October 17th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
(Drew's POV)
I ran toward her as she began to fall and caught her before she hit the ground hard.
"Drew, can you carry her? We'll take her to our private dressing area," mom said quickly.
I picked May up as we all followed mom to the private dressing area and I laid her on the couch that was in the room.
"No wonder May didn't sing at all when we were practicing yesterday. I think she knew this would happen if she did," Leaf said sadly as Gary pulled her into a side hug to comfort her.
"What are you talking about?" Johanna asked.
"The last time May sang for us, she got a huge headache and fainted from the pain. She then had nightmares of her parent's death," I explained.
"This stinks, May likes to sing and she can sing extremely well, but she can't or she suffers the consequences," Dawn said frustrated.
I turned to look at May, she had a few tears rolling down her face, "It's happening again," I said sadly.
"Hey mom, are you….what's wrong with May?" Lizzy asked concerned as she stood in the doorway.
"Hey Lizzy have you seen….May?" Max asked concerned as he appeared in the doorway. "What's wrong with May?"
"It happened again," I told him.
Suddenly May sat up awake looking terrified.
(May's POV)
I woke up from the nightmare sitting up scared to death, I looked around the room to see that everyone was alive and started to suddenly cry into my hands. I'm tired and scared of these nightmares, I want them to stop. I was suddenly pulled into a hug by Drew and I just sat there and cried.
"Thanks," I said as I pulled out of the hug with Max suddenly coming up and giving me a hug.
"Thanks Max," I said as he pulled out of it and handed me a tissue.
"Was it the same nightmare as last time?" Misty asked concerned.
I shook my head, "No, this time it was worse," I said quietly.
Suddenly some of my pokeballs popped open to reveal Skitty, Wartortle, Glaceon, Beautifly, and Riolu who looked at me concerned.
I gave a sad smile, "I'll be fine, I'm just a bit shaken up," I told them gently.
"Ruh?"
I gave a smile, "Of course I'm still gonna compete, we've worked too hard to stop now," I said firmly.
"Do you feel okay to compete?" Dawn asked.
"Not really, but that isn't gonna stop me. Besides, my pokemon have trained hard for this and a competition will be a good distraction," I said firmly with a smile.
"Are you sure May?" Lizzy asked concerned.
"As Dawn says, no need to worry. You should get near the stage, your appeal is up next," I told her.
"Yikes!" she shouted as she quickly ran out to go to the stage.
I shook my head in amusement, "You ready?" I asked Dawn and Drew.
"You bet May!" Dawn said happily.
"That's a silly question to ask airhead," Drew said arrogantly while flipping his hair.
I laughed, "You wouldn't be the same grasshead if you didn't say that," I teased. "I don't know about the lot of ya, but I'm not competing in black so I'm gonna change. Good luck you two," I said as I left the dressing room for a small one that was given for me to use.
I changed out of my black dress into a blue dress covered with a lacy, sparkly layer that had blue flowers covering it. The dress had spaghetti straps but the lacy material went to the base of my neck and made sleeves a little above my elbow. I wore sparkly silver flats, a diamond and sapphire bracelet, and a heart sapphire necklace surrounded by small pointy diamonds. I changed up my hair and makeup and turned around in the mirror for a final check before nodding in approval.
I decided to stay in the room for the time being so I let out my pokemon to relax and watch the appeals with me on the small TV.
"Alright everyone, up next is three timing Top Coordinator Drew Hayden from La Rousse City," Vivian announced.
"Butterfree let's go," Drew shouted as he tossed his pokeball.
"Butterfree," it cried as it flew into the air.
"Use Gust."
The Gust hit the water causing it to rise up around Butterfree.
"Use Whirlwind."
"That combination of Gust and Whirlwind provides a power water cyclone," Vivian announced.
"Use Psybeam," Drew shouted and Butterfree followed through.
"With Psybeam, the cyclone soon takes on color making it a sight to behold," Vivian said in awe.
"Fly to the bottom and use Supersonic," Drew finished.
"Butterfree," it said and did supersonic.
"Butterfree with using Supersonic breaks up the cyclone spraying a lite colorful water mist everywhere," Vivian said in awe. "Let's see what the judges have to say."
"The performance was well coordinated and Butterfree did a colorful performance," Mr. Contesta complimented.
