Chapter 56:
Rise of the 10th Blaziken Mask
When Ash carries May out of the gym, she is immediately pulled into a hug by Drew. "Why did you do that?" he asks, tearing up. "Why did you let him hurt you?" "I couldn't let you get hurt," May replies weakly. "Need, air!" Drew apologises and let's go, then takes her from Ash and begins leading her to the Pokémon Centre, where various injured people are being brought. May can see Dawn still holding on to Zoey as a doctor gives her a once over. "She's alright," he tells her. "Just knocked out." Dawn thanks him, then continues fussing over her girlfriend. May wants to check on them, but before she can, Serena runs over. "They've rounded up as many agents as they could," she tells them. "But most of them got away, including the Admin." Both Ash and May swear at that.
"My Arceus May, what happened to you?" Serena asks when she finally registers her. "Fought the Admin," she replies. "Kicked his ass." "Only after allowing him to throw you around like a rag doll." When Serena looks at her with wide eyes, May hastens to explain what happened. Serena sighs at this. "Can't say I wouldn't have done the same," she admits. "Just be more careful next time, alright?" May nods, then stumbles a bit. Drew catches her and puts her arm around his shoulder. "Ok, let's stop talking for now," he says. "May needs a bit of rest after all of that." May is too tired to argue, so she just allows Drew to carry over to the Pokémon Centre.
Behind her, Serena grabs Ash's ear. "You need rest as well Ash Ketchum!" she says. "You also look bad!" "Serena I'm fine," Ash insists. "I wasn't the one who let the enemy treat me like their own personal punching bag." "Maybe not, but you're still injured," Serena counters. "So, you're coming with me." With that, Serena takes Ash's hand and pulls him after May and Drew towards the Pokémon Centre. When they arrive, they're brought over to where Zoey is being taken care of. Drew guides May over to a bed and plops her down on it. "Sleep," he says. "You can deal with all of this when you've recovered." May wants to argue that she's fine, and that she needs to go after Team Terra for what they've done. But then he begins to rub her hair affectionately, and she finds herself drifting off.
The sound of arguing wakes her up. Opening her eyes, she sees that Zoey is still unconscious, with Dawn standing protectively in front of her. May looks at who Dawn is shouting at, and feels her gut clench with anger. Kenny is standing in front of her, with a big grin on his face. "Look, all I'm saying is-" "I don't care what you're saying!" Dawn interrupts. "For the last time, I'm in love with Zoey, not you!" "And that's the issue!" Kenny shouts. "She's a girl, and so are you!" "So?" Dawn snaps back. Kenny sputters a bit. "W-well," he says, more hesitantly now. "It's just that, ya know, girls being with girls is..." He trails off, suddenly paralysed with fear at the look Dawn gives him.
"It's what? Kenny?" she asks, her voice deathly quiet. Kenny sputters a bit more, before saying, "Weird. Different. Not correct." May has to stifle a laugh at how deep Kenny is digging himself into a hole. "Besides, can't you understand that we belong together!" he continues. "We're members of the opposite sex, the correct way for a relationship to be! Surely you can see that right!?" At this, Dawn reaches over to him. At first, Kenny seems pleased by this. But then, Dawn grabs hold of his shoulder and squeezes it tightly. Kenny winces with pain, but Dawn keeps squeezing. "You are disgusting," she tells him. "I want you to leave me and Zoey alone. Go back to Sinnoh, and never approach me again. If I ever see you again, I will not hesitate to set Mamoswine on you! Am I clear!?" She squeezes his shoulder tighter. Kenny whimpers and nods. When Dawn lets him go, he turns and bolts.
May sits up and claps. "Quite the performance," she says. "Deeply satisfying, I must say." Dawn blushes a bit and moves a bit of hair behind her ear. "It wasn't that impressive," she replies. "I'm just sick of him trying to convince me I'm straight." May chuckles at this. Dawn looks like she wants to go on, but before she can, Zoey suddenly sits up and hugs her tightly, before kissing her deeply. Dawn visibly melted at this, which makes May laugh. When they break apart, Zoey is beaming at her. "Thank you," she says. Dawn makes a noise of confusion. "For sticking up for us," Zoey elaborates. "For standing up to Kenny and getting him off your back." Dawn brushes her off. "Oh that," she says. "It was nothing. I'm just sick of him and how persistent he is." Then, Dawn pulls Zoey into another kiss, one that only ends when Ash wakes up.
