DISCLAIMER: If the owners of Pokemon weren't so benign, I could get sued!:)
Back at Professor Oak's lab, Floatzel was relating the night's events to a captivated audience.
"(…And then, we dropped him into a shipping crate, which is probably halfway to Hoenn by now. And when he finally gets out, he'll get his face smashed by Norman!)" finished Floatzel.
The assembled pokemon broke into cheers. Though it was near midnight, the excitement brought about by Drew's misfortune kept them wide awake. Even pokemon who didn't belong to Ash were cheering; they'd all heard tales of the snobby boy's infamously bad behavior.
The only pokemon who wasn't cheering was the ever-grumpy Corphish. "(So, what do we do now?)"
His question silenced the cheers, and the audience turned to Floatzel expectantly.
"(Err… I'll let Noctowl answer that,)" he said, and he pulled the owl pokemon forward.
"(Uh… well, with Drew out of the picture, it is much easier for us to hook May up with Ash, since Drew seemed to be May's only other romantic interest. So, I think we should-)"
Corphish interrupted him. "(Do we have any proof that May even has any feelings for Ash in the first place?)"
After receiving only a blank stare in return, he continued.
"(So far, we've been guessing that May has feelings for Ash. But do we have any evidence to back up our guesses? We've pretty much wasted a lot of time if May doesn't return Ash's feelings.)"
"(Um… Corphish? How can you not remember all that flirtatious stuff she did in Hoenn and Kanto that Ash was too dense to notice?)" piped up Swellow.
Corphish rolled his eyes. "(Guys, it's been over a year since May left the group. Don't you think that her feelings could have changed?)"
"(So what are we supposed to do? It's not like we can ransack her hotel room in the middle of the night,)" said Noctowl dismissively. Then he noticed the mischievous looks he was getting from some audience members. "(Oh, no…)"
Ash was lying in his bed, trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep. The moment of hearing about May's date kept replaying itself in his head. However, the fatigue was blurring his memory, and the details got more skewed each time the scene replayed.
He was oblivious to the shadow that seemed to detach itself from the wall, and floated over to rest next to his head. Without warning, it suddenly sprang out and engulfed Ash's face for a second, and then pulled back and retreated to the wall, where it passed through it as if it weren't even there.
A low chuckle was heard as the shadow swept towards downtown Pallet. "(Hahahaha! It seems that lil' Ash is having some girl trouble!)" Another throaty chuckle. "(Ugh. I only wish that his dreams tasted better. But that can't be helped. And now to find this 'May' person he's been dreaming of.)"
Floatzel, Sceptile, Infernape, and Bulbasaur sat concealed in the bushes next to the entrance to May's hotel.
Bulbasaur voiced his doubts. "(Are you sure this is safe? If we get caught-)"
"(Well, we won't. So just hurry up and do your thing, and then step aside to let us in,)" interrupted Infernape.
"(No. The only one among you that I trust is Sceptile. I'm coming with you, to keep you and Floatzel in control.)"
Floatzel rolled his eyes. "(Fine, fine. You can come with us, okay? Now just hurry up and sleep powder that building!)"
Bulbasaur walked over to the front door, and, holding it open with a forearm, he released a cloud of sleep powder into the lobby. Then, after walking over to a nearby vent, into the hotel's ventilation system as well.
After waiting a minute for the sleep powder to take effect, he walked over the front entrance and stuck his head out. "(All clear. Just try to keep it down. I don't know how much noise it'll take to wake them up.)"
Sceptile, Floatzel, and Infernape emerged from the bushes, and walked stealthily into the hotel. Taking great care to tiptoe past the sleeping employee at the front desk (but not before stealing his master key and skimming the hotel register), they pressed the button for the elevator, whose door immediately opened. They stepped quietly inside, and Sceptile pressed the button for the tenth floor.
Three minutes and many comments of "(This elevator music sucks!)" later…
The elevator arrived at the tenth floor, and the four intruders crept silently down the hallway to May's room. Using the stolen key, Infernape opened the door, and they crept inside, shutting the door behind them.
Almost immediately, a loud THUMP echoed throughout the room, and Floatzel was hopping about on one foot, the over clasped in his right paw. His left paw was covering his mouth, and was the only thing preventing his shriek of pain from erupting across the room.
"(Quite down!)" hissed Bulbasaur. "(Do you want May to wake up?)"
Floatzel stopped hopping around, and lowered his throbbing foot to the ground. "(Well, sorry for having terrible night vision!)" he hissed back. "(Can we at least turn on the lights? How else are we supposed to see?)"
Inferape groped his hand along the wall and found a switch. Hoping that it was for the lights, he flipped it on.
All four of them instantly recoiled in horror at what the light revealed.
Infernape screamed in terror. "(WHAT IS TH-)" Floatzel hastily clamped a paw over his mouth to muffle the rest.
Sceptile asked the same question, only quieter. "(W-w-what is that?)" he stammered.
Surrounding May's sleeping form was a shadowy, black mist. As if the mist had heard their voices, it reared up off of May and glided along the floor toward them.
Needing no more encouragement, the four frightened friends ran for the door, only to be foiled when the mist swept past them and stood in front of it.
"(WE'RE GONNA DIE!)" shouted Infernape as he ran around in panicked circles.
Floatzel got down on his knees and started begging. "(Please spare me! I just wanna live a peaceful life! I want to find a mate, and then live with her in a nice, unpolluted lake. Is that too much to ask for?!)"
Sceptile was curled in a fetal position on the floor. Low sobs escaped from his mouth.
Bulbasaur was throwing himself repeatedly at the window, each time a futile attempt to break it.
The mist seemed to slowly congeal before the terrifed pokemons' eyes, and Infernape's shrieking grew louder.
"(No! It's turning into our worst nightmare! It will torment us even as the last of the life force drains from our bodies!)" pronounced Infernape.
Floatzel stepped up his begging. "(Please, spare me! I'll give you anything! Take the others' souls! They're a lot tastier than mine!)"
The mist laughed. "(Why would I kill you?)"
"(It's playing mind games! Don't listen!)" Infernape shouted.
The mist sped up its process of solidifying itself. "(Now tell me, why would I want your souls? After all, I'm just a simple little Haunter.)"
Sure enough, the mist had disappeared, revealing a Haunter floating before the four cowering intruders.
"(You're just a pokemon?)" asked Floatzel.
Haunter nodded.
"(Whew! That is such a relief! Hahaha!)"
Recognition dawned on Bulbasaur's slightly bruised face. "(Wait a minute! You're the Haunter that Ash played with at the Pokemon Tower, and the one who got Ash his Marsh Badge!)"
"(The one and the same.)"
"(So, what are you doing here?)"
"(I heard that Ash was going to be back here after he won the Sinnoh League. I've tried to catch him each time he stops back in Pallet Town, but I'm always too late. But this time, I've made it!)"
"(Yeah, so uh… what were you doing to May's face?)" asked Infernape.
"(Nothing, nothing. Just sampling a bit of her dream. I must tell you, her dream was so fluffy and romantic, and lot better than poor Ash's. He would probably feel a lot better if he knew that she was dreaming about him.)"
Floatzel immediately perked up. "(What happened in the dream?)"
"(Oh, the usual romantic stuff. You know, romantic walk along the beach, holding hands, kissing, staring peacefully off into the sunset. That stuff.)"
The four intruders exchanged looks of amazement.
"(You're coming back to the lab with us.)"
