Disclaimer ~ I do not in any way, shape, or form own Pokemon, nor do I have anything to do with the franchise. All of that amazing world belongs to Satoshi Tajiri. Anything written here is purely for entertainment purposes.
Full Summary ~ A deadly secret. A lust for power. An old tragedy hidden for decades. An insatiable desire for revenge. While an oblivious Ash storms his way through the Kalos League, a sinister plot begins to unfold, and it's something none of them were prepared for. As old lies are brought to the surface, they discover that the truth about the past may just be far more dangerous than destructive forces working to tear them apart. The clock is ticking, and they are running out of time. The game has just begun.
"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else."
Game Over
~ Prologue ~
The road was silent, and clear. It's only occupant being a lone blue sedan, the disgruntled female inside setting her tired, oceanic eyes steady on the building that was approaching closer every second.
Pulling up onto the small patch reserved for herself only, the girl parked the vehicle. She wasted no time in shoving her door open, relishing in the feeling of stretching her aching muscles. Taking a deep breath to relax herself, the girl sighed contently as the cool night air coursed through her body.
That was the third Gym Leader meeting this month, and to be perfectly honest, she was quite sick of them. Brushing back a lock of stray red hair which had escaped a pony tail that had been neat and tidy mere hours ago, the girl pressed the lock button on her car keys, and started up the pathway towards a building with a large Dewgong on the front of it.
She fished around for the keys to the Cerulean City Gym, grumbling about the unreasonable demands that the League had presented this time. At first, it hadn't been so bad. But now, the amount of paperwork was overwhelming and ridiculous.
Not to mention the nerve that they had to consider cutting each Gym Leaders' pay was utterly ludicrous.
Eventually finding the object of her desires, the girl all but threw the door open and felt around for a light switch. "What?" she mumbled, flipping the switch back and forth with no effect. "You have got to be kidding me."
Groaning in annoyance, the red haired Gym Leader carefully stepped inside and squinted, doing her best to find any indication as to what was going on without the use of a light. Unable to find anything out of the ordinary, she frowned, wondering what could have possibly caused her power to go out. Daisy, Violet and Lily were all away in Fuschia City on a modelling shoot, so there was a little to no chance that she could count on them for an explanation.
Even if they were here, the chances of them being any source of help was extremely slim.
"May? Drew? Are you home?" she called out, taking a few steps forward. "Hello...? Ow! What the…?"
Looking down, the girl scrutinized the cause for the throbbing in her leg. After a few moments of allowing her eyes to adjust, she discovered that she had so wittingly run into the coffee table. A glimpse of white caught her gaze, and she bent down to see a small, square note on the edge of said table. Snatching the object, her aqua eyes narrowed, barely being able to make out the words that read;
Misty,
Seeing as you're going to a meeting tonight and won't get back until late, we thought that we'd go out to Aquaria Towers for dinner. We probably won't get back until after you do, so if there's anything you need, you know my number.
Love, May xoxo
"Of course. The one night they go out and the power goes out with them," she sighed, pushing back her bangs.
Letting out a huff of air, the red-haired Gym Leader began to think of when exactly the cut could have occurred. It was fine during the day, and before she left for the meeting. Not to mention if the power had of gone off before May and Drew had left for the evening, May surely would have written about it on the note.
So the power had gone off after both they and herself had left.
Considering her choices carefully, she decided that the only useful option she had was to go back outside and attempt to locate the power box. After the struggle of making it to the door without running into anything else, she marched outside, thanking Mew for the moonlight. It took all of seven minutes to locate the power box, and the Gym Leader couldn't say that she was too happy with the results. She had lifted the lid, only to find that all of the cords had been cut.
"Must have been a disgruntled challenger who lost," the girl scoffed. "Stupid newbie Trainers. They just never know when to quit."
Tossing the lid aside in frustration, she made her way back to the Sedan and after several moments, managed to locate the flashlight kept in the glove box. Locking the vehicle once again, the red head stalked back up to the house, this time locking the front door behind her. Flipping the switch, the flashlight flickered for a few moments before letting out a steady stream of light across the living room. Seeing that nothing had been tampered with, the girl started for the kitchen, finding it a much easier task with the aid of the flashlight.
Reaching her destination in a matter of moments, the Gym Leader reached out one un-manicured hand towards the kettle. It was then that she realized that you needed the gas, or in her case, electricity to boil a cup of tea.
"Of all nights to happen," she groaned, smacking the palm which wasn't holding her flashlight on the bench in annoyance.
Creak.
The girl snapped her head around, gazing around in an attempt to find the source of the sound. Unable to spot anything, she shook it off as her imagination and turned back to the kettle, frowning at it.
Creak.
Okay, she definitely heard something that time. Spinning around on the heel of her red trainers, the girl instinctively reached for the red and white sphere attached to the blue belt on her shorts. A throaty chuckle emanated from the doorway, and her aqua eyes widened as the shadow of a man came into her line of vision.
