Chapter 5
Oreburgh City. It has been months since May had come to the city. Gary needed to visit the Oreburgh Mining Museum to finish up a report he started a while back. After camping for two nights in rural areas, May was glad to see an urban civilization again. She just wasn't used to living in the wild like she was two years ago. Gary and May stayed at an apartment he had booked. It certainly offered more privacy that pokémon centres. The view from the window was nice; in the distance you could see mines and power grids. The pokémon gym was close by as well. May woke up with a need to go shopping. She asked Gary if he wanted to come, however her question received a snore instead. Gary hated shopping.
The major stores were open and May happily skipped to the clothes aisle. He eyes lit up at the dresses, shoes and hats. She punched the air when she saw a sale sign. Though a sense of paranoia stalked behind her wherever she went, ruining the experience. May tried to ignore the feeling of eyes boring into her head from strangers. She brushed off the whispering that suddenly stopped when she close by. She forced herself to assume that Oreburgh City locals were just shy people. Three shopping bags hung from her left arm and another two on her right. She briefly wondered what Gary's response would be when he saw the amount of stuff she bought. The thought made her laugh. May walked inside a telephone booth and put some spare change into the coin slot. She waited as the phone rang, leaning against the wall. May spotted some people staring at her through the glass, and she glowered at them. That seemed to do the trick because they moved away.
"Hey Dawn," May smiled.
"Hi May! Congrats," Dawn said, "I saw your performance; Glaceon was amazing!"
"Yeah, she really pulled through," May replied with pride glistening in her voice.
"So you're coming, right? To Kalos Kouture Fashion show next week?" Dawn asked eagerly. "It's in Jubalife City. I've seen the VIP list and I can't wait!"
"Yeah. I got your letter today, but," May frowned, recalling the postman's delivery in the morning, "why did you send two tickets?"
"Well," Dawn began with a blatantly fake nonchalance, "I thought about sending a single ticket so you can be my plus one. But then I decided you might wanna bring along- Oh I don't know- your boyfriend! Eeek!"
May almost dropped her shopping bags on the floor. Her mind tried to make sense of her words. "Boyfriend? She blushed at the notion.
"May, why did you tell me you were dating THE Gary Oak-" Dawn practically screamed. "Aahhh-"
"Hold your horses, Dawn!" May immediately interjected. She secretly admitted that Gary Oak was in fact a very attractive person. His chocolate eyes, his warm voice, his adorable smile- hand on, she was getting off-track. She flushed as she realised she was day-dreaming about him. "G-Gary and I are n-not- hey how did you even k-know that I know him?" No one was aware of the fact she was travelling with Gary. May didn't tell any of her friends. Unless...
"TV, duh." Dawn said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. No way! May silently thought. "May have you seen the news lately?"
Worry crept inside her head. "Gary and I travelled from Alamos Town to Oreburgh City. We camped along the way and I just arrived yesterday. I don't get it."
May slowly turned around, clutching the phone in her hand. Horror rained on her face as she took in her surroundings for the first time. The televisions in the stores had news channels on. They were all talking about her. Untrue allegations. Selfish dialogue thrown from the screens. The shelves and stands in department shop windows displayed magazines covered with her and Gary hugging. A vulgar headline titled across the platonic action. It all made sense now. This was why people with all staring at her. Whispering behind her back. She was the centre of the biggest gossip. Her life was under scrutiny. Rumours about her flew around as journalists wrote crass columns about her privacy.
"May, are you listening to me?" Her question met silence.
"I gotta go..." May hung up and ran out of the telephone box, her mind racing with shock and fear.
She ignored the yells, the paparazzi, and everyone else. The wind pushed her hair back as she ran as fast as her legs could run. Her heart pounded nervously as a lump formed in her throat, thinking about how her friends would react to the false news. How Drew would react? She crossed the roads and sped on the streets, dodging the people obstructing her path. It was just an innocent hug! That's all! Her eyes became glassy, feeling overwhelmed as the gravity of the rumour crashed on her. What would Gary think? What if this ended their close friendship? No, May couldn't imagine such a despairing scenario.
She entered the building and dove straight into the empty elevator, panting. She pressed the number five several times quickly, a growing sense of unease increasing exponentially. The lift door finally split open and May was never happier at the sight of her apartment door.
"Have you seen the news!?" May shrieked, her body heaving from the run.
Gary was on the sofa, his feet crossed on the coffee table, his head buried in a magazine. "Yeah. How come you never told me you were dating the hottie that is Gary Oak?"
"This is not funny!" May said, annoyed about how lightly he was taking the situation.
Gary put the magazine down and put his hands behind his head calmly. "Would you relax? Speculation goes away after a while. Just ignore it."
