Hi all,

I'm so sorry for the delay! Here's an update.

Chapter 36

Enjoying the razz berry cake, Dawn absentmindedly brushed Paul's leg as she scratched her own leg. Rather than notice the slight flush on her fellow Sinnoh native's face, her eyes were trained on the scenario before her. She'd been watching the two brunettes for a while, and she couldn't help but notice the change in May's behaviour to the man.

Rather than actively shun Gary like she'd once professed to, she spent the time relying on him as much as she would Ash, Brendan or Steven. Whilst Brendan gave the two space by remaining away from Almia, an act which, in itself, was unlike the man. Usually he was the overprotective step-brother who put any and every male in their place. Meanwhile, Steven acted like a jealous starter pokémon whose extensive attention was cut by the arrival of a new catch. And as for Ash, he was simply grinning at their interaction as if he was aware of a secret the others weren't privy to. That alone had the bluenette curious, especially since Ash wasn't privy to many secrets. He had a habit of spilling the berries as soon as he plucked them.

Watching May flush at Gary's attention as he no doubt made one or another inappropriate remark, Dawn's eyes flickered to Roserade, who couldn't help but glower at the man. Clearly Drew's right hand man was not privy to the secret, like the rest of them weren't. She knew from May's stories that the pokémon was conniving, but she wasn't sure how it would react to Gary's actions in Drew's absence.

Rather than react, the pokémon surprised her, turning his attention to Harley's narrowed eyes with a pleaful gaze of his own.

'May, hon, why are you ignoring this Leafy Oak person? She's a rather influential character that you shouldn't ignore, especially since she's a Champion now,' Harley snapped at May, whose face flushed at his vehement glower.

Upon hearing this, Roserade smirked. With a frown, Dawn realised that it was apparently actively pleased to see the man so displeased with May. The unusuallity of their alliance struck a chord with Dawn, who was certain that May might have noticed if she wasn't so absorbed with her grief and subsequent reliance upon Gary Oak of all people.

'I,' May began, only glance around at her friends, her sapphire eyes wide.

Understanding the distress of her friend, Dawn grinned, 'thank you for the cake, Leaf, it's honestly delicious.'

'You can thank Gary for that. I think he picked it for May because he knew it was her favourite. She's eaten enough of it to last a few people,' Leaf responded in a tone which was simply too sweet.

Dawn's eyes widened in shock as she saw May's face flush at the remark. Any woman knew not to comment on another's eating habits-ever. The obvious dig at the Johto woman left even Dawn speechless.

'Leaf!' Gary growled, his onyx eyes glaring at the brunette in angry disbelief.

Dawn saw her close friend's bottom lip in a tell-tale quiver of distress as her eyes fell onto her empty plate.

'May, let's go,' Dawn called out, standing up to glare at the strange brunette, not at all noticing Misty's eyes flicker from one friend to the other, her expression torn as Ash gaped from one woman to the next, appearing equally uncertain as to how to react.

'Y-yes,' May nodded, scurrying after Dawn as Roserade followed, sending a stun spore cloud at any who tried to follow them.

Clearly the pokémon's alliance remained with May, even if he was irritated with her acceptance of Gary's attention.

Walking further along the path, May let out a soft sob, not hearing Gary's furious tirade, 'Leaf Green, you have crossed the line! You had no right to say any of that, and you know it!'

Dawn pulled May into a one sided hug, ushering her towards the nearby Pokémon Centre, grateful that the Rangers and Officer Jenny had managed to remove the reporters from the building.

'May,' Wallace called, his eyes widening at May's flushed face as they entered the pristine foyer.

'Wallace,' May grimaced as Steven stood up, his eyes focused on hers, noticing her strained expression.

With a glower, Dawn protectively stood before her friend, recognising the men's intentions.

'What's happened?' Wallace frowned as his eyes met Steven's over May's flushed face.

