"So, Ash what are you going to teach May first?" Max asked Ash as they fed the Pokemon, who had all recovered from the day before.

"What?" Ash asked the boy with some confusion.

"You know, teach her how to battle! It should be how she can't focus and is too much of a scatterbrain."

Ash gave Max a disapproved look "Max, I'm not teaching May anything!"

"What? But she can't battle!"

"Max, anyone can battle. I mean, don't you remember when Pikachu was against Vigoroth? She was actually doing well. But after Pikachu knocked him out, she seemed to totally shut down, I think she struggles to control her nerves than anything." Ash explained, it wasn't that she didn't know how to battle it was that she was very inexperienced and struggled to control her nerves.

"She can't stand it when things don't go her way. So if she can battle why isn't she good at it?"

"Well, she wasn't given much time to perfect it and was pretty much thrown in the deep end. Think about your dad for example. He would have been training for years before he became Gym Leader. How old was he?"

"Forty."

Yeah, he was forty and he trained since he was ten. May hasn't even begun her journey yet. She's only ten, remember?"

Max shrugged "So? I'm seven and I swear I could still beat her at a battle!"

Ash frowned, that was the third time in this conversation he had insulted May, but he decided that was not worth his time for now; May was his priority.

"Well, if you think that then tell me this: What makes you 'good' at handling Pokemon and May not so good at it?"

"I dunno, maybe she's just rubbish." Ok that's the fourth time!

"…Have you ever thought it might be because she is afraid of them?"

Max opened his mouth for a second before realising that Ash was right and quickly shut it.

"Exactly. Before I help May improve her skills in battling, I have to show her that Pokemon are nothing to be scared of."

Ash heard the greenhouse door open to see May standing there. Her nose was bandaged and there were shadows under her eyes, as if she hadn't gotten any sleep.

"Morning, May!" Ash called over to her, her tired eyes widen a little.

"I thought you left." She says, cocking her head to one side. She then huffed, realising how rude that sounded "I- sorry…"

"No, it's ok. I just thought I could help you."

"Help me? With what?"

"Well… I found out that you are scared of Pokemon and-"

"MAX!" May snarled at Max's retreating back as he dived behind a tree. Ash glanced at May, guessing she was embarrassed by the story of how she gained her fear.

"Um… what about it?" She asks meekly, directing her eye contact elsewhere and putting her hands behind her back.

"Well, it's hard to be a good Gym Leader if you are afraid of Pokemon and I want to help you with it."

May's muscles tightened. She was confused as to why this lad, who she had only known for two days, would want to help her with something so big such as her near-phobia.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes, of course! May, I told you the other day, I'm not in any huge rush!"

May was still reluctant. She had tried to teach herself that she could trust Pokemon but it didn't matter what she did, her opinion couldn't change. If anything it was made worse.

"So, you up for it?" Ash questions the girl, cocking an eyebrow.

May sighed heavily "Ok..."

Ash lead May to a field outside of the city. It was very quiet and peaceful with a small forest behind them. May could see mountains in the back. It was stunning but when she noticed Ash taking out some Pokeballs, her stomach dropped.

"I went to the Pokemon centre yesterday and I got some of my Pokemon from Professor Oak."

"Who's Professor Oak?"

"A good friend of mine back in Pallet Town. He was the one who gave me Pikachu." He explains, looking at the mouse Pokemon rolling contently in the grass. He takes two Pokeballs out.

"I have Snorlax and Totodile with me. They're very friendly so this should help." He says as he throws one of them in the air.

First to come out was the small blue crocodile like creature, who immediately jumped into Ash's arms, pleased to see him.

"Hey, pal." He chuckles before the Pokemon turned to look at May, who had backed away. She was slightly taken aback by its appearance. Something about its long snout and teeth made her worried. Totodile jumped from Ash's shoulder and ran up to her.

"N- No, get away from me!" She squeaks, jumping back a little. The small crocodile tilted his head, a little disappointed.

"May, relax he won't hurt you!" Ash lowered himself onto the grass and petted Totodile on the head. He gave it a small treat which sent him into a small dance of pleasure. May watched this behaviour with interest. She bent down next to Ash and watched him. Ash handed her some of the treats.

"Here, you can feed him if you want." He says. Totodile sees them and immediately runs up to May, who clenched them in her fist in her haste to get away from it. Ash wasn't annoyed at her behaviour.

May extended her arm out towards the Pokemon. But he doesn't seem to realise her nerves as he eagerly goes for the treats. Almost biting May's hand in the process. Ash took Totodile in his arms as May squealed and baked away, clutching her hand.

