Hello everybody and welcome to chapter two of Hoenn Adventures! In this chapter, we'll see what state Brendan is in after taking heavy fire from Torchic's attack and if he's able to even go on a journey. Enjoy!
Brendan opened his eyes wide but shut them quickly wishing he hadn't due to the blazingly bright light from the lamp beside him hitting him like a bus. The same feeling happened when he tried to open them slowly causing him to let out a groan and pull the covers back over him. Shortly after this, he heard a gasp from someone, most likely a girl from the sound of it, to the left of him. He then felt a sudden weight pile onto him and he knew it was a female now because of what he felt being pushed up against him.
"Thank goodness you're still alive!" The person, who, by the sound of their voice, Brendan knew was May, exclaimed. Her voice was raspy which Brendan thought was because she had either woken up recently herself or that she had gotten upset recently. A growing wet patch on his chest confirmed the latter.
"Oh please...I don't die that easy." Brendan responded back, jokingly. His voice was also raspy and unusually low-pitched due to him just waking up. "It would take at least a thousand strong men to even deal a dent on me." He joked again causing May to giggle slightly. Suddenly, Brendan felt his back grow stiff which he theorized was probably due to him being in a lay-down position. "Mind if I sit up?" Brendan asked, feeling uncomfortable in his lying-down position. "Not saying I don't enjoy you on top of me, just need to move." May's eyes widened and she went bright red as she just then realized what she was doing.
"Y-Yeah." May replied as she quickly jumped off the bed and immediately looked away from Brendan in an attempt to hide her blush which, luckily, he couldn't see due to his vision being slightly blurred. "S-Sorry..."
"Eh, it's fine." Brendan shrugged. He decided to observe his surroundings seeing that he was in a hospital-like room with the walls, flooring, that was carpet, and roof were all a turquoise shade of blue. To the left of his bed, which had thin, bluish green sheets, was a wooden cabinet with a lamp that has a purple pole holding up the bulb which had an upside-down, plant pot-like shade over it and a string switch which allowed someone to turn it on and off. Brendan also noticed that he was wearing a hospital gown making his theory about being in a hospital even truer. He also had a large bandage around his stomach and it hurt to touch the lower part of his back. He turned to May who was sat in a dark blue chair she had pulled from the side of the room to the left side of his bed and sat down using a nearby tissue to dry her eyes. "What happened to me anyway? Why am I in a hospital?" Brendan asked, not understanding why he was in a hospital as he felt physically and mentally fine.
"You don't remember?" May responded causing Brendan to pause for a moment as he tried to remember. Since nothing came back, apart from him and May starting their battle and the information he had learnt from the fight, he shook his head. "Well, you took Torchic's Ember attack for Treecko during the match we had." Brendan nodded, vaguely remembering the incident, and gave the signal to continue. "One of my Dad's aids heard the commotion of our battle, especially what happened at the end, so my Dad drove myself and you to Oldale Town's hospital in his jeep." She glanced at the clock just behind her. "We've been here for about two hours now. My Dad had to go back to his lab earlier and my Mom's on her way over. I'm pretty sure that she's told your Mom about this but, obviously, she won't be able to come due to your Dad and all that." Brendan nodded again before May looked at Brendan again with her eyes slightly wet. "Brendan, I…I'm so sorry. I got too cocky during our fight that I didn't realize what you would've been lik-"
"May, its fine." Brendan interrupted her. "It was my choice to jump in the way of Torchic's Ember. None of it was your fault."
"B-But-"
"But nothing. The blame's all on me. You did nothing wrong, okay?" Brendan asked rhetorically, interrupting her again, causing May to close her mouth and nod, her head looking down slightly. Brendan smiled, seeing the caring attitude of the brunette though, he felt slightly disheartened seeing her spirit dampened slightly and decided to change the subject. "Do you know when I'm able to leave?" May looked up at him.
"The doctor just said whenever you wake up." She replied. "He just said not to put too much pressure just above your waist on your back." Brendan nodded, telling May that he understood and now knowing why he was wearing a bandage and the vicious pain he felt taking the Ember attack. "How do you feel?" May asked snapping Brendan out of his thoughts.
"Good, for the most part. Just a thumping headache but I'm sure it'll pass." Brendan answered, clutching his pained head softly. May nodded and smiled, glad that there was nothing seriously wrong with Brendan, before standing up.
"I'm gonna go and see if my Mom's arrived or not, want anything?" Brendan thought for a second, before shaking his head.
"Nah, I'm good."
"Not even a Soda Pop? I've never had one, but they're supposed to be really good."
"Well, seeing as you're offering, why not?"
"Actually, I think they're quite expensive…They're atleast three bucks for one…"
"Oh come on, you're the daughter of a world famous Pokemon Professor! Surely you can spare six bucks!"
"What makes you think I'm paying for both?!"
"You can't take advantage of the weak! I know for a fact that you're better than that!"
"Alright, fine!" May sighed, playfully annoyed though she couldn't resist a smile growing on her face seeing Brendan smile, even if it was a cocky grin with him leaning back and both of his arms behind his head with his palms creating a pillow for his head. She leaned over to him, kissed his cheek, and made her way to the door. She turned to face him just before she went through it. "Oh, your Treecko and egg are both just at the hospital's reception. Treecko should be fully recovered by now. I'll meet you in the cafeteria; it's just directly down the hall. See you soon, K?"
