A/N: Another contestshippy. ^^ TPT needs more May/Drew fics. The prologue is only from Drew's POV, but later in the story May's is added too. And I know I'm writing too many fics. I don't need reprimanding. However, just so everybody knows, Deception is being rewritten and Confessions of a Caterpie is on hiatus. But I'll update Growing Up and Romeo and Juliet: Pokemon Style! as soon as possible. This fic was inspired by a number of songs (mostly Avril Lavigne's Losing Grip after which the ficcy is named) - one will be quoted at the start of each chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story except Pokemon, lol just kidding.

~ ~ ~

Are you aware of what you make me feel...
Baby?
Right now I feel invisible to you
Like I'm not real
Didn't you feel me lock my arms around you?
Why'd you turn away?
- Avril Lavigne

Losing Grip
prologue

"I suppose that rose is for Beautifly?"
"...something like that."

A bright, fluorescent light filled the Pokémon Centre, washing the buttercup yellow tiles in clean white light. Plush, luxurious red couches were sprawled lazily around highly polished tables of spotless clear glass that reflected their surroundings. The smell of air-conditioning and quiet excitement hung in the air; there were hushed yet ecstatic discussions reverberating through the room. A young woman leant on the counter, her pale red hair in two loops at either side of her head, kind blue eyes alight with interest as she talked to the boy on the other side.

The boy was about twelve or thirteen, with messy black hair under a red cap with a green logo. He was surrounded by his friends - a teenager with dark skin and narrow eyes, a pretty girl with a Beautifly perched atop her head and a younger kid with large glasses and short legs.

Mostly it was the girl who caught my eye.

She was slim and dressed in a short red dress with a creamy yellow skirt and black shorts. A bandana was wound around her light brown hair and she was smiling absently, tracing patterns on the red counter with gloved fingers. Her name was May, she was a well-known young Pokémon co-ordinator and she was my rival.

I was slouched casually on one of the lazy, squashy couches, surveying the Centre. As my eyes passed over the glass table I saw my reflection - a stocky boy, with shiny hair and emerald green eyes, wearing a purple vest and a dark sweater. I was happy with my reflection, as always. I wouldn't change anything...

Except maybe, somewhere in the back of my mind, very deep down, I half thought it might have looked a little better if May was there too.

"Hey, Drew!"

I looked up and got to my feet. May had walked over, her stiff hairstyle bouncing above her shoulders. She smiled at me. "You entering the contest?"

I flicked my hair. "Yep. Why else would I be here?" I glanced down at the table. Now, reflected in its shiny surface, beside myself, was May. Now, it looked perfect. "Are you?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "I've been training for months. There's no way in the world you're going to beat me in this, Drew."

Who did she think she was? There was no way she could win against me, not when I had been training so hard for the last three months. It had ruled my life. I'd barely slept. I didn't think May knew just how much Pokémon co-ordinating meant to me; where I was concerned, contests were the single most important thing in the world, and nothing, and I mean nothing, was going to make me lose this. "And how do you figure that?"

"Because this time I've trained so hard it would just be unfair if I lost. It's ruled my life. I've barely slept." This threw me. You've barely slept? It would be unfair if you lost? Wake up, May.

I quelled my indignity and smirked, because I knew it would make her angry. "Hm, that means you've gotten about ten hours a day? Given up on all that precious beauty sleep, hey? A real inspiration to all aspiring co-ordinators."

I could practically see her head inflating with fury. "For your information -"

"Ready, May?"

May's head shrunk back to its normal size (metaphorically, of course, although it was big enough without all that swelling). We turned in unison. Predictably enough, it was none other than Ash the Incredible and his posse (of two people, currently). She shot me a dirty look behind Ash's back, then gave Ash a dazzling smile (dazzling in my eyes, anyway) and said brightly, "Yep! Let's go and get lunch! Bye, Drew!" And then they were gone.

My God, and she calls me fickle.

~ ~ ~

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, trainers and co-ordinators, and welcome to the contest!" Cheering. "Well, let's not dawdle. Straight to the prelims!"

A pretty young woman named Lilian, perhaps in her early twenties, with curly brown hair and a big enthusiastic smile on her face, was standing on the highly polished stage, which was made from shiny yellowish wood. Dust drifted through the warm air, made visible by the orangey lights shining through the stadium, projecting strong dark shadows onto Lilian's round, flushed face. The smell of sweat and excitement and shared body-heat radiated from the tightly packed, enormous crowd.

I leant against a wall and watched some co-ordinator called Arielle direct her Venasaur into a display using solar beam, magical leaf and sleep powder. Hmmm. It seemed there was some talent here. But not enough to beat me, of course.

"Hi Drew!"

I glanced over at May without turning my head and noted she had forgotten to stay angry with me. I'd have to be much more infuriating next time. "Hey," I replied, turning my eyes back to the prelims, now featuring a boy called Andrew with a Charizard.

She hovered beside me for a while, watching the contest, but neither of us were really focusing that hard. Andrew finished and a girl called Lavender came on with a Poliwhirl.

"Some talented people out there," said May in another attempt to make conversation.

"You think?"

"Mmmm. That girl with the Venasaur was good."

"You liked that?"

"It was pretty."

"I guess so." I grinned at her. "If you're impressed by something like that, our performance will give you a heart attack."

"I don't think so," she replied with a matching smirk. "Which Pokémon are you using?"

"I'm afraid that's for me to know and you to find out," I said loftily, turning my eyes back to the prelims. I realised I was up next. "I'm on soon."

"Good luck," she said, flashing me one of those dazzling smiles of hers, and held up a hand for a high-five. I ignored it and walked away. Her hand dropped slowly, the way you might expect a withering flower to droop.