Chapter 16: Hike Through Snow
The road up Mount Coronet is tough. May and Drew are walking through snow and they have a long way to hike.
May shivers. "How much longer do we have to hike?"
Drew stops and looks up at the mountain. He looks behind him. "What do you think?"
Drew's expression fades when he notices May's expression. She's clearly freezing cold, and won't survive the rest of the hike without a jacket. He walks to her, taking off his jacket. He holds it behind her.
"Here."
May looks at Drew. "No, Drew. You'll freeze."
Drew shakes his head. "I'm stronger than you."
May glares.
"I don't mean that in a cocky way. I mean that I'm physically stronger than you. I can handle it."
"I…" May shivers. "I can't let you get cold."
Drew shrugs his shoulders and puts his jacket back on. "Suit yourself." He turns around and starts walking again.
But with one step, May face planted in the snow. Drew looked behind him before rushing to May's side.
"See? You should just listen to me instead of being stubborn." He picks her up bridal style and finds a cave off the path. He places her on the ground and takes off his jacket. He slips her arms into it before gently laying her back down.
Drew calls out Roserade and Skarmory.
"Rose!"
"Skar~!"
"You two, can you go find some branches, so we could make a fire?" Drew asked.
The Pokémon nod before running or flying out of the small cave.
Drew looks down at May. He plays with a loose strand of her hair. "Why do you fight me so much…? You know that I'm always right."
May slowly opens her eyes. Drew quickly pulls his hand back. She blinks and sits up. "What happened?"
"You passed out in the snow. I brought you to this cave and gave you my jacket like you should've just taken in the first place."
May shivers, rubbing her hands together to try and stay warm. "T-Thank you, Drew…"
Drew smiled softly. Roserade and Skarmory returned to the cave and placed their branches on the floor.
"Great." Drew calls out Flygon. "Use Flamethrower."
Flygon burns the branches with a small Flamethrower.
"Thank you all." Drew returns all of his Pokémon.
May holds her hands in front of the fire, breathing out cold air. "I've never been so cold before…"
"Let's warm up in here, and start walking again after lunch."
May nods in agreement. She shivers.
Drew smiles softly and crawls to May's side. He wraps an arm around her shoulder, and pulls her close to him.
"D-Drew?" May's face is red. "What are you doing?"
"We could both keep each other warm. You do have my jacket."
May's face turns redder. "Y-yeah…" She snuggles up against Drew, and smiles. "This is…n-nice."
Drew looks at May. "You sound a little unsure about that statement."
"N-no. It's just that…"
"Just that…"
May looks away in embarrassment.
Drew only smiles and takes May's hand. They both unconsciously interlock their fingers together.
May stares at their hands with pink cheeks. "I-I…"
"Shh…" Drew hushed. "Let's just keep each other warm, and not question things."
May giggled nervously. "That sounds nice."
Drew and May stare at the fire, hearing the branches cracking underneath it.
"So, umm…" Drew started. "You and Brendan are really close, huh?"
May looks at Drew. "Yeah. We've known each other for our whole lives practically."
Drew frowned. "Wow…that long…?"
May tightened her grip on Drew's hand, noticing his eyes getting watery. He looks at her.
"Umm…" Drew quickly looks away, slipping his hand out of May's.
"Hey…it's okay." May said. "You don't have to be jealous. And you can always talk to me about anything."
Drew stands up and walks to the entrance of the cave. He takes a deep breath, noticing that it started snowing after they went there. "No, May…I can't."
"What?"
"I have a reputation to uphold. My fans don't want an emotional, crybaby Drew. They want my confident self."
"Drew…the fans just want you. It doesn't matter if you show your emotions."
"Maybe to you." Drew snapped, glaring behind him at May.
May gasped.
"You just don't get it." He faces forward. "This isn't me. I never show my emotions. Everyone will laugh at me if they find out."
"Not everyone."
