The Delta Effect: Books 1 and 2 (Hoenn + Aurin; Sinnoh): From the Earth and Sky

6.X.X

The Close Beyond
~ or ~
Last Reason's Jagged Edge​

Possible Future (quickref 5a/5b)
Method: Timespace Distortion Projection
Reference I 487-646-385-718

Spoiler: TD Projection notes: viewer/operator Readme

A spoiler at the beginning? Don't worry, I'll be short and to-the-point if you want me to.

I like to do things on page-turns. In this case, LV's default post-quantity for a page of a thread is twenty posts, making this, number twenty-one, the first of a new page. So I thought I'd do something special. Feel free to skip the rest of this spoiler, though "Alexa?" might be helpful.

Spoiler: Alexa?

After much self-debate, I've decided to change Agnes' name to Alexa, short for Alexandra. It's more contemporary, can be plausibly (although requiring some suspension of disbelief) connected to her vaguely Arabian-themed homeland, and has a much less obnoxious diminutive in form of Lex or Lexie, instead of the admittedly wonky "Niz". The stuff regarding her having the same name as her Grandmother and other reasons I chose that name will be edited in earlier chapters sometime in the future. I want to do something similar with Ren and Ria later, but haven't yet settled on their new names. These aren't pseudonyms or disguises, just a symptom of my inability to choose good names on my first try.

Also, I'm sure you could figure it out on your own, but I'll state it plainly. The Architect mentioned here, as well as the tall old man from Dewford Island in the flashback a few chapters ago is AZ from the Kalos games. I hate his name, I just do. So there's a new title for him, one referencing his building of the Ultimate Weapon in Kalos. Just in case AZ isn't his birthname, I don't want to overwrite the name he was given by his parents with an incorrect nomenclature. Similar with The Outsider. There's a character who I want to make more permanent (in this case from that Noir-like side project I'm doing), and in his case the change in nomenclature with the story will make sense. That's a surprise though, so hang tight for that.

Spoiler: Zero's giving visuals?

Oh no, it's happening. My intentional vagueness of visual descriptions of characters has been overruled. Despite how much I hate how some published authors spend entire pages at a time describing the visual appearance of their characters for no real plot purpose, I'm about to do something more extreme: give pictures. Sort of. Rainy day, taking a break from MH4U and Smash 3DS I decided to take a crack and Mii Making some of the concepts I had in my own head for how these people look. Feel free to not look at these at all! These are just cartoonized pictures of the mental images I have for these characters, and your own mental pictures will vary. If you want to go your merry way with your imagination, don't click this spoiler. Just don't. You can be your own casting director.

Spoiler: The Mii Maker pictures

- - - -
Top Row, left to right: Alexa, Bryan, Administrator Zephyrus
Bottom Row, left to right: Ren, Ria (namechange pending), Administrator Borea
(Trainercard is outdated, pre-namechange Alexa and before I dropped the use of A.D. years)

- Alexa: I wanted her to look as if she's a blend of real-world Arabian or Persian with Legend of Zelda's Gerudo, but Mii Maker's limited supply of colors means I can't get the skintone or hair color I want, period. I guess I'll have to learn to actually art something if I want anything more along what I'm imagining. Beyond that, I was aiming for a tough girl who is more practical than vain, and I think I may have hit that mark. Also, here's a picture made by Ravenide (card assembly by me), that has her looking a bit young but has a lot of things I wanted done, he did perfectly.

- Bryan: This is actually pretty close to what I had imagined. Kid looks kinda like that one punk or bully from middle school, scruffy as far as that age group goes, narrow and untrusting eyes, a moderately world-uncaring expression. Kind of on-point.

- Zephyrus: This was a complete accident. I was just goofing with my own mii, trying varying hairstyles and colors and nose types when I saw something that looks pretty good. I'm extrapolating from this cartoony face a realistic human that would make my ex-girlfriend get all wobbly. Just give him a newsboy/poet beret and we'll split up all over again.

- Ren: I don't like the jaw, everything seems too big or too small. But the eyes, glasses, grin, all that? Pretty on-point. I want him to seem like a happy sorta-nerd, and I think I hit the mark.

- Ria: Sigh, I don't know. Again trying to go for the happy-go-lucky squeaky-clean thing, but there's something I don't like. Probably going to change the mental picture I have of her at the same time as I change her name.

- Borea: She was the subject of that post I linked to above. In their first chapter, I described her and Zephyrus with "She, tall and strong with a cultural braid in her hair and with paradoxical heat in her cold eyes. He, slim and serious with a stern jaw and dark eyes. Both dressed in classy black-and-white fashions, accented only by a colored bracelet or vest." intentionally refusing to go further than that, even specifying what culture of braid she has, be it French or Chinese or Arabian or whatever. Well, I was aiming for Scandinavian. Like a single braid on the side near the front, but Mii maker couldn't get that (as well as the particular eyes and mouth I wanted). Oh well, maybe on another rainy day I'll do the same thing in Fallout 4, only with the teenagers aged to adults.

There you have it. One character has a new name, and a couple of years have passed. This chapter is in a different place and time than the previous and the next. Enjoy.

Eighteenth of September 393 A.P. (6 A.E.)

The wind blew unseasonably cold and humid through the air of what was once Palladi City in Aurin. The years between spread a feeling of unfamiliarity about the place, understandable considering the city's utter leveling at the hands of Deoxys. The only structure still standing was one younger than the disaster, a massive device made of metal and synthetic crystal built atop the Sanctuary below the rubble of what was once the Auri Grand Palace. There the man built his machine that would supposedly save the world.

The Architect was in the middle of a mechanical tuning of some instrument when he noticed Alexa approach up the deserted main plaza-street on foot. With several minutes of distance between them, he ceased his work, lowered himself to one knee and turned his face to the elaborate stonework floor on which the machine was built. "My Queen." He announced when she finally reached him.

"Rise, Architect." She said in his style to match his subdued but present drama. Instead, he only turned his head upward to face her. Perhaps for the better, as someone with his three-meter height and matching stature doesn't hold easy conversation with the usual adult standing on average less than two-thirds his height. "And don't call me Queen. We both know it's not true."

"Do you see any other contenders for the throne?" He asked. "Any who seek the burden of a leader, any who care for this land as you do?"

The wind howling through the crumbled ruins of the city under the clouded sky gave their answer on her behalf.

"Until the swift wings of death prevent me from fulfilling my sworn allegiance to you," said the Architect, "there will be no other Queen in my eyes." And in his eyes were the forces of truth and dreams. The truth that if this land has a savior or a leader, it is the young woman standing before him. The dream that she will one day, perhaps today, be the one to recover this lost land to its deserving glory and the world to its needed peace.

She placed one hand on his shoulder, a gesture of affirmed trust. "I am glad to have you." She said. She looked upward from the base of the machine, crude and mechanical, to its upper half, aesthetic and floral, she spoke again to the Architect. "Are you sure it's ready?"

"I would not have summoned you were I not entirely sure of this machine's perfection within its potential. Whether or not it is enough, I cannot say for sure." He explained. "Beyond what I have done already, we can only put it to work. And we can pray."

"Pray all you want." Alexa said. "I'll be lighting the fuse."

Over six years it's been. All those years ago that the meteor fell from a hole in space and crushed Sky Pillar, inciting a series of events that led to the rapid fall of society and the near-eradication of human and Pokémon life on this planet. Also six years ago that Alexa first met the Architect, stooped over the wooden skeleton of a boat on Dewford Island. Nothing compared to the three hundred years since the last time he or anyone else tried to build the machine he made here.

"There are only two problems," the Architect said, snapping Alexa out of her nostalgic trance. "We need a way to bring the monster here and a way to sufficiently power the machine." Only then did it become clear to Alexa that this entire time, despite its purpose being entirely clear, the Architect has never referred to this machine as a weapon. Always some kind of euphemism instead.

"I can summon it." She said. "Lu-Cipher will throw a signal flare." An understatement, to be sure, but the Architect knew the fact of the claim. "But what about the power supply? Doesn't the Sanctuary have a powerful generator?"

The man shook his head, his white mane swaying with the motion. "The generator, while sufficient to power a city for a century at least, still cannot achieve the output we require. We would need several years worth of its maximum output concentrated into a minute to meet our needs."

"And what about the legends you told me? The Stag, Hawk, and Serpent?" Alexa went on. "Not that they can do my duty, but still."

"Alas, they remember still what I did all those years ago. None of them will come to my aid, and for good reason. I also ask you to leave them be, as they are all hurt by the events of recent times. Lethargic, atrophied, dormant. The each want to experience their own recovery, not be forced into a plot of mankind's machinations, as my ancestors have tried to do."

"Then what?" Alexa asked, almost irate over the circular discussion. "You must have a plan. You're a master of your craft, and I know you to be perhaps the single most intelligent human alive, if not also the most wise. What aren't you telling me?"

The Architect looked away and blinked several times, showing a yet-unseen emotion of apprehension. "Morpheus and his master come to do their part." He sais somewhat quietly. "They are on their way."

Alexa, speechless for a moment, processing the information she just received, turned her attention to the eastern sky. Thunderbolts crawled across the underbelly of the clouds lining the heavens.

"I know this is not how you wanted this to unfold." The Architect went on. "I saw no other way. I hope you believe me."

Thunder audibly boomed in the distance. She took a deep breath. "So be it. Is there anyone else joining us?"

"The Outsider is on his way, as is his ally who I have not yet encountered. In addition to those two is my old friend, Celeste Stone, who you have not yet had the questionable pleasure of meeting."

Hearing this man use the phrase 'old friend', while he looks to be at least seventy years of age and claims to be over three hundred, seems to be a strange and profound choice of words. "They're all here with the intent and ability to help?" Alexa asked.

"Of course." Said the Architect. "Some more than others. In fact, Celeste is here for the sole purpose of talking to you, perhaps the most necessary of the jobs to be done. She is there, by our camp, if you wish to talk to her now."

Alexa turned her gaze to where the old man gestured, down another upheaved street. There a wrinkly, silver-maned woman sat at a confusingly ornate wooden desk under a canvas popup pavilion, writing on genuine parchment with an antique quill and ink. "How do you know her, and why is she helping?"

"She is as an elder sister to me, and we share a somewhat similar past. She's the friend I have managed to hold on to longer than any other." The man said with a sigh. "And she has a certain conversational finesse which I lack. I am sure you will appreciate her wisdom."

"If you insist." Said Alexa. "I'll be back in a bit, 'kay?" She offered as she walked to the woman, tense for not being directly invited.

---

Morpheus landed to the stonework ground a couple of city blocks from the machine, letting René off his back and once more to terra firma. "Just the way I remember it." The young man said, patting his Pokémon's side affectionately. Down an opposite street came a man and a woman riding on the back of a Magnet-Rising Metagross, hovering at the speed of an automobile. "It's good to see you again, Outsider." René said with a grin, enjoying a drop of entertainment from using the man's new nickname. "Those prosthetics are looking good."

The man blinked emotionlessly a few times, and closed and relaxed one hand by his side. "The reboot is never as good as the original." He said flatly. "I'm glad you made it. You two are going to be instrumental here."

"Always glad to lend a hand." The young man said, adjusting his glasses before leading the Outsider and his silent guest down the avenue to the Architect and his machine. "So today's the day, huh?"

"It seems that way."

"Getting tense in the eleventh hour?" René asked. The man was usually to-the-point, not wasting his time or breath on needless chatter. Contrary to his normal directness and precision with his words, he just seemed nervous with anticipation.

"I'm wary of things which are immeasurable in any way, like the capabilities of this machine." He explained. "Anything that cannot be measured and quantified is something that cannot be fully understood, and thereby cannot be handled with a level and tempered response."

"That's a good point, but I don't think it's going to stop anyone else from trying." René said as they neared the Architect. "Hey there big guy!" He said with a smile and a wave. "I left Murphy a bit down the road in case there might be electrical interference." He slid his hands into his pockets, in one of them rubbing a good luck Yellow Shard. "So, any luck ironing out those wrinkles in the plan?"

"Yes, but allow me to explain something first." The man said.

"I don't like where this is going." René interrupted.

The Architect lowered his head. "You will not like it, but honestly," he raised his gaze to look the young man in the eyes, "you don't have to." Strangely harsh words from the old man. "The problem of emulating the power that I have seen used for revivification in the past is that it requires some life force to begin. A start to the siphon, if you will, or a jump-start."

"Or a blood price." René said. "You're going to sacrifice yourself to make this happen?"

"No, that is inaccurate on two counts. The first is that I cannot be the one to start the reaction: I'm already cursed with this unending life." He said in a grave tone. "And it is a curse indeed."

"So I've heard, and I agree." The young man replied. "Part two?"

"Alexa has already volunteered, of her own will, but against mine."

René put his hands to his own head as if trying to split his skull like a melon. "That bull-headed fool!" He burst out. "How does she--"

"I have already directed her to talk to Celeste, a friend who shares my condition." The Architect said, gesturing to a nearby shelter, where Alexa sat, talking to an old woman. "She agrees with my view, and is more likely than anyone to succeed in talking our friend down from her choice." He explained. "Regardless, I doubt she would listen to you."

"Right, thanks for the reminder." René grumbled, rubbing his palm against his forehead. "Fine. Whatever. How can I help? Murphy's going to be the power source for the mechanical part?"

"Indeed." said the Architect. "It is safe for him to be near the machine, just bring him to the high platform below the flower." He explained, gesturing to an outcropping of the metallic part of the weapon, below the crystal upper half.

"Got it." René said as he stormed back to Morpheus.

"I need more hands for this next adjustment. You two can help." The old man said to the Outsider and his friend.

---

"That woman's crazy." Alexa said plainly to the Architect once she returned to him, still at the machine. He and the Outsider were working together on calibrating what seemed to be an optical targeting device of the weapon.

He didn't respond for a while, measuring various answers and their outcomes. "Age can promote such a state in one's mind."

"Those things she said," She went on, "about how the passage of time changes your outlook on things. People, interactions. Lives. Is she just being cynical, or do you agree?"

Again he answered slowly, likely because he wished not to answer at all. "With very little exception, she is correct. On the scale of three hundred years of life, everything else seems smaller."

"Three thousand." Alexa corrected. "She told me."

"So now you know." The Architect put down his wrench somewhat angrily and gave the young woman his undivided attention. "And I will reaffirm to you that undyingness it is not something to be desired."

"I don't care. What I care about is getting my payback on Deoxys. I've spent most of my self-determined life trying to end that monster's reign of terror, I'm not about to let something like unending psychological agony get in the way."

"That's pretty selfish of you." René said, just arrived and approaching from behind, with Morpheus at his back, in all his dark splendor. "You know how this thing works? By reproducing the powers of Xerneas and Yvetal both, right?"

"Yeah, I've been given the rundown. And I know the personal risks involved. Quite honestly, I don't care."

"I'm well aware." He said. "I know you don't care about me, maybe you just want me gone, and that's okay. On the other hand, I do care about you, and I don't want you to go through that neverending pain that these two are experiencing just as much as I don't want you dead. Please, put your ambition to the side and let's find another way to make sure this happens."

"You know I won't do that." Alexa answered.

René put a hand on his Pokéball holster. "Don't make me stop you."

The Outsider calmly stepped between them and put a hand on René's shoulder, wordlessly discouraging him from his chosen path.

"Go ahead and let him try to stop me." Alexa said first to the Outsider, then also to René and the Architect. "I'm doing this because I have nothing to live for right now. My family is either dead or scattered, the rest of my friends have been unceremoniously massacred, and my home is a dry husk of what it once was." She laughed a desperate, resigned laugh, and wiped an imaginary tear from welling in one eye. "I'm just so tired. Tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of not knowing if the next day will be my last. If the weapon pulls the life out of me, then so be it. What am I losing? If it does the same thing to me as happened to Celeste and the Architect, then maybe, just maybe, I'll survive long enough to see something better."

René's face twisted into sadness, his mysteriously bottomless optimism unable to comprehend Alexa's sentiments. The Outsider looked away, to distance himself from this ordeal; and The Architect kept his unshaken, unemotive non-expression as usual.

"So there." Alexa resumed after a few deep breaths. "If you think I can be stopped, then just try to stop me." She calmly and steadfastly walked past the three men trying to change her mind, and walked around to the opposite end of the machine, where the entrance to the Source Pod waited. She sat on the second step, pulled her knees to her chest, and thought about her future as she awaited Lu-Cipher's arrival.

---

"It should be me." The Outsider said. "I'm barely alive as it is, so whatever side effect comes from being in the source pod, I won't be affected as harshly."

"It shouldn't be anyone." René corrected. "There are other ways we haven't tried yet."

"Such as?" Asked the Architect hypothetically.

"I have ten of the Plates." René announced. "You and Alexa each have at least one. We're two-thirds of the way to something we all know will work. Another six months or a year and we could literally have Arceus here to set this all straight."

"How many people, René, will perish at Deoxys' hand in that time?" The Architect asked. "Compared to how many today if the machine works as intended?"

René took a deep breath and huffed out angrily through his nose. "It isn't right."

"Yes it is." The Archtect reassured him. "She made her choice. She knows every possible outcome and has determined the consequences. I can only admire her for willingly walking into this sacrifice of which I was unaware in my own time, and of which I would not have had the courage to undertake."

Disagreement from René and The Outsider hung unspoken in the air, silent for known inadequacy in the reality of the situation.

---

"And you are sure you wish to do this?" Lu-Cipher asked through its psychic link with Alexa, still on its way to Palladi Ruins.

"Unless you know a reason I shouldn't." She replied in thought. "I trust your input more than anyone's."

"You know all the relevant facts and have made an educated decision." It thought back. "For that, you have made the best choice."

Alexa turned her thoughts privately inward to reassure herself, with new solidarity from her last confidant, to follow through. "Thank you." She said in thought.

"It has been my honor to serve with you. I am ready to signal Deoxys whenever you are ready."

"Architect!" Alexa called out audibly, standing from her stooped perch on the stairs to the Source Pod. "Are we set?"

The ancient man, along with Celeste, René, and The Outsider plus his untalkative guest stepped into view from around one side of the machine. "We are ready when you are." He replied.

"Then it's time." She said loud enough for them to hear. "Lu-Cipher's on its way to attract Deoxys."

The Architect, down on street level, spoke and gestured to the others, guiding them to various support areas around the device. The Outsider to a targeting console to be assisted by the Metagross, René and Morpheus to the power supply, Celeste with a squad of Ice-types presumably with the intention of keeping the mechanical part of the machine from melting by its own functions. As they scattered to their posts, the Architect climbed halfway up the staircase to the pod where Alexa waited. "Do you remember how to prepare yourself?"

"We've been over it before." She took a deep breath. "Thank you." She said to the giant man standing four steps below her and at eye level, staring resolutely at her as she did at him. Letting herself go for a moment, Alexa took a few steps down to him and wrapped her arms around the man as best she could. "Thank you."

He didn't say anything in return. Rather, he wrapped his long arms around her, and for a moment, Alexa felt once more like a little girl hugging her father. When finally they released their hold, the Architect climbed back down the stairs to his place at a monitoring station.

Alexa stepped into the Source Pod for her second time ever and for the final time. A tall, narrow space with standing room for one, the interior was made of the same green material of which the floral structure was built, with two gold plates on the floor and a gold rod at hip level on either side, superconductors for her feet and hands respectively; as well as two pairs of electrodes hanging from a port in the ceiling. She sat down and removed her shoes, peeled off her socks, and placed both gently on the top step. Next her climbing gloves, fingerless and admittedly sweat-soaked. With those preparations done, she opened a packet of a conductive medical gel the Architect gave her earlier, and applied the frigid substance and color-coded electrodes to her body: First above her right breast, second under her shirt on her ribcage halfway between the left underarm and hip, and the last two close to her ears on each temple. "All hooked up." She muttered, gripping the two golden rods at her sides and planting both feet flatly on their plates. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves. "And now we wait."

Minutes passed like hours, and the chatter of the others preparing to operate the machine leaked in through the open passage to the Pod, but no panic or emergency chatter. It's not time to fire it yet. Alexa's thoughts drifted gradually backwards through time: every little adventure through Tohjo, Ferrum, Sinnoh, all over the world; every friend made and lost over the years. Eventually she was back in the early memories of exploring the wilds near home with Jasmine, seemingly a lifetime ago and a world away, though probably just fifteen years and as many miles.

The anticipation grew like an aggressive tumor in Alexa's soul, trying her resolve for a breaking point, trying to convince her to quit this potential sacrifice. Every hyper-aware beat of her heart fueled an anxiety that the decision may not be worth it. Still, just by a thread, she remained steadfast in her decision.

"Lu? Are you there?" She asked telepathically. "Is there a problem?"

"Only a miscalculation of travel time." Lu-Cipher sent back. "I just arrived. I'm calling our friend now." And surely a blue glow shone itself from somewhere above the machine with the roar of a gas stove, raising the temperature even on the ground by a few degrees and pulling in a drafty air current that pushed away the overcast of the clouds and welcomed the sun. "I did convene with Morpheus." Lu-Cipher went on as he burned a new weather pattern in the air and let off enough energy to drag Deoxys in by its own competitive nature. "We would put aside our differences for the purpose of--"

"No, you two need to stay as you are. While that would potentially solve one problem, it would generate many more." Alexa explained. "I'm surprised you didn't know the truth of that already."

"I did." Said Lu-Cipher after a pause. "Very well. I will fulfill my part according to plan, and Morpheus will do so as well. No matter the outcome, I will carry your ideals with me always."

"That's strange of you to say." Alexa commented, refusing to faux-optimistically comment on Lu's unsureness of the outcome. "And the same to you, friend."

Their telepathic line went quiet, and Alexa took the moment to gather her thoughts.

"It approaches." Lu-Cipher sent.

"This is it." Alexa said aloud. She adjusted and tightened her grip on the superconductive gold rods, and re-planted her bare feet on the now-warm gold plates below her. "All or nothing, for both of us, Deoxys." She drew more breaths, deep and quick, anticipation growing exponentially with each respiration. Soon came the disgustingly familiar hum of of the alien's levitation and general presence. The sounds of a small army of Pokémon defending the machine and its staff bounced around the ruins and into Alexa's ears, accelerating her heart with each note. The Architect's booming voice issuing commands left and right to the small group who came to help, coordinating their efforts against the now-present threat of Deoxys.

She felt it before she heard it: the machine waking to life. First a minor electrical sensation through her fingers, toes, and chest preceding the whine of the machine, gradually growing to a chorus of vibrating crystalline structures. As the notes came together in some sort of heavenly yet sickening chord, so did the sensations. Physically, it felt like a mild electrocution, like hugging Jasmine's Ampharos with its ambient static electricity, then came the hypothermic warmth of overloaded nerves. Either she was overheating and the very air about her felt chilled, or she was shutting down and becoming cold while her brain was unable to process the stimulus. "I've never felt so alive." She said through the conflicting sensations, her grip tightening on the rods. With this death-like feeling came something less tangible, something with her breath. Breathing became more than a chemical exchange with the air, but something else as well, as if her spirit has now manifested in her lungs, mixing and breeding with the nitrogen gas all around. Each breath could be her last, and the thought triggers a panic within her. Shortening breaths, increasing hypoxia, muscle weakness. She begins to collapse under the sudden frailty, barely able to hold her composure, but still managing to smile. "I've never felt so alive." She says again through the exhaustion, and meaning every word of it. Her sight fails in a fade, leaving her in visual dark, and with this blindness comes the realization that somewhere in this procedure her hearing left too. Now with only a useful sense of touch, the world becomes the conductive plates and electrodes that keep her to the machine. "I've never felt so..." The thought comes fragmentedly through her mind. "I've never felt..." Touch fades. "so..." Thought weakens. "alive..." She exhales completely. "..."

ΖΣ

Spoiler

So. That's going to happen. Maybe. It's just a possible future, after all.

Spoiler

Who are Morpheus and Lu-Cipher? Wait, you're actually asking me? I thought I left enough hints. Well, as for their names, those are two names of which I'm quite proud in my generally self-satisfied nicknaming history. They make perfect sense on at least five levels, only one of which I will plainly state right now: go read the "Sandman" graphic novels. In this case, at least read Volume 4, "Season of Mists". That tome alone will link together the topmost levels of the identity and meanings of these two Pokémon, while leaving the remaining levels (which reach back through millennia of history and myth) to you.

What exactly did Celeste say to Alexa when the Architect directed her to seek guidance? I wrote it all up, and was going to post it, but decided against for a few reasons. First, it got kind of dry. Second, there's one part of it that could have gotten really twisted in the head if you looked too deep into it, and as awesome as I could make that, I don't want that in what I want to be a PG-13 story. Third, the final product without this is 150% my usual long-ish post length, I don't need to add another fifteen hundred words and make this a double-lenth post, a quarter of which would be essentially fluff (and due to the multiple interations this chapter went through, wouldn't match many things I added in at other points of development). If you insist, though, go ahead and read it here. Or don't. I omitted it for a reason.

Spoiler

"The Architect tells me you have something for me." Alexa asks. "What is it?"

"Did that man ever tell you how he became so old?" Celeste answers by a question through a creaking voice.

"A great deal of patience?" She replies with a quiet one-breath laugh.

The old woman only stares. "Did he ever tell you about that friend he had revived after that one war?"

