(Author's Comments)
I can't believe we've made it to chapter ten! I am so happy that you guys seem to be enjoying the story, you're comments really inspire me to keep writing! In this chapter, May takes on another gym. I know she may be on a winning streak now, but don't worry, her share of troubles are coming. ;)
Anyways, onto reviews! A few people left multiple reviews on different chapters, so I'm going to try and respond to all of them in one for those. ^^
lightxhope2124: I'm glad you like it. :) And yeah, I intentionally made Wallace really creepy and weird because, honestly, he came off that way to me in the game haha. Thanks for reviewing!
organizationkhII: Haha, I'm sorry you think Steven is a creep, but honestly this is just the personality I imagined when playing the game haha! Personally, I adore it, he's totally my type. xD And, yes, I agree! Wallace just seems like such a creep in the game. For that reason alone, I knew I HAD to include him as a major role holder in this story. He's just too entertaining!
Autumn-trot: I'm really glad you're enjoying the story! I actually haven't read any other ORAS fanfics, so I didn't really know that most people preferred Torchic for May. For me, though, Treeko was the obvious choice. I just love Sceptile! And I'm very glad you like May's character, she is really fun to write haha~
The sun was bright in her eyes, as May stepped up onto the stage. Everything seemed to slow down, and she found herself looking out over the crowd that had gathered to hear her perform. She felt like she couldn't hear anything; like she was on the outside looking in. The bright lights seemed to blur together, and not a single sound could pierce the bubble of calm around her. May had been training for this all her life.
This moment had been May's dream ever since she was a little girl. She distantly remembered how her Mother had eagerly cheered her on, as she sang loudly at the dinner table every night when she was a child. May, however, also remembered how hard it had been to get to this point; how much of a struggle it had been to get away from her Father and pursue her dreams. But, yet, here she was, facing the crowd with pride in her heart. May smiled.
Wallace had been right — the crowd was small; by her estimation, there were about thirty or so people in attendance. Considering the concert had been so impromptu, and that May wasn't a particularly popular artist at this point, it was a good turn out, she felt. May found herself breathless at the very thought that these people, these very people, had all come out to hear her sing — it was an exhilarating feeling pumping into her veins as the crowd cheered her on.
And just like that, the bubble burst. A myriad of sounds and sights bombarded her senses, but rather than being overwhelmed, May found herself bursting with an energy that redoubled that of the crowd. She jumped into the air with a delicate hand raised up high. May winked cutely, and greeted those in attendance exuberantly.
"ARE YOU READY?! Let's goooo~"
"Well, how do you think she did?" Wallace questioned Steven perkily, as the concert came to a close. Both men had opted to watch the concert from a monitor in the small backstage area, rather than mix with the crowds outside. This was largely because both men were quite, well, infamous around Hoenn — though in completely different circles, naturally.
"Hmm…" Steven mumbled, but he didn't seem particularly inclined to answer his friend any further, as May's figure darted off the stage, and she walked into the room, clearly exhausted.
"And there she is!" Wallace greeted happily, running up to the girl. "You did a splendid job, dear!" He exclaimed, grabbing both of her hands in his own. May smirked.
"Heh. Was there ever any doubt?" She commented smugly, quickly wrenching her hands away from him. Though her words were confident, the crazy night before was still fresh in their minds. Wallace and May had been up nearly all night prepping for the concert, though you wouldn't know it by looking at either of the peppy duo that morning.
"Well, there was that one point where you missed that particular note, and of course, you almost tripped that one time, though it was hardly noticeable I promise. Still, very good first try!" Wallace chirped happily, and May shot him a glare. That was how Wallace always was though, and she knew it all too well. He was always highly critical, especially of her, it seemed, though somehow he always managed to say it with the sweetest of smiles. May sighed in exhaustion as Steven approached the pair.
"So what will you be up to now? I'm assuming you'll need some rest before—" Steven began, but May interrupted him with a playful grin, and a hand placed on her hip.
"No rest for the wicked! I'm off to the gym now. I have to leave Mauville early tomorrow morning, anyways." May explained, picking up her bag from the table behind the two guys. She then waved them off and disappeared into the changing area to prepare for the gym.
"Later, losers!" She called over her shoulder. Wallace chuckled.
"She has really come a long way since I first met her." He commented, and Steven arched an eyebrow at his comment.
"Has she changed a lot?"
"Well, not personality-wise. But she was very broken when I first met her, to the point that I was worried that any of this would come to fruition… but things are moving smoothly now!"
May yawned absentmindedly, as the glass doors to the Mauville city gym slid open before her. She passed through a reception area, where she showed her ID, and then the girl was ushered into the next room. She entered into a small, dark room, that was illuminated only by bright, electric currents that were steady enough to block her path. May found herself momentarily hypnotized by the pulsating red and blue lights that flashed before her. She smiled faintly.
"Hah. Doesn't that seem a bit dangerous? Lucky I'm not dumb enough to fall into it!" May snickered, but she quickly shook her head and approached what looked to be the only official trainer in the room. He demanded a battle before he gave her any explanation, which of course was to be expected, and so May obliged. The battle was relatively quick, and May being the victor, she was awarded with information on how the gym worked.
"There are switches located in different places on the floors, find the right order to flip them in, and you'll progress to the next room!" He explained.
"So some of the gyms actually have puzzles? Cool, I guess." May commented with amusement in her eyes. Looking around, the red and blue switches were easy enough to locate, even in the dark, and May's first guess turned out to be the correct order. May smiled as the flickering electricity made a loud "Bzzzt!" sound, and popped out of existence. She then followed a small staircase up to the next room.
