I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the awesome support I got last chapter and how much I appreciate it. Seriously, over 100 follows and 300 reviews is so amazing, and I still can't believe it. I have the best group of followers and reviewers ever : )

On another note, since it's been a while, you might want to skim over last chapter just to remember a certain… detail.

Chapter 21: Darkness Falls

"Just got to Verdanturf! Xoxo!"

May smiled a little to herself as she read the text that Lisia had sent her. She stuffed a large bite of syrupy waffles into her mouth, savoring the sugary goodness that she was denied when on the road. Gunner pouted at her food over his bowl of bland Pokechow. Soren glowered at him and scooted a little closer to May, despite the fact that both Demi and Ezra had been seated strategically between the two.

"Be nice," she said absentmindedly.

"As if," Brendan mumbled, stirring his spoon around a bowl of Cranidos Crunch. A few of his pokemon sat around him as well, yet he'd resorted to feeding Acumi outside earlier. The pokemon center cafeteria was rather crowded, after all, and thus unsuited to an enormous tropius.

Her Pokenav beeped again.

"Wally says hi too!"

Instead of traveling to Verdanturf on her own, Lisia had accompanied Wally on his way back after being invited by his uncle. In order to keep her promise to herself, she'd told them that she and Ali could 'protect' them from any wild pokemon they encountered. She'd also begged May and Brendan to come see one of her contests as her special guests. Unfortunately, they couldn't make the one in Verdanturf if they were going to keep up a training schedule, but May was hoping to attend one at some point down the road.

She couldn't help but giggle slightly to herself at the thought of chatty Lisia relaying her messages to timid little Wally.

After sending a response back to Lisia, May shot one more warning glance to Soren and Gunner before saying, "So I wanted to get an early start on training today."

She didn't only want it; she needed it. It was their third day in Mauville, and if yesterday's training session was anything to go by, she had a lot of work to do before she was ready to face Wattson.

And if she wanted to stand even a smidge of a chance at being Champion, no start was too early.

Brendan frowned, and May wasn't sure if it was because of what she'd said, or because the pokemon-shaped crisps in his bowl were beginning to run low. "I was gonna go get more supplies this morning."

"Oh," May said, slightly disappointed. She usually made more progress when Brendan was there to give her tips, but he'd already given her some ideas and things she needed to work on the day before. She could manage on her own for a while. "Well I guess I'll have to meet you later then."

"What?" Brendan was shaking his head, and when he actually set down his spoon, she knew he was about to say something serious. "No way. I told you we shouldn't get separated here."

May crossed her arms, fighting the urge to glare at him. She knew exactly what he meant. He thought she couldn't handle herself here, in the roughest, wildest, and largest city in the region.

And she hated that.

"It'll be fine."

"But-" Brendan began, and she could tell he was grasping at straws. She raised her eyebrows at him, and the clear worry on his face melted off into a carefully indifferent mask. "…I mean, you're pretty scrawny. Someone might try to mug you or something."

May scowled. A very tiny (Practically microscopic) part of her realized that he was just worried about her, which was actually kind of sweet, but for the most part she was irritated.

For Latios's sake, she was a pretty small girl, but she had four very capable pokemon to protect her!

"Grovyle, gro!" Soren protested, crouching like he'd rather like to smack Brendan with one of his leaves. At least her pokemon understood her!

"See?" she said, nodding towards Soren and climbing out of her seat. Brendan was still frowning, but she knew he wouldn't say anything else less he risk looking like too huge of a worrywart, especially over her. "I'll see you tonight."

"May-"

"Yeah, we'll be back before dark. Bye!"

Yesterday, on May's first day of training since she'd arrived in Mauville, Brendan had brought her to Route 117, and she returned to it that day. It was clear why he'd chosen it.

Despite the fact that she'd only hiked a couple of miles from the largest city in the Hoenn region, the route around her was remarkably peaceful. Its road was wider and clearer than any she'd seen yet on her travels, providing a straight shot to Verdanturf in the west. Further down the path, May could see beds of wildflowers and several crystal clear ponds dotting the hills.

Strange bug types buzzed over the flowers, and with a shudder, May made sure not to pick a training area too close to them. She ended up across the road from a quaint white house with a sign labeling it as a pokemon daycare, but she was sure the owners wouldn't mind.

