May was sweating slightly as the last few seconds on the Contest clock ticked down. She felt she had just enough time for one more attack.
"Blaziken! Overheat!" she called. Her partner out of the field built up the heat in her body to the point where she was glowing red with intense heat and then fired Overheat from her mouth, landing a devastating hit on the opposing Pidgeot.
"That's it! Time's up!" the Contest announcer, Marian, announced to the crowd. Both May and her opponent looked up at the board to see which of them had more points left. "And the winner of the Celestic Town Pokémon Contest is...it's May from Petalburg City!"
"Yes!" May cheered as she ran onto the field and hugged Blaziken. "Thank you Blaziken! You were incredible!"
"Happy to help!" Blaziken smiled as she hugged her trainer back and the crowd applauded their efforts.
"And before the last Contest of the season for once." May whispered, which made both girls laugh.
Soon, after May's opponent had congratulated her on her win and left cleared the stage, May stood in the winner's circle along with Marian and one of the judges.
"And now our head judge Mr. Contesta will present our winner with the Celestic Ribbon!" Marian announced as Mr. Contesta took his cue and approached May with the ribbon in the presentation box.
"Congratulations young lady. I understand this is your 5th Ribbon?" he asked.
"It sure is!" May smiled excitedly. Contesta nodded and offered her the ribbon.
"Then we look forward to seeing you at the Grand Festival." May accepted the ribbon with a giggle.
"Thank you so much sir!" she giggled to herself and gave a little spin as she cheered for herself. "We won the Celestic Ribbon!" she struck a pose reminiscent of one Ash would do as Blaziken flared the fire around her wrists to mimic her trainer.
"And that wraps up this year's Celestic Town Pokémon Contest! Thank you all for coming and we'll see you next time!" Marian announced, effectively dismissing May and the crowd. The winning Coordinator stepped down from the stage and recalled her partner to her pokeball before she headed backstage where her other partner, Glaceon was waiting for her, smiling and wagging her tail excitedly.
"You guys did great! Congratulations!"
"Thanks, Glaceon!" the brunette replied as she hugged the Ice Type. Glaceon purred happily and nuzzled May while licking her cheek.
"And now we're ready for the Grand Festival!"
"We sure are!" May giggled.
"Of course, you know what this means, don't you? Dawn will kill you if you don't call and fill her in." Glaceon reminded her, smirking a little.
"Yeah yeah, I know." May laughed as she pet Glaceon's head, causing her to purr. Without bothering to change out of her Contest dress first, May walked over to the video phone in the room as Glaceon hopped onto the bench next to her as she sat down.
"She said she was heading for...Lilycove right?"
"Right." May nodded as she dialed Dawn's Xtranreciever number. After a few rings, the blunette picked up the call and smiled upon seeing her best friend.
"Hey May!" she gasped happily.
"Hey, Dawn! Guess who just won her fifth Ribbon?" May grinned excitedly as Dawn gasped again.
"No way you did?! That's amazing! Congratulations!" Dawn cheered.
"Thanks! What about you? How are the Hoenn Contests going for you?" May wondered.
"Ug I'm still at four. I was hoping that little trip to Johto for the Wallace Cup would've been number five but I got beat at the last minute of the finals!" Dawn explained.
"Gee. No idea what that's like." May giggled as she teased her friend about the last time the two of them battled one another. Dawn laughed as well and playfully stuck her tongue out.
"I still wish you would've come! We would've had so much fun!"
"I know it would've been super fun, but I was busy." May chuckled as she scratched her head.
"Doing what?"
"...I might have gotten stuck in a Trapinch pit during my last training session and twisted my ankle?" she answered, sweatdropping as Dawn started laughing again.
"Oh my gosh, you did?!"
"Kinda…" May sighed.
"May!" her friend laughed. "What is with you and getting into the most bizarre kidnappings and accidents possible?!"
"I think I'm just cursed…" she answered with a slight grumble.
"Well curse or no, you're coming with me next year so we can battle it out again!" Dawn informed her.
"Heh. It's a deal." May nodded.
"Oh speaking of! You'll never believe what I've been up to! I didn't get a chance to tell you before I left but I ran into Cynthia while I was in Mauville City two weeks ago!" Dawn suddenly informed her.
"Oh wow really?!" May gasped.
"Really! She told me about this Battle Tournament she was helping officiate in another region and offered to let me come with. Since the Wallace Cup was coming up I thought some battle practice would be a good idea. So I went with her and guess what! I got to spend the week with none other than Ash!" Dawn continued, causing May to gasp.
"You saw really saw him?!"
"Yup!" Dawn laughed. "Told you ya should've come! I betcha we could've picked you up along the way!"
"I was busy!" May complained, giving her friend a pouty face in response as Dawn smiled slyly.
"I bet your schedule would've freed up considerably if you knew he was going to be there." May turned bright red as she struggled to respond to what was a very true statement.
"Oh very funny Dee Dee…" she grumbled as she hid her face in her hands, causing Dawn to continue laughing.
"When are you going to just tell him already?"
"Tell him what...?" May mumbled, trying to play dumb, but Dawn was not about to let her pull that trick.
"Come on May. It's so obvious you're in love with him. It was obvious when we first met and that was well over a year ago now." Dawn responded.
"Your point..?" May wondered as her blush only deepened.
