March 10th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)

(May's POV)

Can I pass out yet, this week is killing me.

Currently I was running from ballet to the hospital to drop off Misty's notebook as it somehow wound up in my gym bag. So far, she was the only one released from the hospital. She was out Monday completely healed from the burns thanks to my healing and a whole bunch of rest. Leaf was to be released today after she got her stitches out. Meanwhile, the others were still stuck in recovery. The guys had a few busted ribs and some arms and legs fractured so they weren't moving. Dawn was almost healed, but was going through therapy to help get her muscle back into shape.

I finally reached the room everyone was in exhausted. The guys were sitting up in their beds along with Dawn and Leaf while Misty sat in a chair that was between Dawn's and Leaf's beds.

"Lin, what are you doing here, don't you have gymnastics practice?" Misty asked surprised.

"You're notebook was in my bag," I panted tiredly as I gave it to her.

"So that's where it went, thanks Lin," she said before looking concerned. "Did you run all the way here?"

I nodded as I was catching my breath, "For the most part, I don't have a lot of spare time."

"May, have you not been getting enough sleep again?" Leaf asked concerned.

I sighed, "I don't have time, I'm up at 4:15 AM for practice and I finish homework around 11:00 to 11:30 PM."

"May, you need your sleep. You're gonna crash and burn otherwise," Drew said sternly.

"I know that, but I can't play hooky for practice, school, or detention and you know the school's homework policy, late homework also gets you another detention."

Suddenly my poketch started to beep with a call from Jenny. I pressed a button to accept to see an annoyed Jenny.

"MAYBELLE MAPLE, WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU NOT AT PRACTICE YET?!" she screamed at me causing me to wince along with everyone else.

"I had to stop by the hospital real quick to drop something off," I explained tiredly.

"That's no excuse, you have a competition coming up in three days. Now since you're late, you're gonna practice an extra thirty minutes today and an extra hour tomorrow," she said sternly. "NOW GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!"

She then ended the call and I sighed, "May, are you okay?" Dawn asked in concern.

I sat on the floor focusing on my aura and tried to release in a shape, but I couldn't focus because the pain was too intense and it felt like releasing my aura didn't help at all. As if the pain was stemming from the huge source of power that strikes me now and again.

"I don't have time for this," I quickly muttered in pain as I stood up and grabbed my gym bag.

"May, if you're not well you shouldn't go," Leaf said worriedly.

"I don't have a choice," I deadpanned as I ran out only to run into the door frame and then out of the hospital towards the gym.

March 11th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)

I was walking back from ballet feeling sore and tiredly. I didn't have the energy to do anything, I just wanted to go back to the dorm and crash. When I got there, I didn't see Leaf or Misty. Guess they must have gone to visit everyone else at the hospital.

I lay on my bed ready to fall asleep when I heard beeping and saw that Max was calling me, "Hey Max…*yawn*….what's the sitch?"

Max looked concerned, "Are you okay May?"

"Not really, but what's up?"

"It's that time again, except it was Professor Ivy's lab that was hit," he said quickly.

I mentally sighed, it had to be now of all times, "Alright Max, you have a ride for me?" I asked.

"Yea, Winona will meet you at the airport," he said before looking worried. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

I nodded, "Yea, no one else is in condition to go and I'm gonna have to find the next gem anyways."

Max stilled looked uneasy but eventually came around, "Okay, good luck May."

He ended the call and I changed into my mission outfit along with a swimsuit, just in case, along with a few gadgets. I left the dorm and rocket skated to the airport to Winona by her plane. We then took off and were soon flying over the ocean. I took the time to take a short nap after I messaged Misty saying what was up.

I woke up a few hours later to find Winona shouting to me, "We're right over the island, you ready?" she hollered.

I quickly double checked my equipment, "Yea, you can drop me off," I shouted back.

She then flipped the plane so I could fall out and start falling towards the island. After I landed, I walked to lab to find Professor Ivy's three assistants, Hope, Charity, and Faith, standing outside.

"Thanks goodness you could come, the lab's a total mess," Faith complained.

"Can you figure out who did it?" Charity asked.

