Sinnoh Journey with Roses Chapter 2
Hello! Guess what? I was a good girl and this was on time! I hope that you guys will like it! Sorry if this sucks, but please, read and REVIEW! Please? Guess what? I'm finally on time with my chapters! No flames, please!
Disclaimer: Never was, never will be… *sigh*
Reviews are like chocolate to a girl, she can never have enough :)
The group had a peaceful trip after that. Now that they knew that they were all travelling together, they were much more cooperative and tried to get along. Well, they TRIED to, May and Drew still got into arguments constantly, but it had gotten considerably better since then.
For the next day, they were regularly playing, swimming, shopping, and eating, enjoying the ride on the magnificent cruise.
They were about to enter the arcade when a voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "ATTENTION! Passengers, we are nearing Sinnoh, by Sandgem Town, at the beach where there is a small port. Get your things ready; we will be there in thirty minutes. I repeat, get your things ready by thirty minutes" (A/N: I know that the beach is tiny, but this is my fanfic, so deal with it! Jokes!)
Lots of people gasped, being happy and some even let out whoops to show their joy. The cruise was fun, but they all wanted to start their adventures.
"I can't wait!" May squealed! In response, Drew snickered and Solidad smiled. Harley was beside here, squealing as well, making Drew smirk.
They rushed to their own rooms and threw their stuff in their bags. May changed into her Sinnoh outfit that her mom specially got her. She was wearing a green bandanna, an orange vest with a black collar, and biker shorts. She also had black and white gloves that matched perfectly. She finished packing her bags relatively quickly, as she had learned to pack light. She slung a small yellow backpack over her shoulders and buckled on a fanny pack around her waist, which included all her money, pokeballs, and pokémon.
Solidad was wearing her normal attire, and had her bag ready even before May, as she didn't need to change. They did a double check on their room to make sure that they didn't leave anything behind. Finally satisfied, they left the room and went to the deck, waiting for Drew and Harley.
Harley packed with slight difficulty, seeing that he had too much stuff, but managed in the end by stuffing and having a huge bag. It was a duffle bag that he kept casually by his side… it was bulging by the time he was done with it. For Sinnoh, he was wearing a bright green t-shirt with matching green pants. His purple hair was let out as it always was. His cacturn hat was nowhere in sight.
"Are you ready yet?" Drew asked impatiently. He was waiting by the door, impatiently tapping his foot, trying to get Harley to hurry up. He was wearing a white shirt with a featherlike green pattern on the left shoulder. (A/N: if anyone knows what Kaname's shirt looked like in Vampire Knight episode 8 season 1, that's what Drew's shirt looks like.) He was wearing light gray pants that went along well. The hem of the shirt was also green, complimenting his emerald eyes. In his hands, he held a small bag.
"Oh come on! Cinnamon bun! Just give me two minutes!" Drew groaned and did another check on the room for some last items that he had missed.
"Okay! I'm done!" Harley said. Drew breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he didn't have to stay any longer. He wanted to be on the deck with May looking at Sinnoh.
They walked out of the room with a last glance and they rushed over to the deck.
Since they had been rooming in a side of the boat that was just conveniently positioned to be the farthest away from the deck, they had quite a walk ahead of them. Finally, about ten minutes later, they reached the deck. Solidad and May were leaning out on the rail, with a breeze ruffling their hair. At the sight, both Drew and Harley blushed, but quickly tried to recover as May spotted them, waving her arms in the air to get them to come over.
"Hey Gingerbread! Hey Honey! How are you guys? WOAH! How do you only have so little stuff? I have a HUGE duffle bag and it's hardly enough!"
Solidad laughed, "That's just because you bring things that you don't need."
Harley shrugged and joined them at the rail. The Sinnoh region was in clear view now. You could see the port and Sandgem Town. "Wow, it's pretty nice! I can't wait to explore it!"
"Neither can I! I wonder what pokémon live there." May exclaimed.
"Oh May, if you had read about the region before, you might have more clues. But you didn't, did you?" Drew teased.
"Shut up, Drew! It's not as if you know everything about Sinnoh, do you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do know quite a lot. After all, I read books and did research on the region. Unlike you, the person who doesn't read." He said while flipping his hair. Drew thought that flipping his hair was pretty cool. Solidad noticed that he only did it when May was in the area. She smirked knowingly.
"What do you mean? I read! Who says I don't? I LOVE reading!" May argued.
"Sure you do," Drew smirked, "as long as it's about food…"
May was about to reply with a snide remark when the horn on the ship blew. She looked towards the new region, all arguments forgotten. "Oh yeah! I just remembered, we have to go to Sandgem town to the pokémon, guys."
"You really don't pay attention, do you? We're going to SANDGEM PORT, which means that it is the port of SANDGEM TOWN!" Drew said.
"Oh, well, I guess that turns out well! We can get our pokémon first!" May got the insult in Drew's words; she just decided to ignore it.
