A/N: LoveLoverGrl: right, according to May's deepest thoughts, he is. :P

Acetrainer777: Thank you :) Harley, well, he's just being...Harley. All irritating at times but still a contestshipper at least. He adds the spice in contestshipping (in the canon anime as well) :P

Left-to-die: Haha! Drew's remarks often make myself laugh too, but not May. And yes, Harley always has something under his sleeve, and it's like his habit to harass the hell out of that poor girl. But don't worry, we've got Drew here. Cabbagehead to the rescue! :D

Guest: Oh, that! I purposely do that, so you readers have to figure out who thinks what, I like it that way :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I also don't entirely own the image I use for this story. I found it somewhere and edited it.


Eventually May and Drew had made it to the second round along with Harley, though they didn't even catch a glimpse of the Cacturne-dressed guy in the waiting lounge aside from his appeal footage on the television. Both Drew and May had wondered why, but they didn't voice it out because it was actually relieving to not have the gaudy coordinator around.

However, their relief was soon over when Harley appeared out of nowhere when his picture was shown paired with Drew on the screen, signing he had to battle the greenhead if he wanted to pass the second round. May had openly gaped when she saw it, whereas Drew only smirked his victorious smirk.

"Ah, I get to battle you again, Drewsie! This is such a fateful encounter!" Harley twisted the curls of his long violet hair. May blinked. She'd never known those two had battled before.

Drew didn't reply to Harley's remarks, instead, he flicked his hair and strutted away, possibly to train.

"You'll be rooting for me, right, hon?" Harley took May's hands in his own. Hell no.

"Y-yeah, I guess," May sputtered, a trickle of nervous sweat running down to her face.

Drew paused on his way when hearing May's response, looking back over his shoulders. His eyes narrowed precariously upon noticing Harley was holding May's hands. Harley, however, noticed Drew had stopped halfway to look at back them and the mischievous coordinator decided to tease him.

"Oh! No good! Your boyfriend is jealous! I'm going to get beaten!" Harley screamed and dropped May's hands swiftly. May gulped.

"No, he's not my boyfriend!" she immediately denied.

"Really? This morning he said you're his girlfriend!" Harley teased, pointing to her warm cheeks while grinning, "My! Your face is all red!"

May waved her hands, "He's not, really!"

"How did you know I said that this morning?" Drew suddenly deadpanned, causing Harley to blanch.

Oh, darn, me and my big mouth!

"U-umm, err, words travel fast!" Harley deflected, but Drew wasn't buying any of it.

"I get it now," Drew smirked, spinning and eyeing Harley sharply. He came face to face with the older coordinator, and without dawdling, he stated, "You knew we're staying in this hotel, didn't you? So you sent May the package with Banette claiming to be her fan! Say, you informed my fans that I'm staying here with May, and you were there all along when they harassed us this morning, right?"

Harley's hands balled into fists as Drew continued his assumption.

"And not enough with that, you even brought May to eat ice cream because you knew she's a big eater so she'd order many things. You did it to make her ill so she couldn't compete in the contest, but unfortunately, I interjected and you decided to flee. I knew you have something planned, Harley."

May just stared in amazement while Drew confronted the paling Harley with his relentless gaze.

But the accused, instead of showing remorse or apologizing, smirked impishly. "You know, Drew, this is the first time you've called my name, it's an honor,"

Drew's smirk didn't lose the menace, "Cut the crap. You're behind all of those, aren't you?"

Harley shrugged his arms open femininely, "Yeah, so what? It's not a crime, and I've done a good feat in making you two more popular, you have to thank me, bunnies."

"You never change, do you?" May faced up to Harley, "I don't get why are you always getting revenge at me, why can't we be friends and-"

"There's no use of befriending a person like him, May," Drew interjected in front of her, his eyes never leaving Harley, "Stay away from May, Harley, I warn you."

"Being a protective boyfriend now, aren't we?" Harley ridiculed, "How about you let me win this contest and I'll leave your darling girlfriend alone?"

Drew scorned, "Tch. As if you'll stick to the agreement,"

Harley chortled mockingly, "You know me too well, hon, I must admit. Yes, unless you all quit coordinating..." he grinned maliciously at May, "I'll always haunt you, hon, be ready."

May felt a shiver run down her spine. What did she do so Harley seems to always harass her? Why was he always targeting her?


"Shadow ball!"

"Dodge it!"

"Amazing speed! With that clean dodge, Drew has managed to reduce Harley's points! Now we have 3 minutes left and Drew is still in the lead! How will this battle turn out? Let's see!" Gillian spoke through her microphone as Masquerain managed to fly past Wigglytuff's Shadow Ball.

"Masquerain, combine Bubble and Ice Beam!"

Masquerain began bursting bubbles and emitted a cyan flash of ice at the bubbles, creating ice balls which floated in the air.

Harley snickered, "Don't bother, my cutie Wigglytuff can dodge it too!"

Drew flicked his hair and flashed his infamous smirk, "You really think so? Masquerain, spin and use Silver Wind!"

Masquerain spun its body, creating a huge Silver Wind and blowing the ice balls it made earlier all around the stage. Wigglytuff, who was floating in the air, was also gotten whirled around by the wind and unable to dodge all the ice balls. The pink colored Pokémon bellowed in pain as its body bumped at the rigid ice balls back and forth.

"My Wigglytuff!" Harley cried out.

"An impressive strategy from Drew! Wigglytuff failed to struggle through the numerous amount of ice bubbles and it is starting to crash down from the air!"

"Finish it up with Hidden Power!"

The spheres of Masquerain's Hidden Power rapidly directed towards Wigglytuff and struck the falling Pokémon, forcing it down in a hit and creating a small explosion.

