Author's Note: After about a six-month absence, give or take, coming back with an apology for not updating in so long doesn't really seem appropriate. That said, I am sorry that I left this story (as well as Great Minds) untouched for so long. This past school year was a very, very important one for me, so it didn't leave much room for free time other than on holidays (and barely then). Now that it is over however and I'm enjoying my summer, I thought it the least I could do to (hopefully) see this story through to the end! As a writer I am prone to working in short bursts and then leaving off for periods of time (it's a bad flaw that I have yet to remedy), so I will try my best to keep a regular update schedule. If I don't update on time, however, it is likely because I have gotten busy or have encountered writer's block, but by all means it is okay to give me a nudge to check up on my progress with a comment or two! This chapter is the last of my buffer stock, so it may be a week or a little longer before the next update because I will be trying to not only keep up with updates but also add a few chapters back to my buffer. And since it has been so long since I've worked on this, I'll be re-reading the story myself, fixing any minor errors, and also playing Omega Ruby again! If you've been following Great Minds as well, expect a similar situation there. No immediate update for it (sorry) because I didn't have a buffer for it. As a warning, this plot does contains spoilers for the RSE/ORAS storyline, so read at your own risk. I think I've said enough, so I hope this long awaited update is worth it! As always, I'm happy to hear your thoughts and criticisms, because I'm ever seeking to improve!

Chapter 11

Remembering, Part I

Being in a laboratory teeming with scientific minds, looking through those files and seeing the name PROJECT AZOTH lurking there, as it did in her memories, clutching the glasses of a friend who had been with her, intermittently, all her life, May sobbed because she remembered who she had forgotten. . . herself.

May Maple was in love with scientists. She was going to be one when she grew up, just like Mommy, and she was going to marry one, instead of some obstinate, self-important, wanna-be gym leader like Norman. (To his never ending frustration, she refused to call him Dad.)

"Sweetie, put your book down and eat."

Pushing up the glasses that had been sliding down her face, she looked up from the book she was hiding in her lap under the table. Norman looked disappointed, but her mother was completely unsurprised.

"But I'm reading about how to make my own calorimeter," she complained.

"If you leave the book alone for now, then I'll help you make one."

May's eyes lit up. "You're the best!"

She snapped the book shut and slid it under her chair. Her food was cold by the time she started eating, but she didn't care. Tomorrow, she would get to make a real calorimeter, maybe even try it out. . .

"Alice," Norman sighed, "don't you think it's time we take her to catch her first Pokémon instead of wasting her free time doing silly experiments? She is almost sixteen now, after all, and she still acts like a child."

"I told you, I don't want a Pokémon." May grumbled between forkfuls of food.

Her mom put her hand over hers and rubbed smooth circles in it. "I know, honey, but why don't you at least give it a try? All of your other friends have gotten Pokémon, and they'll be going to Trainers' school in the fall."

May said. "Those people aren't my friends. All they do is laugh at me, so I'll be glad when they're gone."

"Please, May? Think of it like one of my experiments."

She rolled her eyes. "You're not a Pokémon professor."

"May, stop being stubborn." May flinched at her father's severe tone. "You're getting a Pokémon before we leave Johto, and that's final!"

"W-what?" Her fork clattered onto her empty plate. Hot tears welled in her eyes. "We're. . . leaving?"

She heard her mother mutter, "Dammit, Norman."

"Why?" May said, glaring at him from across the table. "Where are we going?"

He put his head in his hands. "I've been offered a position as the leader of the Petalburg City gym in Hoenn."

Her tiny hands balled into fists that burned to pound into her father's chest. "All you care about is being a gym leader! Pokémon are more important to you than your family, and I hate you!"

May shoved her chair into the table and ran upstairs to her room, slamming and locking the door behind her. She slid down against it, flung her glasses across the floor, and cried. He wanted to take the only two things she loved away from her: science and Johto. Why couldn't he understand that she wasn't like him and that she would never want to follow in his footsteps? Why couldn't he let her be the girl that she was, not the one that he wanted her to be?

