QT: Hi! Hi! Everyone! I know I updated the other day, but like I said before, I'm trying to get in as mush as possible before finals start because then I won't be updating for a few weeks.

AJ: Vacation!

Mikey: Christmas break! Yeah!

QT: I would but my internet at home is all bleh and crap and I don't plan on going to a coffee shop to get wifi, so sorry about that. And I was planning on doing my Christmas Special on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but that's not gonna happen so expect that probably tomorrow or so.

Mikey: You sure are talking a lot today.

AJ: Yep.

QT: I'm trying to get as much out as I can before I say bye for the year you guys!

A message to all my readers: I feel that this needs to be said. I appreciate all of you guys for sticking with me from the very beginning. From my sugar rushes, all the way to my tenth story. Thanks a bundle and Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: QTpie456s does not own pokémon or anything else you think she does.

A Different Kind of Rivalry

Chapter 10

"Pallet High School wins an electrifying game of 7 to 6!" the announcer exclaimed. "Our lead scorer in this game was sophomore Ash Ketchum who made 5 of the 7 goals. Way to go Ash! This concludes today's events. Congratulations P.H.S.!" the crowd was screaming very loudly. "Go Ash! Yeah!" May yelled. "Ash was awesome! I think my new favorite sport is soccer." she told Richie, "This game got you pumped huh? Well, I gotta head home now. Give Ash my congrats. Bye May!" he waved. "I will. See ya Richie!" May made her way to the soccer field where Ash was conversing with his teammates.

"Great game you guys! See ya on Monday!" Ash waved. "Hey May! What'd you think of the match?" she smiled widely. "It was great! You were awesome Ash. I think I might play soccer. Oh yeah! Richie said congrats too!" she smiled. "Well if you do play soccer, I'll be your personal coach." he smiled too. "That would be great! So are going straight to my house or are you gonna go home first?" she asked walking with him. "I should probably go home and take a shower. I smell like grass and sweat!" he laughed sheepishly. "Okay. Then I'll see you at three then? What time is it now? 11:35. You've got time, so don't be late!" she warned. "I won't, I won't. I'll see you later May. Thanks again for coming, bye!" May waved as her friend walked over to the sidelines.

When Ash was about to pick up his things he spotted a triangular shaped note on his duffle bag. "Huh? What's this?" he picked it up and eyed it cautiously. It read:

'Your friend is in danger. If you want her to be safe, stay away from her. If not, bad things will happen to her. Bad things. If you tell anyone about this note, bad things will happen to her. Do not come near this girl. Avoid her at all cost. If you don't she will suffer the consequences. Stay away from her.

Anonymous

Ash continually read the note, making sure he didn't miss a letter. "Is this some kind of a joke?" he said. His thoughts then reverted to whom this person might be talking about. 'Who is the girl he's talking about?' he asked himself. He investigated the note once more and on one corner of the note there was an 'm' on the other corner there was an 'a' and on the last corner there was a 'y'. "May…" his voice trailed off. "Who would wanna hurt May?" he thought out loud. The thought of his best friend and crush being in danger made him angry. 'There's no way I'm gonna let anyone hurt you May.'

He grabbed his stuff and made his way home. While he was walking he was trying to think of a person who would try to get him away from May. 'Who would want to do this? Wait…no, no way! He wouldn't.' a name popped into his head. 'Gary. I know he's a complete jerk but this…this is just…unthinkable! And if he hurts May in the slightest way I'll…' he fumed. 'There's just no way that this could be Gary. He's not evil, he's just cruel. This is lower than him and he's pretty low.' Ash walked out of the stadium and spotted May and a large group of cheerleaders from the other school. "Those most be her old friends." He smiled at the scene and continued walking.

Meanwhile…

"May!" she heard her name being called. "Hi guys!" she waved at the sea of red and black coming her way. "OMG! We thought we'd never see you again!" "School is so boring without you, are you coming back?" "May, we missed you so much!" she was overwhelmed by all the attention. "I missed you guys too." She said nervously. "Alright guys, let her breathe." Lizabeth pushed them back. "Thanks Lizabeth." May smiled in gratitude. "May, guess who's here?" Lizabeth squealed. "Who?" May asked.

