Hey peoples...

Well, I'm kind of depressed because I had to delete my CS story: You're Not Alone, because it was barely getting any attention, and therefore the effort I was putting into it was nothing but a big waste.

To make myself feel better, I wrote this. After all the CS vs HS stories I have read where Brendan isn't made the Anti-Christ, he and Drew usually hate each other in some sort of way. So, I thought, why not try vice versa? Why not try to see what could be a spark towards a possible friendship between them? At the same time, there is implied Hoennship and Contestship, because I like them both.

Guess I'll dedicate this to Galbinus, who has recently been reviewing my Legendary-shipping oneshots. Thanks a bunch! (:

If I did anything wrong in this, please tell me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

-ooo-

The loud, bustling town of New Bark thrived with life as its inhabitants rushed down its building-covered streets and towards the town’s boat port, which was scheduled to release a large majority of newcomers that were set to begin their contest tours and badge hunts through the large region of Johto. Armies of ships slowly reeled into the docking bays, their shiny surfaces reflecting the hundreds of eager faces that excitedly waited right behind the terminals, their arms obviously envious to wrap around any familiar faces that were to get off the metallic icebergs.

Soon, with screams and loud laughs, the passengers of the boats stepped out into broad daylight, immediately bringing their arms up to help shade their faces while smiling gleefully at the jumping crowd. One-by-one trainers and coordinators began to walk down the designated ladder and onto the docks, in which they were quickly pounced on by family members and best friends/lovers. Some of the Pokemon trainers had even released their Pokemon so the said creatures could share the amazing moment of advancing upon a whole new region, or just returning home after a long journey.

The vast skies, which were painted with the lightest of blue as if it was mimicking the very oceans that lay below it, grew bright alongside the sun’s cool rays. The light shone down onto the coordinators and trainers, whom some were walking with their family members or friends, while others rushed into the crowd, searching for the spot where they would meet their corresponding loved ones.

Needless to say, it was a great day to start a brand new journey.

Meanwhile, however, in a room on the highest floor of one of New Bark’s large, fancy hotels, a chartreuse-haired sixteen-year-old stared annoyingly at the big mirror that lay in front of him, which reflected his rich-boy countenance and the very smug look that had covered his somewhat-tanned face. With furrowed emerald eyes, the boy cocked his head to the side as he examined the forest green vest he had placed around his shoulders, somewhat snorting on how it didn’t go with his newly-attired black jeans. Muttering a curse under his breath, the boy ripped off the vest and threw it to the side so that it landed on the cheap bed of the hotel room. Then, crossing his arms, he stared at the simple black undershirt that covered his thin torso.

Johto gear hunting was never fun.

With his sylphlike fingers fingering the silver watch that was wrapped around his wrist, he slightly frowned at learning that it was almost time for him to head to the docks to pick up his rival, Maybelle “May” Maple. After the said brunette-haired fifteen-year old had taken separate ways from her previous traveling companions, she had called and asked him if he wanted to travel with her. Ironically, despite that he sometimes got annoyed by her childish attitude - that he sometimes was known to insult her with snappy remarks because of his lingering arrogance - that they were both coordinating rivals and therefore always tried to be better than one another, he had accepted her offer.

And now he was somewhat hating himself because of it, although he was kind of getting tired of always traveling alone.

Looking out the small window that his dimly-lit hotel room bore, he sailed his glowing eyes all over downtown, eyeing the ships that were letting off passengers at the docks, and the large cloud of people that had immediately covered the area because of it. May was on one of the ships, therefore he slightly grumbled when realizing how crowded the place was and how long it would probably take to find her.

When he thought about it, he kind of liked having her around, mainly because the socialization was good for him, and the fact that she somewhat reminded him of the little sister he never had. He had started to feel like it was his job to take care of her, although he usually pushed such thoughts aside since he was never the caring type. It seemed too out of character for him…

…right?

Andrew “Drew” Trandafir didn’t know what was right anymore.

