May 9th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
(May's POV)
"Finish up with Bubble Beam!" Dawn shouted.
"Pip lup lup lup," Piplup yelled as he shout Bubble Beam at his opponent causing Sandslash to faint.
"Good job you two, excellent performance," Solidad complimented as both Dawn and her opponent Christy returned their pokemon before sitting back on the bleachers.
"Nice job," I called as I high-fived her.
"Thanks, Piplup and I have been trying to work on that combo for weeks," Dawn said with a smile as the bell rang.
"Now before I dismiss you, a reminder as to be here at 9:00 sharp so we can leave on time for Slateport City. Also remember that we are going on this field trip to help you with your final paper," Solidad called. "You are now dismissed."
I smirked, "My bet is that she wanted this field trip to happen as an excuse to see Harley."
"Why's that?" Dawn asked confused though Drew nodded in agreement.
"Solidad and Harley have been good friends for a while and have even dated for the past year though I will never understand why?" Drew said as he shuttered.
I also shivered when Drew said Harley's name, I ran into the guys quite a few times over the years while I was on the contest circuit and the guy liked to creep me out though he has been nicer to me within the past two years.
As we walked out of the room, I noticed while Solidad was talking to a student, she was fiddling with a diamond ring on her finger before she noticed me looking and quickly put her hands behind her.
"So that's why she's been giddy for the past week," I said thoughtfully with a smirk as we met up with everyone else.
"Who's been giddy for the past week?" Misty asked as we walked back to the dorm.
"Solidad," Dawn answered. "It's really weird and somewhat annoying, a person has to repeat themselves at least twice before she comes back down to earth."
"So why do you think Solidad is giddy?" Drew asked me.
"Let's say her romantic status has changed and it'll change again within a year," I said as we walked into the dorm.
"Ugh, why do you have to make every answer we ask for a mystery," Leaf complained as we dumped our backpacks and sat on the couches, chairs, or the floor.
"Oh I get it," Ash exclaimed causing everyone to look at him in shock.
"Wait…..how did you figure it out Ashy-boy, you're incredibly dense when it comes to romance," Gary questioned suspiciously.
"I'm not dumb all the time," Ash retorted before turning to look at me. "So you're saying Solidad is engaged, right?"
I nodded in surprise that Ash understood what I said, "Oww!" Gary shouted. "What the heck was that for Leafy?"
"You were gonna ask if you were dreaming so I decided to cut to the chase and pinch you right off the bat," she answered before she kissed his cheek in apology.
"Wait….how do you know Solidad is engaged? Drew asked.
"As we were walking out of class, I saw Solidad fiddling with a diamond ring on her finger," I explained.
"Now that makes sense as to why Solidad has had her head up in the clouds," Dawn agreed.
"Why do you say that Troublesome?" Paul asked.
Dawn gave him an are-you-serious look, "Solidad has her head up in the clouds because she's overly happy and is thinking about her upcoming wedding. It happens to every girl with being head over heels in love."
Drew groaned, "Ugh, hopefully Harley won't come here more often they get married."
"What's so bad about this Harley guy?" Leaf asked.
"Let's just say he's an interesting character who liked to give certain people grief when doing contests," I said flatly.
"I'd just point out and say the guy acts really gay," Drew pointed out.
Then we heard a beeping sound and Dawn groaned, "Seriously, this is the fourth mission within two weeks," she whined.
I stood up to go to my room and change for gymnastics when I saw a message from Jenny saying that an issue came up and she canceled practice for the next few days. I quickly replied saying I would see her later before focusing on the conversation between the gang and Lance.
"What do you need us for this time Lance? If it's to investigate another robbery, I'm gonna make you pay for my next shopping spree," Dawn threatened.
"Calm down Berlitz, it's not a robbery," Lance snapped. "This mission is too important to talk about over communication lines. You are to come to headquarters immediately."
I grinned evilly, oooo….secret mission, I want in. Also it would be nice to tick Lance off a little by sneaking into his headquarters.
"We'll be there," Paul stated as he needed the call.