"M-Mmmhmm." Brendan replied as he nodded, holding the place where she had kissed him. May giggled slightly before going through the door, closing it slowly, due to Brendan's headache, and going down the hallway to find her mother. Brendan gave a sigh of relief as he lay down flat staring blankly at the ceiling. After about five minutes of doing this, he decided to get up and get dressed but, when he tried to stand up, he lost all feeling in his legs causing him to fall back down onto his bed. "Alright, I cannot even stand up straight at age fifteen. Go me." He joked to himself before trying to stand up again but this time more slowly and with some support from his bedside table. He was able to stand up straight this time but he took no chances and quickly swept up his bag, which, luckily, had a spare change of clothes in it, before sitting back down on the hospital bed. His clothing was mostly the same as before except for the shirt being a dark blue instead of orangish-red.
After he was dressed, he decided to follow May's advice and go to the hospital's reception which was on the same floor as the room he was placed in. As he walked down the corridor, he got a few stares from women both around his age and some who were slightly older than him, on some occasions, it looked like they were ten years or older than him. He was thoroughly confused why he got so many stares. Sure, he was attractive for his age, but not THAT attractive to the point where just looking at him would render anyone who was into the male species speechless.
He tried to ignore these stares as he finally reached the reception which was being manned by a young girl, probably in her early twenties with bright blonde hair that had a platted ponytail which was hanging over her right shoulder, brown eyes, and a standard, light blue nurse's uniform with the nametag "Bethany" on the right side of her torso (A/N Basically, picture her as Bethany from The Walking Dead when she was in the hospital). Her eyes averted from the desktop's screen when she noticed Brendan and smiled kindly at him.
"Hello, how can I help you?" She asked, turning her body fully to him.
"I'm here to pick up my things. I'm Brendan Birch and I was staying in the room just down there." Brendan answered, nudging his head towards the corridor he had just walked down.
"Ah, yes. I know who you are. You're Norman's son, Gym Leader of Petalburg City, correct?" Bethany questioned as she motioned for a male intern, who looked just slightly older than Brendan, to carry out Brendan's request.
"Y-Yeah." Brendan replied, not liking where this is going.
"Must be pretty nice to be the child of a widely respected man." Beth admitted. "Well, I say that, but I don't respect him, no offence." Brendan's eyes widened.
"None taken, but, if you don't mind answering…What makes you say that?" He asked, wondering if this woman hated Norman for the same reason as he did. Bethany shrugged.
"Dunno." Bethany shrugged. "Just...Something about him always seemed odd. Sure, he was always seen smiling and being a generally good guy…but that was on camera. What about off camera? Plus, he was married and had a son – something that people should be proud of – yet he never spoke of them that much."
"Then...How did you know that I was his son?"
"Easy. You lookalike." Bethany answered simply. "That, and you have a similar build to him and you share the same last name." She turned her monitor's screen to show some data she had on Brendan such as his full name, age, date of birth. "Even a complete idiot would be able to but the pieces together."
"Alright...But, could you do me a favor?" Brendan requested and Bethany nodded before Brendan looked to his left and then to his right and, seeing that no one was looking, he leaned over the desk moving closer to Bethany. "Mind keeping that information to yourself? I'd rather not be recognized by everyone I see." He whispered.
"Sure thing." Bethany replied with a smile, tapping the right side of her nose with her finger. "Your things'll be returned to you shortly so just take a seat." Bethany nodded just behind Brendan, where four wooden chairs with dark blue cushions were pressed up against a wall. "I'm pretty sure that I saw your girlfriend head into the cafeteria just down the hall." Bethany then pointed to a long hallway with white walls, flooring and ceiling (similar to the design of the entire hospital) that led to two large, dark blue double doors with one silver handle on each door. Brendan raised an eyebrow at Bethany.
"Girlfriend?" Brendan repeated since he was pretty sure that he didn't have a girlfriend. Then it hit him as a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. "O-Oh, you must mean M-May. S-She's not my girlfriend. I've barely even known her a day at this point."
"Really, you two aren't a thing? I really thought that you were with how she wouldn't leave your side when you were unconscious." Bethany admitted, slightly shocked. Brendan shook his head wildly.
"N-No, we're just f-friends. Like I said, I barely even know her." Brendan informed her but that only made Bethany's smirk grow even wider: something that scared Brendan.
"Oh, so it was love at first sight, was it?" Bethany teased with a slight smirk and her left eyebrow raised causing Brendan to go even redder.
"W-What?! I don't l-love May! We're j-just friends! Nothing more, nothing less! That's all!" Brendan countered back, his voice raised possibly a bit too high making some look over to him and Bethany, who had an even bigger smirk on her face. She couldn't help but release her laughter seeing Brendan's embarrassment, but she did feel slight pity on him.
"Okay, okay. I believe you." Bethany told him between breaths until she stopped. "You'll soon realize it when you're older, though." Bethany gave him a wink and giggled slightly when she saw Brendan roll his eyes before he took her advice and sat down on the nearest chair. To pass the time, he decided to scroll through his PokeDex, which he had found in his bag, and do some slight research to give him an advantage in battle.
He began his research by looking at the different types of Pokemon beginning with grass, his Treecko's type. He quickly found that grass had a good handful of weaknesses, which meant what the Pokemon took more damage to, such as ice, fire, bug, poison and flying-types but it resisted water, ground, electric and other grass-types. Grass was 'super-effective' against water, ground and rock-types and mainly specialized in status moves such as paralyzing, which cut the foe's speed in half, poisoning, which hurt the opponent steadily each turn, and putting the foe to sleep, which made the foe unable to move for one to five turns. Grass-types could also lower the opposing Pokemon's stats or raise their own/allies'.
