After the contest, May and Brendan returned to their room at the Pokemon center, though not before bidding Brianna, Drew, Harley, and Solidad a "see you at the party". As of now, the two were lying on their respective beds, talking and killing time before heading to the after party.

From his position, Brendan could watch the moderately-sized window that showed only a small part of the beauty of Rustboro City, his hands casually laced behind his head. On her bed, May was absentmindedly sipping her water bottle while staring at the ceiling, searching for patterns.

"Did I?"

"You don't think so?"

"Well... I don't know," she mused. "I think I did alright, for someone who just got their first real Pokemon the day before."

"Just alright? You got top four in apparently a really big contest. That might be more than just alright."

"What do you want me to say? That I was amazing and stupendous and so fabulous that I must be the most talented coordinator the world has ever seen?"

Brendan grinned, tearing his gaze away from the window and looking at the brunette. She copied the action, twisting her neck to look at him as well.

"Yeah," he said. "Something like that."

The brunette chuckled, "I know. I did better than I thought I would, and..."

"And?"

"And… I sort of have an explanation for that," confessed May. "A little far-fetched, but something."

"Shoot."

"Well, maybe it's because I already know all this stuff? Maybe, at some point, I just put all the years of watching the show and watching so many battles... and just shoved the ideas from when I dreamed about real-life Pokemon together… and it just became… that. Today."

"Yeah," said Brendan, turning his gaze back to the window. "I know what you mean."

"And I'm just lucky that my Pokemon are strong too, and…"

"You know," began Brendan. "If your theory is right, then it should apply to me too, shouldn't it? I've spent countless hours in front of my TV and laptop watching episodes and stuff. I think I know just as much as you. So then I should be just as good at this as you are. And Ash. And June. And Dawn."

May rolled over onto her stomach, burying her head into her pillow. She tiredly sounded a muffled, "Want to test that?"

Brendan chuckled. "Not now."

Deciding it wasn't good for conversational purposes, May flipped onto her back again so that her voice wasn't indistinct because of her pillow. She sighed. "How are we going to find them again, Brendan? Or go back?" she whispered.

The corner of Brendan's lips pulled down. "Fate," he said simply, shrugging. "It'll be okay."

May groaned. "How do you know that?" she whined.

"I don't," he admitted. "But then again, I don't know how or why we're here, either. That doesn't mean I'm not going to find out, does it?"

May scowled slightly, displeased by his vague answer and logic.

"Hey hey, it's the best I can do right now!"

May turned her head in his direction again, and sighed, "Me too."

Brendan stopped and took that chance to look at her again. His heart quickened slightly and his stomach flopped a bit as he looked at her face and into her eyes more intensely than he had in the past few minutes. He searched her azure eyes. What he found was - despite her smile - a diverse barrage of uncertainty, confusion, and somehow, a slightly dreamy distance that he had grown accustomed to finding every time he looked at her.

Brendan looked away. Honestly, now, he was just tempting his own hormones.

A period of silence ensued for a few minutes as the two were quiet and still. Brendan stared at the ceiling, expressionless, stoic... trying to play it cool as he felt May's continued gaze on him.

He wondered what she was thinking. He wondered what she thought of him. Some part of him wished he didn't care so much what she might think, because she was just a friend.

But see, the thing was, he kind of did.


The illuminated contest hall stood out against the dark backdrop of the sky, but still fit in naturally with the rest of the lit city. Streamers and a few balloons that weren't there earlier in the day were strewn around the entrance.

Upon entering, May's eyes had to adjust to the bright lighting. When they finally did, she took in the scene around her.

The lobby was, for the most part, redecorated. Warmly-colored streamers were pinned up on the indoor pillars, and tables with refreshments lined the sides of the room. The armchairs, sofas, and coffee tables had been pushed to places closer to the edges of the room. Somehow, the collection of receptionist desks in the middle had totally left the room, although May could've sworn they looked pretty bolted to the floor earlier. Cliques of wandering, socializing people filled the room.

May exchanged a wary glance with Brendan. She'd never been much of a crowd person.

In a blatant attempt to cheer her up, Brendan spontaneously grinned and rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Food!" he said, with a glint in his eye.

May's eyes shone with the same anticipation, if not brighter.

"Yes!" she shouted in victory, eyeing the tables of refreshments and food.

