The Darkness Within(Advanceshipping Ash/May)

[Every Heart]

One of the most popular Ash/May stories on Fanfiction.Net, finally brought to serebii! (Well, that's what I've heard from my reviewers anyway) Point is, I have decided to put it up here as well so that you all can see it as well. The story is that the evil king of Poke'lantis is apparently still very much alive and is dwelling in Ash's mind. A battle for willpower commences, especially when the king uses his powers to raise Poke'lantis from the ocean floor.

The Darkness Within

.:.One.:.

"Thanks Mom! These are my favorite!"

"Your welcome sweetie.", Mrs. Ketchum said as she watched her son gobble down some of her home made cooking. Ash had just gotten back from the Battle Frontier and had been in the middle of telling her all about it when she gave him something to eat. Ash had brown eyes, short black hair, and was wearing jeans, a black shirt, and a vest. He reached up for a second to straighten his hat before continuing to eat. Mrs. Ketchim turned her attention to the other members of the table.

Brock was quietly eating his food. He was dark skinned and wore a brown vest and brown pants that almost matched the color of his dark brown hair. He looked up at Ash's mom for a moment before continuing to eat. Being as smart as he was, he was thinking to himself about what Ash's mom might be thinking, which was probably about when her son was leaving again. He wondered slightly if she ever felt bothered by it that he would only stay for about a week or so before heading off onto a new adventure.

Also sitting at the table was May, a girl that Ash had met in Hoenn. Her brown hair was tucked under a red bandana, which matched the color of her shirt and skirt. At the moment, she was glaring at her younger brother Max with her bright blue eyes. Max, who has black hair and wore glasses, was also glaring at his sister. He wore a green shirt and brown pants. He had apparently spilled something on his shirt, which was the reason why the two were arguing.

(AN: Yes, yes, I know my descriptions sound horrible, so bear with me)

"Sheesh, can't even pay attention when your eating...", she whispered quietly.

"Shut up May!", he whispered back.

Sitting on the floor nearby, happily eating out of a bowl of Poke'chow that was cooked by Brock, was Ash's faithful pokemon Pikachu. It looked up from its bowl at May and Max for a second as it started shaking its head in a disproving manner. Apparently it was quite common for May and Max to argue all the time. Pikachu caught Ash's eye for a second to which they both laughed to themselves.

In a way, Pikachu knew they were going to miss the two of them and their constant bickering. In a few days, May and Max were leaving to go back to Hoenn. It would just be him, Pika-pi, and Pikachu-chu, which were the nicknames he gave to the two frequent humans he traveled with. Ash was his Pika-pi of course and Pikachu-chu was Brock. He didn't really have any nicknames for May and Max, and he just guessed it was because he had been with Ash and Brock longer.

After May and Max had finished their arguement, Mrs. Ketchum turned to the group.

"So, what other battles have you been doing? Which one was your hardest?"

Ash pondered on that for a moment. There were plenty of tough trainers during Battle Frontier, especially the frontier brains. There was Anabel, who could communicate to her pokemon telepathically, Noland, who had used the power of Articuno...

"Personally, I think the toughest was Brandon.", Max suddenly spoke up.

Brandon. Ah yes, the one with the Regirock, Regice, and Registeel.

Ash blinked for a moment before smiling. "Oh yeah. He definately is a tough battler since he has those rare pokemon."

"It was even harder since you had to battle him twice, after that whole pyramid fiasco and that evil king and all...", Max said.

Yes, it was bad that I of all people lost...against a pathetic mortal such as him...

Brock looked sideways at Ash and noticed how Ash went quiet. Ash was concentrating hard on the empty plate in front of him, as if blocking out Max.

"...It probably wouldn't of happened if you hadn't let curiosity get the better of you...", May added to Max's statement.

Ash suddenly stood up. "I'm suddenly full. I'm gonna go head on over to Professor Oak's lab. I'll wait up on you guys.", he said as he walked off without looking at any of them. Pikachu quickly dashed over and joined his Pika-pi as he was leaving.

May looked hurt now. "...Something I said?"

"I guess Ash still feels guilty about that.", Brock said quietly.

Mrs. Ketchum, who had no idea what they had been talking about a moment ago, turned to Brock. "What's going on? What happened?"

If anyone was going to tell her, it might as well have been Brock.

"Well..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

...How long has it been since I was awakened from my tomb?

Days? Weeks? Months? Years perhaps?

I can say that I do have to give thanks to the stupid mortal who released me from my prison and practically gave me his body to control.

The one they call "Ash"

If it hadn't been for that damn Brandon, I wouldn't of been stuck here in this half-life. Stuck here in "the brat's" self-conciousness and depths of his mind, only able to see and hear what goes on in the outside world.

In a way, this is also the brat's fault. Trying to fight against me, having weak worthless pokemon, and then having that blasted Pikachu shock me!

Yes...this is more the brat's fault than it is Brandons.

They were foolish to believe that I was gone for good.

I may have lost, but that doesn't mean that I'm out.

No...

They haven't seen nothing yet...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And so in the end, Ash got Pikachu to shock him to get the spirit to leave his body so that it could be captured.", Brock concluded. He had just finished telling Mrs. Ketchum about the whole ordeal with the spirit of the evil king of a lost civilization called "Pokelantis"

She was nearly in tears though at the end.

"My poor son...", she sobbed.

"Hey, the important thing is that it's gone now and it's never going to bother us again...", May said quietly.

"I suppose your right. I just hope Ash is ok. He seems to be taking it pretty hard."

"That's because he doesn't remember much of it and he feels kinda ashamed of himself for letting that happen.", Max pointed out.

"But people make mistakes. Ash isn't exempt from that.", May said.

"We probably shouldn't talk about it until Ash is ready and wants too.", Brock said.

"...I hope that he's ok...", May sighed as she turned to the door that Ash had left through. It made her feel really upset that her friend was suffering and that she couldn't do anything to help him at the moment.

"Ash...it's not your fault...I wish you wouldn't beat yourself up about it..."

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Two.:.

The dirt road to Professor Oak's felt like it was lasting forever. No matter how long Ash walked, it felt like the research lab was just getting farther and farther away. Pikachu quietly walked along next to Ash, occassionally looking up at him with a sad expression. Ash smiled a little when he caught Pikachu's eyes.

"I'm fine Pikachu, really, I am..."

Pikachu seemed to shake its head, showing how it knew that everything was not fine. Pikachu himself was still a little shocked about the whole incident. He in fact had been in the room when Ash had picked up the old pokeball made of stone and opened it. He watched with fear as the dark smoke coming out of the pokeball seemed to go inside of Ash.

And the way he then started talking about destruction and ruling the world. He knew right away that it wasn't his Pika-pi, but it still scared him all the same. Pikachu had been scared that something had happened to Ash and that Ash might be lost forever. But as he watched "Ash" battle against that Brandon trainer, he had noticed how Ash's battle personality had started to seep through and it had filled Pikachu with a small glimmer of hope that Ash would break through it. Except for the parts where he had used some underhand tactics, like shielding his pokemon behind the referee and doing something to Regirocks legs so that it could barely move(AN: Never quite understood what happened there...), Pikachu felt that Ash was also battling against Brandon, but only as if it was just any other battle and not a battle over his own soul.

Pikachu watched "Ash" lose the battle against Brandon's Regirock and Ash's Sceptile. But then when he turned to Pikachu and demanded that Pikachu should battle against Regirock, Pikachu had started shaking like a leaf. He couldn't disobey his Pika-pi...

But then when he looked up into the eyes of his trainer, instead of seeing Ash's warm eyes burning with firey determination, Pikachu saw instead cold gray eyes filled with malice and evil, enough to send more shivers down Pikachu's little spine.

Those eyes...

They weren't human...

And they most certainly weren't his Pika-pi's eyes...

Right there was when Ash had gained control. The cold eyes, for a mere split second, were replaced with Ash's eyes.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock on me!"

Pikachu nodded as it's cheeks crackled with electricity. He had exploded with energy and watched as it connected to Ash. He couldn't help but smile when a dark cloud started to exit Ash's body and go back into the stone pokeball.

Ash seemed normal since the evil spirit was gone. He had thanked Pikachu and his friends for helping him out. Pikachu was just glad that it was all over.

Or at least...Pikachu wanted to believe that.

Ever since that battle, Pikachu had been having the weirdest senses. Pokemon could sense things humans couldn't, and Pikachu was definitely sensing something out of the ordinary. And it seemed to have been coming from Ash. He tried to convince himself that it was nothing to worry about, but his Poke senses said otherwise.

"Pikachu..."

Pikachu snapped around to see that Ash was addressing him.

"About what happened...I guess it's still not one of my pleasant adventures. All I remember is opening that pokeball, and then almost nothing except when I told you to shock me. I do remember parts where I seemed to be floating somewhere in conciousness, half of it watching that battle with Regirock and Sceptile, thinking I was just battling like any other battle, while the other parts..."

Ash seemed to leave that sentence hanging for a moment, and Pikachu decided not to touch on it.

"Anyway, when it was during the parts where I was battling, I mostly felt ashamed that I would resort to putting someone else's life in danger just to win a battle. Even though I now know that it was some psycho king, it feels like I may of had something to do with it too."

It almost felt like...I enjoyed it...

Pikachu nodded. Ash smiled. "Thanks for understanding Pikachu. Your the best."

Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's shoulder. "Pi-pikachu!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The brat's Pikachu confuses me.

It looks like an ordinary Pikachu

And yet it's not.

It seems to sense things that most other Pokemon can not. From the way he keeps side glancing at me and the brat, I think he might be on to me.

Nah, Pikachu's aren't that smart...it could never have any idea that I would still be alive.

I can tell right away that the brat and his Pikachu share a very strong bond, based on the way those two act and from the memories I pried through in my spare time.

Yes...they have a very strong tie of friendship...

...Phh, screw friendship.

Friendship is for the weak.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thanks for the meal Mrs. Ketchum.", May said politely as they stacked the plates up to put in the sink.

"It's no trouble at all.", she smiled, although the smile seemed to be forced.

"Come on, we better catch up with Ash.", Max said as they started heading out. Everyone seemed to involuntarily twitch. As they walked the dirt road to the lab, May sighed as she put her hands in her pockets, looking up at the sky. Over the past couple of weeks, she too had noticed a small change in Ash. He wasn't as reckless as he was before and was more cautious about the things he did. Sure, those were good qualities to have, but those weren't Ash's qualities. His recklessness was what made him Ash.

Max was quietly whistling to himself. May watched him for a moment, noticing that Max didn't seem all too fazed by the whole thing. Then again, Max was just a kid. Sure, he could probably name every pokemon in correct numerical order(AN: I can -smirks-), but when it came to matters like this, he didn't have any clue as to what to think. May turned to look at Brock, who was staring straight ahead. It was always difficult to tell what Brock was thinking, he was just naturally seclusive that way. May could tell that he was probably thinking about Ash. Brock had known Ash longer than she and Max had and therefore knew him best.

And what did she think about this? She wasn't sure, seeing as how they never really touched upon this. She at first didn't think it was anything huge. But now that just showed how little she knew about Ash. May felt a little sad about that. May liked Ash and wanted to be there as someone that he could talk to. And if he was suffering on the inside, she had no clue about it.

Ash...why wouldn't you tell me that you were hurting on the inside? Aren't I here for you?

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Three.:.

Originally, May had been planning to leave Ash and Brock to travel on her own, to the Johto region so that she could participate in contests. Since Ash had been to the Johto region already and probably wouldn't want to go, May had figured that he wouldn't think too much into it. So May was definately surprised when Ash had pulled her to the side after announcing her idea of departing.

"Wait May, you don't have to leave just yet, do ya?"

"I guess not..."

"Listen, why don't you first come back to Pallet Town first? That way we can hang out just a little bit longer before you leave."

May had blinked back in surprise. Ash wanted to stay with her as long as he could? A dull blush had risen up on her cheeks.

"Sure, there wouldn't be any harm in that. The first contest doesn't start for a month or two...", she had started to say, but then Ash had cut her off.

"Thanks May, I owe you one! I'll go tell Brock and Max."

What had surprised her most was that Ash had given her a quick hug before going off to tell Brock the change of plans. May had stood rooted to the spot.

Did Ash just...hug me?

Now, here in the present time, she had to admit that something about Ash had been a little off. He sometimes found the weirdest excuses to be in the same room with her, going with her wherever she went, and talking to her a lot more than he usually did. May guessed that he was just wanting to spend as much time as possible before she left, then she might become nothing more than a memory.

No...that couldn't be it.

I am so confused...

Brock too had also noticed a slight change in Ash's behavior, especially with how he started hanging out with May more than he used to. Sometimes he'd catch one of them staring at the other and quickly looking away before the other noticed.

Right then and there, on the road to the Oak laboratory, he put two and two together...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I happen to notice how the brat keeps staring at the brunette girl.

He keeps wanting to be with her as much as possible before she goes away...

Hmm...

-chuckle-

It seems that my host, the brat, is unsure of how he really feels...

That's so sweet...

...that if I could throw up, I would...

When I break free, I'll make sure that no one care for anyone again...

And I may have some fun with that girl of his just for the hell of it...

...It might happen even sooner, as it feels like I'm slowly gaining some of my power back...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey there Ash, what's up?", Tracey greeted. Ash was now inside the lab where he had been led in by Tracey Sketchit(AN: I know, weird last name...)

"Nothing much. You?"

"The same as usual. Oh, but there is one thing...", Tracey said, a small blush creeping up on his face.

"What?"

"You know how May left her Bulbasaur here?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, your Bulbasaur and her Bulbasaur have been hanging around for quite sometime, and we kinda know that they are both somewhat in love..."

"Yeah?", Ash asked as an odd feeling crept into his stomach.

"Oak has predicted that the Bulbasaur mating season is upon us..."

Ash got the gist of it right there and then...

"Your kidding..."

"'Fraid not. Since they are both somewhat young, we've been watching them carefully just to make sure that they don't actually do anything, but Oak wants me to warn you that anything could happen...", Tracey said with a jerk of his head towards the window. Ash looked past him and saw his Bulbasaur and May's Bulbasaur napping in a field of flowers, snuggling up together.

Wow, they look so happy together...and in love...

Ha, funny, my Bulbasaur and May's Bulbasaur in love...

Like...

No wait, it's not quite like that...I think...

"Hey Ash, we made it!", called a familiar cheery voice from behind him. Ash quickly turned to see May and the others approaching behind him. Ash wondered what May would think about their Bulbasaurs being a couple...possibly parents...

Pikachu greeted the others before looking up at Ash, who was keeping his eyes on May.

"So Ash, feeling better?", Brock asked.

"Yeah, great...", he said somewhat dismissingly. "So, May, Tracey just told me that..."

Suddenly, there was a huge ripping sound against the lab. It sounded like the wind outside was trying to rip the place to peices. Max suddenly pointed outside.

"Look at the Pokemon!"

The pokemon, including the two Bulbasaurs, were being sucked into the air. Ash pushed the door open and ran outside and was unsurprised when three familiar voices broke out.

"To protect the world from devastation!", Jessie said as she started their motto.

"To unite all peoples within our nations...", James continued.

"Cut the motto for now you chumps, we've got poke'napping ta do.", cut off their wise talking Meowth. A huge hose-like vacuum was sticking out of the bottom and sucking the pokemon up into it and into a box attached to the vacuum. Ash could hear the Pokemon struggle around in the box and try to break through.

