Alright, judging by the fact I got no reviews for chapter two, I can only assume it was so terrible that people couldn't be bothered reviewing to tell me how bad it was; so I hope this chapter is better.

I do not own Pokémon

Wrong choice

Chapter 3 Beginning

Ash woke at 9:00-it was his usual time, considering Brock made breakfast at 8:50 but today was different, he couldn't detect the usual scent of Brock's food. He got out of his sleeping bag, got dressed and left his tent. When he got out, he saw Brock sitting on the ground, legs crossed, hands buried in his face.

"Hey Brock, what's wrong?" The breeder lifted his face from his hands to speak.

"All our stuff's gone Ash." The trainer was incredulous, he felt numb with shock.

"Is everyone's stuff gone?" Brock gave a simple nod. Ash went back to his tent to see which of his stuff had gone missing. Thankfully he still had his Pokéballs, but his bag was gone. He then left the tent to get more answers from Brock.

"Are the others up yet?"

"No. We should let them sleep."

Back in the tent Pikachu was just waking up, he scanned the area. Seeing Ash wasn't there he left the tent. When he came out he heard Ash and Brock's conversation. The electric mouse saw this as an opportunity to impress Glaceon and hopefully get her to realize he likes her. Pikachu snuck into May's tent. When he saw Glaceon he didn't want to wake her from her peaceful slumber but he wanted her to come. When she was woken she wasn't too pleased and asked for an explanation.

"Pika pichu chu-pika kachu ka-pi Pikachu pi-pika." (All our stuff was stolen in the night so I'm going to get it back and I want you to help.)

"Gla Glaceon ceon lace, la-glace eongla-leon?" (But Pikachu it could be dangerous, why don't we wait for our trainers?) She said worryingly.

"Pikachu kachu-pika pichu. chu-pi pika-kapi?" (Glaceon, we can do it ourselves. Will you please come with me.) Glaceon thought about it for a moment. She decided to come along but she didn't know why she wanted to go.

Pikachu and Glaceon were trying to catch the scent of their trainers' belongings after they snuck away. Although Pikachu was not so focused on that task, he was more intent on thinking of ways to find out if Glaceon felt the same way about him.

The campsite

May was woken by Ash complaining about being hungry. When she noticed Glaceon wasn't in the tent, she got up, got dressed and went outside to find her. When she came out she hadn't noticed Ash and Brock's depressed faces, but she did notice Glaceon was nowhere in sight. She started to panic and worryingly asked.

"Ash, Brock, have either of you seen Glaceon?"

"No May we haven't. Why?" Ash replied. May quickly searched the surrounding area for her friend.

"May what's wrong." Ash asked sympathetically. The coordinator stopped in her tracks and turned to Ash and said.

"Ash, Glaceon isn't here." The trainer then began to wonder where Glaceon could have gotten to. May was beginning to think the worst. She then collapsed to her knees and began crying. Ash immediately ran over to her. Kneeling beside her, he wrapped his arms around May in an attempt to comfort her.

"Ssshhh, calm down May," he whispered softly, as May cried into his shoulder. Ash could feel a sharp shooting pain in his chest but he did his best to ignore it, as he was directing all his attention to making sure May was alright. May felt safe in Ash's arms, she was comforted by his sweet compassionate voice. She quickly calmed down but was still holding onto Ash. The trainer was also holding onto May, he couldn't explain why but he didn't want to let her go. The two soon realised how long they'd been like that and quickly broke their embrace, looking away from each other with a slight blush on their faces. "I'll just get Pikachu and we can go, okay?" May just spoke a barley audible. "Yeah." When Ash entered his tent he was stunned when his best friend wasn't there, he then left the tent with a depressed look on his face. Brock was the only one who noticed and asked.

"Ash what's wrong…and where's Pikachu?" The raven haired boy simply ignored his friend as he pulled his hat over his face to hide his sad expression. He made his way over to May. "We should get going now." His voice was barley audible but May heard and nodded in agreement as they headed off into the forest. After about fifteen minutes of searching for their pokémon Ash still hadn't uttered a single word, he continued to stare at the ground. May was getting worried so decided to ask what was bothering him.

