Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo, GameFreak, or Pokemon Company.

Pokemon Legends: Sidestories

Chapter Four

Miss Popularity

Date: 4 days after the Sanctuary's completion.

The morning after her encounter with the paparazzi, May found herself lying in bed and thinking about what had happened.

"Somehow I became a celebrity without even noticing..." She thought. "I can understand why it happened but...what do I do about it now? "

Having only recently woke up, May glanced over to the Torchic clock to check the time. It was 10:35 in the morning, meaning her dad would have left for the gym long ago. The clock itself was bought by her mother shortly after she had set out on across Hoenn.

"Dad probably would have dealt with something like this before, but I wasn't able to talk to him last night and he'd be at work now." She sighed and then sat up on the bed. "Mom seemed to be happy for me though..." May thought back for a moment. "Come to think of it, didn't mom say last night that she had something to show me when I had the time? I guess today would be the best time then..."

May got up out of bed and changed out of her green pajamas and into a pair of red shorts and an orange shirt. Since she was staying home for a while, she didn't want to bother with her travel outfit. Once she was dressed, she headed downstairs. Her mother was in the living room, watching a soap opera on tv. She looked up when she heard May's footsteps approaching.

"You're finally awake. I thought for sure you would end up sleeping in until noon." Her mother said to her.

"Like I would really sleep in that late." May replied, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, what did you want to show me that you couldn't last night?"

"Well, I didn't want to show you these because you wouldn't have had much time to read them last night." Her mother replied, pulling a shoe box out from under the couch. She held it out toward May. "Are you sure you wouldn't like some breakfast first?"

May blinked in confusion as she took the box from her mother. "Umm...I'll be fine, I'm sure..." She replied. "Read? What could be in this box to read that she'd want to keep from me until now?" May wondered before finally removing the lid. Inside the box were several envelopes, all addressed to her. The writing on many of them was rather atrocious, suggesting particularly young kids might have been writing them.

"What...are these?" May asked, taking out an envelope and examining it.

"Fanmail." Her mother replied casually, returning her gaze to the tv. A complex love story was playing out between a pokemon trainer and a doctor.

"FANMAIL?!" May yelled, dropping the box in shock. It landed upright without spilling any mail out.

"Yes, you've gotten quite a bit of it while you were out." Her mother said to her. "It seems a lot of children, especially girls, have taken a liking to you ever since you've become Hoenn's new champion."

May picked up the box and sat down on the couch next to her mother while she started to read through her letters. There wasn't much said in most of them, consisting of some variation of wanting to become a great trainer like her someday. She stopped reading when she came upon a surprisingly well-written letter that said she was 'hot'.

"I get the feeling a kid didn't write this one." May thought, twitching slightly. She set the box down on the floor. "Why do I feel like I'm the last person in Hoenn to know how popular I am?"

"Anyone in Hoenn who hasn't been living under a rock probably knows about you now, there's even a show dedicated to digging up information about your adventures prior to and after becoming champion." Her mother glanced over at her. "You'd know this too if you hadn't been away since then."

"Ehhh?! That feels like an invasion of privacy..." May whimpered. She clenched her fists and leaned toward her mother. "Don't they need my permission before they do something like that?!"

"Your father gave the ok actually, he was curious about it as well apparently." Her mother replied.

"Dad...huh..." May hung her head in defeat.

"For the most part they've been interviewing gym leaders to get details about your battles against them." Her mother smiled at her. "Did you know you're the only trainer to conquer the Hoenn League with no losses? The closest trainer to your record is that friend of your's, Alex. He only lost to your father."

"And then 'he' managed to battle to a draw against me while at a disadvantage." May thought bitterly. "Well I've settled the score now and proven that I've definitely surpassed her!"

"Now that I think about it, you haven't told us anything about what you've been up to lately." Her mother said, peering at her curiously. "You haven't been getting into too much trouble I hope?"

May laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "Ahahaha! Me? Never!"

