Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon

This chapter has three parts to it. Your going to see what those three parts are but know that two out of three of them have to do with Wally and his relationship with May. Thank you Lyra Sprinkles for helping me write this chapter.

May's POV

I decided to another check before my battle against the Mauville Gym.

Super Potions? Check. Revives? Check. Paralyze Heal (it WAS an Electric-type Gym, after all)? Check. Strong, well-balanced team? Well, Swellow would be at a type-disadvantage, but both Breloom and Marshtomp resisted electric attacks. Check.

I retied my bandanna and exited the Pokémon Center. Mauville Gym, here I come!

Hopefully this would be a gym battle Brendan didn't beat before me. I entered and saw a bunch of electrical fences with people, mostly musicians, standing near them.

When I walked to the Gym, however, I was surprised to find two people, a man and a boy with green hair, standing outside and blocking the entrance. They seemed to be arguing.

"Please, Uncle!" The boy begged, with his hands joined together. "Please let me challenge the Gym and show you how much stronger I've become!"

"Wally," the man said patiently. "I know you're strong, but don't you think challenging the Gym might be pushing it?"

Okay, this was ridiculous. They were blocking the entrance to the Gym because of their silly argument, and I needed to have my Gym battle NOW, before Brendan got here. I stepped forward to tell them off, but the green-haired boy, Wally, beat me to it.

"You!" he said, running forward to grasp my hand. "Please battle me! Let me show my uncle how strong I've become!"

" My name is May not You, but I accept your battle."

"Wait," Wally let go of my hand and studied me up and down. "You're May?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Yeah..."

"That May?" he asked.

"What other May is there?" I replied. Then I realized something and said, "Why, have you heard of me?"

"No!" he cried, shaking his head. "Nope! Not at all! I certainly haven't heard about you from Brendan and don't know anything about you being mean to him all the time!"

I rolled my eyes. "Right...well, do you want to battle or not?"

"I do!" he said. Then with a deep breath, he released his first Pokémon. "Go, Ralts!"

Marshtomp would be too strong for him and Breloom would be at a type advantage since Breloom's are also fighting types so I used Swellow.

"That's...that's a, um, really strong Pokémon," Wally said hesitantly. He closed his eyes and opened them, looking more determined than ever. "But so is my Ralts! We're going to beat you!"

From what I had gathered so far, Wally was friends with Brendan, who had apparently told him all about me. But I liked Wally. He didn't look very strong, but he seemed like a good kid who cared for his Pokémon very much.

"You talk big," I said, smirking. "But can your Ralts back it up? Swellow, Double Team!"

"Lucky Chant!" he cried. Lucky Chant shielded his team from critical hits, and using it on the first turn was a smart move. Apparently I had underestimated him.

" Aerial Ace!" Swellow moved at its fastest speed to deliver damage to Ralts.

"Did you see that, Uncle?" Wally said excitedly, turning to the man who had been watching our battle. "May is a very strong trainer! If I can beat her, it means I'm good enough to challenge the Gym!"

"Don't get too worked up, Wally," his uncle replied, looking worried. "Think about the Gym later. Try to focus on the battle now."

"Right!" Wally said. "Ralts, use Disarming Voice!"

Ralts echoed a sound that made Swellow flinch.

I gritted my teeth. The battle had been going on for a while, and Swellow had yet to do any kind of damage to Ralts. This was not good. It would be embarrassing for someone of my calibre to lose to someone like Wally.

Disarming Voice never missed, which meant that using Double Team was fruitless. My only option was to hit hard and fast. Luckily, Ralts's defense was low, so it wouldn't be too difficult.

"Aerial Ace!" I yelled again.

Swellow vanished from the battle but hadn't left. When Swellow appeared again Ralts was hit in that green helm. Wally and his uncle gasped in shock as Swellow hit Ralts hard, causing it to lose HP.

"Disarming Voice!" Wally cried again, but we both knew he was in a bind. From battling with him for a while, I had learnt that Ralts's only moves were Teleport, Disarming Voice, Lucky Chant and Magical Leaf. Disarming Voice was the only move that would damage Swellow moderately, but with Swellow's bulk, it would take a while to lower its HP.

The battle would be over before he knew it.

"Aerial Ace!" I commanded once again. It was a move that never missed, and it was working well for me so far.

" Ralts, try using magical leaf on Swellow."