Drew sighed. "I guess you won't laugh…"
"More than me, Drew. You're loved by many people all over the world. I'm sure that they won't care if you show a little bit of emotion…"
"You don't understand it, May." Drew said angrily. "You never will."
May furrowed her eyebrows. "You know what, Drew? Maybe you don't understand. There are people that love what you do. There are people that want to be you!" Her eyes water. "There are people out there that only want to see you be you."
"Exactly!" Drew swiftly turned around, anger in his eyes. "They want me to be me! And I'm always the confident one! I never cry, or talk about my emotions!"
May stood up, arguing back. "Snap out of it, Drew! Don't be so self-centered! Can't you see that people love you regardless?!"
"They've never seen this side of me! And I don't want them to!"
May glares.
"And also…name one person that wants to be me."
May scoffed. "…Me!"
Drew's anger fades. "…what?"
May frowns. "I've always admired you, Drew. I was just too afraid to admit it."
"You…what?"
"Just…forget it." May runs out of the cave, tears sliding down her face.
"No, May!" Drew called. "Wait!"
May runs into a forest. Drew takes off after her.
"May! Please, wait!"
May hears Drew, but doesn't turn back.
"May!"
May only runs faster.
"May! Please! Why are you running?!"
May starts to run out of breath, and she slows down. Drew catches up to her and stands in front of her.
"May…" Drew says, panting. "Why run?"
"Now it's you who doesn't get it." May said with furrowed eyebrows.
"Then…help me to understand."
"I've always admired you, Drew…and…w-when I heard you saying those things…it hurt. The person I admire so much…was talking about himself like that. He's afraid to show the true him. The Drew that's not always confident."
"You…really admire me?"
"Of course I do!" May yelled, tears streaming down her face. "You…you've inspired me…encouraged me to keep going when I wanted to give up…you cared about me when we were together! I…I wanted to be just like you one day. Fearless. Confident no matter who I'm up against." A long pause. "And most importantly…not afraid to be me."
Drew looked down.
"Now…I'm not sure I even know you. Last year, we seemed…closer. We could tell each other anything. This year is different. We're…growing apart."
Drew looks back up, watching May sob while speaking.
"Why are we letting our breakup get to us? I thought we would still be friends…"
"May…I'm sorry. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm sorry for giving you a hard time."
May looks away.
"I never knew that…you admire me that much. With all the teasing…and the way you yell at me…I didn't know you thought I was that good of a Coordinator…"
May stays silent.
"I…umm…Can you ever forgive me? I'm…really happy that I know who my biggest fan is now…and that it's you."
May looks at Drew.
"May? Can you please say something?"
No response.
"I'm really sorry for being such a jerk."
May sighed. "That's not the only thing."
"Huh?"
"You need to trust yourself more."
"Oh. Right. If I say that I'll try, would you forgive me?"
May smiled. "Yes, Drew. I forgive you."
Drew returned the smile. May walks to him and wraps her arms around him, hugging him close. He's in shock for a moment before smiling softly and hugging back.
"Let's just go back. Before we freeze." Drew said.
May nodded in agreement. She takes his hand, and they start walking back. Her cheeks tint pink.
So do Drew's.
"I'm…really lucky to have met you, Drew."
Drew smiles softly, and tightens his grip on May's hand. "I'm lucky to have met you too…Princess."
May giggled. "You haven't called me that in a long time."
"I think it's been long enough. I'm bringing it back. Is that okay with you?"
May smiles shyly with pink cheeks. "Of course, Grasshead."
("I really hope that she says yes to me in the end…I still love her…a lot.") "May…thank you."
"For what?"
"For yelling at me. I really needed to hear that."
May smiles. "I'm glad you understand now. Your fans won't care if you change a little…"
Drew nodded. His smile fades. "But…what if they actually start to hate me again- I-I mean…w-what if they…start?"
May looks at Drew in confusion. "Did you say…again?"
"Um…Nope." Drew lied, releasing May's hand. He stopped walking, turning away from May.
