Author Note: In case you all haven't noticed, this version of May is incorporating mostly game protagonist and manga May, along with some hints of her anime version. Just think of it as an AU of the existing Pokemon universes incorporating varying levels of canon. Her manga version was kinda unhinged, though, lol, so I tried to balance her out with her anime counterpart in some ways.
Anyway, hope you are enjoying my take on the Pokemon world so far. I'll be taking some liberties with it, though, considering how much space there is to work with thanks to differing timelines and storylines.
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Alden and May walked back to Littleroot while discussing their previous battle, though May did most of the talking. For the most part, Alden listened to her excited retelling of their first battle with an appreciative smile on his face.
Along the way, Alden also tried feeding a few types of berries to Mudkip. It took a particular liking to Cheri berries and showed a noticeable distaste for Pecha berries.
As they walked back into Littleroot, May quieted down a bit, turned to Alden, and apologetically said, "Sorry. I was so excited that I barely left a moment for you to speak. I've just been looking forward to battling for the first time so much that I let it get to my head."
In response, Alden simply showed a toothy grin and retorted, "Haha. It's fine. In fact, keep going. Your excitement about it is beautifully infectious."
"Oh."
May fell silent. The blatant honesty in Alden's tone combined with his pure appreciative smile made her cheeks feel warm to the point that she turned away to hide it.
Barely glancing at Alden with a lingering side-glance, May asked, "That was your first battle, right?"
"My first real one, yeah," Alden answered with a light chuckle. He scratched Mudkip's little head, drawing a happy little yip from it, then continued, "I've done plenty of simulated ones, but doing it in real life for the first time was exhilarating."
"Oh… so we had our first battle together. Cool," May mumbled while brushing a hand through her bangs. Still keeping her head turned away from Alden aside from occasional side glances, she held Torchic a little closer to her bosom without realizing it.
In her arms, Torchic narrowed its cute bean-like eyes at the girl. Then, it twisted its head to look at Alden. Then, it returned its studying gaze to May again. It nodded to itself in understanding and took a mental note.
"Tor, Torchic," The little orange chick chirped mid-nod.
Meanwhile, Mudkip remained perfectly oblivious as it enjoyed scritches and pets from its new human. Female human? Who cares? She wasn't the one giving scritches and Cheri Berries.
Together, they walked down the main path in Littleroot beyond the main residential area until they passed by a handful of countryside farms. There, they arrived at the Town Center that, although lacking a Pokemon Center and PokeMart, contained some local business like a cafe, a walk-up ice cream stand, and a general goods store.
A small combined local police station and fire station stood on the main street corner. On its front porch, a young man dressed in simple blue police garbs smiled and tipped his hat in greeting. Laying on the floor next to him was a napping Houndour. Smoke puffed from its mouth with each quiet snore.
Several water type Pokemon also hung around the building, including a few Wingulls, Lotads, Surkits, and even a Marill. A Ludicolo and a female trainer wearing a firefighter's pants and shirt led the smaller Pokemon through some casual hose drills.
Across the street stood a single story Town Hall, a common sight in small towns such as Littleroot. A vigilant Swellow perched on the Town Hall's entrance archway nodded at them in greeting.
Although May acted somewhat accustomed to all this, Alden observed everything with keen eyes that glittered with curiosity.
"Want to grab some ice cream before we go all the way to the lab, Alden?" May asked, pulling his attention back to her.
"Definitely. Wait…"
"Something wrong?"
Brows furrowing, Alden checked his bag through his game menu to see if he had any money on him. He also rummaged through his actual satchel to play it off. Since he didn't seem to have a Trainer Card yet, it was the only place he could think of to check. Luckily, he found an amount at the bottom right pocket of the bag menu floating in front of his eyes, but the number gave him pause.
'More than fifty thousand Pokedollars? I wonder if it was an inheritance or something.'
"Something wrong? If you don't have money, I can pay for you," May offered.
Shaking his head and closing his game menu screen, Alden chuckled and replied, "No, thanks. I appreciate the offer, but I'm good. Just couldn't remember if I brought any with me."
"Gotcha. What flavor should we get?"
"I'm getting Pecha flavor for myself and Cheri for Mudkip."
"Oh really? I noticed you giving it berries. I'll do the same," May said. She reached into her travel satchel and pulled out a few berries for Torchic to choose from. It sniffed them one by one, showed a visceral reaction to a Chesto berry, then chirped happily upon seeing a Cheri berry and gobbled it down like a bird swallowing a worm.
"Hahaha! Guess I'm getting Cheri for Torchic, too. I'll try Pecha, too, then," May said, briefly glancing at Alden to see his reaction, only to see a smirk on his face.
"Do you have a favorite flavor?" Alden asked.
"Not really. I like them all."
"In that case, how about I get Oran flavor, and we can go halfsies?" He suggested.
