May lay on her bed in Petalburg City, Beautifly flying in circles around her head. She was leaving for Johto in the morning. In her head, she mulled over her recent experiences—the Kanto Grand Festival and the whole "He's grown feelings for you" conversation with Solidad. What had Solidad meant? May knew what the term "feelings for you" usually meant of course, but this was Drew. And with Drew, things were barely ever meant in the conventional sense.

She turned her head towards the door at the sound of a click. "May, dinner. Let's go wash up." Max then left without looking at her.

May sighed; she knew Max's feelings about staying behind while she went of to Johto. Now he would barely ever look at her. She was going to miss Munchlax, but it was definitely for the better. Munch and Max got along so well, and May knew that Munchlax would start pining if she brought him. She still hadn't told Max about leaving Munchlax behind. She was going to tell him about it at their last dinner together as a family…until after the Johto Grand Festival, of course.

Supper that night was a smorgasbord of noodles and other types of pasta to celebrate May leaving for Johto. She should have enjoyed it more, but her mind was elsewhere. She wasn't entirely sure how the conversation traveled, having minimal interaction with other people, but it somehow circled around to May's Pokémon and she managed to slip into the conversation that she was leaving Munchlax behind. Max totally freaked out. In a good way. He danced up and down on his chair until May's mom told him to sit down.

May stood on the front step of the gym. She hated long goodbyes, so she was hoping to make this a short one. "Take good care of Max, Munchlax, and Max, take good care of Munchlax. Don't trash the house."

"Come on May, when have I once trashed the house?"

May just laughed, hugged her mom and dad in turn, and strode off toward the dock, brimming with confidence, ready to take on whatever challenge Johto threw at her…be it Harley, Solidad, or even Drew. She was ready, or at least, she hoped she was.

May lay on the deck of the ship, Blaziken in a deck chair identical to hers next to her. May's philosophy was that just as you needed to keep water Pokémon moist, you needed to keep fire Pokémon tan. So she gave Blaziken a tanning mirror and cool shades to match hers, and told it to catch some rays. She was going to have lines under her bikini where she wasn't tan, but they would be under her clothes, so that was okay.

"Great tanning weather, huh May?"

She would know that voice anywhere. She pulled her shades up onto her forehead and just caught Drew's traditional bangs flip. She wasn't all that surprised to find Drew here. After all, he was heading to Johto from Hoenn as well. "Yes…" she answered carefully, not sure if Drew was poking fun at her or not. She picked through the question in her mind, trying to find hidden meanings. Drew didn't do straightforward. It could always be some kind of weird boy code, or it could be that he actually valued her opinion. She nearly laughed out loud at the latter.

"Might want to move your deck chairs back. I'm heading into the pool, and water is super effective on fire."

May noted that he looked good without his shirt on. He might work out, and probably did, judging from his chest. She mentally shook herself, and pushed Blaziken's deck chair back a few feet, with Blaziken still in it. If Drew could work out, so could she. Drew dived into the pool on deck while May and Blaziken watched from a safe distance. May looked to her right to see if everything was okay with Blaziken, then casually glanced to her left.

"Rose-roselia!"

"Oh, hey Roselia. Taking a break from training? Drew can be a little tough at times."

Roselia casually waved its blue rose like it was nothing.

May didn't realize she had fallen asleep until she woke up. The sky was a light shade of pink. She jerked her head up and frantically checked her watch. She had fallen asleep at around 2:15, so she had been asleep for—she did some quick calculations—two hours and forty-five minutes. She popped up out of the deck chair and shook Blaziken awake. "Come on, Blaziken, we've been asleep long enough!" Blaziken opened its beady birds eyes. "Blaziken, we're gonna have to head into my room. So, for now, return!" May said, picking up Blaziken's pokeball from the place she'd left it under her chair and firing the red laser at It. Scooping her personal belongings up, she headed off to her room. She had her hand on the doorknob before she noticed the note taped to her door. Ripping it slightly as she pulled it down, she read:

Tonight, midnight, Room 26. Be there. –Drew

Okay, but she was hungry. Food first.

May slid out of bed at the sound of her alarm clock. She hit the little button on the top hurriedly so she didn't wake up anyone else onboard. She slipped her feet into her tiny pink slippers. Ugh. Pink. What had she been thinking when she bought these? She glanced down at herself. Were pajamas appropriate for this kind of meeting? May didn't know. To be safe, she changed into some of the new clothes she had recently bought—a tight orange-and-white dress and green bandana with a white pokeball pattern. Picking up her pokeballs for good measure, she slipped down the hall slowly, trying not to make the floorboards creak. 24, 25, 26. There it was! Her heart was beating faster for some reason. Knocking gently on the door, she let a soft "Drew?" slide out of her mouth.

"Geez May! What took you so long? It's quarter past midnight already!"