Chapter 1: Of Orbs and Ruins!
Author's Note:
Hey guys and welcome to chapter one of our collaborative story. This is SnivyPro18, the co-writer of this story, and I'm here to introduce it. If you haven't read my stories, then I highly suggest you do so first (or at the same time) since it will help you understand certain elements that will otherwise make you question my insanity….or ratmaster's since it's on his page….Whelp, enjoy! XD
Jet: Wow. Co-writer's weird….
Summer: Eh, I'd say our writer's about the same….
Austin: Believe me. Ours is worse.
Amber: Why are you talking to us anyway? Where's our writer?
SP18: He's on vacation.
Amber: Oh, so that explains why the chapter got finished quicker.
SP18: Yep. XD
Leon: Umm, how exactly?
Austin: You'll find out soon.
Ally: Please don't tell me you're freaking them out with tales about our writer Austin. This isn't the time.
Austin: Aww man.
Eve: *creeps up behind Jet* Hi!
Jet: Oh Arceus what the-! *flips around and falls on his butt*
Eve: Haha. Rule number one about my pranks….they happen, so expect them.
SP18: Ugh, once Ratmaster puts his Author's note here I won't be alone in this chaos….hopefully. Commence chapter one beginning!
Kila Mountain, Jet's Pov:
I'm beginning to really hate mountains...with a passion! It wasn't because of the long drops, steep climbs, and dangerous terrain, but because of the freezing weather that affected Summer. I hated to see her suffer, not to mention she was sticking to me like glue in an attempt to keep warm...not that I minded that. It was nice being close to her.
"C-Can we p-please go..." She whispers to me. I noticed her shivering. She felt very cold.
Looks like we're gonna have to give up on this little escapade before she gets hypothermia or something. "Alright, don't worry about it. We'll head down now." I whispered back to her, trying to console her as I wrapped my arm around her tightly.
This was weighing on my feelings quite a lot and it made me dreadfully upset. I mean, I shouldn't have put her through this in the first place. I always had an taste for mystery and I had recently heard some rumors about something mysterious located on the mountain, but it looks like I'm going to have to give up on finding it if it's going to cause Summer so much discomfort. I cared about her too much to put her through any kind of pain...Ugh, why must I get so carried away?
"Jet! We found it!" Amber yelled from the front of the group just as I was about to tell them to turn back. I felt a pair of eyes on me. I looked at Summer.
"Summer?" I ask her gently, hoping she got the message. She nodded simply but hesitantly. In return I give her a reassuring kiss on the head. "It's ok." I whispered to her gently.
The cold really gets to her, I guess being both a grass type and being cold blooded really added to that. I walked ahead of the group and saw what we were looking for, a massive marble temple like structure, no one knows what it is because apparently it is impossible to open or destroy. Being around it apparently stops all moves from working. All four of us walked forward in hopes of getting closer to it. It was only a short walk to get there, like a minute or two, but Summer's shaking had begun to increase and that scared me greatly. I wasn't going to risk to much time here because of that. Here safety was more a priority to me that this giant hunk of marble.
Upon reaching the temple, we were shown a massive circular door with runes running rings around it. I couldn't decipher what they were. It wasn't English, footprint runes or even Japanese. I couldn't tell what it was at all, which kind of annoyed me to be honest. Upon closer inspection, I notice a glass orb in the center of the door. I got a closer look at it, seeing that it could possibly be removed. It must be some sort of key...and a good clue to take with us. I reached up, prying the orb loose from the door and stowing it away. It was clear that Summer couldn't take much more, so we'd have to figure it out in town and come back later. I grabbed some paper from my bag and a pen to jot down some of the runes. If my knowledge fails me, search the interweb!
"Alright guys, I got some of the ruins written down. We should leave now...I don't know how much more of this weather Summer can take and it's gonna take some time to figure this key and the ruins out." I said as Summer pulled herself closer to me. This was a mix of awkward, embarrassing and cute. We all began our trek back down the mountain. It was a much quicker trip down the mountain than it was up, mainly because we didn't have to climb as much...and Summer was rushing us, pulling me in a half run. I swear she could run faster than me when she needed to.
We eventually reached the base of the mountain, a30 minute walk away from the massive town of Modasa, and I'm not joking when I say massive. It only being outdone by the capital of Roya.
"Thank Arceus..." Summer whispers upon touching the ground. She looked a lot better once we had started descending.
"Well then, we might as well head back to the inn." I told my group as I began to walk back towards town. Summer walked up close to me once again, to warm up presumably. I put my arm around her to help. It didn't take us long at all to get back to Modasa. It was a big town, that's for sure.
"So Jet, do you think this could be similar to the ruins in the Tola Meadows?" Leon asks me as we enter the town, this provoked some thought in me.
I couldn't be sure if they were connected at all. Amber found the legendary flame plate in some ruins in the Tola Meadow, but this was of a much grander scale. "I'm not completely sure to be honest. These ruins...they're a lot more complicated by the looks of it." I replied.
I walked through the streets while pondering what the structure could have been. Of course in my state of thought I wasn't paying much attention to anything around me and I walked straight into the first person we came across...and, well, you can probably figure out what happened after I did that.
"Jet!" Summer shouted quickly during my tumble.
"Alex!" An unfamiliar female voice shouted at the same time. Ugh. I guess my clumsiness strikes again...
