Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

I realize I misspelled Brendon's name in the first two chapters. Luckily my coauthor Lyra Sprinkles pointed that out to me. The problem is I would rather finish the story before fixing the mistakes unless my coauthor says I should do it now.

Brendon's POV

I couldn't slip out my father was the fifth gym leader Norman. The last thing I needed was May and her father comparing me to my dad. Just like people had been doing all my life.

Speaking of which, I was now in Petalburg City, on my way to see him.

I pushed open the door to the gym, my heart pounding wildly.

There he was. He was my father Norman and he was with a frail looking green haired boy.

"Ah, Brendan!" Dad walked up to me. At first I thought he was going to give me a hug, but he simply reached forward and slapped me on the back. "I'm surprised you managed to get here by yourself! How's the move coming along?"

"Great," I replied, trying not to roll my eyes. Of course my father didn't think that I could walk a few miles to get to this city. That was so like him.

I glanced at the boy next to him. He looked too sick to be challenging a gym. "I got a Pokémon and a Pokédex," I added.

"Not bad," Dad nodded. I could tell that he was impressed, even if he didn't sound like it. "Professor Birch must have seen something in you. Anyway, I'm glad you showed up. This is Wally."

Wally waved his hand at me and I waved back to the sick looking boy.

"Wally doesn't have a Pokémon yet, but he wants one." Dad explained. "Since you have your own Pokémon, you should go with Wally and make sure he catches one properly."

I sighed softly. What was up with my parents making me talk to strangers?

"Fine," I replied. I headed for the door. "Come on, Wally."

Wally followed me outside probably intimidated by me or just very shy but wanting a Pokémon he followed me anyways. We walked in silence for a while. I wasn't in the mood to speak, and he was too shy to say anything.

Finally, he spoke up. "Um...there's tall grass there...Pokémon hide in tall grass, don't they?"

I shrugged.

"Please stay here and make sure I catch one properly!"

Before I could say anything, Wally ran into the tall grass and released the Zizagoon Dad had given him. He sure didn't like to listen to people that were trying to help him. Before I could help him a wild Ralts jumped out prepared to fight him.

I couldn't help feeling a little jealous. I had spent a good amount of time training in that patch of grass before arriving in Petalburg, and I hadn't encountered a Ralts even once.

I watched as he lowered the Ralt's HP and quickly threw a Poké Ball at it. Not bad for his first time.

It was his first attempt catching a Pokémon and after his Pokéball binges he officially had his first Pokémon. I wonder if I can also catch my first Pokémon with flying colors.

"You did really well," I said, giving him a small smile. "You know. For someone who's so - uh - sick."

"Oh," he looked at the ground. "Well, I've been sick for most of my life, so I spend a lot of time indoors. I've seen plenty of people catch Pokémon on TV. So I kind of knew what to do."

I don't think it was television that helped him catch Ralts. It was most likely his hidden skills.

"I think you've got some talent there," I smiled. Wally wasn't a bad guy. He was pretty cool, compared to SOME people I know. "We should battle sometime. When you've trained your Ralts some more."

"Really?" his eyes shone. "That sounds awesome!"

Deep down I also thought it was awesome but I tried to keep my cool.

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged. "I've been battling brats lately, and you seem nice."

"Brats?" Wally frowned.

"Yeah. There's this girl who -" I stopped myself just in time, and shook my head. "Never mind."

"What girl?" he asked.

I sighed. Why did I keep talking about her?

I decided to tell him about May.

" She's someone who is kind of selfish and vengeful only because she lost her chance at capturing a Pokémon and blames me for that. I beat her in a battle and I'm certain she will go after me for that."

"She...doesn't seem very nice," Wally said sadly.

I could only roll my eyes at this. How sheltered was this boy? "Yeah, you think?"

"Yes," he replied, ignoring the sarcasm in my voice. "She's being really mean to you."

I shook my head. We were walking back to the gym, and Wally was holding his new Ralts proudly in his arms. "It doesn't matter. She thinks she's going to be the next Champion, and I'm gonna show her by taking her down."

" If I have the chance I'll try to be the next champion too. First I will have to grow so me and Ralts can get strong."

Well, Wally was a lot nicer than other Champion-aspirants I knew. He didn't brag about his skills (which I assumed he had) and he seemed determined to do well despite his obvious difficulties. I shook his hand firmly at the entrance to the gym.

"I'll be moving to Vedanturf soon," he said. "I'm going to live with my aunt and uncle. You should come visit sometime."

" I will. Although it would have to be after I get my first gym badge. I'll say hi and if it's not too much trouble some soup with lentil's in it please."

He laughed. "Yeah, sure. Thank you so much for helping me, Brendan. I know you had better things to do, and you probably already knew how to catch Pokémon without watching me to do it. But it meant a lot to me that you came."

"No problem," I nodded. "I'll see you around then?"

"Yeah," Wally replied. I watched him enter the gym to return the Zigzagoon.

So I had more competition in my fight for the title of Champion. Well, I wasn't going to back down that easily. May and Wally, watch out. Torchic and I are gonna kick your asses!