Unlike most of the other routes she'd traveled on, this one seemed very busy. Various trainers, joggers, and even sightseers ambled up and down the path, and after a while May had to accept that she'd have to either hike further off the main road or get used to the distraction. She chose the distraction, thinking it might help her pokemon learn to concentrate better.

"Alright guys, today we have a lot to work on—Gunner!"

May had lined her pokemon up in front of her, and while she was talking, Gunner had taken the opportunity to send a surge of static through his paw to zap Soren in the side. It had been a small spark, but Soren reared back like he'd been fried by Raikou himself.

"Grovyle, vyle, gro!"

Gunner let out a bark that May realized was nothing more than a loud laugh, and he beat his paw into the ground in exaggerated hilarity. On either side of them, Demi and Ezra watched with wide eyes, and May could just make out the glowing of a bullet seed in the back of Soren's throat.

"No, stop it right now!" she yelled, jumping forwards and yanking on Soren's scaly shoulders without thinking. Thankfully, upon feeling the touch of his trainer, he closed his mouth, but his eyes still glared daggers at Gunner. Despite this, Ezra was tensed next to her, clearly ready to jump in if need be.

May forcefully pulled Soren several feet away from Gunner, scowling at both of them. With Soren restrained, Ezra turned his eyes to the naughty electrike.

"Trike," Gunner said, sobering as if May had just ruined a great fun game. Soren hissed sulkily at him.

"No, no hissing," May said, smacking him lightly on the cheek. He huffed and glared at her, looking betrayed. She steeled her resolve, determined not to let her soft spot for her starter get in the way of the problem. "Why can't you two just be friends?"

May was incredibly frustrated. Sure, Soren hadn't seemed to particularly like either Demi or Ezra after they'd joined the team, but he'd accepted them after a day or two! Couldn't he do the same with Gunner?

As if on cue, Gunner tossed his head in amusement. Soren jerked his face away, like the idea sickened him and he couldn't stand to look at the other pokemon any longer.

The answer was a clear no. Both of them were too proud. Proud in different ways, yes, but it was enough to make them clash horribly.

May put her hands on her hips and glowered at them. "We're a team," she stressed. Demi giggled and nudged Ezra with her tail, and he shuffled awkwardly. Her two problems, on the other hand, still refused to look at one another.

She knew it was something she'd have to straighten out eventually, but for the time being, she was too irritated to bother. "Fine. Fine! But if you two want to beat Wattson, you'll have to stop fighting. If I see you two being mean to each other, I'll—I'll do something you won't like!"

She really hoped she wouldn't have to decide what that something would be.

Both Soren and Gunner straightened up at once, their desire to beat the gym leader overcoming their little rivalry. If they had anything in common besides a little too much pride, it was a fierce determination to be the best.

"Good," May said, relieved. "Alright, Demi, you won't be battling this time, but you can still help get the others ready, okay?'

She felt a little bad making Demi sit out two battles in a row after she'd done so well against Roxanne, but it would be stupid to use her against Wattson with her type disadvantage. The gym leader used three pokemon, so she needed to use her own three as efficiently as possible.

"Rill," Demi squeaked, smiling. She didn't mind being sat out.

May inspected her chosen three thoughtfully. Both Soren and Gunner (with his Lightening Rod ability) would resist electric type attacks, although neither had an offensive advantage. Ezra, meanwhile, would be key in the scenario that Wattson used any members of the magnemite line.

Soren had the most experience, but his leaf blade could still use work. She paired him off with Demi, who she had shoot bubble beams at him. She instructed her grovyle to ward off the bubbles with his leaf blade, an exercise Brendan had suggested to her. Theoretically, it would strengthen and quicken his use of the attack while also teaching him to ward off weak attacks with it.

May debated what to focus on with Ezra after getting Soren's training started. His fighting type moves would probably be most useful in this battle, but at the same time, his psychic abilities were the ones that really needed work.

Finally, she had him sit in a meditative position, after which she placed several rocks of varying size in a rough circle around them. He'd been lifting and tossing small pebbles for days now, but if they wanted to make real progress, it was time to move on to something more advanced.

"Okay Ezra," May said, squatting in front of him. "Can you feel where the rocks are?"

