Alright you guys, I didn't want to do this, this soon but to be honest you've put me into corner asking when Ash and May are going to get together properly. I had originally intended to do it during the Pokémon League, I've had the whole scene written out for at least 18 months. When I started writing this story I seriously thought I would've gotten to the League by now but some of the stuff I've put into this wasn't going to be part of it, like the 3 and a half chapters for Rota or Ash's Dad they along with a few other things weren't part of my original idea. I'm going to keep part of my original plan to get Ash and May together but tweak it a bit to include what I've put in the last chapter, I'm going to try and speed up the story a little more to get to the League sooner and put this whole 'when are they going to get together' thing to bed. Being honest I'm getting a bit sick of waiting but I wanted to stick with what I'd already written.

I've been asked to mention a story by SuperRV88. The story is called Omega G-Men, there's only one chapter at the minute but its a good start.

Current Teams -

Ash :- Pikachu, Lucario, Gardevoir, Krookodile, Donphan, Eevee (Eve), Eevee (Vee), Lapras

May :- Blaziken, Glaceon, Mawile, Litwick, Flaffy, Spoink, Beautifly, Cubone

Chapter 28

Confessions of Conscience

May knew this conversation was coming after her impromptu confession though she had hoped that Ash wouldn't bring it up this soon.

"In a way, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I was angry and…"

"The Negative Aura was affecting you, that's why you were being aggressive."

"The Negative Aura isn't entirely to blame, it just stoked a fire that was already there." May sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Ash, every time you put yourself in danger it scares me but it makes me angry as well. In a way it always has, the fact is you never seem to consider how I or anyone else would feel if you died, especially if you died saving one of us. We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves, you're a large part of our lives and we don't want to lose you. It's almost like you have a death wish and don't care about any of us."

"I…" Ash started before he stopped, his mouth hanging open slightly as he realised May was right. He never thought about how May or the others would react if he'd died saving them. He was silent as he processed these new thoughts and realisations before he spoke again in a quiet tone of voice. "I do care about you and everyone else, I don't have a death wish I just want to make sure that all of you are safe. I've always done my best to make sure you and everyone else are alright, it's like I'm always were I need to be to help people and Pokémon." A memory surfaced that made Ash snort out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" May asked slightly angry that Ash was laughing during a serious conversation like this.

"I just realised Cynthia was right." Ash replied, May looked at his quizzically making Ash explain what he meant. "Back during the Regions Festival in Vermillion City after you…," Ash paused to think about how to word what had happened "er…went to talk to Dawn, Zoey and Iris, Cynthia told me she knew about all the…events… I was apart of that included Legendary Pokémon and criminals. She said something that makes sense now."

"What did she say?"

"She asked me if I ever thought I might've been at all those places for a reason, that I was meant to be there and didn't just turn up by chance. She knew the Shamouti Prophecy I think she was looking to see if I would link the two things together."

"You mean you're not just the Chosen One for the Shamouti Prophecy, that you're the Chosen One for the whole world and everything that you've been through was always meant to happen?"

"Yeah, I never really thought about it before."

"You never really thought about anything before." May said with a giggle.

"That's not true!"

"You're right, you think about food and Pokémon all the time." May started to laugh with Pikachu joining her.

"Anyway," Ash said to get back on topic trying to suppress the smile that threatened to cover his face, "It makes sense, I mean the amount of Legendary Pokémon I've met and the dangerous people I've stopped makes it look that way." May smiled and shuffled a little closer to Ash leaning against him as they both sat on the ground enjoying the peace and quiet. After a few minutes Ash spoke again, "But you're right, I never thought about how you, my mom or anyone else would react if something did happen to me." Again, he thought as memories of New Island and the Temple of the Sea flashed into his mind. Ash tilted his head back and put a hand over his face, "How could I've been so stupid not to think of that before now?" May turned to face him and pulled his hand away while moving his head to face her. She gently cupped his cheek before smiling and speaking.

"Ash, it wasn't stupid, you were just being yourself. A hero. You just let your impulsiveness get the better of you so you don't think, you only act. Trust in me, in your Pokémon, in our friends, we can look after ourselves and we can protect you. I already have done." When she saw the question in his eyes May explained. "When we were on our way to Vermillion City with Adam, the Primeape knocked you out. Me and our Pokémon fought together to keep you safe and I saved you in Rota too, I guess it didn't mean that much too you if you don't remember." May huffed and turned away.

"May, I'm sorry it means a lot to me, it really does. I do remember but my memories of what happened with the Primeape are a little hazy, I remember getting hit then waking up in a cave with you and Adam. Can you tell me what happened? Please?" While speaking Ash had put a hand on May's shoulder but she didn't turn back to face him. Ash shook her shoulder a little and tried to do what she always did, as May turned to face him he attempted to use her own ultimate weapon against her. Ash was attempting the infamous puppy dog eyes with little success, May managed to keep a straight face for about 5 seconds before it cracked and she burst into hysterical laughter. She was hugging her sides and threw her head back, letting her melodic laughter echo around the mountains.

"Alright, alright I'll tell you just stop making that face before I pee myself." May said as she doubled up. Ash scowled and looked away, after a minute May managed to get a hold of herself and explained what had happened. Once she'd finished Ash pulled her into a hug and placed a quick kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you." He whispered into her ear, sending a chill down her spine and causing goosebumps to rise from her skin.

"You don't need to thank me Ash, I'd do anything to make sure you're safe." May said and pulled out of the hug slightly moving her head so she could kiss Ash properly. See what May was doing another memory flashed into Ash's mind, part of what May had said earlier. He leant back as May moved her face towards his, seeing him move May pulled back. "Ash, what's wrong?" She asked, letting Ash out of the hug sensing he needed some space.

"It's about what you said before…"

"What about it?"

