In which the authors have a Delta Episode shout-out.

Brendan and May had gotten instructions from the Pokémon Center, and had decided that calling to borrow the Wailord again after just having returned it was too much trouble.

"I don't know why you won't just drop me off at the League building," Brendan said as he clung to Latias.

May shrugged. "Because Victory Road is a rite of passage," she explained, as if she didn't completely believe it herself. "All of Dad's other Pokedex carriers said so."

"How many have made it to the Hall of Fame?" Brendan dared to ask.

"I don't know. Maybe five."

"And how long has he been doing this?"

May said something so quietly it might not have been heard, but Brendan tuned in enough to pick it out. "Since he became a professor."

"Which is how long?"

"No idea. Longer than I've been alive." May didn't seem to be very eager to continue this conversation, but she called Latias back to be used as a 'hack Pokémon' until they managed to escape the maze of Victory Road. Brendan was grateful for that, but he quickly realized that he had no idea where to go.

"It shouldn't be too hard," May told him, to Brendan's disbelief. "You're not the only trainer with eight badges and something to prove. Just follow the path of trainers that want to challenge you to a battle."

"And what will you be doing?"

May tapped her chin. "Well," she said carefully, "I'm actually out of popcorn, so I guess I'll join you as your backup. It shouldn't be too hard when we're together, should it?"

"It shouldn't," Brendan agreed, "but that doesn't mean it won't be."

"Then we'll annihilate anyone and anything that stands in our way," May announced. "Just like old times."

Brendan smiled, a genuine smile that didn't scare her at all. "Just like old times," he repeated. "I think I can manage that."

Courtney had been gone by the time morning had arrived.

Maxie and Tabitha had returned to the base, and had told Courtney and the grunts that Team Magma as they knew it was over. The three leaders had spent the rest of the day making a speech, and Courtney had gone to her room when it had become too much for her.

She had never come out. One of the grunts only found out that she'd left when she had come to make sure Courtney was sleeping and not dead. She'd found the couch Courtney had preferred to sleep on missing an Admin and cold to touch.

Maxie knew that Courtney could look after herself. He wasn't worried. That lack of worry was why he was pacing his office, trying to figure out where she could have gone. After all, they weren't friends, merely co-workers. He only wanted to make sure she was officially resigning...

"She won't answer my calls, Boss," Tabitha said suddenly, cutting into Maxie's thoughts.

"Try it again," Maxie ordered, before he returned to his pacing.

Tabitha almost commented, but he knew Maxie too well. It would be useless to get him to admit that he wanted Courtney safe. Even if Tabitha himself admitted that he felt the same way.

Maxie didn't notice Tabitha's half-sound. He turned on the computer, not hoping for anything but a distraction.

Imagine his surprise when he saw a message from Courtney. For once, he didn't mind his second-in-command reading over his shoulder.

I would have told you to your faces, she wrote, but I'm not good with speaking. I'm just going to put together a new routine. No matter what you hear, I don't hate you, Maxie. Tabitha could be worse. You two were what convinced me to enjoy myself. I'll come back. I'll make you proud.

Tabitha finished reading before Maxie did. "She likes us," he translated. "She likes us and cut herself out to spare herself the pain of us drifting apart."

"That's ridiculous," Maxie said, pushing the thought away.

"That she likes us, or that she didn't think we'd want her around if we turned over a new leaf?"

"Yes." Maxie paused, then backtracked. "Both. Courtney was never entirely stable, but I never would have believed..."

"She promised to come back," Tabitha pointed out. "All we have to do is wait."

"And how long will that take?" Maxie waved at the door. "I need her! If I wanted something done around here, I'd look to one of you to get it done right! Now there's only two of us in charge, and I'm not convinced Team Magma can survive like this."

Tabitha held out his arms for a hug. Maxie glared at him until he stopped. "We'll make it work," Tabitha promised. "Nothing can stop Team Magma! Except twelve-year-olds on a Pokedex adventure, of course."

Brendan and May had found the final member of the long-forgotten Winstrate family. For all his relatives had talked about him, Brendan had almost expected Vito to be in the League building already.

What he got was an evolved Shuppet and disappointment.

"Did he really use his full team?" Brendan asked, like he didn't believe it. "Was that it?"

"I think so," May said sadly, as if she, too, was disappointed. "There were only three Pokémon."

"My family does think I'm the greatest thing since peanut butter," Vito explained, as if he was used to this kind of behavior. "I'm not surprised you expected me to be Champion."

"We didn't expect that much," May clarified, and then immediately started backtracking. "I mean, um, we expected to see you in the League building, but we haven't actually heard much of you from your parents, other than that you were on a trainer journey and probably had all your badges."

"If that's all they did," Vito said, "then I'm even more surprised than you are." He didn't sound offended at all. "I should go and visit again."

"Calling works just as well," May promised. "I haven't seen my dad in person since I left Littleroot Town, but he knows I still love him."

Brendan thought back to how little he'd called his own parents, and wondered if he should be feeling a little guilty. He decided no, they'd kicked him out of the house before he'd spent the night there. "So you're giving up the Championship?"

