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May had heard that Brendan, the kid that would be moving in next door soon, was eccentric— but sincerely, nothing could have prepared her for him.
He had been quiet when Mrs Ruben sent him to her house for a greeting, only interested in Torkoal’s Poke Ball that she’d left out at her desk. At the time she’ll admit, she reacted a bit hysterically at the aspect of a boy she didn’t recognize being in her room— she will admit, maybe the screaming was justified but the hitting him with a chair was a bit much— and surely, they started off on a very awkward wrong foot, but still .
Did any of that justify him just vanishing on her as she showed him around Oldale?
Just, one second he was right behind her as they entered the Pokemon Center, and then she turned around to find no one there.
Oldale is a quiet city, compared to Littleroot, but that didn’t mean there was much of a crowd to slip away into. How on earth did he disappear, and how in the name of the Wish Pokemon did May even lose sight of him?
And so, she stomped her way home furiously.
Fine! That jerk can find his own way home!
Brendan comes home very late that night, looking frazzled, worse for wear, and honestly a little traumatized. His eyes are wide with a sort of horror behind those eyes.
Maybe he’s just being dramatic but what happened? Did he get lost in the woods between Oldale and Littleroot?
“May! Why’d you leave him stranded like that??”
Papa got really mad at her for it but, it wasn’t even her fault!
If he got freaked out by the ‘yenas it’s not her problem!
Brendan is, at the end of a day, a Gym Leader’s son. So May should have expected how good he would be at battling despite only barely getting to know Mudkip yet. Treecko’s sulking now, but May supposed they’d get over it eventually.
“I’m gonna head back to Papa’s lab. You coming?”
Brendan follows a pace later, almost harried, and May shrugs that off. He’s still quiet, though May’s heard him murmur a word or three before.
And this time would probably be the first time he’d actually spoken to her, outside of hums and nods.
“...May… where’s Mount Pyre?”
And wasn’t that a strange question.
Because May didn’t know either.
“I think there’s a Town Map in Papa’s office. Let’s go find out?”
Despite their off-start, Brendan obediently and meekly followed her as she offered her help. Which made him all the more intriguing.
He wasn’t explicitly rude or anything, in fact he definitely endeared himself to her with how interested he looked when May started rambling about berries and Pokemon research in Professor Birch’s lab all while they walked. No one’s ever listened so intently to her before. Definitely no one’s let her boast about herself this much without even a hint of getting annoyed.
He wasn’t rude. He wasn’t nice, but well, he was a good kid, she supposed.
“Okay, now that we’re Pokedex buddies, we’re rivals!” she declares. “You might be better than me at battling, but no way am I falling behind on travel and adventure!”
Modern pilgrimages didn’t always require challenging the league, but obtaining a trainer ID and going on a journey across your home region just to get assessed by Gym Leaders and collect experience badges (that aren’t always won by battles, mind you—) is a must.
May’s going to become a researcher, so she’ll definitely have a lot of fun learning from all the Gym Leaders in Hoenn one by one! Her thesis is going to be amazing!
“Alright then!” May holds out her fist, and surprisingly, Brendan knocks it back in a fistbump. “See you around, Brendan!”
And the next time they meet, they’ll have so much to chatter about. She hopes he’ll listen then, too.
(The very next day: “what do you mean he forgot his PokeNav??”)
Steven Stone had seen a variety of strange things in his life.
A kid, a budding trainer with a barely-weaned Mudkip, was standing in the middle of Meteor Falls’ basement floor, utterly petrified. The Golbat around were surrounding him— not attacking, simply trying to figure if this was human or a strange statue. One’s already perching on his hat.
The kid’s face was blank— not in a calm, seasoned-trainer way, but in an ‘ah, the sky is so blue’ way usually worn by people seconds away from being steamrolled by a herd of Donphan. Impressively enough, the Mudkip’s the same way.
Yeah.
“Uhm… are you lost?”
The kid turned his head. So slowly, Steven felt a bit mortified by the way those eyes just mechanically bore into him. A kind of scary kid, but they’re in the bowels of Meteor Falls here, surely Steven has seen creepier things.
Then, a dry,
“...Yes…”
In a cracked, slightly high-pitched, very wobbly, I-am-going-to-have-a-mental-breakdown sort of tone.
“Alright!” Steven declared immediately, clapping his hands to catch the attention of his Pokemon, “let’s get you out of here right now!”
He watched the kid leave through the nearest exit— he should be fine, there were always veteran trainers down this route that led to Rustboro, so once he got there, he would be fine. Kids on their pilgrimages get lost all the time.
How did he even end up in Meteor Falls, anyways?
