Wally looked very confused as he was suddenly confronted by a question that had been asked by someone he just met. Kirlia got very nervous because she was reading the very obvious emotions that were in the air. The sad, lonely atmosphere that belonged to the naive trainer was now easily overpowered by the feelings of growing malice, frustrations and anger...lots and lots of anger. Those ocean blue eyes that belonged to Sycamore were now glinting a hardened grey while every inch of his body was unusually stiff. Nevertheless, a smile was plastered on his face; a smile that looked more sadistically cruel than friendly, but still a smile.

My knees were shaking and I had to force my body to move behind one of Mauville's many decorative statues for safety. Once it felt like a secure position for Chirpie and I to observe, I poked my head out to listen to their interaction.

"Um...y-your student?"

"Yes, MY student! I believe that she got terrified by an exploding magnemite and ran off in a fright! The poor thing even left her shoe behind. I don't suppose that you haven't seen her...have you?!" He asked with his words barely breathing properly from being strangled by the slightly restricted fury and impatiently waited for an answer.

Wally timidly collected his thoughts while Kirlia clung to his pants as they were being glared upon. Was he thinking about selling me out to Sycamore?! The moments of silence were long and scary as I contemplated on leaving. There was no telling what the professor would do to me if I was back in his clutches again. A minute or two eventually passed when Wally finally made up his mind and gave his attention to Sycamore.

"Um... I did see her and we did talk a lot,"

I started to get up and creep away from the area. My heart became heavy from the disappointment to be felt by the betrayal I just got hit with; even if I had just gotten to know him.

"But...she already left," he finished with his eyes dared to look up at the professor's. I suddenly stopped to look back at the scene. The weak, pathetic boy didn't rat me out after all! Relief was gladly taking the place of sadness and settling down in my chest, but it was far from over. His answer made Sycamore's eyes narrow with barely hidden irritation.

"Really..." he said while casually starting to circle the boy with his hands behind his back. Wally's eyes quickly focused back on the ground to prevent himself from being more intimidated than he already was.

"She just...left? It couldn't be a possibility that you're lying to me are you? Because lying to a person of authority could yield some very unpleasant consequences,"

My newfound companion started to get teary-eyed again and began to tremble. Maybe if he was lucky, he would faint before the professor ate him alive. It was still hard to think that only a few hours ago, Sycamore was so relaxed, calm and easy to talk to. Now he looked like a completely different person. Should I go and help Wally? Should I continue to stay in my hiding spot?

The young trainer in question forcefully squeezed his eyes shut and attempted to stick with his version of the story. "N-no sir! S-she did leave! She said something about going to Lavaridge town!" Wally blurted out as sweat now rolled down his face that was followed by violent, sputtering coughs that made his face turn red. Kirlia gave an alarmed cry as her nervousness was forgotten and tried to comfort her trainer. Sycamore stopped upon seeing him start to deteriorate and gave out a disappointed sigh. Realizing that there was nothing more he could do, he relaxed a little and retracted the vicious smile.

"I see..." he muttered to himself while continuing to stare at the boy."Well thank you dear boy, I wish you a most pleasant evening,"

With that, he walked down the street until he disappeared from view. I made sure that it was clear before rushing out from my hiding spot to check on Wally. He kept on coughing and shaking even after the danger was over.

"Wally ?! You okay?!"

"*cough, cough*...May-sempai?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you come to the store with me?"

"Sure,"

...

The two of us bought flashlights and a few other supplies we needed before proceeding to leave Mauville for Verdanturf town. We traveled about an hour before calling it a night. To avoid any more surprises, we tied ourselves with rope ( I actually had to tie Wally's because he didn't know shit about knots) to a tree that would be our temporary housing for the night. That way if we fell, we wouldn't hit the ground...in theory anyway. The boy withdrew Kirlia and switched her out for roselia who looked more than ready to face the night. However, it would be wrumple and I to start lookout duty while the two slept.

