Champion of Champions

by Basic Trainer

It's been 3 years since Ash left Unova or seen his friends. He spent all that time training and now he's ready to start again. As he starts his journey to conquer the Pokemon Leagues he finds meets an old friend who has a favour to ask.

27. Chapter 27

It's been a little while since I updated and I'm sorry for that, I've been dealing with some things at work which took away a bit of my drive. There's one other thing that I can blame for taking time away from writing and that's the fact I've started Wonder Trading, last week was the first time I did it and spent something like 8 hours doing it on the first go and I've done few more time since then. I got a lot of good trades along with a few I really wasn't expecting, (Shiny Legends for example.), I've changed the greeting that comes up for Wonder Trading so if you see IamBasicTrainer above someone's name then that's me.

I think that's about it from me, time to get on with the story.

Pokémon on team:-

Ash - Pikachu, Lucario, Gardevoir, Elekid, Magby, Eevee, Eevee, Meowth

May - Glaceon, Blaziken, Flaffy, Litwick, Mawile, Cubone, Spoink, Beautifly

Chapter 27

Correcting The Aura Current

The group, which now included Mike, backtracked towards Cerulean City before veering off towards Route 9 which would take them to the Rock Tunnel. Ash and May wanted to go and visit Misty again but whatever was happening at the Power Plant was more important, flying there would've been quicker but by walking they had time to plan what they were going to do. They'd been traveling for a little over a week and were making good time having found a small mountain pass that allowed them to cut a large corner off and they'd come out the other side near the entrance of the Rock Tunnel.

As they travelled together Mike told them pieces of his past, they found out that he was originally from Hearthome City and moved to Celestic Town after meeting Cynthia. The Sinnoh Champion had trained him on and off for a period of three years, the combined time of training was probably closer to a year and a half to two years due to Cynthia's commitments as a Champion, G-Men activities and her side job of deciphering ancients texts at ruins around Sinnoh and consulting on finds in the other Regions. During the times when Cynthia wasn't able to train him she would send him to the Veilstone Gym due to his affinity towards fighting types, while at the Gym he'd struck up a friendship with the Gym Leader in training Maylene. That friendship eventually turned into a relationship and they'd been together for 4 years now, May had asked Mike about his gloves and he'd said they were a present from Maylene on their last anniversary. She'd gotten a friend of hers to order the gloves and fit them with the Mega Stones for Lucario and Houndoom, Maylene's friend was fellow fighting type Gym Leader from Kalos Korrina. Korrina had lived in Sinnoh till she was five before her family moved to Kalos, the two girls had grown up together and remained in contact over the years visiting each other once a year. One year Maylene would go to Kalos and the other Korrina would travel to Sinnoh they'd stay together for a month before having to return home.

Mike had the Key Stone on a chain around his neck which he kept hidden under his shirt and only brought it out when he needed it, if he wanted his Pokémon to Mega Evolve he'd attach the Mega Stone to either an arm or a leg via a bracelet which like the gloves came from Maylene. Mike had shown May what Mega Lucario and Mega Houndoom looked like as she'd never seen Mega Evolution before, May started to wonder if any of her Pokémon could Mega Evolve and whether it would be allowed in a Contest. She brought the topic up while they were walking and found out that a few of her Pokémon could such as Blaziken, Venusaur and Altaria although she'd need to find a Key Stone and the appropriate Mega Stone for each Pokémon.

While they journeyed together they shared old stories and train together, due to being in the mountains and far away from the nearest Pokémon Centre they never went all out in their training battles just enough to work up a sweat. After having a number of training battles Ash and Mike were looking forward to battling in the League. Ash spent some of the time they were travelling to bond with Elekid, Magby and his two Eevee, during their journey to the Rock Tunnel and the Power Plant Ash found out a few things about his new Pokémon. Elekid and Mabgy had a rivalry going between them thanks to Pikachu acting as a translator, Ash wanted to keep Lucario's ability to talk a secret until he knew more about Mike. Apparently when Ash's dad had found Elekid and captured him Magby came forward and demanded to have his rival back, Ash's dad challenged Magby to a battle on the condition that if the fire type could knock out one of his Pokémon then he'd release Elekid, if not then he'd capture Magby as well. Magby took the challenge and after being knocking out was captured as well, when they were let out of their Pokéballs at the ranch they continued their rivalry. A few times Ash's Pokémon had to break them up so they didn't get any serious injuries but after a while the two reached an understanding and a friendship formed within the rivalry.

The two Eevee just as they had been at the Cerulean City Gym were very affectionate and constantly cuddling up to Ash and May or if they couldn't get to Ash or May they went to Lucario and Gardevoir. The first time one of the Eevee jumped into Lucario's lap while he was meditating and curled up to take a nap caused everyone to laugh at the embarrassed look on the Aura Pokémon's face, his dark fur hiding the deep reddening of his face. Even though they were a lot a like both Eevee had separate personalities, one was happy to just stay close to Ash or May while the other was constantly running around fascinated by everything. Lucario had to step in at one point when the curious Eevee, who Ash had decided to call Vee just to stop any confusion, wouldn't stop bothering a Geodude who was trying to sleep by the side of the path they were walking on. The other Eevee, christened Eve by May, had jumped to her brother's defense immediately but Lucario got between the normal types and the rock/ground type quickly defusing the situation. Gardevoir decided that the best course of action was to carry Vee until they decided to set up camp, though the normal type still tried to escape from Gardevoir's arms and explore everything..

Mike had been right about his Infernape being all too willing to help girls because when Mike introduced him to Ash and May the Flame Pokémon immediately blanked Ash and bowed to May. Later on when they were making camp Mike asked Infernape to get some firewood from a tree on a high ledge only to be answered by an annoyed grunt but as soon as May repeated the request Infernape shot up the cliff in seconds returning a minute later with enough firewood to last them a couple of days.

Mike, being a fighting type specialist, got excited when he heard about Ash's Primeape being the P1 Champion as they kept trading stories of the journeys, Primeape had held the title longer than any other Pokémon and when he rejoined Ash's team he'd retired from the Championship undefeated. Ash was going to use the Transfer Capsule to bring Primeape onto his team to show Mike but then remembered that the TC was meant to be a secret, just like Meowth's ability to talk. The Scratch Cat Pokémon had stayed silent while Mike was around only talking when Mike had left the group for one reason or another and even then he only spoke in hushed tones. Ash and May weren't sure why Meowth wanted to keep his ability to talk a secret when he'd asked them before they met up with Mike at Saffron City's north gate but they trusted him and did as he'd asked.

"When we meet in the League I want to battle your Primeape." Mike said wanting to test himself against the undefeated legend of the P1 Championship. "I entered the P1 a couple of years ago, I wanted to battle that Primeape but I lost to a Sawk in the semi-final. I think the trainer's name was Stephen."

"It's STEPHAN!" A trainer in Unova shouted for what, the people surrounding him thought was for no particular reason.

"Sure I'll let Primeape know and he'll start training, though come to think of it he doesn't really stop." Ash replied, worry started to creep into Mike's thoughts but he quickly pushed it aside.

"He'll need it when we battle." Mike retorted, Ash just chuckled and dialed Professor Oak's lab.

"Hey Tracy." Ash said when the Pokémon watcher answered the call.

"Hi Ash, what can I do for you?" Tracy asked.

"I just wanted to get a message to Primeape."

"Sure what is it?"

"Tell him he's got a challenger." Ash said with a grin

"I'll pass the message on but you do remember what happened last time Primeape was told that right?"

