Yes, I'm actually still alive. Just super busy (coughschoolcough). By the way, can you believe it's been almost a year since I posted TtS? A whole year! It's amazing how much a story becomes involved in your life over that long of a time period.

I wasn't going to post this until at least tomorrow, because I have a chem test today and I know thinking about this will just distract me. Oh well, wish me luck!

Chapter 24: Watt a Shock

May absolutely hated the sprain in her ankle.

Hated it.

For the first week after obtaining it, she'd been able to move with only the help of crutches. Crutches. If it wasn't the nurse at the pokemon center hovering over her like a mother ducklett, it was Brendan biting her head off for being "risky".

They'd refused to let her wander far from the pokemon center at that time, and May had nearly gone stir crazy thinking about all the training she was getting behind on. Thankfully, some of the locals took pity on her and battled her a few times. It helped, but most of them kept pokemon as pets, contest competitors, or breeders, at best, meaning none of them were really honed fighters like she was training hers to be.

Eventually, an exasperated Brendan had taken pity on her and loaned her Orion and Neptune to spar with her pokemon. Granted, he refused to give them any formal orders and actually battle (Much to May's disappointment), but his pokemon were immensely fast and powerful. Even just having target practice against them, she felt, was helpful.

After that miserable week, she'd graduated to an ankle brace and the instructions not to stay on her foot for any lengthy or strenuous periods of time. They began wandering back onto Route 117 after that for more serious training, and several more days passed before Brendan finally agreed that it was okay to set out for Mauville.

They took it slow, traveling for short periods and stopping for training in between so that May didn't inflict any further damage to her ankle. As they neared Hoenn's largest city, traffic on the road noticeably increased, providing more challengers than ever. She particularly enjoyed visiting the day care again, during which the friendly owners eagerly allowed her to battle some of the electric types under their charge.

Despite her relatively high spirits, May's nerves were on edge the moment the neon-infested buildings of Mauville came into view. Her eyes darted around, peeled for any sign of a cross bone bandana or someone watching them in general. She wanted to let Soren out, but she couldn't do that when they were headed straight to the gym (Which they were doing to get in and out of the city as soon as possible). Brendan would flip if she had her pokemon visible to Wattson when she walked inside, and honestly, she would be annoyed with herself, too.

"So, any last minute tips, Coach Birch?" May asked, just to have something to distract herself with. She raised her eyebrows in a teasing, expectant way.

Brendan gazed out across the mass of people, his red brown eyes more alert than ever. Although he wasn't visibly fidgeting in anxiety like May was, she could tell he was concerned by how quiet he was being.

Absentmindedly, he said, "Don't lose."

"Oh gee, thanks for that priceless information!"

His lips twitched, barely hiding a smile. "Just be ready for anything. Wattson's a little crazy, but he's smart."

May glanced around at the towering buildings surrounding her. They were just going through the gates to indoor Mauville, replacing the vaguely smoky air with the slight greasy smell wafting from the distant foot court.

If Wattson could remodel an entire city, and if his renovations led to it becoming the most prominent city in the Hoenn region, he had to be an intelligent man. Judging by all of his work, he also had to be old, and old meant experienced. May bit her lip, realizing that the other gym leaders she'd faced, while talented, had both been young and lacking the years of battling expertise that this guy would have.

"So Ezra against Magneton, and Soren as a backup plan?" She ran her hand over her pokeballs, feeling excited warmth vibrating from them. They knew what today was, and they were as eager as she was anxious.

Brendan looked thoughtful. "I'd say Gunner as backup. None of Soren's attacks will be very affective against a steel type, and at least Gunner can't be affected at all by electric attacks."

"I guess you're right," May said, frowning. She didn't like that one of her best fighters, her grovyle, wouldn't be useful against who'd she'd decided was probably Wattson's. She didn't have much experience against steel types, and that made her even more nervous.

May glanced at the boy beside her only to see that his eyebrows were still creased in concentration. He was thinking, and with a pang of pity, she realized that he was probably remembering the time he'd defeated Wattson alongside the stress of keeping an eye out for Team Aqua members.

She hesitated. "You know…. You could see if there's another appointment free for today. Or tomorrow, I wouldn't mind waiting-"

"No," Brendan snapped immediately. Seeing her expression, he added, in an only slightly nicer tone, "No, I don't care for battling."

