A/N:
I would say some of you may recognize this from serebii forums, I started this story sometime around May this year, but decided to take the plunge and get a account and start posting more stories on here. This is my first, and only, pokemon story purely because I love the Drew/May pairing. Read, enjoy (hopefully), and review! This story is very near completion so I'm planning on updating with two or so chapters at a time before slowing down and updating every couple of days. It's kinda weird to be posting this somewhere else because of how close to the end I am, but hey, maybe I'll get more readers? Who knows?! Anyway I'm totally blabbering on, enjoy guys!
Part One.
Chapter One: Take The Stage!
22nd June.
He
had stood strong up until this point in time, if only on the glimmer
of hope that he wasn't as strong as a coordinator as he thought he
was. But now, his legs were giving away beneath him, falling to the
hard ground too fast for him to prevent.
The impact of this fall
hadn't come close to registering in his mind yet, let alone his body.
His mind was running through all his mistakes, his attitude toward
her, his entire foundation of friendship with her.
"..Forgive me..." He couldn't stop himself from calling out in-between sobs.
His aquamarine hair fell over his face as he lowered his head into his hands in shame. His body was then brought to a stage of uncontrollable shaking and the sense of utmost devastation hit him like a bullet.
"..M-May... I've failed you..."
19th
June.
"MAX MAPLE! TAKE THE STAGE!" Shouted Madeline, who had been given the honor of presenting the awards for this years Grand Festival Top Four.
Max bounded onto the stage, his smile so wide it almost reached the ends of his face. He came out with Ralts, who was equally as happy to be there, from sensing Max's emotions.
"Hey everyone!" Max shouted cheerfully, "I just wanted to say, fourth place, I'll make it number one next year!"
A huge cheer went up for Max, fifteen now, and even more mature than he had been when he'd traveled with his sister all those years ago.
"Shadow Ball Ralts!" Commanded Max, "Then break into Psychic, Go!"
Ralts summoned enough power to create a large shadow ball, after releasing it, Ralts begun breaking it up using psychic, causing a whirlwind of blue and purple lights around Max. As the chaos died down, he and Ralts bowed to their fans.
"What a brilliant use of Shadow Ball and Psychic!" Cried Madeline, "Onto the next one, your third top coordinator, Drew Kurain!"
Instead of bounding out, smiles on his face, Drew strolled out calmly to the center of the stage with Roselia by his side. Screams of fan girls and admiring coordinators met his entrance to the stage. Oddly enough, Drew didn't move an inch until the screams had died down.
"Solarbeam, followed with Petal Dance, Roselia!"
Roselia jumped into the air and
created a solar beam, then shattering it with Petal Dance, causing
the stage and crowd to be flooded with hundreds of illuminated
petals.
The round of applause that met this was staggeringly loud.
Drew, pretending not to notice, did a small bow to his
fans.
"That must have taken so much practice" Ash whispered to May.
May kept her eyes on the stage from the table they were sat at, "Yeah, I guess"
"Okay! What a splendid performance from a Grand Festival legend- Drew Kurain everyone!"
There were chants of 'We Love Drew!' in the crowd, which caused many people, including Drew himself, to roll their eyes and try to ignore it.
"Here is your second place in the Grand Festival, everyone, it's Clifford Miles!"
The second-place in the Grand Festival stepped onto the stage, you could tell why he was so popular. His blonde hair fell over his face in a messy fashion, complete with a black and white biker jacket, which almost made him look like a typical teen movie jock. He ruffled his hair up at the back a little and winked at his screaming fans.
"Solrock, Cosmic Power!" He shouted.
As
Solrock emitted a display of lights and star-like shapes to fall over
and around Clifford, he waved and winked at his fans.
Upon seeing
their hunger for more, he brought Solrock back to his level instead
of above him.
Clifford begun to speak again, "Okay Solrock, let's do-"
"Milotic! Rain dance then Safeguard the entire hall!" Came another voice, pushing Clifford and Solrock out of the way to make room for the number one coordinator of the last five years, Jordan Coran.
Milotic set off rain dance in all directions, countering it with Safeguard which caused the entire attack to bounce off and create dazzling lights.
He bowed, "Thank you ever so kindly, I've been Jordan Coran, and you've been great!"
Brock rolled his eyes in the seat next to Ash, "Is that guy ever gonna come up with a new line?"
May laughed, "You can talk, Brock!"
His face flushed red, "I guess I can't"
The applause had begun to die down, Madeline stood on the stage, not quite sure what to say.
"I- These are your top four coordinators in this years Sinnoh Grand Festival, and the winner-"
"By now we've established that is me" Jordan Coran said cockily, messing up his hair to look as bored of the ceremony as possible.
