October 16th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
(May's POV)
"What do you mean we have nothing to stop this?! We have got to have something?" Dawn asked.
"We have no antidote hence we got nothing."
"So what do we do?" Misty asked.
I sighed, "Max and I are going to go to the Chem lab and work on a formula to get out of this mess," I said tiredly.
"We're coming with ya, no way are you leaving us behind. After all, our pokemon are at risk too," Leaf said as she stood up.
"All right, you guys and Max are with me. Everyone else could help Brock and Nurse Joy. They need all they can get with all these sick pokemon."
"I think that's a good idea," Johanna said as everyone stood up.
"Awesome, let's do this," I said as I grabbed my laptop, poketch, pokeballs, and all the berries and herbs I had before heading out the door with everyone helping carrying stuff.
Soon we walked to the Chem lab to find it locked, "How are we going get in?" Misty asked.
"We could break it down by kicking it," Ash suggested.
"Okay stop, no need to resort to vandalism here. Dawn, you got a bobby pin?" I asked.
"Yea, here ya go," she said as she pulled one from her hair.
"Thanks," I said as I broke it in two and started to pick the lock.
"Like you can pick a lock," Drew scoffed.
"Grasshead, I've been picking locks since I was eight, it's a skill," I said as I got the door open.
"Max, get your systems going," I said as I got my laptop up and started getting a bunch of beakers and such out along with putting on a lab coat with everyone else getting one as well.
"So what's your plan May?" Leaf asked.
"We're gonna hook up the overhead projector to Max's special microscope so we can all see what's happening. First, I want to take a peek at Piplup," I said.
Dawn soon came over with Piplup, "Piplup can you open your beak, I want to take a swab of your mouth and take a prick of blood, okay?" I asked him.
"Pip…lup," he said weakly while nodding.
I soon took a swab from inside his mouth and put it on a slide for Max. Then I took a thin needle and pricked his flipper to get a small drop of blood and put it on another slide.
Max can you pull up footage of a blood sample from the last epidemic?" I asked.
"Sure May," he said as he pulled a picture of a virus that was green with spikes all over attacking blood cells.
"Now to see what Piplup's blood looks like," I said as I put the slide under the microscope.
It showed an image of a bunch of green spiky virus's that were more misshapen and were turning the blood cells green and causing havoc all over.
"Oh…my…Mew, this is worse than the last epidemic," I said in shock.
"Oh Piplup," Dawn cried as she hugged Piplup with tears coming down her face.
"I've never seen anything like this," Leaf said scared. "This is terrible."
"Skitty come on out," I said while tossing her pokeball.
"Nya," she said.
I grabbed a beaker, "Can you put a little of your spit in here," I asked.
"Nya," she said and did as I asked while everyone was grossed out.
"That's disgusting May," Dawn complained.
I cut a bit of the bad Pokeblock and mixed it in with Skitty's spit before putting it on a slide to put underneath the microscope to observe.
We saw the virus come alive and start attacking good cells, "It is the Pokeblock. The virus comes alive at contact with saliva and attacks any good cells in sight," I confirmed.
"We already knew that airhead," Drew said.
I gave him a glare, "Drew, we have no clue how to stop this. We need to look at all possible aspects," I snapped.
"May, can you add some of the old antidote to Piplup's blood? I'm curious as to why it didn't work?" Misty asked.
I nodded in agreement and quickly mixed Oran and Sitrus Berries along with all healing weeds with a little Healing Potion. I added it to Piplup's blood sample to see what would happen. I looked under the microscope to see the meds were trying to penetrate the virus and it did somewhat, but a little fuzzy shield protected it and the virus was weakened a bit. Soon the medicine was overtaken by the virus.
"I don't get it. The things you used are the best healing sources of medicine for pokemon so why isn't it working?" Misty asked.
"Max, can you hack into Team Magma's database and do a search to find anything about this virus?" I asked.
"Sure May," he said and started to type super-fast.
We looked at the screen as he hacked into their database and pulled up a bunch of notes.
"All it says in their database are the words 'current' and 'balance'," Max said before everything disappeared.
"What happened?" I asked.
Max was clicking and typing like crazy, "They deleted the files out of existence," he said exasperated.
