EDIT 6/29/16: Did some cleaning with typos and readability and author's notes.

Welcome to Of Hoops and Holists! If you are finding this story after midnight, please only read a chapter or two, and then go to bed. You will not finish this in one go, or rather, you'll probably enjoy the story more if you don't stay up all night reading it. I want you to be conscious for this story. There are lots of references and recurring themes, and if you're too tired, you might not be able to pick up on them all. Read this story when you're well-rested.

A link to my Pokémon protagonist ages disclaimer can be found in my profile, if that's something that concerns you before reading this story. The short-hand version is: I personally don't care for specifically writing about ages because I like to think that most fans have their own headcanons about their ages, but I do my best to depict May as a young adult. I also have no affiliation with the Pokémon Company, Gamefreak, or Nintendo.

Without further ado, please enjoy Of Hoops and Holists!

A letter, and a pokeball?!

Really?!

May walked back to the front door and turned the lock, turned her back to he door, and slunk down. She owed him at least that much, she supposed, and no one needed to see her in his home, in this sad and sorry condition. The pokéball tight in her hands and her legs pulled up to her chest, she pressed the pokéball to her forehead, and shed a tear. May almost felt as though she didn't have a reason to be sad, but she felt cheated. Steven had said to meet back up at his place at some point because he had something for her. Because of that, she had an expectation of actually meeting up, not finding a pokéball and a letter, and a letter with much ambiguity, at that. She guessed she should check and see what Pokémon was waiting for her, but right now, she had too many feelings to unpackage before doing anything else. Where the hell had he gone? Why did he leave? Why couldn't he say goodbye properly? Why did he have to leave a letter that felt purposefully dubious as if he didn't want to be found? If May didn't know any better, she'd say this was a Dear John letter, essentially. Or at least, sitting here on his floor, letter in hand, that's what this felt like.

She set the pokéball down at her side and lifted her head up, looking around his front room. Steven had barely lived here to begin with. Aside from his fantastical stone collection, he lived quite plainly. For someone who had so many adventures and was so passionate about exploring, the only mementos he kept were stones. No pictures, or souvenirs of other kinds, just stones. Maybe it was typical, then, that he was so easily capable of just flying off and away (probably literally with Latios or Skarmory) and living off of the land wherever he pleased. It wasn't like this house was really a home. It was an address, a place to claim residency, so for the public he could "stay on the map" when really, he was doing the complete opposite. Steven was almost never in the same place for long. Money was never an issue either, after all, when your father was the head of the most successful company of technological advances in Hoenn. He could freely come and go whenever and wherever he wished.

But the last time that they had talked, Steven seemed to have made it clear that he wasn't going to take off right away. But just what was it that he had said? He had babbled a bit about wanting to see the world, to walk it with his own two feet. May sort of figured he had been speaking purely hypotheticals and aspirations, not actual plans that he would act upon. And again, May was under the impression that she had mattered on some level, that there was something they had to talk about, that Steven had something important to share with her.

Well, obviously not important enough that he couldn't wait to share it in person. No, of course not. She had a key to his place, "for emergency purposes," and after all of the gifts he shared with her after almost every time they ran into each other, and everything they had been through together with the eco-terrorists threatening Hoenn and the whole episode with Rayquaza and Deoxys, of course she thought they were some whole other level of relationship that definitely beat out "acquaintance."

Tilting her head to the side with a bittersweet smile and with salty tears still lacing her eyes, May stared at the pokéball in her hands. "Well, I guess we should meet, huh?" she whispered hoarsely at the ball, and opened it away from her body. From the red light appeared a small baby Beldum, clearly very young by its size. It spun its body around a few times, taking in its surroundings, before turning to face May, its red eye widening at the sight of its new trainer. May smiled a little wider this time and couldn't help but giggle ever so slightly, but bitterly, at the fact that Steven had in fact given her a Pokémon from his favorite evolutionary line.