'I've met Leaf, and she doesn't seem as friendly as Ash and Gary made her out to be,' May muttered sheepishly as a tear fell down her cheek.

'Want me to have a chat with her?' Steven offered the younger woman, his voice filled with an anger that left Dawn in bemused shock.

May opened her mouth to respond, though Dawn snarled, 'no, I think you've done enough. Paul, Ash and Misty are in a better position to talk to her than you are. Though, last time I checked, Gary was giving her a well-deserved lecture.'

Blinking at Dawn's suddenly hostile behaviour to him, Steven hesitated slightly.

Hearing her Xtransceiver ring, May answered the call with a hurried, 'hello, May speaking.'

'May, honey, is everything alright with Drew? We've just heard from Brendan that Steven and Wallace are there with you!' The voice of Caroline, May's mother, asked in her ear, sounding almost frantic.

'Mum!' May squeaked before glancing meaningfully at her friends.

Taking the hint, they left her to her devices with Roserade as she rushed to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she whispered, 'oh, mum, I've got so much to tell you!'

'Well, I'm all ears,' Caroline responded into the device, her warm voice soothing May's distress slightly.

The younger woman hesitated once before explaining everything, not leaving out any details, about the People of the Water, Gary or Drew's injury. She knew she'd been keeping far too many details from her family, but she honestly hadn't found a way to tell them. Now, though, she found herself incapable of keeping anything secret, almost as though she'd been hypnotised by a Drowzee.

'Well that sounds quite eventful,' Caroline frowned, worry lacing her tone once May had finished, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

'Mum, why didn't you tell me that Professor Oak is my grandfather?' May questioned, not seeing Roserade's eyes widen in disbelief at the statement. The pokémon had listened to everything with heavy lidded eyes, pretending to have fallen asleep on May's bed as she paced the room.

'Because I didn't think you'd ever meet him. I know it was wrong to keep that from you, but I didn't want you to feel pressured into anything. You were so afraid of pokémon and never had much confidence,' Caroline grimaced into the device, surprising her daughter by the regret in her voice.

'Why don't we see him? Did you have a falling out?' May questioned, her voice sounding unusually quiet her ears.

'No, it's not like that. We were just so busy, Max had only just been born after we moved and I didn't want to travel so far with you both so young. Besides, your father was busy with the Gym and we simply couldn't take the time off. The next thing I knew, it had been years since I'd last heard from my own father,' Caroline sighed into the device, her voice filled with a longing the younger woman knew all too well.

'I'm glad Gary found you both. The last I'd heard, Daisy was quite ill. I hope she's recovered from whatever it was,' Caroline continued, surprising May by the name.

'Who's Daisy?' She questioned as Roserade busied himself by looking through her drawers, sniffing perfume bottles he found there.

'She's Gary's sister, didn't you meet her?' Caroline frowned as May felt her heart thud in her throat.

Since she'd met Gary, and since she'd known Professor Oak, neither had ever mentioned anyone by the name of Daisy. Even Ash had never mentioned Daisy Oak, an unusual phenomenon in itself since he usually loved discussing his friends and experiences.

'Mum, I'll call you back,' she whispered before hanging up, glancing at the suddenly startled grass and poison type before her, whose face was filled with an unseemly blush at being caught snooping.

Finding Gary's ID in her Xtransceiver, she pressed the dial button, her fervent pacing increasing drastically.

'Hi this is Gary, I've just missed your call. Leave a message and I'll call you back,' the man's voice filled her ear, startling her with its cheerful professionalism. Clearly there were more sides to Gary Oak than she knew of.

'Gary, call me. I spoke to my mum,' May scowled into the device before hanging up.

Pacing restlessly, she didn't see Roserade try to scrub the perfume off his nose. She was too focused on Daisy and Drew to notice much else other than her walking around the room.

Realising that nothing was resolving itself in her hired room, she moodily released her Blaziken.

Seeing his confused expression, she scowled, 'I need to clear my head. Let's go visit the Oddish brain.'

