Present day: September 2nd (New Bark Town, Johto)

(May's POV)

I was thinking about my first mission, it seemed as if yesterday was the day I helped out Professor Birch get out of the laser beams. After a few days of helping with the overflow at the Pokemon Center due to a virus scare, I went back to participating in contests in Johto and won the Grand Festival later that year. Then I took a year off after that to help out Nurse Joy and to take a break from the contest circuit.

After I turned fourteen, I competed in contests in Sinnoh region and won the Grand Festival there. Then last year, I did Hoenn contests for a second time and won the Grand Festival in May. After that, I decided to take a break from contests and focus more on doing missions. It was hard doing both missions and contests, but I managed thanks to Max and everyone's help.

Max is still in his room, he just can't get himself to leave his technology. He does go on short journeys every now and then but stays at the Pokemon Center most of the time. After a year of doing missions, Max created a hotline so that people could call me for help directly and he invented several gadgets that helped me out on many missions. He also helps arrange my transportation around the world which helps a lot.

I was currently wearing my mission outfit of a red t-shirt crop top, black cargo pants, black sneakers, black and grey finger-less gloves, and my hair in a ponytail with my dog ears still left down. My hair was currently hidden in a helmet with goggles due to being a two-seater plane flying above Johto.

I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to the person in front of me, "Thanks for the lift Winona," I shouted gratefully.

She shouted back, "It's no problem, consider it thanks for helping me save Fortree City from Team Rocket a while back."

"It was no problem, taking down that robot was a piece of cake."

"We are directly above New Bark Town, you ready?"

I checked my parachute, "Yea."

Winona then flipped her plane and I fell out diving toward Professor Elm's lab. I pulled the ring to release the chute and guided myself to land next to the lab. After I landed and took off the chute and helmet, I walked inside to see that the lab was trashed and Professor Elm was trying to clean up the mess.

"Professor Elm," I announced making my presence known.

He then turned around and smiled gratefully, "Thanks so much for coming May," he said as he shook my hand.

"What happened here?" I asked as I looked around the lab.

His smile then turned to a frown as he looked troubled, "I don't know, I was in town getting some supplies when it happened."

"Was anything taken?"

"From what I can gather, all that was stolen was a rare pokemon fossil we were studying and all the starter pokemon, which is bad because I have a new trainer coming in today," he said anxiously while scratching his head.

I nodded and started looking around. I didn't find anything until I came across a long yellow orange hair on the table near where they kept the starter pokemon. Hmm….I think I know whose hair this is, but I better have Max scan it.

I called Max on my poketch, "Hey Max, can you do a DNA scan on this strand of hair?"

The scan tray slid out of my poketch, "Yea, just place it in the scan tray and I'll run some tests."

"Thanks Max," I said before continuing to look for more evidence.

After not finding anything else out of the ordinary, I then went outside and saw a set of tire tracks by a side window. I started looking at them more closely when Max called me back.

"The hair sample you gave me matched up to Cassidy from Team Rocket," he reported.

I sighed, "I figured as much, it was same MO. Steal a rare item, some pokemon and then use a car or vehicle to escape," I told Max tiredly. "I'm gonna investigate these tire tracks and see where they go, I'll keep you posted."

I turned off my poketch and started following the tire tracks. After a ten minute sprint through the forest, I finally heard voices.

"Yes!" said Butch excitedly. "The boss will be pleased with the fossil and these pokemon."

I hid behind some bushes as I saw Butch in front of the jeep fixing something under the hood while Cassidy was waiting impatiently in the front seat.

"Come on!" Cassidy said impatiently. "The cops will be here any minute, can't you fix this thing any faster Biff."

Butch glared at her, "The name is Butch and I'm going as fast as I can," he huffed in annoyance.

I sighed as I watched them bicker, Cassidy never could remember his name. I looked at the back of the jeep and saw a cage with the three starter pokemon in it.

"Skitty, come on out," I whispered as she appeared out of her pokeball. "Can you distract those two while I free the pokemon?"

"Nya," she said and went off to distract the bickering duo.

As she was distracting them, I crept in the bushes to the back of the jeep while taking out a bobby pin from my hair. I picked the lock and freed the pokemon before returning them to their pokeballs when I heard Skitty wail in pain.

"Skitty," I cried as she was hit with a Shadow Ball by Mightyena.

"Blaziken, let's go," I shouted as I threw his pokeball while running toward Skitty, "Use Sky Uppercut then Overheat."

As I got to her, I picked her up to see that she was knocked out so I returned her to her pokeball as Blaziken was fighting off Mightyena and Cassidy. I then heard a roaring sound of Butch finally getting the jeep to start.

