A/N: That's quite fast, isn't it? Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

To Mary: Thank you! I'm happy to be back, too :) And hopefully this chapter did not take too long!

And it seems that I forgot to put the disclaimer up last chapter. So, let's clear that up for the rest of this story: I don't own Pokémon. The picture I used as cover is not mine, either, though I did edit it.

Now, that's out of the way: enjoy!

Days

The day with a Beautifly dress

May

Wednesday, February 5th

"And a beautifully performed Water Pulse and Razor Wind combination, will Buneary be able to evade this- No, she's hit, that was a hard one for Dawn-"

The commentator's voice sounded through the small screen of her Pokétch as the camera zoomed in on a spinning Buneary and a wide-eyed Dawn. May sat on the edge of her standard issue Pokémon Center bed, leaning forward and clasping her hands together. Beautifly rested on her shoulder, watching with her.

The camera panned over to Dawn's opponent, a sharp-eyed, focused Drew. He pointed a finger to instruct Absol further, and May clenched her hands together harder. In the corner of the screen, the bars with the points were shown: Dawn's was lower than Drew's, and time was running out.

"Come on, Buneary, use your dizziness for a spin and a Dizzy Punch!" Dawn commanded.

The brown Pokémon tried to do so, but Absol was too fast, too healthy still for the confused Buneary to land a hit, and-

"Time is up!" the commentator announced. "Drew Hayden and Absol are the winners of the Semi-Finals of the Wayland Tournament and they continue on to the Finals! Congratulations!"

May's hands fell limply to her sides and with a blank expression she watched as Dawn had to shake Drew's hand and he was hailed as the winner of the battle. She let herself fall back on the bed with a sigh as Beautifly flew into the air and let out a worrying coo.

May stared at the ceiling of the Pokémon Center room she was staying in, Mauville City's today. Drew had won the Semi-Finals. She was so used to rooting for him that she almost felt happy, and she let out a humorless laugh at that. Arceus!

With a snarl of frustration May sat right back up and turned off her Pokétch, still showing the audience clapping for Drew.

They had broken up. They were over. He had made his decision and she had made hers. He had- May breathed in deeply, trying to calm herself. Her face felt flushed.

"Beauti!" her Pokémon nudged her, concerned.

"Sorry, Beautifly, I just can't believe-" May breathed in deeply. "I should call Dawn. She's probably feeling terrible right now. She said she would defeat Drew, she said she wanted to do it for me, she would defeat- and now she has lost, she must feel terrible-"

Her hand took the Pokétch back from the table and she was in the process of looking up Dawn's contact when she realized that Dawn would still be in the Stadium, perhaps still in the field. With a small sigh, May instead typed a quick message to thank Dawn for the great battle, that she had done amazingly and that she should be proud of how far she had come.

Farther than she had. May grimaced. She pressed send and stared at the device a bit longer, wondering what more she could say. When she herself had lost, Dawn had been there for her.

"Fli-fli," Beautifly nudged her again, and blinking back in the here and now, May petted her.

"I will call Dawn later," May told her Pokémon. "She's probably still in the Stadium right now, after all. And she's not alone. She has her Pokémon and Paul is there as well… Well, and no matter what she says, I know something is going on there!"

Her light tone was slightly forced, but Beautifly chirped happily and landed on her head. May's smile turned genuine and she gently petted the bug type. "And let's hope Paul will be able to beat Drew in the Final tomorrow…"

"Fly…"

After sitting on the bed for a moment longer, lost in her thoughts, May got up. "Anyway, we should get ready, don't you think?"

"Beautifly!" the Pokémon reacted enthusiastically and flew away from her head to land on the table. "Fly, fly!"

"Yes, I'm feeling ready for it," May said, the confident smile coming surprisingly easy to her face.

After all, her last two Contests in the last two days had been wins for her. Her smile grew. It was unbelievable, but so very welcome. Just three more to go in the same number of days… It was madness, some would say, but May saw it as a challenge, a challenge she would face head-on.

May started to change from her casual clothes into her Contest outfit: a Beautifly-themed dress, that had been gifted to her by one of her sponsors.