His eyes were closed. They squinted in concentration, and after a long moment, he hesitantly nodded. May smiled.

"Great! Think you can lift all of these with your confusion from smallest to largest and then over again?"

"Med…" His voice was uncertain.

May patted his onion-shaped head. Different training methods worked differently with all of her pokemon. Demi, for example, needed a very firm hand to keep her in check, yet gentle words of encouragement worked by far the best with Ezra.

"You can do it, Ez. It's just practice, right?"

He hummed softly in response, and his shoulders relaxed. Moments later, the smallest rock became outlined in light blue energy before jiggling and slowly floating into the air.

May smiled. "Good!"

Ezra's lips twitched, but like the dedicated pokemon he was, he remained in his trance so that he could work on lifting the next rock.

Satisfied with his progress, May turned her attention to Gunner, who had been waiting not-so-patiently off to the side. He wagged his spiked yellow tail at her and bent his front legs down in a sort of playful stance.

"Trike," he barked, and his dark eyes glittered with challenge.

May stared at him, her annoyance from earlier wavering. She supposed it wasn't really all his fault… Soren had been picking at him constantly over the past few days, after all.

I'll have to sit them down and talk to them if it gets any worse, she decided. She really hoped it wouldn't come to that, as she quite disliked seriously getting onto her pokemon for anything.

"You're gonna to have to use spark without wasting so much energy," May said, and Gunner rolled his eyes. She tried to gather her expression into something stern, but he appeared unaffected. She huffed.

"I'm serious," she insisted. "You look like you're trying to show off instead of save your energy. Now let's try it."

Gunner seemed displeased when she kept chiding him for flashing his favored array of sparks. However, May kept having him repeat it until he retained as much of the electricity as possible in his fur up until impact with his target (Which, for training purposes, was an old tree stump). Ideally, she knew he was most suited to range attacks like thunderbolt, but he still didn't have the proper control over his power for that. All he could do was either weak thunder waves or wild discharges, neither of which she really wanted. She figured the moderation exercises with his spark would be the best place to start correcting that.

By one in the afternoon, May was dragged out of their training frenzy by a loud gurgle echoing from her stomach. She paused, feeling her pokemon's eyes on her, and laughed sheepishly. Soren gave her a superior look, while Demi didn't appear to notice. Instead, she was spinning in circles, entranced by the way the clouds seemed to twirl with her movements.

"Lunchtime?" May suggested, reaching down absently to stop Demi.

They eagerly agreed, plopping down into the dirt with tired sighs as May handed each of them a portion of Pokechow (And an Oran Berry for Ezra). For herself, she had only a sandwich, a bottled water, and a packet of Flamin' Hot Growlios, but it was better than nothing.

While they ate, May watched with interest as Gunner inched his way over to Demi. He gathered static in his fur and began zapping a tiny pebble across the ground. She giggled gleefully each time it rolled, and Gunner's chest seemed to puff progressively further out as time passed.

Is Gunner… flirting with Demi? May wondered, completely taken off guard. She'd never considered that aspect of her pokemon… But it was only natural, wasn't it?

Soren rolled his eyes, disgusted. He even began eating more slowly, as if the behavior had ruined his appetite. Ezra munched on his juicy fruit, trying and failing to keep his eyes off of the pair.

Suddenly, Soren stiffened and glared at something over May's head. A nervous tingle swept through her body, but before she could check to see what it was, a finger tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hello, sweetheart," a cracked voice said, and May looked into the kind, wrinkled face of an elderly woman. Her silver hair was swept into a bun at the back of her head, and she was smiling widely. She held a plate of gooey cookies in her hands. "I'm from the day care just over there."

The lady indicated the white house in the background, and May nodded blankly. She was still caught off guard from being approached, but she sensed no threat from the woman.

"Oh," she said. "I'm May!"

"I just baked some cookies and I was wondering if you and your pokemon would like some. I've seen you working your tails off all day!"

May did a quick glance around at her pokemon. None of them seemed bothered in the least by her; even Soren had returned to his dry kibble. Gunner looked a bit grumpy, but only because the lady's arrival had taken attention off of his tricks.

May beamed, the heavenly sent of the cookies tickling her nostrils—they were chocolate chip. Her favorite.

"Oh, thank you so much!" she said quickly, accepting the plate. "I mean, uh—these look great. Can I do anything to return the favor?"

