This is a little later then I had hoped for but that's my own fault for not getting myself into gear and proofing the chapter when it was ready.

Chapter 46

Dangers and Deadlines

"What do you mean getting worse?" Ash asked a seriousness entering his voice that May had never heard before. She watched as his body language changed before her eyes, he sat straighter, his eyes sharpened and a tenseness filled his posture filled his posture, like her was ready to react to a threat directly in front of him.

"We've managed to get an answer for the question you asked Lorelei while you were on Seafoam. The Pokémon that were lashing out were those thought to be the strongest and oldest of their species, this includes Manaphy as until this little one appeared the species was thought to be extinct. This, as yet, unidentified malady is worrying. It seems to have struck each of the Legendary Pokémon during a similar time window, the way it has struck and with how Legendary Pokémon rarely, if ever, interact with each other outside of the known groups such as Regirock, Regice, Registeel and Regigigas it practically rules out a biological source. If they do interact then it is usually a sign of a cataclysmic disaster, Shamouti and Alamos are examples that come straight to mind. Whatever it is that is afflicting doesn't seem to be anything natural, the different types of Legendary Pokémon and environments they are found in are too varied the only common factor is the fact that they are Legendary Pokémon. The way this has affected the Legendary Pokémon seems to be the same though to different severities, Mew was lashing out at the people of Rota, Zapdos retreated to the mountains by the power plant attacking anything that came close, Articuno seems to have been flying aimlessly until the Contest drew her attention and Manaphy attacked the cruise ship with an army of water type Pokémon." Warren paused to let Ash, May and Sabrina take in this information.

"Ash, having taken part and been the solution to the situations so far in Kanto involving Mew, Articuno, Zapdos and Manaphy, you are the expert on the situation and all the resources of the G-Men are at your beck and call. Lance would also like to have a report on the encounter you had with an unconfirmed Pokémon roughly a week's travel outside of Vermillion City headed towards Saffron City which from the reactions of the nearby Pokémon and a few eyewitness accounts bears all the hallmarks of another encounter with this,…I suppose disease would be the best way to describe it."

"I'll…think about sending a report, it's a…delicate situation." Warren studied Ash's face in an attempt to work out what he was hiding for a few second then lazily shrugged.

"If that's what you need to do then there's nothing I can do to change that. Other avenues are being looked into, that is part of the reason I allowed Sabrina to attend this meeting."

"Allowed?" Sabrina said in a tone that was hard to decipher. It seemed to be annoyance, a smug undertone and a hint of disgust. "If natural means have been discounted the other types of means should be taken into account too. It is entirely possible that this may be the result of a psionic virus of some sort or even a targeted attack. When Lance contacted me and asked for my help I started investigating, so far I haven't found anything but I have only just started and thanks to Ash's actions most of the Legendary Pokémon on Kanto's mainland have been cleansed. The only way I could fully try to determine what this…affliction is, would be to link my mind to an affected Pokémon. Doing that would come with the risk of my possibly being affected also, and I'm sure that is something people don't want to happen." Sabrina's eyes briefly settled on Warren causing him to clear his throat nervously and straightened his tie before he spoke again.

"Anyway, to answer your original question, as of," Warren paused to lift his jacket sleeve away from his watch. "an hour and a half ago G-Men intelligence confirmed that it is no longer just the eldest of each Legendary species being affected by this phenomenon." Warren let the implications hang in the air. "The Legendary Birds around Shamouti are starting to act out, we've received reports of a Latias randomly appearing out of thin air in Altomare, people losing time around Ilex Forest and aircraft having close encounters with Rayquaza. This is affecting the entire world, not just the Kanto Region. So far we've haven't heard of their being any attacks by these Pokémon but I fear it is only a matter of time before they attack each other, anything that comes too close or the nearest settlement." Reaching into his nearby briefcase and taking out a thin file, Warren held it towards Ash. "This is a summary of everything we know so far, study it and remember that if you need anything the G-Men will get it for you. Lance told me that you were better with paper then a digital copy."

