May 31st (Lilycove City, Hoenn)

(Drew's POV)

I twirled a rose absentmindedly in my hand as I sat in class listening to Ms. Williams give a lecture. I still was pissed with Lance ordering us to come to class today, no one was in the mood and we were exhausted.

After May faded away and everyone had overcome their shock at what happened, we looked around and noticed that Giovanni was nowhere to be found. Soon the Champions started to give orders to agents and their respective gym leaders and Elite Four.

(Flashback to Three Days Ago)

"Take these grunts to headquarters for questioning and round up all available agents, we have to find that son of a bitch before we lose him permanently," Lance ordered an agent before turning to look at us. "I know you lost your friend, but we need you to toughen up and help us with finding Giovanni."

We all looked at him upset, the girls were still sniffing trying to pull themselves together, but I could tell that it was straining them and poor Max kept shaking trying to hold back sobs.

"Lance, they just lost a dear friend, have some sympathy," Cynthia scolded before turning to us. "Take your time, come help when you can."

They then walked away to give agents orders, "She….she can't be gone….she just can't…," Max said as he heaved sobs while collapsing to his knees.

The tears the girls were trying to hold back started to fall again as they knelt around Max and hugged him. Suddenly pokemon started to appear out of their pokeballs looking around in confusion and concern.

"Drew, what's wrong?" Roserade asked as she saw the tears falling down my face before she turned and looked around. "Where's May?"

I looked at her and it dawned on her that May was gone, "She…..she can't be," Roserade cried as tears started to appear in her eyes.

I didn't answer causing her to start crying, I knelt down and held her as she sobbed. This caused the pokemon to understand that May was gone and they looked upset. Blaziken and Lucario then demanded an explanation from Gardevoir as to what happened. She explained in tears what happened causing them to tremble in anger and sadness.

For the while, we didn't do much except console one another and try to pull ourselves together. We sent our pokemon to the nearby Pokemon Center and tried to have something to eat.

"We should locate where Team Rocket is, Giovanni may be hiding in another base," Max said breaking the silence.

We looked at him in surprise, "I don't want him to get away with what he did to May," he said stiffly.

"Are you sure you're up to helping?" Dawn asked in concern.

"May would have wanted it," Max said curtly as he finished his drink. "I'll start scanning the surrounding regions, I'll let you guys know when I have something."

He then retrieved his pokemon and left, "Is it safe for him to be looking for Team Rocket Bases?" Dawn asked.

"I wouldn't worry, he's helping locate the bases, not actually going in and infiltrating them. Besides, it's a good thing for him to have a distraction from what happened today," Paul answered.

"I still don't want to believe it though, it's not fair," Misty whispered angrily into her hands. "What right is there for May to give up her life."

Ash put his hand on Misty's shoulder, "May did what she did to save the world, she knew what would happen."

"But what right does she have for leaving us," Misty retorted angrily. "Doesn't she know she's leaving behind so many people that care and love her."

There was a moment of silence, "She didn't have much of a choice, she was the only one that could fix everything," Dawn explained.

"It's still not fair," Misty whispered angrily.

Ash then stood up and walked over to Misty to give her a hug whispering that everything would be alright.

(Back to Present Day)

Once Misty was able to calm down, Max told us the location of the Sinnoh base of where Team Rocket was. We grabbed our pokemon and alerted Lance we found the base. For the next two days, we raided the bases and brought in grunts for questioning, but we never did find Giovanni. The searches were still happening, but Lance took us off the case. We were hoping for a day of rest before heading back to classes, but Lance said that it would be best for us to come back today.

I really didn't want to because it was too strange for May not to be here and that everyone by now has learned that Linnea was actually May. Everyone kept staring at us and whispered amongst themselves, but knew better to say anything.

"Drew, the bell just rang," Dawn said quietly snapping me out of my thoughts.

She then walked to Paul and they left hand in hand. I sighed as I gathered my stuff and followed after them. After grabbing a sandwich and a strawberry pecha juice, I sat down with everyone else.

"Has Max found out anything?" Leaf asked.

I shook my head, "He texted me last hour saying that Giovanni is still off the grid, it's like he's disappeared into thin air."

Dawn made a fist and banged it on the table, "We have to find him and make him pay for what he's done. I mean seriously, how hard can it be to find a man with one eye, one ear, and one hand missing?"

"Think for a second Troublesome, the man we're hunting for is a major crime boss with a bunch of hidden connections. How easy do you think it would be to find him?" Paul asked causing Dawn to glare at him.