"Share? Uh, alright. Let's do that," May responded with a subtle nod.
As they approached the ice cream shop that had a wooden sign carved in the shape of a Snorunt nailed to the front wall, a middle-aged man at the counter noticed Alden, narrowed his eyes for a moment, then widened them in recognition.
"Eh? Is that young Alden I see there?" The man asked, his brows raised in surprise.
In reply, Alden nodded politely and said, "Yes, sir. Sorry I don't recognize you off the top of my head, but you are…?"
"Heh. Makes sense. I haven't seen you down this way since you were a wee lad! If you don't recall, I'm Mister Shimo. Good to see ya, kid!"
"Good to see you as well," Alden responded despite having no idea who this guy was.
"And who might this be? Didja go out of town and bring back a girlfriend?" The man asked. His bushy eyebrows bounced up and down a few times.
May blushed, then shook her head and answered, "I'm May. I just moved in and met Alden today."
"Oho~. Norman's kid, eh? Wonderful! I see you both have some young Pokemon with you, too. How about I give them some junior bowls on the house?"
"Sure. Two Cheri flavor ones for them," Alden immediately accepted in a hurried tone that left May flabbergasted.
Mister Shimo only chuckled and scooped two small bowls of bright red Cheri ice cream for the two Pokemon, then placed them on the counter and asked, "How's 'bout for you two young folks?"
"Oran flavor," Alden said. Then he looked at May who followed suit.
"Pecha flavor."
"Alright, coming right up! That'll be 100 Pokedollars total."
Raising a brow at the far cheaper price than Paldea, Alden nodded and reached for the pocket of his satchel indicated in his menu. He took his time and watched out of the corner of his eye as May pulled a few coins from her satchel.
Knowing what to look for now, he rummaged in the corner pouch that more than swallowed his hand like some sort of expanded space pocket. Inside, his fingertips brushed against a pile of coins and paper dollars. He pulled out a few, picked one that had a '50' on it, then dropped the rest back in the pocket.
After receiving their ice cream bowls, they sat down next to each other at a nearby picnic table.
Both Mudkip and Torchic sat on top of the table to eat. Mudkip dug into his junior bowl with gusto. Seconds later, he raised his little blue face covered in splotches of red ice cream, but his bowl was spotless. He then stared longingly at Torchic's bowl while licking the leftovers off his lips.
Torchic ignored Mudkip and pecked at it with grace and subtlety. It looked at Mudkip with a glance of superiority.
Even without his innate sense for the Pokemon's emotions, Alden easily picked up on their interaction and laughed. May also laughed at the Pokemon's antics.
After taking a bite of his pale blue Oran ice cream, Alden's eyes widened. The mix of flavors blended with the cream so perfectly that he couldn't help savoring it for several seconds.
"Haha. Is it that good?" May asked in a jovial tone.
"Yeah. Can't recall the last time I ate ice cream, to be honest," Alden absentmindedly replied. While May fell silent in response to his sentence, he asked, "What's yours taste like?"
"Like Pecha. It's really good, though."
"Can I taste it?"
"Ehm, yeah. We decided to share, so…"
May slowly and stiffly pushed her bowl a little closer to Alden. She hesitantly peeked at him out of the corner of her eye, only to widen her eyes when he casually dug his spoon into where she had already taken a few spoonfuls from. His face showed zero hesitation.
"Here, try mine, too," Alden said, scooching his over as well. Inwardly, he noticed the slight blush on the girl's cheeks but refrained from bringing attention to it. Since he had a few siblings who had zero sense of privacy, sharing wasn't anything new to him, but he still recognized that May cared about it.
'But she's willingly letting me do it anyway. Nice.'
Trying to follow suit with Alden's casual actions, May also took a spoonful from his bowl while watching him put her Pecha ice cream in his mouth.
"Oh, Lord have mercy," Alden said after tasting it. "They're both so good I might die of happiness."
"Sure, they're good, but isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?" May retorted with a light laugh that eased her nerves about sharing food with him. As such she felt far more relaxed while trying his Oran flavor ice cream. "Hm. It is really good. I don't know which one is better."
While they worked their way through the admittedly generous scoops of ice cream, a voice called out from behind, asking, "You two made a pit stop on the way?"
Both Alden and May turned to see Professor Birch approaching them.
"Yo, Uncle Birch," Alden greeted with a casual wave.
"Professor," May greeted with a polite nod.
Professor Birch's belly bounced a bit as he chuckled while saying, "I'm happy to see that you two have made fast friends. Feel free to take your time before heading to the lab. I'll be waiting for you there whenever you are ready."
May blinked and looked at the space between her and Alden that had steadily closed while they had been eating. She didn't move away under Birch's gaze, but her cheeks reddened a little as she nodded in affirmation.
"Gotcha. We're almost done here, so it shouldn't be long," Alden replied.
Birch nodded once more, then left the two to finish their ice cream.