Island Wolf: Sorry this took so long! I'm finally done my internship, but now I'm back to being a full time university student with a really intensive summer program. I'm doing my best to make more frequent updates, but it's difficult. That said I'd like to thank everyone who bore with me - thanks for the faves, follows and reviews as always! I'm so giddy that I might just break 100 reviews with this story, mind blowing man. Anywho back to business, there's a tiny smidgen of lemon juice in the first little bit (only enough for a cup of Earl Grey really) it's nothing overly explicit, but I figured I'd mention it just to forwarn anyone who wants to gloss over it. Enjoy my lovelies!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, blah blah blah

Maxie decided that no matter how many times he woke up beside her that he would never fail to be awed by the beauty of the young woman sleeping in his arms.

May seemed completely serene nestled against him, sighing contentedly when he gently rubbed the base of her neck. He moved the pad of his thumb over her collarbone, tracing the delicate contours of her neck and smiled when her eyes fluttered open with a bemused, but content expression. She returned it and laid her head against his shoulder, nuzzling his neck as she murmured. "What time is it?"

"Nearly seven. My shift starts soon."

He heard her hum softly and looked down. Her eyes were open again, but the contentedness had diminished as the darkening eyes looked around the room and she came back to full wakefulness, realizing that they were still deep below ground, trapped and in hiding. It pained him to see her look so downtrodden. "Do you think we'll hear any news today?"

Maxie rested his chin on the top of her head so that she wouldn't see him frowning. It had been nearly a month since their flight into hiding, a very long month with very little movement from either party. They'd amassed more resources and Steven had sent out the military dispatches as per his suggestion, but so far no retaliation had come and tensions were beginning to rise. He could see it in May more than anyone. She'd slowly started to retreat back into Groudon's cave, speaking little to anyone else as she withdrew into herself a little more each day. He pressed his lips to her crown and rubbed her shoulders soothingly.

"New personnel are coming down to report in today. I'm not quite sure of the details yet, Tabitha is taking care of most of the shore-side liaisons for the time being. From what I can tell things are still quiet."

"Any word from David?"

"Not since yesterday morning, but they were heading up to the northern coast last time they checked in. I doubt we'll receive any communications from them for a while."

"I wish he wouldn't go out so often...I worry about him," May sighed. Her lips quirked in a small, sad smile. "But at least he's brave enough to go out and do something about this whole situation."

"Only you would stand up to a pokémon of god-like power, befriend it, capture said pokémon and call yourself a coward. No, you're not brave at all." Maxie said, huffing a laugh. May glared at him, though it was short lived when he proceeded to lay down and pull her on top of him in one swift movement. She pressed her forehead against his chest, trying to hide her smile.

"That's not fair," he felt her mumble against his skin. "How can you make me smile when things are so fucking bad?"

"Because those are the times when I should make you smile," he said softly, threading his fingers through her hair. His mind drifted back across decades, to a cramped pub at the end of the world where glasses and voices were raised high despite the friends they'd put into the ground just hours before. "It's better than falling into despair."

After a moment of silence May finally raised her head and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. He smiled and draped his arms loosely around her waist. "You are making it deucedly hard to leave this bed you know."

"Good," she replied with an impish smirk. She spread her legs and sat up, straddling him and he growled when she rolled her hips against his. "I don't particularly want you to leave yet."

"I ah – can't be late, that's not – dear lord woman – becoming of an officer," he said through gritted teeth. The smile she gave him was positively devilish as she rolled off of him and onto her side so that she could trail her fingers down down his abdomen until they reached his rapidly hardening length. He tried to give her a scolding look, but when she wrapped her fingers firmly around the shaft and started stroking there was little he could do but thrust against her hand and growl. He heard her laugh softly before he felt her shift and then her tongue suddenly joined her hand, teasingly tracing around the tip of his member. "May – May, if you ah – keep that up and I'm going to -"

"By all means do, that's kind of the point dear," she replied, her voice taking on a huskiness he so rarely heard from her. He was genuinely surprised at her boldness, but he couldn't really give it much thought through the heavy haze of pleasure she was inflicting upon him. It continued to grow until he felt his thrusts become erratic and he came with a harsh cry of her name, spilling his seed over her hand and mouth. May sat up, licking a white smear of seamen from the corner of her mouth as she smirked and the sight made him moan again. He inhaled deeply, slowly coming down from the orgasmic high she'd given him. He watched her through heavily lidded eyes as she grabbed a towel to clean herself off with. "Keep this up and you're going to be the end of me woman."

May smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. "I certainly hope not, I'd like to keep you around for a very long time."

Warmth flowed through his chest as he held her close again. He'd spent long nights agonizing over the things he'd done in the past, particularly when it came to her and everything he'd put her through, but now he thanked every deity he could think of that things had unfolded the way they had – as horrible as things had gotten she was here with him now. He was the one who got to wake up with her every morning, he was the one she smiled at and said that she loved him.

How he'd gotten so lucky he would never know.

This was the girl he was going to marry and keep close to him for as long as he possibly could. This was the woman who would have his heart forever, whether she realized it or not. It was ridiculous, how happy she made him feel despite everything going on around them, but she did – without even trying she made him happier than he had been in years. Those beguiling eyes and tender smiles had complete hold over him and he was only too content to be held captive by them.

"What are you smiling about?"

He kissed her, gently brushing a stray lock of smokey brown hair behind her ear. "You."

"Morning Sir."

"Good morning Tabitha."

"You seem rather...chipper."

Maxie shot a warning glare at his former Admin across the war room's long table, but the sniper merely meet his gaze and hid his smirk behind the rim of his coffee mug. One by one Steven, the other members of the League and other officials they'd brought in filed into the room and took their respective seats. Dossiers were open, papers were spread and the large screen they'd set up at the head of the table flickered to life, displaying several snippets of news reports and live feeds from the surface.

"Anything new to report?"

"Nothing major from yesterday. Our new personnel will be arriving shortly though."

"Good, though I do wish you would have been more specific in the profiles Tabitha."

"Just a precaution, but they are welcomed assets I assure you."

"Still, what is our present plan of action? Military units have been dispatched to every town, but so far our results have yielded nothing except a huge expense for the government and a complete waste of time and energy!"

Maxie narrowed his eyes. Drake had never been overly fond of his presence and had been one of the few to disagree with their initial means of countering Cipher's assault on the government. The cantankerous dragon-master had seemed oddly pleased by the apparent error in his judgement, much like Glacia had been so set against May. "For all we know Master Drake, their presence may have dissuaded Cipher from pressing their attack on the region and on innocent civilians. I hardly call that a waste of time."

"Listen here -"

"Gentlemen! This is neither the time, nor the place." Steven's voice was surprisingly sharp, very uncharacteristic for the normally genteel Champion and managed to shock both of them into silence. However, despite his steely tone, his face went from the picture of frustrated anger to quickly becoming one of weary exasperation. "We can't afford to be fighting each other. Not now with so much at stake. We will continue monitoring the situation and keep the military on standby. Hopefully David and Eldes will be able to provide more helpful intel when they return and let us making a more progressive plan. Until then there isn't much we can do but wait. Tabitha, Maxie, I'd like you two to make sure the personnel coming in are taken care of. If there are no further questions for the morning we will dismiss and reconvene at nineteen-hundred hours."

Maxie glared at Drake for a long moment before he turned to Tabitha. The younger man nodded and they both rose, walking side by side through the main cavern and towards the entrance tunnel where two armed guards stood at attention.

"Never really liked that old bastard you know."

"No, May isn't very fond of him either – apparently he didn't handle being beaten by a twelve-year old very well."

"Neither did you at the time as I recall."

"Touché," Maxie replied with a crooked grin. Their conversation was abruptly brought to an end by the sound of movement and voices coming from the tunnel. A series of carefully timed knocks rapped against the metal and Tabitha opened a small grate set in the door.

"Where does hope spring eternal?"

"Where the Mayflower blooms."

Maxie shot Tabitha a sidelong glance and chuckled. "Interesting pass phrase."

"I thought it appropriate."

"And just a wee bit cliché."

"Says the man who is practically its personification," Tabitha replied dryly as he opened the door. Three men and two women stepped over the threshold and Maxie swore.

"Lord almighty you lot are still alive!?"

"We might say the same of you, you know."

