hey... sorry i haven't updated in so long. I was grounded...

I wanted to give you two more chapters, but my PC has been giving me trouble, so i'll should be able to get them in by tomorrow.

I don't own Pokemon

"This is for almost killin' James!" Meowth exclaimed loudly, withdrawing his claws and slicing them across Ash's chest. Ripping through the shirt as if it was nothing, the first scratch left three bloody marks.

"This is for making us blast off all those times!" Another scratch.

Ash felt the blood run down his chest and winced.

"And this is for screwin' up all our plans!" More scratches. "And this," Meowth began, unsheathing his claws again, "is—for—existing!" He emphasized each word with another scratch, and Ash's shirt was in shreds.

"Gro, gro, grovyle, gro VYLE!" Grovyle growled angrily, the other pokémon also adding angry comments.

"Koooooooaaaaaaaal!" Tears poured from Torkoal's eyes.

Jessie stuffed another bite of her sandwich in her mouth and watched Meowth. "Meowth, don't do that while we're eating. C'mon, I know you're hungry."

Meowth glared at Ash. "Fine…," he grumbled, jumping up on the table and grabbing a sandwich.

I wonder what I could do to the twerp. I mean, Meowth has his claws. Maybe Seviper could use Bite on him… No, no… Maybe Poison Tail? No… Haze is completely useless, and Wrap? Well… I guess it could be okay… But what would that really do? Jessie sighed, deciding against using Seviper and tried to think of something else.

It was only when Pikachu hopped next to her, smiled, and began eating himself when Jessie was struck with one of her famous evil plans.

A few hours later, Ash was trying to get to sleep. Oh, he was exhausted… But he couldn't get to sleep with the pain burning on his chest. Ash didn't even want to look at the deep scratches etched there.

"Koal—koal torkoal koal tor?" Torkoal cried silently. Ever since the first cut, Torkoal had been crying nonstop.

Just then, Ash saw…Pikachu…come out of where he assumed that Team Rocket was sleeping. The little electric pokémon walked over to Ash.

"Pika, pika," he said with a smile.

"Pikachu…?" Ash asked weakly.

"Chu pika, pika." Pikachu's sincere-looking smile spread across his whole face.

Wait… Did Pikachu…? Ash wondered. "Pikachu… Do you remember me?"

"Chu pika pika, ka." Pikachu put his hand on Ash's knee. "Pika pi chu…," he said sadly.

"You—you remember? Pikachu, I've missed you so much… You've gotta help us out of here!" Ash hissed, although his smile told Pikachu that he was exploding with relief and happiness.

"Pika…pika……" Pikachu's sincere smile turned into a nasty one. "CHUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Ash instantly bit down hard on his tongue, trying to endure Pikachu's Thunderbolt attack. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no… The thought echoed through Ash's mind. How could you, Pikachu? Why does this have to happen? No…no… NO!

When the attack was finally over, Ash fell limply to the floor, barely comprehending the voice that he heard from the other room.

"Good job, Pikachu, you did your best friend Jessie a good job!"

"I know you like him… That's why I always acted this way. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. But I just want you to be—to be happy. So go off with him. I'll be fine," he said.

"What? No! You don't understand!" May protested, her eyes widening. "I don't like Ash! Not like that!"

"Come on, May… You're so worried about him…because he ran away… That means you do care about him…"

"Yes, I do care about him. But just as a friend! You have to understand that!" May took a few steps closer to him. "I never noticed it before, but you're—you're so… I think I like you…"

"Well, we've never really been friends, so are you saying you like me as a friend…?"

"No… After these few days, I've been examining my feelings for you… I like you more than a friend… I think I'm in love with you…," May whispered, her sentence trailing off as he grabbed her hand.

"May, I've loved you ever since I set eyes on you."

"Then why—?"

"Because I thought you'd think I was stupid for having a crush on you." He leaned in closer, and their faces were just inches apart. "You are the single most beautiful person I have ever seen… Your eyes, they're like magic. When I look into them, I have this feeling that makes me feel like I can do anything… Anything, but nothing if I'm not with you…"

"Oh, Drew…" And May let Drew pull her into a deep kiss that seemed so short, yet so long at the same time. It was like time didn't exist in the little world that they were in right now, where the only thing you could feel was bliss…

May shot up, blinking a few times and looking around. The ferry, they were all on the ferry.

