Chapter 7: The Miracle Eye

As soon as Calem entered the classroom, Sycamore got his attention. "Hey Calem, congratulations on getting your first proof," he said with a grin. "Do you have the pin on your badge?"

"Thanks," he said, smiling back. "I put the pin on my bag; wasn't sure where else to put it."

"Aw, but it's school tradition," the professor said, getting out of his seat and coming over. As part of the school dress code, he wore the badge on his shirt (since it was summer and they wouldn't be wearing the jackets). "Ever notice that the badge has eight stars when most of the school logos don't? It's for the proof of magic pins. Here, it'd go on the bottom right one."

"Oh, I see." He removed the pin from the strap of his school bag and got it onto the first star of the badge. It was a small pin, but it fit on the badge nicely.

"That's better," Sycamore said, beaming. "Usually don't see those on second year students; excellent work! I saw the match on TV."

"Well it was only because of Diantha that it was," Calem said. "She was amazing to see in person."

He nodded as he headed back to behind the teacher's desk. "So I've heard. I've talked with her on many occasions, but haven't seen her battle in person myself. But now that she has eight proofs, we're waiting on the announcement of when she's going to try for the championship. We'll definitely be watching when she does."

And we did. There was a half day of school called when the day and time was announced so anyone who wanted could watch it live. Sycamore somehow got a large screen TV into our homeroom and all of us second year students watched in there, then had a pizza party afterwards. It was a close and exciting match. While I was watching, I wasn't sure if I should be rooting for Diantha, who'd help me win my first proof, or Richard, who had helped me out greatly with my Honedge. Diantha won and Richard accepted the loss with the dignity of a gentleman; it came to him naturally. It added to the respect and admiration I felt towards both of them. And, I became aware in my thoughts that I wanted to be a person like them. They were both stars in my eyes.


My second year of school was relatively quiet. I don't remember much except being busy with school activities, keeping up with Lysandre's requirements, and hanging out with my friends. But there were three events that are very important to me in contrast.

As first year students, we had seen many of the traditions of Lumiose Magic Academy going on around us, but we only had to participate in a few. Once we became second-year students, we were expected to become more involved. One tradition involved a statue which stood as a gateway challenge. Sycamore told us about it in October: the official battle club of the school wouldn't accept new members unless they could properly interpret and perform a ritual involving the statue. And since my two newest heroes were both expert Pokemon battlers, I wanted to be involved.

Serena solved it the day that Sycamore told us about it. I never heard the full story, but I still believe that she already knew about it from her father and was just waiting for the official word. It took me until early December until I solved it. Which was still pretty early compared to average even though Serena had already beaten me to it.

It was snowing that evening, with big puffs of white drifting down quietly to coat everything around. As there was no wind, it was nice to be walking outside in warm clothes. Some of the students stuck to their school colors, but Calem wore a dark blue winter coat as he liked the color better. Surprisingly, only Swift really didn't like the cold out of his group. She was tolerating it better this winter, which was good as he liked to let them run around outside. He thought Nibbles might not like it, but the Pinsir was having fun with it, trying to nip snowflakes in the air. And Mortan stuck close to him as always. He may have evolved back into a Floette recently, but he still sat easily on Calem's shoulder.

"It's kinda weird, because the Flabebe that Trevor had really didn't like the cold this morning," Calem said as he walked to the statue. He could see and hear other students walking or playing in the small park by their school, but they were far enough away that they could safely talk as long as they kept quiet.

"I don't notice it as much," Mortan said. "Maybe I just have thick skin, after the cold environments that I've been in before. Though, I wouldn't like it if it got much colder; I still prefer the sun. Is that the one?"

"Yeah, this is it," Calem said, stopping at the statue. It appeared to be a mysterious astrolabe, a skeleton of a sphere that held many concentric rings. The rings were tilted at various angles, shifting slowly so that it appeared still but was a little different every day. Each ring held gemstones of various colors and clarity. In the center of it, there was a golden orb that gave off soft clicks. It was easier to hear the snow fall than it was to hear the possibly mechanical device there. When asked about it, Sycamore admitted that no one on campus knew what its exact purpose was.

"I want to look at it," the Floette said, flitting over to perch on the astrolabe's outer structure instead.

"Sure," Calem said, going over to a plaque.

