Ash: Striation House

15th August 1593

How it took my parents and Kamon a couple of days to get from Hoenn to Unova, I don't know. If they used a pokemon like Charizard, it would have only taken between a couple of hours to get there. I should be there with my army, but I just had to see Cilan and Iris. I've tried everything I can to stop this war and I hop that this battle will end the war for good. All the other regions have retreated. So it's just between Unova and Hoenn now.

I can see why everybody else wants to drop out, there's no benefit in this war. The war has gone on for years. Asia split up into different regions and although many regions have united, there are still people hungry for revenge. The war was coming close to an end. I don't think anyone is going to win it. What are we fighting for? We're not fighting for land or for power. May is fighting to avenge her parents and Iris is fighting to prove that her love for Cilan is real.

That was the only reason Caroline got killed. She was Lance's godmother and she thought the way they ended the marriage was wrong. I can understand where Caroline was coming from. She never knew Cilan. She had no proof that Cilan was a genuinely nice guy. To be honest, I think Cilan and Iris married far too quickly after the divorce. I think they shouldn't have had sex until after they were married.

I knew that Cilan would be here in Striation House. Cilan had written me a note begging me to come and see him as soon as he possibly could. Burgundy was outside his door when I arrived. She used to hate Cilan because he was above her, but now they seem to get on quite well. Burgandy was Cilan's chief lady-in-waiting. She was set the task to guard Cilan whilst Iris and her army go out to war.

"Good Morning," Burgundy said. She greeted me with a warm smile.

"Is Cilan in?" I asked.

"Yes," Burgundy said. "He's not in the best of moods. Your brother upset him last night."

"What did Kamon do?"

"I don't know," Burgundy took several steps back as she curled away to the corner of the room. She gulped and said. "You'll have to speak to him."

"Damn right I will!" I ran into Cilan's house and raced up the stairs. I called Cilan's name five times and before I knew it, Cilan was there in front of me. His eyes were red and his face was pale. It was as if he had either been sick, just been crying or maybe even both. "What did my brother do to you?"

"Everybody hates me," Cilan muttered.

"Now that's not true!" I snapped. "I don't hate you."

"This black death that's been going round," Cilan explained. "I blamed it all them. But I was wrong, they were all innocent. Maybe I deserve to be hated. I deserve to be ousted out this way. Iris' sons hate me, Drayden hates me and nearly everyone in the kingdom is plotting to kill me. "So many people in Unova have died since I was king. And now that your father is using your bratty brother to take Iris away from me."

"It won't work," I promised Cilan. "No matter how much they try, they will never be able to tear you and Iris apart."

"I thought I could handle all this," Cilan said. "But I feel as if Lance has never left. Iris still wears his wedding ring. Last night Iris was wearing a blue dress that bought for her. It's like having three people in a marriage and I can't take it anymore. You should have been there last night, Ash. She was all over your brother. They were dancing, holding and kissing hands. It just kills me to see Iris with other men."

"I tried everything I could," I said. "Kamon promised that he wouldn't upset anyone."

"Your brother's a liar as well a home-wrecker."

"And a thief."

"Do you know where my brother is?"

"He went out to battle this morning."

"We should have kept him in Hoenn," I admitted. It was clearly a bad idea to let him roam about in Unova. But I'm confident that Cilan and Iris will get through this. They've already been through so much.

"All this will change when Iris and I have our own children," Cilan said. I honestly don't think an extra child will change anything. "But I can't get her pregnant. I'm scared that if we can't have any children together that our marriage will fall apart."

"That will never happen," I said. "You and Iris are a strong couple. You're gonna make it through the end. You've got to fight to keep this marriage alive."

"I'm a lover not a fighter," Cilan curled himself into a ball and then reached out for my neck. "How do I not know you're on their side? You're the King of Hoenn, your father is a warlord, your brother is scum and your cousins are dictators."

I gasped. "Cilan... I'm your friend. We've always been friends."

"Go away you slithering child," Cilan barked. Pikachu was furious. He zapped Cilan with a thunder attack in an attempt to get him back to his senses. "See? Your Pikachu attacked me because you want me dead."