Her mother sighed. "I'll take your word for it, then." She said, turning back to the tv and taking the remote in her hand. "There's been some rumors circulating about you having been involved in that incident at Sootopolis."

"Eh...heh...heh...thats right, they don't know about that." May thought, twitching nervously.

Her mother pressed a button on the remote to switch over to a news program. A weather segment was displayed at first, reporting a chance of showers for Rustboro. When the weather segment ended, it moved on to celebrity gossip. "Oh, I wonder if there will be anything about you today?" Caroline teased her daughter.

"There better not be!" May said, clenching her fists and watching the tv intently.

"According to reporters, the recently crowned Hoenn Champion May Maple was seen at the Early Swellow in Fortree City." A female reporter announced.

"Spoke too soon..." May thought.

"Witness reports claim the young girl appeared to be there on a date with an older boy and claimed their behaviour in the restaurant indicated the two get along well." The report continued. "The boy remains unidentified and no photos are available of the two. Reporters claim they were assaulted by the boy's pokemon when they confronted the two at the entrance. The boy used a Magneton to erase the pictures they took before the couple fled the scene."

"C-c-c-COUPLE?! WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!" May yelled frantically at the screen.

"Ohhh...so is that where you've been all this time? With this 'friend' of your's?" Her mother asked slyly.

"Yes!" May replied without thinking, then quickly corrected herself. "I mean no! Technically yes!"

"Well I hope you two have been behaving yourselves. You don't want to make any 'mistakes' at your age." Her mother said to her.

"YOU'RE COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTANDING!" May yelled, waving her arms wildly. "We're just friends! FRIENDS! And that's it!"

"So you claim, but your face is getting awfully red." Her mother said calmly. May didn't even realize she was blushing until her mother pointed it out. She felt her cheeks become even warmer as a result.

"W-well who wouldn't be embarassed by this! The entire region thinks I have a boyfriend now!" May said to her. "There's nothing between me and Alex! I swear!"

"So that's who it is?" Her mother smiled at her. "I had a feeling you two would get together eventually."

"That...that..." May stopped herself and sighed. "Nevermind..." She said. "It'd take forever to explain what's really been going on and who Alex really is..." She thought to herself.

"Don't worry, I'm only teasing you." Her mother said. "I'm sure if you really did have a boyfriend you would at least let your parent's know."

May breathed a sigh of relief and finally relaxed. "You're horrible..." She mumbled.

"Hmm...it might be bad if your father hears this though." Caroline said, thinking out loud. "He might overreact a bit, it'd be for the best if you explained what this is all about after work."

"Overreact how?" May asked her.

"Oh, he just has his own ideas about what kind of guy would be suitable for you and would concern himself with whether this boy is good enough for his daughter." Her mother said, waving her hand dismissively.

"Note to self: Find out what dad considers 'suitable' so I'll know whether or not to keep potential future boyfriends a secret." May thought.

"By the way, dear, don't you think you should drop by and see Birch while you're in Littleroot?" Her mother suggested. "You ARE working on a pokedex for him, aren't you?"

"Right, I guess I should." May looked at the box of fanmail she had and shrugged to herself. "I'll read the rest of those later...I haven't even eaten anything yet!" She then thought to herself for a moment.

"Come to think of it, more of those nosey reporters might be lurking around. Maybe I should wear a disguise or something?" An image of Alex popped into May's mind and she quickly shook her head. "No, I definitely couldn't pass for a boy like she could...not that I'd need to. I'm sure I can find something."

May got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen while contemplating a disguise.

May got herself some breakfast, consisting of cereal and juice, setting aside her fanmail to read later. After eating she got her 'disguise' together, eventually settling on an oversized black hooded cloak, a pair of sunglasses, and a scarf. Completely concealed in her clothing, she set out from her house and headed straight toward Birch's lab.

"I don't see any reporters around." May thought, looking about the quiet streets of Littleroot cautiously as she made her way to the lab. She ran into the odd passerby that'd give her a curious look before continuing on their way. "I don't think anyone recognizes me dressed like this, though I feel kinda silly...and this coat is too hot."

