Disclaimer: Well, I own Pokemon in my dreams, does that count:P No, I don't own Pokemon. However, I do own the plot, and I hope it harbors some original twists, however plain it might appear in the beginning.

The MAIN Love Triangles or Squares (read to know exactly what ships you're going to be facing!):
Drew x May x Brendan (chp.1 forwards)
Paul x Dawn x Tyson (the blond rival in D/P) OR Paul x Dawn x Kenny OR Kenny x Dawn x Tyson (you get my drift, no?) (chp.4 forwards)
Jimmy x Marina x Silver (rival from G/S/C) x Turquoise (heroine from FR/LG) (chp. 6 forwards)

Simply pairings:
Ash x Gary (BITE ME POKESHIPPERS. I tried Pokeshipping. Didn't work out. And I apologize for sounding like a total hypocrite) (chp.2 forwards)
Misty x Brock (chp. 4 forwards)

Very light to light hints of:
Oldrivalshipping
Waterflowershipping
Berryshipping
Pokeshipping

Unlike my other story, I know exactly what is going to happen in this (at least an outline), and this story does not agree with some facts from my other, so please do not judge each against the other.

If you spot a problem please inform me of it pronto. (:

Newly Introduced Main to Side Human Characters in This Chapter (Order of Appearance):
Steven Stone
Mimi (OC)
Ciaa (OC)
Brendan Birch
May Maple
Max Maple
Caroline Maple
Norman Maple
Wally Winter
Drew Rosalind
Giovanni

Well, I hope you find this to be an interesting journey!

Ancient Cave, Somewhere in Sinnoh

"Here we are," The voice, deep and masculine, reverberated off the damp and aged cave walls, as three figures, each varying in size and shape, walked down a small, wet path, their shadows flickering on the wall alit by a torch the foremost and smallest figure carried.

The three stopped in front of a large, terracotta wall—paintings and odd symbols were on it, blurring out in many places. However, the horrible quality of the wall paintings did not deter the middle figure; excitably, with silky black hair swinging around in a ponytail, she reached out her right index finger to alight very gently on a rune.

"It's just what we're looking for, Mr. Stone," The girl whispered, her voice betraying a middle teenaged age and much excitement and anxiety. The largest figure nodded, gray hair framing an angular face.

"Read for us, then, please." The ex-Champion said, crouching down to better observe some of the lower runes.

"I'll try my best," The girl gulped, and then began as she ran her finger over the vaguely most wall and Pokemon shapes that only barely resembled letters. "'It is'—I can't read this part, oh wait, here we go again—'after the Second Hoenn Crisis, another will'—gosh! Stupid Zubat must've killed off this part—'but this occurring in'—ouch, this part fell off—'and this crisis will be even greater and more artificial than the last.'"

Pausing, the black-haired girl exchanged nervous looks with the younger girl and the ex-Champion before continuing, "'And the conquerer will be unstoppable in'—this part's faded."

"We have to leave at once," Steven Stone declared, gathering up his rucksack and started walking towards the mouth of the cave, the two girls striding behind him.

Gym Leader's House, Petalburg, Hoenn

"And now, we present Brendan Birch of Littleroot!" A high female voice shouted above the deafening roar of the crowd; a few moments later, the orange-haired Master of Ceremony had bounced off the stage to make space for the figure that entered another few moments later.

Emerging from the shadows, the lean teenager suavely stepped onto the stage, the soft glare of the spotlight illuminating his already seemingly glowing features. His shock of spiky silver hair had been brushed down earlier in the morning so that tufts of it fell into his startlingly sanguine eyes; however, he still preserved the black headband marked with a red Pokeball print that stretched across his forehead. His skin was abnormally pale, and under the lamplight it emanated an air of formidability that perfectly amplified his already intimidating countenance. The audience cheered loudly for the new arrival, although they had not seen or heard of him before.

