The Dark Reign of Cipher

Chapter 1

It was a normal day in the Johto Region where a young brunette coordinator named May was walking through a forest on her way to her next contest in Goldenrod City. She wore a red sleeveless blouse with black biker shorts, short black socks, red running shoes, and a green bandana with a white pokeball insignia on her head. arounder her waist was her green phanypack which contained her pokeballs along with her other possesions. In her arms was a small sleeping fox pokemon called Eevee. She was traveling through the Johto Region on her own trying to become a top coordinator. It was around noon and the young coordinator was starting to feel hungry.

"I guess we should take a lunch break, what do you say eevee?" May said to the fox pokemon in her arms when her stomache growled, waking the pokemon.

"Eevee!" the pokemon agreed with her trainer. Eevee quickly jumped out of May's arms and started to walk besides May while she got some water from a nearby river. She started to prepare some food for herself and set out bowls of pokemon food and water for her pokemon.

"Alright everyone! Come on out!" she said as she threw three pokeballs into the air. They burst open to reveal a blazekin, who picked up its food and ate quietly before leaning up against a tree to take a nap, a young squirtle who ate its food quickly so that it could go play in the nearby river, and a hungry munchlax who ate all of its food in one bite and was looking around for more food, until May gave him some of her Pink Surprise pokeblock. May's fourth pokemon, eevee, was eating its food peacefully with its trainer, listining to her talk. "If we keep going at this pace, we should arrive in Goldenrod City before tomorrow night, there we can get my next ribbion and move one step closer to the Grand Festival!" she said almost leaping in the air with confidence.

"Eee," the eevee said giving may a smile, then her ears shot up as she heard somthing from behind the bushes. May, hearing the noise as well rose to her feet and looked ing the general direction of the noise. her other pokemon didn't seem to notice, except for blazekin who was enjoying his nap until he woke up.

"Drew! If thats you in there, leave me alone! If i told you once, i've told you a thousand times, I will not travel with you and Harley," She said half expecting it to be Drew considering that he has been following her since she beat him in the Violet City Contest. much to her surprise however, instead of Drew coming out of the bushes, a small pokemon with a green helmet and red horns came out. May quickly pulled out her pokedex and flipped it open to learn more about the pokemon that just revealed itself.

"Ralts, the feeling pokemon, ralts can sense the emotions of people with the horns on its head, it rarely shows itself to humans," the pokedex said in a cool voice. The ralts just stood there staring at May curiously before shifting its gaze to the food that she was eating.

"I bet you're hungery aren't you?" May asked the ralts. It nodded its head. "Well then, come here and have some yummy pokemon food!" she said smiling and signaled the ralts to come closer. as it came closer, May got another bowl out of her pack and filled it with pokemon food setting it infront of the ralts. "Are you lost out here? I didn't think that ralts lived all the way out here." 'this acually reminds me of that ralts that Max found when we were traveling in Hoeon with Brock and Ash,' May thought to herself, but when she thought about Ash, she felt sad for some reason. 'why do i feel so sad? I mean i miss Ash and Brock, but why dose it hurt so much to think about Ash?'

The ralts looked up at May, sensing her feelings, it tried to cheer her up. "Ralts ralts ral alts ralts," it said to the bummed out trainer. May looked at the ralts, wondering what it meant.

"Eee vee eevee ee," eevee added trying to help cheer May up, which worked, soon a smile erupted on her face and she picked the two pokemon up and hugged them tightly, eevee, already being acustumed to this found it enjoyable as it cooed with delight, but ralts on the other hand was not used to such a tight embrace and was soon finding it hard to breathe.

"hey ralts, do you want to come with us?" May asked the ralts with a smile. The ralts nodded and may took out an empty pokeball and touched ralts on the top of the head with it. The ralts turned red and disapeared into the ball which started to shake, but soon became still with a "ding" sound. "Alright! i caught me a ralts!" she said to no one in particular. I gatta tell max about this! he'll freak out knowing I caught a ralts while he is too young to go get the one he was gunna get! Then i'll tell Ash, he would probly like it too, that and i wanna talk to him for a bit considering i haven't seen him in a while. Oh i hope he hasn't gotten a girl friend while we have been apart! No, thats impossible, Ash is way too dense take any kind of hint from a girl...' May thought to herself.

