Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update. I've gotten sick for the past few days and I wasn't able to update much. Hopefully, my fever didn't get in the way. I apologize for the late updates. I could update a day or two after a chapter has been posted, but the problem is, I'm new to the Pokemon fandom, and I still have to go through the birthing pains of making a fic that is AU and making a fic from this fandom. I hope I won't disappoint anyone.

This chapter is dedicated to my significant other, because he was the one who introduced me to contestshipping and he was also the person responsible for reviving my interest in Pokemon. :3 If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have written a fic for this fandom. Thanks a lot, anata. :3

Disclaimers: I do not own Pokemon.

Ethereal

Chapter 2: The Two Summoners

May was confused.

Is this what the mysterious voice had told her about? Was she to help her fellow summoner out?

She shook her head. How would it be possible? She no longer had the powers of Kyogre; the power of the water was to heal, and without Kyogre's blessings, she could not do such.

She was helpless now, but she needed to do something to save this girl's life.

But wait.

May still had another option: summon Manaphy.

Before she could even attempt such, the girl woke up and weakly grabbed her by the wrist. "No need, Your Majesty. I'll be fine… you're the one who needs to get that wound healed. N-not to worry… I'll… get your healed in a bit."

Before the queen could even protest, the summoner pressed her palms together. The gold-colored rune tattoos on her arms and legs began to glow faintly. Suddenly, the dark blue-haired young girl used her fingers and applied pressure against the wound on May's left side. The brunette, who was too shocked from the pain to even scream, cringed instead. A shiny object, which was held by the summoner under the sun, caught her eye. It was a bullet.

She had nearly gotten herself killed…

May sighed in relief. Thank heavens she was still alive.

Again, the summoner pressed her palms together again. Slowly, May felt herself getting revitalized. Her body was slowly regaining the stamina that she lost from the long swim. She looked at the wound on her torso, which was slowly closing up. Though it had hurt a bit, she could do nothing about it. Speeding up the process of healing was really painful thing because it went against nature, but it was better than it getting infected. No amount of pain she was experiencing right now would match the pain of an infected wound she had when she had gotten into an accident as a child.

With that, the mysterious girl fainted, golden tattoos also disappearing from her skin.

"H-HEY! Don't tell me you're dead…?!"

'She is fine, summoner. She merely fainted.'

Time suddenly stopped.

Everything around May suddenly froze. The people walking around Dewford, the waves that came crashing to shore had been put to a stop.

She looked up, only to shield her eyes for a moment from the blinding light. "W-who are you…?"

'I am Cresselia.'

It was a female deity of Sinnoh. Her blue body was swan-like in shape, while the underside was colored yellow. Its head had a crescent moon shape on the sides and she also had three rings attached to her body: two on her sides and one on the back.

"O-oh, the L-lady Cresselia, dispeller of nightmares?"

The goddess nodded her head. 'This girl is my ward. Just like you, she can use my powers. What she had used to heal your wounds was Lunar Dance.'

"I-I see… I am grateful for that." May bowed.

'I hope that you can help her heal her physical wounds, which I am unable to do so.' The goddess sighed. 'The Kaiser had forced her into a deep sleep while he was gone, and used Darkrai against her. He used the ability Nightmare against her, trapping her in nightmares. It had only been recently that she had awakened me and sought my help.'

"The Kaiser has the power of a god? I thought the ruler of Sinnoh had been forbidden to have such?"

Cresselia shook her head. 'Generous humans have always been taken advantage of by the greedy ones. The seal that prevents the Kaiser from having the powers of a god had been removed by my ward with the promise of the Kaiser to use it for good deeds. He had tricked her, and even used Darkrai against its summoner.'

May was shocked beyond belief. "Oh… my…"

'The summoner needs healing. She had already used Recover on herself, but it will take awhile. She is in a deep sleep right now, and all we can do is to wait for her to awaken. As for myself, I shall have to guard her, in case Darkrai traps her again in a nightmare.'

"W-what can I do to help? It is the least that I can do to help her…"

'Please take her somewhere safe. The Kaiser still does not know that she had escaped the region, and if word gets out that she is here…'

"Please don't worry." The queen promised. "For now, we will have to stay at the Pokemon Center. We'll attract too much attention if we try to get out of Dewford." As much as May wanted to get back to Ever Grande, she knew her limitations. To carry an unconscious girl was already something unheard of, what more if the person carrying the unconscious person had blood all over her outfit?

'Thank you, summoner.' Said Cresselia.

May found herself smiling. "No problem. This girl will be under my protection as soon as we get back to the city." She promised. "No Kaiser or Emperor will ever get to her."

'Very well then. I shall take your word for it.'

