"So, I guess the house is good?"

I nodded. "Very good. We have a nice view of the lake and the downtown areas, which look great when they light up at night."

My mother grinned. "Oh, how romantic! One sec, hon!"

She turned her head. I couldn't see what she looked at. My view of her was limited to what the screen of the videophone gave me, which included the kitchen area of my family's house back in Petalburg. I could tell that that was it, because it was the same house Max and I grew up in, and though we moved things around a lot at times when I still lived there, the house's main videophone was never relocated far from the kitchen.

"Norman!" Mom called out, her eyes bright. She put her free hand to her mouth, while her other still held the phone's receiver against her ear. "Norman!"

"What, Caroline?" came my father's response. He sounded distant, though his voice seemed to grow louder with each time he repeated that phrase. It wasn't long before he came into view, in which he nearly ran into Mom.

"May called!" she said, pointing at me from the other side of the videophone screen. "Norman, she and Drew got the keys to their new house in LaRousse City a few days ago! Isn't that wonderful!"

Dad looked in my direction. With the sense of grayness among his short hair and lines around his eyes, he appeared as if he wouldn't have been able to contain much energy. But, on the contrary, a large grin stretched across his face; it matched with the fact that he'd always been a man full of surprises.

"Great!" he said. "Wow, it only feels like yesterday when you were ten and still traveling around Hoenn for your first set of contests. Now, I look at you, and you're twenty-six, one of the most famous coordinators out there, and married and living on your own."

"I'll be twenty-seven in a few weeks…" I said.

He pouted. "Exactly! Where'd the time go?"

As he threw his hands into the air and stalked off the screen, Mom shook her head and looked back at me.

"Don't mind your father, he's just being-"

"A dad," I said for her, smiling. "I know, Mom, I know."

"We're just going to miss you, hon. The house already seems empty without you here. All of Petalburg misses you. You've become such an icon for the city, and in more ways than one!"

"I'll visit," I said. "And if you and Dad need a vacation, you can come up here any time you like!"

Mom sighed. "I know, but it'll never be the same. Max is always busy at the gym, with competitors coming in left and right – not to mention his own love life. With your dad retired and all, it's really only him and me now." She chuckled. "Oh, look at me, I'm lamenting and ruining the happy mood you're supposed to be in! I just miss you guys! And…" Her eyes darkened. "I guess the whole Enfer City thing really affected us all, too."

"It's no problem, Mom."

"Anyway," she said, her eyes brightening again – a sense of youth among her aged appearance, "speaking of your brother, I should probably get him over here so he can say his own congratulations to you."

I laughed. "He'd probably just tease me for the fact that Drew and I are finally married."

"He's just looking out for his big sister."

"He's probably still busy at the gym," I said. "Just tell him to call me once he's free. I would like to talk to him without having to worry if he has to run off before I can finish a sentence."

"Will do."

"I better go help Drew move in some furniture. I'll talk to you guys later."

She waved. "Okay. Bye, sweetie!"

"Bye, Mom."

I hung up the phone and the video screen shut off. I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

Six months. It had been six months since the Attack on Enfer City. In those six months, a lot of changes had been made. After my release from the hospital, Drew and I tried our best to move on, and we started with the engagement we had made back in Enfer. After being wed in my hometown of Petalburg, Drew and I took a trip to the Orange Islands for our honeymoon, and then searched for a place where we could live and settle down. LaRousse had been a prime option. After all, it was in Hoenn, which allowed me to stay close to my parents, but remain far away enough to where I still had personal space. With Drew's familiarity of the city, due to it being the place where he grew up, it only added to the appeal.

I got up from my chair, left the fairly empty office room, and made my way downstairs. The scent of a new house seemed to linger in the air; it radiated off the fresh, white walls and clean carpets. This house had been a recent addition to a long line of older buildings, and I was glad that, despite LaRousse's technological achievements, the city's design for regular housing maintained that sense of security that came with a nice, warm place to come home to.