Treasure Town Beach, Alex's POV: (3 hours ago)
You know, after struggling to save the world from the destruction of time and the hopelessly lost pokémon who tried to preserve themselves, it's actually nice to be given a vacation. Normally, non-graduated teams of Wigglytuff's Guild were almost never allowed vacation, so I was pretty surprised when Wigglytuff broke the news. Anyway, Austin, Ally, Eve and I stood on the beach, waiting for Lapras to arrive to pick us up. As to where we were headed, it was some neighboring continent called Krakto, which of course I had never heard of. Ally and Eve's parents, Ella and Shard, had thankfully been there before, and luckily for us, they had a map of the continent to lend us.
I had missed the building of the dock on the beach, having been, well, non-existent for two years, but it had apparently been built specifically for our team to get rides from Lapras, since she was now a part of it as I was told. While we were waiting, I walked back to a rock on the beach and laid against it, looking out at sea. I had to admit, leaving town, let alone the continent, felt a little weird considering it was the only place I had ever known in this world, memory wise.
"Hey." I heard Eve call out as she came to join me, smiling as she approached. I smiled warmly in response. "May I join you?" She asked me teasingly. I always loved her sassy, sometimes taunting personality.
"Hmm...well I don't know. That depends...do you have your invitation? I need to verify your reservation." I joked. She rolled her eyes, smiling playfully at my attempt to make her laugh. After all the times she had embarrassed me with her flirtatious attitude, I had picked up a few things on comic sarcasm.
"You've been spending too much time with Austin." She sighed. "But to answer your question...of course I have my invitation. I have certain connections with the invitee, who'd be in serious trouble if he didn't let me join by the way." Casting me a "you better listen" look, and a wink, she seemed to be having fun rebounding off of my joke.
"Ugh. Aww man. I know you're just joking, but that look just freaks me out...Seriously it's like you're staring into my soul." I laughed, scooting over a bit so she could sit next to me. Eve promptly sat down and leaned against my shoulder.
"It should freak you out. That'll be a great warning sign for when we're married. You'll thank me for that." She said, laughing lightly. Married? She sure likes to think ahead, but at least she was interested in that. Whew...
I put my arm around her, pulling her closer as she rested her head under my chin. "Anyway, this other continent...it's probably got plenty of mysterious caverns, dungeons, and secrets hidden within it, right? Can you imagine it? I...I don't want to just laze around on this vacation...I want to explore." I managed a light laugh at that. Eve always loved exploring, and it seemed we'd still be doing that on vacation. I found her adventurous spirit quite...enchanting.
"Well I wouldn't worry about that. With our luck, we'll probably run into some sort of mystical dungeon or something there." I replied in an attempt to console her. She smiled, signifying that it had worked.
"Well you're right there I guess. Strange things always seem to make a habit of following us." She laughed. Her expression seemed to grow anxious for a second. "But just...promise me..." It wasn't too hard to figure out what she was going to say from the look on her face, so I went ahead and responded.
"I promise you, nothing bad is going to happen to me. I..." I began as I stared down at her. "...am never leaving you again. I love you." Her face blushed brightly, a radiant smile upon it. Her smile quickly turned sly.
"Ok, I guess I believe you. I mean, it's not like I would let you get away from me again anyway." She winked at me. Her expression relaxed after a few seconds. "Seriously, thanks." She smiled sweetly. Our um...conversation was interrupted when Austin shouted over to us.
"Hey love birds, if you're done flirting, we can go now. Lapras just arrived." He shouted teasingly. Eve and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes at his words.
"You should talk. I'm surprised you and Ally haven't already planned your entire dating schedule for this trip." I replied slyly.
"What? Pfft...no! W-what do you think we are, weird?" Austin took what looked like a rolled up piece of paper and quickly stuffed it into his treasure bag. "Seriously Alex, we have more self control than that. We're the love experts!" He proclaimed. I simply put my hand to my head and sighed.
"You guys are in love all right...not sure if experts is the correct word though." I replied as Eve and I walked over to join them at the dock. Once there, I walked up to our old friend Lapras and greeted her. I hadn't really seen her since well, you know. "Hey Lapras, long time no see. How's Temporal Tower been?"
Lapras didn't seem all too surprised that I was back, though I'm sure Dialga must've informed her. He was the master of time and all. "Why hello Alex. So it's true, you are alive and well as it seems...Glad to have you back. And as for Temporal Tower, Dialga has made sure that it has made a full recovery. It is now in perfect condition. Time couldn't be flowing any better nowadays." She replied. I smiled at that. I knew what I had done before would have this effect, but I was never around to see it for myself. "So are you guys ready to go? Krakto isn't that far away, should only take but a few hours, but as far as time zones go, you'll probably end up arriving sometime in their afternoon."
Ally nodded in confirmation. "We're explorers. What kind of explorer would be thrown off by something as simple as a time difference? I'm sure we'll be fine. Let's go!"
"Well ok then. There is another thing you should know about Krakto though. It's, well, it's a bit different from the way things work around here. Let's just say you might be in for a surprise." She said as we climbed onto her back and set out to sea.
Over the Sea, Eve's POV:
Crossing the sea has always been problematic for me. I'm not afraid of water, but something about being over water with no trace of land just gets under my skin. I can swim, but I guess I'm just afraid of being left to drown. Every time we would cross the sea on Lapras' back, I would have to have either Ally hold my paw (which was weird because I'm supposed to be the one protecting her, being the older twin...by a few seconds.) or Alex put his arm around me. I really preferred the latter, but sadly Alex hadn't been around for most of our over-water trips or missions. The good thing was, he was here now, and I was really enjoying his company at the moment.
