And now it's time for another update of what seems to be my most popular fanfic! For those who noticed, I had most of the chapters prewritten and I posted them after I updated a fanfic, so a new chapter sometimes comes after an update on a different fanfic.

Someone asked me why Aipom and Professor Oak haven't really been mentioned at all. Don't worry, how could I forget them?

I don't own Pokemon

.:.Seven.:.

It was quiet. Too quiet for the spirit.

He glanced over at the form of his sleeping host. If you had been standing in the room, you wouldn't be able to see the apparition of the king that was leaning against the windowsill, as the pale moonlight streaming through the window seemed to refract off of him, making the king invisible. But if he stepped away from the window, you would think that he was a ghost from a nightmare.

Ironically, that's all he really was. Stripped down to nothing more than a ghost from a nightmare.

The king was staring outside at the full moon. Some of his power was slowly coming back to them from the broken stone Pokeball prison, one of them having been to have enough spirit energy to take on the form of an apparition. Only Ash could see and hear him. That would come in handy later.

As he stared at the moon, he thought about how much he preferred night to day. Day was too bright for him, especially with that sun that cast away all darkness. And night was a good time to think about things, especially about matters of the past.

He had proceeded off to fight and capture Ho-oh. But Ho-oh was angered by his betrayal. After all, Ho-oh used to be a guardian over the city, until the king had gotten greedy and felt that he was powerful enough to conquer the gods.

"King of Poke'lantis, for your treachery, I will punish you by sealing you away and sinking your precious city into the sea! Your people will be punished as well, trapped beneath the sea for all eternity!" Ho-oh screeched as he furiously started to beat his huge golden wings. The king was blinded with a bright light as he felt the rumbling of the city beneath him from his point on the tallest cliff. He turned and faced his city as buildings started to crumble and walls of water poured in around him. As he felt himself being pulled by the wind, the last thing he had seen was someone with familiar brown hair running to him, calling his name, but as he reached a hand out to her, before she could grab his, her hand started turning to stone, and he saw no more...

Ever since that battle with Ho-oh, the legendary bird Pokemon centuries ago, the king had become somewhat wary of sunlight. A low growl escaped his throat.

This was all Ho-oh's fault! For imprisoning him in that Pokeball and causing his mighty empire to crumble before his very eyes. For reducing him to this mere half-existence!

The king smirked. Ho-oh had no idea that the king was still alive and was plotting his revenge. By the time Ho-oh figured it out, it would be too late for it to do anything to stop him.

The king turned to Ash's sleeping form. There was nothing this brat or his stupid friends would be able to do either.

A low laugh escaped him. It was time to put his plan into action.


Ash slipped his jacket on and pulled his hat on. It was time to go.

He wasn't sure what had made him think that, but he had woken up, his stomach feeling like jello. It was either his weak stomach or that weird voice that had woken him up. A voice that was eerily similar to the king.

No...It wasn't just a mere voice.

It had been a laugh. A scary laugh.

I got to leave now. Before that evil king does whatever he is planning.

Ash glanced over at Pikachu and Aipom, who were snuggling together on the foot of his bed. Aipom had been at Professor Oak's lab, after sustaining a serious bite from Jessie's Seviper. Tracey had come by during dinner to drop Aipom off. Brock's health soup definitely made Ash feel better, but not as much as he thought it would. Aipom and Pikachu happily lapped up the soup while Max picked out the tomatoes separately.

May and Brock seemed to keep glancing over their soup bowels at Ash. Ash hadn't looked at either of them during the entire meal, even when answering their questions or engaging in conversation with them. He was afraid that all they would see would be the cold gray eyes of the king.

He grabbed his backpack off of a chair by a desk in his room. Pikachu and Aipom snoozed on from their spot on the foot of his bed. He gave them a quick look before closing his bedroom door behind him. "Goodbye guys..." he had whispered.

There was one person that he felt he had to say something to. He cautiously opened the guest room door. May was asleep, her long brown hair covering her eyes. Ash walked over to her side, staring down at her sleeping form.

"May..." he whispered, but then he closed his mouth. What was he going to say?

Sorry, I have to leave because theirs a crazy maniac in my head?

That sounded really stupid in his head, even for him.

"May...I'm sorry...but I can't stay here. I don't want you to get hurt..." he whispered after a moment. May slept on, which made Ash wonder if she heard him. He stretched a hand out towards her face. As he placed the back of his hand against her cheek, he noted how smooth her skin was.

