Thank you for everyone's review last chapter. I'm happy that most people took Pikachu's plan without any animosity towards me for it. I know that it is something that probably wouldn't be done in that anime but just because he made a decision doesn't mean that fate has decided as well. Enjoy chapter twelve.

"So you're finally up."

Walking out of her room with Pikachu and Eevee on her shoulders May put on her best attempt at a convincing smile. "Yep, sorry about sleeping in late."

"It's no problem; it's just rare to see you of all people actually sleeping in," Ash told her as she sat down on one of the chairs and the two Pokémon relocated to her lap. "Is your room always that messy when you're on vacation or…May have you been crying?"

Surprised at his question May quickly tried to rub what remained of last night out of her eyes. "No I just had a rough time getting to sleep last night. Why ask?"

"Well because your eyes are puffy and red. Are you sure that you're okay? You haven't been yourself during this trip, going from happy one moment and seemingly depressed the next. I'm starting to worry about you."

Feeling her cheeks start to redden at his comment May only tried to cover it up further. "Really I'm fine Ash. It's nothing but your imagination." Focusing her attention down on the two in her lap May tried to keep from making eye contact with Ash. Without ignorance clouding how she felt about him, every time she looked into his deep brown caring eyes she could feel herself start to heat up. Hoping to at least stem the affects a bit she just focused on petting Eevee and Pikachu.

Dawn of course wasn't one to miss this change. While the thought of Ash's locket being only for her didn't leave her mind the evidence of a girl in love was right before her eyes. This was a big change from only yesterday and she could only wonder what happened for May to act like that. And with Ash's concern showing for May as well she couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. What also surprised her was the way that Pikachu and Eevee were curled up together in her lap. Looking down at Buneary who was sitting next to her she could see the contempt on the Pokémon's face as she too watched the scene before her

"If you say so May," Ash said as he gave another worried look. Finally taking his eyes off of her they went wide when he finally saw what the other two females were already wondering about. "Um, May? What's with those two?"

Giving a gentle smile without even looking up May could barely resist telling the complete truth. "I think that they're just tired as well. After Pikachu came into my room last night we all had a hard time falling asleep. These two must have had it harder than I did." There was truth in her statement, only slightly twisted, and May knew that those details should only be put out into the open when they were ready for it to be told.

Ash was seemingly the only one who actually accepted the reason, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that there might actually be something more there than just sleepiness. Dawn and Buneary were slightly more apprehensive than Ash was about May's answer, although neither could see any true reason to disbelieve her.

Shaking her head Dawn turned off the TV. There were other things to worry about with the festival only hours away. "So now that everyone is up and ready how about we go shopping? While you were still asleep May I went out and did some looking around for the best store, and I think I've found a good one."

"And this is where I take my leave," Ash said simply as he tried to make his escape out the door to the hallway.

"Don't even think about it." Grabbing him by the shirt Dawn stopped him cold. "You're getting one too so it's not just about us."

Letting out a loud moan the trainer had little choice but go along with Dawn's order. Besides out of everything she had said that day that was the first statement that made complete sense to him. If he wanted everything to go right tonight there had to be sacrifices.

"Alright then let's go," he told them in a defeated tone.

Nodding her head May got up while moving the two Pokémon back onto her shoulders and headed out the sliding door. After grabbing Buneary, Dawn and Ash weren't far behind.

As they got outside Buneary could only stare at the two other Pokémon. They did seem tired but there was something else that she just couldn't put her paw on, something seemed a bit off.

Running past May, Dawn began to lead the way with a big smile on her face. Yet it was as they passed the other coordinator that Buneary smelled something that shouldn't be. Quickly looking back she took another deep breath in through her nose. Her mood went from annoyed to complete rage in an instant as she realized what she was smelling. It was Eevee, and yet it was not. Almost as if it was lingering on the Evolution Pokémon was Pikachu's scent; and it wasn't just a trace of it like the last time, it was quite strong and unmistakable.

Catching her look Eevee couldn't help but gloat a little at her once rival. She could tell that Buneary had just begun to figure out who the winner of their duel was. Laying her head back down she knew that there was no more competition between the two of them and for the first time she didn't feel at all threatened in the least by the other Normal-type's presence. But at the same time Eevee almost felt sorry for her, and because of this she knew that it would be ungrateful to say too much against her at this point.

Getting even further enraged at Eevee's actions her entire demeanor changed as she detected yet another odd smell. It only took her a second to figure out where it was coming from, Pikachu. Just like Eevee he not only smelled like himself but also had a strong presence of her scent as well. Confused and further annoyed at this turn of events it didn't take long for it all to finally click in her head as to the reason why they smelled so strongly of each other. As the realization hit her Buneary went limp in Dawn's arms. She was in so much shock that she didn't even know how to feel. Anger, bitterness, anxiety, jealousy; it all should have been there but it wasn't. The single idea that she lost and in that fashion of all ways couldn't have felt worse. Anything that she would do from this point on would be virtually pointless. It was Pikachu who had obviously made up his mind, and even though she thought that she was miles ahead of the competition up until that point there was nothing further from the truth.

