well, here it is; chapter twenty-six of my Contestshipping fanfiction, 'A Tale of Two Rivals', my own personal spin on another blogger's fanfiction about their take on Drew's side of the story from within the Hoenn Region saga. I owe a lot of my writings in this very fanfiction to that of IWriteFandomStuff and their take on Drew's side of the Hoenn Saga in the 'Pokémon' anime in a fanfiction known as 'The Girl With the Red Bandana'. a small reason as to why I'm rewriting their fanfiction into my own is because it was not exactly too family-oriented for the anime by then. I just thought that they should have stayed with the show's age rating at the time and avoided the 'f' word all throughout their fanfiction. anyway, this chapter of my Contestshipping fanfiction is eight-thousand-nine-hundred-six words long, give or take a comment from yours truly disguised as an author's note and hidden in the premises of the chapter. a storyline that doesn't include this explanatory headnote or the (mandatory) disclaimer which makes up the paragraph following this one.

disclamation: I do not own the 'Pokémon' anime, nor do I own the games or the manga. the ownership rights of all three, I'm afraid, are reserved for Satoshi Tajiri and the folks of the Nintendo Gaming Co. I barely even own the storyline material for my own fanfiction, here. this storyline was actually written originally by another blogger on FanFiction who writes under the penname of IWriteFandomStuff and their fanfiction was titled 'The Girl With the Red Bandana'. this fanfiction of mine titled 'A Tale of Two Rivals' is one that I actually plan to make into a more family-oriented version of his/hers with nary a curse word in sight, specifically in the chapter based upon the group's time on Mirage Island. I don't know that I would actually title that chapter after the episode, itself, when I write it, though. I also don't know that I really should title it after that particular episode. I guess that I could always title it with the same title as that specific chapter in IWriteFandomStuff's 'The Girl With the Red Bandana'. but then, I'd be afraid of an accusation for plagiarism. oh well, I still have a long ways to go until that exact chapter, anyway.

After my long run, it felt very reassuring to enter the stillness of the Pokémon Center. As I panted hard from my long run, it felt even more reassuring when Nurse Joy's smile instantly told me that Roselia was going to be alright after a while in recovery.

I handed my pokémon off to Nurse Joy and took a second to breathe out. I had still been processing the thoughts I had conveniently repressed on my way to the Pokémon Center during my mad sprint.

Of course, one thing was absolutely certain about the events for tomorrow's Pokémon contest; I was not going to enter it. Of course, it was not like I had no other options for a pokémon during the Verdanturf Contest, but I just knew that I would not have wanted to leave my Roselia's side for when she had finally woken up; something of which Nurse Joy had told me would be a few hours at the earliest. My Roselia just meant far too much for me to just walk away from her and compete. She was after all my first ever pokémon and my best pokémon partner, and I had once vowed to always honor our friendship.

There was also the fact that I had felt too much emotion at the time. I could not remember the last time I had felt this much of… anything, really. Seriously, though, I could actually count on just one hand how many times I had actually managed to lose control of my emotions throughout the entirety of my life. I could not only count all of those times with just one hand, but it also never got any easier whenever my emotions went awry on me. It had always been an extremely foreign feeling, that I basically never knew what to do about it.

I was angry, so angry about what had happened to my Roselia at the time. Whoever this 'Phantom' guy was, he clearly got a surefire rise out of injuring others' pokémon and running away from what he had done thereafter. It completely sickened me to my core. I just could not even imagine that there were people in this world that were that demented. I guess that the 'Phantom', however, was undeniable proof that there were such people in this world.

Nurse Joy had told me that according to her calculations regarding my Roselia and the pain medicine Joy had administered, she had to stay in the Pokémon Center for at least seven hours… and that was just to rest off the pain medicine. Nurse Joy told me that I would be free to stay in the Pokémon Center or head out and that I was welcome to head back whenever I wanted to see how the process of the treatment on my pokémon was going.

Yours Truly: I hope you can help it, Nurse Joy.

Of course, I knew all too well that with the rage I had felt at the time that I was guaranteed to make mistakes and say things that I just knew I would regret later on. I needed someplace to vent my frustrations other than the Pokémon Center. Anywhere else would have done, just not at the Pokémon Center.

I swore at the time that I would be there for my Roselia when she finally woke up as I had also sworn that I would be back in the Pokémon Center before Roselia could wake up. Of course, I had even sworn that I would stay with Roselia the entire time she had to stay in the Pokémon Center until she was in much better condition than she was at the time. At that particular moment, however, I knew that I had just needed some time to sort my emotions out and just had to get out of there, as such.

Of course, however, the universe would just not let me win at the time, especially not when I had heard a voice. It was also a girl's voice, at that. It was not just any girl's voice, however, oh no, no, no. I immediately recognized it as her voice.

Girl's voice: Drew!

