Rustboro was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Granted, I didn’t really leave Petalburg, but still, nothing could’ve prepared me for the massive shift.
As we pushed past the last bits of the route, and the dirt road slowly started to shift over to cobblestone, I could see the massive skyline of skyscrapers in the distance. Buildings that seemed big from far away eclipsed the sky as we closed in on the main gate, which had no less than five different guard stations monitoring the road.
The second we made it into the city, a huge map made up the centerpiece for the welcoming plaza, showing us where some of the hallmark buildings were. There were highlights like the Trainers' School, Devon HQ, the gym, and a contest hall, but smaller, important buildings were also labeled. At least half a dozen Pokémon centers were all highlighted as important landmarks, but beyond that, there were dozens of small shops and a crap ton of battle lounges just chilling on every street. The most important place we needed right now though, was Rustboro Hospital.
“It’s close. Down this road here and to the left here. Wait.” May pulled out Sergei and held him up to the map. She pressed a button, and a light flashed.
Map Updated.
“Huh, guess I shoulda just pulled up the nav function.” May blushed a bit. “Whatever let’s get going. It’s almost sundown, and we’ll probably need to book a room at a center after we check in,” May said.
“Assuming, we can even find him,” I grumbled.
“How many kids with green hair are running into a hospital with a half dead businessman?” May asked.
Fair.
“Lead the way.” I took in more of the sights as we made our way down the street. In addition to the shops, there were a ton of street vendors, selling pretzels, hot dogs, ramen...
All of them had a line of people and Pokémon alike. Honestly, seeing the one guy with the Machoke out made me feel a lot less worried about freaking people out with Emilie, Suzaku, and Shroomish. Off to the side, I saw three different Pidgey hanging around a man on a park bench, tossing out seeds for them to eat.
There was a Torkoal eating ice cream out of his trainer's bowl, and I barely stopped myself from laughing at the resulting explosion of steam.
Turning the corner, I noticed a specialty shop. They had a few TMs on display and the price tags made me almost cry out in pain. What kind of psycho would pay that much for a Rain Dance... TM.
Legends above, buying that was going to SUCK.
‘Keep walking, you’re losing May,’ Emilie said. I shifted my head and realized that May kept moving while I was gaping at all the things in the city.
“Shit, May. Wait up!” I shouted. A few people gave me a bit of extra space as I ran past them to catch up.
“Gawk later. The hospital’s at the end of the street,” May said.
Our destination towered over the other buildings in the area, and that made it easy to spot. We rushed through the front door and made a beeline for the reception desk.
“Excuse me, my name’s May Maple and we were wondering if someone was admitted here earlier today?”
The receptionist gave May a rather deadpan look. “Care to narrow it down a bit?” she asked.
May blushed. “Right, sorry, it’s been a bit of a day. Martin’s the person that was banged up, he was attacked in the forest and was wearing a suit. Wally’s a trainer about our age. He has green hair, and he would’ve come in with a Ralts.”
The nurse's eyes widened a bit. “Ah, you’re friends with that group. I’m sorry, but I can’t currently let you in to see them. That said, I do need to ask if you would be willing to stay here for a moment? I need to make a page. One of the officers on this case will probably have some questions for you.”
Wait, what?
“Officer?” I asked.
The receptionist smiled at me. “He’ll just want to take a witness testimony, try and get an idea of what happened.” Her voice was soothing and calm.
“Didn’t Wally give them the run down?” I asked, slightly confused.
“I’m sorry, I really can’t answer any of your questions right now. Please, just wait one second.” The receptionist picked up the phone and put out a page for Officer Bishop.
I decided to take a seat in one of the chairs off to the side, and I urged May to sit as well.
She hesitated and looked around the hallways.
“You worry too much. We’ll clear things up, get Wally, and book a room at the center within the hour,” I said.
“I can’t help it, alright. Today’s been hell.” May said. She grabbed the chair next to me and Suzaku jumped up and chirped a few times.
‘She’s trying to reassure May.’ Emilie said.