"Ash is something wrong?" The trainer continued to stare at the ground acting as if May didn't exist. "Ash are you alright?" Ash still didn't move from his position. She then noticed something she really should have earlier. "Ash why isn't Pikachu with you?" The trainer then came to a stop at the mention of his best friend's name. May walked over to Ash. Seeing he was upset she went to apologize "I'm sorry for upsetting you." Feeling guilty for upsetting him she thought of a way to cheer him up. She untied her bandanna and slowly walked up behind him. May then pulled the bandanna over the trainer's eyes, causing him to panic.

"Ah! May what are you doing!" The trainer shouted as he was trying to pull her bandanna of his face but to no avail.

"Calm down. I'm just trying to cheer you up," she explained. Ash stopped struggling and waited for May to remove the headgear away from his eyes. After she did so he turned around and looked at her and began to explain his mood.

"Alright I'm upset because Pikachu's also missing." May then looked at him sympathetically as he pulled the brim of his hat over his face.

"Come on Ash, Pikachu couldn't have gotten too far and I'm sure he's probably with Glaceon."

"But what if they didn't walk off what if Team Rocket got them along with our stuff?"

"Wasn't Pikachu in your tent this morning?"

"I didn't notice if he was or not."

"Well we're just going to have to keep searching," she replied enthusiastically. Ash couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm he thought it was strange she could cheer him up so easily.

Pikachu and Glaceon were having little luck picking up the required scent but Glaceon didn't mind. She continued to think about last night. "Who does that over-fluffed rabbit think she is. All she did was flirt with Pikachu the entire night, I know I can't choose who Pikachu likes but he did seem uncomfortable…. Wait that's… Mommy's scent." Glaceon began running in the direction of her trainer as Pikachu followed to see what's up.

Ash and May were currently talking about Ash's past travels. It was going well until May asked something Ash thought was a little too personal.

"Ash how did you and Dawn get together?"

"Don't you think that's a little too personal."

"Oh. Sorry Ash guess I was getting too curious."

"It's alright May you didn't know." Ash reassured her, smiling at her with his trademark smile. At that moment Glaceon jumped out of the bushes, startling the trainers, Pikachu soon followed. Ash and May ran up to hug their Pokémon, glad that they were safe. After the two released their pokémon from a death grip May asked.

"Glaceon why did you run of?"

"Glaceon gla-gla glace lacelaeon eongla." (Pikachu came into our tent and explained our stuff was gone and we should look for it and we began trying to pick up the scent.)

"But why would Pikachu do that?" May said, looking at Ash, who had just finished listening to Pikachu's explanation.

"May you understood what Pikachu said!" The raven haired boy exclaimed.

"No, Glaceon told me. I've talked with her long enough to understand what she says." May explained and Ash nodded along. "So why did Pikachu do that?" Everyone looked at Pikachu, who after seeing them stare, looked away blushing furiously.

"Well, have either of you two picked up the scent of our belongings?" The two Pokémon shook their heads. After that the group of four continued searching for their stuff.

Brock was currently thinking of how he should tell Dawn that Ash and May went to look for their Pokémon; he had no doubt she would be extremely jealous and he knew that from past experiences of other girls and he feared that May would be falsely accused of trying to steal Ash. However Brock's nightmare had just come true as he saw Dawn walking out of her tent; it was obvious she had been up for at least an hour, since her hair wasn't a mess.

"Hey Brock is Ash not up yet, it's almost 14:00?" Brock cautiously looked toward the bluenette and began explaining that their stuff was stolen, but continuously stuttered when it came to telling her where Ash went.

"Ash went…he uh he…he went with May to look for Glaceon and Pikachu." The breeder immediately stepped away from Dawn till he was at a safe distance.

"Oh. Okay." Any normal person would find Dawn's attitude to the whole situation very strange but Brock knew she would react like this; it was how she always reacted when another girl got close to Ash. Unfortunately there was no telling of what she would actually do about the situation, she always seemed to react differently and it was always up to Brock to make sure she didn't do anything to the girls.

"Now Dawn it's not what you think and please think about this before you do anything irrational."

