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I'll bite, this has been on my mind lately. Warning, very cringe and probably not a rewarding read. TL;DR: I conflated May and my childhood crush after a romantic/emotional dream and I still think about it when I re-play Emerald.
When R&S came out, I was in 3rd grade. I had a crush on a girl...we'll call her Amanda.
While I struggled with my newfound feelings for women my age, I was spending most of my time playing Sapphire. I chose to play May instead of Brendan for two reasons, one being I didn't think Brendan looked that cool compared to Red or Gold. Two was that I didn't have Crystal yet and wanted to try playing as a girl for the first time, at least when choice was involved. I gave Brendan his time when I played Ruby.
One night, I had a dream where May was there with me in what looked like a Pokémon forest from the anime, but she called herself Amanda. She told me a bunch of weird shit that made me just fall in. Like, lovey-dovey crap that a 9 year old conjures up, stuff I would just cringe at nowadays, so I'll spare you details. As a kid, I was very sensitive and impressionable, so things like this stood out and had strong effects on me. I felt like I wasn't meant for Amanda, but May, and that weirded me the fuck out even then.
Still, I woke up and did not forget that dream. I saw May every single time I laid eyes on Amanda. Two years later, I finally befriended Amanda but my feels for May subsided. Amanda had moved by the time Emerald came out thankfully, and we lost contact. Amanda looks great these days, but nothing like May and I am thankful. I am currently replaying Emerald for the first time since I started College, and I'm playing May once more.
