December 18th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
(Drew's POV)
Wha what happened? Everything is fuzzy…..the dance… MAY!
A flashback of her being taken away woke me up. I sat up and looked around to see that I was in the hospital. As I immediately sat up, pain shot up my arm causing me to clutch it.
"Drew, calm down. You were shot last night and knocked unconscious, we all were," Dawn said sadly as she along with the rest of the gang stood next to my bed.
"Where's May?" I strained to ask.
Dawn sighed tiredly, "We don't know, we woke up a little while ago and came to check on you," she strained to say as Paul put a hand on her shoulder in comfort.
"After we were knocked out last night, some kids saw us and got Mr. Stone who took us to the hospital. Thankfully we didn't wind up with concussions from the blows," Leaf said in relief.
"Wait, where are May's pokeballs?" I asked concerned.
"Mr. Stone figured that they were hers and left them with you," Gary said.
Suddenly two bright lights came from the pokeballs on the side table revealed Beautifly and Glaceon.
"Gla?" she asked in concerned while looking around.
"She's not here," I said sadly. "We don't know where she is."
"Beautifly," Beautifly said sadly.
"Rraa," Glaceon said angrily as tears began to fall from her face.
We all stared at May's pokemon with sad faces as we watched them cry in anguish.
Dawn knelt on the floor next to Glaceon and stroked her fur trying to calm her down.
"Oh gosh, how are we gonna break this to Max?" Leaf said worriedly.
"I'll do it. Right now, we need to get back to the dorm and start doing research on who took May," I strained to say as I tried to get out of bed.
"Dude, you shouldn't be moving. You're still weak from loss of blood," Ash advised.
"I don't care, we need to save May. She would do the same for us if we were kidnapped," I said with determination as I stood up.
"Well, who are we to stop you, but you're gonna take it easy if it's the last thing you do," Leaf warned.
"Glaceon, Beautifly return," Dawn said as she tried to return them to their pokeballs.
Beautifly returned but Glaceon dodged the beam, "Gla," she barked angrily.
"Looks like you have May's determination," I said with a small grin. "Alright, you can stay out, but please stay near."
She nodded and trailed behind me as we left the room with me leaning on Gary. After a while, we made it back to the dorm and changed out of our fancy getup from last night.
As we sat in the common room, I noticed that Glaceon still looked angry and depressed so I let out Leafeon to help comfort her. He sat down next to her and licked her cheek causing her to lie down and cry. Leafeon lay down beside her and comforted her as she cried.
"Any luck with being able to find anything on the guys who took May?" I asked.
Paul shook his head, "There isn't anything in the PHPA database," he said in frustration.
I sighed, "I guess that means we're gonna have to call Max."
We all sighed as Paul started a video chat with Max. After a few rings, we saw his face on the monitor.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Max asked.
We didn't say anything causing Max to look concerned, "Where's May?"
"We don't know," I said flatly.
"What do you mean you don't know?" he said worried.
"She was taken away by force while we were held at gunpoint last night," Dawn summarized.
"WHAT!" Max yelled. "Where was the attack?"
"In between the contest arena and the dorm, but we can't do anything to find May because it's too dark to see anything on the video footage," I explained.
"Hmm…..grab your pokemon and come back here."
"What?" Misty asked confused.
"Grab your pokemon and come back here. I'll teleport you here so we can find my sister. Dawn, also grab my sister's pokemon while you're at it," Max said as I returned Leafeon and Glaceon before I left to grab the rest of my pokemon.
A few seconds later we all came back to the common room, "Alright, you guys, I'll teleport you here. See ya in a few seconds," Max said before he ended the call.
Suddenly we appeared in a windowless room with a few touch screen smart boards and a computer with a couple of monitors.
"Holy cow, where are we?!" Gary asked amazed.
"Welcome to command central for our mission," Max said as he appeared at the bottom of a staircase.
"Is this your setup?" I asked surprised.
"Yea, I had to move from my room to the basement cause Nurse Joy was a little worried about me having so much technology in my room. As I was moving, I upgraded," he said proudly before taking a seat in front of the monitors.
"Some upgrade," Ash said in awe as he messed with something on one of the touch screen smart boards causing the object to spin around.
"Ash!" Misty yelled.
"I didn't touch it!" Ash said quickly.
