They had made their way to the imposing Battle Factory right after breakfast at the coffeeshop, and had even arrived three minutes early - a feat that had never happened in the entirety of their Johto travels together. "It means we've matured," joked May as they strolled into the first of the Battle Frontier challenges.

Drew tilted his head in amusement, "May, just minutes ago, I had to drag you away from that menu in that ramen shop across the street."

"Hey I was only scouting for restaurants so that we could go and we were there for two minutes … maximum!" she exclaimed a little too loudly, as the small crowd of people that had spilled from the main arena to the registration area turned to look at them.

A young man came and greeted them, "Challengers, it's nice to meet you. I'm Sergio, and I will be your referee as you both attempt this challenge. The Frontier is packed during this season, so I will have to ask one of you to wait on the sidelines until the other has fully completed the battle against Noland before taking on the challenge. Would you like some time to deliberate who goes first?"

The pair glanced at each other, unsure what the other preferred and waiting to hear them speak. After a short but rather awkward silence punctuated by Sergio's humming of the Battle Frontier advertisement jingle, May began, "Drew, do you mind -" as the aforementioned coordinator also ventured, "I don't mind either way but I could -"

"Starting first," she blurted quickly.

"Go first?" Drew asked hesitantly.

"Oh," smiled Drew in surprise and relief, "Well, I guess I'll go in first."

May smiled, "Go gettem, Drew!"

He winked, giving her a two finger salute as she walked towards the stadium crowd and he walked with Sergio to the main arena.

As if his voice was projected through a loudspeaker, Sergio's voice reverberated throughout the Battle Factory, "

"Wooooo!" yelled a very enthusiastic May, although this cheer was drowned out by the nervewrackingly large crowd that had gathered at the Factory to watch the challenges.

Drew faced the crowd and waved, as May had seen him do every Grand Festival they had attended.

"He has such a wonderful smile," remarked a woman to the man who was sitting next to her. May observed her friend, he does…but he looks kind of tense.

"Now, before you can face our Factory Head, Noland, we at the Battle Factory like to explain the rules of the challenge for folks in the audience," he gestured at the enormous crowd, "who are new to the Battle Factory. And for you...as the challenger, it's important that you understand our unique Frontier challenge as well."

Drew nodded. He had, of course, read up on a few books and articles on the Battle Factory both last night and on the ferry ride here, but with his nerves slightly shot, he figured that it couldn't hurt to be as attentive as possible.

"Of course," Sergio continued, "the Battle Factory does not permit the trainer to use their own pokemon. For this reason, we have prepared three rental pokemon in these very pokeballs." He held up three pokeballs to the crowd.

"Unfortunately, you will have to choose at random. However, you have the ability to switch your choice and choose another pokeball instead. Alright. Now that's enough for rules. Drew, which pokeball do you choose?"

"I'll choose the one on the left."

Sergio smiled, "Show everyone who you will be taking on the Factory challenge with today."

Drew took a deep breath, here goes, and threw the Pokeball up in the air. And out came…

"It's a Skitty! Would you look at that everyone?"

The skitty turned to face Drew in excitement, before it decided to chase its own tail. Drew laughed, scanning the crowd for his friend and rival. May, May! 2nd bleacher, 3rd from the right. She had been trying to catch his eye too, as she held up two thumbs up while smiling ever-so-wide. Drew suddenly remembered the Ever Grande Conference, that first grand festival the two of them had competed against each other in. May had faced off against his Roselia - he had almost forgotten that his Roserade was once a Roselia - and Flygon with her Combusken and Skitty. If Sol could see this now, she'd be laughing.

Sergio, geared back into referee-MC mode turned to face Drew again, "Well! Would you like to take on the Frontier challenge with Skitty or would you like to try your luck with one of these other two Pokemon?"

Skitty slowly looked at Drew, hesitant. Drew did not hesitate.

"I'll be keeping Skitty, thanks."

At this the Skitty jumped for joy.

"All right. Seeing as our challenger has now chosen their Pokemon, it is now time for us to welcome our one and only….frontier head, Noland!"

At this a tall, rather young looking man with aviator goggles on his head was sighted landing his plane above the factory landing dock on the rooftop. As everyone looked up at the clear glass windows to see Noland land, Drew closed his eyes, trying to let go of his nerves.

As Sergio called out, "Battle begin!" the coordinator from LaRousse flew into action. May watched intently as Drew called out move after move, and smiled as he weaved in her favorite - "Metronome" - against the opposing trainer's Politoed. As Drew called out "Metronome" one last time,which ended up being the move "Last Resort," the crowd went hushed as Skitty KO-ed the Politoed in five simple moves. The couple sitting next to May whispered, "Oh my, that boy is talented." May was floored. Why is everything he does so...elegant? As the crowd erupted in cheers and overwhelming approval for this new challenger from LaRousse, Sergio ran up to the field.

"A stunning battle from Drew here! We will reconvene after ten minutes, but for now, please take this time to rest during our intermission."

May rushed down towards the main arena where Drew was situated, the little skitty running circles around him. He noticed her approaching and ran up to her, "May!" As they embraced, she congratulated him, "You killed it back there. That was amazing!" He tightened their embrace, guard completely down and briefly forgetting where they were. The couple that had been sitting next to May, who had also made a beeline for the young chartreuse-haired coordinator, looked on in interest as the woman poked the man next to her in excitement. "His girlfriend! Don't you remember she was sitting next to us? What an adorable couple!" the woman whispered all too loudly. Both Drew and May pretended they could not hear a word that was being said as they pulled away from each other, beet-red.

