Hey worldwide web,

Back again, and this time I promise I'm not ending it on a cliffhanger. So many things are kept in the dark that it wouldn't be fair to do that for the third time in a row. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a Honedge. Kidding. Just because they live with Pokemon doesn't mean all of their analogies and old wise sayings have to reference Pokemon. Right, back to the story. Carbink hid behind Anna's chair and had to be coaxed back to the table. Porygon-Z retreated into Sam's Dex and refused to come out. The Pokemon weren't used to feeling such anger and hurt from their Trainers at the mere mention of a name. Sam's eyes narrowed.

"May F.B.," he repeated. "The same May F.B. that nearly destroyed all of Waydrn in the last rebellion, and then had the nerve to make us pick up all the pieces?" Porygon-Z wasn't sure how to react, which was making Sam's Dex go haywire. "PZ, knock it off!" He said sharply, making them all jump. PZ exited the Dex and floated humbly behind him.

"That would be correct," Jimmy replied, patting Druddigon to calm him.

"Do we really want to listen to what she has to say?" Joos grunted. Eelektross had tightened around his waist and his girlfriend was trying to coax it into releasing him. "I mean, she was bad news back in the day." Amanda nodded in agreement.

"She probably just wanted to rub it in our faces that she got the last laugh," Chase suggested with a hurt tone, wrinkling his nose at the excess pollen Vileplume was admitting. He then smiled a bit. "Or so she thought."

"Why would she make a will?" Anna asked, venom on her tongue. "It's not like she was expecting to die."

"Or maybe she was," Pika said calmly. They all stared at her. Mamoswine nudged her chair with his tusks. "My esteemed colleagues, and, although I don't say this often, dear friends; we cannot let our past grievances steer our future actions. What good will it do to speak ill of the dead? May was tasked with a decision, and she made the wrong choice. Afterwards she made many more choices which in her eyes were the right choices, but in ours the wrong ones. She got what she deserved when she took on Lance by herself. Or did you all forget watching the broadcast of her death on TV?" They're memories drifted back to when they were young, too young to be the Gym Leaders they were today. The sight of the glorious Champion cheated out of a victory and then her life had left a lasting impression in their minds. They had all been so young at the time. Pika continued, knowing they were listening now. "Jimmy, please read the scroll. Whatever May needed us to know, we must know it."

Jimmy unrolled the parchment. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "This is what it says…"

Dear future Gym Leaders of Waydrn,

If you are reading this, it means I am dead. I trust you are not mourning this, as asking you to feel sorry for me would be too much.

It is with the deepest regret that I must inform you...I screwed up big time.

"No duh," Amanda muttered. Ampharos flashed her tail light in concern.

I have no guarantee of who you all are. If I'm lucky then this will is being read by Chase, Anna, James, Sam, Pika, Joos, Amanda, Grace, and Green.

If I am not so fortunate, which I deserve without a doubt, then so be it.

"Does this have a point?" Joos asked. He breathed a sigh of relief as Eelektross loosened his grip.

The Gym Leaders you nine have replaced were foolish and cowardly.

"As if she has any right to say that!" Anna snapped.

"Sit down," Pika said coldly. "She was never good at saying sorry." She added, "And to be fair, she's correct."

You are to be different. You must repair what I have broken. You can choose two paths to do this.

1. Make amends with the rest of the world and hope they forgive you.

OR

2. Select a new Champion.

"Absolutely not!" Chase, Grace, and Sam shouted in unison. Green knew this was coming. Ever since the death of May, and the flight of the other league members, Waydrn had been forced to go without an Elite Four or a Champion. Selecting a new Champion would mean the power would be given to one person...and if they chose the wrong person...

"There's more," Jimmy added. "One last bit that I think is the most important.

Finally, you must locate the League's vault. It is hidden somewhere under the island. You'll find someone down there of great importance to me and to you.

Down there you'll find...my child.

They all sat in silence, staring at the will. Jimmy was the only one that wasn't surprised (he had been translating the thing for weeks). The last words of the will seemed to stand out above the rest.