"Oh Arceus, May are you ok?"

"I-I- I think so…" She took off her glove to make sure. There was a tiny nick on the tip of her index finger which was dribbling a small amount of blood. She ignores it and puts her glove back on, but extends the distance between herself and Ash.

Totodile sighed and looked up at Ash, slightly confused.

"It's ok, pal." Ash assured him as he put him on the ground. He immediately runs to Pikachu to greet him. The two of them soon start to wrestle in the log grass.

Once Totodile was occupied, May walked back over to Ash, still a little shaken.

"Ok… that didn't go very well…" Ash says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck "But that's ok! So… you want to meet Snorlax now?"

"…is it aggressive?"

"Aggressive? Snorlax? Ha, nah he's a pussycat, trust me!" Ash threw the Pokeball to release the huge Pokemon, who yawned and turned to face the two. Ash noticed that May's shoulders had tensed. He high fives his face as he realises he forgot to mention one small detail.

"He's… big isn't he?" May mumbled.

"Yeah but friendly. I promise!"

The large Pokemon put out his hand towards May, who gingerly touched his claw. Ash watched this with a small smile on his face. It had only been a few minutes since May met Snorlax and already they were making progress.

"Hey!"

May and Ash both jumped at Max's voice as he ran through the field to them. May flinched and Snorlax jumped up and ran to Ash's side, knocking May over.

Ash growled when he saw this; so much for making progress.

"Max, what is it?" He asked the boy.

"I was wondering if I could join you! I could help!" Max chirped, oblivious to May's face palm behind Ash after she is able to get up.

"Um… sorry, Max but this is strictly a one-on-one thing." Ash told him firmly. The last thing May needed was to be under pressure of Max's criticisms.

"Oh well, I can just watch! You won't know I'm here!" He sat on the grass with a book, obviously not interested in moving. Ash sighed, as long as Max stayed quiet and didn't bother May he was alright with him being there.

Over the next hour, Ash showed May his more mild-natured Pokemon such as Quilava, Bulbasaur and Beyleef.

May found Quilava and Bulbasaur quite cute and allowed the small green Pokemon to sit on her lap. Even though she was stiff the whole time and didn't touch him. She felt a bit too crowded with all the Pokemon around. Ash sat in front of her.

"So, May, how are you feeling?" He asked the tense girl, who was gripping the grass with her clenched fists.

"Hm? Ok, um- I'm ok…." She muttered, silently pleading him to take Bulbasaur off of her lap.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked.

"I-" May was about to answer him but she was cut off as her stomach grumbled, quite loudly. A light red flush appears on her cheeks she wrapped her arms around it, snapping her field of vision onto her chest.

Ash smiled at her shy behaviour, he couldn't help it. It made her look so cute. Wait why was he thinking that?

"Hungry?" He asked, obviously not needing an answer. May was going to answer but her stomach rumbled again, causing her to pull her knees to her chest. Why was she feeling so embarrassed about that?

"I packed some rice balls in my bag before we left this morning, I'll just get them." Ash stood up and walked off to his bag which was unfortunately being used as a plaything as the Pokemon were tossing it back and forth.

"Oi, guys stop that- Ahh!" He yowled as Totodile pulled his cap over his eyes before scampering past a sniggering Pikachu.

"Oh real mature! What's g- Wah!" He yelped as he was knocked backwards by Quilava jumping on him.

May stifled a giggle as Ash was soon ambushed by the hyper Pokemon. They obviously loved him.

"Why are you laughing?" Max's voice made her jump as she turned to see him watching her closely behind his glasses.

"I wasn't laughing!" May squeaked defensively.

"Yes you were. And why were you blushing?"

"Wait, when did I blush?" She stuttered, why the hell did he want to know?

"When your stomach growled."

"How does that matter to you!?" May snapped, becoming defensive.

"Because that happens all the time –believe me, I know- but you have never blushed about it!"

"Why do you-?"

"Is it because it was in front of Ash?"

May bit her lip at this question as she felt her face turn a shade of magenta. He had a point. But the big question was: why? She had only met him two days ago!

Max smacked his cheeks dramatically "Oh my Arceus, that's why it isn't?"

"No!" May squealed, waving her hands "It isn't it's because it –umnah- interrupted me when I was talking, that's why!"

"Yeah sure…" Max crossed his arms. May put hers on her stomach and looked over towards Ash as he had finally gotten his bag from the feisty creatures, his hair is even more unruly (who thought that was possible?) and had grass stains on his face and hands.

