Pokemon Kami

[Darien Shields]

Hey, not much time, be back later, read and REPLY now. Bye!
EDIT: I'm putting in "Parts" now.

Part One: Into the Wilderness

Chapter 1:

May sighed in disappointment as she dangled her toes in the garden pond. She sent a torrent of water onto the rocks on the opposite side as she kicked angrily at the Magikarp trying to nibble her toes.

She sat for a few moments frowning and pouting at the witless fish. Then she tore a small laminated card from the pocket of her denim skirt.
“May Lon. Pokemon Breeder Third Class.”

She studied her tiny picture, contrasting it with her face now. While her face was now red and scrunched up, it was not unlike the cheery tanned girl in the picture. They shared the same bright blue eyes and long auburn hair, but the button nose and hidden ears had stretched out and take on a definite point in recent years. Most pleasing to May, however, was the change from a round face to thin and delicate, like her nose and ears, more pointy shape.

She wandered now if those years since she earned her license would have been better spent away from home ‘Nearly five years…’ she thought, ‘wasted’

Unlike big towns in big areas like Kanto or Hoenn, the remote towns on the far off island of Tsu did not give away pokemon to young trainers annually. No, the last pokemon “give away” was not even in her village, a good five miles away, and was five years ago, a taunting month before May received her license.

And so she waited… and waited… and waited… and waited… ‘In vain.’ The scientists cold words still rang in her head like a bronze bell, resonating painfully.

“I’m sorry May, but we haven’t been able to aquire any suitable pokemon.”

She looked at the fat Magikarp in all their various different colours with disgust. ‘I can hardly start training with one of them, can I?...’

Suddenly her feet felt restrained hanging limp in the water. She needed to take action. Standing quickly she stormed through the house towards the front door, stubbornly jamming an odd pair of sandals onto her wet feet. And then, she walked out the door.

She walked with furious passion, striding boldly down the desserted country lanes. She had no direction, no plan of action, but walked determinately, as if called by a silent voice, to an unseen, unknown destication.

Soon she found herself in the neighbouring forest, where the cooling shade calmed her and she slowed her pace. Even though her anger evapourated, confusion and regret tore at her heart and she continued on on her invisible course, in search of answers the forest could not give.

She had walked the forest paths many times before when she was younger and more curious. She would notice the Gloom, which were now submerged in the night soil, or the feral Aipom, furtively leaping from tree to tree a few yards away, eying up passers by as a bully would his victims. But in her cold wrath she strode past, over the Kemu and past the Sudowudo.

She hardly noticed when the path unraveled and she began climbing through the wilderness, and she didn’t slow down when the woods became unfamiliar. The sandals she had donned so quickly gave little protection against the brambles and thistles that made up the forest floor. More than once May dismissed the sharp pain as she stood on the pointy outer-casing of fallen chestnuts.

She peered through the branches of surrounding trees, looking for something she could not find. The forests leady canopy cast green silhouettes on the ground where the moonlight hit thin leaves. Everything else was dark.

May struggled not to scream in surprise more than once as Hoot Hoots noisily took flight from a low treetop. For a moment her drive disappeared and the urge to return grew strong.

But then she saw it.

Shining like a giant silver sovereign, a perfectly round pool of water, bathed in moonlight. It mesmerized Mar and she walked towards it. Kneeling down at the waters edge she stared dreamily at her reflection. As her neck bent her fine red hair (now decidedly less clean and fine after being tugged at by tree branches) tumbled down over her face, and made the one part of her description that she always omitted become apparent. A small curved scar on the upper left side of her forehead.

But before her head could fill with the scars painful story, something, a brief movement, a quiet sound, caught her attention and she looked up. Across the pond she saw a small shrine, simply four posts supporting a tiled roof over a small box with closed doors. But this was not caught her attention. Sitting delicately on top of the red tiles was a pokemon. A ninetails. A Silver Ninetails.

It had been watching her before she looked up, with a pair of blood red eyes. May stood slowly, trying not to scare it away, but as she gulped awkwardly it occurred to her that it was she that should be scared. It tilted it’s head slightly to look at her.

Before she could whisper to call it too her, her jaw fell open and she screamed. The back of her head, her brain itself, was a painful mess, contorted in agony, like a migrane, only a hundred times worse. In an instant her hands clutched her head, running through her fiery hair, trying to strangle the pain, but they could not reach it. In a moment she fell forward into the water with a splash, unconscious.

The ninetails watched her curious action, and stared at her limp body for a few moments after she fell. Then it jumped down and trotted over the water, sniffing her as it went. Before walking into the darkness it lifted it’s head nad let out a whistle. A pair of humanoid pokemon lumbered forth and dragged her body from the water, and into the murky darkness of the forest…

[DannyBoy]

This sounds different. I wonder what is going to happen to May next. I wonder if Ninetails will be playing a large roll in this. You use good description in this and the length is also very good. Why did you stop your other fic? Well, this one is a little better then the other but thats my opinion. Well keep it up!

[Darien Shields]

I didn't neccesarrily stop Genesis (if that's what you're referring to), but being in Japan I didn't have access to the rest of it, and I didn't like the idea of writing some of it on paper, or typing some and then losing it. I may, may not continue it when I return. It wasn't very popular.

I might edit in chapter two later, this hotel has lots of internet and stuff, but right now I have other things to do. Thanks for replying! Oh, and any simmilarities to Harry Potter (I realise on retrospect that there are some) are accidental.

*(Final) Edit*

Finished it. Phew! Here we are, Chapter 2.0, fully tweeked!

Chapter 2

May groaned as she returned to conciousness. Her sense of touch was the first to returned, paired with her abillity to feel pain, as she became agonisingly aware of the scrachtes and bruises that lined various parts of her body, particularly her feet, however, she was surprised to feel that she was lying on something soft. More vexing was the smell. While before she could smell the fresh, cool air of hte forest, but now an unfamiliar scent met her nose, reminding her of old people, and more grimly, death. Her memory came back in patches, first she remembered walking in the forest, which she loosely connected with the painful fact that she would not recieve a starter pokemon, but she rememberred something else, something that seemed to negate that, and everythign else in her life, something more... important. She frowned with closed eyes.

Over more time, maybe minutes, maybe years, in seemed a rather abstract concept to her now, she began to hear things around her. In the distance, but louder than much else, was the sound of squeaky metal wheels over an un-carpetted floor, accompannied by the sound of footsteps. It did not sound like footsteps on dirt though, it sounded as if they were connecting with something much harder. As she began to wonder about openning her eyes, and seing more than the luminated veins of her eyelids, she heard something else. Rather quiet, but rather close, was someone breathing. This almost discouraged her from openning her eyes. She was scared to see what may be a bear, or perhaps, worryingly, Houndoom. After another unmeasurable time, spent listenning to the eerie breathing May summed up her courage and openned her eyes. Only it wasn't as easy as she had expected. Her eyelids were impossibly heavy, and the muscles pulling them impossibly weak. At first she could only see a slit of white light before her eyes fell shut again, but with effort, blinking much, she managed to pull them open.

Too her surprise, she found herself in a white room of a hospital. Various tables and apparatus aswell as medecines lined the walls, but she could not recognise them, anything a few feet away was blurry. She was lying on a large white bed, and her skirt and t shirt had been swapped for a hospital gown. She had the worrying suspicion she had been examined in her sleep.

A snore to her right startlingly reminded her that she was not alone. She anxiousley stole a glance in the direction of the breathing. When she saw the portly middle-aged man beside her she let out a sigh of relief. It was only her father.

Tam' Lon was a rather hairy man, a mustache trailing round his lips to make an odd beard/sideburn hrybrid on either side of his jaw. His bear arms, for even now in hospital he was still wearing the plain dungarees and vest that he wore in day to day work on the farm, were brown with hair, and a ponytail hung around his neck. Ironically, the top of his head was completely bald.

Right now his eyelids were slumped over his eyes as he snoozed, his big arms folded over his protruding belly. His upper lip vibrated gently as his big nose moved up and down, sucking air in before blowing it out over his bushy mustache.

After watching him sleep for a while May painfully rose to sit, using the great wealth of pillows behind her as a backrest, and then prodded her father sharp in the chest.

"Ouch!" he said, waking promptly.
"Serves you right, you lazy lout." May said in a sarcastic tone.
"Sorry, sorry, musta... dozed off..." Tam' said sleepilly, looking around. "May!" he shouted, and then embraced her in a great bear hug that hurt her shoulders where they'd been bruised, "Yer all right!"
"Yeah... yeah..." May choked from between her father's great arms.
"They said you might not wake up, that you might be in a coma but... Oh thank god May, you're all right." he said, his eyes moist with unspilt tears.
"Umm, what happenned to me?" May asked awkwardly after a few moments.
"Well, we were hoping you could tell us..." Tam' shrugged, "You stormed out of the house and didn't come back, hours later I go looking and find you collapsed in the forest." her said while gesturing with his hands. "Doctors thought you were dragged their though, from all the scrapes and bumps you got." he added a moment later.
"Hmm." May nodded in agreement, as many of those scrapes and bumps were aching at this minute.
"Oh, listen, I should tell the doctor, you know, that you're awake... You fine? You last till I get back?" he asked with a look of genuine worry on his face.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." May smiled.
Tam' gave her one more anxious look and then stole out to get the doctor. It wasn't long before he returned accompannied by a man with thick spectacles and a white coat on.
"Ah! You are awake." He smiled, "Not to say I don't trust you mr Lon, it's just a lot of parents in this situation... let their imagination run away with them, and turn a moan or a mumble in a full blown recoverry in thier minds." He then walked over to May and put his hand on her forehead with no fore-warning. "Levelling out nicely..." he said to himself.
"What is?" Malon asked, quite confused to find herself under examination.
"Temperature." he repplied, "you were boiling when you came in, thought I'd check for myself rather than use a thermomiter... got lots to do now, tests you know."
"For what?" May asked. Tam' gave her a worried glance before looking once more at the doctor.
The doctor stared at her for a moment as if she was completely dense, "To find out what happenned to you. Unless you remember...?" he trailed off.
"No... I just remember... walking in the forest... and my head hurting" May tried, in vain, to remember, "Alot." She added.
"Hmm..." The doctor looked quizically at her, then Tam'. "Mr Lon, may I speak with you alone for a minute?" the doctor asked Tam', then added, as May looked at him with even more confusion, "About... costs, and... the like."
May smiled vacantly, but had the notion she had just been fobbed off with an excuse. Tam' however relaxed when the doctor had said that and answerred, "Sure. Umm, where?"
"Oh my office is just next door." The doctor said, standing up straight and leading Tam' out of the room.

May heard their foot steps going down the corridor to the left. She made a quiet sound of cellebration as her bed was by the left wall, before jamming her ear on it. At first she could only think about the cold feeling of concrete against her skin, but then she got to listenning. First she oculd just hear voices, but she strained her ears to focus, and concentrated. Slowly but surely they became clearer until it was understandable.

"... see" said the deep voice of Tam'
"Yes, while she has recoverred now, we fear that it might be..." the higher, more nasal voice of the doctor trailed off, he was presumably gesturing to something, "Her old problems re-surfacing."

'Old problems?' May thought angrilly, 'I don't have any old problems, not that I know of... I have a scar, but that healed, it hardly caused any Brain Damage.' she thought, but then it ocurred to her, what if it had?

"...chance of treatment? And please doctor, don't worry about money right now." Tam' said. May had missed the start of his sentance, but didn't think it relevant.
"Well, their is surgery, and it has advanced since the days of her mother's illness, but... their have been few succesfully treated cases, and more and more people are being taken by those cults, you know..." the doctor said gravely.
"Whe.. when should treatment begin?" came the choked up voice of Tam'.
"Oh right away I think... If we could opperate now and remove the nasty thing, it would do her a world of good." came the now sinister voice of the doctor.
"Shou... should I t-tell her?" Tam' asked.

The doctor gave an answer, but May had already stopped listenning. 'Problems? Surgery?' the words echoed in her head. 'My Mother?... They've got to be wrong...' May thought, struggling to remember her mothers death, but finding most of that time period a blur. She looked around her. She had to find something she could use... to protect herself. They were obviousley wrong, obviousley... out to get her,use her... The odd thoughts came quickly to May's usually rational mind, she did not think to dismiss them.

At the end of the bed was a large, black leather shoulder bag. May recognised it at once, it was her trainer's bag, packed with everything she needed to start her trainers journey. She had had it packed in expectation for a month. 'Dad must have brought it because of the clothes...' she thought. She fell upon it quickly and tore out a pair of black denim shorts that had once been jeans but were tore around the knees for their new purpose, and a plain green t-shirt with a Bulbasaur icon on the back, aswell as some underwear and put them on in a flash. Looking around she saw her shoes and the odd sandals, aswell as the dirty remnants of what she had been wearing yesterday. She put the shoes on and crammed the clothes into her bag.

'This... isn't enough... got to get away, got to escape, and fast...' She thought, looking around manicly. Without thinking she closed the door and pushed a heavy cart in front of it. She looked around again for something... a weapon, or some means of escape.

In her frantic visual search she came to her bedside table, where she saw something that tugged at her heart strings for some unknown reason. A wooden music box sat their, closed now. It was painted purple, with the silhouette of Gardevoir all over it. May found herself standing by her bed, holding it. She lifted it up to her face, and delicately openned it. As the lid fell backwards eerie music filled her head, and a little model Gardevoir inside started to twirl yound on it's stand. May looked at it with confusion. She had had it since her youth, but she could never remember it playing before... it had always been broken, always been... silent. And the Gardevoir seemed to dance with more grace, it seemed to not just be spinning, but dancing and moving like the actual pokemon. As she stared at it, a word seemed to pop into her head. She mouthed it silently, 'Open'

She jumped as a hidden compartment popped out of the music box as if by magic. She stared in utter amazement at the item inside. It was a small, white pokeball, covered in black runic engravings. She removed it immediately, closing the music box and returning it to the bedside. She looked with wonder at the pokeball, expanding it silently. Then, on impulse, she hurled it down onto the ground.

The switch face clicked on impact, and in an explosion of golden light the sphere whirled out and transformed into a giant glowing white figure. Slowly, the golden light faded away, leaving only the pearly silhouette before May. It was large but fine, with fore thin legs and a delicate head, from which a pair of antlers sprouted. As the light dimmed from dazzling white to a normal snowy tone, May gazed in awe at the pokemon that stood sparkling before her.
"Stantler." it whisperred.

But it was not, not to her. It's shining coat was white, and the usual brown spheric protruding nose was not to be found, instead it was just an ordinary deer's mouth, just like it was in many way's an ordinary, if over-sized, deer, only with two spheres floating in it's antlers, and a sparkling white coat.

It was so familiar to May, like a long lost friend, a sister or a brother, but for the life of her she could not remember having seen it before in her life. She knew it. She knew him. He was hers, her partner, as he had been from birth. Stroking the back of his pearly head May knew what to do. She looked around the room, panniced again for a moment, before seeing what she needed, a large, clear window. She looked out. She was on the third story, but the ground bellow was coverred in moss. A forest was a few yards away, held at bay by a metal fence, but May could see plenty of holes in it. She calmly slid the window open. At that very moment their was a bang at the other side of the room as someone tried to open the door. The ncame some voices.

Quickly and without a second thought May grabbed her bag and swung it over her shoulder, and then jumped on the back of her stantler. She smiled and it let out a soft cooing sound.
"We have to go..." she whisperred in it's ear. It nodded in response and took a few steps back. And then it charged for the window. May's heart was in her throat as it vaulted out and onto the soft ground outside, making no sound of indignance, although she herself had recieved a bad shock when she bumped down on it's back. A few moments later they were threw the fence, and running clear off into the wilderness...

[Darien Shields]

I'm bored, and let me just re-iterate my command in the hope that your subconscious will take it in. REPLY!

'Interlude'

"Damn!" exclaimed the doctor, hammering his fist on the open window-sill.

Behind him were the remnants of May's room, and overturned cart was surrounded by an array of broken glass and spilt pills and liquid. The now lay on it's side against the wall, the sheet on the floor. Her possessions, those that were left, had been bagged and taken away.

"Looks like we've got another one..." the doctor growled,�@‚“taring through the open window,�@"Just like her damn mother..."
"Sir!" came a voice from behind him.

He turned to see a young man in a rather hastilly donned white coat.

"Get after her!" The doctor barked, "Take the bikes, take the Houndoom, hell take the damn Alakazam, we've got to find her, and fast."
"And..." The younger "doctor" paused.
"What?!" Yelled the older, more violent doctor.
"Her father?" The younger man finished, squeaking like a mouse.
"Who cares?" the elder said coldly, "Feed him some story, say she's already in surgery... I don't care."
"Yes sir!" the young man said in a military tone and ran off into the corridor, leaving the first doctor alone.
"Damn these women..." he mumbled to himself, "Damn these..."

[GeneChildMewtwo]

Well, I like what you've got so far. It seems you're building up towards something big... I wonder what secrets are waiting to be discovered about May and her mother.

Well, I don't have a whole lot to say right now. There weren't any problems that I noticed. But, I'm interested now. So, I'll be sure to read more if you put it up.

[DannyBoy]

Good chapter. I wonder whats wrong with May. The first thing I can think of is a tumar in her head. GUee I have to wait to see if I am right. That also sounds like a very intresting Stantler that she let out. Well good length and description. Keep it up!:yes:

[Darien Shields]

Hey! Umm... Thanks for the Replies, really, I luuuuvvv feed back and don't get a lot, so, um, please, "Keep it up".

Now, new Chapter. Not as long as C2, but I plan to write the next one soon. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

May rode tirelessly for hours, and her stantler never complained. She quickly began to think of him as Enye, because that was his name, she was sure. Things were coming to her now as if from nowhere, fragments of memories of the past.

Many years ago she had been a little girl, happy as can be, playing in the sun, with her mother watching over her… Her Mother… She had not thought of her for years, she had precious few memories and most of them too painful. But now she remembered riding Enye through the fields, and her mother there beside her on her stantler, easily double the size of Enye now, and with the same snowy coat. The music box had been a gift from her mother, a special gift that only they could use…

But then her mother died. And May couldn’t use it… And they told her that Enye was just a dream… Had they lied to her? Or… was she crazy now? No, she couldn’t be. She had to affirm that with herself, that their was more going on here than me the eye, and that her sanity was not affected.

She took a deep sigh and lent her head down on the soft fur of Enye’s neck, not knowing whether to cry or laugh. She had what she wanted; a pokemon, and the chance to start her training quest… But what had she left behind? A confused father, and… She didn’t want to think about what the “doctor’s” were doing now.

Sitting up straight again she stroked her loyal steed as he bounded tirelessly over tree roots and bushes. They were not as deep in the forest as she had been last night, but they were on the opposite side, she guessed, as everything was still un-familiar. She could see different pokemon here. Their were beige blurs slipping over the paths that she assumed to be Linoone, and more than once Enye lurched sideways before proceeding, and May had to look back to catch a glimpse at the glimmering powder falling from a Dustox. As the frequent bumping up and down from riding Enye with no saddle began to hurt May’s rear they came to stop at a large calm pond, only to see half a dozen Surskit “swim” off quickly, almost only identifiable by the ripples they left behind.

May descended from her pokemon and found standing awkwardly after sitting for so long, especially when combined with the possible bruising endured from Enye’s bony back, so decided to sit on a conveniently placed tree stump. Sighing she began to consider the situation again.

She now had a pokemon, a license, a dozen pokeballs, and all the camping equipment she would need to become a pokemon trainer. However, consulting the map in her bag, she discovered she had no idea where she was. Sighing again she plunged into her bag and found some moldy sandwiches, a few foil packets of crisps that had stayed good as well as a ‘Teddiursa Bar’, which she assumed had honey flavouring. Tossing the month old sandwiches into the undergrowth she feasted on one of the packets of crisps, feeding Enye the honey bar after he looked pleadingly at her for a few minutes. The meal didn’t quite satisfy May, she guessed it was the first she’d had to eat in twelve or more hours, but she decided to leave the second pack for later, incase she didn’t find any food for a while. As this occurred to her she hurriedly checked the bag and was relieved to find her purse still inside, with enough money to buy plenty of food when she got the chance.

Just as her thoughts turned to moving off she heard something truly distressing in the distance. She dismissed it at first, because she thought it couldn’t possibly be what it sounded like, and must be some bizarre pokemon, but it did not desist, and craning here ears she became certain of what it was; Motor Bikes. The sound was distinctly different from chainsaws, which would have been more logical, and the way it revved and slowly drew closer…

May’s heart was in her throat again, she leapt onto Enye without a second thought, noting the direction he was looking, as his keen ears could determine the source of the sound, and then leading him off, not even realising she had dropped the foil wrappings of their meal. In a moment Enye was bounding hastily once more through the wilderness. Behind them May could hear flocks of disturbed birds and pokemon taking flight as the motor bikes passed under them. She guessed they were dirt bikes, as ordinary bikes wouldn’t be much use on the rough forest terrain.

May almost screamed as Enye leapt over a fallen Forretress. She breathed heavily staring back through the trees to try and see the bikes, and she knew now their were more than one, because the sound was coming from at least three places. More worrying than that was the fact that even though Enye was running at full pelt the sound was still getting closer and closer.

Enye darted this way and that as the trees became more and more tightly packed and a straight path became hard to find. More than once May could feel his feet slipping slightly as they found soggy ground, either covered in moss, or composed of mud. But her noble pokemon managed to get through alright, with little more than a few scratches, reminding May of last night’s forest “adventure.”

May bent close to her pokemon as his antlers clattered through some low hanging tree branches, careful not to lose any of her hair in the same way. As Enye jumped yet another bush May thought, reassuringly that no bike could get through this terrain… But as the sound grew closer still she felt how hollow that argument was.

Looking back over her right shoulder she caught a glimpse of white light shooting forth from one of the dirt bikes headlamps. She gulped in fear. Up until now she had only heard them. Seeing one was much worse. Moments later she could see another headlight battling through the trees on her left. Enye seemed dimly aware of them as well as he seemed to be galloping even faster now. The faster he ran the more May bounced, but she didn’t care to complain about the pain in her *** now, she had a funny feeling that the riders of the dirt bikes were indeed looking for her.

Now the sound of the wind rushing by her ears was almost drowned out by the growling engines of the bikes on their heels, but May could just make out voices coming from the same place as the lights. High pitched voices, shouting to each other, although she couldn’t make out what they were saying. Looking back, to her horror, she could see a trio of lights directly behind them, and getting closer. Enye tried to shake them by turning left or right, but the trees prevented him from doing this quickly without losing speed, and by the time he had made any significant change the riders were onto it, and had changed to match,

Chancing another glance back May could see the spinning wheel of the leading bike as it twisted this way and that to negotiate the trees. She realized that it was faster than she had ever dared to imagine, as it was not only catching up with them, but catching up with them while going on a zig-zag path, far more crooked than the one that Enye was taking. As she stared back she could hear some shouts;

“… riding something…”
“…it’s damn fast. We’ll have to…”
“… sure it’s her? Where would she get a poke…”
“Doc said she might have had a Stantler. Now come on’, we’re almost close enough now.”

The last shout was far too close. May looked forward in hope, but saw only the monotonous forest. Worse still, she saw that Enye was now growing tired, and having trouble negotiating the forest as he had once done so easily. She whispered encouragement in his ear, but it did not seem to help.

Now she could see the handlebars of the bike in front as it straightened up, preparing to zoom in and tear her from her ride. May shut her eyes and bit her lip, hoping for some divine deliverance.

The next few moments seemed to occur in slow motion to May. Something ahead made her open her eyes and look forward, weeping slightly as she did so. Nothing in front inspired her, but she could feel a cold had reaching through her hair. She opened her lips to scream, but no sound came out. Then, suddenly, Enye slammed into something, a bush a tree, May couldn’t see, he began to flip over and hurled her from her riding seat into the undergrowth where she got an unpleasant mouthful of mud and a concussion before fainting.

Unable to see what had happened, and with little power to stop, the bike riders drove off ahead, and it was many minutes, and more yards until they stopped, cursing their luck. With no visible sign of their target at eye-level they would have to manually search the area, and that would take a very long time. The leader, a young man in his twenties, who looked a lot more menacing without his white lab-coat, groaned, reaching for the cell phone snugly holstered in his belt. The boss would not be pleased.

[Darien Shields]

Well, if you thought Chapter Three was action packed, wait until you get a load of this! I didn't really have much else to do, so I just, you know... wrote another really long chapter. Have fun, and as always, REPlY!

Chapter 4:

May awoke a few hours later to find herself nose deep in mud. Groaning as she had the earlier, only more so now, she pushed herself up as if she were doing a press up. As soon as she had reached suitable height to bend her legs and start to stand up, her hands slipped sideways in the wet soil and landed her face back in the mud.

‘Just once I’d like to go to sleep in a bed again…’ she thought grimly as she successfully hauled her tired body up. The nap seemed to have had an adverse effect, she now felt more tired than ever. A glance skyward confirmed to her that it was night. She mumbled that she must have awoken in hospital the previous afternoon before her memory came screaming back.

“Enye!” she shouted, looking around for her partner. She spied a small, rather battered shrine, similar to the one she had seen the previous night, which she identified as what Enye had crashed into but to her dismay she could not see the white Stantler anywhere. As she dashed from side to side, opening her mouth but then being too afraid to call she found that she had pulled a muscle in her left leg, and had to limp slightly, although she ignored the pain in the search for her pokemon. As she wandered in front of the shrine for the fifth time she stepped on something unstable and tripped, finding her face once more in the mud. Growling in malice she rolled over and looked around her feet to see what she had tripped on. However, seeing Enye’s engraved pokeball now dug into the dirt she rejoiced. She quickly scooped it up and released him.

Enye was by no means a sight for sore eyes. Even before his glowing body dimmed, May could see the twisted angle at which his legs stood. When he did dim, it was not to a brilliant snowy white, but dirty grey, with thick smears of mud and blood, and little twigs and leaves were caught amongst it. Along his right antler ran a worryingly deep crack. He gave a faint pleading sound and collapsed in a heap on the ground where he reverted to his pokeball. May gingerly picked it up, and not knowing anything else to do, attached it to the belt of her soaked shorts.

Now for the first time on her ‘great escape’ May felt truly alone. After sitting awkwardly in the mud for a few moments she struggled to pull herself up. The forest was abuzz around her, the flapping of wings and the patter of feet came from all directions, but she could only see a few yards in each before they became dark and mysterious. With little hope she limped towards the shrine.

It was only a yard or so tall, with now cracked red tiles. The walls were made of thick planks of wood, and there was a pedestal inside which displayed, what May could only guess to be a statue of a heavily armoured rabbit. On the right hand side of the shrine there was a tire track cut into the ground, and on the left a pair.

This was one thing she could take Solace in; the riders had not found her, and apart from the tracks, she could not see or hear any sign of them. Realising this she sighed and lent back on the shrine’s wall, sliding down, no longer being worried about getting her shorts dirty; it was a little late for that.