"And what's your logic behind this?" May narrowed her eyes, incredulous. "Why are you so normal about this?"
Gary put the magazine down, opting to drink tea. "Actually," he said, "its experience. Used to happen to me all the time in Kanto. People eventually get bored and media find a new story." He put a spoon of sugar in his cup meticulously. "By the way, who is Drew? These magazine mentions you with him a lot."
"He's a friend and rival. We met in Hoenn and-"
"-Just a rival? Or do you like him?" He leaned forward, his back straight and eyes looking sharply at her. The pictures in the magazine of the two together made the ugly beast of jealously claw mind. He already knew Drew was fond of giving roses to May. It made him uneasy.
May was taken aback by Gary's harsh, cutting tone. His eyes were clouded with a dark emotion she had never seen before. But it disappeared as soon as it came. She forgot about it, think she'd imagined it. "Maybe. I don't know. A little?" she mumbled, fidgeting with her hands. "But it doesn't matter because he's dating the Kalos queen, Aria."
"Woah, royalty?"
"Oh no," May said with a little giggle at his clueless face. It was a rare expression he rarely showed. She decided it didn't suit him at all. "Kalos Queen is the name given to the pokémon performer who win the master rank contest performance in Kalos. After winning three princess keys, you can enter to compete." May sat down opposite Gary. "It's unheard of because it's exclusive to the Kalos region."
"So, how do you know so much about it?"
"My friend Dawn is a pokémon designer. She works with a famous company that designs clothes for these pokémon performers and pokémon. They distribute to major department stores in Kalos," May explained. "It's a lot more successful than her coordinator career was."
"Dawn..." Gary muttered, going through a mental list in his head. "Is this girl one of Ashy-boy's friends?"
"Yeah. You know her?"
"Vaguely," he replied. "Anyway, back on topic. How long have Aria and Drew been going out?" According to the magazine, it said six months. But it was obviously a lie. May would know better, seeing as she has a close history with the cabbage head.
May opened her mouth, but then closed it. Gary shot her an expectant look. "I don't really know. Drew doesn't like talking about Aria," she confessed.
"Hm, really." There was an unspoken meaning behind his nonchalance that May couldn't comprehend at all. She furrowed her eyebrows, perplexed, as if to ask 'what?'.
"May, do you know what a publicity stunt is?"
May shook her head vigorously. "Drew would never do anything superficial like that? H-he would never! That's not like him."
"Famous relationship equals coverage, equals popularity, equals opportunities, equals success," Gary said slowly, watching May for a flicker of reaction. "Making a profile for yourself is hard when there are thousands that do the same thing as you. Not everyone can win the Grand Festival."
"No," May said vehemently. "Drew just likes to keep his life private. It must be a coincidence that Drew's become more popular, in Sinnoh, Hoenn and even Kalos. He might have overshadowed me a little and the relationship came out of the blue-" May paused, her hand covering her mouth. "Oh my god."
"May, how could you not see this before?" Gary laughed, waving the magazine in his hand.
She glared at him. "Because I care about him and he was happy so I didn't mind."
"Imagine how your popularity could sky-rocket," Gary said lowly, a mysterious edge to his voice. He raised a conspiratorial eyebrow at May. She looked dubiously back.
"What are you trying to say?"
Gary slid the magazine across the coffee table. It was open at a specific page. "We're not even confirmed and we beat Aria and Drew in the coordinator couple contest quiz. We're on nearly every magazine front page. Our so-called relationship spread like wild fire."
"Are you say we should... be in a relationship?" May asked, uncertain at what he was trying to say. Gary cleared his throat as a light blush covered his cheeks. Now that the idea was said aloud, it did sound strange, but thrilling as well.
"It'll be a pretence," Gary said with a crafty smile. "This would be advantageous to both of us. Think about it May, with Grand Festival season coming up, you'd be the talk of the event! Not only that, but you can get your reputation back to the top. People will stop calling you 'Crazy May' and forget the incident where you punched Harley in the face."
May nodded, that was true. She despised the name 'Crazy May' and the rumours she had anger management issues. "And you?" she asked, confused as to how this pretend relationship would help Gary.
"I'll get more recognition from elite pokémon academies because of more coverage on my work. It will be a means to show them my ingenuity." Gary saw anxiety invade May's eyes. The lack of enthusiasm made Gary sigh with guilt. "May, if you don't want to do it, you have the full right to say no."
May's eyes flicked to Gary's sincere face, then to the magazine on the table. She picked it up. May never bothered to read The Daily Ribbon; it was a biased magazine full of pointless gossip. Her eyes skimmed the page:
THE DAILY RIBBON
A Date Disaster?