"Pika!"

"We better go," I cried. "But you know where I am when you want to talk to me. I'll always be here for you." I ran out of Striaiton house and dashed onto my Charizard. "We better head back," I told Pikachu and Charizard. "I need to find May." From the distance I can see an explosion near Dragonspiral Tower. Even though I was miles away, the explosion still made my heart jump. "Change of plan!" I roared. "To the tower!"

May: Dragonspiral Tower

Since the sun I had been exposed to nothing blade storms and I was floating on red water. Everybody was giving it their all in that battle. I wasn't sure who's side Kamon was meant to be on. His pokemon were attacking our pokemon, but he had killed some of Iris' men. I wanted the armies to battle each other on the ocean so Blastoise could sail Glaceon and I safely to Dragonspiral Tower.

I wanted to checkmate The Queen by myself.

The plan worked. I ordered my snorlax to create an explosion in Dragonspiral Tower just to let Ash know that I was there. This is Iris' favourite spot and she's got no king to defend her here. My heart was racing and patches of sweat were all over my body. I knew that this was time for this war to end. When I first laid eyes on my archenemy I wanted to scream.

"Ran away like a little kid?" I snapped.

She turned around and looked startled. "May?"

"You bitch!" I cried out. Glaceon stood in front of me as I took out a sword. "Murderer!"

"May, I don't want to do this."

"Well you should have thought of that before you got thousands of people killed, homeless and alone all because you lost your child. People die all the time and they don't get no care. My mother died because you lost your shitty sapphires. My father was humiliated. My brother is alone and has no one to look after him. AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU'RE SO SELFISH."

I'm not going to let the whore speak. I just couldn't handle my own anger any more and I lashed out and pushed Iris out of the window. Iris has caused so much pain in my life that I wanted her to feel it. I don't care if she was Ash's friend. She was the child! She was the traitor. Only a coward would use victim blaming. The sound of Iris' screaming sounded like joy to me. I hope the bitch drowns or cracks her head open on some rock.

"SAVE HER HONCHKROW! LEAVE MAD MAY TO ME!"

I twirled and Kamon's Honchrow pushed me to the floor as the pokemon dashed to save Iris. Glaceon tried to stop it with a blizzard attack but it missed. Before I knew it, I was sliding all over the place and as I tried to put my feet on the ground, I had to flick my arms back in my lap because Kamon was trying to hack me with his sword.

I screamed, I pushed myself up with my sword and sliced off the tapestries. "You come to save the day have you? You'll never be half the hero your brother is."

Angered, Kamon aimed for my chest, but Glaceon's icebeam countered the attack and instead of freezing Kamon, the whole room became blanketed with ice. Glaceon tried to hold on, but she slipped and she fell. She had used all her energy for this. Kamon and I glared at each other whilst we charged into each other with our swords. We hacked, dodged and countered.

Kamon pushed me away with one nudge and I slid away to the end of the room. My back banged against the ice cold and I could feel the wall crack against me. This was it: All or nothing. I held onto my sword and I charged and held my sword up to the sky. Kamon lowered to the ground as a way to defend himself but before any of us could deliver the final blow a brave voice ordered us to stop.

"STOP!"

When we both saw Ash's face, we knew it was all over. I dropped my sword, and Kamon quickly took his sword back into it's belt. He ran up to me and imploded onto me.

"May are you alright?"

I couldn't answer him with anything else other than a thousand tears. Kamon's honchkrow carried Iris back to the tower. There was no point in carrying on with this war anymore.

"We should stop this," Iris suggested. "Before we end up in a world of darkness. May, I'm really sorry for what happened to your mother and from now on, everything will have a fair trial before they are sentenced to death." There were lots of things that Ash and Kamon wanted to say to each other, but they remained silent for our sake. Iris held out her hand. "Can we shake hands for peace?"

My fingers crawled over to Iris' fingers and we shook hands like sisters. A huge weight of relief was lifted from my shoulders. I no longer felt mad anymore, but I found myself in pieces that I needed to fix back together. I'm grateful that Ash stopped us in time. I guess I'll see Iris again at His Holiness' winter party.