(Author's Notes)

I actually wasn't feeling very well today, so I had lots of time to write haha! This chapter turned out a little longer than the others, but I think that's a good thing. Anyways, this is probably one of the darker chapters in the story, but hopefully I explained things well enough that you guys can understand how Norman came to be the way he is in this story. I actually find it pretty sad myself. ;A;

On to reviews~

lightxhope2124: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, yaaay! :D Haha, well, my original plan for Norman was to make him absolutely deplorable, but I changed my mind a little bit when writing this, and tried to make him more understandable. Hopefully I succeeded! No comment on the Wurmple, we'll just have to see hehe~

KagamineRin02: I'm happy that you liked Wally! This chapter showcases a lot more of his cuteness, so I hope you enjoy it~ They are definitely linked in a way, so I hope this chapter has the explanation you're looking for. May will briefly participate in contests, but the main person who will be into contests will actually be one of the guys! Not going to say who though hehe. :3 DING DING We have a winner! Tsubaki Asahina from BroCon is Tsubaki's namesake. I'll be naming all her Pokemon after my favorite reverse harem/otome game characters. And yep, you'll have to keep reading to find that last bit out. ;)

forgot un and pw: Yes, you're absolutely correct! Tsubaki is my personal favorite from BroCon, but I also really love Iori and Azusa haha. Thank you so much! :D

Anyways, enjoy!

"How dare you show your face in this city again! I knew you were helpless, but I didn't know you were this stupid, May." Norman ranted to his daughter, as they sat in the living quarters located in the back of the Petalburg gym. May was sitting in front of him, her hands limp at her sides as she stared down at her lap. She bit her lip, unable to speak.

"Really, are you trying to embarrass me that badly?! May, look at me! Don't be a coward!" He shouted, and May hesitantly looked up at his angry face. There were so many things that she wanted to scream at him, but her words failed her. The gym leader sighed with frustration.

"Well, at the very least, you've come to your senses and returned home for good. You'll, of course, have to work in the gym a lot to make up for lost time." He stated, glaring at her. For the first time in months, May found herself able to look him in the eyes. This couldn't be happening! There was no way she could go back to that life.

"The first thing you'll be doing, is taking care of this kid that's been coming around lately. He wants me to help him catch a Pokemon, but it's completely pointless for the leader to do something so trivial, so today you'll—"

"I'm not staying." They were the first words that came out of her mouth since he had found her in the center earlier that day.

"What?" He asked sharply.

"I don't know what the Professor told you, but I'm only passing through. I began a journey with Tsubaki yesterday, and I have no intentions of staying in Petalburg." Her voice was steady as she stared into her Father's seething eyes, with her hand's clenched around her Treecko's pokeball.

"Are you kidding me?! With that weak little thing? I taught you better than that! First this singing nonsense, and now this?! No matter what I do, you're always going to be a weak little girl, aren't you?" He growled, leaning in close to her. May's brows furrowed.

"I will continue singing and…! We're… going to become stronger! We'll be… more than you ever could!" She finally shouted back, her feelings overflowing as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. She felt a strange, rebellious feeling welling up inside of her. Was this determination?

Without warning, Norman struck her hard across the face. He was so fast that May barely registered the hit until her cheek began throbbing. For a moment, she sat with her face turned to the side, shock written across her features.

"Why am I surprised?" She mumbled angrily. This was always how her Father ended his arguments — with violence. It seemed that was all he was capable of these days. She remembered well how, even when she was young, whenever she got in trouble, he would always turn to his Vigoroth. The Pokemon was always high strung, and he considered it training to let the Pokemon do the punishment for him. That was why she hated Pokemon so much — the look of joy in that Vigoroth's eyes when it struck her still terrified her at night. Norman wasn't always like that, though. It was ever since May's Mother died, that he threw himself into his training. He didn't seem to care about anything else anymore. She wished so badly that they could go back to the way things were; back when they were still a family.

Without another word, May placed a thin hand on her cheek, and she walked out of the room.

"That's right! Run away, like you always do!" He shouted after her, before reaching up and throwing a shelf full of books to the floor. The books scattered to the ground like a rain of fire, and when he stooped to the floor to examine the mess, a particular bookmark that had fallen from one of the pages caught his eye. He picked it up, and read the name of his wife, as it had been engraved into the metal.

"What happened to our family...?"

Wally couldn't keep the smile off his face as he strutted down the road that led to the Petalburg gym. Today was finally the day — the day he would catch his very first Pokemon! He had finally obtained permission from his parents to have one of his own, and even though they weren't ready to allow him to go off on a journey, he was excited to visit his relatives in Verdanturf town.