"A long time ago, yeah. One of the legends of his homeland granted him that wish as a consolation for the grief he felt for his friend." She tries to summarize the tale, unsure if it's enough for the old woman. "Wait, is that friend you?"

The woman laughs a stark outburst. "Me, his friend? We're hardly acquaintances. We associate only because of a shared trait of our age, like traveling to a new land and associating with someone solely because they speak the same language as you." She says. "No, that friend is not me, and that's not the noteworthy part. The noteworthy part is who exactly granted the wish. Xerneas, from his homeland of Kalos. A Pokémon with the ability to spread lifeforce as it pleases. The man spent many years studying how exactly this happens, since it doesn't agree with knowledge of internal medicine from this era or that."

"Okay." Alexa says. "So?"

"This weapon, or machine as he would call it since he doesn't like that "w" word, emulates the abilities of that Pokémon, Xerneas, as a way to channel lifeforce directly."

"So he's trying to bombard Deoxys with life?"

"Not quite. There is an antithesis to Xerneas, another Pokémon who manipulates lifeforce, namely Yvetal. Specifically, that one absorbs lifeforce, manipulating it away from its surroundings and into its self."

"How are those the same thing at all?" Alexa asks.

"In a simple enough way for you to understand, it's like magnetism." Celeste says with a condescending note to her voice. "The same thing pushes and pulls, depending on which end you're standing at. If you're standing at Yvetal's end, it pulls the lifeforce away from you. If you're at Xerneas' end, it pushes lifeforce into you." She explained. "Whether you want it to or not."

"So he just got too close to Xerneas and had lifeforce pumped into him?" The concept encounters disbelief in Alexa's mind, but she remains open to the idea for the sake of discussion.

"You are a smart one." The old woman comments flatly, dryly. "No wonder that boy enjoys your company so much."

"That boy?"

"So many questions!" Celeste bursts out. "Fine, the old codger over there." She gestured to the Architect, who was busying himself with more fine-tuning of the machine, now with two helpers at his side. "Still just a child in my eyes."

"He's three hundred years old." Alexa comments. "He's more than a child."

"Three hundred? You gullible little girl." Celeste wipes one leathery finger across the corner of her eye, as if wiping away a tear of laughter. "It's been three hundred years since his three thousandth birthday."

Alexa doesn't buy it. "No." She says, withholding her annoyance at being a twenty-one year old woman called a little girl. "If he was that old, he would have withered to dust by now."

"And yet there he stands." The old woman says with a toothless grin and wide, honest eyes.

Alexa looks across the upheaved street in the direction of the Architect. Honestly, considering the source of his age and its affect on his body, he could say anything above a hundred and fifty and be believable. "So how old are you?"

"I don't remember." the old woman says quietly, as wind whispers through the air, pulling a couple dozen strands of silver hair to one side of her face. "The earliest I can clearly remember is the destruction of the first Ransei region."

"So you want me to believe Ransei is more than a myth." Alexa says, mostly to vocalize her subtext criticism of Celeste's insanity. "And that there was another one before the one talked about in the books."

"Two before that one. The first one, or at least the first I remember, was about eight thousand or so winters past, and was created by Arceus itself, supposedly. Same with the one after that, once the previous one was destroyed in a cataclysm by the big A itself. After that one," She goes on, "Groudon decided to try and win points by creating another reincarnation of the region, this time in Arceus' own image. That's the one with the eighteen kingdoms and Warlord Nobunaga all that fuss."

"All right then." Alexa says as she internally tries to gauge this woman's insanity. "So Architect sent me over here to listen to you tell the other side of his origin story?"

"Oh, right. The memory's the first thing to go with age." The woman says as she bumps the palm of her hand against her forehead. "And I can't remember the next."

"If we're done here..." Alexa says, turning to rejoin the others.

"He tells me you plan to fire that weapon yourself." Celeste says. "Climb into the cockpit, turn the key, aim the sticks, pull the trigger, and fire away?"

"Well I'm sure not about to let [Ren] take the satisfaction from me." Alexa explains. "I've wanted hands-on payback since zero day. He just wanted to try and pray it away."

"Do you remember how I said the weapon works?"

"It emulates those Kalosian legends' power."

"And how the boy got to be undying?"

"By being close to Xerneas." Now a new set of gears begins to click in Alexa's head. "You think if I'm the one to fire this weapon, I'll become immortal?"

"Not immortal, just undying. And really, the outcome of the exposure is a tossup." Celeste says with a shrug. "Who knows which end of the magnet you're going to be standing on? You could become the opposite of undying, if you catch my drift. On top of that, neither outcome is that great."

"Undyingness is a bad thing? You sure seem to be enjoying it, and the Architect seems okay with that situation too."

"Let me ask you a question: when is the last time you saw him sad?" Celeste asks. "Or remorseful, or grieving, or really seem to care about life in general, his or anybody else's?"

Alexa doesn't have an answer. Her time with the man was sporadic at best since she met him on Dewford Island seven years ago.

"When you get to be this old, you become very familiar with death. This whole calamity, this alien monster and its devastation? I doubt he cares. I honestly don't give a Hoothoot either."

"What? Sure he cares." Alexa insists. "Why else would he go through the effort of building this machine?"

"Probably out of boredom. If anybody has time on their hands, it's the folk like us. What's six years of design and construction compared to three thousand of walking the world? A fifth of a percent of his life dedicated to this machine if he worked without rest or sleep. Normal people spend half their life working forty hours per one-hundred-and-sixty-eight hour week. That's a quarter of their time including sleep for half their life. One eighth of regular people's lives spent working compared to a fraction of a percent of his on this project. Time is nothing and life is almost nothing."

Alexa still reels from the math lesson for a moment. "Okay, so he's building this thing out of boredom. I still think he cares about human and Pokémon life."

"You still don't get it? How about this, just bear with me. Ten years ago the population of the world was what, nine billion humans? Now it's maybe one billion? Wow, eight billion people. That's a lot." Celeste said with impressive sarcasm. "One hundred years ago, one sliver of his life, hardly any of those nine billion were born yet, and today most of them are gone. Of those who were alive one hundred years ago, almost none of them were born yet a century before that. Two hundred years and we've already seen at least fifteen billion who didn't attend the next centennial party because they were busy being returning to the earth as fertilizer in this circle of life. Keep that trend up, reducing the overall population of the world each century back accommodating for overall growth, and he's maybe seen a trillion people born and buried in his lifetime. You think your eight billion dead is important to him? It's hardly worth a footnote in his life story."

Alexa is left speechless. The woman's argument, though simplified, is considerable. All this time, the Architect's calm, steady personality may have not been just a preference toward formality and cultural adherence, but instead a sort of numbness to human interaction. After all, everyone else is just an intermittent experience.

"You know I'm right." Celeste says, a certain bragging note in her voice. "Living forever makes you dead to the world."

All at once, Alexa's mind is flooded with an attempt to empathize with the Architect's supposed numbness to life. Trying to picture one trillion people born and buried, no matter how spread out, is nearly incomprehensible to simulate, making the recent tragedies seem hollow in comparison. "Thank you." She says to Celeste and begins her way back to the Architect without waiting for a response.

Spoiler: Changes

Tweaked some of Alexa's fading consciousness. I want it to be a tossup what happens to her, and I think it seemed more like she, erm, died. I don't know yet for myself, and I don't want the reader to be 100% sure either. I want a "I wonder" ending there.

November 11 2015: Some minor word-choice and grammatical changes. Note: although I consider this one of my best chapters, I'm still unsatisfied. The first half could go with more description, specificity, natural dialogue, and style.

 

2.3.5​

​

Teamwork​

*note: bear in mine Agnes/Niz is now called Alexa; as a retcon, not a disguise. Expect a similar change for Ren and Ria soon too.

Alexa woke in a late hour of the morning, instantly awake, as if jolted out of a dream. Sunlight slid through the blinds of one wall's windows at a steep angle, and the strange stone she found in her backpack still waited, perched on the nightstand. She re-dressed and considered asking Ren, who seemed knowledgeable on obscure subjects and artifacts, about the stone but declined the option, deciding instead to play her cards close to her chest. Feeling a light sense of shame for sleeping in to the late morning instead of her usual crack of dawn timing, she tried to quietly open the door and sneak into the main area of the disguised safehouse without being noticed.

Brian, the thief and infiltrator they found living on the Team Royal property, was seated at the computer desk, Ren standing hunched behind him and watching over his shoulder. "Good morning." Ren greeted as Alexa tiptoed toward them, not eager to announce her late presence. "Did you sleep well?"

"I guess." She said half-heartedly. She thought about the hazy fall into sleep and grasped for whatever details she could regarding her visions last night. "I had a dream about Palladi. You were there, and so was an old man I met on Dewford island a while back." Each second erased another detail of the visions. "I think I died at the end. Or maybe I was born? I don't know." She sighed a long breath. "Any luck getting back into the servers?" She asked, mostly to Brian.

"Just a matter of time now. This thing's doing all the work." He said, pointing to a USB stick poking out the side of the monitor. A small window with a rapidly filling and resetting progress bar waited in the center of the otherwise empty screen. The boy arched his back and rubbed one fist up and down his spine as if trying to massage out a kink. "One of those is for you, by the way." He added, turning his attention to her and away from the computer, gesturing to an oil-spotted paper bag on the coffeetable. "Breakfast is on me, as thanks for the food last night. And for not reporting me to whoever."

Alexa sat on the sofa, still with a decent viewing angle of the computer. "Thanks. It's the least we could have done." She pulled a paper-wrapped sandwich from the bag, a boring, mostly cold plain egg on steam-soggy wheat toast within. More details of the dream vanished with each bite she took. Eventually she abandoned the pursuit of the visions.

"Here we go." Brian announced, adjusting his posture at the computer. The small dialogue box's progress bar waited full, and he slid that window to one half of the monitor and opened an ordinary web browser in the other half. Now half of monitor was occupied entirely by what looked like meaningless code and techno mumbo cluttered with pairs of parentheses and angle brackets. "Where to first? Personnel files, AV bugs, their Deoxys files?" He asked. "You seemed excited about that last one before."

"Look me up in personnel." Alexa requested. "I'm listed as Alexa Mu... Nero." She almost forgot the false name she gave Zephyrus on her recruitment.

"Nero comma Alexa." The boy recited. He opened a search bar, typed her supposed last name and found a matching file in the directory. With a copy-paste into the browser on the other side, they soon beheld a barebones text file listing what Team Royal knew of her. "Nero comma Alexa, possible false identity." He read the first line, a field listed for her name. Suddenly the momentary misstep on her own name seemed more incriminating than ever, but Brian didn't seem to draw attention to the obvious fact. "Member, Rook, Freelance. Wow, you advance fast. Hired just a few days ago. Four Pokémon listed. Hometown destroyed by Deoxys, now you two are traveling together." He said mostly in one breath, bored by reading from a script. "Ooh, additional notes. 'In an intercepted part of a private conversation between herself and René Akutaichi,'" He recited. "' she leaked a story that she may be part of Aurin's Muntoro family. Suspected, not confirmed.'" The boy drummed his fingers across the desk for a moment. "How about that. Ears everywhere." He didn't pursue the misinformation further, either out of respect for privacy or to keep as a bargaining chip for later. "Next?"

"Do mine." Ren insisted. "My name was right up there."

Brian went back to the directory page and copied the line of text immediately above Alexa's, then pasted it into the address bar of a new tab in the same browser as before.

"Akutaichi comma René." He began again. "Same rank and date of hire, three known Pokémon listed, you two travel together, yadda yadda mostly the same. Oh, and they suspect you know personal secrets of Miss Nero here."

Across the house, the door to the bedroom used by Ria creaked open. Brian closed Alexa's dossier tab and winked at her. "Good morning, sunshine." He said as the last of his three new acquaintances arrived. "Breakfast is on the table, and we just got down to business with this server stuff. Yours truly is taking requests."

"I'll just watch, thanks." She said groggily, wiping crust from her eyes with a pinky finger before taking the last cold sandwich from the paper bag.

"So what do you want to see." Brian went again. "Plans for world domination, financial records? How about their surveillance methods?" He turned to Alexa and, rather than an arrogant smirk of I-know-your-secret, an expression of a genuine suggestion showed on his face.

"How about the Deoxys stuff." She suggested.

"Straight to the big fish, all right." The boy typed into the brackets page search box again, trying half a dozen terms and forward-skipping through their highlights. He grunted frustratedly.

"Don't fail us now." Ren warned. "This was the cornerstone of the deal."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Brian stroked his imaginary beard as he tried to come up with a new search term. Two tries later, he found what he needed. The browser window opened a page full of formatted text, more than the barebones of the personnel files. He scrolled to the bottom of the document and copied the address of an attachment link at the bottom, pasting that into the address bar of a new tab. There waited a dozen photos of Deoxys, some screen-capped from news broadcasts and with the network logo on the bottom edge, some others taken with various degrees of clarity and professionalism and with no watermark. A dozen more failed to load at all, a small icon of a fragmented photograph replacing the big picture. "I think we're locked out again. I thought following the link itself did it last time, not the fact of accessing the linked file at all." He tabbed back to the article on the other page. "We can keep this open, but nothing new for another thirty-six hours. Again."

Silently, each of them read the article from the same screen, and eventually Ria came over as well to satisfy her curiosity or need to be in a group. Brian scrolled down occasionally, twice told by others to go back up a few lines.

"What in the world is a Red Chain?" Alexa asked once she reached the bottom. She turned her attention directly to Ren, the self-asserted expert on esoteric subjects.

"There are three mythical Pokémon in Sinnoh." Ren began. "Well, there are a whole lot of them, but three that matter in this case. They live one in each major lake of the region. Acuity, Verity, and Valor."

"Like the one we were camped at a few nights ago when..." Alexa trailed off and glared at Brian.

"Exactly." Ren continued. "That island in the middle? One of them lived there, according to the story. Supposedly each of them represents a facet of human consciousness. Emotion, willpower, and something else."

"Knowledge." Ria interjected. "That one, Uxie, lives in Lake Acuity Cave, near Snowpoint city."

"Yeah, that's right." Ren said, nodding in agreement. "Anyhow, apparently those three know how to make or find a thing that can control a Pokémon without limiting its power like a Pokéball would, that thing being the Red Chain. It sounds to me like that's what TR wants to do. Control Deoxys."

"To what end?" Alexa asked. "I think I missed something in that page that said what they want to do with it."

"It didn't say." Ren said, his face twisting to worry. "Maybe they just want it for alien research? Or use it as a clean infinite power supply to sell to the world?"

Brian pushed back his chair and folded his arms low in front of himself. "I was just kidding when I mentioned finding their plans for world domination."

An uneasy silence spread through the group, broken suddenly by the startling ringing of Ria's Xtransceiver. "It's Administrator Borea..." She ended the jolly tune with a hesitant answering of the phone function. "Ria here."

"Did we get caught?" Ren whispered before being hushed by Alexa.

"No, we're all okay." Ria said into the phone. "Yeah, we kept track of him. He's been friendly. Umm, cooperative." She said with a glance at Brian.

"That's right." He whispered, mostly to himself. "No reason to throw me to the Carvanha, right?"

"Celestic? That's up 210, right?" She asked. "And what should we do about the boy?" Ria listened intently on the other line and laughed. "Got it. We'll be back in touch once we find something." She pulled the Xtransceiver away from her head and looked at its display, finding to her own disappointment the call ended without a proper goodbye. "I think that document is for real. Celestic Town, where they want us to go next, is home to the oldest pre-colonial ruins in Sinnoh. Even older than Solaceon Ruins." She said, then paused for a thought. "What we're going to be doing is called opportunistic search and recover, but I like to call it treasure hunting." She said with a smile returning to her face.

As Alexa and Ren voiced their semi-enthusiastic agreement at getting closer to hands-on with something potentially relating to the Red Chain, Brian was left concerned. "So what did your Admin say to do about me?"

"She said, and I quote," Ria began. "To throw you to the Carvanha for all I care, endquote."

"Ears everywhere, I tell you." The boy mumbled. "I know better than to stay here or else risk getting punched in the face again by the psycho Team grunt to show up. So yeah, I'm out of here when you are."

"Well we're out of here now." Alexa said, standing up, followed closely by Ria and less urgently by Ren.

"Well all right then." Brian said, beginning his way to the door. He turned back to his hosts, empty-handed, and nodded at them. "So long, and thanks for not turning me in."

"Hey Brian." Ren interrupted as the doorknob was half-turned. "You did good today. Illegal good, but still good. I appreciate that."

"Thanks, brother." He said with a nod again. He bid a short-winded farewell to each of the three individually, and was out the door.

"I'm a little bit glad he tried to rob us back in Pastoria." Alexa pondered. "It gave us leverage to get what we needed."

"Yeah," Ria agreed. "He's not such a bad guy." She returned to her room to retrieve the minimal set of gear she traveled with, as her fellow Royals did the same.

\\\

"All right, so, benefit of the doubt." Ren began, as he and the crew were headed northward to Route S210. The crisp air of oncoming winter blew down from Mount Coronet. "What world-benefiting reasons are there for controlling Deoxys while not limiting its power with a Pokéball?"

"Clean energy, alien biology research." Ria began, parroting the only two ideas discussed earlier.

"Only one of which is useful enough to justify all the lengths they're going through to capture it." Alexa counter-argued. "Why track down three mythical Pokémon just to learn more about one?"

"Regional defense for Orre? That's where Team Royal is headquartered."

"This thing is a weapon, Ria." Ren began. "Something as powerful as this doesn't get used to protect, it gets used to destroy."

"I think you answered the question." Alexa pointed out. "It gets used to destroy, or at best, to not destroy. But in that case, why wouldn't Silph Co. just make a Masterball and, oh no."

In a plaza one city block forward, Brian and the sketchy older boy from his thieving days stood in the middle of a sparse ring of onlookers. The three Team Royal operatives continued their northward approach, drawing nearer to the action. The older boy was dressed like a wannabe evil twin of Champion Lance, with a black longcoat and his hair slicked back. Brian stood away from him, turned to the side, as if he wanted to walk away but was afraid to do so.

"Thank Cresselia. My friends, hey!" Brian said loudly and nervously when he saw his three acquaintances approach. "You all remember Jordan, right?" He asked. "My brother?"

Ria and Ren stopped a meter behind the ring of bystanders egging on a fight. Alexa, however, pushed right through, lightly shoving one onlooker to the side and standing just within the circle. "Yeah, I remember you." She said, adopting an aggressive stance. "What are you doing here?" She asked sternly.

"I'm just picking up my baby brother. That is my job, after all. Make sure the little rascal stays out of trouble." The older boy said in a bassy voice. "Wait, I know you, you're the girl from a few days ago. Yeah, remember how I got this little punk to leave you with your gear? I don't recall hearing you thank me."

"It was your idea in the first place--" Brian started.

"Don't speak over me!" Jordan commanded. "After all I've done for you, helping you get by, keeping you fed. I am owed your gratitude for not leaving you to starve in Lilycove. I deserve your respect."

"You deserve jail time." Alexa said, more a guess than an accusation. "Taking Brian down this dark path, leading by example. You're a bad influence, and you use him as a stepping stone to put yourself in a good light." She formulated the accusation as she went, but it seemed to make sense. If it was Jordan's idea to rob Alexa and Ren, and then shame Brian when he almost got away with it, then this guy has a serious control issue.

"What would you know, you little Auri brat? You and your type are always so self-righteous, always trying to forget the past."

"Oh, and you're a bigot too!" Alexa laughed. "Brian, none of us is perfect, but do you really want to stick around a clorbag like him?"

The boy turned his attention to his big brother, then back to Alexa.

"Don't act like you're going to leave me." Jordan growled. "You'll be nowhere without my help."

Brian looked past Alexa to Ren and Ria. Ren patted the full Pokéball holster on his belt, and nodded encouragingly to the conflicted boy.

"No." Brian said, shaky yet resolute. "I'm not perfect, I might even be a criminal, but I can do better." He waved an arm to Alexa and the others. "These people are trying to do good in the world. Sure, she might be aggressive and impulsive," He said, gesturing to Alexa, "And she... he... well those two are just fine. The point is, I can do better than following in your footsteps. Even if I'm not necessarily following in theirs."

"You really think that? You think you can get by in this world walking some kind of straight-and-narrow?" Jordan asked, wearing a poker face and sliding both hands into his coat pockets. "Then I guess there's no talking you out of it."

"Really?" Brian asked. "You know, that's really a good thing to hear from you."

"Yeah. It really is useless to talk to you. I'll just have to knock some sense into you instead." Jordan announced as he threw forward an Ultraball, letting out his menacing Zweilous. "All right, Janice." He said to his dragon. "We're taking him back."

"No." Brian said between normal volume and a shout. He threw out his own Pokéball, letting out an Exploud to defend him. "Hang tight, Canary." He whispered to the holey Pokémon.

"You want to do this the hard way?" Jordan asked gravely. "So be it."

ΖΣ

Spoiler

Oh boy, this was a rough chapter. Difficult work week lately, so much so that as of tomorrow (Monday), I'm demanding either my well-deserved promotion or am putting in my two weeks notice at work. I did the first half of this yesterday until I found myself at a writer's block last night, then just let the rest flow today, nothing through the week. Hopefully it didn't seem to weird because of that rush and block.

My next goal in writing is to add sufficient action spread throughout. I re-watch a lot of Avatar and Legend of Korra in my limited spare time, and I noticed something: in almost every single episode, there's a decent amount of action in addition to plot and character development. Sure, it's easier to satisfying show action sequences graphically than verbally (and they have a whole team of professional writers more skilled than I), but out of twenty chapters now, how many battles have I had? Like, four? I mean there are other ways to have action besides battles, but in the world of Pokémon that should be the cornerstone.

I may tweak the end here a bit, for the sake of the coming battle. Maybe I'll have it 2-on-1, Alexa or Ren joining on Brian's side. Or maybe I'll leave it 1-on-1. Watch for a note at the start of the next chapter, like there was in this (I don't plan on making a habit of that). I have a whole week again to brainstorm.

And oops, I used to spell Brian as Bryan. I'll retcon that later, but I think I'll stick with the current spelling.

 

2.3.6​

​

Numbers Game​

Canary the Exploud whistled faintly as its breathing rate increased before the coming battle.

"You're acting tough, but you're still afraid to do anything on your own." Jordan chided. "Still too timid to make the first move."

"Let's just walk in opposite directions, Jordan." Brian warned his older brother with a shaky voice. "You don't need me. You don't even want me."

"You're my baby brother and I'm taking you home if I have to beat all your little bodyguards unconscious to do it!" He said, accompanied by worried gasps from the crowd of onlookers on the Solaceon street. "Zweilous, Dragon Rush!"

"Dodge it, Canary!" Brian warned. "And follow up with Supersonic!"

As Zweilous charged forward cloaked in an aura of visible rage, Exploud turned and lurched to the side and clear of the attack. As the dragon screeched to a halt, scratching up pavement dust into the faces of the bystanders, Exploud tightened its flute holes and wailed an ear-splitting screech. The bystanders were gradually learning that this was no place for spectators, and thus the ring of onlookers spread back by about a step and a half.

"Don't think I don't already notice," Jordan began, speaking strangely through his own temporarily damaged hearing, "What you're doing here. You don't want to fight! Where's that Tyrantrum that almost brought down Lilycove Cove, huh? Where's the punch?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Get in there again, Zweilous! Dragon Rush!"

The twin-headed dragon lurched forward again, this time tripping over its own feet and tumbling to the ground. Canary followed up the opening with a Roar, a massive wall of sound trying to force Zweilous into willing submission.

"Just let me walk." Brian said, unaffected by the loud attacks. "We don't have to do this."

"Can't hear you." Jordan replied with a scowl. "But it doesn't matter. Keep at it, Zwei!"

"Canary, Boomburst!" And the Exploud did as it was told, letting out a visible wave of sound to knock the dragon, once more tripped over its own feet, farther along the ground. The remainder of the soundwave smashed a tree, knocking loose every one of its brown leaves.

"Ungrateful punk." Jordan whispered as he recalled his felled dragon.

Brian didn't show a change of emotion from his tension, but Ren approached from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You have this." He said. "You're already on a better path than last time I saw you fight. You're better than him, and you're better than you were then." He patted the boy's shoulder again and stepped back into the crowd.

"It's so nice you found some cheerleaders." Jordan began "Well, are you going to do something, or what?" He asked and waited a moment before sending out his next Pokémon, an exceptionally angry Primeape with chains dragging across the ground and the tooth of some animal clutched in one hand. "Get up in his face, Pig-Nose, Close Combat."

"Protect, Canary." Brian whispered, as if out of breath, but more likely from a conflicted nervousness. Eventually Pig-Nose broke through the Exploud's guard, and one swift punch to the jaw took the Pokémon out of the fight, tumbling backwards onto his flutes.

"I'm getting tired of this, little brother." Jordan warned. "You're wasting time and energy. I'm taking you back home with me."

"No." Brian answered, calmly shaking his head side to side. "I made my choice. We don't need each other." He threw forward his next Pokéball, a Darmanitan whose eagerness to fight seemed almost equal to Primape's.

"Enough of that. Pig-Nose! Seismic Toss!"

"Overheat, Vadara!" Brian commanded. As the Primape grabbed Darmanitan and swung her in a circle like a tango dance partner, Vadara's body cloaked itself in flame, scorching Primape's hands into a premature release. Darmanitan slammed into the stonework wall of a bank bordering the plaza, leaving a black scorch mark on impact. When the blazing Pokémon reached the floor, in pain from the attack, it drew its hands and feet into its body, covering its ears, closing its eyes, sealing its mouth. "Now you've made her mad."

