"They did what?" Gary said, eyes widening as Sam winced. Sure, like five minutes ago, he snapped out of it, about ten minutes after Julia and May left.
"I don't want to repeat it, okay?" Sam said, annoyed. "Julia and May totally did it without me knowing, and trust me, I wouldn't do this if I had a choice, which I don't, and you were in a trance or something, you looked possessed, and then you couldn't say anything to protest or anything so of course they assumed you agreed and they just walked away saying that the contest starts this afternoon at four which is in five hours and that they'd pick us up at the Pokemon Center at two so that we could get ready and I don't even freaking know what we're supposed to do, so you can imagine that I'm freaking out, and this is practically your fault, if you hadn't damaged your Mudkip so badly then we probably could have gotten out of this mess and we probably could've avoided all unnecessary embarrassment that comes with this day-"
Gary was politely listening to Sam's rant, and he concluded then that Sam couldn't stop talking if she was nervous or something. But then something caught his eye about six feet above Sam's head, and he got interested.
"-and do you even think I'd want to join a 'Cutest Couples' contest with you, I don't think so! This is going to be so embarrassing and I am so going to regret this in the future…" Sam paused for breath, and looked at Gary. "Are you even listening to me?"
"I kinda lost track after the, 'Julia and May totally did it without me knowing' part, so I just pretended to listen." Gary said, shrugging, still reading the thing above Sam's head.
Sam groaned. The blunt one strikes again. "Gary, if you're not listening, then maybe you could at least… try and help me get us out of this? Maybe we could sneak away at the last minute or something?" she said hopefully.
"No." he said simply, a smirk on his face.
"Ex-cuse me? Do you actually want to be ridiculed?" Sam practically screamed in his face, drawing attention from people passing by them.
"Sam, most of the time, you can be so dense." He said, still smirking.
"What the hell are you talking about-"
Gary's smirk grew wider as he reached out to Sam to put a hand around her waist. Sam stiffened, but Gary just pulled her next to him.
"What the HECK?"
Gary put his free hand under her chin, and guided her gaze towards the thing Gary had been staring at a few minutes previous. "Look." He said.
Sam stared at the billboard. "Why am I supposed to be looking at – oh." She said, eyes widening. It was the ad for the contest. "I know the basic mechanics for the contest, Gary…" she said, slightly nullified by the thought of Gary's arm around her waist.
"I don't think we have enough time to buy food after the contest, right?" Gary said, leaning closer to her ear, arm still around her waist.
Sam nearly lost her nerve. "I d-don't think so…" she mumbled.
"Look again." He said, insistent.
Sam sighed, and stared at the billboard, trying to make sense of the words there, (choice words: 'sweetest', 'loving', 'caring') and saw four words that made everything make sense. A sly grin worked its way across her face as she wrapped her arm around Gary.
PRIZE: BIG FOOD BASKET.
**
Maxie tsked as one of his informants entered his private office. "The Gym Leaders already know? All of them?"
The informant, named Brick, nodded once. "It seems that the Sootopolis Gym Leader informed them all." He bowed his head, waiting for Maxie's response.
Wallace. Maxie hissed inwardly. To think that you would be the one to bring my downfall. "And the Elite Four?"
"Already informed by the Champion."
Maxie hissed, this time, out loud. Brick flinched at the rage of his leader. "Steven Stone." He said, pronouncing his name as if it were a bad word.
+ + + (Author's Note: Ever since I read the manga for Pokemon Emerald, I have been addicted to another pairing, two actually, but only one will be shown in this chapter, which probably won't happen in the anime. Attention: I am entering the Elite Four into this story, and if you're only watching the anime, then you won't know these people except for Steven. You should probably check Wikipedia or something, so you'd know who I'm talking about. And the pairings, by the way, are Steven and Phoebe (again, if you don't know her, check the internet) and Wallace and Winona.)
In Ever Grande
Steven Stone crashed his fist against the nearest table, obviously angered, while the Elite Four watched anxiously. Steven had never been this strung up ever since… well, never.
