November 7th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
(Leaf's POV)
"Come on dude, we need your help if we want to get that bonus first," I heard Ash complain through my open door as I finished the rest of my homework.
"Ash as I have said a million times before, I can't game. I still have homework to catch up on," Drew said tiredly from within his bedroom.
"Normally we would let you slide and skip out, but dude, it's a five hundred thousand gold bonus if we get that rare item and sell it," Gary argued.
"Can't, sorry," Drew said causing Ash to sigh loudly as Dawn and I walked into the hallway.
"This sucks, who are we going to get to take Drew's place in our party. We need at least four people," Ash whined.
"You heard Drew, he's busy so we'll do it on our own," Paul said gruffly.
"Maybe we can get Max," Ash said excited at the thought.
"Can't, he's helping May since Nurse Joy isn't feeling good," Dawn said.
"Crap," Gary muttered.
"Seriously," Ash complained. "Why did he have to be busy today of all days."
"He's busy with good reason," I said with a slight frown.
"Right, sorry. It's just that we have been striking out the last few times when we've tried to get the bonuses that have appeared in the game. These few assholes keep getting them first," Ash explained angrily with Gary and Paul frowning in agreement.
Dawn and I shared a look. The game the guys were referring to was an online game called Sword of Destiny. It's been out for ages, but no one really played it. Up until a few days before Drew left to find May, the company did a complete redo for the game that got the guys hooked. After the scare of the girls and I almost dying, all the guy's free time was used to play the game. The girls and I let them game with no problem at first, but then after a week, it was like we were invisible to them. So in revenge for being ignored, the three of us began to play in secret to level up like crazy.
After the events at the Galin Kingdom, the guys continued to game while May and Drew were in their own world of themselves and homework. The girls and I forgave May and Drew in them being so busy that they didn't interact with us, but we got pissed at the guys as they fell back into their old routine. So last week, we started to play late in the night to get the bonuses before the guys could. Luckily we did a quest that got us a potion to disguise ourselves as the opposite gender so the guys thought their main rivals were a bunch of guys. Ha!
"Hmm, maybe one of the girls could fill in for us," Ash mused in thought.
"Can't, I'm off to visit Maylene and Misty is busy proofreading May's Lit essay. How she was able to write a ten page comparison on those two books we read last month astounds me to no end," Dawn interjected as said as she looked at her poketch. "Shoot I'm late! See ya later!"
She then ran outside to find Gardevoir to teleport her to Veilstone City.
"I'd be willing to fill in," I said deciding to try and be helpful.
"We appreciate the offer Leafy, but I think it would be a little difficult for you to fill in for Drew," Gary said as if he were trying to pacify a baby.
I raised an eyebrow, "You sayin' I can't play as good as you guys," I challenged.
Gary sighed, "Babe, it's nothing personal. It's just that this game is a lot more different than Call of Duty and Zombie Wars."
I mentally sighed, prepare for an ass kicking babe.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Whatev's, thought I'd asked," I said nonchalantly as I walked to Misty's door and knocked before letting myself in.
"You okay?" Misty asked looking up from May's essay.
"I'm fine, just pissed off," I grumbled.
"I heard the conversation, looks like the guys are as clueless as ever," Misty chuckled as she looked down at May's essay.
I chuckled, "You'd think they would ask Max to investigate us by figuring out we're on the same server as them."
"Thankfully, they are too busy strategizing and complaining," Misty said as she thumped the pages of May's paper on her desk to straighten them out.
"I better start scouting ahead in finding the item," I mused. "Though it would be easier if Dawn did it, she's the one with the powers of light and darkness."
Misty laughed, "I find it ironic she was assigned powers that match her contrasting personality traits. When they said that their survey identifies the perfect match of powers and skills for you, they sure weren't kidding."
I laughed and nodded in agreement, "I wonder what May would get if she took the test?"
"If I took what test?" said girl asked as she walked in.
"Shoot! Was anyone out in the hall listening?" I asked in slight panic.
May shook her head and raised an eyebrow, "Wanna clue me in as to why you look like you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar?"
