September 15th (La Rousse City, Hoenn)

(May's POV)

I woke early to make sure I had time to meditate before getting ready because I wanted be as relaxed as I could get before all the craziness would begin since from my past experience for other trials, they are stressful. After eating and showering, I changed into a sleeveless, knee length sapphire dress with a modest neckline, a single button black blazer with three-fourth quarter length sleeves and black flats.

As I finished putting my hair in a ponytail, I heard a knock on the door, "Come in," I called as I put on my necklace.

I heard the door open and saw the gang plus Lizzy and Max coming in, "You ready May?" Max asked.

"For the most part," I said as I put on a little make-up and did a finally check over.

Lizzy smirked, "If I didn't know any better.....," she started to say, but I raised my hand to stop her.

"Lizzy," I said in warning as I stood up.

"But....," she argued.

"But nothing," I said firmly as we stepped into the hall.

I then heard the doorbell ring, "That must be them," Dawn said.

We walked to the stairs to see George opening the door allowing them in, "Are you ready?" Jonathon asked as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said determined.

"Good," he said with a smile. "Let's get going."

I followed him out and he helped me into his firm's car before we drove to court.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Dawn's POV)

"I suppose we better get ready to go ourselves," I said as we watched the car drive off.

Suddenly a beeping sound came from Drew's poketch causing Drew to groan, "What's up Lance?" he asked tiredly causing all of us to groan silently.

"Boys, I need you to go recover a computer chip that was stolen from D.O.R.C.," he reported.

"Do we seriously have to do it now?" Ash complained.

Lance frowned, "Yes now! Now get going!"

He then hung up causing the guys to groan, "You have got to be kidding. If I didn't know Lance any better, I'd think he's doing this on purpose," Drew muttered.

"We'll fill you in on what's happening," Misty promised.

Suddenly my poketch was beeping and I saw that the caller was Claire, "This can't be good," I muttered as I answered the call.

"Hey Claire, what's up?" I asked.

"I need you girls to investigate the strange disappearance of Karen," Claire said sternly.

"Wait....Karen? As in Karen of the Elite Four?" Leaf asked surprised.

Claire nodded, "She hasn't been heard from in over two weeks and we're becoming concerned."

"We're on it," I said and ended the call.

"Talk about bad timing," Misty muttered.

We all nodded, "Do you have anything that can help?" I asked Max.

He and Lizzy smirked, "I might have something," he teased as he had Kirlia teleport us back to our small headquarters at the house.

"Dawn if you do the honors?" Max asked as he gestured to where my storage locker was.

The gang looked confused but I nodded. I walked to wall and placed for my hand to be scanned along with my eyes and typed in my password.

"Welcome back Miss Berlitz," the computer voice announced.

"Care to explain what's going on?" Leaf asked.

"Well, Max and I decided to create some gadgets for you guys. He did most of the work, I just helped design what some of them look like," Lizzy explained.

I looked inside the locker to find a compowder like May's, a barrette with a Buneary on it, a small, heart shaped backpack, the cable bungee belt, infrared sunglasses, and the earbud communicator with a new design.

"So I can see the cable bungee belt, the earbud communicator, and the sunglasses, but what are the other gadgets?" I asked as I picked up the compowder.

"That," Max said as he gestured to what's in my hand, "is going to become your new best friend."

I raised an eyebrow, "What does it do?" I asked.

"It changes your appearance, scans any clue imaginable, connects to all data bases, can tell people's bio signs, and a bunch of other features," Max explained proudly.

I was both eye brows in surprise, I clicked a button and a beam of light hit me to change my outfit to a azure blue catsuit of sorts.

"What is this?" I asked.

"When I was making May's, I decided to make everyone one and I had to talk to Clair about it, don't worry, Lance doesn't know. Anyway, she said that your outfit needed an upgrade and catsuits/jumpsuits are the new protocol," Max explained.

I inspected it and sighed, "It's not bad, guess I'll just have to get used to it," I said tiredly as I changed back to what I was currently wearing.

I then picked up the barrette and looked at Lizzy, "Let me guess, you designed these," I guessed.

