Chapter 1

"Drew?" she whispered. It was late and she felt horrible for waking him, especially the night before the Grande Festival. He groaned.

"What is it, May?"

"I…can't sleep." She said.

"Go back to bed, close your eyes, and think happy thoughts." He mumbled, she could tell he was trying to go back to sleep.

"It isn't that simple…" she said. He sighed and rolled over to look at her. She was standing next to his bed, staring at the ground.

"What's complicated about it?" he asked.

"I…I had a nightmare… And…as stupid as it may sound…I'm still a little scared…" Drew stared at for a moment, then he reached over and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. He flipped the sheets off of himself and stood up.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." He said and started walking towards the kitchen. May, who was nervous about being alone, started to follow him.

"For Arceus' sake, May, I'm just going to the kitchen. Sit down and I'll be right back." He said. She nodded and sat down on his bed. He was gone for a while, she was about to ask what it was he was doing when he walked back into the room.

"Here. This helps me." He said, handing her a mug. When she took it, she realized it was milk—warm milk. She smiled.

"Thanks…"

"Don't mention it." he said, sitting next to her. After a second he continued, "Really, don't mention it to Soledad…if you do she'll squeal every time she sees me and give me a headache." At this, May laughed.

"I think you should be more worried about if I told Harley!" she said. He shivered.

"Don't tell him either." May smiled, not a thought in the world about her dream. When she was finished, she felt a little sleepy. She smiled.

"I think I'll be ok now…thanks Drew." She said. He nodded, pulling the sheets back up and over him.

"No problem, May. Get some rest, you'll need it." She walked back over to her bed, setting her mug on the table. As she curled up under her blanket the light switched off.

"Drew?" she asked.

"Yes, May?"

"I love you." She said. Slumber was starting to take her. The last words she heard were from Drew.

"I love you too, May. Don't ever forget that."


"Welcome! One and all, to Johto's very own Grande Festival!" Jillian, the MC cried. The crowd cheered. "And the crowd agrees, it is a beautiful day for this festival, isn't it?" Jillian shouted, the crowd roared its approval. From back stage, the coordinator room was packed. Everyone was there…at least, everyone but a certain brunette.

"Drew, have you seen May?" Soledad asked. He frowned.

"I let her sleep in a bit, but I was sure Yue would have woken her up by now…"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"MAY! WAKE UP! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" May woke with a start. Why did Yue have to yell so loudly?

"Five more minutes…" she mumbled. But Yue had other plans, May squeaked as she felt her friend jump on top of her.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS? WE DON'T HAVE FIVE MINUTES! THE FESTIVAL STARTS IN DOUBLE THAT TIME AND YOU AREN'T EVEN DRESSED!" May looked at the clock and screamed. She shoved Yue off of her and dashed around the room, hastily getting ready.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" she cried. Yue shuffled her feet.

"I decided to take a nap…and Drew said to let you sleep some more since you hadn't slept well last night and…well…I just woke up myself." By the time she'd finished explaining, May was done. She grabbed Yue by the collar of her shirt and bolted for the door. Once out she ran down the hall.

"Of all days, why would you pick today to take a nap when I'm sleeping in?" May cried, jamming the button on the elevator.

"Hey, I was tired too you know! This is my first Grande Festival! You expect me not to be nervous?"

"Nervous or not, you aren't even doing much today. Just an appeal! Why couldn't you take your nap after we were done?" May asked. Yue blinked.

"Oh…I hadn't thought of that…heh heh…" she said. But by then, May didn't really care. the elevator opened into the lobby of the pokemon center. The two girls rushed past the front desk, completely ignoring Nurse Joy's welcoming voice. They ran out the door and across the street to the contest hall…which was really more like an arena than a hall. They ran through the double-doors and past the lobby, down the hall that led to the stage, and turned left. As May ran into the coordinator room she nearly ran straight into…

"May darling, there you are! We've been looking everywhere for you!" May grimaced.

"Hello Harley…nice to see you too."

"Terribly sorry but you've missed my appeal! Tisk, tisk May!" Harley said.

"Oh…sorry about that, Harley… Do you know where Drew and Soledad are?" she asked. He grinned.

"Well I'll bring you to Soledad, but you'll have to look on screen to see where Drew is." Harley said. May mentally slapped herself, she'd almost missed Drew's appeal.