She hated him, hated his stupid dream for her to be as powerful as a Pokémon trainer as him, hated the way his job mattered more than his family!

Well, she wasn't going. He could go to Hoenn by himself. She was staying here with Mommy, and nothing was going to change that. Tomorrow, she would wake up, go to school, and when she got home, Norman would be gone already. They would make her calorimeter like nothing happened. That was how it was supposed to be. She would grow up and be a world-renowned scientist, get married to a man as smart as her, and they would live happily ever after. Nothing bad was supposed to happen. Bad things only happened to illogical people incapable of making reasonable decisions. Logic would protect her. It would help her understand. There had to be a reason for everything.

So, then, what was the reason for this? Why was it happening? Surely Mommy would stop him from making them leave. Mommy fixed everything: the injuries she got from experiments, her glasses every time they broke, her heart every time unpleasant emotions trampled all over it. Mommy fixed everything, and of course she was going to fix this.

"My little Swablu, won't you open the door?"

Only her mother called her that. She had said that she always wanted a Swablu, but she could never have one. They were native to Hoenn.

"I hate it when you call me that."

May fished around her room for her glasses and found them underneath her dresser. The tape holding the nosepiece together was almost as old as the glasses themselves. They were a deep red, May's favorite color. She put them on and unlocked the door.

Her mother pulled her into an embrace, and, after standing there stiffly for a long time, May allowed herself to relax and put her arms around her.

"We can't leave."

Mommy said nothing.

"You're not done with your research! And everybody knows that Johto has the best research facilities. Hoenn is just a tropical oasis with the intellectual capacity of a Snorlax."

Her mommy snorted at the comparison, and May smiled, sniffling.

"You have to fix this, Mommy." May said. "That's what you do. You make everything better, and you never let me down, unlike Norman."

Four months later, May learned that her mother couldn't fix everything.

She hadn't even set foot on Hoenn soil yet, and she already hated it. It was too dark to read in the moving truck, it was stuffy, and the boxes kept bumping into her and jabbing her in the back. As soon as the truck stopped and the door opened, May jumped outside, glad to be on solid ground, even if she hated the region where that ground happened to be located.

"Welcome to our new home."

Mom was waiting in front of the house when she got there. There was only one other house in the whole town, and a larger building a short walk away.

"What is this place?"

"Little Root Town."

"I thought we were going to Petalburg." May said as she followed her mother inside the tiny house. There were only two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a dining room, and, to make it worse, the only bathroom was in the master bedroom.

"There weren't any houses for sale in Petalburg."

"So where is Norman living, at the gym or something?"

Her mother only smiled. "Why don't you go introduce yourself to your neighbor?"

"Singular neighbor. That's how tiny this place is. I hate it already."

"May."

She threw her hands in the air. "Fine, fine, I'm going. I bet they don't even know what a calorimeter is, though."

"May, if you don't stop being an arrogant brat—"

"I'm kidding!"

She really wasn't. Walking all of the ten steps to her neighbor's house, she buzzed the doorbell. A woman came to the door after a couple of rings.

"Oh, hello, you're our new neighbor, aren't you?" She said.

"Yes, ma'am. My name is May Maple." They shook hands. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The woman smiled. "Oh, you're such a sweet girl. I wish you could teach my son some manners."

"You have a son?" May asked as the woman stepped aside to let her in.

"Oh, yes. About your age, in fact. He's upstairs, if you'd like to meet him."

"I would. Thank you."

The layout of their house was essentially the same as May's, except all the rooms were on opposite sides. She found the boy's room upstairs to the left. The door was ajar, so she knocked on the wall as she came inside.

"Bags packed, Pokémon healed, Pokedex charged, and—"

He stopped mumbling to himself when he noticed May standing in the middle of his room.

"Hi," she said, awkwardly playing with her glasses. She never got along well with her peers, but that was okay, because she preferred talking to adults anyway. "May Maple. Just moved in next door."

"Brendan Birch. My dad's a Pokémon professor, and I help him do research."

