Woo hoo! New Chapter! Thank you for all the reviews and favorites! I can't thank you guys enough!

Chapter 10: Old Friends and Confessions: May's POV:

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" I asked my fellow travel-ees as we headed toward Fortree City. We were currently walking along Route 119, one of the, if not the longest, routes in all of Hoenn. The sun was beginning to go down and we were going to camp out along the long river once it became dark.

"Yes, I'm sure." Brock simply states, eyes, as always, glued to the map. I had chosen to walk beside Brock ever since Ash and Drew got into a huge argument earlier today. It started out like this…

Earlier:

"Ash! Would you mind not stepping on my foot for once? I'm not going to have any toes left!" Drew yells as he stops walking for a more dramatic impact. Ash stops walking too and turns around to face the green haired boy, hence he was walking a little bit ahead of him.

"It's called walking too close to the person in front of you, Drew. Maybe you should back off a little. What? Have a crush on me or something?" Ash fought right back. His comments surprised me, Ash usually wasn't one to use negative sarcasm. Drew on the other hand, well…

"You wish, Ashy-boy." Drew smirks.

"Guys…" I started to say.

"Only Gary can call me that!"

"Guys."

"And you're calling me the gay one?"

"GUYS!" I shouted, finally getting the attention of the two immature boys. "Look we're on a mission right now, can the bickering wait 'til later? Please?" I pleaded. After exchanging a glare with each other, they both slowly nod. "Thank you." I turn back around to Brock to continue giving him advice about Nurse Joy. "Don't worry Brock, there are plenty of Nurse Joys out there…"

Not even 10 minutes later…

"How dare you insult my mother!" Ash randomly says.

"All I said was I think I just saw a Gloom…?" Drew questions.

Ash mouth drops open, "Are you saying my mother is emo?"

And with that the argument continued for a couple more minutes before I broke it off again. Then another one began. And another. And another. And another.

Present time:

"It's getting dark, we should probably set up camp." Drew calls from behind us.

"Good idea." Brock says rolling up the map. We set up a tent and Ash and I decide to go searching for firewood, starting up another fight between Ash and Drew about who got to go with me, but Drew finally gave in and agreed to stay back with Brock to help get things ready for dinner.

"What's been going on with you?" I ask Ash when the other two were out of sight.

"What do you mean?" Ash asks me, confusion in his voice.

"You've been acting… different." I simply state, narrowing my eyes.

"How…?"

"Back when you were fighting with Drew… I never expected you to be so… mean."

Anger flashes in his eyes. "I was the one being mean? May, did you even hear half of the stuff he said to me?"

"Yeah but-"

Ash cuts me off, "Obviously you didn't or else you'd be on my side."

"But some of the comments you were making… do you think that was really necessary…?" I asked him, my voice getting softer. I always hated arguing with Ash. I could never stay mad at him for too long.

"To me it was. I don't like Drew at all. You know that. I hate the things he says to you. He's always criticizing you. You're an amazing coordinator and I don't like the fact that all he does is bring you down."

"He doesn't always bring me down. Drew's really sweet. He gives me roses and congratulates me whenever I win a contest or make it to the next round. He says those things to push me… to make me work harder and fix my mistakes. And it works. Drew knows what he's doing, Ash. I may have been offended a long time ago but now I understand why he does it." I reassure him. "Things have changed since we traveled together last."

"So has everybody else…" Ash whispers.

"Nobody's changed… we're all the same people, just a little older. We're just growing up."

"You're right. Things have changed, but not for the better. When I first came here to visit you and help you on this mission I thought…" He pauses.

"You thought what, Ash?" I put a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought… that we'd be together… but then Drew came along." He admits before turning on his heel and running back the way we came. I stood there frozen. Had I… had I heard him right? I… I've wanted this moment to happen for so long now but… this isn't how I pictured it to happen. I always thought I would be the one to confess, not the other way around. I didn't even get to tell him that I wanted us to be together as well… I gather as much firewood as I can carry before heading back to camp.

When I get back Drew is placing stones in a circle to mark a place for our campfire. Brock is unpacking our bags with things we will need for the night. Ash is not in sight.

"Where's Ash?" I ask them as I drop the wood next to the stone circle.

"He went for a walk, said he needed to think some things through." Brock explains.

"Which way did he go? I have to talk to him." I demand.

"May, it's dark out. You could get lost. You're staying here until he gets back." Drew commands.

"No. You can't tell me what to do. I'm going after him." My heart speaks for itself as I search through my bag for my flashlight. "Where is it?" I ask out loud.

"If you're looking for your flashlight, Ash took it. It was the only one with a charged battery." Brock says. "Drew's right, just stay here until he gets back. Then you two can talk."

