21
After the high of the Bond Battle, the mood at camp turned strangely quiet. I was busy cleaning the "Titan Key," but I kept glancing at the Soul Dew shard Latias had left behind. It was sitting on a stone near May, and every time she breathed out, the shard pulsed with a deep, oceanic indigo.
The Secret Training: Sun Breathing (Human Version)
May wasn't one to sit still while everyone else was getting "power-ups." While I was distracted with the shard, she pulled Kage aside to the edge of the clearing.
"Okay, Kage," she whispered, her voice uncharacteristically serious. "Jake says I have this 'Vigor' thing. If you can use the Sun to stay calm, I want to learn too. Teach me the breathing!"
Kage looked at her, then at his own scarred palms, and gave a sharp, ninja-like nod. He began to demonstrate the rhythmic, deep inhalations—the Sun Breathing foundation.
May tried. She stood with her feet planted, chest expanding. "Breath of the Sun... Form One..."
[Chat Log]
GymBro_Chuck: IS SHE TRYING TO CHANNEL HAMON?!
IceCreamQueen_C: Jake, look at the thermal readings on the drone! May's body temperature is skyrocketing!
PervySage: Wait, is the ground melting under her feet?
May didn't just breathe; she ignited. Because of her "Human Pokémon" biology, her lungs acted like a bellows for a forge. Instead of a calm flow, a literal aura of heat began to shimmer around her.
"I... I feel it!" May shouted, her eyes flickering with that dangerous amber. "It's like... a volcano in my lungs!"
She threw a test punch at a boulder. She didn't hit it with her fist—the air pressure and heat from her breath hit it first, causing the rock to crack and hiss as if it had been struck by a Flare Blitz.
"May, stop!" I yelled, dropping the Key and sprinting over. "You're going to overheat!"
The Soul Dew Mystery
As I ran toward her, the Soul Dew shard didn't just pulse—it screamed. It flew off the stone, drawn to May like a magnet, and began to orbit her head like a tiny, glowing moon.
Raven stood up, her fur bristling. "The resonance! It is not just the Sea, Jake. The Soul Dew is a mirror. It is reacting to the Primal energy she's channeling!"
Suddenly, the blue light of the shard and the amber heat of May's "Sun Breathing" collided. A holographic image projected into the air, visible to me, the team, and all 100,000 people currently watching the stream.
The image showed an ancient depiction of a woman standing atop a Kyogre, calming the storms with her bare hands. She wore the same markings that were currently appearing as glowing red lines on May's arms.
[Chat Log]
Steven_Stone: Those markings... those are the Sigils of the Draconids, but adapted for the People of the Sea. Jake, what is she?!
Master_Oak: The Soul Dew usually only reacts to the Lati-twins. If it's reacting to May, she might be a genetic 'Key' to the Hoenn deeps.
May blinked, the heat dissipating as she looked at the glowing shard. The amber in her eyes faded, replaced by her usual confusion. "Who's the lady on the big blue fish? She has my bandana!"
"That's... probably a distant relative, May," I wheezed, finally reaching her and grabbing her shoulders. I checked her temperature—she was still hot enough to fry an egg on, but the Everstone shard in my pocket was humming, keeping her stable.
"No more Sun Breathing for humans," I commanded, looking directly into the camera. "Chat, you didn't see that. That was... uh... high-end AR filters! Sponsored by... Silph Co! Yeah, let's go with that."
[Chat Log]
Clone_02: Lies. The thermal displacement was 100% physical.
IceCreamQueen_C: Jake, you can't hide this for long. The 'People of the Sea' legends are tied to the Blue Orb. If May is a descendant, Team Aqua won't just want the Sceptilite anymore. They'll want her.
I looked at May, who was now back to being a "dumbass," trying to see if she could use the Soul Dew shard as a disco ball for Blaze the Torchic.
"We need to get to Rustboro," I muttered to the team. "We need a Gym Leader's protection and a lot of answers."