A/N: Thank you for your support! Here's the next chapter, and we're caught up with my schedule again. And it's a pretty long one, so I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).
Days
The day the Wayland Tournament begins
May
Sunday, January 12th
"Thank you, you're now signed up for the Wayland Tournament," the young man behind the counter said, flashing her a bright smile and handing her the entrance pass.
May grinned back widely, barely hearing what more the man was saying, and then thanked him and practically skipped away. In one hand she clutched the entrance pass, and in the other she held one of her old Contest Ribbons, and more importantly, her very first Gym Badge. To make it even better, it was the Balance Badge from the Petalburg Gym, won fair and square from Max. It had taken her four tries and several days of intense training to beat her brother, but what mattered that in the end, she had done it!
May's step slowed as she thought back to her training with Max and her parents. She knew they worried about her situation, but they had been supportive. Though Max seemed to be only one to truly understand her drive to get back to her Pokémon career, and he had been a huge help in getting her Pokémon back to their old level.
She would be the first to admit that her Pokémon had been rusty, but she hadn't counted on how much of her own knowledge had faded. Most of the training had consisted of reconnecting with her Pokémon, and it had been painful to realize how much she had neglected them. It hadn't been possible to keep all the Pokémon in her apartment and so she often rotated them, and Venasaur had stayed at her parents'.
But that was going to change now. They had gotten back to training, they had won a Badge, and they were all ready to win this Tournament. Well, they did still have an Appeal to practice…
On and around the Tournament terrain – consisting of a stadium with an office and a Pokémon Center, and separate barracks for the participants to stay in – were battlefields, which were buzzing with activity. May walked around the terrain and was disappointed to note that all of the battlefields were filled. On several displays she could see how the fields were fully booked for today, and May frowned a bit.
Though, hadn't the man at the counter mentioned something like that? She hadn't been paying much attention in her enthusiasm, too happy to be just in time for the sign-ups. They had been open for several days already, and in a few hours the Wayland Tournament would be officially opened, so she had been lucky to be on time. She'd had to get her Gym Badge and then had to travel to Sinnoh, so it simply hadn't been possible to get here sooner.
May turned back in the direction of the stadium with the intention of reserving a field for herself for tomorrow. Then she saw a familiar head of blue hair, and when she turned, she recognized the person the hair belonged to.
"Dawn!"
Dawn turned away from the mock battle she was watching on one of the battlefields and a huge smile appeared on her face.
"May! What are doing here- Are you participating, too?!" Dawn didn't give her time to respond, instead embracing her wildly. Then she suddenly stepped back, her smile hesitant. "Wait, or are you, uh, are you here for Drew-?"
May shook her head quickly, before her lips turned up in a challenging smile. "I'm only here to beat him."
The smile blossomed back on Dawn's face. "You go, girl! That's the spirit!" She clapped her hands. "This is so exciting, it'll be so cool to face you again!"
Although the mention of Drew had been a cold splash, Dawn's enthusiasm did its job and May grinned back. "I'm so excited, too! It's been too long since I've properly battled!"
"Oh, you should join us!" Dawn said, gesturing to the battlefield behind her.
Only now May realized that the mock battle had stopped and that Dawn had not just been watching, but had been participating, even if she had not been standing on the opposite end of the field. May recognized Dawn's Piplup standing with an Ambipom, facing off against a Hariyama and a Froslass, who seemed to belong to a tall, somewhat familiar man standing on the other end of the field.
Dawn gestured for him to come over, and after a moment he did so. Yes, he definitely seemed familiar, with his purple hair and that frown. Although May couldn't remember if she had seen him on television or somewhere else…
"May, this is Paul," Dawn introduced them. He politely stuck out his hand and May shook it automatically as Dawn continued on, "Paul, this is May, one of my best friends."
A memory came to her and she exclaimed, "Oh, you were Dawn's date at Ash's wedding!"
Paul's politely neutral expression turned back to a frown and he ended the handshake abruptly. Dawn paled, before an embarrassed smile appeared on her face, though it didn't negate her wide eyes. "No, no, we only danced at the wedding, that was all!"
May was about to tease her a bit more – though she believed Dawn's words – but something in Dawn's manners stopped her. Instead she laughed apologetically, "Oh, sorry, my mistake!"
"No problem," Dawn quickly assured her, laughing a bit and relaxing even if her face was turning red.
Not wanting to make another faux pas, May asked, "So how did you two end up here then?"
"Oh, Paul and I met up during a few Contests, and when we found out we both wanted to participate in the Tournament, we decided to help each other," Dawn quickly explained. "Paul is a competitive battler, he won the Lily of the Valley Conference the last two years."
"Wow." She turned to Paul, whose frown had lessened a bit. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere!"
He nodded in acknowledgement of her words and May smiled a bit uncertainly. He didn't seem to have a very welcoming personality.
"You should join us with training," Dawn repeated.
