Well some of what will happen in this chapter will no doubt be predictable, but I know that there will be others that I would be somewhat surprised if too many people did. Either way, thanks to all those who reviewed the last chapter. Enjoy number ten.

"Uuhh, my head," May groaned as she sat up. It took a couple seconds for her to remember what happened. As soon as she did, the brunette was quickly checking over her body. To her complete surprise it wasn't all that bad, she had a few scrapes and some sensitive spots that she assumed would bruise eventually, but considering how the hill looked before she fell she expected far worse.

"It must be our lucky day, huh Eevee?" She sighed in relief. "Eevee?"

Glancing over at her shoulder and not finding her partner there, May started to look around the area that she landed. Although she didn't find the Normal-Type, she did find someone else lying down near her.

"Ash!"

Stumbling slightly as she got up to go over to him, the boy was down and unresponsive a few feet away from her.

"Come on Ash wake up, please wake up," she pleaded, while gently shaking him. Without even taking that close of a look she could see that he was in far worse shape than she was, his clothes were ripped in multiple areas and many were already starting to stain dark red with blood, the largest spot seemed to be on his left calf.

After what seemed like hours, Ash finally started to open his eyes. His vision was still blurry as he looked up at a beautiful brown haired human-like shape looming over him.

"An angel huh? Am I dead?"

With tears in her eye, May pulled her friend into a hug.

"No, you're not dead," she told him. "Though it was one of your best shots yet."

"May?"

"Yep," the brunette said to him with a smile, but she couldn't hide the blush that was forming on her face after his earlier slip of tongue. "But I'll go by angel too, for now at least."

Chuckling slightly at her comment, he felt a stinging pain coming from almost every place on his body.

"Aw man, I feel like I just went through a blender," he admitted while sitting up. Taking a look up the hill he could see a small opening in the branches right next to him, and along the bottom of the opening he could see some of the countless rocks jutting up from the ground. "That would explain why." Finally regaining his senses and remembering everything that happened, Ash hastily looked back at May. "You're not hurt, are you May?

"I have a few scrapes and bruises but nothing major."

"Oh thank the gods," he sighed with a large smile.

Before she could respond, May heard her Pokétch start to ring. Reaching into her pack, the small screen read the name 'Dawn' as it continued to chime.

"Hey Dawn," the coordinator said into the device after she opened it. "No don't worry, we're both fine, but Ash is…"

"Doing just fine as well," Ash finished up for her by snatching away the Pokétch, much to May's surprise and annoyance.

"Ash?" Dawn's voice asked. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yep, we all just got some minor cuts and bruises, nothing to worry about. We got really lucky after a fall like that. Although it did help that we were able to roll down the hill and not just a straight drop."

"No kidding, so how am I supposed to get down there to join back up with you guys?"

"Besides coming down the way we came, you would need to go all the way around and come back in," Ash told her. "In the end it would be a complete waste of time."

"So I assume you have a different idea then?"

"We'll just have to split up and join back together at Auburn Town. So listen carefully Dawn. What you're going to have to do is continue along that road and by the end of the day you should be at Viridian City. Tomorrow if you go to the east end of the city there should be a sign showing you the road you need to take to Auburn Town. The road is one way so as long as you stay on that you shouldn't have any problem getting there. Just remember that registration ends at one in the afternoon, so get there in time."

"So what are you going to do? If it takes longer to go around will you be able to make it in time?"

"Actually the route we'll be taking is shorter than the one you will take. We can cut through the forest and can make it without a problem. We just won't be able to sleep inside, that's all."

"Alright then, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Good luck."

"Yep, thanks Dawn. You too."

Hanging up the phone, Dawn took another look down the slope that her friends just fell down.

"At least they're okay," she said to Piplup, with a relieved look on her face. "According to Ash they both just got a few small cuts here and there. So we'll meet up with them tomorrow in Auburn Town."

Starting to walk back down the road in the direction of Viridian City, it took a few minutes before she thought of something.

"Wait a minute; they're going to be spending the night alone out in the middle of a forest." Thinking about it for a moment, Dawn facepalmed once it came to her. "Damn, why didn't I think of that? And here I thought I had everything already completely planned out for tonight. Oh well, I don't foresee this as being a bad thing. In fact there's a good chance that it will work out in our favor."

Smiling to herself, the blunette could only think of what was going to come.

