May 20th (Rosewall Town, Hoenn)
(May's POV)
As I felt myself slowing waking up, I felt more well rested than I had in the longest time. As I opened my eyes, I saw Drew's face a few inches from mine causing me to smile softly. Then I remembered the nightmares and realized I didn't suffer any. I looked at my palms to see that the symbols weren't there causing me to sigh in relief.
Drew then moved slightly and pulled me closer while smiling slightly causing a small smile to appear on my face as well. As much as I wanted to snuggle in closer and go back to sleep, my inner conscious kept nagging me to check the time. I raised my poketch to my face to have my eyes almost pop out. I'm supposed to be at the gymnastics in thirty minutes, CRAP!
I carefully unbound myself from Drew's hold and quietly left for the bathroom so I could change in a hurry. Once I changed into my leotard, I quickly did small French braids to the sides of my head to hold my bangs before putting my hair up in a tight ponytail. I then put on my sweat pants and jacket before making packing my gym back and made my way to the kitchen to grab a quick bit to eat.
After I ate, I quickly created a thorn-less rose and went back upstairs to place it carefully in Drew's hand. Then I called out Gardevoir asking her to teleport him back to his bed in the dorm. She nodded and did as I asked before she teleported me to where I needed to go. Once I appeared in front of the huge stadium for the competition, I was immediately flocked by Jenny, Max, Lizzy, Annie, and Ally.
"Maybelle Maple, where have you been?!" Jenny yelled angrily.
I grinned sheepishly, "I kinda overslept," I explained.
"You overslept!" Max shouted in disbelief. "May, you've been training for this for the longest of time, how could you forget?!"
"My mind has been elsewhere since last weekend and I've barely gotten sleep all week," I retorted.
"Where's Drew and everyone else?" Lizzy asked.
"Probably sleeping," I said. "I better get inside, I don't want to be late."
I quickly rushed inside to sign in before walking to the locker room and put my bag in my assigned locker. I then walked to a practice arena where gymnasts would be able to warm up. All right; I've made it this far, time to take it all the way.
(Lizzy's POV)
I was still surprised that May was almost late for this. It's almost like missing the Grand Festival, it's something that's not done.
"What was May talking about when she said that barely got any sleep this week?" I asked Max after Jenny walked inside after May.
Max shrugged and frowned slightly, "I don't know, but now I'm concerned that something happened. I wonder if it has to do with Drew and them."
"I don't know, all I know is that I'm miffed that they aren't here, they should be cheering for May as she competes," I said annoyed before smirking. "Mind saving a couple of seats, I need to do something."
I heard Max sigh, "Don't do anything too extreme," he muttered as he walked into the arena.
I then called out Ralts and had her teleport me to Drew's dorm where I smirked and pulled out my air horn. I loved using this thing as much as Drew's friend Misty loved using her mallet. I decided to go to Drew's and Paul's room first. I opened the door slowly to still see both of them sleeping. I grinned evilly as I sounded the horn causing them to spaz about before noticing it was me.
"Lizzy, What The Hell!" Drew shouted.
"I'll explain in a minute, I've got three more rooms to visit," I said shortly before going across the hall to Ash and Gary's room.
I did the same thing causing them to spaz about while they got a double whammy because Pikachu did Thunderbolt on them.
"What the heck Pikachu?" Ash whined.
I grinned at my work before going to Leaf and Misty's room, but I saw the girls walk out of their rooms sleepily, "What's going on?" Dawn yawned.
"That's what I would like to know," Drew snapped as the guys walked out of their dorms looking ticked or in Ash's case sleepy.
I tapped my finger on the side of my face in thought, "What's happening today?" I asked.
"Nothing," Paul said bluntly.
"Seriously Lizzy, why'd you wake us up so early, it's Saturday morning," Leaf complained.
That made me mad so I sounded the horn again behind my back, but louder causing everyone to jump in surprise, "Stop Doing That!" Drew roared.
"You deserve worse you moron, I'm surprised May calls you guys her friends," I said angrily as I called out Ralts. "Does gymnastics ring a bell?"
I then nodded to Ralts to teleport us out and I walked to the arena angrily, some-so-called-friends they are.
Drew's (POV)
I was ticked right now, I didn't want to wake up this early, it was only 8:00 for crying out loud, "What does Lizzy mean by gymnastics and when did you get here Drew?" Misty asked.