I stepped out into the common area, "Looks like you guys are going to be busy for a few days."
Dawn grumbled, "This better be worth it, I don't want to miss the Grand Festival."
"We'll see you later May," Misty called as everyone left the dorm.
Once I heard the door click shut, I went back to my room and changed into my stealth outfit of a red scoop neck tanktop with a black rose on it, black skinny jeans, black boots with a one inch heel that went mid-calf, and a cropped black jacket. I dyed my hair black and put it into a half up half down style before grabbing a few gadgets along with my pokemon.
I slipped out the window and started to follow the gang to the plane while putting on Max's latest gadget, a choker necklace with a rose pendant. I then snuck past them as I took a short cut by cutting a few blocks and made it to the airport before everyone else. I then activated the cloaking feature by pressing the rose pendant. I quickly raced to the plane because the invisibility only lasted for five minutes before shutting off, I would then have to wait an hour before using it again.
I made it to the plane and snuck my way on to hide in a small closet just as the cloaking shut off and I heard everyone get on. I stifled a groan as my leg started to have a tiny cramp, thank goodness the ride to headquarters only lasts an hour or so.
"I wonder what this mission is that's so important that Lance couldn't tell us over the webcam," Leaf wondered as the plane took off.
"Maybe the guy we're going after is a hacker and Lance thought it wasn't safe to use the communication lines," Misty guessed.
"Could be another undercover mission?" Ash predicted.
"I hope not, it's a bad time to do undercover since we have finals coming up in a month," Drew pointed.
"I hope so to, I don't want to miss prom and if anyone gets in the way of that, they're gonna find themselves dressed a mini dress in the northern mountains," Dawn said darkly.
I sweatdropped and sensed that everyone did the same, "Don't you think that's a bit extreme Troublesome?" Paul asked.
"No and I will seriously do it," she muttered.
Oh boy, but then again if anyone comes between Dawn and an event like prom, someone will suffer. Thankfully, the rest of the flight was pretty quiet though it didn't help that the cramp started to get worse. After I sensed that we landed and everyone left, I burst out of the closet and silently yelped in pain as I tried to get rid of the cramp in my leg. Note to self, when hiding next time, no small closets.
After the cramp disappeared I called up Max on my earbud communicator, "Hey Max, mind helping me out for a sec?"
"Sure May, but I thought you had gymnastics practice right now?" he asked confused.
"Jenny canceled. Anyways, can you help me sneak into PHPA headquarters, Lance called the gang in to talk about a secret mission and I want to listen it," I explained.
"Fine, but don't you have anything better to do?" he asked.
"I'm bored," I complained before grinning slyly. "Besides, I've always wanted to sneak into PHPA headquarters."
"Fine, I sent the map to your poketch. Surprisingly, their security system is pretty lack, you shouldn't have much trouble getting in. I suggest the air ducts being your best bet," Max advised.
"Thanks Max," I called as the map appeared as 3D hologram. I quickly studied it before turning it off and started to sneak my way to an air duct vent.
About ten minutes later, I heard Lance's voice and climbed out of the air vent to hang out on the rafters in the shadows as Lance gave a debriefing.
"The reason I called you here is because this mission is top priority and I don't want any of this leaking out," he said sternly.
I then heard automatic sliding doors open to show Clair followed by Steven and Wallace along with Cynthia. I raised my eyebrows, whatever is going on must be big if the champions are in on it.
"What's going on Lance, you pulled me from important meetings pertaining to the Hoenn Grand Festival," Wallace said in annoyance.
"I was about to explain that, we have received a huge poising threat from the Thornton twins," Lance answered as a picture of the twins appeared on a screen behind him.
My eyes widened, no wonder Lance kept this top secret. If the Thornton twins are involved, crap is gonna go down.
"So?" Gary questioned. "They look like regular teens to me."
Lance scowled, "They aren't, they're responsible for multiple incidents with people getting injured in contests."
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.
"I remember those two, they are a couple of coordinators who acted ruthlessly in contests until they were banned from all contests in all four regions," Wallace said curtly.
