Thank you for the critical reviews. I take every bit of advice you guys give seriously, so don't worry.
I rewrote the first chapter because I felt that it was a bit rushed, so give it a read if you want to (the plot is identical so it isn't necessary)
Also, please do drop by a review if you enjoyed the chapter. Anything in particular that you liked, anything that I should improve on is greatly appreciated, since I am trying to improve my writing skills.
Hoenn, 6 months later:
Oddly enough, the events in that cave were never mentioned again. It was as if May and Solidad had made some sort of silent pact to not bring it up, but neither of them felt the need to anyway. They both simply went on with their lives as if nothing had happened, and as far as everybody was concerned it was just one failed pokéblock expedition.
However, that didn't prevent the incident from being stuck in May's mind ever since. The mysterious Greninja, the legendary Zygarde, Ash. Those encounters meant something to her, May was sure of it. It was as if a part of her had been awakened, a part of her long forgotten in the past.
When the ship set sail with Ash and Brock gradually disappearing over the horizon, May bid her final farewells to her friends. She did so rather cheerily, as it never really occurred to her how valuable their travels together were.
Sure, May missed her friends, but she also knew that everyone - Ash, Brock and Max - had their own path to follow, their own dream to fight for. It was inevitable that some day, their journey would reach a point where they would each go their own way, marching gloriously towards the bright future that lay ahead for all of them.
So May went to Johto for a new adventure with new friends. Solidad, Harley, and Drew. She lived an ordinary life: Waking up in a nice soft bed, practicing combinations, participating in contests, having dinner at a proper restaurant. Occasionally she would venture on a quest to catch a new pokémon or gather ingredients for pokéblock, but her life remained nevertheless contained within the same, never-ending cycle.
And May had been completely fine with that. Well, at least until now.
What she saw in that cave brought back memories from the past. Her travels with Ash, Brock and Max flashed vividly before her eyes.
Birch's Lab. Gyms. Contests. Team Magma. Team Aqua. The Hoenn League. The Grand Festival. The Battle Frontier.
Those were the times where May felt the thrill of adventure coursing through her veins, the passion for travel running through her blood.
It were the small pleasures of life which made their journey so special, which May had completely taken for granted when she left the group. Only now did she realise what she had been missing all along.
Cuddling into her comfy sleeping bag at night. Waking up to the smell of Brock's cooking. Camping next to the bonfire after getting lost in the woods. Seeing different pokémon all over the Hoenn Region. Meeting new people across their journey, each with their own unique story to tell.
And there was Ash. There was something inexplicable, indescribable about that boy which made May cherish every single moment they spent together. Perhaps it was the inextinguishable fire in his eyes. Or it was his unconditional love of pokémon. Or his unrivalled passion in battling.
She couldn't tell why, but with Ash around every day felt like a brand new adventure. The possibilities were endless; they would stop evil organisations trying to take over the world, befriend and battle alongside legendary pokémon, somehow end up in the most bizarre locations of the pokémon universe, and barely make it out alive. And May absolutely loved it.
There were the peaceful moments as well, the times where Ash and May would sit in silence, appreciating the beauty nature had to offer. They watched the blue sky, the funny clouds, the green trees. There were no distractions, no conflicts or battles or crowds, only the gentle rustling of the wind and the soft chirping from the native Tailow.
May enjoyed the times where they would talk enthusiastically about their next contest, their next gym battle. How they would conquer their respective challenges and strive to become the very best, like no one ever was. They would compete to see who could consume the most food in one sitting, while Max and Brock watched from the sidelines in exasperation.
Even the occasional bickering between the two weren't too bad after all. May smiled dreamily, remembering the time when two love fanatics accused them of being a couple, to which they instantly denied. But no matter how angry they were with each other, at the end of the day they would always make it up and become friends all over again.
"Um... May? You're blushing."
May was snapped back into reality by the familiar, annoying voice of her brother.
She was in a contest hall. The ever present roar of the crowd filled her ears as a new contestant entered the stage, ready to display her talents to the whole wide world.
