As the sun peeked into the room the next morning, Ash and Torchic were still snuggled up close to May's side as the three slept. May was the first to open her eyes and sit up. She smiled at her two Pokemon and quietly got out of bed in the hopes of not waking them up. After taking her shower and getting into clean clothes, Ash began to stir and opened his eyes just as she tied her bandana around her head. He looked at Torchic, who was leaning against him as she continued to sleep. He turned his attention back to May and smiled at her brightly.
"Pika!" he greeted her.
"Good morning." May replied. He carefully scooted away from Torchic, to let her sleep, then hopped over to May and cuddled up to her. "Ready to go explore some ruins?"
"Pi Pika!" he nodded. Torchic then slowly opened her eyes, hearing his cheer. She yawned and shook out her feathers and then noticed him.
"Good morning." She smiled.
"Good morning." He responded.
"Ready to go you two?" May asked. Receiving a nod from both of them, she smiled and recalled Torchic to her pokeball as Ash climbed onto her shoulder. Onc she secured Torchic's pokeball in her fanny pack, she headed out of her room and, after a quick breakfast, she headed out of the Pokemon Center. She went back up the hill outside and soon arrived at the ruins she had seen the night before. "Wow...it looks even more interesting in the daylight."
"Pikaaaa!" Ash agreed. May slowly walked inside and once again they found Alden hard at work trying to open the chamber door and examining the hieroglyphics paintings on the walls. When he heard May's footsteps, he turned around and smiled when he saw them.
"Oh hello again!" he said.
"Hi. I hope we're not interrupting." May commented.
"Oh not at all. What can I do for you?" he asked.
"We were hoping to learn more about this place. If that's ok." She requested.
"I'd be happy to explain. I'm investigating a chamber that's said to be the bridge between us and the world of Ancient Pokemon. Not just extinct fossil Pokémon like Aerodactyl and Armaldo. No, Ancient Pokemon that have remained unchanged for thousands of years!" Alden explained.
"Really? There are Pokemon like that?" May asked in surprise."
"There sure are." He nodded. "And I think the answer to just what kind of Pokemon they are is hidden inside this chamber."
"Whoa..."
"Pika!"
"How do you find them? Can the door be opened?" May wondered.
"Unfortunately, the chamber is sealed off. I'll have to find the four treasures sealing the entrance." He clarified.
"Do you know where they are?"
"Regrettably no."
"That makes it a lot harder." Ash commented to himself.
"But we're still making good progress." He informed them.
"Really?" May asked.
"We've already made several remarkable discoveries pertaining to the relationship they had with humans." He explained further.
"Relationship with humans? Was it different?" she questioned.
"Everything indicates to them living in harmony so far. Without the need for pokeballs or any kind of capturing devices!" Alden exclaimed.
"Wow...they must've been some Pokemon." May smiled. "So can we help you look around Dr. Alan?"
"You're welcome to explore and see what you find as long as you're careful. We don't want to damage the history that's contained here." He cautioned them.
"Of course. We'll be careful." She assured him.
"Pika!" Ash agreed.
"Alright then. Let's get to it." He smiled. May smiled back and began to walk further into the ruins site. Ash looked around the area curiously, noticing that other areas didn't appear to be sealed like the one Dr. Alden was working on. May noticed his gaze and walked to one of the openings and peered inside.
"Kinda dark in this one..." she commented.
"Pikachu Pika!" Ash yelled inside, making his voice echo slightly. May giggled at his antics and he smiled proudly. She carefully walked into the dark room, unable to see much of anything inside.
"Whoa...darker than I thought." She noticed. Ash hopped off her shoulder and tapped a nearby wall curiously, trying to make out what pictures were painted on it.
"Be careful now." May reminded him.
"Pika." He nodded. He looked at the paintings and could barely make out what looked to be four little circles being placed in the door that Alden was examining before. Realizing these must be pictures of the treasures Alden was looking for, Ash quickly turned to May. "Pi pika pika!"
