Hello, dear readers.

Thanks to all of you! This story already has 60 hits (59, to be exact), one favorite (once again, thanks, Murkrowfeather), and MY FIRST REVIEW! WOHOO! THANKS, QUOTA, YOU ROCK!

Ok, now that that's out of the way, here comes the next chapter. Enjoy!

Less than Legends, More than Myths

Chapter 4: The Four Youthful Friends

"Your Pokémon are going to be alright." assured the Nurse dressed in a pink dress and white apron, standing behind the counter. "As for your friend, I cannot say anything conclusive until the doctor gets here, but I don't think it's anything serious. It'll probably just leave a bruise for some time, but he'll be as good as new."

"Thanks a lot. I really owe you one." thanked the tall boy. "Oh, and thanks for Brendan too."

"I'm glad I could help. But I insist on knowing what happened. And I'll have to call your parents." the nurse said, her normally soft voice hardening.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I promise to tell you what happened as soon as Brendan's awake and I, and the rest of the gang, know the truth ourselves." replied the boy, waving his hand dismissively. "As for our parents, it's getting late. Don't you think that could at least wait 'till the morning?"

The nurse bit her lip, considering the idea. Finally, she sighed and said:

"Sure. But tomorrow without fail."

"Once again, thanks."

And with those words, the boy turned around and headed for the medical wing.

--XXXXX--

"So…" said the girl dressed in red. The person she was talking to, a smaller girl with a blue shirt and a skirt, didn't answer. She just kept looking at her lap, ignoring the food in the table in front of her.

"So…" tried May once more, with the same reaction.

"Answer me, dammit!" she shouted, finally losing her cool. The smaller girl immediately snapped her head up and cowered in fear.

"Sorry…" muttered May, embarrassed and a bit guilty. "But you gotta understand. I have no idea of what just happened there! Brendan could have gotten hurt, and more importantly, I could have gotten hurt! And still I understand a thing! It's so frustrating, not to mention… freaky!"

"I'm… I'm… sorry…" said Sara, looking at her lap once more. And then was back to silence.

"That's it? 'I'm sorry'? Well, I'm sorry, but I need more than that!" May shouted.

Sara was more than slightly shocked at her change. Back at the ruins, the older girl had been extremely kind and controlled, whispering to Sara that everything was going to be alright. Tears rose the young girl's eyes. Even after getting zapped, literally, for a complete stranger, May still had tried to comfort her. And all Sara did was cry. Stay silent or cry…

But now, May seemed different. She was a lot less controlled, more irritated. But then again, she had every right to be. Once the adventure was over, the older girl had had time to stop and think about everything that had happened. And her Pokémon were hurt, her fried was still unconscious, and the boy called Jake still hadn't appeared. After they had arrived at the Pokémon Center, he had taken Torchic's Pokéball, asked Sara if she had any Pokémon (to which the girl answered with a barely audible 'no'), and told the girls to go get something to eat while he took care of the rest. May had argued a bit, but she was starving and apparently Jake was Brendan's friend for much longer than she had been, so she ended up giving up.

Now, the girls were sitting at the cafeteria. Sara just wanted to leave, feeling like an outsider, but May had stopped her. They had gotten something to eat, and now here they were.

"What do you want to know?" asked Sara, looking up from her lap. After a brief moment of surprise, May smiled.

"Well, let's see… who were those guys?" she asked.

"The yellow ones… they were Team Thunder." answered the younger girl, trying to swallow through the annoying lump on her throat. May didn't seem to notice.

"The yellow-clad clowns? They were Team Thunder? Are they criminals like Team Magma and Aqua?"

"Yes… but they're recent. A lot more recent than those…"

"Okay…" said May slowly, beginning to notice that the younger girl was obviously not comfortable talking about that. She decided to change the topic. "So, why were they and Team Magma fighting?"

"Dunno." answered Sara, relieved about the change. "All I know is that deep inside that tunnel their something that Team Magma really wants. Something about an orb…" She shook her head. "Anyway, Team Thunder, being the selfish crooks they are, couldn't allow it's competition to get any head over them, so they set out to stop Team Magma. They also said something about the temple… I think they called it the Temple of Untold Tales, for some reason… I'm sorry, but that's all I remember…"

"It's okay. But why were you there?"

