Hey all, this is a story revolving around my take on Brendan and May's relationship and adventures. We will be following them through each region going from Kanto to Galar. As such I'm gonna take a few creative liberties if that's cool. Thanks! I hope you enjoy!

The sound of a blaring and shrill alarm clock dragged the slumbering boy out of his peculiar dream. He reached a fatigued arm over to the device and awkwardly felt around until he touched the snooze button. Still feeling exhausted, he unceremoniously rolled over in his toasty bed and tried to go back to sleep, hoping to continue the oddly vivid dream where he left off. Unfortunately for him, fate had other plans in the form of thundering footsteps traveling up the stairs and his door being slammed open.

He groaned and pulled the covers up to try to drown out the noise, however a sudden weight fell on him, ensuring that sleep was at this point impossible. A set of hands fell onto his chest and started to rock him back and forth "Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up" A female voice all too familiar to him started to chant almost in a sing-song fashion. Resigning himself to the waking world, he vocalized his annoyance once again before poking his head out from the covers, and glaring at a girl sporting a red bow with a white stripe through it. Her red tank top, and black undershirt clung to her skin, while white shorts and black leggings that stopped at her knees were straddling him.

"May… you're way too loud today." She lifted her arms and brought them to her chest while crossing them, and proceeded to pout slightly. "Jeez you don't have to be so mean…" Her face returned to a happy expression after a second and she got off of him. "Aww I can't be mad at you today, it only comes around once a year you know." Coming out of his stupor, the boy sat up and rubbed his eyes. Slowly he processed her words and a wave of realization washed over him. " You mean…"

She nodded and held out a small present that she must have been hiding in her yellow fanny pack that she always insisted looked cool "Yep! Happy 12th birthday Brendan!" He hesitantly reached out and took the white box wrapped with a red bow, much like the one adorned on her head, but thinner. It radiated her personality and he felt surges of both happiness and gratitude overwhelm him. "Thank you so much…" He whispered, voice cracking a bit.

She was always like this, ever since they were kids. Always going above and beyond for him, and while he always did his best to treat her in the same manner, she always managed to one-up him on every occasion. It was one of the many things he adored about her. "Well? Aren't you gonna open it?" She teased, poking his shoulder and bending at the knees until she was eye-level with him, wanting to savor the look on his face when he unveiled his surprise. The boy nodded and tugged at the ribbons gingerly, undoing the bow and freeing the lid from the box.

He lifted the top and peered inside the box and gasped when he saw what was inside "What?! NO WAY!" He abandoned all sense of hesitation and dove right in, pulling out another box that had Devon Corp. Logo plastered on the front. "The new Pokénav Plus! How did you get this?" She gave him a smug smirk, closing her eyes and wagging her finger at him "Secret secret! But…" May reached back into her satchel and brought out another device presenting it in front of him. "We match now!" She held a brand new Pokénav plus, with a pink case adorning it and flipped it open. "And you know I've GOT to be your first contact"

They spent the next couple minutes setting up the device for him, snapping on the included blue case and registering it to Devon Corp.'s network before exchanging contact info and making a test call. They laughed as they messed with funny backgrounds, before Brendan settled on a GIF of a running Zigzagoon. May left his side and went to the bedroom door, looking back at him saying "I'm going to head downstairs. Your mom is making breakfast, so if you don't hurry up and change I'll eat all your pancakes. I won't apologize for it either" Before he could shout in protest, she skipped out the room, shutting the door behind her and left him in silence. "Annnd there she goes."

He sighed before changing into his usual outfit, pulling the red shirt over his head and buttoning up his black capris. The final touch was a white beanie with a green stripe on the front and what looked like spikes in the back. Wasting no time, he raced down the stairs to see his mom cooking in the kitchen, and May sitting at the table in front of the TV, her face stuffed with blueberry pancakes, beaming with happiness. He smiled for a brief moment and looked around the house, and slowly the smile began to fade.

Of course his father was nowhere to be seen.

His mother turned around to see her son go from happiness to disappointment and sighed, preparing herself to give him the usual speech about how her husband, Norman, had to be at the Gym and was much too busy to spend time with them, however he beat her to the punch. "Dad's at the Gym right?" May stopped chewing and a flash of sadness crossed her face.

During her friendship with him, his dad was rarely ever around. They had moved from the Kanto region to Littleroot town so the family could be closer, but in some ways they had never been further apart. Despite their best efforts to keep it hidden, she had overheard multiple arguments between his parents and knew that the marriage was basically over, and the only reason they hadn't divorced was because they didn't want to upset Brendan.

His mom spoke up with an apologetic tone "Your father said he wished he could be here, but he had some challengers today." Brendan muttered under his breath "He couldn't have someone fill in for today?" Before giving his most convincing smile and exclaimed with false enthusiasm "Man dad's work ethic is so impressive!" He sauntered to the table and took a seat. "There's a reason why the Petalburg gym stops so many challengers, and it's because Dad gives it his all!"

There was an awkward silence for a few moments as the pain behind those words reached both the women in the room. Despite everything, he still idolized his dad for his strength. May gripped her fork with a little more strength than normal but calmed herself for his sake and decided to turn the conversation elsewhere. "Speaking of dad's, my dad wanted you to come over today for some reason."