"Give us back our Pokemon!, Ash shouted at them.

"Sorry twerp, but these are our Pokemon now...", Jessie sneered.

"You snooze you lose twerp. And don't bother, we used all of our savings to get a box that is unaffected by ANY pokemon attacks!", James added as well as the two laughed. Ash stared at the ground.

If anything happened to his Pokemon...

If anything happened to May's Bulbasaur...

A change seemed to overcome Ash as he stared up at the balloon. His eyes looked like a cold gray color.

"You know, I always found that 'twerp' insult to be a nusiance.", he said coldly, an evil smirk on his face. He pointed at the balloon.

"Pikachu, use Thunder!"

"But Ash, that's a bit much, isn't it? And it might hurt the other Pokemon...", Brock asked him, who didn't seem to notice the change, but Ash ignored him.

"Just do it Pikachu! Use Thunder!"

Pikachu looked uncomfortable, but he none the less jumped into the air and let loose a huge wave of electricity from the sky straight at the balloon. The balloon crackled with electricity as Team Rocket's screams peirced the air. Ash narrowed his eyes and looked quite happy at seeing them in so much pain, even enjoying it slightly. The balloon exploded and deteched the box from the balloon. It was lucky that it wasn't that far from the ground, so when it landed, it merely shook up the Pokemon inside.

"I can't believe the twerp would use his Pikachu like that!", Jessie screached.

"Oh well, I guess it was to be expected.", James said, who was the more optomistic of the two. Meowth didn't say anything at all and kept his eyes on Ash.

Something's not right about this...

"We're blasting off again!", the trio(minus Meowth) said as they disappered. Brock and Max went over to the box to free the Pokemon trapped inside while May walked over to Ash.

"You did it Ash...Ash?"

Ash remained silent as he turned to give May a cold glare with his empty gray eyes.

"...A-Ash? Are you ok? Your creeping me out..."

Ash blinked for a moment, causing his gray eyes to turn to brown. "Did you say something May?", he asked.

"I was asking you if you were ok..."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uhh...it's nothing.", May said after a moment. Ash shrugged it off. "Well, I'm glad that your ok then..."

"Uhh, thanks."

Ash turned to see the box being opened and the Pokemon quickly running out. Pikachu "chuued" very quietly, feeling very worried. Ash closed his eyes for a moment.

I wish I was ok May...but something happened back there...

May...what did I do?

 

[Every Heart]

AN: I know now that Pikachu has used Thunder on Team Rocket before, but I didn't know that before writing the previous chapter.

.:.Four.:.

But I was in control

I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to take over the brat during his fight with those Team Rocket clowns

It felt so good to have a body again, even if it was the brat...

Watching the brat's Pikachu shock those goons gave me such joy, something I haven't felt in quite a while.

I love seeing others in pain...

...Hey, I guess there is something I love

Pain...

But when that girl came over...

The brat managed to take MY control back...

It seems that the girl has some influence over my being able to control the brat...

It's a good thing that neither of them have any idea that it was me...

But I will have to be careful in the future...

But I want control now, complete control this time...

I better take this window of oppertunity before it slips past me again...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Pokemon were not harmed, only with a few scratches and bumps. Brock and Max took to bandaging the Pokemon while Tracey told May the news about the Bulbasaurs. She squealed with delightment.

"That is so sweet!"

Ash was sitting on a couch with Pikachu in his lap. Pikachu and Ash shared a special connection to where that Ash knew what Pikachu was saying, even in it's Poke' language. Pikachu was quietly telling Ash about what had happened.

"I...said that?", he whispered to Pikachu, who nodded.

"I hate them as much as the next guy, but I wouldn't use Thunder on them..."

May came over and sat down next to him. "So Ash..."

Ash gulped. Was she going to confront him about what had happened? He had noticed how ever since the whole Team Rocket incident, she kept side-glancing at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Ash braced himself, waiting for May to bombarde him with questions about it, but how was he suppossed to answer her honestly when he himself didn't remember all the details?

"...What do you think about the Bulbasaurs being a couple?"

Ash stopped himself from face-faulting; he had not expected that.

"I think it's great, really great...", he said distractedly. He didn't really have his mind on the Bulbasaurs at the moment.

"Yeah, me too.", she agreed. Ash could tell that from her tone of voice, she too didn't really have the Bulbasaurs on her mind either.

Ash knew that they were both beating around the berry bush on this matter. Heck, he was surprised that Brock of all people didn't jump his case about this, but then he assumed that Brock thought that Ash really hated Team Rocket that much. True, he did hate how Team Rocket tried to steal his Pokemon every other day, but then again he might have actually missed them if they had given up on stealing Pikachu.

"Ash..."

"Yeah May?"

"...Have you been feeling alright?", she finally blurted out.

"What do you mean?", Ash asked. Of course he knew what she meant, she was talking about the incident.

"You've been acting rather odd lately. Especially around me. This morning you got upset with us about mentioning the evil ki...I mean, that thing that happened with Brandon, and then there was that whole thing with Team Rocket. I've never seen you act that...cold to anybody, not even Team Rocket, and that kinda scared me...", she said quietly, and yet somewhat rushed incase Ash got on the defensive.

"I'm not sure, I don't really remember much of what happened.", Ash muttered.

"Nothing at all?"

"Not everything anyway, just bits and peices. Only Team Rocket kidnapping the Pokemon and then you standing in front of me."

"I see..."

"Umm...May?"

"Yeah Ash?"

"I'm...sorry"

"For what?", she asked, wondering what on earth Ash was apologizing for. If anyone was going to apologize, she thought it would be her for intruding upon his business and privacy.

"I guess for acting weird. I'm not sure what's gotten into me lately, but I promise you that it isn't serious.", Ash said confidently, now looking at her full in the face. She looked the same as ever, except for her eyes, which he saw were deeply filled with concern.

"You promise?", she asked. May noted how his eyes were filled with warmth and not the cold gray that she had seen earlier.

"I promise. You've got nothing to worry about.", Ash smiled as he reached over and took her hand that was sitting on the couch. This gesture caught both of them off guard.

Why am I grabbing May's hand?

Why is Ash grabbing my hand?

Those thoughts were running through their mind as Ash quickly retracted his hand away from hers, both of them blushing profusely. Pikachu seemed to be smiling a secretive smile, as it had realized that the two trainers had completely forgotten about the electric rodent.

"Sorry, I don't know what got into me.", Ash blushed.

"Don't sweat it.", May quickly said as her face was the same crimson color as Ash's.

"Am I intruding on something?"

Ash and May quickly looked around to notice Max watching them. May immediately rounded on him.

"How long have you been standing there!?", she sputtered.

"I came in around 'I'm sorry'. It wasn't like I was interrupting a moment, was I?", Max asked. Ash quickly shook his hands in front of him.

"Of course not!"

"Nothing happened!", May also added.

"If you say so...", Max said skeptically. He knew something had happened, but he wasn't sure why the two of them were acting so defensive.

"So, where's Brock?", Ash asked, hoping to change the subject.

"He's with Tracey in the kitchen. He decided to make us some lunch. But don't change the subject, what's going on in here?", Max asked as he gave his older sister a hard glare.

"There is nothing going on in here!", May snapped at him. Ash chose wisely not to comment.

"Oh really? Well, judging from your red faces and that smirk on Pikachu's, I'm pretty sure something was happening in here.", Max said smugly as he pointed over at Pikachu. The two trainers turned to see that Max had indeed been right about Pikachu smirking at them the whole time.

"What are you looking at?", May said hotly, which seemed to make Pikachu laugh a little. He turned to see what his Pika-Pi would have to say.

"Pikachu...", Ash started to say, but then, quite suddenly, he felt a sharp pain cut across his mind. He put a hand up to his head and groaned a little in pain.

"Ash?", May asked, looking concerned again rather than angry at a certain mouse and kid.

"I-it's nothing. J-just a headache.", Ash muttered.

"Are you sure? Maybe you should lie down."

"Don't worry, everything's fi-", Ash had started saying with a wave of his hand, but then another wave of pain hit him like a ton of bricks. He put both hands up to his head and couldn't help the small gasps of pain that we're coming from him.

"Ash!?"

Ash couldn't answer anymore as wave upon wave of pain kept shooting into his brain. Now it was getting hard to see and he flopped over onto the couch, exhausted and hurt. He could see Pikachu standing over him and May was gently shaking him.

"Ash, say something!"

He really wished she would stop shaking him, but he couldn't even say anything, let alone those few gasps. He closed his eyes and welcomed the unconciousness to slowly take his mind off this sudden pain.

"Max, go get Brock, Ash fainted!"

Max nodded as he ran out of the room to go get Brock. Pikachu was beside itself with worry.

"Pika-Pi!", it called out, but Ash didn't wake up. He was about to give him a small shock, but May put a hand over Ash.

"Don't Pikachu, I don't think that it's going to help."

Pikachu nodded solemly as he waited for Brock to come and help.

Meanwhile, Ash felt himself floating in some space of conciousness. It looked vaguely familiar with it's swirling black, red, and purple colors. After letting his eyes adjust to it, he looked around and saw that it was devoid of anything.

"Hello?", he called out. Then he shook himself. That was stupid, there was no one here.

Calm down Ash, your just really stressed, there's nothing wrong...I hope...

Not only did Ash here those thoughts in his head, he also heard them reverberate around the space. Just as Ash thought he had his guard down, he heard a voice behind him.

"Hello yourself, Ash Ketchum."

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Five.:.

"Brandon, I think you need to come see this."

Brandon opened his eyes as he looked over to one of the referees of the Battle Pyramid. Brandon had been sitting in quiet thought on the bleachers of the stadium after beating some rookie trainer. Lately, it felt like there was something wrong, something in the air that sensed a great danger.

"What is it now? Has another trainer come?", he asked, although this was highly unlikely judging from the look on the referee's face.

"Remember that stone pokeball that you took after your first battle with the Ketchum kid?"

Ah yes, how could he forget? That was one of his most memorable matches. The foolish kid and his dumb friends had been wandering around some ruins and the kid had the gull to open the ancient stone pokeball that had been the king of a great nation that was now under the ocean somewhere. But Brandon had sealed it back inside, so he didn't see why this guy was suddenly bringing it up now.

"What about it?", he asked. "I have it under lock and key in my office."

Brandon himself had taken steps to make sure that something like that never happened again by locking it inside of a glass case in his office.

"I was walking by your office sir, and I noticed something very strange about it. It was glowing and pulsating...", the referee said, but Brandon had bolted out of his seat and started running to his office. Experience taught him that when something was glowing or pulsating, that it was usually never a good sign. He skidded to a stop outside his office and thrust the door open. The room looked normal, except for the stone pokeball in the glass case. It was glowing a dark black and blue and was wobbling side to side. Brandon recognized it as the aura of the king; what was he trying to do, escape?

Brandon opened the case and took it out. The minute he had though, a large crack suddenly formed down the center of it. The pokeball snapped cleanly in two and the glowing aura traveled upwards into the air until it disappered. He stood there, unmoving as he stared at the broken pokeball in his hand. The referee walked over to him.

"What does this mean sir?", he asked.

Brandon didn't look at him as he walked over to a window to look out at the ocean from the town that they were staying at.

"The end of the world."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ash spun around as he searched for the source of the voice. He laid eyes upon someone's shadow nearby.

"Who are you?", he asked. The person chuckled.

"Don't tell me that you forgot me, that hurts my feelings. Well...it would if I had feelings...", the figure spoke in a cold voice that sent shivers down Ash's spine, "But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, you were after all...indisposed at the time."

The figure stepped out from their shadowy hideout of Ash's mind to reveal...Ash.

Except...not quite Ash. Instead of Ash's normal warm amber eyes, instead they were cold and dark, like as if the owner of the terrible eyes didn't have a soul. His eyes were narrowed, the pupils of his eyes seeming to be small as if to give him a wild angry look. His hair seemed to spike up in ways Ash could never get his own hair to spike up in, and there was a slight black and blue aura surrounding him. At the moment, this Ash was smirking at him.

"W-what?", Ash stuttered. The other Ash laughed a low, cold laugh.

"Still haven't caught on yet, brat?", it asked mockingly. It's voice sounded like Ash's except that it had a dark edge to it. "Don't you recognize me from your nightmares?"

"Who are you calling brat? And why do you look like me?", Ash asked angerly at the other Ash.

"I guess your having trouble remembering me, so let me give you a reminder.", it said, instead of answering Ash's questions. It cleared it's throat as it then said,

"First, you'll all bow before me and then you give me every Pokemon you have in your possession. And this time, I shall conquer your world without fail!"

Ash cursed his memory for deciding not to tell it directly who it was, just that it was someone evil from his past...yet, it sounded like the voice that sometimes haunted his dreams. The other Ash was no longer smirking. It then, in a voice remarkably similar to Ash, but still containing it's voice of malice, said,

"Alright Pikachu, I choose you!"

Ash's eyes widened as he remembered it now.

"Your that guy...the one that took over my body and battled Brandon!"

"Finally figured it out brat? I knew you were slow, but not that slow.", it said disgustedly at the thought of sharing the mind of an imbecile. It then put on it's evil smirk.

"Yes, I am the king of Poke'lantis, the spirit from my stone prison that you ever so grately freed me from to become a part of this world, ready to conquer it and take whatever the world can offer.", it said as it spread it's arms wide.

"But I got rid of you and Brandon sealed you back inside of that stone pokeball, how can you still be alive?", Ash asked, feeling more confused that ever.

"I'm not technically alive, nor will I ever will be.", the king spoke sharply. "I am merely a spirit of a dead king that is forced to linger in the world of the living. But to answer your question, Brandon didn't seal me away. He only sealed away most of my power, but I will soon have that back as well."

The king turned away from Ash as if to exaimine the confines of Ash's mind. "After that battle, I was forced into the back of your mind, suppossedly doomed to wander your memories.", he spoke more to himself than to Ash. He suddenly turned to give Ash a look.

"Tell me, who was the redhead that used to travel with you?", he asked, which made Ash's face grow hot.

"That's none of your business.", he muttered as memories of his old friend Misty swam into the forefront of his mind.

"You were in love with that girl...but then she broke your heart by leaving to go back home..."

"Your wrong. She had to go back to watch the gym while her sisters were away.", Ash said quickly, a hollow feeling building into the pit of his stomach.

"Is that so? Well, based on things I've seen and heard, her sisters came back, so why didn't she come back to you then? She either forgot all about you or figured that you weren't worth her time...", the king started to say, but then Ash snapped at him.

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!", he shouted at the spirit. A red flash went off behind them, which seemed to make the king laugh.

"Oh, but I do know all about you Ash, I've been here long enough to know the names of every single person you've met on your journeys and the Pokemon you've come across. The battles with gym leaders and your rivals like Gary and Richie."

Ash looked away for a moment before turning to the other Ash.

"Why do you look like me?"

The smirk disappered off the king's face as it turned into an angry scowl. "Trust me, I didn't choose to have your body. I no longer have an actual body, which is why I look like you. In my weakened state, I have to be attached to a body of someone with a weak enough will for me to inabit and control.", he said, which made Ash interrupt him.

"I am not weak!", he said as another red flash went off around them, which pleased the king.

"You must be if I have been able to survive here. If you have such a strong will, tell me, why was I able to control you during that fight with those people you call Team Rocket?", he asked. Ash's jaw dropped.

"That was you?", he asked. The king smiled again.

