Meeting New Friends

Two days later, Gwen had fully healed and she was cleared to leave the Pokémon Center. So Brendan and May had their bags ready, with Gwen riding on Brendan's shoulder as they left the building.

"Alright, it's about time that we continued to Rustboro City," Brendan said. "I want to win my gym badge!"

"Right, and I want to see the sights of Rustboro City. It's home to Devon Corporation, which is one of the two biggest technology companies in the world. The only company that rivals Devon is The Silph Company."

Wow, really? That sounds really cool. I can't wait to see that place.

"I see I've come across a couple traveling trainers, one with a Ralts on his shoulder, the other who won the Petalburg Contest. And they are traveling together. This is a rare sight indeed," said a new voice. Brendan whipped around to face the source, only to come face-to-face with a middle-aged man wearing black sunglasses, and a blue Hawaiian shirt.

"Um, can we help you?" Brendan asked.

"Hmm, well, you guys looked like experienced trainers from behind, but now that I see you from the front, it seems like you are rookie trainers still," he said.

"Yeah, but why does that make any difference?" May asked.

"Well, it's not a bad thing to have just started out, don't get me wrong. However, I'm looking for the strongest trainers. I hope I can actually approach you two in the future with the offer I was going to present to you, but I think you two should continue to improve your skills as trainers first," the man said. "Sorry for wasting your time." With that, the man left, heading toward Route 104.

What the heck was that all about? Gwen said.

"I've heard that there is a new, exclusive battle facility opening in the Hoenn region," May said. "Apparently only master trainers are allowed to participate in the battles there."

"Really?" Brendan said.

"Yeah, it's pretty prestigious to even be invited to it," May said.

"Well, then let's hope we both get to that level of ability," Brendan said.

Of course we will! Gwen said enthusiastically.

"Right! So, shall we keep moving?" May said as she kept walking without waiting for the answer.

"I guess we will keep moving," Brendan said.

Sounds good Goldenrod! Gwen said. Brendan face-palmed when he heard her say that nickname. What? I never said I was going to stop using that nickname!

"Oh it's nothing, I just now understand that you plan to annoy me a lot," Brendan said.

It took you this long to figure that out? Well, if that's the case, then I feel sorry for May.

"What do you mean by that?"

Oh nothing. At least nothing that you will find out for about three months, Gwen said. She teleported away, only to reappear on May's shoulder a few feet away from Brendan.

"Oh, hey Gwen," May said. "What's up?"

Nothing, just wanted to have some girl time, Gwen said. I can only take so much of Mr. Goldenrod at a time.

"I heard that!" Brendan called from behind them.

Good, because you were supposed to! Gwen replied, causing May to laugh at how the two interacted. It was almost like they were brother and sister, just by how they acted.

May continued to walk until she made it to a small cliff which offered a beautiful view of a small beach and the ocean. There she stopped, closing her eyes and letting the breeze blow through her hair. Brendan was a few feet away, but he was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what May and Gwen both looked like.

Gwen looked as cute as she normally did, well cute for a Pokémon. May, however, had taken just the right pose and the sunlight was hitting her perfectly. Even more than the first day he met her, May had taken Brendan's breath away. Gwen, however, noticed Brendan's attentions being fixated on May. Instead of calling him out, she began to talk to May about it.

You know, Brendan is completely enamored with you. He can't stop looking at you.

"Oh I've noticed," May said quietly so that Brendan couldn't hear her. "I'm just having some fun in seeing how much I can make him squirm."

Oh, you're evil! Gwen said. I knew I liked you for a good reason!

Behind them, Brendan had gotten out his phone and snapped a picture of the two girls. This was a moment he wanted to remember for a while, especially since he felt like this was when his journey was about to seriously begin.

"Hey, Gwen, sorry to do this to you, but can you go back to Brendan? I see a Pokémon I want," May said.

You needn't ask, the little Pokémon said as she teleported onto Brendan's shoulder. May then hopped down the small cliff and ran across the beach, a Pokéball in hand.

"Wait, isn't that an empty Pokéball?" Brendan asked.

I think so, by the way, do you know what Pokémon she saw?

"No, did you?" Brendan asked.

I missed it. That was when they all heard cheering from May. Brendan ran to the cliff only to see May leaping up and down, a Pokéball raised.

"Hey! Are you going to tell us what Pokémon you caught, or will you be keeping us in the dark?" Brendan said as he approached.