"You said you loved me…" May blushed and looked away as the memory came back to her, due to the Negative Aura and everything else it had been pushed to the back of her

mind. "Did you mean that?"

They both sat in silence while May tried to figure out what to say, eventually she sighed and looked Ash in the eyes. It was out in the open and there was only one thing she could do.

"Everything I said before about you and how you act is true…Ash since we met I've liked you and as we travelled together I liked you even more, especially after what you did to save me, Manaphy and Pikachu in the Temple of the Sea. At first I thought in might be a silly crush and you never showed any interest in me, that's part of the reason I went to Johto I wanted to see if my feelings changed. When we met again for the Wallace Cup, I realised that my feelings for you were the same but you still didn't show any interest in me so I didn't try to start anything between us plus we were challenging different Regions so even if we had started a relationship it would've been hard because of the distance. After that I focussed on my Contests and training to get stronger because I wanted to show you I could protect myself so you wouldn't get hurt trying to protect me." Ash just sat staring at May as she confessed.

"When we met again in Viridian City, I was starting to fully realise what my feelings were. A few people could tell how I felt from just looking at me like Lucy, Cynthia, Misty and Adam. Ash, I really do love you and I hope you love me back." As May said her last sentence she looked Ash directly in his chocolate brown eyes not blinking or breaking contact to get her message fully across to the raven haired trainer. Ash was the one to break eye contact, he looked to the side unable to look into May's serious yet pleading eyes. "Oh," May whispered looking away as tears threatened to spill from her eyes, "I guess, I'll leave you alone then."

At the same time that May was confessing the Ash, Glaceon was telling Pikachu how she really felt. Glaceon's confession was taking a better path then May's had as Pikachu followed his instincts and licked Glaceon's cheek to signify he liked her a lot too, he couldn't trust himself to say love just yet all he knew was he felt strongly for the Fresh Snow Pokémon. Gardevoir smiled at the sight while Lucario gave an approving nod.

I was beginning to wonder if Pikachu would ever notice. Lucario said to the Embrace Pokémon.

"I told you he would, it was only a matter of time." Gardevoir replied, she stole a look at the Aura Pokémon from the corner of her eye and blushed slightly as she remembered her conversation with May. What Gardevoir didn't know was Lucario's memories of talking to May about that particular subject were replaying in his mind too.

May rose to her feet not bothering to brush the dust from her clothes, she wanted to get some space from Ash to come to terms with being rejected and so she didn't cry in front of him. She stopped as she started to turn away from him as she felt Ash grab her wrist, pulling on it gently silently asking her to sit by him again. Curious, May sat back down and waited for Ash to look at her, after a minute he did so.

"May, I…I don't know what to say. I don't know much, well anything, about love or relationships, so I don't know how to react to what you just said. I know it took a lot of courage to admit something like that, I'd like to say the same to you so I don't hurt your feelings but all I know right now is I like you a lot. Everyone has told me all I think about is Pokémon and where the next challenge is, and they're right I don't really think of anything else except for food and my friends. When we were at Pokémon Tech, Adam carried you back to our room and told me you'd been crying because of things I'd done. That's one of the few times that I've seen Adam get angry and the first time he'd been angry at me, I never said sorry about that and I really am sorry. Like you said earlier, I don't think about how people will feel." Ash took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I don't even think about how I feel most of the time. I just don't know what I feel about you yet, all I can tell you is that I know I don't want to lose you and I feel happier when I'm around you." May put a finger on Ash's lips to silence him.

"Ash, you don't have to worry about this now. What you've just said told me a lot, when you understand what you feel I'll be here to listen to you. Don't stress yourself out trying to work everything out now, take your time and tell me what you feel when you're ready." Ash nodded his head, May stood up and started to walk away still needing some space to process her own confession and what Ash had just told her. She saw Glaceon wearing a victorious smile as she rubbed up against Pikachu, May made her way over and knelt in front of the two Pokémon. "I'm happy for both of you." She said scratching both of them behind their ears before standing up again and continuing to walk away from the group. Glaceon and Gardevoir went to follow May but were stopped by Blaziken, the fire and fighting type telling them that May needed some time to herself.

Ash watched as May walked away for a minute before hanging his head in shame, he knew that he'd hurt May because of what he'd said but he couldn't lie to her or himself by saying he loved her when he didn't know what he felt would only hurt them both in the long run. That much he was sure of, Ash thought that it was probably a good idea to try and work out what he felt but he had a problem he didn't even know where to start. A thought struck him like one of Pikachu's Thunderbolts, Ash activated the call function on his X-Transceiver and pressing the call button next to one of the names. It rang a couple of times before the person on the other end picked up.

"Hello?" Said a female voice. The video function activated and Ash could see the familiar face of the Sinnoh Champion.

"Oh sorry Cynthia, I must've dialled the wrong number I'm not too good with technology. I was trying to call Adam." Ash said.

"This is Adam's number, he's just in the middle of a Frontier Battle so he threw his X-Transceiver to me when it rang."

"I thought he had a Pokégear?"

"He did but I pulled a couple of strings to get him an X-Transceiver, is automatically rerouted you to the Vid-Phone when you rang his number. What did you need Adam for? Maybe I can help."

"It's kind of personal." Ash said nervously, even though she had a kind smile on her lips Ash felt like Cynthia's one visible grey eye was boring into his soul to find out what he wanted.

"It's about May then." Ash just nodded in reply. "So what's the problem, maybe you need a woman's point of view." Ash sighed and started to explain everything that had happened, with Cynthia being a member of the G-Men and someone he knew he could trust he told her the whole truth about going to help Zapdos. While he was talking Pikachu wandered over to his trainer and curled up at his side, Ash's hand absently moved to the electric type and instinctively started to stroke Pikachu's yellow fur. Cynthia listened as Ash spoke, ignoring the sounds of the battle in front of her barely noticing when a piece of deflected Stone Edge skittered to a stop at her feet. The only reaction that she gave to Ash's story was the slight widening of her visible eye when Ash said May had confessed to him. When Ash finished talking he waited quietly to see what the blonde Champion would say, after a minute Cynthia gave Ash a sad smile.