Drew seemed to fancy his fudge cake more than his beautiful girlfriend.
Yesterday Aria and Drew were spotted outside a café in Sunnyshore City. Aria wore a beautiful summer dress and Drew dressed smartly as usual. They ate cake at the expensive patisserie, though Drew enjoyed it more. Aria talked a lot but Drew was clearly uninterested. He barely made contact with her! Aria realised this and scolded him, though he still didn't care!
[Image 1] [Image 2]
Is this the end of the power couple?
If you've been living under a rock in the ocean, we'll give you a give intro to their love story. This is the story of how Drew broke millions of hearts around the world.
Charles Hayden, Drew's father, is a famous business man from LaRousse City. Hayden holds an annual charity gala to donate money to various organisations. This year it was in their holiday mansion in Lumoise City, Kalos. An inside source tells The Daily Ribbon that it was there Drew first lay eyes on the talented Aria- love at first sight! Since then they had been attended events and occasionally supporting each other in their respective careers.
However this romance seems to be on rocky ground. They were recently captured by paparazzi arguing. Drew even missed watching Aria's grand performance in Kalos! However most speculate that Drew still has feelings for his rival, May. He was seen handing a bouquet of roses to the Johto Grand Festival winner last year. Most believed that they were going out, but then Aria, Kalos Queen, came into the picture. Is this a love triangle?
A source tells us that they may break up! Good news for Drew's fan club. But Aria's agent gave this statement:
"Aria and Drew are still very much inlove with each other. It is perfectly normal to occasionally fight. After all, they care about each other deeply. They just want a little space because the media is extremely infuriating, at least to Drew. They will definitely be seen together soon."
Soon? Is this a reference to the Kalos Kouture Fashion Show? How long will their love last before the flame extinguishes and they walk their separate paths? Or are we waiting for Drew and May kiss?
May gritted her teeth. 'Love at first sight' The wordsirked her; Drew wasn't the kind to be smitten by a girl so fast. Relentless teasing and aromatic flowers was more his pattern. It didn't make sense at all. The Drew in the magazines was not the Drew she knew. But even if this was a publicity stunt, why had he never told her? Did he not trust her any more? Pent up resentment built up within her and she closed the magazine decisively. "I think," she said, a sly smile on her face, "this will be a fun game to play."
Gary grinned. "And we don't make a bad couple..."
"Pretty cute actually," May added, her gaze falling on the cover. She liked it. Now the magazine was close to her, she could see why their position could be mistaken as something more intimate. It was a memory which she cherished.
"We could break up later with a lousy, common excuse, like we wanted to stay as friends, right?" He put his hand out and May shook it firmly.
"Deal." But for some reason, despondence constricted her chest at the proposal of a break-up.
Oreburgh Mining Museum was like a paradise for Gary. May watching as he jumped from exhibit to exhibit with a child-like curiosity and excitement. May followed him as he talking non-stop about each fossil displayed in the glass casings. He talked intellectually with a museum scientist and discussed things May often didn't really understand. Instead she read the information on the silver-plates plaque. The rock apparently was a helix fossil and the one next to it was a dome fossil. They were the remains of the extinct pokémon omanyte and kabuto.
Gary opened his journal and scribbled down important information. He was at the legendary exhibit, facing a diamond rock: the Adamant Orb. May stood behind him, amazed at the object.
"That's a huge diamond!" May gasped, her eyes fixated on the rock.
"It's the Adamant Orb," Gary corrected off-handedly.
"Oh," she said. "Does it do something?"
"Apparently it can summon the mythical pokémon Dialga," he said, taking his eyes off the book and facing May with new-found affection. He could never get tired of her endless inquisitive questions. Mainly because he loved how interested she was in what he loved. "This area is on high security because evil organizations like Team Galactic might steal it again."
"Team Galactic? They sound really tough."
"Yes. I've met them," he replied, his voice tense. "They captured the lake trio once."
"What!" May gasped. "You know in Hoenn, Team Magma and Team Aqua are obsessed with Grounden and Kyogre. I guess you have greedy people everywhere, huh."
"True." He put his notebook away in his bag. "Let's go see how my Aerodactyl is."
"Wait, aren't those, you know, extinct?"
"I revived it from an Old Amber in Sayda Island," Gary answered. "Come'on."
There was a garden outside the museum with several berry trains. Some scientists in lab coats were outside. One of them recognised Gary and began to usher him towards her. May observed her; she had long blue hair and hazel eyes that were obscured by her glasses. "I bet you're here to see Aerodactyl!" she said, a friendly softness in her tone,
"Yeah, thanks Dora," Gary said. "How's Jared? I haven't seen him in a while." He followed behind her. Judging from the tone, May assumed Gary and Dora knew each other well.