"Yeah, here's my new Pokémon. C'MON OUT!" May called as she opened the Pokéball. What came out was a small seagull Pokémon, which Brendan didn't recognize at all.

"Huh, what is that?" he asked as he pulled out his Pokédex.

Wingull, the Seagull Pokémon. Wingull rides updrafts rising from the sea by extending its long and narrow wings to glide and it flies as if it were skating across the sky. This Pokémon's long beak is useful for catching prey. It also has a habit of carrying prey and valuables in its beak and hiding them in all sorts of locations.

"So, you're a Wingull," Brendan said as Gwen leapt from his shoulder. It seemed she wanted to serve as the translator of the group. She began to converse in Poke-talk with the bird Pokémon. After a few minutes she turned back to the two trainers.

This Wingull says that his name is Graham. He said he's a bit shocked that May caught him without even trying to battle first, but it he's glad that you didn't, since he's not a big fan of battling.

"Well, Graham, would you mind contest battles?" May asked.

Wingull looked at her inquisitively for a moment before talking a bit more, which Gwen translated. He said that he's seen a contest about a year ago in Slateport City and he thought it looked like fun.

"That's good to know, because you and I will be performing together from now on!" May said. This earned a cheerful screech from the gull Pokémon. "Alright, we're going to have to keep moving, so do you want to go back into your Pokéball?" May asked. Wingull nodded, so May recalled her newest Pokémon and looked to Brendan. "Alright, let's go, we have to go through the Petalburg Woods to get to Rustboro City."

"Sounds good, but just realize that I am catching the first Pokémon I see when we get in there," Brendan said.

"That's probably either a Wurmple or a Taillow," May said.

"What do you mean?" Brendan asked.

"You came from Johto, so I assume you know about the Ilex Forest. Petalburg Woods are basically the same, just with Hoenn Pokémon."

"So it's a bug and bird paradise?"

"Yes, there are other Pokémon there too, but they are harder to find."

"Like what?"

Nincada, which are bug types that evolve into two separate Pokémon, Shroomish, which is a grass type that gains fighting type upon evolving, and then there's Slakoth, who has the Truant ability but has insane attacking capabilities.

"Hmm," Brendan hummed as he considered his options. "Well, those are some pretty good options. I guess we'll see what we come across."

Just as they were getting to the entrance of the woods, two people, a boy and a girl who couldn't be more than twelve, approached them. They were wearing really expensive looking clothing. "Hey, peasants!" the blonde haired boy called out. Brendan and May didn't dignify that with a response as they began to walk by the two people.

"HEY, DO NOT IGNORE US!" the girl said.

May just rolled her eyes and turned toward the two. "What the hell do you want?"

"It's not about what we want, it's about what you are going to do for us," the boy said.

"And what exactly is that?" Brendan said.

"We are both bored, so you are going to battle us, and you will lose intentionally," the girl said.

"Well, you got the second part right, but we will never lose to you," May said.

"Oh, you will find that we always get what we want, no matter what!" the girl said.

Damn talk about spoiled brats Gwen said.

The two brats heard Gwen speaking and looked intrigued. "Well, I think we found what we really want now. If you win, you may leave. When we win, you give us your talking Ralts," the girl said.

"Okay, let me set you straight right now. If you think you will ever lay so much as a finger on Gwen, then you are delusional. Besides, you don't have the skill to beat us," Brendan said.

"Well, we are richer than anybody in the Hoenn region, so we will beat you easily with our superior items," the boy said. "And we always get what we want."

"Richer than the Stone family?" May asked, referring to the president of the Devon Corporation and his family.

"Well, no, but that's not the point!" the girl said. "Our money will ensure our win!"

"We will see about that. Gwen, you want to battle these fools?" Brendan asked.

You need to ask? Gwen asks as she jumped to the ground, with an angry look in her eye. How dare they think that their wealth could separate her from her trainer! They would learn the hard way that she was not a prize to be won.

"Oh, this is a tag battle," the boy said.

"We know, we're not idiots like you two," May said as she tossed out Lily's Pokéball, releasing her cocoon Pokémon. "Are you ready to lose?"

"Oh such foul words from such a pretty mouth," the girl said. "You should know that ladies never act that way!"

"Whatever, just send out your Pokémon," May said, increasingly annoyed by this couple.

