Hi everyone and welcome back to chapter seventeen of this story. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 17: New Years

With the beginning of another holiday season came the end of another year. The trees had foregone their leaves leaving their bare branches on display and who would have believed that it had actually snowed in Hoenn of all places!

May could say that she had an exceptional year especially when it came to school. Ever since the 'cheating' incident years ago, the girl was determined to do her best in her school time which earned her high marks on her exams.

She was extremely surprised when her teacher called her in congratulating the girl on her high achievements. She knew she was doing well, but not this well.

Her study habits had completely flipped over. In the past she had a hard time focusing and absorbing the information mainly because she kept getting distracted by everything. But now, she knew how to effectively study to the point where she didn't need Brendan's help anymore.

She remembered the very first times he had tutored her and how he would get irritated at her. The main reason he had gotten irritated was because the girl would not focus on the material then later complain about her low scores, which he would sometimes respond by giving May a soft whack to the head. Now they could probably spend an entire evening studying without any interruptions apart from their parents coming in occasionally and his pokemon.

Another goal she had made the previous year was to not make them late for school anymore, but that had fallen flat the day they had returned from their winter vacation. Brendan had given her a good whack on the head and May pretended that it had hurt despite the fact that it didn't. Brendan never really hit with much force, although the scientists working at the lab said so otherwise.

A couple more lessons from Mrs. Birch taught the young brunette how to become a better cook. She definitely wasn't first class, but she wasn't bad either. She had often opted to making dinner for her family while also helping out her mom when needed. Perhaps she would consider being a chef once she was older. Maybe.

She also begun to recall the fact that she had joined her neighbor on some of his fieldwork and she had learned quite a bit when it came to pokemon which helped her even further in school. She learned a bit about how the pokemon were distributed, their eating habits, their growth rates, their breeding rituals, eggs, and attacks.

But despite all this, the girl was still unsure on what she wanted to do when she grew up. As a child, the prospect of traveling around the region with pokemon seemed absolutely repulsive, but now that she knew more, that idea was slowly fading away. It's not to say that she didn't forget her original goal of wanting to shop and eat at the best restaurants, but as she kept growing up, her mind had gotten progressively clouded with uncertainties.

Unfortunately for her, she began seeing her neighbor less and less. As he got older, the professor had been giving his son tasks that required more from him so he was often away doing what May called 'nerd stuff.'

Sure, they saw each other when she accompanied him on his fieldwork and school, but other than that he was busy helping his father with his research and he had been given more responsibility in helping raise the starter pokemon for new trainers.

She yearned for a day they could play together like they did when they were younger. Although she lost the majority of games they played, she still enjoyed spending time with him. Maybe it was selfish of her to think like that, after all if she wanted to spend more time with him, she would have to take time away from his father to spend with her.

There was also the fact that she felt strangely comfortable around him and an indescribable feeling gnawed at her stomach when she was with him.

"So May why don't we go ring the bell?" The brown-haired boy standing next to her asked. Since the lab was closed due to the holiday season, Brendan had a lot more free time in hand. Unfortunately, he chose to spend said free time with his pokemon and studying rather than with May which slightly disheartened the girl.

Since it was a much colder day, and snow was lightly falling, he was wearing dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt placed below a black winter coat and a light blue scarf May had given him that year for Christmas. He also wore a black pair of boots and a Mario hat he had won earlier by playing festival trivia (when it came to trivia, no one could beat the boy).Naturally, his pokemon were snugly tucked inside his coat as they didn't want to miss any of the celebrations.

They had forgone their traditional new year's clothes this years since they thought they were 'too old' for them and that wearing them was for kids. Their parents, however kept their traditional clothes on for the celebrations.

May had spent all morning picking out the outfit she was going to wear. She didn't want to greet the new year looking unpresentable. She was wearing a dark blue skirt over her black leggings. She also wore a warm dark green winter coat that kept her warm despite the cold weather. She had also decided to wear her black snow boots along with the beige colored scarf and snow cap Brendan gave her that Christmas.

"Yeah let's go!" she responded as she followed him into the shrine.

The Petalburg Shrine was the biggest attraction during this time of the year. It was place where people could pray to the pokemon of their choosing and make their new year's wishes. It was a tradition that had originated in Johto thousands of years ago and it soon spread to Kanto. The same tradition was then spread to Sinnoh and then Hoenn where they took roots while the same couldn't be said for other regions such as Unova, Kalos. Those three regions had their own way of celebrating the new year that didn't involve a visit to the shrine. Alola had somewhat adopted the traditions since many of its people had originated from Johto and Kanto, but it wasn't as widely practiced as it was in the four other regions.

