Kris: Hi! Hi! Everyone! Oh my goodness, it's friggin' March already!

May: You know what that means!

All: SPRING BREAK!

Kris: And more time to write stories!

Max: Or slack off in your case…

Kris: You know what kid? One of these days I'm totally gonna kick you out.

Max: I'd really like to see that.

Ash: Me too.

Kris: Well maybe your wish will come true by the end of the chapter. Disclaimer!

Disclaimer: This chick with the long name doesn't own pokemon.

May: You know, you used a double negative last time.

Disclaimer: Damn…I didn't think anyone would notice…

All: Nice try! Start the party!

Chapter 21

Puppy Love

Ping.

Ash could barely hold in his excitement as the pokeball ceased all movement and he quickly bent over to pick it up. He grinned widely and tossed the item in the air before quickly catching it with confidence. Pikachu hopped on his shoulder and gave the trainer an approving pat on the head while Treecko looked on with pride, a familiar twig sticking out of his mouth.

"All right! My third Hoenn pokemon. We're on a roll, guys." Ash exclaimed. Brock shook his head from the sidelines and gazed at his watch quickly before he walked up to the excited trainer.

"We should probably head over to the pokemon center to meet up with the others." He advised. Ash returned Treecko and attached his pokeball as well the new one to his belt. Once that was done, they started the trek down the beach towards the center. As he walked on, Ash's mind drifted to their time back in Rustboro.

"Hmm, why do I have a feeling that we're supposed to do something…" he voice trailed off at that. Brock eyed him strangely before he shrugged, ignoring the boy's outer thoughts. It wasn't long before they reached the red roofed center and Ash handed off all four of his pokemon to the nurse and allowed her to heal them. The two looked around the center, trying to catch any sign of their other two companions. They deduced that Max and May were probably still out exploring.

"I guess we wait for them to get back." Brock advised as he took a seat in one of the lobby chairs.

"I guess," Ash shrugged. 'I hope she hasn't gotten into some kind of mess…'

Once May's elation reached its peak, she sighed contently and let Silcoon rest in her arms before she turned to her brother who was a little less excited than she was. Cocking a brow at his silence May opened her mouth to question him only for the boy himself to beat her to the punch.

"Silcoon's a great pokemon and all but I kind of wanted him to evolve into Cascoon…" he shuffled his feet against the cave floor. May's eye twitched at his revelation as he fist clenched repeatedly.

"Max…" she growled. This was the second time he had the nerve to criticize her pokemon. One would think he would've learned after getting the snot pecked out of him by Torchic. But no, this was obviously a hard lesson to learn.

"Silcoon!" the coccon pokemon shot a quick and sticky string shot out at Max who gasped in shock. May only snickered at the attack while Max struggled to free himself.

"Ew! That's so gross!" he exclaimed.

"Well, maybe that'll teach you to watch your mouth next time." May huffed as she turned to walk in a different direction. Freeing himself from the goo, Max followed closely behind his sister and her newly evolved bug type. They walked in silence for awhile, the only sounds being their feet scuffing the ground. In the distance, May noticed some sort of doorway and motioned for Max to see as well.

"You think it's an extension to the cave or something?" he asked, pushing his frames up the bridge of his nose. May shrugged but continued on with a daring smile on her face.

"Don't know but let's check it out anyway." Swallowing his anxiety, Max followed closely behind the 'curious' brunette all the way through the strange doorway. It was much brighter on the other side causing May to turn her flashlight off and place it in her pocket. They looked around, gazing at the cave walls in silence. There seemed to be some sort of path that curved around slightly.

"Where do you think it leads?" May turned to the suddenly very pale Max who had bitten off the tips of every finger nail. "Really Max?"

"H-huh? S-shut up! I've n-never been in a c-cave like this before." He stuttered with defiance. May laughed softly and placed a gentle hand on his head, ruffling his dark locks.

"Relax, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He stared up at her before nodding in a agreement, his fear quelling slowly. May walked onward, following the path while Max lingered a bit behind her, deciding to somewhat enjoy the scenery. Just as she was turning the corner, she ran into something tall and slightly hard, jarring Silcoon out of her grasp.

"Ah-" she gasped, feeling the effects of gravity taking over as her body fell backwards from the impact. Suddenly, her body stopped in mid-fall by an arm wrapping around her waist securely. Instinctively, she closed her eyes, wanting for the hard impact. But when it didn't come she opened them in confusion only to see clear, light eyes staring back at her.

'Oh…' she couldn't form words. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. The person before her, the man, stared down at her with mild concern. His lips twitched as if he were about to say something.

"A-"

"No way!" a boyish shout knocked both of them out of their silence and caused the man's grip on May to loosen and for her to come crashing to the ground. "You-! Y-You're Steven Stone!"

