December 25th (Snowpoint City, Sinnoh)
(May's POV)
After five-ten minutes, Drew and I finally made it back to the chalet with Gardevoir. We quickly went inside to find the gang waiting for us and gasped when they saw Gardevoir.
"Oh my Mew, poor Gardevoir! I've never seen a pokemon this bad in shape," Dawn cried.
"Where's the room you set up?" I asked as I took off the snow clothes.
"Follow us," Misty said as we all followed the girls down the hall where the pokemon were except we went to a room across from them and it looked like a miniature treatment room at the Pokemon Center.
"This will work well," I said as I grabbed a lab coat that was nearby. "Drew, you can lay Gardevoir on the table bed."
"Right away Dr. Maple," he teased as he lay Gardevoir down.
"Haha," I said sarcastically. "The girls and I will handle Gardevoir. You guys can go back to scanning the mountain and taking a look at the camera from the mountain."
"May, care to explain why?" Gary asked.
I sighed, "I think I saw someone from Team Galactic before Drew and I slid down the mountain."
"What?! Wait, why would they be here?" Ash wondered.
"I don't know, we might have tripped on something big. Maybe this is where their headquarters are, no one has found them yet," I pointed out.
"That's true," Drew agreed. "If that's the case, we better get back to checking out the mountain."
The guys soon left leaving me and the girls to tend to Gardevoir. After we bandaged her cuts and put salve on bruises, I used my aura to see how she was doing. I felt pain, sadness, depression, even loss of will to live.
I put my arm down and looked at her sadly, "What's wrong May?" Misty asked.
"I'm not sure, my aura reading is picking up sadness, depression, even suicidal tendencies. I'm really concerned," I said sadly.
"Well, there's not much we can do here, we better just let her rest," Leaf said.
"You guys can go, I'm going to stay here. I don't feel comfortable to just leave her here alone."
"Alright May, we'll do some research on Team Galactic's activities. We'll see ya later," Dawn said as they left the room.
I grabbed a heated blanket that was nearby and began to cover her with it. Then I went back to using my aura to help heal her along. It bothered me that I saw her aura showing major depression, but all I could do at the moment was to keep healing her and wait. What happened to you?
(Dawn's POV)
"Any luck?" I asked as we saw the boys in a setup area that Max put together so we could have a home base.
"So far we haven't detected anything," Paul reported.
"The camera's footage was also damaged when they took the memory card out," Gary added.
"How's Gardevoir doing?" Ash asked.
The girls and I looked at each other before we looked back at the guys, "We're not sure," Leaf finally said.
"What do you mean "you're not sure"?" Drew asked.
"Well, May did a scan of Gardevoir's aura and it showed major depression so we'll have to wait until Gardevoir wakes up to find out how she's doing," Misty explained.
"What are you kids up to? It's Christmas and you shouldn't be stuck behind technology," mom said as she, Delia, Jennifer, and Brandon came in.
Paul scowled slightly seeing that his father was here. It was a surprise to all of us actually. We would have known he would be here because we would have seen the battle pyramid.
"We're in the middle of doing some research on an evil organization since we discovered an injured shiny Gardevoir with a bomb attached to it which caused an avalanche," May explained as she came into the room still wearing her lap coat. "Oh and Merry Christmas Brandon."
Everyone looked at May in surprise in one form or another. The parents I think were surprised by what May said and we were surprised because May didn't seem intimidated by Brandon in the slightest.
"Merry Christmas May," Brandon replied. "I've heard you caused quite a bit of chaos for everyone and yourself."
"You could say that I suppose," she said sheepishly before smiling. "How is your research and search going for Regice?"
"I've actually completed that a few months ago. Recently, I've been helping Professor Caroline with her research of the Space Time Legend. It was going great until Team Galactic stole the Spear Key a few days ago," he said annoyed.
May eyes widened, "What?! When did that happened?" she asked in surprise.
"Three days ago," he said confused. "Why do you ask?"
She then had a thoughtful look of her face, "Just curious," she said thoughtfully.