Six months. Those two words crossed my mind again. Enfer City was still gone, and so were the fusions, Kruismara, and any signs of the Chimera Project and Virus. Though there had been a large amount of pokemon and human casualties because of the Attack, the number of survivors managed to outweigh it, and that relieved us all. Investigations were still drawing deeper into the matter, and all types of law- and medical-based authorities suggested that any survivors of the Attack seek out therapeutic help, so that we could better deal with what we saw down there. Drew and I did as we were suggested, but even after our sessions were over, we both agreed that nothing could get rid of the memories.

All we could do was to try and live with them.

And we did. We all did. Lionel had returned to his hometown of Celadon shortly after the wedding between Drew and I. We still remained in contact and still maintained the friendship we had formed through the Attack. Meanwhile, Soledad had kept to herself all these six months. Though she had also attended the wedding, memories of Harley had clearly haunted her. Her pregnancy had been more evident the last time we saw her, too. Though she insisted that she remain in the home she shared with Harley back in Slateport – in which she decided to stay there to raise her child in an environment where it would be able to easily be told and remember how it once had a father – Drew kept in close contact with her, guarding her like the foster son he had always been toward her, as if making up for the ten years where he hadn't.

I stopped when I came across a small shelf, where I had already put up pictures encased in smooth, wooden frames. I traced my finger along the outline of a photo that showed Drew and I when we were still teenagers. A younger Harley and Soledad were right behind us, along with the rest of the coordinators that had competed in the Goldenrod City Grand Festival back then. Despite our rivalry, there were smiles on our faces, our arms around one another in a disorganized, but affectionate, fashion.

We truly had been a family during those days – a team of four that stuck together, no matter what.

I frowned as my finger touched Harley's face. His goofy grin made my heart ache with nostalgia. He was still clad in that cacturne-based outfit of his, and his hair was still long.

A family that stuck together, no matter what.

I bit my lip and turned away – before my eyes grew wet.

I emerged into the living room seconds later. The front door lay wide open. Blaziken emitted her name as her form rose within the bright afternoon glare from outside, where she grew closer until she stepped through the threshold. Her back faced me. I arched a brow when I realized that she was hoisting one end of a long couch through the doorway. When the center of the couch slid across the wall, it stopped in place, and Blaziken growled as she pulled to get it through, but to no avail.

Drew's head poked up from the couch's other side.

"Try turning it to an angle," he said.

Blaziken nodded and moved her claws to turn the couch. However, it didn't budge.

"Damn," came Drew's voice.

"Blaze…" Blaziken pulled at the couch again. Still, it didn't move.

Drew poked his head up. "If we try to force it now, it's just going to damage the wall. Let's push it back out and try something else."

Blaziken grumbled and rolled her eyes.

"I heard that," Drew said from the other side.

I had to chuckle, though I managed to hide it behind my palm as Blaziken reluctantly did what Drew had ordered. Minutes later, they had finally managed to get the couch through the doorway, and Blaziken collapsed onto it once they moved it into place toward the center of the living room's carpeted floor.

"I think we can take a break now," Drew said as he shut the front door.

Blaziken smiled. She stretched out across the couch, put her arms behind her head, and closed her eyes.

Drew walked up to me. His eyes examined my face – and the small smile that lingered on it.

"Nice to see you're finding this all amusing," he muttered.

"Kind of hard not to."

He arched a brow. "Glad I'm entertaining, then."

I chuckled again and wrapped my arms around his neck. "You wouldn't be as attractive to me if you weren't."

"Oh, butter me up, eh? Don't think that's going to help get you out of your 'furniture-organizing' duty, since your blaziken's too wimpy to do it."

Blaziken said nothing, nor did she open her eyes. Instead, she only raised her claw and lowered her two outer fingers, until her still upright middle one resembled an infamous human expression.

"Okay." Drew narrowed his eyes at her. "Now your blaziken's just gonna be dead."

I grabbed Drew by the shoulders before he could move toward her, and distracted him with a kiss. I made a gesture toward Blaziken. She quickly got off the couch and slipped into the hallway to find a safer place to nap.