That was a slight step up from having a father who was a gym leader. "Does that mean you like science?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I guess so. I like Pokémon more, though."

"Do you know what a calorimeter is?"

It certainly didn't seem like it from the face he was making. He looked entirely unattractive that way, with his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth scrunched up. "Why do you ask?"

May folded her arms. "Answer the question."

"Yes, I do know what a calorimeter is."

"I don't believe you."

Brendan rolled his eyes. "I've used one before to determine how much energy a baby Torchic's ember releases. Q equals mC delta T and all that. I don't like the calculation part, but using one is pretty cool."

The child's eyes lit up like fireworks. "I like you," she said.

"Well, thanks? Anyway, I gotta go. I'm supposed to be helping my dad catch some Pokémon for his research."

They walked out together, and then they parted ways. On her way back home, a little boy ran up to her and caught her by the arm.

"Please, come quickly! Someone needs help!"

May followed him to the edge of the town. Between the bushes, she could see a man being chased by an angry wild Pokémon.

"What should I do? What should we do? Brendan already left. . ."

She didn't have any Pokémon, so what could she do? Maybe she could distract it, just long enough to give him time to flee.

"I-I'll go help him." May said, and before she had time to change her mind, she ran out into the tall grass.

"You there, hello! Help me, please—I can't get this Poocheyna to leave me alone. There should be some poke balls in my bag!"

May stared at the bag lying on the ground like it was a monster under her bed. She couldn't use one of those! She had never battled before, and, besides that, she hated Pokémon. She couldn't possibly fight with them. That would make her what she had hated her whole life: a Pokémon trainer.

"Please, please, you've gotta help me! I don't know how much longer I can hold it off."

Closing her eyes, May reached into the bag and grabbed a ball at random. She would fight, just this once. She couldn't let this man get injured just because she hated her dad.

"Go!"

She threw the ball, and a blue Mudkip came out. It looked at the Poocheyna in front of it and then at her.

"Use growl to catch its attention," she ordered.

An impossibly load roar came from the small Pokémon. Growling right back, the Poocheyna turned around and rammed into Mudkip. The blue Pokémon whined, glancing up at May as though she had betrayed it. What was she supposed to do about it? She'd never battled before, so she didn't know how. Of course, Norman had tried to teach her, many times, but she never listened.

May pointed at the Poocheyna and said, "Get up and attack him or something."

Mudkip wobbled to his feet and charged at the puppy, sending him smacking into the nearest tree. With its tail between its legs, it wandered off into the forest.

May recalled the Mudkip to its poke ball.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" The man exclaimed. "My name is Professor Birch. Why don't we go back to my labs to talk?"

So this was Brendan's dad. May, unable to turn down an invitation to see any sort of laboratory, agreed, and they walked back together. He told her about his research, how he was using the Pokedex to try to compile information on all the Pokémon in Hoenn, and about how Hoenn was a much less diverse region now than it had been three thousand years ago. She wondered why that was, but there was no chance to ask him. He surprised her by offering her a Pokedex and asking her to help with his research.

Birch smiled. "You can keep that Mudkip. You two looked close, so I think it would be good for both of you."

"No, but thank you," May mumbled, looking down at her muddy yellow tennis shoes.

"Really, don't be shy. I insist."

"I don't want it."

The professor's eyes widened. "Why not? You don't have a Pokémon of your own, right?"

"Excuse me."

May ran out of his lab before he could say anything else. She didn't want to hear another person tell her that she was a freak, how could she hate Pokémon, and oh, it's just a phase, child. She was tired of it all! God, why didn't anyone get that she just wanted to be a scientist? 16 was old enough for her to know what she wanted to do with her life. 16 was old enough to be considered almost an adult, so why, why were they all still looking down on her as a child? She had grown up fast, in these past four months, and she certainly didn't need her mother to protect her anymore. The kid who had always called her Mommy wasn't her anymore. That had changed the day she learned that her mother couldn't fix everything, the day she realized that the only one she could always depend on was the flame of reason blazing within her mind. And that was what she was going to do, even if she had to leave this stupid little town and her parents behind.