The small sign was old, but not as old as the device. On the metal stand, there was a badge for the battle club locked into place. Getting it out was the challenge for joining. The plaque itself read, 'Victoria Globe – a mysterious object dating back to the first era of Kalos royalty. Survived due to belief of being a divine artifact, but may be a man-made mechanical device. Current use by the Lumiose Magic Academy: Craft a rainbow to prove your skills.'

"It's broken," Mortan said. "Good."

"Is it?" When Calem looked over it, each piece seemed whole and maintained despite being out in the elements. "The central part?"

Mortan nodded. "I suppose you could use it for measuring the power of spells, even for different kinds of spells. But that's not its intended use."

"Then what is its intended use?" he asked as Mortan came back to him.

He pulled the stem of his flower close and looked down, considering if he should say anything. Thankfully, he did. "It was called a miracle eye if you were using it, a terror eye if you had to face it." He sighed. "It's a weapon of war. As you might guess, it's difficult to make, not easy to learn. But if you knew how to use a miracle eye, one person could become equal to an army of a thousand. It's better that it stays broken, just something pretty to look at. Its history is probably quite ugly."

"Miracle Eye? Isn't that some kind of Pokemon move?" He couldn't recall immediately what it did.

Mortan knew. "Yeah, one to bypass a Psychic null status. It has the same name. But this... um, I could show you." He floated up to meet Calem eye to eye. There was something like a static charge between them, the boy noticed. At the moment it should have zapped them, he found himself recalling a memory that he'd never experienced. It took a moment to adjust, since it was from the floaty point of view of a Floette. That made the person he was watching seem enormous in comparison.

"We're fine, ''''', we're fine." His voice was gentle as he brought his hand underneath the Floette.

"Siiiii," he replied, letting himself collapse into his friend's palm. But he still clung tight to his flower, making it tremble.

The man had a powerful appearance; rumor had it that he could crush rocks with his bare hands without using magic. But he knew no harm from this young man, only kindness. He brought his hand and the Pokemon in it closer to his face. "We're protected." And that was true; a barely visible shield surrounded them. Thanks to the gleaming golden globe rotating on the ground, the shield would take many hits for them before breaking down. "But they also have a miracle eye, hmm..."

He had seen that. The other wizard using a miracle eye was scary. On using theirs to look over the enemy lines, they had seen him laughing and talking of making the streets of Lumiose turn red with blood. Dd they have to be here? "Chiii pira fowa," the Floette said sadly. Where were the days when they could relax in a field of flowers?

"I told you that you could stay behind," he said. "I wish you had. Don't worry; I'll protect you. I have to protect everyone, and tonight, when they don't know that I'm here... their miracle eye seems shoddy, and he's been drinking heavily. Then... hold still." He knelt down by the golden device, preparing his attack.

In a moment, the miracle eye gave them a view of the foe's camp once more. His friend used aura of the miracle eye to assist in his casting; the device moved quicker to compensate. He used his other hand to aim according to the vision, then, "Lavaburst." A shimmer of gold and red fired out of their protective shell. Normally that spell could only be used within fifty yards of the caster. The miracle eye allowed them to fire the spell out of range of their normal sight. The shot pierced the other miracle eye's shield in a weak spot and erupted on contact with the device. In destroying that weapon, it blasted the enemy camp with the force of five regular Lavabursts, not one.

They watched the ensuing destruction and chaos for half a minute before deciding on what to do next. The Floette thought it was scary. But, scarier if the same thing would happen to them.

"Was that your old friend, the king?" Calem asked.

Mortan nodded. "Yeah. He and I knew how to use them because he knew how to make them. I didn't like that about him for a little while. But I found out that he had reasons, and hoped that he didn't have to use one again. It wasn't the first option." He looked back down at the miracle eye. "I think you're right about the colors not mattering as long as you have the range."

"Best thing to do would be try," he said, observing the device. According to the riddle, he believed that he needed spells of seven different aura types. Perhaps it was to make sure members knew a certain amount before starting.

"Oh, but there's some aura in it that doesn't match," Mortan said, hurriedly as if he'd gotten distracted in talking about the device. "But whatever it is, it's been made to keep hidden. Be careful."

He nodded and raised his hands in preparation. Seven spells. Bubble, which Swift had used before picking up Water Pulse. Fairy Wind and Vine Whip, which he got from Mortan. Metal Sound, which was from Percival. Finally, Ember and Heal, which was something they used in class, and Wide Guard, which he'd known for some time. Parts of the miracle eye lit up as he cast spells on it; water, fairy, grass, steel, fire, heal, normal, that should work. Once it had energy from the seven spells, it activated a newer part of the device which released the club badge on the post.