Many miles away from the Slateport Contest Hall, water had spurted out of a particular girl's mouth, landing all over the television screen through which she had been viewing the Contest. Quickly wiping her light cherry lips and the TV screen, the teenaged girl brushed mousy locks out of her face before blinking twice and staring again; 'BRENDAN?'Even as Maybelline Sapphire Maple immediately began denying what she saw, the Coordinator on the screen was supremely undisturbed. He reached for a Pokeball clipped onto the dandelion belt that stretched across his waist, and flung it into the air. Many eyes followed the Pokeball's movements as it enlarged and its translucent red hood sprang open, releasing chalky vapor and a liquid-like beam of wine-red light that landed on the wooden floor, solidifying into an elongated figure.

As the mist cleared, the light left the Pokemon and it was then revealed the Tender Pokemon's true identity. Glitter, perhaps remnants of a 'Recover', or perhaps the aftereffects of an 'Ice Beam', but most likely simply byproducts of the Pokemon, the very embodiment of beauty, radiated from her long body. Audible gasps were heard throughout the entire auditorium; even May gasped—she certainly had not expected Brendan to obtain such a prestigious Pokemon, although she did not put it behind him.

Undeterred by the reactions of the crowd, the Water Pokemon continued swaying her iridescent cerulean-scaled tail—flecked in various parts with tender pink and darker cobalt—and tilted her serpentine head slightly upwards, allowing the horn protruding out of her head to touch the back of her lengthy, slender neck.

"Milotic, Water Pulse." Brendan said, his voice gentle and reflective of his Pokemon's nature. Without a moment of hesitation, the Tender Pokemon complied; she raised her head even higher, fully exposing her neck, and proceeded to fire a ray of aqua towards the ceiling. The water-typed move hit the ceiling without much difficulty, then as if demonstrating the opposite of gravity, expanded in the same way it would have had it hit the ground. The crowd began murmuring in amazement, and Brendan used this time to smirk.

May's eyes widened, impressed, but before she could call her brother over to watch with her, the Milotic on screen had already intensified the 'Water Pulse', causing light blue to morph speedily into a fierce white. It was a wonder that the Coordinator nor his Pokemon was not drenched in water; thankfully, neither was the audience. The MC seemed to jerk to her senses, and she commentated, "Coordinator Brendan has ordered his Milotic to use a 'Water Pulse' attack—and here's the twist, on the ceiling? Although we certainly don't know his true motives in ordering his Pokemon to do so, the appeal so far is rather dazzling and we're sure Brendan has some tricks up his sleeve."

At the MC's praise, Brendan merely widened his smirk and snapped his left fingers. His move, apparently a signal of some sort, caused his Pokemon to immediately cease the 'Water Pulse'; most then looked as though they assumed his appeal was over, and this was indeed what May thought. However, by causing a sphere of semi-transparent indigo light to form in front of her barely open mouth a fraction of a second later, the Milotic denied all of this by firing an 'Ice Beam' attack straight on top of her 'Water Pulse'.

Expectedly, the Ice-typed attack froze the Water-typed one; but what was unexpected was that the frozen sculpture of ice did not collapse onto the floor as one might expect it to do so; instead, it stuck determinedly to the ceiling, and after May had gotten over her brief bout of breathlessness (and so did the crowd) she noticed that the frozen 'Water Pulse' had formed a floral shape on the ceiling—at the center, it caved in, then spread out like a wave; in fact, she was almost certain it resembled a giant flower of some sort.

The MC was speechless; too were the three judges seated at the very back of the stage. Brendan, however, seemed to have anticipated this and instead nodded quietly to his Pokemon, who in turn snaked back to her Coordinator. The ice began to melt just as it began to fall to the ground, losing its initial stickiness that might have came from the sudden freeze. As a result, the iced 'Water Pulse' landed on the ground like rain. After another moment of utter silence, the audience began clapping and shouting compliments raucously as the MC proceeded to commentate, "Well, it certainly seems that this Coordinator has completely absorbed the secrets of the two moves—quite simplistic upon reflection but nevertheless stylish—and demonstrated that to us today! Thank you, Brendan!"

