There was a break between the rounds so Ash Serena and May went to get some lunch. Zoey told them she had to prepare for the battle. They found a small café a few minutes from the contest hall, and ordered some food. "Wow Serena, that was an amazing routine" May said with a big smile

"You thought so?"

May nodded, "Your Braixen looked really beautiful and the control over that fire was incredible"

"Thanks, but it wasn't as good as yours. I can't believe you were able to use a move like assist when you don't know what might come out"

"well see that's the point. Not knowing means I have to adapt and it helps me bring a certain energy to the stage"

"And the crowd really loves it too, since it is so unexpected" chimed in Ash. Serena thought about this and how the unexpected would add more attention to the pokemon and move being used, but it also created several problems with choreographing it. "Hey May, how is Drew"

May smiled for a moment "He is great" then sadly looked down "it is hard though, not being with him" May saw the confused look on Serena's face "Drew is my boyfriend, but he is also a coordinator. It would be safe to say we are rivals."

Ash laughed, remembering the contest battles between the two

"You are dating one of your rivals?" Serena asked

May chucked "we were rivals before we started dating, we challenged each other and it made each of us better coordinators. After a while we realized we had feelings for each other. The only problem was we were still competitors"

"How did you manage?"

"I don't really have an answer to that. At first, we thought we could just compete like everything was normal but that quickly proved to be impossible. We couldn't exactly travel together if we were going to compete in the same contests since we each wanted to keep our training hidden from each other. We talked about simply competing in different contests, but the travel schedule would be impossible. For now, we decided we would travel separately from each other but spend as much time together when we had breaks from events. It has been better but as I said, it is hard not to be with him"

Ash smiled at May, "I'm sure you two will figure it out" he knew how much she liked Drew from back in their initial Hoenn days. "I just hope you guys are as fierce competitors"

"isn't a problem"

After finishing their lunch, May, Ash, and Serena made their way back to the contest hall. May's breezed through her first match, using her Venasuar to beat a Gabite. On her way, back to the player area she walked past Serena in the moments before her match. Serena stood leaning on the wall. May saw her hand shaking slightly. "Serena don't worry, just go out there and preform"

"Thanks a lot" Serena smiled at May, as she heard her name being called. She ran out to a cheer from the crowd and saw Zoey standing opposite her.

"Five minutes on the clock, let's begin"

"Glameow, curtain"

"here we go braixen"

Both pokemon appeared in front of their trainers. Vivian raised her arms and the timer began dropping. "Braixen do a summersault and then flame thrower" the fox tumbed forward and then raised its branch directing a stream of fire towards Glameow

"Jump Glameow" just before the fire reached Glameow jumped off its back legs. Not to be detured, braixen swung its branch redirecting the flame upward striking Glameow from bellow. The crowd erupted.

"Amazing, braixen used its incredible control over fire to change the direction of the attack. That will be worth some points", and Zoey's bar dropped accordingly

"Glameow", the cat landed on all fours and snarled. "Iron tail". Glameow jumped forward and turned to swing its now glowing tail.

"do three back flips to get out of the way" perfectly choreographed, Braixen jumped backwards and avoided iron tail. Once again, the crowed reacted and Serena began feeling confident. Her moves were working exactly as she had planned.

"Another great moved from Serena, she really knows what she is doing. Looks like we are down to three minutes left". Zoey's points took another dip.

"Hidden power", Braixen raised its branch and multicolored balls of light appeared in a circle around it, before sending them at Glameow.

"Counter with furry swipes. Glameow charged forward and slashed its claws returning the hidden power back at braixen. This caught Braxien off guard and the pokemon stumbled back as it was hit with the returned attack. "Iron tail" Glameow's tail glowed again as the pokemon squared up for the attack.

"Braixen dodge it again"

Zoey smiled "not again, straighten your tail" this time while swinging, Glameow strained its tail, increasing the length striking Braixen causing the fire pokemon to fall forward.

"I don't think we can count a champion out yet, Zoey used the variable nature of Glameow's tail to great effect there" Serena's points now fell brining the match to an almost even state, with Zoey in a slight lead

"Braixen no, can you get up?" Braixen staggered to its feet. "Fire Blast" With a wave of its branch the Fire Blast symbol was launched at Glameow.

