-Chapter 7

The vibration of the Silver Wing… Does this mean that the baby Lugia is nearby? It's been years since I've encountered him and I'm still a little surprised that he gave me one of his Silver Wings. I look to the ocean beyond the powdery sand and I hear a mystical hum that causes the Silver Wing to vibrate again. I wonder how he's been, or if he's even alive. The poor little guy witnessed too much at such a young age.

I sigh and shake my head. I quietly mutter to myself, "Damn memories." I begin walking back to the facility, quickly ordering, "Come on Ty, let's see if we can find something to do."

Before I move too far a rough voice calls out to me, "Unless you find interest in indulging scientific work, you will find yourself in a state of boredom if you choose to remain here."

I turn my head a find a man with roughed up, pale blue hair. The man has pale eyes that look like they're staring into an empty void. His face is shallow, drained of all emotion and energy. His clothes are dark and casual. Some sort of collar tightly hugged his neck. I'm a little surprised by the presence of this man, considering that he has been reported to be dead for a couple years now. "Cyrus?" This must be the special guest that Clair was talking about yesterday.

Cyrus, the former leader of Team Galactic of the Sinnoh region. He isolates himself from people and Pokémon so he can create his ideal world that is void of emotion. I've only heard stories, but he was able to capture the Lake Trio and summon Dialga and Palkia. But soon after, Giratina appeared and took him to the Distortion World. Cynthia was one of the few people that has ever entered the Distortion World and even though Cyrus was saved, he refused to leave because he still wanted his ideal world to become a reality. I'm interested to know how he got here. Or why he's here for that matter, considering he was an enemy for the majority of the people here.

"In the flesh," he says. He moves towards me and stares straight into my soul. I swear it feels like he has the ability to drain me of my energy. "A child like you, causing so much ruckus among the world. Your emotions are your weakness," he says to me.

What's he trying to do? Recruit me for his fallen team? Even though the words he's saying a pretty intimidating, they're nothing. "What brings you here Cyrus? I thought you were in some other world because you were kidnapped by some Pokémon," I say, more rudely than I wanted it to be.

He chuckles creepily, replying, "I was found at the top of Spear Pillar by that woman. She brought me here so I can help with the Dark Stone. Nothing more."

"Why don't you just escape? Or is that collar some sort of leash that they all have on you so you won't run away?" I'm kind of toying around with him; though I do admit I'm being a little too rude and harsh than I intend. I honestly don't hate the guy or anything, but with a guy so devoid of emotion, it's fun to just mess around with him.

He bites his lip and say, "If I move too far away from that woman this collar will send electrical surges throughout my body. It's their way of supervising me."

"Seems like you made a friend Cyrus," a mature female voice announces.

I look to the direction of the facility and find a woman with long, light blonde hair. She's dressed in all black which contrasts her light skin. Her long, black coat has fur at the end of the sleeves and tail. What seem to be hairclips are in the shape of the aura sensors that Lucarios have on their heads. Honestly, I'm not really entranced by her, although she is a really nice looking woman, but I'm more fixated on how she can withstand the heat in all black clothes and long clothing.

"Cynthia," I hear Cyrus grumble.

Cynthia, the Champion of the Sinnoh region. She's a Champion that can match up to Lance in terms of deeds she has done. She's widely popular and is always helping people, but she has quite the secret side to her as well. For one thing, she hasn't even told anyone where she lives and says that the region is a secret. Well whatever the case, she's always open to do some good.

"Break time is over Cyrus, Blaine needs you to run some tests," she says with a wide grin on her face. I'm guessing she's enjoying being able to control the former leader of Team Galactic.

He grumbles with a hint of a snarl. He mutters to me before leaving, "Be cautious around here."

Be cautious, huh? I don't know if he's warning me to not trust these guys and is genuinely looking out for me or simply because he doesn't trust them. Now that I think about it, why should I trust Lance, Clair, and them? I was brought here for no reason and they're not telling me anything. But this is Cyrus, a guy who wants to create a world to call his own. Whatever the case, I'll take Cyrus' words and be careful while I'm here. Who knows how long I'll be here?

I watch the former leader leave and enter the facility. I begin to move, but Cynthia stops me with her words, "So you're Noxis. You're pretty famous, though not for a good reason. But, it's finally nice to meet you." She stretches out her hand towards me.

I return the gesture and question, "And what brings you here?"

