Day Seven: Crossover


The desolation in the city made it difficult to take a nice, morning walk. Small flames were everywhere, and the rubble made even the simplest path a chore to navigate. That alone was hard enough, but the pollution produced by the fire and local factories made it difficult to breathe.

None of that stopped May Maple from navigating through the city in search of any survivors, and maybe a friend-turned-foe. She climbed over another piece of what she guessed used to be a wall and dropped into a small clearing. There, she noticed a familiar figure standing a short distance away.

"Shadow?"

The figure turned towards her, almost lifelessly, and glared in her direction. "Shadow, what's going on?" she asked. "Please, talk to me!" Shadow didn't respond. Instead, he dashed towards her and jumped in the air to attack her. She shut her eyes and put her hands out, bracing herself for the impact, only to hear a weird static sound. She looked up, confused, and saw that Shadow was gone. "What? Shadow, where did you –?"

"Hehehahahaha," a familiar voice sneered. "You make this too easy, little girl."

May turned and looked up to see a fearsome figure standing over her. "You!"

"You might as well be the poster girl for the resistance," he sneered, slowly floating down until he was slightly above her eye level. "Helpless, pathetic, and utterly alone."

"I am not helpless!" she snapped back, pulling out a Pokeball. "And I'm not alone, either! Go, Blaziken!" She threw the ball, but before it could release its Pokemon, it stopped in midair as a strange static effect surrounded it. "What?!"

"These capsules you fools use are interesting," the villain said. "It's a shame they're no match for my power." With that, he threw the ball back at May, smacking her in the face.

"Ah!" she cried, gingerly rubbing her face. "My poor nose," she mumbled.

"Hardly a nose if you ask me," he sneered as he pushed his mask up on his face. "Even the little blue savior had more than that."

"Shut up!" she shouted back, slowly circling him. "You're not going to win that easily!"

"Oh really?" he said. If his mouth were visible, May guessed he would be smirking. "Your words mean just as much as the rest of the rabble: nothing."

"Then it's a whole lot of nothing!" she replied with a grin. "HYAH!" The villain was caught off-guard by the large rock that slammed into his masked face. He realized that she had been distracting him with small talk while she grabbed a makeshift weapon.

"You," he snarled as his one visible eye moved erratically in his head. "You hurt me...I've been hurt." He threw his head back as power surged forth from him. Before May knew what was happening, she found herself in a strange, red space. Visual glitches appeared here and there.

"Uh-oh," she mumbled.

"I will eradicate you and your pathetic resistance," the villain declared, his voice echoing through the space. May tried to cover her ears, but her arms wouldn't move. She felt herself get drawn up towards him and soon found herself involuntarily face-to-face with him. "Yes," he hissed. "I can see the fear in your eyes. You're terrified." He chuckled darkly. "How wonderful."

"Let me go!" she screamed, trying to smack him with her hands. Of course, her hands wouldn't respond.

"Perhaps I'll let you live," he said, "so that you may be a symbol of fear for the rest of the rabble. Then their courage will –"

His speech was interrupted by something slicing through him, breaking his hold on the frightened girl so that she fell to the ground, landing hard on her side. "Augh!" she groaned. "Nnngh." She got on her knees, wincing at the pain.

"Now what?!" the villain grumbled. He looked up and saw a large, green reptilian Pokemon glaring at him through angry yellow eyes.

May instantly recognized the Pokemon. "Sceptile?" The Sceptile turned to her and offered her its hand. She took it and stood up. As she did so, her Pokeball dropped off of her waist and involuntarily activated, releasing her Blaziken. On seeing Sceptile, her eyes narrowed slightly, as did Sceptile's, as though they'd met before. But they quickly put this aside as they glared at their common foe. May, however, realized what this meant. "Wait a minute," she said. "There's only one Sceptile my Blaziken has a competitive history with." She looked at Sceptile, daring to hope for the absolute best. "Are you –?"

"I hate it when they come in at the last second," the villain growled, interrupting her. "Two powerful Pokemon? How amusing. It takes more than evolution to withstand my power." As he spoke, several red cubes appeared around him. He threw them at the Pokemon and trainer, turning their vision red.