"You know." She eyed her and smirked. "No!" May said in disbelief. "Yep. There he is, right over there." Lizabeth pointed to a silver haired boy coolly leaning against the wall. "Go on. Go talk to him." Lizabeth urged her. "Lizabeth no." May protested. "Oh come on! You've been crushing on Steven ever since the 6th grade, now's your chance." May shook her head. "The situation is…different now." Lizabeth looked at her. "Do you…?" May nodded. "Really? Wow! What's his name? What's he look like? Is he cute? How old is he? Does he shave? Have you kissed him yet? How many times? Tell me everything!" she yelled throwing May off guard.

"His name is Gary. I guess he's cute. He's 16. How should I know if he shaves or not? Technically he's kissed me. And five times." May took a breath. "Oh my gosh! That many times? How long have you been together?" "Officially since Wednesday." Lizabeth's jaw dropped. "Wow, you guys sure aren't wasting any time." May got upset. "Hey! He's been rushing things. I told him to slow it down a bit so that's exactly what we're doing. But then he kissed me yesterday like we never had that conversation!" she yelled. "Whoa May, calm down. Oh crap! Look! He's coming this way." She whispered. May turned around and saw Steven walking in her direction.

"Hi May.' He said. "H-hi Steven." She blushed. 'Aw man! Why did my ex-crush have to come over here!" she cursed in her head. "I haven't seen you in a long time. How've you been?" she looked up at him. "Oh, I've been doing fine. Everything's cool with me! Hehe!" she laughed. "You're still the same old May." He chuckled. There was an awkward silence between the two that made May uncomfortable. She looked behind her and saw Lizabeth nowhere in sight. "I'm gonna kill her…" she muttered under her breath. "What was that?" she got surprised. "Nothing! Um…sorry about your loss today." She said. "No big deal. I sorta knew we were gonna lose anyway. That Ash kid is really good." She smiled. "Yeah, he is huh?" she said out loud. "Do you know him?"

She nodded frantically. "Yep. Ash is one of my best friends here." She boasted. "Well, it's good that you've made friends May." He smiled making her turn light pink. "You know, school hasn't been the same ever since you left." She looked up. "Really? A lot of people have been telling me that, maybe I shouldn't have left." She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah." He looked her in the eyes. 'Nononono! This is not happening! I gotta get out of here!' At the right moment her phone rang. 'Thank Ho-Oh!' "I gotta take this. Hello?" she answered. "May? Where are you?" her mother asked. "Oh, I'm still at the soccer game." She said. "Come home soon, your father and I are about to leave, alright? See you later dear. Bye!" she hung up.

"Well, I gotta get home now. It was nice seeing you again Steven." She backed away. "You too May. We should talk some time." He smiled. "O-okay…um…bye!" she turned and left. "Phew! Man that was too close!" she exhaled her breath. "Why are they leaving so early? I though dad said 3:00. It's only 11:57. Did something happen? Better get home quick!" she ran towards her house in a hurry.

While she was walking, she kept getting the feeling that she was being watched. May would occasionally turn around to see if someone was back there but all she noticed was leaves blowing in the breeze. "This is getting weird." She said. "May!" she turned and saw Ash behind her. "Hey Ash!" she yelled back. "I'll see you in a few hours!" she smiled. "Okay, see you!" May waved. The feeling of her being watched was still there.

Suddenly, a sharp object came dashing in her direction, stabbing her in the right leg. "Ow!" she cried out in pain. She fell to her knees and held her leg. She cringed at the pain now racing through the rest of her body. "Ow! That hurts!" May yelled into the afternoon. Behind her, Ash could her faint screams. He turned in that direction and saw May on the ground holding her leg. "May?" he ran to where she was and bent down. He saw the severeness of the injury. By now the blood had ran down her leg and seeped through her fingers. He could tell she was in excruciating pain by the look on her face.

"May? What happen?" he asked her. "I-I I don't kn-know. I was w-walking and this sharp thing hit me in the l-leg. It c-came out of nowhere." She told him in between sniffles. "We gotta stop you from losing anymore blood." Ash took action by unzipping his bag and pulled out a small towel. He gently removed her hand from her leg. "Tell me if it's too tight okay?" she nodded tearfully. He tied it around the wound securely. "There. Do you think you can walk?" he asked helping her up.

