The first thing May did when she logged off of PMO was run into the living room, which was just down the hall from her bedroom.
At least the new house will have two stories, she thought.
"Mom, Dad, I finally found someone!" she said as she walked in.
Norman and Caroline Melbourne looked away from the TV set at their daughter. They seemed disgruntled at being interrupted from watching the Goldenrod news.
"What do you mean?" her mother asked in a monotone voice.
"I mean, I met someone on PMO who lives in Littleroot Town! His name is Brendan and he's Professor Birch's son!" See dad, I told you!"
Norman shrugged. "I was the one who told you that Littleroot does in fact exist! But hey, that's exciting. I can't wait to meet the kid, especially since he's Ed's son."
"Me neither! He's fifteen just like me and he trains Pokémon!" May had never been so excited in her life, well, maybe besides one other time. It was almost embarrassing.
Mr. and Mrs. Melbourne exchanged a stern glance, then Caroline spoke.
"May, how about you start sorting your belongings tonight? We need to get a head start so we're packed by next month."
May's excitement faltered a little. "Uh, well yeah, I was about to do that. I just thought you'd be interested in what I had to say…"
"Yeah, that's great. Hopefully now you'll be more eager to pack up your things." Norman stated coolly as he and his wife turned back to watching television.
The young girl opened her mouth to speak but turned away instead, retreating back to her room.
Jeez, what was that? I thought they'd be a little happier for me, especially Dad. May pondered the exchange as she closed the bedroom door behind her. He seemed excited the other day when talking about Brendan's dad. You'd think he'd be elated now that I'll be hanging out with the guy's son.
May sat down on the floor next to her bookshelf, scanning the worn spines for titles she knew she wouldn't read again.
"Children's' History of Kanto", "a Johto ABC book", man, some of these are old… she began pulling books out and stacking them into a "donate" pile beside the door. Until…
"The Famed Flora and Fauna of the Hoenn Region" … whoa! I don't even remember this one! May abandoned her task and began to sift through the anthology.
Nearly an hour later, the curious teen had read pages upon pages about the geography and vivid ecosystems of the place she would soon call home. She took strong interest in the Mudkip line, eating up every single fact about the Mud Fish Pokémon.
These guys are wicked cool! Brendan must be such a great trainer…
After closing the book, May sat on her bed, staring out her window. The silhouette of the mysterious Ilex Forest loomed against the moonlight in the distance, the sight bringing upon great nostalgia and regret.
May wondered just how much she and Brendan would be able to do and explore together once she arrived in Hoenn. After all, he had been training Mudkip for nearly five years, and May had never gotten a Pokémon of her own…
What if he leaves on a gym challenge right after I move there? Then I'll be totally alone! She thought, falling back onto her pillow. And if he ends up challenging Dad… that'll be so awkward.
Excitement and worry filled May's thoughts as she fell into an accidental, dreamless sleep.
The next day…
May woke up dazed, trying to remember when she had fallen asleep.
Oh, right. Anxiety must've knocked me out again.
After changing into a fresh set of clothes, washing her face and brushing her teeth, May sat at the desk chair in front of her computer. As the machine booted up, she hurriedly tied her caramel-colored hair into a messy ponytail.
Nearly ten minutes later, after the dial-up screeched and bleeped, her homepage loaded.
POKéMON MULTIPLAYER ONLINE – THE FORUM
FEATURED MASTER 7/14/04 – STEVEN STONE, HOENN REGION
May blinked at the homepage's wallpaper for the day. It looked like a heavily airbrushed photo of the real-life champion of the Hoenn League, Steven.
I doubt he's actually that hot irl, she thought with an eye-roll.
May noted to read the article on Steven later, after she'd checked in with Brendan. Might as well read up on the Hoenn league. She opened up and searched her bookmarks tab for Dragonite Online.
Let's see… ah, here it is. DOL.
She clicked the link, the familiar, cartoony Dragonite flapping its wings as the webpage loaded. Somehow, May remembered her login credentials even though she hadn't used DIM – Dragonite Instant Messenger – in over a year.
I should use this with more PMO people, she thought.
1 MESSAGE REQUEST – WURMPLE00
1 BUDDY REQUEST – WURMPLE00
Oh dang, he beat me to it.
May accepted Brendan's requests and first opened up his user profile.
NAME: It's Brendan Birch, boyeeeee
Haha, what a clown.
Profile Photo:
May took a good look at the kid's avi. He seemed like the average teen guy, but his hair was… white?
I hope that's a wig.