"Yes, for one breif second, it felt like I had my own body again, even if it was for a short time. And I think I enjoyed it so much, that I'll do so again..."

"Over my dead body.", Ash muttered.

"Like you have a choice in the matter. Tell me, what do you think would happen if something happened to one of your friends? To the tall boy, the short one, the Pikachu, or perhaps...", his eyes glinted dangerously.

"...The brunette girl you seem to be so fondly attached to.", he said, and the minute the words were out of his mouth, Ash had grabbed the other Ash's by the front of the other's shirt.

"I swear to Ho-oh that if you touch one hair on May's head...", he snarled, which caused a red flash so intense that he nearly let go of the king. The king didn't even semed fazed.

"So that's her name, May. Lovely name, maybe I should take her for my own...", he said. Ash closed his hands around the king's throat.

"You better stay away from May or else!"

"You must obviously love this May girl more than Misty in order for you to be this angry with me.", the king said, which made Ash start squeezing the king's neck, hoping to strangle this persistent demon. A red flash burned through his eyes and forced him to let go of the king, blinding him in pain as Ash crumbled to the ground. The other Ash massaged his neck.

"Honestly Ash, you must control your temper, you wouldn't want it to get the best of you...", the spirit laughed. "These red flashes that you've obviously noticed. You see, whenever you seem to become blinded by anger, pain, sadness, or fear, I get strong enough to take over your body, until eventually I will have complete control over your body and there will no longer be an 'Ash', only me as king and you as nothing more than a memory."

The king walked over to Ash, who was laying on the ground. He lifted a foot up and delivered a sharp kick to Ash's stomach, which made Ash cry out in pain. The spirit frowned as he reached down and grabbed Ash's collar.

"I've got big plans in store for this world of ours, and your going to do what I tell you to like it or not, understand?", he asked him as he looked into Ash's amber eyes. Ash coughed.

"Screw you.", he spat. The king used his other hand to punch Ash in the gut. It was easy to tell that he was getting serious now. Ash doubled over in pain, wheezing slightly. How in the world was he able to feel pain if he and this other guy were in his own mind while his real body was unconcious?

"Don't you even try to resist me, you got that brat? Don't even tell your friends what's going on; they may have been able to break through the first time, but it won't happen again. Otherwise that May girl will be in an 'accident' and I'll make sure she knows that it was your fault that it happened.", the king threatened as he shook Ash slightly to make sure he was still concious in the realm of the mind.

"Don't...don't hurt them...don't hurt May...", he coughed. The king smirked.

"Glad to see that we're on the same page.", the spirit said as it coiled it's fist back and punched Ash hard in the face. The king lazily tossed Ash onto the ground in front of him. Ash felt the edges of his mind closing in on him. Before he blacked out, he saw the other Ash standing over him, laughing at him.

"Pleasure doing business with you. I will keep in touch.", he laughed as Ash's world started to fade away.

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Six.:.

"I can't believe the twerp got us again!"

James and Meowth immediately tuned Jessie out as she started on what they both called, "her brat rants". It was too bad that they had such a stubborn member on their team like Jessie. Otherwise they would of given up of trailing after Ash by now, and maybe have pulled some sucessful traps to rise up the ranks, instead of getting blasted by his Pikachu daily and being so poor that breakfast, lunch, and dinner was a packet of crackers. They were nothing but laughing stocks of Team Rocket.

Then again, her inspirational speechs of "today might be the day" seemed to help motivate them.

"And then his has the nerve to get his Pikachu to Thunder us! Who does he think he is? Next time, we go for a giant-", Jessie continued in her rant, unaware of the fact that her two team mates weren't listening.

"Psst, James."

"Yeah Meowth?"

"Did you notice something off about that twerp?"

"You mean besides his horrible fashion sense? I still think that the outfit he wore when we first met him was more stylish..."

Meowth thumped James hard in the back of the head. "I'm not talking about his clothes, you nimrod!"

"Then what?", James asked as he rubbed the back of his head.

"And another thing, when we finally steal his Pikachu, I'm going to rub it his face so bad that-"

"Did you notice that creepy look in his eyes when he ordered his Pikachu to Thunder us?", Meowth asked, ignoring Jessie, whose face was growing red.

"I kinda did, but I just figured that it was lack of sleep with dealing with us daily."

"Well, theres something not right about this. Even the twerp wouldn't Thunder us over a small theft attempt. He only did it once when Pikachu got sick because of us.(AN: Kinda made that up, I don't know if it actually happened) And the fact that his eyes were a different color was really off..."

"I guess so. But what should we do about it?"

"I don't know James. I guess it's something to look out for next time.", Meowth shrugged.

"Ok. Well, I'm famished, as usual, so let's eat.", James said as he pulled out the packet of crackers. As he handed one to Meowth, he suddenly spoke up.

"I still think that he has horrible taste in style."

"James!", Meowth muttered before hitting him in the back of the head again.

"-So tommorow we strike him down, and this time we will have Pikachu in our grasps...ARE YOU TWO EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Ash?"

Ash opened his eyes to find that he was staring at the ceiling above him. The fan attached to the ceiling was spinning slowly and giving off a cool gentle breeze. If he wasn't mistaken, he was laying on the bed in his own room. His hat and jacket were laying on the end of the bed with him on top of his covers, a thin blanket on top of him.

"Your awake!"

May's face came into veiw over him, her eyes looking somewhat misty. Had she been crying or something? He wanted to ask, but then felt that it wasn't his business at the moment.

"May...", he whispered.

"Thank Ho-oh that your ok. You scared us half to death!", she said as she shook his shoulders a little in frustration.

"I'm sorry May..."

"...You don't have to be sorry. Your mom and Brock says that you probably caught the flu or something; you were burning up. That might explain how weird you've been acting.", May explained. Ash's hand trailed up to his forehead, where someone, probably May, had placed a wet washcloth. She placed a hand over his, which made Ash start blushing. For the love of Mew, why did he always start blushing like that whenever he felt her smooth hands?

"How do you feel?", she asked.

Ash was about to respond, but then the events of why he had fallen unconcious came back to him. That spirit that looked like him. Ash remembered how the king had threatened the welfare of May and his friends if Ash didn't help him with whatever plans this king had.

Ash didn't feel fine.

He felt guilty.

"Ash?"

"I'm fine May. Really. Thanks for looking out for me...I guess.", Ash's mouth said while his head was struggling with itself for wanting to tell the truth.

They can't get involved in this.

Especially not May.

"No problem. That's what friends do.", May smiled.

"So where is everyone else?"

"Your mom is picking herbs with Pikachu, Max is reading a medical dictionary(although I don't think that it's neccissary, but knowing Max...), and Brock is making some kind of stew to help you get better.", May explained. A lump was starting to build in Ash's throat.

"You guys didn't have to do that. I think I'm just tired. Seriously.", he added as May started to interject.

Yeah...maybe I'm just tired...

Then maybe...maybe that thing with the king was also just a dream!

A small glimmer of hope seemed to bloom in Ash. But just as this hope started to spread through him, a sharp pain slammed across his stomach and face. Ash held a hand to his face, in the same spot where the king had punched him. Like as if the king was quickly reminding him of what really happened.

Then...it really wasn't just a dream...it really happened...

The small flower of hope that had bloomed had quickly wilted away. May placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ash?"

What caught her off guard was the way that Ash had suddenly shoved her hand off his shoulder quite roughly. For one split second, his eyes had been that cold gray she remembered seeing outside at the lab. But then they were brown again, as if nothing had happened. Ash blinked and noticed May was retracting her hand away as if someone had twisted it.

"Sorry...I just kinda feel sore there.", he lied.

"...Right.", May said, her eyes searching Ash's face. Where did those cold eyes go? She knew that she had seen them, even if it was only for a second.

Ash started to sit up, removing the washcloth from his forehead. May started to put a hand toward him.

"Wait Ash, I don't think you should be getting up yet..."

"I'm ok May. Besides, I'm kinda hungry. I want to go see if Brock has that stew done yet.", he said as he swung his legs over the side. He placed the washcloth in her outstretched hand and started heading to the door. He put a hand on it and suddenly turned to May.

"...Have you stayed in here the whole time? Watching me?"

It was May's turn to blush. "I just wanted to make sure that someone was here for you when you woke up."

It was true. Ash had been out of it for a few hours and it had been almost nightfall, as she had observed from the sunset outside the window. He had been sweating badly, the fever climbing upward every couple of minutes. Sometimes he spoke while he was sleeping, but it was only a word or two. She even heard her own name sometimes. What kind of nightmare was Ash having anyway? Sometimes Pikachu would come in to watch, but then leave. Maybe he didn't like seeing his Pika-pi like this.

Ash smiled. "Thanks May. Your the bestest friend a guy could have."

May started blushing harder, looking at anything in the room except Ash.

"Ash, I..."

But when she looked up, Ash was gone. May looked down at the washcloth in her hand and squeezed it a little, causing her hand to drip water onto Ash's mattress.

Ash...

It might have been a good thing that May had looked away, otherwise she would of caught the sinister smirk that was stretched across Ash's face before he had left the room.

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Seven.:.

It was quiet. Too quiet for the spirit.

He glanced over at the form of his sleeping host. If you had been standing in the room, you wouldn't be able to see the apparition of the king that was leaning against the windowsill, as the pale moonlight streaming through the window seemed to refract off of him, making the king invisible. But if he stepped away from the window, you would think that he was a ghost from a nightmare.

Ironically, that's all he really was. Stripped down to nothing more than a ghost from a nightmare.

The king was staring outside at the full moon. Some of his power was slowly coming back to them from the broken stone Pokeball prison , one of them having been to have enough spirit energy to take on the form of an apparition. Only Ash could see and hear him. That would come in handy later.

As he stared at the moon, he thought about how much he perfered night to day. Day was too bright for him, especially with that sun that cast away all darkness. And night was a good time to think about things, especially about matters of the past.

He had proceded off to fight and capture Ho-oh. But Ho-oh was angered by his betrayel. After all, Ho-oh used to be a guardian over the city, until the king had gotten greedy and felt that he was powerful enough to conquer the gods.

"King of Poke'lantis, for your treachery, I will punish you by sealing you away and sinking your precious city into the sea! Your people will be punished as well, trapped beneath the sea for all eternity!", Ho-oh screeched as he furiously started to beat his huge golden wings. The king was blinded with a bright light as he felt the rumbling of the city beneath him from his point on the tallest cliff. He turned and faced his city as buildings started to crumble and walls of water poured in around him. As he felt himself being pulled by the wind, the last thing he had seen was someone with familiar brown hair running to him, calling his name, but as he reached a hand out to her, before she could grab his, her hand started turning to stone, and he saw no more...

Ever since that battle with Ho-oh, the legendary bird Pokemon centuries ago, the king had become somewhat wary of sunlight. A low growl escaped his throat.

This was all Ho-oh's fault! For imprisoning him in that Pokeball and causing his mighty empire to crumble before his very eyes. For reducing him to this mere half-existence!

The king smirked. Ho-oh had no idea that the king was still alive and was plotting his revenge. By the time Ho-oh figured it out, it would be too late for it to do anything to stop him.

The king turned to Ash's sleeping form. There was nothing this brat or his stupid friends would be able to do either.

A low laugh escaped him. It was time to put his plan into action.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ash slipped his jacket on and pulled his hat on. It was time to go.

He wasn't sure what had made him think that, but he had woken up, his stomach feeling like jello. It was either his weak stomach or that weird voice that had woken him up. A voice that was eeriely similar to the king.

No...it wasn't just a mere voice.

It had been a laugh. A scary laugh.

I got to leave now. Before that evil king does whatever he is planning.

Ash glanced over at Pikachu and Aipom, who were snuggling together on the foot of his bed. Aipom had been at Professor Oak's lab, after substaining a serious bite from Jessie's Seviper. Tracey had come by during dinner to drop Aipom off. Brock's health soup definately made Ash feel better, but not as much as he thought it would. Aipom and Pikachu happily lapped up the soup while Max picked out the tomatoes seperately.

May and Brock seemed to keep glancing over their soup bowels at Ash. Ash hadn't looked at either of them during the entire meal, even when answering their questions or enaging in conversation with them. He was afraid that all they would see would be the cold gray eyes of the king.

He grabbed his backpack off of a chair by a desk in his room. Pikachu and Aipom snoozed on from their spot on the foot of his bed. He gave them a quick look before closing his bedroom door behind him. "Goodbye guys...", he had whispered.

There was one person that he felt he had to say something to. He cautiously opened the guest room door. May was asleep, her long brown hair covering her eyes. Ash walked over to her side, staring down at her sleeping form.

"May...", he whispered, but then he closed his mouth. What was he going to say?

Sorry, I have to leave because theirs a crazy maniac in my head?

That sounded really stupid in his head, even for him.

"May...I'm sorry...but I can't stay here. I don't want you to get hurt...", he whispered after a moment. May slept on, which made Ash wonder if she heard him. He stretched a hand out towards her face. As he placed the back of his hand against her cheek, he noted how smooth her skin was.

Kinda like an angel, huh?

Ash covered his mouth to muffle his gasp from waking May up.

Dang, I need to get away from here, now!

May woke up. She sat up and looked around the now empty room. For a moment, she thought that she had felt Ash in the room. May placed her hand against her cheek where Ash had his a moment ago.

Hmm...I guess I'm imagining things...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ash hiked for sometime away from Pallet Town. Where he was going, he had no idea. In a way, it felt like as if this king spirit was pulling him along.

But as he started heading into some woods, he noticed a small campfire up ahead. Someone was already out here.

"Quit hogging the blanket James!"

"You used the only blanket yesterday Jessie!"

"Give it a rest you two, I'm trying to sleep!"

Ash stepped into the clearing to see James and Jessie playing tug of war over a small blanket. He stepped on a twig, which made Jessie and James snap their attention at him.

"The twerp!", they both hissed as they jumped to their feet.

"Hand over your Pikachu!", Jessie demanded.

Ash laughed in an unlike-Ash way. "I'm sorry, but I don't have Pikachu with me."

"Then give us the rest of your pokemon twerp!", James demanded as well. Ash looked up at the two of them, his eyes changed to the cold gray of the king.

"Didn't I tell you clowns not to call me that?", the king asked.

"Who are you calling clowns!?!", Jessie screeched. James didn't say anything as he stared at Ash's gray eyes, remembering about what Meowth had told him earlier.

"Obviously you with your ridiculous hair styles and fashion sense.", the king pointed out. Jessie cracked her knuckles.

"That's it, your going to pay for that twerp!", she hissed as she seemed to have lost all common sense and started running at Ash. James stayed behind, "Uhh Jess, I don't think that's a good idea."

In one swift motion, Ash had side-stepped her and grabbed her outstretched fist, turning it around behind her and holding her arms behind her back. "You should of listened to your friend.", he whispered.

"Wha-who are you? You can't be the twerp!"

The king ignored her and noticed the Meowth hot air balloon. "I'm taking your balloon, and your not going to stop me, got it?", he asked as he twisted Jessie's arms before pushing her at James and walking over to the hot air balloon. He climbed a leg over the basket rim and untied the rope from it's stake. The balloon started to drift off into the air above the trees and out into the night sky. Jessie and James watched their balloon getting smaller and smaller until it had disappered.

After a long moment, the two of them spoke.

"What's gotten into that kid?", James asked. "Meowth was right when he said something was up."

Jessie looked around. "Speaking of Meowth, where is he?"