"Did she say a child?" Grace said breathlessly. "As in she had a baby and then left it down in a vault?!"

"We don't know that," Chase pointed out. The turn the meeting had taken made him nervous. A real child could be in danger…but did they really have any reason to trust May?

"It says it right there on the will!" Grace jumped out of her seat. "We have to go down there. May wasn't stupid to begin with; the baby might still be alive."

"And it will also no longer be a baby," Amanda told her. "We don't know if we're interpreting this right. Maybe it's a metaphor-"

"Or a trap," Anna said darkly. The others looked at her. "What? I'm just making sure we have all of our bases covered. If you guys want to go running down to wherever this vault is and maybe get killed that's fine by me. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Green coughed loudly. "Let's take a vote. There's an odd number of us so there won't be a tie. All in favor of ignoring the will and moving on with the meeting please raise your hand." Anna's hand shot up. Sam's reluctantly followed.

"I hate to play devil's advocate, but we don't know if we can trust her." Nobody else raised their hands.

"It's settled," Green said. "We're going to the vault." They all rose out of their seats and returned their Pokemon. "Jimmy, you have the will and the instructions. Lead the way."

Jimmy looked at them awkward. "It…er…doesn't say where the vault is." They all slumped back into their chairs. "I'm sorry guys, but I deciphered everything. There's no instructions to where the vault could be."

Anna sighed. "So we can't find this kid, even if it really is a kid?"

Green shook his head. "I have no clue where the vault is. To be honest, I didn't even know there was a vault. But if there's a child in need of help, it's our job to go and find him or her."

"But how can we do that without knowing where the vault thingy is?" Grace complained. "If it's a League vault, shouldn't we have heard of it before?"

"Of course," Pika said coolly. "Why don't we just open up the book of handy dandy pamphlet of instructions our predecessors left for us? We can also break open the celebratory bottle of champagne they gave us as a welcoming present."

Grace stared at her in shock. "There was champagne? How come I never got any-"

"It was sarcasm you insufferable airhead," Pika interrupted. Green held up his hand, and they both continued to hate on one another in silence.

"This will be a lot easier if we work together," he explained. He typed a few words onto his Dex. "Jimmy, I need you to fly to the mainland and return the scroll to the university. I've also sent you a list of three replacement Gym Leaders that will serve in our absence. We may be her for a while. You, Grace, and I are the only ones that can directly go from this island to the mainland. Fortunately it's not League season so we only need three replacements. Do you think you can do that?"

"You know I can," Jimmy said courageously. He sent out Druddigon. The rain outside had been reduced to a small pitter-patter. The windows opened up and Jimmy mounted his signature Pokemon. "Keep George out of trouble," he said before taking off into the sky. The remaining eight weren't sure what to do now.

Joos was the first to get up. "There's got to be some control system or power grid that runs the tower. Maybe I'll find some schematics that can tell us where the vault is located." Amanda pulled out her Dex.

"I'm trying to contact Josh back at the Gym," She explained. "He can manage it while we're here, and I'd like him to get us a supply drop as soon as possible."

"Good idea," Green said. "I think I'll head back to the mainland to make sure everything else is in order. It's not that I don't trust Jimmy, it's just easier if two people do it." He walked towards the stairs with Amanda and Joos. "The rest of you need to be searching for the vault. This island is huge and it'd be foolish to assume it can only be connected to the tower." With that, he went down to the first floor.

Anna typed a few words onto the table. A holographic map of the island appeared. They noticed it was blank and only resembled Forum Island in shape. "I can do some scanning to find pockets of air under the surface where an underground vault may be. I'll send the locations to you if you want to go search."

"There's so much of this island we haven't even seen," Pika said coldly. "We've gone here once a month for the past five years and we haven't set foot outside this tower. We were too angry, too spiteful. And now we're finding things that we aren't ready for." She got up and pushed in her chair. "Anna, send the first location. I'm going to see just what else is on this island. The rest of you can come with if you'd like." The guys shrugged and followed her out of the tower. After a bit of reflection, Grace decided to follow them as well.