Well, maybe Steven would drop by Rustboro later and ask Roxanne about him.
“He’s not here?!”
Roxanne’s staring at him, very unimpressed.
“You let a kid walk here ALONE from Meteor Falls and you have the gall to be surprised HE DIDN’T MAKE IT,” she levelled at him, sharp and swatting down the paper fan at his head.
“I didn’t make him walk alone! I left Beldum with him!”
Roxanne swatted him again.
“Your BABY Beldum?? Great! Now we’ve got TWO lost babies around the region and if anything happens to him, I will personally raid your house and MAKE A MUSEUM OUT OF THIS GYM.”
“You aren’t touching my prized collection!” Steven wailed, reaching for his PokeNav, “geez, you don’t have to get that mad, he’ll be fine… Hello? Yeah, Can you call up the other Ace Trainers on your route? We might have a loose kid…”
“Wait! Miss Roxanne!”
A young girl latched onto Roxanne from where she stood by the bookshelves, urgency in her lopsided ribbon, a PokeNav and Region Map in her hands.
“Uhm, Mister!” she turned to Steven, and he flinched for a second, momentarily forgetting people don’t usually recognize him out of his Champion cloak and gem-studded jacket. “The kid you found, did he have a weird white hat and a Mudkip?!”
“...yes,” Steven added.
“THREE lost babies?!” Roxanne shrieks.
“...and a Pokedex,” Steven added.
And then the girl started screaming.
The PokeNav in her hands connected to someone while everyone jerked back in surprise at the volume.
“[What is i— May. Stop screaming. What.]”
“Mister Norman, Brendan was at Meteor Falls!”
“[What. How.] ”
Steven Stone had somehow managed to, not just lose a kid, but specifically lose Norman’s kid. Norman, scariest and sternest Gym Leader in Hoenn whom even Brawly can’t hold a candle to but he won’t even try so no one knows for sure, Norman.
Steven Stone was going to die today. Yep.
So he did the logical thing and ran home to Mossdeep.
He sighed, wandering the embanks of Mossdeep, admiring the rocky shores in his most casual clothing. He really shouldn’t get recognized here— ah, look, it’s Scott. Better hustle somewhere else before he gets seized for an interview.
“I don’t know why you’re so glum, kid, but here, have some of our local specialty shaved ice. It’s on me.”
Steven glances over to their local store— Shoal Ice Sherbet, ah, memories. Drizzled with aurora-coloured syrup, sprinkled with snowflake shaped chocolate, and then those heart-shaped berry waffles to go with them—
—wait.
“...Brendan?”
The kid meekly takes the diabetes-inducing shaved ice from the storekeeper. Mudkip, in his lap, is trying to get a lick of it.
“...Mister Steven,” he addresses. Calmly.
Steven had introduced himself back at Meteor Falls, but what is with ten-year-olds and calling him Mister? He’s barely eighteen!
Mudkip has liberated a waffle from the ice. Beldum cheerfully floats over to Steven’s side bursting into tears, as if it’d just gone through the longest journey of its life and now finally come home.
Steven is not okay.
“How did you even GET here??”
Mossdeep is literally surrounded by water, and all water travel here is closed for this month due to some Wailmer migrating to warmer seas. So how? Norman didn’t own a casual flyer Pokemon, and Brendan didn’t have enough badges to permit Flying.
“...I got lost,” was Brendan’s very reasonable explanation.
“All the way from Rustboro’s Meteor Falls?? You went nearly all the way across our region’s map in less than a day!”
Brendan relents a very miserable, “very… very… lost…”
Steven flew him back home to Petalburg. Brendan looked equally mortified and relieved to be back in Western Hoenn again, and Steven attributes that to his terrifying father.
Reasonable. He must be in so much trouble.
“Look, they’re right in there, so go in, alright?” Steven ushered him to the Petalburg Gym doors. “You can keep Beldum, since it seems to like you, so take care and don’t get lost anymore. I’m going to run before Norman kills me. See you around?”
Brendan juts out a belated nod. “Yeah…”
Steven watched him go through the gym this time, and the door closed behind him.
Good.
“Steven Stone,” Norman spoke so low and threatening into the Nav that his Slaking was trying to usher Wally away from the sight of him glowering at the landline, “ next time you bring my child back, drag him through the doors personally . With your own hands. Don’t let him leave your sight for even a second . What is the point of that Probopass in your pocket if you aren’t using its ability to keep lost children stuck to you .”
The other side of the Nav squeaked out, “[I’m sorry, I swear!]”
Lilycove was experiencing a rather interesting day.