I nodded, "The person who wrecked your lab is Domino from Team Rocket. I'll look around to see if she left anything behind."

I then called up Max through my earbud communicator as the trio walked back inside, "Max, did Professor Ivy scan in the map?"

"Yea, I've attached it to the other two pieces and did a topography scan. It's strange, I'm not coming up with a lot options. The computer is having a hard time finding a match now."

I frowned in puzzlement, "Show me the map."

Soon a holographic image appeared showing the three pieces together making it look like a backwards L. I then noticed strange triangle points, "Try setting the scan so that it recognizes the triangles as mountains."

"I'll do that May. In the meantime, see if Domino left anything behind," he said before signing off.

I walked into the lab to see Professor Ivy picking up papers. She looked up and smiled tiredly, "Thanks for coming May, let me show you where I kept the map."

I followed her as she walked down a hall to a small room with filing cabinets and papers scattered all over the floor. I put on my infrared sunglasses and started to sweep the place. Typical burn marks and a black tulip on the floor, she's starting to mess with us.

"No luck Max, how about you?" I asked.

"I'm not sure yet, the scan is still going. You ready to find the gem?"

"Yea, just give me a second," I said as I walked a couple hundred feet away to a grassy cliff overlooking the sea. "You can send them to me now."

A few seconds later the gems appeared in a small box, I took them out and laid them in front of me before I began to try concentrating. As always, I felt a surge of power as I saw the gem being a blue sapphire surrounded by a small ball of air in the middle of the ocean before my view zoomed out and I saw a small island in the middle of the Orange Islands. I then snapped out of it and fell on my butt.

"Why does this always have to be painful," I muttered as I stood up.

"Did you find where the gem was?"

"Yea, can you bring up a map of the Orange Islands?"

A holographic map appeared on my poketch and I immediately found the island. It was northeast of Fairchild exactly in the middle of the archipelago.

"The gem is located on a small island in the middle of the archipelago, northeast of Fairchild. I'm gonna ride Dragonair over there," I said quickly as I threw her pokeball.

"Okay May, be careful," he said worriedly.

I then flew on Dragonair to the island to find that it was about a mile big and I saw a cave nearby close to the sea. I guided Dragonair to the cave and got off her to walk slowly inside where I saw a stalagmite that had a weird symbol on it. I walked over to it and pushed it causing it to tilt forward making the cave shake. Rocks started to fall from the ceiling so I quickly ran out of the cave as the shaking continued. I dove onto the sand to avoid a boulder where Dragonair then wrapped herself around me protectively. I slowly stood up and saw that the cave had grown slightly and became a cove with the ocean pouring inside.

I walked to the wall where a hole showed empty spots to place the gems. I took them out of there box and placed them in the empty holes causing another riddle to appear.

To find the precious jewel and overcome confusion

You must swim to the bottom and notice the illusion

Beware this final test will show you not one but two

And in order to live you must find the light inside you

Okay…..I'm officially confused. What the heck is this supposed to mean, it doesn't make any sense. I shook my mind of the riddle and focused on the gems mysterious energy to find the sapphire.

I grabbed a breathing device and took off my clothes so they didn't get wet. Good thing I had a gut feeling that I'd need a swimsuit. I walked to the cave and saw that it was deep. I jumped in to see that it was huge down here and kept swimming toward the bottom to see the gem in a small air bubble. I put my hand inside but quickly pulled it out because the bubble was burning hot like flames.

Was this the illusion, that it was this simple? But it's protected by something hot, like fire…of course, the pattern! The gem being surrounded by its opposite…..wait…..water has a type advantage over fire, I'm confused.

I waited a minute before I stuck my hand into the bubble again. My hand hurt like hell, but I finally grabbed the gem and pulled my hand out causing the bubble to disappear, that wasn't so bad. Then I noticed in place of the bubble was a purple amethyst. Wait…this can't be right, why are there two gems here? I picked up the amethyst and was suddenly hit with a blast of black fog causing me to feel weak and pass out.

What is…..happening…..

March 13th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)

(Leaf's POV)

"Talk about a rough day back at school," I said tiredly as Misty and I left detention.

