Hi all,
Here's the latest update for May's Belated Journey. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed :)
Chapter 30Reaching the Marine Cave, May felt her breath hitch in her throat. Everywhere she looked, she saw fainted or rampaging pokémon, all of them looking terrified. She'd never seen anything like it, little Squirtle attacking Geodude with bubble who were using sand attack on the Pichu who were using thunderbolt on the Nosepass. It was so chaotic that she couldn't believe how pristine the beach had seemed when she'd first arrived here.
Something struck her as odd, though. It took her a moment to realise what it was, but when she did, she felt as though everything in front of her would shatter into tiny fragments. It was almost like the life she'd so carefully tried to reconstruct after years of punishment was going to be eradicated once more.
All around her were pokémon, but she couldn't see her friends.
Hearing Solana's soft voice call to her in greeting, May barely registered the young woman's return. Behind her were Jackie and Max with the Rangers she'd met in Pueltown in tow.
'Oh no, they've gone on a rampage! We'll need to capture them all to calm them down!' Solana grimaced as Jackie's knowing gaze swept around the almost empty space. Almost immediately, he placed a hand on May's shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts faster than Brendan's Blaziken could wake Orlando.
'Jackie, you need to see something,' May grimaced, her eyes flickering around to see Dawn at the entrance of the cave, concealed by a large boulder. She was fretting over Paul, who had a gash on his forehead. Further down, she saw Harley dancing around, appearing to be looking for something, though May couldn't begin to fathom what it was. Drew and Zorua weren't anywhere to be seen, but maybe she'd missed them in the chaos.
'What's up?' The man questioned, as she tore her gaze away from the clearing to see the man's concerned expression.
'Team Bright Moon caused this, and they had some sort of a device. Apparently this was all an experiment, but that's all I know. I suggest you look up the top of the stairs, they may have left something behind,' May responded, knowing the man would not appreciate her nosing around what was undoubtedly Almia's Ranger's Command. She had no business investigating the events here, as he'd already reminded her once.
'Did you tamper with the scene?' The man questioned, his expression stern.
'No, I just had Blaziken and Riolu fight a battle with some of their cronies. We're trying to find his friend,' May responded, trying to keep the sulk out of her voice. She didn't know why Jackie was extremely friendly to her one moment whilst acting like a lecturing parent the next. Though, after everything they'd experienced together, she couldn't blame the man. After all, he'd taken on a mentoring role for Max and probably felt the same way to her.
'I'll question you later. Don't go past Vientown,' the man responded before squeezing her shoulder slightly.
'I wouldn't dream of it,' May grimaced before she once again searched the clearing. There really wasn't a sign of Drew or Zorua anywhere.
'Harley, where's Drew?' The young woman called as she rushed up to the man who was becoming more and more of a close friend to her.
'Oh, May, I've been looking everywhere for you! Hon, he's in bad shape,' the man responded, his voice an octave higher than usual as he began to cry, her pokémon rushing to her side with cries of despair.
She felt her heart stop as she stared at the man upon digesting his words. Frantically, her gaze flickered around the destroyed entrance to the cave. Flicking her eyes back to the man, she saw a drastic change in him. Noticing the tremble in his lips, as well as the strain around the man's eyes, May knew his tears were genuine.
'What happened?' She asked, but her voice barely came out a whisper.
'One minute we were fighting them. Cacturne was powering through our enemies with bullet seed, Drew had his Flygon attacking and a Zorua was helping out too. The next minute, Flygon received a critical hit, crashing into his Trainer, crushing his legs. That Zorua went mental, started using punishment on anything and everything that moved. She was the one who caused a Blastoise to hit Paul dead on in the face, I've never seen anything like it. Drew had to return her to calm her down, but something hit him and he was out of the battle. Then, when Flygon came to, she pulled him onto her back and they both whizzed on out of there,' Harley explained, the speed of his words increasing in fervour, the lack of quirky theatrics alarming May. He was serious, and worried.
'Where would Flygon have taken him?' May grimaced as she tried, and failed, to keep the panic out of her voice.
'I don't know, hon, the Pokémon Centre? Where else would you go? This place doesn't have a Mauville City Hospital,' Harley grimaced back as the Rangers began to capture the frantic pokémon to ease their fears, releasing them once they had calmed down.
'Then that's where I'm going,' May responded before recalling her distressed pokémon and picking Riolu up. With a frantic breath, she ran away from the scene, ignoring her brother's cries for her to stop.
'Hey, wait for me you ungrateful pipsqueak!' Harley roared as he ran after her, not even glancing back as Dawn and Paul stared at them, hesitating before slowly following.
'Please be ok, Drew,' May whispered as she tried to fight a sob. She was running across the beach, silently cursing the way the sand seemed to slow her pace.
Sure, they'd never had a particularly stable relationship, but she couldn't imagine what she'd do if he'd been hurt. Poor Flygon would feel terrible, and Drew would need all the support he could get.
Hearing a familiar cry from above her, May glanced up to see the shape of Latias in the sky, circling above her.
'Latias, I need your help to head to Vientown!' May yelled as she jumped into the air, the eon pokémon swooping in underneath her, its aerodynamic body splitting the air around them with little difficulties.
She didn't look down to appreciate the view of the forest, nor did she hear Harley's infuriated roars at being left behind. Nuzzling her face into her friend's neck, May let out a whimper as she felt Riolu snuggle into her arms, equally concerned about his friend.
Seeing the town's small buildings in the distance, May petted Latias once, a sign for her to lower to the ground.
Jumping off her friend and onto a dirt path, she stumbled only slightly as she looked up, into her friend's concerned yellow eyes. She knew that Latias was worried about her, having never truly seen her look so lost. However, without Drew, May knew she'd be helpless, not just out in Contests, but in Hoenn too. Especially since she was the one who had le him down to abandon him.
'Thank you so much for everything, Latias, you're the best!' May beamed as she handed her friend a pokéblock, trying to be as optimistic as she could. After all, her motto had always been not to let others worry about her if she could help it. If she could, she'd just distract herself from any pain or fear with something else, even if it was friends or food. Her cheerful disposition was always something others commented on, and that was something she couldn't lose now that she needed it most.
'Rest up on an island near here and stay safe until you find your brother. If you're bored, visit Steven,' May spoke with false cheer, though it ended in a sob. She honestly didn't want to face this alone, but there wasn't much option for her.
Lunging at her friend, she wrapped her arms around her slim neck as she whispered, 'I'll miss you. Stay safe for me, please.'
Scrubbing at her eyes, she let out a hollow laugh before stating, 'I should see if Drew's all right.'
Realising just how scared she was for the chartreuse haired man, May let out an anxious breath. There was no need to worry, she reminded herself. Then she remembered the connotations of Dawn's catch phrase and she felt another wave of helplessness fill her.
Hearing her friend let out a sad cry, May whispered, 'don't worry about me, you know I always bounce back. Visit Steven if you're lonely, Groudon knows how bored the man must be without me.'
The legendary pokémon glanced once at her before returning its gaze to the sky, her song as sad and hollow as May felt.
'Go, I'll be fine. I promise,' May whispered before petting her friend's side.
With a dejected cry, Latias flew back into the air.
'Make sure you make stops on the way to rest up!' May called before waving at her friend, trying to push aside her concerns.
Once Latias had gone a reasonable distance, May glanced at Riolu. With an anxious sigh, she whispered, 'let's do this.'
Picking the small fighting type up once again, May began to run the rest of the way through the forest and into the town.
Taking two steps into the once peaceful town, May couldn't help but stare.
All around her was chaos.