"And then I saw that Erika was going to use her sync move on my pokemon so I imitated her. It was close but I managed to activate my sync stone first, and my Meowstic made her Pokemon faint!" Calem recounted excitedly.

"Yeah... you're just forgetting to say that by taking the lead like that, you left my Lucario defenseless, and I almost got eliminated because of you!" Korrina pointed out to him.

"I knew you'd be just fine on your own."

Korrina let out a sigh:

"No Calem, of course not, you couldn't have known that!"

With six people eating, the picnic Serena and Calem had prepared was devoured in no time. After two peanut butter sandwiches and several berries, Brendan, May and Lisia were full. But it was Serena's profiteroles that were the most successful. The Pokemons had almost fought over the last one, but it was Altaria who got it. Now all six of them were lounging on the grass while their trainers were chatting and finishing their drinks.

"We were lucky for this battle. But next time, this kind of mistake could cost us the victory," Korrina insisted. "You can't just decide to change our strategy like that in the middle of a battle, without informing others!"

May gave Brendan a knowing look. It was reassuring to see that they weren't the only ones with cooperation issues.

"I know," Calem said before quietly sipping his juice. "But this time I knew it was safe, if I didn't I wouldn't have done it."

"But how could you be sure?!"

"Well, thanks to my experience... Trust me Korri, I know when victory is largely guaranteed."

"Calem, I am a gym leader so excuse me but I think I'm better at evaluating battles than you are. And this morning's was by no means a sure win!"

May turned quietly to Serena, who seemed to prefer not to enter the argument:

"Do they often argue like that?"

"Yeah," the young trainer answered. "Korrina is the team captain, but Calem does as he pleases. He always takes his own initiative during battles and it made her mad."

"Hey girls," Lisia interjected, "am I the only one hearing strange noises here?"

"What kind of noises?"

"Shhhh..."

May put her ear to the ground. With Calem and Korrina, it was hard to hear anything other than their little argument. But she noticed that her Blaziken had cocked his head slightly, interrupting his nap. And she knew he had much better hearing than she did.

"My Delphox senses a foreign presence," Serena whispered to her, "someone must be approaching."

"Maybe it's just a trainer or a Pokemon...?" Brendan advanced, making sure to whisper too.

"Yeah, but why try to be so secretive? It's suspicious."

Behind Korrina and Calem, May noticed that the bushes were slightly shaking. Lisia and Serena were right, someone had to be spying on them.

"Blaz... help us."

Despite his dozing state, her Blaziken understood what she wanted from him. He sent a flame of fire to burn the bushes. As the leaves slowly burned away, the figure of a robust man appeared behind.

"Hey you! What do you want from us?!" May shouted at him as she stood up.

Serena, Lisia and Brendan did the same, calling their Pokemon back to their side, ready for a possible battle.

"What? What's going on?" Calem said as he turned around, before he realized. "Oh no!"

"Someone is attacking us?!" Korrina exclaimed.

"Well, there's no point in hiding anymore," said a female voice behind May's back.

A woman had just emerged from her hiding place behind a tree.

"Aah we wanted to surprise you but you've ruined everything," another voice sighed, and a third individual emerged from the woods.

So there were several of them... Two men, one short and strong and the other tall and skinny, carrying a briefcase in his hand, and a woman with long brown hair dressed in an elegant way. They all wore a strange black and white mask over their eyes. If they needed to hide their face, it was surely because their intentions were evil.

"Team Break," Serena muttered, clenching her fists.

"Oh, you know us already? How heartwarming," the young woman giggled.

"Uh... team what?" Lisia repeated.

Oh no. Not another team something. May couldn't stand these associations with dubious objectives. Most of the time, they were just a bunch of frustrated people who had fallen into illegality after failing in life. She'd had enough of such social cases in Hoenn.

"Team Break," Korrina repeated, scowling at them. "We've run into them before when we were collecting our five badges... They're Pokemon thieves. And I don't know why, but it seems that their ultimate goal is to sabotage the PML."

That's it, only killjoys could have this kind of goal, May thought. Why would they want to stop a tournament that gave so much happiness and opportunity to all trainers?

"But don't worry, this team is so lame they'll never success at anything," Calem scoffed.

"Argh!" The bearded masked man cried. "That's enough, you kids. You won't be so smart anymore when we take your Pokemons away!"

With that, he sent his Pokemon on them. And the other two thieves followed suit.

"Looks like they haven't learned the last lesson we taught them," Korrina snapped. "Lucario, the nap ends now!"

May sent her Blaziken at the Pokemon closest to her. With Serena's help, they defeated it in seconds. Then she came to Brendan and Lisia's help, while Korrina, Serena and Calem took care of the robust guy.

"See," Calem laughed. "I told you. Beating those grunts was just a piece of cake."

"Argh! You've got a lot to look forward to," the grunt snarled. "There weren't supposed to be that many of you. Next time we'll win."

"Come on guys, let's retreat," the woman shouted.

"Hey, you think you're going to get away with this?" May reacted.

She knew she was much more powerful than them so she didn't hesitate for a second. As the three thieves rushed into the woods, May ran after them, hearing Brendan and Lisia following her. She could see the white figure of the woman sneaking through the trees. She tried to catch up with her, but after falling on a root, she finally lost her trail.