"Buneary what's wrong?" Dawn asked the Rabbit Pokémon just as she went limp. "Buneary?"

Shaking her back to reality the Pokémon finally began to feel something after seeing her one true love taken away from her, sorrow. Curling up in her trainer's arms Buneary knew that things would be completely different from this point on, and Dawn was the one person she would be needing to count on for a while.

Confused as to her partner's sudden change in temperament Dawn could only wonder as to what happened. During that time nothing was said between the group, she didn't see any real motions from either Eevee or Pikachu, and suddenly Buneary was like this. Cuddling up into her arms, not even wanting to be let go.

"Dawn?"

Looking up from Buneary's odd actions Dawn noticed both Ash and May watching her.

"Is something wrong?" Ash asked her. "You were starting to space out and nearly hit three different people."

"I don't think so, at least not with me, but Buneary just started to act a little weird and I don't know why," she responded taking another look at the Pokémon in her arms. Deciding to talk to her later about it Dawn looked around to get her bearings back. She figured that they weren't too far away from the store that she saw earlier after checking a couple street signs. "If I remember correctly the shop was this way," she stated after a few moments. "Don't worry it isn't far."

Sure enough after leading them down another couple of blocks they came to a rather normal looking shop, but walking inside it had clothes that they only saw on exceptionally rare occasions. To most the large selection looked like colorful bath robes but in fact they were the traditional dress that the poster talked about yesterday.

"I've been told that these people have the largest selection in the whole city so if we can't find it here we probably won't be able to find it anywhere else," Dawn proudly stated to the other two that were with her. "They're called kimonos apparently; personally I think that many of them look great. Although normally what would be worn to a festival like this is a lighter type called a yukata the tourism association here wants to promote this as a slightly more formal event. That and with the winds coming off of the ocean it gets pretty cold here at night."

"How the heck did you learn all that?" Ash asked her, cocking his eyebrow a bit.

"I had a lot of time to waste this morning so I found myself talking to some of the employees here for over an hour," she shrugged. "Naturally the festival was one of the topics that we talked about."

Bringing them up to the front counter a young looking girl who was probably in her late teens and wearing one of the many kimonos featured around the store looked up from a magazine that she was reading. "Oh I remember you, you came in here earlier didn't you?"

"Yep, and these are my friends that I told you about," Dawn told her motioning to Ash and May.

"So which was the one who was fashionably inept?"

"The one without the Pokémon."

It took Ash a couple seconds to realize that he was the only one without a Pokémon and that he was the one that Dawn was talking about. "What the, hey! I am not 'fashionably inept' or whatever you want to call it. I do a good job with my clothes."

"Oh come on Ash we all know that your mom buys your wardrobe for you whenever you set out to a new region." May chimed in, not being able to resist the urge to tease Ash a bit. "If it wasn't for her I doubt that you would even remember to change your 'you know what's' everyday."

Ash instantly turned bright red at the comment. His mom hadn't mentioned that one in almost a couple years so Dawn didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about, but it didn't take long for her to understand what everything meant and started to snicker. To his regret of course, May was with him early enough to still hear those comments that his mom made. Sadly for him, and to his complete embarrassment, several other people in the store were now staring at him, including the girl behind the counter.

"May!" He cried out just wanting to curl up in a ball and get out of sight.

"Sorry Ash I couldn't help myself," she told him giggling slightly.

Trying to stifle a giggle of her own the girl behind that counter cleared her throat before talking. "I can see what you mean."

"Hey!"

"But we should be able to help him out without too much worry." Stepping out from behind the counter she grabbed his wrist and began to guide him towards one end of the store. "I'll try to find something nice for him to wear, you can count on that."

"But I don't need help!" Ash continued to insist as he was led away.

"We'll see you in a little bit," Dawn called out to him while waving a hand.

Glancing over at Pikachu he caught May's eyes and nodded, knowing what she was thinking. Jumping off of her shoulder he quickly caught up to his trainer and followed him along with the store attendant into the men's section of the store.

"So shall we get started?" Dawn asked looking over at the other coordinator.

"Sure."

The moment of fun with Ash had already ended as she remembered what that night meant to her. Walking over to the other end of the store May could see a vast difference between those and the ones that Ash was taken to. While the men's side mostly seemed to contain solid earthy colors this section was filled with bright colors of all types with as many different prints that one could think of, although most were of flowers or small Pokémon.