Oh, it was May, all right. Obviously, she also had her friends tagging along with her, as well. All four of them came up to me, clearly wanting to initiate a conversation between themselves and me. Unfortunately for the four of them, their will to talk to me, along with their very presence, had come after I had already sworn off even so much as a memory or any form of acknowledgement towards the very existence of other people at all even if it had only been for a few hours, give or take.

May: I knew you'd be here!

She sounded real happy and chipper at the time. She was the exact opposite of how I had felt by then.

I knew that I had always prided myself on being civil and a gentleman. I knew that I had teased and taunted May a lot in the short time since I had known her. I also knew that I had been a bit stuck up and arrogant every time I was in her presence, but I made sure to never, ever be rude to her. I also had no intention to start being rude to her, because that was just not at all who I was.

Although, with the kind of mood I was in, it was getting pretty hard not to simply not to tell all four of them off, along with everyone else I came across, and to just stick a sock in it. This time, I had to fight with all of my strength to keep myself and my temper in check. I could only manage to turn halfway in their direction as I had greeted them back, however. Although in truth, I could only find it within me to greet May, herself, back.

Yours Truly: Oh, hello, May.

I just could not even bother to greet any of May's three travelling companions at the time. There was only so much that I could do, and in all honesty, I never actually cared about the presence of the rest of them at any time. The other three of their group were all just there, and May was my only true competition amongst them all. As such, May was the only one amongst all four of them who's presence I had ever bothered to truly acknowledge. That was when Brock, the tallest amongst the four of them, spoke up.

Brock: I take it you'll be entering the big contest tomorrow?

He had also seemed a lot more upbeat than the last time I encountered them all.

Were every one of them just annoyingly chipper and disgustingly happy that day? Or was such a disposition generally the norm for their little group? Then again, it also always could have been just my opinion of their joyful personalities just because I was so down on my luck. I was not very sure of it at the time, though. Being reminded of the contest in which I was no longer going to so much as participate did nothing to help with my own soured disposition. I had had my sights set on winning the Verdanturf Pokémon Contest and now, I could not even enter it with my number one pokémon as injured as she was by then.

I turned my back towards all four of them before responding to Brock's question if only to redirect a glare that I just knew I would more than likely send their way.

Yours Truly: I was, but I'm not anymore.

I heard May gasp from behind me, and only counted the seconds until my reason for not even entering the Verdanturf Contest tomorrow finally dawned on them, especially since the answer was literally right in front of all four of them at the time. May seemed to catch onto my pokémon's condition faster than her friends had, but I was not as surprised with her as I would have been at the beginning of our encounters with one another. In spite of just how airheaded and hotheaded I found her to be in the beginning, May had certainly proved incredibly perceptive at certain times. She could also think on her feet for sure in pokémon contests; and it was not like I did not know that much about her.

May: What's wrong with Roselia?

Why was it not already obvious to May and her friends? I knew that I did not understand why she had needed further clarification, but I knew that more than likely, it was just the universe not willing to cut me any slack that day merely by making the day before the Verdanturf Town Pokémon Contest the worst possible day of my life… so far.

For one reason or another, I felt like I was being forced to recall the entire horror show that had been the start of my day that day. I did not want to explain the story of my crushing defeat against some crazed kid with a powerful Dusclops at his side. It would have only made me feel worse.

Roselia's condition made it very clear that she was hurt, and I did not want to go into the full details from beyond just that. I was completely unable to face any of the four of them. Even just turning myself to face May was impossible at the time.

Yours Truly: It got hurt battling.

My eyes were closed as I spoke of Roselia's condition. I suddenly needed to take a few or more deep breaths. I just really needed to calm myself down a bit. Then, May's idiot friend made a snide comment about the apparent truth.

Ash: You mean you lost?

There was no denying the bitterness behind Ash's tone, it was so obvious. He was still not over when I beat him back in Fallarbor Town for a practice battle with Roselia versus his Taillow, especially considering that his pokémon was at a clear type-advantage. Though, I suppose he thought that him and his Taillow's type-advantage alone was enough to overpower Roselia and I back in Fallarbor Town. It was a loss that ended pretty embarrassingly on his part.

And yet above it all, I think that the factor of that battle about what he was upset most of all was the part when I had made it completely clear that I only used him as an example for May to learn to work in synchronicity with her Beautifly for the Fallarbor Contest and did not care one bit about him. I suppose that his snide comment about my loss against the 'Phantom' and his Dusclops was Ash's way of getting his idea of revenge against me for being used back in Fallarbor Town.

Of course, I could have handled any day other than the day following the morning of the mock contest battle against the 'Phantom' that had turned into more of a massacre on my end. I just could not handle Ash's search for revenge that day.

I opened my eyes and gritted my teeth for a bit before completely ignoring Ash's snide comment. Then, I sent my response specifically to May.

Yours Truly: I don't think that Roselia will be well enough to battle tomorrow. I'll have to skip the contest this time.

