This is the one hundred sixty-fourth chapter in Pokemon Heroes. REGULAR UPDATES RETURN! I will try to decrease the amount of late chapters I release, but hey, I'm human and humans make mistakes. Updates are on Mondays, sometimes Tuesdays, the latest would be Wednesday. Thank you for your patience and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the songs.

(Opening Song)

Ash sat crossed-legged on the couch within the Pokemon Center. His arms were crossed and a blank look was on his face.

He was staring at Brendan and Dawn who stood in front of him with annoyed looks.

"I believe we've explained this enough for you to understand," said Dawn. "It really isn't that hard to."

"No, no, I understand what's going on," said Ash as he placed a hand on his knee. "I'm trying to understand why you are doing this without getting paid. Are you stupid?"

"Do you want to get sent back to the hospital?!"

"And also..." said Ash, turning toward a certain person sitting on another couch with a baby Pokemon in her arms. "What is that? I'm pretty sure I wasn't in the hospital long enough for her to pop out a baby."

"Can you just stop talking?" asked Brendan. "You might get murdered."

Back to May, she was swaying her arms slowly as Manaphy rested. It was curled up. Slowly its eyes reopened, and a large smile formed on its face when it saw May.

"Mama!"

"Yeah, I'm here," said May as she placed a finger on its face, hoping that she was touching the nose. Manaphy giggled a few times, and shades of pink appeared on May's face, unable to bare the cuteness any longer. She wanted to jump around with it in her arms, but she was smart enough to understand that would be a horrible thing to do with a newborn.

"Here."

May's gaze turn to the outstretched hand with a bottle that contained special milk. May nodded to Lizabeth and took it, slowly placing the tip within Manaphy's mouth to allow the Pokemon to drink it. Manaphy welcomed it and curled up again. May held the bottle for it.

Surrounding her was the Hiromi Family: Lizabeth, Kyle, Meredith, and Ship. They were staring at May in shock and amazement.

This didn't go as planned at all.

"What should we do now?" asked Lizabeth to her parents. Kyle and Meredith didn't respond right away. They seemed to still be thinking.

"We've got to return Manaphy anyway," said Kyle.

"But how will we even get there now?" asked Meredith. "The temple will rise in four days, and we don't have a ship now that you father's was destroyed by Phantom. We don't have time to prepare another. What makes it worse is that Manaphy hatched outside of the temple. This was way too early. This could cause catastrophes if we don't do something soon."

"I know," said Kyle, looking toward the ground. "Let me think for a bit."

They remained silent once again, and then Ship got up from the chair he was slouching on and faced the adults.

"I've got someone who can help. If I call him now, he should be here in a couple hours. We leave immediately after. Alright?"

"If it's someone reliable, then I have no objections," said Kyle. "But what about Manaphy?"

They looked at the newborn, still cuddled in May's arms, which she swayed back and forth to let Manaphy fall asleep.

Lizabeth smiled.

"It seems okay now. There haven't been any abnormalities to the sea yet, so I guess we have time. We should leave it with May."

"We should," said Meredith. "It'd be too risky to separate the two now. It was born seeing May's face, so now May is considered its mother."

"I'm a mother now!" exclaimed May with a smile. Manaphy reopened its eyes and looked up at May.

May looked down at its eyes, turned to Ash, and back to Manaphy.

She looked at Ash once more with a smile.

"It has your eyes."

"Fuck off."

The True Prince of the Sea

After contacting the person Ship needed help from, the old man walked back into the lobby toward his family.

"He's nearby luckily. He should be here real soon. When that time comes, we should be leaving. We can't waste much time here. We may get attacked again, endangering the lives of these people."

"You're right," said Kyle, turning to May. "You have to remain here until help arrives. Don't go outside and don't make it obvious that we have a rare Pokemon. Just be careful."

"Aye, aye, sir!" said May while giving a salute. "As the mother, I won't allow any harm to come onto Manaphy. You have my word."

"Mana!"

"Good," said Kyle with a smile.

May slowly stood and walked over to her friends. The family watched as Brendan and Dawn tried cooing with the newborn.

The family watched as May tried to get Ash to hold Manaphy, only for him to refuse to, resulting in Manaphy crying its eyes out as everyone in the lounge shook their head at the boy and said distasteful comments.

All this made the family feel at ease. Having Manaphy hatch this early would've caused chaos, but for some reason, May was handling the situation just fine. And the way they witnessed the kids fight against Phantom gave them hope that they could actually succeed.

All they needed was a ride now.

"It'll be fine," said Lizabeth. "Everything's going to be alright."

She walked over to the kids after May was able to soothe Manaphy.

