I originally wrote this for one of Orangen's club contests on deviantART! But I really like it so I want to post it here too.
Normally I like May with Brendan better. However I like Team Aqua, so I kind of like her with Archie too.
It had been a few months since Team Aqua had tried to wake up Kyogre. Since then they had disbanded and a few of the members had been arrested. Most of them snuck away to do other jobs though.
Shelly and Matt, the admins, worked at the Weather Institute. They were disguised of course. Since they'd tried to take it over before, they didn't want the scientists to recognize them.
No one knew what had happened to Archie. Not even Shelly and Matt knew. One day after work they were walking back to their houses in Fortree City, when Shelly suddenly wondered about that.
"You know, I bet Archie misses being the boss," she said to Matt.
"Yeah and I bet he could find Kyogre again if her really wanted to," Matt answered. "But he just disappeared."
"I know that, but I don't know why."
Matt looked down at his Pokéballs before he said, "Maybe he doesn't want to mess up again."
"Or maybe it's because of that one girl that stopped us, May," Shelly added.
"Yeah, he doesn't want her to stop us again," Matt frowned.
"No!" Shelly shook her head. "I mean maybe he feels guilty!"
Matt blinked. "I don't know. I don't think the boss gets guilty. But you were higher rank than I was… Maybe you know."
"It was just an idea."
By then they had arrived in Fortree City and were close to Shelly's tree house. She shrugged as she climbed up the ladder.
"Oh well. See you at work tomorrow."
Matt sighed as he watched her climb up the tree.
It turned out Shelly was right even if she never knew it.
Archie had changed after the Kyogre incident. But, since everyone had heard about what he had done, he couldn't find anywhere to go. He mostly traveled around Hoenn. Of course he never stayed anywhere long and he was always in a different disguise.
He knew Kyogre was probably back at the Seafloor Cavern. He could have gone to catch it if he wanted to. Instead, every time he thought about Kyogre, he ended up thinking about May.
Archie remembered when she came out of the Cave of Origin, with the Blue Orb. May had said Kyogre had left after she'd battled it. She'd looked proud but tired.
It was because of her that he returned the Red Orb and left Team Aqua. That was also why he traveled, because he wanted to see her again.
One time he did run into her. She'd been leaving Lilycove City after shopping. Archie had been there to make sure that the Hideout was really sealed up.
They'd passed near the Department Store. May smiled at him as she walked past, and he wondered if she recognized him. But then she waved and walked away quickly instead of saying anything.
Archie had heard that she lived in Littleroot Town. He wanted to go there and ask her if she really had noticed him that day. But like Shelly had thought, Archie felt too guilty.
Archie always thought that she would be better without him, so he never looked for her again.