In the last chapter….
"I forfeit this match!"
With that statement, the crowd grew silent, and then whispers could be heard in every direction.
"What!?" Drew and Solidad looked at each other in shock
"Did that..." Solidad said "Just happen?" Drew finished
"What?" May said in shock as she looked straight at Harley for the first time
"Whoa! Did we just hear that right?" Vivian announced into her mic before turning to Harley, to confirm if he really had just forfeited the match.
"Yeah, you heard me correctly" Harley said giving a shrug
"This is unheard of! A forfeit in the battle rounds of the Grand festival. Are you sure?" Vivian asked
"Hey, winning this round means that I would have to keep fighting and as you can see, my dear Banette is injured. If I manage to pass this round, I'll surely be eliminated in the next. So I figured it'll only be fair if I just bow out now." Harley said oh so casually "But don't worry, this won't be the last you've heard of me"
"Ok. So with Harley's forfeit, the winner of this round is May!" Vivian announced to the crowd
May was still in shock at what had just happened as she shook Harley's hand.
"Congratulations May. Good Luck with the rest." Harley said
Many times, this statement is said by fellow competitors just as an act in front of the cameras, but Drew and Solidad felt that, for once, Harley was being sincere.
There was something that puzzled Drew though. Battle injuries that prevent a Pokémon from fighting future rounds aren't common, but it happens from time to time. As the contest rule states; in the event this occurs, coordinators are to have the Pokémon examined by Nurse Joy, and if ruled unable to continue, they are allowed to substitute another Pokémon before the next battle round is determined. As a veteran coordinator, Drew knows that Harley is well aware of this rule. It was unlike him to forfeit that easily.
"Perhaps this was Harley's way of making it up to May?" Drew thought. Whatever it was, it seemed like a step for Harley. He didn't have much time to ponder on this as his battle was up.
Unfortunately for Drew, he ended up losing his battle, much to the shock of his friends and fans.
May ran and gave him a hug as soon as he entered the room. "Oh I'm sorry Drew! This is probably my fault. If you weren't so focused on helping me train, you probably would've won that match easily"
"Hey, hey, don't feel bad. There's always the next festival" Drew said hugging her back
"Besides, I'm too busy being proud of you to feel bad about my loss. You were truly great out there." Drew said before pulling her off of him and then giving her a deep congratulatory kiss.
"Ew! Get a room you guys!" Some competitor shouted at them, causing the couple to pull apart and blush.
"Hey on the bright side, it looks like was don't have to battle each other" Drew said trying to lighten the mood
"Yeah that's true. Still I'm sorry you didn't make it." May said
"Shhh don't worry about it. You just have to fight for the both of us now." Drew said before leaning close to her ear and whispering, "and you can make it up for all the training I gave you, tonight." he kissed her just below the ear. This made May turn bright red, but she gave a slight nod.
Drew stood up taller and gave her his signature hair flick. "Good luck out there; I'll be rooting for you."
With that, he left to go join Ash and Brock in the audience. The rest of the battle rounds came and gone quickly. With each round, the competitors were reduced to half, then half again, and again and so on. Drew watched carefully as May and Solidad defeated one opponent after another.
Soon it came to the final battle, and it was between them two.
"Ok everyone! After 2 days of fierce completion, it all comes down to this, the final battle! Whoever wins this battle will be crowned top coordinator!" Lillian announced to the crowd
"Now lets welcome our final 2 coordinators, May annndd Solidad!"
May and Solidad entered the arena battle ground and stood on opposite sides.
"I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're a friend May!" Solidad said to May
"I wouldn't expect any less!" May replied
The battle ground opened to reveal a large pool of water. Solidad called out her Lapras while May called out Glaceon. And the battle began
"Lapras use surf!" Solidad called out "now use water gun!"
Lapras surfed toward Glaceon then shot out a stream of water. May commanded Glaceon to use Ice beam, which stopped the water from hitting Glaceon and froze Lapras in the wave it was surfing on.
"Good job Glaceon, now use Shadow Ball!"
"Lapras used protect!"
Lapras managed to block itself from the Shadow Ball and then broke free from the ice it was incased in. There was the endless amount of back and forth between them. This was definitely the battle between two veteran coordinators.
Drew watched the battle nervously, he really wants May to have this victory and he knows that Solidad probably wants that too. But he knows that Solidad wasn't going to hand the victory to May. She was going to make May fight for it.
The five minutes ticked by as the upperhand shifted back and forth between Solidad and May. It was an intense battle that kept all the audience on the edge of their seat and focused in. Finally, the clock hit zero.
This was it.
That's all for now! Once again, sorry for the briefness of the battle scenes, I tried my best xD. I don't know if there's actually a rule regarding pokemons being too injured to battle further rounds being substituted, so I just made it up to fit the story.
So we're approaching the end of this story, I think I'll probably finish it with about 21 or 22 chapters total ( I may or may not write an epilogue as well). Thanks to those who have stuck it out so far and I'll see you in the next chapter! (hopefully soon)