This is the thirty-fifth chapter in the Pokemon Heroes story. The Dark Signers will return in this one, and two surprises will show up also. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the songs.

(Opening song)

On a warm, sunny day, the group was gathered around a table, eating the food that Brendan made. The Pokemon ate their food, as the humans ate theirs, but May and Ash was eating their food like they were monsters.

"It would be very surprising to see you guys eating food normally for a change," said Dawn.

"That will never happen," said Ash. They continued to eat, and even the Pokemon shielded their food, in fear that Ash and May might want to eat theirs. After a while, Ash smelled smoke in the air.

"Is something burning?" said Ash. He looked around, but saw nothing. May looked behind her and saw a cloud of smoke rising towards the sky. She tugged at Ash's sleeve, and Ash also looked back.

"Did something explode?" asked Brendan.

"I hope everybody's okay," said May. Ash had that feeling in his stomach again, and even the Pokemon felt strange. Eevee stood right beside Pikachu, but Pikachu didn't notice as its eyes were fixed on the smoke.

"Must be something that we don't need to worry about," said Brendan as he stood up from the table, "Let's pack up." As everyone got off the table to pack up, Ash stayed, still staring. Pikachu went beside him.

"Pika Pikachu," said Pikachu. Ash patted it on the head.

"Something's going on," said Ash, "I can feel it."

Avenging Lost Lives

The group has finished their food, and they were now entering a small town/village. Ash still felt the pain in his stomach, but he tried his very best to ignore it.

"We're almost there," said Brendan, "I really just want to sleep in a bed for…" But he didn't finish when his face slammed against a pole. He fell to the ground and looked up, and saw the sign into Mahogany Town. He stood up.

"That really happened again," said Brendan, and then he turned towards his friends who, for some reason, had really shocked expressions.

"I know you're amazed by my skills of using a map," said Brendan as he turned around towards the town with his eyes closed, "Here we are, Mahogany…" But he didn't finish when he saw the destruction of the whole place. Dawn and May tried their best to cover their mouths. Ash walked up and started to feel around himself.

"This has to be some kind of wallpaper," said Ash, "This cannot be real." Brendan stepped up to also see if it was wallpaper that they were seeing. He walked in into the black ground.

"It's real Ash," said Brendan, "It's real."

"Who could do such a thing?" asked Dawn.

"I don't know," said Brendan. Ash started to walk into the destroyed town. The ground was filled with black dust, so it felt as though they were walking in an open field. The more they walked in, the more shocked they were. They walked past the Pokemon Center, which was crushed. Houses were knocked down, and dollhouses and toys were scattered everywhere. Even the Mahogany Town Gym was destroyed.

"Whoever did this," said Brendan, "They must've killed the gym leader as well."

"Someone killed the gym leader?" said Dawn, "This couldn't have been done by just one person."

"It couldn't," said Ash. He remembered back in Goldenrod City when Ruby was wearing initials that showed that she was a part of Team Rocket.

"I swear," thought Ash, "If Team Rocket destroyed this town, I'm so going to kill them." They continued to walk, until they saw someone in the distance.

"That must be a survivor," said Brendan, "Let's go." They walked over to the man, but Ash stopped when he saw closer at who the man really was. It was a Dark Signer, with a Wynaut in his hand. It was crying, and The Dark Signer had it by the neck. Within seconds, The Dark Signer made the Wynaut explode, leaving no trace of it. All four of them just stood there in shock. The Dark Signer turned around and saw the kids looking at him.

"My, my," said The Dark Signer, "Surprise seeing you here. I'm so sorry that you had to see all this."

"You did this?" said Ash. His eyes flashed blue. He clenched his knuckles.

"I don't have time for you right now," said The Dark Signer, "I'm looking for something. This town won't give it to me, so I decided to take it by force." His body started to disappear.

"Come back over here!" yelled Ash as he ran after him, but The Dark Signer disappeared before Ash could attack him. Ash landed on the ground, but stood up quickly. He looked around for him.

"He's somewhere in this town," said Ash, "He was looking for something."

