October 5th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
(May's POV)
The next morning I decided to wake up early and check my email since I had a bad habit of not checking it often. The only email that I saw was from Lizzy. After talking to her last week, I gave her my email so she could keep in touch with me. Right now, she was practicing for the Verdanturf Town Contest to attempt her third ribbon. Sadly, she lost in the final round at the Rustboro City Contest. The contest was in a few days and she was practicing hard. I had to keep writing to her to stay calm and do her best.
After I finished emailing her back, I changed, put my pokeballs in my pocket, grabbed my backpack, and went into the kitchen to have a cheddar cheese omelet for breakfast, and to be on the safe side, I made extras.
As I made my omelet, my mind went over what has happened in the past week. I missed class to recover from Brandi's stupid stunt, I didn't get out of bed I hurt so much. I'm pretty sure the girls did something to scare Brandi because when I went back to class on Wednesday, she didn't bother me at all. This past weekend was actually awesome because I didn't have any missions. Mostly what I did was I went to a secret spot to train martial arts with Blaziken and Riolu and started doing yoga and pilates again to get my injured leg in shape and I felt good from doing it.
I noticed the omelets were done so I put the others on plates in the kitchen before taking mine to the table to start eating when everyone else started to trickle in.
"What are you eating Lin?" Leaf asked.
"Cheddar cheese omelet."
"Aww, it looks so good," Ash complained.
I laughed at his antics, "You're lucky Ash, I just so happened to make extras today," I teased. "They're in the kitchen for whoever wants one."
Ash didn't need to be told twice and quickly raced into the kitchen to grab one. Everyone else followed Ash's lead and grabbed one as well.
"Theivs vare awesum Lin," Ash said with his mouth full causing Misty to hit him on the head with her mallet.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," she scolded.
I shook my head at the table while smiling at their antics. All of a sudden I was hit with a headache that felt like someone stabbed a nail in my head making me clutch my head in pain.
"Lin are you okay?" Dawn asked seeing me clutch my head.
After a few more seconds passed, the headache disappeared but I had a feeling something somewhere just happened.
"I'm fine now Dawn, I just got hit with a sudden headache," I said before finishing my omelet.
"You sure you're okay?" Leaf asked.
"I'm fine, no need to worry," I said with a smile, using Dawn's unique phrase.
After we finished eating, we went to homeroom. I sat in my seat and started to doodle in my notebook when suddenly an image of some weird pictures inside of a cave appeared in my head, "The time has come," the mysterious voice said before everything disappeared.
"Lin?" someone said while snapping their fingers in my face. "You in there?"
I shook my head snapping myself out of it, "I'm here Dawn," I voiced.
"Hurry up, the bell rang ending homeroom," Dawn said and left to go to English with Misty and Ash.
I gathered my stuff and started heading to Math with Drew next to me, "Isn't it a little too early for you to already act out of it Marigold," he teased.
I groaned, "Seriously grasshead, back to the different flowers, what happened to calling me Lin?" I asked annoyed.
He flicked his hair and smirked, "Your name is hard to remember," he teased.
I frowned, "You just choose to never listen to me," I said and stalked off to math leaving him behind.
Throughout the morning, I just couldn't focus on anything. I kept thinking about Drew and Brandi annoying me along with the mysterious voice that was plaguing my thoughts. Finally it was lunch and I grabbed a salad with Dawn. We headed to the usual table to find everyone else there.
Again my thoughts wandered off and Dawn snapped her fingers in my face, "Lin at this rate, I think Misty might need to use her mallet," Dawn said tiredly.
"Sorry Dawn, my mind has been elsewhere all day," I said before eating a bite of my salad.
"So the loser can't keep her thoughts together, I always knew you were dumb but not this stupid," Brandi said slyly.
"I think you need to leave, otherwise my friends might ripe you to shreds," I reminded.
"Ehh," she said in a bored tone. "I thought the conversation was about you being dumb and stupid."
I sighed, I really didn't want to hear this, "Okay Misty, for once, I give you my blessing to do what you wish," I said before taking a bite of my salad.
Misty looked as if she was given every water pokemon in the world, she smiled evilly while sneaking over to Brandi and hit her hard with her mallet.