The ship came to a full stop and the anchor was put in the water. Finally, the gate opened and there was a bridge for the travellers to cross to get to land. The people cheered and filed out. The gang went as well, with Harley dragging his bag, which was evidently heavier than the rest.
"We should find a pokémon center first." Solidad said, being the most mature out of them all.
The others nodded and they looked around the map for the pokémon centre, which wasn't hard, since it was a small town. They walked into the pokémon centre.
"Hello, welcome to the pokémon centre!" Nurse Joy welcomed. Beside her was a pink pokémon, chansey.
The group of four smiled. It was always nice to find a familiar face when they went somewhere new. Even though this Nurse Joy wasn't the same one, all her cousins and relatives looked the same, so it was nice. They walked up to the counter. "Hello Nurse Joy." They said simultaneously.
"Hey! Are you new to this region? Do you need any information?"
"Thanks Nurse Joy," May said, "actually, we wanted to get rooms for the night and I wanted to ask about pokémon contests in Sinnoh."
"Sure, but could you give me your pokedexes? I have to give you trainer passes. You need them to get rooms and are a way to identify yourselves." They all handed their pokedexes to the nurse while she typed into the computer.
"All done!" She said and handed the pokedexes back. "Well, about the contests, Sinnoh is different from other regions. First of all, you need to dress up for the contests in more formal clothes, such as dresses. Also, there are ball capsules for your pokeballs with seals. With them, you can have a good effect with your pokémon when calling them out. They look amazing! Oh yeah, lastly, there's an opportunity at any given festival to pair up with someone and you can win together. But if you want, you can always enter single and just have two pokémon of yours on at the same time."
The coordinators looked bewildered at each other. These were entirely different rules that they had to cope with. (A/N: I know that you don't have to have the pairing thing for Sinnoh, but how else am I supposed to make them a couple? Err… pretend I never said that!) "Is there anything else you would like to know?" Nurse Joy's gentle voice floated towards them.
Drew asked first, "Well, actually, I wanted to ask, how do they split the ribbons and where's the first contest going to be held?"
"We don't split the ribbons! We always have two ribbons for one contest at least so that even if the pairs win, they can each get one. For the first contest…" Nurse Joy started typing again.
"The first contest will be in Twinleaf Town! That's good, because it's only about half an hour's walk from here to there. It's really close by! It's going to be held in a week, so you still have time to prepare."
Harley asked next, "So, where's the pokémon lab? We're supposed to get starter pokémon."
Nurse Joy laughed, "Didn't you notice it? It's right next to the pokémon centre. By the way, you better hurry, the pokémon may already be taken."
"WHAT? OH NO!" three voices chorused and they tore off towards the lab, dragging Solidad along with them.
They ran over, and by the time they entered the whitewashed building, they were all panting.
"My, my, what brings you here, kids?" a gruff man in a white lab coat asked. He had grayish hair and was looking amusedly at them.
Drew was the first to recover. "Hello, do you know where the professor is? We're supposed to get pokémon."
May lifted the card out from her pocket, still panting. The man walked over and inspected the card. "Well, I am Professor Rowan, nice to meet you all. I'm glad to see that the visitors have arrived. But you see, there's a slight problem…"
"Oh no! What is it! We'll help you, professor!" May exclaimed.
Rowan chuckled, "Actually, the problem is yours. Come over with me to the table."
They walked over and saw, on the table, three pokeballs. They were labeled piplup, chimchar, and turtwig. Rowan went over and clicked two of the pokeballs, making them open. To their dismay, the pokeballs were empty, nothing but an item, without the pokémon inside. (A/N: remind you of Ash?)
"Professor Rowan, does that mean that we can't get pokémon?" May asked.
"Actually, look at this." The professor pressed the button of the last pokeball sitting on the table and there was more of a reaction. A bright white light shone from the ball to form a pokémon.
"Turt-turtwig!" A turtwig was sitting and it looked up at the humans. Almost immediately, it jumped on top of Harley's head and perched there, as if it was the king of the castle or something.
The professor chuckled, "I guess we won't have to choose then. Turtwig has chosen its trainer. You see, I was about to say that we would have to choose one person to be turtwig's partner since we've only got one of the starter pokémon."
May and Drew smiled, happy for Harley, but they still felt slightly disappointed that they wouldn't get pokémon, as they had anticipated and looked forward to.
At that moment, two lab assistants ran in. "Professor! There's a problem! The two pokémon eggs that came in yesterday went missing. We were watching them, but suddenly, with a flash, they disappeared. Do you have any clue as to why?"
Rowan's face was impassive. "I'm not REALLY sure, but I have a hunch. You do remember which pokémon those eggs contain, right? Well, I'm pretty sure that they sensed their trainer and future partner was nearby, so they teleported so that they would get to be with their humans."
The gang gasped. They didn't know that eggs would do that.