"thunderbolt, yellow electricity swired inside Glameow's tail and cut right through the fire blast and shocked Braixen. The impact of the jolt brought Braixen to the ground.

"And that is it, with a TKO, Zoey moves on to the next round".

Zoey and Glameow turned the crowd and took a bow and walked off the stage. Meanwhile, Serena returned Braixen to its ball and just stared at it unable to move. Of course, she had lost before but there was something different this time. After about a minute she began slowly walking back to the player area. When she saw Ash, she walked right past him into the dressing room.

"Well folks, looks like we have our finals and boy is it a doozy. Two-time ribbon cup winner Zoey against the princess of Hoenn herself May. So, without further ado put 5 minutes on the clock and let's get busy" Zoey and May were already in their positions.

"Gallade, curtain"

"Blaziken, take the stage" both Pokémon appeared in front of their respective trainers

"get this going with Psyco Cut" Gallade's arms glowed with purple energy as it glided forward raising its arm as it got within striking distance of Blaziken

"dodge it" Blaziken gracefully shifted its torso moving just enough to dodge Gallade's swinging arms. Zoeys points took a hit "Great now sky uppercut" Blazien brought a blue glowing fist almost to the ground before punching straight up into Gallade's chest hurling it into the air. Gallade landed on its feet but was visibly shaken from the attack and Zoey's points took another dip. "follow it up with another sky uppercut" lowering its fist once more, Blaziken jumped towards its opponent.

"You're not the only one who can dodge" Now this time Gallade shifted to avoid the punch from Blaziken, "Psyco cut" with Blaziken off balance from the missed attack, Gallade swung down with its purple blade knocking the fire type to the ground and taking a big chunk out of May's points leaving her with just a slim lead.

"Blaziken are you alright?" Blaziken began pushing itself to its feet

"Now would be a good time for swords dance" Gallade raised its arms and pirouetted around the stage sharpening its arms. In the meantime, Blaziken got back on its feet

"Ok, time to use overheat" Blaziken formed a massive, spinning ball of fire and sent it at Gallade"

"I had a feeling you might do something like that, Psychic" Gallade's eyes turned blue and suddenly the ball of fire stopped and was held still in the center of the stage.

"Fire spin" Blaziken formed a spiral of fire that surrounded the stuck overheat causing it to explode pushing both pokemon back, but Gallade took the brunt of it. As both pokemon rose once more the clock read 3 minutes remaining and May held onto her lead.

"Galade move in on Blaziken". With grace galade moved toward blaziken, it looked almost as if the psychic type was gliding on the stage. "Brick break", as Galade got close it raised its arms above its head as they turned blue.

"Counter with Sky uppercut" lowering its fist, blaziken launched its whole body into the punch, meeting galades arm in the air just as birck break began to lower. The force definitely favored Blaziken "Great Blaziken"

"I don't think so, Galade pull in your arm and use psycho cut" Galade pulled its arm using break break away, causing blaziken to stumble forward, then swung down hard with its other arm in a gash of purple light. Blaziken took the attack in the shoulder and dropped to its knees. The whole sequence cost May in points and her lead evaporated. As the battle moved into its final two minutes.

"Blaziken can you get up" with effort Blaziken returned to its feet. May looked a little shaken but quickly shook it off.

"Psychic" Galades eyes focused hard on Blaziken and suddenly Blaziken was locked in place.

"Oh No"

Galade kept its hold before throwing blaziken backwards towards the wall.

"Jump off that" Blaziken hit the wall with its legs and bounded off in a powerful jump that launched it through the air. "Sky Uppercut" While in the air Blaziken's dropped its fist and swung it into Gallade before landing back on its feet. The force of the punch combined with the energy from the jump sent Gallade flying into the air.

"psycho cut"

Gallade landed, got to its feet and charged

"Dodge it" Blaziken jumped into the air and avoided the attack.

The buzzer sounded and the battle was over. Both coordinators looked up at the board.

Vivian walked onto the stage, "And the winner is May" The crowd roared, cheering hard for their Hoenn born star.