"Yeah but the water Pokémon like the lake now it's bigger." Mike's eyes widened.

"I know but it took the Professor a while to get the extra water and stabilise the 'extension' so it didn't keep going and take a chunk of the ranch with it." Mike's jaw started to drop open but his Houndoom used his tail to shut it.

"Alright tell him to be careful and get the others to keep an eye on him."

"Will do Ash. Call again soon, your Pokémon want more updates on how you're doing."

"Sure thing Tracy, bye."

"Bye Ash." They ended the call.

"Hey Ash." Mike said, "You were just joking about the lake right?" Ash shook his head and Mike's face paled.

"Primeape did make the lake bigger but it's partly because he hit a weak point in the field. A few of the other Pokémon had a practice battle there and the ground wasn't too stable, Earthquake VS Fissure I think the Professor said." Ash explained, Mike was still wary of Primeape's power though starting to rethink his request.

They travelled for just over a week before they reached the end of the pass and a few days later they arrived at the Pokémon Centre close to the entrance of the Rock Tunnel. After spending a day at the Pokémon Centre to rest from their journey, the next day they went their separate ways.

"See you at the League." Mike said holding his hand out, Ash smiled and took his hand.

"Yeah, see you in the final." Ash replied, they shook hands and Mike then offered his hand to May. The brunette Co-Ordinator smiled and shook his hand. Mike left the Pokémon Centre and started to make his way to the Rock Tunnel, Ash and May stayed in the Pokémon Centre a little longer as Ash sent Magby, Elekid and Meowth back to the Lab asking for Lapras, Donphan and Krookodile. Meowth had voluntarily gone back to the Lab after making the argument that Ash would need his strongest ground types due to the electric types that lived around the Power Plant. Ash had called for Lapras because the only way to get to the Power Plant was either by boat or by Pokémon, the boat was for the use of Power Plant workers only. The boat only made two trips one in the morning to take the day shift to the Power Plant and bring the night shift to the dock, the other trip took the night shift to the Power Plant and brought the day shift back to the dock.

"Lapras, I choose you!" Ash shouted as he released the Transport Pokémon from her Pokéball, Lapras announced her appearance with a melodic cry. She lowered her head and rubbed it against Ash's, Ash laughed and put his hand under her chin giving her a rub along her lower jaw. "Nice to see you too." May just stood to the side as Ash greeted his Pokémon, Ash noticed and decided to introduce Lapras to May. "This is May," he said pointing to May, "She's the person I travelled with in Hoenn, remember I told you about her." Lapras nodded and craned her head over to May.

May slowly reached out and carefully placed her hand in front of Lapras' nose, she knew that as a species Lapras were gentle Pokémon but they were also wary of people. Lapras closed the distance and pressed against May's hand causing the Co-Ordinator to gently rub the Transport Pokémon's snout. Ash smiled and let them have a couple of minutes so Lapras could get used to her. A light blush covered May's face as she remembered what Ash had said, he'd told his Pokémon about her, it touched her heart knowing that he'd been thinking of her.

They mounted the grey shell of the Transport Pokémon and made their way down the river towards the Pokémon Centre, the trip took about half an hour and they had to stop a couple of times due to a territorial Seaking wanting to defend his home. As Lapras swam Ash was telling May what might happen when they got closer to the Aura affected area, it would start to effect them their tempers would be shorter and they'd snap at each other over the slightest thing, their anger would increase and they'd start to lose trust in each other. Ash due to his Aura training wouldn't be effected as much but May would be more susceptible to it, he told May that whenever she started to feel a coldness entering her mind to focus her thoughts on something that would make her happy. It wouldn't block the effects completely but it would make it easier on her so she could keep control of herself and her mind.

Lapras started to slow down as she swam along the river, eventually coming to a complete stop, May looked around but couldn't see any reason why they'd stopped. She heard Lapras whine and slowly start to move backwards, Ash put a hand on Lapras' neck and moved so he could look into one of her eyes.

"I know, I can feel it too but we need to keep going. It's only a little further and then you can go back into your Pokéball, please Lapras I wouldn't ask you to do this unless I really needed you. I know you can do this, I believe in you." He said letting his Aura slowly soak into the water and ice type to calm her down. May carefully moved until she could look into Lapras' other eye.

"I know we only met a little while ago but I believe in you too Lapras. Please take us the rest of the way." She said, Lapras stopped moving backwards and nodded. The Transport Pokémon began to move forward gradually picking up speed. Ash returned Gardevoir to her Pokéball and turned to May.

"I think you should put Litwick and Glaceon back in their Pokéballs for now, Lucario can help shield you from the Aura but he won't be able to shield Litwick and Glaceon as well. If the Aura gets to them they could attack you and I don't want to see you getting hurt." He said causing May's heart to flutter, she nodded and returned her Pokémon.

"What about Pikachu?" May asked when she noticed the electric type sitting on Lapras' head.

"As long as he's close to me I can shield him, plus even though he can't use Aura he can still fight against it's effects. Pikachu, come down here." Ash explained. Pikachu nodded and jumped down landing on one of the raised parts of Lapras' shell before jumping again, this time landing on Ash's shoulder. A few minutes later they arrived at the dock for the Power Plant, Ash, May and Lucario quickly got off of Lapras' back and returned her to her Pokéball. "Alright let's go." Ash said and they walked towards the Power Plant as he followed the trail of the Aura back to its source. As they walked May could feel a chill rolling across her skin, which was strange due to the fact that the Sun was bright and high in a cloudless sky. May crossed her arms and started to rub them to try and fight off the chill but it wasn't working, Lucario noticed what May was doing and decided to tell her what was happening.

Mistress May it is the Negative Aura in area that is causing you to feel cold, allow me to share my Aura with you. It won't take the feeling away but it will dampen it. The Aura Pokémon said, after a few seconds May nodded and Lucario stepped closer to her. He concentrated and let his Aura expand and cover May, the brunette let out a little sigh of relief as the chill started to fade until it could barely be felt.

"Thanks Lucario, I can hardly feel it now." May said brightly.

I merely did as my Master requested and shield you with my Aura. The closer we get to the source of the Negative Aura the stronger it will get and my Aura won't be able to negate the effects as well so we must stay on our guard. May nodded in acknowledgement, they continued to follow Ash for a few minutes in silence before May broke it with a question she wanted to ask but wasn't able to until now.

"Lucario?" May asked, the Aura Pokémon looked at her, "What do you think of Gardevoir?"

What do you mean Mistress? He asked, May shook her head Just as clueless as his trainer, she thought.

"I mean how do you see Gardevoir?"

I value her as a friend and teammate if that's what you mean.

"This is going to be harder then I thought." May mumbled under her breath before raising her voice to its usual volume. "What are your feelings towards Gardevoir? I've seen you walking together with linked arms and you always sit together, I'm just wondering if there's anything else there?" Due to the walking closely Lucario bumped into her side a little as he stiffened at the question.

I understand what you mean now Mistress. Lucario said.

Maybe it won't be that hard. May thought.

I never considered the possibility as I was focused on my training and duties as being the partner of an Aura Guardian. They walked a bit further in silence as Lucario started to think about what May had said. Something the Aura Pokémon had said earlier made May wonder what he meant. She could see that Lucario was considering how he felt but having trouble with it, it wasn't surprising with being around Ash all the time that Lucario didn't think about his feelings much. May decided to change the topic and vocalize her question.