I walked past May and stuck my head out into the hall to make sure no one was out before quietly shutting the door and locking it.
"We're in the middle of a revenge scheme," I explained.
"Ooo, fill me in," May demanded sounding interested as she sat on Misty's bed.
I walked around to the other side and sat down while Misty turned her desk chair to face us.
"Have you noticed the guys have been distracted lately?" Misty asked.
May nodded, "Do you remember the online game Sword of Destiny?" I asked.
May nodded again, "Max played it for a while, but complained that it wasn't really intriguing."
I nodded, "So while you were gone, but before Drew left, Conway told the guys that they redid the game and that it was awesome."
"So the guys decided to give it another shot and got hooked," Misty continued. "After the scare of us getting sick, the guys went back to gaming. We let them be for about a week, but then they started to basically ignore us completely."
"So we decided to get back at them by playing the game ourselves and leveling up higher than they could," I explained. "Then we had to help out with what happened in the Galin Kingdom giving them a break from the game as well as focusing some attention to us."
"Then they fell back into old routines?" May guessed.
I nodded, "So we're been playing our asses off to get all those bonuses before they could."
"That's why you've been so tired," May exclaimed in realization. "You've been staying up gaming."
Misty and I nodded, "Thankfully, this has been easier to pull off since we've haven't had to do missions. We never would have been able to pull this off if we did," I explained.
"When I got to your door, I heard you two talking about me taking a test. Does it have to do with the game?" May asked.
Misty and I nodded again, "The survey/test is something you take to help the game complete your avatar and give you skills and powers that match your personality," Misty explained.
"So what powers and skills do you have?" May asked in interest.
"I'm a wizard and a healer with some long range fighting skills," I explained. "My power specialty is earth."
"I'm a sword's woman with some healing skills," Misty described. "My power specialty is water."
"Big shocker there," I said sarcastically with a grin.
"What about Dawn?" May asked.
"She's an assassin with fighting skills both in long range and up close with some wizard skills. Her power specialty is a dual type between light and darkness," Misty explained.
May looked impressed, "Wow, that survey really does pick the best skills and powers that match your personality.
"That's why I said I was curious as to what you would get if you took the test," I explained.
"What about the guys?" May asked.
"Ash a fighter with some wizard powers, but he doesn't use them. Mostly because he can't remember the spells," Misty said causing May to sweatdrop. "Ash has the power of fire."
"Though he's recently been able to pick up some skills with lightning," I added.
May nodded, "Makes sense since lightning is a derivative of fire."
"Gary has powers in wizardry with some fighting skills at close range. His power is similar to psychic type abilities. It's different in a sense as his power just makes him a smart ass know-it-all," Misty muttered causing May to again sweatdrop.
"Paul has the same abilities as Ash and Dawn, but he is more in the middle between the definitions of their abilities," I explained.
"So he has fighting abilities and wizardry skills," May clarified.
"Except his levels are different, he can fight better than Dawn by a small margin with his long range skills and he has better knowledge at spells than Ash, but not as good as Gary or me," I explained. His power is darkness.
May nodded, "What about Drew?"
"He's a fighter and a healer with some skills in wizardry and his power is earth. Huh, you could say he's a similar version to what we think you are," Misty said in slight amusement.
"Huh, now I'm curious as to what I might be, but I don't have time to find out. I still am working on catching up with my homework and helping out at the Petalburg Pokemon Center," May said tiredly.
"Well, at least you have your paper done," Misty said as she handed it to May. "There are a few grammatical bits to tweak, but otherwise it looks good to me."
May sighed as she took her paper and briefly skimmed Misty's marks, "Thank Mew, at least I have this done. I was worried that I didn't write a good enough paper."
"Not a good enough paper my ass. You compared and contrasted the books perfectly. No doubt you'll impress Mr. Little big time," Misty stated firmly with a nod of her head.
"What's the status with your other project?" I asked.
"It's going great, I just finished it before I got back so I just need to type up the report tonight and make copies for both Ms. Hiller and Mrs. Burch," May said relieved.
