Previously...

Once they got to Eggseter, they ate first before restocking on all their needed items. It was about a quarter till 3 when they left and headed back into the woods. They had about another 3 days until they would reach Mahogany Town. It was crazy to him how they were already a little over halfway done with the contest season, on their way to hopefully get their 4th ribbon. The time he had left was slowly running out.

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Once they finally arrived in Mahogany Town, they made it their first priority to go to the Pokemon Center. They reserved a room and ate a real meal, and he finally felt like he could relax now that they were back in civilization.

Until they ran into Brendan in the Pokemon Center lobby the next morning.

"No way! It's crazy seeing you two here!" Brendan said, sickeningly cheerful as always. Or maybe Drew just saw him that way because he perceived him as a threat, even though May was so much better off with someone like Brendan.

"Brendan! How are you?" May asked excitedly, her blue eyes sparkling in delight at running into a friend.

"I'm doing well! I take it there's a contest here?" He asked, casually throwing an arm around her shoulder and looking at Drew challengingly.

"You got it!" May said, completely oblivious to the stare down that he was currently in with the guy she called her childhood best friend.

"What brings you here then?" Drew asked, feigning interest. He just wanted them to take their attention off of each other.

"I've got a gym battle to win," Brendan grinned, showing off his confidence in his ability. He turned back to May, pulling her closer to stare down at her.

"So how's about you finally come to one of my matches then?" He asked cooly, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Of course! I'm just glad our paths finally aligned! Our contest is at 1 pm. Why don't you come watch us, and then we'll go watch your gym battle?" May proposed. Drew had forgotten that promise she made to him. Brendan won't be so easy to shake off again.

"That sounds like a great idea to me," Brendan agreed with an easy smile. "Now why don't we all grab a bite to eat?" he suggested, nodding his head towards the cafeteria of the pokemon center. Drew silently followed as May said an enthusiastic "sure!"

Brendan sure had the worst timing. He was already getting discouraged from the lack of time that he had left to be a coordinator. Not only that, but he was running out of time with May. Selfishly, he wanted to keep her all to himself, up until the very last moment, but that wasn't fair to her. Besides, she was better off with Brendan anyways. Someone who could actually be there, and whose first instinct wasn't to conceal his emotions. Drew was emotionally constipated, and with all the little things adding up on this journey, he had already started to crack. It was only a matter of time before he would burst in a dramatic fashion, going down in a blaze of glory. Why did Brendan have to show up when he was mourning just how little time he had left with May?

He found himself not really able to say anything at breakfast. He just listened to Brendan and May's easy flowing chatter, the conversation flowing effortlessly seamless between them. He couldn't help but wish he could be like Brendan. Free from the heavy responsibility sitting on his shoulders, and free to pursue whomever he wanted. But Drew was not Brendan. He wasn't the son of a well renowned and liked professor. He wasn't on a journey to discover more about himself.

Drew was the only son.

The heir to a billion dollar company.

And Drew was a runaway.

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If they were going to do well in this contest, then he was going to have to snap out of it. The self pity that had been weighing over him since May had almost been captured had only been multiplied by Brendan's presence. It was fogging his brain, and if he didn't focus, he would cost them a contest. There was only one more pair before they were to go out on stage and perform. Drew attempted to clear his mind, closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing. He was caught off guard by the sudden touch to his back. May had gently begun to rub her fingertips up and down against the fabric, an attempt to sooth him. Even with the barrier of his shirt, he could still feel the pads of her fingers. It was like she knew he was tense. He melted against her touch, his troubled thoughts being pushed aside by feelings of adoration. He really was so in love with her.

"What's bothering you?" She asked quietly, so no one else in the crowded room would hear.

"Nothing really," He denied. He didn't want to potentially hinder her performance from her taking on his negative feelings.

"Please stop pushing me away, you know I'm here for you right?" she said softly. If he were a weaker man, he would've collapsed into her arms, sinking into her warmth and giving in to the temptation. However, May had made it clear that he shouldn't act in such a way towards her, unless he was willing to deal with the consequences.

"Just anxious I guess," He admitted with a sigh. "I don't have much time left, and I'm really hoping we win that ribbon cup," he said. That was part of the truth anyways.

"We will. I can't believe that me of all people would ever have to say this to you, or anyone ever would have to say this to you but be confident," she smiled encouragingly, meeting his eyes for a brief moment. He saw something flash in her eyes before she casually withdrew the hand that had been stroking his spine. He gave her a confused look, but she just smiled bitterly.