Drew and I broke apart seconds later. He glared at me.

"I thought you were on my side!"

I shrugged at him. "I owe Blaziken a lot."

Drew snorted. I smiled at him, and it didn't take much before he cracked and shook his head, letting out a light laugh. I glanced at the clock that hung off the nearby wall. A frown crossed my face.

"What?" Drew asked when I met his eyes again.

"Remember that detective guy we met at the hospital after we escaped Enfer? Detective…um…Jericho Karvás?"

"Yeah."

"Well, with our wedding and honeymoon and moving and stuff, I had to keep on rescheduling the interviews we were supposed to have with him on what happened down in Enfer." I sighed. "I told him after he called me a few days ago that I would do my part of the interview with him today at three, and we would schedule yours for later."

Drew hummed thoughtfully. "He's sure been patient. Where are you meeting him?"

"At some interrogation-based office downtown. I guess it fits, with the fact that he wants to make sure we have privacy and silence."

Drew frowned. "You don't seem so enthusiastic about going, though. Something wrong?"

"Nah, it's fine." I put a hand to my head. "I want to help any way I can with his investigation. I just have a headache right now, that's all."

"Oh…" Drew met my eyes.

And he grinned.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you know what they say is a good cure for a headache?"

"Uh…" I paused. "Pain killers and an ice pack?"

Drew's grin didn't move. "Orgasm."

I blinked. Then, I rolled my eyes. "Of course you would know that-"

My words were cut off when Drew wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. He buried his face into the crook of my neck. I shivered as I felt his hot breath brush across my skin.

"I did the research just for you," he whispered into my ear.

I smiled and traced my fingers down his shirt, fumbling with all the buttons I met along the way. My fingers intertwined with his. Our wedding bands seemed to glisten when they made contact.

"Well," I whispered into his ear, my tone just as seductive, "then you have…" I shot another glance at the clock. "…about an hour and a half to get rid of this headache."

"That's all the time I need."

With that, Drew hoisted me up into his arms and carried me, bridal-style, up the staircase and to our bedroom.

I let out a content sigh and brushed my fingers through Drew's hair. He slept peacefully beside me, on his front, still tangled in bed sheets. His bare back was still exposed, and that was more than enough to keep my mouth watering. I brushed my fingers down his skin and chuckled at how he shivered in response.

I wanted more – oh, Arceus, how I wanted more - but I had to leave. I didn't want to, but I had to. With how much I had been postponing my interview with Jericho, I owed it to him to give him the answers he needed to put other families to rest. The session between Drew and I had lasted an hour, so I only had thirty minutes to get to the downtown area of LaRousse.

Silently, I began to slide my way out of bed, freeing myself from the bed sheets.

Before I could get up to retrieve my clothes, though, fingers wrapped around my ankle and pulled me back. I let out a squeak and found myself back in Drew's hold. He wasn't as asleep as I thought. He grinned at me, reading my surprise, and he nuzzled my neck affectionately.

"Drew…" I said. I tried to escape his arms, despite how much I didn't want to. "Drew, I gotta go. I'm going to be late."

I could feel Drew pout against my skin. "What if I don't want you to go?"

"Then you're going to have to explain this to Detective Karvás."

Drew grunted in defeat and released me.

I slid to the bed's edge and sat up. I looked at Drew. His dragon-like eyes followed the grooves of my back. I chuckled.

"Like what you see?" I asked.

"Always have."

I smiled at him before I stood. I gathered my clothes off the floor and made my way to the closet to get dressed. When I came back out, Drew was still in bed. I walked over and leaned down to kiss him.

He slowly exhaled as we pulled apart. His hand cupped my cheek, and I gently took it in my own hold, pressing each of his fingers to my mouth and kissing them separately. My lips lingered on the finger where his wedding band was, and I brushed my own band against it, admiring the shine they gave off as they touched.

"Be back soon," he whispered.

"I will."

"You promise?"

I smiled again.

"I promise."

