Not much to say I guess. A bit more focus on the other two who fell this chapter though. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, enjoy chapter 11.

Running after the two Pokémon, Pikachu put every ounce of energy he had into trying to catch up with at least the Pidgeotto. He knew that if he could do that then he could do plenty enough. But after several quick turns by the Eevee, he lost sight of them.

Slowing down enough to catch his breath, the Electric-Type once again relied on his powerful hearing to try and get anything he could about them. Hearing the same soft thumping of paws off to his right, he rushed off in that direction, hoping that he wasn't too late.

Eevee had no clue what was going on. One moment she was sitting on May's shoulder admiring the great view they had from the spot high up on the hill and a Rattata surprised them by running under May's feet. The next moment she sees a flash of tan and brown feathers before tumbling down the hill. When she came to, the Normal-Type was all alone, no May, no Ash, and no Pikachu. To say that she was scared at the time was an understatement.

But that didn't even start to compare to what she felt right now. After searching around the woods for any sign of someone she knew, she heard a rustling of feathers coming from above her. Looking towards the sound, she dodged an attack from a large bird Pokémon literally by just a few hairs; in fact she could even see those hairs float away in the wind as the bird's talons retreated back to the sky. She didn't even completely understand what was going on or why she was being attacked, but there was a single command that her brain was yelling at her, run. Just run.

And run she did, going on nothing more than the pure adrenaline pumping through her body the Normal-Type was running faster than even she knew was possible. Side-stepping trees and jumping straight through dense bushes, many of which were filled with either sharp branches or thorns which tried to tear through her fur, she continued to run. Her lungs burned for air and her legs were already feeling too heavy to lift, but she still heard the sound of those wings behind her and she didn't even dare slow down to look back or catch her breath. The only thing she wanted to do at that moment was to run even faster, because no matter how fast she was going it still felt like the sounds of those wing beats were closing in on her. Darting every way she could to try and lose her pursuer, nothing she did could shake it. The attacks she knew would be of limited help too. Her ranged attacks would do little to nothing to the Normal/Flying-Type and she couldn't risk stopping long enough to try and use Dig to get away.

In her desperate state to get away from the other Pokémon, she finally made her first, and possibly last, mistake. While trying to find another direction to attempt to lose the Pidgeotto's powerful eyes, she failed to notice the outcropping of a rock in her path. Hitting her paw as she ran across it, Eevee was unable to recover at the speed she was going and tumbled face first along the ground until she hit a tree, dazing her in the process.

Getting back on all fours, she only was able to see the shadow of her pursuer upon her, and looking up all she saw the outstretched sharp talons, open and ready to make a kill.

Feeling her legs buckle beneath her as she tried to move, Eevee could only watch in pure terror as it got closer. Her life was flashing before her very eyes, her birth right into May's arms, her early contests, Pikachu showing her the basics of how to fight, all the way up to her finally being allowed to stay out of her Pokéball to travel with May through Johto, and beyond. That's all that she found herself thinking; May, Ash, May, Pikachu, Pikachu.

"Eevee!" She called out with her last ounce of desperation.

Just as she called his name, a flash of yellow appeared before her. Before the Evolution Pokémon could even process what was going on, the light became impossibly bright as her eyes strained to focus on anything.

When they finally did, she saw the bird lying on the ground in front of her, most of its feathers blackened and burned while its body randomly twitched from the intense attack that it just took. But most importantly in her mind, it wasn't moving. Probably not dead, but at that point she didn't even care.

Looking over at the other shape that appeared in front of her, she could feel the rush of relief encompass her entire body as she looked at the creature before her. He was panting hard as massive bolts of electricity continued to course off his body, but it was him. The one she called for.

Pikachu was trying to catch his breath as his body attempted to readjust. He also couldn't understand exactly what happened. After finally locating the two he was chasing, he found the Eevee down in front of a tree with Pidgeotto already in a power dive at its prey. While racing up to get into position, like the Ekans he only intended to give the Flying-Type enough of a shock to deter an attack and to scare it away so he could find out if it was the Eevee he was looking for, instead he wound up emptying almost all of his stored electricity into the bird. In less than a second, countless thousands of volts of electricity poured from his body and into his opponent. Combined with the super effectiveness of the typing, the Pidgeotto was out before he even knew what hit him.

