Hello everyone and welcome to chapter twenty-seven of Hoenn Adventures! This chapter sees the trio enter Verdanturf Town for May's third contest! What could possibly happen? Enjoy!

"I'd like to formally welcome you to Verdanturf Town!" Wally exclaimed as they entered the town. Verdanturf was oddly similar to Oldale Town, quiet and not too big of a population, ten houses at most. The only reason that it was busier than usual now was due to the contest that would happen in the next couple of weeks. It was getting dark so Brendan and May had decided to book a room in the pokemon centre whilst Wally went to deal with some "business" he had just brought up before they split. Wally had said that he would meet up with the two once his "business" was dealt with in the centre so, while they waited, they had decided to train their pokemon.

Brendan, who still had no idea what the next gym's type was, decided to train Grovyle and Marshtomp. Grovyle because he felt he has spent too much time with Gallade and hasn't given his first pokemon the amount of love it deserves and Marshtomp because Wally had given another hint to the next gym saying that it was "Steamy!" Brendan had tried to find a similarity between both "blast" and "steamy" but, nothing was coming to mind. Meanwhile, May was seeing what Roselia could do letting it spare with Mawile and, much like May had anticipated, Roselia's attacks came out like it was born for contests making May quickly decide that she wanted to use it in the battle round and Gardevoir in the appeal round.

They had trained for about half an hour before stopping due to the sky now becoming pitch black. When they did re-enter the centre, they also found Wally in the waiting area seeming like he was anxious so decided to head over to his direction.

"C'mon, c'mon! Where are they?" Wally asked to no one but himself.

"Who're you waiting for?" Brendan asked sitting on one side of Wally as May sat next to Brendan resting her head on his shoulder. The pair's entrance made the green haired trainer jump a bit.

"N-no one in particular." Wally replied but Brendan and May weren't buying it and both raised a brow almost in unison. Wally sighed and gave a real reason seeing the expression on the couple's faces "You're parents, Brendan." There was silence for a few seconds as Brendan's eyes widened and seemed at a loss for words.

"W-why are my parents coming…here?" Brendan asked still slightly in shock.

"I…invited them." Wally replied looking away from Brendan "To surprise you."

"Surprise?!" Brendan exclaimed almost shouting "Wha-" May put a reassuring hand on his shoulder trying to calm him down which she somewhat accomplished in doing.

"Did they accept?" May asked and Wally nodded, still not making eye contact.

"Wally," Brendan took a deep breath to not sound angry anymore, "you know the relationship between myself and Norman, why'd you invite them?"

"I wanted to see if Mister Norman was what you really said he was." Wally replied taking a quick glance at Brendan to see if he was angry or not. Brendan sighed again.

"When will they be coming?" May asked seeing Brendan's distress.

"They said either today or tomorrow." Wally replied as Brendan sighed for a third time "Sorry." Wally now had a look of guilt across his face "They won't be staying in Verdanturf though, they'll be in Mauville Hills, one of those fancy apartments on the second floor."

"Then, why would they come here?" May asked.

"To see the sights." Wally replied "They had asked me to show them around prior to the contest so they didn't get too swarmed by fans. I was hoping that…" Brendan then stood up and began to walk off. May was about to follow him but Brendan put an arm up to stop her.

"I'm going to bed early, night." Brendan said in a calm voice but before walking off leaving May and Wally alone. Wally didn't look any better, worse actually, while May stood, in slight shock over what had just occurred.

"I've screwed up, haven't I?" Wally asked with his head in his hands. May didn't reply at first, due to her still being in slight shock but quickly shook her head.

"You have…sorta." May replied "Don't worry about Bren. He's just…sensitive about this issue." Wally nodded weakly but still had a lot of guilt across his face. The atmosphere was quiet for a while before May's stomach growled signalling the two to go to the cafeteria.

Dinner between May and Wally was pretty much nothing but awkward silence as May scarfed down her plates while Wally barely ate. May had tried to lighten the mood by explaining what the training earlier had sprung up but Wally just nodded and grunted in response not really listening. May had soon become full and said good night to Wally who, once again, nodded but gave a little wave.

