Brendan

May accepts the challenge from the Olddale Champions without hesitation. And that's really great, because I am not looking to get into any fights. I just want to tour around a little bit to make May happy, and then go home.

I mean, it definitely does not feel very manly to hide behind a girl. But she knows what she's doing. I don't.

Rick steps up first. The kid sure doesn't look like a champion of much. He's got a long bug net leaning against his shoulder like it's a rifle and a wide brim straw hat. Three Pokeballs hang from his belt. He grabs one of them and releases the creature inside.

"Come on out, Wurmple!" he cries far too dramatically. May brings out her Torchic quietly. She's trying to seem calm, but everyone can see the big grin on her face. She's never been more excited in her life.

"You're a little too far from home, little girl," Rick says. Ironic, since May is definitely taller than him. "Wurmple, give that ugly chick a string shot! The Pokemon, specifically."

"Hey—" I start. I don't know what I think I can do, but May holds up a hand to stop me anyway. I thought she would be hurt by the trash talk coming out of Rick's mouth. Instead, she just stands there, patiently waiting. She's still smiling, but now there's a fire in her eyes that intimidates even me a little—and I'm not even battling her.

Rick's Wurmple skitters toward Torchic. Its little legs gliding over the grass make it seem like its moving much faster than it is. Once it is within range, the Wurmple rears back its head. That's when May strikes.

"Now, Fluffernugget! Get in there with a Peck!"

May's Torchic dashes forward, pecking the Wurmple in the neck before it can release its own attack. The Torchic doesn't let up, either—pecking the poor Wurmple into submission. Before long, Rick's Wurmple is down and out. He calls it back into its Pokeball and reaches for another.

"Alright, Wurmple Two, let's go!" he cries just as dramatically as before. A fresh Wurmple appears. "Give that thing a Tackle!"

The Wurmple's Tackle connects, but May's Pokemon hardly budges. In fact, her Torchic looks stronger than before.

And is that...fire? Coming out of its mouth?

"Nice," May whispers proudly. "Fluffernugget, torch that worm with Ember!"

Fluffernugget sprays a fan of flames from its mouth. The Wurmple doesn't catch fire, thankfully, but like the first one, it falls quickly. Rick calls it back once little wisps of smoke start to rise from its body.

"Alright, um, Wurmple Three..." he's not so dramatic now, and for good reason. Even I know how this is going to end. "Let's go."

The moment the third Wurmple hits the ground, May pounces.

"Fluffernugget, Ember!"

I'm starting to feel bad for Wurmples.

"I lost..." Rick mutters to himself as he recalls his third unconscious Wurmple. He can only stare at the ground as he pulls a handful of money from his pocket. May, on the other hand, is ecstatic.

"Yes! We won, we won, we won!" she shouts with joy as she jumps up and down. Her Torchic chirps happily beside her. "So much for that whole 'Olddale Champion' thing, huh?"

I look over to the girl Rick is with. Tiana, I think is her name. She's not so eager to challenge May next, and watching Rick quietly hand over his money, I don't blame her. Every once in a while, she'll steal a glance our way, but for the most part she's fiddling with her red plaid skirt or twirling her hair around her finger.

I won't lie, she's kind of cute. When she gives me a smile, I can't help but smile back.

That is, until she yells "GOT YOU!"

I look to May for help, but she's just as bewildered as me.

"Our eyes met," Tiana declares, "that means we have to battle."

"Oh, no thanks," I say.

"Those are the rules! Or do you want to hand over your lunch money right now?"

"What? You can't tell me what to do," I say.

"Our eyes met. I challenged you. You can't refuse," Tiana says.

"She's right," May says quietly. "Those are the rules."

"But I wasn't even looking at her eyes—"

"Oh yeah? Then what were you looking at, exactly?"

Tiana has me backed into a corner, and she knows it. All of a sudden she doesn't seem nearly as cute.

"Fine," I grumble. "Girls..."

May giggles.

"Hey, don't blame girls just because you got caught looking," May says.

"I wasn't! Not on purpose, I mean. I was just...I don't know what I was doing. Let's just get this over with."

Tiana only has one Pokeball, which is great news for me. Even better, it's a Zigzagoon. May steps off to the side, out of the way. I can feel her watching me closely. Judging me. I throw out the first Pokeball I can grab. I don't even realize it's Fishbait, the Wurmple I just caught, until I see it sitting out there. And I can immediately tell I've made a huge mistake.

Fishbait can barely stand up. It's swaying back and forth like it's in a daze. One thing's for sure: Fishbait is in no condition to fight. Tiana doesn't wait to let me do anything about it though.

"Ziggy, give that Wurmple a taste of your Tail-Whip!"

A stiff breeze would have knocked Fishbait out cold, but the Zigzagoon's attack does the trick to. It swipes its tail against my Wurmple, and that's as far as Fishbait can go in this battle.

I don't dare look at May. My face burning up as it is. I don't hear her laughing at me, but that doesn't mean she isn't.

I swap Fishbait with Kip.

"Alright, Kip, what do you say we try out that new move the Pokedex said you know?" I say. Kip gives me a confused look, which does not help my confidence levels. "Go on! Give that raccoon a mud-slap!"

Kip doesn't move, which almost seems to be tradition at this point. Will he ever learn his name?

Tiana lets out a laugh.

"Maybe you should try a move it actually knows!" she says. "Like this: Ziggy, use Tackle!"

I don't know what comes over me. But as soon as I see that Zigzagoon starting to run toward Kip, I start shouting orders.

"Weird Blue Fish Thing, Tackle it right back!"

The two Pokemon slam into each other, but Tiana's Zigzagoon is much worse off than Kip. Kip's getting use to using Tackle to solve all our problems. He barely staggers back at the contact. Tiana's Pokemon is starting to limp.

