Brendan had started his journey a few hours ago. He started with a Mudkip,

and on his way to Petalburg he caught a Sandshrew and Ralts. He wasn't going

to let May beat him to the Hoenn League. He had almost caught a Nidoran, but it had scampered

off before he could battle it. As he reached the midway point of the forest, he saw something that definitely wasn't a

Pokemon, and definitely wasn't an inanimate object, especially since, upon further inspection, most forests and Pokemon don't have

labels on them saying "Satoshi & Co" on them. It was nobody else but May, her back turned to him. If he snuck

up on her, he could grab her and take her to the police station.

"AHA! GOTCHA!" Brendan shouted as he jumped on May. May was startled. She grabbed him and threw him off. "What's the big idea, if you wanted a match - BRENDAN? What

are you doing here?" May cried. She got up and was about to run.

"You big jerk! You could have given me a heart attack, sneaking up on me was a big mistake!"

"Geez, alright." Brendan backed off. "Do you know how worried your parents are?

The police are all over the place looking for you. They still think you haven't

reached Oldale Town." "Good. I've given them the slip;I'll keep going. By the

time they get through Oldale, I'll be in Lilycove." May grabbed her bag and stood up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Brendan asked me.

"Why, onto Petalburg, of course," she said, and started to walk away,
but when she put pressure on her left ankle, May froze and leaned against a tree

for support. Her body shook in pain.

Brendan must have seen May's reaction, because he asked, "Are you ok?"

May gritted my teeth in anger, and pain. "Yes," May muttered, "I'm fine, thank you.

I just hurt my ankle is all. I'll see you at the finish line." May pushed herself

off of the tree, and took a few more tottering steps before falling to her knees in agony,

tears running down her face; it hurt so much.

Brendan ran over to her. "Still feel like going to Lilycove on that leg?" he asked. Without

getting a reply from May, he grabbed her arm and put it over his shoulder. He helped her stand

up, acting as a crutch. He turned us around, and they began to walk back towards her house.

Well, it had been fun being a trainer. May knew as soon as Mom and Dad got here, they'd take

her home, read her the riot act and have her on a leash till she was eighteen. Something to look

forward to. Whee.

The door flew open all the way, and Dad stormed in, looking madder than his Primeape on a

good day, Mom right behind him, looking...a little more forlorn. "Young lady, you're

in some seriously deep trouble!" he shouted. Ouch, maybe May would get the riot act before she

got home. "Get your stuff together, we're going home." he ordered.

Anger suddenly flashed in May's eyes and she sat up. Who did he think he was? May didn't

deserve to be treated like this, mistake or no. "No, I will not." she said defiantly, clearly

taking aback both her parents. "I'm not just one of your Pokemon you can order around and I'm

not some baby. I made a mistake about running away the other day, and I apologize for it. Mom's

behavior and your actions right now are nothing less than immature!"

May felt a lump form in her throat, but she pushed on. She needed to be heard, for once.

"I hate the way you treat me like some four-year-old who needs to be watched constantly,

and I hate the way you treat each other." May felt her tears of anger spill over. "You two fight

all the time, I don't care if it is the basis of your relationship, it's hurting me and I am

SICK OF IT!"

At Home.

May, meanwhile, was sitting on the floor of her room, sorting through the contents of her

backpack. At some point, she felt Mom's presence, standing at the door watching her.

May didn't bother to look up, simply asked, "Are you going to yell at me too?"

"No, May, I'm not. I came here to apologize and talk."

May noticed there wasn't a tag-on of, "Oh, and we're letting you go on your Pokemon journey",

but she took what she was given. "Apology accepted."

Mom pulled a lock of long red hair away from her face, before sitting down on the floor next to

May. "Have you caught any Pokemon yet?"

"Uh-huh. A Taillow and Pikachu. Look, I know we're low on money-"

"How did you know about that?" Mom asked in surprise.

"I heard you late one night crying in bed and Dad was trying to calm you down."

"Oh my God! You poor kid! You shouldn't have to worry about this!"

"Yes, I should! I'm part of this family too! Why do you think I've wanted to go on my journey

so badly? There's gold at the end of the rainbow!"

Mom looked away then. "Yes, there is." she murmured.

May rolled Torchic's Pokeball around the floor next to me. "I don't understand though, if Dad's

still the unbeaten #1 Pokemon Master, after all this time, why are we struggling for money?"

