Author's Note

Hey, everyone! Thanks to all those who reviewed, it's always a pleasure reading your comments! Just to reiterate, I will not abandon this story. Even though updates are no longer on a regular basis for these upcoming chapters, I fully intend to finish this story and many more to come, because otherwise it would be unfair to you, the readers. Now that that's taken cared of, I'll just say that in the future, a lot of things will go down in the story, so don't think this is going to end anytime soon!

Please review and enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon

Chapter 10

Pikachu enjoyed what he was seeing as he stood on his seat. His job was done for now, at least until they all got back into the hotel room. He still remembered about his plan from earlier, and, given that his best friend and May were now emotionally invested and committed to each other, the night should be rather interesting.

Switching his focus onto his best friend, he couldn't help but smile at how much the trainer had matured. Throughout all the adventures he had shared with him, he never would have imagined that Ash would mature to grow strong, serious emotions for females. Maybe it was only because of May that he managed to turn out that way. Anyway, Pikachu figured that tonight, he would have to help them grow accustomed to their emotions, and what better way than to interfere with their sleeping arrangements?

Across from Pikachu, Ash and May finally broke the kiss, still gleaming passionately at each other. Their foreheads touched, and their hands delicately held the others, not wanting to lose the presence of warmth and comfort.

The three of them sat in a peaceful silence, the atmosphere filled with newfound love, friendship, comfort, and the realization that Ash and May were now finally together.

They found themselves reaching for each other's cheeks, gently caressing the soft skin of the ones they held dear to themselves. The longer they remained in this position, the more they felt that this moment was just right, that this night was just for them, no matter how surreal this all seemed.

The gondola began to lower, and when they were about a quarter of the way from the bottom, they finally spoke for the first time since their first kiss.

"So, Ash, I guess this is really it...we are now in our first relationship, as boyfriend and girlfriend." May spoke softly, smiling at the trainer.

"Yeah, I guess so, although 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' sound so unfamiliar and foreign to me." Ash chuckled. "I...I guess I better start getting used to it, then."

May giggled and rested against Ash's side, wrapping her arms around his, as if he were her knight in shining armor, and laying her head on his shoulder. May never, in a million years, thought that she would be able to do something like this. For a long time, the most she could do was daydream about the trainer and live it through the best she could. It was wishful thinking, but now was the real deal. Now, the empty void in her heart was filled, and now, all her hopeless dreams had hope. Hope for a better future, and hope for a life of unconditional love and support.

Ash couldn't express how happy this evening made him. He thought the concept of love was a lost cause for him, considering his dense nature, but, never would he have imagined that his first ever experience with love would be with May, whom he had grown so attached to. Since he was completely new to the idea of love and relationships, he wanted to take things slowly with May as not to ruin things quickly and turn them against each other. That was the last thing he wanted, so, in the mean time, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of May sitting next to him.

The gondola reached its lowest point, prompting the newfound couple and Pikachu to step out. With Pikachu on May's shoulder, and Ash holding onto her plushy, they walked to the entrance of the park.

"Well, seeing that it's getting pretty late, do you want to head back to the hotel?" Ash asked.

May found herself to be yawning. Despite how her interactions with Ash made her feel so alive and reinvigorated, she felt exhausted after such a long day.

"Yeah, I could go with going back. I'm so tired." May stretched her arms behind her back.

"Well, soon enough, we'll be in the comforts of our beds, and then it's wonderful sleep for us." Ash smiled, taking May's hand and leading her.

"Yeah, and then we can do all sorts of interesting things tomorrow, considering our new relationship, Ashy." May winked.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ash blushed, still unable to believe that he and May were finally together.

The couple walked onto the boardwalk and breathed in the calm, relaxing air. The screams of roller coaster enthusiasts grew fainter and fainter, and now they appeared before a section of the boardwalk that was filled with beautiful lights and several shops. Tourists and Pokémon alike were happily chatting amongst themselves, and stars scattered along the sky, giving off a beautiful and peaceful vibe.

