Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon.
May threw her arms in the air out of frustration. I have no idea. . . she sighed. Frowning at the small card in her hand, she flipped it between her fingers as one might a coin. May regretted taking the challenge, for this was harder than any contest she had been in yet. Figuring out Drew was a difficult thing to do. This would be easier, she thought, If I just knew where he was! Why does he have to make things so difficult? The brunette wandered over to a snow covered bench and brushed it off before seating herself.
Flashback
"So Drew! What are you doing for the holidays?" May asked innocently. Drew shrugged nonchalantly. "Dunno...being stuck in a mansion all day isn't my idea of fun."
May frowned. "But don't you want to be close to your family? Share gifts and go carolling and eat candy canes and drink eggnog and-" Her rambling was cut short by a hand covering her mouth. Looking up at Drew, she saw his unamused look.
Scowling, she quickly grabbed his hand and removed it from her mouth. "What is your problem? I'm only asking you what your doing for Christmas and you cut me off? I'm only trying to help give you something to do!"
Drew could tell by looking in those crystal blue eyes that he had her fuming. 'A little bit more...' he thought. "I'm smart enough to come up with my own ideas, May. Maybe you should let me do some of the talking? I don't ramble, and am better than you in contests, which is why you should be listening instead."
May's fists clenched tightly like she wanted to punch that smirk right off of his face. She was trembling in rage, trying to keep herself from doing just that, debating if regretting it later would be worth the action or not. The expression of fury on her face could be compared to that of a Gyarados. Drew's smirk only grew before taking one of her hands in his, uncurling her clenched fingers and pressing a thornless red rose in her palm.
Sapphire eyes opening wide, she could only stare at her hand as she tried to comprehend what Drew had just done. Wasn't he arguing with her just a moment ago? Gah! Why does he need to make things harder than they have to be?
May tried to keep her calm when she looked back up at his smirk. "Fine , then what do you think I should do?"
"I think that I should challenge you, just to see how long it takes you before you realize I've won."
The brunette decided it a good idea to attempt to beat him at his own game. Oh, the look on Drew's face when he sees that she has been right all along! She could see it now. . .
"What kind of a challenge?" She had a grin slowly creep onto her features, alerting the chartreuse-haired coordinator that she was planning something. Having a complicated plan in mind, he held confidence in his abilities for this challenge.
"This." Pulling out a small card from his jackets pocket, he quickly scribbled some words on it. He slipped the card into her own coats pocket, then looked to the setting sky. "The first day of Christmas starts tomorrow. Get some rest, and then open the card in the morning when your ready. I'll be waiting..."
Before May could understand what was happening, Drew was already gone, a wisp of his warm breath lingering for a few seconds longer in the spot he stood only moments before. Slowly smiling, before turning to head for the pokemon centre, the wind carried a gentle whisper.
"See you then..."
Flashback Ends
So here she is, in the cold, sitting on a snow covered bench, in plain daylight, and still cannot find him. The corner of her lip twitched. A simple riddle should NOT be this hard to figure out. Maybe she was just overreacting? Letting out a long sigh to calm herself, May opened up the small card and looked at it again.
A place of many vendors,
where people waste their money.
Walk through many aligned shops,
and you will find it funny.
I laugh at the wares that wont sell,
Like assorted weeds of the sea.
But you will have to search here,
If you expect to find me.
May furrowed her brows in deep thought. Many vendors...yes. Aligned shops... ok. Seaweed? That was the part that gets her. In her mind, the first two things make you think of the mall, right? Well, the mall doesn't sell seaweed, so that kicks it out of the picture. Usually at the mall you buy cloths too, which is money well spent, not wasted. But maybe to Drew...she snorted in amusement. As much as Drew finds shopping bothersome, on rare occasions he would admit it useful for SOME things. But if the mall doesn't sell seaweed, where IS it sold...?
May snapped her fingers. 'That's it!' her mind screamed. 'Why didn't I think of this sooner? The market! It has many trinkets Drew naturally would find useless, and seaweed is sold there!' Fire returning to her eyes, May immediately jumped off the bench, only to groan seconds later. The market was on the other side of town... and it was already afternoon! She better hurry if she expects to find Drew! Sighing once more, she sprinted off twords the market.
Reaching there by late afternoon, May panted while leaning on her knees, soon just giving up altogether and falling down. After a few minutes of catching her breath, she slowly rose to her feet. Winding around all of the shops, she soon found herself flustered. She already knew there was a lot of shops, so instinctively walked over to where she saw seaweed and thought it a good idea. . . until she caught the smell. Like the scent of dead fish slapping her in the face, she pinched her nose shut, trying to brave the smell. Little did she notice the figure watching her from his perch on a building.
'Typical,' she growled. 'Of course Drew would have to make me go through something stinky and back for a simple piece of paper. Probably so he can later tease me about how bad I smell, comparable to my skills. '
With each step closer to the stand, May frowned a little more. 'How can that vendor look so...happy? He must be oblivious to the smell... maybe he is unable to?' Atleast that thought lightened the mood somewhat. Ignoring the vendor, eyes as deep as the ocean searched through piles of seaweed. Finally finding a lavender coloured card, May plucked it from the side of the smallest pile and got as far away from the water plant as possible. Reading the slightly smudged ink on the top part of the folded card, she read the words: Open tomorrow.
Great. So that's what he was planning. He was planning to make her hunt for a card for each of the twelve days of Christmas! If May's family was in LaRousse, this would have ended now. But seeing as she long ago made the decision she did not want to go home for the holidays, claiming that it is time for her to live her own life, that wasnt an option. As she had no other better ways to spend her holidays, she supposed it was something to do. But May also knew this would require a lot of running around on her part. 'I wasn't joking when I said to Drew that I want to prove that I can beat him, or be an equal at the very least. But knowing him, do I really want to run around for twelve days to probably wind up finding him at the place I started?'
May unconsciously walked back to the pokemon centre she was staying at, kicking small pebbles about and unaware of their clicks off the pavement. Yes, she decided, she would do it after all. It would generate some interesting memories, and at the same time give her an excuse to be close to him once she found him. She thought of the first thing she would do when she got there.
Stepping in her room, May immediately took a shower. Being around seaweed for even the slightest amount of time can shock you with how bad it smells. Not only that, but the smell tends to stick to your cloths. And hair, leaving you smelling awful. It even made May feel dirty. If she ever wanted to find Drew, it would unquestionably have to be when she was presentable. Drying her hair and dressing in her pajamas, May drifted into a deep sleep, one word ringing softly through her mind like distant bells.
Drew...