"You're going after him?" said Brendan.

"Hell yeah," said Ash as he started to wander off. The other three followed. All this time, The Dark Signer was really right behind them. He smiled under his hood, and then once again disappeared.

Ash and his friends continued looking, but had no luck, as if The Dark Signer just disappeared off the face of the planet, but Ash was still determined to find him. While he was looking, May found a wounded Snubbull on the ground.

"Ash!" called May, "Come over here." Ash came running back seconds later. He saw the Snubbull and kneeled right by it. Brendan also came and took out a Potion.

"It's going to be okay little guy," said Brendan, "The pain will go away." He was about to spray some on it, but a purple beam came right through them and hit the Snubbull, destroying it. Everyone there was once again shocked. Ash turned around and saw The Dark Signer, who was the one that shot the beam. He stood up and materialized his blade.

"What is wrong with you?" said Ash.

"I see that you've mastered to fuse the staff into your body," said The Dark Signer, "You've changed already." Ash charged towards him, but was kicked away. He immediately stood and charged towards him again. He stomped on the ground and a huge boulder appeared. He took the boulder and threw it towards Ash. Ash sliced right through and was about to slash The Dark Signer, but he materialized his curved, purple blade and the two swords clashed.

"I see that this'll be fun," said The Dark Signer, and he materialized another one in his other hand and swung it, but Ash backed up and threw a kick, and it made contact with his face. The Dark Signer was pushed back. He rubbed his cheek and started to laugh.

"You can't beat me no matter how hard you try," said The Dark Signer. He was then pushed back by Aggron, who used headbutt. Brendan walked right by Ash.

"We can take him together," said Brendan. Pikachu also went by Ash and activated its iron tail. The Dark Signer struggled with Aggron, but took it and flipped it over. Before he could slice it with his blade, Brendan sent out another Nuzleaf, and it used razor leaf, pushing The Dark Signer back. Aggron stood up and went by Brendan.

"Even your Pokemon won't be able to stop me," said The Dark Signer. He then put his hand against the ground, and dark vines appeared and grabbed Aggron, Nuzleaf, and Pikachu. Pikachu was able to use iron tail to break the dark vines off and went straight towards The Dark Signer using volt tackle, but The Dark Signer blocked it with his arm and pushed Pikachu to the side.

"You son of a…" said Ash, but he didn't finish when a dark vine came under him and grabbed him. He tried to break free, but he couldn't.

"Now that you're out of the…" said The Dark Signer, but he didn't finish when all the dark vines were destroyed by Eevee's shadow ball, in which it just popped out of its Pokeball.

"Eevee," said May, "You shouldn't get out of your Pokeball like that," said May, "You could get hurt."

"Eevee!" said Eevee, and it started to run towards The Dark Signer. The Dark Signer stomped on the ground, making it get pushed up towards the air and The Dark Signer caught it by the neck. It struggled to get free, but The Dark Signer won't let go.

"You look pretty fed up," said The Dark Signer, "Don't worry, I'll take all of that emotion away in a second." May tried to stand up and save her Pokemon, but then he created an explosion. When the smoke cleared up, Eevee wasn't there anymore. May covered her mouth and sulked to the ground. Before she could cry, Ash came towards her weakly and patted her on the shoulder.

"It's okay," said Ash. He then pointed a few feet away from The Dark Signer, and May saw Eevee on the back of Pikachu. Eevee was hugging and squeezing Pikachu. Ash took out a Pokeball and released Treeko.

"This is not over yet," said Ash, "Treeko, do whatever attack you want. Just be careful out there." Treeko nodded, and they both charged towards The Dark Signer and threw many rapid punches, but The Dark Signer blocked all of their blows. He then created a dark force field over himself, pushing the two away. He then appeared in front of Ash and threw rapid punches all over Ash's body. He then slammed Ash on the ground. He then quickly went towards Treeko and threw rapid punches on it as well. He then punched it on the ground, but this time, it was punched on the ground harder, creating a huge crater. Treeko lied on the ground on the bottom, seeming to be unconscious.

