This is the first of many May focused chapters in this part of the fic. Since she's got the whole "training to be a Blaziken Mask" thing going on, I figured she should get a few chapters to herself. As usual, I'm unsure whether or not this will be out on Tuesday. I've spent basically the whole day travelling, so normally I'd use the day before to get some work done, but of course AO3 just had to go down for a bit yesterday, making that impossible. But, it's only 3:30 where I am as I write these notes, so I might have time to get this out, we'll see. Also, I forgot to say last chapter, but this arc of TGPW is called The Return of The Tremors Arc. Enjoy.
Chapter 13:
Quest of an Older Sister
Ever since Max and Bonnie left Petalburg Town so Bonnie can challenge the gyms, and Max can document all of Hoenn's pokémon, May has had her time pretty divided. Half of the time, she's keeping up her Coordinator training in order to retain her title as top Coordinator. The other half of her time is spent with Meyer, learning to become the next Blaziken Mask. So far, she's been able to keep up with his strict training regiment, but she's been unable to produce fire from her punches or kicks yet. All that she's been able to produce is enough sweat to fill a swimming pool. She's become so hot during these training regiments that she's started cropping her t-shirt in order to cool down. Today, May has a particularly embarrassing moment when she finishes her morning training. She turns around to see Drew staring at her, rather red-faced. May looks down at herself, blushes furiously and rolls down her shirt, before giving out to Drew for staring at her.
But before she can give out for very long, and allow herself to get over how flustered she feels, her phone begins to ring. As she answers it, she notices Drew breathe a sigh of relief that she's done yelling at him. "Hey Max," she says, "how's your journey going so far?" She can tell that he's a bit nervous to tell her. Beside him sits Bonnie, who seems to be trying to egg him on. "Hey May," he says. "It's going well." May is suddenly rather suspicious of this call. "Why are you calling Max?" she asks. "Did something happen?" Max visibly freezes at this, and looks like he's trying to think of a way to cover it up. But Bonnie nudges him with her elbow, so he sighs and nods his head. "Something happened to us a few minutes ago..."
Max then proceeds to relay to her what happened to him and Bonnie earlier that day, with Bonnie chipping in a few times whenever Max tries to downplay what happened. When he's finished, May doesn't know what to say at first. Then, she realises why Max must've called her about it. "You want me to tell the public about this, don't you?" she asks. Max nods at this. "Sorry about this" he tells her, but May shakes her head. "It's not your fault," she tells him. "I'll give Hoenn the warning. But first, tell me which town or city you're nearest to!" The two check their Nav. Eh, says Bonnie, "We left Rustboro half a week ago, so that's probably the nearest place." "Great!" says May. "Head back there and wait for me! I want to make sure you both ok, and work out why they're hunting you! Unless you already know?" Bonnie looks like she's about to reply, but Max subtly but not at all shoves her away from the screen. "No we don't!" he says, so quickly it raises May's suspicions. "Alright," she says. "Well anyway, head back to Rustboro and DO NOT MOVE FROM THERE! I'll be along as soon as I can. I also want to see the damage for myself!" With that, she hangs up.
Without a word to Drew she runs into her house and quickly assembles a bag together. Drew follows her. "What are you doing?" she asks. "Isn't it obvious?" Drew asks. "I'm coming with you!" "No you aren't!" May replies. "Now that Team Terra are in Hoenn and they're triggering The Tremors again, it's too dangerous." "That's exactly why I should come with you!" Drew argues. "It's better to do this together! Have each other's back, you know!" May turns to look at him. "Thanks for thinking of me," she says, "but I can take care of myself. I'm a Blaziken Mask for Arceus's sake!" "But you can't use the fire punching yet!" Drew argues. "Besides, I care about Max, as much as he annoys me. I'm coming with you out of concern for him as well as you!" At this, May has a strong urge to kiss the green-haired boy in front of her. She ignores it, as well as the warming of her face. "Fine," she says. "Grab a spare tent and meet me outside." Drew nods and begins looking, while May heads outside.
While she waits for Drew, May does a few practice punches with Blaziken. Meyer is heading back to Kalos tomorrow, so he's busy packing. He asked Clemont and Korrina if they wanted to come back with him or stay in Hoenn a little longer. After gaining permission from Gurkin, the couple chooses to stay for some more time. As May waits, she sees Meyer approaching her. "Hey there!" he calls. "You're coming along very well!" May shakes her head. "We've been at this for nearly a month," May replies. "I still haven't been able to make fire appear." Meyer chuckles. "I'd be genuinely scared if you could," he tells her. "It took me about a year and a half before I could do that. You've been training for a month, and you're already quick enough to cause a few sparks. Just keep at it, and you'll be on fire in no time." May laughs at his lame joke, then sees that Meyer is handing her something." I came by to give you something before I left," he tells her. May walks over to him and picks it up.
His present to her is a red bandana, with white ears on either side like the sides of a Blaziken's face. She also sees that there's some sort of mask attached to the front, which is red like the rest of it. "Your own mask, for when you officially take up the mantle" Meyer explains. May can't help but chuckle as she examines the bandana. "I'll look ridiculous in this," she laughs. "Why do I even need to wear it?" "For protection," Meyer explains. "When you do take up my mantle, you'll start helping people. Doing so may make you a few enemies. Enemies who might want to take revenge by coming after you or those you love." May's mind immediately flashes to a group of thugs assaulting Drew because she put one of their men in jail. She thanks Meyer for the mask and pockets it. Meyer waves the thanks away. "Don't mention it," he says. "Now all you have to do is design the rest of your costume, and you'll be all set." With that, they bid each other farewell, and Meyer heads back to his rented house to finish packing. At that moment, May feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns around to see Drew standing there, a bag on his shoulder. "Your dad lent this to me," he explains. "I think he's warming up to me!" They both laugh, then set off to find Max and Bonnie. As they leave, neither of them notice Norman looking out the window at them. "You'd better take care of my daughter" he mutters to no one in particular.