As I open my mouth to tell Kip to finish this battle, Tiana cries out:

"Wait!"

For what? I want to say back. But I stop myself. Tiana suddenly seems very small. She has her arms wrapped around herself, and I think I even see a tear in her eye.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I was just trying to impress you. I mean, I think you're kind of cool and stuff. Maybe we could, you know, just you and me..."

I can't believe what I'm hearing. A few minutes ago she was hungry for battle. Now she wants a date? I'm not sure what to do. But May sure does.

"Hey! Stop checking her out and finish her Zigzagoon off!" May shouts. "She's trying to distract you!"

As I'm turning around to tell May that she is the one distracting me, I hear Tiana shout something.

"Now, Ziggy! Tail-Whip!"

Her Zigzagoon smacks its tail against Kip's head, and he stumbles backward. While Kip is disoriented, I hear Tiana say those same terrible words May used before:

"Finish it off! Tackle with all your strength!"

The Zigzagoon scratches the ground like a bull about to charge. When it starts running toward Kip, I start to panic. But just seconds before Tiana's Pokemon can connect its attack, I shout something I never thought I'd ever shout.

"Use Mud-Slap, now!"

Kip doesn't wait to hear his real or strange name this time. The dirt under his feet moistens up in an instant, and Kip kicks it straight into the Zigzagoon's eyes. The Zigzagoon continues to charge, but now blinded by the mud in its eyes, misses Kip entirely.

I shoot Tiana a glare for abusing my trust in her like that, but she's too shocked to do anything but stare with her mouth open. For once, I know exactly what I need to do next.

"Go, Weird Blue Fish Thing! Use Tackle and finish that Zigzagoonoff!"

Kip barrels into Tiana's Zigzagoon so hard it doesn't stand up again. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Tiana calls back her Pokemon into its Pokeball. I do the same. She shoves some money into my hands without a word.

"So..."

"Shut up," Tiana stops me quickly.

I guess her offer is off the table now that she lost. Or, more likely, May was right. But I can't admit that. Her head is big enough as it is. Speaking of which...

"Congrats on your first win," May says as Tiana sulks off. "She obviously wasn't as strong as me, but hey, baby steps, right?"

"Yeah, well, it sure doesn't feel like much of a win," I say. I know it sounds negative, but it's true. I almost lost. Again. If May didn't try to snap me out of it, maybe I'd be the one sulking away right now.

"Oh, come on," she says with a friendly punch to my arm. "I always knew you had it."

I feel a little better, but Kip sure has seen better days. As has poor Fishbait.

"What do we do now?" I say.

"Well, now that the so-called 'Olddale Champions' are out of the way, there's nothing stopping us from going into the town," May says. "And good thing, too, because we need a rest."

As is turns out, there's nothing much in the town either. More than Littleroot, I guess, but that's not saying much. There's a store here called a Pokemart, which I can only assume sells Pokemon-related things. A few houses are scattered about as well as a red roofed building called a Pokemon Center. The Pokemon Center is what May starts dragging me toward first.

The glass doors of the Pokemon Center slide open automatically when we come close. Inside, the air smells clean like a nice hotel. A few people are milling about the lobby while others sit on the benches along the walls. There's a computer by the counter where a lady in white nurse scrubs stands waiting for us. May walks up to the nurse confidently, and I follow her.

"Welcome to the Olddale Pokemon Center," the nurse says. "Can I take your Pokemon, please?"

"What? No!" I say.

May shakes her head at me, then takes the Pokeballs from my hands.

"Yes," she says. "And here's mine, too."

"Thank you," the nurse says. I can feel her giving me a weird look, but I don't return her look. She doesn't need any more evidence that I have no idea what I'm doing. "We'll have your Pokemon good as new in no time, so don't go too far."

The nurse takes our Pokemon to a back room. I find a bench close to the door and collapse on it, ready to take a nap. May stands close by, bouncing on the balls of her feet so much the glass doors sometimes open and shut for her.

"I wonder what there is to do around this town," May says as she looks out through the glass.

"Probably not much," I say. This conversation is the only thing keeping me from closing my eyes. "I've seen plenty of little towns like this. They're not that exciting."

"The fact that you've seen plenty of other towns is more exciting than anything I've ever done. This is as far as I've ever gone."

"You're not missing much. Trust me," I tell her. "Seeing a lot of towns isn't all that great."

"Better than staying cooped at home all alone," May says.

"Honestly, I'd probably rather be at home alone."

The moment I hear those words come out of my own mouth, I know I screwed up again. May doesn't say anything. She doesn't have to. I can see the hurt in her eyes, and the way the bounce literally comes out of her step. She starts to turn away, and I know I have to do something fast.

"No no no no, I didn't mean I'd rather be home alone right now! Well, I mean, I'd like to take a nap right about now, but you can't blame me for that, right?"

"If you don't want to come with me, you don't have to. I can go on by myself," May says. It's kind of scary how little emotion she has behind what she says.

"Are you kidding? My mom would kill me if I went back without you. And then your mom would probably bring me back to life just to kill me again."

"So, what now? Is our adventure over? Do you want to go home now?"

I sort of do. Don't get me wrong, I've had fun today with Pokemon and, yes, with May. It's been way more fun than I ever thought it would be. But all this catching and battling Pokemon is stressful. I just want to chill out for a bit. Is that so much to ask?

Apparently it is, because May looks like she's on the verge of tearing up. I'm sure I will regret this later, but...

"No. Not yet," I say. "We were going to Petalburg, right? To check out the gym and stuff? We can't go back until we see it."

For once, it looks like I said the right thing. May perks up with a big smile on her face.

"That's the spirit!"