May pulled Suzaku into a hug as she looked around the room.
Jingling keys and the sound of plastic bouncing around pulled my attention away from May to see a tall, somewhat stocky man in a police uniform coming up to the front desk. “Everything alright, Miss?” he asked.
“Those two,” She pointed our way. “Are friends of the boy that came in earlier.”
“Ah.” He turned around and made his way over. “Sorry if that little game of telephone scared you girls. This whole thing has been a bit of a mess. My name’s Officer Bishop. I’m running security for Mr. Kingsley. I believe you know him as Martin. I’m also running point on the investigation.”
“Is Wally okay?” May asked as soon as he stopped talking.
The officer laughed. “The boy’s fine. Well, now he is at least. Poor thing collapsed almost as soon as he got into the city. A few trainers brought them in. I just got done taking his statement, I just want to make sure his statement lines up with yours.”
I sagged in relief that Wally was okay, but the fact that he passed out worried me.
“You mind if I take your statements separately? Just protocol,” the officer explained.
I nodded. The officer motioned for May to follow him, and I leaned back into the chair. Shroomish looked around the hospital worriedly.
‘How’s Martin?’ Shroomish asked.
“Er, before you go, Shroomish was wanting to know how Martin was doing?” I asked.
The officer looked back at me, a curious look on his face. “He’s doing better, that’s all I can say for now,” he said.
‘That’s enough for now.’ Shroomish said, relaxing in my arms.
“Mighty impressive you can talk that easily with someone else's Pokémon,” Officer Bishop said.
I pointed at Emilie. “Perks of being this little lady’s trainer,” I explained.
The officer nodded and escorted May into an office behind the reception area.
I put both feet up. “Well, everyone, get comfy. We might be here for a bit,” I said. I felt a weight lean up against the side of my head and smiled.
----------------------------------------
“So, if I'm understanding everything correctly. You three stumbled upon Martin in the forest, had the kid with breathing problems run him to Rustboro, went deeper into a dangerous forest after a dangerous assailant, brokered the release of a hostage, and argued for safe passage back out of the forest with a coven of fairy Pokémon.” Officer Bishop nodded once as he ran through the power point that was our afternoon. “You’ve all been trainers for less than a week.”
“I mean, when you outline it like that, it sounds bad, but everything worked out alright in the end?” I asked, chuckling a bit nervously as I did so.
The officer just groaned. “I heard the same damn story three different times, and I’m still having trouble believing this.” The officer pulled out a poke ball. “Are you alright with me returning you, Shroomish? I’ll take you up to Martin’s room after I finish up here.”
Shroomish nodded once, and Officer Bishop returned him.
“Now then, I’m not going to yell at you too much. You three did a good thing. But please, use your head a bit more. I get too many trainers in my morgue because they thought they could handle something they couldn’t,” Officer Bishop said, giving me a severe look.
That statement was a bit sobering.
“I’ll try and be a bit more careful,” I said.
Officer Bishop nodded.
“Good girl. Your friend’s in room 304. His breathing treatment should be done by now, so you can probably pick him up. The nearest center is down a block. It was nice meeting you three.” Officer Bishop got up and escorted me out the door. “They’re good, nurse. You can go ahead and let them up to see their friend.”
“Come on, May. Wally’s in room 304.” May jolted awake when I said that. I felt that, honestly. I needed a bed.
“Right.” May groggily walked up to me, before half collapsing into my shoulder.
“Hey, support yourself, I'm tired too,” I complained.
“Don’t wanna.” May said.
I sighed.
“Just lead us to the elevator. Not awake yet,” May said.
“Ugh... fine.” Thankfully, the elevator wasn’t that far away. “Come on, May. Get up, walking like this is hard.” I grumbled as we got off the elevator. “Help me look for Wally’s room.”
“It’s down that hall.” May grumbled as she stood up. “I can see the sign.”
“Well, let’s go get him. I want to crash so bad,” I said.