"Ash, you did the right thing telling May that you didn't know how to react or what you feel about her yet. That proves that you like her a lot and don't want to hurt her, May has a right to feel sad and hurt, even though you didn't actually reject her you still didn't give her the answer she wanted. Give her some time and everything will sort itself out but you need to give some serious thought to your own feelings. May deserves an actual answer, one way or the other."

Ash sighed he knew that Cynthia was right, he had to decide how he felt but that was easier said than done. Ash was about to speak again but an explosion from Cynthia's end of the call stopped him. Looking at the screen of his X-Transceiver and saw that the blonde Champion had turned her attention to Adam's battle, a pleased smile crossing her lips.

"That's another Frontier Print for Adam's collection." Cynthia said under her breath before looking back at the X-Transceiver in her hand. "From the look on your face I can see you agree with me Ash. Just give yourself some time, think about what's happened since you've started travelling with May again. When we were in Vermillion City May told me that you'd travelled together before, think about that time as well. It might help you out." There was a pause that Cynthia left to let her advice sink into Ash's head.

"There's one last thing I want to say to you, this is something you need to work out on your own. You can't rely on Adam to walk you through this, he can give you a little advice but it'll just be what I've already said to you."

"I know I need to do this alone but it's just I've never gone through anything like this before, I don't know what I have to do." Ash said sadly, Cynthia gave him a sympathetic smile.

"It won't be easy but you'll get through it, I know you will. Now I need to congratulate my boyfriend and you need time to think. Remember what I told you when we met for the first time, when every life meets another life, something will be born. It's up to you to decide what you want to be born between you and May, friendship or something more. Bye Ash."

"Bye Cynthia." They both ended the call, Ash took his X-transceiver off his wrist and placed it on his bag at his side. He shifted his position so he could sit cross legged and shut his eyes, meditating on everything that was now racing through his mind. He sat there letting what Cynthia had said sink in and trying his best to work out what it was he wanted.

After walking for a while May stopped and saw that she'd unconsciously made her way to a small grassy area with a pool of clear water in the middle. Deciding that it would help her calm down, May took off her shoes and socks before sitting at the edge of the pool and dipped her feet in. A little sigh passed her lips as the water soothed her tired feet, with all that had happened since getting to the Power Plant she didn't realise how sore her feet were. As she gently kicked her legs, causing ripples to flow out around her feet, May tilted her head back and looked at the sky watching a few clouds pass by.

While she sat there in silence she thought about what had just happened. She never intended on confessing like that and although she didn't get the answer she was looking for, it wasn't an outright rejection either so there was still hope. May smiled at the thought and looked around the area she was now sitting in. There were a few flowers dotted around the grass and poking out of the rocks, a couple of small trees with a few berries hanging of the branches, in the pool of water May could see polished stones sat on the bottom and stretched her leg out to pick on up between her toes. Due to how smooth the stones were it took May a few tries to get a grip on the particular stone she had chosen, once she had a good grip of it she lifted her leg out of the water. She bent her leg so she could take the stone from her toes and get a closer look at it, as she put her leg back in the water she gazed at the stone she'd chosen. It was about the same size as a shrunken Pokéball but slightly more round, the pattern on the surface from where the water had worn away at the stone fascinated her. There seemed to be a helix like shape in the middle coloured in two different shades of red with a black wave going down the centre, the rest of the stone was an almost clear cream colour. May kept looking at the stone holding it between her thumb and forefinger or flat in her palm, taking in all sides of it in rapt attention as she admired the way the sunlight shone off the surface and through the stone. Convinced it was some sort of precious gem May decided to keep it and make a piece of jewellery out of it. May glanced at her X-Tranceiver to check the time and found she'd been sat there for nearly an hour, due to the stone getting her attention May had calm down and knew that she did the right thing telling Ash how she felt.

May brought her legs out of the pool and lay on her stomach across the grass, kicking her leg lightly in the air to let them dry. She was about to rest her head on her crossed arms when her X-Transceiver start to ring, May didn't look at the caller id before answering assuming it was Ash calling to find out where she was but the voice on the other end of the call wasn't male.

"I'M ENGAGED!" The female voice squealed loudly, May instantly knew who the voice belonged to and returned the squeal of excitement. Looking at the screen of her X-Transceiver she could see a familiar Frontier Brain and a sparkling diamond ring with shining amethysts surrounding the diamond.

"Lucy, that's great. I knew Brock would propose eventually." May said. He's had enough practice. She thought to herself not wanting to bring that particular point up while Lucy was still celebrating.

"I want you to be a bridesmaid." Lucy said excitedly, May paused as she processed what the Pike Queen had just said.

"I'd love to but are you sure? I mean you must have other friends you've known longer then me."

"It's because of you and Ash that I met Brock, I want both of you to be apart of our wedding. Brock's calling Ash now to ask him to be one of his groomsmen, isn't he with you?" May froze as she fought to find an answer, she didn't want to ruin Lucy's happiness or steal the moment from her by telling her what he happened between them.

"Ash was doing some training so I went for a walk." The brunette said, hoping Lucy would believe her.

"Alright, tell him we expect the pair of you to be back in Pewter City for the wedding. We'll call you when we have a date, we were thinking of having it around the same time as the League and Grand Festival so both of you would be nearby. So we didn't pull you away from your Contests and Gym Battles."

"You don't need to plan your wedding to fit us in, even if we were in a different Region we'd still come back to be there."

