(Author's Notes)

Welcome to chapter five! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, haha. I just couldn't wait all the way until Dewford for Steven to appear, so I wrote a little scene for him in this chapter. Plus! I wrote a battle scene this time. It's certainly not something I'm used to writing, but hopefully it turned out okay. ^_^

Onto reviews~

lightxhope2124: You're absolutely correct! May's shuppet is named after one of my all time favorites; Kanato Sakamaki. DiaLovers is my favorite otome, actually! I cosplay from it as well. :3 I'm glad you enjoyed Wally's character! He's really easy to write, so I like coming up with his scenes haha! And yes, I though it kind of fit her personality for her to be afraid of something relatively harmless, like bug pokemon, but totally okay with super creepy things, like ghost pokemon. Thank you! :D

Having two Pokemon with her now certainly made May more than a little nervous. She kept them in their pokeballs as much as possible, but both were very clingy and seemed to be quite fond of her. That, at least, was something that May was thankful for. Her journey was only just beginning, but she felt that she had learned a lot about both people and Pokemon so far.

May sighed contentedly as she adjusted her sunglasses. It was mid morning, and the girl found herself at the beach outside of Petalburg. She was sprawled out on a white beach chair, dressed in her pale pink and lavender super frilly bikini, as her gray eyes stared out into the glittering blue ocean. She was quite relieved that today had been an overcast day, as May felt that the sun was the greatest enemy of her perfect skin. But, having applied an ample amount of sunscreen, she found herself enjoying the salty breeze and gentle waves more than even she expected.

"Hmmm… this is a nice change of pace." She murmured happily, as she closed her eyes and leant back. The bruise on her cheek was certainly still there, but she had removed the bandage and covered it with concealer earlier that morning. She began to drift off as her body relaxed — but she was jarringly brought back to reality when she realized something was blocking what little sun she had. May cocked an eye open, and what she saw left her blinking in surprise.

A silver haired man was leaning over her, his handsome features set into a rather bland expression. His sharp eyes seemed to be examining every part of her. Then, he smirked. But only slightly.

"I found you." He finally stated, and it was then that May realized he was rather strangely dressed for the beach. He was wearing an expensive looking custom suit, with a red ascot tied around his neck, and perfectly styled silver hair. Recovering from her shock, May sent him a suspicious glare. Sure, he was pretty, but that didn't matter much to her. Ever since her Father had changed following her Mother's death, May had decided she didn't need men in her life. Not that she really wanted women in it either, she just particularly hated men after what her father had done to her. During her school days, May had rejected many confessions from her peers, and she had become a pretty infamous heartbreaker amongst her classmates.

"And who the hell are you?" She asked sharply, crossing her arms beneath her chest. He looked bemused.

"A friend of Wallace's. He's told me a lot about you, so I had to seek you out myself when I heard you were nearby… I have to say, though, he was correct. You're really cute." He said flatly, as though he were commenting on the weather. He looked at her as though he were examining a rare artifact, and the curious expression in his eyes left May's eyebrow twitching as her frown deepened. This guy was really ticking her off!

"Wallace didn't say anything about you coming to…!" May grumbled, but she trailed off in shock, when the man suddenly leant into her neck and… strangely… began sniffing her hair.

"Hmm… he's right. You smell like strawberries." He whispered into her ear, as his nose tickled her neck. Panic welled through May's body and she quickly scooted away from him, her face red. She realized with a start that the queen of comebacks had somehow just lost all footing in this conversation. And besides that… how the hell did Wallace even know what she smelled like?!

"P-p-p-pervert!" She yelped, eyeing him suspiciously. The man chuckled absentmindedly. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he placed a hand beneath his chin.

"I think… I like you. Yes, I like you, May. Your reactions are interesting." He stated with a smirk at the confused, blushing girl, as if it were the most obvious thing he had ever said.

"Ha! O-of course you do! Get in line…" May huffed, turning her face away so that he wouldn't see how red it was. His smile widened.

"Well… I had best get going. The ship to Dewford should be here shortly. Until we meet again, Princess." He said with a little wave, as he turned and headed for the dock. May watched him leave with a frown.

"What a weird guy…"

"WALLACE, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" May yelled into her pokenav. On the other end, Wallace laughed nervously.

"What's wrong now?" He asked sheepishly. May growled.

"Some weirdo came up and started sniffing me at the beach! This is all your fault, why are you telling your weird friends where I am?!" She shouted angrily, as she marched through the Petalgurg woods. May was seriously ticked off at this point. She'd been wondering around the woods for over an hour now, and she'd come across so many bug Pokemon that she literally felt like crying from frustration. Not to mention, there was a kid waiting near the entrance who had audaciously challenged her, and being determined to strengthen her team, May had accepted for once. However, after he sent out a third Wurmple, May had been about ready to punch him in the face and leave it at that. However, now May found herself about halfway through the woods, and exhaustion was beginning to set in.

"Who?" Wallace asked in surprise. He had an inkling as to who this phantom sniffer was, but it shocked him nonetheless.

"Silver haired guy in an expensive suit."

"Wooow, I never would have expected that from him."

"Well he—"

"Oh! But, May, guess what?" Wallace asked excitedly. He was obviously eager to change the subject. May gave a frustrated breath, but Wallace continued happily.

"I was able to schedule a recording session for you in Rustboro, for that new song we were talking about!" He exclaimed, and May immediately perked up.

"Really?!"

"Absolutely!" He chirped, and he went on to give May the time and address for the session. It wouldn't be until the next day, so May knew she had plenty of time. After that, they said their goodbyes, and it wasn't until after she had hung up, that she realized Wallace had completely dodged her spite. She rolled her eyes at the clever man, but continued along the winding path that led through the forest.