I didn't buy it, May was worried about something. Her eyes showed it and I looked to see that the rest of the gang and Max were thinking the same thing as me.
"As much as you're trying to figure things out, you can figure them out later. It's almost time for Christmas dinner," Jennifer said sternly.
"While eat later, right now we need to figure this out now," Drew argued.
"Actually Drew, the scans will take a while so we can't do much right now. Besides, I'm kinda hungry," Ash said.
"You're always hungry," we said flatly.
"Give Ash a break. Besides, we didn't eat breakfast today so everyone should be saying they're hungry," May pointed out.
"Well, let's go eat!" Ash shouted as we left the room though May stood in place.
"You coming May?" I asked.
She looked out-of-it, "Yea, I'll be there in a sec."
I shrugged and then left to join the others.
(May's POV)
Dawn left the room as I stood there in thought. At this rate, I was developing a headache because my mind was being pulled in multiple directions. I pushed my thoughts aside and made my way to the dining room to find everyone waiting for me as the moms put the food on the table.
I sat in between Drew and Max, it actually amazed me that the table could fit all twenty-four of us, "May, you in there?" Max asked as he waved a hand in my face.
"At the moment," I said tiredly as I grabbed a roll before passing the basket down to Drew.
"May, how's Gardevoir doing?" Johanna asked.
I frowned slightly, "I'm not sure. So far she's stable. Some of her cuts and bruises are beginning to heal, but her mental state is another story."
Thinking about Gardevoir's condition made me mad and upset. Who is cruel enough to strap a bomb on a pokemon? Wait….a bomb and Team Galactic? Wait a minute, was it Mars I saw when I was on the mountain? I closed my eyes and replayed the moment and was stunned to see that it was her. But why would she be here, there isn't anything around here. Ugh, why do I feel like I'm missing something important?!
"May, snap of it. Geez, that's the third time you zoned out," Max said exasperated.
"Sorry, I swear my mind is in multiple directions today," I said as I took a bite of ham.
"Hey Max, did you hear about the new software that's supposed to come out in a few weeks?" Lizzy asked.
"Yea, I've heard some good things…"
My mind tuned out the conversation and noticed that everyone seemed to be talking to someone. I didn't mind that I wasn't included. To be honest, my mind was elsewhere so having a conversation with me was near impossible at the moment. Why would Mars be here?
For the next few hours, we ate and talked at the table for the most part. After a while, I snuck away while everyone was chatting and grabbed my winter coat before going upstairs to the second floor balcony. When I got outside, I leaned against the railing in thought as I looked at the sunset by the mountain.
"Mama, daddy look, it's so pretty," a seven year old May said excitedly.
"Yes dear, the sunset today is really beautiful, a great way to end your birthday," Caroline said soothingly as she stood behind her daughter with her hands behind her back.
"Mama, what's behind your back?"
"It's a special birthday present," she said as she handed it for me to open.
The little girl opened up the small box to see a key on a chain.
"What's this mama?"
"It's a special gift that's been handed down generations. It was given to me by my mother and so on. Now it's time that I give it to you."
"But what does the key do?"
Caroline laughed, "It's special, when the time comes, you'll find out what it unlocks."
"And when you wear it, you know you will never feel alone," her father added.
"But what if it doesn't work, what if I still feel lonely?"
"Dear, remember this, no matter what happens, you are never alone. You are watched over by people who care," Caroline said. "Promise you'll remember."
"I promise mama."
I felt tears well up as I watched the sunset remembering that day. Suddenly, I felt something on my chest and I turned to look to see that it was the same key from that day and it mysteriously appeared to me. I guess you were right, I never really was alone. I'm sorry that I forget until now, thanks for reminding me. Merry Christmas mom, Merry Christmas dad.
The sun was now gone and stars were starting to appear in the sky. As I was looking out, someone snuck up behind and hugged me while kissing me on my cheek causing me to smile.
"Merry Christmas grasshead," I teased as I turned around to face him.