Her starter pokémon glanced once at her before turning his attention to Roserade. Without a verbal agreement they followed her out of the room and through the Centre to where Drew would be.

Stalking into Drew's room, May glanced around to see that no one was there.

Taking a seat by his bed, May whispered, 'Drew, I've brought Roserade. He's been keeping me company, and I've really been needing it. I know they've put you in an induced coma to minimise nerve damage and such, but I could really use your advice right now, or at least a distration.'

When the man didn't respond, she placed her head on his bed, not seeing the pokémon glance at each other wearily.

'Drew, I seriously need your advice. Wallace has said that I should go to Kalos and compete in the Wallace Cup there, and everyone else seems to agree. He'll probably have to go soon to organise everything, but I don't know if I can leave you when you're like this,' May continued as she brought her head up to look at the man. Gently, she brushed the hair out of his face, blinking back tears as she thought of her father, who had spent years in hospital. Then there was Daisy, Gary's sister, her cousin. Was she alive? The man had never mentioned her to him, and it left her wondering why that would be.

Then, of course, there was Drew. The man had always been there for her, very much alive. The only time she'd ever seen him this lifeless was when they were with the Wynaut on Mirage Island. The problem was that she didn't have Roderick looking for her and her friends. She was alone in this and left without a direction, it made her feel so much more alone, even if she was surrounded by others.

'Please just wake up, Drew,' May choked out, burying her head in her hands as her shoulders shook, tears sliding down her face. She'd never heard Ash mention someone by the name of Daisy, unless you counted Misty's gorgeous sister, and she didn't want to find out that she'd lost a cousin before even meeting them. The fact that Drew was unconscious again was bad enough.

'Rose,' Roserade murmured as he walked towards May, placing a blue rose on her shoulder, his red eyes imploring she regain a semblance of self control.

'I can't do this, Roserade. I just can't. When I left for this journey, I didn't think it would hurt anyone, especially Drew,' May whispered as Blaziken moved to her other side, his own expression filled with worry.

'Blaze,' her starter pokémon growled, his eyes narrowed in anger at her words.

'Don't look at me like that, Blaziken, you know how much I care about others,' May pouted as she scrubbed at her eyes, not seeing a tall man leaning on the door frame to the room.

Seeing the pokémon arch an eyebrow at her, May sighed, 'of course I care about Gary, you know why that is. If Daisy is still seriously ill, you know how much it will affect mum and Max too. I should go to the Wallace Cup, but I can't just leave Drew.'

'And you won't,' Wallace called, surprising her.

'How long have you been standing there?' May questioned as she scrubbed at her cheeks.

'Long enough. He'd want you to go,' Wallace mused, scratching his lip thoughtfully.

'How can you be so sure?' May questioned as Roserade's eyes flickered from Wallace to May and then Drew.

'Roserade!' Roserade scowled, jumping between the two humans, pointing from himself to Drew and May.

'What's this?' Wallace frowned as May blinked at the pokémon.

With a roll of his eyes, Roserade walked forward, standing beside May.

'I see. Are you sure?' Wallace frowned as May's eyes flickered from the man to the pokémon, uncertain as to what was going on.

When Roserade nodded, Wallace smiled, 'I understand. May, Roserade would like to be in the Contest with you.'

'What?' May gasped, glancing from Blaziken to Roserade and then the two men in the room.

'Roserade, I couldn't possibly take you from Drew. He needs you,' May squeaked, her eyes widening in fear.

'Nonsense, Drew would understand Roserade's concern for you. Besides, you won't be gone for long. I'm sure Steven would gladly keep him company until you return,' Wallace mused with a small smile.

Hesitating, May found herself once again unable to refuse the man's offer.

'All right, but I'm still not certain,' May grimaced as she eyes the red eyed pokémon.

'You won't regret this,' Wallace grinned as he pulled out his Xtransceiver and walked out of the room.