"Don't worry Brock," she said innocently as she sat down and began thinking. "I knew that girl was just trying to steal my Ash, well I'll teach her what happens when you make a move on my boyfriend. I can't believe Ash and Brock bought that story about Glaceon running away. She obviously did it to get close to Ash, and no doubt she told Glaceon to get Pikachu to come with her so she could steal him away from Bunary." Dawn's angry thoughts continued as she sat there while Brock was praying that she wouldn't do anything to May.

Ash, May, Pikachu and Glaceon were currently walking deeper into the forest still searching for their belongings.

"Hey May, I've been meaning to ask you. When did you decide to become a coordinator?"

"Well since you asked, I didn't know about contests at first but when I heard and watched a few, my interest peeked."

"Hm, well you'll have some competition because Dawn's a coordinator too."

"I don't mean to sound over confident but I'm sure I can beat her, I have been training for a year non stop."

"That reminds me of me." They both continued to laugh before they were interrupted by Pikachu and Glaceon.

"Pi pika-pika Pichu." (We found the scent, come on follow us.) The two trainers followed their Pokémon to the location of their stuff and the culprit. The area containing their belongings was heavily wooded with one tree much taller than the others in the middle. The foursome ran to the back of the tree to find it was hollowed out. After they walked in, the four immediately noticed their belongings and rushed over to check them.

"Is everything here?" May asked.

"Well some of the food's gone but other than that no," Ash responded. While they were checking Dawn and Brock's bag a shadowy figure about 2'11" jumped down from the higher parts of the tree and snatched the bags and ran outside. After the foursome came outside they saw a green gecko like Pokémon with several leaves on its arms, one large leaf on its head and a twig in its mouth. Ash and May took out their pokédexs.

The device whirred before bringing up the Pokémon's profile.

"Grovyle the Wood Gecko Pokémon, it lives in dense jungles. While closing in on its prey, it leaps from branch to branch." Dexdete explained.

"So you're the one who stole our stuff." Ash accused.

"Gro grov Grovyle vyle." (Well it's my stuff now.)

"Why would you steal our stuff. We're in a forest, shouldn't there be plenty of food around." May responded making a valid point. Grovyle then gave her a deathly glare.

"Grovyle vyl-gro gro-vy." (If you want your stuff back then fight me.)

"Alright Pikachu ready to go." The trainers faithful companion gave a nod and then ran in front of Ash and took his usual battle stance. "Pikachu, start off with iron tail!" Pikachu's tail glowed white as he charged at Grovyle, who was charging at Pikachu with the two sets of leaves on its arms glowing bright green. When the two hit, Grovyle overpowered Pikachu and knocked him back, he then opened his mouth and fired multiple glowing yellow seeds from his mouth. Upon making contact with Pikachu he was thrown back to Ash's feet.

"Pikachu are you are alright buddy." Pikachu gave a nod as a reply. After getting up he turned his head to meet Glaceon.

"Glace Glaceon! Gla la-gla!" (Come on Pikachu! You can do it!) After Glaceon's pep talk Pikachu was more than ready for battle.

"Okay Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" Pikachu released a powerful bolt of yellow electricity from its body at the Grovyle. The Wood Gecko was caught of guard and was hit by the attack, which dealt great damage but was quick to recover and began leaping from branch to branch at blinding speed. Once it reached the appropriate position for the attack Grovyle shot out of the trees and leaf bladed Pikachu's back to which he fell to the ground after feeling the immense pain. Pikachu slowly stood up on his feet and eyed Grovyle.

"Pikachu use agility!" Pikachu began running forward on all fours, as a result of his speed Pikachu appeared to repeatedly vanish and immediately reappear in different spots while he was running. When the electric mouse was close enough Ash gave a command. "Focus punch!" Pikachu's left fist glowed white before it struck Grovyle directly in its stomach. The Wood Gecko knelt on the ground clutching its stomach from the immense pain. "Pokéball go!" Ash threw a round red and white sphere at Grovyle. Upon making contact with the ball, Grovyle was transported inside. When the ball hit the ground it began steadily shaking. After a short time the Pokéball stopped and the button in the middle beeped. "Alright I caught A Grovyle!" Ash threw the Pokéball in the air, releasing Grovyle. The Green Lizard stared at the foursome until Ash kneeled down in front of him with an enquiring look. "Okay tell me. Why did you take our food, like May said. 'We're in a forest, shouldn't there be plenty of food around?'" Grovyle gave a large sigh and began explaining.