"I would advise that you didn't make this any more complicated than it has to be, Miss Waterflower. Please, remove your hand from your belt," the man instructed gruffly, keeping his head bowed and arms crossed.
"W-what are you doing here? How did y-you get into my Gym? W-who a-are you?" Misty stammered, her hand only tightening around the Pokéball that contained Staryu.
He only chuckled again, lifting his head to reveal a pair of gleaming, eyes and a few tufts of amethyst coloured hair sticking out of the black cap fitted neatly on his head. The man grinned, "None of those questions are of your concern at this point. Now, I think it's time you come with me," he replied calmly, uncrossing his arms and reaching into his own pocket.
Misty frowned, a flash of fury flickering through her cerulean eyes as she eyed the now visible print on his shirt. "And just what makes you think that I'll go anywhere with you? What do you want?"
He snarled, his lips curling as the mauve haired man bitterly replied, "I think you know perfectly well what it is that I want, Gym Leader,"
She simply smirked, "Then I think you know that I won't be giving it up so easily," Misty said back. "Staryu, go!"
Misty released her oldest Pokémon, watching with renowned confidence now that she knew who she was up against. To her surprise, he only laughed and pulled his hand of his pocket.
"Very well, I always did like a challenge. Have it your way then," he replied, pulling his hand close to his face and speaking into a small device, "Now."
"I'm surprised that you can still walk after the amount you ate, tonight," a boy with chartreuse hair joked, throwing a smirk at the brunette walking alongside him.
"For your information, Grasshead, I ate a perfectly reasonable amount. The manager didn't kick us out this time, did he?" she replied, rolling her eyes.
"Which was quite shocking, considering half the food in the kitchen has now vanished. One more place that we can never go back to," Drew jibed playfully.
The sapphire eyed brunette pouted, before replying, "It was only three bottles of coke, eleven appetizers, five mains, and seven chocolate mousses!"
"Oh, no. How could that possibly be considered going over the limit?" he remarked sarcastically.
"It's not!" the brunette insisted, finally knocking on the double glass doors in front of them. "Anyway, that waiter was so rude! What kind of business do they think they're going to make if they criticize the way their customers are eating their meals?"
"Inhaling their meals, you mean."
May let out a huff, sticking her nose in the air. "Oh, please. At least the waiter didn't mistake my freakishly unnatural green hair for a pot plant and try to move me half way through the night," she snapped back, reaching into her purse and fishing around for the keys.
"Hey, my hair is not freakishly unnatural. It is a unique feature that my adoring fans happen to find incredibly charming and sexy," the chartreuse haired boy replied back with a shrug, giving her a wink for added effect.
May snorted, bringing the key up to the door handle. "Yeah, right. Whatever you think, Cabbagebr- huh?"
The brunette's eyes widened in surprise as the door creaked open by the pressure of the key, rather than her having to unlock it. Drew raised an eyebrow, wondering why in Mew's name Misty would have left the Gym unlocked.
"Do you think she's home already?" May guessed, peering into the house but unable to see anything.
"She must have been. Why else would the door be open?" Drew replied uncertainly. "Can you see anything?"
She shook her head, "It's too dark. Besides, your big head is in the way of any moonlight."
Drew rolled his eyes, "Pfft, if anyone has the big head around here, it's you, Airhead."
"Have you got a flashlight or something?" May asked, ignoring his jab.
"Yes, June. I carry around a random flashlight for cases such as these," he deadpanned.
She pouted. "I was just asking," May pointed out, reaching into her purse once more.
"How you manage to find anything in that endless void is beyond me," the boy remarked, shaking his head as he leant against the doorframe.
She shrugged. "Perks of being a woman, I suppose," the brunette replied, pulling her hand back out again to reveal a shiny and rectangular red object. "We can use the light from our phones."
Drew laughed, pulling out his own forest green phone from his pocket, grinning as he spoke, "Well, what do ya know. That airhead of yours can be used for something useful after all.
May was about to snap back at him, when she caught gaze of inside the house. Gasping, she almost dropped her phone in horror as the light shone throughout the room, illuminating everything that had been too dark to notice before.
"Oh my gosh!"
"What's wr- what the hell?" the boy yelled out in shock, his mouth agape as his gaze swept over the various broken objects that had been scattered across Misty's living room.
He pushed passed May, scanning his phone over the once spotless carpet. Misty's coffee table had been flipped, whatever plates and paperwork that had been residing there now in bits and pieces all over the floor. A vase had been smashed, bits of dirt smudged into the floor, and there were scuff marks along the walls and across any other surface.
No matter what direction you turned to, something had been defaced or broken.
"What the hell happened here?" Drew repeated, not believing the scene before him.
"Where's Misty? What about her Pokémon?" May voiced in fearfully. Surely if Misty had been in some sort of trouble her Pokémon would have rushed to her rescue?
"Go check the pool area. See if you can find anything," he instructed, already making his way to the kitchen area. "And May? Be careful."