Back up in the hot air balloon, Meowth was hiding himself behind one of the balloon's sandbags that carried some supplies they had. He had been about to jump in and help them but after hearing that twerp talk, he wisely chose to hide.

Too bad he had chosen the wrong place to hide.

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Eight.:.

Meowth didn't dare sleep at all during the night. He spent most of his time holding his breath, hoping Ash wouldn't hear him. Whatever was going on with Ash, Meowth wouldn't take the chance that Ash might throw him over the side of the balloon. He watched from his hiding spot how Ash had spent most of the time directing the balloon to go to god knows where, making Meowth wonder where Ash had even learned how to pilot a hot air balloon.

Eventually, sometime in the early morning, "Ash" had sat down in the basket, facing away from Meowth and had suppossedly fallen asleep. Meowth wondered if he should dare move and see if he could turn the balloon back to Pallet Town...but then again, since he had no idea where they were flying over, then that didn't seem like a wise idea.

Ash had not seemed to give any clue as to where he was heading, except for the occasional, "Almost there", which would be followed by a very creepy laugh.

"Dat's it. I need ta find out where I am anyways.", he said after a long moment when he was sure that it was safe to talk. He schooched out from behind the bags in the corner and stood up to peer over the side of the balloon.

He gulped when he saw water. Looking out over the horizon, he saw nothing but water everywhere. Great, now he was stuck in a balloon with a crazed Ash in the middle of the ocean. There was no chance of him surviving if Ash tossed him over the edge. He'd be dead before hitting the ocean bottom.

Why oh why hadn't I taken those swimming lessons?

He heard someone yawn behind him, no doubt that it would be Ash. The hairs on his back bristled as he turned to look.

Ash opened his eyes and found himself staring at the burner and pulleys of a hot air balloon. He blinked for a second, wondering where he had seen this particular balloon. A gust of wind rippled past, causing the familiar Meowth balloon to turn slightly and gave him a moment to see it.

What the...what am I doing in Team Rocket's balloon?

Ash nearly jumped up with a start, but lucky he hadn't and he might of fell out of the balloon. Ash stood up as slowly as possible, turning to peer over the edges of the balloon, which he was then greeted to seeing the ocean veiw that Meowth had been looking at a moment ago.

"Wha...What am I doing flying over the ocean?", he asked aloud. He lucky didn't even notice Meowth, who seemed to trek back to his hiding place. Ash sighed as he sank back down to the bottom of the balloon basket. Looking around, he noticed the bags that Meowth was hiding behind. A familiar red R was on them.

I guess I took Team Rocket's balloon...or more likely he did, since I can't remember. But why was Team Rocket even hanging around, and where am I anyway?

Be patient, you'll see soon enough, host.

Ash gasped aloud as he had heard this thought stray into his mind. Definately the voice of the king. Ash tucked his arms around his legs, resting his head on his arms.

Great, now I'm not even safe inside my own head. I don't have anyone here to help me out of this one since I left. Brock, Max, Aipom, Pikachu, May...

He saw May in the forefront of his mind. He watched as the May from his imagination was smiling at him and saying something, yet he couldn't hear what she was telling him.

It's for the best. I can't let them, especially May, get involved. I know that she'll be angry with me for leaving without telling her, but at least she'll be ok.

Meowth watched from his spot how the twerp was sulking for Ho-oh knows what. Meowth could see that in a way that Ash was acting the way he usually does, except he seemed depressed. Although he was confused by the fact that Ash didn't even seem to know where they were, which wasn't good news to Meowth, because now that meant that there was little chance of getting back to Jessie and James.

A few Wingull flew by them. Ash decided to sit facing the ocean, peering over the side. He watched below him as Tentacool and Magikarps swam underneath him. Thankfully, the king didn't seemed to even be listening to his thoughts anymore, as Ash couldn't sense him at all in his subconcious.

They're lucky, not to be having to do through what I am going through.

A low rumble escaped his stomach. Ash sighed. "Great, now I'm hungry, yet I'm stuck here across the ocean.", he mumbled. Ash took his backpack off and started searching through it for something to eat. He finally found a package of rice balls that he remembered tossing into his bag when he had been preparing to leave. He ripped the plastic off and was about to take one when he heard a very low rumble. He raised an eyebrow.

Wait a minute...that wasn't my stomach.

It had been coming from the Team Rocket bags in the corner. Ash pushed them aside to find Meowth crouched down, hiding. Meowth quickly backed away from him, cursing himself for his empty stomach.

"Meowth? What are you doing here?", Ash asked.

"I...uhh...see, it's kinda hard ta explain.", Meowth laughed nervously, but then Ash reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"Then you better start explaining.", he said. He didn't seem to notice how theatening that sounded. Meowth had been afraid of that.

"Well, me and Jessie and James were about to turn in for the night, I was sleeping in the basket and the two of thems were sleeping next to the balloon. You suddenly showed up and Jessie and James tried to fight ya, but then you went all weird on them and pushed them away like as if they was nothing! Then you took our balloon and yeah...", Meowth finished somewhat lamely. Ash let go of his arm and sat back down at his spot. Meowth stood staring at him, wondering if Ash was going to suddenly grab him and throw him into the ocean.

After a while, Ash started to munch on one of the rice balls. Meowth couldn't help but keep his eyes on the rice balls and his empty stomach seemed to make his hunger more apparent. Ash looked up from an unfinished rice ball at Meowth, who seemed to be openly drooling at it.

"Uhh...do you want one?", Ash asked awkwardly as he held out a spare riceball. He was getting uncomfortable from the way Meowth was staring at his food. Meowth took the riceball from him and started eating it slowly, to make sure he savored the taste of it, sense he had barely eaten before and didn't want it to be all gone. The two of them had sat in silence for the rest of the time, Ash staring over one side of the basket while Meowth hung out on the other side, hoping that something would happen to get him out of here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ash is missing."

May couldn't believe it when Brock had woken her up and told her that. She remembered how last night she had felt Ash in the room. She had dismissed it as a dream.

But now...

"Was he...was he there to say goodbye?", she muttered to herself. Brock and Max didn't hear her as they had left with Pikachu and Aipom to search for Ash. They had started to head for the woods, hoping that he didn't get too far. They had found that he had left all of his Pokemon behind, so they took a quick stop to pick up four of Ash's pokemon. Just in case anyway, if they found him that is.

Brock decided to hang back by May while Max was ahead following Pikachu and Aipom, who were trying to pick up Ash's scent.

"May."

May looked around to see Brock flash her a small smile. "Don't worry about him too much. You know how he is. We'll find him and figure out what's wrong."

"I sure hope your right Brock. I don't know what I would do if we didn't find him.", May said quietly, trying to hold back tears that were threatening to come. But then she quickly waved her hands as if to cover her true meaning behind that. "I mean, he's my best friend and all and I'm sure we would all be worried if he was gone without telling us.", she said quickly. Brock watched her for a minute before deciding that now was not the time to confront her about how she really felt about Ash.

Brock, being one to know something about romance, had been watching for signs between those two for quite a while, and towards the end of Battle Fronteir, they had become more pronounced than ever, especially when he saw Ash's reaction to her idea of leaving for the Johto region.

Speaking of which, in spite of revent events, tommorow would of been the day that May and Max would leave to go back to Hoenn to visit their family before May would head off to the Johto region. Max was going to stay with his parents, wanting to help out with his father's gym. And Brock of course would be visiting with his family before eventually meeting up with Ash in the Sinnoh region. (The two of them had found out about it from a visit to Professor Oak's)

Anyway, he had noticed the way the two of them would stare at one other, talk to each other more, their hands would touch and they would pull back blushing. Even if they wouldn't admit it aloud, he knew that they both were constantly thinking about the other. It almost felt like he had suddenly fallen into the middle of a romantic story where two characters won't tell each other how they feel because they don't know if the other loves them or not. And he had been given the role as the matchmaker to poke them both in the right direction.

"Guys, Pikachu found something!"

Brock and May looked up to see Max pointing ahead. Pikachu and Aipom were standing over something, poking it slightly. When the others caught up, they found something quite strange.

A few supplies laid here and there, and right in the middle of it all, Jessie and James were sleeping on the ground among their things. They must of not of noticed how close they were together when they fell asleep.

"Ahem.", Brock coughed loudly. Jessie and James immediately snapped awake, jumping away from each other to stand their ground.

"The twerps!", they shouted as they pointed at the group. Pikachu sparked a little bit as Max said coolly, "The twerps indeed. Are you guys going to go into your daily routine of starting a complicated but sure to fail plan to steal Pikachu?"

"Don't we wish, if we had all of our supplies that were in our balloon.", James said shortly.

"Hey, where is your balloon anyway?", May asked as she pointed out where their balloon had been the night before.

"Don't play dumb with me, I know you twerps know where our balloon is, along with Meowth.", Jessie snapped at her. Before May and Jessie could fight(AN: That would be so awesome to see a catfight happen between them) Brock, being the voice of reason in the group, interrupted them.

"Why would we know where your balloon and Meowth is?", he asked.

"Because the main twerp of your group showed up here last night and stole our balloon with our friend Meowth in it after fighting with Jessie!", James said. Mime Jr., who had been hanging around Jame's legs, nodded it's head in agreement.(AN: Nearly forgot to include it in this)

Well, that definately got their attention.

"Ash was here?"

"He stole your balloon?"

"He fought with Jessie?"

"Pika-pi pika pi chu pi?"

Well, that last one needed translation, but the point was that they were all surprised at Ash taking Team Rocket's balloon.

"But where would he go with it?", May asked. James suddenly turned to Jessie with a weird triumphant smirk.

"And you said that putting tracking devices on the balloon was a waste of money and time.", he said as he fumbled through their remaning things and found a small remote with a screen.

"That's because it was.", she said under her breath.

"Anyway, we do have a way of finding Ash.", James said, for the first time actually saying Ash's name.

"But how are we going to catch up to him?", Max asked. Jessie suddenly scoffed.

"What do you mean 'we'? Your not coming with us."

"Yes we are. Ash is our friend.", May snapped at her.

"And he has our stuff. And Meowth too.", Jessie quickly added. Brock stepped between the two of them.

"For now, I believe that we are going to have to have a truce. Argueing isn't going to get us anywhere closer to finding Ash.", Brock said, Max nodding next to him.

"For once, I actually agree with the smart twerp.", James nodded. Brock sent a glare at him before Max returned to his previous question.

"How are we going to catch up to him?", he asked.

"We'll just use the back-up balloon.", Jessie shrugged as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. As Jessie and James started putting stuff together and materials for a second balloon, May raised an eyebrow.

"You have a back-up balloon?"

"You would be surprised at how many balloons we have that have been popped, burst, ripped, set on fire, exploded, or electrocuted.", James shrugged.

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Nine.:.

Time seemed to be a blur to Ash, as he had been stuck in the balloon for about two and a half days. He didn't have a watch, so he ended up relying on the position of the sun to figure out if it was morning or evening. Half the time, he would blank out in the early morning, only to awake at late evening. His internal time clock was screwed up badly because of his sleeping pattern, and he surmised that it had been about three days or so since he had seen May and the others.

What were they doing right now? Were they scouring Kanto, searching for him? Or did May and Max end up leaving to Hoenn and Brock to his family in Pewter City? What was Pikachu doing? They may have been the only things helping to hold onto his limited sanity, which was already shot to hell because of an evil voice in his head. Sometimes he would hear a whisper from the winds, an evil laugh from the rolling waves of the ocean blue. They were always mocking him, as if an invisible ghost was sitting next to him and poking him in the side, speaking so softly that he had to strain his ears to hear it. "We're almost there...don't you wish your friends were here?"

Meowth never spoke a word unless it involved food, which Ash soon saw that their food supply was almost down to nothing. He was surprised that the king hadn't taken over and thrown Meowth off the balloon. Then again, maybe he had some big plan involving the scratch cat. Maybe it had something to do with where they were going...

He looked out to the horizen, staring out for something that looked like land. That particular day, he thought he saw a speck of blue in the air behind them, but he dismissed this as his mind finally cracking to peices. But then...

"Hey twerp, do you sees what I see?", Meowth asked as he stood up, looking out at the speck flying off in the distance.

If Meowth could see it...then that meant that whatever it was had to be real.

"It seems your calvary has arrived.", he heard a slightly frustrated voice growl in his ear. Ash had learned by now not to jump every single time he heard the king's voice, so instead, he settled for a look of puzzlement.

What do you mean? It wasn't really that safe (or sane for that matter) to speak aloud to a voice that only you could hear, so he voiced this in his head.

"Your 'girlfriend' and her other bratty friends are coming straight for us, who else did you think I meant?"

Ash's heart skipped like a Spoinks (which by the way, a very dangerous thing to happen to a Spoink...) as he watched the blue speck coming closer and closer to them, at a speed that was unnatural for a hot air balloon to go. Soon, he saw a familiar Wobbuffet balloon frowning at him in the distance. At first, he thought that it was just Team Rocket, suppossedly going after him to get their balloon and Meowth back. But then he saw three familiar figures standing next to the crime duo and a yellow mouse on the brunette's shoulder.

"Ash!!"

It was May. Before he could call back out to her, he suddenly felt his vision cloud.

"Time to get rid of these pests.", the king said quietly. His total lack of energy made it hard for him to fight the king from within from taking over, but Ash kept hanging on for as long as possible. Meowth had turned to see Ash holding his head in pain, muttering something that suspiciously sounded like a mix of "Stop it" and "Silence mortal." He didn't have much long to ponder on this as he suddenly felt Ash's hand close around his throat and lift him into the air. Gagging for oxygen, he looked down into Ash's now steel gray eyes.

"You've been a thorn in my side for far too long.", he hissed at him, squeezing harder on Meowth's trachea. Meowth clawed onto Ash's hands, but that didn't stop him from letting go. Since when was the twerp that strong? His vision became hazy as he dug his sharp claws as hard as he could, watching the blood trickle down his hands and drip onto the balloon floor. But the king merely laughed at Meowth's failed attempts and soon the cat had given up, falling into the now peaceful bliss of unconciousness. The king roughly dropped Meowth to the side as he reached up and pulled a lever of the balloon, causing it to go faster in the opposite direction away from the other balloon.

May watched from where she was as the Meowth balloon started to speed away. "We're going to lose them!", Max shouted next to her. May had an idea as she pulled out two pokeballs. One was her own and the other was one of Ash's pokeballs that they had borrowed. She released both Pokemon to reveal Beautifly and Swellow. Beautifly greeted her happily, but Swellow started looking around for it's trainer. Seeing that Ash wasn't there with them, it quickly gathered that something was wrong.

"Swellow, Beautifly, I need you to help fly me out to Ash's balloon!", May instructed. They both nodded as Swellow grasped her shoulders, cutting it's talons into her skin. She winced slightly as Beautifly hung onto her back to make sure that she wouldn't be dropped. Pikachu dug it's own small claws into her hat and shoulders as well. Brock grabbed her ankle.

"May, this is crazy! What if you fall?"

"...Then I'm sure Ash will catch me as I fall.", she answered before taking off, feeling the two Pokemon pull her through the air towards the Meowth balloon. She saw it come closer and closer until she was now close enough to grab the side of the basket. She nearly lost her footing, but managed to dig her feet into the side. Swellow kept a steady hold of her as Beautifly helped climb her up into the basket.

Ash wasn't facing her. He was facing out towards the ocean. She started towards him, but then he spoke up.

