Chapter 2- Close Call

May's POV

"Wake up May." Someone was calling me.

"Five more minutes," I moaned.

"No you have to wake up now." It said, nudging me awake. I opened my eyes to find a pair of green ones hovering above me.

"Thank goodness you're awake sleeping Beauty. I was thinking I'd have to kiss you to wake you up," he said sarcastically. He moved away. I rubbed my eyes, my sleepy mind not quite grasping the joke, but I blushed at the mention of him kissing me.

"You overslept, you have half an hour to get ready," he told me. I threw off my blanket. I remembered my plaster.

"This isn't allowed to get wet is it?" I asked as he tried to wake up Ash.

"Nope, gotta stay dry," he replied, "gee, how do you wake this boy up?" Drew shook him vigorously and blinked in shock when he still slept.

"Try talking about food," I giggled, "how am I supposed to shower with this on?" He yelled something about breakfast and Ash finally woke up, complaining about how he was hungry.

"The doctor said it could come off tonight, just have a shower then," Drew shrugged.

"Ew," I complained, screwing up my nose.

"You don't have a choice, now go get dressed," he commanded, pointing to the bathroom as he woke Max.

"Fine," I sighed, slipping in and locking the door behind me.

Moments later I remerged. I had washed myself down with a cloth before dressing. My hair felt particularly frizzy today as I pulled it back in my bandana.

"C'mon, we gotta go May," said Drew, frowning impatiently.

"What about the others," I asked.

"We still gotta get ready, we'll meet you there," yawned Brock.

"Just don't fall back asleep," I giggled. Ash grinned sheepishly and shook his head.

"C'mon," said Drew. I grabbed my crutches and followed him out slowly.

"How are we going to get there on time if I have to walk like this?" I asked.

"I've already thought of that," he smirked, pulling out a Pokéball, "Flygon, you're up." He climbed up onto his back. He held his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me up beside him. I tucked the crutches in-between us.

"Hold onto me May or you'll fall off," he instructed. I wrapped my arms around his body.

"Fly us to the contest," Drew instructed his Pokémon. It took off in the air quickly and I squealed; holding onto Drew even tighter. Soon Flygon levelled out again and I could look up again. I looked down at the city.

"Wow!" I breathed, "It's great up here."

"Yeah, I know," Drew agreed, "I love it up here."

"I can totally see why," I say, "you feel so free."

Drew's POV

We landed and I helped her off.

"Return," I called to Flygon.

"Let's go," I said to her. She was shaking.

"I don't want to go on stage like this," she said.

"May, it's fine. No one will care," I reassured her.

"No," she shook her head, "It won't look as good with me on crutches, and we might lose points."

"Then leave them backstage," I told her.

"What?"

"Just leave them behind. I'll help you on stage and then just lean your weight on one leg. If you need help then you can lean on me if you need to," I suggested.

"Thanks," she said and we head in.

"Oh May, is that you?"

"Oh no, not Harley," she groaned. Solidad and Harley came to us just as May sat down on a bench.

"May, what happened?" asked Solidad.

"I dislocated it," May brushed it off.

"Can you still compete?" Asked Harley. She nodded. He held a yellow rose to her. Again with the rose!

"Here, get well soon," he cheered before they walked away to start their first match.

"I'm starting to think that Harley has no idea what the rose colours mean," I mumbled to her, "light pink roses are the ones that mean get well." She giggled.

"Yeah, and this smells funny again," she commented, putting it in her bag again, "how does he get them to smell so strong."

"Probably sprays them with toilet spray," I suggested. She laughed again.

"So then, what does the really dark rose he gave me the other day mean?" she asked.

"Unconscious beauty," I replied, "though I don't know where he gets that idea from." I looked at her slyly. She pouted at me before grinning again.

"Then what do red roses mean?" she teased.

"Well done or congratulations," I said without missing a beat. I had been expecting this question for a while so I had the answer prepared.

"Oh"

"C'mon, are you ready?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," she replied.

"Well, we're up," I told her. I helped her stand up and led her onstage.