As she came around a turn, May noticed a lanky man in a lab coat standing in the middle of the path, looking very confused. When he noticed her, he immediately approached.

"You there! Have you seen any Shroomish around here?" He questioned frantically. May honestly had no idea what that was, but she could only assume it was some kind of drug made from mushrooms, so she shook her head fervently and brushed passed him. She had no time to deal with anymore weirdos today.

However, she yelped in shock as a rather strangely dressed man appeared from the trees, and shoved her out of the way as he approached the man in the lab coat. May screeched sharply as she stumbled over a rock and fell rather unceremoniously down on her butt.

"I was going to ambush you, but of course you had to dawdle in the woods for forever." The man who shoved her shouted at the other guy. May growled and scrambled to her feet. She honestly didn't care about whatever was going on between these two idiots, but she certainly did care about beating this punk up for shoving her and dirtying her new skirt. Looking at him, though, she thought he looked pretty weird. He was dressed in blue and black, with a striped shirt and a strange insignia on his hat. He looked like he was in some kind of weird pirate gang or something, she thought.

"You! Devon researcher! Hand over those papers!" The pirate man demanded. May completely ignored his words, though, and stomped up to him. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down until they were on eye level.

"Look, douchebag, you don't go around shoving cute girls, because guess what? They shove back!" She shouted into his face, before shoving the shocked grunt hard in the chest. He stumbled backwards and gaped at her. Here was this short girl, dressed all in pink and decorated head to toe, telling him off in the middle of Petalburg woods. The man in the lab coat instantly hid behind her, latching onto the girl's shoulder.

"You're a trainer, right? Help me!" He shouted in fright. May rolled her eyes at this guy's spineless attitude. However, before she could say anything, the pirate man spoke up.

"What? So you're gonna protect this guy? No one gets mercy from Team Aqua!" He yelled, and May looked confused.

"Wait I don't—" But before she could finish, the Team Aqua grunt sent out his his Poochyena. The Pokemon charged her, teeth bared and mouth gnashing. May hurriedly sent out her Shuppet to intercept the attack. Her eyes narrowed as she repeatedly told herself that she had to be strong.

"Kanato, use shadow sneak!" May ordered, looking down at her pokedex to see her opponents health bar. Kanato growled lowly at the dog-like Pokemon, and a shadow crept up from behind the opponent, only to descend upon the Poochyena. She was unaware that ghost-type moves were not very effective against dark-types, but still, the move took out a decent amount of the Poochyena's HP, seeing as Kanato was a few levels higher. May found herself smirking as the Poochyena was ordered to use sand attack. He was planning to set her up, but she wasn't going to let them get that far. May then ordered Kanato to use will-o-wisp, and Kanato used his ghostly powers to summon a strange, purple fire. The Poochyena was then afflicted with a serious burn. The man growled in frustration and ordered his Pokemon to use tackle. The Poochyena charged Kanato, but it's body went straight through the grinning ghost Pokemon, and it it tumbled over itself. The next shadow sneak along with the burn they had earlier inflicted, had the Poochyena succumb to May and Kanato's power. Kanato hovered menacingly before the grunt, a smile pressed to it's black face. The man watched in fear as the ghost Pokemon drew nearer, prepared to protect his trainer. There was nothing else he could do, so he hurriedly picked up his exhausted Pokemon, and took off running.

"Don't think of getting into Team Aqua's way in Rustboro! We'll take you out!" The thug shouted over his shoulder as he retreated.

"Whew, that was close! Thank you so much young lady, that ruffian didn't rob me of these important papers because of you!" The man exclaimed, clearly relieved.

"Hmph! He got what he deserved for shoving me!" May spat with a hand on her hip. In fact, she would have liked to have had Kanato use a shadow sneak on the grunt, but she quickly suppressed that thought. "But anyways… what is all this 'Team Aqua' stuff about?" May asked him. It wasn't really that she particularly cared, but she was now a little worried that she might run into them in Rustboro.

"You haven't heard? They're a vicious group of thugs that have been running amuck in the Hoenn region the last few months. No one's really sure what they're after, though…" The man explained, wringing his hands nervously. Suddenly, the man looked up in shock.

"WAIT! He said Rusboro! I better head back immediately!" He yelped, before shoving something into her hands and taking off running. May looked rather confused. Looking down at the weird machine he had left in her hands, she read on the tag that it was an "EXP Share", whatever that meant. Shoving it into her bag with a sigh, May brushed herself off and headed back out on the trail that led through the Petalburg woods.

Unbeknownst to May and her two Pokemon, a women dressed similarly to the man she had just driven off, lay hiding at the edge of the forest. The woman watched with narrowed eyes as May made her leave from the forest. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a pokenav, quickly dialing an all too familiar number.

"Mr. Matt… this is the Petalburg recon team checking in." She began, and a rather burly voice responded shortly.

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but… my partner was stopped by a girl. We were unable to retrieve the papers." She continued, her fists clenched.

"A girl…?" The voice on the other end mused curiously.

"U-umm, yes, her Shuppet was quite strong. And she had another Pokemon with her, as well." The woman nervously explained, and she was met with a dark chuckle on the other end.

"Forget about the girl for now. I want you to continue investigating the energy we detected." The man barked, and the clear order had the woman at attention.

"R-roger, sir!" She stuttered, before hurriedly hanging up the device.

"Phew…" She mumbled worriedly, relieved that she hadn't gotten yelled at.

"But that girl… I wonder if she'll be a problem…?"