"I'm postponing it," Vito corrected. "I'm going to go and battle all of them again, and show off how much stronger I've become. Then I'll come back and challenge the Elite Four." He smiled, nothing mean-spirited at all. "To you, I wish nothing but luck."

Even if it didn't mean much, it was nice to know that Brendan could beat the entire family.

Matt had left before Archie and Shelly could finish their speech. He-with-the-forgettable-name had gone with him.

Matt's leaving, in itself, was not an unusual occurrence. It was when he had not returned after six hours that drew their concern.

"This isn't good," a female grunt commented. "It's not like Matt or Billy to go off like that."

Something about the name didn't feel right to Archie, but he couldn't figure out how to correct it. "Did they mention anything before they left? Anything useful," he stressed, understanding the typical grunt mentality far too well.

"Not really," the grunt answered, not offended at all. "Mr. Matt said 'Fifth of September,' but that was just telling the rest of the grunts to keep his guess the betting pool."

Ah, yes. That. He needed to have a long talk with the grunts about gambling - that it could easily grow to be a problem, and especially that he usually wanted in on it. "Which betting pool?"

"I don't know," she answered, more innocent than he'd expected. "I'm not good at managing money, they know I'd never be able to pay up for a loss."

"And this has nothing to do with our loss to those kids?"

"No, sir," the grunt answered immediately. Then she stopped. "Probably."

Archie barely restrained his temper, and he dismissed the grunt and told her to bring in Shelly. The grunt worked quickly, and brought in his first mate in only minutes.

Shelly jumped right in. "Did you figure out where they went?"

Archie's little bubble of hope burst. "I thought you might have had an idea. Did you put the tracking devices on the uniforms like I asked?"

"I talked you out of that," Shelly reminded him. "And Matt decided that shirts were for losers, anyway. We couldn't have found him, unless we'd put it on his belt."

"We should have."

"I know we should have. Let's talk about what is happening because we didn't."

Archie didn't object, and started clicking a pen in mild frustration. "The only lead we have is the fifth of September," he told her, "and even that isn't a sure return date. It could just as easily be one last bet."

Shelly momentarily looked uncomfortable. "That isn't the only lead," she finally admitted. "He left a message with one of the grunts. Something about spending the past seven years as a third wheel and deciding to go and 'give us some space' or something stupid like that."

Archie stopped his pen-clicking. "The girl was right," he said slowly. "Our entire team did ship us."

"She's surprisingly observant," Shelly agreed. "Given the right topic. Romance does appeal to girls her age."

For a moment, there was an awkward silence, each trying to address the topic in a way that wouldn't sound romantic to an outside observer, such as a grunt or an audience looking from behind a screen.

Finally, Archie decided to just walk the plank, such as it was. "Matt can take care of himself," he decided. "And if that's all he's going to give us, then who needs him?" He stopped, and then spoke before the awkwardness could settle again. "I'm going to move on to Mossdeep. I don't want to stay in the base when I can pretend we won. You can come, I've always imagined you standing beside me as I looked over my kingdom."

"Will there be cops?"

"Most likely," Archie said without a pause. "Brendan has agents there, and we'll probably get arrested for trying to flood the world even if the creepy twins don't see us. Let's make our last day of freedom something we'll remember."

Shelly didn't need to be told twice.

Of all the people Brendan had expected to see at the end of Victory Road, Wally was not one of them.

Looking back, he should have seen it. After all, while he and May were operating the majority of Team Breakneck missions, Wally had gotten into a few incidents with one team or another himself. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone that he'd gotten stronger.

It still surprised Brendan. "You beat all eight Gyms already?"

Wally smiled proudly. "I sure did!" he announced, and opened his Badge Case. "First Wattson, then Flannery, then Roxanne and Norman...it's amazing what you can do when you only have two or three encounters with evil teams."

"But don't you have to go through Fortree to get to Mossdeep and Sootopolis?" May asked. "You were with Winona at the time that Brendan challenged Juan."

"I had a teleporting Pokémon with me at the time. My starter had babies," he added quickly. "The other trainer didn't want them, so I was raising them to find the best Gardevoir of my own."

"You're breeding for battles?" May asked, and Wally tried to carefully phrase his answer.

"Kind of. More like accidental breeding from two guys leaving their Pokémon unsupervised. The fact that they were even more built for battle than either parent was just a bonus." Wally didn't seem to care. "I did the research, and the 'breeder' thing sounds like an option after I become honorary Champion."

"Speaking of the Championship," Brendan cut in, still in shock, "you beat all eight Gyms? Since I left you in Mauville?"

"There's a lot of things I never told you about," Wally said cryptically. "And I was going to challenge you to a battle to show it!"

Well, if there was one thing Brendan understood, it was battles. And even he admitted he was a little bit curious. "Then I have one thing to say: Banette, do the thing!"

Wally carefully thought out his options, and then made his choice. "Magneton, don't let me down!"

Pokémon teams:

Brendan: Adam, Breloom, Aggron, Grumpig, Banette, Beldum

May: Jerry, Masquerain, Pikachu, Torkoal, Latias, Dusky