A kid threw open the front doors of the Lilycove Department store, a Mudkip in his hands and a Beldum floating somewhere behind him. He had a look of jaded resolve in his eyes, and it lit right up when he realized where he was.
Ignoring every customer giving him gobsmacked ‘what a rude child’ stares, he ran right up to the second floor.
A moment later, he leapt back down— hard to see from here, but presumably at least five steps from the bottom— and had a grimace of instant regret on his face. Beldum drifted a moment behind him and Mudkip slumped on his arm.
And then the kid guiltily skulked toward the elevator.
Apparently, he dumped all his cash on the next floor, bought all the Repels and Potions his— admittedly humble amount of— cash could afford, and then he lugged it all away with a look of fervent determination toward the fourth floor.
No one saw him leave the Department Store, but that was enough bewildering strange child behaviour for one day.
The Lilycove Inn was peaceful and quiet until a kid threw open the doors, ran immediately up to the second floor, and immediately came back down to leave.
Then a moment later he came back with a sackful of repels and healing items thrown over a shoulder, and then asked the receptionist to borrow a flashlight.
Then he went upstairs again.
He didn’t show up for the rest of the day.
When the Lilycove Pokemon Center found him in the evening, he came from upstairs, covered in dust and grime and dirt with circles under his eyes and stray Zubat cuts all over his skin and clothes.
The Mudkip everyone spoke of was now a Marshtomp, and there was an excitable and strangely strong Sableye hovering around him as he brought them to the reception to get healed. Beldum trailed after him with a resigned sigh. Not to mention the Abra tucked into his backpack, arms sleepily hung over either shoulder.
He took a free drink from the bar, got his own injuries treated, and then scanned his card at the PC to check for— oh, an incoming call immediately after logging in. Someone must be keeping quite fervent tabs on him.
“Hi Professor Bir—”
“BRENDAN WHERE ARE YOU!”
The famed Pokemon Professor screeched through the screen and honestly, who could resist trying to eavesdrop? That Professor rarely came out of his comfy cavern of Littleroot to begin with, and it’s utterly amazing to even hear him raise his voice.
Brendan glanced toward the Town Map.
“...Lilycove again.”
“How on— you were in Mossdeep last I called— Steven said he flew you into Petalburg what the hell— wait. What do you mean, AGAIN?”
Professor Birch managed to bulldoze his way through the front doors. Nurse Joy brightened right up at the sight of him. The citizens of Lilycove were accustomed to this sort of entrance by now.
“Oh, Professor! If you’re looking for young Brendan, you just missed him! He went out just a moment before you got here, you should catch up to him if you go back out!”
“BRENDAN!” Professor Birch howled despairingly to the sky.
Brendan, so they learned his name and passed it around, showed up again in Lilycove sometime at dawn, now riding a foldable bike. Marshtomp now lugged around a Treecko doll clearly won from the Game Corner.
Beldum, now a Metang, was being used as a table, snacks and drinks laid among a mess of papers and a map of Hoenn. Sableye clung to his knee, and Abra was still snoozing in his backpack.
He threw open the doors of the Lilycove Museum with some sort of dramatic flair— and immediately lunged for the door again, dragging the door loudly shut.
He breathed out, winded from just the sight of whatever horrors of relic and Hoenn history he had apparently caught sight of, and wisely skulked away to the next place.
A while later he came back casually touting a strange purple Poke Ball in his hands. This time when he went in, he happily came out a few minutes later.
The silver feathers on his head were a curious sight, but people dismissed it.
Wally’s grown up being told too many things were impossible for him. Playing outside? It’s a risk. Swimming? Absolutely not, even with the abundance of sea in Hoenn. The beach? Does he want to hack up his lungs for the next month?
But today’s when that changes. His parents are sending him to Verdanturf and then he’ll have a full time caretaker. He won’t even have the quiet times in the afternoon to wander about town anymore!
So, here he is, Petalburg Gym.
“Please, Mister Norman, it… it doesn't have to be a strong Pokemon, It’s fine if it’s just a companion. I really want to go out and do my best, on my own feet!”
Norman sighed.
It really wasn’t the ideal time to be bothering him— Wally’s heard a ruckus was made because Norman’s son went missing yesterday, but if he doesn’t show his resolve today he’s getting sent to Verdanturf! Wally’s on a deadline! Please!
“...please never use the word ‘deadline’ ever again,” Norman emphasized, sincerely.
“Okay sir!” Wally did not realize he was speaking aloud, “can I PLEASE get your help to get a Pokemon. Please!”
Norman groaned.