May nodded in agreement, and we slowly made our way to the room, I looked out the window and noticed it was solidly night outside now. That was going to make finding the center fun. I pulled open the door and frowned to see Wally out like a light in the hospital bed. A nurse was off to the side looking over a chart.
“Oh, you two are the friends Nurse Jane told me about. I’m sorry, but I don’t think Wally’s up to going anywhere today.” She sat the chart down and looked our way.
Gawain and Apollo were both passed out on either side of him. I sagged in relief, happy to see everyone was mostly fine with my own eyes.
“You’ll probably join him soon, you two look like your about to pass out on your feet,” the nurse said.
“Yeah,” May said dazedly.
“Listen, I’m just going to have a nurse help me bring a cot down. You two can spend the night here.” she said.
I frowned.
“I’m not sure we can afford-”
“President Stone has covered the costs of Wally’s room and treatment,” she interrupted. “He was quite relieved to hear that Martin was back in the city.”
“The cot would be lovely then, thanks,” I said.
May just started leaning on me again.
“Maybe hurry, not sure how much more night my friend’s got in them,” I said.
The nurse nodded and left.
‘Don’t forget to meditate. There’s a lot we need to unpack today.’ Emilie prodded.
‘Can’t we do that tomorrow,’ I moaned.
‘It needs to be habitual,’ she said.
‘Fine.’ I sighed. ‘I know I've probably already said this, but great job today. You’re an awesome partner.’
‘Stop it.’ Emilie looked away from me, though I did catch a bit of pink dusting her cheeks. ‘Blind praise won’t get you out of meditation.’ She stayed quiet for a second. ‘Thanks though. For trusting in me in the clearing.’
“Here we go.” The nurse brought back a full-sized cot and just laid it down on the floor next to Wally’s bed.
May immediately dived into it before scooching herself over to one side and passed out.
“I can bring another in a minute, though it might be a bit crowded.” she said.
I waved her off.
“Nah, don’t worry about it. It’ll be like the sleepovers we used to have at my place,” I said. I carefully sat down on the cot and shifted myself so I wouldn’t lean up against May.
Emilie sat next to me as I put my hands behind my head and leaned back.
“This is fine,” I said, feeling comfy.
“If you’re sure...” The nurse hesitated before leaving the room and turning off the light.
‘In ball or out of ball?’ I asked Emilie.
‘Out, if you’re alright with that,’ Emilie replied.
‘As long as you don’t mind getting bumped in your sleep,’ I countered.
Emilie shrugged. ‘Meh, it’s fine. I kind of don’t like being in the poke ball, honestly. Being outside is more fun,’ Emilie said.
‘I’ll keep you out as often as possible then. Now then, deep breath, and let’s go ahead and sort out today-’
All of my thoughts stopped as May, still asleep, turned around in the bed, threw her arm around me, and held me like a teddy bear.
‘Guess that’s one way to empty your mind.’
I... uh, yeah. Huh?
‘Tell you what. We can do this tomorrow. I don’t think you’ll be able to focus right now.’ Emilie said before laughing in my mind.
My heart and stomach were doing flips with each other, and I had no earthly clue why.
‘Idiot.’ Emilie muttered before leaning against me. She was out in under a minute, her head resting against my thigh.
It took a bit, but eventually exhaustion won out, and I passed out as well.
----------------------------------------
As much as I wanted to sleep till noon, the blinds in the room had other plans. Soon as the damn sun came up it hit me right in my damn eyes. Kinda hard to sleep through that. I raised my arm to shield my eyes.
Well, I tried to, at least. I was met with a rather large amount of resistance. Glancing down, I flushed bright red.
May was still using me as a teddy bear.
How the hell am I up before her!? She always wakes up super-
Oh shit.
“Mmm-” May groaned.
Fuck. Did I wake her up?
“Huh?” May looked up and our eyes met.
I blinked once.
She blinked twice.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
She shouted, right in my ear, and scrambled away from me and the cot.
Maybe I should get my ears checked while we’re here.