Next to May sat her brother, eyeing her with his know-it-all expression. Drew sat in the row behind her, an infuriating smirk plastered across his face like always. Solidad was there too, sitting calmly at the back, unfazed by all the childish drama. Harley was sulking in the corner with his fists clenched in rage, presumably having been knocked out or disqualified for cheating.
"Hellooo," Max waved his hand across her face. "Really sis, whoever you are thinking about must be real cute."
"What -" May's cheeks flushed pink. "I wasn't - Gosh, you are so annoying sometimes!" She spluttered, but Max merely shrugged, a cheeky grin on his face as he returned to watch the contest.
May wanted to strangle her brother so badly, but she knew that they were in a contest hall, and refrained herself from making a scene. Trying her best not to let her anger get the better of her, May decided to divert her attention and concentrate on the ongoing contest instead.
The coordinator on stage appeared to be around her age; she had blue eyes and short, blonde hair that fell smoothly down to her neck. She wore a fashionable velvet gown draped around a pink skirt, while a matching hat perched nicely on top of her head. There was a soft, blue ribbon tied to her collar. May couldn't quite catch her name, but murmurs amongst the crowd suggested that this was her very first contest, so she was a beginner.
Hey, this is going to be interesting. May always enjoyed watching new coordinators; they tended to put on an unorthodox and interesting show regardless of whether they advanced or not.
On the other hand, a lot of seasoned coordinators preferred the textbook strategies which although did get them past the appeal stages, were completely unoriginal and boring to watch. Is this girl going to catch the judge's attention? Who knows? May thought, as she adjusted her position to get a better view onto the stage.
Silence swept across the entire hall as the audience eagerly awaited for this newcomer to start the show. The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Go, Sylveon!" She threw her pokéball straight up in the air, and the feline materialised in a flash of blinding light.
May watched in curiosity as the fairy pokémon lowered herself from the sky. Her feelers swirled around in mid-air like a dancing ballerina, at the same time spinning and slowing her descent like a parachute.
The contest hall was encased by a glass ceiling, and the golden rays of sunlight combined with it's graceful body structure truly gave the impression of a holistic angel descending from the sky. The crowd erupted with applause, showing their encouragements towards this new coordinator.
The judges were equally impressed. "Now that's one way to introduce yourself to the world of contests!" Vivian announced, trying hard not to be drowned out by the sea of applause that immediately followed suit.
"May, she's way better than you when you first tried out." May didn't even need to turn around, she already knew that was Drew.
Fuming, May was about to give an intelligent comeback, but Solidad beat her to it. "Now, now, Drew." She said. "You wouldn't want us to remind you of your first contest, would you?"
May laughed, remembering that Drew's first contest had ended in tears following a disastrous defeat to Solidad. Drew also realised that this argument wasn't going his way, and promptly retreated into his own seat in silence. Bathing in victory, May turned back towards the stage.
The girl gave the crowd a polite smile, evidently pleased that her first impression seemed to be a success. However, the performance was far from over.
"Sylveon, Double team!" She ordered. "Sylveee-" The feline sang in a soothing tone as clones began to materialise one by one, spreading out to form a perfect circle. Each Sylveon had their feelers intertwined with an adjacent clone, as if they were holding hands with one another.
The girl waited until all the clones had locked feelers with each other. "Now, use Swift!"
"-eon!" With a cry and a flick of their tails, each Sylveon let loose a barrage of stars towards the sky. The multitude of swifts enhanced by the effects of double team converged in the air to form one big shining star, illuminating the sky with a dazzling glow.
The massive star continued to increase in size, fueled by the continuous supply of attacks from the army of Sylveon. The hall began to dim as it began to cover a significant portion of the ceiling, and the girl decided that it was time to finish up her act.
"Sylveon!" She glanced at her partner, who nodded confidently as if she knew exactly what to do.
Sylveon gave off a cry, and the clones abruptly disappeared into thin air as the barrage of swifts ended in unison. The feline drooped her cream-coloured head in a slick motion, and the giant star came crashing down at her command.