"Or so that's what the history books say," Brendan informed May as they made their deeper into the festivities. They arrived at the shrine a couple minutes later.

The shrine was brightly lit with lamps and lanterns as the pair approached it. The walls shone in a bright red while the roof was colored grey. There were already hundreds of wooden and colorful paper plaques slung upon the shrine's walls, and trees.

May always got some sort of nostalgic feeling when visiting the building, but she could never recall as to why she felt like that.

"Looks like we are gonna be waiting for a while huh May?" Brendan asked as he made his way in front of a long line that lead to the shrine's bell. "Let's wash our hands first," he suggested.

They walked over to the large water basin where multiple wooden ladles lay on top of the water's surface. They spotted countless of people already there washing their hands. It's said that the washing of one's hands cleaned someone of their impurities.

They each took a ladle with their right hands and poured the cold water over left hand. They switched the ladle to their left hand and poured water over their right hand. From there they took some water in their left hand and rinsed their mouths. They poured the remaining water off the ladle and placed them back on the basin. (A/N: this is the Misogi ritual that's performed at Shinto temples/shrines)

"That water was much colder than expected. Let's make our way back in line, looks like we are gonna be a here a while," he said as the two made their way back in line.

"Looks like we are," she sighed, moving to stand next to him. "Say Brendan do you always pray to the same pokemon each year?"

"Umm… I actually pray to different pokemon each year," he began. "The first time I visited the shrine I prayed to Latios and Latias in hopes that they would bring me luck and I've been praying to different pokemon since. How about you?"

"Oh… I actually pray to the same pokemon each year," she managed to say as she eyed the large line that was getting slightly shorter.

"What pokemon is it that you pray to then?"

"Well it's Arceus, you know because of all the legends that surround it."

"Not a bad choice May, but I heard that each pokemon brings different things and the more you pray to different pokemon the more likely you are to have good fortune."

"Really?" she asked as her eyes began to twinkle. "And how would you know this? You're not some sort of shrine priest."

"Easy May, that guy standing over there said so when I first visited here," he smiled, pointing towards an older man wearing a traditional white shrine priest uniform.

"Oh," she lamely responded. Well if the shrine priest said so then it must be true, or it could just be mumbo jumbo.

"Well it is just an old saying, but it wouldn't hurt to pray to others. I know why don't you pray to Giratina?" He joked. A playful smirk had grown on his face.

"Don't say things like that Brendan!" she fired back. Her face had adopted an expression of horror.

Even though May didn't know much about Giratina, Brendan had told her how Sinnoh's folktales always depicted it as a pokemon that was vastly revered with destruction and violence and anyone that followed was cursed with bad luck. Naturally she believed it to be all mumbo jumbo, but she couldn't help but feel scared.

"I'm just kidding May." He began as he started snickering. "Seriously May. We've known each other for seven years now, you should already know when I'm kidding and when I'm being serious," he said as his snickers calmed down.

"Well excuse me Mr. Joker, but sometimes you sound so serious that I can't tell if you're joking or being serious." She paused for a moment as she thought about what pokemon to pray to. There were just so many that she couldn't figure out which one would be the best.

"Say Brendan what pokemon are you praying for this year?" she asked as she looked up to see him again. Over the past two years May had lost her height difference and now Brendan was pushing ahead of her. When May had accompanied Brendan to one of his fieldwork trips, the boy was barely pushing ahead of May. Now a year later he was pushing upwards even more and she just knew he would just keep getting taller. If the boy was anything like his father, then she knew that he was probably going to grow as tall as him or even taller.

"I was originally gonna pray to Cresselia for good dreams, but I changed my mind to Victini since it is the victory pokemon. It's said that Victini brings great luck and victory to those who pray to it so I thought it would be a good choice," he said as the line moved forward.

"That's actually a good idea, thanks Brendan," she thanked him giving him a bright smile.

"No problem. Oh, but have you thought about what you want to ask it for?" he asked as they moved further up the line. "Maybe you would want to ask Victini for a great school year, or maybe a great work year, or a great relationship…" he said as his face grew a shade of red.

May hadn't noticed as she was deep in thought. Well we are gonna be going through our last months of school this upcoming year so it would be great to ask for some great final months. But wait! Did he actually say great relationship? What does he mean by that? Does he mean that I should ask for luck in a relationship or luck that a relationship will last for a long time? Or maybe he meant a different thing entirely, like a family relationship and not a romantic one. Why did he have to be so vague, she pondered before she felt a hand land on her shoulder and she looked up to see her smirking neighbor.

He had lost his redness as he teased her, "or you know May, maybe you can ask Victini to finally release you of the curse of being bad at video games."

"Oh shut up!" she exclaimed as she shot him a small glare. "The only reason why you win is because you're cheating."