"Crap," I said through clenched teeth.
"Current and balance, what the heck are they talking about?" Leaf complained.
"Balance," I mumbled out loud before it struck me, how could I be so stupid!
"Stupid, stupid, stupid! I can't believe I almost overlooked that," I said incredulously.
"May, what the hell are you talking about?" Misty asked while looking at me like I was crazy.
"Dawn, what flavors are Oran and Sitrus Berries?" I asked.
She looked confused, "Oran is everything but sweet and Sitrus is everything but spicy," she said confused.
"Right," I said as I went to the white board and wrote it down:
Oran Sitrus
Spicy Sour
Sour Bitter
Bitter Dry
Dry Sweet
"What's the point of this May?" Leaf asked.
"Bear with me, what's wrong with this picture?" I asked.
"I don't see anything wrong with it, it seems balanced to me because they both have four flavors," Gary said.
"Look at it again when I put it like this," I said as I wrote on the white board again:
Oran Sitrus
Spicy
Sour Sour
Bitter Bitter
Dry Dry
Sweet
"There's an off balance in flavors," Leaf said.
"Exactly, each type of flavor helps with a certain trait for battles, contests, and personality. It also has a certain healing trait," I explained.
"So there needs to be a balance of flavor of healing berries, but what about current?" Max said.
"I've got it, the fuzzy shield looked like electricity," Misty said.
"Meaning that the medicine needs to be charged to take down the shield," Leaf added.
"Then the balance of berry flavors can attack and destroy the virus," Dawn continued.
"While the weeds and Healing Potion heals the pokemon back to health," I finished.
"Making that the perfect balanced antidote," all of girls said at the same time while doing a high five.
"Who know our girlfriends were so smart," Gary said.
"May, you have a call coming through," Max said as he saw my computer with an incoming call screen.
I accepted the call and it showed Lizzy who looked tired and depressed.
"Have you found an antidote yet?" she asked tired.
"We might have something, but we don't know if it will work," I reported.
She looked ready to cry, "Please hurry, I've heard the death count here has reached 300 in Hoenn. 500 if you count all over the world and this is in three hours, please hurry," she cried.
"We'll do our best Lizzy," I said and ended the call.
"My Mew, 500 pokemon are dead in three hours!" Dawn cried.
"Have faith Dawn, we are so close to the antidote," I said excitedly.
"May, how do you we get the shock? It's impossible to do that to medicine," Leaf said.
"That's not necessarily true. I've learned a medicine technique from a woman named Katie when I was traveling through Kanto years ago. Her technique should do just the trick," I assured.
I made the medicine containing bitter Aguav, spicy Figy, sour Iapapa, sweet Mago, and dry Wiki berries to create the healing balance. Then I added Remeyo, Salveyo, and Revival weeds to blend with the berries. Lastly, I added a little Healing Potion. After everything was mixed, I put it in a jar and corked it with a metal type double prong in the jar within the liquid and a single prong sticking out.
"Alright Shinx, let's go," I said as I tossed his pokeball.
"Shinx," he said determined.
"Use Thunderbolt."
"Shinx," he shouted and used Thunderbolt on the single metal prong to charge down to the double to create a current and charge the medicine. After thirty seconds, it looked done.
"You can stop Shinx," I said as uncorked the jar and took an eye dropper of medicine and placed it on the slide with Piplup's blood.
It showed the medicine, with being supercharged, attacking the virus's shield. Then it was attacking the virus itself and soon the cells were turning back to normal by the different healing weeds and Healing Potion.
"Now for the real test," I said as I took an eye dropper full and dropped the medicine in Piplup's mouth for him to drink. After a minute, color returned to his face and his fever broke. Soon he stood up proud, "Piplup," he said proudly with a flipper on his chest.
"Yes!" we all said excitedly as we hugged and high fived.
"You did it May," Dawn said as she gave me a hug.
"We all did it, but our job is far from over," I said grimly. "Call your pokemon out and start giving them the medicine. Max, give them your Kirlia to heal and make a list of all cities hit with the virus and number of cases in each, and I'll make more medicine."
Soon we did our tasks. I made three more jars of medicine, everyone healed their pokemon, and Max found that there were cases in all regions meaning to be safe, medicine should be distributed to each city.
