I honestly had no idea this was going to head in this direction. In my origonal thought process, they would have ridden Flygon back to their friends and the story would have ended soon after. But this will let me include another story arc later soon. It should start somewhere in the next chapter. But don't hold ypur breath. I never expected this chapter to go on so long. Which is why I had to break it up into two. But I already explained that. Anyway, Chapter 7, Stage on!

"Hey, May," Ash called to her. She snapped out of her thoughts and saw that she and Ash stood in a small clearing in the middle of the forest. The sky had turned orange as the sun set behind the trees. "I think this would be a good time to start setting up camp. We need to make sure we don't over do it." May looked over to Ash. He still hadn't put on a shirt, but the bandana had seemed to be dry, having been rung out and warmed by Ash's body heat. She herself, on the other hand, was still wearing her wet clothes. Ash sat against a tree and turned to May. "We probably need to get a fire going, so we can cook some food," he smiled.

"Umm… What food?" May asked him.

"Didn't you bring anything?" he asked.

"I didn't think I was gonna get kidnapped by Team Rocket, so I didn't plan for an extended trip," May shouted, annoyed at his question. Ash looked at her, surprised. She realized what had happened and looked at her feet. "I'm sorry, Ash, I didn't mean to"

"It's alright," Ash comforted her, "today's been a rough day. We both need a good nights sleep." Ash turned to Pikachu. "Hey, buddy, could you get into my stuff and get out the food I bought?" Pikachu hopped off of May's shoulder to the spot on the ground where May had put down Ash's pack. He nimbly unzipped the smaller pocket, and pulled out a small, sealed package of potato chips. Ash laughed when he brought it out, "In was gonna snack on that after I woke up while I waited for the rest of you guys. Before the entire Drew and Team Rocket thing happened"

May turned to her pack and rummaged through it. My Pokéblock case, my ribbon case, my… stuff, she quickly hid it. But with no food in sight, she whimpered.

"Hey May, you want some?" Ash asked her. May turned to him. He had opened the bag and taken a few chips for himself. He held it out in his hand, offering her his food. She slowly took it from his hand and took a solitary chip from the bag. She nibbled on it slowly, turning to look at Pikachu, who had opened his can of Pokémon food and was eating happily. May's stomach let out an audible growl. "You can eat more if you want," Ash told her, smiling. Grateful, she took a few more chips out of the bag and ate them. "Do you want anymore?" she asked him. He shook his head, saying, "You're not as used to traveling without food as I am. You'll need that to keep your strength up." He then asked Pikachu to pass him his canteen, and the Pokémon obliged. Ash drank the water within, as May got out her own and took a drink.

It was getting dark, so May went searching for some fire wood. Pikachu stayed with then injured Ash, who hummed a quiet song to himself. Or, at least he thought he was quiet. Ash was humming quite loudly. May enjoyed the music as she walked around the camp site, gathering wood. When she thought she had gathered enough, shebegan walking back to set up a camp fire like she had seen Brock do so many times before. Brock, she thought. She was worried about her friend and her brother. They were probably at the Pokémon Center, worried about her and Ash, just as she and Ash worried about them. She picked up one more stick and headed back into the camp site. Ash calmly stroked Pikachu's yellow fur. Having neither the rocks nor the expertise, May resorted to Combusken to light the fire. After recalling her starter, she sat across from Ash and began talking to him about various things. Like more of his adventures before he met her. About the things he did when he was in Kanto the first time. His adventures in the Orange islands. His Johto journey. Anything to take her mind off of her current situation.

In the middle of a story about an old pilot and his Noctowl, Ash asked May, "Do I make you feel uncomfortable?"

"What?" May was surprised. "What do you mean?"

"W-well…" Ash blushed, "you know how I feel..."

"About?" May asked.

"A-ab-about you…" Ash stuttered off.

"Oh." May blushed. She had all but forgotten what had happened between them one day ago. "It's surprising, I guess," she started. Only now she didn't have anywhere to take it. "I mean, I didn't expect you to pour it out like that. In a way, though, I'm glad. If you didn't say anything, I may have taken Drew's offer"

"Drew's offer?" Ash was curious. Pikachu's ears perked up.