As she pulled out her pokenav to call home and gloat to her brother about her new pokemon, ralts appeared out of its ball and walked over to its new trainer next to eevee who was napping on her lap. She dialed her home phone number and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello? Oh! Hi May! how is Johto sweety? Got any new ribbions to show us?" Caroline, May's mom. asked.

"Hi Mom! Its great! and no, i don't have any new ribbions, but i do have this cutey right here!" May replied while holding ralts up to the small screen. The ralts simply turned its head to its side in confusion, wondering how a person could fit inside the strange device.

"Awwww its absolutly adorable!" Caroline said. "Just wait till I tell your brother, he is going to be so jealous"

"Speaking of Max, how is he?"

"He is doing just fine! After you left for johto, your brother started helping your father around with the gym, and me around the house! Needless to say, your father and I are so proud!" A sound could be heard from across the phone, it sounded like a door opening and then shutting. "Oh May, your father just got home, would you like to talk to him?"

"Yeah! sure!" May said excitedly.

Caoline handed the phone to Norman, May's father and also the Gym Leader of Petalburg City. "May! Good to see you! I take it things are going well in Johto? and I see you've caught yourself a ralts! Norman said.

"Yup! and I can't wait to get to Goldenrod City and win my next contest!" an enthusiastic May replied

Norman nodded,"Are you going to enter your new ralts in the contest? After all, Hoeon pokemon are very rare in Johto."

"Hmmm, maybe, but i think ralts be too young for contests right now. Maybe after a bit of practice...." May said while rolling the thought over in her head.

"Well, its up to you sweety, and i wish you the best of luck!"

"Thanks daddy!" May replied and hung up the phone. She then dialed Ash's home phone and hoped that he hasn't left an another journey. When someone finally picked up the phone, May was not surprised to see who was on the other side of the line. "Hi Miss K.!" May said.

"Hello May, how many times do i have to tell you, just call me Delia," Delia said with a large smile and a light giggle.

"That would just seem too wierd, Miss K., haha, is Ash there?" May asked with a hint of embarassment and a light blush on her face. Delia's smile slowly vanished.

"Oh, im sorry dear, he left a few days ago, but I got him a pokenav before he left so theres no excuse from him not to be able to call once in a while," Delia said with a wink. "Do you want me to give you his number dear?"

"Yes please!" May answered with a large smile.

"Alright then, im sure he'll be happy to talk to you, hes told me so much about you, in fact I think he likes you," Delia said. She noticed how red May's face turned when she mentioned that, and it made her giggle. 'Awe, my little Ashy has a girlfriend, and she seems like such a sweet girl too' Delia thought to herself. She gave May the number to his pokenav and told her to feel free to stop by once in a while.

'Is what she said true? Dose Ash acually have feelings for me? What did he say about me?' May thought to herself. "Well, time to call Ash and tell him all about you!" May said to the little ralts on lap. She dialed Ash's number and prayed that he pick up.

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Ash had left to travel through a new area called the Sinnoh Region. Ash was sitting on the ground with his trusty pikachu next to him, he was wearing a black vest with yellow stripe across the middle, he had baggy jeans on, a pair of running shoes, and his cap which had a pokeball insignia on the front. His dream was to become a pokemon master. His trusty pikachu had yellow fur, two brown stripes on its back, a lightning shaped tail which was brown at the base, he had two pointy ears that were black at the top and two pouches that contained its large electrical charge on its cheecks. Sitting next to him was a large dark skined man with dark clothes and pointy dark hair. He was sitting over a small fire watching a large pot of stew he was cooking. His name was Brock, and he dreamed of becoming the world's greatest breeder. Next to Brock was a young girl with blue hair, a pink and black shirt, a pink skirt, and pink boots. Her name was Dawn, she just recently became a pokemon trainer and her dream was to become a top coordinator.

"Brock, is lunch ready yet?" Ash asked as his stomache started growling fiercely.