"Steven…" Glacia tried calming him down.
"Team Magma and Aqua are at it again… this is too much, even for them, ever since that Groudon and Kyogre incident…" Steven hissed. "If Ash Ketchum wasn't there when he was supposed to…"
"Steven…" Drake, the oldest among the five, reached out a hand to steady Steven.
"And they were already terrorizing about sixty percent of Hoenn…" Steven continued, steam practically pouring out of his ears.
"Steven." Sidney crossed his arms, as he did when Steven rarely became stubborn and impossible.
"And now they've got their sights on that girl!" Steven cast his gaze to a TV, which was showing our heroine, who was chatting with Gary about something which we'll come to know later.
"Steven…" this voice caught Steven's attention, seeing as it was coming from Steven's long-time crush. Phoebe, the Elite Four member specializing in Ghost Pokemon, was looking at him with a concerned look on her face. "Calm down, okay? We'll deal with this somehow." She continued, satisfied that he had finally quieted down. "We always do, don't we?" she said, smiling at him.
Sidney, Glacia, and Drake looked at each other with a knowing look on their face. They'd known ever since the beginning, that those two were meant for each other. Ever since that new group of the Elite Four was formed, those two were inseparable.
But we'll go back to them later. I mean, don't y'all wanna see what's happening to Sam and Gary?
**
"Julia, May, remind me to kill you two once this thing is over." Sam hissed.
The two just giggled.
Sam sighed. It was another thing to agree to pretend to be all cuddly with Gary, another to do it on stage and in front of judges and more than a thousand people watching. She shuddered.
Flashback
"Look, I'll make a deal with you." Gary said, smirking as he took away his hand from Sam's waist. "I'm hungry, and that food looks pretty good, so why don't we pretend to be a couple, for the sake of my stomach?"
Sam gave him a sly smile. "You know what? I am so game for this. And I'm hungry too. So let's do this!"
End Flashback
Julia laughed and put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Aw, don't worry, it's just for five hours tops…"
"What kind of contest is this anyway?!" Sam said, shocked of the fact that she was going to pretend to be cuddly with Gary for five hours.
"Like we said, the cutest couples contest!" May said, smiling half-heartedly.
"And what's with that look, May?" Julia said, smirking.
May shuddered. "The words 'Cutest Couple' and 'Drew' don't exactly match for me."
The three females were currently sitting down together with other females in a room in the Rustburo coliseum, where they would be briefed on the contest mechanics and blah, blah, blah.
The males (actually, two males and one 'no comment' person wearing a Cacturne costume) were in another room.
Julia and Sam laughed. "Don't worry, May, we won't tell that you two are crazy for each other." Julia said, wiggling her perfect eyebrows at May.
May turned crimson. "Shut up, Julia!" then, a mischievous smile crossed her face. "Better Drew than Harley."
Now it was Julia's turn to blush – this time, with fury. "Oh you just-"
**
"And now, presenting our candidates for HOENN'S CUTEST COUPLE!!!" the emcee announced as she stepped onstage to the crowd of exactly five thousand people.
This is how it would work. From the right wing of the stage, the girl would come out when her name was announced, and from the left wing of the stage, the boy would come out, then they'd display their 'love' to the crowd, and go back to their respective wings, and then the next couple would come out.
May, Julia and Sam would be the twenty-first, twenty-second, and the twenty-third couples, respectively. They reclined in chairs and sat down, quiet, and listened to the descriptions of the emcee.
"Regine is from Fortree City, a trainer! She met her soulmate on the road to Lilycove, and they hit it off perfectly!"
"Alex is a coordinator who met his match, Addie, who was a trainer, in Goldenrod City! They fell in love when their Nidoran's fell in love as well!"
"Zack is hailing from Viridian City, with his partner, Joan, they're celebrating their four years of dating today!"
Julia sighed. "Dang, these guys have better love stories than all of Taylor Swift's songs together."
"Tell me about it." May grumbled.