Next, he decided to look up May's Torchic's type, fire. He found that fire was 'not very effective' against rock, water and fire-types, with an added weakness to ground-types, but was super-effective against grass, bug and ice-types. He noticed that adding a fire-type to his team wouldn't be such a bad idea since it would cover two of Treecko's weaknesses whilst Treecko covered all three of a fire-type's weaknesses.
Finally, remembering the third Pokemon that was introduced to him in Birch's laboratory, he decided to look up Mudkip's type, water. Water-types were weak to only electric and grass, not very effective against grass and other water-types, and was super-effective against rock, ground and fire-types. A water-type didn't seem too appealing to him at that moment since the only good thing about the type was that he could cover Treecko's weakness of fire and nothing else, but something that the PokeDex noted was that a water-type was quite useful with crossing water which, from what he had learnt from May, was more than plentiful in Hoenn.
Whilst he was doing this, neither Brendan nor Bethany knew that their previous conversation was being eavesdropped by someone in the nearby lavatory. A female lavatory, to be exact. The girl who was in there had a tear in her eye, but she knew not why. The brunette tore off a piece of turquoise coloured paper towel and wiped her misty blue eyes to hide any evidence that she had shed any tears. She silently thanked herself that she wore no eye make-up, even though she did unless it was a special occasion.
He didn't like her in that way. So what? They had both only met just bare twenty-four hours ago! But…why? Why was she so disheartened at that fact? Sure, she thought highly of him but she put it down to just some teen crush that would go away soon enough…but this, this felt different. More than just a 'crush' and more closely linked to 'love'. She shook her head to snap herself out of her thought train and took a look in the nearby mirror just above the sink finding that her eyes were bloodshot, but it was minor and almost unnoticeable.
May took a deep breath before slowly opening the lavatory's door, popping her head out to see if anyone was there. Luckily, Brendan was too involved in his research to notice any slight sounds and Bethany was called to the back room of the reception's office, meaning that she wasn't there. May could feel her eyes growing wet again and a frown soon showed itself on her otherwise cheery expression as she looked at Brendan though, she quickly ran away in the direction of the cafeteria before he could get a chance to see her. Brendan turned around, thinking he heard something. He shook his head, thinking that it must've just been his ears playing a trick on him as he returned to his research.
About five minutes after this, Brendan was called up to the counter by Bethany and she motioned to a grey tray, which had three horizontal rows of two pokeballs with the ball in the top left being at full size and the other five being shrunken down, and his egg which still in a container, but instead of the top and bottom being a bright orange, they were both a dark red with the top now having a handle. Bethany noticed Brendan's expression and decided to explain.
"The handle's there so it's easier for you to carry it." She told him. "Plus, it matches more with what the Pokemon's type is, being a Cy-"
"DON'T tell me." Brendan interrupted her, covering his ears. Bethany laughed slightly, embarrassed at herself.
"Sorry. Just most Trainers want to know what it is before hatching so I presumed that you'd be the same." Bethany justified herself. Brendan gave a confused expression.
"Why would someone want to know what their egg is? Isn't that the whole excitement in raising one?" Brendan asked as he clipped the six red and white spheres to his belt after shrinking them down to their smaller, ping pong ball-like state.
"Well…Most Trainers want to know because they want to know if the Pokemon inside is 'worth it or not' to train." Bethany answered, slight disgust in her tone. "For example, most times out of ten, if a Trainers finds out that their egg has something like a Sunkern, then they leave it behind but if it has something like a Bagon, they do take it. Basically, they'll take the Pokemon that's either the easiest to raise or comes out stronger than most. There's one in the back that a Trainer returned today."
"That's…That's terrible!" Brendan gasped, shocked and disturbed that there were people that were like that in the world. His eyes widened when he had an idea. "Hey, would it be okay if my friend could have that egg? I know for a fact that she'll care for it no matter what it is." Bethany smiled and nodded.
"Want to get on her good side, do you?" She teased, making the boy go bright red again, before standing up. "But, of course you can. Just give me a minute." Brendan nodded, his blush still evident, as Bethany went into the door behind the hospital's reception like she had before. While he waited, Brendan decided to release Treecko after realizing that the gecko hadn't seen him since before the accident. Once he was released, Treecko gave Brendan a bright smile, which his Trainer returned immediately, before jumping onto his right shoulder and smacking his ear with his leaf-like tail aggressively and jumping back down onto the hospital reception's desk.
"OW!" Brendan shouted cupping his right ear with his left hand. "What was that for?!"
"Tree ko ko." The Wood Gecko replied with his eyes closes, arms folded and turned so he was slightly facing away from Brendan.
"I think that was Treecko telling you to never do anything like you did again." Bethany translated as she walked back in holding an egg that was a pure white color with blue and red triangular spots inside of a container similar to Brendan's egg except this was the same shade of brown that the egg had. She placed it on the desk and held out her palm. "That'll be seven fifty." Brendan raised a brow but nodded anyway.
"Alright, then." He agreed as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet. He was about to pull it out but stopped when Bethany retracted her hand and began to laugh. He raised his brow again, but it dropped when he realized why Bethany was laughing and went bright red from embarrassment. He could see Treecko facepalm from the bottom of his eye.
