VERDANTURF TOWN

"Wow, that's beautiful," Lisia said of the small town in the horizon and picked up her pace towards it.

Verdanturf Town was a small town filled top to bottom with colorful flowers. The entire town's economy came from the buying and selling of flowers with the rest of the Hoenn Region. Additionally, the produce industry was also doing well. The soft soil in and around the town was good for farmers due to its ability to grow a variety of healthy berries.

After their hectic night, the trio decided to wake up late in the morning and head to Verdanturf Town. The town's Pokémon Contest was being held the next day so they would have to get there early to prepare. If May wanted to get a win and secure her name as one of Hoenn's top coordinators, Verdanturf was the place to do it. She had never been more mentally ready for anything in her life.

Lisia, on the other hand, did not intend to take part in the contest. As a Master Rank coordinator, she usually didn't find herself competing in contests of lower ranks. The contest that May was competing in was only a Normal Rank contest used for climbing the ranks. Lisia essentially would have swept the contest effortlessly with her experience, something that she really didn't enjoy doing.

"I'm so ready for this," May smirked and jogged towards the town.

"Hey, wait up!" Brendan called out to the two and sped up to catch up to them.

They arrived at the town's entrance arch and looked inwards. The wafting fruity aroma of Oran Berries began to fill their nostrils. The town seemed to look as if it were one with nature, medieval almost. At the back end of the town was a mountain with a large cave entrance at its base. The distant Rustboro City skyline indicated that the cave was probably the other end of the Rusturf Tunnel. Brendan and May took quick mental notes of the cave in case they ever needed a shortcut through Hoenn.

There was a lack of road system and most buildings were low rise at the same height as the Pokémon Center and PokéMart. Most of the homes seemed to be made of wood despite not entirely being log cabins. Each home had a garden of colorful flowers in both the front and backyards.

Despite all this, one giant building towered over the rest with a large golden star protruding from the top; the Verdanturf Contest Hall. It was mainly a red dome with golden pillars all around. Its difference in size and color made it easily distinguishable for tourists.

"That must be the contest hall..." May marveled at the tall building. "It's even more beautiful in person than I had imagined."

"Isn't your contest only tomorrow?" Brendan asked. "Why are we here today?"

"Because it's always good to, like, get a good start on where you wanna, like, go," Lisia explained. "What if something bad, like, happened tomorrow and we couldn't make it here, like, on time?"

"I guess that makes sense," Brendan shrugged. "But what are we gonna do for one whole day here?"

"There's so much to see in Verdanturf!" Lisia exclaimed and walked under the arch.

"Umm..." Brendan mumbled and took a look around the small town. "There are a few restaurants and that cave in the distance. What else do you see here?"

"Oh, don't be such a negative Nancy!" May scolded him. "Just take a look around town with us."

"Fine..."

The trio spent a good hour on Lisia's lead wandering around the small town to see if there was anything significant. Apart from a few restaurants and the contest hall, there didn't seem to be much to do. Brendan was right, they would have to find something to do for the entire day or they would face severe boredom.

"I hate to admit it, but there is honestly nothing to do here..." Lisia groaned.

"But haven't you been here before?" May asked the contest star.

"I mean, like, I've been here and all, but all it took was a short flight on Ali to get here," Lisia explained. "I didn't really have to, like, plan out my trip to get here."

"So you've never actually seen the town for what it was?" Brendan asked.

"Nope, not really."

"Then I say it's my turn to lead the way around town," Brendan declared and stepped in front of the girls.

"What do you have in mind?" May asked curiously.

"I think we should go back through the cave in the mountain," Brendan told them. "It's the shortcut to Rustboro and I'd much rather spend my night there than here."

"Well, I don't have any better ideas," May shrugged. "I say we go."

"But... but..." Lisia darted her eyes at the two nervously. "I... uhh..."

"What's the matter?" Brendan asked.

"I mean, we really don't, like, have to go through that cave anyways," Lisia fake-chuckled. "Like, I mean, that cave is totally lame-o anyways, right?"

"Umm... huh?" Brendan shot her a confused look. "It's just a little cave."

"But... I mean... uhh..." Lisia stammered and closed her eyes tightly. "I'm, like, afraid of caves!"

"Are you kidding me?" Brendan asked monotonously. "It's just a small tunnel to the other side of the mountain."

"Yeah but caves are, like, dark and creepy," Lisia gritted her teeth. "And the Pokémon that live inside are so icky."

"But they're also full of adventure," May told her. "You never know what you're going to find when you walk into a cave."

"And that's why I hate them!" Lisia exclaimed. "Like, why do Golbat have to be so fucking weird! They just give you these really creepy looks with their wide-open mouths and make really painful noises. And don't even get me started on Geodude. You take one step in the wrong direction thinking it's a rock and they get all pissed off! Ugh!"

"But there's nothing in that cave but Whismur," May told her.

"How do you know?"

"We've been through there before," Brendan added in. "That's where I caught my Whismur."

"Oh, I guess that's not so bad then," Lisia huffed and calmed down. "I'll go with you only if you promise me that I won't die."

"We promise," Brendan groaned. "Now let's just get on with it."