Mom didn't answer at first and May figured it was some deep dark secret she didn't want to tell

her yet, but then she said, "We took you to the beach when you were two years old. We were

walking on the boardwalk and. . .one minute you were there, the next minute you'd vanished."

May stared at Mom in complete shock. She'd never heard this story before, and she'd never

imagined her telling her this!

"We searched for you for days, the police, the Coast Guard, everyone. But no one could find you.

The authorities stopped looking for you and started searching for your body."

May gulped. "What happened? They found me, right?"

Mom shook her head. "We came back one night to the beach house we were renting for the summer

and there was a note slipped under the door. It was from Team Rocket's leader, Giovanni.

He had you and wanted a million dollars in cash by the end of the week, or he threatened we'd

never see you again."

May sucked in her breath sharply. "But even the #1 Pokemon Master doesn't get paid that much!"

May said. "What happened?"

Mom looked away again. "We did what we had to."

"We didn't want to lose you May. Everyone helped out as much as they could, we paid out whatever

we had left from my last tournament when I was twenty, which wasn't much. Somehow, by some

miracle, we came up with all the money Giovanni wanted. Once he got that, you were returned to

us, unharmed, as promised. The police didn't catch Giovanni." Dad said from the door.

May could only look at the floor. "This is all my fault. I'm the reason we're poor!"

"No, May, that's not true. We didn't tell you this just so you can blame yourself."

"Yeah, we told you because you wanted to know why we fight over money. We both have the honor

of battling under the Petalburg Town Gym, but sometimes, one or both of us doesn't manage our

budget very well, that's when the fights start."

May burst into tears then. She couldn't help it; she felt like dirt. Here she was being the

world's biggest brat by running away, while my parents worried about where our next

meal was coming from.

"I'm so sorry - (hiccup) - I ran away!" May bawled into Mom's shoulder as she hugged her. Not

two seconds later, she felt Dad's arms around her too. All three of them together, closer than

they'd ever been as a family in a while, was really nice, although May was too busy crying

to notice.

Then they talked. Well, they got May out of the house first, and went out to a quiet little

coffee shop to discuss certain issues. Pikachu and May split a donut while Mom and Dad had

cappuccinos. For a while, they just sat there, dining quietly, then Dad broke the silence

by saying, "You know running away was wrong, May."

May was quick to reply. "But Mom was as wrong as I. If she had calmed down for about ten

minutes, none of this would have happened."

"Whoa, I'm not letting this turn into a blame-fest." Mom held up her hand. "We're all equally

to blame here, and I'm just thanking God you weren't hurt other than a sprained ankle."

"I really don't think you realize the possible dangers lurking out there, May. You could've

been kidnapped again, or worse."

Her donut looked less and less appealing to both Pikachu and May as they sat there, the little

mouse in her lap, our heads bowed as she was lectured. "I know."

"But you're going to have to learn about those dangers sometime, and it might as well be now."

May's head shot up. "Huh, you mean. . .?"

Dad nodded. "We're letting you go on your Pokemon journey, on ONE CONDITION, and that is that

you write to us once a month telling us where you are, how many Pokemon you have, how many

badges you have, etc."

"That's what phones are for. I'll save some space in the trash dump by spending my loose change

to call home." Dad crossed his arms at the chest and closed his eyes, assuming his thinking

mode. Finally, he answered, "Very well."

"I'll only go under one other condition: that you two don't fight, but get along with each

other. Please?"

Dad nodded, but Mom stood up and walked quickly to the bathroom. Catching our bewildered

glances twenty minutes later when she returned, she simply smiled and said, "I'm sorry,

I'm not feeling well. I must have caught some sort of bug."

"Then maybe we'd better start from home." Dad stood up too, handing me my crutches. He held on

tight to Mom until they got out of the restaurant. May paid the bill and met them outside

momentarily. Pikachu jumped onto Dad's shoulder, just as Brendan ran up to us.

"Hi, Norman, Carolyn, May."

"Hello, Brendan." Mom said sweetly. "I understand you're the one who saved May

back by Oldale Town."

Brendan nodded. "She can put up a good fight when she wants to -" Dad narrowed his glance on May.

May looked at Brendan, shocked. "But I knew she had to get help with her leg twisted in the

angle it was in." Brendan was making himself to look like a saint! May could've killed him

right then and there. But then he turned to me. "May, I've been looking for you everywhere. May,

my Dad said we could go on a journey together. Let's go May! Our journey's just begun and we

have lots more Pokemon to catch!" Brendan called to May.

So they're off to Oldale Town, and on their renewed journey.