of the night sky." Ash agreed. The two then looked to see the berries had been thoroughly cooked, so they lifted the sticks from the fire and started to munch on the berries. "I've got to say, May, this is really a good dinner. You should make things for us to eat more often." Ash commented, with his mouth full of berries. May then covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle her laughing from how amusing Ash sounded with his mouth full. Once Ash swallowed the berry bits he was munching on, he turned to May. "Don't you think so?" he then asked, sounding more intelligible.

"Oh, believe me, Ash. My cooking has to be the least professional you'll ever want to see. I, in complete honesty, cannot be trusted to work in a kitchen by myself." May explained, placing her hands in front of her and immediately shaking her head. She then noticed that Ash was staring at her in surprise like he was wondering if her cooking was really as bad as she was making it out to be. "Okay, it's not really that bad. But still, it's not very professional." May then added, deciding to be honest about it.

"Have you ever thought about learning how to cook foods?" Ash asked. "Well, my parents did enrol me in a few cooking classes when I was little. But I never really payed attention whenever my instructor would tell me what to do. I'm not kidding when I say this: the dishes I would serve made the others look better in comparison." May explained. Ash then covered his mouth trying not to laugh from how ridiculously silly that sounded. Noticing him trying not to laugh, May immediately frowned. "That's not funny! I'm being serious!" she snapped, upset that Ash was laughing at her.

"I know that, it's just..." Ash then took his hand away from his mouth, recovering from his near laughing outburst. "I can't imagine that something you would make could really be that bad." Ash then said. May's frown was immediately replaced with an expression of surprise, like she was wondering if she was really hearing this. "Yeah, I'm telling the truth. Considering how good these are, I honestly think you can make some really delicious meals with the right teaching." Ash continued. May's expression of surprise was soon replaced with a bright smile as she heard Ash say this: she didn't expect for him to actually be complementary towards something she made. But...that was something she really liked: Ash was pretty much confident in every one of her abilities while others didn't feel the same way.

Later on, Ash and May had just finished eating their berries and were looking up at the night sky sitting beside one another. "Wow, the sky looks so beautiful from out here." May whispered, staring up at the stars in awe. Ash looked over at May with a big smile seeing how enthralled she was; it was obvious that she was having a great time.

"Yeah, it sure does." Ash agreed slowly nodding. May then scooted over closer to Ash, him not noticing, and then rested her head on his shoulder. Ash then turned his glance to see this and looked over at May in surprise. "What are you doing?" he asked. May lifted her eyes up to look at Ash and she showed a bright smile.

"You don't mind, do you?" she asked in response. As Ash looked down at May, he noticed that her eyes, which were already wonderful enough on their own, had reflections of the stars in them making them look even more dazzling. He then found himself staring in amazement and he felt like his heartbeat was slowly increasing seeing how beautiful May's eyes looked. After about a few seconds he slowly shook his head with a big smile slowly showing; he didn't seem to mind at all. "That's good. I just thought you'd be a bit uncomfortable with me like this." May said. The two then looked back up at the night sky with big smiles on their face; it was clear that they greatly enjoyed spending time with each other.

After what seemed like minutes, Ash and May both turned to find that their Pokemon had fallen asleep. "You ready to head to sleep as well?" Ash asked. May nodded in agreement, so Ash opened his bag and grabbed out his sleeping bag, setting it on the ground and unzipping it before climbing it and making himself comfortable. He then turned to notice that May didn't have anything to sleep on, as she rested up against a tree looking quite cold, so he figured that maybe he should let her sleep with him for the night.

"May?" he asked. May turned her head to look over at Ash sitting up in his sleeping bag and he was placing his hand against it offering her to hop in. "You can sleep with me tonight if you'd like." Ash offered. May then stood up and walked over, and then she bent down with an expression of surprise.

"Are you sure? Is that okay with you?" she asked. Ash immediately nodded in agreement. "Yeah, don't worry. There's plenty of room in this thing. Come on, hop in." he replied. May then smiled in gratitude, and she slowly climbed into the sleeping bag while Ash slowly moved over to make room for her. Once May was comfortable, she looked over at Ash.

"Thanks, Ash." May said. "You're welcome. Just make sure you're comfortable and feel free to let me know if you need a bit more space." Ash replied. May nodded in agreement and then the two snuggled up and closed their eyes.

"Goodnight, Ash." May said. "Goodnight, May." Ash replied. With this, the two were soon sound asleep.

The next morning, the sun slowly rose in the horizon and Ash and May were still sound asleep in the sleeping bag: during the night, May had snuggled up next to Ash and she had her arms wrapped around him. May then slowly opened her eyes and looked over at Ash with a big smile. "Good morning." she softly whispered. Ash then opened his eyes and shifted his gaze over to May beside him and a bright smile crossed his face.

"Oh, morning, May. Did you sleep well last night?" he asked. May happily nodded in agreement. "I sure did. Thanks again for letting me sleep with you, Ash. It was really nice of you to do that." May commented.

"Oh, you're welcome. I just didn't want you sleeping out in the cold. Wouldn't be feeling very good in the morning, would you?" Ash asked. May softly giggled and shook her head; she wouldn't be feeling as good as she was right now.

Sometime later, the two were fully dressed and had just finished packing up everything. "So, are we ready to keep moving to Petalburg City?" Ash asked. "We sure are." May agreed, happily nodding. With this, the two continued to walk down the path to Petalburg City. As the two were walking, May couldn't help herself thinking about what happened last night: Ash offered her to sleep with him in his sleeping bag, and he was perfectly fine with it to boot. That made her gain a big smile on her face, and she knew that though he didn't understand what he was feeling for her, she was certain that it was starting to become more than just friendship for him. Ash was looking at the path ahead and then he showed a smile noticing something in front of them.

