Don't worry about Flareon's current attitude. Later on he...warms...to the group. And that's all I'm saying.

Thanks for all the reviews you guys! This just shows how good my writing skills are in reality, instead of the biased responses that my friends and family give me whenever they read my random romance short stories.

Now then. Chapter 4 starts!


Chapter 4: Stupid Mistakes

"Can we take a break or something?! We've been running for over an hour now and we have no idea where the heck we're going!" Max shouted at Ash. Indeed, the trio have been running through the woods for a while now, but he was wrong about one thing: It wasn't an hour. It was half an hour.

Ash, however, didn't hear this, and simply kept running. He had noticed footprints in the mud that looked like May's shoes a while ago. Since then they had been following the trail that she unknowingly left behind.

Ok, as soon as I find May, I'm going to praise the fact that she's alright, then scold her for leaving us in the dark. Got it. Ash thought.

Pikachu had sensed his friend and trainer's thoughts, and nodded along with Ash at his plan. It wasn't exactly the best one there was, but it would do until something better came along.

The trio (or quartet, whichever you prefer) had followed the mud tracks for a little longer now. That's when Pikachu noticed a different set of footprints that correspond with the human tracks that May left behind. The Pokémon jumped down from Ash's shoulder, and waved his arms, crying out his name over and over again. The Pokémon trainer paused, and he looked at Pikachu. "What is it bud?"

"Pika pi! Pikachu!" the yellow mouse pointed to the new tracks that were beside May's footprints. Ash blinked, and knelt down, examining the tracks.

Brock and Max finally catched up to the trainer. They were panting like mad once they found out that Ash had stopped. "Jeez Ash, why aren't you tired?" Max gasped in between breaths.

Brock had seemed to notice the tracks as well, and knelt down beside Ash. He made a low 'hmmmm' sound, and traced the outline of the mysterious paw-shaped prints in the mud with his index finger. He examined his finger after making the full trace. It was stained with mud.

"These tracks are fresh. Whoever or whatever made these is still around." Brock concluded. Ash raised an eyebrow, and looked at Brock's finger, which was covered in mud. He rubbed his chin in thought, and got up. "We should find May. She might be in danger if that thing is still around." He said.

Max blinked as he looked at the tracks. "Are you intentionally dense? Those prints aren't very big! Heck, I bet May's Eevee could have made those." He pointed out.

Brock took a few more seconds to ponder these facts. It was true that they should find May and inquire as to what was going on, but then again, she could just be going for a walk with her Eevee. But why would she be going this far away from the campsite?

Brock looked at the 10 year old brother of May. "Max, what time is it?" He asked.

Max raised an eyebrow at Brock's odd question. "Huh? What does that have to do with our current situation?" Ash blinked at Max's long words.

Brock repeated his question. "What time is it?"

Max shrugged, and fished out his PokéNav from his pocket. He checked the time, and quickly responded. "1:00 PM." He said plainly. His eyes suddenly widened as something in his head clicked. "ONE O'CLOCK?!" He looked at the time again. It was accurately correct.

Ash blinked. "We left to look for May at around 11 o'clock, right?" Brock nodded, and Ash's eyes widened. "Then we should quicken our pace. We have to find her soon."

Brock nodded. "And I have an idea. How about our Pokémon?"

Ash's eyes widened yet again. He sighed, depressed, and slowly walked over to the nearest tree. He faced it for one moment, before beginning to bang his head against the tree trunk.

"Gah! Ash!" Brock quickly ran over to his friend and tried to restrain him from killing himself for his stupidity. "You can beat yourself up later! Right now just call out your Swellow!"

Ash wasn't done yet. "I am such an IDIOT!" he started slapping his forehead. "WHY didn't I think of that BEFORE!"

Pikachu rolled his eyes, and reached a tiny arm over at Ash's belt. He plucked one of Ash's Pokeballs from the slot, and pressed the center button. The ball suddenly expanded in size, and looked really big for the Pokémon. That didn't stop him, and he quickly tossed the ball onto the ground in front of him.

The ball opened, releasing one of Ash's best Hoenn Pokémon: Swellow. The Flying-Normal type Pokémon cried into the air once before turning to Ash. It cocked his head to the side as he watched his master getting beaten up by his friend.

Pikachu walked up to Swellow, before the Pokémon could do anything rash. The two creatures struck up a conversation immediately, Pikachu explaining the situation, while Swellow asked questions concerning his task. Once Pikachu had given the Flying type Pokémon enough information, Swellow nodded and took off into the air, cawing its name once more.

Ash finally stopped from his inane stupor and stared at Pikachu. "Pikachu, did you do what I think you did?"

The Pokémon looked at Ash oddly, before nodding and chirping its name happily.

Brock looked up in the air. "I guess we wait until Swellow comes back I guess." He said.

-------

"AH! Get offa me!" May cried. The Flareon had started to scratch her leg from out of nowhere, and it was really starting to hurt. She waved her leg around in an anime-like fashion to shake the Pokémon off of her.

The Flareon obliged, but then started to point to its...trainer? May blinked. "What's with your trainer?" She asked the Pokémon.