All of a sudden, Sergio's voice poured into the stadium. "Our intermission will end shortly, and we will have our fourth and final challenger of the day." The crowd then dispersed, and Drew murmured a "good luck," to his rival-turned-best friend as he headed towards the bleachers. She gulped, the pressure was on.

"Our last challenger of the day is May Maple, from Petalburg City! Lots of Hoenn natives today, huh?" May ran to the center of the stage as the crowd cheered, blue bandana floating elegantly in the wind. There were three pokeballs waiting. "I'll choose the center."

Nodding sagely, Sergio smiled, "Show everyone who you will be taking on the Factory challenge with today." She took a deep breath, as she cried out, "Take the stage….Absol?!" Their eyes found each other in an instant. What are the odds of this. Somehow, May felt a surge of calm fill her at seeing the Absol in front of her. Sergio turned towards her, "Would you like to take on the Frontier challenge with Absol or would you like to try your luck with one of these other two Pokemon?"

May smiled confidently, "Absol and I will claim the Knowledge Symbol."

The Absol seemed to nod ever so slightly.

"All right, these are fighting words. Let's see what you've got! Let us welcome again our one and only….frontier head, Noland!"

The crowd erupted in a fervor as Noland stepped back into the arena. "Your five minutes starts...now!" May had battled against Drew's Absol hundreds of times before and so as she weaved together combinations at a somewhat frantic pace, she noticed two things: Drew's Absol had stronger attacking power than the Absol in front of her but as a tradeoff, this Absol was incredibly agile. She had yelled "Dodge!" ten seconds earlier and Absol had gracefully avoided the Rhydon's stone edge. Once noticing this, May used this to her advantage. As Noland called for Rhydon to send an unrelenting flurry of stone edge, the coordinator smiled. She continued to yell, "Dodge!' as Absol simultaneously weaved and avoided the stones flying in the air and narrowed the gap between Rhydon and him. Suddenly, the gap had been closed and May yelled, "Absol! Use Superpower!" Drew nodded in approval. Using a move like superpower reduces attack and defense, but it is Absol's strongest attack….and it doesn't affect Absol's speed; the crowd collectively leaned in as May called out "Superpower!" one last time and Rhydon staggered, before May and Absol were declared the winners. May exhaled, surprised at how calm she was throughout the battle. She turned to look for Drew, before spotting his chartreuse hair making its way down the stairs. "That was amazing," Drew said, chin tilted ever-so-slightly up and eyes crinkled with pride. As they walked back onto the stage to thunderous applause, and even as Noland shook their hands, "Wonderful job, you two," May started to feel nervous. And frankly she did not like the ungroundedness of this sensation that plagued her when Drew squeezed her hand as they made their way through the crowd or when the couple from earlier gave them a knowing glance. As they made their way out of the Battle Tower, May took a deep breath. "We did it!" she exclaimed loudly fist pumped high in the air. He smirked, "One down, six more to go." In high spirits, they walked back towards their living arrangements, heatedly discussing the size of the stadium as well as the sheer coincidence of the Drew-Skitty and May-Absol combination. Suddenly, the pair realized they were back in a familiar place. "Ramen for din? –" the boy was being pulled into the restaurant – "ner."

They were the only ones in the small establishment. The restaurant was surprisingly dimly lit, with few seats placed rather close together.

"I'll have the mushroom truffle oil ramen," Drew said, passing his menu back to the waiter.

"And I'll have the spicy numbing special ramen please!" she handed her menu back to the waiter, smiling jubilantly. At the very last minute she wavered.

"Actually, do you mind if I look at the menu again? Let's see…." she parsed through the ten item menu for the twentieth time. "Actually, could I change my order to the miso egg deluxe ramen? But could I have some of the chili oil on the side?"

The waiter nodded, smiling, taking the menu again and stepping towards the kitchen. "Wait!" May called out. The smiling had worn down to a grimace-smile and May decided on second thought that the miso egg deluxe would do perfectly fine. As the two settled down, the words had suddenly died out for both of them. What is this tension in the air, Drew thought to himself as he looked at May, who was staring blankly at the cup in front of her. He reached into his pocket. He had been meaning to give it to her all day. "Hey May, you were incredible –" be began as pulled out a long-stem rose and moved to hand it to her before –

"I like you, Drew." The rose fell into the water. His eyes were fixed on her. She breathed, continuing, "I've liked you for a long time now, even though it probably took me an even longer time to figure that out."

She laughed, "You always did say I was slow with understanding how I felt… I guess you were right." He didn't know when it happened, but somehow – somewhere during May's confession he had gotten up from his seat and was now holding her close.

"I like you too, May Maple. Everything about you… and I've liked you for a long time too. Maybe even when we first met at the Slateport contest." His heart was beating "fast as a Rapidash," to use a phrase her mother taught her, May noted.

She closed her eyes, relief like a waterfall cascading over her. She couldn't stop smiling.

"Is that for me?" May gestured at the rose that had fallen into the glass of water in front of her.

He laughed softly, "They've always been for you."

A/N: I definitely dropped off the grid…but just wanted to thank you if you end up reading this! Reread the reviews a couple times, they were all so sweet! Have a lovely lovely night:)