May stopped. "But…I heard you say that…"
"Well, you heard wrong."
May frowned. She takes Drew's hand in both of hers. "Drew…I'm here to listen."
Drew slowly glances back at May with watery eyes. "I…I just can't." He looks away, pulling his hand out of hers. "I just…"
"I'm…I'm here for you if you need me. If you need someone to talk to. But…if you can't tell me, then I understand. I'll give you your space."
Drew looks at May.
"But…just know that…I'm always there to listen to you."
Drew smiled slightly. "Thank you, May. You should head back to the cave to warm up. I'll…catch up."
"Um, okay." May smiled slightly before walking away from Drew.
Drew's smile faded. He walked into the forest. He sits by a tree to think. "May can't know about what happened in the past…she'll laugh at me for sure." He stares at the ground. "Hmm…but yet…she's assured me that…" He pokes the snow with his finger and draws a heart in the snow. "She'll never make fun of me…" He writes 'D + M' in the heart. "She'll…always be there for me. She'll always love me." He smiled to himself. "Maybe…I should tell her. She deserves to know." He stands up. "Yeah. She's always been there for me." He starts walking towards the cave. "I can do this."
May sighs, sitting down on the cave floor by the fire. "I hope Drew is okay…" She shivers. She feels the jacket that's on her, smiling. "His jacket is so warm…and it smells like roses."
On Drew's way back to the cave, a huge gust of wind blew past him, followed by the scream of a Pokémon. He froze. "Hm?"
The call of the Pokémon was heard again, and Drew starts running towards the sound, knowing that the call is an SOS.
He runs through the forest until…
"Whoa!" Drew came to an immediate stop at the edge of a cliff. He breathes heavily. "That was close…"
"Buneary!" The call is heard again…
…from under him?
Drew slowly walks forward and looks over the edge. He could see a small brown rabbit Pokémon trapped on a tiny ledge on the side of the cliff. He gasped. "Don't worry! I'll save you!" He backs up and calls out Flygon.
"Fly~!"
"Flygon, can you save that Pokémon down there?"
Flygon nods before flying down the cliff. The rabbit Pokémon notices the big, scary Pokémon, and backs up against the cliff wall in fear.
"Don't worry!" Drew called down to the Pokémon.
The Pokémon looks up at Drew with big, black eyes.
Drew shows it a warm smile. "Flygon just wants to save you. You won't get hurt, I promise."
The Pokémon hesitates before letting Flygon fly it up to Drew on its back. Flygon lands on the ground in front of Drew.
Drew reaches up and gently takes the Pokémon off of Flygon's back. "Good job, Flygon. Return." He returns Flygon to his pokéball.
The brown rabbit Pokémon nuzzles its head against Drew's shirt in appreciation and thanks.
Drew smiles. "Aww…you're adorable. I know just the person that would love to meet you."
The Pokémon stares up at Drew with interest.
"But…I think you should just go back home." Drew places the Pokémon on the floor. "Your family must be worried about you."
The Pokémon frowns and shakes its head.
"You don't have a family?"
The Pokémon nods sadly.
"Hm. I know what that feels like."
The Pokémon jumps onto Drew's shoulder, nuzzling him. "Bun, Buneary."
Drew smiles softly. "How would you like to come along with me? Or rather…with someone very important to me? I know she'll absolutely love you."
"Buneary!" The Pokémon said happily.
"Great. Let's go." Drew starts walking with the small Pokémon on his shoulder.
When they get to the cave, Drew places Buneary on the snow.
"Can you wait here?" Drew whispered.
Buneary nodded.
Drew stands up and takes a deep breath before entering the cave. May notices him, and opens her mouth to speak but she doesn't say anything.
She instead looks away and frowns.
Drew sat beside May. "May, umm…I think…you deserve to know more about my past."
"A-are you sure you feel comfortable enough to tell me?" May asked.
Drew nodded. "Yes. I am."
May smiled. "I'm all ears."