Lance nodded, "We have intercepted from their communications a threat stating that they will make sure the Hoenn Grand Festival will blow and run red."
I frowned, that sounds like them because they like to place bombs in crowded places related to contests. They never posed a threat until a bomb went off during a contest in northern Hoenn killing five people and wounding others two years ago. They still haven't been caught, but this threat didn't sound like them. They normally use other phrases like "go out with a bang" or something like that, they normally don't get this graphic.
"What do we do, this is not good," Cynthia said sternly.
"That's why Wallace, I'm asking you to shut the Hoenn Grand Festival down," Lance said sternly.
I stood up, "And if you do that, you'll cause Hoenn more problems," I stated loudly.
I saw everyone look surprised while Lance looked ticked, "Who said that!" he shouted angrily.
"I did," I said as I nimbly leapt from beam to beam to land behind the table everyone sat at.
Lance looked furious, "You are not allowed here, how did you get in?"
I smirked, "Next time, get a better security system, yours is really lacking."
"Get out!" he said as he stood up while pounding his fists on the table.
"I don't see why I should?" I countered.
"Lance, sit down and let May speak, she's the best independent operative in the world. With your attitude, it's no wonder she doesn't like you," Clair snapped before turning to face me. "Why are you against us shutting down the Grand Festival?"
"For one, you'll cause a huge uprising and a ton of questioning citizens. Two, Hoenn will lose a great economic opportunity. Third, coordinators have been working hard to participate in this event, how can you shut down something when they have worked so hard to compete in it?" I pointed out.
"You can when someone threatens to kill everyone in the stadium," Lance argued.
"And if you do that, they will find somewhere else to bomb and you don't have the force to cover everywhere," I snapped.
Lance opened his mouth to speak but Clair glared at him causing him to shut his mouth and glare at me, "What do you propose May?" Steven asked.
"The Grand Festival happens as planned, but we have the entire stadium covered," I answered.
"But that will alert the twins that we are there and they'll escape," Gary pointed out.
I smirked, "Not if the coverage is in plain sight, we play this right, we'll snag 'em."
"Care to elaborate?" Wallace questioned with interest.
"We go undercover and wait for them to make their move, that's when we'll catch them," I explained. "We hide the agents and officers undercover in the crowd and act like everything is normal, they'll show up and we'll catch them along with disabling the bomb."
"No, that's too risky," Lance argued.
I raised an eyebrow, "You got any better ideas pinky?"
I could see a vein rising in his head causing me to sigh, talk about being angry too much, the guy needs to chill, "Look, if anything goes wrong, you can blame me. If this thing goes done as it should PHPA can have all the credit."
"May, you can't do that," Dawn argued as she and the girls stood up.
"You deserve credit for doing the things you do, stop giving it to PHPA," Misty said angrily.
"Fine," Lance agreed causing the girls to look at Lance angrily.
"You can't be serious," Leaf said angrily.
Lance shrugged, "She offered and I accept. Now, we need to come up with a plan for this."
I walked up closer to the table to find the gang staring at me angrily causing me to inwardly sigh, something tells me I'm going to get scolded again.
After we came up with the plan, we got on the jet and left with the gang still scowling at me, "How could you do that May after all the times we've told you?" Misty snapped.
"Sorry, but I had to if we wanted Lance to calm down," I pointed out.
"That's not the point, May, you need to take credit for the things you do, you deserve it," Dawn argued.
I chuckled lightly, "It doesn't matter whether I receive credit or not, the only thing that matters to me is that lives are saved. Besides, it's best if I don't have any attention on me for now."
Everyone soon quieted down thinking about what I just said. Even though the press bought my confession to Drew story a few weeks ago, I'm still the main talk of gossip columns. I sensed that Drew started to feel guilty again so I took his hand and squeezed it meaning that it wasn't just his fault.
Soon everyone broke off into couples and I leaned against Drew's shoulder, "It's not your fault," I said gently.
Drew sighed, "I still shouldn't been so careless and full of it."
I lifted my head up and smirked at him, "So the great Drew Hayden admits that he has a big ego," I teased.