For a moment Maxie was thrown back in time as one by one, faces he'd forgotten so long ago came striding out of the gloom of the tunnel and he was not looking at a small band of hardened veterans, but a regiment of green cadets, bright eyed and carefree. He was dimly aware of the back slaps and gruff laughs of welcome, but they hardly seemed real. He was still spanning the gap in time, one foot in the present, the other still firmly in the past until a voice snapped him back to reality.

"Maximilian Asher. It's been too long. I hear congratulations are in order."

Maxie blinked. Liam O'Hara looked much the same as he had twenty years ago, a touch greyer perhaps and a thick black beard where he'd once been clean shaven as a wet behind the ears private, but his smile was still broad and genuine. Maxie laughed, a little disbelievingly at first, and then clapped the larger man on the shoulder.

"Liam! Yes, yes I suppose there is," he said. "Come on, let's get you all settled away first and then I'll tell you about it."

May closed her eyes, basking drowsily in the ambient warmth of the magma chamber. High above her Groudon loomed, his eyes half-closed as he too seemed to sink into a doze. She smiled at the earth titan and laid down on her back, enjoying the warmth that seeped through the stone beneath her back. It was something she craved nowadays, the warmth. Even with a shirt and knitted shawl she still enjoyed the heat rising around her, never feeling too warm. A growl from above drew her gaze and she looked up at Groudon who'd come back to a more wakeful state. He leaned down until his massive snout just brushed against her chest. She smiled against and rubbed at the heavy, armour-like scales that covered his head, sliding her fingers into the grooves. May felt, rather than heard the contented growl that rumbled from him as he enjoyed the touch of his human companion.

"Still nothing hm?" she murmured, continuing to rub his scales. "I feel them too, scurrying like ants over your ground. But nothing, nothing that means anything."

The gargantuan creature was silent for a moment before he drew back and huffed, sending a breath of warm air that smelled like smoke and hot metal over her. May sat back up and frowned. "What is it?"

Groudon gazed intently at her for a moment before raising a clawed forearm and gesturing towards the chamber entrance. May closed her eyes, feeling the gentle tug on that thin red filament in her mind as his consciousness brushed closer to hers and she felt what he was trying to say.

"You think I should go again hm?" she said with a wry smile. When he nodded slowly she sighed. "I suppose you're right...I'm coming again tomorrow though."

He huffed again and she smiled, though it was bittersweet. She hated it when he sent her away, but she couldn't really go against his wishes and she knew he was trying to stop her from becoming too segregated from her fellow humans. May wrapped her shawl more tightly around her shoulders as she left the warmth of the magma chamber behind an idly wondered how many humans he'd bonded with in the past to learn such things.

She hurried through the main chamber, keeping her head down to avoid meeting anyone's eye as she passed by. The Absol's haunting prophecy crossed her mind again as it had done nonstop ever since she'd remembered the damning dream. Leader of an army...she wrinkled her nose in contempt. Some leader she was. There had once been a time when she would stare anyone down with a challenge on her tongue and a fight in her eyes, but now...

Now, she was just so tired, to weary of the fight and too wounded to jump back into the fray. How could she lead the charge when she felt so very low?

A loud chorus of laughter made her stop dead in her tracks. That was a sound that wasn't often heard down here, if at all. Curious, she followed the sounds until she rounded the tunnel that led to what had been affectionately dubbed the mess hall where most personnel gathered for the daily meals. Usually the large cavern was empty at this time of day, but when she cautiously peered around the corner she saw a group of seven people in uniform. She picked out Maxie and Tabitha immediately, but the other five she did not recognize. What was most shocking however, was the utterly relaxed look on Maxie's face as he conversed with them, smiling and jesting in a way that was almost completely foreign to her.

One of the men, a burly fellow with dark hair and a full beard, seemed to notice her and his amber eyes crinkled in a kindly smile. Maxie noted the man's diverted attention and turned. When he saw her he smiled gently and extended a hand towards her. She hesitated for a moment before walking towards him and taking his hand as he guided her into the seat next to him.

"Well now Maximilian, she is a beauty," the man who'd first noticed her said, touching the brim of his hat. "Liam O'Hara at your service."

"May Maple, pleasure to meet you."

"Liam was in my unit during the war," Maxie explained, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Patrick here was a gunner on the front lines, Tom was in our regiment but a different company stationed further down the front. Elle was a radio operator and our finest codebreaker and Tammie here was our nurse."