"Lucario, what did you mean before about Negative Aura?" She asked, Lucario's snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. He was thankful of her question as he really didn't know what to think about his feelings.

Aura has two parts, Positive Aura and Negative Aura. They are balanced in nearly everyone, those who have an imbalance where they have more Positive Aura have the potential to become Aura Guardians or at least Aura Practitioners. If someone has an imbalance where they possess more Negative Aura then they will typically become criminals, as Master Ash said earlier Negative Aura will increase negative emotions and from that immoral actions can be taken.

"Is there any way to get rid of Negative Aura?"

Not as such, Aura can't be destroyed it can only be, Lucario paused to think of the right word, repurposed. An Aura Guardian can rebalance to Positive and Negative Aura in an area, though it can be difficult Negative Aura will naturally resist any attempt to restore the balance. Given that a lot of criminals enjoy their illegal acts, they unconsciously accept the Negative Aura and it is near impossible to balance it then. It is theoretically possible but there has been now record in the Aura Guardian Chronicles.

"Can Negative Aura be used?"

Negative Aura can be used but not in the same way that Positive Aura is. Positive Aura helps plants grow and flourish, it guides Pokémon to places they can be safe and find everything they need such as food and shelter, Negative Aura doesn't function like that. It causes decay and damages anything nearby, however even though it sounds evil Negative Aura is needed without it new food sources wouldn't grow and shelters couldn't be made. An Aura Sphere is formed from an equal amount of Positive and Negative Aura, too much or not enough of either makes it unstable and will cause it to explode, that being said it is possible to create Aura Spheres purely from one type of Aura but the secrets of how that is done has been lost for centuries. Many Aura Guardians have tried, a few have come close and passed on their findings to the next generation but no one has successfully formed an Aura Sphere of pure Positive or pure Negative Aura.

"How's Ash going to deal with the Negative Aura here?"

Hopefully by finding the source Master Aura will be able to reverse the effects.

"But how will he do that?"

I would depend on the source, from the way Pikachu is acting I would assume the source of the Aura has something to do with electricity. There may be something about the Power Plant that is causing the build up of Negative Aura, possibly excess energy effecting the local Pokémon, if that is the case then Master Ash will try to find a way to stop the energy and send some of his own Aura into the area to settle the Pokémon. May nodded and looked at Pikachu, she could see the electric type was twitching and kept looking around as sparks dances along his tail.

They walked for a little while longer before coming to the gates of the Power Plant, there was a small hut next to the gate and a security guard came out to talk to them.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked.

"My Lucario said there was something bad happening around here he could feel it with his Aura, we wanted to help." Ash said, the security guard looked between the two of them for a second sizing them up before he spoke again.

"There's nothing to be concerned with, a few of the local Pokémon are acting up due to electrical build up. For your own safety I suggest you leave the area until they've calmed down." From the way he said it May could tell it was a scripted response. Ash just nodded and reached into his pocket and brought out his GCS, he showed it to the security guard.

"This is a G-Men Communication Sphere, I know something's happening around here and I want to help. Tell me what's happening, if not I can easily call for a G-Men investigation team and I'll find out that way." The security guard just stared at the sphere before nodding.

"No-one actually knows, the Pokémon around here have been getting more violent and a few or the workers say they've seen people in the mountains around here in jeeps and trucks but that's about it. Every now and them there'll be an explosion, usually it's just Pokémon fighting for food or territory but lately there's been more explosions."

"We'll see if we can get to the bottom of this but for some reason if I tell you to evacuate, do it. Don't question me or anything just get everyone to the boat and leave." The security man nodded, he used to be a member of the Vermillion City Police Department and knew that when a member of the G-Men told you to do something it was a good idea to do what they said.

"Don't worry about that, I'll make sure everyone gets out." Ash put the GCS away and held his hand out to the security guard, the guard took it and they shook before Ash turned and started to walk away towards the mountains. May quickly followed and the security guard went back into the hut, his hand hovering close to the alarm button ready to slam his hand on it the second he needed to.

"Where did you learn to talk like that?" May asked once they were away from the Power Plant.

"Lance, he said it might come in handy. Guess he was right." Ash replied as he kept following the Negative Aura to its source. "What I said to the security guard count for you too, if I tell you to run then you run. Go back to the Power Plant and get on the boat with them. I don't want know what's happening and I don't want you to get hurt, so I need you to go and leave this up to me if I tell you to." The seriousness with which Ash spoke frightened May but also gave her strength.

"No!" May shouted as she stopped and slammed her foot on the ground, ignoring the ripple of pain that ran up her leg as she'd stamped her foot on a rock. "I'm not going to leave you, I'll never leave you. If you're going to stay then so am I, you mean too much to me Ash. After everything that's happened so far I'm not going to stand back anymore, I'm sick of watching you get injured from the sidelines. From now on I'm going to fight by your side, you've been protecting me since we started travelling together again and even before that when we first met and journeyed around Hoenn and Kanto together, now it's my turn to protect you. You've been training me for months and you know I can defend myself so let me help, I care about what happening here just as much as you do so we're going to fix it together." Ash tried to interrupt but May was on a roll and couldn't be stopped. She started to tear up and she spoke, making her sapphire blue eyes shimmer in the sun's light, she took a few steps towards Ash and out of Lucario's Aura..

"Ash, every time there's been some sort of danger you've jumped to protect me without a thought to your own safety, do you know how that make me feel? How it makes any of the people you've travelled with feel? Don't you even think of how worried we get when you risk your life for us? We all know that you're willing to risk your life to save us but what you don't think about is what we'd go through if you died trying to save us. Do you think we'd ever be able to forgive ourselves because you sacrificed yourself for one of us? We're grateful that you're willing to do that for us and we'd gladly do the same for you but you never stop to think that we can look after ourselves or what we'd do if you did die because of us?" May could feel her blood start to boil at the same time a chill invaded her body, in the back of her mind she knew that this was the Negative Aura effecting her but the floodgates had opened and she had no intention of stopping. "Since we've started travelling together again you've been bitten, poisoned, exhausted your Aura almost to the point of death and fallen from a few hundred feet in the air, that was just in the first few weeks too. You never consider how we'd feel, how I'd feel if," May's voice cracked, "if I never saw you again."

"You have your memories of New Island, you remember dying but I have the memories of Brock and Misty in my head, I know how they felt when they saw you laying there dead, turned to stone. A cold grey reminder that used to be their friend, who had died protecting them and the rest of the world. I know the sadness they felt, the pain they experienced having to see someone they love torn away from them in an instant right before their eyes, the grief that gripped their souls. If that had been me and you didn't come back then I don't know what I would've done, what do you think would've happened when your mom found out she'd lost her only child? Her world would've fallen apart, do you think she would've just carried on with her life after something that? No, because Ash Ketchum acts first and thinks later, if he gets hurt or killed then that's someone else's problem." At this point May had gotten right into Ash's face, her anger getting the better of her due to the influence of the Negative Aura, forcing him to back pedal until he was pressed up against a boulder. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks as she kept going. "Did it even cross your mind about how I felt when we were in the Temple of the Sea? When you put me, Manaphy and Pikachu in the escape pod and ran off? We were alone, we were scared for ourselves and for you. If you hadn't managed to make everything right then do you know what would've happened to us? We would've suffocated if you failed." Ash could feel a cold sweat trickle down his spine, he'd never heard May sound this angry, this serious. Pikachu was in a similar state of mind and didn't know how to react to this rapid change in personality to someone he cared for.