“I-you-why-what-I" Apparently, May couldn’t quite... process what she had done while sleeping. Her face was as red as her shirt.
“Huh? What’s going on?” And now Wally’s awake.
“Morning everyone.” Screw it. Maybe if I try and brush past this, we can forget it ever happened. It takes me a second to realize, but out of the corner of my eye I see Sergei hop back into May’s bag. Oh, fuck, that little bastard-
“I am so sorry,” May all but shouted before disappearing into the bathroom.
“Uh, did I miss something?” Wally asked.
“Nope.” I got up and fished Sergei out of the bag and started flipping through folders. Not there, not there, not there-
Hold up, this looks new.
“If you think I'm leaving that anywhere you can find it you’re dumber than Samie.” It was a text file, created by Sergei.
Huh. Rude.
“So, I’m happy you girls made it out of the forest alright,” Wally said hesitantly.
Oh, right. Yesterday. I had forgotten all about that. Apollo groggily flew up from his spot on Wally’s bed and claimed his perch on my shoulder.
“Wing.” he said. I chuckled.
“Emilie somehow slept through that, Apollo. I can’t understand you. Good morning, though. I’m happy you made it out okay,” I said.
Apollo nodded once.
I turned to look at Wally again. “It was rough, but we got out okay. We didn’t really do much, we just... helped the Pokémon in the area deal with the mugger. They weren’t too happy with him either.”
Wally nodded.
“Why did you end up in here?” I asked.
“Yeah, my lungs really didn’t like the fact that I ran for that long towards one of the most densely populated cities in Hoenn. I needed a stronger breathing treatment than my usual inhaler.” Wally explained.
I frowned. “You didn’t-”
“I really didn’t like how much blood he was losing. May’s bandage gave up the ghost about the same time I got out of the forest,” Wally said. “The officer from last night told me that if he had received care much later, he wouldn’t have made it.”
“Well, you somehow had a more perilous journey than we did, and you didn’t stare down a full coven of fairy types,” I said.
“Fairy types? How scary can that be?” Wally asked.
“You’d be surprised. They... did weird things to the forest. If May ever stops hiding in the bathroom, we can talk about it over breakfast.” I half-shouted.
No response.
“Come on, May, I’m hungry,” I complained.
“Go away.” May shouted through the door.
“No, neither one of us has eaten since yesterday afternoon, and I don’t care that you-”
In the blink of an eye, May all but teleported out of the bathroom and covered my mouth with both hands. Tackling me back into the cot, and finally waking Emilie up. Apollo flew towards the window sill and glared at May.
‘Whazzat? Are we under attack? Why’s the bed shaking?’ Emilie asked, before looking over at the two of us. ‘Am I interrupting something? Would you two like a moment alone, because I can go someplace else.’
‘Not helping,’ I thought. May breathed in, before letting out a calming breath.
“This entire morning never happened. Got it?” she asked, a manic look in her eye.
She still had both hands over my mouth as she asked, so all I could do was nod.
“Good.” May clapped both hands together and led the charge towards the door. “Let’s get Wally discharged and make our way to the center. No way am I eating hospital food.” May dragged me up before bolting out of the room.
“Right. Wally, stay here. May and I are going to find a nurse. May slow down!”
Wally nodded, his eyes vacant and dazed as he watched me shuffle after my best friend. May was making it a point to walk ahead of me and made sure her eyes never looked back toward me. This was getting ridiculous.
“Look, May, I don’t really understand why you’re freaking out about this. We were both tired and the entire day was one big nightmare. I really don’t think you... cuddling with me while your unconscious is the end of the world you’re making it out to be,” I argued.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” May said, her voice clipped.
For fucks sake, how am I only two years older than you?
“Then stop sprinting away from the nurses’ station and look at me.” Honestly the fact that we were going the wrong way just made this whole thing kind of sad.
May stopped, leaned against the wall, and banged it a couple of times.
“I can’t get a W today, can I?” May complained.
“I mean, you probably got to second base with me at some point in the night. Some people might think of that as a W,” I joked.
