Chapter 2

Walla-Walla-Wally What Are You Doing Here?

After a heated battle with Brendan, May returned home and spent the rest of the evening catching up with her father. It was a rare occasion indeed when he was around for more than a day, and May took the opportunity to ask him more about training and battle strategies. He was more than happy to oblige her, and May would sometimes notice her mother smiling fondly at her as they chatted. After his refusal to allow her to train on the surface, she was determined to become stronger than ever. She had agreed to meet with Brendan every afternoon in order to hone her skills. It was during her third battling session that a familiar face greeted them at their usual spot.

"Hey guys…" Wally said sheepishly as he swam up to them. May and Brandan had only just begun their training and were shocked to see the usually sickly merboy come out of his house. May tried to hide her shock, whereas Brendan simply let his mouth drop.

"Hey, how's it going?" asked May with a smile. "Are you feeling any better?"

"A little," he admitted. "Dad says that if I keep resting, I'll be better in no time. Though that doesn't leave me with anything fun to do except watch the corphish swim by my window."

"Are you even allowed to be here right now?" asked Brendan seriously.

May slapped him on the arm and she received a pained look from her friend.

"Well, now that you mention it…no," Wally replied with a frown. "I said I was going to visit one of my parents' friends that live down the reef but I changed my mind and decided that I'd see what you two were up to."

Brendan casually swam closer to May and whispered, "This is a bad idea. Let's make him cough hard enough that he has to go home."

"Brendan!" she hissed. "That's rude! Not to mention gross,"

"Then what do we do with him?" he asked. "Pretend he isn't here or leave like we've got something else to do?"

"We're not doing either of those things. What we'll do is—"

"Is something wrong?" asked Wally quietly. "Was I interrupting you?"

May paused before swimming up to the sickly boy. "We were just training. You actually have good timing; we were just about to start a new match."

Wally's face lit up like a Christmas tree in December. "Really? Would you mind if I watched? I know…I'm not the greatest battler, but maybe if I watch you guys, I could learn a thing or two!"

"Sure," May agreed. "Just take a seat on that rock there and watch the show unfold!"

As May readied her Pokémon, Brendan swam up to her once again and ushered her to a spot farther away from Wally. "Are you out of your mermaid brain, May? This kid's infamous for being the neighbourhood fable! Little children are told by their parents 'not to screw things up like that Wally dude did'."

"They don't say it like that," May said with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, if you were a lonely, sick boy like Wally, would you want the only people who talk to you to ignore you, just like everyone else?"

He paused before sighing in defeat. "You're right, but I don't like it. He's only watching one battle and then he's going home. Who knows if or when his parents will show up and what they'll do to us when they found out he's come here."

"They might actually thank us," she stated with a smirk. "We're keeping him safe and giving him some entertainment—and it's all free."

"Why are you so optimistic…" mumbled Brendan as he began rummaging through his Pokeballs.

"Come on, let's get started," she said happily. She happened to glance over at Wally, who was still smiling from ear to ear. This must be the most interesting thing he's done in ages. "Go, mudkip!"

"Go, wailmer!"

The two hadn't battled with this specific combination in a while, but May had been strategizing a way to beat Brendan at his own game, once and for all. If I can beat Brendan, then I can show my dad that I'm finally ready to go up to the surface. "Quick, use tail whip!"

"Attack it while it's distracted. Use water gun!"

Typical. You think you're strategy is so fool proof? Go ahead, use it. I'm ready for you.

"Oh no," she said dramatically as her mudkip was hit by the attack.

"Come on May, step up your game! You can't use tail whip forever."

"I can't?" she said with a smirk. "Well watch me. Use tail whip again mudkip!"

She continued this process for a few more rounds, with Brendan's facial expressions becoming increasingly exasperated.

"We'll never get anywhere at this rate," he moaned. "Looks like we'll have to call it a match. Wailmer…"

And now, for the grand finale.

"Now mudkip, use bri—!"

BOOM.

All three trainers were knocked to the sea floor as an ear-drum shattering explosion pierced through the area. They covered their ears and returned their Pokémon, with May swimming over to Wally to ensure that he was safe. As quickly as it had occurred, the area grew quiet again.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Brendan as he shook his head. "What was that?"

May looked to Wally and helped him up. She glanced around the cove. "Maybe it was a Pokémon battle gone wrong," she mused.

"Or the sea warlock," said Wally quietly.

The two trainers slowly turned their heads towards the boy and stared at him as if he had morphed into the kraken.

"What did you just say?" Brendan said gravely.

Wally blushed slightly as he wringed his fingers together. "Oh, um…nothing…"

"No," insisted Brendan as he swam towards the green haired boy. "I'm pretty sure you just said the two words every child brought up in this reef are taught to shiver in fear at. Which, I might add, makes it really weird that you would even think that that explosion had anything to do with him."

"I-it was just a theory. I d-didn't mean to make you angry!" protested Wally as he held his arms up to his face.

"Brendan, simmer down," insisted May as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Stop defending him, May!" her friend snapped. He locked eyes with Wally and continued angrily, "You come here against your parents' wishes, interrupt our Pokémon training and insist on mentioning the one person that could destroy this entire ocean, all without expecting anyone to bat an eyelash at it? You're just like everyone says: a weak, idiotic little kid who feeds off of the sympathy of others!"

"Brendan!" May yelled angrily. He looked to her and furrowed his eyebrows, anger still raging in his eyes. She shook her head sadly and watched Wally quiver in fear. By now, he was curled up into a ball on the ground, not even daring to look up at Brendan. She tried to reach out to him, but before she could, the little merboy immediately sprang up from the ground and swam away as fast as his little tail would take him. Her hand was left hovering in the air while Brendan let out a frustrated groan.

"I'm going home," he declared as he swam away from her, too.

As soon as the trail of bubbles the two boys left behind was gone, May slumped onto the rock that Wally had been sitting on and buried her head in her hands. Her mudkip sprang out of its pokeball and floated up to her. She smiled at it and scratched its chin. "Boys can be so stupid sometimes," she mused.

A/N: So someone drew some sick fanart of Archie as a merman…totally basing my version off of him. Here's a link: search/archie+merman. Seems like perfect timing too, considering I just started writing this story…weird! There was a lot of dialogue in this chappie, which is a trend that'll continue! Let me know what you thought, and I'll see you next time.