"People were starting to stare and get the wrong idea," she clarified. His heart sank at her words. "Let them get the wrong idea," was what he wanted to say, but instead he simply bit his tongue.

Then they were up. Quilava and Blaziken together to perform a fire based appeal routine, showering the crowd with sparkles of crimson, gold, and amber. A wave of overheat from Blaziken followed by the peppering of firework-like embers from Cyndaquil, lighting the stadium into a warm hue. When finished with their routine, they received the top score of the event so far, before returning backstage. They were greeted by congratulations and praises from their fellow coordinators.

Once Drew was able to focus, the battles passed by fairly quickly, the Mahogany Town Ribbon not much of a challenge to win, no particular duo really set apart from the group, which was rather unfortunate, but at the same time, beneficial to their ribbon count. Brendan screamed loudly in support, his hands cupping his mouth, amplifying the sound as they held up their ribbons to the crowd. He was seated towards the front, and the white beanie on his head made him easier to spot in a crowd. He shot them both an enthusiastic double thumbs up. Brendan met them outside of the contest hall, complimenting their performance.

"Why don't we grab some dinner in celebration?" Brendan asked, and well, it was dinnertime and he and May were tired from the four hour long contest. Once their bellies were full and satisfied from a local restaurant May had picked out, it was finally onto watching Brendan's gym battle, just as May had promised some time ago. It was about a quarter until 7, the sun beginning to glow red in the sunset as they made their way to Pryce's gym. They passed a rather shady looking building that was labeled as a souvenir shop on their way.

Pryce was a well manicured older gentleman, probably in his mid 60s. He welcomed them in and began to talk to Brendan as Drew and May took a seat in the stands. They discussed the conditions and rules of the battle before going to their respective sides of the battlefield.

"Good luck, Brendan!" May shouted encouragingly. Brendan grinned lazily up at them, giving a wink before sending out his first pokemon, Hariyama. Pryce followed suit, sending out Seel. They went back and forth, slowly chipping away at the other's pokemon before finally, it was Seel that went down. Surprisingly, Brendan switched pokemon. Truthfully, Drew hadn't been paying much attention when they had gone over the rules, but it must have been in the rules a different pokemon must be used for each round. Pryce sent out Dewgong and Brendan let out his next pokemon, Lairon. Drew couldn't help but notice Brendan occasionally looking up at the stands towards them and smiling at May.

When he looked over next to him, May was completely fixated on the battle. She was giving all of her attention to Brendan, which wasn't necessarily bad, she was actually being a great friend in doing so, but Drew couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in his stomach from it. He didn't like that she was paying so much attention to another guy and Brendan's smug grins didn't do anything to quell the feeling.

In a sudden stroke of possessiveness, Drew slung his arm around May's shoulder, pulling her closer towards him. He felt her body sink against his in comfort, making his heart swell in a triumphant pride. Take that, Brendan. However, his victory was short lived, because almost as soon as she had relaxed against him, she began to pull away, lifting his arm off from around her. She gave him a warning look. He was crossing her boundaries and he knew it, but Brendan had the audacity to be so smug about May watching his battle. Drew was being a bit cruel, but he was stressed, and the last thing he wanted to watch happen was the girl he loved get stolen by another guy. Not right in front of him, not while he was still there.

He pushed his luck. Since she wasn't okay with the showy display, he could try something more subtle. He reached out his hand in the empty space between them, brushing the back of his hand against hers. She didn't acknowledge his touch. He went to interlock their hands together when she pulled her hand away from him. A frustrated look came over her face, almost a hurt expression as well. In his attempts to calm his jealousy, he had only ended up hurting May in the process. Well, that was just typical of him now. A wave of self loathing rolled over him as he focused his attention back on the battle. Lairon had been replaced by Magcargo and Dewgong by Piloswine, the battle close to a conclusion. The air was tense, not only from the battle, but between him and May especially. There was no one he could blame for it but himself.

Brendan ended up winning the battle, Pryce rewarding him with a handshake and a Glacier Badge. When they all reconvened in the gym lobby, May gave him a wholehearted congratulations, and from Drew, a less personal good job. He smiled proudly, showing off his shiny new badge up close before storing it in his badge case for safekeeping.

"What do you say we get some ice cream to celebrate?" Brendan suggested. May's eyes lit up.