“STOP. TALKING,” May ground out.
Tough crowd.
“I’m sorry.” May muttered. “Why were we sleeping in the same bed, anyway?”
“I didn’t think we could fit a third cot in that hospital room. Would you rather me cozy up to Wally, it probably would’ve been better for my back,” I said.
“No, that... ugh... fine. You’re right, I’m being an idiot about this.” May turned and really looked at me for the first time since she woke up. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t get why you apologized the first time; you were an adequate little spoon.” And the blush is back.
“I’m never going to live this down, am I?” May groaned.
“If the teasing bothers you, I’ll stop,” I said earnestly.
“Really?” Her tone of voice was more suspicious than surprised.
Rude.
“Really,” I replied.
“I would prefer no teasing, please,” May finally whispered after staring down at the floor for a minute.
“Fine, I’ll be good.” I nodded once. “Now let’s actually go to the nurses’ station. I saw a sign that said it was on the other side of the elevator. By the way, we need to work on your sense of direction, because we may or may not have to murder your phone.”
“What!?” May asked.
“Don’t worry about why.” I rushed out before grabbing May’s hand and dragging her back. “Just trust that it needs to happen.”
“Lea, that really doesn’t assuage my worries. I like Sergei. I don’t want to kill him,” May said.
“Pictures,” I deadpanned.
May froze. “Meh, he’s lived a good life.”
----------------------------------------
“Alright, Sergei, I didn’t want to have to do this, but you’re not leaving us a lot of options here,” I threatened.
He chuckled. “Waterproof, titanium, welded shut case.” Sergei sent via messenger.
“Okay, fine, you’re not leaving me any options,” I groaned.
The damn phone laughed as I shoved a massive bite of pancakes in my mouth and moaned around my fork.
“You weren’t seriously going to try and dunk Sergei in a water pitcher, right?” Wally asked.
“Sergei’s a Rotom, he woulda been fine. I wanted to fry the phone so Sergei couldn’t post embarrassing photos of me on Vinewhip,” I said, glaring at the phone.
May came up for air to a... mostly clean plate, damn.
“She had my blessing. Excuse me, I’m going to grab another plate.” May wiped her mouth before getting up.
Wally nodded before going into another coughing fit.
“Are you... sure you’re going to be alright?” I asked.
Wally took a deep breath from his inhaler before answering. “The nurse gave me a portable respirator to use, I’ll put it on once we get done here. This city doesn’t have the cleanest air in the world,” he forced out.
“Well, hurry up and finish, then,” I grumbled.
“I’m fine, really,” Wally said.
I glared at him.
“Mostly,” Wally said before shoving the last of his hashbrowns into his mouth. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small mechanical face mask.
May came back with a bowl of rice and some pork cutlets just in time for the audio test.
“There. Much better.” Wally said, his voice far deeper than it was a moment ago.
Wait...
“Uh, Wally?” May said.
Dammit May, don’t tell him.
“Yeah?” Wally asked.
“Could you please say, ‘I find your lack of faith disturbing.’ for me please,” May said, a grin pulling at her lips.
I couldn’t hold it in anymore and started laughing. “Maybe throw in a bold declaration of your role as a parental figure,” I tacked on.
“I feel like there’s a reference I'm not getting here,” he said.
Both May and I froze before looking at one another.
“Movie marathon?” May asked.
“Later tonight. This isn’t his fault; it’s how he was raised,” I responded.
“I feel like I'm being made fun of. Is it really that bad?” He asked.
“It’s fine, May and I are just terrible people. At any rate, what’s the plan for today? Are we sticking together or striking it out on our own?” I asked.
May shoveled some rice into her mouth and grabbed Sergei from me.
“Well, we all need to go down to the gym and book a match with Roxanne, probably as soon as we leave here. That place is going to be packed this time of year, so the sooner the better.” May swiped down a few times. “We also need money, so we should probably hit up a battle lounge. We can also hit up the contest hall if either of you are interested.” May smiled wide at that thought. “Once we get some spending money, we can also go shopping. I know I promised to get Lea a whole new wardrobe once we got here.”
