[Don't you miss her?]
Chapter one - Unsolved issues
Contests are my everyday challenge to prove my worth and skills under the spotlights. Winning the competition requires a fascinating teamwork between human and pokemon, strong sense of aesthetics, quick reflexes and, of course, lots of discipline. I feel very proud of myself when I get a new ribbon in my hands: after all, that means I'm good... Really good.
Vanity much?
I'm aware I'm a very proud guy - yet no one can criticize me: do you have any idea how hard coordinators need to work to have that elusive golden trophy in their hands? Since I was ten I dedicate my whole life to reach the title of Top Coordinator of all times; I spend a lot of time studying tons of complicated stuff by myself, battling obnoxious trainers, using all my savings on pokemon supplies, rehearsing appeals until the sunrise of the next day...
I could be playing or traveling with other kids in the city, I could have more friends, yes, I could be running Contests just for a hobby. But what I want the most is to achieve that mythical title. I want to win every single ribbon and trophy of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh... I don't mind "not having fun with the small things about life" - nothing beats the pleasure of being covered by valuable praising and honors.
I want to be recognized as a godly coordinator. That's all.
I'm glad my team seek the same dream as I do - Roserade, Masquerain, Flygon... The amazing pokemon in my team give their blood and tears to show the world how magnificent and jaw-dropping they are. They might not be as famous as the League battling pokemon - but they are aware even those creatures respect and admire their grace and beauty.
As you can see, the quest for perfection might be hard... but it is definitely worth it.
I got my first Ribbon Cup last year: Sinnoh Grand Festival, a triumphal victory against Solidad. It was an amazing duel of agility and wits - Slowbro and Lapras against Roserade and Flygon. A battle with attacks from all elements and properties: violent water blasts, hypnotizing psychic waves, rain of toxic rose petals... We did our best. No one knew who was going to win until the timer went out and the virtual score displayed a picture of myself and the GF Cup.
"And the winner is... Drew from LaRousse City! Drew is the new Top Coordinator of Sinnoh!"
I... I finally did it. It was a unique and special moment for me: the hard spotlights flashing all over my body, Marian announcing the final results of the battle, colorful and bright scraps of paper falling from the skies as if they were the crumbling pieces of an unbeatable and immovable wall...
I mean, Solidad was always my friend but, above all, she was one of my greatest challenges in my career as a coordinator. Winning a fair battle against her in the finals obviously meant a lot to me: I finally was able to shatter the limit barrier and cross the path to new and higher levels. Yeah, those pieces of colorful shred paper were pretty much the symbolic transcription of what was going on inside me in that exact moment. Subtle yet very meaningful to me.
Drew, Top Coordinator from Sinnoh... One step closer to my dream!
Sol smiled and nodded to me in solemnity - thought we had never talked about it before, she knew how I always wanted to prove myself and overcome my unspoken fear of losing to her.
We congratulated each other with a strong and warm handshake and headed to the special winner's podium. It was so high I could see everybody on the crowd cheering, screaming and clapping for me - at that moment, all the attention of the Contest Hall was focused on me.
I saw Brianna and tons of girls swooning over me. I got a standing ovation from all the judges. I noticed Harley raging HARD - he was biting his own hat... I was feeling like the king of the top of the hill, nothing could stop my overdeveloped ego from exploding in sheer satisfaction... That trophy was heavy but it felt just as light as a plume in my arms.
Call me self-centered jerk, I don't care. That's one of the best feelings in the whole universe.
It was all perfect until...
Well, later at night we had those traditional end of tournament dinner. However, just like all the previous times, I didn't really want to join that massively crowded party. To be honest, I love being admired but I hate being the social guy. Imagine the following script:
[Fangirl squad: It's Drew! Oh my, please let me take a picture with you! Let me touch your hair! Please let me harass you! I love you so much, you're the best!]
[Drew: Thank you?]
[Journalist: Could you please tell us about your past and your current personal life? Is that true you're dating the Princess of Sinnoh Dawn? Do you like roses because you identify yourself as a feminine coordinator? Can I touch your hair?]
[Drew: Uhhh, I beg your pardon? I have no idea of what you're talking ab—]
[Harley: Drewie is Harley's true BFF! Guises, envy me, watch me glomp your hero and touch his hair! HUGGIEEE—]
[Drew: —I want my lawyer.]
See? Ugh... So awkward.