"Right, I got em." He sits back down and hands May two rice balls. He tries to give Max one but he declines.

"Nah, I ate before I came here." Max said as he sat back down on the grass, facing away from May.

May bit into one of her rice balls as she watched Ash eat his and talking to Max. She was still a little confused. Why did she feel so embarrassed? She shakes the thought from her head and continues to eat her rice ball, which had a chicken taste to it. May suddenly giggles when she feels a particularly long piece of grass tickle her arm but stopped when she suddenly realised that it was not grass which had tickled her.

It was a Torchic.

The little orange chicken was gently scratching May's arm with one of its toes. But in a way so that May wasn't started. She was more curious. The Torchic stood back and tilted its head to the right while ruffling its feathers, staring at the girl with its beady eyes. It was an adorable little creature.

May tilted her head to the left, mimicking the chicken's head movement. When the Torchic tilted its head left, May tilted hers right. This went on for a number of minutes. May wasn't actually afraid of this little bird, it looked harmless while Ash's Pokemon and her father's (Despite their good and mellow natures) still looked scary to her.

The Torchic closed the distance between it and May. She then notices that it had grabbed her gloved hand- the one with the rice ball in it- with its beak and was trying to pull it towards it.

"Hey!" May took her hand from the little bird's grip. Torchic looked down before looking back up. Its eyes seemed to have expanded and were shining with tears. May sighs at this behaviour.

"Oh no, don't do that…." She lets out a sigh and rips a small clump of rice away from the ball and puts her hand out to the almost crying Torchic. It dropped the act immediately and began softly pecking the small grains in the girl's palm. The feathers on its chin tickling her skin. May giggled at it, it seemed to be very sweet and just interested in food rather than her. Maybe that was a good thing.

"Max, shush!" Ash hissed, stopping the boy's ramble. He had been watching May the whole time, the boy couldn't help but grin at the sight.

"What's the big deal? She's just feeding a wild Torchic." Max shrugged, annoying Ash.

"Max, this is big! May wouldn't let any other Pokemon near her a few hours ago and now she's got one which is like a centimetre away from her and she's feeding it!" He said in a frustrated voice.

"But feeding a Pokemon won't make her a better Gym Leader!" Max grumbled behind his book, making Ash more annoyed.

"She has to gain her confidence around Pokemon before she can work with them."

"Uff… but this is May, we are talking about! That will take forever!"

Ash gave the boy a sharp glare, he reminded himself to confront Max about his insults towards May but that was for another day.

He walked over to May, who was gently scratching Torchic between its eyes, the orange chicken cooed with pleasure.

"Made a friend?" He asked, smiling.

May nodded at him "Yeah, he wanted me to feed him so I gave him rice." She looked back at the chicken as it hopped onto her lap and sat down. May jumped a little but quickly recovered as she started preening the bird's feathers.

Ash smiled and petted Torchic's head. He chirped and gently nipped Ash on his finger, making him laugh a little bit. May smiled at him, he had quite a nice laugh which meant she had to laugh too. Which made Ash laugh harder, which made May laugh harder.

Max sighed as the two pre-teens descended into hysterics. What was so funny in the first place? He just started laughing. He shook his head and looked at his book again. I'll never understand May for as long as I live… He thought.

After the pair recovered from laughing, Ash stood up and stretched. "You want to head back? I think that's enough today."

"But you've only been out here a few hours!" Max snapped.

"Yeah but I don't want to drag this out for too long, besides the Pokemon in the greenhouse need taken care of. I can help you with that if you want." Ash replied as he turned back towards May, who was still giggling slightly, her cheeks a slight tinge of red.

As they started walking, May felt something tug on her sock as she turned to see the Torchic following her.

"Shoo! Go home!" May said gently, trying to bat the little chicken away from her. The Torchic sniffed and looked at the ground, May could see tears forming in its beady eyes. May picked it up and looked into them.

"You don't have a home?" she asked it, the chicken buried its face into her chest, basically saying 'No'. May hugged it gently.

"Well… you can come with me if you like." She says. The tiny orange bird squealed with joy and clamoured up onto her head. She didn't have a Pokeball with her so she'd put him in one once she was home.

As May walked behind Ash and Max, who were chatting ahead, she couldn't help but smile at the raven-haired trainer. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

There we go! Chapter four FINALLY! I'm now on my summer holiday so I can get chapter 5 up much quicker.

Ps. I'm thinking of writing a one shot of May and Ash in an eating contest because to be honest I really am curious who would win x3 Think that's a good idea?