Gary sighed in annoyance, "Just get your butt over here Ashy-boy."
Ash quickly walked over as we stood behind Max watching him type fast on his keyboard.
"You said the attack happened between the contest arena and the dorm?" Max asked as he continued to type.
"Yea," I said.
"Okay, here we have the video feed," he said showing a screen of pitch black, "Now..if..I..add..some…digital enhancement…graphics..and...modify..the..video..output."
Soon the picture was a lot clearer, which was amazing since he could pull the video from black to this.
"Holy cow," I said in awe.
"It rocks to be a boy genius," he said arrogantly before a sad look appeared on his face.
"What's wrong Max?" Dawn asked in concern.
"Normally May would make a comment about me keeping my ego in check. It just seems weird for her not being here," he said sadly.
I put my hand on his shoulder, "I promise we'll find her," I said firmly. "Can you play the video footage?"
"You got it!" he confidently as he clicked for the video to play.
It pained us all to have to rewatch the events of last night, but we watched for any details that would help identify who took May. This much was certain, it's none of groups we know of.
"Well, this stinks, there isn't really anything to go on as to who these guys are," Gary huffed.
"I think it would be best for half of us to stay here and research while the rest go back to the area where you were attacked to see if you can pick up anything," Max said.
I nodded, "Leaf, Gary, and I can stay here to help Max while the rest of you can go back and investigate."
"Before you go, here's some earbud communicators so we can stay in touch. Also, your poketches have scanning technology that will allow us to compute what you find," Max said while giving the four their earbuds.
"Thanks Max, mind if we borrow Kirlia?" Dawn asked.
"Go for it," he said as he took a seat. "Good luck."
I took the other chair next to him while Leaf and Gary went to the smart board touch screens.
Hang on May, we'll find you.
December 18th (Unknown location)
(May's POV)
Uh, where am I? Why is it so cold?
I opened my eyes to see that my arms were spread apart and chained to a stone wall. My feet didn't touch the stone floor and there was a small window carved in the wall next to me with bars in place while the opposite wall had a thick, wooden door.
What is this place, a castle?
Suddenly the door opened, "Ah, I see that our lovely prisoner is awake," the bad guy who captured me crowed.
I had a confused and angry look on my face causing the guy to chuckle, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lord Damian, leader of Team Chaos and you my dear are at Team Chaos headquarters in the northern part of the Sinnoh region," he said slyly.
I stayed silent. Who are these people? I've never heard of them before and what do they want with me?
He chuckled again, "You're gonna help us Miss Mason or should I say Miss Maple," he said evilly causing my eyes to widen in fear. "Yes my dear, I know who you are. You're the guardian of Arceus, but we don't want you for that purpose. We want to keep you as a weapon of destruction and to bring the legendries to us."
I was so confused that my head hurt. What the heck is this guy talking about?
"You see my dear, we've come across an interesting find in our research that talks about you and your ancestor. You see, besides aura, you possess a few other elemental abilities due to your connection with Arceus. You are basically a perfect tool for the destruction of the world," he chuckled evilly.
I shook my head with a look of anger, "So my dear, why don't you sing for us? I've heard you have a lovely singing voice and I do love a good song."
I gave him a straight face and said nothing. Suddenly pain surged in my face, "Do as I command, sing!" he ordered.
Tears started to form, but I stood my ground and said nothing, "Fine," he spat as he made small cuts on my legs with a sword at his side and ripped off my wig, "You can freeze and when I come back you better sing," he threatened.
He stormed away and the door slammed shut echoing throughout the whole room as I began to cry.
Drew…..guys…someone….please…..find me.
December 21st (Petalburg City, Hoenn)
(Dawn's POV)
I watched in pain as I saw Drew still sitting at the computer trying to find any information about who took May. We've looked for three days, but the situation looked bleak.
"Drew, you should rest," I said concerned. "You have hardly gotten any sleep for three days."
"I don't care, we have to keep looking. We have to find May," he said determined, but tired.
"Dude, we want to find May as much as you do, but being sleep deprived isn't gonna help," Gary countered.
Drew smashed his fist on the table and put his head down dejectedly. His body began to shake with tears running down his face.
I think it broke all our hearts to watch Drew fall apart, but he still didn't move. Tears began to build up in my eyes, "Butterfree, please use Sleep Powder," I said trying hard not to cry.