I hate it when my friends become like this. May thought as she headed to the room that she and Brendan had booked The atmosphere is so…dull and awkward now. I wonder if Bren's feeling any better. May then opened the door to their room using the card that Nurse Joy had given her to access the room, when she walked in, she saw that the window was slightly open and that a note was on the desk in the corner of the room. It read:

May,

I've decided to head to Lavaridge Town, the home of my next Gym, alone. I don't want to even face Norman again, but, do not fret, I shall return in time for your contest just don't expect to see me around there. I'll return once Norman has left. I'm sorry to have to do this.

With Love,

Brendan (or Bren if you prefer)

P.S Tell the same to Wally

"Is…Is this…real?" May asked even though she got no response. She crumpled up the paper and threw it across the room in anger but her eyes were filled with sadness as tears formed. She sobbed into her arms but stopped when a thought came to her "He couldn't have gone far!" With that, she grabbed her fannypack and practically sprinted down the stairs and out of the centre frantically looking around for any sign of the boy she loved. She had then decided to look down route 117, the route leading back to Mauville which was the way to Lavaridge Town, but was stopped by the security guard.

"I'm sorry miss, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the route to be open again. Many powerful wild pokemon appear at night. No exceptions." The guard stated lightly pushing May from the entrance to the route.

"But, my boyfrien-"

"No. Exceptions." The guard cut her off sternly. He had seen the redness around her eyes and a look of guilt crossed his face "I'm sorry, but rules are rules. It's for the best." Although May didn't like it, she had no choice but to wait for tomorrow to be able to continue her search…that is, until an idea came to her head and she guessed that Brendan had done the same.

"Gardevoir, I need your assistance!" May called releasing Gardevoir who looked very drowsy but soon perked up not seeing Gallade or Brendan.

"Where is Master Brendan, Mistress May? And Gally?" Gardevoir asked looking around.

"I…don't know." May replied looking down but quickly looked up "I need you to teleport me over the gate to route 117!"

"But, Mistress, stron-" Gardevoir began.

"I know! But I have to!" May exclaimed "It's the only way! Surely, you feel the same!?" Gardevoir thought for a moment before nodding her head. She placed a gentle hand on May's shoulder as both of their bodies outlined in blue. Before they knew it, they were on route 117. As soon as May saw this, she embraced the Embrace pokemon "Thank you." Gardevoir smiled at her trainer's affection and returned the hug. May was about to return Gardevoir but Gardevoir refused to leave, sharing the same feelings as her trainer. Gardevoir backed herself up by saying that she would protect May from the strong wild pokemon and May had no choice to agree. The two sprinted down route 117 as the bright lights of Mauville City beamed like the exit to a cave. The two were too focused on running that they never noticed a blue haired man to their side.

"You know…" The man said causing the two to stop and look around "If you want to find Brendan, you'd be best to save your energy." The man stepped out and revealed himself to be Steven "You'll never catch up to him at this hour."

"Steven? Where's Bren?" May asked and Steven shrugged.

"Last I saw him, he was in the centre of Verdanturf, and that was an hour ago." Steven replied "He could be at Lavaridge now for how fast he was running." May's eyes widened at this.

"You mean…you gave Bren the idea to…leave?" May asked in shock and through pants but Steven shook his head.

"No, it was Brendan's choice to leave." Steven replied "It went a little something like this…"

Earlier…

Brendan walked into the room that he and May had booked and slammed himself onto the bed letting out a muffled scream through the pillow. Gallade had released himself seeing his trainer's distress.

"Master, is something the matter?" Gallade asked lengthening his blades "Did someone hurt you or Mistress May?!" Brendan lifted himself up so he faced Gallade sitting on the side of the bed.

"You could put it that way…" Brendan replied "Let's just say…there's a person who's coming here and right now, I don't want to see them or even be near them."

"Is it your father?" Gallade asked immediately letting down his guard and Brendan nodded.

