Chapter 1- Where it all began
May's POV
I arrived in Johto. There was a Grand Festival here and I planned on winning it. I came up to the first town. Now I had to find the stadium. As I approached, I saw a familiar figure leaning against the wall.
"Drew?" His eyes opened upon hearing his name.
"May, you're going to try to enter alone?"
"Well yeah, Max, Ash and Brock couldn't come as soon as I needed to get here. They'll be here in a couple of days."
"No, that's not what I meant. You don't have a partner do you?" he asked.
"Huh?"
"You need a partner to compete in the contests here," he chuckled. I blushed. How could I have not known that?
"Well," I spluttered, "you're here alone too."
"You only just noticed. I was waiting for you," he chuckled again.
"For me?" I almost felt touched until he spoke again.
"Yeah, I need a partner and all the decent competitors are already taken. You're the only half decent one left and I knew you wouldn't have a partner because you jump into things before looking at the details." I crossed my arms and huffed. I couldn't think of a good retort.
"Now are you going to sit there and snort like a dragon or come and register with me," he said, walking in.
"Hey, I never agreed to-"
"Look May, we're in a situation here. You may not like it, but to enter the contest, you need me. To enter the contest I need you. Being my partner isn't gonna kill you," he hissed through gritted teeth. I sighed and nodded.
"Good."
I stormed up to the counter, dragging Drew behind me.
"I'd like to enter the contest," I stated.
"Sure, who's your partner?" the receptionist asked.
"Him," I growled, jerking my thumb in his direction.
"Ok, let me get you an ID." She came pulled out a camera.
"Now smile!" she took the photo and soon, our ID card was slipped across the desk with a pair of keys.
"Room 237 and 238," she said. I nodded and grabbed the card and my key, before I stalked up the stairs; leaving Drew behind.
"Hey wait!" he called. I spun around so fast that I fell over.
"You better not be this clumsy when we're battling," he mumbled, holding his hand out to me. I brushed his hand aside and got up myself.
"What were you going to say Drew," I hissed.
"Just that I'll be using Roselia in the appeals and I think your Glaceon would do well," he shrugged. I nodded and opened my room. I walked in and looked around. I saw Drew watching me with an eyebrow raised. I slammed the door in his face.
Drew's POV
I shook my head. That girl was definitely high maintenance. I sighed and opened the door to my room. I looked around. It was nice. I nodded my head in approval. This would do just fine. I walked back out and knocked on May's door.
"What do you want?" she yelled.
"Chill May, I was just gonna say we should go get dinner," I responded. I heard scuffling around and then the door opened.
"Sure, I'm starving," she said, smiling again.
"You're always hungry," I retorted. She placed her hands on her hips, looking indignant.
"Oh whatever," I sighed, rolling my eyes, "let's go." I grabbed her wrist and pulled her after me. I didn't let go until we had arrived at a café. Yeah, this would do.
"Drew!" someone called.
"Solidad," I smiled when I saw my friend. She grinned and wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug.
"Ouch Solidad, let go, you're hurting me," I wheezed. She let go and I tried to catch my breath. May laughed. I scowled.
"I guess you're here for the contests too," I presumed. She nodded.
"I guess May's your partner," She guessed and I nodded, "well my partner is-"
"May!" another voice called.
"Harley," she finished. May went pale as Harley wrapped her up in a hug, his height making it so she couldn't touch the ground.
"It's been ages since I've seen you," he continued, shaking her from side to side, "how have you been? Are you entering the contest? Who's your partner?" I laughed at her, but glared at Harley all the same.
"Put me down!" she squealed. Harley let her drop to the ground.
"To answer your questions, good, yes and Drew," she answered.
"Oh we should all have dinner together," suggested Harley.
"May," I growled lowly, "stop being so stubborn and coordinate with me properly. We can't win by doing our own thing; you have to work with me for this one." It was the last round and we were struggling. May was refusing to work with me.
"Well what do you suppose we do?" she shot back.
"Have Glaceon use Shadow ball on the Serperior after I use magical leaf on the Groudon." She nodded. Just like I thought, when Roselia used magical leaf on Groudon, the Serperior was left open. The shadow ball hit Serperior and as the trainers cried out, magical leaf hit Groudon. Serperior was knocked out, leaving the oppositions points running low. Groudon was left, but soon May's Glaceon had knocked it out too with Iron tail.
"Good job May," I said, high fiving her as we collected our ribbons.
"Thank you Drew, not bad yourself," she smiled. She waved to the crowd one last time.
"Good job Drew," called Solidad, coming to me, "too bad we didn't get to battle you in the last round, but turns out partner battles took a lot more getting used to than we thought." I nodded.