"Fine." I sigh in defeat before helping Drew begin to make a campfire. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's okay," he gives me a reassuring smile.

Dinner was over an hour ago, Ash told Brock not to wait for him, and he still wasn't back. It was past 10 and I was starting to get seriously worried. Drew was already in bed and Brock was on the verge of falling asleep. Me? Oh I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon until Ash was back. I begin pacing in my tent thinking of what to do.

I could sneak out and go to look for him, but it's way too dark to do that now. I could send one of my Pokémon to go search for him, but I wouldn't want them to get lost either. What to do, what to do…

A rustle from outside the tent stops me from my planning and I slowly unzip the zipper on my tent. I peek through and see Ash finally come back into view, Pikachu on his shoulder and they were having a conversation. I quickly unzip the whole thing and charge out, not bothering to be quiet but not caring about it either.

"Ash!" I whisper before running straight into him, wrapping my arms around him. He stiffens up for a moment but then relaxes.

"Hi May."

"You never gave me a chance to tell you how I feel…" I say into his shirt, but it came out more like "Unova guru a pants Torterra cauliflower."

"What about a guru Torterra and his cauliflower pants?" Ash asks me, obviously joking. I couldn't help but laugh and I push myself off of his chest so I could make eye contact.

"You um… never gave me a chance to… you know…"

"I know," he scratches behind his head, "I'm sorry I just, it came out a lot sooner than I wanted it to. I wanted to wait until after everything was normal again before telling you." He smiles sincerely.

"But why…?"

"Because you already have a lot on your mind. I was mostly mad at myself for giving you another thing to stress out about."

I feel my cheeks heat up and I look down at my feet, fiddling with my fingers. He is really sweet…

"Thank you," I smile up at him. "That was very thoughtful of you."

He winks at me, "don't mention it. Can you just forget everything that's happened today? I promise you we will talk things through when the time is right."

"Sure," I grin. "But just so you know, I like you too."

A huge grin appears on his face and Pikachu begins to jump up and down happily on his shoulder.

"I'm such a ladies' man." Ash jokes.

"You just blew your chance." I smirk. His grin disappears.

"Are you serious?" He asks with wide eyes.

I laugh, "no, Mr. Ladies' Man." I wink before walking back to my tent. "Goodnight," I say to him before zipping the door again behind me.

The next morning:

The chirps of a group of Taillow wake me up and I sit up in my sleeping bag, stretching my arms in the process.

"Your fossil collection is really amazing," Brock's voice says from outside of my tent. "And you trained your Armaldo and Cradily very well."

"Well thank you," A very familiar voice laughs. "I do try."

I instantly bolt outside, not caring what I looked like, before pouncing on the familiar silver haired boy, making him knock over his bowl of oatmeal in the process.

"Steven!" I attack him in a Teddiursa hug. "How have you been?"

"I've been better…" The champion of Hoenn chokes out. We all laugh and I help him up.

"I'm sorry, I've just missed you! How's Brendan doing?"

"He's well. He's been training at the Battle Frontier. His Swampert has really come a long way."

"The next time you see him, tell him I said I want to battle him sometime and I bet Blaziken could kick his Swampert's butt with her eyes closed and one arm tied behind her back." I grin cheesily.

Steven laughs, "I'll be sure to tell him."

"So what brings you to Route 119?" Ash asks with a mouthful of chewed apple. Bleh.

"I was on my way to Fortree City actually, Winona asked me to stop by and have a battle between our Skarmories. Think mine could beat hers with its eyes closed and one wing tied behind its back?" He raises an eyebrow at me.

"I'm sure it could." I laugh.

"So May is this your boyfriend?" Steven asks referring to Drew who nearly drops his bowl at the question. Ash drops his apple and I chuckle.

"No, he's my rival. Drew this is Steven Stone, he's the champion of Hoenn and a friend of mine from a long time ago. Steven, this is Drew, he's a coordinator like me and we met in Slateport a couple years back."

Steven holds out his hand, "nice to meet you. What's your Pokémon team?"

"I have a Roserade, a Masquerain, a Flygon, an Absol, and a Butterfree. I'm hoping to be able to get an Eevee egg while I'm here, hatch it, and evolve it into a Flareon." Drew tells us.

"Very nice, very nice." Steven smiles.

"Do you want to travel with us to Fortree City?" Brock asks Steven.

"Sure, why not."

After we clean up and repack our belongings, we set out for Fortree City.

"So why are you guys heading to Fortree?" Steven asks me.

"We're heading to Lilycove actually. Team Aqua and Team Magma are back."

"Seriously? Haven't the idiots given up already?"

"Apparently not. They took my dad… we think they're holding him at a base in Lilycove. Someone whose name starts with an M sent me a map of the base, instructions of how to get through it, and even a key. It's our best bet right now."