"I know that, so does Brock but we both want to make sure that you and Ash will be able to come to the wedding. Like I said if it hadn't been for you and Ash then Brock and I would never have met."

"But what about fittings for the dress and everything else?"

"Send me your measurements and we can work from that, if we need to then we make any adjustments when you get here."

"Who else have you asked to be a bridesmaid?" May asked, starting to feel the excitement bubble up inside her.

"I've asked Anabel and Greta, I'm going to ask my sister to be my Maid of Honour but I can't get hold of her for another day or two."

"Why?"

"She's in Unova right now training and I want ask her in person. She's due home soon." May nodded in understanding.

"What have you thought for a colour scheme?" May asked. The conversation then went into a fairly in-depth discussion of all the things May would need to do or help with by

being a bridesmaid.

At the same time

Ash had given up trying to meditate as he couldn't think of anything except for the painfully sad look in May's eyes, even though she tried to hide it Ash could feel it with his Aura. He'd started to train and ended up in a three-way sparing match with Lucario and Blaziken, Ash had thrown his jacket and hat off. Gardevoir had knelt down to pick up Ash's jacket and unintentionally caught Ash's hat on her head, she chose to leave it where it was as it blocked the bright sunlight from her eyes. Ash ducked under a cross from Blaziken and barely blocked a round kick from Lucario when his X-Transceiver rang, his attention drawn to the device on his wrist Ash wasn't able to bring his arms forward to stop a follow up punch from Blaziken. Ash was sent back and kicked up a small cloud of dirt as he landed, rolling onto his side Ash answered his X-Transceiver as Lucario, Blaziken and Gardevoir approached to see if he was alright. Pikachu was laughing at his friends misfortune until Glaceon slapped the back of his head with her tail.

"Hello." Ash groaned, a split second before covering his ears to protect them from the high pitch noise that came from his X-Transceiver.

"I'M ENGAGED!" The voice said, not knowing what made the noise Ash looked at the screen and saw Brock looking back at him wearing a massive grin that threatened to split his face open.

"Hi Brock, what was that noise then?" Ash asked, Brock looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his head.

"That was me sorry, I'm just excited. I proposed to Lucy and she said yes."

"Proposed what?" Brock facepalmed. "Just kidding, I know what you meant. Congratulations." Ash laughed with Brock joining him a few seconds later.

"You had me going for a minute there Ash. I wanted you to be one of the first to know and I want you to be one of my groomsmen."

"Sure I'll be a groomsman. Er… What does a groomsman do?"

"You just help me get ready, tell people where they need to sit and escort a bridesmaid to the altar."

"Who are the bridesmaids?"

"Lucy's asking Anabel, Greta and May. We were thinking that you would escort May." Ash's body tensed at the mention of walking down the aisle with May, Brock saw the slight jerk in Ash's posture. "Everything alright Ash? Did something happen between you and May?"

"No, everything's fine. When are you having the wedding?" Ash replied wanting to change the subject.

"You sure, I can tell something's bothering you."

"It's nothing, me and May have had a bit of a falling out but we'll get past it. When do I need to get to Pewter City of the wedding?" Brock took one last look at Ash before continuing the conversation. The former Gym Leader could tell that Ash was dealing with something bigger then a falling out and wanted to help but knew that if Ash wanted to deal with it himself then that's what he'd do.

"We're planning on having it around the same time as the Grand Festival and Pokémon League, that way we don't have to pull you or May away from your journeys."

"Alright who else is a groomsman?"

"I'm going to ask Max and I've already asked Salvadore. Forrest's going to be my best man." Brock paused and took a drink of water. "I'm inviting everyone we know, Misty, Tracey, Dawn, Iris and Cilan. I was going to invite your mom as well but thought I'd better ask you first."

"Why ask me? She'd love to come to your wedding."

"Alright, I'll add her to the list." There was a few seconds of silence before Brock spoke again. "Ash, are you sure you don't want to talk about what happened between you and May? I might be able to help."

"Brock, it's fine. This is something I have to work out, if I told you what it was you'd just tell me that it's something I need to figure out on my own."

"You're talking about your feelings for May." Brock said instantly, Ash's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"How did…?" Ash started but shock stopped him from finishing.

"Cause I know you Ash and you're right this is something you need to deal with on your own. I'd love to be more help but I can't this is going to be your greatest challenge and I know you'll do it."

"Thanks Brock." Ash smiled at his friend, "Any chance of a little advice though, I'm struggling." Brock chuckled.

"Sure, listen to your heart not your head."

"Thanks again Brock and like I said before congratulations."

"That's alright Ash and thanks, I'll see you at the wedding. When we have a set date I'll let you know." Ash nodded in understanding and was about to end the call when Brock said something else. "Ash, one last thing. Good luck."

"I think I'll need it. Bye Brock."

"Bye Ash."

They both ended the call and went back to what they were doing, Brock called more people and Ash went back to sparring Lucario and Blaziken. They trained for about half an hour before Ash tried to meditate again, this time he had a bit more success but due to the fact that he was still having trouble focussing and trying to listen to his heart like Brock said. After trying for a bit longer Ash gave up and called Riley to tell him about what was happening with the Legendries.

Ash dialled Riley's number and it was answered after a few rings.

"Hey Squirt! Did you miss me?" A female voice said cheerfully. Ash smiled and sigh a little laugh.

"Hi Tula, it's been a while. How are you?" Ash replied, the woman he was talking too had auburn hair cut to chin length, she had fair skin and dark green eyes. This was Tula, Aura Practitioner and Riley's wife.