I could tell that Butterfree didn't want to do this, but he did as I asked causing Drew to fall asleep.
"Espeon, use Psychic to carry him to the guys' room," Leaf said quietly as tears leaked from my eyes.
Soon Espeon had Drew's body float up after everyone with Paul and I at the end. As we made it to the top of the stairs, the guys had Espeon follow them while the girls and I went into the backyard where all our pokemon were.
I sat on one of the patio chairs with Leaf and Misty who looked tired as well. I looked at the pokemon, everyone looked downcast while May's looked plain depressed. I think Glaceon and Beautifly felt the worst because they were with us when May was taken and they couldn't help stop what happened.
Piplup saw that I was crying and waddled over to me, "Piplup?" he asked concerned.
"No, I'm not okay, I don't think anyone is," I said sadly as I picked him up to put on my lap. "We've been trying to find May for three days with no idea where to look. We've tried all leads, but all are dead ends."
The guys then walked out with Max looking tired, "Max, have we really looked over everything possible?" I asked.
He looked depressed, "I've tried everything, I don't know what else we can do."
I looked down at the ground. May, wherever you are, stay strong.
Meanwhile (Team Chaos Headquarters, Northern Sinnoh)
(May's POV)
AAAAAHHHHHH! Pain ran through my body as I was hit with Thunderbolt. I felt numb from the cold and sore from the cuts and bruises.
"Enough Electabuzz ," Lord Damian ordered. "I believe we have caused enough damage for today. We want her to be well enough for the experimenting tomorrow."
I fell to the floor after the door slammed shut. Yesterday, I was "lucky" because they took me off the wall into regular chains to my hands and feet so I could sit on the cold floor. The past few days were harsh. I was shocked and slashed, but only a few times as they didn't want to damage me. Some of my hair was chopped unevenly, my dress was tattered in multiple places, and I think I was close to hypothermia from being stuck in the room with an open window.
I received some food and water, but not enough for a healthy amount. I was also trying my hardest to stay awake and not fall asleep so we can add sleep deprivation to the list as well.
I wonder how the others are doing, same with my pokemon, and I wonder if they told Max at all?
Those were some of the thoughts plaguing me. The other major ones were my identity being compromised, especially regarding the prophecy, and the other being what Lord Damian said to me when I first woke up, "You see, besides aura, you possess a few other elemental abilities due to your connection with Arceus".
What the heck is that supposed to mean! I feel so lost. I don't even know who I am anymore because it's physically impossible to do that. I'm so tired, I don't know how much more I can take and I'm now panicking from Lord Damian saying experimenting.
I felt like crying, but all my tears have gone. All I could do now is try to stay warm and pray the gang will find me.
"Don't worry, help will come," a familiar voice said.
"Who are you?" I asked tiredly.
Suddenly a faint image appeared, "Mewtwo," I said weakly in surprise before I saw black.
Shortly After (Petalburg City, Hoenn)
(Dawn's POV)
As we sat in silence, I was hit with a sudden headache causing me to cringe, "Dawn what's wrong?" Paul asked concerned before he grunted in pain as well.
The seven of us were hunched over and I suddenly heard a mysterious voice in my head, "Look in northern cold of Sinnoh for Team Chaos," it said before it disappeared.
"Did you guys just hear a voice in your head?" I asked in pain.
"Yea, something about looking in the northern cold of Sinnoh for Team Chaos," Leaf said painfully. "Geez, I give May a lot of credit if this is the pain she endures every time Arceus talks to her."
We all nodded in agreement as I saw Skitty walking by herself, "Skitty, can you use Heal Bell please?" Max asked painfully.
"Nya," she said and soon ripples of color and sound hit us causing the headache to eventually disappear.
"Thanks Skitty," I said as I gave her a Poffin.
"We better look into what the mysterious voice said," Max said tiredly.
We nodded as we followed him back to the basement. Soon Max was doing a bunch of scans of northern Sinnoh while Leaf and Gary were trying to look up info about Team Chaos.
"I think I got something," Max said causing everyone to watch the monitor only to see a bunch of ice and snow with a few hills and mountains.
"Uh…Max, I think your system is on the blink," Misty deadpanned.