“Rai!” came a faint call from the darkness on May’s left.

May, who had been moments away from nodding off again, sat bolt upright and peered into the darkness. Slowly and awkwardly with her strained leg, May got to her feet, not standing, but crouching low to the ground. Using her already muddy hands for stability, she waddled slowly towards the sound.

“Rai, Rai!” came the cheery voice again, now close.

Again May looked, and at first saw nothing, but then, suddenly, a small pair of yellow lights appeared a few metres away. They were each about the size of a light bulb and only a few inches apart. May stopped for a moment then waddled a little closer.

“Chu.” The pokemon’s voice came clearly.

The light grew and became bright enough to illuminate the entire brown, cheery face of the giant mouse that was now almost nose to nose with May. Seeing what it was and how close it was, May stood up straight, a good few feet away. As she did so the Raichu illuminated its entire body with light from the golden-axe tail.

“He-Hello…” May stammered.
“Rai, Rai!” the Raichu answered cheerily.
“A… are you w-wild?” May asked, a wild thought crossing her mind.
“Chu, chu chai.” the Raichu shook its head, showing the small button of a pokeball on its shoulder.
“Oh… umm… where is your trainer?” May asked, not sure if she wanted to meet someone who let their Raichu wander in the depths of the forest at night.
“Rai… RAI!” The Raichu called, turning. For a moment May had no idea what was going on, but as the Raichu called a second time she heard a voice reply.
“…ur horses, I’m coming!” came the voice of an old man. Raichu, obviously not thinking its master quick enough, walked backwards, gesturing for May to follow. She did, slowly, limping.
“Chuurr, Churai!” Raichu called.
“What’re you wantin’ you speed demon?” the old man asked, and as he did so, his face became visible in the soft glow of Raichu electric tail and cheeks. He was a small, hunched man, with an honest, tanned face punctuated by a fine mustache and whispy beard. He seemed to be wearing a blue pair of pyjamas, and was supporting himself with a long black cane.
“Oh…” was all he said, seeing May.
“Excuse me sir…” May said awkwardly, “but could you help me? I was being chased, and my stantler’s fainted, and, and…”
“Alright, alright” the old man nodded as approached hysterics, “I can see from the look of you what you’ve been through…” he pointed at her sopping wet clothes with his cane, “You come back and we’ll get you cleaned up and hear your story as soon as you’re ready.”
“Th-thank you!” May panted, almost collapsing.

A few hours later May sat at the table in the old man’s house, only a short walk away from the shrine. She had bathed, awkwardly, as she was never comfortable getting naked in a strangers house, but since she was filthy and starting to smell, she had little choice, and then changed into a fresh set of clothes from her bag.

“There…” the old man smiled, walking into the room, “They ought to be done by morning, oh, you don’t mind staying do you?”
“Oh, no”, May answered the odd question, “But…”
“Oh, yes, yes of course.” He removed the compacted white pokeball from his pocket and rolled it across the table to May.
“Thank you.” May said, relieved, “Do you mind if I…?” she gestured to throw down the pokeball.
“Oh, not at all.” The man nodded, and May released Enye, “That’s an interesting pokeball-“ the man gasped as Enye was released, now rejuvenated and shining beautifully again “… a-and a mighty fine pokemon… Mind telling us how you got ‘em?” The man seemed to be referring to his Raichu when he said “us”, as May had yet to see anyone else here.
May sighed heavily, “To tell you the truth…” she wiped a strand of beautiful auburn hair out of her eyes, “I don’t really know myself.” She stroked Enye as he butted the front of his head into her, seeking attention, “It all started, really, the other night…” she recounted her trip into the forest and escape from the hospital, and the old man, and his Raichu which sat on the table giving them sympathetic looks, listened quietly. When she was done the old man sighed.
“That explains it…” he nodded, “We heard some motors outside and a big crash, thought it might be hooligans knocking down the shrine, so we went to investigate…” he rubbed his hairy chin, “Lucky for you I guess.”
“Extremely!” May said gratefully.
“You’re welcome to stay the night here, you’re story’s worth that at least, but…” the man looked guiltily at her.
“What?” she asked, worrying for a moment that he might want money, or something else…
“Are you sure you’re okay? Sure I shouldn’t call a doctor?” he asked, looking genuinely worried for her.
He almost fell off his chair as Enye leered at him. May softly batted at her pokemon, almost playfully, “No, I’m sure I’m fine. I mean, after all, why would they send out motor bikes to catch someone with a brain tumour?” she laughed tensely.
The old man shrugged and nodded.

With Enye’s pokeball beside her May had gladly fallen asleep in one of the old man’s spare beds, only to be awoken in the small hours (as her pokegear confirmed), by barking outside. Once more she groaned and heaved herself up, rubbing her eyes. Despite the fact it was still very early and she hadn’t had nearly enough sleep, she felt a strange compulsion to investigate the loud sharp barking, and reasoned that trying to sleep would be pointless, as the sound did not desist.

Throwing back on the clothes she had discarded to go to bed and grabbing Enye’s pokeball, May wandered into the kitchen where she had relived the past two days to find the old man’s Raichu sitting on the table, with a tense expression on his face. He jumped and sent a few sparks flying as May walked in, but was relieved to see her.

“Worried about that barking?” She asked.
Raichu nodded.
“Want me to get Jed?” she said. She had learned the old man’s name on the walk back to his house.
“Rai.” The Raichu answered sternly.

After knocking on his door May found Jed with bloodshot eyes, indicating that he had tried, and failed, to sleep through the noise. She opened her mouth to explain, but he just nodded and said, “That Barking?” to which she nodded back.

“Yep, that sounds pretty bad…” he shook his head, “And we don’t get Dark Pokemon in these parts… Starting to believe you more about being chased.”
May chuckled, now feeling slightly better after the way he had taken her story.

They proceeded outside with Raichu in the lead, glowing dimly, careful not to attract any unwanted attention. Enye followed close behind. May had released him inside, worried that a bright flash of light from a pokeball wasn’t exactly stealthy. Raichu went on all fours, looking more natural in the position than I had expected, and almost completely disappeared in the grass, except for its long tail which stuck up glowing and lighting the way.

The barking seemed to be coming from the direction of the shrine, and was heading towards them quickly. It sent more chills down May’s back than the cold night rain that had started during her sleep. Now the droplets of water made Enye’s fur sparkle even more.

Rather abruptly the barking stopped and May looked around to see if their was any particular reason. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she registered the sound of paws in the puddles ahead, but before she could really understand, a great black shadow leapt forth from the darkness and fell upon spot where Raichu’s tail disappeared in the grass.

May almost had a heart attack, and was sure for a moment that the creature was now standing on Raichu, but then she saw it standing opposite what she now identified as a Houndoom. Enye trotted forward to stand beside the Raichu.

Without any warning the Houndoom let out a great torrent of fire directed at Raichu. May could hardly see the Raichu jumping out the way like a grasshopper, and then the old man pushing her aside as he dodged the attack too. While she had watched pokemon battles on TV or from a distance, nothing prepared her for this. The sound like mad breath of fire, and the blast of heat that brushed against her, even metres away from the attack.
With a hard crackle that you just didn’t hear on TV, Raichu unleashed a blinding thunderbolt. May could just make out the jagged yellow lines before she was blinded by the attacks white light. When she finally ventured a look she saw the Houndoom growling and also quivering, indicating that he had not only taken the blast, but been paralysed by it too.
“Enye, Tackle!” May shouted, taking advantage of the situation.

Enye bowed it’s head down and rammed into the dark pokemon with it’s strong antlers. The Houndoom however, snapped it’s jaws shut on Enye’s right antler, and pressed hard, making the crack which had been healed, return slightly. Then, lifting Enye painfully by his antlers, the foul dog tossed him towards May and the old man.

However, Raichu leapt over and caught the poor Stantler with his tail, bringing him more gently to the ground, before letting charging up with a rather righteous “Chu!”, and releasing an even brighter flash of light. Jed, the old man, barely succeeded in shield his and May’s eyes. When May looked she saw the Houndoom blinking weakly, and Enye stumbling round.

“Enye, Leer!” May ordered, playing it safe for now.

Enye obeyed, glaring at the Houndoom with glowing eyes. The Houndoom seemed to wince as their eyes met.

“Raichu, Body Slam!” ordered Jed, for the first time.

Raichu too obeyed, and hurled it’s slightly chubby body towards the Houndoom, pushing it off it’s feet. May’s heart skipped a beat, thinking the battle over. But before she knew it, the tide had turned. Houndoom dug it’s teeth into Raichu’s back and flung it away, distastefully, sending a stream of fire with it. Then it stood up, and instead of bringing down Enye with fire, or a tackle, it jumped high, it’s forepaws slamming into Enye’s back and pushing him down, aswell as giving the hell-dog more altitude to d othe same to Jed, before falling upon May, and digging it’s teeth inches into her right arm.

She shrieked in pain as her arm became contorted in pain. She could feel each of the sharp teeth digging down, getting closer and closer to the bone, cutting through blood veins and nerve as it went. She could feel the beasts hot tongue as well, as fire sneaking up from its throat. But this was nothing, for something worse seemed to be seeping out of the dog’s fangs, and carrying up to her brain. It was spiraling towards the same kind of pain as the night she had seen ninetails…

“RAI!” Screamed a distant voice, although this time it seemed lower that before.

May heard a cracking that she was sure was her own arm or skull, but the sound was magnified a hundred times. She looked down to see a dozen bent golden lines between Raichu and Houndoom waving up and down, and a great dark sphere pulsating around Houndoom. May could feel the electricity passing through her too, but she didn’t care. She kicked at the horrible dog, aiming for the crotch, but having no idea whether she hit or now. The black ball gradually became bigger, and the pupils in Houndoom’s eyes began to shrink until they were tiny dots looking in no direction. Its fangs withdrew and a trail of blood and drool dripped out of its mouth. But Raichu didn’t stop. It kept pumping the dog with more and more electricity. Enye batted the damn thing off of May with its antlers and it landed on the ground, where Raichu gave it one more shock, then stopped panting.

May, almost surprised at herself for not fainting, looked bitterly at the dog. Raichu, now charred and panting, with little whispers of electricity dancing between its cheeks, collapsed. Enye and May stumbled over to the limp body of the Houndoom. It looked dead, and May didn’t care, the damn thing deserved it. But then, to her utter astonishment, it rose. Its eyes still looked totally vacant, like a zombie, but roared fiercely and sent great currents of flames into the sky, nearly singing May’s hear charring Enye’s antlers.

Spying the house with its dead eyes the dog brought a beam of fire down upon it, setting the roof aflame. It barked laughter and continued to drench the house in flames.

“Oh… god…” said Jed meagerly.

Shouts from the forest petrified May even more. The urge to run returned and she looked at Enye, whose dark brown eyes seemed to agree. Looking at her badly damaged arm May thought of her bag, which had a small medical pack for just such an occurrence. It was inside.

She thought she had a chance, and rather than weighing the options, she lead Enye in, knowing that the longer she waited, the less chance she had. She tried hard to ignore Jed’s yells of discouragement.

Inside everything seemed just as before, only much hotter as the ceiling of the one story building was now exuding unhealthy amounts of heat. As May fetched her bag and swung it over her left shoulder, she notices smoke now billowing from the ceiling, and decided that, jumping on Enye, the paper walls of Jed’s house had had it anyway, jumping through them wasn’t so bad.

Leaping out of the opposite side of the building Enye ignored his injuries and bounded tirelessly through the early morning forest, leaving the blazing house behind.

Looking down at the black wound on her arm, May realized that this was an event she would not soon forget.

[GeneChildMewtwo]

Those people are ruthless in their pursuit of May. Whatever is different about her must be very important. It's kind of wierd that May just abandoned Jeb and his Raichu, but in her position, there probably wasn't much of a choice. She need to go as far from there as she could as soon as she could.

But there was something you should look into. there's a line in Chapter 3 that says
"She had to affirm that with herself, that their was more going on here than me the eye, and that her sanity was not affected."

Is that supposed to be "meets the eye"? Also, in this line (and in a few other places) you used the wrong "there". Make sure to watch out for that, as it's easy to do.

Besides that, I didn't notice any other errors. I'd like to see more. Keep it up! :wave:

[Darien Shields]

Hey again. I convinced my mother to buy a spiffy new laptop, and even though everything's in japanese it's helped me write a lot. Sorry not to have another full chapter as of yet, but I feel these little bits shouldn't be part of chapters, and bessides, my posting's been pretty frequent anyway. Thanks for the continued Replies. And incidentally, it was met the eye.

(Yet another) Interlude

Rain turned the raging fire that quickly devoured the old man's house into smoke, and it's position could clearly be marked from a distance by the billowing black cloud that grew up out of it. The roof was now composed purely of the orange dancing light, and it slowly nmde it's way down the house. Unlike the rest of the structure, the paper walls fell easilly to the flames.

Standing around the burning house were a group of men, all dressed in black trench coats. They made no effort to calm the blaze. All wildlife had departed from the area, so the only sound was the patter of rain on leaves, and the soft pur of the fire. For many minutes their was nothing else to be heard. Then one of the men spoke.

"He said she was inside?” the voice was inquisitive.
"Ran back in right after the place lit up.” another answerred.
"Damn...” came the first, “And no one went in?”
"We're not paid to be stupid Kurt.” sneered a third, “We didn't get a reading on the new S-E metre.”
"You mean she's...” the first voice trailed off.
"Maybe. She may have escaped.” the voice sounded pesemistic. It added, “She's beyond our reach anyway.”

Silence crept in again and it was only broken by the soft padding of feet.
"Ah, there the blasted thing is...” said a sinister voice. The “doctor” looked far more dangerous wearing a black coat, and half moon spectacles instead of the thick goggle like pair he had once wore.

The group looked at the new arrival, the devilous Houndoom, it's eyes still blank and it's jaw still lose, a thin drip of drool still trailing out. A few of the men winced seeing it.
"I see the Z-W prototype worked.” the second man said, unphased by the dogs appearance.
"Only just. If we had a better...” the man made a gesture, the others nodded, “on site, then maybe. As you know the old SC collar wouldn't work...” he ran his hand into the dark fur of the dogs neck, then stopped, and reached into the pocket of his coat with his other hand and produced a small cell phone. “I'm unplugging him now.” he said to someone on the other end of the phone, before fiddling with something in the scruff of the dog's neck. Their was a clicking and sound of an electric device disengaging before he lifted his hand up, now holding a large, complex, mechanical ring, with a large gap on one side where it had come appart to be removed. The Houndoom fell to the ground totally dead.

"What're you doing with the old man and his rat?” asked the third voice.
"Sent him back to base for Lucius. Once his story's checked out we'll probably wipe him and do something about his house.” the “doctor” gestured to the burning mess infront of them.
"Why bother?” asked the first, and then added tennatively, “We could just... kill him.”
"As much as the higherarchy agrees with that sentiment, experience preaches that a string of deaths can be rather bothersome...” he had finished, but when the other men seemed unsatisfied he added, “It's cheaper to rebuild his house and memory than to erase all records of his existance. And if you've got any worries about his memory remaining I'm sure Lucius can put your mind at rest...”

[Darien Shields]

Gah. Computer woes. I won't tell you the full story, but lets just sway I lost half the chapter. Which is why I post only half the chapter now. I thought I would rather post this than put it in the hands of this machine. I'll post the rest later.

Chapter 5

By the time Enye reached the forest's border the sun was almost finished rising, and flocks of wingull flew out over what appeared to be a bay. It was a truly beautiful sight, the grass sloping down to soft sand and then an azure sea becoming gold where the lower end of the sun dipped into it.

May however, had mixed feelings about this beauty of nature. While they were now out of the forest and from the sounds of things out of the grips of their pursuers, her badly bandaged arm was still bleeding badly, and she had a skull cracking headache not to mention her stomach now felt like a big empty hole blown out of her torso. Enye wasn't much better. As they stood for a moment looking down the hill he wobbled and it appeared that he was having severe problems carrying May's weight. What's more, his beautiful big brown eyes were now half shut, which was actually pretty discountable, since the crack on his right antler was now oozing blood.

Spying a small town by the beach May weighed it's pros and cons. It looked small enough not to have a proper hospital (of which she was developing a phobia), but the right size to have a pokemon centre, which was the best combination she could hope for; they could take care of her needs without being too risky for being connected to those out to get her. With little other choice, she tapped Enye's sides with her heels and pointed at it. He galloped relatively slowly towards it, glad of the downward slope.


By the time they had reached the town their state had deteriorated greatly. May's bandage was dark pink and completely glued to her arm by blood, and her brain seemed to hammer against the wall of her skull. She was bairly even conscious, lying on Enye's head, her left arm weakly gripping his antler to make sure she didn't fall off. Enye was hardly any better, he staggered slowly towards the pokemon centre, shooting harsh looks at gaping onlookers who did nothing to help. As he approached the pokemon centre, the glass doors slid open and he pulled himself towards the desk where a nurse ran round, accompannied by a pair of blissey, ready to help. As he reached the desk he let out a horribly weak cry, and disappeared in a shower of light, reverting to his pokeball, leaving May to collapse on the floor. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the bright white light in the ceiling above her.


May did not know what time it was when she drifted back into consciousness, but she saw the same white light above her. She slowly realised that the aches and pains from all over her body had vanished, and the pain in her arm had greatly subsided. Only her head ache remained, and even it was down to a managable level.

When she tried to move, which she did not for a long while, she found she was restrained, particularly her left arm, and therefor could not. Looking down at her arm she saw that it was in a glass cylinder connected to her soft bed, and it seemed to be filled with some sort of illuminated mist. The rest of her was governed by metal bars painted beige to match the centre's décor.

Looking around she saw a few all-to-familiar medical trolleys and a long, cheap beige curtain, made out of the same materiel as shower curtains running around her in a rectangle, putting her in a large sort of cubicle. This limited her sight to the ceiling, the floor, and her bed. Looking at the former two she guessed that beige tiles were pretty much what she had expected of a pokemon centre. Looking back down at the bed she realised that she had been stripped and redressed in the same clothes. She didn't know whether to feel touched or suspicious.

Not too long after she woke May heard the sound of electronic doors sliding open, and someone walking into the ward, accompannied by the squeaky steps of a pair of chansey. She heard several curtains pulled open before hers. For a brief moment before the person reached her cubicle May's heart jumped at the thought that it would not be a friendly nurse, but her pursuers, having finally caught up with her, now preparing to do some dreadful surgery on her.

If a normal nurse would have surprised her after thinking that, this nurse almost shocked her. She had heard the description of Nurse Joy (perhaps not this particular one, but a relative of hers), before, but was stunned by what met her eyes. Long pink hair cascaded over her back, contrary to the bunched up style she had heard of, and some round the front of her neck, curling up to point back at her beaming face, in which her brilliant blue eyes sparkled like a pair of giant sapphires. And that figure... May didn't know if what she was feeling was envy, because in truth, it was so rare that she felt such a thing.