It took me twenty minutes to find the office where Jericho wanted to interview me. The trip to the downtown area hadn't been the long part, either; the office was small and hard to see amongst the large amount of other businesses and structures that now consisted LaRousse's skeleton. The city had changed a lot since the very first time I had visited it sixteen years ago.

At least my headache was gone.

I walked into the front door of the nameless building, which I had only been able to identify through the address. The main room was empty, though the assortment of plain chairs, a reception desk, and hallways leading into back rooms definitely matched with the vibes I would expect from an office building made solely for interrogations. The fact that the logo for the Police Department of LaRousse City was stamped on the wall behind the aforementioned reception desk also helped.

"There you are, May!"

I met Jericho's eyes as he emerged from one of the hallways. The six months between us hadn't seemed to affect him. He looked just as he did when he first met me at Lilycove's hospital – youthful, dark blue eyes; coal-colored fauxhawk-styled hair; and an overall tall and thin appearance, save the broadness around his shoulders and midsection. He even wore that same brown trench coat from before.

"Detective Karvás," I said, nodding.

"Sorry to have had to call you in like this."

I shook my head. "I'm sorry for having to make you wait for six months – and then drive all the way out here."

He laughed. "Point taken." He turned. "Come on. There's an interrogation room we can use in the back."

I shrugged and followed him. He led me down the hall and to a room at the very end. He unlocked the door with a key from his pocket and turned on the single overhead light, which revealed the usual one-way mirror and plain table and chairs that sat on the center of the floor. I raised my brows at the fact that a TV hung in one of the room's upper corners, though.

"Take a seat," Jericho said.

I made my way forward and sat down on one of the plain chairs.

"So," he began, reaching for a different seat, "May Maple, you-"

"Trandafir."

He blinked. "Pardon?"

"It's May Trandafir now," I said, showing my wedding band.

"Oh…" His eyes flashed with recognition. "Oh! Um, congratulations!"

I smiled. "Thank you."

"Anyway, May…" Jericho trailed off as he looked down and around. He frowned. "Crap, I forgot my files. Do you mind waiting? It might take me while to dig them out of my car."

"It's no problem."

"Great," he said. He looked around again. He hummed thoughtfully and walked toward the TV. "We might as well make use of this, then."

He turned it on, in which it flipped to a news channel, and he shrugged sheepishly at me before he made his way out the door with a simple "I'll be back." I sat in silence and kept my eyes on the TV. The anchorwoman didn't talk about anything interesting – just the usual good deeds of pokemon, the appearances of famous pokemon trainers, and reminders of any current updates on the Attack on Enfer City that they'd been allowed to release to the public.

I frowned. Even after six months, the Attack was still talked about like the weather. Hopefully, my part in the investigation would put most of the matters to rest.

Minutes later, Jericho walked in through the door, papers in his arms. He dropped them onto the table, took a seat, and sorted through them. I glanced at the TV and opened my mouth to say something, but I closed it when he didn't seem to care that it was still on. The volume wasn't loud anyway, so I supposed it didn't matter.

"Alright," he said, getting up again and walking up to my side. He carried a paper in his hand. His eyes never left it. "Let's start with Katherine Verdana. How did you find out that she was behind the Chimera Project? Did you find out while you were down there?"

"Yes," I said. "My friends and I confronted her during the attack. At first, it was to help her battle the monster that attacked the city, since we all thought at the time that she was just as much a victim in all of it as we were. But, we wound up finding out about the Chimera Project during the meeting, and she confirmed that she was the one behind everything. She then ran."

"Did you meet up with her again?"

"Yes. After we made it to the south district, Drew Trandafir and I moved to confront Verdana since we knew where she was around then."

"Go on."

"Well, we confronted her, and…" I didn't know if I should weigh him down with details, so I kept it straight to the point. "She tried to kill us, so we had no choice but to fight back in the name of self-defense."

"Okay…"

"In the middle of that…" I swallowed. "She was killed."

Silence lingered after that. I looked back at Jericho. He raised his head. His eyes darkened. He met my gaze.