"Really May? Am I that good that you think I'm cheating?" His smirk was growing wider.

She had gotten better over the past years of playing with him on occasion, but she never understood as to why she never managed to win a game against him. She had often practiced in secret when he was away on trips with the AI and she had managed to pull wins all the time with the AI. Granted she had always set the AI on easy mode instead of something like very hard or expert mode, but to her it counted as a win regardless. All her hopes came crashing to the ground when Brendan would easy sweep her with minimal effort. At this point the only reason she could think of was because he was somehow exploiting the system making it so that he would win each time while leaving May in the dust. Brendan had joked that it was something beyond bad luck and called it a 'curse'. Whether it was true or not was up for debate.

"Just shut it Brendan before I punch you," she threatened.

"I don't know May. I almost always manage to dodge your punches and besides we're almost there," he commented as they were near the shrine bell.

May faced forward to see the people in front of them leave which revealed a large white rope attached to a large golden bell. To the sides hung various talismans meant to ward off evil spirits and bring luck.

May took a coin from her bag while Brendan took a coin from his wallet as well. They quietly tossed it into the offering box. They both then rang the bell then bowed twice. From there they clapped their hands twice in front of her face and while their hands were still together they prayed to the pokemon of their choice. Their hands dropped as they finished their prayer and bowed once more before leaving the altar for the next people to pray.

"Why don't we get our fortunes now," he suggested as they left the altar and into back onto the shrine's grounds. "By the way what pokemon did you pray to? Was it Darkrai?" he teased.

"Ugh Brendan you and your jokes," she said sounding exasperated. "And if you must know, I prayed to Victini as well, you know for luck and victory."

"That's great to hear, now let's get our fortunes."

He walked over to a stall with a tall black-haired man wearing a black kimono which made him look intimidating. He was over watching the fortune stall. Brendan was the first to get his as he paid and grabbed a small tube of rolled up paper. May was next as she did the same, carrying the tube of paper in their hands.

They quickly opened them up revealing the contents inside. To their surprise they didn't find a fortune but rather found poems written by famous historical leaders from Hoenn's past.

"I guess the poems are supposed to be our fortunes this year," Brendan said as he was examining what his poem said.

"I guess so, I can't really understand mine though," May replied as she too examined her poem.

"Let me see it then," holding his hand out so to May so she could give him the fortune. She also held her hand out wanting to know what his fortune said and they exchanged them.

After a moment Brendan said, "well to me it looks like it's saying you will have a great year full of happiness. Good for you, I'm slightly jealous."

"Maybe I'm just lucky then. Your fortune doesn't seem as bad either. It looks like it's saying you will meet new people and pokemon." She handed him back his fortune as she did the same.

"Looks like it will be great year for both of us then," offering her his signature grin.

She blushed for a moment before she suggested going to get their good luck charms. They both walked over to the stall selling them and each bought one for the upcoming year.

From there Brendan suggested they write out their wish on the wooden plaques that were hanging around the shrine. They made their way to a table where each got a plaque and started writing their wishes down.

Brendan had tried to peek at May's wish, but was sent back when she glared back. He offered her a smile before returning to writing his own wish. After they were done they hung their plaques on the shrine walls then made their way back to the city.

"So May what did you wish for?" Brendan asked as he was eating a large crepe.

"It's none of your business," she said as she took a large bite out of her grilled corn.

"Oh, could it possibly be something embarrassing such finding that knight in shining armor you told me about when we were younger," he teased with a raised eyebrow. He had put on his hands on his waist in a teasing fashion.

May's face grew red at his comment as she immediately fired back. "No! I didn't wish for anything dumb like that. And what did you wish for then mister?"

"Oh" he paused for a moment. "As corny as it sounds I wished for everyone around me stay strong and healthy and live long lives," he lied, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Really Brendan? You wished for something like that?" she teased him as her eyebrow was now raised.

"Well yeah. I told you my wish so it's your turn to fess up."

"No way."

"Should we head back to the gym then? I think your dad must be done with his new year's speech," Brendan asked as he finished the last of his large hamburger.

"I guess so… It's beginning to get a really chilly out here," May said. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep herself warmer as a cold breeze swept through the area.

The area of the city they were in was lined with many street stalls that sold all kinds of street food. Brendan had made it his mission to try the food from each stall as his dad was finally paying him quite well for his fieldwork and lab assistance, and so far he was doing a great job as only a single vendor remained. He even offered May some but she denied saying she was feeling full from the enormous feast they had earlier that evening.

Brendan could only raise his eyebrow like he couldn't believe May was denying food.

"May are you feeling alright? Has an evil spirit possessed you? Should I call the shrine priest to cleanse you of evil spirits?" he teased as he placed his hand on her forehead to check if she had a fever.