"Oh, you're awake!” she smiled. Her voice felt like silk on May's ears. The nurse walked over and bent over to May, asking quite seriously (May could tell as the cheer in her voice vanished), “How are you feeling?”
"Oh, um... fine...” May mumbled caught off-gaurd. She was really more prepared to ask questions than to answer them, “My head still hurts.” and then, she added as Joy looked at her with a confused expression, “I had, uh, migrane.” May said, blushing as she had never actually had migrane before and just guessed that this was what it felt like.
"Hmm...” Joy nodded still without a very cheery tone. She lifted the bars holding May down and re-positionned the glass tube so that she could sit. May saw that she was holding the clothes that Jed had washed for her before. Joy followed her glance. “Oh, sorry, I was looking through your bag for ID and found these wet clothes, so I dried them...”
"Thanks.” May said, taken aback by the nurses generosity. 'Jed must have put them back in my bag... not the best for drying really, but I guess I was lucky I didn't leave them to burn' May thought.
"Oh!” May shouted, rememberred, “Where's Enye? I-I mean, where's my...”
"Your stantler's out in our back yard being fed.” Joy nodded happily. “He was in quite a bad state when you got here. Although, nothing compared to you of course.”
"Yeah... we hadn't really eaten in a while...” she trailed off.
"Oh! Of course...” Joy said and walked over to the entrance to the cubicle. May hadn't really noticed, but she had heard the squeaky step of a Chansey walking in. Joy took something from it at the door and walked back holding a white ceramic bowl. “It's my own special Soft Boiled Soup recipe... that is if you don't mind having my home cooking.” she stopped half way through unfolding a bedside table connected to the bed and looked embarrased.
"Oh, no.” May said, sniffing the soup, “smells nice.” the nurse smiled and put it down on the table along with a spoon May hadn't noticed her carrying. Sipping up a spoonful, May's mouth was instantly filled with the most indescribably delicious liquid she'd ever dranks. She gulped it down an exclaimed, “Wow, this really is good” before taking another spoonful, she added, slobbering slightly, “And I don't even like eggs.”
"Well, it's uh, just a little something I cooked up...” Joy blushed.
"Literally.” May said, putting her spoon down for a moment. They both laughed. A small white plastic device on Joy's skirt started to bleep and flash brightly.
"Oh, I've got to go...” she said sounding slightly depressed, “But just press the bell if you need help.” she indicated a button on the side of May's bed, “I'll be back later to see how you're doing later.” she said as she walked out the door.
May was surprisingly sad to see Joy go, but looked forward to seeing her again later. Returning to her bowl of soup, the sad thought struck her, 'This is the kind of thing I should have had a mother to give me...'

~~~~~~


“So, would you like to tell me how you ended up collapsed in my pokemon centre with a bit on your arm that could have cut it off?” Joy asked rather abruptly amid chatter that afternoon when she returned. May sighed. She had been expecting the question, and had hoped to wriggle out, but shrugged, thinking 'what the heck', and recited the story she had told Jed nearly a week ago (She had been asleep much longer than she thought), with details of her escape from his house aswell as some more intimate ones she had left out when talking to Jed, as she didn't feel very comfortable talking to an old stranger. Joy nodded sympathetically and listenned patiently, putting her hand on Malon's left hand when she was getting more worked up.
"If it helps at all...” Joy said, her voice slightly shaken, “I never knew my mother either... she d-” she stopped and corrected herself, “I was a cesarian. She didn't survive.”
"I suppose I was lucky like that...” May nodded grimly, “At least I got to know my mother, but...” she thumped her head with the back of her hand, “I can't remember...”
"I have a feeling you will soon enough though...” Joy said consolingly.
Looking at her watch she proceeded to punch a code into a keybad bellow the glass cylinder which made it stop glowing. She proceeded to open it and then hold her face close to it as the misty substance had not cleared. May couldn't see through and tried to move her arm, but Joy stopped her, placing two fingers further up her arm. She leant back and closed the tube, re-activating it with the keypad bellow. May looked pleadingly to see why she had been stopped.
"Sorry, but it's still cut quite badly, if you took it out now it could start bleeding again.” Joy said and looked at her, eagre for May to understand why she could not allow her.
"Oh, right...” May sighed, then asked, “Umm, is their anythingby I can get for my headache? Not to be a bother but...”
"Ah, sorry, but theirs not much I can do... it'll die down in time...” she patted May on the shoulder and then stood up from her seat and started tending to May's pillows. May enjoyed being fussed overf, but would have prefered something for her headache, as it was the only of her pains still pressing. “I used to have a friend like you...” Joy said dreamilly. May wanted to know what she meant by “like you”, but Joy went on, “It always got him in trouble. He never meant it but...” May went to ask what “it” was, but found it harder than it sounded, openning her mouth to find no sound coming out. When she finally managed to stutter, “What do you mean”, they both were distracted by the sound of the doors openning and a clatter of something on glass. This was followed by the sound of something walking along the corridor, pulling curtains as it went. Joy and May exchanged confused glances, before Enye appeared under the curtain of her cubicle, several curtains draped round his antlers. May and Joy giggled profusely. Enye marched up and bleated quietly, apparantly demmanding attention. May stroked his head with her left arm, slightly awkward as Enye was on her right hand side.
"I'm sorry, I should have let him see you sooner...” Joy mumbled.
"Oh its alright, I only woke up this morning anyway...” May smiled, “Sorry about the curtains.”
"Oh that's alright, they're cheap things, broken nearly every other day...” Joy smiled. “He really is quite a remarkable stantler. Aside from being Shiny, his face is much morel ike an ordinary deer... brown eyes, small nose...”

May had heard the word Shiny before, especially since she wanted to be a pokemon breeder, but never made the connection with Enye. Looking at him adoringly she realised Joy was right, he was a Shiny Pokemon. It made her feel strangely proud.

"He's looking pretty good, I guess this was the first time he was really well-fed in nearly ten years...” May blushed.
"Oh, about his pokeball, I did a little research, and it's not a Silph type, not a registerred one anyway. I think, from what you said though, it vastly projects the normal stasis field of a pokeball; he seems to have been well fed up until the time you released him, which would only make sense if you're lying, which I know you're not...”, she winked. It was the first time May felt really confident that someone believed her story., “... or he was well fed up until the last time he was recalled, and then didn't change much.”
"That would also explain why he's still young”, she nodded, “Pokemon grow pretty quickly, and from the memories I have, I remember him being about this size before.”
"Oh, you haven't had anything else to eat yet...” Joy said guiltilly, “Theirs not much here except my soup really... I could go out and get something if you like.”
"Oh no!” May shook her head, “Your soup's great.” 'and', she thought secretly 'I don't want to be left alone...'


A short while later, both girls (and Enye who refused to leave, or let Joy remove the white shower-curtains from his antlers) sat together drinking soup and chatting together. May had to wonder if Joy would do this with all her patients, and got the feeling that she would not, but was then reminded, that she didn't have many patients, and even fewer over night ones.

As it turned out, the pokemon centre doubled as the town (Moscleft) hospital, although Joy described it as a health clinic. If their was a real epidemic, they'd have to be driven round the southern tip of the forest to the hospital May had escaped from. Apparantly, despite the size of the ward they were in, their was only one regeneration device (“The tube round your arm” as Joy explained), the rest of the beds would be taken in an emergency by people waiting for more qualified doctors to come.

Moscleft sounded to May like a rather interesting place. Not only did it have a gym, something she had not noticed from the forest, but a breeding centre. As Joy explained, the town had pretty much everything, except a population; all the structures were really built for people on holiday at the beach and were desolate the rest of the year. It did sound, though as if it would have everything May needed for a while.

She began eagrly planning what she would do after her recovery, deciding that she could stay in town for a while and scope out the sights. Joy, who became less encouraging when talk turned to leaving, did, however offer to show May around, and give her some help with the town and show her where to get everything at bargain prices.

This was rather reassuring for May, who, in the following days, grew to greatly respect Joy, and wonder if all Nurse Joys were like her. She felt guilty after thinking she might like other Joy's as much. It came as a shock to her to learn that the cheery expression was almost always fake for Joy, that being 'genki' was Pokemon Centre pollicy, and she had to be, and act sympathetic whenever anything bad happened. She was quick to add though, that it was genuine with May. May seemed, however to already know this... She felt very sure of Joy's feelings most of the time, but just guessed that that was what it was like with all people you got to know. She could always tell when her father lied, or what he was feeling.

Her father... May talked to Joy about him a lot. She was really worried about him, coping on his own. She was even more worried about what those doctors might have done to him... Joy informed her that neither her disappearance, nor the burning down of Jed's house had appeared in any papers or news channels, but everyone in the town confirmed that their had been a fire in the forest, although they didn't know where.

More worrying still was the idea that she was still being chased. More than once she mistook Joy's lone foot steps for that of her pursuers, and Joy found her huddled under her sheets, trying to hide. She had asked a dozen times in three days if anyone had been looking for her, and was almost unsatisfied with Joy when she said no, but she knew in her heart, that for some reason, Joy wouldn't lie to her.


And so, one week after her awakenning, Joy declared May fit enough to be out of bed, althgough she had placed her arm in a cast without letting May see it. “You never look at a painting before it's finished, or a woundd before it's healed”, she would say, although May was annoyed at the somewhat patronizing tone, but the fact that she was finally up and out of bed was good enough. It felt essential to her to be able to run if she had to.

Joy had advised taking it slow at first so she could get used to the cast, so she volunteered to spend her day off showing her “the sights” of Moscleft, which as it turned out, was a buddhist temple, a cliff face and the beach, which was actually rather depressing, because May could not go anywhere near the water with her cast.

However, Joy made it up to her by taking them back through “Trainers Meadow”, to put it simply, a meadow where pokemon trainers came to train their pokemon. It was a beautiful thing to see in the afternoon sun, even though it looked “unkempt” with tall grass and yellow dandylins everywhere, May thought of it was wild and untamed, slightly, she chuckled, like herself.

"Go, Enye!” she shouted, tossing forth her noble pokemon.
"Leee!” he shouted as he emerged from an explosion of light.
"I don't see any trainers around...” Joy murmured, “Considerring his level you might just want to battle wild pokemon.”
"Yeah I thought so...” May nodded, trudging through the grass, “What is he? I pegged him as about level eight before...” May thought back to Enye's performance in battle. While he was indeed, courageous and noble, he was rather pathetic, his only real contribution being a leer attack.
"Eleven according to the computers.” May nodded, “He probably went up a notch after that battle. Even if he got beaten up, he could still learn...”
"Yeah...” May nodded, “Hey, what's that?” she peered through the grass. Enye had taken the lead and was proudly marching forth, but May had just spotted something move in the grass ahead.
"Hold up Enye.” she whisperred. Looking down she confirmed her suspicions, an orange streak, partially hidden in the grass, indicated Wurmple. She pointed at it silently. Enye nodded.
"Tackle attack!” she yelled abruptly. Enye charged towards the insect, antlers down.

The formerly still orange line straightenned up instantly, and shot a white line out of it's mouth towards Enye. May barely noticed this before Enye yelled and went tumbling forward, apparantly tripped. He awkwardly rolled over, his antlers slamming down onto the catterpillar, who had not expected his attack to back fire so. A few moments later both Pokemon pulled themselves awkwardly to a stand, panting.

May growled angrilly at how the small bug had managed to outsmart her. Hearing a giggle behind her she whipped round only to find Joy standing to military attention. She couldn't hold back a chuckle. Turning back to the battle she saw both pokemon still standing off, neither wanting to make the first move.

"Enye, Leer!” she called, reaching into her bag.

Enye's eyes glowed red and he frowned at the catterpillar. May could see it quiver, but it didn't seem any less determined. She bit her lip, 'I can't get it from there...' She did not issue another command to Enye, although he gave her a sideways glance, as if pleading for instruction. He stepped back awkwardly. At that moment the other pokemon became an orange blur, speading through the grass. It rocketted up out, and smacked into Enye's face like a missile. Enye was left looking rather embarrased, with a Wurmple attached to his nose.

"Yes...” May whisperred, chucking the pokeball she had prepared at it. Just before it impacted, the Wurmple fell from Enye's face, wriggling slightly, but clearly winded. May's pokeball bounced off Enye's still embarrased face and landed in the grass, where the definate sound of a pokemon compacting eminated. “Yahoo!” May said, raising her arms in celebration, then, quickly clutching at her cast in pain as she was reminded of her injury. With much more restrain she wandered forward and retrieved the red and white pokeball. She was surprised to feel it try and jump out of her hands as something bounced around inside it. She increased her grip and after a few moments in subsided. The pokeball let out another sound that May had forgotten to wait for, this time indicating the succsesful capture of a pokemon. “Nice work Enye!” she patted her pokemon, who, underneath the white fur, was now becoming quite red in the face.
"Congratulations May, you just caught your first pokemon.” Joy smiled, hugging May.


May found sleep quickly that night, back in the pokemon centre bed. “It's always empty anyway, and while you've got the cast I can still keep it on the budget.” Joy had reassured her. Other nights when she had done nothing but sit all day she would toss and turn (as much as the regeneration tube clamped to her arm allowed her) into the small hours before finally getting to sleep, but with the thoughts of her capture in her head she was asleep in minutes...


'Where are you?' came a heavy voice.
May, looked around. The voice did not seem to come from any of the fantastic Chansey or Blissey she had been breeding in her dream, and she was very confused to see them all disappear.
'Where are you? echoed the voice, now more like her father, Tam'.
May walked around the changing landscape. It was not like her normal dreams.. Normally she would get spaced out pictures, hoping from place to place, with only sound being constant, but now she seemed to be free to roam the landscape, which was constantly resculpting itself. It had, rahter abruptly, when the voice started, become a forest, and now the trees were spacing out and turning into cows... some were Miltank... It was like her home, a farm, in some ways, but with large innacuracies. She walked towards a fence that looked very familiar. 'I used to tie messages to friends here...' she thought, and instantly noticed a white piece of paper tied to the fence. She uncoiled it immediatley and read it.
'Where are you?
-D'
it read.
"Where are you?” came a voice from behind.
May turned round to see her father standing on what was now a ploughed field. In the distance she could see giant mashmallow-like spheres descending and forming into mountains.
"Malon... I'm worried... please come home...” came her fathers voice, strangely parted, “If you just tell me where you are I can come and pick you up... Where are you?”
May looked at him again, and was surprised to find that he was nolonger bald. The missing patch of hair had been replaced with greasy blond hair. Looking down she saw that while he was wearing the right clothes, the man in front of her was nolonger fat, like her father.
"Argh!” he shouted, in a much higher voice.
A hand was now clamped over his face. The hand was wearing a leather glove. What she could see of the face was now nothing like her fathers. The man, no, boy, he couldn't be much older than May, she thought, was now panting heavilly. He made another unclear exclamation and disappeared.
May was nolonger standing, but sitting, in a white room with a curtain surrounding her. It took her a moment, panting, to realise that she was now awake, in her room in the pokemon centre in Moscleft city. Her panting slowly developed into a cough, and when she finally managed to dislodge the source, she put her finger in her mouth to determine it. Removing it, even in the dark room, she could see the distinct crimson hue of blood.

[GeneChildMewtwo]

Is it just me, or are these guys kind of like an evil Men in Black? Hmmm...

Well, at least May has a small break from being pursued, and gets a chance to heal. Although, I didn't know Pokemon Centers could heal people, but I'd imagine that since Pokemon and People are always together, that Nurse Joys and such are trained in medical techniques for both people and their pokemon partners.

Well, I have a feeling that those men are still hot on May's trail. I wonder what will happen in the next chapter. (Or the next part of this one really.) Until next time. Keep it up! :wave:

[DannyBoy]

Well, you must have been in a writing frenzy today. I finally caught up with all thous chapters. Poor May is getting worse. I hope Nurse Joey can do something to help her. I can't belieave the doctor sent guys on motorcycles after her. Something must be really wrong with her for him to do that. Stantler is really strong to along with that Raichu. Tha man was very nice letting May stay with him. Well good length and description, Keep it up!


Edit: I just read the rest and its very good. That was creepy with the voice of her father then not being her father. Very spooky right there, I wonder if she will go back now. Then with her coughing blood. She better go so she can get help!

[Darien Shields]

Back from Japan. Badness occured when trying to move stuff from Japanese Laptop to my PC, so forgive late and badness. I decided rather than fixing the plot badness and stuff I'd just move on...

Chapter 6

"Malon..." May said the word, "my mother called me that..."
"It's nice... Malon." she smiled, then shook her head, looked slighlty shocked, "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"No, I don't mind you calling me it. It's almost the same as my name anyway..." she shrugged. 'Dad was Talon, and I was Malon... and my mother was...', her memory clouded again.
Seeing how worked up May was getting Joy patted her on the back, saying, "Come on, lets go out. Theirs not much you can do about your dreams anyway."
"No..." May said, getting up, "It was a good dream though! Fun!" she laughed, "I was a great pokemon breeder, with lots of Chanser and Blissey!" for some reason she chose not to mention that Joy was in her dream too, but from the expression on the nurses face she got the bizarre idea that she had been in her dream too.
"Yeah, I always have fun dreams in summer too..." Joy smiled. "Oh, so what do you want to do today?"
"Thought I'd get some training in this morning, maybe go to the breeding centre this afternoon." May rubbed the elbow of her bad arm.
"Alright." Joy agreed, "I have work today, but come in at two and we'll have lunch."
"Suresure." May nodded, slightly dis-hearted to realise that now she was recovering she would not spend as much time with Joy.
"I'll leave you to get dressed then." Joy walked off, "Good Luck with your training, Malon."


"Kemu, String Shot!" May orderred her newly named pokemon.

It obeyed, and with the same precise aim it had displayed fighting Enye, snared a fleeing pidgey in the air. Reeling it back in as it began to fall from the sky the catterpillarreared up for a tackle attack, not pre-empting May's orders as she liked to think, but opperating on it's own.

"Tackle!" she finished.

Kemu hopped at the Pidgey and tried to dig it's horn through the feathers of the oponnent. A moment later the bird collapsed, unconscious. Enye, who had been fighting before his oponnent tried to flee, champed from the sidelines.

"Good job Kemu." May complimented her pokemon. It had taken most of the morning to tame it, the first time she released him he tried to make a break for it, before she commaneded, "Return", forcing him to revert back to a pokeball. Now, however, he seemed to be enjoying being on the winning side more often. He still didn't answer to May's nick name.

May glanced at her pokegear, 12:55, over an hour until she had to meet Joy. She fished her notebook out of her bag and openned it. She reviewed what she had scribbled so many weeks ago.

"B-fly+B-free"

Looking at her proud Wurmple she sighed. While he may be very proud of himself, he was no Beautifly. Replacing the note book May mumbled, "No sign of a Caterpie anyway..." She abruptly looked up after being quite painfully poked by Enye's antler in a rude area.

Before she could shout at him in annoyance she realised he was pointing out something as she had done the previous afternoon. She looked closely for a moment and then frowned at him. He continued pointing and so she looked again. Something moved, slowly, and then she noticed a pair of pink feelers sticking up from the grass. Looking down she realised what she had dismissed as a clump of grass was actually the body of a Catterpie. Celebrating quietly she pointed and nodded to Enye, giving him the okay to attack. Enye proceeded, quietly, excercising more caution than he had yesterday. When he was quite close he began charging, eyes still fixed on the catterpie, determined not to be hit by it's attack. But a yard short of it he found himself crashing down anyway. Moaning pittifully he turned his head to see behind him, a stringshot tripwire, carefully set up.

"Pipipi!" yelled the Caterpie, and seemed to May for a moment, to be flying away backwards, before she realised it was retreating up a stringshot cord leading to the nearby tree.

"Leer!" May orderred, not eagre for Enye ot embarrase himself again.

Enye glared at the Catterpie, but as he was still trying to lift himself out of the long grass it did not have much affect. Before he could get up, the green worm coiled upwards and shot another string line into the branches of the tree above. Then, yanking down, it brought an already constructed net of string shot down onto Enye, who wept in annoyance as he became glued to the ground.

"Damn, I guess it really does pay to come prepared." May grumbled, "Kemu stri-"

Kemu had attacked even before May said his name, firing a small poison needle from it's horn it cut the caterpie's string shot and thus forcing it to fall painfully to the ground. Then he charged forth, slicing the trip wire that had nailed Enye with his horn, and then using it to ram the caterpie. The other catterpillar had managed to move slightly our of the way and was only grazed. Kemu ended up banging into the tree, where he got his horn stuck, but continued to wave his tail around, flailing at the catterpie with the pair of horns he had there.

May, recognising the opportunnity decided to try a capture now, before Kemu nocked the other bug unconscious. "Pokeball, Go!" she yelled, tossing another red and white pokeball towards her prey. The caterpie moved to avoid the oncoming ball, but was not fast enough, and in a moment was sucked up inside. May recovered the pokeball, interested to see it was not shaking much like Kemu's. It very quickly produced the solid capture sound.

Rather than celebrating, May sighed, setting about the difficult task of freeing her pokemon from the predicements they were now in. It was easy to remove Kemu's horn from the tree, but the string-shot net around Enye had seemed to melt into place, and was much harder to remove.

~~~~~~~~~

And so, at approximatley quarter to two, May trudged into the pokemon centre, followed by Enye who still had traces of web on his antlers. Her two new bug pokemon were compacted into their pokeballs and strapped to the side of her belt. Looking around she spotted Joy, predictably, at the counter, talking to a male teenage trainer.

"So, ah, how did you become interested in being a nurse?" he asked, with a rather goofy expression on his face.
"Tradition." Joy said cheerilly, "My mother, and hers before her, and all my relatives... it's the done thing."
"Ah, yes, I'm the same, my father and his father before him, and well, everyone I know, trained pokemon from the age of ten..."

May sighed and shook her head. She walked over to the waiting area and lent against a pillar. Enye followed and she scratched behind his neck, deliberately pressing the pokeball button there, which she had discovered a short while ago. She grabbed the pokeball that Enye had shrank into and clipped it to her belt. Then she turned back to Joy's conversation grinning. This guy obviousley didn't have a clue.

"... but how does training pokemon help you become an accountaint?" Joy asked, after having heard how all the boy's ancestors had become pokemon trainers, then accountants.
"Well." he grinned, "I'm going to get a lot of fame from being a trainer-" May snorted, looking at the one pokeball and one ultra ball on his belt, and then the display that showed Hypno, level five, and Wurmple level four on the wall behind Joy, "and that will go back to the name of my dad's accountancy firm, so when I do become an accountant I'll be in a pretty famous firm with lots of business."
'Yeah, except all your ancestors wanted to become pokemon trainers, but screwed up and ended up having to be accounants.' May mused.
"That's very interesting." Joy lied.
"So..." he grinned again. He seemed drastically unaware that his "grin" looked like the expression small children use when told they are having peas for dinner. "You want to have lunch?"
'Yes, I'm starved, so I'll just go off and eat... Oh, you meant with you? Oh, oh god no, I couldn't eat a thing with someone like you in the building.' May laughed, making her own response for Joy.
"Oh, sorry, but I have a lot of pokemon to heal." Joy tilted her head.
"Oh, that's fine, I like helping pokemon." the boy repplied.
"Ah, sorry, you need to be employed by the pokemon centre to go into the wards..." Joy lied again.
'You need to be employed by the pokemon centre, or you know, human.' May struggled to keep a straight face as she thought to herself.
"Oh well..." he sighed, really dishearted, "Would you like to see me after you're done working tonight?" he said.
'You know, most people would say "Can I see you after you're done working today?" This guy really doesn't have a clue...' May shook her head again.
"Sorry, but I'm working late..." May said, trying to sound sad.
"Oh well, I'll be in tommorrow I expect..." he walked towards the door, "But not for my pokemon." he winked. May couldn't help herself. She burst into histerics. The boy gave her an odd look and marched out.
"Not your type?" May smirked as Joy walked over to her.
"No...", Joy shook her head, "Not exactly." she said sarcasticly.
"Hey, it's not quite two yet, can I get my pokemon healed?" May asked, starting to unhook the pokeballs from her belt.
"Sure, sure." Joy nodded, and they walked back towards the reception desk, Joy walking behind it.
"Hello! Welcome to our Pokemon Centre. We can heal your Pokemon to perfect health. Shall we heal your pokemon?" Joy asked, barely managing to keep a straight face.
"Yes..." May giggled, placing her pokeball in a white tray Joy provided.
"Ooh, what did you catch?" Joy said cheerilly as she placed the pokeballs in the healing machine.
"A Caterpie." May smiled, "Mind telling me what gender it is?"
"Sure..." Joy looked at various readouts on the machine as it vibrated loudly, "Female."
"Brilliant." May grinned.
"What have you got planned?" Joy asked, returning the tray of pokeballs.
"Oh, you just wait and see..." May replied, clipping the pokeballs back onto the belt of her skirt. "So..., Lunch?"
"Yeah, I know this great place where they feed pokemon too." Joy filed some things and moved off, "Just let me get changed..."
"Oh..." May said, taken aback. She realised she had never seen Joy wearing anything but her nurses uniform, "Hey, and Lunch is on me, I'm making a killing beating pokemon trainers."

~~~~~~~~

"I think they're starting to regret having "All you can eat" for the pokemon..." May laughed as her Caterpie sucked another leaf up into it's feet, and Enye started digging into another tomato, getting more red juice all over his once white face.
"I think they're more worried about the amount of food you're taking..." Joy laughed, pointing to May's plate, which was now stacked magikarp sticks, fries, and onion rings.
"Heh, I suppose so..." May sighed, looking over at Joy. She still couldn't get over what she was wearing.
Her white blouse had been swapped for a sleeveless white T Shirt with a large up arrow around the chest. It was the only white thing she was wearing. Black knee socks climbed up but were still a foot short of the scarilly short black skirt she was wearing. To top it off, a black leather jacket with a wide collar was now wrapped around the back of her chair as she had found it too hot. May almost expected to see her light up a cigarette before jumping onto a motor cycle.
"I still think your soup's better..." May noted as she chomped on another magikarp stick.
"You can't eat it every day..." Joy shook her head, "Even if it is as delicious as you claim, you'd end up all fat with all that egg, not to mention what you've got heaped on that plate."
"Hey, I walk around training all day, how much exercise do you get sitting behind a reception desk?"
"I have pretty vigorous hobbies." Joy said leaning back in her chair.
"I see that..." May said, "I never pegged you as such a rebel."
"Heh, you know, what is it they say..." she paused, "Never trust the quiet ones?"
"Amen to that." May laughed, returning to her food.
Joy delicately picked up her fork and skewered another letuce leaf, doused in sesame seed oil and carefully brought it to her mouth. While her actions seemed to betray her outfit, May had the funny feeling that Joy wasn't just wearing the clothes because she wanted to be tough, but their was something about her, something different that she wasn't telling her. She was quite sure, aside from anything else, that no other nurse Joy dressed like this.
"Is Joy your first name?" May asked abruptly.
"No..." Joy said, dreamy again, "Second. Although you're the first person who ever cared to ask."
"Oh..." May said blushing.
"I am, believe it or not, Joyce Joy. Some damn doctor thought it was "appropriate"...Nice to meet you Malon." she shook May's hand, laughing. She had taken to calling May Malon all the time now, it made May feel happy in some distant way.

~~~~~~

"Excuse me?" Said a polite male voice from May's right, "You need a breeders license to use this facility." he said curtiously, thinking May just a rookie trainer.
"Oh, I've got one..." May slipped her license out of her bag, still slightly awkward as she was used to carrying it on her right shoulder, but could not with her arm still in bandages. She felt slightly cautious of showing anyone but Joyce her identity, incase it might be tracked, but she felt that this guy could be trusted, and at least, wouldn't be filing her name much, really just checking her license.
"Oh, sorry..." he said, "We usually get more adults in here."
A thought ocurred to May, "Does Joyce Joy ever come in here?"
"Who?" the boy, he looked about sixteen, May guessed he was taking a part time job here.
"Nurse Joy." she frowned.
"Oh, her? You mean the nunrse that wears all that black getup?" he seemed to understand.
"Yeah." May nodded.
"Why'd you want to know?" he asked.
"No reason..." May trailed off... "What are you're rates?"
"Uh, we charge one hundred yen a day per pokemon mam'." he replied, "You need to put bands on your pokemon so that we know how long they've been here. If we find pokemon without bands we kick 'em out." he said, presenting May with a pair of blue rubber bands not unlike watch straps.
"Okay." May replied, taking the bands from him.

She proceeded through the blue double doors. Beyond was a bigger reception area, with a few shops selling Tidal Herbs, Carbos, Breeder Guides, and "Love Potions", or so the posters advertised. May rolled her eyes and followed signs for "forest enviroment." They led her out to a sort of courtyard section of the building that was filled with trees and bushes and other smaller plants, as well as the wild animals you would find in any forest. It was chillingly similar to the forest May had ran through with Enye a few weeks ago...

May shuddered and unleashed her two bug types, eagre to forget her experience. Kemu came out bravely, looking around, but Caterpie looked rather sheepish, quickly crawling under a leaf and rolling herself up into as close to a ball as she could. May sighed and mumbled, "You work on that." to Kemu, who seeing Caterpie was deadly scared of the forest crawled over and nudged her with his horn. May shrugged and walked out, deciding to 'leave them to it.'