"No!" May cried, unable to grasp her surroundings. "Blaziken!" She couldn't hear her Pokemon due to the static that was pounding in her ears, nor could Blaziken hear her. Sceptile was in a similar predicament, until he heard a familiar voice. He immediately snapped out of it and leapt up, slashing the villain with another Leaf Blade attack.

"What?!" he exclaimed as his hold on May and Blaziken broke. "How did you –?"

"Did ya miss me, you masked clown?"

May gasped and turned towards the voice. It's him! she thought joyfully, her hands over her mouth as tears started to form in her eyes.

"You again?" the villain said, sounding slightly surprised. "I thought you'd run away in fear."

"Sorry, pal," Ash Ketchum retorted, "but that's just not how I roll. Not even when I don't know what I'm up against." He was standing a short distance away from May. "I guess I'll call you the nameless villain, eh?"

"I prefer to be called Infinite," the villain replied.

"Is that what your friends call you?" Ash said mockingly. "Oh, wait, I forgot: you don't have any. Or if you did, then you probably killed them all!" His mocking swiftly turned to anger. "You're gonna pay for murdering that innocent man back in Pallet Town, and for every other innocent life you've taken!"

"Another average day in the life of Infinite," Infinite replied, hovering away. "But I have other matters to attend to. Besides, you're probably not worth finishing off." Before they knew what was happening, he disappeared.

"Who's running away now, you monster?" Ash snarled under his breath. After a moment, he regained his composure and turned to Sceptile. "Great work Sceptile," he said, recalling him. "Get a rest. I have a feeling you're gonna need it." He turned to May. "Are you okay?"

May said nothing, her hands still over her mouth. Blaziken, sensing what was about to happen, pushed the button on her Pokeball and recalled herself. After a moment, May's hands came down to her chest. Her heart was beating quickly.

"Ash," she whispered.

Ash smiled softly at her as small tears formed in his eyes as well. "Sorry I missed our date," he said.

At that, May couldn't hold back anymore. She ran forward and threw her arms around him in a tight, passionate embrace which Ash was only so happy to return. The two of them stood there, holding each other in their arms for the first time in months. Tears poured down May's face as she sobbed into his shoulder, while two small tears trickled down his face as well.

"I can't believe it," she said through her sobs. "I just can't believe it."

Ash didn't say anything, knowing full well that this was one of those times where she just needed to cry. He slowly rubbed her back, comforting her. He could smell a faint hint of strawberry from her hair, although this got mostly lost due to the atmosphere they were in.

Finally, May stopped sobbing and pulled back a little so she could look into Ash's eyes. Her arms were still around his neck, while his were around her waist. "Sorry," she said, pulling back her hand for a moment to wipe her eyes. "I just thought I'd never see you again."

"It's all right," Ash replied sadly. "I thought the same thing. After I saw what happened to Pallet Town, I got really worried about everyone, especially you." He tightened his grip on her. "Is everyone all right?"

"No," she shook her head sadly. "As far as we know, Sonic is gone."

"What?! How –"

Before they could say anything else, a rumbling sound interrupted them, shaking them so that they clung to each other to stay safe. "I think we need to get out of here," May said. "Do you have Charizard with you?"

"Yeah," he replied, pulling out a Pokeball and releasing his draconic Pokemon. "Do you know where we can go?"

"Yes," she nodded as they mounted Charizard. "Follow my directions. I'll explain everything on the way."

Ash nodded, uncertainty clouding his eyes. As Charizard took to the air, he thought of what May said earlier. We lost Sonic? But how?


This was originally going to be part of my Sonic Forces Final Countdown series. Then that got scrapped due to computer issues, so this got left in the dust. I decided to refine it for this little collection.

And that'll do it! Admittedly, none of these stories were able to top Day 1 in my opinion, but I still think they're mostly good. What did you think? Feel free to rate and review, but no flames please! With that, thanks for reading, and I'll catch ya later!