"We have to find the eggs before other no-so-friendly people find them. Sorry, May, Drew, Harley and Solidad. Will you please excuse me?"
"Wait! Professor, do you think that we could help you in finding the eggs? That way, you have four more people helping and you'll accomplish the task easier." May said, trying to be helpful.
Rowan looked at them and nodded, "Yes, thanks! The eggs could be anywhere, but it's within Sandgem town, so we just look around." He scratched his chin, "Solidad and Harley, will you search in the town with my two assistants? May, Drew and I will search the nearby forest."
They all nodded their consent and left for their assigned places. Rowan, May and Drew all left towards the forest, which connected Sandgem and Twinleaf town. "Let's go!" May said enthusiastically. "Today, on May's expedition, we have us searching for mysterious pokémon eggs that have gone missing. Where will they be? Will we find them?" With that, May ended, still having the rectangle that she made out of her fingers, just like a camera.
Drew sighed; May was just so childish sometimes. Hearing this, May turned and glared at him and Rowan just chuckled. They walked into the forest. As they did a bright white light seemed to be charging towards them. Before they had time to move, they noticed that there were two beams. The beams split towards Drew and May, stopping nearly a foot away.
"What's this?" Drew asked. A bewildered Rowan was about to answer when the light materialized and formed a circular object. The two teenagers held their arms out and the bright object dropped into their arms. They solidified and they could see two egg-like shapes. On the one in May's arms, there was a single blue triangle on the surface in the centre. Similarly, Drew's was the same, except for the fact that where May's was blue, his was red.
"Um… professor? What are these?" May asked.
The professor looked shocked. "Why May, these are the pokémon eggs that we were trying to find. Little did we know that they were the ones doing the finding. Come on, let's get back to the lab and call the others."
Everyone sat in chairs back at the lab. May and Drew were still holding onto the eggs. They all looked towards Rowan for some answers.
"My children, I guess you are lucky. Maybe it was fate, but who knows. You see, after all, you will get pokémon from me. Those eggs, as we said before, had teleported because they could sense the people who were going to be their trainers. Coincidentally, they materialized in your arms." He grinned, waiting for them to understand.
May jumped up. "Does that mean that we're their trainers? Will we get to keep them?"
"No, we have to give them back and they have no meaning do us… OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT HE MEANS! Do you need everything spelt out for you?" Drew said, inducing a scowl from May, which quickly disappeared due to the prospect of getting a pokémon egg.
"Children, when you first came here, I already saw your love for pokémon. I'm glad that the eggs chose you." Rowan said.
The lab assistants, however, had some arguments, "Professor, do you remember where the eggs came from and what they contain?" They seemed alarmed.
"Of course I do, but you saw how they had teleported, if we don't, those eggs will just find them again." A look of understanding passed through the assistants' faces.
Drew, on the other hand looked curiously at the egg, "Professor, what's inside these eggs?"
"That's for you to find out, my boy!" May and Drew looked confusedly at each other.
"Anyways, thank you, Professor Rowan! I'm glad that you allowed us to keep them!"
"No need to thank me, oh, did you need your pokedexes upgraded? I can give you the one with the Sinnoh program now."
May took out the one that Max had made. "Professor, this is the one that my little brother made. Do you think that you could just upload information instead of giving me another one?"
Rowan looked curiously at the pokedex and gestured for May to hand it over for inspection. After a while of looking at the pokedex, he was satisfied and grunted at May, "You know, this pokedex is really well made. If your brother made it, I'm sure that he's really talented in it. Encourage him to make more. I'll look at them, if he wants."
May beamed, happy that her brother had gotten such high praise from Professor Rowan. "Does that mean that I can keep using it?"
Rowan nodded. He put a USB like device into one of the ports of May's pokedex and it started beeping, signaling the transfer of information. For the other three, he gave them Sinnoh league pokedexes. Finally a beeping sound from the USB told them that the information was done transferring.
"Thanks, Professor Rowan!" May said. He nodded.
Solidad looked at the clock, "Oh no! We already spent a lot of time here! We have to go, Professor, it's already eight at night!"
"Okay, bye kids!" He said as they walked from his lab, happy about the results of the day.
They were back at the pokémon centre; they got their rooms from Nurse Joy shortly afterwards. Now, they sat on the beds of Harley and Drew's room. They had split themselves into two rooms to save their money, and naturally, it was boys in one and girls in the other. Actually, money wasn't the problem, they get money after each contest and all of their families were pretty well off in that sense.
In truth, they just wanted to have companionship, even Drew, though he said otherwise.
Both Drew and May brought their eggs while Harley kept his new turtwig by his side. They were to be a topic of discussion.
"Solidad, do you know what this egg contains?" May asked. The older trainer looked as puzzled as the rest of them.
" I don't know, but it seems like your egg and Drew's has a striking resemblance. It's the same creamy white with the triangle. Wait! Didn't you say that Max gave you a handbook on things that he knows? Maybe he has drawings or descriptions."