"No it's not, let me pull a few tricks from my sleeve," Max said slowly as he typed like crazy.
Soon we saw a faint visual of a medieval castle leaving us surprised, "What the….what the heck is a castle doing this far north?" Misty asked surprised.
"Maybe it's where Santa's workshop is?" Ash said thoughtfully.
We turned to look at him as if he were crazy, "You have officially lost it Ashy-boy," Gary said annoyed.
"Back to the point, I'm guessing that this is what the mysterious voice wanted us to find," Leaf said.
Suddenly images began to appear on Max's computer randomly, "Max, what's going on?" I asked in a panicked tone.
"I don't know, someone's hacking my system," Max said angrily. "Getting ready to spike the source."
"Wait!" Leaf cried. "These look like blue prints and access codes. Check them out Max."
He did some more typing and we soon discovered that these were the blueprints to the castle and the access codes were for their security and computer systems.
"Max, can you hack the security cameras?" Misty asked.
"Yea, it's a whole ton easier now since we have the access codes," he said as he rapidly typed.
Soon we were getting images of random rooms along with picking up sound, "Sir, the experimentation room is ready," a guy in a black, red, and yellow uniform said to a guy in a black suit and cape.
"Good, we'll start experimenting in a few hours after the wench has a little more energy," he said evilly with a smile.
"Can you see if there are any security cameras on May?" Paul asked.
"There aren't any," Max said as he switched to bring the castle blueprints up. "There are security cameras, but not in any of the rooms below."
"At least we have a huge break in information," Gary said gratefully. "Now we can start studying the blueprints and plan."
"What about Drew?" Leaf asked.
"We'll inform him after he has had a few hours' sleep, we'll strike during the night so we have darkness as a cover," he said.
"Sounds like a plan," I said cheerfully.
May, please hold on, we're coming.
December 22nd (Team Chaos Headquarters, Northern Sinnoh)
(May's POV)
I was dead asleep when I was suddenly shaken awake violently by a grunt.
"Get up," she ordered.
I tried to get up, but was too weak to stand so two more grunts picked me up roughly as the girl grunt undid the chains and handcuffed my hands. Then I was dragged upstairs and down a hallway to a room with a bunch of computers and other tech. I was then uncuffed only to be placed on a table to be cuffed again and then put in a glass tube chamber.
"We'll all ready for testing sir," a scientist said.
"Excellent, put her at the low setting and work your way up," Lord Damian ordered.
After I had wires connected to me, the ray gun started to light up and the beam struck a metal tip that was on top of the chamber making the ray appear like electrically shocks. The pain surged through my whole body, I screamed hurting my dry throat, but no sound came out. As I was suffering, a dim light covered my body.
The beam then stopped and I was gasping for breath, "The test results are good," the scientist reported.
"Good, continue testing," Lord Damian said with a sly smile.
I don't know how long I was tested on, but after what seemed like eternity. I passed out from the pain with tears running down my face.
Shortly Before (In the sky between Hoenn and Sinnoh)
(Drew's POV)
I felt rested though still tired after the few hours' sleep I got. After I woke up and went to the basement, the gang filled me in as to what happened and I helped them continue the plan to rescue May.
Currently, we were we wearing black long sleeve shirts though the girl's shirts were cropped tops. All of us had fingerless gloves, black cargo pants, thin black winter coats, and all our hair dyed temporary black. Max also gave us shoes similar to what May had for her missions along with a few other gadgets that would help us out.
Besides that, we all had our pokemon and I had May's Blaziken and Lucario because they would be helpful and also because they forced us to have them come along.
Right now, we were flying in a jet by the head of Poketch Company. We were finishing up our plans before he reported that it was time to jump.
"Do we really have to jump so far from the castle?" Dawn complained as we grabbed our parachutes and helmets.
"Yes, otherwise Team Chaos will pick up the plane on radar and we'll run into problems," Paul answered gruffly.
"We're above our target landing zone," I said. "Let's go."
Soon I jumped out of the plane with everyone else following my lead. After a few minutes, we pulled our chutes and landed on frozen ground. Thankfully, there was no snow falling so we didn't have to worry about getting stuck in a blizzard.
"How much of a walk do we have til we tunnel underneath?" Misty asked.
"Not very long," Paul said as we left our chutes behind and started walking toward the invisible castle.