“You really don’t have to do that,” I mumbled as I looked away.
May grinned at me. “Yes, yes I do,” she said.
“I really need to train before we hit up the gym. Gawain’s great but the other two members of the squad aren’t ready,” Wally explained.
Wait.
“Two?” I asked.
“Oh, right, I forgot to mention. Surskit wanted to tag along. Haven’t had a chance to give her a nickname yet, though knowing my luck she already has one,” Wally explained.
“Neat, I recommend Nimue if you want to keep the theme,” I joked.
“You’ll have plenty of time to train. Even if we go down today, our battles won’t be for a while.” May explained. “We’re at the start of the season, and every aspiring trainer in the city is trying to snag a badge for the fun of it. We can hit up the lounge after we put our names in the gym registry. That’ll give Wally a chance to get some extra battle experience.”
“Err... won’t me losing hurt our finances?” Wally asked.
“Honey, whatever you lose is going to be offset by the massive amounts of money Lea’s going to win,” May said.
I blushed bright red. “May, I'm sure It won’t-”
“You’re currently a zero-badge trainer.” May cuts me off. “YOU DO NOT FIGHT, LIKE A ZERO-BADGE TRAINER! Normal trainers don’t use your hit and hide tactics with Emilie. Normal trainers don’t curate their captures like you do. Most zero-badge trainers are rocking the arena with your public enemy number one, Zigzagoon.”
“They must be punished,” I muttered. Okay, maybe I do have a problem.
‘Hatred is only a problem if it’s irrational. Our shared distaste of those things is entirely rational. Therefore, we do not have a problem,’ Emilie supplied.
‘I don’t think that’s how that works,’ I thought back.
“Like I said, don’t worry about our finances. Getting Gwen and Nimue up to speed is worth a few bumps to our wallet,” May supplied while Emilie and I commiserated in our shared disdain.
“Oi, I haven’t named her yet,” Wally complained.
“Well bring her out and we can talk, then,” I nagged. “Come on, I want to see our guide again.”
“Fine.” Wally unlatched a ball and tossed it out.
Surskit formed on the table and smiled once she saw me.
‘Oh, thank the legends the baker didn’t die,’ Surskit said.
“Thanks for getting Wally to the city safely. We worried about him. You’ll get your own personal bag of cookies later.” I’d need to see if the center would let me use their kitchen later. Maybe find a recipe or two for bug types.
Granted, the look I was getting for offering that probably meant that she was good with whatever, as long as I made it.
“Since you’re a part of our team, how would you like a name. Lea and I suggested Nimue, but-” A loud chittering cut May off.
‘YES! Oh, I love that name. Being named for the lady of the lake is a very clever idea,’ she said, bouncing up and down as she talked.
I nodded along but stopped as I thought about her words. Wally glared at me as he looked up from his phone.
“Thanks, Lea,” Wally said sarcastically.
“Wait, why does a formerly wild Surskit know about a predominantly human folk tale. Come to think of it, why does Gawain, or the Pokémon that named Gawain?” I thought aloud.
‘Nay, the stories of old are passed down through many of the more knowledgeable bug types in the forest. The tales speak of a great many Pokémon of valor, and of the humans that helped them in their quests,’ Nimue said.
Wally sighed as he read through the dialogue.
“Oh god there’s two of them,” Wally groaned. “I’m never going to get a chance to nickname my own Pokémon, am I? This entire theme was forced on me!”
“Aww, I’m sorry. Here, have a cookie.” I pulled out a bag, and suddenly I had two VERY attentive Pokémon at my beck and call. “You guys are starting to make me feel like a drug dealer. I don’t like this feeling.”
‘Sorry,’ Came the echoed reply as both Pokémon got down from the table.
“I’m good, thanks,” Wally said.
‘Blasphemy,’ Emilie hissed.
“Well, I'm stuffed and you’re both done already, let’s go wait in a line for half an hour.” May clapped her hands together and smiled.