"Great idea!" May put the egg down and got up to get her bag and was immediately glad that she had put the egg down. She tripped on air. Drew started snickering while she glared daggers at him. Solidad and Harley had a mixture of concern and amusement between them.
Finally, she wrenched the handbook free from the grasp of the backpack. The pages were thin, but the book was thick, which meant that there was a LOT of information stuck into the pages of the carefully made book.
May quickly flipped through the pages that had information about taking care of oneself, berries, and pokémon attacks. She finally reached a section labeled 'Pokémon eggs'. "Here it is!" she said triumphantly. In response, the other crowded around her, Solidad and Harley quickly took her left and right side, leaving Drew to get up on the bed and look over her shoulder.
The two older trainers smirked at each other, knowing that it put the younger pair in a closer position. However, the two young coordinators didn't notice, their curiosity for the eggs too great to notice their own proximity.
May started flipping through the pages slowly, analyzing the eggs.
"Whoa, Gingerbread, your brother knows a lot." Harley was overwhelmed at the information that he saw in the book. Being not much of a literature person, he was already drowning in the words.
Sisterly pride burst through May. She nodded at the compliment and smiled. They started by flipping through pokémon found in the Johto league, but came up empty. They analyzed every single page, but there just didn't seem to be one. They finished the other regions. There were blanks in some pages to signify that Max didn't know the picture of the egg for that specific pokémon, since he was going by pokedex order, the one that was commonly being used.
May finally snapped the book shut, stifling a yawn. She stole a glance at the clock. It was eleven already. "Oh no! We have to set out tomorrow for Twinleaf town. We should all get some sleep." They all nodded and May got up, stretching. Drew, being on the bed, kneeled, and since the bed was high, his lips brushed her forehead, bringing a blush to his cheeks. May, on the other hand, didn't seem that excited. She just took it as a goodnight kiss that friends gave.
When May travelled with others, they would give her goodnight kisses, so she was fine. "Goodnight to you too, Drew." Solidad and Harley were bewildered. They expected more of a reaction from May.
Drew was just thankful that she didn't press matters. His face was as red as a rose. He deftly produced one out of nowhere and gave it to her. The red waxy petals were beautiful and Solidad noticed that it was thornless. That way, a certain klutz wouldn't cut herself. May accepted, quite used to these antics of his. He used to give them to her beautifly all the time before.
"For my beautifly, right? Sorry, though, she isn't here with me this time." She stretched and continued, "She loved my mother's flower gardens too much." May grinned, showing her white teeth. "Well, at least my eevee loves them, too!"
"Okay." He answered. Solidad and Harley gaped at this exchange. They expected more to have happened. What they had just seen were plainly shows of affection. They wondered how a girl could be so dense. A regular person would be squealing with joy. At least, a fan girl of Drew's would.
They all nodded goodnight and left to their individual rooms.
Drew was puzzled. He lay on his bed, but he couldn't sleep. For some reason, how May reacted to the kiss and the rose (red!) really bothered him. He felt something like… disappointment? Sadness? Joy? Angriness? He didn't know. Drew was completely and utterly confused. Why was he acting like this? It just didn't make sense to him.
May, literally just on the other side of the wall from Drew also couldn't sleep. She kept on thinking back, too. After all, she had never gotten kisses from guys other than her dad and Max. The flower was beautiful, too. She could never wonder where those roses came from. They weren't squashed, either. They looked healthy and fresh. In the Hoenn region, she had thought that the roses were for her, but he had convinced her that they were for her pokémon, which she believed, for he had no reason to lie. Well, he didn't from her point of view.
Slowly, they both fell asleep, their eggs would be side-by-side had there not been the wall. They were pressed so close to the barrier between them.
All four of them were sleeping peacefully when May's alarm clocks went off. The night before, May had set up five individual alarm clocks and had hid them in different places in the room, knowing that she wouldn't wake up otherwise. She had the habit of slamming the 'snooze' button too many times for it to be a good thing.
A few minutes to her would turn into an hour, and later on, two hours. Finally, she would look at the clock, scream that she was late and get prepared and ready in less than ten minutes. (A/N: in case you were wondering, this is how my typical school morning starts off… unless I set off five alarm clocks that make me get up…lol)
May clumsily removed herself from the bed, trying to stop the objects that were hurting her poor eardrums. Solidad, on the other hand, was quite unfazed, and jut snuggled into her pillows.
May on the other hand grumbled and had successfully turned off two. Now she was more awake and found the individual alarm clocks. She turned them off and shoved them in her bag. A loud banging came from the door. She opened it and saw Drew, who was wearing a black t-shirt and plain green shorts which white lines running down the sides.
