A/N: GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! My exams are FINALLY over so I can go back to updating at my normal speed. (Once in every two weeks) And even better news is that I have my holidays coming up next week! Whooh!
300 REVIEWS PLUS. You guys are awesome! :D
Anyway, I made this chapter long for you guys since I didn't update for ages.
Once again, I apologise for the super-late update. It probably won't happen again.
Enjoy!
Replies to reviews
schoolmouse33: Thanks! Sorry for the wait!
JenAshXMaylove: Yay! Awesome! Same. :P
Lapiz14:Awesome! Thanks!
Sakura Touko: Thanks! Awesome! Sorry for the wait. :P
YellowDragonMuffin: Thanks so much! Thanks! What is there fate? O.o Find out! XD
Quilavamaster18: I KNOW, RIGHT?! I love the opening for FT 2014! MASAYUME CHASING, CHASING~! Thanks. :D
Contestshipper16 Thanks! Yes! I love candy too! Wait... XD Sorry for the late update!
Pokémon Trainer Mystery: Thanks. Awesome! :D
Jeshika: Yes, you are an avocado. Yes, yes you are. Is she? (: XD You know what? PUMPKINS! :D
MusicalMew: Thank you! :D Awesome! XD Huehuehue... read on and find out. (:
Alice-Chan123: Yup! :D I see... Yes, I have. I'm up to like episode 8 of Attack on Titan. It's so good! XD
Katz Monster: Awesome! Thanks! Sorry for the wait. :P
maycontestdrew: BWAHAHAHAHA! Your review was so pun-ified! I loved it! XD
jayfeather12345: Can I? O.o Indeed... Awesome!
Ready to fly: Awesome! Yup! Thanks!
EEVEEpokemonDEDENNEdragonair24: Thank you! Yes, yes I am.
SosoAndGlaceon: Thanks for the review bomb!
Skitty13: Awesome! Thanks for the review bomb!
XxCherriesandChocolatexX: Thanks for the review bomb! :D I must remember to finish yours! XD
Need-For-Sleep: Thank you so much! All in good time. ;) XD Sorry for the late update!
Water Raven: Thanks. Sorry about that. XD Sorry for the wait! :P
.
.
Chapter Fifteen: The Loss
The Candies finished their performance, the crowd going wild with applause and cheers. The four girls smiled brightly and bowed, awaiting the judges' comments. From the waiting room, the other girl band watched on through the TV as they bowed, smiling. "Well, we know who the new favourites are," Dawn commented dryly.
"Dawn, don't be like that. Feel happy for them!" May replied cheerily. "After all, we will win this, for Drew and the others. Count on it!" She gave a thumbs up, grinning happily.
A smile replaced Dawn's dry look, May had a kind of positive aura surrounding her. "Right!" she exclaimed, nodding. She noticed her honey-blonde friend approaching the stage. "Serena's next, she's one to watch out for too."
They watched through her performance, putting on an amazing show, once again. Serena was one of the favourites from the very beginning, she had a very unique and powerful voice.
Finally, it was Eye of the Liepard's turn. A lady with a clipboard and earpiece opened the large double doors which led to the stage. The four girls walked onto the stage, being cheered for by their hundreds of fans in the audience. Many had huge posters with small messages to Eye of the Liepard.
Leaf and Misty took a deep breath as the audience quietened down. They brought her microphone to their mouths, closing their eyes as the spotlight shone on all four of them, making them stand out on the gloomy stage. (Summertime Sadness- Lana Del Ray)
"Kiss me hard before you go, summertime sadness. I just wanted you to know, baby you're the best."
Somewhere far away, the three boys entered the building. It hadn't changed at all, still the same gloomy corridors lit up with fire torches on the wall and cells, lined beside the corridor. They walked through the corridor stealthily, making sure to make no noise.
After the reached the end, it changed into an opening with stairs leading up to the boys' rooms, a corridor leading to the training areas and another leading to Lysandre's large office.