May cringed as she sat up, rubbing her backside. That darn Max, she thought, always freaking out and scaring the wits out of people. May grumbled slightly and made a move to stand, only for a hand to block her vision. The man, Steven Stone as Max called him, offered to help her up.

"Thanks," she mumbled with a faint blush on her cheeks. He merely smiled before turning to Max who had strange sparkles in his eyes.

"That I am. And who are you?" he asked, bending down to Max's eye level.

"I'm Max! Gosh, do you know how cool you are? I remember seeing you on TV all the time and-" May drifted in and out of the one-way declaration of adoration as she took in his features. Standing straight, he was good seven inches taller than her donned in a sleek black suit with purple zigzags running down both sides of the jacket. The silver hair complimented his strange silver looking eyes that gave off a familiar shine of determination and compassion.

To sum him up in one word:

'Handsome…' May thought as she clasped her hands in front of her, her blush increasing. Her heart began to hammer in her chest the more she thought about him. Her mind then reverted back to when he caught her when they bumped into each other. Oh Ho-Oh! He practically caressed her! What a dream… 'I think I'm in love…'

"Oh yeah, that's my sister May." Max introduced May who was in a lovely daze, holding her cheeks lovingly as she fantasized silently. Steven stared at her expression then chuckled lightly.

"May, is it?" he called. She flinched, face completely red as she stumbled over her words, refusing to meet his gaze. "I believe this little guy is yours." He said as he passed Silcoon back to May.

"Silcoon! I must've dropped him when I ran into you. Sorry!" she exclaimed as she took the pokemon back into her arms and scratched behind her head nervously.

"It's not problem. That's a very nice Silcoon you have there." He complimented. May bit her lip in anxiety as she looked down at the suddenly interested cave floor.

"A-ah, thank you…" she stammered. Max cocked a brow at her behavior before turning back to Steven who seemed totally unaffected by his sister's strange behavior.

"So you two are just exploring, huh? It's good to see trainers checking out caves. You never know what interesting things you might find." He said. To emphasize his point, Steven dug in his jacket pocket and pulled out a strange looking stone. It was a lightweight stone with a neutral coloring. "Like this everstone here."

"Wow! You found that here? That's so cool!" Max said. Steven smiled at his enthusiasm then turned to May.

"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Steven Stone." He extended his hand out to her. Judging by her lack of knowledge about his person, he inferred that she might not know of him.

"M-may! Uh, May Maple." She cursed herself for being so flustered. She placed a shaky hand onto her face, surprised the heat emitted from it.

"I've been cooped up in here long enough and was about to leave. Would you two care to join me?" he offered. Max practically jumped at the offer while May remained silent, stuck in her own musings.

'Steven…Stone…where have I heard that name before…?' as she continued to think to herself, Steven pulled out a strange rope. Both he and Max grabbed onto it as well as May who did it unknowingly. Before she could blink, they were outside of the cave, standing in front of the entrance.

"That…was…so…cool!" shouted the boy. Steven chuckled at him then turned to May who seemed to be wracking her brain over something.

"May," he called. Suddenly, her eyes shot open and a wide smile found its way to her face.

"That's it! You're the Steven Stone that Mr. Stone was telling us about. I remember now!" she exclaimed.

"Mr. Stone?" Steven asked, curious.

"Yeah! He wanted us to give you something. Uh, I think it was a package." She explained.

"I see. You don't happen to have it on you by any chance?" he asked. May bit her lip again and looked away.

"Sorry, my friend has it actually. He's probably at the pokemon center." Steven considered what she said before nodding in agreement.

"Well, I guess we should meet up with him then," he said. Max grinned and fell into step beside the man while May smiled and followed as well.

"May…" Silcoon called from the comfort of her arms. She regarded him with a curious expression. "What's wrong with you?" she gapped at his question and turned red once more.

"Silcoon," she started. The white looking pokemon paused, waiting for her answer. "I think I have a crush."

"What do you think is taking them so long, Brock?" Ash asked as he sat down his fifth pokemagazine. Brock merely shrugged from his spot by the window before strolling over to the lobby chair and taking the seat across from the impatient trainer. Ash fiddled with his gloves out of boredom before resting his head in his palms and sighing for the umpteenth time.

"Take it easy Ash. They'll be here soon enough." Brock attempt to give the raven-haired boy reassurance. Just when he thought all hopes lost, he heard the familiar praising voice of Max as the sliding doors of the pokemon center opened, giving them a view of three people walking in, two of them familiar.

"And then when your Skarmory hit 'em with an Aerial Ace, it was all over!" Max spread his arms out wide to exemplify his excitement about the story. Steven sweatdropped at the retelling of one of his battles, slightly creeped at the fact that a mere child knew more about him than he did himself.

"Max! May!" Ash shot up from his seat and approached them, completely oblivious to the third person standing among them. "What took you guys so long?"

"Ash! Ash! Look at who we met?" Max exclaimed, tugging on Steven's pant leg. Curious, Ash looked up at the silver-haired man. He held out his hand for Ash to shake.