“Alright, fine,” he relented, and Wally celebrated internally. “Just give me a moment, I’ll get someone to take over on the calls I’m expecting.”
“Thank you Mister Norman sir!”
Norman was two steps to the back door when the entrance of the gym opens with a loud slam, thrown open so violently it nearly flies off its hinges. They both spin around so alarmed— but the boy at the door’s eyes are wider than their own.
There’s a moment of frozen shock. Then,
“DAD!” the boy shouts, leaping right in, bursting into tears at the door and dashing in one step, two step—
“What the— Brendan—?!”
And the boy lunged for Norman, arms wrapping around the older man— who made a very flabbergasted expression by the way— as he wailed.
“Oh thank the gods of randomizers I finally found someone . If I found Granite Cave or Victory Road or Navel Rock again I swear I was going to start smashing walls. Oh my god. I found dad. Finally. I went through the entirety of Hoenn and you are so far in the damn void what the hell. I didn’t even know there was a door there. ”
Norman was far less receptive of him.
“Brendan, what on earth possessed you to leave Lilycove after Professor Birch found you?!” he pulled the boy apart just to snarl. And when Brendan only sniffled he groaned in defeat. “You are staying put until I call your mother.”
“But I wanted to know what was beyond that door… how was I supposed to know it was a one-way trip underwater …”
“That’s it,” Norman righted Brendan onto his feet and turned sharply to Wally, who jumped at the sudden acknowledgement of his existence. “Wally. You’ll have to wait. Keep an eye on Brendan.”
“What? Wait, what about the Pokemon—”
Norman went on to make about a thousand Nav calls at once, leaving Brendan (still sniffling) and Wally in each others’ awkward company.
“Uhm. Brendan, right?”
Brendan nodded. “Hi Wally.”
Wally nodded back. Well.
“You’re. Uh, a trainer too, right?” he asked, feeling a little dumb because Marshtomp was clinging to his leg and Metang was happily ferrying a snoozing Abra and cheering Sableye across the four corners of the room.
Brendan smudged away his tears and nodded again. “You came to ask my dad for help? If you want a Pokemon—”
“Can you help me catch a Pokemon?” Wally asked, a little too enthusiastically, but really his patience is bursting. He knew it was a bit too upfront, but if initiative will help rid this space of this awkwardness, then all the more so. “P- Please?”
Brendan seemed like a good person. And he’s Norman’s son. Surely he can help. Norman didn’t look like he’d be free for a while longer.
“Sure…” Brendan murmured, glancing hesitantly toward his father, and then to the door toward outside, “I can help… but…”
Wally lost his hearing at ‘I can help’. He beamed. “Really?! Thanks so much! I got Poke Balls, so can we go now? Let’s go now!”
“Wait– wait! Wait!”
“What?”
Brendan squeaked when Wally grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the door. He squawked when the door hinges met his feet and he tripped over the front step of the gym doors—
—only to look up in amazement at the sun, when he stumbled out.
“...oh, sorry!” Wally realized how rude he was being. He let go quickly, leaving Brendan in mortified silence at the front doors of the Petalburg Gym, unable to believe his current presence outdoors. “I’m sorry, Brendan. You must want to rest, I…”
“Wally,” he said, his words full of meaning.
“...yes?”
“I’m in Petalburg City.”
“Yes.”
“I exited Petalburg Gym… and am in Petalburg City.”
Wally’s so confused. “Yeah?”
Brendan levelled him with a wide-eyed, deeply emotional look of sheer gratitude. Taking Wally by the shoulders, eyes glossy with tears of genuine happiness,
“I will protect you with my life.”
“Pardon–??”
“Dad, I would die for Wally.”
“Brendan. You will not.”
When Wally got his Ralts and left, over the moon, he briefly admired how eccentric yet close this father-son duo had been. He wondered if he was healthier, his father would banter like that with him, too. His father, overprotective as he is, would never openly curse like that.
“Bye, then,” Wally waved. “I hope I’ll see you around, Brendan! And Mister Norman! Thanks so so much!”
“Wait Wally—!!”
Wally yelped when Brendan chased after him, but then the door had been swinging shut, so when he heard a loud crash that must have been Brendan slamming facefirst into the door… well, Wally got very worried.
When he opened it again, Brendan was gone, and Norman had his palm kneaded into his eyes, longsufferingly.
“...huh?”
The next time Wally found Brendan, he was walking out of Mauville Gym just as Wally was prepared to go in. He’d prove to his father he could beat this gym and go on forward! He really wou— “WOAH!”
And Brendan crashed right into him, and they go tumbling to the ground in a painful heap.
“Oh come o— Wally.”