"We should still be able to find him, a person can't just disappear when their face is at all places of transportation," Dawn retorted.

"Dawn, he's probably not using public transportation, he would probably be walking through forests hiding from everyone," Leaf pointed out as she took a bite of her lunch.

The rest of the period was everyone tossing theories back and forth though I remained silent thinking about May's last words, I wonder if I'm the only one who heard them.

The bell than rang and we departed for our next class. For the rest of school, I was replaying the words May said. Then in gym I was hit with a baseball in the upper arm for not paying attention. I decided to ditch last period since I couldn't stop thinking about May and walked back to the dorm to drop off my stuff.

I then looked in my top desk drawer for a small box. Once I found it, I sat on my bed and opened it. Inside lay a silver overlay love knot flower promise ring with the words 'forever and always' on the inside of the band. I was planning to give to May on her birthday, but now….. I closed the box as I felt tears appear in my eyes.

"I should've given it to her sooner," I said with a shaky sigh.

I then felt that there was too much of May in the room and the dorm in general so I slipped the box in my pocket and left the dorm. I then pulled up my hood and started to walk around in thought. Before I knew it, I was standing at the grassy edge that meets the sea in the park of where we trained our pokemon. I must have been walking for a while because I was looking out to see that the sun was setting.

"I guess Arceus was wrong, May isn't coming back is she?" I murmured sadly.

"I wouldn't be so sure," a soft voice said.

My eyes widen, "May, where are you?!"

I heard her giggle in my mind, "Turn around."

I did as she said and there she stood a few feet behind me in a casual sleeveless white dress that went a little past her knees with a red sash around the middle.

I stood frozen as she walked toward me, she then stopped in front of me and I raised my hand to cup the side of her face, "You're real," I whispered.

May giggled again as she placed her hand on my mine, "Of course I'm real, I told you to wait for me when three days had passed," she said gently.

I then hugged her and held her tight against me as I felt tears run down my face.

(May's POV)

I let Drew hold me as I felt him shake from crying, "Don't worry Drew, it's over, it's all over," I murmured softly as I pulled away so I could hold his face in my hand.

I then leaned forward and kissed him, I felt Drew pull me close again and he kissed me back, "Mew, I thought I lost you," he murmured into my hair as he kissed my head.

I chuckled softly, "I don't think you could get rid of me even if you tried," I teased.

Drew chuckled back as he pulled away a little and gave me a thornless rose. I took it and inhaled its scent, "I missed getting these from you," I whispered as I stuck it in my hair.

I then looked back at Drew to see that he was holding a small box for me to take, "What's this?" I asked.

Drew gave a small smirk, "Open it to find out."

I gave him a look of curiosity before opening the box and covered my mouth in surprise, "I was planning to give it to you for your birthday, but after everything that's happened, I wanted to give it to you now," Drew explained as he took my hands in his.

He then took a deep breathe, "May, for a while now, I've come to realize that I can't live without you and I want to be by your side for everything that we face. Therefore, I promise that I will always be by your side in everything you face and that I will never stop loving you," Drew promised as he took the ring and slipped it onto the middle finger of my right hand before taking his hands in mine once again.

By this time, I was smiling and tears of happiness were falling down my face, "Drew, even though we've had a rocky beginning, you've always been there for me and I can't help but fall in love with you all over again. Therefore, I promise that I will always be by your side in everything you face and that I will never stop loving you," I promised.

Suddenly, I felt a small circular thing of metal under my hands and Drew felt the same. I removed my hands from Drew's and there was a silver ring with a small overlay love knot flower carved on it with the words 'forever and always' on the inside of the band.

"Consider it a small token of my gratitude," Arceus said to us.

We both were surprised, but smiled as I took the ring and stuck it on Drew's middle finger on his left hand. I was overwhelmingly happy, it felt like a happy ending to an adventure romance novel. I then remembered what Drew said to me months ago, "All couples in love face challenges and take risks, in the end, those turn out to be the best romances of all".

"How very true," I murmured to myself as Drew kissed me.

"What's very true?" he asked.

"What you said to me months ago, that all couples in love face challenges and take risks, but that in the end, those turn out to be the best romances of all," I said with a soft smile.

Drew smiled back, "I think ours qualifies," he said as he ran his thumb over my ring and kissed me again.

"Drew…..DREW….you out here!" Dawn shouted.

"Looks like the others got worried as to where I went," Drew said before turning to me and smirked. "Wanna surprise them?"