"You know, sometimes I question whether you use your brain or not." Bethany joked after her laughter stopped though there was still a teasing smirk clear on her face. Brendan sighed as he picked up the egg's container by its handle and Treecko jumped to his shoulder. Brendan bid his farewells to the young nurse before heading down the hallway that led to two large, dark blue doors that, from what he had learnt from May, led to the cafeteria, where he was supposed to meet up with the brunette.
The cafeteria was, as one would expect from the size of the hospital, small. The tables were wooden with a metal pole holding them up and on opposite sides of the table were bench-like, wooden, curved seats that could hold atleast two people. There were about two rows of approximately six of these with the ones at the far left of the room being next to a window. At the back of the room was a kitchen that was blocked off from the public by both a locked door and silver serving booth. The room had grey walls, ceiling and flooring. The room was mostly empty except for two groups of people occupying different spaces.
One of these groups was May, who, surprisingly, didn't have a plate of food in front of her, nor any empty ones, as she rested herself on the nearby wall, a dull, almost expressionless, expression on her face, and Linda who was trying to have a conversation with the brunette but only got grunts or slow nods in response. Torchic had on worried expression on her face as she tried to offer May a piece of her Pokemon food as a kind gesture, but May kindly declined it. Brendan walked over to them as they were the only people who he knew in the room, and he was concerned about why May seemed down. They both noticed him and, while Linda smiled warmly at him, May frowned but she quickly turned it into a smile which Brendan could clearly see was fake.
"Hello, Brendan." Linda greeted. "Good to see that you're doing better." Brendan kept his eyes fixated onto May as he sat down next to her, trying to hide his gift for her behind him.
"May? What's wrong?" Brendan asked, a hint of worry in his voice. May didn't reply making his already worry even stronger as he looked towards Linda.
"I don't know what's wrong with her." Linda told him. "Ever since she came in here, she's been like this." Brendan nodded, his worry now even more evident as he looked back at the brunette.
"I atleast expected to see you devouring all of what this hospital has in terms of food." Brendan joked making himself chuckle slightly and hoping to at least get the same reaction from the girl, but his slight smile quickly turned into a frown when she didn't do what he had hoped. Linda noticed the egg that Brendan was holding.
"Oh, is that your egg, Brendan?" Linda asked rhetorically. "I've never actually seen one up close before." Brendan looked at the egg he was holding and went slightly red.
"Well, actually, this isn't my egg." He informed her not only making the housewife raise her brow but also make the blue-eyed brunette look towards him, something which Linda picked up on, in curiosity. Brendan brought the egg to the table, placing it in front of May. "This egg is yours, May." Her eyes widened. "If you want it, of course." May sat up, her eyes still widened as she stared at the egg. Why would he give it to her? Unless…did he like her in that way or was it just him being friendly? Either way, May couldn't find it in her heart to stay mad at him for doing a kind act such as this.
"Where did you get this egg from, if you don't mind me asking?" Linda questioned.
"It was something that this hospital was holding on to." Brendan began. "Apparently, some Trainer didn't want whatever was inside so they either gave it to the hospital or just left it and the hospital picked it up. The receptionist told me about it so I asked if I could take it off their hands which, as you can probably tell, they were more than happy too. I already have one so I don't need another and…" His blush got brighter, "…and I thought of no better person than May to take care of it." He turned his head to May and smiled at her making a slight blush appear on the brunette's cheeks.
"Th-Thank you, Brendan." She said, returning the smile.
"No need. I owe you a lot for what you did yesterday." Brendan told her. "If it wasn't for any of you, I'd probably still be back at home, living the same, boring life I did in Johto and being completely blinded by the rage that I had at my fa-Norman and pinning the blame on Pokemon." Brendan looked and smiled towards Treecko, who had found his lap to be quite comfortable, and Torchic, who had by now eaten her offering to her Trainer and was happily munching down on her bowl of Pokemon food. She quickly finished that bowl and looked expectantly towards Linda earning a slight chuckle from the three humans, including May, at the similarities between the Chick Pokemon and her Trainer.
After having lunch themselves, bidding their farewells to Linda and returning their Pokemon, Brendan and May exited the hospital to be greeted by the peaceful and calming nature that Oldale Town gave off. Taking a look around the town, Brendan saw that it was small, even smaller than Littleroot, and its path was in the shape of a plus sign. In the middle of the plus sign was a bed of flowers that had either pure white or bright yellow petals. The bed of flowers was surrounded by wooden logs of different heights. Next to this was a sign which read: "Oldale Town – Where things start off scarce."
The houses had a different design than to the ones that were in Littleroot with the bricks of the house being a light, brownish-beige color, the roof and door a reddish-brownish color, and a window with a dark brown border with the glass having a cross pattern separating the glass part of the window into four sections. There were also two buildings that looked drastically different from the resident's houses: one had a red roof and the other a blue both had a logo that resembled a pokeball, only it was white, on the front of the building. The buildings were made of bright white material with the red building having an animated sign with a door-like symbol, then an arrow, and then a pokeball-like symbol all in yellow next to an, arched, elevator-like, door that had a red border around it whilst the blue building had an animated sign with symbols like medicine boxes and pokeballs, also in yellow next to a automatically sliding door that was mostly made of glass.
There were three exits to Oldale town: one that went north, one that went west, and one that went south back to Littleroot Town. May looked up at the sun using her right hand to shield her eyes from the sun's blinding gaze. She frowned when she saw that it was a little after midday.