Looking at her watch she confirmed it was only three ten. She sighed and looked down at Enye's pokeball. 'So what do you want to do now?' she asked her concealed pokemon and decided bleakly that she could only really train or go back to the pokemon centre.

~~~~~~

"Headbut!" May ordered.

Enye brought his antlers down hard onto the horns of the oposing Tauros. The bull pokemon took a few steps back before pushing forward to bring them to a stand still. Both pokemon's feet dug into the ground.

"Tackle attack!" ordered the young boy opposite May. His pokemon growled angrilly, unable to comply. "Umm, Tail Whip!" he changed his mind.

Tauros misinterperated his commans, and lashed his own behind with his three tails. Then, with a pant he reared up a few inches, preparing to charge, "Enye, dodge!" May commanded in the nick of time. Her stantler adeptly reversed away from the Tauros as it made to ram him, charging instead towards May.

Jumping out of the way May escaped with only a tear to the side of her T Shirt, then she angrilly commanded, "Finsih him with a Tackle!"

Enye gladly obeyed, succesfully ramming the bull with his antlers down. The tauros gave a faint sound of indignance then collapsed, reverting to his pokeball. "Aww man!" the trainer grimaced, slowly retrieving his pokemon, mumbling, "I can't believe I got beaten by a girl."

"Hey, hey, money!" May demmanded, quick to make sure that she got her due. It wouldn't have been the first time that day that someone had ran off without paying her.

The boy groaned and then slowly dug out three thousand yen from his wallet.

"Next time maybe you'll be more careful with how much you bet." May grinned, eagrely stuffing the money into her own wallet.

The boy walked off towards the pokemon centre, his head hung low. May looked around and then sighed, returning Enye to his pokeball. Looking at the large hole in the side of her T Shirt May moaned, "This'll cost more than three thousand yen to replace." Waiting until the boy was completely out of sight May started trudging towards the pokemon centre once more.

~*~*~

May walked into the pokemon centre moments after seeing the boy she had just defeated walk out. She had tried to avoid him, and was thankful when he didn't notice her, his eyes to low on the ground. Inside the pokemon centre was the same as usual, completely desserted except for Joyce, who stood diligantly smiling behind the counter.

"Malon!" she said brightly, then more worried, looking at her, "What happenned to your T-Shirt?"
"Ah nothing... That little brat's Tauros couldn't control it's damn self and nearly hit me..." May mumbled. "Can I get changed in the ward?"
"Feel free. Do you need any help, you know, with your cast?" Joy asnwered.
"No, I'll be fine." May headed for the ward in which she had awakenned over a week ago.

She saw a pair of chansey walk by as she went in, and their was a large rosey blissey inside attending to a beedrill who's limbs all seemed to have been re-attached with bandages. May headed for her cubicle and fished a fresh T Shirt out of her bag.

It was a frustrating loss for a trainer. She only had three sets of clothes to start out with, and they were rapidly fading with the amount of harsh washes they had taken, combined with the wear and tear of day to day training. Now she was down a T Shirt, with only one and a blouse left. She grumbled and left the ward, thinking to ask Joyce where she could buy a replacement.

"... I've never seen anyone like that, and never heard the name May Lon." came Joyce's voice loudly from round the corner.

May caught a glance of the doctor who had wanted to perform surgery on her and a pair of suits before ducking close to the opposite wall, moments before he looked her way to investigate the openning and closing of the ward door. May listenned to their conversation, trying to hold her breath as best she could.

"Well, if you get any reports from Trainers about anyone of this description please allert us immediately." the doctor said. He sounded arrogant to May, not at all like he had been in the hospital. She felt this was more like his "true self."
"Why did you say you wanted her?" Joyce asked sweetly and naively as if she had no idea what was going on.
"I didn't." said the doctor, with a slight angry shakiness to his voice, as if the concept of a nurse Joy asking him a question was something to infuriate him.
"Surely it will help to find her..." Joyce said, trying to sound sincere.
"If you must know..." the doctor spat, turning away, "she's an escaped psychiatric patient who kidnapped a pokemon and killed someone in her escape."

May gasped in horror. How many people were being sold this story? Did anyone believe it? Did Joyce believe it...? She listenned to the doctors steps as he walked towards the door, then turned around. Both sets of eyes fell on a strand of May's auburn hair that had fallen to the ground just infront of the corner. May heard the doctor hum to himself then leave. She waited for a few minutes before running into the room towards Joyce.

"They know I'm hear!" May said, her eyes welling up with tears.
"It's okay, it's okay..." Joyce hugged her reasuringly, "I have a pretty good idea of what to do..."
May looked up at her (Joyce was a clear six inches taller) in curiosity, then asked, "You don't... Believe them do you?"
"No-oh..." Jot laughed, "I believe you, and I believe you're perfectly sane, now come on and get your bag, I have a plan..."

~*~*~

A few short hours later May and Joyce stood in front of May's small green tent, hunched into a corner outside the pokemon centre. It had been good fun constructing it, although they both knew they hadn't done a very good job, but it was just temporary. Joyce had explained in detail how the vents from the centre were here, so even at night it would stay warm, and was well out of the way, and could easily be hidden behind a dumpster, etc.

"No place like home." May grinned, laughing.

[Serria]

Look, Dari! *waves* It's me, Meowth. Okay. May/Malon *is* sane, so you haven't quite explained to us why the "doctors" want her.... mind, I think I do know, but... am I just being impatient? By the way, I love the "Joyce Joy" bit. Heh. Joy is really enhancing the plot. Stories ought to have at least one "sub-plot", that might wrap up into the main idea. Excellent, again.

[DannyBoy]

That was a good chapter. May is starting to catch, train pokemon. and battle. She seems to be getting a little better and the doctor is still after her. I wonder why he is saying that she killed somebody. I hope nurse Joy helps her out! keep it up!

[GeneChildMewtwo]

So, May gets a taste of normal life again, at least for a little while. But now that those men are on to her trail again... I wonder what will happen.

Also, the Rebelious Nurse Joy is a nice touch.

Well, I don't have much to say for now, but Keep up the good work. :wave:

[Darien Shields]

Hey! Page 2! Man, this is the first time since... did Eeveelution have two pages? Maybe first time ever! Thank you to everyone who replied, now lets start moving forward towards page three, Mwahaha!

Chapter 7

“Malon!” came the sweet voice.

May groaned and looked around. She was almost surprised to see the green fabric wall of her tent. She was more surprised to see Joyce's head poked through the front, strands of her sugarry pink hair falling through the zip, most of it still outside.
“Wha...” May said dozilly.
“Oh, thank god your okay...” Joyce sighed, “I got into the pokemon centre this morning and it had been torn upside down, they had come looking for you I guess... I thought they might have found you.”
“What time is it?” May replied, not taking in what Joyce had just said.
“It's half five in the morning. Did you hear what I just said Malon?” She frowned.
“Why the heack are you at work at half five?” she moaned, “Who needs pokemon healed at this time?” she stretched her arms.
“I, uh, wanted to check you were alright...” she blushed.

May looked at her, waking up completely for the first time. Everything Joyce said sank in slowly.

“They broke into the pokemon centre?!” she exclaimed.
“Ye... Yes” Joy said, slightly embarrassed for May.
“Was anyone hurt?” she said, concerned.
“Some pokemon were injured, but they're recoverring now. The place is a tip though...” she sighed.
“Alright, I'll help get it cleared up.” Malon said determinately, standing up out of her sleeping bag. It took her a few moments to realise she wasn't dressed.
“Gah!” Joyce turned away, blushing. A few moments later her hand came through the front of the tent, holding a black T-Shirt. “Here, I got you this to replace the one that got torn.”
“Oh, thanks!” May said, hastilly putting it on, once more surprised by Joyce's generosity. She realised after she had finished dressing (torn denim shorts and a pair of black tights today) that on it was written, 'Speak to my face, my breasts can't hear you.' in block capitals. She smiled, recognising Joyce's rather distinct sense of humour.

She slipped out of the tent and followed Joyce round the corner towards the doors. It was still dark at this time, with the sun just hinting on the eadge of the horizon at sea, turning the water there gold and orange and yellow. The morning air was cold, and May felt dew collecting on her shoes as she walked. She chatted lightly with Joyce.

“Hey, it just occurred to me...” she said, “Well, not occurred, 'cause it's a question, but, y'know... Is your hair dyed?”
“Nope.” Joyce smiled, “Freak of Nature. I guess everyone in the family is.”
“Yeah, well...” May trailed off as the glass doors slid open.

The pokemon centre as she knew it was gone, hell it was dead, everything was in shambles. The reception desk had had the sides torn off it, and the large recovery machine beside it had a panel removed and the insides smashed, aswell as large portions of the top torn off. The seats had all been torn off of their posts and thrown unceremoniously about the room. Holes seemed to have been punched randomly in the walls, making dents everywhere.

She had almost gotten up the nerve to speak when they enterred the ward and she saw, all the curtains were torn down, and the beds over turned. The trolleys were not all on their sides, but most had been pushed aside and smashed into walls. May sighed as she saw the remaining fragments of the small regeneration unit that had healed her arm. She looked over at the slightly squashed cast, surprised it hadn't been hurting very much today.

“I guess...” she said faintly, “We better get to work...”

They started by returning the beds to their proper position and then while May swept up the remains of everything that had been smashed Joyce hung a new curtain up. Returning to the lobby they decided to temporarilly pile the chairs on one side of the room, while the deal with everything else. Taping up the reception desk with duct tape that Joy produced from some hidden drawer, they decided that the pokemon healing machine was a write-off, and that neither of them had the technical expertese to fix it. They then proceeded to a room further down the corridor that May had never seen before, which appeared to be a store room, where everything had been torn off the shelves. It seemed quite simple, just replacing boxes to shelves and sweeping up anything broken (the boxes had escaped undamaged.) Halfway through the task though, Joyce left may to finish, saying she wanted to get her office cleaned.

Quarter of an hour later, amidst returning the drawers to her now upright desk, Joyce heard a heavy clunk coming from the storage room, and rushed back, her heart thudding. She was slightly reassured to see May still there, but also confused, as she was hunched on the floor, crying, in front of a box she seemed to have been returning to its shelf before she dropped it. As she approached, Joyce realised she was crying.

“What's wrong?” she asked worridly.
“It's... all my fault.” May sniffed.
“Oh...” Joyce slowly understood, “No, it's not, of course it's not.” she said reasuringly.
“It is!” May said fiercly, “If I wasn't here, they wouldn't come looking, and wouldn't smash all your equipment and regeneration machines and...”
“If you hadn't come here your arm would have fallen off, they'd have caught up and caught you and made your life into a living hell.” Joy said with cold hard reason, “Sure the broke some stuff here, but it's all insured, and no-one was hurt or killed. The resources they're spending looking for you would probably be spent on something much more sinister if they had already caught you.”
“You think... so?” May asked, becomning slightly convinced.
“Even if I was wrong...” she smiled, “Do you think you would make anything better by crying?”
“Heh, I suppose I should get back to work...” May smiled, wiping a tear from her now very red face.

She went back to work, strangely reminded of the last time she had cried like this, and felt a good deal more 'adult' now, even though it had only been a few weeks ago. She wasn't sure if it was just her mind playing tricks, but she could swear she was an inch taller now.

~*~*~

Several hours later they emerged from the pokemon centre, deciding that it was no good trying to work inside, since it would be tw days before someone came to repair the recoverry machine. They left a note on the door, reading Joyce's cell phone number for emergencies and explaining that it had been damaged by vandals. Joy's white skirt was now addorned with four pokeballs, two chansey, two blissey, which, despite the fact they belonged to the pokemon centre rather than her, it was still their pollicy for the most senior member of staff (Joyce was the only member of staff) to take them if the centre were to close.

“So, where do you want to go?” Joyce asked May.
“Don't you ever want to go anywhere?” may asked in reply. She did have places she wanted to go, but was by now curious of Joy's interests.
“My apartment...” Joy laughed, “So I can change, I mean.” Otherwise... I dunno...”
“How can you not have anywhere you want to go?” May asked, laughing.
“There are places...” Joyce said, “But you're not old enough, little Malon.” she grinned, running a hand through Malon's hair as if to mess it up, but not getting very far.
“Hey, um you want to take a shower or something, because your hairs getting all sitcky.” she grimaced at her hand, now addorned by several of May's hairs that had fallen off in her hand.
“That's right just break it to me gently”, May laughed, “You might aswell just say I stink!”
“Well now that you mention it...” Joyce laughed.
“Meanie...” May pouted, shoving Joyce playfully.

~*~*~

It was about five to twelve when May sat down in the living room of Joyce's appartment, re-dressed but still towling off her hair. She looked around and assumed Joyce was still getting dressed, as she was nowhere in sight, although she marvelled at how long someone could take to pick out clothes, she herself not having that much more at home than what she had brought with her.

Looking around she got an eyeful of Joy's taste. On the walls were posters for “Placebo”, which May guessed were a band, and the old movie, “Rebel Without a Cause.” The furniture, what their was of it, was pretty upmarket, a pair of black leatehr chairs at the small glass dinner table, and a leather couch infront of the TV which was facing away from the window. May got the picture from the thick layer of dust on one of the chairs that Joyce was used to eating alone. Behind the dinner table, taking up all of the wall that wasn't window, was a book case, filled with various different titles in different shapes and sizes. She walked over and scanned some of the titles.

'A Summer of Muk'
'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'
'Gardevoir's Dance'
'The Hobbit'

The list was endless. May noticed a large section of the bookcase was also dedicated to medical books, presumably ones Joyce used while she was studdying, or, from the looks of them she could still be studying. They were mixed between pokemon and human biology, as well as more complex subjects like genetic engineering and cloning. May's eyes boggled as she gazed at those titles.

“Hey.” came Joyce's voice from across the room.

May turned to see her emerge from her room wearing something that, if possible, made her look even better than yesterday. One leg was coverred by a plain trouser, while a long black skirt coiled around her other leg, obscuring her large black boot. Her pink hair was just above her black crop top which read across the chest, “Who needs men when I've got Chocolate!?” She quickly fetched her leather jacket aswell.

“Did you spend all that time picking out the phrase?” May joked.
“You don't think it was worth it?” Joyce said curiously.
“Oh, no, you look Great, it's just...” she shrugged, “I've never had enough clothes to have a choice.”
“We'll have to do something about that.” Joyce winked, walking towards the window, “Here check out the view.”

May walked over and stood behind Joyce nodding and humming in agreement. Joyce's appartment block was the only one in town, and the tallest building too, even if it was only six floors. It had a brilliant view of the bay, now in the afternoon light. They could see all the sights of town, the pokemon centre, although it wasn't very comforting, the breeder centre, the gym, the beach and the cliff face.

“It's pretty good...” May said, looking down, but not really at anything particular out the window. “What did you mean, do something about that?”
“Oh, you'll see...” Joy grinned, leading May by the wrist, slinging a bag the same shape and style as May's (only smaller and made of leather of course), over her shoulder.
“Where are you taking me?!” May giggled.

~*~*~

“Here!” Joyce declared, as they walked between the small awnnig covered stalls in the middle of town.
“Here?” May eyed Joyce suspiciousley.
“Here!” Joyce giggled. “Going to get you some clothes!”
“Nnh!” May moaned playfully, “Clothes are heavy, don't want to carry more cloothes!”
“Ah, don't be silly you've got a big stong stantler to carry your clothes, now look at these!” she pointed at a stand selling black T Shirts.
“Hm.” May said, thinking of what Joyce said about Enye, before being dragged off to look at clothes.

~*~*~

And so at five past three May emerged from the open-air market wearing a brand new, gorgeous pair of high-heal red shoes, “They compliment your hair.” Joyce had reasured her, draining the last of her trainer-cash. Behind her dragged Enye, with a pair of bags on his antlers which were filled with black skirts and tops etc., etc., looking rather put out.

“Oh, sorry Enye, it's just for a little while...” May stroked his head, “And they can't be nearly as heavy as me.
“Nope, not with all the food you eat.” Joyce joked.
May ignored her and continued talking to Enye, “And you'll get all strong from carrying them too...” she said in a babyish expression that she felt she couldn't help but put on sometimes when talking to him, “Hey, can we go to the gym now?” May asked Joyce, who was strolling along side them, carrying just one bag.
“Uh, I suppose so.” she replied slightly awkwardly as she slipped a black glove onto her left arm. It went up to her elbow, but did not cover her fingers. She continued to rifle through her back, occaisionally lifting other black things out. It was not hard to guess what her favourite colour was. “Sure Enye's ready?”
“Yeah, he learned confusion the other day.” May smiled, stroking Enye with admiration. “And even if not, a loss isn't going to haunt me for life.”
“Hmm, just remember the regeneration machine still isn't up and running.” Joyce warned, “If he gets hurt, we're patching him up ourselves.”
“I'll keep it in mind.” May grinned.

~*~*~

“Do you know anything about the gym leader?” May asked as she removed the bags from Enye's antlers.
“A kid named Bret.” Joyce responded, offerring to take May's bags, “Bit of a space case at times, but alright at training pokemon. Don't worry though, your a girl; you'll beat him.”
“Ha!” May laughed. “Watch me!” she said as she walked deeper into the gym, towards the actual battle ground.
“Oh, I will Malon, I will.” she cooed dreamilly to herself, leaning against a pillar.

May didn't know much about gyms, but she had the strange feeling this one wasn't much by gym standards. It was basicly one big dome, with pillars round a central battlefield which was illuminated by a dozen spotlights. Looking up May saw a large hole cut out of the centre of the ceiling.

“Welcome!” came a slightly high, male voice, from the darkness opposite. A few spotlights repositionned themselves to point at the male trainer opposite.

He had messy black hair that stuck a few inches out of his haid, glasses that weren't too big, but still magnified his grey-blue eyes. He seemed to be wearing a fancy school uniform, a rather simple blue suit, but with hald a dozen pokeballs round the belt.

“My name...” the voice came again, “Is Bret Avin'ion.” as he said it a flock of pidgeons formerly hid behind him flew up and around the grm. May ducked and batted around with her hands until most of the birds had exitted through the hole in the ceiling.
“Heh, don't like birds?” he winked.
“Can we just get it over with?” May asked, getting a bit board.
“Uh...” Bret seemed rather put out that his routine would be cut short. “I suppose so...”
“Is... uh, one on one okay?” May blushed, “I only have one pokemon with me.”
“Heh, that's my speciality...” Bret laughed. He removed a golden-black ultra ball from his belt and threw it up into the air, then caught it before it could fall. “Y' ready?” he asked, grinning. May nodded, “Go Ho-Oh!” he yelled hurling down the pokeball.

May looked on in a confusion thinking, 'Ho-Oh? The legend...?' Out of the pokeball came an explosion of light, from which a glowing white bird rocketted, circling the gym ceiling before it had even started to dim. It then alighted in fron of Bret, and looked rather puzzling. While it had the orange and green wings of the legend, and much of the other colourage, it was only a few feet tall, and the feathers sticking out of it's head were pointy, not curled.
“Had you going there for a minute.” Bret grinned.
“Wha... what is it?” May asked, confused.
“Ah, obviousley you don't know much about the Tsu league.” he said, sounding educated. May heard Joyce sigh somewhere else in the building. “Long ago it was said the Mew, the legendary pokemon, split into two, it's playful cat form that we have heard of, and a great dark wolf. As legend goes, the wolf came here and gaev birth to twelve pokemon kami, shiny ancestors of pokemon races we have today. Pokemon directly from the line of the kami are still shiny, like my Ho-oh here.” he smiled, “It's just a nick name. Anyway, all gymleaders in the Tsu league have one of the kami's descendants. Although they don't have power bordering on what the real Kami had, but they're still better than the average 'mon... So, you ready to go?”
“Oh... Sure.” May shook her head, the legends seeemed quite a revelation to her, but she tried to focus now on the battle at hand. “Go Enye!” she said, tossing down the white enscribed pokeball (she had recalled him as she entered the building.)

Bret gasped when he saw what came out. Enye stood a magnificent five feet tall, and for a moment you could have mistaken him for an actual deer rather than a pokemon, if it werent' for the distinct shape of his antlers and the black spheres inside. He stamped one foor on the ground, causing the fearow, “Ho-oh” to step back a little, looking less confident. Bret mumbled something to himself, but then shouted.

“I'll start then, Ho-oh, Leer!” he called.
“You too Enye!” may responded.

Both pokemon glared at each other for a few seconds, but it was soon clear who was the winner. While Enye was an impressive site, his eyes were soft and, sadly, cute, while the fearow had a beady set that worried May as she looked into them. Enye's eyes grew watery and he blinked, stepping back.

“Great, now peck.” Bret pointed toward Enye, as if his pokemon did not know who to attack.
“Watch out, use Headbut!” May shouted back as Ho-oh sailed through the air towards her stantler.

Ho-oh adeptly pecked Enye square in the fore head, before launching himself off of Enye's antlers. Enye waved his head at the pokemon too late, and then it swooped back in, poking him once more, in the back this time, before flying out of range again.

“Tackle!” May yelled, now frustrated.
“Dodge it!” Bret commanded confidently.

Enye huffed, running towards the fearow that was hovering a few feet away, antlers down. As he approached Ho-oh adeptly flapped away, leaving Enye to dash through a screen of it's feathers. The bird swung round to the other side of the gym, cawing menacingly as if to taunt Enye.

“Fly no-” Bret started but was quickly interupted.
“Astonish!” May yelled louldy.

Enye whinnied slightly as he launched himself off the gym floor, diagonally backwards towards Ho-oh. The flying pokemon almost forgot to flap it's wings when it saw a large stag arching through the air with amazing grace. Forgetting to attack, the fearow was smacked hard in the beak by Enye's antlers as he descended, landing adeptly on the ground, panting slightly. Ho-oh fell to the gym floor in shock, but quickly recoverred itself, flying off as Enye attempted a tackle.

“Fly attack, Now!” Bret yelled fiercly.

May sighed in response, knowing that any attack she could think of would not be carried out quickly enough by her partner. Enye's eyes followed Ho-oh angrilly as it rocketted out of the hole in the ceiling and off into the sky above the gym. Their was a tense moment when nothing happenned, but then May shouted “Headbut!” mere moments before the fearow rocketted thruogh the hole, bearing down on Enye. Quickly Enye drew back his head, and both attacks hit full on, Enye sending Ho-oh crrashign to the ground, but not before it pierced a hole in Enye's fur- the same spot he had pecked before, and it now leaked blood down over his nose. He sniffed angrilly.

“Again!” Bret ordered, seeming to have gotten to grips with himself once more. Ho-oh, however, could not comply, as he was struggling even to hover round the gym. “Grr, Fury Attack then!”
“Headbut, defend!” May cheered, not sure whether thigns were finally going her way.

Enye and Ho-oh fenced with each other, Enye batting away the piercing beak with his antlers, occaisionally knocking the fearow's head, and occaisionally letting a fierce peck dig into his fur, teasing out more trickles of blood. It soon became evident that Ho-oh was better at this though, as Enye's face was becoming rather bloody, and the bird seemed un-deterred.

“Confusion!” May yelled desperately.

Enye reared up on his hind legs for a moment, throwing off the assault from the Ho-oh. The little black orbs on his antlers began to spin and hum quitley. Ho-oh backed off, but kept his eyes carefully on the stantler, eagre to see what he was doing. Enye landed back on his front feet, the spheres now humming loudly. Ho-oh stared at them curiously, and they began to blur, as did all of Enye, then he started seeing double, as if their were two Enye's... And the room began to sway from side to side as if in an earthquake. And the birds head began to ache, as if he hadn't drank for days. In a few moments Ho-oh fell over, unconscious, reverting to a pokeball quickly.

“Alright!” May jumped up. She hurried over to Enye to see if he was okay, and quickly returned him to his pokeball. “I won!” she confirmed, smiling.
“Yeah...” Bret groaned, rerieving the pokeball of his fearow.
“Well done!” cames Joyce's soft voice as she approached. Both trainers looked over too her.
“What're you doing here?” Bret asked sounding slightly snide.
“Did you watch!?” May walked over to Joyce, taking a pair of the bags from her.
“Yeah, you were great, but you couldn't make it look easy, coud you?” Joyce laughed, ignoring Bret.
“Here's you badge.” Bret held out a small rainbow coloured feather made of metal. May quickly swiped it out of his hand and attached it to the T Shirt she was wearing.
“Don't forget your money.” Joyce smiled maliciously at Bret.

He groaned audibly, shovelling ten thousand yen out of his wallet and handing it to May, who took it thanking him. She then looked between Joyce and Bret, who were looking at each other, Bret's eyes cold and resentful, Joyce smiling slightly as if she'd got one up over him.

“Come on.” Joyce said calmly, “We need to heal Enye up.”
“Sure...” May agreed, eagre not to continue to be between the two of them.

______________________

Note: I know Stantler doesn't learn either Head But or Confusion but they seem appropriate to it (especially considerring how few moves it has otherwise.) Don't mind it!

[DannyBoy]

That was a good chapter! May won get first gym battle and she did really good. Thous doctors need some damn help always stalking her. She should get a warrent for stalkin! Anyways it seems like she is having fun and she not feeling that much pain anymore. Maybe her and Joy will go on pokemon quest of some sort or somethin. Keep it up!

[Darien Shields]

Heh, so much for that idea ILX.

Chapter 8

'Where are you?' came the cruel voice.
“What?! Who are you?” May asked, looking around. This time the voice was formless, and she just floated in a white void, the last remnants of her dreams vanished. She became dimly aware that she was dressed all in black.
'You can run and hide as long as you want, but you'll only harm others and cause destruction.'
“No!” Malon screamed, clamping her arms over her ears, “You're lieing!”
'You think you can protect the ones you love? You're just putting them in greater danger.'
“I don't... believe you!” she panted coldly.

But the voice was gone. And the dream was changing. May felt her mind ache in places she had not felt before. The endless white was taking new shape. She was floating severaly feet above the dark ground of a city street, judging by the dark sky it was the middle of the night, however, everything around her seemed to be catching fire, making the place glow orange.

Then she saw her- herself, standing there, on the streets. It confused her for a moment and she had to look to confirm she was still floating seperately from this second her. The second May was wearing the dark clothes that Joyce had bought May just the other day, only they were torn and tattered, burnt in places. She also seemed to have small cuts and bruises in many places, and their were tears running down her face. May noticed, however, six pokeballs on her belt.

May, the first May, who floated and witnissed the scene, noticed that she couldn't hear anything, or feel the heat of the flames. She looked around, trying to see if she was ina familiar place, but stopped short, when she saw a man, a young man, early twenties she guessed, pointing a gun at her, her otherself; the second May. The second seemed completely oblvious to this. The first shouted at her to look out, get away, but she found she had no voice in this ethereal city.

She watched in horror as the young man squeezed the trigger, and her second self saw him for the first time. She openned her mouth, as if to scream, but the first could not here her. She looked on in horror, but then suddenly, someon was pushing her second self out of the way forcably. Their was an explosion of blood as the bullet connected, and then May, the first May saw it...

She saw her, her future self, holding the corpse of Joyce, screaming for her to wake up, to not be dead, but she would not listen, her body was limp in May's soon to be hands. Slowly, everything washed away, and May was left sitting, awake in her tent, shocked by what she had seen.

~*~*~

Even though it was only half six, May decided to get up, and pack, a morbid knowledge that her time here was over. She struggled under the weight of her bag, now stuffed with more clothes than before, she was forced to grin and bear it, hoping that once she was riding out on Enye it wouldn't be so bad.

She dressed in the last of her clothes from home; a yellow t-shirt and short red skirt. She was eagre to avoid the clothes she had worn in the dream, which had a morbid sensation of reallity in it. 'If I can just get out of town...' she thought, 'Get away... then she'll be okay.'

It crossed her mind that she should just give up, and let them capture her, but she knew she had a chance if she kept moving. 'And what if it didn't stop when they caught me?' she began to think, as she walked into town, alone, 'What if they've got to have some revenge for my evasion... what if they still did it?'

She found a small, slightly seedy coffee shop in town where she got a drink, rather cheap. She had never really tried coffee before, and didn't much like the taste, but she needed to stop feeling drowsy. She had the bizarre feeling that everyone in the shop (that was a sum total of three, the bartender (coffee alone was not keeping the shop afloat), a homeless man and one man at the bar.) was looking at her, and muttering to themselves. 'I guess I wanted a polite coffee shop I'd have to par more for the coffee.' she smiled wryly.

Continuing to the other side of town she stopped once to check the map on her pokegear, deciding to head up along the coast and then into the mountains eventually. She proceeded towards the breeding centre, which was thankfully on the correct side of town for her to leave from. She got their quickly, and tried to bypass the front desk so as to make a quick exit, but the boy (the same one as before) stopped her.