The Beldum hovered right up into her lap and lowered itself in, and May felt something cold fall into her lap. Beldum hovered up and away from May, this time spinning and swaying from side to side with its eye shut in bliss.

May's brow furrowed, and she looked down into her lap. There sat a rectangular piece of metal, May was unsure of what kind, no bigger than a standard notebook. Using both hands, she picked it up, and began to examine. She knew that some Pokémon were able to extract special powers and abilities out of certain artifacts, even strange items that she would've otherwise mistaken as garbage had it not been for her Pokémon's strange attraction and intuition for them. She still didn't understand why her Swampert insisted on collecting sand from a certain area of the beach near Slateport City, but for whatever reason, it always made its Earthquakes that much more powerful, so she didn't question it anymore.

After flipping the sheet of metal over, she noticed some faint engravings. Sniffling her nose one more long hard time, she wiped her eyes with her arm, and squinted to attempt to read the faded writing.

"When the universe was created, its shards became this Plate."

So the object was a plate, then.

The universe?

May stared at the artifact, unsure of what to make of it. Her new Beldum was now hovering about the room, inspecting its surroundings. Beldum had certainly dropped the plate in her lap, which was for sure not an accident or a coincidence. The Pokémon seemed to have done so intentionally. What was she supposed to interpret from this plate? This plate was created from shards of the universe? That seemed pretty big.

May smirked. She wasn't crying anymore. No way. This plate smelled like adventure. Steven had just given her a piece of the puzzle, but gave himself head start! So May wins the championship, and then suddenly Steven is deserving of a handicap on their next journey? Sniffling a little bit, and content with her personal explanation for this entire stunt, May softly giggled to herself, and finally lifted herself from the floor.

So where to start first? Was it possible that Steven would have hinted to someone else about where he was headed first? Perhaps he had gone to his father, or Wallace? Or maybe she needed to go somewhere or find someone who could interpret this new plate she had, so she could have some kind of footing of where to start exploring. She could always start at the Space Center since she was in Mossdeep. It didn't seem to have any connection to space, necessarily, but she really had no clue, and there certainly were many highly educated people there that might know about potential lore surrounding this encrypted plate.

She had just received an upgrade to her Pokénav to make calls, so she figured she might as well try calling around before going anywhere. May pulled her Pokénav out of her bag, and decided she'd try calling Wallace, first. Steven was probably out of the Pokénav's range, wherever he was, but she knew Wallace would still be in Hoenn, in Sootopolis at the gym. Wallace seemed like a good place to start. They were best friends, after all, right? Maybe Steven would've gone to him at some point before he left, and May knew she could squeeze information out of him, if need be.

It barely rang once before she got an answer. "Hello, May?"

"Hey, Wallace!"

"Wow, May, good to hear from you! It's been awhile! To what do I owe this pleasure?"

May paused. Just what was she asking again? How did she word this? "I was wondering…if you've heard from Steven recently?"

A small chuckle was heard, and May didn't know what to think of it. Why was that funny? "Ah yes, it's actually a remarkable coincidence that you brought him up. Where are you now? He went to the Battle Resort looking for you. I believe he has another gift for you. I swear, it seems like he's got something new for you every other week, don't you feel smothered?"

Really, that was the word he was going to use? Smothered?

Wait.

Steven was still in Hoenn?

Steven had been looking for her?

May wracked her brain. She knew she was bad with time, but had she lost track of things that much? May had been fairly certain that Steven had said to stop by whenever, so she hadn't expected him to just take off, but… Shit. Did she just over-react immensely? Was this all her fault for being too wrapped up in her own undertakings to be cognizant of Steven's time? She often forgot that even though he was her superior for a while throughout her journey, that didn't make him any less of a Pokémon trainer or traveling heart. They were too alike in that aspect, both wanderlusting across Hoenn, it truly having to be coincidence that they crossed each others' paths so remarkably often.

"May?"

Oops. "Yeah, sorry. The Battle Resort?"