That was when I heard May gasp for a second time in a row. I just had to look down after hearing her gasp. Whether or not she was disappointed about it, I knew I could not tell. At least, someone shared my sentiment about the Verdanturf Contest, though.

I was so riled up by Ash's snide comment, however, that I just knew with absolute certainty that I would need to get away from everyone in the center and fast, even May. There was just no point in talking to May, herself, about the contest tomorrow, or firing her up with how I would win, and she would be OK at best. It was a wasted opportunity, anyway. It was also a real crying shame.

Yours Truly: Here's a little advice for all of you. Watch out for a masked coordinator who goes by the name of 'Phantom'.

My warning came out slightly harsher than I had intended, which clearly meant that I was losing even more of my grip on myself and my temper.

With my last and rather ominous warning about the coordinator who beat up Roselia, I basically just stormed out of the Pokémon Center. Ironically, I had no real clue as to just where I had even wanted to go. I refused to head back to my hotel, because it meant encountering people; something of which I was really not in the mood for at the time. I also did not want to go back to where Roselia and I had battled against that 'Phantom' kid and his Dusclops, because the wounds of that battle were still all too fresh.

So, I just kept walking straight with my eyes down at the ground. I just knew that I needed to try something, anything, that would calm me down at a time such as that.

At the end of it all, training was what I wound up doing for the entire rest of my day. For the rest of the day that day, I chose to train some more with my other pokémon in order to keep myself distracted from not being able to enter the contest tomorrow. It had even worked out in the end. My drive during training sessions with my pokémon was just as strong and unshakable as it were during a contest. I had something to focus on instead of my defeat from the 'Phantom' that morning, at least.

Better yet, Masquerain was performing wonderfully with his Ice Beam, Bubble Attack, and above all his Silver Wind. He also looked a lot like he was looking stronger than he ever had been before. All three of said attacks had taken a total of several months to work to perfection. After hours of intensive, hard, back-breaking work, all three attacks were finally coming into their own for both Masquerain's and my teamwork.

Ice Beam finally began to have a more accurate aim than it had before. Masquerain also looked as though he had gained some solid control over his Bubble Attack even without the aid of Psychic, effectively steering the bubbles in all directions, patterns, shapes, the works. All of it sure was an impressive feat, and his Silver Wind was looking even more beautifully adequate than usual.

Bubble attack and Ice Beam were proving to be an interesting combination, however, that I just knew I would have needed to consider for the next contest I was sure to compete in. It was sure to score us some serious points in our routine if I were to partner up with him for any contest at all.

At one point or another that day, I had actually considered entering the Verdanturf Contest with Masquerain to fill in for Roselia. Masquerain was clearly ready to perform in a contest at my side. With him battling beside me in Roselia's place, I just knew that I had a chance to so much as win the contest, even against that twisted 'Phantom' kid.

That thought died quickly from my head, though. I just could not and would not enter a pokémon contest, not with even just one of my pokémon in such bad condition that they needed to stay at the Pokémon Center, never mind my first ever pokémon, my cherished and treasured Roselia.

No ribbon in any contest was worth the price of the love I had always felt for my entire pokémon team, and I knew for sure that Roselia would more than likely need me to be there for her when she woke up while in recovery at the Pokémon Center. So rather than entering the contest at all, I had resolved to continue training with Masquerain and decided to simply enter the next pokémon contest I came across and debut him there.

Needless to say, that it was not until the sun had gone down that I actually realized just how much time had passed by between when I first left the Pokémon Center and when I was even close to finish training with Masquerain.

Yours Truly: Do I dare look up the time on my PokéNav?

I reached into my pocket a little hesitantly and got out my PokéNav. Granted I was a bit unprepared for the time listed on it, but I was too busy worrying about Roselia to worry about the time. I had to make it back to the Pokémon Center post haste. The thought of not being there when Roselia was awake at last left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth, needless to say. I swallowed it down, however, because she needed me there for her when she woke up, anyway.

Besides after all of my training with Masquerain to work on his contest debut, I finally managed to come to terms with what had happened to Roselia during our battle against the 'Phantom' and his Dusclops. I also decided to just leave it at that, too. It was in the past, anyway. I also had plenty of time to make up for the obvious loss of the Verdanturf contest and focus on getting my final two ribbons. All I knew for sure at the time was that I refused to hold a grudge, of all forms of retaliation against that 'Phantom' kid. I had always found grudges to be such a stupid and useless waste of time and energy, especially since it would only hurt me and not the 'Phantom', anyway. Of course, it did not make me any less angry with the 'Phantom' about injuring Roselia in the first place, but there was just nothing I could do about it at the time.

It was quite a long walk back to the Pokémon Center; I had failed to realize even just how far away from it I had travelled on my journey throughout Verdanturf to cool myself down for when Roselia woke up. If it proved anything, it proved just how mad I had been. It had also managed to prove just how relieved I was finally going back to the Pokémon Center to check on Roselia's treatment from Nurse Joy. If there was one thing I was known for aside from my skills in pokémon coordinating, it surely was my composure.

