Hi everyone and welcome back to chapter twenty four of this story. I originally had a more dramatic idea for this chapter, but it wasn't working out too well, so I just sticked to my usual sunshine and rainbows. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 24- The Move

May had just finished placing the last of her items into the boxes. Her father had decided that it would be more convenient for the family to move to Petalburg rather than staying in Littleroot. After all, Petalburg had more attractions but it didn't possess the same small-town charm Littleroot had. Of course, May had tried to convince her father not to have them move, but this time she was outnumbered as both Max and her mother thought it would be best to move.

She sat down on her bed gazing at the framed picture of her and Brendan that was taken about a year ago at New Year's Eve. Brendan was wearing the Mario cap he won while holding May in a headlock and smiling at his mischief.

She would be lying to herself if she said she didn't miss him. She missed his cheerful attitude, his teasing and may she even admit that she missed getting water gunned to the face. Sure the action was obnoxious, but she had gotten accustomed to it to a point where it felt strange that she didn't end at wet at some point in the day.

She laid down at her bed and stared at her ceiling for a minute. She looked at her window that had their curtains removed and only showed the white blinds. She looked at the many boxes stacked across the room like a box castle where a pretend princess would play.

Without all the pictures hanging on her walls, her room appeared much bigger than it really was.

"I'm really gonna miss Littleroot," she sighed. She was going to miss the calm and welcoming atmosphere. She was going miss the many kind people she met. She was going miss all the nature that surrounded the town. But most of all, she was going miss a certain brown-haired boy she had met eight years ago.

"May the moving truck arrived," she heard coming from downstairs. She stood up and made her way to her window where she opened the blinds to find the large moving truck parked outside of her house where many machokes were already making their way inside the house.

She made her way downstairs where she saw her mother already giving the machoke directions on where the move everything. Although the machoke were highly trained in moving, they would occasionally cause an accident so one could never be too careful. May also noticed that Max was standing next to her mother observing the machoke with admiring eyes.

"Oh May, Max why don't you guys go visit Lisa while we get everything sorted out?" Caroline asked.

"Alright mom," they both responded. They weaved their way across the machoke that were already working by picking up some of the heavy furniture along with many boxes. Once they made their way outside, they were greeted by the hot summer air. The cherry blossoms had long since abandoned their pink flowers and were gently swaying in the light wind.

"So Sis are you excited to move closer to Dad. I really want to spend more time with him." Max asked as they made their way to their neighbor's house.

"Well Max, I'm not so sure myself. Part of me is glad that I will be able to see Dad more a lot more often, but there's also a part of me that will miss this little town," May responded.

"I know what you mean Sis," Max began and then took a deep breath. "This little town is the one where I've lived all my life and it will be hard to leave, but I think that living closer to dad will be better for all of us."

"Yeah I know that, but still it's hard to leave after living here for so long."

They had reached the front door to their neighbor's house and May rang the doorbell. A distant familiar "coming" was heard from inside and the door clicked and was pulled open revealing Lisa Birch.

"Oh May, Max what brings you here?" she asked.

"Hi Mrs. Birch. My mom thought that we should stay here while the movers get everything in place," May said.

"Oh then you're more than welcome. Although those machokes are expert movers, it would be much faster for them to get their work done with less people around. Come on in," she welcomed motioning for them to enter.

"Thanks," they both responded. They each removed their shoes and placed them near the front door. They went to sit in the living room where Mrs. Birch had brought in a plate of her famous chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk for each of them. May's eyes glowed as she saw the plate stacked with the delicious confections.

When May asked Mrs. Birch what she added to make her cookies so delicious, she responded that it was love. May would've definitely believed her if Brendan hadn't whispered in her ear the actual secret ingredient. According to him, his mother just added a bunch of sugar to the recipe, like way more than what the recipe called for. Enough to give a raticate and bidoof a toothache.

Part of her still believed that love was the secret ingredient despite Brendan's claims though.

After a couple of minutes of stuffing her face with the sweet confection May drank her entire glass of milk in one gulp. Max, who normally didn't eat like a snorlax, had devoured his cookies as well.

Apparently, no one was immune to the deliciousness of her cookies. Even the town's bakers couldn't resist them.

"Why don't you kids head to Brendan's room and play a game. Maybe read a book while you're up there," Lisa suggested, taking a seat on the couch so she could face the tv.