May heard another slight chuckle. "Yes, dear. Was there anything else you needed?"

"Actually," May continued, realizing there was something else she could ask him. "Steven left an artifact for me, here at his house. It's a sheet of metal, and it has this engraved message on it, "When the universe was created, its shards became this Plate." Do you know anything about it?"

"Ooo," Wallace cooed, almost immediately after May finished, "So, Steven managed to acquire the Iron Plate? And he gave it to you? Again, gift after gift."

May cleared her throat in annoyance, "Iron Plate?"

"Yes. I once had one quite similar to it called the Splash Plate, but I lost it about a year ago to a friend of mine in Kalos…"

Okay, this was good, Wallace seemed to know a little more than she had expected. "Splash Plate?"

"Ah, yes. My Pokémon really seemed to gravitate toward it. There was definitely some sort of attraction, a longing even, to have the Splash Plate. My Ludicolo joyously wrangled it from the captain of a cruise I ventured on long ago. We made proper negotiations after that, of course, but, st-ll, my Lu-co-o s-re -med to l-"

"Wallace?"

"M-y? –n y- -ear m-"

Wallace's voice kept cutting in and out until it eventually faded into static. May pulled her Pokénav away from her head to look at it, only to see all the screens covered in black and white nonsense. That was odd. The Pokénav hardly ever acted up, and May couldn't recall many other times it had malfunctioned. In fact, it was reacting the same way it had when she was deep in the Cave of Origin all those months ago.

May shrugged and pocketed the Pokénav. It was probably just buggy because it was the first time she tried using the calling functionality that was recently installed in her version of the system. She could always fly to Rustboro and get the Devon Corps to look at it, whenever she wanted. She also wanted to visit Wallace and talk more about these plates. He sounded like he still had more to share about what he knew of them.

But first, she needed to touch base with Steven. She needed to thank him for the Beldum, find out where he found the Iron Plate, why he gave it to her, and most importantly, apologize.

Her new baby Beldum was still flying around the house happily. It looked so vibrant and just happy to be alive. May smirked and knew this Pokémon would be an excellent addition to her team, she could already tell.

"Alright, Bellamy, time to get on the road!" May exclaimed, recalling the baby Beldum into its pokéball.

At least, May thought that they were going to be getting on the road.

As soon as May stepped outside of Steven's house, it was impossible to not notice the current scenario. The island was in chaos. It appeared as though everyone was out of their homes, frantically approaching one another with question after question, and no answers.

"Did you see the sky disappear?"

"Did a Pokémon do this?"

"I missed it, what happened?"

"It was like night for a few seconds!"

"Except there were no stars! The whole island was covered in deep purple!"

"Where did Shoal Cave go?"

May started to walk around. Mossdeep was covered in purple? Shoal Cave was nowhere in sight? What had happened here? As she continued to walk the island, she tried to listen in to some more conversations hoping to hear some more pieces of the chaos without directly jumping into a conversation. That is, until she distantly heard a more than familiar, yet frantic, voice, and stopped in her tracks.

"May?"

Like clockwork, May flipped around, and saw Steven running toward her from the Pokémon Center. He looked as composed and princely as ever, though his current belongings depicted that he'd been on the road, with his enormous backpack on his shoulders. His outfit was on-point as ever, but his backpack looked a little worse for wear.

"Steven?" May choked out in response. She definitely hadn't planned on seeing him already. She was going to plan out an apology while she flew to the Battle Resort, which she'd deliver when she ran into him on the beach somewhere. They'd hash out their misunderstandings at each other and eventually settle it with a battle, and maybe take up the multi-battle challenge together after they got everything figured out…

"I'm sorry." They both blurted at each other, stereotypically at the same time. The two then looked shocked, and May was the first one to speak next.

"No, we can catch up on all of that later," she said, recognizing there was something bigger than the both of them happening at the moment, "I think we have something else to focus on right now." At these words, Steven's face immediately changed to one of understanding and agreement.