"Steven Stone, it's a pleasure." He replied. Ash seemed to be taken aback by his introduction as he turned the gesture.

"Ash Ketchum, same here." He then turned his attention to Brock who seemed to be watching him with mild curiousity.

"I'm Brock. It's an honor to meet one of Hoenn's champions." He replied.

"Champion?" Both Ash and May exclaimed at the same time.

"I guess you two wouldn't be familiar with Hoenn news since Ash isn't from here and May just moved a couple months ago." Brock explained.

"A champion…" May muttered to herself, cheeks red once more. Ash gazed at her confusedly.

"What's up with you, May?" he asked. May snapped out of her trance before attacking him with questions.

"That's right! Ash, do you still have that package Mr. Stone gave us?" she asked. He pondered the question for a second before he unstrapped his backpack and dug inside of it. Standing up, he held a neatly wrapped parcel in his hands.

"This is it right?"

"I think so. Remember he asked us to give to someone named Steven Stone?" she reminded him.

"Yeah, now that you mention it. You're him, right?" Ash asked.

"Yes I am. Thank you for delivering it to me." He thanked them. May blushed on again while Ash merely shrugged.

"No problem Steven. Wow, it's really cool to meet one of Hoenn's champions." Ash said. "Do you think we could have a battle?"

"That sounds like a fine idea, but I have somewhere to be soon so we'll have to do that another time. Do you have a pokenavigator?" he asked. Ash nodded and fished out the black and blue device, handing it to the silver haired trainer. Max, who was still holding May's, handed it to Steven as well. "I'll give you a call when the time's right."

"Awesome." Ash flipped through the device, staring at his two lone contacts before he closed it and turned to Max who was doing the same thing with May's.

"Wait, so you're leaving?" Max whimpered. "But I didn't get to see any of your cool pokemon."

"Step outside for a bit and I'll show you." With that, the five of them walked out into the early evening, approaching the shores of Dewford. Steven grabbed a pokeball from his belt and expanded it before tossing it into the air. "Skarmory!"

"Skraa!" the flying steel type screeching into the air before addressing its trainer accordingly. It was a strikingly intimidating pokemon with large red wings, piercing yellow eyes and fierce looking talons. Silcoon buried himself into May's arms, suddenly very afraid.

"Wow! It's your Skarmory! It's really really your Skarmory!" Still in possession of May's pokedex, Max opened it up.

"Skarmory, the flying/steel type. Skarmory are tall birds with long necks and long legs. Despite being covered in extremely durable armor, they are surprisingly swift in flight, and its feathers are sharp enough to be used as swords and knives." It hummed it silence.

"So cool…" he muttered one last time. Steven grinned then preceded to mount the large bird. He patted the large bird on the head gentle, whispering words into its ear. Soon, its wings began to flap slowly while taking flight.

"It was nice meeting you all. Sorry I couldn't stay long." He said. May merely looked on silently until his gaze met hers. She held onto Silcoon tightly. Just when she thought was going to turn away, he winked and Skarmory took off into the skies, leaving a large gust of wind in its wake. They had to shield their eyes from the sand that picked up as they watched Steven slowly disappear beyond the horizon.

"It's cool that you guys met Steven." Brock commented as they made their way back to the center.

"Isn't it, though? Wow, this is great. First Ash, now Steven and you were even a gym leader! This is the greatest!" Brock smiled at Max's excitement. Ash smiled as well before he turned to May who seemed to be in some sort of trance. She continued to stare at where Steven's figure had been silently.

"Uh, May?" he called. She jumped out of her trance out the sound of her name being called and turned to him with a red face and surprised eyes. "You okay?"

"Uh, uhm yea! I'm fine. Just…" she paused then smiled, holding her cheek. "just fine." Not wanting to question her weird reaction, Ash shrugged. Just as he was about to head back to the center, he caught sight of the new pokemon resting in May's arms.

"Whoa! Is that your Wurmple?" he asked. "It evolved!"

"It sure did. He's a Silcoon now. Isn't he just the cutest!" May gushed as she rubbed her cheek up against his.

"That's great May." He congratulated her as they both headed back to the center. May seemed to be somewhat back to normal but Ash couldn't shake the feeling that he should be on his guard for something. He just didn't know what.

Kris: End! End! End! End!

Max: Ok, we get it. It's the end!

Kris: Shut it!

May: Steven! Kyaa~!

Ash: May!

May: What? I'm sure you have fantasies about other girls.

Ash: …Huh?

Kris: No he doesn't. Ash wouldn't know a fantasy unless it was a pokemon.

Brock: She's got a point…

Kris: Bahaha! It's late, what else is new. But it's here!

May: Please do review.

Kris: Thanks for the favs, alerts, and subscribtions!

All: Thanks for reading! 4 Sure!