"I see… I'm coming with you."

"What? Are you serious?" I asked.

"Yes. Sounds like you guys are up for a fight and who better to have on your team than the champion of Hoenn?" He smirks. I hug him.

"Thank you Steven… what about Winona?"

"She'll just have to park her Skarmory for now."

The tall trees of Fortree City finally come into view. Treehouses line the branches and vines connected them together to form pathways and ladders to reach the tall homes. It was such a cool town, beautiful and tropical. Speaking of that, a family of Tropius ate fruit from the very top of the trees and Wingulls built nests made out of broken off branches that sat towards the very top of the trees.

We check into the Pokémon Center and rent a couple of rooms for the night. It was about 4 in the afternoon so we decided to stock up on items and then go out to eat before calling it a day. We would continue our travelling tomorrow morning.

Steven went to go tell Winona that he was going to be traveling with us, while the rest of us made our way to the Poké Mart. Along the way, a cute little street store caught my eye. There was a friendly looking old woman selling jewelry. I walk over to the booth and a certain design of necklace charms catches my attention.

The silver metal charms that spelled out letters were made by Pokémon designs. There was a 'M' charm made to look like a Skitty that was running with its tail making the letter. An 'a' charm that resembled a Torchic's head and even a 'y' charm made to look like a Wartortle sticking its' arms up in the air to form the top of the 'y' and it's tail resembled the actual tail of the letter.

"These are beautiful," I tell her, admiring the small charms. "How much would it be for three charms and a chain?"

"Charms and chains are both $50 dollars a piece so the whole necklace would be $200. They're made out of sterling silver." She explains. My mouth drops open at the price and I quickly put the charms back where I found them.

"See something you like?" Ash asks coming next to me.

"It's too expensive, I shouldn't be buying jewelry anyway." I smile at him as we make our way back to our friends.

After stocking up on Potions, Revives, Pokémon Food, and the other necessities for a journey, we met back up with Steven at a small diner for dinner.

We ordered our dishes, Ash getting a slice of cheese pizza and a Nanab Berry smoothie, Drew buys a grilled cheese and turkey sandwich with a glass of Moo Moo Milk, Brock gets a bowl of vegetable soup with a small soda, Steven decides on a burger in the shape of a Tauros and a tea, I get a big slice of Razz Berry pie and a lemonade. We all end up having a fun time together and after we're finished eating we head back to the Pokémon Center.

We call Dawn back at the Pokémon Center in Mauville.

"Hey guys!" Her face pops up on the screen.

"Hey Dawn. How's Paul?" Ash asks.

"He's doing good. Their icing and putting cream on his back every couple hours. He's resting right now or I'd let you guys talk to him."

"Glad he's doing good. When will he be out?" Drew asks.

"Not for a couple weeks or so. It's a bad 3rd-degree burn and they usually don't let people with such bad burns like his out for at least 3 weeks."

"Tell him we called and that we can't wait to see him again." I tell her. She smiles.

"I will. Goodnight guys, thanks for calling."

"Night Dawn." The four of us say to our friend before hanging up. Poor Steven stood awkwardly in the back.

I say goodnight to my friends before heading into my room. I change into my pajamas, a white tank top and a pair of pink pajama pants with Luvdiscs on them. Not even 5 minutes later there's a knock on my door. With a toothbrush in my mouth, I open the door to see Steven.

"Come on in." I say with a mouthful of toothpaste. He laughs and shuts the door behind him. I finish brushing my teeth and join him at a small table shaped like a Wailmer in my room.

"You said that someone mailed you a map, a key, and instructions to Team Aqua's base, right? And their name started with an M?"

"Yep."

"It was me." He admits. I look at him confused.

"Wait… what? How? Why?" He bursts out laughing.

"I had the map and key from my last visit to their base when I was exploring it after they woke up Kyogre and I wrote down the instructions from memory of how to get through it. I saw you in Mauville and told Nurse Joy to give them to you the next time she saw you. I put the M so you wouldn't know who it was from. I wasn't going to tell you either but then I saw your campsite and Brock invited me for breakfast."

"Well thanks Steven, what a great friend." I say sarcastically rolling my eyes.

"Oh you know you love me." He smirks.

"I do," I smile. "Thank you for all of this. You're a huge help."

"Anytime, but the next time you have an issue like this, please call me. I love adventures."

I laugh, "I will."

After Steven leaves to go to his room I finally lay down to go to sleep. There was something lumpy under my pillow. I slide my hand under the pillow and feel something cold and metallic between my fingers. I pull it out and it was none other than the exact necklace I wanted earlier.

(Just so you guys know, Steven is 17 in this story. I wanted him to be in it but I thought if he was like 22 or something then it was be really awkward for him to be traveling with a group of kids. Haha! Thanks for reading!)