A rose by any other name, May thought as she idly twirled the thorn-ridden stem.
The girl sat alone in her luxurious PokeCenter suite. Ever since her string of successes in the Johto conference, May had hit the spotlight in the coordinating community. Of course, this coupled with the fact that she's the eldest child of one Norman Maple, Hoenn's resident Normal-type gym leader, often received her much undeserved pampering. She didn't always mind so much; she had learned quickly after leaving her friends that she was much the inadequate chef, and would thus be unable to feed herself and her Pokemon without free meals at every stop. But she hardly required so much boarding space, and the extra bunks lacked a certain touch of messy teenage boy to which she had grown accustom.
Gently, May brought the bud of the rose closer, softly inhaling the euphoric fragrance. She had acquainted herself with this, the scent now so familiar that she could tell exactly when to expect her verdant-haired rival to present her with a new petal-encrusted jewel. It was a suggestive gesture with a touch of romance, and the thought always made her blush despite herself. May had lost count of how many times she had tried to clarify that no, she was not consorting with the opposition. She'd also lost count of how many times her dismissals had fallen on deaf ears.
A soft smile gracing her lips, May set the flower on her bedside table. This was the part the public didn't know about, as if the laws of the romance were to be disregarded in cases such as May's. The rose's fragrance was ephemeral and fleeting, wilting away in tandem with the ever-browning petals…
A sharp rap at May's door interrupted the girl's musings.
"May, let's go," Drew drawled. "If you don't get your butt downstairs and registered in the next five minutes, you won't be able to compete later."
The girl chuckled, prancing around her room to gather her things. Pokeballs: check. Bandanna: check. Ribbon case: double check…
May stopped scrambling around the bed. Popping open the latch of her ribbon case revealed four immaculately polished ribbons nestled in the corners of the silk interior, but in the center sat her prize. She gently lifted the half ribbon out of the case and set the others in her pouch. Admiring the trophy, the coordinator grinned toothily, an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia washing over her accompanied by a fluttering of the Butterfree in her abdomen. The memento had always made her curiously giddy, and she absolutely couldn't get enough of it.
Another round of knocking, more insistent this time, came from the door.
"May, c'mon, you're actually gonna miss the deadline, and I won't miss out on this contest just to wait for you to apply your makeup!"
"Jeez, I'll be out in a second!" May laughed, tucking the ribbon half safely in her pocket. Reaching for the knob, she took one last look at the vermilion bud resting on her bedside nightstand and smiled.
A rose by any other name is just as sweet, she figured. Running a hand across the lump in her pocket, she knew she had what she really needed.