"He's the head researcher at the Sayda Lab now." She stopped and looked at him. "And my fiancé!"
"Congrats!" Dora said her thanks and then pointed at the huge dinosaur under a tree, sleeping. "Looks like he had a long day," Gary laughed.
"So how's your research going, Gary?" Dora looked at May, lifting her glasses up her nose bridge, as if he just saw May pop up from thin air. "And who's this?"
"It's going brilliant. I wanted to visit the Space-Town Towers, but it was off-limits. I was in Snowpoint City a month ago," he replied. "And this is May."
"Hi," May smiled. "Nice to meet you."
"You too!" Dora turned to Gary. "I need to check the new exhibit on the second floor, so enjoy yourselves here."
As the scientist scurried off, Gary knelt beside the sleeping aerodactyle. The pokémon yawned, then and licked it's trainer in happiness as it saw Gary. Meanwhile Gary was reconnecting with his pokemon, May felt a sudden discomfort surrounding her. The gnawing sense that someone was spying on her returned and she clenched her fists. Sapphire eyes flickered to her surroundings yet, she couldn't see anything suspicious. It made her feel even worse. Gary saw her standing worriedly. Frowning. Uncertain. And nervous. He jogged up to her with a questioning gaze. "What's wrong?" he asked, not liking how agitated she was.
"I think someone's watching us," she whispered, glancing around fretfully. An arm suddenly slid around her shoulders. May looked up; Gary smirked with a secretive tinge in his eyes. It automatically made her feel at ease.
"It's fine," he murmured near her ear, inadvertently sending a shiver down her spine. The knot in her stomach loosened as she leaned into his touch. It was comforting and reassuring. Right, it didn't matter. It was nicer to pretend that she was pretending to make their pretense feel less of a pretense, though she wasn't pretending at all (XD). She wondered what would happen if someone did take a photo. Then she realized she didn't care. She was not going to live in fear from what others thought of her. She never did when she was travelling with Ash and Brock, so why should it matter now?
"Gary, do you want to come with me to the Kalos Kouture Fashion Showin Jubalife City?" May asked. "Dawn sent two tickets because she thought you'd wanna come along."
"Are you asking me out on a date?" he smirked. May laughed, playfully punching his shoulder. "I hate fashion shows," Gary stated plainly. May frowned. Gary grinned at her sullen expression. "But since Dawn was so considerate, I'll come." May's frown transformed into a huge grin. This was going to be so much fun! May had never been to a fashion show; she always focussed on training. But this would be a nice break. A reward for her and her pokemon's hard effort. And she'd see her friend after many months! There was no downside attending the event.
Click!
"Drew, what do you think of this?" Aria asked, modeling a purple dress.
"It's fine," he replied brusquely, boredom oozing in his voice.
"If we're going together to the Kalos Kouture Fashion Show, you could at least look interested!" she said, shooting daggers at him.
"You look amazing in every dress," Drew sighed, disinterested. "We're wasting time here."
"It's only been an hour," she said, slightly confused. Normally she'd spend minimum 2 hours when choosing a dress.
"Exactly!" Drew stood up, aggravated. "I could have done something useful, like train my pokemon!"
"Grand Festival's in a really long time! Do you ever take a break?" Aria retorted with equal annoyance. "I guess it was too much to expect you to be patient."
"My pokemon are my priority, Aria." Drew glared. "Contests aren't as simple as showcases. We create techniques and combinations instead of relying on votes."
"Then go!" she shot, deeply insulted by his demeaning comparison.
"Whatever." Drew grabbed his leather jacket off the chair and walked outside the store and into Sunnyshore City's cool evening. Fresh air. Better than the stuffiness in the shop. He left the Aria, Flygon's pokeball in his hand, and headed towards the beach. Flygon and Ninetales ought to make a good double battle team.
Aria looked back at the dress in the mirror. The purple was a nice plum shade and the skirt was long and silky, but the slit was too long for her liking. She looked at the deep emerald short dress. It was strapless short dress with a cute sweetheart neckline. It was perfect, Aria thought. Not too racy or too bland. And also it was Drew's favourite color. She smiled, her brain finally made the decision. They would steal the light next week. Her and Drew are the most famous couple after all. Aria looked sadly behind her. She wished Drew had the same enthusiasm as her sometimes.
Expect drama next chapter! I had fun writing this. What do you think of the plan? Constructive criticism appreciated. Drop any ideas and thoughts on the chapters or characterization you have or what you'd like to see later on in the box below! I read every single one and I may include it in the story. Thanks for reading :)