"Finally...we're here."

She wasn't sure what he meant by that, but she decided to wait and listen.

"It's been a long time since I've been back home. I wonder if they missed me.", he said, which was followed with a small laugh. He suddenly raised a hand up towards the sky.

"But now that I'm here, I can reclaim my kingdom and lead the world into the darkness of hell once more!", he shouted to the sky. May gasped as she saw a dark swirl of purple and black surround Ash as he laughed that cold, insane laugh. The dark energy literally engulfed the balloon as the sky darkened slightly. A rumbling from deep within the ocean shook the balloon hard enough to make everyone except the unconcious Meowth and Ash to hold onto the side of the balloon.

May peered over the edge and watched the swirling of the ocean below form into a twisting whirlpool. She watched as something tall and sharp poked out of the ocean waters and rise up toward the sky. May's mouth opened and her eyes widened in confusion as buildings started emerging from the icy darkness, rising upwards towards the sky. The balloon seemed to follow with ascent of the buildings until it was almost level with one of the tallest buildings. An entire city on an island had emerged from the depths of the ocean.

"Welcome to the city of the ancient Poke'lantis!", he shouted as he had now turned to face her, an insane grin lighting his features. The swirl of darkness seemed to fade away a little now that it's job was complete. Max, Brock, Jessie, and James, had also watched with open mouths at the appearence of the huge city.

"Ash?", May asked tentively.

The king smirked. "Ash isn't here right now, would you like me to take a message?", he asked sarcastically. May recognized the cold eyes and harsh voice.

"Your...your that evil spirit! The one who possessed Ash back during Battle Frontier...", she whispered.

"Glad to see that you didn't forget little old me."

"What are you doing here! Ash got rid of you!"

"Looks like you were both wrong. I've just been hanging around here in this weak brat's mind, waiting for the right time.", he smirked. Pikachu growled angerly, but stayed behind May in fear.

"Ash...", she spoke again as she reached out and grabbed his wrist. A white flash of pain screamed through the king, making him pull his hand away.

"Stay away from me, wench!", he snarled at her. There she was again, doing the exact same thing she did before. Trying to reach that brat and pull him back. Using love...

He suddenly had a very evil idea. He stepped closer to her and grabbed her shoulders. Swellow squawked angerly and tried to dive at him, but with a sweep of his hand, a dark slash cut through the air, slicing through both Swellow and Beautifly. They let go of May and collapsed on the floor of the balloon next to Meowth. May squeaked slightly, feeling anxiety and fear creep into her senses. Was he going to shove her out of the balloon? Pikachu was afraid to use any electrical attacks in case he ended up shocking May and getting slashed with that strange dark power.

She saw the king's face within nearly an inch of her. His lips were nearly brushing against hers.

"You love him, don't you?", he asked quietly. He then pulled May forward, crushing her lips against his. May's eyes widened in shock, feeling numb all over as he had forced her mouth open and was exploring the inner regions of her mouth. She had half a mind to bite him on the tongue, but it was Ash's tongue, which was probably why she didn't push him away. He bit down on her lips, drawing blood and causing May to moan in pain. He seemed to enjoy it as he continued to devour her mouth. But just as suddenly as the kiss had begun, he suddenly pushed her away.

"Not to ruin our fun, but I have a few things to do. You know, conqering the world, throwing humanity into everlasting darkness, wiping out all of existence, you know, the works.", he said as he picked up Meowth from the ground. May didn't move or speak as Ash stood up on top of the rim of the balloon basket, his back to the island. He lifted Meowth into the air, revealing that Meowth still had his claws out.

"Ash...", she finally spoke, her hand going to her mouth where she could still taste blood (and some other unknown taste)

The king smiled. "I'm not Ash."

He took and pushed Meowth into the face of the balloon. A pop sound whooshed through the sky as air escaped the balloon. Before she could register what he had just done, she watched a swirl of darkness surround Meowth. The king threw Meowth straight at the Wobbuffet balloon behind them. Meowth smashed straight into the balloon, causing a huge tear to spread across the balloon as the balloon sailed towards the ocean, the screams from the four people inside peircing the air.

Ash grinned an insane grin before putting two fingers to his forehead, in a saluting style.

"Ciao", he said as he fell backwards off the rim of the balloon, going straight down towards the giant city of the island as mad laughter rang through the air. May screamed out his name one last time as the balloon fell, spiraling downward until it crashed straight into the side of the island. A horrible crunch sound was all May heard before her world went black.

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Ten.:.

Ash had somehow stumbled upon a different area of what he assumed was his mind when he had been forced out of his body. It looked the same as the strange pastel void that he normally found himself in every time he was here, except that every once in a while, doors would be floating in suspension. They were usually labled with things like "Dreams", "Desires", (Ash had a strange suspicion that he would somehow see May behind that door and decided not to confirm this) "Emotions", and a few random others, including one labled "Will and Won't", which was the most battered of all the other doors, looking like as if someone had busted into the room and nearly knocked the door off its hinges. (Ash didn't have to guess at who was responsible for that)

But as he walked, he noticed how it seemed to darken slightly until he was standing on the very edge of the colorful pastel, almost stepping into the black and dark blue pastel beyond. It even felt colder in the darker area. "This must be where both his and my mind connect.", Ash muttered to himself. He spotted a door marked "Memories" on the edge of the colorful side of the mind, conforming that this led to Ash's memories. This one also looked like someone had recently entered it, but didn't look as damaged as the other one. And almost next to it, on the darker side, was a door also labled as "Memories". The door was slightly ajar, as if someone had forgotten to close the door behind them. Ash stepped over the line into the darker area, causing himself to be chilled to the bone. He pushed open the door slightly, to try to look inside. It almost...looked like a small town.

Ash looked around, almost expecting to see the king jump out at him. When nothing happened, he breathed deeply before stepping into the room of the kings' memories.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How long have we been out?",said an older, familiar voice.

"About a few days I would suspect.", answered a voice that she didn't recognize.

"May...if you can hear my voice, wake up!", said another familiar voice, this one sounding younger than the first.

May opened her eyes, staring up into the creamy white ceiling above her. A bob of black hair moved into her line of vision. For a minute, she thought it was Ash. But then the familiar yellow glasses of her little brother dashed this possibility. She could feel a small familiar lump jump up onto the bed, sitting next to her head, confirming Pikachu's identity.

"...Max?", she asked weakly.

"May! You're awake!", Max exclaimed. May sat up, feeling the downy sheets that she had been wrapped in. Was she in a hospital? No...she wasn't wearing hospital garbs. May's and Ash's pokeballs that she had brought were sitting on the side table next to her. And sitting next to those was a familiar red and black cap with the green poke'ball symbol...Ash's hat. She picked it up, running a finger over the bill of the hat. He must of lost it when he had jumped off the balloon. May slowly started to get out of the bed.

"You probably shouldn't be straining yourself.", Brock spoke up from his corner of the room. May couldn't help but glare at him.

"Speak for yourself Brock, you were out cold too.", Max spoke for her, as if reading her thoughts.

"Speaking of which, what happened anyway?", May asked. Her memory was slightly fuzzy.

"Well, Meowth smacked into the balloon and caused us to crash into the side of the overlook on that...this strange island.", he corrected. May's memory seemed to come back. The balloon. Ash. The island rising up. The kiss. A hand flew to her lips, running a finger over the cut on her bottom lip. Her eyes teared up. Ash had done this...May shook herself mentally. No, it was that evil spirit who had done this, not Ash. She refused to believe that it was Ash.

"...Where's Ash?", May asked.

"I'm not sure. He wasn't here when I woke up. Maybe he's on a different part of the island...", Max mused. May's eyes fell to the floor. Of course...Ash wouldn't have ended up here as well. She remembered the way that Ash had jumped out of the balloon, that cold smirk plastered on his face.

"So what happened in that balloon with Ash anyway?", Brock asked. May bit her bottom lip, hoping that he didn't notice her cut lip. Should she tell them what had happened in the balloon? How Ash had been acting strange? That he was possessed? That he had kissed her?

"Nothing happened. The island appeared and he just sort of...jumped ship.", she fibbed. Brock looked skeptical, but didn't push it. Pikachu chuued sadly, wondering where his Pika-pi was.

"I'm so glad that your all ok.", said a voice in a corner. May then noticed a young girl with black pigtails and bright purple eyes, wearing what seemed to be the equivilent of a female purple peasent dress, but was wearing a white apron over it. Next to her was a Blissey, which was trilling happily at the recovery of its patients. Max automatically reached out and grabbed Brock's ear.

"Don't even think it Romeo.", he muttered under his breath before Brock could try to hit on the girl, if he hadn't already from waking up.

"My name is June. I found you and your friends on the overlook with the remains of some balloons. How strange...", she muttered to herself, as if lost in thought.

"What's strange?", May asked.

"The day I found you three was the day that the prophecy came true."

"Prophecy?", all three in the room spoke at the same time. Pikachu also tilted its head in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I guess I should explain. You see, here in Poke'lantis..."

"Woah wait, we're in the ancient city of Poke'lantis?", Brock asked.

June smiled. "That's right. Now, about over a century ago, when our island had been forced to live submerged under the ocean, never to interact with civilization ever again, we discovered something. Somehow, a protective bubble had been placed around our city, making it possible for us to continue living here. And strangely, we never aged. I guess it's because we were no longer connected to time as well. It was like we never existed in the first place. A prophecy was made that said that after a century had passed, our king would return to reverse what had been done and pull the city back up from its watery grave."

Ash...

June suddenly walked over to May, placing a hand over May's hands. "...I see...your aura...it's just like mine.", she muttered to herself.

"Huh?"

"In this town, all of our auras are similar to a Pokemon type. Mine, like yours, is a psychic type, which is why I can tell what kind of aura you have. Your friend Brock is a rock type while Max is a grass type.", she explained. "It helps us determine what type of person someone is. Some people have been able to master their auras and gain powers. I kinda sensed your thoughts a moment ago."

May suddenly held out Ash's hat to her. "What about my friend?", she asked, curious to know what Ash's was. June placed a hand on the top of it.

"...I sense a strong fighting spirit...with a firey passion as well...but...", she paused for a moment before suddenly snatching her hand away, as if being burned. Before May could ask what that was about, Max suddenly interrupted.

"Tell me, why did your island even get pulled under the ocean anyway?", Max asked, still stuck on the whole island issue. Before June could answer, there was a sound far off in the distance. It sounded like a bell was ringing.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, but I must go to the town square. Our king has a message for us.", she said. "You may come with me if you want."

The trio nodded in agreement as they followed June out of her cottage and towards the town square. As they walked, May noticed how close they were to the overlook, a cliff that jutted out of the side of the island. May suddenly paused, noticing a strange statue that was on the overlook.

"What's that?", May asked, pointing to the statue. June stopped in her tracks to look as well.

"...It's...well...", she stuttered, before wiping her eyes on the back of her sleeve.

"What's the matter? A pretty lady like you shouldn't be crying.", Brock said, immediately jumping to her aid, causing Max and May to secretly roll their eyes at him.

"I'm sorry, but...May...you look so much like her."

"Like who?", May asked. As an answer, June pointed to the statue, prompting May to run up to it. It appeared to be a stone statue of a girl, as if she had been running to the edge of the overlook, a hand outstretched, trying to reach for something that was no longer there. May noticed how similar the girl looked to herself.

"Who is it?", May asked, curiousity overwhelming her.

"...I think we better be hurrying along. It's a rule that when the bell rings, every resident of the island is to come to the town square.", June said as she walked briskly away from the stone statue. May decided to give up before following suite after the retreating group. They soon started walking on a cobblestone street, passing by dozens of buildings where other people, wearing clothes similar to June, were heading to the town square, most of them looking excited. Some stared at May, Max, and Brock, like as if they were aliens from another planet, probably due to their strangely dressed atire. Pikachu, however, was somewhat ignored, since everyone else in town had their Pokemon with them.

"It's strange," June suddenly spoke up, "...how everyone is looking forward to seeing our king, even though he is responsible for what happened to us in the first place. Or at least, that's what I believe anyway."

"Maybe it's because he ended up helping them in the end.", Max suggested.

"Perhaps."

"Hey May, what happened to your lip?", Brock suddenly asked. May automatically placed a hand over them.

"N-nothing! They must of gotten that way from the crash!", she lied.

"Are you sure?", he asked.

"Positive!", she snapped, her cheeks growing hot. Brock looked away, a strange look in his eye at her dismissal. After a moment...

"Hey, where's Team Rocket anyway?", May asked, now realizing that Jessie, James, and Meowth were nowhere in sight.

"I'm sorry, are you missing more friends?", June suddenly asked.

"Unfortunately no.", Max said coolly.

"Well, I didn't see anyone else when I found you guys. Maybe their with your other friend Ash."

Unlikely...

They soon reached the town square, where all the town's people were gathered in a huge circle, whispering or chatting excitedly about what news they were to recieve. Brock looked around at all the people gathered.

"I don't see Team Rocket or Ash in this crowd, do you?", he asked. May shook her head. She had a feeling that she knew exactly where Ash would appear. Her eyes were watching the stage in front of them. It was apparently the balcony of the tall building in front of them, as that was where most everyones eyes were. Banners hung down the side of the small castle, with a symbol of a strange symbol on it. As if sensing her question, June answered.

"That's our symbol that represents Poke'lantis.", she whispered. It seemed to be a ring of golden feathers, circling what appeared to be a dark flame. It was the exact same color as the dark aura that May remembered the spirit having. The sound of trumpets suddenly peirced the air, signaling for attention. A lady on the balcony bowed, apparently a royal advisor.

"And now, presenting our one and only, the King of Poke'lantis!", she annouced, causing the crowd below to erupt into cheers. Her stomach clenched unpleasntly as a familar face appeared on the balcony.

It was Ash.

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Eleven.:.

"How come we're always landing on our-"

"Quiet James." Jessie hissed at him. They were both lying on the ground, in obvious pain. The remains of a Wobbuffet balloon lay in pieces on the ground next to them. They had been forced to not move for what seemed to be a few days; they had been in too much pain to really go anywhere. But now, as Jessie stood and stretched, wincing at various injuries, it seemed safe enough to walk around again. James stood up next to her, dusting off some dirt on his pants.

"Even though something like this happens all the time, you never get used to the landings." James said to himself. "What I don't understand is how we ended up crashing into the face of a cliff."

"Better question: what happened to the twerps? Hopefully they were smashed to bits.", Jessie said.

"Oh...my aching Meowth..."

They both turned to the source of the voice, which revealed to be Meowth, crawling out from under the debris of the wrecked balloon. This was the first time that he had woken up since the crash. He shakily stood, rubbing his throat.

"What the heck happened? One minutes it’s just me and the twerp, the next youse guys shows up, and now this!", Meowth said with a dramatic wave of the arms.

"It doesn't matter now. We might as well just explore the island. Who knows? There might even be some rare Pokemon for the taking!", Jessie said, determination and confidence coming back into her voice. The three of them carefully set off through the dense trees that they had woke up by until they came upon the houses of the inhabitants of Poke'lantis. James suddenly pointed to the town square.

"There seems to be some commotion going on over there."

Before he could go and investigate, he was pulled backwards into some bushes by Meowth and Jessie.

"We can't just go into the square, the twerps might be around.", Jessie whispered to him. Meowth put a hand over his eyes, squinting up at the balcony.