(I'm not permitted to eat the food from this forest. When I was a Treeko I was kicked out of my group for trying to save a tree I cared a lot about; and after that I wasn't permitted to eat the food from our part of the forest so I had to steal food from other groups' territories. Eventually they got wise and all ganged up on me forcing me into this part of the forest, the part that has no food. Now (sigh) I steal from trainers.) Grovyle turned his back on the four in shame. Ash, May, Pikachu and Glaceon were shocked at what they were told; the four thought what happened to Grovyle was terrible. Grovyle then felt a hand on his right shoulder, he turned his head to see Ash with a smile on his face.

"Come on Grovyle cheer up, you had no choice. We're not mad at you or disappointed." Grovyle turned around to face Ash. He then looked over the trainer's shoulder at May, Pikachu and Glaceon. After confirming Ash's words Grovyle put on a smile. "That's the spirit, now would you like to come with me on my journey?" Grovyle nodded enthusiastically. "Aright then, May we should probably get back to camp, you take your's and Dawn's bag and I'll take mine and Brock's." After picking up their bags they proceeded to head back to camp.

Brock was trembling in fear from Dawn, all she had done since she got up was sit there and think, and the only reason Brock could think of as to why she was still thinking was-was she was planning something dangerous?

"Maybe…maybe I should talk to Ash about this instead. I was lucky Ash didn't find out what I said to those other girls, They were good friends and now they won't talk to me. I really think May and I could be friends. But I'll have to control my jealousy."

It was currently 15:35 and Ash, May, Pikachu, Glaceon and Grovyle were close to the camp, Grovyle was kept out of his Pokéball so he could get used to everyone in the meantime.

"I wonder how Dawn and Brock are going to react that Grovyle stole our stuff?" May questioned.

"Well I've been with Brock for a long time, I'm sure he'll understand after we tell him why. But Dawn will probably scold Grovyle for taking our stuff even if we explain why; she's kind of had a bad temper," Ash said recalling the previous times Dawn got mad at him.

"I hope we make it back soon, I'm starving, we haven't ate at all today." May said, holding her stomach.

"I know how you feel, but we're almost there." After a little while they arrived at the campsite. Upon hearing Ash's foot steps Dawn ran up to him, bringing her boyfriend into a tight embrace, Ash returned the hug, knowing she must've been worried about him. Brock walked up to Ash and asked him to hand over his bag so he could cook lunch, although with Dawn hugging him it was rather difficult but he managed.

"I was worried about you, you know," Dawn said sternly after she broke the hug.

"Sorry, but Glaceon went missing and we were going to look for her but when I noticed Pikachu was gone I was even more desperate to get going." Dawn then looked over at the two aforementioned Pokémon when she noticed an unknown Pokémon.

"Ash what's that Pokémon." The trainer then looked at Grovyle and back to Dawn.

"This is Grovyle, I caught him when we were looking for our stuff." Dawn walked over to Grovyle to greet him but when she tried to say hello, the Wood Gecko turned his head away from Dawn.

"Well that was rude," she fumed. The bluenette then turned to face Ash. "Anyway who was it that stole our stuff."

"Well actually…hehehe it was…Grovyle." Dawn then turned her head to face Grovyle with accusing eyes.

"Why would you steal our stuff!" The infuriated coordinator shouted at Grovyle.

"Gro grovy vyl-gro!" (Hey you don't know the full story!) Grovyle shot back in an attempt to defend himself. Dawn not understanding what Grovyle was saying continued to argue.

"Stealing our stuff was not right, and you had no business doing so!"

"Vyle gro-Grovyle lyle-rovyle grov rov-gyle! " (Oh just piss off. I haven't got time to waste with bratty little girls!)

"You're nothing but a spineless little runt that has to steal from trainers cause he can't survive on his own!" That was when Dawn went over the line, Glaceon and Pikachu jumped in front of Grovyle, Pikachu's cheeks were sparking violently and Glaceon was charging a shadow ball. What Dawn said was cruel and Glaceon and Pikachu weren't going to stand for it. Grovyle was surprised that they were so quick to defend him and at that point the knew he could always trust these two and their trainers.