"Sorry for causing you that much trouble," Lizabeth said to Dawn. "You don't have to do this. It's completely your choice."

"Yeah, guys, we don't have to," said Ash. "Let's ditch now before she changes her mind."

After giving Ash a blow to the gut and causing him to fall forward, Dawn turned to Lizabeth with a smile,

"It's fine," she said. "We deal with stuff like this every day. This is minor compared to the others."

"We've already started, might as well finish, right?" commented Brendan.

Lizabeth nodded.

"What about you?" continued Brendan, softly kicking Ash's head multiple times while the boy was holding onto his stomach on the ground.

"Of course I'm coming," said Ash. "Where else would I be?"

"Don't you have to be at the hospital?"

"Why?"

"Because you have a bruise that needs to be treated, dumbass!" yelled Dawn. "Why'd you even think leaving would be a good idea?"

"The bruise is gone though," said Ash, lifting his shirt. The large black and blue bruise that was formed by Sora and injured further in his fight with Gary was gone.

They had only seen Ash's large injury two days ago. It wouldn't be possible for it to completely disappear now. His skin didn't even show any sign of a past injury.

"Did the doctors do something?" asked Brendan.

"I don't know," said Ash, putting his shirt back down. "I woke up like this in the morning. I heard something was going on over by the port and decided to help. Am I wrong for helping your sorry ass?"

"That's amazing," said Dawn. "It's all gone. Do you at least feel numb over here?"

"Nope."

May was overhearing the conversation as Manaphy's stub-like hand touched her face. She slowly looked at her own hand. She remembered yesterday when she had her hands on Ash's side and a red light was shining from them. She didn't know what it meant, but she began to have her suspicions now. The doctors told her Ash's condition was going to need surgery, so they couldn't have found a solution so quickly.

"Did...I do that?"

She was knocked away from her train of thought when Manaphy started giggling while clapping. She smiled.

"What's wrong, Manaphy? You think daddy's funny?"

"Hey!" yelled Ash.

"Now that you mention it, it does have your eyes," said Brendan.

"You and I both know that's not true!"

"Wait a second, I'm starting to see it," said Dawn. "There it is."

"SHUT UP!"

"Manaphy would only recognize May as its guardian," said Lizabeth. "I don't expect it to notice Ash at all."

"Thank you!"

"Dada!" squealed Manaphy,

"YOU SEE WHAT YOU GUYS DID! I'm not even ready to become a father yet! How the hell do I even do that!? Do I have to take it to sporting events now?"

"Have fun, I guess," said Lizabeth. "Just don't cause too much of a ruckus, though."

"At least help me out here!" yelled Ash.

"Wait a second," said May, turning to Ash. "When you left the hospital, did you tell them you were leaving?"

Ash stared at May as he blinked a few times before opening his mouth again.

"You have to tell them that?"

Within the hospital right next to the Pokemon Center, doctors, nurses, and receptionists were going crazy. Policemen were searching within the hallways, bathrooms, and the roof to find the terribly injured boy that just mysteriously disappeared with only an open window in his room.

They couldn't find the child that couldn't walk with the injury, so panic rose every minute.

"Where is he?"

"What should we do?"

"We should look around the city!"

"Do you think something terrible happened?"

"What will we tell his friends?"

"Where in the diddly-darn fuck mustard did that kid go!?"

Two hours later, Ship ran into the lounge, where Kyle and Meredith were waiting. They had received a called from the old man that told them to meet him here.

"He's here," said Ship. "He's in the city as we speak. We should get the kids and prepare to get going."

"Alright," said Kyle.

They walked into the lounge, expecting to find the obedient children waiting for them.

But they were wrong.

The only people they found in the lounge were Dawn and Brendan sleeping on the couch.

Ship ran over to Brendan and shook him until he semi-opened his eyes.

"Where's May and Manaphy?" asked Ship, with a little worry in his voice.

Brendan looked at him, and then looked around.

"Who?"

Realizing that this boy was useless, Ship went over to Dawn and woke her up.

"What happened?" asked Dawn.

"They're asking about May," responded Brendan.

"And she's not here?"

"Ash, too."

"Well look at that."

"This is not something to just brush aside!" yelled Ship. "Where did they go?"

"They probably went out," said Dawn.

"Even when I told them not to?!"

"If she's with Ash, then I bet it's his fault."

Lizabeth walked into the lounge as she watched her grandfather scold Dawn and Brendan as Kyle and Meredith sweat-dropped.

"What happened?"

In a wonderful park with green everywhere and a park where people walked and children played, Ash and May were present.