"Isn't dat the main twerp addressing the town’s folk?", he asked as he pointed straight up at the balcony. Jessie squinted too.

"It is. What is he saying?"

Meowth, thanks to his sensitive hearing, was able to hear the entire thing in the town square. "It sounds like he is calling the town’s people for attention...something about returning from the darkness...his original body destroyed..."

"What the heck is this, a Sci-fi movie?", James asked.

"Quiet! Ok, now he’s saying that things are changing...something about a war..."

Jessie was silent for a moment, until she suddenly put her fist into her hand. "I got it."

"Another plan?"

"The main twerp obviously has the run of the place. Maybe we should try to get into his good books."

"You mean like asking him if we can help. There's no way he would do that. His twerp friends wouldn't be cool about it.", James pointed out. Meowth, who was still listening to the speech, suddenly grinned.

"Don't be so sure about that Jamesy boy..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The king grinned. Things could not go more smoothly than they already were. He had told them the story of how he had returned, how he had found a willing host (well, not as willing per say) and his plans of revenge against their current enemy, Ho-oh.

"We will not just sit back and wait for him to come back and banish us once more to the sea.", he announced, "We will combine our efforts and defeat him once and for all!"

The thing about mobs is that they can't help but agree to something when everyone else agrees to it. All you had to do was get a mob riled up, and boom, they'll be under your fingers like the puppets they are. He was pretty sure that they didn't even know what they were agreeing to.

"Last but not least, unfortunately, we have traitors in our midst.", he growled.

A wave of mutters echoed in the crowd, wondering who the traitors were.

"Fortunately, I have a picture of the traitors.", he said, fingering the picture that he had stolen from the brat's backpack. It was a picture of Brock, May, Max, Ash, and Pikachu in a friendly pose. Putting his thumb over the part of Ash, who was standing next to May, he held it out above the crowd.

"These people are conspirators against your king, no, against you! They are on the side of Ho-oh and will stop at nothing to make sure that we go back to the sea, where they think we belong!", he yelled.

Angry shouts overwhelmed the crowd. The people in the front had gotten the best look and we're now telling people behind them what the traitors looked like. May didn't have to see the picture to know that it was of them. June seemed to figure that out as well.

"Don't worry, I'll hide you out in my house.", she whispered. They nodded and started to leave, except for May, who was still standing rooted to the spot. Her eyes were shining with tears as she watched Ash standing over the crowd.

"If anyone spots these rebels, then report directly to my guards. That is all.", the king concluded. The townspeople cheered as the king scanned the crowd for a brief moment, until his eyes landed on May. For one moment, a moment that felt like it lasted for an eternity, the two stared at one another, neither one speaking. May searched through Ash's eyes, as if trying to find that familiar warmth of his brown eyes, and for a split second, she thought she saw it. But then the king grinned, as if knowing exactly what May was thinking. He turned away and started walking into the castle, but not before May had seen the discrete salute that he had given her when he had jumped out of the balloon.

May suddenly felt Brock's hand around her wrist. "May, we need to leave now, before the townspeople figure out that it’s us."

May nodded numbly and was forced to follow them back to June's house, trying as hard as she could to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That was an excellent speech Your Highness.", a nameless advisor spoke next to him.

"What did you expect from your excellent king?", the king spoke, which earned a slight chuckle from the advisor, "But back to business. What do you plan to do about our traitor problem?"

"Sir, we have Houndooms guarding the castle, as well as some patrolling the town for any sign of them."

"Excellent. You're actually doing an excellent job.", the king said, with a hint of mock surprise in his voice. The advisor took the hint and left, which gave the king ample time to check his old sleeping quarters. The room was huge and still looked the same as from his memory, except that it had a fine layer of dust over everything in the room. Making a mental note to snap at his maids for not keeping the place clean, he approached a painting on the wall.

It was supposed to be a painting of him, but it had rotted from a century of improper care, making it so that it was impossible to tell who it really was of. He placed a hand against it, fingering the corner of it. Of the one thing he didn't know, the one thing he couldn't remember, it was how he used to look. He surmised that it must have been because his original body had been lost to the darkness so long ago, now it no longer existed. But none of that mattered anymore. He instead turned to an old picture that was lying on the top of his canopy bed's side table.

It was a smaller painting of a girl with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a red dress with a white bow wrapped around the middle. In the picture, she appeared to be laughing. And next to her was her faithful Skitty, looking up at its master. As he looked at it for the longest time, he suddenly dropped it, gasping in pain. Gripping his head, he didn't even hear the painting hit the floor; it felt like an explosion was going off in his head. When the pain had subsided, he stood very still, closing his eyes. After a moment, he opened them, snarling in disgust as he let out a mix of swears, some in a completely different language, but one thing was easy to be picked out from his angered rambling.

"The brat..."

 

[Every Heart]

.:.Twelve.:.

Ash walked a few paces, looking around at the town that he had suddenly entered from the king's mind. It was a quaint city with cobblestone roads and little shops that lined the street. People walked around, wearing old-fashioned dresses and pants. Many were chatting to another or browsing the markets around him. There were also a few children laughing. It was...peaceful.

"Come on, don't tell me that you can't outrun a girl!"

Ash whirled around as he heard a voice behind him that sounded eerily familiar. His eyes widened in shock as a girl with long brown hair and a red dress was running straight at him, the girl holding part of her dress up so that she didn't trip, looking over her shoulder at someone he couldn't see. She had a red ribbon tied in her hair, but what startled Ash the most were her eyes when she turned back forward, facing him.

"...May?” he asked aloud as she came closer to him. But she didn't seem to hear him, let alone notice that he was standing right in her path.

"May! It's me, Ash! Don't you recognize-", he started to say, but was cut off when she was still running towards him. Ash mentally braced himself, but all he felt was a slight tingling sensation as she went right through him, as if he wasn't even there.

"-Me?” Ash said to the open air as he turned around, facing the back of the now retreating girl. Ash placed a hand in front of his face. It didn't look transparent. He placed it against his chest. He didn't seem to be a ghost. Oh I get it, I'm just invisible, since this is the king's memory. But who was that? And if these are his memories, where is he anyway?

"April! Get back here!"

Ash felt another tingling sensation as he was now facing the back of a boy that was chasing after her.

"What our you going to do if I don't?” she called over her shoulder, "Call the guards?"

Even though Ash couldn't see the boy's face, he had a feeling that the boy was frowning. Ash found himself following after the duo until they had reached the edge of town. The boy stopped for a moment, but Ash had a feeling that he was pretending that he needed to rest. "April..."

"Don't 'April' me. You promised me that we would spend the day together, putting all your duties aside!” the girl snapped, her hands at her sides.

The boy put his hands up in mock defeat. "Oh silly me, my duties are minimal compared to spending my time with you! What in the world was I thinking? Yes, I would rather spend my afternoon with you rather than sift through peace treaties!"

The girl looked hurt now, before she resigned to pouting. "You better be joking."

"Yeah April, it's called sarcasm, you should try it sometime.” the boy laughed, a laugh that also sounded eerily familiar to Ash. Ash walked around from behind him so that he was now standing next to him, his mouth falling open in shock.

It was the king, or at least a younger version of him. Oddly enough, the younger version also bore a resemblance to Ash; he was surprised that he didn't recognize it from the same height and the way his black hair spiked. The only difference was that the clothes, the cool smirk playing on his thin lips, and the gray eyes, which to Ash didn't seem as dark as the king that he remembered. He looked over at the girl who looked like May, noticing a few subtle differences between her and the real May, like her posture and how pale her skin was. But her eyes were practically a spitting image of May.

The girl rolled her eyes at the king, almost in the same way that May occasionally did. "Whatever. Now, what are we going to do today?” she asked as she curled an arm around the king's. The king smiled, something that disturbed Ash a little, but not as much as it usually did.

"We could go to our spot by the cliffs. Enjoy a quiet afternoon with just the two of us.” he suggested.

"We always do that..."

He smirked as he curled an arm around her waist, tipping her back lightly as he loomed over her. "Wanting variety eh? Well maybe we'll dance under the stars?” he suggested, which explained the way he was holding her. Her face brightened.

"Really? That sounds so romantic!"

"That settles it then. We'll be dancing a pas de duex under the evening sky."

Ash found it hard to believe that the king had been a romantic, but he didn't have much time to voice this as the scenery suddenly changed. He was now standing close to the edge of a forest, the sky a darker shade than earlier. He spotted a couple dancing underneath the sky by the cliffs nearby. The king and the girl were dancing an excellent dance, as if they had been doing this all their lives. Ash has a sudden vivid image of himself dancing with May in the same manner that the king was dancing with the girl. And for a moment, he wondered if the king had actually loved this girl.

The two stopped, their faces close to one another. He didn't hear what they said, but he couldn't look away as the two began to passionately kiss each other. Another vivid image of himself came up again in his mind, except that this time he was kissing May. Ash quickly shook his head. Back mental images, back!

As the two broke apart, April whispered, "I love you."

The king's face darkened slightly, not answering her. April looked at him in confusion.

"What's the matter?” she asked.

"Someone's here.” he whispered as he let go of her. Ash tensed, wondering if they could now suddenly see him. But a rustle to his left said otherwise as the king moved April behind him.

"Whoever you are, show yourself!"

A man stepped out of the bushes, someone wearing what appeared to be royal colors. "Your majesty, we've been looking everywhere for you! We even sent out the Hou-", the man stopped at seeing April.

"Oh, excuse me lady April. I did not know that you-"

"Leave us. I'll be along shortly.” he muttered. The man nodded as he quickly left, in fear of the king's wrath. The king turned back to her.

"You should go home April. Your sister's probably worried about you."

"Oh right, I forgot about that! I'll see you later!” she said as she ran off through the trees. The king watched her leave, before chuckling to himself.

"That April...if I could, I would make her my queen."

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ash found the scenery change around him once more, now standing in a room as big as four houses combined. Shouting could be heard near his left.

"But your majesty..."

Two people burst from the doors to the side, Ash recognizing the king, except that he appeared to be a few years older than in the last memory. A few Houndooms were at his side this time. Ash recognized the other man as well, the man from the previous memory that had interrupted the king and April. He vaguely reminded Ash of Brock.

"A bride needs to be chosen soon! There has to be a queen that will bring an heir to the throne-"

"Enough."

"But-"

"Silence!” the king yelled, the advisor wisely shutting up. The king turned his back to him. "There are no suitable women to choose from. They all disgust me. And besides..."

The king trailed off, turning his attention to a window that overlooked the town. His eyes seemed distant.

"There's already a girl that I have chosen."

Ash didn't hear the advisor's reply as the scenery shifted again, back to the cliffs from before. The king and April were alone, the two of them lying in the grass. Ash also noticed a Skitty lying next to April, apparently asleep. The king suddenly sat up.

"I have to choose a bride pretty soon."

April looked away, her eyes somewhat hazy. "I hope she makes you very happy.” she whispered. She suddenly squeaked when the king turned so that he was now leaning over her, closer than she had realized. His voice seemed strained, as if there was something stuck in his throat.

"You have made me happy.” he whispered as he kissed her. He took her hand into his, pulling her up so that they were both in a kneeling position.

"April, there could be no one else that could make me as happy as you made me. I want you to become my queen and rule by side over Poke'lantis.” he said.

Her eyes swimmed with tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck, startling him slightly. "I love you, my King."

He seemed hesitant, as if wondering if this is what he truly wanted. After a moment of tense silence, he wrapped his arms around her.

"I...lo-"

The scenery suddenly changed, to the room that Ash had seen before. The king and now a queen that were both older than the last memory were standing side by side by the window.

"I'm worried about you. You've gotten circles under your eyes and you are more stressed than usual."

The king faced her, Ash noticing a wrinkle in his forehead. He did indeed seem tired.

"I'm sorry. There have just been so many problems since the north has declared war on us. I don't know what to do."

"I trust whatever decision you come to.” she smiled as she squeezed his hand reassuringly before leaving the room. As soon as she left, he turned to a mural on the wall that Ash hadn't noticed. It depicted a Pokemon that he recognized as Ho-oh. The king was looking over it, a dark expression crossing his features.

"Ho-oh. Why haven't you helped your people yet? I can tell that you've abandoned us by now, so why should we bother to continue praying to you?"

The scenery changed again, but not by much as the king was still the same age as before, except that he looked like he had just gone to heck and back. Another noticeable difference was how hazy the scenery was, as if Ash was watching a dream instead of a typical memory. The king pounded his fists against the Ho-oh mural.

"Ho-oh, you failed us again! Are you wanting your people sent to the slaughter? Curse you Ho-oh, curse you..."

Ash suddenly felt a chill in the room, noticing a dark presence entering the room. It was the same chill he got whenever he was in the present king's space. A low voice spoke.

Do you wish to claim victory, to grasp it in your hands, King of Poke'lantis?

"Yes...” the king muttered.

Then I will give you my powers, as long as you promise one thing.

"Anything. Name it."

The death of Ho-oh.

A pause. Then...

"I accept."

Ash jumped back as a dark energy suddenly sprung around the king's body, but he didn't seem to notice the darkness surrounding him, instead he seemed to be laughing to himself, a laugh that was the same as the present king.

"All those who oppose me will suffer the consequences.” he said in a darker voice as laughter rang around the room.

"I'm coming for you, Ho-oh."

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Flames shot up in the air around the king as he stood on the cliff that he had spent many summers ago with his queen. The divine Pokemon Ho-oh floated before him, glaring at him. The king looked like he had gotten thrown into a blender, many scrapes and gashes marking his once handsome frame. He shot out another burst of shadows at Ho-oh, but the Pokemon deflected it with flames that it shot forth from its mouth. The king had to stop himself from collapsing on one knee, seeing as how one of his legs seemed to be badly twisted.

"King of Poke'lantis, you have turned your back on me and have dared to kill me! And for that, you must suffer!"

"This isn't over Ho-oh. You will die by my hands right here, right now!” the king spat.

"No, this is where it ends. The pain and suffering you have caused for your people must be put to a stop. Since they did not go against me, I will spare them, by removing this island from the rest of the world. There they will remain, free to live without the outside world's influence, frozen in time. You however, will be sealed away, taken from the one thing you cherish most! I will make sure that you never see the outside world ever again!” Ho-oh cried out as golden flames shot out all around him.

The island shook violently, nearly knocking the king off his feet. The island slowly started to sink downwards into the watery abyss. Ash found himself fighting not to fall down from the sheer force of the gravitational pull.

"Do your worst Ho-oh. There is nothing that you can do to intimidate me!"

"My King!"

The king's eyes widened as he turned around, April running to him.

"April! What are you doing here!” the king asked, looking mixed between confusion and fury.

A small smile was on her face as she came closer. "I was so worried about you, so I had to come..."

A sudden mix of laughter greeted them from behind.

"I see, so this is what you cherish most! Very well then..."

April suddenly stopped running towards him mid-step as her legs started to turn to stone. She gave a slight cry as she held a hand out towards the king.

"Help me!” she cried as her hand slowly turned to stone. He found himself wrapping his arms around her stone body, despite the darkness clouding his mind.

"I love y-", she started to say but her face had completely turned to stone, effectively cutting her off. A ghost of a tear fell down her stone cheeks as the king moved away from her.

"Curse you Ho-oh! I swear to you that I will kill you!” he shouted, not noticing the stone pokeball that was behind him, floating in midair.

Just as the pokeball had opened and had started to pull the king into it, Ash felt a vice-like grip enclose on his shoulder. With terror striking into his heart, he heard a cold sneer whispered into his ear.