The judges ended the battle by flashing three X's, causing Harley to groan loudly and pull his hair in despair. He glared darkly at his defeater and retreated his Pokémon back to its Pokeball before bolting out from the Contest Hall with his head on fire.

Gillian gestured his hand to Drew whom bowed to the audience, "The judges decide Wigglytuff unable to battle and Drew proceeds to the next round! Congratulations!"

Meanwhile, May was watching Drew and Harley's battle in the waiting lounge. Her battle was before Harley and Drew's, and she had won over a tall coordinator which went by the name Gabby. That meant she had to battle Drew to win this contest. Somehow, she had predicted this would happen, long before she had even done her appeal round. Battling with Drew had rendered her nervous no matter how many times they'd battled before, and she frankly didn't get why. He was just another rival, and it was just another battle. Maybe because he had belittled her too often so she felt she needed to prove him wrong? That would seem like she wanted to impress him, no?

No matter what, I'll give my best.


"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the second battle round of Goldenrod City Contest! Let's welcome our Hoenn Grand Festival runner-up and Kanto Grand Festival Top Four, Drew and May!" Gillian announced, rendering yells of joy and screams of anticipation from the audience. The called coordinator swiftly got up the stage on the opposite side, each beaming with confidence to win.

Gillian pumped her fist in the air with excitement, "Now, get ready! The time limit is five minutes counting from now! Let it begin!"

"Skitty, take the stage!"

"Masquerain, go!"

"Assist!" May started. Assist resulted in a Shadow Ball, which Masquerain dodged with ease after Drew asked it to.

"The getaway from Shadow Ball reduces some of May's points, giving Drew an early lead!"

Drew flicked his hair, "Silver Wind, Masquerain!"

I don't have any attacks that can counter Silver Wind, Drew must've known it!

"Quick, Skitty, Assist!"

This time Assist resulted in Fire Spin, which gave May an advantage because it warded off Masquerain's Silver Wind. Drew, however, was quick to command Masquerain.

"Bubble!"

The bubbles collided with the whirl of fire and created an explosion.

"Silver Wind again, go!" Drew swiftly called out.

Gillian energetically broadcasted through the smokes of the earlier explosion, "And another Silver Wind attack from Drew, how will May revert it this time?"

But it was too late, Skitty was already hit by the Silver Wind. The bar of May's points decreased right after the hit.

May promptly looked at her Pokémon and asked, "Are you okay, Skitty?"

"Nyiah!"

"Another loss of points for May with that precise attack! We still have three minutes and thirty eight seconds to go! Will we have a winner before the time runs out?"

May's forehead crinkled. "Okay, now, Blizzard!"

Skitty got up in an instant and gushed out a powerful blow of snow, hitting Masquerain. May cheered inwardly, Drew also had no counter moves to her Blizzard, huh? Interesting.

"A cold Blizzard hits the target! Drew's points suffer for it and May manages to almost equalize their points!"

The chartreuse-haired coordinator put his hand in his pocket. "Masquerain, Ice Beam and Hidden Power!"

"Dodge it!" May ordered. Skitty managed to jump away from Ice Beam, but the shining spheres of Hidden Power that floated in the air meant something else. Right, Drew had another strategy to sidetrack her.

"Now, Silver Wind!"

In an instant, Silver Wind blew the spheres towards May's Skitty, completely catching it off guard. May's points dropped further from the direct hit.

"Oh no!" May exclaimed. I have to do a quick knockout before he does!

"Skitty was unable to dodge from the hastiness of Masquerain's attack! This without doubt costs May some points!"

"Hidden Power, go!"

"Skitty! Jump and Assist!" May ordered speedily. Please be Silver Wind or Gust!

Two green vines appeared out of the shining light in Skitty's hand.

"Vine Whip? It should be okay too," May mused, and then shouted, "Use the Vine Whip to tackle the Hidden Power away!"

Skitty did as told, successfully managing to clear out the spheres with the vines. May smiled proudly at her Pokémon, "Great job, Skitty. Now, Blizzard!"

Drew didn't lose his calmness, "Silver Wind, maximum power, go!"

"A~mazing!" Gillian cried out, "Drew is using Silver Wind to counter the powerful Blizzard! And it succeeds!"

The huge airstream of Silver Wind halved Blizzard in two and boosted towards Skitty. May quickly ordered Skitty to use Assist before the attack hit, "Use Assist!"

Drew smirked and shut his eyes, "You can't always rely on Assist, May."

May gritted her teeth. He was right, but she didn't have much choice, did she?

Skitty's Assist created a String Shot attack which, rather than helping, made things more difficult. The silky string was sent back by the overpowering Silver Wind and trapped Skitty inside. Drew's chuckle never seemed more conceited, May had noted.

"Skitty, you have to get out of it!" May shouted, almost pleading. Skitty purred in desolation, fighting to break free from the strings.

"Now, time to finish this," Drew grasped his opportunity, "Masquerain, Hidden Power!"

Gillian balled her fist in the air, "A Hidden Power attack from Masquerain! Drew's victory is just around the corner! Will this be the end for Skitty?"

The attack hit the helpless Skitty directly, knocking it out and wiping out all of May's points. The screen changed into a picture of Drew and Masquerain, announcing them as the winner. The crowd erupted in a deafening cheer for the winner and Drew bowed politely towards them.

But before Drew went to receive his ribbon, the first thing he did was shake hands with May and whisper on her ear, "We have something to discuss after this." with that smirk which rendered chills on May's spine.


Find out what he wants to talk about...in the next chapter! ;P

And to remind you kind readers, these chapters are just warm-ups for next upcoming chaps, and are flashbacks from their travel three years ago. That's why I use past-related tenses. And expect a long eighth chapter, I'm already done working on it, it just needs some corrections. Enjoy, guys! :D