May continued along her way, glancing behind her frequently to make sure no one was following her, until she heard a voice up ahead.

"Is that you, May?" The voice startled May, causing her to jump and quickly turn around. Professor Birch's lab was in sight, less than a hundred meters away, but Professor Birch himself was standing directly in front of her.

"What on Earth are you doing dressed like that?" He asked, peering at her curiously.

"Umm...long story..." May replied sheepishly. "How did you even recognize me though?"

"Heh heh, so it is you!" Birch grinned widely and rubbed the back of his head. "You could call it intuition I suppose. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're trying to hide from news reporters?"

"Heh...good guess..." May mumbled. She was a bit put off that he was reading her so easily.

"Don't worry too much about it. If they're around, they're waiting for you to do something newsworthy so they can snap a picture and quickly run off." He chuckled to himself. "With you sneaking off dressed like that and running into me, I wouldn't be too surprised if they run an article saying we're having an affair!"

May blinked in confusion. "A...what?"

"Nevermind, you'll figure it out on your own someday." Professor Birch replied. "I can certainly tell you're popular these days. I've had no less than seven trainers looking to be my assistants just because you're one!"

"Really? Did you give them all pokemon too?" May asked him.

"I would have liked to, but I haven't gotten anymore pokemon in to give away. The only pokemon I had was the Mudkip left after you and Alex came by, but that was it." Professor Birch said, then chuckled. "Anyway, why don't you stop by the lab so you don't have to wear that heavy coat and scarf?"

"Ehhh..." May peered around cautiously. "Are you sure they wouldn't just jump me there?"

"You've got nothing to worry about." He said to her then added, very quietly, "...probably."

May nodded. "Ok. I don't think you've scanned my pokedex since I've combined it with everyone else's, now that I think about it."

"We can do that while we're there too then." Birch grinned widely. "I can't wait to see what you have recorded from other regions."

Professor Birch lead May through the remaining distance to his lab and then went inside with her. Once there, he lead her to the main office where his databanks and computers were kept. Several large cabinet-like drives stored the large amount of data that Birch and his son Brendan had recorded on wild pokemon across Hoenn. The small device he used to download data from pokedexes was sitting on top of one such cabinet.

Birch took the device down off the data drive and sat it on a nearby desk, blowing the dust off it. "Geez, haven't used this thing in a while."

May finally removed her scarf and took a deep breath, then asked, "Doesn't Brendan use a pokedex to record data too?" While she waited for Birch's response, she dropped her scarf on the desk and then took off her coat and placed it on a chair.

"He only records pokemon he catches on it though. He carries a notebook for writing down what he observes wild pokemon doing or where he sees them." Birch explained to her. "Anyway, I'll need your pokedex now."

"Right." May took her pokedex out of the pocket of her shorts and handed it to Birch.

"Thanks." Professor Birch took the pokedex in his hand and quickly checked out a few pages. "Heh...these are all pretty interesting pokemon." He then paused for a moment and looked back at May. "Hmm...it's certainly strange seeing you dressed in clothes that look so...normal."

"I didn't see any point wearing my travel clothes today. They're in the wash anyway." May replied.

Birch nodded to her. "So that's how it is. Well, let's get this pokedex scanned then." He finally placed May's pokedex in the device he took out, sliding it upside down into a slot designed to fit it. Prongs at the bottom of the slot slid into the top of the pokedex and began to download the data, feeding it back to the data drive it had been sitting on top of. Despite having been collecting dust, it worked flawlessly.

"By the way, where have you been all this time anyway if you don't mind me asking?" Birch asked May.

"Err...well..." May placed her hand behind her head. "Its...a long story. We sort of created this island that people can't get to unless they have a legendary pokemon with them and almost every pokemon that could be considered legendary in the Johto, Kanto, and Hoenn regions is staying there too."