Seeing him in his early morning look brought a blush to May's cheeks. May was wearing fuzzy pajamas that had skiing piplup on them and took the general colouring of an icy blue. (A/N: I own those, but I have skiing penguins instead :)!) Drew liked it; she wasn't wearing what normal girls would be wearing for her age, (tank tops and shorts) since these pajamas were cute. He would take these over a skin-showing shirt any day.
"G'morning, Drew, what brings you over?" Sleep was still evident in May eyes, but she tried to wake herself up.
Drew chuckled. "I was wondering if whether or not you were killing yourselves. I heard slight screaming and grumbling and tripping."
May scowled and said, "We're fine, thank you very much! Solidad's still sleeping, but it's still early."
"Oh yeah, I should wake up Harley." With that, he left for the room next door.
May walked back into her room as well, trying to wake up Solidad, who looked like she could sleep through anything.
"Hey, Solidad, wake up." She got a slight mumble in response, but that was it. May set up an alarm and let it ring beside Solidad's ear, but she wouldn't wake up. May sighed; she would have to take extreme measures. "Solidad, Harley wants to meet you for breakfast at the buffet downstairs." (A/N: the pokémon center shouldn't have a restaurant like a hotel, but this is my story, so just deal with it! Jokes!)
"WHAT? Why didn't you wake me?" Peachy eyes opened and Solidad jumped out of the bed, running for the washroom and shutting the door. May laughed. She hoped that she wouldn't be killed when Solidad realized that Harley wasn't going to be there.
Finally, a rather hurried Solidad rushed out of the bathroom. She quickly ruffled through her stuff and looked for clothes. Finally, she found a pinkish shirt that complimented her eyes and normal dark blue jeans. Quickly, Solidad changed and said, "May, I'll be downstairs. If you need me come down."
May wanted to spill the beans and tell Solidad that it was a lie, but it would be a good prank, so she just followed along. "Sure, I plan to eat breakfast there, too. I won't call to you. After all, I'd be like a third leg there." May smirked.
Solidad blushed but didn't say anything. She just quickly straightened her hair again and exited from the room. "I hope she won't kill me!" Swiftly, May entered the washroom and completed the routine that Solidad had gone through, but in a much slower process. She got in the shower when she heard someone in the washroom next door. May hoped that Harley would get his butt down there sooner rather than later. She really didn't want to suffer a slow and torturous death.
Finally, she got out and put on her normal Sinnoh travelling clothes. She wore the green bandanna and the orange shirt with the black collar. Finally, she snapped on her green fanny pack and left for downstairs. As she left the room, she heard the door of the next-door room open. Drew came out, looking apprehensive.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He noticed her and asked instead, "Is Solidad in the room?"
May shook her head. "Why? Is Harley in your room right now?"
He also shook his head and they both let out sighs of relief. Startled at the other's reaction, they looked towards each other. "Did you…?" they asked simultaneously.
"Yeah, I told Harley/Solidad that Harley/Solidad was in the buffet waiting to wake him/her up." They said this in unison, but with different names. Seeing this, they grinned and laughed.
Her laughter is beautiful, what a tinkling sound… Drew thought.
He should laugh more. He looks so relaxed and seems like he's having so much fun. May thought.
"Let's hope they went at the same time and our heads won't be severed from our necks." May said, still bubbling with laughter.
"I hope so! Wow, it's a good thing that we both used the same technique to get them up." Drew said.
They walked down, for once, not arguing. It's nice to not argue all the time, but it's just too much fun to tease her. Drew thought. Finally, they nodded at each other before entering the restaurant. Their timing was the same, after all. The two older coordinators were laughing at a table, eating their food while talking to each other.
May and Drew breathed sighs of relief. Their necks were safe after all. Drew was about to join the rest of their group when May pulled on his sleeve. "Don't ruin them! They're sitting together so peacefully! You'll just make it awkward for them!"
Drew agreed with her on that point and just sat at a nearby table. May just awkwardly stood there and Drew said, "Well, aren't you going to sit down? Or are you going to just stand there?"
May looked genuinely surprised, "You're actually letting me sit? I thought about it, but I wasn't sure whether to sit at another table or by you." May pulled the chair and sat down, but got up shortly after again, feeling hunger. She leapt up and grabbed a plate while piling food on it. Drew walked beside her.
"How do you eat so much, May?" he said, "You don't LOOK like you eat that much." He still piled food, but it was only half of what May was getting.
"I exercise a lot." It was true. May exercised an extremely long time. She would run for at least two hours a day, and when accessible, she would swim for an hour, at least. She was a born athlete, so she tried everything that she could. When she was still in school, she had been in many sports teams.
They finished getting their food and made their way back to their seats, watching Harley and Solidad. Peals of laughter rose from the table, and the food was untouched. Harley was apparently talking about funny childhood stories. Little did Drew know, his good mood was going to come to an end soon.
"May?" an unknown voice asked. "May Maple?"
May turned around, seeing a boy about her age with navy coloured hair and a white hat. "Brendan? What are you doing here?" She stood up and hugged the boy. Unbeknownst to May, Drew was holding back a growl.