Liar, May thought, barely withholding a sigh. She could see the way his eyes lit up sometimes when he gave her a tip for countering a certain move, or when she won a particularly difficult battle. Him saying he didn't care for battling was almost worse than if she had said she didn't.

"What about if we find a strong trainer when we leave Mauville? Would you battle them instead of a gym leader?"

"No."

"Please," May said, trying to look as cute and pitiful as possible. She tugged on his arm for emphasis, and he stared down at her hand with growing apprehension on his face. "Your pokemon would love that."

And so would you, she added mentally.

His pokemon would be thrilled, though. All of them, even grouchy Iris and emotionless Knox still watched her train with varying degrees of longing.

"I don't think so." Brendan cleared his throat and tugged his arm out of her grip so that he could adjust his t-shirt collar. "Look, there's the gym."

May grinned, the thought of talking Brendan back into battling receding to the back of her mind but not at all being forgotten. Her ankle was starting to ache after walking through the large city, and she couldn't wait to get the battle over with already.

Like the pokemon center and various shops in the indoor Mauville, the gym was nestled into the wall of the city structure. In concept, it was as simple as a shop in a mall, yet the stark bronze doorway with a flashing lightening bolt hovering over it said differently. It was impossible to miss.

Caught in admiring the eye catching gym, it took May a moment to realize that words were flashing across the lightening bolt.

"Mauville Gym: The electrified heart of Mauville."

"Let's go inside," Brendan said, stepping in front of her. His hand reached out to wrap around the metal door handle, but when it did, he let out a little yelp and yanked his fingers back like he'd been electrocuted. "Ow!"

May burst out laughing, and he glared at her. "The stupid thing shocked me!"

"Seriously?" She gasped for breath. "That's hilarious. It is an electric type gym, Brendan."

He looked unimpressed with her joking tone.

"I didn't sign up for all of this," he muttered, holding his pointer finger up to his face like he was inspecting for blisters. "This used to be a regular gym…"

May rolled her eyes and began to call him out for being a wimp, but then the door slid open on its own. A long, dim hallway splayed out in front of them, while the words on the lightening bolt above the door changed to, "Welcome, challenger!"

"C'mon," she urged.

Like in Brawly's gym, the door automatically closed behind them. However, May didn't see a reception desk anywhere, nor any gym trainers working out. Instead, a dark room spread out in front of her, and sparking red and blue streaks lined both the walls and what appeared to be air in some areas. She squinted her eyes at them, and with a jolt of surprise, she saw that the streaks were actual streams of electricity blocking particular paths.

At first, she thought she was facing another maze, but the more she inspected it, the more she understood that it was actually something quite different. There was a stand in front of them that held one large blue button and one large red button.

"This is a puzzle," May said, surprised. Brendan nodded, standing next to her against the stand so that he could also inspect it.

"Choose wisely," he read aloud from the little warning written below the buttons. He frowned, glancing at May, who was busy contemplating both walls of electricity on either side of them. "If we're gonna get shocked or something for choosing wrong, you get to press the buttons."

"Haven't you ever seen a movie? You never press the red button."

"Wait, May, maybe we should think about this-"

She'd smashed the blue button before he could stop her, and he winced, clearly waiting for some other trick to jump out at them. However, the blue wall of electricity to their right merely fizzled out harmlessly. His shoulders slumped in relief.

May giggled at his expression. "I was just kidding. I'm not that stupid, you know. The other way's a dead end."

"I knew that," Brendan argued weakly.

Her grin widened. "I got you and you know it! Just admit it."

"No way."

As they continued through the series of electric walls, they made a competition out of who could solve more puzzles at the fastest rate. Brendan refused to admit that she'd freaked him out on the first one, but May sensed his desire to prove himself by how analytical he became over each new set of buttons. To her dismay, he soon pulled ahead of her own puzzle solving.

"Hah. That's eight to seven," Brendan said, his voice oozing satisfaction. He adjusted his backpack straps, staring down at her in that superior way of his. "Don't feel too bad, Maple. You aren't the toughest competitor to lose to me."

May huffed, clenching her hands into angry fists. Her messy, dusty brown bangs flew off of her forehead from the breath she released. "Just you wait. I'll get the next one… No! Where is it?"

"Looks like that's the end," he said. She thought his smirk was so wide it should've been made illegal.

"Well, if you didn't have those long surskit legs, you wouldn't have gotten to the puzzle before me!"

