Chapter 13- Epilogue

May's POV

"After months of being a no show, Drew Hayden is finally back in the competition," yelled Lillian, "It's the last battle and Drew made it to the face off, the only question is, is he strong enough to take a win after such a long absence? Can he get enough ribbons in time?" I sat in the cold plastic chair in the front row. I wasn't participating, still being very weak. I'd learnt to walk again with Drew's help, but I wasn't strong enough to do contests so I'd come to the decision to sit out from the Grand Festival this year. I could see Drew's forehead furrow in concentration. I'd urged him to compete. Now I was in the crowd with Max and my four other friends, cheering him on.

"Go Roselia," he called. His opponent, a rather tall boy with blue stripes through his black hair, called for a Luxray. His opponent called the first attack.

"Roselia, avoid it by using magical leaf," Drew commanded. I bit my lip as the two attacks collided. I silently pleaded for Roselia's to be stronger. As if I helped, the magical leaf surged forwards and struck the Luxray head on. It roared and stumbled back a bit, but stayed standing. Points on the screen dropped slightly. The battle continued. For the slightest of moments, while an attack was being drawn out, he looked to me and flashed me a smile. The fan girls around me screamed. He turned back to his match and I grinned inwardly and outwardly. We'd kept our relationship hidden; the only ones who knew were Ash, Brock, Max, Solidad and Harley. Drew hadn't wanted me to get hurt by his jealous fan girls. I smiled at this touch of concern. I gripped the sides of my chair, my knuckles going pale as the match neared the end. Drew was winning, but only slightly. Just as Drew was about to call another attack the buzzer sounded.

"And that's time!" called Lillian, "Looks like Drew has proved that he's still a threat with that grim victory. Give it up for your winner Drew!" Drew went up stage to collect his ribbon. The crowd cheered, a lot of girly screams drowning out the rest of what Lillian was saying. I stood up and slipped out, making my way backstage.

Drew's POV

I came down as soon as I could. The area was empty now but it would soon fill up again and I wanted to see May first. I saw her and grinned. I ran to her and lifted her up and spun her around in a circle, before letting her feet touch the ground again.

"Good job," She laughed, trying to regain her balance and clinging to me for support, "you did well. I watched the whole thing and cheered you on."

"It was close though," I murmured. I looked from side to side quickly before planting a quick kiss on her lips.

"Mm," she mumbled, licking her lips, "when are we going to make our relationship known?"

"I don't know, soon," I replied, breathing gently onto her face, "It's driving me crazy to pretend and do all this sneaking." I'd been thinking about it for a while and reached a decision. She stepped away from me as we heard the doors open. Solidad and Harley came up to us, followed closely by Ash, Max and Brock.

"Chill guys, it's just us," Solidad grinned, "go ahead and be all mushy. They're making an announcement about the next contest so the audience won't be out for a while."

"We snuck out," shrugged Max, "so that when they do start to come, you two won't look suspicious." She blushed.

"We're definitely gonna make this public soon," I muttered under my breath, "then we won't have this so much."

"No, but we'll get it from everyone else," She laughed.

"I love you, you know that," I whispered in her ear.

"I know," she whispered back, "I love you too." I kissed her again.

"Look, once you're strong enough to fend off my fan girls, we'll tell them," I told her. She nodded and rubbed her face gently against me before finally stepping away for good this time. The doors swung wide open and people ran out, lots of girls surrounding me and screamed my name and confessions of love. Harley pushed his way through.

"We'll be waiting back at our room when you're done fighting your way out," I heard Harley yell over the noise. I nodded and he was pushed back away, by a fan girl.

May's POV

"Wow the fan girls are really holding him up," pondered Max. Harley and Solidad had both gone to their own separate rooms, determined to figure out their strategies for the next contest. Drew had beaten both of them today.

"What do you expect," I giggled, "he's been so called 'missing' for months. He was bound to get a load of attention." I sat back on my bed. There was a knock on the door.

"Must be Drew," said Ash.

"Nah, he wouldn't knock, he'd just run in and lock it behind him," I laughed. Brock shrugged. Max opened the door.

"Ash!" a female voice called. The startled boy looked up and was instantly wrapped in a hug by the girl. She was tall, pale and had red hair. I had recognized her from the long video phone calls Ash frequently made, before Ash had even said her name.

"Misty," he exclaimed, "What are you doing here?" She jumped back and frowned.

"What do you mean what am I doing here?" she demanded, "Aren't you happy to see me? Can't I come see you? I missed you and so I took the time to organise time off from the gym. Brock told me where you were staying so I could surprise you!"

"Calm down Misty," he cringed, "I didn't mean it like that; I was just shocked to see you. I'm happy you're here. I missed you too." I saw the way his eyes softened when he looked at her. She calmed down and I grinned. I'd seen that look in his eyes before. It was the same look Drew gave me. He liked her, a lot.

I decided to see what she thought of him.

"Hi, I'm May," I smiled, introducing myself, "Me and my brother, Max, have been travelling with Ash for a while."

"Oh you have?" she questioned, looking me up and down with a jealous gaze, "how nice. I'm Misty." Perfect, time to put the second stage into action.

"Oh so you're the Misty Ash is always telling me about," I said, shooting a sly glance at the raven haired-boy, "Ash has told me so much about you."

"He has?" she inquired, looking surprised, "What kinds of things has he said?" Ash's mouth opened and he looked embarrassed, but I cut him off.

"Yeah, he told me all about your travels with him," I said, "how you followed him because he destroyed your bike. It's quite funny because he managed to destroy my bike too and that's how I started travelling with him." Her expression changed and Ash was making throat cutting gestures behind me.

"So you've been travelling for a while together," she said flatly, "I bet you two are really close." I knew what she was implying. Ash smacked his forehead. Misty glared at me, waiting for an answer, but suddenly I didn't know what to say. This was going downhill on me. She advanced a step and I moved back. I bumped into someone, who put an arm around my waist. I sighed with relief.

"Hey Drew," I purred, looking up at him.

"Who's this?" he asked, placing a kiss on my forehead, "friend of yours?"

"More friends with Ash," I answered, cheekily sneaking a kiss below his jawline.

"Oh you have a boyfriend," Misty said, looking relieved, embarrassed and guilty.

"She sure does," Drew smirked, "a very attractive one. I'm Drew." He held out his hand to her. She took it and they shook hands while I playfully glared at Drew.

"I'm Misty," she said, "I came here to visit Ash. We're best friends." Drew nodded his head.

"Sorry about his attitude," I added cheekily, "that's just what happens when you have an arrogant almost-celebrity-famous boyfriend." Misty nodded and turned to talk to Ash again.

"It's our turn to play match-maker," I leaned up to whisper in his ear, ignoring his pout, "they like each other."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"She was so jealous of me," I replied, giggling a little, "and he gives her the same look you give me."

"Oh he does, does he?" he raised an eyebrow, "and what look is that?"

"One of total adoration," I teased, "and affection." He spun me into his chest.

"Close," he whispered, pressing his lips into my hair, "you forgot love."

"You're so cheesy," I giggled.

"Mm," he mumbled, "you love me for it." I laughed and he pressed his lips gently to my cheek. We looked at Ash and Misty, talking and laughing together.

"I think you're right," he whispered against my ear, "this might be fun."

"Definitely," I agreed, letting him kiss me again.

A/N: I'm finally finished it! I'm kind of sad this is over now. Oh well. Did you like it? I thought I'd better leave you guys with a finisher. What do you think? Should I make a sequel about Ash and Misty? I might if I get enough votes for it. My next major project will probably be another contestshipping, I'm just debating ideas at the moment.