Birch stared at her and blinked several times. "To talk about something like that so casually..." He scratched his head as he thought over what May said. "When I was a kid, young trainers were lucky to even be able to get a badge or two, and yet you and your friends could potentially take over the world if you wanted."

"Hmm..." May tapped her finger against her chin, as if seriously thinking over Birch's suggestion.

"H-hey! I was just kidding!" Professor Birch said nervously. "Don't you kids go getting any ideas now!"

"Like we would!" May stifled a giggle, then continued. "The whole point of the island was to make sure no one could abuse their power for something like that." She said to him.

Birch sighed. "Well that's a relief. In only a matter of weeks you kids went from rookie trainers to beating the Elite Four on your first go, there's no telling what you'd be capable of. You've already become quite the celebrity because of your achievements."

"I've been wondering if thats a good thing or not actually..." May glanced over at the black coat she had been wearing. "I feel like my privacy is pretty much gone now, but then there's all these kids who look up to me now too..."

Birch smirked and folded his arms. "I can see what you mean. I wouldn't worry too much about the reporters, though, they'll lose interest after a while as long as you don't do anything they might think is worth reporting on."

"Its not only that though!" May said with a pleading look. "They're digging up my past now too! All the battles with the gym leaders, and how long before they dig up things like Team Magma and Team Aqua or the legendary pokemon?" May shook her head frantically. "That'd get way too much attention!"

"Team Magma and Team Aqua?" Birch eyed her curiously. "Sounds like you've been up to quite a bit..."

"Yeah..." May mumbled, looking down at the floor. "I've gotten involved in a lot of things since I left Littleroot that day..." She then thought, "And aside from that, after what happened last night, what would they say if they ever found out I was travelling with Melany when she was disguising herself as Alex? They'd definitely make a big fuss out of that!"

"I understand this is a lot of pressure for you all of a sudden, but isn't there someone else you should be talking to about this kind of thing?" Birch said to May.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just..." May sighed. "It's my dad that gave them permission to run that stupid show where they dig up my career as a trainer..."

"Well maybe you should go talk to him instead then?" Professor Birch suggested. "While you're in Petalburg, you could catch a few pokemon for me. I don't have any now and I'd like to be able to give some to those trainers that want to become my assistants."

May nodded affirmatively. "Sure, but I'm surprised you're taking them on so willingly."

"Well its not often I find young people so willing to take up the job!" Birch said, grinning sheepishly. "I mean, it was easy for me to rope you and Melany into it. Anyway, I'll have to give you a few of my own pokeballs for this." Professor Birch walked over to a storage cabinet on the other side of the room and rummaged through the junk and papers he had cluttering the shelves, trying to find his pokeballs.

"Rope us into doing it?" May glared at Birch from behind. "I used Torchic to save you from a wild pokemon and Melany had promised to get you information on legendary pokemon if you kept her identity a secret! If anything, YOU were forced into it!"

"Aha!" Birch reached in deep and pulled out four premier balls. "These should do for now." he said, then walked back over to where May was and handed the pokeballs to her. "Try to get a pokemon in each one if you can. The pokemon outside Petalburg should be perfect for rookie trainers."

"Like that'll be hard." May replied as she took the premier balls in her hands. "I'll try not to weaken them too much." She added, rolling her eyes.

"Right..." Birch chuckled. "Forgot who I was talking to. Catch some good ones then."

"Don't worry, I will! Won't be gone long!" May started off out of the lab.

"May, wait!" Birch called out to her just before she reached the office door. She stopped and looked back at him. "Don't you want your coat?"

"Don't need it!" May replied, then opened the door and left. Birch chuckled to himself and shook his head.

"Looks like she'll get along just fine."

"Makuhita, let's finish this now while Slaking's guard is down! Focus Punch!" A young male trainer ordered his Makuhita. The yellow sumo wrestler-like pokemon charged across the gym, holding its fist back and gathering energy for the attack. The opponent, a Slaking, was lazing around after having finished off the trainer's previous pokemon. Makuhita slammed its fist into the Slaking's stomach, delivering a powerful punch. The attack only got a grunt out of Slaking as it easily endured the hit.