“Hey, you're friends with that Nurse Joy, right?” he asked, waving for her to stop,
“Ye-yeah, kind of.” May answerred awkwardly.
“Yeah, she was in here looking for you.” he said in a friendly tone, “Said she stopped by and didn't see your tent- she was pretty worried.”
“Well, if you see her again... tell her I've leaft.” May said shortly, before walking off towards where she had left her bug pokemon. She heard the boy calling after her, but ignored him, walking obliviousley onwards.

She quickly found the forest enclosure, much colder now in the morning, especially since the thick cannopy made it oblivuos to the morning sun. It was pretty dark too, since lumination would be too unnatural for the pokemon. Thus May found it very difficult to find her pokemon. She barely avoided tripping over snoozing zigzaoon. Eventually she heard the soft 'sh' sound of string shots, and followed it to find Kemu and her Caterpie, using the technique on what May guessed was their egg, but wasn't really sure.

At one side she could see the exposed egg, looking much like all other pokemon eggs, but the rest had been encased by an odd cocoon. It was a dark green ovaloid, with three spikes at the top (a forth one seemed to be being developed by the string shots) pointing in opposite directions. Unlike any of the coccoon bug pokemon, it had no eyes. May sighed, and waited for her bug pokemon to finish their lengthy procedure.

A short time later they finished, and did a little joyful dance afterwards. They then turned and noticed May for the first time, smiling as best they could with their insect faces. May smiled, walked over and removing their rubber bands before returning them both to their pokeballs. After clipping them to her belt she picked up the egg cautiously, expecting it to be sticky. It was not, an surprisingly smooth and hard. She held it under her arm and proceeded out.

She reached the reception desk and put the egg down with a thud, not realising how heavy it was. She placed both rubber bands on the desk too and looked at the slightly taken aback boy.

“Uh, you want a ball for that?” he indicated to the egg. “Five hundred yen.”
“Sure.” May said absent mindedly.
The boy fished out a pokeball with a clear upper section (instead of red as usual), then added things up on his fingers, “1900 yen.”

May didn't argue, and just slid a five thousand over the desk, then lighltly tapping the egg with the clear pokeball, it openned up and sucked in the egg, takking on a dark green pattern. May minimised it and attached it to her belt along with it's parents. She absent-mindedly shovelled the change into her wallet and made for the door.

The doors (red double doors to be precise) swung open before May reached them, revealing Joyce, panting slightly and looking quite flustered. She was wearing a plain black blouse and the short black skirt she had worn when they went out to lunh not too long ago, now accompannied by black stockings and a pair of black leatehr boots that crawled up her legs.

“Malon!” she smiled, falling tirelessly on her, hugging her. May did not return the embrace. “What's wrong?” she asked, stepping back.
“I... I have to go.” May said flattly trying to walk round Joyce.
“Why?” Joyce asked shocked.
“I just have to... their's no time to explain.” May made it through the door.
“... I'll come with you then...” Joyce said, following May.
“No!” May shouted, twirling round, giving Joyce a fierce look.
“You... wh- why?” Joyce choked.

Malon stared fiercley at her for another moment, then sighed, un tensing her shoulders. She looked at Joyce again, this time her eyes were filled with tears. “They showed me...” she said, her voice very broken, her throat hurting as she spoke, “...shoed me what would happen if I kept running...” she started to cry, and barely managed to say, “...you... died...” Joyce embraced her once more, but this time May didn't resist, she felt too weak.

“I'm not going to die...” Joyce lammented, “It was all lies...”
“It felt... real” May said, resting her head against Joyce's chest.

Suddenly their was a great exploding sound coming from the other side of town. May and Joyce turned just in time to see a rising column of fire and smoke billowing upwards from an unknown building. They exchanged glances.

“I've got to stop them...” May said determinedly, “I've got to give myself up.”

She released Enye and jumped awkwardly onto his back before he had even dimmed to his snowy white colour. With a clip of her heals he galloped off towards the sight of the explosion.

“Malon!” Joyce shouted desperately, “May! Stop!”

But it was too late, May was out of earshot in a second.

~*~*~

May found the town growing all too familiar, even in flames, as she headed deeper and deeper, towards the epicentre. The fire brigade were struggling to break through the blaze a few hundred yards back- to little avail. They would have been better off putting up blockades to stop people venturing in, as when May passed they could do little more than shout at her to stop.

However, the area seemed to have been evacuated, thankfully, but May felt guilty about all the homes that were burning down. She just hoped the people were insured. She still had the the horrible growing feeling that she had been in this area, and that she new where she was going; where the fire had started.

Enye passed a corner and skidded painfully to a stop, stumbling backwards. May had seen what caused him to stop, a dark collection of figures, standing along the road, quite oblivious to the fire.They approached cautiosley.

May gasped as she took in the scene. Their were three men, the “doctor” from the ho
spital, wearing a black trench coat, and two younger men, wearing similar suits to what May guessed the bikers would have worn (she also guessed that they were two of the bikers.) Beside them was a long seviper, coiling tight around Bret the gym leader. His skin was pail. May also realised that they were standing next to the burnt ruins of the pokemon centre, which seemed to be the site of the explosion, judging by the amount of damage done to it.

The doctor grinned maniacly as May appraoched. He nodded to some unheard voice. The two bikers made towards her, but the doctor lifted a hand, stopping them. May dismounted and walked alongside Enye, stopping half a dozen yards short of the trio.

“What do you want?” May said through clenched teeth.
“I think that's obvious by now.” the doctor said coldly.
“Why?” May said, assuming they meant her.
“Hmm...” was the doctor's only response, interested, apparantly, that she did not know the answer to this question.
“Why?!” she repeated, louder.
“All shall become evident in time.” came his explanation. He held out a hand to her.
“Let him go.” she gestured to Bret.

Bret seemed to wake up, rather abruptly. He groaned in pain as the giant snake squeezed his torso. He noticed May, and choked, “You!... What does this have to do” he coughed heavilly for a moment, “...with you.”

“Everything, fool.” the doctor interrupted, once more offering his hand to May.
“Let him go and I'll go with you.” she said quietly.

“No!” the Bret shouted. The seviper hissed and pulled tighter. May heard a gruesome crunch from some of his bones. He screamed in agony, but continued talking, slowly, “May... don't... I know these guys... they're no good... they'll torture you... Aie!” the seviper cut his speech short whith another well-placed squeeze.

“If you don't want to see him in anymore pain, come now, quietly.” the doctor helf out his hand. It was now quivering slightly, with rage.

“No!” Bret choked again, “You think this is torture?!” he spluttered, “You think this is hell? This will be like heaven after what they'll put you through!”

May couldn't take it anymore she held her hand out and took a few steps towards the doctor, looking away as if taking his hand would hurt. He smiled and went to take it, but at the last moment she pulled back.

“How do I know that you'll let him go?” May asked.
“How do we know you won't run away as soon as we do that?” one of the up until now silent bikers asked.
“Shut up Eustice.” the doctor said.
“I'm not the one who's evil here.” May answered bitterly.
Their was a sparkle in the doctors eye. He laughed. “So your not as dense as I thought... get her boys.”

The two bikers grinned and stepped forward. They each tossed down a pokeball, one releasing a tall mightyena that barked fiercley, the other an umbreon.
“Rex, Bite!” Eustice, the green haired owner of the mightyena ordered.
“Sleek, Helping Hand!” orderred the other trainer, he was shorter, with brown hair.

May silently released her two bug pokemon and stepped back, “Enye, Headbut, Kemu, Caterpie, stringshot!” she orderred quickly. The dark pokemon moved quickly, Sleek, the umbreon, jumping behind the dog. It seemed to go into a trance, and for a moment Rex, the mightyena, seemed to have a set of glowing gold rings on its body. Then it lept towards Enye, teeth baired, cold drool flying out as it bore down on the stag. However, the two caterpillars adeptly fired a pair of string shots, clamping down the jaws with precision. Enye slammed the rather embarrassed dog across the face with his antlers, sending him tumbling to the ground.

“You're useless, you know that?” the second trainer spat at Eustice, “Quick Attack!”
“Grr, Howl!” Eustice growled to his pokemon.

Before May could react, the umbreon disappear with a flash of it's rings. Their was a loud thud and Enye was knocked back by a blow to the head. Moments later, Sleek became visible, his rings dimming slowly, as he fell backwards from the attack. “Enye, Caterpie, tackle that dog! Kemu, Poison Sting!” May responded. The red catterpillar took aim and fired off a tiny poison needle at the falling eeveelution, piercing him in the shoulder. The dark type winced and staired bitterly at Kemu, who shiverred, and turned slightly purple. At that point Rex struggled to stand up and let out a low howl, before being pushed off his feet by two pokemon ramming him.

“Can't your pathetic pokemon do anything?” the brunnette said bitterly, “Sleek, Pursue that Stantler.”
“Bite the damn bug!” Eustice barked, now very angry.

“Everybody Tackle!” May said, too confused to pick targets. Enye twirled round and met the on-coming umbreon head on. They smacked heads and the cat-like pokemon landed awkwardly, finding it's left foreleg was nolonger strong enough to carry it. Enye seemed fine, slightly dizzy from aother blow to the head, but May was more worried about her other pokemon. Caterpie had crawled at top spead towards Rex, but he was ready to defend against one worm, and simply clamped down on her with his sharp jaws. Her green skin was hardly pierced before she reverted to a pokeballs. Rex spat it out distastefully and stood up. Kemu sped forth with exacting aim and knocked Sleek's right forepaw out from under him. The dark fell over, quivered, and returned to his pokeball.

“Now who's useless?” Eustice grinned.
“Glory hog.” the other said bitterly.
“Alright Rex, let's round this up.” Eustice ordered confidently, “Tackle the stag.”

“String Shot, Headbut!” May ordered, knowing she didn't have to name pokemon now. Kemu bravely stood up and spat out another silky cord, but it fell limp in the air as he fell over, crippled by poison, and reverted to his pokeball. The great dark dog fell upon Enye, head first and smacked into him. Enye gingerl shook the dog off with his antlers and took a few steps back. “Astonish!” May yelled before Eustice could issue another order. Enye galloped forward and somersaulted through the air, smacking down on Rex hard with his hooves, a critical hit. The dog caughed weakly, and then shrank back into his dark pokeball.

“I can't believe you two.” the doctor growled, “Take the simplest of tasks, like capturing a little girl, and you manage to have the most embarrassing defeat in history... No matter though, you'll get your reward later...” he lifted a pokeball from his belt and delicately dropped it to the ground. A great dark shadow emerged, with no particular form, and stretched out over the ground, swelling in the direction of Enye. As it appraoched it became clear to be a Muk, but it kept it's features hidden. Enye backed away gingerly, but May could tell he was tired, and wouldn't last much longer. The purple poison slowly enveloped all the pokeballs on the ground. It licked at one of Enye's feet and he bleated sorely, backing up quickly, his foot burned by the acid. May's heart beat hard, she felt hopeless. She was going to be captured, tortured, and the same for her pokemon, and Bret, the poor gymleader who she managed to get rolled up in this.

“Egg Bomb Attack!” came the clear, sweet voice of Joy.

A few white eggs fell from the sky onto the shapeless Muk, exploding and forsing the poison to recede. May looked back and saw Joyce running forward, only a few metres behind the chansey she had just used to attack. May's heart swayed, not sure whether to feel happy or sad. May took a few steps back and looked forward. The seviper holding Bret was suddenly illuminated in yellow light and May heard a crackle of electricity. It slid off him limply and he jumped free. May could see a small metal spike in his hands that crackled with electricity. Joyce tossed him a metal bottle which he clamped onto a pokeball he quickly reduced. It became bright, rather than dull and dark like an empty pokemon, and then he threw it down, revealing it to be his Fearow.

“That about even's things up I think.” Joyce grinned.
“Hardly.” Responded the doctor, holding up four pokeballs. He tossed them carelessly onto the ground and they formed into an Arbok, Wheezing, Dustox and Swalot.

In her response Joyce merely tossed down three more pokeballs, releasing the chansey and two blissey. The doctor raised an eyebrow.

“Malon, use this on Enye and run.” Joyce handed May a potion.
“But...” May said, unsure.
“You're not giving into this guy.” Joyce answerred forcefully, “This isn't the end, their will be more after you... we'll get this guy behind bars, but you've got to get away while you still can.”
“What if they come for you though?” May whisperred so that Joyce was the only one who could hear her.
“I'll kill myself if you don't go.” Joyce replied, quite loudly. May looked up into her burning eyes, and found she wasn't lieing.

Silently, May healed Enye and jumped on him, riding out of the burning city, and into the great unknown.

[DannyBoy]

That was a good chapter. The dream sequence was really freaky and she had 6 pokeballs, hmm I wonder what pokemon she will get. I dont like her getting shot part, that was creepy. Then the Doctor almost getting her but Joy took some action! That was really good, Keep it up!

[Darien Shields]

Sorry for the lateness and generaly shortness of this post, I was a bit busy with site design, and learning Java, but I'm starting work on Chapter 9 now, so look forward to it.

(Final) Interlude.

Once more a group of men stood in front of a roaring fire, this time much grander than before, as most of a town was ablaze. Most of them were smoking, not that cigarettes were necessary to rot their lungs with the amount of smoke given off by the fire. The Doctor walked out of the burning city to join them, holding a cigarette lit by the blaze.
“What happened?” asked one of the men, slightly surprised to see him along.
“A screw up. She had more friends than we bargained on.” he said bitterly.
“You were defeated?” asked another man.
“No, you dimwit. They managed to wrestle the hostage out of our grips and then the girl ran. We managed to fight them back, and I left those damn brothers to take the fall.”
“You sure that's wise? I mean, four people-” the first started but was interrupted.
“Whose gonna listen to four people crazy enough to run into a city that's burning down?” the doctor asked rhetorically.
“We gonna get them wiped later?” asked another man.
“No, we've got other plans. It would seem strange if they tried to change their minds, and they've got bad enough reputations already. But there is a plan, or so I'm told...”
“The police aren't on to us, are they?” said another, rather concerned man, younger than the others.
“No, and for what?” he grinned, “A bunch of wild houndoom ran into town and started the fire. Blew up some explosives in the pokemon centre and all. Houndoom can be tricky you know.”
“Heh, too bad this'll be our last stunt like this.” the second man grinned.
“Yeah, if the government don't put two and two together the media will.” sighed the doctor.
“So what's our plan of action?” the third man asked.
“Again, I don't know. But when the higher ups give word I'll let you all know.” he said, taking a last suck of his cigarette before tossing it towards the flaming town.

Slowly the other men disbanded, leaving him to stand on the brink of oblivion, alone. Despite the heat exuded by the flames that inched their way closer, engulfing building after building, the man's face felt cold. A packet of cigarettes sat awkwardly in his pocket, yearning to be used, but he knew what was coming, and knew not to use them yet.

“Alex.” came a wickedly cheery voice.
“Lucius!” the doctor spun around, slightly shocked by the boy's arrival.

The “boy” in question was seventeen, with straw-blond hair matted under a few tubs of gel. He had a snide look on his face that stuck as if the wind had changed. His skin was pail, but you could only see it on his face, the rest of him, from his neck to his fingers was covered in leather. Around his leather jacket (with neck long collar) he wore a worn grey trench coat with no pockets. Unusually, today his coat was simply slung around his shoulders, his arms did not inhabit the sleeves. On his belt were six pokeballs, both sections black, punctuated by a silver button.

“Getting warmed up?” Lucius said coldly, holding his hands out to the fire, as if it were a few feet away. He rubbed the leathery sleeves of his jacket as if he were cold.
“What's the word from HQ... sir?” he added awkwardly, unsure how to address the teenager.
“As you know” Lucius gestured to the Doctors head, “Everything's covert now.”
“Hmm.” the doctor nodded, aware that his speech was rather futile now.
“So I'm going on a little journey.” he smiled, removing his coat and handing it to the doctor.
“Wha ...?” The doctor looked totally perplexed by what Lucius had said.
“I am to take on the identity of a trainer starting his pokemon journey, Damien Vahn.” Lucius continued, removing his leather jacket to reveal that the gloves came up past his elbows, and that his torso was covered by a leather vest. The doctor took them, amazed, and slightly frightened, that he did appear chilly when he was still wearing all those clothes. He also realised that Lucius was morbidly thin under all the clothes. He was even more confused when Damien unclipped all the pokeballs from his belt and dropped them into the doctors hands.
“I won't be needing them for a while. Need to be starting fresh, with my starter.” he produced another pokeball. This one was only half black, the other half the usual silver colour.”
“Starter? I thought you only trained dark types?” the doctor choked, know holding a large pile of Lucius's possessions.

In response Lucius dropped the pokeball onto the ground causing what could only be described as an explosion of dark light. The light receded, revealing a small chick, hopping on alternating legs, peeping quietly. The doctor recognised it at once as a Torchic, but it was truly bizarre, instead of the usual orange and yellow fire-bird, his eyes were met with a black and white chicken, which made him check to see if he was colour blind. Then his eyes widened in understanding as he remembered one of the more recent projects.

“The K-2 Potion we recovered?” he asked, now intrigued.
“The K-2 Elixir. And yes. All of it.” Lucius corrected.
“But Lucius-” the Doctor looked slightly flustered.
“That's Damien. And what did you expect? The one thing that could thwart our operations and you wanted it to be just left around? For what, to be researched? So that someone can replicate it and then what? No, I used it, so that no one else could.” he snapped furiously.
“Y-yes sir.” the doctor said, rather taken aback.
“Keep my stuff for me. I need to be going, it's a long way to Eappon, and I might want to catch some pokemon on the way.” he laughed, “I'll see you later!”

The doctor shuddered, watching the teenager walk down into the furiously burning city without the slightest note of concern. He thought of the target, May, and what it would be like if Lucius, Damien, caught her.

“God help her...” he whispered.

[Captain Pringle]

Well, I'm by no means caught up, but I have started reading this fic, and I have to say, from what I've read so far, it's very original and well done. And mysterious. ;)

Anywayz, maybe I can slowly catch myself up, but for now, just keep writing. It's good stuff, so keep it up. :)

[GeneChildMewtwo]

I finally caught up.

There must be some elaborate scheme going on with those strange men... Although, I thought the Doctor was someone to be afraid of. If the Doctor is saying "God help her..." in reference to Lucius/Damien's potential treatment of May, then Lucius must be truly evil.

I wonder if that vision is of the future... Or what the future could be? Hmm... I guess we'll find out... in the future.

Well, you're doing great so far. I'll be waiting for the next chapter. Keep it up!:wave:

[Shadowed Mewtwo]

Ack! Very nice story! ^^ It leaves you with lots of questions like "What are those 'doctors' up to?" "What are these strange dreams?" "What in the world's wrong with May?!" :D Really though, I often have trouble getting myself to read trainer fics, but yours I look foreward to conitnuing reading. :) It has a wonderful style, good description, and mystery. (Meep!) The only thing that bugs me is I want to learn more about the Pokemon's personalities... But the story is young yet, so I'll keep reading. ^^

[Darien Shields]

Sorry for this really short post, and thanks to all the new readers! Only five more posts to page three, Muhahahaha! Well, enjoy, and I promise I'll get a better third chapter out soon.
Note: I started Parts, and if you'll look "Part 1: Into the Wilderness" has been editted into the first chapter post.

Part Two: The Legendary Delta.

Chapter Nine

Enye's cloven feet splashed in the cool salt water as he sped along the beach. He had opted to run on the tide, so as to cool his foot that was still nipping from an acid burn. May had made no move to stop him, even though it would lengthen the trip by taking a more curved root, she hardly noticed, she was bowed over on his back, crying.

She knew that she had, ultimately, done the right thing, by leaving Joyce would no longer have to sacrifice her life to some unknown gunman. May tried to pretend, briefly, that she felt bad because she had abandoned Joyce mid-battle, but it was a lie that even she couldn't believe. Now, without her two bug pokemon, her only true friend, or even Bret, who she thought was nice enough, she was almost completely alone. She stroked the soft fur on Enye's neck, grateful that he at least was still with her.

A few hours up the coast, as the sky began to turn amber, May sighed, wiping the tears out of her eyes and into the ocean, where they would be lost forever. Noticing Enye was panting slightly she gave him a tap to slow down, and dismounted. As she walked him over to the dry sand and found a place to sit down she realised that her backside no longer felt bruised as it had done when she first rode Enye. She smiled, guessing that she had, subconsciously, gotten more used to riding him.

Getting as comfortable as she could in the sand (not really bothered about getting it on her clothes) May sampled the view of the bay. Wingull were now circling low over the azure waters, occasionally diving down to pluck a slow witted magikarp from the water. A few krabby scuttled across the bay furtively, eagre not to be seen. In the distance were a few trainers, some with fishing rods, others swimming, or just enjoying the sun while training on the beach. Looking out to see May could see a few boats still out, but they were too far away to make out what they were doing.

As she looked she suddenly became aware of an itch in her right arm. She realised that her cast was still in place, although now rather redundant as her arm felt otherwise fine. She tore the worn once-white bandaging off and gasped as she saw her arm. Where the dog's teeth had cut in a whispery dark line had been traced in her skin, ever though it has now healed. On either side of her arm their was a black crescent mark, almost like a tattoo in her skin.

She wandered if Joyce had known about it all along, and that was why she had not let her see. As the thought ran through her head she looked into the bandage and saw that their was a sheet of paper poking out of one layer. She pulled it out, eagre for some trace of the friendship she had left behind.
“May, if you're reading this you've taken your bandage off yourself, for some reason before I could, or for some reason I couldn't. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the scar, but if it helps, I think it looks cute. It may heal in time.”
Drawn next to the writing was a smiley face with a hand showing the “V” peace sign. May smiled. She tentatively touched the dark skin. It felt all right, but her head ached slightly as she touched it. She sighed and stood up, looking around to see which direction to go in. Although the forest appealed, since it was so easy to hide in, she sided to travel along the beach for a while longer at least. It was a nice afternoon, hot but with a nice sea breeze, and their were plenty of trainers around, so she could hardly get attacked. 'I hope.' may thought morbidly.

She got up and rather than mounting Enye she strolled along side him towards the shore. Their feet dug into the wet sand and left them slightly “muddy” (not strictly speaking mud, but May could not think of another word to describe it.) She was glad that she was just wearing her old trainers from home, as she was rather attached to the red shoes from Moscleft, and would not liked to have to clean them. They reached the edge of the beach, where the receding tide licked at Enye's split hooves.

May eyed up a few trainers in the distance, but decided that even with a super potion Enye wasn't really up for a battle, since he hadn't been properly healed since taking out Bret's “Ho-oh” and since had battled two strong dark pokemon as well as running a long way with all everything May now had to carry. She glanced at the green pokeball on her belt, considering giving the egg another look, but decided against it.

She was shocked to hear the crackle of distant thunder, and turned to see that the sky above Moscleft (which now seemed an eternity away to May) was now dark with clouds, and she could just make out the rain pouring down, presumably why the fire had been replaced by billowing smoke clouds. Their was another flash, not over the city, but more towards the beach, followed by rolling thunder, a few moments later.

The sound seemed sinister to May. She turned Enye around and mounted him, setting out once more for Eappon.

~*~*~

More than one trainer challenged May on the way towards the town, and she eventually dismounted and returned Enye so as not to give off the image of a competent trainer. Continuing on foot, now painfully weighed down by the bags Enye was carrying, May made slow process. She glanced back every time she heard thunder, only to discover that the storm was creeping down to coast, almost as if to follow her.

As she approached Eappon the beach became more and more crowded with trainers, although the crowds thinned as the storm drew closer, a few brave surfers remaining, hoping to catch better waves as the weather grew bad.

Eappon itself was a large town, a city by comparison to the rather 'rural' Moscleft. May saw a few dozen towering buildings in the centre which would put Joyce's sixth story apartment to shame. It's more modern buildings seemed to be on the side facing away from the sea and on to a meadow area. On the shore were many wooden buildings. One building though, stood out against all the rest. One building was not modern, nor old, nor made of wood. It looked to May to be made of sand. It look to May as if it were a giant, life sized Sand Castle. She shrugged and decided to investigate later, as she was more concerned with finding the pokemon centre.

Thunder crackled behind her as she reached the city limits, indicated by a large white sign, reading, rather confusingly to May;
'Welcome to the Legendary Delta'
The words “Legendary Delta” were in white on top of the black silhouette of a wolf, as if they were the title to a final fantasy game. May was puzzled, she thought she was entering Eappon, not the “Legendary Delta”. She read on.
'And welcome to Eappon, travelers! Eappon is the eastern cornerstone of the Legendary Delta, the coast where, as legend has it, the creator of the Pokemon Kami first landed on Tsu island. In the centre of the delta you can find the “Footprints of the Goddess”, which still puzzle scientists to this day. Please feel at home in Eappon, and travel to all three points of the delta to collect all three of our badges!'

May felt more confused for reading the sign. She remembered Bret making some rant about “Pokemon Kami”, but she had thought he had just made it up to explain his shiny. But this sign seemed to back him up one hundred percent. May shrugged, and looked at the map of the city. She noted the gym, near the coast, before seeing the pokemon centre, near the city centre, and groaned, seeing that the trainer shelter (Like a youth hostel for pokemon trainers) was back along the coast, outside the city.

Groaning, she continued on towards the pokemon centre.

~*~*~

The city was a new experience for May. Her home was miles away from anything you'd call a town, and Moscleft had nothing like the hustle and bustle of this place. Cars, bikes (motor and cycles) and buses zoomed down the streets, beeping violently. The pavements were crowded with adults in suits walking quickly to unknown destinations. May passed a small park and saw half a dozen pokemon battles going on at once.

The pokemon centre was even more interesting. May had worried that it would be hard to find, but upon sighting the pearly white building, with a giant pokeball creating the roof (the red section has a white cross, in case their was still any doubt in your mind.) Inside it was filled with people, their was actually a queue of trainers waiting for the regeneration machine, and the waiting area's seats were all filled with trainers nursing their badly injured pokemon.

The most surprising thing was not only was their another nurse Joy, their were several. One was patiently taking pokemon for the regeneration machine behind the desk, while others were zipping in and out for trainers in the waiting area, and May sighted a fourth standing at an information desk. It was rather unnerving, and made May feel rather sad, since she would not be seeing her friend now, perhaps never again, and yet would see her face every time she went to heal pokemon.

Reluctantly joining the queue, May almost felt embarrassed that she only had one pokemon to heal, as everyone in front seemed to be handing in three pokeballs at least. She toyed with the idea of putting up the bug egg's pokeball, but thought that that would make her look ever more stupid. It was perhaps, a consolation that Enye's pokeball was out of the ordinary.

It felt even stranger, when she reached the front of the queue and handed over her pokeball, that the Nurse Joy didn't recognise her, and treated her with the same cheer (which she now recognised to be completely false) as she did everyone else. She promptly took Enye's pokeball back from the smiling nurse and left, dis-hearted. She sighed once more. 'On the bright side, Enye's healed...' May thought. She briefly considered riding him out, but the streets were still crowded with people rushing away from the oncoming rain, and she didn't want to attract anymore attention.

~*~*~

Outside the city limits May started to jog towards the the wooden cabin she identified as the trainer shelter. The looming clouds had now stretched over the beach, and their was an absolute downpour soaking her as she went. Once more the thought to release Enye occurred to her, but even the time it would take to release him seemed too long under the beating rain. Plus she rememberred the nearly dog-like smell he produced when he was sodden.

But as she ran (her jog quickly matured into an all out sprint under the pounding rain) she saw someone ahead, walking calmly and slowly through the rain. May shuddered as she looked at him, finding the mentality someone would need to walk through such a storm without any care to be frightening. As she ran towards him (he was directly between her and the trainer shelter) she couldmake out some of his features... He was a blond wearing, of all things, a leather vest and arm length leather gloves, which May thought would have been even worse in the cold rain. She looked to the sand as he detected her gaze, and hurried to move past him.