"I dropped one computer helping move some evidence and he won't let me forget it. He still got all the information of it no problem, there's no need for him to keep making people bring it up." Ash grumbled as he took the file.

While all of this was being said May just sat watching, there was something else that had peaked her interest though. The way Warren and Sabrina were acting, it made her feel as though they had some sort of history between them and while she wanted to know, it probably wasn't the time or place to do so.

There are no sordid details if that's what you may be thinking. Sabrina's voice echoed in May's mind. The brunette flinched at the unexpected statement and managed to suppress the startled squeak that threatened to come out of her mouth. Looking at Sabrina from the corner of her eye May saw that the Gym Leader wasn't looking at her, just keeping track of where Ash and Warren's conversation was going. Warren challenged my Gym when we were both younger, during my…less then pleasant days, I happened to pick up some of his less then appropriate thoughts about me and, well I had to teach him a lesson. I'm afraid I came close to breaking his mind before putting him back together, he's been apprehensive around me since then. I would apologise but I doubt it would do anything to alleviate his fears and having those sorts of thoughts aren't exactly polite, are they? May watched as a small smirked flickered across Sabrina's lips as the Psychic quickly glanced in her direction.

"Ash, just out of curiosity how would you describe your…interactions with this phenomenon?" Warren asked.

"It's…it's hard to put into words. I could feel whatever it is that's affecting the Pokémon, but it's a mix of emotions. There was worry, fear, something like sickness and one other thing, I really don't know how to describe it. Whatever it was just didn't… feel comfortable."

"That tells us something and nothing at the same time." Warren sighed. "I won't deny that I was hoping for something definitive but there isn't really anything helpful in what you've just told me."

"To you maybe." Sabrina said. "From the perspective of a psychic it is very informative, I would need to consult Anabel to confirm my suspicions as emotions are not my forte but if my theory is correct then this may be a psionic phenomenon which could eventually affect all Pokémon in the world."

"Shouldn't something like that affect weaker Pokémon first?" May said, speaking for the first time since entering the room. "I mean, shouldn't Legendary Pokémon be more resistant to something then a normal Pokémon? Mew was the first Legendary Pokémon we encountered and if this is something that is affecting minds then wouldn't a powerful psychic type like Mew be more likely to stop it from taking over?"

"Well, I'm glad to see you're more than just a pretty face Miss Maple." Warren said before shrinking back into his chair when the glowing eyes of Ash and Sabrina glared at him. "S-Sabrina, thoughts?"

"May does have a point, Mew was the first reported to be showing symptoms of whatever we're combating and should've been able to shrug off anything other than the most powerful psionic problems. The fact that so far the average Pokémon are not affected to any noticeable degree, could point to a targeted attack which in turn leads us to the question of who would profit and/or benefit from such a situation."

"If the source is biological or chemical then the people to gain the most would be those that could produce a cure. Medical companies are the most likely suspects in that case."

"Can't rule out people like Team Rocket and Team Galactic either." A male voice came from the doorway.

"I was wondering when you were going to make your presence known."

"Sabrina, always a pleasure to see you."

"Lance."

"Cold as always, good to know you haven't changed." The Johto Champion said as he walked into the room.

"Egotism and overconfidence still follow you like a bad smell, you haven't changed in the least either." Sabrina retorted causing Lance to chuckle as he leant on the wall so he could see everyone in the room.

"Lance, I thought you were going to allow me to deal with this meeting?" Warren said.

"I am, but with the stakes rising with no sign of stopping I thought I'd better be here to at least listen in rather than getting the report." Lance replied before he turned to Ash. "Ash. Nice to see you face to face again. Miss Maple, it's a pleasure to see you too, I do hope you're keeping Ash out of trouble."

"I try to do what I can sir." May replied as everyone ignored Ash's pouting.