Green sat in front of the man at his desk, trying to resist the urge to kill himself. The secretary was droning on about his most recent romantic conquests when all Green wanted to do was file a report. He should have just told the man he had an appointment or pulled out his league badge, but no, he had to be nice and follow the rules.

"So she ended up being a real bitch in the end," he said. "But hey, she had a pretty nice ass. Oh, and there was this one time-" Okay, now he wasn't even typing on his computer.

"Listen," Green squinted to read the name-tag, "uh, Eddie. Not that your story isn't a riveting tale, but I really need to speak to Maggie."

Eddie scoffed. "You can't just 'speak to Maggie'." Green cringed at Eddie's attempt to replicate his accent. "Everyone wants to speak to Maggie. She's the leader of the Officer Jennies. She's the only one they don't call Jenny! But as secretary of the Waydrn Officer Jenny Police Force, I can't just let you speak to her. It'd be against everything I stand for. Plus, some of the officers like taking me with them for drinks when I do my job properly." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Green groaned. He hated playing this card. "I'm Green, Gym Leader of Maremoto City and Keeper of the Waves." Eddie's eyes widened. "If you don't let me speak to Maggie I will cite you for impeding the work of League officials."

Eddie sighed in defeat. "Freaking Gym Leaders, thinking they can push us civilians around. Things were so much better when the Elite Four was still in office." He shot Green one last dirty look before buzzing him in.

If only you knew the truth about those cowards, Green thought with a smirk as he entered Maggie's office. The head Officer Jenny was leaning back in her chair, bored as hell.

"Thank God you showed up," she said to him. "There's no crime going on in Waydrn and I was *this* close to opening up the jail just to have something happen. What can I do for you?" Green sat down in front of her and twiddled his thumbs, thinking of how to word his request.

"I'd...um...like to request the opening of someone's medical records," he said finally.

"Ooh, digging up some dirt on someone," Maggie said with a wink. "Sounds fun. I can totally get them for you." She began to type the request on her Dex. "Who's the lucky lady that you're looking up?" Green felt his face turn red.

"Uh...May F.B." Maggie dropped her Dex. "Come on, it's not that bad. I have a really important reason for this."

Maggie shook her head. "Green, you know this is a bad idea. I've been pretty lenient with you and the rest of your League friends so far. I don't ask many questions, I usually look the other way, and I'm one of the few public officials that support you. But this I can't ignore. May's privacy is held higher than everyone else's."

"She was a traitor!" Green spat, letting his anger get the best of him.

"And she's a hero to everyone else," Maggie said, keeping her cool. "Look Green, I could maybe get her records unsealed. But there's absolutely no way you or any of the Gym Leaders would ever be allowed to see them." She shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Green mumbled. He got up and turned to leave.

"What's going on?" Maggie asked as he reached for the door. "Why the sudden interest in May?"

"You wouldn't understand," Green said simply. And she wouldn't. Nobody but the other eight people he was forced to share a fate with could. May F.B., the most controversial figure in history, had a child and left it in a tunnel for twelve years. And now it was up to them to track down the kid and its father. If he couldn't get into her hospital records to know the father, he'd have to approach this the difficult way: DNA test. Of course that would have to require a sample from the kid and the potential father, assuming he was even alive. Green sent out Mantine and climbed onto his back. It was times like this that he hated being the leader.

...

Jimmy mounted Druddigon and took off from Naga University. He had stored the scroll safely in his private library and now had to recruit the three back-up Gym Leaders. Green's lists described who they were and what cities they'd be located in: Kioo, Extraordinärt, and Gefroren. Jimmy trusted Green to know what he was doing and was pretty sure these Gym Leaders would be competent enough to do their job.

"How much farther?" Grace said in a half-whine. The three Gym Leaders in front of her turned back to stare. "Not that I don't love hiking through uncharted wilderness, but wouldn't it just be easier to fly above the island?"

"But doesn't hiking make you feel like your getting the full experience?" Chase sighed. "The whole island's alive if you really stop and look at it." He motioned to a pack of Mankey swinging through the trees, and then to a Vivillion resting on a branch. Sam snapped photos with his Dex.