"It's about time someone started to act like they're actually in a battle." Jordan responded, daggers in his voice. "Pig-Nose, that thing hardly knows it's still here. More Close Combat!"

In the middle of Primeape's full-on run to his opponent, he and Vadara levitated a half-meter in the air. Vadara stayed still, but Primeape was flung all about, from wall to pavement to wall again and all over the plaza, all without a command from Brian.

"That does it." Jordan said. "No getting up close. Fling!"

With a theatrical spin while levitated by his opponent, Pig-Nose flung the fang he had clutched in one hand and the shrunken Darmanitan, knocking it in the head and to the ground.

"Pig-Nose!" Jordan growled. "Grab him!"

"No!" Brian said loudly, surprised none of the onlookers were doing anything about the situation unfolding between them. As the raging simian drew nearer, a Zoroark and Froslass emerged between Brian and his older brother. Ren and Ria stepped in from the ring of bystanders.

"Three on one is completely against the rules." Jordan said.

"So what!" Ren shot back. "Brian, you forfeit. Battle's over. Now you." He said to Jordan. "You're going to have to take out my whole squad if you want to take one step farther, plus the teams of at least two of my friends. Do you really feel like you can take us all, or are you just going to try to get past us yourself?" Ren's Zoroark pulled a preemptive Hone Claws, while Ria's Froslass materialized an Ice Shard, twirling it whimsically in the air.

"I've faced a real Elite Four tougher than you bunch of kids." Jordan replied, unshaken. "Whatever, I'm done here. Try not to die out there, Bri." Without being told, his Primeape snatched up his flung Razor Fang and returned to his master's side. With an angry huff, the older boy spun and stepped out past the ring of spectators, who then dispersed without crowding around or cheering for the victor. After all, there was no obvious winner to congratulate.

"Thanks." Brian whispered, mostly to Ren, looking behind himself for a place to sit down. He settled for leaning against a tree whose roots reached far under the brickwork plaza, waving the floor unsteadily. "I wish he would have just abandoned me here."

"This had to happen." Alexa said almost nonchalantly. "If that's how he usually is, then he needed the wakeup call that he's not the pillar of strength he pretends to be."

"I don't even know what happened before, but" Ria added, "you really are better off without him. You know how to get by, and you don't need him throwing a leash around you like that."

"He wasn't always like that." Brian explained, then cleared his throat. "He was the best big brother I could ask for until a little bit after the meteor. We were in Hoenn, and he really helped me get by. We survived together. Some time after Lilycove, he changed." The boy's breathing returned slowly to a normal rate.

Ren hummed as he digested this new information. "I'll take Brian to a Pokécenter. How about you two try to find a better way to Celestic than by foot? Text when you find something out."

"Sounds good to me!" Ria said before conferring with her teammate, who she almost forcefully dragged along.

"See you later then." Ren added with a nod. He switched on his Pokégear and pulled up a local map, turning his attention to Brian. "Follow me. We should keep up with Pokécenter visits. We don't need a repeat of what happened to Alexa and me in Aurin, every 'Center in the region was shut down because of the impending disaster."

\\\

"Obviously they need to have boy-talk." Ria tried to explain as she and Alexa worked northward out of Solaceon, searching for a bus depot or any equivalent on the way.

"It's more than that. Besides, I think I might be able to have more helpful conversation with him. I was stuck in the worst of the Hoenn meteor too. All Ren dealt with was watching Aurin evac'd around him and seeing Palladi go down." Alexa punched the air in front of her, as if telekinetically reaching Deoxys' face.

They passed a comparatively large building labeled Solaceon Bus, in front of which were molded and painted concrete statues of a pair of Ponyta being outrun by a blue-flamed Rapidash. On the office door, ticket office window, and in each of the plexiglass bus stop shelters nearby was a printed note: "Due to recent events, solaceon bus's are helping our friend's in hearthome city in they're time of need. We apologize for any inconvenient's and hope to serve you in the future."

"My head hurts." Alexa complained, rubbing her forehead.

"Try not to think about it." Ria said with a smile, taking a picture with her Xtransceiver to send to Ren. "Obviously someone here didn't." She sent the picture and gave her attention back to Alexa. "In the mean time, how about you? I think we're about to learn a lot about Brian, but I don't know much about you. Any interesting stories of the past?"

"What is there to say?" Alexa said as she quickly built a list of ideas in her head. Everything that came to mind was either intense and traumatic, too much for small talk; or entirely topical, not really telling much at all. Nothing in the middle. "I haven't told you about my first Elite Four run, have I?" She asked. "In Hilat region. I actually lost my first time, against the last of the Elites before the Champion."

"You? Losing a battle? I doubt it."

"Flattery gets you nowhere." Alexa responded with a smile. Both girls' Xtransceivers rang with a text reply from Ren, conveying Brian estimates they were five minutes behind the girls. "The first three were cake, but the fourth was unstoppable. When I lost, he gave me some arrogant line about knowing my limits and not wasting my time." She huffed out angrily. "The nerve of some people. Anyhow, a week after that, he and another member were switched out for new Elites. Maybe I just got lucky, or maybe it didn't matter the difference, but the second time was easier than the first." She went on, detailing the experience of toppling the gauntlet of challenges that is an Elite Four.

\\\

"Thanks for waiting." Ren said as he reached the bus station with Brian, and met with the girls again. "Before we get moving," He said, rubbing his hands together. "Ria, I think there's something you should know about me that everyone else here already knows. I used to be in another Team before Royal, and not a good one. It was a long time ago, I've cut all ties, and I never plan on going back." He turned his attention to Brian and didn't say anything.

"Me too." The other boy added. "A different team, and not as long ago. In fact, I'm probably just AWOL right now." He laughed nervously. "It wasn't by my choice, and I know now they were a bad influence for me. I've turned over a new leaf." He breathed out shakily. "So, I need to find a new place to hang my hat. Do you mind if I come with you, at least until we get to a city with an official Gym?" He turned his attention to Ren, who in turn gestured to the girls.

"I don't see why not." Ria said. "Welcome aboard!"

"Thank you." He replied, noticing distrust in Alexa's eyes. "I understand if you don't want me around, but I promise I've changed."

"I'm sure you have." She said, not meaning it at all, and standing from the bus bench to be on eye level. "I stepped up to do the right thing in getting your brother away from you. I was content to leave it at that. You'd better watch your actions, because if you give me one reason to think you're going bad again," she jabbed one finger against the boy's sternum. "you will regret it. Understood?"

"Understood. I--"

"Liepards don't change their spots. Prove to me you're better than that."

Brian took a deep breath. "I will."

"Then it's settled!" Ren said before the tension could grow further. "Let's get moving! We're on the road to Celestic Town!"

"That doesn't have much of a ring to it." Ria commented, standing and joining the crew now beginning their path on foot to the next town. "It sounds much better with Viridian City."

\\\

Late in the afternoon, the crew reached the halfway point of route S210, as noted by a sign measuring an equal distance to Solaceon, Celestic, and Veilstoen. "Maybe now is a good time to take a break." Brian suggested, breaking his nervous silence that contrasted so starkly to his arrogant nature before encountering his brother.

"The three of us on a timetable." Alexa said sternly. "If you, on the other hand, want to stop, here, with nothing to do and nowhere to go, that's up to you."

Brian resignedly continued his march with the Team Royal members, somewhat regretting his request to travel with them. Just past the midpoint of Route S210, he spotted an out-of-the-way restaurant presumably set up for road-weary travelers.

Ren took Brian's side in suggesting they stop. "I could go for a break. We probably won't make it by nightfall anyhow, so what's the loss if we break up the travel between two days?"

"We're losing daylight, and in case you forgot, three of us are on an urgent mission." Alexa repeated.

"Actually," Ria interjected, "this objective is low-priority as far as the official business goes. We could take a three-day hiking trip up and down Coronet and Borea wouldn't mind."

Alexa glared at Ria, hiding the fact that she was actually relieved to be able to slow her pace somewhat. "Fine." Alexa answered as they approached off-path that led to the restaurant. She led the way into the country-western themed establishment, dropping her heavy backpack in a corner near the door. They were greeted by a waitress and her prancing Clefairy, then led to a windowside booth already with four menus on the table. Unprepared for such a limited selection of food and drink, one after the other each of the kids ordered a simple milkshake, which the waitress assured them was the best in Sinnoh before departing to the back of the restaurant. "Milk is pretty much all they do here, huh?" Alexa asked.

"Solaceon does have more Miltank and Tauros than it does people." Ria commented. "Local fare, you know how it is."

"I guess." Alexa responded, looking about the restaurant as the waitress returned with the shakes. Somewhat crowded for such a remote location, at least a third of the tables occupied. At the bar sat a woman, dressed in country styles of denim and flannel, surrounded by two empty glasses of Moomoo milk and an empty plate stuck with the remains of some cheesy bar food, speaking distractedly to the bartender.

Ren whispered to Brian, gesturing to the distraught woman.

"It's a good idea?" Brian asked.

"This is how you prove yourself."

"All right." Brian said, taking a deep breath and standing to walk to the woman.

"What's that about?" Alexa asked. "That woman's at least seven years older than him."

"That is not what I meant." Ren laughed. "Brian wants to prove himself, that he's not a total scumbag. The three of us like helping people, right? She looks like someone in need of help."

"And you have to hold his hand and tell him to do it?"

"No, just get him started. It's the follow-through that matters." Ren glanced to the boy, who was gesturing back to the table. The woman smiled and vigorously shook his hand with both of hers. "Looks like the test is on."

"Hey guys," Brian announced upon returning. "You know this whole more-merrier thing we have? Winnie here is in some dire straits, and I think we can help her out some for a little while."

"Do go on." Alexa urged.

"Her grandmother, Old Lady Wilma, lives alone on the outskirts of Celestic. Winnie needs to check in on her immediately, doesn't have any Pokémon of her own to make sure she gets there safely. We're going the same way, so...?"

"I would be so grateful if you would just let me travel with you." Winnie said. "Just until the next town!" She added quickly. "Since we're all going the same way, and you all seem so well prepared."

Alexa caught a bad vibe in the air. Whether from this Winnie woman, or from Brian, or some other source entirely, she was on edge.

"Are you sure you don't mind spending a couple of hours with a bunch of kids like us?" Ria asked with a smile, tilting her head cutely and loudly sipping the last of her milkshake from the straw.

"Not at all!" Winnie assured. "People my age are stuffy anyhow, boring."

"We'll be glad to take you there." Ren said, inadvertently usurping part of the leadership role from Alexa.

"Great! I'm ready to leave when you are! I'll just be over there." The woman said, gesturing over her shoulder to the remains of her meal at the bar.

"No need to wait." Alexa said as she stood up, regaining some leadership influence and slurping the last of her shake, leaving only Brian to chug almost his entire drink in the time it took the rest of them to begin walking to the door, his face twisting with a brain freeze by the time he was finished. As she slung her backpack over her shoulders again, Alexa measured the bad vibes she was picking up, and wrote it off as a delayed reaction to proximity to Brian and his thieving ways, knowing in the back of her mind it was probably more than that.

ΖΣ

 

2.4.1​

​

Dragon Age​

"So, this grandmother of yours." Brian said to Winnie, trying to start up a conversation with the young woman he and the Royal members were escorting to Celestic Town. He couldn't find a way to post a conversation-starting but non-intrusive question.

"Gramma Wilma?" Winnie asked, much to Brian's relief. "Oh, she is just wonderful! When I was little, I ran away from home and you know what? It was almost the worst decision of my life. It's just not possible to make it on your own at that age." She began, speaking excitedly and rapidly. "I mean, except you bunch. You are just the most extraordinary youngsters I've met!"

"Even though you only met us fifteen minutes ago." Alexa muttered so only Ria and Ren, walking with her behind Brian and Wilma, could hear. From the periphery of her vision, Ria seemed to roll her eyes and smile, perhaps more receptive to the woman's energy.

"You're right, it's not easy." Brian said, trying hard to keep down his more enthusiastic opinion that getting by on one's own simply isn't an option sometimes, dependent mostly upon the uncontrollable factors of luck and resources.

"But you all are making it just fine. Anyhow, like I was saying, it couldn't work for me, no way. I was cold and alone and trying to get by with only my wits, which, I'll have you know, isn't much to go by."

"I doubt that. You seem awfully, uh, quick." Brian commented, hoping she would see it as a flattery to her intellect than as a criticism against her fast-talking ways.

"Well aren't you just the sweetest thing." Winnie said as she pinched the boy's cheek as only an old woman would, leaving him confused and wary. "So, she took me in. I helped her around the house, doing the things she didn't want to do, and she kept me fed and educated. She tried to teach me her old-timey ways, but I don't think I caught on too well, I'm much too new-fashioned. Except literally, because I did get this beautiful bracelet from her." She said nonstop as she pulled the bracelet off her wrist and handed it to Brian. Two dozen or so teeth and fangs of some kind of animal all held onto an ivy string by holes drilled through their roots. After a casual examination of the accessory, he offered it back, but Winnie already began the next part of her directionless tale.

Brian whispered one monosyllabic agreement after the other as the sky turned from orange to dark violet, night falling with each step closer to Celestic Town. By the dozen, stars appeared in the clear sky, more every time he looked up, only passively listening to the energetic woman he was escorting.

"Oh, there's her cottage, right up that way!" Winnie eventually said, concluding a lengthy personal history monologue aimed at Brian. She raised her hand to point at an antique, ornate, and impressive large wooden home further up an incline, faint lanternlight peering through the first floor windows, a lone centuries-old tree standing in the front yard. The main path veered off to the left, where the glowing windows of Celestic could be seen already. She turned to the boy and hugged him tight, twisting back and forth as if to uproot him from the ground. "You are just the sweetest young man." She said before messing up his already disheveled hair.

"I'm just doing what I can." He said to her reassuringly, while turning back to his friends with a look of confused disbelief spread across his face.

"Well you just keep doing that." Wilma took a deep breath in, then sharply out. "Thank you so much, and your quiet friends too!" She added with a smile. She turned around, bid them a final farewell and a wave, and made her way quickly up the incline to the house.

"She sure can talk." Alexa said, suppressing laughter.

"What's that?" Brian asked. "I still haven't regained hearing in that ear."

"But just look at how happy she was." Ren commented. "Almost no extra effort on your part, she made it back here safely, and she was so grateful. It feels good, doesn't it?"

"Blowing my nose makes me feel better." He said, prompting confusion from the others. "You know, like when you're really congested, and for the first time in days... never mind."

"Do you plan on keeping that?" Ria asked, pointing at Brian's wrist. Winnie's tooth bracelet hung low on his arm. "She didn't mention giving it to you as a reward."

The boy looked at his wrist, and slid the bracelet off past his hand as if it was burning hot. "I didn't mean to! I wasn't trying to take it! I just have just forgotten after she kept on talking like she did." He explained in panic, met by a look of accusation from Alexa, lack of concern from Ria, and curiosity from Ren.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Ren asked. He let the question hang, not showing his cards of what would win his approval.

"I'm going to give it back." Brian answered without hesitating. "I'm done with ill gotten goods. Those days are behind me." He spun to the house Winnie was going to, but she was already gone into darkness. "It's less than a quarter mile. I'll be there and back in a flash. You all go on without me, okay?"

"Do you want some backup? Just because we didn't see find trouble so far doesn't mean there isn't more waiting up that road." Ria offered innocently. Behind her Ren looked to Alexa and shrugged. Perhaps because he doesn't mind going in a smaller group, perhaps because he didn't have to vocalize his desire to make sure the former thief was supervised.

"Sure, thanks." He said reluctantly. "Let us know where you find a place to crash, all right?"

"You got it." Ren said with a casual salute. He and Alexa started talking again immediately, but the other two were already on their way the opposite direction.

"So, Ria." Brian began, their speed to the house slower than Winnie's excited pace. "Back there in Solaceon, that thing with my brother? Thanks for stepping in."

"You're welcome." She said. "Really though, it was just instinct to try to stop it. I'm really not much of a battler, so I don't think I could have actually done much."

"But what you did was enough." Brian said reassuringly. "Did you and Ren plan that, just in case it went wrong?"

"Nope." Ria said flatly. "Like I said, it was just an instant response."

"What about Alexa then?" He asked as a rhetorical. I know she can handle herself in a fight. The first time I saw her we got wrapped up in a fight! She and that Pangoro of hers kicked my butt up and down Route 213! I mean sure, she was teaming up with Ren, but still. She can handle herself, and I know she knew things were going downhill for me." He sighed out and rubbed his forehead. "She might have even been able to fend him off on her own."

"Maybe it's because she wanted to see what would happen. What you're like when you're up against a wall." Ria suggested. "How much you can take."

"No. No maybes." Brian said. "I'm asking her. I want to know where I stand."

"You stand here with me." Ria said cheerfully as she slung her arm up and over Brian's slouched shoulders. Not a moment later she snaked her arm back to her side, only partly because of their destabilized walk up the cobblestone path.

As they neared the house, the main front door slowly pulled open. Winnie sneaked out of the house closed the door behind her, then stepped and to the front porch, down into the grassy yard, then into the darkness of the starry night.

"Oh, hey there Brian." She said, smiling brushing hair out of her face once she encountered him in the front yard. "It seems we were a bit slow getting here, Gramma's already asleep."

"Where did you get that backpack?" Ria asked. "You didn't have it on the way here."

"What? Silly girl, yes I did. Let's get on our way to Celestic, it's best if I leave her some peace and quiet."

"I'm sure you didn't have it." Ria confirmed. "I was concerned for you on the way here, not having so much as a toothbrush or a sweater to throw on."

The house's front door crashed open. "Get back here you crook!" An old woman dressed in a nightgown burst through the passage. "Kairyu!" She raised her voice, not cracking with her age. Flying over the house from behind came a big orange Dragonite, soaring right over Wilma and company, landing between them and the path off the property.

"I'm too far in now." Winnie said in a new, less lighthearted tone to her voice than before. A finger and thumb in her mouth and she whistled, signaling a Garchomp to shoot out of the forest lining Route 210, launching itself into a Take Down aimed at Dragonite, clearing the way for her to run off the property. Meanwhile the old woman, presumably Gramma Wilma, kept shouting at and chasing after the young woman.

"Somehow I get the feeling we're on the wrong side of this." Brian said to Ria. "What should we do?" He asked as the two dragons exchanged blows.

"Re-evaluate the situation? I think you're right about being on the wrong side of it. I'm ready if you are." She pulled one Pokéball and smiled at her newly affirmed comrade.

"I am. Let's do this. Go, Kaerul! Stop that Garchomp!" Brian commanded as he overhand threw his first Pokéball and let out Krookodile do his fighting.

"You too January!" Ria added, sending forth her mainstay Froslass.

"I don't need your help." Winnie said when she saw the two Pokémon stepping forth to her. "This old woman taught me too well, I can take her one on one."

"Think again!" Brian said with the excitement of breaking expectations as his Krookodile lurched forward and spun a Dragon Tail attack against Winnie's Garchomp, followed up with a burst of Icy Wind from January.

"You little turncoats." Winnie snapped. "Garchomp! Dual Chop those two Pokémon and remove them from the situation."

With impressive speed and accuracy, the Garchomp did as it was told, sending Brian's and Ria's Pokémon reeling, but was caught off guard by Wilma's Dragonite's headlong tackle in the form of a Dragon Rush.

"How come you didn't nickname that Garchomp, Winnie?" Ria asked amid the battle. "If that is your real name."

"Because Garchomp is my partner in fighting, not my best friend." She replied between giving orders to the sandshark Pokémon. "Besides, she knows when I'm talking to her, even when there's others of her kind around."

"Still, she could go for some style." Ria went on. "Something like Terrabite? How about that? It's one of the few dragons that doesn't fly and does bite, so those two go together!"

Winnie paused for thought after Garchomp finished pinning Dragonite in the spiral wind of a Sand Tomb. "That's not bad." She admitted.

"Go for it, Kaerul!" Brian said, cashing in on the distraction. "Outrage!" From the corner of his eye and across the yard the old woman seemed to lower her head in disapproval. The Krookodile lowered itself to all fours, roared, and lunged for Garchomp. Only the initial hit landed, however, and Terrabite easily outran the followup attacks, leaving the pursuing Krookodile in a state of enraged and confused exhaustion. "Keep your head together, Kaerul. Garchomp is your enemy."

"Now you've done it." Wilma said as the sandstorm wrapped around her Dragonite fell down. "You can't handle dragons."

"I can't handle what?" Brian asked, angry. "Kaerul! Dragon Claw that Garchomp!" The Krookodile roared angrily and instead lashed out at its partner Froslass, knocking out the remainder of her ability to fight with one fell swoop of its claw.

"Brian!" Ria cried out. "Watch it!"

"I'm sorry. It's just..." He couldn't complete the sentence.

"You just can't control dragons." Wilma said again. "Even this ruffian can do that. You're less talented than her."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Winnie said as Garchomp and Dragonite sparred one on one.

"You're done, Kaerul." Brian said to his fighter, recalling it into the Pokéball. "You need to cool off. It's your turn, Cracy!" He switched out for the Tyrantrum he kept as a backup.

"Keep your cool this time, Brian. Please." Ria said. "Your turn, Jotun!" Next she sent out an Aurorus to fight on her behalf. "Garchomp's getting tired. Aurora Beam should bring her down!"

"I'm trusting you to stay calm, Cracy." Brian warned his Pokémon as the other fossil attacked the sand shark. "No Outrage, just one big Giga Impact!"

Wilma and Ria each commanded their Pokémon to take a step back as the dinosaur ran forward, head lowered, and caught the Garchomp unaware, catching the impact from Tyrantrum's crest right in the flank. The sand shark went rolling across the yard, its fins digging up clods of dirt with each tumble, until the beast finally succumbed to the hurt.

"Get back up, Garchomp! We're not clear yet!" Winnie begged, backpedaling in the direction of the main road. She was intercepted by the Dragonite, who somehow managed to stealthily insert itself between her and the escape route. The remaining two Pokémon stomped toward her, effectively surrounding her. "Fine. I give up." She slid off her backpack, dropped it to the ground, and raised both hands as a display of surrender.

"Come to me." Wilma said to Winnie. The younger woman didn't move until the command was repeated with the spice of rage added. When she was close enough, Wilma reached up and slapped one hand across her face. "Everything I did for you and this is the thanks I get." The old woman sighed a long breath. "Now sit against the tree and think about what you've done. Kairyu?" She asked of her Dragonite. "Make sure she behaves until the local authorities arrive."

The dragon nodded reassuringly, then turned its attention to the young woman.

"Now then." Wilma said as she tied her white hair into a bun once more, this time less ornate than when she first emerged from the house. "How come you two are on my property? I don't take students any more."

"Long story short," Brian began, standing beside Ria and between their two Pokémon, "We bumped into her in Solaceon and she said she was your granddaughter. Supposedly she was helpless to travel in the wilderness, so she asked to come along with us, since we were going the same way."

Ria coughed. "We were already out of Solaceon and partway to Celestic."

Brian exhaled frustratedly. "Yes. Thank you for that foundational detail."

"That reject?" Wilma asked. "I tried to teach her a few years ago, but if she was my granddaughter I'd kick myself so hard for contributing to her existence that her mother would feel it."

"That's, uhh. Wow." Brian couldn't digest the old woman's rage. "If you don't mind me asking, what's in the bag she took?"

Wilma bent slowly and lifted the backpack by its handle. She unzipped its main compartment and, with her free hand, flicked up a flame from a lighter. The top edge of what looked like a square tile, dark red in color, sat tilted in the bag. "Just an heirloom. It belonged to my sensei, and her sensei before her. You know how it goes." She slid the lighter back into the pocket of her night robe and zipped the bag once more. She sat the bag on the ground by her feet again, rather than wear it on her back. "How come you have my fang bracelet, boy?"

Brian looked at his wrist again. "She let me see it and forgot to take it back." He said as he internally cursed his own habits. "I came here with the intention of giving it back, but I guess it's actually yours?"

"That's right. Hand it over." Wilma said, one hand outstretched.

"Gladly." Brian said as he placed the cluster of teeth gently onto her soft hand.

"So." The old woman resumed. "I see you like to train draconic types. You're not good at it, but you enjoy it. Is that right?"

"I suppose, yes." Brian said, adjusting his posture to stand more straight. "I've always appreciated the more fearsome types of Pokémon."

"I see. Some folks in dragon taming cities like Blackthorn would disagree, but that actually is half the strength of dragons. If you ever noticed there aren't many cute dragons, there's a reason for that. They are born with an appearance and spirit that instills fear in their opponents, and that fear promotes their own power, which in turn gives them strength." She looked up to the face of the Tyrantrum standing beside the boy.

"And the other half of their strength?"

Old Lady Wilma glared at him, as if annoyed after so many decades of answering that question. "It's something you figure out on your own. But maybe..." She looked at the dragon fang bracelet she held in her hand. "Take this. I feel like you can use it. Use it better than that reject, at least." She returned the bracelet to the boy, accompanied by Ria's excited clapping and bouncing up and down. "Dragon ancestry is a powerful thing. Just knowing where it came from can help a dragon reach new heights of power."