The only thing Pikachu knew was when he heard her call out his name like that, something inside of him just snapped. Once he finally got in between the two Pokémon, all thoughts of holding back dissipated as he could only think of protecting her. Because even though he still couldn't confirm with his eyes that she was the one he knew, his instinct just told him that it was.

Almost not believing her own eyes, Eevee could only stare at Pikachu while he caught his breath. As the lightning started to die down, she couldn't contain it anymore. With tears starting to flow, she immediately tackled him right down to the ground.

"Eevee! Eevee!"

Rubbing her cheek up against his, she could honestly say she had never been happier to see him in her life. The fact that she was standing on top of her savior wasn't even on her mind. It was at that point where she felt something give way inside of her. Suddenly everything from when she started to run seemed to catch up to her, the anxiety and exhaustion that built up within her hit her small body all at once. Her eyes rolling back into her head, Eevee collapsed on top on Pikachu, out cold and fast asleep.

Still trying to understand exactly what all happened when he launched his attack, Pikachu suddenly found the sleeping Eevee atop him with a few tears still falling down her face. Looking up at the Normal-Type, Pikachu couldn't help but put on a soft smile as he watched her sleep soundly on top of him. But with her being virtually the same size as him, the position they were in quickly became uncomfortable. So trying to be as careful as possible, he rolled her off of his body and down next to the tree. Noticing that she didn't wake up from the movement, he took one more look around the area before sitting down next to her, standing guard until the moment she woke up.

Although in the end a small part of him regretted that decision, because it was several hours before she finally did wake up. The sun was getting lower in the sky by the time that she let out a large yawn and began stretching out her legs. Not entirely remembering everything right before she passed out, Eevee knew the most probable reason as to why it happened. Seeing Pikachu standing right next to her, his eyes and ears moving every way possible, she felt extremely relived again at seeing him there keeping watch over her. Ever since she fell down the hill and got separated from May her life had been a living hell, but when he finally appeared before her a small ray of light began to pierce through that hell.

But she quickly noticed when he had his eyes glued on one spot. Following his gaze, her own eyes shot open and the previous terror that she had felt was building back up. Right in front of them, the Pidgeotto that had hunted her was slowly getting to its feet. Like her, it had taken hours before the shock Pikachu give it wore off.

Getting to her feet as fast as her body would allow, Eevee moved behind Pikachu and tried to hide behind the Electric-Type, fearfully peering past him to watch the other Pokémon.

As the bird finally got itself steadied, Pikachu regained his battle posture. Glaring at the Pokémon, his eyes began glowing a steady white as he bared his small, but rather sharp, teeth while giving off a deep throaty growl. In addition to this, arcs of electricity started to pour off his body, giving every indication that he was ready for any retaliation that would come.

Even Eevee was getting nervous at the sight of what Pikachu was doing, but the Pidgeotto had a more pressing reason to be scared of the threatening pose. It took several tries, but it finally clumsily took flight, never once looking back.

Only when it was completely out of sight did Pikachu relax his stance.

"Pika?" He asked with his normal smile while looking back at the one he did it for.

"Vee," she hesitantly nodded. Though while he did surprise her at the extent of the threat he gave to the Flying-Type, she quickly realized he only showed that side for her sake.

As she looked up into his eyes, Eevee once again felt that uneasy sensation coming back to her, but it wasn't from the intimidating stance he was just in. It was the same that she felt the last few days being near him. Only this time it was even greater than before. Her heart rate soared as she felt her entire body start to heat up. But unlike before, she felt something else come to the forefront, an overwhelming sense of pride and joy looking at him like that. She understood where the joy was coming from without question, or at least she thought she did, but it was the pride which confused her. Why should she be proud of something that Pikachu did?

Turning to face away from him to try and quell this new uprising of feelings she was experiencing, the Evolution Pokémon started to walk away from her partner.

"Pi?"

Cocking his head slightly to the side, Pikachu could only wonder why she was acting like that. After her outburst towards him following his rescue he was sure that she wasn't mad at him anymore, but now she was back to the way she was before they left. He just would never figure her out he concluded.

But as his attention was off her for just a moment, he heard a soft but surprised "vee" escape from her along with a splash of water. Instantly turning his senses towards her, the Electric-Type had to try and keep from laughing at the sight.