"Yeah, if it weren't for the fact that we've been at this for two hours and we've found nothing." The last two locations they had explored were an underground lake and a Zoroark den. Anna had given them the third and final location. Grace continued to grumble something incoherent. Pika held up her hand and stopped, causing them all to run into each other.

"The path continues into that clearing," she explained. "I suspect we'll find something there. But first, why is it a bad idea to continue?"

"I know, I know!" Chase said, raising his hand.

"You don't have to raise your hand," Pika told him in a monotone.

"Oh...right. There's an Ariados waiting up in that tree." Their eyes all shot up towards the canopy. They couldn't see anything. "Do you guys not see it? It's kind of obvious. I mean, we're literally right in front of it's web." Sam's eyes narrowed as he tried to figure it out. Grace just look bored.

Pika was smirking. "This is why we need to start working as a team. Let me guess, you don't trust Chase's judgement." Sam and Grace exchanged awkward glances.

"It's not that we don't trust him," Sam said, choosing his words carefully. "But how is he so sure there's an Ariados?"

Pika sighed. "We'll discuss our relationships with one another later, but I'll sum it up for you." She then paused. "Actually Chase, why don't you explain why there's an Ariados."

Chase tensed up. "Oh, well, if nobody else sees it then maybe I'm wrong. At least, I think there's an Ariados." Pika frowned. "Sorry...there is an Ariados. That's its web." He pointed to the vines that crossed over the path. "They aren't vines, they're webbing. If they were actual plants I'd be able to tell. Ariados silk is known for being able to absorb all forms of light, making it a sharp white. White string in a green jungle is pretty visible, so Ariados forms a symbiotic relationship with moss. The moss sits on the silk, which is almost always positioned in areas with sunlight, and gives it the appearance of vines. The moss gets sunlight, rain water, and any other materials collected by the web. It's a win-win." They stared at him. He blushed. "What? Did I say something stupid?"

"On the contrary, your explanation was spot on," Pika told him. She turned to her companions. "Chase's Gym is located in Forêt City. That's the same city the Safari Zone is located, which just happens to be run by his family. In short, he's been around plants and Pokemon his whole life, so there's no more need to question his authority on this matter than my authority on the exact temperature at which your blood will freeze in its veins." She examined the web. "The Ariados has without a doubt spotted us and is now on the move." She removed an Ultra Ball from her belt and tossed it in the air. Her Jynx materialized on the ground.

"Jynx jynx," the Ice/Psychic-type said cheerfully, reaching out to hug Pika.

"We don't have time for that Stella-Maris," Pika said. "We'd like you to freeze those vine-like webs for us." Stella-Maris nodded and turned to face the web. She blew a big gust of frost, making the webbing brittle and hard. "Thank you." She returned the Jynx.

"Stella-Maris?" Grace said, unimpressed.

"Well I figured I should deviate from the norm of 'Frostitute' and 'Nicki Minaj'." Pika tossed back her hair and began to ran through the web, ducking under each piece of frozen silk. The others followed, cautiously looking out for the Ariados. They made it to the clearing safely, but were now energized from the cold. Pika brushed the dirt off of her knees. "We made it." Indeed they had.

This chapter's kinda iffy for me. In my original draft these events came much later, but I figure I'd switch it around because we have character introductions and I don't want them to all be in succession. So the Gym Leaders have split up and have a chance to sort of develop and interact in smaller groups. We also got to see, for a short while, the workings of the rest of Waydrn. Eddie's comment about Gym Leaders isn't an uncommon view among the people, and it'll be expanded on in the future.

Notes on Maggie: She's head of the Waydrn police force, and as such she isn't called Jenny. Nothing more than a minor character, but she's a good asset to the Gym Leaders, now more than ever.

Next chapter the Gym Leaders continue they're search for the vault and May's child. Another quick thing, this isn't the same May as in the games because...well...you'll see why eventually :) Reviews are appreciated, and I'll see you next time.