"Mrs. Birch do you want to get rid of us?" May joked.

"Yes, but only because the Real Housewives of Hoenn is on," she smiled.

Both siblings offered her their smiles before making their way up the stairs to Brendan's room. Mrs. Birch had told them to call her if they needed anything. They entered the room to find that it was mostly the same as when the boy had left. Even the books he had been reading that morning were still on table like his mother wanted to keep the room unchanged for when he returned.

The large snorlax plush was still laying on top of the blue rug in front of his television and gaming system. The small bookshelves and desk all had their pokedolls placed on them in an orderly fashion. Around his desk were also picture frames of the boy and his parents along with his pokemon and a couple of his friends.

There were two particular photos that always caught May's eye. The first of which featured Brendan standing in the middle with Skipper on top of his head like always. Drake was standing by his feet while Zen was in the boy's arm. To his side stood the professor with Toto by his feet and Mrs. Birch stood on the other side. May couldn't help but feel warm at seeing their little family.

The second photo was again the photo of the three boys each holding their own pokemon. The taller boy to the right always caught May's attention as she had sometimes seen him on television, but she had always failed to ask Brendan how the three of them were doing.

"So May what are you gonna do?" Max asked, laying down comfortably on the snorlax.

"I don't know Max. Maybe I could play a game, although I can't guarantee that I'll win," she sighed.

"Yeah you're really bad at those," Max retorted. The comment caused May to walk over to him and begin pinching his cheeks like a grandmother would. After several protests from the boy, May finally let go and went to sit on the bed.

"Guess I'll just read some books then," Max said. He had spent the last minute rubbing his pained red cheeks.

May could only nod as she stared at the room. Sure, she had been to his room before, but most of the time Brendan was always present to keep her company. He would always come up with the strangest ideas for them to have fun and she somehow got pulled into them. Although she was sometimes reluctant to follow after him sometimes, she always ended up enjoying whatever they did together. Well except for those rare times he talked about classic literature. At those times, May would begin drowsing as soon as he uttered the first word and sometimes he would have Skipper wake her up by his usual methods. She would always yell out in annoyance afterwards and chase the boy around until they tired out and sat back down to play some games or maybe enjoy some of his mother's cooking.

After a couple more minutes of remembering her past, May decided that maybe she would play some of his games. She decided that even though she was bad at the games, she at least couldn't lose against the computer right? Right?

"You have got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed after a half hour of playing games. "Even against the computer I lose."

Max had stopped his reading to turn respond to his sister. "Wow sis you're not bad at games but you're terrible at them-youch!" he exclaimed. May had quickly made her way to pinch her brother's cheeks like before.

"You can't take a joke can you sis?" he asked. Again he was rubbing his pained cheeks.

"Humph I bet Brendan rigged the game so I would always lose." She crossed her arms and turned away from the system in annoyance.

"Sis you really are a sore loser," Max muttered under his breath so his sister couldn't hear. He really didn't want to get another vicious attack to his cheeks.

For the next hour, May managed to claim a couple victories against the computer while Max kept reading at the desk. Max then played together with May with May losing the majority of matches like always. After a losing streak she had migrated away from the television and to the desk. She glanced at the book Max was reading and was about to turn her head if it wasn't for a set of words that caught her attention.

'The Moon is Beautiful, Isn't It,' an expression often used to convey one's affection towards another. Can be used instead of saying 'I Love You.'

Immediately May's mind ran back to underneath the tree during the Harvest Festival.

"The Moon is beautiful, isn't it?" he said as he looked at May's direction then back up at the moon.

May slowly picked herself up and looked at the brilliant shining orb. After a moment she said, "yeah it really is beautiful."

May could begin to feel her face a deep shade of red and the also felt like she was being boiled alive. A million thoughts had begun running through her mind before her mind went blank.

If this was like one of those tv shows she had seen on Tv, then maybe she would be suffering from a nosebleed at this very moment.

"Max… I need to talk to mom. I'll be right back," she said hurriedly. She didn't hear her brother's response as she quickly made her way downstairs putting her shoes on. She didn't hear Mrs. Birch's talk as she quickly made her way out the door and into her house. As she was running the short distance, May noticed that the moving truck was almost completely filled with boxes and furniture.

She quickly weaved her way across the many machoke receiving weird looks from them but she paid them no mind as she had a single mission on her mind.

