Drew clamped his hands over his ears as the baby began crying again, it's siren-like wail piercing through the green hard boy's eardrums.

"For heaven's sakes, Dratini," he yelled to be heard over the noisily sobbing dragon, "Flygon's just sitting there! All you have to do is use twister on him"

Dratini only cried louder.

Flygon, who'd agreed to literally stand there and let Dratini practice twister on him, returned to his Pokeball to escape the baby's shrieks. "Thanks anyway, Flygon," Drew muttered to the unmoving Pokeball.

He sighed. "What is it this time, Dratini?" The teary-eyed baby dragon only stared at him sadly. Sighing again, Drew buried his face in his hands.

It wasn't like Dratini didn't know how to use twister, no, she frequently used it on her meal if she wasn't satisfied with it. She only used the attack when she wanted to, and Drew just didn't get why she wouldn't use it in training when she literally had a sitting duck to practice on.

"Again," he ordered. "On that tree."

And as usual, the stubborn baby didn't comply.

The next morning, Drew awoke to the sounds of a baby yelling for food.

And when I say morning, I mean 12:00 A.M. As in midnight.

Fumbling around for a flashlight with a yawn, he slipped out of his sleeping bag. "Alright, alright. I'll feed you. Chill."

As if training the stubborn thing wasn't hard enough, Dratini refused to eat unless she was served at precisely at 12:00 A.M. And 12:00 P.M.

Then there was the process of making the food. First, Drew had to heat up the milk and put it in a bottle. Next, he would stir in some water, as he was trying to gradually move her appetite from milk to water and other hard foods. Then, he would hand feed her the bottle.

He had to get up and do this everyday at midnight. Every day since she'd hatched a month ago. He'd tried moving her to a more reasonable eating schedule, but she'd flat out refused to eat the food she'd been given in the morning, and started crying when she wasn't fed at noon until he eventually broke and made her food.

And all of this was without the last step of Dratini's eating process. She would then reject the water in the milk, use her long body to squeeze the rejected meal on Drew's face, then use twister on the soaked boy.

So then he'd have to repeat the whole process over once or twice more until he gave in and gave her pure milk.

And by that point, he'd lost at least two hours of sleep.

-------------------------------------------

"Roselia, I just don't feel like I'm taking care of her properly," Drew confided to his partner pokemon sometime after sunrise a few hours later.

"Rose," she said sadly, watching as Dratini climbed on and around Flygon as if he were a playground. Thankfully, the green dragon didn't seem to mind, or for that matter, notice the baby.

"I don't think I can take all of this much longer," he said softly with his eyes closed. "If today goes badly... I'm going to have to give her up."

"ROSELIA, ROSE!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" She gasped.

"Yeah," he said with a small frown across his lips. "I just don't think that I'm raising her the way I should. Every little thing I do makes her either cry or attack me. I just think that someone else could do it far better than I could. You know I have absolutely no experience with raising a baby pokemon. I don't want to let her go, either."

"Ro ro rose Roselia!"

"No, Solidad's all the way over in Sinnoh and won't be back for another month and a half. And her pokenav broke right before she left, remember?"

"Sol, sol, Absol," (You could always ask May to help you, you know. She raised Glaceon from an egg.) Absol commented, joining the conversation.

"And what on earth makes you think that would be a good idea?" Drew asked haughtily.

"Soooooool," (I just said. She raised Glaceon from an egg.) Absol argued. "Absol, sol!" (for Mew's sake, would you quit acting like you two hardly know each other, and don't you dare pull the "we're just rivals" excuse on me!)

"Tini?" (Uh... Who's May) Dratini asked Flygon, having only heard that part of the conversation.

"Fly, Flygon." (His rival who he has a mega crush on, but is way too stubborn to admit it.)

"Look, Absol," Drew said firmly. "We're barely friends, if you would even call it that. And we're rivals, and that would mean that she'd be helping me raise a pokemon that she'd inevitably compete against. That's too big for me to ask of her. Besides, the way I tease her, I just can't."