"May you did awesome," I congratulated after we accepted our second ribbons, "if anything, I think that knee of yours earned us extra points."

"I guess it wasn't so bad, but now I'm really sore from leaning on the same leg all day," she groaned, flopping down on her bed.

"Here," I said, pushing a red rose towards her, "you deserve it after today." She giggled and held it to her nose.

"Smells so much better than Harley's roses," she sighed, taking out the yellow one, "Drew, do me a favour will you and throw this out the window." I laughed and obeyed her, mostly because I can't stand the smell either.

"So what does a yellow rose symbol?" She asked.

"Friendship, when used in the right context it can sometime represent jealousy," I told her.

"Well I don't think Harley's jealous," she giggled, "that's kind of sweet, maybe I shouldn't have thrown it away."

"Are you kidding?" I exclaimed, "I'm not sacrificing my nose for the sake of keeping a friendship rose which Harley probably didn't even know the meaning of." She laughed again. I'm getting good at this.

"Hmm, the others are taking a while to get back; do you think I should go make sure they're not lost?" I asked.

"Knowing Ash, they probably are," she grinned. I opened the door and quickly jumped back as the other three boys tumbled in.

"You wouldn't happen to have been listening in on us, would you?" I teased, raising my eyebrows. They looked up at me, grinning sheepishly.

"No," lied Ash, "I just tripped and we all tumbled down just as you opened the door." May started laughing again.

"Oh please stop, I'm getting a stitch from laughing," she giggled.

"Well if you guys are here, I'll just go and get some dinner for May and I, assuming you've already eaten," I said, noticing the food stains down the front of Ash's shirt. He grinned and went extremely red.

May's POV

"What's going on between you two?" Asked Brock as soon as Drew shut the door.

"What!" I exclaimed, "There's nothing going on between me and Drew. I told you he's just looking after me while I've got these." I gestured to the crutches.

"You sure?" Ash put in, looking at me slyly.

"Yes. I think Drew just feels guilty about what happened because he was out when it happened." I looked down at the flower in my hand. I would have to press it when the others were sleeping.

"Oh, that reminds me, I can take this off now," I said, tapping the plaster, "Brock can you help me." He nodded and gently unravelled the bandages. He carefully peeled the rest of it away.

"Thank goodness, it was getting itchy," I sighed in relief. I stood up carefully.

"I'm going to take a shower now, tell that to Drew if he gets back before I'm out," I told them. I hobbled over to the bathroom and locked myself in. When I came back out, fully dressed and dried, I saw that everyone was waiting for me. Drew motioned towards the box of food sitting on the bed as he continued to eat his.

"Thanks Drew," I said.

"No problem," he replied, shrugging.

Drew's POV

It was midnight when my alarm went off. I groaned. Why was I waking up this early? Oh yeah because May had been threatened. I crept into her room and nudged her like I did yesterday. She moaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Drew," she whispered, "what are you doing awake? Why'd you wake me?"

"We have to go," I answered, "c'mon get up."

"What for?" She moaned, rolling over to her side.

"We have to get to the next contest early," I explained, "I'll leave a note for the other guys because it'll take too long to wake them up." She moaned again, but sat up.

"Ok, let me get ready," she sighed.

"Quickly," I whispered. A few minutes later she appeared again, dressed.

"I hope you're happy," she hissed quietly, "I didn't take a shower so I would be quick."

"That's fine," I nodded at her, "let's go." I picked her up and carried her downstairs. I let Flygon out of his Pokéball and helped May up again, this time in front of me. I nodded at Flygon to take off. I held her tightly as we lifted up higher. She yawned sleepily and I smiled at her.

"You can go to sleep," I assured her, "I'll make sure you don't fall." She nodded and leaned back into me more, cuddling against me.

"You're warm," she mumbled, before closing her eyes. I blushed and held onto her tighter.

It was daylight when May finally woke up.

"Morning," I whispered to her, "Did you sleep well?"

"Apart from being woken up in the middle of the night, I slept really well. You're a surprisingly good pillow," she answered.