"May, honey? What's wrong?" Her mother asked when May sulked into the house, slamming the door behind her.

"I'm not a child anymore!"

Alice untied her apron and put down the mixer that had been in her hands. "You've only just turned sixteen, though. There's still plenty of time for you to change your mind about things." Things like her opinion of Pokémon.

"Arceus, why doesn't anyone think I'm old enough to think for myself? I've already graduated high school, and you all still keep treating me like a baby!" May screamed, emboldened by how good it felt to let loose the leviathan of her pent up rage.

Alice sighed, deep sorrow appearing in her eyes. "Well, since you're an adult now, I've got a proposal for you."

"I'm listening."

"Get yourself a Pokémon and go on a journey, just for half a year at least. After that, you can come back and tell me about it. If you still hate Pokémon, fine. You can go to college and study. If you find you like Pokémon, that's fine too. You can become a trainer, or do whatever you want. I just don't want you to miss out on an experience like this, May."

That was how, three weeks later, May found herself leaving Little Root with only a backpack and a small Mudkip skipping along by her side. Brendan, a year older than her, was leaving home, too, but for a different reason. He'd told her that he wanted to complete the Pokedex by himself, to catch every single Pokémon in Hoenn. So, when they saw each other outside Oldale Town, they vowed to be both friends and rivals, to help each other grow and to challenge each other. She had to admit that the first time they battled was amazing—exhilarating. Brendan won, of course, but it was still one of her favorite memories. Even now, she could recall every precise detail—the Beautifly passing by overhead, the dew dripping into that pond on Route 103 where it had all started, where she began to see that battling was a brilliant combination of artistry and strategy, and maybe, just maybe, she could learn to love it.

The first night she spent by herself was, she had to admit, scary. She'd stayed in a small hotel in Oldale with only her Mudkip for company. Knowing that that was how it would be for the next six months, she began attempting to befriend him out of necessity. He liked to be scratched on his belly and fed orange cream Poké Puffs. She named him Haruka.

The next morning, she passed through Petalburg—without stopping to see her dad—and into Petalburg Woods, where an unpleasant surprise awaited.

Evil.

The last thing she had expected while talking to a man in the woods was to be jumped by a red suited man allying himself with an organization by the name of "Team Magma." The stranger asked her for help, but what could she do? With only one Pokémon and no gym badges, she was beginning to realize that she was not as mature as she thought. How could she possibly stand up to what she had heretofore believed existed only in novels? Yet, for the second time in her life, she found herself pushing aside logic in favor of morality. She couldn't leave that unarmed man to fend for himself, so she fought, and somehow she won. The red man went scurrying off to Rustboro, and, not knowing where else to go, May followed.

Upon learning that there was a gym there, she decided it was the perfect opportunity to begin honing her skills because if she were to be successful on this journey—May Maple was not one to accept failure—then she would have to be ready for more surprises along the road, and more evil. So she spent several days learning and practicing at the Pokemon Trainer's School, and when she felt confident in herself, she challenged Roxanne. With the aid of type matchups and her swiftly evolving sense of strategy, she won her first gym badge. Both her parents would be proud, but that wasn't why she was happy. Rather, she was glad because she won it on her own, her first symbol of independence. There would be many more to come.

The next time she encountered a Team Magma goon (right after she exited the gym, in fact), she wasn't quite so afraid. A gym badge under her belt helped to calm her quaking heart, and her victory over the grunt that time brought her an experience of which previously she could have only dreamed: an audience with the President of the esteemed Devon Corporation. If talking with President Stone had been like ascension into Heaven, then meeting his son, Steven, was like coming face to face with the role model and husband of your dreams, all in one person. After she delivered his letter, she asked him to tell her about his research. Delighted, they went to a cafe in Dewford and talked for two hours. Geology wasn't her favorite subject, but the way he described its scientific process made it sound like the most majestic art form of the civilized world.