She smoothed out the fabric and smiled again. The sponsors had already loved her comeback in the Contest scene when she had entered the Wayland Tournament, but after her loss to Drew… Well, apparently drama attracted more sponsors, because even in her heydays she'd never had this many.

Thus, she did not need to worry about Contest clothes, paying for the quick rides from one city to another or having to stay in the shared lodges of the Pokémon Centers, instead having her own private room.

Rustboro City had been the first win, Fallarbor Town the second, today would be Mauville, and Purika and Lilycove would the next two. And then, the Hoenn Grand Festival!

"And then we're going to beat Drew!" May said heatedly to Beautifly, balling her fist and grinning.

"Beauuutifly!" her Pokémon agreed.

No, she would not lose again. And definitely not like she had lost just four days ago. Glaceon had gone down, her points had gone down, and the time had run out so fast- and then she had lost to Drew.

May pressed her lips together. She hadn't meant to get so upset and to announce their break-up so openly to the world. She really hadn't. But Glaceon had been lying there, and Drew standing like that…

At least her pregnancy was not out in the open yet. Of course, if she were evil, she could sell the story to some tabloid; they were already painting her as the heartbroken girl, and this would only add more fuel to the fire. May got a sour taste in her mouth thinking about it. They would only use it for entertainment value, and not see it as the very real problem they had.

No, she had never wanted to reveal their break-up like that – in fact, she had just hoped that she could pretend she would never have to reveal it to the press – and she would never use her pregnancy as a way to get more money and to get to Drew.

May shook her head, as if she could shake the unpleasant thoughts away. With the money from the sponsors, she had been able to get a lawyer – which was why she was still staying at a Pokémon Center instead of a fancy hotel, to save money for that. The law firm had appointed Daisy Nogowa to her, a professional who had experiences in cases like this. They would have to make agreements about how they were going to handle financial issues, the press, actually acknowledging the baby…

"Beauiii." Beautifly landed on her head, seeming to sense her trainer's distraction.

"Yes, you're right, Beautifly, we need to focus." May balled her fist and pushed her shoulders back. With a short nod, she walked over to the full-length mirror hanging against the door. Pursing her lips, she looked at her reflection, turning sideways.

"Is it too noticeable?" she mused out loud, her hand going over her stomach. The baby bump was small but it was there…

"Fly…" Beautifly sounded doubtful.

May pulled at the black fabric that was colorfully decorated with red, yellow and light blue accents and ruffles. After some more pulling, May decided that the dress was so colorful and distracting that her stomach would be hidden well enough.

"Well, if anyone asks, I'll just say I've been emo-eating," May half-joked, gently pushing Beautifly of her head. The Pokémon flew away and landed on the table, and May rearranged her hair so that it was suitable for the upcoming Contest.

After applying her make-up, she extended her hand towards Beautifly and with a happy chirp, she landed on May's shoulder.

Standing straight, May smiled confidently in the mirror at her Pokémon and pumped her fist in the air. "Alright, Beautifly, let's do this!"

"Tiflyyy!"

As she made her way out of the Pokémon Center, May felt as if everyone was watching her. Maybe she was imagining it, but nonetheless she pushed her shoulders back, put a swing in her step and held her show-smile in place.

Just as she was about to leave the building, a girl, thirteen years maybe, came up to her and grinned widely. "May! Wait up!" the girl said, somewhat breathlessly. "I just wanted to say that I think you're really amazing! I'm sure you'll show your ex-boyfriend now how well you can do without him! Good luck!"

It all came out in a rush and before May had the chance to respond, the girl had already run back to a gaggle of teenage girls sitting in a corner of the Pokémon Center. They were all watching her with varying degrees of awe and curiosity. When they saw she was looking, a rush of whispers broke out among them, some looking away embarrassedly, but others waving enthusiastically or giving her a thumbs up.

A rush of warmth went through May and she smiled back at them. With her chin up and her back straight, Coordinator May Maple walked out of the Pokémon Center and towards her next challenge.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I had fun writing it :) Please leave me a review!

Thank you!