Brendan sounded immensely relieved to see him.
Now he had a Swampert. Sableye beamed and waved enthusiastically from his head, and Abra was being lugged around a new, bigger duffel bag that had clearly been dragged over mud and rocks and more. Metang sighed, picking both boys up by the huge metal appendages one by one. Sableye scrambled over both of them to do some expert dusting.
“Brendan…” Wally was winded. He really didn’t expect that. “Uhm! It’s been a bit! You look like you’ve gotten stronger!”
That’s right!
“Uhm, Brendan! Could you, you know, battle me?” he held up Ralts’ Poke Ball. “I’ve gotten stronger, a bit! I want to prepare for the Mauville Gym, but fighting wild Pokemon just doesn’t seem similar to fighting a trainer, so, uh—”
Wally knew he was going to be utterly crushed in this battle, but oh man, that was demotivating. That’s fine, though! He’ll try harder!
Brendan stepped back into the gym, after Wally promised him to do his best even more. He had patted Wally on the head and wished him well.
“Wait, why are you going that way—?”
Wally stepped into the gym after him.
“Ah, a new challenger!” the Gym guide beamed. “You a fresh trainer? How many badges you got?”
Wally’s left befuddled. There were only Gym trainers in the building— no sign of Brendan, or the bag he’d lugged around, or Metang, or even the cheerful Sableye and oversized Swampert with an arm on Brendan's knee.
“Wait, uhhh… did someone come in before me?”
“Nope! You’re our first challenger today, kid. You need a rundown of the rules?”
“Ah– yes, please! I mean wait! I need to heal my Pokemon first!”
Well, that’s weird.
Phoebe was having a boring day in her assigned Elite Four room. It’s challenger season, but Sidney’s in a bullying mood, so none of them were making it to Pheobe.
Oh well. More time to play patty cake with Banette.
And then the door slammed open and Phoebe jumped. What utter disrespect— did challengers have to throw open Elite Four doors like that? These kids need manners socked into their guts!
A boy had swung the door open, Sableye scampering ahead of him in confusion. And then the boy’s eyes met Phoebe’s and was instantly consumed by complete horror.
“Nooo!!!” he wailed, turning back around to the doors that auto-locked and desperately banging on it. “Let me out! Let me go baaaaack!!”
What.
His Swampert sighed, chewing his pant leg and tugging him back because stop embarrassing yourself , and then the boy slumps dejectedly over Metang’s body and starts sobbing. An Abra in his backpack floats out curiously, pointing at itself while the Sableye giggles and nods.
Phoebe’s own Sableye went over to socialize. Banette and Shuppet were ready to seize their next scare victim. Dusclops wondered if he should stop them.
“I don’t wanna teleport! I’ll go back to Sootopolis and the only non-dead-end there is the stupid Registeel entrance okay?! I’m not going through that stupid long rainy tall grass route again why does everyone keep fighting me .”
“Kid, you okay?”
The boy screamed bloody murder when Phoebe called out to him. He shrieks louder when Banette pulled a nudge-nudge-BOO!! on him. Shuppet did it next and the cycle repeats when Phoebe tried her best to get them to stop so she can address this.
And then.
And then, god forbid, Lugia sprouted from his pocket with a loud snarl and furious slap. Giant wings swatted the ghost Pokemon away, cradling the boy around the other as the boy grabbed and snuggled into its belly.
What the.
What the hell.
Phoebe stood there, shellshocked, as her mischievous little ghosts scurried to her back and she’s left to face angry mommy Lugia as part of the terrible people that apparently bullied her son.
The boy’s Sableye was laughing and pointing like a menace.
“...I am very sorry?”
Lugia huffed at her.
Anyways, the boy teleported right out of there the next second and Phoebe was left utterly baffled when Sidney walks in next, wondering what the screaming was about.
“SYD WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT.”
“WHAT THE HELL WAS WHAT? DON’T YELL AT ME??”
“GET OUT OF MY ROOM!”
“GEEZ WHAT CRAWLED UP YER ASS?!”
(“Oh, you must’a seen Danny, that kid. Ah, gave me the hella’ shock of my life when I found him in the Abandoned Ship! He seemed upset, so I talked to him about Faraway Island. And guess what he told me, that funny chap? Said he’d been there before! Had a weird Berry to prove it! Hilarious, ain’t he?”)
(“Uncle Briney, I think you need to take his words like slightly more seriously.”)
Drake had been out.
He highly doubted any challengers would make it to him even in the peak of the season, though, Sidney and Phoebe, those young’uns, they really didn’t know how to hold back on challengers.
Now, the problem was this Team Magma making a mess of Mt Chimney.