The Fire Pokémon cocked his head to the side, as if wondering what she just said. He then just ran up to his trainer's feet, and beckoned her to come closer.

May raised an eyebrow. Why does this Pokémon want my help? And what's with his trainer? He sleeps like Ash, totally out cold! May felt a small smile enter her lips at the thought.

She obliged to Flareon's request, and decided to check out his trainer. She stepped up to where the trainer's feet were, and she moved the bushes that were conveniently in the way of her view. As she did so, her eyes widened.

The boy was in bad condition. His hair was terribly dirty and muddy, as were the rest of his clothes. From what she could gather from the occasional speck of colour from all the dirt and mud, she saw that he was wearing a black shirt, with a gray vest to go with it. He was wearing jeans, that was for sure. She could tell from the way they fit onto his legs, and he was wearing runners. Out of the corner of her eye, May saw his backpack, which looked like an ordinary travelling backpack, except for a long flat sort of board that was sticking up from the backpack. She didn't get a closer look just yet. Besides, she probably shouldn't touch someone else's stuff.

Flareon suddenly walked up to his trainer's head, and started rubbing it with his paw. He started to say his name some more at May, who stepped to where the Pokémon was. She seemed to get the idea that something bad happened to this kid.

She knelt down beside the trainer's head, and examined it. Other than the messy black hair that was drenched in mud, she didn't really see much at first glance. She acknowledged this to Flareon, who just responded by gripping May's pinkie finger with his mouth, and lifted it onto a certain spot of the boy's head. The Pokémon then placed a paw on the top of May's hand, and started to move his paw, which in turn caused May's hand to vibrate against the kid's noggin. She suddenly felt a bulge of some sort on her palm.

NOW May got what Flareon was trying to tell her. The kid probably got conked in the head somehow and got knocked out. Poor boy. I hope Ash gets here soon. Then we can get this kid back to the campsite and help him out.

May suddenly saw a fast moving shadow approach and pass her. She looked around for a moment, and looked up in the air. The Pokémon Coordinator suddenly realized that there was a Swellow swooping around in the air. At first it looked just like a regular old Swellow, until she realized out of the blue that it belonged to Ash. How did I figure that out? She thought. Shrugging, she got up, and waved over at the flying Pokémon, hoping to gain its attention.

-----

Meanwhile, high in the sky, Ash's Swellow was scouting the area for his trainer's crush. And before you say anything, Swellow knew about Ash and May loooong before Ash could admit it to anyone. He had seen it when he was just a little Taillow, a few weeks after he had been caught by Ash. Call it intuition or just plain obviousness, but Swellow knew about things before most others did. Meh, that's life I guess.

Swellow shook its current thoughts from its head as he flew around the area. He looked down upon the ground, and noticed someone waving towards him. Utilizing his naturally sharp eyes, he noticed that it was May, trying to get his attention. There she is. I'll have to go tell Pikachu. He thought. He looked straight ahead, and banked left, making a full U turn and headed back to where Ash and Co. Were.

------

"Are you sure?"

"Pika Pikachu! Pika!"

"She's alright, right?"

"Pika!"

Brock got up. "That settles it. We follow Swellow to where he saw May. Then we can assess the situation." He concluded. Max nodded in agreement to this, as did Ash.

The party had just been rejoined by Swellow, who reported his findings to Pikachu, who relayed them to Ash, who then interpreted this information and explained it to Brock and Max. At the information that Ash had to process, he sighed at the thought that he had finally found May. He was getting hungry...

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go find her." Ash finally said. At this signal, Swellow instantly took flight, and, using his memory, started flying in the direction of where May was. Pikachu quickly scampered after Swellow, with the humans tailing the yellow mouse.

It had been around 5-10 minutes of running through the forest when Ash suddenly saw a new sight. It was grass.

"FINALLY! Thank god!" Ash cheered at the sight of a place to rest. He was almost there.

As the group emerged from the woods and into the clearing, Swellow instantly perched on top of Ash's head. Pikachu glanced at the Flying-type Pokémon, who simply pointed a wing at a particular tree, and then tapped one of Ash's empty Pokéballs, returning to the capsule.

Ash had noticed the Pokémon pointing to the tree as well, and turned to Brock and Max. "Swellow pointed to that tree..." The trainer pointed towards a particularly large Oak tree about a kilometre away from their current position.

Max beamed up. "May is probably there then!" He instantly sped off towards the tree, leaving his companions in a trail of dust.

Ash and Brock exchanged glances, and quickly sped off after Max. Pikachu had already perched up on Ash's shoulder, and was therefore still with them.

As Ash and Brock tried to catch up to the excited Max, the Pokémon trainer noticed that at the tree of the base, there were a few silhouettes there. He couldn't really make out what they were, but it was obvious that one of them was definitely human, as it was standing upright. Ash squinted to get a better look at what was ahead of him.

There she was.

"May!"


A first glimpse of our mystery boy is revealed! What happened to him? What will happen to him? What will our heroes do with him? How will Flareon react to this situation. (Flareon: BURN STUFF!)

Find out in the next chapter (and possibly the chapter after that) of In The Fire Of The Sun! Please Read and Review! Hopes that doesn't make him sound desperate.