"Go Zigzagoon!" they both said simultaneously as they released two raccoon Pokémon with spiky brown fur.

"May, you ready?" Brendan asked.

"One moment; Lily, it's time to evolve!" May said. Lily looked back at her trainer with a gleam in her eyes as she began to glow a brilliant white color as her body transformed into that of a butterfly as she became a Beautifly. The glowing stopped and the evolution was finished. "Now I'm ready."

"Let's begin!" the boy said. "My Zigzagoon, use Tail Whip!"

"My Zigzagoon, use Tackle!" the girl said. The boy's Zigzagoon began to wag his tail cutely, trying to get Gwen and Lily to lower their defenses. That didn't exactly work as intended, as Gwen took initiative and grabbed the raccoon with Confusion and froze it in place. The other Zigzagoon ran at Gwen, hoping to break her focus.

"Great job Gwen, now throw that Zigzagoon!" Brendan said.

I planned to, Gwen said as Zigzagoon flew back into the boy, sending both sprawling into the dirt.

"Lily, use Gust to stop the other Zigzagoon!" May commanded. Lily began to flap her wings rapidly sending a powerful wind at the raccoon Pokémon, who was stopped by the power of the wind alone.

"Alright Gwen, use Disarming Voice!" Brendan said. As he gave the command, he noticed that the boy's Zigzagoon had gotten up and the boy had dropped the casing of a used Full Restore. Gwen shouted loudly, sending out two distinct soundwaves at both Zigzagoon, which caused both to recoil. "May, care to finish them with a combination attack?"

"You bet! Lily, use Gust!"

"Gwen, use Confusion to power it up!" As Lily beat her wings and generated a powerful wind, Gwen's eyes began to glow blue and the wind suddenly became much more vicious, with dust kicking up and hitting the Zigzagoons hard and then causing them to be thrown through the air. The two raccoons slumped on the ground as they landed, resulting in a double knock out.

"Yeah! Great job Gwen!" Brendan said as he ran up and scooped up Gwen in his arm, hugging her.

"You were incredible Lily!" May said hugging her Pokémon as well.

"Well, I guess we will be taking your Ralts now," the boy said.

"What the hell are you talking about? You lost, and you weren't going to get Gwen even if you won," Brendan said.

"Did you not hear me when I said that we always get what we want?"

Brendan glared at them hard. "I don't know who you two are, but if you try to lay a single hand on my Pokémon, I will call Officer Jenny," Brendan said.

"Go ahead and try it, we'll just buy her off," the girl said. The boy began to reach for Gwen.

DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME! Gwen said as the boy was gripped with a Confusion, which froze him in place. NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO LEAF US ALONE! With that, Gwen threw the boy into a nearby treeline. Brendan looked at Gwen, shocked at the pun that she slipped into what she just said. What? If we're going to deal with these brats, I might as well get some laughs out of it.

"Winston!" the girl called out as she ran to the tree line, but stopped before going through. "Are you okay?"

"No, that bitch of a Ralts ruined my suit!" the boy said as he limped out of the treeline.

"WINSTON! CINDY! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?" said an angry sounding man called out. Brendan and May turned to see a middle-aged man, dressed as nicely as the two twelve year-olds, but he looked furious.

"Father, th-they attacked us!" the boy, who was apparently Winston, said as he began to fake tears.

"Tauros shit! I saw you trying to grab that Ralts off her trainer's shoulder as if you were trying to steal it!" he said.

They challenged Brendan and May to a battle, and they said that they would take me from Brendan if he lost. When we won decisively, they tried to take me anyway! Gwen said.

The man glared at the children. "Is this true?" The girl, who Brendan assumed to be Cindy, looked down at her feet. The man squeezed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "How many times do I have to tell you that you can't take things from other people just because you have money?"

"But Father," the girl started.

"BUT NOTHING!" the man said before approaching Brendan and May. "I am so sorry for the horrendous behavior of my children, they should know better than this."

"It's alright. To be honest, I think Gwen helped them learn their lesson pretty quickly," Brendan said.

"Yeah, I saw that, and I was quite impressed by that attack," the man said. "I was a decent trainer back in the day, but I've never seen such a strong confusion attack from a Ralts."

Brendan reached up and gave Gwen a gentle hair tussle. "Yeah, she's impressed me every day since we started this journey."