“Yay.”
----------------------------------------
“May, I think you’re getting special treatment,” I complained.
“You’re just mad you’re going last.” May said before sticking her tongue out at me.
“I’m sorry, but I agree with Lea. You get your match a full day ahead of us.” Wally complained.
“Yeah, I don’t know how great that is,” May said. “You two get to train for longer, and all things considered, I’m going to have the hardest time with Roxanne.” May bit her lower lip before looking at her poke balls.
“If Suzaku evolves, you’ll probably be fine. Doesn’t knowing Flame Charge mean that she’s close?” I asked.
“Not really? It’s a step in the right direction, but according to the dex, I need to work on building up the muscles in Suzaku’s legs. Flame Charge just helps with that. I also wouldn’t mind catching a third. I’m now the only member of our group with two.” May sighed. “Regardless, let’s hit the lounge. I want to watch Lea bully the locals.”
“Just remember to do your own bullying. We all need the practice,” I urged.
“I know, I know. Quit your worrying,” May said. “I doubt YOU need practice for this badge, anyway. Your entire team bullies Roxanne.”
“I’m not taking any chances,” I said.
Wally nodded before looking away shyly. “Er... actually, I think we’ll split here. I really think I need to do some private training before I try going into an actual fight. Gwen hasn’t really done any training and I don’t even know what Nimue can do yet.” Wally pulled out his phone. “I know you wanted to stick together, but I'd really feel better doing my own thing today. We’ll meet up at the center later.”
“Fine. I guess Lea and I will earn our keep alone,” May said, not sounding overly bothered.
I waved good bye to Wally as we split up at the crosswalk.
“The lounge is a few blocks away, so we’ll have a bit of a walk. Shout if you see something interesting though.” May said, before pulling out Sergei.
I nodded, hoping she had an eye on a nav function.
‘So, finally got some alone time with May?’ I don’t like that I can hear a smirk in her thoughts.
‘Please stop being weird about this,’ I begged. ‘Besides, you’re here, and you never shut up.’
‘I’m just saying...’
‘Stop saying. We’re friends.’ I put extra emphasis on the last word and awkwardly looked over at May, who was typing away on Sergei.
‘Friends don’t react the way you did when May snuggled into your shoulder. Friends also don’t debate if holding hands with their best friend in the city is weird.’
I blushed a bit. I was really hoping she wouldn’t catch that thought. Emilie giggled.
‘Shut. UP.’ I spat both words with as much vitriol as I could muster.
‘Fine. I still think you’re being stupid. The ONLY person you’re lying to is yourself.’ I hated how smug she sounded through the link. ‘I want to work on some stuff with you while we’re in the city by the way.’
‘What the hell am I going to practice? I thought I was the trainer in this relationship,’ I complained.
‘You’d think that, wouldn’t you?’ Emilie shook her head as she said that.
I glared.
‘I want to work on improving your empathy. That will be a lot easier with more people around, so doing it in the city is ideal.’ Emilie said.
‘Isn’t that... kind of rude?’ I asked.
‘How?’ Emilie asked back.
‘I don’t want to intrude on strangers feelings. That feels... wrong,’ I said, looking down towards the ground.
‘They won’t even know you’re doing it! They-’ Emilie stopped suddenly.
‘They what?’ I asked.
‘Nothing. You’re right. I guess it is kind of rude. I’m sorry.’ Emilie looked away. Odd.
‘We’ll figure something else out, okay? Maybe Wally will be down to help. I won’t feel bad if I have permission,’ I compromised.
Emilie nodded, a small frown on her face.
‘While we’re on the subject of training, I want to hit up the fields tomorrow. I want to work with Apollo and Joern a bit, and I kind of want to work on physical conditioning with you.’
‘What.’ Emilie did not look amused.
‘We teleport you all over the place, but you’re slow as all hell on your own two feet. And running will help build up your endurance. You haven’t really taken a solid hit yet, but I'm kind of worried that I'm turning you into a glass cannon.’ I winced as my back yelled at me. ‘I’ve also noticed a bit of extra... heft, when you teleport to my shoulder,’ I said cautiously.