She surprised both of them by requesting a battle.

His eyes softened with a smile. "Perhaps one day," he said, "we will share one, and it will be very special."

For a long time, she didn't understand what he meant.

One and a half months into her journey, she had two gym badges, three Pokémon, and she had made it all the way to Slateport. Haruka, Frederick, and Shiva, her Hariyama, had become a stable part of her life, a part that was quickly growing on her as she found that there was room for both Pokémon and science in her heart. Unfortunately, she was about to discover a side of her beloved science that left her questioning her faith in reason. That discovery was in the form of the leader of Team Magma.

"Shiva, use fake out."

Hariyama rushed up toward her opponent's Mightenya with surprising speed, clapping his large, meaty hands over the dog's ears. It flinched, staring at Shiva in frozen horror.

"Now, use arm thrust."

Taking advantage of Mightenya's terror, Shiva threw lightning punches in rapid succession at the dog until he fainted. The Magma grunt recoiled in embarrassment and terror, while May just smiled. Mopping the floor with them was becoming something of a routine, alongside exploring and training for the next gyms. It was a nice rhythm, but one that was about to be disrupted.

"You know, for 'villains,' you are tremendously disappointing. The kids at the Rustboro Trainer's School have better strategy than you. You can't just go blindly lashing out at your opponent! You'll lose every time."

She didn't mean for it to sound condescending. In fact, just the opposite. Other than the insult, it was meant as genuine advice. Why she was giving advice to criminals, harmless though they were, well. . . she had certainly matured, but she was still naïve.

"Why, you—"

"I came up here to see what was taking you simps so long to snatch some simple parts, and here I find you're held up by a mere child."

While the grunts may have been disappointing, she couldn't say the same for this man. May knew she was below average height for her age, but he towered over her like no other. His clothes were like a black widow: hard black with a dangerous flash of red. He narrowed his eyes to the point where she couldn't tell if he was exceedingly angry or simply partially blind. Either way, he cut an intimidating figure.

"I am Team Magma's Maxie," he said, looking down his spectacled nose at her. "Why on earth would you feel compelled to hinder our plans?"

May pet her newly evolved Marshtomp on the head when she heard him growl at the man. "Seeing as I don't know what your plans are, I can't give an appropriate answer. However, I must conclude that they can be nothing good if you're repeatedly stealing from unsuspecting civilians."

"Any minor lapses in ethos can be overlooked in the grand scheme of things. Petty criminality is nothing compared to our noble design of enlarging the landmass." His eyes were not seeing her, but the world he envisioned within his soliloquy. "People, Pokémon, everything lives on land, and if the rate of population expansion continues, we will find it in rare supply. The land is the stage upon which humanity will propel itself into the future, and Team Magma is doing the world a favor by seeking to create more."

May's fists had been slowly curling into fists during the man's impromptu speech. How stupid was he? "I don't think you know anything whatsoever about how the world works!"

Maxie smirked. "I find that laughable coming from a self-gratified child. This world operates on a scientific level that you cannot even begin to comprehend."

"I was just about to say the same thing to you." Putting her hands on her hips, May walked up to him until she was staring him straight in the face. "I do comprehend how the world works because I am a scientist. It is obvious to me that you have not even contemplated the consequences of your actions. Otherwise, you would have seen your folly." May spun the globe that was displayed among a collection of sea faring instruments, its greens and blues blurring together in its rotation and meshing into perfect harmony. "Land and sea are in a perfect ratio for the existence of Pokémon and humans. There are millions of complex aquatic ecosystems that would suffer if they were to be even minutely disturbed by an increase in landmass, and what's worse, creating more land would throw the natural order out of balance. Nature has given us an amazing gift. What right do you have to demand more? That's not even to touch upon the fact that neither the human nor the Pokémon populations were ever meant to be able to increase indefinitely!"

A stunned, awkward silence settled over the room. The two Magma grunts she had just beaten cowered behind their Leader with mouths agape, probably shocked that anyone, no less what most still considered a child, had dared to speak to their boss that way.