I then noticed that I was, guess I was still out of it when Lizzy rudely woke me up, "I don't know, I fell asleep at May's and woke up here."
Dawn's eyes widened, "Guys, isn't May's competition today?" she asked.
I mentally face palmed, some boyfriend I am, I completely forgot about it, "No wonder Lizzy was ticked and rudely woke us up, guess we deserved that," Gary yawned.
Leaf looked at the clock, "We better hurry up and get ready, the competition starts in thirty minutes."
Soon we were scrambling to change and have something to eat. When I got back to my room, I discovered a thornless rose had fallen on the floor, I picked it up gently trying to figure out how it got here. I smiled softly as I figured May probably gave it to me. Paul then walked out of the bathroom and I quickly went in to change.
After we were all ready, May's Gardevoir appeared, "How did you get here?" I asked surprised.
"I let myself out without May knowing. I figured you'd need a, how is it you humans say, a ride," she teased.
I was surprised that she had a sense of humor, "All pokemon have a sense of humor even if we don't show it Drew," she said sternly.
Great, now she can read any person's mind. She teleported us to the outside of the arena and handed me her pokeball allowing me to return her.
"Oh Drew!" I heard a sweet voice call out making us groan.
"Great!" Dawn muttered.
"What are you doing here?" Brandi asked sweetly as the other drama queens came up.
"We're here to watch the tournament. Why are you here? I think you have two weeks of make-up homework to do since you didn't come back at the beginning of the month," Misty said curtly.
"I'm here to support my cousin, she's in the tournament," Brandi said before smirking. "As for the homework, I finished that while I was with my family on a cruise."
"Pfft, yeah right," Leaf said under her breath. "Probably hired some nerds to do it."
Veronica was about to retort when I saw Lizzy come from the arena, "Hey moron and his friends, glad to see you finally woke up," Lizzy called before she then turned to look at Brandi and the other drama queens. "Who are you?"
"I'm Brandi Hartwood, I'm a good friend of your brothers," she said sweetly.
Lizzy frowned, "Yeah, and I'm naturally a brunette," she snapped. "I know a sleazily fan girl of my brother's when I see 'em. Now I suggest that you leave him alone or I'm gonna report you for harassment."
"Now what's a sweet little girl like you gonna do, you're what, four foot nine?" Ursula sneered.
Lizzy looked ticked before she smirked, "Better watch what you do, haven't you heard big things come in small packages."
Brandi looked like she was bored, "Whatever, now shoo," she said with a wave of her hand.
"Oh, bite me," Lizzy retorted.
"We better go Brandi, we want to get good seats," Melina said after looking at her poketch.
"Fine," Brandi said before smiling at me. "See you later Drewy."
I wanted to barf after hearing that. Mew, when are those girls going to leave us alone.
"Geez, is that the girl who gave May grief this whole year?" Lizzy asked me.
"Yup, and those girls have been giving us grief," Dawn said annoyed.
"I see," Lizzy said thoughtfully. "Well, you guys are off the hook for now. I've found a new target to play with for a while."
"As much as I appreciate the offer, don't, you'll cause more trouble," I said tiredly.
"Don't listen to him, give them grief, just don't do anything illegal and do it without any trace," Dawn said slyly with a grin.
Lizzy grinned back, "Deal."
I put a hand to my face as I sighed, "Mom, dad, what are you doing here?" Lizzy asked surprised causing all of us to turn and see my parents walk in.
"We're here to watch May compete," mom explained.
"It's the least we can do after she saved us last weekend," dad added.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the World Gymnastics Competition in LaRousse City," we heard someone announce from the arena.
"We better hurry before the seats we picked are taken," Lizzy said quickly as we walked inside and found Max.
"Wow, didn't expect to see you guys here," Max said surprised.
"We wouldn't miss it for anything," Dawn said cheerfully.
Lizzy smirked, "Uh-huh, so would you still have come on time if I hadn't woken you up?" she asked slyly.
Dawn frowned at her as we heard more announcements over the pa, "Now we would like to welcome our competing gymnasts."
We soon looked to the left and saw the gymnasts enter with their stuff along with their coaches.
"So we're clueless as to what's happening here, mind explaining?" I asked Lizzy.
"Well, for starters, the World Competition happens every four years in a different region every time. In order to compete, you need to win three medals from three of the ninety-six competitions that take place, twenty-four per region a year. That allows the maximum of thirty-two competitors to compete at this level although the actually number of those who get three medals varies each time. In this case, twenty-eight were able to three medals this time," Max explained.