"Pikachu?" she asked, walking over to him. She kneeled down and squinted in the darkness to see what he was looking at. "Looks like they're all little spheres or something."
"Pi pika." He agreed.
"Very mysterious." She smiled. Ash looked at her and tilted his head in curiosity. "I like a good mystery." He smiled at her and nodded. When it came to Pokemon, he did too.
After a full day of exploring and evening had come, May and Ash had joined Professor Alden in his office at the Pokemon Center to see what he had already discovered during his research.
"The Pokemon Center has been kind enough to give me the use of this room while I continue my research." Alden explained to them.
"Wow, it all looks so cool!" May smiled.
"Pika!"
"Someday soon, I hope to meet one of the ancient Pokemon and get a chance to study it. That's my dream." Alden explained.
"I'd love to meet one too." May agreed. All of a sudden, the power cut out and the entire room went dark. "Huh?"
"That's odd…what happened to the-" The sound of several dozen footsteps heading for the room interrupted Alden as both he and May turned towards the door.
"What in the-" May couldn't finish her sentence before the door opened and three mysterious people entered the room, each with a Houndoom by their side. They wore red hoodies with horns on them and visors that covered their eyes. The one that looked to be the leader stepped forward and smirked at them.
"Professor Alden, we'd like you to accompany us on a little Journey to the Oldale Ruins..." he informed them.
"W-Who the heck are you?!" May demanded.
"Zip it sister." The female shouted, slapping May across the face.
"Ack!" May stumbled back a little from the force of the hit and held her cheek.
"Are you alright!?" Alden gasped. Ash glared at the woman that hit May and lept off May's shoulder, sparking aggressively at the woman.
"Pika!" he yelled angrily.
"Someone needs to be taught some manners." The woman remarked. She suddenly kicked him, forcing him into the wall. Ash's head hit the metal wall and he collapsed to the ground.
"Pikachu!" May yelled. Her attention shifted to the mysterious strangers and she glared at them. "Leave him alone!" To make matters worse, Nurse Joy suddenly walked into the room in the middle of the confrontation.
"Professor when the lights went out-" she started, but one of the strangers grabbed her and shoved her inside alongside them.
"Stop it!" Alden yelled.
"Have you reconsidered?" the leader asked Alden again. Alden looked between May, Nurse Joy, and Ash and it became clear that the intruders would hurt them even more if he didn't comply.
"...Alright I'll go..." he conceded.
"Alden no! You can't give them the secret to those Pokémon!" May begged him.
"When I say shut up, shut up! Mightyena show her my point!" the female yelled again. She threw a pokeball and out of it came a four-legged Pokemon with grey and black fur and his fangs bared. Mightyena leapt at May and tackled her down. He put his paws on her arms and pinned her to the ground. His claws dug their way into her skin and began to draw blood.
"Ah!" May yelped. She struggled as best she could, but she found that when looking up, she looked straight into Mightyena's fangs, which were only inches from her face. She froze in fear and her eyes widened.
"Pi P-Pika…!" Ash called as he struggled to crawl to her aid.
"Stop it! I said I'll cooperate! Don't harm them!" Alden demanded.
"Just a demonstration of our power." The leader assured Alden. He waved his hand and the Mightyena gave May one more snarl before finally stepping away. May hissed in pain and held her arms tightly in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Ash finally managed to crawl to her side and placed his paws on her leg.
"ChuPika..." he tried to apologize.
"I-I'm ok Pika-" she was forced to stop short when one of the intruders grabbed her by the arm and forced her to her feet. "Ack!"
"ChuPika!" he yelled. The men ignored him and bound May's wrists behind her back.
"In case you get any ideas..." he growled at her. As he forced her to walk, he makes a point of grabbing her cut marks intentionally to make her wince in pain. Ash managed to grab onto her leg as she walked and held on tight.
"Ow! Stop it!" May tried to demand as Nurse Joy was also restrained and marched off down the hall.
"That's that." The leader concluded. May and Nurse Joy were taken down to a storeroom and forced inside as Alden stayed surrounded by the intruders.