Lizzy nodded and smirked, "Yup, it may look cute, but it's deadly. When push the center, it turns into a boomerang buzzsaw."

I raised my eyebrows again in approval as I put it down and picked up the backpack, "What is this?" I asked as I inspected it.

"Jetback," Max said and we all looked at him in surprise.

"Seriously?" Misty asked.

Max smirked and nodded, "Might help with transporting you guys everywhere."

"So we all have these small storage lockers?" Gary asked.

Max nodded, "They are placed all over the room."

"Did you trick the house out when they were building it?" I asked.

Max shrugged, "Maybe?" he said slyly.

I sighed and shook my head, Misty and Leaf's lockers were on the same wall as mine while the guys' were on the wall perpendicular to us. After having been scanned and typing in their passwords, the computer voice welcomed them and displayed their gadgets. The girls had the same ones as me thought their clips showed Azurill and a Cherubi.

The guys had a couple different gadgets than we did. They had a wallet, sunglasses that looked different from the infrared ones, earbud communicators in the same new design, contacts, and a snowboard of sorts.

"So what do we have here Max?" Gary asked as he picked up the wallet.

"It's the same thing as the compowder the girls have, the design is different because I'm pretty sure you don't want it to look girly," Max teased.

Paul picked up the sunglasses, "Those look different from the ones the girls have," Ash commented.

Max nodded, "They are, these can hack any computer you look at," he explained causing us to look at him in surprise.

"Sweet," Ash said excitedly as he picked his own up.

"What's the snowboard?" Drew asked.

"It's a hoverboard," Max explained causing us to look in shock.

"You invented those too!" Gary exclaimed.

"Is there anything you haven't invented yet?" Leaf asked.

Max tapped the side of his face in thought, "I'll get back to you on that. Also, you have more gadgets than this and you all have the same except with a different design. It all depends on what your missions are," he explained.

We nodded in understanding as Lizzy looked as her poketch, "Max, we better get going, the trial starts in five minutes!"

Max nodded, "If you see May, please tell her we'll get there when we can," Drew said looking guilty.

Max nodded and gave a small grin, "Don't worry about it, May will understand, just make it when you can."

Kirlia then teleported Max and Lizzy out, "Well, we better get a move on, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can get to the trial," Misty said.

We nodded and suited up, I changed back to my catsuit and Leaf and Misty did the same, Leaf's was green and Misty's was a golden yellow. The guys were all black but had outlines that were their color, Drew's was lime green, Gary's was purple, Ash's was red, and Paul's was a deep blue.

We grabbed our gadgets and made our way to the beach where we would split up, the guys were going back to La Rousse where D.O.R.C. headquarters was stationed while the girls and I had to fly to outskirts of Ecureak City where Karen lived.

"We'll see you later," I called as the girls and I activated our jetpacks and started to fly to our destination while the guys went to theirs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(May's POV)

We drove to the front of the court and Jonathon helped me out. The press immediately flocked us much to my disappointment. Thankfully, Jonathon helped pushed them away as we climbed up the steps to get inside. We then walked to the courtroom and sat at our table with Mr. Peabody already there. While both lawyers talked for a last minute prep, I looked around to see Max and Lizzy there, but not the gang causing me to worry and feel a little saddened. Max looked at me and pointed to his poketch. I nodded in understanding and waited for him to explain. I then got the message saying that the gang got called up for a few missions and they would try to be back as soon as they could.

I turned around and nodded in understanding as everyone else took their seats. I then noticed that on the jury was the head of the Pokemon Centers causing me to slightly panic, "May, are you okay?" Jonathon asked.

"Not really, the head of the Pokemon Center's is on the jury, she doesn't like me," I said worriedly.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"She don't like it how I help heal pokemon like Nurse Joy because I'm not technically one so she likes to make my life miserable by making life hectic for Nurse Joy and me," I explained.

"Don't worry about it, just stay calm and focus on the trial," Jonathon advised. "We'll do our best to try and convince the others on the jury."

"All rise for the judge," Officer Jenny called.

We did so and saw Judge Edwards come in and we took a seat, "Today, we're here for the case of Solplex Research Facilities suing Maybelle Maple on the charge of destruction of the Ropex Formula. Is the prosecutor ready?" the judge asked.