He didn't say anything causing me to sigh before I smiled softly and kissed him, "It'll be alright Drew, we'll just have to wait it out. Besides, the only thing that matters is that you still have me."
He smiled softly as he pulled a rose out and put it in my hair, "That's all that matters," he agreed as he kissed me before I leaned back onto his shoulder and ran the plan for this weekend through my head again.
"Did you notice that Steven and Cynthia kept looking at each other randomly and would blush?" Drew asked.
I smiled softly, "I did, it looks like we aren't the only ones with a secret relationship."
May 10th (Lilycove City, Hoenn)
The next morning, Drew, Dawn, and I left with our bags for the contest arena where we would leave to catch a flight for Slateport City. We would meet up with the rest of the gang later after they were let out of classes. The flight was smooth and after we arrived in Slateport City, we made our way to the hotel where we dropped off our stuff and listened to Solidad give a few instructions before she let us do what we wanted.
"I hope your idea works Lin," Dawn whispered nervously. "There's too much at risk if it fails."
I nodded, "We'll find them," I whispered.
"You okay with showing up to the festival as you tomorrow?" Drew asked.
I nodded, "It won't bother me if my mind is on the mission."
"Hey Lin," I heard a familiar voice shout.
"Hey Lizzy," I called as we turned around to see Lizzy running toward us. "Have you registered yet?"
She nodded as she got her breath back, "I got here…..*pant pant*…..and registered…..*pant pant*….yesterday," she panted.
"You ready for tomorrow?" Dawn asked.
Lizzy shook her head, "Gosh no, I'm so nervous. This is the second time I'll have competed, what if I mess up again?" she wailed.
"You'll do fine, you're a Hayden," Drew pointed out.
Lizzy sighed, "A Hayden who fails," she said quietly.
"You'll do fine Lizzy, just have confidence in yourself and your pokemon and you'll be fine," I encouraged.
She nodded and smiled a little, "I'll try, I better go and practice with my pokemon, I'll see you guys later."
I nodded as she walked away and then I saw everyone walk up to us, "We better get to the debriefing or Lance will be pissed," Leaf said quietly.
We nodded and we walked to the arena where Lance was gonna give out instructions. I quickly slipped into the bathroom and slipped off the disguise and put on a hoodie to cover my head. We made it just in time as Lance started barking out instructions. Once all the other agents and law enforcement left, we stepped forward waiting for Lance to give instructions.
He smirked when he saw me after I put my hood down, "Well, look at you in your oh so clever disguise, still trying to avoid the press and slightly true rumors."
I could tell Drew wanted come to my defense along with everyone else but I raised a hand to stop them, "Let's get one thing straight jackass, I go by my playbook, not yours. Now I'm willing to risk my ass to make sure nothing goes wrong so don't get shitty with me," I snapped causing everyone to look at me in surprise because I rarely swore, but this guy was pissing me off.
"I'll let you give your agents instructions, I have some things to look into," I said coldly before I put my hood back up and left to find Max at our designated spot.
I waited a few minutes on a park bench before Max showed up and sat on the bench behind me, "You sure this is a good idea of going behind everyone's backs?" Max asked as he talked while eating some popcorn.
"We have no choice in shutting out everyone. Everything they hear about, they have to report to Lance and I don't want that moron to screw everything up. The only reason I got PHPA to do this is so that we can help make sure nothing gets screwed up," I said curtly. "What did you dig up?"
"Well, besides the twins having pointy names, seriously, who names their kids Spike and Thistle Thornton," Max muttered causing me to smile at his joke. "They haven't done a lot of criminal activity recently, there was even talk that they were thinking of turning themselves in."
I frowned, "That doesn't make any sense, why would they threaten to kill people if they were considering turning themselves in?"
"I don't know, but I also discovered that the bombs they make are made of dynamite and a few other bits and pieces they acquire through the black market," Max continued.
"Have you picked up any recent activity for stuff like that being bought?" I asked.
"No, I don't know about you May, but I don't like to think that the Thornton Twins are behind this, it's as if someone is trying to use their M.O.," Max said uneasily.