"Yea! Maybe you could join us in the battle of revenge," I said excitedly.
May laughed, "Not tonight though. I'm so close to being done that I don't want to stop. Maybe I'll take the survey tomorrow."
She then got up to go to her room and finish her project and paper, "I bet she gets equal skill in fighting, healing, and wizardry," Misty guessed.
"She would have a higher level in fighting and healing though," I pointed out.
"What about her power? She's had experience with all the elements, not to mention she has a mixed personality that matches to all of them," Misty wondered.
"Again she's stronger in some areas more than others," I said as I shrugged my shoulders. "We'll see when she takes the test."
Misty laughed, "Watch her wind up being a warrior goddess."
"Ha!" I laughed, "That probably will happen."
"Speaking of the game, we better get going and start scouting," Misty reminded.
"Do you want to stalk the guys or do you want to scout ahead?" I asked.
"You stalk the guys, I'll scout ahead since my fighting skills are more leveled up than yours. We don't know what kind of monsters lurk where this bonus is," Misty pointed out.
I nodded before going into my room. I got my laptop and headset before logging in. I also brought up a website that had daily newsfeed about the game. After logging in, I checked the status of my avatar to find that my opposite gender disguise potion was running low.
"Better make this quick," I muttered.
I then teleported myself to the town where the guys were located. After finding a good spot that gave me cover, I summoned a snitch to fly near them and listen in.
While I listened to their conversation, I decided to make the gaming window half its size and research some more spells that I could practice in the future.
While doing so for about an hour, I noticed a message being posted on the gaming newsfeed. "The bonus set for this evening is corrupt. If you attempt to gain it, a virus will attack your computer. The bonus will be terminated no later than 7:00 AM. Do not attempt to obtain the bonus".
"Shit!" I hissed as I maximized my gaming window and woke you my half asleep avatar.
I then brought up buddy list to start a chat window with Misty.
"Misty are you there?" I typed hurriedly.
"Yea, what's up?" she asked.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"Near the Glark Forest, I'm pretty sure that's where tonight's bonus is," she reported.
"Okay, now get out of there!" I typed.
"Why?" Misty replied.
"Oh!" I muttered as I grabbed my computer and went into her bedroom.
"What's up? You look agitated," she said with a slight frown.
"With good reason," I muttered as I showed Misty the message from the company that ran the game.
"That's not good," Misty muttered as she looked at me after reading it.
"Wanna bet the guys are going to ignore the message," I muttered.
I then heard a knock on the door. I quickly unplugged my headset and stashed it under one of Misty's pillows while shutting my laptop.
"Yea," I said trying to keep my voice calm.
"Dinner's ready," May announced.
"Thanks May," Misty called.
We then heard May walk downstairs, "What the hell do we do now?" Misty hissed.
"I don't know, those idiots are going to be screwed over if they don't listen," I snapped back in worry.
"Let's go see if we can convince them otherwise," Misty decided as we went downstairs.
The both of us went downstairs to find May and Drew putting bowls of spaghetti and noodles on the table as well as garlic bread and salad.
I heard a slight whoosh to find Dawn had teleported back, "Hey guys, did I make it back in time?" she asked.
"Perfect timing," May chirped as we sat down.
Ash tried to get food first but Misty slapped his hand away, "Aw come on Mist," he whined.
"Let everyone else dish up first to make sure there is enough before you eat everything," she scolded.
"How's Maylene?" I asked.
"She's doing okay, she's still trying to get over the morning sickness," Dawn said sympathetically. "She's also had to cut her time at the gym in half."
"Has she had any cravings lately?" May asked.
"Pickles seem to be it this week which is driving poor Reggie bonkers," Dawn giggled before taking a sip of her water. "So did you have any luck with finding the bonus?"
I could have kissed Dawn for bringing up the topic of the game so nonchalantly.
"We think we found it, but then some stupid message got sent out from the company saying the bonus is corrupt. No matter though, no doubt those annoying idiots won't go after it which means we can snatch it," Ash explained.