We soon reached the spot of where we were supposed to tunnel in, "Quilava, Infernape, Arcanine, use Dig," Dawn, Ash, and Gary commanded while tossing their pokeballs.
The three pokemon said their names and immediately got to work. We jumped into the hole as the three pokemon continued to dig til Dawn stopped them.
"We're in position Max, mind taking care of security?" Dawn asked.
"Okay you have thirty seconds to break through and get inside before I have to turn it back on to avoid suspicion," he said. "Starting….now!"
"Use Dig," Dawn commanded.
The three pokemon nodded as they continued to dig through the wall and break through. We soon came into the dark basement that looked like a dungeon place of sorts.
"Everyone through?" Max asked.
"Yea," I said.
"Okay, Leaf, you can lay the chip that I gave you on the ground and it will create a hologram of the wall where the hole is."
"Got it," Leaf said as she got the chip out of her pocket, put it on the ground, and activated it causing the hole to disappear.
"Alright, I'll keep an eye on security. The rest is now up to you."
As Dawn, Gary, and Ash returned their pokemon, I released Blaziken and Lucario, "Lucario, can you detect May's aura?" I asked.
"Ruh," he said as he placed his paw on the ground and his black flaps levitated while his eyes were closed.
After a moment, he stood up and pointed the in the direction we needed to go. We were able to get through the basement easily because there were no grunts and hardly any cameras. It got harder when we reached the next floor where May was supposed to be. We continued to go down the hall to find a few guards, but I released Butterfree and had him use Sleep Powder on them. Max continued to control the security cameras 'til we reached a long hallway with a lot of grunts guarding it and a double metallic automatic sliding door.
Lucario then cringed slightly as I heard some machine run, "Lucario, what's wrong?" I asked.
He didn't say anything, but had a strained look on his face, "Looks like we're gonna have to storm the place," I said annoyed. "Butterfree, use Sleep Powder once more and Masquerain, use Silver Wind."
They went into the hallway causing the guards to be alarmed, but both pokemon put them to sleep before anything else could happen. Ash and Misty stood guard at the corner while the rest of us went to the doors.
"Our turn," Dawn said cheerfully as both she and Leaf took out their laser lipsticks and made a large rectangular perforation before Misty and Ash came back.
"Alright Blaziken, the honor is yours," I said.
"Blaze," he said as he did a Blaze Kick to knock out the rectangular perforation.
We walked in and I felt like I got punched in the gut when I looked around. We saw multiple computers and monitors, a ray gun, and May inside a glass chamber strapped to a table writhing in pain while screaming with no sound coming out.
"No," Dawn whispered with tears appearing as all the scientists and grunts stared at us.
They shut off the ray gun causing May to go unconscious, "Who are you?" the guy in a black cape and suit asked in anger.
"We're here to rescue our friend you greasy haired creep!" Dawn shouted before throwing all her pokeballs up. "Everyone, let's go!"
We all did the same before we charged in to face the grunts who released a bunch of Sneasel and Skorupi.
"Dusknoir and Spiritomb, take care of these pests!" the guy in the cape ordered in annoyance.
"Roserade, Leafeon, and Absol, take care of these guys," I said as I ran to the glass chamber with Lucario and Blaziken at my heels.
"Can you two break through?" I asked.
They both nodded with determined looks on their faces and started to punch and kick at the glass causing small cracks to appear. Then they delivered the final blow shattering the glass completely. I ran to May and grabbed my laser pen and cut through the cuffs that held May down. May looked terrible. Her wig wasn't in sight, her hair was cut uneven in places, and her dress was tattered in many places. She had cuts and bruises all over, and she was pale with a tinge of blue along with being ice cold. She slowly opened her eyes slightly which almost made me cry. Her once sapphire blue eyes were now one pale blue and one white.
She gave a small smile at me, "I knew you would come," she said quietly before she blacked out again.
Soon the grunts were knocked out and all was left was the guy in the cape with his pokemon with my pokemon looking exhausted.
"One final attack," I shouted to them. "Double Solar Beam and Dark Pulse."
They nodded and both Roserade and Leafeon released a double Solar Beam while Absol added Dark Pulse causing the three attacks to spiral and hit both Dusknoir and Spiritomb knocking them out.
