Flannery makes some very bad decisions. Do not question them. (And the ending was the only ending that sounded right)
With both teams gone and the volcano free from trouble, Brendan and May could go back to Fallarbor Town and return the meteorite to Professor Cozmo before heading on their way to the next Gym.
Instead, they headed down to the next town anyway, the meteorite with them, and planned to send it to Professor Birch through Pokémon transfer. It was easier, they told themselves, and then Birch could listen to Cozmo's weird science monologue and save the kids from being bored to death. It was better for everyone.
The path from the volcano to Lavaridge Town wasn't the best place to carry a valuable item, but the Spoink that had stolen it from them had been more than happy to carry it for them. Once Brendan had captured him, that is.
"You're perfect for each other, Sneakers," May said, giving Brendan a pointed look. He just forced an expression of pure innocence.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I thought it would be obvious." May gestured between him and the little hopping pig. "You're both criminals that need to be stopped."
"Is that what we are?" Brendan looked horrified. "Are we really criminals? Breaking the law for the good of the world? Wasn't that what Robin Hood did?"
"Technically," May said, her smile not quite genuine. "I think I read somewhere that Robin Hood actually only stole what belonged to the poor anyway, what the rich took as unnecessary taxes and stuff. Not the stuff that the rich had rightfully earned or inherited. That's why they were still rich so he could rob them again."
He tried not to egg her on any more. It would get old sooner or later. He could already tell that Spoink, bouncing along behind them, was already getting bored of it.
"May, you sent me a meteorite with your Masquerain."
"I know, Dad," May said, trying to keep from sounding disrespectful. "And now it's up to you to get that back to Professor Cozmo. You're a scientist, he's a scientist. I am not, but he might think I want to follow in your footsteps and share his notes with me."
"It did make news when the Unova professor's daughter decided to get the title for herself," Birch confessed. "And Cedric did call it the 'family business' at one point. I'm sorry if the Juniper family ruined your life."
He wasn't serious. May knew her father would have loved it if she decided to be a researcher, too. "And I'm sorry that I'd rather look important science facts up on the internet instead of trying to find my own answers to unexplained questions, like where Pokémon eggs come from."
"You're a bit too young for that kind of work," the professor said immediately. "And don't try looking that up."
"I wasn't planning to. Ever." May tried to force the question from her mind, and decided a subject change was in order. "What can you tell us about the new Lavaridge Town Gym Leader?"
Professor Birch pulled a small notebook from his lab coat pocket. "She still uses Fire-types," he told her. "She's apparently a redhead who can't stand the cold, so keeping the type specialty was the natural choice."
It seemed like everyone around them was becoming like their famous relatives. Lisia and her uncle, the Gym Leader and her grandfather, the Junipers. Perhaps there wasn't hope for Brendan and May except what type specialty and field of study they wanted.
No, May was sure that this wasn't for her. She liked to learn, but putting that knowledge into fiction was where she shined, and she couldn't imagine Brendan battling professionally forever.
"And do you have any Water-types you can lend Brendan for this?" she asked. "When can you send them?"
Her father refused. "I'm not allowed to help with Gym challenges. I only provide Pokémon to get a trainer to the next location."
So it was up to Jerry again. Fine, he was almost more used to battling for Brendan than he was for May. "Is there anything at all you can do for this, Dad?"
"Other than wishing you good luck? No. But good luck to you both anyway."
He signed off before May could think of a response. She took a deep breath in, slowly let it out, and stood up. "Hey, Brendan! If you want to trade, we'd better do it now!"
"I've never had Pikachu before," Brendan said as they slowly walked through the Gym's hot-spring floor, water seeping into their socks.
"Well, Aron wasn't a good choice in a Fire-type Gym," May reminded him. "Rock-type is good, but Steel-type isn't."
"But Pikachu is a Contest Pokémon."
"So? Everyone wants to try new things someday. She wanted to help you get the badge."
Pikachu was in her ball, so Brendan couldn't ask for her confirmation. "Can you guess which rocket geyser will take us to the Gym Leader?"
"No, but I can guess who we're going to sue now." May covered her eyes with one hand, and used the other to point. "Eenie, meenie, minie...you."
Well, that was how they'd been making their decisions all day. It couldn't hurt.
The girl they assumed was the Gym Leader was a redhead, as promised. What the kids hadn't heard was that she apparently liked to style her hair to resemble an enormous fire, and they barely restrained themselves from laughing.
The Gym Leader was equally surprised. "I wasn't expecting challengers to make it this far so soon," she said, but then stopped in her tracks. "Um, I mean...ok, let's start that again." She cleared her throat and forced her face into something vaguely resembling a threat. "Puny trainers, how dare you trespass on my...no, that's not right, either."
May couldn't help it. She covered her mouth, but she couldn't smother the giggles. "She looks like a Cyndaquil trying to be a Machamp," she whispered to Brendan.
"Or like a really angry Vulpix," Brendan agreed.
The Gym Leader's fingers curled at her sides, as if she was even more determined to prove she wasn't a cute toddler who stumbled into the big-girl leagues. "I-I am Flannery of the Lavaridge Town Gym," she recited, like she had memorized a script and was a really bad actress. "With skills inherited from my grandfather, I-I'll crush you!" She pulled a ball from her belt. "Well? Which of you is the challenger, and which one is going to take them back to the Pokémon Center?"
A newbie Gym Leader, who looked no older than nineteen, and her army of Fire-type Pokémon against Jerry, Adam, Pikachu and Spoink. Brendan almost felt sorry for her.
"Jerry, do the thing!"
Hey, it was an 'almost.'