"Guess that means I'll need to step up my game a little bit if fate wants to outdo me. All I have to say to that though is challenge accepted."

"Ash, why did you say that?" May demanded from him after he gave her back her Pokétch. "Even from here I can see that you have more than just 'some minor cuts and bruises'."

"Because, the main thing is that you weren't majorly hurt," he told her with a smile.

It didn't take May long to figure out why he was so calm with all that happened to him and the reason for the difference in their injuries.

"Ash, did you protect me on the way down?"

"So you're just figuring it out, huh?" He asked with a laugh, though it didn't last too long as some of his cuts started to sting. "As soon as you started to fall I jumped right back in after you and I was lucky enough to grab on and pull you in as we rolled down the hill. Or actually we slid down a large majority of it, but rolling sounds better, and a little less painful. It wasn't all that fun but I barely feel them anyways."

"This isn't a laughing matter," she harshly told him. "If you hadn't of done that you probably wouldn't have had nearly as many cuts as you do, and the ones that you did get wouldn't be as bad as they are."

"But the important thing is that you're okay."

"You idiot, that's not the point!"

As she yelled at him, May's hand came up as if to slap Ash across the face. In reflex the trainer braced himself for the impact, but after it never came he slowly opened his eyes to see her hand just hovering there, still ready to come down, but tears were already falling from her eyes.

"I know that you're just being yourself," she said quietly. "But you just don't know what it's like to watch your best friend risk his life over and over again, and every time you find yourself wondering if you'll ever see him come back alive. Or even worse, when you know that you weren't even able to say goodbye to him when he may have just given his life to save yours from drowning. You still don't understand what's truly important. When you get hurt, even if it's to help someone else, others hurt inside. You need to treasure yourself more."

"Sorry May." While he really was sorry, the comment about drowning hit Ash extra hard as he knew exactly what she meant. As she said that, the dream from the night on the boat came back full force and that familiar pain was once again rising from his lungs. He suddenly felt the need to take several deep breaths, almost as if the air wasn't going to be there if he didn't.

Finally bringing her hand down to wipe away her tears, May went right into her pack to pull out a first aid kit.

"Here, we need to clean you up."

Pulling at his shirt and sweatshirt, Ash hissed slightly as he felt the stinging pain of the ripped fabric tearing at the scabs that were already starting to form.

Although seeing Ash shirtless like this was getting May's heart beating faster than normal, she knew that she had other things to worry about. All across his upper body cuts and bruises littered his skin. Most were located along his arms and lower back; and with the way the shirt sleeve was torn to shreds it was no surprise his left arm apparently took the worst of it. Yet for some reason his upper back was virtually clear of any abrasion. She could only assume that his backpack must have taken most of that punishment.

Taking out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide along with a clean cloth from the first aid kit, she proceeded to douse the cloth with the liquid and started the work of cleaning up his injuries.

Every time the cloth hit his skin, Ash gritted his teeth as the peroxide bubbled up while killing off any bacteria that could have gotten in his cuts.

"Alright Ash, off with the pants too."

"Wait, May you don't have to…"

"Off!" She demanded, not even the slightest hesitation in her voice. "You brought this upon yourself anyways, and those cuts have to be cleaned. No questions asked. Besides, it's not like I haven't seen you without them before."

"You almost make it sound as though I walk around without them all the time," Ash complained. But even though he was complaining, he grudgingly started to take them off.

"Well you did surprise me the second or third day we were together when you came walking out of your tent like that," she reminisced, a smile finally making its way back to her face. "You were half asleep and came out in nothing but your boxers. Even with me trying to avert my eyes, you sat down, ate breakfast, and went back you're your tent to change as though nothing happened. Needless to say I never expected to see someone outside of my family like that until much later in life."

"It was hotter than I expected in Hoenn," he tried to defend himself. "And it wasn't easy for me to fall asleep in my usual clothes. It took me a little while before I got used to the heat."

With his pants now off and clad in nothing but his boxers, Ash was now the one who was embarrassed beyond belief. Sure he knew that, just like she said, this wasn't the first time he was like this in front of her; but that still didn't help things. Especially with the thoughts of whether or not he liked her as more than a friend were still running through his head.

May on the other hand, while also slightly blushing at the state of undress her friend was in, was more concentrated on the job before her. Looking over the last of the cuts he had there, they looked to be in similar condition as his arms. Many cuts and bruises of various sizes riddled his skin with his left side being worse than the other, but as she thought, it was his left calf that was the worst. The diagonal slash ran half-way up the bottom half of his leg; the only saving grace was that it didn't look exceptionally deep. She was surprised as to how little Ash seemed to react to the injury, considering how painful it looked.