"I agree and the threat PHPA picked up on doesn't sound like them either. I don't like the looks of this, something more sinister is going on," I muttered. "Keep an ear out on all communications, I'll try to investigate and see what's going on."
"Alright, I'll see you later," Max said before he stood up and walked away.
I waited five minutes before I left to change back as Lin, "Lin, where have you been?" Dawn asked.
"I needed some fresh air, Lance was ticking me off," I muttered as we walked back to the hotel.
I started thinking about the twins again when I suddenly saw a hand waving in my face, "Lin, you in there?" Leaf asked.
I sighed, "Not really, the more I keep thinking about this, the more I feel that the Thornton twins aren't behind this."
This caused everyone to look at me, "Do you have any proof it's not them? Paul asked.
I shook my head, "I just have a gut feeling that they aren't the ones behind this."
Drew sighed, "May, a gut feeling isn't proof. So for right now, the Thornton twins are our target."
I sighed, I knew I shouldn't have told them. I kept silent as we walked to the plaza and got food. The rest of the evening my mind kept playing out what Max and I talked about. If the twins aren't behind this, then who is and what are they really after?
May 13th (Slateport City, Hoenn)
So far, I was getting more of a headache than enjoyment out of the Grand Festival. Lance was mad at me saying that my plan was falling apart. The twins still hadn't shown up yet and we still haven't located a bomb. My gut was screaming at me that something was wrong with the picture, but I can't figure out what it is.
I quickly took some pain killers and swallowed them with water before I saw everyone look at me in concern, "Lin, are you okay?" Dawn asked in concern.
"Sure," I muttered as we walked to the arena.
"You sure don't look like it," Paul pointed out.
"I'm fine," I muttered as we arrived.
Everyone sighed, but said nothing. Dawn, Drew and I walked to the stands to watch the tournament while everyone else walked to their position to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.
The only good thing about the Grand Festival was that Lizzy was doing well. She made it all the way to the battle rounds without any issues. We watched the battles progress and I could tell Drew was more concerned about me than the battles happening right now. We were watching the last battle to see Lizzy using Marshtomp and Kirlia against a Mightyena and a Jolteon.
"Still no sign of the twins or the bomb," Leaf called.
"Same here," everyone else reported.
I then heard Vivian call time and saw that Lizzy won her match causing me to smile. Then they showed the match ups for the next upcoming battles. Soon those matches started and still nothing happened. Just as the last match ended, I noticed a red alert from Max and changed the frequency of my earbud communicator so that I could listen to him.
"May, I'm picking up high levels of radiation," Max quickly explained.
"Where?" I asked sternly as I stood up and started to leave with Drew and Dawn following me.
"May, what's going on?" Drew asked.
I put up a hand to shut him up, "The coordinates are on your poketch. Also, I caught sight of the twins heading to the west side of the building away from the source of radiation."
"Okay, I'll be right there," I called before turning to Drew and Dawn. "Max just spotted the twins heading to the west exit, tell everyone else and stop them."
"Where are you going?" Dawn shouted as I started walking in the opposite direction.
"I've got the other half to take care of," I shouted back before I ran to where the radiation was.
Max got there the same time as me, "It's under the tarp," Max called as we counted to three and lifted the tarp over causing our eyes to widen.
"May, do you know what this is?" Max asked nervously.
I nodded slowly, "It's a dirty bomb made of Cobalt sixty."
(I was so tempted to stop it right here, but I haven't reached my minimum word count yet, so…..ON WITH THE SUSPENSEFUL CHAPTER!)
"Max, we have a minute, any idea how to disable it?" I asked.
"May, I don't know if we can disable it," Max said panicky.
"Max, we have to try. We don't have time to get the bomb squad over here," I said agitated.
Max shakily pulled out his laptop and started typing rapidly beginning an analysis, "Thirty seconds," I said nervously.
"I'm going as fast as I can," Max shouted in panic.
I then heard running behind me, "May, we got….," I heard Dawn shout but stopped.
"Oh….my…..Mew," Leaf breathed.
"Fifteen seconds," I called.