For the most part, they seemed to be assorted types of were also pitchers of drinks, plastic cups, plastic utensils, paper plates, berries like the ones they had found on their first night in the wild, and…

"Wait, is that pizza?" asked May incredulously.

"Seriously, there's Italy somewhere here? Gotta be honest, I thought it was an our-world-exclusive kind of thing," wondered Brendan aloud. "Was there World War II too?"

May shook her head. "Rule of thumb from here on out... never question the Pokemon world."

Brendan gazed around him in mock newfound wonder, as if the possibility of Italy's existence in this dimension showed him a new light. "Agreed."

Just then, May's stomach growled. She grinned sheepishly when Brendan cast her a bemused expression.

"What? I'm hungry! I have this relationship with food that's superior to all other relationships," boasted May.

Chuckling, Brendan said, "Yeah, you keep thinking that. First… I'm going to go try to find the bathroom…"

"And I'll be having an affair with those hors d'oeuvres there in the corner…"

"Keep it PG," mocked Brendan as he turned to leave for his grand expedition for the men's bathroom.


Although maybe not literally verbatim, May kept her word. After Brendan left to find the toilets, May had made her way over to the food, grabbed a plate, loaded it, and then retreated to a relatively empty, solemn corner where she could crouch and eat in peace.

She was halfway through a fruity piece of what seemed to be sushi when a pair of jeans and shoes suddenly blocked her view. May looked up to see the face of the person who had obviously come to approach her. She recognized the casually tousled blonde hair, gray eyes, and well-fitted black blazer as belonging to her second round opponent – the one who had been quite attractive.

He looked down at her with some sort of amused smile. May swallowed her food before speaking.

"Can I help you?"

The blonde crouched down so he was level with her.

Eyes glittering, he said, "A little. Are you May, my second round opponent?"

"Yep. That's my name." Then, frowning, she sheepishly continued, "Sorry, I didn't catch yours?"

"Ryder."

"Ryder," she repeated, feeling the name roll on her tongue. "I've always liked that name. I don't know a lot of Ryders, but it suits you."

"May," he said. "I've always liked that name. I don't know a lot of Mays, but it suits you," echoed Ryder with a playful smirk.

May grinned. This Ryder guy – he reminded her of one of those characters straight of the movies… attractive, a flirt, good with words and (more often than not) women.

"You did really good today," said Ryder. "How long have you been coordinating? I would've remembered talent as breathtaking as yours."

The corner of his lips pulled up into a flirtatious, confident smirk. May returned the coy smile as well as she could.

"I'm not… really from around here." She bit her lip. "This was actually my first contest," she admitted, a tinge of embarrassment coloring her tone.

Ryder lifted an eyebrow. "Really? Your first…? Well, I guess that's why I haven't seen you around before." He paused. "And I guess it's how you've been avoiding Coordinator Wee-"

He was abruptly cut off by a newcomer who had appeared and enthusiastically bounded into him, shoving the blonde away. Taken aback, Ryder glared accusingly at the new appearance. Then he groaned.

"Speak of the devil…"

May had watched as the boy she was just talking to was shoved away by a bubbly girl with a teal pixie cut. She donned a gray vest, matching pencil skirt, and navy undershirt. Her PokeBall earrings dangled almost as happily as her crimson smile. A silver mechanical pencil was tucked behind her ear, and she clutched in her right hand a small notepad. The girl beamed at May, exposing a brilliant smile.

"Hi! I'm with Coordinator Weekly! My name is-"

"-Roxanne," muttered Ryder, who suddenly became sulky.

Roxanne shot the blonde a dark look. They obviously knew each other, observed May. Maybe even have a little chemistry.

"Yeah. Roxanne," she huffed. "You're May Maple, right? Top four in the contest today?"

"Y-yeah..."

May watched as Roxanne pulled the utensil from behind her ear and began scribbling something.

"Now, May. Could I ask you for a quick interview?"

Roxanne's facial expression was so endearing at this point that May couldn't even fathom saying no. The young reporter beamed.

"Roxy," whined Ryder. "You're kind of killing my mood here."

"Good, she doesn't need your corruption," retorted Roxanne.

The two then continued to banter, apparently forgetting where they were. The pair only remembered May after the brunette released a quiet giggle at one of Ryder's comebacks.