"You guys take this medicine and go start healing pokemon here. Gary, Ash, Dawn, may I borrow your Electivire, Pikachu, and Pachirisu. I'm gonna need all the electrical energy I can get to make enough medicine," I said.
"Sure May," they said as they handed over their pokemon and sprinted down the hall.
I continued to make more jars of medicine. I made three more with Shinx before he started looking exhausted. I switched over to Pikachu who made about seven more, Pachirisu made six, and Electivire made ten. Soon Max and I had Kirlia teleport some of the jars to the cities closer to Lilycove. Then I split the medicine from the remaining jars in half for Kirlia to distribute to other cities. I continued to make medicine all afternoon and soon saw that it was 5:00 and I was tired. I fed the pokemon Oran Berries to regain their energy and went to my laptop to call the champions.
"May, what news do you have for us?" Wallace asked as he added the other champions to the call.
"My friends and I discovered the antidote. We've distributed it everywhere so hopefully this virus will end soon," I said tiredly. "I'll also write up a short paper as to explain this whole incident so we don't have to be unprepared again."
"Good May, we'll tell everyone to get to a Pokemon Center if any pokemon are ill and need treatment," Cynthia said.
"If you want to also tell the Nurse Joys if they need any more medicine, have them message me."
"We will do that May, thanks again," they said as they hung up on the call.
"We should go see how everyone is doing," I said to Max.
"Yea, I'm curious as to how all the pokemon are doing," he agreed.
I returned all the pokemon and Pikachu hopped up on my shoulder. Max and I then walked to the school Pokemon Center to find everyone there. Many of the trainers and their pokemon were fully healed and left.
I saw Brock sitting at the front desk looking exhausted, "How many people are here?" I asked.
"Only a few are left, we closed the city Pokemon Center and everyone is here. The only cases here are just normal medical issues" he said tiredly.
"Brock, I can take over for tonight. Why don't you and Nurse Joy take a rest and come back in the morning," I suggested.
"Could you do that?" he asked.
"I'm pretty well trained, I think I'll be fine."
"Thanks May, I'm going go home and sleep. I'll find Nurse Joy to tell her she can go home," he said as left the desk to find her and everyone else came up to the front.
"Is everyone okay?" I asked as I returned Ash, Dawn, and Gary their pokemon.
"Yes, though I think everyone is tired," Leaf said.
"You guys can go back to the dorm and rest, you deserve it."
"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked.
"I'm watching the Pokemon Center since Nurse Joy and Brock are exhausted and need to rest," I explained.
"May, you can't stay here by yourself," Misty said concerned. "I'll stick here with ya, we all will."
"Why not, it'll be fun," Dawn said cheerfully.
Suddenly a call was coming from my poketch, "I'll be back in a little bit you guys," I said.
"Hi Wallace, what can I do for you?" I asked.
"May I was wondering if you could help me and the champions out with a favor?" he asked.
"Sure, what is it?" I asked.
"Could you come up with a tribute to the pokemon who died tomorrow before we begin the Wallace Cup?" he asked.
I was speechless, "What?" I asked in slight shock.
"Can you put together a tribute?" he repeated. "I saw your appeal yesterday and I believe that you could put something together."
I was still speechless, "I'll try," I said after I found my voice.
"Thanks May, I know you'll do a great job," he said and signed off.
Oh…my…Mew, how in the world am I gonna be able to get away with this.
I walked back to the desk in thought making everyone look concerned, "May, you in there?" Leaf asked.
I nodded my head, "I'm here."
"What was the call about?" Dawn asked.
"Wallace wanted to ask me a favor," I said as I sat at the desk and leaned over on my elbows while rubbing my face in my hands.
"What did he want?" Misty asked.
"I'll tell you about it later," I said before standing again. "I better check to see how the pokemon are doing."
The pokemon were doing fine and around 7:00, things quieted down so everyone went to grab food. I volunteered to stay behind and watch the center. While doing so, I typed up the paper about the virus and the antidote. After I finished typing and sending it off to multiple people, I started thinking about what to do for the tribute.
I figured out the song, but I didn't want to just play it or sing it while involving just the Hoenn region. I wanted to involve all the regions since everyone was affected.