"You know, I usually hate it when I look weak and afraid in front of others, but not with you. You unravel the way I think sometimes. I can't explain it, but I like it." I explained to Alex, trying to start a conversation. It seemed as though Austin and Ally had fallen asleep, on top of each other as it would seem.
"Well what can I say, I tend to have that affect on people." He joked. After I playfully smacked him on his side, he put on a serious tone. "But seriously, I think you just feel comfortable being yourself around me ya'know? You're timid and I accept that. You're not going to change, and I don't expect you too so I guess you don't feel pressured into hiding it since I don't consider it a bad thing...which it's not. It's not a bad thing to be timid, it's just part of your personality, and anyone who thinks they can make fun of you for it is a fool." He summed up, looking out to sea. "So anyway, Lapras made it very clear more than once that this Krakto continent was quite different than our own continent. What do you think she meant by that?" He asked me, looking back and changing the subject.
"Umm...well I don't know. I've never really heard of Krakto. My parents have been there before, but they never said anything about it. The map doesn't provide any physical clues other than a mountain called Kila Mountain near a town called Modasa. She might have meant something about the towns themselves, but I don't know. What could surprise us about a town?" I looked at Alex as he looked at me and we just shrugged our shoulders.
"Well what do you think? Should we make like the 'love birds' and take a nap while we wait on our arrival?" Alex suggested. I laughed at his joke-reference to Austin and my sister, still sleeping soundly in a cute yet almost seemingly tangled mess. I nodded, moving in close to Alex so as to position my head under his 'chin'. Something about that location always soothed me when I slept. Maybe it was the way it just seemed to fit perfectly, as if my head were meant to rest there, right beneath his head and in that particular spot near his neck. I don't know, I'm really sounding dramatic right now, but it just felt right. Nevertheless, Krakto was waiting with many more secrets just ready to explore, so I quickly nodded off. I was excited.
Telin Docks, 2 hours later:
I woke up with a splash of water to my face...at least I wish it was a splash of water. Apparently Austin and Ally had gotten it into their minds that it would be funny to take a bucket of water and pour it on us to wake us up. Alex was fine, aside from being slightly irritated from the cold wake-up call. I, on the other hand, was quite furious with my now soaked fur.
"Ugh, seriously?! What was that for?!" I yelled at the two laughing pokémon in front of us. They stopped laughing and spoke in-between slight 'gasping' breaths.
"Sorry, we're not laughing at you to be mean, like throwing water on you is fun. We're laughing at how ridiculous you look with your fur all wet like that. But really, water was the only way we could wake you up. You guys were out cold...You must really like the position you were in." They apologized.
I brought my paw to my face with a sigh. "Whatever. Guys, since you went ahead and did that, I get to choose where we go. Luckily there's a Drifblim service nearby. I saw it on the map earlier." They just shrugged and nodded. Thankfully, Alex had packed a towel in his treasure bag, so he handed it to me to dry off...right before he raised his vines above his head.
"Sorry for this Austin. I know you were trying to help, but it's payback time for that cold water." Alex said, making Austin take a step back.
"Uhh...heh, well I'll just be over-bye!" Austin yelled as he shot off of Lapras like a bullet and across the docks, Alex chasing after him.
"You're not getting away with that Austin! I might have been able to tolerate it myself but Eve's no joke!" I heard Alex shout in the distance. I just put my paw to my head with a sigh. My hero...
5 minutes and several vine whips later:
Just as we got off of Lapras and onto the dock, I noticed a sign right next to us that read: "Telin Docks. Welcome to Krakto!" This was Krakto all right.
"Well then, I'll be seeing you later. When you want to leave, which I'm sure won't be soon, just contact me through your badge." Lapras said to us before saying farewell and swimming off.
Just seconds later, Alex returned carrying a beaten-up looking Austin with his vines. He sat him on the ground upon reaching us and smiled triumphantly. "I'd say you've learned your lesson."
"Ugh, why must vines hurt so much!" He whined as Ally walked up and gave him an oran berry, casting Alex amused looks. Once healed, Austin turned to the group, taking on a serious appearance.
"Ok guys, since Eve gets to pick where we go now, I guess we should first find this Drifblim service station." Austin stated, turning back to the group. We all agreed and left to find the said station.
30 minutes later:
As it turned out, the Drifblim flight stop was just a thirty minute walk from the Telin Docks. Our badges weren't programmed for this continent, so we were mostly relying on the map that my parents had given us. It was pretty accurate in terms of location nonetheless. Not sure if the charter knew how to draw though...
We began making our way towards the entrance of the small, store-like building. "So Eve um...where exactly do you want to go? We don't really know any place in particular on this continent." Ally asked me.
"Huh? Oh I had that worked out on the way here. I want to go to this place called Modasa Town. It looks pretty interesting and there's this mountain called Kila Mountain near it that we could probably explore later." I explained to her as we made our way inside.
Just inside the shop, there were two counters with a drifloon behind each. Beside the counters was an arch that seemed to open onto a patio of some sort. "Hello there, welcome to the Drifblim flight stop! Would you like to fly somewhere today?" Said one of the drifloon in a kind fashion. I walked up to one of the counters and spoke to it.
"Um yes please. Uh, we would like to fly to a town called Modasa." I replied, stopping just short of the front of the counter.
