A/N: This came out later than it was supposed to. Something happened, and the entire chapter disappeared into nothingness. So now I have to write it again. Joy.
Pikachu: Serves you right.
Oh shut up! I was tired, and my little brother came in and shut everything down!
Pikachu: It's called saving it first.
I was gonna come back...hey wait, aren't you supposed to be with Mew? How'd you get here?
Pikachu: Give me a ketchup bottle and I'll tell you.
Fine –digs in cabinet- here you are! –Throws ketchup bottle-
Pikachu –Yum! –Starts drinking ketchup- let's start this!
Hey, wait a-
If it were possible, time seemed to slow down even more for Ash and May. He was going to fall right on her if she didn't move.
"May, what are you doing? Get outta the way!" Max's words fell on deaf ears.
Ash looked at May, a look of surprise across his face. She should have moved out of the way, but didn't. Just then, his eyes lit and a blush appeared on his cheeks as something crossed Ash's thoughts. May blushed as well, seeing the light in his eyes. Knowing exactly what could happen, May knew she might not have this chance again, so she took a step forward.
"May, get out-" Neither May nor Ash heard the boy's words, as they disappeared beneath the surface of the water in a splash.
The first thing that they both felt was pain. A throbbing pain in their foreheads, that seemed to increase with each passing second. One knew what was happening, while the other hadn't the slightest clue.
May reached up to rub her aching head, but felt something in the way. Frustrated, May decided to leave it alone until she broke the surface. Trying to open her mouth to breath, May felt something blocking her once more. Opening her eyes to see, May's vision was blurred to due to the liquid environment. It didn't take long for her to adjust, though, and she blinked her eyes several more times, taking a look at whatever was in her way. Looking directly in front of her, the first thing May noticed was a pair of lightening bolt-shaped marks. Now knowing what was in her way, May wrapped her arms around the mysterious object, pulling herself closer.
"Tomp?" A familiar water-type asked. Ash and May's eyes turned to face the Pokémon. The Mudfish Pokémon placed one of its paws on their backs, causing them to break contact instantly. The Pokémon grinned, and the next thing they knew, Ash and May found themselves above water.
"May, Ash, are you guys okay? You were under there for a long time!" Brock called from the shore.
"Yeah, we're okay!" Ash waved to show he was fine.
"You might be, but I got a headache!" May rubbed her forehead. As the two made their way to the shore, Marshtomp was busy telling Brock what had happened. Max kept on glancing at the two suspiciously, but didn't say anything. May groaned, holding an ice pack to her head.
"It's your own fault, and you know it. You should have moved, but you were too busy daydreamin' or something." May waved off her brother's comment. Annoyed that he couldn't get his sister to start a fight, Max walked off and played with the Pokémon.
"Ash, mind coming over here for a sec?" Ash nodded, walking over to the breeder. Sitting down next to him, Ash rubbed his head for a moment.
"I guess that hurt a bit more that I thought." Ash said to no one in particular.
"So, how was it?" Brock lowered his voice so that only Ash could hear him.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Ash lied, already knowing what Brock was asking.
"Don't even try to avoid it, Ash. Marshtomp told me everything." Ash sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to get away.
"Well...I don't really know how to describe it..." Ash reached his hand behind his head, pretending to scratch something.
"Did you enjoy it, did you want more, do you never want to see her again, or-"
"Well, anything but the last one, really. I-I don't know, it's really confusing. Can we get off this topic please? I mean, what about the flower?" Ash was blushing again.
"I can answer that one. It is known as a time flower, and was said to be used by Sir Aaron. I never believed they existed until now." Just then, the flower began to glow. A ball of light appeared within the center of the flower, and began to float up. The flower's petals unfolded, and the ball inside exploded. The entire area was covered in a strange energy, and the scene of Ash pulling the flower from the cliff replayed itself in front of everyone. Just as Ash hit May, the mysterious energy disappeared, and the ball of energy appeared again. It went into the flower, and the petals closed. Ash and May sighed in relief, earning curious looks from Max and the Pokémon.
"Well, we've been here long enough. We should get moving soon." Kid announces to the group.
"The geysers have died down, so we should get through while we can." Brock added while packing up.
"Okay, I better go change then." Ash said, walking up to the humvee.
"Ladies first, Ash!" May giggled, running past him. Ash looked up to his shoulder, half expecting Pikachu to laugh as well. Remembering why he was coming to the tree in the first place, Ash shook his head, leaning against the vehicle while waiting for May to get out.