As the prominent, glittering gym building came into view, Wally sped up his pace and tried to quell the nerves wrestling around in his stomach. As he approached, though, the door to the gym slid open, and a girl walked out. For a moment, she looked as if she was going to burst into tears. However, as soon as she saw him standing a few feet away, her expression went blank. Then, she gave him a little smirk. As he looked at her, though, he realized with a start that this was the girl he had seen at the pond last night! He then noticed that she was injured — there was a dark bruise forming on her cheek, and a small bit of blood speckled her skin.

"A-are you okay?" He asked her with concern, as she turned to leave. She didn't seem inclined to answer, but as she walked away, a thought occurred to him. Was this girl Norman's daughter, May? The gym leader had told him this morning that his daughter would be helping him today. He quickly followed after her.

"Wait, please! Uh… are you May? I was told that—" He asked nervously. She paused and looked him over carefully.

"Ah… so you're the one who needs help catching a Pokemon?" She asked with a charming smile. He could feel the heat rushing to his face as he looked at her. But… was that a hint of sadness he saw in her eyes…?

"Y-yeah!"

"Alrighty then, let's go get you a Pokemon!" May said with a quick wink and an exaggerated hand gesture.

"My name is Wally… by the way." The teen mumbled a few minutes later as they walked side by side.

In all honesty, May wasn't exactly sure why she was helping this guy. Realistically, she should have fled Petalburg at the first opportunity, and never looked back. Thinking about it, though, she realized it was probably because of the way her Father had brushed Wally off. Seeing that… she wanted to do something her father couldn't — or rather, wouldn't before she left the city.

"U-umm… Are you sure you're okay?" Her companion stuttered as they walked along the path that led out of town. He was watching her with worried blue eyes.

"Of course I'm fine, quit worrying! Besides, we only just met. You shouldn't care." She said happily, between bouts of humming enthusiastically. Wally looked doubtful as he tugged on her skirt. Not only was she injured, but… there was something kind of sad about watching her. He wanted to help her, especially since she was going to so much trouble just to help him catch a Pokemon today.

"Please, at least allow me to treat you're injury! I brought a first aid kit with me." He said, digging through his bag. May looked away.

"You're really too nice… someone's going to take advantage of you someday. Maybe it'll even be me!" She chirped with a smile that was a little too bright. Wally couldn't help laughing. She was… really cute, he thought. He motioned to a nearby bench, and with a sigh she sat and he began cleaning the small wound on her cheek. May had to admit... it was a nice change having someone worry about her. However, she refused to allow herself to get used to it.

"Well… it doesn't look too bad. It'll probably take a week or so to heal fully, though." He commented, as he place a small bandage on her face.

"You mean I'm going to have this ugly thing on my face for a week?! UGH! I'm gonna need more concealer…" May complained with a pout.

"I still think you're really—" Wally began, but realizing what he was about to say, he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth as his face turned bright red, unable to speak further. May chuckled but gave him a deadpan look as she flicked his forehead.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." She said flatly, before getting to her feet. A moment later though, she turned to him with a smile and offered her hand.

"Now, c'mon, we've got to get you a Pokemon!"

Wally was overjoyed. After the two of them had reached route 102, May had led the green haired teen into the depths of the infamous tall grass. May insisted that it was pretty lame just to catch a Zigzagoon or Poochyena, so they had spent a good hour tromping around in the wilderness, searching for the perfect starter for Wally.

Eventually, the pair had come across an interesting Pokemon indeed — a wild Ralts made it's presence known to them just before they gave up, and a battle commenced. The capture had been a complicated process, seeing as both Wally and May were very much novice trainers, not to mention that neither of them had ever captured a Pokemon before. But, putting their brains together, the pair managed to use Tsubaki to weaken the Ralts just enough, and then successfully captured the little creature in a Pokeball! That harmonious third "click!" had them both cheering, and now they found themselves heading back to Petalburg underneath the afternoon sun. The little Ralts sat happily in Wally's arms, and May found the guy's grin a little infectious. Today had been an absolutely horrible day for her… but May felt comforted that at least something had come of it.

"Ah, that's my place!" Wally spoke up as he pointed to a large house that lay up ahead. May gave a whistle at the pretty place, and Wally laughed nervously. They stopped at the drive, and Wally turned to her.

"… What will you do now? Are you going on a journey?" Wally questioned, his eyes wide with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I'm certainly not staying here… I'll leave immediately." May said, looking off into the distance. Despite how she forced a smile, Wally could see her lip trembling, and he was left to wonder what exactly had happened in that gym before he came around?

"W-well… maybe we should… or we c-could, umm…" Wally muttered, and May arched a brow at him.

"C'mon, spit it out!"