"Don't be a sore loser-"

Their argument came to an abrupt halt when a ray of light flooded the room, alongside a booming laugh that reminded May of thunder during a lightening storm. She shielded her eyes instinctively against the brighter lights, and slowly, a standard dirt battlefield faded into view. It was surrounded by electric walls like the ones from the puzzle, sort of like a boxing ring, and they buzzed ominously. A single figure stood in its center.

Like May had expected, Wattson had the snowy white hair of an elder, and both his tresses and his fluffy beard puffed out at odd angles, like someone who'd been spending too much time enveloped in static heavy air. His stout form was clothed in a yellow jumpsuit, although he wore a tacky lightening bolt button up over it. It looked like he had thrown it on hastily in the midst of engineering some invention or another.

What caught her most by surprise, however, was the humor dancing in his eyes, which were blue like the sky after a lightening storm.

"You've gotten past my traps already? How shocking!" Wattson laughed that strange laugh again, and May shot Brendan a look out of the corner of her eye. "Get it?"

She forced an awkward laugh, which wasn't helped by the fact that she could hear Brendan sniggering beside her. "Oh. Yeah!"

"He used that exact same joke on me," Brendan whispered into her ear, and she bit her lip from the combination of hiding her laugh and the feel of his cool breath so close to her face.

"Oh, Brendan! It's been a while." Wattson chortled, oblivious to the fact that they were making fun of his terrible pun. Brendan sobered at once. "I've had a lot of time on my hands since our battle, now that the city renovations are done. Making these puzzles and what not… Say, how's that combusken of yours?"

"Fine," he said plainly. "He evolved."

"Oh, I bet he did! Boy, did that little guy light us up…" The gym leader rubbed at his round stomach, clearly lost in fond memories of Orion blazing through his team.

May couldn't help but compare Wattson, as a gym leader, to her father. She certainly couldn't picture Norman greeting any of his challengers in this casual of a way. Even Brawly, no matter how laid back he was, had still exuded the confidence of a powerful trainer. A small part of her began to wonder how seriously Wattson took his position…

No, she thought, shaking her head at her train of thought. I still can't let my guard down.

Brendan had told her that Wattson was smart, and judging by his system of puzzles, he had to have a strategic mind of some sort…. Didn't he?

"And you must be May, my challenger!"

May was a bit surprised that he remembered her name just from the appointment book. In an enormous city like Mauville, she imagined that Wattson would meet dozens of challengers a day.

"Um. Yeah, I am!" she said, rubbing at her arm uncomfortably. She was itching to just get the battle started already so she could stop fretting over it.

"Well I'm ex-static." Wattson laughed, and then he motioned towards the small set of stadium bleachers beside the field. There was a group made predominately of kids and preteens sat in a circle, goofing off with one another and a pair of red and blue electric rodents that May recognized as a plusle and minun. Though they were all so young, she had to assume that they were Wattson's gym trainers. "Ben, would you mind refereeing this match?"

A boy that looked only a couple years older than Noah leapt to his feet, eagerly dusting off his hands. His hat was swung around backwards, and a band aide was stuck right across the bridge of his freckled nose.

"Awesome!" Ben cried, jumping down from the bleachers.

Brendan nudged May lightly. Eyebrows raised and tone teasing, he muttered, "Remember not to lose."

"Sure thing." She watched him sit in the bleachers (Naturally, as far away from the group of younger trainers as possible) with a slight sadness. She wished Wally could've been there to watch her too; he would've been so excited.

No, he's better off where he's at, she reminded herself. And hopefully, they'd still be able to meet up at some point in the future.

"Alright. This match will be three-on-three, and the first to knock out all three of the other's pokemon wins. The challenger can substitute, but the gym leader can't." Ben said all of this in a very important voice, almost like he'd been selected to judge a battle between two regional champions.

"Ready, May?" Wattson asked, grabbing a pokeball from his belt without even bothering to look at which one it was. Without a doubt, he knew the feeling of them by heart after all of his years training. May nodded, hesitating over her own pokeballs. "Then prepare to be electrified!"

He shouted the last bit in a more amused than threatening way, and with a grin, he tossed his first pokeball. It burst open to reveal… at first, what looked like a larger pokeball, but a closer look showed it to be a voltorb. The pokemon's round body was quivering with the thrill of the approaching battle.

"Vol-torb," it screeched robotically, narrowing its eyes.

