Go figure, I said that this would probably be the shortest chapter and it turned out to be the longest. That's what I get for only planning out the confession, heck I went into the last chapter with a mental outline that probably had less than 20 words. But that's how I work, and it's yet to fail me. You probably want me shut up by now so I can start the story, so I'll grant your wish. But first, thanks to all of you who have reviewed this so far, I always love hearing your input. Here's the final chapter, hope you guys like it. As before, they are still switched.

Ash and Dawn continued on their little shopping spree for the next few hours. For Ash the rest of the day just got easier, both in terms of keeping up with Dawn and the idea of being in May's body. With the sun getting low in the western sky the two started their trip over to the Lilycove Pokèmon Center. It didn't take long to reach the familiar shaped building.

"Hey Dawn?" Ash started. "Could you do me a small favor?"

"Sure May, name it." Dawn replied with a smile.

"Could you take my bag with the dress into the center for me?"

"No problem, would you mind if I ask why?"

"I don't want Ash to see the dress, at least not yet." He told her.

"Even after being in May's body the entire day, it still feels weird to talk about myself like that. I'll be glad when this is all over."

"Oh? So it's a surprise for him then?"

"You could say that." Ash said shoving the bag into her hands. "Thanks Dawn!"

"I'm still not sure why you only bought that one dress and some shoes though. I would have thought that you would have been more of a shopper than that." Dawn said as she tried to balance all of the bags.

"Well I was on a little bit of a budget today so I really couldn't buy too much. Here I'll still take a couple of the bags, just make sure to make Ash think that my bag is yours."

"Thanks." Dawn replied with a relieved tone. "And it shouldn't be too hard to trick Ash into believing that its mine. No offence but he is still extremely dense about these things."

"Right, no offence taken. Was I really that bad? Either way, I'll get you back for that one."

"Ya you're right." Ash returned with a fake smile. "Come on they're probably waiting for us."

As the two of them entered the Pokèmon Center Ash was quickly assaulted by the little blue Pokèmon that was responsible for virtually everything that he had to go through today. The tackle combined with the surprise of the situation caused Ash to lose his balance and fall backwards onto the floor. Eevee was at least lucky enough to jump off of Ash to keep herself from experiencing the same fate.

"Papa!"

"Ah! Manaphy? What are you doing here?" Ash asked the Pokèmon who was now trying to work his way into Ash's arms.

"Manaphy? Now that you mention it he did disappear this morning. But why did he call you Papa May? I thought that Ash was supposed to be Papa?" Dawn asked as she kneeled down to their level.

"Uh-oh, not good."

"He must be confused a little," Ash started as he got Manaphy to make eye contact with him. "I'm Mama, remember?" He said with a wink.

Manaphy gave him a confused look before burying himself back into Ash's arms. "Mama!"

Ash gave a silent sigh of relief. "That was close. Good thing I'm not the only dense one around here." He thought with a smile.

Using one of his arms to help himself up and the other to continue holding Manaphy, Ash got back onto his feet in time to see May running over to greet them.

"A… May, are you okay?" May asked as she got close enough.

"Ya I'm fine. Manaphy just surprised me a little. Come on Eevee, its safe now." Ash said holding his arm out for her. Eevee quickly bounded up his arm and back onto her usual spot. May could only smile at the sight of Ash playing herself.

"He's doing such a good job. I think that Eevee would even have a hard time telling us apart."

"Hey Ash is there any reason that you don't have your sweatshirt on?" Dawn asked looking straight at May.

May stiffened up a bit at the question, especially when Ash then looked at her.

"Well it was warm out today, and I figured that I didn't need it." She replied with a nervous laugh. Looking at the bags, she tried to change the subject. "So you guys went shopping?"

"Ya, I found a lot of great things. But May didn't want to buy anything for some reason." Dawn lied.

"So he survived the day with Dawn. I wonder what his opinion of today has been. Cause I for one am glad that I had this opportunity." May thought as she grabbed the bags Ash had next to him.

"Wow, you bought quite a bit." May said with a surprised look on her face.

"Actually that's all of Dawn's things."

"So you really didn't buy anything?"

"Nope." Ash lied.

"A whole day shopping and he didn't get me anything? We'll have to fix that in the coming months." May thought with a large smile forming on her face. It didn't go unnoticed. Both Ash and Dawn were getting nervous at the sight of it, neither knowing exactly what she was thinking.