"I'm great Squirt, easy mission to Kalos as an Ambassador plus a week's vacation and when I get back I find out you got Riley to leave the day before I returned to look into a possible Aura User." A wicked glint appeared in Tula's eyes making Ash thankful he wasn't talking to her in person. Even though Ash could look after himself in a fight and had more control over his Aura, Tula was someone he never wanted to fight for real. She had developed her own style of fighting to make up for the fact she couldn't do things that Aura Guardians could do, by striking certain points on her opponent she could disrupt the flow of their Aura as well as paralysing their limbs (AN Like Neji's Gentle Fist Style from Naruto). When ever Ash had sparred Tula during his training he'd only just managed to win thanks to having more strength and stamina, though the first few months he'd been beaten within a couple of minutes.

"I only followed the protocols, I felt the strength of her Aura and called Riley because he's the leader of Kanto's Aura Guardians. You know that if we find someone who has a strong Aura we have to ask them to join the Aura Guardians."

"Yeah, I know but you could've waited a day or two before calling it in so MY HUSBAND was here to meet me when I got home." Tula said calmly, emphasising the fact that she was married to Riley, while looking at her nails smiling slightly. The fact that she said it so calmly had more of a chilling effect on Ash than if she'd shouted it. "So what did you want Riley for?"

"I wanted him to check the archives for me, there's something going on with the Legendary Pokémon. There's acting more aggressive and experiencing a sick, worrying feeling, I was wondering if anything like this has happened before and if it has how to stop it."

"Tell me everything that's happened." Tula said, her face growing serious. Ash started at the beginning and explained all that had happened, from Mew in Rota to Zapdos only a short time ago. He hesitated for a minute before telling Tula about Mewtwo but a subtle sense of permission came to his mind from Mewtwo so Ash gave Tula the whole truth.

"I'll pass the message on and help Riley look into it." Tula said once Ash had finished talking.

"Where is he anyway?"

"The Queen wanted to take a walk through the town so Riley's on protection duty till they get back. Oh, the girl you told Riley about, she's interested in learning to use her Aura but wants to compete in the Grand Festival before she starts. Riley said you were right she's got the potential to be an Aura Guardian, good catch there Squirt. How'd you find her?"

"I'm travelling with….a friend who's competing going to enter the Grand Festival and we met Holly at the Contest in Porta Vista."

"Who's your friend?"

"My name's May." A familiar voice said from behind Ash. The raven haired trainer jerked in surprise, he'd been so focussed on his conversation he hadn't detected May's Aura approaching him.

"Tula, nice to met you. Riley told me a little about you, he didn't say how pretty you are though." May blushed at the praise.

"Thank you, you're very pretty too. How do you know Riley?" The brunette Co-Ordinator said, Tula smiled back at her.

"Please, I'm gorgeous." Tula replied with a light laugh and a smirk. "Didn't the Squirt tell you about me, I'm Riley's better half."

"How long have you two been married?"

"4 years in a couple of months. How do you know the Squirt?"

"Why do you keep calling Ash Squirt?"

"Cause she'd freakishly tall." Ash muttered under his breath.

"I heard that Squirt, just wait till you come back to Rota." Tula said threateningly, Ash paled slightly. After making sure Ash was sufficiently scared Tula turned her attention back to May, giving her a bright friendly smile. "I'm not freakishly tall but I am taller then Ash, I mainly do it just cause it annoys him. So you gonna tell me how you know him?"

"I met him about 9 years ago when he started to travel around Hoenn, we travelled together in Hoenn and then around Kanto while Ash took on the Battle Frontier. After that we split up, I went to Johto for their Contests and Ash went to Sinnoh for their Pokémon League. We met up again for the Wallace Cup but after that I went back to Johto."

"So you've got a bit of history between you, I approve."

"What do you mean?" May said but Ash cut in before Tula could reply.

"Thanks for the help Tula, tell Riley I said hi. Bye." Ash ended the call and sighed in relief. Before turning his head and seeing May staring at him.

"Why did you cut her off? What did Tula mean?" She asked.

"Don't worry about it, Tula just likes to mess with people. I think we should go back to the Pokémon Centre for now and let Nurse Joy look at our Pokémon." May nodded, she had an idea about what Tula meant but decided to keep it to herself due to the way Ash freaked out. She could see that he was still struggling with her confession and wanted to deal with other stuff while he tried to work out what he felt. May could understand it so followed Ash's lead, letting him do what he wanted with their 'cover' relationship.

They returned their Pokémon and walked back to the river past the Power Plant, the security guard gave them an acknowledging nod as they passed. When they got to the river Ash released Lapras from her Pokéball and both he and May climbed onto her back, making their way back to the Pokémon Centre. The trip was filled with an awkward silence as Ash and May didn't really know how to act around each other now, the only sound was May's X-Transceiver buzzing whenever a text came through. Not long after Lapras set off for the Pokémon Centre Lucy had called May, seeing the look on Lucy's face and hearing the tone of her voice May immediately ended the call and sent the Pike Queen a text. Brock had told Lucy that something had happened between Ash and May, now Lucy was on a mission to find out what it was. May was trying to distract the Frontier Brain with questions about the wedding but it wasn't working, May was on the verge of turning off her X-Transceiver, throwing it into the river or simply ignoring it but that would only insight Lucy to harass Ash for answers and that was something Ash really didn't need to deal with right now.

While May was texting Ash was just staring into the distance, stroking Pikachu's fur out of habit, as he thought. He knew he liked May a lot, he enjoyed spending time with her and just being close to her but was that enough to be love? May is beautiful, kind, funny, great with Pokémon and has an adventurous heart, all this made Ash think about what May saw in him. As far as he was concerned he was average looking, a good trainer and was willing to help anyone who needed it, to him that was all he saw in himself along with his never give up attitude. As he thought something else occurred to him, he turned to look at May who was still typing away on her X-Transceiver.

"May?" He said. May stopped typing and looked up, turning to face him.

"Yeah Ash?" She replied.

"What are we going to do now?"