May contemplated voltorb briefly. She knew they often inhabited power plants in Johto to feed off of the electricity, and her parents had always warned her to stay far, far away in the scenario that she stumbled upon one. They had a nasty reputation of a short temper and violent explosions, and thus were not to be approached unless necessary.

This would be her first time battling one, however. May selected a pokeball with the thought that she might as well start off strong.

Soren appeared, coolly crossing his thin arms and staring Voltorb down. He looked like he couldn't believe the gym leader was battling him with such a pokemon.

"Oh ho, that's one of the finest looking grovyle I've seen," Wattson praised. Soren's eyes flicked to him, unimpressed, and May awkwardly thanked him. He chuckled. "The first move is yours."

She was highly tempted to go in with leaf blade, which was undoubtedly Soren's most powerful move. However, Brendan's advice lingered in the back of her mind along with the warnings about voltorb that she had grown up with. She could not afford to have the electric type explode and take out her most powerful pokemon so early on, that was for sure.

May decided to start off at a distance to play it safe. "Bullet seed!"

Soren crouched down, and in a flash, large seed projectiles were crashing into Voltorb's metallic hide. The electric type screeched, and May smiled, thrilled at how fast and accurate her grovyle's attack had become.

"Go into a rollout!"

Voltorb jerked its body forward with surprising agility for a ball-shaped pokemon. The motion lurched it towards the side of the field and safely away from the attack. Soren narrowed his eyes and continued spouting seeds, but somehow, Voltorb remained just a hair ahead of his fire.

"Stop," May said. He was only wasting his energy. Her eyes trailed after Voltorb, growing slightly rounder when she saw it abruptly curve in Soren's direction. "Be ready!"

Soren's muscles clenched in preparation, but he remained still, completely confident that he could doge the other pokemon's assault. May tried to relax. Soren was the fastest pokemon she knew, but… Voltorb was picking up its pace at a rate that sent alarm bells off in her brain.

"Move-" she began, but it was too late.

Soren tried to dart out of the way just seconds before Voltorb hit, but the electric type put on a spectacular burst of speed and rammed hard into his gut. Winded, Soren fell to the ground and rolled once, with the voltorb following in an effort to run him over again. Soren hissed and pushed himself halfway off the ground with his bony elbow so that he could smack Voltorb away with the flat side of his wrist leaf.

In another rapid motion, Soren had sprung back to his feet and thumbed Voltorb a second time, sending him spinning away like a top toy. He gritted his small reptilian teeth, more annoyed than harmed.

"Yes, good job!" May cheered, thanking Latias for his impeccable reflexes.

Wattson guffawed despite the nasty hit his pokemon had just taken. "Impressive! You've got yourself a fighter. Now sonic boom, rapid fire!"

Voltorb forced itself to a stop, but its eyes rolled around in its head for a moment longer, like it was still dizzy. Once it got its bearings, its eyes locked on Soren with an enraged screech, and its body began to shake back and forth very quickly.

The air around Voltorb's body quivered before hurdling towards Soren in the form of a sharp white shockwave. The pokemon continued shaking, creating another burst of the power and then another.

"Cut it with leaf blade!"

Like he'd practiced multiple times over the past few weeks, Soren held up his hands, and the leaves near both his wrists elongated and glowed a fierce green. As the first sharp wave of air reached him, he reared back and sliced clean through it with his right leaf. The air shimmered and dissolved into harmless wind that merely brushed over his scales.

Soren smirked, but the expression was short lived, for he had to turn around and do the same with opposite leaf as the next sonic boom reached him. The glow in his leaves flickered as the third came, and May's heart jumped in worry. He still wasn't able to keep up the attack for much over a minute, but—

Her grovyle reared his head back and crossed his leaves through the last sonic boom at a run, and the glow of leaf blade dimmed completely just seconds after his opponent's attack has fizzled.

"Follow up, hurry!" May blurted, sensing the beginnings of another order on Wattson's lips.

Thankfully, Soren understood her. He continued towards Voltorb, who was still frozen from releasing the final sonic boom, and opened his mouth the shoot another row of bullet seed straight at the pokeball-like creature.

The ping of the first few seeds hitting Voltorb echoed through the room before Wattson said, "Time to up our amp! Volt switch!"

Yellow sparks cascaded over Voltorb's body before tearing through Soren's seeds and straight towards him. Another bolt shot towards Wattson, and a pokeball on his belt seemed to be glowing, but all May could focus on was yelling, "Soren!"