However, it never hit the ground. What appeared to be a spot of thick violet fog emerged from the miracle eye and snatched the badge. Large cartoonish eyes popped up, followed by a grin. The Gastly then rushed off. "Hey!" Calem called, running after the Pokemon. Why did it steal his badge? If he had to, he could fight it with Percival. Although, he'd rather not. The Honedge was wary of fighting a lot, worried that his demons would return.

The Gastly weaved around like he was moving lazily, even though Calem was sprinting after it. It even paused for a moment to look back. However, that was the moment that Calem caught up, so he tried to grab it. Being made of gas and tiny particles, he could barely get a hold of it and fell face-first into the snow on top of it. The Gastly got away by moving right through him, a feeling between handling a plant with small prickles and breathing near a car with a bad engine. Something pressed against his chest, but dropped back down. It was the club badge.

"That's a rather primitive way to catch a Pokemon," a girl nearby said in amusement. But not just any girl; it had to be Serena who saw him like this. Feeling his face get warm in embarrassment, Calem grabbed the badge and got himself onto his knees. Also there was Lysandre, of all people; the large man had an expression of watching an idiot mess up and disapproving, something he didn't usually have for Calem.

"I wasn't trying to," Calem said, standing up and brushing snow off his coat and pants. Maybe if he didn't look right at them, they wouldn't notice how embarrassed he was. It would help if he didn't feel suddenly ill, though.

"Gaaaa gwa hah," the Gastly said, still grinning.

"I got this for the battle club," he held the badge up to his chest, "but then this guy stole it before I could pick it up."

"I suppose the proof is enough to chase after," Lysandre said, coming closer to put a hand on Calem's shoulder. "Here, let me take care of that poisoning." A warm sensation came from him as the Antidote took effect.

"Thanks sir," Calem said. But then, these two seemed like they had been talking to each other. "And sorry to interrupt. I didn't know you two knew each other."

"Not all that well," Serena said. "But we have had some interesting discussions today."

Lysandre gave a nod. "There were some students who wanted to make a support group for Team Flare, so I came to visit their meeting. There are some legal reasons we can't make them official, but I have no issue with them helping out. I met her there."

"Then you're involved with Team Flare?" Calem asked Serena.

She shrugged. "I'd like to be, but I'm not old enough. I mean, if it wasn't for the membership restrictions, who wouldn't want to be? They're looking for practical and permanent solutions to many environmental and social problems, and they've done nothing but good. You'd have to be heartless not to worry about what's going on right in our homeland."

"Well if you'll excuse me, I need to be getting back to my lab," Lysandre said. "You kids have got a good thing going; keep at it. Good day."

"Bye Mr. de Kalos," Serena called as he walked off through the snow. She looked back at Calem, then the Gastly. "Huh, so you'll be in the battle club now? Well this is Yorick. He makes himself a pest at the gym and the auditorium, so I'm not surprised that he tried to steal the badge from you. I gotta run; got studying to do at the library. See you tomorrow, Calem."

"See you then, Serena," he said, putting the badge in his pocket. Almost immediately, Yorick came closer to him, sniffing. Calem stepped back and held up his hands. "Hey, I earned the badge. Why don't you want me to keep it?"

Yorick snickered, making his gaseous body ripple. "Actually, he's not interested in the badge anymore," Mortan said. "But he is interested in you, I guess based on when he passed through you. He wants to know how you are connected to Yveltal."

Glancing aside, Calem saw that Serena must be out of hearing. But he still lowered his voice. "I nearly died on the day I moved to Kalos, that's how. But nothing more than that, as far as I know."

The Gastly lost his grin for a moment; the serious look was odd on one of his kind. Then Yorick said something that made Mortan tremble and nearly fall of Calem's shoulder. "Wh-what? I don't think that's involved... oh, you saw it somewhere? Well good. I didn't want to get back into that again."

"What're you two talking about?" Calem asked. When the Floette sighed, he put a hand up to the shoulder Mortan was on. "I don't mean to bother you, sorry. I was just curious."

Mortan moved to Calem's hand, the expression on his tiny face sad. "What he said was, Glitter and shine lovely Kalos, show me your dark and bloody heart. It's part of a poem that he thought of when he was in contact with you."

