The sunlight was fighting its way past the curtains by the time May woke up the next morning. A heavy sigh on her lips, she parted them and blinked rapidly at the scene outside. Many of the Center's current inhabitants were milling around with their Pokemon, chatting, most of them preparing themselves for a day in the outdoors - full of energy, full of excitement. Bleary-eyed, May turned back to the room and noticed with a slight jolt that Drew and Rafe were gone.

"Drew?"

She poked her head into the bathroom. The room had been created with the intent of housing four people, so one towel was folded neatly on a metal rack on the wall while the three others were draped at random around the small, white-tiled space. The counter top was cluttered with various items, among them a small bag with a few of her personal belongings in it.

"No one here, apparently," she said to herself quietly. Another quick scan around the room, and she locked the door. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she pulled out her clothes for the day. It was awkward to share a room with two guys, but then again she had done the same with three - Ash, Brock and Max. Although, she thought to herself, that was when I was still twelve...

"May?"

She yelped in surprise and realized that the voice was coming from outside the door. "Y-yes?"

"It's Rafe. Are you changing?"

"Yeah. Did you guys have breakfast?"

"No, not yet. Drew and I were doing some training. We'll meet you in the lobby, okay?"

"Alright," she called back, pulling her shirt over her head. With a deep breath, she took out her hairbrush. The day promised to be very interesting.

~roses~

"Drew. What's the plan for today?"

The coordinator cast a glance at Rafe. "I'm not sure. May never told me what she planned on doing here. I figured we'd look around each island."

"I've heard of several rare Pokemon here that I want to catch. Apparently there are some pretty high-level ones, too. Since I had the time, I just decided to come here and see what I could get. Luckily for me, I met you two." He smirked. "On your little lovey-dovey trip."

"I thought I told you that she dragged me along just for the hell of it," Drew muttered.

"But you let yourself be dragged along."

"Let's just say that once she asks something of me, I can't ignore it."

"Oh, is that a confession?"

"You already know about it, Rafe."

"Of course I do."

There was a silence, and then as if by cue May clattered down the escalator and came to a stop a few feet away. "Oh," she breathed. "Good morning."

"Morning," the two rivals said in unison.

May cocked her head to one side. "So... you two haven't eaten yet?"

"No. Training, as I've said before," Rafe added.

"I hope I didn't make you wait too long--"

"It's fine," Drew cut in. "It's only been about five minutes. Let's go."

He began to walk away, and the other two followed him into the Center's food court, where dozens of trainers and tourists were already halfway into their meals. Lighthearted chatter filled the room, accompanied by the chime of "Thank you; we hope to see you again!" from the Nurse Joy at the front desk. Drew headed toward an empty table by a window looking out over the One Island harbor. Rafe slid into the space next to him while May sat opposite to the two of them. Noticing them, a waitress headed over and greeted them.

"Hello," she said cheerily, the smile that was plastered on her face widening when she saw the faces of Drew and Rafe. "What can I do for you today?"

"We'll have whatever the special is today," Rafe said quickly, flashing her a boyish grin. Drew rolled his eyes when the waitress blushed coyly as she wrote their order down and replied that she would be happy to help them with anything they needed. Did they want anything to drink? she wanted to know. Rafe said that they would each have water, no ice for him please, all the while leaning in close, that smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. The waitress nearly giggled as she ran off again.

May blinked. "What just happened?"

"You don't want to know," Drew muttered, face buried in his hands. "I think that whoever's writing this story just had a brief moment of insanity."

"What?"

"Nothing."

May shrugged and leaned forward, chin in her hands. "Anyways, guys, about the plan for today. I'm thinking that we could go around One Island today, and then tomorrow we go to Two Island, and so on. Of course, if you have any other ideas...?"

"I'm fine with it."

"Same here. I figured you'd do something like this."

"Oh, you did, did you?"

"Yes. I know you better than you think, May," he murmured.

"Well," she said reluctantly, "we have known each other for seven years or so."

"Seven years?" Rafe pried his eyes off a pink-haired girl several tables away to look back at May.

"Yeah, we met a little while after I started my first Pokemon journey," she explained. A reminiscent smile lit her face as she remembered. "His first words to me were insults."

"You had to bring that up," Drew chuckled.

"You still tease me - it shouldn't be so embarrassing, Drew."

A frown made her brows come together as she spotted the girl Rafe had had his eye on earlier. "Hey, Drew," she said slowly, "doesn't that girl seem a bit familiar to you?"

Drew glanced at the figure. "Curly, short pink hair, straight bangs, big blue eyes... oh, Arceus," he muttered. "Not her."

"You think it's Brianna? Mega-Drew-fangirl Brianna?"

He smiled ruefully at her. "Yes."

"You know her?" Rafe stood and motioned to the other two. "Let's go over."

"Why?"

But Rafe was already halfway to the other table, his eyes pinned on the pink-haired girl who sipped her drink serenely, staring out the window with a dreamy smile on her lips. With a casual movement, he leaned on the table and flashed her his trademark smirk. "Brianna, right?"

"H-how do you know my name?" the girl asked, slightly flustered. Then her eye caught the coordinators behind Rafe, and a blush spread over her face. "M-mister Drew! And May!"

"Hi, Brianna."

May smiled. "Hi! Long time no see."

"I... I can't believe this!" Brianna nearly squealed, her eyes shining as she pushed past Rafe to stop before Drew, afraid to move closer, afraid to not move closer. "Mister Drew..."

"What? Do you want to shake my hand again like last time, Brianna?" he chuckled.

"S-sure!"

Her blush deepened after their hands parted. "W-wow," she breathed. "I remember saying last time that I'd never wash my hand again... but this time I'm definitely going to keep that promise!"

"No need," Drew laughed.

"Brianna, what are you doing here anyways?" May asked.

"I heard that you can catch Horsea here on One Island. Since I've been wanting to catch a Horsea for a really long time, I thought it'd be a good idea to come here while I had the time. How about you?"

"I won two Rainbow Passes, so I 'dragged' Drew along with me," she said with a bit of embarrassment.

"Oh. Well, I hope you have fun around here," the pink-haired girl said happily. "And. Um." She turned back to Rafe, wary of his gaze. "S-sorry for ignoring you; I was just too excited to see Mister Drew again--"

"It's fine," Rafe said stiffly. He extended a hand. "I'm Rafe. Sorry for being so abrupt earlier."

"It's fine," Brianna said shyly. Turning back to the other two Coordinators, she waved. "I'll see all of you later!"

"Bye."

"Bye, Brianna."

"See you around."

Rafe glared at Drew. The victim blinked.

"What?"

"Damn you, Drew," the trainer muttered. "Damn you."

~roses~

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For anyone interested, you can check out the version of this that I put on deviantART. Go to my profile to a link to my deviantART account.