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: XD I am still amazed at how fast everything originally progressed in this story. Yes, I put that as past tense, because I wrote this chapter last November. Overall, it seems like it is better that way since there isn't much I could do with the setting that wouldn't be overdone anyway (and kinda is overdone at some point...eh). Yes. Anyway, read, enjoy, review, go take a nap. XD

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 Three: Sleeping Soundly -

"Whatcha reading?" Ash asked, crouching down next to Silvanus, who was in turn next to May. Her nose was wrinkled, giving her a pained look, before she turned to talk to him instead of staring at the page.

"Some book by an old human," she answered, "about…these….things."

It's simple Algebra. Al-ge-bra, Silvanus sighed, Those are equations. Blankly, May went from staring at the page, to Ash, then to Silvanus. Curiously, Ash took the book from her and scanned over the page, his eyes bugging out at the sight of the various numbers and…letters.

"….That is beyond my level, that's for sure," he said, quickly giving it back before a headache formed from having to look at so many numbers. Ash wondered what was the use of such a thing, and why they'd be teaching it to begin with. Because the humans mentioned it.

When both children blinked, Silvanus sniffed. One of those teacher humans was speaking of it to another one, so we decided to see about getting the book, since it is something humans know. "Not all of them," May remarked, pointing at Ash.

The dragon sat, silent, before sniffing again and leaping up into a tree above them. They heard a snippet of a thought – childish girl – before he had shut his link off and disappeared. For several minutes they sat in perfect silence, neither commenting nor moving.

It was Ash that finally broke the moment. He pushed himself up, stretched, and smiled. "I think I'll leave you to your studies…gods, I know you need the quiet, what with such work."

"No, no, no, no, don't!" May grabbed hold of his ankles, keeping him in his place, shaking her head violently. "Stay! I like having you around."

What precisely that was supposed to mean exactly, never came to him. All that mattered at that moment was that he was stuck with having to stand there with a girl that refused to let go of his legs, for the sheer fact of wanting company. "Why? What would possess you to like that?"

"….what does that mean? Possess?" Ash had to force himself into not laughing or smiling at how she said 'poses-ess' rather then possess. Instead, he sat back down, keeping his head down to hide his grin.

"Possess. It means…what would make you do something. So in the case of what I said, I asked what would make you like having me around." Her lips formed an 'O' again – Ash was starting to wonder if she always did that when someone told her something like that – and she repeated the word over again.

She shrugged. "I'm…I don't know." May fingered the edge of the page, her expression betraying the confusion and anxiety that was at that very moment eating at her, before sighing and shaking her head, going back to reading the explanations Silvanus had assigned her.

Ash sat watching her quietly, as the minutes ticked on. He looked around at the trees, all of which were gently swaying in the breeze. It was a change compared to the cities he had been in the last few days before setting the plans to stay with Vanika, Silvanus, and May for awhile.

Before long, it started getting dim out, the slanting rays of light from the sun moving and in some cases disappearing entirely, as the sun started setting. May growled, flinging the thick tome into the woods and folding her arms, staring ahead, both angry and pouting. "Are...you alright?" Ash asked, keeping his voice cautiously low,

"It's too hard! I only know those things with the x's and that line with the dots, and adding and subtracting," she whined. Ash stared blankly, trying to figure out what she was talking about, before it finally clicked.

"Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction?" May was silent for a minute, before she nodded. "You're not good at math, are you? Or is it that you are really just starting to work on it?"

"...I'm no good." May frowned. "Vanika has been teaching me...math...up until now, but she even admitted it was a waste of time to even try."

"Then why is Silvanus trying?" Ash asked, as the quickly tiring girl scooted over and laid her head on his shoulder, disregarding the fact that it might not be appreciated. She yawned.

"I dunno. Vanika says he's stubborn." May went silent again, watching the last remnants of the light filter out from between the leaves as night fully took over. Ash slowly and careful slid an arm around her waist, tilting his head against her's, and closed his eyes to be able to just listen to what was around them; the low whistle, the high chirping, and the familiar tinkling sound of the waterfall that was elsewhere in the forest.

Comfortable? The voice was gentle, barely audible through the weak link, and very much Vanika's. Ash smiled, getting a visual of the sneaky creature sitting in one of the many trees, hidden among the foliage. I'll take that as a yes. Whenever you are ready, come back to the cave. That other boy that was with you has a fire made so we have a little more warmth then we had last night.

"In a while," he said, as the yellow identity faded from his mind. There really was no rush to be getting back, and no reason to worry about the others.

- - -

"Did you find them?" both humans asked, as Vanika slinked through the cave entrance. She nodded her reptilian head, folding her wings against her back as she sat on her hind legs next to Silvanus. They're in the forest. May fell asleep during her studies, and Ash is having to tolerate being a human pillow...though, 'tolerate' isn't exactly the word I should use. The poor child had lost so much sleep...

There was a moment of quiet, as they all looked at the female dragon, then at each other. "Something tells me there is more to this then just him being nice," Misty said, scratching Pikachu as he and Brock nodding in agreement with her.

"What do you mean though, lost so much sleep? Over what?" Brock questioned, drawing curious looks from Silvanus and Vanika. The former shrugged, seeming almost indifferent about the troubled girl he'd been in charge of for ten years, and the latter shook her head. I am trying to figure that out myself...though, I do have a hunch, but that will have to stay with me and me alone. "Anyway...never trust a teenage boy to keep his mind focused when in the presence of a cute girl, eh Misty?"