"I, wow, thank you." Brian said, sliding the bracelet onto his wrist, then turning his head upward to share a look with Tyrantrum. "So you mentioned you aren't taking students--"

"That's right. If you want a teacher go to Blackthorn or Opelucid. I would say Fallarbor, but that's not an option these days." Something in the old woman's face said she wouldn't budge on the subject.

"Right. Thank you." He said, looking down at his new bracelet and twisting his wrist back and forth.

"Now get off my property. I appreciate your help in stopping this thief, but the police are on their way and you are trespassing. Go on. Get."

The younger trainers each bid their farewell to the woman, recalled their fossil Pokémon into their Pokéballs, and started back down the inclined trail to the Route 210 road. Shortly after reaching the man path, a motorized police buggy rolled past them and up the drive to the house. "I guess that all worked out in the end." Ria commented. "Now that it's wrapped up, how do you feel about it all?"

Brian thought about his answer carefully before speaking. "It was worthwhile." He said as the outlines of Celestic City's buildings formed themselves around the remaining glowing windows. "Unexpectedly."

"There's more of that to come." Ria added. "You're good at this. Helping people. Standing up for what's right, instead of just standing up for yourself."

"It still doesn't put a roof over my head."

"One thing at a time." She reassured him. "For now let's track down the others and find out what's next."

For the remainder of the walk into the city, Ria went on excitedly about how much she and Brian have in common, down to their favoring of Kalosian fossils. Most of it seemed superficial to Brian, perhaps because he was more concerned with the dragon fang bracelet and Wilma's harsh but constructive words. He formulated ideas of what to do after his time with Ria and the others would conclude, a contained excitement welling inside of him with each step.

ΖΣ

 

2.4.2​

​

Celestial Underground​

"I still don't like him." Alexa muttered, starting the way forward to Celestic Town, glowing gently under the night sky of Sinnoh.

"Keep it down?" Ren urged, looking over his shoulder. The boy in question, Brian, accompanied by Ria, was on a fast-paced path up the slope that led to the house to which Winnie was headed.

"Why bother, he knows it. I just want to make sure you do too."

"He's already changing."

"I know his type." Alexa spat out with a quiet venom. "It takes more than just one day of turning over a new leaf for him to be changed for good." She departed on a minutes-long diatribe about how she simply couldn't trust the boy, drawing mostly on his observed or admitted history. "And I just don't like him."

"That's what I like about you, Lexie." Ren said after the conclusion. "You're all heart."

The comment hung in the air as they entered the geographical boundary of Celestic Town. A naturally-organized village, the homes and few commercial buildings, all of which were made of wood in traditional styles and methods, were built into the slope of what may be an eroded sinkhole, meteor crater, or, less likely, volcanic caldera. Though just past sunset, the entire village seemed to be turned in for the night. Homes were only dimly lit, and just the Pokémart and town clinic remained open for business at the hour.

"Okay, maybe that was harsh." Ren added after a while. "It's just that I think it would be entirely beneficial if..." He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence with a palatable choice of words.

"Actually, I just kind of accepted what you said and took it into a running critique of how I can become better." Alexa said. "But now you have my continued attention."

Ren pulled inward on his lower lip, chewing on it and the inside of his cheek. "Oh, look, the Pokécenter's full to capacity. I guess we find plan B now."

Alexa turned to skim the sign taped on their door as the sounds of two police vehicles wailed through the night and out of town. A similar situation to Solaceon, more displaced people from the latest local Deoxys attack found their way all the way to Celestic, some of whom were temporarily residing in the places that would normally house wandering Pokémon trainers on their travels. A third of the region away. That's what happens when a city as populated as Hearthome gets almost leveled in an unnatural disaster. "We'll figure something out. In the mean time, you were about to tell me something?"

"Sometimes you can be rough." Ren blurted out. "At least that's what I think, and I'm sure Ria thinks so too. Maybe even Brian."

"So he's part of our gang too?"

"I don't see why not. He's had a questionable past, but, in that past, has learned some rare and valuable skills. Plus he knows how to battle." Ren's Pokégear chimed. "That's him. They're done and on their way to meet us. At least once we figure out where we're heading."

"Tell him we're headed that altar at the middle of town." Alexa advised, gesturing down the slope to what appeared to be some kind of woodhewn shrine at the bottom of the crater, surrounded by spotlights illuminating its structure. "I can hold my own in a battle just as well as him, if not better. And so what if I'm rough. I get things done. I'm not afraid to make things change."

"None of us are. It's just that it would be nice if you were more open and friendly. Did you notice that you never thanked Ria for helping with that apartment building fire in Hearthome? She's not dwelling on it, but even after it became set in stone that we would be around her for a while, you didn't take that small step to ensure we would all be on good terms." Ren went on, and cut Alexa off when she tried to insert an explanation. "It's because she came to help put out the fire that Wudang was able to safely climb up and down that building without getting hurt. She could have just went to safety, but saw you and someone you care about in danger. She wasn't just doing a good deed, she was helping you specifically."

"Fair enough." Alexa replied in lieu of her now-defused retort of justifying Ria's actions as just being an obligation to help the defenseless citizens of Hearthome. "She's been nothing but helpful and friendly, and I really could return the favor. I will return the favor." She took a deep breath in and out. "What about Brian? What's he done to earn anything from me?"

"Helped us get info out of the Team Royal servers, for one."

"Because it was beneficial to him. We made a deal not to give him to the police for trespassing."

"And didn't blab to anyone about your secret identity."

"He just wants leverage so he can blackmail me later."

"That's ridiculous. It was a show of good faith." Ren denied her explanation. "Why does he have to earn friendliness? I think if anything, he's at least worked his way back to neutral since that first incident."

They reached the bottom of the crater shape of the village and passed through a visitor-counting turnstile. The shrine waited in the middle of the inverted dome, surrounded by its four spotlights, glowing in reflected light under the black sky. Alexa sat on what might either be a bench or a low concrete wall of do-not-cross, while Ren stood within reading distance of an illuminated educational plaque.

"He's got his problems, and I don't want to be the victim of those problems again."

"And he's already showing improvement." Ren split his attention between Alexa, the history lesson on the plaque, and the entryway to the tree's park. "They're almost here." He said, tilting his head to the path. "Sooner than I thought. Have something ready."

"They didn't have to spend time wandering around town for a bed or a soft rock as a pillow." She ran one hand from her cheek and past her ear, brushing hair from her face. "Yeah. Okay."

When the two latecomers arrived in the crater, Brian was the first to speak. "Alexa." He started. "How come you didn't stand up for me against my brother?"

"What?" The question was perfectly clear and she was willing to answer, but the sudden demand was unpredicted.

"This morning in Solaceon, when my brother was beating my team to a pulp so he could take me with him without me fighting back, Ren and Ria intervened, but you didn't. Why not?"

"First off, you were doing a pretty good job until he started coming after you personally." She calmly explained. "If you just kept on going with your next Pokémon, I think you had a good chance of walking out of there the victor, fair and square." She made deliberate eye contact with him. "I know from experience that you are a skilled trainer."

"That doesn't answer my question. Why didn't you intervene?"

"I would have. But not that soon."

"He was about to drag me away by force!"

"And you were capable of fighting back!" Alexa stood from the bench now, face to face with Brian. At her age, she was taller than most boys, but he still stood eye to eye with her. "Instead of asking me why I didn't intervene, why didn't you?"

"... What?"

"Yeah, you still had four perfectly strong fighters ready to help defend you. Instead of waiting for someone else to jump in for you, why didn't you carry on?"

"I panicked." He admitted, and gulped hard. "In my head, I already lost."

"Don't believe what goes on in your head. Believe what's actually happening. Do everything you can before you try to rely entirely on your friends."

Brian breathed deeply through his nose, while his face contorted to an expression of deep thought combined with targeted animosity. "But you would have done it. Before I was pulled away, if nobody else was around, you would have helped."

"As best I could."

"Because we're friends?"

Don't push your luck. "We're getting there."

"Thanks." Brian said. "That's all I needed to hear."

"Then I'm glad I could say it." She reached out to place her hand on his shoulder, then squeezed reassuringly. "You're doing all right."

"I'm trying." He added. "Ren," He called over to the other boy, speaking with Ria a distance away to allow for some privacy in Brian's and Alexa's talk. "What's the game plan for now?"

"Pretty much every place to stay for the night is full already. We can either go outside of city limits and camp, or go into the ruins and do the same thing plus getting a head start on finding something inside." He gestured to the side of the shrine opposite the turnstile entryway, to a hole in the slope that looked like it could be a mine tunnel if not for the decorative totems on either side.

"We've been walking since midday." Brian said on behalf of everyone present. "Let's just go inside."

"That sounds like a plan." Ren concluded after waiting for a differing vote, hearing none. He led the way into the tunnel, lit by a string of lights hanging from the ceiling.

Deeper into the shaft, first through a well-revealed series of square tunnels with pre-colonial inscriptions, later devolving into untamed natural caves dotted with stalactites, they gradually became aware of their approach into untamed and unmapped caverns. Eventually the electric light sources ended, long before the group found anything of interest that wasn't already of easily available knowledge to any tourist or armchair researcher. Ria's Ampharos led the way with its passive illumination as the unmarked caves eventually led back to a manmade section.

"I feel like I've seen these before somewhere." Alexa commented as she ran her fingers across engraved text in a mural on one wall, glowing eerily in Ampharos' light. Only two dozen or so symbols, each shaped from a circle with a few rounded protrusions. "How about you, Ren? Did you read anything about these at the academy?"

Somewhere a drop of water from a stalactite fell to a pool below, reflecting and amplifying its meager sound through the temple like an echo chamber. Ampharos' light faded out slowly, eventually leaving Alexa in the darkness.

"Could I have some light over here, Ria?" She asked, with no reply. "Where did you go?" Again, nothing. "Hey!" Her echo carries for half a minute before disappearing into the void. "Not funny, but okay. Go, Orlov. Give me some Dazzling Gleam." She announced as she let Carbink from its ball. On command, the little ball of encrusted diamond let off its pale green light to illuminate the tunnel. Alexa looked around the immediate vicinity, but found no trace of footsteps or the suppressed laughter of a group prank. "Let's go, boy." She said as she led Orlov through the tunnel as a source of light and security in search of familiar scenery.

The maze of the ruin went on for what felt like at least an hour, seemingly folding inward on itself as should be impossible. Drowsiness gained a foothold in the late hour after a long day combined with the utterly unchanging feel of the labyrinth. One turn after the next, no hallway feeling more or less familiar than the last, Alexa's eyes gradually began to hang closed even as she walked, at one point almost tripping over Orlov in her near-sleep walk. The last of these instances before she decided to stop, she found a figurative dead end, a relatively open room whose walls were covered in murals supposedly narrating some kind of indecipherable tale.

"Here's something." She said aloud, mostly to alleviate the ache of perpetual silence. She followed the mural-covered walls of the circular room to its opposite side. A wall-sized engraving of an upward-facing triangle contained within a larger downward-facing triangle. The inner of the two shapes had its corners marked by hieroglyphics of tailed and large-headed humanoids, each with a red stone stuck into its forehead. The outer triangle, on the other hand, had each of its corners marked by a square tile: The bottom a dark and gloomy gray, while the upper two corners' tiles were a light and dusty brown and uncharacteristically bright blue, though it was hard to tell in Orlov's green light.

"We were told to search for and recover any unusual artifacts." Alexa reasoned to herself to ward off the feeling of being a thief of history. She crouched to the lowest of the colored tiles, the dark gray, and gripped her fingers on its edges as best she could. She leaned back with all her weight, without even pushing against the wall, and pulled the square stone free from its niche. She fell to her back and almost hit herself in the face with the momentum of the stone.

"One down and..." As she placed the tile on the floor and stood up to retrieve the others, the remaining two and the small red stones were all gone, leaving empty niches like the first. She looked down at Orlov, who in turn had his pearly eyes upward facing her. "What is even going on here?" She asked as she bent down to pick up the dark gray plate, relieved to find that it didn't vanish like the rest. "Let's see if we can find our way out and track down the others." She beckoned Orlov to follow her through only entryway of the room, immediately almost tripping over a taut escape rope. "Why didn't I think of that?" She muttered as she leaned over to tug on the rope in both directions to find the slack end and the way mounted in the direction of entry.

After minutes of following the line, Alexa eventually saw an orange light on the cave walls contrasting Orlov's own green light. "Brian?" She asked as the boy emerged around the corner, lit by the light of his Darmanitan's fiery eyebrows. "It's good to see you, but you're going the wrong way."

"What? No. I'm pretty sure this is the right way."

"Did you lay the line or just follow it?" Alexa asked. "I've done this before, I know what I'm doing."

"So have I, so do I." Brian reassured with a smile that should seem trusting, but instead came off as sketchy.

Alexa stared the boy down, weighing her options. "We could just split up and whoever's wrong finds out later," She took a deep breath, "but it's probably best to stick together."

"Thanks. For trusting me." Brian said as he stepped around Alexa to lead farther along the line the direction from which she already came.

Along the way, surrounded by their luminescent Pokémon, Alexa tried to find the room where she found the disappearing tiles and gems embedded in the wall, as an appropriate lead-in to a show-and-tell about her new treasure. Somehow, until the end of the rope, the room adjacent to the rope's passage never made itself apparent, all the way to the loose end of the rope.

"Okay, you were right." Brian said once in the dead-end empty chamber.

"You should learn that I am never wrong." Alexa said playfully and with a self-satisfied smile. She looked around the dead-end room. It shared similar glyphs to the triangles and tiles room, but any shared traits ended there. Different murals, different placement of hieroglyphics. "At least we know for sure which way is out now. In the mean time, did you find anything interesting in here?"

Brian followed beside and slightly behind Alexa for the revised way out. "Just a whole wall of the squiggly letters. I was hoping to find an ancient secret society or something, but it wasn't that fun. How about you?"

"Just this." Alexa said as she slid her pack off her shoulders and out front as she walked. She unzipped the main compartment and plucked out the dark gray tile within. "I found it stuck in a wall with a couple others like it."

"Hey, I've seen one of those! The old lady Winnie tried to rob had one. Hers was red, but it had the same pattern on the edges." Brian observed excitedly. "So they're part of a set? I wonder how many there are. Or how much they're worth."

"There are at least four." Alexa said. "I just hope these are what Team Royal wants. So we can move forward already."

"Me too. I mean I'm not a part of them, but until it's time to part ways maybe I can help you out how I can."

"We appreciate whatever you can do." She added, more as a friendly gesture than as a sincere display of gratitude.

A few short minutes later, the Escape Rope trail led to an area within sight of the lighted regions of the cave, then back into relative darkness, where the sounds of more voices could be heard through small echoes. Alexa and Brian urged each other forward, nearing the end of their momentary journey.

"Welcome back." Ren greeted on behalf of himself and Ria, both seated around an electric lantern substituting a campfire.

"It's good to be back out of that dusty dungeon." Brian said, stepping into clearer light of the lantern and drawing Darmanitan back into its Pokéball. "Thanks for leaving the Escape Rope trail."

"You're welcome." Ria said, making sure to draw thanks for the idea to herself. "So, did you find any fun discoveries?"

"Just a lot of those words on the walls." Brian explained with a gesture of empty-handedness and a look toward Alexa.

"I did find this artifact, if that's the word." Alexa said as she again took her pack off her shoulders to show off the tile within.

"You got a Plate?" Ren commented with some kind of a serious but flat emotion. "That's impressive, but take a look at what we found."

ΖΣ

Spoiler

Entering this chapter and seeing where, when, and how I want the Sinnoh part of this story to end, I thought I was going to take an underlying Alexa-Ren dispute in a different direction. One I was building toward with the radio interview after Hearthome, but unfortunately I have to say forget it. I have a bigger plan, but I don't think it's adequately prepared. If this was going to be an actual published work, I would have gone back and re-written the entire thing three times over already by how my ideas are changing and unsatisfied I am with my own work.

Practical problem at the end there, huh? Lost in a cave system, separated from your crew and the exit? I had a hard time choosing what to do. If it was me in there alone, I would light a fire and follow the smoke out, but that doesn't do much for finding everybody else. Maybe I've watched too much Young Justice lately, but I was tempted to have a ghost or psychic Pokémon do a Miss Martian mind link, but that possibility forcibly inserts itself everywhere after its mention. I just hope it turned out satisfactorily.

Within the next two weeks, I'm going to go into the Project Dev workshop to lay the groundwork for my next story. I think with more forethought and preparation, maybe some feedback too, I could make that one better than this.

Spoiler: changelog

5 November 2015. Completed an incomplete post (everything after ctrl+f "direction of entry"), as well as minor word choice and formatting changes.

 

2.4.3​

​

Broken Chain​

"Just wait until you see this." Ren said eagerly. "Ria, may I?" He asked and the girl reached into the pocket of her pullover and produced for him a small red stone.

"That's the kind that was stuck in the wall where I found the Plate!" Alexa pointed out. "Except it somehow disappeared after I pulled out said Plate."

"Same for us." Ria commented. "Both of us found the triangle wall after we got separated, and after pulling out one stone the others were gone."

"But that's not even the cool part. Behold:" Ren added, his excitement showing. In each hand he held one pebble-like gem pinched between a thumb and finger, then touched the two together. When pulled apart, an ornate string of red gems stretched between them, hanging only slightly slack. Winding one end around his hand, he kept pulling and pulling as the pebbles generated more of the string, growing to several meters long with no sign of stopping.

"That is amazing." Alexa said, awestruck. "Can I hold it?" She asked, with a hand outstretched. Ren laid the string slowly into her open palm, coiling as it went. "How do we use it? Tie it like a leash around Deoxys?" She asked, looping the string of jewels into a simple knot.

"There's got to be more to it than that." Ren said as Alexa's simple knot tightened, passing through itself and reforming back to an untangled string when it reached its tightest. "Because of that. There's no way to attach it to anything."

"Maybe if there was a third, that would help." Ria offered. "I'm just throwing ideas here. I never heard anything about this until we saw those documents, so the Admins never told me anything."

"Still, we have most of this thing they want." Alexa said, urging the conversation out of the circle of unanswerable mystery. "We need to decide if we're actually going to hand it over. After all, they do want to use it to control Deoxys without diminishing its power." She looked about the group, illuminated by their little electric lantern, to be sure she had everyone's attention. "Do we trust them to do good?"

"I don't have a reason not to." Ria said.

"I've never even met your bosses, but my last Team Boss, Archie, was a headstrong extremist and a terrorist." Brian added. "I wouldn't trust him with absolute control over a force like Deoxys." He took a deep breath in and out. "Your boss might be different."

"There's no doubt in my mind." Ren said flatly. "We should give it to them."

Alexa turned her attention to Ren, her inquisitive glance appearing more as an accusative glare. She closed the string in her hand. "Why?"

"We know almost nothing about it, and if anyone does, it's either the Team Royal Admins or the Team Galactic Spacemen. We can't do anything with it, so we should take it to someone who does." He blinked and turned his eyes away from their lock with Alexa. "Besides, It's probably useless as it is, so what's the worst that can happen."

"The worst that could happen?" Alexa asked, anger growing audibly. From her periphery, she noticed Brian and Ria each turn to distract themselves, making it clear they did not want to be on the receiving end of whatever was coming. "You saw what happened on TV in Hoenn? You saw that monster emerge from the ocean and completely destroy Lilycove, Mossdeep, and half of the Big Island!" Her heart rate and breathing accelerated as her emotions grew. "For crying out loud, you saw firsthand what happened to Hearthome! And Palladi too! The third biggest city on the planet is a crater now because of that monster, and you want to ask what's the worst that can happen? That thing being weaponized and controlled by a single person is the worst that can happen. What if whoever holds the leash decides they don't like Blackthorn City, Ren? What then?" She turned her attention to Brian and Ria next. "Or what about Mauville or Pastoria?" Alexa took a deep breath and covered her eyes with one hand. "I'm not saying we shouldn't give it to them. I'm saying there is a lot at stake here. We can't afford to take a lighthearted chance with this." She pulled her hand away from her eyes took a few deep breaths to collect herself. "Ria, the boss of Team Royal, his name's Notos, right?" She waited for an affirmative nod from the girl. "What's he like?"

"I don't know." She admitted. "I've only met the same two you have. Not even Euru, the other Admin."

"So we don't even know anything about him. Maybe there are some people who can be trusted with absolute control over something like Deoxys, but who knows if he's one of them."

Their little dead-end of the cave grew so quiet even the faint whine of the electric lamp could be heard over the hush.

"Okay. Good points." Ren said, restarting the discussion. "Let's say there's a decent chance he is the type to become a drunk-with-power supervillain." He continued. "As far as we know, this artifact is entirely useless right now, which means he gets nothing, and we get knowledge. They tell us what we want to know about it and we work out some kind of contingency if we don't like it."

"So if they admit to us they're looking to take over the world then, what, we say no deal, fight and flee?" Alexa's suggestion remained unanswered in the air. "It wouldn't be impossible. Even if they do turn against us and try to take it by force, if they do turn out to be the bad guys," She looked at Ria, the longest-standing Team Royal member present, considering the potential of having played for the wrong team, "it's not like Teams haven't been disbanded by kids before. Just look at Team Rocket and Red! He was ten years old at the time, we all have years of experience over him, plus teamwork!"

"Team Rocket were kidnappers and smugglers." Ria commented. "They had less ambition than groups like Team Magma. Even Plasma looks formidable next to them."

"She's right." Ren said. "They're inter-regional, probably among the best-trained and wealthiest Teams today. Do you really believe you can take them down with anything less than an army?"

"I believe in my strengths." Alexa said, winding the chain around her hand like boxing tape. "Your naysaying aside, Ren, I like your idea to give this to them and see what they have to say. Make a decision when we know more."

"They're going to come down on you hard if you tell them no." Brian said confidently. "I don't care who their boss is, if you tell them you have this and don't hand it over, they'll see you all as traitors."

"I'm with Brian." Ria said timidly. "We can't even do anything about this until morning. Let's just sleep on the decision and make a choice later."

"Fine. All right." Alexa agreed. She pushed one end of the string inward into itself, somehow shrinking the length and eventually reverting it back to the form of two red gems, completely unaware of the method or possibility of the action until it was finished. "You two take these back." She said, handing the stones back to Ren and Ria. "Let's just set up for the night here. We'll move forward tomorrow."

---

"I just got a call." Zephyrus said to Borea over the phone from his makeshift office set up in an Eterna City hotel room. "From the Rooks I appointed."

"The kids from Pastoria?" Her voice came through with slight electrical distortion and background noise of a busy place. "What about them?"

"Those two and the recruiter I sent with them found something on your busywork mission to Celestic."

"Yeah? So? Spit it out." She replied, more annoyed than eager.

"Supposedly they found a Red Chain."

No reply. On the other end of the line, a door opened and closed, then the background noise faded out. "Say again?"

"A Red Chain. In Celestic Ruins."

"Not a, the. The Red Chain." Borea said. "This is unbelievable. Do you have verification?"

"The description sounds right, and I'm about to leave from Eterna in a few minutes to meet them on Route 211 East for examination and retrieval."

Borea sighed a staticky breath into the line. "This changes everything."

"Indeed." Zephyrus responded. "How do you think Notos will react?"

"He's adaptable." She answered. "He may be unprepared for this course of action, but he can orchestrate more than one master plan at a time. He's in charge for a very good reason."

"I am well aware." Zephyrus said, absent-mindedly drawing a chain in the margin of a task list he was working on when he got the call from the Rook. He finished off the drawing with a broken chainlink, fragments of its metal bursting away from the cut. He folded the paper neatly in half and slid it loose into his messenger bag. "I'm on my way there on Flygon right now. Do you have transportation?"

"I've got Aerodactyl on loan from one of my friends in the lab. It cost me Carracosta for the duration, but now it seems worth while. I'm leaving Hearthome now."

"Good. I'll see you there, then."

"See you there." Borea said back. "Zeph, one more thing?" He didn't hang up on her yet, but waited for the addendum. "I don't trust the Auri girl. Watch out for her."

"Right." He said and ended the call. Zephyrus dropped the phone into his pocket, left the hotel room with a do-not-disturb on the exterior doorhandle, and locked the door behind him as he went.

A tension built in Zephyrus' chest as he rode the elevator to the ground floor. If this Red Chain is everything it claims to be, then the largest change in Team Royal's operation since his joining would be just around the corner. Depending on Notos' choices, perhaps one of the most significant changes in the progressing history of the world, too. The established plan was just fine in his own opinion, but Notos' word was law. That was perhaps the scariest thing, to Zephyrus. Sudden and unpredictable change at one man's whim. At its best, surprising. At its worst, dangerous.

He stepped out the front door of the hotel and into the famously clear air of Eterna City. The late-morning sun and cool wind worked together to hurt his eyes, but the discomfort was only momentary. He walked to a nearby grassy landing meant for flying Pokémon and let Flygon out of its Dusk Ball. "Here we go, Dune." He said, patting the Pokémon's neck and climbing onto its back. "Eastward over the Coronet piedmont. We'll know where to stop when we see it."

The insectoid Pokémon clicked its affirmation and ascended to the sky, eventually rising to an altitude that would block out the morning sun with the clouds of a low-pressure system to the east. Dark clouds billowed angrily under the light blue of morning, a sight that would be beautiful if not for being so ominous.

