Chapter Eleven: The Ring Of Light
"What happened to you?" Ash asked May. He held onto her shoulders, then quickly hugged her. May felt his heartbeat racing as she panted.
"Dahlia manipulated my memories," May said. Everybody was listening to the conversation, including Aly, the new leader of the Advancers.
"Everything Dahlia Hawthorne does is an epic fail," Kari announced. "She tried to separate you because she thought you would both be weak on your own. Everything about the Paranoia Wars Community is all a lie. Drew is still alive. But all those people in the dream were real. They all had their own lives and own dreams."
"I don't really get it," Orange admitted. "But we're all safe and sound. That's the most important thing."
"Well it's a shame about Ace," Gavin admitted. "I know he hasn't exactly been himself before he died, but he did a lot for us."
"That's right," Sara said. "If it wasn't for Ace, we probably wouldn't have all gotten together the way we did. We've lost of a lot of members from the war, but we can arrange a memorial service for them all."
"I don't know about you guys," said Tim as he lowered his arrow. "But I feel rather proud."
Everyone else nodded in unison.
"So you should be," Kari announced. "We all worthy causes to fight for, we had everything that Dahlia hasn't got. Because you all worked so hard to defeat Dahlia's army you all unlocked the power for May to defeat Dahlia on her own."
"I did that by myself?" May asked.
Kari nodded. "You sure did. You were a tough cookie back there, too tough for Dahlia to handle. I think your parents are going to be shocked when they hear about all this."
"I think they'll be," May admitted. She held onto Ash's hand. He remained silent, as if he was trying to absorb everything that had happened to him in his lifetime. May looked up to Ash and cupped his cheek. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Ash muttered. "Just can't believe all the things that we've been through together."
"We'll be going through a lot more together as well," May said.
"Yeah..."
Dawn had returned to her senses whilst holding on to Iris' hand. The pair of them were not going to let each go. After everything they had been though, Dawn and Iris knew that they had each other and that they could go anywhere they wanted.
It took May's parents a long time to convince her to go to summer school. It wasn't what May had in mind. She loved travelling for the teenage kicks of being independent. She felt invincible travelling from town to town with her pokemon besides her. May had both been excited and dreading summer school at the same time, although she was excited to be able to see her godparents again.
After everything May had been through with Ash and defeating Dahlia for good, she decided it would be a good idea. Kari saved May's life and gave her a lot of support through the years. Her godmother, Kari was a teacher. May's mother, Caroline said that Kari had always wanted to be a teacher from the very beginning. Since knowing her, Caroline had stated that the Kari and her husband, Takeru had known each other since they were children. That the two of them had always been together through the thick and thin times of life. The two went together like bread and butter.
Takeru was a novelist. He wrote stories about his adventures with digital monsters better known as digimon. Takeru had promised May that he would one day write a story with pokemon in it. He had shown her a preview of the story, but had yet to complete the story. It was one thing that May had learned from her godfather was that a writer's work is never complete.
May thought that her godfather was a brilliant writer. He had a colourful way with words and she felt that she learned a lot about her godparents through his books. It was his novels that got May into reading, although she felt that she didn't read as much as she should, she could always remember what happened in her godfather's books. She couldn't remember what happened in 50 Shades Of Grey, a book she read yesterday. That book in particular didn't grab her attention, not the way that Takeru's creative plots and characterizations did.
Which made her even more excited that he would be working on a pokemon novel. It meant that she could drag Ash along to help her godfather with the novels. Takeru wanted to make the novel as accurate to the pokemon world as possible. He wanted the battle scenes to be realistic, but also thrilling. May knew that Ash would be the best person to help Takeru. He had been a pokemon trainer for ten years. And Takeru was honoured that Ash allowed him to watch his battles. Ash admitted that he was starting to lose his touch, but once he gained more self confidence he became a better trainer than before.
Ash meant business. He had a fiercer outer appearance than to what he had when May first met him, but deep inside he was still the innocent and occasional dense guy that she knew and loved. May had finished summer school, but decided to stay at her godparent's until Takeru's novel was complete.
The evening when Takeru announced that his draft for the pokemon novel, The Ring Of Light was complete, all the males in the house fell asleep. Ash snored peacefully on a green sofa, Takeru and Hikari's sons lay fast asleep in their room and Takeru also snoozing ontop of his laptop. Kari and May were left wide awake and sitting face to face in the dining room.
