Hi everyone and welcome to chapter thirteenth of this story. As the title of this chapter may suggest, this chapter will give Max a bit more spotlight while also giving another character that was present in the games but not the anime a bit of time as well. Also a shutout to TheLoneHero17 for guessing the That's to Raven reference last chapter! Also a big thanks to everyone who has read and I hope you keep enjoying my little stories!
Chapter 13:Little Max and a New Friend
It had been well over a year since little Max was born. He now cried a lot less than he used to and didn't wake up the entire town anymore which relieved everyone living in the Maple home. May had also noticed that her baby brother was now more active than before. He was also becoming more social. This new behavior was probably due to the fact that he had already mastered crawling and was nearing his first steps. Perhaps his first words would come soon as well.
Caroline had made a habit of always grabbing her camera in a hurry when it looked like Max was about to take his first steps. When May inquired as to why she did that, Caroline answered that she wanted to preserve the moment for a lifetime. She had also pulled out an old tape that showed May awkwardly taking her first steps when she was just a little a baby. The brunette girl couldn't help but smile at her clumsy self as she stepped onto her feet for the first time. That smile soon faded as Caroline shortly after showed May pictures of her as a baby that should not see the light of day.
May was actually becoming pretty accustomed to babysitting her little brother. At first she struggled to get him to eat and nearly vomited the first time she had to change a diaper, but now she did those actions almost effortlessly. She remembered the face Brendan had made when May insisted he change Max's diaper. He looked at her like she was crazy before giving in to his neighbor's request.
"I shouldn't have kids," he said as he was laying on the couch that day. His forearm was placed over his eyes in exhaustion. Sure Brendan had dealt with babies before, but those were pokemon babies not human babies. He told May there was a large difference.
May could only laugh at the face he was making. Max had decided for an extra stinky diaper and Brendan was the one to change it. He then later complimented May when he saw her do it almost effortlessly. He said that she would make a great mother and the girl's face shone a bright red before turning her attention back to her baby brother. Perhaps she would have Brendan change more diapers as payback for always teasing her and maybe payback for always beating her in video games.
As another end of the year approached so did the holiday season. This year the two families decided to hold their celebrations in the Petalburg gym as it provided more space than their homes. They set up the large Christmas tree in the gym's lobby; taking their time to decorate it. It looked perfect, well it did until little Max decided to start taking the decorations off. By the time it was actually Christmas, the bottom half of the tree lacked decorations while the top was well decorated. Max really liked pulling those decorations off.
The little boy couldn't walk yet, but he could still make his way over to the tree by crawling and then use the branches as supports.
The food that was made this year was special because the kids had helped to make it. Mrs. Birch had more of her 'Cooking with Lisa Birch' lessons a couple of times every month for the past year. Over that period she had taught May and Brendan proper knife skills, cooking techniques, food safety, as well as trying different dishes for them to taste. They made a wide variety of foods from as close as Hoenn to as far as Alola. This time they made sure to the follow the book as she didn't want another disaster like their first attempt to occur again.
She said, "well the book does provide helpful information, but I still think mother's intuition trumps it all," while holding a wooden spoon high above her head.
May could only laugh slightly at her actions while Brendan just rolled his eyes. He knew that his mother would never admit to anyone else that she had made a terrible meal.
They had also invited a couple of people from Littleroot as well as a couple from Petalburg. One of those families included a family known as the Woods. They were a small family consisting of a mother, father, and their young son.
Now that May and Brendan got a closer look at the son, they realized that he looked a bit familiar. Upon further inspection and talking to the boy, the pair found out that he attended the same school they went, although he was a year younger. He had pale white skin and a small frame along with gray eyes and large green messy hair. As it turned out, he had a bad respiratory disease and would often miss school because of this. He also mentioned how his parents were thinking of moving him to Verdanturf Town because the air there was much cleaner.
"So Wally," Brendan began, "are you planning on being a pokemon trainer?"