"You need to start thinking about what you do otherwise. You. Are. Going. To. DIE!" May punctuated every word, forcefully poking Ash in the chest each time. "If you'd died back on New Island and not come back then I wouldn't have met you, I'd still be afraid of Pokémon, Team Magma and Aqua would've torn Hoenn apart, who knows what would've happened with Butler and that fake Groudon, Larousse City would be in ruins because of Rayquaza and Deoxys, the Phantom would've gotten Manaphy." May's voice again broke at that, she clutched the pendant that Ash had won for her, "You never would've met Dawn, Iris, Cilan or the friends you made in Kalos, you never would've caught your other Pokémon from Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova or Kalos. You wouldn't have beaten the Battle Frontier or won the Orange League. It's good that you value all of us that much but we value you too, more than you know, you brought us all together and made us all friends even though we mightn't know each other as well as others, you made us a family you said it yourself. Just think everything you've done since New Island, the people you've helped, the criminals you've stopped, everything you've experienced and everything that's changed because of it. All that wouldn't of happened, you are the Chosen One of the Shamouti Prophecy." Ash's eyes widened, he hadn't told her anything about that. "Cynthia told me, she said I should know about the person I'm travelling with, she told me everything she'd found about you in the G-Men files. None of that would've happened, Lugia would've been captured and the world would've been thrown out of balance. Ash, you need to live, the world needs you." May thrust her face forward so that her nose was mere millimetres away from touching Ash's. "I need you, without you in my life I probably would've ended up back at home after a few days and listen to Max calling me a failure for the rest of my life and not experienced everything I have."

May paused to take another breath and steeled herself for what she was about to say to Ash, she was using the surge of confidence that had come from her speech and fought against the Negative Aura.

"You mean more to your friends and your Pokémon then you realise, you called us your family. That means you're our family too and we don't want to lose you." May raised her hand, causing Ash to flinch in expectation of being hit but cupped his cheek instead, "I don't want to lose you. Ash, I love you and I don't want to see you die." May leant forward shutting her eyes and gently kissed Ash's lips, his eyes closed as the feeling of May's lips clouded his mind. The nature of the act was very different to how May was feeling, inside her emotions were burning a hole in her. She stepped back, away from the kiss and turned as she started to walk away. She didn't notice that Ash tried to follow the kiss, a second later he opened his eyes and took a few steps to catch up to May. She heard Ash start to follow her. "Ash, don't just give me a few minutes to calm down. I need time to think." She said without looking back. Ash nodded as he watched May walk away, he thought about what May had said. It started an idea in his head that scared him, he pushed the thought to the side for now. He needed to focus on the problem at hand, the Negative Aura that was infecting the area. Ash sat down in a cross legged position and started to meditate, to calm himself and find the source of the Negative Aura.

Lucario had followed May as she walked away, knowing the Negative Aura had effected her, he kept his distance at first to allow the brunette to have some time to herself. The Aura Pokémon could feel the torrent emotions whirling around inside the Co-Ordinator's Aura. As he followed May, Lucario could hear May muttering under her breath but could only catch a few words.

"Stupid…sacrificing himself…why can he…if he…Can't stand it…" May stopped walking and turned to face a boulder the same size as her. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a pair of training mitts that she'd bought as part of her self-defense training. May put the gloves on and started to punch the boulder, she was angry and needed to get it out of her system. The best way to do that was to lash out at something, so she did. May hammered her fists at the rock letting her mind go blank as she threw her punches. After a few minutes May was starting to slow her punches and a light sweat formed on her forehead, her breath slightly heavier than usual. She stilled her assault and stepped back, pulling off her training mitts she shoved them back in her bag.

Mistress May, you are hurt. Lucario said breaking his silent vigil over the brunette and stepping forward. He gently took hold of May's hands, May had been unconsciously rubbing her knuckles. Lucario's paw started to glow pink as he used Heal Pulse, the dark redness that had covered her knuckles started to fade and the gentle fatigue she felt disappeared as well. He flared his Aura and helped combat the Negative Aura that was fighting to take control of May's mind. You must be more careful, if you had put a little more strength into your attacks and you may have broken some bones. I understand you needed to work through some anger but Master Ash would worry if you had hurt yourself. I know that you want Master Ash to stop taking risks when it comes to your safety but there is nothing he wouldn't do for your safety and no way you could stop him from worrying about you.

"I know, Lucario I know but I don't want him to see me as someone he needs to protect. I want him to see me as someone to fight alongside, to treat as an equal. I've shown him that I'm strong, I've trained hard with him and with my Pokémon." May stopped and took her now healed hands out of Lucario's paws, hugging her arms. She lowered her voice. "I want him to see that I can protect him, I don't want him to get hurt again because of me."

I understand what you mean, you are not the only one who feels that way. Even though we battle for him Master Ash would still give his life for me and my fellow team members. Lucario paused for a moment. It is said that actions speak louder then words, I believe we must show Master Ash that we are able to protect ourselves. He has never been one to understand what people say. May giggled a little.

"I guess you're right." May put her hand back into her bag. "Lucario, could we spar for a couple of minutes?" Lucario was a bit surprised but nodded, settling into a light fighting stance as May put her training mitts back on. She was about to go on the attack when Lucario moved first, May didn't expect the Aura Pokémon to come at her full force and braced herself for what was coming but it never did. Her hair was blown back as Lucario shot past her, May looked over her shoulder and saw a barrage of purple needles flying towards her but Lucario blocked them all with his own body.

Mistress May, we are under attack. Poachers. Lucario's warning came too late as someone grabbed hold of May's arm.

Turning to look at her attacker May brought her leg up before slamming it back down, scraping it along the attackers leg and stomping on the attackers foot. Her attacker was a large man with a bald head and thick stubble on his chin, he growled and let go of May's arm as she defended herself. He was wearing a black vest underneath a beige jacket along with beige cargo pants and black leather military style boots. May immediately retreated a few steps and got ready to fight, her guard up and her weight on the balls of her feet so she could move quickly.

"Arrgh, you'll pay for that girlie." The man snarled, he pulled out a Pokéball and released a Machamp. "Take care of her. She can't get in our way." Machamp stalked towards May and reached out to grab her but May used her size and speed to her advantage dodging Machamp's grabs and keeping herself safe. She waited until the right moment and rolled between Machamp's legs quickly coming out of the roll into a sprinter's starting position and running. May had an idea but needed to be quick if it was going to work, she ran at the Poacher with Machamp following behind her and closing the distance fast.

The Poacher saw May coming and got ready to grab her but at the last possible second May dove to the side causing Machamp to barrel into his trainer, both of them crashing to the ground. May dashed forward while both were still dazed and pulled Machamp's Pokéball from the Poacher's pocket, returning the fighting type. Lucario was off to the side battling an Arbok, easily outclassing the poison type. May dropped Machamp's Pokéball as the Poacher grabbed at her arm, missing as she pulled it back quickly.

"This isn't over girlie, Arbok Haze!" The Poacher shouted, Arbok managed to put a bit of distance between itself and spat out a huge cloud of thick black smoke. Lucario formed a Bone Rush attack and spun it around to clear away the smoke revealing that the Poacher had disappeared with his Pokémon.

"I wonder why he was here?" May asked as she put her training mitts away. "Come on, we should probably get back to Ash. He'll be starting to worry." No sooner had May said that did Ash come running up to her and Lucario.

"Are you alright?" He asked looking around, "I could hear a battle coming from over here and sensed Lucario's Aura in it."