Dawn frowned and looked at Paul, "If the company says it's corrupt, why still go for it?"
"We don't think that it's a serious problem. We assume that the company sent that message to scare away the assholes who keep showing us up," Paul explained.
I gave Misty as look a grief that caught Dawn's eye, "Well, good luck with that," she chirped.
"You're going to need it," I muttered under my breath.
After we finished eating and did some training with May who was keeping her promise to teach us what she knew, we got ready for bed.
Once we figured that May was asleep, Dawn and I snuck our way to Misty's room with our laptops and headsets.
"So what was with the look at dinner?" Dawn asked.
"The company said that those who try to obtain the bonus tonight will have a virus unleashed on their computer and apparently the guys think it's a hoax," I muttered.
"So what do we do then?" Dawn asked.
"We save their sorry asses," Misty muttered as we logged in.
Dawn yawned, "After tonight, I think we should take a break from the game. We're losing a lot of beauty sleep because of this."
"Fine," I agreed as I looked at the clock to see that it was 10:40PM.
"So even if we do find the guys fighting the monster, how do we all get away with leaving the monster as is and not getting the virus?" Dawn asked.
I opened my mouth then shut it, "Damn it, how are we going to do it?"
Misty pulled out her compowder and pressed some buttons, "Dawn, start tracking the guy's progress," Misty ordered as we heard dialing until someone picked up.
"You do know what time it is right?" Max said sleepily with a yawn.
"We know, but we have a problem. The guys are playing Sword of Destiny with the intention of going after something called a bonus," Misty explained trying to sound like she knew very little than what she actually did.
"How do you know about the bonus?" Max asked.
"Because we overheard them talking about it," Misty explained as she raised her hand to stop me from talking.
I nodded as I understood why she stopped me. She wanted to make it seem like she was only doing it and that Dawn and I weren't involved.
"Don't they know that the bonus has a virus?" Max asked a little more awake.
"They said something about it being corrupt, but I'm worried that they might still go for it. Is there any way to make sure the virus doesn't infiltrate their computers?" Misty asked.
"There's no guarantee, but I could try to hack your server and put up a stronger firewall. So long as they don't get the boss's life bar to go under half," Max explained. "I guess I better get on and stop them."
"No it's fine Max, I'll go convince them to stop," Misty promised.
"You sure?" he asked.
Misty nodded, "I'll thrash 'em if they don't."
"Okay, I just put up the firewall. Night Misty," he said with a yawn before hanging up.
"You gonna go convince them to stop?" I asked teasingly.
Misty gave me a 'are-you-serious' look, "Are you kidding me? It's like asking Ash not to eat, it's not possible," she muttered.
"So what's the plan?" I asked.
"We kill them before they kill the monster," Dawn decided.
"Again what's the plan?" I asked in a serious one.
Dawn frowned at me, "I told you, we kill them before they kill the monster."
"We can't do that, our disguise potion is almost used up and then our cover is blown," I snapped.
"Do you have a better idea," she snapped back.
"Girls stop. We'll go through with Dawn's plan, but we'll have to attack from the shadows," Misty decided.
"What about after we kill them? The flames of their avatar's life force will still be on screen for at least a minute giving them view of us because once they are gone the beast will find us and start attacking us," I argued.
"You're the master wizard, don't you have a spell or something that forces them to teleport and stay put," Dawn retorted.
I opened my mouth to argue but paused as I got an idea, "Wait a minute? Dawn that's it!"
Misty clamped a hand over my mouth, "Want to blow our cover?" Misty hissed as she removed her hand.
"Sorry, my bad," I muttered as I pulled up the website of spells. "There's a spell that forces a target to teleport and stay in one spot, but the time it lasts depends on the caster's magic level."
"What's the minimum amount of time?" Dawn asked.
"Four hours," I said, "But I haven't performed this spell before so there's a chance it could backfire and blow our cover. Not to mention that the spell is one of the illegal ones."
"Illegal?" Misty asked bluntly.
"A way to cheat," I explained.