The doors to the Pokémon Center slid open easily. I found myself in an empty lobby once I entered. Nurse Joy looked up at me and smiled sweetly upon my entry in her Pokémon Center.

Nurse Joy: Mr. Hayden!

I just waved her greeting off as I approached the front desk.

Yours Truly: Please, just Drew, Nurse Joy.

She only nodded at me before letting me know just how my Roselia was doing at the time.

Nurse Joy: Well, Drew, your Roselia's feeling a lot better, and she's in Room 9A if you wanna see her. I expect she'll be back to full health and well again in two days.

Two days? Roselia was injured enough to need a full two days of recovery from all the attacks by the 'Phantom's Dusclops? Of course, I knew that she was badly hurt during that battle, but two days needed to recover from it? That may have been fine for anyone else's pokémon to need a full two-day-recovery in the Pokémon Center, but I had always believed in Roselia to have been a lot stronger than that. I guess that there was only so much that even she could take in battle, after all.

Needless to say, Roselia's injuries almost immediately served as a chilling reminder for me that trainers, coordinators and even pokémon like the both of us always were had their limits. She and I both had our limits in a battle of any kind, as well. Of course, Soledad had known that about the both of us better than any opponent we had ever faced before we met her, and I could only assume that Robert, himself, knew it about the both of us, too.

So, I just flashed Nurse Joy and her Chansey a small smile before turning to walk down the hall as I looked for Room 9A, the room in which my Roselia was resting by then. Upon making it to the door of Room 9A, however, I was not as ready to face Roselia as I had hoped to be back in the lobby. Nurse Joy's reassured me that Roselia was doing just fine, that she would be back to fighting fit condition in just two days and that I had nothing to worry about.

There was a small part of me, however, that felt pretty lousy for having gone and left Roselia just because I could not handle my emotions. Who, in their right mind, would leave their own pokémon all alone just for being angry about anything, even if it were at the Pokémon Center? When I had done what I did, I knew it had just not been right. I also needed to make it up to my Roselia before she could begin resenting me for it, especially considering that she had always been there for me through thick and thin. Just the same, I never wanted to let her down, never again. I just could not get it to leave my head.

I just could not get the feeling that I had let Roselia down during our battle against the 'Phantom' and his Dusclops to leave my head. I had made bad calls for Roselia during the battle we were in just because I had felt insulted by the 'Phantom's comments about me. I left just her almost immediately after taking her to the Pokémon Center just because some kid I barely knew had the nerve to insult my pride in front of a 'rookie' coordinator I had been working to show up ever since she first became a part of my life.

It was just one bad set of circumstances after another that day. To think that Roselia needing care at the Pokémon Center could have easily been avoided if I had just ignored the comments from that 'Phantom' kid like I had originally planned to do and just gone about the rest of my day training with Roselia, working on her attacks for the contest. I should never have let my personal feelings come before her health, and I knew that I needed to apologize to my Roselia for letting it happen. I knew first and foremost that I just needed to man-up and apologize to my poor Roselia for everything that had happened to her that day.

The door to Room 9A clicked as I shut it from behind me, and I moved through the tiny Pokémon Center room to a chair just next to where my first ever pokémon partner just lay quietly in her bed. It was a pretty simple room which did not hold many amenities other than the basic essentials aside from a television screen on the wall bordering the ceiling and a remote for said television connected to Roselia's Pokémon Center bed. Other than those two entertainment amenities, the only things present within Room 9A were basic essentials such as, of course, a bed and nightstand with a lamp next to it.

At the very least, Roselia looked incredibly better since when last I had seen her by the time I managed to finally make it back to her at the Pokémon Center, especially when I saw that all of her scratches had been taken care of. All of her bruises had almost faded from her skin, as well. Whatever Nurse Joy had treated my Roselia with, I knew that I definitely needed to at least consider to begin travelling with.

Whether it was seeing my Roselia so peaceful and relaxed or the fact that she looked as though whatever treatment Nurse Joy had given to her during her time in the woman's intensive care had done its job by then, I did not know. I suddenly began to feel a weight lift off of my shoulders upon seeing Roselia feel a lot better than she had when I left her there to be treated, though. I slumped slightly forward in my chair next to my pokémon's bed and just felt the chair slide across the floor by a few or more inches.

That was when Roselia's eyes suddenly shot wide open. Obviously, she had been startled by the sudden noise of my chair sliding across the floor of her room even by the exceedingly short distance of a mere few inches, give or take several millimeters. She looked around like she was confused.

I guess that Roselia was not so asleep at the time, after all. I knew that I still had to be soft with her, though.

Yours Truly: Hey, Roselia.

Roselia's eyes connected to mine in a matter of milliseconds after I had greeted her. I smiled warmly at her thereafter as she looked as though she were just recalling the events of that day, along with processing exactly where the both of us were at the time. After a long moment of pure silence from her, she exhaled and relaxed back into her pillow.