"We're fine Ash, we can look after ourselves. Let's go and find the cause of this Negative Aura." May said still sounding mad, which she was.

"May, about what you said before. I.." Ash started but May stopped him with a raised hand.

"Now's not the time to talk about that." She said taking charge, "We'll talk about it later, once we've fixed whatever's wrong here." Ash just nodded and they started walking again in a slightly uncomfortable silence which Pikachu tried to fill by attempting to sing, which didn't go to well as Ash and May had no idea what he was singing and to be honest he didn't have the best singing voice. After a few minutes they were closing in on the source of the Negative Aura, picking up their pace slightly as the neared their destination. Ash stopped and looked confused, May stopped and turned to look at him.

"It's moved." He said.

"What do you mean?" May asked.

"The source of the Negative Aura is moving."

"How's it doing that?"

"I've no idea, come on we've got to hurry." Just as Ash said that there was an explosion just ahead of them in the mountains, Ash and May looked at each other. May asked the silent question of 'The Negative Aura's there?' with a look, Ash nodded in reply and the pair of them with Lucario following closely behind them ran towards the explosion.

As they ran they heard an ear-piercing shriek, one that Ash and Pikachu had heard a longtime ago. The group rounded a corner into a dead end and saw the Poacher May had dealt with earlier, his Arbok and Machamp were there along with a Abomasnow, Golem, Claydol and Rhyperior. The Poacher and his Pokémon had cornered a large yellow bird-like Pokémon, it was the Legendary Bird of Thunder Zapdos.

"Leave Zapdos alone!" Ash shouted as he ran forward, he let a little Aura into his eye and he could see that Zapdos was the source of the Negative Aura. It was rolling off the Legendary Bird in great waves, Ash could feel it fighting against his own Aura. He needed to get closer to Zapdos to counteract the Negative Aura but with the Poacher and the fact that Zapdos was in an angry and panicked state it wasn't going to be easy.

"Golem, Rhyperior get rid of these pests." The two Pokémon started to launch rocks at Ash and May, who immediately started to dodge and sought cover. Lucario and May managed to get behind a boulder before a large rock crashed into the ground where they'd been seconds before, Ash and Pikachu kept dodging as they retreated to the closest bit of cover they could find, a crevice in the mountain just big enough for them to get into.

"I have an idea." May said quickly whispering it to the Aura Pokémon beside her.

But Mistress May, I have to stay by your side. The Negative Aura is emanating from Zapdos for some reason, this close to the source will affect you almost instantly.

"I'm a lot stronger then people think I am Lucario, I'll be fine but Zapdos won't be if we don't do this." Lucario wanted to argue but knew that this was their only available course for action, sighing in resignation Lucario nodded in agreement. The Aura Pokémon put a paw on May's shoulder and took a deep breath before letting some of his Aura flow into her.

This should protect you for now, I'll be back as soon as I can.

"Lucario, I told you that I can look after myself. There's no need to do something like this because Ash asked you too."

I am not doing this for Master Ash, I am doing this to protect MY Mistress. May smiled and gave Lucario a heart-warming smile.

"Thank you. Now go, the sooner this is over the better." Lucario nodded again and used Extremespeed to disappear, leaving only a small cloud of dust in his place. May reached for one of her Pokéballs and waited for the signal.

Meanwhile Ash and Pikachu were trying to think up some sort of a plan but so far nothing was coming to mind and there wasn't enough room in their hiding place to call out any other Pokémon plus being this close to the source of the Negative Aura made it risky to use his other Pokémon. Golem kept Ash and Pikachu pinned in, the odd piece of fragmented rock grazing them as it flew past. By stealing glances at the Poacher and Zapdos Ash saw that the Legendary Bird was in trouble, one of her wings was frozen solid meaning she couldn't escape by flying away.

Ash was about to make a mad dash out of the crevice to try and get to a better piece of cover when he sensed an Aura Sphere come flying down from above. The Aura Sphere slammed into Rhyperior's side followed by another and another, a rapid succession of Aura Sphere's bombed down on the Drill Pokémon. Ash then heard May shouting above the noise of the Aura Sphere's.

"Blaziken, High Jump Kick!" A couple of seconds later there was a echoing crash, Ash looked out of his hiding place and saw Rhyperior was trying to get back to his feet and Blaziken was standing over Golem. Looking to the source of the Aura Sphere's Ash saw Lucario standing on a ledge high above lauching the attacks, now aiming for the Poacher's other Pokémon. "Blaziken finish Rhyperior with Mega Uppercut!" May shouted again.

Blaziken dashed towards the still struggling Rhyperior closing the short distance between them in seconds, Blaziken's fist was glowing blue as she lowered it towards the ground. White energy mixed with the blue creating a shining icy blue showing the combination of Sky Uppercut and Mega Punch. Blaziken's fist connected with Rhyperior's jaw sending the Drill Pokémon a few feet into the air before falling to the ground with swirls in his eyes. "Now quickly knock out Golem!" Blaziken spun on her heels and ran back towards Golem, skidding underneath a Rock Blast and turning the skid into an improvised Mega Kick powered spin kick, flicking her body around in a tight and speedy spiral allowing her to get her blue energy coated foot to connect with the side of the Megaton Pokémon's face, knocking Golem out of the battle. May immediately called Blaziken back to her Pokéball, wanting to get her starter away from the Negative Aura as soon as possible.

Ash came out of his hiding place and ran up to May, Lucario jumped down from the ledge and somersaulted into a landing. The Poacher returned his downed Pokémon and was about to call for his other Pokémon to attack when Zapdos let out another shriek and charged forward with electricity crackling across her body. She ran past the Poacher's Pokémon and tried to take off but the frozen wing made it impossible, so she kept running forcing Ash and May to dive out of the way.

"Ash, go after Zapdos. Help her calm down, I'll deal with the Poacher." May said not taking her eyes away from the Poacher.

"May, are you sure?" Ash asked, May whipped her head around to face him. Ash was shocked by the look on her face, her usually beautiful face was now twisted into an almost feral glare.

"I can look after myself, now GO!" She snarled, Ash nodded meekly and took off after Zapdos.

The Negative Aura must've gotten to her when she split up with Lucario, I can help her later once Zapdos has calmed down. I just hope I'm not too late. Ash thought as he ran, following the large footprints left in Zapdos' wake.

May didn't bother to watch Ash leave, she could feel a coil of rage and hate in her stomach which she assumed was some of the Negative Aura in the area. It left her feeling cold and angry at everything but right now she was focusing that anger at the Poacher, her hand gripped Blaziken's Pokéball ready to throw it as soon as she needed to. May stiffened when she felt something touch her shoulder, from the corner of her eye she saw it was Lucario's paw. The Aura Pokémon was channeling some of his Aura into her to counteract the Negative Aura that affected her.

May could feel the negative emotions inside her fading but not going entirely, she sighed as the warmth of Lucario's Aura soothed her and let her focus. She threw Blaziken's Pokéball when she saw the Poacher's Machamp rushing towards her, Blaziken came out and immediately went into a Blaze Kick catching Machamp in the side of the face. The fighting type was sent staggering to the side barely staying on his feet.