May sighed inwardly and tried to remember every detail of that dream…

What! That's crazy! I'm crazy! Why am I dreaming about Drew! I don't even like him, much less like him like that! But those wonderful emerald eyes… May shook her head. No…

"Hey, May, are you okay?" Max asked warily, waving his hand in front of his sister's face. "Did yah have a nightmare or something?"

"No…no, I didn't," May answered tiredly. She looked around. "Where's Brock?"

Max rolled his eyes. "It seems that there's this 'really hot babe' working on the ferry, and Brock went to go bother her. And what's worse, Drew had to be on this ferry today too…"

"Drew…?" May asked, her dream coming back again.

"Yeah. That jerk is over there." Max indicated about twenty feet away from them. He shook his head. "Well, as Ash says in his note, I know what to do when Brock gets crazy… I better go find him…" And Max took off.

May lay back in her seat, immersed in her thoughts, when she was interrupted.

"So, you never told me what happened to Cinders," Drew said, seating himself next to May. "What, did he get himself lost?"

May looked over to him and began to feel weird… But she replied, "No… It's… He had something to do, and he just left without us."

"Oh, I see. He ran away, did he? Why didn't he bring you along? Because he was afraid his girlfriend was going to get hurt?"

"I told you once and I'll tell you again," May said tightly. "Ash is not, repeat, not my boyfriend. I don't like him that way. In fact, I find him quite annoying sometimes." May waited a second to see Drew's reaction before continuing. "And the reason he didn't take us was because it was a personal matter."

"So where is he?"

"…I don't know…"

Drew laughed. "If I was your boyfriend, I'd at least tell you where I was going."

"Well, since Ash isn't my—"

Drew put his hand up. "My mistake. You and Cinders would never make a good couple anyway."

"Thank you. Besides, I'm never going to get a boyfriend," May stated.

"Why not?" And when May threw him a questioning look, he added, "Curious."

"Because, Drew. If I had a boyfriend, I'd never see him, unless he were to travel with me. I'm not that pretty, and boys never really shown any interest whatsoever in me at all," May bit out.

"You must be blind then," Drew muttered under his breath.

—Flashback—

"Well, you did it, May," Drew stated, making May turn around and look at him. She had just won her very first ribbon at the Fallarbor Town contest. "Of course if you had been competing against me in the first round, things might've ended up a whole lot different." He threw a rose to her, and it landed perfectly on the ribbon case she was holding.

May picked up the rose. "I suppose this rose is for Beautifly, right?"

Drew turned away, flipping his bangs. "Yeah…something like that…" And he walked away.

—End Flashback—

"You're crazy, May," Drew said a little louder, so the girl could hear him this time. "You're pretty, I'm sure a guy……" he let his sentence trail off when he realized he had called May pretty. He blushed furiously. "I mean……guys will see you as pretty, I'm just not…"

May cocked her head to one side. Not once had she ever seen Drew trip over his words so much. It was kind of cute…… And with that thought, she began to blush as well.

"What I meant to say was…," Drew tried again, but he heaved a sigh in defeat. "Never mind," he mumbled. "I just get my words mixed up sometimes, that's all…… Too much traveling alone……"

Traveling alone…… What person would want that? Did Drew even have the choice? May asked herself. There was a long, uncomfortable silence between the two of them. A silence May finally broke. "Well……since Ash isn't here……and you are……why don't you come and travel with us?" Once the words left her mouth, she had to look down to hide her blush. She swore she had never blushed this much in her life.

Drew seemed taken aback by this idea. "As much as I'd love to…," he started.

May's mood suddenly changed to downcast. He was going to say no, she knew it.

"…But are you sure the others are going to be okay with it?"

He didn't say no! "I'm sure they'll be fine with it." And May gave him a small smile.

"Well, if that's how it's going to be… I just want you to know that I'm only really coming because I'm sick of traveling alone… There really isn't any other reason."

"Okay then…… And I want you to know that the only reason I asked is because…I think… That if we're both going to contests, we might as well, right?" May knew that this was logical, but also knew that she just wanted Drew around… Ever since that weird dream, she felt that maybe liking Drew wasn't so bad after all…

(dies)

(comes back to life)

okay, so you want the next two chapters tomorrow, or shall i just torture the readers who like this story into waiting for a few more precious days?