One Thing After Another

No POV

By the time Drew and Misty had run into the museum, the DMA had gone wild. It was spinning around wildly, trapping Oakley in the control panel.

"Wha! Oakley!" Annie yelled when the cockpit opened for a fragment.

Oakley was clinging to the chair, looking more than a tad sick. "… Annie."

"What's going on!?" Drew yelled, though his eyes were already focusing in on May's prone body.

Annie turned, surprised by the voices.

Misty looked with narrowed eyes at the Pokémon next to Annie. "Oh no you don't. Pikachu! Take care of them."

Pikachu with a determined nod, let out a 'chuuuuuu' and Annie squealed when she was electrocuted. Her Pokémon shared the zap and lay down on the ground. Annie sat on the ground, holding her arm as if it would help her recover, but both were paralysed by the move and would have to wait it off.

Drew on the other hand had managed to slice Lorenzo and Bianca out of the web entrapments with a precise and well placed razor leaf from his Roserade.

"Nice," Misty said, helping Bianca to her feet, "Good work Drew."

Lorenzo brushed off some of the pieces of webs stuck to his clothing and moved forwards. "The machine suddenly went berserk. The control panel shattered. We have to get May out."

"Where's Latios?" Misty asked.

"Over here," Bianca said, "Oh she's hurt. Help me get her out of these webs."

Latias gave a distressed noise and nudged Latios sadly, making another sound at the lack of response.

Drew looked conflicted, his gaze landing on May for a brief moment. Then he nodded. "Roserade, use Razor Leaf again. Free Latios."

'Rose! Roserade.'

Roserade once again, very precise with where she aimed, sliced the constraints on Latios. Bianca sat Latios' head on her legs, petting the legendary gently.

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt again!"

Misty's voice cut with commandment. Her finger pointed at where May way. Pikachu's bolt directed at May, but then bounced off a small blue sphere around her.

Poor Pikachu had to jump to duck out of the way of the thunderbolt that was shot straight back at him.

Misty sounded frustrated. "Sorry Pikachu. I though maybe a move would would break it."

"What's that?" Drew asked, coming beside her and thinking better of ordering another razor leaf.

"Some kind of shield. I ran into it before when I tried to get her out. It hurts like a zap," Misty replied.

Drew, regardless of the warning, ran and jumped at it; perhaps thinking that his willpower alone would be able to break through. It wasn't and he was thrown to the floor for even attempting such a foolhardy feat.

"Ah! That stings!" Drew rubbed his shoulder where most of the contact had centred.

"Please! We've got to turn it off. Oakley's stuck in there!" Annie had managed to get back on her knees. "Get Oakley."

Misty turned a sharp gaze to the blonde. "It would serve her right for mistreating such a machine. She nearly drowned us."

Annie glanced away. "Oakley's not normally like this though…"

May suddenly curled up and guttural scream was ripped from her mouth.

Drew got back up, blinded by rage and charged into the shield; this time being so violently repelled that he was sent flying into the wall. Undeterred with a strange stupidity unlike the normally cool headed coordinator, he charged again to be sent screaming back.

Drew's actions accompanied by May's scream had succeeded in rousing Latias' attention and she was soon also ramming at the shield to try to get to the other human she cared for.

Unlike Drew though, Latias was a Pokémon and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts, her eyes glowed and in a bright flash she seemingly teleported, jamming herself between the rings encasing May.

Latias looked pained, a bruise already forming on her head, but she cried happily, nudging May's cheek.

Drew got up and this time when he reached to May, his hand made contact with hers. He leaned back to try and tug her out. It was akin to trying to pull someone from quicksand. There was some kind of suction.

"Come on, let's help him." He heard Misty said and other pale pair of hand wrapped around May's other wrist. He felt another tug and another and then finally May was released and the contraption slowed to a stop.

Drew didn't even seem to care that he landed harshly on his rear. Well… Ok, he did care because MEW the floor was hard! But with May cradled limply against him, he hardly had time to think about how his body might punish him later for his carelessness.

Latias gave a happy cry and then darted away to where Latios seemed to being becoming conscious again. They trilled again and nudged each other.

"Latios! You're ok!" Bianca threw her hands around her neck and hugged her close.