"Sol." (Sooo... In other words, you feel like you'd be asking for a favor that you're in no position to ask for, and your stupid pride means too much to you for you to show how much you're struggling?)

"Rose." (Well, A, I know May would do anything she could to help you if you needed it, and B, if you feel like asking for help is too much, just ask for a few tips or something.)

"YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He snapped, causing his pokemon to look at him in shock. "I'M RISKING HER HATING ME ALREADY WITHOUT ASKING THINGS OF HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Ro..." (Drew...) Roselia said gently. "Ro, Rose." (I think the lack of sleep is getting to you. You've been grumpier than usual, and your temper is really showing.)

"I'm doing perfectly fine, thanks."

--------------------------------

"Dratini, use twister on that tree!" Drew commanded, getting quite frustrated of Dratini's incompetence. "I said, USE IT NOW!!!!!!!!!" He yelled, his temper rising up yet again. Drew was a clam, chill, typically laid back sort of person. It usually took quite a bit to make him mad, but in his exhausted state, every little thing was ready to set him off.

"Tiniiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!"

Dratini had grown tired of her trainer trying to get her to use twister, so on a spur of the moment decision, decided to change things up a bit.

Drew felt electricity creep over him as Dratini used thunder wave on him. Dratini cried out in horror as he crumpled to the ground, the paralysis taking over and his muscles failing him. Curling up on her trainer's chest, she wailed as loud as she could, hoping that someone would come help him.

---------------------------------------

At first, May had been tempted to just stay as far away from the awful noise as she could, but she quickly recognized it to be a baby pokemon crying.

Her walking turning into jogging, she raced to the noise. If that baby happened to be hurt, she didn't want to just pass it by. It didn't take very long after she reached the field where the baby was crying to deduce that someone was laying across the clearing.

A few steps closer revealed who the person was. Her heart racing with worry, she sprinted the remaining distance to her long time rival, kneeling beside him.

"Drew! DREW!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!" She yelled, shaking him as hard as she could by the shoulder. "DREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Tears filled her eyes. His heart rate and breathing were normal, he wasn't running a fever, and he didn't appear to be injured, so why wasn't he waking up?!

Dratini trilled loudly to get the worried girl's attention before using thunder wave on a nearby tree.

"Is he.. Paralyzed?" She asked cautiously.

Dratini quickly nodded, and May calmed a bit.

"Hey Drew? Can you hear me? It must be kind of scary, not being able to move, huh? Don't worry. I have some Cheri berries with me, although I'm going to have to make it into some sort of tea for it to work," she spoke to the unmoving boy in front of her. "You'll be okay."

Quickly setting up a fire, she set a very small amount of water into a pot and placed it over the flames. As the water was boiling, she took out three Cheri berries and cut them into slices before squeezing their juice into the pot. Once she'd extracted all of the juice that she could, she took the pot of the fire and mixed the two liquids together.

Dratini took a lick of the substance as if to test it for her master. However, she recoiled back and started shrieking upon realizing that the medicine was far too hot. "I'm going to have to let this cool for a minute or two. It's really hot," she commentated as she poured the mixture into a mug.

Once she'd felt that it was cool enough for Drew to drink, she pulled out a spoon from the kitchen supplies. Gently placing Drew's head in her lap, she forced a spoonful of the medicine into the still boy's mouth.

Feeling the effects almost instantly, he pulled together enough strength to open his eyes. "May..." He managed to groan, the rest of his muscles still being locked.

"Here," she said tenderly, feeding him another spoonful, and two more after that as he still couldn't move.

"Stop," he ordered weakly, his cheeks burning scarlet with embarrassment. His biggest rival of all people was having to spoon feed him.

"H-hey!! Quit moving!" She gasped as Drew struggled to sit up. Sighing, she pulled him into a sitting position, earning a sideways glare from the protesting Drew.

"I can drink it just fine on my own," Drew said sharply and a little more rudely than he intended as she reached for the spoon.

"Hey, do you want me to just leave you there, paralyzed until who knows what might find you?" She retorted angrily. Her facial expression softened. "Drew are you alright? You just went really tense there all of a sudden."