"Let us go!" May tried one more time. But she only got a grunt in response as she was shoved into the room along with Joy.
"Now then. Let's take care of business." The leader commanded his troops. They took Alden away as the leader flashed May and Nurse Joy one more smirk. "Behave now." He mocked them as he locked them inside.
"No!" May gasped. She turned to Nurse Joy in concern first as she sat up. "Nurse Joy are you ok?"
"Y-yes...Are you?"
"The cuts are sore...but I'll be ok..." Ash whimpered slightly at her feet. His head still hurt from the impact and he felt even worse that she had gotten hurt because of it. and looked up at her sadly as if to apologize again. "I'm alright Pikachu...is there any way you can cut through these ropes?"
"Pika..." he nodded. He limped over to her wrists and inspected the ropes.
"Careful...you're hurt too..." she cautioned.
"...I guess my best option is to gnaw through them..." he concluded. He started chewing the ropes with his little fangs as May kept her hands as still as she could for him. Within a few minutes, Ash managed to cut through one of the rope strands, giving May enough room to force the ropes to break. She rubbed her wrists a little, still wincing at her upper arms, before going to Nurse Joy and untying her as well.
"Thank you..." Joy said. May nodded curtly as Ash stared at her arms in concern.
"They're still bleeding…" he realized. May then gently picked him up and turned back to Nurse Joy.
"Can you stay here with him and heal him as best you can? I have to go after Alden." She suddenly requested. Ash's eyes widened as he looked at her in a near panic.
"Pika!?" he gasped. She was planning on taking them on alone?!
"Are you sure that's wise…?" Joy asked in concern. May simply passed Ash to her.
"I'll make sure they don't capture those ancient Pokemon." She assured the nurse.
"Well, we need the power back on before any Pokemon can be treated at all..." Joy reminded her.
"Is there a way to get it? Some kind of backup power?" May suggested.
"Reserve power is quite a ways from here. But just getting out of the room will be difficult..." Joy shook her head.
"There's gotta be a way to-" May suddenly spotted a large vent on the wall in the corner. "There!" She ran over to it and managed to work it free from the wall.
"Pikaaaaa..." Ash begged, reaching out towards her sadly. He couldn't let her go after them alone. She was already hurt and if she and Torchic got hurt worse because he wasn't there…he'd never forgive himself. May looked back at him and shook her head.
"Pikachu you're hurt...I won't ask you to battle in your condition." She insisted. Ash's ears drooped as May crawled into the vent and began making her way through it. "The front desk should be...this way." she told herself. She found the corresponding vent leading into the hall and crawled out. She ran to the front desk and turned on the backup generator. The Center's lights began to return one by one as the power was restored. Satisfied, May ran back to the storeroom and unlocked the door for Nurse Joy.
"Thank you, May! Everything should be back in order now." Joy smiled. Ash reached for May again, desperate to try and stop her from going.
"Pikachu I'll be ok. I've got Torchic with me. You need to get better." She told him. He frowned as concern and worry became evident on his face. "I'll be back soon." she assured him before running out the front door.
It was evident which way they went, as the path leading towards the ruins was covered in fresh tracks. Following them back to the ruins, May ran until the sound of a helicopter boomed overhead and startled her, causing her to hide in a nearby bush. Within seconds, a copter flew over her head and headed towards the ruins.
"Uh oh..." she worried as she followed the helicopter on foot. She ran until she was just on the outskirts of the area and watched in confusion as the intruders seemed to be leaving the ruins, boarding the helicopter under the command of the leader.
"Move it!" he yelled. May watched from the bushes, trying to find Alden when she shifted her foot and a twig snapped at her feet. She gasped briefly in surprise, but it was enough to catch their attention.
"There's something in those bushes!" the woman yelled. May gulped and fumbled around with her bag, trying to grab Torchic's pokeball quickly as the team and their Pokemon descended on her location. One of the Houndoom fired a Flamethrower to her left, while a Mightyena fired a Hyper Beam to her right. The swiftness and power of the attacks caught May by surprise. She screamed in fear and fell back on her butt, in plain view of the entire operation.