And there it was. My chance to finish off this battle and prove to Wally I was much stronger than him or Brendan.

Wally had made a big mistake by using Magical Leaf. Swellow was a Flying-type, which meant that it was resistant to Grass-type attacks. The attack barely hit Swellow.

"Swellow! Let's finish this battle with one last Aerial Ace!" I ordered.

Was it me or did Swellow's last Aerial Ace shine brightly before Swellow hit Ralts. Ralts went down and we won the battle.

"We did it! Great work, Swellow!" I said happily, holding out my arm as a landing post for Swellow. Swellow landed on my arm and cooed happily. It leant forward for me to stroke its neck, which I was only too happy to oblige.

"Good job, Ralts. You did well," Wally returned his Pokémon back to its Poké Ball. I thought he would be sad that he lost, but he turned to me and smiled brightly. "You're so strong, May! I hope that Ralts and I can be as strong as you someday!"

"You wish, little boy," is what I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to sound mean to someone who already thought I was. "You were pretty good too." I said instead.

After that Wally listened to his uncle and would wait until he was truly ready to challenge the gym leader.

"You're right, Uncle," Wally said. "I'm not ready to challenge the Gym yet. I'll train and get stronger, just like you said. But May's pretty great, isn't she? She's so strong! I'm going to be strong like May and Brendan someday!"

Hearing my name mentioned in the same sentence as Bren-dumb almost made me gag.

"Great? May is fantastic!" Wally's uncle said enthusiastically. He reached out to grasp both of my hands.

"Okay, this is completely normal and totally not creepy," I said under my breath.

"May, it's an honor to meet you," he continued. "You're a good trainer and you get along well with Wally. Would you consider going out with him sometime?"

"What?" I said loudly.

"Uncle, no!" Wally cried.

" Never mind. I just thought you two had a little moment when you battled." He said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Moment? What are you talking about?" I asked. "I just met him. Literally."

"Well, yes, but," his uncle replied, stroking his chin. "You two look so good together! And you have so much chemistry!"

"Please excuse him," Wally said, sounding embarrassed. "You see, I don't get out much, and my uncle gets excited whenever I meet someone. I'm sorry."

"I guess this is my cue to leave," I said awkwardly. "Um, if you two don't mind moving, I'd like to enter the Gym, please."

" Be my guest," Wally said stepping to the side.

I was finally going to challenge my third gym leader.

"We should get going, Uncle," Wally said. "Ralts needs to rest before we begin training again. Good luck, May."

"Let's go, Wally," his uncle agreed. "Oh, and May? If you're ever in Vedanturf Town, please drop in. We'd love to have you for dinner. Just ask for Wanda's house."

Great. Now I had one more thing to dread, in addition to Team Aqua. I was so not looking forward to this.

"Sure," I said, with a fake smile plastered on my face. "I'll be there. Nice meeting you, Wally. You too, Mr Wally's Uncle. Take care of yourself."

When they were FINALLY GONE, I heaved a sigh of relief. I quickly healed Swellow and entered the Gym.

I ran into people who use electric types and an electric fence trying to make my journey to the gym leader like a puzzle.

Apparently I had to step on the switches on the floor to toggle the gates.

The Gym trainers weren't too hard. They all used either Magnemite, Electrike or Voltorb. Seriously, these people should think about mixing it up sometimes.

I defeated them all and finally approached the Gym Leader, Wattson. He was a huge, cheerful old man with a white beard.

Before I battled him though I had to heal my Pokémon because they all took some electrical attack in their battle.

"Alright, team. We can do this!" I whispered to my Pokémon. They were still inside their balls, but I knew they could hear me. "We're going to beat this old guy!" And we're going to do it before Brendan, I wanted to add.

When I had entered the Gym, I had noticed that Brendan's name wasn't on the list of certified trainers that was usually at the entrance. This meant that, for the first time, I was actually challenging a Gym before him. There was no way I could lose.

I had no idea why I was so obsessed with beating him. Maybe it was his stupid, smug face that kept pushing me whenever I trained. Maybe it was the fact that he was always one step ahead of me. Maybe I just had a problem.

Either way, he was going down. Eventually. First things first, I had to beat Wattson.

Wattson had his back turned to me. He was staring up at some big blue electric spark thingy. I waited patiently for him to notice me. When he didn't, I cleared my throat loudly.