"May, oh May!" called Harley, running to us, "I have something for your win." May turned and Harley thrust a really deep burgundy rose in her face. Burgundy roses meant unconscious beauty. May blinked before taking it, batting her eyelashes cutely.
"Thank you Harley, it's so pretty," she said. I felt angry. Giving May roses was my move. And to call her beautiful. I scowled at him.
"Wipe that scowl off your face," whispered Solidad, "you're showing that you're jealous."
"I'm not jealous," I hissed back. Solidad laughed.
"You sure seem it." May put the rose in her bag and I instantly felt better. With my roses, she would always hold onto them.
"C'mon May, let's go," I called to her, "we gotta get moving if we're going to make it to the next town on time.
May's POV
I followed Drew as we travelled. Once we were far enough out of the city, I took out the rose Harley had given me. It was a really dark rose actually, almost black. I had only taken it not to hurt Harley's feelings, but I didn't really like it. It was pretty, but something wasn't as special getting it from Drew...and it smelt kinda funny. Drew hadn't given me a rose this time. I looked ahead, sighing as I did. Drew turned.
"So you got a rose from Harley?" he said, instantly noticing the rose in my hands.
"Yeah, it was a nice gesture, but this one smells funny," I said, screwing my nose up. I hadn't actually smelt it close up, but it was really strong smelling.
"How so?" He asked.
"Too strong," I answered, "I can smell it clearly even when it's in my bag. I prefer weaker, sweet smelling ones." I threw it to the side of the path. When I looked up, Drew had a smug look on his face.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing, c'mon, it's late. We should set up camp," he suggested. He unrolled his sleeping bag and laid it on the ground. I did the same and then set up a fire. I stared at it in silence.
"Let me guess," Drew sighed, "you can't cook."
"Um…I never learnt. Brock used to do it all for me," I admitted.
"You're so lucky that I know how," he mumbled.
"Great," I said, refusing to let him get me down, "then you can teach me."
Drew's POV
We arrived at the next town about midday.
"Let's see if we can find the centre," I said.
"Oh there it is!" she exclaimed, pointing across the road. She looked left and right before starting to cross. It happened so fast. There was a screeching of tires and a car came zooming around the corner. May was just in the way as it headed towards her. She looked like a deer in the headlights and I hardly had time to react.
"May!" I yelled. I lunged forwards; grabbing her wrist and twirling her back towards me just before the car brushed past us. I felt the air brush past us as I pulled her into me. I looked at the car at it screeched around the next corner. The windows were tinted and it was black.
"Are you alright?" I asked her, slowly releasing her. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"That was so close," she cried, "it was scary, but I think I'm fine." She moved to walk on, but stumbled. I caught her.
"Here let me help," I offered, putting her arm over my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her waist as I helped her walk across the road. As soon as we were back on the footpath, she shrugged me off.
"Thank you for saving me," she said, "I feel ok now." I still kept an eye on her as we continued towards the centre. She was pretty shaken, her hands quivering, her face pale and her eye wide. She was on alert, every sound making her jump; looking around constantly. I signed us in.
"Maybe you should rest for a bit," I suggested, unlocking her door for her. She nodded. I watched as she sat down on her bed.
"Thanks again Drew," she whispered. I smiled.
"No problem. I'm going out for a bit, you'll be right by yourself?"
"Sure."
"Ok, see you later." I closed the door.
I had reported the incident to Officer Jenny and she promised to keep an eye out. I'd gotten some take out for May. I knocked on her door.
"Drew!" she cried out. I opened the door quickly, she sounded scared. I saw her, on the ground, clutching her knee. Her face was streaked with tears. Her window was broken and glass was spread over the ground. A rather large rock sat next to her.
"What happened?" I asked, putting the food on her bedside table. The glass was hard to avoid, but I got as close to her as I could.
"I was at the window," she sobbed, "when it broke and this rock hit my knee. I can't walk it hurts so much and I have glass shards in my skin. I haven't moved."
"Let me see," I commanded. She shakily pulled her hands away. I grimaced. Her kneecap was sticking out at an odd angle. Blood dripped down her calves.
"Is it bad, I haven't seen it? I'm too scared," she whispered.
"I don't want you to look at it," I told her, "I'm going to take you to the hospital."
"I can't walk," she reminded me.
"I know; you definitely can't walk. I'm going to carry you," I explained, placing my hands under her knees and her back, "Now grit your teeth because this is going to hurt." She looked at me and nodded. I gently lifted her off the ground, glass falling off in the process. She whimpered and clung to me.
"It's ok, just hang on," I mumbled in her ear.