"Good to know," I laughed, hiding a blush.

"Now how about you tell me what's really going on?"

"Huh?"

"I know you didn't just wake me up because of the competition. You looked really panicked, so what's going on?" she asked.

"You're right," I sighed, "I had to get you out of there for your safety. Remember the rock. I lied, there was a threat on it and I had to get you out of that that town before they would make an advance on your life." Her eyes widened in shock.

"You mean, someone's out to kill me?" she asked. I nodded.

"Drew…I don't know what to say," she trailed off, "Thank you. You've done so much for me."

"That's ok," I said, "I may be your rival, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. I've been trying to keep a close watch on you." She smiled. Flygon swooped sharply to the left. She screamed and I held on tight.

"What was that?" I yelled. Some sort of missile exploded to the right. I looked behind us. There were more coming.

"They're trying to knock us out of the sky!" I yelled, "Flygon, dodge them." Flygon swerved again and May squealed in fear.

"May," I growled lowly, "Flygon can't do this by himself, he'll get hit. I'm going to have to manually steer him, but that means I can't hold you. Cling onto me and don't let go." She nodded and her arms wrapped securely around my body.

"Flygon, fly faster," I yelled, "We have to outfly these missiles." I pulled him to the right and then back to the left. I looked back. There were more. I looked ahead to the next town. We had to make it.

"Flygon, loop it," I called to him. With one hand, I held onto Flygon and I used the other to hold May as Flygon looped around in a large arc, dodging several bullets in the process. Then Flygon growled as a missile made contact with one of his wings.

"Flygon!" I yelled, "Try to land safely please." With one wing failing him though, I knew it would be basically impossible. I held May close as she screamed in fear again. I closed my eyes and prepared for impact. It came rather sharply, May squealing again. Flygon came to a stop and I rolled off, trying to lessen the blow for May by tucking her in my arms. I heard voices.

"Drew, what do we do?" She asked. I pushed her under Flygon's good wing.

"Do not move," I instructed her, "don't make a single sound and definitely do not come out until it's clear." I lay face down next to my injured dragon.

"If they find you, play dead," I whispered. Her eyes sparkled with tears as she nodded.

May's POV

I could only just peek out as I saw two people dressed from head to toe in black, come to where we were. I couldn't see who they were and the spoke in deep voices.

"Found them," one said.

"I don't see the girl we were supposed to get," the other growled. So Drew was right, there were people after me.

"Well, there's the meddlesome boy," the first said. I watched as the second came to Drew and inspected him.

"Definitely dead," the second confirmed, poking Drew with the toe of his boot, "who cares where the girl is. If he didn't survive, the girl wouldn't have either." I looked at Drew. He was dead now?

"What about the Flygon?" asked the first. I pushed myself back even further against Drew's Pokémon.

"Look the thing is barely alive as it is," replied the second, "without its master it'll die anyway. Who cares? It's not our problem."

"Yeah, you're right," agreed the first, "now let's get out of here." I listened for ages until I was sure they were far away before I crawled out from under Flygon's wing. I patted it gently on the head. It groaned sadly and looked at Drew. I bit my lip.

"I don't know," I whispered to the distraught Pokémon. I limped over to Drew's body. He wasn't moving. I knelt down.

"Drew?" I questioned, swallowing a huge lump in my throat, "Drew?" I threw myself over his body and cried. Flygon made a happy noise and I looked at him confused. His owner was dead. I looked down at Drew and gasped in shock. His eyes were open and staring straight into mine.

"Drew!" I exclaimed happily, "I thought you were really dead."

"I had to play dead, pretty good huh?" he chuckled, "I'm just glad he didn't bother to check my heartbeat."

"Drew!" I reprimanded, "How could you joke at a time like this? You scared me, I really thought you were gone."

"It was part of the act," he sighed, "sorry for scaring you. Are you ok?"

"I think I'm ok," I answered, "my knee hurts slightly and I have a few scrapes but nothing major. You and Flygon shielded most of it. I want to know if you're ok."