"For the first round, you have to perform all four parts of gymnastics and get the best total score possible with only twelve getting to go through. Then the second round has the top eight go to the finals and it gets very competitive. In this sport, you make it or you break it," Lizzy said flatly.
"What makes you say make it or break it?" Ash asked.
We watched a girl on vault hit her head on the vault table before rotating and landing on her head again causing all of us to cringe and gasp at that fall.
"Like I said, you make or you break it," Lizzy said quietly as we watched the girl being carried off.
"May competes in this bone breaking thing, geez," Gary said as he cringed.
"It's a tough sport, girls break multiple bones in the process of learning to doing this," Max explained.
"Has May broken any bones from doing this?" I asked in curiosity.
"Oh yeah, she's broken fingers, her wrist, sprained her ankles, pulled muscles ligaments, and then that one head injury from balance beam, but otherwise, she's never had anything serious like huge breaks in bones," Max explained. "It was strange, May's injuries always healed faster than normal. Probably due to her whole thing with having interesting healing abilities."
"So how long do gymnasts train, do they train like May?" Misty asked.
Lizzy and Max looked at us surprised, "Gosh no, May trains about a fourth of what normal gymnasts do, they train seven to eight hours a day," Lizzy explained causing our eyes to widen in surprise.
"Eight hours a day, that's crazy!" Leaf said in surprise.
"Most gymnasts also have a lot of pressure, they have to be physically strong like a twenty year-old, but have the body of a twelve year-old. Since gymnasts work out so much and put so much stress on the body, it prevents growth explaining why they are so thin and short," Max explained.
"What about May?" Dawn asked.
"May's an interesting case, she doesn't work out as much as they do so her growth isn't so much as halted though she works out enough by doing missions and sparring for martial arts that it helps out with the sport. She's a bit shorter than most people her age and such, but when she stops working so hard, she'll grow normally and look like everyone else," Max added.
"So how does that scoring work for events?" Leaf asked.
"Scoring works by the difficulty of the move or routine they perform and the execution of it. Then you are deducted points for mistakes and such. Now stop asking questions, I'm trying to pay attention," Lizzy said annoyed.
We then watched a girl try to dismount from the top uneven bar to swing backwards too low and land on her neck where her legs came over her head, she then lay on the mat moaning while touching her back before she was carried off.
"Mew, did she break her back?!" Dawn asked in horror.
"I don't know, but she's not competing for a while after this," Lizzy said quietly.
Watching this in person was totally different than watching this on TV. There was more suspense, you're just waiting for something bad to happen.
We then saw that May was about to do her first event which was the uneven bars. She started her routine by jumping onto the top one, she switched back and forth between bars, did hand stands and a bunch of other stunts I could never do. She then dismounted by swinging from the top bar and rotated twice to land and take a leap forward by having so much velocity in that move.
I think we all sighed in relief seeing May do her routine without being injured. We noticed a girl do a tumbling pass on the floor exercise and she landed on her head then her back hard. It was harsh as she tried to get up three times but kept stumbling each time and she couldn't get up.
"She probably got a concussion from that fall on her head, she won't be able to compete anymore either in this tournament," Max explained grimly.
I looked to see everyone look rigid, this sport was harsh. At the end of the day, five gymnasts had to drop out due to injuries. Thankfully May passed through the rest of her events without any injury. A few deductions for tiny mistakes for the balance beam, but she stood at being ranked in third place at the end of the day meaning she would be able to compete tomorrow.
"Thanks again everyone for coming to watch, we hope you will join us tomorrow," an announcer said over the pa.
(May's POV)
I looked at the standings to see that I was ranked in third place so far causing me to sigh in relief. This didn't mean I would be third tomorrow. Tomorrow, all the top twelve gymnasts had a clean slate and could possibly rank higher than they did today.
"You did very well May, a few deductions on balance beam, but nothing that can't be fixed," Jenny praised.
"I feel sorry for the girls who had those spills, those looked painful," I said while cringing before I tried to take a step forward but cringed slightly.
"Did you sprain your ankle?" Jenny asked sternly.
I shook my head, "It's nothing to serious, I just took a funny step on the balance beam and I think I have a small cramp in my ankle. I'll heal it before I do practice for tomorrow."
