Okay, so thanks to all you kind souls who reviewed! For whatever reason, I can't read your comments on the site, but I went through them with my magical email powers, and I'm delighted you care. Some people seemed to be entertained by the 'Valley-Carp', others... not so much. Well, luckily for the not-so-muchers, I'm making an executive decision to shelve the Valley side of me until a later date (or it may never return... sniffle. Well, think of it as something we save for special occasions...). And, now that I've bored you/you skipped right past this, I'm just going to be quiet and disclaim. Yeah, sounds good. Oh, wait, quiet. Riiiight.

DISCLAIMER: Own Pokemon, I do not. Own 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved" (song version, not story version), I do not. Own McDonald's, I do not. Own Yoda and his awesome backwards-y speech style, I do not. Too lazy to post the owners, I am. Wikipedia, your friend is. NOW READ!

Chapter Seven: Tuesday: Dates and Dilemmas

Max stood in line at the McDonald's, glancing at the piece of paper in his hand. Jenny had come back as promised with an official-looking document, which she had given to Drew. This, she had explained, would permit the two of them to stay on their patch of sidewalk as long as they wanted. Then, her stomach had growled, and Drew had invited her to stay with them and eat lunch. The police officer had been delighted to accept, and had even ripped a page out of her notebook so Max could take down their orders.

So now Max was back at McDonald's, this time ordering three meals. He looked around aimlessly at the other customers. None were very interesting, just a cluster of men and women in suits on their lunch break. He then looked towards the door, which had just opened, admitting a young couple in. They were laughing about something. The boy appeared to have white hair and red eyes. Max wondered if he was an albino, but then he noticed black hair sticking out beneath the white, indicating the boy was wearing a fluffy hat. Weird… Max then shifted his attention to the girl, and froze. No. Way.

And yet it was. May from the picture. Sure, her outfit was different, and her bandana was green, not red, but it was definitely the same girl Drew was waiting for. But, but what's she doing with this guy with the weird taste in headgear? Wait, wait, Max, don't jump to conclusions. That guy might not be her boyfriend. Yeah, it could just be her second cousin, coming to visit. But, wait, can't you marry you second cousins-

"Young man? Young maaaan? Earth to you, kid!" Max was brought back by the irate voice of the cashier. "Kid, if you're not ordering, please step out of line," the woman said, keeping a cheery smile on her face, but not in her voice.

Max forced himself to focus. "Um, no, I'm ordering. Uh, I need…" Max ordered his food, hurriedly paid for it, got the sodas, and headed out, watching the pair of teens out of the corner of his eye. He quick-marched back to where he and Drew were situated, wondering all the while what he ought to do. Should I tell Drew? Oh, yeah, that'll be a great conversation: "Hey, Drew, looks like you're stuck here forever, May's found a boyfriend! Maybe I'm wrong about this. Maybe, maybe this guy's a FIRST cousin. Yeah, and you can't marry your first cousins, so it's all good, right? Right?

After May and Brendan finished their burgers at McDonald's, they decided to walk around Petalburg for a while and just talk. May was enjoying herself. She hadn't really talked to Brendan much over the past few years, but then again, they'd been busy, he as a Trainer, she as a Coordinator. May remembered the little boy she'd grown up playing with. Now, Brendan had matured, though there was still much of the carefree attitude she recalled from her childhood. So now they walked, telling stories about the silly things that had happened to them on their journeys and basically catching each other up on where their lives had gone.

"So, what's it like being on a break from it all?" May asked her friend.

Brendan shrugged. "It was weird at first, not sleeping in forests and stuff, but you get used to it."

May nodded enthusiastically. "I know exactly what you mean! It took a couple weeks for me to get used to not having to always be on the road to XYZ City!" she finished dramatically. "Because, there would be my contests, and then Ash would get all hyper over Gym battles-"

"I know how that feels," Brendan nodded.

"-and then, like that's not enough, Team Rocket would show up every other day-"

"Sorry, I keep interrupting, but who now?" Brendan asked, looking very confused.

May rolled her eyes. "Oh, it's just these crazy people who were all obsessed with Ash's Pikachu. Hey, just imagine if they did capture Pikachu, and they took it to their Boss, and he'd be all, 'Why have you brought me a yellow rat?', and they'd be like, 'No, that's the Pikachu, look, it's special!' Can you imagine how they'd look?" she finished, a little out of breath. Fortunately, Brendan was familiar with May's sense of humor, and grinned.

"Yeah, I mean, I can tell it's a pretty awesome Pikachu, but-" he paused. "Wait, how long did you say they'd been trying to catch this thing?"

May thought for a moment. "Hm, well, Ash ran into them on his second day as a Pokemon Trainer, and he said they've been stalking him ever since. And I met up with him about two years after that…" She started adding on her fingers."Um, well, Ash said they're still following him, so… eight years, give or take?"

Brendan was dumbfounded. "Eight years?"

"Well, yeah, they started when he was ten, I met him when he was twelve, now he's eighteen, so yeah, eight years."

"… And they're still trying?"

May shrugged. "Hey, they're not the brightest bulbs in the box." She then paused. "What were we talking about earlier?"

"Stuff?" Brendan offered.

