This chapter is dedicated to PokeWolfPack for always commenting on every chapter! Your feedback means so much to me and I'm glad you take the time to comment on my chapters. You always say such nice things! I really appreciate you and I hope this can convey it to you!

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Previously...

That was it. No confessions of love brought on by the romantic atmosphere. They were back to back, not even touching each other. Still, knowing she was there made it difficult for him to relax and fall asleep. Soon his exhaustion overpowered his anxiety and he fell asleep. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There was one thing Drew had learned recently. May was a sleep cuddler. Which was enough to convince him the universe was against him when he woke up with her pressed against his back with his shirt clenched in her fists and her legs tangled in his. His head was fuzzy but his heart was thudding like a freight train. She was actually going to kill him. He began to try and escape but she whimpered and her grip became stronger. Drew let out a very manly squeak when she nuzzled her head against his back.

He was tempted for a second to lay there but he knew it wouldn't be good if she woke up with them like this. It took him a few minutes to pry her away from him and he sighed in relief when he broke free. As he got ready for the day, his mind wandered.

Of course it came back to May. He knew he had to forget his feelings for her because after this grand festival, he would probably never see her again. He's thought this so many times and still let his heart pine. When it's something he just can't have, the more he wants it. He's broken the rules and left home to become a coordinator, but no matter how much he wanted it, he couldn't have her. Somehow instead of shutting his feelings down, that knowledge only seemed to increase the longing.

Several hours later, May and Drew were registered for the contest and were sitting backstage talking to Brianna and Ellie.

"I'm so excited! I'll get to show you how much I've grown and hopefully beat you two!" Brianna said confidently. Ellie gave her a bewildered look.

"Don't forget about me! I'm terrified!" Ellie said.

"Why? If you're nervous your Pokemon can feel it and they won't perform well," May said.

"Well, you two are famous coordinators and we might actually get the chance to battle against you!" Ellie said.

"Just because we're famous coordinators doesn't mean we aren't normal people, you don't have to be so nervous!" May advised.

"Like you're normal?" He teased her. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Like you are either?"

"I'm very normal thank you," he said, flicking his hair.

"Not as normal as me," she said.

"Both of you are strange," Brianna interrupted. Everyone laughed at her interjection. "Anyways, now that we got that cleared up, looks like Ellie and I are up for appeal," She said as she stood up.

"Good luck!" May said cheerfully.

"Thanks!" Brianna smiled brightly.

Brianna and Ellie's appeal routine was grass focused, with Brianna using Hoppip and Ellie using Oddish. It was pretty solid and they scored a 26.3.

"Nice job!" May congratulated them when they came back.

"Thanks!" The two girls said in sync. Before they knew it, it was their turn to go out on stage.

"You ready?" He asked. She nodded.

"We're going to win!" She said determinedly.

With that, they let out Cyndaquil and Bulbasaur. Just how they practiced, Bulbasaur tossed Cyndaquil high in the air as it squealed joyfully.

"Smokescreen!" Drew called and Cyndaquil spun as the haze settled over the crowd.

"Bulbasaur! Petal dance!" May exclaimed. The grass type then sent petals every direction blowing the smokescreen out.

"Now!" They said in sync.

"Razor leaf!"

"Ember!"

The two Pokemon let out the attacks in a spiral, meshing together and exploding into green and orange sparkles. The crowd gasped as the sparkles ran down on them.

"The combination of grass and fire is rather difficult to pull off in an appeal routine successfully so this performance certainly stands out!" Mr. Contesta said as a 10 flashed on his board.

"I thought the use of smokescreen was remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said as another 10 came up on his screen.

"This routine definitely captures the powers of grass and fire respectively, and I thought this performance was super interesting! Both pokemon and coordinators seemed to be really in sync" Len Town's Nurse Joy said. A ten came up on her screen as well. A perfect score. He wasn't sure why, but he definitely knew that Nurse Joy knew they were from last night and somehow that was really embarrassing to him but he hid it well.

"Congrats!" Brianna said when they came back into the room.

"Thanks," they both said at the same time.

"Haha! You guys really are in sync!" Brianna laughed.

"No we're not!" They said again. She laughed harder.

Finally, they found out who would be going onto the next round and who they would be fighting. The bracket was set up to if both teams won every battle, they would face each other last.

"Let's win!" May said to Brianna.

"You're on!" She smirked.

Both teams made it to the final battle. Each side was determined to win. He sent out Cyndaquil alongside Bulbasaur once again. Brianna and Ellie sent out Hoppip and Oddish.

"Lots of grass types," Drew commented to himself.

The match began and May and Drew wasted no time. Cyndaquil shot off in a flame wheel towards Oddish who was too slow to avoid. Bulbasaur shot it's vines out to grab a hold of Hoppip and even without the help of Beautifly who gave the move more punch, Bulbasaur was able to sling Hoppip around and slam it to the ground leaving it dizzy for a moment. Brianna and Ellie lost a good chunk of points.

Then came the counter attack. Cyndaquil just barely avoided being poisoned by a poison powder attack from Hoppip if it hadn't been for Bulbasaur taking it due to its immunity to being poisoned. But as Bulbasaur tackled Hoppip, Oddish let out an acid attack that was a direct hit on Cyndaquil.

This revealed a new side of Cyndaquil. A hot temper. Following Drew's command, it unleashed a large ember that hit both Oddish and Hoppip. It just narrowly avoided Bulbasaur. When he finished his attack, Cyndaquil screamed proudly. Another counter acid attack hit Cyndaquil and it roared in rage before glowing brightly. Cyndaquil was evolving. The light grew even brighter before Quilava appeared, angry and ready to fight. The crowd gasped.

"Cyndaquil evolved into Quilava! I wonder how this will change the course of the battle!" The MC Adrian announced.

"Flame wheel!" Drew said. Quilava shot down the field in a fiery ball hitting Oddish directly. Ellie and Brianna's points fell even more. They were almost out of points with less than 2 minutes left on the clock. Brianna and Ellie were so focused on Quilava that Bulbasaur sent a powerful petal dance, sweeping Oddish and Hoppip up in it. Their points were fully depleted. He and May had won their first contest together in Johto. They were presented the ribbons, a magenta in color to represent the town's abundance of Psychic Pokemon. They shook hands with Ellie and Brianna and made their way to the back room again.

"Watch out next time because we'll definitely win!" Brianna warned them as she and Ellie took their leave.

"You know, I'm a bit jealous that Cyndaquil evolved before Bulbasaur," May said.

"Yeah, but Professor Elm said that Cyndaquil has had a couple different trainers so it's already more experienced than a typical starter," he said.

"Yeah, that's true," she said thoughtfully. They were already walking back to Azalea Town to make the contest there in time.

She stopped walking and Drew turned around curiously.

"Hey Drew?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm so glad we won today. We were much more in sync than our first contest in Violet City," she said.

"Yeah, me too," he said. He turned back around and was about to start walking again when May crashed into him from behind. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her.

"I'm glad you're my partner," she said. He gently put a hand over one of hers on his stomach, as if touching her would burn. Whether it would burn him or her, he didn't know.

"Me too," he said, glad she wasn't facing him to see the blush that had taken over his face.

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-A/N-

I told you I would pick up the pace a little bit. I decided not to do my time skip line because last time I used it, I freaked a bunch of people out because they thought the chapter was over! Anyways, hoped you enjoyed! See you next week!

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