In her distraction Eevee failed to notice where she was walking, and that took her right into a small shallow creek that was running not far from the spot they were resting at. Her foot slipped on the slick rocks and the poor Pokémon found herself plunging right into the water. Stepping back out, she found Pikachu standing nearby, barely containing his laughter. Shaking herself off, she gave him a defiant huff and started to walk away with her head and tail held high, trying to hide her embarrassment. But in the process she nearly slipped on the rocks again as she turned her focus back towards Pikachu. Barely catching herself, she could hear the now full laughter coming from the other Pokémon. Completely glad that her fur hid any form of blushing, the Normal-Type continued along the path she randomly chose, with the chuckling Pikachu not far behind.

It wasn't long before she relinquished her lead spot once she realized she had no idea as where to go. Now finally having stopped his laughing spree, Pikachu turned his attention onto the second thing he needed to accomplish now that he found Eevee, find Pikapi and May.

Focusing his attention to the bottom of the hill that they all tumbled down, he searched for any sign he could find that even hinted to their presence. All the while keeping a sharp ear and nose for any dangers that might come to them, as he did this Eevee followed obediently close behind him, even without him telling her to do so. She was scared of this forest. Even if being so close to Pikachu brought back those uneasy feelings, she preferred the odd sensation over feeling that she was too far from the one thing that could protect her from whatever was around her. And it was that sense of safety that she wanted more than anything at that point.

After another hour of searching, Pikachu finally found what he was looking for, though in a way he almost wished he hadn't. Coming to a small clearing he found it was filled with Pikapi's and May's scent, looking back at Eevee he could tell that she noticed it as well. The problem was that along with their scent, he also found stains of blood at various points around the clearing, though they were mostly around one spot. Considering that Pikapi's scent was strongest near those spots, he could only assume that it was his blood. But the fact that they weren't here was reassuring, even though one of them was injured, it wasn't enough to keep them from staying mobile.

"Pikachu," he told his partner, pointing down the path that he could tell they used.

"Vee!"

Elated that she was actually close to finding May again, Eevee was more than happy to follow. There was only one problem.

A quiet but deep growling noise put her on high alert, scanning the surrounding trees and bushes she couldn't find anything except an embarrassed looking Pikachu. A few seconds later it rang out again, this time she knew what it was because it was from her. Suddenly realizing that she hadn't eaten since breakfast, her stomach was groaning in protest.

Putting on a knowing smile, Pikachu started to look above them and it didn't take too long to find what he was hoping to see.

"Pika," he waved her over. "Pikachu pika pika."

Looking up to where he said, Eevee could see a boundless supply of fruits and berries lining many of the trees.

"Vui," she cooed while trying to figure out how to get to the delicious morsels. It didn't take long for an idea to come to mind. Taking a running start, she did a Headbutt into one of the trees. While the plant did shake slightly, it only gave her a headache more than anything. Slightly dazed, Eevee slowly walked back to a grinning Pikachu.

"Eevee vee vee," she demanded, rubbing her head with one of her paws.

"Pika."

Going back to the same tree and eyeing it over, the Electric-Type took his battle stance once more. With a short cry, he struck the tree with a powerful Iron Tail.

Unlike the Headbutt, the trees shook violently for a moment as leaves and fruit rained down on them.

"Pi," he said, looking quite proud of himself.

Ignoring his boasting and turning to the fruit that fell, Eevee tasted a couple. They were very sweet and quite delicious. Eating several of them, she turned back to Pikachu who was happily eating a few of his own. Watching him like that made the feeling come back, but embracing it slightly she walked up to him, trying to hide it and the emotions that were welling up from her as much as possible.

"Vee Eevee vee," she asked him in a slightly seductive tone while motioning to another tree whose berries looked just as delicious, but what made it better was that that tree seemed to have far more berries than any of the other trees there.

"Pika Pikachu," he countered her with another question before swallowing the last of the fruit in his hands.

"Vui, Eevee vee vee Eevee," she 'explained' while motioning to the leaves and fruit still around them.

Sighing as he knew his competitive nature got the best of him, Pikachu complied with her request. Walking up to the new tree, he repeated his former actions, and as his tail struck the tree it was once again raining berries and leaves.

"Eevee!" She cheered while running up to the new food, which was small enough to be bite nearly bite sized, but a brilliant blue color.