Jenny nodded as I quickly put on my sweatpants and jacket before we walked out into the main entrance hall where I saw Max and Lizzy along with the gang and Drew's parents.
"May!" everyone yelled as I was attacked by hugs.
"What are you all doing here, I'd thought you'd watch it on TV," I said surprised as Drew handed me Gardevoir's pokeball.
"Silly, of course we came, we wanted to cheer you on," Dawn said with a smile before noticing my foot. "What happened with your foot?"
This caused everyone to look concerned, "It's nothing, but a slight cramp, nothing I can't heal before I do more practice. I'll give it more rest when I get to the hotel," I explained.
"No way are you staying in a hotel, you can stay with us," Lizzy said sternly.
"I don't want to impose," I protested.
"Nonsense May, we have more than enough room," Jennifer said gently.
"Alright," I finally agreed.
"You're also welcome to come," Jennifer said to Jenny and Max.
"Thanks," Jenny said. "We'll come by later."
"Time for more practice," I said with sarcastic enthusiasm.
"But you just got done and your ankle is sore!" Dawn said surprised.
"I'll heal it in the bathroom," I explained. "As for practice, you just practice, practice, practice."
Everyone looked uneasy but nodded before they left as Jenny and I walked to the practice gym where I practiced for four hours. After I showered, I changed into jean bermudas and a top before I teleported us to Drew's house.
We knocked at the front door to be answered by the family butler who let us in. We were then lead to the dining room where everyone was having dinner.
"You finally done for the day or do you have to train another gazillion hours?" Drew teased.
I rolled my eyes as I sat next to him, "I'm done for the day, now I'm hungry and exhausted," I moaned as I took a huge amount of noodles and started to eat them.
Everyone looked at me with wide eyes, "Hungry much?" Gary asked.
I glared, "Give me a break, I haven't eaten much all day and I need the carbs. Do you know how many I burned off today? Besides, I need the carbs for tomorrow."
"Do all gymnasts eat that much?" Leaf asked.
I shook my head looking a little sad, "Sadly, most gymnasts hardly eat anything and develop eating disorders because they have to keep their weight in check by pressure of judges and coaches. It's sick, girls my age weight less than eighty, the sport is controversial ever since Georgia Winters died."
"What happened to her?" Dawn asked.
"After competing well one day, a judge told her that she needed to lose weight and she already weighted less than a hundred, she then developed multiple eating disorders and was hospitalized multiple times before she died of organ failure six to seven-some years later. She weighted forty-six pounds when she died," I said quietly before I continued to eat.
"When the story got out, there was a lot of negative comments about the sport because of the cruelty gymnasts put up with for so many years," Jenny explained. "More help has been given to gymnasts, but these things still happen."
"That's terrible!" Dawn cried.
"Thankfully, I never had any issue like that instead I had a bunch of other crap to deal with. Besides, I don't care how I look or if I'm short, I'll grow in a few years," I stated shortly as I finished eating.
I sensed everyone smile at me after I said that. To be honest, I really didn't care about my appearance, it'll change in a few years. I then stood up, "I better feed Gardevoir, I'll see you guys later."
I then walked to the kitchen to have Drew follow me, "You okay?" I asked as I grabbed some Poffins to stick on a plate before calling out Gardevoir.
"I'm fine," he said with a flick of his hair, but I knew he was lying causing me to sigh.
"I know you better than that," I said with a soft smile. "I'm guessing that watching those gymnasts getting hurt made you worried that I'd get an injury like that."
Drew nodded, "I'll be fine Drew, I've done stunts like this for years and I know the risks and how to avoid them, no need to worry," I said gently as I placed my hand on his shoulder.
Drew sighed, "I can't help but worry, I never knew you could sustain injuries like that, that sport is brutal."
"It is," I agreed. "But there are risks in everything that you do and if you fall, you recover and get back up."
I noticed Gardevoir finished eating and I called her back to her pokeball. I was about to wash the dish, but the cook stopped me.
I then walked outside with Drew following me. Once we made it to the rose garden, I turned around to give him a hug.
I heard him sigh as he hugged me back, "Thanks May," he murmured softly.
I hugged him tighter and started to feel sleepy, guess today really did a number on me. I felt myself close my eyes and my arms loosened, but Drew noticed and caught me before I fell. As I felt myself being carried, I heard him murmur something before he kissed my forehead causing to fall into dreamland.