"Who cares, we're doing it," Dawn said firmly. "We better get ready, they are on the edge of the location."
I nodded as I slipped on my headset and began to practice speaking the incantation as we followed the guys.
"We should start attacking them now before they attack the monster," Misty pointed out.
"No, then their full attention will be on us. We'll slip attacks in as they attack the monster," Dawn answered.
"I have a strong enough invisibility spell that can get you close to the guys to attack," I told Misty.
She nodded as we watched the guys start to attack the monster. Gary kept chanting spells to attack as well as supporting Ash and Paul while they attacked it head on.
"Alright ladies, let's do this," I said before I chanted the invisibility spell to cover Misty while Dawn began dodging in and out of the forest throwing knives to hit the guys when the monster attacked.
Our guerilla tactics were working pretty well until the monster looked in the direction of where Misty was hiding.
It then threw an attack that would've hit her if she dodged.
"Why's the monster attacking over there?" Ash shouted in-game.
"Because those assholes are hiding and letting us do all the work," Paul shouted as he dodged the monster.
"Crap," I muttered in frustration.
"What do we do now," Dawn asked hurriedly as she continued to attack the guys when the monster did though the guys began to sense what was going on and she couldn't hit them all the time.
Gary then began to chant a spell to uncover anything invisible.
"Shit!" Misty shouted in a whisper as I began to chant even faster to attack Gary before he could finish the spell.
Thankfully it worked as Gary was blasted by the attack as well as the backfire of his spell not being completed.
"Here's the plan, Misty, Dawn, attack the guys so that they crash into Gary. Then I'll blast them with a high level spell. Dawn, you'll have to help me by supporting my magic for the attack and the teleportation," I ordered.
"On it," she said as she and Misty hit Ash and Paul with close up attacks that made them crash into Gary.
"I'm ready," Dawn said as the monster prepared to give off a powerful attack as the guys tried to reconfigure themselves.
I chanted the spell and unleashed it as the monsters unleased its attack. With both attacks, it destroyed the last of the guys' HP causing their avatars to disintegrate into flames.
"What the fuck!" we heard the guys shout from the guy's side of the hall.
"Wanna bet we pissed them off?" Misty asked as she winced at the loudness of the shout as I began to chant the illegal teleportation spell.
The guy's flames then teleported away to somewhere else causing another outburst from the guy's side of the hallway.
"At this rate, they're gonna wake the dead," I muttered.
"They're also gonna be seething tomorrow," Dawn winced before she chanted the teleportation spell for us so that we were far from the monster as possible as well as in hiding as our potion was used up and our avatars regular appearance showed up.
"At least that nightmare is over," Misty yawned as we shut down our laptops and looked at the clock to see that it was almost midnight.
"I hope the guys' didn't wake Drew and May. They really need their sleep especially since they have been stressed about playing catchup," I said sympathetically.
Misty and Dawn nodded as Dawn and I stood up to leave. We said good night and snuck our way back to our own rooms.
After all the excitement, I wanted to fall asleep, but unfortunately my mind was still awake making it impossible for me to do so. I was still trying to fall asleep a few hours later when I heard a slight scream. I sat straight up and heard it again. It sounded like May so I went to her room. I walked in to find her tossing and turning while moaning/shouting in her sleep.
"May, wake up!" I said worried as I tried to shake her awake.
She screamed again a little louder, "May!" I shouted louder as I shook her a little harder.
I then heard footsteps behind me, "What's going on?" Misty asked as Dawn came in behind her.
"May's having a nightmare," I said slightly panicking as I continued to try and shake May awake.
"NO!" she screamed as she sat up awake breathing heavily.
"May, what's wrong?" Dawn asked.
We didn't get an answer as May bolted from her room.
"May!" Dawn cried as we chased after her.
She ran all the way to command central downstairs and began to type at a feverish rate. She connected to the GPS satellite and entered Petalburg Pokemon Center in the search bar. A file opened to show current video footage of the Pokemon Center in flames.
"Oh my…." Dawn gasped but didn't finish as May bolted from the room.