"Don't you dare have the nerve to tell me I don't know about science!" May shouted.

Maxie shook his head, raising his eyebrows. "It is a pity you have chosen to oppose us. You could have accomplished great things under Team Magma, in lieu of that idealistic refuse you believe is true science."

May was three seconds away from ordering Shiva to vital throw his arrogant butt out the window.

"Your ignorance cannot be helped," he continued, "for you are a mere child. Mark my words, girl, this is the first and only time I will grant you clemency. If I see you again, I will not hesitate to neutralize you."

To both their displeasure, they did see each other again.

The second time, they met at Mt. Chimney. To be honest, it had been something of an accident, as May had gotten lost on her way to Lavaridge. When she saw two Magma grunts blocking the lift, though, she knew something was amiss, so she committed herself to investigate. Now that she knew what they were up to, she couldn't possibly allow them to continue.

Tabitha found her sneaking around the mountain (after she had taken out nearly half their grunts) and brought her to Maxie. During her attempt to escape from his hold, she bit him on the hand, hard enough that she tasted his blood in her mouth. He elbowed her in the head and threatened to toss her into the lava.

"Thank you, Tabitha, but that will not be necessary at the moment." He didn't look away from the machine he was attentively fiddling with.

"Put me down and battle me like your equal!" May flailed her legs around until her heel made contact with his groin.

She smiled as he instantly dropped her. Her victory didn't last long, however. Within barely a few minutes, he was already trying to lunge at her again.

"Enough," Maxie said. "Go alert the others to prepare to evacuate before I detonate the meteorite."

"But what about—"

"Go."

"Sir," he hissed, but, nonetheless, did as he was bidden.

May spit Tabitha's blood out of her mouth and crossed the glass platform to where Maxie was standing at the machine. He seemed determined to ignore her presence, so she contented herself with observing him. She should have been afraid—and a part of her was—but mostly she was fascinated by him. Of course, in working with her mother often, she had been exposed to all types of scientists before, but never anyone quite like this. He wanted her to believe that he was evil, but such things still did not, as yet, exist in her world, and so she doubted his façade. His mind was beautiful. Tainted, but beautiful. He muttered to himself as he fiddled with the controls, and she caught words like "meteorite," "critical mass," and "exothermic." Some she recognized, but most she didn't. What kind of scientist was he, she wondered. There was little in his apparel to give any indication.

Or, maybe there was. Turtleneck, sweater vest, black and red lab coat. The only people who dressed in so many layers in this region were the ones who lived around Route 113, the route of ashes.

"You're a volcanologist, aren't you?" She said, smirking a little as his back stiffened at the disturbance. If he had hoped she would simply go peacefully and leave him alone, then he was foolishly wrong.

"Wise observation." Other than that terse mumble, he still did not give her his attention.

"And Archie's an oceanologist. No wonder you two don't get on well."

He snorted. Somehow, the sound seemed out of place. Maxie put on a mien too dignified for such an action, but, then again, the mien is not the man. "Did you come here to analyze me, or to stop me?"

"Bit of both, to be honest."

She smiled, but the outward action did not suit the inward. Her stomach fluttered when he finally turned around and focused his eyes on her. Up close, she could see how intense they were. The coldest color of brown she had ever seen. Sharp and piercing, it was like they could see straight through her. He was as smart as Steven, maybe smarter, but the geologist's eyes did not penetrate her thoughts the way his did. No, whereas Maxie's demeanor forcefully commandeered her train of thought, Steven's was content to passively ride along with whatever was on her mind.

It was almost as if they were thinking of the same thing. "I remember those eyes," he said, "and the indomitable will that seems to burn behind them."

"Seems, you say? Do you intend to prove that notion wrong?"

His lips quirked into a smirk. "I believe I made myself clear when we were last in Slateport."

May glared up at him, her chin jutting out in defiance. "Yes, you did make it clear that you are incapable of seeing reason in any of its higher forms."