"Cassidy let's go!"

"Mightyena return!" Cassidy shouted as she got in the jeep. Butch then stepped on the accelerator and started driving away.

I sighed as I returned Blaziken, the bad guys never make this easy. I pushed a button on my poketch causing my shoes to turn into rocket skates and started skating after them.

After a minute or two, I finally caught up to them and jumped into the back of the jeep while making my shoes turn back to normal.

"Ahh!" Cassidy screamed as she saw me. "Must you always be this persistent!"

I grabbed the fossil, "Must you always steal," I retorted.

"Brick stop, she has the fossil!"

"IT'S BUTCH!" he shouted as he immediately stepped on the brake to halt the jeep while I got out and released Glaceon.

"Glaceon use Ice Beam," I shouted as Butch and Cassidy started running away.

"Glace," she said and immediately used Ice Beam to freeze Butch and Cassidy in place.

"Thank you Glaceon, return," I said returning her to her pokeball as Officer Jenny and some of her officers came up in their cars.

"Just in time," I said gratefully to Officer Jenny. "The fossil and the starter pokemon are safe and sound."

"Thanks for the help May, you sure make it easier for my family and I to catch these criminals," Officer Jenny said gratefully.

Soon Professor Elm rode up in his jeep and I returned the fossil and starter pokemon to him, "Thanks so much May, would you like a ride back to the lab?"

"No thanks Professor. I appreciate the offer, but I need to get to the nearby airport to head back home," I explained.

"Let me help you out, Kirlia come on out," Professor Elm said as he threw a pokeball.

"Kirlia," it said shyly as it appeared.

I looked at Kirlia concerned, "Can she teleport me that far?" I asked.

"No, but she can teleport you to Olivine City where you can catch the ferry," he explained.

I smiled, "Thank you Professor," I said gratefully.

"Kirlia, use Teleport," Professor Elm gently commanded.

I blinked and suddenly found myself in Olivine City. I started walking and made my way to the ticket booth to get a ticket back to Hoenn.

As I walked there, I heard my name being called causing me to turn around, "Hi Drake," I said surprised. "What is an Elite Four member doing outside of Hoenn?"

"Visitin' some sea goin' friends in the city, what are you doing here in Johto?"

"I just got here from helping recover a fossil and some pokemon that were stolen by Team Rocket. Now I'm on my way to buy a ticket for the ferry home."

He gestured his to his ship, "I'm heading back to Hoenn myself, I'll give you a lift."

"Are you sure?" I questioned. "I don't want to be a bother."

"It's no problem, call it a favor for recovering my boat from Team Aqua," he said as he started to walk toward his ship.

"Alright," I agreed as I followed him.

We made it back to Hoenn in a couple of hours and after arriving, I decided to go to the Pokemon Center and call Max.

"Hey May, where are you and how did the mission go?"

"I'm at the Lilycove Pokemon Center and the mission went fine. Everything has been returned and the bad guys were taken to jail by Officer Jenny," I said tiredly. "Now I'm gonna head to the airport and come back home."

"Let me send you Kirlia, she can teleport you home."

I frowned in concern, "Can she do teleport that far of a distance?"

"Yeah, she's been practicing really hard," Max answered proudly.

"Alright, I'll send my Skitty. Can you give her to Nurse Joy, she got a bit banged up in a battle with a Mightyena," I said worried.

"Okay, see ya shortly May," Max said before ending the call.

I stood up and walked to the Pokemon Transfer machine where Max and I swapped pokemon. I then let Kirlia out asking her to teleport me to Max.

"Kirlia," she said with a smile and teleported me back to the Petalburg Pokemon Center.

"Thanks Kirlia, return," I said as I returned her to her pokeball.

I then handed her pokeball to Max who came from the back hall.

"Here you go Max, where's Nurse Joy?" I asked while looking around the front desk for her.

"She's in the kitchen cleaning up from supper with Chancey," Max said. "She said to find her when ya got back because she wants to ask you something."

"Okay, I'll go help out after I change."

After quickly swapping clothes, I made my way to the kitchen to see Nurse Joy washing the dinner dishes.

She turned in hearing the door open, "Glad to see you came back in one piece," she said with a smile.

I grabbed a towel and started to help dry dishes, "Max said you wanted to ask me something, what it is?"

She stopped washing for a second and turned to look at me, "Have you considered going to school?" she asked.

I continued to dry dishes, "To be honest, I haven't really thought much of it. I did a bit of schooling while on my journeys, but I always focused on coordinating," I said after a few seconds went by.