"I wonder what Gary cooked up." Sam said, picking on her shoe lace. The males were supposed to tell the emcee what to say about their couple, for example, how they met, how they got together, and etcetera.
"I think Drew's just doing this for the food." May made a face.
"And what do you think Gary's doing?" Sam replied.
"This lovely young coordinator met her match as a rival in one of her contests!" May gasped as the emcee called out a familiar scenario.
"May, that's you, isn't it!" Julia said, standing up. "I'm watching you from the wings! Come on, Sam!" Julia pulled on Sam's shoulder.
May trembled as she got ready to step on stage.
"May hails from Petalburg City, while Drew comes from Oldale Town! They fell in love when Drew's Roselia offered a rose to May while the latter thought it was from Drew! Come on out, please!" May was shaking with anger, while Julia stifled her giggles.
"You have to admit, he's creative with stories…" she snickered.
May plastered on a big smile and walked on stage, and Sam and Julia caught Drew flicking his cowlick at the crowd. Sam whispered to Julia. "Could you at least tell me the real story behind those two?"
Julia laughed quietly. "The first part was true. They were rivals during May's first contest, and she lost to him. The 'falling in love' thing was half-true. May did get a rose, but it was Drew who offered it to her, not Roselia. And I have no idea if they're in love or not. They keep bickering though, so we'll see." Julia shrugged.
They watched eagerly as the two joined hands in the middle of the stage, bowed, and suddenly, when May thought it was over, she turned around, but Drew did something surprising. He turned her back around, and dipped her suavely, and leaned closer to her face.
Julia clapped her hands to her mouth. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod-"
Drew smirked at May, and kissed her – on the forehead. The crowd went wild as Drew and May returned to their respective wings.
Julia was squealing like crazy. "May, I can't believe he did that to you!!!" May meanwhile, was too red and too in shock to speak.
"Our next couple met each other when they were in diapers!" Julia's eyes widened. "According to Harley, their mothers were best friends, and of course, who doesn't love the childhood love cliché? Come on out, Harley and Julia!"
Julia growled under her breath and muttered something like, "He is so dead when this thing is over…" while May and Sam giggled. Julia settled with a half-grin, and walked out to meet Harley, acting all cool and stuff.
Harley, however, was the opposite of cool.
"Oh, honeeeeeeeeey!" Harley cried out as he ran towards Julia, arms spread out wide for a hug.
May and Sam couldn't control their laughter as Harley hugged Julia, lifted her three feet in the air, set her down, and pecked her on the cheek. Julia looked like she was about to strangle him, but instead flashed him a dazzling (yet forced) smile. "Down, boy."
When Julia went back to the wings, she was practically fuming. "Harley has the nerve to do this to me? Oh, is he going to get it." She snarled.
"Our last but not the least couple composes of Sam and Gary! These two just got together recently, but years of affection for each other kept them together as best friends! According to Gary, it was their Pokemon who finally got them together in the end! Let's hear it for them!"
Sam's eyes widened. It's for the food, I'm doing this solely for the food… she chanted inside her head. Sam closed her eyes, and stepped into the stage to meet Gary…
And had her heart almost stopped.
Meep. Was all she could think of. Gary, during the orientation, had obviously done some shopping. He wasn't wearing that purple shirt that Sam had called gay in the beginning, but instead, it was a short-sleeved black shirt. (that showed off some muscles that Sam didn't remember seeing before) He had cut his hair a bit shorter, but it matched, and he still wore jeans, but whatever.
"Hey, Sam…" Gary said, for once, not smirking, but smiling at her with a genuine warmness that almost made her swoon onstage.
"Meep – I mean, h-h-hey, Gary…" Sam mumbled. She shook – no, trembled, as she tried to get to Gary, and tripped on her own feet. Gary rushed forward and caught her, and he smiled at her.
"I thought you only had to fall for me once?"
Sam blushed with fury. What a stupid pick-up line!!!!!!
