Summary: Excuse #3: Nessa's Adrenaline Rush. After watching Milo's matches against two outstanding Gym Challengers, Nessa intends to meet Milo for lunch. When he doesn't show up, she sets out to find him, but soon finds herself in a rather precarious situation.

Since he doesn't have a canon name yet, Milo's brother's name is Otis in this fic. Thanks for reading!

With the Gym Challenge well underway, Nessa couldn't afford to be away from Hulbury for extended periods of time. Eager trainers could come barging into her gym at any time, but that fact could not keep her from making the trip to Turffield to watch Milo's matches against the new trainers endorsed by the current champion of Galar. She had visited Milo before to watch his matches - and he did the same for hers - but when she heard that these two trainers in particular had finally made it to Turffield, she made sure that her schedule was kept clear so that she could see them in action.

Leon's brother had won his match rather handily, and his friend had followed suit in the very next challenge. Nessa was excited at the prospect of fighting them herself. She was eager to talk to Milo about the trainers when they met up for lunch, like they always did after his matches...if he would just show up already.

"Ugh, where is he?" Nessa grumbled to herself, checking her phone yet again to see if Milo had responded to her message. Her eyebrows scrunched up as she frowned, her eyes boring into the unread 'Where are you?' text she had sent him 20 minutes ago. She was waiting for him outside the entrance to the stadium. Had she really missed him leaving? Or was he still in the locker rooms? She was about to go back inside and ask if someone saw him leave, but she was stopped when someone called her name.

"Hey, Ness! Good to see you!"

Turning around, Nessa smiled when she saw Sonia walking towards her. It had been awhile since they'd seen each other, and she did miss hanging out with her best friend.

"Were you watching the matches too? Those new trainers really are something, aren't they?" Sonia said when she pulled away after giving Nessa a hug.

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to battle them myself."

"I'll have to make sure to make it to Hulbury to see that match!"

"You better!"

Nessa smirked and crossed her arms over her chest as Sonia giggled, and a curious look suddenly crossed her face.

"So what are you still doing here?" she asked, and Nessa shrugged.

"I'm waiting for Milo. We're supposed to get lunch, but he's taking a really long time to get here." Nessa said, and a sly grin appeared on Sonia's face.

"Oh? Is this a date?" she asked, and Nessa sputtered, her face heating up considerably.

"W-What? No way! We're just friends." Nessa quickly protested, shaking her hands in front of her.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Sonia said, snickering when Nessa just huffed and looked away.

"S-Shut up…" Nessa grumbled. Sonia rolled her eyes and threw an arm over Nessa's shoulder.

"I'm just teasing! I've gotta get going though. I need to study up a little more on the geoglyph here. Have fun on your not-date!" Sonia said, waving a hand behind her as she walked off. Nessa glowered at her retreating back, before she groaned and slapped a hand to her face. Sonia did always like to tease her about many things, but this was just too much. Milo was just a friend, nothing more. Sure, he was cute, and funny, and a total sweetheart, and hardworking, and-

"Gah, I need to find him!" Nessa exclaimed, her face flushing red as she shook her head, trying to push these weird thoughts from her mind. She mumbled incoherently to herself as she headed in the direction of the farm that Milo's family owned; maybe something had come up and he had to rush over there?

Turffield was not a large town, so Nessa found herself approaching the Wooloo farm in no time at all. Something seemed odd though; it was too quiet. Normally she'd be hearing Wooloo bleating at her as she approached, but when she looked over at the fence that they'd normally be pressed up against, she saw nothing. Weird.

Nessa suddenly felt the ground shake beneath her feet, and she blinked as she quickly looked around, confused. She turned to see that the herd of Wooloo that were supposed to be greeting her from behind the fence were now barreling towards her at an alarming pace.

Nessa's eyes widened as she scrambled to get out of the way, but in her haste her foot caught on a rock and she tumbled to the ground. The herd of Wooloo were almost upon her now, so she just cursed under her breath and covered her head with her arms, bracing for impact.