May, unaware that she was not in the Contest Hall and instead in Petalburg, also began clapping along with the crowd as Brendan bowed down, then exited the stage. A certain blue-haired boy was attracted by his sister's fervent shouts, and came to check on what she was doing by way of squirting water in her face with his water gun.

Suddenly jerking back to reality, May sprang out of her chair, hair plastered to her skin and red bandana drenched thoroughly. Her sapphire eyes glistened with an unpronounced rage; Max, sensing imminent danger, scrammed. His sister, however, did not stop in her chase—shrieking loudly, she chased him all around their house, shouting, "Max! You'll pay for that! I am going to throttle you for that!"

The blue-haired preteen boy almost cracked his glasses tripping up the stairs; in any case, he landed painfully on his face, and his arms gave a pathetic sort of twitch before falling to the ground. May snorted derisively, in a served-you-right sort of way before Max pulled himself to his feet and readjusted his spectacles so that they were not falling off of his nose.

"God, May, ever since we've been to Johto you've been becoming progressively faster," Max groaned, rubbing his temple. May smiled childishly at first, believing his brother's words to be a compliment, but then he finished the sentence. "Must be because we've had to dash around from Hall to Hall since you oversleep so much."

"Hey!" May shouted, thwacking her brother on his arm. A large red handprint was emblazoned onto the ten-year-old's skin, and he gave a small howl. Unfortunately for the fourteen-year-old Coordinator, her parents, who had just stepped through the door, had heard Max's cry of anguish.

"May, don't hurt your little brother." May's mother, Caroline, said gently, rubbing her son's arm in a matronly sort of way. May began huffing in exaggerated indignation—she knew her mother did not take Max all that seriously—but still was angry that her mother had put on such a show. Max, taking advantage of his limelight, stuck his tongue out at his sister who in turn stuck her tongue out back at him.

Her father's loud and deep voice came roiling around the curve of the staircase, "Mayy, someone's at the door."

The Coordinator instantly forgot her small fight with her brother at her father's, the Gym Leader of Petalburg, mention of visitors. Screeching excitably and girlishly, May ran back down the stairs and to the front door as her father walked by him, wearing a large, secretive smile on his face. Upon seeing her father's expression, the Coordinator began wondering what it was that caused Norman to do that, but she soon discovered as she saw two particular boys, one white-haired and the other golden-green-haired, at the door.

"BRENDAN! WALLY!" May shouted, her voice louder than ever. Under any other circumstances, the two boys undoubtedly would have recoiled under such a display of volume, but they were far too glad to see their old friend to voice their uncomfortable feelings. The brown-haired Coordinator embraced both of her friends separately, squeezing them each to the point of suffocation. "It's been too long!" Quickly, she noted that Brendan had ditched his usual attire of black-and-red-printed jacket and black water-proof pants in place of a simple white T-shirt and jeans—Wally however preserved his usual long-sleeved white shirt and long green jeans. Both were clutching packages.

"Yeah," Brendan agreed, tentatively stepping inside his friend's house, his voice not betraying his own restless feelings. Wally, the less subtle of the two, bounced inside happily, in a way that was not reflective of his poor state of health. May closed the door behind her two friends and immediately erupted in a combined frenzy of questions and greetings.
"So where have you been all these years? Did you enter any Leagues? Wally, how has your health been? Brendan, what other Pokemon did you get besides from Mudkip? Wally, what Pokemon did you get? Can we battle? Have a round of appeals? Brendan, I saw your Contest on TV! You never told me you wanted to be a Coordinator!" May finished, breathing heavily afterwards. Brendan watched her with a bemused expression as Wally began deciphering her words.

