May's POV

I had just gotten changed into my clothes for the festival as it was required to do so unlike the other regions where it's casual. I had brought with me a simple red dress that ended at my knees and were wavy at the bottom. I wore leather boots that ended just a bit above my ankles and to top it all off, I had my hair out of its usual pigtails and into a high ponytail.

Fiddling with the ends of my dress, I waited backstage for the appeals round to begin. Although I had been waiting for a while, I had not once seen Drew since before when he had seen my training. Without giving it too much thought, I watched the performers on screen and nervously awaited my turn.

"Next up is May who comes here from Petalburg City, all the way in Hoenn!" Marian exclaimed introducing me to the audience as I appeared from backstage and waved at the crowd with a huge grin on my face, masking my anxiousness.

"Blaziken, Delcatty, take the stage!" I called as I released my Pokémon from their pokeballs and an effect was added for both of them from the seals that I used.

From my training earlier today, I managed to pull off the same moves skilfully and impressed the judges leaving me wondering if I made it to the second round or not. I was walking through the hallway that went backstage and I saw Drew walking through, a smirk on his face.

He wore a fancy purple jacket thing over his t-shirt and some long black pants to go with it.

"You look nice in your clothes." He complimented me as we passed each other.

"You don't look too bad yourself." I replied calmly, desperately trying to hide the blush that was appearing on my face.

I raised my hand for an unexpected high five and he paused for a second before deciding to high five me back. I smiled a bright smile at him and said, "May the best coordinator win."

He nodded and walked off to the stage while I turned around with a huge grin on my face as I approached backstage. Smooth May, very smooth. I rolled my eyes at myself and kept walking. Looking at the screen I saw Drew finish his appeal round with Absol and Flygon who were gracefully performing their moves. It was amazing to watch, but that gave me more doubt. I started to feel uneasy so I sat down on a bench to stabilise myself.

The Grand festival appeal rounds had finally ended and they were about to announce the coordinators who were moving on to the battle rounds. The faces that showed up on the screen were unfamiliar until the third coordinator who was none other than Drew himself and I was next to him on the screen. I silently cheered to myself, grateful to have been successful.

Round two was going to happen tomorrow. I had plenty of time to prepare for the battles, and hopefully I could finally beat Drew.

I had just arrived at the Pokémon centre and I had decided to call home.

"Hi mum!" I greeted my mother as her face appeared on the screen.

"Hi May, it's so great to speak to you. How has the Grand Festival been so far? Did you make it to round two?" She asked me.

"Of course. I'm a bit nervous though. What if I'm not good enough to make it to the finals, or not good enough to actually even win the whole competition?" I rambled.

"May, you'll be fine. Have some faith in yourself. You and your Pokémon didn't do all that training for nothing you know." She smiled at me through the camera.

"You're right." I smiled back in agreement.

"So, are you and Drew getting along well." My mum smirked at me. "You know what I mean."

"Uh um s-sure we are." I stuttered, taken aback from the question.

She squealed and ranted to me about how Drew and I look so cute together and blah blah blah.

"Okay mum I get it, but that's not going to happen. We're just rivals." I stopped her ranting.

"Aw come on, don't you ruin my fun." She giggled. "Anyway, I have to go now, it's getting late and sleep is important you know. You should go to sleep soon too." She informed me.

"Alright mum. Say hi to dad and Max for me." I said and ended the call with a sigh.

Of course Drew and I won't be happening. It just isn't meant to be.

With a yawn, I walked up to my room and soon fell asleep shortly after getting dressed into my Pyjamas.

Next day...

We were all back at the stadium and ready for round two of the festival. Moving on to the battle rounds, I had decided on using Glaceon and Beautifly this time. Thinking about what my mum said, I smiled to myself and clenched my fists in anticipation as I readied myself to get on stage.

My first opponent was luckily not Drew, I was hoping for a final rematch for him. Well, if I could make it through to the finals anyway. My opponent sent out her Pokémon. A Luxray and a Raichu came out of their pokeballs elegantly and the seals caused an added effect. The audience were looking at this girls pokemon with admiration.

"Beautifly, Glaceon, Take the stage!" I yelled, prepared for battle.