"May, there's no time," Max shouted.
I breathed heavily as I watched the timer tick down, I felt a hand on my shoulder, "May," Drew called causing me to look at him.
His eyes were full of fear and I could hear Dawn begin to cry softly, I have to prevent this, I just have to. Out of impulse, I raced to the bomb and yanked all the wires out just as the time was at zero while squeezing my eyes shut. A few seconds later, I slowly opened my eyes to see that we hadn't blown up and I quickly dropped the wires as I heard light chuckled sighs from everyone.
I then felt myself being hugged and was kissed passionately, "You did it May," Drew breathed in relief as he hugged me tight.
We then broke out of the hug as Drew alerted Lance what happened. A few minutes later, the bomb squad came and took care of everything. We left them to their work and walked to the plaza to get food and celebrate.
As we walked, I was deep in thought. This confirms it, there is no way that those twins designed a bomb like that, someone else is playing us.
"May, stop looking mopey, we solved the problem, now eat your food," Misty called. "I'm not sure if I can stop the bottomless pit here from taking your food."
I said nothing as I shoved my food to Ash who started to eat it, "May, aren't you hungry?" Drew asked.
I sighed, "No, I'm sorry, I should be happy that we got them, but I strongly believe that they weren't behind this, someone set them up."
I heard sighs, "Let it go May, it's all over and done with. The twins did it, they are caught, everyone is safe."
"No!" I snapped. "Everyone is not safe, I keep telling you, I have a gut feeling that someone is playing us."
"May, stop it, you have no proof that someone is playing us," Drew argued. "Now please eat something."
I glared but said nothing as I started to nibble on a sandwich.
Fine, if you guys won't believe me, I'm going solo and I will do whatever it takes to figure this thing out.
May 14th (Slateport City, Hoenn)
We were all in the stands watching the last of the semi-final battles where Lizzy won hers with her Masquerain and Manectric. The last semi-final battle was between a Zigzagoon and Mawile against a Medicham and Shuppet. The girl with the Medicham and Shuppet won and Vivian announced that the final battle would take place this afternoon.
We stood up and walked to the plaza to find Lizzy there with her parents, "Congrats on getting to the finals," I said with a smile.
"Thanks May, I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm so jittery," Lizzy said nervously.
"You'll do fine sweetheart, just believe in your pokemon," Jennifer said.
I nodded in agreement and saw Max gesture to me from a distance, "I'll see you guys later."
"Aren't you going to eat?" Lizzy asked.
"I'll not really hungry right now, I'll eat later," I called as I walked away to where Max was.
"Anything?" I asked desperately.
Max shook his head, "No, none of the villains that we know of are showing no activity in this area."
"Darn it," I growled as I suddenly smelled meat and gasoline. "Do you smell that?"
Max nodded, "I've been smelling it for a while now, why?"
"I'm wondering what it is?" I said as I started to follow the smell that seemed to blend in with the scents from other food vendors.
Twenty minutes later, we found the smell becoming stronger as we got away from the vendors and turned down an alley to see smoke. Max and I shared a look before we ran and looked around the corner to see two big objects burning. I quickly shout a huge stream of water to stop the fire. I ended the stream of water from my hands and gasped at the sight. I then heard Max puke to the side, what was burning were two human bodies. I was about to puke but was able to keep it down, barely.
I walked closer, careful to make sure I didn't tamper with any evidence. I couldn't tell who the people were because the bodies were burned too much. At least I had the comfort knowing they didn't suffer from the fire, they were already dead before set on fire from what I could tell. Suddenly, I couldn't keep the bile down and ran from the bodies to throw up. After I recovered, Max and I walked around the corner to try to avoid the sight.
I dialed the emergency number on my poketch, "911, what is the emergency?" someone asked.
"I'd like to report a homicide," I answered quickly.
"Where is the crime scene?" the person asked.
"In the alleys behind the food vendors on the plaza," I said. "Please come incognito to avoid causing a panic, I'll send you my coordinates."
I then entered the coordinates in and ended the call. A few minutes later, Officer Jenny and a crime team came to start investigating, Max and I then gave our statements and left back for the arena.
