Impostor

May's POV

The tunnel ended and I found myself looking around a massive dome-shaped room. It looked amazing. There was a platform at the very end and Kyle headed straight for it. He let go of Dewgong and recalled him, walking up the stairs. Lizabeth, Meredith and Shep followed. I looked at Ash. He was close to Misty. Really close I noticed. A lot more close to her than he ever got to any other girl. I hid another giggle behind my palm as I got to the stairs.

"Thanks Wartortle," I said, recalling him. My other friends followed my example. I turned towards where Kyle was. He was looking around puzzled.

"There's some sort of lever here," he mumbled, "that lits this place up, but I don't know where."

"It has to be around here somewhere," Shep muttered, feeling along one of the pillars, "My grandfather told me it was here."

"It's been a long time since that grandpa," Lizabeth laugh, joining in the search.

"Let me try," Misty said stepping forwards. She walked to one of the far pillars and gently pushed one of the rocks up. The windows and the roof lit up, the stain glass designs on them shining brightly. I gasped.

"Now how did you know where that was?" Shep asked, narrowing his eyes at Misty.

"I don't know," Misty shrugged, "I just had a feeling…" She trailed off and looked away, holding one arm with the other and biting her lip gently. I tilted my head, curious at her strange behaviour.

"Good guess Misty," Ash encouraged, saving her from her embarrassment, "look at all this." He gestured around the room to the patterns. I looked up and gasped. On the roof was a picture of the temple like I had seen in my dream. The core of it shone brightly and there was some sort of blue/purple mist wrapped around it like a scarf. Different Pokémon were looking towards the centre.

"It's just like I saw it in my dream," I exclaimed.

"That's the sea temple," Lizabeth explained, "Samiya."

"Samiya," Misty sighed, staring at the picture longingly.

"Within the temple, there's a treasure called the sea crown," Meredith said, pointing to a window with a crown design on it.

"Sea crown?" Brock questioned.

"Many thieves have appeared over the years and have attempted to steal the sea crown," Shep sighed, "but only the true heir can access the power it holds."

"To protect the sea temple, the last king cast a spell over the temple," Meredith said.

"What kind of spell?" Max asked, sounding curious.

"The sea temple cannot be seen," Kyle explained, "It is protected by a mysterious shield that blends it in with the water. Only the people of the water knew where it was."

"But the sea temple was swept away with the current a long time ago," Shep said sadly, "since then, it continues to drift." Shep turned and pointed to another mural.

"However," he continued, "once a year at the time of the total eclipse of the moon, the sea temple is revealed."

"Then if it can't be seen, how do you find it?" Brock asked.

"Only the true heir can sense where it is directly," Meredith answered, "Some of that sense has been passed down into Manaphy so he can find the general area of where it is."

"Manaphy," I whispered, turning to look at him, jumping in the water, "So that's why all those men were after Manaphy." Shep nodded gravely.

"They wanted to use Manaphy to steal the sea crown," Kyle said.

"We must protect the crown at all costs," Shep said, "so our sea heir can finally restore harmony."

"We must also protect Manaphy," Jackie said, stepping in, "especially from the crusty old codger with the beard."

"Who is that guy?" Misty asked.

"Phantom the pirate," Jackie replied, "he's one mean dude."

I sat at the back of the row boat, Shep paddling. In the boat in front sat Lizabeth, Brock, Kyle, Max and Meredith. Meredith was standing up to paddle and steered us along. In my boat there was me, Ash, Misty, Jackie and Shep. The tunnel opened out into another large room. I gasped in amazement as the walls glowed blue.

"I want to thank you kids," Jackie said, finally breaking the silence, "you've all been a big help to me up to this point."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked. I gritted my teeth. Don't tell me…

"Once we get out of this grotto, I'm leaving," he said, confirming my suspicions. I watched Manaphy jump out the water, happily calling his own name. I didn't want to leave him just yet. It was exactly what I feared I'd have to do. Even in our short time together I'd grown attached to him.

"Why can't we go with you?" I asked, my shaky voice giving away the wavering emotions I felt.

