Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Pokemon, its characters, locations, or names. All of them, with the exception of original characters, ideas, and places, belong to Nintendo.

Credits: Vanika, Silvanus, and all locations involving Nara belong to me.

AN: This would be Chapter Two. :) This has a bit more light-hearted then the first two parts were, which is somewhat setting the tone for these changes that occur throughout the fan fiction (it seriously goes sad, to happy, to sad, to happy, to sad, sad, happy... XD Or so I think it does.)

Warning: Even though it isn't in this chapter (or even in the first few chapters), there is a semi-adult scene or two later on. Rawr. Don't read those parts if you don't like it.

- Chapter Two: A Special Thank You -

"This is such an…interesting set-up." The cave the two dragons and May took them to was situated far into the forest. The clearing itself had a pile of wood in the middle, somewhat charred from a fire that had burned there the night before. They could hear the sounds of moving water that was nearby, but out of sight.

Just inside the cave were what appeared to be natural shelves in the rock, where there were books and items kept. Misty picked one up, and flipped through it; it was for the basic alphabet. "Where did you get all of these from, May?" she asked, as the brunette peered over her shoulder at it.

She shrugged, looking slightly bewildered. "Vanika gets those for me. She said she wants me to learn things so I won't be a total idiot."

"She's doing a good job of playing teacher." Misty smiled at her, getting a hesitant one in return. It brought to mind the image of a deer; shy, scared to be near humans, skittish. "What's there to eat around here? It's nearly lunch time."

"Oh, usually we just get whatever Silvanus conjures up. He sometimes manages to get these things called 'chops.' I don't know what it is exactly," the younger girl admitted. Misty's eyes widened.

"Pork chops?" She nodded. "It's….um, it's meat that is taken from a pig, just like bacon and ham."

May looked at her, eyes narrowed while it sank in what Misty said. She brightened. "Maybe I can get him to get some of those again."

The redhead shook her head, putting her hands up. "No, no, there is no need!" Misty hurriedly said, as May started back toward the entrance of the cave. Something told her that the silver dragon would not be pleased.

"No, no, I'm going to! He won't mind, he liked them." Excitedly, she scurried off to find him, leaving Misty to stare in shock. The gym leader wondered what exactly they had gotten themselves into in agreeing to stay.

- - -

As predicted, Silvanus wasn't happy about it, but disappeared into the underbrush to fetch dinner anyway. Misty pulled both Ash and Brock away, out of earshot of the young woman that seemed more like a young child, and turned to them. "There is something wrong with this. Why is she out here, of all places?" she asked.

They shrugged, just as baffled as she, and turned to watched. Vanika was currently hopping about, dodging to the side as May jumped at her, being as wild as the dragons themselves could be. Brock rose an eyebrow, before actually laughing. "It's like they are her parents, almost."

"What?" Ash asked, looking between the two elder members of the group. "What do you mean, her parents? That's not possible."

Misty sighed, and looked at him. "Ash, we don't mean literally her parents. Look at it this way…Vanika has had to teach her everything she knows. She's out here, in the middle of no where, and looks like she has been for quite some time."

"The only way to find out for sure is to ask." Brock nodded in agreement, along with Misty. They walked back over to the two, keeping their footsteps quiet so it didn't disturb the session going on. Vanika paused, getting onto her hind legs to peer at them.

Do you need something? If you want to wash up, there is a spring for you to do so. They looked at each other, coming to a silent agreement; it could wait for a while, at least until they were on more familiar grounds.

- - -

"What's that?" Ash waved a hand, stopping his battling Pokemon. May watched as they all hunched down, panting, and craned their heads to peer in their direction. "What are those?"

"You don't know what Pokemon are?" he asked, his eyes widening as she came up beside him. She crouched down, putting a hand out to try to touch one of the creatures that was so foreign to her without actually moving to get closer. May shook her head, as the smallest of them, a yellow one, sniffed at her hand. "Pikachu, mild shock."

May jumped, when she felt a slight jolt of electricity come from the yellow animal that was referred to as 'Pikachu.' She blinked, and looked up at Ash curiously, her eyes wide. "Are they all like this?"

Ash shook his head, letting the other five return to their homes – the five pokeballs that he held - and tossed them into his backpack. "No. They all are different." He put a hand out to help her up. "Some of them are like Pikachu, others can use water, others fire, while others are psychic, and others can use Ice and can fly."

Going pink, May took the offered help and got to her feet. "Um…."

Thank him. Silver eyes stared at them from in the trees, and Vanika hopped down. May blinked, her eyes thoughtful and unfocused at the same time, before she jumped and hugged him, mumbling under her breath a string of words Ash couldn't even begin to pin a meaning to. Vanika started laughing in her own dragon-like way at the bug-eyed look he had gotten.

"That's how you thank people?" he asked, as May smiled up at him. The smile quickly faded, as she looked at the dark-haired boy, clearly confused at the question.

"…Isn't that how you're supposed to thank someone?" The innocent question was asked quietly. "That's what Vanika does."

Ash ran a hand through his hair, baffled beyond belief, and looked to the green reptile for an answer. Vanika just dragon-shrugged, her mind-link a muddy color in ruefulness. Go on. It is time to, anyway.