"Torturer you mean," Tom, the tall, blonde man to Liam's left muttered, earning himself a hard smack across the ear from the woman with greying auburn hair sitting next to him.

"Stitched your sorry arse together more than once," she barked, her voice holding the hard clipped accent of the far north. Liam sniggered and shot her a wink.

"Don't worry, Tam's bark is far worse than her bite."

"Unless she's crackin' you across the ear, Christ woman I'll be deaf for a week!" Tom grumbled, rubbing the side of his head. May couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity of it all and blushed when Maxie pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Your boyo Tabitha here called in a few favours, wanted some more opinions on our current situation. So naturally he brought us fossils back into service. But enough o' that for the moment. So you're the famous May Maple. It's a pleasure to meet you too lass," Liam said with a grin. "Maximilian is quite taken with you, you know."

"And I'm quite taken with him," she replied with a smile of her own. Now this was a strange thing. She and Maxie had been together for over two months, but had never really publicly acknowledged it and yet here they were and Maxie could not seem prouder introducing her. She thought about his proposal that night during the storm and felt an odd warmth flow through her. This man wanted to marry her, after everything, after seeing her at her very worst he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and with the darkness that always hovered in the back of her mind with its gnashing teeth and barbarous tongues that was a comforting thought.

She was snapped back to the present by the sound of singing. It was a low, lilting tune but slowly grew in strength as one by one they joined in. May smiled and leaned against Maxie's arm, enjoying the sound of his tenor blending in with the voices of his fellows in a song far older than any of them. In her mind's eye she could see it, the band of them far younger and far less burdened than they were now, gathered around a blazing hearth and drinks in hand.

"So here's a health to the company, and one to my lass

Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass

Let us drink and be merry all grief to refrain

For we may all might never all meet here again."

"May? You alright lass you seem a bit out of sorts?"

May looked up at Liam through bleary eyes and forced a smile as she sat up straight despite the fact that her stomach was rolling. "Oh I'm fine, just feeling a bit queasy. I thought that fish tasted funny last night."

"Why don't ye go have a lie down. There's not much to be doin' here," the burly man said with a kindly smile as he gestured to the spread of radar equipment in front of them. She'd volunteered to help with the surveillance duty, much to Maxie's delight. In truth she felt rather badly about shutting everyone out for favour of Groudon's presence and there was just something about the rag-tag band of veterans that seemed to put her at ease. That said she'd proven rather useless this morning as she'd spent most of their shift with her head down to combat the nausea.

"No, no it wouldn't be fair to leave you here."

"Miss May I may be old, but I'm far from feeble. I can handle this, go take a rest or better yet see that doctor or even Tam. It wouldn't do for you to go under the weather now."

"I suppose," she sighed and relented her position at the desk, wrapping her shawl around her shoulders. "Tell Maxie I've gone for some rest if he comes by."

"Will do Missy."

May gave him a parting smile and wandered back towards her room, though she'd scarcely crossed the threshold when another wave of nausea forced her to sit down on the edge of the bed. She covered her mouth and inhaled deeply through her nose to stop herself from retching. She would not let food poisoning or some flu get her down, now of all times. When her stomach settled she gathered her shawl again and made her way towards Groudon's cave. He would be able to put her at ease if nothing else.

The magma chamber was quiet when she entered, as it always was aside from the bubbling of the molten rock and the low, rumbling breaths of the giant sleeping in the fiery pool. The bright golden eyes that shimmered like liquid fire opened as she sat down and his jaws parted in an unmistakable yawn. The titan let out a long, low growl and she smiled.

"I know I said I was going to be away today, but I'm feeling a little ill. Seeing you always makes me feel more...grounded."

Groudon huffed, sounding almost amused for a moment as he looked down at her. Suddenly she sensed an abrupt shift in his mood as he tilted his head to one side ever so slightly as if scrutinizing her. He leaned forward, planting his massive forelimbs onto the ground on either side of her with an urgency that startled her. He bent down until his head was level with her and he bumped the edge of his snout against her chest. It wasn't a hard nudge by any means, but being so big even that little movement pushed her onto her back. Groudon growled and very carefully pressed the edge of his snout against her abdomen and then her chest again before drawing back slightly. He then proceeded to make a noise the likes of which she'd never heard before. It was a low sound, almost like a croon, but quickly rose in pitch until it was near a whine. He lowered his head again until his snout was touching her chest, still making the odd, quavering sound. There was little she could do but rub his scales and try to calm him down.