"It's a… long story." Sara's eyes began to shine with tears. "You see, my father… he was one of Team Thunder scientists. He had only been working for a short time when he… stumbled… upon some dark secret." The girl took a deep breath to steady her voice before continuing. "I don't know what it was. He never told me… but it was so big that he threatened to leave the organization and go to the police. He didn't even care if he went to jail himself, as long as Team Thunder was stopped…"

At that point, she couldn't hold it in any longer. Tears burst forth from her eyes, quickly crossing her cheeks before dropping on her plate. But she couldn't stop talking. Talking was a relief to the immense weight that was thrown upon her shoulders, and she couldn't stop herself, even amidst her crying. "They… killed him. They set our house on fire, and killed him! Daddy gave his life to save me then, but all I managed to do was to fall onto Team Thunder's hands and become a prisoner! I'm so useless!"

May stood silent, unsure of how to act in response to this emotional torrent. She was deeply moved by the girl's words, her spirit flaming up with rage and hatred towards those vile criminals. When she realized all the guilt and hatred to herself that Sara harbored, she reached out and impulsively hugged the smaller girl, causing the latter to stop, surprised, for a moment. Then, Sara let out all the suffering she had endured out. When she was done, she felt horrible, but inside herself she knew she would be much better the next morning.

"Thanks…" the girl muttered, looking at her lap.

"Sara." called May. A bit reluctant, the smaller girl looked at the red-clad girl's stunning sapphire eyes. "It's okay. And I want you to know that, if you want, you can always come with us. And I promise we'll keep you safe."

Overcome with emotion, Sara stood there, unmoving for a second. Then, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and smiled, a pure, simple and happy smile.

"Thanks. How can I ever thank you enough?" she asked.

"No need. It is our pleasure. Plus, it'd be nice to have some female company for a change. I mean, I've only been walking with Brendan and Jake for two days, but Arceus, can those guys get in your nerves!" replied May, and they both laughed. Then, Sara yawned, and both girls realized how tired they were.

"Man, being the good guys sure beats the hell outta you, doesn't it?" said May, more a statement than a question. Sara only nodded.

"True. You two should get some sleep." said a new voice. "You look like you'll fall asleep on your food."

The girls turned around, surprised, to see Jake standing near their table. May had never seen him looking so tired, but still some burning determination glowed in his eyes.

"How 'bout you? I mean, you look even more tired than we do…" the girl said.

"Don't worry about me. Even if I tried, I'm pretty sure I couldn't sleep. Plus, the night's still young." the boy answered. "I want to wait for the Pokémon to get better."

"And Brendan." added May.

"Oh yeah. Sure, him too." said Jake. Of course, no one believed he had forgot the smaller boy.

"We'll wait for him too." said the red-clad girl firmly.

"Bah! You can barely keep your eyes open. Stop arguing and go to bed willingly, or you'll go by force." replied Jake, and neither of the girls could tell if he was kidding. Sara shot May a glance, but the older girl just shrugged. Both of them yawned again, and Sara realized she really couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. May saw her and sighed before muttering a low "Fine…" and heading, together with Sara, to the room the girls shared. The boy just looked in silence, a smile on his lips.

--XXXXX--

"So, is everyone packed up?" asked Jake.

"What'd you think? It's past noon!" replied Brendan. "If everyone wasn't ready, he or she would be a very lazy bum."

"You're the one to speak." said May calmly. "You don't have any shoes."

"What?" the boy asked, then looked down at his feet. Sure enough, he had no shoes. "What the hell?"

May and Sara had slept in their room. When they woke up, Jake was already rested and ready, saying Brendan was up and was going to survive. They had gone to their friend, who was just leaving the medical wing of the Pokémon, and together ate breakfast. Sara told them the same thing she had told May, but she seemed calmer, more controlled. She hadn't even cried at all. Finally, the girls had asked the boys if it was okay for Sara to join them in their travels. Jake shrugged and said "Better four than three if we ever get pitted against a pack of Ursarings, I guess.", leaving the rest to figure out what he meant by that. Brendan had accepted as well, but couldn't contain himself from saying "Oh, two boys and two girls, walking around a forest at night… Man, am I glad that my father doesn't know about this! Or even better, I'm glad Jake's father doesn't know this. I swear he'd come here and personally tear each one of us apart! But maybe it isn't so bad… maybe some interesting stuff can happen to two boys and two girls around a forest at night…". That comment earned him a (very) painful slap from May and a small blush from Sara, but no one noticed the latter (although the same cannot be said about the former).