To Drew's discomfort, the Brendan guy returned the hug. He pulled away and said, "I'm here for the Sinnoh League. You still in contests?"
"Yeah! I'm planning to enter-" She was cut off as Drew cleared his throat, feeling left out. "Oh, sorry! Brendan, this is Drew, Drew, this is Brendan. Brendan is my best friend from my childhood! Oh, sorry, would you like to sit? Have you eaten? Drew, can Brendan join us?"
Drew wanted to say no, but being the polite gentleman that he was brought up to be, he nodded. Besides, he didn't even know why he hated the guy.
"Thanks!" Brendan sat down. "I've eaten, but sitting here won't be a problem. I'll just talk while you guys eat! So, May, are you alone on your journey?"
May grinned, "I was, but I met up with Solidad and that took care of the problem! You see the couple over there?" She pointed at Solidad and Harley, "That's Solidad and Harley. I'm travelling with them along with Drew! What about you?"
At the mention of Drew's name, Brendan slightly scowled, but it went unnoticed by May since she was wolfing down some food. Seeing her, Brendan smiled.
"I'm alone this time, but I wanted to be alone, so it's fine!" He smirked, "I always was much more independent than you were."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I can be independent!"
"Really? Then why do you always want to be with others rather than being alone?" Brendan smirked while Drew was livid. Drew had always thought that it was his own little thing to tease May, but seeing Brendan like this really made him angry.
While May and Brendan argued, they hadn't noticed Solidad and Harley were looking at them. "You know, I think that maybe Drew has some competition." Solidad said.
Harley sighed, "I hope Drewsie wins!"
Solidad was amused, "Look, that guy with the hat is teasing her, too. Doesn't that remind you of the way Drew interacts with her?"
"Come to think of it, you're right! Why do guys HAVE to tease the girl that they're pining for? That's so cliché! I know I wouldn't do that."
In response, Solidad glanced at Harley, wondering if Harley was treating her like a girl that he liked. She hoped so.
Drew was burning up. Why am I like this? I've gotten so possessive. What's happening? He asked himself. The childhood friends had set up a friendly banter and were exchanging remarks.
"When's your next contest?" Brendan asked.
"It's in Twinleaf! Do you think that you could come watch it? It's in six days!" May wanted her friend to watch. When they were younger, they were inseparable and they loved watching the other compete. Even now, they were still like that. She made puppy dog eyes just in an attempt to sway his choice. Drew was jealous; he had never gotten that face. It was so cute, he would have agreed to anything she asked, though.
Brendan laughed, "May, you know I can't say no to that face, but I guess! I've already gotten one badge from Roark at the Oreburg gym, so I can afford a little detour towards Twinleaf. My next gym is the Eterna one."
"Yes! That's great! Harley, Drew, and I are all competing! I can't wait! My pokémon are all fired up for the performance, too!"
"Don't worry, I'll be rooting for you." He said.
"Since you're coming to watch, how about joining us for a few days?" May really wanted to catch up with her friend. They hadn't had a long conversation for a year, due to travelling and following dreams.
"I'd love to!" Brendan answered. "Are your friends okay with it?"
"Drew? What do you think?" May asked. Drew shrugged, indifferent. "Sorry, I don't know what's wrong. He usually is slightly more talkative. Especially if he isn't talking to me…" She said to Brendan then she turned to the rest of her group. "Solidad, Harley, do you think that my friend, Brendan could travel with us for a few days?"
"Sure Gingerbread!" Harley enthusiastically exclaimed. Solidad nodded.
"Yes!" May squealed and threw her arms about Brendan, making Brendan blush a deep red. Suddenly, May stopped. "Oh no!"
"What's wrong?" Drew and Brendan asked simultaneously.
"We still have to get the costumes and seals for the contest!"
"That's all? Drew scoffed. "We can get them later in the day in the stores in town.
"Hey! It's important! Besides, I was just worried about not being able to participate!" May argued.
"Sure you were…"
At that moment, Harley and Solidad came up. They had paid the bill and were ready to go. "Hey guys! Are you ready? We still have to get ready for the contests."
"Coming!" The younger group quickly paid and stood up.
"Let's go shopping!" Solidad looked excited.
There were a few quick introductions with Brendan before they headed off to the nearby mall. (A/N: Yes, they have a mall.) They all split up and decided to meet in the food court in three hours. They would shop for their own things. Harley and Solidad seemed glued to the hip. Solidad was intent on picking the 'perfect outfit' for Harley. This made Drew and May smirk at each other.
Thus, Harley and Solidad walked of in a pair. As May started to walk off, Brendan called out, "Hey, May! I'll come with you! I don't have anything to shop for, anyways."
"Oh, okay!" May said and she started dragging Brendan behind her by the wrist. Brendan was evidently enjoying himself; he was grinning and was willingly being led.