Repeating the process she used on the other half of his body, she saved the biggest one for last.

"Alright Ash, you might want to prepare yourself for this next one," May warned him. "This is going to hurt."

Gritting his teeth, he thought that he was ready for what was coming. Sadly, he was wrong.

Instead of using the cloth to start it off, May poured the peroxide straight from the bottle onto the wound. Accompanying the bubbling and hissing of the liquid across the cut, Ash let out a bloodcurdling scream as every one of the nerves in his leg seemed to light up at once.

"Told ya so."

"Yeah, but I didn't expect it to be that bad," he shot back, still trying to control the pain that he felt.

"Don't worry, it's almost over."

After the peroxide stopped reacting, May wiped away the excess along with any remaining blood and went back into her kit to grab another item.

"I never thought that I would have to use these but my mom insisted that I have them," she said, showing him what she took out. "They're some kind of band-aid that acts like a stitch. Hopefully you won't have to go to the hospital; because I know how much you hate doctors. But promise me if something starts to go wrong that first you tell me and second you go straight to a doctor after that, no questions asked. Alright?"

"Alright."

"Alright, what?"

"I promise," Ash grumbled.

"Good."

After closing up the wound, May began wrapping it with a fresh bandage to keep it clean. Going back to her pack for one last piece, she put the finishing touches of covering the other larger cuts that he had around his body.

"There, all done." Putting everything away, she closed up her pack and looked back at Ash, who was obediently sitting next to her. Almost as if waiting for his next order. "You can put your clothes back on Ash, because now that you're taken care of we need to find Pikachu and Eevee."

After getting clothed again, Ash looked around again for their partners. He knew that they weren't around when she was taking care of his wounds, but he was never too troubled when Pikachu wasn't around as long as Team Rocket wasn't involved. Though he had to admit that even then he could only care so much when going up against those persistent dimwits, it wasn't as though they were ever that successful in the first place.

"I wouldn't be too worried," he told her. "Pikachu can take care of himself, and I'd be willing to bet anything that he's with Eevee right now. They'll make it back to us when they can."

"You're too laid back Ash, both of them have pretty much never been here and as far as I know, neither of us have any other Pokémon with us."

"Now May," he said to the brunette as she started to seem more stressed out as the conversation continued. "Pikachu knows this place at least somewhat, and I promise that we won't leave without them. Just trust me."

"I trust you Ash, which goes without saying, but I'm just getting nervous right now," May confessed. "How are we even supposed to get out of here?"

"Don't worry; I have a map in my backpack."

"Um, Ash? Where is your backpack?"

In all the effort to take care of his first aid issues, Ash completely forgot that he didn't have it on. Looking around he couldn't find any trace of it. Now that he was actually conscious of what was missing, he noticed that his hat was gone too.

"I think I found it," May spoke up as she walked over to the slope. "Or at least part of it."

Reaching up into the brambles near where they came down, she pulled out a single shoulder strap that looked exactly like what was attached to Ash's bag.

"It probably got caught up somewhere while we were falling," May concluded as she looked further up the hill. "But I can't see anything from here."

"In that case it would probably just be easier to buy a new one, and I'd be willing to bet that my hat is somewhere up there as well." Sighing deeply, Ash knew his mom wouldn't be happy about this.

"I hope you didn't have anything important in there."

Suddenly realizing that he could have lost it, Ash quickly dove his hand into his jeans' pocket. Breathing a sigh of relief, he could feel the soft material and hard center of his ribbon. Even with all the tears in his pants, his pockets seemed more-or-less intact. Checking his other pockets he found everything in its place.

Watching him do that, May was reminded of her own items that were in her pockets. Putting her hands into each, the brunette breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her Pokédex, and more importantly her Terracotta Ribbon, were right where they belonged.

"Nope, my wallet and Pokédex are here in my pockets. The only things that I usually kept in my backpack were food, clothes, and miscellaneous essentials. The real important things I kept on me."

"Even though that part is good to hear, what are we to do without a map?" May asked.