"Keep it up, don't let Machamp recover." May said and Blaziken's only acknowledgment was to launch into a blistering assault that any fighting type Pokémon would be proud of. Kicks, punches, headbutts, slashes, sweeps Blaziken was using every move and trick in her arsenal forcing Machamp on the defensive with no opening to even try and counter attack. The Poacher's Arbok had tried to sneak up on Blaziken but Lucario had seen the attack coming and was currently attempting to teach the poison type the error of his ways. May took this opportunity to run at the Poacher, catching him completely by surprise. He never thought a girl who was half his size would try to attack him directly, he sent his Abomasnow and Claydol to intercept May but she was ahead of him and let her other Pokémon out except for Litwick. May knew it wasn't a fair fight but she didn't care, she and Ash were there to stop the Negative Aura and it had something to do with Zapdos. The Poacher was trying to capture Zapdos and therefore part of the problem so May was going to make sure he wasn't going to cause any more trouble. May slipped through a gap between the Poacher's Pokémon as her own joined the fray. Spoink, Mawile and Flaffy went on the offensive against Abomasnow while Glaceon, Cubone and Beautifly fought against Claydol.

May lashed out with a round kick catching the Poacher in the ribs before immediately pulling her leg back and throwing out a punch to his nose. The Poacher instinctively moved out of the way and got past his shock of being attacked by May, he made a grab for May's throat but missed as May dodged back just in time. May faked right and sprung left but the Poacher was ready for her and sent out a punch catching her in the stomach, she staggered back holding herself and gasping for breath. This time when the Poacher reached for May's throat he got hold of her, he lifted her up so she was a couple of inches off the floor. May's hand went from her stomach to the Poacher's hand clawing at his skin as she tried to break his grip, after a minute the edge of her vision started to blur and go black around the edges. Her Pokémon and Lucario could see what was happening but couldn't breakaway from their own battles to help her.

Ash and Pikachu were still following Zapdos' footprints, hoping they would reach the Legendary Bird soon. They rounded a corner and had to drop to the ground immediately as a bolt of electricity streaked towards them. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and sent a thin stream of electricity towards Zapdos, it connected with the Legendary electric type but didn't do anything, Ash watched as Pikachu sent stream after tiny stream at Zapdos and eventually remembered he'd seen Pikachu do it before. Pikachu was using electricity to communicate with Zapdos, Ash slowly got up but stayed crouched while the two electric Pokémon 'spoke'.

After a minute or two Zapdos sent a similar stream of electricity back at Pikachu, presumably explaining what had happened. Ash waited for a little longer, he wondered what was happening with May and why he had a feeling that something bad was happening.

"Pika!" Ash turned to look at Pikachu.

"What is it buddy?" He asked.

"Pika Pikachu Pika Pika Pikachu."

"Zapdos want me to show I'm an Aura Guardian? Alright." Ash held his hand out and formed a medium sized Aura Sphere, letting it hover over his palm for a minute before absorbing the Aura back into his body. He saw Zapdos nod to Pikachu and take a step forward.

"Pika PiPi Pikachu."

"Zapdos is letting us help, great now let's get that ice off her wing first." Ash stood up and was about to walk up to Zapdos when the Legendary Bird shrieked. Ash looked at Pikachu for explanation.

"Pika PiPika Chu Kachu Pikachu."

"Zapdos wants me to get rid of the Negative Aura first. Right let's do this." Ash took a hesitant step forward but when Zapdos do anything except for puffing her chest out and tilting her head Ash walked forward and put his hand on her bright yellow feather. He winced slightly at the electricity that crackled across her body, it was uncomfortable but Ash could deal with it, having been shocked by Pikachu so much he'd built up a good resistance to electricity. He let out a steady breath and allowed his Aura to mix with Zapdos' while the Legendary Bird and Pikachu conversed normally.

May was still fighting to get out of the Poacher's grip, Lucario and her Pokémon were still unable to come to her aid as they were still battling the Poacher's Pokémon. They watched in horror as their trainer and friend was being strangled in front of them and there was nothing they could do to save her. May was still struggling but her attempts to break the Poacher's hold were getting weaker and weaker, she summoned the last of her strength and kicked out. Her foot connected with the Poacher's groin, as the pain hit him he released his grip on May's neck. He stumbled back clutching at the point of injury and May dropped to the ground, gulping down lungfuls of air. Her sight cleared and her lightheadedness faded slowly she got up and glared at the Poacher, due to being strangled the Negative Aura had affected May again making her aggression skyrocket. She ran forward and spun on the ball of her foot sending a vicious spinning kick to the Poacher's stomach, following it with a medium strength jab to the throat stealing his air like he had done to her.

A couple of quick jabs darted out to the Poacher's solar plexus after May ducked under a clumsy swing from the Poacher making him stumble back further. A growl rose from May's throat as she pressed her attack sending blow after blow at the Poacher, alone they didn't do much damage but together they had an effect. A kick to the kneecap caused the Poacher to drop onto one knee and a solid round elbow strike to the Poacher's temple sent him to the ground, unconscious. May stalked towards the Poacher and was about to start kicking him when she heard foot steps behind her and a hand landed on her shoulder, May turned and punched whoever had touched her in the nose not even registering who it was. She continued on her path to the Poacher but was stopped again when Lucario appeared in front of her, the Aura Pokémon put his paws on May's shoulder and poured his Aura into her. She struggled at first but Lucario kept his hold on her and eventually May calmed down, she was breathing heavily but now had control of her faculties.

There was a groan behind May, she turned round vaguely remembering what had happened in her affected state. On the ground starting to get up was Mike, he'd propped himself up onto his elbow and was holding his nose. Mike's Houndoom was stood at his trainer's side looking between Mike and May, a small grin on his muzzle. May's Pokémon gathered round and Lucario let his Aura flow out into the surrounding area in order to try and remove the effects of the Negative Aura and keep it from effecting any of them.

"Jeez, you try to help a friend." Mike groaned as he started to get to his feet.

"Oh, Mike. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you." May said helping Mike up.

"It's alright, your blood was up because of that guy. Don't worry about it, I'm a big boy. I'll live." Mike replied waving off May's apology. "What did he do to incur the wrath of May?"

"He was attacking some of the Pokémon around here, he's a Poacher." Mike nodded in understanding.

"Where's Ash?"

"There was one Pokémon the Poacher was really after, Ash went to try and calm it down. I told him to go while I stopped the Poacher, Ash has a way with Pokémon even wild ones." May explained not wanting to say that it was Zapdos and Ash was using his Aura to calm her down. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to the bottom of the Rock Tunnel when the roof started to shake, I found the nearest exit and re-surfaced not too far from here. I heard fighting and came to see if I could help, then I found you." There was loud crash and a plume of smoke rose from further into the mountains, Mike and May looked at each other. "Go, Ash probably needs you. I'll stay here and keep an eye on the Poacher, there's a lot of static in the air but I'm going to try and call Officer Jenny."

"Ok, I'll be back as soon as I can." May returned her Pokémon and started to run towards the smoke before following May, Lucario took one of Mike's Pokéballs and opened it. Mike's Lucario came out of it in a flash of white light, Lucario said something to her quickly and then ran after May.

"What did he just say to you?" Mike asked his Lucario, she didn't reply and simply let her Aura flow like Lucario's had, letting it surround her, Mike and Houndoom. Mike took the Poacher's Pokéballs and returned his knocked out Pokémon while Houndoom stood watch over the Poacher, ready to scare the life out of him the second he woke up. Houndoom was ready to radiate his excess heat to give himself a more menacing appearance, while Houndoom was still as playful as a puppy he could live up to his appearance and reputation when needed.