May's POV
"Just like I thought," mumbled the doctor, looking at my x-rays, "dislocated knee cap." Drew, in the corner of the room grimaced. He gave me a cup of water and two pills.
"Swallow these. They'll help with the pain, but I'm afraid it'll still hurt," he explained, "I'm going to have to relocate it." I did as he said. He handed me a thick plastic disk.
"Bite this," he instructed.
"Why?" I asked, taking it.
"So you don't bite your tongue by accident." He placed his hands on my knee as I bit down on the pink plastic.
"On three I'm going to move it. Don't stop biting that disk," he instructed.
"One…Two…Three!" Pain shot through my bones as he clicked it back into place. I squealed in pain. Drew gave me a sympathetic look.
"The worst is over," the doctor comforted, "Now let's fix these glass cuts." He picked up a sterile packet of tweezers. Carefully he plucked out each piece, causing me to wince. Then he took a bunch of band aids and applied them over the cuts after wiping away the dry blood. He went out the room and soon came back with a mould. And a thick bandage.
"I'm going to mould this plaster to your knee. Don't worry it's not a full cast, it's just a back slab to support it," he said to me, "that knee will be fragile for a while after, but you should be able to take that off tomorrow afternoon." He wrapped my knee in fluff and then wet the mould and held it against my knee. He then bandaged it all up and handed me a pair of crutches.
"You shouldn't put too much pressure on that for a few days. Use the crutches until then," he instructed, "you can go now." I nodded my thanks and slid off the bed.
Drew's POV
I walked back slow so she could keep up with me. I could tell she was both tired and frustrated. She frowned when she came to the stairs.
"How am I going to get up these?" she asked.
"Lift your foot onto the step and then lift your crutches up after and repeat," I told her, "I'll be right here to catch you if you fall." She nodded and did exactly as I told her and soon we got back to her room. I opened the door for her. She gasped, seeing the window repaired and the glass on the floor cleaned up.
"I told them about the window and they came and cleaned it up for you, no charge," I told her. She sighed and lay back on her bed.
"So you know who threw the rock?" she questioned.
"Just some naughty kids," I lied. I didn't want to tell her that in fact I had no idea who threw it or who wrote the threatening message on it. I didn't want to worry her.
"Is that take away?" she asked, spotting the boxes on her bed side table.
"Yeah, that was our dinner, but it's probably cold now," I chuckled.
"That's ok, there's a microwave in here," she said, pointing to it.
"Just as well. Cold take away isn't my favourite dish." That got her to laugh. I poured the food from the boxes into two bowls. I put them in the microwave while I looked for forks. I found some. 2 minutes later I took it out and sat down next to her on the bed. I handed her a bowl and a fork.
"Bon appetite," I said in a ridiculously overdone French accent. She laughed again and playfully pushed my shoulder.
May's POV
We'd just finished eating when I heard a knock on my door.
"Come in!" I yelled as Drew took my dirty dishes back to the kitchen. The door opened and Max, Brock and Ash rushed in.
"May!" the all cried and then stopped.
"What happened to your leg?" asked Max.
"I'd rather not go into the details but I dislocated it," I explained, not wishing to tell them about the rock and the window. Ash shrugged.
"It's good to see you May, sorry we missed your first contest. How did you go?" asked Ash.
I pulled out my ribbon box and showed them my first ribbon.
"Way to go May!" exclaimed Max.
"Yeah, we're proud of you," agreed Brock.
"We have company May?" questioned Drew, coming back in and raising an eyebrow.
"I told you they'd be coming later," I answered.
"What's he doing here?" Asked Ash, "I thought you two were rivals."
"We are," I confirmed.
"May forgot that you're supposed to have a partner for contests in this region so I agreed to be hers," Drew smirked.
"That doesn't really explain why he's in your room," pointed out Max.
"Drew was just looking after me," I explained, "He took me to the hospital and now he and I just finished dinner. Besides, we have to talk about strategy and stuff anyway. It's not like we totally hate each other. Right?" I looked to Drew, to gauge his reaction. He smirked and nodded his head slightly.
"Well, I'm going to go to bed now, competition tomorrow and all," said Drew, "are you guys staying with May?"
"I guess; if it's ok with May. It would sure beat sleeping outside," Ash said. I nodded.
"Alright then. May don't stay up too late," Drew told me.
"I won't," I promised.
"Goodnight," he said, closing as he went out the door.
"Night Drew," I called after him. As soon as the door was shut, Ash, Max and Brock all turned to me with funny expressions on their faces.
"What?" I asked. They shook their heads and sighed. I was confused, but I decided to let it slip.