They stood up, "Yes, your honor," they called.

"Is the defendant ready?" the judged asked.

Jonathon stood up, "Yes, your honor," he said.

The judged nodded, "Time for the opening statements, defendant, you have the floor."

Jonathon nodded and went to the floor, "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here for a case of greed. My client is being charged three million dollars for destroying a formula that could inflict pain and death on pokemon. Where is the justice in her paying a huge amount of money for trying to protect pokemon from being inflicted with a painful virus. She did a duty to protecting pokemon everywhere. What if your pokemon caught this virus and you had to endure their anger, pain, and sadness and that there was no cure for it. My client has done you a service, please remember that."

Jonathon stepped down and the prosecutor, a Mr. Nesbit, walked to the floor, "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here for the justice of Solplex Research Facilities. Their property was destroyed for no reason by Miss Maple and I can assure you that she did it for selfish reasons. She has a record of destroying property, assaulting people, and causing the nations multiple expenses for these 'missions' of hers. All Solplex asks is that she pays what is rightfully due in destruction fees so that they can fund their research to help improve the lives of people and pokemon everywhere," he said firmly. "I would like to call on Witness One."

I then saw Max walk up to the stand and was sworn in before sitting down, "Would you please state your full name and date of birth?" Mr. Nesbit asked.

"Maxwell Thomas Maple, August 4th, 2003," Max stated.

"What is your relationship to the accused?" Mr. Nesbit asked.

"Younger brother," Max answered.

"Now Max, you have an incredibly high IQ for someone your age. You sometimes help research facilities with understanding formulas and theories, is this right?"

"Yes,"

"And one of things you helped figure out was the Ropex Formula, was it not?"

"Yes," Max answered causing some whispers to be heard in the audience.

"Would you tell us who hired you?"

"I was asked by an online think tank to figure out what the actions of what the Ropex Formula would have on pokemon."

"Would you tell the court what you did?"

Max nodded, "I was hesitant to use an unknown formula on any pokemon so I take small samples of cells instead and add the formula to them to see the reaction. The results were horrifying. The samples showed of an intense emotional trigger causing stress, which overworked the samples of cells. The samples eventually died from it giving me the conclusion that this formula was dangerous and I told the think tank to destroy it."

"But you never tested it on a pokemon itself so how could you deem the formula dangerous?"

Max frowned, "If I see something that hazardous to pokemon, I deem it dangerous even if it hasn't been fully tested."

"So you don't know if it is harmful to pokemon?"

Max frowned again, "Well.....?"

"Answer the question Mr. Maple, is it a yes or no?" Judge Edwards asked.

"No," Max answered unhappily.

"No further questions your honor," Mr. Nesbit said as he took a seat behind his table.

"Mr. Randel, you may question the witness," Judge Edwards called.

Jonathon nodded and walked over to Max, "You said you have done work for research companies and think tanks in the past, have you come across other bad formulas doing this?" Jonathon asked.

"Yes."

"So you have seen a bad formula before?"

"Yes".

"And from this, you make the judgement that any formula you test is dangerous from experience in seeing the harsh results?"

"Yes."

"Would you please elaborate?"

Max nodded, "I have seen formulas that I rejected before that companies put through and the results are terrible so I feel inclined to believe in my judgement if a formula has bad results."

"What would be one of these formulas?"

"K22 or the Strength Pill," Max said causing whispers to appear.

"No further questions," Jonathon said as he walked back to his seat.

"Mr. Maple you may leave the stand," Judge Edwards called.

Max nodded and walked back to his seat next to Lizzy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Drew's POV)

The guys and I arrived at D.O.R.C. Headquarters, "Dawn is right, they really do need to change their name," Ash commented.

"Ashy-boy, focus," Gary sighed as we walked in to meet the CEO, Mr. Roboto.

"Thank you so much for coming," he said gratefully.

"Can you show us where the crime happened?" I asked.

"Of course," he said quickly and directed us to follow him.

"What was the function of the computer chip that was stolen?" Paul asked as we walked.