"Bit winded, bit sore from impact, but no broken bones," he replied, sitting up and stretching.

"You're an idiot," I cried, "a crazy idiot who's been risking everything for me. You could have really died. Thank you for saving me."

"You're just overstrung at the moment. Don't worry about it," he said, putting an arm around me. I curled into him and cried.

Drew's POV

After May had collected herself, we decided it would be a good idea to get out of the forest and into the city before we ran into any more trouble. I returned Flygon, him being too weak to go any further and let Absol out instead. I let May ride on him. She wouldn't admit it, but she was a lot more exhausted than she let on. Even now, she was half flopped over him.

"Don't worry, we're almost there," I said as she winced again.

"Thank goodness," she sighed. We walked down the street, me and Absol carrying May. Our first stop was the hospital where we were given band aids and cream for our cuts. Most of our pain was comings from rather large bruises. Next I turned into the poke centre for a healing on both Absol and Flygon. It only took a short time before their Pokéballs were handed back to me. We then headed to the stadium, May limping along beside me.

"Are you sure you're still up for this contest?" I asked. She nodded and so I signed in. I carried her up the stairs and to her room. I gently placed her on her bed. I looked at the clock.

"Funny we get here now," I commented, "the rest of the guys should be here soon." She groaned in response.

"Don't worry, you can go to sleep," I whispered, gently tucking her in bed.

"Aww, that's so cute," came a squeal from the doorway. I turned and realized with horror that I had left the door open. Now Solidad stood at the door, looking at me with the same expression she gets when she watches a romantic film.

"What?" I asked, playing dumb.

"You tucking May into bed like that," she babbled, "it's so cute. Are you two finally together or something?" I looked at May and noticed with relief that she has fallen asleep already.

"No we are not together," I sighed, "She's just exhausted, we…uh ran into some trouble on the way here."

"What kind of trouble?" she asked, suddenly looking really worried.

"Like Flygon getting shot out of the air trouble," I explained.

"That's terrible. I hope that was an accident. That would be awful if it was purposeful."

"Yeah, it would be," I muttered darkly.

"When she wakes up, do you two want to come grab a bite to eat together?" she asked.

"Sure, which room can I find you?" I agreed.

"Knock on room 189," she replied, "that's my room and then I'll get Harley ready."

"Sounds good," I said, writing down the number, "I'm just going to keep an eye on May until her friends get here."

"Aww look at them, they're so cute together." I heard a voice and it woke me up.

"Yeah, they should just hurry up and get together." I moaned.

"Oh no, he's waking up." I slowly started to open my eyes. Suddenly they snapped open as I took in my surroundings. I had fallen asleep on the chair next to May's bed. My head was resting on her pillow and my arm was outstretched. May had turned to face me and she was using my arm as her pillow. Our faces were centimetres apart. I quickly leaned away and looked at who had woken us. Ash, Max and Brock were grinning at me.

"Are you two together now?" Asked Ash.

"No!" I exclaimed, getting up quickly, "why does everyone keep asking that?"

"Maybe because you two are adorable together and you were kinda sleeping together after deserting us by yourselves last night," pointed out Max. I sighed.

"We left early because May's life was in danger. She had received a threat," I explained, "Then Flygon was shot down and we were so exhausted that May just passed out. I was going to wait for you guys to show up, but I guess I fell asleep."

"And you didn't tell us this before because?" asked Brock.

"May didn't even know. I didn't want to worry you guys, but the threat has become more serious," I answered, "May is not allowed to be out of sight for a minute." My arm was starting to go dead. As if she had heard my silent plea, May yawned and woke up. She sat up and I pulled my arm away.

"Hey guys," she moaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey May, how are you and Drew?" Asked Brock, winking in a very obvious way.

"Good I guess," she replied, blushing.

"May, get ready, we're going out for dinner," I said to her.

"What!" she squeaked.

"Yeah, Solidad wants to meet up," I explained, knowing exactly what had gone through her head.

"Oh yeah sure, I'll be quick," she said, getting up.