"Did you forget where we are? We're essentially in my backyard; I came here to play all the time when I was a kid. While I don't know every twist and turn, I do know the way we should go. And like I told Dawn, we should be able to make it to the tournament with plenty of time to spare." Taking his Pokédex out of his pocket, Ash opened up a compass feature to figure out the direction he needed. "Okay, so we need to head that way," he said while pointing off into a seemingly random direction away from the hill. "If I remember correctly there should be a large lake not too far from here that we can rest at."

"That's good to hear at least."

"So what are we waiting for?"

Attempting for the first time to stand up, Ash quickly crumpled back down as soon as he put pressure on his left leg. Wincing in pain, he tried to tone it down as much as he could as not to alarm May. But of course she noticed it right away.

"Ash, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing May," the trainer told her as he started to get up again. "See everything's fi…"

Dropping back down to the ground due to his leg, he once again tried to wave away the pain.

"But it looks like I might have a little trouble walking," he admitted.

"Let me see."

As May rolled the leg of his jeans up to get a better look, a single thought passed through Ash's head that even surprised himself.

"She looks so mature while doing this," he thought. "I don't really ever see her like this, but with that small smile on her face, she looks completely beautiful."

As the word crossed his mind, Ash's face turned bright red.

"Is there something else wrong?" May asked, looking up from his leg. "Your face just turned red."

"No, no I'm fine," he stuttered. "Really."

"Alright then," turning her gaze back to his leg, May noticed something that she missed while cleaning his wounds. Although it was only slightly, his ankle was swelling up. "I think I might have found your problem. While your cut probably isn't helping, I think you sprained your ankle. You probably caught it on something as we were falling. I don't think it looks that major, but let's just hope that it isn't broken. Come on."

Pulling Ash's arm around her shoulders, May helped him to his feet and they started out in the direction that Ash originally pointed out.

"Sorry May," Ash apologized as he limped along with her help.

"No you don't have to be sorry Ash," she told him. "I still haven't said thank you for protecting me from the fall. I should have taken your advice in the first place and just stepped back towards you and Dawn. Then we wouldn't even be in this mess."

"No need for thanks May, I'm just glad that I could help."

Smiling at his comment, the coordinator pulled him a little closer to steady him.

"Well you just need to remember what we talked about," she reminded him. "We as your friends are thankful for what you do for us without thinking of the consequences, but you need to actually start thinking. Otherwise you'll just hurt others when you think you're protecting them. Not to mention probably dramatically shortening your own life span."

"Alright, Angel."

Turning bright red and feeling her heart skip a beat; May nearly stumbled at his comment.

"What? You said that I could call you that," he said with a laugh.

"Don't make me hurt you," she threatened while avoiding eye contact with him. Her reaction was virtually instinct, but there was a small part of her that enjoyed hearing that come from him.

Distracted by the name, she failed to notice a root sticking out of the ground. Catching her foot, she started to fall with Ash along with her. Before she fell far though, her body stopped as she heard Ash exhale sharply from intense pain. Looking down she noticed that what helped catch her was Ash putting their combined weight down on his left foot.

"Ash!"

Quickly steadying herself, May helped him back onto his other foot.

"What did we just talk about?" She scolded him in a worried tone. "You probably only made it worse by doing that. It's not like I would have been hurt with a fall like that."

"Well, this way there's no doubt you weren't hurt," he explained with a kind face on, though it also showed that even with his left leg back in the air he was still in a large amount of pain.

"What am I going to do with you? You aren't going to listen to me, aren't you? Are you even listening to me now?"

"I'm sorry, what was that again Angel?"

"Stop calling me that!"

Opening his eyes, Pikachu found his vision still blurry from his trip down the slope. He remembered being on Pikapi's shoulder when his trainer jumped to try and save May. He also remembered falling off of his shoulder as they tumbled down, not long after Eevee found herself ejected from her own trainer's shoulder.

Getting to his feet, he could feel several stinging sensations as what he assumed were small cuts or branches slapping against his skin, but he was mobile. As for the pain, he had felt far worse in many of his battles so compared to those this was nothing.

Looking around he could see no sign of Pikapi or of May and Eevee. Focusing his nose, he tried to find any familiar scents in the air. While there were less smells in the air as compared to the city, he felt sorry for the Pokémon that had senses of smell greater than his when it came to some of those places, he couldn't smell anything significant either.