"That is if he actually does love me." A small voice inside her head said. The mention of this made May unknowingly think of the possible alternatives to the answer. In particular the worst case scenario kept popping up. "No, that won't happen. Pikachu promised that he would never do that. Ash is better than that." She told herself.

"Ash could you take my bags up to our room as well? I just remembered I haven't called my mom since we left Sinnoh." Dawn said dropping the bags in front of May. "Thanks!" She yelled as she ran off to the video phones.

"Why do I have carry all the bags?" May whined.

"Now you know why I hate going shopping with you guys. Besides the true gentleman always caries the ladies' bags for her." Ash said while holing back his laughter.

"Watch it, remember you're the guy here not me." May said as she easily picked up every bag. That comment made a few of the center's visitors give the two an odd stare, but they all decided that it was best not to interfere.

"Hey I have to enjoy a few things before we switch back." Ash said as he walked off towards the rooms with May following close behind.

As they walked up the stairs to where their room was located Ash could feel Manaphy squirm a little in his arms. Ash looked down at the now relatively calm Pokèmon.

"Papa happy?" He whispered to Ash.

Taking a quick look back at May as she carried the multitude of bags up the stairs, Ash returned his attention to Manaphy before whispering his response. "Ya, Papa is happy."

May dropped the bags down on the floor of their room and collapsed into one of the chairs.

"Remind me of this moment the next time I drag you shopping." May got out between breaths.

"Why so you remember how hard it is for me and lay off of the shopping for a while?"

"Nope, so I can remember to buy even more as payback for this."

"In that case let's just hope you forget."

"Pikapi!"

Ash looked over as a yellow blur raced up to the shoulder opposite of Eevee and started to rub his cheek against Ash's.

"Hey Pikachu, did you do a good job taking care of May?"

"Pika." He nodded.

"That's my buddy. I knew I could count on you." He said giving Pikachu a rub between the ears.

"Ash, could we change back now? As much as I enjoy being in this clumsy body, I want my own body back." May said as she got up from the chair.

"Are you calling me clumsy?"

"No, I'm calling your body clumsy. But that's not the point; I just want to be back in my own body again."

"Alright," Ash said looking down at Manaphy. "I think its time Manaphy, could you switch us back?"

"Mana." He nodded. As Manaphy closed his eyes the two long tentacle-like ears on his head rose up from his head and the tips gave off a dim red glow. Both teenagers felt a soothing feeling flow through their bodies and closed their eyes just enjoying the moment. When they open their eyes again, they saw each other and not themselves.

"I'm me again!" May cheered twirling around with Manaphy in her arms.

"Pika!'

"Eev!"

Forgetting about the two Pokèmon on her shoulders as she began to spin, both of them fell to the ground as Ash could only laugh at the sight before him.

"Don't be too mad at her you two; she just forgot that I had you on her shoulders."

After a minute May finally stopped, remembering something that has been on her mind for virtually the entire day.

"Hey, could you guys go off into the other room?" May said as she looked at the Pokèmon. "I need to talk to Ash for a while, alone."

The three Pokèmon looked at each other and without question ran off into one of the bedrooms. As May looked up again she saw Ash walking out to the balcony that came with the room. As she followed him out he sat down on the outdoor loveseat and just looked out over the railing, watching the last of the sunset. Feeling very nervous, she built up enough courage to sit down next to him. He didn't say anything as she approached.

"Hey Ash?" She started.

"Ya?"

"You went shopping with Dawn today right?"

"Of course, aren't the bags proof enough?"

"Well ya, but…did you two also have a long talk sometime today?"

"The first place she took me was a restaurant, and she wouldn't shut up." He said with a laugh. But it didn't help May's nervousness that she was feeling right now.

"So she talked to you about…"

"Ya, she did." Ash said as he interrupted her, partially enjoying the fact that he was just pulling her along. "I want her to say it. Not just hear it secondhand from Dawn."

"Oh. So then you know about it?"

"I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about; we talked about a lot of things. What is it that you think we talked about?"

"I'm not sure how to take this right now." May thought as Ash kept a straight face throughout the entire discussion. "If he knows about it, wouldn't he be reacting differently? If he had the same feelings towards me wouldn't he have come out and told me already? But then again if he didn't return them…" The last thought terrified her, and brought back the discussion she had with Pikachu earlier in the day.

