Ex-V: Yeah, this is another one of those stories…

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May sat shyly next to her new boyfriend, Drew. The king of coordination. The fangirl magnet. The sexy hair-flipper.

And she couldn't help feeling...Insignificant. Smallish, and inconsequential. Who was she next to the great Drew?

He thought differently. 'I love you', he had said. ' I should have told you before. You are my everything.' So romantic…

Her self-doubts vanished as he put his arm around her. And she slid off into blissful happiness.

Until a wrumple poked her gently with its horn. She stared into its eyes, and squealed. "Its soooo cute!" she gushed. Drew raised his eyebrows.

"Want me to catch it for you?" He asked smoothly. She nodded joyfully. Drew's eyes sparkled. He jumped to his feet, and whipped two pokeballs into the air.

"GO, FLYGON! ABSOL!"

May sweatdropped. Flygon and Absol? But it's just a little wrumple…Does he have to do EVERYTHING dramatically?

Apparently, he did. As the Wrumple shimmied (completely terrified) into the forest, Drew hopped majestically onto his flying pokemon and took off, followed by Absol. May sat on the lonely park bench, and hung her head. What did I just do?

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Drew searched the forest from above. He realized the landscape was entirely to big to find the small bug, so he began blasting chunks of it into oblivion with Hyper Beam and Saandstorm, laughing manically all the while.

"I WILL FIND YOU, WRUMPLE! YOU WILL BE MAY'S"

On a distant park bench, May stared helplessly as her boyfriend attacked trees in the distance. As the people passed by and heard his hysterical cries, they shook their heads.

"Whoever that May girl is, she probably has it rough."

May pretended not to hear.

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Drew hopped off Flygon's back, into a small area he had recently vacated. "HA!" He shouted triumphantly. "I've cornered you!"

The small bug whimpered pathetically.

The famous coordinator recalled his faithful Pokémon. "And now, you will be my first official Boyfriend gift to May!"

He reached confidently into his back pocket. "Pokeball, GO!"

A small, rectangular bar of candy soared through the air, bouncing harmlessly off Wrumple's face.

Drew was flabbergasted.

"Uhhh…I REALLY hope nobody saw that…Okay, lets try again…Pokeball, go!"

A toothbrush landed in the grass in front of the bug Pokemon. Drew flushed. "I don't believe I'm this unorganized! I need one of those travel bags…"

He double checked to make sure nobody had seen his blunders, and dug around in his pocket again. His hands closed around something cylindrical.

He threw it.

Chapstick.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CHAPSTICK!" Drew looked on in horror as his precious lip-balm flew through the air, and landed in amongst the rubble behind his prey.

"YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR! THIS IS WAR!"

He began furiously emptying his pockets, and finally found a suitable pokeball. He hurled it savagely.

"YOU ARE MINE!!!!!"

The airborne TM shattered over Wrumple, covering it in sparkly dust. "Congratulations!" a mechanized voice boomed. "Wrumple has learned Fire Spin!"

If it could have, the Wrumple would have sweatdropped. Its tiny brain computed three consecutive thoughts. Worst. Trainer. Ever.

Drew sputtered and shook with rage.

The Wrumple wriggled its way out of the clearing while Drew agonized over his rather pathetic failure.

It took him ten minutes to calm himself. He thought about his greatest victories. His first Ribbon Cup, His second Ribbon cup, His third Ribbon cup, owning Harley and Soledad at the same time…His fourth ribbon cup. And of course, his latest and greatest achievement…Successfully asking May on a date.

And then he thought about his greatest failures. Surely this wasn't his WORST moment…He thought about losing his first contest, about losing to May in the Kanto Grand Festival. Not his proudest moments. But…To fail in capturing a small worm with no attack or defense power…?

Oh god.

I'm a failure.

No. Keep it together, Drew. Nobody has to know about this. And nobody would. He began to make his way back to the park bench. As he approached, he told himself how awesome he was. How cool he was. He flipped his hair eight times. And then he arrived.

May flung herself at him. "Oh, Drew! I thought something happened to you!"

He almost cried. I knew it. She thinks I'm a total wimp. She was afraid I was in danger. From a Wrumple.

He hugged her tightly. For all he knew, it was the last time. She'd probably slap him and curse herself for ever respecting him.

Then a small worm-like Pokémon poked it's head out from between his legs. It was the cursed Wrumple that had evaded him.

May giggled and swooped down to pick it up. "Awwww, thanks so much, Drew!"

He suppressed a surprised yelp. The bug in his girlfriend's arms was looking at him with something resembling deep pity.

His stomach dropped. How much lower could he sink? Had he really gone from World Contest Champion to being pitied by a level three bug Pokémon?

"Umm…" He struggled to sound prideful. "Yeah, no problem. It was easy. I uh...just got lost on my way back here. "

She stared quizzically. "Why didn't you just get onto Flygon?"

"weeeelllll…err…Flygon was busy."

"…."

"It's a long story."

She giggled. "Tell it to me some other time."

"I will."

She held out her hand timidly. He grinned, and grabbed it. They walked together into the sunset.

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Paul was legitimately trying to run.

Dawn chased her fleeing love.

She snatched his wrist, and pulled. He kept going. She dug her heels into the earth, and yanked him to a reluctant stop.