Gender: Male
Age: 15 (07/17/88)
Location: it's a secret
Interested in: Hot singles in your area
Arceus, why…
Likes: Mudkipz, battling, trolling teh forums
I seriously hope he's joking.
Dislikes: Mean ppl, mt. chimney, that guy who does the 5pm radio shows, also that weird kid from verdanturf town
Status: torchic wing, torchic wing, houndoom and baloney, torchic and macaroni, chillin with my homies
Okay, this guy tries too hard.
May decided to stop scouring this guy's cringe-tastic profile and opened up the message he'd sent her.
10:35 PM KJT, 7/13/04
Wurmple00: hi may! Boy, I can tell you haven't used DIM in a while. Your profile made me laugh! XD
Shit.
May exited the chat window and loaded up her profile
Name: Mayeee but I don't really like my name, call me Max
That's gonna get changed.
Profile photo:
It was an old photo of her and Bugsy, probably in Slowpoke Well a few years prior. The quality was so bad that both kids looked like blobs of pixels.
Gender: Female
Age: 15 (09/01/88)
Interested in: No one. -_-
So edgy. Ugh.
Likes: Bug pokémon, my best friend (buggomuggo13), legendaries, forests, pokémon in general, PMO
That hasn't changed much.
Dislikes: Rules, stuck up ppl, being bored
Status: I might get to meet Red and Blue from Kanto today ahhhhhh . but I just wanna meet Green
That was a cool day, but I'm gonna change this up.
Name: May, just May
Profile photo:
May uploaded a nice photo of herself feeding a Slowpoke berries just outside of town.
Gender: Female
Age: 15 (09/01/88)
Location: Johto, moving to Hoenn
Interested in: People who actually like me
Likes: Pokémon, nature, freedom, PMO
Dislikes: Rules, boredom
Status: When will my life begin?
Still kinda edgy, but that's who I am.
May reopened the chat window with Brendan, rereading his message.
Wurmple00: hi may! Boy, I can tell you haven't used DIM in a while. Your profile made me laugh! XD
She replied, then opened another tab in the background to read the PMOF article on Steven Stone.
Bugchic99: hey, brendy. I just updated my profile so you cant make fun of me anymore. Yours is still a hoot, tho.
Less than a minute later, a pixelated Dragonite cry sounded through May's speakers.
Dang, already?
She switched tabs and read the response:
11:08 AM KJT, 7/14/04
Wurmple00: haha good morning max 😉 i like your new pfp, is that a slowbro?
Bugchic99: slowpoke, actually. I cant believe ur online already
Wurmple00: oh my dad always wakes me up around 7 to go on one of his "nature walks", so ive been up for a while. Plus, I keep my computer on p much 24/7 so I can get notifications.
Bugchic99: wait really? That's rly bad for ur computer
Wurmple00: its convenient tho
Bugchic99: dude. Ur hardware should be restarted regularly, its like how people and pokemon need sleep to be refreshed. Doesn't that make ur system like… mega slowpoke?
Wurmple00: haha u should change ur name to slowpokechic99, ur obsessed with em
Bugchic99: whatever. Anyway, how goezit? I found a hoenn book last night while sorting my stuff and I read tons about mudkip and other mons im gonna meet
Wurmple00: oh sweet! Well actually my dad and I helped compile some research for one of those things a few years back. If the publication date is 2000 or later, I bet you can find his name in the contributors' section.
Bugchic99: srsly? I'll go check now, brb
May swiveled her chair around and practically leapt across her room to the bookshelf. She soon noticed, however, that the pile of books she'd taken out the night before was missing.
What in the world?
The girl quickly bolted out of her room and down the hallway to the kitchen, where her father was reading the Johto Journeyer, a newspaper popular with his generation of trainers. He was wearing his work boots, May noticed, so Norman had probably already been to town that morning.
"Dad," she began, nearly out of breath. "did you happen to see a pile of books I had laid out on my floor?"
Norman set down the newspaper. "The donate pile, right? The one next to your old clothes?"
"Yeah…"
"Then, yes. I took all that stuff down to the donation center connected to the daycare near Goldenrod. Why do you ask?"
May began to pick at her fingernails, avoiding eye contact with her father. "Um, was there a Hoenn book in that stack?"
Norman looked thoughtful then shrugged. "Heck if I know. That'd be a shame, you could afford to read up on Hoenn before we move."
The girl clenched her fists rather than lashing out, then turned back towards her room.
"Never mind, then," she choked out.