Kind of like an angel, huh?

Ash covered his mouth to muffle his gasp from waking May up.

Dang, I need to get away from here, now!

May woke up. She sat up and looked around the now empty room. For a moment, she thought that she had felt Ash in the room. May placed her hand against her cheek where Ash had his a moment ago.

Hmm...I guess I'm imagining things...


Ash hiked for sometime away from Pallet Town. Where he was going, he had no idea. In a way, it felt like as if this king spirit was pulling him along.

But as he started heading into some woods, he noticed a small campfire up ahead. Someone was already out here.

"Quit hogging the blanket James!"

"You used the only blanket yesterday Jessie!"

"Give it a rest you two, I'm trying to sleep!"

Ash stepped into the clearing to see James and Jessie playing tug of war over a small blanket. He stepped on a twig, which made Jessie and James snap their attention at him.

"The twerp!" they both hissed as they jumped to their feet.

"Hand over your Pikachu!" Jessie demanded.

Ash laughed in an unlike-Ash way. "I'm sorry, but I don't have Pikachu with me."

"Then give us the rest of your pokemon twerp!" James demanded as well. Ash looked up at the two of them, his eyes changed to the cold gray of the king.

"Didn't I tell you clowns not to call me that?" the king asked.

"Who are you calling clowns!?!" Jessie screeched. James didn't say anything as he stared at Ash's gray eyes, remembering about what Meowth had told him earlier.

"Obviously you with your ridiculous hair styles and fashion sense." the king pointed out. Jessie cracked her knuckles.

"That's it, your going to pay for that twerp!" she hissed as she seemed to have lost all common sense and started running at Ash. James stayed behind, "Uhh Jess, I don't think that's a good idea."

In one swift motion, Ash had side-stepped her and grabbed her outstretched fist, turning it around behind her and holding her arms behind her back. "You should have listened to your friend." he whispered.

"Wha-who are you? You can't be the twerp!"

The king ignored her and noticed the Meowth hot air balloon. "I'm taking your balloon, and your not going to stop me, got it?", he asked as he twisted Jessie's arms before pushing her at James and walking over to the hot air balloon. He climbed a leg over the basket rim and untied the rope from its stake. The balloon started to drift off into the air above the trees and out into the night sky. Jessie and James watched their balloon getting smaller and smaller until it had disappeared.

After a long moment, the two of them spoke.

"What's gotten into that kid?" James asked. "Meowth was right when he said something was up."

Jessie looked around. "Speaking of Meowth, where is he?"

Back up in the hot air balloon, Meowth was hiding himself behind one of the balloon's sandbags that carried some supplies they had. He had been about to jump in and help them but after hearing that twerp talk, he wisely chose to hide.

Too bad he had chosen the wrong place to hide.


I have decided to separate Ash and the king's thoughts so that it's not too confusing. When the king talks to Ash like how he did in this chapter, then it will be in bold and italics.

I have decided to take this moment to answer some reviewer questions, but don't expect me to answer your reviews too often.

Phillip Clark: I can see from your reviews that you are a huge Mewtwo fan. Trust me; I love Mewtwo as well, definitely one of my all time favorite pokemon. You strike a very good point about introducing Mewtwo into the story, and I'll see if I can work that in there somewhere, but I'm not going to guarantee that he'll be in it, but it doesn't hurt to cross your fingers.

Austin Wright: I read your review about that idea of yours of May kissing Ash to free him of the spirit. Not a bad idea, but I kind of have something planned for our dear Ash and May. And yes, I'm pretty sure it involves a kiss and an evil spirit we all know and hate.

jessieneese (Didn't really leave a name): Yeah well, the king's running on old material...and he does call Ash other names besides 'brat'. Brat just happens to be his favorite 'term of endearment'.

psychonerd 5: I'm pretty sure that there are only two shippings as of yet in this story, Advanceshipping (Ash and May) and Vineshipping (Their Bulbasaurs, which isn't much of a shipping pair as it is more of a plot device or something like that) I might have something happen to pull Jessie and James together, but it's pretty unlikely it won't happen. However, there is one other shipping that I'm thinking of putting in, completely made up by me. Here's a hint: Read this chapter over again, and try to guess what the mystery pairing might be.

Everybody, thank you so much for taking such an interest in this story!

R&R everyone!