Yours Truly (continued): How are you feeling, Roselia?

My Roselia stretched her rosebuds of arms a bit before smiling back at me. I understood just what she was telling me.

There were a few minutes of silence when Roselia closed her eyes and just lay still in her Pokémon Center bed. Then, I clasped my hands together and rested them on the bed as I merely looked all around my pokémon's room. I suddenly found the room in which Roselia was resting and I was sitting beside her incredibly interesting for one reason or another. I did not really know if it was the plain whiteness of it, but I was totally drawn to it.

I was good at a lot of things. In fact, Drew Hayden was good at almost everything. The list of things at which I was no good was very incredibly small. As a matter of fact, it was small enough to count on both hands, perhaps. The list probably could not be any smaller than it already was.

The only true issue I had with it this time was just what was at the very top of that list, and that was nothing short of apologizing when it was required of me.

That's right. I had gone my whole life thus far without actually needing to apologize to anybody for any of my mistakes even once. As such, I had little to no experience in that area, and it certainly made for a few or more awkward moments on my part.

That was only because I had never made any major mistakes that could have been unforgivable, however, had I not thrown the occasional and casual 'Oh, sorry' responses over my shoulder at a recipient who would have been perfectly fine with my small-time apology. I had even just bumped into those people or just forgotten their name or anything that was along those lines, and I still got off pretty scoff-free during such times, anyway. Those times were never anything to get bent out of shape over, because they did not do much to cost me my credibility as even a human being, never mind a great coordinator.

This instance, however, had not been anything like those other times at all. Roselia was my first pokémon and the first friend I ever made in my life. I just could not believe that I had failed her in ways I swore I never would when we first started out on our pokémon coordinating journey together. Now, here she was held up in the Pokémon Center, lying in a hospital bed. She might have been shrugging that battle against the 'Phantom' off as though it were no big deal, but I already knew perfectly well that our battle against the 'Phantom' and his Dusclops was most certainly a big deal.

As a matter of fact, the battle Roselia and I fought against the 'Phantom' and his Dusclops was probably even the biggest deal ever for the both of us. She had always given me her absolute best effort in all of our contests, and I swore from day one that I would do the same for her in return. So, I cleared my throat before finally speaking up to her.

Yours Truly (continued): Hey, Roselia, listen.

My pokémon opened her eyes and looked at me. From what I could see in the edge of my right eye, Roselia had curiosity etched all over her face. I was slightly hesitant to speak to her after all, and for as long as we had known one another, I had never been as hesitant as I was to talk to her. I did not even look at her, and I always, always looked at Roselia whenever I spoke to her. I did not this time, however, because I was nervous. It probably felt a bit odd to her.

Yours Truly (continued): I'm just so_ about today_ I really am_

I could only purse my lips together at Roselia as I stopped. I tried to think of the words she deserved to hear from me, I did, but they were just not coming out right away. I also just kept pausing whenever I got to the word 'sorry' in my so-called apologies to her.

It had nearly startled me when my Roselia's blue rosebud of a left hand came to rest atop my knotted hands. That was when my eyes had met hers, at last. I could see her prodding for me to say what I needed to say. With such encouragement from my number one pokémon partner, I finally got the words out for my apology to her.

Yours Truly (continued): I am so, so sorry, Roselia, about the battle with the Phantom and his Dusclops earlier. I… it's just that… I was just so angry with him and let the guy's insults get to me and rule my judgement in battle, and I made such bad calls in that battle. The worst part of it all was that you got hurt because of it. You being stuck in the Pokémon Center bed and in this condition is all my fault. I'm so sorry that I let this happen to you, really, truly, sincerely sorry, Roselia. I know that I should've been the better coordinator and the bigger man today. I know that I should've just walked away from the battle. I-I promise you, Roselia, that it'll never happen again, because I won't let it. Our partnership, heck even our friendship, mean far too much for me to be coaxed into letting someone else have complete control over my decisions in battle. I know very well that those are all decisions that you and I should've decided on together as a team. You mean too much to me for me to let a few comments from others get to me like a child would. I am just so sorry, and I just hope that you can forgive me.

Roselia then tilted her head and looked at me without so much as blinking. The face she had given to me was slightly unreadable. The sadness in my own eyes, however, was a sadness that I could easily guess she had not seen in quite a while. It was a similar kind of sadness to the one which I had felt in our first ever contest together, when I lost to Soledad. It was that of the most profound disappointment in myself, in me and me alone. There was none a single soul I was as disappointed in as myself at the time.

I had managed to forget that my Roselia and I were a team and needed to work together as one. We were partners and had been partners since the beginning of our lives together. We would also be partners in the very end. It was a two-way street, after all, which meant that when one of us messed up, the other was bound to mess up as well. It was never a single side's fault, and she had done things wrong before the battle with The Phantom and his Dusclops. Roselia had botched up combinations and failed at pulling appeals together up to the standards which we had set for ourselves. I know I had never once held that against her, but I knew that I would definitely be surprised if she had returned the favor and not held the battle against the Phantom and his Dusclops against me.