"Yes, remarkable," Mr. Sukiso said commented.
"Your Butterfree looked healthily and happy as it performed well," Nurse Joy complimented.
After the judges gave their comments, Drew returned Butterfree and walked off stage.
"Up next we have two timing Top Coordinator Dawn from Twinleaf Town," Vivian said excitedly.
"Buneary spotlight," Dawn shouted happily.
"Buneary," she said happily.
"Use Ice Beam."
"Bunearryyyy," she shouted as she did Ice Beam.
"Buneary in using Ice Beam covers the whole water field in ice," Vivian announced.
"Use bounce then thunderbolt."
"Buneary," she said and did Bounce and then Thunderbolt.
"With Buneary bouncing into the air and using Thunderbolt, it looks like a shiny star with a reflection coming from the ice," Vivian commented.
"Buneary, use Ice Beam again."
"Buneary," she shouted and made pillars of ice around her.
"Now skate and use Round."
"Buneary," she sang as she used Round while skating around and the Round bounced off the ice pillars making a beautiful sound.
"Buneary using Round while skating around gracefully is a beautiful artistic performance to be sure," Vivian commented in awe before Buneary stopped in a cute pose. "Let's see what the judges have to say."
"Buneary's performance was magical and I loved how she was energetic and happy the whole time," Mr. Contesta complimented.
"Yes, truly remarkable," Mr. Sukiso replied.
"Buneary was extremely cute and did very good with their performance," Nurse Joy complimented happily.
After the judges were done commenting, Dawn returned Buneary and went back stage. I turned off the TV and looked at my pokemon, "You guys ready?" I asked cheerfully.
My pokemon beamed and cheered happily making me smile. I returned them and went back stage to the entrance of the arena. I was the last person to perform their appeal and I was excited for my one pokemon's first contest. I did many practice appeals in secret with her, but she never competed and she technically wasn't my pokemon at the time.
"For our last contestant today to finish up the appeals, we have four timing Top Coordinator May from Petalburg City," Vivian announced.
I walked into the arena, "Take the stage," I said happily as I tossed my pokeball.
"Nair," she said elegantly.
"Into the water and use Twister," I shouted.
"Dair," she said and went into the water to perform Twister which created a water whirlpool.
"Fly up and use Thunder Wave."
Dragonair flew up and did Thunder Wave into the whirl pool.
"The use of Thunder Wave is making the raging water spark in contrast," Vivian commented.
"Use Dragon Rage."
"Dra," she said and did Dragon Rage at the sparkling whirlpool making it stop spinning and shoot up into the air.
"Now!" I shouted.
Dragonair then sat on a floating tile as the water fell down creating a waterfall effect behind her. She then used Round and Safe Guard to create sound and color that showed off her beauty and grace.
"What a picturesque scene of beauty, color, and sound. An elegant waterfall with Dragonair sitting in front of it gracefully is a site to behold," Vivian said in awe. "Let's hear what the judges have to say."
"An excellent routine that showed many of Dragonair's abilities along with showing beauty, power, and elegance," Mr. Contesta praised.
"Yes, truly and absolutely remarkable!" Mr. Sukiso said happily.
"You've come far May, your ability to bring the best in pokemon is absolutely exquisite and your appeals never cease to amaze me," Nurse Joy praised.
I bowed gracefully along with Dragonair before I returned her and went back to my dressing room. As I was packing my stuff from the tribute earlier, I turned on the TV to listen to hear who would go one to the next round. Soon I heard a knock at the door.
"It's open," I said as I continued to pack before turning around to see that it was the gang. "Hey you guys."
"Hey May, your appeal was fantastic and why didn't you tell us you had a Dragonair," Misty demanded.
"I didn't have her until Max came on Thursday. She's been a good friend of mine for the past few years. She lived at a lake near Petalburg Woods and I used to visit her all the time, but then I came here for school and couldn't see her. Max said that she wanted to be captured to join me," I explained before turning to look at the TV.
"Alright everyone, the judges have decided and these eight coordinators will go on to the next round," Vivian said as pictures began to appear.
There was my picture, Dawn's, Drew's, Lizzy's, Brandi's, Francesca's, Kenny's, and one more guy whose name is Sam I think.
"Yea, we all made it through," Dawn said cheerfully.