"Ash, I have something to tell you. Something…important." May said as she bit her lip.

"And what's that May?" He said to her with a smile.

Taking a deep breath May tried to calm herself. "It's now or never. I just hope Pikachu was right."

"Ash," she started. "We have traveled together for a long time now. You have been my teacher and my best friend from the first day I met you. You were there for me whenever I needed you and were always there to comfort me, even for the smallest of reasons. But it wasn't until I let for Johto that I have realized something. It felt odd traveling throughout Johto, but at first I didn't know exactly why. But after my first contest there I knew why. It was because you weren't there. You weren't there to cheer me on, or congratulate me after I won. It was at that time that I realized it. Ash, I...I…"

May was then cut off as Ash pushed his lips against her's. This caught May completely by surprise as her face started to heat up by his sudden action. As he pulled away, May was speechless.

"Ash…"

Still looking at her with that big smile he finally spoke, "You talk too much."

May had no clue how to react to those four words. But needless to say she wasn't very happy about the change in events and nearly exploded.

"Ash Ketchum, you…you insensitive jerk!" As she yelled at him he just kept the same dumb smile on his face and May could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes. "After all of that, after pouring out my emotions you just…"

She stopped as Ash pulled her into a hug and slowly started to whisper into her ear. "If you won't just come out and say it then I guess I'll have to. I love you May Maple. And in one way or another, I guess I always have."

May again didn't know how to react. First he makes fun of her while she is trying to confess her love to him and then he pulls something like that. She could feel the tears starting to come again, but this time there was no anger, no worry. She only felt happy; happy that after all of that time debating, the man that she loved returned those feeling to her. She hugged him back and started to cry into his shoulder.

"And I love you Ask Ketchum. I love you more than life itself. You have no idea how relieved I am right now to be able to say that. All of today I have been worried that learning my feelings about you from Dawn would scare you off. Not only that, but I was afraid that I would lose this friendship that we have. And I don't know what I would do if that ever happened."

Rubbing her back as she cried Ash just let her get everything out. As she finished saying everything she wanted to say, her crying started to slow as well. Ash just held on to her as she regained her composure. He then started to talk to her as she stayed wrapped in the same arms she was wondering about that morning. "To tell you the truth May, I had no clue about your feelings until Dawn told me. As you probably also know she also made me recount how you fell in love with me. Even if I was in your body, I wasn't you, and would have no clue at what you felt about me as we traveled. So instead I tried to recount my own experiences with you over the two years of our travels; going over nearly every major occurrence that I had with you made me start to rethink my true feelings that I had for you. After I finished that story I was asking myself if you were really more than just my best friend. It was at that time that Dawn told me something. She said that there was more to you than I realized, and that when I finally understood this, that would be when I would know the truth about love."

"And what is the truth?" May asked without removing her head from his shoulder.

"She told me that when a person understands that, they also understand how love can work its way into a person's heart without them even knowing it. When she first said this to me, I had no clue what she meant. It wasn't until later that I finally realized what she was talking about. I realized that the truth is that I don't know everything about you, and I also realized that that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted to know everything there is to know about you, not for my own personal reasons but to help me make you happy. It was at that time that I understood my true feelings for you, and it was then that I knew that I did really love you."

"Thank you Ash." She said as she looked up from his shoulder. "Knowing that makes me feel so much better."

"Pikachu was right. Even if this was the best case scenario, there was no way that Ash would have pushed me away because of my feelings."

"Well then I'm satisfied, and before I forget, congratulations on winning the Johto Grand Festival."

Looking up at Ash, May could only wonder. "How do you know about that? I never told you anything about it."

"I don't think that we need to worry about that right now." Ash said to her with a smile. May nodded started to pull him closer and they shared their second kiss of the night, but this one was more passionate than the last as both were prepared for it and with both of their feelings reviled to each other they just wanted to enjoy it. After a couple minutes they separated as May leaned onto Ash as they watched the last of the sunset.

"Pikapi!"

Hearing Pikachu's voice Ash and May looked back and saw all three Pokèmon running towards them. Manaphy quickly jumped into May's arms while Pikachu and Eevee happily curled up into Ash's lap.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones who made a confession tonight." Ash laughed as he started to pet the two Pokèmon in his lap. May was surprised that he knew about Eevee's attraction to Pikachu, but then it hit her.