"Sorry," apologized Roxanne. "He's insufferable. Anyways… May Maple." Roxanne's eyes shined again. "I did a brief background check on you. It seems that this was your first contest. Do you know that you did fantastically well, especially for your first time?"

"I think I just caught a lucky break – beginner's luck, that's all."

"Really," mused Roxanne, jotting it down. "Tell me, May. How old are you?"

"Fifteen," answered May immediately. "Years," she added quickly – just to clarify, in case they didn't use months or years as a way of measuring time here in this world.

"Where are you from?"

"Ahh…" May chewed her lip nervously, unsure of how to answer. "…Near Petalburg," she finally said.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow but didn't question the matter further. "And one last question! Are you alright with an article published about you in Coordinator Weekly magazine?"

"Yes?"

Roxanne beamed, exposing her pearly white teeth again.

"Excellent!" she said as she began to stand up, brushing off her skirt as she did so. "Thanks so much. See you later, May!" Ryder cleared his throat. "And Ryder," she finished distastefully.

"Bye, Roxy!" said Ryder with a mocking edge to his voice.

Roxanne shot Ryder one more dark look before disappearing into the crowd that was the contest afterparty. May looked at Ryder questioningly. The blonde noticed her gaze.

"What?"

"What was that?"

"Your confirmation for a whole article dedicated to you in the next Coordinator Weekly. Congratulations."

"Really," mused May. "And… I guess you know her?"

"Sorta, I guess… We're childhood friends," he admitted.

May grinned, an peculiar expression quickly overtaking her face.

"And nothing more?"

Ryder slightly lifted an eyebrow. "What're you implying?"

The brunette giggled, "I think you know what I'm implying."

Ryder's face flushed, and he quickly turned away from May's stare. Despite that, his actions had given May all the confirmation she needed. She playfully nudged him.

"Despite first appearances, you're actually kind of sensitive," crooned May, not unlike how she would to a baby animal or Pokemon.

Ryder scowled at the turn of events and May's implication. Then he smirked.

Yeah? What about that guy you were in the stands and left the contest with? Seemed pretty chummy there."

May rolled her eyes. She supposed these sort of comments were unavoidable as long as Brendan was the only one she was going to be traveling with. Hopefully, they'd be joined by certain other familiar faces soon...

"He's a friend. Really."

Ryder snorted, "Yeah, okay."

"He is!"

Ryder studied May, trying to decipher if she was being dead serious or not. Something in her eyes made something click with him.

"Oh," he realized aloud. "Damn," the blonde muttered under his breath. "Guy's really holding back…"

"Huh?"

"Nothing," replied Ryder mildly. Then he grinned as he stole a piece of forgotten food from the plate the brunette still unconsciously held in her hands. "Nothing at all."

May was going to inquire further – until she was cut off by the sudden dimming of lights, anyway. A spotlight followed a short, balding man (whom May remembered with a start was Mr. Contesta) clutching a microphone to the middle of the lobby, in the center of everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen, coordinators and friends," greeted Mr. Contesta. From her angle and position in the corner, May couldn't see Mr. Contesta at all. However, she heard him just fine, considering one of the lobby's speakers was conveniently located right beside her ear. "I hope you're all enjoying yourselves on this fine evening. I'll be out of your hair quickly, but I just wanted to announce that from here on out, we are officially in dance mode." He took a moment to chuckle at the whoops and cheers that had suddenly risen. "We've seen your Pokemon's moves – now show us yours."

May laughed at the corny pun and watched as Mr. Contesta left the attention of the room and went back to the sidelines. An upbeat song began playing, and it was quickly evident from the first verse that it was something about wanting to be the very best and traveling across the land. Her attention was abruptly turned to the person who was now lightly tapping her on the shoulder.

"Want to dance?" asked Ryder with a semi-mischievous glint in his eye.

"Sure," she said as she smiled, got up, brushed off crumbs, and followed Ryder into the middle of the room.


At first, May was apprehensive. Ever since – well, forever – she'd never been the dancer in any clique she'd ever been in. However, when Ryder began moving to the song, she couldn't help but burst out in peals of laughter at his terrible dancing. Ryder took her laughter in stride and simply responded with a goofy grin. Unconsciously, May began loosening up and eventually found herself thoroughly enjoying herself for the first time since she arrived in this world.