Nurse Joy turned back to washing dishes, "Both the Pokemon League and the Contest Committee are pushing for trainers and coordinators to finish their schooling. I know you kept a little bit with your studies the past few years to make sure you weren't too far behind while achieving your status as Top Coordinator in Sinnoh and Hoenn. But now that you have taken a year off and are only doing missions, I think now is the time to do it. It'll help you figure out what you want to do in the future and I think your parents would want you to go," she said with a smile.

"I guess you're right, maybe I'll learn something I didn't before," I said optimistically. "And it would be good to try to make some friends."

"Good," she said. "I apologize in advance, but I turned in an application for you at Lilycove High in Lilycove City and you've been accepted. The school is run by past Hoenn champion Steven and you would get a good education there," she said nervously.

I paused for a second as I let the news sink in. I was a little hurt that she did that behind my back, but she did it out of her best interest trying to help me so I can't stay mad at her for too long. She has been an aunt-like figure to me for years since my parents died.

"I'll go, maybe something good will come out of it," I finally said with a smile.

She looked relieved and smiled back, "I'm sure that you'll have a fun, interesting experience. School will start in a few days and you'll be staying in their dorms since it's a long distance from here. You can start packing in the morning."

Once the dishes were done, I said good night to Nurse Joy and went to my room where I checked the time and saw that it was 9:39 PM. I decided to go to bed early due to having been on a mission and was exhausted from it. I got ready for bed and just laid there thinking about school doing me good. Then again….maybe not.

I was now concerned about how my presence would be a distraction at school due to helping people around the world and being a four time Top Coordinator. Maybe a wig and contacts along with calling the school to change my name would work? As I continued thinking of the possibilities to solve this problem, I finally fell asleep.

September 3rd (Petalburg City, Hoenn)

(May's POV)

I woke up around 8:00 the next morning feeling refreshed. I got dressed and went to the kitchen to help Nurse Joy with breakfast.

"How did you sleep?" she asked.

"I slept fine. I did a lot of thinking about the school last night. The one thing that bothers me is that if I go as myself, it will cause a lot of attention on me making it hard to fit in and do well," I said concerned.

Nurse Joy face soon had a look of concern/thought, "You're right, I never thought of that."

I smiled, "That's why I came up with the idea that I could alter my appearance with a wig, colored contacts, and glasses while also going by a different name," I explained.

"That seems to be a good solution," she said carefully. "But how will you do missions while in school?"

"I would just go as my usual self," I said confidently. "If I could handle doing missions and coordinating, I think I can juggle school and missions as well."

"I don't see any problem with it, I just hope you can handle being two different people," she said nervously before smiling. "But if you can make the arrangements, I don't see a problem with it."

I finished prepping the food and let Chancey start serving it to the trainers that stayed overnight, "Okay, I'll go talk to Max and make arrangements after I feed the pokemon," I said as I left the kitchen.

I then started to fill bowls of pokemon food and fed the pokemon Nurse Joy was taking care of before I prepared pokeblock for my own pokemon. After I picked up the empty bowls and returned all the pokemon to their pokeballs, I walked to Max's room and knocked on the door.

"Hey Max, you in there?"

"Yup, come on in May," he said from his computer.

I entered his room and closed the door, "What did Nurse Joy want to talk to you about last night?" he asked while still looking at his computer.

"She wants me to go to school in Lilycove City," I said. "I actually don't mind, but I'm worried about going as me. If I did, it would cause a lot of attention since I'm a teen hero and four timing Top Coordinator. So I came up with the idea of going in a disguise with a new name. I was wondering if you could secretly order a wig for me."

"Piece of cake," Max said with a grin. "What kind of wig do you want?"

"Hmm….can you order a wig that's below my shoulders about five inches and dark brown?" I asked.

"What's the magic word?" Max asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes, "Please."

Max laughed as he started to type on his computer, "Well I better go buy some brown contacts and glasses before I forget," I said while turning to leave the room.

"Wait," Max called. "You already have both from those two undercover missions."

I slapped my forehead at my forgetfulness, "I can't believe I forgot about those, thanks Max," I said gratefully.

"No problem, who else is gonna keep ya in line," Max teased as he stared at his computer. "The wig should be here in a few hours."

I stared at him in shock, "Wow, talk about fast service."

I was about to leave the room again, when a loud beeping noise sounded from Max's computer and he started typing at a furious pace.

"You up for a mission in Sinnoh May?"

"Sure, what have we got?" I asked as I turned to walk up and see what was on the computer screen.

"Team Galactic sabotaged the Sunyshore Tower in Sunyshore City and they have Flint of the Elite Four and Volkner as hostages within the tower," Max said. "You know what that means."