But Soren had already known exactly what to do. Like they'd been practicing, he plunged his two wrist leaves into the ground just before the electricity hit him. It coursed through his body, causing him to clench his jaw in discomfort, but a good portion of the sparks continued along his scales only to be dispersed into the rocks below.

He was shaking his head and moving back upright, relatively unharmed, when another bright yellow flash blinded the arena. May and Soren both shielded their eyes, with May anxiously praying that Soren could handle himself if Voltorb had somehow followed up the attack because she couldn't see a thing.

Gradually, the light dimmed, revealing that Soren was standing unharmed in his former position. He was blinking rapidly, as if his sharp eyes were dazed from the flash.

Voltorb, however, was no longer across from him. It had been mysteriously replaced with a three headed, gray magnet pokemon that May had spent far too much time staring at pictures of over the last few weeks. Even though she'd been prepared, the sight of it still brought a nervous lump to her throat.

"Magneton," it hummed ominously, and something hit May.

"Wait," she blurted, without thinking. "Did Voltorb get knocked out?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Brendan face palming from his seat in the bleachers. Wattson laughed heartily.

"Not quite, May! That's the beauty of volt switch. It's tag-teaming without formally substituting."

Volt switch. It was a move she'd never seen used before, and she rather hoped not to see it again.

"Oh," May grumbled, clenching her fist. She was confident that Soren would've had Voltorb if they'd had only a few more seconds, but now they were practically starting over from scratch with an even more powerful opponent!

"Grovyle, gro," Soren hissed. He curled his clawed toes angrily into the ground, but otherwise kept his frustration better concealed than his trainer.

May hesitated. Soren was her last choice for battling Magneton, but… He still had plenty of energy, and he was rearing to go after facing Voltorb. She might as well give it a shot.

"Thunder shock," Wattson said, jolting May out of her thoughts. Magneton's body began glowing yellow in preparation to strike.

"Pass it and use leaf blade!"

As a mild bolt of electricity shot out of Magneton's body, Soren rushed towards it, leaves aglow. May held her breath as he neared the burst of energy, but at the last second, he smoothly ducked underneath it before springing through the air and straight towards Magneton.

Razor sharp leaves grated across Magneton's steel hide with a loud clang, but the pokemon didn't even flinch. Instead, all three of its eyes glared at Soren, who angrily swiped his leaves over Magneton's body for a second time. It began to spark, barely affected.

"Excellent," Wattson said, and a wave of dread crashed over May.

"Soren, fall back!"

But before he could, the gym leader ordered, "Thunder wave!"

Electricity crackled around Magneton's magnets before streaming out of them and wrapping securely around Soren's lithe body. May could do nothing but watch, agape, as her pokemon was rendered completely unable to move.

Gunner's thunder wave had been child's play compared to this.

"Soren, you've got to get out of there!" May cried, but he was already wriggling his body uselessly around in the grip of the electricity. He tried to slash the leaf on his head out at Magneton, but it couldn't reach. "Bullet seed!"

The grovyle's jaw dropped, and a massive swarm of seeds sped out of his mouth and collided against Magneton at close range. It squinted, actually looking bothered, but Wattson didn't back down.

"Hold on, Magneton! Use mirror shot."

With a hum, Magneton's body became encased in a light blue glow. At first, Soren's bullet seed continued pounding it, but they began rebounding harmlessly off the light as it expanded.

May saw what was coming before it did, but her brain was wiped clean of ideas. The light around Magneton abruptly condensed and fired at Soren, slinging him out of thunder wave's hold and clean across the gym. He hit the ground with a crash, tumbling over several times before struggling back to his feet.

As he stood, sparks crackled across his body, signifying that he was still recovering from the after effects of the thunder wave. Magneton floated towards him, and Wattson said, "Now follow up with supersonic!"

"No, Soren, return!" May cried. The red beam of his pokeball sucked him in just before the confounding sound waves could hit him. She bit her lip as she clipped his ball back to her belt; he'd almost gone down, just like that!

Keepacoolhead keepcoolhead, she chanted internally. Magneton was tough, but she definitely wouldn't be able to defeat it or Wattson's two other pokemon if she kept this up. Remembering her original strategy, she chose her second pokemon.

"C'mon, Ezra!"