One particular shop had a wonderful aroma coming from it, causing Ash and May to subconsciously walk towards it. They found out that the delightful smell was coming from a bakery, and, naturally, the thought of food made them hungry. They walked inside and began drooling as they looked at the various types of cakes and donuts on display.

"Oh wow, these look delicious!" May exclaimed. "Especially that one!" She pointed at a chocolate layered cake.

"Here, let me buy one for you." Ash said as he took money from his wallet.

"Oh, no no no, you don't have to do this for me." May placed her hands over Ash's.

"Well, I don't have to, but I want to do this for you, especially since you mean so much to me." Ash smiled passionately at May, then shifted his hands so he could hand the workers the money.

May simply stared at him, not expecting Ash to be this gentleman-like with her. She saw Ash happily exchange the money for the box with the cake in it and saw him walk towards her with a grin.

"Well, now that that's taken cared of, how about we head back?" He asked.

May was about to agree until she caught notice of Ash struggling to hold onto all the objects he was carrying. Knowing that she was mainly the reason for his carrying the plushy and cake, she decided that she would help him out.

"Sure, though I'm not allowing you to hold onto all of my things. Let me hold onto something." May said, reaching for the cake.

"It's alright, May, I can handle it." Ash tried to reason with her, but the brunette was having none of it.

"Ash, I have to do something for all that you've done for me, so I'm lightening the load for you and that's final. Plus, how am I going to hold your hand with you carrying the cake and the Glaceon plushy?" She spoke in a motherly tone with her hands on her hips.

"Alright, you win." Ash grinned.

May happily took the box of cake and intertwined her fingers with Ash's. Ash blushed at her behavior, while Pikachu laughed at their antics.

Drew rapidly ate the food off his plate as one thing kept repeating in his mind: "Find May before it's too late." Normally, he would respect others and eat with good table manners, but now, all he wanted to do was eat as quickly as he could and leave.

"Damnit, I can't afford to waste any time in this wretched place. I should be out there with May, spending quality time with her. Instead, I'm stuck here, and Ketchum is with her." Drew thought. "I hope I still have a chance. Hopefully, May won't give him any attention because I'm clearly better than him. There's no way she would be interested in him."

The green-haired coordinator was just about done stuffing his face until he looked up and noticed something outside the window behind Brock and Max at the table. He stopped eating, leaned forward on the table and squinted.

"Is that...May?" He carefully watched as a girl with two iconic bangs came into view through the small gaps of the crowded boardwalk. "It is! Good, she left Ketchum to be here with m-" At that moment, he noticed Ash walking along with May, smiling. His eyes fell onto their hands. A sickening feeling erupted in his stomach, and he had never felt so much rage build up in himself in that short amount of time.

"No...no, no, no...this can't be...they can't be..." Drew continued to watch with his eyes wide open. He didn't care that he didn't finish his meal, he had to put a stop to this and find answers. He stood up, and, without acknowledging Brock or Max, he ran out of the restaurant. His eyes scanned the crowd for May, but he lost sight of her. Frustration began to build up in his body, and, for the first time in his life, he felt completely lost and hopeless.

"No, no, no, NO!" He yelled, getting louder progressively. "WHERE ARE YOU, MAY!"

People around him were giving him strange looks, but he didn't care one bit. The only thing that mattered to him was May, and now he couldn't find her. Slowly, he felt as though he was losing sanity, and that this whole situation with Ash was making him lose himself in hatred.

"Okay...calm down, Drew." He told himself, breathing heavily. "Let's consider the circumstances. For all I know, I could simply be envisioning them holding hands, and that none of this happened. Or, Ash forced May into this situation, and May had no choice but to hold hands with him. Yeah, that's got to be it. There's...there's absolutely no way she would leave me for him...right?" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to fully calm himself. Even though he didn't realize it, he was beginning to lose his judgment, and it would only go downhill for him.

He opened his eyes and smirked. "No, there's no way she would leave me for him. I should take her out as soon as possible, then she'll be with me."

"Hey, Drew! There you are!"

The coordinator turned around to see Brock and Max walking toward him.

"What was with the sudden running off?" Max asked, looking up at Drew.