"Mom!" she called out as she stood in the nearly empty living room.

"Honey what's wrong?" she asked. She had come in from her bedroom holding a couple of boxes.

May ran towards her mother, her face still red, and began fidgetting with her hair.

"Do you remember that one time I told you I may or may not like Brendan?" she asked.

"Oh ho are we having this conversation? So what's it about this time?" she giggled.

"Well mom let's just say that… I may have found something that shows that he might like be a lot. You know like like like, not as a friend but as a girl… girl… girlfri…" May was struggling to get the last word out.

"As a girlfriend you mean?" Caroline asked.

"Yes that word! Just like that!" She pointed towards her mother. "Back at the Harvest Festival before the fireworks started… we were both sitting underneath a tree waiting for it to begin and then he said, 'The Moon is Beautiful isn't it."

"I thought he was talking about the moon and not about love," she said.

"But honey isn't wonderful? Isn't wonderful that you know how he truly felt?"

"Well kind of. All this time I thought it was about the moon and I never gave him an answer. What should I do mom?"

"May don't worry about it too much. If he still loves you then I'm sure he will make his way back to tell you so let's just calm down for a moment and we'll get everything fixed up alright?"

A million thoughts were running through May's thoughts. Maybe Brendan doesn't love me anymore. Maybe he thought that I was blowing him off by not responded. Maybe he was mad that I didn't respond. Maybe he felt that I wasn't the one for him. Gosh May why? Why? Why couldn't you have given him your answer back then? But now that I know what will he think of me? Will he think the same of me after all this time? Arceus this is so messed up. What should I do?

Max had made his way into their now empty home. He looked at the empty rooms with sadness in his eyes. This was after all the place where he had grown up all his life and he could feel a lump well up in his throat as his mother motioned for him to exit their old home.

For the rest of the day, May had been stuck in her thoughts of a teenage girl learning about love that even when the neighbors had come to give their farewells she had been distracted.

They had all offered the family gifts for their new home as well giving them the "Littleroot Goodbye Salute."

Make sure you guys come visit us sometime," Mrs. Birch said. She had enveloped Caroline in a tight hug along with Max and May.

"May, remember that if you ever want to become a trainer, I'm more than happy to help you out." the professor had offered everyone a handshake. May managed a nod as her head was still stuck in her thoughts.

"Thanks everyone. It was great living in this wonderful little town," Caroline thanked. She was already climbing onto the moving truck before she was enveloped in another hug by Lisa. The two women soon broke their hug and Caroline along with May and Max climbed on.

The truck had started to move leaving the trees of the town behind and onto the dirt path of the route to Oldale. From there their path lead to Petalburg where the city's bright lights dotted the skyline even from a distance.

They soon arrived into the city where the truck drove to the front of the gym. From there the machoke got to work as they began unpacking all the families belongings and moving them to the gym's living quarters.

"It's great to see that you all made it here safe and sound," they heard Norman's voice as he was exiting the gym.

The three family members were soon embraced in a tight hug by him then motioned to the Machoke to begin arranging their. Norman had noticed that his daughter had seemed slightly strange, but when he commented on it, May told him that everything was alright. He looked at his wife to ask her what was going on and his eyes widened when she told him the entire story.

Then then placed a reassuring hand on May's shoulder. "You know May, I have Brendan's phone number with me. You can give him a call if you want. He was also here in Petalburg about three months ago and he's doing just fine."

"Umm actually Dad… I was maybe thinking of becoming a trainer and maybe going out there to find him in person," she fumbled.

"Oh it's like one of those love stories you see on Tv. So cute," Caroline gushed.

"Well May, why don't you give it a bit more thought and we'll talk later. Right now we need to finish unpacking," Norman nodded.

May nodded and began imagining of what life as a trainer could entail.

The machoke had soon arranged the furniture in a fashion that was similar to that of their old home. May get up to her room to find that it was almost completely the same. Her desk, her drawers, her bed were all in the same position as before. For a second she admired the expertise of the pokemon's attention to detail before plopping down on her bed and falling asleep to her thoughts.

AN: so looks like May finally realized what Brendan meant to say on that night after about maybe a year. also next chapter is the last one, and I would like to thank everyone that had stayed with me for this long, I really appreciate it. Also next chapter, we should see a very familiar face from the pokemon anime make an appearance.

As always I hope you guys enjoyed and hope to see you all next chapter!