All of a sudden, a knock from the door interrupted Drew’s thoughts and convinced him to eye it bewilderedly. Did May already find him, and if she did, then how did she know where he was staying? He spent a few moments staring at the oak wood door, his green eyebrow quirked and mouth contorted into a confused frown. The door stayed silent afterwards, the knocks coming to a halt, as if the person obviously envious to confront him had ceased his or her attempts to get in.

Returning his eyes back to the mirror, Drew merely shrugged the weird moment away, mentally dubbing the mysterious person as a fan girl who was probably trying to ask for his autograph. He was sometimes amazed on how far the said females would go just to say a one syllable word to him, although he somewhat appreciated their hard efforts.

The knock suddenly began to emit from the door again, a muffled voice muttering something incoherent on the other side. Drew quirked his eyebrow again as he slowly approached the door, his keen eyes set on the golden doorknob, in which he placed his hand over and slowly turned.

The door squeaked open, its heavy weight making the task annoying, and Drew could only stare bewilderedly at the figure that now stood in front of him, whose dirty sneakers tracked dirt on the plush carpet that covered the floors of the hallway. The mysterious stranger’s appearance looked no older than seventeen, although the said person’s entire body was covered in a heavy black jacket and a matching hat that concealed the boy’s pointed face.

Finding the cloaked boy quite random, and simultaneously wondering why such a being was even bothering him, Drew, whose suave voice was both quiet and loud at the same time, muttered, “Can I help you?” Alongside this, the chartreuse-haired boy’s face was expressing annoyance, and the slurs of his tone helped signify his impatience towards the sudden distraction.

“Are you Drew Trandafir?” the cloaked boy eventually questioned, unique ruby-colored eyes that were hidden by his hat glued to the boy in front of him, the spunky tone that usually occupied his accent not going unnoticed by Drew.

“What’s it to you?”

The cloaked boy shifted weight between his shoulders. “I need to talk to him.”

Drew stared at the cloaked boy for a few more seconds, eyes narrowed as if he was trying to peer into his soul. Eventually, though, he stepped aside and used his silent hand command to usher the boy in, closing the door right behind him. The cloaked boy walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge and removing his hat, which revealed a bright, yet emotionless face, and a smaller headband-like hat that portrayed itself as a tuft of albino hair, which covered his real raven-colored locks. The boy didn’t bother to remove the rest of his heavy gear, although Drew could tell that the said black-haired person wanted to hide as much as himself as he could.

“So,” Drew began, slowly walking over to a small chair and sitting on it, his arms crossed and furrowed eyes still transfixed to the raven-haired boy, “who are you and why did you want to talk to me?”

The unnamed boy did nothing but twiddle his gloved fingers together, although he eventually replied, “My name is Brendan – Brendan Birch.”

Drew’s eyes widened. It couldn’t be the Brendan Birch, right? The same Brendan Birch that won the Pokemon Battle Championships back in the Hoenn region two years ago? The son of the great Professor Birch?

Brendan chuckled as his ruby eyes examined the shocked expression that was planted on Drew’s face, as if the raven-haired boy had expected the chartreuse-haired coordinator to find the revealing quite surprising.

Nonetheless, Drew shook the abnormal feeling way and allowed his expression to turn serious again. “Alright, then, why did you want to talk to me?”

Brendan’s eyes lowered to the ground in a depressed formation, his lips dragging downward with despondency. Drew was about to ask him what was wrong when the raven-haired boy slowly stood up and made his way over to the small window that gave him a view of downtown and the still-crowded boat docks.

“I wanted to ask if you could do a favor for me.” Brendan’s ruby eyes were locked to the scenery outside of the window, although Drew noticed that the raven-haired trainer kept on nervously returning them to the boat docks.

Drew snorted. Why would a person he barely knew, apart from the things he had seen on TV and in magazines, expect him to accomplish a task for him as if they were best friends? The chartreuse-haired boy found the question quite pointless because of this. Needless to say, though, his curiosity came first.