Her meditite materialized, holding his tiny but very capable hands out in preparation to strike. His dark eyes roamed over Magneton, and for a moment, May thought she saw nerves flicker in their depths before quiet determination replaced them.

"My oh my, May!" Wattson cackled. "You've got yourself an interesting team. And not a bad choice at all!"

Let's hope it's a good choice, she thought.

May clenched her fists. She really didn't want Ezra in range of that thunder wave after what had happened to Soren, but… All of Ezra's fighting type attacks required close contact. What other choice did she have?

"Alright, force palm!"

Ezra charged forwards, right hand shining with energy buildup. Wattson shook his head. "Didn't you learn the first time? Thunder wave!"

Long, grasping streams of electricity streamed out of Magnemite, reaching for Ezra as he neared them. His face fell at the sight, but he continued obediently towards his adversary.

"Detect, hurry!" May cried.

Just in the nick of time, a knowing, green force crept over Ezra's eyes, and he wove past each strand of the thunder wave like he knew exactly where it was going several seconds before it got there. Magnemite's three eyes widened in fear as he neared, but it was completely defenseless when Ezra twisted away from the last bit of electricity and flew off the ground towards him. His tiny blue fist smacked into Magneton's steel shell, and a cascade of energy poured out of it, flinging the gym leader's pokemon several yards away.

Ezra landed gracefully on the ground, and the glow in his eyes faded. He watched Magneton cautiously.

"Magneton!" Wattson yelled, looking truly caught off guard for the first time during the entire battle. The pokemon buzzed something to its trainer before slowly levitating itself back into the air. "Not bad, May, but it's time for a thunder shock! To the left!"

A bolt flew towards Ezra with a renewed sense of vengeance, and he scarcely managed to step out of the way before it struck where he'd just been standing. Unfortunately, the strength of the blow popped off the ground and caused him to lose his balance and trip.

"Again!"

"Ezra, get up!" May cried. Both she and Ezra let out a gasp of horror when they realized the attack had backed him straight up into the corner of the battlefield. He couldn't move, faced with high voltage fences on two sides and an angry magneton on the other.

Its prey affectively cornered, Magneton gleefully lit up again and shot another bolt of lightening straight for him. Ezra's eyes darted frantically around for an escape, but there was none.

"Confusion! Stop it!"

May blurted her words so clumsily she wasn't sure her pokemon could understand her. Miraculously, Ezra squinted his eyes in concentration, and a blue glow radiated off of his skin and the outline of the electricity. He held up his hands, and the electricity came to a buzzing halt inches from him.

"Yes! Now send it back at Magneton!" May cheered.

"Full power, Magneton!"

It was over in seconds. Magneton leaned forward in determination, and Ezra's face cracked from strain. Knowing he couldn't hold it, he abruptly tried to dart out of the corner, but the next thing May knew, the electricity had surged forward to zap him.

"Ezra!" May clutched at her hair in panic. Vaguely, she noted that the strands where half-floating in the air due the strong electric currents in the room, but she was focused on Ezra as he forced himself to his feet. "You okay?"

He nodded.

"Go in for another force palm!"

Ezra ran, slightly slower this time, towards Magneton again, and before he was anywhere near it, Wattson called, "Thunder shock!"

"Detect!"

The same as he'd done the first time, Ezra danced around each strand of electricity with the green glow in his gaze. He neared Magneton, palm out to strike, but Wattson was far from finished.

"Now thunder wave!"

May didn't know why he sounded so confident, but she discovered the reason the hard way. Ezra was there, a foot away from Magneton, when different lightening surged out of its magnets. May expected him to weave around it again, but the glow in his eyes abruptly faded. He faltered.

"Med," he muttered, trying to scramble backwards, but the thunder wave slunk across his body in a flash. He was lifted in the air, and he tried desperately to worm his dimming palm towards Magneton. However, he found his arms completely restrained against his sides, and the power he'd been charging vanished.

"No, " May said to herself, flashing back to how helpless Soren had been. Think May, think!

"Mirror shot!"

Ezra still squirmed helplessly in the clutch of the electricity, and half-crazed ideas flew madly through May's mind. She had to do something, and she had to do it fast, or Ezra might just be done for!

"Confusion!"

Ezra shook his head, trying as hard as he possibly could to call back his psychic energy, but it kept fading in and out of his eyes. Magneton only twitched in mild irritation, and the energy surrounding it continued to grow. May thought her heart might burst out of her chest.