Drew mutely picked up the mug containing the paralysis medicine. However, it was much heavier than his currently weak body could handle, and the cup shook dangerously, a bit of the liquid spilling out.

May placed her hands on his to steady the mug. "I said, I can drink it just fine on my own!" He commented irritably. May sighed. "You're going to spill it all over yourself, so be quiet and actually let someone do something for you for a change!!!!!!!!"

A bit taken back by May's frustrated statement, he kept him mouth shut and allowed his rival to assist him in drinking the antidote.

"What happened?"

"Uh... Training accident. Dratini accidently used thunder wave on me."

May sighed. "Just be careful."

"Erm... Thanks," he muttered, refusing to meet May's eye. "I guess I owe you one." He stood up, prepared to walk away from the embarrassment before May stopped him.

"Hey, why don't we set up camp and spend the night here," she suggested. "We already have the fire."

"Only you would waste the last few hours of daylight." Drew flicked his hair with a wide smirk. "Well I'm sure you'll have fun by yourself-"

Drew stopped as he was interrupted by a fit of giggles as Dratini climbed on top of May's bandanna. "Is this your new pokemon?" May asked, laughing. But then she frowned. "Aw... I was hoping that I could play with her."

"Fine. We can stay," he agreed, causing May to squeal in delight at her new playmate.

Drew blinked in shock. He'd meant to say that he needed to be on his way, and there'd be a contest at the next town. Then why hadn't he? It was almost as if his body was working separately from his brain.

A smile spread across his face. Watching her play with Dratini was almost the same as when he was watching her dance with the Wynaughts back on Mirage Island.

Dratini.

If he stayed with May, she would learn about the whole struggle he was having with raising her. Especially after she'd just seen him so weak after the paralysis... He just couldn't. Besides, as he had earlier told Roselia and Absol, he hated asking May for favors. He didn't want May to hate him for asking for stuff when he mostly just teased her.

He opened his mouth to tell her that it was actually probably better if he left, but the words just couldn't escape his mouth. It was almost like... Like he didn't want to go, and wanted to seize this opportunity to hang out with her outside of contests.

"...May? Actually, it probably would be better if we left. Dratini occasionally comes out over her pokeball at night, and I don't want to have to deal with a sleep deprived you," he managed to say, telling a little bit of the truth.

"Excuse me, but A) I don't really get grumpy on one night of disturbed sleep, and B) you would probably be ten times more grouchy, thank you very much."

"Yeah, for your information, I do just fine without enough sleep!" He snapped.

"Have you been getting enough sleep?" May questioned. "I just... You seem a little tired and grouchy."

"I'm not grouchy!"

-------------------------------------

"Are you sure you don't want to go to bed?"

"I'm doing just fine, Air... *yawn* Airhead," Drew protested, praying against all odds that Dratini would choose that one night to not demand a midnight meal. It wasn't that he wasn't tired. He'd been exhausted for two and a half weeks now. It was that moments like the one that they were having where they would just sit and talk without fighting were rare, and he didn't want to ruin it.

"Are you sure? You look like you haven't gotten a decent sleep in quite a while."

"Would you quit asking if I'm sure? I'm fine, mother."

May laughed at his joke. "Well, I'm going to bed, so you might as well too." She crossed her arms with a small smile.

"Alright, alright."

They crept into their sleeping bags that they'd lay side by side, while Dratini decided that Drew's chest would be and excellent spot to sleep.

"'Night, Airhead."

"'Night, Grasshead."

-----------------------------------------

Oh please, Dratini, no. Not now. Any time but now, Drew begged.

However, the baby dragon didn't stop, so Drew got up as quietly as he could. "Shh... Dratini, hush. Here. I'll make you a deal. You stop crying, I make you pure milk the first time."

Drew winced as he heard someone shuffling around behind him. "Drew?" May whispered. "What's going on?"

"I... Um... Long story short, Dratini's demanding food, and she's not going to shut up until she gets it." He hoped that she would be too tired to press the situation further, but to his dismay, he heard her come up beside him.