"Hey May, you hungry?" Dawn asked.
"That's it!" I shouted excitedly scaring everyone to death, I figured out what to do for the tribute.
"Sweet Arceus May, what's with the excitement?" Leaf asked shakily.
"I've figured out what to for the favor I was asked by Wallace. Girls, can you help me out?" I asked happily.
"Mind telling us airhead?" Drew asked.
"Nope, the girls and I are keeping this a secret and we have a lot of work to do so until 10:30, you guys are in charge of the Pokemon Center. We'll take over afterwards. Max, can I borrow Kirlia?" I asked.
"I guess," he said hesitantly as he handed over his pokeball.
"Thanks Max," I said as I let Kirlia out, "Can you teleport me and the girls to the place I'm thinking of?" I asked.
"Kirlia," he said and teleported me and the girls to the Lilycove City arena where the Wallace Cup was to happen tomorrow.
"Thank you Kirlia, return," I said as the girls looked confused.
"So what are we doing here May?" Misty asked.
"The favor that Wallace asked of me is to put together a tribute for the pokemon who died before we begin the Wallace Cup," I explained.
"No wonder you were in thought earlier, that's a huge task for ya," Leaf said.
"So here's the plan," I said and explained what I was thinking.
"That's a beautiful idea May, it's meaningful and symbolic," Dawn said happily.
"So will you help me?" I asked.
"Do you even need to ask?" Misty retorted.
I nodded, "Dawn can you take care of the dresses, remember what I said about them," I reminded.
"Gotcha May," she said happily.
"Leaf, I'll let you design the center piece and research the names of all the pokemon who passed," I confirmed.
"You got it."
"Misty you're gonna help me record the music," I finalized.
"Alright."
"We'll meet back here at 9:30, Kirlia will teleport you back here from where you are," I explained.
Soon we split off and did what we were assigned. Dawn was able to hunt for our dresses even this late at night. Leaf put together a center piece of roses and carnations. The design was about a hundred different colored roses and carnations in a circle with four candle holders equally distanced around for us girls to place our candles. In front of each candle was a decorated board of all the names of the pokemon who died, then there were more flowers circling around in between the placements of the candles. Misty and some music engineers helped record all the music needed for the song which sounded incredible in her opinion. In addition to the music, I was able to accomplish a few more details.
Soon it was 9:30 and Kirlia teleported all of us back together, "Did you guys finish everything?" I asked.
"Yup, got the dresses here," Dawn said as she showed us the bags.
"The center piece is right behind you guys," Leaf said and we turned around.
"Leaf, it's beautiful," I said happily.
"Did you record the music?" Dawn asked.
"Yup and it sounds amazing," Misty said happily.
"Okay, we just need to practice singing. Well…..you guys, I'll sing tomorrow because….you know," I said.
We went to the dressing room that was given for me to use tomorrow and hung up our dresses.
"Kirlia, can you teleport us somewhere quiet so we can practice?" I asked.
"Kirlia," he said and teleported us to an abandoned park nearby with no one around.
We practiced the song and talked about routine for tomorrow. I then got a text message saying that the different region natives could do as I asked.
"Everything is a go except for the poem at the beginning," I reported.
We got to work on it and soon discovered that it was 10:30, "We better head back before the guys get mad," I said as Kirlia teleported us back to where the guys were and I returned him.
"Max, here's Kirlia," I said as I handed him his pokeball. "Why don't you go back to the dorm and go to bed, I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay," Max said sleepily and left the center.
"Where were you?" Gary asked.
"We went a bunch of places, you'll find out what we did tomorrow," Leaf said before giving him a kiss on the cheek and went to check on the pokemon in back.
"Airhead, what is the big secret?" Drew asked.
I smiled, "You'll find out tomorrow like everyone else," I said firmly.
I went to the front desk to text Wallace to leave the center piece alone for tomorrow and then left to check on the pokemon with Leaf.
October 17th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
After a while around 2:00 in the morning, I was the only one awake. I looked over to the chairs, tables, and couches in the open area to find everyone asleep. Dawn had her head against Paul's chest while he had his head on top of hers. Gary was sitting on the couch with his head against the wall while Leaf was lying down with her head in Gary's lap. Misty was sitting at the table with her head on the table and an arm stretched out. Ash was the same way and their hands were knitted together. Drew on the other hand was just sleeping on the couch. I grabbed some spare blankets from the back to cover everyone as they slept.