"How would that connect to me, or Yveltal?" he wondered. "Is it because he's a god that ends up killing a lot of people and Pokemon? But still not much connection to me."

"Kind of," Mortan said, shifting his flower. "Ask your teacher about it. He might know something." Yorick then grinned again, chuckling. "Oh, and, Yorick seems to want to join us. He spooks me more than Percival, but I guess he would help."

A mischievous Pokemon... but then, he did like the Gastly line and always considered getting one. "Sure, I don't mind. But why do I make you think of something with such a dark tone?"

After hearing his response, Mortan slowly said, "Because you're like that too? Brilliant and pure on the outside, but then something dark lurks within? Uh, I don't know what he means by that; I haven't noticed anything I'd call dark about you. Might just be your brief contact with Yveltal and what I did to save you; that kind of thing tends to leave a mark on a person's soul." Yorick snickered at that.

"I don't think it really fits me," Calem said.

On Monday during morning homeroom, Calem planned on asking about the poem. Professor Sycamore was cheerful and energetic as always, a mug of coffee one of the local cafes on his desk (but not the same cafe as the previous week). "Finals are next week, so most of your classes will be reviewing material for the tests," he said. "I'll let you study most of this and next week, unless there's something else any of you wish to discuss. So, anything for today?" A few of them raised their hands, so he pointed, seemingly picking at random. "Then... Calem?"

"Actually, I had a line of poetry I wanted to ask you about," he said.

Sycamore grinned. "Hah, excellent! We can claim that our class is being cultural then, brownie points for us all." Some of the students laughed at the way he said it. "Poetry's not one of my stronger areas, but I'll give it a shot."

"It's something that just stuck with me, but I couldn't get the full poem out of the one who recited it," Calem said, trying not to look at Mortan on his desk. "It was something like, 'Glitter and shine lovely Kalos, show me your dark and bloody heart.'"

He put a hand on his cheek and closed his eyes. "Ah, that line causes a shiver up my spine every time I hear that. Yes, I know that one, one of the few poems I know in full."

"That sounds creepy," Shauna said, shuddering.

Tierno nodded. "Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard anyone call Kalos dark and bloody before."

"It makes sense when you know more about our history," Sycamore said, serious now. He looked at them, considering something. "Kalos is a lovely place these days; I love it. But even its most ardent fans like me have to admit that there have been a great many wars in our past. That's what the poem is about. Here, I can recite the full thing; it's not very long:"

Glitter and shine lovely Kalos,

Show me your dark and bloody heart.

Golden mask to hide a face of fear,

Silver words to soften a tale of hate.

Live in the moment, the past hurts,

Life is cruel, and death is instant

Yveltal's wings cover the sky.

"Hmm?" Mortan asked, fortunately sounding enough like a normal Pokemon that no one else paid attention to his confused reaction.

"Why remember a dismal poem like that?" another girl in their class asked.

Sycamore smiled a little. "I know, not very cheerful is it? But, the poem is a statement on the region's history. You might learn some of what it means in future classes, or maybe if you go exploring around the academy. In one of the lesser traveled halls, it's been on the wall for decades, even when I was a student here. But if you find it, well, be careful of going further. What's down there is not for the faint of heart."

Sycamore didn't give a direct answer that morning, but the real reason he knew the poem was because of the place on campus, something I wouldn't come across until much later. Mortan said that the version of the poem he knew was different. However, he still wasn't ready to talk about it.


Another incident in my second year was quite a scary one, yet I believe that if it had not happened, I wouldn't have done all the things I would do in years to come. It was in early April, a day when the weather was so nice that my friends and I decided to go skating through the smaller streets of Lumiose. As a general rule, it's a safe city. But some of the back streets and alleys can be dangerous.

The city always felt alive. No matter when one looked over the streets, be it the crowds of midday or the quiet of after midnight, there was always something going on, always lights glowing invitingly somewhere. From the water channels along several streets to the stone pavement, from the leafy trees to the tall steel tower in the center, elements that seemed diverse managed to blend into a beautiful whole. And when the sky was so sunny and blue like it was now, caught between rain showers, it was hard to resist going out to enjoy it all.

"Let's go on a race around North and South Boulevard!" Shauna suggested, pumping her arms up so fast that her skates pushed her back. Her Litleo hopped out of the way and carried on grooming.