It took a second for Pikachu to remember what these berries were, along with the problem that was associated with eating them.

"Pika…" He tried to warn her, but it was too late.

Without a second thought, Eevee picked up one and bit down hard. Immediately a spark of pain rode through her jaw. While the berry did end up breaking in two, it felt as though her teeth did as well. Spitting the new food out she fell down to the ground whimpering, as the small Pokémon waited for the pain to pass.

Putting on a knowing smile, Pikachu gathered a few of the super hard berries and walked over to her.

"Pika pika," he told her, holding one of the berries between his paws.

Looking up at him, Eevee looked as though she would start crying again, the pain from her bite still not wanting to go away.

Once he knew she was watching, Pikachu did something that he had almost forgotten, it had been so long since he last had to eat raw Oran Berries. Focusing on the item in his hands, the mouse used what his species was famous for and passed an electric current straight through the fruit. To Eevee it looked as only a few stray sparks flaring up from the item, but to the Electric-Type he knew that there was nothing more to worry about.

"Pi," he said as he offered the berry to Eevee.

"Eevee," she quickly refused, not wanting to risk the pain again.

Cocking his head to the side again, he motioned for her to watch him again. Taking the berry up to his mouth, he crunched down on the morsel.

Watching him do this, Eevee was just about to stop him, fearing that this was just another attempt to show off, and as she heard the crunch the Pokémon visibly flinched imagining the worst. But to her surprise, he was happily eating it.

Repeating the process, he ran electricity through another berry and offered it again to his partner.

Hesitantly taking it, Eevee looked back up to Pikachu's confident smile. Deciding it was now or never she carefully bit down. To her complete amazement this one released its warm insides into her mouth. It was still about as firm as an apple but compared to the nearly rock like quality it had before she was happy about the difference. The best part about it though was it seemed to have an array of flavors as it was smoothly sweet with hints of spice, sourness, and bitterness. It was one of the best things she had ever tasted. Recalling that May had used these before in Pokéblock, she never remembered it tasting like this. As the warm fruit went down her throat she finally realized what Pikachu was doing, he was roasting them slightly with his electricity to not only warm them but make them soft enough to eat as well.

"Vee!" She declared while licking her lips.

Happy to see that she enjoyed them, he grabbed a few more to cook and she blissfully ate them all.

After their fill of the many different berries and fruits they found in the area, and having Pikachu roast virtually every Oran Berry Eevee could get her paws on, the two continued down the path hoping to find their trainers.

"Oh come on Angel, you can't still be mad at me can you?"

"Humph."

Even if he was using her as support, Ash could see that May was still mad at him for the last few hours. Though he also knew he was digging his own grave by repeating exactly what she was mad at. But he couldn't help it; he found a soft spot that he could tease her endlessly about. And in his mind, what made it even better was the true reason why she didn't like it.

"Although I don't think that you'll admit it, I think I know what you're really angry about," Ash told her, a playful grin on his face. "You're angry because you know that I know you actually like being called that. You're just too embarrassed to let anyone call you by that name."

"I do not!" She shot back, her face bright red.

"It's written all over your face," he teased. "I know you well enough that you can't hide anything from me for too long.

"Fine I admit it," the brunette finally said, her face heating up to levels she never experienced before. "Happy now?"

Surprised at her sudden outburst, Ash just smiled at her and looked back towards the path.

"Actually the question is are you happy now, May."

"I thought I told you to… oh. Yes, actually I am."

Though even saying that, May could feel a part of her regret hearing her real name again. Trying to suppress that thought to the best of her ability, she just pressed forward. But having to support Ash's weight was starting to really tire her. Even with him trying to take as much of the work away from her when he took a step on his good leg, she was starting to sweat and was breathing harder every minute. Ash of course noticed it the entire time, and was mentally going over what he remembered of the forest hoping that they were as close to where he was thinking.

Finally after another couple minutes of walking, the trees opened up into a large lake.

"Alright May, we can spend the night here," Ash told her as he tried to release himself from her grip so that she could rest.

"The whole night? But it's only a little past four-thirty; we still have plenty of time to keep going. It won't take long to go around the lake and still have enough light to maybe make another few miles."