"Aside from getting Cyrus back in there, I was told by Volkner that you were out here. All of the Gym Leaders that are here are having a meeting with Lance, so I decided to meet you myself. It's not every day that I get to meet someone who has the army on his tail and has been able to escape more than enough times," she says with a genuine smile.

Right, like it's so great and such a great honor to be chased by the army and former colleagues. I lightly roll my eyes and reply, "So, is there really any reason for me to be here? Considering you're the Champion and all, you should know something that Lance has been keeping secret to me."

"If Lance is keeping things to himself, then it's for good reason. He's the type of guy who knows what to say and what to keep to himself. But for why you're here, I'm not really sure myself. Lance has given me a few pieces of information that revolves around wanting you as a strong line of defense, but there was another time when he said that he needed you because you have ties with special people and Pokémon," she answers.

Special ties to people and Pokémon? For the Pokémon part, I guess that's right with the Lugias, but who knows if they're even alive anymore. But special people? I have no idea who he can be talking about. The only special people that I can think of is Koga and Janine, but Lance should know both of them since Koga is an Elite 4 member and Janine is a Gym Leader in the Kanto region. My history with Koga is simple, he has helped me with my ninja training a couple times when I was a kid and Janine was always with him.

"So basically you guys want to use me?" I say. Those might not be the right words, but I don't really care.

Cynthia reacts with shock and surprise. However, she keeps a calm tone when she replies, "Use you? No, that sounds too malicious. We just need you as extra help. It doesn't hurt to have extra help. Think of it as you being someone who can be the hero when we are in a tight situation."

I scoff. Hero? Me, a hero? That's the last thing I want to hear, but I reply with a playful smile, "Last time I tried to be the hero, I wound up losing my title. I'm sure you know of my history."

"But you'll be a hero with glory and justice. You won't be persecuted like you were when you were younger," she replies.

"Whatever," I say. I don't have much else to say to her. It's not that I don't like her, but her choices for words towards me aren't exactly the right ones to go with. "I'll be going back to my room." I begin walking towards the facility.

"Wait," she calls out to me. "There's another reason why I was looking for you. I wanted to know if you would like to observe the dragon trainers and see if the Dark Stone will awaken. This was a question that was asked by Lance, but since he'll be with the dragon trainers, he wanted me to get the message to you."

Dark Stone, dragon trainers, awakening some legendary Pokémon. It sounds like some damn fairytale that you would tell to little kids. Whatever the case, I have nothing better to do. I shrug my shoulders and say, "Sure. I got nothing better to do, other than take a nap."

Cynthia smiles and walks pass me and says, "Great, follow me. I'll take you to the room."

I comply and follow with Typhlosion closely following behind me. It's better that I have a guide anyway since I don't know the exact areas of the facility. Hell, if it weren't for Andy I probably wouldn't have made it outside. All in all, I don't care if I know the areas of this facility because I'm pretty sure I won't be staying here for too long. If I don't end up just making myself leave, I know the army will end up coming and I'll have to leave. And why should I put so many people in danger? This settles it, I'm planning to leave soon, most likely tonight or extremely early in the morning.

Cynthia guides me through several hallways and she tries to make short talk, but I keep ending the conversation with simple answers. I'm not much in the mood for talking, and I'm not trying to look bad, but being around people just isn't my cup of tea. Hell, even Typhlosion seems annoyed to be around so many people, but he has a great excuse for being that way.

Once we enter the room, Cynthia says, "Here we are. I have some things to talk about with Steven over there, so just make yourself comfortable." She breaks away from me and moves over the Steven Stone, the former Champion of the Hoenn region.

I look around the room. There's a large glass wall that overlooks into a facility filled with machines, electricity, and scientists. Conveniently, there are benches and seats that are made of leather and look extremely comfortable to sit on. The room has some sort of strange hue of dark blue, even the glass seemed to have this color.

I look around some more and fine the few Gym Leaders I saw yesterday and earlier today are in the room along with a few other faces that I don't know. Volkner was talking with Jasmine. Brawly was discussing something with Skyla. And Whitney, who looks extremely exhausted and deprived of sleep, tried to keep herself awake on the chair she was sitting in. Andy is in this room also, but she's bouncing person to person like some socialite. I find the man dressed in white with black hair staring through the glass; I still have to figure out who this guy is.