"Okay, I'm done. You can go in now." May climbed out. Seeing the look on Ash's face, May grabbed his shoulder and lightly shook him. Ash jumped in surprise, causing May to laugh.
"What was that for?" Ash said, upset that she startled him.
"You were daydreaming, Ash. C'mon, change into your regular clothes." May finished tying her bandana on her head.
"If you say so, May. Be out in a bit." In what seemed like seconds, Ash was out of the truck, in his outfit.
"Well, as soon as Max gets done changing, we can start moving. You ready Lucario?" Ash called to the Pokémon, who had been ignoring him since the hot incident.
"I'm ready when you are." Lucario said, telepathically of course.
"I'll take that as a yes. Are you done yet, Max?" Ash knocked on the window.
"Don't count on it." May said with her words coated in sarcasm.
"Oh, be quiet May. I'm done, see?" Max hopped out of the vehicle.
"Max, I do not want to see your underwear!" May shielded her eyes, laughing as she ran away.
"Yeah, you better run!" Max said, chasing after her.
"Or what? What are you going to do, little brother?" May put emphasis on the word 'little'.
"Just you wait 'til I catch you!" May laughed as Max ran after her.
"Ash, it might be a good idea to stop them before they get too far." Brock said, climbing in the front seat.
"Right." Ash said, running in the direction of the siblings.
In the distance, Ash could hear Max's threats, followed by May's taunts. Though it was sometimes difficult, Ash could tell which one was speaking at any given point. After Ash heard Max say something, May's voice wasn't heard. Either Max had caught her, or something had happened. Running faster, Ash soon found both of them, relieving his worries. As he got closer to them, Ash could see that Max was sitting in May's lap, with her hand secured over his mouth. Her face was a bright red, and Max was struggling to move her hand.
"What happened here?" Ash said, kneeling down to them. May blinked, as if she didn't recognize Ash.
"Hmm? Oh, hey Ash." May looked at him, a relieved expression across her face. While May was distracted with Ash, Max pulled her hand off.
"Ash, May-" Max was silenced again. May smiled at him, and whispered something in his ear. Ash was curious, but now wasn't the time to ask questions.
"I don't know what happened, but we have to get back to Brock and Kid. We have to get to the Tree of Beginning, remember?"
"Right, of course. Come on, Max, let's go." May stood up, brushing herself off. Max crossed his arms, obviously annoyed by whatever his sister had said to him.
"Let's go you two!" Ash said, running ahead of them.
"Ash, wait up!" May called, holding Max by the wrist. The younger boy didn't say anything, but ran to keep up.
"We're here!" Ash called, waving his hands in the air.
"Took you long enough, don't you think?" Brock joked.
"It took a while to find 'em. They were pretty far out there." Ash had his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths.
"Well, as long as they're here, we can go. C'mon, climb in." Brock said, rolling up his window.
May climbed into the middle seat, while Max took the left, leaving Ash with the right seat. Ash looked out his window to the Tree of Beginning, where Pikachu was supposed to be.
The sun had set, and now the only light was from the moon. Despite how close they were to the tree, both Kid and Brock decided it would be best to stop for the night, just to be safe. Ash reluctantly agrees, upset that they can't go further.
"If I can't get him tonight, then I'll get Pikachu tomorrow." Ash stated. Lucario looks at Ash with a surprised expression.
"Why would you go to such lengths to get back Pikachu?" Lucario asked.
"Me an' Pikachu have been with each other for so long, we'd do anything for each other." Ash said, looking to the stars.
"You're a lot like Aaron, Ash. Maybe if you're connected to Aaron somehow, then you should just leave Pikachu. Like Aaron did to me."
Angered by what Lucario said, Ash grits his teeth to try and control himself. Finding the effort useless, Ash tackled Lucario, sending them tumbling down a hill and into a pond. Everyone else came running down, trying to convince the two to stop fighting. The human and Pokémon continued, until Lucario managed to launch Ash from the pond. Lucario then jumped from the pond, muttering something about all humans being cruel.
After a quick check to ensure Ash was okay, everyone else walked off, except for May. Taking a glance to make sure that no one could hear her, May's expression changed, but Ash couldn't see.
"Ash, what were you thinking?" May crossed her arms beneath her chest, tapping her foot.
"He said something mean about Pikachu!" Ash said, trying to dry himself off.
"That doesn't mean you should try and hurt him!" May began to walk closer to him.
"He shouldn't have said that about Pikachu." Ash sat down, drying his hair.
"And you shouldn't have-" Ash sneezed, interrupting what she said.
"Great, now you're going to get sick. C'mon, let's get you in a dry set of clothes." May's voice suddenly went much softer, taking Ash by surprise.