ΖΣ

Spoiler

Short chapter, but size doesn't matter. Well, actually it does *cough*. It's just not the only thing that matters, or else this, clocking in at 3.6 million words (over twice as long as the entirety of A Song of Ice and Fire, which has been in progress for almost 25 years) would be the greatest literary composition of all time! Of! All! Time!

And you know what? I'm ready to call it a day. I was planning on ending Sinnoh soon and moving on to the next stretch immediately, but I'm ready for a hiatus. What I'm going to do soon is get working on my next, much better project that may or may not be connected to this one at all. And looking back on what I've done, well, there's so much more I wanted to do. I have a running scratchpad of ideas to implement and characters to include and events to incite, but I would literally be doing this same story for years to come if that as the case, so as much as it pains me, they likely won't come to fruition here. I don't need this to become A Song of Ice and Fire.

Speaking of obscene word-counts I'm at probably 62,500 so far in this thing (guessing 2500 words per post and 25 posts). Research tells me that A Tale of Two Cities is 135,000 words long. I'm at the halfway point of that. By the time I'm done with Sinnoh, I'll have written more than A Tale of One City. I've already doubled Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men, and Hamlet; am matching Brave New World, and will quite possibly match Paradise Lost by the time Sinnoh is done! And here I was planning to run with a few more regions, each of which I wanted to be lengthier than Sinnoh (including Tohjo as the combined Kanto-Johto, I had quite a few storylines I wanted to happen there). But like I said, size does not equal quality (but sometimes it helps).

So, about my next thing, I'm thinking about making a project development thread for it ahead of time. Get some input, some collaboration. After all, X number of heads are better than one, and foresight is better than hindsight. I'll link in the next chapter if/when I do do that, but it will be unilaterally better than this story, no questions asked.

(book length research: This and this and this)

 

2.5.1​

​

Beginning of the End​

Alexa woke to the sound the Starly-like chirping of the 9:00 alarm set on her Xtransciever. "I need to stop sleeping in." She yawned as she felt blindly for the button to quiet the alarm. "Feeling like I'm missing half the day." She sat up from the spot of flat cave floor that was her bed and felt inside her backpack pillow for the gray Plate from the wall. She rubbed open her eyes and took stock of the situation. The lantern was either out of batteries or was shut off by someone else. Brian sat against the wall, eyes closed and arms tucked inside his jacket like a cocoon. Ren and Ria were already out for the morning.

Brian's eyes fluttered open, and the boy rolled his head to relieve the ache of his chosen sleeping posture. "Good morning." He whispered, wiggling in his jacket to get his arms back into their sleeves. "They're out already?"

"I guess so." Alexa said. "They never told me about a plan." She reached inside her bag for a snack, any kind of food that would give her some calories to burn and energy to use. She chewed a bar of trail mix as Brian leaned forward and pulled a sheet of lined notebook paper from under the lantern. He read the one-side note silently, not leaking any particular reaction. "What's it say?" She asked after swallowing the second-to-last bite.

"See for yourself." He said as he leaned to pass off the note. "I'm ready when you are."

She didn't ask what he meant. As she chewed the last of her small breakfast, she read, Ren's voice in her head reflecting from his awful handwriting, the message.

---

"I feel bad about this." Ria said to Ren, sitting on a grassy slope on the north side of the Route 211 road. The sun filtered brightly through the treeline past Celestic Town, a bright morning that would be overcast within an hour, once the sun passed behind the clouds directly overhead.

"It's the best way. We both know it." Ren leaned back and tried to relax, trying half a dozen positions, but none suiting his liking. "All of us want to move forward to getting rid of Deoxys. Alexa just doesn't know how to trust anyone else to help."

"It's more than that." Ria replied. "What if Team Royal really does want to do something bad? We're just helping them do that evil thing."

"Then we stop them. You and me. Plus Alexa, probably Brian, and everyone else who has the same kind of sense we do to know something bad is happening."

"No. This is hasty." She said as she pushed herself up from the grass. "I'm going back. Tell Zephyrus it was a false alarm."

"Ria." Ren said. "Ria! Stay with me. This is right, and we can do it."

She contemplated the choice for a moment before sitting back down on the slope. "Just because you say it doesn't mean it's true."

---

"I can't believe I gave them back the gems!" Alexa growled, crumpling up the note and tossing it against a wall. "I should have known he would do something without thinking! I should have kept track of the Red Chain myself! It's just two little pebbles, I could be trusted with that!"

"Like I said, I'm ready when you are." Brian said reassuringly. "We are going after them, aren't we?"

Alexa thought for a reason to not chase them. Let them get into trouble and learn a lesson a hard way, give them time to come to their own senses without her pushy brand of help, trust that they had deeper plan less foolish than handing over the artifact. None satisfied her need for a reason to trust their action. "Yeah. Before they help ruin everything."

She and Brian packed the remainder of the gear the other two didn't bother taking, and set out of the cave, this time easily following the ceiling-mounted lights out. Daylight was harsh and bright outside, though the sky beckoned a rain to arrive soon.

"Route 211? That's in the direction of the mountain?" Brian asked, already sure, but wanting to be conversationally okay by Alexa's standards.

"Right." She responded. "It leads straight through the lower hills and caves of Mt. Coronet to Eterna on the other side."

They walked their way up the switchback paths of Celestic Town, passing pedestrian commuters on their ways to another workday, none of them having any idea that a foreign Team may be trying to take control of the monster that just devastated their neighbor, and use it to unknown ends.

"When we find Ren," Brian began, "what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to tell him to call off whoever he called to take the gems and then swiftly high-five him in the back of the head."

"Then what will he do?"

"Probably lecture me on being a nicer person."

"What if he doesn't? What if he stands his ground?"

"Then I'll fight him for it, Brian! Him and Ria if I have to! He broke my trust, and until he demonstrates he's worthy, I'll treat him as the enemy!"

"But that's only if he doesn't play nice?"

Alexa huffed out angrily. "Maybe I'll knock him around anyhow, just to let him know he messed up."

"Save that for a backup plan, okay? It's best to be gentle with a softie like him."

Alexa laughed. "Yeah, I'll try something new." They reached the last turn of switchbacks and turned out of town, the rising sun to their backs. Alexa, trying to distract herself and not let her thoughts turn angry, turned back home. What if Ren was no longer to be trusted? Ria probably wouldn't want to adventure without his support, and Brian had his own goals that didn't fit with spending every day looking for an end to the Deoxys problem. Maybe it would be best to go back to Aurin. Find a way into the Sanctuary, find her family, and just live.

It all seemed impossible by her own nature. In the span of the last almost four years she was only home for half a day total. She would go stir-crazy and insane locked up in a city-size disaster shelter.

"I think that's them." Brian said, snapping Alexa out of a trance. He raised his arm to point at a grassy hillside, where one figure stood and another sat, taking the standing one by the hand and urging her to sit down. "I'll let you do the talking. This is your ordeal."

"All right." She collected her resolve. "Thanks for sticking with me, despite how I treated you."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't have trusted me either. We really got off on the wrong foot."

Alexa fixed her eyes on the figure she thought was Ren, blocking out all outside distraction. She became aware that her stride was a stomping march with sloped shoulders and balled fists, as if she was preparing to one-hand strangle him when she got close enough. She fought the posture to look and feel more at ease and negotiable, unsure if it did any good.

Their eyes met, Alexa's and Ren's. At first the boy looked away and muttered something under his breath, then turned back to her. "Hey there Alexa." He said nervously. "I guess you got my note?" Beside him, Ria gently smacked her own face with an open palm.

"Yeah, I got your note." Alexa said, speaking slowly to help control her own temper. "What gives? I thought we were going to make the plan together? You know, as a team?"

"Okay, listen." Ren said as he stood and walked down the slope to her. "I was going to, I really was, but I believe in my heart that this is the best option! We need to trust Team Royal to know what to do with this artifact!"

"Yeah? Well I know in my head that we need to think before we do anything hasty! There's a lot riding on this and we need to be sure of ourselves. Do you still have the gems?"

"Yeah, Zephyrus hasn't gotten here yet."

"Then tell him not to come."

"I'm not going to do that." Ren said. "Just have faith in me."

"I'll trust you when I have a good reason to." She pulled a Pokéball off her belt. "Last chance. You can keep the gems, but tell Team Royal not to come yet."

"I'm not going to do that." He said. "I've made my choice, and I'm sticking with it."

"This is your fault, Ren." Alexa said. "Go, Wudang!"

"I don't want to fight that Pangoro, Alexa." Ren said. "I won't fight it." He said as the hulking Pokémon lumbered forward in a slow and menacing march. "Go, Glass! Repel it!"

At its master's command, Glass the Reuniclus telekinetically lifted anything it could reach and launched all manner of projectile at Pangoro. Clumps of earth, a felled tree, even a picnic table. Each attack was easily destroyed or deflected with a swipe of Wudang's massive paw.

"Glass, keep Pangoro back! Shadow Ball!"

By the time Glass charged and fired the attack, Wudang was within arm's reach. With a blast to the chest, Wudang countered with a boosted Payback. One hit and the amoeba was thrown reeling through the air.

"I'm not messing around, Ren. Hand over the stones and we'll discuss this peacefully."

"We're past that option." Ren said from his high ground atop the slope. "Gumball!" He announced, letting a Forretress from its Pokéball. "Get Pangoro with Gyro Ball!"

As Gumball spoke its agreement with its clicking language, the Pokémon tightened its metal shell and rolled down the hill at Wudang. The receiving Pangoro tried to catch the Forretress like a charging sumo wrestler, but was bowled over by the force of such a heavy object rolling downhill.

"Wudang, go at him with Hammer Arm!"

"Bide you time, Gumball, and hit him hard when he's exhausted!"

"We'll see about that." Alexa grumbled as Pangoro smashed one meaty arm down on Forretress, then again with the other arm. Forretress' shell seemed to crack, but the eyes within still shone.

"Gumball! Now!" Ren commanded his Pokémon. In the blink of an eye, the Forretress burst open its shell, smacking into Pangoro with the force, knocking the Pokémon into stunned exhaustion.

"You're not getting out that easily." Alexa warned. From the sky, a Flygon landed beside Ren, with Zephyrus riding on its back. "This is taking a turn for the worse."

"Administrator Zephyrus!" Ren greeted. "It's good to have you here. We were just wrapping up a discussion."

"Nothing to discuss, Ren!" Alexa warned as she threw forward the next Pokéball, aware she was digging her own grave with Team Royal. Any openness she had to turning over the Red Chain to Team Royal closed when Zephyrus caught her vehemently fighting his star pupil. "Go, Hashmal!" She said to Luxray, emerging from its Pokéball. "Finish off Forretress with Discharge!" Before Gumball had a chance to react, Luxray's wave of electricity coursed through the ground, stunning Forretress and taking it out of the fight. "You're just going to stand there, Zephyrus?"

"I'm observing." He said, standing cross-armed beside Flygon. "Carry on."

"With pleasure." Alexa replied, relieved that Team Royal didn't turn on her yet. "You heard the man, Ren. Carry on!"

"It's your turn, Aku!" He said, sending out Zoroark, perhaps his best-trained Pokémon.

From the sky like Zephyrus on Flygon came Borea riding on the back of a lean, sinewy Aerodactyl. When she landed, she stepped closer to her Co-Admin and held a whispered conversation. She gestured at Alexa, angrily contorting her face as she whispered.

"I'll let you handle this." Brian said, startling Alexa as he approached from behind, almost forgotten. "However, if things get dicey with all of them together, I will step up."

"I appreciate it." She replied, not taking her eyes off Ren. "Hashmal! Get in there with Spark!"

Ren issued Zoroark a counter-command, but the Pokémon was pinned by Luxray and its electric tackle. Hashmal then chomped down on Aku with electrified fangs, sending the fox into muscular convulsions even where unhurt.

"Aku! Get him off you with Night Daze!"

"Zor." The Pokémon replied. It closed its eyes and generated a field of dark energy, easily repelling Luxray off its pinned position, into the air, and to the ground several feet away."

"He's getting tired, Hashmal! Wild Charge! Finish him!"

"Aku, repel with Dark Pulse!"

Ren's command came too late. Cloaked in sparks and leaving lightning scorches on the ground with each step, Hashmal leapt onto Zoroark, swiping one paw across Zoroark's face, effectively taking him out of the fight and leaving Hashmal himself exhausted.

"Do you want to keep going, Ren? Or can we settle this on our own?"

He returned Zoroark to its Pokéball and stared at Alexa, the shadow of a line of shade advancing west to east as the sun passed the other side of the clouds. He walked to her, all eyes on him, face straight and eyes grim. "Alexa," He began, his voice quiet and breathy. "I made up my mind. There is nothing at all that can stop me. You have two options here."

"We're past negotiating--"

"Your first choice is to keep doing what you're doing, show your hand to Team Royal, and get blacklisted as a traitor forever." He said, noticing Alexa's eyes turn over his shoulders and to the two Admins observing the battle. "But it's not too late. Pretend that we fixed it here. We already picked this bone with each other and we're all good, and you still get to look good for them and do what you said you were going to do. Fix this mistake -- if it is one -- from inside, after we know it's a mistake."

Alexa separated eye contact with him. She didn't like being forced into a bad deal. "I hate you, Ren. I really do. You're an underhanded, sneaky, untrustable thug in nice clothes." She sighed heavily and wanted to spit at him. "But I can't stop you. You have a deal. Just remember that the world is more important than Team Royal."

"You don't have to remind me." He said, smiling and extending one arm for a handshake. Alexa only looked down at his hand, then back up to his eyes. "I'm sorry it's happening like this. Just have faith in me." He smiled reassuringly and walked back to Ria and the Admins.

"I don't have faith in you and you've broken whatever trust you earned from me." She said once he was out of earshot.

"What's happening?" Brian said, stepping up from the sidelines, standing beside Alexa as the more loyal Team Royal members discussed recent and future events.

"They're going through with it." She growled. "Giving up both gems of the Red Chain and just letting Royal do whatever they want with it. Control Deoxys as a weapon to conquor the world for all I know."

Brian adjusted his position to stand in front of Alexa, his back to the Royals. "I know your world is pretty shaken right now--"

"You think? The person I trusted most to help me save the world from this monster just stabbed me in the back in favor if his new friends." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose.

"Yeah, I do think. That's what I said. What I was going to say next is ask how much do you trust me."

Alexa looked past the boy to the four Royals. Ren pulled a tiny object from his shirt pocket, probably one of the red gems, and dropped it into Admin Borea's open palm, followed shortly by Ria doing the same. Mimicking the act of generating the chain, Ren demonstrated how to expand the gems to their string form. The transformation worked, so he didn't hand over a decoy. "I trust you more than I trust him. How's that?"

"It's good enough. I didn't want to do this yet, but." He took a deep breath. "Tell me about when you first saw the red gems."

"There were three of them embedded in the wall near those big-headed carvings--"

"Three of them. Ren and Ria have two together. What about number three?"

"I only retrieved the gray Plate, they were gone when I looked back at them. And you said you didn't get anything."

"I say a lot of things." He said, his straight, grim face turning up in a smile. "Come on. Introduce me to your bosses."

ΖΣ

 

2.5.2​

​

The Best-Laid Plans​

"That doesn't make me trust you any stronger, you know." Alexa said to Brian. "But I think I understand what you're saying and why you did it."

"And that only you and I know there is definitely a part three and that they don't have it. It doesn't matter that they have two: as long as they don't have all three, then the thing is useless."

"How do I know you won't just hand it over to them?"

"You still don't trust me?"

"I did just find out you were lying to all of us about finding nothing in Celestic Ruins."

"True. If I wanted them to have it, I could just call them over and hand it to them. I know you're an army of one, but it can help to have backup."

"Thank you." Alexa replied after a pause. She led the way to the rest of Team Royal a short distance away. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Administrators." She began with Brian close behind. "We just had a disagreement about something extracurricular."

"That's a pretty big disagreement." Borea said, doubtful. "Care for some group-talk? Some help getting to the bottom of it?"

"The bottom is... already gotten to." Alexa explained, forcing a smile.

Borea narrowed her eyes with a distrustful examination of the girl, but Zephyrus seemed to take the explanation at face value. "That was quite a show you two put on. I'm rather impressed with both of you."

"We had different styles of learning." Ren explained. "Classroom for me, field experience for her. We're still figuring out what's best!" He went on, fluffing up his mannerisms with lighthearted banter to pretend nothing was wrong.

"That seems like a familiar debate." Zephyrus said to Borea, who rolled her eyes in response. "Who's this?"

"I'm Brian, sir." The boy said, extending one arm for a handshake, which the Admin took in an almost shake-less grasp. "I crossed paths with these two agents a little while back and found out that we work pretty well together."

"Did you help retrieve these artifacts?" Zephyrus asked as he opened his other hand to show the two red stones of the Red Chain.

"I didn't find any personally, I've mostly been hanging around to offer what help I can, mostly security." He said. "I'm a top-notch battler, if I do say so myself."

Borea leaned over to Zephyrus and whispered "No." without any context.

"Whatever you say." The man replied. "I appreciate what you've done. These three are some of our most talented operatives. If it interests you..." He glanced at Borea, then back to Brian, "then I recommend you discuss the opportunity with these three and apply to join Team Royal. Through the proper channels, of course."

"Of course." The boy replied, understanding and seeming enthused.

"Now then." Borea said, re-inserting herself into the conversation. "These artifacts you recovered together are of the utmost importance to Team Royal and maybe to the world. We need to return these to our Headquarters in Phenac, Orre. I will be staying in Hearthome to help coordinate recovery efforts there and continue to promote Team Royal in the region while Zephyrus ensures the safe transportation of the artifacts."

"Any and all of you are welcome to accompany me to Orre. I'll be leaving from the port near Floaroma Town in three days. Do any of you have Pokémon who can fly you there?" He asked, and only Ren confirmed that he did. "You're welcome to fly with me. Otherwise, three days is plenty of time to get there, even on foot."

"I'll travel with my friends, if that's okay with you." The boy answered.

"I gave you the option." Zephyrus said as he returned to the Flygon on which he arrived and Borea to her Aerodactyl. "I look forward to seeing you in Floaroma. Farewell." He flew into the air and westward, then Borea to the south once she finished glaring at Alexa, with distrust or animosity in her eyes.

"Well, team." Ren began, optimism dripping from his voice. "We're one step closer to fixing the Deoxys problem."

None of the others seemed to share his enthusiasm, not even Ria. Alexa considered a sarcastic, passive-aggressive response. Something along the lines of "I agree. Goodbye, answer to our problems, flying away past Mount Coronet. We'll see you again soon! Or not."

Small drops of rain pattered from the sky, polka-dotting the dirt path leading to a cave of Mount Coronet. "Let's keep moving." Ria said, taking the lead for the first time. She led the march west to the towering, snow-capped mountain and the cities on the other side. Around the time they entered the cave, Alexa moved forward in the group beside Ria, leaving the two boys to bring up the rear.

"Is something on your mind?" Ria asked. The curtness to her voice was almost startling in its contrast to the usual.

"Yeah, a lot is on my mind." Alexa answered. "But I'm more concerned with what's on your mind. You don't seem to like the current chain of events. Care to talk about it."

"No." She said, though something in the twisting of her brow said there was a lot she wanted to vent. "I'm with you on this. I think we were hasty. I trust Team Royal, at least I think I do, but we just gave them the key to something really big. Do they have the goodness to match the power they were just given?"

"There are two things that can happen." Alexa said. "Either they prove they do have the goodness, or they prove they don't. What if they do good and help fix the world? What then?"

"They're going to give me a promotion, that's what's going to happen!" She laughed a self-confident laugh. "After all, I just helped make their biggest good deed possible. I deserve to be made Knight for that, or at the very least Rook."

"Yeah, I don't know why Zephyrus bumped Ren and me that high immediately."

"But if they prove they're not good, if they do something evil with the Red Chain." She paused to think. "I can't stay with them. They could move me up to Bishop and give lieutenant-Administrator privileges and I still wouldn't take it." She sighed out a shaky breath. "What about you? I think you have the most doubt of us all."

Alexa looked behind herself. Ren and Brian were far enough back to not overhear the conversation, even with the echoes of the cave. "One way or the other, I'm done with them, if for no other reason than Team life isn't much for me. I'm more of a lone wanderer, just me and my closest Pokémon. I just need, need to stick around long enough to make sure this isn't a mistake. Don't tell the admins. This is just between you and me, okay?"

"My lips are sealed." Ria said, pulling two fingers across her mouth as if pulling her lips closed like a zipper. She smiled a genuine, trustworthy smile only shown by someone who has nothing left to hide.

---

"She may have been willing to go with it." Brian said to Ren, a significant distance behind the girls. "All she wanted to do was think about it. We were all keeping an open mind."

"Were you, really?" Ren asked. "Alexa specifically. She doesn't know how to trust anyone, she's an army of one. Her mind was made up the moment the topic came up, nothing could have changed her stance."

"Hmm. And you're sure of that?" Brian asked.

"Absolutely. I've known her long enough to know she's just so self-driven she doesn't need to rely on anyone else for input or help. When she sets her mind to something, it's made, nothing will stop her, nothing will convince her of anything else."

"It sounds to me like you have it backwards." Brian said. "I'm no philosopher, but bear with me: she started the idea of discussing what to do with it. Maybe she did have her mind made up, maybe she didn't, but this is about you. What it sounds like to me is that you're the only one who definitely had his mind made up. You had your mind made up that she had her mind made up, and because of that, you made up your mind right there to go ahead with your own plan." Even in the relative darkness of the cave, Brian could see Ren's face twisting with thought. "You know I'm on to something."

"I don't think so." Ren said. "Here's what I did: I accelerated the decision-making process and got this world-saving artifact into the hands of the people most qualified to use it even faster. What if the timing difference prevents another Deoxys attack, huh?"

"That's a pretty self-righteous way of predicting the future. What if Team Royal tries to use it for evil? You would have just put the ultimate weapon into their hands even faster. The blood of their victims would be on your hands too."

"It's not going to come to that." Ren said, smiling with hope. "We can stop them, and will stop them if they do anything bad."

"Yeah, that's some contingency plan you've got." Brian muttered.

"So? Like you've got a better one." Ren shot back. "You do have a plan, don't you?"

"Listen, Ren, I'm not even part of Team Royal. All I want to do is figure out where I'm going to hang my hat now that Lilycove's gone and I'm not grifting with Jordan any more."

"No, you know something." Ren said. He stepped in front of Brian as the girls kept walking ahead. "Do you know something about the Red Chain? Is there another gem? What do you know?"

"All I know is that maybe I could get set up at Eterna Gym. My little Grotle would feel right at home--"

"No... there were three gems, with four of us, only two were found. You or Alexa have another." Realization clicked in Ren's eyes. "That's why she gave up the fight. All I gave Zephyrus was a toy as long as the third part isn't with it!"

"Alexa only found a Plate, and I didn't get anything. Plus what you two got, we cleaned the place out."

"Yeah, right. Like she would leave empty-handed. Or at least leave knowing there was more still to gain."

Brian had no way to refute that without showing his cards. Perhaps it was better, he thought, to let Ren run with the idea that Alexa had the last stone. After all, even if she was searched, the only definitive proof could not be found, not on her at least.

"Yeah, that's it!" Ren carried on after Brian's prolonged silence, sounding both angry and excited, almost like his joy at unraveling a mystery overrode the feeling of being fooled. Ren dashed forward to catch up with Alexa and Ria, followed closely by Brian, who had no idea of his next step in avoiding disaster.

---

"I'm telling you she's hiding something." Borea said over her cell phone, parked with Aerodactyl on a hilltop to the west of Solaceon town. Zephyrus was similarly parked above the Route 211 cave mountain, barely near enough to be seen through binoculars, if either one wished. "I won't rest until I find it."

"Do you really feel that strongly?" He replied.

"Yes! Of course I do! That's why I've been going on about it since just after the Hearthome attack." She shouted into her phone. Zephyrus didn't answer, apparently pondering his own ideas. "I'm going to set up on 211 West to intercept them on the outside. Radio communication won't work while they're inside, but that won't be a problem by the time they emerge. It'll only be a few hours."

"No." Her Co-Admin intercepted. "Your work in helping Hearthome is too important. I'll go. My only remaining duty in Sinnoh is preparing for transportation. I have time on my hands."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Hearthome does need someone driven and powerful right now. Much better if I stay there. Those four rugrats, on the other hand, could use some adult supervision from someone experienced with covertly following his ulterior motives." She said, arrogant and condescending. Again, Zephyrus was silent, with not even a sigh of discontent or frustration. "You're actually going to follow through, right?"

"Of course. Just keep doing your job at Hearthome and don't worry about what I'm doing. I'll have a status report in six hours unless there's a holdup. Zephyrus out."

The call ended abruptly and, in the distance near where she envisioned Zephyrus to be waiting, she saw a dot rise into the sky from the mountainside. "At least he bothered to actually say he was hanging up." Borea muttered as she watched the trajectory of what she could only assume was her Co-Admin riding on a Flygon. The dot drifted back down to the east side of the mountain and Route 211. "That's a proactive step." She said as she climbed back aboard the Aerodactyl, wishing she made a personal bet with him on the outcome of her prediction."

ΖΣ

 

2.5.3​

​

Plate Tectonics​

"Just keep an open mind." Alexa suggested to Ria. "In case things do have to change. You have options."