He heard of strange activity around the volcano— honestly, Flannery had cried to him, and well, he wasn’t one to just ignore an earnest request from an old friends’ granddaughter— so he made his way up the volcano to find them trying to… honestly, he didn’t know. Were they trying to activate the volcano with a meteorite, make it erupt? While they were on it?
He wasn’t about to entertain any of that nonsense. He would be really troubled if his favourite hot spring went cold.
“Alright, I think I’ve found the core of the operations. Land me there, Salamence…”
He frowned.
There had been various grunts stationed around the volcano, but most of them had their Pokemon out or were gathered together almost miserably, as if they’d all lost a battle and were trying to cope. Some were glancing with concern toward the higher points of the volcano.
And he understood why quickly.
Maxie, infamous leader of Team Magma, was currently engaged in battle.
Against a kid, with a Swampert. And the kid was winning— type matchups should spell that out easily enough, but Maxie wasn’t known to be a pushover, one didn’t become specialized in a type without learning how to cope with weaknesses.
"Ah, whatever. I will give up our plans for Mt. Chimney for the time being... But no one can ever stop us! Team Magma will prevail! Don't you ever forget that!"
That’s his cue.
Drake tossed down a Poke Ball. “Altaria, stop him.”
And whomp , Maxie’s attemp to stomp past the child is halted by a mass of fluffy white landing bodily on him, sending him sprawling onto the ground.
“You’re coming with me for questioning,” Drake stepped down from Salamence, shooting Maxie a glare before making his way to the kid. “You. You did well. Are you alone?”
The child had an Abra slumped over the strap of his shoulder bag and a Sableye clinging to his shoulder. Metang and Swampert sighed after a battle well won, eating berries and using healing items with Metang's Psychic. All of their own autonomous accord.
“You should come with me to the local station to make a statement,” Drake offered. “I’ll need your account of what happened up here.”
But the kid vehemently shook his head, pointing downward, to the exit.
“You would prefer to go?”
He nodded, Vigorously. “I have been softlocked here for the past thirteen hours and I will go crazy if I do not see new scenery soon.”
“Well, fine,” Drake sighed. He didn’t understand any of those words, but he’ll chalk it up to weird modern kiddo slang. He’s on his pilgrimage, so Drake didn’t have the right to hold him against his will. “At least register on my PokeNav, so I can ask you any questions later?”
And the kid easily agreed. Almost impatiently, once Drake got his own number on the boy’s PokeNav— a fairly worn-out, scratched-up thing, despite being one of the newer models from Devon… it also had the name ‘Brendan’ on a keychain, along with an address to Littleroot. If found, return to Norman …
Wait, Norman?
The kid quickly retrieved his PokeNav once it pinged with the completion of Drake’s contact registration. And then he bowed and scampered off to the exit.
“Hold on, kid!” Drake barked. “Are you Norman’s—!!”
Missing child–!!
Brendan was not past the fence of Mt Chimney.
(“Oh, you mean Brendan?” Flannery served him tea in the Herb shop later as thanks, “He’s a bit of a strange kid, but that Swampert’s really strong! But what’s more amazing is how he kept leaping through my steam chutes over and over! He said it was so amazing he was still in the same building every single time he went through one! He almost didn’t want to leave!”)
Glacia sighed. She supposed she had to do her duty as a member of the Elite Four somehow.
Winona was caught up in a separate matter regarding a Kecleon infestation in her town, and that left Glacia— the closest other League member in the vicinity— to deal with an apparent Team Aqua raid in the Weather Institute.
She had been enthusiastic, honestly, to be able to run wild for the first time in a while.
Unfortunately, there were no Team Aquas— Team Aquans? In the Institute.
Other than the workers currently recuperating, cleaning, and trying to reconcile their destroyed research, there was a young trainer sleeping soundly in the worker’s quarters. He hugged close to a Castform— apparently the Institute’s topic of research that didn’t get stolen and grew attached to its saviour— and they cuddled peacefully together.
A Metagross folded into itself and slept quietly to the side as if it was furniture. On top of it, curled into each other, was a Sableye and Abra. A Swampert, the only one awake, levelled Glacia with a very firm stare as she entered.
What could Glacia even say to all this?
“My, my,” she considered. “Understandable. Sleep well, dear.”
And she questioned absolutely nothing before closing the door and leaving. Maybe she’ll go and help Winona after all…
(“His name's Brendan,” Winona told her, when they met up. “Oh, of course I know him. He challenged my gym just the other day. Do you know he has Lugia? She is so pretty.”)