The two sat on a bench near a fountain that shot out water from its tip. Pikachu was looking over Ash's shoulder to see what the boy was doing.

In his arms was Manaphy. The boy was being extra careful as he moved his arms slowly as May instructed him on what to do.

"And place your hand under its head," she said. Ash understood the order, slowly moving his hand toward Manaphy's head, but then he realized something.

"What the hell am I doing?"

"Don't swear in front of Manaphy!"

"Why are even here? Why am I here?"

"Because I asked you to come," said May. "I saw this wonderful stroller at a store down the street. Since we were waiting for too long, I decided to make it quick, get it, and return."

"And how does that involve me at all?"

"Well, being in that hospital for so long needs for a nice walk, right?"

"Little here you little-"

Suddenly, as Ash moved his arm into an uncomfortable position that bothered Manaphy, the newborn started crying. Ash quickly held it up with both hands.

"What did I do? Is it going to explode?"

"That's enough baby time for you, mister," said May, taking Manaphy back and soothing it. More disapproving people around them shook their heads at Ash and said harsher comments than the ones at the Pokemon Center. Even Pikachu was disappointed.

After a few minutes, May got Manaphy to calm down, later having it laugh with her.

Ash watched on in awe.

"How did you do that?"

"It's not that hard," said May. "Since I became a mother not too long ago, I've unlocked an ability that many obtain in their later years: mother's intuition. It's in my blood to take care of a crying child no matter what the circumstance. If it's in danger, it's the mother that'll be there to help. You understand, right?"

"No."

"Well I didn't expect you to," said May as she rose to her feet. "Let's get that stroller so we can go back. I don't want to get in trouble for this."

On their way toward the store that was literally only five minutes from them, they were taking many detours instead. When May saw something that would look interesting, she would head there and let Manaphy see it. They had gone to a short water show, a toy store, and May even went toward another fountain to see if Manaphy could swim in it.

Surprisingly it could, and rather gracefully to add at that.

Ash just watched, frightened to leave to then suffer May's wrath, and bored out of his mind as he tried to urge May to get the stroller and be done with it, but the girl didn't listen.

As Ash watched May rub her cheek on Manaphy's cheek, he realized something.

"Hey Pikachu," he said, getting the attention of the electric-type mouse on his shoulder. "What is Manaphy anyway?"

Pikachu wanted to slap Ash for asking that question, even when the boy had been with the people who could've explained that to him, but it held back.

But then he sensed something.

"Ash, I'm done now, let's-"

But she didn't even have time to finish.

Ash turned around, and he quickly materialized his Aura Blade in his hand, struck the sharp projectile that was coming at him that had a chain attached to it.

Ash's Aura Blade, a blade that had the length of at least three feet, with an oval opening at the bottom that had a thick black pole in the middle, where Ash could wrap his fingers around to hold the weapon. The blade went up until it swirled at the top, with multiple spikes on it. The whole blade was sky blue with the spikes colored normal blue. Even with its structure, the blade could cut though anything like a sharp sword as if it was cutting soft butter, and now Ash was holding it toward the enemy that he couldn't see.

"May, get out of here," he ordered. "Pikachu, where is that bastard who threw that!"

Pikachu looked around sniffing the air, but it couldn't detect a single person, not even the flowers or the shocked people around them. Something was put in to the air to mess up its tracking skills.

But it had eyed something else. There was a Noctowl and an Unfezant in the sky, and they were holding onto two blades in their mouths with a chain connecting the weapons.

They flew around a bit, but then they dashed down toward Ash.

Pikachu quickly shot thunderbolts at them, but they dodged them without losing their target.

"Skilled, aren't they?" taunted Ash as he prepared to immobilize the two Flying-Type Pokemon that were coming at him. Noctowl was the one coming straight toward Ash as Unfezant continued flying.

"Now!"

Ash swung his fist downward to send Noctowl to the ground, but it got out of the way too quickly and went past Ash, Ash didn't have time to be surprised, because the chain between the two Pokemon struck him in the gut. The two Pokemon started to fly in circles around Ash in opposite directions that caused the chain to wrap itself around him. Once his arms were trapped, the two Pokemon flew at the ground and rammed both blades into it, with the force causing the chain on Ash to send him stomach-first onto the ground.

"Hey!" he yelled.

Multiple blades were tossed at opposite sides of him, with chains between pairs lying above Ash that made sure the boy wouldn't get back up again.

Pikachu's tail turned into steel as it prepared to break Ash free of his containment, but then Unfezant crashed onto it, sending it to the ground and holding it under the talon.

"Good job."

Ash heard the voice ahead of him, and he looked forward to see a man walking toward them as he arched his extended arm for Noctowl to land on.