May 21st (LaRousse City, Hoenn)
(Drew's POV)
"Oh Drewy!" I heard an overly sweet voice say.
Lizzy frowned, "That girl doesn't give up, does she?"
"You have no I idea," Misty muttered with the rest of us nodding in agreement as we watched Brandi and her posse race toward us.
"I got this," Lizzy said with a smirk as she called out Surskit to use a small Ice Beam on the floor.
As Brandi and them got closer, they slipped on the ice and slid into a bunch of garbage cans causing them to be covered with rotten food.
We quickly walked away before people began to notice, "Nice one Lizzy," Dawn praised as Lizzy recalled Surskit.
"Wish I could prank her with firecrackers, I wanna watch her burn," Lizzy said evilly.
"You're banned from firecrackers, remember," I said with a smirk.
Lizzy shrugged, "Ehh, I'd still do it. Besides, people's reactions to them are hilarious."
We arrived at the arena to find May out in front of a concession stand, "Hey you guys," she called.
"Hey May, what's the best prank in waking someone up?" Lizzy asked.
Oh boy, "Hmm….that's a good question?" May said thoughtfully as she bought a water. "Either firecrackers or the one where you wear a scary mask and hold a chainsaw."
We stared at her like she was crazy though Lizzy grinned, "Awesome, have you done those pranks before?" Lizzy asked.
"Sadly I have not, but I hope to do them one day, it's fun to see their reactions," May said with a sly grin.
"You're both insane," I muttered.
"Thanks," they said with a smile.
"May, hurry up!" I heard Jenny shout.
"All right," May shouted back before turning to face us. "See you guys later, wish me luck."
She then raced off while we went into the arena and found mom and dad with seats for us. They decided to get here earlier for whatever reason.
Soon the competition started with the remaining gymnasts and we were currently watching Hailey Hartwood do her routine on uneven bars. During the performance, I decided to take a look at May and she along with Jenny looked surprised.
"Hey guys, May's not happy," Max pointed out causing all of us to look.
"I wonder what's wrong?" Lizzy asked.
"We'll have to ask after the competition is done, no one's allowed to enter the field where the gymnasts are," mom pointed out.
After two more gymnasts, it was May's turn to do the uneven bars. Surprising, her routine was the same or close to the same of Hailey's. She finally finished and she looked upset at her given score.
"Why did May score so low, her routine was amazing," Dawn complained.
"It was, but something tells me that the mistakes came from May having to switch up the routine in a few places because if you mimic the same routine as another gymnast, you are disqualified," Lizzy explained.
"That's not fair, no way would May cheat," Leaf argued.
"She wouldn't," Max agreed. "But May's gonna have a tough battle ahead of her if that Hailey girl copied her other routines.
Low and behold Max was right, May looked really upset as Hailey did each routine allowing us to assume that Hailey did use May's routines. May got okay scores for the rest of the events, but in the end, she was ranked in eight barely allowing her to compete in the finals. After the finalists were announced, May was called over to the judges table and she didn't look happy in the slightest.
(May's POV)
After the finalists were announced, the judges called me over, "Miss Maple, if you wish to compete in the finals you will have to do better than to copy someone else's routine," a judge scolded.
"I'm not a person who cheats," I argued. "Someone stole my routines."
"Do you have proof of this?" another judge asked.
I shook my head while looking grim, "Then I'm sorry, but we can't do anything about it without proof. In the meantime, I suggest you prepare better for tomorrow," the third judge said sternly.
I nodded and walked back to Jenny who looked at me worriedly, "What did they want?"
"Just like you said, they confronted me about cheating. Unfortunately, we have no proof that she did steal my routines," I huffed. "So now we have to come up with new routines from scratch since I practiced all of them yesterday and we don't know which one Hailey might use."
"We better get going then. Let's get something to eat first, then we'll come up with a game plan," Jenny said with a sigh. "This Hailey, does she have something against you?"
"Not really, it's her cousin that's out to get me," I said gruffly as I put on my sweatpants and jacket before grabbing my bag and followed Jenny out.
We then saw everyone waiting in the front hall, "You did great May," Max praised.
"I suppose, it didn't help that Hailey stole my routines," I said annoyed.
"So why did the judges call you over?" Misty asked.
"They said that I had to do better since they thought I cheated," I explained tiredly. "Now I have to come up with new routines from scratch for tomorrow."
"Well for starters, you're welcome to use our small gymnasium that we have," Jennifer offered.