"Hold on Ash, its almost done, why don't you go an get some water, and Dawn you can gather more firewood," Brock said to the two trainers as he handed Ash a couple canteens, which Ash took, and pointed twards the woods were Dawn, who was complaining about having to get up, could get firewood.

"I don't see why I have to go get firewood, Ash was the one who was hungry" an annoyed Dawn said.

"But your the one who is complaining, Dawn, we all do our fair share, that way, everything gets done faster." Brock said without shifting his gaze from the stew. "Besides, the stew will be done soon and this gives you a chance to find other pokemon"

"well, when you put it that way..." Dawn said in a defeated tone. Everyone laughed, except Dawn who sighed and walked away to get firewood with her piplup. While walking in the woods she gathered some sticks, twigs and a few dry leaves for the fire by the time she got back she saw that Brock and Ash had already let their pokemon out so they could eat lunch as well. Dawn felt somewhat betrayed that they started without her, but as she got closer, she say that nobody had gotten any food yet.

"Ah, Dawn, just in time for some good old fashioned home made Brock Stew, let me tell you, Brock is one great chef," Ash said as he noticed Dawn returning with some firewood.

"Is it really that good?" Dawn asked.

"I wouldn't say its great, but everyone else seems to like it," Brock said while handing Dawn a bowl of stew. Dawn ate some of the stew and a smile appeared on her face.

"This stuff is absolutly amazing Brock! You should get your own cooking show!" Dawn suggested to Brock while he blushed from the compliment. "No seriously, you and my mom should swap recipes once in a while."

"You really think so?" Brock asked.

"I think thats a great Idea," Ash added.

"Pi pikachu," pikachu said. Everyone broke out laughing and then began to eat their lunch, and break into conversation.

"So Dawn, why do you wanna become a top coordinator?" Ash asked.

"Probly because of my mom, she was a coordinator back in the day and I want to follow in her foot steps, in fact, she even gave me one of her ribbions for good luck," Dawn said as she pulled out an old eibbion.

"Thats really cool, so you decided to become a coordinator on your own?" Brock asked.

"Yup!" Dawn replied with a large smile. "Do you guys have anything that give you confidence?"

"I have pictures and notes from my family back home," said Brock.

"Cool, what about you Ash?" Dawn asked.

"Well, I... uhh, I half a ribbion," Ash said as he pulled out his Terracota Ribbion Half.

"Half a ribbion? Whats so special about that?" Dawn asked.

Ash looked away, Brock noticed this and said, "Its not about the ribbion, but rather who has the other half." 'Poor guy, I think he is still upset with May leaving. He may be able to hide it, But he can't hide it from me or any of his other good friends, we all see the pain he suffers,' Brock thought to himself while still looking at Ash.

"May," Ash wispered to himself. 'I wonder if she's ok? I wonder if she misses me as much as I miss her, Bah! what do I care, she's probly with Drew right now.' At the thought of Drew, Ash grew angry. 'But, for some reason I do care, but why? Do I like May? She is my Best Friend, well, human friend at least, or, is it somthing more?'

"Um, Ash? Are you ok?" Dawn asked giving Ash a worried look.

"What? Oh! Im fine, never better!" Ash lied. Ash's sweat dropped and he began scratching the back of his head with a nervous chuckle.

"If you say so," Dawn said, she wasn't convinced. "So who is this May person anyway?"

"Im not hungry anymore," Ash said in a sad tone and walked off to go wash his bowl. Dawn gave him a worried glace, but he ignored her. Pikachu, sensing his trainer's emotions followed Ash, in an attempt to cheer him up. Brock just sighed, he knew what Ash was going through, everyone seemed to know about ash's feelings towards May except for Dawn, because she just recently meet Ash, and May, because she was almost as dense as Ash was.

"Was it somthing I said?" Dawn asked Brock. Brock sighed again.

"Dawn, I gatta tell you somthing about Ash, and May..." Brock started as he told the young girl how ash and May met and how they became best friends, and even how they eventually developed feelings for each other. He even told her how Ash and May were so afraid of ruining their friendship that they never told each other how they felt, but how they both told Brock.

"So, those two have a crush on each other, but are too afraid to confess to each other?"