"You've gotten too involved as it is," Jackie sighed, "This is a Pokémon ranger's job." I stayed quiet as we neared the exit. I blinked rapidly, adjusting to the bright light of day again. Meredith turned the boat and we headed along the edge. Shep steered the boat to follow them. I bit my bottom lip as Manaphy jumped out of the water and into my arms. He tilted his head in confusion as he looked up at me. I cooed to him softly, plastering a smile on my face.

"Here," Misty said, handing me a basket, "it's not much, but it might make a semi-decent cot for him so you don't tire your arms out." I accepted the basket. I put Manaphy down and reached into my bag. I took out a lace trimmed handkerchief and lined it around the basket.

"Oh wait, use this for a pillow," Ash put in, handing me a pink sponge. Why he had a pink sponge with him, I was afraid to ask. I just took it and placed it on one end. I nudged the basket closer to Manaphy as the boats pulled up to a pier. Manaphy looked from the basket to me with big curious eyes.

"Go ahead," I encouraged, "try it out." Manaphy stepped in. He turned around and settled down, fitting perfectly in the basket.

"I know," Lizabeth said when she came to help us out, "use this for a blanket." She handed me a yellowish cloth with orange patterns on it. It took it and gently wrapped it over Manaphy.

"Who wants Ice-cream?" Brock asked, "Lizabeth and I will go get some."

"I do!" I called, licking my lips. The others agreed. Brock and Lizabeth ran off. Manaphy looked up at me. I gently started to hum again until Manaphy slowly dropped asleep.

"Wow, Manaphy's really sound asleep," Max whispered.

"Must be tried," Lizabeth said, handing me an ice-cream.

"Yeah, after a day like we just had," Ash agreed.

"Not to mention the fact that Manaphy's still only a baby," Brock said. A loud horn sounded and I looked up in surprise. Shep jumped down from the rock he was on.

"That's my ship," he exclaimed, pointing. My eyes widened. It was huge. Much bigger than I had expected anyway.

"It's called the Blue Lagoon," Shep told us proudly.

"Wow!" Misty exclaimed, "that's a huge ship."

"That's yours?" Ash questioned, his eyes widening considerably large.

"Yep," Shep confirmed, "I travelled the whole world on it when I was a young man."

"We'd better go to the docks then," Meredith suggested.

"I guess this is goodbye," Lizabeth said sadly.

"Not yet," I protested, "I…uh…I want to see you guys off at the pier ok?"

"May…" Jackie trailed off, giving me a stern look. I had a feeling he knew what I was thinking. Well, I couldn't help it. I wanted to be with Manaphy for just a little bit longer. I picked up Manaphy's basket.

"Please?" I begged, doing my best cute face. Jackie rolled his eyes, but he was smiling slightly, which I took as an ok. I followed as they made their way down to the docks. When we arrived, I saw that the ship had been tied to the docks with a thick rope. The ramp was down. Three men jumped off. One was really tall, one was really short and the other one was really fat…Not meaning to sound rude or anything.

"You've kept my boat ship-shape all these years," Shep said to the fat one, "always feel free to use it."

"But we wanna go with you," The fat one protested.

There's still so many good times left to share," the tall one agreed.

"All of your kind words are plenty," Shep said.

"Captain," the short one burst out.