"There's no need to call me Sir, Miss Maple. Just call me Lance."

"In that case, call me May."

"Well then May, let me congratulate you on getting all the Contest Ribbons you need to compete in the Grand Festival."

"How did…?"

"Ash was one of my best operatives before he decided to take a break and retake the Indigo League."

"Operative?" Ash said, "We've been over this Lance, I work with the G-Men. Not for them, I don't mind helping out when you need me to but I'm not joining. There's a reason the files say I'm a consultant."

"Can't blame me for trying." Noticing something from the corner of his eye Lance looked at Sabrina. "Care to explain the smirk on you face?"

"From what I've read in the files and gleaned from the various stories that seem to revolve around Ash, there's only one job he could have if he joined the G-Men." She replied.

"And that job would be?"

"Why yours of course, it seems that Ash was doing the job of the G-Men for years with his friends before you approached him with the offer of joining. If even half of what the stories say is to be believed then he's been doing a better job of it then your people could." Lance's face hardened as he levelled a glare at the Psychic. "You should know by now it's impossible for you to intimidate me Lance. Now how about we gloss over the damaged ego and attempts at displaying dominance to return to the business that has brought us together?" Lance continued to glare at Sabrina, who took it with a smirk, before sighing. "Very well. Ash, may go over everything you've experienced from the beginning and don't leave out anything, even the small details you don't think are important. To stop this phenomenon we need all the information we can get."

With that said, Ash and May recounted their encounters with the affected Legendary Pokémon and with permission from the Seafaring Pokémon, Sabrina looked into Manaphy's mind to try and get some sort of idea of what the Legendary Pokémon were feeling.

Their meeting went on for a while longer as various theories were discussed before Lance called an end to it saying he had some other matters to attend to. Ash and May made their way back to the Ketchum residence in silence holding hands while they processed all that they had heard. Lance had pushed for Ash to explain the incident outside of Vermillion a few times but Ash stubbornly refused to say anything about it other than it was a delicate situation.

Entering the house and telling Delia that Warren had wanted to meet them Ash went to his room to start looking through the file he'd been given. Being the perceptive woman that she was, as well as his mother, Delia knew that Ash was hiding something from her but let it lie. She did trust him after all. May made a quick call to Professor Oak's Lab to check on Flaffy and was happy to hear that the electric type was feeling a lot better now, there was a small part of May that suspected that this had been a ruse to make Wartortle take part in the Contest but she didn't have anything to prove it except.

After ending her call, May and Delia made some idle conversation while doing a little cleaning, talking about general plans for where Ash and May were intending to travel next and how they were going to prepare for the Grand Festival and Indigo Conference.

Ash was laying on his bed reading the file Warren had given him and trying to make sense of the information in front of him. As he muttered under his breath, Pikachu was busying himself by investigating the various things underneath Ash's bed. The Mouse Pokémon gripped the side of a shoebox in his mouth and slowly managed to drag it out so he could look in it properly. Flipping the lid off in side was a collection of marbles, squeaking in delight Pikachu started to take a few out so he could play with them while Ash was busy. Tipping the box on to its side took a bit of doing due to the weight of the marbles but after a couple of tries he managed to knock it over and was about to start playing with them but paused when a particular one caught his eye. Moving the other marbles away from it Pikachu sniffed it and gave it a small shock, he rolled the marble on to his tail and flicked it up onto the bed.

"Pika!"

"Pikachu, I'm kind of busy right now. I can't play with you." Ash said, not looking away from the file in his hands. Huffing in annoyance Pikachu jumped onto the bed and knocked the file out of Ash's hands. "What was that for?"

Pikachu didn't reply, only picking up the marble and throwing it at Ash's face. Instinctively catching it Ash was about to get angry when he felt a small spark in his hand, slowly opening his hand to look at the marble he was surprised to see it was actually something that could be very useful.

