"So if the next contest is in Nimbasa City, and that's to the north, I need to go right?..." A girl with short brown hair questioned, looking up from her map and scanning the area.

"Ohh, I'm lost again!" She cried, falling to the ground helplessly. She had only just left Castelia City that morning, and she was already lost. In the short two weeks she had been in Unova, this was the third time this had happened. "How did I ever make it through Johto and Sinnoh by myself?" She muttered.

It was then she noticed a trainer in the forest off the path to her left. It looked like he was training with a Froslass and a Pawniard. He had purple hair that was just above his shoulders, a blue jacket, and navy colored jeans. 'Maybe he could help me.' She thought to herself.

"Froslass! Use--" "Um, excuse me?" She squeaked out, walking up to him. He looked at her with a scowl on his face. 'Wow, talk about rude.'

"I'm lost. You see, I need to get to Nimbasa City for their Pokémon Contest. It's in five days, so I need to get there quickly. Is there anyway you could give me directions?" He returned his pokémon, turning to her.

"I was heading to Nimbasa anyways. As long as you don't bother me, you can follow me there." He grunted. He had no idea why he was going to let her follow him. He recognized her as the "Princess of Hoenn", which sounded a little too prissy for him. He grabbed his backpack and walked onto the path, heading left.

"My name is May! How about you?" The girl, May, chirped, running forwards to keep up with his stride. She slowed her pace to the same as his and looked questioningly at him.

"None of your business." He tersely replied.

"Come on! At the very least just give me your name!" She didn't want to travel with a complete stranger. At the very least, a name would be nice.

"As I said, my name is none of your business, and I already knew your name because I saw you in the Wallace Cup a couple years back. Also, people back home call you the Princess of Hoenn. Anyone from Sinnoh would easily know you from even a glance."

"You watched the Wallace Cup? Hey, that's pretty cool! I actually used to travel with one of the other competitors, Ash, and Dawn, the girl I lost to, is one of my best friends!" She excitedly informed him.

"I know of them both, too. Ash was my rival, and Dawn was traveling with him during that time."

"Wait, I remember you now! You're the one that Ash had such a grueling battle with just before losing to Tobias! Not the Conway guy, but Paul!"

"Must be stupid if it took you that long to figure it out." He grunted, speeding up and walking away from her. She quickened herself once again.

"Hey wait for me!" May yelled, running towards him. Little did they know that another person had saw the whole ordeal...

"Is May seriously going to travel with someone she knows nothing about? Psh, seems a little fishy to me. Roserade, we better follow them and make sure May stays safe. I don't like the looks of that guy..." He muttered to his pokémon.

"Rade, roserade." It agreed with it's trainer. The two of them went deeper into the forest, but not far enough that they couldn't see the path and hear all of May and Paul's words.

* * * * *

"So Paul, how long does it take to get from here to Nimbasa City?" May questioned him, practically jogging to keep up with his quick pace.

"We still have to get through a large desert, so I'd say at least another day. We'll stop early tonight on the outskirts of the desert and leave before daybreak tomorrow. It's too dangerous to spend the night there." May nodded.

They continued their trek through the forest, only stopping once for a small break. The mysterious figure continued following them. He didn't trust May with this "Paul" guy. He'd reveal himself whenever the time was right, which would probably be in Nimbasa City. He'd have to risk it while in the desert, but if anything, he could just fly on his Flygon. It'd be quicker and less of a risk.

With Paul and May, no words were exchanged. May eventually called out her Beautifly, wanting someone to chat with. Paul had already threatened her, saying he'd leave without her if she continued bothering him. He could care less about her whispering to Beautifly. He could make out words everyone once in a while, ones such as "rude", and "cold". So what? That was just the way Paul was, and he didn't plan to change it over some clueless, lost traveler, no matter her status.

By dinner time, they had reached the outskirts of the vast desert. Paul set up camp, and ordered May to go find berries and wood for a fire. She came back after 30 minutes, arms loaded with firewood.

"I thought I told you to get berries, too?" Paul said, meaning his context in more of an order than a question.

"I figured firewood would be a better thing to get first. I'll go search for berries now. Sorry!" May apologized, having a slight fear of Paul. He just had this sinister aura around him, one that May didn't really trust. Still, he was a rival of Ash's. She felt that because of that reason, she shouldn't fear him. She would still keep her guard up, though.

She ventured back into the forest, calling out her Blaziken to search from the ground and Beautifly to search from the air. She scurried off, searching every tree, bush, and even in between tree roots.