Silently, they crept up the stairs and up to their rooms. They entered Drew's room, which was closest to the staircase. Ash sat himself down on the bed, Gary following. Paul shut the door behind him and then leant on the wall opposite them, his arms crossed.
"So, what do we do?" Gary asked, breaking the silence.
Ash's eyes brightened, an idea sparking in his mind. "I say we take our strongest Pokemon and bomb his office!"
"That won't work, you idiot. You do remember how powerful his Pokemon were? And plus, he's going to be expecting us sometime soon," Paul said, opening his eyes which were previously shut. Ash's face fell, he pouted.
Gary nodded in agreement. "I'm pretty sure he's the one who took Scarlet as well." He shuddered. "Who knows what he could've done to her..."
He trailed off, a thin silence hanging in the air. Paul broke the silence, "I say we find Scarlet first. It's highly likely we'll run into Lysandre or the guards, so we'll just have to act on instinct."
The other two nodded, agreeing. Gary sighed, "Either way, we're going to die. If we make it out of here alive, Drew's going to kill us anyway."
Ash grinned, "Well, let's do this right, for Drew." His smile somewhat faded into a sad smile as he wondered how his friends back at the competition were doing. Mist, show em' what you got!
May appeared, wearing a long, flowing blood-red dress. The background props were a moon and a dark background, like midnight. She gracefully twirled around with bare feet, on her tiptoes.
"I got my red dress on tonight, dancing in the dark, in the maple moonlight. Done my hair up real big beauty queen style, high-heels off, I'm feeling alive!"
Dawn appeared, gracefully twirling and dancing into the diaphanous effects. "Oh, my god, I feel it in the air, telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare. Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere. Nothing scares me anymore."
They crept back down the stairs, carefully checking each cell. Unfortunately, none of them had Scarlet in them.
They were heading towards the corridor to the training rooms, when Gary dropped one of his pokeballs. It fell onto the floor, opening and releasing Arcanine. "Arrrrca-"
"SHHH!"
The large tiger-like Pokémon immediately hushed, although it's half-roar had echoed through the silent building, loudly. It gave Gary a somewhat offended look for cutting off it's battle cry. A look of extreme annoyance crossed Paul's face, and Ash frowned.
"Sorry about that," Gary said sheepishly, scratching his head.
Paul rolled his eyes. "Thanks to you, there'll be guards appearing here any second now. Brace yourselves."
Ash smirked, "3, 2, 1-"
"Over there! It's them!" As Paul had predicted, a dozen guards appeared, surrounding the three boys.
"Leave them to me," Ash said confidently, smirking as his mouse Pokémon on his shoulder's cheeks started sparking. He stepped forwards, "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"
The guards who were moving in closer with their spears took a step back, intimidated by Ash's confidence and his Pikachu's expression.
"Pika- CHUU!" There was a blinding light as Pikachu released multiple lighting strikes, one hitting each guard.
"Impressive, Ashy-boy. But not as good as me," Gary said with a smirk as another dozen guards appeared. He sent out his Umbreon, commanding it to use Dark Pulse.
The guards were thrown back by the pulse, hitting the walls. Ash glared at Gary. "Oh yeah?" He sent out his Charizard, it let out a small flamethrower as it roared. "Charizard, fire blast!" Charizard gathered an extremely large ball of fire in it's mouth as poor guards screamed in terror. It fired, the fireball turning into a 5-pointed star on the way.
Paul twitched, annoyed by his comrades' foolish rivalry. "Torterra, use stone edge to block the fire," he said calmly, sending out the Continent Pokémon. Torterra quickly used stone edge, stopping the fire in it's tracks. "You idiots, you're not meant to kill the guards!"
Gary and Ash sweat-dropped, hanging their heads. "Sorry, got a little carried away," Ash apologised.
Paul rolled his eyes, muttering something incoherent under his breath. "Might as well bomb his office now, seeing as he clearly knows we're here."
Ash's eyes twinkled as a grin appeared on his face. "Really? I've always wanted to do that!"
