Author's note: So based on a review I got from the last chapter, I see how somebody may lose their interest in a story that's all fight and no feel. I'm going to make changes accordingly: I will now add some real changes to the story's build and will once again do some experimenting to see what you guys do and do not want from the characters and their relations. As evidenced, leave reviews if you want to see change!

Chapter 53: Recovery

Brendan didn't hit the water. Something moved underneath him, he couldn't see what it was, and it caught him high above the sea and whisked him further from the battle. "May," he weakly said, "tell Mom…": his voice trailed off as his body became too weak to complete thoughts.

A Few Hours Later…

"He's awake ma'am. You may see him now," a nurse politely informed an anxious and teary 15-year old. May sprung up and rushed to Brendan's side. As the door opened, she gasped: Brendan was ostensibly fine. He had no cuts or bandages of any sorts. But he was terribly weak, he could barely keep his eyes open as the pain seemed to crawl up through every passage in his body. But seeing the girl he loved, he couldn't help but give a feeble smile. "Bren!" May exclaimed as she threw herself across Brendan's body, embracing him like he was her only hope: indeed, he was. She immediately pulled back, however, saying "I-I'm sorry. You must be in a lot of pain. D-Did I hurt you?"

"Well, your hugs do feel as good as your kicks May," he joked. And May gave a little giggle through her sobs. "How'd I get… here. Last I remember, I fell of Latios…" Brendan suddenly became tense, his eyebrows knitting together as he asked, "What happened to everyone in Hoenn? To Mom? To your family? To the League?"

"You don't remember what happened?" She gave a little laugh: "It's just like the time you went to the hospital after Torchic's Ember hit you."

"Torchic's Ember, Kyogre's Ice Beam: what's the difference? amirite?" he said, smiling weakly.

"After you fell from Latios," May began, "Steven teleported with Metagross to catch you. Then Gallade teleported to catch Latios. Steven knew he and Metagross needed to lead the fight against the Weather Tyrants, so told me to go get you to a hospital fast. I knew what you'd say about that so I told him that you would want me to go save everyone in Littleroot."

"So you really do know me well," Brendan interjected.

"Well, I wouldn't follow all the way from Littleroot and I certainly wouldn't have bet my life on you if I didn't, Bren." She continued, "Stephen evacuated everyone at Littleroot and took our families to the safe-island on the far-side of Hoenn. He also evacuated all the port cities as well as Sootopolis. He said that ever since he had seen the cave-drawing of Groudon and Kyogre a few weeks ago, he had quick bunkers for the citizens built."

"Does Mom know? About… me?" Brendan inquired.

"Not yet. I've tried to reach her but their communications must be on hold or they must be incredibly busy trying to acclimate to the bunkers and stuff. I mean, it's not exactly paradise in there. Its just supposed to keep citizens safe for a little while," she replied. Brendan nodded.

"Well, if everyone's evacuated, then where are we now?"

"We're on the West End of Hoenn, near Rustborough. Kyogre's storms have created some rain outside but the weather hasn't become all that bad yet. Although, they say that the system could get worse or Groudon's droughts will cause fires to erupt soon."

"How soon?"

"24 hours." A silence followed. "Steven and the league are still fighting the Legendaries. They have only succeeded in preventing them from moving into the Cave of Origin..." her voice trailed off with hopelessness when noticed increased ferocity and energy in Brendan's eyes. "Well, I'm sure nothing bad could have happened yet; I mean, you've only been out for three hours," she said, hoping to make Brendan smile. He didn't, but his expression relaxed, which relaxed May too. Brendan opened his mouth to say something but may put her finger on his lips, quieting him. "All right Mr. HoennHero, enough with the interrogation," she giggled, "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm stiff and cold; the ice beam's effects haven't worn off I guess." May looked dejected by his answer.

"Well, I warm up when I see you, May," and with that little statement May's face lit up brighter than Groudon's fire before it became as red as the sunset. Brendan laughed, "You still look so beautiful when you blush," causing May to become redder.

May gently lay across his chest, making sure she wouldn't hurt him, and then, for the first time that day, she relaxed. She hugged his arm and decided that she wasn't comfortable where she was. Well, she was comfortable physically, but her heart wanted something more, she didn't know why. "Um… Bren? I know the bed's small but… can I lay next to you?"