"It's supposed to the latest chip that can access anyplace on the web once plugged into a computer. It also has twice the RAM of the latest computer chip," he explained.

We then reached a set of metal doors and the CEO typed in the password to get in. He then left us to our own devices and we started to look around.

"Nothing's really out of place so it must have been the work on a pro," Ash called.

Gary put on the glasses and started scanning the computer, "It seems this computer's been hacked in the case of downloading important online databases."

I put in the contact lenses and started looking for anything that popped, I looked over to the left and noticed some sort of powder on the floor.

"I think I got something," I called as I picked up a little of the powder and placed in on the scanner of my wallet.

"That's strange," I said as I read the list of chemicals picked up off the metal.

"What's strange?" Paul asked as the guys walked over.

"This powder is Totter Chip residue," I reported.

"Awww.....I loved Totter Chips, they were so good," Ash complained hungrily.

We stared at him at him incredulously, "Do you not know how bad those things are for you?" Paul asked.

Ash just looked confused causing us to sigh, "Those things had enough sodium in them to put your kidneys out of commission," Gary said sternly. "That's why they were recalled in the first place."

Ash still argued that they were good causing an argument between the two to break out making Paul and I to sigh, "Morons," Paul muttered before turning to look at me. "Are there any places that still sell that crap?"

"Well find out," I said as I started up a search. "But it'll take a while, might as well go to the trial."

Paul nodded, "Oi, idiots, we're leaving," Paul shouted.

They kept arguing causing us to sweat-drop, "Let's just leave them here," I said tiredly.

Paul nodded and we left for the courthouse.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Misty's POV)

I have to give Max some credit, these jetpacks were awesome and we soon arrived at Karen's home.

We landed and went to knock on the door. Dawn tapped it lightly only for the door to squeak open, "Karen, are you in here?" Leaf hollered.

"Looks like no one's here," I said as I flipped the lights.

"Guess we better split up," Dawn said.

We nodded, "I'll take down here. Dawn, you take upstairs. Leaf, you take outside," I directed.

They nodded and went to their areas. I put on the sunglasses and started to sweep the place for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing stuck out so I went to the kitchen and swept the room.

"Hey guys, you better come up here," Dawn said concerned.

Leaf and I climbed the stairs to the bedroom Dawn was in and saw a few specks of blood on the floor and spilled bottle of medicine pills. Dawn started to take a sample of the blood and had it tested to see if it was Karen's while I looked at the pill bottle.

"The pills are typical pain killers," I called as I looked at the spill tablets.

"Let me see that," Leaf said and I handed her the bottle.

She took a pill out and looked at it, "These pill looks funny," she said.

"How can you tell?" Dawn asked.

"There's no number pressed into it," Leaf said concerned. "Better send these in for testing."

"Well the blood isn't Karen's, my guess is that there was a struggle and the attacker got cut or something," Dawn theorized. "We'll test the blood against the PHPA criminal database, but it will take some time."

I looked at the side table and Karen's pokeballs, "We should see if her pokemon are okay," I said.

Leaf and Dawn nodded and we went outside, I released them to reveal Weavile, Spiritomb, Absol, Honchkrow, Houndoom, and Umbreon.

They looked around panicky before noticing us and started to growl, "Hey, hey, calm down," Leaf said gently. "We're not gonna hurt you, we were just wondering if you know what happened to Karen?"

They calmed down but still had their guard up, "Umbreon um umbreon," Umbreon said. (We don't know, we haven't been let out in a while.)

"Hmm.....Houndoom, do you have a pretty good sense of smell?" Leaf asked.

He nodded, "Could you tell by sniffing something if it was friend or foe?" Leaf continued.

"Rrrrr," he said uncertainly with a nod. (Depends.)

"Follow me," she said as she led her upstairs.

"You guys are probably hungry," Dawn said knowing. "Let's see if there's anything in the kitchen?"

She then walked into the house leaving me with the pokemon, "Absol?" he asked cautiously. (Who are you?)

"My name is Misty, I'm an agent for PHPA, the Pokemon and Human Protection Agency," I explained. "My friends, Leaf and Dawn, along with myself were asked to find Karen since no one has heard from her in two weeks."

