"Everything has to come to an end sometime," Clad in dark jeans and a deep red polo shirt, the young lady ran a hand through the thick fur of the newly hatched Poochyena. The little grey canine Pokémon let out a pitiful whimper and pawed at his muzzle, crimson eyes looking up at the former Coordinating star with its usual adorable glint. The lady laughed softly but shook her head in response. "Now, now, if I gave you anymore food, you'd get a bellyache." She scolded playfully as she picked up the empty dish bowl and stuck it into the adoption facility's dishwasher.

The Poochyena, having lost yet another lunch battle, huffed and scrambled onto his paws. He let out a little yip as he turned and bounded through the flap of the back door.

She sighed, closing the dishwasher and setting it to wash. It was yet another successful lunch hour for the residents at the adoption centre. There had been a sudden influx of Pokémon admitted into the place and, as the centre was small and run solely by her, was beginning to get incredibly crowded. Most of the Pokémon admitted into the adoption centre were the unwanted hatchlings of Pokémon trainers from nearby cities. These hatchlings, having been born in captivity with busy parents, were and would never be given proper training for living out in the wild so there were instead left in the care of the adoption centre, waiting in hopes that someday someone would come to whisk them away for their own adventure.

But then there was her.

May Maple, the former Coordinating star had spent all but the entirety of her teenage life and more working to be the very best Coordinator the world had ever seen. At the age of twenty-four, May hit a peak of her career, having won the International Grand Festival wherein top Coordinators from every region gathered to compete against each other. After her win, however, the brunette had decided to settle down and decide what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

In order to keep herself relatively busy during this period of time, May used a portion of the prize money to open up an adoption centre to house those Pokémon who were too inexperienced and weak to live out in the wild by themselves. The act was greatly appreciated by the residents of nearby cities. Especially those in Rustboro City where the packed urban landscape proved hard to make room for excess Pokémon.

It had never occurred to May that opening the adoption centre would soon prove to be a challenge and drain her of – not only her time and energy – but her money as well. Living nearly paycheck-to-paycheck now, the former star can do nothing but hope for the best…A hope of which was quickly dying out.

The adoption centre, no matter how needed and precious it was, would have to close in the next six months. Closing the centre meant closing her home too as she also lived in it.

A little ring-a-ling from the front office snapped May out of her near miserable ponderings. The young lady washed her hands quickly in the sink, hands busy retying the pale green bandana around her head as she pushed the door open with her hip and hurried to the counter, head bent slightly and hands still furiously working away.

"Hello!" She piped, in a bubbly - if not slightly tired - tone. "How may I help you?" Twenty-six years old now, May had grown to be a full woman with a fairly curvaceous figure with a tad more emphasis on her hips, her bust was average in size, her hair was longer and fell to mid-back even though it kept its usually chestnut colour. Her eyes were the same sapphire they were before, though perhaps with more of a wise and worn glint now.

"Good afternoon, May," The man on the other side of the counter greeted, a smile clearly heard in his tone. "How have you been doing?"

She finally looked up, having finished adjusting her bandana. Of course, it was just Sam the Mailman.

May shrugged and chuckled a bit, "The usual," She replied and looked at the small stack of envelopes in Sam's hand. She made a face, "Oh, you, the bringer of bad news – please don't tell me its more bills."

Sam merely offered her an apologetic grimace, "I'm afraid so, May. Sorry, I really wish I could help but –"

"Tut." May interrupted him as she retrieved her mail from his lax grasp. "No, you need the money more than I do. After all, you've got a son to look after. It's just me and me here." And then she laughed again. It was true. May had been so focused on her career and then on the centre later on that she had never looked out for any possible lovers. Sure, of course she paid attention and helped her friends through the complicated maze of romance, but she had never bothered to try it herself.

"Jonathan's turning ten the week after next," Sam told her fondly, "We'll be sure to stop by to check out the Pokémon here so he can choose."

May hummed and nodded, "Of course, sure, yes, that would be really good. Just drop by anytime, Sam."

Sam grinned and waved her goodbye. He tipped his blue mailman's hat and hiked up his mailbag, "Have a nice day, May."