"Treeko!" said Ash, and before he could go after it, The Dark Signer came towards him and grabbed his face and pushed him on the ground.

"I love kicking your ass," said The Dark Signer. He started to beat up Ash. Dawn released Piplup to help, but The Dark Signer just blew it away. Treeko, who was at the bottom of the crater, tried to stand up, but it was too weak to do so. It then remembered the time when it was at its tree. It remembered how it always had that drive to protect its tree, no matter who comes in its way. After that time when Ash helped to save the tree, it followed him to protect him. It forced itself to stand up with the last bit of strength it had in its body.

"Treeko!" said Treeko. Its body then started to glow. Everyone else saw the light coming out from the crater. After a minute, something started to come out of the crater. It seemed bigger than Ash's Treeko.

"Treeko?" said Ash. Instead of Treeko coming out, Grovyle came out (A/N: Surprise #1).

"Grovyle," said Grovyle.

"Ash," said Dawn, "Your Treeko evolved." Grovyle then went into a defensive stance.

"No matter," said The Dark Signer, "Just because your Pokemon evolved doesn't mean that it could beat me." Grovyle then charged towards The Dark Signer and pushed him back. It went by Ash and held out its hand. And took it and stood up. He materialized his blade and stood in a defensive stance as well. Grovyle extended its leaves on its arms, meaning it was using leaf blade. Ash smiled.

"Guys, Grovyle and I will be able to beat this guy," said Ash, "Don't get hurt." Ash and Grovyle charged towards The Dark Signer, who was still trying to stand up. They attacked him with multiple punches, and he was pushed back. They continued to hit him, but then he blocked both of their attacks and low kicked, tripping Ash towards the ground. He was about to slam Ash down by using his fist, but Grovyle kneed him on his left arm, stunning him. The Dark Signer looked back towards Grovyle.

"I'm done with you!" yelled The Dark Signer. He extended out his hand in front of Grovyle's face, and a huge wave of darkness engulfed Grovyle's body. Ash saw his Treeko get pushed back at lightning speed towards a rock. As soon as it hit the rock, The Dark Signer threw a dark ball towards it, and it exploded with Grovyle. Grovyle fell to the ground unconscious. The Dark Signer laughed.

"And you thought that you had hope as soon as your Pokemon evolved?" said The Dark Signer, "That never will happen. Now just leave me alone, I'm busy." Ash forced himself to stand up.

"I'm fighting you because you killed every single living thing that lived in this town," said Ash, "And I won't give up until I avenge them!" Ash charged towards The Dark Signer, but was kicked towards the ground. Ash tried to stand up, but The Dark Signer kept his foot on top of Ash. Suddenly, Buneary and Mightyena came from behind him and was about to hit him with jump kick and bite, but he released a force field, pushing them all back.

"Buneary/Mightyena!" yelled Dawn/Brendan as they returned their fainted Pokemon. Before they could do something else, The Dark Signer came right in-between them and pushed them both back by using a dark force field. They screamed in pain, and then they landed on the ground unconscious. The Dark Signer laughed, and then he turned towards May, who was on the ground with Eevee scared.

"I think that you should also be one of the group," said The Dark Signer as he walked closer to her, "Don't you think?" Before he could do anything to May, Ash came running towards them. He jumped up into the air with his fist raised high.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" yelled Ash. Before he could make contact with The Dark Signer's face, he stopped Ash in midair and grabbed his fist and started to turn it. Ash screamed in pain as his arm started to crack. The Dark Signer just laughed.

"Now you wished you didn't get in my way," said The Dark Signer. May watched with worried eyes. She was too scared to do anything, but she wanted to help Ash. Her eyes flashed red. Eevee felt that her body start to heat up. Already, May has lost consciousness inside her head, and now her powers could be unleashed. As The Dark Signer kept on twisting Ash's arm, he felt heat coming from behind him. He looked back and saw May covered in flames, and her eyes were red. Eevee jumped off her and went towards the side. He let go of Ash's hand and he fell to the ground. He looked towards May, and saw her in flames, the same way she was last time.