They nodded, "Did anyone have any problems with Karen?" I asked.

They shook their heads, "Um mbreon on," he said. (She was respectful to everyone.)

"Did anyone come see Karen the last day you were let out?" I asked.

They nodded, "Weavile wea vile vile, weavile weavile. Weavile vile vile wea, vile vile weavile," Weavile explained. (She was challenged to a battle, I was the last pokemon out to fight. I won against a Zangoose and it seemed that Karen knew who the challenger was."

"Hmm...." I said thoughtfully as Dawn came out with some pokemon food in bowls.

Leaf soon followed with Houndoom, "He said the scent was familiar to a trainer that Karen last battled," she reported.

"Weavile also said that it seemed Karen knew the challenger," I added.

Dawn frowned, "So someone she knew attacked her and kidnapped her."

Leaf and I nodded grimly, "I hate it when it comes down to that," Leaf muttered as we returned Karen's pokemon after they finished eating.

Dawn brought out her compowder to contact Claire, "Hey girls, what did you find out?" she asked.

"For one thing, she wasn't home and the door wasn't locked. We swept the house and discovered a small stain of blood on the floor in her bedroom along with Leaf finding that the pills in her pain killer meds to be suspicious because there is no number imprinted on it," I reported.

"We also sent samples of both to the lab for analysis," Leaf added.

"We also have Karen's pokeballs to give you," Dawn finished. "We fed them but we figured that it would be best to send them to you."

Claire sighed, "Well, this isn't good. Since you can't do much else, you are off the hook til testing is done," she said.

"Hey Claire, why do we have to wear catsuits now?" Dawn asked.

"They are more practical," she explained. "It looks like Max gave you your compowders, I must admit I was impressed with some of the gadgets he wanted me to approve of for you girls. If only he worked with the tech people here."

"I highly doubt that since Lance gives Max and May a lot of grief for what they do," I said flatly.

Claire sighed, "I don't blame them, I have days where it's hard to work with him myself. I'll send an Alakazam to pick up the pokeballs. In the meantime, standby."

Dawn ended the call and Alakazam appeared, "Alakazam, do you mind teleporting us to the place I'm thinking?" Leaf asked.

"Ala," he said with a nod and we found ourselves behind some bushes a block away from the courthouse.

We used our compowders to change our clothes into some decent clothes consisting of dress pants, flats, and a dressy top before we stepped onto the sidewalk with our backpacks to see Paul and Drew, "Hey guys," Dawn called.

They stopped and looked at us, "Where are Ash and Gary?" Leaf asked noticing that they weren't with them.

They looked at each other and muttered, "They got into another pointless argument again, didn't they?" Leaf asked flatly.

The boys said nothing causing Leaf to sweat-drop, "I swear, those two," she muttered.

I turned to look at the courthouse to see a bunch of reporters, "Guess we aren't going through the front door," I muttered.

"How do we get in otherwise?" Dawn asked as Ash and Gary came running up behind Paul and Drew.

"Thanks for abandoning us!" Gary snapped.

Drew shrugged and flicked his hair, "We didn't want to bother your oh so important argument," he said sarcastically.

Paul pulled contacts from his pants pocket, put them in, and looked at the building, "We could sneak in through the side window, there is no one there."

We nodded as we snuck our way over there, the girls and I pulled out our cable bungee belts and we all snuck in. We walked down the empty hall to where May's trial was and snuck into the seats behind Max and Lizzy.

"About time you showed up," Lizzy whispered in a hiss without taking her eyes off the witness stand.

"What did we miss?" I asked.

"They questioned me and a scientist heading the research facility, now they're questioning a scientist running tests using the formula on pokemon," Max said as we saw the scientist step down to return to his seat.

"The court calls Maybelle Maple to the stand," the prosecutor announced.

We all tensed up as May walked over to the stand.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(May's POV)

After I was sworn in, I took a seat, "Miss Maple, you have quite a renowned reputation. You've become a Top Coordinator in all four regions by the time you were sixteen, have continuously helped people throughout the world for five years, won the World Gymnastics Competition this past May, have a few hit singles, and donate to many charities throughout the world," Mr. Nesbit said. "Is all of this true?"

