A/N: Thank you all for your awesome support! Here's another chapter!

To Duvarishka: Oooh, you have some very interesting speculations! I can't say anything about it, though, you'll just have to wait and see… ;) But thanks a lot for reading and reviewing!

Days

The day of the Grand Festival final

May

Friday, February 21st

She could do this. She could absolutely do this.

May swept her sweaty hands dry on her blue dress. The waist was high and it flared out from there, hiding her pregnant belly. It was getting more and more difficult to do so, but it would have to do.

It didn't help with the nerves, though.

She had never won a Grand Festival.

And now it was Drew.

Again.

But this time it would be different. It would be different than the Tournament, it would be different than all those other battles with him, because this time, this time, she was going to win.

"Are you guys ready?" she whispered to the two minimized Poké Balls that hung on a bracelet on her wrist. "We are going to do this. We are going to win this."

Never mind that she had said those words three weeks ago as well, never mind that she had lost so often against Drew... "This time, it's going to be different."

And despite everything, despite her fear of losing, her fear of the media finding out about her pregnancy, her fear of confronting Drew on the battlefield again, she felt excitement bubbling in her stomach. Her whole body was high on adrenaline, making her feel like jumping in and winning this thing.

"Are you ready, Miss Maple? You have to be up in one minute," an attendant from the Grand Festival poked her head inside the dressing room, and May nodded determinedly at her. She smiled a bit and nodded back. "Good luck."

May smiled back, her fingers going back to her bracelet, touching her Poké Balls gently.

She could do this.

"And now, the finale of the Grand Festival! Are you all ready?" Good old Vivian Meridian's voice rang through the stadium, though the master of ceremonies was soon drowned out by the cheers of the audience. May grinned, ignoring the feeling in her stomach that also made her feel like she needed to throw up.

"Time for a spectacular show-off, a Grand Finale between Top Coordinator Drew Hayden, and his long-time rival, May Maple! Give them a warm welcome!"

Vivian didn't need to encourage the audience, because the cheers intensified at her words. May felt some relief that their relationship – or lack thereof – wasn't mentioned, but then again, she should have known that Vivian would stay professional.

May gave herself a last glance in the mirror, took a deep breath and then smiled widely. She opened the door of her dressing room and confidently walked out, through the hall, and into the Stadium.

The audience practically exploded when she entered, and she smiled and waved. The icy wind was pleasantly cold on her face, and she felt her nerves disappear and her confident pose grow natural. This is where she should be, here, right now, in the spotlights, in the final of the Grand Festival.

She was going to win this.

Across the field, she saw Drew enter, and she imagined that she caught his eye, even though she was too far away to properly to do so. She felt her grin grow ferocious, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she was pleasantly surprised that his appearance wasn't able to ruin her good mood.

"Choose your Pokémon!" Vivian called.

"Glaceon, Blaziken, take the stage!" With practiced movements, she unclipped the 'Balls from her bracelet and twirling gracefully, May released her Pokémon.

On Drew's side of the field, Masquerain appeared, as well as a new face for May: a Ninetales.

May felt her vision narrow to just the battlefield, the sounds of the audience and of Vivian's comments fading to the background.

"And start!"

"Bubble, Masquerain, and Ninetales, Flamethrower!" Drew started the battle aggressively. He didn't specify which target, but his Pokémon naturally picked the ones with the type disadvantage.

"Evade, Blaziken, follow through with a Blaze Kick! Glaceon, get away from there!" May reacted quickly.

Glaceon gracefully jumped out the way and the attack only grazed her.

Blaziken evaded the Bubble attack and moved fluidly into a Blaze Kick towards Masquerain.

However, the bug/flying type used a Quick Attack to avoid the fiery attack and this one did manage to hit Blaziken, even if it barely left a scratch.

From the corner of her eye, May saw both her own and Drew's points decreasing.

Time for a new strategy.

"Glaceon, Blaziken, time to play soccer!"

Blaziken cried out in confirmation, and ran towards Glaceon. The ice type formed a Shadow Ball and shot it in her teammate's direction.

With another cry, Blaziken used Blaze Kick to powerfully direct it towards the opponents.

May smiled as her Pokémon executed that trick a few more times. Not all of them were direct hits, but neither Masquerain nor Ninetales were completely able to evade all the shots.