The brunette nodded, heading off in the direction of where all the Cerulean Sisters' famous water ballets were held. Drew shone the phone around, looking for any sign of Misty. Not finding anything, he continued towards the kitchen.
Upon reaching said room, he discovered that it wasn't in much of a better shape than the living room; Misty's dining table had been reduced to bits of splintered wood, various assortments of cutlery and cookware were strewn across the tiles, and Drew could only guess that the melted pile of metal was what used to be his friends' kettle.
A brown, star-shaped figure spread in a corner caught Drew's eye, and he let out a gasp as he identified the thing as Misty's Staryu. He rushed over, frantically searching for any sign that the Pokémon was alright. A very faint, red gleam emanating from the gem implanted in the centre of the Pokemon's body gave an indication that it was okay, but Drew could see that Staryu would probably need medical attention as soon as possible.
"Drew!" May cried out as she burst into the kitchen, looking extremely disheveled and her eyes wide with fear. "All of the Pokémon are unconscious! There were traces of some glittery powder, but I- is that Staryu?" The brunette gran over, instantly crouching down by Drew's side to look over at Misty's eldest Pokémon.
"It's still alive, but probably barely," Drew told her. "We need to get it help."
"Where's Misty?" the brunette whispered. Drew didn't answer.
"Drew...if this is the state of her Pokémon, imagine what kind of danger she may be in!" May wailed.
"May-"
"How can you be so calm about this?" she screeched, unable to hold herself together anymore. "Misty's missing, her Gym is in shambles, and her Pokémon ar-!"
"May! I need you to listen to me," Drew shouted, cutting her off and making the brunette flinch, her phone crashing to the floor as she lost hold of it.
He grabbed her shoulders, and looked right into her terror filled eyes. "We cannot panic, okay? This situation is messed up, but it's not going to help Misty or her Pokémon if we sit here moping. I need you to go back outside and call Officer Jenny. Do you understand?"
May nodded slowly, and shakily bent down to pick up the glittering device. Drew ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath, contemplating what to do next. His thoughts were interrupted, however, as the girl next to him let out an ear-piercing shriek. He whirled back around to face her, his forest green eyes the only indication of the fear he was trying so hard to conceal.
"May? What is it? What's wrong?" Drew demanded, seeing the terror in his companions' eyes. She didn't say a word, only lifted one shaky hand to her gaping mouth in shock.
"May? May!" Drew repeated in a more serious tone. The brunette only burst into tears, her shaking now uncontrollable as the endless sobs wracked through her body.
He acted on impulse, and was by her side with his arms around her before he could even blink. "May," the boy began in a much gentler tone, rubbing her shoulders in little circles in an attempt to soothe the girl. "What is it?"
Again, his girlfriend didn't respond. May's wails had lessened considerably, and her shakes were becoming slightly less violent. Instead, the brunette clinging to his torso lifted a trembling arm toward the object that had inflicted the horror which radiated from her body. Drew frowned, and his gaze travelled to where her still shaky finger was pointing. For a moment, his expression remained confused.
And that was when he saw it.
The chartreuse haired boys' eyes widened as he took in a small, square paper sheet that he hadn't noticed earlier. But it wasn't the sheet itself that was the cause of fright in the young couple. It was the familiar print that he knew all too well, standing out like a cruel, relentless joke that had him now fearing for Misty's life.
Keeping one arm wrapped firmly around the weeping girl, Drew fumbled around for his phone, punching in the numbers furiously. It was silent for a few moments, before finally connecting.
One ring...two rings...three...four.
With each identical ring raising his nerves higher, the boy bit his lip in an attempt to keep his cool.
"Hello?"
"Thank Arceus," he whispered, noticing the brief flicker of relief that passed across May's face.
"No, nothing is okay," Drew snapped into the device as the person on the other end made a rude remark, his formally calm composure gone entirely. "What do you mean you don't have the time? Yes! No...well, we don't know. Look, I know you said you were busy, but this is important. There's something I have to tell you...it's about Misty."
To be continued...
Just putting it out there now, this story will be Pokeshipping. Not until the very end, obviously, as Misty is kinda preoccupied, but it will be hinted at throughout the text and ultimately prevail. Other ships will be present as well, most notably Contestshipping. These will forumlate over time, but I won't say anything else so that it doesn't spoil who ends up with who. This story will also contain violence and mentions of death. Most of it is near the end, and this honestly isn't as dark as it sounds. In fact, it's not really dark at all... More dramatic.
A massive thank you to ShinyDragonair2 and CookiesNCreamness for giving me enough inspiration to get off mah lazzeh butt and write something. Without you I definitely wouldn't have started writing again...not for a VERY long time, anyway. Also, the two of them also practically planned out half of this story. so a mega amount of credit deserves to go to them for that, too. Once we start what we call "Rambling Sessions", there is just no stopping us XD
So...what'd ya think? I know it definitely wasn't my best work, but I certainly wasn't expecting a masterpiece after months without writing.
Please, Read & Review~!
~ Aureillia