Point Me To The League

Chapter 3.5

Gym Battle or New Pokémon?

Disclaimer I do not own Pokémon…nor Shrek 2

A/N This chapter is rated PG 13+ because of some signs later on in the chap…

IUh, yeah, this is the updated half-chapter 3.5 of PMTTL, which I finally got round to typing…XD and Norman and Max may seem a bit OOC, since I missed the ep where he battled, and I dunno what level his Pokémon are either…oh ya, shippyness alert/I

Last Time

IMay saw Brendan undressing in the Prof.'s office, and ran home to Petalburg. Brendan came after her, and is playing a duet with her. All motion and battles in Petalburg stopped, including a gym challenger. The gym challenger is standing there listening to the music, not battling. Read on to find out who this challenger is…/I

"May. MAY. MAY!" yelled Brooke, trying to get May's attention by waving her hand in front of her face. May's glazed-over orbs were staring at a figure that was talking into his PokeNavi, the boy they called Brendan Birch. He was listening intently to the person on the other end, frowning. May turned her head without taking her eyes off Brendan and attempted to talk to Brooke.

"Mmm?" May mumbled something to Brooke. Brooke rolled her eyes, and took action.

"Wha? OW!" May felt her head turned around to face Brooke properly, her neck yanked painfully.

"What was that for Brooke? I was already answering you!" May said indignantly, turning around to face Brendan again, before turning around hurriedly, because Brendan was moving around, and would see May in a few seconds if he continued to move. May blushed, a rosy pink tinge appearing in her cheeks. Brooke made an anime 'what!' face, and pulled her PokeGear out.

"Listen to this, May…IBrooke, I know you're in Hoenn at the moment, but our gym has suddenly collapsed…I need you to come home right now, and bring whatever Pokémon you have. We need it for strength, to rebuild the gym. Love, Mum /I. Hear that May? I'm going to have to go home to Kanto, and before I go I have to catch some Pokémon that's nice and strong," Brooke said sadly as she stuffed her PokeGear back in her bag and started counting the number of spare PokeBalls she had left. May stared at Brooke for a while before gulping.

"Who's going to help me with Brendan then? You can't leave me here!" May objected to Brooke's message from home. She frowned, and grabbed her own PokeGear before her hand was grabbed by Brooke.

"What are you doing May? Don't tell me you're going to send my family a note saying I have to stay here because of some little problem you have! It's our private gym business!"

"Of course not, I was going to suggest Pokémon they could use to help rebuild the gym if you weren't so sensitive!"

"Well why not tell me? Cos I'm the one who's catching the Pokémon and taking them home!"

"Oh, I didn't know you could catch Kanto Pokémon in HOENN…now that's a news flash for me!"

"You could have told me that, and I'm not going to take my Kanto Pokémon with me, only Hoenn ones!"

May was silent. She figured out that if they said anything else, then a real fight would start, and they had already caught the attention of a few tourists passing by. May gulped and turned bright red, due to the fact she heard them mutter 'yeah, that's the daughter of the Petalburg Gym Leader…'. Brooke raised her eyebrow, and started heading towards May's house, to say goodbye before she left for Kanto. May followed her, secretly writing a brief message on her PokeGear before stuffing it back into her bag. She smiled stupidly at Brooke, and tapped her on the shoulder lightly. Brooke turned around in mild surprise, and waited for May to give her a reaction. May just stood there in the middle of a cross-path, outside the PokeCenter. A minute passed before May edged sideways towards the Sapphire gym house, and slamming the door shut behind her. Brooke's eyes blinked a few times, before she realized what May had done.

"MAY SAPPHIRE! YOU ARE NOT LOCKING MY STUFF IN YOUR HOUSE TO KEEP ME IN HOENN! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Meanwhile, the gym had been busy with at least five trainers battling, but the only one that would have caught anyone's eye would be the actual gym challenger, the one who was battling in the posh wooden room that held the silver Balance Badge. This trainer had jet black hair, and he was battling using a Pikachu, possibly his most faithful Pokémon.

"Go Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" he shouted out to his comrade. Pikachu nodded.

"Pika pika! CHUUUUUU!" Pikachu released an exploding lightning attack that hit his opponent Slaking hard face-on, resulting in Slaking lying there motionless, waiting for its trainer to give a command.

"Slaking! Use Flail now!" the Petalburg Gym Leader, also known as Norman Sapphire, shouted. He held his clenched fists up to show his determination, something his opponent was also doing.

"Pikachu, counter with Iron Tail! Hurry, before the Flail hits!"

Pikachu's tail lighted up with silvery light, while its eyes shone red with confidence. It ran straight for the slow-moving Slaking, meeting it head on. Both attacks hit home at the same time, while the shock blew up a large amount of the floorboards between Pikachu and Slaking, with Pikachu stepping gingerly from one sturdy floorboard to the next. It stopped at the floorboard that was deliberately placed perpendicular to the other ones, signifying where the challenger's Pokémon should stand. Pikachu shot a small spark of electricity out to show it was still willing to battle. Slaking, on the other hand, was puffing hard and looking extremely exhausted, compared to Pikachu. Norman looked worriedly at his Pokémon, and asked it if it was okay and fit to battle. Slaking gave a croon, and a thumbs-up to Norman. Pikachu and its trainer blinked and stood there unmoving, staring at the thumbs-up that Slaking was making. It turned its head towards them, and gave a 'peace' sign. With its other hand, it made another peace sign but this time turned it around. Pikachu suddenly glared at it, and shot out a Thunder attack without any trainer command at all. Slaking froze, and lay unmoving like always, with one peace sign, and one seven-ups sign. Pikachu then did something that resembled a 'thumbed his nose' action, raising his eyebrows at his trainer. His trainer was stunned, and muttered something that sounded like 'nayafinishewivfunabalt'. Norman quickly commanded Slaking to use Rest, but Pikachu miraculously picked up his trainer's mutter, and, after charging up for a moment, released a Thunderbolt attack that was worthy to blast Team Rocket off again. The attack hit Slaking hard, and it froze once more with the 'peace' hand turned the other way now. Slaking lay there motionless, and the ref announced who had won and all. Norman returned his fainted Slaking, and walked over the trainer, who hadn't returned Pikachu but had it jump onto his shoulder. Norman smiled, and held out his hand.