"Having fun, are we?"

 

[UltaFlame]

very good in my opinion. I missed that episode where Ash was possessed.

i don't like May much, but a good story is a good story.

as far as i can tell, the description is good. to me, the emotions are very well defined, and theres a certain air of mystery to this.

its a shame nobody's taken the time to comment on this, its a good story, truly.

I'd like to give crit, but i seriously suck when it comes to crit, but I just wanted you to kno, I'll be reading this story, mostly to find out about the King's past with April. and really... April, June, you kind of made it obvious when the king spoke about April's sister, you meant June. one thing i don't understand, is why June agrees to hide May Brock and Max, when her sister loved the king, and the king named them traitors.

although, she could still be in the anger stange of grief, (lack of time passing might have contributed to that) and she blames the king for causing her death. or she is affected by the stunning resemblance of her sister to May, and is in the Denial stage, hoping to replace her sister with May. or she could despise the king for getting the City sunken underwater, cursing the inhabitants to an existence of a sort of, half-life, kind-of like how the king was when he was cursed to the deep recesses of Ash's mind. kind of like how Ash is at the current moment in the story.

 

[thesceptileaddict]

y hasnt there been a new chapter??nothing has new chapters except 1 fic which gets 1 ever friday........-cries-well get a new chapter soon this fic is great!LaTeRdAyZ!

 

[Manaphyman]

k, septileaddict, you cant rush perfection.

Not that this isn't good, but it belongs in the shipping section.

P.S. I love advance shipping.

 

[UltaFlame]

It does? it is a shippingosh fic i guess...

and yeah sceptile... no need to rush Every Heart here. this is a well written fic, rushing him on it... well that would make him make it not as good.

 

[thesceptileaddict]

manaphyman, im perfect, and i rush!so u can rush perfection!!!!!roflmao!jk!but really,get a new chapter soon!LaTeR dAyZ!

 

[Every Heart]

((I didn't know that shipping fics belonged in the shipping section, I assumed that all fics go here. Also, updates happen almost once a month, just to let everyone know))

.:.Thirteen.:.

Ash craned his neck around to see that the spirit of the king was not looking at him, but was instead watching the past king being pulled into the pokeball. In fact, Ash felt the king's cold grip leave his shoulder as the king walked a few paces forward, his eyes never once leaving the stone pokeball as it disappeared in a flash of darkness and Ho-oh seemed to laugh triumphantly.

"Funny, isn't it?” he suddenly spoke, causing Ash to jump, "That the very thing we worshipped was the very thing that destroyed us in the end."

"Only because you were threatening the destruction of the entire world!” Ash snapped without thinking. The king turned around to face him, coldly glaring at him, but not saying anything for a moment. He then turned back to where the past king has stood moments before, as the background around the two was still that of the cliffs of Poke'lantis. The king turned around and strode towards Ash.

"Did you have fun snooping through my memories? Didn't your mother teach you not to go through other people's things?” the king asked casually.

"Speak for yourself! You went through my memories without my consent!"

"However, my consent is worth more than yours.” the king noted.

"It doesn't make any sense! Why did you give up everything just to destroy Ho-oh?” Ash asked.

"Because in the time of war, our god did not help us. A god is supposed to be one that helps people, one that listens to its people’s prayers, who heeds and answers those prayers. Despite all the praying we did, Ho-oh did neither.” the king answered as the ground shook a little. A thin barrier of a combination of air and water closed around the entire city and started to pull it downward into the ocean, but neither seemed fazed by this.

"What about your wife? April gave up everything just to be with you! Didn't she mean anything to you?” Ash asked.

The king took two steps forward and before Ash could defend himself, the king had slapped Ash across the face. As Ash kneeled over from the contact, the king lifted a knee up and into Ash's gut, his face betraying no emotion whatsoever. Ash coughed as he collapsed, sure that if the king had kicked him in reality, he might have been spitting up blood. In fact, a few drops coated the back of his knuckles.

The king kneeled down and picked Ash up by the front of his shirt, an expression of twisted anger and hate etched upon his face for a brief second.

"Don't speak of things that you don't understand, brat.” the king whispered in a cold voice. Ash vaguely noticed that the spirit's fists were shaking.

Ash couldn't help but keep going. "You told her that you loved her! And in the end all you did was get her killed! If you really loved her, you wouldn't of let this happen!"

The king responded by punching Ash in the face, still looking somewhat expressionless. Ash could feel a bruise start to form across his right eye and cheek.

"I was wrong."

Ash looked around to face the king, who wasn't looking at him anymore. The king seemed to be far off somewhere, deep in thought about something.

"Love is for the weak. Love is for those who can't deal with the pain and loneliness. In the end, all love does is get you hurt. Take my advice brat, love doesn't get you anywhere.” the king said as he dropped Ash onto the now purplish black floor, since the two had not noticed that the illusions of the king’s memory had disappeared. They were both now back in the usual place where they talked, as the door to the king's memories swung shut somewhere behind them.

"I was a fool then to think that things like love and companionship were the keys to victory. Power and greed is what makes this world go round while love gets trampled on by hate. If I could go back and change anything, the only thing I would change is never meeting that girl."

Ash snapped, "How can you say that! You two loved each other!"

The king didn't answer. Ash faced away from him. "I was wrong about you. You're even more heartless and cruel than I thought."

The minute he said this, he regretted it as the king approached him and launched a hand around his throat.

"And you are any better? What about dear May, who you have been secretly pushing away? Or your jealousy towards the one called...oh, what was his name? Sketch? No wait, it was Drew, wasn't it?"

Ash couldn't help but feel a small surge of jealousy at the name. "What about him?"

"He showers your May with roses! He always wants to be around her! Because of your cowardice to tell her how you feel, Drew will get to her first. I've probed into your thoughts about him. How you wish that he would simply disappear out of May's life so that she would be more focused on you. If that's not jealousy and selfishness, I don't know what is..."

Ash tried his best to ignore the king, instead concentrating on prying the hand off his throat. "That's nothing like throwing the person I love aside like you did!"

The king narrowed his eyes at Ash before he suddenly started to walk, practically dragging Ash along with him. They reached a door that was painted black. Ash caught a glimpse of the word "Nightmares" written above it in red that the king opened.

"You still need to be taught to learn your place. Maybe a little time in here will given you the insight to learn to keep your mouth shut.” the king said as he tossed Ash into the dark room. Before Ash could open his mouth to protest, the king slammed the door shut, a lock clicking in place. The king stared at the door for the longest moment.

"The brat doesn't know what he is talking about.” he muttered. He lifted a hand to his eyes, his ghostly fingers brushing against what might have been the traces of transparent tears.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was late evening at June's house as May lay on her back on the bed that she had woken up in earlier, her eyes wet with tears. The others had kindly decided to leave her alone. (Well, Max wanted to stay, but Brock had pulled him out)

"Ash...what has happened to you?” she whispered out loud into the dark. She sat up after a moment, deciding that crying wasn't going to get her anywhere.

"Ash...I'll get you back...I promise.” she whispered. A soft knock answered on the door.

"May, if you feel like it, Brock made dinner. But if you don't want to come out, that's fine.” called the voice of her brother.

"No no, I'm coming.” May said as she stood up, somewhat hungry after today's ordeal. After she came out and had sat at the table across from Brock, who was spooning what looked like noodles out of a pot, Brock looked up from what he was doing.

"Good to see that you’re hungry. Don't worry about Ash though. Whatever has gotten into him, we'll be sure to fix it.” he said assuredly, even though there was a small hint of doubt in his voice. May nodded as she lifted a fork full of noodles to her lips.

"Careful, it's hot.” Brock said just as May dropped the fork from the hot noodles making contact with her bruised lips. Brock frowned at her.

"May...are you sure that your lips got that way from the crash?"

May ran a finger across her lips in thought. There seemed to be no point now in keeping it a secret.

"Actually...no."

"Then how did they get that way?"

May's eyes sparkled with tears. "...A-ash."

A gasp echoed across the table from Brock, Max, and Pikachu. She quickly spoke.

"But it wasn't him! It was this spirit that was possessing Ash! That one from Battle Frontier!"

Brock and Max looked deep in thought until Max blurted out, "The king of Poke'lantis?"

"Of course...that's why he came all the way out here. But didn't we get rid of that thing?” Brock asked.

"Somehow he broke free and is using your friend Ash.” said a voice nearby. They turned to see June in the doorway.

"But how did he damage your lips?” asked the ever oblivious Max.

"Did he kiss you?” Brock said suddenly.

The dam that had been holding back May's tears burst as she nodded, not doing anything to stop the flow.

After a moment, Brock spoke again. "He was using your love for Ash to hurt you, right?"

May hiccupped as she looked up at Brock, who looked more serious than he had ever looked in his life. "How did you-"

"It's kind of obvious.” Brock answered.

Max was still looking between the two; unsure of what was going on, not even registering the fact that May was in love with Ash.

"Even I did not believe that our king was capable of things like that, even though he was the one who had gotten us cursed in the first place.” June spoke as she sat down at the table.

"Cursed?” Max asked.

"A long time ago, the king was at war with Ho-oh. Ho-oh punished us by banishing us to the sea.” June explained.

"But why was the king fighting with Ho-oh?"

"That is a bit of a long story..."

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ash slammed his fists against the door. "Open this door right now!” he shouted as he continued to slam his fists. His hands were starting to bleed now. Even though he couldn't see the door in the pitch-black darkness, he could still feel it.

He suddenly heard a laugh behind him, a warm familiar one. Ash turned to see May standing in front of him.

"May..."

She suddenly turned and started to run away and Ash couldn't stop his feet from running after her.

"May, come back!"

"The king used to be at war with neighboring islands and countries that were threatening our kingdom. It considerably drained him of his energy. This was back when he wasn't as cold as he is now. The wars were even causing him to lose distance with April."

"Whose April?"

"The king's lover...my sister."

"Your sister!?"

"Yes...in fact, she looks a lot like you May."

No matter how fast he ran, he couldn't catch up to May. She just seemed to get farther and farther away, but always close enough to where he could still see her.

"May, don't leave...” Ash shouted as he suddenly tripped and fell onto his knees. "Don't...leave me..."

"Back then, my sister was the only person that could see through the king's outer shell. She kept on going on about the kindness she could see. But for me, there was something that I didn't like. What kind of king of royalty falls for a peasant girl? Those kind of things only happen in fairytales, not in real life."

Ash suddenly heard footsteps coming towards him, causing Ash to look up. May was standing over him.

"Imagine my surprise when he asked for her hand in marriage."

May was smiling down at him and she looked like she was about to offer a hand out to him. But before he could accept it, someone else's hand took it first.

The person was Drew.

"And so they married. My sister left to live at the king's palace, to help him rule over our kingdom. I couldn't be more happy for her."

May smiled even wider as she lifted Drew to his feet, completely ignoring Ash. His heart clenched in his chest as May wrapped her arms around Drew's waist.

"But when the wars happened, the king slowly began to distance himself from my sister."

The two pulled each other into a hug that Ash was forced to watch.

"May...I love you."

Ash looked to May, his eyes pleading with her not to say it, his heart screaming in his chest, as he should of been the one to say those words. But May paid him no heed.

"I love you too."

"The king one day became enraged, saying that Ho-oh had forsaken us. He attacked Ho-oh and the two fought a great battle, but of course, no mortal should ever be able to beat a god, but by then, the king wasn't mortal anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"The king displayed powers that no human should ever have. In fact, I believe that he had sought the help of a different god, or one that took advantage of him."

"How do you know that?"

"May, you forget that I can sense auras. The king's aura had mixed with a different god...one that he had entered a pact with, most likely trading his soul for that power, but we'll never really know what he gave up for it."

Ash's heart snapped in two as May and Drew's lips touched, the two of them passionately kissing each other.

"No..."

"Which god did he enter a pact with?"

May seemed to break the kiss and was now looking at Ash. Drew was smirking, his appearance switching between that and the king every few seconds.

"Sorry Ash, but my heart belongs to him.” May said, not sounding sorry at all as the two once more began kissing. Ash sank to his knees as the image of May and Drew together seemed to be burned into his eyes. He couldn't hear or see anything anymore, not even hear the high, cold, inhuman laugh around him. He didn't even lift a finger to stop the black shadowy tendrils that were wrapping around his legs as a figure floated amongst the darkness. It's blue eyes turned red in the dark and in front of the shadowy figure was the king, except that he didn't look as threatening as before. He almost looked lifeless, like a marionette to the shadowy figure.

"Ho-oh's greatest enemy, the god of nightmares...Darkrai."

 

[UltaFlame]

me thinks the king is trying to get Ash to open his eyes, his subconscious knows what he be doing is wrong. but his conscious is ignoring what he knows. he is Darkrai's slave, he knows that, but refuses to admit it. so, he sent Ash to the nightmare door, where he learned of how the king got that way.

Brock knows alot... he knows alot of psychological stuff. they even represent that in the show. which makes sense how he figured out May's situation so easily, and why Max was like, 'whats going on?' throughout the whole thing...

updates only once a month? dang...

 

[Every Heart]

Wow, that's a pretty good guess... *says no more* And it's not really once a month...it's just whenever I have the chapter, which is roughly under a month at most.

.:.Fourteen.:.

The king took a sip of wine from the glass that was poured to him by one of the butlers, sitting at a small table next to a window that allowed him to look out over his kingdom. He had found it hard to believe that he had forgotten about something as simple as the taste of wine, but he blamed it on the fact that this tongue had never tasted wine. He vaguely thought of the repercussions of drinking wine in this body, but then figured that it'll just get handed over to the brat. He almost felt like giving the poor kid a hangover just for the heck of it.

He swilled the wine around in his glass, watching the red liquid swirl around lazily. He hadn't received one mental message from Ash at all since locking him away in that part of his mind, not that he had expected to feel him at all. He had thought that the kid would be a fighter or find a way out, but it seemed not. He wasn't sure if he was happy about that or slightly disgusted at Ash's weakness.

And there was still the matter of those friends of his. Any minute now they would be coming to try to get their dear old brat back. Especially the girl.

He tightened his grip on the wineglass, nearly smashing it. Why did this girl affect him like this? Whenever he had made physical contact with her, it burned his skin. The first time that had happened, it was the first time that he had ever felt pain since being released from his stone prison. It was a problem that had to be dealt with, immediately if possible.

But how? He couldn't physically hurt her without hurting himself, apparently.

Ah, but mental and emotional pain...those were the only ways. But how to damage her heart even more than it was now...

"Your Majesty."

He frowned as he slowly sat his wine glass down, frowning at the guard that had arrived, a Houndoom at its side.

"What was so important for you to disturb me?", the king snapped at him, causing the guard and the Houndoom to flinch.

"We caught intruders in the west wing area. We wish to know what you want done to them?", the guard asked.

"Just toss them over a cliff or something. Or feed them to the Houndooms.", the king suggested as he picked his wine glass up again to take another sip.

"They demand an audience with you."

He lowered his glass again, without looking at the guard anymore. "Well, what do these intruders look like?"

"There's three of them. A girl, a guy, and a Pokemon."

The king turned to look at the guard, carefully considering this. "Fine. Bring them here, but I swear that if this is a waste of my time and patience..."

The guard took the hint as he signaled to some guards that had been standing in the hallway. The king arched an eyebrow in vague surprise as a group of guards tossed in Jessie, James, and Meowth. The group looked slightly ragged, as if they had accidentally fallen asleep in some bushes, which now that the king thought about it, it might explain the twigs sticking out of Jessie's hair.