"Yeah, Wally invited both him and Mom." Brendan replied letting out a sigh "Don't blame Wally though, he just wanted to "confirm" the situation for himself." Brendan sarcastically said with quotation marks "I know that he didn't mean harm…but still."

"Looks like we both hate our fathers." An all too familiar voice appeared. Brendan's head snapped to the nearby window where Steven had climbed through "We need to stop meeting like this, friend."

"You need to stop just appearing all of a sudden." Brendan joked "One day, you'll scare the living daylights out of Gallade." Gallade gave a death stare towards Brendan who just laughed it off.

"I think there's higher chances of Gallade slicing your neck than there is of scaring him." Steven joked and Gallade nodded.

"Affirmative!" Gallade saluted as he spoke.

"Glad you're on my side." Brendan joked again.

"I'm glad that you can still crack a joke when you're feeling so down." Steven complimented and made Brendan's expression go from joy to annoyance causing him to let out a sigh.

"I know it's wrong to get mad at Wally but, it's hard not to." Brendan sighed "I don't feel ready to go face to face with Norman yet."

"And when will you be?" Steven asked.

"When we have our Gym Battle." Brendan replied almost instantly.

"That's not far from now, you know." Steven stated causing Brendan to laugh "What's so funny?"

"You doubt the fourth Gym Leader's abilities?" Brendan joked "I haven't even met them yet but you're so sure I can beat them in one fell sweep?"

"You doubt yourself?" Steven replied "Flannery is fairly new to her position as Gym Leader, but she can be a challenge if need be."

"Flannery, ey?" Brendan said tapping his chin "She's a fire type leader, then?"

"Yes." Steven replied slightly shocked "You got that from just her name?" Brendan shook his head.

"No, Wally gave me the hints of "blast" and "steamy". Put them together with her name and it's obvious that it's fire type." Brendan replied "Probably the last good thing Wally did for me." Brendan joked letting out a small laugh "He's a good person, just makes some VERY bad decisions." Brendan's eyes then shot wide "That gives me an idea." He quickly stood up and grabbed his bag.

"Care to share?" Steven asked and Brendan stopped for a moment.

"I'm going to Lavaridge…alone." Brendan replied.

"Alone? Why? What about May's contest?" Steven asked again.

"I'll be back in time and even if I'm not, I would hate for May to miss her contest due to me." Brendan replied.

"That's if she can even compete." Steven stated causing Brendan to look at him in confusion "She depends on you, Brendan. Without you, she's a shy girl, she won't want to compete." Brendan froze for a moment before shaking it off.

"I said I'll be back in time for her contest and I will." Brendan stated "I'll never forgive myself if I don't." The room went silent for a moment as both Steven and Gallade exchanged glances surprised by Brendan's decision. Brendan had finished packing and placed a note on the table before heading for the open window.

"There's a door, you know." Steven joked pointing to the door but Brendan just rolled his eyes at him and climbed down the four story building from the second floor.

"Doors are overrated." Brendan shouted as he climbed down.

"Master, allow me to assist." Gallade stated as he teleported to Brendan placing a hand on his shoulder and then teleporting again to route 117 "I shall stay by your side, the pokemon get dangerous at night." Brendan nodded and the two began to run off into the distance towards Mauville City. Steven sighed and read the note Brendan had left and sighed again.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Brendan."

Present…

"By now, he's probably halfway to Lavaridge Town. There's no way you'll catch up to him, I'm sorry." Steven said apologetically as May fell to the floor and sobbed quietly.

"I-I…" May stuttered barely a word "Why…didn't he take me with him?!" She exclaimed "I wouldn't have minded missing a contest, there's plenty more along the way!"

"Mistress…" Gardevoir said feeling the exact same as her trainer "Master Brendan wanted you to work towards your dream. He didn't want to hold you back."

"I know that!" May retorted "I would follow him anywhere no matter the consequences!"

"There is a way that you could catch up to him…" Steven suggested making May look up at him "Rydel."

Forced myself to write this chapter in one sitting and I'm proud I did! Although the chapters aren't as long as they used to be, this'll have to be the norm for now due to life eating away at my time. Stay tuned!