Nurse Joy then appeared and handed them back their Pokémon, demanded a complete tale of what had happened and insisted on calling their parents. Luckily, everyone quickly came up with some excuses and hurriedly left. The Nurse Joy, needless to say, wasn't very thrilled, but kept her mouth shut. But she'd keep one eye out for this gang…

Then, the four of them proceeded to get ready to head out, and Brendan just learned his shoes had gone missing, which led to the present argument.

"You don't even know where your shoes are?" asked Jake.

"Last time I checked, they were on my feet." the boy answered. "Why would someone take off my shoes while I'm unconscious?"

"Maybe their real owner found you and wanted them back." proposed Jake, shrugging.

"Oh yeah, we did get these shoes from that boy around here, didn't we?" said Brendan, more to himself than to others. The girls just stared at him.

"You don't wanna know." said Jake to them. "And I mean it."

"Anyway, I think I have a spare." continued Brendan, dropping his backpack to the ground and drawing another pair of (identical) shoes. The boy quickly put them on, closed his backpack and stood up once more.

"Ok!" he said. "Ready to rumble? Prepared to hit the road? All set to dive deep where no Relicanth lies?"

Jake and Sara laughed at that last sentence, while May just looked at them quizzically.

"Man, that's a good one. I haven't heard that since… well, since I was four." said Jake.

"Yeah! It's like, soooo old!" agreed Sara, before realizing she was almost shouting and closing her mouth, embarrassed

"Will someone tell me what that means, already?" asked May, getting angry. Boy, were these boys able to piss her off.

"Just forget it." said Brendan with a smile. "It's just an old expression. An oooold expression."

As they left the Pokémon Center and moved on towards Petalburg City, their next stop, no one saw the Nurse Joy duck hidden in a corner. Silently, the woman drew a cell-phone from her apron and dialing a number. When someone picked up on the other end of the call, the nurse whispered:

"Shelly? Yeah, this is Kate. I got some nice information for you, concerning Team Magma and the temple…"

--XXXXX--

The group of four moved through the road. They should be in Petalburg City in less than three days, if the weather permitted it. May was positively excited at the idea of seeing her father at his Gym, but was even more worried about the impression her new friends would cause. Which led to this argument.

"There's no way you'll all meet my dad." May said firmly. "Sara can pass of as a decent human, but you two certainly can't."

"Aw!" protested Brendan in mock hurt. "Now you're just being mean."

"Brendan, are you sure you wanna meet her father and have to explain the whole 'two boys and two girls' thing to him?" asked Jake.

"…"

"That's what I thought."

The two boys continued on with a useless and probably health-endangering chat while the girls slowed down a bit and allowed the rest of the group to move forward. When they were a safe distant away, May asked Sara:

"So, how are you holding up?"

"Me? Well, it's odd. You guys have been travelling for, what? Three days? And yet it seemed like you have been friends forever." the girl replied.

"That's nice… but you didn't answer my question."

"But I promise I will… as soon as I know it myself."

"What does that mean?"

"It's just that… these last days were so fast, I barely had time to think about anything."

"You'll have plenty of time now. Unless those things in front insist on being themselves. In that case, focus only on running away as fast as possible."

"Brendan doesn't seem to bad…"

"Oh, believe me, he's not the lesser of two evils. Although Jake isn't either. They're both equally… Hey, are you listening to me?" May snapped her fingers in front of Sara's face, who was completely oblivious to the older girl. She seemed to be looking at something in front of her, eyes dreamy and drooling slightly.

"What? Oh, sorry…" she muttered, returning her focus to her present conversation and looking at the ground so that May wouldn't see her blush. "Just lost focus there for a second…"

With a sigh, the girl kept on walking. The group slowly but surely made its way towards Petalburg City, and their adventure: encountering May's father and surviving to tell the tale.

--XXXXX--

The sky was already dark when the group found themselves on a decently-sized clearing and decided to stop for the night. May and Sara, but mostly May, decided they would cook that night. Brendan said he still was a bit sick from the punch he had so kindly been blessed with in the previous day, and as such wasn't hungry. Jake opted for a much simpler excuse, which consisted at growling at the girls if they ever came near.