"Thanks, Harley." She said. As she followed him, Yue said from behind her:

"He still creeps me out…" May giggled.

"Ditto, Ditto."

"Why'd you say Ditto twice?" Yue asked.

"Once meaning 'me too.' The other referring to you!" May laughed. Yue sighed.

"You're a strange one, May, you really are."

"May! There you are!" she heard a familiar voice say. She grinned.

"Hi Soledad! Sorry I'm late…somebody decided to sleep instead of wake me up."

"Yeah? Well somebody should have woken up to their alarm instead of turning it off." Yue countered. May smiled sheepishly.

"My bad." Soledad was about to say something when the MC's voice caught their attention.

"And now, from LaRousse City…It's Drew!" The crowd cheered and May watched as he called out his pokemon.

It was Roserade.

"Roserade, Magical Leaf!" he cried. The grass type twirled and a tornado of shining leaves surrounded her. If that was beautiful, Drew could make it dazzling.

"Flash! Then Solar Beam!" he cried. May gasped as the screen went white. The crowd was blinded. But seconds later, the stage was revealed yet again. The leaves that once shone were sparkling and floating all around. Roserade remained center stage, holding an orb of light above her. The Flash had intensified it. She released the Solar Beam and the stage was lit again.

"That was amazing." Soledad said. May remained silent; she had seen something like that appeal before. She knew exactly when and where too. She smiled, reflecting on past experiences was a great way to show off an appeal—and Drew knew it.

"Looks like my little gingerbread cookie is up soon!" Harley squealed. May turned to Yue, giving her a knowing look. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, fine. But do I have to be the pink blob?" she asked. May nodded, Yue groaned.

"But I hate being the pink blob!"

"Come on, Yue. You were born that way! I think you'd be used to it by now." May said. Her friend was still frowning, but never the less rainbow colors engulfed her and she was replaced by her Ditto self. Anyone around who hadn't seen her little act yet gasped. May was used to the surprise by now. She returned Yue, walked through the shocked crowd, and started down the hall. About halfway, she met up with Drew.

"Hey, Drew. You did great!" she said. He smiled.

"Thanks, glad you could make it Sleeping Beauty." May furrowed her eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, Drew smirked.

"Nothing. Good luck, you won't need it." She smiled.

"Thanks Drew." She continued walking, but Drew's voice stopped her.

"May?"

"Yes?"

"Did you…say something?" he asked. She turned to look at him, he looked confused.

"All I said was thank you." She said. He frowned.

"Ok…I must be hearing things. See you when you get back." And with that he turned the corner and was gone. May pondered what had just happened, but decided to brush it off. She heard things that weren't really there plenty of times. She shrugged and continued toward the stage.

"Now, I'm proud to introduce, May from Petalburg!" Jillian cried. The crowd cheered.

"Yue, take the stage!" May cried, she would never get used to having to treat her friend as a pokemon. Out of the pokeball came a—as Yue described herself—pink blob. It bounced off the stage and into the air, rainbow engulfed it, replacing it with none other than…

"Mana!" To the crowd's surprise, Yue had replaced herself with a pokemon most of them had never seen before. But they all fell instantly for its cute smile. The crowd cheered for Yue, who had taken the form of a Manaphy.

"Now, light up the sky!" May cried. Yue smiled as she surrounded herself with a shield-like sphere of bubbles. The two lights on the end of her antennae were glowing, and the bubbles were magnifying the light of them in such a beautiful way. The bubbles sparkled and shone of rainbow light. The crowd was silent, dumbfounded at the beauty of it all. When the sphere floated to the ground, the bubbles popped, revealing Yue in Ditto form.

The crowd erupted.

"Now that was a spectacle!" Jillian cried. From backstage, Soledad smiled and Drew nodded: a job well done. May earned a perfect score and she, along with Drew, Soledad, and Harley, had moved on to the next round.


"You two were amazing, I'm so proud." Soledad said. May beamed and Drew grinned.

"Your appeal was beautiful, Soledad!" May said excitedly. "The way Pidgeot fluttered around the stage was incredible!" Soledad giggled.

"Why, thank you May." She said.

"Yeah, great job—as usual." Drew said.

"OH THERE YOU ARE, MY GINGERBREAD COOKIE!" Before May could escape, Harley was latched onto her.

"Hello Harley, you did a good job today, too." Soledad said happily. Harley had apparently forgotten about his hold on May.