"Oooh, that's going to take too long," Tierno complained. "And we'll all be pooped."

"Well then we can go to a cafe for drinks," she said. "It'd be something awesome we can tell people about later!"

"I don't know if I'd be able to make it all that way," Trevor said.

"I'd rather just have a relaxing skate today," Serena said. "Though I wouldn't mind competing like that on another day."

"Hey, you three live around here, but I haven't seen where you guys live yet," Calem said. "I mean, you pointed them out a while back, but we didn't go visit. How about we do that? We might surprise your families."

"Oh yeah, mine wouldn't mind that," Tierno said. "It'd be a good snack break."

Trevor put his hand to his chin. "Mine aren't in Lumiose at the moment," he said. "But I suppose I could bring you in and show you around if you want. Not that there's much to see."

"I think my dad's working, but mom should be home," Shauna said. "Okay, that's fun too. Let's go! We can take a shortcut down that way."

The shortcut turned out to be a narrow path between tall stone buildings. While paved, the area was dingy and dirty, not cleaned as often as the main streets. They had to go single-file for the most part, although Shauna and Trevor were still small enough that they could move around in the group. After a turn, all they could see were the buildings and a smidgen of sky. The alley led to an oddly-shaped opening where four buildings sitting at different angles didn't quite meet, where a group of people could probably meet in secret.

And a group happened to be meeting there, all adults. The three men and one woman wouldn't stand out much if they were out on the crowded streets; they were dressed like normal residents. But it didn't take long for the encounter to turn abnormal. "Hey kids, get out of here," the woman said. "We're with Team Flare; you don't need to be poking around here."

Immediately, Serena frowned and put her hands on her hips. "You are not with Team Flare. You don't have their stylish suits."

"Don't be ridiculous," one of the men said. "Do you think people wear the same clothes every day?"

"But you'd be wearing it if you were on Flare business," she said.

"Hey, we just need to pass through here," Calem said, glancing at Shauna. She nodded and pointed out the way they needed to go. "We'll just go, if you don't mind."

"We do mind," the woman said, moving to block the path they needed to head through.

"What if we had them help us?" another woman said, appearing from the alleyway they had come from. She put a hand on Trevor, who had tried to back up to keep out of the confrontation. "The price he has set on admission is absurd, but we might wrangle some with them."

Calem started to feel worried, even scared. Shauna had her hands clenched close to her chest, shivering and glancing around for some opening (but the adults were blocking or close to blocking the exits to this little spot). Having an attempt to skate off only make him slip and fall tighter in her grasp, Trevor was wide-eyed and pale; Tierno too even if he was free. However, Serena only seemed angered. "Don't be ridiculous," she said in a scolding tone. "I know Lysandre and he wouldn't let criminals join his group. Let him go."

"It might be a little extreme," the first woman said, putting a hand on her chin and thinking. "We could at least confiscate their Pokemon if we don't mean to keep these kids."

"What?" Calem asked, now feeling angry himself. He was in the Battle Club; maybe not that great (he still couldn't beat Serena), but he might be able to give them a shot at getting out. "No way! I'd rather fight you myself rather than let you take any of us, my friends or our Pokemon."

"Really?" one of the men asked skeptically, smiling in confidence.

"Meh, but we'll beat you in a Pokemon battle before that," Serena said. And with that, they ended up in a Pokemon battle, Calem with Serena against the first woman and one of the men. But the woman in back still had a hold on Trevor...

Calem tried to focus on the battle while he considered how they might be able to get him free. Fortunately, his Pokemon were performing extraordinarily well today. They seemed to grasp the danger of the situation and put forth all their effort, even defeating a couple Pokemon that Calem didn't think would go down easily. On the other hand, Serena's Braixen seemed aloof as always, following orders and not seeming worried. It got knocked out before the battle was over.

"What a day to leave my smaller Pokemon behind," Serena grumbled, clenching a fist at her side. She seemed to consider the other Pokeball she had, probably her Rhyperior.

Before she could release it, something darted out of one of the other alleyways and knocked over the largest man there. It turned out to be a Lucario, who stepped on top of the man and looked at him sternly. There was a chance. "Teirno, Shauna, get out and get help!" Calem called. The two quickly skated out past the fallen man. "Serena, you..."

"No, I'm going to see these losers cut down," she said, clutching a bracelet and using it to focus a spell on Percival, who was currently handling his two opponents readily.