"Hey now, what's got you all in a tizzy?" she asked softly as he continued to – well nuzzle her. It was a little alarming really. Groudon's displays of affection for her were rare by nature and they were never this vigorous. She closed her eyes and tried to bring her consciousness closer to his, to try and make sense of the titan's strange behaviour. "What's the matter?"

She felt his presence draw nearer at her mental call and she was overwhelmed by a flood of images and primal feelings as she always was when their consciousness came in contact, but there was something different than the usual. She felt the lifeblood of the earth pulsing beneath them and in her mind's eye she could see Groudon calling it up, raising new mountains from a primordial sea as he fathered the land so many eons ago.

Birth

New life

Yours

Mother

The thoughts surged with such force through her mindscape, it was the closest he'd ever come to truly speaking to her. It made her vision blur and she tasted copper on her tongue. Groudon pulled away and his cry ceased, leaving her gasping on the ground. "No, no that's not possible..."

May rolled onto feet, curling an arm around her stomach as she ran from the magma chamber and did not stop until she came to the infirmary. Dr. Villiard was sitting as his desk and he looked up, alarmed when she came running into his office. "May? My goodness you're white as a sheet! Is everything alright?"

"I – I – I'm not sure," she panted, dragging a hand through her sweat-dampened hair. When she gained her breath back she drew up straight. "Doctor...I need you to run a test for me and I need you to be discreet. Can you do that?"

"Well, yes but – May you have to tell me what's going on," he said, rising so that he door behind her. He turned to face her with a concerned frown. "What's wrong?"

"I've been feeling nauseated the last few days, mostly in the mornings and just now Groudon -" she paused and drew a shaky breath as she splayed one hand across her lower abdomen. "I think I -"

She could see the realization dawn in Villiard's eyes and he immediately led her to a nearby chair, bidding her to sit. "I can do a blood test so we can know for sure. But May is there any real possibility that you are?"

"I didn't think so. I'm on oral contraceptives and we've almost always used protection -"

"Almost always?"

May felt her herself blush heavily and dragged a hand over her face to hide her embarrassment. This was not how she though her day was going to go. "Well there were a few times at the beginning when we didn't..."

"And your pills, you've been taking them regularly?"

"Yes, ye – oh no..."

"What is it?"

"The day we were attacked at the house," May groaned, slumping in her chair. "I forgot to take the last one of that pack. I never thought anything of it. Oh gods what do I do?"

"The first thing you're going to do is calm down," Villiard said as he knelt down in front of her and took her hands in his. He smiled gently and gave them a comforting squeeze. "I'm going to take some blood and I'll analyze it myself. No one else will know I promise you and I can have the results in a couple of hours. Until then you can stay here with me, if anyone asks you're running a fever and I'm just giving you a check up, alright?"

May felt a lump form in her throat and she realized that she was frighteningly close to tears. She sniffed, blinking them away and nodded. "Thank you."

"It'll be alright. Now, I need you to sit up and roll up your sleeve, this won't take long."

"May...May, wake up."

May yawned and sat up, blinking owlishly before she immediately became aware of two things. First, that she had a savage pain in her neck from the odd angle she'd managed to fall asleep at in Dr. Villiard's desk chair, and secondly that the entirety of the day had not been a dream as she so desperately hoped. Villiard was leaning against his desk with a small smile and a sheet of paper in his hands. She eyed it warily and felt her heart hammering against her ribs.

"Are those the test results?"

"Yes."

"And?"

He handed her the paper and May scanned it fervently, furrowing her brow in a frown at the jumble of medical terminology, numbers and the names of chemicals she neither recognized nor understood the meaning of. "I don't understand – what does this all mean?"

"That number there is the level of hCG, human chorionic gonadotrophin, in your bloodstream. It's more than 5 mlU's which means..."

"I'm pregnant."

