"May, what region did you say you and your friends were going to next?" Caroline Maple asked her daughter as she busied herself with submerging dirty dishes into the warm soapy water. May sat at the square oak dinner table eating a sandwich her mom had prepared for her. She swallowed and took a drink of water to wash it down. She set her cup down haphazardly, the water sloshing around.

"Yeah, everybody's going there. Drew, Harley, Solidad," she said, listing off her rivals.

"I don't think Jhoto's such a good idea dear," Caroline frowned wiping her hands on a kitchen towel as she turned to look at her daughter.

"But why? That's where all the competition, and my friends are going, it's the best place for me to go from here," May explained, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion at her mom's opinion. "Besides, we used to live there," May said, taking a sip out of her cup.

"We did, but we moved because of your father's job opportunity," Caroline said as she hung the towel back up.

"So what's wrong in going back for contests? It's not like I'm moving back, plus it's as far as Kanto, and you let me go there," May reasoned feeling like it was unreasonable for her mother to have anything against Jhoto.

"That's because you were traveling in a group with three others, this time you would be traveling alone, and that is not safe for a girl your age, let alone any girl," Caroline explained.

"What if I asked one of my friends to travel with me?" May reasoned. Caroline paused for a moment, her index finger raised and pressed against her cheek as she contemplated May's idea. Caroline frowned.

"I still don't think going to Jhoto will be good," She answered finally. May stood up abruptly, her chair sliding across the floor. She cut past her mother and cleaned her plate and cup. She set them on the drying rack and wiped her hands. She didn't look at her mother at all.

"May.." Caroline trailed off.

"I'm going out," May said quietly as she headed to the door and put her shoes on. She left without another word and took in the sweet spring breeze. She let it blow over her, cooling her temper as she walked to the Petalburg Park. The breeze was a bit chilly now and May found herself shoving her hands in her pockets.

She kicked a rock in annoyance. Her mom was usually pretty lenient and reasonable. It made no sense why she couldn't go. She kicked another rock, sending it flying forward, much further than the previous one.

"Geez May, what did that rock ever do to you?" A familiar voice cut through her thoughts. She looked up to see her rival, with a slight smug look on his face that seemed to always be there.

"I don't know, it had a slight tinge of green to it, and it reminded me of you so I just had to kick it," She said, her tone showing her annoyance. His face broke into a deeper smirk.

"Well I'm honored I make you so frustrated," he said slyly. His striking green eyes gave her a suggestive look, and his unusual green locks hung just slightly above his eyes, making him look... unfortunately very attractive. She swallowed the small knot that hitched in her throat.

"You smug jerk," May frowned, her thoughts circled around to before. She really wanted to set him straight and beat him a few more times, but she couldn't do that if she couldn't go to Jhoto. Drew's smug shifted to a frown, and his eyes held a slight touch of, dare she even think, concern?

"Seriously though, what's got your bandana in a knot?" He asked. Of course not able to resist any opportunity to tease her. She humphed and glared at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"It's my mom. She told me I can't go to Jhoto," May frowned.

"What? That's annoying, and I was looking forward to crushing you!" Drew said, his eyes narrowed.

"She said it's not safe for me to travel alone as a girl, and even if I traveled with somebody else!" May exclaimed.

"Could I try talking to her?" Drew asked suddenly. May looked up in surprise.

"I doubt it's going to do anything, but you can try I guess," she said. The two headed back towards the gym, which was close to where May's home was. It wasn't that long of a walk so they found themselves at May's front door. Taking a deep breath, she opened to door and let Drew in behind her.

"Are you feeling better May?" Her mom's voice came through muffled from the kitchen. May led Drew through the living and dining room to reach the kitchen.

"I'm okay I guess," She said, crossing her arms. Her mother dusted her hands off and turned around. A look of shock crossed over her face.

"Oh, Drew, what a nice surprise! Where did you come from?" Caroline asked. She did not expect him, but was happy to see her daughter's nice and charming friend. Drew was quite the catch, and she hoped her daughter could get over herself and realize it.

"I was in town. Actually I was planning to come and ask May to ride the boat to Jhoto with me," Drew replied politely. Caroline's smile tugged down a little bit, her eyes showing concern.

"You never told me this! Typical," May huffed, annoyed that Drew didn't ask her while they were talking earlier. She lightly glared at him out of the corner of her eyes. He ignored her response.

"However, when I ran into May, she told me that she couldn't go to Jhoto," Drew said. "I asked her why, and she said it really didn't make sense why she couldn't," he explained May's side of the story.

"Yes, well, Jhoto is not safe for someone like her, plus May is a young woman who does not need to be traveling by herself. It's too dangerous. That is why I can't let her go," Caroline expressed her opinion, all though, her tone of voice suggested she wished it wasn't like this.

"But all of my rivals are going there Mom, I can't miss out on this!" May begged.

"I don't want you getting hurt!" Caroline said stubbornly.

"What if she traveled with me?" Drew suggested. Caroline stopped and considered the proposal very thoroughly. She furrowed her brows in concentration.

"Traveling with you? That's a disaster just waiting to happen!" May scoffed. Caroline purses her lips.

"Alright, fine. I give. You can go to Jhoto as long as you stay with Drew the whole time," Caroline said finally.

"Really!? Thank you mom!" May exclaimed, giving her mother a big hug. Caroline wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"But I expect a lot of checking in!" Caroline warned.

"I understand," Drew said politely, accepting her term.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Caroline asked. Drew's cheeked darkened in color in surprise.

"Um, sure, thank you, that's very generous of you," Drew said courteously.

"Dinner will be ready in about an hour or a little more, until then, feel free to stay and make yourself at home," Caroline smiled sweetly.

"Thank you so much, I appreciate it," he bowed respectfully. May and Drew left Caroline to her cooking, and went to the living room.

"Geez, now I'm stuck entertaining you," May pouted.

"After all I've done for you? So ungrateful, May," Drew chided her.

"I can't believe I'm stuck traveling with you," May grumbled.

"Ouch, didn't realize you hated me so much. But who knows what you're thinking in your crazy bandana brain," Drew said teasing her. He gently clenched his hand into a fist and gently knocked it against her head. Their eyes met each other. Cool sapphire and sharp emerald clashed, mixing together. The spell was broken when May stuck out her tongue deviously.

"But in all honesty, thank you Drew, for everything you've done for me today,"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A/N

Oh my gosh. I can say that I've actually been really excited for this story. I haven't been motivated in a long time if you couldn't tell. But after playing around with Jhoto ideas for a couple of years, I finally settled on this one. Also, I had Drew bow, which is a polite gesture used in Japan. I see it in a lot of anime and I just absolutely adore it. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I think it's polite, sweet, and charming.

Anyways, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I hope it shows. I actually layed out a plot line for this one, if you couldn't tell that Defying Fate didn't have one XD. I'm still going with the flow most of the time, but I have a vague idea of certain events and when they are going to happen. I'm also trying to build up tension in their relationship so let's see how that goes XD as always, thank you for reading!

YouDontKnowShipping