Part 1

It had been a long and tiring, yet productive day of training for both Pokémon Trainers and Pokémon Coordinators alike. The nearby parks, the beach, and even the side streets, were filled with people and their Pokémon pushing in some extra effort. Some did preparations for their gym battles, whilst the others got ready for tomorrow's Roseli City's Contest Spectacular.

It was about to turn ten o'clock in the evening when our favorite Hoenn Pokémon Trainers started to prepare for the next morning. Brock packed the supplies and goods he had just bought that morning into his trusty backpack. Ash and Max were elatedly chatting about which Pokémon Ash would be using for the next gym battle. May was in the bathroom, washing up before going to bed.

Brock knocked lightly on the restroom door. Unfortunately, the Pokémon Center they were staying in had only one bathroom, hence they each had to wait their turn.

"Hey May," Brock called from the other side. "Would you kindly hurry it up? I need to take a shower too."

Max jumped off Ash's bed and walked towards where Brock stood.

"Yeah May!" he yelled. "You've been in there for about an hour!"

"All right, all right! I'm coming out already!" Making sure everything was neat before she left, she turned the doorknob to take her leave. "I didn't take that long you know," she told Max with a scowl.

"Thanks May," Brock smiled before entering the bathroom. The young brunette gave a quick smile in response.

May then turned to face her stubborn little brother. "Hey Max, it's past your bedtime. Go to bed now," she said.

Max gave her a mean frown. "You're not my mom! You can't tell me what to do!" Wiping his tired eyes, he spoke in between yawns. "And… I'm not… tired yet…" He felt his eyes grow heavy.

Before May could rebut and initiate another sibling bicker, Ash stood from his bed. "Oh, come on now Max. We all had a long day, let's go get some sleep," the raven-haired Trainer said as he helped Max up to his bunk bed which was just above his sister's. Just after that, Ash retreated to his bed and fell fast asleep. May did a quick check in her small carry-on bag before hitting the hay. In only a few minutes, Brock came out of the bathroom and headed up to his bed just above Ash's.

It was about eleven-thirty in the evening, and everyone was fast asleep.

…

May awoke to a warm breeze. She felt her throat go dry as she pushed her blanket off. Craving for some water, she headed to the Pokémon Center lobby to get a cool and refreshing bottle of water from the vending machine.

By the reception area where Nurse Joy could usually be found, the large digital clock displayed a "01:55 AM" in red LED lights. "Ugh, it's so warm out, who turned off the air-conditioning?" May grumbled to herself. Walking over to the vending machine by a large modernly-designed window, the brunette spotted someone outside. It was as if the person was heading towards the wooded areas beside the small crystal-clear lake.

"Who in the world would go out at a time like this?" May asked herself. Narrowing down her eyes to clarify her vision, the person who came into view appeared strangely familiar. Yes, rather very familiar.

"Is that… Drew?" May continued to whisper to herself. "What's he doing out at a time like this? It's the middle of the night and the contest is tomorrow. Shouldn't he be resting?" Shaking off her concern, her bias of him as her rude, arrogant and conceited rival slightly clouded her thoughts. "Hmph, it's none of my business anyways." However, her kind, nurturing and curious character resurfaced and she found herself hurriedly walking back to her room to change from her yellow pajamas to pay him a visit. May knew she'd go out and ask him what's up, and much like her, she forgot to claim her cold bottle of water.

…

Drew stopped by the edge of the crystal-clear lake. Taking out his Pokéball, he called out for his Masquerain. "Come on out Masquerain!" He threw the ball into the air and out came the white bug/flying Eyeball Pokémon. Taking a step forward, Drew spoke of his request. "Masquerain, I need you to help me find–!" He was, however, cut short by the sight of a familiar girl running towards him.

"May? What are you doing here? And at a time like this?" inquired the green-haired Pokémon Coordinator. May quaintly held her hands behind her back.

"Uhmm, you see…" she started. "I was just off to get some bottled water when I saw you out here."

Drew raised a brow, and did his signature hair flick. "Really now? So where's your bottled water?" May then began to feel a nervous tingle.

"Uh yeah, I kinda forgot… I guess."

Drew closed his eyes and smirked. "How typical of you, May. Always so forgetful, even on the simplest of things."

