The next morning both girls woke up and checked to make sure they had all their belongings before they left for Laverre City after they showered and dressed.
They met with Gary in the cafeteria to have breakfast and say goodbyes before they left.
While Ashley went to call her mom and let them know what May and her were doing, Gary pulled May aside to talk.
"I know you like Ashley." He said bluntly.
"Of course I like her. She is my best friend." Retorted May, hoping it would put off his questioning.
"No. You like her as more than that. I've seen it in the way you look at her when she isn't looking."
"So? It doesn't mean I like her like that." She said as she tried to keep the blush off her face.
"Are you in denial, or are you lying to me? It doesn't matter. Ashley is going to be mine. I have known her longer than you have, and she doesn't like girls anyway. So stay out of my way. You understand me?" he threatened.
May was furious. Who was this prick to think he could tell her what to do about her feelings. Ashley was not some prize to be won like Gary was implying.
"Listen here dickface." May said as she shoved her finger in his face. "I don't know who the hell you are to tell me what to do about my feelings towards my friend. I will tell her when I feel like it. She can choose who she wants to be with. She is not yours. Up until a few days ago, you hadn't seen her in years. She isn't the same person as when she left. But you, you are the same egotistical prick she told me about before you saw us." May said heatedly.
"I'm egotistical." Gary scoffed.
"Yeah. Who was too good to train with us, huh? A couple days would not have ruined your chances. You spent time with a stranger, over your supposed best friend. Who does that? That just showed us you care more about winning than people. She wouldn't go for that."
"And you know this how?" he shot back with a scowl.
"She told me when we ran into another prick from her school that acted as you are now. She hates arrogance, and you are a cocky arrogant little bitch." She said giving him a smirk.
Gary was furious. He was about to start shouting when he saw Ashley walk back into the room and heads towards them.
"She will be mine. I will crush you into the dirt to get what I want." Gary threatened in a low voice.
"Bring it on Dickface." May shot back.
"Ready to go?" Ashley asked May, oblivious to their heated exchange.
"Yeah, let's hit the road." May said giving Gary a smug look.
"Later Gary. See you at the wedding." Ashley said as she started walking away.
Gary pulled her into a hug quickly and said, "I'll see you soon."
Ashley patted him awkwardly on the back and said, "Sure."
They left quickly after that. Another 30 minutes saw them outside the city, and on the path that would take them to Laverre City in about two days. It would give them almost a week to train with the Gym, before the wedding happened.
Two hours down Route 12, Ashley stopped May to ask her a question.
"What was up between you and Gary?"
"What do you mean?" May said hoping she didn't hear what they were talking about.
"You both looked to be in an argument. I didn't want to say anything then because I didn't want to make it even worse." Ashley replied.
"He said some very rude things to me, which I will not repeat, so let's just leave it at that." May said hoping it would be the end of the questions.
"Alright. I know he said he changed from when we were in Pallet, but he hasn't much. I mean he isn't chubby anymore, but he was kind of a dick when he didn't want to train with us. Yes, I get that he has a Pokemon League to get ready for, doesn't mean he couldn't spend two days training with us. He was kind of a jerk about that." Ashley said.
"I think he was trying to impress you." May blurted out.
"Really? Well it will never happen between himself and me. He is like a really annoying brother who brags a lot."
"You couldn't see yourself with him?" asked May shocked.
"No I could…" Ashley was interrupted by a huge explosion up a head of them.
"What was that?!" shouted May.
"I don't have any idea. Let's go check it out!" said Ashley.
Cautiously the girls walked ahead to see what was going on. They made it past a corner and saw a large group of people in red suits attacking something. Creeping closer, both girls saw it was a Darkrai. They could tell by the red spiked collar, and the white, ghostly plume on its head.
The people in the red suits were attacking it with a bunch of different pokemon: Golbat, Houndoom, Druddigon, one Camerupt, and a whole bunch of Mightyena. The pokemon were being directed by people with strange visors, and would periodically change their attacks.
Darkrai was doing everything in its power to stop them. It would knock out one pokemon, for two to take its place. There had to be at least 30 people trying to catch it.
"We need to do something." Said Ashley
"What can we do? That Darkrai would attack us just like it is attacking the freaks over there." May pointed out.
Ashley knew that they couldn't do anything to really help. She knew two people who could though.
"I need to call my uncle. He could do something to help the Darkrai." Said Ashley.