"Well," May blushed heavier. "Drew asked me if I would travel with him instead of you"

Ash swallowed loud enough for May to hear. "A-and what did you tell him"

"He didn't give me a chance to answer," May continued. She added, "Then you and Pikachu popped up and you spilled the beans to me. Then I got all sorts of confused"

Ash let out a sigh of relief. "Have you decided if you want to go with him yet?" Ash asked her.

May looked into the fire for a moment. "No. That is, I haven't decided yet. I guess I like Drew, but I also like…" May had trapped herself in a sentence. She quickly dug her way out. "… traveling with you guys. I mean, if it wasn't for you, Ash, I probably wouldn't even be a Pokémon Coordinator."

"What do you mean?' Ash asked her. "Didn't the Rustboro contest convince you to be a coordinator?"

"Yeah, but to be honest," May began to tell him a secret she had kept from him and Brock; "I didn't really even like Pokémon at first. With my dad being a Gym Trainer, they had always seemed to be taking up his time. And when he became Petalburg Gym Leader, I almost never saw him. I just went to Professor Birch's that day to get a Pokémon so that Dad would be happy with me." She looked at the stars and sighed. "But what I really wanted to do was travel the world. I wanted to go to places I'd never been, and see all sorts of sights. My Pokémon would just be along for the ride." She turned her head to Ash. "But, then I met you. I remember when you were looking for Pikachu near Littleroot Town." Both of them looked to Pikachu, who had long by then curled up near the fire, and began to sleep. "You were so worried about him. I remembered watching you stay up all night with him, to make sure he got better. I saw…" her mouth got dry, so she swallowed some saliva and continued, "… how you loved. And it rubbed off on me. I wanted to be someone who could love like you could." She smiled at Ash, "I wanted Torchic and me to be as close as you and Pikachu." She got depressed and looked away. "But I kept messing up. I couldn't tell Torchic what to do, and she was always getting into trouble." She looked at Ash again, "But you believed in me. You were always there, like a safety net. Always ready to give advice when I needed it. Always ready to save me when I needed it. Always looking out for me." She realized she was babbling. "Oh, I just don't know when to be quiet, do I," She laughed.

Ash laughed, too. "Well, I'm glad I could be such a good influence on you, May. Now I know how Brock and Misty felt when they saw me become a good trainer." His gaze narrowed, "But you still haven't answered the original question.

"Hmm?" May questioned him.

"Do I make you feel uncomfortable?" Ash reminded her.

Oh, she thought. That question. "No. Not at all," she told him. "I know you, Ash, and I know you'd never do anything to the people you love. But like I said, I haven't been able to give it much thought." She looked into the fire. "I was hoping to see one of you look really bad in the battle earlier today," she admitted to him. "But both of you had my best interest in mind. So I guess I know now that I have to face this question on my own"

A sharp wind blew through the campsite, threatening the fire. May once again was reminded that she was wearing wet clothes. She shuddered loudly. "Hey May," Ash asked her, "Do you wanna change into some of my dry clothes"

May blushed. "What? Your clothes"

"It's gonna get cold, and you could get sick if you spend the night in wet clothes like that. I have some dry clothes in my pack. I know I need a dry shirt and pants," Ash explained. "And don't you wear just a big, yellow shirt when you sleep, anyway?"

"B-but, it's your clothes!" May exclaimed, "It wouldn't be right"

"Whoa, chill down, May," Ash smiled, "It's not like you have to live in 'em. And besides, we could let your clothes dry overnight, so you could change back before we got moving again." May let out a muffled growl. "And it was just an offer, anyway," Ash completed his train of thought.

With the choices of being cold, or being warm, May chose to be warm. "Okay, but you better not look when I change!" She warned him, half jokingly.