"Why you….!"the guy said angrily.
"Lucario, can you shut him up?" I asked in annoyance.
"Ruh," he said determined as he rushed forward and used Bone Rush on him to bloody the guy up a bit and knock him out.
The seven of us returned our pokemon before we gathered around May, "Blaziken, can you try to keep her warm? I'm worried she has hypothermia," I said concerned.
Suddenly a whole wave of grunts appeared with more pokemon, "What do we do, our pokemon are exhausted," Dawn said worriedly.
"I will take care of them, get your friend and get out of here," a mysterious voice said.
Suddenly a huge explosion happened out of nowhere causing smoke to appear.
"Max, how do we get out of here?" I yelled over all the noise.
"You need to get to the top so that your ride can get you," Max explained. "You're gonna have to go through the hall and take a right to go up the stairs."
"Great, how are we supposed to do that? There's a bunch of grunts in the way," I said annoyed.
"We'll have to make a hole in the wall next to the doors and book it with Blaziken in front and Lucario in back," Ash planned.
"Guess we don't have a choice," I said as I carried May bridal style after Blaziken handed her to me. She was ice cold still even after Blaziken tried to warm her up.
Blaziken went to the front of us, kicked a hole in the wall, and started to go down the hallway with all of us running behind him with Lucario holding up the back by shooting Aura Spheres as we ran up the stairs.
"Now which way Max?" I asked quickly.
"Go to the end of the hall and open the last door on the left, the stairs in there will lead you up to the roof," he said.
"Blaziken, go all the way down to the door on the left," Leaf shouted.
We got half way before grunts blocked our path. Blaziken then unleashed a bunch of fire attacks to keep them away allowing us to continue down the hall. We finally reached the door and climbed up the stairs to find ourselves on the roof.
"Max, where's our ride?" I asked as I saw Lucario and Blaziken trying to hold back the grunts from coming up.
"They should be right above you," he said as a jet started to hover over.
"Thanks Max," I said as a rope ladder was dropped down and I returned Blaziken and Lucario after they blocked the door.
Everyone else quickly climbed up, it was a little bit more difficult for me because I was carrying May. We started to fly away just as the grunts busted through the door to get on the roof.
"That was a close call," Dawn gasped as we sat down on seats.
I took off my coat and tried to cover May with it so that it would help try to keep her warm as I held her close.
"We should go straight to the hospital to have her checked out and then we should go to the mountain chalet to meet up with everyone," Dawn said.
"I'll tell the pilot," Paul said as he stood up and walked to the front of the plane.
"Max, we'll meet you at the Pokemon Center in an hour," I reported.
"Are you sure you don't mind having me and May for Christmas?"
"Max, we don't mind. You and your sister are very close friends of ours," Leaf stated firmly.
"Alright, I'll see you guys in an hour at the Pokemon Center," he said and signed off.
For the next hour, all of us fell asleep from staying up so much for the past few days. We woke up just as the plane landed in Snowpoint City. From there, we walked to the hospital that was close by and checked her in. The doctors told us that we wouldn't know anything tonight so we should come back in the morning. We then walked to the Pokemon Center to meet up with Max and drop off our pokemon.
"How is she?" Max asked.
I sighed, "We're not sure, she was pretty beat up and ice cold," I said trying to be brief. "The doctor will tell us more in the morning."
Max nodded and then asked Kirlia to teleport us to the chalet. We arrived in the front hall to find that everyone was probably asleep since we told our families in advance that we would be late. We then walked up to our rooms half asleep half awake and then crashed on the beds as we were.
December 24th (Snowpoint City, Sinnoh)
(May's POV)
After I passed out from relief in seeing Drew rescue me, I saw black for what seemed like forever until Arceus appeared to me.
"I sense that you are incredibly confused."
"You don't know the half of it," I said tiredly. "Is it true what Lord Damian said, do I possess more than aura?"
"You do," he said causing me to become more confused, "Let me explain. Since you're a guardian of me, you possess a lot more qualities than aura."
"But how does that work?"
"Let me put it this way, what do people refer to me as?"
"You're the pokemon who created everything from our world to pokemon themselves."
"So…..,"
It then clicked, "You possess multiple elemental powers, that's what your many plates are for," I said putting two and two together. "Now I feel stupid."