"Wow," May quietly said as she looked over the vast amount of clothes.

"Yeah I know, it's great isn't it?" Dawn told her with a smile.

Both of them set their Pokémon down and started to browse through the selection. Of course this put Eevee and Buneary right next to each other, of which the latter was not pleased with. But considering her revelation just moments ago there was little that she could really do about it.

Eevee knew that she was the one who won over the affection of Pikachu but even still she couldn't help but feel for the other Normal-type. If only a couple factors weren't on her side then their situation could have been completely reversed.

"Vee?" She asked looking over at Buneary. Taking only a quick glance at her Buneary quickly turned her head back and folded her arms in front of herself. "Eevee vee eve."

Her face softening slightly Buneary looked back over at Eevee. "Buneary bun bun buneary," she said, congratulating the new couple.

"Vee."

"Buneary bun buneary bun neary?" The rabbit asked her rather bluntly.

"Eev…" Her question caught Eevee off guard, not to mention it was a slightly embarrassing topic for Eevee to tell to her old rival. At the moment probably only her mother and Pikachu knew the answer to that and May only due to the fact that she knew about everything beforehand. Too bad that her pause gave Buneary the answer to her question.

Once again the Rabbit Pokémon could feel anger well up insider of herself at the thought of those two like that but it quickly subsided into sadness. Considering that they were mates now it was only natural. Besides after how she figured it out it only made sense.

An awkward silence fell over the two, but neither really felt that they had anything else to say. No matter what questions were asked the results remained, and even if it pained Buneary to think it, Pikachu's business was no longer her concern. Eevee was his mate and nothing at this point would change that.

Sighing deeply Buneary looked around trying to find her trainer. She couldn't truly hate Eevee for what happened considering that it wasn't just her that was the reason that she lost but that didn't mean that she needed to become friends with the Evolution Pokémon either. And by the looks of it she wasn't the only one who was thinking that.

"So May have you found anything interesting?" Dawn asked her friend without looking up from where she was searching.

"Well I was thinking about this one," she said holding up a light red one with a few standard yellow flower prints on it. "But I think that I'd rather continue looking. It seems kinda bland."

"At least you've found something; I haven't seen anything that I've liked so far." Dawn complained as she moved a few more aside. "Either way we better hurry up, the festival will be starting in only a few hours."

Hearing her stomach growl a bit May couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "And I just realized that I haven't eaten yet." Looking over at Dawn and seeing the happy smile that she still had on as she looked through the kimonos May felt that Dawn should be told about her plans as well, or at least the general terms of it. If not for Ash then at least for the brunette's own conscience. "Um, Dawn. There's something that I should probably tell you."

"What is it?" The other coordinator asked looking up from her search.

"Well, I got a call from my mom last night and it turns out that she wants me home as soon as possible. So I'll be taking the next ferry off the island tomorrow morning," she told her in one breath.

"Really?" Dawn was quite surprised at the brunette's sudden news.

"Yeah."

"Did she say why?"

"If you remember me saying before, my little brother Max will be starting his own journey soon and she wants me to go with him for at least the first year. So that means that I'll only be able to help you out tonight and after that you'll be completely on your own."

"I'm sorry to hear that but I'm sure that your brother needs more help than I do right now. Everything seems to be under control and going smoothly. I just have to wonder when he will be taking out the locket again."

May visibly flinched as the nightmare from last night came back to her mind. Taking a deep breath she tried to ignore it and put it behind her again.

"That isn't my worry right now. Besides if I told Dawn the truth about how I felt about Ash it would only make things between us crumble, even if she understood that I was leaving for their sake. If I have to live a lie for one day just to make sure that I can help them find happiness then I can deal with that."

"Right, you probably do have nothing to worry about," May said trying to hide what just happened. Of course she wasn't able to hide it as well as she had hoped and Dawn caught enough of it.

"Ash was right, there is apparently something going on with her. She has been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since we got here. I might not be able to wait for Ash if she really does like him as well. If she's leaving tomorrow then that means that she would have to make her own move tonight, and yet she said that she would be trying to allow us to be alone for as much time as possible." Shaking her head a bit Dawn went back to the kimonos as to not to try and draw attention of her own. "I just can't understand her, does she really love Ash and I'm doing nothing but playing into her hands or is she truly trying to help me? Of course for that matter this entire vacation has been one big lot of questions, most of which I still have no clue as to what is going on. All I can do is go with my gut feeling and move on from there."

"Oh! I think I found one!"

Looking back up Dawn walked over towards where May was and she was quite impressed by the find.

"You should go try it on," Dawn insisted.

Nodding, the other coordinator took the entire hanger with her over to one of the dressing rooms. Going back to the many kimonos around her Dawn tried to find one of her own. Just after she had found a likely candidate for herself a few minutes later, Dawn's ears perked up as she heard May talking to someone.