I sighed in annoyance as I rubbed my temples, "That means that PHPA will be there. I know they're good at what they do, but they annoy me when they say they don't need my help when they do," I huffed.

"Well better suit up, Mr. Briney will take you to the military base near Dewford Town where they will fly you to Sunyshore," Max explained.

"Okay, bye Max," I called I left his room to change.

After approving my appearance, I grabbed some gadgets Max invented for me and six of my pokemon. I then skated to the docks where I met up with Mr. Briney and his Wingull Peeko.

"Thanks for the lift Mr. Briney," I said gratefully as we pushed from the dock.

"It's no problem May. After all, you did save Peeko and myself from those robbers a while back," he said with a grin.

I smiled and turned to face the ocean in front of me taking in the pokemon and scenery. After a few hours, I was on a military plane and asked Max for the GPS position of where PHPA was from the tower.

"According to satellite positioning, they are above the mountain range between Johto and Kanto," Max reported.

"At least I have a few hours head start," I said relieved. "Thanks Max."

"No problem, keep me posted," he said as he ended the call.

(Sunyshore City, Sinnoh)

After about an hour or two later, we reached Sunyshore City and I skated toward the tower. When I got there, I saw a bunch of officers taking command from Officer Jenny as she was trying to keep the situation under control.

"What's the status of the situation?" I asked.

Officer Jenny turned to face me looking stressed out, "Team Galactic has Flint and Volkner inside Sunyshore Tower somewhere in the middle and we can't get in without being stopped or Team Galactic threatening to harm them," she said tiredly.

"Leave it to me," I said with a smile as I called Max on my poketch. "Hey Max, can you send me the blue prints of the Sunyshore Tower to me along with the placement of Team Galactic grunts in the building?"

"Sure thing May."

"Thanks Max," I said as the blue prints appeared on my poketch in the manner of a small 3D holographic image.

"Hmm….it seems that the best way for me to enter into the tower is through the sewer," I told Officer Jenny. "Keep your men around the perimeter and I'll handle the rest."

Officer Jenny nodded in understanding as I heard footsteps behind me, "You'll do no such thing," a stern voice huffed.

I mentally groaned, "Nice to see you made it in time Lance," I said as nicely as I could.

He had a stern look on his face, "What are you doing here? This is too big of a situation to leave to you. My own personal group of agents will handle this."

Ugh! I HATE when people tell me I can't do something I'm capable of.

"I'm perfectly fine of being able to rescue hostages, thank you," I said curtly.

I then noticed that four guys were standing behind him, guess those must be the group of agents Lance was talking about.

The green haired guy walked toward me, "Do you know how to handle a mission by yourself?" he asked with a smirk.

Oh great, another jerk at PHPA to deal with.

Then the raven haired guy with a Pikachu on his shoulder walked up to the grasshead, "You don't know that, she could be as good as Dawn, Misty, or Leaf," he admonished.

"I highly doubt that," the grasshead said as he flicked his hair fringe.

I rolled my eyes at his annoying behavior; he seems to be really arrogant.

While thinking, the raven haired guy walked up to me, "Sorry about that, Drew has a tendency to be arrogant at times. By the way, my name is Ash and this is my partner Pikachu," he said with a grin while gesturing at Pikachu with his thumb.

At least Ash seems nice, not like grasshead over there, "Nice to meet ya, my name is May."

Then the other two guys walked up to join the rest of the circle. Ash introduced me to them as he pointed his thumb to the guy with purple hair, "That's Paul and the other guy is Gary," he introduced.

"Pleasure to me you," Gary said flirtatiously with a wink.

I rolled my eyes, "Charmed," I said flatly. Great….a playboy, I feel sorry for any girl that goes with him.

"Boys come over here," Lance called as he was standing next to Officer Jenny while looking at the blue prints. "It seems the best thing for you to do is to split up. One group secures the power and the other rescues the hostages."

"Okay, so who goes where?" Drew asked.

Lance thought for a moment, "You will go with Paul to rescue the hostages and Ash will go with Gary to secure the power," he said while studying the blue prints. "It seems the best point of entry is toward the top by the observation deck where there will be fewer problems and you will be closer to the control room."

I gasped silently at his plan. What the hell! It's crawling with grunts up there. They'll never make their way through that!

I walked over to their little powwow, "Lance, your agents won't be able to get through there, a lot of grunts in that area of the building," I said concerned.

Lance then looked at me with annoyance, "I know what my agents are capable of, they'll get the job done," he stated firmly.

"I'm telling you that you're sending your agents on a suicide mission," I said angrily.

Lance scowled at me, "You have no say in the matter so just leave this to the proper authorities and go home."