"Ow that hurt!" Brandi cried and ran away clutching her head.
Misty gave me a hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," she said repeatedly.
"You're welcome Misty, now can you please stop crushing me?" I asked in a strained voice.
"Sorry," she said as she sat back down and continued to eat.
"This is scary, Misty is acting like Ash when you give him chocolate, when does this happen?" Leaf asked scared.
"When you give her a chance to do violence of course," I said with a smile.
The bell then rang ending lunch and I went to Chem to get lost in my thoughts again with Drew calling me Iris to snap me out of it.
"My name is Lin," I hissed. I think he took a step backward in our friendship because he called me everything but my name but that was my opinion.
Drew walked away back to his lab station and I fell back into my thoughts causing me to almost mix the wrong chemicals during our lab. Thankfully, Misty stopped me and finished the lab without me screwing up.
"Lin you are really out of it, even Drew teasing you doesn't keep you in this world for very long," Misty said tiredly once we meet up with everyone after fifth hour. "What's it gonna take for you to stay here."
Dawn smiled cheekily, "Maybe something drastic like a kiss," Dawn teased making a slight gesture to Drew making his cheeks turn pink.
I was still thinking about the voice and the cave when until I snapped out of it when I felt my head explode in pain, "OW!" I shouted as I covered my injured head with my hands.
"Sorry Lin, but if Dawn mentioning Drew to kiss you wouldn't make you snap out of it, then I…," Misty said shortly before looking concerned. "You wanna tell us what's bothering you?"
I shook my head. What could I tell them? They would never believe that a mysterious voice would talk to me and they would be just as confused with what it was saying as I was.
"You sure?" Leaf asked.
"I'm sure, I'll see you guys later," I said as I walked away for an open area on campus.
Since it was a Tuesday, I had a free period so I sat next to an oak tree and pulled out a notebook of which I wrote down phrases that are stuck in my head in an attempt to write a few songs.
I heard the bell ring signaling it was time for contest class, suddenly Mr. Stone walked up to me.
"Miss Mason, something has come up, Professor Elm was robbed this morning and would like you to come and investigate," he said sternly.
"What about class?" I asked.
"I'll tell Solidad that you are busy," he said and walked away to teach the battle class that everyone else had who wasn't in coordinating.
I quickly went to my room and changed into my mission outfit while grabbing a few gadgets and my pokeballs.
I talked into the ear bud communicator to Max, "Hey Max, do you have a ride for me to Professor Elm's?" I asked.
"Yup, Winona will meet you at the airport in a few minutes."
"Thanks Max," I said and then stepped outside while activating my rocket skates and skated to the airport.
By the time I got there, I saw Winona with her two-passenger plane, "Thanks for the lift," I said as we took off.
"It's not a problem, I had to fly to Johto to visit a friend anyways!" she shouted over the wind.
As we flew over the ocean, I took in the scenery and pokemon I could see. I kept thinking about the mysterious voice and the image that popped up in my head.
Before I knew it, we were over New Bark Town, "You ready May?" Winona shouted.
"Yes," I shouted back. Winona then flipped her plane so I could freefall to the lab. Once in range, I pulled the ring to release the parachute and guide myself down.
After landing on the ground, I felt déjà vu. I was here little over a month ago coming to investigate a break-in, I walked toward the lab wondering what got stolen this time.
"Professor Elm, do you know what was stolen?" I asked as I walked into the lab.
"From what I discovered after seeing the damage, the things stolen were some important files along with a small piece of map that I found a few days ago at Mt. Silver. This is unfortunate because I was gonna studying it today because I finally had some free time. Now I'll never know what was on the map," he said sadly.
"Professor, where were the map and the files?" I asked.
"They were in here in the main lab in this desk drawer, but I keep it locked constantly," he explained.
I noticed a security camera that covered the area of the desk and then some, "Max, can you pull security footage to see if we can see the thief?"
"Give me a second," he said as he typed fast on his computer. "Got it, the thief stole the files and map around 7:15 AM this morning."
That's around the same time I got that painful headache, "Can you stream the footage to me?"
"Yup, here it is," he said as he clicked a button to start playing the footage. It showed a woman entering the lab with her face away from the camera and used a black tulip to open the drawer. It was the same woman who stole from Professor Oak.