"Merry Christmas," he said before he kissed me. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"
"I wanted a little fresh air to clear my head and watch the sunset," I said as I leaned my head on his shoulder.
"Did it work?" he asked.
I smiled, "Yea, as I watched the sunset, I remembered a promise that I made to my parents that I forgot."
He lifted his head to look at me, "And what was that?"
"That there is someone who always cares for me and that I'm never alone," I said before Drew kissed the top of my head.
"Of course airhead, now you got the message," he teased.
I lifted my head up and playfully smacked him on the arm, "Way to ruin the moment," I complained.
He smirked, "Bet I can get it back."
I smirked back before he kissed me again and my arms wrapped around his neck while he pulled me close.
We stayed like this for a minute before we heard someone cough "ahem" behind us causing us to break apart and look to see that it was Max and Lizzy, "So this is where you love birds were," Lizzy teased.
"So…," I said as Drew pulled me into a side hug.
"Everyone was wondering where you two went," Lizzy said.
"And who is everyone else?" Drew asked.
"Basically everyone, they're all chatting in front of the Christmas tree," Max said.
"Also mom told us to get you two so you can join the rest of us," Lizzy said smartly. "So let's go."
The two then left and soon Drew and I left the balcony hand in hand for inside. We then walked downstairs and took off our coats before we went to sit down. Somehow, we got to the topic of Christmas carols and started to sing a few before it turned into a girls versus boys competition of which group could do it better.
After a while, we just chatted with each other as the snow fell heavily outside for the remaining hours.
Team Rocket Headquarters
"Sir, we have finally reached fifty percent of scanning the globe for the voice," a scientist called over an intercom.
"Excellent, keep up with the scans," the boss said as he let go of the intercom button and pet his Persian.
"Sir, I'm sick of being cooped here. Why not just sent some agents and myself to the find the next piece of the map? The old geezers haven't found any pieces in three months," Domino complained. "And I wanna kick little miss princess' butt."
"Patience Domino, the professors will find them soon enough. In the meantime, just train for your rematch," he said sternly.
She huffed, "Fine, sir."
She then left his office leaving the boss to pet his Persian. Soon, we will find out who the guardian of Arceus is.
December 26th (Snowpoint City, Sinnoh)
(May's POV)
"CODE BLUE, REPEAT CODE BLUE!" an electronic voice said with a loud blare coming from my poketch shocking me awake.
"What?!" I said sleepily and immediately woke up when I understood what it was saying.
OH NO! I turned off the alarm as the girls kept asking me sleepily what was going on. I burst out of the door and ran to the stairs to climb down half of them and then jump over the railing to continue running toward Gardevoir's room.
Her vital signs were unstable and her heart rate was dropping fast. I immediately went to grab the defibrillator, "Lucario, please wake up Skitty and Luxio and have all three of you come here quickly," I said telepathically as I hooked up Gardevoir to the defibrillator.
I set the machine for 100 J and then hit the button to try to get her heart rate back to normal. It didn't work and Gardevoir's signs were still dropping.
"Lucario, use Heal Pulse and Skitty, use Heal Bell," I shouted as I set the settings of the current to 200 Joules.
"You're not giving up on me yet," I said with tears starting to build up in my eyes as I pressed the button to give her a bigger shock, it still didn't work.
"Come on Gardevoir," I shouted as tears streamed down. "You have to pull through, people care about you, you have to fight!"
I changed the defibrillator settings to the last safe amount of electric current, but the machine didn't have enough power.
"Luxio, use Thunderbolt," I shouted.
Luxio then used Thunderbolt to charge the machine up to where it had the right amount of energy, "Thanks Luxio," I said quickly as I changed the settings, please work. I then hit the button to help set her heart rate back to normal. I waited a minute to hear the monitor go back to a steady slow pace, but it was sign that she would make it.
I collapsed to my knees in shock as I put my head against the bed in relief, "Lucario, please wake up Roserade and have her come here and use Aromatherapy," I said tiredly. "Skitty, please continue to use Heal Bell. Luxio, you can return to the room and go back to sleep."