The audience watched in suspense as the sea of stars approached the single Sylveon, who stood with her head held high in the middle of the stage. The star was coming closer and closer, by this point it had almost engulfed the entire pokémon. Sylveon didn't move a muscle, and her trainer watched intently without giving a command.
"Protect!" The girl ordered, just as the feline disappeared completely amidst the mass of circling stars. "Veeee-onnnn" Out came an angelic cry as a speck of green emerged from the sea of yellow. The speck grew into a perfect sphere, revealing the silhouette of the beautiful feline contained within.
May was genuinely impressed. The defiant pose Sylveon held, along with the aura of green that enveloped her body truly made her stand out against the sea of yellow stars. This girl knew how to make her pokémon shine all right.
The green sphere of energy held it's ground as millions of stars came crashing in. Each star was annihilated upon impact, creating a cluster of golden dust which launched into the sky before raining down onto the entire stage. Sylveon emerged in a glorious pose with the green aura fading from her body, while tiny specks of dust fell onto her like confetti.
The girl bowed her head to signal the end of her performance, as did her Sylveon. Unanimous applause rang throughout the entire hall, and May joined in with pleasure. Although there were still flaws within her performance, it was undoubtedly one of the best shows May had seen from a new coordinator.
The excited Sylveon leapt into her trainer's arms, purring affectionately as she gently patted her back in congratulations. The girl nervously glanced towards the panel, where all three judges were ready to present their scores. The familiar billboards went up simultaneously, revealing the moment of truth:
8.5 - 8.5 - 9.0
A quick tally added them up to 26, a respectable score for a new contestant. The girl seemed to be satisfied as well; she returned her Sylveon into a pokéball and headed towards the Coordinator's dressing room.
The performance had caught Solidad's attention. "That girl's got a talent," she said, her eyes still fixed on the girl as she gradually disappeared from sight. "It's almost as if this isn't her first contest. She knew how to grab the crowds attention right from the very beginning."
"I've gotta admit, she's not half bad. The way her Sylveon spiralled onto the ground - for a second, I thought it was an angel descending from heaven." Drew put his thoughts on the matter as well, albeit rather grudgingly. After all these years, his ego remained as big as ever.
"The last part was an amateur mistake though," he added, returning to his normal self. "By allowing her Sylveon to be completely surrounded by that swift, that rookie missed an opportunity to show off her cute little Sylveon to the judges. Ah well, no one can be as perfect as me, can they?" Drew shrugged, finishing his evaluation with a tinge of cockiness to his voice.
May frowned. "That's not very nice. She and her Pokémon must have worked really hard for this." Drew gave her a signature flick of his hair in response, knowing that he would eventually wind her up.
Before this could turn into another argument, Max broke in. "Look!" he said excitedly, pointing at the judge's panel. "They're about to announce the second round contestants!"
Vivian was indeed holding her microphone. "That's the last performance of the appeals stage, folks! And... these eight lucky contestants will be moving on to the second round!" she announced in style, pointing towards the screen as the faces of eight coordinators materialised on screen.
"Yay, I made it!" May cheered as her face appeared on the screen amidst several random coordinators. The face of the blonde girl appeared on the very last slot.
"Look, the rookie made it through!" Drew remarked, completely ignoring that May had passed into the second stage. Him and Solidad were sitting out of this contest, since they were both fairly ahead in terms of ribbons. Harley didn't make it through the appeals stage, but from the look on his face he already knew that.
"The contestants will now be randomly chosen to see who they will be facing in battle," Vivian continued, as the computer began to shuffle their faces all over the screen, before matching the coordinators into pairs. "And... here are the matchups for the quarter finals of this contest!"
May looked at the screen. She was facing the blonde coordinator.
"Good luck out there honey!" Harley had finally broken from his silence, and plopped himself down on the empty seat next to May. He had his usual deceiving smile on his face, but quickly showed his true colours as he creepily drooped down and whispered in her ear, "You know that was a lie. I hope you lose so badly that you wish you'd never became a coordinator in the first place!" Harley screamed like a maniac, before turning around and strolling towards the exit with his hips swaying from side to side.
However, May didn't care. She couldn't wait for the second round, and she was certain about one thing: the battle would be a ton of fun!