Introduction: Well, I'm back. At least for one more Pokemon story. I know that a lot of you reading are probably expecting me to do Reign of Silver. I've gotten a lot of reviews and PMs asking me when I'm going to get that story off the ground, and I'm afraid I still can't give anyone a good answer. There are tons of reasons of course that I won't get into right now, but I can say that Reign of Silver will be written eventually. In the meantime, because of all the recent buzz about OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire, I've decided to work on this other older story idea of mine that helps mainly to set up a story that's going to happen after Reign of Silver. As I said in the summary, this story is kind of a sequel to my Noir Mask Trilogy and takes place in the timeline roughly during Dusk of the Dead. Also, there will be no Primal Reversions used in this story because I'm saving that for after Reign of Silver, but there will be a few Mega Evolutions. That said, on with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 1: The Dantes Mansion
It was the middle of the afternoon as twenty-two year old Pokemon Coordinator May Wilson rode her bike towards Lilycove City in Hoenn. She was on her way to the seaside city in order to participate in a championship Pokemon Contest that was set to happen in two days. May had been peddling her bike for half the day, but at last she had finally arrived at Lilycove City. Rather than heading to the local Pokemon Center though, May began to ride her bike towards the wealthier part of the city, the part of Lilycove known for its fabulous estates. She was heading towards one mansion in particular, the mansion owned by the very wealthy Dantes family.
A little over a year ago when she had participated in another Pokemon Contest, May had befriended the dashing young Andre Dantes, who had instantly become a big fan of May's after seeing her and her Pokemon perform. After the contest, Andre had invited May to spend some time at his family's mansion. May had greatly enjoyed the five days she had spent at the mansion, and when it had come time for her to set out on the road again, Andre and his uncle had invited May to come back and use the guesthouse whenever she returned to the city. After only a few more minutes of riding, May finally arrived at the front gate of an opulent white two-story mansion sitting at the top of a hill. This of course was the Dantes mansion.
May dismounted her bike, and upon finding that the front gate was unlocked decided to head for the door. As soon as she reached the front door, she set her bike against the wall and knocked on the door. May stood there for what seemed like almost five minutes waiting for someone to open the door. She knocked again, and then after trying the knob she found that the door was unlocked. Thinking that Andre and his uncle wouldn't mind, May went ahead and let herself in.
Upon walking into the great house though, May noticed that the large main hall was almost completely dark. The only light coming through was the light streaming in through the windows in the adjoining rooms. It looked almost as though the place had been abandoned.
"Hello?" May called as she walked further into the room. "Is anyone here?"
In answer to her question, May heard a growling noise that caused her to look to her right. Approaching her was a snarling black dog-like Pokemon with a red snout and two curved white horns in the spots where ears would normally be. It had a slender tail that ended in a point like the tail of a demon. May instantly recognized the Pokemon as a Houndoom.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" a voice demanded to know.
May looked and walking out of a dark corner of the room was a young woman who looked to be in her twenties. She had shoulder-length blonde hair with a slight curl and striking violet eyes. May noticed that her eyes were very much like Andre's making her assume that she was a relative of some kind. Her skin was quite pale, like she had not been in the sun for a long time. She had on a sleeveless black shirt with a black vest and black skintight jeans.
Walking at the blonde's side was a five-foot tall bipedal fox with grey and black fur and red claws. Atop its head was a large mound of red and black fur that was tied into a ponytail by a large round teal gem. May recognized the creature as a Zoroark, a very rare and powerful dark-type Pokemon.
"Um, hello." May nervously greeted. "I'm… May Wilson."
The blonde looked May over for a few moments. "…Oh, you're that Pokemon Coordinator who's the daughter of the Petalburg City gym leader. I've read about you a few times. But that doesn't explain why you think you have a right to barge into this house."
"Well, I'm sort of a friend of one of the people who lives here, Andre Dantes." May explained. "He said I could stay in the guesthouse whenever I was in town."
At this, the blonde seemed to become more enraged. "I see… so you're a friend of my bastard cousin, eh? Well I'm afraid to inform you that Andre Dantes no longer lives here, and any friends that he had are no longer welcome under this roof or any part of the property. Now leave before I do something we'll both regret!"
"Well actually, the invitation to stay at the guesthouse came from Andre's uncle." May quickly informed her. "He said that he really liked having me here."
Upon hearing this, the blonde's expression softened. "My… my father was the one who said you could stay here?"
"That's right." May confirmed. "So… I guess that makes you Andre's cousin?"
Instead of answering May's question, the blonde raised her hand. Instantly, Houndoom stopped growling at May and sat down. Zoroark seemed to calm down as well.
"Does this mean I can stay?" May asked.
"Emma!" the blonde called in response.
Quickly walking into the room was a young woman with long reddish-brown hair wearing glasses and a maid's outfit. "Yes Ms. Marie?"
"Show that girl to the guesthouse and see that she's settled in." Marie ordered.
"Of course, Ms." Emma replied. "Will there be anything else?"
"No." Marie replied as she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "My head's killing me, so I'm going back up to my room. Until dinner, I do not wish to be disturbed by anyone except Lisa, is that clear?"
"Yes, Ms." Emma replied with a bow. She then turned her attention to May. "Ms. Wilson, if you'll please follow me."
May nodded and began to follow Emma out of the room while Marie headed up the stairs with Zoroark. As May left the room, she thought she saw some kind of blue eye starring at her from a dark corner of the room. Whatever it was caused a chill to run down her spine.
"I'm terribly sorry for the greeting you received, Ms. Wilson." Emma spoke.
"Who was that back there?" May asked. "And what happened to Andre?"