As the shift started and my red caterpillar ate some leaves off of a nearby branch, my brain turned back to the events that transpired earlier. I felt ashamed for even thinking about ditching my partner; especially when he took a bullet for me. Even though he belonged to the dreaded boy species, I started to wonder if they were even as bad as dad made them out to be. If anything, men more of a threat since calculating Sycamore and smart ass Maxie have proved themselves to be dangerous in their own right. Oh Professor Sycamore; he was so downright terrifying in the act of tormenting others. I was so nervous from just being a spectator. But deep within the darkest part of my subconscious- for some twisted reason, it made my heart flutter a little. My breath was hitched at the thought of the professor baring his leashed anger through an unfriendly smile. It was terrible to almost wish that I was in Wally's place for those reasons, but I did; and I would never tell a living soul.

...

The next morning, I was awakened by the feeling of soft petals brushing against my cheek. The action startled me and made my eyes widen to look at my travel companion's grass-type staring curiously at me through its small eyes. Next to it was Wally, who had a cheerful expression on his face. Obviously, from how he looked, the boy was more than ready to resume his journey so he could learn more about being a trainer. I rubbed my eyes and absent-mindedly sat up on the branch that was thankfully strong enough to support my weight while trying to fix my messy hair.

"Good morning May-sempai! A-are you ready to leave?"

"...yeah...sure..."

The remnants of sleep still clouded my mind as I was just barely able to answer. Nevertheless, my response had been more than acceptable to him. Immediately, he urged his roselia to hold on to his head as he slowly started to climb down the tree. It was a painfully long process as I had to give him a little pep talk to get him all the way down, but nothing dangerous happened beyond that. I followed shortly after with a quick and was pace while wrumple stuck to my shoulder.

Thus we picked back up our journey on a bright morning as we traveled on the road to Verdanturf Town. We passed a small daycare center where a charming old couple happily waved and wished us a good morning. The Pokémon behind their fence happily played in with their peers while a certain few were entertaining themselves on their own.

We also had encounters with athletes, bug catchers and Pokémon breeders who more than eager to test our skills as trainers. There was even a pair of students who claimed to be better than us. For some reason, Wally was flustered with this fact and quickly accepted the challenge. We teamed up once more with wrumple and roselia in play. It was a hard battle when put up against a fighting and normal-type, but we beat them as well as everyone else who crossed our path.

Not long after one of those battles, wrumple started to shoot out lavender colored string and encase herself in it. A strangely fascinating thing to watch because of how she tediously made sure that the threads were tight enough; and would occasionally re-thread it if it wasn't. When she finally did finish, wrumple had 'evolved' into casecoon.

We stared at each other for a moment before I went to go pick up my bug and curiously start to rub the silk barrier against the side of my face. Wow! This stuff was so soft! The remainder of our journey consisted of battling through trainers, fishing at the small ponds where we caught ourselves more Pokémon, talking with Wally to give him tips about what he should do in battle and rubbing my face against casecoon. Well I eventually had to stop because she started getting annoyed.

Four hours later, Wally and I reached the quiet, little town of Verdanturf. What I first noticed was how clear and delicious the air was. Aside from that and the pleasant light green grass that softly brushed by our legs was this small place that serviced people with medical herbs a Pokémon mart and center, a Contest Spectacular building and a handful of small homes. There was also a route nearby called the Rusturf tunnel. It was supposed to connect Verdanturf with Rustboro, but apparently they discontinued the construction because their equipment disturbed the Pokémon who lived in the tunnel.

Here's where things started to get confusing for me. If we lived in a world where people could tame large beasts with immeasurable power and use them to help us with almost anything under the sun, then what was so difficult about getting a Pokémon to just lift the obstacle out of the way?! Or teaching one to dig around it?! Or breaking it?! There were so many options to pick from! I was tempted to seek out the foreman so I could punch some sense into him. Lucky for that guy, he was on the other side of the tunnel. Not wanting this stupidity to stand any longer, I dragged Wally with me inside the dark place.

An hour of walking in the dark and unusually damp tunnel revealed a girl who looked slightly older than me, who was trying to peek through the small spaces of the large boulders that were in her way. I certainly had little idea of who she was, but my companion did.

"W-Wanda!"