They were halfway through the third song when, out of the corner of her eye, May noticed her white-capped dark-haired friend on his way back with a curious expression plastered on his face.

"Hey, May," Brendan said when he was back next to her side. "Sorry, I got lost. Who's this?" he asked, referring to the new blonde guy, albeit with a slight tinge of apprehension and undeserved suspicion in his tone.

May did the introductions.

"Brendan, this is Ryder," she said. "Ryder, this is my friend, Brendan."

The blonde stuck out his hand, flashing a smile.

"So you're Brendan. Nice to meet you, bro."

Brendan accepted his handshake.

"Same. Thanks for keeping May company."

Pouting, May muttered, "Are you saying I need to be babysat?"

"Was it too discrete?" asked Brendan, grinning at May's reaction of crossing her arms and rolling her eyes in mock anger.

Ryder watched them with amusement.

"Are you sure you're not dating?"

"No, we're not! Stop, we're like… brother and sister!" replied May hotly as she playfully hit the blonde's arm.

Brendan said nothing.


Ryder mentally noted Brendan's silence with interest. "Well," he eventually said. "Truthfully, I think I'm gonna leave now."

"Leave the party? But it's still early…" murmured May.

"Yeah. I'm having an early morning tomorrow. It was nice to meet you, May," said Ryder. Then he began slowly leaning in...


Brendan watched as Ryder stooped to May's level. Inside, he felt shock electrocute his body as the guy's lips made a brief, gentle contact with May's cheek. May's reaction was unabashed – a blush had hardly risen, and all the blonde got was an eye roll and a playful shove away. Evidently, she wasn't perturbed by the flirtatious action, and Brendan breathed a mental sigh of relief he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"Bye, Ryder. Take care!"

"Yeah, you too. Maybe we'll meet up again sometime."

Ryder began to walk in Brendan's direction – which made sense, considering the door was only a little ways directly behind him. As Ryder passed by, Brendan heard the blonde mutter something so softly that only Brendan could hear it.

"Don't stay friendzoned."


As May and Brendan caught up with each other the last twenty minutes or so, a slow song began playing. Both of them decided aloud that it was a romantic song the moment the lyrics, "He drives me out of my mind, so why do I worry about him?" graced the sound system.

Upon observation of all the other pairs who were on the dance floor, May and Brendan also mutually found it acceptable to dance like the majority. This meant that Brendan's left hand was grasped with May's right, and their respective opposite hands were around the others' waist. They moved slowly and slightly.

"Kind of awkward?" muttered Brendan.

Rolling her eyes, May replied, "I dance with my dad like this all the time, so no." She grinned. "Not really."

"Well, alright then..." There was silence for a while. Brendan decided it was his role to restart the conversation again. "So… That Ryder guy…"

"Huh?"

"Er... What'd he say to you?"

"Not much," said May casually. "Why?"

"He… sort of said something to me."

"When he was leaving? I saw that," said May. "What'd he say?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Never mind."

Another wave of silence fell upon the two. May was totally comfortable and oblivious to any awkwardness that one might assume to occur from this situation. Brendan, on the other hand, was intentionally trying to watch other happenings. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite as oblivious to the resulting awkwardness here.


After another two songs passed, May felt a gentle double-tap on her left shoulder. She halted her light swaying with Brendan, broke away from her friend, and turned to face whoever had obviously yearned for her attention.

When she did, May found herself looking into the bright jade orbs of the only person who even had chartreuse-enough hair to rival his own eyes. His facial expression was that of humor, tiredness, and slight annoyance – if that was even possible.

"Hey, Drew!"

"Hey," he replied coolly. He then diverted his eye contact to Brendan. "Mind if I cut in for a bit?"


Brendan really didn't want this guy to dance with May, even "for a little bit" – though it wasn't anything personal against Grasshead (alright, maybe a little, but really, he was a bit of a… insert preferred derogatory word here). Still, though, it was no big deal, right? Right?

Anyways, it would've been rude to decline.

"Sure," he ended up saying mildly, officially handing May to Drew.

As the two assumed the position he had been in only moments before with May – Drew's left hand with May's right, their respective opposite hands around the other's waist – Brendan thought it proper to slink away from the pair and give them some privacy. Not that they should've needed much, but it was etiquette. So... as he had made his way to a wall and casually leaned against it, Brendan tried his best to take his eyes off the brunette and grasshead.