Roselia placed her blue rose bud of a left hand onto my own human hands. I looked at her. The look in her eyes said so much. In fact, the look in her eyes said everything. It asked me what I was apologizing to her for. It then told me that I had every right to feel emotion, be it good or bad. It also told me that I had no need to be sorry for being overwhelmed by my own emotions. Roselia and I had known one another ever since we first met, and I first brought her home with me after such a long day. Her eyes even said that she had come to know me as the kind of person who was absolutely closed off about everything I had ever felt just because I had always felt as though feelings made me weaker than normal. She was right about that much about me. I had always had a way with believing that the only way I ever could win was to be overconfident about everything and be over emotive about nothing.

Of course, it did not take the knowledge of my own pokémon or a genius to see that there had been a few cracks forming in the walls I had built around myself ever since I had left to pursue the path of a pokémon coordinator, and my parents had not done one thing to support me all my life. If I knew my Roselia and even myself, I knew that my apology was undeniable proof of it. I could see another look on her face that told me she was actually glad to see that I was at least beginning to open up, even if just slightly. She was telling me that I had no need to feel bad about it, about any of it. She seemed to firmly believe that she never even wanted me to feel bad about just being myself or just about being a normal human.

Roselia handed me a rose that she had taken from her right hand. She always had a talent for that sort of thing. She even held a reassuring smile on her face, knowing that I would have easily gotten the message. I looked at her surprisedly. Then, I inspected her rose a few times over. I must have been acting as though I had never even seen a rose before to her. Honestly speaking, however, the only thing I was really trying to do with the rose she had given to me was decode the message she was trying to send me.

We had always had an incredible bond with one another. From the very beginning of our lives together when we had met in that particular park from within LaRousse City to just a few hours prior to our time at the Pokémon Center in which we both suffered defeat before we could even enter the Verdanturf Contest, Roselia and I had always been together through thick and thin.

I found my Roselia in the park, took her home to take care of her until the day that we would set out on our journey of travelling and competing in contests. We always shared an understanding on a far different level than most other coordinators and their pokémon. As a matter of fact, very few trainers and coordinators shared our level of understanding with their own pokémon.

My partner, Roselia, and I seemed to be a natural fit for one another from the very start of our coordinating journey together. I never even needed to speak Roselia's own language to know what she was saying.

If we trained and my Roselia wanted me to push her harder, I got to it right away. If she was hungry and wanted something to eat, I would always give her something to make her happy. If I was ever less than satisfied with the way an appeal went during our practice, Roselia worked twice as hard as normal just to give me the show she knew without a doubt I had wanted to see from her. If I was confused about what I wanted to do with a new combination or two, she would work endlessly and tirelessly until we finally came up with something great for the both of us to use in any sort of combination.

From the very beginning of our time together, Roselia and I had had the utmost, unbreakable and incredibly unshakable faith, confidence and love in one another. It was the exact type of bond meant to be shared between a coordinator and his/her starter pokémon.

I know I was there in the pokémon center with her now trying to ask her to forgive me, but the look in my Roselia's eyes told me that there was absolutely, positively nothing that she needed to forgive from me. I could clearly read the expression from within her eyes. I then smiled my biggest and happiest grin ever in my life. I nodded to my pokémon. Finally, I took her rose and let it rest from upon my lap.

Yours Truly (continued): Thanks, Roselia. You really are the best.

Roselia only shrugged my compliment to her off, however, as though she were telling me that she already knew she was my best pokémon partner.

Then, we both relaxed for a while as the intensity of the room from within the Verdanturf Town Pokémon Center in which the two of us were by then had all but leaked out into the hallway. The only remaining noise was the ticking clock on the wall that hung from just above the door. I checked on the time as it told me that it was almost close to eleven-thirty p.m., and I had grabbed onto the television remote from off of the nightstand just to the left of my Roselia's pokémon center bed.

I flipped through the channels the same way my father had used to whenever he was bored out of his skull. I stopped flipping through the channels just in time to find a local news station. I chose to wait for a certain type of local broadcast to come on. I might have travelled a ton with my chosen path as a pokémon coordinator, but I did make a practice of keeping up with current events as such. Roselia and I suddenly settled into comfortable enough positions to watch the news from the television as we waited for the news of the Verdanturf Town Pokémon Contest to come on.

The television anchors appeared on screen and went over quite a lot during their report of the news before they could get to that of the pokémon contest. It was just a few quick briefings from the head news anchor. It started with a robbery at the local PokéMart. Then, it went into the town council there in Verdanturf making a few improvements in their budget planning. Then came a bit of sports news. Then, there was a report or two of wild Zigzagoons tearing themselves up through the trashcans in neighborhoods from all over town. There was even a thing or two about the local weather for the following few days. It was all just simple, mundane stuff.

