The third chapter is here. I was inspired to write about the city of Forenham after visiting a medieval city built on a hill. R&R please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon but I do own the characters and the plot of this story.

Chapter 3

A part of you

We collapsed to the ground as soon as we felt we were safe. We were in a corridor inside the walls. We could see the sea from two iron bar windows on the left side of the corridor while on the right side stood three doors. We heard the army retreating after we entered the city. The brown-colored flying pokemon was looking at us. He had a yellow horn which split in two and his chest had several black triangles on it. Three keys were hanging from a chain at his neck. He looked even older now that I saw him from up close.

"Welcome to the city of Forenham! I'm Tark, the leader of the city." He introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Tark!" I said, panting. I stood up and the others did the same as we thought that it probably wasn't very polite to lay on the ground when someone was welcoming us. "I'm Jolty and these are Rien, Feather and Delilah."

"My pleasure. Have you been hurt?" he asked Delilah as he saw her licking her front, right leg.

"No, it's nothing. Just a tiny scratch." She replied.

"Great! Is anyone else hurt?"

"No but we're fatigued. We would like a place to sleep. Anything is fine." I told the Noctowl.

"Of course!" he exclaimed and took a key from the chain. He approached one of the three doors and opened it with the key. "Unfortunately, there are no other rooms in the city. It's nothing special but-"

Tark left his sentence incomplete and inclined his head to the right as he saw us dash into the room and jump on the beds almost screaming from joy. We had one week to sleep at a bed and we were really glad to see one.

"Uh, I'm glad you like it. I'll leave you now, so you can sleep." Tark left the key on a small table and exited our room, mumbling something we couldn't hear. There were four beds in the room so each one picked a bed. Before we could even say goodnight, we had fallen asleep.

~*~

I woke up and jumped off my bed the next morning. I was the first to wake up and I decided that I'd let the others sleep for some more. I yawned and stretched and then went towards a round mirror on the wall. I looked at myself. I saw my yellow spiky fur and my white spiky mane. I also saw the Golen which was half-hidden by my mane. My long ears perked as I heard steps outside the door. Soon a knock was heard which made Delilah and Feather wake up alarmed.

"What? Who is it? Are we being attacked?" Feather asked half-asleep.

"Relax, Feather. We're at Forenham. We're safe." I reassured him. Delilah left a relieved sigh and tried to wake Rien up.

"It's me, Tark." Shouted the Noctowl from outside. "Can I come in?"

"Yes!" I replied and went to help Delilah wake Rien. The door opened and the old Pokemon came in.

"Good morning! I thought that you'd enjoy a trip at the city so I came to wake you up."

"A trip at the city?" asked Rien who had finally woken up. "Great!"

"Follow me then!" Tark exited the room and walked with the funny way flying pokemon walk when they're at the ground. He headed towards a door at the opposite side of the city's gate. He pushed it open and we saw the former-capital for the first time. All the houses were white and the ground was paved with big flat rocks. The streets were narrow and winding. As we were used to the wooden houses and the unpaved roads of the villages, we were impressed by Forenham.

"Why have you paved the ground?" asked Rien. "It's nice but it's a bit hard to walk on."

"I know but, there were a lot of sharp rocks here. It was difficult to walk on them so we paved the hill."

"The houses are made of rocks and are painted white. Why?" I questioned the Noctowl leader.

"It's because of the heat. It's quite early in the morning and it's not too hot but, you'll realize how hot it can be later in the day. The white color reflects the sun rays and the rocks keep the houses cool as well." Tark explained and continued his way with us following him closely.

"It kind of reminds me of my village." I told my friends. "I can see houses which are built higher on the hill and there were houses built higher at the Mist Mountains where my village is located too. I think they do it for safety issues. It's harder to hit many houses at once when they are not on the same level. Then again, you can't build houses on the same level when you build them atop a mountain or a hill."

"Serevir, my village, is located in the Luminous Forest so all the houses were built at a completely flat ground." Told me Feather.

"Here's the main street." Announced Tark and pointed at what I would call a narrow pass, not a main street. The main street was the only straight one I saw that few minutes I had passed in Forenham and the only one with shops as I noticed. The distance between the one side and the other was as big as the wing length of a Salamence but it probably was enough for the residents of the city. Wooden poles were placed horizontally at the upper parts of the street's buildings, creating something like an arch. An ivy plant had curled around them, shading the main street and beautifying it.

That's when the Forenhamians first saw me. The shopkeepers exited their shops to see me while those who were already out to shop, stopped whatever they were doing to turn their heads towards me. I expected to feel uneasy but that never happened. The Forenhamians didn't stare at me like I was an alien. Instead, they smiled at me like they knew me for ages, like I was an old friend of theirs who had gone for a long time and now was back.

We began walking at the main street and soon, I didn't mind the Pokemon who looked at me. It was like no one was staring at me. I was speaking with my friends and listening to what Tark had to say about the city without feeling uncomfortable.

