Notes: Some headcanons were used, and a reference to HGSS.

~.~.~

#1 Latias

May had to admit she was genuinely a bit impressed by Maxie's unused plan, or at least impressed that he'd made a plan at all.

She supposed it made sense — Archie and Team Aqua had wanted Hoenn to return to its primal state, so letting Kyogre do as it pleased would have suited them just fine... in theory. Caught up in their vision of a perfect world for Pokemon, they hadn't actually realized what that meant, the disasters and destruction that would follow, for both people and the very Pokemon they were trying to help.

But Team Magma's plan had been to use Groudon's power for the benefit of humanity, so having a way to control it would have been a necessary step. And the Master Ball was the solution... in theory. Had Maxie actually gone through with it, he would have unfortunately found out the same thing May did — that Groudon, outside its Primal Reversion, was lazier than a Slakoth and ignored all commands to instead go did itself a hole to sleep in.

Still, the Master Ball sounded quite nice, and she appreciated the gesture... but May didn't intend to keep it.

"Welcome!" the office lady at the front desk greeted her brightly when she stepped into the Devon Corporation building. "So good to see you again!"

"Um, yes," May said awkwardly. "Is the, uh, president here? I have a thing that I want to... talk to him about."

Legendary Pokemon? Sure, May could and had gotten used to them. But being a guest of honor at the region's largest corporation was still nothing short of weird, no matter how nice and patient Steven's dad seemed to be.

"Let me check his schedule," the office lady said, already reaching for the phone. "Please go on up. If President Stone is unavailable, you can wait on the lower floors. He granted you full access."

'This is why you guys got robbed at least four times,' May thought. Steven's dad was nice, yes, but sometimes it was painfully obvious they were related. They were definitely the same kind of scatterbrained.

Mr. Stone was in his office and he welcomed her even more brightly than the receptionist. "May! Come in, come in! It's been a while? How is your journey progressing? Or, I suppose, there's not much left to conquer, once you've defeated not only the Pokemon League, but even a meteorite! That's what you'd call 'out of this world' success!"

He laughed boisterously at his own pun, which was so terrible May couldn't help snickering too. "I kind of found another goal to keep me busy," she admitted. "I ended up talking to Maxie about it, and he told me there was something him and his bunch stole something from Devon. So I wanted to give it back to you."

"This is... yes, this is the Master Ball that went missing," Mr. Stone recognized it immediately when she pulled it out of her pack. "So it was Team Magma that took it..." But when May held it out to him, he shook his head. "No, no. Go ahead and keep it. Consider it a field trial! I'll be interested to hear the results!"

"Are you sure?" May asked, holding it out again. "Normal Poke Balls worked well enough for me." Even on Rayquaza and an alien. What would she even use a perfect catch rate ball on, at this point?

Mr. Stone shook his head. "I'm sure," he said. "Oh, that reminds me. We're finally ready to roll out the Match Call function of the PokeNav Plus! You remember, it's the communication function that Steven used to call you during the meteorite crisis. The full version of Match Call goes both ways, of course. We'll be making it available to the general public in a few weeks, but I can go ahead and update your PokeNav right now."

Handing over her PokeNav, May dithered for a moment while he tinkered with it. "So... Steven," she said finally, and then stopped, unsure of what to say next.

"The business in Kanto is taking longer than we expected," Mr. Stone said absently. "I'm not sure when he'll be back... Were you planning to challenge him again? He's still the Champion, after all. Be gentle with him, okay? My boy's still a little delicate."

'Delicate?' May mouthed, before shaking her head quickly. That wasn't the important part.

"So Steven is in Kanto? On business?" she asked instead. "I kinda thought he ran off to train or look at rocks or something."

That sounded like some character defamation, but May didn't feel that it was entirely off base. Mr. Stone, having just called his Champion son delicate, just laughed. "Oh, I'm sure there's plenty of rock searching going on," he admitted. "But officially, yes, he's on Devon business." May wasn't entirely sure she liked the look he shot her. "Why don't I give you his number there? The PokeNav Plus won't be able to reach him, but a regular line will work."

His number, huh... Well, why not? Maybe she could make him pick up some souvenirs for her. Hoenn was great, but there were things she missed from the main island.

~.~.~

Naturally, the first thing Steven mentioned when she called was a rock.

"It's so mysterious! It's modest...yet hiding something wonderful!" he gushed. "Something seems to be shining inside of it!"

May sighed.

"I'm going to have it analyzed at the Pewter Museum in a few days, but I think it might be a Soul Dew," Steven went on. "The Soul Dew is said to be the solidified spirits of Latias and Latios."

"Latias?" That caught her attention.

"That's right. It has the power to bring out the true potential of Latias and Latios," Steven explained. "The spirits of these Pokémon and the Soul Dew call out to each other. That's why I think this enigmatic stone's true identity is the Soul Dew and how I found it in the first place — Latios was spotted in the area several times."

"Are you sure he's not just looking for you? You know, like Latias was," May said.

Steven laughed. "Me? You are the trainer Latias chose to place her trust in. I'm certain that you are the one she was searching for in the first place. I was just fortunate enough to be brought along as a witness."

...That made it sound like crossing paths with legendary Pokemon (and catching them) was all May's fate or something.

"But we're talking about Latios," May sidestepped. "Maybe he likes you better."

There was a pause, and she could imagine Steven making his usual thinking pose on the other end of the line. "For a battle? I would gladly oblige," he said.

She was thinking more to join, maybe after a battle, since Latios seemed more prideful than the playful Latias. Except that wasn't how most trainers thought of legendary Pokemon. ...Even Steven, the rock nerd extraordinaire, was more normal than her at this point. Groaning silently, May palmed her face.

"But if the true identity of that enigmatic stone is the Soul Dew after all," Steven went on, "I will give it to you when I return. Of course, Latias won't be able to hold both the Soul Dew and her Mega Stone. You'll have to choose one."

"...Thanks," May sighed.

So her souvenir would be a rock. Great. Priceless or not, she would have preferred a Rage Candy Bar.

~.~.~