Stretching his legs, he started just to follow the edge of the hill in the direction he thought Pikapi would have gone, even if he couldn't tell one way from the other with all the rolling he did going down. But before he got too far, the image of Eevee falling off May's shoulder returned to him. Knowing that having been born right into May's arms, she would have limited knowledge of being alone in the wild like that, he decided that he would need to find her first. Pikapi could take care of himself, and with him trying to protect May like he did then those two should be together wherever they are. Besides, the thought that she was out here alone wasn't something that he enjoyed knowing. Sure, she might be with Pikapi and May already, and if so then there was nothing to worry about. But either way, finding her would have to take priority over finding Pikapi.

Deciding to continue in the same direction he was going, Pikachu's eyes, ears, and nose were on high alert. It had been some time since he was alone in the wild like this but he knew the dangers. The Rattata that caused this whole mess was proof enough.

Walking a good distance along, he continued to detect no Pokémon or human. He thought that he almost heard Pikapi's voice cry out at one point, but it was muffled at best and he wasn't even sure what it was when he really thought about it.

Suddenly, his ears caught something. It was faint, but the shifting grass that he heard was unmistakable. Spinning around to face the bushes he heard it from, he just barely dodged the jaws of another Pokémon. Taking a few steps back, he took his normal battle stance, on all fours with head low and tail high in the air, as electricity started to crackle from his cheek pouches.

"Ekans," the snake Pokémon hissed as it slithered back into a coil, eyeing him down.

Pikachu could almost feel a smirk come to his face as he saw the Poison-Type in front of him. He couldn't even remember how long it had been since he last faced off against an Ekans. If he had to take a guess it was probably Team Rocket's all those years ago. But unlike that Ekans this one was clearly a wild Pokémon, and while they both wanted to capture him this one wanted to capture him for a different purpose. Either way, while he was cautious about this new Pokémon to appear before him, he was in no way scared.

As the Ekans reared back up again to strike, Pikachu figured it was time for it to learn why his species was off the menu for many predators.

Striking faster than most human eyes could follow; the well trained eyes of a top class battling Pokémon saw it clear as day. Dodging off to the side again, Pikachu began to rotate his body revealing his tail which was glowing a metallic silver color. As he hit his attacker square across the head he also unleashed his electric potential through the conductor at point blank range allowing for its maximum potency, just as Pikapi had trained him. But even still, he held back. There was no reason to do anything more than scare the aggressor off.

Hit with the dual attack, the Snake Pokémon went flying straight into a tree, the electric current pulsating across its scales. Weakly raising its head to look at Pikachu, it wisely decided to make a hasty retreat to find easier prey.

Relaxing his posture, Pikachu almost felt exhilarated after that mini battle. For the longest time he has been pampered as a trainer's Pokémon, and besides the occasional Team Rocket attack the only defending of himself he had to do was on the battlefield. To actually experience the predator-prey relationship again was a nice change from the ordinary. But then again he also knew that he wouldn't be lucky enough to keep it up forever, while it was kinda fun experiencing it again he wouldn't trade his current lifestyle for it. Besides, that would mean leaving Pikapi, which at this point was almost impossible for him to imagine.

As he was deciding on which way to go next, his ears picked up another sound. Unlike the last one, he knew that this one had legs, and from the soft rapid beats of their pads hitting the ground he knew that it was small and probably on all fours. From the loud snapping of a twig combined with the panting breath and quick succession of feet hitting the ground, he could only guess that whatever it was being chased. Because no sane Pokémon would otherwise make that much noise in a place filled with predators. Deciding this time that it would be best to stay out of the way, Pikachu darted off into one of the nearby dense bushes.

As the sounds grew closer he also began to make out the sound of wing beats. He started to feel sorry for whatever was being chased, Pidgeotto and Spearow were common in this part of the woods, and they were usually rather successful with their hunts. But he also knew that it wasn't his place to step in. Nature could be very cruel at times, whether he liked it or not.

Just as he was about to walk away, a Pokémon burst out of the undergrowth and desperately raced through the clearing that he was just in. As it passed by, his eyes grew wide. It was an Eevee. Although in the quick flash that he saw it, he couldn't tell if it was his Eevee he was looking for or some random wild Eevee. Before he could make out much else a Pidgeotto burst through the trees above him chasing the poor Pokémon.

Deciding that he couldn't risk anything if it really was his Eevee, Pikachu leapt from his hiding spot to follow after the two.

Like I said, I probably caught a few people by surprise here. Let's just hope that this doesn't become too angsty next chapter, lol. See you again in a couple days.