"Have you been able to find anything on this Domino character yet?"
"No, it's like she doesn't exist, but I'll keep searching though. I guess we can't do anything for the time being."
I sighed before turning to Professor Elm, "The thief who stole from you also stole from Professor Oak last month. Unfortunately my brother and I have not been able to track her down yet," I explained.
"That's okay May, I should have locked it up better, but I know you'll find it eventually," he said optimistically.
"I will," I said firmly with a smile. "I'll see you later professor."
"Have a good day May," he said before I went outside to rocket skate to the nearest airport.
Team Rocket Headquarters
(No One's POV)
A man in an orange suit walked down a blank hallway with his loyal Persian lingering beside him. He reached an automatic door that led him inside a lab.
"Have you found anything yet Professor Sebastian?" the man in the orange suit asked.
"We have read part of the prophecy, but we can't do anything til we locate the Orange Diamond of Light. At least that is what we decoded off the first part of the map with the Ruby of Fire," he reported.
"Hmm…," the man in the orange suit said as he then walked to the lab intercom.
"009, please report to the lab," he commanded.
A few minutes later, Domino came in, "You called for me sir."
"I need you to locate the next key," he said with an evil grin.
October 12th (Ruins of Alph, Johto)
(May's POV)
I was currently being driven to the Ruins of Alph by Violet City's Nurse Joy who was a distance cousin to the Petalburg City's Nurse Joy. Since the theft last week, nothing much occurred except for Gary's birthday on Saturday. He went to visit his grandpa and go to some science talk convention thing. As for me, I spent all my free time with my pokemon and working on that one new song that I just finished.
"Here we are," Nurse Joy said pleasantly as she stopped the car.
"Thanks for the ride Nurse Joy," I said as I stepped out.
"It was no problem May, thanks for helping out with some of the pokemon. You sure have learned a lot about medicine these past few years," she praised.
"It's hard not to learn when you live in a Pokemon Center," I said with a smile.
"Take care May," she said and then drove away.
I turned to look at the ruins and call Max from my earbud communicator, "Hey Max you picking up anything from inside the ruins?"
"I'm picking up heat levels of a person deep in the ground, it somewhat possesses the figure of this Domino character."
"Well, she shouldn't be here, this is property of the lab that is nearby so I'll have to wait for her to surface before taking what she's trying to steal."
"Well, you certainly don't have to wait long, the person is coming up. They should be coming out of a cave on the left."
"Thanks Max," I said and stood behind a rock to wait for the person to come out.
It was Domino who came out of the cave and it looked like she was holding some sort of orange gem.
I stepped out from behind the rock and took a battle stance, "You know you aren't supposed to take what isn't yours," I said.
"Oh please, finders' keepers," she retorted as she took out a black tulip and threw it at me.
I jumped out of the way to dodge it only to find she threw another one at me. I kept dodging them as I closed the gap between us. Before she could throw another at me, I knocked the gem out of her hand and started fighting hand to hand. I swept low with my leg causing her to fall on her back, but she then swung her legs to knock me over. We both stood up and continued to fight.
"I don't have time for this," she huffed and punched me in the nose causing me to clutch it in pain. She then swung low to make me fall and ran to grab the gem.
"Better luck next time sweetheart," she said as a helicopter flew over with a rope ladder hanging from it. She jumped up onto the rope ladder and starting climbing while the helicopter flew away.
When I thought things couldn't get any worse, my friends the PHPA agents showed up with a few scientists from the nearby lab. Great, just great.
"May, are you okay?" Leaf asked as I took my red bandanna and held it to my nose which was now bleeding.
"I'm fine," I said in a nasally voice.
"So ya lose again?" Drew teased.
I glared at him, "Shut up grasshead, I'd like to see you get punched in the nose," I snapped in a nasally voice.
Suddenly that mysterious voice came into my head, "Read the prophecy," it said and then disappeared.
"May you okay?" Misty asked concerned.
"Yea, sorry, I was thinking back at what the thief took," I lied.
"What did she take?" a scientist asked.
"She took an orange looking gem," I said. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"No, there shouldn't be any gems around here," the scientist said.
