Chapter 17: Truth and Betrayal
"What are you talking about, what mission?" Ash asked as he watched Pikachu get pulled right in front of Mismagius.
"Ash just don't go there, I'm serious." May spoke sternly.
Ash couldn't understand what May was doing, she was scared before but she wouldn't have taken Pikachu in order to stop Ash from leaving, it wouldn't be like her at all. But this action in itself was way out of character and the way she seemed to stare through him made her seem like a completely different person.
"What's gotten into you May, let go of Pikachu." Ash tried to reason with her.
"I'll only say this one more time, don't over there or else." May barked.
'She's threatening me? What is going on here, why is she trying to prevent me from stopping all this?' Ash's mind began to race in the light of May's sudden actions.
"Just-Just let Pikachu go and stop all this." Ash was reduced to pleading.
"You're not listening." May said under her breath when Pikachu started charging electricity to try and escape from Mismagius.
"Mismagius psychic prison now." May commanded.
Mismagius's eyes glowed brighter and the field of energy around Pikachu expanded into a small square box with Pikachu trapped in the middle of it. As the electric type looked around beams of Psychic energy shot out from the walls around him and blasted his body. Pikachu cried out as the attack hit him from every angle and forced him to his knees.
"May stop this!" Ash shouted at the sight of his oldest partner in such pain.
"Then tell me that you aren't going to get involved in this." May responded calmly despite Ash's shouting.
"I-I can't, just why, why are you doing this?" Ash's eyes kept switching between May, Pikachu and Groudon in the background as it continued to thrash its head and roar in frustration and confusion.
"Then I have no choice, Mismagius." May addressed her ghost type.
Mismagius focused on Ash, and while still holding Pikachu in his place she attacked him. The trainer felt his entire body tense up as he was hit by Psychic. Mismagius's attack pushed down on him making him fall to his hands and knees, Ash gritted his teeth and fought to try and stand up but it felt like he had a boulder pressing down on his back. Finally Ash had come to terms with what was happening. Groudon's appearance, the red clothed group of people and finally May's sudden actions. The young smiling coordinator that he used to know had changed, and only now did he see the extent of her transformation.
"You're with them aren't you?" Ash forced out through gritted teeth but May gave no reply.
"I saw the signs you know." Ash forced his head up and met May's eyes, though they didn't remind him of the May he used to know at all.
"The way you acted towards me, how you avoided questions and never wanted to spend time with me, and your ideals. I could sense you had changed but I turned a blind eye, told myself that you couldn't have possibly held a hidden motive." Ash nearly growled as he let his anger seep into his words.
"But how could I have known that you'd fallen so far. I don't know what they did to you, what they did to make you forget the horrible power that was unleashed that day when we first saw Groudon. But for you to join up with these people and use Pikachu against me then, I don't know who you are anymore!" Ash shouted.
"I didn't forget Ash." May quietly responded.
"You fear Groudon's power, were we seek to utilise it and in doing so create a better world not for us, but for the Pokémon of this land." May explained even though she knew deep down Ash wouldn't be swain.
"You of all people should know, nothing good ever comes from trying to manipulate legendary Pokémon. Or have you forgotten about the one that hatched in your own arms? Have you forgotten about Manphy!" Ash yelled at her.
May's calm expression broke, the mention of her long lost Pokémon, one that she had created a unique bond with brought back the great feelings of lose that she experienced for months after.
"Don't you dare talk about Manaphy!" May shouted in anger.
"What would Manaphy think of you right now? Using a rare Pokemon to gain something, face it May." Ash said as he stared her down.
"Just Shut up!" May screamed.
"You're no different to the pirate who tried to steal Manaphy!" Ash cut her down.
"Mismagius shut his mouth right now!" May ordered.
Ash felt an even greater pressure forced down upon his body trying to flatten him against the ground. He had so much anger, so much rage but it wasn't directed at May. Ash lifted up his head and met May's darkened gaze again.
"You still don't get it do you." Ash spoke sternly. He then propped one leg up and fighting against the Psychic started to straighten his back.
"You deceived me, lied to me, attacked me." Ash groaned as he pushed up with his legs and despite the powerful hold Mismagius had over him began to stand.
'How is he doing this? A person shouldn't be able to move against that attack.' May stared in shock at Ash's defiance.
"You've done all these things to me, I should hate you for everything you've become." Ash stared her down and slowly scraped his feet towards her.
"Mismagius stop him." May ordered.
Mismagius concentrated harder and Ash felt even more pressure push him down but he remained strong and forced himself to move forward.
"But all my rage, it isn't aimed at you." Ash revealed. "The one I'm angry at, is myself."
May's eyes widened in shock, he didn't hate her? Even after she captured Pikachu and threw all his love and dedication back in his face.
"It's because I wasn't there for you in the time that you needed me. Maybe then you wouldn't have gotten caught up with those people." Ash told May who simply stared at him as he slowly advanced towards her.
"It's because I didn't react to the signs and do something to help you and, now it's come to this." Ash was only a metre away from May as he raised a shaking arm towards her.
May was completely lost for words and utterly taken back by Ash's ability to resist the powers of Psychic like he was. All she could seem to do was stand there and watch his pained approach till he was barely an arms distance away
"So in the end May, I'm sorry. Sorry that I couldn't have been a better friend to you." Ash uttered as he reached forward.
