Chapter 68
Sitting in a café, May tried to keep her posture confident, a smile on her lips. Showing her companions that she wasn't feeling confident would only serve to worry them more, and right now, she wanted them to not worry, especially since she knew there wasn't much they could do to realistically help her.
Cilan and Iris were both unfamiliar with the intricacies of contests, so there wasn't anything they could really do to comfort or help her her, anyway. This wasn't like a gym battle where strength and strategies could determine the victor, or anything that could be won over by how compatible she was with her pokémon.
If it was that simple, she'd be battling Steven to determine who's champion.
If it was that simple, she wouldn't be interested.
'So they penalised you because your pokémon were too strong? That doesn't seem fair,' Cilan frowned, his eyes dark as he watched May sip her hot chocolate.
Nodding her head, May winced as she heard her Xtrasceiver go off.
Again.
Grimacing, May muttered, 'that's the beauty of being in contests. Strength and mindless strategy doesn't win anything and, I'm in this rut because of how hard I trained to be gym leader.'
Looking down at her hands, May smiled bitterly, 'I knew I shouldn't have believed I could just pick up where I left off. Being a regular trainer is so different from trying to bring out the beauty of your pokémon.'
'Nonsense. This is just a different playing field, but you'll get there,' Cilan said, fidgeting with his cufflink in a manner that just reminded May of Steven.
Seeing the action brought a bitter smile to her lips.
She missed the days she'd be running around Hoenn, completing errands for Steven against both Team Aqua and Team Magma. Where seeing the steel trainer made her flounder, but their small interactions always brought a smile to her face.
Back then things had been so much more dire, yet so bittersweet. Where her biggest threat was the thought of Cynthia breathing down her neck.
'Aren't you going to answer that?' Iris asked, playing with her own drink as she resolutely avoided looking at Cilan.
Grimacing, May realised that the duo still hadn't made up.
Trying to hide her disappointment in them, May glanced at her Xtransceiver, the screen lighting up as yet another person tried to reach her.
Dawn, Steven, Wallace, Max, Winona, Misty, Brawly… so many people were trying to reach her, and she didn't want to talk to any of them.
'No, I don't really feel like talking to anyone right now. I understand their concerns, but when I was gym leader I had to get through worse on my own,' May muttered as her Xtransciever lit up again.
Glancing at Harley's name as he joined the list of people trying to talk to her, May grimaced.
There were only so many reasons her friends would be reaching out to her, and she had every sneaking suspicion that it had to do with her not even passing the appeal round.
Leaning back, May looked up at the white ceiling before saying, 'I don't want to worry anyone, but I know they'll just be concerned that I'm not picking up their calls.'
'Just because you were alone back then doesn't mean you have to do it alone now,' Iris argued, her voice loud against the otherwise silent café.
The Unovan faltered at May's warning glance.
'So pick one up and tell them you're busy,' Cilan rebutted, though his words were definitely not the solution.
None of the people calling her would take no for an answer.
Glancing at her Xtransceiver, May frowned.
Harley definitely wasn't going to take that message well.
Pulling up the messaging application, she sent individual messages to Misty, Solidad and Steven, advising each of them that she was fine and to please pass the message on to the others.
Once the message was sent, she moved to turn off her Xtransceiver, but Steven had already responded, 'you know I'm always here. Don't ice me out again, I'm always happy to help. I'll learn about contests if I have to.'
Frowning, May turned her device off before asking her companions, 'where to next?'
'Durant Camp is having a competition soon,' Cilan said, pulling out his own Xtransceiver to look at directions.
'Is it far?' May asked, wondering if she should take some time to train her pokémon.
Sure, she wasn't working as gym leader, but she still had her responsibilities.
'If the maps are correct, we should get there pretty soon,' Cilan smiled, though there was a nervous edge to it.
Smiling, May replied, 'that sounds like a plan.'
A/N: Hopefully May has more luck at Durant Camp, poor thing.
Let me know what you think and remember, if you're interested in checking out my original fiction, I'm uploading chapters weekly on Royal Road too under LSS Russell