"I thought we were going to the Pokémon Centre then flying to Celadon City."

"No, I..er…I mean about the favour."

"Oh, well I don't want to try and force you to do something you don't want to so I thought I'd let you take the lead. If you want to hold hands then I'll hold your hand, you know stuff like that."

"Al…alright, it's just I don't really…"

"It's alright Ash, just take things at your own pace. Whatever you decide to do, I'll go along with. Okay?" May said with a sweet smile, Ash nodded.

"Okay." May's X-Transceiver buzzed again causing her to sigh in frustration.

"If Lucy doesn't stop texting me I'm going to go insane."

"Just ask her to stop."

"I tried that about 20 texts ago."

"What's she texting you about?" Ash asked, May froze not sure how to answer.

"Well, she's…er…..she's asking if everything's alright between us."

"Oh." Ash said quietly, "Tell her everything fine."

"I tried that at the start, she didn't believe me." Ash lifted his X-Transceiver and flicked through his contacts before dialling Lucy's number. It barely rang once before the Frontier Brain answered. "Lucy, everything's fine between me and May but we still need to work a few things out so can you stop texting May please? I think she's going to start pulling her hair out soon."

"Okay Ash but if either of you want to talk just call me and I'll…." Lucy went quiet after that as Brock appeared alongside her, putting a hand over her mouth. The former Gym Leader was breathing heavily.

"Thanks for that Ash." Brock said, "I've been trying to catch Lucy since I told her something happened between you and May. Sorry, I didn't think she'd react like this when I told her." Lucy muttered something under Brock's hand that sounded suspiciously like 'Double Wedding' to May whilst Ash didn't understand what Lucy had said.

"It's alright Brock, don't worry about it. I know she's only trying to help but me and May need to get through this ourselves." Ash replied, Brock nodded.

"I'll try and keep Lucy from bothering you two again but that's like trying to stop Misty when she's angry." The former Gym Leader chuckled, Ash smiled.

"Thanks Brock, bye."

"Bye Ash."

Ash ended the call, the last thing he saw on the screen was a blurred panning of view of Brock's house, he assumed that it was because Lucy was trying to stop Brock ending the call on their side. While Ash had been talking to Brock and Lucy, May had just been sat watching and listening when Ash noticed he looked at her with a confused expression.

"What?" He said.

"I just didn't expect you to do that." May replied.

"Well you said that you wanted me to take the lead so I did and you know I'll always help you, no matter what." May felt her heart flutter a little but resisted the urge to give Ash a hug.

"Thank you." She said with a sweet smile, "You were right you know."

"What do you mean?"

"I was going to start pulling my hair out." There were a few seconds of silence between them before they started to laugh. It was still tense between them but it was getting a little easier, they fell into a semi-comfortable silence the only sound was Lapras' fins moving through the water and birdsong. After a while Lapras stopped alongside the bank where Ash and May had first climbed on to her back to go to the Power Plant. As May got off Lapras' back the Transport Pokémon nudged her shoulder when May turned to face the water and ice type, Lapras nuzzled against May's arm. Laughing lightly May lifted her hand and stroked Lapras' jaw and neck, earning a melodic trill from the Pokémon. Ash just watched for a minute before speaking.

"Lapras really likes you May. She doesn't do that to people she doesn't know too well."

"I know Ash, Lapras are very wary of people." May said not looking at Ash as she continued to stroke Lapras' jaw.

"It's more then that May, I never told you how I met Lapras did I?" May felt Lapras shiver and looked at the Transport Pokémon with worried eyes.

"Did I hurt you?" May asked Lapras. Lapras shook her head. Ash walked forward and put his hand on Lapras' head, letting a little of his Aura flow into her calming her down.

"When I met Lapras she'd been separated from her group and ended up getting beached, there were three teenagers hitting her with sticks trying to get her to carry them around the Orange Islands. I stopped them with Pikachu and got Lapras to the Pokémon Centre." Ash then told the rest of the story keeping his hand on Lapras' head, helping her stay calm. When he finished his story Ash turned to look at May, "That's what I meant when I said she doesn't do stuff like this to people she doesn't know well. She must really like you to do this after only meeting you a few hours ago." The two trainers just stood there for a few more minutes before Ash returned Lapras to her Pokéball, he and May then made their way to the Pokémon Centre.

Arriving there not too long later Ash and May handed their Pokémon over to Nurse Joy for a check up, while they waited Ash went to call Professor Oak asking him to get a few of his Pokémon ready to be traded for ones he had on his team at the minute. Ash was going to bring Meowth back on to his team but the Scratch Cat Pokémon said he wanted to stay at the Lab for a bit longer, he wanted to talk to Professor Oak more about the plans and patent for the Transfer Capsule. The raven haired trainer nodded in understanding and sent Pikachu's Pokéball to the Lab getting Jolteon in return, Ash felt bad as he'd promised to play with the Lightning Pokémon but didn't get the chance. When Nurse Joy told him his Pokémon were back to full health Ash thanked her, he sent Krookodile, Donphan and Lapras getting Elekid and Magby back along with his and May's flight to Celadon City.

While Ash had been talking to Professor Oak, May had been admiring the stone she'd found. Even though she'd given it a long inspection when she first found it, May continued to turn the stone over and over looking at it from every angle she was convinced there was something about the gem she was missing. When she heard Nurse Joy call her name so she could collect her Pokémon May walked over and picked up her Pokéballs, however when she picked up a particular Pokéball the stone in her hand glowed slightly and a tingle formed in May's palm directly underneath it. May opened the Pokéball and let out the Pokémon inside, Blaziken appeared in a flash of light and looked at May.

"Bla?" May didn't answer the question and moved the stone closer to Blaziken before moving it further away a few times, the glow and tingle grew stronger the closer it got to the Blaze Pokémon.