"Well…" She should get back to the stadium to reserve herself a field for tomorrow.
"You should battle Dawn," Paul spoke up, surprisingly. "She needs the practice in competitive battling."
May shot Dawn a look, but the blue-haired woman didn't seem offended by his words. She only seemed excited. "Oh yes, that would be great! C'mon, May!"
Apparently taking her silence as agreement, Dawn grabbed her arm and pulled her to the battlefield. Dawn ran to the other end of the field, while Paul took the place of the referee after recalling his Pokémon.
"One on one battle?" Dawn called, and May nodded, determination setting in. Getting the Gym Badge had only been the first step; she would also have to win this Tournament, and beating Dawn now would be a promising start.
"Alright, Piplup, Ambipom, you've trained enough!" Dawn recalled the Long Tail Pokémon while Piplup ran back to her side. "Mamoswine, let's go!"
Dawn was giving her the advantage of knowing her opponent, and May felt for her Poké Balls in thought. Still, it already felt like defeat to pick Blaziken, who she worked best with and who had the type advantage. And this was training, so…
"Munchlax, let's go!"
The battle didn't last very long, nor was it over very quickly, but she and Munchlax still lost. Dawn was encouraging and Paul added some unsolicited criticisms which were harsh but unfortunately true, and then they moved on to the next battle: May versus Paul in a Contest style battle.
This battle lasted longer and it was more difficult to appoint a winner, but while Paul's Froslass managed to knock out Wartortle, Dawn admitted that May had had the best Contest moves and thus would have won if they had worked with a time limit and points.
After that, they practiced Appeals with randomly selected Pokémon. One would pick the Poké Balls the other would have to use to make up an Appeal on the spot. It was good practice, and because they didn't know what the Tournament rounds would consist of – except that the first selection round would be a Performance Stage – it was good to practice different kinds of things.
Paul's performance was far out the worst one, while for Dawn and herself it was a relatively easy job. They followed up with a competitive double battle, Dawn and her against Paul, but Paul's two Pokémon took out their four seemingly with ease.
That was depressing, but then again, he had won the Lily of the Valley Conference twice. May could only hope that she wouldn't have to face him in a full-on competitive battle during the Tournament.
"Alright, let's call it a day," Dawn said after she had recalled her fainted Buneary. "The opening ceremony starts in two hours and I still want to freshen up and have dinner before that."
"That's a good idea," May said, thinking of the possibility of taking a short nap. Her plane had arrived early this morning, and while she had slept during the flight, it had still been a long day.
"Are you staying here, Paul?" Dawn asked, and he shook his head.
"No, I'm going to eat with Reggie, and then we'll come together to the opening."
May knew she was not the most observant of persons, but she was pretty sure there was something in Dawn's look when she nodded. She was missing something, but-
The thought must have shown on her face, because Dawn supplied, "Paul lives in Veilstone City, Reggie is his brother."
Ah, that made sense.
"Is he participating, too?" May asked.
"No," was Paul's answer and that was all she got. "I will see you at the opening?" This was said to Dawn, who nodded with a bright smile.
"Sure!"
"It was good training with you," the strange guy offered to her, and May smiled hesitantly.
"Thanks, it was… nice training with you, too," she said, unsure.
He didn't seem to notice and instead nodded at them in goodbye, and then turned to leave the field.
"Let's get back to the barracks, I could use a shower," Dawn said. "I had only reserved the field until five, anyway, so we're not missing much."
"Oh, I still need to reserve a field for tomorrow!" May said, remembering her earlier plan.
"Hm, maybe you should do that first, I don't know when that counter closes…" Dawn said.
"Alright, I'll do that, and then I'll probably see you at the opening ceremony…?"
"Of course! And maybe we can train again tomorrow. I mean, Paul is good and all, but it's nice to battle against a Coordinator again," Dawn said with a smile.
"I'd like that," May said, feeling warmth bubbling in her stomach and smiling widely. It was good to be back.
They parted ways, Dawn going in the direction of the barracks, while May went towards the stadium. She saw several familiar faces as she walked, but there were many more unfamiliar ones. It made her realize how long she'd been away, and that made her more determined to get back into it. She smiled friendly at all of them and her cheeks were hurting by the time she found the counter again.
It was still open, and May was lucky; because she hadn't reserved a field before yet, she could get one tomorrow for four hours.
When she got back to the main mess hall to get her dinner, she didn't see Dawn anywhere and concluded that she was probably still showering. May was happily surprised when Robert Sean – the winner of the very first Grand Festival she had participated in – asked her to join him for dinner.
They had a pleasant talk about the challenges of the Tournament and about Robert's past adventures while May expertly avoided any talk about Drew. After dinner, she left him with the excuse that she still had to freshen up before the opening ceremony and with a promise to speak to him again soon.
She did indeed freshen up, but she also took a short nap in her assigned room. And of course that nap ended up too long, so she had to hurry back to the stadium to be in time for the opening ceremony.