"Are you sure this is how it's supposed to look?"

"Yes it is. Don't worry so much, you look great."

Sure enough soon after May came walking out of the dressing rooms with a store employee right next to her.

Catching Dawn's look May turned slightly red as she held her arms up as to let the loose fitting sleeves fall down a bit. "It looked good on the hanger but I know it probably looks horrible on me."

The kimono that she had chosen was actually a rather impressive one. It was a dark blue with a very light pink fabric running along the edge of her neckline and on the bottom seam as well. Near her legs there were blue flowers still on their stems allowing the blue and green to contrast nicely with each other. Along the rest of the gown there were pink cherry blossoms and sitting right beneath where her collar bone would be were a couple light blue sea shells. To finish it all off a large pink length of cloth was wrapped around her waist tied in a bow behind her.

"Wow."

"Just wait until that young man you came in here with sees this. He'll be even more impressed," the employee teased May as her blush grew even further. Bowing slightly to both her and Dawn, she walked back into the dressing area, probably for any other customers that needed the help.

"Well?" May asked tentatively looking back at the blunette.

"You look great May," she told her seriously, yet still mildly annoyed at the employee's comment. "I saw that long ribbon type of thing on each of them, so it's supposed to be like a belt or something?"

"The girl in there called it an obi, but otherwise I guess that's what it was there for."

"So are you going to buy it?"

"If you think that it looks good then I see no reason as to why not. Besides while it takes a little to get used to wearing it doesn't feel too bad." Seeing that she had one of her own in her arms May couldn't resist asking. "Is that the one you found?"

"I'm not entirely sure right now but more than likely it is." Walking over to the dressing rooms Dawn turned around before entering. "She helps to make sure that we have everything correct right?"

"Yep, don't worry."

Giving off a nervous chuckle Dawn entered into the dressing area and disappeared for several minutes. Coming back out with a bit of an unsure pace Dawn too looked a bit embarrassed with what she wore. It was simpler than May's was but no less impressive. It was a darker red up near the top with a black portion starting close to her knees and a pure white stripe separating the two. Unlike May's Dawn's also had extra cloth coming off near the waist flowing down the sides of her legs, the red and black design continued along those as well but gave the whole idea more shape to it as it angled the division inward. In the middle of the bottom there was a single large four-petaled yellow flower with matching smaller ones on the right side and along her left shoulder. Several small blue stars were added around the flowers and the color division and it was topped off with a light tan obi tied just like May's.

"You look great Dawn, Ash will love it," May told her confidently, yet even still her voice faltered slightly.

"Really?" Dawn asked looking up at the brunette.

"I swear it."

"Thanks May, I was thinking that this was a little too plain compared to yours but in the mirror I thought that it looked alright."

"It should be more than enough. But now I'd be willing to bet that Ash is already done with his shopping so why don't we buy these and heat out to get something to eat?"

"I don't see a problem with that."

Quickly changing back into their normal clothes the two girls grabbed their Pokémon and headed for the front counter. Sure enough as May had predicted Ash was sitting there waiting for them, still quite beat red. At least this time he had Pikachu to console him a bit. Sadly though seeing those two together brought along with it a small tinge of guilt for May as it brought back what would be happening tomorrow morning.

"Everything just seems to keep reminding me of either Ash or tomorrow's departure. There's no doubt that I feel bad to taking Pikachu away from Ash, but it's not as if I'm forcing them to be apart. Both he and Eevee made their choice and I gave them every opportunity to stay here with Ash. Even if Pikachu explains the reason for leaving without revealing my feelings it will still upset Ash to no end. To that end should I leave without bringing the two of them with me? Eevee would hate me for it but at least I wouldn't be taking Ash's best friend and partner away from him." Sighing May gave her purchase to the lady behind the counter as well as a credit card that her parents had given her. "I just want this entire thing to be over with, the more I think about it the more the nightmare returns, and at the same time I can feel myself wanting to crawl up into a ball again and just cry. But no, I have to be strong. Not only for Eevee but for Ash and Dawn as well. I made this choice so that they can find happiness. I just hope Ash can forgive me for what I'm going to have to do."


To be completely honest I'm no expert when it comes to kimonos and overall even less about fashion. My sentiments about that and shopping mostly match the way that I've portrayed Ash in my stories about the same topic. As such I probably didn't do that great of a job describing the two kimonos that the girls bought. I have put up the inspiration for May's on my Photobucket account and to keep it from seeming that I'm pressuring you to go there tell me if you want the link and I'll send it. Dawn's inspiration would be a bit harder to show you guys because it's from an anime episode I have downloaded but if you are really interested I can give you those details as well.

Thanks for your time and I hope to see your reviews.