Hey guys! I haven't been getting many reviews, but that's okay. I know that a lot of people are reading this. This story has reached 60 favorites! Thank you so much guys! That makes me really happy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

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"So we have about six more weeks here," Leaf said. "The beach sports competition is less than three weeks away, I only have one lecture every week; except for the second to last week, two more academic contests, and then on the final week of our vacation, there's the awards ceremony and then there's a dance to finish everything off." The brunette was speaking aloud, organizing the upcoming events in her planner.

"There's a dance? You didn't even tell us!" said Dawn. "We have to go buy dresses for that, because none of us brought a dress elegant enough for that kind of event."

"There's a dress boutique in the mall. We'll go there when we get closer to the dance," Leaf promised.

"Good. Ooh! I want to get a sequin dress!" Dawn squealed.

"How do you think I would look in a layered dress?" May asked.

"Hot as an Entei's fire blast," Dawn answered, causing the brunette to laugh.

Misty hadn't said anything. She hadn't been talking much at all. It had been three days since Rudy showed up. The other girls were aware of it, and they had been trying to distract her and keep her away from him. They weren't doing so well though. It was all that she could think about. Misty also knew that Ash was aware of her ex's arrival. She'd glimpsed him running away when Rudy took her out to eat. Her heart had wrenched at the sight. She'd hurt Ash when she didn't even want to be there with Rudy. She didn't have the courage to face him now.

Speaking of Rudy, there was a pounding on the girls' hotel room door. "Let me in!" a voice demanded. "I paid a lot of money for the plane tickets to get here, and I'm going to see Misty no matter what it takes!"

"Get lost! Leaf shouted through the door. "Misty doesn't want to see you!"

Misty felt irritated at that remark. Leaf shouldn't have said that. Misty hadn't said such a thing to any of them at all these past few days, even if it was true. She really didn't want to see Rudy.

"Is that true, Misty? Or are they keeping you hostage?" Rudy asked.

"Maybe I should just go out there and talk to him," Misty sighed.

"No! You shouldn't have to!" Dawn protested. "He just came out here to ruin your vacation because god forbid you have fun without him."

"Right. But if we let him keep doing this, then he's ruining your vacation too, guys. I'll go out there. I'll be back later." The other girls sulked and gave in, letting their friend go.

"We need to go check on Ash," May said immediately as soon as Misty was out the door. The other's nodded in agreement.

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"So she doesn't want to be around him? She didn't invite him down here?"

"No! Not at all, Ash. Have you been thinking that this whole time?" Dawn asked. "Oh, you poor thing."

"Don't treat him like a little kid," Drew said. "I told him Misty looked uncomfortable with that guy, but he was too paranoid to listen to me."

"So you were with him when he saw them? And you didn't tell me?" May asked. "Why did I have to find it out from Misty yesterday instead of you telling me the day it happened? We even hung out that evening!" May only felt a little hurt by Drew's withholding of the information, but she was looking for an excuse to start an argument. Ever since she'd seen Corrine flirt with him and heard what Dawn said about those girls' plan, she'd been irritated with him. She knew it wasn't his fault that some girl was trying to get with him, but it still upset her for some reason.

"Yeah? Well why is it that you didn't tell me that someone tried to drown Dawn yesterday?"

Paul's head snapped up at those words. He had been sitting in the corner ignoring everyone, but now he was paying attention.

"One of the girls we met at the club last week told me. I ran into her at the mall. Was her name Abby? The red-haired one. She said she was at the beach, and she saw someone try to drown you, Dawn. She told me all about how she ran out into the water to save you, because May was having trouble fighting off the girl who was trying to drown you. She has a big bruise on her face you know, from where the other girl punched her. She saved your life, and to think you guys didn't seem to like those girls!"

Dawn and May were flabbergasted. That bit*ch had lied to Drew! And he believed her! Leaf looked shocked too. Dawn and May had told her and Misty all about their encounter at the beach, and they had also told her about how the slu*ts were planning to take the guys away from them. The three girls exchanged looks. Should they try to tell the guys what really happened? Would they believe them if they told them the real story? It was too risky. They silently told each other not to say anything, but they were all boiling inside. Those bit*ches would pay!