"Yes," I answered plainly.

"You're also the Guardian of Arceus?"

"Yes," I said hoping that he would get to the point.

"Would you say that's a lot of power for a seventeen year old to have?"

"Objection your honor, that question does not pertain to the case," Jonathon called.

"Sustained," the judge called.

"Sorry your honor, one can't help but ask," he said curiously. "It's not every day that a human is granted the power of a legendary pokemon."

Can't help my ass, you're just like a blood sucking reporter, "Now, did you destroy the Ropex Formula and its research?" he asked.

I took a deep breath, "Yes."

This caused murmurs to appear around the room since I basically admitted to the crime.

"When you destroyed it, were you thinking of doing it for the purpose of protecting pokemon?"

"Yes and no," I stated.

"Choose one answer Miss Maple, is it a yes or a no?" the judge asked.

I sighed, "No."

"You see ladies and gentlemen, she admits that she destroyed the formula and its research without thinking of protecting pokemon which shows she did it for selfish reasons," Mr. Nesbit stated. "Therefore she should take responsibility for her actions and pay the fee for the damages she has caused."

I wanted to slap the jerk and I looked in the back to see the gang looking ticked, Drew and Max just looked furious.

"Would you say that you destroyed the formula for selfish reasons along with other charges that have been brought against you?" Mr. Nesbit asked.

"Objection, that information is irrelevant to this case!" Jonathon called with a twinge of annoyance.

"Sustained," Judge Edward called.

"No further questions your honor," Mr. Nesbit said as he took a seat and Jonathon had the floor.

"Mr. Nesbit says that your actions for destroying the formula were selfish, would you tell the court why you destroyed the formula?" Jonathon asked.

"I did to protect the lives of my friends, my pokemon, my brother, and myself," I stated causing murmurs to appear.

"Would you please elaborate?" Jonathon asked.

I nodded, "A criminal escaped from prison and threatened my brother to give them the formula. He didn't know what to do so he told me what was going on. That resulted in my Glaceon getting beaten up badly. I tried to help my brother and the criminals beat up my Lucario and Blaziken in response. So in order for the villain not to get the formula, it had to be destroyed."

This caused several murmurs, "So let me get this straight, you destroyed the formula to protect your loved ones because you knew that the criminals would carry out their threat," Jonathon summarized.

"Yes."

"Ladies and gentlemen, my client did what she did to protect her brother and her friends from the threat that was over them so she felt she had no other options. Destroying the formula meant the safety of her friends and brother," Jonathon argued as he faced the jury.

He looked back at me, "Would you tell the court who wanted this formula?"

"Hunter J and the sub-commander trio from Team Galactic," I said causing talk to appear in the room as everyone knew how dangerous the criminals I just named were.

"Order in the court!" Judged Edwards shouted as he banged his gavel.

The room then became quiet, "No further questions your honor," Jonathon said as he took a seat.

"Your honor, the prosecution would like to question the witness again," Mr. Nesbit called.

"Proceed," Judge Edwards called causing me to silently groan, time for this jerk to twist my words.

"Now you said you destroyed the formula because these criminals wanted it, but if I recall correctly, Hunter J only stole pokemon for profit and Team Galactic wanted to create a new world by controlling the legendary pokemon. Why would they want a Ropex Formula if it was created as a virus?" he asked.

I inwardly smirked at the slip up, "I would not know, I did what I did to protect the ones I care about."

"So you think it's okay to destroy private property on the grounds that it will save your brother and friends?"

Crap, "Yes."

Mr. Nesbit looked at the jury, "The accused admits that it was okay to do the destruction of my client's property for selfish reasons."

I really want to punch this guy right now, "Now Miss Maple, tell the court what happened after you destroyed the formula?"

Crap! "I went to sleep since all this happened around 2:00 in the morning and I had school the next day."

"So drugging yourself and your brother with an experimental coma drug called XSC39 wasn't what you did after you got back from destroying the formula and erasing all its research?" he asked with a small smirk causing me to slightly panic.

How the hell am I going to get out of this?!