And it looked beautiful. Drew's points were decreasing rapidly.

"Masquerain, get in close and Bubble again! Ninetales, you know what to do!"

Masquerain was too close for Blaziken to evade the attack and May acted quickly. "Glaceon, be alert! Blaziken, Sky Uppercut!"

Blaziken cut through the Bubble attack, creating beautiful sparkles as he aimed straight for Masquerain.

Masquerain avoided Blaziken's attack, though May smiled when she saw how Drew's points decreased.

Her smile dropped when Blaziken landed on the battlefield with a stumble; the water type attack had still hurt it.

Her eyes went to Glaceon, who had apparently been hit by something that now caused her to stumble around in confusion.

"No, Glaceon, c'mon-"

Small spheres of light started circling around Masquerain as it started to use Hidden Power-

"Avoid it!" May called to both of her Pokémon.

Glaceon half-jumped, half-fell out of the way; hardly graceful, and her points decreased.

Blaziken evaded by somersaulting, however, he couldn't avoid all of the spheres.

He fell when he hit the ground, and his muscles spasmed as he got up.

Paralyzed. May clenched her teeth. A glance at the score board told her that time was decreasing, and their points were close to each other; however, Drew's Pokémon were still in a better shape than hers.

"Finish it!" Drew commanded. "Another Bubble and Fire Blast!"

Drew's points decreased because of his unoriginal choice of attacks, but he could deal with that; if those attacks hit, May's Pokémon would be severely weakened, if not already fainted.

Time for a gamble.

"Blaziken, hold on and then Overheat! Glaceon, try to get away, come on!"

The paralyzed fire type only half-avoided the Bubble attack and he grunted in pain.

"Come on, Blaziken!" May called desperately. Another grunt, and Blaziken pushed himself up, a red glow forming around him: his Blaze ability.

"Bla-zi-keeeen!" The Overheat attack shot towards Masquerain, and the bug/flying type had no chance to evade it.

It dropped to the ground, fainted.

Yes.

The Fire Blast from Ninetales rushed at Glaceon.

"Gla…" The poor confused thing was trying to form a Shadow Ball instead of trying to avoid the attack.

"No, Glaceon!"

It felt like everyone was holding their breath as the fire cleared away…

And Glaceon was still standing.

"Quickly, Mirror Coat, Glaceon!"

Her body glowed and Ninetales was hit with full force: it fell to the ground with a thud.

There was a beat of silence, before the crowd erupted into cheers.

"And Ninetales is down!" Vivian's voice resounded through the stadium. "That means that May Maple with her Blaziken and Glaceon are the winners!"

The sounds around her blurred together in loud cheers and applause. On the field, Blaziken had dropped to one knee, while Glaceon was only shakily standing. Without further thought, May ran towards her Pokémon.

Blaziken got up sluggishly and gladly embraced her, while she hugged Glaceon with her free arm.

They had won. They had actually won…

"We did it," May said, quietly, slowly. A wide smile spread over her face as the realization sank in. "We did it! We did it! We did it!"

She laughed, the sounds of her happy words getting lost in the cheers of the crowd.

Finally, the cheering died down a little, and May looked to the other side of the battlefield, where Drew was just calling back his Pokémon.

She pushed herself up from the sandy grounds of the battlefield, and slowly walked to the middle of the field, her Pokémon tiredly but proudly following her.

Drew met her in the middle, and was the first one to extend his hand.

His grip was firm and she almost felt shaky, as if the adrenaline was now wearing off.

"Congratulations." They locked eyes, and an electrical shock went through her.

"Thanks," May said, belatedly. "It was a good battle."

Drew's lips quirked and he let go of her hand. Vivian came to join them in the middle, professionally thanking him for his performance and encouraging the crowd to applaud for him.

May watched as Drew took it with good sportsmanship, waving and smiling at the crowd.

He gave her a last nod, and then turned, leaving May to the celebrating crowd. She watched him go until Glaceon nudged her thigh, and May was brought back into the present.

She patted Glaceon's head, smiling brightly as she turned to grab onto Blaziken.

"We did it."

A/N: Thank you for reading! This chapter also came out fairly easily, but the battle took some research. I hope it was a good and believable one, but writing battles is not my forte haha. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you!