Mystery solved

May's POV

"I don't know whether I should be insulted or amused," he chuckled. I gasped. That was not what I was expecting.

"Drew?" He chuckled again and his hood flipped back, revealing the thick green locks that identified the boy I had missed so much. I instantly changed positions, instead of pinning him to the ground, I was hugging him.

"I missed you so much Drew," I said. I clung to him tightly, afraid that if I let him go he would disappear. I jumped back and stood up, realizing what I was doing. Anger replaced my relief and happiness at seeing him.

"Where were you?" I demanded.

"Away," he said vaguely. I put my hands on my hips and was about to retort when Ash stepped forwards.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked in Jackie's voice, "You know my mission. You aren't helping."

"Yes, but you don't know mine," Drew replied, standing up quickly, "and I've been doing mine for the past 6 years!"

"What mission?" Jackie in Ash's body spat.

"I can't tell you right now," Drew said, "I'll talk to you later, but for now just trust me ok?"

"Alright, what's going on?" Misty demanded, "How do you two already know each other?

"Oh right," Drew said as if just realizing she was there, "I forgot you guys don't know. I'm a Pokémon ranger too."

"A Pokémon ranger?" Max questioned, "How long have you been a Pokémon ranger?"

"Since I was 11," he shrugged, "and I've had the same mission for that long."

"You must be a terrible ranger to have a mission that long," Jackie in Ash's body muttered. He was obviously still upset at Drew for something.

"Once you hear what it is, you would understand why I've had it," Drew replied coolly, "besides; I have had other missions on the side you know."

"Hang on," I said, "give me time to think this over." Dryden was not James, but he was actually Drew. Ok. Drew was a Pokémon ranger. He has been a Pokémon ranger since he was 11. That's 6 years.

"Wait," I said slowly, "If you're a ranger, why do enter contests and stuff?"

"Being a Pokémon coordinator was part of my cover," he shrugged, "I've been undercover until now."

"Why did you dress up as Dryden?" I asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't you just hear what I said? I've been undercover. Of course I couldn't tell you. Dryden has been my disguise. My features are very noticeable in case you haven't realized, so I had to hide them somehow," he explained, "and if you were clever you'd notice my undercover name is actually a mix of my first and last name." I blinked. Drew Hayden. Dryden. Hey it actually was; the Dr from Drew and the yden from Hayden. That's clever. I wouldn't have guessed something like that.

"Finished staring at me yet May?" Drew asked with a smirk on his face. I blushed, realizing that I had been looking at him the whole time that I had been thinking.

"Shut up grasshead," I scowled, "I was not looking at you. I was thinking."

"About me?" He questioned, his smirk growing.

"About what you just said," I replied, "It's not every day you find out your friend is a Pokémon ranger." If his smirk got any larger, it wouldn't fit on his face anymore, I thought. I turned as I heard Ash intake a sharp breath of air. He shook his head.

"I'm back to normal!" He exclaimed, finally back in his body.

Drew's POV

Ash turned around and inspected himself, as if to make sure he was really himself. Jackie shook his hands out, like it had hurt him.

"I'm back to normal!" Ash exclaimed, "I can't believe we switched bodies!"

"Well, we did," Jackie huffed, obviously not pleased. I knew why. It was because of my presence. Jackie was a proud ranger and hated it when others interfered with his mission, but this time I had to.

"Is that one of Manaphy's powers?" Ash asked.

"It's called heart swap," I interrupted, "It's one of the ways Manaphy protects himself." I had to talk to Jackie alone soon so that he could understand what I was doing. It wouldn't help anyone if he was like this the whole way.

"The effect wears off after a while," Jackie continued. He glared at me like it was my fault. Manaphy, who had been sitting in Jackie's arms patently, suddenly got tired of just watching. He wriggled around until Jackie let him go and jumped into May's arms.

"You didn't want me to go," she said softly, rubbing her cheek against his, "is that why you switched Ash and Jackie?"

'Mana! Mana!' He cried.

"You make me so happy," May said.

'Happy, happy,' he repeated.

"You were talking!" May exclaimed. Curious, I peered over May's shoulder.

"He was?" Max asked, "hey say Max!" Manaphy spotted me and his eyes lit up. Oh no.

'Mana!' He cried happily. He jumped out of May's arms and into mine. I tried to hold him away from me, but he kept trying to come closer. I had a bad feeling he would be attached to me. When he had spotted me when he hatched, I just knew he'd see me as his dad, but I was hoping he wouldn't recognise me. Apparently he did. I pushed Manaphy away again and his eyes filled with tears. Great. Now what was I supposed to do. He started crying and May glared at me.

"Why did you do that Drew?" May demanded, her hands on her hips.

"Um…" I trailed off, not really sure what to say. She took Manaphy into her arms and gently started to hum. Manaphy settled a bit, but kept his eyes on me. I frowned. It was frustrating. If I hadn't seen his hatching, he wouldn't be attracted to both of us, but now that he was, it was going to be really hard for me. This meant that I would have to spend a lot of time with May…up close and I wasn't used to that. I had always kept my distance to prevent her from getting hurt.