Since she wasn't looking, she passed unintentionally close, brushing against his side. As she did so she heard the sound of a pokemon being released beside her, and she turned, panicking for a moment and thinking she was under attack. She found, however, that Enye had released himself, and was now glaring at the stranger, who had turned around, and was sneering back.

“Enye! What's the matter with you!” May said loudly, so the stranger knew her pokemon acted against her will. She made to press the return button on Enye's neck, but he moved away to stop her. “Sorry about this, he's usually really well behaved...” Then, to her utter bewilderment, the spheres in Enye's horns revolved and their was a blur in the air in front of him, as he released a confusion attack. May stared in awe as the blur headed for the stranger, and simply disappeared on contact.
“Sill little stantler ...” he smiled in a very sinister fashion, “You should be more careful...”

May, for some reason unknown to her, looked up, and saw to her great shock, a lightning bolt silently bearing down on them. She screamed and fell backwards, shutting her eyes for a moment. She heard an all mighty crack that almost deafened her, and opened her eyes to see traces of lightning disappearing into the ground at three points. It seemed the lightning bolt had split.

The stranger laughed loudly, and turned away, walking back towards the city. May shuddered and lifted her self out of the sand, not noticing that her skirt was now totally soaked through, and covered with mucky sand. She looked after the dangerous boy, and heard him call “We'll meet again.” as he walked off. It scared May, but she knew he was right.

[Shadowed Mewtwo]

Ooo... Creepy evil person and giant lighting bolts... Neat! ;) So she's lost her two new bugs for good? That stinks! And she's never gonna see Joyce again either? Grr... I liked them... and Joyce most of all! She was cool! *sigh*

Well, I like the sound of May's scars, though why would they give her a headache? *is confuzzled* I guess it's just whatever's wrong with her? What IS wrong with her?! Ack! I wanna know that most of all! ^^;;

Da evil dude scares me, lol. ^^ Can't wait for more!

[Serria]

Awww, poor May, poor May... :( Tough life. I'm more interested, though, on if you're bringing Joyce back *hint hint*. Hm! Do the other Joy's have secret non-damsel lives? Do they have "real" names? Heh. Back to May. She's obviously not crazy, but "special" in some way, which you still haven't told us for sure! Curiousity is killing this Meowth. And this new evil bad-arse teenager is freaky. If I saw him IRL I'd think he was a rapist. But no, silly me, he's just your average head-of-the-evil-organization-who-wants-to-create-suffering-and-world-domination-boo-yah. ;) Keep up the writing, I'm sure this thing will be excellent.

[GeneChildMewtwo]

They say first impressions are everything... And Lucius/Damien sure did a number with his. That would be very scary to see someone in real life who was able to shrug off a confusion attack, and seemed to have control over lightning. Although I wonder if he was the one who stopped the bolt...

I wonder what awaits May in the future. It seems that she wasn't able to hide for long after all. Well, I'll have to wait for the next chapter. Keep it up! :wave:

[DannyBoy]

That was a good chapter, to bad she dont have Caterpie and Wurmple anymore. That guy wasa little weird acting, I agree with Shawdowed on that one. Also I agree with Shadowed on whats wrong with her?! Anyways I wonder what pokemon she will capture, she cant have Eyne all the time it will get strong but it cant win every battle. I hope Joy comes back she had some humor and was really cool. Keep it up!

[Darien Shields]

Anyone want to see this fic brought back? I might actually consider it, since everything else I try to write fails to interest me now... If you want it back, just reply, and encouragement will no doubt... encourage me.

I'll do it anyway.

Chapter 10

May awoke early the next morning, and promptly got up, eagre to escape the log cabin she had spent the night in. It was a nice place in principle. Sort of like a dormitory, their were three large rooms, two filled with bunk beds (a boys room and a girls room) and in the middle a sort of living room with a fire and lockers. It would be a great place to spend a sunny summer, but in the dreadful storm that followed May's chance encounter with the blond youth, the cabin rocked worryingly from side to side, and collected rain water kept dripping from the ceiling. It was not helped by the face she was the only person there (in the girls room anyway.)

She was almost surprised when she stepped outside that the entire building hadn't been torn off it's supports and ended up floating at sea. It soon became evident though, that training on the beach wasn't an option at this time, as the tide was up, and it licked at the stilts holding up the cabin, which had been a hundred yards or so up the beach the previous night. So May decided to continue along the thin strip of beach towards the city and then go to the northern meadow, where she hoped to train against some wild pokemon and maybe catch something new.

The city seemed to have an eerie contrast with it's former self that morning, as no one was up yet, and the streets were very spartanly populated by businessmen and women off to early jobs. Their were no cars or motor bikes, just a few cyclists and buses traveling the roads. She shivered and realised that the city was still clouded over, as was much of the beach, but the meadow she was headed for seemed to be clear, and rife with trainers.

The meadow was a trainer's paradise, lush, tall green grass as far as the eye could see, spotted with daisies dandelions and other wild flowers. Pokemon of all sorts roamed the grass along with their animal counterparts, an odd sight as in most places the pokemon muscle out wild animals. Everything was a nice low level compared to Moscleft, everything was around eight or nine, as far as May could tell.

By noon Enye had taken out half a dozen of the indigenous pokemon, and May was swamped with trainers asking for battles, which severely hampered her ability to train Enye with wild's. It soon became apparent that the crowd bustling behind her was so loud that it scared most pokemon away, so she conceded to listen to them and perhaps have a battle or two.

“... my level thirty wobuffet for that stantler!”
“Where'd you get 'im? Is it male or female? Can I pet it...?”
“...just a little wager on a battle, say my heracross and your...”
“Just a quick battle? I bet I can beat it.” said one, golden haired boy, with a rather smug expression on his face. May singled him out immediately, and decided that she'd wipe the grin off his face.
“Sure, I'll battle you.” May pointed out the over confident blond. “No wagers though, this is just a battle.” she said firmly.
“Sure thing!” the boy said, walking out from the rest of the crowd who were now rather put out at not being selected. He ran a hand through his hair and removed a pokeball from his belt and held it up, enlarging it “One on one?” he asked. May nodded, and he tossed it delicately into the grass.

Their was a great flash of light and for a moment May saw a small glowing figure in the grass, but as soon as the light receded it moved away and could only see a rustling in the grass. She shrugged her shoulders and pointed forward, shouting “Enye, I choose you!” in a rather clichèd way.

Enye, who was already released, turned around and walked forward towards the trainer of his opponent.
“Oh by the way, my name's James!” the boy called over to May, who had walked a few yards backwards to escape the battle zone.
“I'm May.” May replied.
“Nice to meet you May. Tips, Quick Attack!” the boy's smile changed to a frown of concentration as he ordered his pokemon by its nickname.

A light blue blur rocketed out of the grass to Enye's left and smacked him in the side. He bleated in anger and reeled round to see his assailant.

“Confusion!” May ordered, unsure what the target was.

Enye hummed and the sphere's in his horns whirred and twirled as he turned to face where his assailant had landed, and fired off a blurry sphere of air. The grass pushed aside as the attack flew through, and revealed the pokemon it was striking.

In the middle of the grass, was a small pikachu, only it was not like the other electric mice of it's species. Where they had sunny yellow fur it had fur of a dazzling azure hue, that sparkled softly in the mid-morning light. What would usually be brown, the stripes and tip of it's tail (as well as the tips of it's ears, but they were normally black, not brown) were yellow. It's cheeks were still red.

The attack slapped the little mouse in the face and it stood stupidly for a moment, dazed. May seized the opportunity and yelled to her pokemon “Now, Headbut!” Enye bowed his head and ran quickly towards his dazed adversary.

“Tips! Uh, Double Team!” James ordered, slightly taken aback.

His pokemon barely pulled off the attack before being struck. It vibrated slowly, and then split into two. Enye's antlers swung up, targeted at the fake, and simply swiping through, but catching the real as it did so, and knocking it away to the side.

“Tips, Spark attack!” James ordered with clenched fists.
“Enye, dodge and finish it off with Tackle!” May ordered.

The now rather groggy pikachu yelled “Pi!” fiercely and fired off bright yellow bolts of electricity towards Enye. Enye galloped away leaving the sparks to harmlessly hit the grass, and then circled around, bearing down fast on the pikachu, which fired one more spark, over Enye's head, missing completely, before being send flying into the grass by the stag's tackle attack.

Their was an audibly intake of breath from the crowd that had gathered around, as they waited in suspense to see if Tips would stand back up again. But after a few seconds, their was the sound of a pokemon reverting to a pokeball. The noise was almost drowned out by the sighs and growing chatter of the crowd.

James gave may a sly grin as he retrieved the pokeball for his partner. May winced slightly, not pleased with his effort of charm. “See you around.” James mouthed, before both trainers were swallowed by the crowd.

~*~*~

A few hours later May eagrely slipped through a few trees and into the small wooded area north west of the meadow-like field. She had barely had a battle since she trounced James, and didn't really care for the male-dominated crowd, most of whom demanded that she trade with them. She ended up returning Enye just so that people wouldn't be attracted to her.

The wood was quiet and cool, a refreshing change for May. She looked around for a pokemon to battle, but found the fringe of the forest devoid of pocket life. She shrugged, and guessed the clash with the meadow meant that both sides held back a little.

She ventured forward, delicately climbing over bushes and fallen trees, in a way strangely reminiscent of the night she had set out on her journey, into the woods, that had spiraled into this journey into the wild. The memory turned her encounter with the Houndoom and she touched her dark scar bitterly. She sighed, unsure once more whether it was all worth it, if she should have just let herself be kidnapped, if she was really insane.

'I wish I was insane.' She thought coldly. Her pursuers were a grim reality now, as the boy on the beach had proven, and were not to be taken lightly. But that was not what dug at May's heart. She felt alone. Without Joyce, her father, anyone except for Enye, who despite being a wonderful and beautiful pokemon, was no real companion. And now even he was attracting too much attention to keep out, not to mention his size.

'Where are all the pokemon?' May thought frustratedly as she beat deeper into the woods. Pokemon were reputed for their blood lust and being wont to attack strangers in hopes of a battle. It was what made training them considered more like a partnership than beating animals. It was popular belief that most pokemon were eagre to be caught, but tried to test their would-be trainer in a battle, to see if they had the skill required to enhance them.

Probing further into the forest May detected the briefest motion, half a dozen yards away. She was instantly torn between running forward full pelt, or trying to sneak up on whatever was moving. Either would be impeded by the forest, running would probably make her trip, and scare away any other life form within a mile, but a sneak attack would probably be as stealthy as a streaker in a cricket match. Before she could make her decision the creature took flight, but not in the opposite direction, it headed towards May's right.

Ignoring the possibility it was scared off by a bigger pokemon, or bigger creature, May crouched and hopped through the undergrowth towards the moving creature. She could have sworn she heard a dark growl as the creature sped up. She was behind it now, but it was speeding up. Taking a gamble, she released Enye and jumped on his back, knowing that he would instinctively follow the creature. The creature, which she could now make out to be a a dark hound, sped up, but it didn't seem to be because Enye was chasing it.

May was now quite adept at ducking under branches, or leaning to the side as Enye darted in and out of the trees, but she slammed hard into his antlers when he came to an abrupt stop. Enye and the dark creature, a Mightyena, had both stopped at the exact same moment, as if guided by a sixth sense. They stood stock still, on the foot of a sort of clearing. The dog turned it's head slightly, noting the presence of May and Enye, but quickly pointed it's head back at the prey before it.

After a moment it uttered a series of guttural growls that sounded ordered in someway, but incomprehensible by May's ears. She thought at first that it was speaking, offhand, to her and her pokemon, but as she clambered over Enye's antlers she saw his silent partner.

A small bubble-gum pink fox stood shakily in front of the dog. It's fur was rough and patchy, with some areas torn out. The three long locks on it's forehead were curled, but not in a round loop, they each had jagged corners, becoming more square-like than circle. It's six tails, which seemed to be at odd lengths, gingerly sprung up and down in two groups of three, when one set was waving upwards, the other sagged over the ground. Periodically the fox's left fore-paw would give way and it would stumble. Blood was trickling down from the It watched the dog angrily with it's azure eyes. It was a vulpix.

The dog went on growling for a few moments before realising the vulpix didn't care for it's speech. It barked sharply, making May's ears ring. This didn't prompt a response from the fox it growled, but not in a controlled manner. It bent down low to the ground and eyed up its prey. May watched with baited breath from the sidelines.

The hound began slapping the fox with it's heavy dark claws abruptly, in a one-two motion. The foxes skull was batted from side to side as it was repetitively struck. The short hair on it's cheeks quickly became laced with blood.

“Enye, Tackle!” May shouted.

Enye sifted his feet to ram the dog, but the vulpix gave a hoarse growl and as if mesmerised, Enye stopped. May wrestled with the longer fur around his neck and tried to command him again, but he stood firm.

As suddenly as it had started, the Mightyena stopped its assault. It then barked sharply several times. The vulpix growled harshly in return. Their was a moment of stillness as neither moved from their stance. Then, vulpix blinked. When it's eyelids lifted, they revealed blood-red eyes.

A few wisps of what seemed to be electricity, although bright red as opposed to blue, flickered around the fox's eyes as she glared at her foe. The Mightyena reared up and seemed to have a less clear resolve. Before the dog had a chance to run the vulpix opened it's jaws and let loose a torrent of flame that seemed to make a roaring sound itself. The flames slammed down on the dark dog and swirled round it, curling back when they had passed it, and encasing it in a burning sphere. May could feel the heat pulsing over her, but the flames all seemed contained in and around the dog. In a few moments the flames receded, leaving the vulpix, standing angrily in front of a now much blacker hound. It panted for a moment, then compacted into a pokeball and fell dully to the ground.

May was still for a moment, unsure what to do. Before she could take any action though, a dark bird, a murkrow maybe, May couldn't really make it out, swooped down and grabbed the dog's pokeball. May swiveled her head trying to follow the bird, but it was a spec on the horizon momentarily. She turned back to the wounded vulpix.

It was a sad site now, stumbling forward feebly. It mumbled something in a pleading tone, and Enye seemed to understand. He eased May off of his back and rubbed his head against her. May was baffled at first until his antlers pulled an empty pokeball off her belt and made it fall to the ground. It bounced a few times and then came to rest on the ground a few feet in front of the fox. She staggered towards it slowly. May felt paralysed with awe, and found herself incapable of moving to help or hinder the pokemon. When it finally reached the pokeball it just collapsed and butted it with it's head. In a rather diminished explosion of light the vulpix was 'captured' and disappeared into the pokeball. It barely shook before pronouncing it's victory with a definite caught tone. May sighed with relief and picked up the pokeball.

“Busy day, huh?”

[psychic25]

Cool. I was browsing the boards... and I found your fic! This is really cool, in my humble opinion. You're an awesome writer. Keep at it!

[DannyBoy]

I am glad your continuing this fic! I like it a lot. This was a good chapter with May catching a new pokemon finally. Vulpix seems to suite her well. The battle in the beginning was very well described along with the pokemons descriptions. Keep it up!

[Darien Shields]

Thanks for the interest (especially new interest.) Sorry for the slowness of even this chapter, but my computer crashed a few times while I was writing it. I hope people start picking up on the hints soon. If you think you have (and I haven't told you), don't say in topic, but feel free to PM me. Don't want to spoil it for anyone else.

Chapter 11

May found herself once more floating in a shapeless void as her dreams drifted away. A cold dread swept over her unconscious body as she felt the forced nightmare start to take hold. She was back at the Moscleft pokemon centre, with Joyce, helping her treat pokemon. They were both dressed in the normal white nurses uniform. She was smiling.

For a moment it didn't seem like anything was going to go wrong, until she saw a hooded figure standing in the wide open doors to the pokemon centre. Behind him, where their would usually be a busy street, was a dark and empty void. His arm was outstretched and gloved. She could just make out a gas-mask under his hood.

“She will... betray you...” his voice was wheezy and slow, as if he had trouble breathing through the mask.

May shook her head, trying to tell herself it wasn't real, but she twisted around and saw Joyce, wielding a dagger in one hand, grinning maniacally.

May sat up suddenly, awake in her tent. She was dripping with sweat, and panting heavily. A million thoughts ran through her head, 'Was it all a dream?', 'Or... a premonition?'. She clamped her hands over her eyes as if to stop the tears from leaking out. Whimpering, she thought, 'Why is this happening to me?'

~*~*~

She awoke groggily the next morning to the sound of pokemon battles outside. Wearily she pushed herself up and grabbed her watch, checking the time. It was ten past eight in the morning. May groaned, realised she would not get another chance to sleep. After her dream it had taken her well over an hour to get to sleep, so now she was even more tired.

Forgetting the dream she pulled on her old denim shorts and absentmindedly threw on the black T-Shirt Joyce had given her and got up. She released her new vulpix and let her frolic outside as she began pulling the tent down and compacting it into her pack. She grumbled 'Why can't they put these in pokeballs?'

Vixel hopped gleefully through the the tall grass in front of May. She smiled as she watched the fox who she had once seen so bitter. Her leg had healed perfectly, giving complaint as she sprung off it, and her face seemed fine. The way the pokemon's vibrant pink fur and long flowing tails bobbed around in the grass reminded May of Joyce once more.

'Joyce..' she smiled for a moment, before the rest of her memory set in. She shook her head heard, 'It's no use dwelling on it, I had to leave... for her own good' the thought hurt May herself, for she knew it was true, and that she may not be able to see Joyce ever again for this very same reason. She sighed, bitterly. She negated the dream's argument, that Joyce was a traitor.

Vixel rubbed against May's leg, bringing her out of her coma-like state of thought. Smiling, she picked her new pokemon up like a pet cat and looked at her. Vixen looked back with her azure eyes and smiled, cooing “Vul! Vul!” May put her down and thought back to the pokemon centre as she grabbed her bag.

~*~*~

She had thought it would be simple enough, just hand her pokeball over at the front desk, but as the nurse ran it through the healing machine she frowned at the readouts. She turned her head this way and that, took the reading several times and then started giving May curious glances. Taking the compacted pokeball that now held the vulpix over to May she asked her very cheerily how she obtained the pokemon.
“I followed a mightyena through the forest, and saw it attack the vulpix. Before I could interfere the vulpix won, but then I-” she stammered, deciding not to try and relate Enye's attempt to take a pokeball from her, “- dropped a pokeball, and the vulpix went into it. I came straight here afterwards because it seemed in pretty bad shape.” May finished, not seeing how she could have done anything wrong.
“Well, miss” the nurse blushed, seeming to find it awkward to make an accusation, “This pokemon seems to have belonged to another trainer...” she trailed off.
“Oh!” May was surprised, “I'll give it back then, I didn't know, sorry...” she tried to look as innocent as she could, “...wait, how could I capture it then?”
“Well, the problem is that it's old tag seems to be broken... In fact I can't even get a trainer ID from it.” the nurse explained.
“I swear I didn't do it.” May said honestly. The nurse seemed to believe her.
“We'll run some tests to see. If you'd like to just remain in the waiting area.” she pointed.

It had turned out that the tag seemed to have been broken by the vulpix herself (the nurse kindly informed her of the fox's gender too), and so it looked like trainer abuse. Once they had safely ascertained that May wasn't the original trainer either they were very happy to let her keep the pokemon, although seemed eagre to run more tests on her before they went, but May, chilled by the carbon-copies of her best friend, made a hasty getaway.

~*~*~

She decided to name the fox 'Vixel' as a combination of vixen and pixel. Pixel didn't really have anything to do with the pokemon, but since the pokemon's species name ended in 'pix' it brought it to mind. Picking the fox up once more with her back-pack on she smiled and stroked it.

“I think Vix' will do fine for the time-being.” she grinned, and returned the fox to her pokeball.

Setting out May headed towards the beach, where the gym lay. She had a clear plan in her head, to take it out today, and then leave the city for good. Between Damien and the Nurse Joy's she didn't know, she had grown to hate the place. Despite not getting much sleep, she had vastly preferred sleeping in her tent than in the trainer's shelter, the place seemed to have some sort of unlikable aspect that she couldn't pin down.

She prayed that she could win in her first match. Vixel was tough, but a gym on the beach indicated water, and she wouldn't fair well with that. Enye was good, but Normal type pokemon rarely got an advantage. Sighing, she just conceded that it would be a tough battle, with no certain outcome.

~*~*~

May had to check the map twice when she reached the gym. When she had approached the city she saw a gigantic sand castle on the coast. Now, it looked more like a vaguely sculpted sand dune. Where once four spires stood mightily from the roof, now their was only one, and it seemed cracked. The once square windows were now rough, misshapen holes in the walls. Piles of sand sat around the walls were they had fallen off. The portcullis had fallen down over the gate and was now a broken lattice of sand. The floor of the hall that led into the gym was now three feet higher with fallen sand. The only undamaged feature was a large sign, made of sand-stone, that was in place above the door. It read 'Eappon City Gym'.

Peering into the corridor May saw no possible way that this could be the gym. She frowned in frustration, especially at the face no-one was here. As she tried to fathom out what to do she heard someone call to her from her left. She turned to see a boy a few years older than her with long wavy blond hair dashing towards her. He was wearing a yellow T-Shirt with a stylistic picture of a sand-castle on it. Above the picture were the letters 'ECG'. He called again.
“Hey! You here for the gym challenge?!”
“Yeah!” May shouted back.
“Cool.” the boy panted as he halted in front of May, “I'm the gym leader.” he thrust forth a sweaty hand, “Daniel.”
“...May” she shook his hand politely. “Gym's a bit of a mess, don't you think?”
“Oh, it's always that way in the morning. Let's shape it up, shall we?” he plucked three pokeball from his belt and threw them down at the foot of the castle. They exploded into Cacnea, Kingler and Corphish. “Almost forgot...” he took a last pokeball and enlarged it. He tossed it down and immediately it transformed into a beam of light and shot up into the air. Exploding, it took the bulky shape of Pelipper. It sparkled in the morning sun. May noticed that it's colours were the wrong way round, the ends of it's wings that should be turquoise were pearly white, and the rest of it's body was an aquatic green colour, except it's white head and the golden beak.

“Pelipper, Clean Sweep attack!” Daniel shouted.

His pokemon opened it's massive beak and let out a torrent of water. It flapped it's heavy wings and created a heavy gust. Slowly, the sand that formed the castle was washed or blown away revealing a skeletal structure made of sandstone that showed where the corners of rooms were etc. After a few moments all the sand was piled around the castle's bare frame. At this point the gull stopped spraying water and slowed down the flapping of his wings, so that he hovered down in front of Daniel, who had a wide grin on his face.

“Alright boys, you know what to do... Sand Storm attack!” he ordered and immediately the three pokemon on the ground started firing sand, the crabs from their claws, and the Cacnea from it;s wide mouth. Pelipper swooped through the frame of the gym and started twisting around, turning their sprays of sand into a small tornado of sand. Kingler began heaving great loads of sand in with it's large claw, and Cacnea began spinning, it's club like arms lifting clumps into the twister. In a short time they all stopped. As the sandstorm subsided May saw that they had created a great shapeless lump of sand, a dune. The only distinction in the entire thing was the sign with the gym's name, which stood out of the dune.

“Finish it off now.” Damien made his final command. The three grounded pokemon each burrowed into the sandy structure and immediately piles of sand were tossed out. The pelican pokemon flew out in a wide circle and then turned around, flying directly back at the sand hill. It ploughed through, and came out the other side flying slowly, spitting loads of sand out of it's beak. This process was repeated several times, until the castle was finely sculpted. May was amazed by how quick the process had been. In only five minutes, the gym had been demolished and rebuilt.

“Would you like to come inside?” Daniel gestured to the open doorway. May nodded and walked in.

Inside the gym was quite simplistic, despite having spires and windows, it was clear they were not accessible. It seemed to be just the hallway and one battle arena. Once they were both inside Daniel produced a stick of some sort of chalk that he used to mark out the battle field. When he was done he stood up and smiled.

“Ready?” he grinned.
“Uh, yeah...” May looked a bit sheepish. He had four pokemon, and two of them evolved. She didn't like how the odds were.
“Oh, yeah, forgot to ask, what level division are you?” Daniel asked, scratching behind his head.
“Pardon?” May asked.
“Are your pokemon level fifteen to twenty five, or twenty five to forty? I sure hope they ain't higher because then I'm in for a rough fight.” he laughed, “And I hope they ain't lower because I hate to make it look too easy.”
“Fifteen to twenty five.” May smiled and bowed.
“Alright then, Corph-” he paused again, “Two on two, right?”
“Great.” May smiled, glad that she wouldn't be outmatched one way or the other.
“If everything's said and done... Corphish, I choose you!” Daniel shouted, abruptly.
“Enye, go!” May shouted, hurling down Enye's pokeball.

The stag stood bravely on the battle field for a moment before looking around in confusion for it's opponent. May too was slightly confused as she had not seen Daniel's Corphish since the gym had been re-sculpted. Daniel was surprised at first by her shining pokemon, but quickly regained himself when they became confused, grinning widely.

“Dig Attack!” he shouted.

Suddenly the small crab appeared, rocketing out of the sand at Enye's feet. He punched Enye with one of his claws and landed on the sand scuttling away.

“Dig again!” Daniel ordered.
“Headbut!” May ordered in return.

As the crustacean began to dig himself into the sand, using its claws to scoop out sand, Enye bounded over the battle field. Before the crab could fully submerge itself in the sand Enye slammed his antlers down on it, interlocking them with the crab's claws. Wriggling, the Corphish tried to break free, but its efforts were in vain. With a heave Enye flung it up into the air. It spun around for a moment but managed to point it's claw down before impacting. It quickly dug into the sand before Enye could reacted.

May broke out in a cold sweat. Thinking fast she called to Enye, “Stomp attack.” Enye started pounding the sand around him with his fore legs, rearing up on his rear legs to turn around and try and keep a perimeter. Daniel employed the same cocky grin he had before. In a few moments his Corphish flew out of the wall beside Enye and landed another claw punch before scuttling away.

“Enye, confusion!” May blurted out, unsure of which attack to use.

The stag fired off a sphere of distorted air which hammered the ground just as the crab had dug under it. The sand was blasted away and revealed a slightly dazed Corphish, but it managed to dig deeper before Enye could attack again. May cursed as she saw Daniel's strategy working. She held her breath, waiting for the crab's next move. At the instant she saw it break through the sand wall she yelled “Astonish!” to her pokemon. Enye back flipped over the crab and landed behind it, still facing at it.

“Confusion!” May shouted quickly, eagre to cease the advantage.
“Water Gun!” Daniel retorted, now not so confident.

Enye fired off another ball of distorted air, and in defense the crab launched a series of water bullets from its claws. A few of them sailed over and hit Enye, but he managed to shrug them off. The rest were deflected by the oncoming confusion. It slammed into Corphish and knocked it over on its back.

“Now finish it, tackle!” May yelled again.

Daniel didn't even bother to send an order as his pokemon was crushed into the sand wall by Enye's fast attack. The crab fell down as a pokeball. Their was a large gash now in the wall, as well as a series of holes elsewhere around the arena where the crab had been digging. May got the idea that this was why the gym needed rebuilt every morning.

“Very good...” Daniel smiled, “But can you keep it up? Cacnea go!”

Immediately the cacti pokemon launched out of the wall, apparently it had been waiting. May tried to shout 'Astonish', but she knew Enye was too tired. The green pokemon smacked him across the fore-head with its club-like limbs. Enye whinnied and stomped instincitvely on Cacnea as it landed on the ground. However, Cacnea folded its arms and blocked the attack. Enye succeeded only in driving his opponent into the sand. He stopped when he realised his hooves were dripping with blood.

“Hypnosis!” May called, eagre to keep to non contact moves. She had an idea that Enye wasn't going to win this, but she didn't want to put Vixel up yet. She had little idea of what the fox could do, even with a type advantage.