"Thanks, I'll take you up on that," I said with a smile. "We'll catch up with you guys later."
The adults then left leaving the gang along with Max and Lizzy, "Since I'm going to be busy; I have a favor to ask?" I told them.
"What is it?" Lizzy asked.
"For starters, I want to mess Hailey up and catch the person who filmed me practicing. So Max, I want you to bring up my hologram so that the person doesn't suspect anything while you guys keep an eye on it. Lizzy, I want you and Max to see if you can hack into the security cameras near here to see if you can catch the person behind this," I explained.
"Sounds like a plan, can I prank the girls?" Lizzy asked hopefully.
"No, we can't do anything til we have proof and if they do need to be pranked, then you can help me out," I said with a nod. "I'll see you guys later, I've got a lot of work cut out for me."
"Okay, see ya later May," everyone called.
After I left for the arena, I decided to walk around to clear my head and brainstorm as to figure out what I should do tomorrow. As I sat in the park, I felt the wind pass through and saw the flowers bloom. I looked elsewhere and saw the small pond reflect the sun's image. Then I was struck with inspiration, I knew exactly what to do.
I quickly grabbed my bag and raced for Drew's house. Once inside, I raced to the practice gym where I locked the doors and began to get to work. After eight hours of thinking, practicing, and hard work, I got it nailed pat.
Just as I opened the door, everyone fell in, or mostly everyone, "Can I help you?" I asked.
"Heh…heh, we were just wondering what you were up to," Lizzy said cheerfully.
I raised an eyebrow, "What, we can't help but wonder what you're doing, you run down here, you lock the doors, and you stay in there for eight hours, it's now 10:00 PM!" Max exclaimed.
"Huh, guess time flies by when you're having fun," I said thoughtfully. "Better have a small bite to eat before I crash."
"Can you at least tell me what you're doing for tomorrow?" Jenny asked anxiously.
I shook my head, "No one will find out until I perform tomorrow. Don't worry Jenny, it's a May original," I said with a smile before turning to face Max and the gang. "Did you find out anything?"
"It was Brandi and those stupid prissies who filmed your practice yesterday and today," Lizzy muttered.
"Well, there will be embarrassment when I'm through with them," I said deviously as a maid brought me a small snack and a bottle of water.
"What do you plan to do?" Lizzy asked excitedly.
"That will also remain a surprise," I said with a wink.
May 22nd (LaRousse City, Hoenn)
(Drew's POV)
I was a tad bit nervous and intrigued, I was nervous because I was afraid May might hurt herself badly and I was intrigued to see what moves she came up with.
"Relax Drew, May will be fine, no need to worry," Dawn said cheerfully.
"Ladies and gentlemen please welcome our eight final gymnasts, Hailey Hartwood, Jordan Marsh, Alexa Johnson, Lauren Renner, Stacey Garcia, Katie Sweeny, Lori Peterson, and May Maple," someone announced over the loud speaker causing everyone to start cheering loudly as they walked into the arena.
"Looks like vault is the first event," Lizzy pointed out as the eight gymnasts walked to the chairs that were placed near the vault apparatus.
Hailey did her vault first and her score was ranked well, a 16.16 which according to Lizzy is a pretty high score. Then the other six gymnasts did theirs, but their scores weren't as high as Hailey's meaning she was in the lead.
Then May walked up to the end of the ramp with a look of total concentration, she then ran down the ramp to do a vault that had a round-off off the spring board onto the vault table into the air to do a few rotations and stuck the landing perfectly causing us along with everyone else to cheer.
"That has to be perfect, she did one of the hardest vaults out there," Lizzy said excitedly.
We soon waited in anticipation for May's score to appear on the board, it was a 16.42, the highest score yet. Cheers broke out seeing how May was turning out to be the underdog in the competition due to being ranked eighth yesterday. The next event was uneven bars where May did well and ranked second in the event while Hailey ranked first.
"This is getting intense, it's neck and neck," Leaf said anxiously.
I nodded in agreement as the gymnasts moved to the balance beam next. A few of the gymnasts lost balance and fell, Hailey was not one of them. She performed her routine quite well and got a high score of 15.6, May did beautifully on hers and her score was 15.5. So far, Hailey had the lead with May at a close second. If May could surpass her on floor exercise, she'll have this thing in the bag.
"This is so nerve-wracking," Dawn complained. "She's so close!"