It barely takes a week for May and Drew to reach Rustboro. During their travels, they don't say much to each other. May can't help but get flustered whenever she runs next to him. She's been like this for years, probably since she got to know the boy. Her heart would start to race whenever he gave her, or her Beautifly as he claimed. But more recently, especially after seeing Max deal with his crush on Bonnie, she's started to get really flustered around the boy. She puts those thoughts out of her mind and refocuses on the task at hand, finding her brother. She finds him and Bonnie sitting around a fountain at the centre of Rustboro. Max is staring at a bunch of Taillow. Bonnie is staring it him, obviously entranced by his Observant State. May laughs at the sight, before walking over to her brother and tapping on his shoulder, scaring the shit out of him. "You might want to snap out of your Observant State before you fry your girlfriend's brain" May tells him. Drew immediately bursts out laughing, while Bonnie goes bright pink and looks away, while Max just looks confused for a few seconds, before making the connection and blushing as well. Then, he snaps back with, "I didn't know you were bringing Drew with you. Did we interrupt a date?" Bonnie laughs her head off at this, while May and Drew blush.
Before the two siblings can continue this back and forth, Drew interrupts them. "How about you show us where you guys were attacked?" he asks. Bonnie nods, then pulls Max up onto his feet. Then, the two of them guide May and Drew over to the sight of the Tremor that they escaped from. After about 2 days of running, they reach the spot where Max and Bonnie were attacked. Thankfully, the ground around the place was is still destroyed, so it won't be a problem to report this. May takes out her phone and begins to record the damage. As she does, she describes the events that occurred, even showing her brother on screen, so that people know who was attacked. She considers asking Max why he was attacked, but decides not to have that argument on camera. So, she finishes her video with a warning to be extremely careful while travelling until the police and champion Brendan can put a stop to them.
As she stops her recording, Drew cries out, "Look out!" before diving on her. An explosive lands where she was standing just a few seconds ago and detonates, throwing everyone forwards. When they look up, they find themselves face to face with the two weirdest people May has ever seen, well after Team Rocket, of course. At first, she thinks she's staring at two women, before taking a closer look and realising that the one with green hair is a man. Looking at Max, she sees him glaring at the two of them. Upon closer inspection, she sees that they've got the letter T on their shirts. "Who are these Team Rocket knock-offs?" she asks Max. He and Bonnie laugh at this, which makes the Team Terra goons glare at her. "For the LAST time!" they yell. "WE, AREN'T, LIKE, TEAM, ROCKET!" That's when the woman's eyes lock on May. "Aren't you The Top Coordinator of Hoenn?" May nods, not lifting her glare. "What are you doing here?" the man asks. "You're attacking my little brother!" she snaps back. "Of course I'd be here to defend him!" Both of them suddenly stare each other, then refocus on the task at hand. "Well, if you want to protect him, get him to hand over his notebooks and we'll be on our way"
May stares at Max, looking for an explanation, but sees that he's looking away. She decides to deal with that later. "Fat chance!" she says. "I don't know what you want with it, but it's my little brother's life's work! I'm not about to let you take it!" Then, she pulls out her new bandana and ties it around her head, before summoning Blaziken and Mega Evolving him. "But what I will let you take, is this!" Then, she charges at them, before leaping into the air. She cries in anger before firing both of her fists at the pair. She hopes that her fists will ignite and send these two blasting off, however all that happens is they both get hit in the face and sent backwards a few metres. "Well that was disappointing" says Max. To recover from the embarrassment of her fire fists failing, May sends Blaziken forward to finish the job. Blaziken runs over and uses Blaze Kick, sending both agents to the sky.
Once they're gone, Max runs over to hug his sister. "Thanks sis," he says. "We owe you one!" May returns the hug, before picking Max up and shaking him. "You are going to tell me EXACTLY who those idiots are and what they want with you!" When she puts Max down, they head off back to Rustboro, and Max explains who Sarah and Sam are, as well as what they want, before admitting that he didn't tell her that because he was scared that she'd stop him from writing his book. May sighs t this. "I'm not going to stop you from writing," she reassures him. "This is your dream. Why would I tell you to stop following it?" Max looks relieved to hear this. "But, I do want you to be careful," May goes on. "In fact, I'm going to accompany you to Dewford Island, to make sure you're staying safe." Max looks annoyed about this, but doesn't complain. "If you're trying to get to Dewford, why were you going this way?" Drew asks. "Isn't there a boat from here to Dewford?" Bonnie rounds on Max at this as he begins to look a bit bashful. "There is!?" she asks. "Why didn't you say anything Max?!" Max bashfully rubs the back of his neck. "I wanted the chance to write about more of the pokémon around Rustboro," he admits. "And also get my 3rd pokémon in this region." Bonnie smacks him upside the head for that. May laughs at that, before giving Bonnie a look that says, "Welcome to my world. He's your problem now." Bonnie laughs, then the group heads back to Rustboro to catch the boat to Dewford Island, and Bonnie's second gym badge.
Ok, I just about managed to get this out on time, let's go! I have an idea for May's Blaziken Mask costume beyond just that mask, but I'm still putting the finishing touches on it. If I had any artistic talent I'd draw it and post a picture of it here, but I don't. But, if enough people want to see it (And I mean more than just one person), then I might draw it and post it in one of the chapters. Anyway, with that, I'll see you all on Thursday with the next chapter.