Thank goodness for random helpful people who will in no way be important later on.
"Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy. But I really need you to babysit my dad."
The two had made it to the Pokémon Center in Fortree City, and May was currently giving the Castform what she said was a very important mission. Castform looked upset at the idea, but Brendan, Adam and Jerry all remembered Professor Birch too clearly. It wasn't an unreasonable request at all.
"I would have sent Latias," she continued as Brendan and the Pokémon watched. "We all know he needs something with a decent amount of power to keep him out of danger when doing fieldwork. But I don't want Latias in the hands of Team Magma or Team Aqua, and if she's protecting Dad, no one will be protecting her. You can not only keep the lesser threats away, but you can help him out by using your weather-changing moves to see how certain Pokémon react."
Castform couldn't think of a protest, so she returned to her ball and was quickly sent to Professor Birch.
"I hope he likes her," May said quietly. "I took her so he could have a research partner, but what if it doesn't work out?"
"She'll be fine," Brendan promised. "Your dad loves all kinds of Pokémon, and I don't think you can find a Castform around Littleroot Town. I'm more worried about my next badge. The Gym Leader here uses Grass-types, right? Since everybody lives in trees?"
"Flying," May corrected, apparently agreeing that the professor and Castform would take care of each other. "Her name is Winona, and she uses Flying-types. You might want to borrow Pikachu again."
And there went Brendan's promise to only use his own Pokémon from now on. At least May was a willing participant in the regular trades.
It took them a while to find the Gym. Everyone lived in the trees here, and they had to climb onto other people's property in order to continue. Brendan got a front-row seat to May complaints about how stupid it was to put houses in trees ("Don't they know that one big storm could wipe out the entire town?") but she'd gotten used to the stupidity of her home region during their travels, and eventually ran out of steam.
That didn't mean she liked it, but that she was filing all her complaints away for when Team Breakneck took over Hoenn and she actually had the authority to demand that things change.
Climbing down the ladder that would take them to the Gym, Brendan made his way to the door with more confidence than he should have. That overconfidence was rewarded by walking right into something that wasn't seen.
"May?" he called uncertainly, and her head poked over his shoulder moments later. "Fortree City isn't haunted, is it?"
"Not by ghosts," May answered, but she was giving the invisible creature a look that spelled out her silent fury. "But if something set up camp here, we can let it be for now. Let's go see if Steven's still around. We can make him do it."
As he turned, this time following May instead of leading her, he could have sworn he heard a chuckle that didn't sound quite human. Turning back to look, Brendan still saw nothing.
Determined to have the last laugh, Brendan focused entirely on the point where his obstacle had been, and slowly dragged a finger across his throat.
This time, there was no sound, but he could feel the disappointment rolling off his friend as she looked out over the edge of some unfortunate house's front 'yard.'
"Don't taunt invisible monsters, Brendan." She sighed, emphasizing that very disappointed feeling Brendan had noticed. "That shouldn't even be something I had to tell you, and yet here we are."
"How did I know we'd find you here?"
Steven Stone, obviously, was standing on a bridge just past a thick patch of annoyingly high grass, and he was even less surprised than May at the meeting. He must have been waiting for them.
"Hello," he said with a smile that promised doom. "Just the kids I was hoping to see."
"Did you finish your thing in Fortree City?" May asked, not at all distracted by Steven's presence this time. She was definitely enjoying it, but she seemed to be less overwhelmed now.
"Sort of," Steven said, a little embarrassed by something but not enough to explain what it was. "The Gym Leader doesn't need it my help, she has Pokémon that can use Fly to take her home. She just wanted me to figure out what had decided to camp out in front of her Gym."
"So she got you to do it?" Brendan asked. "How did she know you'd help?"
"Winona and I have been friends for years," Steven answered, fidgeting a little with something unrecognizable. "I don't doubt Wattson could have come up with a solution, and he's closer...but as he and Wallace both have very busy schedules, Winona called for me, instead. So I decided to help out, in exchange for watching her battle against her next challengers."
