Previously...

Despite the tension that had been hanging over them since May's return from Sinnoh, they were getting back into a groove again. May was hoping the momentum would continue into their performance the next day. They definitely weren't at their best but they weren't at their worst either. They would have to push all the confusing feelings aside to be perfectly in sync again. It wasn't impossible, but it would be difficult to do.

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They woke up early that morning. The actual contest itself wouldn't start until around one that afternoon which would give them several hours for last minute practice to clean up the rough edges of their appeal routine.

Things between her and Drew were still... weird for a lack of a better word, but from the surface their teamwork seemed to be relatively unscathed. The only problem was the strong emotions that had been churning in her gut ever since the Goldenrod contest.

It was like they were just constantly going around each other in circles. Hot then cold, back and forth, the boundaries unclear, each testing how far the line of friendship could be pushed into the unfamiliar territory of their not so friendly feelings for each other. It's already caused them enough trouble as of late, and May believed it would only stand to get worse until someone really got hurt. And she had a good feeling that someone would be her.

When they approached the contest hall, the perimeter was secured and guarded by stern looking officers who seemed prepared for whatever potential threat they could face. She really hoped that there wouldn't be such an instance today. She was not feeling good about the contest already. She felt a comforting hand land on her shoulder. She gazed up at Drew, blue eyes wide. He kept his eyes straight forward.

"It's okay," he said softly. He must have been able to tell she was nervous. She let out a deep sigh, trying to let out her stress with it as they got closer to the automatic doors. Drew's hand remained on her shoulder for a minute, only pulling away right before they entered the threshold of the contest hall.

When they got to the coordinators room backstage, they saw a familiar duo. It was the twins they had competed against at their first contest in Johto. Their auburn hair had grown out a little more, finally able to stay in a ponytail without slipping out. When the twins finally saw them, their faces lit up and they immediately made their way over to them.

"Hi May! Hi Drew!" One of them chirped. May still couldn't quite figure out who was Abby and who was Savannah, they just looked so similar.

"Hey! How have you two been doing at your contests?" May asked curiously.

"We've gotten three ribbons so far," said the other. "What about you?"

"We've won three," Drew answered.

"Oh wow! We're tied!"

"Have you been enjoying contests and traveling?" May asked.

"Yeah! It's been so much fun! I'm so happy I could do it with my sister too!"

"Glad to hear it," May grinned.

"Oh! It's almost time! Abby and I are going to run through our strategy again one more time before it starts! Good luck out there!" One of the twins said, who must have been Savannah.

"You too!" She said as they waved and went back to where they had been sitting prior.

"We should probably follow in their suit and talk over the routine and battle strategy again," Drew said. She nodded in agreement.

They were the first up for the appeal round. When it came time for the opening of the contest, they were backstage, ready as Adrian introduced the judges to the crowd.

"Now for our first performance, please welcome May and Drew to the stage!" Adrian announced and they took their cue to walk on to the stage.

Absol started the show with shooting a water pulse at Glaceon who froze it with an ice beam and launched it up into the air with an iron tail. To finish the move, Absol shot off a razor wind attack, shattering the ice into little shimmering icy blue sparkles. As they started to fall, Absol used flash to illuminate the sparkles further, light bouncing off the tiny ice crystals in all directions creating an almost spider web looking illumination between sparkles. Until Glaceon's shadow ball was fired straight up and it dissipated outwards like a shock wave sending a final purply darkness over the auditorium. The crowd cheered loudly as they bowed to signal the end of the routine.

"Wow! A very strong act to start us off this afternoon! Let's hear what our judges have to say!" Adrian said as the stage lights shifted over towards the judges.

"The use of flash was simply remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said, scoring them a 10.

"I'm always impressed by your routines but I especially loved the way you played with light levels in this specific one, it was incredible," Mr. Contesta said, also scoring them a ten.

"That last shadow ball at the end was such a shock! May and Glaceon have clearly worked hard to gain that ability of control!" Ecruteak's Nurse Joy said, giving them their last score of 10.

"A 30! That's a perfect score folks! And right off the bat! I would not want to be the act to follow. It is so like this duo to set the bar high!" Adrian said dramatically as they were exiting the stage.

Once they got backstage, Abby and Savannah grinned at them and gave them a thumbs up from across the room. However, the other competition was less friendly and besides the twins, they came back to dirty looks from their competitors. There was no use letting it get to her since she knew what it was like from the other side. They weren't as confident in their abilities so they got mad at others for being better than them. It was just how life was.

Yet again, they were facing the twins. It was the last round of the contest, and May was determined to win this time. Things seemed to be mostly in their favor, until May hesitated on her next move, whether to help protect Absol or protect her own Glaceon from getting hit by Savannah's Quagsire.

Her lack of a decision caused both Glaceon and Absol to take a hit, knocking their points lower and closer to the twins' score. A wicked signal beam last second from Abby's Ampharos struck Drew's Absol and knocked their points just slightly below their opponents'. For the second time, Abby and Savannah's managed to steal a victory from them. Quagsire and Ampharos high fived as the twins hugged each other, squealing excitedly about beating their idols once again. Adrian was presenting the two with the Ecruteak Ribbon as May and Drew exited backstage.

They had the highest score of the appeal round and were winning for most of the final battle, but just in the last second, the Ecruteak ribbon was stolen away from them.

On the bright side, fortunately the increased security had seemed to have done the job because the contest went by completely uninterrupted by Team members Rocket to everyone's relief.

No words were exchanged between the two of them as they left the contest hall. She had no doubt that Drew was well aware and probably mad at the mistake she had made by hesitating. Ever since the Wallace cup she had become less confident in herself, and if she didn't snap out of it she could ultimately cost them the Grand Festival. Even though he wouldn't speak to her right now, it's not like she could either. She didn't know what to say and she was too deep in a headspace of guilt and self pity to even try. So they just walked in silence back towards the Pokemon Center.

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A/N

Hey guys, it's been a while. Sorry it took me so long to get out another chapter, but I was quite burnt out from this fic and then life happened and suddenly it's 3 months later since I've last updated. I want to remind you all once again that no, I'm not going to discontinue Platonic even if it looks like I did. I'm just surprised I'm somehow written over 50 chapters of it and probably with like 10 of 15 chapters excluding all my author's notes and my outline for the notes at the top of my google doc I'll have written the same amount of words as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone, which is really weird to me XD.

Also, while I was not writing Platonic, that doesn't mean I wasn't writing. I was working on some other fics for another fandom that won't see the light of day on my wattpad and my writing style has changed a little bit, not sure if it's evident, but I started writing longer chapters for my other works so I don't even know how I managed this far with such short chapters, even if they still take hours to write. Anyways, I may not be as active, but I'm going to finish Platonic, and I'm going to write Rose Garden like I promised too. I won't go back on my word because I hate it when I'm reading a fic and the writer got so far into a fic and then didn't finish it. I don't want to put you all through that. Anyways, until next time!

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