"-bye, May! And congratulations again on winning your fifth ribbon!" Caroline supported for the millionth time.

Okay, so maybe I was the one who said it nine hundred thousand of those times, but what could I say. I was proud of her. She got into the Grand Festival again!!

Honestly, if she wasn't my own kid, I would have never believed that she was scared of Pokemon until she started out on her journey.

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" She was about to turn the screen off when Brock appeared behind her.

"Hey, May. Max said something about Ramen."

At the mention of her favorite food, May stood up and ran in the direction of where I assumed Max to be, sending the swivel chair spinning.

Brock stopped the chair and sat down in it. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Maple. Um... I wanted to talk to you about May and-"

"Drew?" Caroline and I finished in unison.

Brock sweatdropped. "Yeah..."

"That's weird," I mused. "Why was he here? Doesn't he already have his ribbons?"

Brock nodded. "Yes. He came to support May."

At least he wasn't trying to trip her up like Harley...

"Well, after we stopped Harley's appeal sabotage, she was talking to us. I saw that Drew was about to walk in to talk to her, but turned away when he heard Ash's voice. He didn't really go far, however."

It kind of sounds like he was a little jealous there...

"We left not too long after, and Team Rocket in disguise tricked us into going into this room, saying there was a phone call for us. Turns out it was a large metal box attached to the bottom of their balloon."

Not those goons again...

"And, well, I guess Drew must have known something was up, because we hadn't flown far before we fell to the ground. We huddled in the back side of the box as something wielded the doors open."

Let me guess - Mr. Giving-roses-to-my-daughter.

"It was Drew's Flygon using flamethrower, which is what probably brought the balloon to the ground. He quickly returned Flygon and told us that May was in trouble, and, well, we all kinda knew it was because of Harley."

Not again...

"We got caught in one of Team Rocket's pitfalls, but Foritress got us out. We caught Harley and Ream Rocket directly under where May was."

Team Rocket and Harley joined forces?!?!?

"Harley and Drew exchanged a few cold words. Not like the teasing way he talks to May, you could both hear and feel the resentment in their voices."

Well... I guess I'm glad that he's an honest boy and is sticking up for her.

"I'm a bit worried about the festival, though. Harley's still going to be aiming for May, and after what he said to Drew, I don't know if he's going to try to trip him up as well," Brock added grimly.

"What did he say?"

"Well, Harley said 'it's close to the Grand Festival, Drew. I suggest you don't make me any angrier than I all ready am.' Basically translated as 'stay out of my way and quit protecting May, or I'm not holding back on you, either.'"

Brock gravely crossed his arms. "Drew responded with a simple 'back at ya.' I don't think he's backing down from Harley's threat."

He didn't back down and continued to look out for May...

I sighed.

I still don't like this guy, though.

"We didn't see him until much later when May had gotten the packet with Grand Festival info. She was telling us what it was when she spotted Drew maybe twenty feet away."

She didn't even know that he was there until that moment, did she?

"Ash started to say that Drew had helped us earlier, but May either didn't hear him or just ignored him as she walked right past him and over to him. Max commented to Ash that she didn't hear him in a way that makes me believe he knows exactly what' storing on between them as well."

Oh, please no.

"Drew started off with 'So grand festival time is almost here, huh?' And May responded with 'I knew you'd already gotten your five ribbons, Drew.'"

Brock smiled. "Them all of a sudden, Drew just seemed to get really flustered and nervous as he said 'Indigo Plateau it is, see ya,' to her really fast before quickly walking away."

(That episode is on the media section, and PLEASE WARCH, IT IS AMAZING!!!! Drew really does get kind of nervous and panicky there. He comes in at about 19:00 (nineteen minutes in.))

I dreaded the question, but I needed to know. "Brock..." I said slowly. "Where do you think they stand with each other?"

He thought a moment before answering.

"Well... I kind of think their in that stage of trying to figure out just kinda what to do with the feelings. They're rivals, so that obviously makes things ten times more complicated when it comes to grasping it and not freaking out about it, which they'd probably freak out anyway, but the fact that they compete against each other and are each other's biggest competition just makes it difficult to admit to the selfs."

Sadly, that does make sense.

"Drew seems to have somewhat accepted it with himself, as I think he's liked her longer than she has him."

"How long do you think that is?"

"I think he's kind of liked her almost since he met her, although for May I think it was the Wynaut incident with saving him from drowning, worrying about him as he was still unconscious, and then him saving her. That leaves him at liking her for about a year and 3/4, and her liking him at about a year."

I nodded. "Go on with your initial thoughts."

"So Drew seems to be a little more secure about all that's going on because of the time difference. May, I think, is starting to admit it to herself. However, I think Drew's feelings are growing a little stronger, which is causing him to be a bit nervous about it, the fact that he needs to keep his head in there to crush her, the fact that the goal is to crush her..."

I somewhat get what Brock is saying. He's nervous about having to fight her best he can.

"I think he just kind of went along with it at first, thinking it wouldn't last long or it was just a slight playground crush, nothing that would last or affect him. Although sometime in the Wynaut/Grand Festival time zone, I think it all just hit him what was happening - he had a crush on his rival, and it was becoming stronger."

No wonder the poor guy is panicked!

"It was around that time, I think that was when his feelings started messing with him. It made him nervous around her, upset at how Harley was shoving lies down her throat while she just ate it, not minding that he was getting all up in his face, and holding his hands while he clasped hers begging for forgiveness."

True...

"It was what caused him to mildly lash out at her for trusting Harley so easily and not doing what she thought would be right. He was just frustrated that she fell for it, and frustrated that it was affecting him so badly."

Why is Brock almost always right?

"As for May... I think she recently figured out what was happening, and is in the process of really grasping it."

He sighed.

"Mr. Maple, I know you're not a huge fan, partly because of all of the teasing, but to be honest, I think that was just kind of his way of communicating with her at first. As there gotten more comfortable around each other, they have just as much friendly talk time as argument time, and you just don't want to let her go.

Why, oh why is Brock almost always right?

"I know this isn't up to me, but if you want my opinion, I approve. He's honest, hardworking, loyal, cares about her, and isn't afraid to lend a helping hand."

He looked behind him.

"I've got to go."

I heard someone yelling about Max not having noodles as the screen flickered off.

"So, Norman? What do you say?"

"I... I need some time to think about this..."

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

NORMAN'S FINALLY SEEING THE LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going on vacation over spring break (leaving tomorrow), but I should have wifi.

:( we were supposed to go hang gliding, but there's like a 90% chance of rain...

:(

See ya!