"See Leafy? I told you those girls weren't so bad," Gary said with a smirk. May could see Leaf's face grow red. She was angry. Leaf and Gary hadn't even spoken in days. May could only imagine what kind of fallout they'd had. Without a word, Leaf stomped out of the boys' hotel room. Gary smirked and strummed his guitar a little bit. He had been playing it when the girls came in.

The tension was high between Drew and May, and Paul was still staring at Dawn with those strange gray eyes of his.

Ash must have been oblivious to the tension.

"So I might still have a chance with Misty? She hasn't chosen Rudy over me?"

Everyone stared at the boy. Dawn cleared her throat. "No, Ash. She hasn't. She really likes you, you know."

"Why didn't she come with you guys? Where is she?"

"Erm, with Rudy," Dawn answered. "But only because he came and pounded on our door this morning demanding that she come out and see him."

Ash's eyes glazed over with disappointment. Then they quickly shifted to anger. "That guy needs to learn that he can't just make her do what he wants!" Ash ran across the room and out the door.

"We seem to be depleting rather quickly," Gary joked.

"Shut up. You're just happy because you took a good shot at your stupid brunette," Paul said, rising to his feet. "You're such a prick. I have some business to attend to, so I'll be leaving." Paul slammed the door as he left.

"He's slipping off on his own again?" Drew questioned out loud.

"What do you mean 'again'?" Dawn asked.

"He's been going off on his own every day," Drew explained.

"Well, he is a bit of a loner," Dawn said.

"Yeah. But this isn't normal," said Drew. Dawn didn't like the sound of that.

"I'm going to follow him," she said. She turned and walked out the door.

"And then there were three," Gary said.

"Make it one," May said, grabbing Drew's hand and dragging him towards the door. "I want to talk to the grass head." The door closed behind them, and Gary was left alone.

Now Gary's smirk transformed into a frown. He was alone, but he'd much rather prefer to be with Leaf. Why had he said that to her? Why did he have to take cheap shots like that? And why couldn't she just accept that he would be so perfect for her?

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Dawn had been lucky enough to catch up to Paul, but she kept herself a distance behind him so that he wouldn't know she was following him. It wasn't easy to keep her presence a secret, because he kept turning around all the time. Paranoid ass*, she thought.

He seemed to be taking an illogical path to wherever he was going. They'd passed the same street like three times! Eventually, Paul actually approached a building. Dawn ducked behind a bush and waited to see what happened. It looked to be an apartment building, and this was one of the first floor apartments. He knocked on the door rather than ringing the doorbell. How odd was that?

Soon, the door cracked open, and then it opened fully. Dawn gasped. Standing in the doorway was the blue-haired girl from last night! She was only wearing an oversized T-shirt that hung off her shoulder and drooped all the way to her mid-thighs. Was she waiting for Paul to come? Was that Paul's shirt? Well, maybe not. Dawn didn't know what to think for certain. The girl let Paul in and then they shut the door behind them. Dawn didn't want to wait for him to come back out. From the looks of things, he would be there a while anyways.

Dawn felt sick. She told herself it was only because of the thought of Paul having sex. Not because she really cared about what might be happening behind that door. She turned and ran. She got away from that building as fast as she possibly could.

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"I just don't understand why you're acting the way you are! Two weeks ago you were really quiet and shy and you told me about your past and we were growing closer! But these past few days you've been a completely different person. Are you mad at me? What did I do, May?" Drew was clearly losing his patience with her. May blinked back tears.

"Nothing. You didn't do anything," she said, turning away.

"I must have done something."

"... You were interested in that Corrine girl the other night, weren't you?"

"Why are you changing the subject?"

May sighed. She felt defeated. "I'm not really changing the subject."

"Oh." There was an awkward silence between them.

"So does that mean...?" Drew trailed off.

May decided to be quick on her toes for once. She didn't need rejection on top of her other problems. She would take back what she had just implied. "What? No! That's not what I meant! Jeez! You're so quick to assume that every girl is in love with you."

"No I'm not! What the heck did you mean then!?"

"I just don't think she's a good match for you. That's all."

Drew's eyes seemed to be twin green flames. She couldn't tell if he was angry, irritated, confused, or some combination of the three. May felt like she, herself, was feeling pretty fed up with the way this conversation was going. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Drew's gaze immediately softened.

"Hey," he said, pulling her into him. "Don't cry."

"I can't... help it," May said shakily. Drew stroked her back comfortingly.