She slapped his hand away in a quick motion fuming, "Yes Brendan I'm alright. I'm still full from dinner."

She turned away to face away from him. She was actually a bit hungry, but she would have felt guilty if he bought food for her even if he was offering.

"Whatever you say then," he said before lining up in front of the stand.

May stayed behind and watched as the boy made his order. She could barely hear his frantic order as the noise from the crowd had drowned the area. For as long as she could remember the boy was always a huge eater. She had never met anyone else that ate more than she did and that was saying something.

"Sis are you and Brendan done with your date?" she heard a very familiar voice say.

She turned around to be greeted with dark hair and a large pair of glasses. He was wearing a simple black kimono that her parents had forced on him and a white and black haori over it. He was also carrying a caramel apple on his left hand.

She could feel her face growing red and looked back to see that Brendan still in front of the line talking with the stall vendor. She was relieved when she saw that he didn't appear to notice the comment her younger brother made.

"Max it was not a date," she gripped as she eyed her brother. "And who told you we were on a date anyway?"

She already knew who had told her brother that so she didn't know why she was even asking.

"Mom did." He paused as he took a bite out his apple. "She said you and Brendan went on a date to the shrine."

May sighed as she got closer to her brother and crouched down ready to give him some advice from an older sister.

"Max, you never tell mom about things such as love. She will embarrass you until you die and give you some weird ideas. So when you fall in love with a girl make sure you never tell her or she will start planning your wedding."

"Why would I love a girl? Girls are gross," he snapped as he took another bite of his apple.

May could only sigh and snicker knowing that Max's perspective of the opposite gender would change once he was older.

"Hey Max," she heard a familiar muffled voice say from behind her. She turned around to see her neighbor already gorging himself on the food he had bought. He was carrying a large paper bag in one hand while his other was helping him eat. She could also see the two pokemon inside his jacket happily munching as well.

"Hey big bro," Max responded with a high five. To Max, Brendan was like the big brother he wanted. Brendan would occasionally play with Max on his free time and the two had developed a brotherly bond even though they weren't related by blood.

"Want some?" Brendan asked Max as he took a small black plastic container out his bag.

"What are they?" Max asked as he eyed the contents inside.

"They're dumplings. Never had one? They're pretty good," he continued as he handed Max the container. Max took it then opened it up smelling its goodness. The young then picked one out and tried it showing his surprise by the widening of his eyes as he took another and continued eating. He then turned to face May and took another large black container out his bag.

"Here May this is for you," he said as he held the container for May.

"Brendan, I already told you, I'm not hungry," she snapped trying to keep her voice from showing the hunger she was actually feeling.

He raised an eyebrow. "Really May? You think I didn't hear your stomach grumble back there?" He joked as he held the container closer to the brunette.

"Really you could tell I was lying?" she asked as she eyed him quizzically.

"Yep! So here, my treat for the new year," he said he placed the container on her hands.

"I'll pay you back," she said as she opened the container and ate the assorted food inside. She did say she was trying not to rely on him too much so the least she could do was pay him back.

"Nah don't worry about it," he said in a muffled voice as he was practically swallowing his food.

May wasn't about to let this go as she was going to make sure to do something nice for him like he had with her. She thought of maybe getting him another pokedoll, or perhaps another scarf would be nice as well she pondered.

"By the way you two, mom said to come to the gym as the fireworks show will start soon," Max said as he finished the last of his dumplings.

"Right," they both said as they finished eating their meal. They quickly followed behind Max as they made their way to the gym. The best view of the fireworks show was seen from atop or in front of the gym.

They made it just in time as their parents were already standing in front of the gym and the sudden boom of fireworks and colorful light filled the sky. They rushed over to stand over to their parents giving each other their yearly "Happy New Year's Congratulations."

The show continued as bright figures of pokemon such as pikachu, eevee, treecko, torchic, mudkip, plusle and minun filled the sky.

Back at the shrine, a sudden cold strong wind flipped two wooden wish plaques. The plaques revealed that both writers wrote.

The plaque on the right read, "I wish for the courage and luck needed to make it through another year… courage so that I can confess my feelings as well." The bottom right corner had the initials BB written on it.

The plaque to the right read, "I wish for courage so I can tell someone how I feel about them." The bottom left corner had the initials MM as well.

An: My biggest fear for this chapter was something along the lines of "oh my God people are gonna think I'm a weeb," which I'm not, but I wasn't able to do as much research as I wanted to on the topic of Japanese customs of prayer due to time constraints, so there will probably be a lot of inaccuracies. Our pair's ages for this chapter:

Brendan- 12

May- 12

As always hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter and hope to see you again in the next one!