Previously...

"Ready to go?" Brendan asked cheerily as Drew came up to them. The both nodded silently and followed him out of the Pokemon Center.

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He was becoming soft. If it had been a year or so ago, he wouldn't have hesitated to turn Brendan away. But now, without him even realizing, his walls had fallen a significant amount. His cold facade he had tried to keep up had melted and he suspected that it had something to do with the girl that was currently in between him and Brendan.

Ever since he and May were chased by the agents after him, his guilty conscience had been weighing heavily on him. That was probably why he gave into letting Brendan come along. He started to feel personally responsible for May's safety. It was also kind of the reason he was here in the first place. Her mom didn't want May traveling alone. He had thought it was going to be a burden. Having to keep her out of trouble, and keep his secrets away from her.

That wasn't how it ended up at all. He actually really enjoyed her company, and would enjoy it much more if Brendan wasn't there. They were having an important conversation earlier. Even if he wanted it to be over, that didn't mean he wanted Brendan waltzing over and interrupting as if he owned and deserved her attention. He gritted his teeth in annoyance. A burning feeling was bubbling in his stomach but he shoved it down.

"So your dad is Professor Birch?" Drew asked. Brendan looked at him, as if he wasn't expecting to be addressed. Suddenly a pretentious smirk broke onto his face.

"He sure is!" He said smugly.

"So why is he in Hoenn if you're from here?" Drew asked.

"He went to research Hoenn Pokemon and he had me stay here to research Johto Pokemon. He gave me my Mudkip to help me in the field, but we never got the chance to travel and actually get strong until now!" Brendan said, clenching his fist in a determined fashion.

"Brendan and I have known each other since we were kids. We were neighbors and our dads were friends. Then my grandma passed away and dad got the role of gym leader in Petalburg City so we moved. It was pretty hard on me because it all happened so fast," May explained.

"I see," Drew said.

"I really missed having you around, May," Brendan smiled softly at her. Drew clenched his fist in anger.

"Aw! Me too! It's great to see you again!" May said.

"Hey! Remember that time when we-"

"NYAH!" Skitty suddenly burst out of its pokeball and began sprinting ahead.

"Skitty! No! Wait! Urgh get back here!" May exclaimed as she rushed forwards. He and Brendan chased after her. When they caught up with her, May was holding Skitty by its tail as it dangled over a cliff. She pulled it into her lap where she held it in a vice grip.

"Skitty! You've got to stop doing that! If I hadn't caught you, you could've fallen!" May scolded it. Drew could tell that she was pretty shaken up about it. The cliff was a pretty steep drop off. It wouldn't have been good for Skitty if it had run off it. Sighing in relief, she returned it to its pokeball. As she stood up and brushed herself off, the edge she was standing on gave way.

Her eyes widened as she began to fall. Brendan lunged forward and tried to grab her hand, but she slipped out of his grasp. May screamed as she fell until she landed on Flygon. As soon as she had started to slip, Drew had let it out, and sensing Drew's emotions, the Pokemon jumped right into action.

Flygon brought May back up. She clung to its neck until it landed back on the ground. Drew held out his hand to her and she took it. He helped her down and let out a surprised grunt as May wrapped her arms tightly around him. She grabbed the fabric of his shirt and held it in her fists as he pulled her closer.

"That was scary, thanks," she said in a small voice. He noticed how perfectly she fit against him. The top of her head came up to where he could comfortably rest his chin. She was tucked snugly against him and he could feel her erratic heart beat against his chest. He didn't answer. He just held her until Brendan interrupted.

"May! Are you okay?" He asked gently.

"I'm fine now, just a bit shaken up," she said as her grip loosened on him. Drew reluctantly let her go.

"I'm sorry I couldn't catch you," he apologized, clenching his fists and jaw in self anger.

"It's all done and over with, what matters is that I'm alright," May smiled. Brendan let out a sigh to relieve tension. He shot a quick glare at Drew that went unnoticed by May. However, Drew didn't have the energy. All that mattered was that May was alright. He didn't have the capacity to care about his sort of rivalry with Brendan at the moment. He was just relieved she was okay, and he was still a bit out of it from that unexpected hug.

He couldn't even remember the last time he had gotten a hug. He was always traveling by himself before Johto, and sometimes a fangirl would attack him with one. That was kind of about it. Solidad isn't the hugging type, and he definitely wouldn't hug Harley at all. He and May were always too focused on their rivalry to actually become better friends, and at home, probably not since he was a toddler.

His Pokemon have hugged him, kind of. It's not the same as a hug from an actual person though. It had definitely been a while, and that became prevalent to him after the fact. Since then, his body had been screaming for the comfort of contact. He felt pretty mortified. It wasn't something he was used to or even knew how to handle. He shoved his hands in his pockets, as he wasn't sure if they would gain a mind of their own and reach out for her.