When he nodded time seemed to stand still and her very breath seemed stolen away. It was surreal, looking at the numbers printed on the page in her hands. Those numbers that seemed so insignificant now symbolized one of the biggest turning points in her life to date. She felt hot and cold all at the same time as she tried to process the idea that there was an entirely new life growing inside of her. It was still early yet, there was still time to - May placed a hand over her belly and was surprised when she felt herself smile. In all honesty she'd never thought much about children or the concept of being a mother, but the thought of having Maxie's child sent a curious thrill through her. She pictured an infant with the dark solemn eyes of its father, or perhaps the same fiery hair and inhaled sharply. This was really happening...

"May are you alright? You're crying dear."

Her cheeks were indeed wet when she reached up to touch her face and she hastily scrubbed them away with the back of her hand. "Yeah I'm okay, really I am," she said, smothering a hiccough. "Just, ah fuck – just trying to process this. I mean I'm – I'm going to be a mom."

"And you'll be a wonderful one at that," the doctor replied with a kindly smile. "Now then, we'll need to prepare accordingly. It's still very early yet, but I'd like to put you on a prenatal vitamin and you'll have to monitor your diet a little more closely from now on according to my instructions. And obviously you have to stop taking your contraceptives."

"Okay, that should be easy enough. How – how long do you think until I start showing?"

"Hm you're at a bit of a disadvantage there I'm afraid being so small. I'd say about a month and a half and it'll start getting tricky to hide."

"Sweaters it is then. Should I be worried about physical constraints?"

"Not for a good while yet. You're quite an athletic individual normally, as long as you limit your high intensity aerobic exercise and increase your energy intake everything should be fine."

"Right, okay that's doable. I can do this, right?"

"Of course you can. You're handling this remarkably well all things considered you know," Villiard said with a dry smile.

"I shouldn't be this happy."

"Of course you should, and you're not alone in this. Don't forget that."

"Thank you so much Doctor. I don't know how I can repay you for all your help."

"Hm perhaps consider Marcus for a middle name and we'll call it square."

"Deal."

The Doctor laughed and May smiled, looking down at herself. For the first time in months she felt vim and vigour flowing through her limbs and sat up just a little be straighter. She felt strong, she felt determined and most of all she felt fiercely protective. Where just this morning the thought of Ardos and Cipher had made her cower and quiver now she wanted to bare her teeth and dare them to try their hand.

May knew immediately that she was dreaming.

She was surrounded by trees, tall and pale with their massive trunks encased in ice and their branches piercing the winter fog, a thicket of ebony spears in the shroud of mist. Her arms and feet were bare, just as they had been the last time she'd visited this dreamscape, and as before she felt no cold, nor could she scent the pines around her or feel the snow beneath her feet.

The Earth's disciple has found her fire again.

May turned and found the ruby eyes waiting for her. The Absol stood just a few feet from her, snowy mane rippling softly in a breeze she could not feel. The canid walked forward, leaving no tracks until it was hairsbreadth from her and pressed the gem on its brow to her belly. Unafraid May lifted her hand and traced her fingers along the razor sharp edge of the spectre's scythe-like horn.

Yes

A fire growing within. Came the breathy reply. It was, as before, an airy blend of two voices one male, one female one never quite overtaking the other. But your fate has not changed.

The Absol pulled back and turned away, walking into the ghostly trees. May followed as the world behind was swallowed up by the silver fog until the trees cleared and they came to the crest of the cliff again. The valley floor still burned with Groundon's mark and the sky above with lit with the undulating green aurora, shot through with its shimmering ribbons of emerald and gold. Her army stood silently below, still waiting. The Absol gazed down at them, eyes glowing with that eerie fire.

You let yourself become meek and complacent these past few moons. You let others take up the fight.

I know

There will be a price to pay for that. The Earth will listen to you, and you alone. The Sea and Sky will respect no one else. It is you that must lead the fight.

What can I do? How can I fight an enemy that hides? How do I fight something I cannot see?

They will not stay hidden for much longer. Your enemy will strike hard and fast...and soon. They have had time now, time to build their army again and to perfect their own weapons.

What do you mean?

The crimson eyes were almost sad as the Absol turned to face her. You are not the only one of your kind anymore. Your enemy has used his time wisely and has stolen away one of your greater assets to be used against you. The Sea was only in chains before...now it has a master to crack the whip.