"They really narrowed it down this year, normally sixteen pass through," I murmured.
"The battles will take place late tomorrow morning, have a good evening and we hope to see you tomorrow," she said as I turned off the TV.
"What do we want to do now?" Misty asked.
"I'm going to take all this stuff back to the dorm," I said.
"We probably should do that and change out of our contest outfits," Dawn agreed.
"We can do something afterwards though," Leaf said.
"Sounds good, you guys can go ahead, I need to talk to Lizzy," I said.
"Okay May, we'll see ya later," Misty said as everyone left.
As soon as everyone left, I quickly grabbed my stuff and went to find Lizzy.
"Hey May, you ready to pull our pranks?" she asked evilly as she met up with me.
"You bet, can Ralts teleport us back to the dorm?" I asked.
"Yup, Ralts use Teleport," she said as she released her.
"Ralts," she said and teleported us back to the dorm.
"We have ten minutes starting now," I said and we quickly rushed to do our pranks. Lizzy was gonna hack Max's laptop and mess with it while I put hard candy in Drew's showerhead and put pink hair dye in his shampoo that blended in well.
After we were done with our pranks, I quickly changed before going to sit in the living room with Lizzy.
We were chatting as the door opened with everyone coming in.
"How did you guys get back before us?" Dawn asked.
"I have a Ralts so we teleported here," Lizzy explained.
Dawn and Drew went to shower and change while everyone sat in the living room and Max went to check his computer.
"AAAHHHH!" he screamed. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY COMPUTER!"
Lizzy and I fell on the floor laughing as Max tried to figure out his laptop. Lizzy taped a blue troubleshooting screen on his laptop screen and then changed all the display settings to mess everything up after he took the page off. Believe me, it's hard to get Max riled up and Lizzy did it perfectly.
"What happened?" Dawn said as she was done changing and looked concerned.
"Lizzy messed with Max's computer and he flipped out," I explained trying to stop laughing.
"Why did you do that?" Max complained.
"That's the payback for the embarrassing storytelling," I said and Drew should be getting his payback now.
"What did you do?" Misty asked.
"I put lifesavers in the showerhead so that when he takes a shower, he'll feel sticky when he's done."
"Yeesh, that's evil," Ash shuttered.
I smirked even bigger, "That's only half the prank," I said evilly.
"LLLIIIZZZYYYY!" Drew roared as he stormed out of his room in a white undershirt and shorts, did I forget to mention his hair was hot pink.
"What?" Lizzy asked.
"Care to explain why I'm sticky and my hair is pink!" he seethed.
I looked at my nails nonchalantly, "It's called hard candy in the showerhead and dye in the shampoo grasshead, actually rosehead," I said as I turned to give a smirk.
He pointed his finger at me and was trying to say something, but he just turned around and stormed back into his room.
Lizzy and I laughed on the floor while everyone couldn't help but chuckle at Drew's misfortune.
"Wasn't that a little harsh May, what about him in the contest tomorrow?" Dawn asked.
"He'll be okay, I ordered a wig for him to cover it up so we're good."
Drew suddenly opened the door of his room and went into Gary's and Ash's room to finish his shower since he would just remain sticky if he tried to keep using his shower.
"Can to explain how to clean the shower?" Paul asked with a slight scowl.
"The hard candy will wash away after you run it for a while, so it'll be back to normal," I explained.
Drew finished his shower and came out looking grumpy with his pink hair.
"Calm down rosehead, here's something to help you out," I said as I gave him the bag with the wig.
He still looked ticked off but went to his room to put the wig on and then come back.
"What're we gonna do now?" Dawn asked.
"I'm gonna go to the park and my pokemon have a break," I decided.
"Can I come with ya May?" Lizzy asked.
"I don't mind, everyone is welcome if they want," I said extending the invitation.
After arriving at the park, we all released our pokemon and had fun relaxing though Drew avoided me most of the time and gave me the silent treatment.
I checked my poketch to see that it was 9:00, "We should go back, it's really late and some of us have to compete tomorrow," I reminded.
From the park entrance, Lizzy and Max split ways with us to go back to where they were staying while the rest of us headed back to campus. By the time we got back, I was incredibly exhausted so I changed for bed and literally crashed before falling asleep.