When she was on her feet, she yelped out and fell down again. "It hurts!" she screamed. "Get on." He crouched down in front of her. "What?" she asked confused. "You can't walk in your condition and you need to get home. So get on." He explained. She nodded and climbed on his back to the best of her abilities. "Thanks." She muttered in a faint tone. "No problem." He lifted himself and her off the ground. Once he was up he noticed something. 'She's so light.' He smiled to himself. Ash picked up his bag and began walking to her house. "How bad is it Ash?" she asked. "It's not bad, but then again, it's not good either. The cut is sorta deep. Does it hurt?" she nodded. "Like crap!" she laughed but cringed. "It hurts to laugh!" she smiled. "When you get home, your mom' will take care of you. Just count on me to get you there." He smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "I can always count on you." May said softly, burying her head in his back and closing her eyes. Ash blushed at her actions, but smiled nonetheless.

He could feel her warm breath on his neck and it sent shivers down his spine. This made him smile thinking off the girl he was carrying piggyback style. But his thoughts soon drifted back to then note he found on his bag. 'Is this one of the bad things? She said it came out of nowhere. What's going on?' he asked confused. Ash kept walking when he felt May tense up. "You okay?" he asked stopping. "No. It hurts Ash!" she said holding him tightly. "I know it hurts May, but I'm gonna get you home, okay?" she nodded with tearful eyes. He looked down and saw the towel was completely red. 'Crap!' he cursed. 'Her house is just around the corner.' "Hold on May, we're almost there." He quickened his pace.

Ash practically ran up the steps to her house and knocked on the door. Max opened it. "Ash?" he spotted his sister in pain and tears rolling down her cheeks. "What happened to May?!" he asked fearfully. "I'll explain later. Are your mom and dad home?" he asked gently setting May down on the couch. "No, they left already." Max walked over to where she was. "May? Are you all right? What happened?" May looked at her brother and saw concern in his eyes. "I got cut on the leg. But don't worry, I'll be fine." She smiled at him. "Do you have a first-aid kit Max?" Ash asked. Max nodded and ran down the hallway. "Here!" he returned with a white briefcase looking object.

"Thanks." Ash opened it and took out everything he thought he would need. He cautiously untied the towel from her leg to inspect it. He looked at May's face, which had gone pale. He turned his gaze to Max who was intrigued by the process. "Okay…this is gonna sting May." He got a cotton ball and dabbed it with disinfectant. "OUCH! Oh my gosh! That stings!" she clenched her eyes shut and dug her nails in the couch. "Hold on, I'm almost done."

After successfully cleaning the wound, he triple bandaged it. "How did you do that?" Max asked dumbfounded. "Instinct?" he said sheepishly. "Thank you Ash. You don't know what this means to me." May smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it." He returned the smiled. "This is so disturbing. So what happened?" he asked sitting next to her. "I was walking and this sharp thing hit my in the leg. Then Ash came and helped me out." She gestured toward her friend. "Oh, that was really cool of you Ash." Max smiled. "How long were you here by yourself?" she asked. "About 10 minutes or so. Oh yeah! Somebody came by earlier and was asking for you." He said. "Really? Who was it?" she asked and Ash listened.

"Some creep named Gary." May froze. "G-Gary?" she looked at Ash and saw the surprised, yet angry expression on his face. "Who is that guy and how does he know where we live?" May felt herself sweating. "He's just a guy from school." She looked down at her leg. "I don't trust him." He walked down the hallway. May sighed in relief. "So…are you gonna be alright now?" he asked. "Yeah. It still hurts, but not as much." She smiled. "That's good. Well…it's 12:31 right now. I was supposed to come over at 3:00. How about I just go home really quick to get my stuff and I'll come back?" He offered. "You don't have to do that Ash." She informed him. "I know. But I want to. I'll be back!" he walked out the door. May watched him as he walked out the door. 'He's so considerate. Sometimes I think he cares more about others than he does himself. But…why does he care so much?' May was confused.

