>>11831448In midst of the rambunctious fighting, a little sick boy comes to ask for an autograph.
Only it becomes clear almost instantly that the sick boy is actually someone you know.
"Wally?!"
No, not the robot.
You and May are surprised for only one reason, despite having some sort of life-threatening sickness slowly eating away at his insides, he's still alive, which came as genuine shock to the both of you.
You especially, because ever since you first met him, you told yourself that you were going to give him ten days tops before he would drop down dead.
"Hi Brendan, May! Y'know, I was JUST in the neighborhood, and then I heard both of your voices!" two Pokemon accompany Wally, one a Ralts and the other a Treecko, the former mimics the sick boy's actions.
You begin scratching your head in awkwardness, "Oh...Well I'm sorry then Wally, I'm afraid our meeting couldn't have been under better circumstances.."
"Oh no, no worry! I'm glad I caught up with you two this time, see, it seems like everytime I catch up with you and your girlfriend, you both just disappear like that, POOF! So being able to actually talk for once is amazing!"
You're about to ask him about the label he gave May, until you remember that that was merely part of the agreement that May had coaxed you into prior to helping her out with contests. Apparently, she had learned from somewhere that judges and fans pay more attention to pairs that are a couple than pairs that aren't.
As of such, whenever anything related to publicity is mentioned, you have to keep in mind that May is your "pretend girlfriend". So far, the ruse seems to be working, most people that see you on contest-related TV shows really think you and her are hitting it off. There are even fake kisses here and there.
Those are nice.