The golden-green-haired Trainer's white-haired friend beat him to the punch, though. "We traveled together over Hoenn first, then Wally went to Kanto and I went to Sinnoh. We both entered the Hoenn League and then Wally challenged the Kanto one and I challenged Sinnoh. I've caught lots of Pokemon since then! In fact, I've finished most of the Hoenn and Sinnoh Pokedex after lots of Training. Wally here seems to only want to raise green-colored Pokemon, though, and he's got his hands on most of them. Of course we can battle, just need to decide when, where, and who with who. Round of appeals, sure. Well, I'm telling you now, am I?" With his last sentence, Brendan gave a roguish sort of wink with a confident quality that May knew had been lacking in him when he was starting out; his action, however, had unexpectedly caused May's cheeks to redden a little, although it was not easily detected by the normal eye.

Wally nodded, confirming Brendan's story as May squealed again. Hyperactively jumping up and down, her bangs fluttering upwards and downwards with each bounce, she shouted needlessly energetically, "Oh my god, oh my god! I haven't seen you two, in like, four years!" A longing expression overcame May.

"Yeah," Wally said in amazement, tottering backwards dangerously. His white-haired friend, however, caught him in time and seated him firmly on a stool, finding one for himself as well. After coughing a bit, Wally urged the brown-haired Coordinator, "Go on, please. We'd like to hear about what you did."

Brendan groaned inwardly—knowing May, she'd probably launch into a melodramatic story about her previous three years of life. Not that he'd really mind, it was just that he feared a little for his sanity.

"Well, you're both, what a few months older than me," May started, and Brendan and Wally gave cautious nods, "So I just moped around the house after that for a while until it was my birthday—speaking of which, is coming up!—until it was my turn to go to Prof—I mean, Brendan's dad's. I got a Torchic, since Treeko's creepy and the other Mudkip doesn't seem to like me much, and then I met this guy named Ash," and here her elaborated story seemed to generalize, as if she were speaking of a rather painful experience, "and then Max insisted on coming,"—from somewhere near the staircase of the house, a 'hey!' was heard—"and then Ash said he wanted to go challenge gyms and I didn't really know what to do, much, so I just tagged along with him and Pewter City's ex-Gym Leader, Brock,"—Wally and Brendan gave nods of recognition—"and then I met this Coordinator and I decided I wanted to be a Coordinator, too,"—Brendan smiled a little—"and then I met this other Coordinator named Drew,"—as May's face reddened slightly, Brendan frowned but Wally was oblivious to this—"and then I met this gender-confused weirdo named Harley who's always trying to destroy me,"—both Brendan and Wally were at a loss for words—"and then I won five ribbons and entered the Hoenn Grand Festival,"—Wally and Brendan both gasped in surprise—"but then I lost to Drew,"—May's friends nodded sympathetically—"and then we went to Kanto and again I got five ribbons and entered the Grand Festival again and I won Drew but lost to this pink-haired Coordinator named Solidad,"—Brendan gave a muffled 'huh' of recognition, but May and Wally did not seem to notice—"and then I went to Johto with Drew,"—Brendan frowned noticeably, but Wally was the only one who witnessed this—"and then I nabbed second place after beating Solidad and Harley, then losing to Drew." She finished with a triumphant grin and looked at her stunned friends. "So what did you do?"

Wally started first. "Well, at first we traveled together after Brendan helped me catch a Ralts, then I found a Treeko and caught it, but after Brendan beat Roxanne and I lost to her, we split ways. I'm not quite sure about Brendan but then I caught a Shroomish,"—Brendan nodded expectantly and May nodded as well—"then I beat the rest of the gyms but then I got sick and couldn't enter the Hoenn League, and Brendan heard and he didn't enter too,"—May smiled sadly in a sympathetic sort of way, and at the same time her heart swelled with pride for Brendan's actions—"then I decided I wanted to become a Breeder so I stayed in Hoenn." Finishing his story, he turned towards Brendan who started his.