" My name is May from Littleroot Town and I challenge the Gym Leader to a battle."

"What? Did you seriously get through all my rigged doors?" He screamed loudly, interrupting me.

"They weren't difficult," I replied, shrugging.

"Now that is amusing," he laughed. "Making traps and battling trainers like you is what I live for! I, Wattson, the Leader of Mauville Gym, shall electrify you!"

"Bring it on!" I replied. With a flourish I released my first Pokémon. "Breloom, go!"

"Go, Magnemite!" Wattson cried. He released the Magnet Pokémon, an Electric-Steel type, just like I'd expected him to.

" Breloom, hit his Magnemite with your Mach Punch."

Mach Punch was a priority move, and it hit Magnemite before it could move. Since it was super effective, it caused considerable damage to it. However, Magnemite immediately followed up with Thunder Wave, which paralyzed Breloom.

Oh man. Paralysis would slow down my Pokémon by 50%, and it might also cause them to miss some of their attacks. Now what do I do?

I would risk my new Pokémon being attacked so I commanded Breloom to use Mach Punch.

I figured that as long as Breloom spammed Mach Punch (which was pretty much the only Fighting-type move it knew), we had this. The second Mach Punch, luckily, also damaged Magnemite. Wattson gritted his teeth.

"Volt Switch," he ordered.

Oh no. I hated this move. Volt Switch meant that Magnemite would shock Breloom, before switching out for another Pokémon. And just as I was about to do some real damage too.

As expected, Magnemite returned to Wattson after attacking and was replaced by Voltorb.

Marshtomp would be better against his Pokemon then Breloom since fighting type moves weren't super effective against it like ground moves were.

"Come on, Marshtomp," I whispered to my Poké Ball. "You can do this. I believe in you." With a nod of determination, I released my Pokémon.

Marshtomp appeared with a loud cry, and struck a fighting pose. I could see Wattson tense up, and I grinned. I had found his weakness. Ground-types.

Gym Leaders weren't allowed to change Pokémon so he knew he lost this battle.

" Marshtomp, use Mud Shot!"

"I'm not going to go down without a fight!" Wattson said cheerfully. "Voltorb, Rollout!"

A powerful blast of mud hit Voltorb in the face. Had this not been a Gym battle, I would have laughed at how comical it was.

Voltorb tried to counterattack with Rollout, which fortunately didn't do much damage. Wattson was sweating by now; even though the smile never left his face, I could tell that he was regretting underestimating me.

"Let's finish it off, Marshtomp," I yelled. "Mud Shot, let's go!"

Marshtomp shot another volley of mud, while Voltorb launched into its second turn of Rollout.

How a small ball like it could take so much ground damage was beyond me.

"Again!" I yelled.

Before Voltorb could begin its third round of Rollout (each one doing more damage than the last), Marshtomp's Mud Shot hit it hard, causing it to faint. Wattson sighed in resignation.

"Alright," he said. "Return, Voltorb. Great work. Well, May," he addressed me, "looks like you're stronger than you look. You leave me no choice. Magneton, go!"

Wattson released his Magneton, which was basically three Magnemite sticking together and calling themselves a new Pokémon. It certainly didn't look intimidating.

But if I remember following my father around it knows Levitate so ground type moves were useless.

I thought hard about what to do. I COULD try and keep using Marshtomp, since electricity wouldn't affect it much, but that would make this battle a lot longer that it should've been. Think, May, think! What should I do now?

Then I remembered. I still had my Breloom, even though it was paralyzed. During the first turn, in which Magneton used Magnet Bomb on Marshtomp, I used a Paralyze Heal on Breloom.

Before Magneton could use Magnet Bomb again, I released Breloom back on the field.

" Breloom jump before Magneton hits you with Magnet Bomb!"

Breloom gracefully jumped in the air, missing the attack by a long shot. Wattson groaned loudly.

"Magneton, let's try again!" he said. Magneton readied itself for another Magnet Bomb.

"Breloom, Mach Punch!" I screamed.

Paralysis didn't stop Breloom from punching Magnetron in its upper head.

"Good work, Breloom," I said. "Let's try it again, shall we? Mach Punch!"

"Volt Switch!" Wattson cried. Breloom hit Magneton hard before it returned back to Wattson, sending out Magnemite instead.