Misty nodded in agreement, "Tons of people must have been asking about your leg being in a cast."

I sighed, "You have no idea, it was annoyed to have repeat myself over and over and over and over and…."

"I get the point," Misty quickly said. "I wonder how May's doing, I'm worried about her. She goes on a mission to find a gem, finds two instead, and winds up unconscious in the middle of a cove."

"I'm confused as to why May found two gems instead of one. Shouldn't the piece of map be found before the last gem is found?" I asked.

"I don't know, it doesn't make sense to me either. Let's stop by the hospital real quick and give everyone their homework then we'll come back and check on May," Misty suggested.

"I'm up for that, sorry for making the walk much slower," I said tiredly.

"It's okay Leaf, take your time. Mew knows that using crutches all the time is painful and slow," Misty said gently.

I nodded, "You have no idea. My arms are sore and my armpits are killing me," I complained.

"Well, we'll be at the hospital soon enough. I wonder how Dawn's been doing being stuck with the guys?" Misty wondered.

I laughed, "Hopefully she didn't drive 'em up a wall, you know how she gets chatty at times," I said knowingly.

Misty laughed as we continued making our way to the hospital. About ten minutes later, we reached the room everyone was staying in to see Dawn chatting up a storm and the guys looked tired.

"You've finally come, save us from the chatter box!" Gary begged me as I sat down.

"Gee, thanks Gary," Dawn pouted.

"No offense Troublesome, but you've talked too much for the past day," Paul said annoyed.

"Where's May?" Drew asked.

Misty and I looked at each other hesitantly. We hadn't seen everyone since Saturday afternoon so they didn't know what happened.

"She's sleeping," I finally said.

"She's…..sleeping," Drew said flatly.

"For the second day in a row," Misty finished.

"What? Why is she sleeping two days in a row?" Dawn asked concerned.

I sighed, "On Saturday, May got a call from Max that Professor Ivy's lab was broken into. She investigated and found the location of the fifth gem, but she found not one but two. Then Max called Misty saying that May was found unconscious in the cove she was investigating and that her pokemon pulled her out of the water. Misty then went to bring her back to the dorm and she hasn't woken since then," I explained.

"Wait, May found two gems in the same place? But that doesn't make any sense, it doesn't fit the pattern at all. Ugh, my head hurts!" Dawn complained.

"Now you know what we've been suffering for the past four hours," Paul huffed.

Suddenly a beeping noise was coming from Misty's poketch making her eyes widen and she pressed a button starting a call with Max, "What do you mean she's competing, she's in no condition to do so!" Misty said surprised/angry causing all of us to be surprised.

"I don't believe it either Misty, but apparently she's in first place by a .04 of a point," Max said eagerly.

Misty ended the call as I grabbed the TV remote and found the TV channel showing the competition. The camera zoomed up on May as she was at the end of the runway.

"Well Mindy, May has been doing well in this competition. If she can place high on the vault, she's guaranteed a medal," an announcer commented.

I then noticed May tense up almost like she had one of her attacks, talk about bad timing. May then waved her hand to signal to the judges before she started running down the runway. She did a round off into a back hand spring to twist, but it looked off and she landed on her knees which caused us to cringe in pain.

"Ooo….that's gonna cause a lot of pain in her feet Stanley and with her not being able to land that vault, she be given a very low score," Mindy said worriedly.

May then walked off to the side where Jenny started to attend her feet. I was worried because you could see May's eyes, they looked dulled and it was creepy. Her eyes started to water, but it looked like she was refusing to cry. In the end after ten more gymnasts, Brandi's cousin, Hailey Hartwood, won the medal for the competition.

We were all crushed by how May did.

I wonder if I was the only one that noticed May's eyes.

(May's POV)

I changed out of my leotard into a pair of black yoga pants and a red and white tie dye t-shirt. The loss didn't bother me, it was the sudden boosts in power that I was feeling. It happened a lot throughout the day and was making me tired trying to not let it out. I also kept suffering nightmares as I slept. That the powers I had were killing and hurting everyone I loved and that the man who killed my parents kept attacking and trying to hurt me.