"Did you kill her?" he asked.

I bit my lip. "I…"

"It's okay, May."

I blinked. "What?"

"I have to admit," Jericho said, his eyes brightening slightly, "but I'm kind of glad I found the person responsible for Verdana's death."

I shifted at that. I didn't know if I could justify agreeing with him or not. I had justified Verdana's murder to myself, but would others accept it? I didn't know much about how law worked, but Jericho's confident gaze relieved my worries a little.

Before either of us could say anything, the TV flashed with a "Breaking News" sign. We both turned our eyes to it. The anchorwoman from before appeared on the screen.

"Breaking news!" she said. "Something has risen on the shores of Lilycove City, Hoenn. Joseph Rhine is there on site. Joseph, are you there?"

The screen flashed. Then, it showed what looked like a street of Lilycove City. People and pokemon ran in the direction of the camera, the air filled with cries and screams. The cameraman stumbled as he tried to follow what I assumed to be Joseph – the man that clutched the microphone in his hands so tightly his knuckles were white.

"Carla, you won't believe this!" he yelled over the retreating crowd. His eyes were bright – with fear. "But, something huge just came out of the water only minutes ago, and began to attack Lilycove!" He stopped in place. His eyes widened as he gazed down the street. "Oh, Arceus! Fred, are you getting this!"

The cameraman – Fred – directed the camera where Joseph pointed.

Among the wave of fleeing people and pokemon, a bluish-colored form rose, its claws digging into the tops of the very buildings its size easily rivaled. The camera shook, as if Fred wanted nothing but to drop it and run, but he kept his ground. The form, nidoking-like, had pitch-black eyes that were illuminated by the overhead sun. A white mane stretched down its spiny back, and its multiple tails flailed as they slammed into other nearby buildings. The form threw its head upward and let out a roar that shook the ground.

I couldn't move. My heart hammered against my chest. Slowly, I stood up from my seat.

"No…" I whispered, shaking my head.

"Oh Arceus!" Joseph screamed. "What the hell is that thing! Wait…oh, Arceus! What the hell is coming down its arm!"

The camera zoomed in on the form's arm, where smaller figures crawled down its scales. When they touched the ground, they chased after the people and pokemon that retreated from the bigger figure. It wasn't long before one made its way after Fred and Joseph. I couldn't see what happened to Joseph, but Fred tried his best to outrun the figure. However, he soon fell, and he managed to point the camera directly at the form right as it lunged for him.

Humanoid. Oversized fangs. Large in size.

And full red eyes.

The camera slid across the asphalt. All it showed was a side angle of the street, with Fred's legs in view, kicking uncontrollably as he tried to fight off the monster that pinned him to the ground, attacking him. He screamed in terror, but nothing seemed to work.

Then, the screen cut out, and everything returned to the newsroom with Carla.

"Joseph?" she called out. She swallowed hard, her voice cracking. "Joseph? Joseph, are you there?"

But there was no response.

"No!" I screamed.

It couldn't be…

It couldn't be!

It couldn't be!

"Kruismara's alive!" I looked at Jericho, my voice a mixture of horror and disbelief. "The fusions are alive! The whole damn thing survived!"

Jericho only met my eyes.

I gasped.

His irises weren't dark blue anymore.

They were red.

"Exactly," he hissed.

With that, he pulled out a gun from his coat and pointed it at me.

He fired.

I stumbled into my chair and fell back. Coldness shot through my body. I looked down. Blood stained my shirt from the bullet hole in my side, spreading like a disease. I gazed up at Jericho as he stepped toward me, my mouth open in a silent scream.

His red eyes never blinked. He pointed the gun at my chest.

"And you are not going to get in the way this time."

He fired again.

Weakness flooded me. More blood. My vision clouded. I saw Jericho slip a phone out of his pocket. He opened it and hit a number.

"May Maple…" he said into it.

Darkness consumed me – and right as Jericho's last words reached my ears:

"…is dead."

AN: Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out the next book in the "Cadence Of Their Fear" trilogy - "Voices"!