Thinking over an acceptable answer, he looked back at May. "Well," he started, swallowing to get rid of whatever was suddenly obstructing his breathing, "you…that's not exactly how you thank someone. Don't get me wrong-" Ash noticed the down look the girl had suddenly gotten, as if she felt bad, and he put on a smile to try to cheer her up. "-that is one way to go about it, but you don't do that to everyone."

"Why not?"

"Because some might take it the wrong way." Ash bit his lip, getting more uncomfortable with the turn the lesson was taking. "If you want to do that to someone, it has to be someone you know…like a friend or something. Normally, all you would have to do is say 'thank you' and maybe hug them or something…the normal way, where you don't jump on them."

"I'm sorry. I did it all wrong then," May said, frowning at him. Ash put his hands up, shaking his head.

"No, no! I'm your friend, right?" She nodded, hesitantly. "Then it's ok. Just, if it's someone you don't know at all or don't consider a friend…like that guy that was here yesterday. You wouldn't do that to him."

May's eyes narrowed at the mention of the hunters, and she nodded again. That's enough. Why don't you go see about your books? You didn't finish your last one, Vanika spoke up, interrupting the two.

"You mean the boring one?" Her shoulders slumped, and she stalked off, muttering under her breath. Ash watched her go, before looking to Vanika. The reptile sat on her hunches, front claws hanging at her sides.

Nice. This could prove more productive then I originally thought… Slowly getting on all fours, Vanika took off into the trees, disappearing before the human boy could ask what she meant.

- - -

"We're going to need a plan," Misty said. It was raining, and she sat under one of the large trees with Brock and Ash. She was holding her head up on her palm, biting her lip, as she stared at them. "We surely can't stay here forever."

"That's right. You still have more badges to get, Ash, and the pokemon league isn't going to go into a stand still just because we are hanging around here," the oldest boy commented. Looking off into the rain, with an almost absent look, Ash didn't reply. "Ash? Earth to trainer, earth to trainer, come in!"

"Oh, oh…what about the league?" he asked. They frowned at him.

"What's with you today? You've been daydreaming on and off. What gives?" Misty looked questioningly at Ash, who shrugged absentmindedly. Brock and she exchanged worried glances.

"Are you all there? What's going on in that head of yours?" Brock waved a hand in front of his face, getting a scowl out of him. Ash glared at them, before closing his eyes and lying back.

"I don't want to go." They blinked, gaping at the lounging teenager.

"You don't want to leave? Why? You have so much to do before the tournament-" they started. Ash shook his head, his lips turning down in a frown.

"There is stuff I want to do here. I can always enter the tournament later." Ash sat up, his eyes wide, innocent, and bright. "There's…just things I want to do. Leaving isn't one of them."

Your time is up? Silvanus appeared beside Brock, hankering down as if he had been part of the conversation the whole time. So soon?

He obviously wasn't unhappy about it. Misty opened her mouth to reply with a 'yes,' when she was quickly cut off. "No. We don't have anywhere we have to go," the black-haired boy replied, eyeing the young woman, clearly not pleased with what she was thinking of doing.

Oh, but the world is so wide. You have many places you could go see and experience. Ash narrowed his eyes. He could see exactly where the silver creature was taking it; obviously, so could Misty and Brock, by the expressions they had.

"It's fine, we have plenty of time for that." They heard something nearing them from another direction. Oh, stop it, Silve. If you can't see what's happening, then you are blind as a bat, the voice of Vanika said.

Silvanus 'scowled', his mind link colored a tinge of red. The three humans stared in confusion at each other, then turned when Vanika's attention was on the trees beyond them. There she is…she's been gone all morning.

"We have snails again," May said, as she came into view from behind a clump of bushes and trees, ignoring the scratches she was getting on her bare legs. Misty had to put a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp, the sight of the other girl shocking. She looked like she had been drenched – and most likely was, what with the rain – and what little clothing she wore was ripped and torn from the wear and tear of living out in such conditions as the forest.

"Oh my," the gym leader mumbled, before giving her two male companions sharp looks. The older of the two was glancing away, surprising her, while the younger had froze, turning quite a bright red in the face and becoming slack-jawed. They could hear Vanika's laughter through the Mind speak, the bubbly sound filling their heads. My point has been proven Silve!

"What? What'd I do?" the oblivious girl asked, as Misty quickly stood up and grabbed hold of her arm, and proceeded to pull her toward the cave. Hopping through the puddles and mud, Vanika and Silvanus followed them. "What's going on?"

"…..you're going to catch a cold wearing things like that in this rain." Misty wondered just how much Vanika had told her, and how much she'd need to explain herself if she told the truth. "What else do you have for clothes?"

"Um…" May shuffled over to one of the farther back shelves, and pulled the coverings off of it; underneath was several sets of clothes – most were relatively clean and unworn out, but showed signs of starting to. Misty picked up one of the shirts, inspecting it closer, before smiling. We did what we could, Vanika said, Though I don't think that human muchly appreciated it when we took those.

"They work. Go ahead and change, so that you can keep warm…and perhaps not make both of our friends embarrassed." May's face reflected her confusion, but Misty just smiled and shrugged, walking out to give her some privacy.