"You probably saw her take a Fire Stone airhead," Drew decided.
"I know what I saw grasshead and it wasn't a Fire Stone," I snapped.
"May, it probably was, Fire Stones along with others are common around here," Gary said.
"I know what I saw," I argued. "You know what, I don't have time for this. Max, you have a ride?"
"Should be hovering above you any second."
As soon as he said it, a helicopter hovered over and dropped a rope ladder, "May, wait!" Leaf shouted.
I quickly climbed up the ladder ignoring Leaf, buckled up while putting on a head set, and signaled to the pilot to leave.
I saw that the champion Cynthia was the one responsible for giving me a ride, "Thanks for the ride Cynthia," I said gratefully while taking out the earbud communicator and shutting it off so Max couldn't hear.
"It's no problem May," she said.
"Can you do a small favor for me and drop me off at Mt. Coronet? Also, do you have a first aid kit?" I asked.
"Sure, I was actually heading back home anyways," she said and handed me a first aid kit that was in the helicopter.
"Jeeves, can you change course to Mt. Coronet?" she asked while I cleaned and fixed my nose.
"Certainly Miss Cynthia," he said and changed course.
The reason I asked for the ride to Mt. Coronet was because this voice kept telling me to go there and I'm wondering what this prophecy is about. While on the way there, my mind slipped back to Domino. what was the connection in stealing map pieces and what did she want with that gem? After a few hours, we finally arrived at Mt. Coronet and I told Jeeves to land the helicopter at this big cave near the top of the mountain.
"Thanks again Cynthia."
"You're welcome May, good luck," she said and soon the helicopter left the ground.
I turned around to face the entrance of the cave. I then noticed above the cave was a weird symbol. I cautiously started walking inside but couldn't see anything.
"Blaziken come on out," I said tossing his pokeball.
He looked at me, "Think you can help out with some light?" I asked.
"Blaze," he said and fire appeared on his wrists to act like a pokemon flashlight.
"Thanks Blaziken," I said before continuing to walk in the cave.
I continued to walk til I reached a wall and what looked like a keyhole, "Use the key in your pocket," the mystery voice said.
That scared me, how did the voice know I had my key pendant in my pocket? I had a feeling that I should bring it with me today, but I never knew that it would need to be used.
I took the key pendant out of my pocket and inserted it in the keyhole and turned it causing a rock door next to it to slide open. I cautiously went inside to see a room with a bunch of pictographs on it just like the image I had from last week. They looked as if it was telling a story.
"This is the story of my being along with your ancestors," the mysterious voice said aloud.
"What is the story?" I asked.
"The story begins hundreds of years ago, when I was in the living in the world and there was peace. One day an evil man came and wanted to capture me for evil purposes. I was able to get away, but I was injured badly til a girl about your age came and healed me to back health. She was known for her herbal skills along with her voice that was beautiful and powerful. In gratitude, I gave her a flute to guard that would be the only way to summon me and turned it into the key you used to open the door. She vowed that she would guard the key and thus causing your family to be my guardian. Over generations, the responsibility has passed on to reach you and for your prophecy to be written," the mysterious voice said.
"What is my prophecy?" I asked.
What once happened hundreds of years before
Shall take place again once more
Where descendants of good and evil stand to face
Who may shall save all time and space
The map that was scattered across creation
Piece by piece shall reveal Arceus' home location
The gems of elements that show the pieces' position
Come into play with another condition
The one with beautiful voice whose home is unknown
Each time the voice is played their location will be more known
When gems are in place combined with flute and song
Then may who shall call the one gone for so long
Though one may suffer by loss of family who protected and died
Shall discover herself and no longer need to hide
Though the hero may will win the fight
Evil will sicken the one who contains song and light
That the one may die to save all then
May or may not rise to live again.
After the mysterious voice finished speaking, I was too shocked to speak. After a minute, I was able to regain control and find my voice.
"So I take it that you are Arceus and I'm the only one who can call you?" I asked.
"That is correct."
Tears started to flow down my face, "Does that last part indicate that I will die?" I asked with my voice cracking.
Arceus went silent leaving my question unanswered which made the tears fall faster. I left the room with Blaziken and took the key out of the wall causing the door to slide closed.