"Uh, hey, Lexie?" Ren asked, running up the cave passage from behind the girls, followed by Brian, annoyance in his voice. "What do you know about the third gem of the Red Chain?"

Behind him, Brian tried to silently communicate with facial expressions. He's on to us.

What does he know?

He thinks you have the third gem.

"Only that it disappeared after I grabbed the gray tile. Just like you guys, I pulled out one thing and the other things, the gems and plates, were all gone."

"Is that so?" Ren asked. "Because in my and Ria's cases, the remaining gems only vanished after one of their own was taken." He explained. "Let me see your bag."

"My bag?" She asked, angry for the distrust but relieved for the misguided accusation. "You don't believe me?"

"No. It's like you're always going on about, I need hard proof to find what's right."

"Fine." Alexa said as she slid off her backpack. "But there's a difference between looking for the right answer, and looking for the answer you want." She thrust the heavy bag at Ren with a push of both arms, almost knocking the boy down when he caught it. "In case you still don't believe me..." She took off her utility best and tossed it as well, then turned out her pockets. "I really have nothing to hide.

Five minutes later, the entirety of Alexa's possessions were spread in piles across the cave floor. Changes of clothes, medicine and berries for her Pokémon, snacks, valuables, heirlooms, the almost-forgotten letter from her father, and even the strange prismatic stone and spooky plate she picked up on the way. Everything was examined, opened, or dismantled as much as possible, to no avail, sometimes carelessly strewn about. Ren's audience was silent for the duration of the search. When he exhausted every possibility, he sat in his place in the middle of the piles, and shook his head side to side. "You don't have it."

"I know." Alexa said sternly, absorbing the sight of her every worldly possession spread out on a dusty earthen floor. "That's what I said."

Ren began to re-pack the bag and vest before being shooed away by Alexa. "I'm sorry, I was just so eager. I want the Team to--"

"Stow it." She cut him off as she bunched her now-dirty clothes into one compartment of the bag, too frustrated with the situation to want to neatly fold anything.

"What's going on here?"

"Administrator Zephyrus!" Ria greeted, the panic of a jump-scare audible in her voice. Truly the man walked like a shadow.

"We thought we maybe didn't give you the complete artifact." Ren began. "So just to be sure, we..."

"Completely trampled on our trust." Alexa finished his sentence, now stuffing medicines into her bag.

Zephyrus looked around the group of young trainers, standing and kneeling in the cave. "Brian, right?" He asked. "I hate to perpetuate this cycle, but could you please turn out your pockets."

"Yes sir." He said, complying frictionlessly. From his front pockets he exhumed a key ring with a USB drive attached and front-pocket wallet, then let his inside-out pockets hang out from their seams.

"And raise the cuffs of your trousers?"

"Why that?" He asked.

"It's just the last place I'm checking." Zephyrus said.

Brian looked at Alexa, then back to the Administrator. He sighed and pulled up on the legs of his sand-colored jeans. Brown socks rose from his shoes and up around hairless legs, with an unusual bump near one ankle.

"What's that?" Zephyrus said, pointing to the bump.

"Oh, these? Wool socks. They wick moisture for coolness in the summer and hold heat in the winter. Perfect for all seasons." He released his hold on both folds of fabric, letting his cuffs fall to cover his ankles.

"The bump in your sock." Zephyrus specified. "It looks uncomfortable. Either you have a badly sprained ankle, or you're hiding something. Either way, I want to see"

"I'm going to stop at the clinic when we get to Eterna."

"Just show the man." Ren said, closing in on him.

Brian's options were exhausted. He could see Alexa more hurriedly packing her bag and vest. Sluggishly he knelt down to one knee and lifted his pant leg, the one he knew they wanted to see, and exposed his sock. Slow as a glacier, he rolled down his sock until the red stone fell out and to the floor below. He didn't try to snatch it up quickly or hide anything, but casually picked it up and clenched it in one hand as he rose again. He stood up straight, just a few inches shorter than full-grown man Zephyrus, and looked the Administrator in the eye with an expression of stoic resolution.

"The stone?" Zephyrus said, holding out one hand.

Alexa was still knelt on the ground, packing her gear, with apparently just the stone plate and her berry box left to pack. Brian called out her name as he tossed the gem her way and with two empty hands smacked both of the administrator's ears together in a considerably successful attempt to disorient him. Alexa's reaction was too slow, so she had to lunge and crawl across the floor to snatch the gem, and barely made it back to her feet in time to grab her bag and evade a mixed pursuit of Brian and Ria. In a swift motion, she threw forward her Pokéball holding Carbink and commanded the Pokémon to launch a Rock Slide, effectively causing a cave-in between them and Ren, still with the Administrator.

The cave of Mt. Coronet became silent, only broken by the sound of tumbling pebbles as the last bits of the cave-in settled into place. The three young trainers stood in a triangle around Carbink's pale green glow, collectively lost in thought of what just happened and what was next.

"I guess we're out of Team Royal for good now." Ria whispered.

"For good is right." Alexa said. She opened her hand and examined the red stone, now looking almost black in the green light, and dropped it into a zipper-closing pocket of her utility vest.

"Well, it's been fun." Brian said, bending over to adjust his rolled sock. "Have fun changing the world, you two."

"Where are you going?" Alexa asked, more out of concern than a sense of abandonment.

"Eterna City. Or maybe farther. I might have been a grifter, and I might have occasionally trespassed for a warm place to sleep, but this all is too much for me." He laughed. "All this trouble, it's not my thing. I won't be able to keep up with you. So yeah. Goodbye. It's been fun. Thanks for getting me away from my brother and his lifestyle. Maybe we'll meet sometime down the road." He turned around and waved good-bye as he walked deeper into the cave.

"What?" Alexa asked, but Brian didn't stop or turn or respond.

"I think he's right." Ria admitted. "My time with Team Royal is done. I can't go back to Pastoria and I can't make up for what we just did." She sounded resigned and almost heartbroken. "I don't blame you for anything, but there's nothing more I can do for you."

"What do you mean?" Alexa asked. "We were going to work together for this, to make sure everything was right!"

"Yeah... That was then." She conceded. "It's getting real. Too real." Ria wordlessly opened her Ampharos' Pokéball, its light surpassing that of the Carbink. "I'm going to try to find my aunt in Canalave. If you're ever in the neighborhood, look me up. Or maybe, if you get this heroine thing figured out, I'll look you up. I just need to look out for myself right now." She explained. "Please don't hate me."

"I don't, it's just..." Alexa sighed. Everything was changing so fast. "So I'm on my own now."

"You're strong, Alexa. Driven too. I'm clearly not." Ria sighed out. "Goodbye. I'll never forget this little adventure." Without another word, she departed deeper into the cave, her Ampharos' light fading gradually.

"What now, Orlov?" Alexa asked the Carbink. "We're going to do this on our own?"

The little Pokémon chirped sadly, and the cave-in wall rumbled, despite the rocks being already settled. Some larger boulders developed cracks, leaking a gold-colored glow from the fissures. In an explosion, the wall burst down, Zephyrus' Flygon posed in a low stance on the other side, its trainer and Ren flanking its sides.

"Earth Power." Zephyrus, sounding slightly more angry than his usual flavor of un-emotive. "Not much can contain us with that in our arsenal." The man looked past her, deeper into the tunnel. "Where are the other two?"

A plan manifested in Alexa's head. "They're gone." She shrugged and looked down at Carbink to help disguise any tell she might have that would expose her omission. "That's really all the specifics I have."

"It's just as well." Zephyrus said, walking forward to her. "Give me the stone."

"I can't do that." She replied. "Like I said, the other two already left."

"Nice try, Lexie." Ren said, annoyed. "One, I know you're trying to technically not lie by not answering the question. Two, once the stone got into your hands, I doubt you'd give it up to anyone."

Alexa admitted to herself both counts were accurate.

"You have a choice again." Ren warned. "You can hand it over and leave, or Administrator Zephyrus and I can incapacitate all your fighters and take you to HQ and detain you until we have the gem." He went on. "You only have four Pokémon not exhausted by our skirmish. The Administrator and I have nine still. The odds aren't very good."

She looked away from him and to the Flygon standing in its low stance in the cave. "You're right." She admitted, smiling at Carbink before turning her attention back to the Royals. "You two don't stand a chance against me."

---

Brian exited Mount Coronet to the west part of Route 211, the skyline of Eterna City immediately visible. He was greeted by passing strangers, curiously at peace, which made some amount of sense considering Hearthome was actually quite a distance away. He wandered through the city until he found the local gym, but couldn't pull his mind away from the mountain looming over the city, a perpetual reminder of his abandonment of a greater cause. Rather than enter and seek the gym leader, he sat on a bench out front and considered an alternative city to set up.

"You seem troubled." A woman said as she took the bench seat beside him. "What's on your mind?"

Brian considered keeping to himself, but what harm could come of confiding to a stranger who didn't know his name and would never speak to him again? And such an attractive one, too. A slim 20-something young lady with blonde hair long enough to reach her knees and dressed in a stylish winter longcoat. "Do you ever feel obligated to help something too big for any one peson? Try to save the world single-handedly?" He asked.

"Not single-handedly, no." She answered. "But why do anything alone? The world is filled with friendly people, not to mention how easy it is to form bonds with Pokémon."

"I suppose that is true. My Pokémon are good, reliable friends." More reliable than I am. "Is it selfish to put your own happiness first? I'm not going to beat around the bush: my friend thinks she can save the world from Deoxys. Maybe she can, for all I know, but things just got tough, and I decided I can't keep up, so I left. Is that wrong?"

"We all have our limits." The woman said without hesitation, as if she had the answer already prepared. "Some people can change the world on their own, some can join the force of many. It's up to you to know how much you can do."

"Thanks." He said. "It still feels like a crummy thing to do. She was going to do great things, I just know it. I could have helped. But I just cut and ran out of there."

"I think you know your own limits." She added. "You don't have to save the world. Start small, work your way up, and try to do good one little step at a time." She smiled at him, a wonderfully compassionate smile contrasting her dark and isolated choice of clothing. "I think I have something for you." She announced, taking a Pokéball from one pocket and opening its contents onto her lap. It was an egg, white with blue and red loops spotting its shell. "Take this egg. When this Pokémon hatches, care for it, protect it, treat it with kindness." She gently handed Brian the egg, which he placed on his lap." Even if you can't protect the entire world right now, you can be this Pokémon's whole world. If you do that, then you have saved the world for it."

Brian stared down at the spotted egg. In some ways, it seemed like a step down from protecting ten billion people from an alien menace. On the other hand, it seemed within reach, and what the woman said was true: by helping keep this Pokémon happy, he is saving its whole world. "Thank you." He whispered, trying to suppress some mixed emotion in his chest.

"Don't worry about it, just do what you can. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business at the PWT. I have to catch a boat from Sunyshore, and I would hate to be late." She said, letting a serene Togekiss from its Pokéball, who promptly took her by the shoulders, and carried her away past Mount Coronet, that ever-present reminder of change.

---

Ria found the Route 207 exit of Mount Coronet in the late afternoon. To the southwest, pillars of smoke and steam rose into the sky, signifying the location of Oreburgh City. Still within the cave, she took off her Team Royal assigned Xtransceiver, and handed it to Ampharos. "Shock this, please. We can't have them following us."

Unwilling but obedient, Al-Iksandr took the device in one hand and pulsed a Thundershock through it, effectively frying everything inside. Only then did they step out of the cave and into the yellowing light of the afternoon.

Ria passed through the city of Oreburgh and found nothing of note, other than a group of young adults dressed like spacemen lining up outside the museum; either Team Galactic or a group of lookalikes. She passed through Oreburgh Gate Cave unimpeded and found Jubilife on the opposite side. A robust city glowing in the night, and that seemed to have a little bit of everything. Its most famous local landmark, the JTV network building, towered above the rest of the city with glowing pride.

A thought infected her. It had been weeks since she caught so much as a glimpse of TV, but she cultivated an idea during the walk from the Gate to the city. Team Royal is known to be one of the better Teams. Less criminally inclined than most others, as far as the common outsider knows. Her time with them was over, and nothing could change that, and she wasn't remorseful over the loss, now that she became aware of the desperate measures they were willing to go through for the complete Red Chain.

"I have an idea." She said to Ampharos. "And it should be exciting. I think you'll like it."

---

Volcarona fell before Alexa as Ren and Zephyrus continued their advance. Each time they knocked out one of her Pokémon, they moved forward to her, gradually pushing a path through the cave. Led by Ren's Omastar and Zephyrus' Dusknoir. She was down to her last Pokémon. "Invictus! It's down to you!" She said, letting her massive Aggron from its Pokéball.

"We're done here." Ren said, tired of fighting. "Cthulhu, wrap this up with Scald!"

"Invictus, Autotomize!" Alexa commanded as the Pokémon shed some plates of its characteristic iron armor, just in time to take a more direct hit to its now-unprotected rocky chest. She then ran forward and up its tail, grabbing onto the monster's shoulders and riding on its back. "Get us out of here!"

"Cthulhu, stop them! Rock Tomb!" Ren commanded as the Aggron ran and slid out of the area with surprising speed. The minor cave-in was too slow, and Alexa and Invictus were out of sight by the time the first stones hit the ground.

She gave the Aggron arbitrary directions to turn as they sped through the dark cave seeking an exit. After almost a mile of Aggron running a labyrinthine path, they reached the outside of the cave: a long valley route filled knee-deep with snow. Waiting with Aggron near the exit, she bided her time. "I am not prepared for this." She whispered, her breath already visible in the cold.

ΖΣ

Spoiler

Almost done. Honestly, this whole thing with Brian and Ria leaving sorta just happened, I wasn't planning on it at all. Similar to Ren's change of allegiance, but that's been on my mind for a couple of chapters now. Honestly, it's better this way than what I was planning.

Speaking of planning, I only just now decided Alexa has Aggron. I had full teams of six picked out for her three co-adventurers, plus two more who never made it into the series in this season, and all four leaders of Team Royal; but Alexa herself I could never decide on number six to her team. I think a long time ago I mentioned that her brother had an Aggron that he got from their grandmother or something, so it might make sense that she has one too. Besides, if I was going to give her a type specialty, it would be somewhere in the Steel and Dragon family, so I think Aggron is a good fit.

I'm re-employed beginning tomorrow, a 35 hour per week job for the first two weeks, but I'm hoping I can still keep up my weekly posting. I should be able to, since I had a dreadful 45 hour per week job for most of this story, so the new thing is easier and less lengthy.

How 'bout we get some Majora's Mask up in here?

Dusk of the Final Arc: Three Chapters Remain.

 

0.0.1

Provenance​

Year 381. Five years before the meteor.

"You expect me to believe that?" Alexa asked, nine years old and not yet departed on her first Pokémon journey. "That there's a magic tree inside Provenance Tower?"

"Why not?" Jasmine asked as her answer, sitting up straight in her brunch room chair, bathed in window sunlight and smiling sweetly, with a glass of plum juice half drained in front of her. "Is it too much for you?" She took a sip of her drink.

Alexa tried to gauge her cousin's age, somehow seeming younger while sipping the purple juice. With the math, she should be nineteen right now, but somehow she seemed younger than adult. "Not too much." She replied, measuring her words. "Just too silly."

"It's not silly, it's true!" Jasmine assured her. "Just because it's unexpected, does that mean it's impossible?"

"No, but that tower has been there forever and nobody ever found your giant magic tree."

"Not my giant magic tree. Wuldrut, the Pokémon."

"Right." Alexa said. "Wuldrut. What about the fact that nobody has seen it forever?"

"Nobody saw Ho-oh in a long time either, then just last year, well, you saw the pictures." Jasmine reminded her with a rare know-it-all smile.

It was a valid point, Alexa could admit privately. She turned her attention out the brunch room window, staring out across the middle Aurin desert in the general direction of Provenance Tower.

"I think it would be fun if we went on an adventure that way." Jasmine went on. "Before I have to go back to Olivine. What do you say?"

She considered the opportunity. Even if they didn't find the silly legend inside, it would be more interesting than a museum trip even.

"I could even call up your mom and ask permission." Jasmine continued, pulled her phone from her purse, and immediately dialed in. "Hi Auntie Shahira" She said over the phone. "How is your day going? That's wonderful, I hope it goes well. Lexie? I had an idea for something fun to do with Lexie today, if we can get your permission. We hatched the idea to visit Provenance Tower, with security of course." Alexa's mother's voice sounded over the phone. "That's exactly what I was thinking. And you know I can handle myself out there." Again, Alexa's mother spoke into the other end of the phone, sounding happily excited. "I thought so too." Jasmine finished. "I'll have her back by sundown." She ended the call and smiled at her little cousin.

Secretly, Alexa was glad the decision was made for her. She tried not to show it, but her cousin seemed to notice. "I'll get Orlov and Dante." She said as she hopped out of her chair and ran up the steps to her room.

---

An hour later, just before noon, they arrived outside the tower, riding on the backs of a pair of saddled Lairon. Situated in the middle of a vast and flat desert of compacted white sand and architectured as a grand upward stone spiral counting seven layers high from the front, Provenance Tower was once a spiritual ground at which those seeking enlightenment would, physically and metaphorically, rise through layers of worldly awareness and celestial insight. Milennia after its construction, it was eventually reduced to a cryptic and near-purposeless relic of a bygone era, only left standing thanks to its status as a protected cultural landmark situated on a part of the desert poor in subterranean resources.

"It's big." Alexa commented, she and Jasmine recalling the two Lairon who were bred by their common grandmother, into their Pokéballs, and letting her little green Carbink from its Cherish Ball. "Are we going inside?"

"That would be nice." Jasmine commented. "It's quite hot out here."

"Ha! You can't handle the heat." Alexa commented, arrogantly taking the climate of her native land just fine. "It'll be better inside the temple." She assured her cousin, leading the way. The ground floor of the tower was wide and circular, entirely covered with an ornate, looping inscription gradually working its inward to the center of the floor, where a gray central pillar held up the ceiling and all higher floors. Magic tree Pokémon or no, the temple was surely impressive. "It's beautiful in here." Alexa commented as she stepped closer to the column at the center of the middle of the circular room, examining a mural of a four-petaled red flower on the pillar, some kind of insignia representing the foundation of the structure. "What do we do now?"

"We find something new." Jasmine said, strolling through the empty, circular room. Starting 90 degrees left and right of the door and spiraling counter-clockwise upward to the next floor were a pair of staircases; and opposite the door was a red stone relief carving of a tree, its branches curving at the top and roots bending at the bottom. She raised her hand to rub the edges of the statue, tracing the shape of the trunk down to its twisted roots, illuminated by some trick of optics in the room. "I think this is Wuldrut." She commented.

"It's a picture of Wuldrut." Alexa corrected. "Just a picture." She reached one hand to rub a hand from the root up, and felt an electric tingle run up her spine accompanied by a sudden kinesthetic disorientation. "Wow..." She whispered.

"Was that an earthquake?" Jasmine asked, subjected to a similar but different sensation. She stepped around the main column to the entrance door, stopping before she got outside. "Let's go upstairs." She suggested.

"Why?" Alexa asked, catching up with her cousin. "If it was an earthquake, we should go outside, where there's not a roof to fall on us." She approached the exitway and noticed the situation barely in time. The ground outside the temple was a vast expanse of distant blue, and the sky was a dusty white sand. She found herself unable to articulate a response to the sudden change. No panic, no awe, just a sense of acknowledging change. "That does seem like the option." She admitted, and walked between Jasmine and Orlov the Carbink up the stairs to the next floor.

The second level of the tower was aesthetically similar to the first. The spiral nature of the tower necessitated it be smaller than the last, but other than that the primary differences revolved around the central pillar itself. Now more ornately painted and carved with a spiral pattern, it had a different flower-like insignia painted on one side: now an orange-colored flower with six petals and its center made of a series of concentric crescents.

"I think this is a map." Jasmine suggested, calling Alexa to another tree-carving like the one on the previous floor. "I thought it was just the light, but part of this tree is glowing." She explained, pointing to a segment of the tree carving just above its roots, not only painted brighter but visibly giving off light of its own.

"At least it's not a maze." Alexa smiled. "Let's find out what's at the top.", gesturing for her Carbink to follow.

"And the plan comes together." Jasmine sang.

As anticipated, the next floor had another insignia on the main pillar and a different glowing segment to its trunk on the recurring statue-map, each decoration yellow. It wasn't until the next floor, fourth by Alexa's count, that a peculiar thought crossed her mind. "Are we climbing up or down the tower?"

Jasmine didn't answer, since she was unwilling to deliver even a small lie by pretending to know what was happening. Rather, she kept examining the mostly monotonous carvings and paintings on the wall and pillar, more closely looking at the green flower painted on the gray column, now with a star in its center and at least a dozen petals. "Did you notice the pillar?" She asked.

Alexa considered bouncing back a sarcastic response, but declined. "What about it?"

"It looks more like a tree now." She explained, and suddenly Alexa saw it. The gentle spiral pattern gave up its smooth polish of gray stone for something carved more in the fashion of oaky bark. "And up higher, it's branching out." She added, pointing to where the pillar met the ceiling, the compact pillar spread out with additions that could only be described as branches. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jasmine asked.

"That we should keep going up? Down? Farther?" She asked. "Orlov, come!" She said to the Carbink as she dashed up the spiral stairs to the next floor up, tailed by Jasmine, trying to be dignified while running in a sundress.

The next floor was, as calculated, blue, and all along the length of the pillar, stone outcroppings spread out like bare tree branches, protruding out to the space of the somewhat small circular room. The next floor beyond that was decorated indigo, with a two-petaled flower bud painted on the central pillar past the labyrinth of stone branches, now decorated with petrified flower buds along every finger.

"And the third eye awakens, beholding the start of the next world." Jasmine whispered. "It's making sense now."

"Third eye? What?"

"You didn't read the walls?" Jasmine asked. "There was a message in Old Auri on every floor. The root, the heart, the voice." She trailed off.

"I can't read Old Auri." Alexa answered.

The sixth floor of the spiral tower became silent. "Oh." Jasmine whispered, surprised that her ambitious little cousin was so un-enamored by the history of her own culture. "Well. Each floor has said something about the meaning of these flowers, and how to meditate on their meaning. To build a strong base in the world, to keep the heart steady, to open the third eye to see more." She said, pointing with one finger to the middle of her forehead. "We need to open our minds now for the seventh floor."

"I do have an open mind." Alexa answered. "Now. I mean Wuldrut still seems Farfetch'd, but my mind is open."

"Good." Jasmine said reassuringly, looking up to the ceiling, where the central pillar dissipated entirely into a ring of evenly-spaced branches holding up the next floor. She walked to the next set of upward stairs, passed by Alexa running excitedly past her.

Only the color was expected. The small circular room was filled mostly by the spiraling and leafy stone branches of the pillar shaping a woven capsule around the center of the room, the floor of which featured a flower design like the others, a violet flower with too many petals to count, glowing to illuminate the chamber. In the middle of the pod of latticed stone branches, hovering above the flower mural, was nothing. An empty shrine, its vacuous heart filled only with air.

Alexa took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling through her nose. "That's what I thought." She said, noticeably disappointed, but with a touch of reinforced arrogance from an accurate prediction.

Jasmine stood behind her, placing both hands on her little cousin's shoulders. "It's empty?" She asked.

"Yeah, can't you see?" Alexa replied, bitter for the disappointment.

"Yes. I see." She answered, staring at the space within the woven branches. Orlov hovered up to an opening in the lattice, peering through to the middle, and returning to Alexa's side. "Do you want to take a closer look?" Jasmine offered.

"We've been to every chamber." Alexa said, crestfallen. "Wuldrut isn't here."

Jasmine didn't voice her suggestion that perhaps the inscriptions of the previous chambers, the opened third eye perhaps, could offer some help for the girl, both inside and outside this temple. "Then maybe it's time to go." She suggested.

"How?" Alexa asked, pulling away from the disappointment. "We flipped the tower or the world or whatever. We're like seven stories underground."

"Then don't you want to see what the roof is like?" Jasmine suggested, hoping to excite Alexa with a pursuit less legendary and more worldly than Wuldrut.

Her mind filled with ideas of what could be at the top-bottom of an inverted tower. Were they nearing the hot core of the earth? Did they find the way to a mysterious ancient land deep within the world? Maybe they were already stepping into Giratina's Distortion World!

The last idea tipped the scale. If they couldn't even find a magic little tree, then what was the possibility for finding Giratina, much less some other wonder. "No." She said, simply. "I think I just want to get back to the regular world, where I know everything is real."

Although Jasmine didn't really agree, she did allow her self to follow Alexa's choice. They followed the path all the way back down to the red room, observing the central pillar's transformation from a tree back into a more simple pillar with its spiral grooves. Once at the main door, the world was still flipped.

"Now what?" Alexa asked. "I don't suppose you have a Ferrothorn who'd like to carry us across the ground-ceiling all the way back home?"

"Wuldrut?" Jasmine asked, opposite the door and talking to the stone carving that Alexa touched when the place flipped in the first place. "We appreciate how you let us into your tower, but it's time for us to go now. Would you please return us to the same gravity as the rest of the world?"

"Are you talking to the carving?" Alexa asked, walking around the pillar to meet Jasmine again, fighting a sudden sense of nausea.

"Thank you, Wuldrut. I'll visit again soon, I promise."

"I don't think it can hear you." Alexa said, following her cousin back to the exit. "You've got to be kidding me."