"Y-Yes! Well, we'll be back in 45 minutes with a post-ceremony tribute to Jordan Coran!" Madeline smiled and waved at the audience as the applause begun to die down and people begun to walk out of the hall.
"I can't wait for this tribute to Jordan!" May squealed excitedly, "He really deserves all the success he's getting!"
"Yeah, his arrogance will eventually get the better of him" Brock said sharply.
May shrugged and reached over the table to grab yet another bread roll from the basket in the middle of the table. Brock and Ash looked on in horror as it disappeared in two bites.
"..Let me guess by your horrified faces that she didn't even chew that time" Said a familiar voice behind May. She turned to see Drew smirking and Max standing awkwardly behind him.
"D-Drew!" May exclaimed, her cheeks gaining some colour.
May realized she couldn't exactly say 'Funny enough we bumped into each other!' or 'I haven't seen you in a while', May has taken part in the Grand Festival, but had the misfortune of ending up battling Jordan Coran, who had been unbeaten in battle for over five years.
"Congratulations May" Drew said, taking her out of her thoughts, "You've learnt how to pronounce my name"
May rolled her eyes, "I didn't think you'd come over to talk to us"
Drew sat in the empty seat next to May, "Maybe I wanted to surprise you"
"Hey! I was sitting there!" Max exclaimed, showing some traits of his eight year old self.
Ash and Brock laughed and created a space between the both of them so Max could sit down.
May smiled while watching people set up the stage, "This is so exciting, I've never been to one of these before! I can't believe Jordan did it again, this is so fun!"
Everyone smiled at May's childish behavior.
"I am getting way too old for this" Brock smirked, "All this excitement about coordinators.."
"I'm glad you're all having fun" Max smiled, "As I did manage to get a Plus 3 on my invite.."
"This is a complete dream!" May smiled, looking from the stage to the buffet on their table.
"Hmm" Drew said, "You know, I'm sure there's a lot of tension backstage right now"
"Why's that?" Ash asked.
"I heard Jordan Coran and Clifford Miles don't get on at all"
Max nodded, "I've heard that, too. They never spoke to each other through the entire Grand Festival"
"It makes sense" Brock said, "Jordan Coran has been number one in every festival for the last five years, and Clifford Miles has always been second best to him"
May looked confused, "When I've spoke to Jordan he's never mentioned disliking Clifford-"
"It's not exactly something you want to shout out, is it?" Brock said, folding his arms.
May sighed and leant over the table for ANOTHER bread roll. Everyone stared at May in shock as they watched her eat it, she looked up and shrugged.
"It's not my fault I'm still hungry"
"I think your stomach must be bigger than your entire head, May" Max commented in shock.
May blushed bright red when she noticed Drew laughing at Max's comment.
"Leave her alone, she's probably really hungry" Ash said, unimpressed at Drews laughter.
Drew laughed harder, "You're only saying that because you eat double what she does!"
May finished off her roll and stood up, "Does anyone want to go congratulate Jordan?"
Without answering, everyone stood up and
followed May out of the banquet Hall, probably so they could team up
and restrain her from going back in.
A large number of trainers
and various other people were gathered in the lobby, socializing and
talking. This was quite a posh ceremony so everyone wore dresses and
suits.
May wore a peach coloured knee length dress, which made
her feel a little uncomfortable, especially since she caught quite a
few people looking at her as she made her way through the crowd.
Eventually they managed to get through to the Hallway leading to the
dressing rooms.
Everyone jumped as there came the noise of a door slamming shut, everyone looked around and realized that Max had just gone into his dressing room, while the others made their way to Jordans dressing room.
As soon as May knocked on the door, it
opened, nearly making her fall through the entrance.
Although, the
Jordan they saw wasn't as well-looking as the one they'd seen on
stage twenty minutes ago. His face was pale and sweaty and his usual
bright smile was replaced by a completely fake one.
"May, it's lovely to see you"
May bit her lip, "I wish i could say the same for you, Jordan"
Jordan begun to shiver a little while May put a comforting arm around him.
"What's wrong?" Brock asked, walking over to the other side of the dressing room where there were a few blankets. He then brought the blankets over and put one over Jordans shoulders.
"I'm fine, honestly" Jordan walked over to his dressing table and looked into the mirror and hastily trying to look presentable.
"Jordan, do you want us to get a doctor?" Ash asked.
Jordan nodded, "M-Maybe if someone could just get me some medicine.."
Ash smiled, "Brock, come with me"
Brock followed Ash out of the room, leaving May,
Drew and Jordan in there.
May put her arm around Jordan in a
caring fashion, unfortunately in his feverish state, Jordan stood up
quickly, sending a half-full glass of water over the dressing table
and onto Drews suit.