Sidney groaned, mulling over where to go now. Phoebe was in a spectacularly bad mood for some reason, so he let her take over the first spot on the Elite four cycle until she cooled her head.
“What ‘weird kid showed up’, no one even went past me! She comes up with the dumbest excuses to screech at me…”
Running straight to the desert so he could pretend to ignore all calls henceforth was a bit childish, but well, Phoebe’s gonna have to deal with herself now.
(So, he was absolutely ecstatic to manage to find Mirage Tower.)
“Cacturne, come on, let’s go for a run!”
(He’d only ever seen it twice before, in his whole life. He came here frequently, but Mirage Tower really chose its visitors intently. He wasn’t about to pass up this chance, though, and snuck right into the haunting building for a tour.)
“Didn’t Steve and Roxy say something about wanting to find fossils here?” Sidney murmured to himself, picking up some Claydol and dusting them off before putting them right back when they’re stubborn enough to keep pretending to be statues. “I guess we should get them while we’re here…”
Steven’s been stressed out these few days. Roxanne’s busy with challengers, but Steven running around like a headless Torchic because he apparently made Norman angry. Poor sod, but he probably had it coming a long way, knowing his troublemaking nature. He’s Wallace’s problem now and Sidney doesn’t care a single bit.
“...okay, okay, I’ll get the grass one, okay … you’re still my main water type… don’t get mad… I won’t take the Claw Fossil, okay, stop biting me…”
So, encountering a Mirage Tower is rare enough.
Encountering someone else in a Mirage Tower is… well, insane.
“Huh?!” Sidney exclaims.
“Huh??” the boy jumped, startled, when he heard Sidney. His hand, which had held onto one of the fossils, jerked and wrenched the stone right out of the crevice it’d been encrusted into.
Silence.
Then, “AAAHHHH!!” the boy screamed.
“What are you screaming about?!” Sidney squawked when the boy hurried to shove the fossil into his bag— upturning an Abra that was spilling out— “calm down! I’m not going to take it from you??”
“NO it’s just–!! Metagross we’re going! GUYS COME BACK!” he yelled.
Metagross streamed back over, careful not to spill the plethora of evolutionary stones and papers splayed across its head. Sableye picked up all the loose pieces, and Swampert held up a belt with Poke Balls as they all systematically returned.
And then Sidney felt it.
The ground under him, rumbling.
“Oh shucks,” he realized. “Is this place set to collapse once you take that?!”
“I AM SORRY!”
“YOU DAMN BRAT!”
“I AM VERY VERY SORRY!!”
The boy clumsily scooped up Abra, desperately shaking it awake. Sidney ran back down to get his own Pokemon.
“Cacturne! This isn’t the time to get buried by Sandshrew! We’re leaving!”
Cacturne yelped, moving, and the Sandshrew surrounding him (who were apparently trying to determine if he was actually a cactus or a Pokemon) started attacking in hordes. Cacturne yelped again. He’s so strong that if he attacks, they’ll all die .
He wrenched back up—
“Hey kid, you should come with us—”
Kid’s gone.
Sidney will be fine, but did that kid seriously just teleport away after dragging him into trouble in the first place?
“The audacity of that brat?!?”
(“Better wash your hands of anything to do with him while you still can,” Steven said, and he sounded so exhausted in his own home, “I was relaxing in my house yesterday, you know, and he just. Walked right in. He handed me a fossil, asked me to resurrect it, and came back this morning to collect the Pokemon. Just casually, into my house, through my locked house doors. He knows where my house is.” )
(“ Everyone knows where your house is.”)
(“Well yeah but I don’t usually come home to a kid using my living room walls as his conspiracy theory board! His map of Hoenn is still over there, by the way, and I don’t understand it! Why do so many threads lead to Victory Road??”)
With Groudon and Kyogre awakened and in a siege, the entire Hoenn region is in dire straits. Wallace has little choice with Sootopolis in the center of the calamity. Even with Juan here, he can’t just leave…
“What we’ll need is the third… we’ll need Rayquaza. But we have no idea where it could be. The Draconids have been silent, and…”
Wallace trailed off.
Norman wasn’t paying attention to the League meeting. Instead, he seemed to be occupied with his Nav, and when no one picked up, he set it aside.
“Norman, I know you have better things to worry about, but could there be some respect in this meeting hall?” Wallace’s fist tightened. He really didn’t have the patience for the less cooperative leaders today. Sure everyone usually had free reign—
—and then the PokeNav rang and Wallace groaned again.
“Now, now, Wallace, let’s calm down a little,” Watson urged, patting him on the shoulder and ushering him to a seat that Tate brought over. Liza brewed up some tea and served it to him with a smile. “We’re all stressed, but panicking won’t solve a thing.”