This noticeably perked Brendan up. Professor Birch's Pokémon lab was like heaven for him. He learned so many things while there and really looked up to him for his kindness and patience and most of all his love for Pokémon. "Really?! As soon as we're done eating we should go over then!" Caroline smiled warmly seeing her son's enthusiasm return, and put the last perfect pancake on the plate, before bringing it over to him. "Make sure you behave while you're over there" she started, with Brendan finishing the sentence, "And try not to disturb the Professor's research, yeah I got it mom." He smiled up at her as she leaned down and kissed his forehead "You're such a good boy"

He gave a disgusted "Yuuuck" wiping off his forehead, but the smile on his face betrayed his true feelings. May, seeing this display of affection giggled and returned to eating the stack of pancakes.

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Breakfast finished shortly after with conversation leading from topic to topic, before they finished and helped with the dishes. Finally it was time to head out, when Brendan got a birthday gift from his mother in the form of a new backpack. It was comfortable to wear with its single strap design and deceivingly spacious. It's like he could fit 999 of every type of Pokéball in there with no difficulty.

The two friends stepped out of his house, to be greeted with the warmth of Hoenn's sun and the peaceful chatter of the people in Littleroot their way to Prof. Birch's lab, they passed by a guy talking to a girl about how awesome technology was, and that you could trade with people from different regions. Some Beautifly fluttered above their heads, which May excitedly pointed out. The conversation was lively as they made their way to the outskirts of Littleroot and the Birch Lab came into view. Outside a younger man with chestnut brown hair, oval glasses with a thin frame, wearing a white lab coat was feeding wild Pokemon that were congregating. May grinned and shouted out to him,

"Working hard there Joshua?" The assistant turned his head and waved at the pair with a smile on his face. "I knew you two would be stopping by today." He shouted back, scattering another handful of Pokemon food across the grass, which hungry Zigzagoon were gobbling up. He set the bucket down and made his way over to them. "It's good to see you again Brendan. OH! And Happy birthday to you." Brendan flashed a smile and voiced a quick thank you, before the assistant continued. "We were expecting you a little earlier, and your dad got impatient. He's out doing some field work as we speak. If you guys head to Route 101, you should be able to catch him."

Not even waiting for him to continue they both simultaneously said "Thank you!" And dashed for the entrance, leaving a flustered man shouting after them "Stay out of the tall grass! You two don't have Pokemon!" To which they just gave a simple wave as they ran. Joshua gave an exasperated sigh and said to no one in particular "Good grief… those two can't sit still for even a moment." The sound of tin hitting the ground snapped him out of his daydream, and he glanced over to see the still somehow hungry Zigzagoon knocked over the pail and helping himself to the rest of the food. "Ah! Hey! That's not for you!" He shouted, running off to shoo them away.

The grass swayed with the breeze rolling across the plains of the route next to Littleroot town as the two friends ran into the route. "Do you see him?" Shouted the girl, to which the boy gave a quick shake of his head. They ventured a little further in, doing their best to avoid the tall grass where they could hear something scampering around in there. They helped each other up a ledge with ease and glanced around hoping to catch sight of the professor. After a few minutes, they began to hear what sounded like someone shouting for help.

The pair nodded at each other and abandoned all caution, dashing towards the source of the sound. The shouting got louder and they both recognized the voice. May's face paled as she called out to her father. They soon came across him, back against the edge of a ledge too tall to climb, with 5 Poocheyana snarling and growling at him. The professor looked ghostly white as they slowly advanced upon him. "There! In the suitcase! The Pokeballs!"

Brendan sprung into action, sliding on the grass towards the suitcase. It popped open and three balls fell out. He tossed one to May and took one for himself, before returning to her side. They both threw their balls in a nice clean arc towards the wild Poocheyana, and with two flashes of light a Yellow chick, and a blue fish emerged already looking ready for action. The two recognized these pokemon, having read about them. But to Brendan, this Torchic looked… odd.

May cried out "Mudkip! Use Water Gun!" The Pokemon cried out in acknowledgement sending a jet of high pressure water at the group of dog-like Pokemon. The group turned and snarled at the newcomers, before one went on the attack. Brendan shaked his curiosity and reacted. "Ok Torchic! Ember!" The small chick leaped up with determination glinting in its eye, before opening its beak and streams of small fireballs erupted, pelting the one coming towards them, causing it to fall down.

Seeing one of their own faint, the others went on the offensive looking like they were going to bite the two other Pokemon. The two teens shouted simultaneously "Tackle! | Scratch!" Both of them managed to score decisive blows on the charging dogs, causing the rest to skid to a stop, seeming to re-evaluate their life decisions, before the four that were still conscious turned tail and fled.

May felt all the tension leave her body, and fell to her knees at the same time the professor dropped to his rear, both letting out sighs of relief. Brendan smiled and knelt down, placing a cautious hand on the little chick's head. "Hey, that was a great job! Thanks for the help Torchic." It flapped its wings and pushed its head further into the boy's hand with delight, letting out a happy cry.

And thus, the two trainers meet their future partners. Thanks for reading the first chapter of this. Next chapter will pick up shortly after the events of this battle. Until next time, Fare the well!