"And it looks like déjà vu as Sam falls for Gary again! Isn't that adorable?" The emcee cooed.
"Oh, shut up." Sam mumbled under her breath.
Gary forced a smile. "Be nice, Sam… for the food, think of that huge basket…" Gary whispered back at her.
"I've been thinking of the food basket ever since the stupid thing started…" she hissed at him, as they walked into their separate wings.
**
Steven's brows creased. "That's not right." He murmured to himself. He cast another glance at the monitor which was watching Sam, and smiled as she was having fun with her friends. She doesn't know. At least she'll be living a normal life for the meantime.
Phoebe poked her head into Steven's room. "Hey, I was just checking in on you. You okay?" She smiled.
"Huh? Oh, hey, Phoebe…" he smiled at her, then continued writing on his charts.
"You didn't answer my question – again…" Phoebe sighed. She walked closer, this time, in front of his desk. "Look, this thing is getting way too big for you to handle alone."
Steven sighed. "Thanks for the concern, but seriously, I'm alright."
"I don't think so…" Phoebe muttered, and pulled his papers from his hands. "What are these anyway?" her brows furrowed. "You've been keeping tabs on all of the Legendary Pokemon for the past six months? From all regions? So that's where you've been going all these months!" she yelled, and hit him gently. "Chill for a while, okay?"
Steven gave her a look. "With this situation, I don't think I can chill."
"But you've been everywhere! To check on Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno, searching for Ho-oh, summoning Lugia, looking for Suicune, trying to contact Mew and Mewtwo, going to look for more Unown, asking other guys for Palkia and Diagla, interrogating Samuel Oak about Celebi, scuba-diving for Kyogre, using Rhyhorn to check volcanoes for Groudon, and recently…" Phoebe ruffled through the papers. "Recently, you've been searching for a Pokemon named Manaphy!" she stared at him. "Honestly, Steven, there's such a thing as overwork…"
Steven stood up and grabbed both of her shoulders so that she would look him in the eye. "Please. Listen to me, Phoebe, I'm fine, and I'm not over working myself, and yes I can handle this."
Phoebe shook off his hands and narrowed her eyes at him. "Look, you don't have to be alone on this one! That's why we're the Elite Four! You're not the Elite One, we're a team and we help each other, got it?" she said angrily, and walked out of his room.
**
"The next part of our contest will be a dance." The emcee smiled at everyone, looking dreamy. "The judges will pick which couples should be eliminated. If you stop dancing, you are also eliminated. Until the last ten couples are standing, that's when you should stop. After that will be the final round."
Behind the curtains, Sam wriggled a bit uncomfortably in her dress. It was a black strapless dress, with a simple skirt design with white geometric designs crisscrossing around the base. In all honesty, she wondered why they couldn't have a dance in jeans and a t-shirt.
"This dress rules." Julia said excitedly as she twirled around. It was an off-the shoulder white dress with a full skirt. There were swirls around the skirt, it made you look dizzy just by looking at it. May was standing in a blue dress that complimented her eyes. It was a navy blue with silver lace around the waist.
"Yeah, it rules 'cause it looks like you're getting married to Harley…" May snickered.
"Oh, and you look like a bridesmaid." Julia said airily, glancing at May.
Sam ran her hand along the satin dress, and sighed.
"Hey, what's wrong?" May asked, coming closer to Sam.
"Oh, nothing…" Sam mumbled. "I was just missing someone."
"Ohhhhh?" Julia teased. "I didn't think that you'd miss Gary this much! I mean, he's probably like, I dunno, about a hundred meters away in another room, but if you guys are this much in love with each other…"
"You idiot!" Sam hissed, growing crimson. "I was not talking about him!"
"You… weren't?" Julia said, staring at her.
"Hey, I am actually allowed to see other boys than that Oak-"
Julia was suddenly in her face. "YOUTELLMEWHOYOURNEWGUYISORISWEARBADTHINGSWILLHAPPENWHOISITWHOISITWHOISIT?!"