May didn't have to the time to find Dawn, Robert or anyone else familiar, and so she just sat down in the first free seat she saw, between a middle-aged man and a girl who couldn't be much older than ten.
From the seats in the stadium she looked down at the field she would be battling on – hopefully many times. Now there was a stage set up in the middle of the field, which's close-up was shown on a big screen on the other side of the stadium.
She was just in time, because music started and then a surprisingly familiar blue-haired, blue-eyed woman stepped up the stage and took the microphone. May had to blink several times in confusion- was that Dawn's mother?
The woman introduced herself as Johanna Natochenny, and yup, that was definitely Dawn's mother.
In her surprise and confusion, May missed the first part of the speech, but refocused her attention when a picture of a young woman appeared on the big screen. She was smiling brightly, her pale face framed by purple curls.
"-friend, Rebecca Wayland," Dawn's mother's voice sounded through the stadium. "She was a competitive battler while I specialized in Coordinating. We had dreams to set up a competition where Coordinators and Trainers could challenge each other in a fair set-up. And so the idea for this tournament was born!" There was a short pause, and although it was difficult to see from a distance, it appeared as if Dawn's mother wiped her eyes. "Sadly, Rebecca is no longer with us to see this moment, but I am forever grateful to everyone who helped me set this up."
The screen switched back to a zoomed-in version of the stage, and Dawn's mother gestured to the other occupants of the stage. "Champion Cynthia and Mr. Contesta, this wouldn't have been possible without your help."
The blonde woman and the greying man nodded and smiled, and Dawn's mother continued, "Thanks to you we have the great prizes, namely an opportunity to challenge the Sinnoh Elite Four or a spot in the Sinnoh Grand Festival finale!"
An applause sounded and May enthusiastically clapped along.
"And now let me introduce our judges," Dawn's mother said. "They might be well known to the Coordinators, but we also have a special guest judge for this Tournament."
May leaned in curiously. A lot about the Tournament had been kept under wraps, including what kind of competitions there would be, and the jury had been a mystery as well.
"Please welcome Veilstone City's very own Nurse Joy, Mr. Contesta himself, Mr. Sukizo from the Pokémon fan club, and the Contest Master himself, Wallace!"
Under loud applause the three remaining jury members walked over the battlefield to the stage to join Mr. Contesta and they bowed and waved as they ascended.
When the noise died down, Dawn's mother said, "As you all know, the selection round for this Tournament will consist of a Performance Stage round, featuring Double Performances. The best 128 participants will proceed to the second round!"
Another cheer rose and May grinned wildly. She wasn't used to Double Performances as much as the Sinnoh-bred Coordinators, but she was determined to not let that show.
"I hope all of you will enjoy this Tournament, and that might bring Coordinators and Trainers closer together. Best of luck to all of you!" Dawn's mother grinned brightly while on the big screen a picture of her with her friend Rebecca appeared. "Hereby I declare this first edition of the Wayland Tournament open!"
Fireworks went off and May clapped along with the rest of the audience, grinning in excitement. This was going to be amazing!
She looked at the fireworks in the sky and then her eyes fell back on the screen, still with the picture of Dawn's mother and Rebecca Wayland. May's smile faltered a bit. Dawn hadn't said anything about that, but then again, it had been quite some time since they had talked face to face. Most of their contact these last months had consisted of short messages, she realized.
Well, another thing for her to change. Her eyes went back to the fireworks and she smiled fiercely. This was a new start.
When the fireworks show was done, everyone slowly filed out of the stadium and May moved with the crowd. Some were going back to the training fields, but May joined the group of people going back to the barracks. A yawn cracked open her face and she hid it behind her hand. Yup, this day had been long enough for her.
She shivered in the cold winter air, even though she knew Sinnoh-natives claimed it was not that cold at all. The throng of people was thinning as groups split up in the directions of their own barracks.
Someone moved from her line of sight and suddenly she was looking right at a very familiar face. Green eyes met hers, and the person she had managed to avoid thinking of the whole day was suddenly standing right in front of her, separated only by a few meters of empty space.
May stood as if frozen, her feet stuck to the ground. Distantly, May noted Drew's shocked expression and knew that her own face must have mirrored this.
Without thinking, and before either she or Drew could do something stupid, May broke eye contact and turned. She hurried back to the safety of the group of people moving to her own barrack, and even hours later, when she was safe in her bed in her own room, her heartrate still hadn't quite returned to normal.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Sorry for postponing the confrontation between May and Drew again, but I promise it's coming! And I hope you liked the start of the Tournament, there will be more to come!
Thank you!
Recommendation:
Harry Potter: There You'll Be by LilyIsAwesomerThanYou. FFN. A moving, funny, beautiful and heartbreaking one-shot. Harry wakes up in a bed that's not his own, and when he comes downstairs, he sees his father eating breakfast as if it's most normal thing in the world. Very recommended!
Recommendations are welcome!