The man smiled. That was when his children tried to sneak off without their father noticing.

Hey jerks, where do you think you're going? Gwen yelled at them, still bitter about their attempt to steal her from her best friend.

The man turned to look at his children. "They will stay right there or their punishment will get more severe!" he said. That made Winston and Cindy stop where they were. "Anyway, I can't make up for what my children did in a way that's helpful to you two. All I can do is promise that this will never happen again."

"That's fine," May said. "Thank you for coming along when you did."

"It was nothing," he said as he turned to Winston and Cindy. "Now, let's go home, your mother will be very interested to hear what you two did today." With that, the man and his family left Brendan, May, and Gwen behind.

"Well, that was unnecessarily convoluted. It felt like it was a filler episode in an anime," May said.

Brendan looked at May with an intrigued expression. "You watch anime?"

"On occasion, mostly shows like Naruto and Bleach," she said.

"That's pretty cool," Brendan said. "Well, I think it's high time we went into the Petalburg Woods, don't you?"

"Absolutely," May said. Without any more motivation, Brendan and May began to walk into the forest. As they moved under the incredibly thick canopy, morning turned to dusk within minutes.

Damn it's dark in here," Brendan noted.

How long did it take you to figure that out? Gwen asked.

"Don't give me sass," Brendan said. Gwen just laughed to herself.

"So let's find you a Pokémon," May said.

"Sounds good to me," Brendan said.

Let me handle this! Gwen closed her eyes and began to concentrate for a short time. She opened her eyes and pointed toward a set of trees. The closest Pokémon is just behind that tree.

"Can you tell what it is?"

I can, but I'm not telling you, because that'd be no fun!

"Fine. May, I'm going to see what's back there," Brendan said.

"Ok, I will be waiting here," she said.

Brendan crept around the tree, expecting to see a Pokémon trying to escape. Instead, he saw a small sloth Pokémon that barely even acknowledged Brendan's appearance.

"Is that a Slakoth?" Brendan asked as he pulled out his Pokédex.

Don't bother with the Pokédex. I know for a fact that this is a Slakoth.

"So, should I battle it? It doesn't look like it has the energy to move, let alone battle."

That's just how all Slakoth are, they have a lot of power for battles, their just incredibly lazy.

"Okay, come out Clint!" Brendan said as he released the wood gecko. "Use Pound!" Treecko ran at the sloth Pokémon and hit it with his tail. The impact startled Slakoth, and it got the Pokémon roused. Slakoth swiped its clawed hand at Clint, hitting him hard with a Scratch attack, throwing him back.

"Take some health back with Absorb!" Brendan said. A small orb of green energy gathered in Clint's hands, which he threw at the Slakoth. The orb hit the sloth, grew in size, and then flew back to Clint, where it melted into his tail, replenishing his health. For whatever reason, Slakoth just scratched at an itch on its head. "Alright, I think it's time for me to try a Pokéball," Brendan said as he pulled out an empty Pokéball and threw it at the Slakoth, who made no effort to dodge or stop it. The Pokémon was taken into the ball, which shook three times before it stopped and released sparks into the air, indicating a capture.

"ALRIGHT! I CAUGHT A SLAKOTH!" Brendan cheered. May, who was half asleep on a tree stump, bolted upright as Brendan's cheering scared her out of her daze. She got up and approached Brendan, who already had the new Pokémon out of its Pokéball and Gwen was having a rather slow conversation…or maybe it was fast for the Slakoth.

Hmm, so this Slakoth is Nikki, and she said she is okay with battling, but she will not move too quickly. Gwen said.

"Well Nikki, it's nice to meet you. I'm Brendan and this is Gwen, as I'm sure she told you. The speed you have isn't a problem, so long as you have a strong fighting spirit," Brendan said.

May waved to Nikki, "My name is May, and it's great to meet you."

"Slakoth-Slaaa!" Nikki said.

That means that she is happy to meet you too," Gwen translated. Then she turned to Brendan. She also said that she doesn't want to walk too much, if you don't mind.

"I don't mind at all," Brendan said as he pulled out Nikki's Pokéball. "Now, return!" Nikki smiled lightly as she was recalled to her Pokéball. Brendan straightened up and Gwen teleported back onto his shoulder. "Alright May, you ready to continue?"

"Absolutely," May said. The two trainers continued to walk through the forest , unaware of the mess in which they were about to find themselves.