For the next twenty minutes, May tore apart her bookshelf and half of her room to search for that awesome book. No luck. It was gone, and she didn't dare embarrass herself by trekking through Ilex to ask the daycare couple to find and return it. She once again collapsed onto her bed with a sigh that sounded more like a Magcargo blowing off a day's worth of steam.
The DIM notification sent May bolt upright again, reminding her of the reason behind her futile search. She rolled off the bed and plopped down at her desk, perpendicular to her unmade, unruly bed.
11:43 AM KJT, 7/14/04
Wurmple00: u found it yet? It's been a p long time hehe
May tried to brush off her anger as she typed her next message.
Bugchic99: nope. I think the 'rents lumped it in with my donation pile and got rid of it.
Wurmple00: damn, tough luck. Theres lots of cool research about hoenn online and in libraries, u should check it out sometime
Bugchic99: yea ill probably do that
Wurmple00: ok so ur pfp right
Bugchic99: ?
Wurmple00: profile pic
Bugchic99: I know what it means, what r u saying bout it
Wurmple00: u look so p
Oh Arceus I hope he's not flirting with me ugh I hate e-boys
Wurmple00: pALE WOW
Bugchic99: …
Bugchic99: u know im from Johto right
Wurmple00: yeah haha but do u even go outside?!
Bugchic99: im literally outside in the pic
Wurmple00: oh right
Wurmple00: yet here u are on the internet
Bugchic99: so r u
Wurmple00: got me there ahahaha
Bugchic99: ur silly. But yeah no I don't spend much time outside anymore. I don't have much reason to, I got no pokémon to train
Wurmple00: oh yeah I forgot abt that
Wurmple00: well since its just u and me here, can you elaborate on that?
Bugchic99: you are very forgetful, wurmple. And uh I just met u yesterday idk why I should do that
Wurmple00: well we're gonna be neighbors right? Maybe even adventure partners. Maybe even more than that
Bugchic99: ew gross
Wurmple00: I meant friends, duh
Bugchic99: youre about as stealthy as squad of sentret in spring
Wurmple00: u overthink things more than a medicham in meteor falls
Bugchic99: maybe someday we will understand each other
Wurmple00: I gotta hear ur tragic backstory first
Bugchic99: ok fine, ya donphan. rollin into every1s business. Heres the abridged version. My dad let me run an errand to goldenrod city when I was 9, almost 10. He sent one of our family pokémon with me so I could defend myself in the ilex forest, which separates my town from the big city. Long story short, I got lost and didn't return with the mon. so my parents got primeape-pissed and decided I wasn't responsible enough to become a trainer and ive been a defenseless, partnerless individual ever since
Bugchic99: happy now
Wurmple00: no… dude that all sounds awful
Bugchic99: yea no shinx
Wurmple00: Im sad about the mon but ur 15 now and they still don't trust u? I call taurosshit. Ive done some stupid stuff over the years and yea it disappoints my family but thats what happens when ur a kid. U messed up big time but that shouldnt be a life sentence
Bugchic99: yeah tell that to the 'rents. Oh also, my dad told me he knows ur dad from when they were kids. He was all excited ab moving to littleroot until I told him u were a trainer, it seems. Same w my mom. Idk what their problem is
Wurmple00: well I don't know any of u personally yet so im gonna wait to judge character, but guess what
Bugchic99: wut
Wurmple00: im gonna try to convince ur family to let u get a mon of ur own. U can either catch somethin small outside of town, or I bet my dad would at least loan u a rare one.
Bugchic99: forreal? brendan that'd be AMAZING
Wurmple00: you bet. I like you a lot, May, you seem like you care a lot about training and taking care of mon. especially with how experienced u are in PMO. Its different than irl, but you definitely have what it takes
Bugchic99: u really think so? Its just a game
Wurmple00: yeah, a game that our own regions' CHAMPIONS wanted to be in. whaddya say we go train up our teams and talk over on PMO?
Bugchic99: yeah, id like that a lot! And maybe u can tell me about hoenn's rare pokémon while we're at it
Wurmple00: hell yeah! I sent u a PMO friend request last night, just accept it and we can meet up
Bugchic99: sounds good. But I gotta go read something on the forums first…
After logging off DIM, May excitedly read through the front-page article on Steven Stone. It was a Farfetch'd thought, but May couldn't help but visualize herself facing the Hoenn league champion a few years down the road with a real-life team of her own.
That team's gonna be headed off by the first 'mon I get next month… this move is gonna be the best thing to ever happen to me.