May grinned. "You're no help."

Just then, a chilly breeze swept down the street, making May shiver and wish she'd worn her scarf. Brendan noticed this. Unzipping his outer jacket, he draped it over the brunette's shoulders. "Am I helpful now?" he asked teasingly.

"Yeah, I suppose," May replied in the same teasing tone, slipping her arms into his jacket. It was quite helpful, despite the fact that the dark, maroon-ish red Brendan favored didn't really go with the bright red May preferred. They lapsed into silence, and May reflected on what a great friend Brendan was. He's so polite, apologizing when he interrupts. Politeness is such a nice change-

Unbeknownst to May, the sidewalk ahead jutted upwards, creating a tripping hazard. And, naturally, May tripped over it. The unrelenting sidewalk came rushing up to meet her, and May braced herself for impact-

But she did not hit it. Brendan had caught her hand, saving her from her own klutzy nature. "Still?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. May's talent for falling over and into things had been renowned when they were younger

May grimaced. "Yeah, still." She then noticed that Brendan was still holding her hand. She considered asking him to let go, but then decided it would hurt his feelings. Besides, she didn't really mind, that much. "Um, let's head back. The weather people said it's going to rain, and getting sick is not high on my Christmas to-do list."

Brendan gasped melodramatically. "Then let us hurry, before the evil weather people bring rain down on us!" Giggling like five-year-olds, they hurried down the street back to their neighborhood, still hand in hand.

Drew was getting impatient. His Cinnabon breakfast had been delicious, sure, but filling? Not particularly. Jenny sensed his agitation and grinned. "Don't worry, I'm sure Max is-"

"Coming!" The young boy called from further up the street, carrying their food and drinks. He came to a stop, panting slightly, and handed out the food.

Officer Jenny flipped open her burger and was impressed to see no pickles, tomatoes, or mustard. "Good work, Max."

Max smiled. "Thanks, but it's really the McDonald's people you should thank. Most of the time, they ignore you when you ask for something to be left off."

"I know!" Jenny agreed wholeheartedly. "And, seriously, what's so difficult about not putting on the pickles? It saves them time!" She looked over at Drew. "What do you think?"

Drew shrugged. "You guys have it right. Let's eat." He picked off the pickles, then bit into his cheeseburger. The others started eating too. They were quiet for a time, focusing on eating. Drew took a huge gulp of his Coke Lime, looked across the street, and nearly spat it out all over his companions.

There was May, standing across the street. She was wearing a different bandana, green instead of red, but it was definitely her. Drew's heart leapt within him. This was his chance. He managed to swallow and was about to call out to her…

And then he noticed she was not alone.

Walking alongside her was a guy who looked familiar. Drew frantically searched his mind until he found the name. Birch. Yeah, Brendan Birch, her next-door-neighbor. Okay, so why is she walking around with the boy-next-door? He watched as they wandered along, talking about who knew what. He then noticed that May was wearing a jacket that didn't appear to fit her at all. In fact, it looked suspiciously like… His jacket. She's wearing HIS jacket?!?! Has the world gone mad?

And then May did something so May-like that it made Drew want to laugh and cry at the same time: she tripped over something. Except, she didn't smack into the ground, because Brendan reached out and grabbed her hand. Part of Drew was happy she didn't get hurt, but a larger part of him was angry that it was Brendan who had saved the day. And then…

A little part of the green-haired boy turned cold. Brendan wasn't letting go of her hand, but what was worse was the simple fact that May let him. No fuss. No arguments. No attempts to break free. They just stood there, hand in hand. Then, they ran off down the street, giggling like small children.

Max was wondering whether he ought to mention seeing May with another guy to Drew. He glanced at Drew, followed his eyes, and abruptly decided the announcement was unnecessary.

Jenny, being a girl, sensed a disturbance in Drew's emotions. Glancing first at him, and then at the girl across the street, the teal-haired law enforcer guessed the truth using her female intuition. She stood up, brushing crumbs off her uniform. "Sorry, Drew, but I have to go now. But I'll see you guys later. Nice meeting you!" She hopped on her motorcycle, then paused and tossed him and Max a couple of umbrellas she had stored in the sidecar. "It's going to rain soon, stay dry!" she called before speeding off. She had some important calls to make…

And now the story gets interesting... Which is not to say that it wasn't interesting before, it was, but now it's interesting on a whole different level. So, on that interesting note, I beg you, people: REVIEW! This was one of my favorite chapters to write, so I need your feedback! Accounted or just some random person surfing the web, tell me what you think! I mean, seriously, not enough people reviewing can equal a story suicide, which is BAD. Friends don't let friends kill their stories over a short supply of reviews. So review! Not that I'd do something stupid and drastic like that; I love my craft too much! But reviews help...

And as a thank-you to all you who reviewed, guess who's going to be in the next chapter! OTHER PEOPLE!!!! Like, Ash and... others (got to leave something surprising!) So I bet that excited all of you, so take out that hyper energy by... you guessed it... R-E-V-I-E-W!

Smiles, Carp

P.S. Visit my profile and vote in the poll on who you want May to end up! I'm interested to see what my audience is made up of... Thanks from the fish called Carp!