I grabbed my stuff before I called out Gardevoir and she teleported me back to the dorm. I was drained in so many ways and I didn't feel like facing anyone. I quickly made some supper along with some tea. As I sat at the table eating, Misty and Leaf came in.

"May, are you okay?" Leaf asked concerned as she hobbled over to me.

"I'm fine, just tired," I said quietly.

Misty kept staring at me which was making me feel uncomfortable, "Do I have something on my face?" I asked.

"No, it's your eyes, they've lost their brightness and look dull," she said concerned.

"Huh, I didn't notice," I said tiredly as I carried my stuff to the sink before walking to my room. I sat on my bed trying to stay awake while gripping my bandanna and holding my key necklace, but eventually I fell asleep around midnight totally exhausted. What I didn't know was that I was in for a rough ride.

(Misty's POV)

I watched as May walked to her room. Leaf mentioned after the competition that May's eyes looked dull and I didn't notice at first, but after seeing her just now, I was worried. May looked more beat up than anything.

"I take it you're worried about her too," Leaf said snapping me out of my thoughts.

I nodded, "Something's not right, her eyes are creeping me out along with these attacks she's having, I don't like it," I said concerned.

"I don't either, but what can we do? May's shut herself out, she won't tell us anything."

"I just hope she'll come to her senses soon. Actually…do you mind if we have Max over?" I asked.

"I don't mind, I think it'd be a good idea for someone to watch over her since no one's really here," Leaf agreed.

I then called up Max on my poketch, "Hey Max, you mind stay here for a few days?" I asked.

He looked confused/concerned, "Why?"

I sighed, "We're worried about May and since we're hardly around these days. I was wondering if you could keep an eye on her."

"Yea, I'll be over in a few minutes," he said quickly before sighing off.

Just like he said, he popped up in the common area a few minutes later. I grabbed a blanket and a spare pillow from my room and set them on the couch.

"You don't mind babysitting your sister?" Leaf asked.

He shook his head, "I don't mind and someone has to do it. She's been pushing herself too hard these days. If she doesn't calm down soon, I fear the worst," he said quietly.

I put my hand on his shoulder, "Let's hope she'll get better soon, we're probably over worrying for nothing."

Max gave a small smile, "Maybe you're right."

"Night Max, we'll see ya in the morning," Leaf said as she and I walked to our room.

After we finished some last minute homework, Leaf and I finally crawled into bed before I instantly fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.

I was sleeping peacefully until a short scream woke me up with a panic. I looked at my clock to see that it was 2:30 AM. I heard the scream again causing Leaf to sit up in fright, "What was that?" she asked scared.

"It sounded like May," I said as I fully woke up and ran to her room.

I saw May tossing and turning covered in a sweat, "May, wake up," I said trying to shake her awake.

"No, stay away from me, I don't want to hurt you," she said scared as she jumped out of bed away from me. I looked at her in shock, her eyes were milky white as if she was blind.

"May calm down. You're not hurting me," I said calmly walking towards her.

"Please stay away from me," she said as she pushed past me and burst down the hall. I quickly went to May's pokeballs and called out Beautifly, "Follow me!" I shouted as I ran out of the room towards the common area to find Leaf having called out Espeon and having her use Psychic on May.

"Stay away from me," May cried as tears fell down her face. Suddenly she broke out of Espeon's Psychic and ran to the sliding door trying to make it to the balcony.

"Beautifly stop her with String Shot," I shouted quickly.

Beautifly did as I asked as Max ran out of the room and came back with Blaziken, Lucario, and Gardevoir.

We ran over to May who stopped tossing and turning, but her tears didn't stop falling around, "Lucario, Gardevoir, can you tell us what's wrong with May?" Max asked scared.

Lucario raised a paw over her as his flaps levitated while Gardevoir held her hand out and closed her eyes. They both stopped with their faces looking grim and sad, "Gardevoir garde gar voir gardevoir," Gardevoir said sadly.

Espeon then told Leaf who looked scared, "We need to take May to the hospital now! The stress on her body is causing the organs to overwork. If we don't do something, she'll burn herself out!"

