A/N: It feels like it takes me forever to update, but this is actually faster than what I usually do. Interesting how that works out.

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon

Chapter 4 Keep on dreaming

Camerupt carried May and Brendan on his back. They just passed a daycare center, and a large city could be seen up ahead.

"We're almost there. Goldenrod city is just a few minutes away." May said while trying to not show how worn out she was. She was sure she had a nightmare last night, but she couldn't remember it. Maybe because I'm close to my old home I'm thinking about the attack. May put a hand up to her neck for a moment and looked at Brendan in front of her. She wasn't sure why, but she was feeling a little nervous around Brendan since earlier in the morning.

Brendan looked back to May. "Yeah we'll finally get to your grandparents. I'm sorry we haven't seen your pokemon on the way. I was so sure we'd find at least one around Azalea town or that weird forest."

"We'll have to stay in Johto a while longer to find them." May sighed at the thought of that. "Well at least we haven't seen Rick in a while. That's the only upside to this situation."

Camerupt reached Goldenrod city at last. The city was full of tall buildings and a lot of people. Anyone that didn't live there, would easily get lost.

"Where do we go?" Brendan asked.

May pointed in the direction of a train station. "Go up to the station and head left. Then keep going until you reach the radio tower. Go down from there and we'll reach my grandparent's house."

She really does know her way around. That's an old Johto resident for you. Brendan thought and patted Camerupt. "Did you get all of that?"

Camerupt nodded and slowly started walking in the direction of the station. They got a few weird looks from people. Usually people would walk or ride a bike in the city. It wasn't often they'd see people riding on a pokemon there. A few little kids cheered and started talking about how they wished they had pokemon too. May smiled to them as they passed.

It's moments like this that makes it hard to believe she's possessed. Brendan thought. He guessed that whatever possessed her didn't influence her actions often.

It didn't take long before Camerupt reached the area close to the radio station May talked about. He stopped and let out a big yawn. Brendan and May climbed off.

"Good work, we'll take it from here." Brendan said as he recalled his pokemon.

May pointed to a nearby house. "There it is." They walked up to the house and May knocked. After a moment, an old woman opened the door and suddenly hugged May. "Hi Grandma."

Her grandmother released her and allowed Brendan and May inside. "I'm so glad to see you! I hope you liked your birthday present."

Yeah… as a result of that gift, I now have to find all of my pokemon. That plane just had to randomly get attacked. Darn that Shifty! May thought before saying, "I really appreciate it. It gave Brendan and I a chance to go somewhere together."

May's grandfather walked up to them. "I'm glad to hear that. It really has been a while. We missed having family living in the same city. Now we don't have anyone to talk to." He looked over to Brendan. "We also were curious about your boyfriend. Your mother constantly called and talked about your relationship."

Exactly what does Mrs. Sapphire say about me? Brendan wondered.

May's grandmother spoke up. "Speaking of your mother, she's been calling a lot. She said that she hasn't been able to contact you. Grandpa and I have also been wondering why it took you so long to get here."

"Oh, we've been a little sidetracked. Can I borrow your phone?" May asked.

Her grandmother handed her a phone. She immediately called home.

"Hey Mom… yes I'm alive… My phone? Oh that fell out of a plane…"

Brendan couldn't help noticing that May's grandfather wouldn't stop staring at him. "Um… sir? Is something wrong?"

"Brendan is your name, right?" May's grandfather asked.

"Yes it is." Brendan answered.

"Yep… all of my pokemon fell out… I don't think sending Wobbuffet or Castform would help… Yes tell Wobbuffet I said hi…"

May's grandfather asked another question, "Why is your hair white?"

"I dyed it when I was younger."

"I like it."

"Um… thank you, sir." Brendan was getting nervous. Her grandfather was a little weird.

"We'll be here a while longer to find our pokemon… Okay… love you too." May hung up the phone.

Brendan walked up close to her and whispered, "Your grandfather is kind of weird."

May laughed and whispered back, "Yeah I know. Most of my family is like that. My dad and I are surprisingly the most normal ones."