I slumped against the wall and fell to the ground and cried, Blaziken sat next to me with a sad look on his face; I couldn't take it anymore and cried loudly while hugging him.
"Blaze," he said sadly while holding me.
After I finished crying my eyes out, I stood up with Blaziken and made my way outside of the cave. I had no way to school. I couldn't call Max without explaining why I went to Mt. Coronet and I certainly wasn't gonna call my friends to see if they could get me.
"Let out your Swablu," Arceus said to me.
"Swablu come on out," I said sadly.
"Swablu," she said.
Suddenly a piece of candy appeared out of the sky, "Give this to Swablu and you will have a way back," he said.
I fed Swablu the candy and she then evolved into a beautiful Altaria, "Altaria," she said happily.
I gave her a small, sad smile and decided to let all my pokemon out, might as well tell everyone at once and not hide anything.
I let out Glaceon, Shinx, Riolu, Munchlax, and Skitty, "Guys, I have some sad news to tell you," I started to say but started crying all over again. "Blaziken, can you explain."
"Blaze," he said comfortingly and then explained to everyone what happened ten minutes ago. By the time he finished explaining, my pokemon started to cry in their pokemon language and all surrounded me in a hug.
By the time all of us finished crying, I returned everyone but Altaria, "Do you think you can take me to Hearthome City?" I asked her.
"Altaria," she said in a determined voice which made me smile a little.
After flying for an hour or so, Altaria and I finally reached the Hearthome City airport. I returned Altaria and bought a ticket to Lilycove City. After the plane took off, I thought back to the prophecy again and stopped at the parts that said map and gems. So does that means that each professor will find a piece of the map and there is a gem that goes with it? I don't know though; I'll try to do some more research on it later.
After a couple hours, I arrived in Lilycove City. I was still upset over the whole ordeal and didn't want to go back to the dorm just yet. I went to the beach on campus instead so I could sit down and try to calm myself before trying to face everyone. Except I couldn't calm down. This whole thing just turned my world upside down, I hugged my knees to my chest and let the tears fall.
After I was finally able to regain my composure, for the time being anyways, I checked my poketch to see that it was 8:30 PM and quickly went to the back of the dorm. I crawled up the tree to find Dawn not in the room so I slipped inside. I changed before going into the bathroom to clean up my tear streaked face so I didn't cause any suspicion. Then I went back down the tree, walked around to the front of the dorm, and came in to find everyone in the common room.
"Lin, where have you been? We were worried that you got kidnapped," Dawn said concerned.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I had to help in the Pokemon Center again."
"Lin are you okay, you look like you've been crying?" Leaf asked.
"Yea, I'm fine," I lied quietly as I made my way to make some tea while mentally hitting myself for not doing a better job with hiding my tear-streaked face.
"You know airhead, I bet you're still upset about me beating you in the contest battle from early today," he said arrogantly.
My tea finished brewing and I poured myself a mug, "Drew, just stop, I'm not in the mood," I said quietly feeling the tears build up in my face.
I quickly grabbed my mug and high-tailed it for my room before I caused a scene. I began to cry all over again as I sat on the bed. Who wants to be told that they are gonna save the world and then die, it's not fair.
Suddenly Skitty came out of her pokeball and began to comfort me by sitting on my lap.
"Thanks Skitty," I said quietly after finishing my tea.
I fell asleep on my bed with tears in my eyes as Skitty curled up next to me.
Team Rocket Headquarters
(No One's POV)
Domino went back to headquarters after snatching the gem and made her way to the boss's office.
She knocked on the door, "Enter," a man called from within.
She walked in, "I take it you found it," he said with his back facing her.
"Yes sir, it wasn't that hard to get," she said and placed the gem on his desk.
"Thank you 009, you may go," the man said with a wave of his hand.
Domino then left while the man turned around and pressed the intercom button, "Dr. Sebastian, please report to my office."
A few minutes later Dr. Sebastian came in, "You called me sir."
"My agent found the next key. Continue to find out what the map says," the man at the desk ordered.
"Yes sir," he said as he took the gem and left.
The man then turned stroked the Persian resting its head in his lap, "Now we are getting somewhere," he said evilly.