"It looks like you've found a Mega Stone, Blazikenite to be exact." Nurse Joy said. "Do you have a Key Stone?"

"No, I don't. Do you know where I can find one?"

"I'm sorry but I don't know." Nurse Joy said apologetically.

"That's alright, I'll find one eventually."

"Do you have anything to hold the Blazikenite?"

"You mean like an armband or bracelet? No I don't, I only found this by accident."

"Well, I'd keep that safe until you find some way of making sure it will stay with your Pokémon." May nodded and put the Blazikenite back in her bag, making sure to secure the zip, she returned Blaziken and let Glaceon out of her ball. While she waited for Ash to finish swapping his Pokémon around May sat in a comfy chair and watched the television attached to the wall as she stroked Glaceon's cool fur. The television was on a news channel, the news reader was going over the headlines nothing that really affected Ash and May's journey, a mass of Farfetch'd had appeared close to Fuschia City, the Cycle Road was closed temporarily for repairs and a general update on the countdown to the Grand Festival and Pokémon League. The only thing that would affect their journey was the location of May's next Contest which had just been revealed as being in Celadon City and would take place in a week's time.

The entertainment section of the news came up next and revealed that Cynthia was travelling around Sinnoh with Adam, there was a video clip of a reporter trying to get an interview with Adam and Cynthia but Luxray wouldn't let her get close. The next thing that happened was Adam threw a capsule on the ground releasing a smokescreen, when the smoke cleared Adam and Cynthia were gone and a Salamence could be seen flying away.

May laughed at seeing how Adam dealt with reporters, she heard some footsteps behind her and looked over her shoulder. Seeing Ash approaching her, with Lucario and Gardevoir behind him, May got out of the chair and met him halfway.

"Ready to go?" Ash asked, May nodded as they walked towards the door.

Once they were outside May returned Glaceon, after the ice type had said a temporary goodbye to Pikachu via a quick lick of his cheek. Ash then called Gardevoir and Lucario back into their Pokéballs before taking another from his belt.

"You might want to stand back." Ash said to May, even though she didn't know why May did as Ash suggested and took a few steps back. "Come on out." Ash threw the Pokéball into the air where it burst open and released their ride to Celadon City. A mighty roar filled the air as a Pokémon appeared, with orange and green wings spread wide and a torrent of flames flying from his open mouth Charizard announced his entrance. Turning his head the Flame Pokémon looked at Ash and smirked before sending out a blast of fire. Ash ducked underneath it and laughed. "You're getting slow buddy." Charizard growled and swung his tail around, knocking Ash off his feet before letting out another blast of fire. This blast hit Ash and once Charizard cut off the stream of fire Ash could be seen slightly charred with a blue shield of Aura over him. "Call it even?" Charizard snorted a puff of black smoke, crossed his arms and nodded before looking away.

Ash dropped his shield and stood up, brushing off the char from himself Ash looked at his Pokémon. He was about to ask Charizard to take him and May to Celadon City but before he could Ash was that Charizard had lowered his head to May's eye level. The fire type's eyes were closed and May was rubbing his long neck as a low rumble could be heard.

"It's nice to see you again Charizard." May said as she continued to stroke the Flame Pokémon's neck. "Can you take us to Celadon City please?" Charizard opened his eyes and nodded before lowering his body so Ash and May could get on.

"Oh yeah, you're nice to her." Ash mumbled and dodged a lazy swat from Charizard's wing. Ash climbed on first with May positioning herself behind him. Pikachu jumped on in front of Ash and quickly ran up Charizard's neck positioning himself on the fire type's head. "Okay buddy, let's go." Charizard lifted himself up and with a few strong flaps of his wings they were in the air. They soared through the skies for a few minutes before Ash sighed, he turned his head so he could see May behind him. She had her hands behind her as she held on to Charizard, trying to keep her balance at every wing flap.

"May, hold on to me. You don't have enough experience flying to be able to hold on like that." Ash said, May didn't answer and just leant forward putting her arms around Ash's waist, shuffling forward slowly while Ash got Charizard to slow down and make it easier for May to move. A light blush covered May's cheeks as she held on to Ash, they made a little bit of conversation during their flight but the sounds of the wind passing them made it hard to talk properly. May told Ash that her next Contest was taking place in Celadon City and she had about a week to get ready for it. Ash said he would help May prepare for it and support her as always, he also said he was going to use a couple of his newer Pokémon in this Gym Battle. When they passed over a certain area Ash pointed out to May that it was there that he'd caught Primeape.

The rest of the flight was quiet, only the whistle of the wind and a dull 'whump' of Charizard's wings breaking the silence. They flew for hours until Ash tapped Charizard's neck, the fire and flying type turned his head to look at the raven haired Aura Guardian.

"Take us down buddy, if think you need to rest. I can tell you're getting tired." Ash said, Charizard grunted and blew smoke as Ash but did as he was asked, slowly descending to the ground landing in a clearing just outside of Celadon City. Charizard lowered himself onto the ground so his passengers could get off, May was first with Pikachu being a quick second however before Ash could dismount Charizard stood up making the raven haired trainer fall backwards onto the ground. "Okay, I get your point. You're strong enough to carry us all the way to Kalos and back. Return and get some rest, we can walk from here. I'm sending you back to the Lab, I want to get Ponyta for the Gym Battle."

Charizard disappeared in a burst of red light as he went back into his Pokéball, Ash called the Lab and asked for Ponyta to be transported to him. He minimized Charizard's Pokéball and put it in the Transfer Capsule, once Professor Oak was ready at the Lab the transfer started. The TC vibrated for a few seconds before it stopped and let out a small beep, opening the little door Ash took out the shrunken Pokéball inside and opened it. Ponyta appeared with a flash of white pixels, looking at her surroundings when she saw Ash she trotted over and nudged his hand. Ash lifted his hand and started to stroke the fire type's nose, he told Professor Oak that Ponyta had arrived safely and was informed that it was the same for Charizard.