"Ow! Not so rough!", one of them, he assumed was James, said as they stood up.

"Quiet James!", hissed Jessie as she reached up and removed one of the twigs.

"What do you idiots want?", the king asked, a vein twitching in his forehead.

"Well, we heard about how you hate those twerp friends of yours-", Meowth started to say, but he was interrupted.

"Don't call them that!", he snapped at them coldly, which caused the Team Rocket trio to jump at the sharpness of his tone. "I've gotten sick of your referring to these people as 'twerps' or whatever it is you call them."

"Well, anyway, we wanted to help you out with gettin' rid of them.", Meowth finished, looking to Jessie and James for backup, but the two seemed to be too scared to say anything else.

"I don't need your help with this. Give me a very good reason not to feed you three to the Houndooms.", he said threateningly.

Jessie and James gulped as they looked back over their shoulders at the now snarling Houndooms. Despite the fact that the king was technically shorter than the two of them, he was still quite intimidating...

"We could steal Pikachu for you.", Jessie offered.

The king looked slightly ill at the thought, remembering how the little yellow vermin had shocked his brains out last time.

"Sorry, the offer isn't very tempting.", he said as he signaled to the guards, who were now inching toward the trio. "Guards, take these three to the dungeons to feed to the Houndoom. I don't want blood spatter on my floor."

"Wait, don't!", Jessie screeched as a guard grabbed her from behind.

"I don't want to be dog food!", Meowth yelped as he too was also restrained.

"We'll do anything!", James pleaded.

The king turned to look at James for a moment, remembering his earlier predicament with Ash's friends. His eyes trailed down to the pokeballs fastened onto their belts before suddenly having an idea.

"Release them.", he ordered. The guards immediately let go of the surprised trio. "You say you'll do anything?", he asked. The trio nodded, mostly in fear of getting eaten.

"Then there is something that I want you to steal for me, but it's not the Pikachu..."

-------------------------

Darkrai. The "Pitch-Black" Pokemon. It can lull people to sleep and make them dream. Folklore has it that on moonless nights, it will cause people to see horrific nightmares...

May abruptly shut the book that she was reading. She had borrowed it from June after their discussion. It was an old dog-eared textbook about the legendary gods. After briefly skimming the first few pages of Ho-oh, who in the book was praised as a "god of gods", she had landed on the page of Darkrai. It appeared to be an artist's rendering of the Pokemon, but the artist had never actually seen this Pokemon for itself. It mostly looked like a swirl of darkness with red eyes and clawed hands that reached out toward its sleeping victims.

May closed her eyes, thinking of the king's cold grey eyes for some reason. What she wouldn't give to see Ash's true eyes, his warm brown eyes...

She closed her right hand into a fist. There had to be some way to get Ash back. To help him fight this.

She sat down on the bed, her eyes heavy with sleep, but her mind was in upheaval. There was no way she could sleep tonight. If she listened closely, she could hear the soft breathing of the sleeping people in the household. She couldn't't help but feel a twinge of anger. How could they sleep so soundly when their friend was in danger? But, she supposed, they would need a good night sleep if they were thinking about confronting Ash the next day. But what would they do when they saw him? Who knew what the king was capable of doing...

Darkrai

But was the king a pawn in this strange game as well? Someone who was being used by this Darkrai? In the end, hurting the one that the king had actually felt something for? Or was it only an excuse that the king was using, but if that was the case, why the excuse? For sympathy? To trick them? Had he really thrown away the one he loved to gain power for revenge? June said that in truth, she had not been there when it happened, but now her sister was gone and the only explanation was that it was the king's fault. And did it explain for the way the king acted to her? Because when he looked at May, he saw his dead wife?

The "Pitch-Black" Pokemon

May didn't notice the darkness of the night sky as it cloaked the town in its wake. She could feel the circles growing under her eyes, but she didn't care. She was holding Ash's hat to her chest, like as if it was her lifeline. The bill of the hat was already wet with her tears. What if they couldn't't save Ash in time? And she never got the chance...to tell him...

May glanced out the window, to the woods that ended at the cliff side. For a second...she had heard a voice. But she shook this notion...she was merely tired and now she was hearing things.

It can lull people to sleep and make them dream

May snapped her head up and looked toward the window. She had definitely heard something that time. A voice that seemed to have blended in the winds, but was still there. May stood up from the bed and walked over to the windowsill, still holding Ash's hat to her chest. She leaned her head out, trying to catch the voice again. After a minute of silence, she pulled back. There was nothing there...what was she thinking?

She was about to step away from the window when she heard it again. The voice...it was calling her name. And it sounded familiar.

"Ash?", she asked aloud into the darkness. She didn't get an answer, nor had she expected one. But then...she heard it again. And it was coming from beyond the woods. Without a second thought, she had climbed out of the window and ran toward the cliffs. She didn't even notice that it was a moonless night.

Folklore has it that on moonless nights...

May didn't stop running until she had already passed the trees and was standing in the clearings that were the cliff side. She slowed down as she reached the stone statue that was there. She looked up at the face of April, who despite the fact that in stone she looked sad...there was almost a tiny hint of a smile at the corner of her lips.

"Why...did you fall in love with him?", she couldn't't help but ask aloud.

She didn't receive an answer from the statue. A cool wind suddenly picked up, tearing Ash's hat out of her slackened grip. She panicked as she reached out to catch it, but it moved out of her reach, barely brushing against the tips of her outstretched fingers. May watched as it started to head toward the cliffs. If it swept out into the ocean...

This worry was soon extinguished as a figure at the edge of the cliffs suddenly caught the hat. May stood a few feet from him, puzzled by the figure's sudden appearance. In fact, if she wasn't mistaken...

"So you actually came.", the figure whispered.

"Ash?", she asked. The figure stepped forward. It was indeed Ash, frowning a little as he watched her, his eyes covered by the darkness of the night. She couldn't't help but step closer to him until they were barely a foot away. He didn't step closer to her or back away. May reached a hand out to him.

"Ash?"

Before she could touch his face, he had grabbed her wrist with the hand that wasn't holding the hat and May saw a glimpse of familiar grey eyes.

...it will cause people to see horrific nightmares

"Your voice can no longer reach him where he is.", the king whispered so lowly that she almost didn't catch it.

"You!", she hissed as she struggled to pull her wrist free from his grasp. He suddenly broke into a grin and tightened his hold on her wrist.

"What's the matter? Just a minute ago you were so happy...", he asked with mock concern.

May lifted another fist to try to hit him, but he swiftly caught other wrist, tilting his head to one side, the hat dropping to his feet before being picked up by the wind and falling over the cliff.

"Honestly, I don't know where the brat gets his taste in girls.", he chided, slightly amused at the look of fury that flitted across her face at the remark.

"Why, is it because I remind of you of your dead wife?", May shot back. She was shocked when the king suddenly let go of her, pushing her at the stone statue of April, painfully crashing her back into it.

"My past is none of your concern.", the king hissed at her as she stood back up painfully.

"Why did you do all this? Attacking Ho-oh and getting your wife killed in the process?", May asked.

"We were at war, girl. History is written by the winners, unless its not written at all. Think about it. Why is it that you didn't know anything about this war until coming here? We were losing. Poke'mopolis was in the lead of the arms race-although you can't know how happy I was when I found out that the civilization was wiped out by a giant Gengar and Alakazam. And then Ho-oh turned it's back on us. We were already dying as an empire, so what was one more death compared to saving countless others?", The king explained.

"Even if that one person was your wife?"

"Hold your tongue, wench. Don't speak of things you don't understand.", the king snarled.

"I understand that you are a heartless jerk for throwing away someone you loved for power!"

"And you are any different?"

May stared at him, confused by his statement. "What do you mean by that?"

The king put a hand to his forehead, as if pulling a memory to the front of his brain. "Weren't you leaving Ash to go to Johto so that you could become a stronger trainer? To me, that sounds like the same thing."

"That's nothing like what you did!", May shouted at him.

"You can say that if you want, but you know I'm right.", he said, as he turned away, looking up at the sky.

May found that she could not speak, as if her throat had suddenly closed up. The king seemed to ignore her for a minute or two before turning back around.

"But I didn't come here to talk of things of the past. I come with a proposition.", he said as he approached her. May suddenly found that she couldn't't move her legs, freezing up as he was now within a few inches of her.

"I know what you're thinking. You won't accept any deals I make, is that right?", he asked, which startled May, as that had been exactly what she had been thinking.

"But you want Ash back, right? So you would be willing to do anything to get him back.", he stated simply, so close to her that he was only an inch away from her face.

May found her voice again. "Like what?"

"Come to the palace tomorrow night. Alone. Then we can settle this matter once and for all. And afterwords, I might be inclined to give you back your precious Ash."

May looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean by 'settling this matter once and for all?'"

"You'll see. It's something you don't want to miss, that's for sure. In fact, if you do promise to come tomorrow, then I'll even give you one minute to speak to Ash. Right here, right now."

May's eyes widened at this. "Please, let me talk to him!"

"So you'll agree to come tomorrow?"

"Yes! Now let me talk to him!", she shouted.

The king closed his eyes for a minute, before suddenly opening once more, his grey eyes replaced with familiar brown ones, yet they were slightly glassed over, looking quite sleep deprived. He looked around for a minute, panic setting in.

"W-where am I?"

"Ash?", she asked, hoping to any gods out there that it was really him. He faced her, looking surprised.

"May?", he asked, his eyes widening with disbelief. His voice sounded like it hadn't been used for quite sometime.

"Ash, it is you!", she cried out as she found the movement in her legs again and went to hug him.

"Don't touch me!"

May faltered, looking back up at him, watching as Ash had started to back away from her.

"What's wrong?", she asked.

"It's not real. He's tricking me again. You aren't really her. This is all just some kind of illusion.", he whispered, looking very fearful of her. May could feel tears prickle at the corners of her eyes at this Ash in front of her, a defeated and broken Ash. Now she noticed for the first time how cuts and bruises had appeared over his body and how parts of clothes seemed torn.

"Please Ash, it really is me...you've got to believe me.", she said as she placed a hand on his cheek, which made him visibly stiffen, but then he seemed to relax. After a moment, he looked calmer.

"It really is you. I thought that I was going to be stuck in my own head forever. If that happened, I probably wouldn't be able to continue getting gym badges.", he joked. May gave him a small smile. Even with all this happening, he was still able to joke around.

"Ash, I'm so glad you're ok. I was so worried about you."

"I was worried too. But now everything is o-", Ash suddenly cut off, looking like he was in pain.

"Ash? Ash! Speak to me!", May shouted as she grabbed his shoulders.

"No...not again.", he was muttering to himself. May shook him harder.

"Ash, stay with me!"

"May, I just want you to know that I-", Ash started to say, but then he stopped as his eyes almost seemed to roll into the back of his head before closing.

"Ash?"

His eyes suddenly opened, revealing grey eyes, once more. The bruises and cuts seemed to disappear as well.

"I hope that you had a very enlightening conversation.", the king said, a small smirk playing on his lips.

"What did do you to him!?"

"Let's just say that he saw a few things that he shouldn't have seen.", he replied simply. "Eventually it will only get worse and he will never have a sense of reality or imagination ever again. Heck, he may not even have a mind when this is over."

Darkness started to swirl around the two and everything around them was being pulled into it, until it was only the two of them.

"I'll be waiting.", he whispered as he disappeared into the darkness, leaving only her behind.

"Come back here! I'm not finished with you yet! Ash!!"

-------------------------

May sat upright, panting hard. Looking around, she discovered that she was back in the guest room of June's house. She shakily raised a hand to her head, trying to recall what had happened, her other hand still closed around Ash's hat. Had she been dreaming?

No...Ash had been in it...she had even talked to him...and the monster that had been possessing him...

She turned on the lamp next to her, picking up one of the pokeballs that she had brought with her.

Yes, she would come to the palace. But the king would be getting a fight in return. If he really expected for her to play his sick game, then he was in for a surprise.

But what she didn't notice was that a few of the pokeballs were missing.

--------------------------

The king twirled a pokeball on his index finger, pleased with his handiwork. How idiotic could the girl be? To think that he wouldn't expect something like this of her, that she would think of challenging him to a battle. After all, when invading a person's waking dreams, you could see their mind like an open book. Admittedly, he had been slightly hesitant about letting her talk to Ash, after finding him in the darkest depths of his mind, but for all the either of them knew, the conversation never took place.

"I look forward to fighting you, dear May...", he chuckled to himself in the dark, as a streetlight outside splashed it's light across the window, illuminating a lunar calender that was laying in front of the king.

Tommorow there was to be an eclipse...

-------------------------

Ash blinked, seeing that he was once again lost in the darkness that spread around him, stretching on forever and ever. He placed a hand to his cheek, wondering if he had finally lost it and had imagined the whole thing. It seemed like a blur, one minute he had been wandering around, the next he had been pulled out into the real world, but as quickly as it had come, it had gone, and all the details of what took place were draining away from his memory. The only thing he could remember was a few fragments of May. He had questioned if this had been a trick, and now he still wasn't too sure. But then, for the first time since being stuck in his own mind, he smiled.

Even the king couldn't fake something like the warmth of her hands.

(AN: I was going to end it right here, but I couldn't help but add this next bit!)

-------------------------

Meanwhile, there was an event taking place at New Moon Island.

Deep within the forest, a lone puddle that nearly covered the entire forest floor sat. It was always a mystery why this puddle was there, one that no one had ever found an answer to. The only explanation that people could give was that when it rained, there wasn't a way to successfully drain all the water. And yet, it didn't explain why it never simply evaporated.

A ripple suddenly formed in the middle, spreading out until the entire puddle was shaking. A reflection of a black creature was visible, a figure with blue eyes that were as blue as the puddle itself. Even though it's mouth wasn't moving, a single word escaped the puddle.

Finally...

At the same time, not too far from New Moon Island, was Full Moon Island.

Unlike New Moon Island, it was similar except that the puddle in the forest was in a distorted shape of a crescent moon. And unlike the figure in the puddle, this figure was sleeping over top of the crescent puddle. It had flourecent veil-like wings that curved at an angle similar to a crescent moon. It's head looked like a moon split in half, curving it's bird-like face. The creature opened it's eyes, which were a bright ruby color. But they looked alarmed, as if sensing a powerful danger approaching.

"There's something strange...an odd taste in the air."

"It's him, isn't it?"

The creature turned to look at the ghostly girl that had appeared at it's side. The girl had long brown hair that framed her pale face, in contrast to her bright pink dress and her green eyes. And yet, she was see-through, as the forest background could be seen behind her. The creature considered her carefully before speaking.

"I'm afraid it is. I never thought that he would come back. Not after what Ho-oh did.", the Pokemon said, it's wings shaking a little.

"...What should we do?", the girl asked. Her voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere far away.

"Hopefully Ho-oh has sensed the danger as well. But because of the eclipse tommorow, Ho-oh will be much weaker. I may have to step in and intervene, seeing as how I'm the only other one that has the power to stop him."

"But the new moon weakens you as well. And it is a factor in the eclipse tommorow. And besides, are you sure that you will be able to go against him, Cresselia? Because you loved him?"

To the girl's surprise, the Pokemon chuckled.

"I could say the same to you, April..."

But the girl smiled.

"The only difference is that I still love him."