"It's time to go home, Lexie. I promised to have you back by sundown." Jasmine said sweetly as she stepped onto the white hard ground of the desert, and let out her saddled Lairon.

Alexa followed, taking the first few steps outside the tower very cautiously. "I don't believe it." She said, letting her Lairon out too.

"You don't have to." Jasmine advised. "You could wait there, or you can come back home, but I did promise your mom."

Reality or fantasy, whatever just happened would be nothing compared to the events to come if her mother got home that evening without seeing her daughter already safe and sound.

---

That evening, over dinner, Jasmine and Alexa recounted the story of their day to Mrs. and Mr. Muntoro, agreeing to omit any mention of world-flipping, to keep it all the more believable. Alexa's mother said that she visited the site once before and had a similar experience; and her father, not native to Aurin, agreed with Jasmine's advice to make a point of visiting at some point, perhaps even as a family trip. Alexa would leave home on her first Pokémon journey the next year, and the family trip would never come to be, with Deoxys shouldering at least part of the blame.

That was the last day of Jasmine week-long stay with extended family. As night fell, she was driven by Alexa's father to the airport near Palladi, leaving Alexa with memories of an adventure and, perhaps, a new perspective on what, beyond the visible and the tactile, might be possible in the world.

---

Alexa dreamed that night. By the time she woke, the details were gone, but the sequence remained. In her dream, she was back at the brunch table with Jasmine, who nonchalantly transformed into a grand black dragon, leading Alexa on a pursuit into the nighttime desert. In her dream, the chase lasted only a few seconds and ended at Provenance Tower, now unspeakably tall and disappearing into the brilliant shining of the moon. Somehow, in her dream logic, she decided to chase the Jasmine-dragon, running a spiral up the inside of the tower.

Through the same architecture and coloring of the rooms (though somehow more vibrant and alive in the dream), she ran to the top of the tower, which now ended on the violet-colored room, roofless and lit by the moon. In the center of the chamber, surrounded by the organic and purple-leafed branches of the pillar tree, waited a levitating Pokémon of some kind. It somewhat resembled a Tentacruel who was at once impossibly large and quite miniscule, its body purple and its hundred arms gray, spreading out below it then swooping back up on its left and right. Its purple body, though faceless and lacking Tentacruel's orbs, was spotted with black or white circles that only resembled a face in the farthest stretches of pareidolia. Alexa approached the Pokémon, arms outstretched, as it was snatched up by the twin of the Jasmine-dragon, a white beast from the sky who grabbed Wuldrut with its talons, stealing it away to the white moon above.

Wuldrut? Alexa asked, her last thought before snapping back to wakefulness. The more she tried to hold on to the details, sitting up in bed and looking out her window over the expanse of desert under the first light of dawn, the more they seemed to vanish. She laid back down to sleep, and the next time she woke, the dream of Wuldrut and the dragons left her memory forever.

ΖΣ

Spoiler

Flashback, woo! I think this chapter may have been quite abstract, but almost everything I did, I did for a reason in either the real world or the Pokémon world. Click the spoiler if you want to pretty much read an entire Pokémon Historia on something that's totally not canon, though I think would be cool if it was.

Spoiler: Wuldrut?

I think I put a lot of effort into inventing Wuldrut and the tower. First off: Did you pay attention in biology class? Humans (and most animals) have their DNA's sex chromosomes picked from X and Y; XX being female and XY being male. However, not all animals are like that. For some (crickets come to mind for me, maybe seahorses too), the sex that has two of the same sex chromosome are male, and two different chromosomes are female. In their case, they're arbitrarily given W and Z to replace X and Y: the males are ZZ and the females are ZW. Which brings me to two different points.

The first of which is I like the idea of a fourth part of the XY-Z trio formed by Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde. W as the fourth part seemed to be the best choice (though quite hard to execute visually), and purple seemed to be a good fourth color. The other XYZ animals have their roots in the Nordic legends revolving around the worlds-tree Yggdrasil, so I chose to make Yggdrasil itself part of the trio/quartet. And the visual worked well there: Purple plus a grayscale color, I could make that Pokémon (Wuldrut, whose name I wanted to be like world-root) a tree with gray bark and purple boughs. The W shape could come from the branches starting only at the top, then swooping down and back up like a W (at least if you only looked at the branches and not the trunk). But then I thought a faceless literal tree makes a pretty boring Pokémon (I'm not talking about you, Exeggutor and Trevenant), so to mirror Zygarde's recently revealed formes, I decided that the tree could be its 100% form. Its more common 50% forme would be something jellyfish like, with the same color scheme of a purple head and gray tentacles, more faithfully sticking to the W shape like the other XYZ do. I admit, the design does need some polishing, but I can totally see in introduced in Gen 7, like how Regigigas was introduced a generation after the other 3 Regis were. I mean they're not going to snatch up my idea, or make a late addition to a mascot trio, but I think it's not so outlandish and could theoretically work.

Almost done here. So, Xerneas promotes life, Yveltal brings the necessity of death, and Zygarde maintains balance. What does Wuldrut do? Wuldrut is the foundation (or root) of life. I was trying to keep a spiral motif going with the Provenance Tower, and you know what else is spiral? DNA. The central pillar as well as the spiral staircases were meant to be a symbol of DNA (it would be easier to notice if this was a visual format like a comic, videogame, or tv show), but I figured why stop there? A straight vertical column can be a DNA strand, a root of a tree, and also a human spine.

Wait, a human spine? Yes! The Chakras of Hinduism, a very interesting philosophical and medical concept, has seven color-coded bodily energies lined up on the spine, red at the bottom and purple at the top (like my Wuldrut tree is purple at the top). As you work your way up from the base of the spine to the stomach and heart and throat and third eye, the needs and roles of these organs morph from being worldly to spiritual (with a noticeable change at #4, the halfway between 1 and 7, the green "heart" chakra where the DNA of the pillar became a barky tree). Did I just find a way to blend Hindu mysticism and medicine with Norse legends and the Pokémon world? I like to think so.

Anyhow, this chapter is a little bit of a retcon that I'm sorta shoving in here to bandage up my own negligence of making its underlying purpose more important throughout the entirety of the story. If I was better planned, it wouldn't be necessary, but I still think it was nice to have a flashback besides the Dewford Island one from a few months ago.

We're almost there, people. Just a few weeks to go.

 

2.5.4

Angles of Approach​

"She's on her own now." Zephyrus said, looking out across the northern exit of the Mount Coronet cave. A howling blizzard reduced visibility to ten meters or so, but the trench Alexa cut walking through the snow remained visible, if not dulled by the few minutes of head start she had on her pursuers.

"We should get her." Ren pleaded. "We need to, she might..." He didn't want to say it, but it needed to be made clear to the man. "She might die out there."

"And we might, too." Zephyrus countered. "The best we can do now is keep on our way to Eterna and report her to law enforcement as a fugitive escaped from our custody."

Ren wanted to run out to the snow, but could already feel the sting of cold on his cheeks and fingers. "Then what are we waiting for." He said, leading the way back through the cave in search of the west exit.

---

"Jubilife TV". Ria whispered, outside the main broadcast station of the network. "Yes. It's perfect."

She entered the building through its main entrance and went to the front reception desk, explaining to the employee stationed there that she had vital and unique information pertaining to Deoxys. When she was denied (obviously, since no young teenage girl ever had anything worth listening to, the receptionist likely thought), she supplemented the offer with the added detail that Team Royal and their growing presence in Sinnoh may not be the blessing it seemed to be. Still she was denied, and was told that without being vetted by a known associate to the network, there was no way she would be allowed into the broadcast room. Ria was more perturbed than she showed, however, she politely thanked the receptionist and followed plan B.

She noticed, on her initial approach to the broadcast building, that there was a fire escape on its east side: a zigzagging metal staircase with a landing on each floor. The bottom step of the first staircase was a clear five feet above her head as she figured a way to climb, but with a boost from Ampharos, she was on her way up the stairs to the third floor, indicated by a directory inside to be the studio floor.

Only when she opened the unlocked third-floor door did she realize what she was doing. Her heart began to race with the sudden realization that she was trespassing in a secured facility. She first tiptoed through the dark and unoccupied server room, then tried to walk as naturally as possible through the brightly lit hallway. 80 PM, so evening news should be at its highest viewership, a convenient boost to her actions.

Above four doors along the hallway were red lights with "on air" stenciled onto their long florescent tubes. Only one was lit, and she cracked the door open to look inside. A well-groomed and sharp-dressed man and woman sat at a moderne wooden desk, smiling as they talked to the cameras, a big picture of Jubilife City's skyline behind them. A half-dozen or so camera operators and technicians stood in the dark part of the studio, focused entirely on the broadcast and unaware of Ria's presence.

"In global news," the female anchor began, "Strange weather events in Icirrus City of Unova. A sudden heat wave and low-pressure system centered around the local cultural site Dragonspiral Tower brought on hurricane force winds and electrical storms that lasted only a few intense minutes and ended as suddenly as they began." She went on, proceeding to detail other non-tragedies from around the world.

How best to do this. Ria thought, taking unnoticed refuge in the darkness of the studio.

---

Brian regretted his actions.

He sat on one of the stone staircases leading to a monument in Eterna City, looking eastward to Mount Coronet's cave exit, waiting for Alexa to emerge. Still cradling the egg in his arms, he sat for hours, through the setting of the sun and the light precipitation of a distant rainstorm, waiting for the girl to exit.

Around the time the streetlights came on, he saw them. Zephyrus and Ren entered Eterna City from the east, neither one of them noticed him in the dark, and made their way to the city's police station. Brian placed the large Pokémon Egg in the top of his backpack, zipped the compartment as much as he could, and followed the two Royals to their destination.

He didn't hear most of their conversation through the walk, but he did pick up on words like "Alexa", "find", and "safety". So that's how it is. Still trying to find the gem and return it to your own safekeeping.

When they entered the police station, Brian had to choose between waiting outside or being noticed. Almost ten minutes they were in there, giving the boy plenty of time to work out his plan. He decided he would stop them, make them give up the chase, and do it by force. After fifteen minutes of waiting he decided to enter on his own, and noticed the broadcast on a wall-mounted television in the corner.

---

"And remember." Borea said, smiling a big, fake smile, with her mouth almost touching the microphone, perched on a bandstand stage in Hearthome City's downtown. "With Team Royal, we can all live like, well," She released a short, overly-rehearsed laugh, "like royalty!" She took a step back from the cluster of microphones mounted on her podium and raised both arms high in the air: one hand clenched in a triumphant fist, the other raising two fingers of peace. The crowd of Hearthomers assembled in front of the first mostly-constructed building, one that would become the new City Hall in the wake of the town's destruction, exploded in a frenzy of cheers and wild applause. She said her obligatory thanks to the crowd as she exited the stage, her place taken by the acting Mayor of Hearthome City.

For the last three minutes of her speech, her phone was incessantly vibrating in her pocket, a constant reminder that she had a new voicemail. She gave herself a moment to check it once she was out of the public eye. "One missed call from Zephy and a four-second voicemail. Can't the man learn to send a text message?" She opened the voicemail and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Turn on the TV. Jubilife News Network." Zephyrus' recorded voice said.

"Yeah, I'm a little busy for lounging in front of the tube." She muttered, instead visiting the TV channel's streaming website on her phone, accessing the to-the-second broadcast of the current evening news. "That's not good."

---

"All I can ask is that you do not trust them." Said the talking head in the television set of the police station. "This artifact, as crazy as it sounds, has the power to control Deoxys absolutely. I am, or I was, a member of Team Royal. I was in that organization for over a year and never met or even saw the group's leader. All we know is that he's intelligent, ambitious, and has unmeasured power and resources at his command. Can we trust that man, who has no public name and face, with the power to save, rule, or destroy the world?"

Wow. Ria's really killing it. Brian thought, hanging unnoticed in the back of the police station's lobby and watching the television.

Zephyrus scoffed. "Did I mention yet, Ren." He said, addressing his accomplice by given name for the first time, "that Team Royal offers free room and board plus paycheck and college tuition to members of all ranks?"

"Not to me, sir, no." The boy answered.

"I did mention it to her." He answered. "Since she was hired properly, but that's a different point. It just astounds me that an intelligent girl like her would throw it all away so completely."

"There is only one person," Ria said through the television, presumably broadcasting to almost every screen in the region already, "who I would trust with the responsibility of holding the Red Chain and stopping Deoxys. Every generation has a hero. My grandparents' generation had Serena. My parents' generation had Red and Ethan. Our generation has Alexa Nero."

Zephyrus moved to the front desk, pulling the attention of one of the Jennies stationed there. "That girl. Alexa Nero. She was in the custody of T... in my care, and is now lost in the wilderness north of Mount Coronet. If she is not found and -- I cannot stress this enough -- returned to my care, she may very well die out there, and according to that young woman, the world's hope will die with her."

The Jenny looked at Zephyrus, the tall and stern man, and tried to gauge his honesty. She picked up her desk phone and hit a speed dial button on the receiver. "We have a report of a lost hiker in the forest north of the mountain." She looked at Zephyrus, asking for a description. "Female, fourteen years old, dressed in black and red."

"High priority." The man added.

"Sir, all lost individuals are high priority."

"Even higher--" He turned to the side hissed an angry syllable. "You heard the girl." He said, pointing at the television. "She a hero, and the weight of the world is on her shoulders.

The Jenny spoke into the phone again. "Coordinate with Snowpoint and Veilstone too. Yeah, it's the one on TV. No, that's Jubilife's jurisdiction. Yes. Thank you." She hung up the phone. "Thank you for the missing-person report, sir. Our search-and-rescue teams are deployed, I advise you wait. You are welcome to stay here until she returns."

Brian, eavesdropping over the entire conversation from a bench near the door, took the opportunity to duck out of there. Ria's high-publicity plan was going to be used against her, and he couldn't live with himself if he didn't try to prevent that.

---

"She's out there." Hasim growled, slamming one palm onto the desk of the Superintendent, the head governing official of the Aurin Sanctuary under the ruins of Palladi City. He pointed to the large, muted television on the wall with his other hand, and an undeniable fire of rage and drive burned in his eyes. "My baby sister is still out there, saving the world, while I'm stuck hiding in this hole in the ground!"

"Are you complaining that you're still alive?" The Sanctuary's overseer asked.

"No, I'm complaining that for the past several months the rest of the world has been dying, and we haven't been around to help save it! We're just living it up in this posh resort wrapped in a bomb shelter, but we're all safe, so what's there to worry about!"

"Don't raise your voice with me, young man." She warned.

"Yeah? Why not? What will you do, kick me out of here?" He asked. "No, you won't do that. You're to afraid Deoxys will seize a six second opportunity to zoom over here from Sahareu-knows-where just to ruin this shelter for all of us!"

"Is there something you're trying to say?"

"She's just a little girl," Hasim began, "but she's done so much on her own. Between the radio shows with that Johto broadcaster and then the Sinnoh news channel at Hearthome, we know she's crossed the world trying to solve a problem too big for just herself. She should have her family and her nation at her back."

"Oh, so you're family now?" She superintendent asked. She just sat at her desk, glaring up at the man confronting her. "How things change." She almost spit the words like venom.

It became an intense, warlike staring contest only broken by Hasim smashing his palm onto the table again and walking to the exit of the office. "I'm not quitting." He said, gripping the doorknob, pointing angrily at the superintendent with his free hand. He stepped through the doorway and slammed the door hard enough to rattle the subterranean room.

The superintendent tapped one fingernail on her metal desk, rhythmically, processing her next step. She picked up her phone and dialed the shelter security's three-digit number. "Chief Adir?" She said. "Add Hasim Muntoro to my list."

---

Brian called Ria's phone several times outside the police station, but she never picked up. Little did he know, her only communication was a smashed pile of plastic and circuitry at the southwest exit to the Coronet cave system.

A jumbo screen on the front of a mall in Eterna City showed Ria's continuing broadcast, inaudible, but showing her now seated with one of the anchors, speaking more at length either against Team Royal or in favor of Alexa. That's when Brian hatched his plan.

He ran in the direction of Eterna Public Library, a low and sprawling building near the town Gym, and helped himself to one of the computer stations within. He easily let himself past the library's membership-enabled login, through its activity filtering, into Jubilife's internal network and home-to-office mirroring (a convenient help in the current situation), and onto the studio teleprompter's text file. Brian sent his message and opened a live stream of the broadcast in another window, waiting for Ria to notice the message. Unexplained for any other viewer, Ria stared at the camera as she silently read the teleprompter, unnervingly if not for her eyes clearly not moving right to left across the text lines.

R, B here. Z is looking for A. Apparently he and R caught up with her, and she had to escape to the north to the Snowpoint Route. Z is trying to make sure she's found and returned to him with the rest of the RC. They're using your broadcast to TR's advantage.

"No, we can't let that happen." Ria said to the whole of Sinnoh. "How do we stop them?"

Last I saw, Z and R are waiting for A in at Eterna PD waiting for search and rescue. The station is watching your broadcast, and so is Z. Say something to out him as Royal.

"Eterna City Police Department, I know you're watching." Ria began again. "The man who reported Alexa Nero as a missing person is a Team Royal Administrator, codenamed Zephyrus. He is one head of the very organization that is trying to keep the Red Chain out of the right hands." She noticeably took a moment to collect her thoughts before proceeding. "If you believe anything I've said, please detain and question him, if for no other crime, then as an accomplice to the theft of ancient artifacts from the Celestic Ruins, a protected Sinnoh heritage site."

Brian leaned back in the computer chair and smiled as he typed one last message, of gratitude and hope, then severed his remote mirroring connection, imagining the looks on Zephyrus' and Ren's faces when the police circled them like so many Herdier around two Mareep. Then, he figured, why not see for himself? He turned the computer to a power cycle, took the Egg from his backpack to carry in both arms, and happily strolled to the Police Department, pleased in how utterly wrong his brother was about Brian's potential.

---

"Shahira." Hasim began, standing in the hallway just outside one of the upper-class suites of the Sanctuary.

"Come inside." The maturely elegant woman said, not letting him say anything else, and knowing he wouldn't refuse. "What brings you back here?" She asked, crossing the room to pour two steaming cups of hot tea into ceramic cups. She offered the young man one, but he was so focused on his goal he didn't even seem to notice. She placed the tray of two cups onto a tabletop, and took one for herself to cautiously sip.

"She's out there." He said. "Still. She's alive and working herself to death doing the things I should be doing."

"She always been like that. 100% devoted to anything she decides upon." Shahira confirmed, not needing to say the name.

"I'm being literal." He corrected.

"I saw the news too. Word spreads quickly down here." She sipped her tea again, mostly unshaken by the event, or at least not showing it. "What about it?"

"What about it?" Hasim Chatoted. "Do you want her to keep struggling to live out there, never knowing if any day is her last?"

"Of course not, but there's nothing I can do. Did you know," Shahira began, taking a deep breath before proceeding, "she came to the Sanctuary?" She asked, clearly divulging something the young man did not have prior knowledge of. "It was three, four days after we closed the doors for good."

"She did? And they locked her out?"

"Rules are laws, and laws are sacred. When we said we were closing the doors, we meant it. If it could be overridden, it would have been already." She placed down her ceramic cup of steaming tea. "There is nothing we can do."

"No. There's nothing you will do. I know the difference." Too many times in the day, his pleading was denied, and he forced himself out of the presence of those who refused him, being sure to have the last word as he went. This time would be different. "I thought mothers were supposed to care more than that."

---

Ever Grande Waterfall, Hoenn.

After his weeks exploring the South Hoenn sea from Dewford Island before the meteor struck, the old man made his home as a secluded camp in a flowery meadow atop the Waterfall Cataract. Boat-maker, wanderer, architect. He took a step away from it all in search of a deeper philosophical meaning to the troubles currently plaguing the land.

"Hey there, Old Man." She said, inadvertently sneaking up on him from behind, as the man sat half-lotus and looking across the sea. "Oh, am I interrupting your meditation?"

The man whispered some words of an ancient and forgotten language, and released his long-held breath. "Not at all, child." He said, turning his head to look at her. "You may join me, Phoebe."

"Thanks." The girl said, sitting beside him and matching his pose, crossing her arms to keep the goose-bumps of the cloudy day away. "So, what's on your mind, Old Man? You're always thinking about something."

"That I am." He agreed. "Did you ever meet Alexa Muntoro while she visited Hoenn?"

"The name doesn't ring a bell." Phoebe admitted. "Is that the girl who they were talking about at Hearthome a few weeks ago?"

"The very one. I feel, now, that she is in danger. More so than the rest of us."

"Well yeah." Phoebe said, leaning back in her half-lotus sit. "If she had the guts to fight back the monster that did this," She went on, waving an arm in the direction of the Hoenn mainland. "Then she's probably the kind who goes looking for danger."

"That is what I fear." The old man answered.

The sea breeze rising up the cliff face of Ever Grande brought with it the smell of saltwater, and the sounding roar of a crashing wave.

"Do you hear that?" Phoebe asked.

"Do not ask for my permission." The Old Man said. "You are free and independent. Do what you know is best."

"What?" Phoebe asked. "I just wondered if you--"

"Yes. Do it."

The girl didn't speak any further, content to wait patiently for her answers.

"That was a friend from long ago. When you know another as long as we have, you become aware of each other's thoughts even without their presence."

"Hey, I know." Phoebe said with a smile. "I am clairvoyant, after all."

"Tell me," the Old Man went on,, standing upright and tall as a tree "do you have a television?"

"Uh, Yeah. Follow me." Phoebe said, taking the man's hand to stand and walk with him.

---

Brian walked through the automatic door to the police station, and witnessed Zephyrus and Ren caught in a deceptively casual confrontation with two officers, literally backed into a corner.

"I admit to nothing." Zephyrus said to the more decorated of the officers. "Not that it matters, since I am protected by diplomatic immunity due to my title as an ambassador from Orre. There's nothing you can do to me."

Ren, standing beside Zephyrus, looked between the officers and noticed Brian in the open and listening in on the conversation. "Hey Brian." He said with some degree of distaste. "What are you doing here, friend?"

"I'm just, uh, reporting a lost Egg I found. At first I just wanted it to get back home, but to be honest, I'm growing attached." He rubbed the side of the Egg, partly for the sake of further convincing, and partly because he actually was growing attached, despite himself. "How about you two?"

"Ria," Ren said, saying her name like he could form the soundwaves into a dagger, "sold out Team Royal entirely. Trying to make us look like villains."

"That's outrageous. Really?" Brian said, the idea of not-overacting only coming as an afterthought.

"Yeah, but that's not the worst of it. Somehow she knew Zephyrus was here and that we just reported Alexa missing."

"Chief?" The officer stationed at the front desk called to one of the interrogators after loudly clanking a phone down to its receiver. "S&R just got help from Jubilife TV. There's now a news chopper over the valley helping the search."

Every set of eyes in the lobby of the police station turned to the television in the corner as the volume was turned up a few notches.

---

Gene sat in the helicopter, strapped in tightly to his chair as he peered out of the open sliding door to the blank whiteness below, wrapped in too many layers of winter clothes. In one ear of his headset he could hear the discussion taking place in the Jubilife TV newsroom, waiting for his cue to narrate the airborne search for Alexa. When he heard the phrase "and now", signaling the transition from the studio to the scene reporting, he pulled his scarf down from over his mouth, and prepared to speak into the microphone with its enormous and fluffy muffler.

"Hello Sinnoh, it's me, Might3yena!" He began, cranking up the charisma out of habit and momentarily forgetting the situation at hand. "Those of you who tune in to Goldenrod News Radio have probably heard me talking with that nice little girl Alexa. You know, the brave soul who was in Hoenn on its worst day, and witnessed the destruction of her home city of Palladi firsthand? Yeah, her." He said, already feeling the cold wind of the high altitude and northerly route numbing his lips. "If you haven't heard yet, I'll be the first to tell you: This girl has been doing so much more than just surviving, she's been thriving. First time we saw her, she was spreading words of wisdom to the good people of Hoenn, giving them the strength and good ideas they needed to start rebuilding their world as they knew it. Our girl didn't stop there: soon enough she made her way all the way here to Sinnoh where she helped defend Hearthome City from Deoxys and, when that wasn't enough, took the extra effort in the heat of the battle to save the residents of the city from a building collapse too, helping save at least one-hundred and twenty-two people in the process. It's like her friend Ria said just a little while ago: Alexa is this young generation's hero."

Gene took a quick moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. "But even the greatest heroes need some help. In her latest attempt at saving us all, our girl was trying to get a world-saving or potentially world-ending artifact out of the hands of those who would misuse it. The best laid plans often fall apart, so her quest led her to mortal danger: now, under-equipped and ill-prepared, Alexa has lost herself in the northern reaches of Sinnoh, caught somewhere between Mount Coronet and Snowpoint City, and it's just as cold as you're imagining. I think we saw a Flurry of Snorunt migrating south to Phenac, that's how cold it is here." One of the studio managers spoke into his ear on a private channel, instructing him to redirect the focus of the broadcast. "As you can see on the video feed, loyal viewers, we are currently following a crew of Ski Rangers aiding the search and rescue, following a path through the knee-deep snow here. And, what's this? Do you see what I see? Boys and girls, out here in the middle of Route 217 is a crater, no, not quite a crater, a circle of entirely thawed grass. This is no little patch, mind you, we could let a herd of Rapidash graze here! The tracks we were following lead here and... they stop." Gene was unprepared for this outcome. "There's no trail away from here, and there's nobody in the circle. Our girl is nowhere to be found." He tried to rein in his worry for the sake of the listeners. "Where in the world is Alexa?"