Drifloon's eyes lit up with excitement. "Ooh, visiting the big city are we? Let's see...flight fare should come out to be 1,253 poké." Interestingly enough, Drifloon didn't seem to think twice about the price, despite it's strange quantity.
"Um, what exactly do you mean by big city?" Ally asked from behind me. Drifloon looked at us with a confused expression.
"Oh...could you guys be from somewhere else perhaps? Outsiders are we? Well Modasa is the second largest town on this continent, second only to the capital that is."
"Ok, well I guess that answers that question, thank you. And yes, we are outsiders. We're from a different continent. We're Team Eviolite of Wigglytuff's Guild. We're explorers." Alex explained to Drifloon.
"Oh, well it's a pleasure to have you here with us today. Now if you'll just come with me, we'll get you going where you want to go." Said Drifloon, guiding us through the archway and onto the outside patio.
Outside, there were several Drifblim, seemingly attached to baskets, lined up in a row along the patio. Drifloon took us to one of them and turned around. "Ok, so this is Drifblim, he should be able to take you to Modasa Town." Drifloon said as she gave directions to the said Drifblim. Drifloon proceeded to open the door on the basket and we walked inside. Just as we were all inside, Drifloon closed and locked the door to the basket and unfastened the basket from the patio. "Have a nice flight. Make sure to come back again." Drifloon shouted as we began flying up and out of sight.
1 hour later:
About an hour later, Drifblim landed in a field just short of what appeared to be huge...buildings? We opened the door and exited the basket. "See ya Drifblim, send our thanks to Drifloon will ya?" Austin asked as Drifblim began rising into the sky. I returned to looking in awe at the huge structures in front of me. How was it even possible to build such tall buildings?
Alex whistled quite audibly at the site of the entrance to the town. "Wow, so that's what Drifloon meant by big city. Pretty much what I'd picture a human city to be, if I remembered where I used to live. Something about this kind of site looks familiar."
"Yeah that's just like what I remember of my hometown...or city. Exact details are still blurry, but this looks kind of like that. Wow...Um...Ally...Ally?" Austin asked, trying to get Ally's attention, but to no avail. She seemed more or less entranced by the sight. Austin let out a sigh. "Let's just go into town." Austin suggested to Alex as they half pulled us in.
Modasa Town, Alex's POV:
Ok so Modasa Town...not short on human city resemblance with its many huge buildings and bright lights. There were at least one hundred if not one thousand times as many shops here as there were in Treasure Town, and that's just what I could see at the moment. Ally and Eve couldn't seem to keep their eyes off of all of the sights, but I guess I couldn't blame them. This wasn't something they normally saw every day...or any day. I don't think they've ever seen any kind of modern technology besides the guild badge, which I'm pretty sure was built using parts made here. Regardless, I doubted any of it could do what the twins could do.
All things aside, Lapras was right. Krakto was different from our continent...more 'modernized' as it seems.
We were walking through the streets of the town and I was just about to call out to Eve to tell her something when suddenly, someone bumped into me, knocking me down.
Summer's POV:
Jet, why do you have to get yourself into these kind of messes...Jet had just crashed and fallen into a total stranger and now a load of pokemon were looking at us. I tried to make myself look small in hopes that they'd ignore me, but it didn't seem to be working out. I don't like attention...
"Oh Arceus, I'm so sorry!" Jet yelled as he quickly jumped up. The pokemon he crashed into was a snivy, like me. I noticed Jet help him up along with three other pokemon. They must be friends of his. There were two eevees, seemingly identical, and a pikachu.
"Alex, are you ok?" One of the eevee's asked, she had different colored eyes than the other eevee. They were pink in color. Can they even have pink eyes? Oddly enough, the other eevee had emerald green eyes, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen a pikachu or snivy with blue eyes for the matter. Can my species even have that eye color?
"Yes, I'm fine Eve. Don't worry." The snivy known as Alex says after being helped off the ground. He looked towards Jet who held an apologetic expression.
"Sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention..." Jet said while scratching the top of his head and smiling in a goofy way.
"Ehh, it's fine. No harm done." Alex replied, waving it off with his hand.
"I should apologize for my friend's umm...clumsiness. Now, if you don't mind, we should be..." Leon began before stopping suddenly, staring directly at the pink eyed eevee known as Eve.
"Leon...? Leon!" Amber yells at him, trying to snap him out of his little trance. She sighs loudly before saying "Ya know, it's considered rude to stare." Leon keeps his eyes fixated upon Eve.
By this point, Eve was getting a bit nervous under Leon's unflinching gaze. Alex walks in front of Eve and folds his arms in front of his chest. "Could you please stop staring at her? It's creeping her out." Alex said in an annoyed tone. Leon just started to shake his head before grabbing it and falling onto the floor. He looked like he was in pain.
"THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!" He screams at the top of his lungs, surprising pretty much everyone in the town. Now we had far too many spectators. Just as I was about to have a panic attack, someone comes to the rescue.
Amber looked at the spectators and roared at them. They all took off quickly leaving us alone. "Ugh, spectators."
"Excuse me, I don't know what's going on but it seems that all of us are getting confused, especially your friend there on the floor." Alex says cautiously, pointing towards Leon.
"I am so sorry for this, Leon is usually the calm one of the group. I...honestly have no idea what happened." Jet said before walking over to Leon who looked at Jet slightly before looking down again. "Seriously Leon? Meeting a pretty girl and collapsing? That ain't like you." Jet said in a joking manner, causing Eve to blush slightly.