I put the last one on Drew. I paused for a moment and smiled while brushing a little bit of hair out of his face causing him to unconsciously smile a bit. I walked back to the desk wearing my blanket cause I was a bit chilly only to find that Drew was sitting up and making his way to me.
"Aren't you going to bed May?" he asked sleepily.
"I'm fine. Besides, someone has to stay up and keep checking on the pokemon," I explained.
"You'll be tired later," he yawned.
I smiled, "I think you'll be tired later," I teased gently.
"Get a little bit of sleep, I can cover for you," he said.
"If you say so," I said with a smile before I decided to give him a kiss on the cheek and went to the couch blushing. Due to being tired out, I fell asleep instantly. After 8:00, I forced myself to wake up and saw that Drew had fallen asleep at the desk making me shake my head in amusement. I then went to check on the pokemon to find that everyone was doing okay. As I walked back to the front, I found Nurse Joy and Brock coming in.
"Thanks so much for covering for us," Nurse Joy said gratefully.
"I'm glad that we were able to help, I'm sorry about my friends taking up the front area," I apologized.
"That's fine May, they would be exhausted from yesterday so we'll leave them be," Brock said.
"I'll wake Drew up so he can get out of your desk," I said as I made my way to it.
"Drew," I said as I shook him gently. "Wake up."
"May," he said sleepily while yawning. "What time is it?"
"8:15, the Wallace Cup doesn't start until noon," I yawned. "Now look what you made me do," I teased.
He rolled his eyes and stood up from the desk to go back to the couch, "Was everyone in position like this last night?" he asked.
I nodded, "Ugh, I was so tired last night I don't remember anything," he said tiredly.
"You don't remember anything?" I asked a tad bit disappointed.
"No, did something important happen?" he asked.
"No, everything was fine," I said a bit sad.
"Something wrong May?" he asked looking a bit concerned.
"I've just got a lot on my mind," I said before putting a smirk on my face. "I suppose we better wake everyone up."
I pressed a few buttons on my poketch and played a siren sound jolting everyone up, "Morning," I said sweetly.
"Sweet Arceus May, why did you that?" Leaf complained shakily.
"We've got a big day ahead of us," I said knowingly. "And we girls need to get going and get ready."
"Wait we have less than four hours to get ready!" Dawn screeched.
"Pretty much," I said with a shrug.
"Girls we are going NOW," she said sternly before grabbing our hands and dragging us to the arena to change.
After a few hours, we all had changed into our dresses and had everything lined up. The arena was oval shaped with four entrances. Since all regions had a loss of people's pokemon, each entrance in the stadium represented a region with twenty of that region's natives in a boy girl pattern in two lines dressed in black with each person holding a lit candle with a native pokemon of theirs next to them on the inside of the lines. Behind each group of natives was one of us girls. The girls were dressed in dark grey while I was dressed in black because Hoenn had more losses than the other regions. We also held the candles that were lit and would be placed in the center and wore headphone mics.
The north entrance represented Kanto where Misty was wearing a dark grey floor length gown that had a semi sweetheart neckline with spaghetti straps with the whole dress having an outer lacy layer covering it. She had strapped heels, her hair down and curled a little, and a circle Sapphire necklace with small light blue topaz gems surrounding it.
The south entrance represented Johto with Leaf since she was born and adopted from Johto technically making her a Johto native. She was wearing a dark grey dress with an asymmetric top with a strap to the left shoulder and a small piece of fabric that made it look like it had a small upper arm sleeve. The dress was floor length and had an outer layer of sheer dark grey material. She had strapped heels, her hair down and slightly curled, and a square Green Onix necklace surrounded by small diamonds.
The east entrance represented Sinnoh where Dawn was wearing a dark grey floor length dress that was sleeveless looking but had a piece of fabric from the wrap of the dress that went on her left should close to her neck. The skirt was a draped/wrapped looking with a small piece on the right that was separate from the others and had diamond gemstones on the waist. She had strapped heels, wore her hair down and straightened, and a circle Light Pink gem necklace surrounded by small diamonds.