"Okay…So I don't think that we'll make it to Petalburg today…" She mumbled though Brendan heard her causing his eyes to widen.
"Huh?! You mean Petalburg's close to here?!" Brendan exclaimed, completely surprised. May winced: she had hoped to keep Petalburg's close proximity a secret. She turned to Brendan.
"Yeah. Don't you remember my Dad telling you about how close it was?" May answered.
"Well, yeah, I do. But I didn't think that it was THAT close!" Brendan replied. "Please tell me that it's not the next town after this one." May didn't answer, only gave a guilty expression that told Brendan that what he feared was true. "Oh God no…"
"H-Hey, it'll be fine! He can't do anything to us anyway since we'll always be in public and, from what you've told me, he's got quite the reputation to maintain." May reassured her friend. Brendan sighed before nodding.
"Alright, we'll just get through as fast as we can, in then out." Brendan agreed.
"Well, actually…"
"What?"
"Th-There's a contest in Petalburg…" Brendan's eyes widened again.
"And…when does that take place?"
"Four days from now." Brendan sighed again. "B-But I can miss out on it. I'm sure that there'll be plenty mor-"
"No, no. You're entering it." Brendan interrupted her. "I'd feel terrible if you missed out on something you've been waiting on for so long just because of me. I've already held up this journey long enough by having to spend a good bit in the hospital."
"Well, while I do agree about that last part being entirely your fault and you should NEVER do something as reckless as that again," May began, making Brendan's expression say nothing but guilt as he laughed embarrassedly, "I really don't care about missing out on just some contest. I mean, like I said, there'll be plenty more for me to enter and catch up on." Brendan placed his hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her misty blue eyes, which never ceased to make him feel peace inside because of how much they reminded him of a clear sky, causing a tint of redness to appear on the brunette's cheeks.
"May, you're entering that contest and that's final." Brendan ordered. "Like I said, I'd feel terrible about you missing out on something you've been looking forward to for so long even if you say that you don't mind for my case. Even if I don't like it, I'll have to face Norman sooner or later whether that be in battle or not." May opened her mouth to argue but she shut it knowing that Brendan wasn't going to change his mind on the subject. She sighed and nodded, still looking into his grey eyes. Oh, how she loved them so. While some may see grey as a dull color with nothing going for it, the shade of grey that Brendan had in his eyes gave May the feeling of nothing but peace…peace and tranquility. Suddenly, both Brendan and May felt themselves being magnetized towards the other. Neither of them realized what they were doing, even when they closed their eyes as their faces, and more importantly lips, grew closer and closer together.
"TAILOW!" The two teens heard something shout causing them to open their eyes and, after going bright red seeing the non-existent distance between their faces, they both quickly retracted them and sidestepped away from each other as they looked around for what had created the sound. Brendan looked up and saw a Tailow heading towards them. He quickly recognized the Tailow as the same Tailow that he had met with the night earlier. Realizing this, he stretched his arm out in front of him for the Tiny Swallow Pokemon to land but he couldn't help but smirk when it decided to land on the top of his head instead.
"Good to see that you're still fine, Tailow." Brendan smiled as he scratched the normal-and-flying type's neck earning a few delighted coos from it. Tailow hopped off Brendan's head, dropped down to his waist, and began to peck at one of the empty pokeballs eventually making it drop to the floor. Brendan picked up the spherical device. "Oh yeah, I promised to take you along with me, didn't I?"
"Tai, low low." Tailow nodded, glad that Brendan remembered their deal that they had made the night before. Brendan placed the capsule in his palm and stretched his arm out just enough so it was right in front of Tailow's beak.
"You sure that you still wanna do this?" Brendan asked. "You've still got a chance to back out. I won't be hurt if you do." Tailow shook his head before he hit the pokeball's centre button with his beak causing the capsule to open and a bright, red energy to envelope him, turning him into simple matter that also turned red. Then, the red light was sucked back into the device before it slammed shut. A dull ding told Brendan that Tailow was successfully caught. Brendan smiled and attached his new friend's "home" to his belt, next to Treecko's.
"Huh. Normally, a ball has to shake three times until the Pokemon is captured." May stated, clearly surprised. "I think, if my Dad's research is correct, that was either a critical capture, or crit capture for short, which basically means that a ball instantly captures a Pokemon as soon as the Pokemon enters the ball, or that it was the Pokemon who was one hundred percent sure that it would do well with its Trainer." May smiled. Brendan returned the gesture for a split second before remembering what had happened just a minute ago causing him to go bright red and, in an attempt to hide it, turn away from the brunette making a slight frown appear on her face.
"A-Anyway, if we can't get to Petalburg today, then what's the plan?" Brendan, who was still slightly red, questioned after a brief moment of silence.
"Well, unless you're homesick, there's Route 101…" May replied, nodding towards the southern exit of Oldale Town. She turned around to face the northern exit of Oldale Town. "…and then there's Route 103. It doesn't lead anywhere except for Route 110, the route that leads from Slateport City, a city heavily influenced by the sea, to Mauville City, the city in the center of Hoenn, but you'll need Surf to cross the river. But…" she turned back to Brendan, a wanting look in her eye, "…there's an AMAZING view of Mount Chimney at the end of the route. Sure, I've seen it a thousand times but…if you don't mind, could I see it just one more time, before we leave?" Brendan smiled and nodded.