ΖΣ

Spoiler

I didn't mean for it to turn out this way, but I guess this became kind of a flashback chapter. With Might3yena's return and recapping of some prior adventures, Hasim being mentioned for the first time since August (where he was mostly a background reference), and all those little things, it was a little bit of a stroll down memory lane for me.

Further, I did something new for me here. Did you notice that Alexa wasn't actually in this chapter at all? There's the rest of the gang and some orbital characters, but the leading lady herself isn't there at all, which reminds me of the first episode of Avatar Korra book 4. And... only now do I realize that my plan for the next chapter kind of follows the pattern into the next episode, which I remember is titled "Korra Alone", having the rest of the main cast only in minimal flashbacks. I didn't plan for it to be that way, but I do like how that storytelling worked out in Avatar, so hopefully I can tap into a similar quality.

*sigh* I've liked these past few chapters. Like, starting with or just after that thing with the old Dragon lady before Celestic, I think I improved sometime around there, but already made up my mind that I'd be wrapping this up next chapter. One more. Delta Effect in Sinnoh will end there, and as much as I want to carry on with it, I've decided I am putting it to bed, for a while at least. Like when you put out a fire, and then after smoldering for a while, it just sometimes flares back up again. It's like that with my drive to write this thing.

One more chapter. I only work 20 hours next week, so I should have the time to make the season finale chapter everything I want it to be. The time, sure. The ability? I've written myself into a corner, and I think the corner isn't where I want it to be, even though I wanted it to end here for a while now. I'll figure something out.

Changelog: Dec 20: Added another flash-sideways to the boatmaker from the Giant of the Island chapter. I might edit in one with Jasmine too... maybe.

 

2.5.5

Moment of Truth​

She stopped shivering.

Alexa continued to put one foot in front of the other, pressing on through Snowpoint Valley until she saw anything, anything at all. Once already she passed by an abandoned cabin, its door locked, and her energy already sapped enough by the cold that she couldn't even break its window. If she had so much as a light jacket, anything more than the utility vest she wore, the situation would be different.

The sun fell past the tree-line, leaving the pass filled by lavender powder snow under a purple and blackening sky for some indeterminate amount of time.

Rage filled Alexa's mind. Rage at Zephyrus for forcing her to run. Rage at Team Royal for tricking her into retrieving tools of their own selfish uses. Rage at Brian and Ria for abandoning her when she needed them most. Rage at Ren for choosing Team Royal and their goals over her. Rage, so much rage...

But the fire of rage didn't keep her warm.

Eventually the numbness of cold was replaced by a different lack of sensation, almost like a lucid dream. Alexa knew that she should be in full sensory awareness of her body, but somehow didn't care. No longer was she in the northern reaches of Sinnoh, but in the sandsea of Aurin, covering her face and squinting her eyes for all the dust and sand blowing in the air.

"Have you seen my brother?" He asked, a man walking beside her as she trudged her way through the thigh-deep white sand. The man was ghostly pale and clothed in the white robes of an Auri spiritual nomad.

"No, I," the words could hardly form in Alexa's mouth, either for the dryness of the desert or coldness of the snowy valley. "No."

"That is strange." The nomad said, nonchalantly. "He often confuses people, and shows them what they want to see."

"Is there..." Alexa tried to steady her shallow breathing. "Anyone else looking for him?"

"Always." The nomad answered. "He has so many friends, and countless people are always trying to follow him anywhere he goes."

"I can... find him." Alexa said, still pushing forward through the sand. The full moonlight illuminated the desert around her, seemingly stretching forever in a white expanse until it met the black of sky. She couldn't even be sure she was moving forward, the blank and empty flatness of the terrain bore no point of reference. "He's somewhere... in the desert... right?"

"The desert?" The man asked. "We're in Snowpoint Valley."

And suddenly she was back. Alexa could feel the pain of cold again, especially in her lungs as she pushed through the snow, the man beside her now covered in winter wear, head to toe white, almost glowing in the slight moonlight.

"I will... help you..." Alexa said, her thoughts coming fragmentedly "... find him." She consciously tried to curl her toes in her boots and close her fists to keep her blood flowing. "But I need... help..."

"I'm not looking for him. I only asked if you have seen him." The man stepped in front of her and knelt down to her level. The man was almost as pale as the snow itself, and his lips were blue from the cold. "But you are right. You do need help."

"I'm strong... I don't..."

"Alexa." The man said, friendly but stern, still walking beside her. "You need help. It's the truth. I am going to help you."

"No." Alexa said, and stumbled down onto hands and knees into a deep snow bank, fully submerged in dark whiteness.

The man reached down to take her by both hands and stand her upright. "Yes." He said, and drew her into an impossibly warm embrace.

Alexa became aware of her eyes closing, but in the brief seconds she held them open, the side of her head against the man's chest, she was overwhelmed by a wavering blue light and a dull sound like a roaring fire. She felt sleep taking over, drawing her into a more peaceful state away from the battle of consciousness.

"Alexa? Stay with me." The man said, raising her head by the chin with one finger. "Have this." He tapped one finger to the space between her collarbones, and through some kind of placebo effect or trick of alternative medicine, filled Alexa with a sense of warmth and stability. "How's that?"

She inhaled and exhaled, her breath feeling like pure fire in her mouth and lungs. "Better." Consciousness was returning, and the feeling of grim sleepiness left her like a shattered illusion. "Thank you." She said, still adjusting to the feeling of life in her veins once more. "Where are we?"

"We're at my friend's place." The nomad-turned-rescuer said. "He lives downstairs, and doesn't mind visitors." He gestured all around the grand room, a stone temple complete with an ominous giant humanoid statue and an abundance of support pillars. "Tell me, Alexa, what do you want? I know the answer, but I want to know you know it too."

She thought about the things she needed. Just a moment ago it was warmth and safety, but after that came a the desire to not be alone, at least since every friend she had abandoned her. Then came the mission that got her into danger in the first place. "I want to stop Deoxys. I want to get the Red Chain from Zephyrus and Ren. I want to end this."

"Good. I can help with that." The man took a few steps away from her. "I'll be right back." He said with a smile as he was surrounded by a quick whirlwind of blue flames, and disappeared into flare.

"What?" Alexa said, mostly dumbfounded. After the recent turn of events, she admitted to herself that she should be less surprised. She looked around the room she was in, with its ancient architecture and its frozen puddles on the floor. "Ice? I'm perfectly warm." She said, and looked down at her hands. The very tips of each of her fingers was blue and going on black, but she could feel her heartbeat's rhythm surging through each digit. She closed her hands into fists, and could barely feel her fingertips rub against her palms.

Another whirlwind of blue fire. The nomad was back, standing behind Zephyrus, with the Team Royal admin trapped in a bear hug.

"Release me, you barbarian!" Zephyrus shouted before becoming confused and strangely calm by the sight of the temple. "Where are we?"

"Snowpoint Temple." The nomad said. He leaned forward to whisper loudly into Zephyrus' ear "You have something that doesn't belong to you. Well, it doesn't belong to anybody, but if anyone deserves it, it's that girl right over there."

Zephyrus turned his attention in the direction the nomad indicated. "You." He growled, frustration and distaste hanging on the syllable. "All this trouble you and your friends put me through. Team Royal's name ruined, international police are breathing down my neck. This is all your fault."

"You almost killed me." Alexa said, walking forward to the man. "I would have died out there if not for..." She looked at the nomad.

"My friends call me Lu. You can call me Lu."

Such a simple name for such a mysterious man. "If not for Lu." She stood almost toe-to-toe with Zephyrus, only giving distance to accommodate their difference in height. "I would have been dead all because you want that little red gem off my corpse."

"Team Royal wants the Red Chain for good reasons! We're going to use it to..." Zephyrus trailed off as Lu stepped up behind him and whispered in his ear. By the expression on their faces, it was apparently a sinister message, something that left Zephyrus with a feeling of defenseless rawness. "That's none of your business. You keep out of my dealings. As for you:" He said, turning his attention back to the girl in front of him. "Give me the stone."

Simple defiance was the only real choice. "No." Never before did Alexa put such weight on a single syllable.

Zephyrus cracked open one of his Pokéballs to the side, letting out a creeping Accelgor into the cramped temple room. "I will repeat myself only one time. Give me the stone."

"I won't even repeat myself once. I will not negotiate, and I will not be threatened." Alexa said. Was she confident? Brave? Stupid?

"Zan! Focus Blast" Zephyrus sounded, his execution order echoing through the chamber. The Accelgor moved both arms to one side of its body and generated a sphere of energy, then launched it at Alexa; a move that would have broken her if she didn't evade at the last moment, when she realized the attack wasn't a trick.

"Lu! My Pokémon are all out of commission. Can you lend a hand?"

"I have an offering for you outside." The nomad said.

Alexa burst out the front passage to the temple, again into the blizzard without feeling cold, and beheld what she thought was an illusion. Towering more than three meters high and seemingly part of the snow itself was a beast of some kind, all at once draconian and avian and canine, standing at attention with its wingarms raised and steaming off the snow all around it.

"Reshiram, in all his vast splendor." Lu said. "The embodiment of the righteous search for truth and need for a better reality." He explained. "At your command."

Alexa looked between the white beast hiding in plain sight in the snow and back at the temple door, Zephyrus chasing her out with Accelgor close behind him. "Reshiram!" She called out. "Ancient Power!" How do I know he can do that?

The snow-colored beast hummed an affirmative note as its eyes began to glow blue, the same blue as Lu's strange talents brought. From below the snow cover all around, stones and fragments of fossils of those long-passed rose into the air at Reshiram's command, swirling around and closing in on the Accelgor. The bug released a swarm of lesser insects to deflect the stones, but was eventually overcome by the swirling torrent of remnants of the vengeful departed.

"One down." Zephyrus admitted, pulling the defeated Accelgor back into its ball. "I'm not stopping yet. Go, Ebon!" A bulky Dusknoir emerged in the battlefield, a spot of black in so much white, to carry out his master's bidding.

Alexa looked to Lu, who didn't seem to mind her continued use of his gift. "You know what to do, Reshiram! Fusion Flare!" Again, how do I know this?

"Don't let him get ahead of you! Shadow Sneak!"

Reshiram stood stoic, unaffected by Dusknoir's sudden and blindingly-fast attack. With one fist planted firmly on Reshiram's nose, Dusknoir's faces seemed to turn downward to an expression of regret and fear. Meanwhile, Reshiram, hardly moving, manifested a sphere of fire above it and its opponent, then telekinetically smashed the orb down on Dusknoir mere inches from its face. In an explosion of heat even Zephyrus could feel twenty feet of blizzard away, Dusknoir was sent tumbling unconscious through the air.

"You can end this, Zephyrus." Alexa advised, almost chidingly. "Just give up the Red Chain."

"The only way this ends is with Boss Notos saving the world!" Zephyrus growled. "And he can't do that while you selfishly hold that gem!" The man recalled his felled Dusknoir to its ball. "You have sixty seconds to surrender. Let's finish this, Prime!" Again Zephyrus sent out another Pokéball, this one holding a massive Metagross that seemed almost mythic by its own scale.

Alexa suppressed a laugh, not once did any of Zephyrus' fighters put a scratch on her or Reshiram. "Fifty-nine..." She began the countdown for him.

"Prime! Meteor Mash!"

"Reshiram!" The next command came to Alexa as mysteriously as the last. "Blue Flare!"

The Metagross leaped into the air, springing up with all four legs, landing a heavy slug of a punch across Reshiram's face, followed by another leaping attack that amounted to something along the lines of a headbutt, all the while surrounded by slowly intensifying sparks of blue light.

"Now Psyshock!" Zephyrus continued, as Metagross manifested glowing orbs of raw psychic energy to collide with Reshiram like so many shooting stars. "And Giga Impact!"

"Reshiram, get that Blue Flare going!"

The Metagross launched itself into the air by combined power of its own strength its and psychic abilities, then smashed itself down to the frozen earth at its opponent as if it was a meteor encased in Reshiram's blue flames, exploding in an azure burst on impact. As the combined fallout of the impact settled to the ground, both snow and earthen dust, Alexa and Zephyrus each waited with baited breath for the outcome of the clash.

Reshiram knelt from its proud, spread-wing stance, but Metagross collapsed to the ground entirely, motionless like an unpowered machine.

Zephyrus didn't say anything, but wordlessly drew the Metagross back into its Pokéball. Fists clenched and face twisted, he stomped through the snow at Alexa, clearly with the intent of taking what he wanted by force, until Lu slid silently and almost instantaneously into his path, facing Zephyrus and with his back to Alexa.

"You are not going to do that." Lu warned.

"And who are you to stop me?" Zephyrus shouted back, unaware of his own volume. "Just some mystic with pretty fire tricks." He growled. "Why don't you fight me like a man?" The Royal Admin challenged as he slid a rod of some kind out of his jacket sleeve and swung the weapon at Lu's head.

But the nomad/rescuer was too quick. He grabbed the attacker's arm and twisted his wrist to force him to drop the weapon at their feet. "Look into my eyes."

Zephyrus turned his gaze away like a defiant child.

"Look. Into. My eyes." Lu repeated, and Zephyrus did as instructed, though perhaps not of his own will. For almost a minute the men locked eyes, snow gradually accumulating on Zephyrus' hair and shoulders as his face contorted to show almost every dark emotion in the spectrum: anger, spite, fear, regret, sorrow, and so many others. "Now decide what you're going to do." Lu said, releasing Zephyrus' arm as the man's posture went slack as so many thoughts rushed through his head.

The man reached one hand into the front zipper breast pocket of his coat and tossed one of the red gems near Alexa's feet, leaving a puncture wound in the snow, then threw the second one from his other pocket. "I don't know what I should do."

"Go home." Lu offered.

"I can't. I don't exist there any more."

"You still exist, and that's the truth. If you can believe anyone, it's me." Lu explained. "And you can always go home."

Zephyrus looked down the hill from the temple to the town of Snowpoint and its nearly-frozen harbor, then tilted his head back to look at the sky. He shed his coat marked with Team Royal's emblem, showing a plain, crisp white dress shirt beneath, and trudged through the snow without another word, head turned down to the ground as he was wrapped in thought.

Lu knelt to the ground to pick up the discarded weapon and jacket and and sling them over one arm and to grab the remaining two Red Chain stones out of the snow for Alexa. "Here you go." He said, dropping both stones into her open hand. "Thanks for the help."

"Thank me?" Alexa asked, depositing the stones into two separate pockets like Zephyrus had. "You saved the world. You saved me. You're the only one who saved me." She trailed off, cooling down from the adrenaline rush of battle, coming again to the realization of abandonment. "It's all you."

"For one thing, nobody has saved the world, not yet." He took a deep breath as Reshiram approached from behind. "For another thing, you could have made it to safety." He shrugged. "Not easily, not comfortably, but you could have made it."

"Sure. Yeah." Alexa said, rubbing her desensitized fingertips.

"And I know what you're going to say next." Lu said, starting to walk in the direction of Snowpoint with Alexa, following Zephyrus with enough time difference to not actually follow him. "That you don't have any friends left. The boy and the girl and the other boy all abandoned you."

"You're going to tell me they didn't?" Alexa shot back. "You weren't there. One by one they all stabbed me in the back and left me forsaken when I needed them most."

"You won't believe me. That's okay, you have high standards for the truth." Lu said, putting his hands into his pockets. "When you get somewhere, anywhere in town, I bet you another favor that Jubilife News is on TV. Just watch it for five minutes."

"Fine." Alexa replied. "A favor will be owed." She looked to the town and its harbor, so many chimneys billowing woodsmoke into the sky. "Before you go, I have a question." She turned back to Lu, partway expecting him and the white Pokémon to have vanished. "Just who are you?"

Lu stopped in his tracks, still knee-deep in the snow. "We are Reshiram." The man answered. "I am an avatar." As he finished speaking, he burst into blue flame and vanished again, though his voice projected into Alexa's mind as the white beast turned its attention to her. "I am an ancient Pokémon, and that is all which is worth saying." The dragon projected into her mind. "I appreciate your goals, your actions, and your motivations. I came to your aid today knowing that, one day, you might help me."

Alexa was left speechless, in awe of the sudden tangibility of something usually so unfathomable.

"Remember." Lu's voice said into Alexa's mind as Reshiram looked at her. "You are doing good in the world, you are doing good that few others have the courage or altruism to do. Even without the Red Chain, there is so much within your reach."

It was a weirdly religious experience for Alexa, one who didn't find herself enamored with stories like those of Wuldrut or Sahareu or Rayquaza. But there, in the snow when she should not even be alive, she was rapt by held Reshiram's words. "Thank you for the... prophecy."

"Encouragement." Reshiram projected. "The future is not decided and you have no guarantees." The Pokémon generated another ring of fire around itself, slowly growing to a tower taller than the beast itself.

Somehow Alexa wanted to run forward and embrace Reshiram, knowing the flames wouldn't burn, but she stood her ground and listened.

"Your friends outnumber your enemies" Reshiram went on. "Believe in your trust for them. Believe in the power of truth. Believe in your strength." The growing ring of blue flames around Reshiram became tall enough and dense enough to conceal the Pokémon entirely, then receded to embers after Reshiram vanished.

The snow pelted and melted on Alexa's cheek as she looked at the spot of grass in the snow where Reshiram left her, and pondered his words. She never started to feel cold, and had no concept of the time she spent thinking out there, but decided at some arbitrary time that she was due to return to civilization, Snowpoint City and its many chimneys.

Eventually the knee-deep snow reached the plowed and salted roads of town, where Zephyrus' trail became an indiscernible set of footprints among a sprawling web of tracks. Alexa continued her distracted walk through dark village until she reached what appeared to be the booking and boarding building for passenger ships at the harbor, and took a seat on a bench inside the waiting area. The only attendant in the place had her back to the door and was watching a television set tuned to Jubilife TV, just as Lu predicted. I guess I owe him a favor. On the television was an old photo of Alexa beside the headline "Hearthome Heroine Missing!" and a subtitle stated that Might3yena was on the scene, reporting from a helicopter whose spotlight and camera were aimed at a circle of summer in the wasteland of winter, probably somewhere near where she was before Lu found her.

Alexa leaned back in her seat, breathed the warm and dry air of the station, and decided her next move.

ΖΣ

Spoiler

It's done.

For six and a half months I made a post every single week, a nearly nonstop nurturing of this story. The first book ends here, and the next won't begin for at least a few months of realtime.

A lot of things I played by ear lately, only following a loose plan. But you know what? I'm satisfied. I was afraid I'd hate how I ended this 'book' of the series, but after proofreading it this last time, I'm satisfied.

One typical thing that I normally put into spoilers: explanation of some random detail of the chapter. How can Reshiram appear human and/or speak? I read on Bulbapedia one time that some Pokémon movie had Lati@s with the ability to appear human and speak common language, and some Pokémon like Mewtwo have been able to telepathically speak human language all along. I just gave Reshiram both of those gifts (plus manifestation of a worldly avatar) because I felt like it and it's not necessarily non-canon. Oh, and Lu-Cipher up there at the top of this page (if you have a 20-post view like I do) in Chapter 6.X.X? That's Reshiram. For a long time I wanted Reshiram to appear hidden in the snowy vale of the northern Sinnoh Routes, just like I wanted the Sinnoh part of the story to end there, and here it happened. My intention was to give Alexa an ORAS Eon Flute -like partnership with Reshiram, which may still be true if I ever write the next region.

Tune in next week for... my reflection on the project. Almost seven months I've been doing this, and here it ends. So much I wanted to do but never got the chance, so much disappointment in my early work and a noteworthy improvement toward the middle and end. I think it will be worth the read.

See you then.

 

Z.0.1​

​

Reflection​

It's been an adventure. This whole thing. The Delta Effect.

--- The End of the World ---

Let's start at the beginning, before the start of this thing. Ever since I played Fallout 3 way back in like... 2010 or something, I've been enamored with a postapocalyptic setting. The struggle, the decimation, everything being left in a state of ruin almost like what you see in ancient Europe, but more modern. I loved it, and I began to read up on literary works in the genre such as "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and various pieces in "Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse" anthology. Then I hatched the idea: Why not blend those two ideas together? A struggling world destroyed at the hands of... something that fits in the Pokémon world, getting by and fixing the situation with Pokémon instead of plasma rifles?

One thing led to another at that point. I was playing Alpha Sapphire at the time and I got to the Delta Episode (huh, that name) and saw the meteor coming down and it seemed like a perfect world-destroying event. Then, on top of that in the Delta Episode, Rayquaza mega-evolves and is able to destroy the meteor and save the world, also stopping the unexpected threat of Deoxys. So here's the idea behind that:

Delta Episode. Steven Stone tries to use the Link Cable to send the Meteor to another universe where the meteor will probably cause no harm. Seems okay to me, since space is infinitely vast and it is far more likely the meteor would fall into a star or a black hole than hit a life-bearing planet. But... what if it just appeared in the sky of RSE Hoenn instead of ORAS Hoenn? There is no Mega-Rayquaza capable of destroying the meteor. The meteor destroys Rayquaza on its flight, impacts the earth, destroys the local area, and unleashes Deoxys (an incredible destructive force) to do as it pleases. The backstory was pretty much perfect, I hope.

And I think I held on to the genre for a while. It's obvious in Hoenn and implied that the world is still struggling in Aurin, but for most of Sinnoh (the bulk of the story) I kinda left it behind. I tried to explain it away as "Well when there's a disaster in part of the world in real life, not everyone panics on every other continent, so that's what's happening now." Mostly I was thinking about the Fukushima disaster. Earthquake, tsunami, nuclear disaster all in one. Over here in America, most of us are like "Oh, man, that sucks! Wow. I'm going to keep dumping buckets of ice water on my head, but wow, that nuclear disaster you're experiencing? What a shame." That's mostly visible in that first Sinnoh chapter that happens in Sunyshore City.

--- Reaching for the Moon ---

Okay, so other than not really holding up the bargain with the post-apocalyptic setting, there are a lot of somewhat ambitious things I wanted to do here. Firstly, I wanted the story to span over most of the official regions of the extended Pokémon series. I'm not going to say which ones, because I may do it yet, but here's what I'm looking at: I dedicated six months to just Sinnoh. I wanted a similar time in [Region 2] and maybe 1.5 or 2 times the span in [Region 3], maybe with some smaller regions in-between. If I wrote at the same rate as Sinnoh, a full-length chapter every week, I'm looking at a project spanning like three plus years of my life. Who am I, George R. R. Martin?

There are many other characters I intended to include as well. I have all four leaders of Team Royal invnted too. Their names (which come from the four Anemoi winds of ancient Mediteranean legends, a similar pattern to the Team Galactic Commanders being named after planets), their personalities and motivations, even a really clever separate plan for them to save/rule the world that I think made loads of sense in the big picture, but will probably never reach fruition. Also two other similar age-group adventurers who would join Alexa in Sinnoh (a replacement but totally different character to Brian's brother that actually filled a reverse role in prototypes) or in the next region (who I like how I made her, and want to keep her around for some future writing eventually).

Okay, so things I mentioned and wanted to make a bigger deal of: that interview with Giovanni Sidon (btw, Sidon is Gio's name in the Japanese versions, I just made it his last name) when A and R were around Pastoria or so and his somewhat cleverly-named plan to save the world, Brian becoming a full-fledged dragon tamer, something with finding more of the Arceus plates, Alexa's brother and his actions in the Sanctuary, the Eevee that Ren handed over to Zephyrus, a returned mention of how Sunyshore and Olivine are adapting to the threat of Deoxys, Might3yena getting co-host "Four-Frou" (Furfrou, and I so wanted to use that name somewhere!), the "blank space" chapter where time mysteriously skipped forward for the gang, half a dozen canon ideas to save the world other than the Red Chain, so many smaller story arcs, and a few more recurring background events I wanted to tap into. And I came up with all that without re-reading or even looking at a list of chapter titles! It's in my head, all these things I wanted to do but never got around to doing. I dreamed too big for my own good.

--- Into the Future ---

Maybe one of these days the Delta Effect will see the light again. I tried to end it in a wrapped-up but still cliffhangery way. As a comparison, let me reference Nickelodeon Avatar. Back in Last Airbender Book 1, the crew making the show probably weren't sure if they were getting renewed for a second or third season. Moderate spoiler alert (but really, you should have seen it already, since it's just that good and kind of old by now), but at the end of Book 1, the main bad guy isn't defeated, and the world is still in danger. However, a smaller but more personally antagonistic bad guy is defeated at the end, and the heroes are one step closer to saving the world. The viewers (or in my case, the readers hopefully) got the satisfaction of seeing the heroes make significiant progress to actually saving the world, but still had the desire to continue on with the story, because the super-badguy (Ozai or Notos or Deoxys) is still out there. That's what I want a dedicated reader to say. "Okay, Team Royal has taken a hit and the heroes maybe have a way to save the world, but what's actually going to happen in the process of saving the world? I want to know that, please continue the story, Zero!"

Again, maybe I will resume it. But first, I need a break. I'm taking a vacation while I read up on some of the other wonderful stories posted around LV, and then I'll have a new series to keep working on. Less ambitious, maybe, but certainly more within my strengths and to the pleasure of the reader.