The plum-head started walking towards the corridor leading to their wretched boss' office, Gary and Ash following. "Whatever, let's go. Stay on guard at all times, got it?"
Meanwhile, Eye of the Liepard were wrapping up their performance.
"Kiss me hard before you go, summertime sadness. I just wanted you to know that, baby, you're the best," all four sang together. "I got that summertime, summertime sadness, s-s-summertime, summertime sadness. Got that summertime, summertime sadness, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
They wrapped up their performance, flashing a pose. Their applause was loud, but not as loud as their previous performance. As it died down, Korrina was the first to speak. "My my, that was a gorgeous performance! As much as I was mesmerised by it, I have some criticism along with it."
Hearing those words, May and Dawn's faces fell slightly. Misty and Leaf managed to nod with a smile. "Well, usually your songs are more powerful and I feel as if you didn't give it your all this week."
The four girls were quite crestfallen, but managed to maintain their feelings and nodded. Olympia spoke next, nodding. "I agree with Korrina, I was expecting something better from you girls this week. It was great, but didn't match you expectations. I'm sorry, girls."
The other judges had the same thing to say. Eye of the Liepard walked back into the waiting room, somewhat in shame. There went their perfect favourite streak.
They entered the room, their heads somewhat hanging. Brendan was standing by, preparing for his performance which was next. His stunning ruby eyes held sympathy as he grabbed May's wrist, stopping her as she walked past. He was one of the favourites, along with Eye of the Liepard.
"Look, I know Drew's not here to support you or anything, but I was serious when I said I could help you with anything you need," he said, smiling reassuringly.
May smiled in return, staring into his eyes. They were just like a ruby, the complete opposite of May's which were just like sapphires. They reminded her of Drew's eyes, which were just like emeralds. A ruby, or an emerald. Which was more beautiful?
"Thank you, Brendan-"
The announcement of Brendan's name cut her off. He shot her an apologetic smile and jogged out onto the stage, being cheered for by his many female fans.
May watched on, as he rapped on stage. She hadn't ever seen him rapping, it was the first time. (A/N You Need Me, I Don't Need You- Ed Sheeran) "And I can't, no, I won't hush," he rapped as he ran a hand through his hair, winking to the audience. "I'll say the words that make you blush, I'm gonna sing this now."
Her eyelids lowered as she looked at the floor. Would these feelings the was starting to get overpower the ones for Drew? She internally slapped herself. What are you saying, traitor.
The boys were outside Lysandre's office, about to bust in. "Remember the plan?" Paul asked, looking at his two comrades.
"Rescue Scarlet and then kill Lysandre? Crystal clear!" Ash replied, saluting. Paul gave a slight nod and looked over at Gary.
Gary rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "If you think I'm going to salute, think again."
Sighing, Paul decided his team was ready. Signalling that he was ready, all three of them kicked open the door. A large, red carpet lead straight to Lysandre's desk. It was dark, a only a few gloomy lights illuminating the room. They spotted Scarlet, her pale, slender arms chained and cuffed to the wall as she lay there. Motionless.
They heard a click of fingers and suddenly, the whole room brightened. On the other side, their hated boss was seated on his chair, his legs up on the desk. He smirked. "Ah, at last. I was expecting you boys, that pathetic woman had me know," he said, pointing to the tortured woman.
Seething, all three boys forgot about their plans to free Scarlet first. All three gritted their teeth, narrowing their eyes. However, the man spoke on. "Only three of you? Wherever is Emerald?"
"That is none of your business," Paul replied calmly, shutting his eyes. Then, he opened them, full of anger. He sent out his Torterra, ordering it to attack him. Lysandre simply smirked.
"A Pokémon battle? I'm afraid that all of you," he said as he sent out his Pyroar which knocked back Torterra with a simple flamethrower, "are half a century behind from comparing to me."