The west entrance represented Hoenn where I was wearing a black floor length dress with a halter top of where the top of the dress reached my neck and had a small piece connecting the top in the back and had a narrow keyhole opening on top. I wore thick black strapped heels, my hair down and straightened, and a Ruby heart necklace with two strands of diamonds wrapped and crossed in front.
We were ready to begin, first Wallace was in the stands above the north entrance standing in front of a microphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to the Wallace Cup. Before we begin, we will do a tribute to the pokemon that were lost in the epidemic," he said as he sat down and we began to speak our poem. I sure hope everything goes according to how I imagined it.
I calmed down as soon as Misty began to speak,
Misty: "The ones who have gone will never be forgotten
Leaf: They will remain in our minds and hearts
Dawn: The things that you did to help us in life
May: Lives on forever and never parts
Misty: To the lives of the ones who died
Leaf: Whose death has made many fazed
Dawn: The times you spent and the memories you made
May: Shall forever by both friends be cherished and praised
Misty, Leaf, Dawn, and May: In tribute to your life, a song of hope and faith shall be played
For the comfort of both pokemon and trainer to be raised."
The music of the violin started to play signaling the trainers and pokemon walk out and split to directions to surround the inside of the wall of the arena with us girls ending the line and standing at the entrance. So it looked like an alternate pattern of boys and girls holding candles with their pokemon standing in front of them while the girls and I stood in the front of our entrance holding our candles. The piano started to play its chords and Misty began to sing. Soon we all joined in along with the other trainers and it sounded beautiful all the way to the end.
Team Rocket Headquarters
(No one's POV)
"How much of the scan was complete while hearing the voice?" the man in the orange suit asked.
"Only five percent sir, the voice didn't sing long enough," said a scientist.
"No matter, with a voice like that, we'll hear it again," he said evilly while grinning.
Lilycove City
(May's POV)
Soon everyone in the stands was cheering at our tribute to pokemon who died. The trainers around the ring left through the entrances they came in with their pokemon. The girls and I started to walk out but stopped a few feet in front of the entrance we came out of as someone had a psychic pokemon take the center piece and place it by the judges' panel for it to remain through the whole cup.
Everything turned out great though I felt a huge headache coming on, but it was it worth it.
Then the field opened up to reveal a water field while the girls and I smiled as we grabbed a pokeball that we had with us.
"Espeon, Piplup, Staryu, Beautifly go!" we all shouted as we tossed our pokeballs into the air.
"Piplup use Bubble Beam, Staryu use Swift, Beautifly use Silver Wind, Espeon use Psychic," we commanded.
Bubble Beam and Swift went into the air while Silver Wind went into the pool making water sprout up and Psychic controlled the water. Then the sparkles of Bubble Beam, Swift, and water particles to make an aqua ribbon in the air and then exploded letting water droplets and sparkles fly down.
"We welcome you to the Wallace Cup," we all said at the same time causing everyone to clap in amazement and excitement for the upcoming event.
After saying this, the girls and I left through the entrances we came in and met up in the northeast corner of the arena.
"May, the tribute was amazing. Everything happened the way it was supposed to and it sounded beautiful," Dawn said happily.
I grinned weakly, "It sure did," I agreed. My headache is killing me, almost as bad as the last time I sang.
"Well that was some secret you guys kept, but it was worth it. I think everyone is grateful for what you did," Gary said as the guys walked up to us.
"Thanks," Leaf said as she gave Gary a kiss with a hug.
"Girls that was absolutely beautiful and symbolic. I'm glad that opened the ceremony than our double contest appeal and battle Jennifer," Johanna said happily.
"I agree, that was beautiful you girls and May you have a lovely singing voice," she complimented.
I nodded weakly, "Thanks."
"Not bad May," Drew complimented as he handed me a rose, but then looked at me concerned. "May, are you okay? You look pale."
I can't keep this up, the pain hurts too much. I put the rose in my hair with tears starting to appear in my eyes from the pain and started walking a few steps away.
"May, what's wrong?" Drew asked concerned.
I ignored him and kept walking, but I didn't get that far because I saw black and began to fall.
"May!" everyone yelled.