"Alright May," Jackie said, coming to me, "I need Manaphy now." I closed my eyes shut for a moment. I held Manaphy close, feeling the warmth he generated to me. I smiled slightly and I opened my eyes, peeking out between my eyelashes. I gently kissed his forehead and then held him out to Jackie. Jackie gave me a smile reassuring smile as he took the basket from my hands, but it did nothing to help the sadness I felt when I watched him walk up the ramp. Meredith and Kyle followed. I looked away. Instead I focused on the three men, who still hadn't told me their names. I guess I would make some up. It would take my mind off it after all. We'll start with the fat one. He was a large man with a yellow t-shirt. On the shirt were blue triangle designs. He also had white pants and a pair of glasses hung around his neck. I tapped my chin thoughtfully. He was older. I could tell by his dark grey hair. Actually they all had dark grey hair, but right not I was just focussed on the fat one. Bob? Nah, too stereotypical. Rob? Maybe, not what I would call a sailor's name. Gus? Yeah, that sounded better. A lot better. Ok, his name was now Gus. Time for the short one. He was wearing a white t-shirt with an orange vest over the top. His pants were a very light brownish colour. He was mostly bald, the only facial hair he had was his dark grey eyebrows. I scratched my head. His ears were pierced and he wore green earrings. What was a good name? Mark? No, Mark was terrible name for this man. Karl? Nah, too close to Kyle and we already have him. Allen? Might've been a viable option, but it didn't seem quite right. Joseph? That was it! Joseph fit perfectly. I looked over the last man. He was wearing a brown jacket and cream pants. On his head, he wore a brown bucket hat. Hmmm…Joe? Definitely not! Way too first-mate-in-a-pirate-book. Paul? Why did I even think about that? I already knew a Paul and he was most certainly nothing like this! How about Steven? Steven was a good name. I frowned slightly. I tried to imagine it. Nope, Steven wasn't right either. George? Surely that would be ok? No? Fine. Harry? Billy? Brian? Larry? Derick? Wait! Larry…Hmmm…I could see him being called Larry. I nodded. He looked like a Larry.

"Hey May," Lizabeth said, snapping me out of my thoughts, "We'll see each other again won't we?"

"Sure," I said, forcing a smile onto my face. I was so fake right now. I only hoped they couldn't see through it.

I watched as the last of Shep's equipment was backed onto the ship. The ramp was pulled up and the rope was tossed away. I bit my lip, trying desperately not to cry as the ship pulled away. Lizabeth stood at the back, waving to us.

"Bye Lizabeth," Brock yelled, "I'll miss you!"

"I wish we could've gone," Ash muttered.

"I want to learn so much more about Manaphy," Max agreed.

"There's so much more I wanna learn about Lizabeth," Brock cried out. The ship was slow moving, still not quite tearing away from the edge yet. A tear rolled down my cheek. My heart felt heavy.

"Being young means you never turn away from adventure, you know," 'Gus' said.

"What are you afraid of?" continued 'Larry', "This is your chance."

"If you want to go then you should go," 'Joseph' put in.

"There's nothing worse than living in regret kid," 'Gus' finished. I gasped as I heard the distinct cries of Manaphy coming from the ship. In that split second, I made my decision.

"Wait!" I yelled, running along the pier, "I'm coming Manaphy!" I ran faster, furiously trying to catch up.

"Wait for us May!" I heard Ash yell. Footsteps pounded behind me and I was glad for the support. I reached the end of the pier just as the ship pulled away.

"No!" I yelled, reaching out. If only I hadn't waited that long. Ash stopped behind me, grunting as a red light hit him. His body glowed red for a second before it left again.

"This is weird," he said in Jackie's voice. Before I had time to think about it, I was suddenly swept up. I screamed as arms wrapped tightly around me.

"Help me!" I screamed. I looked back. My friends were looking at me with amused expressions.

"What are you just standing there for?" I called, "someone's kidnapping me! Do something!"

"It's ok May," Misty shouted back, "it's only Dryden." I stopped struggling and looked up at my captor. He didn't look at me, but I could tell that it was indeed Dryden. I could tell by his give-away black hood and mask. I was dropped onto the deck. I stumbled and fell over.

"Are you ok May?" Lizabeth asked, helping me up. Soon my other friends were on board too, thanks to Dryden. He looked up at me and I saw his eyes were once again green. I frowned.

"What's going on?" I demanded, storming up to him, "first your eyes were green and then they're turquoise and now they're back to green. What colour are they actually and why do they keep changing?" Dryden shook his head and let out a low chuckle. I shivered slightly. I gasped as I suddenly realized where I'd seen those eyes before.

"Impostor!" I shouted, pointing a finger at him. He shrugged.

"Why May, what do you mean?" Misty asked, "Who would it be?"

"That's not Dryden!" I yelled. I jumped and tackled him to the ground.

"May!" Max exclaimed, "What's gotten into you? Who else could it be?"

"It's James from Team Rocket!" I yelled.