To support Paul, Ash and Gary both sent out their Pokémon. Gary released his Blastoise and Ash sent his Pikachu to attack. "Three on one? Pathetic," Lysandre snarled. He only released another one of his Pokémon as Blastoise sent a hydro pump towards his Pyroar. With the Pokémon as a distraction, Gary used his close combat skills to try and land a hit on Lysandre.
He fell back with a painful cry as Lysandre stopped Gary's kick with his hand and threw him backwards. Next, Ash and Gary tried a combo combat attack with Paul backing them up.
After long, painful attempts to beat Lysandre, the boys were extremely worn out, as well as their Pokémon. The worst part was that they had only defeated two of Lysandre's Pokémon, and his Gyarados stood unscathed.
"All of you, will return to my side. I will get those girls," Lysandre announced, Now, this is completely your choice. You get those girls for me, being the assassins that you are-"
"Never!" Ash shouted out at him, clenching his fists.
"Be quiet, fool. As I was saying, retrieve my pretty little parcels for me, or I will kill all of you, here and now and also find where Forest is hiding and do the same to him. Would you give up your life, and your brothers', for some girls?"
"We know who they are, boss," Paul replied, staring into the ground. He hated being weak, he hated not being able to do anything.
He smirked, impressed. "Ah, yes. I had thought as much. Even so, if I kill all of you here, I'll just find them myself. To show you I'm serious, I'll do this." He cackled evilly, commanding his Gyarados to use outrage on Ash who was all alone in a corner of the room.
"Azumarill, rollout and stop it!" they heard a feminine call out from the entrance. An Azumarill rolled up and launched itself at the Gyarados. Somehow, the little rabbit stopped it with amazing strength. They all turned, to see who it's trainer was.
This mysterious person had a cloak and a hood on, hiding their face. "Wait, your battle isn't over yet."
"You need me, I don't need you!" Brendan sang, finishing his performance. He was the favourite male competitor of the competition and was at the top of the favourites, along with Eye of the Liepard.
He finished up, receiving a loud applause from an ecstatic audience filled with fangirls. After shooting them one last wink, he entered the room again. He looked around, for May. After spotting her, he approached, smiling.
May grinned, "You did great, Brendan!" Nearby, Misty, Dawn and Leaf were watching curiously at the two Hoenn-natives.
"Thanks, May," he replied. Then, his smile turned nervous. "I- uh..." May gave a curious look, cocking her head to a side. Brendan shook his head, gathering courage. "I was going to ask if you wanna come out to dinner with me tonight...?"
"What?!" Dawn whispered furiously. "She can't-" She was cut off by Misty elbowing her, signalling to hush.
For a moment, May was about to decline right away after thinking of Drew. But then, she looked into his stunning, ruby-red eyes. Slowly, a small smile crept onto her face. "Sure."
Dawn's mouth fell open. "She did not just-" Once again, she was cut off. But this time, it was Leaf slapping a hand over Dawn's mouth.
Brendan's features brightened immediately. "Great, meet me at the Le Wow restaurant in Central Lumoise at around seven, 'kay?" He started walking away, but stopped and turned. "Oh, and wear something nice," he said with a wink.
May nodded, faking a smile. She couldn't believe she just did that to Drew. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?
Wrong.
They returned back to their home, finally. It was six-thirty, so May was planning to hurry and pick an outfit. However, Dawn didn't think so. She grabbed May's wrist and pulled her up to their room.
"What was that? You can't go with him!" Dawn protested.
May sighed. "I know, but he's so sweet. I couldn't turn him down, you know? Drew doesn't have to know!"
Dawn shook her head in disappointment. "I guess so. But if Drew find out somehow, or if anything happens, don't say I didn't warn you!" she exclaimed, crssing her arms. May nodded, agreeing. "Well, what are you going to wear?"
"This," May replied, walking over to her wardrobe. She took out a dress, it was causal but fancy at the same time. It was a red halter dress which reached her mid-thigh.
Dawn smiled at her choice. "That's gorgeous. Now, come on. Get that on and then I'll do your hair in a jiffy!"
May nodded, heading into the bathroom to put it on. All that time, there was a huge sense of guilt hanging around her.