Argh, this guy is insufferable! I then walked a few feet away signaling Ash to follow me.

He followed behind me, "What's up May and what's the deal with you and Lance?"

I gave him an annoyed look, "He feels my presence is annoying whenever I meet up with him," I said firmly. "Listen, your leader's plan is going to go south. A 3D holographic map with the grunts movements on my poketch shows that there are a lot of them in the area of where you're supposed to enter the building."

Ash looked puzzled, "How do you know that?"

"My brother sent me a holographic copy of the blueprints to the tower with the movements of the grunts. He's a huge genius with awesome computer skills," I said proudly. "But back to the point at hand, here's a small communicator you stick in your ear with a speaker so I can hear what you hear. If your boss' plan goes south, I'll be your backup," I said smiling as I handed him the earbud communicator.

Ash smiled, "Thanks May, but I think we'll be 're some of the best agents at PHPA," he said as he started to make his way back.

"Ash," I called before he could get far. "Don't tell anyone about what just happened, I don't want to get you in trouble with Lance," I said concerned.

He nodded and made his to the others as they got into their groups. Ash called out a Charizard and grasshead called out a Flygon. They flew up toward the observation deck and told their pokemon to use Flame Thrower to make an opening. After landing, they recalled their pokemon.

I then turned my attention from the roof to my poketch with the 3D holographic map of the tower with the movements of grunts as red dots and the four guys as green dots. As I watched the map, I paid attention to the conversation happening between the guys through my own earbud communicator.

"What were you talking to airhead about?" Drew asked.

"She was concerned about the plan," Ash said.

The boys then turned to the left continuing their way to the control room.

"Nothing's wrong with the plan, everything's going according to it," Gary said firmly.

I looked at the map as they were about to make a right turn, they're gonna head into the group of grunts in 3…2…

"Crap," Drew shouted. "Absol, use Razor Wind."

I heard Gary groan, "How in the world did May know that there would be this many grunts up here," he huffed before ordering Elective to use Thunder.

I smirked to myself. Thank you Max, score one for me and zero for PHPA.

"Stuntank, use Poison Gas," I heard a woman command.

"Ahh! That stuff…reeks…," Ash started to say before I heard a couple thuds.

That's my cue, "Lance," I said bluntly as I walked up to him. "Your agents just got captured."

"What are you talking about?" he asked annoyed as he turned to face me.

I put my poketch at the same receiving frequency as Ash's earbud communicator and put it on speaker.

"Move the PHPA stooges where Flint and Volkner are, they'll enjoy the company," the woman's voice said evilly.

I then turned off the earbud communicator's reception on my poketch and called Max.

"Hey May, I heard the conversation, want me to run a voice analysis?"

"Please and thank you" I said cheerfully and then turned my attention to Lance.

"Want my help now?" I asked with a smirk.

Lance still had an annoyed look on his face before giving in and sighed, "Fine, but you get one shot before we storm the building in thirty minutes," he said sternly.

"Fair enough," I said as Max called me on my poketch.

"The voice analysis matches up the woman's voice with Jupiter from Team Galactic."

"I thought that was her, but I just wanted to double check, thanks Max," I said and signed off.

I then went to the sewer drain, removed the lid, and hopped in. Ugh, it reeks down here, "Max, can you help guide me to where the entrance is for the tower?"

"Yea, walk about twenty feet in front of you and turn right. After that, walk thirty feet and turn left making you right under the tower," he directed.

I followed what Max said and then spotted a ladder that went up to the tower. I climbed up and entered quietly. I checked the 3D holographic map to find that all the grunts had now converged to the middle of the tower. I swiftly made my way up to the middle and then checked the map to find two grunts that were nearby.

As they turned a corner, I swiftly ran down the corridor and avoided them. I was a few feet away from the door where was held when I suddenly found my arms and legs tied up.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little May," a snickering voice said.

I groaned as I turned to face the voice to Jupiter and a Dustox. This is weird, Jupiter should be with the other grunts in the control room, not roaming the halls.

"What are you doing here, shouldn't the person in charge be at the control room or have you been downgraded to typical grunt," I huffed.

"Shut up," she hissed before smirking. "I came down into the halls because I knew you would try to stop us from taking over the tower. So I made sure that I stopped you from foiling our plans. Time to take you to see the other hostages, they could use the lively company."

Two grunts came up from behind and started dragging me to the room where everyone was being kept. When reaching the door, the grunts started going through my pockets and pulled my pokeballs out while taking my poketch.

"Hey!" I shouted in protest, but the grunts ignored me and threw me into the room. They slammed and locked the door chuckling at their success.