"I don't see why not."
Route 103 was a short route that, unlike what Brendan had seen from looking back at Route 101, didn't have a safe route which was probably due to the route having multiple small ledges that could only be crossed if you were heading the opposite way down the route. Due to one of these ledges blocking the way and having no safe way around it, Brendan and May had to cross a patch of extra-long grass which were one of the best ways to encounter a wild Pokemon, but that also made them dangerous if one didn't have a repel. Brendan volunteered for himself to take the first step, having Treecko's ball at the ready.
He didn't even take three steps into the patch of grass before a small, quadruped Pokemon that was similar in appearance to a hyena and a canine. Its body was primarily grey, with a black face, throat, feet, and belly. Its eyes had a yellow sclera and red irises, and its nose was also red. Its lower jaw had two pointed teeth sticking out. The fur at the base of its tail was rumpled and shaggy. It had grey paw pads on its three-toed paws. The Poochyena growled at Brendan, as if it had met him before and, after a look at the bump on the dark-type's head, Brendan's eyes widened.
"H-Hey! This is the same Poochyena that attacked my Dad!" May exclaimed, also coming to the same realization. She turned to Brendan. "You'd better be careful, Brendan. It looks stronger than before!"
"Yeah, well, so have we!" Brendan informed her as he brought his hand, which was holding Treecko's now enlarged ball, back behind his head, ready to throw it. "…kind of, not really…" He mumbled though May, somehow, heard it and could only facepalm as the Wood Gecko Pokemon materialized in front of his Trainer. Poochyena started the battle off by opening its gaping mouth and letting out a vicious roar. Brendan raised a brow, seeing that the move did nothing to either Treecko or Poochyena but he shook it off and pointed to Poochyena with his right hand's left most index finger and thumb sticking out. "Treecko, Pound!" He ordered.
Treecko ran at full speed towards the Bite Pokemon with his leaf-like tail swinging from left-to-right with it getting faster and faster the closer he got to Poochyena as he prepared to slap the Poochyena as he had done earlier. As soon as Treecko got close to Poochyena, he jumped up, did a clockwise flip to get some more momentum only to have Poochyena jump backwards making Treecko hit the ground instead of it. Before Treecko could recover, Poochyena ran towards the grass-type and rammed into him at full force sending the gecko skidding backwards. Brendan's eyes widened.
"Whoa! There was no way that a Tackle attack would do that much!" He exclaimed, clearly flabbergasted and in disbelief.
"I think it raised its attack stat by using Howl earlier." May theorized making Brendan wince.
"Guess it wasn't a stupid move then." He mumbled before turning back to Treecko seeing that he had stood up straight acting as if the damage he had taken was a lot less than it really was. He was about to ask the gecko whether he could continue or not, but a quick nod from him told him otherwise. "Alright, Leer!" Treecko's eyes began to grow a bright, devilish red as an intimidating and ferocious expression was clear on his face. His eye's red outline headed towards the opponent, and when it hit, the eye outline disappeared and the same red outline surrounded the Poochyena, dropping its defenses.
Brendan smirked; it was even playing field. Sure, Treecko's attack stat hadn't been raised, but due to Leer lowering Poochyena's defense stat, it was basically like Treecko had an attack stat upgrade. By the look of its expression, Poochyena had realized what circumstance it was in now as it growled more viciously, this time with small, yellow electrical sparks crackling around its mouth as it began to run towards Treecko at the fastest rate it could go. Brendan smirked again, having a plan.
"Treecko, wait for Poochyena to get close and, when it does, hit it with a strong Pound!" He commanded as he uppercutted the air adding emphasis on the last part. Treecko nodded, liking the sound of hitting his opponent like a batter would a ball. Due to Poochyena being far away from them, it couldn't hear them and was confused as to why neither Brendan nor his opponent made no effort to at least try to counterattack. The two waited until Poochyena got closer and closer and closer and closer until it was just inches away before Treecko did a clockwise spin again and smacked the Poochyena right in the face sending it flying backwards into a nearby tree not only scaring off multiple wild Pokemon who chose to dwell in the trees for a living but also causing an almost too perfect scene where Poochyena was hit right on the head by an apple, knocking it out completely.
"Brendan, throw the ball now before Poochyena gets back up!" May told him as if she read his mind and saw his plan of trying to capture the dark-type. His movements were swift as he reached down to his belt to grab an empty pokeball and throwing it with all of his might towards the fallen Bite Pokemon. He smirked slightly when he hit Poochyena right on the head as its body quickly turned into a red matter-like substance and he was sucked inside of the sphere. Brendan, May and Treecko all crossed their fingers as the ball began to shake...
One shake…
Two shake…
"C'mon, c'mon!"
Three shake…
Click!
"YEEHAA/TREE KO KO!" Brendan and his gecko partner exclaimed as they jumped high into the air. May sighed at how Brendan got so excited just for catching a Poochyena which he probably could've caught on the first turn, not damaging it at all, but she couldn't help but smile seeing him feeling so positive. Brendan smiled as he sprinted out of the rest of the grass patch and towards the tree, which was behind of a row of bushes about as high as Brendan's foot to his knee, where the red-and-white object lay. Brendan smiled even wider as he stared at the spherical device, seeing a shimmering white light go all around it due to both its cleanliness, which he had to admit he was surprised at even after it hit the Bite Pokemon's head at full force and that it didn't even have a dent in its material, and the sun's beams, which barely shone through the tree's leaves, reflecting off the ball.