"My point is it's way past time for you to do this. You told me that you wanted to get strong enough to be his equal before you told him. And that threshold has long since passed if you ask me." she pointed out.
"I...don't know if I agree with that…" May countered.
"May come on look at where you are. For the 4th year in a row, you're a Grand Festival participant, you've got a huge following around here that I've seen firsthand, and from what I've heard from my Mom you're the name to beat this year. What more are you waiting for? Do you want him or don't you?" Dawn demanded.
"Of course I want him..!" the brunette answered.
"Then what are you waiting for? A guy like him isn't going to be single forever you know. You might get a few more years out of that density of his, but eventually, someone is going to make a move." the bluenette informed her. May was quiet for a moment as she considered Dawn's words before sighing to herself.
"You're annoying when you're right…" she grumbled.
"I just want you to be happy girl." Dawn chuckled.
"I don't think I'll ever be his equal until I escape this curse…" May sighed.
"What the "damsel in distress" thing we were talking about? May I don't think a "clumsy" streak has any bearing on your relationship with him. Do you really think he's not going to be interested just because you end up in nets more often than most people?"
"I think I'm going to hang up now…"
"Can I at least give you one more piece of advice before you go?"
"What advice is that?" May sighed.
"Think about getting something new for the Grand Festival, would you? You've been using that same outfit for two years. You're in Celestic Town right?"
"Yeah..?"
"There's a great shop there that's run by my Mom's friend Lila. I bet you can find something awesome there to wear." she suggested. May glanced down at her Arabian-style dress as she considered her friend's words.
"This dress is already awesome...it turned his head last year anyway…"
"Of course and you look great in it. But I bet wearing something new and exciting will give you a confidence boost. At least think about it won't you?" Dawn begged,
"Oh fine…I'll think about it." she groaned, finally giving in as Dawn smiled.
"Great! Well with that said, just know you can bet I'll be watching you on TV with the rest of the region! Princess of Hoenn!" she teased as May blushed, though this time more with embarrassment.
"Please don't call me that…" she growled.
"Everyone here calls you that." Dawn pointed out.
"I'm aware…"
"Embrace it! You've earned it! Why are you always so down on yourself?"
"It's not that it's just...it's a lot of attention that I don't think I've really earned yet…" May explained.
"Because you're awesome! You just need to accept the compliment. Ash would tell you the same thing and you know it." Dawn reminded her, making May blush as she took a minute to think and consider her friend's words. She had come pretty far, but she still felt like it wasn't far enough. But maybe, just maybe, there was a way to achieve that feeling.
"If I do it this time…if I win the Grand Festival this year, then I'll...I'll pay him a visit and tell him." she announced.
"Now you're talking!" Dawn squealed excitedly. "That sounds perfect! Swear it to me! No backing out this time! If you win, you're going to see him!"
"I swear I swear." May sweatdropped.
"Alright! This is so exciting!" she cheered. "You're going to be Ash's girlfriend!"
"DAWN!" May yelled as her face turned the brightest shade of red yet and Dawn laughed as she groaned. "I'm hanging up now…"
"Good luck! Think about what I said!"
"Yeah, I got it. See ya." Dawn waved to her friend as both girls hung up and May took a deep breath to regain her senses.
"You ok?" Glaceon wondered.
"Sure. But you know her." May sighed.
"Well, you know it comes from a place of love." Her partner smiled.
"Yeah yeah." May chuckled.
"Did you…really mean what you said? If you win the Grand Festival we'll go see Ash?" the Fresh Snow Pokemon wondered.
"Yeah…for all her teasing she might just be right about that. I want Ash to finally know how I feel." May nodded.
"Scared?"
"Absolutely terrified…that hasn't changed."
"Then maybe you should take Dawn's other advice too. You've never been one to shy away from a new outfit, and as Dawn said, it could be the confidence booster you need." she offered.
"Well…" May's voice trailed off as she glanced down at her dress again. It was still beautiful as she still loved it, but if she was going to really go for it with Ash, she definitely needed all the confidence she could get. "I guess it couldn't hurt to see what we can find."
"Alright!" Glaceon smiled as she nuzzled May's leg. "Do you know much about the lady Dawn mentioned?"
"Not much really. I've seen her on the cover of some magazines during our journey, but that's about it." May shrugged. "I just hope she has something I'll like."
"Well, you've always said Dawn is pretty good at fashion. And she gave the shop high marks." Glaceon pointed out.
"True." May nodded.
"Maybe I can find something too. Like a clip for my fur or something. Then we can match!" the Ice Type happily suggested, making her trainer giggle.
"You're right that would be cute." she commented. Glaceon giggled too and began wagging her tail.
"Then no one can resist us. Not even Ash." Her comment caught May's attention and she gave her partner a small smirk.
"Oooohhhh now I see what this is really about."
"Huh?"
"You wanna look good for a certain mouse huh?" she smiled slyly, causing Glaceon to blush.
"W-Well I…" she stammered as May giggled. "I wouldn't be opposed to him liking something we find…"
"Mmmhm." May snickered. Glaceon blushed harder as May laughed and decided to cut her some slack, petting her head which made her coo softly. "Alright, you and Dawn win. Let's both go out to Lila's shop tomorrow and find something to turn heads."
"Deal!" Glaceon agreed as she jumped into May's arms happily.
To be Continued...