The teen turned around in surprise as Wally scurried to her and gave the girl a frightening hug. While I would give the occasional near-death hug to Brendan, I was still somewhat repulsed by the action of him doing it. Boys were still very shifty to me.

They talked for a little bit while I sat on a nearby rock. Poochyena surveyed the area while chewing on her squeaking toy. The sniffing that would once in a while accompany a sneeze from taking in too much dirt. When they finished with conversation, they walked over to where I was.

"May-sempai, this is my cousin Wanda...she wanted to ask if you could help her with something,"

At that moment, she stepped forward. Just like Wally, she had the same wintery blue eyes and long teagreen hair. However, she looked like she went out more because of her tanned skin. She straightened out her forestgreen dress and held firmly on her sun hat.

"I uh...I was talking with Wally and he said that you could do anything..."

Really? Anything? I could have laughed from the utterly ridiculous statement that blew me out of proportion. It sounded even funnier since I just met him. Despite the amusement that I could have gotten, I kept my mouth shut out of respect and the fact that she was the first girl that I met so far that didn't have some crazy personality. Also, from how my companion talked badly about himself the first time we met, life probably sucked hard for the boy and would hold fast to the small breaks that he caught.

"...I...I really need your help!" I glanced down to her hands and noticed that she began to roll the rim of her sunhat with anxiety. "My boyfriend's trying to so hard to break those boulders but they won't budge! I know I've only met you...but please...can you help us?!"

"Uh, we actually came here to do that anyway so...yeah sure,"

"Really?! Thank you so much!"

"Eh, not a problem," I answered and promptly stood up to face the large boulders. I walked over to them and studied its rugged surface for a place to start before giving out a short whistle. The little dark-type who was looking around perked up and came running with a happily wagging tail. Poochyena stopped just a short few feet away from me; still biting down on her toy.

Past my lips came a confident chuckle as a hot burning determination filled my chest. "Alright poochyena, use rock smash on those boulders!" I shouted while fiercely pointing to the obstacles. My Pokémon dropped the squeaking entertainment upon hearing my command and ran toward them. She slammed into the rocks head first. The impact was great and already, shards of stone flew off to reveal a large hole.

"Come on poochyena! Keep at it!"

Another ground shaking impact reverberated into the tunnel's floor and the cracks in the boulders grew larger while spreading around the stone. Despite the expectation of the outcome, it was still amazing to see such a little animal like that take down something over seven times its size." Okay poochyena! Give it your all with this last one! I know you can do it!" I exclaimed as I encouraged my Pokémon in the loudest voice I could muster.

It backed up as far as the tunnel would allow with determined eyes locking onto the target before stopping briefly. The little dark-type took in a deep breath through its nostrils and suddenly charged forward with trembling speed. Poochyena zoomed past the three of us and crashed into the formerly superior obstacle. The little dog went right through the boulder and onto the other side with a sudden audible grunt that shortly filled the air.

Wanda, Wally and I looked at the huge, still growing hole that was now in the once mighty stone. We didn't have time to get a clear picture of who else had been on that other side because the rest of the rock was quickly falling to pieces. We all backed away to a safe distance as it crumbled into rubble and dust kicked up in the air. When everything took a minute or two to settle, our party saw a now clear path to Rustboro city...and an unconscious guy wearing a martial artist outfit on the floor with my dizzy poochyena laying on him. Mission accomplished! Although, the cousin didn't seem to agree.

"EECK! TIMMY!"

...

Upon taking Wanda's boyfriend to a small treatment center, it was revealed that he sustained three broken ribs; and there had been no small wonder of how it was caused. He was lucky that the impact of the rock slowed my Pokémon down enough to do only that. He didn't seem to care about his injuries though. Timmy's attention had been too absorbed with the gladness of being able to see Wanda more often from now on. His weird determination to be with Wally's cousin made me wonder about Sycamore's own drive to keep me within his proximities as much as he could help it. Was I making a mistake by pushing him away? Could it be that I was the one who was wrong?