"May," thought Ash. He then widened his eyes and remembered the time when May did that last time, and she almost got a heart attack.

"May!" yelled Ash, and he ran towards May, but The Dark Signer pushed him back towards the ground with his foot.

"No," said The Dark Signer, "I want to see how this plays out."

"Are you fucking crazy?" yelled Ash. May saw Ash, and then she began to grow angry. She yelled, and flames shot towards The Dark Signer, but he disappeared. The Dark Signer then appeared behind May, and before she could do anything, he hit her on her neck. She stopped, and her eyes turned back to its normal color. She then fell towards the ground, and she was now unconscious. Ash saw this, and just froze. He remembered when she did it last time on Giovanni and killed him instantly, but The Dark Signer knocked her out. Was he that strong? She then started to cough, and Ash saw blood coming out.

"Oh no," said Ash. He ran towards her and created an aura sphere. He then put it against her chest, and the ball sunk in. It started to slow her heartbeat, and she stopped coughing. Ash breathed a sigh of relief, and then he looked up towards The Dark Signer. Dawn and Brendan woke up, but they were too weak to be able to help out Ash. Eevee walked over to Ash and started to lick the unconscious May's face.

"That was her power?" said The Dark Signer, "I expected more." He then created his dark purple blade and raised it towards the sky.

"I'm done with you," said The Dark Signer. He swung his blade, and Ash closed his eyes. He couldn't move, since he had May. After a few seconds, he didn't feel the blade pierce him. He opened his eyes, and saw The Dark Signer kicked away. Someone was standing in front of him. The others saw it as well. Ash looked closely, and he saw, out of everybody in the world, Lnoki (second surprise). The Dark Signer recovered himself and stood up. Ash didn't even know what to say, and how many questions he wanted to ask. Lnoki looked towards Ash.

"Lnoki?" asked Ash.

"Not now Ketchum," said Lnoki, "I'll explain everything later." Lnoki then turned towards The Dark Signer.

"I see that you're harassing my student," said Lnoki.

"Harassing?" said The Dark Signer, "I was doing no such thing."

"I never knew you would go that low Roman," said Lnoki. The Dark Signer, who is named Roman, looked towards Lnoki and materialized his dark blade.

"You have no right to call me by that name," said Roman. Lnoki stood in a defensive stance.

"Time for you to die old man," said Roman, and he charged towards Lnoki. Lnoki jumped and kicked Roman right up the face. Roman grabbed his foot and slammed him on the ground. Lnoki used his arms for support and spun around, letting Roman let go, and then he jumped up and threw rapid punches all across Roman's stomach. He then kicked Roman, sending him flying towards rubble. Lnoki landed on the ground. Brendan had enough strength and looked towards Lnoki.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" asked Brendan, "Is that old man here, or do I have a concussion?" The Dark Signer broke out of the rubble and stood up. He rubbed off the dust from his clothes.

"I can't believe you," said Lnoki, "You killed every single person in this town, even the gym leader. You're so cruel." Roman looked towards the rubble, and he figured that he hit the gym.

"I see it now," said Roman, and he extended out his hands, and a huge crater formed around the gym and destroyed the rubble. Now there was just bare land. He shot a beam towards the spot, and a huge hole appeared.

"What are you doing?" asked Lnoki. Roman went down the hole, but came out seconds later, with a blue ball in his hand. He lifted it up and got a closer look at it.

"I found it," said Roman. Lnoki got surprised at seeing the ball and charged towards Roman, but Roman just kicked him away. Lnoki stood up and started stomping on the ground, sending huge rocks into the sky. He kicked them all towards Roman, but Roman just slapped them all away with just one hand.

"Give that back!" yelled Lnoki, "You won't be able to control it!"

"Won't control it?" said Roman, "Do you think that I'm an aura guardian?" He then lifted up a finger, and a wave of dark energy went towards Ash, May, and Lnoki. It collided, and then there was an explosion.

"Ash!" yelled Brendan. Roman looked towards Brendan. Dawn still couldn't move, so Brendan stood right in front of her before he thought of any funny ideas.