"Chill, Julia!" Sam yelled back in her face. "He's not my new guy, besides, he's totally h-o-t and he's much nicer than Gary is…"
"And that confession of yours just makes me even more curious… who the heck are you talking about, Sammie?" Julia asked, begging.
A shy smile spread across Sam's face. "His name is Skye Storne… I really don't know if I like-like him or not but he's just… perfect…"
**
Drew stood outside the girl's dressing room; hand paused in front of the doorknob. One green eyebrow rose with interest as he caught the more-than-few words that were exchanged between the three.
He had come here to apologize to May, of course he knew that what he did positively infuriated her, but instead, he got something much more. He had excused himself from the boy's dressing room, just after Gary finally admitted that he liked Sam.
And what would Gary say when he knew that Sam liked someone else?
Drew shook his head; and put his hand back in his pocket. He walked away from the door, resolving to apologize to May later. This'll be my little secret.
**
Maxie smirked as he sent off a few of his men to go and 'get the bacon'. Let's see Steven Stone try to manage defeating me with this distraction.
**
"And let's hear it for our couples!" the emcee yelled at the crowd. Again, from the opposite sides of the stage, the couples went out to meet each other. Sam, May, and Julia took in a deep breath, and walked out.
Standing in black tuxedos, the only difference being their ties (purple for Harley, black for Gary, and of course, green for Drew), the boys held their hands out for the girls.
Sam smiled at him, and took his hand. Meep. She thought, thinking of how cute Gary looked.
May refused to look at Drew, seeing as she was still furious with him. "May?" Drew said softly. "May?" he tried again, after May ignored him.
"Stop it, Drew, you've embarrassed me enough." She snapped, taking his hand with a crushing force.
Julia stared at Harley, who was staring at Julia, who was staring at Harley, who was staring at Julia, who was staring at Harley, who was staring at Julia, who was staring at Harley, who was- oh, you get the idea. Finally, she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Look, I swear, do anything with me besides dance, and I will stop dancing and get us disqualified." She hissed.
"May I ask the couples to stand on the dance floor?" the emcee asked.
Everyone positioned themselves, while Gary and Sam, Julia and Harley, and May and Drew stood near each other. Gary smirked. "Don't you look radiant." He said, admiring the dress.
"Shh." Sam said, putting a finger on his lips. "I'm trying to preserve the moment of you in a tuxedo. I'm sure that Professor Oak would love to see this." She grinned evilly.
Gary just smiled at her. "I'm just loving the fact that you're wearing a dress."
Sam pouted. "Touché."
"Okay, everyone! We'll just have a slow dance tonight. The maximum hour is 1 hour straight. Remember, if you stop dancing, you're out!" The emcee turned to the audience. "Okay, music start!"
A slow, romantic song that made Julia want to puke on Harvey's tuxedo started playing. Sam watched as Drew uncertainly put his hands on May's waist, who begrudgingly obliged, and snickered as Julia looked positively horrified at the fact of Harley actually touching her. She was distracted, though, as Gary gently pulled her hands and placed them on his shoulders, and he placed his hands on her waist.
"For the food, Sam…" he smirked, and started twirling her around the stage.
Sam was lost – literally – in Gary's eyes. It was as if there was no one else on the stage, just the two of them. That, and Gary was surprisingly a very good dancer. "So… how in the world did they get you into that tuxedo?" Sam teased.
He half-shrugged. "Drew had to bribe me, though…" he smiled at her (they were passing the judges table) "And Harley had to knock me out for ten minutes…"
Sam giggled. "Jeez, Gary… Don't give them such a hard time." She half-scolded him. They passed by Drew and May, who were awkwardly just swaying back and forth.
"Hey…" Gary said, looking at her. "You're not wearing your glasses." He said, surprised.
Sam smirked. "They were a bore, Gary, and beside, they didn't have a grade, I was just wearing it for show." She laughed.
"But you look cute in glasses." Gary said, sincerity in his eyes and words.
Sam blushed. When she looked up in Gary's eyes again, she smiled at him.