"Don't underestimate May, floor exercise is her strongest event and something tells me we're in for a treat," Lizzy said excitedly.
The floor exercises went well, again Hailey scored well with a 15.4, two of the other six gymnasts had a few falls but otherwise did pretty well. Soon it was May's turn and I think the whole arena was looking forward to seeing May perform. Soon the music began to play and I recognized it as that one song she played on the violin that one day, I think it was called "Elements".
May opened up with a difficult tumbling pass only to go straight from that one into another long one making everyone cheer like crazy, I never saw anything like it. After that May did a bunch of complex and fluid like moves that made it look she was bending in a way. No wonder May said it was a May origin, this performance described who she was as a person. A small beep sounded announcing May to finish her last tumbling pass. She did a complex one and nailed it perfectly before doing a movement or two before taking a final pose.
We then cheered like crazy, "I told you May would surprise us, that was amazing!" Lizzy shouted excited as May waved to the audience before walking off and accepted a hug from Jenny.
We then waited anxiously as we waited for May's score from floor exercise, a 15.7. This caused the audience to cheer loudly again, "This is amazing, this is the highest score on floor exercise ever!" Max exclaimed.
"Now to see who had the higher score overall," Leaf said nervously.
We all nodded and waited anxiously for the announcer to call who got first, second, and third.
"The winner of the 2015 World Gymnastics Competition with a total score of 63.82 points," someone on the pa spoke causing all of us to fidget waiting for the name to be announced.
(May's POV)
I was so jittery right now, it felt like my heart was beating a mile a minute as I put on my sweatpants and jacket, "The winner of the 2015 World Gymnastics Competition with a total score of 63.82 points," the announcer called on the pa and paused a few seconds making this whole arena still in silence. "Is May Maple."
Cheering broke out like crazy and I bent over slightly as I covered my mouth and nose with my hands in surprise. I could hear Max and them cheering all the way across the stadium as Jenny attacked with a hug.
"Hailey Hartwood places second with 63.62 points and Alexa Johnson places third with 60.87 points," the announcer finished once some of the cheering vanished.
I still couldn't believe that I won, I actually won. It was like winning my first Grand Festival all over again. I then walked over to where a small podium was where first was in the middle being the highest with Hailey on my right and Alexa on my left, both standing on the shorter ends. We were then presented our medals and a small bouquet of flowers.
After the small ceremony, I was then plagued by the press until Jenny helped get me away from them so I could shower and change. Once I was done, I pulled out a flash drive to give to the judging officials to prove that Hailey cheated.
"We'll take a look," one of the judges said. "If this is proof, Hailey will have quite a few consequences to face. Again, congratulations."
I thanked them and walked to the front lobby where Max me attacked with a hug.
"You did it May, you won!" Max shouted.
I laughed as I hugged Lizzy and the girls before facing Drew, "I told you that you didn't need to worry," I teased.
He rolled his eyes before smiling softly and presented me a small bouquet of roses, "May you gonna get revenge on the girls?" Lizzy asked.
I nodded, "We'll do it right now."
I then used Gardevoir to teleport us to where the girls were staying which was a small cabin near town where they were currently sleeping on hammocks outside. Probably due to pulling all-nighters for the past two nights in helping Hailey cheat.
Gardevoir then teleported out and back with four cans filled with firecrackers causing Lizzy to smile big, "These girls are in for a rude wakeup call," I said with a smirk as I snuck over the fence and placed the cans under them before lighting them all at once.
Soon popping noises occurred and the girls flailed like crazy as they were screaming. They finally got free from the hammocks only to trip and fall before crashing into each other. It was incredibly hard to not be loud because this was too funny to watch. We quickly left before Brandi and the others tried to look for us.
After we teleported back to the dorm the girls and I were laughing so hard, "Oh my gosh, that was the best!" Dawn said breathlessly as we finally calmed down.
I nodded, "That was awesome May! Again congrats on winning, I'll see ya later," Lizzy said as she gave me a hug before she teleported out.
"I'll send this to you when I get back since I know it'll take a few times to get the laughing out of your system," Max said as he rolled his eyes before hugging me. "Congrats on winning, you finally did it."
After he teleported out, we celebrated by ordering pizza and having a movie marathon. During the movie, my hands suddenly felt weird. I snuck a glance at my palms to see the weird symbols again causing me to silently sigh. I guess it's back to facing reality.