"May!" Alden gasped.
"That brat from the center?!" the woman growled in annoyance. The two intimidating Pokemon surrounded May, who trembled in fear and tried to back away from them. The Mightyena barked aggressively and snarled at her the second she moved. She gulped and froze in place as the woman approached her. "We were going to just leave all of you brats alone. But you are too stubborn for your own good...You just had to play hero didn't you?"
"Y-You...you won't get away with...whatever you're doing...!" May tried to confront her. She simply grabs May's arm and yanked her forward, clearly showcasing more strength than May had.
"Who was the idiot who forgot to deal with her Pikachu? It must have untied her!" she demanded from the others, pulling May forward again. The cuts on May's arms tore open more as the woman yanked her arm and she cried out in pain.
"Stop!" she pleaded. As if responding to her cries, a Thunderbolt suddenly came flying in from the side and struck the Mightyena, who howled in pain.
"What the!?" the woman gasped.
"Huh?!" May questioned. They both looked towards where the attack came from and saw Ash standing at the edge of the ruins, sparking his cheeks aggressively.
"PIKA!" he yelled angrily.
"What was I JUST saying?! Seize him!" the woman demanded as she dragged May further away.
"Ack!" May grit her teeth in pain. "Pikachu!"
"Pika!" he called, beginning a run towards her. The remaining Houndoom blocked his path and attempted to use Bite on him, but Ash managed to narrowly dodge. Alden waved at May, trying to get her attention. When she looked over, she saw him motioning for her to try and break away in the commotion of Ash's battle with Houndoom. May looked ahead and saw that the woman was dragging her towards the helicopter and it gave May the feeling that if she was forced inside, she wouldn't be getting back out. She gave Alden a small nod and gave her arm the biggest yank she could and, because the woman was unprepared, May's arm broke free of her grasp.
"Hey! She's escaping! Get her!" the woman demanded. Mightyena shook off Ash's earlier attack and began to chase her down.
"This way quick!" Alden called to her. May ran as fast as she could, looking around for Ash as she did. She eventually spotted him finally knocking Houndoom out with a Quick Attack.
"Pikachu come on!" she yelled.
"Pika!" Ash yelled, running to her. He jumped into her arms and she wasted no time in running again. She held him close and ran as fast as she could to outrun the Mightyena. She eventually caught up with Alden who grabbed her and hid her amongst the other buildings. The two pressed their bodies against the wall and tried to remain as quiet as possible. They could hear the Mightyena sniffing around outside the building looking for their trail.
"Leave them be!" the leader suddenly called. "This place is of no further use to us. Just retreat!" They listen as the grunts recall all their Pokemon and then all pile into the helicopter and fly away. Once things had become quiet, May finally let out the breath she had been holding and panted heavily, trying to catch her breath.
"ChuPika! Pikaaaaa!" Ash cried, licking her cheek happily. May hugged him tightly and sighed in relief.
"I'm so happy you're ok...but what are you doing here? I thought Nurse Joy was taking care of you." She asked.
"ChuPika..." he whimpered, nuzzling her and clinging to her shirt.
"You...came to help me...?" she softly asked.
"Pika." He nodded before placing a small peck on her cheek. May smiles softly and hugged him again.
"Thanks for helping me..." she said gratefully. He simply smiled at her and hugged her back. She turned her gaze to Alden and flashed him a smile as well. "And thank you too...they didn't hurt you did they?"
"No, I'm fine." He assured her.
"Did they get the Pokémon...? Is that why they left?"
"They had the keys to open the chamber, but there were no Pokemon inside and they were ultimately stumped." He explained with an amused smile.
"That's good." May agreed. Alden brought May into the previously sealed chamber and showed her all the hidden paintings on the walls around a stone pillar as the sun begins to rise and sunlight creeps into the room. Once it touches the stone pillar, it suddenly begins to move backward, startling them both. "Huh?!" May gasped as the stone continued to slide backward and revealed a hidden stairway below it.