The mysterious person unbuttoned the cloak, throwing it off. Underneath, she was wearing a beige trench coat. Her brown hair was tied up into a high ponytail and she had large, brown eyes.
Lysandre looked unimpressed. "And who are you?"
Ash's eyes widened as he realised who the pretty female was. Lyra Kotone, the new champion of Johto. She was an extremely powerful trainer, stronger than both him, Gary and Paul.
"Lyra Kotone, Champion of the Johto region," she answered. Paul and Gary's mouths fell open, wondering why someone like her would be here.
He raised his eyebrows, staring at her thoughtfully. "Champion, eh? And why might somebody like you be here?"
Reaching into her coat, she brought out a Pokeball. She was there only to find out his intentions, not battle of any sort. But she had a plan, to accomplish her mission and to save the boys. "I'll tell you if you can beat me," she said as she smirked, holding out the Pokeball. "But if I win, you tell me all of your intentions and release these boys."
"Ah, a battle. As expected from a champion. Fine, I accept your little deal," Lysandre said. "Let's begin." He returned his Gyarados and released Honchcrow.
Realising the tough situation, Lyra decided not to fool around. "Azumarill, play rough!" The water/fairy type rabbit launched itself onto the dark bird, beating it up in the air with a pink, fairy aura surrounding it.
Immediately, the bird fell onto the ground, unconscious. The three boys looked up, amazed at the power of the woman. So this is the power of a Champion, Paul thought, looking up to the girl. She looked nothing like someone as powerful as she was, but then again, looks could be deceiving.
Smirking, Lysandre twirled his next Pokémon through his fingers. Impressed, he sent out his next Pokémon. Soon, all of his Pokémon were knocked out but his Gyarados. As for Lyra, she had four left. However, there was a twist with this Gyarados.
"Someone like you wouldn't understand what I'm about to do, filthy Johto-native," Lysandre said, snarling at the end. Lyra glared, sending out her Ampharos. Her second-most trusty Pokémon, after Meganium, her starter.
"Gyarados, mega evolve!" Lysandre shouted, holding his hand up in the air. The bond between him and his Pokémon caused Gyarados to change shape and type, into a dark/water type. Suddenlt, the Gyarados gained significant power. It one-hit-KO'd three of Lyra's remaining Pokémon. However, she refused to give in.
"Oh yeah?" Lyra said, frustrated. She couldn't be worthy of a champion if she couldn't even beat the boss of an organisation. She had a mega stone on her earring, which began to glow. "Ampharos, mega-evolve!"
Lysandre was taken aback, staring in awe as her Ampharos grew a mane, changing into an electric/dragon type. "Ampharos, thunderbolt!"
"Gyarados, ice beam!"
The two super-effective attacks hit, both Pokémon already nearly fainted. Both were struggling to keep up but in the end, it was Ampharos that fell first. "Ampharos, no!" Lyra cried, running to her Pokémon which changed back to it's regular shape. Slowly, Gyarados also collapsed. However, Lysandre was the winner of the battle.
Lyra collapsed on her knees, sobbing. What kind of a Champion am I? Not even able to save a few people. Silver is going to hate me.
"I'm impressed, that was indeed a battle that had me on the edge. But, you're not worthy of a champion if you can't defeat me, silly girl," Lysandre said, looking down over the sobbing girl. "Pathetic."
Gary, Ash and Paul watched, sympathy written on their faces. The girl had just tried to save them, yet they sat there unable to do anything. Paul frowned in anger, slamming his hand on the ground. Any hopes of them saving the girls were gone and they were being forced to actually kidnap the girls this time around with the lives of their brothers as blackmail.
The cruel man smirked. "Now, I trust you to keep your promise. I'll be keeping them," he said, glancing at the boys. "And what I'd like to know. Why are you here?"
May arrived at the designated restaurant ten minutes late, it couldn't be helped. The waitress led her to the table for two, where Brendan was already seated. He was wearing a black, collared shirt and dark jeans.