"I know. I don't like that we're fighting either. You've become like my best friend these past couple weeks. What's gotten into us?"

"It's me. It's not your fault, Drew."

"Shhhh. Don't go blaming yourself. We both said some things that we shouldn't have."

May sniffed a little bit and then pulled away. "Okay."

"Better?"

"A little bit." Not really.

"Okay then."

They were both silent after that. They both knew that there were unspoken words between them, but neither of them had the courage to say them.

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"Hey Misty!"

The red-head whipped around in surprise. Ash was running towards her. Oh no.

"Who's that?" Rudy asked. "How does he know you?"

"Misty, I've been stupid to be hiding these past few days. I've realized that I need to fight for the things I care about.

Misty said nothing. Oh god. Fight?

"What do you mean, you little punk?" Rudy asked. He turned his gaze to Misty. "What the hell is he talking about?"

"Rudy, Misty and I have been hanging out a lot these past couple of weeks, and I really really like her. We've been on a few dates, and I'd like to keep dating her because she's totally awesome."

Rudy laughed so hard that he had to hold a hand over his stomach and bend forward. "You went out with this guy, Mist? This is what you mean when you say you have standards?"

"Don't talk about him like that," Misty said. She was quiet after that though, trying to remain indifferent. She honestly didn't know what to do right now. Ash was here to prove how much he cared for her. Rudy already assumed she belonged to him. Who should she choose? She and Rudy had been together quite a while. He was familiar, yet unpredictable. And she undeniably still had some feelings stowed away for him that she could easily dig up out of her heart. On the other hand, Ash was new. He was exciting. He treated her very well. He was a bit dense, but polite. He was exciting. Most importantly, she knew she was falling for him. Yet she couldn't make a decision, even when the decision was obvious.

"I care about her more than you ever will," Ash said lowly. "And you just want to own her! You just want her to be your trophy girlfriend! Well I'm not going to let you control such an incredible person as her! I challenge you to a battle!"

"A battle? Fine. I'll wipe the floor with you, and then Mist and I can be on our merry way."

"Don't call me Mist," Misty said. Her stomach was churning. Two guys were about to battle. For her love. It was like some kind of Medieval duel between lords to see who would marry the princess. And neither she or the princess had a choice in the matter.

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"I can't believe Paul is seeing that who*re," Dawn muttered. She kicked a used pokeball that was lying on the sidewalk. Probably from a failed capture attempt. The girl was feeling pretty down. All of her friends were having problems, she was all alone on a beautiful day, and Paul seemed to be in worse shape than she thought if he was the type to engage in sex with strangers. Whenever Dawn felt down, there was one thing that usually made her feel better. Shopping.

She went into a store that sold juniors size clothing only. She bought three new outfits, complete with shoes and accessories, each one pink themed. By the end of her spree, she once again had a smile on her face. Four shopping bags in hand, she began to make her way back to the hotel.

Almost there! These bags sure are heavy!

Just then, a flash of lavender caught her eye. Paul! Dawn immediately went after him. She followed him down the road, completely unnoticed. He wasn't constantly checking behind himself this time. Eventually, he sat on a park bench. Dawn wasn't sure what to do. Should she join him? She decided to take a chance.

Cautiously, Dawn made her way over to Paul and sat beside him. His head was tipped back and his eyes were closed. Had he even noticed her? She tapped his shoulder, and he opened his eyes.

"Oh! Troublesome," he said. "It's just you. I was hoping it was Gary. I sure do love that guy."

What the hell, Dawn thought. "You're being sarcastic, right?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Didn't your mother ever teach you any better?" Dawn said.

"My mother... She made wonderful pies, but she's dead now."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Dawn said quietly. That explained why she hadn't seen a mother figure on Paul's social media. Something was off about Paul right now, but she didn't know what. His scowl didn't seem to be so engraved into his face.

"You know, Troublesome. When I kissed you before, that was nice. We should try it again sometime."

Okay, something was definitely up. This was not the normal Paul. This was some weirdo who looked like Paul, had Paul's voice, but wasn't Paul. She stood up and walked away. She had a feeling that she knew what was wrong, but she didn't want to believe it. She needed to talk to Drew.

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Chapter done! Please review and tell me what you think! You guys are so awesome for reading my story! I really love it when you guys try to predict what will happen next. It makes me so happy to see how engaged you are in the plot :)