The short-tempered girl clenched her hands into a fist. "Hey! If you're just going to be rude and act like a jerk, why don't you just do it sometime tomorrow?!"

Drew opened his eyes and looked towards the brunette with the haughty expression still on display. "There's no particular schedule for me to pick on you, y'know. Anyways, you should head back to bed. The contest is going to start up early tomorrow."

"You mean today," she corrected him.

Remembering why she came here in the first place, May inquired, "Yeah, I know. That's why I wanted to ask why aren't you in bed? What're you doing out here so late?" Drew remained silent for a few seconds, as if thinking on what to respond.

"Roselia's missing."

"What?!" May spoke out of her surprise. "W-What happened?"

Drew still remained his calm composure. Hands in pockets whilst facing his rival, he spoke in a leveled tone. "I really don't know. I might have the feeling she run away."

Though he did speak with no hint of emotional tone, May knew deep inside he was feeling a mixture of fear, anger and disappointment. Maybe even shame or guilt.

"You know this is my concern, May. You need to prep yourself up for tomorrow's contest. Go on to bed," he tried dismissing her once more. However, the young brunette would not budge.

"No. I'll help you find Roselia, Drew," she said with a small smile. "I know how much Roselia means to you, and I… I couldn't bring myself to sleep soundly knowing that you'll be out here alone looking for her."

Drew was quite surprised with May's sense of compassion, yet he merely nodded. "Well… thanks May," was all he could bring himself to say. May then brought out her Beautifly to help with the search.

"All right then. You can tell me what happened while we go and look for Roselia."

…

The two walked deeper into the woods just by the Pokémon Center in search of Drew's star Pokémon. No cloud was in sight, and the stars were still shining up high in the navy sky. "I believe it all started this afternoon," Drew began. "I was training Roselia and Absol for a new combination that I wanted to use for the contest. Absol was quite new to these things so I needed him to put in some extra effort." May nodded as she listened intently. "It was very late at night. I didn't allow us to eat, or have a break until we perfected the combination. I guess I was so hungry and exhausted that I didn't realize I was putting myself and both my Pokémon under so much stress and pressure."

Drew turned his face to look away from the road and to the sky instead. "Roselia then told me to stop and take a break. I guess she knew better. But at that time, I didn't. She then acted stubborn and disobedient. I was so furious, that I started telling her she didn't know what hard work and dedication was and how it meant for me." May felt mixed feelings of sympathy, worry and even a bit of anger.

Drew continued. "I then started comparing her to Absol… even asking why she can't keep up when Absol can." May was about to say something when Drew paused in his tracks. "I know what you're thinking," Drew told her. "Totally out of my character, right?" May simply nodded in reply. He then continued. "Things like these can happen when you push yourself too hard and become overwhelmed with stress. Happens to the best of us."

May looked down at the path they follow. "I kinda agree. But what really shocked me was you could say that to Roselia, the Pokémon I know you believe in so much. So, it's no surprise she would run off," she murmured the last sentence.

Drew nodded. "I know what you mean. I felt so guilty that I couldn't sleep. So by around after midnight, I wanted to go apologize to her… but only to find her Pokéball empty." Now the sadness was evident in his emerald eyes, and May knew that scolding him further would not be helpful at all, so she rather said words of comfort.

"Don't you worry Drew," she said with a determined expression on her face. "We'll find Roselia. I know we can." As if her positive attitude was a contagious, Drew could not help himself but give a small genuinely smile.

…

"Roselia! Roselia, where are you?" came several screams from the depths of the woods. "Roselia, please come out!" Drew yelled as loud as he can. "I want to apologize! I should not have said those things to you!" May joined in the shouting. "Roselia! Please, please come out!"

Beautifly and Masquerain searched through the sky. The circumstance was quite difficult as their only source of light was the moon.

"Oh, Roselia…" Drew sighed. "Please be all right." May walked over to Drew, her hands clasped together in a prayerful gesture. "Let's keep searching for her, Drew," she encouraged him. The young green-haired Pokémon Coordinator turned to face her. "We've been out for about two hours now, May. You need to get some sleep or you won't have any energy for tomorrow's contest," he spoke rather gently to which May felt quite surprised at.