October 18th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
The next morning I woke up around 8:30. After changing, I grabbed my outfit for the contest, my pokemon, some candles to replace the old ones at the tribute, and a granola bar before going out to practice with my pokemon at a park close to the stadium.
After practicing for a few hours, I went to the arena to switch out the candles before people would arrive and went to my dressing area to change into my dress from yesterday. After I was done getting ready, I turned on the TV to watch Dawn's battle with Francesca.
"Dustox sweetheart, time to shine," Francesca said sweetly.
"Quilava spotlight," Dawn said cheerfully.
"Our coordinators have called out their pokemon and five minutes are on the clock, begin!" Vivian called out.
"Dustox use Silver Wind."
"Dodge and use Swift," Dawn shouted.
"Counter with Confusion and send them back," Francesca yelled.
"With Confusion holding the stars in place, it's a sparkling appearance causing Dawn to lose points," Vivian commented.
"Use Flamethrower!" Dawn yelled.
"Quilava uses Flamethrower on its Swift to create sparkles all over, that will cost Francesca major points," Vivian commented.
Right now, Francesca had two thirds of her points while Dawn had three fourths.
"Dustox use Poison Sting."
"Counter with Ember," Dawn shouted.
"Poison Sting and Ember collide in to middle causing an explosion making both coordinators to lose a few points," Vivian commented. "Two minutes remain on the clock."
"Use Hyper Beam," Francesca yelled.
"Use Eruption," Dawn shouted.
The Eruption hit Dustox before it could unleash Hyper Beam causing a lot of damage.
"Use Smokescreen," Dawn shouted.
"Use Gust," Francesca yelled.
"Smokescreen is cleared from the stage to find Quilava gone," Vivian commented in curiosity.
"Now!" Dawn shouted.
Quilava used Quick Attack to jump on the small platforms in the water to get to Dustox and then used Flame Wheel to attack before it could counter.
"Talk about a sneak attack, Quilava jumped around quickly and then used Flame Wheel to get close to its opponent. That will cost major points," Vivian commented in amazement. "Thirty seconds on the clock."
Dawn had a little less than half of her points while Francesca had a fourth.
"Toxic," Francesca yelled.
"Use Flamethrower," Dawn shouted.
"Flamethrower counters Toxic and hits Dustox hard," Vivian commented in concern before looking at the clock. "Time's up, the winner moving on to the semifinals is Dawn!"
I turned off the TV and grabbed Wartortle's pokeball before heading to the stage. As I was making my way there, I ran into Dawn, "Hey Dawn, congrats on getting to the semi-finals."
"Thanks," she said though she looked out of it.
"You okay Dawn?" I asked.
She nodded her head snapping out of her thoughts, "I'm fine, though I'm worried about Drew. He was angry this morning and snapped at everyone who tried to talk to him," Dawn said concerned. "By the way, where were you this morning?"
"I left early to practice with my pokemon. What do you mean Drew is angry?" I asked.
"I don't know, but I can't help but feel that you have to do with it," she theorized. "Good luck with your battle."
"Thanks Dawn," I said and left for the field.
"For our next battle we have May and Brandi. Five minutes on the clock, begin," she announced.
"Houndoom baby, let's go," Brandi said sweetly.
"Wartortle take the stage," I shouted happily.
"Use Sunny Day," she shouted.
"The use of Sunny Day makes Houndoom look more terrifying in appearance," Vivian commented.
"Use Rain Dance," I shouted.
"Wartortle," he said and did Rain Dance to make the whole arena along with the audience wet though Wartortle thought ahead and used Protect to shield me against the rain.
"Ugh, you ruined my dress, you are going down! Houndoom use mega Dark Pulse!" Brandi screeched.
I stood calm, "Wartortle please get in the pool," I said calmly as the dark pulse was heading straight toward me.
I sighed, no matter who I am, she's still the same stuck-up brat who wants to maim me. I took a few steps back and ran to jump on one of the small platforms on the field.
"That attack at your opponent will force you to lose half your points," Vivian said sternly at Brandi.
That meant Brandi had less than half and I had a little less than the full amount.
"Wartortle combination "Fun in the Sun," I shouted.
"Wartortle," he said and used Surf. He jumped off and created a bigger one to ride on with a small piece of ice like a surf board.
"Wartortle looks like he is having fun as he performs like a surfer," Vivian said in awe causing Brandi to lose a quarter of her points.