Brendan had to admit, she deserved her position. She wasn't a damsel in distress, that much was obvious.
Brendan had thought it would be easy. After all, Jerry was a Water-type with Water-type attacks, so the Fire/Ground combination of her Numel and Camerupt were almost too easy. Then her Slugma actually was too easy. But her Torkoal was another story.
Brendan had thought it was going to be another one-hit KO, of course. He hadn't even switched out Jerry, instead calling for another Water Gun.
Flannery had come prepared. "Start the battle with Attract!" she commanded, all traces of the confused newbie gone and replaced with confidence.
Jerry didn't know what hit him. Well, technically, he did - a string of pink hearts aimed for the face wasn't exactly hard to miss. But his half-second of preparation did nothing to lessen the effect when the attack did hit.
May squeaked at the sight of her very first Pokémon unable to attack the Torkoal he was convinced he was in love with, partly out of concern for his emotional state, but mostly, it was for what she sensed was going to happen seconds before it actually did.
"Torkoal," Flannery called when she was sure that Jerry wouldn't be attacking that turn, "use Overheat!"
Well, May had been expecting a Solarbeam. She'd heard that some Fire-types could use it. And with Camerupt's Sunny Day setup, it wouldn't have been out of the question.
But Overheat would have packed a punch even without the Sunny Day boost, and Jerry was completely out in one hit.
"I should have known," Brendan said to himself as he called Jerry back. "That Slugma was a piece of cake."
The Attract hadn't been necessary, but he understood that it was a method to avoid retaliation in case Jerry made it through. And since Adam and Spoink were both male and vulnerable to Attract...
May made a good call in taking his Aron and lending him Pikachu.
Flannery tried to suppress a sound when she saw Pikachu, heart-tipped tail marking her gender, wearing her Cool costume. "I've heard about this Pikachu! She finally found a trainer?"
"She's May's," Brendan said, keeping the explanation brief. "How do you know this Pikachu?"
"I've met Lisia. Tried a Contest with Torkoal a few years ago, and she and her uncle were watching. He asked me to take a Pikachu when the costumer found her trying on hats, but I told him that Wattson was the better choice. It looks like May was even better for her."
She said it like meeting two celebrities at once was no big deal. "Did they tell you why this Pikachu likes playing dress-up so much?"
Flannery looked confused. "No."
It seemed that fate did have pity on Brendan, after all. "Then let me show you. Pikachu, Thunder Wave!"
When the Torkoal was paralyzed, Brendan slipped into the next move. "Now show off with Meteor Mash!"
"Meteor Mash?"
It took more than one hit, but Sunny Day cleared up and the paralysis kicked in, so even after he had to replace Pikachu with Adam, it only took one Double Kick.
Flannery seemed to be deep in thought, giving Brendan his badge without a word. Brendan, not used to such silence on the part of his opponents, immediately asked if she was really so surprised that she lost.
"It's not that," Flannery promised. "I was just thinking about how I should change my opening speech. Like you said, I probably did come off looking a bit like an angry Vulpix, and I'm too old for that."
"Really?" May had that look in her eyes, one that promised curiosity and invasive questions. She had that same look back when she asked Roxanne about Nosepass boogers. "How old do you have to be before you give up using being cute as a weapon of mass underestimation?"
Flannery didn't seem to mind that she had just been asked about her age. "Would you believe me if I told you that I'm turning twenty-one in November?" she said with a smile, as if no one ever did.
"Not really," Brendan confessed. Nineteen or twenty, he'd believe, but anything older than that was stretching it.
Flannery shook her head, the smile still in place. "No one ever does," she said, laughing a little. "Just trust me on this, and you'll see why I need a few changes in my opening monologue. I wasn't planning on demanding a rematch or anything, I promise."
"I'll write your speech," May started, but Brendan shushed her.
"No, she won't," Brendan said, putting his badge in its case and leading May away. "Is there anything more unreasonable you'd like us to do before we go? Save the town from a maniac, stop the volcano from erupting...?"
The Gym Leader thought hard. "No," she finally decided. "I think you're good here. But if you see my partial fiancé, tell him I need him to put a stop to Team Magma, they give Camerupt users a bad name."
"Partial?" May asked, again with that special look of pure curiosity. "You're partially engaged? How does that work?"
"It's a long and complicated story that you probably don't want to hear," Flannery promised. When May refused to move unless she got the whole thing, she was forced to continue. "We're not really...we're just..." She blew her hair out of her face. "It all started with a picture getting leaked on the internet."
"I'm sure it's a nice romantic tale," Brendan interrupted, managing to force May to move once again over her very vocal objections, "but we wouldn't know the guy if we saw him, so goodbye."
"It was a joke, I'll call him. Don't worry about it." Flannery said something under her breath. May didn't hear it, and Brendan couldn't understand the context.
As they left the Gym, May turned to Brendan, the curious look in her eyes replaced with hurt. "That sounded like an interesting story," she complained. "Why did we have to miss it?"
"Because sharing personal details with a writer is one way to get them published."
"But it was a funny story," May complained. "I could tell that she wanted to tell somebody. This might be her last chance until she's got kids asking about it."
She said nothing about not using it for her own work, though, and Brendan noticed that. Well, he supposed that whatever it was beat the sunset-and-beach proposals he'd heard about, especially if nothing was official and there was no ring in sight. After all, a leaked picture wasn't romantic. Was it?
Dang it, now he wished he'd stayed to listen.
Pokémon teams:
Brendan: Adam (Combusken) Breloom, Aron, Spoink
May: Jerry (Marshtomp) Masquerain (with Birch until further notice) Pikachu, Torkoal