"I started out with Wally as he has so kindly illustrated, but then he did not manage to defeat Roxanne and I moved on to Dewford, hitching a ride on some old guy's boat. After defeating all the gyms and catching four more Pokemon besides from Swampert, I decided to go to Sinnoh, which I did, and I met a most interesting Pokemon, but that's beside the point. Then after beating all of Sinnoh's gyms, I challenged the League there and nabbed second place, and since then I've been working on my Pokedex for my dad." Brendan finished simply, May marveling at his achievements, although she felt that her own were of good competition.

"Oh… wow… that's quite impressive." May remarked, nodding her heads as she reeled back in contemplation.

"Thanks," Brendan and Wally said at the same time. The white-haired Trainer then brought his package into view, and the golden-green-haired Trainer did the same. May's eyes glinted with surprise and delight, and without saying anything she grabbed both presents out of her friends' hands.

Ripping the packaging off of Brendan's gift first—and completely oblivious to the slightly pained expression on the white-haired Trainer's face as May tore open his carefully wrapped present—the brown-haired Coordinator gaped, mesmerized, as she stared at it. It was a sleeveless red vest with a white zipper running through the middle and a rubbery-looking black collar that perfectly complemented her red bandana and put shame to her original outfit, incidentally also of Brendan's design six years ago, before he had set off on his journey. Folding the vest in mid-air and placing it carefully on her lap, May continued to rummage through Brendan's present, finding a green bandana with a white Pokeball print as well as an emerald variant of her current bag, and sleek black shorts that shone with the smallest fleck of light.

"Wow, thank you so much!" May beamed, hugging her white-haired friend whose ridiculously pale skin turned a shade of delicate pink that was, thankfully, not seen by anybody except for May's Skitty who happened to be running around the house at the time, being chased by Norman's rather angry Vigoroth.

"Well, I wanted to get you a blue version of the outfit as well, but I decided to save that for some other day," Brendan said, grinning cheekily as May eventually pulled away. May nodded understandingly and then ripped open Wally's present without another word nor thought, much to the golden-green-haired Breeder's dismay.

"Wow!" May gasped as she pulled Wally's present to the light—it was an exquisite statue of a Gardevoir that no doubt took a very long time to carve. She quickly placed it on a high counter so that Skitty could not knock it over, like she had recently did the Ralts statue that Wally had given her years ago. It was obvious that her golden-green-haired artistically talented friend had advanced in expertise, and May was now certain he was going places. "It's soo realistic! Even though I don't have a Gardevoir, and thus have nothing to compare it to, but hey, at least there's Max's Kirlia."

"Thanks." Wally said, blushing scarlet at May's praise. He then pondered for a moment, and said, "I wish I could show you my Gardevoir, but I left her at the Day Care to breed with Brendan's Gallade."

"A Gallade, huh? That's a Sinnoh Pokemon, right?" May inquired, looking at Brendan, who nodded. "Max's Kirlia is male, and Max doesn't really want to evolve him into a Gardevoir…"

"Yes. The only Pokemon I'm missing from my 'Dex is," Brendan paused to think, "Ah, all the legendaries—as if I can actually catch them!—and, oddly enough, the Eevee evolutions. I only have a male one, and I can't seem to get my hands on a female one."

May's eyes glistened happily as she supplied helpfully, "I have a female Eevee, perhaps we could breed them?"

"Really? Dad would be so happy after I complete the Pokedex!" Brendan exclaimed, forgetting the fact that he was male and jumping up and down imitative of May. Wally watched apprehensively as his friends launched into a most unmanly hyperactive bout of giggles. After it gradually subsided though, Brendan seemed to remember what he had done and coughed loudly; as if to make up for his appalling display, he leaned against the wall with all the masculinity he could master—considering his overall lean and somewhat gangly build the feat was managed relatively easily.

"How about a battle now?" Brendan asked suggestively, raising an eyebrow. Wally leapt to his feet and May punched the air with her fist to signify her agreement.

With that, the brown-haired Trainer streaked outside of the house, bouncing into the late spring air and finding a patch of lawn immediately outside that she was quite sure her parents wanted trimmed anyways. Brendan and Wally, bewildered expressions etched onto their faces, could only follow suit, both looking startled by her sudden eagerness to battle. Brendan looked as if he was thinking about something, but his train of thought was interrupted as May yelled again, "Come on! Brendan, you first!"