With that, time and space went back to normal. Everyone and everything around them began to move again. People started walking and talking once more, and the waves came crashing back to the shoreline. May went down on her knees and began to carry her fellow summoner piggy-back style.

The walk to the Pokemon Center had not been pleasant. The brunette kept sinking because of the sand, but it was not because of the person she was carrying on the back. Rather, it was because she was currently wearing heels.

Remind me never to wear these dreadful things when I get back to Ever Grande. I'm only seventeen! I should be wearing rubber shoes!

She was very much ready to take off her high-heeled footwear when suddenly, she found herself falling face-first on the sand. May didn't even have time to scream, for as soon as her face came in contact with the sand, she got a mouthful of it.

GREEAAAAT. What's next?

"Do you need any help?"

Slowly, she looked up. In front of her was a young man who was around her age, or probably a year or two older than she was. He had emerald-colored hair to match his eyes and he wore a rather laidback outfit that consisted of a violet jacket, a long-sleeved black turtleneck shirt, a pair of jeans and black shoes.

She blinked in response and discreetly spat out the sand in her mouth.

He chuckled softly. "Are you alright?"

May nodded, still in a daze. "Y-yes… I-I'll be fine… I don't need help… but thank you anyway." She said. "My… sister and I will be fine."

What the hell. Nice alibi, May. She scolded herself. You two don't even look alike.

"No, I insist." Without warning, he took the sleeping girl from the queen's back and carried her bridal style. "The Pokemon Center, right? Let's get going."

He did not bother to wait for her; instead, he went on ahead.

And that irritated May.

'The nerve of that… that… jerk!'

As soon as May got into the center, the stranger came up to her. "I got you two a room already. Here you go." He dangled the key with his thumb and forefinger.

The brunette queen did not bother to hide her contempt and roughly snatched the key from him. "Thank you." She said, and walked away with the key, eager to get away from this strange person. What nerve he had to intervene!

"Wait." He placed a hand on her left shoulder.

"What now?" she was growing irritated from his presence by the second.

"May I… know your name?"

Without thinking, she blurted out her faux name that she always uses. "Haru." With that, she went her way to the rooms to check up on her new friend.

As soon as she had gotten inside the room, the seventeen-year-old queen headed for the lower bunk opposite of the one that the other summoner occupied and collapsed on top of the bed. May winced when she felt the hard wood hit her back, but did not complain. Though she missed her bouncy bed back in Ever Grande, she needed rest. An assassination attempt was no laughing matter. Neither was that mile long swim to shore. Despite all those, it was all worth it in the end. She had found a kindred spirit. A summoner, just like her! May could hardly believe her luck.

'I wonder if she could teach me…'

During the course of her training as a full-fledge summoner, the sessions had always been interrupted by the rebels. Most have sought her for protection, while others had been trying to convince her to lead the rebels against the young emperor. As a result, she knew little. Most of the time, she was at lost as to how she would use the powers given to her by the gods… she did not even know what kind of powers she possessed!

She let out a sigh in relief.

An afternoon nap was just what she needed. She needed a break from all of this.

The girl was just ready to doze off when suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Loudly.

Grumbling, she stood up and checked as to who it was. "Yes?" she asked sharply.

It was him again. "Hi, Haru. Sorry for disturbing. It seems that my best friend abandoned me for reasons I don't know. Would it be alright if I share a room with you and your sister for the night?"

"Yeah, sure. Fine. Great." She muttered under her breath. It was evident that she could not stand his presence anymore. She no longer felt fatigued and tired; in fact, she felt so wide awake because of the knocking he did. Even though she had been thankful that he did not manage to wake up the blue-haired girl, her anger towards him escalated to a point wherein if she took a look at him, she knew that all hell would break lose.

She needed to cool down.

With that, the Queen of Southern Hoenn pushed him aside and walked out of the room, fuming. She needed to get away from him.

Drew, on the other hand, wondered why she was acting that way. He knew she was angry, but…

'We just met. Why is she angry at me? What did I do wrong?'

The emperor shrugged. He really had no idea why, but one thing's for sure. 'Commoners are really weird.' He told himself.

As he sat down on the lower bunk where May had previously laid on, he looked at the girl sleeping peacefully on the other bed. "Tell me... why does your sister hate me so much? Would you know why?"

As expected, he got no reply.

Unknown to him, the sleeping girl smiled in her sleep.

She knew what was going on around her… and what was to happen next.

She eagerly waited for the turn of events.

This should be interesting…

They've finally met! Whew! That took quite a while, don't you think so? Anyways, please do review:3

Also, I've been thinking: should I make a separate fic for ikarishipping? The spotlight won't be theirs in this fic. It'll be a minor pair in this fic, as well as Pokeshipping. Do drop me a review and tell me what you guys think. :3