"yup, but theres more, May is afraid that Ash may have feelings for Misty, an old traveling companion of ours, and Ash is afraid that May has feelings for her rival Drew, in fact, Ash saw her decision to go to Johto alone as an excuse to be with Drew, which isn't true."

"I see, so thats why he got all upset, poor guy, I feel bad for him." Dawn looked in the direction that Ash walked off in. "Ohh i got an idea," Dawn gave and evil smirk.

"I don't like the look on your face Dawn..." Brock said half scared.

"Don't worry, all I need is May's pokenav number," Dawn said tapping her chin.

"Sorry Dawn, I don't have it," Brock said with a disapointed tone.

"Are you kidding me!! How are we gunna get them together if you don't have her number!?" Dawn yelled at Brock.

"Get who together?" Ash asked as he returned with his washed bowl. Pikachu was on his shoulder, and his sweat dropped. with his sensitive hearing he was able to hear Dawn's entire plan.

"Ohh nothing Ash," Dawn said nervously waving a hand in front of her face trying to act innocent.

"Right..." Ash said. he was about to sit down next to them when he froze in shock.

"Ash? Are you ok?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, its just my pokenav," Ash said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small yellow device.

"Since when did you have a pokenav?" Brock asked ash.

"Since my mom thought I should have one so I can always keep in contact," Ash answered. 'Hmm, I wonder who it could be, I thought only my mom and Profesor Oak had the number, and this isn't either of them...' "Hello?" he spoke into the match call module on the pokenav.

"Hey Ash!" a sweet, gentle voice replied.

'Its May!' Ash thought. "Hey May! hows Johto going for you?" Ash spoke to the brunette trainer on the small video screen. "Got any ribbions yet?"

"Yeah its great and I did manage to get one ribbion so far!" May said as she held up the ribbion she won at Violet city in front of her face. "Get any badges yet?" she asked back.

"No, not yet," Ash said with a hint of disapointment in his voice. 'I wonder if she caught any new pokemon yet,' "So how many new pokemon get you catch so far?"

"Well, acually, I did get one new pokemon so far," She replied, and then moved her pokenav so Ash could see her new pokemon.

"Wow May! You caught a ralts? last time I saw one of those was back in Hoeon with Max," Ash said.

"I know, isn't she cute! Im thinking about entering her in my next contest, but we're gunna need to work on alot before she is ready." May said.

"I bet Max is jealous, you catch a ralts, and he still isn't old enough to get the one he promised he would come back for" Ash said with a large grin.

"Oh I know, I can't wait till he finds out, ohh I just wish I could see the look on his face," May said with a giggle. "Ash, I've missed you guys so much, we gatta see each other soon!"

"You bet!" Ash said, nodding in agreement. Pikachu lept onto Ash's shoulder so he could see May As well.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu exclaimed.

"Good to see you too pikachu" May said with a smile. "So Ash, now that you have my number, you better call once in a while," she said looking at him seriously.

"Yeah s-sure!" Ash said with a blush appearing on his face. "Oh, and speaking of numbers, how did you get mine?" Ash asked out of confusion.

"Oh, a girl has her ways," may said with a wink. "And Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Your mom asked me to remind you to change your "you know what" everyday!" May said with a smile while sticking her tounge out playfully.

Ash could feel his face heat up with embarasment, this caused May to break out laughing, and soon Ash followed and laughed as well. Soon however, May said she had to go, which made Ash a little sad.

"Aw, don't worry Ash, i'll keep in contact," She said, and with that she hung up.

"So who was that Ash?" Dawn asked, even though she already knew.

"Oh, it was just May, nothing special" Ash answered, with a light blush appearing on his face before he shook it off. But Dawn already noticed it.

"Right," Dawn said playfully 'It seems that this May girl keeps dropping hints, but Ash is too dense to pick up on them,'

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'That Ash, still as dense as usual,' May thought to herself, it was just then that she realised she was laying down in the grass and that eevee was introducing ralts to the other pokemon. 'But thats alright, he pulls it off in a cute way,' May giggled at the thought. She was snapped from her thoughts as she noticed her blazekin rising to its feet staring off in the distance. when she turned to see what he was staring at, she couldn't belive her eyes.