"It-it isn't that... use aura sense, do it." Leon says quietly, Jet just sighs before standing up and looking towards the other four, the other eevee and the pikachu had been quiet so far, but they seemed to be grinning somewhat.
"That really doesn't make any sense." Jet says before shrugging, also looking at Eve.
"Can we please know what you are talking about?" Alex questions us with a confused expression.
"Sure, the pink eyed eevee, Eve was it? Well, she has no aura, like, at all." Jet says calmly, this confused me and the other group but Amber seemed surprised as well.
"Hold up, what's aura?" The pikachu asks.
"I don't really know how to explain it, but it's basically a life energy all pokemon 'should' have." Jet says simply, probably trying not to make a fool out of himself.
"So then, Eve is special?" The pikachu mentions once again.
"Special really isn't the correct word. Aura is considered the life force of all living creatures. Without it you would be considered dead." Jet says, getting some shocked faces from the other group, and myself.
"Hang on a minute. You say she has no aura, but how can we trust you on that? We just met you, excuse me, ran into you, and your friend did seen a little unstable just then. Not exactly 'credibility-central' if you know what I mean." Alex said to Jet, who was now looking very uncomfortable. This isn't going to go well.
"I don't know, I can't exactly show you!" Jet exclaims taking a few steps back. A silence ensued for a few seconds before he clicked his fingers, smiled, and searched through his bag, pulling out the sensor.
"This is the answer." Jet mentioned while holding it up for everyone to see. The others looked at the sensor in a nervous manner except for Alex.
"What is that?" Alex asks us curiously, his eyes shining slightly.
"This is a sensor. It's a new device created by a friend of mine. It gives an accurate description on each unique individual with everything up to battle potential. This device works by sensing aura from us, so I can prove it because it will not pick up her aura." Jet says quickly before pointing it towards Eve. He quickly silences any questions that were going to be asked by pressing the center of the sensor. It starts to make a whirring noise before quieting down.
"Ok, smartest person from your group, take a look." Jet says gesturing for one of them to walk over, they all look towards the snivy, Alex. Eve whispered something to him and he nodded before walking over slowly, like he was on constant guard.
"Very well, show me then." Alex said standing in front of Jet who in return hands him the device without any problems. In the short amount of time Alex had the sensor, it seemed he got very confused to start with, Jet helped him out by clicking button underneath that pulls out the thing he called a hologram, showing all the data.
Eve looked on in wonder. "Whoa...it's just like our badges Ally." She turned around and looked at the other eevee, who must have been called Ally. Ally just nods in return.
"Your badges? Probably similar tech then." Jet says whilst looking at the two eevees.
"Ok" the eevee now known as Ally said.
"Well, ya know what, I think I have talked enough... Leon! Get up!" Jet yelled out behind him in panic. Looks like he was worried about his problem. Leon was just sitting down now, perfectly silent, as if he was asleep. We all waited a little longer, but he showed no signs of moving...that was until Amber picked him up and chucked him into Jet, resulting in a yelp from both of them.
"Amber... Why did you feel the need to do that?" Leon asks calmly, standing up and dusting himself off. He picked Jet up with psychic and handed him to me. He was still conscious but pretty badly dazed.
"Ok, I apologize for my previous outburst. It was very rude of me." Leon explained to Ally and Eve. They didn't look any less confused.
"Ok, and very strange if you don't mind me mentioning." Alex says looking through all the data, as it seemed he was now able to use it effectively. He messed with some of the buttons that were randomly strewn around the sides of the sensor.
"Apparently, it can show us our battle strength in levels." he said before skipping through the database. I spotted my picture, then Jets go by. He didn't look too interested in it though. He soon came across some data with Leon's picture and his eyes lit up in surprise as he looked towards him.
"Ok then, I can't find Eve anywhere in here so at least I know you aren't pulling anything, but I'm still not sure about this whole subject. I mean, I get that all living beings have aura, somehow I think I've heard that before, but can't there be another explanation for this? I can assure you that my girlfriend's not dead." Alex asks Leon, who looked bored. He recovered from his breakdown quite well.
"Let me make this easy on you." Leon goes over and taps Alex's head, Leon then takes a few steps backwards as Alex looks at him. "A simple psychic trick, mind sharing." Leon mentions before turning around and gesturing for us to follow.
"Hang on, I think I get it now but what if she was just hiding aura?" Alex asked as Leon turns around, he thought about it for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"I'll just be straightforward with you on that. I can tell an aura user a mile off, and that eevee isn't one. Without any sort of training she would be unable to hide it."
"'That eevee' has a name ya'know, it's Eve, and I really don't appreciate you disregarding it like that. It's disrespectful." Alex states irritably, interrupting Leon's explanation. Somehow I didn't see those two getting along well...at least from the way things were right now.
Leon turned his head and acknowledged Eve. "Oh, I must apologize for that. Perhaps I got a little carried away." He apologized. He turned back to face Alex. "Anyway, during that 'little' outburst of mine, I thought of many different reasons as to why she would lack aura and I found one. She is probably having it hidden by an outside force.
Leon turned toward us. "I think we should head to the inn, and as an apologetic motion, you are free to join us, it has better prices than any place you will find around here. Don't be fooled by the big pretty buildings, they'll cost you a fortune." The other group spoke amongst themselves before turning back towards us.