"Don't be hard on yourself, you have been through a tough time to say the least," he said. "But back to the point at hand. Since I do have elemental powers and also because you are my guardian, you possess them too, but there is a limit to knowing a couple powerful movements for most of the different elements."
"There's a catch to this isn't there?" I asked suspiciously.
"There is, using any element move or power outside of aura will decrease your life energy rapidly if overused. If you do overuse your life energy, you will die."
"I understand that, but how will I know how to use these moves when the final confrontation comes and how will I be able to learn if it might cost me my life?"
"Patience, answers to these questions will come at a later time. For now, you must rest, you are low on energy."
"It's hard to rest knowing that my life is over. The guys who kidnapped me know who I am and about the prophecy," I said sadly.
"You do not need to worry about that. A friend of yours that you rescued has wiped the whole organization's minds clean and all data on the matter is deleted forever. They do not remember you or the prophecy," he said causing me to sigh in relief. "Also by the time you wake up, your voice shall return to you fully healed."
"Thank you," I said gratefully as a tear slid down my face.
"Until we meet again," he said with a slight bow before he faded away and I saw black again.
I then saw a bright light and walked toward it causing me to slowly wake up and look to see that I was glowing and watched as my cuts and bruises were being healed. The glow then faded and I walked to a nearby mirror to see myself completely healed. I then paused as I noticed my hair being cut unevenly and my eyes were not blue anymore, but one white and one pale blue.
I looked at the chair near the mirror and saw a blue hoodie and black yoga pants. I quickly changed into them and left a note telling the doctors not to alert everyone, but that I was fine and healed before I left the hospital from the window so I that I couldn't be seen. As I walked the streets of Snowpoint City trying to get to the chalet the gang invited me to, I kept thinking about my appearance. I was now scared to even appear as May after what happened so I decided that I was gonna change my image to look like Lin permanently for the time being.
As I was in my thoughts, I saw a guy dressed up like Santa Claus except he was skinny with a mask carrying a huge sack with something in it running towards me.
"Stop, give me back my stuff!" a woman wailed as she tried to run after him.
I put my leg in front causing the fake Santa to trip and fall. Then I did a knife hand strike to knock him out as the woman came up with Officer Jenny.
"Thanks for the help, I'll take him to jail now," Officer Jenny said as she cuffed that guy and put him in the back of her squad car.
"Thank you for stopping him. He stole my stores' money along with some of my hair products," the woman said as she carried the sack.
"I'm glad I was able to help," I said with a smile.
"Dear me, looks like you could use a trim my dear. Your hair looks like a toddler was trying to be a beautician," she said.
I nodded as a smile lit up on her face, "How about I fix it up for ya right now," she said causing me to look surprised.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yea, consider it a favor returned for helping me out," she said cheerfully. "Follow me back to my store."
"Would it be too much trouble for you to give me a makeover?" I asked.
"Sure, my business is a small spa in town," she said happily. "What did you have in mind?"
"I want to do something different with my hair along with my eyes," I said.
"No problem," she said as we got to the small spa. "Before I begin, how about you take a shower? It looks like you need one pretty bad."
"Thanks," I said as she pointed out where the showers were and handed me a terrycloth bathrobe.
After a hot shower, I came back out to see her at the front putting her hair products back on the shelves, "You ready for some styling?" she asked excitedly.
I nodded while smiling as she guided me to a chair. After a few hours, I was finally done and looked beautiful according to Gina. For my hair, she cut it all one length just below my chin. Then she dyed it dark brown like how my wig was before she added extensions to make my hair to the length below my shoulder blades. She then added dark red subtle highlights to my hair to make it stand out a bit. For my eyes, she was able to make them color red with a hint of brown so it didn't look creepy. She used a technique she learned that makes the irises any color you want them for a short period by putting this solution on your eyes.
As a treat, she gave me a red one sleeve tee made of sheer material with the sleeve being a little bit above the elbow, dark blue skinny jeans, red flats, and did a small application of make up before she curled my hair and placed a santa hat on top.
"You didn't have to do all this," I said as I turned slightly in the mirror to get a good look.
"Please, I wanted to. I don't have any daughters of my own so it was a treat to style you up for Christmas," she said happily. "Also, you helped save my business. If you didn't stop the thief, I would be short of money for payments."