It was a blonde-haired man with a black shirt under a red and yellow short jacket that only reached to below his chest. He wore black jeans, with a small bag at his side that was strapped around his waist. He sported black and red fingerless gloves, and the same colored sneakers to match.

His expression showed a good looking man who seemed to be chill in every situation, and it was hard to figure if he was really a bad person.

The man stopped in front of Ash and looked at the boy right in the eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Ash.

The man ignored Ash's question and looked at May, who was watching the whole thing go down with Manaphy held tightly in her arms.

"You," said the man, pointing a finger at May with a serious look on his face. "Give me Manaphy."

No words were spoken immediately. The two stared at each other until May glared.

"No."

"No? What do you mean no? I'm giving you an order!"

"And I said no. How did you think just saying that was going to work at all? You tried to hurt my friend!"

"I wasn't really trying to hurt him."

"What about that first weapon? If he didn't turn around, he would've been stabbed."

"Yeah, I'll admit, I did forget about the wind when I threw that."

"No excuses. Just leave!"

"Listen, you little-"

"Don't swear in front of Manaphy."

"Okay, whatever you little runt! I was asked to come here by a friend! This friend told me that the only Manaphy in this city needed help. You hear that? The only Manaphy, which should be the one you're holding onto right now, needed help. So unless you make up some bull telling me that you found another one at a flea market, I'm going to assume you're trouble. Now hand it over!"

"I was given responsibility over it!"

"And now I have that responsibility!"

Ash merely watched the argument as the two insulted each other in a way so that Manaphy couldn't understand. Manaphy didn't understand at all, just blinking, confused as it watched the two go at it. Even this man's Pokemon sighed as they watched their trainer argue with a child.

"Do you even know who you are talking to?!" he asked.

"Do you know who you are talking to?" asked May.

"I can get you arrested right now!"

"Arrested?"

The man reached into his pocket and then pulled out a badge.

"My name is Jack Walker, caption of the third division within the League of Knights!"

May stared at him, and then walked toward him. She decreased the distance until she was right in front of him, grabbing him by the collar to get to eye level with her.

"And I'm May Maple, Princess of the Maple Family, buddy."

Jack didn't say anything. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of photos. He flipped through them until he got to the one he was looking for. It was a picture of May, and one note of all the notes scribbled on the photo in big letters were the letters "May Maple, Maple Family, Princess".

Jack looked between the photo and May multiple times, until he stopped, with a look of shock forming on his face.

"WWWWWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT?!"

Seconds later, he was on his knees while bowing as he banged his head on the concrete ground while he begged for forgiveness. Manaphy laughed as it clapped multiple times as May stood triumphantly over Jack.

Dawn, Brendan, and Ship ran toward them. They stopped when they spotted Ash and May, and also an extra person who seemed to be begging for forgiveness.

"Huh?" said Brendan.

Dawn sighed as Ship facepalmed.

"Why do you always screw up, Jack?" he asked.

"Phantom, huh?" said Jack as he placed his fingers on his chin.

They were all back at the Pokemon Center, after getting everything settled out and patching up the bruise that was formed on Jack's head after all the apologies. When Ash was released, he tried to go for another round with Jack, but Brendan held him back.

They explained the situation to the man and he quickly understood.

"You know the guy?" asked Brendan.

"I've been on his case for a while now," Jack said. "My division has been tasked with bringing the man down, but we've never succeeded."

"How long has it been?" asked Dawn.

"Five years."

"Are you serious?!"

"It's not easy taking the guy down," said Jack. "He's one slick bastard. I know what you kids can do, but even with that, did you succeed taking the guy down? He escaped, right?"

"You know what we can do?" asked Brendan.

"Of course," said Jack. "You kids are the hot topic with the higher ups. Us captains are given more special information than the others."

"So will you help us?" asked Kyle. "We need all the help we can get in this situation."

"Hell yeah," said Jack. "I would've decided to help you guys even if you didn't ask me."

"That's great," said Ship. "Well first we need a ship. Ours were destroyed when Phantom attacked us."

"You need a ship?" asked Jack with a cocky smile. "Pack up your things and follow me."

After just a couple of minutes, Jack led the kids and the family to the dock, and they were surprised at what they witnessed there.

"I was on my way to this city when I heard about Phantom's activities," said Jack. "Now let's use this thing to get to the Sea Temple."

There at the dock was a ship twice as large as Ship's ship. It had a much sturdier design, and there were even weapons and the bottom had an area that allowed you to see what was underwater as you sailed.

Jack held onto Ship's shoulder and showed the old man a set of keys on his index finger.