May slid one foot backwards raised her right hand into the air and threw down her fist. Her punch hit Ash square in the cheek and was strong enough to break the Psychics hold on Ash's body and send him crashing to the ground. Ash's head hit the ground hard and the rest of his body followed, smacking weakly against the dirt path.
His body already weakened by Mismagius's Psychic and his head now spinning from May's punch Ash was slowly slipping into unconsciousness. He could hear Pikachu calling out to him to try and get back up but it was made pointless as he felt Psychic grip his body again, holding him till he blacked out. He peered upwards and saw May standing in front of him looking down on him in pity.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, I made this decision on my own and soon it will be all over. Goodbye Ash." May spoke softly.
Right before he fainted Ash managed to reach into his jacket pocket and activate a pen sized device, by doing this he gave himself a chance of stopping everything that was going on. With that Ash blacked out and it was over, May had completed the mission she was assigned to do.
Pikachu continued to call for Ash but May barely heard him she was completely preoccupied with looking at him as he lay there motionless on the ground by her own hand. She leant down and removed his belt which held his Pokeball's.
"This entire time he never even tried to use his Pokémon against me, but I should take them in case he wakes up." May told herself.
Pikachu growled angrily at May as she took Ash's Pokeball's with his team mates inside of them. His resistance was met with Mismagius hitting him with more of her Psychic attack and damaging him heavily.
"Mismagius that's enough." May called off her Pokémon. "Take this rope and tie Ash up to a tree off this path, we'll be taking Pikachu and his Pokeball's with us." May instructed.
Using her powers Mismagius took the rope from May and lifted Ash into the air, she then moved a few meters into the tree line and tied Ash to one of the trees. Pikachu was too weak to fight back anymore, he could do nothing but lay helplessly in his cage while Mismagius tied up his trainer and May secured Ash's belt around her waist. He was then forced to watch May and Mismagius simply abandon Ash and continue up the path towards were he had seen that mysterious group with the red outfits, he had never felt so helpless.
"I have to report this to Fane and I'll be an extra member to their security team as well." May spoke to herself but what she was really trying to do was forget about Ash. No matter how hard she tried however he plagued her mind, she knew what she had done couldn't be forgiven. But in her line of work forgiveness was a luxury that didn't exist.
She looked back and saw Pikachu staring her down, his body was covered in bruises and wounds, his fur was a mess but his eyes were what really got to her. She could tell beyond a shadow of a doubt that he hated her, a type of hatred that only the betrayed knew of and it scared her.
"I've lost some friends along the way but because of that our plans will go on with a hitch now." May told herself as she broke Pikachu's gaze. "But that doesn't make what I did any easier."
New Magma had moved Groudon so that it now stood knee deep in the ocean just off shore. Its constant roaring could be heard all up the coast and sent shivers down the spines of all who heard it. New Magma had the creature right where they wanted it in order to begin the next step of their plan: Continental Expansion.
"Lund command Groudon to begin raising the land at once." Fane ordered.
"Of course sir, now that the legendary is under our control it has no choice but to obey what we tell it to do." Lund spoke as he typed commands into his machine.
Another beam shot out and connected with Groudon who lifted both hands into the air and then thrust them violently into the seafloor triggering a new massive tremor to begin. Fane watched in awe as the water near the shore began to recede and shortly after the earth around Groudon began to rise. Enormous slabs of earth began to lift and send even more of the ocean back on itself. In a matter of seconds Groudon had already raised a kilometre long stretch of coastline by five meters and it continued to spread outwards slowly raising the seabed underneath the waves even further out. It was faster than anyone had predicted, Groudon was truly capable of reshaping not only this area but the entire region.
Fane eased back into his chair, they had been monitoring every radio frequency and no law enforcement had any clue what was transpiring here. In his mind Fane believed there was no one that could stop them.
The trembling earth shook Ash awake, his vision was still blurry and his body hurt all over. As he looked down he saw he was tied to a tree sitting down and his hands were bound as well. He knew there was no time to waste and struggled to free himself. The one thought that kept him slightly calm was the fact that help was on the way. He had managed to activate his Elite Four distress beacon before he blacked out. This meant that the Pokémon League would know he was in trouble and send someone to help, he just hoped it was someone from the Elite Four. However in this situation he could only hope to get someone from Hoenn and at the rate things were escalating he wondered if they would be able to make it in time.
After struggling for a while Ash was forced to take a breather, the heat from Groudon's drought ability was making the situation that much more difficult. When he arrived at the shore it was a partly cloudy day however now there was just a harsh glaring sun in the sky, the only clouds left were off just over the horizon showing how far Groudon's ability reached. He couldn't let it get to him though, Pikachu needed him and by the looks of things so did Hoenn.
"I don't know how far you've fallen May but." Ash paused looking for the right words.
"I could tell that there is a part of you that I can pull back up, I just hope I can do that before I'm forced to bring you down." Ash said to himself knowing full well that she was fighting for what she believed in and he would just have to fight harder.
I'd like to believe that I can continue to post a chapter each week like I have been however I started posting this story when I already had ten chapters done which is why I was able to keep it up mostly. So to make up for the weeks I miss I might start posting some shorter stories I wrote two or so years back. I know this doesn't make up for being slack and believe me I hate having to wait for the next chapter as much as the next person but as I've said a dozen times I write extremely slow. Hope you're all enjoying it and remember to leave a review, your opinions, praise and advice are always helpful.