"Yes!" She shouted, sticking her hand into a hole between some roots and feeling what she thought to be berries, only to shriek in fear. She had most certainly not found berries. She quickly retracted her hand, only to find it was a Roggenrola that had frightened her.

"Sorry if I disturbed you!" May apologized quickly, bowing in remorse.

  "Roggenrola!" It nodded and ran back into it's hole. May sighed, putting her head down.

"Looks like we'll just have to go hungry..." She sadly murmured to herself, only to be spooked by something landing on her head. She shrieked yet again, only to find it was her Beautifly. It quietly laughed to itself. "Be quiet!" She playfully said, laughing herself. Blaziken walked up behind them, arms full of a large variety of berries.

"Blaziken, where did you find all of those?" May questioned, standing up quickly. Blaziken turned its head and nodded towards May's left.

"We'll take these back to camp, and if Paul thinks we need more, we'll go back and get some. I think what you two found will be enough, though." They ran back to camp, silently hoping that they were not lost yet again. Eventually, they smelled smoke, and arrived back at camp.

"Paul! Blaziken and Beautifly found a ton of different berries!" She cheered as they arrived back. Paul's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Blaziken barely being able to carry them all.

"Do we need anymore, or is this enough?" She inquired, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow.

"That should be plenty. If we balance out what we eat tonight, we should have certain proportions of different berries left for tomorrow. For now, I can make our meal and you can set up your tent or whatever." Paul relieved her. May ran underneath a tree and plopped her green backpack down at the base. She pulled out her sleeping bag and rolled it out next to her backpack. Taking her fanny pack off her waist, she let out the rest of her pokémon for a little training. Other than Blaziken and Beautifly, her Unova team consisted of Glaceon, Wartortle, and Minccino. Munchlax was back home, along with Venasaur and Delcatty, which had evolved using a moon stone while in Sinnoh. She had just caught her Minccino outside of Striaton City. She planned to add one more Unova pokémon to her team. She wanted one that would be strong for the battle rounds of her contests.

How did Unova contests work? They operated very much like Sinnoh contests. The dress code was formal, and though seals weren't that big of a deal, they were still used occasionally in the appeal rounds of contests.

May's Unova contest outfit was less detailed than what she wore in Sinnoh. For Sinnoh contests, she used the same outfit as she had worn in the Wallace Cup. In Unova, however, she decided on a plain red dress with a tight bodice. It formed a v along the neckline, and the skirt went a little past her knees. She wore her hair down and brushed out, with a red bow in the back. For her shoes, she chose plain red flats.

As for her everyday clothes? Well, she had decided to keep it simple with her Johto outfit, which she had worn al, the way through Sinnoh as well. She knew she needed to change it up at some point, however, so she was going to do something different next region.

In Johto, she had placed in the top four again. Harley was in the top sixteen, and Solidad and Drew battled it out in the finals. Solidad took the Ribbon Cup once again. In Sinnoh, Solidad was actually beaten by Drew, so she ended up placing in the top eight. May ended up beating Drew in the semifinals, though. She lost in the finals to Timmy, the boy from Verdanturf Town in Hoenn. Him and his Duskclops had come a long ways, it evolving into Dusknoir back in Hoenn. As for Harley, he didn't make it past the top sixty-four. May thought it served him right after how many times he targeted her while in Johto and Sinnoh. Without Ash, Brock, and Max there to help foil his plans, she was left to fend for herself. Drew would step in if he was there, but he wasn't always in the same contests as her, leaving her to grit her teeth and take the embarrassment head on.

"Minccino, I'm pairing you up with Wartortle for training. You two will go up against Blaziken and Beautifly. Glaceon, you can battle whoever comes out on top, okay?" May told her pokémon, bending down to match the smaller one's heights. They nodded, saying their names.

"Okay, Blaziken, use flamethrower on Wartortle, and Beautifly, use psychic on the flames! Wartortle, counter that with surf, and Minccino, help out Wartortle and use baby-doll eyes on Beautifly!"

* * * * *

"Whew! Today was tiring!" May crawled into her sleeping bag, tired after all the walking and training that they had done that day. She took off her bandanna and let out her hair, brushing through it with her fingers. She zipped up her sleeping bag and took a glance at Paul, who'd laid down and fell asleep minutes before she had. She giggled quietly to herself. He didn't look as menacing when he was asleep. She rolled over and pulled the sleeping bag to where it covered all her face except for her eyes, and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.