"Good effort, but it will take much more than a mere Focus Punch to defeat my Slaking." Norman said to the trainer challenging him for the Balance Badge. "Now, I am afraid this battle ends here. Slaking, use Facade."

Slaking stood up, towering over the smaller fighting pokemon. It roared and pounded its chest, drawing out power. An orange glow surrounded it briefly, but quickly faded. Without any negative status effects, Slaking couldn't maintain the power boost. It then hit Makuhita with its fist, striking with enough force to knock Makuhita across the gym despite the relatively low power. Makuhita was weakened from previous fights with Norman's pokemon as well, however, and was unable to get up after taking the hit. The trainer was forced to recall his pokemon.

"Man...I thought I'd finally win with that new move too!" The trainer grumbled, snapping his fingers.

"Perhaps you should continue training with that technique." Norman said to him. "However, you also shouldn't rely on a single technique to win the match for you." He then cautioned him. "Have other options ready incase your strategy fails."

"Heh heh...right...guess I'll try that then." The boy turned to leave, but then remembered he had something to ask Norman and stopped. "Oh! Uh..." The boy scratched the back of his head as he worked up his courage. "I...saw that news report earlier. Is it true your daughter was dating someone in Fortree last night?"

"Dating someone in Fortree?" Norman narrowed his eyes. "This is the first I've heard of it." It didn't take Norman long to realize that it might be true, he knew May had been out somewhere the night before and then suddenly came home after.

"Ah...well...I figured there's probably nothing to it anyway!" The boy replied with a nervous laugh. "I mean, they've been saying things like he's a ninja and that he supposedly destroyed the photographs they had to prove it! They're obviously just making it up!"

"And why are you so interested in this?" Norman asked him. His Slaking, still out of its pokeball, snorted at him as well. The boy felt as if both their gazes were piercing through him.

"N-no reason! No reason at all!" The boy replied, slowly backing toward the door. "I...I need to go train now! See ya!" He quickly turned around and threw the doors open, then fled the gym.

"Hmph. As if I couldn't tell why he was interested." Norman shook his head. "It can't be helped I guess. With May as popular as she is after defeating the Elite Four I'm sure there will be no shortage of boys with their eyes on her." Norman sighed. "You know, Slaking, sometimes I wish I had a son instead. Then I'd only have one 'prick' to worry about."

Slaking let out a lazy yawn and scratched at its side before muttering in response. "-Just keep her locked up in her room until she's 16 I say.-"

"In any case, I can't let just any guy date my daughter." Norman said gruffly. "I won't allow any boy near her that can't best us both. He needs to not only be a strong trainer, but able to fend for himself."

Slaking snickered. "-Like any human child May's age could beat you. Maybe if they were sixteen they'd stand a chance.-"

Norman let out a 'hmph' and turned to head into his office. "I have a fairly good idea of who would be dating her right now, if anyone. I'll call him and find out for myself. Alex may have earned the Balance Badge, but he still has to go through me!"

"-Alex...Alex...he the one with the Skarmory I knocked out? I don't think we can count that.-" Slaking shrugged and flopped back on the gym floor. "-Whatever. Your call. I'm officially on break now.-" Norman said nothing else as he went into his office to make the call. Slaking thought back, recalling what Alex looked like during their brief encounter.

"-Huh...that scrawny kid?-" Slaking snorted. "-Norman will end up breaking every bone in that kid's body.-"

Author's Notes: There's an unwritten law in the universe that if a main character gets hurt, it will be Melany. The universe holds some kind of grudge against her it seems.

Was going to have Melany's chapter first, but decided Melany's chapter could tie into the end of this chapter easily enough rather than the other way around. This one turned out pretty short though, but not a whole lot happened either. Starting with the next chapter, though, there should be a lot more going on. This chapter was still important, though, as May starts to realize just how famous she really is.