"Oh, really? I thought my little Wiggly-poo did a spectacular job, myself! So good to get complements from friends!" he said, May struggling to break free all the time he spoke. He then noticed he was suffocating her.

"Oh! Terribly sorry May, I almost forgot you were there!" he said, releasing her. She spluttered, thinking:

"Yeah? Well I wish I could forget you were there that easily!" Drew seemed to read her mind.

"Harley…it isn't nice to forget people—even someone like May." He winked at her and she felt the familiar fume that seemed to walk hand-in-hand with Drew's presence, but it was cooled with the realization that he was actually sticking up for her. She sighed.

"And besides…he's only teasing." She thought.

"I know, I know!" he said, trying to keep the mood cheery. "But you know me, I'm just funny like that. Terribly sorry for being so rude, my little gingerbread cookie! Oh! Goodness would you look at the time? I'll see you all tomorrow—bright and early!" and, like a flash, he was gone. Leaving the three coordinators to wonder why it was that he was so strange.

"Well, he is right about one thing." Soledad finally said, "It is getting late. We should get some sleep for tomorrow—it's going to be a long day."

"Yeah and maybe May will actually sleep this time." Drew said. May sighed.

"I can only hope…"


She was walking down a road, heading for the next contest—as usual. It was then that she saw him. He turned and smiled at her. She excitedly ran towards him and when she got to him she stopped. They stood for a while, she was about to say something when movement caught her eye. She turned her head to the undergrowth. It was then that she saw it:

Its fur was the color of the night sky, its eyes the color of blood. It sat there, watching her from the shadows. It did nothing to scare her, it didn't growl or snarl, pounce or bare its teeth. It just…sat there. The forest around her turned to shadow. Only she, him, and it remained. She turned to look back at Drew, panic welling within her. Why? Why was she scared? As if to answer, Drew groaned and fell to his knees holding his head.

"Drew?" she asked "Drew?" A darkness pulsed from him and he was in pain… This was a dream…only a dream. He looked up at her, his eyes no longer green.

But bright red.

"May! May, wake up!" she woke with a start, her hands shaking. It took her a moment to realize where she was. She looked up into Drew's worried, emerald eyes. Soon, the memory of the dream came back to her.

"Drew! You were…and it was…and…and." She was sitting up now. He sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"What is it with you and nightmares lately?" he asked. "This time you were screaming you head off." She didn't respond, she was still telling herself that none of it had happened and that Drew was still there.

"Would you like to tell me what happened?" he asked when she didn't answer. She shivered.

"I…c-c-can't now…" she managed to say. She felt herself being rocked gently. He was trying his best to soothe her, but how could he do so when it was him she was scared for?

"Y-you were there…an-and then there was th-this Absol…well…I th-think it was an Absol…" Drew raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, think?" he asked.

"It w-was black! And it had th-these eyes! Th-these t-t-terrible eyes!" she said. "B-but the w-weird part was…i-it's been in all of m-my nightmares!" she cried, "A-and usually th-they're good dreams before!"

"Hm…that is odd." Drew said. "Are you scared of Absols, May? Because if you are, we might have a problem… You see I have an Absol and what about Moonlight? She wouldn't be very happy if you finally saw her again and ran off screaming bloody-murder." At this, may giggled a bit.

"I-I'm not af-fraid of Absols y-you idiot!" she said, "I d-don't even know why this one s-scares me! All it does is s-sit there!"

"Well if sitting scares you then why aren't you screaming now? I'm sitting—uh-oh May! Watch out! I'm sitting!" he said. May laughed, trembling a little less.

"Oh shut up, D-Drew!" she said.

"No, really. You should be afraid!" he said "Be very afraid, May! It is a proven fact that I am a very scary person." He said matter-of-factly. She rolled her eyes.

"You don't scare me." She said. He grinned a devilish grin.

"Then maybe you should learn to be more afraid!" he said as he tackled her. She laughed until he started tickling her—then she laughed harder.

"Stop it! Drew! S-stop!" she laughed. He stopped, holding her down.

"Afraid now?" he asked. She smiled.

"Nope, not of you or any stupid old Absol." She said. He smiled.

"Good, that was my goal anyway." He then got off of her and walked back over to his own bed. She got back into hers and turned off the light that Drew had probably turned on when she had woken him up. She smiled to herself. Why was it that he always seemed to have an answer for everything?

"Good night." She said, but he was already asleep.