The woman waved her away. "Oh, no, dear—I just love to see a dedicated trainer and her pokemon. You're training for Wattson?"

May was practically glowing from the unexpected praise. "Yep! He's not gonna know what hit him!"

She then realized that comments like that were more suited for Brendan or Wally's ears, not a respected elder. She opened her mouth to try to make her comment sound less rude, but to her immense relief, the day care lady was laughing.

"Oh, I bet he won't! My husband and I are friends with Wattson. If you'd like any tips, feel free to stop by the day care!"

May thanked the lady profusely, promising to stop by and visit her sometime before she left the area. When she'd gone, she handed a cookie to each of her pokemon (apart from Ezra, who turned it down) and left one for herself before stowing the others away for later. If Brendan was being nice, she might even consider sharing some with him.

Speaking of Brendan, he'd probably be expecting her back at the pokemon center sometime within the next couple of hours, but May had so much more she needed to get done! Besides, it was nowhere near dark just yet…. There was time just a little more work.

They were fine, and they'd be even better once they'd gotten more training done.

With their bellies comfortably full, May lined her pokemon up for a change in pace. She motioned Gunner over to the side, next to her, which left him holding his head up boastfully. Soren glared.

May cleared her throat. "Alright, since Wattson is an electric type trainer, we need to be ready for paralysis."

They absolutely couldn't afford a repeat of her first battle against Roxanne, where Nosepass's thunder wave had rendered Soren helpless. Her grovyle crossed his arms and looked away, apparently following her train of thought.

"Gunner's going to use his thunder wave on all of you, and I want you to try to fight it off if you can."

Gunner grinned, and his fur stood up with a rush of static. His gaze trained on Soren as he gleefully released three separate beams of electricity towards each of his teammates. They all shuddered as their limbs froze, restricting their movement.

Demi puffed up her cheeks and forced one of her paws forward. When it touched the ground, her tiny legs seized up and she fell flat on her face.

"Ril," she moaned, and May pulled at her light brown ponytail uncertainly.

"Um. Practice makes perfect?"

Brendan's probably about to bite my head off, was all May could think as she scurried through the gates of Mauville City.

She'd let the time get away from her while she was training. She couldn't help it; they'd been making so much progress, and suddenly she'd just looked up and the sun was setting.

By now, the sky had grown so dark that all the bulbs on the buildings were lighting up the cityscape in a magnificent cascade of neon. May might've thought it was beautiful if it didn't seem to call attention to the dirty side streets and suspicious wanderers who only crawled out of their holes at this time.

Who cares if he gets mad. Brendan's not my dad, May tried to reassure herself, but it didn't change the fact that she was the uncomfortable one at the moment. No matter how brave she tried to act, it had not been in her plans to be out in this city, alone, at night.

May bit her lip as she wove around a teenage couple furiously making out against a wall, the undeniable reek of something illegal wafting off of them.

Maybe she should've called Brendan and asked him to meet her at the city gates… He would've complained and griped the entire time, but she knew he would've come all the same. Deep down, she thought he probably wouldn't really even have minded.

No. She shook her head vehemently.

She was fine. Three of her pokemon were completely exhausted from being paralyzed so many times, but Gunner should be capable of protecting her in the worst-case scenario. Besides, she was smart enough to stick to the main streets. No one would bother her in front of so many people, and she was only a couple of blocks away from her destination.

And if she called Brendan, it would only reaffirm what he already thought. That she wasn't capable of looking after herself.

May turned onto the street that provided the primary route to the central pokemon center, and something rammed into her shoulder.

"Sorry-" she began out of habit, but she froze when she glanced up at who had bumped her.

"What's the hurry?" he asked, and the leathery tan faced looked sickeningly familiar. He had a bald head, and the smell of alcohol seemed to envelope him. It wasn't until he smirked that where she'd seen him hit her.

He was that creep from the food court two days ago.

May's heart skipped a single, nervous beat. "Places to be," she blurted, before continuing down the street. She forced herself not to pick up her pace so much that it was obvious, or even worse: to look back.

It had to be a coincidence… Didn't it?