"Misty and Dawn raced after her while I went to Gary's room and shook him awake.
"What the….Leafy?!" Gary asked still half asleep.
"Get up! We have a situation!" I shouted as I tossed him his belt with his pokeballs attached. "Wake up Ash and Paul!"
I ran out of the room and shook Drew awake while throwing his belt with his pokeballs attached.
"May, stop it!" Dawn shouted as she tried to get May to calm down.
"What's going on?" Gary asked as the guys came into the hallway while Dawn tossed me my pokeballs.
"Gardevoir, use teleport!" May shouted frantically.
Soon we were teleported a couple yards away from the Pokemon Center as flames engulfed the building.
All of us stood in horror as firefighters and pokemon tried to fight the fire. May took a step forward but was hugged from behind by Drew.
"Let me go!" May cried.
"May, I'm not letting you go in there!" Drew shouted as May struggled to get out of Drew's grip.
"I have to, Max is still in there!" she shouted.
She then broke free of Drew's hold and ran toward the fire as Drew shouted at her to come back.
"Let her go, we can't do anything to stop her in the state she's in," I said worried.
(May's POV)
I dodged everyone and everything as I ran into the building, "Max!" I shouted.
I heard nothing but the roar of the flames and the groan of the building, "Max!" I shouted again before using my aura to find him as well as anyone else.
There were some trainers still upstairs where the fire was spreading to while Max and Nurse Joy were near where the pokemon were kept.
"Drew, use Flygon to help trainers escape from the upper levels," I quickly told him telepathically before cutting the connection as I ran towards Max.
"May?! What are you doing here?" he coughed as he held a sack of pokeballs.
"Doesn't matter, are there anymore pokemon?" I asked.
"No, but Nurse Joy is still inside," Max coughed.
"Go outside, I'll find her," I shouted as I heard the building creak.
Max ran outside as I went to find Nurse Joy. I found her trying to free her foot from a beam that had it pinned down.
"May, what are you doing here?" she coughed weakly.
I didn't say anything as I helped try to lift the beam off her, but it wouldn't budge.
As the fire and smoke got worse, the building began to moan. The beam suddenly seemed easier to move and I saw that it was Max helping push it up. We were finally able to help Nurse Joy out as the building shook.
"Come on!" I screamed/coughed as I could sense the foundation of the building ready to cave in.
Max and I then helped support her as the three of us walked fast to try and make it out.
We then heard more creaking, "I love you both!" Nurse Joy shouted as Max and I were suddenly pushed out of the way while we heard a thud.
We turned back to see that a beam had fallen on Nurse Joy causing her head to crack open.
"JOY!" we screamed.
We heard no time to react as the building gave way and everything start to fall. Max and I ran for our lives and dived out of the building as it collapsed. I coughed from the smoke as the horror sank in as to what we just witnessed.
"NO!" Max shouted as we sat up.
He tried to go back in, but I dragged him away from the building and hugged him tightly as he started to cry.
I then brought us to the ground as Max sobbed/coughed into my chest while tears ran down my face slightly.
Suddenly over the police loud speaker system came a distorted voice, "You may have defeated me long ago, but I still get the last laugh."
Suddenly we heard a series of explosions somewhere in the distance behind us, "Someone find out where that came from!" Officer Jenny shouted.
I tuned everything out as people shouted over the roar of the fire while I telepathically summoned Gardevoir to my side, "Teleport us to the place I'm thinking of," I said emotionlessly.
She said nothing, but did as I told causing us to arrive in front my childhood home to find it destroyed and on fire with the gym and greenhouse being the same way. Memories from all those years ago flooded in my mind as I remembered staring at my home on fire that night. Suddenly I felt numb, I couldn't feel anything. Not utter sadness or absolute fury, I just felt nothing.
I then felt Max relax in my arms as he fell asleep from crying and exhaustion. I then cradled him closer as a melody came into my head.
"Just close your eyes, the sun in goin' down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I will be safe and sound," I sang softly as I closed my eyes and listened to the crackling of the flames.