May: the Hoenn heroine who becomes her own rival

The same character plays two opposite roles depending on the save file you start. May is the female avatar of Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, and later of their 3DS remakes: when you play as her, she crosses Hoenn and takes on the eight Gym Leaders, her own father among them; left to the computer, she becomes the daughter of the town's researcher and the opponent waiting in the tall grass. In between, a twelve-year-old who sets out from Littleroot Town with a borrowed Pokémon.

Contents

• Littleroot Town: A Fresh Arrival in Hoenn
• Heroine on One Side, Rival on the Other
• A Team Built Milestone by Milestone
• The Key Stone, Sky Pillar and Rayquaza
• On Screen, the Coordinator
• A Name the Game Never Forces on Her
• May at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Littleroot Town: A Fresh Arrival in Hoenn

May wasn't born in the region she's about to explore. She comes from Olivine City, and her family moved to Littleroot Town to be closer to Petalburg City's Gym Leader — Norman, her father. So the adventure starts with a move, not a calling: twelve years old, an unfamiliar region, and a researcher next door she can't even find at home.

What follows takes just a few minutes of gameplay. Professor Birch is nowhere to be found, either at home or at his lab; she takes the chance to snoop around her neighbor Brendan's room, before stumbling on the researcher on Route 101, cornered by a wild Poochyena. She settles the matter on the spot by grabbing a Ball from the scientist's bag. First Trainer battle against Brendan, Pokédex collected at the lab, then a stop at her father's Gym, where she oversees the very first catch made by Wally.

Her look, on the other hand, changes from one version to the next. A red bandana with a white pattern, a black-trimmed T-shirt and an ocher fanny pack at first, then a green bandana and bag, a sleeveless top and black leggings in the following version, Emerald — the 3DS remakes give her a red ribbon, a tank top, white short shorts and, on her left wrist, the Mega Bracelet. For Contests, she switches to a sequined outfit with an ombré tutu, white earrings and the Mega Charm.

Heroine on One Side, Rival on the Other

The choice of avatar, made at the start of Ruby and Sapphire, reshuffles every role. Playing as May makes Brendan the rival; playing as Brendan makes May the daughter of Professor Birch, whom she helps with his research. This second version of her takes a keen interest in the hero and is fine with losing: she'd rather complete her Pokédex than rack up wins.

As the rival, she holds fixed spots on the map. The first battle takes place in the tall grass of Route 103, a second on Route 110, where beating her earns you the Itemfinder, and a third on Route 119 near the bridge, which unlocks HM Fly; finally, she blocks the entrance to the department store in Lilycove City until you've beaten her.

Emerald adds an optional battle south of Rustboro City, offered after the Stone Badge and skipped if you answer no. The remakes instead make her an ally: she fights alongside the player at Meteor Falls against Team Magma or Team Aqua, and again at the Battle Maison. Their postgame saves one last battle for the exact spot of the very first, with no money or experience points at stake.

A Team Built Milestone by Milestone

It all starts with the region's starter trio. May begins with one of Hoenn's three starters: Treecko for Grass, Torchic for Fire, Mudkip for Water. As the rival, she gets no say in the matter: the game always gives her the one with the type advantage over the player's starter.

The rest of her roster follows specific milestones. A Wynaut Egg picked up in Lavaridge Town, a fossil Pokémon dug up on Route 111, a Castform obtained at the Weather Institute; then come the heavy hitters, Groudon or Kyogre depending on the version, each in its own lair, and Rayquaza, which the remakes' Delta Episode has her catch as part of its very storyline.

Two details only stand out if you replay the game a different way. In Emerald, she fields a Torkoal instead of a Slugma in Rustboro City, and a Lombre instead of a Pelipper on Route 119 — swaps you only see if you picked Torchic or Mudkip. Without the 3DS remakes, she and Brendan would in fact have been the only rivals in the series whose starter never reaches its final stage on screen.

🌿 Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip: each of Hoenn's three starters has its own section Pokémon starters.

The Key Stone, Sky Pillar and Rayquaza

The 3DS era gives her one more power. On Southern Island, she's given a bracelet set with a Key Stone by Steven Stone: this is the key to Mega Evolution, and the accessory her remake artwork shows on her arm.