He slipped a hand into his coat pocket, and when he pulled it out again, it held a luxury ball. "Such a high pedestal you place yourself on for a child." He tossed the ball onto the platform. "Pyrrhus, come forth. I see now that I must attempt to educate you in the ways of this world."

And educate her he did. One by one, Shiva, Frederick, and even Haruka fell to the might of his Mega Camerupt. May crumbled to the slick surface of the platform, clutching her unconscious Pokémon. Never had she been broken by—lost so much to—one defeat. Tears streaked her face, and she had not the strength to wipe them away.

Still a child. . . Alice and Normal were right. I'm still nothing but a child.

Her heart jumped when she heard the sound of his footsteps approaching from across the platform. Something clicked, and she looked up at him, mere inches away from her now. He knelt by her side, one hand held behind his back.

"If you cannot even win a battle. . ."

He showed her the contents of his hand, and what she saw there harrowed her to her core.

A gun.

"Then how can you expect to win the war?"

She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the cold metal press against her temple. Tears gushed from her eyes faster than before, her lips trembled, her body quivered, she wanted desperately to scream, to apologize to her parents, to be back in Johto, but there was time for none of those things. May Maple was going to die.

The gun clicked, and May fell into screaming sobs and tremors. There was so much agony, and God, in seconds she truly would be dead, but minutes later when she realized she was still crying, she knew that she could not be.

Maxie stood above her, a look of utter disgust on his face. "What would you do," he said softly, "if I were a murderer, Miss May?"

He dropped a handful of empty bullets on the ground next to her as he passed by. "If I see you again, you may have to seriously contend with your answer."

Evil. He was pure evil. That was what May wanted to believe was true of him, but she could not. He was daring, he was frightening, he was Machiavellian, but he was not evil. He was merely a man, one that terrified her, that intrigued her, that made her question everything she had heretofore taken for granted in her sheltered life. He had taught her many things that day at Mt. Chimney, but foremost among them was a lesson that she did not want to learn.

Logic, like her mother, could not protect her from everything.

She began to turn away from it as she realized that the only thing that she could truly depend upon in this life was herself. That meant she had to become stronger, much stronger. She trained—her body, her mind, her Pokémon. Her mentor in all those things was the man she had least expected: Norman. After she won the badge from Lavaridge, she returned to Petalburg for two months, during which time Norman gladly taught her everything he knew about not only battling but about life. They grew close during those two months, as they were finally able to resolve their lifelong indifferences. He apologized for pushing her too hard to be a trainer, and to this day, that apology still held a special place in her heart.

On the day she was to leave to resume her journey, they rose early that morning and walked down to the beach by Mr. Briney's house.

"I really can't tell you how proud I am of you, May," he said, ruffling her hair as had become his habit over these past two months. "My little scientist, all grown up."

She laughed. "I wouldn't quite say that."

"You still are interested in science, aren't you? I didn't push you away, did I?" His face looked pained, ashamed even. "You seemed. . .somehow different, when you first showed up here. I don't know how to put it, exactly. Intelligent, still, of course, but less of a bookish nerd."

May stuck her tongue out at him and elbowed him in the side. "Don't worry. No one in the world could scare me away from science. Let's just say, though, that someone made me realize that logic isn't quite all it's cracked up to be."

"Well, if that's what you want to believe, then go ahead. But if it's not, then don't believe it. You hold on to what's precious to you like it's your life, because it is. Those are the things that make you who you are."

"I just. . .don't know what to think anymore. So many things are changing."

He pulled her into a tight hug. "That's life, Swablu. Things, people, the world, even you yourself will change, and that's okay. No matter how many times you change your mind, as long as you continue to be yourself, you can never go wrong. And I. . . I will support you, no matter your decision. I see that I should have learned that a long time ago, but perhaps that was a lesson we were fated to learn together."

May wrapped her arms around him and nestled her face into his chest. She felt safe within his arms, loved, like she could do anything in the world. It had been a long time since she felt that way.

"Hey, Norman?"

"Mm?"

"I love you, Dad."