You've got the general idea. Yeah, my personal bubble limit happens to be much bigger than usual - and unfortunately I have zero tolerance to those who dare invading it without permission. That's why I love being on stage. No touching, no privacy invasion, freedom.
Anyway... Right when I left the Contest Hall, some wishful message echoed in the air before I crossed the street:
"I hope we meet again in the finals next year... I mean, the four of us."
Solidad was standing by Harley's side, watching me run away from the party. He didn't move a finger neither he said a single word - meanwhile, Sol walked closer to me, talking in a confident voice.
"I'm sure it will be a more challenging season, Drew. It will be fun. Either way, congratulations. You were amazing this season."
Four of us? The fourth one could be only...
"Don't worry," I said with a wicked grin plastered on my face. "I doubt she would have any chances against one of us this time. We were simply unstoppable this year, Sol."
"Oh, Drew."
Then she made that stupid thing that drives my crazy - Solidad giggled like a mother Noctowl and lightly tapped on my shoulder. To anyone from outside, that looked like a friendly touch between close buddies, although I was pretty sure that meant something along the lines of "you're such a cute boy!" - she never openly called me this but that look on her face...
"Eh? Aww, I wasn't talking about that... Don't you miss her too?"
Solidad is like an older sister to me, she is a caring and friendly person that respects me most of the times... I say "most of the times" because sometimes this annoying woman pesters me with questions like that one. She always phrase her lines in a way I can't accuse her of teasing me unfairly.
Ugh, it's really upsetting...
"You talk as if my feelings were any different as yours..." I smirked, flicking the tip of my hair bangs in a smug way. "Yeah, I guess everybody missed May a bit. Anyway, we will meet again in Kanto next year, right? May will be there then you can stop missing her so much."
"Really? She's going to Kanto too? How do you know that?"
It's depressing how adults enjoy mocking about my friendly rivalry with May, isn't it? Solidad and Harley desperately enjoy inserting romantic undertones to our relationship... Bickering about nothing in special? Signs of romance. Ironies and hair flipping? Denial of romance. Roses for Beautifly? Definitely a symbol of romance.
Ha-ha. According to them I must be the most romantic guy in the whole universe, seriously.
I mean, we are rivals. Okay, more than rivals, we are friends. Good fellows. We compete against each other and sometimes we manage to work or have fun together. But I don't know that much about her personal life - and I'm pretty sure I've never told her about mine as well. I don't think she cares about these details...
"How do I know? Common sense, what else?" I replied with a pinch of sarcasm in my words. "Aren't we all going to Kanto?"
"Oh." She frowned a bit for an instant then suddenly stopped teasing me. "I'm a bit worried about May because we haven't heard a word from her since past Grand Festival... And I thought the two of you were close friends—"
I don't know what exactly made the mood change so abruptly. Maybe I was too careless and sarcastic with my answer and that bothered Sol a bit...
"—I assumed you kept in touch with her but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, I hope she's okay."
Or perhaps she got angry because I hadn't shown much concern about May's absence.
"She must be fine, Solidad."
After all, nobody saw her in Sinnoh, not even once.
"I can't believe you didn't go after her, Drew."
I had never heard Solidad talking to me like that. She would always tease or imply her opinion with witty questions - but never give a straight and bitter remark about my behavior and choices. At least not on my face...
What was the purpose of that open declaration? Make me feel uncomfortable?
Well... It kind of worked since it did make me feel incredibly stupid; my stomach sunk in a strange feeling of guilty, my trademark sly grin disappeared from my face and shifted into a blank stare.
I didn't know what to say.
"Uh..."
Noticing my uneasiness, she wore a condescending smile and pretended that nothing happened few moments before - just to avoid making me feel more embarrassed than I already was.
"You're right, we are all going again to Kanto..." Solidad tapped on my shoulder than returned to the Contest Hall with Harley. " I shouldn't worry about that, right?"
In the next day, I decided to spend my last evening in Sinnoh going for a walk before dinner. Although my favorite climate comes from the sunny beaches in Hoenn, I'd definitely miss the cold breeze and the snowing points of Sinnoh. That would be my last chance to enjoy the cold weather before going back to home.
So I left the Pokemon Center with my thick winter jacket and gloves, carrying some spare money in my pockets to eat something later. Without any nosy people stalking my shadows, I considered that a nice chance to call May and find out what happened during the past months.
PokeNav in hands, I activated the search tool in my phone contact list and started scanning the names in alphabetical order. Checked it once, tried filtering it by the letter 'M', tried using keywords search, checked the complete list twice...