"What?" Ash said, sneezing again.
"With that set of wet clothes, you're only going to get sicker than you are now. So go get changed, and you can sit by the fire to warm up. C'mon, let's move." May helped Ash to his feet, because he was still shocked by her sudden change of mood.
"O-okay..." Ash said, making his way up the small hill that he had rolled down just minutes ago. May was digging through his backpack, looking for his other set of clothing.
"Here you are. Now get changed, and go sit in front of the fire. I'll go get some soup warmed up for you." May began to walk away.
"May, wait for a second." Ash called to her.
"Do you need something?" May looked at him, wondering what he might need.
"You sure you don't want to help me change?" Ash laughed as he saw the dark blush form on her face. At first she was confused, but that was quickly replaced by anger. Quickly closing the door, Ash laughed at May as she tried to open it.
"ASH!!!" May pulled on the door handle, but Ash held it from his side. "Open this door right now!" Ash only shook his head, continuing to laugh. Watching Ash laugh like that made May's anger diminish quickly. A smile formed on her lips, causing Ash to become confused again. Just like last time, her moods switched so quickly, he didn't have time to react. May giggled, seeing the look on his face.
"I'll go get your soup now, K? Be back in a few." May smiled, and turned around to go get the promised soup.
That is that, people. I was gonna make it longer, but I think this is a good ending for the chapter. But that's what I think.
I must thank all of you who have reviewed. It's simply overwhelming to see the amount of attention this story's gotten in such a short amount of time.
Pikachu: Yeah, no kidding. Aw, I'm already outta ketchup? Be back in a bit.
Now that he's gone, we don't need to worry about any interruptions! Now, to reply to the reviews;
Xaotladv: Well, here's your update! I plan on updating as soon as I can, but you all can expect an update once a week, at latest.
monko25: Aww, you're so nice. As said earlier, here's teh update:D
Lateral Ganon: Neat! I plan on making quite a few changes, to suit both Advanceshipping and the way I think things should have happened. :P
bbbstrwbrry: Enjoy the chappy then! Hope ya like it!
pokemonguardian4260: You guys rock. Where I used to be, it was rare to get reviews like this. I'm glad I decided to move here. :)
zeaeevee: I absolutely love Advanceshipping, it's just so cute. As for the Pikachu bit, that has to do with me not mentioning anything about being up in the tree, Mew, or even Meowth. Hehehehe oops.
Oh! I've read your story! I really like it, to say the least. I'm more of a ninja-reader, and don't usually leave reviews. –sweat drop- hehehe...
Is that last part a good thing or a bad thing?? I'll go with the first one. :3
LuciferIX: Well, I'm new here, but not new to writing stories. But still, thank you for the kind words. And yes, there's going to be quite a twist. No more on that though. :3
RioN VhEnTeUnO: You aren't the first to tell me that. I've got a limited vocabulary, and the thesaurus can only help so much...bleh. And after reading this chapter, everyone will know why he's a Marshtomp instead of a Mudkip. :3
As for Lucario, I'm just sticking with the movie. According to the movie, Lucario's a legendary Pokémon, so that's what I'm saying he is. Even though in the games he's only really rare, I'm trying to make my story as believable as possible.
Well, that's it! All done! I'm starting to miss Pikachu, his comments were kinda interesting...
Pikachu: HA! YOU ADMIT IT! YOU MISSED ME!
Yes, I did. Can you come back now?
Pikachu: On one condition...
How did I know? –sigh- fine, you can have as much ketchup as you want! –pulls out huge box of ketchup bottles- There, that should keep you happy for a while.
Pikachu: I'm sure it will. Hey, how're we gonna end this chapter?
I was sorta hoping you'd already gotten that one...xx;
Pikachu: I got it! I got it! Hey Mew, come here!
Mew: Ooh! Are we gonna play a game?! Are we? ARE WE?!?
Pikachu: Not exactly. Here, listen to this. –whispers in Mew's ear-
Mew: That sounds fun!
Pikachu, what's going on...?
Pikachu: It's nothing, don't worry about it!
Okay, if you say so...-goes back to thinking-
Pikachu: NOW!
Mew: Okie Dokie! –shoots Confusion at me-
-gets hit by Confusion- Heyy, since when was there seven Pikachus? I'm not feeling so good. Nighty night! –falls out of chair, asleep-
Pikachu: Too strong...
Mew: Oops...well, I'll be going now...
Pikachu: Great, now I have to do it. Random Fact: This story was original supposed to be titled "A Lucky Accident". Betcha didn't know that!