"That was Master Andre's younger cousin, Marie Dantes." Emma explained. "And I'm afraid that a lot has happened since the last time you were here. This might be hard for you to hear, but I'm afraid that Master Andre was not the man who any of us thought he was."
"What do you mean?" May asked.
At this, Emma stopped in her tracks. "He was very bad man, Ms. Wilson. Many years ago when Ms. Marie was ten, Master Andre framed her for stealing a priceless artifact from the Lilycove Museum and had her sent of a jail that was said to be a hell on earth. All so that he could gain control of his family's company when his uncle died."
"That can't be true!" a shocked May declared.
"I'm afraid it is, Ms." Emma gravely confirmed. "He had also been slowly poisoning his uncle over the years for the very same reason. You do recall how sick Master Alex was when you were last here."
May did remember that Andre's uncle was indeed in poor health during her visit. But she just couldn't believe that Andre had been the reason for his illness. It was so unlike the kind charming man she had come to know during her stay.
"There's more, I'm afraid." Emma continued. "Master Andre had also made a few deals with the criminal underworld, and even tried to use the power of an ancient Pokemon to drown this city. I don't know all of the details. If you wish to know more, I suggest that you ask around the city."
"I just can't believe it." May stated.
"There are times when I still have trouble believing it as well, Ms." Emma admitted. "But I'm afraid it is true. Andre Dantes was a monster, and it seems that the one hurt most by what he's done is Ms. Marie."
"She really seemed to get mad the moment I mentioned that I knew Andre." May recalled.
"I've only worked for the Dantes family for three years, but I can say with certainty that whatever ordeal Ms. Marie has been through due to Master Andre's actions has left her a bit… strange." Emma told her. "And I find many of Ms. Marie's Pokemon to be a little unsettling to be around."
"You mean that Zoroark and Houndoom?" May asked. "I guess they're a little scary, but they seem okay."
"Well, I suppose. But I was referring to this… other Pokemon that Ms. Marie has." Emma replied with a shudder.
"What Pokemon is that?" May asked.
"…Never mind." Emma answered. "The only piece I can give you right now, Ms. Wilson is to not mention Master Andre's name around Ms. Marie or Ms. Lisa."
"Lisa? Who's that?" May asked.
"Lisa Flare. She's Ms. Marie's… very close friend." Emma explained. "Now then, let's get you settled in."
"Uh, yeah. Sure." May replied. And with that, they continued to the guesthouse.
It was half past midnight as a male officer at the front desk of the Lilycove City Police Station filled out some mundane paperwork. As he finished filling out what was probably his fiftieth form of the night, he heard the sound of someone clearing her throat. Looking up, the officer saw a young woman wearing a sleeveless red hooded shirt with small black horns on the hood and a black M-like symbol on the front, along with a short red skirt and a black visor over her eyes. Wrapped around her right ankle was a strange blue piece of jewelry. The officer felt he had seen the type of outfit the young woman was wearing before, but couldn't quite place it.
Standing by the hooded woman's feet was a small pink creature with an odd face, stubby arms and large feet with yellow toes. On top of its body were two large floppy ears. The officer recognized the creature as a Whismer.
"Can I help you, Ms.?" The officer asked.
"Yeah, I'm with Team Magma, and I've come to steal something you've got in the station's evidence room." The hooded girl answered.
"Team Magma? Oh crap!" the officer exclaimed as he got to his feet.
The hooded girl covered her ears. "Aster, use Screech!"
The little Pokemon at the girl's side let out an earsplitting screech that knocked the officer against the wall. The officer was knocked out cold and slid to the floor. When the noise stopped, the hooded girl uncovered her ears and pulled out a radio hanging at her belt.
"Commander Tabitha, we're good to go." The hooded girl spoke into the radio.
"Good work, Zinnia." A male voice responded. "We're moving in."
Suddenly five men and three woman dressed in the same costume as Zinnia burst in through the door. Calmly walking in soon after was a man with green hair wearing the same kind of costume, with the only noticeable difference being that his costume seemed to include a kind of cape. This man of course was Tabitha, and as he walked up to Zinnia, four of Team Magma soldiers that came in with him went further into the station.
"This is turning out to be an easier job than I thought." Tabitha observed.
"What do you expect, sir? The cops in this city are only used to dealing with petty crimes." Zinnia pointed out.
Moments later the four Magma agents returned, with one of them carrying a long black box. The agent presented the box to Tabitha. Tabitha took the box and opened it to examine the contents. Inside the box were pieces of a device that resembled a metal trident.
"So this is the device that Andre Dantes used to wield the Blue Orb and control the wretched Kyogre." Tabitha smirked. "To think that man and Team Aqua had almost ruined the world."
"In the end though, things turned out very well for us, didn't they sir?" Zinnia pointed out. "Thanks to those trainers who meddled in Dantes' plan, Team Aqua's now out of the way and we now have the means to carry out our plan for the world."
"All we need now is the Red Orb." Tabitha replied as he closed the box. "Once we have that, we can finally reshape this world into the ideal environment for Pokemon of the land. Victory is finally within our grasp."
Author's Note: So this is my first story using May as one of the main characters. I know I still need to do the story where Ash and Misty first meet May in Hoenn in this AU, but I'm going to save that for later. I still need to figure out the plot since I've used the Aqua/Magma storyline elements from the games for this story and the Noir Mask Trilogy. The other thing I feel I should note is that I've used Tabitha's character design from the original Ruby and Sapphire games, mainly because that was the design I used for his brief cameo in Rise of Noir Mask. Also, those of you reading familiar with the Delta Episode of OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire probably recognize the Team Magma grunt who helped Tabitha break into the police station.
Please review and let me know what you think.