"Well done Ash Ketchum, you've beaten me too now. Here's your well-deserved Balance Badge, and I wish you luck in your journey. Are you going to travel directly to Fortree, or stay around here and train for a while?" Norman congratulated the glowing trainer, who held out his hand too and shook Norman's. He accepted the silver Balance Badge, and held it up to Pikachu before setting it into his badge case. Ash smiled, and took out his PokeNavi. Turning around, he dialed Brock's number in and waited. After twenty minutes, when Brock had Istill/I not picked up, Ash gave up and turned back to Norman.

"You might wanna take Slaking to the PokeCenter, he seems really exhausted…that was a good battle Norman!" Ash said. He began walking off in the direction of the PokeCenter, patting Pikachu on the head and grinning at him. Norman raised an eyebrow, sighing before following Ash over to the PokeCenter. As he walked in, he noticed Max sitting in a corner with a pile of Pokémon magazines and journals on the table.

"Hey Max, what's up? Where's May, by the way?" Norman asked. He waved to Nurse Joy to get her attention, and threw his PokeBalls over to be healed. Nurse Joy smiled at him. Ash watched this trick, and made a mental note to ask how close they were. Max leant over, and glanced at Ash for a moment before telling Norman.

"Dad, May's locked herself IN the house, and Brooke OUT of the house cos Brooke has to go back to Kanto to help rebuild their gym. It got crashed down, you see," Max whispered quietly. Norman's eyes widened and he started to raise his voice.

"May locked herself in? And Brooke out when SHE HAS TO GO BACK TO KANTO TO HELP REBUILD THE GYM? MAY SAPPHIRE YOU ARE DEAD AS SOON AS I GET HOME! Max, isn't your mother home though?" Norman roared before calming down a little, but still breathed heavily. Ash and the rest of the crowd inside the PokeCenter stared in awe, surprised that their gym leader could be so angry.

"Erm, well Mum happened to be going out shopping…for new clothes, groceries, supplies for May, and…PokeDolls," Max managed the last word with difficulty, taking at least 20 seconds to gather courage. He grabbed the nearest bottle of water and bgan gulping down the bottle, his eyes popping out.

"Dad, can we go to Parbucks for a drink? I feel dirty now, after I said that word…" Max whined. Norman was standing there with his finger on his chin, looking thoughtful. Ash thanked Nurse Joy before weaving his way between the huddled groups in the Center.

"Hey Norman, if you don't mind I'll take this little boy to Parbucks for you…" Ash offered. Max suddenly glared at Ash.

"Little boy! Who are you calling little boy here? I'm 9 this year, and that's not little! Dad, lend me your Vigoroth…I'm going to bash this dude out," Max was getting worked up by two little words. Ash held his hands up and started to move backwards slowly, looking at Norman for help. Norman stepped between them and reasoned everything out.

"Woah, woah, woah Max, calm down…he only called you little boy because he doesn't know your name, see? Ash this is Max, Max, this is Ash, he just won the Balance Badge off me. So you better respect him or else…" Norman cracked his knuckles on one hand threateningly, "yeah, so Ash it would be a great help if you could take Max to Parbucks, since I have to go home and sort out this 'locked in, locked out' problem caused by May…anyway, have fun you guys!" Norman walked with them out of the PokeCenter before waving them off and hurrying home.

All the way to Parbucks Max was glaring at Ash, for calling him a little boy. Ash just nodded his head and held his hands up, since he knew Max would tear him apart with his Dad's Pokémon if he said anything else that was offensive.

"Hey Max, what drink do you want? I'll pay for you…" Ash offered. Max was glaring at the ground so he didn't hear Ash. Ash frowned, and waved his hand in front of Max's face. Max jumped, and glared at Ash again.

"What did you do that for? I was thinking of new Pokémon strategies!" Max actually really wanted to study Ash's Pikachu, since you had to go all the way to the Safari Zone near Lilycove City to see one. Max's face suddenly became sullen. Ash felt a bit sorry for Max before replying.

"I was just asking what dirnk you would like, since I'll pay for you," Ash repeated. Max's face lighted up and he began talking at once.

"Thanks! I'd like a Frappucino, and I'll get one for May too…I'll pay for that one, okay? Oh, and can I study your Pikachu sometime?" Max gabbered all of this to Ash in the same way he had done that to Brendan. Ash raised his eyebrow, and nodded slowly. They walked into Parbucks with Max being friendly, until he wrinkled up his nose and said there was a stench somewhere. Ash looked around, and saw a hurt Ralts lying down round the back of Parbucks. His eyes widened, and he hurried over to see what was wrong with it. Max followed closely.

"We better get this to Nurse Joy quick, or else it'll die Ash!" Max cried. Ash nodded, and carrying the Ralts in his arms, ran towards the PokeCenter again.

I hmm...well, you could call that the smallest cliffhanger you've ever seen...to be updated soon/I