"Dawn told you didn't she?"

"Like I said, she wouldn't shut up."

They both laughed at their friend's expense, and when they finally stopped Ash got up carrying his two passengers with him.

"May, I have one other confession to let out tonight."

Getting up she followed Ash back into the room as he walked over to the shopping bags. "And what would that be Ash?"

"I haven't been completely honest about what happened today." Picking up one of the bags he handed it to her. "This is yours."

"Ash, what's in here?"

"Just open it and see."

Opening up the bag and looking inside, May's eyes widened at what she saw. "Oh Ash, it's beautiful!" Taking the dress and shoes out she looked them over.

"Well I need to pay you back considering I used your money to buy them, and they wouldn't be much of a gift if you were the one who paid for them." He said rather sheepishly. "Why don't you try them on?"

Without even giving a response May ran into the bathroom to change into the dress, she was surprised that it fit perfectly. "How did he know what size I was? I don't think I ever told him."

Coming out of the bathroom with it on, Ash once again could do nothing but stare at her beauty.

"So? How does it look?" She asked with a blush growing on her face.

"Perfect and I don't mean the dress."

"Oh Ash, thank you so much!" She said as she ran up and gave him a big hug, nearly crushing both Pikachu and Eevee in the process. "But how did you know my size?" She asked pulling back.

"Well that's the part that I wanted to confess about. Because Dawn would have gotten extremely suspicious if I didn't try on one of the dresses I…"

"You what?" May said, her voice becoming more serious.

"Time to face the punishment." Ash said to himself.

"I had to try on the dress, and to do that I…had take off some of your clothes. But I swear that I didn't touch your bra or your shorts! I respect you too much to do anything like that May; I love you too much to do anything like that." He said as his voice fell and he looked down at the two bundles of fur in his arms. "But I needed to keep up the charade towards Dawn. Do what you want to me; I just wanted to tell you that."

As May walked up to him, he prepared for whatever punishment she deemed appropriate. But to his surprise she brought him into a kiss, and after a few seconds started to walk back out to the balcony. Ash couldn't believe what just happened.

"Wait you aren't mad?" He asked still unsure if it was just a trick.

Looking over her shoulder, May had nothing but a smile on her face. "I guess I can let it slide this time. I trust you Ash. I mean you are my boyfriend now, are you not?"

"Boyfriend?"

"Well after what just happened would you really think of it as any less?" May asked him as she sat back down on the loveseat with Manaphy in her arms.

"I guess, but that term is just kinda odd." He said joining her.

"Well you're going to have to get used to it, because it's true." May stated as she rested her head on his shoulder. Ash could only smile and lay his head on hers.

"Then I'll just have to take my girlfriend's advice and accept it then."

"Good boy." She teased.

They stayed like that for a few a while as darkness filled the sky and the first of the stars started to shimmer. But they were eventually interrupted by the door to their room opening; May quickly looked up to see who it was.

"Sorry guys." Dawn said as she entered the room. "That talk with my mom took a lot longer then I thou…why are you wearing your new dress May? I thought you wanted to keep it a secret from…" She stopped in mid sentence as she figured out the meaning. "Does that mean that you two are?"

"Together? Yes it does Dawn." May said as she got up to greet her friend.

"Then it worked!"

Not wanting to explain everything to her May decided that easiest way was to just agree with her. "Yes it did, but you weren't the only one who helped." May said as she looked down at Manaphy.

"Wait he helped too? Come to think of it, why did he come here in the first place? I thought you said he was guarding the Sea Temple from now on."

Remembering her long talk with Manaphy on the way to the Pokèmon Center, May tried to put it in a way that Dawn wouldn't find out the truth behind today. "Okay Dawn, consider this; if your parents weren't together wouldn't you go great distances to bring them back together?"

Dawn looked very confused. "Well ya, but I thought that you said that Ash wasn't near the egg when it hatched."

Ash got up and came into the room to listen to the next part as well. He was interested in why Manaphy wound up coming here in the first place too.

So May continued. "But the fact remains that he thinks of me as his mother, and if your mother loves someone then that makes him your father."

"But I thought you said that you didn't realize your feeling until you traveled through Johto." Dawn said, still not completely understanding.

"Also true, but Manaphy was apparently able to sense my feelings for Ash before I even knew them. And when he learned that we were both back in Hoenn, Manaphy came looking for us to help."