I quickly ran to our room and grabbed a hoodie for myself and Leaf, "Gardevoir, can you teleport us all to the ER?"

She nodded and soon we appeared with Blaziken carrying May, "Can I help you?" the nurse asked as she walked around the desk.

"Please help us! My sister is suffering a panic attack that's overstressing her body, we need help!" Max said as his eyes started to tear up.

The nurse pressed a button that was nearby, "We have a situation here, bring a gurney."

Soon some nurses and doctors came out and took May from Blaziken before placing her on the gurney and taking her back through the double doors.

"It will be a while before the doctor can tell you what's happening, please have a seat in the waiting area," the nurse said gesturing to the right.

"Thank you," I said quietly as we walked over to the waiting room. Max tried to return May's pokemon but only managed to return Beautifly, the others refused to leave. Blaziken started to pace while Lucario tried to meditate. Gardevoir sat quietly while Leaf took the couch and Max and I took chairs perpendicular to her.

Max sighed as he placed his head in his hands, "I knew something was wrong with May but not this, why her of all people," he said trying not to cry.

I leaned over to pull him into a side hug causing him to start crying, "She'll be okay Max, she will."

(May's POV)

Why does the same nightmare repeat over and over? I was filled with power, but I couldn't control it. Flames shot out catching fire to anything it touched then water spouted out of my hands and hit innocent people nearby.

"That's right May, use your power for destruction. You can't control it, it's uncontrollable," an evil voice said slyly.

The scene would change to show all my pokemon and everyone I cared about circling around me throwing insults at me while my pokemon threw attacks at me.

"Nothing can be done. You're weak, pathetic. You can't do anything to help anyone only to destroy and kill," the evil voice chuckled.

"No, I help everyone I can. I don't want to hurt anyone!" I argued feebly.

"I don't see that," the evil voice said as the scene changed to show me throwing a fire attack at Max.

"MAX!" I cried in warning.

He dodged most of the attack, but got singed at the end.

With every scene playing over and over, it grew a little darker.

"That's right May, soon you will be filled with the darkness and no one can save you. You're weak and all alone. You can't help but destroy everything and everyone you care about," the evil voice said.

"No," I said in a whisper as I continued to watch the scenes unfold in front of me.

"There's nothing you can do, just watch the endless suffering," the voice said again.

I curled into a ball as the scene of everyone throwing insults at me replayed all over again, "Someone….please…..help me."

(Misty's POV)

Eventually, we all got a few hours' sleep. I woke up around 5:30 AM and saw a doctor walking toward me, "Are any of you family to May Maple?" he asked.

"I'm her brother," Max said sleepily as he woke up.

"We've finished doing tests and scans on your sister and I'm afraid I don't have good news. The continuous stress on her body is causing her organs and mind to overwork. Certain functions have started to shut down, one of them being her eyes," he said grimly causing tears to fall down Max's face.

"We've hooked her up to monitors and we've tried to wake her up, but she seems to be locked in a deep coma that's she's unable to wake up from. If your sister doesn't relax soon, I fear she only has a few more hours to live, I'm sorry," he said. "I'll show you to her room, I suggest you prepare to say your final good byes."

Tears began to fall down our faces while Blaziken and Lucario looked grave. We followed the doctor down to May's room which was a few doors from the room the gang was recovering in. We saw her hooked up to a bunch of monitors and tubes. She looked pale and lifeless; it was scary.

"What did she do to deserve this not once but twice," Max cried as he took a chair next to her and held her hand.

"I don't know Max, all we can do is hope and pray that Arceus is watching her," Leaf strained to say as she wiped her tears.

"We'll give you a minute," I said quietly as I left the room with Leaf into the hallway.

"How are we going to explain to everyone that she's dying? I don't know if I can tell them," Leaf said with tears threatening to spill over again.

"Leaf, they deserve to know as much as we do, we'll sit in their room until they wake up," I said quietly as I gave her a quick hug.

"You're right," she agreed quietly as we silently walked into the gang's room to see everyone sleeping.

Leaf took a chair next to Gary while I took one next to Ash. Pikachu raised his head sleepily at me and then became alert as he saw me.