"How is he going to get here in time though? He is Laverre City. That is far away." Said May.
"We have to do something!" Ashley shouted as she pulled out her Pokenav and called her uncle.
After two rings, Steven popped up on the small screen. "Hi Ashley! I was expecting to hear from you until later today. What is going on?" Steven asked.
"There is a bunch of people in red suits attacking a Darkrai. We need help to save it!" Ashley practically screamed.
"Red suits? Where are you?" he said, his voice full of concern.
"We are about 2 hours out of Shalour City on Route 12." Ashley said as another explosion sounded in the background. "We need help!" she screamed.
"Hang on. Let me get Diantha. She can Teleport us to Shalour City and we can fly to you. Maybe 15 minutes to get there. Don't do anything stupid! Stay out of the way and unseen. From the red suits, it seems that it is Team Flare is attacking that Darkrai. They have been known to kidnap people for ransom." He then started talking quickly to someone outside the videophone's view. "Me and Diantha are on our way now. We will let the police know when we get there. Stay safe!" he shouted as he hung up.
"Fifteen minutes. All we have to wait is 15 minutes. They'll save it." Ashley said as she looked at where Darkrai was trying to escape from its attackers. It tried to dive in the shadows to hide and escape, but the people with the visors saw where it was going and cut off its escape.
There was another explosion after Darkrai was hit with 4 different Hyper Beam attacks. It fell to the ground and was having difficulty moving.
"May, it's not going to make it. We have to help!" shouted Ashley.
"Alright." she said. May was very unsure that this was safe to do.
"Gyarados, Snorlax, Hyper Beam now!" Ashley said releasing her pokemon.
"Beautifly, use Hyper Beam as well!"
"Tyrunt, use Dark Pulse! Combusken Flamethrower!" Ashley said as she called out more pokemon.
"Bulbasaur use Sludge Bomb! Combusken use Flamethrower!" shouted May.
Their attacks surprised the attackers as they tore through the lines of enemy pokemon.
"Intruders. Make sure they don't get in the way. We are close to our objective!" shouted a woman with green hair.
The enemy called some of the pokemon off from attacking Darkrai, to engage Ashley and May in battle.
"We need all our pokemon! We will be overwhelmed soon!" Ashley said as she put a protesting Pichu in her backpack to keep safe.
They released the rest of their pokemon to maybe slow these people down until the two Champions got here.
It was like nothing the girls have ever seen before. They could do nothing but try to watch out for their pokemon, and return them when they were too injured to fight.
May had returned all her pokemon after about 7 minutes. They had just been overpowered. Ashley only had Lairon, Snorlax, Tyrunt, and Gyarados. Combusken and Grovyle had just been recalled.
There was another loud boom as the Camerupt used Eruption and knocked out Lairon.
Snorlax was the next to fall against a Mightyena's Hyper Beam, after knocking the Camerupt out.
Tyrunt was taken out by a huge Druddigon, who Gyarados knocked out with an Ice Beam.
Gyarados curled around the two girls to protect them from the incoming pokemon. She was tired and hurt, and was being overwhelmed. She wouldn't let her trainer be hurt though.
A woman with short purple hair called off the attacks on May and Ashley. "Why are you here? Do you not see the might of Team Flare? We will soon be in control of the Legendary Pokemon Darkrai! You have put up a brave fight but you have lost. Surrender now before you are hurt." She said.
"Leave Darkrai alone! It didn't do anything to you!" shouted Ashley.
"Of course it didn't do anything to us. We have been tracking it for weeks. It will be used to further Team Flare's goals. We will rule the world, and Darkrai will help us to do it." She said with a sneer.
"You won't get away with it!" May said.
"Who is going to stop us? The Champion is too busy getting ready to be married to know what we are doing. No one can stop us." She said with an evil smile.
"I believe we will stop you." said Steven from atop his Skarmory.
"Indeed. You people are evil for what you are attempting to do." Said Diantha riding on her Tyrantrum.
"What are you doing here?!" she said in shock.
"We were called by some concerned citizens." Steven said giving his niece a stern look.
"How did they… that is your niece! No wonder why her pokemon are so strong." Before she could order the pokemon to attack them, they were all sent flying by Metagross using a mass Psychic, with Gardevoir helping.
Seeing that they were knocked out, she ran back to here fellows and called for help.
Steven and Diantha released all their pokemon and told them to attack.