The next room proved to be a little more complicated, but very much more of the same. May navigated her way through the sort of electric maze, battling a handful of trainers with her newly-caught Skitty along the way. Before long, May found herself scaling another small staircase, but as she entered into the final area, she was greeted with a loud, booming laughter. An old man dressed in a rather tacky shirt, that made May's fashion senses cringe, stood at the other end of the room, smiling at her cheerfully.
"This guy is… the gym leader?" May deadpanned as she approached. She was looking forward to defeating this silly old man.
"What? You say you got through all my rigged doors?! Wahaha, how amusing!" The man practically yelled in her face. May rolled her eyes. She was too exhausted to deal with this guy's energy.
"Yeah, yeah, gramps. Ready for a fight?" May proposed with a smirk, as she crossed her arms beneath her chest. Watson laughed merrily.
"Then I, Wattson, the leader of the Mauville city gym, shall electrify you!" He called back to her, and promptly sent out his Magnemite. Glancing down at her Pokedex, May could see that the opponent was at level nineteen — nothing her freshly healed level twenty Skitty couldn't handle, she thought. May had been very impressed with Yui's fighting abilities that day; the Pokemon may have been cute, which is what initially attracted May, but it had clearly seen it's fair share of battles.
May wanted to play it safe, so she opened with a sing attack, and Yui's melodic voice lulled Wattson's magnetite to sleep. A couple of tackle and doubleslaps later, the Magnemite was down, and the old man released his next Pokemon; a level nineteen Voltorb. This time, the sing attack May ordered seemed to miss it's mark, and the Voltorb took the opportunity to charge it's energy. From there, Yui managed to land two doubleslaps, which did signficant damage, but eventually she succumbed to the Voltorb's charged electric shocks. Next, May released Kanato, and with a quck shadow sneak the Voltorb was finished. Wattson's next Pokemon was most certainly his strongest — a Magneton. It's three, dead-like eyes stared blankly at May and Kanato from across the battlefield, but May only felt exhilarated.
"Kanato, quick, feint attack!" May ordered confidently, and her Pokemon obeyed with speed. He approached the enemy, but quickly threw a sucker punch and hit the confused Magneton head on. The attack did significant damage, and a smirk curved it's way across May's freshly glossed lips. Wattson responded with a supersonic attack, but Kanato was too quick and evaded the move. One more fierce attack from Kanato, and May left Wattson's Magneton in the red, but this time, the opponents supersonic attack hit, and Kanato was left seeing double and stumbling around wildly. May bit her lip. Kanato just needed to land one more shadow sneak, and the battle would be theirs! She knew that Tsubaki's grass-type attacks would do little against a Magneton, but she was sure that victory was hers nonetheless.
"Kanato, listen to me, and focus as hard as you can! Just concentrate on those eyes, and you can hit it!" May ordered her Pokemon. Kanato looked up at her blearily, but nodded as his large eyes crossed. May's confidence encouraged the shuppet, and he peered through veils of confusion to gaze upon his opponent as accurately as possible. Then, he sucked in a deep breath and sent his shadows to do his bidding with a fierce shadow sneak attack. The Magneton floated weakly across the field, charging up for another attack.
May pumped a fist into the air excitedly, as the inky black shadows latched onto the Magneton's limbs against all odds, sending it's health bar into the negatives. With his last Pokemon defeated, the victory went to May.
"Wahaha! Fine, looks like I lost!" The old man practically cheered, and May found herself even further exhausted by the man's continued exuberance. Wattson happily handed May the Dynamo badge, and the girl couldn't help but smile as Kanato jumped into her arms.
By the time May left the gym, night had fallen over Mauville, and bright flouresant lights burned into her eyes as she waltzed through the indoor city. She planned to immediately head to the Pokemon center for some much needed rest, but a flash of blue caught her attention as she passed the northern exit of the city. Looking over, May noticed a small group of Team Aqua grunts talking quietly amongst themselves. On instinct, she snook in a little closer and hid inside the door of a nearby shop.
"So, next up, we're meeting the others at Mt. Chimney." A man told the two women he was with. One of the girls nodded.
"It's going to be a long walk along route 112 to get there." She commented drily. The other woman looked thoughtful.
"And the other group is getting the meteorite from that idiot in Fallarbor, right?" She asked quizzically. The other two nodded in affirmation.
"Well, we'd better head out then. We have to get to Mt. Chimney before daybreak." The man explained to his group, and after that, they made their leave of the city.
May stayed hidden for a few moments longer, her indecisiveness bothering her. She had already made a stand against Team Aqua… but were they really worth fighting, if she was risking not only her life, but her Pokemon's? She had fought them before because they antagonized her… but this was different. All that said, May hated backing down. That Archie guy and his minions really boiled her blood, and even though she didn't really know what she was fighting them for, she had the burning desire to beat them into submission. Either way, she needed to make a stance for her future. May clenched her fists as she left the store, and headed for the Pokemon center. Nothing could be decided until she got some sleep.
Wallace greeted her as she healed her Pokemon at the front desk. Apparently, Steven had been called off earlier for some kind of "duty" he had to attend to, but May didn't really care to question Wallace further on the subject. Wallace congratulated her on her victory over Wattson, and seemed eager to chat with her more. However, May tiredly excused herself, and headed back to her room for the night. As parting words, Wallace gave her this:
"May, dear, I trust that you will make the right decision…"