Back with Ash…

Ash entered is house and was welcomed back the smelled of warm chocolate. "Aw man that smells good!" he drooled. "Hey mom! Did you make a cake?" he asked in a zombie like tone. "Oh, hi honey! I didn't here you come in. How was the match?" he unintentionally ignored her. "D-double ch-chocolate strawberry c-cake!" she rolled her eyes. "Have a slice and tell me about the game." She slid him a plate. "Alright! Thanks mom!" he was about to devour what was in front of him when he stopped. "Do you-" "Here!" Delia put some milk on the table. "We won! 7 to 6. I scored 5 goals. I think that's the most I've ever gotten. Oh yeah, and Paul twisted his ankle." She listened intently. "That's too bad. Why are you getting home this late? Your games usually end at 11:30. It's almost 1:00."

Delia looked at him, searching for an answer. "May got hurt so I took her home." She could feel her heart heat up. "Oh my! You did that for her? That's my boy! You are such a gentleman." She hugged him. "Phew Ash! Make sure you wash up when you're done. Use a lot of soap and hot water. Oh, I feel faint." He looked at her annoyingly. "Very funny mom." He mentally rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the cake. It was delicious as always. Mom, when I get done I'm going back to May's, okay?" he yelled walking up the stairs.

"Is she hurt bad?" she asked concerned. "Sorta but it's not that serious." He heard a gasp. "What do you mean 'sorta'?" she asked up the stairs. "She was bleeding, and looked like she was in a lot of pain." He answered. "Oh, that's too bad. When you go back, send her a slice of cake, all right?" she said. "I will!" he entered his room.

At the Maple House…

"No mom, you don't need to come home. I'm fine. I told you, Ash took good care of me." She blushed at that comment. "Are you sure? We can turn back around." Caroline said. "Enjoy you're weekend and don't worry about me. Bye mom!" she hung up. "What did mom say?" Max asked entering the room. "She said that they're almost there. But she was worried when I told her what happened. She said they'll be back in the morning.

"Oh, okay. So…what's going on between Ash and you?" he smirked making his sister change colors. "Um…uh…w-what do y-you mean?" she asked nervously. "You know what I mean May. You like him don't you?" he pointed at her red face. "…" She didn't answer, "Ha! I knew it! Is he your boyfriend?" She looked up sadly. "No" May looked at the floor. "How come?" Max asked. "Gary is my boyfriend." Max gaped widely. "That creepy guy?!" he yelled. "Yeah" she nodded quietly. "Why?" he sat down next to her. "I don't know. He said he liked me and then all of the sudden we started going out." She explained. "Do you like him?" she looked at him strangely. "Yeah. I mean, he's a good person and everything. And he's pretty nice." He nodded. "Well, I think you should go with Ash. I'm goin to my room now." Max left for the second time that day.

'How can someone who is so young be so smart? It doesn't make any sense.' She shrugged. "What am I gonna do now? I can't get up and go somewhere because of my leg. No what?" as if right on cue the doorbell rang. "Max! Get the door!" she yelled. "You get it!" he yelled back. "Hello? I just made the injured list, so it's kinda impossible!" May fired back. "Fine!" he stomped to the front door. "Oh, weren't you just here?" Max asked. "Yeah, I said I was coming back, remember?" Max looked confused. "Oh yeah."

"How're ya doin May?" Ash leaned on the couch she was on. "Better. It's kinda sore though." "I brought something for ya!" he held up a paper bag. "How many times do I have to tell you, you don't have to do these things?" she crossed her arms. "Aw, it's no problem. But if you don't want it, I'll just eat this piece of double chocolate strawberry cake then." He smirked at her. "Hey! I never said I didn't want it! Give it here!" she reached for it but he moved it away. "Ah, ah, ah! What's the magic word?" he taunted. "Gimme cake now!" she fumed. "That was three words!" he laughed.

"Don't taunt an injured person, it's not right!" she pouted. "Aw, I'm sorry. Here eat the cake then." He handed it to her. "Thanks!"

QT: WOW! That was another long one!

May: Aw man! I got hurt! Thank you for helping me Ash!

Ash: No-

ALL: WE know! No problem!

Ash: I wanted to say that!

AJ: You said it like 50x's in the entire chapter!

Mikey: Yah dad, give it a rest.

Ash: Fine!

May: Aw, don't feel bad honey, I like it when you say no problem

QT: Wow! Eight lines! I set a new record! Anywayz, I bet you guys are wondering who hurt May right? Well, it's guaranteed that you'll find out in the upcoming chapters!

All: Review! 4 Sure!

R&R