...But then I remembered we've actually never exchanged numbers.
"Drew, please let me add you to my list! Come here, let me synch with you."
"Hm? Why do you need my PokeNav number?"
"To show off and tell everybody how special I am?... Hehehe, I'm joking! Well, it's for emergencies, you know? Better know how are you and where I can find you, it might be useful someday."
"Sounds like a stalker. Are you that desperate to track my activities and find out my training secrets?"
"No? C'mon... It's not because you're my rival, Mr Paranoid."
"Then tell me a good reason. Go ahead, I'm all ears."
"Because... Hey! Drew, stop smiling that way!"
"Don't you find funny how the fangirl reason you mentioned few seconds ago sounds very fitting to you as well?"
"NO WAY! Argh, never mind!... Forget it, I give up!"
Well, if my memory serves me right, I guess after massacring her few times with that fangirl thing she just gave up on getting my , we were rivals and we did bump at each other almost every week since we were competing for the same ribbons in Johto... Pokemon Centers and Contest Halls, that's how to proceed to find me during Contest seasons - and she knew that, of course.
But the world is made of mountains of ironies and surprises. Something odd happened and her "emergency" justification suddenly got some... Validity.
I closed my PokeNav and flock of Starly flew over my head. The sun was already fading out and most of the street lights were lit in a matter of minutes. I stopped by the entrance of an opened park then sighed heavily, looking up to the sky.
Time runs away fast when you're swimming in your thoughts. Damned thing waits for no one when you get lost and try going back to the right track.
The park was a place full of trees and bugs, a small lake and several playground toys for little children and pokemon. It was almost empty since it was already getting dark - but that wasn't a big problem for me. Private moments like these were great to release my pokemon and have some peaceful free time with them - and my partners definitely deserved that after our successful victory.
Masquerain, Butterfree and Flygon had fun flying around the trees and scaring away wild pokemon. Absol sat near my feet and Roserade quickly claimed her spot by my side.
"Ee?"
Eevee timidly walked closer to the three of us, looking at me with big confused eyes. I knew what he wanted to tell me.
"Yeah... You want to evolve soon, right? Sorry, I haven't decided yet which stone should we get... What would you like to be?"
"Hey, sorry for eavesdropping you..."
A pokemon trainer crouched by Eevee's side and patted on his head. "You should talk to my friend, she used to own an Eevee like yours! She could give you some advice."
Far away from us, on the other side of the lake, I spotted a person sitting on a bench talking to a small pokemon by her side. She was laughing out loud, tapping her own leg in joy while throwing her head back - exactly the way May used to act when interacting with her close friends.
Red bandanna and red t-shirt.
For an instant I imagined that my mind was tricking me; I suddenly felt my shoes walking fast than I should be, my stomach pulled me down to the ground and unexpectedly worried words came out from my lips.
"May, where you've been all this ti—"
However looking closer, I noticed that girl had blond hair and she was older than I thought.
"Hi? How may I help you?"
Besides her similar attire, she had nothing to do with May.
I asked myself if I should go after her number or if I should wait for her in Kanto. It would be stupid to go after her that night just to meet her at the subway station few days later, wouldn't it?
Do I miss her?
"See you in Sinnoh, Drew."
I remember those words. Confident pose, cheeky grin, burning passion for rivalry... It wasn't just a goodbye - we definitely sealed a charm with indirect words and body language. We promised meeting each other in Sinnoh.
"I see you in the next Contest season. Take care, May."
I also remember my own words. She looked at me with a funny face then gave one of those radiant and contagious smile.
"I'll win next time, Drew! Mark my words!"
May has this funny ability to make people drown in her eyes. They glow in innocence and surprise - however, very unexpectedly, it drags you into the deep ocean. It is intoxicating. I think she has never noticed about that power...
...Which makes it dangerous yet definitely charming.
Anyway...
Tomorrow I'll go back to LaRousse then head to Saffron once again. I'll apply for the new Contest season with Solidad, Harley, Brianna... They all updated their passports to Kanto. We are all going to be rivals again, I'm thrilled to compete against new people and win my rematches against familiar faces.
I wonder if May will be there this time?
A/N: I lost the archives from my [Connect] project so I ended up writing this on instead /sob
This won't be too long, there are only more four chapters to go. And geez, it's hard to write 1st person POV stuff in a foreign language lol. I mean, I have already lots of trouble with my 3rd person POV stories but this... lol I need to practice this more often.