"C'mon Manaphy," May cooed, "Say happy again. Please be happy." Manaphy didn't say anything. May cuddled him close to her.

"Oh please be happy again," she begged, "Why aren't you happy anymore?" Manaphy pouted slightly at me. The way he did it looked a lot like how May would do it and I couldn't resist it. I sighed.

"Let me have him," I said gently. May looked up at me in shock.

"Why?" She asked suspiciously, "you made Manaphy cry. Why would I give him over to you?"

"Just trust me ok?" She hesitated a moment longer before finally holding him out to me. I took him in my arms and cuddled him.

'Happy, happy!' Manaphy cried. May blinked in surprise at me.

"How'd you do that?" she asked. I bit my lip. I couldn't tell her just yet. No, not yet, wait a little longer. The ship slowed down to a stop and Jackie looked relieved for some reason.

"Why's the ship stopping?" Misty asked.

"We can't get to the ocean temple until the prince of the sea leads us there," Jackie explained.

"Who's the prince of the sea?" Max asked.

"It's Manaphy," Lizabeth said, "that's what they call him because he was the closest water Pokémon to the royal line."

"Oh."

"May, you have to let Manaphy go into the ocean," Misty said quietly.

"What? Why?"

"He needs to find his own way," Misty explained, "We need him to guide us because we don't have the heir around to show us." Shep looked at Misty and frowned.

"How do you know so much about Manaphy?" He asked her.

"I'm a water Pokémon trainer," Misty shrugged, "All water Pokémon need to find their own way in the water and I figured Manaphy is no exception. Beside, you kept saying that you need Manaphy to show you the way to the temple of the sea so I assumed that's what you needed him for." Wow. Misty was pretty perceptive. I handed Manaphy back to May, who was looking really distraught.

"He has to do this all by himself," May questioned. She bit her lip as Jackie nodded. I could see the maternal side of her was struggling to know what to do. On one hand she wanted Manaphy to be safe and secure, but on the other hand she didn't want to hold him back from growing.

"Here," I whispered quietly. I put my hands over her and gently led her to the edge.

"Manaphy will be alright, won't you Manaphy?" I said.

'Mana! Mana!' he said happily. May looked up at me and I nodded to her. Manaphy started wriggling n her arms and I could see that it pained May to let him go. Gently I pulled her arms from around him and Manaphy jumped out into the ocean. May stared intently at the water, searching for any sign of him. Manaphy appeared a moment later, jumping up and down happily. May smiled and continued to watch. I let go of her hands and slowly backed away.

"We need to talk," Jackie growled, "Now." I nodded and followed him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jackie demanded as we rounded a corner, "You know that if May's bond with Manaphy grows that he won't want to leave. I left her behind because of that and you just brought her back."

"HQ called in shortly after your ship left and told me that I needed to get May and her friends on board," I answered.

"Why would they do that?" Jackie pondered, "They know that Manaphy won't stand for that."

"Don't ask me," I shrugged, "I just did what I was told. They seemed to think it would be better for him."

"Now what was that mission that you've been doing for the past 6 years?" Jackie asked, "You said you'd tell me."

"My mission has been to protect May," I replied.

"Huh? Why does May need to be protected? And why for so long?" He questioned.

"Somehow they knew that May was going to be a special part of the events to do with the sea temple," I explained, "other people knew that too and she's been in danger more than once. I've had to guard her so she wouldn't be disrupted."

"I don't quite get it;" Jackie said slowly, "What has May got to do with this?"

"Haven't you noticed?" I replied, "May holds something very special that no-one else does." I looked out to the girl. She was laughing happily as Manaphy continued to do tricks in front of her.

"Are you sure that's not just personal opinion?" Jackie asked. I looked back at him. His eyes were narrowed.

"I don't know what you mean," I said slowly, blushing slightly. I knew perfectly what he meant. My secret feelings for May, but I wasn't going to openly confess them so easily. I'd had them for 6 years and the only person who had gotten it out of me was Solidad. There was no way I was going to let him find out after ten minutes.

"I still don't quite get what you mean by something special though," Jackie said.

"I don't think I can explain it very well right now," I said, "not without giving too much away. I'll explain when the time come, but you're just going to have to trust me about May ok? Give her a chance. She's very special. There's not another one anything like her."

"Whatever Drew," Jackie sighed, rolling his eyes, "Whatever you do, don't let it get in the way."

"Huh?" I was about to ask what he meant, but he walked back to the others. I bit my lip. I had a feeling I knew what he meant and I didn't like it at all. Not one bit.

A/N: Yay! Drew is finally here! I know it took a while, but I had a reason. This chapter was fairly difficult to write though. So many explanations to do. I tried to write it the best I could without making it too boring. I hope it doesn't confuse anyone either. Anyway, from now on this will probably take my twist a little bit more. And Misty and Ash will probably get a little more attention now too.