Drew stood there, feeling slightly lonely. I'm getting soft. Just a while ago, I was thinking about travelling by myself. He sighed and walked into a store, but his mind was with May, wondering where she was and whether she enjoyed Brendan's company.
Drew sat in the food court, signing autographs. Some of his fan girls had found him and were asking for pictures and autographs. He sighed and smiled for a picture. Suddenly, a tinkling laugh that he would never forget filled his ears.
He looked over and saw May and Brendan coming towards him. Brendan was holding several shopping bags while May was empty-handed. He could hear their conversation clearly.
"May, I remember agreeing to be here and go shopping with you, but I didn't agree to be a pack mule." You could tell that Brendan was just complaining as a joke. He probably wouldn't have let May hold the bags anyways.
May laughed, "Well, that's what you get when you willingly shop with me! Besides, you're stronger than I am, so it only makes sense that you're carrying the things! Hey Drew!" she called.
Drew smiled at her. "Hey! What did you end up getting?" He quickly told his fans that he would sign autographs later. His fans left with several saddened expressions, but they didn't want their idol to be inconvenienced.
"You'll see! Hey! Do you pay people to be your fan girls or anything? Why do they swarm over you everywhere?" she said, exasperatedly.
"Of course not! That would be cheap." Drew said while he flicked his hair.
"Will you stop doing that? It's so annoying! It just shows off your arrogant, annoying, irritating self!"
Drew smiled and flicked his hair again. "What? This? My fan girls love it, so it's fine." As if on cue, the fans that had been standing about fifty feet away squealed.
Brendan was irritated at the thought of Drew annoying May. He had harboured feelings for May since they were little and he felt jealousy towards Drew, who was obviously head over heels for May. Luckily for him, May was dense, and didn't notice, but he could see it plainly.
Harley and Solidad came back at that moment. Harley was holding a lot of bags (Solidad was empty-handed) . It seemed that in addition to Harley's coordinator clothes, Solidad had done a little more shopping.
"Let's get back! We I want to try using the new seals with my pokémon and their pokeballs! Besides, they need to eat." May said.
"Okay, let's go." The others responded.
"Look, Brendan's carrying May's bags." Solidad whispered to Harley.
"Is it just me, or do I smell smoke?" Harley replied, pointing to Drew, inducing a small giggle from Solidad. The others didn't notice or didn't care. Brendan and May were happily talking while Drew was fuming behind them, sullen.
The group had eaten, fed their pokémon and were ready to train. Solidad and Brendan didn't have much to do, seeing as they weren't competing in contests. They decided to watch the coordinators and their pokémon as they prepared for the contest.
May, Drew and Harley walked into individual fields. Luckily, there were quite a few options, seeing as the pokémon centre had three battling fields that were separated. Solidad rushed off after Harley, as expected, but Brendan walked after Drew.
"Hey Brendan, why are you following me? Shouldn't you be watching over May?" He asked.
Brendan smiled, sincere, "I wanted to see your performance. You see, I've never been in a contest and I want to see what they're like."
Drew nodded and applied the ball capsule and seal to his pokeballs.
"What pokémon do you have?" Brendan asked.
In response, Drew threw three pokeballs in the air. "Come on out, guys." He said, and out came a flygon, a masquerain, and a roselia. Flygon came out with a veil of sand, which got blew away with a beat of its strong wings, courtesy of the seal. Masquerain was covered in bubbles that it quickly shook off with a graceful loop in the air. Roselia's entrance was by far the most graceful. She came out with a veil of petals that shimmered around her in a heart. The pokémon even let out a small petal dance, making the heart blow out and away.
Brendan gaped. This was entirely different from his entrances, which consisted of merely throwing a pokeball. "That's amazing! Contests are cool." He said grudgingly, but it was reasonable, after all, he considered Drew his rival.
Drew smirked and proceeded on to ignoring Brendan. After all, Brendan was just a spectator, and he needed to get his pokémon accustomed to the double performance. His brow furrowed in thought, but he quickly looked up and said, "Okay, this time, we're going to have a double performance, so flygon and roselia, you're doing the appeal round. Roselia and masquerain will be doing the second round. Got it?"
His pokémon nodded and chanted their names. Drew ran over a double entrance, combining seals and considering different moves that he could use. All the while, Brendan watched, fascinated by how a contest went. "Flygon, sandtomb on roselia."
The desert dragon pokémon obliged, flapping its wings so that it lifted off the ground gracefully and its eyes lit up. Roselia was suddenly confronted by the moving ground, which rose to cover it. Roselia, being a small pokémon, was completely submerged; she was reduced to s tiny lump, hardly detectable. "Magical leaf."
For a moment, it was unresponsive until a slight humming could be heard from the lump. Soon, it started to glow a bright green and had several cracks. Finally, a strong magical leaf came out, breaking the sand tomb. The leaves hit each other and created sparkles. Roselia was standing, holding its rose-like hands in the air, still surrounded by a ring of leaves. "Continue with magical leaf, roselia. Flygon, gust to speed it up and end with a flamethrower." Drew casually called out, keeping his cool.