"You're overestimating yourselves, little girl," the woman said, scowling at them.

Seeing that the two of them weren't running, the Lucario gave a threatening look to the men not involved, then dashed into the battle to fight alongside Percival. Once Serena had her boosting spell on the Honedge, she decided to cast it on the Lucario too. Calem gave orders to the two Pokemon, although he had to rely on the Lucario's judgment as he didn't know what it was capable of. Then he glanced back at Trevor again. The younger boy was crying with his face scrunched up. His Espurr was standing a few feet from them, still and also seeming worried. It was at that point that Calem felt a tingle race up his spine. It seemed like a surge of aura, but he only really felt aura clearly in the rain.

He looked back at the battle and saw that the Lucario had knocked out one of the Pokemon, the last that the man had. Percival was able to finish off the other. Good. Before the woman could pull out another or order her colleagues to attack, Calem gave orders again, "You two, get Trevor away from her!"

The Lucario was quick to respond, rushing past Calem and Serena to punch the woman in the arm. She cursed and let go of Trevor with one hand. While the Lucario worked on getting the boy fully free, Percival came over and whipped his sash around the woman, pulling her away and weakening her. But the red Honedge let go of her a moment before she fainted.

"Mya!" the Espurr said, hurrying over to Trevor's side. Calem ran over there too, ignoring the other woman's orders for them to stop. If he could feel Trevor's aura without rain, it had to be a bad situation. Maybe if they could channel it into a harmless spell... but how did he get Trevor to focus on casting like this? Their magic teacher had mentioned spells with multiple users, but little about how one would connect aura to manage it.

There was a ring of metal nearby; Percival was hovering lower, looking at him like he understood something. The Honedge closed his eyes, making his blade shine. After a second, Calem felt like he had been struck by a powerful wave. But it wasn't wet at all; it was Trevor's problematic aura, building in response to his fright. He also heard something like someone was crying fretfully. 'What is this? Why us? Let me go...'

'You were let go,' Calem thought. To that, Trevor stilled and looked up at him. 'Calm down; I want to try something.'

'I will let it be done,' a deep voice-thought from Percival added. 'Reveal your senses.'

'Senses? Oh...' Right, his senses did intensify in the rain. Calem call the aura to a point in front of himself; the pull was more powerful than he was used to, but it reacted all the same. Using that point as a pen and the aura as ink, he wrote invisible runes in the air. He spelled out the runic form of Rain Dance.

Normally, he would add something like a dance move to make sure the spell went off; it was still difficult to handle. But that didn't matter with the power at hand. The runes dissolved and winds whipped up around them. After the area dimmed considerably, rain descended. It was nothing like any other time he'd cast it. This rain was intense, falling thickly and stinging as it made contact with bare skin. There was even mist building near the ground. The thing that mattered most, though, was that it worked. It put enough of a dent in Trevor's aura that he managed to calm down and take control of it himself, releasing excess with sparks that made his hands appear to glow pink.

Percival cut off their connection and Calem got up, focusing on what he felt in this powerful rain. That was nearly as overwhelming as the aura had been, as this magically induced rain was spread wide and strong. He could probably give accurate measurements and assessments of all the buildings within two blocks of this spot, not to mention what people were trying to get out of this sudden squall. However, he narrowed his attention down to the area close by, where the threat was.

The second woman was harmless for the moment; when she woke back up, she'd be unable to cast anything for the rest of the day due to the contact with Percival. The first woman and the man who'd fought with her had no more Pokemon, but they could both use magic and could be dangerous still. The other two men couldn't use magic, but their strength could still be a threat. Down the alley that the Lucario had come from, someone was racing towards them as if on skates, a powerful caster along with another Lucario. Tierno and Shauna weren't too far from that person, following cautiously but worried about them. Trevor could probably cast now, if he felt up to it. The Lucario was ready for another fight; he wasn't going to give up, and neither was Percival and what other Pokemon Calem had.

However, there were two other things that seemed significant. One, Serena's aura was stronger than he'd noticed before, with some unfamiliar runes tied into it. She'd always had those different runes, even back when he'd sensed her aura in their first battle, but they had increased dramatically. Two, there was some kind of magical device down the alleyway that they had wanted to go down. It was complex and strong, with a feeling that was like watching a good horror movie or an awful nightmare.