"You can do it! Please!"

Ezra's expression suddenly twisted into a scowl, and May could see the air distort in between the two pokemon. Magneton screeched miserably, twisting away from the pain. Ezra thudded to the ground, the thunder wave fizzing away, and the silver orb Magneton had been charging shot wildly into the ground, stirring up a puff of dust and debris that concealed half of the battlefield.

Wattson called something that May couldn't make out, and the dust cloud was suddenly streaked with electricity. She held her breath, but she released it when Ezra stumbled back into view. He wasn't hurt. But if he wasn't hurt, what was Wattson doing?

Gradually, the dust settled, and May saw that Magnemite was no longer standing. Instead, a familiar red and white orb-shaped pokemon was glaring at Ezra from across the field. It trembled, the exhaustion leftover from facing Soren still weighing it down.

May scowled. She was sick and tired of playing tag with these pokemon, just when she thought she had them!

Ezra was panting from his position in front of front of her, his energy quickly fading, yet Voltorb easily looked worse off. They had to finish it quickly, before it could retreat using volt switch again. An order was on the tip of May's tongue, but Wattson beat her to it.

"Rollout!"

Instead of making a show of rolling the other way this time, Voltorb came straight for Ezra. Her meditite tensed, looking ready to dodge when it got closer.

But May realized she didn't want him to dodge. Ezra had more energy than Voltorb, and his force palm was easily more powerful that a rollout that hadn't had the opportunity to build up in power yet. She'd fight fire with fire, and she'd have to win!

"Stand your ground and use force palm!"

Ezra widened his stance for balance. His palm began glowing, and as Voltorb neared, he raised it up in preparation to stop it clean in its tracks.

Wattson smiled. "Self-destruct!"

May paled. "No! Ezra, get out of there now!"

There was no use. Ezra dropped his arms, but Voltorb had fallen between them before he could. Upon impact, a huge boom shook the arena and May was blinded by the violent light exploding out of Voltorb. She brought her arm up to shield her face.

Panic enveloped chest as she waited for the light and dirt, much more than from the earlier incident, to clear. She felt so dumb, so helpless.

Gradually, the battlefield came back into view, exposing both pokemon. Ezra was collapsed on his back, out cold, while Voltorb was rocking back and forth idly like a ball that had just been dropped by a child.

Mouth hanging open in excitement, Ben yelled, "Meditite and Voltorb are both unable to battle! Double knockout!"

May's hands shook slightly as she recalled Ezra. Why hadn't she realized Wattson would be smarter than that? He'd seen the opportunity to take out one of her pokemon with Voltorb while it was barely standing, so of course he'd taken it.

Why didn't I call for endure? I can't believe I was so stupid, she kept thinking. I'm so sorry, Ezra.

"Your meditite will be just fine, May," Wattson said, and she realized she'd been staring at Ezra's pokeball, silent. Sometime during her distress, Magneton had been called back out of its pokeball. It was floating in front of Wattson, looking extremely banged up but still ready to fight. "He put up a fantastic battle!"

She took a shaky breath, gathering her nerves. This battle was far from over. "I know. Go, Gunner!"

With renewed determination, she grabbed the single greatball off of her belt and flung it forwards. Gunner appeared, spiking up his fur and puffing his chest out in such a Gunner-y flourish. Seeing him so ready to battle raised May's spirits back to what they were before Ezra's unfortunate knockout.

She'd show Wattson a shock.

AN: It's a lot harder to sneak in characterization realistically for these big city gym leaders than, say, for Brawly, BUT I do have a plan to give Wattson more screen time since I like him a lot. You'll find out how… Probably sooner than you think, but not extremely soon.

The Wattson battle is the longest one in TtS so far, and combined with the flirting fest that May and Brendan decided to have at the beginning of the chapter, things were getting super drawn out. I figured I might as well split the chapters, even though I hated to split the battle.

Since it's been a while, how is school/work/life going for you guys? I'm completely drowning in schoolwork. I don't know if most of you know this about me, but I'm a Bio major, so I've pretty much handed over my life for four years + eventual grad school. Joy!

Which protagonists (Male and female) do you think have the best design? I go back and forth with this. For boys, probably Red or Ethan, although the girls are harder for me to choose from. I actually really like Serena, so I'll just go with her.

No preview this time but they'll be back next chapter.