"You cannot be talking!" she snickered, referring to the elder leader's love of cute and beautiful women - especially if those women were Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny - in the process. It was a common occurrence for him to try to hit on one at least once per city or town, without fail. "It's probably just a crush, if even that."

I wouldn't act too sure. You never know when it comes to matters of the human heart. "Cha?" Pikachu's black nose twitched, "Pikapi!"

- - -

When the mosquitoes started getting annoying, Ash looked around, trying to think of a way to manage trying to move without startling the young girl awake. Not finding one, he opted to just go about it as slow as he could, taking each movement with wariness and carefulness. It took twice as long as it normally would, but in the end he had managed to get onto his knees and start shifting May so he could get her up also.

Inching to his feet, Ash made sure to keep his hand against her back, holding her upright until he could finally pick her up without falling over and hurting them both. For him, it was an awkward experience; it was one of the first times he had to carry someone human, not to mention on such uneven grounds. The trees made it even harder, making him do turns and twists that were near painful.

It was a relief when the flickering light of the cave greeted them from the minute they entered the clearing. The inside entrance was warm and dimly orange, the shelves throwing shadows on the lower ones and putting on an interesting show. Ash paused, seeing the lengthy shadows of the group in the main cavern dwelling even before he entered; he was unsure as to how exactly he would explain the situation without making matters seem stranger then he was sure they already looked.

The time to think it over was cut short, when his Pokemon raced out to meet him. "Sh...hey buddy, you didn't miss me that much did ya?" he asked, trying to get his voice to be as playful as it could get.

Pikachu's head tilted to the side, black eyes wide and unjudging, letting out a little squeal. Letting out a little sigh, Ash silently hoped neither of his traveling companions would start freaking out and started around the last turn into the main dwelling, turning sideways to keep from hurting May with the rough stone walls. Everyone fell quiet, where it almost caused a ringing sound to start from the lack of any other sound. "...Hi?"

"I'm not commenting," Misty said, elbowing Brock discreetly as a warning to him to do the same. Ash shrugged, regretting the action instantly when May started stirring from the sudden movement. Biting his lip, both from worry and from pain - he was feeling rather sore after the trek through the woods and from just standing there - he went over to Vanika. With help from the dragon, he was once again situated.

"What exactly happened?" Brock asked, ignoring the sharp glances Misty kept giving him; he was, he knew, asking what she wanted to know but didn't want to ask. It ended up being Vanika answered, instead of Ash: I explained that already, did I not?

Silvanus returned from another 'room,' dragging along a blanket of sorts with his powerful jaws. Dropping it next to Ash, the surly reptile stalked away without a word, tail swishing left and right. "I really didn't feel like waking her up," he added on to Vanika's vague answer, getting a small half smile, "though...she did lose that math book."

Not a large loss, Vanika laughed, She'll live without it. "Yeah, though Silvanus won't be too happy most likely," the red-head remarked, as they all then joined in the laughter. It might be a good idea if we all set down to bed. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow.

"Huh? Why?" Misty asked. Vanika nodded toward the shelves, which several of them were empty. We need supplies, so we need to go to the town near here to get them. It'll be easier if everyone helps. "That means we can help you with getting everything bought, and also get that one badge out of the way."

Ash scowled at her, not bothering to reply to the meaning behind the suggestion. He started untangling the blanket, keeping hunched over to keep from having to look his friends' in the face. It was obvious what they were thinking of trying to do, and he didn't like it.

- - -

Vanika laid, curled in a loose ball, on the stone floor. She was the only one still awake, as there was the low, rhythmic sound of breathing and the whistling of the breeze at the cave entrance. At the first sign of moment, she quickly narrowed her eyes, squinting to keep her eyes as closed as she could and still be able to see.

Through the dimness – the fire had long gone out, leaving nothing but glowing embers – she saw May rise, sitting up and stretching, before standing to shuffle out quietly. Raising her head, Vanika waited and watched until she returned. Quickly going back to acting, the dragon slit an eye open again.

If she could have smiled, she would have. May paused at the entrance to the dwelling, hesitant about making the decision of where to go. Looking toward Vanika and Silvanus, she started to step toward where she had originally been sleeping then stopped again, twisting to look at Misty and Brock. Vanika had a hard time not snickering at the show.

May stood watching them for a moment, frowning, before finally going back over and picking the blanket up, plopping down in its place. Getting wrapped up in it, she snuggled in close to Ash again, going back to sleep. Vanika's tail twitched when he moved, putting an arm around her.

Don't you know snooping is rude? Silvanus' sleepy voice said, What are you doing?

Recording the progress. Vanika lifted her scaly head to look at her mate, her voice sharp but quiet. The progress you haven't been noticing. Books only go so far.

Silvanus started blinking, baffled, until Vanika jerked her head in the pair's direction. He stayed silent, contemplating it for a moment, until he closed his eyes. …Shall we have to learn the humans' way of mating now?

Vanika let out a long sigh via the Mind link, which was colored in sadness. No. I think this is one thing we cannot teach her in what to do. She will have to go about this on her own.