"Good find buddy." Ash smiled, rubbing Pikachu's head. "I never would've thought of looking under my bed for a Keystone. Wonder how long it's been there." Ash shrugged. "Now I just need to find something to hold this and something else to hold the Lucarionite." Pikachu nuzzled into Ash's hand before picking up the file and holding it out to the young Aura Guardian. "You're right, I've got work to do. I'll ask Professor Oak about it later." Taking the file and settling back into a comfortable position, Pikachu lay next to Ash looking to take a nap when Ash spoke again. "Maybe I need a Pokémon's perspective, want to help me out buddy?" With a shrug Pikachu moved to sit on Ash's shoulder.

A couple of hours later Ash left his room, rubbing his eyes. He'd been through the file a few times but couldn't make any sense of what was happening even with a Pokémon's perspective. From what he could gather there wasn't anything strange found in the environment around the affected Pokémon's suspected lairs, no strange signals detected during the times of the attacks electrical or otherwise and there were no appearance of suspicious people or any sudden disappearances of people in the area to suggest a group or a person's involvement. What he'd felt while helping the Legendary Pokémon wasn't helpful in providing an insight either since it wasn't something that could be put down on paper, his best guess right now was Sabrina's theory of it being some sort of psychic virus.

"Find anything?" May asked looking up from her journal as she lay on the couch having heard Ash coming down the stairs. Pikachu wasn't on his shoulder so May presumed the Mouse Pokémon had fallen asleep upstairs.

"Nothing useful and something a bit worrying." Ash replied.

"Worrying?"

"There's no mention of Moltres in that file, I called Lance in case the info had been missed out but he said they haven't been able to find Moltres."

"Could Moltres just not be affected and hiding somewhere?"

"Maybe but a big flaming bird that's known to hang around Victory Road and the Pokémon League wouldn't be that hard to keep track of."

"So you think something's happened to Moltres?" Ash sighed and dropped onto the couch when May pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I don't know. If someone had caught Moltres, well that sort of battle wouldn't have gone unnoticed and even if it did with Legendary Pokémon being affected like that are it wouldn't be kept a secret for long." Ash quickly sent Lance a message to check on Tobias, he had at least two Legendary Pokémon so he could be in danger. Once he'd done that he carried on talking to May. "So far the only thing that could make sense is Sabrina's psychic virus but something about it just doesn't feel right. I can't explain it but I feel like this is something else."

"Turn around." May said crossing her legs and grabbing Ash's shoulders. Too mentally exhausted to question why Ash did was he was told, sitting so his back was towards May. "You're too worked up and need to relax." May started to massage Ash's shoulders in slow circles. "Put all this out of your head and let your mind go blank. Just forget about everything and enjoy the massage."

Nodding as he closed his eyes Ash tried to let all his thoughts settle down but it was easier said than done. Sensing that Ash's mind wouldn't drop the subject May dug into his muscles a little harder and started to hum, her humming served to distract Ash's brain as it tried to work out why it sounded so familiar. It took a minute due to how softly May was humming but he eventually recognised it as the lullaby she'd sang to Jirachi, while hearing it made him worry about whether Jirachi had been woken and affected by whatever it was that seemed to be focussed on Legendary Pokémon he let the melody calm his mind and allowed himself to relax. He hoped that the thousand year sleep that Jirachi fell into would stop the phenomenon from taking hold.

Feeling the tension in his muscles lessen May smiled to herself and kept humming, oblivious to the fact that Delia was standing in the doorway watching them. She didn't say anything and left after a minute letting the couple have their privacy, she desperately wanted to take a picture of them so badly but it would've ruined the moment and although they hadn't said anything Delia could feel that there was something happening that seemed to centre around Ash, again. Retreating to the kitchen Delia started to prepare a meal for them, feeling like this moment was something the pair of them needed because they mightn't get another quiet time like that for a while. They'd planned to make the trip to Viridian City tomorrow or the day after for Ash's last Gym battle then it would be training for the Indigo League and Grand Festival followed by preparing for Brock and Lucy's wedding and then the League and Grand Festival themselves.