"I think I'm scarred for life," Max said weakly.
I nodded, in all my experience of fighting bad guys, I've never seen anything this gruesome, "Can you pull yourself together, we have work to do," I said gently.
Max nodded as I used my aura ability to help calm him down, "Max, I want to you hack into the police communication lines and figure who those two were, can you do that?"
He nodded, "I'll check in an hour, the autopsy should be finished by then."
I nodded as we walked around the park trying to get our nerve back. Half an hour later, we went to the stadium, "There you guys are, we were worried that you would miss the last battle," Dawn called.
"We wouldn't miss it for anything," I said trying to sound cheerful.
I can't tell them what happened; they don't need to know. Besides, I'm just being paranoid right now. About twenty minutes later, the match began with Lizzy using Marshtomp and Kirlia while her opponent used Shuppet and Kecleon. I really wished I could have focused on the battle, but my mind kept going to those two burned bodies. Before I knew it, I heard Vivian call time. Everyone looked to the board in anticipation, the scores were super close but Lizzy had a few more points than her opponent.
"The winner of the Hoenn Grand Festival is…..Elizabeth Hayden!" Vivian announced causing us and the whole stadium to cheer.
Lizzy then beamed and hugged her pokemon for a job well done. I smiled, she deserved to win. Max then nudged me to follow him and we left for an empty hallway.
"May, those two bodies, they were identified as the Thornton twins," he said causing my eyes to widen.
"I figured something like this would happen, did you alter the autopsy report to hide their real identities?" I asked.
Max nodded, "May, something bad is going on and we need to find out what it is."
I nodded in agreement as we walked back to the arena to see Lizzy get her ribbon cup, "From here on out Max, we're on our own."
(Dawn's POV)
After Lizzy was awarded the ribbon cup, the bunch of us went down to congratulate her. A few hours later, we were getting dressed up for the after party.
I then saw May smiling and humming, "You seem to be in a better mood," I said with a smile.
May looked at me, "Why wouldn't I be, Lizzy won the Grand Festival."
"I know," Lizzy said dreamily. "I can hardly believe it."
May laughed, "You'll feel like you're on cloud nine for a while. Enjoy tonight along with your pokemon, they deserve it."
I finished doing my hair by leaving it down, but curled it slightly before helping everyone else with theirs. We all wore knee length dresses that looked similar but had unique features that fit us. Mine was a pale yellow, Misty's was a light orange, Leaf's was lime green, May's was a sapphire blue, and Lizzy's was lavender.
"We better get going," Misty called. "We don't want the guest of honor to be late."
We nodded as we walked out of the hotel room to the lobby where we meet up with the guys. The guys complimented the girls though Paul didn't say anything, his eyes said otherwise which made me smile and kiss him on the cheek. Paul may not compliment me much, but he'll tell me through his eyes.
"We better get going," May called as Drew stuck a rose in her hair.
We nodded and soon left for the Pokemon Center where the reception was to be held. The party was a blast and I even got Paul to dance with me a round or two which was nice. I then noticed that Drew and his family along with May and Max disappeared.
"What are you looking for Troublesome?" Paul asked.
I rolled my eyes at the nickname, "I'm wondering where Drew and his family along with Max and May went?"
"They left for outside a few moments ago," Leaf answered. "We better grab May and Drew, you guys should head back for the hotel soon."
I nodded and soon we went outside to find everyone on the beach. Suddenly, May and Max pushed Drew and his family out of the way as we heard gun shots.
"May!" Drew shouted.
"Max!" Lizzy cried.
We raced forward to see that the both of them had been hit with multiple gunshots from the head to the chest to various limbs. I felt tears appear and gasped, there was no way they could have survived that. Drew and Lizzy leaned over May and Max with tears in their eyes while covered in their blood. I looked toward the building and tried to find the shooter, but saw no one. Was this what May was trying to tell us?
I felt myself begin to shake with sobs and felt someone pull me into a hug. Soon we were all sobbing, if only we could turn back time…..we could have prevented this…if only.