Seeking some sort of comfort, he sent out Roselia. The Pokemon looked at him and laughed cheekily to itself as it noticed the state of him. He shot a glare at the rose Pokemon but it ignored it and fell into step beside him.

"Why'd you send out your Pokemon?" Brendan asked.

"Because Roselia likes it," Drew replied curtly.

"Oh! I've been meaning to bring it up, but once we get to Azalea Town, I'm gonna switch out Munchlax for Bulbasaur. Max has been pestering me non stop about him ever since I left," she said, waving her PokeNav in the air. "I also thought it was time for a switch. So when we get to the Pokemon center, I'll send Munchlax back home and call Professor Oak to get Bulbasaur,"

"Alright, sounds good. I'm sure we can come up with a cool appeal routine with Bulbasaur and Roselia?" Drew said. May clasped her hands together.

"Oh! That sounds awesome!"

"Speaking of appeals, who do we want to use?" Drew asked.

"That's a good question... What about a debut for Cyndaquil? Do you think he's ready?" May asked.

"Not sure, but we have a bit of time. What were you thinking for your side," he asked. She paused for a moment in thought.

"Squirtle might work well with him, not sure though. Maybe they would be a better suited combination for the battles," she pondered.

"Yeah, I see your point," he trailed off. Some time had passed and the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon.

"We should probably set up camp for the night," Drew suggested.

"Sounds good to me," May said cheerfully.

"Do you want me to get some firewood?" Brendan asked. May shot a panicked look at Drew.

"Uh, we don't make fires at night," he said.

"Oh! Well this can be the first!" He said.

"We really shouldn't," May said softly. Brendan shot an eyebrow up.

"Why not? A fire is what makes camping out! Besides, you never had a problem with it when we were younger," Brendan said, slightly offended.

"Look, we make a fire when it's dark outside and we're sending up a signal flare," Drew said stiffly.

"A signal flare to who?" Brendan asked exasperatedly.

"Anyone with bad intentions," May answered for him. Brendan paused for a moment.

"It's never caused me any problems!" He defended.

"It has for me so can we just drop it now?" Drew said.

"No matter how stupid I think it is, fine, no fire. I hope you're satisfied that you ruined one of the best parts of camping because you're a wuss," Brendan glared at him. Drew was taken aback.

"Excuse me?" Drew asked.

"You heard me!" Brendan shot back.

"Guys! Stop! He has a good excuse so just let it go, Brendan," May tried to mediate.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Brendan asked expectantly.

"I don't need to tell you," Drew said.

"Oh really? Well it's kind of affecting me so maybe I deserve to know?" Brendan exclaimed. Drew winced.

"Brendan! Stop it! He's stressed out enough right now as it is! He's doing his best so just lay off him would you please?" May pleaded. That shut him up. He looked at her guiltily.

"Sorry," he muttered. He turned away from them and began setting up his tent. May sighed and began to set hers up as well. Drew was about to follow when he felt his PokeNav. Curiously, he brought it out and pressed the messaging icon.

Solidad.

See you at the Goldenrod Contest?

He smirked.

You can count on it

He approached May and nudged her gently. She whipped her head around at his touch. He handed her his PokeNav and she took it cautiously. A smile broke out on her face as she read the words.

"Can't wait," she beamed.

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-A/N-

This was longer than the usual! I think Brendan turned out a bit too much like a jerk in this chapter. Also, if you think the cliff part was a bit dramatic, I've been rewatching the Advanced Generation, and I swear, they fall off cliffs a lot more than what you would expect!

Which speaking of the Advanced Generation, I was wondering if you guys would be interested in a Pokemon Rants sort of book. I would talk about ships, the Advanced Generation as I'm rewatching it, some stories of my real life that Pokemon has influenced, just a bunch of random stuff like that. I don't want to overflow my authors' notes too much.

But one thing I HAVE to share is that Coordinator' Weekly is an actual thing in the canon! It's called Coordinator's Monthly, and though I don't think it's the gossip magazine we all treat it as, it still talks about strong and popular coordinators. Also, one of my new favorite filler episodes, season 7 episode 32, the bicker the better, James said "let's blow those whining women back to the dark ages right where they belong!" and it took me so off guard.

It had me in stitches. It was not what I was expecting him to say at all. Definitely not something you can get away with today even if it was supposed to be funny. I'm not super sensitive about that stuff so I found it hilarious. It was balanced out a bit though because it was kind of a battle of the sexes episode so they were all saying mean things to each other. Anyways, that's all for now. Until next time!

YouDontKnowShipping

It's not letting me publish the fixed chapter title so hopefully by adding this it will show up right. The chapter title is supposed to be Three's a Crowd! 

It didn't work so that means I have to wait until it can save again. Uuuuuugh