"As per usual, you're on top and cognizant of the dilemma on hand. You're right. Let's get back to my place," Steven said, starting to lead, but then quickly added, "I promise we'll talk, about everything, but you need to let me explain the here and now situation."

Talk about everything? If Mossdeep wasn't blatantly going through a crisis, that statement would have made May's heart skip a beat, especially just the way he said it. To say that in addition to what was currently happening, had implications of Steven needing to discuss other things. But then May remembered that Wallace had said he was looking for her at the Battle Resort. And there still was the Iron Plate. They actually did have quite a few things to discuss, May realized.

Just as May and Steven stepped into his house, they faintly heard, "Wait, there's Champions May and Steven!"

Steven poked his head out of the door, holding it almost shut, and called out, "We're having an emergency conference. I promise we will come back out and make an announcement as soon as a plan of action is reached." And with that, he swiftly closed and locked the door. May was thankful for that. She had never been good at deterring crowds and fans, while Steven seemed to have a natural knack for it.

"Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone spotted us," Steven grumbled, "and it's only a matter of time before we'll have to go back out."

A few seconds passed, and Steven started by setting his backpack on the main table of his living room. Then, May's heart got caught in her throat. Steven was looking at his letter that still sat at the table, which was now an ugly sheet, completely ruined from being crumpled, and words smudged from tears.

Steven half-turned towards May, the letter in one hand and his other hand immediately behind his neck. "I see you got the Beldum I left for you…" he said, very monotonously, head downcast, all to May's alarm. Sure, the island was in chaos, but it felt like she needed to express some feelings now and just be honest.

"I…got caught up in myself," May started. What kind of way to start was that? "Your letter…it was really ambiguous, you made it sound like you left for good."

Steven's lips visibly pressed tightly together, and he stepped toward his kitchenette. "I definitely intended to be on the road for awhile, but certainly not for good. Hoenn is my home." He pulled out two glasses, set them on the counter, and reached into his freezer. "Can I get you something to drink? I'm not particularly certain, but I have a notion that you've had a day not too far off from my own."

May sighed, and walked toward the table to have a seat. Steven clearly was not sharing something with her, and that certainly made her anxious. However, here she was, invited into his home, sitting at his table. Sure, she could denote that to the current state of affairs of Mossdeep and the undoubtedly important roll they were about to play in its potential outcome, but she could not relate that to him offering her a drink. That being said, his tone of voice gave her the hint that being open and honest about feelings would have to come at a later time.

Before she could accept the offer, May saw that Steven had already begun pouring whiskey into both glasses. However, what May hadn't noticed, was whatever Steven had pulled out of his freezer. May squinted at the glasses on the counter, and when Steven had turned around to bring both glasses to the table, May was able to more clearly see what was at the bottom of the drinks.

"No way…Steven, are those rocks in the whiskey? Did you take rocks out of your freezer and put them in whiskey?" Despite their previously less than utmost pleasant exchange, May couldn't help but stifle a giggle.

It was apparent that Steven was annoyed, but tried to be patient, as that was what he often found himself doing when others didn't understand his hobby and profession. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed, then said, "They're hornblende biotite granite, from the Rock Tunnel in the Kanto Region. And, as you can see, they've been polished appropriately. And, they're an excellent way to keep your drink cold without watering it down." Steven then sighed again, recollecting himself after recognizing that he was about to go into a full tangent, and sat down corner-side from May. "But enough about my rocks," he said, May not being able to tell just what feelings were implied by his emphasis on the word rocks, "we need to get down to business. Did you experience what happened outside?"

"No…" May muttered, glancing again at the letter on the table, and a hand voluntarily going to the new pokéball on her belt, "but, there was something odd, now that I'm thinking about it." May remembered now. "Before I left your house and experienced the commotion outside, I was on the phone with Wallace. His voice began to cut out, and before I knew it, the call was completely cut by static. When I looked down at my Pokénav, it looked just like how it had when I was in the Cave of Origin when everything was going down."