"Like you have to ask," he grinned as he shifted, giving May some space on the mattress. Like a little animal burrowing in the winter, May snuggled in beside him in the covers, breathing a sigh of relaxation. She held his hand, it was cold. She put it in between her hands and said: "If only your hands were as warm as your heart, Bren." This made him smile. He was exhausted; the hours of battling had taken their toll on him. But now, he felt peace. The pain didn't, it really couldn't, bother him. Being with May was almost surreal; she completed him. They were always there for each other, and they would always give anything up for each other. He found it funny how nervous and uneasy he used to feel around her; it was never out of disgust but the fear that if he told her how he felt, she would leave him, and in his heart, he knew that he would rather be her friend forever than a nobody after a rejection. That day when he saved her from the Aqua Grunt, the day she finally told him what he wanted to tell her, he was enamored: he never thought that someone as perfect as May would take a liking, a loving, towards him. It made him smile, a smile of gratefulness and joy that the person beside him was with him now and would, if he was lucky, be there for the rest of his life.

May noticed Brendan's smile. She snuggled a little closer as she asked him, "What's

the big grin about Mister? Never held a girl's hand before?"

"Oh, I've held girl's hands, all right? Just that I've usually wanted to let them go as

fast as I could." May blushed and let out a little giggle.

"You know," she began, "the doctor said you'd be here a few hours anyway, so…"

"So?"

"So, after we became a couple things between us became so clear. Everything was just… I don't even have to explain I guess because you know just as well what I mean. But before that I-I guess that w-we—"

"I knew that you were more than just a crush when you were a little sad that I

wouldn't join you on your journey. I felt… bad. I felt bad because I saw your face and I knew

that I would die to make it smile. If you weren't there, I would have never wanted to go on a

journey or catch a single Pokémon, so I knew that there was something… about you. After that it only became clearer. When we were on route 101 together, when we battled, when we looked at the sunset before we went to Rustborough, I knew that I wanted to be with you… for as long as I could, May. I tried hard, so hard, to tell you that I loved you. But I was scared: scared that if you said no I would lose you forever. Remember when you stood on the hill to Rustborough and asked me if you or the sunset looked better?" May's eyes suddenly lit up as she recalled the past. "I said you were more beautiful. I said that you were the one I wanted to be with. But I said it quietly; you didn't hear me. Even when you said that you had a "boyfriend" in front of everybody at the contest, I knew that was my best chance. Yet I was afraid to reveal how much you meant to me. I knew I wanted to be with you, especially after what nurse Bethany said to me about you and I looking like a pair. I wanted to tell her, the whole world really, that I liked you… more than a friend. But I couldn't: I just blushed and told her that you and I were 'just friends'".

"I remember that, Bren," May instantly replied.

"Remember what?"

"You talking to Nurse Bethany, I remember that?"

"B-But how? You were over by the caf—"

"I wasn't. I was in the lavatory, but the walls weren't thick so your conversation was all I could hear," she replied. Brendan's eyes became wide with surprise and a little bit of terror. She continued: "I cried, Bren. I cried." She sniffled a little and cleared her throat. "But I didn't know why. I didn't know why hearing the boy I had met less than a day ago saying that we were 'just friends' tore a hole in me. I didn't want to accept that you didn't like me that way. I wished that you would say that we really were together; that I was yours." She paused, then she smiled. "But I guess we both wanted that to happen, didn't we?" Brendan tightened his grip over her hand. She quickly spoke, "Don't worry Bren. When you gave that Pokémon egg to me, when you said it was something that I should keep because it was important to you, I had hope that maybe you did like me that way." She let out a smirk. "I guess you did the whole time."

Brendan turned to face her, even though the pain made him wince and he might have fallen off the bed altogether. This prompted May to turn to face him two, although her smaller stature and healthy condition made that an easy change. Their eyes locked as they looked at each other with loving intent. There was a comfortable silence until Brendan finally spoke: "What made you finally tell that boy you liked him," there was a slight pause, "more than 'just a friend'?"