“Let’s keep a level head.”
“This really isn’t the situation to keep a level head—”
“[Hi Dad?]”
Norman picked up the PokeNav. “Brendan, do you know where Rayquaza is?”
Silence. Wallace is stuck in baffled disbelief. Did that crazy man just straight up ask his son that? Like, out of left field, as if he was just asking about the weather. (And the weather was disastrous now, speaking of, half drought half floods and all, but…)
“[Uh. Yeah? Rayquza’s in Sky Pillar.]”
And the answer made every leader around the table whirl their heads over for attention. This included Juan, who just arrived.
“Oh, right,” Brawly said, pleasantly, “You haven’t met him yet, right, Wallace? Norman’s son, Brendan!”
“What?”
“Yes, I believe Wallace hasn’t,” Juan said. “I’ve only recently received the opportunity to accept his challenge myself. I must say, he impressed me very much. His team is definitely a team of Pokemon that have been through many arduous trials together.”
“What??”
“Good,” Norman deemed. And then, he continued. “Then go get Rayquaza to Sootopolis before Groudon and Kyogre destroy Hoenn.”
“[Okay.]”
“How long will it take you?”
“[...uh… Metagross, can you come over a bit!]” Brendan called somewhere distantly. “[I’m in Lilycove Department Store right now… Sableye, get me the lift.]”
There is a moment where both ends are quiet. The elevator music chimed through the Nav, and Brendan arrived at the first floor.
“[Okay so, the first floor stairs…]”
A moment of tap, tap, tap—
—haunting silence. And Brendan wisely re-entered the Lilycove department store. One can hear the light music overhead again.
“[Wrong door. Stairs lead to Regirock, do not go up the stairs, do not go up the stairs. I need to go out the front door…]”
“Regi what?”
“[Okay, now I’m in the Abandoned Ship… I take the stairs here… and voila! A Pokemon Center!]”
“What?”
“How does that even work?”
“[I’ll check the map and… Mauville, exactly where I need to be, great,]” Brendan shuffled and reached for something, “[Abra, Abra, wake up. Teleport me outside this building.]”
“Why don’t you just walk out the do— oh, right… wait, what?”
“Kid, what is going on??”
“[And then I go to Mauville Gym!]”
“Into my gym??”
“[And now we're in Pacifidlo—OOOOHHHHGWWAAAAA!!!]”
A door slams shut.
“Brendan,” Norman began, calmly, “Pacifidlog is in the core of the flash floods and thunderstorms right now, and it is a floating town.”
“[I FORGOT.]”
“Look, be careful. If you just want to go from Pacifidlog…. Go from Slateport and have Lugia fly you over—”
Completely ignoring his father, Brendan threw the door open again.
“[It's okay the Center is just the next building! OKAY! LETSGOO SWAMPERTTT!!! AAAAAA!]”
There’s a churn of water and bubbles and roar of rain. And then a slam against a door, splash after plunge—
—and with a strangled wail there is an abrupt dive into a quiet location, past hauntingly silence doors that close into cloudy thunder.
“...Brendan,” Norman began, warningly.
“[Made it!]”
Wallace honestly dreaded meeting this child in person.
Unfortunately, it happened like so: he was exploring the Seafloor Cavern under Sootopolis, as Champions of a region that was post-calamity would, and from the most obscure entrance ever this boy came crawling out and looked around like huh?
“...where am I?”
Wallace recognized the voice and miserably responded, “Seafloor cavern.”
The boy nodded. Dreadfully.
The Metagross and Swampert were both inspecting the area cautiously. Castform floated about his head, Sableye surveyed the area like a restless menace, and Cradily slowly crawled after him, a sleeping Abra spilled over its head.
“So uh.”
Wallace’s brow raised.
“Do I like… have to find your room,” he fiddled with his fingers, very mullishly, “or can I just like, challenge you here? I mean like, as a Champion…”
“You’ll need to defeat the Elite Four first.”
“Yeah uh, I kinda… did that already… I just couldn’t find you…”
Wallace’s brow raised again. He didn’t have service down here, so his Nav didn’t work. But seriously? It hasn’t even been two days since the calamity that almost destroyed the entire region, what has this kid been doing?
Yeah, Wallace isn’t having this.
“Good luck finding my room.”
And Wallace turned out at the nearest exit.
“NOOO!!”
“Ah, you finally made it! Welcome, Brendan, to the Champion’s roo—”
“YOU WERE HIDDEN BEHIND THE GODDAMN WATERFALL WHAT THE FUCK.”