I was even just about ready to switch the television off when the head news anchor finally announced the last story for the night. It was the news story I had been waiting for that whole time. It was the news story that was all about the pokémon contest the following day, the very same pokémon contest in which I regret that I was not even going to participate at all, never mind win the first prize of the coveted Verdanturf ribbon.

Head news anchor: Now, we'll finally go to our Contest Correspondent, Ruby Sapphire, for our report about tomorrow's pokémon contest here in Verdanturf Town. Ruby?

The newscast on the television screen then switched over to a live feed of a woman standing just outside of the contest hall as she smiled at the camera in front of her and held a microphone to her lips as she spoke to said video camera.

Contest news correspondent, Ruby Sapphire: Thank you, Lars. I'm coming to you live from the pokémon contest hall here in our very own Verdanturf Town. As you can see, we have quite a crowd turn out for the pokémon contest this year. I certainly believe with every fiber of my being that tomorrow's contest is gonna be an excellent one worth remembering for quite some time. The contest officials and the judges were expecting an incredible turn out for this contest, but I have to admit that I doubt even they thought the turn out would be quite this tremendous. They are also expecting some dazzling entrants for the contest to be one worth viewing straight from the comfort of even our own homes. We've already spoken to quite a few of the competitors for tomorrow's contest earlier who had been training their pokémon for said contest outside in front of our very own Verdanturf Hall, and here's what they had to say…

Then, the pokémon contest news correspondent, this Ruby, played some of her interviews with the participants in the contest from the following day. It was not as though any of them mattered to me at all, since I was going to be skipping out on the Verdanturf Contest anyway. I paid every one of the interviews done by Ruby very little mind because of it. They all just trained and showed off some of their pokémon's moves to Ruby as she interviewed them all. There was a particularly interesting and highly impressive-looking Charizard that managed to catch my eye, and a decently strong-looking Stantler that looked full of potential. At the end of it all, however, both of those pokémon's coordinators looked very much like they had neither the skill nor the knowledge to carry their pokémon partners past the preliminaries in the contest.

All in all, the pokémon all looked powerful enough, but in the end, their performances in the preliminaries were all too dependent on how well their coordinators would do with their commands during the appeals stage that the preliminary round was in the first place. I had even tried to picture all of the countless coordinators that were not even there who would be entering the contest, themselves.

That was when I suddenly spotted the unmistakable color of red.

As I watched May from the television broadcast on the screen, she was not really doing much while in front of the camera. She just walked along with her friends trailing from behind her. I could tell that she was probably looking for a good spot to practice. I noticed that she held a Skitty in her hands. I did not even know that she even had a Skitty at all. I had even wondered if this Skitty of hers was the pokémon she was planning to use in the Verdanturf contest.

I had to admit that a Skitty would not have been my first choice for entry into the contest if it were me, but such a pokémon actually managed to make sense for her to use in a contest to me. I knew that she was still pretty new to the contest circuit from within the Hoenn Region and even to contests in general, but I suppose that even a newcomer such as the girl in the red bandana would have already known enough about contests to know not to use a singular pokémon to carry her through a whole contest circuit in any region. I did have my own plans to switch out Roselia after the Verdanturf contest anyway. I could only assume that May, herself, knew that no matter how beautiful and talented or even just impressive her Beautifly was in general, she could not risk overusing it and it alone for the sake of all her entries in the pokémon contests throughout the Hoenn Region circuit, or any other region in which contests and grand festivals were practiced.

Then, I began wondering just what kind of attacks her Skitty could have known in the first place. Since a Skitty was not exactly my choice for an ideal pokémon for entry in contests, I had never even once known a lot about Skittys to begin with. I had encountered several Skittys on my journeys just before coming to Verdanturf Town. I had seen a few or more Skittys in contests at least once, and I had clearly remembered encountering a wild Skitty or two along my journeys. Other than that, however, I had no other knowledge about them.

From such experiences alone, I had only gathered that Skittys were capable of knowing such attacks as Doubleslap and Assist attacks. While the former of those two attacks could not get its coordinator through to the appeal round by enough points to matter, the latter of which was far too risky and unpredictable for contests appeals and battles.

I still refused to count out that little kitten pokémon just yet, though, because if the girl in the red bandana could learn to use her little Skitty correctly, I just knew she could easily win some serious points with that adorable little thing in pokémon contests from all over the world thanks to its overwhelming cuteness level alone, and I bet that May even knew that about her pokémon partner for the Verdanturf Contest, just as I knew it, myself.

The girl in the red bandana then walked out of the television frame as the young coordinator being interviewed finished his response with an awkward smile gracing his lips.

Contest coordinator being interviewed by Contest news correspondent, Ruby Sapphire: I'm just hoping that I'll win tomorrow. There sure are a ton of powerful pokémon I'm seeing out here for the contest today and a lot of pressure at that.