Her Pokenav practically burned a hole into her pocket, but she made no move to pull it out. There was no proof that the man meant her any harm. He was definitely a creep, but creeps were everywhere. She ignored the sick feeling in her stomach, determined not to call Brendan unless she knew there was actually a reason to.

May scanned the crowd around her as casually as she possibly could, and her legs nearly trembled with relief when she detected no signs of that leathery bald head anywhere. Just to be extra safe, she plucked Gunner's pokeball off of her belt.

Around the next corner, the entrance to the indoor section of Mauville came into sight. There were fewer people on this street, but it was still far from deserted. May took a cautionary glance behind her again, now that she could see properly.

To her horror, her eyes locked with dark ones several hundred yards away. The man inclined his head at her, and the neon from the billboards reflected eerily off of him. Even from far away, she could see that he was still smirking.

May's fingers dug into Gunner's pokeball, and she released him in a flash of white light. He shook his head, disoriented after being called on in such an odd place, but the frightened look on his trainer's face made him straighten up.

"Someone's following us," she said quietly, starting to walk in the direction of the pokemon center again. Gunner growled in no particular direction and stayed on her heels. "We've just gotta get back to the center, and then it won't matter."

She hoped.

Either way, May wasn't going to take any chances. She'd had enough close calls already. Pride now the least of her worries, she allowed her fingers to dial Brendan's number.

He picked up after two rings. "May? Where are you? I've texted you three times-"

"Can you meet me at Square Tower?" she asked, and either the urgency or fear in her voice silenced him immediately.

"…Yes," he said, and she could hear him madly shuffling things in the background. "What's wrong?"

"Probably nothing, but I'd just kind of feel better if I knew you were going to be there to meet me, and I-"

"May, what-"

"It's okay, really," May knew she was blabbering senselessly, and it was probably about to give Brendan a heart attack if his tone of voice was anything to go by. Her attention, however, was firmly on her last turn up ahead. If she could just get there, the street that would take her straight indoors, she'd be in the clear. She couldn't even see the man behind her anymore. He was probably minding his own business again, and she'd made a big deal over nothing.

"I'm serious, you need to-"

"I'll be there in just a minute," she said. "It's fine!"

As she clicked the "end call" button, she wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure him, or herself. She slid the device back into her pocket and prepared to make her last turn.

Gunner bristled before she saw him, and his sharp green fur poked uncomfortably into her calves from where he was standing so close. Sure enough, there the man was, leaning against the wall up ahead as if to block her path.

May swallowed, her eyes darting frantically around. There were still lots of people milling about; there was no way he would bother her right in front of everyone. Right?

The more she thought about it, the more she realized she really didn't want to take that chance. Avoiding him altogether would be the ideal option. Other than retracing her steps completely, she saw two alternate routes she could take to get to Square Tower.

One, she knew, led straight by the game corner, while the other was a small, shady side alley that was nothing more than a shortcut to the way she'd originally been going. The game corner was out of the question. At this time of night, there would probably be drunks flocking around it, and that might give her more than one creep to deal with.

The backstreet presented another problem. It was common sense to stay in crowded areas, to avoid the side alleys at all costs… But from where he was currently standing, it would be impossible for the man to corner her there before she'd already made it back onto the main street.

Heart pounding, May turned down the side alley, allowing the tall buildings on either side envelope her in long shadows. The closet light was Gunner, whose fur was aglow at her feet.

It was so dark, she heard the flutter of wings before she saw them.

They were massive, spanning at least ten feet all the way across, and they were hurdling off the top of the building straight for May. Long, pointed fangs were bared at her on both ends of the gaping mouth, and she impulsively dropped to the ground, hands over her face.

Before it could impale her or sweep her off into the air, the alleyway exploded in electricity. Gunner had leapt off the ground in a spark attack, sinking his small teeth into the golbat's flesh when they collided. The golbat's screeches rang in May's ears as they tumbled across the dirty ground in a flurry of wings and static.

"The little pest has finally fallen into our trap, eh, Golbat?"

The gruff voice startled May out of her fearful trance. The man who had been stalking her stood at the entrance of the alleyway, smirking. She spun around, but the fierce scuffle between Gunner and the golbat had the other way completely blocked.

Realizing there was no way out, May gathered every ounce of bravery she had and scowled at him. "What's your problem?"

He laughed when her voice broke. "Oh sweetheart. You are."