"So, did you want to talk about something, Drew?"

Drew shrugged, an action that was somewhat difficult to do when they were dancing the way they were.

"Solidad wanted me to invite you and Brendan to spend the day with us tomorrow."

May was surprised, and slightly taken aback by the proposition. "Really?"

"Were you going to leave?"

"Well… uh… we kind of… have something important to do right now…"

Drew seemed suspiciously intrigued, but didn't pursue the matter. "Would it be terrible to take a day off? Half a day?"

"Well, you could say it's a bit urgent." There was a brief moment of silence. Then May asked skeptically, "Why do you want us to come so insistently?"

Drew cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm insistent right now?"

"Well, for anyone else, not really. But for you... yeah."

Snorting, the boy said, "It's because Solidad'll be on my back about not pressuring you or making you feel welcome enough if you don't agree."

May chuckled. "She's so nice," said the brunette sincerely.

"Guess you could say that."

"Is that it? Solidad's on your back about it?"

"I don't mind all of us going out to brunch, if that's what you're getting at. You're not that bad."

"Really?" May beamed, then mockingly sighed in relief. "I thought you didn't like me."

"Why?"

"You're mean to me! And mocking, and rude, and-…"

"Can't handle this?" drawled Drew, smirking as he did so.

"It's not you, it's your attitude!"

They ended up bickering like that for a while, albeit quietly so as to not disturb the other dancers and/or interrupt the music. The scene was made a little more ironic, seeing as they were still couple-dancing.

"Anyways," sighed Drew after a couple of rounds of retorts and comebacks. "Tomorrow morning at ten, same Pokemon center as yesterday."

May scowled slightly, disliking his authoritative tone. Well, the time and place had probably already been decided by Solidad and Harley and such and Drew was simply reciting their plans, but still. The fact that the information was coming from his mouth was still dislikable.

"See you, May."

And with that, Drew released his hand from May's, unwound his arm from the small of her back, turned around, and walked away with his hands in his pockets as the song that had been playing wound down its final notes. May didn't even have a chance to say good-bye.

He walked away as the song ended, realized May.

Did he plan that?

The girl smiled softly in the direction that Drew had left.

Dork.


Shortly afterwards, May and Brendan headed back to the Pokemon center (but not before trying out every type of food available at least once), since Brendan had complained about being tired. May had readily agreed, and the two trudged back to the Pokemon center and into their room. Along the way, May had told Brendan about Drew/Solidad/Harley's proposition for the next day. Brendan eventually agreed, although initially, he too was on the same train of doubt as May was about their more important task. ("It'll just be for half a day," May had reasoned. "Maybe it wouldn't be so wrong to try to enjoy ourselves for a few hours…")

After the pair conducted their nighttime routine, the two found themselves immensely tired and fell into their beds as soon as they were done... which was strange, considering that back home, extracurricular activities and homework would usually push their bedtimes well past 11pm. After a glance at the clock, May realized it was hardly even 10:30.

Maybe contests are more tiring than they seem…

And before she could help it, May found herself recollecting the events of the day, namely the contest. And somewhat of the after party.

So she did do unnaturally well. That reporter – Roxanne, right? – had even acknowledged it. Speaking of Roxanne… was May really going to be in a magazine? And judging from Brianna's words earlier, Coordinator Weekly seemed to be pretty influential and popular.

Not that May was planning on having time to read stuff like that. There were certainly more pressing matters at hand, weren't there?

More pressing matters that were going to be postponed by a date with Solidad, Harley, and Drew. Yep. She and Brendan clearly put their situation on priority here.

But it wasn't her or Brendan's fault, right? It's not like they had a bucket list of what to do from here on out. It's not like they even had a vague idea of what they were supposed to do. They were utterly in the dark about just about everything.

So in retrospect, what Brendan (who was now softly snoring) said earlier was actually perfectly true. Fate was the only thing left to guide them now - however skeptical May had always been about its existence. She preferred to believe that things weren't always set in stone.

The brunette felt herself beginning to slip into unconsciousness. Her thoughts became heavier, and her heartbeat slowed.

One last thought rang in her head as she eventually, finally succumbed to sleep.

Fate, huh?


-*-x-*-


Reviews are, as always, so very appreciated. free virtual contest afterparty hors d'oeuvres if you do? :)