Granted, I was barely paying attention or even any mind whatsoever to the current coordinator for the present interview at the time. I was, instead, far too focused on thinking entirely about May and her Skitty. I wondered about her and her pokémon partner to myself constantly.

My brain: What attacks does that little Skitty even know? How'll the girl in the red bandana use that little creature during the contest? And most importantly of all, can May win the Verdanturf contest with this new pokémon of hers?

With all of those thoughts consistently swimming around within my head at the time, I was suddenly one-hundred times even more depressed than I was before, or ever for that matter, about missing any a chance to compete in the Verdanturf contest thanks to my pride as a pokémon coordinator leading me and my poor Roselia to blindly underestimate the Phantom and his clearly formidable Dusclops. Admittingly, I had nothing to worry about earlier that day than whether or not Roselia was even going to pull through, never mind be anywhere near as in good shape as she was during that time in her hospital bed from within the Pokémon Center. But by the late-night hours of that exact same day, the crushing weight of my realization that she still would not be in any condition to compete in the Verdanturf Pokémon Contest tomorrow had come to strike me across the throat at last during the time in which Roselia and I watched all of those interviews with the competing coordinators and their pokémon on the television screen. It would not have been fair or right for me to leave my poor pokémon partner, Roselia, just for the sake of competing in the contest then or there.

Contest news correspondent, Ruby Sapphire: As you can see, we're in for a real showcase of a contest tomorrow, and don't you forget that we have the contest here at Verdanturf Hall tomorrow at one p.m. sharp! And a small reminder for those who can't come tomorrow and all of our viewers at home, we'll be broadcasting the contest live for those who can't make it even to Verdanturf Town, itself. Live from Verdanturf Town's Pokémon Contest Hall, I'm your Pokémon Contest News Correspondent, Ruby Sapphire, with the Channel Nine News! Back to you, Lars!

Lars Hardwell: Thank you, Ruby! With all that excitement, I can't help but feel that we are in for-

Just as the head news anchor, this Lars, was just starting to get a word in edgewise, I decided that I was at last done with the news on the television from within the Verdanturf Town Pokémon Center. With everything that went down for me and Roselia that day, that was that. I just could not go to the pokémon contest tomorrow, not even as a spectator in the audience. I supposed right then and there that I would at least get to watch the contest from the live feed the following day instead of relying solely on all of those shaky online videos of the contest feed from my PokéNav.

Several minutes after I turned the television off for the night, I placed the remote back onto the nightstand. Then, I looked back at my Roselia, who was still in her Pokémon Center bed. She looked at me in quite an odd manner for one reason or another. It was as though she did not understand why I had looked as downhearted as I was. I, of course, only shrugged it off for her sake and just told her that it was nothing.

Yours Truly: Now, come on, Roselia. It's getting to be pretty late. I think we could both do with some sleep, huh?

Roselia gave me a nod of affirmation as I reached over to switch off the bedside lamp in the room with the both of us.

Yours Truly (continued): Nurse Joy told me that we'll be outta here by the day after tomorrow. She said that you'll be one hundred percent once again and back to yourself by then, but then she said that she wanted you to stay an extra night just to make sure that you really are all better in two days. So, I guess that we really will have to miss the Verdanturf Contest like I thought we'd have to, but don't worry about that. We'll just make up for it at the next pokémon contest.

After what I had told my number one pokémon partner, Roselia, about her stay in the Pokémon Center, I shifted around in my chair a few times or so as I just tried my hardest to get even a little comfortable. Then, I finally lay my head down onto the side of Roselia's Pokémon Center bed. Yes, I did happen to know that the position in which I was at the time stunk out loud and, of course, I knew that I was, without a shadow of a doubt, going to be seriously sore beyond any form of comprehension the following day, but I was not, I repeat, not willing to leave my poor Roselia all alone in the Pokémon Center once again. Granted, I knew that the Pokémon Center was perhaps the safest type of place for any and all pokémon in need of recovery. I just did not want to leave my number one pokémon partner alone as I had done before. I knew that I had done it to clear my head, but I found it inexcusable, nonetheless.

Who the hey cared if I needed some personal space away from the public eye just because some guy was not over having lost to me from a battle in the town of my previous pokémon contest? What right did I have to leave my number one pokémon partner behind without so much as a promise to come back just to make sure she would be alright in the Pokémon Center? And most of all, where exactly did I even get off at all by letting some other guy from within the present town coax me and my number one pokémon partner into a battle did not only turn out to be less of a pokémon battle and more of a massacre, but also did a complete and total one-eighty from the way I had predicted it to go?

I had to say, all in all, that I had not exactly felt the exhaustion of that particular day catch up to me before then. It had finally managed to creep up on me. A long story made into a short(er) one, that day had finally caught up with me by the time I had actually watched the news story about the pokémon contest in Verdanturf Town, and it was not all that long before I was basically snoring super softly on my Roselia's Pokémon Center bed right next to her. I could feel the rose she had given me as a consolation prize for the way that my day had gone continue resting itself upon my lap.