May and Brendan stayed there for a few hours before deciding to leave. The main purpose of the trip was to visit her grandparents, but they had to move on. It was time to look for their pokemon. The two of them said goodbye to her grandparents and started to walk back.

May stopped for a moment. "Brendan."

Brendan stopped walking and turned back to her. "What is it?"

"Would you like to see my old house?" She asked.

"Sure I would. Where is it?"

May started to lead the way. "It's on the east side. My old house is close to a bike shop."

They walked past many houses until May stopped by one with two floors. It was completely empty.

"This is it?"

"Yep this is my old house. It looks almost exactly the same. The only difference is the for sale sign." May patted the sign for a moment. "I wasn't sure if I would ever come back here since that incident."

"So this is where that creep attacked you." Brendan said.

"The first time at least." May said and pointed to a window. "Right up there in my old room."

Brendan was surprised at how calmly May was talking about that. It was such a sensitive subject. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It was a while ago, and I already told you what happened. I can't say remembering it doesn't bother me sometimes, but I can handle it a lot better than I used to." May replied.

"Wow, May. It's times like these that it makes it hard to believe that you are possessed." Brendan said.

Now May was annoyed. Any nervousness she had earlier died. "I'm not possessed!"

"Whoops did I say that out loud?" Brendan laughed nervously. "I honestly wasn't paying attention. But you are possessed though."

May looked at him and told him in a serious voice, "Stop saying I'm possessed. It's not true, and it makes me very angry when you tell me that."

There it is again. She's acting strange. Brendan thought.

She suddenly turned away and started walking away from her house. "Well as long as you understand. Anyway, I've seen my house enough. Let's go now."

She's totally possessed. The change is almost too obvious. Well at least for now she's back to herself again. Brendan thought as he caught up to her. "So are we going to look for our pokemon now?"

Before May could answer, a woman with pink hair stopped in front of them. May and Brendan stopped and stared at her for a second.

"May? I'm surprised that you're here. I thought you moved to Hoenn."

"Oh hi…" For the life of her, May couldn't remember this woman's name. I know she used to be Dad's gym trainer, but she suddenly backed down before the move. What was her name? May was too used to referring to Norman's gym trainers as minions.

The pink haired woman sighed. It was obvious that May couldn't remember her name. It made sense since they barely had any interaction before. "It's Whitney."

"Whitney! Yes I was just about to say that." May lied.

"I'm sure you did." Whitney dryly said. "Anyway, come with me. I was just on my way back to the gym."

"Why? Doesn't that gym belong to some guy named Juan?" May asked and she and Brendan followed Whitney.

Whitney laughed for a moment before answering, "Ah yes, the old water gym leader. Actually he moved to Hoenn to be with his family shortly after you left. I made it my own gym."

They arrived at the gym entrance before May stopped. "Wait… the whole reason why my family moved was because the only opening for a gym leader was Hoenn. How were we not told that we could have stayed in the city?"

"Oh I may have intercepted a few calls." Whitney said to their surprise. "Hey don't look at me that way. I really respected Norman. He taught me everything I know about Normal type pokemon. With his help I would be an amazing Normal gym trainer. His popularity was a huge help. I was more than happy to move to Hoenn to continue my training."

"What happened then?" May asked.

"Juan tried contacting Norman since he knew he wanted to be a gym leader. However, Norman wasn't responding to calls at the time due to…" Whitney tried to think of a sensitive way of putting it. "That certain incident at your house."

"Oh… that."

Whitney continued, "Juan called me and said he wanted to go to his hometown in Hoenn. Norman wouldn't have to move. However, I chose to keep that to myself. I wanted to become a gym leader too. If I stuck around Norman then that wouldn't happen. Besides, I knew your family was having a hard time. It was probably for the best that you left." She laughed again. "It was a little disappointing though. I wasn't as popular as Norman. Being the second Normal gym leader apparently doesn't mean anything. In fact, a lot of people get frustrated while battling me. I still don't know why. I try to be nice."

That was very underhanded, but thanks to her things worked out. I can't complain. May thought. "Well I feel your pain. No one in Johto cares that I'm the Champion of Hoenn."

"Yep that means nothing here."

"It should since Johto doesn't even have its own pokemon league. There is no such thing as a Johto Champion."