May backed up against the wall, eyes darting between the man and the battle. Judging by the screeching, Gunner's electricity was ripping the golbat a new one, but there was no way he could protect her from the man while preoccupied with the other threat.

She prepared to release her loudest scream if he made the slightest move towards her. At the moment, the chance someone would hear her and come help was her best possible defense.

"I haven't done anything to you."

"Well, not personally, you little brat," he spat, and he seemed to sway on his feet. He'd clearly had too much to drink.

May balled her hands into nervous fists behind her back. She wished she could bring out another pokemon, but she didn't think they'd be able to do anything other than put themselves in danger in their exhausted states. She refused to endanger her pokemon's lives.

Maybe… Maybe she could bluff her way out of this. He didn't know her pokemon were unable to battle.

"But you pissed my boss the hell off, and it's my job to take care of you for effing up our job."

May sucked in a shocked breath of air, all thoughts of bluffing going hazy in her mind. She put her trembling hand on Soren's pokeball. "D-don't come near me, or my grovyle'll cut you to pieces."

The man hesitated for a split second before letting out a nasty burst of laughter that bounced off the sides of the surrounding buildings. "You're a shitty liar, kid."

He'd stumbled towards her in the blink of an eye, and her bloodcurdling scream carried through the air even over the horrid sounds the golbat was making. His sweaty palm clamped against her mouth too soon, slamming her painfully against the bricks behind her. She felt his fingers yanking the pokeballs off her belt to toss them out of her reach.

Her legs flailed in an effort to kick him in the shins, but he pressed her harder into the wall so she couldn't move.

"Stupid bitch," he spat, and his spittle landed on her cheek.

Her wild bucking seized, and a victorious smirk crawled onto his face. The expression retreated when May surged forwards, biting down into the flesh of his hand so hard that she could taste the bitter tang of blood on her tongue.

The man yowled, and in his agony, he made the deadly mistake of removing his hand.

"Discharge!" May screamed, and blinding yellow light flooded the alleyway. The hairs on her arms stood up as the static swept past her, but miraculously, only the man's body surged with electricity before crashing, unmoving, to the ground.

May couldn't look at him, convinced there was now a dead body lying at her feet. Shakily, she stepped over his legs and into the center of the alley so that she could see Gunner. Her electrike stared back at her, his blood-streaked fur still standing on end.

She didn't know how long she stood there, desperately hoping it wasn't his blood.

"Freeze! Police!"

"There she is! There's a girl!"

A flashlight was suddenly shining in her face. A small crowd of people rushed between the buildings, and it took her several seconds longer than it should have to realize that they were police officers.

She numbly watched as they inspected the man's still body, and despite the fact that he'd just attacked her, she could've cried with relief when she heard them say he was only unconscious.

"Ma'am! Ma'am, are you hurt?"

May started. "N-no."

A female police officer hovered over her anyway, only signaling her approval to the others once she'd thoroughly checked May herself. In the background, the others carted off the man and his golbat, hopefully to the jail.

Through the craze, Gunner wobbled over to stand near her, and she saw that there was a gaping wound just above his shoulder. It was only an inch or so wide, undoubtedly having been inflicted by Golbat's fangs. Even though it was small, the mangled mass of fur and blood caused May's heart rate to climb through the roof.

"My electrike's hurt!" she exclaimed. "He needs a pokemon center!"

"Ma'am, we can't let you go just yet-"

"He's bleeding!"

"We need to know what happened so we can file a report-"

"He was just drunk!" May blurted, and then she hesitated when she felt them all exchange glances. She knew what she was saying was a lie—someone else had something to do with it.

Someone else like Archie.

Only one chance, you hear me, he'd said, and she'd lost that chance when Brendan had given him the wrong package. She was sure she had it all figured out in her head. It was both she and Brendan at fault, but like everyone else, he'd picked her out as the weakest link and went for her.

But May also knew that she couldn't explain (Or prove, for that matter) that to the police officers. If she did, they'd want to know more. If they found out more, they'd have to contact her parents.

And then they'd never let her leave their sight.

The female officer blinked at her uncertainly, but a knowing light entered her eyes. She'd clearly dealt with situations like this before—or at least, she thought she had. "Oh. Well, either way, he'll be off the streets for a while now. You won't have to worry about him anymore."