"Challenger," May corrected softly. "Singular. I'm here for story inspiration that doesn't come from my weird dreams."
"What is that thing, anyway?" Brendan reached out to touch the device in Steven's hand, but Steven pulled it away. Brendan pretended to be offended. "Come on, dude, you didn't have a problem handing me a Key Stone."
"The Key Stones aren't powerful on their own," Steven pointed out. "And trusting you with Mega Evolution is not the same as trusting you with the Devon Scope."
So it was called the Devon Scope. "What does it do?" May asked, leaning over it herself.
Just because he wasn't going to let them touch it, it didn't leave out giving a demonstration. "I could tell you," he said, "but showing you would be more fun. Are you ready for battle?"
They didn't like the sound of that, but they figured that no matter how it went, Brendan would either have a new Pokémon or more experience for going up against Winona.
The Kecleon, though interesting, didn't give Brendan that feeling that made him decide to catch something. And, not wanting Aron to end up evolving and breaking through the bridge, he ended up using Spoink.
THAT was certainly an experience.
It wasn't that Spoink wasn't interested in battle, it was getting him motivated that was the hard part. Brendan had discovered that on one of the many practice battles that he'd ended up in. But he'd learned very quickly that his little piggy liked stuff.
He'd also learned, with a great deal of amusement, that a large chunk of Spoink's favorite stuff was either shiny or edible. So Brendan, being the practical guy he was, had asked his mother for edible glitter and sprinkled it on Pokeblocks May made for his team as a tasty, sparkly bribe.
The Kecleon had eaten the Pokeblock right in front of its opponent. Spoink had retaliated, and ended the battle in one hit, by throwing it off the bridge with a wave of psychic energy. The Kecleon had landed with a splash, and May had to give him another Pokeblock for the trouble.
"I haven't seen that style of battle before," Steven commented once the unfortunate Pokémon's green head had surfaced in the water below. "You do know Winona's field is more adapted to Flying-types, and that they are used to being airborne?"
"I'm not stupid," Brendan protested. "No matter what you think."
"I was trying to make a joke. I see now that it may have been just slightly offensive. I'm sorry."
Brendan didn't say anything. Fortunately, May stepped in.
"So you wanted to follow us to Winona's Gym?"
"If you don't mind. I'd like to see Brendan actually battle, if he would allow it."
May looked down at the water where Kecleon had splashed. It was surprisingly still now. "We have to make a pit stop first. I might not be earning badges myself, but we're a team. And right now, my team leader needs an Electric-type."
May had offered to take Adam in exchange for Jerry. Brendan had refused, putting all his faith in Pikachu instead. Steven, too, had heard about a Pikachu with an unusual battle technique, but he had promised not to tell Winona about it.
He'd been pretty interested when he'd heard that Brendan wanted to put the Pikachu in the magical girl costume, but he must have been sworn to secrecy from Winona's end, too, and didn't tell them why.
"I had an idea back on the island," he said, starting an entirely new conversation. "I wanted you to know that if Team Breakneck ever needs funding or secret passes in their mission to stop the other teams, just tell me the situation and I will gladly consider letting you use Devon's resources. I'm sure my father won't mind if it's for the safety of the whole Hoenn region."
"You're funding us?" May squeaked.
"On a case-by-case basis," Steven clarified. "I want Team Magma and Team Aqua stopped, but I only ever seem to get there too late. You two are getting caught up in the middle of everything, so I thought hard about this. It's the best decision I could have made, under the circumstances."
"So you're desperate," Brendan said, summarizing it all with absolutely no emotion.
"I'm desperate," Steven agreed.
Circumstances would later tell them all that it was the best decision Steven had made in his entire life, but that wouldn't be revealed for some time. Instead, he reminded Brendan and May that the family company's assistance was a case-by-case basis, and led them to the Gym once again.