But the impact never came, as Nessa was suddenly hoisted into the air. She yelped in surprise as a pair of strong arms wrapped securely around her, and she pressed her face against a broad chest and wrapped her arms around her savior's neck. The arms tightened around her as they shook with the impact of the Wooloo crashing into them.

"Nessa, are you okay?" Nessa finally looked up to find Milo gazing down at her, his brow furrowed with concern. Sweat beaded his forehead as he panted heavily, and he winced as the last of the Wooloo bounced off of his legs. Nessa's heart was hammering hard in her chest as the adrenaline from her ordeal started to wear off, and she could only nod in response.

"Whew! That's a relief!" Milo said, a beaming smile crossing his face as two barking Yamper ran past them, making sure that all of the Wooloo made it back into their enclosure. "I almost thought I wasn't gonna make it to you in time!"

"Um, thanks Milo…" Nessa finally managed to say, her lips turning up into a small smile. She then realized that his face was very, very close to her own, and her cheeks flushed a bright red.

"You can, ah, put me down now…" Nessa said, averting her gaze.

"Oh!" Milo gasped, quickly lowering Nessa back to her feet as she let go of his neck, "Sorry! I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or anything!" Milo placed his hands on her arms, looking her over to double check for any injuries. Nessa smiled and waved it off.

"It's cool. And I'm fine." she said, shaking her head. The smile fell from her face when she caught a flash of red out of the corner of her eye, and she looked down to see that Milo's right shin was scraped up and oozing blood.

"I should be worrying about you!" Nessa continued, pursing her lips as she knelt down to examine Milo's injury.

"Huh? Oh, whoops! I didn't even realize I was bleeding. Guess I was too busy making sure that you were okay." Milo said, laughing sheepishly as he rubbed at the back of his neck. Nessa sighed and rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the warm, fuzzy feeling that spread throughout her chest.

"You big dork. Can you walk?"

"Oh yeah! I'm good!" Milo tried to demonstrate by putting pressure on his injured leg, but he suddenly winced and let up as more blood started rolling down his leg.

"You're a terrible liar." Nessa pouted as she stood back up, crossing her arms over her chest as Milo scratched at his chin and avoided her heated gaze. "Well, it can't be helped." Without giving him time to react, Nessa quickly grabbed Milo's arm and hoisted him over her shoulders so that she had him in a fireman's carry.

"N-Ness!" Milo exclaimed, flailing a bit as he gripped at her arm. "You really don't have to carry me! The house isn't that far away."

"You're gonna bleed too much if you put more pressure on your leg. Just chill for a minute." Nessa said, shrugging to adjust Milo's weight as she started walking off towards the house. She wasn't a strong as he was, but Nessa was no weakling. She spent a good chunk of her free time helping her dad haul his fishing catches to the markets, so she was fairly tough herself.

"U-Um, okay…" Milo mumbled, "I just don't want you to get hurt-"

"Are you calling me weak?" Nessa glared at Milo out of the corner of her eye, and he blanched.

"No! Never! You're really strong, I'm just, uh, really bulky and I'd never want to accidentally hurt you and-" Nessa cut him off by laughing.

"I'm just teasing you," Nessa said, a sly smile crossing her face, "You're too sweet for your own good sometimes."

"Ugh, Ness…" Milo grumbled, hiding his reddening face against her arm, "You can be so mean sometimes…"

"Hehe, you still like me, though."

"Well, yeah!"

Laughter erupted from the both of them as Nessa carried Milo to the house, and she immediately set Milo down on a chair in the kitchen when they were inside. He told her where to find a first-aid kit, and a few minutes later, she had disinfected and wrapped up his shin with a clean bandage.

"There! That should keep you from bleeding out all over the place." Nessa said as she sat down, and her heart skipped a beat when Milo beamed at her, his eyes sparkling with something that looked like admiration. Nessa tried swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat as she looked away, embarrassed.