Drew didn't say a word, he just looked at the floor.
"Drew-" Jordan said, wiping his forehead and squinting in Drews direction.
May rubbed Jordans back, "Have you felt like this all day?"
Jordan shook his head, "I came back and drunk the water on my desk and that's it.."
The door clicked open, Drew and May looked to it, hoping it would be Ash and Brock with medicine, but it was a girl they didn't know. She was quite tall and wore a long blue dress, with dark brown hair that came down to her waist.
"W-Who are you?" The girl asked in a quiet voice.
"I'm May" May smiled at her, "And that's Drew, I'm friends with Jordan and came to congratulate him, I don't think he's very well"
The girl nodded, "I'm Kaori. I came here to congratulate Jordan"
"Hi Kaori, could you look after Jordan, I think we need to get some help for him?" May turned to Drew, asking him the question.
Drew nodded, "We'll be back in ten minutes, tops"
Jordan reached out and grabbed Mays arm, "Thank you, May, I don't know what's wrong with me"
May looked sad then clenched her fists in determination, "We're going to have you better for your tribute, I promise!"
Jordan laughed, "We have twenty minutes May, I highly doubt that"
Kaori smiled shyly and knelt down next to Jordan, as May and Drew left, they were talking quietly in Jordans room.
May
stopped outside Max's dressing room door.
"I don't want to go
running around in this" May pointed to her dress, "And I
left some clothes in Max's dressing room before the show, I'm going
to get dressed, okay?"
Drew rolled his eyes, "So then, you'd rather be comfortable than save one of your good friends lives?"
May looked perplexed, Drew rolled his eyes.
"It's obviously more than just a fever, but if you want to change, I'll be downstairs calling for an ambulance, See you-"
"Okay!" May exclaimed, "Let's go"
May couldn't hide the fact how uncomfortable wearing dresses made her, especially when she was running. Running right into- A Cacturne? No, running into Harley.
"H-Harley!" May gasped, "You aren't allowed backstage, you're not a top coordinator"
"Neither are you, Hun, and nothings stopped you" He smirked.
May glared at him, "I need to go call for an ambulance"
"Why? So someone can go sort out the tragedy they call your hair?"
Even Drew laughed at this, May went slightly pink, then clenched her fists, smirking.
"No Harley, it's to call for someone to remove your cacturne outfit and replace it with something half-decent!"
Harley went bright red, "Um.. You're.. You're.."
May began to walk down the corridor, Drew following her.
"Wait just one minute!" Shouted Harley, running to catch up with them, "What's so important that you can't stay to be insulted by me?"
"Jordan Coran" May said, shrugging and walking a little faster.
Harley walked along with her in a comical fashion and smacked his hands together, his eyes lightening up at the name mentioned, "What's happened? I'm his biggest fan!"
May went slightly pink with embarrassment at Harleys behavior, "He's.. got a fever, and I need to find a doctor"
Harley jumped along, "May darling can I pretty pretty please come along? I would love for my Jordy to get nursed to perfect health!"
Mays expression was unreadable, she just carried on walking, "..Sure"
They all managed to get through the crowds gathered in the Lobby to find the videophones, located in a room near the front desk. May hastily typed in the number for the hospital and waited for the call to connect.
Harley kept jumping up and down, "You know what, I'm going to go find my little Jordan and keep him some company, bye May!"
"What's his problem..?" May asked.
"He is acting weird" Drew said bluntly as the video call connected.
"Hello?"
"Hi, This is May Maple, I'm at the Bayleaf Hotel in Hearthome City, one of my friends Jordan is very ill, and there are no doctors available"
The Nurse nodded, "We'll send a Doctor over and if needed, an ambulance"
May smiled, "Thank you, I just know my friend is going to be okay"
The call ended and May and Drew walked towards the entrance of the Hotel.
"I guess we'd better wait here for the doctor"
"We?" Drew asked, "I'm going inside, I'm cold"
May sat on the front steps of the Hotel for over twenty minutes until she noticed a man rushing up the steps, a briefcase in hand, his glasses falling off his nose every once in a while.
"Excuse me?" He asked May, "Are you May Maple?"
"Yes, I am" She smiled.
The man smiled, "I'm Doctor Bennett, I've come here to see your friend Jordan"
May nodded, "Right this way"
May began to lead him through the lobby, telling him all about Jordans condition.
"When was the last time you checked on him?"
"About twenty minutes ag-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhh hhhhhhhhh!"
The entire lobby, including May, went silent. Suddenly a sense of worry built up inside May that she couldn't explain until she cried out.
"I think that came from the dressing room hall.."