"You too!" She replied, watching him walk out through the front doors. With a sigh, she brushed aside a stray bit of hair and flipped through the mail. As expected, there were the monthly utilities and credit bills.

But a little green envelope caught her eye. Raising a brow, she set aside the bills and picked up the odd letter. Her address was printed on the front but the handwriting did not strike her as familiar at all. She flipped to the back but saw no return address. Growing suspicious, May reached into her stationary drawer and produced a letter opener. Swiftly, she ran the thin blade underneath the closed flap and sliced the top bit of the letter open. Setting aside the blade, she pulled out the contents of the letter.

It was a small card with gold decorations making up its border. She frowned deeply upon reading the contents of the card.

'Lumineon Café
2:00 PM, today.
Hope to see you there.'

There was no other information. May checked the back of the card, hoping to find a name or something – but alas, there was nothing. She started to wonder just who would send her an invite to meet at the Lumineon Café. A place of which was famous in Hoenn for being the place for the elite peoples

With a harrumph, the ex-star tossed the card into the little recycling basket on the counter. She wasn't going. Why the heck would she take up and invitation to some fancy-smancy place with somebody she didn't know? It was a perfect plan for abduction and murder in her opinion. Besides, they seemed so impatient to want to meet her immediately today. It was all bogus.

As she picked up the green envelope to toss into the recycling, a little red thing fell from its gaping top. May paused, blinking in surprise at the fallen item. She dropped the envelope and picked it up, feeling the velvety texture of the crimson petal in her hand.

A rose petal.

She snorted and rolled her eyes, instantly recognizing who it was that had sent the mail. It all seemed so typical of him.

Whirling around, previous bills and worries forgotten, May skipped into her room to change out of her work attire. As she changed into a ruffled black skort and a pale blue blouse, she rang up a friend on her cellphone.

"Hello?" The voice sounded groggy on the other end.

"Hey, you, wake up!" May grinned, sliding on a cream coloured vest on, "I've got business to attend today and need you to come in and Pokésit." She laughed when an irritated groan came from the other end. "Please? It's really important – I'm going to see an old fr-" She paused, stumbling a bit on her words.

They weren't really friends and they were long past being rivals. When they had left Hoenn to travel together, they'd started dating and did so for about a year but had broken up when they had to leave to chase different dreams. He had sent her a brief, albeit curt and distant, congratulations through Pokémail when she rose to stardom but that had been about all they had communicated since then.

"Friend, yeah, friend." She ended somewhat lamely as she put on a grey knitted toque.

There was a brief moment of silence on the other end before a deep grumble, "Okay, fine, just go on and enjoy yourself. I'll be over as soon as I can. Man, I was going to go and work on my research today too."

"Oh shut up," May laughed, strapping on a smaller and newer version of her travel fanny pack. She clipped on her belt and fingered the empty Pokéball clips fondly. "You were going to just sleep all day anyway." She heard a laugh and some rustling from her Pokésitter. "Thanks a bunch, Brendan, I'll be back soon!"

"Don't get lost, love." He said, making May roll her eyes amusedly.

"Yeah, yeah, don't wish too hard." She retorted before chirping a 'bye' and hanging up. May slipped her cellphone into her fanny before running out to the front desk. She whipped open a drawer and scooped up the handful of Pokéballs and clipped them onto her belt.

After making a mental check that she had her old team of friends, she headed out the door and tossed out her Sinnoh-caught Staraptor out. The large bird ruffled his feathers and looked over at May quizzically.

"Come on, boy," May smiled as she hopped onto his back, "We've got business to do at Lilycove. Think you can do it?"

Staraptor huffed a little indignantly and let out a screech of determination before spreading his vast wings and taking to the sky. "You better brace yourself Drewy-boy because here we come." May muttered, almost smugly to herself as she and Staraptor zipped through the air.

First fanfic in a long time. I hope you all enjoyed it! :)

As a sidenote: All the canon characters might have different Pokemon from what they are officially given in the anime. This is because they are all adults now. I've assumed they've traveled a lot and have caught brand new Pokemon from their later travels.

R&R!