Half an hour later Delia looked in on the couple again, they were still in the same positions May had moved on to massaging Ash's head while the Aura Guardian looked like he was asleep. Delia smiled to herself as it had been a while since she'd seen her son looking so at peace, hating to break the moment she was about to leave them be for a while longer when Pikachu tumbled down the stairs. Landing with a loud squeak Pikachu let out a small spark as he hit the last step and Ash's eyes snapped open at the sound.

"Pika." The electric type groaned as he got to his feet, rubbing the side of his head.

"You okay buddy?" Ash asked, he'd tried to go to his friend but May's grip on his head stopped him. Pikachu nodded and made his way over to an armchair, leaping carefully onto the arm and sliding down to the seat he settled down next to Glaceon, Litwick and Manaphy.

Seeing his mom out of the corner of his eye Ash tried to look at her but once again May kept his head exactly where it was. The brunette seeing that Pikachu was okay and cuddling up to Glaceon smiled and continued to hum, slowly rocking her head side to side.

"Everything okay mom?"

"Just fine sweetie, dinner will be ready soon. If you can get May to stop caressing your hair in the next fifteen to twenty minutes you'll be able to eat." Delia replied, grinning widely as the Co-Ordinator flinched and stalled her humming at being called out.

"I'm helping him relax with a head massage." May said, trying to cover the fact she could've finished the massage a while ago and just liked the feel of Ash's hair running between her fingers.

"Whatever you say dear, oh to be young again." Delia said airily, disappearing back out of sight.

"Er, May." Ash said nervously as he turned to face the brunette. "I know you've told me how you feel and you've been patient with me trying to work out how I feel. It's not fair that I've been keeping you waiting for an answer for so long and while I still can't give you an answer I want to give you something else." Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ring with a blue stone. "This…this is a promise that I won't keep you waiting for much longer." He held the ring out to her but May didn't take it, only holding her left hand out for him to slip the ring on to her middle finger. Hesitantly Ash did as prompted, gently holding May's hand and sliding the ring on to her finger. "I promise I'll tell you before the Pokémon League, as long as the Legendary Pokémon can behave till then." May let out a small giggle as she lifted her hand to take a closer look at the ring, she tilted her head slightly as she noticed a dull glow coming from the stone. "It's linked to my Aura, if we get separated then I'll be able to find you." May leant forward, lightly kissing Ash's lips.

"Thank you, but you don't need to rush. I spent a while working out how I felt about you, take however long you need. It wasn't really fair of me to just drop my feeling on you like I did either." May said, running her hand through Ash's hair again. "While I like your hair like this, I think it might need cutting."

"I don't know, I kind of like it like this too." Ash replied, May just shrugged and smiled.

"It's your choice." They sat there staring at each other for a few more seconds before looking away and blushing. "I-I'll go see if your mom needs any help." May quickly got to her feet and went into the kitchen, she could feel Ash's eyes on her as she walked away and resisted the urge to put a bit more sway into her hips. She didn't want him to confuse his feelings with a hormonal response, from what everyone had told her and what she'd seen and heard him say May could tell how Ash felt about her. She decided that pulling a hormonal response from him could wait until he'd gotten over his conflictions, as least for now.

The rest of the day passed quickly and the following morning after doing their morning exercises Ash and May were ready to start making their way to Viridian City. Ash had chosen to take some of his newer Pokémon on the short journey, Tynamo, Shinx, Sawk, Poochyena and Bagon were now in their Pokéballs at Ash's waist. As he and May were planning on taking their time getting to Viridian City and camping over a couple nights to allow some time to rest between the Contest and Gym Battle while still making sure they had plenty of time to train for the Grand Festival and Indigo League.