Brendan led the girls to the back end of the town where the Rusturf mountain towered over the buildings. The cave entrance was large and dark so it was hard for them to see inside. There was a distinct loud echoing noise coming from within it.

"What's that noise?" Lisia asked and cowered behind Brendan.

"That sounds like all the Whismur that live in there," May answered and took an adventurous step into the cave. Before either of them knew it, she had gone in.

"They're that loud!" Lisia shrieked and looked at Brendan. "I'm not going in there!"

"Oh, come on."

"I'm sorry but this is exactly why I don't like caves."

"Too bad, we're still going in," Brendan told her flatly and pulled her into the darkness.

RUSTURF TUNNEL

Brendan navigated the darkness of the cave with Lisia closely behind him. Despite being only a small tunnel system between Rustboro and Verdanturf, it was still extremely dark with the only sources of light being the entrance. Not to mention the echoing of the Whismur added to the whole creepy tunnel effect.

"How do you know where you're going?" Lisia asked and blindly followed him. "You can't even see the end."

"Just follow the echoing of the Whismur," Brendan told her and led her through the tunnel. He suddenly ran into what seemed like a person. "Who's this?"

"It's me," May answered and turned in the darkness to see if she could make her friends out. "Watch where you're going."

"S-s-so what did you w-wanna do here?" Lisia asked with a shiver.

"I don't know, I just thought exploring this cave to see what it had would be cool," Brendan answered and walked ahead of the two. "I'm sure there are some cool stuff hidden in this darkness."

"Machop, use Karate Chop!" A voice shouted out from the distance.

Brendan, May, and Lisia perked their heads up at the commands. Since the cave was extremely small, it wasn't hard to follow the source of the voice. The trio ran down the dark halls of the cave until they found a familiar looking person commanding their Pokémon to attack the wall. The trainer had a cave flashlight strapped to the top of their head and looked intently at the wall in front of them. Realizing it was none other than Wally, Brendan ran next to him.

"What's going on here, dude?" He asked his friend.

"Huh?" The trainer turned around and looked at Brendan with confused eyes. Despite the flashlight blinding his eyes, Brendan could see that this was not Wally and was in fact a girl.

"You're not Wally..." Brendan said quietly. "Whoops, my bad."

"Wally?" The girl asked. "You must have mistaken me for my cousin, we do look very similar. My name is Wanda."

"Oh, well then it's no wonder you guys look the same!" Brendan exclaimed and looked to the small Machop. "What're you doing here?"

"My boyfriend is on the other end of this wall," Wanda sighed. "He's been digging and digging this tunnel without rest trying to make a shortcut to Verdanturf. However, he ran into this solid rock wall and can't make any progress."

"How long have you guys been stuck here?" May asked.

"It's been a few days since progress stopped," Wanda sulked.

"And you guys don't have any strong Pokémon that could take the wall down? Or at least don't know anyone who does?"

"Unfortunately, no," she answered. "Verdanturf isn't the prime town to be training Pokémon in, so this has been hard."

"Well fear not, we're here to make things better!" Brendan declared and pulled out a PokéBall from his belt. "In this PokéBall I have the Pokémon that will be the solution to your needs!"

"Just cut the corny crap and do your thing," May groaned and slapped her palm to her forehead.

"Aggron, I choose you!" Brendan exclaimed and threw his PokéBall at the wall.

"You can't be serious."

Aggron emerged from the PokéBall in a bright flash of white light and roared loudly. It looked towards Brendan and slammed its tail on the ground.

"Brendan, are you an idiot!?" May asked loudly.

"No, I'm not," Brendan reassured her and stood in front of the wall. "Now Aggron, I know you want to attack me."

Aggron glared at its trainer and roared loudly once again. It charged wildly for him.

"You're, like, going to get yourself killed!" Lisia exclaimed.

Before Aggron could do anything to him, Brendan jumped out of the way. His powerful Pokémon lunged at the wall and tore it down to the ground. The Pokémon fell into the pile of rubble as the cave was finally connected.

On the other side was a large man who appeared to be a bit tired and dusty.

"Aggron, return," Brendan shouted to his Pokémon and called it back to its PokéBall.

"Wanda!" The man smiled and ran to give the girl a hug.

"Riley!" She smiled back and buried her face in his chest. "It's been so long!"

"I missed you so much," Riley said to his girlfriend. He looked over to the trio. "Thank you guys. I really owe you a lot."

"It's no problem," Brendan nodded. "Anything for a relative of a friend."

"If you ever need anything, just give me a call," Riley told Brendan. "I'll be there in an instant. You don't know how much I appreciate being able to see my girlfriend now."

"Actually, why don't you three come over to my family's place?" Wanda offered the three trainers. "You guys can rest up if you want and since you know Wally, I'm sure he'd like to see you."

"Yeah, that'd be cool!" Brendan replied and looked to the two girls. They nodded in approval.

Author's note: Sorry I wasn't able to update in a long time. I've been busy hanging out with friends I hadn't seen in a while and just focusing on my life. Additionally, this chapter was really hard to write and part of me feels like it was really forced. Don't forget to leave a review whether you liked it or not! You guys are awesome!

Question of the Day: How well do you think May is going to do in the Verdanturf Cotnest?