"We might just take you up on that offer...that is , if you'll answer some questions for us in the morning. It's getting pretty dark out and I need to get some sleep. I'm not exactly the kindest snivy when I'm sleepy." Alex replied before following us through the town. We exchanged some small talk while we headed into the quieter parts of town.
It wasn't long before Leon spoke up. "I believe some introductions are in order. As you have probably realized, my name is Leon, the charmander over there is Amber. She has a few anger issues so just be nice around her please." Leon says whilst pointing towards Amber who disappeared around a corner, we all followed her as Leon continued.
"Then we have the oshawott, Jet. Last but not least we have Summer, she is kind but very shy so just take it easy around her please." Leon finishes off by gesturing to both of us. Jet grabs my hand gently before turning around.
"Yup, my name's Jet and this is my girlfriend Summer." He said with a slight laugh. This of course caused me to blush profusely.
"Aww, how cute!" Eve said happily, not helping my predicament. "Oh and my name is Eve by the way." she mentioned, not dropping that cheerful tone.
"I'm Alex. Believe it or not, I used to be human, heh. Oh, and the girl who just called the two of you cute is my girlfriend. You already know her by the name Eve of course." Leon seemed to catch interest in the word 'human', although I had no idea what that was.
"Human? You used to be human?" Leon asked Alex rhetorically. Alex simply nodded in response. "Hmm, well your aura did seem a bit odd...Not unbelievable I suppose." Leon explained.
"Wait a minute? What's a human?" Jet asked us, confused. I just tilted my head.
"Umm...I'll tell you later. We still have people to introduce." Alex responded.
"Thank you Alex. For a second there I thought you had forgotten about us. Anyway, my name's Austin and I'm the leader of Team Eviolite. This eevee here to my right is Ally and she's, well, she's my wife. We got married about a week ago." Austin explained. They're married? Wow, they seemed pretty young to get married...though I couldn't say they didn't fit the part from what I'd seen so far. They hadn't talked much so far, but the whole time Alex, Jet and Leon were conversing, they had been holding each other's paw.
"Aww, congratulations you two!" I said to them. My willingness to say that just flat out surprised me. Jet seemed surprised as well.
"Oh umm, thanks." Austin and Ally relied just as we arrived at the inn.
"Well we're here. The inns are much cheaper then hotels, not as fancy though." Jet mentioned, opening the door into the simply built wooden building. It was a lot nicer on the inside, made from logs and planks along with some plants and pictures around the area and a nice red carpet that led to the desk where a talonflame was standing on a perch.
"Hello Amber, your rooms are ready, who are the other four?" The talonflame asked.
"Oh, we bumped into them, well, Jet did anyway. They're gonna need some rooms." She explained, walking towards the stairs. Leon did the same as they both headed up to their rooms. Jet didn't move so I decided to stay with him.
"By the way I just wanted to say, I'll pay...just because of all the problems that my group and I caused." Jet stated, surprising the others. "Anyway, now that that's settled, I need to study something." He mentioned before pulling the glass orb out. Amber walked down the stairs at this time before looking at the orb and shaking her head.
"Jet, can we check it out tomorrow, it's not going to grow legs and make a dash for it." She said rather bluntly. It was then the orb started to glow softly.
"It may not run off, but for it to start glowing..." He starts to inspect the orb intently, the others by now had gotten their rooms and started walking towards us, the orb started to shine more fiercely now.
"Hmm, this is getting interesting, you four, please could you stay still for a short time?" Jet said, not looking up from the still glowing ball of glass. They all complied with his request and stopped moving as Jet walked towards them. By the time he was in front of them, the orb was insanely bright. Then he started to hold it out in front of Austin. It didn't change.
"What are you doing, stop shoving a ball of light in my face." Austin exclaimed loudly, obviously getting annoyed, Jet then moves on to Ally. Again, not really changing, she looked more surprised than annoyed as she tried to shield her eyes. It doesn't take him long to move to the next one, Eve. It glowed a little brighter as it was brought closer to her. Jet proceeded to put the orb down.
"Eve, put your paw on the orb." Jet said while standing back she did just that. After a few seconds of nothing, all the light stopped shining and the orb turned pure white with millions of tiny runes inscribed on it, not to mention we were all thrown back a couple of feet from the orb...and Eve.
"How fascinating." Jet and Eve said in unison, Jet picking himself off the ground. Their reaction causing everyone to look at them, only to notice something very strange about Eve. Apparently, Jet had dropped his pages of ruins, and now they were floating randomly around her as if by psychic power.
Eve seemed to have just noticed this, looking at her paws out of bewilderment (or was it familiarity?) before the various sheets of paper fell to the floor in a messy heap. Leon and I exchanged confused looks, but Jet seemed more or less intrigued by the strange phenomenon.
"Hehehe, I'm going to take a look at this over night. I bid you farewell for now." Jet said to us before picking the orb up and disappearing using that speed of his to get away very quickly, that left me with 4 very confused pokemon. I quickly slink away before walking down the hallway of the inn, a red carpet stretching from one side to the other, mine and Jet's room was on the end. I enter it and notice Jet on the computer, the only one in the entire inn. Jet asked for this room directly so he could constantly study any little mystery that appeared.
"Jet, I'm going to sleep now, please don't be up too late." I told him with a yawn before going to the bed and rubbing my eyes. With Jet around, I always seem to get a good night's sleep.