"Okay, I can understand that part but I'm still not sure how he helped."

"Let's just say that without both of you neither of your plans would have worked."

Hearing this Ash couldn't help but laugh at the truth that neither of them really had much planned yet together it made a nearly perfect one. May caught on fairly quick and she too was laughing soon after.

"Am I missing something here?" Dawn asked not liking being left out.

"Nothing important Dawn." Ash said finally controlling his laughter. "The only things that matter now are the results, right May?"

"That's right Ash. But I think that Manaphy should head back to the Sea Temple, it wouldn't be good if he was gone for too long."

"Mana?" He looked up at May with a very sad looking face, almost to the point of pouting.

"Don't worry Manaphy we'll meet again." She said hugging him. "And thanks for everything today. This wouldn't have happened without you." She finished with a whisper.

"Love you Mama." Manaphy said as he then launched himself at Ash. By this time Ash was ready for him and caught the restless Pokèmon.

"Love you Papa."

"Me too Manaphy, and again thanks for everything. You gave me a view that I would have never been able to see." Ash whispered to the small Pokèmon. Manaphy slowly started to disappear in a red glow.

"Mana!" He said with a wave one last time before completely disappearing.

"So, now that he's gone I have one more question. Are those two," Dawn said pointing at Eevee and Pikachu, "you know."

May just shook her head at Dawn. "Yes Dawn, they are. Now let me get out of this dress so we can go eat."

As May went off into the bathroom to change Dawn wanted to satisfy her curiosity further. "So Ash, when did you actually learn your true feelings for May? You never really openly showed anything during the entire time I've known you, so why the sudden change?"

"To tell you the truth Dawn, I just figured them out today." Ash said truthfully. "I just realized that I didn't know everything about May and yet I wanted to learn all I could about her, just to help her become happy."

Dawn pondered for a moment at the words that came out of Ash, "Wait a minute that sounds like what I told May earlier. Could he really have…no, that's impossible. May must have told him while I was gone." But even she didn't completely convince herself, the only thing keeping her from her first thought was the fact that it was simply impossible.

"Ready!" May called as she exited the bathroom with her normal clothes back on. "Oh and Ash, I'm taking Pikachu and Eevee for the remainder of today."

Without a question both Pokèmon jumped off of Ash's shoulders and positioned themselves on May's, Ash could only stare as his best friend abandoned him that easily.

"What? Why?"

"You've been with Pikachu for years; I think you can stand a few days with him off of your shoulder." She said with a wink. "Besides you will have your hands full with someone else to take care of tonight, so I'm doing you a favor."

"And who would that be?"

May reached into her pack and grabbed a Pokèball; she then opened it in her palm revealing the Pokèmon. The vulpine Pokèmon looked up moving her eyes from May to Ash and after a second jumped up onto Ash's chest, forcing him to grab her.

"Vul." She cooed affectionately as the little Pokèmon made herself comfortable in his arms.

"See she already likes you better." May said with a large smile.

"Great, yet another Pokèmon that doesn't want to walk on its own." Ash mumbled. "Why does Vulpix have to come with us like this?" He asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

"Simple, she is now both of our Pokèmon. You caught her to give to me, so as long as we have her, we won't grow apart." May said as she came in close and gave Ash a quick kiss. "Any questions?"

"I'm guessing this falls under the topic of don't argue with your girlfriend?"

"Bingo! Besides Pikachu needs a change in scenery, don't you?"

"Pikachu, pika kachu, Pikapi."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Ash shot back.

"See? And considering what he just said I'm thinking that it might be a while before he moves back." May said playfully sticking out her tongue and running out of the room.

"Hey wait up!" Dawn called as she ran after May. "What did Pikachu say?"

Ash hadn't moved from his spot as his two friends ran out of the room, he was still trying to figure something out. "Since when has May been able to understand Pikachu?"

"May wait up, we need to talk!" Ash yelled as he ran out the door after his girlfriend with Vulpix still in his arms.

Yes! My first fic where I don't mention Drew even once! Oh crap, um…that doesn't count. Anyhow, sorry to all of you who wanted to see Ash's punishment. And before I might get any questions, Manaphy used teleport to return to the temple, it was the best I could come up without water nearby. To end this, I personally think that this was probably by best fic to date, so I'll be waiting for the final reviews to see your opinions. Hope everyone enjoyed it, please review!