Ashley knew her uncle was strong. He was a Champion, but he was vicious in the way he was taking Team Flare down. His pokemon were sending Hyper Beams out that were knocking 3 or 4 pokemon out at a time. Diantha was much nicer about it. She was using status moves to knock them out, or put them in the path of Steven's behemoths.
The women with the visors called a retreat, and they threw smoke bombs to cover their exit, when Skarmory cleared the air, 3 helicopters were seen flying off in the distance.
With all the attention on Team Flare, Darkrai had stood up and unleashed the most powerful Dark Void it could. It hit all of Steven's and Diantha's pokemon and out them to sleep. Steven and Diantha also succumbed to the attack.
It started toward them and looked like it was going to attack, Ashley threw the Master Ball she had been given at the start of her journey, and hit it in the back, where it was sucked in and captured. The ball was immediately sent to her home, where it would be safeguarded against people looking to steal it, or it escaping the ball and going on a rampage.
Ashley immediately ran to her uncle and future aunt to wake them up. She shook her uncle first trying to wake him up. After a minute or so he was awakened. He immediately jumped up and looked for the dangerous Legendary.
"Where is Darkrai?" he all but shouted as he saw his sleeping fiancé.
"At home." Ashley said meekly, seeing how angry her uncle was.
"What do you mean it is at home?" he looked at her like she was crazy.
"I, um, maybe sort of caught it." She finished lamely kicking at the ground.
Steven looked like he was about to have an aneurism when Ashley had admitted to catching the rampaging Legendary.
"It looked like it was going to attack you guys while you were asleep! I didn't want it to hurt the baby!" Ashley finished pointing at Diantha who was being looked at by Pichu, who during capturing of Darkrai, escaped from Ashley's backpack where she was kept for her safety.
Steven lost all the color in his face when she mentioned the baby being hurt. He rushed to Diantha and gently shook her until she awakened.
"What happened?" she slurred sleepily.
"Darkrai put us and our pokemon to sleep." replied Steven.
This woke her up. "Where is it? Did it hurt any of us? How is Ashley and May?" she asked hurriedly.
Steven was quick to reassure her the girls were okay, and that Ashley had caught Darkrai when it looked like it was going to attack them.
"How did she capture it though? Surely she didn't have any pokemon strong enough to battle it after their run in with Team Flare." Diantha said looking over at her future niece and her friend, who were quietly holding hands after their very scary situation with a rampaging Legendary, and an evil organization bent on world domination.
"I used the Master Ball that I was given when I started my journey. I didn't know what to besides catch it when it looked like it was going to attack you after it put you guys to sleep." Ashley babbled as she was very close to bursting into tears.
Diantha rushed over to her and pulled the now sobbing girl into a hug. She quickly added May when it looked like she was going to start crying as well. Both girls very upset about almost being held captive by Team flare after their pokemon were defeated, or being hurt or killed, by the rampaging Darkrai. She gently whispered calming words to both girls that it would be alright as Steven went and woke their pokemon up.
Just as the girls collected themselves, the Police showed up led by Officer Jenny. After giving them the description of the leaders of Team Flare, and what pokemon they used, and what direction they fled in, she warned them to be on the lookout for them in the future, and to avoid them at all cost. They might want revenge for foiling their plans to capture Darkrai. They failed to tell her that Ashley captured it, and instead said it fled after putting them to sleep.
After the police took photos of the area the battle happened in, and took pieces of discarded tech that had been drop in their haste to leave, Officer Jenny thanked them for not allowing Team Flare to gain possession of a pokemon capable of such destruction, indicating the ruined landscape around them. They left with the promise they would contact them if they had any further questions they needed answered.
It was quiet after the police left. Each was still unsure what to say about what had transpired here today.
Finally Steven broke the silence. "Let's get back to Laverre City and get your pokemon looked at. They have had a very tough day." He pointed to Diantha's Gardevoir who would Teleport to the Pokemon Center for the girls to heal their pokemon.
With one last look around the battlefield, they were gone.
They reappeared a moment later in the lobby of the Pokemon Center, where Ashley and May handed over all their pokemon to be looked over. Pichu whined that it didn't want to go with Nurse Joy, but a quick word from Ashley sent her pouting as she went to be looked at by Nurse Joy.
They quickly went from the Pokemon Center to Diantha's home that she was sharing with Steven. Both girls were still in a daze from what happened earlier, and didn't take in the scenery of a small city, right in the middle of a vast forest.