Those questions became stuck in my head for the rest of the day as I rewarded my freshly healed Pokémon with a new squeaking chew toy; it was in the shape of a meowth head. Poochyena ran around us in circles as we walked towards Wanda's house afterwards with rapid squeaking sounds to be heard. Upon reaching our destination, I was introduced to Wally's uncle and aunt. They were surprised by my efforts and influence I had on their nephew. Apparently he had some sort of medical issue with breathing and the original plan for him was to stay with them for some time. However, his unexpected ambition to become a trainer had put those plans on hold. That being said, they insisted that it was my presence that caused Wally to feel a little more happier with who he was. Of course I couldn't see any of those kinds of changes, but I did notice his kirlia looking more radiant today than from last night. She twirled around him a little more and happily kept grooming the boy a lot more than his sanity could handle.

Later that evening, I joined his family for dinner and nearly gorged myself to death. Fortunately, my trusty poochyena was there to help me out by eating what I couldn't force down my throat. The best part of the meal: No Sycamore to tell me that I was eating like I was in prison! Or tell me that eating too much would give me stomach cramps (which I got later)! Because screw etiquette; I'm a trainer!

After dinner, I stayed up with Wally to talk about many things: Like where I used to live or that he sleeps with a tennis racket because of his fear of spiders. Wally reminded me of Brendan in a few ways...if he had those sarcastic comments and talks about someone named Jane in his sleep.

"By the way sempai, why do you wear your bandana like a bow?"

It took me a minute to register his question.

"Oh...this thing?" I clarified while taking the red accessory off. The slightly rough texture was felt on my skin as my brain searched for answers. Hm...why did I wear it like that? Eventually, I gave up trying to find it.

"I dunno. I'm more comfortable with wearing it like that I guess,"

Even with that sad excuse, the strange mystery still bothered me. It would have been more normal if I wore it around the whole head. Well dad did say I looked adorable and mom said it added a nice feminine touch. I shelved the oddity in the back of my mind before shooting my own question.

"So what's up with kirlia? She's so uptight about everything and likes cleaning you off. It's like she's my mom,"

"Well, that's her way of thanking me,"

"For what?"

"For feeding her,"

The boy then told me about how he met kirlia one day when he made a bold effort to eat his lunch outside. It wasn't an easy feat for him since he just got off of his inhaler after an annual physical deemed him to be fit without one. Still, he struggled with finding his breath when he wasn't emotionally sound. It was then that a dirty, weak ralts came up to him with slow steps and a bowed head.

Upon finding the poor thing, a curious look appeared on his face and crept towards it. The ralts stopped and was about to turn when a ham sandwich was thrusted out towards the little creature. It took one look at the meal and snatched it up to eat.

That day on, the Pokémon wouldn't stop following him around. Wally had to believe that this was some sort of sign to set out to become a trainer; so he did just that.

The answer came straight out of left field and hit me hard in my chest. He looked completely straight-faced, but I could already feel my eyes getting wet and forced myself to turn away so I could rub them. Dam Wally and his ability to compromise me!

But in point, he never actually caught it in the wild or had it given to him? I thought about what Professor Birch said to me when I first got Chirpie. Never did it occur to me how deep bonds could be forged out of simple acts of kindness with people and Pokémon. I thought it had to do a great deal of just being the superior one to gain the respect needed in order to give love later on. I think I need to tell Chirpie that I love him a lot tonight.

At the same time, it was no wonder he was found the way he was. I had to assume that he followed some sort of guide for catching his other Pokémon, but REAL guidance could be useful to him.

When it got late, I decided to turn in for the night. I told Wally that he could come with me to the Contest Spectacular tomorrow but threatened to pummel him if he breathed a word about it to anyone else. There would be no way that I would have any personal security with someone else besides him and Lisia knowing that I was going to don one of the most girliest outfits in history.

"G'night Wally!"

"Good night sempai!"

...

On the road to Verdanturf that started from Mauville, a figure carefully walked on the dark path with a small light that came from a device he was holding. It was the map of the region with a magnified part of Verdanturf town. With the aid of the glowing light, a victorious smile played on the person's lips. He should be able to get there by tomorrow morning.

*continued in chapter 13*