Ash could feel that the Negative Aura coming from Zapdos was about half neutralised when an explosion knocked him off his feet, Zapdos screeched in surprise and turned to face the explosion. As the smoke started to disperse two figures could be seen standing there, Here we go again Ash thought with a sigh.

"Prepare for…" A female voice started before Ash interrupted.

"Aren't you tired of being blasted off all the time? Can't you just leave me alone?" Ash said climbing to his feet, "Seriously Jessie, James why don't you just quit?"

"Listen here brat, we're not those two losers!" A male voice shouted back at Ash, the smoke cleared and Ash could see that it wasn't Jessie and James as he'd thought.

"Cassidy and Bruno?"

"It's Butch!"

"Calm down Bill, remember what Namba said about you're blood pressure." Cassidy said.

"Butch! My name is Butch, B-U-T-C-H, BUTCH!"

"Can we deal with your identity crisis later Brian? The Boss will want that Zapdos." Steam was starting to come out of Butch's ears as his face turned a deep and angry red.

While Cassidy and Butch were dealing with their own name problems Ash had gotten Pikachu to weaken the ice on Zapdos's wing by using a weak Iron Tail to crack it and while the two Rocket's weren't looking Ash put his hand on one of the cracks, pouring his Aura into it before starting to form an Aura Sphere. Cassidy and Butch turned their attention back to Ash and Zapdos when they heard the ice shatter and fall to the ground, Zapdos let out a cry louder than before opening her wings wide as static electricity sparked across her body.

"Oh no you don't, you're not getting away from us." Cassidy said, "Steelix go!"

"You too, Mamoswine!" Butch added. The two large Pokémon appeared in front of the Rockets.

"Get Zapdos!" Butch and Cassidy shouted together. Mamoswine started to fire Ice Shards while Steelix went straight in to using Rock Throw.

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash shouted, Pikachu didn't hesitate and jumped into the incoming attacks with a metallic tail and began to destroy as many of the attacks as he could. Ash put his hand back on Zapdos while Cassidy and Butch were distracted by the battle and poured more of his Aura into the Legendary Bird to counteract the Negative Aura so that he could send out more Pokémon without them being effected. He went as fast as he could to negate all of the Negative Aura in Zapdos but there were simply too many attacks for Pikachu to deal with. He was soon sent to the ground after being hit by both a Rock Throw and an Ice Shard. Ash was about to run in when he heard a voice behind him.

"Close Combat, Blaze Kick combo!" Two blurs shot past Ash and stood in the way of Mamoswine's and Steelix's attacks stopping anything from hitting Pikachu or Zapdos. A lot of dust was kicked up from the destruction of the attacks but Ash could see the outline of Lucario and Blaziken. "Glaceon get Pikachu out of there!" A light blue streak ran past Ash's legs and stopped next to Pikachu, with a little difficulty Glaceon managed to get Pikachu onto her back and she ran back to Ash as quickly as she could.

"May?" Ash said surprised. "What are you doing here? What happened to the Poacher?"

"Mike's watching him, Mike felt the explosion earlier while he was walking through the Rock Tunnel and came to investigate. I came to help you and stop you from doing something stupid like run into those attacks to get Pikachu." May replied keeping her eyes on the battle. "Help Zapdos, I'll keep these two busy."

"Right." Ash concentrated his attention on Zapdos and his Aura was quickly eradicating the excess Negative Aura in Zapdos' body. The feathers of Zapdos' body seemed to brighten and shine as the Negative Aura was converted into harmless energy, in all Zapdos' health seemed to improve as Ash worked.

May was watching Ash and Zapdos out of the corner of her eye while still keeping her focus on Cassidy and Biff?, she's only met them a couple of times and that was a long time ago. Lucario was reacting to May's shouts as if he was her own Pokémon, not hesitating in the slightest no matter how strange the shouts might've been. Due to a training exercise when Ash and May teamed up for the couples Contest in Drummond Town they'd temporarily battled with each other's Pokémon so that if they needed to they could call out a necessary attack or dodge, this was why Lucario was responding the way he was.

Cassidy and Butch couldn't believe what was happening, they were using the two strongest Pokémon they had with them but this one girl was completely in control of the battle and as an added insult to their reputations she was making a show of her attacks like she was in the middle of a Contest. They didn't notice that Zapdos was looking healthier then before as they tried to put May in her place.

"Hitmontop, get in there!" Butch shouted throwing in another Pokéball, Cassidy followed straight after.

"Sableye, you too!" She yelled over the noise of the battle. The two new Pokémon charged forward to attack but were cut off by a blast of ice, Hitmontop and Sableye looked at the source of the ice and saw Glaceon growling at them. Glaceon's fur was raised and covered in a light but strong coat of ice giving her a spiky appearance. The two Pokémon charged at her readying attacks, Hitmontop had flipped over and was spinning at high speed to deliver a Triple Kick while Sableye's hands were glowing with a dark purple energy which had taken the appearance of claws.

Glaceon stood her ground and waited as the two Pokémon got closer and closer, just before they reached her she used Hidden Power and launched it at the ground in front of them sending up a cloud of dust. Hitmontop and Sableye kept going and went into the dust cloud, Cassidy and Butch had left the two Pokémon to their own devices while they focused on their biggest problem which was Lucario and Blaziken but the pair soon snapped their heads around when they heard their Pokémon cry out. Glaceon could be heard using Ice Beam, Hidden Power and Ice Shard over and over again but the dust cloud still hid the battle from everyone's sight.

When the cloud eventually drifted away Cassidy and Butch facepalmed when they saw a hole in the ground with Glaceon skipping around the edge launching her attacks into it and dodging any attacks that were thrown back at her. Cassidy and Butch were about to call out more of their Pokémon when a loud shriek ripped through the air stopping them in their tracks, for the first time since May entered the battle they turned their attention back to Zapdos and saw that the Legendary Bird had her wings spread wide and looked like she was back at full strength. Zapdos flapped her wings a couple of times and got into the air, she shot forward using Drill Peck sending Steelix and Mamoswine backwards, she then moved and hovered over the hole Glaceon had trapped Hitmontop and Sableye in, she started to flap her wings harder and harder until the winds inside the hole were strong enough to hurl the two trapped Pokémon out and back towards their trainers.

Zapdos then landed next to Ash and fired a small stream of electricity at Pikachu, when Zapdos ended the stream Pikachu nodded and spoke quickly to the Glaceon, Lucario and Blaziken. The three of them nodded and lined up with Zapdos, after Lucario gave her a respectful bow, the five Pokémon then powered up their attacks. Zapdos let loose a blast of Thunder, Pikachu shot a Thunderbolt, Blaziken breathed out a Flamethrower, Glaceon added in Ice Beam and Lucario threw an Aura Sphere.

Cassidy and Butch were calling out attacks to their Pokémon but the sight of an angry and full strength Legendary Pokémon made them hesitate long enough for the attacks to make contact blasting them backwards into the mountains side. They and their Pokémon were knocked out and would probably be that way for a while. May turned to talk to Ash and saw that he was panting and sweating, she rushed over.

"Ash, are you alright?" She asked, putting one of his arms over her shoulders to support some of his weight.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired, give me a few minutes and I'll be fine." He replied, Ash's other Pokéballs snapped open and the rest of his Pokémon came out. Donphan immediately got behind Ash as Gardevoir directed him to sit down so Ash could save a bit of the little energy and recover that much quicker. May heard the crackle of electricity and turned around to see Zapdos staring back at her. May took a step to the side thinking Zapdos wanted to see Ash but the Legendary Bird's eyes followed her.