Hotel Room, Eve's POV:
This was a weird day, not only did we meet up with one of the strangest group of pokemon I had ever seen, but that orb, not only did it shine like crazy, but it changed into a solid white sphere with Centuran script all around it, I wasn't looking at it long enough to decipher any of it though and I also wanted to know how the oshawott just disappeared on us. Something that happened after the orb stopped glowing was also exciting me. Those sheets of paper...they floated above me like I had control over them. Did that thing awaken my magic again? This little vacation was already proving to be fun, so fun in fact, I can't sleep. I had been lying in this bed for so long. They were strange, but comfy and the blanket works well in this cold environment. Alex was sound asleep on the other side of the bed, but I was too excited about what we could be doing tomorrow. First things first, I need to figure out what that orb was.
"Eve, please stop kicking me..." Alex said in a tired voice. It was only now that I realized that I had my paws on Alex's back. I quickly withdrew them. "Thank you and I'm guessing you were wondering about that orb, weren't you?" He asks me quietly.
"Of course I was. This could easily be the adventure we were looking for, not to mention that oshawott can just disappear like it was nothing!" I exclaim as Alex laughs slightly.
"He didn't disappear Eve, he ran, very quickly I might add, not speeds any normal pokemon can reach." Alex says before looking at me seriously.
"Let's just be careful about this, whilst they seem nice, albeit slightly odd, the Ralts, Leon, is over twice our levels. We still need to be cautious." He tells me before closing his eyes to go to sleep again. I yawn slightly before closing my eyes.
"Wait umm Alex? There's something else." I said to him. He opened his eyes again and looked at me.
"What is it?" He asked me attentively.
"Well, it's just that after I touched that orb, I saw sheets of paper just randomly flying above me, as if by..."
"Magic." He finished. "I know, I saw it too. I think the orb might have unsealed your magic again. As for the ruins on that orb. Centuran script...we're probably gonna have to tell them about magic sooner or later. Preferably sooner, before they discover something and tell the world about it..." He explained to me. "Now come on, let's get some sleep Evening." He only called me by my full first name as a cute nickname of sorts, and I had to admit, it worked for him. It normally annoyed me if someone called me that. Anyway sleeping will bring the next day closer. I pushed myself closer to Alex, who wrapped his arms around my waist. I fell asleep with my head resting near his neck. I couldn't wish for anyone better.
The next morning, Leon's POV:
I wasn't expecting the next day to be so eventful. It started when I was heading towards Jet's room, the determination and intellect of this individual stunned me sometimes. He had been studying that orb for most the night seeing as there where papers thrown everywhere with scribbles and the ruins on the orb on some of them. When did the orb gain those runes, and why is it made of marble?
"Oh hello Leon. I told him not to be up all night, but he never listens." Summer said with a light laugh as she got up. She walked over to Jet before shaking him lightly, earning a surprised grunt as he opened his eyes before yelping and leaning forward. He looked around slightly before eyeing Summer. He smiled gently, closing his eyes.
"Sorry Summer, guess I got a little into it." He apologized before looking towards me. He stood up before gathering all of his notes together and throwing them in the bin, keeping but one that had one word written on it, 'Key'. That didn't make much sense.
"Well, all I found out was that this was a key...or connected to a key. Trust me, the language inscribed on this orb is very, very advanced and I was only able to get the keyword...which is key." Jet said before shaking his head and throwing the other sheet away. He picked up the orb and exited the room, and standing right in front of him was Eve.
"It's not so advanced if you know how to read it." She said suddenly, confusing us.
"What are you talking about?" I asked her. She smiled slyly.
"I'm saying that I know what the 'ruins' are on that orb and how to read them, and if you want a translator, you'll have to take me and my friends along with you to where you found it." She replied slyly, resulting in surprised looks from both Jet and Summer. I wasn't too convinced.
"Oh really? What's the name of it then?" I asked Eve. She just smiled.
"It's called Centuran script thank you very much. Now will you take us with you or not?" She asked us impatiently. I was about to ask another question when Jet suddenly interrupted.
"Sure you can come along!" He replied excitedly, startling the fox pokemon with his enthusiasm. By that time, Amber and the others had exited their rooms and walked over to us...well most of them did. Alex ran over to Eve and hugged her.
"Eve! There you are! I woke up and you weren't in the room." Alex said in relief as he looked at her.
"Alex, I just went down a couple of rooms." She replied, laughing gently. I had a feeling that his concern came from the size of the town rather than just her absence from the room when he woke up. This isn't a place you want to walk around around alone in...though that's usually at night and we're in a hotel.
Alex sighed. "Well I know that now, but this isn't Treasure Town. You can't just go off alone here." He explained to her as he calmed down. "What exactly were you doing anyway?"
"I just convinced these guys to take us to where they found the orb with the Centuran script." Eve explained to him. What exactly was Centuran script? I had never heard of it, and if Jet couldn't read it, then there was a problem.
"Wait, that orb had Centuran script on it? When did that happen? It was clear when Jet was shoving it in my face." Austin asked Eve, confused.
"It happened when I touched it. It stopped glowing and the script just appeared on it." She explained.
"Ok, I'm confused. What exactly is Centuran script, because I've certainly never heard of it." I asked the other group. Austin, Ally and Alex looked a bit apprehensive about answering my question.
"Oh, it's the written language of the wiz-" Eve was about to say before Ally put a paw over her mouth.
"Ehehe. Umm...shouldn't we be going now?" Ally asked me nervously, paw still over Eve's mouth.