"Houndoom use Overheat," Brandi screeched.
"Wartortle in the water," I shouted.
"That Overheat destroys the Surf easily causing water to splash everywhere," Vivian commented.
"Wartortle use Watergun," I shouted.
"That Watergun hit its mark causing damage and loss of points," Vivian commented as Houndoom got hit.
Wartortle swam it to where I was due to being concerned about my safety because Brandi got soaked again.
"That is it!" Brandi screeched. "Use crunch (on either one)," she whispered at the end.
Wartortle climbed on the platform I was on to stand in front and protect me.
"No need for that Wartortle, let's surf."
"Wartortle," he said in understanding as he started Surf to carry the platform like a surf board.
"Alright Wartortle," I said we did a back flip to land on another platform as surf hit Houndoom causing it to faint.
The buzzing sound of X's appeared on the judged panel, "Due to the knockout of Houndoom, May will go on to the semifinals," Vivian announced.
"Wartortle, can you push the platform to the judge's panel?" I asked.
"Wartortle," he said firmly and pushed the platform allowing me to walk up to the judges.
"I apologize for the unorthodox contest battle," I said with a small bow of apology.
"We accept your apology though it wasn't your fault. We should have disqualified Brandi when she sent that dark pulse at you," Mr. Contesta said.
"It's alright, it was still a good battle even if it was out of the ordinary," I said.
"Good luck with your next battle," Nurse Joy said as I left through the judge's entrance to go find Dawn.
After I turned a corner, I saw her running towards me, "Are you alright May?" she asked concerned.
"I'm fine Dawn," I said. "You want to come back to my dressing room?"
"Sure," she said.
I turned the TV on to see that Drew was beginning his battle. I was concerned because Drew didn't look like himself, he looked angry/annoyed and it was a little bit frightening.
"You okay May?" Dawn asked as I muted the TV.
"In a way I guess, now you have me worrying about Drew," I said concerned.
"I think you went too far with that prank," Dawn said.
"The prank is harmless and it isn't permanent," I argued. "Heck, I even got him a wig that looks like his hair to cover up the pink hair."
"Then something more is bothering him. May, do you like Drew?" Dawn asked outright.
I sighed, "Maybe I have for a while now. I've given hints, but I don't think he gets the message."
Dawn nodded in agreement before I continued, "I suppose I made the first move," I said quietly causing Dawn to perk up.
"What did you do?" she asked in curiosity.
"The night we were watching the Pokemon Center and it was really late. Drew volunteered to watch the desk for me so I gave him a kiss on the cheek for being sweet to do that and went to sleep. But when I asked him the next morning if anything happened the night before, he said he didn't remember anything," I said sadly feeling tears come to my eyes.
"Maybe he lied," Dawn said.
"Why would he do that? I knew he liked both me and Lin, but maybe he was only pretending."
"I don't think so, I think he's angry with your signals because you kissed him and then you pranked him," she said. "Guys aren't necessarily ones to pick up on subtle signs, you need to be upfront with them. Not to mention people are sometimes blind to notice when people like them."
"I know that, but he knew he was gonna get pranked before I even kissed him," I argued. "I would like to give him some credit that he is capable of picking up on subtle hints."
"You have a point. Now I don't know what to tell ya," she said tiredly.
I sighed, "I don't know either, but I suppose we'll have to worry about that later," I said as I saw Lizzy win her battle and then smiled. "We have our battle coming up."
"Yup and it's gonna be awesome. May the best coordinator win," Dawn said happily as we walked to the stage.
"For the first semi-final battle, we have May from Petalburg City and Dawn from Twinleaf Town. Five minutes are on the clock and begin!" Vivian announced.
"Piplup spotlight," Dawn shouted happily.
"Shinx take the stage," I said happily.
"Piplup use Bubble Beam."
"Counter with Discharge," I shouted.
The two attacks met in the middle causing an explosion of sparkles and both of us to lose points.
"Use Thunderbolt," I shouted.
"Use Ice Beam to counter," Dawn shouted.
The Ice Beam blocked Thunderbolt so I lost more points than Dawn this time.
"Use Whirl Pool," Dawn shouted.
"Dodge it and use Iron Tackle," yelled.
Shinx dodged the Whirl Pool using Quick Attack and ran to Piplup.