"We're going to take them both down the same way, Breloom," I yelled. "Mach Punch!"

This time though paralysis stopped Breloom from throwing a Mach Punch at Magnemite.

"Breloom, you okay in there?" I asked. Breloom nodded stiffly. I could tell that it was in pain, and I didn't want to exert it any further than I should.

I pulled out another Paralyze Heal from my bag and quickly sprayed it on my Pokémon. "This should do the trick," I said.

Although Breloom had to skip a turn and endure Magnemite's annoying Volt Switch again (during with Magneton was sent out), it persisted. When it finally got its mobility back, it grinned at me proudly and punched the air.

"Your Pokémon's a tough one, alright," Wattson said. "But so are mine! Magneton, use Magnet Bomb!"

A move entirely steel type was shot out of Magneton ready to explode at Breloom.

"Mach Punch!" I yelled. I knew that I was spamming Mach Punch, but I didn't care. It was the fastest way to end the battle.

With lightning speed, Breloom jumped up to Magneton and punched in. Hard.

My eyes widened as Magneton's HP decreased considerably, and kept decreasing until it was zero.

Critical Hit?

"Yes!" I screamed, jumping up and down. "Great work, Breloom! We defeated Magneton!"

Wattson sighed and shook his head. "I still have one more Pokémon left, you know. Magnemite, go!"

I wasn't afraid of Magnemite. It couldn't hold a candle to the power Breloom has.

"Okay, Breloom," I whispered. "It's already at low health, we just need to finish it off. Are you with me?"

"Breloom!" Breloom nodded with determination.

"Ready?" I said. "Mach Punch, let's go!"

Yeah, I really needed to teach Breloom some new Fighting-type moves.

It didn't matter right now because Breloom punched Magnemite and it fainted.

"We did it! We won! Yay, Breloom, you did so well!" I jumped in the air and hugged my Pokémon. Unfortunately, Breloom's Effect Spore hit me, and I began to get drowsy.

"Wahahaha!" Wattson laughed loudly, his belly heaving. "Looks like I lost! Great work, kid. Here," he placed a shiny blue and gold pin in my palm. "That's the Dynamo Badge. Oh, and you can have this too!" He gave me a TM, this one for Volt Switch.

"Mmm," I said sleepily. "'So nice of you, Wattson. Thanks."

"I swell with optimism, seeing a promising young trainer like you!" he said.

"That's nice," I said, with my eyes closed. "G'night..."

"Wait, what?"

Wattson watched with his mouth open as I fell asleep on the floor of the Gym.

Time skip

A few days later, I was in Vedanturf Town, standing outside Wally's house. Since his uncle had invited me over for lunch, I couldn't refuse (no matter how much I wanted to).

"Ah, May!" Wally's Uncle opened the door and greeted me. "Come in, come in! Everyone is looking forward to meeting you!"

I would have to say I was looking forward to meeting everyone in this house to.

"Thank you for having me over," I said with a small bow. I handed him the basket of berries I'd brought with me. Truth be told, I'd rather be training to kick Brendan's ass than having lunch with the Green Hair family, but they were still kind enough to invite me over. And despite how difficult I was (which was a lot), I never forgot my manners around old people.

"Have a seat," he said, guiding me to the couch in the small living room. "And some lemonade." He handed me a glass, which I accepted.

"I'd like you to meet my family. This is my wife," he said, introducing me to Wally's aunt. "This is my daughter, Wanda. This is her boyfriend, Riley. And, of course, you know Wally!"

I bowed at everyone around me, except for Wally. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"Everyone, this is May," Wally's Uncle said happily. "She's going to be Wally's future wife!"

Unfortunately I had chosen that very moment to take a sip of lemonade. I spat it out in shock.

"WHAT?" I said loudly.

My surprise shock didn't seem to stop their pretensions of me marrying Wally.

Uncle Green Hair blinked at me innocently.

"I don't see what the big deal is," he said. "You like Wally, don't you?"

"NO!" I yelped. "I mean, yeah, he's a sweet guy and all, but -"

Everyone went "awww" at the same time. However, Wally and I turned scarlet.

"See?" Uncle Green Hair said. "I told you they were perfect for each other!"

Okay, this was getting ridiculous. But before I could open my mouth and give them a piece of my mind, Wally spoke up.

"Excuse me," he mumbled, and rushed out of the house.