“Depends. What is this ‘favor’?”

Brendan turned to look at him, an expression of sadness still sprawled across his pale face. “You are friends with May Maple, right?”

Drew didn’t even want to bother asking on how the boy knew his rival, and instead replied, “Yeah, what about her?”

Brendan sighed, as if the tale he was about to tell was saddening to him. “May and I used to be best friends back when we were little kids” – Drew didn’t seem surprised by this, as May was always eager to meet new people – “but when I turned ten, she was only eight. I had to leave for my Pokemon journey as designated for ten-year-olds, and I remember that when I told her, her eyes were immediately filled with tears.

“To tell you the truth, I could never take the idea of being away from her, but being a Pokemon trainer had always been my dream. Despite how much I wanted to be with May, I couldn’t allow such an opportunity to pass by.”

Drew quirked his eyebrow, an unimpressed frown tugging at his lips. He was never a fan of sap stories. “What’s this have to do with me?” he then asked smugly.

Brendan turned to him. “After a while of traveling, I realized that the reasons behind why I missed her so much wasn’t because of our friendship, but because I loved her.”

Yet again, Drew’s eyes somewhat widened, and he swore he could feel the burning sensation of jealously rage from within the pit of his stomach. He pushed the feeling aside, however.

“But I knew that we had been apart for too long,” Brendan began again, “and the fact that I was constantly on the road due to my Pokemon battles wasn’t helping my idea of starting a relationship with her. Hell, she probably has already forgotten about me.

“However, I don’t blame her. I don’t deserve her – I chose a stupid dream over being with her, and I never forgave myself for it. It’s probably too late to make things better in my case.”

Drew grunted. “So what do you want me to do about it?”

Brendan sighed again. “You see, Drew, when I saw one of the contests that you and May battled each other in on the TV, I could see her eyes sparkle with joy and determination. I was told that she hadn’t done that since the day I had left. I examined it myself, on how she looked really happy when she was with you, and I knew that there was only one possible conclusion behind it.”

“What?”

Brendan turned to him, his eyes filled with compassion. “She loves you, Drew. I can tell.”

Drew pulled back, surprised by his words. May…loved him? Him? Out of all the people in the world, she loved him? Despite his insults towards her, which was his own sort of way of motivating her to be the best, she loved him? It was practically oxymoronic.

“Drew?”

Drew shook the thoughts away from his head and turned to look at Brendan, who then said, “I can tell that she feels safe with you, and she’s happy. Happiness…it’s the one thing I always wanted to give her alongside the promise that I would always be there for her. I broke that promise, though, and now I see that you give her just as much happiness as I did, maybe even more.

“So, Drew, the one favor I wanted to ask you is nothing but for you to promise me something: Promise me you’ll take care of her, like I was never able to.”

Millions of thoughts raced through Drew’s mind, his heart beating loudly as Brendan’s compassionate ruby eyes gazed at him, obviously waiting for him to answer. Eventually Drew cleared his mind when Brendan suddenly moved forward to get his large hat off the bed, place it on his head and make his way to the door.

“Where are you going?” Drew asked, his arrogant tone replaced by a normal, confused one.

Brendan opened the door. “I have to go, Drew. I have no place here, and to May I am nothing but a childhood memory. I rather it stay that way. See you later, coordinator.”

And with that, he disappeared behind the door, making his way down the hallway and out of sight, like a lone figure traveling into the shadows, never to be seen or heard from again.

Drew, a shocked expression still sprawled across his face, slowly stood up and walked over to the window, immediately bringing his eyes to the boat docks, thoughts of May running through his head. Absentmindedly, and very out of character, a soft smile soon grew across his lips alongside a gentle glance. Following this, he then softly muttered a sentence that made even his heart flutter with compassion.

“I promise, Brendan.”

-ooo-

Yeah, I know, Drew's OOC up the yingyang in this. Oh well...review if you wish.

In other news: Did anyone else notice that the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas was on fire?