"Use Hydro Pump," Dawn shouted.
"Gather speed and dodge while twirling," I shouted.
Shinx dodged and got close to Piplup, "Use Thunderbolt," I commanded.
"Piplup," Dawn cried as Piplup fell hard.
"That Thunderbolt was strong and packed quite a punch with loss of points," Vivian commented. "We now have one minute on the clock."
The amount of points was two thirds for me and half for Dawn.
"Use Drill Peck," Dawn shouted.
"Piplup," he said standing up and attacked Shinx multiple times.
"Shinx," he said weakly and started to glow before taking a new shape. "Luxio."
"My goodness, Shinx has evolved in Luxio," Vivian commented in awe.
"Use Thunderbolt," I shouted.
"Use Bide," Dawn shouted.
"Times up," Vivian announced causing all of us to turn to the board.
The points were evenly matched but I had a slight lead over Dawn, "May will be moving on to the final round," Vivian announced.
Dawn and I returned our pokemon and met back at my dressing room, "That was a great battle Dawn. Sorry you lost, it was incredibly close," I said.
"That's okay," she said. "What counts is the experience and knowledge you gain."
I heard a knock on my door, "Come in," I said.
The door opened to show Paul, "I'll see ya around Dawn, I'm gonna take a short walk before my battle," I said as I left the room.
Might as well give them space, no one's really had the time to do anything in their relationships.
I walked around the halls in thought about Drew. I wonder how his battle with Lizzy is going?
I went to the TV in the main dressing area to find that Drew won by having a quarter more points than Lizzy did. After seeing this, I left the room for the field.
"Alright everyone, this is the final battle of the Wallace Cup. This promises to be an interesting one. Five minutes are on the clock, and begin!" Vivian announced.
"Flygon let's go," Drew said bluntly.
"Dragonair take the stage," I called.
"Flygon use Sand Tomb," Drew shouted.
"Get in the water," I shouted as Dragonair dodged the attack.
"Use Twister," I shouted.
"Use Dragon Breath to the max," Drew shouted as Flygon used dragon breath in the Twister while Dragonair was inside.
"Dragonair get out of the water and use Dragon Rage," I shouted.
"Dodge and use Screech," Drew shouted.
Flygon dodged the Dragon Rage and used Screech to put Dragonair in pain from the sound.
"Use Flamethrower," Drew shouted.
Flygon used Flamethrower to hurt Dragonair immensely causing a few burns. What is with Drew acted so violent?!
"Use Sandstorm," Drew shouted.
Flygon did as he was told and caused Dragonair to get cut up badly.
"Finish with Dragon Tail," Drew shouted.
Dragonair looked terrified. Oh no! The bad memories from her being attacked as a Dratini are caused her to freeze up.
I ran as fast as I could to Dragonair, "Use Safe Guard!" I shouted hoping she would hear me.
I reached her from behind as Safe Guard came up, but it wasn't fast enough and I didn't dodge well enough. I got scratched on the arm and on my stomach causing blood to appear. People in the stadium stood up in shock while many gasped and whispered at what just happened. The judges looked concerned as Nurse Joy stood up behind her spot to try and see the damage.
"I forfeit the match, Dragonair return," I said quickly as I stumbled out of the arena in pain. I wanted to get as far as I could before I passed out leaving everyone in a state of panic.
I was able to reach outside and released Altaria before collapsing, "Please take…me to the….hospital," I said before I fainted.
(Dawn's POV)
"Oh my Mew May!" I cried as I ran with Paul down the hall hoping we could catch her.
We didn't, but we ran into Misty, Ash, Gary, Leaf, Lizzy, and Max who looked concerned as well, "Did you see her at all?" I asked.
"No, we were hoping to catch her. What the heck is wrong with Drew today?" Misty asked frustrated.
"I don't know, but we need to find May. Those scratches penetrated deep and she is losing a lot of blood," Max said concerned and quickly started running down a hall.
"What are you doing Max?" I shouted as we followed him.
"I'm following her trail of blood," Max said with tears rolling down his face as we followed the trail outside where there was a huge pool, but the trail stopped here.
"Where is she, where's May?" Max said as he started to cry.
Lizzy came up and gave Max a comforting hug while we all looked at each other with great concern.
May, where are you?