May lied, telling them it was okay, that she wasn't really worried about him and that she just needed to get to the pokemon center. Actually, it was only partially a lie. Her attacker wasn't the one who really terrified her… Archie was.

"You could do with some rest," another officer said, looking indecisive. "We might have to call you in for questioning later. What's your name?"

"Ma—Mandy Luz." She wasn't planning on going in for any questioning.

"Okay Mandy. Are these your pokeballs?"

May snatched her pokeballs, clipping them to her belt with an intense feeling of relief that they were back with her. She saved the greatball for last, which she used to recall Gunner. He'd be the safest in his ball until being treated.

As quickly as she could get away from the officers, she rushed out of the alley, a million fears flashing through her brain. She barely registered where she was going when she suddenly slammed into something warm and solid just outside the entrance to indoor Mauville.

The familiar smell of cinnamon and firewood invaded her nostrils, and May's tensed muscles immediately relaxed. Apparently, he'd lost his patience with Square Tower come searching for her. "Brendan?"

"Where were you? I thought you were dead or something," he snapped, but he did a double take when he saw her expression. More softly, he said, "What happened?"

"Pokemon center." She shook her head, and thankfully, Brendan understood what she meant. He swiveled on his feet so they could head back towards the center. She glanced up at him, and his eyebrows were raised, silently questioning her.

May swallowed. "Team Aqua found me. I think… I think they have a hit on me, or something!" Her words grew hysterical towards the end of her sentence, but she was beyond caring.

"What?" Brendan repeated, numbly. With dread, May took a deep breath and explained what had happened in detail.

"What do I do?" she asked, and she knew without seeing herself that all of the vulnerability she was currently feeling was shining out through her sapphire eyes. However, she refused to cry. Team Aqua was not going to make her cry. "I don't want to go home."

May didn't understand why all of this had to happen to her. All she'd wanted was a normal pokemon journey, just like other trainers. But other trainers didn't seem to attract life threatening situations at every turn.

Brendan's expression became hard with anger or determination, maybe both, and his fist clenched at his side. The warm light of the pokemon center could be seen not far away, and May almost regretted telling him. She knew what he was going to say. He'd say she needed to go home, so Norman could look after her until the threat passed.

"You won't have to," he said, to her surprise. "They won't be able to find you again. He's probably been tracking you since Slateport, but the best place to stay hidden is on the move. Do you know how many traveling trainers they'd have to sort through to find you again?"

May realized that he was right. She was much more likely to stay under the radar if she was on the move as opposed to going back to Littleroot to hide, especially considering the natural attention living under the same roof as a gym leader would bring.

"You're right," she said, and for the first time in a while, her voice was completely steady. The tears she had been furiously battling also quelled. Yet as she glanced at her surroundings, she still felt sick. "But I really don't want to stay here."

Brendan frowned. "Well… I mean, we can always go to Verdanturf until you're ready to battle Wattson."

Verdanturf sounded absolutely perfect, and at the moment she'd take anything over Mauville. The original training schedule didn't even matter to her anymore. She nodded. She'd promised Wally she'd visit before leaving the area, anyway.

They reached the pokemon center doors, but before she could go through them, Brendan's voice stopped her.

"May…" he said, sounding slightly nervous. Even in her still-shaken state, May noted that as unusual as she looked up at him. "It's gonna be okay."

For the first time all night, she mustered a tiny smile.

"I know."

I apologize for the longer delay for this update, but a combination of my beach week and trouble with a certain chapter didn't go over well. On the plus side, I had a great time and I now have an awesome tan :) Hope you are all enjoying your summers!

If you were in the pokemon world, where would you want to go on vacation? Hoenn's beaches would obviously be amazing and tropical, but for some reason the Sevii Islands always come to mind (Specifically Four Island probably. You know the one with that spa resort? Haha).

I'll try to speed up the update next time, but remember, quality over quantity! ;) No promises by a long shot, but I'll aim for next Friday. Just to give you guys something to look forward to (Or to torture you even more, idk), here's a preview of next chapter:

Wally's face fell, like he was devastated for even bringing it up. "May, you don't have to go! It's fine. We can do something else-"

"No, you need to go," Brendan cut in. "You'll like it, and you'll be mad if you don't see it."