"Fascinating..." Alden whispered as he began to go down the stairwell and May followed him down. Once they reached the bottom of the staircase, they discovered a massive underground lake.
"Wow!" May marveled. Alden was about to comment as well when he noticed a Pokemon swimming around peacefully just beneath the water. The Pokemon suddenly jumped out of the water in front of them, revealing a brown fish-like Pokemon before he dove back into the water. "What is that Pokemon?" she asked, taking out her Pokedex and scanning the Water Type.
"Relicanth, the Longevity Pokémon. Relicanth is covered in stone-like scales, which allow it to withstand the pressure of the deep ocean." The device explained.
"Wow..." she reiterated.
"Pika!" Ash agreed.
"That must be the ancient Pokemon you were talking about." May reasoned, to which Alden nodded.
"It's practically a living fossil." He remarked.
"So cool..." May smiled, her eyes lighting up in wonder.
"Pikaaaa." Ash smiled as well, happy to see her getting excited about Pokemon. They stayed and watched the Relicanth swim for a while before May gave a yawn, just now dawning on her that they had been up all night on this adventure.
"We should get back to the Pokemon Center." She concluded. Ash gave a yawn himself before nodding in agreement. "Alden, will you come with us?" He smiled and simply shook his head.
"There's so much left to learn. We're just beginning!"
"I see." May smiled.
"Thank you for coming out to help." He informed her.
"Thank you for helping save me and the Pokémon Center." She countered.
"Well, it was nothing really." He replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "As long as you're unharmed." May stole a quick glance at her arms before looking back at him.
"Not completely, but I'll be ok." She brushed it off. Ash looked up at her with an unconvinced look on his face. May returned it with a smile. "Let's head back."
May carried Ash back to the Pokemon Center as he rested comfortably in her arms. She returned to her room and closed the door behind her. Ash looked up at her curiously and tilted his head.
"ChuPika?" he asked. May sat on the bed and pulled out her first aid kit.
"Let's see about these cuts." She commented, opening the kit. Ash spotted the bandages and grabs them, helping hand them to her.
"Pika."
"Thanks, Pikachu." She smiled. She wrapped the bandages around her cuts and tied them off, making sure they were snug. "Much better."
"Pika pika!" Ash cheered, jumping into her arms. May laughed and stroked his head, causing him to purr and lean into her hand. She smiled and used her free hand to pull out her Pokenav and open the region map.
"So where do you think we should go next?" she asked him. Ash shifted his position a bit and looked over the map. He could see their position in Oldale, just east of Petalburg City. However, to the west, he could see a much larger city along the coast of the region.
"Pika?" he asked, pointing at the city.
"That? That's Rustburo City. One of the biggest cities in Hoenn." She explained. Ash nodded in understanding and looked back at the city on the map.
"Maybe in a big city, I'd be able to find something that could help me turn back. And she could find something that she would like to do. Plus, we could make a brief stop to see her family again before we go. Seems like a win for everyone." He reasoned to himself before pointing at the city again.
"Well, I wouldn't mind going to Rustburo City. They have a really great shopping center and a lot of different places to go. Maybe going there could give me an idea of what I want to do." She smiled. Ash smiled back and nodded, happy that they seemed to be on the same page. "We'd have to go through Petalburg Forest to get there but I think we can handle it. Especially if we take a night to sleep at home first."
"Pikachu!" he agreed.
"What do you say? Should we give it a shot?" he happily nodded in response. She smiled and packed her things up. "Alright, let's hit the road then."
"Cchhaa…" Ash yawned again as he cuddled up in her arms
"Tired?" she asked.
"We didn't exactly go to sleep..." he commented, rubbing his eyes with a nod.
"Get some rest. I'll get some miles behind us." She assured him. He smiled and leaned against her shoulder, shutting his eyes to rest. May smiled at him and headed outside to grab her bike. Ash quickly fell asleep against her shoulder as she headed off back towards Petalburg City.
To be Continued...