"Tsss, and they're cowards too, as usual," she grumbled, catching her breath.

"May... warn me before running like that..." Brendan sighed, bending his knees and massaging his shoulders. "I wasn't ready for a chase just after dinner."

"Why is there always a stupid team wherever we go?! I won't let them ruin the PML like that," she explained to him, dryly.

"No, I get it… I hate those teams too. They get boring in the long run."

"And did you see their weird masks? It's even worse than Team Aqua and Magma..." Lisia laughed "They didn't have enough budget for a real costume or what?"

"Ah, there you are..." Korrina said, joining them with Serena and Calem. "You know, there's no point in chasing them... They must have a base somewhere... They always disappear out of nowhere."

"If they really do have a base in Pasio it means they're better organised and smarter than they look," May thought.

"Haha, don't tell me that you, a champion, fear this bunch of incompetents?" Calem asked her.

May chose not to react to his provocation. Of course, this team didn't look very competent but her instinct was to remain suspicious. In Hoenn, Team Magma and Team Aqua had long been regarded as clowns with absurd ideas by everyone and had been allowed to act with impunity, until they actually put the whole region in danger. The problem could have been avoided if the league hadn't been so lazy.

"There must still be something we can do," she finally said. "Like warning the tournament's organizers... Or at least the other champions present in Pasio... I don't know..."

"The prince already knows about them, but he doesn't see them as a danger," Calem explained. "Cynthia wanted to do something, but while this Team is incapable in terms of Pokemon battles, they're very good at hiding and we don't know who's in charge of them, so there's not much she could do about it other than stop a few of them maybe... but anyway, I don't think they're worth worrying about that much..."

"No, we shouldn't underestimate them," May assured, turning to Brendan and Lisia for support. "We're trained so we can win against them easily, but what if they start attacking spectators or even children...?"

"May's right," her best friend agreed. "They might have more nasty surprises in store for us... Why don't you try telling the other champions, May? It sounds like a good start."

May wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, she was afraid that they would look down on her and, like Calem, tell her she was worrying about nothing. But if something happened in the future, she already knew that she would feel guilty for not doing anything.

"I can try, at least... Fine, let's go back to the Pokemon center," she told him. "We'll see if we can find anyone there."


There weren't many people in the pokemon center on this first day of the PML, all the trainers were either training outside or watching the battles in the arena. Brendan and May chose to go back there. In front of the entrance, a small group of trainers was gathered. Over time, May had come to understand that to spot the different champions in Pasio, you just had to look for their fan club instead. This time it was Cynthia's one, but as she stretched her neck to see beyond the small crowd, May noticed that she was also accompanied by Lance and Steven.

"No wonder there's so many people here; Cynthia and Lance's teams are the next ones to battle," Brendan noticed as he read the list of battles posted on the walls of the building. "May, they're both here at the same moment, we can't miss this opportunity! We need to talk to them."

May's throat tightened. Even if she had to, she didn't feel like going to them.

"Well... okay but you're the one in charge of getting us through all these people then," she negotiated.

"No problem..."

Brendan stepped forward through the crowd, expanding his shoulders to gain access to the two champions.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I'm escorting the champion of Hoenn!"

Argh! He's only making things worse. May felt the stares being directed at her. "The champion of Hoenn?" "So that's her?" "But that woman looks like any other trainer..." She had to use all her willpower to keep moving and not react. Seriously, how was she supposed to take it? No, she didn't have anything impressive, not even a badge on the chest to remind people of her title... but since when was it looks that made a trainer strong?

"Champion May... It's good to see you, I figured we'd run into each other here eventually," Cynthia said as she caught sight of her. "Let them through, please."

"Hi Cynthia," May replied awkwardly.

Actually, she had never spoken to the champion of Sinnoh in person before, but she couldn't pretend not to know her. That would have been stupid.

"I heard that you and your team won your first battle. Well done to you. Mine's in half an hour... and I admit I'm feeling a little nervous," she smiled.

May guessed that she was only joking to make her feel more comfortable. Cynthia had battled so many times in public that this had to be just a formality for her. Between her and Lance, the young champion decided that she would certainly be the most inclined to listen to her, as the Jotho champion seemed to glare at her, arms crossed and shoulders rigid. Next to him, Steven - who was always there when she didn't need to - forced himself to smile, but she could see in his eyes that he was wondering what she was doing there.

"Um... Brendan and I wanted to talk to you about something important, we were in the woods earlier... but maybe this isn't the right time?..."

"Did something bad happen?" Cynthia quickly understood. "Wait... I doubt you want everyone to hear our conversation."

The Sinnoh champion addressed a quick apology to her fan club before giving a discrete sign to a member of the PML staff. Understanding the message, his colleagues and him came to clear the crowd, encouraging people to return to the arena.

"There, we'll be more at ease like this. You can go on, May."

With Brendan's help, May quickly told them about their unexpected meeting with Team Break. As she had feared, Lance laughed a little in her face:

"You shouldn't be alarmed by so little. You beat them easily, didn't you? Those grunts have no way of getting the PML cancelled," he assured her.