They all nodded and did as they were asked. Meanwhile, I changed the IV bags and took off the blanket so I could change the bandages and put on my salve for the bruises.
"Roserade?" she asked.
I smiled tiredly, "Thanks for coming Roserade, please use Aromatherapy."
"Rose," she said and did as she was asked.
As Roserade and Skitty used Aromatherapy and Heal Bell, I grabbed a heated up blanket and covered Gardevoir with it before I did a scan of her aura. It showed depression worse than before, but there was a small bit that showed determination which gave me hope. I then used my aura powers to try to help continue to heal her internally. The three of us kept working like this for half an hour before I saw that Roserade and Skitty were exhausted.
"Thanks so much for your help," I said gratefully. "You can go back to the room and sleep."
"Rose?" Roserade asked. (Will you be okay?)
I smiled softly, "I'll be fine, I'm gonna stay here and keep an eye on her."
Skitty and Roserade smiled and nodded before they went across the hall to go back to sleep. I went to grab the lab coat I wore earlier that day since I was feeling a little chilled. I then went to sit next to Gardevoir and continued to use my healing skills with my aura. I looked at the monitors to see that Gardevoir's signs were back to a safe level causing me to relax.
Suddenly Gardevoir shifted a little and her eyes started to open, "Garde gardevoir?" she asked weakly. (Huh, where am I?)
"You're somewhere safe now," I said gently. "No one's going to hurt you."
"Garde?" she asked again. (Who are you?)
"My name is May Maple, I'm a friend," I said with a small smile.
"Garde Gardevoir gar?" she asked quickly and the monitor showed her heart rate increasing. (Team Galactic, are they here?)
"Calm down, you are safe from them," I said gently. "Go back to sleep."
She slowly shut her eyes and immediately fell back asleep. It gave me great relief knowing that she finally woke up and that she was starting to come back okay.
I continued to sit next to her and heal her internally before I fell asleep at some point. I woke up a couple of hours later to see that it was 10:30 AM and that someone covered me with a blanket. I rose up to see that Gardevoir was still asleep from the events of last night. I folded the blanket and left to go upstairs to take a shower and change.
After finishing, I went to check on Gardevoir to see that she was still asleep. Her vital signs were improving and most of her cuts and bruises were gone. I was about to leave when I saw Gardevoir stir in her sleep and then wake up.
"Good morning," I said cheerfully.
"Garde," she said tiredly and I heard her stomach growl.
"You must be hungry after sleeping for a whole day, let me bring you some food," I said before I left the room for the kitchen.
I quickly made some soup along with tea for the both of us before sticking it on a tray and carried it back to Gardevoir's room to see her sitting up in her bed. I gave her a bowl of soup and spoon so that she could start eating. Then I placed the tray on the side table next to her and sat in the chair nearby before I began to eat as well.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
She looked troubled, "I'm fine at the moment," she said telepathically.
"I can understand that, you were very badly hurt when my boyfriend and I found you yesterday," I said gently as I finished my soup. "If it's not too much trouble, can you tell me what happened?"
I took her empty soup bowl and gave her a cup of tea before she began to tell me her story telepathically, "Many years ago as a Ralts, I lived in a forest where I was free to roam without having to worry about any danger. I lived happily for many years as I evolved and eventually realized that I was different from everyone else. I possessed certain abilities other pokemon didn't have such as the ability to heal others. Despite this, I still got along with everyone. I eventually met up with a Gallade who became my mate and we had a Ralts who was blue like me," she reminisced happily.
I sat in silence as I waited for her to continue, "Then one day, my world was turned upside down. People dressed in silver and black uniforms came wanting to take away Ralts and myself. We put up a fight, but in the end, Gallade was killed and Ralts and myself were captured to be brought back to this dark place to be trapped in chains. We were treated harshly and experimented on every day, it happened for months on end. A few months ago, Ralts was experimented on harshly and he didn't survive after the testing," she said sadly as tears began to appear.