I eventually one that battle although it had been quite tough. The more people I fought, the more confident I had become. Maybe some self-confidence wasn't too bad after all. Finally, it had reached the semi-finals, and then the finals.

"So, it's you and me once again. A rematch." Drew said from behind me.

"Yeah, and I plan on winning this time." I said with determination staring into his emerald eyes.

"We'll see about that." He flipped his unnatural green hair as per usual and walked off.

"These two trainers have both travelled through several regions just competing in contests. These talented young coordinators have been rivals for a long time now and are competing in the finals just like last year when they both competed in the Hoenn Grand festival! Both from the Hoenn region, welcome May from Petalburg City and Drew from LaRousse City!"

7 years ago we met each other at Slateport City, and 7 years ago you beat me at that same contest, also my first contest. In that same year, you beat me at the Grand Festival with your Flygon and Roselia. The next year at the Kanto Grand Festival, I managed to beat your Absol and Flygon. Then going back to last year, once again I lost to you and your Roserade and Masquerain. This time, I will win, and I will win that ribbon cup I have trained to earn for so long.

Let's do this thing.

"Beautifly, Glaceon take the stage!" I yelled out.

"Absol, Arcanine lets go!" Drew called out as his Pokémon appeared.

Wait. Since when did Drew have an Arcanine. I gasped as I saw the amazing Pokémon on the battlefield. Enough admiring and let's go.

"5 minutes on the clock, BEGIN!"

Drew took the first move and told Arcanine to use flamethrower. The flamethrower missed Glaceon by inches as it dodged just in time.

"Beautifly use psychic and lift them both into the air." I commanded.

A powerful force lifted both Arcanine and Absol high up into the air giving me a chance to attack.

"Glaceon use swift now!"

The swift attack managed to strike both of our opponents and took some damage and lost points for the display as well.

The battle was going well for me, that was until Glaceon got knocked out and both Arcanine and Absol were still standing strong.

"Arcanine, Flare blitz lets go!" Drew yelled unexpectedly.

I was shocked. I didn't know that his Arcanine also knew flare blitz. This was not good for Beautifly.

"Beautifly dodge it!" I shouted in panic.

Beautifly just managed to dodge the flare blitz attack only to be cornered by Absol who had jumped in the air and was now directly in front of Beautifly.

"Quick Beautifly, silver wind."

The silver wind knocked Absol out of the air and onto the ground. Absol had fainted and now it was down to just Arcanine and Beautifly.

"Come on we can do this." I encouraged Beautifly.

It responded with a nod and faces Arcanine once more. With a new determination I became more focused with the battle.

"Arcanine, flamethrower!" Drew commanded.

"Beautifly, spin around it and get close."

Beautifly did a spinning dodge and swirled around the flames.

"Now silver wind and then an aerial ace."

The silver wind extinguished the remaining flames and hit Arcanine and weakening it. Beautifly managed to speed forward and close enough for the aerial ace attack to work. When it hit, Beautifly had barely enough time to dodge the next move that Drew called out.

"Flare blitz!"

Before Arcanine could do anything, the timer ran out and Arcanine stopped its move and Beautifly went back over to May.

"That was an extremely intense battle I'll have to admit. The scores were very close. Actually too close. But we do have a winner. And the ribbon cup goes to........Drew! He is now recieving his second ever ribbon cup.

That's when I felt it, the weight of defeat on my shoulders. All the confidence I had earlier ran out the window. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. After all that training, all of that and I still lost.

Will I actually ever be able to get a ribbon cup and become top coordinator, at least even just once? The more I thought about my defeat, the worse I felt. I snapped out of my thoughts for the moments to go on and congratulate Drew. It was just like last year.

Beautifly rested on my head as I walked off the stage and got changed into my normal clothes. I didn't bother watching the awards ceremony as I already knew what was going to happen.

I won another five ribbons, and all the effort was wasted. I lost again. What's the point, I'm not ever going to be as good as Drew as a coordinator. Even Harley beat me last year at a contest, how embarrassing.

I don't think I can do this.

—-

I almost forgot to say, May is 17 here if you didn't already know and Drew is also 17 and yeah.

Also I'm writing this at 2 am in the morning so this chapter probably isn't as good as it should be.

- April

22 Jan, 2018