Kari's eyes never left May's face. In Kari's hands, was a ring. Not just any old ring you find in a shop, but from what May could tell, it was a rainbow themed ring. The ring was painted gold with assorted coloured gems encrusted around the ring. Although the room was dark, the golden skin of the ring glowed as if the ring was surrounded in daylight.
"The ring is beautiful," said May. "Where did you get it from?"
"This is the ring of light," Kari told May. "As you can see it's no ordinary ring."
The scene reminded May of the scene in The Lord Of The Rings where Gandulf instructs Frodo to destroy the ring. May hadn't read the book since she was eight, but for some reason she could remember what happened to it. It was funny how she couldn't remember what she read yesterday, but could remember what she read when she was a child.
"So what does the ring do?" May asked star-trucked.
"Even in the dark," Kari explained, "the ring will always shine. No darkness can overpower it. The ring promises adventure and peace to whoever you pass the ring to, but it will only work with love."
"What kind of love?"
"Platonic love, such as love for a friend or member of your family count," Kari confirmed. She held the ring close to May as they both watched the gems sparkle in the dark. "But it works better if you're romantically in love."
"I see. So how did you get the ring?"
"It was a wedding present from my friend, Davis. He said it came from a blissey egg. But now, I give this ring to you." Kari opened up May's hand and placed the ring in the palm of her hand.
Before wearing the ring, May investigated the ring more. The gems were birthstones representing each month. A garnet, amethyst, aquamarine, diamond, emerald, pearl, ruby, peridot, opal, sapphire, topaz and turquoise encrusted around the ring. It seems that there was an aura within the gems making the ring sparkle.
May curiously slipped the ring onto her finger. All of her nerves melted away and her face exploded with joy.
"I don't know what it is," May told her godmother, "but this ring makes me feel happy. Thanks for letting me have it."
"You're welcome," Kari said.
"But why would you give it to me?" May asked. "Something this precious, shouldn't this go to your children?"
"You seem to desire it more than we do," Kari said. "I should also mention that the ring gives eternal youth and happiness to someone who shares a keen interest and wears the ring."
"It sounds too good to be true," May confessed. "Everyone gets bad days."
"Have you ever watched the marigold hotel movie?"
"No." May shook her head. "I haven't."
"Well one of the guys in the movie said that everything will be just fine in the end. And if things aren't all right, it means that it's not the end."
"We should watch that movie at some point," May suggested.
"We could." Kari got up and faced the corridor that lead to her room. "But it's getting late, you should get some sleep."
"Okay," May said. "Goodnight Kari!"
"Goodnight!"
"Thanks for helping out with my godfather's novel," May said with a smile on her face. "He really appreciated it. I appreciate it too."
"It's no problem," Ash said. "I'll be looking forward to reading it."
"What was the last book you read?" May asked curiously.
"I'm not so sure," Ash admitted. "I never really read any books."
"Well I should introduce you to my godfather's works sometime."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"So as an appreciation I want to give you this!" May removed the glove on her right hand. May had given Ash the ring of light. She wanted Ash's journey to be safe and full of happiness. Ash stood there and appeared to be amazed. His eyes widened as the sparkling ring touched the palm of his hands.
"Thanks May," Ash said before his lips curled into a smile. He quickly tried the ring on his little finger and it was a perfect fit. "It's a cool ring."
"It's the ring of light." May passed on what her godmother had told her. "It's believed to have come from a blissey egg. It gives happiness and great adventure to whoever who wears it."
"I think it's just what I need," Ash responded. "No wonder you've been so happy lately."
"At least Dahlia won't be bugging us again."
"I hope not."
The pair of them shared one last hug and went their separate ways. But they both knew their paths would cross again after May had finished summer school.
Takaru's new novel, The Ring Of Light had finally been released a couple of weeks later. May believed that she was the first person to buy the novel. She couldn't help but smile at the beginning of Takaru's foreword. She was sure that Ash would enjoy reading the book, especially since it mentions him.
"This story is dedicated to my goddaughter, May and future godson-in-law, Ash. For their years of experience and passion."
Ash was going to be in for a shock when he picks up the novel.
Once again, I merged one of my one shots in with this chapter. I thought that that one shot would have been a perfect way to end this story. A big thanks to everybody who read, commented, faved and reviewed the story on this site and over at the Advancer's forum. A special thanks to those who's read both Sleeping Ash and Haunted May. I hope you all enjoyed reading the story as much I did writing it. I am pleased to announce that Haunted May is officially finished!