Maybe a mile or two away from where they were, a giant pillar of green light shone, it rose from the ground to the clouds, and its light was bright enough for someone to think that it was a reflection of light from the sun. May got on her feet and started packing up. She recalled her pokemon and started towards the light. Her curiosity kept her moving, with a burning desire to find its source. after all, large pillars of light were not a common sight.

about four minutes into her new walk she noticed that the beam faded away, so she broke into a run. As she was running a pokemon popped out of its ball and found itself sitting on may's shoulder.

"Ralts?" it asked. wondering why its trainer was running.

"Eve eevee, vee vee ee," eevee said from May's other shoulder. The ralts nodded and started to use its psychic powers to try and find the source, May noticed this and let ralts steer her in the right direction. Eventually, she came upon the spot where the light was, but what she found almost brought a tear to her eye.

There was a large circle about 10 yards in diameter of burnt soil and in the middle was a young man with several cuts and brusies holding an injured pokemon in his arms. leaning over the boy was a gardevoir, she was trying to wake the boy up while one of her hands was shinning and she was waving it over the boy. As soon as May took a step closer, the gardevoir shot its eyes up to meet her eyes head on, May could see tears in the pokemon's eyes. May carefully and calmly approached the boy with tears building up in her eyes as the horrors were revealed to her eyes. among the boy's various cuts and brusies, the worst was a deep gash that streached from his left shoulder to the right side of his waist. May saw what the gardevoir was trying to do, it was using its powers to try and heal the boys wounds, but it knew that he was going to die if he didn't get medical attention.

"Gardvoir, he needs to see a doctor," May said in a sad tone. 'Oh my gosh! what happened, It looks like he was almost torn in half, at least the pokemon aren't as badly injured.' That was true, the small green pokemon in the boy's arms had only a few brusies, but it was too scared to leave his arms. The gardevoir had a few more brusies, but nothing serious. 'Is he gunna live long enough to make it to the hospital?'

"Where is the closest hospital?" It took May a moment to realise that the gardevoir used its telepathy to talk to May.

"That would be the pokemon center at Goldenrod City, but thats at least a day away," May said. The gardevoir looked at her with slightly irritated look and grabbed one of May's arms with one hand and placed the other on the top of the boy's head. May felt uneasy as she realised she wasn't in the woods anymore but rather just outside of Goldenrod City. She realised that gardevoir had just teleported them, but it took alot out of the pokemon as it almost fell over in exhaustion.

May, seeing how close they were to the city got out a pokeball, "Go blazekin!" she shouted, the red blaze pokemon made its enterence and turned twards the trainer for instructions. "Blazekin, i need you to take this boy to the pokemon center now! We'll meet up with you when we get there," she said trying to support the tired gardevoir. Blazekin understanding the urgencey picked up the boy and sprinted towards town.

"Eevee," eevee said in a sad voice with its ears down.

"I don't know eevee, I just don't know," May said looking at the little fox pokemon. Her ralts jumped off her shoulder and tried to lift the gardevoir, but couldn't manage to lift it up. "Good thinking ralts, we gatta get moving." May wrapped her arm around the gardevoir and lifted it up and started to carry it towards the pokemon center.

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"So Ash, what did May talke about?" Brock asked the trainer. Brock had a grin on his face and Ash knew exactly why.

"It wasn't "that" kind of talk Brock, it was a simple chat, she wanted to say hi, and check up, thats all," Ash said. 'At least I think thats all.' "pikachu, what am I gunna do? if I don't act soon im sure she will fall for Drew, and then i'll lose her forever, what am I gunna do?" he asked his pikachu.

"Pi pika pika pikachu!" the electic mouse replied.

"Yeah, your right, I know! i'll tell her how I feel tonight!" Ash said with a bunch of confidence. Pikachu nodded his head in return.

"I knew it! You do like May!" the young blunette said. Ash sighed, he knew he was caught and that there was no way to get out of it. "Wow, you look like Paul. Don't worry, im gunna help you talk to May about your feelings!" Dawn said with a cheery smile.