I was about to interject and insist that she answer my question, but Jet interrupted me. "She's right guys! We've got our translator, so let's get going. That temple's not gonna open itself!" It was becoming pretty clear that Jet's overwhelming interest in mystery was going to prevent any further questioning into the topic, so I submitted, following them to check out of the inn and head out of town.
30 minutes later, Eve's Pov:
Wow, Jet sure moves fast when he's excited about something mysterious. Heh, reminds me of myself. Anyway, we had just reached the edge of town, and we were starting to head in the direction of Kila Mountain. Of all the places I could have chosen to go, this place actually turned out to be the location where the orb came from. As we were walking, I spotted Summer to my right. I couldn't be sure, but she seemed really uncomfortable for some reason. I decided to approach her on the topic.
"Hey Summer. Something bothering you?" I asked her as I walked up beside her. She seemed to step away from me slightly as I approached, which confused me a bit.
"H-huh? O-oh, umm...n-nothing's bothering me. I...I-I'm fine." She replied sheepishly. Wow, she must be really shy around people.
"Timid huh? That's ok, I know how that feels. Before I met Alex, Austin and Ally had to literally drag me places because I was too afraid to go explore them. Alex...I don't know. He just makes me feel safe...less scared. I've never really been that shy though." I explained to her. She turned to me.
"Y-yeah...I noticed h-how close you t-two are..." She replied carefully. "Jet's always b-been so nice to me...a-and protective. I always find myself asking him why. It's like he s-spends all of his time thinking of how to make me happy...well, when he's not like this of course." She laughed, gesturing to the oshawott who wouldn't stop staring at the orb. Surprisingly, she seemed to be warming up to me quickly.
"...So umm...what's with you and Ally? You look so alike, almost identical." She asked me, making me laugh. Quite a common question you could imagine...looking exactly the same as someone else.
"Oh. Well, that's because we're identical twins. The only thing different between us is our eye color...and personalities of course. If it hadn't been for the eye color difference, people would have trouble telling us apart." I answered.
"Twins? Wow, that's...pretty cool..." She replied before Jet shouted from in front of us.
"We're here guys. This is Kila Mountain." He stated as I stopped to stare in awe at the giant mountain in front of me. Of course I'd seen Mt. Thunder, Mt. Bristle and plenty of other mountains before...plus Temporal Tower, but this was just amazing compared to those. It easily trumped the size of Temporal Tower, and it's snow covered peak looked so beautiful...and mysterious.
"Alright guys, let's head up." Jet announced, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Summer?" He asked his girlfriend, seeming oddly rhetorical. She simply nodded, saying she'd talk to me later before she walked over to him and stood close.
I looked back up at the mountain. "Man it looks really cold up there..." I muttered to myself as we began to ascend.
1 hour later, Front of Temple, Ally's Pov:
After about an hour of walking, we finally reached what looked to be a massive structure of marble. I could tell it was a sanctum the moment I saw it. Something about these places had a specific feel, but I couldn't explain it.
Jet had already run up to the entrance as it seemed so we ran to catch up. Just as soon as we reached him, he paused, scratching the top of his head in puzzlement. Turning around, he laughing nervously. "Ehehe, umm...anyone got any ideas on how to open this door? We have the script, but I don't see how words can open a door. This isn't 'open sesame'." I put my paw to my face. Really?
"Let me see it." Eve asked Jet as she walked up to him and grabbed the orb. She began reading the Centuran script on it. After a few minutes, she seemed to get a bit jumpy.
"It's a spell!" She shouted out loud for all to hear. Jet, Summer and Leon stared at her. Amber didn't really seem to be paying much attention. Oh brother...or sister in this case.
"Uhh, spell?" Jet questioned her, confused. She seemed to realize what she had said at that moment, though she didn't look too concerned.
"Hold the question, I have work to do." She said as she approached the door and began reciting words in Centuran. This seemed to confuse Jet's group greatly.
A few seconds after she began, the orb began glowing with a pink-ish light, which only added to the confusion of our new friends...that or it intrigued Jet.
"How is she doing that and what is she saying?" Leon questioned me, walking over. I looked over at him sheepishly.
"Uhh...h-how s-should I k-know? This is weird and totally not something that normally happens with us." I replied. He raised an 'eyebrow', but didn't ask any further questions.
When Eve stopped speaking, the orb stopped glowing and returned to its clear state with a pink glow in the center that didn't dissipate. She picked up the orb and placed it in a hole in the door and the ground suddenly began to shake. After a few seconds, a huge energy pulse sent us all back a few feet as the door crumpled to the ground.
I looked over towards Eve to see that dust and dirt was floating around where her feet were placed on the ground. Energy seemed to be radiating from her. Was her magic released again? If so, when?
"Ok, she still doesn't have an aura, but what's with that energy?" Leon asked from beside me. We'd have to tell them. There was no getting out of it after that.
"We'll explain it after we get inside the temple. Let's go guys." I told the group as we headed for the entrance.
Once we were all inside, we heard a loud rumbling noise before a huge marble slab shot down from the entrance and slammed into the ground, blocking our escape. Great, just like every other sanctum...
Author's Note:SnivyPro18
Well guys, I hope you liked this so far. Please read and review and we will be back with another chapter as soon as we can. Ratmaster is on vacation at the moment, though I suppose he still wants questions to be asked of the characters so post away in the reviews. See ya!