"Shush! No one ever talks about that!" Both girls started to laugh at that.

Brendan was completely lost about what they were talking about. Somehow they get along well.

"It's difficult sometimes since I'm always compared to Norman." Whitney said.

"I know exactly what you mean. I was always dealing with being in my dad's shadow." May said.

Yep, they get along very well. Brendan thought as he wished he could be in the conversation. At the very least it would be nice if something distracted them.

"Hey! Little- I mean hello there May!" A familiar voice in the distance called.

They all turned and saw Rick running up to them.

I really need to be careful about what I wish. Brendan thought as he pulled out a pokeball. "I'll take care of this."

"Wait don't! I'm different today!" Rick quickly said as he reached them.

May sighed before asking, "How are you different?"

"Clearly I've gone about winning you over the wrong way. Words are not enough. Actions are the way to go." He confidently said before pointing at Whitney. "I challenge you to a battle! I will prove to May that I am strong."

"Since when do you have a pokemon?" May was confused. She never saw him with a pokemon before.

"Whatever it doesn't matter. I'll take care of this." Whitney said.

Rick smiled at May and said, "When I win, you have to dump that guy and go out with me."

"Keep on dreaming." May replied.

Brendan put away Sceptile's pokeball and decided to just watch. I wonder how they will battle. I wish he challenged me instead. Hmm… why didn't he?

Rick and Whitney both tossed out pokeballs. Out came a Miltank and a Poliwrath.

Oh I see now. He has a fighting type and wanted to fight her because he knew that was her weakness. Brendan thought.

May's thoughts were completely different from Brendan's. Aww… I miss my Miltank. I hope she's okay.

"A Poliwrath huh. Miltank, show him what we think of Fighting type pokemon." Whitney said and her Miltank nodded.

"Use Submission!" Rick commanded.

Poliwrath ran towards Whitney's Miltank. He extended his hands and was about to grab her. However, Miltank grabbed his arm at the last second and flipped him over her. Poliwrath crashed into the side of the gym.

"If you please, use your signature move, Rollout." Whitney told her Miltank.

Her Miltank happily nodded and rolled into a ball and charged at full speed towards Poliwrath. As soon as the attack hit, Poliwrath was knocked out. The battle was over. Rick's mouth dropped in shock.

May and Brendan burst out laughing. That was the shortest and most pathetic battle they'd ever seen.

"Clearly your pokemon isn't trained. Come back and challenge me when you and your pokemon get more experience." Whitney said.

Rick recalled Poliwrath and couldn't contain his anger. He just looked like a fool in front of May! "Cheater!"

"What?" Whitney was getting annoyed. Sore loser.

"That Miltank cheated! It shouldn't have been able to beat a Fighting pokemon!" Rick yelled.

Whitney's Miltank shook from anger and grabbed Rick's hand.

"What are you-" Was all he could say before Miltank started to swing him around in circles. He screamed for help, but nobody moved. Then Whitney's Miltank chucked him as far as she could.

Everyone saw Rick soar over two buildings before falling somewhere. There was a loud crash that everyone chose to ignore.

"Anyway, do you guys want to stay and have dinner?" Whitney asked.

"Sure that sounds good." May looked down to the Miltank. "Thank you for getting rid of Rick, and giving me a good laugh."

Whitney's Miltank nodded, but still looked very annoyed.

"Miltank, do you want some dinner?" Whitney asked. Her Miltank shook her head and refused to move. Whitney sighed and led May and Brendan into the gym. She knew her Miltank would eventually join them. May and Brendan sat down as she prepared some food.

Brendan thought back on the day so far. We aren't making any progress finding our pokemon, but I got to learn a lot about May today. Goldenrod is more than just a crowded city. "May, I'm glad I got to walk around the city with you."

"It's too crowded compared to Littleroot town. It's true that I grew up here and it has a lot of cool things, but a small town surrounded by trees is a lot more personal. I feel more at home there." Plus, that's where I met Brendan. I wouldn't trade that for anything.

"Is there anything else nice about Littleroot?" Brendan asked as if he were picking up on her thoughts.

"Nope, there's nothing else." May playfully replied.

"Aww…"