He smiled again as he clipped Poochyena's ball to his belt, next to Tailow's, returned Treecko thanking him for his hard work, which the gecko replied simply by nodding with his eyes closed and his arms folded keeping his cool and calm manor true, and walked back over to May, who was in the middle of the grassy patch with a determined look on her face, and Torchic was in front of her. Just in front of Torchic was a pokeball on the ground which was rocking back and forth giving Brendan the impression that May was trying to catch something. His eyes widened when the ball stopped shaking and gave off a dull ding.
"Yippee!" May exclaimed as she and Torchic jumped into the air at the same time. Once May landed, she immediately picked up and hugged Torchic, making the Chick Pokemon's eyes almost pop out, and returned her before picking up her new captured friend in the red-and-white sphere and dropping it into her bag. May noticed Brendan and smiled with Brendan smiling back just before the sun's rays lined up perfectly to where they were shining behind the brunette causing her amazingly beautiful figure to be seen. To be fair, Brendan didn't deserve to be blamed for being paralyzed on the spot, his eyes wide open and mouth agape as it was highly likely that any person interested in woman would do the exact same. Though, to him, it wasn't her figure that stood out the most, but it was her eyes. It was the way they glistened in the sunlight like a clean park pond full of wildlife. Unfortunately for the Johto-native, May didn't have this reasoning as she turned her casual footsteps into stomps of fury, a furious look on her face but a blush clearly evident. Since Brendan was too mesmerized by the sight, he didn't notice the blue-eyed girl get closer and closer to him and kick him furiously in his left knee which definitely snapped him out of his trance.
"OW!" Brendan complained as he clenched his knee, hopping on one foot. "Jesus Christ, May! What was that for?!"
"Y-You were staring!" May replied, still blushing madly. Brendan looked at her for a second before going bright red himself.
"S-Sorry."
"Yeah, you'd better be." She said angrily as she walked ahead of him, still holding Torchic, both to hide her blush and her smile. Even though most girls, including her, don't like it when people stared at them lustfully, May liked the fact that Brendan found her body attractive. Meanwhile, Brendan decided that it'd be best to keep his distance for a while as May did seem pretty pissed at the moment and, from what he had learnt from Linda, May had quite a short 'fuse' and when that 'fuse' was ignited, then you'd be lucky to be alive.
The rest of Route 103 was mostly the same except it was a more wide open area and had less small hills. About in the middle the route, Brendan could see the river that May had mentioned earlier. On the other side of the river, Brendan could easily spot a large, steel structure that had multiple pathways that had multiple people on bikes going different ways. Once they reached the end of the route, it was mostly tall trees but there was large opening allowing for an amazing view of a mountain that, instead of being in a triangular shape, looked like a volcano, especially with the large smoke cloud steaming from the inside of it: Brendan theorized this to be Mt. Chimney. Brendan looked down at his feet and noticed a small pond in the shape of a perfect circle with flowers of different sizes and colors, some fully grown and some growing.
May smiled warmly as she knelt down and placed Torchic down on the ground softly allowing for the Chick Pokemon to run around freely and burn off some energy, which she seemed to have an endless pool of, and released her new capture. What appeared was a small, caterpillar-like creature. Its body was mainly red with a cream underside and face. It had large yellow eyes with dark pupils. It had one sharp yellow stinger on its head and two of them on its rear. It had a tall, erect, red spine behind its forehead and a similar, smaller spine behind that. It had small spikes running down the top portions of its body and five pairs of stubby white limbs. Finally, it had suction pads at the tips of its feet. Brendan scanned the Pokemon with his PokeDex.
"Wurmple, the Worm Pokemon. Wurmple is targeted by Swellow as prey. This Pokémon will try to resist by pointing the spikes on its rear at the attacking predator. It will weaken the foe by leaking poison from the spikes."
"I've always wanted a Wurmple, ever since I saw one of a documentary about bug-types. I really love one of their evolutions, Beautifly, mostly because of, as the name states, beauty and it's a good start for beginning coordinators like myself. Their other evolution, Dustox, is also pretty…in a way, but it doesn't give as big of a wow as Beautifly does." May stated before she took her ankle-length shoes, which she lazily threw behind her, and fanny-pack off and sat on the edge of the small pond, and dipped her feet in the water. She retracted her feet at first probably due to the cold temperature of the water but a second try got them in there. "But, that doesn't mean that I'll disown Wurmple if it does evolve into a Dustox." She caught herself. Brendan nodded as he didn't doubt her for a second before she sighed happily as she lightly kicked them back and forth in the water as she leaned back, using her arms as supports, and faced Brendan, still smiling. "You gonna just stand there or are you gonna join me? There's an open space right here…" May offered, patting the ground next to her. Brendan raised a brow.
"You…don't want me dead?" He asked, slightly hesitantly. May looked at him funny for a second before chuckling slightly.
"No. Why would I be mad about a handsome boy like you looking at me lustfully?" She answered using all of her might to not blush. Brendan covered his cheeks with his hands.
"Oh, stop it, May! You're making me blush!" Brendan joked in a posh accent causing May to giggle. Brendan couldn't help but smile seeing her smile.
"C'mon, you, siddown." May told him. Brendan nodded, taking off his sneakers, which he placed in his bag taking much more care of them than the blue-eyed brunette, releasing his three Pokemon, and sitting next to May on her left. Also unlike the brunette, when he first tried to stick his feet in, he didn't retract them back immediately since he found the cold temperature to be a nice change to the hot weather that Hoenn had.