I felt bad for Wally now. Hearing his uncle talk about a thing that was clearly idiotic must have been upsetting for him.

"I should go talk to him," I mumbled, itching to get out of that house and away from all the crazy people.

I made my way outside, keeping my eyes peeled for Wally. It was really hot in Vedanturf Town, but the air was fresh and clean. Something about this place was so peaceful and tranquil that I felt like I was back in Littleroot.

I could see why Wally lived here. He clearly had a medical condition, and he probably lived with his relatives in the hopes that the clean air would improve his health. And he obviously had a lot of other problems too, such as dealing with his family and having Brendan for a friend.

Poor guy. I felt really bad for him.

Just then, I spotted a mop of green hair outside the Rusturf Tunnel. Wally was sitting outside it, with his back leaning against the wall and his arms circling his knees. I walked over to him. He either didn't notice me or chose to ignore me, because he was silent as I sat next to him.

"Hey," I whispered.

" My family don't know anything about me and are completely driven mad by hormones." Wally said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I didn't want to pry, but I felt that getting him to talk about it would be a lot better than sitting here in silence.

He sighed loudly. "I've always been sick. I've had this condition for as long as I could remember. I couldn't play with the other kids when I was little because I was too frail to go outside."

I nodded at him, urging him to go on.

"Everyone always had Pokémon with them," he continued, drawing circles in the dirt with his finger. "I grew up watching everyone have fun with their Pokémon, and I so badly wanted one for myself. So when I was old enough, I went to Norman and told him that I wanted a Pokémon."

"Who's Norman?" I asked.

" The Gym Leader who lives very close to me. He's Brendan's dad and is a very nice man."

"Wait," I said slowly. I could feel the dots finally connecting in my brain. "Brendan's dad...is a Gym Leader?"

"Yeah," Wally stopped drawing in the dirt to look up at me. "You didn't know this?"

"I, uh..." I was silent for a moment. Finally, I shook my head, saying. "No, it doesn't matter. Go on."

"Anyway," Wally continued, adding features to his drawing. "Norman asked Brendan to help me catch a Pokémon. That's how we met."

"Huh," I said.

"It's...all thanks to Brendan that I'm here so far," he continued, a faraway look in his eyes. "I was just a weak little boy who'd never been outside. But Brendan...he showed me what is was like to be with Pokémon and love them. To put your faith in them and battle, both of you growing strong together. I have two Gym Badges so far, and I couldn't be happier. I owe it all to him."

All Brendan ever showed me was I could be a loser or I could be the Pokemon Champion and it was all because of him.

"I feel like we're talking about two different people here," I joked. "Ï mean, the Brendan you know is really nothing like the Brendan I know - an inconsiderate jerk who's so full of himself and always makes fun of me..."

Wally sighed. "Yeah. From what I could tell, he feels the same way about you. But I dunno, now that I know you and battled you, you seem like a really cool person. I feel that you two just got off on the wrong foot, and you need another chance to know each other better."

I was quiet. There wasn't anything wrong with what he was saying, but the question was, did I WANT to get to know Brendan better? Did I want to give him that chance?

"Anyway," he continued, looking up at me. "I'm sorry about my family. They can be overbearing at times, but they don't mean harm. I know that they love me and just want me to make new friends. I hope they didn't annoy you too much."

" No, no...if I'm annoyed with someone it's because I say something to them and they act like a brick wall or they just don't think I'm smart enough to understand what their saying."

"I understand," he nodded. "Sometimes it feels like no matter how much I tell them to stop, my family doesn't listen to me. And then they say that they're only doing what's best for me."

I patted his hand. "You're a good kid, Wally. As long as you work hard and have your Pokémon by your side, you'll be okay. You're a strong Trainer - I know you're going to make us all proud someday."

Wally smiled at me shyly. "Thanks, May. And although I hate my family trying to set me up with every girl they see...I don't mind if it's with you."

Woah. Hold up. This was going into dangerous territory. I stood up. "We should get back," I said, trying to change the topic as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, you're right," Wally rose to his feet, dusting dirt off his butt. "Let's go."

As I walked back to the house, I couldn't help thinking about Brendan. Was he really as nice as Wally said he was? Maybe the reason he was so insufferable wasn't completely his fault - maybe I was to blame, too.

Whatever it was, I would have to see for myself the next time I saw him.