I find a few more Gym Leaders that must have arrived really early this morning or extremely late at night. Norman from the Hoenn region was taking to Erika from the Kanto region. Brock and Misty, from the Kanto region, were watching through the glass with awe and wonder; for some reason, I feel like they're inner desire was to be the one that can awaken the Dark Stone. Candice and Maylene from the Sinnoh region were having some sort of hype conversation with Cilan, Cress, and Chili, the three Gym Leaders from the Unova region.

There were a couple of people of interest. One was a man that stood tall and wore a black coat and heavy boots that are worn to travel through harsh terrain; at his sides were an Umbreon and Espeon that had an ominous glow in their eyes. The guy has short hair and no facial hair, giving him a pretty youthful appearance. Hanging off of his shoulders is a backpack loaded with all of his necessities. Something that really gets me, and it might just be my eyes, but I see some sort of faint, ghostly aura around him.

Another person of interest was a younger male with short, brown hair and incredible emerald eyes that seem like they can stab right through me; standing closely next to him was a Gardevoir that seemed to have its hands around the forearm of this man. When I look at his face I see him smirking and then chuckling lightly as if someone told him a joke, even though no other person is talking to him. All of these faces must have some sort of story behind them, and even though I'd like to get acquainted with them, I'm not sure if I ever will.

I move to a vacant bench and wait for the show to start. And soon enough, it does. I see Blaine, accompanied by Wattson from Hoenn and Cyrus. While Wattson and Cyrus were making some final adjustments to the machines, Blaine announces, "Hello everyone! Soon we will see if the Dark Stone will react to our fellow friends. I have gone over safety precautions with the dragon trainers in case anything will go wrong. You all that are observing are protected and will not be harmed if anything were to happen. So, we'll get things started immediately." Blaine runs around the facility and makes the final checks.

What exactly will happen? And are all of those machines really necessary? It's a stone, not some sort of extraterrestrial rock that may contain some sort of energy that will harm us all. And if things were to go wrong, how bad would it be? Explosions? The legendary Pokémon going berserk? What the hell, I'll even predict that the stone itself will explode.

First to come in is Lance, who is quickly followed by Clair. Next is Drake, an Elite 4 member from the Hoenn region; sporting some sort of pirate getup with his chest exposed. Last two were Iris and Drayden, both dragon-type Gym Leaders that run the same gym in Unova; Iris is really young and dark skinned, but she looks like she has the potential to be a great Gym Leader; Drayden is a tall, burly guy with a really strange looking beard and mustache, but I hear he's really respected in his city.

Everyone watches closely through the glass. I didn't notice before, but the ground made some sort of star-shape symbol and the dragon trainers are standing at the edge of each point. Blaine, Wattson, and Cyrus cleared out of the room, but they were in a room that held machines and Blaine was standing near a microphone.

A line of light traced the star and once it was done the whole symbol glowed. A panel opened up in the middle of the star and some sort of column rises above the floor. On the column was a glass case with a jet black stone. The Dark Stone, it doesn't look all that interesting, it's just some spherical rock that's black.

"Iris, go ahead and move towards the Dark Stone. If you see blue, jagged lines it means it's awakening," Blaine instructs through the microphone.

The young Gym Leader moves towards the column. Her hands slowly stretch out for the Dark Stone, but she stops moving when her fingers are only inches away from the glass. The Dark Stone remains still and boasting its black skin. Not a single jolt that Blaine was talking about even flashes. Iris sighs with disappointment and moves back to her spot.

Drayden was the next one to move forward. He stood tall and straight and cautiously moved his way to the column. His eyes stare straight into the Dark Stone and he stands a few feet away from the column. Again, the Dark Stone doesn't react with anything and Drayden walks back to his spot.

Drake moved forward to the column. And not even he could awaken the Dark Stone. Clair was next and once she was close to the glass box, she stood there for a much longer time than the rest; she was really hoping to be the one to awaken the Dark Stone. Last, was Lance.

I hear whispers from fellow spectators that include. "It's probably going to be Lance."

"Lance would make an awesome hero, he already is one."

"If it isn't Lance…"

Everyone was hoping the Dark Stone would awaken to Lance's presence. Lance took slow footsteps to get to the column. He stood there, watching the Dark Stone. Everyone in the room inched closer to the glass, anticipating the moment when the Dark Stone will spark blue. Instead, the Dark Stone remained passive. Everyone let out a disappointed sigh, some even stomp their feet. I see Lance shrug his shoulders and return to his position.