Maybe it's just because he's really tired and sad, May thought to herself. "I'll be fine Drew, honest! What's more important is that we find Roselia and that's she's safe, right?" Now it was Drew's turn to feel quite stunned.

"Hey May…" Drew attempted to ask a question.

"Yes Drew?" May replied meekly.

"Why are you… Oh, uhm, never mind," he quickly halted himself.

"It's all right, you can ask me anything," she told him.

Drew gave a small smile. "I was going to ask you why you're being so nice, but it turns out, I could just find the answer myself."

May then suddenly blushed. "H-Hey! What is that supposed to m-mean?" she rapidly and nervously inquired. "I'm always nice!"

Drew flicked his hair. "Yeah, I know that," he said coolly. She paused for a moment. "You do?"

"Yeah. But I also know you're always so clumsy, stubborn, forgetful, and-!" he continued pointing out each of her flaws, only to be cut off.

"Yeah yeah, I've got the message. Look if you're just going to make fun of me well-!" She was cut short by Masquerain and Beautifly's arrival.

"I think they've found her!" Drew gladly said as the run off to where the two flying/bug-types led them.

…

Not far from where the two Pokémon Coordinators are was a weeping Roselia. "I know Drew didn't mean all that," she comforted herself. "But what he said was just plain hurtful."

She was out alone by the other side of the lake. The crystal-clear waters perfectly captured the reflection of the moon and stars in the night sky. Roselia walked towards the lake to gaze upon her reflection. Her eyes were a bit swollen from her hours of crying, and her vivid lime green color seemed to have lost some of its hue. Tears then slowly started to stream down her eyes once more.

Not far from where the little grass Pokémon was, hid the infamous Team Rocket trio.

"Remind me again why we're up so early in the morning? It's four o'clock!" James complained.

"Because!" Jessie began to explain. "Today was glorious since a bunch of Trainers brought out their Pokémon."

"Yeah, but now we ain't got no Pokémon to steal at this time," Meowth told Jessie.

"That's where you're wrong," Jessie pointed out. "Some of the best Trainers with the strongest Pokémon come out to train early in the morning, so no one would see their special training styles."

James slowly blinked his sleepy eyes. "And so you want us to compete against these strong Trainers and their strong Pokémon?" he said before giving a loud yawn.

Jessie placed her hands on her hips. "No, we're not going to compete because we don't have to battle them! There are several ways to steal Pokémon without having to battle, you know James." The sleepy blue-haired man just mindlessly continued to stare at his comrade.

"Yeah… you tell me…"

From the other side of the bush where they hid, Meowth's ears twitched as he had just heard something. "Shush guys! I can hear someone cryin'," the feline said as he pierced a small opening in the bushes. "And I'm right! Lookie 'ere! It's a Roselia!"

James suddenly lit up. "A Roselia?"

"Right," responded Meowth.

"She's crying her eyes out. Something must've happened to her… Maybe she lost her Trainer?" James said as he pierced a small opening as well.

"Let me see!" Jessie pushed the two aside. "Oh… yes… A crying Roselia. But it does look awfully familiar," she added. Suddenly flashbacks of Drew and Roselia in the contest battles and the times he helped blast them off played in the Jessie's mind. "I knew it! Now I know why that Roselia's so familiar!"

"What's up with you Jessie?" Meowth asked.

"Do you know this Roselia?" James added to the question.

"This is that twerpette's coordinator boyfriend's Roselia!" Jessie told her two teammates. "I've seen them too many times in action, and I'm pretty sure it's that exact Pokémon!" She clenched her hands into a fist. "I know what we're doing at this time in the morning!" She smirked. Meowth and James gave her with a knowing look. "Yes, we're going to steal that Roselia."

Author's Message: I divided the story into two parts, mainly because I did not want to exhaust the readers with one whole long chapter. Moreover, I just came up with the city mentioned here. I based it from one of the Pokémon berries, the "Roseli Berry". I hoped you liked this part so far. The next one is coming up very soon, I promise.

If you bothered to read this remark, why not review me your favorite berry? Some people, I believe don't have any particular favorite… so if that's the case, maybe just give a random berry and tell me what you like or dislike about it? Hahaha! Thank you!