Taking on a few passing Trainers and some wild Pokémon that attacked, Ash quickly got to grips with how his newer Pokémon handled themselves in a battle and began to understand how they felt. While Ash was doing that May spend time getting the hang of the Transfer Capsule that Meowth gave her before they left Pallet Town, hers looked more streamline and stylish then Ash's and had been thoroughly tested before being given to her. While Ash wore his on the back of his belt where it was hidden from sight under his jacket. May kept hers in her bag underneath her things to make sure it was hard to get to in case anyone tried to steal it. It wouldn't be much of an issue as Meowth had built a tracking device into it and added one to Ash's TC on the off chance either were stolen.

Arriving in Viridian City a few days later May made a beeline to the Pokémon Centre wanting to take a shower as soon as possible after getting caught by a sudden downpour a couple of hours earlier. Ash followed behind with Pikachu riding on his shoulder as Glaceon ran alongside May. As Ash entered the Pokémon Centre May threw a room key in his direction as she approached him.

"Can you wait for my Pokémon please?" May asked, her eyes pleading as Ash caught the key. "I really need to get cleaned up."

"Sure thing, just try and save me some hot water." Ash replied.

"No promises." May pecked his cheek before making her way to their room with a skip in her step. After taking a few seconds to watch her go Ash turned and went to the main desk, giving Nurse Joy his Pokémon and sat at one of the Vid-Phones to call home and let his mom know they'd arrived in Viridian City. Once he'd finished his call he started to think about which Pokémon to call up for this battle, with it being the final Gym Badge he needed along with it being the strongest Gym in the Region it wasn't a time to see how his newer Pokémon battled so he'd be calling on his more experienced Pokémon.

Type advantage was a definite need as well, though his opponent would be ready for that. Ash knew there was a new Gym Leader for Viridian City who'd been there for a couple of years but apart from knowing they specialised in Ground type Pokémon he didn't know much else about them. To be put in charge of the Gym and regaining its title of being the toughest Gym in Kanto meant the Leader was really strong and dedicated to being the best they could be. Ash grinned to himself, he was going to really enjoy this battle. Of course he could call Brock, Misty or even Sabrina and ask for a bit of information on the Gym Leader but that would take away from the fun of discovering a new challenge.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Nurse Joy called for him to collect his and May's Pokémon. Thanking her and letting Glaceon out of her Pokéball while carrying Manaphy in his arms with Pikachu on his shoulder again, Ash made his way to his and May's room. Taking the key from his pocket he opened the door, letting Glaceon run into the room ahead of him and as he was about to walk in the door slammed shut in front of his face.

"Wait there!" May shouted as Ash heard the door lock, confused he looked at Pikachu who just shrugged in response. A minute later the door unlocked and May opened it, blushing. "Sorry about that, I thought you'd be longer downstairs. I was changing." As the image of a half-naked May flashed through Ash's mind he blushed as well.

"It's my fault, I should've knocked. I'll go shower now." Ash replied, walking around May not willing to make eye contact and not really caring if May had left any hot water as he felt like he needed a cold one instead.

After Ash had cleaned up he and May went out for something to eat before returning to the Pokémon Centre and called Professor Oak to send his Pokémon back and get the ones he'd need for the up-coming battle. As soon as Pikachu's Pokéball disappeared the electric mouse moved onto May's shoulder, nuzzling her cheek causing the brunette to giggle from the tingling numbness from Pikachu's electricity. Once the last Pokéball had come through the transporter Ash thanked Professor Oak and ended the call, then together with May made his way to the Gym.

Approaching the doors Ash was about to knock when they slowly opened on their own, a low creak setting his nerves on edge and his muscle tensing on reflex. Entering slowly the lights started to turn on as he passed them, when he reached the Trainer's box on the battlefield a familiar sounding voice called out.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing you again, took a little longer than I expected though."

That's all for now.

Until Next Time.

Basic Trainer