After May has been checked out from the Centre, Drew is there waiting for her. He hands her her stuff, which May goes through to make sure nothing is missing. When she finds her phone, she sees that she's got several missed called from her parents and her brother. Sighing, she calls her parents back first. Her eardrum is almost destroyed by their voices as they bombard her with questions about her well-being. She assures them that she's fine, and that no one was hurt. "Don't lie to us May," says Norman. "Drew told us about how you allowed that Admin to throw you around to spare his life." May glares at him for that. "You told them that!?" she hisses at him. "What was I supposed to do?!" he replies. "You were limping and had to be practically carried out, I had to tell them that!" "Don't get angry at him over this!" Caroline tells her. "We're your parents! We have the right to know these things!" May sighs. "You're right," she says. "I'm sorry."
They talk for a bit longer, before May ends the call. Drew looks slightly guilty at this. "I'm not mad at you, don't worry," she tells him. Then, she goes through her phone again and calls Max back. The moment he picks up, he bombards her with questions as well, wondering if she's alright, and if everyone else is ok. May tells him that she's fine and that no one else was hurt. Luckily for her, Drew didn't tell him about Admin Bannai throwing her around. Then, she turns the questions on him. "How are you Max?" she asks. "Have you had anymore trouble with Team Terra?" Max doesn't say anything at first. Then, he tells her about the most recent attempt on him.
May feels her anger boiling. This group has attacked and devastated her region, and now is trying to kidnap her brother. She's had just about enough of them. "Max," she says seriously. "I want you to know that I'm going to do something about them." "What!?" Max asks. "What do you mean by that?" "I mean I'm going to try and stop them," she explains. "I have this power, the power of a Blaziken! And if Ash isn't going to use his Aura to put a stop to Team Terra, then I will. I think it's about time I took up Bonnie's dad's mantle."
She tells Drew to wait for her outside one of the toilets in the Pokémon Centre while she changes. When she had woke up it was the morning, so she spent much of the day after her phone calls getting a few things. Now, she hides in one of the toilets, getting changed into her Blaziken Mask costume. Luckily for her, most people had gone home or to bed, so there was no one then to see her in this new outfit. When she finally exits the toilets, Drew turns around to get a look at her. His jaw drops as he takes in the sight of her. She's wearing the mask bandana that Meyer had made for her months ago, with her cropped red t-shirt. But now she sports some grey leggings, black thigh-high boots, and a red and gold cape. "Well, what do you think?" she asks, giving him a twirl. Drew is speechless, which makes May chuckle. "Glad you like it," she says.
She changes back into her normal clothes, then steps out of the toilets again. She's about to bid farewell to Drew, when he takes her and. "May, I want you to promise me something," he tells her. "Please promise that you won't get in over your head and hurt yourself. Please promise me that." May looks at him with surprise. "You're not going to try and stop me?" she asks. Drew laughs in spite of what's happening. "I know there's no point in trying," he tells her. "Your far too Tepig-headed for that. But I don't want what happened to you in that gym to happen again." May can see him tear up at the thought of that. So, she steps over to him and kisses him. "I promise," she tells him. "I'll be back to you soon, just as soon as I figure out all of Team Terra's schemes and tried to put a stop to them." Drew nods and kisses her again. "Just, please be careful," he tells her. "I will," May replies. Then, she turns and leaves the centre, determined to begin finding any leads on Team Terra.
Sorry this didn't come out yesterday, I wasn't in much of a writing mood. So I wrote this with a raging hangover instead (long story). Anyway, I deeply wish I had any drawing talent, because I would love to draw May's Blaziken Mask outfit, as it looks so cool in my head. You can thank my little sister for the design by the way. But yeah, now that this has occurred, I can tell you the name of this arc of TGPW, the 19 Blaziken Mask Arc. But with that, see you tomorrow or Sunday with the next chapter.