Muttering some censored words about the boys, May started a little fire with her Torchic and tried to make some fried eggs on Jake's frying pan. That was a good deal harder than it sounded, for the pan had a deep dent where it had hit the Team Thunder member back at the Temple of Untold Tales. The fried eggs ended up having to be scrambled, because it was impossible to fry anything in that pan. Sara helped her as she could, bringing salt and plates and enduring the torture of having to eat the eggs (which were pitch-black by the time they were 'ready'). From a safe distance, Brendan and Jake laughed non-stop, more laughs coming forth each time one of the girls put a piece of egg on her mouth and tried to swallow it as quickly as possible in order not to feel the taste.

Finally, the meal was over, and Sara couldn't help but sigh in relief. May, deeply annoyed by everyone making fun of her cooking, said she was tired and angrily retreated back to her sleeping bag. Shortly after, Jake left for a walk, saying he'd be back before (too) long. And, for the first time, Sara was alone with Brendan.

"Sooo…" the girl said shyly, looking at the ground and twirling her fingers.

"So what?" asked Brendan.

"So… h-how have you met-" Sara gulped nervously, still looking at the ground. "-met Jake?"

"We've been friends since we were little kids. Or, as our parents called us, 'demonical, cruel, health-endangering parasites'. Ah, those were the times." the boy replied, looking at the stars from his bench, his arms behind him to provide support and a smile on his lips, the light of the fire reflected on his ruby eyes…

"Uhm, Sara?" asked the boy. "Sara? Sara!"

"What?" the girl said, snapping back from her thoughts. She realized she had been staring at the boy like a Mightyena staring at his next dinner. Blushing wildly, she looked at the ground once more, hopping that Brendan hadn't noticed her gaze.

"Why were you looking at me like a Mightyena staring at his next dinner?"

Well, so much for that thought. Sara's brain raced as she tried to think of an excuse that wouldn't completely embarrass her.

"Humn… well… it's just that… you see…" the girl muttered, still thinking. Brendan just raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, you have a way with girls." said a new voice. "You render them speechless. Literally. Or at least in May's case. For an hour and a half."

Sara lifted her gaze from the ground to see that Jake was back from his walk. With perfect timing, too. And maybe it was just Sara's imagination, or a trick of the fire's light, but the girl could swear she saw him wink at her.

"You still on that one?" asked Brendan. "Let it go!"

"Hmph, easy for you two say. You have no idea how boring it is to follow-"

"Stalk."

"-someone for almost two hours without hearing a word."

Brendan smiled. "Man, when was that? Two, three days ago? It seems like forever." he said.

"Oh wait!" continued Jake, ignoring him. An evil smile crossed his face. "You do know… remember Julie?"

Brendan's smile was gone quicker than a diving Swellow. "Shut up, dude." the boy said in a warning tone.

"Ah, so you do remember, huh? But then again, how could you forget? With all the-" said Jake, but the rest of his sentence was cut off by May, who was now sleeping in her back. The girl had suddenly turned around, still asleep, and shouted something that sounded like 'Guhmm blargh!", causing Jake to lose his focus. For the best, probably.

"Well, I'm off to sleep." muttered Sara quickly, enjoying the distraction. She had humiliated herself enough for one day, and with Jake back, she was feeling like an outsider again.

"Sure. G'night." said Brendan absently. "Sleep with the Gardevoir."

"Thanks…"

The girl retreated into Jake's spare sleeping back, which the boy always conveniently carried around. The last thing she saw before sleep overcame her was Brendan, talking and trading jokes with Jake, his laughter echoing through the air…

So, there it was. The four chapter of LtL, MtM (funny, I just realized that sounds like Little Mountain...).

I hope this chapter has relieved some of the drama from the previous two (if that kept on going, I'd have to change the story to Adventure/Drama...) and had some much needed comic relief. But it wasn't all fun either. Questions were answered, weren't they? Oh, and a little hint. Keep an eye out for Nurse Joy...

Thanks alot for all the readers, Murkrowfeather and Quota (who have inspired me beyond words)! And remember to R&R! And, of course, let me know if any mistakes are present, and I'll correct them (if I'm not to lazy).

And on this chapter we saw the first hint of romance... I hope I got the character's personallity right. And to all you Hoennshippers who only read this story because of the summary, I promise you it will be present. Sara having a crush on Brendan is just the first needed step towards my 'semi love square', as I like to call it. But you'll have to read to learn more...

Gotta Go With The Flow!
BlackShadowKnight