A/N. Taco taco taco. ^^;; Bear with me, will you all? THANX. And I hate this chapter title.

Plot always gets in the way of romance. Darn you, plot. *sulks*

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Chapter Three -

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Fun x Games

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May jumped, bumping her cup as she did so. Drew artfully leaned over her shoulder to catch it before it spattered on the floor. Smoothly, he took the seat across from her, waved over a waitress and ordered a sweet tea before either May or Abe had a chance to recover.

The brunette coordinator recovered first. "Wha... hey! Who said you could share a table with me?! " she snapped, too startled to check her words.

"I didn't think you'd mind, " he stated calmly, his typical cocky aura still surrounding him. "I did share a cabin with you before. "

Thankfully, Abe was not drinking anything at the time, otherwise he probably would have choked to death. Instead, he was reduced to making a kind of strangled choking sound and decided wisely to walk away. "See you around, May, " he gabbled awkwardly as he vanished.

May blushed. "Drew! Be quiet! Some people might hear that and get the wrong idea! "

After thanking the waitress with his typical charming coolness, he took a small drink from the tea, flicking his gaze up to meet May's eyes. "And what idea would that be? " He sipped coolly on his tea, watching her intently from over the rim of his glass, the corner of his mouth turning up in a teasing smirk.

The silence lengthened and Drew made no effort to break it. He couldn't help toying with people- it was a part of him. Finally, after much scowling, huffing and general sulking, May gave up.

"What are we, Drew? " she said exasperatedly.

"Humans, " he replied without missing a beat, face as straight as he could make it. May scowled deeper, even as her cheeks twitched with a concealed smile.

"Oh, quit it. I know what we are, but what are we? Rivals? Friends? " Here she hesitated and left the question as it was, even though Drew could read her expression like a book. Or are we more?

Suddenly he set down his tea. A smirk slowly spread across his face as he leaned over the table, his face merely inches from hers.

"What do you want us to be? " he whispered huskily.

May's face flushed bright red as her mouth opened, trying to form words and failing miserably.

Drew leaned back, crossing his arms and acting like his typical totally-in-control self, although inside he was just one big hormonal knot. Her expression was pretty much answer enough, but he wanted to hear her say it. It won't be true, won't be real until she says it.

"I....ah...hah.... "

Suddenly, the loudspeaker outside blasted through the conversation. "Attention Dragon Trainers and Coordinators! Please gather at the foot of the Volcano for official orientation! "

With a sigh and slight scowl, Drew arose from the table, carelessly and silently tossing a scarlet flower on the table as he did so. The look he cast at May over his shoulder, however, was anything but careless. He saw her shiver just before he stepped outside.

Once outside, he followed the small crowd of about twenty or so other trainers as they gathered around the three figures standing on the large rock that served as a stage. Lance stood before the crowd, a kind smile on his face, red hair fluttering in the mild breeze.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Lance, The Dragon Master and Champion of the Johto and Kanto Elite Four. This, " he gestured to the blue haired woman on his right, "is my cousin Clair , the Gym Leader of Blackthorn City, and this, " he indicated the woman with long blue-tipped-silver hair in a braid, "is Vinyaya, last year's Ribbon Cup Champion of Johto. "

Clair stepped forward. "We're going to divide you up into three groups now, and you'll stay with your group for the entire course. Each group will have two days training with each of us, then at the end we'll have a competition for both the Coordinators and the Trainers. The prize is this. "

She brought a box forward, opened it to reveal a Premier Ball, then released the Pokemon. There was a flash, a sparkle, then a shimmering fuchsia serpent appeared.

"One of the world's only shiny Dratini's. All three of us worked together with Gary and Samuel Oak to find and breed a pair of shiny Dragonites. This is their first daughter. "

As gasps and cries of awe ripped through the crowd, the Dratini cooed and nuzzled Lance. He rubbed her behind the ear-fins gently, and with a nod to Clair, the Dratini was withdrawn.

At last Vinyaya spoke. "All the trainers and coordinators with last names of A to H, please go with Lance. I to Q go with Clair. The rest follow me. "

Drew watched May get swallowed up by her group as he followed Vinyaya, feeling a tang of jealousy and disappointment as he watched her talking with the same guy from lunch, only to smile again as he watched her clutching the rose as if it was made of glass.

Good luck, May, he thought, with a flicker of that same affection that had him jump in an icy river for her seven months ago.

"Mr. Drew! "

A shy female voice sounded behind him, and he turned to meet startled, doe-like blue-green eyes. "Hello, Mr. Drew! "

"Hello, Brianna, " he replied politely, turning back around and sensing her be seized with fangirl passion.

Looks like I've run out of it.

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