They weren't like other couples on the dance floor that evening. They were content with just swirling around in their own little space of floor, and they didn't care if they bumped into anyone.
Sam stared at Gary, and something – a hallucination, probably, changed Gary's face into Skye's. "Ah!" she said, startled, and almost stopped dancing.
"Are you alright, Sam?" Gary asked, concerned. Sam blinked, and Skye's face was gone.
She pursed her lips together, feeling guilty. I shouldn't be thinking about him…She stared at Gary's face and smiled at him half-heartedly. Ugh! Why am I… why am I so confused?
**
Steven stared at Sam's face on the monitor as she whirled around with Gary. They look cute together. He drummed his fingers on the desk.
He felt a vibrating in his pocket, and pulled out his PokeNav. His brows creased together. Why would Sidney call me at a time like this? I mean, he could just go to my room… "Hello?"
"Steven!" Sidney's voice crackled through the phone. He heard the flapping of wings, and the wind rushing past the earphone.
"Sidney, what-"
"No time! Listen," Sidney paused as the agonizing scream of his Shiftry echoed through the phone. "No! Shiftry, return! Damn, you Magma bastards…" Sidney cursed. "Look, Steven, Magma ambushed Phoebe a while ago, she went out to get some air after she yelled at you."
Steven nearly dropped the PokeNav. No.
"We're chasing them now, in the sky on Drake's dragons, but we're not getting any closer to saving her…"
"You mean… you mean they GOT her, they captured her?!" Steven yelled in the phone.
"Yeah, Steven! She's unconscious."
"Why didn't you call-"
"We thought you'd be busy," Sidney said mockingly. "But now we need you, so haul your frikkin butt out of your chair and get here already! Zangoose, you get on board and try to infiltrate!"
The connection crackled, and went out. But Steven was already out the door.
**
Sam sighed. When did one hour get to be so long? She thought, unconsciously leaning on Gary's chest.
When did she get so close? Gary thought, blushing as she –again, unconsciously- wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Alright! It seems we only have ten couples left! You can stop dancing now!" the emcee announced. Sam withdrew her arms, and Gary did, too. They looked around, and Sam wasn't surprised to see Julia and Harley, but she was to see May standing there with Drew, a little flustered. She rushed over to May.
"Hey! You made it to the last ten?"
May sighed. "Drew wouldn't let me quit." She snarled.
Drew smirked, and flipped his cowlick. "We were watching you two, too…" he smirked. "Staring at each other like there was no one else…"
"Shut up, Drew…" Gary and Sam growled at the same time.
"The last and final part of our contest is…" The emcee paused for dramatics. "The re-enactment of your first kiss."
Four voices inside four heads said the exact same thing at the exact same moment.
Meep.
"What the MEEP?!" May whisper-shrieked, both of her hands covering her mouth.
Even the boys, who were supposed to be cool about these things, turned a bit pale and red at the same time.
Sam, strangely, was turning from red, to crimson, to purple, to green, to pink, and finally settling on crimson. "Aren't these things supposed to be private?" Sam hissed.
"Believe me, these things are wormholes for embarrassment." Drew replied.
"Now, to make things fun, we'll start from the last couple on our list!!!" The emcee replied, overexcited.
"THE LAST?!" Gary and Sam said at exactly the same time. "But-but-but-but how am I going to make up a story with this?" Sam screeched.
"Let's start with Gary and Sam!"
A spotlight coming from nowhere flashed on them, and Sam squinted her eyes a bit. Suddenly, she was staring in Gary's eyes, and he was getting to close, and she did what she would've done.
"Uh, hi Gary fancy seeing you so close to my face can you believe that we're here on stage re-enacting our first our first k-k-kiss, well I can't believe it either and I'm just really embarrassed right now and I can't stop talking I can't shut up I'm getting really nervous hi again Gary gosh you look cute in your tuxedo ha-ha-ha your grandfather'd love to see you and –"
Gary watched her, amused, just falling more in love with her with every word. He leaned closer to her face. "Sam?"
