The next morning.

Em woke to Blaze crowing, the little bird greeting the day. May nuzzled comfortably in his arms in the sleeping bag, still naked. It had gotten surprisingly chilly in the night. May mumbled something in her sleep, then woke up yawning. She stretched, rubbing her body subtly against Em. May was toned, surprisingly fit for a researcher, though Em figured that as a field researcher the physical requirements were a bit more demanding. He wasn’t muscular at all, just a healthy average build.

Maybe I’ll get more fit on my journey. He thought idly as the young couple extricated themselves from the sleeping bag and rummaged around for their scattered clothes.

“Good morning, Em,” May greeted cheerily. She was radiant in the early morning light.

Em felt the urge to just nod and smile back, but fought it.

“Good morning,” he managed as he zipped up his black and red athletic jacket.

May looked him over inquisitively. She leaned in close to his face with an eyebrow raised and her cheeks puffed.

“What? Did a Jigglypuff draw on my face?”

May burst into laughter, shoving him gently before bending over to adjust her shoes.

“No, something just occurred to me.”

“Hm?”

“You don’t really talk much do you? Like, it takes a decent amount of effort for you to open up and speak?”

Em grimaced as he adjusted the strap of his bag.

“Is it really that easy to tell?”

May smiled and booped him on the nose,

“Maybe! I might just have super mind reading powers~” She waggled her fingers in his face and giggled as she hopped off the ledge and started walking back down Route 103. Her mudkip followed close behind, prancing through the long grass. Em whistled and motioned with his hand, and Blaze hopped into it. He brought Blaze up to his shoulder and followed after May, trying not to stare too much at her butt.

They passed through Odale and May turned to look at Em, catching him very openly staring at her butt. She rolled her eyes, walking backwards as she called out to him.

“Darkrai, Em, watch where you’re going or you’ll- Ah!”

May stumbled over a ledge, and Em rushed to catch her. They both tumbled to the ground, laughing, though Blaze flapped his wings indignantly as he hopped off Em’s shoulder amid the tangle of limbs the young couple became.

They got up and dusted each other off, Em picking a stray blade of grass out of May’s hair.

“Mom’s probably gonna wanna talk to you in the lab. Let’s get going,” May stated matter-of-factly.

Em smiled as she took his hand and led him impatiently back to Littleroot and into her mom’s lab.

“Oh, hi, Em!” Professor Birch greeted him as he entered. “Hey sweetie!” She turned and addressed her daughter as well.

“I heard you beat May on your first try. That’s excellent!”

Where could she have heard that from?

“May’s been helping with my research for a long time. She has an extensive history as a trainer already. Here, Em, I ordered this for my research, but I think you should have this pokedex.

Em Received the Pokedex!

“I’m sure you already know what this is, Em, so I’ll spare you the rundown. What you might not know, is that this is the latest model. All the bells and whistles that a pokedex could have, filled with 9 regions’ worth of data.”

Em fished his old pokedex out of his bag sheepishly, putting the new one in the dedicated pocket instead.

“Whoa! What a relic!” May exclaimed as she saw Em’s old model.

The professor chopped the top of May’s head lightly.

“Be nice! It only looks to be maybe two years old. Definitely not one of the first models.”

May pouted and rubbed her head.

“Anyways,” she continued, “I’ve procured new Trainer ID’s for the both of you, as well as CC’s. Have either of you decided whether or not to take either of them? You don’t have to, of course, but a pokemon journey is a unique formative experience and I think you two would greatly benefit from it.”

May looked to Em expectantly. He nodded. She smiled and looked back at her mom.

“We’ll take them. Both of them.”

The professor gave them a knowing smile as she handed the cards over, as well as a pack of standard pokeballs.

“You two stay safe out there. Make sure to make use of the berries along the routes as best you can.”

She winked at Em before turning back to some sort of data analysis. May dragged Em out of the lab, and started to drag him out of Littleroot but stopped when Em’s mom called out to him.

“Wait, Em!”

She walked over from their house.

“Em! Em! Did you introduce yourself to Professor Birch? Oh! What an adorable pokemon! You got it from Professor Birch? How nice! You’re your Ma’s child all right. You look good together with pokemon! Here, honey! If you’re going out on your journey, wear these running shoes. They’ll put a zip in your step!”

Em switched shoes with the running shoes.

Em’s mom looked him over wistfully, tears welling in her eyes.

“To think that you have your very own pokemon now… Your Ma will be overjoyed. But please be careful. If anything happens, you can come home. Go on, go get them, honey!”

May grinned at Em’s mom, waving goodbye as the two of them made their way out of Littleroot. Before getting past even the first patch of long grass along a ledge, though, they were stopped by May’s little sister.

“May, you stinky swinub! The first guy our age to show up in town and you just run off with him before even a day can pass? You didn’t even give me a chance to get to know him!”

May rolled her eyes and sighed, confronting the younger girl.

“Em isn’t our age, he’s my age. You barely turned eighteen, Ruby. Also, it’s been more than a day.”

She also just ignored me when I tried to talk to her.

“Moms said to share!”

“Share what? He’s a human person, not an object!”

Ruby was getting visibly more and more upset.

“Well I- I just- You should- I just- Well… Rayquaza above, May, this could be my only chance to have my first time be even halfway decent! Let me have this!”

Both May and Em looked stunned at each other before looking back at Ruby, who had developed a sudden and avid interest in her shoes. She poked her index fingers together slowly, her face flushed a deep deep red.

“Why are you so sure Em would be a good fit for your first time, Ruby?”

“I uh, I um, I uh, I uh, I um…” Ruby floundered for nearly a full minute before mumbling “I watched you guys go at it last night.”

“RUBY!”

Em thought back to the other younger girl who had watched the professor give him a giga drain.

Voyeurism is a lot more common in Hoenn than in Johto, but considering how easy it is for trainers to just strip and and have sex around here, I guess it makes sense.

Ruby mumbled some more things that Em didn’t hear, but apparently May did. Her expression softened, and she gave her little sister a hug.

“I’m sorry that we don’t do as many things together anymore, Ruby, but sneaking around and watching me have sex isn’t going to bring us any closer together. Besides, poor Em could barely handle my hot body by myself, I can’t imagine what would have happened if we had both asked him to take our first times at the same time.”

Em tented his shorts thinking about it.

“Look at that metapod!” May giggled as she shoved Em’s chest playfully.

“Th-Then, I, then I… I’ll wait for you Em!” Ruby stared into his eyes with tearful determination, a fire in her gaze that made his heart flutter. “Go become the best trainer Hoenn has ever seen! And when you come back, I-” she faltered, the blush spreading from her face down to her chest and over to her ears. “I’ll have something special waiting for you!”

A familiar fire filled Em, fueling him as he stepped forward and pulled Ruby into a tight hug.

“I promise, Ruby.”

She hugged him back, and they stayed that way for a while. As they pulled away, Em gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and wiped away the tears that had fallen during their embrace. He thought he saw May wipe some tears away, too, but he couldn’t be sure.

Em and May headed to Odale town hand in hand, a pensive silence hanging over them. They set out west from Odale, and May broke the silence.

“That was a really romantic thing you did for my sister. You better keep your promise, Em.”

“With you by my side, the Elite Four don’t stand a chance.”

May beamed at him, pulling him closer so that they walked hip to hip.