I smirked back before kissing him one more time and teleported to some trees that were nearby.

"Yeah, I'm right here!" Drew shouted back.

Soon Dawn called to everyone else and they walked towards Drew looking ticked, "What the hell?! You skip last period without a word and then you disappear for hours without saying anything? What the hell is wrong with you?!" Dawn shouted.

Drew then smirked and flicked his hair fringe, "Calm down Pinky, I just wanted to take a walk to clear my head."

Everyone stared at him like he had grown a second head, "Oookay…what the heck happened to you? Did you run into a street light too many times?" Gary asked.

Drew rolled his eyes, "No, I just am in a good mood, anything wrong with that?"

They stared at him again like he had grown three heads, "Okay…you must have suffered memory loss. Have you forgotten what happened a few days ago, the fighting, how we lost May!" Leaf said frustrated at his attitude.

I then appeared a few feet behind everyone, "But you didn't lose me, let's be honest here, you couldn't get rid of me even if you tried," I teased.

Everyone turned around in shock while Drew smirked, "AHH…..I'M SEEING MAY'S GHOST…..look….I'm sorry I ate the last of your chocolate truffles two months ago, but please don't haunt me," Ash pleaded as he shielded his face.

Everyone gave him a 'are-you-freaking-serious' look before the girls ran up to me and gave me a huge group hug, "May, you're alive!" they shouted.

"Girls….slowly….suffocating…..here," I gasped.

They then let go of me with tears appearing in your eyes, "You're really here," Misty whispered as she hugged me.

"Of course I'm here," I teased as I hugged her back. "Didn't you hear me, you can't get rid of me even if you tried."

"We're just glad you're back," Leaf said happily as she hugged me.

After everyone gave me a hug, Drew walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek while taking a hold of my ring hand.

"Wait a minute, did you know she was here?" Dawn questioned Drew suspiciously.

Paul rolled his eyes, "Duh troublesome, otherwise why would he be acting like his annoying, hair flicking self."

"Seriously Drew, you could have told us she was here," Leaf said annoyed.

"You guys would have found out soon enough anyways and you did," Drew pointed out.

Dawn then looked at your joined hands and squealed, "No way….no freaking way!"

"Dawn, what the heck are you squealing about?" Misty asked annoyed.

"Drew and May have promise rings!" Dawn squealed.

This got everyone's attention, "Wow, you guys are committed. So when's the wedding?" Gary teased.

"Knock it off you moron," Drew snapped.

Misty then smirked, "I hope you guys are ready to explain this to Lizzy."

I cringed in fear along with Drew, "Great," we muttered.

This caused everyone else to laugh, "Watch your sister start planning your wedding. I still stand behind my offer of designing your wedding dress?" Dawn teased.

"Mew," I muttered before I felt a slash on my lower back causing me to cry out in pain.

I then looked to where the sharp thing was thrown at me and my eyes shrunk in fear as I saw Giovanni in the shadows.

"No!" I shouted as I used an air current to knock him over the edge into the ocean.

After a few minutes, he didn't resurface, "Do you think he drowned?" Leaf asked.

"I sure hope so, that guy deserved it," Dawn spat.

"We better call Lance and have a diving team look for him," Gary said.

"May, you're bleeding!" Misty gasped.

I put my hand to my lower back and felt a wet stickiness, "Great," I muttered.

I took some water from the ocean and extracted the salt from it before bending the water to my lower back to heal the gash.

"How's it look?" I asked once I was finished.

"It's healed," Misty reported. "You feeling alright?"

I nodded, "Figures he'd try to pull something like that, but his aim was really off if he wanted to kill me."

"Let's not think about it, we just got you back," Leaf said quickly wanting to end the subject.

The thought was still bugging me, but I dropped it when I saw the Drew looked worried, "I'm fine, really, no need to worry," I said as I kissed Drew's cheek.

"Aww, I can't wait to see the little green haired kids running around your feet, but don't make me an aunt too soon," Dawn teased.

This caused Drew and I to blush, "Dawn!" I shouted embarrassed.

This caused everyone else to laugh at Drew's and mine's discomfort, "We're glad you're back May and this whole nightmare is finally over."

"Bet it's going to be boring now," Leaf complained.

I chuckled, "I wouldn't say that, with me, who knows what fun we'll be facing next.

(? POV)

"Enjoy you're victory Maybelle Maple while you can because believe me, it won't last long."

I hope you enjoyed Mission: Save the World, the sequel is up called The Aftermath: Senior Year.