I sit back into the bench and fold my arms. How anti-climatic. Even Typhlosion wasn't amused. I look around and find people discussing the unsuccessful event. Cynthia was discussing the event with Steven Stone, Alder, the Champion of the Sinnoh Region, and Wallace, the current Hoenn Champion. They had serious faces, but they weren't disappointed in the unsuccessful outcome. It's almost as if they predicted that this would happen.

Right when people began to exit out of the room I hear an explosion. It wasn't extremely loud, but it caught the attention of my Typhlosion. I look into the room that the dragon trainers are still in and none of the machines were malfunctioning. I hear another explosion, it was slightly louder than the first, but it wasn't enough to garner any attention. Finally, I hear buzzers ringing and red lights flashing.

"Code red! We are under fire! Resistance fighters please assemble your way outside and escort those who can't protect themselves to safety. Gym Leaders and Champions, take your positions." The voice of the announcement was filled with static and I'm surprised people heard what the person had to say.

I see people quickly make their way out of the room. Gym Leaders were calm and removed themselves from their room to take action. The Champions were telling people to hurry their way out of the room. I, however, slowly stand and go towards the glass. I don't think going outside will help us, staying here will prove to be the battle scene we're all waiting for.

While I watch the dragon trainers begin to leave, the ceiling of their room explodes open. Of course they're startled and the remaining people in the room turn to the glass again. In comes rangers and soldiers with their Pokémon. The dragon trainers split up with Lance, Drayden, and Clair remaining here to defend the Dark Stone and Iris and Drake go outside to escort scientists to safety. Lance and Clair release their Dragonites and Drayden follows up with a Haxorus.

Cynthia and Steven are still in this room and they're looking at the soon-to-be battle scene. Wallace and Alder left the room to escort people outside. "How did they find us?" Steven let out.

I hear Cynthia call out to me, "Noxis, please leave the room. We'll take care of things here."

I shake my head and smile, "Nah, you guys will be extremely outnumbered. I'll stay and help." Without any approval, I order Typhlosion, "Ty, melt the glass, we're heading down there." Typhlosion nods and lets out a blazing flame that quickly melts the glass. I reach for the metal chain attached to my pants and I throw it at the benches behind me and it wraps around the legs. I jump through the hole that Typhlosion made and he grabs onto me as I descend.

I hear the screams and cries of Pokémon battling. I feel the intense heat of Flamethrowers and the chilling winds of Ice Beams. I see some of the Resistance fighters battle alongside the three dragon trainers. A few of the fighters are people that I found interesting. The man in all white was commanding his Gallade as he was countering a soldier; the blade Pokémon's fists were highlighted in purple and was punching a Machoke in the face. Another was the man with his Espeon and Umbreon, he was moving with so much agile that it seemed superhuman, but he was fighting off soldiers and rangers in hand-to-hand combat; the Espeon and Umbreon were facing a double team of Excadrill and Zebstrika. The boy with his Gardevoir was also among the fray, his Gardevoir was using Psychic to throw Pokémon, soldiers, and rangers around the room.

Once my feet touch the ground I pull my chain and it comes back to me from above. Before I reattach it to my pants, I use it to slap a few soldiers across the face. I look around and, order Typhlosion, "Go Ty, you know what you're capable of." My friend nods and ventures off on his own, making sure to make a fiery entrance.

Cynthia follows me down on her Garchomp and she immediately goes into battle. Steven follows Cynthia on his Metagross. I run into the heart of the battle, towards the column. I dodge Hyper Beams, Thunderbolts, Razor Leafs, just to see who got the Dark Stone in their hands. But someone beat me to it, Lance quickly snatched the Dark Stone and stashed it into his pocket.

Lance notices me and moves towards me, "Noxis! What are you doing here? Get out of here!"

"And miss this?" I say, "Plus, it seems like you guys need the reinforcement."

Lance shakes his head and says, "Fine, just be careful." He quickly goes back into the battle, though I don't think I'll be seeing him do close combat fighting.

I reach into my pouch and take out a Pokeball. "Yo Gliscor, you're finally being put to work," I say when the fang scorp Pokémon reveals itself from the light of the Pokeball. Gliscor has been a great asset to the team. He's fast, but can hit hard. And with his type combination, he's immune to several attacks. "Gliscor, go help Ty. Just try not to destroy the place." Gliscor nods and glides his way into the air, his teeth were sparkling blue and his pincers were glowing.