Misty seemed to sigh in relief. "Well, I guess we stopped it."

May's eyes slowly fluttered open. Her expression was dazed and her blue irises were unfocused. She caught sight of green hair and raised a hand to put on Drew's cheek. "I guess I must've finally died. I found an angel."

Drew went bright red, but unfortunately May missed out on this as she slipped into unconsciousness. Eyes had turned on him at hearing May's voice and the green haired boy was flustered both by what May had said and the sudden attention.

"She's alive I guess," Drew mumbled, wishing he could flick his hair and restore some of his dignity.

Annie smiled lightly, happy that both Pokémon and the girl was ok. She hadn't really meant for so much harm to come. She was just glad that Oakley was still ok.

She hopped up deftly onto the machine now that her paralysis had fully worn off and knocked on her younger sister's head lightly. "Hey Oakley, party's over. Time to wake up."

Oakley gave a heavy groan and scrunched her face. "Huh…? What happened?"

Annie helped to upright her. "Well, you got a little bit power hungry, maybe in over your head. You went a little crazy."

Oakley held a hand to her head. "I don't… I don't remember."

Both girls looked up as Brock and Ash came running in.

"Misty!" Ash yelled, "Mist! You're ok!"

Pikachu, excited to see his trainer again ran over with an excited 'Pika!' And jumped into Ash. Ash laughed and caught his Pokémon happily, but his eyes remained intensely locked onto Misty's.

Annie waved a finger in Oakley's face. "I think it's time to go. I think I should hold onto that pretty little gem from now on."

She hopped over the machine again, hoping to get the gem and leave before the other people noticed their presence.

Brock had knelt by May. "I wonder why the DMA trapped May like that."

"I would guess it's because May and Latios share such a connection," Lorenzo replied, "Though I can't be sure. There's a lot about these ancient machines that we don't know."

Misty glanced to May in interest, trying to avoid the unusual gaze from Ash. There were still words and questions unsaid and Misty blushed remembering the pressure on her cheeks. She had no idea what to expect from Ash now.

She didn't have much time to ponder.

"Hey Oakley! What happened? The gem is all weird and black."

Lorenzo looked up, seeing Annie reach for the Soul Dew. "No! Don't touch it!"

His warning was too late and Annie just looked baffled as her hand wrapped around the Soul Dew. Seconds later the Soul Dew exploded in a bright light, sending Annie screaming and flying into the control pod of the DMA next to Oakley.

The Soul Dew shattered, sprinkling glittering glass like pieces across the room. Drew covered May so she wouldn't be hit by them.

Electricity exploded from around the base of the DMA, shutting the control panel and trapped the girls inside as it spun.

"Get back," Lorenzo commanded.

Drew shuffled backwards, trying his hardest to pull May with until Misty helped him by moving her legs.

Spokes raised from the ground, clicking into place around the DMA as the capsule stopped spinning with the control pod at the very height of it's swing.

"Get us out of here!" Came a faint cry from inside. Though from Annie or Oakley it was unsure.

"What's happening?" Bianca asked, eye wide with horror and disbelief.

Misty's stomach dropped. She had thought that the danger was over. Clearly she'd relaxed too soon.

Lorenzo's face fell grave. "The prophecy was true. The Soul Dew, it's dying if it's not already dead from being out of the pool."

Brock glanced at the DMA. "Then… What's that doing? What does that mean?"

"Well, it sure can't be a good sign," Ash said slowly.

A gushing sound was heard, strong and whooshing. It raged loudly and rattled through the buildings, wet and sloshing.

As the piercing cry of Aerodactyl filled the air again, Lorenzo's frown deepened. "All the water… It's leaving."

Me: Sooooo, I just kept going with this and it turned into one big hunk of craziness.

Drew: *smirks* I knew I was angelic.

May: You're more like a devil.

Me: So mean! Do you have to jab at each other so much all the time? I'm just trying to make a story here.

Misty: What do you expect? He's got pent up arrogance? Whose fault is that?

Me: Ehehe... Will you ever forgive me?

Everyone: No

Me: No fair... I did keep my promise! I did write this chapter!

Thank you to anyone who has given me warm welcomes back ;3 I really appreciate it and it made me happy to know that I could still make some people happy through what I wrote.