"At this hour?"

"Yes," he replied flatly.

"Can't you just tell her that she can eat in the morning?"

"No."

"Why not."

Drew sighed. "Look. Just go back to bed. We shouldn't be long."

"No. I want you to tell me exactly what's happening."

"It's like I said. She's demanding food, and she won't let either of us sleep until she gets it. Now go to bed."

"Drew," she demanded. "Put down that pan. Now."

"What is it?"

"Now."

"Fine," Drew agreed, softly placing the metal item on the ground.

"What's going on?" She demanded, looking him right in the eye.

"I already told you, she-"

"I want to know what's going on. I'm not saying this just because I want to know. I'm worried about you. This is your first time with a baby pokemon, and you're obviously tired and grumpy, which is leading me to believe that this happens often."

Drew yawned. "Fine. I'll tell you in the morning, though. Go back to bed."

He sighed as Dratini downed the bottle. May knew, and it wasn't going to be too long before she forced the truth out of him. She would find out how badly he was doing, and she'd already done too much for him by curing his paralysis.

A thought popped into his head. But how desperate was he to avoid May knowing the full truth? He bit his lip, staring up at the stars. If he left right now and ran away from the situation, she would be mad at him. It would likely break her trust in him, he knew. But was it worth the embarrassment?

Every time he saw her, he teased her about her co-ordinating skills, her tendency to get lost, her Pokeblock making skills, how he was a much better trainer than her...

Yet here he was, failing to raise a baby pokemon, one that he would son have to give away...

He frowned, his heart heavy. He didn't want to give away Dratini, really. He loved her, yet beat down on himself on his inability to take care of her.

There was a daycare near goldenrod city, he knew. He would have to give her to the daycare lady so she could give her to a more experienced breeder.

Wiping desperately at his eyes, he quickly lay down in his sleeping bag, knowing that if he didn't fall asleep soon, he was going to start crying. He had held all of his tears back ever since he broke down after his first contest, and he wasn't going to break now.

He was just going to have to let Dratini go, as simple as that.

---------------------------

The next morning, he awoke to the sound of a fire crackling. Sitting bolt upright, his body went into some form of panic. Fire. Fire.

His heart rate slowed to normal as he looked over to see May cooking something in a pan over a flame.

"'Morning," he said sleepily. "What are you making?"

"Pancakes," she replied, not looking up. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. Is it edib-" Drew stooped in his tracks, May holding a spatula to his neck. "Unless you tell me what's going on, I'm only giving you the burnt first batch."

"Fine," he agreed reluctantly.

"Okay then!" May chirped happily, shoving a plate in his face.

"I, um, how do I phrase this?" He started, eating a bite of pancake. "I've been traveling for almost three years now, but I have absolutely no experience with baby pokemon. Flygon was the youngest, and he was already already almost a year old."

"Go on," May encouraged.

"I just don't feel like I'm doing a good job with her," he stated flatly.

"That was a bit broad," May complained. "Why don't you feel like you're doing a good job?"

Drew sighed, suddenly feeling tired again. "First off, she won't listen to a word I say. I was trying to do a little bit of gentle training with her by having her use twister on a tree, but instead she used thunder wave on me. And also, our view on meals... Er... Differs."

"Does she wake you up at that time every night?" May pressed. Drew wordlessly nodded. "No wonder you're tired!!"

"Thing is, she demands to be fed at midnight and noon, and refuses anything that's not pure milk. If she doesn't get exactly what she wants, she uses twister on m-"

Drew froze as May pulled him into a tight hug.

"I am- I mean, you are- I mean... Um... W-what are you doing?" He stammered.

"Sounds like you've been having a rough month! Everyone deserves a hug when they've had a rough month!" She giggled. Drew gingerly pressed his hand against his cheek. To his surprise, it was burning. But... Why?

Drew quickly looked away when she released him, the shock of it not yet worn off. They sat in silence for a moment before May spoke. "I'm not sure about the not listening to you thing, but I have an idea for what to do about the food thing. Just let me handle her food today."