"May, look!" Ash immediately said, pointing ahead. May looked with him to see what he found and noticed that looking out from behind a bush in front of them was a little Pokemon with a white body and its arms and legs resembled either a ball gown or an oversized dress. It also had green hair that resembled a bowl cut and covered most of its face including its red eyes, and the hair was split by two horns with a large horn at the front and a smaller horn at the back.

"What's that?" May asked. She immediately grabbed out her Pokedex and opened it up to find out what this little Pokemon was. "Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. Ralts has the power to sense the emotions of people and Pokemon with the horns on its head. It takes cover if it senses any hostility." The Pokedex explained. May stared at the information in fascination and then she looked up at the little Ralts, who turned to see the two Trainers with an expression of uncertainty. May then smiled and nodded, quickly coming to her decision.

"I'm going to try and catch it!" she stated. With this, she grabbed out a Pokeball from her bag and threw it. "Torchic, let's go!" she called. The Pokeball then opened and Torchic came out, landing on the ground and looking at the Ralts with a smile of determination. "All right, let's battle! Torchic, use Ember!" May said pointing at the Ralts.

Torchic jumped up in the air and shot small blasts of fire from her beak at the Ralts. However, Ralts quickly jumped out of the way, much to both May and Torchic's surprise, and then ran over to May and hid behind her hugging one of her legs. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you running away from someone or something?" May asked, with an expression of concern crossing her face as she noticed how frightened the Ralts seemed to be.

Ralts slowly nodded in agreement and then pointed forward, Ash and May both turned to see what had scared Ralts and noticed a small group of Poochyena come over growling angrily at Ralts. Ralts then started to shake in fear and hid behind May. Noticing that the Poochyena might have scared Ralts, Ash and May both turned to the Poochyena with expressions of anger. "What do you think you're all doing? Can't you see that you're scaring this Ralts? And it didn't even do anything wrong to you!" Ash scolded; he clearly didn't like it whenever Pokemon were upset at each other for apparently no reason.

The Poochyena didn't pay any attention to Ash and continued glaring while growling all the while. "I guess someone needs a lesson on how to behave towards a fellow Pokemon. Torchic, use Ember!" May commented, noticing that the Poochyena weren't listening to reason. With this, Torchic shot up small blasts of fire from her beak directly at the ground startling the Poochyena and sending them running away in panic. "Maybe that will teach you some manners!" May called as she and Ash watched the pack running away. Once the Poochyena were gone, May turned around and bent down to see the Ralts still hiding behind her. "It's okay. Those Poochyena are gone now. They won't hurt you, and neither will I." May softly explained with her previous expression of anger now replaced with care and concern.

Ralts looked up at May noticing her gentle smile and couldn't feel any hate in her emotions, and then it showed a small smile and jumped into May's arms. "(Thank you...I don't know what those Poochyena would have done if they caught me. I'm so glad you were here.)" Ralts said. May brightly smiled seeing how happy Ralts was that she was there to help and held the Emotion Pokemon in her arms.

"Well, you're welcome. My name's May, and over here is my friend, Ash." May replied looking up at Ash during her introduction. Ralts slowly turned around to see Ash and Pikachu sitting on his shoulder and showed a smile before slowly waving to them. "You don't need to be scared, Ralts. Ash and Pikachu won't hurt you either." May said, noticing that Ralts still looked a bit worried.

"May's telling the truth. The odds of me ever doing anything to hurt a Pokemon are slim to none." Ash stated. "(He's right. Ash would never do anything like that to a Pokemon.)" Pikachu agreed; he knew Ash enough to know that was the truth.

"(Ralts real alt ralt.)" Ralts said, slowly nodding in acceptance. Ralts then turned to May who was still holding it in her arms. "(Alts Ralt Ral ?)" Ralts asked. May brightly smiled and nodded; even though she couldn't understand what Ralts was saying, it sounded to her like Ralts wanted to be a part of her team and that was something she was more than happy to accept.

"Of course, Ralts! I would love to have you on my team!" May immediately replied. Ralts showed a big smile at this, the first that she had shown after seeing May, and then started clapping. "(Ralts Ral alt ral!)" Ralts happily explained; she knew that she was going to love being on May's team.

"Well, it looks like you have a new friend, May." Ash commented. "(Pi Pikachu !)" Pikachu happily agreed showing a smile in excitement. May happily nodded in agreement, and then she looked down at Ralts with the two happily smiling at each other.

"All right! I got a Ralts!" May cheered jumping up in the air in celebration. Ralts, joining in on the celebration, jumped out of May's arms into the air; she was now part of a team that she knew would love having her.

Now guys Inc an explain.I should have uploaded My story earlier but unfortunately I went to the hospital bcuz of operation.I was supposed to update yesterday but laziness got the better of me and that's why I am updating do know that May kinda doesn't understand poke-speech but she'll get the hang of it later on.

Chloboshoka:You simply don't know what it means to me to get a I first took this story I had only one thing in mind And that was to finish the story and I will finish it.

Spectileman12: I don't want to be rude but would you really want Ash to carry 30 't you think it's kinda do know that Ash has to get more Pokemon and Trading them is one the best ways to do it. And no Brendan And Wally both will be Ash's me Brendan already knows that Ash is an experienced Trainer and Wally wil get his first Pokemon because of Ash so that's he will also take Ash seriously because you know Ash being a League trainer and all.

Ninjafang1331;:Thank you for your kind like you inspire me to write more.

Draczo:I will keep on Updating don't worry.