After taking a sip, Steven softly hummed and said, "So you're thinking the sudden cut in transmission may be linked to whatever occurrence happened here…" Steven mulled out loud. "It's more than likely. The Pokénav hardly completely cuts out of service. Even if it's out of service range, some of the channels still have basic levels of functionality. When you were in the Cave of Origin, it likely cut out due to the intense amounts of energy being exhibited at that time. Today was likely similar."

"Were you outside?" May then asked.

"Yes," Steven answered, after taking another sip. "Or at least, I caught a glimpse of it. I had been in the Pokémon Center, but rushed outside when people began to speak of the sky disappearing, and purple engulfing Mossdeep. By the time I stepped outside, it was like waking up from an absurd dream abruptly, because of the shift from darkness to light."

"This all sounds so absurd…" May muttered, just looking at her drink, not having tasted it yet. She didn't typically drink whiskey, nor did she particularly drink very often, but she was beginning to feel she should indulge just a tad in order to take the edge off of this strange reality unfolding before them. "Do you think a Pokémon did this? What else could possibly be going on?"

Steven sighed again, and leaned back in his chair. He sure was doing a lot of sighing this late afternoon, but May supposed he really couldn't help it. "I have my suspicions. And I've only heard rumors, but…"

In the natural gap that Steven took to process what he was going to say next, there was a firm knock at the front door. Steven sighed once more, and got up from his seat to answer the knocking. As he cracked the door and began to open it wider, he already began to speak, saying, "I'm sorry, but May and I are still conferencing, so if you could…"

But before he could finish, the door was fully opened outwardly out of Steven's hand. When Steven finished looking shocked and offended, he realized who was standing before him. Dressed sharply in khakis, a red dress shirt, white sweater-vest, white fedora, and holding himself with a cane, Steven knew exactly who the man was.

"Blaine?"

"I'm bemused you remember me, Steven," the man said, showing a wicked half smirk. "You haven't seen me since you were a wee tyke, dragged along to Cinnabar Island for one of your father's business meetings."

It was Steven's turn to give a shy smile, replying, "It's difficult to forget someone whom you regard as a huge inspiration." Steven then stepped inside and aside, holding the door open. "Please, come in. This is May Maple, the most recent Champion of Hoenn."

"Ah yes," Blaine said, promptly walking to the table despite his cane and taking a seat, "I've heard much about the new Champion. It's a pleasure to meet you."

May simply smiled and nodded, a blush creeping onto her face. She was embarrassed and a touch bewildered. There was too much suddenly going on. Now this man she's never even heard of before was invited into Steven's home, and he had called him an inspiration. Just who was he?

And as if reading her mind, when Steven sat down again, he said, "This is Blaine, the Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island in Kanto. He's also a well-published scientist in the fields of Pokémon genetics and the revival of ancient Pokémon using well-preserved fossils. He and my father have done much business together."

Blaine heavily blew air out of his nose, and retorted, "You flatter me too much. Sonny, you need to start publishing your own findings, you know, with all of that field work you've been up to as of late."

Steven blushed mildly, and a small smile formed on his lips. "Yes, yes, I'm getting to it. But I've been caught up in a lot of other hiccups lately. Which brings me to my next point. What brings you here to Hoenn, Blaine? It's not exactly a hop, skip, and a jump."

Blaine took a deep breath, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair. "Steven, I'm actually here to ask what brings you to Kanto."

There was a pregnant silence, and both May and Steven's eyes widened in alarm at Blaine's words. May immediately began to wonder just how old Blaine was, that he would say something so bizarre. They had been sitting in Steven's home this entire time. They were certainly in Mossdeep, in Hoenn.

"Blaine…" Steven said cautiously, "I'm afraid you need to elaborate."

Blaine huffed again, shifted in his chair, and said, "Your island of Mossdeep: it's between Cinnabar Island and the Seafoam Islands."