"I told my crew to stay in this city while we go, including the captain," said Jack. "Because I knew you wouldn't be satisfied on this trip unless you were riding this, am I right?"

"You betcha!" yelled Ship as he grabbed onto the keys. Jack looked back at the others.

"Let's go!"

Everyone walked up to the deck of the ship from a ramp. May was the last to go on, with Manaphy in her arms sleeping. When she got to the deck, Jack put a hand on her shoulder and leaned closer to her ear.

"Are you sure you can do this?" asked Jack. "We can bring it back ourselves and leave you here."

"No, I'm fine," said May. "I'm its mother, after all."

"Remember, May," continued Jack, "this will be extremely dangerous. They are vicious people. Just because you are a young child will not matter to them. They will only care about getting Manaphy. It must be returned to the Sea Temple as soon as possible. If it isn't, it could cause great disorder in the sea. The true prince of the sea must sit on the throne for everything to get balanced, and those guys will try to disturb that. Are you prepared for the responsibility when the stakes are this high?"

May responded with a smile.

"Of course. I have no worry at all."

Jack smiled back.

"Atta girl."

After a few more minutes of preparations, the loudspeaker blared with Ship's enthusiastic voice.

"We're sailing!"

The ship was moving. With everyone on board, this team was ready to fulfill their task.

Ash stood leaning over the railing of the ship as he watched the water move beneath them. As he watched, a Sharpedo swam above the water and looked up at the boy.

It then stuck its tongue out.

"Hey!" yelled Ash. "I'm not in the mood today, jackass! Not in the mood!"

Before the boy could jump over the railing, Brendan took him by the back of the shirt as Ash continued to resist.

"Ash, please don't embarrass yourself in front of all these people, man," pleaded Brendan.

Dawn and Lizabeth watched as they sweat-dropped.

"I worry about your friend over there," said Lizabeth.

"We worry about him every day," said Dawn.

As Brendan continued to hold back Ash from getting into a fight with a Sharpedo, May stood by the railings, looking out at the ocean as Sootopolis City got smaller and smaller.

"You see, Manaphy," said May as she rose Manaphy to look out at the ocean. "This is your home. We're going to return you, alright? So you don't have to worry at all. Believe in mommy and her friends."

Manaphy stared at the ocean blue, and then smiled as it raised its arms up high.

"Mama, mama!"

Danzo, Phantom's primary advisor, walked into the room though the steel doors. Phantom sat at his desk, looking down at papers.

"Sir," started Danzo. "It's been confirmed that Manaphy has hatched from its egg. Also, Jack Walker has joined forces with the Hiromi Family as a bodyguard for them until they get to the Sea Temple. They are on the move now."

"Hmmmmmmm," hummed Phantom, folding his arms and turning his gaze up to the ceiling. "Mr. Walker, eh? That asshole has always been a pain in the ass. But hey, doesn't matter to me how many people are involved in this. As long as I fulfill my goal, nothing else matters."

"What shall we do, sir?" asked Danzo.

Phantom looked toward Danzo and smirked.

"There's only one thing to do," said Phantom. "We've missed our chance with Manaphy and we've missed our chance on obtaining the map to the Sea Temple. So there is only one thing."

He slammed his fist onto the table.

"We follow them."

He rose from his seat.

"We follow them until we get to the Sea Temple. Then we knock them all away and then I get to do what I need to do. Once that's accomplished, I may not need Manaphy at all."

He sat back in his chair and spun it around to look away from Danzo.

"Go prepare the fleet. Stay at least a mile and a half away from the target. Enter stealth mode. Understand?"

"Yes sir," nodded Danzo, and he stood and walked out the door.

Phantom sat alone in his room, smirking like an accomplished man within his submarine that floated in front of many other submarines that numbered at least twenty. They all had the sign of Phantom on them.

One by one, each of them disappeared, blending into the water, until they were all gone.

(Ending Song)

Next Time on Pokemon Heroes: Ash and his crew are on a journey to get to the Sea Temple before the full moon that is set to appear in three days. But on their way, how could they not take advantage of the chance to explore the ocean and go for a swim! Will the crew make it to the temple in time, and what information may Jack give to these young minds? Next Time: Journey to the Temple.

That was that chapter. The crew is on their way to the Sea Temple, and Jack Walker is there to aid them. I wanted to add Jack to the story at some point, and I realized why not now, since we are talking about Manaphy and the Sea Temple. Since I'm not a mother, I tried my best to portray May's motherly relationship with Manaphy, and I hope I at least did an okay job with it. Next chapter will be released next Monday, Tuesday, latest Wednesday, with weekly updates returning, so see you next chapter!

Read and Review please :-)

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