Wally paused for second before responding, "I would love to be a pokemon trainer, but I'm not sure if I'm fit to be one. I would like to finish school before I think about it."
Brendan placed a hand on his shoulder giving the boy a bright smile. "If you ever chose to then stop by Littleroot and pay us a visit. Oh and come to the lab too."
Wally gave the other boy a bright smile before noticing May who was ogling the large cake that they had made earlier. They hoped that it was as good as the cakes from their local sweets shop, but that would be a task almost impossible to achieve.
"So May are you gonna be pokemon trainer?" Wally asked, walking over to May.
May took her eyes off the cake to face Wally, she thought for a moment and responded with, "I don't really know Wally, being a trainer looks like a lot of work and dirty traveling. I would much rather just stay home or maybe just travel without pokemon being in it." This caused a frown to appear on not only Wally's face but Brendan's as well. To Brendan traveling with pokemon was a lifetime experience. He couldn't fathom as to how May didn't want to travel, but he decided he would think more about that issue later. At the moment he was still treating Wally's hand for the bite Drake had given him earlier.
As the brunette boy suspected, Drake bit people as a way of showing affection, although he only did it the first time like it was his way of saying, "hi nice to meet you."
"You really know how to make first impressions don't ya?" Brendan sarcastically asked the dragon type as he finished applying the plaster to Wally's hand. The small dragon type gave the boy a nod and a toothy smile as if proud of himself. At this point he had bitten almost resident in Littleroot Town, and although he didn't display outright dislike for May like Skipper did, he had still bitten her, convincing the girl that he was the devil's child.
"Wally you should of seen May's face when he bit her," Bredan laughed,putting away his first aid kit back into his bag. He had a wide grin on his face. "She looked as if she had seen Giratina."
"It's only because that little devil took me by surprise," crossing her arms. "Seriously Brendan, why do your pokemon hate me?"
"They don't hate you May. Well Drake doesn't hate you. He only bit you once and he bites people he likes so he actually likes you," he answered, standing back up.
"Still doesn't change that he bit me," she glumly responded. "And Skipper hates me for no reason."
"He doesn't hate you May." She gave a him a look and he sighed, "well ok then maybe he does hate you. Who knows whatever you could of done to the mudkip line in your past life to make him hate you," resigning that he wouldn't be able to change May's mind. Her perception of the mudkip line had been severely tainted by that little blue devil.
Wally could only laugh as the two brunettes spoke to each other. They looked at him with confused looks. Skipper wondered if the green haired boy was making fun of him and was ready to shoot water gun at a second's notice. When he calmed down he said, "you two are so funny, you're like a married couple."
"Couple?!" they both exclaimed. They looked at each other for a second before turning around so they were facing away from each other. A slight blush was growing on both of their faces. Perhaps Skipper was justified in shooting that water gun after the green haired boy embarrassed his trainer. Soon it was May who was laughing.
"I thought that little blue devil only did that to me!" she exclaimed exploding with laughter. Her laughing fit didn't last long as she too was water gunned in the face again, the second time in that day actually. Now it was Brendan's turn to laugh loudly, but Skipper wasn't done yet. He got off the boy's head and shot a water gun at him striking him in the face. Now all three children were on the floor laughing. Drake looked on as if they were crazy while the parents could only snicker in the background.
Wally, along with his parents, eyes widened once he saw the ravenous eating pair that was Brendan and May. Every plate of food that was placed in front of them was licked clean to the point where it looked like there had never been any food on them. It also didn't help that they were having another eating contest so they were eating much faster than normal.
"Umm do they always eat like that?" Mrs. Woods asked looking over at the pair's parents.
The fathers shrugged while the mothers looked slightly embarrassed. "Well," Lisa began, "growing boys gotta eat," she said taking a bite out of her steak.
Caroline couldn't come up with anything to say. She was sometimes embarrassed when May's eating habits were mentioned by other people but this time she whispered, "well growing girls gotta eat too, especially if she wants to grow in that area."