"Thanks so much Gina," I said gratefully.
"Thank you my dear, do you need a lift anywhere? You don't have a coat and I don't want you to get sick," she said concerned.
"If it's no trouble," I said.
"Not at all, my husband is working late so he won't be home for a while," she said as she got her coat and keys.
Soon we left in her car for the chalet that was apparently half an hour away near the mountains.
"Again, thanks for everything," I said as it began to snow as we arrived. "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you to," she said before she drove away.
I decided to sneak in through a side patio door and then used my aura to figure out where everyone was. All the families were in the main area by the Christmas tree talking while the gang along with Lizzy and Max were in a side room nearby.
As I sneaked down the hall, I overheard the gang talking, "It doesn't seem like a true Christmas, it feels weird," Dawn said sadly.
"We know Dawn, it's because May isn't here, but she's still recovering at the hospital according to the doctors," Leaf said.
"I still feel guilty that we didn't visit her today. It's Christmas Eve for crying out aloud," Max said angrily.
"We were busy and slept most of the day, we couldn't help it. We were tired and I'm pretty sure that May would have wanted us to rest up after being awake for almost four days straight," Drew said.
"Of course I would want you guys to have rested," I said as I stepped into the doorway causing everyone to look surprised and shocked. "What good is it for everyone to be sleepy on Christmas?"
"May, what the….," Misty said before Max ran up to me and attacked me with a hug.
"May, you're okay," he cried as he continued to hug me.
"Of course I'm okay, how else am I supposed to be?" I teased gently as I returned the hug.
"May, your voice has returned and you're fully healed. Not to mention you look different and cute," Dawn squealed before having a playful angry look on her face. "You have a lot of explaining to do missy!"
I laughed as she hugged me, "Let's see…..Arceus contacted me again. I woke fully healed. I escaped the hospital through a side window. I stopped a robber dressed like Santa Claus, and then got a free makeover for stopping the thief," I said summing it up.
"Seriously, a Santa Claus robber on Christmas Eve? Talk about a bad get up," Gary cringed.
"I know, Santa isn't a robber who steals. He's a jolly old soul who gives toys to kids," Ash said firmly.
"Ashy-boy, if I hear one more thing out of your mouth about Santa Claus, I'm gonna clobber ya," Gary threatened.
"Oh, let Ash have his moment. It's Christmas Eve and Santa Claus is supposed to come around," I said with a smile.
"Not you to May," everyone whined but Ash.
I smiled, "Oh shush, I've always been a firm believer of Santa Claus," I said with a wink.
"Kids, come and join everyone around the tree," Jennifer called as she entered the room and saw me in surprise.
"May, what the…," she said.
"Sorry for my surprise arrival," I apologized. "If you don't mind, I'd like to explain to everyone as a group so I don't have to repeat myself, and Merry Christmas."
"Sounds good to me," she said as she left the room.
Soon the gang along with Max and Lizzy left leaving me and Drew at the end. I was about to leave when Drew pulled me into a hug in the doorway.
"I'm glad that you're okay May, I was worried about you," he said as I hugged him back.
"I know you were along with everyone else, but I'm here now," I sighed happily.
"Which came as a total surprise and the best Christmas present," Drew said with a smile.
I smiled back and then kissed him. We stayed like that for a moment before we hugged one last time.
I then giggled as I looked up. Low and behold, it was mistletoe, "I think I'll snag this and use it," I said.
Drew looked at me curiously with a smile, "What are you up to?" he asked playfully.
"A little revenge, you'll see," I said as we walked to where everyone was.
There was one spot open on a comfy chair, Drew sat down first and I sat in between his legs on the edge with Lizzy and Max in front of us on the floor. Soon everyone was given candles to hold as I summed up what happened to me tonight as the lights in the room were dimmed so we could admire the tree.
I smirked as I picked up the mistletoe and held it above Max and Lizzy. "Look up you two," I teased.
They both looked up and blushed slightly, "May, you can't be serious?" Lizzy whined.
"Come on you two, you know the tradition with mistletoe," I teased as they blushed some more.
Lizzy then quickly kissed Max on the cheek causing some chuckles to go around while Max and Lizzy blushed deep red.
I sighed happily while settling into Drew as he wrapped his arm around me. This is a truly, wonderful Christmas.