"-oh what is it Gary did you want to tell me something I don't know what but maybe it should be – "
Gary smirked as he tucked a hand behind her head. "Shut up and kiss me already."
Sam blanked out, and the next thing she felt was Gary pushing her head closer to his…
**
"What do you mean, she's gone?!" Steven yelled at the remaining Elite Four. Glacia looked close to tears, Sidney closed his eyes, and Drake had his sailor's cap off.
"They disappeared, we chased them all the way to Fortree, but the trees got thick and…" Glacia covered her mouth and a tear rolled down her cheek.
"We did what we could, Stevie…" Sidney said, opening his eyes again to look at the horror-stricken Steven Stone in the eye.
"But why didn't you call me sooner? I could've… I could've done something! I…" Steven fell on his knees. "She might be here right now!"
They looked at him sadly. "Phoebe was sad." Drake said, bluntly, and watched Steven stare at him. "She was worried about you. She was crying."
Steven was silent.
"Drake was the one who saw. He saw three Magma goons spray Phoebe with something, and well, he just yelled and we tried chasing him but…" Glacia stopped speaking.
"I'm calling Wallace." Steven said shortly, and went back into his room.
**
Gary angled himself so that no matter how the audience looked, it still looked like they were kissing. Even the emcee could see that they were kissing. Or so they thought. He was just leaning in this close to Sam's face. She smirked. "You are such a good actor, and a good planner…"
"I know that." He said.
"Thanks." She mumbled. Then she leaned away, and rocked back and forth on her heels.
"Wasn't that PRECIOUS?" The emcee cooed. "Next up is May and Drew!"
When the light shone on them, Drew did the only thing he thought of doing. He cupped May's face with both of his hands, and kissed her on the mouth. May's knees buckled under her(because we all know that Drew's a supremely good kisser), and after ten seconds, they broke apart.
"I never thought that they'd do that." Sam said, shocked.
"Me neither."
They watched the other couples kiss in front of them, one couple started making out though, and finally, it was time to announce the winners of the fruit basket. The head judge stepped up and smiled at the audience. "First runner up wins a scuba-diving trip off the shores of Rustburo town. It takes place tonight, when there will be a lot of water Pokemon, and free of all charges!" he turned to the candidates. "First runners up are… SAM AND GARY!!!!"
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" Gary yelled. "But-but-but-but…"
Sam's mouth dropped open. "We don't get the food basket?!"
"And we all know the prize for first prize! I present this giant food basket to… MAY AND DREW!"
**
Sam pouted. "I can't believe this. I worked so hard… I was so cuddly with you… and all we get is this boat, and we have to scuba dive now." She stood in a one-piece black swimsuit, while Gary was wearing his swimming trunks. "This is not fair!"
"And Drew and May, who are now officially a couple, are chowing down on that food basket that had our name on it, and making out somewhere in between." Gary said.
"Let's just scuba-dive already." Sam sighed.
They jumped in the water together, and were amazed at the number of water Pokemon. Sam smiled to herself as a Wailmer cruised by her. Gary was distracted as a group of Luvdisc came closer to them. He surfaced, and checked his Pokedex for the Luvdisc. He listened to the robotic voice as it registered, and Gary was surprised when this came up.
Any couple said to meet a group of Luvdisc together are said to have a long and everlasting relationship.
Gary smiled to himself. "Hey, Gary!" Sam called to him.
"Hm?"
"You swimming or not?" she asked, treading water.
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THIS IS BY FAR THE LONGEST CHAPTER. WHOOOOOOSH.
There's tension in the Elite Four. Oooooh.
Serpent's Ballet. That chapter's almost coming. But don't tell. Shhhh. :D
Fairy: Sure you can submit an OC. I'll fit it in somewhere. :D
Romeo: Thanks for the reviews. They make me laugh, hahaha.
OTHER REVIEWERS: thanks for reviewing! And watch out for the next chapter!