"Okay then," Brendan said, pulling out a well-polished Pokeball from his side pocket that gleamed in the light. Then, he added hesitantly, "But I've only brought one Pokemon." Saying that, he placed his package on the ground.

"That's okay!" May assured him, stepping backwards to clear a few yards, bringing a total of ten between her and the boys. "I'll only use one Pokemon, too!" Saying that, she reached into the dandelion bag strapped across her waist, pulling out a Pokeball of her own, and tossed it into the air. An expected beam of red light rocketed out of the Pokeball as its hood opened, forming a tall and somewhat humanoid figure on the ground that quickly solidified into May's Blaziken.

"Wow, so you really did go on a Pokemon journey," Brendan said in admiration, flinging his own Pokeball into the air. "You were always quite scared of my Mudkip." The Mud Fish Pokemon in question was now forming on the ground, except it had evolved into its last evolution of Swampert. The large monster-like Pokemon opened his curved mouth, letting out a low bellow that seemed to boost his own spirits.

May's Blaziken, too, chirped loudly and in a much higher voice that Brendan's Swampert did. Wally stood nearby, watching with amazed eyes, apparently lost in thought. Brendan indicated Wally, clearing telling him to judge for the two. The green-haired boy hurried to his feet, then declared formally, "Um, Brendan's Swampert versus May's Blaziken. The battle now commences!"

"All right, Blaziken! Let's start things off with a Blaze Kick!" May shouted, in her eagerness slashing at the air with her own right leg. The Fire Pokemon easily understood, and his right leg burst into flame—the Blaziken charged recklessly at his opponent, who stood rooted to the spot, anticipating the blow as Brendan did not give an order.

Blaziken's attack hit Swampert on his arm as he raised it to protect his face from being burned. The 'Blaze Kick' was not very effective, however, but it managed to temporarily burn Brendan's Swampert. Then, with all the wisdom of a Pokemon Master, the white-haired Trainer opened his mouth and said, "'Ice Beam' now!"

May did not have time to bark a "dodge"—even if she had, Blaziken would be unable to avoid it at such close proximity. A beam of cerulean light shot speedily out of Swampert's mouth, hitting the Blaziken straight on the leg that was previously using 'Blaze Kick'. The attack immediately froze the Blaziken's leg, and chirping feebly the Fighting-typed Pokemon wobbled back.

"Blaziken!" May cried worriedly, as Brendan and Swampert watched with calculating eyes and Wally stifled a shriek. The Coordinator's first instinct was to hurry forward, but she caught herself in time and instead struck on a composed pose and ordered, "Try to melt it with another 'Blaze Kick'!"
Her Blaziken obeyed, once again firing up his 'Blaze Kick' leg. Instead of attacking Swampert, however, the Fire-typed Pokemon's only objective was to defrost his leg—and defrost it did, although cold water now clung to his leg, denying any future possibilities of another 'Blaze Kick' attack.

Brendan's pale lips curled into a smirk as his Swampert gave a low rumble of victory. May turned determinedly to face the white-haired Trainer, and shouted enthusiastically, "This isn't over yet! Blaziken, 'Sky Uppercut'!"
Blaziken once again obeyed, and thrust a glowing fist at Swampert's partially exposed underbelly, bringing the Mud Fish Pokemon into the air. Brendan's smirk turned into a frown, but thinking quickly he commanded, "Swampert, 'Muddy Water'!"

A brown jet of fast-moving water shot out of the Swampert's open mouth, drenching Blaziken from head to toe. "Blaze!" The Fire-typed Pokemon yelped, plummeting towards the ground. May opened her mouth to speak, but before she could order her Blaziken to do anything, Brendan had already barked a command at his Swampert.