"Zapdos wants to say thank you May. By battling Cassidy and Bobby you gave me time to help her." Ash explained as Butch could be heard faintly whispering 'The name is Butch' out of habit and not consciousness. May was shocked to hear that Zapdos wanted to thank her and bowed slightly.

"There's no need to thank me, it was all Ash's work." May said as she straightened up. Zapdos tilted her head and let out a low squawk. Zapdos looked at Ash and did the same before raising to her full height, she then began a quick exchange of electrical streams with Pikachu. After a minute the two electric types stopped and Zapdos sent a surge or electricity into the ground before she flew off without a sound.

"What was that all about buddy?" Ash asked but before Pikachu could answer they heard the rumble of an engine. Looking to the entry of the dead end they were in Ash and May saw Officer Jenny come screeching round the corner and speed towards them. As she drew nearer they could see that Mike was in the sidecar, hanging on for dear life.

Officer Jenny skidded her motorbike to a stop a few feet in front of Ash and May, now they had a clearer view of Mike they could see that his face was pale and his eyes were wide.

"Never again, never." They heard him muttering over and over.

"What happened here?" Officer Jenny asked as she climbed off the bike, May opened her mouth to explain but was cut off when Zapdos shrieked drawing everyone's attention. When Officer Jenny and Mike got over their shock Ash explained that he and May had come to the Power Plant to train their Pokémon, heard an explosion and gone to see if anyone needed help. They found the Poacher attacking Zapdos and helped the Legendary Bird, during the battle Zapdos had run off Ash followed to try and calm Zapdos down while May stayed behind to stop the Poacher.

May then took over the story saying she managed to stop the Poacher and that's when Mike showed up and told her to go find Ash when they heard another explosion. She told Officer Jenny how she found Ash and Zapdos standing in front of Team Rocket and helped battle them eventually knocking the two Team Rocket members out. Officer Jenny nodded and walked over to the unconscious Cassidy and Butch taking their Pokéballs off them and handcuffing them before returning their Pokémon. As Officer Jenny took their statements a couple of her Lieutenants came and carried Cassidy and Butch away.

"Alright that's everything. I want to thank you for your help in apprehending these criminals." Officer Jenny said putting her notepad away.

"You shouldn't be thanking me, all I did was call you and watch the Poacher till you got here." Mike said.

"You still helped and that deserves thanks."

"I suppose you're right but I really don't need thanking, I just did what I had to do to help." Mike smiled a little. "I'm going to be in the area for a while so if you need any help call me." Mike started to write his number down on a piece of paper when one of his Pokéballs opened and his Lucario started to hit him across the back of the head. "OW! What are you…Quit it! I didn't mean it like that and you know it. I love Maylene so stop hitting me." His Lucario eventually stopped hitting him and Mike put his arms down so they no longer covered his head. "You'll find any excuse to hit me won't you?" His Lucario took another swing at him but Mike ducked. "Ha, missed." But Lucario's second strike didn't miss and Mike fell forward, his fall caused a small puff of dust to rise around him.. "Okay, okay I give." Mike slowly got to his feet and brushed the dirt and dust off his clothes. "Maylene asked you to do this didn't she?" His Lucario nodded before leaning against a boulder. Ash and May were trying not to laugh at what they'd just seen, Officer Jenny looked confused while Pikachu had fallen off Ash's shoulder from laughing so hard and was currently rolling on the ground still laughing.

"Never the less, you all deserve a great many thanks, now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to Cerulean City and start the paperwork." Officer Jenny said nodding to them and got back on her bike, Ash walked up to her before she could ride away and showed her his GCS. Her eyes widened when she saw it, she didn't say anything and simply nodded before riding away. Showing Officer Jenny the GCS was Ash's way of saying that what had happened was Top Secret, like everything involving wild Legendary Pokémon, and to inform the G-Men of what had occurred.

Mike said his goodbyes to Ash and May, leaving to go back into the Rock Tunnel to train. Ash and May rested with their Pokémon for a while until May asked a question.

"Hey Ash."

"What is it, May?"

"What happened between Pikachu and Zapdos?"

"I'm not sure." Ash turned to look at Pikachu, who was talking to Glaceon. "Hey buddy, what did you and Zapdos talk about?" Pikachu wandered over to Ash and May with Glaceon alongside him, once they were close enough Pikachu started to explain what Zapdos had told him.

A couple of minutes later Pikachu had finished, Ash and May looked at Lucario for a translation even though Ash could understand Pikachu he was having some trouble fully understanding what the electric type had just said.

Zapdos said that she was still recovering from whatever affected her a few months ago. She described the same sort of sensations that Mew and Mewtwo experienced, though like them she couldn't understand what happened. She does suspect that it is happening to the other Legendary Pokémon. Lucario explained, May clutched her Manaphy pendant worrying about the Seafaring Pokémon. Though she couldn't be sure she thinks these feelings with the accompanying loss of control may vary between the Legendary Pokémon.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, wanting to fully understand the situation, he would need to pass this information on to Riley and ask him to check the Aura Guardian Archives in Rota to see if anything like this had happened before and how to stop it.

I believe Zapdos meant the stronger the Legendary Pokémon, the more severe the reaction to the feelings will be.

"We need to call Lucy." May said as she started to look for the Pike Queen's number in her X-Transceiver.

"Why?" Ash asked.

"She needs to let Brandon know something's going on with the Legendary Pokémon, he has 3 of them. Regirock, Regice and Registeel." May found the number and pressed call.

"He befriended Regigigas in Sinnoh too, he's got to watch 4 Legendries." May nodded and when Lucy answered she relayed all the information on to her, it shouldn't really have been told to anyone but Ash and May both agreed that Brandon needed to know and Lucy was there only way of getting to him. It wasn't that they didn't trust Scott, it's just May knew Lucy better and if Brock trusted Lucy enough to tell her about all the things they'd experienced travelling together then Ash could trust her too. They told her everything from Mew at the Tree of Beginning to what had just happened with Zapdos, they hesitated when it came to Mewtwo but Ash explained it. Lucy nodded at the mention of Mewtwo and said that Brock had told her a little about Mewtwo to satisfy her curiosity. Once they'd finished Lucy said that she'd forward the message to Brandon but it was possible that he was already dealing with the Legendries, she was going to ask him to research the problem to see if he could find any reference to it or a possible solution. Ash and May thanked her and ended the call, they lay against a rock to get a little more rest before they decided what they were going to do, they watched as their Pokémon played with some of the wild Pokémon and smiled.

"So where next?" May asked.

"I was thinking Celadon City, that's where my next Gym Battle is. What about your next Contest?" Ash replied.

"I'm not sure, I can't get a clear enough connection to check on my X-Transceiver so I'll need to use a computer. Let's go to Celadon and see what happens."

"You should never say that around me." Ash chuckled. "Who knows what might happen." May giggled.

"I suppose you're right."

"Hey May." Ash said a few minutes later.

"Yeah Ash, what is it?"

"About what you said earlier. You know about me not caring about my life, about how I don't think about you or the others….did you mean it?" Ash asked hesitantly.

And that's all I've got for now.

Pokémon on team:-

Ash - Pikachu, Lucario, Gardevoir, Eevee, Eevee, Donphan, Lapras, Krookodile

May - Glaceon, Blaziken, Mawile, Litwick, Flaffy, Spoink, Beautifly, Cubone

As always let me know what you think

Until Next Time

Basic Trainer