"W-we should exchange pokenav numbers!" Wally exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly. May chuckled, with a hand on her hip.

"Seriously, you get all flustered asking that?" May commented with a smirk. Wally's face went bright red as he stared at his feet. May looked thoughtful.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt, haha." She concluded, pulling out her pokenav. They then exchanged numbers, and Wally gave her a wide grin.

"I… really hope that we get to meet again!" He called as she turned. May waved at him over her shoulder.

"Who wouldn't want to meet me again?" She shouted, before skipping off into the distance.

By the time May made it out of Petalburg, darkness was fast approaching. She knew she might have to face another awful night out in the wilderness, but to her, that was far more preferable to running into her father again at the Pokemon center. As the residential area of the city faded out, and route 104 began, May could feel tears prickling at the edges of her eyes. Part of her wanted to run back to Littleroot town right then and there and give up on all this; but she knew, that at this point, something like that simply couldn't happen. She was certain now that she had to prove her father wrong. She had to become stronger.

Suddenly, a commotion off to her right caught May's attention. Looking over, she could see a dilapidated old shack that strangely had the words "spooky" and "beware" spray painted in bright colors across it's windows. There was a group of three kids crowded onto the tiny front porch, banging on the glass door. Curious, she walked up behind them.

"What are you idiots doing?" She questioned, and they all shrieked with fright as they spun around to face her.

"Oh... it's just a girl." The boy in the group mumbled, and the two girls glared at May.

"We're trying to get the ghost to come out!" One of the girls shouted, the other looking a little spooked by the whole situation. Now that she thought about it, May remembered hearing legends of an old haunted house in the outskirts of Petalburg back in her school days. A thought occurred to her then.

"So... this place is abandoned, right?" May questioned, looking in one of the windows.

"Yeah, duh!" The boy shouted. May grinned as she saw that the inside was completely empty. Score! Maybe she wouldn't have to sleep outside after all! A ghost Pokemon or two certainly preferable to innumerable amounts bug Pokemon crawling around her whilst she slept, anyways.

"Later, suckers!" May shouted as she pushed the children aside and threw open the front door. Soon after, she heard the children loudly make their exit, and May was left alone in the old shack. She made a make-shift bed out of her clothes, and, after changing to a nightgown, nestled in for the night. She released Tsubaki from his pokeball and pulled out her pokenav. May browsed around the map function for a bit, planning out the next day in her head. It actually surprised her that there was a beach a few miles away from here, and since May had never seen the sea, this greatly excited her. Maybe that swimsuit she bought last year would come in handy, after all!

After an hour or so, May put away the device and tried to get some sleep. However, yet again, she found herself unable. She wondered vaguely why she hadn't met any ghost pokemon yet — was the legend a fraud? She sighed and rolled over. Without even thinking about it, May began to sing. It was a quiet little lullaby that her mother used to sing to her when she was little. Warm memories began to flood her weary mind as the lyrics left her lips.

Unbeknownst to the girl, or her sleeping Treecko, a little black creature appeared just down the hall from the room they were set up in, listening intently. At first, it quivered with fear, but as it listened to the gentle tune, it began to smile and drew closer. It was attracted to the sound of her voice, despite it's weariness. May didn't notice at first, not until her flashlight began to flicker, did she notice the little Shuppet hovering in the corner of the room. May paused her song, and the Pokemon looked startled, fully preparing itself for May to run from the room screaming and send her pokemon to attack it. Instead, May only smirked.

"So, you're the big bad ghost everyone's so scared of?" She mused, watching as it blinked it's big eyes in surprise. Despite herself, she actually found it kind of cute. May took out her pokedex and allowed it to scan the Shuppet.

"Shuppet grows by feeding on dark emotions, such as vengefulness and envy, in the hearts of people. It roams through cities in search of grudges that taint people." The pokedex spoke in it's ever robotic voice.

"Woooow, that sounds pretty cool!" May thought aloud with stars in her eyes, before laying back on her make-shift bed. Somehow... this pokemon didn't seem so bad to her. She certainly didn't find it anymore frightening than she now found Tsubaki, especially since it hadn't attacked or anything, like most Pokemon would have. The little Shuppet watched as the strange girl shut her eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep, it's gaze never wavering until the moment that she awoke the next morning.

That morning, May woke up relatively early. She managed to clean herself up a bit, and change into her swimsuit before heading out again. However, when she left and set out on route 104, she realized something was following her. Sure enough, the little Shuppet hovered beside her, grinning wildly.

"You... want to come with me?" She asked in surprise, to which the creature nodded happily. May laughed.

"Alright then! We've got a long road ahead of us! But what should we call you... Maybe Kanato?"