‘WHAT!’ Ow. Ow. Oh, that one gave me a headache. Ow. ‘Sorry.’ Emilie muttered begrudgingly.
“You alright?” May asked, her eyes running over me in worry as I stopped to rub my temples.
“Fine, just a bit of a headache. Are we there yet?” I asked.
“Actually, yes.” May said as she waved toward the rather large building. “You didn’t notice?”
“I was talking to Emilie. I just paid enough attention to follow you and assumed you knew where you were going,” I said.
“You really trust in my sense of direction that much after this morning?” May asked.
“Well-”
“YOU!” Oh, not this idiot again. I turned to see Brendan Birch walking out the double doors of the training facility. At least he was pointing at me this time instead of May. Guess I made an Impression.
“Hey, Ass Hat, long time no see. Glad to see you made it through the forest okay,” I said, somewhat serious. That forest wasn’t fun, and he probably went through it alone.
“My name is Brendan, and I want a rematch,” he snarled.
“Are you sure? Cause I remember calling you ass hat in my head a lot. It’s going to be kind of hard to think of you as anything else,” I said.
May looked between the two of us in confusion.
“Have we met before?” May asked. Ass hat jumped and put a decent amount of distance between himself and May. Oh, that’s funny.
“We met in Petalburg three days ago,” Ass Hat said.
“Not really ringing a bell,” May said.
I swear the vein on his forehead is getting bigger.
“That’s funny, because you rang his bell. He’s the idiot you punched out at the gate,” I explained.
“Oh!” May said, before turning and giving Ass Hat a malevolent grin. Ass hat backed away slowly.
“At any rate, if you’re down for another beatdown, I'm more than happy to take your money a second time. May, you get to watch this time. I’m about to beat up one of your fellow field researchers,” I said, copying May’s grin.
May’s glare shifted to a look of interest.
“Oh, you were also sponsored by Professor Birch. That’s neat. The online exam was brutal, wasn’t it?” May asked. Ass hat looked a bit confused and more than a little nervous.
“Er, yeah, it wasn’t that bad,” Ass hat said.
I imagined it wouldn’t be for you, considering Birch is your dad.
“Really, I thought that one question going over all of Eevee’s evolution methods was going to sink me. Like, how are you supposed to know ALL the methods off the top of your head?” May asked, slipping into full nerd mode.
“Er...” Ass hat looked so lost, and actually looked towards ME with pleading eyes.
“And the trick questions with Pokémon anatomy were especially mean. I got them, somehow, but most of them were guesswork. Like seriously, how the fuck are you supposed to figure out the Pokémon from a black silhouette of a sphere,” May still hadn’t come up for air. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it get this bad before.
“Uh...” Fine, I’ll help you.
“And-”
“May.” I raised my hand to get her to stop. “Stop being a nerd,” I said.
“Rude,” May said with a pout. Adorable.
Not adorable, brain stop being fucking weird.
“Yeah, a few of the questions tripped me up, but honestly, being around the old man for so long, I kind of breezed through most of it.” What the... “Last name is Birch by the way. I’m the professor’s kid.”
Is he trying to show off or something? Why...
“That’s so cool! You must have all kinds of fun stories about the professor!” May gushed.
Oh.
“Well, there was that one-time last year when-” Hell no.
“We battling or what!? I have other things to do today.” I shouted, glaring at Ass Hat. If he thinks I'm going to let him flirt with May, he’s got another thing fucking coming.
‘For the love of God, refer to him by name.’ Emilie sent a rather strong feeling of exasperation through the mental link. Killjoy.
“Let’s book an arena. No where for you to hide behind on an open field,” Brendan said with a glare.
Brendan went through the screen doors ahead of me, and May shot me a look.
“What?” I asked. May didn’t say anything and just walked inside. “WHAT?!” No response.
‘Idiot.’