He turned.

"What, Dawn. I'm very busy right now."

She frowned. "I've been trying to get your attention all day!"

He blinked. "Congratulations on your success." She fumed.

They stood on a grassy hill, alone by the sunset. It was very romantic, even someone like Paul surely wouldn't be able to misinterpret the signs…She had been sure of it.

She had underestimated his ignorance. "Paul, come onn…You can't seriously be telling me that you haven't noticed anything I've set up."

He looked confused. She sighed. Of course. That was absolutely classic Paul. "Look at where we are! A grassy hill, with a sunset and no one around for miles!"

He nodded, but no signs of recognition graced his handsome features.

She tried again, appealing this time to his manhood. "And look at this skirt! It's, like, three inches long! There is NO WAY you missed that. And I'm hardly wearing a top! This is a bikini, for god's sake!"

His eyes flashed. She smiled hopefully. Was that lust just now? YESSSSSSSSSS!!!

He steeled himself, and tried to turn away. She blinked innocently. Or was she batting her eyelashes flirtatiously? He wasn't sure. He didn't care. All the mattered was that he was quickly losing control of the situation, and he needed to get it back.

Ill just get out of here…and sort out my thoughts. Then ill come back and tell her how I feel on MY terms…

He took a step backwards, eyes never leaving the blue haired girl in front of him. She snuggled up to him, and grabbed his arm. He knew he was hooked. Game over.

Ill just tell her…and hope for the best…"Dawn…There's something I have to tell you…."

She looked as if all her dreams had come true. And then, before he had a chance to say anything, she looked heartbroken. He had NO idea what was going on.

She started to cry.

" I knew it..." She sobbed. "Don't even say it. I wear next to nothing, take you to a romantic sunset hill, just the two of us…and you don't try anything…"

He was completely bamboozled. "Uhh…what?"

She barely heard him through her tears. "I knew it!...i guess I always knew…YOU'RE GAY!...You should have told me sooner…" she spun around and ran off, weeping openly.

He stood there.

And stood there.

And tried to figure out what the hell had just gone down.

He ran after Dawn, intent on finding her.

May and Drew wandered for two hours, alone in the wilderness. It was dark, and the woods were dense. None of the stars were visible, and all of the moon's silver rays were eclipsed.

Neither of them was afraid.

Until they heard a crying girl's voice, sobbing softly in the distance. May jumped a few inches.

"What…What was that, Drew?"

He held her, and whispered soothingly. "I don't know, but Its not a problem. Let's go see what's wrong."

She nodded. "okay…"

They searched for twenty minutes before finding a small clearing. A young girls with blue hair sat alone, crying.

May stepped forward immediately, but Drew held her back. "Look." He whispered. On the other end of the clearing, leaves were rustling.

A young man with purple hair stepped out to the girl.

She raised her head, and stopped crying. "Paul…" She whispered. "What are you doing here?"

May raised her eyebrows. Upon seeing Drew's confused reaction, she told him about the blue haired girl.

He nodded. "Then let's watch what happens."

Normally, May frowned upon creeping, but this was a special circumstance, so she agreed to stay hidden.

In the clearing, Paul was trying to make a difficult point.

"Dawn, I have no idea where you got the idea that I was gay, but…"

"No! I don't want to hear it! You didn't even TRY! Any other guy I can think of would have been drooling! Or throwing money at me! Or something!"

"I was…shy…you know."

"About your gayness?" she mumbled bitterly. "Sure, whatever. Just go make out with Harley or something."

Drew Nearly vomited.
May kept him quiet.

Paul shuddered. "I'm not gay, Dawn. Earlier, I was trying to tell you…That i…"

She looked up, hopeful.

"I was trying to tell you that…that I…like spending time with you…I like you…you know…"

She seemed to glow.

"Really?"

He nodded. May smiled approvingly, and even Drew had to admit it was pretty romantic. Sort of. For Paul, it was a miracle.

"Yes, Dawn. And your skirt? You think I didn't notice it? I have eight pictures of your panties on my pokenav, just from today. Yeah. I'm admitting that. And as for the top, I had three fantasies involving that top and the floor of my room at the Pokémon center."

May trembled, horrified. "Guys take pictures of their girlfriends with their Pokenavs?"

Drew twitched, pushing his own farther down in his pocket. "Umm…ahh…only total jerks…."

She stared at him accusingly.

"Uhh…" he scratched the back of his head. "Can we talk about this later?"

She fumed, but turned back to the scene unfolding before them.

Dawn took the news she just received and processed it. Okay, first off. Paul is a total perv. He has pictures of me on his pokenav. She grinned, and then smiled, and then jumped to her feet and ran into his arms. But who cares? He's straight! And he Likes me!

Paul felt very awkward. He was begging to think the whole 'unveil the fact that I'm a total creeper' thing was a bad idea.

But who really cared? He had Dawn now. And before he could figure out what to do with himself, he was kissing her, and she was kissing him, in the darkness.

May and Drew watched, feeling very stalkerish.

May turned to Drew, blushing.

"Well, how about a kiss?" She asked coyly.

He smiled, and leaned in. Their lips met, and they embraced, locked together like pieces of a puzzle. The perfect pieces.

And the perfect puzzle.