There was a slight moment of silence as they watched Torchic get chased around by Treecko who was only keeping up with her due to his highest stat being speed. While Torchic saw it as a game, Treecko saw it as slight training for both endurance and swiftness in movement. Tailow was washing himself in the pond whilst Poochyena was doing the exact opposite as he dug and rolled around in the dirt. Wurmple was simply climbing trees and nibbling on the leaves that it could reach with Treecko, who had finished his 'training' with Torchic, who was now fast asleep and leaning on a tree, getting it more hard-to-reach leaves.
"I used to come here all of the time whenever I felt sad, alone, hurt, or just about any negative feeling." May admitted, still smiling warmly though it dropped to a frown and her eyes seemed to lose some of their brightness, alerting Brendan. "I…used to have a brother. Max, his name was." She gave a sad smile. "He was bright, almost too bright for his own good, but…he was a kind boy at heart." Her smile dropped and her eyes grew wet. "I must've been about ten, almost eleven, and him seven when he died." Brendan's eyes widened. "He was on his way home from the trainer's school up in Rustboro City. Normally, only those who lived in Rustboro went there but, due to my Dad's high paying job of being a Pokemon Professor, he was able to pay for the appendages." May paused both allowing Brendan to process the information and for her to take a breather. "It was already late since on that day there was a field trip to Mossdeep City's space center. Due to the distance between Littleroot and Rustboro, Max was one of the last ones on the bus, apart from the driver, of course. Just as the bus was coming into Oldale Town, a rogue drunk driver in a white sedan did a sharp turn, crashing into the side of the bus and tipping it over. Fortunately, the driver survived with only minor injuries but, unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Max." Tears began to roll rapidly down her cheeks as she clenched her hands into fists. "H-His body w-was full of…g-glass and it was covered in blood…" Brendan pulled her into a hug seeing that she obviously needed someone to comfort her at this moment in time.
"Shh shh shh." Brendan said, rubbing his hand up and down her back rocking slightly back and forth in an effort to calm her down as May continued to cry into his chest. Treecko, Torchic, Tailow and even Poochyena came towards the two teens as they were wondering why May was upset about and were all worried about her. Brendan noticed them approaching and gave them a smile before turning his attention back to the brunette.
"Th-The man who caused the crash only got a year, a YEAR, in prison!" May added, angrily, clutching his shirt "He…He didn't even spend that year in prison! He was immediately bailed out due to him being a successful business man!" Brendan's expression turned to one of disgust and hatred, similar to the one that he used to get when he looked at Pokemon, before quickly losing it, deciding to rant about some of the law's bad decisions on a later date when it was more appropriate.
"Try not to think about it. I'm sure that he wouldn't want you to always be upset when you thought of him. He'd want you to remember the good times you two had together as brother and sister whether that be the times you fought or the times that you got along together." He felt May's head nod causing him to smile slightly. "You know, you're a strong person for being able to still put on a smile every single day. I've never experienced someone who was close to me dying and hopefully never will but, if I did, I know that I wouldn't take it nearly as well as you." May laughed slightly, confusing Brendan.
"Trust me, I was a wreck for about two months after he died. I never left my room, so, essentially, I lived the life in which you lived when you lived in Johto." She joked playfully causing Brendan's expression to show that of a playfully angry one.
"Hey, I left my room!" Brendan argued. May lifted herself off his chest and gave him a questioning look.
"Oh, really? When?"
"At least once a month! Possibly twice, depending on my mood." May laughed slightly again before snuggling back into Brendan's chest, smiling and sighing happily as she enjoyed both the comfort and warmth of it causing a light blush to appear on her cheeks.
"Thanks, Brendan, for making me feel better." Brendan smiled.
"Ah, don't mention it. You've been my shoulder to cry on, so I'll happily be yours." May smiled even wider before she looked at the view of Mt. Chimney again. Her eyes widened and she gasped as she pointed to it.
"Brendan, look at that!" She exclaimed. Brendan raised a brow as he followed where May was pointing. His eyes widened upon what he saw: Mt Chimney in front of a sunset with the sun being hidden behind the tall volcano. While a sunset was already an amazing sight to see, something about this sight in particular made it feel special to Brendan though, he couldn't decide what made it special: the view he was witnessing or who he was witnessing it with. "It's beautiful…" May commented.
"Yeah, it is…" Brendan agreed, speaking more about the brunette than the view as he looked at her in the corner of his eye, whilst smiling brightly. He quickly moved his vision back to the volcano, seeing that the sun had now almost fully set, when May lifted her head up, somewhat hesitantly, and, after Brendan moved his arms, stood up.
"C'mon, we'd better get back to Oldale Town before it gets completely dark." She stated before returning Torchic and bending down to pick up her shoes. Brendan nodded in agreement, doing the same for his three Pokemon, after reaching into his bag for his sneakers which he swiftly put on his feet, standing up himself, and walked towards May, who smiled brightly at him to which Brendan returned the gesture. Brendan and May then walked back to Oldale Town, getting to know the other better and never even realized that they were holding the other's hand once.
And that's the end of that chapter! Sorry that this is kinda shorter than usual, but I just wanted to get this up ASAP since it's already been so long in the first place. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed your time here reading this chapter and I hope that you stay tuned for the next part!