"Oh, no, it was nothing, really," Drew said, his voice growing more and more confident, "I was simply taking some fresh air and recollecting my thoughts."

Brock and Max looked at each other, knowing there was much more than that, but they decided not to push him.

"Well, now that we're done eating, what now?" Max asked.

"Well, you two can do whatever you want, I'll be looking for May." Drew answered, crossing his arms.

"Well good luck with that. She could be anywhere with Ash." Brock spoke up.

"Pfft. Ketchum, that insignificant, inferior brat." Drew muttered to himself, then began walking away on his quest.

Once Drew was far away and out of view, Max looked up to his friend and sighed.

"I really don't know how I'm gonna be able to tolerate that guy in our room; his attitude and demeanor stink." Max groaned.

"Well, if he knows what's good, May is virtually only focused on Ash, meaning that he has very little to no chance of being with her." Brock stroked his chin. "Plus, I get the feeling that Ash and May have accomplished quite a lot within these few hours."

"Hopefully they have. They'd be stupid not to take advantage of this time." Max said.

"I wouldn't worry about them. I trust they know what they're doing."

"Ahhh, here we are." May breathed.

The familiar sight of the grand hotel appeared before them, and they walked through the doors. They entered the elevator and quietly rode up until they reached their floor. Walking along the hallways, Ash reached for the handle of the door to their room and opened it, allowing May to enter first. Enjoying the kind gesture, May pecked Ash on the cheek and walked inside. After flipping on the light switches, May set down the cake in the miniature refrigerator before flopping down onto the bed in exhaustion. Similarly, Ash placed the plushy next to May and flopped down onto the same bed by May's side. Pikachu simply lay in between his two human companions and breathed in a sigh of relief.

"Well, after such a long day, I kinda feel content just laying here and sleeping like this." May said, turning her head to face Ash.

"Yeah, I kinda feel the same, but we still have to wash up, considering we went into the ocean and all that." Ash brought up. "So, in that case, do you want to shower first?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll be right back." May replied, quickly moving toward Ash to kiss him before getting her clothes and closing the bathroom door behind her.

Ash was still having trouble processing those kisses from May, as they surprised him and raised many strong feelings of desire. His lips curled into a smile as he touched the spot he felt May kiss with his fingers.

"Man, this has to be one of, if not, the best day of my life." Ash said to no one in particular, still laying on May's bed.

Pikachu crawled next to Ash's head and began patting him in congratulations.

"Pika, pikapi." The Pokémon grinned.

"Thanks, Pikachu. Say, seeing as how you were the one to set us up, in a way, I'm kinda curious. How long did you know that she had a thing for me?" Ash scratched beneath Pikachu's chin, earning a soft, happy coo.

"Chu, pika Pikachu." Pikachu replied.

"Oh, wow, she was interested from way back then, huh. I always knew she cared about me, but not by that much. All I can say is that I'm so thankful to have her in my life, and I truly wish that we will live a long, happy relationship." Ash smiled, thinking about May.

"Pika, pikachu?"

"Oh, Brock and Max? I'm pretty sure they'll find out soon enough that May and I are now together. As for Drew, he's gonna have it hard. Hopefully, he won't be too mad and lose all judgment. That can be ugly."

"Pikachu."

"Yeah, I guess I shouldn't worry to much about it."

May hummed while taking off her clothes and setting them aside. Walking to the shower stall, she turned on the shower. Once the water for the shower was a comfortable temperature, she stepped in and began scrubbing various parts of her body. Now that she had a boyfriend, she wanted to keep as clean as possible, not that she wasn't before. She became more self-conscious and wanted to be as presentable as possible to Ash.

As she continued to wash herself, like many people who take showers, her thoughts drifted on and about, imagining perfect scenarios for herself and Ash in the upcoming days. She could spend all day with Ash tomorrow at the amusement park, riding everything there is, and eating at all the cuisines on the boardwalk. She remembered seeing a movie theater before, so they could watch a nice romantic movie together. May giggled, imagining all the cute things she could do with Ash in the theater, such as snuggling up against him and stealing kisses every now and then.