An episode of Pokémon Evolutions titled "The Wish" puts her front and center. On the trail of Zinnia, she reaches Sky Pillar on the back of Latios and starts climbing it across floors that give way behind her. The murals hit her with a vision of Groudon and Kyogre tearing each other apart, so violent that she falls backward: the meteorite she brought back from Mt. Chimney then slips out of her bag.

That stumble decides everything that follows. The meteorite suddenly takes on the iridescent shimmer of a Mega Stone; May hurls it into the jaws of a weakened Rayquaza and restores its strength. The guardian of the skies immediately picks her as its chosen one, passing over the Lorekeeper herself. Aggron, Altaria and then Mega Swampert take turns until the Ice Punch that pins it down, a thrown Ultra Ball seals the capture, and she ends the episode facing Zinnia's Mega Salamence with the power of Mega Rayquaza.

On Screen, the Coordinator

The anime adapts the character without betraying her. Same design, same start in Littleroot Town, same Gym Leader father; only her age changes, lowered to ten in the Advanced Generation series, and she joins Ash's group by the end of the very episode that introduces her.

The anime then gives her what the games never did. A younger brother, unknown in the console games, who joins the group two episodes later, and a calling: first making Pokéblocks, then a career as a Coordinator — the path of Pokémon Contests rather than Gyms.

She eventually leaves the group, without disappearing for good. She turns up again in Sinnoh in the next series, this time wearing her Emerald outfit, then in a cameo when the Masters Eight Tournament reaches its final, which she watches from Hoenn. The remakes' promotional short still shows her roaming Littleroot Town with Torchic and Mudkip in her arms, before soaring into the sky on Mega Latias.

A Name the Game Never Forces on Her

Like every main-series protagonist, May can be renamed at the start of the game. Her canonical name is the one she goes by as the rival, and it's precisely not among the names suggested on screen: in the French versions, the list opens with Solène in Ruby and Emerald and with Marine in Sapphire (Terra and Marina in English) — land on one side, sea on the other.

This fallback list, meant for players who leave the name field blank, hides a few nods. Emerald adds sixteen alternative names, including Ariane (Ariana in English) and Cynthia, two major female Trainers of the fourth generation, alongside Agnès, Claire and Sophie. Promotional material has even given her two brand-new names, Emy and Anna, while players themselves most often call her "Sapphire."

The print adaptations don't agree any better. The manga rename her Sapphire, May or Sapphire Birch in turn — the latter winning all eight Hoenn Badges in eighty days, just in time for her eleventh birthday. Pokémon Masters EX added her on January 14, 2021, with five outfits, from Mudkip all the way to the Shiny Kyogre of her Neo Champion costume, and her first French-language card came out with the Mega Rising expansion of Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket on October 30, 2025.

May at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is May the heroine or the rival of Ruby and Sapphire?
  Both, depending on the avatar chosen at the start. If the player plays as May, Brendan becomes the rival; if they play as Brendan, May takes on the rival role and becomes the daughter of Professor Birch, whom she helps with his research.
• What is May's starter Pokémon?
  Treecko, Torchic or Mudkip, the three Hoenn starters. When she plays the rival, the game automatically gives her the one with the type advantage over the player's starter.
• Why do players call her Sapphire?
  Her canonical name isn't among the names suggested on the intro screen: in the French versions, the list opens with Solène in Ruby and Emerald and with Marine in Sapphire. Fan communities got into the habit of calling her Sapphire.
• What does May do in Pokémon Evolutions?
  She's one of the protagonists of the episode "The Wish." She climbs to the top of Sky Pillar, restores Rayquaza's power with the meteorite from Mt. Chimney, catches it, then faces Zinnia's Mega Salamence with the power of Mega Rayquaza.
• Is the anime's Coordinator the same May?
  Yes, the anime faithfully adapts the character from the games: same design, same start in Littleroot Town, same family tie to Gym Leader Norman. It adds a younger brother and a Coordinator career that the console games don't have.

In short

May holds an unusual place in the series: she's both a full-fledged heroine and the opponent you run into in the tall grass, depending on a choice made before the very first battle. The remakes gave her Mega Evolution and an animated episode in which she catches Rayquaza, the TV series made her a Coordinator, and the manga gave her three different names. For a character the game lets you rename, that's a lot of identities.