"I'm all for that!" she said enthusiastically. Drew just shrugged and gave a "sure." There was one thing Drew had learned about Brendan. The guy was near impossible to get rid of. Three servings of ice cream and an hour of idle conversation later, the sky was pitch dark, the stars hidden from view due to the light from the town. During their whole time with Brendan, Drew could hardly resist the urge to have constant skinship with May. She wasn't off limits in any way, and he felt threatened by Brendan's presence, his jealousy making him want to establish any form of superiority in his relationship with May compared to the other.

Unrelated though, the guy seriously couldn't take a hint for when he was overstaying his welcome. May was beginning to lose some of her bubbliness from exhaustion and she kept looking over at Drew. He could read her eyes, knowing that she wanted to have a talk with him after Brendan finally left. Finally, May was able to steer him away, getting him to go back to the Pokemon Center to phone his father, Professor Birch, and tell him all about his latest victory. Once he was out of sight, May didn't hesitate turning her attention fully on Drew.

"Come on, let's go somewhere a bit more private," she said curtly, standing up from her chair and waiting for him to follow. He obliged, following her to the forest on the outskirts of town where there was a nice lake a little ways into the route.

"How many times are we going to have to go over this?" May sighed exasperatedly. Drew held his tongue. He had no good reason. Other than his ugly jealousy.

"I'm not your girlfriend so stop treating me like I belong to you whenever it's convenient for you!" She spat, her sapphire eyes raging with blue fire. She was right, and he couldn't say a thing to defend himself. He was in the wrong.

"The hot and cold is driving me nuts! Just pick one and follow through with it!" May said, frustrated, and running her fingers through her hair. For some reason, that sentence made something inside Drew snap.

"I told you! I want to be with you, but my given circumstances will only leave us both hurt at the end! That doesn't mean I ever wanted you any less!" Drew said sincerely, but anger was beginning to bubble up.

"You only seem to act like you want me whenever it's convenient for you so don't give me that crap," May said as she began to choke up, the pricks of tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Drew felt his stomach sink at the forming tears, but the rage was building from her words.

"I wish you had never told me how you felt," He said firmly, his tone serious as May gave him an incredulous look, her jaw dropped slightly in disbelief.

"If I had gone on just pining, never knowing if you felt the same, I could've been fine. But knowing you feel the same way and we still can't be together has only made things more painful," As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. The way he had worried it implied that all of this was May's fault.

"I'm sorry my feelings were such an inconvenience to you, then," She said through a now steady flow of tears. Drew was in shock of his own words.

"That's not true at all," He said nervously, trying his best to repair the extreme amount of damage he had caused.

"That's what you just said," She said tearfully.

"That's not... That's not what I meant," He said apologetically, gently reaching out his hand to try and wipe away the stray tears from her reddened cheeks. She flinched away from his touch, moving out of his reach and wiping her tears herself on the back of her hand.

"I just need a minute by myself," She stated, before walking away, a bit deeper into the woods.

Drew felt like a total jerk. He knew he was the one who was in the wrong, but he was too stubborn and prideful to apologize about it. He had taken advantage of her feelings to get away with his indulgences and his jealousy. He was determined now more than ever to make a sincere and thought out apology for when she returned. But a few minutes passed and nothing. He wasn't too concerned. He wanted to give her the time she needed to think.

That was, until he heard the scream. He shot up from his spot on the grass, immediately heading in the direction of the sound. He ran as fast as he could, dodging trees and brambles, stumbling over roots to try and reach the right spot. He had known immediately from the sound that it had been May's voice. She was in danger. It must be the agents that followed him around. The sinking feeling worsened in his stomach. He felt the bile in his throat as he resisted the urge to vomit.

Through the trees he saw two figures. One was the regular outline of a person, the other looked like a person with something slung over their shoulder. As he got closer, he realized it was a very unconscious May.

"You should've been more careful! Someone could've heard her scream," one of the guys said. Drew found he didn't recognize them, but as he slowly approached, he realized he did recognize their uniform. It was Team Rocket. What could they possibly want with May?

"Too late to change that. We gotta get out of here before the boy finds us." The one carrying May said gruffly.

"I thought that they would never separate. I guess we got lucky," the other one laughed. While all Drew wanted to do was rush at them and take May back, he had to play this smart. It was two against one. He followed stealthily behind them. To his surprise, they went back into the city. Were they idiots? Surely there were police around? He trailed after them, a bit of a ways away so they wouldn't hear him as easily. They passed the gym, the windows completely dark. The warm glow of the street lights reflected off the glass, creating a mirror. He looked briefly to see if anyone was behind him, just in case. There was nothing. To his confusion they stopped outside the somewhat run down gift shop from earlier. It was just a souvenir shop, what was the deal with it? But the grunts stopped, and Drew took his chance to make a move.