He smiled as she sat down, "You look amazing, May."
She blushed, tucking some hair behind her ear. "Thank you. Now, should we order our food? I'm so hungry!"
Brendan blinked a couple of times, and then sighed. May had no intention to talk as she was already scanning through the menu. "Oooh, they have flat rice noodles!" May squealed happily.
Glancing at her in amusement, Brendan decided to order too. He opened his menu and selected some kind of fancy beef ravioli.
"Um, excuse me!" May called out, waving her arm to get the waiter's attention. She was loud and received stares from around the restaurant. Brendan face-palmed, so much for trying to avoid anyone recognising them. Whispers, points and stares commenced around the restaurant, towards the Hoenn-native pair.
The waiter arrived, taking their orders. Once he was gone, Brendan decided to start up a conversation. "So, how's Drew?"
May looked up from fiddling with her nails. "Hm? Oh, yeah, Drew's fine. He should be out of hospital soon, hopefully. He's in an unstable condition though."
"Ah, I see," Brendan replied, nodding slowly. "Whereabouts in Hoenn are you from?"
"I'm from Littleroot. Well, my dad was a gym leader in Petalburg, but..." May trailed off, looking down at her table.
Suddenly, Brendan's eyes widened. "Your dad? Norman Maple?"
May looked up from the table. "Yeah, that's him. Why? Did you know him?"
"Y-you're his daughter! Maybelle!" he exclaimed, pointing at her. "It's you, it really is you!"
May blinked. "Um, what? What do you mean?"
"Don't you remember me?" he asked, his eyed twinkling. "It's me, Brendan Birch. Remember how we played together around our town? And how we were never allowed to go outside without a Pokémon? We would dream about getting our first Pokémon and start our journey."
May's eyes widened in realisation. "I remember now!" She started laughing, nodding her head.
"But then you left, without letting me know or anything. I didn't know anything, where you had gone or why. And then I heard it, I heard that your family was murdered," Brendan said, the twinkles in his eyes disappearing. "I was worried about what happened to you, May."
May smiled to herself, sadly. "I'm sorry for leaving you like that-" Their food arrived, cutting off May. She looked excitedly at her delicious noodles, digging in right away. Over their dinner, the two chatted about how life was going and about their memories.
Surprisingly, May had a good night. Not only because of her flat rice noodles, that is.
The next morning...
"May, you better look at this!" Misty cried, storming into their room in the morning. She had been on her usual early morning run and saw something unusual inside a grocery store when she stopped at to buy a bottle of orange juice.
"What?" May said drowsily, yawning. She stretched her arms out and rubbed her eyes. Dawn and Leaf looked over curiously, Dawn jumping off her bed and snatched what was in Misty's hand. Her eyes widened, and Leaf snatched it next.
Leaf had the same reaction as Dawn and went over to May, stuffing it in her face. "Look at this, idiot!"
It was a popular gossip magazine, May read it with her eyes half open. Then, they widened.
What was the headline? She muttered it out in disbelief. "Brendan Ruby and May Maple. Are these two stars dating? And find out the shocking truth of these childhood friends!"
The front cover was a photo of May and Brendan staring into each other's eyes over the table. Just like a couple.
A/N: Oooooh, drama! Will Drew see the magazine? WILL HE BE HEARTBROKEN AND DIE FROM A HEART ATTACK? (HAHA, GET IT?!) *coughs* Anyway.
Lyra makes her main appearance, finally! Remember how she told Leaf she was the champion? Yep.
What's going to happen to the boys? Will they go assassin-mode and actually get the girls? Yes, they most likely will. Or will they come up with some crazzeh stunt?
MORE GOOD NEWS! I've planned out the rest of this story, AND the sequel! Yay! But knowing me, I'll probably throw in some more crazzeh stuff.
Also, do you think Eye of the Liepard will win Kalosian Idol? If not, then who?
Sorry for blabbing so much, I'm done now. See you next time, and don't forget to review! :D