"No, I can do it," Drew resisted stubbornly.

"Actually, right now, I want you to go take a nap," she told him. "I'll play with Dratini so she can know me better."

"I'm not going to take a nap in the middle of the morning, airhead," he grumbled. "It's entirely pointless."

"No, it's not," she argued. "You need the extra sleep. Besides, it might help improve your mood."

And despite it being rather bright out, it took Drew less than five minutes before he drifted off.

May was making Dratini's bottle hours later by the time he awoke.

Sliding out of his sleeping bag, he eyed the bottle. "Why is it only about a quarter of the way full?" He asked.

"That's all I'm going to give her for now. That way by dinner time, hopefully she'll be hungry again and drink a full bottle. Then if the plan goes correctly, she won't be hungry again until tomorrow morning."

"Let me give her the bottle," Drew insisted. "Let me feed her."

"Alright," May agreed, handing over the partially full bottle.

"Alright, Dratini. Time to eat," Drew beckoned. The small dragon quickly drank the reduced amount of milk and then looked up at her trainer with a confused look as if to say "where's the rest?"

"That's all you're getting for now. You can have more later." As he'd expected, a twister was immediately wiped up, sending him flying painfully backwards.

"Drew!" May sprinted to his side as he struggled to get up.

"I'm alright. I'm used to it by now. She does this every time she doesn't get exactly what she wants," Drew wearily warned her.

"Let me go talk to Dratini," she informed him before walking off.

"He's really trying, you know," she said quietly to the fuming baby. "He loves you and wants you to have a great life, but you're making it really hard for him."

"Tini?"

"He's having a hard time waking up at midnight every day because that's when you want to eat. Could you please try to work to work with him?" May begged.

Dratini only turned her head sassily.

"Look," May sighed. "Let me tell you something about your trainer. He's sarcastic, arrogant, loves pushing my buttons, refuses to take help or advice from anyone, and he's as stubborn as heck. However, he means well and only wants what's best for both of you. He has absolutely no experience with baby pokemon, so could you please just try to make things a little easier on him?"

Dratini glanced guiltily over at her trainer before racing over to lay on his shoulder.

"Er, hi Dratini," Drew addressed the small creature that was obviously trying to snuggle with him. "Love you, too."

"Hey, why don't we let our pokemon out to play!" May suggested.

Drew smirked, a soft laugh coming from his lips. "Well, May. I didn't know that you could come up with such a good idea."

"HEY!!!! I CAN COME UP WITH GOOD IDEAS JUST FINE, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

----------------------------------------------

"Are you hungry, Dratini?" Drew asked as he noticed the little dragon starring hungrily at the soup he was making. "Are you sure? After all, it's not midnight yet," he teased.

Dratini looked around sheepishly for a moment before giving Drew the best big sad eyed look that she could.

"Of course I'll feed you," May told her. "On one condition. You have to drink the full bottle. And this is the only one you're getting, so if you reject this because it has a little water in it, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

Much to Drew's relief, Dratini drank the meal with no protests. He laughed as she once again claimed her spot on his shoulders, loosely wrapping around his neck like a scarf.

"Hey, June? I'm probably going to be gone by the time you wake up, so.... Um... Thanks."

"No problem!" May chirped. "Then I guess I'll see you at the next contest," she yawned. "'Night."

"'Night, Airhead."

"DREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

---------------------------------------------

I'm going to be entirely honest here. I have no freaking clue how to end this one.

Eh, I don't like this one as much as some of the others, but it's okay.

This is officially my second longest one shot at 4k words, my longest being narcissus at 5k words.

Sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I can't even remember which story I'm supposed to update next. However, I might put that on a short hold for now, as I only have a moderate amount of inspiration, and I've been working on other things.

First, I've been doing a ton of really cool, fully colored electronic pics with backgrounds and shading and stuff. Problem is, there's a bug with wattpad where I currently can't post any pictures. I'll get those up as soon as I can.

Second, there's another one shot I want to do, so I might work on that.

See ya!