"Dynamic Punch now!" He shouted, his voice rising with excitement and the familiar confidence someone is buffeted with when triumph is within grasp. And had May bothered to watch his Swampert perform the killing blow, perhaps she would have had time to command a retaliating 'Sky Uppercut'—but she didn't. Instead, her attention was only on the expression on Brendan's face; such passion she had never seen or felt before—the already angular features on the white-haired Trainer's face was sharpened to pinpoint precision, and May could not help but marvel that he could display such zeal.

However, when she did tear her eyes off of Brendan's face, she noticed her Blaziken laying motionless on the ground except for the occasional twitch of brown claws and Brendan's Swampert standing over his fallen opponent, looking very much satisfied and proud, mirroring his Trainer's expression as he returned the Mud Fish Pokemon. May could only concede defeat and return her Blaziken, whose body filled with red light and was then sucked back into the Pokeball.

"Umm… right! Brendan won and May lost." Wally said quickly. Then, before he could restrain himself, he commented, "That was a pretty fast battle."

May, a little hurt by her green-golden-haired friend's words and even more dismayed by the fact that it was completely true, had no choice but to defend her position. "Well, I was distracted!" She argued, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing indignantly.

"By what?" Brendan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"By—by—argh!" May cried in anguish, flinging her hands up into the air. 'If I told them, they'd just laugh at me!' She thought pitifully to herself, and could then only sigh.

"Well obviously then, I won because of my superior battling skills," The white-haired Trainer said jokingly, striking a comical winning pose. His joke, however bad it might have been, succeeded in cheering May up and causing Wally to emit a small laugh.

"Right, you did," May said, playing along. A moment of silence followed in which all three held each other's gazes, before they all began to laugh at the same time. After a while, though, after the last few giggles were choked out and any tears wiped, the brown-haired Coordinator suddenly noticed someone at the gate. Straightening up from her previous crouch from laughing so hard, she noticed that it was a particular green-haired teenager, frowning at the three on the grass.

"Drew!" May shouted, her spirits raising even higher, if that was physically possible—bouncing up, she hurried to greet the composed Coordinator. Garbed in his usual outfit of long-sleeved black shirt, short-sleeved lavender jacket, and turquoise jeans, Drew smiled knowingly and nodded in greeting.

The green-haired Coordinator, however, was not prepared as May almost caused him to fall backwards with a giant hug. His voice muffled, he said, "I'm glad to see you too."

May ended the embrace and asked breathlessly, "Why did you come to Petalburg? I thought you were going to Slateport for another Contest." Brendan and Wally got up from their sitting positions, and the former frowned as he watched May talk to Drew.

"That's because I received a Call from Ash," Drew said smugly, flicking a strand of green hair as Brendan snarled in contempt, "and he said he couldn't contact you, and for me to tell you to meet him and apparently, 'everyone else', in Pallet Town. He also said to bring anyone who you wanted to bring." At this, he raised an eyebrow suggestively, as May smiled at the news.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Brendan butted in, unable to stand Drew anymore. It then became obvious that the two were of identical height, but different build—Drew was noticeably more muscular than Brendan, although Drew did not qualify as an extremely muscular person, and Brendan noticeably leaner.

May opened her mouth to introduce everyone, but was cut off once again as Drew said in his silkiest voice, which was infuriatingly silky, "Drew Rosalind. And you would be?"

"Brendan Birch." The white-haired Trainer said proudly and somewhat naively, his seeming confidence masking his growing disdain towards Drew. Simply the arrogant way the green-haired Coordinator carried himself was enough to make the albino want to gnash his teeth.

"Son of the esteemed Professor Birch?" Drew asked, his voice hinting at disbelief.

"Yeah, that'd be me." Brendan answered defiantly, his tone of voice only amplified as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I see." Drew said patronizingly, tilting his head a little higher—and at this Brendan glared, but May simply carried on.