"Put her down!" He yelled, announcing his presence, hoping someone else nearby would hear and help.

"It's the boy!" The one who wasn't carrying May rasped. He grabbed his walkie, speaking into it. "We're outside HQ, we've got the girl, so come collect him!" he said harshly. The Team Rocket HQ was a souvenir shop? That didn't matter because they had May.

"What are you standing around for doofus, take the girl in!" the grunt yelled at the guy carrying May. Drew rushed forward, reaching for one of his pokeballs. He was right up on them, hand grasping on Flygon's pokeball when all the sudden he was yanked backwards. Both his arms were held back by the two men behind him. He began to struggle violently, watching as the two grunts took May into the souvenir shop, closing the door behind them. What did they want with her? His breathing and his heart rate accelerated, and he was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Fun's over, Kid." His whole body went cold when he realized he recognized the voice. But then a hand came and smothered his mouth, muffling his sounds of struggle. He felt a sharp prick of pain in his arm, but all he could focus on was breaking out of his family's agents' hold and saving May. He bit down on the hand that was blocking his face, causing the owner to let out a string of curses and that was the last thing he heard before black splotches began to appear in his vision and everything went dark.

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When Drew came to, he was lying on his back, carefully tucked under the covers of a plush king sized bed. He stared up at the white ceiling, mesmerized by the fan blades spinning around and around. His head was pounding, one of the worst migraines he'd ever had. He had a strange dream, that May was kidnapped, and that he was captured by his family's agents. Or maybe this was a dream?

He sat up groggily, taking in the familiar surroundings. The old purple comforter on top of his sheets. The wooden four post bed frame. The tan walls, and plush carpet floors. The wooden door leading into the ensuite bathroom. Bookshelves housing books on business, statistics, leadership, and whatever else he had been forced to read in his studies. But he knew of the few coordinating books he had snuck in. He hadn't been there in years, but somehow his dream world was able to capture every aspect of it perfectly.

Strange.

Suddenly, it was like the fog had cleared from his head. This was no dream. He had been in Johto, and now he was in his childhood bedroom in a completely different region.

Oh no. May.

He threw his covers off frantically, his legs almost giving out as he tried to stand on the ground. He thought back to the piercing pain in his arm. He must have been injected with something that messed him up real good. He stumbled for a moment, regaining his balance, before trying to run to the door. It was a pathetic excuse for running, his body still messed up from the drug and being dazed by sleep. His mind could only focus on one thing.

May.

He had to save her.

What did Team Rocket want from her?

What would they do to her?

He began to panic. How long had he been out for? What if he never saw her again? The regret sank in his stomach like a sack of bricks. He knew that one day he would be permanently separated from her, but not like this. He didn't want to get too attached, but now, all that he could think about was that he never told her how he really felt. He didn't just like her, he loved her. He was in love with her. And now he may never get the chance to tell her that. It bothered him more than he had convinced himself all those weeks ago that it would.

His hand trembled as he tried to grip the door knob, only for it to open from the other side, causing him to stumble back. He lost his balance and tumbled to the floor. He looked up to meet the cold, distant, icy eyes of his mother.

"Leaving so soon?"

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A/N

So... Um, I've been waiting to write this chapter for literal years. Or at least, the last half of this chapter. It's crazy that I finally got to it. Also, I promised you longer chapters, so I hope you enjoyed your 3 thousand 7 hundred word chapter. I actually had fun writing this which was nice because I was kind of dreading writing this for a while if I'm being honest. Anyways, life got super busy so I hope this long update will make up for it. I'm not sure how many chapters are left after this one honestly. Uhhh, I think if I keep going at the rate I am, make 10-15. I hope no more than 10, but, I also thought this story was going to only be like 20 or 30 chapters and well, here we are 55 chapters later. Thank you all for your support, it means a lot and I'm sorry I left you guys hanging for 5 months. I'm hoping to finally finish Platonic this summer and work on Rose Garden, which is the next contestshipping fanfic I will be working on. I am now exhausted and I didn't think this chapter would end up so long so I'm going to probably go to sleep after I post this. It is currently 12:24 am where I am as I am writing this author's note. Well, anyways, until next time,

YouDontKnowShipping