“Sand Attack.” Daniel ordered confidently.

The spheres in Enye antlers swirled quickly, and his eyes began to glow blue. But before the attack could take full effect on Cacnea, it swung it's arms through the sand, heaving clumps of it into Enye's eyes. Enye cringed and squinted. By the time he could open his eyes, the grass type was slamming him hard in the side with another punch. Enye fell over on his side.

“End it with Pin Missile!” Daniel cheered.

May couldn't even think of an attack, she knew her pokemon was finished. Cacnea flexed it's muscular arms, extending and sharpening the spines in the process. After doing this for a few moments he began to spin adeptly on the spot, building up momentum to fire off the pins. Flying in bursts of half a dozen, the darts quickly covered Enye's side. It wasn't long before he reverted to a pokeball.

“One all.” Daniel smirked, “Got something to bring it back?”
“Yeah...” May answered, picking up Enye's pokeball, “I've got just the thing. Vix', go!”

Daniel's face was aghast as he saw the fox emerge from it's pokeball, ready for battle. She lightly cooed “Vul!” and stood delicately on the battle field, waiting for order.

Taking the initiative, Daniel called out, “Dig attack!” to his pokemon.
“Keep on your toes, Vix'!” May warned.

Before Vixel could attack the cactus spun around and burrowed under the sand. It moved around just underneath, creating a raised lump where it went. Vixel watched it closely, hopping over and around it's trail to stay behind the actual pokemon. After circling a few times the trail disappeared as the pokemon traveled lower. Vixel continued hopping around, but without structure. It seemed carefree, and oblivious to the danger. Then, suddenly, the cactus jumped out of the sand behind Vixel and brought it's arm down for a crushing blow. Before impacting though, one of Vixel's six tails snatched the claw up, tying round it. With an expert flick, the vixen slammed her opponent into the sand painfully. She turned around playfully. It was as if her attack was a reaction, not a carefully planned defense.

“Gah! Uh... Pin Missile!” Daniel began to panic.
“Flamethrower!” May called eagrely.

Vixel, however, just gave May a confused look, and didn't seem to notice as Cacnea initiated the same attack that had defeated Enye. When the fox turned around she was nailed by a volley of pins in the side. She cried out in protest, but was just met by another series of pins, this time piercing around her face. She closed her eyes and cried as wave after wave of pins hit. Eventually, Cacnea stopped to breath.

“Ember, now!” May shouted, urgently.
“Take it out, quickly.” Daniel ordered, still not as arrogant as he once was.

The cactus rushed forward, an arm drawn back to knock Vixel over as he had already attempted to do. Milliseconds before impact the fox opened it's eye a crack. Now it was burning red. She rolled backwards and launched into the air, out of range of her enemies attack. Once in the air she sucked in a deep breath and then spat out a shower of hot sparks. They rained down upon Cacnea and it began to dance franticly as the embers began to set alight his plant-like flesh. Before May could think of an order Vixel dashed at her enemy and knocked it off its stubby feet. It glowed white and then shrunk into a pokeball. Vixel smiled, and then blinked. Her eyes were azure.

“Alright!” May cheered, running over and hugging the fox pokemon.
“Aww man...” Daniel scratched his head and picked up his pokeball. “Good match. Your pokemon are really something... Here.” he held out a small badge in the shape of a castle with two turrets and behind it a pair of turquoise wings with white tips, shooting out. It was a sandy colour, and when May grasped it she could feel the rough texture.
“Thanks.” May smiled.
“You know if I'd used my high level pokemon I'd have won.” Daniel mock-boasted.
“Yeah, shame about league rules though.” May quipped. Daniel laughed, “Now I can see how your gym gets in such a mess.”
“And this was just a low level match.” Daniel indicated the damage.
“Well, I have to go heal my pokemon before I leave town. Bye!” May wave as she walked for the exit.
“Yeah, see you around.” Daniel waved back.
“Yeah...” May answered.

Try as she might she just didn't like Daniel. His arrogant attitude in the match had annoyed her, and despite a slight change afterwards he still seemed to think himself better, and slightly bitter about the loss.

“You won't.” she whispered in response to his comment.

[GeneChildMewtwo]

Thanks for continuing this fic. I guess it's back to wandering for May. But, since all Nurse Joys look the same she'll see the image of her friend wherever she goes. Given the situation, that will only make things worse.

The gym was pretty interesting. And it seems that rebuilding it everyday isn't that hard either. That's much cooler than just a gym with some sand in it. ^_^ But, I wonder if it's ever collapsed while people were using it? That sounds kind of dangerous actually...

Well, I'll be waiting for the next part. Keep it up! :wave:

[psychic25]

Very cool. Keep it up! Go May!

[DannyBoy]

That was a good chapter! The gym abttle was really well written. May ddi really good and I was surprised he had a Cacena. But then i relized Cactuses could be part water. Vulpix seems like a really good pokemon and I hope it only gets stronger. Great chapter, keep it up!

[Darien Shields]

Hey ho. No chapter today sorry ^_^;. I just wanted to say that I haven't been able to write much recently because I was making a new design for a website, and now I've started work Experience. I have to get up at quarter past seevn and work from eight to half four on the most boring tasks imaginable! Thanks for your continued support, especially new reader(s(?)). If I had a longer lunch break I'd write something up now, but as it is, I only have about five minutes. Sorry for the excuse!

[Darien Shields]

Sorry for Double-Replying, but the logistics of the situation are complex. I will explain more later. For the reasons sstated in the previos post, I may only manage a half chapter of whatever, and the spelling will be a little off... Bear with me...

EDIT: There, it's done. Very much thanks to Gene Child Mewtwo for the japanese translation, and anyone who speaks better japanese than him, don't criticise any of his translations, he did it very quickly, and was very busy. Many thanks, G-com-sama!

Chapter 12;

Trotting swiftly over the moist sand of the beach, Enye whinnied gladly. It was a glorious day. The sun was now dipping into the see and glowed a warm red, casting beautiful dancing lights over the water lapping around Enye's feet. The sky, which was now turning from azure to navy, was framed by dark clouds, but they were a far away threat, to be worried about another day. Now it was just a warm evening.

Seeing her pokemon was in a god mood May smiled and patted him delicately. It had been a long day, although not much had really happened since the gym battle. She had travelled back towards the pokemon centre, but traffic and confusing roads made the trip take over an hour, and she was waylaid within by trainers begging battles.

This reminded her that she hadn't seen James at the gym. She had half expected him, with his shiny Pikachu, to be the leader. She had to shrug her shoulders when she thought about it, and just guess that he had the good fortune to come across a wild shiny.

By the time she had made it out of the city it was late afternoon, and Vixel was tired from the battles she had on the way out of town. May had checked and rechecked the insect egg half a dozen times already, looking for signs of hatching, but it didn’t make the slightest shake or sound.

Consulting the pokègear on her wrist, May decided that she best thing to do would be to travel across the cost to Weppon, before turning about and heading north, to the last city in the delta. The land between Eappon and Weppon was marshy, and the best way to cross over it was a long thin bridge, which she headed for now.

Glancing backwards she saw the tall sandcastle gym standing on the peer. It was not as broken down as it was in the morning, but not nearly as magnificent as it looked when it had just been finished. Just as she was turning away though, May saw it collapse in an explosion of sand, chunks flying in all directions.

She bit her lip in unknown terror. ‘Could a normal pokemon trainer do that much damage?’ she thought, ‘Is it…’ She shuddered, ‘Damien?’.

The thought made her heart race. She tapped Enye’s side with her heel and he headed immediately, bowing his head down low and increasing his pace dramatically. May didn’t know what had damaged the gym, and quite frankly, she didn’t want to know. Enye sped on, into the distance.

~*~*~

As they proceeded, the sandy ground changed from gold to brown, and then to a putrid green. Enye’s ankles sloshed in muddy water, dis-pleasurably cold by comparison to the lukewarm water of the sea. He slowed down as did the beating of May’s heart, as gradually the town went out of view.

It was not distance that did this though, nor the lay of the land. As they traveled further along the coast, the pair was gradually walled in by fog. May began to fret over whether they were on route to the bridge or not, as they couldn’t see more than a yard in any direction, and so could easily miss the bridge and end up in… unfriendly waters.

Her pokègear did little to aid against her worries. It would show the map, but protest of a bad connection when she tried to see her own position. She considered the phone card attached, but quickly dismissed the idea. The only numbers she had were her fathers and some friends from home. And she didn’t have many of those- She lived on a far off farm and kept herself to herself. She didn’t know anything about her that was un-likable, yet she never found herself able to connect with anyone before Joyce.

‘Joyce’

There was a muffled explosion somewhere distant behind May. It shocked her out of her daydream and once more made Enye speed up. Immediately he began galloping blindly forward. May swiveled her head round in vain, as instead of the city, the sky and the sun, all their was to see was a white wall.

There was another explosion, closer than the last. May’s heart leapt into her mouth. Enye’s foot collided with an outcropping rock that emerged from the fog and both rider and steed went flying into the air. May landed with a splash in some gravelly mud, and moments later, passed out.

~*~*~

An unusual pair stood amidst the wreckage of the trainer shelter. Dark, charred logs lay in disarray around them, and the bent remains of the lockers rattled slightly in the wind. The pair, a man and a woman in their mid twenties, did not fit in at all with their smashed surroundings.
The woman was short, five foot six, but not squat, she was built small and fine with jet-black hair that fell down over her ears but stopped short and suddenly there, as if guillotined off. She had a pail face and wore thick black lipstick. Her leather outfit looked like a uniform of a super-hero, especially with a cloak attached to the back. She let out a breath that turned white in the cool evening air and flipped the wide hood of her cloak over her head.
The man was much taller, his chest being at the height of her head. His hair was bleached white with a tint of blue, and not as straight as hers, slightly curly or messy, falling over the flattened collar of his black trench coat. His hands were not gloved, and the skin on his hand was not ghastly and pail, but a more healthy tan colour.

“Maeni... sono onnanoko ga ita...” The woman said in a foreign tongue.
“Yuube kitanohouni kyampu a...” the man nodded.
“Tashyanoko... otokonoko wa?” the woman said, changing to an inquisitive tone.
“Machinonakanohoteruni tomatta, demo ima deta.” The man answered her question.
“Nigedaseru ko-” the woman started, but was interrupted by the sound of sneezing.

The turned to a rather battered looking locker, from which the noise eminated, and then gave each other curious looks. The man then slowly walked over to it, and then, abruptly, tore the door off. Inside lay a quivering youth, wearing shorts and T-shirt but no shoes.

“Tachisare...” the man said snidely.
“P-please don’t-t hurt me…” the boy shook.
“Baka!” the man became angry. He pointed with his hand, “Kaere!”

The boy didn’t need to be told again. He jumped up and bolted over the remains of the shelter towards town. He yipped as his bare feet were exposed to splinters or shards of glass, but didn’t slow down until the pair were a mere spec on the horizon.

“Kawaisouda.” The man grasped his hand into a fist.
“Kibishii saiketsu...” the woman smiled, and then walked up to him, “Meekyappuga hibiware eru.”
“Eh…?” the male rubbed his hand on his cheek and discovered that the blush which gave him such a white complexion was wearing off. He frowned.
“Reedaawa tsukanomani otokonokono tokoro o miseta, demo ima noomaaku da. onnanokowa...” the woman talked while looking at a small device in her hand, “Yume o miteiru to omou.”
“Doko?” the man said gruffly.
“... Nomu hashini iteita.”
“Nomu hashini!?” the man repeated, aghast.
The woman nodded.

~*~*~

May found herself in the marked with Joyce, where they went clothes shopping. She felt happy, this was one of her fonder memories that she had drempt about once or twice, but never remembered when she awoke. Joyce was trying to convince her to buy something, but she could hear her, or see what she was holding. It didn’t really matter… She just smiled and nodded, letting the dream carry her along. She followed Joyce through the open market, skipping along. Gradually things became more vivid, she could smell and here things around her. She could now hear what Joyce was saying to her, but still didn’t listen. She felt as if she was on some natural high inside her dream.

That changed when Joyce turned around from the stall in front of May. She was holding a white nurses uniform on a hanger, like her own, only this one was spattered with blood. May’s blood froze as she saw it. She mumbled “No…no…” desperately to herself, but the nightmare took shape quickly. She blinked, hoping that when she opened her eyes that things would be different. They were, but no better.

Joyce now stood, holding the bloody uniform, in front of two more nurse Joys, wearing uniforms with the same crimson splash over them. In there hands wear daggers, dripping with blood. They all looked perfectly happy. May buried her head in her hands, and then, stupidly, looked up again, as if to find something to disprove the nightmare. Now the three nurses stood not in a market, but in a ravaged battlefield, surrounded by rotting corpses. May looked in horror from side to side, and then it came over her suddenly… All the bodies were nurse Joys, and copies of herself.

She didn’t know why, but her hands suddenly felt drawn to her back. She slid them over the back of her blouse and found a handle, covered slightly by her hair. With difficulty she pulled on it, and slowly removed it. When she brought the item before her eyes, she saw clearly that it was a dagger, the same kind that the two Joys were holding. As she looked at it with terrible realisation, her back exploded in pain and she collapsed on the on the ground. Gasping of breath as her body contorted in pain she looked up and saw Joyce, with an outstretched hand, ready to lift her up.

She reached up, to take Joyce’s hand, but found that it was no longer open… Now it held a dagger.

~*~*~

The shock jolted May, and she opened her eyes. Joyce was gone, but she was in a similar place to the dream… the sky above her was a bleak and miserable grey, although unlike the dream, the sky was not so far away, the low-lying fog made up a ceiling around her. Her arm was still reaching into the air, and her back still hurt, although not nearly as much. She rolled over and discovered that she was covered in mud, and that she had been sleeping on a pointy stone, which explained the pain in her back.

Rubbing off some of the gravel, she stood up and looked around. She remembered riding Enye and then… Suddenly she realised she was nolonger on Enye. She looked around and called out. She heard him bleating in response. Heading towards the sound, she found him standing, barely, by a battered tree. His back right leg kept giving way, and the sphere in his left antler was not sitting delicately in its cup, but dangling off the other side of the antler. His brilliant white fur was covered with muddy smears.

“Oh… Enye…” May stroked his mane. “I think I’ll try and make it on foot…” she returned him to his pokeball and clipped it to her belt.

She immediately felt cold. She remembered where she was going, but now had no idea of the direction. Feeling lonely, she fumbled with her belt and released Vixel. The fox purred as she jumped out of the light, but then yelped in disaprovel when she found her paws in icy water. She hopped up the tree and watched May with her tuquoise eyes. May was eased by the fox’s cute antics, and it almost took her mind off how cold, damp and miserable she was.

“Vix’, mind making us a fire?” May asked.

The vixen nodded and went to the end of the tree’s branches and nawed off some thick branches. May collected them and sat them on a dry patch a few metres away from the tree. Vixel leapt down and huffed a few red sparks into the branches. In a few moments they were burning gently. May smiled and went and fetched her bag. Enye had been carrying it, and it fell limply to the side of the tree. She was relieved to discover everything in it was miraculously dry and intact. She took out a towel and a change of clothes, and carried everything back to the fire. Their she dug out the tent and layed it on the ground, unfolded, using the material as a mat on the mud. Vixel walked over the tent and quickly found the towel May had put down, and sat on it, bunching up her legs underneath her to fit everything on the small area. May sighed as she saw the fox.

Deciding to leave her pokemon for now she changed, quickly, not eagre to be exposed in such a cold and mysterious place. Then she held her wet clothes to the fire. She soon decided this wasn’t going anywhere fast, and dropped the clothes in a heap beside Vixel. She whipped the towel out from under her pokemon who growled in complain before nesting herself on the dry side of the discarded clothes. Drying underneath her clothes May succeeded in getting most of the moisture off but her new clothes were still slightly damp, and she was still cold. She frowned at Vixel, for taking the towel when she was getting changed. She was slightly thankful though, since the fox had warmed it.

After spending a few moments stroking Vixel to relieve her stress May consulted her pokègear and managed to get a compass direction out of it. After packing up her things, she headed for the bridge.

~*~*~

She wandered in the general direction of the bridge, with Vixel following at her heal, for several hours before actually finding it. Set upon a giant concrete slap was the base to the bridge. Although it seemed to go on for miles, the bridge was less than two yards wide, a footbridge. There was a large brass sign on a pedestal in front of the bridge. May could make out the words “Footfall Bridge” from a distance.

Before she was very far along the slab, she heard footfalls from her right. Vixel gave a puff of fire in that direction, and revealed, to May’s dismay, Damien, running quickly towards the bridge. She took a step back and grabbed at Enye’s pokeball. He was injured, but she would need everything she had for this battle.

“They’re… coming… you’ve got to run!” Damien panted at the foot of the bridge. And without another word, he ran, full pelt, into the misty horizon of the bridge,

[mistysakura]

Really good fic you've got there. It's an original concept, and very well-written indeed. At least now I know you're not just some arrogant kid who thinks himself better than a certain 2ra. (By the way, he won't be replying to your poss; I think he's gone off somewhere).

Poor May, always having to leave everything behind.

Edit: And I was going to say, was the Japanese so that most people wouldn't be able to read it, or just a touch? I kind of get the drift, but it was a struggle. Year 9 Japanese just doesn't cut it.

[Serria]

Testing this post thing... if you're reading this it worked. Good.

Anyway. The tension seems to be both diminishing and grow May (and the readers) - nice. And what's up with the Japanese?? :) Keep the posts constant and you won't lose any readers. Cheers.

[Darien Shields]

Thanks for the recognition ^_^ , and don't worry about 2ra, we've buried the proverbial hatchet. And don't dis the translation, like I said, Genechild Mewtwo did it as a huge favour, and I'm very thankful to him (Although yes, it was really just to haze the readers)

Well, anyway, new chapter. Sorry it's late and a bit short, and a bit all over the place, but now I've got more stuff to move on to in the story so I should be able to get a little more substance.

Chapter 13:

May walked cautiously across the bridge. While she was not quick to trust someone who almost electrocuted her and didn’t even seem to be warm-blooded, the fright in his eyes seemed genuine. The bridge was not the most reassuring of place either; once she was a few yards along it the base disappeared in the mist, leaving her only to see her pokemon and a thin strip o bridge in front and behind her.

Vixel was yawning as she walked along side May. She gave off the occasional puff of fire; which lingered on the ground, helping light the way. It was night now, although May imagined that in this weather that wouldn’t make much difference to the light.

“Vul.” Vixel said, surprising May slightly.
“Hmm?” May asked, smiling and turning round.

Vixel stopped and pushed her head diagonally into the ground. She fell over onto her side and then flipped up a bit to be lying on her bag. She yawned, and then gave May a wide eyed look.

“You’re literally too cute…” May sighed, sitting down and stroking her pokemon’s delicate fur.

Vixel began to pur, not quite like a cat, it’s tone was a bit harsher and rougher, but it was a definite sign of pleasure. She rolled back over and bunched herself up to sit like a cat. May sighed again.

“We can’t sleep now, we have to cross the bridge.” She explained.

Vixel just looked at her with very wide eyes. They were now a little darker than normal, no longer azure but a normal blue, or even navy. May realised that her pokemon could fully understand everything she had been saying, but chose to ignore it up until now. She looked pleadingly into May's own blue eyes.

“Alright.” May sighed. “I suppose we can camp here, I don't see anyone else crossing...”

~*~*~

May awoke to the blaring sound of her pokègear. It was like a much lower, harsher phone ring-tone. Guessing that the sun wouldn't wake her (which it didn't) she had set the pokègear's alarm to wake her the next morning. Now she clumsily fiddled with it, eventually managing to deactivate the alarm.

Shivering, she popped her head out of the tent to check the weather. The fog, though slightly brighter, was thicker than ever, as everything vanished no less than a foot away from the tent. May's breath condensed before her eyes, forming another vapour-cloud that added to the mist. She retreated back into the tent to get some warm clothes on.

As she packed away the tent, May realised that she hadn't had (or hadn't remembered) any dreams, or more importantly, nightmares, that night. She was greatly thankful for this, and hoped that she would have more peaceful nights from now on.

After packing up the tent and attaching it to her backpack (feeling quite weighed down once more) May set off. She had to check and make sure she was heading the right way at first. She had let Vixel stay in her pokeball, as she had her out most of the night, even if it wasn't in an active roll, and a long lye would hardly hurt her.

The tedium of the walk soon set in, and May found her mind wandering. 'If Damien wasn't responsible for those explosions...' May thought to herself, 'Who was? The doctors maybe? Are they after him too? I have no idea why they're after me, but they could well be after him too.' She quickened her pace as the thought of the doctors returned.

'What's that sound?' she though, once or twice, when a tapping in the background increased in volume. 'Could it be...? No, it must just be my imagination.' she constantly re-assured herself. And yet the sound didn't stop, it just stayed there, far behind like a nagging sound in the back of her head. It seemed to come closer every-so-often. 'It's not really a crime for others to cross the bridge I suppose...' was the only conclusion she could come to.

The sound kept it's regular beat. Eventually it got louder, closer, and more distinguishable. What had sounded like an individual tap at first, was more like two in close succession now presumably, May thought, the first was the front of the foot and the second the heel. Another sound, something running along the metal hand rail also caught her attention.

May quickened her pace again. The tapping became faster too, and the soft sound of the railing rubbing against something became higher. May's hand shakily wrapped around Vixel's pokeball. She clutched it, moving her thumb over the button. She slowed slightly. The sounds behind her also slowed, more than her. She eased up her grip on the pokeball and moved along.

But before long, the sound was gaining volume once again. May breathed harder and faster, and she could see the little puffs of moisture as her heart began to flutter. She looked from side to side, as if hoping that their would be some way off the bridge. She tried to guess by the slope how close she was to the opposite side. The bridge had only began to slope down half a dozen yards before where she had pitched the tent, so she guessed that the foot was not close.

Her heart was hammering against her chest as she swivelled round and stopped. The footsteps stopped too.

“Wh-who are y-you?” May clamored.

No reply came.

“Who are you?” she repeated, much firmer.

Again, no reply came.

May kept her mouth shut, although her fingers were firmly cupped round Vixel's pokeball. She englarged it.

“Who Are You?!” she shouted.

Somewhere far off was a seagull's caw, but no other sound. May waited several moments, then turned around. She held her breath tight, trying to fight back a sigh. She knew that would be speaking to soon.

And predictably, a few moments after she starter walking, the footsteps started once more.

“Vixel go!” May should, hurling Vixel's pokeball down as she twisted around.

The light from Vixel's pokeball illuminated the surrounding area slightly, not revealing much though, just more bridge.

“Ember attack!” May ordered.

Despite seeing no target, Vixel nodded, and spouted sparks in front of her. May could hear them scattering and tapping as they landed, and saw many of them, but could not see, nor hear them hitting someone standing on the bridge.

For a few moments she just stood stock still, peering into the mist. Then, silently signaling to Vixel, they walked back along, to see if their was someone there, who had somehow silently dodged the attack. Several metres along the bridge, and their was no one.

'Wh-what the he-ell?' May began to think as she looked around. Their had to be something, some clue, some... Thinking fast, she checked for footprints. She could make out the shape that her own feet had cut through the thick layer of condensation on the bridge's surface, and looking closely she saw another set... a set of bizarre footprints. They seemed to be elongated 'Y' shapes, with two round balls at the end of either “toe”. They were seriously disturbing.

With a careful eye May followed them, Vixel trotting alongside her, to the end of the tracks. She scratched her chin and looked around. She realise, suddenly, that there on the handrail beside here, was a similar mark. The moisture had all been wiped off up until a definate point. May shivered. Quickly looking over the bridge, she confirmed that her mysterious stalker had not manged to hang down below to evade her search.

Sighing, she continued onwards. The footsteps did not return.

~*~*~

She kept Vixel out for the rest of the way, and the fox didn't seem to protest. The walk was very uneventful. Once or twice May stopped and strained her ears to check for footsteps, but assured herself it was just her imaginaiton. Once, trying to judge how far above ground she was she dropped a discarded potion bottle off the side of the bridge. She could not hear it hit the ground.

The walk gave her time to think though, of her home and her past. She sighed, thinking of what she had left behind. It had not been much. A farm, a father... a handful of friends. 'Friends' she though, smiling. Their was sue, a brown-haired, green-eyed girl three years older than her who she had admired greatly admired. She hadn't seen her in a long time though, since Sue started her trainer journey several years before May, to the envy of many of her peers, since only a few children in the area could get a pokemon to start a journey.

Another girl, Jane only a year older than May, but who had not been lucky enough to start a trainer journey, was the closest thing May had to a 'best friend'. Her parents owned a shop in town that bought a lot of the produce from May's father's farm, so they saw each other often, exchanging services. Jane had dreamed of becoming a fire pokemon master.

“I want a fire starter, any fire starter will do.” she used to say.

She dreamed of having a torchic or a charmander. She was less fond of cyndaquil, but “as long as it's a fire type.” she would say with a wide grin on her face. Her most prized possession was a necklace made out of ultra-fine fire stone. She said that she would use it one day on a pokemon, despite it's high value and appearance. It crushed her when she couldn't get a pokemon. May felt slightly guilty, watching Vixel pad gently over the bridge.

For a moment May wondered about evolving her fox pokemon, if she ever would, what it would look like or what changes it would make in her personality. Vulpix were renowned for their beauty and power, both of which were evident to May now, so she dared to think what she would be like as a ninetails. Although she had heard that cheaper stones yielded weaker evolutions. She decided just to forget the prospect of evolution for now, such a thing was far off, and she didn't need to think about it for a long time.

Eventually her thoughts turned to the last real friend she had at home. Tom, a boy from a neighbouring farm. They had had a lot of fun together, pretending to hunt down pokemon, throwing rocks at beedrill nests (and promptly running away), fishing for goldeen ... A lot of people thought that they'd become a couple and get married when they were older, their parents were definitely in favour of such a possible union, as it would merge the farms. May, even now that she was older, didn't feel any attraction to Tom though. She shrugged, as she thought about it, and decided to ignore it.

“I guess you're the closest thing I've got to a friend now, Vix.” May smiled weakly at her fire pokemon.

Vixel, who had been walking in front of May turned around and rubbed against her leg, purring softly. She looked up at May, and made a sharp yip-bark sound. May understood and lifted the fox up in her arms. Once she was on May's shoulder she rubbed her face against May's cheek and then began licking her face. May giggled and then put her pokemon back down, then started wiping the warm saliva off her cheek.

After a long walk the mist began, gradually, to clear. Should could soon see a good few yards in any direction. Below her the mist looked dark as it became thin over the marshy-ground. Her spirit was bolstered by the seeming proximity to the end of the bridge. However, this was soon to change.

Not long after the mist started to clear, May began to hear faint noises ahead of her. Like the footsteps they were unclear. However that was about the only similarity they shared. These sounds were vocal, shouts, or screams, coming from somewhere up ahead. They were not confined to a thin area, like on the bridge, but a more wide platform, presumably the base.

As she drew closer it became clear that the scene ahead was one of confusion and terror. People were calling out muffled names, perhaps in hopes of finding someone, before screaming out themselves. Their were sounds of struggles, scraping of feet and the slamming of fists on flesh.

May froze mid-stride. Her heart was torn, half wanting to run forward and help, the other half, which was bolstered by her mind, screamed at her to run away. Her pulse began to raise as she looked from side to side along the bridge. She could see nothing new in either direction, but looked imploringly for some deciding factor. Vixel looked at her imperatively for command.

Moments later, still unsure, May pelted forth, Vixel in toe. She reached the foot of the bridge a few seconds later and paused. Another shout sounded from her right and she sprinted in that direction. Her feet immediately fell into the mud with a squelch and she struggled to keep her balance. Despite this she continued on.