"Brendan, Drew! Drew, Brendan! I'm the one who should've made introductions!" She giggled somewhat nervously; however dense she was she still detected a gist of dislike each pored towards the other, "Erm, so Brendan, this is Drew, I've mentioned him before, I think, and Drew, this is Brendan, I don't think I've ever mentioned him."

Brendan was miffed that his brown-haired friend neglected to tell anyone of his existence, but he blamed it mostly on her forgetfulness and reluctance to drag up the past. He recalled her being angry when he had left, abandoning her in Petalburg for Rustboro with his Mudkip trotting along by his side. However, the white-haired Trainer was glad that such feelings were erased over time, but looking at the smirk on Drew's face Brendan's own began to burn.

"So, Drew, when did Ash say we had to go to Pallet Town?" May asked, turning back to face the green-haired Coordinator, who was now running his gloved right hand flirtatiously through his hair, although May assumed that this was merely because of an itch and Brendan felt his face redden and Wally wondered if he should do anything about it all.

"He said noon tomorrow. And bring extra clothes and a toothbrush." Pausing for a moment, Drew rummaged around his jacket's pockets and pulled out two tickets. "He supplied two tickets for a ferry leaving early tomorrow morning."

Snatching the tickets out of Drew's hands, May inspected them closely. "Aw, I don't know who to bring... hmm, the S.S. Tidal is it?"

A flash of recognition came across Wally's face, but no one really noticed—May was busy contemplating the problem, Brendan was busy glaring at Drew, and Drew was busy flipping his hair. The Breeder decided to stick up for himself for once, though, and said clearly, "I know the Captain of the Tidal quite well, I think he'll let us board if he sees me."

"Really, Wally? That'd be awesome!" May cried, hugging Wally who nearly choked and Brendan had to quickly pry her off of their frail friend. Drew sneered at Wally; he disliked any who displayed signs of physical or emotional weakness, and it was one of the reasons why he liked teasing May so, although he didn't do so yet. The Breeder frowned at Drew, puzzled. "Let's go back in then, shall we?"

Viridian City Game Corner, Kanto

"How long," The voice, cold and forbidding, echoed down the semi-deserted hallway. Fluorescent lights cast their icy glares on two figures strolling down hallway, and the shorter and thinner of the two responded by scratching his head.

"At the most, about three or four days," The thin man, who was wearing a long white lab coat and thick glasses, answered formally as the two approached a large room with multiple doors that all slid open upon recognizing the thin man and the larger man, who was wearing a dark tuxedo.

The tuxedo-wearing man's eyes were obscured by a pair of sunglasses, although from behind them a malicious vermillion glint appeared. "Good."

The glasses-wearing man nodded to another researcher as they passed by. Soon, the two arrived in front of a large pane of glass the stretched across the entire left wall of the immense but completely human-less room, although in many places odd machines stuck out of the ground at perfectly vertical angles.

An elongated emerald dragon reared behind the pane of glass, in obvious pane as it shrieked repeatedly but silently as the two men could not hear its cry. Tubes stuck out of the serpentine Pokemon's body, and it continuously slammed its powerful body against the pane of glass and the other three walls, to absolutely no avail. The pane of glass refused to even quiver, and it was obvious that with every second the Pokemon's power was slowly dwindling.

In a separate room adjacent to the green Pokemon's, a ostensibly smaller but no less formidable figure was levitating in mid-air, suspended by an anti-gravital force, perhaps that of psychic powers. Its skin was leathery and purple, at times lighter lilac, and bruises—many and large—marred the cloned Pokemon's body. Like the other, the purple Pokemon had tubes protruding out of its body, and if possible, it seemed to have even more than the Dragon's, as if accumulated through time.

"Very soon," Team Rocket's Leader murmured to himself, smiling darkly. "Very soon."

A/N:
That concludes the first chapter to Natural Disturbances

I've got the whole plot planned out, basically, with a little rifts here and there, and I know exactly who is going to end up with who, so please respect my decision once I finish this story—which by my reckon will be round a dozen chapters, give or take a few. I'm not quite sure—it could be longer.