I still sat silently with tears running down my face as well waiting for her to continue, "After Ralts died, I lost the will to live. I didn't bother to try to pick a fight or anything, I just gave up. Then, I escaped because I just wanted to die in freedom. I got far down the mountain, but a lady wearing a silver and black uniform type dress with red hair found me and strapped a bomb to me before placing me in a cave. Shortly after that, I blacked out and then I wake to find you next to me," she said finishing her story.
My heart broke at her story and I wiped away my tears, "It sounds like you've have great hardships in life. I feel your pain as your story sounds similar to my own."
"What do you know about suffering and pain?! I lost my mate and child. You don't know what I've suffered," she said angrily.
I smiled sadly, "Our stories are very similar, it's rather sad. You see, my brother and I lost our parents when I was only seven years old. I was the one that found them lying in their blood. Then the man who killed them tried to burn my home to the ground. I suffered depression in my early years and hardly spoke at all. I did coordinating after I got my first pokemon and I also started doing multiple missions to help save people and pokemon around the world. I have fought Team Galactic in the past and they almost killed me. They poisoned me causing me to go in a coma for two months and the doctors were ready to kill me to put me out of my misery since they couldn't heal me. I was then miraculously healed by Arceus and told that my time wasn't over. It took me years to recover, but I got back into the swing of things. Then when I turned sixteen almost six months ago, strange things began to happen. Ever since then, I discovered I'm the guardian of Arceus having the ability to use aura. Recently, I was captured by an evil organization called Team Chaos and they experimented on me because they wanted my power. I just recovered from the incident not even two days ago," I said finishing my tale.
Gardevoir said nothing but looked down, "Please understand when I say I know how you feel. We've lost loved ones. We are both different to others. We have been treated horribly and have been experimented on. We suffered so much in our lives and lost the will to fight, but there are people who care that want us to continue on with life to the best that we can," I said understandingly. "That's why when your heart was about to stop, I did everything I could to help save you and screamed that your life isn't over, that you have to fight to live on because people care about you."
Gardevoir nodded, "I sensed your presence when you found me, I can tell you're a good person. I want to thank you for saving my life, for helping me understand that we all have our hardships, and that we must do our best to live through them," she said wholeheartedly.
I smiled in agreement, "We all have our hardships and I know that we have much to go through. I have a question though. How come you are able to communicate with me using telepathy when pokemon can only use that ability with their trainer?" I asked in curiosity.
"I can communicate to anyone I trust with telepathy and you are the only person I trust. I sense you have a special way with pokemon that you treat them as equals and will do anything to protect them," she said.
"I love pokemon and I do anything I can to help them to the best of my ability. I've been able to understand them better because I now have the ability to understand any pokemon that talks. I don't know whether it's from being the guardian of Arceus or from being turned into an Eevee," I said thoughtfully.
"Wait, you were turned into a pokemon?" Gardevoir asked surprised.
I laughed, "Yea, I was fighting this evil scientist one day and I got hit by his ray gun that he invented. I was then turned into a pokemon for three days and let me tell ya, it was an interesting experience."
Gardevoir laughed, "I sense that you seem to be in emotion turmoil. Anger, fear, pain, longing, confusion, love, embarrassment, and happiness, care to explain?" she asked.
"I suppose. Let's see….I'm angry at Team Galactic because I want to hurt them for torturing you and giving you grief because no pokemon should be treated that way. I feel afraid because I don't want to captured and tortured again. To be honest, this isn't my normal look. I actually have sapphire blue eyes and light brown hair, but I'm afraid to look like myself because I fear people will take me again. I feel pain and longing because of a memory of so long ago," I said with a sigh before continuing.
"When I was young, I did gymnastics which led me to doing martial arts and I loved both activities. After I was recovering from being poisoned, I wanted to get back into gymnastics because I missed it. Though at the time, I was reckless and impatient. I entered a competition a year after I was miraculously healed and I did fine for the first two events. On the third, I hurt my back which made things difficult, but I was stubborn and didn't back out. The last event was the balance beam and I wanted to do a difficult trick by doing a no hand back flip, something I never practiced before. I didn't get enough momentum and I wound up hitting my head on the beam badly causing a very bad head injury," I said quietly as tears began to fall.