Once inside the modest home, the girls were steered into the living room and sat on the loveseat, while Steven and Diantha stood in front of them.
"I don't know what you girls were thinking in attacking Team Flare! You could have been killed!" shouted Steven.
"We were trying to save Darkrai from being captured!" shouted Ashley.
"What, so you could be captured yourselves if it got away!? Did you think about what might have happened if it did escape, and you couldn't? They would have killed you! Why the hell didn't you wait for us?"
"They would have captured it and would have left by the time you got there! Do you want some assholes like Team Flare having a Darkrai to use to commit evil!?" screamed Ashley.
Steven shook off Diantha's hand as she tried to get him to calm down. "I don't want that! I also don't want you to get yourself killed! Did you know, that they found 8 trainers who had been murdered and their pokemon taken about 6 weeks ago, and Team Flare are their main suspects? They kill people. They would have killed the both of you."
"If they kill people, then what haven't the police arrested them yet?" asked May, who was doing her very best to be swallowed up by the couch.
Diantha cut in before Steven could shout some more. "They have been arresting members. The problem is they are only getting grunts with very limited knowledge on their operations. They need one of the Admins, who know much more on the operations to finally bring down the Team. Right now they don't even know who the leader is." She said softly.
"They need to do more to get rid of them." Ashley said as she crossed her arms and glared at the floor.
"What would you have them do? They have me, Diantha, and members of the International Police looking into this matter! We are doing everything in our power to get rid of them. They have a lot of money backing them, which allows them to have better technology than the police. That makes it much harder to catch them." Steven shouted.
"I don't know! They almost got a legendary pokemon today! Who knows what they would have done with it?" Ashley shouted as she threw her hands in the air.
"Do you want to be so much like your father that you want to die fighting an evil organization? Do you?" he shouted.
Ashley was stunned by what her uncle had said. From the shocked looks from Diantha and May, they were too.
"Your dad died getting rid of Team Rocket. That was a good thing for Kanto and Johto. Do you know what it cost? The life of him and all his pokemon aside from Flareon. It left your mother a widow, and you without a father. If he had waited for backup, he would probably be alive today. No he had to do it on his own, that stupid man! Is that what you want? Do you want your mother to lose all she has left?" he pressed his point.
Ashley had a blank look on her face as her uncle called her father foolish for throwing his life away to stop evil.
"I hate you." Ashley said quietly. She got up and ran out of the house. May ran after shouting for her to stop.
Diantha walked up to Steven and slapped him across the face. He looked to her in confusion at why she slapped him.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" she said barely containing her fury.
"I'm just trying to prevent her from being killed!" he shouted at Diantha in frustration.
"You just insulted the girl's hero on one of the worst days in her life! That man was everything to her. You told me yourself how much it nearly killed her when she was told she would never see him again. For Arceus' sake, they couldn't even let her see her father's body at his funeral, with how badly his body was burned. You just pissed on her father's sacrifice. How could you!?" she shouted at the end.
Steven now had tears in his eyes. "Red was like my brother. Do you know how much it hurt me when he was killed? The only reason I didn't break down in front of anyone and show how I really felt about his passing, is that he made me swear on my life to protect Delia and Ashley with everything I had. I had to be strong for them. I cried for months after he passed by myself when I could. Ashley is like my daughter. I was so scared that something would have happened to her. I would never be able to live with myself is something happened to that infuriating girl."
Diantha quickly pulled her husband-to-be in a hug as he cried for his lost brother, and his pseudo-daughter who just told him that she hated him.
"I think she knows how much you mean to her. Who did she call first for help? She called you. The man who has been there for her since her dad died. You went overboard with the yelling. The stuff about her father was uncalled for. I'm going to let you work on that with her when you speak to her next. Right now just let her work this out with her friend. She'll speak to you when she is ready." Diantha said softly as she held Steven.
Steven could only nod into her shoulder.
"I'll think I will go give her mother a call and let her know what happened." Steven tried to interrupt but Diantha cut him off. "No, I'll do it. You aren't in the right frame of mind to do it."
Steven could only watch as she went to go call his sister and let her know what happened today. He was sure she would let Delia know about the argument he had with Ashley and how she stormed out. He could only shiver in fear at what his sister would do to him when she found out. She was far scarier than any rampaging Legendary.