"I won't," Ash laughed, "I'll be busy trying to get a shirt on, and a dry pair of pants"

May opened his pack and pulled out two shirts, and a pair of pants. She tossed one shirt and the pants in the direction of Ash, and proceeded into the forest until she was sure he couldn't see her. It was for principle only, though. She knew Ash wasn't like that. He wouldn't try to look at her naked. A teenage boy he was, but he respected his friends, and wouldn't sneak up on her while she was changing. She heard a loud, boyish growl from the campsite. Ash was apparently having trouble changing as well. She undressed down to her underwear, placing her wet clothes in a pile. May knew that all of her other underwear was wet, so she had to keep the pair she had on. She did, however, remove her bra. She placed it on the pile neatly. She was expecting to feel vulnerable, but instead, she felt normal. The only other human around for miles was Ash, and he would never sink as to see her naked. She put on the shirt she had borrowed form Ash. It looked the same as his other shirts. Plain black except for an orange stripe across the midsection. Except the midsection was where her chest was. May sighed, hoping not to draw attention to herself from Ash, seeing as she wasn't wearing a bra anymore, anyway. The shirt was large on her, as the boy had predicted, and it covered her underwear completely. She grabbed her clothes and walked in her shoes without socks back to the camp site.

Ash was more mobile than she had given him credit for. In the time she had taken to change, Ash had set up a clothes line, hung his wet clothes on it, and set up his sleeping back where May was sitting before. Ash had moved back to the tree he was leaning against all that time and was waiting for her to return. He was wearing his black shirt and his baggy, blue pants. "Here," he said to her, "to complete the illusion." He tossed his red and black cap at her. She caught it in her hands and looked at him. Seeing the insistence in his eyes, she put it on.

Even May couldn't pass this opportunity up. "Go, Sceptile!" she ordered. "Use Bullet Seed!" May and Ash let out a laugh. May turned to the clothes line and set her clothes along it. She was worried that Ash might say something when he saw her pin up her bra, but no words exited his mouth.

"Well, it's getting late," Ash said to her, "We'd better get to sleep. We don't know how long it's gonna take for us to find everyone else."

"Where are you gonna sleep?" May asked him, obviously curious about the sleeping bag.

"Right here," he answered dumbly, indicating the area he was sitting in.

"Then why is your sleeping bag over here?" she asked him.

"It's for you to use, since yours is wet," he answered.

"Nu-uh," she shook her finger at him, "I'm not gonna let you play the hero all the time, Ash Ketchum!" She picked up the bag and unzipped it. It unzipped until it was blanket-like in form. She walked over to Pikachu and picked him up. The drowsy Pokémon was as confused as Ash was. May stepped in front of him, dropped Pikachu into his lap, and sat down next to him. May then tossed the blanket over Ash and herself, covering the three of them.

Ash pulled the blanket off of his head. "What are you doing?"

"We're sharing this, so neither of us gets cold," May snorted at him.

"Okay…" Ash yawned. Normally he would argue back, but it was too late. "Goodnight, May." He pulled a yellow mass of fur out from under the cover. "Goodnight, Pikachu." He hugged his buddy, then placed him on his lap, and leaned on the tree and quickly fell asleep. Pikachu followed suit, yawing loudly, then curling back up and going to sleep.

May looked at Ash's face. He looks so peaceful, she thought, I kinda like his hair. She startled herself with that. She gently ran her fingers though his hair, messing it up further. She found herself liking the look of his hair. It looks so wild, she thought, but the boy under it is nothing like that. He's kind, caring, and loyal to a fault, protective, brave, and wise. "I love you, Ash Ketchum…" she heard herself whisper. She was worried that he had heard her, but this fear was destroyed when he began to snore. Typical Ash, she thought. She stretched her arms, and placed one along his chest. She placed her head along his shoulder and quickly fell asleep.

What do you think of the direction this is headed. I feel that this is the best chapter I've written so far. But that's just me tooting my own horn. I'd like to thank you, the reader, for reading this far. Seven chapters can seem like a lot. I would also like to thank my reviewers. You all are swell. I hope you continue to make yourself known with your Reviews/Questions/Blah. Until next chapter, See You Next Stage!