Wally could only keep staring as the two continued eating. He had bet money on May winning earlier but now it looked like she was falling way behind. There was no way that she could catch up to the boy now. Now he had wished he had bet money on Brendan as Mr. Woods looked like he was gonna win the bet.
"There done!" Brendan exclaimed, finishing off his fifteenth plate of food.
"Cheater," May said, she had only finished her ninth plate.
"Guess you owe me some money Wally," Mr. Woods spoke, looking down at his son. Wally could only sigh as he pulled out a 1000 Pokedollar bill and handed it to his dad. Meanwhile May was chasing Brendan around after he had playfully called her a loser.
With the strike of midnight came the opening of the presents. The three children would of fallen asleep way before that if it wasn't for the excitement of opening presents. All three children received new pairs of clothes. May received a beautiful red flowered patterned kimono along with accessories to wear on her hair like flowers and clips. Brendan had received a similar kimono, although his was a dark blue shade and it lacked the flowers that May had. Apparently their parents said they would like their children to wear them for New Years. They would also be going in kimono as well to visit the Petalburg Shrine. Wally had received a gray cardigan that fit him perhaps a bit too big, but he was sure he would grow into it.
With the opening of presents came new video games for the boy to try out. He had invited May and Wally to play as well. Naturally he taught May the wrong controls just to mess with her while he was more honest with Wally. Actually at this point, he was surprised that May let him teach her the controls after all the other times he messed with her. She seemed to at least have some little faith in him, but it was all crushed when she realized she had been duped yet again. She would never again let the boy teach her how to play. It would be much better for her to simply learn how to play herself instead of relying on him.
New years came around with a quick visit to the Petalburg Shrine, the families couldn't stay long because Norman had to give a New Years Speech back at the gym that year, so they had to make their visit quick. Everyone was dressed in kimono, even Max! Even he wore a white kimono with blue floral patterns.
Brendan had tried earlier to even put Skipper and Drake in a small kimono as well but they had vehemently refused. Quite a bummer for Brendan since he and his mother had spent some time making the garments for the pokemon.
May was hit with a familiar feeling when she entered the shrine. She felt like she had there before like in some sort of dream, but she couldn't place her finger on it. She didn't have much time to think about it as Brendan enthusiastically pulled her towards the shrine bell where they could make a wish for the new year. Soon after the countdown to the new year began and so did the fireworks and congratulations.
Even little Max who had been watching everything unfold with great curiosity couldn't help but clap when he saw everyone else do it. He wriggled his way out of his mother's hold and placed his feet on the ground, grabbing his mother's red kimono for support. What he did next surprised everyone as Norman was quick to take his recording camera out and start filming. Caroline could only gush that her little boy was finally walking.
"You're getting everything right Norman?" Caroline asked as she was carefully following behind her son in an effort to keep him from falling.
"Every last bit honey," he responded, holding the camera in a stable condition.
Lisa who was standing in the background said to her husband, "remember when our little boy took his first steps?"
"He's not our little boy anymore. He's growing really fast," Professor Birch responded with.
"I know, so I want to treasure every moment I get with him," moving to stand behind her son and wrapping him in a hug. The boy let out a couple of embarrassed protests before succumbing to the hug. Professor Birch joined soon after.
May could only smile as she observed the Birch's interactions. She looked over to her parents who were still recording her walking brother. "I guess Max's wish was to walk," she muttered with a large grin on her face.
My wish for this year is that our relationship keeps getting stronger, she thought before her mother also pulled her along for a hug along with her father.
An: Honestly I never really intended in writing Wally in this story, but the opportunity pretty much showed itself and I took it and he's a Hoennshipper too. Honestly everyone in this fanfic is a Hoennshipper. Maybe we will be seeing more of him in the future, or maybe not, I'm not completely sure.
As always here are our pair's ages in this chapter
Brendan- 9
May- 9
As always thanks to everyone who has read and I hope to see you again in the next chapter.