As glowing leaves appeared from roselia's hands, flygon flapped its wings to make the rotation much faster, with just a few beats, the leaves were moving in a ring that looked almost solid, due to the fast movement. Suddenly, flygon threw back its head, seeming to collect energy and blasted a fiery beam into the ring. The ring caught on fire and slowed down. Roselia stopped supplying the leaves and soon, they came to a stop. Burning leaves were flying everywhere. "Petal dance." Once again, roselia gracefully drew up its arms and rose petals were released. They cut through the burning leaves and it all fell to the ground.
A sudden clapping brought Drew to his senses. Brendan was astounded by the performance that he had the privilege to watch. Drew smirked and looked towards the sky. It was getting dark. He must have spent much more time than he had thought. "We have to go back." He remarked. In response, Brendan walked back to the pokémon centre. Drew recalled his pokémon and followed.
As Drew entered the pokémon centre, he saw Solidad and Harley sitting, talking with Brendan. May was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Drew was slammed in his side by a fast moving object. He was now on his back with something/someone on top of him. He opened his eyes and brushed his chartreuse hair out of his eyes. He focused on the person. All he saw was a green bandana and brown hair. The face looked up and he was looking into eyes deeper than the sea, eyes that reminded him of sapphires. "Sorry! I didn't mean to! I was running late and I…" the person stopped talking, realizing that it was Drew.
"May? Are you okay?" Drew asked. May was surprised; she thought that he would complain that she had slammed into him first.
"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry! Are you okay I slammed into you pretty hard!" She was laughing, but concern showed through her eyes.
"I'm good-" Drew was about to continue, but the others had realized what had happened. Suddenly, the two of them realized the position that they were in (May was literally lying on top of Drew… slightly suggestive, much?). They leapt away from one another, blushes on their faces. May landed on her bum, but Drew was standing. As Drew was about to offer a hand, the group came in.
"May, are you okay?" Brendan rushed over and helped her up and Drew scowled. Brendan was really getting on his nerves.
May smiled and dusted herself off, "I'm fine! Don't worry! A little bump isn't going to hurt the great May Maple in the least!" With that, she pumped her fists in the air, inducing laughs from most of them, but traces of concern still dwindled in Drew's eyes.
"Well, as long as you're okay! Oh no!" Brendan exclaimed.
May stopped laughing and looked at him, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing much, I just never saw your performance!"
"Don't worry, you'll get to see me win the Twinleaf ribbon, remember? You'll see my performance sooner or later"
Drew jumped in at that comment, "As if! I'll be winning that ribbon, thank you very much! Don't even think about beating me!"
"I will! I'll cream you soooooo badly!" May was starting to steam.
Drew flicked his hair and said, "In your dreams. Well, maybe I'll go a bit easier on you so that you don't look so bad." He smirked, making May growl.
"Will you stop that? All the flicking and obnoxious words! Oh, you arrogant lout!" May was practically jumping up and down, fuming.
"Aw, you know you like it! Besides, what you call obnoxious is true. After all, why would I lie?"
"I beg to differ." Suddenly, Brendan's voice rang out in the air. They were quite surprised. In the arguments, people only came to break the fight. Now, someone was actually taking sides. "How would you know what the results are? After all, you haven't seen May's performance. I bet her performance is just as good, if not better."
May shot Brendan a grateful smile and said, "Finally! Someone agrees with me! Thanks Brendan! Drew, Brendan is the best debater that I know! Ha! Try winning against him! In school, he was the best!"
Brendan blushed, a pink colour dusting his cheeks. "Aw, May, that's an over exaggeration. I'm not THAT good. Besides, of course I would take your side!"
Drew scowled and said, "Well, I guess we'll just have to see the results then, won't we?"
"Deal!" May exclaimed. "I'm hungry, can we eat now?"
They all laughed, knowing May's healthy appetite. "Do you have anywhere you want to go in particular?" Solidad asked.
"Yeah!" With that, she dragged both Brendan and Drew by the wrists in her hands, pulling them to a restaurant that she deemed as good. Both boys blushed, rather enjoying the feel of her hand on their wrists. With that, they rushed collectively to the restaurant.
Solidad and Harley followed, sharing a knowing look. They could tell what was happening. Even if the two teenagers that they knew didn't, they could tell.
Question of the chapter: Who do you think will win the contest? Or will they both lose? Please answer!
There is a poll up on my profile, about Brendan! Anyways, who can guess what the eggs contain? Cookies for everyone that guesses correctly! If you know your pokémon facts, you'll get it!
My next update will be next month (the first of June!)! I hope you'll continue reading and that I haven't bored you guys to death! After all, what kind of a person would I be if I made my readers hate me? Anyways, please please please review!
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