"Yeah, and if we tried to continue until six like we usually did while traveling together, you would have already collapsed from exhaustion before then," he informed her while hobbling over to one of the trees and sitting down next to it. Even if he was trying to be careful, he could still feel the pain of his moving foot. At least it seemed to die down a little during their walk.

"I would not," May tried to counter. "I can still go a lot longer, just let me show you."

"You don't need to try and act tough just because you want to make up for me protecting you going down the hill May. Just trust me; we have plenty of time to make it to Auburn Town so there's no need to rush.

Looking at the knowing smile that he put on every once and a while, May knew there was no arguing with him. He saw right through her plan. It was true, even if he risked himself many times in the past, this was the first time that he took injuries like that to physically protect her from something, and she felt obligated to help him as best she could seeing as how she was responsible for the entire mess in the first place.

"Alright, I guess a short rest couldn't hurt," she conceded, sitting down next to him. But as she got her weight off her feet, her tiredness seemed to finally hit her. "Dang, I'm starting to feel a little sleepy."

"That's to be expected after everything that happened today," Ash said to her. "You take a little nap; I'll wake you up after a couple hours or so."

"Thanks Ash," May said with a yawn. "Just not too long though, I still have to sleep tonight."

Propping herself up against the tree they were leaning against, it didn't take long for her breathing to slow down as she quickly fell asleep.

"May was more tired than even I thought. But, as I said, that's to be expected, she's done so much for me today," Ash thought as he looked at her sleeping form. "I did all that to keep her from harm, I didn't think that she would try and pay it back like this. But after that speech she gave me I couldn't go and tell her no. Besides, without her help we would have still been stuck where we landed."

Reminded of the exactly what happened right after the fall, Ash turned red again thinking that May actually saw him in that state of undress. He wasn't one to be too overly private but he did show a respectful amount of modesty, especially around the girls. But there was another thing that came to his mind along with that.

"She mentioned the incident at the Sea Temple today while lecturing me about how I should be more careful. I have to wonder, why did she bring that up in particular? Was it just to prove her point or was it because that one stuck with her more than the others?" With his thoughts going back to the dream, not only was the pain returning slightly but he also remembered the last part too. "What May said to Pikachu in that dream, after what she told me today it only makes me think that maybe that scene was actually true. I know that my friends would be sad if I died, but I wouldn't expect her to go that far. One thing's for sure though, while I would put my life on the line without a second thought for her again, I never want to have to put her through that again."

As Ash looked over her, a smile made its way to his face as she looked so peaceful and content sitting there. Experiencing a calming sense flow over himself, he could feel his eyes seemingly drawn to a single place on her face, her lips. He gulped slightly as he felt his face heat up again.

"Okay where are these thoughts coming from," he asked himself, trying to turn his gaze elsewhere. But when his eyes seemed to want to focus on another part of her, he quickly decided that the lips weren't as bad as he originally thought. Parted ever so slightly and covered with a thin layer of lip gloss, which gave them a soft red sheen, he could hear the air moving across them with the steady rising and falling of her chest as she breathed. "Has she always worn lip gloss? Because for some reason I've never noticed it before. Better question, why am I noticing it now?"

Quietly groaning as he tried to force the thought from his head, Ash let his head fall back onto the tree.

"This is only happening because Dawn brought all that up about my friendship with May actually being love," he finally concluded. "While May and I are talking, I at least feel completely normal because I can push those thoughts aside and we become the same old friends we have always been. But in moments like this my mind just goes back to them. Is that a sign in itself?"

Looking back at May, his eyes once again focused back on her lips.

"They look so soft," he found himself thinking. "I wonder what it would feel like kissing them."

Ash completely surprised himself at that last one, as he forced himself to look a different direction.

"Okay that just proved I watched two too many chick flicks last night if I'm starting to get thoughts like that in my head even when I'm awake. Damn you Dawn, I know you were responsible for both of those movies, and the selection was no accident either!"

Focusing on the sky, one place where he figured he could at least watch without his thoughts returning to the current issue, Ash let out another sigh.

"If this is what it's going to be like every time I'm alone with May I'm going to have to really start seriously thinking about it. I don't think that I can take much more of this."

Well as probably all of you guessed, I couldn't let Eevee be killed. Let alone right in front of Pikachu. But Ash is starting to feel a bit more pressure. Chapter 12 will be up on time, so until then, thanks for reading.