"I know Lnoki wouldn't die that easily," said Roman, "If they live, make sure to tell them to not act as stupid as the aura guardians that came before. I already have what I need." He then opened a portal. He walked in, and then the portal shut. Brendan looked towards the cloud of dust, and saw it start to clear. He saw Lnoki, Ash, and May okay, as Lnoki put up a screen wall in front of him. He let it disappear, and then he looked towards Ash, who had his head down. Brendan sighed a sigh of relief and picked up Dawn. He then walked towards the three.

"Is anyone else surprised that the old guy is here?" said Brendan. Nobody responded, and he noticed Ash upset.

"It's okay Ash," said Lnoki very softly, "I know how you feel right now. You were unable to avenge the people who have died this day, but that's the flaw of being an aura guardian. You have to understand that your journey will keep on showing these kinds of things. I wasn't able to avenge them, and I'm as sad as you are, but I've learned to overcome that. You have to too. Do you understand?" Ash didn't respond. As Lnoki talked, Dawn had gained some of her strength and was able to stand on two feet, but Brendan stayed by her side. After a minute, Lnoki noticed that Ash still didn't feel better.

"You'll understand later on," said Lnoki, "You'll be able to accomplish your promise, but you can't do it now. You're not ready. If you fight The Dark Signers without training, you're as good as dead. You understand now?"

"I understand," said Ash lowly. Lnoki noticed that he was looking down on May, who seemed to breathe normally in his arms. He smiled.

"Don't worry about her," said Lnoki, and Ash looked up at him, "She won't die with you around. How do you think she survived this long?" Ash began to smile as well. Brendan and Dawn also smiled. Ash looked down on May, but then he noticed something.

"Wait a minute," said Ash as he quickly looked up towards Lnoki, "How did you…" He didn't finish after seeing that Lnoki wasn't there. Everyone looked everywhere, but he wasn't there.

"What the hell was that?" said Dawn.

"I don't know," said Brendan, "But I feel we'll be seeing him lots of times over, just like some green-haired guy we know." Ash stood up, still holding the unconscious May. He started to walk.

"Are you okay Ash?" asked Dawn.

"Of course I am," said Ash, "We should get going. Lnoki's right. I'm not ready for The Dark Signers yet. I'll avenge all the people in this town later on, but not now." He then turned to his friends with a smile.

"I swear," he said. The two smiled again. He turned and started to walk again. The others followed. They returned their Pokemon and also May's. Pikachu jumped on Ash's shoulder. Right behind them, Lnoki stood with a cloak. He smiled.

"You're growing up so fast Ash," thought Lnoki. He then put the hood up, and started walking as well towards Ash's direction.

Roman stood in his chair, with other Dark Signers around him. He had the blue ball in his hand, and he showed it to his fellow Dark Signers.

"I have the Adamant Orb," said Roman, "Just two more objects, and then we'll be able to get the hearts that we deserve."

"What about that aura guardian?" asked a heavy voiced man, "Will he be a problem?"

"Not yet," said Roman, "He's getting stronger, and he'll be as strong as us soon. But when we get our hearts, then we'll be a problem for him." The orb in his hand then disappeared in Roman.

"Find more of the objects," said Roman, "Dismissed." All of the Dark Signers opened their portals and disappeared. Roman sat in his seat still. He remembered the power May released before. He actually loved it. He smiled under his hood.

"Soon Ho-Oh," thought Roman, "We'll meet again soon."

(Ending song)

Next Time on Pokemon Heroes: The group comes across a laboratory, and meets Charon, who says that he was once from Team Rocket, and promises Ash that he'll be able to extract May's power from her without killing her. As Ash remembers how much it hurt her, he agrees, but he doesn't know what Charon is really after. Will Ash figure out in time, or will May have to pay the price? Next Time: The Promise.

That was that chapter. I'm finding out that I'm sending out chapters late lately, and I've decided that I'm bringing the update status down to one chapter per week. Until I have more time on my hands, I'll do two chapters again, but not now. Next chapter will come out next week, and thank you for the reviews. See you next week!

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