"Thanks Ness! You're the best!" Milo gushed, and Nessa tried to shrug it off, but a smile tugged at her lips anyway.

"It's no big deal. You got hurt because of me, so it's only fair that I patched you up."

"I guess, but I'm still happy that you did so!"

"So, how'd the Wooloo get out this time? I figured something was up when you didn't meet me right after your match, or respond to my text."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I completely forgot!" Milo said, his eyes widening. He rummaged through his pockets for a moment and sighed, "Shoot, I must have left my phone in the locker room…"

"I got a text from my dad right after the match," Milo continued, "He and mum were late for the matches, and he must have left the gate open to the Wooloo pen again 'cause he was in a hurry to get to the stadium."

"Your dad does that a lot, doesn't he?" Nessa said, giggling when Milo sighed as he removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair.

"Too much. Usually Otis is there to remember for him, but he walked to the stadium early with me today."

Nessa nodded, as she understood completely. Otis absolutely adored his older brother, and vise versa. Whenever Nessa came to visit Milo, they were always doing something together, whether it was herding Wooloo, tending to vegetables, or learning the basics of Pokemon training. Nessa thought their relationship was really sweet.

"So, naturally the Wooloo herd got loose, and one of our neighbors called me during my matches and left me a voicemail. I told my parents that I'd take care of it, and I ran off without thinking too much about it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Milo hung his head, looking guilty.

"It's fine, Milo." Nessa said quickly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Really, I'm just glad that everything's okay."

"Still...I feel bad about it." Milo said, smiling as he placed his hand over the one Nessa still had on his shoulder. "Lunch is on me today to make it up to you, and to thank you for patchin' me up!"

"C'mon, we're even now." Nessa said, the warmth of Milo's hand over hers causing a smile to cross her face, "You did save me from the dreaded Wooloo stampede."

"I know, but I still want to treat you! You mean a lot to me, Nessa." Milo said, and when his green eyes met her blue, Nessa's heartbeat was sent racing again, almost as fast as it had been when she was trapped in the path of a stampede of Wooloo.

"Milo, I...well, you, um, mean a lot to me too…" Nessa mumbled, stumbling over her words. Why was she getting so flustered all of a sudden? It was perfectly normal to tell a friend that she cared for him. Yes...totally just a friend, nothing more...but why was her heart racing so fast? That never happened when she told Sonia or Kabu or Raihan that she cared about them…

"Um! Lunch, yeah! I'm pretty hungry, let's go get some food!" Nessa suddenly blurted out, shooting out of her chair and causing Milo to jump, startled.

"Uh, right...Are you okay, Ness?" Milo asked, raising an eyebrow as he also stood up, putting a bit of pressure on his injured leg to make sure he could walk okay.

"Oh yeah!" Nessa said, laughing nervously as she threw her arm over his shoulders, "It's just, uh, all this excitement has really make me work up an appetite. I just might collapse if I don't get some food in me soon!" Nessa bit her lip and plastered an unconvincing smile on her face. Milo blinked at her for a moment, before laughing and shaking his head.

"Aw geez, I'm sure you're not gonna starve! But let's get going, just in case!" Milo said, taking Nessa's hand and leading her out of the house. Nessa breathed a sigh of relief, which she quickly covered up by clearing her throat.

"Alright. Oh, and you have to tell me your thoughts on your matches with those trainers that Leon endorsed! I'll be taking them on next, after all." Nessa said, grinning as Milo turned to look at her.

"Oh yeah! Well, Leon's brother was a tough one, he started with Wooloo, so I lead with my…" Milo started, and the rest of their day was filled with strategic discussions and great food. However, Nessa's heartbeat continued to race within her chest, and she could not figure out exactly why. It was probably just leftover adrenaline from her perilous situation earlier in the day, and had absolutely nothing to do with the man sitting across from her, making her laugh with corny jokes and generously giving advice for her upcoming challenges.