"Ash, May, tell them to stop."

"Dawn, you may not know it, but what you said deeply hurt Grovyle's feelings, he had a good reason for stealing our stuff. You should apologize now," May said knowing what happened to Grovyle was terrible.

"May is right Dawn. You should apologize, it wasn't right to say that." Dawn did her best to contain her anger and went to apologize to Grovyle, Pikachu and Glaceon let their guard down for the meantime.

"Grovyle I'm sorry," she said half sincerely, but Grovyle didn't care for her apology. He thought that what she said was unforgivable and nothing could change his mind. All he did was walk past her to go and greet Brock who was busy making lunch after being handed his bag. "Well that did real good," she said sarcastically.

"You did offend him pretty badly." Ash spoke truthfully. After meeting Brock Grovyle climbed up one of the surrounding trees and lay down on one of the higher branches.

Once Brock had finished cooking, everyone let out their Pokémon. Ash released Charizard, and Squirtle. May released Combusken, Beautifly and Munchlax. Brock released Happiny and Croagunk. Dawn released Piplup, Bunary, Pachirisu, Mamoswine, Cyndaquil and Togekiss. As soon as she located Pikachu, Bunary ran over to his location.

(Come on Pikachu let's eat together.) The rabbit Pokémon was about to drag Pikachu away before he interrupted her.

(Sorry Bunary but I'm busy, I'm going to hang out with Grovyle.) Pikachu then dashed over to the same tree Grovyle was in and lay down on the branch next to him.

Grovyle wouldn't normally let others sit in the same tree as him but he knew his friend was in need. He remembered Pikachu coming up to him and asking him if in such a case as now could he hang out with him. Grovyle agreed but only this once. After that he would have to find ways to avoid the flirtatious rabbit himself.

(Why would Pikachu want to hang out with him.) Bunary asked half to herself.

(I don't know, maybe he just wants to rest, it has been a long day.) Glaceon replied.

"Maybe he doesn't like her." Glaceon thought.

(I'll talk to him later.) Bunary said as she began to hop away.

(You mean flirt with him.) Glaceon muttered under her breath before Bunary left.

(What's that guy's problem.) Mamoswine asked.

(Who knows, but he'd better not start trouble.) Pachirisu said.

(Just leave Grovyle be, I don't mind.) Charizard replied.

(Yeah we'll I think I speak for everyone else when I say he's just an arrogant stuck up ass.) Piplup said angrily.

(Stop saying bad things about him behind his back, you don't even know him and you're already judging him. I should take you all down right now for saying such things about Grovyle, you're just being mean because he stole our stuff but if your trainers told you what happened to him like Ash and May told us, you'd understand. Or maybe you'd still hate him because you'd be too blind to understand.) The rest of the Pokémon were astonished to see Combusken stand up for Grovyle the way she did.

(And why do you care so much Combusken.) Piplup asked.

(Because I trust him and I know he's a good Pokémon the rest of you can ignore and hate him if you want but I'll still be his friend. As well as Pikachu and Glaceon.) Combusken then finished her food and walked back to her trainer and Glaceon.

(I don't care what Combusken says that guy's trouble.) Mamoswine said bitterly.

"Now do you believe Grovyle had a good reason for stealing our stuff?" Ash asked

"I don't care what happened to him, he stole our stuff."

"Well I forgive him and so do my Pokémon, right Combusken," May said facing Combusken

"Cu. Cum busken." (Huh. Oh yeah right.) Combusken wasn't paying attention to the trainer's conversation, she was in deep thought about Grovyle. "He has really been through a lot in life and the rest just treat him like dirt. Why can't they forgive him, he didn't mean any harm." After the foursome finished lunch they recalled they're Pokémon (Except Pikachu and Glaceon.) and continued heading for Rustboro city.

End of chapter

The reason Ash and May understood Grovyle was because Pikachu and Glaceon were translating.

Please R&R and no Advanceshipping bashing.

BTW, can anyone guess why I titled this chapter, Beginning.