...David.

Yes. It is now more important than ever that you play your part as the Earth's champion. You must fight.

I know, but -

You are a warrior, you always have been even if it was a reluctant one. The Absol's lips skinned back over its teeth in a vicious snarl. Show them the ferocity of the mother! Show them what happens when they dare threaten the blood of your blood! Strike them down and do not fear. You are strong and so is your cub. Make the world a safe one for it to be born in to.

Maxie rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve the tension that had built up from spending the day hunched over maps and military documents. Steven was, understandably growing impatient – David and Eldes had yet to return and time was beginning to run out. The citizens, frightened though they were, would only tolerate being under martial law for so long before there would be some sort of back lash. So, they had spent the day coming up with potential plans of attack, targeting the known Cipher bases of operations based on their level of activity. It was exhausting.

Flicking open the top two buttons of his jacket he stepped into his sleeping quarters. He was smiled tiredly at the sight of May sleeping in their bed and was pleased to notice the healthy colour in her face – when Liam had told him that she'd been feeling ill this morning he'd been worried, but slumbering peacefully here she exuded a healthy glow. Stripping off his jacket he carefully eased himself down onto the bed, taking care not to disturb his sleeping fiance. Despite his care she sighed deeply and her eyes fluttered open. She seemed not to take notice of his presence at first, looking deep in thought with a fiercely determined expression on her face. It was a look he was very familiar with – he'd seen it on every occasion that she'd battled him, every time she faced him down without fear, but it was a look he had not seen in quite some time. It made him take heart that his lovely girl was getting her spirit back again. Finally she seemed to realize he was there next to her and the fierceness faded into a soft, warm look though it was tinged with an odd sort of melancholy. For a moment their depth seemed endless, lit by an odd iridescence all their own and it struck him how much it reminded him of the the heavy, ancient gazes of both Groudon and the Absol that had haunted him for so long.

"May are you alright?"

"Yes, just tired," she replied softly as she nestled herself into his side. "When did you get here?"

"Not even two minutes ago," he said, biting back a yawn. "How are you feeling? Liam told me you weren't doing to well this morning."

"Oh yes, just a touch of the flu. Dr. Villiard gave me the all clear."

"Good," he murmured, laying himself down so that she could rest her head on his chest. She had already closed her eyes again and was drifting back to sleep. He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead before settling down so he could follow her into Morpheus' realm. One thing was certain, something had changed for May – what it was he did not know, but he was grateful that it brought some of her old spark back. Meek and mild were not words he liked to associate with his paramour. He loved the fierce and fiery girl who fought like a lioness but had the gentlest of hearts. Smiling, he slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

It was not to last however.

The shriek of the alarm system had both of them sitting bolt upright. Maxie leapt out of the bed, pulling on his jacket while May rose not far behind him, keeping close behind as he ran towards the war room where most of the League had already assembled. The screens were alight with various alarms and radar systems that were pulsating brightly.

"What's going on?" Maxie demanded as he and May stood next to Steven, trying to make sense of the situation unfolding in front of them.

"We're getting reports of an attack on Rustboro, shots have been fired and the enemy has been engaged – we're trying to get a live feed up as we speak."

"What sort of numbers are they up against?"

"Difficult to say, but it seems to be a small contingent though they're heavily armed."

Even as Steven spoke their main monitor flickered to life showing the grainy image of Rustboro, a street not all that far from the trainer school except it was void of boisterous children, now wreathed in the fog of war. Men and women in uniform shot at each other, voices high and frantic over the fierce tattoo of automatic gun fire. There was an explosion nearby and the camera was thrown on its side from the force of it. Maxie set his jaw – he sincerely hoped that camera wasn't attached to the helmet of a soldier. "Send in reinforcements, I want every regiment within a hundred leagues headed for Rustoboro!"

"Already dispatched!"

Out of the corner of his eye Maxie noticed May stiffen before she moved to stand in front of their seismic equipment. Not a moment later another alarm shrieked through the caverns as the needles on one of the seismographs started to jitter wildly, leaving stark peaks of ink in its wake. "May, where is that sensor?"

"Just off the south coast of Mossdeep!"

Tabitha moved to May's side and swore violently. "That's at least a 6.0 on the Richter, we need to issue a tsunami warning for Mossdeep and Sootopolis!"