However, within a minute or so she had passed over where the shout came from, and she had no idea where the person who made it had gone. She looked around and noticed Vixel.

“Vix', use Leer, can you see anyone?” May said quickly.

Vixel's eyes began to glow golden and she looked around slowly. After a few moments she looked up at May and shook her head sadly. May gritted her teeth and tried to decide what to do. The decision was made for her when she heard another scream coming from the distance.

Dashing towards it she panted;
“Vix', Leer again.”
Vixel's eyes glowed once more and she stared in the direction of noise. She frowned and the pink fur around her eyes became furrowed. Soon she slowed her pace and eventually stopped. May took heed and stopped. She turned to Vixel, who was now behind her. Vixel shook her head solemnly. May bent over and pushed on her thighs, panting.

Another cry, far away from the bridge, and May, despite the doubts she felt, ran towards it. She called out; “Where are you?!”, but no answer came. She ran endlessly, much further than she had the last two times. The mist began to clear, and she kept running. Vixel struggled to keep up and had to bound rapidly.

Then, suddenly, they were free of the mist. It still loomed behind them like a sinking cloud, but ahead the sky was clear and visible, as well as the town in front and various scenery. May didn't care though. She looked around desperately for a sign, the vaguest hint of the one who had been shouting, but their was nothing. Not a broken twig, or footprint, nothing.

“No... sign...” May panted breathlessly.

[mistysakura]

I wasn't dissing the translation! I was just complaining about my low ability to read Japanese.

Mysteries... invisible things... whoa. I wodner how this connects to the plot.It was a well-written chapter, with a definite suspense.

There were a few errors with homonyms, by the way, especially with their/there. I didn't bother to note them down.

[psychic25]

Oooh, neat chapters. Evil Joyce? And copies of each other... This is really shaping up to be a neat story (well, it has been for a while...). I like it a lot; keep on going!

[Darien Shields]

This one actually turned out a lot longer than I thought it would (quite a relief.) With all the fervor about fakemons I thought I'd play my card (Hell, I've got to do it now before that other fakemon I'm planning... oops) and see how you like it.

Chapter 14:

May looked bleakly into the fog. It was clearing slowly. She felt defeated inside, as if she had just fought in a great battle, but instead of victory, her efforts had just brought her closer to defeat.

Panting, sweating, and even crying, she gave up. Conceading defeat she beckoned to her vulpix, and kneeling down, she returned the fox to its pokeball. Standing up, she proceeded towards town.

Contrary to the empty sorrow of May's heart, the world outside the fog was bautiful. The sun shone high in the sky like a golden beacon. Gentle winds spread over the land, making the long grass dance, and flowers turn their heads. In the distance, the turqoise water broke over the beach in great frothy waves. Up ahead, the town was made mostly of short wooden buildings, with the occaisional concrete structure, but nothing over two stories tall. The buildings were mostly residential until they got close to the coast, where they were mostly surf board shops and fast food 'resteraunts'

The path May walked was made of cold grey concrete. It was a good thing too, since the ground to either side was marshy. Their were a few trainers in front of her, heading both to and from the town. May hardly noticed them as she hung her head.

She didn't know why she felt so bad, since she saw no sign of people let alone people being mugged or attacked. Yet she knew, somehow, thet their had been people there, that she wasn't crazy, and that she had failed to help them. Try as she might to say that it wasn't her fault, or her responsibility, her heart still blamed her, and she felt responsible for them and others, somehow.

"Hey!" came a familiar voice.

May looked up immediately. Jogging towards her, waving his ahands was James, the trainer from the Eappon fields. He was wearing dark green jeans and a light blue T Shirt with "W.C.G" printed above a picture of a surfing board with a lightning bolt on it. His long blond hair was as bouncy as ever.

"Hey." he said again as he came to a hault in front of May.
"Hi." May said bleakly.
"Fancy meeting you here." James smiled. He walked alongside May.
"I was about to say the same thing about you." May quipped, refusing to make eye contact.
"Not really... I live here." James explained.
"Oh? I thought you were on a trainer quest." May lifted her head slightly.
"Nah. I have the three badges from the legendary delta, and that's enough for me right now. I was just over at Eappon to do some training." he put his hands behind his head and sighed, "Looks like I left just on time, ay?"
"Pardon?" May became slightly interested.
"You know, all the terorrist stuff that went down. The explosion at the gym, trainer shleter and in the field?"
"What?!" May turned her head immediately and stopped walking.
"Yeah, it was all over the news." James nodded, stopping too, "They thought that the terrorists were tailing someone over to Weppon, so they sent the police down to the bridge, incase they caught 'em. That's why I was coming down, to see if anything happenned. I guess they gave up on that huh? I mean, you didn't see any cops, did you?"
"No..." May answered slowly.
"You must'a been crossing over when everything went down." James surmised.
"Yeah..." May said dissinteretedly, as she thought about the events of the previous day.
"Let me show you around town. It'll probably still be on the news anyway, and you can check that in the pokemon centre."James offered.
"Umm..." May winced slightly. She didn't feel very comfertable with James.
"Come on... It'll be fun." he grabbed her wrist before she could disagree again and dragged her towads the town.

~*~*~

"... and although the police are now denying any roadblock was made at the foot of Nomu bridge, they have yet to pass comment on the police officers who are currently missing..." the news reporter droned on.

It had said pretty much the same thing as James, only adding at the end that the police seemed to have disappeared. May guessed that it was the police she had heard in the fog. It didn't make her feel much better.

"Ready to go?" James asked. They had healed their pokemon already, but May hung around for the news report on the TV.
"Yeah, sure." May nodded, eagre to take her mind off of the news.

James's pikachu, Tips, was now having a piggy-back ride on the back of James's head, hanging onto the boy's long hair quite comfortably. James didn't seem to mind, a testament to how often he had done such a thing.

He showed May the town, which wasn't very hard, since the only things of any interest were all around the same place, the beach. He had shown May around the surf board shop, and when he failed to convince her to by one of them, he managed to con her into buying a new bathing suit. May would rather not, she was heading away from the sea soon, and didn't need to be more weighted down, but deciced to get something cheap that she could throw away, so that she could enjoy some of the sea.

"You really don't have to show me around." May protested as she sat down. James had shown her the most popular fast food resteraunt in town ('wouldn't be hard' May thought, 'their only are three.') where they got fries for lunch.
"It's all right, I don't have much else to do but surf and train pokemonl, and I'm pretty much the best in town at both of those already." he bragged.
"Speaking of which, nobody seems to have noticed your shiny pokemon." May pointed out.
"Everyone knows Tips." James explained proudly, "Every trainer in town's probably lost to him. That's why I go out for training trips, you know?"
"So you're a bit of a local celebrity, then." May asked, rehtorically.
"You might say that..." James smiled.
"Pi! Pikachuuu." Tips, who had been sitting comfortably on James's lap got a wiff of the ketchup his trainer was now pouing over the stringy fries he had been given, and was now wrestling his way towards the bottle. James was doing his best to hault the pokemon.

May was thinking that this would be a perfect opportunnity, and excuse, to ditch James and be on her way, but as she moved to get up something on her belt began to ring. Reaching down she clenched the minituarised pokeball and lifted it up. The once dark green side wasnow bright and illuminated, flashing almost.

Clearing her side of the table she maximised the pokeball and thn cautiously released it's contents. The egg (or cocoon) had changed since the first time May had seen it. It was once a tall thin oval, barely bigger than the egg itself would have been. Now it was wide, far fatter than it was tall. In shape it was very similar to silcoon, and now had eight spikes, the four at opposing angles on top and another mirroring four bellow. The dark green shell which was once rock solid now seemed to be slightly soft, and strangely damp. The most promenant feature was a deep gash accross one of it's axis.

It was hatching.

"Cool egg." James said, standing up, "What pokemon is it?"
"Wurmple-Caterpie cross breed..." May said automatically, "I need to go back to the pokemon centre- it's hatching."
"You sure?" James gave her a sideways glance.
"I'd rather do that, just to be on the safe side." May said, sliding her hands under the egg. She didn't think it would agree to the pokeball again now that it was out.
"If you want..." James shrugged, "Tips, come on."

James soon realiesd that his pokemon was not following and turned around. His shining blue pikachu was on the floor, firmly clamped onto the ketchup bottle, licking it's nozzle. His face went red as he tried to remove his pokemon from the bottle, but in vain. He turned to May and said, rather sheepishly, "I'll have to catch up with you later."

"No sweat." May smiled.
"Good luck!" James called as she walked out.

~*~*~

It was a short walk back to the pokemon centre (like everything else it was situated somewhere near the beach), but time seemed to stretch out for May. She kept a calm outer appearance, despite being slightly panicked inside. The gash in the surface stretched and widenned as she travelled to the pokemon centre. Their was a soft white glow underneath it.

May guessed she should get used to this. After all, she had wanted to be a pokemon breeder, not trainer, but somewhere along the way the lines got crossed. She had read a dozen books on breeding, and new a lot about hatching eggs, but for some inexplicable reason confidence seemed to drain out of her as groups of teenage strangers staired at her egg.


By the time she did reach the pokemon centre her arms were rather sore from carrying the weighty egg, and she was happy to unload it, even briefly, onto the reception desk. Her face turned into light shade of scarlet as she groped in futility for the right words.
"I... um, you see this egg- my egg- I mean my pokemon's egg... is hatching... aaand..." she trailed off.
"Of course." the Nurse Joy smiled predictably. May hid her inner contempt. "If you'd just like to go to that room over there." she indicated a single white door with a metal handle, "I'l be with you in a second."

May nodded greatfully and headed for the room. She was always surrpised how busy pokmon centre's were (with the exclusion of her first, where Joyce worked), very different from on TV, where a nurse would immediately serve you and have infinite time and no other patients. May didn't resent them for it, aside from anything else, their was nothing they could do about their customers, she was just surprised.

The room was rather spartan, especially in comparison to the shacklike structures that made up the shops which had a very lived in aura to them. It was white, with a few hard backed plastic chairs in front of a table, upon which May set the egg. Their was a trolley resting by the wall, filled with medicines and mechanical equipment May couldn't identify. After a few moments May sat down and decided to wait.

Not long after, the same preky Nurse Joy from the reception burst through the door and gave May a wide ('Fake' May identified) smile.
"Ah, I see you have a crossbreed." she observed.
"I'm a pokemon breeder" May agreed, "- in training."
"Ah, looks like a Papilleyite." the nurse removed some equipment from the trolley and moved towards the egg.
"Oh..." May said and tried to remember. Her breeder's manual had explained the result of the cross breeding, but she never really took it in, since part of her wanted to be surprised.
"Yes, should be fine, call me if anything happens... particularly if anything goes wrong though, I'm a bit busy at the moment." she gestured to the door.
"Alright." May nodded.

The nurse left.

May sat silently, looking at the egg for quite some time. The gas gradually became bigger, and when it reached the cross in the middle (the cocoon shell seemed to be conposed of four rather bent pannels) splt, and started travelling up either side of the other axis aswell. Rays of pearly light shot out from inside.

Once or twice May got up and touched the egg, resting her hands on it. It was warm and seemed to beat, like a heart. She paceed around it, to make sure nothin extra was happenning on the far side. She woul always return to her seat, frustrated and anxious.

Then it happenned. At first their was just a slight creaking sound, then the four segments literally popped off, leaving a glowing circular core, which hovered up like a tiny sun. May stood up immediately and slammed her hands down on the table as she looked wide eyed at the marvelous hatchling. Gradually the white-hot orb took form. A long, thin tail, nearly double the length of an aipom's stretched out behind, and two wings unfurled. A set of pointy limbs appeared on the underside as the glow diminished. Finally the pokemon set down, still on the table. The ivory exterior now changed to the pokemon's true colours. Along the back of the tail was green, as was it's small round head, exactly like a caterpie's except for the pink antenna was replaced by a yellow horn. Similarly two yellow horns poked out at the end of the tail, but they were dwarfed by large pink shell-like chunks with horns on them much like a slicoon. It stood on four finger-like legs, each one hard and yellow, like wurmple's horns. On it's back were two more armour plates with spikes, but these two were dark green, more similar to metapod. The wings were a slighlty sad site at first, as they were soaked (the entire pokemon was actually quite moist), and the bug stretched them out, refusing to move.

May stood in silent awe for quite some time. In fact, their was no sound until the nurse returned.

"Ah, it's hatched already I see." she smiled.
"Yeah..." May said blankly, still staring at her new pokemon.
"Oh, sorry, it might be some time drying it's wings... Hold on a minute and I'll turn the lights up, that'll speed up the process." the nurse explained as she fiddled with a dimmer swtich by the door. Soon the light brightenned and the but flapped it's wings lightly in recognition.
"Thanks." May said, looking at the nurse for the first time since she came in.
"Thought of a name yet?" the Joy asked as she walked over to the trolley.
"Umm, no, I might just stick with Papilloyite, I mean I haven't seen anyone else with one." May said with some genuine feeling.
"Yes, pokemon breeders are few and far apart on this island." she gave the insect a few scans with her equipment.
"It's a she" she told May, then produced a piece of paper, "It's only bug type, incidentally. Although it has the 'suspension' trait."
"Pardon?" May asked, slighlty confused.
"You see these bits of shell?" Joyce indicated on the pokemon, then on the printout, which seemed to be a pokedex entry, "They weigh it down a lot and it can only hover or gluide. Gaining height or sustaining flight are really a no-go."
"Oh. Thanks." May smiled.
"You can stay until it's unfurled it's wings, but then you should go to the trainer shelter part of the building... it's getting late." the nurse said as she slid out the door.
"Huh?" May looled quizically at her pokegear.

It was indeed half six, although she could have sworn she just left having lunch with James. Frowning she tried to think, 'Have I really been watching this thing hatch for over four hours?' She shrugged and decided that it was just weird, and that their was nothing she could do about it.

Lookng at her now rather majestic pokemon, she released both Vixel and Enye (who had a small struggle fitting in the room.)

"Meet your new team-mate." May smiled.

All three looked at the bug, who gave a high pitched slightly garbled sound, that May took as a sign of affection. It's wings, once dry, spanned metre, and the rear end stretched out beyond the pokemon's flexing tail. Their were four, all in all. Two smaller under-wings, which were oddly frayed and grey, May finally realised because they were from dustox, the other evolution of wurmple. She was careful not to touch these because they glistenned slightly with purple powder, which she guessed was poisonous. The other two wings though were huge and translucent, tinted mostly with sky-blue, but with some pink and yellow towards the forward tips. They looked like a framed rainbow, attached to the caterpillars back.

May smiled at her new pokemon.

'Tommorrow, we take on the gym.'

[Heavenly Sage HLSOE]

I like this fic. The language is splendorous, superb in fact. The plot (like I told u on AIM, I only read 2 chaps, but up to that point) is good. But what really stands out is the sublime language. The way you play around with your words, the style is well...obscence (??) XD. No, honestly, the style of your writing is very refined.

Methinks this is cool.

[GeneChildMewtwo]

So James makes another appearence. I wonder if there's truth to that "All Pikachu like ketchup" thing. It seems so here. ^_^

That bug pokemon you made was pretty neat, although a bit wierd. I wonder if May wil be using it actively? I want to see what it can do in battle and such.

Well, hoepfully next chapter I'll have a bit more to talk about. Keep up the good work. :wave:

[DannyBoy]

Sorry for not replying in a while but I am back from a short brake! Thous were good chapters. I like the relationship thats building between wiith James. To bad he left but maybe they will meet back up soon! I like the new pokemon to, it seems really cool. You did a great job describing it, I could actually picture it in my head and it seems like a cool pokemon. I hope May continues to get happier and James stays with her. Really good, Keep it up!

[psychic25]

Hmmm, interesting Pokemon. Can't wait to see what it can do! And the relationship, huh? A bit of... love, maybe? Oooh, I'll check back soon to see. Keep it up!

[Serria]

Whew, finally caught up! Heavenly Sage speaks true - you have a great way with words. Far too many fanfics are redunant and dull, even if the plot is excellent, because they can't find the right words..

You're certainly putting in alot of different "sub plots", different factors. Which is usually good. That James is quite the stud man. I suggest you kill him off immediatly. :D Just kidding. By the way, another word of praise - May is developing a specific personality, which is also uncommon in many fics. Cheers.

[Darien Shields]

I'm not dead! Honest! Thanks for continued support, even when I have Latin Investigations and all other schooly excuses holding me back from writing the fic. I just didn't much like the chapter, and sorry about how short it is. But, hey, it's done so now we can move on to bigger and better things! Hey, and Meowth, have you actually read any other fics? I don't mean to bash people that are praising me, but I'm sure lots of people have those things ^_^; Anyway...

Chapter 15:

The city gym was rather oddly situated on the edge of the beach. It was, unlike almost everything else in town, made of concrete. It was supported underneath by a network of tall stilts, May guessed to protect it from the tide and flooding. Because of it's elevated level the walkway towards the entrance started rather far up the beach. It was made of metal and made a sort 0f clanking sound as May walked on to it.

Guessing that the gym would be water based (another sand one would be unoriginal, and league rules stipulate that gym's in close proximity must be different) and had selected Enye's pokeball from her belt, and she now clutched it in her hand. She walked briskly along the walkway and felt slightly odd, since no-one else on the beach was doing so.

She had not seen James since leaving for the pokemon centre yesterday, and was feeling a little guilty for her quick judgment. He was a little arrogant, but considering his record, it was not surprising. May had taken on an anti-social turn after leaving Moscleft, and she could see it in herself, and now wanted to make amends. It was hard enough to make friends on the move.

As the frosted glass doors slid sideways May walked into the small reception area. One desk with an out of date computer sat opposite the door, unmanned. A bell rung in the distance as the doors slid back into place. May saw two doors to either side of the desk, and two corridors leading off to either side.

She stood, idly, awkwardly for a few moments, unsure what to do. The thought crossed her mind, briefly, that James would be the gym leader. Shinies were becoming a recurring theme, and since he seemed to live here, it would make sense that he was the gym leader. However, in a few minutes a tall, gaunt girl with a mild tan walked in. She was wearing a black one-piece bathing suit with a yellow stripe running the height of it. Chunky black military-issue boots adorned her feet, seeming quite unusual. May note she was wearing no socks. Crowning the entire outfit was a black cape hanging over her shoulders. Her hair was bleached pail blue.

“You're here for a battle, I assume?” the girl asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah.” May glanced sideways. She felt uncomfortable looking at the girl, for some reason.
“Great, you're the first today. I'll just go get my pokemon, if you'd like to head out that door...” she pointed towards the left hand door as she walked backwards in the direction she had entered from.
“Cool.” May nodded, eagrely dashing through the door.

It lead onto a long metal walkway with railings on either side. The walkway was over the sea, indicating (as May looked behind her) just how thin the actual gym building was. The other door lead to a walkway that ran alongside the one May walked on. Towards the end it bent off at forty five degree angle, as did the other, leading them away. Soon May reached the end, a small platform with a slanted monitor on it. Currently it was blank.

Between May's platform and the one at the end of the other walkway (they were symmetrical) was an island in the water. It was very small, and pretty plain, one palm tree sticking up, far taller than the island was wide.

The clanking of something on the metal caught May's attention and she turned to see the girl pelting down the walkway, pokeball in hand, her cape flowing wildly behind her. With her cape, the girl reminded May of a stylish Johto league trainer she had heard of, 'Claire', or something, she couldn't really remember, and didn't much care. May lifted Enye's pokeball, ready to toss it onto the island.

“Three on three alright?” the girl called, but May could hardly hear her in the distance. She tried to emote this by looking confused and moving her head. Eventually the girl reached her platform.

“I said is three on three alright?” the voice came from the monitor, surprising May. It had burst into life, and now the girl's face consumed the upper right quarter of the screen.

“Uh, yeah, great.” May smiled. 'Brilliant, even if Enye can win a few matches, I'll still be stuck with a type mis-match by the end...' May thought bleakly.

“Alright then...” the gym leader smiled and lifted her arm, pokeball in hand. She paused, “Oh, one last thing, I'm Darla.”
“May.” May smiled. “Enye, go!” she shouted, hurling forward Enye's pokeball. It landed perfectly on the island and Enye emerged, beautiful snowy white.
Darla didn't need to think twice, but adeptly chucked her pokeball forth, shouting “Squirtle Go!”

May had not noticed, but on a small platform between the island and Darla were three surf board, propped up vertically. As the pokeball hit one of them it fell forwards and hit the water cleanly. The explosion of light from the pokeball carried onto the board, and revealed a small turtle, standing on it's hind legs, posing on the board. It carved adeptly through the water and began arcing round the island.

Machines, previously undetected by May, one on each side of the island (about a dozen yards away though), began making loud fanning noises as they began to churn out water. Quickly, the water around the island began to spin softly, and waves began to roll alongside it. The turtle pokemon weaved adeptly through and around.

Symontaniously the screen flashed and both Enye and the Squirtle appeared in their own quadrants, a camera that May couldn't see folllowing them. The last quadrant flashed and showed a slightly zoomed out view of both pokemon.

“Squirtle, Surf attack!” Darla ordered, redundantly.
“Grr, Confusion!” May growled angrily, since her pokemon was not well equipped to fight the surfing foe.

With a burning blue-glow around Enye's horns the stag swung his head and released a ball of invisible psychic energy, recognisable only by the blur in the surrounding air. It hurtled towards the surfing turtle who slid sideways into the trough of a wave, leaving the attack to splash harmlessly into the water. Riding over the waves the water-type turned towards Enye and forcefully turned over a wave to cascade over the beach of the miniscule island. The cold water hit Enye hard, and was shortly followed up by the turtle who bounced of his head and skipped back into the water.

“Ah- Again!” May commanded, unsure what to do.
“You too Squirtle, keep the surfin' comin'.” Darla yelled, clenching her fist.

Enye repeated his previous motions, to much the same effect, Squirtle swung behind a wave and the hole punched through by the sphere of disturbance revealed him ducking under. In moments he turned a round, spraying water over Enye in a sharp turn, then spinning upside down in a breaking wave to hurtle towards Enye once more.

'Now!' May thought, “Astonish!”

Enye bucked- almost before May had commanded him- with his hind legs and backflipped over the incoming squirtle. His antlers battered water type and pushed him back while his board shot out from under him, slicing through the wave on the other side of the island.

“Get back to the water, quick!” Darla uttered, paniced. May could see over the screen that she was now sweating and frowning.
“Stomp!” May cheered.

Enye slammed his hooves on the turtles shell as it scrambled towards the water on all fours. It was knocked down off its feet and coughed bitterly. Enye lifted up and prepared to attack again but by the time it was pounding the turtle was concealed in it's shell. As his hooves impacted on the wet shell they slipped and sent the squirtle flying back into the water.

“Damn!” May exclaimed, “Confusion!”

Another sphere of blurred air pounded vainly into the waves. Enye fired off a series of blasts into the water towards the sound of Squirtle splashing around in the water, but the hole's blasted in the waves revealed nothing. Enye looked around as the splashing quieted, and to his dismay saw Squirtle glide out from behind a wave on his red surf-board, designed to match his shell.

“Alright, now lets wrap this up, water-gun attack!” Darla grinned.
“Evasion!” May said through gritted teeth.

Squirtle pursed it's lips an sprayed a thin line of water towards Enye. The deer deftly stepped sideways, letting the squirt land purposelessly in the sand. The turtle was undeterred though, and as it adeptly danced through a series of waves shot off half a dozen water-bullets. Enye hopped left and right, ducking low to the ground. One or two of the attacks succeeded in hitting, but Enye seemed un-phased and stood strong.

“Hmm...” Darla frowned seeing her new tactic wasn't working. Her pokemon looked to her for instructions.
“Confusion!” May yelled, seizing the opportunity.
“Surf!” Darla shouted in reaction.

Enye launched the usual distorted sphere of air careering towards Squirtle and it sent water splashing in every direction. Squirtle frowned and pulled its board up and manage to jump into the air, just above the attack, before smacking down again.

“Direct Surf Attack!” Darla yelled quickly.
“...” May fell silent, her face locked in a fierce frown, unsure what to do.

The water type turned his board against the wave and slowed dramatically until it was pointing at Enye. At this point a wave buffeted it forwards and brought it bearing down on Enye. As impact seemed Imminent May's eye's flickered. Enye seemed to comprehend before she spoke.

“Headbut!” May screamed.

Enye reared his neck back and smacked the incoming surfboard with his horns. It swirled through the air, allowing the turtle to fall off and into the sand. The board landed upright, wedged in the sand.

“Ah!” Darla broke out in a cold sweat.
“This time you're not getting your board back.” May smiled. “Enye, stomp attack!”
“Withdraw!”

Instantly the turtle's limbs disappeared into its shell as Enye turned to it. This time, instead of trying to stand on the shell the normal type simply decided to give it a good hard smack, kicking it hard with one of his fore-legs and sending it once more into the water. It spun into a wave and along its trough still concealed in it's shell.

“We don't need a board to Surf!” Darla stated confidently.

At the word Surf the red shell began blasting water out of the five holes on it's shell, sending thin beams in every direction. The spray ricocheted off the sand and managed to wet Enye, but had little more effect the first time. However, when the faceless shell circled around and attacked again it sent an entire wave crashing down on Enye, almost forcing the stag off his feet.

“Confusion!” May cried in desperation, unsure if the attack would work.
“Dodge it!” Darla cheered, confident that her first victory of the match was imminent.

Enye growled as best he could and sent one last dire blast towards the turtle. This sphere barreled down the trough of the wave in direct pursuit of the shell. Squirtle made vague movements from left to right about the wave, but it soon became evident that not only could it not see the attack, could could not maneuver well enough to dodge it anyway. With a cold hard smack the attack struck the turtle.

Like the straw that broke the camel's back, this attack sent Squirtle hurtling into the ground. It landed close by it's surfboard, all limbs out. It tried to push itself up for a moment, just long enough for it to spit sand out of its mouth, but then fell limp on the beach. Glowing dimly it reverted to a pokeball. To May's confusion the ball then disappeared, but she saw soon that Darla was clutching it in her hand.

“Alright!” May cheered, “Nice work Enye!”

The stage whinnied in relief and looked up into the sun as if posing.

“It ain't over yet...” Darla grinned darkly, now holding another pokeball.”

“Go...!”

[DannyBoy]

Sorry for not posting earlier. I just got back from my borad break and I been catching up with fics all day. Ok, this was a good chapter. Enye did really well against a very powerful Squirtle. I really liked how you portrayed Squirtle as powerful because some people feel un-evolved pokemon are weak. I think you could have added a little bit more of the next match into it, so it would have been a bit longer but its ok. Good job and Keep it up!

[Darien Shields]

I've reposted the first chapter of "Pokemon Kami". See topic for details of the repost, etc. I should have a link in my sig, with any luck. If not I'll get onto fixing it.

[Darien Shields]

Chapter Two is Up (http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=26871&goto=newpost)

(Of Pokemon Kami, that is.)

There's also a link in my sig, choose what you will.

[Darien Shields]

Chapter "2.5" is up. That's an Interlude, something short and not directly pertaining to the main character, but the bad guys, that I made up when I originally wrote it... So it's still in. Link in Sig, too lazy to replicate it. Hoping for new readers soon, before I cross into the threshold of "No, I'm not going to start reading that, it's too long", which was the main reason I started the repost, to avoid that.

[Darien Shields]

Chapter 5 (and 4, did I say 4 was up?) up.

May reaches Moscleft city and meets someone that will change her life forever... All will become clear in time.

(Again, Link in sig.)

[Darien Shields]

May tries to unravel the mystery of her past, while getting on with the future. After a few battles and a trip to a breeding centre, she barely dodges the iron grip of her persuers. The noose is still closing around her neck though, will she be able to escape?