May thought a little. "I always liked you, Bren, always more than a friend. Most boys… they just look at me like I'm just another girl to dream about. They just… I hate those kinds of boys. They never care about me, or how I feel, or what I'm capable of. I'm like a trophy to them. But you? You were different. When we went to the pond where I used to go to let my sorrows loose, you cared. You gave me a hug that told me that even though you met me several hours ago, you would care for me, help me be someone I couldn't have been by myself." Brendan put his arm across her and she snuggled closer, just an inch or two away from his face and warming his cold, ice-beamed body, up fast. "You and I, we're not like Wes and Rui," she stated.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"They're a couple all right. But they don't fuse like you and I. There's still some tension between them with Wes' hilarious intellectual shortcomings and Rui's intelligence and passion for beauty. Wes is still learning what it means to commit to something; you and I both saw what happened at the dance. But we something totally different. We'd do anything for each other and we know that. It's like we can read each other's minds. We pushed aside Dylan and Lisia, two people that most other people would kill to be with, so we would never part. We've taken hits and falls for each other and it all feels natural; like that's the way we want it to be. Maybe that's why everyone thought we were together before we ever confessed…" She moved a little closer to him, her face now an inch away from his. Brendan's eyes stared deeply into May's mesmerizingly blue ones, then their lips met in the between. She put her hands in his hair as she pulled him toward her. It was about a minute until they finally pulled back for air. She slid her hand over his heart and felt its beat. "What's the matter, Bren? Your heart's racing!"

"Being with you is just... electrifying."

May blushed. "Then would you like get shocked again?"

"Yes."

Brendan leaned in once again and this time they he kissed her like he would never see her again. They parted after a minute, heaving for air. He gazed into her eyes again. He wished it would never end, that he could lay next to her, hold her hand, and just be with her.

That's when Brendan's Pokenav went off. A slow flute played a relaxing and sentimental melody that encapsulated the peaceful and loving mood in the air, they could have fallen asleep to the soothing tune had Brendan not tried to turn it off. (Author's Note: it's the Littleroot Theme). "Sorry, May. It must have played music by accident. I was listening to this when I went to sleep that night at your house: the night I ran away."

"I can see why. That music is so nice, it'll put you to sleep in an instant. Leave it on; I like it."

And so they lay on their sides, looking into each others faces, holding hands, and drifting to a peaceful place as the music played in the background. Brendan closed his eyes for a while, imaging a beautiful future: one where he and May would hold hands on porch, looking out into the patch of green where two little children played with their Pokémon. He remembered what Steven had said about him and May at Fortee. Steven had called May his "step daughter-in-law" on accident, but Brendan hoped that the statement would be right sometime in the future. He opened his eyes as his daydream came to a close, wanting to see May and her beautiful face again.

May had tears in her eyes. Like little pearls glistening in her sea-blue eyes, her face was deepened and depressed. But seeing Brendan opened his eyes, she quickly wiped her own and smiled. But it didn't take Brendan much thinking to know what was in her mind: something was wrong.

"May? Is something wrong? It's OK if something is; you can tell me."

"Oh, uh, nothing's wrong," she sniffled a little. "It's fine, really."

"May, I know something's not right. Don't hide how you feel about something. Whatever it is, we promised each other we'd go through it together."

"Trust me, Bren. It can wait."

"Well I can't. I know something's bugging you and I can't let it stay that way." He held her hand tenderly and then rustled his hand through her soft, brunette hair. Unlike her puppydog eyes, his effortless smile and reassuring face seemed to get other people, especially smitten girls like May, to do what he asked.

She let her guard down; it was Brendan, after all; she needed to tell him. He of all people deserved to know. "It's Norman."

Brendan's expression suddenly grew fierce: "He's gone May. He'll never bother you again. I promise. You have nothing to fear about him."

"You don't know, Bren." Her face began to contort as she began to sob; she could barely open her eyes through the tears now. "He's escaped. Someone broke him out."

Author's Note: Short Chapter, but I hope it delivered. Ok, so I went all emotional on this one. I know it has its flaws, but I've never been in, well, a relationship, so I'm just makin' this stuff up as I run… 0 idea what it's really like. If you have criticisms, PLEASE PM them because that's the only way I can know how to improve this content. And, as usual, see you next Saturday!

P.S. Future Chapters are going to have a balance of plot, shipping, and action. Don't forget to vote on the poll everybody.