Gardevoir sat quietly waiting for me to continue, "I was taken to the hospital to have stitches and to recover some more, but ever since then, I never did gymnastics again. I feel pain because of the past and longing because I want to do the sport again. I feel confused because I'm trying to piece together what Team Galactic is trying to do. I feel love because I love my little brother, I love my friends, and I love my boyfriend. I've never felt so lucky in my life to have Drew. I feel embarrassed because of my relatives and friends teasing me that I finally found a boyfriend and that they are already planning my wedding apparently. It's annoying and embarrassing that people keep teasing me about that," I huffed in annoyance before smiling thoughtfully.
Lastly, I feel happiness for so many reasons. I'm happy that I've become friends with some of the best talented and amazing people I've ever known and their antics always make me smile. I'm happy because I have an understanding and caring boyfriend despite his hair flipping and arrogant attitude, but I wouldn't have him any other way. I'm happy because I have so many people that care for me and I feel blessed by this. I'm also happy that I have such kind and understanding pokemon who have been at my side for many years. Finally, I'm also happy because you have healed and that I consider you as a friend," I said with a smile.
"You are a very special person May. I can tell you feel blessed," Gardevoir said with a yawn.
"You should get some rest. You must be incredibly tired at this point, but may I ask real quick question? Did you ever hear talk about Dialga and Palkia?" I asked.
"No, but before I ran away, I heard something about a new world, trio, and rock into chain," she said tiredly as she lay down to sleep.
I took in her words before I picked up the tray of dishes and brought them to the kitchen confused with what Gardevoir said, "new world, trio, and rock into chain", what is that supposed to mean? I started to walk back to the computer room to see the gang plus Max and Lizzy there.
"How was listening to a one-sided conversation?" I asked miffed since I discovered a bug on my way out.
Everyone looked at something else other than me and didn't answer for a bit, "We're sorry May, we were wondering what you were doing since you were in there for a while, we're sorry," Max apologized.
I smiled softly, "I know that you guys are worried about me, but can you stop spying on me and wait for me to tell you what happened?" I asked.
"I suppose, but what did Gardevoir say, we didn't hear anything?" Max said.
"She spoke to me telepathically and told me her story. She and her son were kidnapped while her mate died to protect them. She and Ralts then suffered experimentation for months 'til Ralts died from it. Then Gardevoir lost the will to live and tried to kill herself by freezing to death, but she's on the right path now and she'll be okay," I said relieved.
"Her story sounds similar to yours May, it's really sad," Leaf said.
I nodded, "Did you pick up any scans of people on the mountain?" I asked.
"No, but we decided to scan the whole region for signs of Team Galactic. What we discovered is that there are small groups placed in the forests outside of Twinleaf Town, Snowpoint City, and Pastoria City," Drew said as a map with the locations marked on it appeared on a smart board.
"Guess that means that Team Galactic's main base is still hidden," I said thoughtfully.
"On a weird note, we also received a report that someone that looked like Team Galactic was lurking around the Veilstone Meteors," Dawn added.
Think May think, what's the connection? What do the three areas have in common….the lakes. What's special about the lakes, and then what about the meteors, what's it all mean? Suddenly, it all clicked and I gasped in horror as I covered my mouth.
"May, what's wrong?" Drew asked concerned.
It can't be, it can't! "Max, can you pull up the Veilstone meteors using GPS?" I asked worried.
"Sure thing May," Max said and soon an overview of the area appeared on his computer screen. Low and behold, two meteors were missing.
"May, you look really pale. What's wrong?" Dawn asked concerned.
"I've figured out what Team Galactic is doing," I said quietly.
"What is it?" Leaf asked.
I was about to speak before I was hit with a massive headache causing me to grip my head and fall to my knees. "AAAAHHHH!"
"May!" everyone cried.