Prepared for this reaction, May gave him the same arguments she had given to Calem: what if they start attacking defenseless people? She glanced at Steven. Since he was here, she might as well seek his support. He knew what these Teams were capable of when they had faced Team Aqua and Magma together in Hoenn.

"May is right," he said at last, to her relief. "This kind of Team can only bring trouble to Pasio, and we don't know what other sinister goals may be behind their desire to cancel the PML."

"I agree that Team Break is a problem, but what can we concretely do about them?" Cynthia asked. "I've already notified the contest organizers and the security forces from Pasio. They've only told me that they'll take things in hands without further details."

"May... You seemed to have an idea," Steven guessed.

"I don't know what it's worth, but... I was thinking that after battling and training for the PML, the more experienced trainers could make rounds on the island... to be ready to defend people who wouldn't be able to battle if Team Break attacked them."

"That's already the job of the security staff. It's not up to the trainers to take that kind of precaution," Lance recalled them.

"But it's true that the prince and his bodyguards seem to underestimate Team Break..." Cynthia replied. "I think May's idea is a good one. Personally, I'm ready to do some rounds when I have the time."

"Well..." Lance sighed. "If you really want to take on this responsibility... I think the best way to go about it is for each champion to get organized with the other members of their league and create a network ready to act if something bad happens."

"That's an excellent idea. We could also do some prevention with the public to remind them not to walk around the island alone. Especially children."

May smiled. She was glad to see that the two champions were slowly beginning to consider solutions to fight against Team Break. Steven remained silent, but when she looked up at him, she saw that he was genuinely smiling too, and she wondered what could be the exact reason for this smile. After all, the subject they were discussing wasn't particularly happy.

After a few minutes of talking about the most effective ways to deal with the Team, Cynthia looked at her watch and flinched:

"Oh I'm afraid we'll have to continue this conversation later. I have to leave you to go join my team..."

"I come with you," Lance said. "I have to get ready for my battle as well."

Cynthia turned her head towards Brendan and May, her long blonde hair shining in the sun.

"Thank you for coming to talk to us, May. You did the right thing; as champions, it's also our duty to protect the population."

The two champions entered the arena and May heard a wave of applause inside. Lance and Cynthia really seemed to be considered as stars by the Pasio audience.

"So Brendan?" May said, looking for an excuse to leave as quickly as possible. "We have to go back to training now, right?"

"Yep, we've still got a lot of work to do," the young man agreed, more naturally than her.

She gave Steven a slight nod, but he held her by the wrist.

May flinched. She hated it when he was doing that, as if he had the right to stop her from leaving. As if she was at his disposal while he could come and go without ever caring about her.

"May, wait!"

Did she only have the choice?

"What?" She said, struggling to hide her annoyance.

"If you need help getting organized with the rest of the league... I'm ready to lend you a hand."

The opportunity was too good for May to not react:

"Oh so you're willing to help me now?" She asked casually, releasing her wrist with a sharp gesture.

"I... of course I am..." he answered, confused. "I mean... only if you want me to... I don't want to interfere with your duties as a champion."

"Then no, thank you. I don't need your help, Steven. I've never needed it," she replied coldly, before walking away.

Oh it felt so good to blow him off. Brendan ran after her.

"Please, tell me he's not following us," she whispered.

"No, don't worry, he's rather looking like he's been turned into a statue," he laughed.

"If only..."

"I'm proud of you May, you reminded him of his place! Seriously, how does he think you've done during a whole year without him?" Brendan asked, saying out loud May's own thoughts.

The worst part was that she wasn't even sure that Steven got the message. At least her best friend understood her. That assured her that she wasn't exaggerating the situation, she had every right to be angry.


In the evening, Brendan and May met Wally and Hau for a meal in the village. This allowed May to get to know their new teammate better. The boy kept telling them about his home region, his grandfather who was one of the island kahuna of Alola, the legendary Pokemons there, and the beautiful beaches where he and his friends would go to have fun. He introduced his Raichu to the other Pokemons of their team. The four pokemons played together for a while, Hau throwing berries at them that they try to catch all at the same time.

It felt good to be able to settle down like this and have a little fun, despite the stress of the PML. May tried to clear her head and not think about her afternoon. Now she wasn't that sure anymore that she had behaved well with Steven. She shouldn't have rejected him so directly... She had probably been too harsh, but it was also because he had annoyed her. And seeing him with Cynthia and Lance, as if he was still the official Hoenn champion... it had made her feel so excluded. Theoretically, she should have felt on the same level as the champions of Sinnoh and Jotho, but obviously Steven belonged much more with them than her, because he was closer to them in experience and confidence than May would ever be.

Actually, Steven was much more convincing as a champion than she was. Everyone in Hoenn remembered him, while she went unnoticed. Even though it had been more than a year, she still didn't feel legitimate. Some people in Pasio didn't even know who she was. May might have had the strength of a champion, but outside of battling, she didn't have the maturity or confidence... The other champions still saw her as another promising trainer, like Brendan and Wally, rather than a real rival. And May, too, felt much closer to her friends than to Cynthia or Lance.