"Ahhh, this is the best day of my life." May breathed out while thoroughly washing her hair. "I finally got the boy of my dreams, and now I can do all sorts of fun activities with him."

After a couple more minutes of washing up, May turned off the shower and stepped out, drying her wet body and hair. She glanced at the mirror to the side and smiled at her reflection, seeing the growth of when she first started on her adventure to now, where her life felt complete with Ash.

May began putting on her nightwear, which consisted of an overly large shirt and short shorts, and opened the bathroom door. Ash looked up and smiled at May, who returned the gesture. May noticed that Ash was still on her bed, so she decided to play with him.

"Well, look who's trying to take over my bed." May grinned, climbing into bed next to Ash.

"Well, after laying down here, it just became too comfortable for me to leave." Ash defended himself.

"That's nice, considering how we can spend more time together..." May said seductively, snuggling up against Ash. Ash noticed May's lips closing in on his, so he expectingly lowered his eye lids and waited for the kiss. He waited, but he didn't feel anything. He opened his eyes and saw May smirking at him, with her fingers lightly tapping on his nose. "...but that can wait after you take a shower, Ashy."

Ash groaned and jokingly whined to May about getting played, receiving giggles from the brunette. Afterward, he got up from bed with Pikachu and walked into the bathroom.

"I'm gonna turn in for the night. G'night, Brock" Max groggily said, turning over the covers of the bed on himself.

"Good night, Max."

Brock, too, was beginning to feel sleep overcome him. As he was about to head to the sofa to sleep, he heard the door open. Brock turned to see Drew nonchalantly walk in and close the door behind him.

"Hey, Drew, I was beginning to wonder when you would be coming back." Brock said.

"No need to worry about me." Was all Drew responded with.

"Okay...well I'm going to sleep now, so good night."

"Night."

Drew sat on his bed, contemplating. Tomorrow, he planned to visit all of the beach with only May, and after what would be a great day of catching up with each other and hanging out, he would present her with a bundle of roses, spilling his feelings for her. While most people would feel insurmountable stress and pressure about revealing emotions for a loved one, Drew didn't feel any of that. He felt only confidence and pride, doubting that May would turn him down. He began smirking and decided that he would catch up on sleep to begin the next day.

Ash had taken a bath with Pikachu, cleaning his fur for any dirty spots. When he deemed they were both clean, he drained the bathtub and climbed out. He began drying himself off, as well as Pikachu, and he put on his clothes for the night. They walked out to see May climbing under the covers of her bed.

"Hey, Ash," May waved, "I'm going to sleep now, so good night."

"Okay, May, but after I do this." Ash walked up next to her. He leaned on the mattress and lowered his face, pecking May on the forehead. May smiled, and before Ash could stand up, she planted a kiss on his lips. Ash blushed and delicately caressed her cheeks. "Sweet dreams." Ash smiled, standing back up. When he turned around, he saw his loyal partner nonchalantly laying dead center on his bed. Pikachu had the covers tucked neatly below his head, and he grinned at Ash.

"Pika!" He greeted.

"Hey, what are you doing, Pikachu?" Ash began climbing into bed, only to see Pikachu sparking around the cheeks.

"Pi!" Pikachu pointed at May, who was laughing at their interactions.

"Pikachu, you aren't kidding, right?" Ash asked, receiving a head shake from Pikachu in response. "What if I take the sofa?"

The electricity in Pikachu's cheeks intensified, letting Ash know to sleep with May.

"Okay, fine."

Ash walked up next to May and looked pleadingly at her.

"May, is it alright if I sleep with you? Pikachu doesn't want me to be anywhere else." He asked quietly.

May playfully hesitated, as if thinking about his request.

"Okay, you may sleep with me...on one condition." May spoke with a serious tone.

"W-what would that be?"

"Cuddle with me, of course!" May grinned, patting the spot next to her.

Ash obeyed and got under the covers with May. Immediately after he settled down, he felt May pressing her body close to his, holding his arm close to her breast and her head contently laying on top of his chest. Ash chuckled, kissed her hair, then reached for the light switch next to him, turning off the lights.