"Pika pikachu?" he asked as he walked up to me.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up Pikachu," I said quietly as I pet his head. "Go back to sleep."

For the next half hour, I sat there with my arms and head on Ash's bed thinking about how I first met May. The letter she gave me after I was kidnapped, how we chatted that one time and she said that she was my friend if I needed one. All the fun times we had together with everyone else whether it was at school or on break. I felt a few tears slip down my face and a hand began to pet my head.

I lifted my head up to wipe my tears and saw that Ash was awake, "I'd knew you'd miss me, but not this much," Ash teased.

I looked down with tears threatening to fall, "Misty, what's wrong? Why are you and Leaf here this early?" he asked concerned as the others started to wake up.

"We've been here at the hospital since 2:35 this morning," Leaf said quietly as Gary took her hand.

"Why so early in the morning, is something wrong?" Dawn asked concerned.

Max then walked in with a tear stricken face, "If you want to say some finally words, you better do them now, her vital signs are starting to drop," Max said quietly.

Leaf began to sob quietly as she laid her head on Gary's bed, "Who's here?" Drew asked sternly.

I couldn't hold the tears back anymore, "May's here," I sobbed. "The doctor says that if she doesn't relax from the panic attack in her sleep soon, she won't survive the morning. She's on her deathbed."

Everyone else besides Leaf , Max, and I looked crushed. Dawn started to sob quietly with her face buried in her knees while the guys looked grave.

Soon Lucario, Blaziken, and Gardevoir came in looking sad, "Leaf, why don't you go first," I suggested once I was able to stop crying.

She looked up looking sullen and walked down the hall, "What happened?" Drew asked morbidly.

I looked down at my lap as I summarized what happened before turning to May's pokemon. "I'm guessing you sensed that she was slowly dying?"

Lucario and Gardevoir nodded their heads slowly, "Why would May ask you to stay away? It's not like she had anything that could hurt you?" Ash said in puzzlement.

"I think May was referring about her powers that she refuses to talk about or use. She's afraid she'll hurt someone or destroy something. So with these nightmares and her trying to keep her power inside, she's caused tremendous stress on her body causing her to be where she is," Max said quietly.

"That's what she was afraid? We should have noticed this," I said angrily.

Max shook his head, "It wouldn't have done any good. She wouldn't tell us anything and if we pried, she would have shut us out."

Leaf then came back and one by one, we all walked over to May's room to say our last words to her. After Leaf went were Gary, then Dawn, then Paul, then Ash.

I then walked to May's room to see her looking paler than when I saw her the first time and sat on the chair next to her bed, "Hey May, you're probably tired of everyone crying. I know you've always hated when others were hurt. I just wanted to say thanks for being my friend and for helping me through the aftershock of when I was kidnapped. I also wanted to thank you for being friends with all of us. You've made our lives much more fun and interesting. Lastly, thanks for bringing all of us together. You and your brother are the domino that started the chain reaction for our relationships to happen. Again….thanks for being my friend," I ended quietly as I gently squeezed her hand before I walked out back to my chair next to Ash's bed.

After I came back, Drew left the room with Roserade following him. I watched him as he left the room before looking at everyone else. Dawn was lying next to Paul on his bed as tears fell down her face while Paul was petting her head. Leaf was sitting next to Gary with her head on his bed while they held hands. I felt Ash take my hand and squeeze it, I looked over to him and he gave me a small smile. I softly smiled back before I looked at Pikachu and began to pet his head.

After a while, Drew came back with his face looking like he cried. For a while, we said nothing as we sat in silence.

Suddenly we heard a beeping noise, "Room 316, code blue! I repeat, code blue!" a woman's voice said over the intercom.

We tensed as we recognized it as May's room. The girls and I started to cry as we recognized what code blue meant, "Max, what does code blue mean?" Gary asked.

Max looked at him with tears down his face, "Code blue means that the patient's vital signs are at a critical point. More or less, May's heart has probably stopped working and they're getting out the heart defibrillator," he sobbed quietly causing the girls and I to sob some more while the guy's eyes started to water especially Drew's.

Come on May, you can get through this! Fight it out, you can do it!