Once Ash ended the call, he and May started to set up camp for the night. They let their Pokémon out of their Pokéballs to help collect firewood and water, due to their competitive nature towards each other Elekid and Magby ran off into the surrounding forest to see who could find the most firewood. As soon as Jolteon had appeared she started to skip around the campsite wanting to play, Pikachu and Glaceon went to try and keep her under control while the other Pokémon went to find berries or a nearby water source. Gardevoir sat in the middle of the campsite scanning the minds of the wild Pokémon in the area to find the location of a stream or pool of water, Eve was sitting quietly next to her while Vee was running around with Lucario chasing after him to try and control the overcurious normal type. Cubone dug a small fire pit with Mawile lining it with rocks she found nearby. Beautifly flew above the trees to try and spot some water that way as Blaziken ran through the trees searching from the ground. Flaffy and Spoink were off looking for berries with Ponyta, leaving Litwick with May as the Candle Pokémon was still young. Seeing that Ash had nine Pokémon with him May asked how he'd managed that, Ash explained that he'd sent Pikachu's Pokéball back to the Lab and brought Jolteon on to his team, due to his promise to play with her after his Gym Battle against Misty but hadn't.

After a little while all the Pokémon had returned to camp, it had taken some time but by working together Beautifly and Blaziken had found a small stream to collect water from. Flaffy, Spoink and Ponyta had found a small grove of trees stocked full of ripe berries, all the ones that they had picked were carried back to the camp by Spoink's Psychic. Elekid and Magby had found equal amounts of firewood and had resorted to having a staring contest until Ash managed to distracted them with a few berries, Vee was being held in place by Lucario while Eve was still sat by Gardevoir in silence. Jolteon had eventually been brought under control thanks to May finding a weak spot under her chin that had the Lightning Pokémon laying next to the Co-Ordinator wearing a dopey smile.

Ash was knelt in front of the fire making a broth out of their supplies and the berries that Flaffy and Spoink had found, a few minutes later everyone was eating and enjoying their time together. Ash and May shared some stories of their journeys with the newer Pokémon to the group, hearing the battles that Ash had during the Leagues had Elekid and Magby pumped up and ready for some serious training. A quick check of his Pokédex told Ash that Elekid and Magby were on a decent level of experience and only needed a little push to evolve, with Gardevoir acting as a translator it turned out that the rivals had wanted to evolve for a while but hadn't been able to. Ash offered to link his Aura with theirs to make deepen the link between them as that link was what was stopping them from evolving. The two Pokémon immediately agreed, Ash gently put a hand on each of their heads and let their Aura's connect, some memories crossed over the linked Aura's Ash saw some of Elekid's past and some of Magby's while both of them saw parts of Ash's. The young Aura Guardian moved his hands away and looked at the two Pokémon in front of him, he could see a look of confusion on both of their faces.

"I know you want to evolve now but all I've done if make the bonds stronger. Now all we need to do is make our trust in each other strong enough." Ash explained, Elekid and Magby nodded in understanding and asked if they could do some training now. Ash said yes and with May's help they spent the next couple of hours going through different exercises and practice battles before calling it a night.

As they settled down for the night Ash saw that there was bit of a distance between his and May's sleeping bags, taking hold of his he moved it closer to May's. Seeing the question in her eyes Ash explained himself as he climbed into his sleeping bag.

"It get cold around here at night, even with a fire so its probably better that we sleep close together." A pale blush covered his cheeks but the flickering light of the fire made it nearly impossible to see. May just nodded at Ash's explanation and wriggled around inside her sleeping bag to get comfortable.

"Goodnight Ash." She said, closing her eyes.

"Goodnight May." Ash replied, he didn't go to sleep straight away though. The events of that day played out in his head as he thought about what he was going to do. Tilting his head looking at May's peaceful face, She always did fall asleep fast he thought with a smile. All the Pokémon were out of their balls, most were asleep only Lucario remained awake keeping watch over the camp. The Aura Pokémon was meditating at the same time so that he still got enough rest while remaining alert to everything around him.

The raven haired trainer wanted to tell May how he felt but he wasn't sure what it was he was feeling. Ash was torn because if he said he returned her feelings and eventually finding out he didn't, that would ruin their friendship and break May's heart or he could say he didn't hurting May but working out later that he did love her and finding that she had moved on with her life and he'd missed his chance. He knew that what he was doing now was the right course of action, asking May to wait while he worked out what he actually felt but he knew that even though she smiled and acted normally not giving her an answer was hurting her a little more each day.

Ash looked up at the night sky, crossing his arms behind his head, and made a silent wish on all the stars in the heavens.

Stars light, Stars bright

All the starts in the sky of night

Wish I may, wish I might

Grant the wish I wish tonight

I wish I knew what to say,

Is it love I have for May?

After staring at the field of black dotted with celestial light for a while Ash felt his eyes getting heavy and decided it was time to call it a night. He turned onto his side and let his eyes close, the last thing he saw before sleep took him as May's slumbering face. Pikachu had woken up when he heard Ash move in his sleeping bag and had one thought before he went back to sleep. I hope you work out what you want, if I can do it then so can you. Pikachu curled up a little closer to Glaceon as he drifted off, a small smile on his face as the moon and stars above shone brightly in a way they never seemed to in the cities and towns.

That's all I've got for now.

Current Teams -

Ash :- Pikachu, Lucario, Gardevoir, Eevee (Eve), Eevee (Vee), Jolteon, Magby, Elekid, Ponyta

May :- Blaziken, Glaceon, Mawile, Litwick, Flaffy, Spoink, Beautifly, Cubone

Until Next Time

Basic Trainer