I can see Typhlosion breathing out a harsh Flamethrower that was able to damage a group of Skarmories that were harassing him. Gliscor quickly glided into the battle to assist Typhlosion and his punches a Skarmory and bites a Vileplume that was preparing a Solar Beam.

I end up grappling a few soldiers, they were all strong; I mean, they kinda have to be with them being in the military and everything. Some of them got a few punches on me, but Resistance fighters came to my aid and tackled them off of me. As I was getting up I feel a thin wire wrap around my neck and someone pulling it hard to choke me. I reach for the body behind me and I throw the person to the ground.

"Dee?" I let out when I see her face react to the impact of her getting thrown. I rip the wire off of my neck, the damn thing really hurt.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!" she yells at me. She quickly gets up and slaps my face and proceeds to attack me with a barrage of punches and kicks.

As I dodge, because, for some reason, I can't bring myself to really hit her. Maybe it's because I know she doesn't belong with these soldiers, or maybe it's because I have a real soft spot when it comes to physical contact with girls that I have been able to be acquainted with. Whatever the case, I just continue to dodge and block.

"Trust me? When did you trust me?" I question. Could she be referencing to when we were exchanging stories when I was captured?

She snarls and says, "You know what I mean! And now you're with the enemy. You could've helped us, but instead you go with them!"

"Are you serious? You think I came here because I wanted to? I'm only here because I had no other choice," I say, trying to calm her down.

"Fuck you!" she yells, throwing a punch.

Damn, that wasn't called for. Why is she being so emotional about this? It's not like we had a thing, all we did was trade stories and that's it. I catch her fist and pull her in, "Listen, if you guys didn't capture me, I wouldn't have been dragged here by Lance and this wouldn't be happening."

"Don't try to get yourself out of this by blaming it on us," she replies. She angrily grits her teeth and retaliates by headbutting me.

The headbutt didn't hurt, but it did leave me pretty dazed. I release her so I can regain my concentration. I feel a swift kick hit my chest and push me back. I see another leg fly towards me, but I was able to dodge this one. A punch aims for my head and I was able to catch it and restrain the person who threw it at me.

Of course, it was Dee. She yells at me, "Why are you fighting against us?"

"Well for starters, you guys are on my tail and were trying to capture me. I think that's a good enough reason," I reply. "Listen, I know this is going to sound weird, but you're fighting for the wrong people. You're not on the right side. And I'm not either."

"What, so you're saying that I should join you and your team?" she asks.

I shake my head, answering, "Just think about it. I can't force you to do anything. And take it from someone who has been on the run for years, you can turn back and live a better life."

There was some sort of surprise in her eyes, but she replies with anger, "You're also a fugitive. Don't try to sweet talk me into leaving my team."

Sweet talk? I'm not doing any sweet talk? Though it may just be her emotions rising right now. "Just think about what I've been saying," I say to her. I release her and begin to move away.

I see a shadow cast over the entire area and I look up to find hovercrafts swarming the sky. The soldiers begin to retreat and Dee, gives me one last look before she follows the rest of her comrades. Once the soldier leaves the area, it leaves the Resistance and myself inside. Instead of the hovercrafts leaving, I see guns come out of the hovercrafts and they're aiming right at us.

Dammit! They're going to shoot us. I pull out both Gliscor's and Typhlosion's Pokeballs and look for my two Pokémon. In turn, they were looking for me and they're both fatigued. "Time to get back in your Pokeballs guys, it's not safe out here. Before they could retaliate, the red light absorbed them into their individuals Pokeballs. I hear the guns start up and several bullets pierce through a couple of Resistance fighters.

I start running. Where to? I have no idea, but I just keep going. Then I hear it again. The melodic hum. The Silver Wing vibrates in its pocket, but it's vibrating more violently than it was before. Even the melodic hum is louder. I look up and find a vortex of wind slice itself through a hovercraft. A couple of hovercrafts follow the hovercraft to its demise. Members of the Resistance stop their movements and look up too, to see what is causing the hovercrafts to be destroyed so easily.

First I see nothing but darkness. Next I hear the melodic hum, which is followed with the violent vibrations of the Silver Wing. Lastly I hear words speak into my head.

"Time for me to help you."