"Oh! Here's something you must really see!" Tark exclaimed and pointed to his left. There we could see a small iron gate. The sea could be seen also, as well as a square with a tiny well all behind that iron gate. The square had no buildings and seemed to excel from the rest of the hill. Tark opened the gate and we walked into the square. By doing so, we noticed something that we hadn't seen before entering the door. On our right stood an ancient temple. It was a small one made of marble with columns supporting its triangular roof.

"Wow!" exclaimed Delilah. "It's difficult to find temples such as this one. They were built before the time the Representatives appeared and are dedicated to the Legendary Pokemon."

"Correct, young lady! This one isn't the greatest but it's quite neat. Come on! Let's get in." said Tark.

The temple consisted of just a square room. The walls were decorated with wall paintings and in the middle of the room stood a small, rock alter. I approached the walls to examine the paintings. I saw Ho-oh, Entei, Raiku and Suicune. I guessed that the yellow circle next to Ho-oh was the sun but, I couldn't understand what some other multicolored lines around the four of them were.

"What does this represent?" I questioned Tark.

"It's Entei's, Raiku's and Suicune's creation. Ho-oh is using his powers to create them. You can see other legends at the walls too. Groudon and Kyogre's fight, Deoxy's arrival to Aesler, Celebi's time travels, Arceus as an egg and many more." He replied and let us examine all the paintings.

As we exited the temple, Tark approached the well. "That's a wishing well. You throw coins in it and make a wish, hoping that the Wishmaker will make it come true. You can make a wish too, though it's always better to make wishes at night, when the stars can be seen and there's a possibility one of them will fall."

I approached the well. "I have no coins but, I don't think that I need them. If Jirachi wants to make a wish come true, she won't need coins." I closed my eyes and wished for peace in Aelser. It was the first thing I thought of and I had to admit I was surprised with my wish. I though realized that I had nothing else to wish for. I was happy with my life. I had a great family that raised me properly and now I had three faithful friends. I was healthy and young so what else would be there to wish for? Even if I wished to stay alive in this journey, my wish would be completely useless. Everyone dies someday and even Jirachi can't make me immortal.

"What did you wish for?" Rien asked me as we returned to the main street.

"She can't tell you! It won't come true if she does!" Delilah scolded him.

"She's right, though I think you already know what it is. I'm sure you have wished the same thing at least once. You wouldn't be following me if you haven't." I told them and winked.

"Now, Representative, I'm about to show you a building which I know you want to see." said Tark and stopped in front of a building which seemed no different to every other building in Forenham.

"Um… What is it?" asked Fether and raised an eyebrow. "What?" he then said as Rien was pushing the Pidgeotto with his elbow while he was pointing somewhere over the building's door. Feather's jaw dropped as he saw what the Buizel was showing him.

"The Golen!" I whispered in awe at the sight of the legendary mark. I had probably imagined it, but I felt a strange warmth at the right side of my torso, at the place where my Golen was. "I don't think there are many building which have this mark on them. It has to somehow be associated with the Representatives."

"Yes, it's the Council. The place where the Representatives used to discuss about important subjects." Declared Tark who was smiling, seeing our reactions.

"Can we get in?" I asked, excitedly.

"But of course!" Tark pushed the door which opened immediately as it wasn't locked. We entered the building and found ourselves in a hall. It was a large room with columns of yellow marble. The parquet floor was shining and was quite slippery. Half of the walls were covered in wood and the other half was painted orange. The ceiling had a wall painting of a sky with white, puffy clouds and a bright sun. There were some wooden chairs and benches here and there in the room and a few paintings on the walls. The room was quite dark as the only light sources were two stained-glass windows, high on the right and left walls.

"Here's where the Pokemon who wanted to meet the Representatives waited. Not bad, eh?" Tark seemed amused with the way we looked around us. "Oh, but I see that you haven't noticed the oaken door which leads to the main room, yet."

We looked at the northern wall of the room were a huge, arched door stood. As we went closer to it, we noticed its incredible carvings. Different kinds of Pokemon were carved, forming a circle around a propeller-like thing, the Golen. The carvings were so lively we thought they were moving.

"On to the main room, now." Said Tark after deciding we were amazed enough. He grabbed the golden doorknob with his wing and opened the door.

"Wow!" we cried in concert when we saw what was hiding behind the door: A room as huge as the hall but much more bright. Too bright we could say. The western side had only three, white marble columns. One on the left, one in the middle and one on the right. The gaps between them were where two huge windows stood. An Ivy plant like the one at the main street had curled around the columns. The floor was from white marble too and was as slippery as the parquet floor of the hall. The walls were made of the same white marble as the floor and I could see a really old map of Aesler hung at one of them. The only furniture in the room were four bookcases with old books at their shelves, a round wooden table in the middle of the room and seventeen wooden chairs around it. The chairs were covered with a yellow-colored silk cover which had a Golen with a different colored "G" at each of the seventeen covers.

"Jolty, Rien, Delilah, Feather… you're the first Pokemon who don't live in Forenham and get to see this room for three whole centuries." Smiled Tark. "Of course you can make yourself at home, Representative. After all, this city and this building is a part of you."