"Impossible, the tectonic plates in that area aren't conducive to making an earthquake of that magnitude," Maxie growled. "How could it -"

"It's not an earthquake."

May's voice was barely above a murmur and he very nearly dismissed the strange mutter, but when he looked at her he saw dreaded comprehension in her eyes that was slowly turning into a dawning horror. "We need to shut everything down, now!"

"What!? Are you mad we need to command the ground troops -"

"That's going to be really fucking hard to do if we're all dead Steven!" May snapped and started shutting down any equipment within reach despite multiple protests. "Shut it down, everything and tell everyone to stay quiet - no one speaks, no one moves!"

Before anyone could say another word she turned and bolted. Maxie swore and turned to Steven who looked completely at a loss. "Do what she says – now!" he barked before following May's wild run through the tunnels. The lights snapped off behind him as he run, plunging him into ever geowing darkness as he followed May's trail. He found her in the magma chamber, rounding the corner just in time to see her withdrawing Groudon into his pokéball. She hugged the orb close to her chest and turned to face him. "May what's going on?"

"Rustboro's a distraction," she whispered, her eyes taking on a strange gleam in the light of the magma pool. "So that they could find us."

"How would they -"

He was abruptly cut off as a tremor pulsed through the ground beneath his feet, shuddering through every inch of the caverns around him until the stones were growling at him from all directions. Above the deep, discontented rumbling of the earth came a long, echoing call. It was almost melodious at the beginning, a deep throated song that rose and fell, cresting like the ocean's waves, but the bell-like note quickly became distorted, wavering as it slid to an off-pitch that turned hard and grating by its ending. When the song stopped so did the earth's trembling, only to start again as it was sung out anew. All the while May stood with Groudon's pokéball clutched to her chest, fighting to keep the titan contained within the red and white sphere that twitched violently and started to glow red from the building heat. May held on doggedly, not appearing to be bothered by what had to be intense heat gathering between her palms, but instead gazed at the ceiling, lips skinned back over her teeth in a savage, but silent snarl.

Slowly the songs lessened in volume and frequency until everything fell still and silent once again. Groudon's pokéball stopped moving and slowly the glow faded. May let out a long, low sigh and her shoulders drooped wearily. "Damn him."

"May...what the bloody hell just happened?"

"Kyogre," May growled as she clipped Groudon's pokéball to her belt. "Rustboro was a distraction to get us as riled up down here as possible so Kyogre could find us. It can sense the electronics we have down here and it can sense that Groudon is awake. Those two are ancient enemies, Groudon wanted to fight but he would have given us away."

"But I thought they didn't have anyone who could control Kyogre – you were supposed to be its handler."

"They found someone."

Maxie immediately noted the deep sadness in May's eyes and saw her lower lip quiver as she spoke. He felt dread coiling deep in his chest. "...David."

"No one else could possibly control a shadow pokémon that wild."

"Damn...Damn," Maxie growled, dragging a hand through his hair. "We can't stay down here in the dark, we need the generators just to circulate the air down here."

"The sea is Kyogre's domain, we'll be at its mercy if we stay down here...that said its moved off for the moment, still searching for us. This might be our only window of opportunity."

"To do what exactly?"

"Relocate."

"Where May? Cipher has bases everywhere on the mainland, we're outnumbered and out-positioned, and now you're telling us the sea isn't safe either. This is what Ardos wants, he's trying to smoke us out – we'll be stepping right into his net."

"Then we'll rip right through it."

"May, that's easy to say but think about it – we only have narrow escape tunnels to the surface, it'll funnel us and Ardos can pick us off as we come up. He'll be waiting for us, whether Kyogre is there or not and even if we managed to push our way through, what then, where do we go?"

"Away from the sea – that's where his advantage is."

Maxie frowned. May wasn't backing down on the issue and the urgency in her voice worried him. She hadn't been wrong yet, but they were running out of places to hide. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "The others have to hear this, come on."

"Maxie you know I'm right about this."

"I know, I just really wish you weren't."

Island Wolf: And there you have it. I'm pretty pleased with this chapter, finally getting back into the meat of it, May's back to her usual self now that her character crisis has been solved and her new one has just begun :P