"And lastly, how dare you order your Pokemon to attack someone!" the first woman shouted, looking furious.

"It's excusable to get a friend free," Calem said. "Sorry, I didn't hear all of that, but you have no idea what disaster we narrowly escaped. And I will still fight you if you really want after losing." With the rain going strong, he felt that he had a good enough edge to attempt taking on an adult. She wasn't of rank to be a witch, he could tell. Serena would be a good help, so it'd mostly be a matter of making sure Trevor was fine.

"Hah, leave it to me!" a third woman said, skating in with her second Lucario and crashing straight into the first woman. She got knocked to the ground, but the skater acted like it was barely a bump. The newcomer had the body of a serious athlete, with a helmet and various guards that might help her in a fist fight. "Trying to kidnap kids and Pokemon, huh? I ain't letting you get away with that."

The man by her decided to stay on the ground, feeling that it was safer than challenging this woman. The other man left standing started to back up, but with a whistle, she sent her second Lucario to incapacitate him. Seeing that the one who'd taken Trevor would be down for a while, the first Lucario went to join them, intimidating the others to stay where they were.

"Oh, Korrina?" Serena asked, then smiled. "Hah, thanks! We could've handled them, but you're quicker."

"Now don't be too daring, Miss Serena," Korrina said, putting a hand on her hip. "I know you're strong, but this could've been tragedy, I can see. And this rain's gonna make it hard to skate. Who cast this, anyhow? I've never seen one this powerful, not even from Siebold."

"That was Calem here," Serena said.

"Not exactly," he said. "My Honedge linked me and Trevor up to make it stronger."

"Still, that's impressive spell work," Korrina said, nodding. "Now that you know who you're threatening, I mean, these talented young mages and the princess of the battle chateau, are you gonna give up or do we have to rough you up some more?"

"Fine, we give up," the woman said. "But you all are going to get in a lot of trouble with Team Flare."

"You are not with Team Flare, and I can make sure that you're absolutely not," Serena insisted.

"Are we going to call the police?" Calem asked. "There's something dangerous down that alleyway that they were trying to protect."

By the time the police arrived to collect the group, the rain had lightened and fused into the normal shower that was supposed to come a couple hours later. Over in the other alleyway, they found a strange machine sitting a few feet from a doorway. It rendered inactive in the rain, but Calem's senses told him that it could be repaired to work. Much of it was hard to decipher, but there was a keyboard and display screen on one side, as well as a transmitting antenna on top. Close to it, there was a broken handcart. It seemed familiar, but Calem wasn't sure of it.

"I've seen something like that before," Korrina said, sounding worried. "It's..." she glanced at them, then gave a small smile to Calem. "Well, given your Honedge and name, I think I heard about you from Richard. I don't know if you've heard, but they found out what was driving the Honedge bonkers on Route 6. It was a device almost exactly like this, sending out aura signals that only those Pokemon could sense. It gave them nightmares and dark thoughts alongside their own; I'm sure you know it's taken a lot to soothe their nerves after that."

He nodded, feeling a chill as he recalled it. "Right, Percival here is still nervous from time to time. I think it is one of those; it gives me a bad feeling sensing it." Thankfully it hadn't been active; it would have messed up his thoughts again, or even called back that faceless man.

"But in the middle of Lumiose?" Korrina mused. "It doesn't have to be tuned to Honedge, could torment any Pokemon, or even humans I guess. This really could have been a tragedy; it's lucky that you kids stumbled on them trying to move it. I hear it was made by some mad machinist named Xerosic, but they never caught him for the Route 6 incident. Could be his work again. So how are you sensing it?"

He shrugged. "It's the rain. I can't quite explain it, but I sense more things when it's raining."

"Um," Trevor said, shifting shyly.

"You have an idea?" Calem asked, trying to encourage him.

He rubbed his head. "Sort of. When we were connected for a bit while the rain was going on, I sensed it too. Your awareness was greatly intensified when it started raining, giving you more information than a person should know through normal senses. But it seems like it's shallow, like it should be a part of something more. It's like the rain is a key and you haven't unlocked everything yet."

"I've heard of that," Korrina said, to their surprise. "Now, don't look at me like that. I dunno what to call it, but I've read stories about people who used rain, mist, or bodies of water to their advantage like that. There was a really enigmatic assassin back in the Great War days who would only attack when it was rainy or foggy, but he would devastate the Kalos home forces. I happened to be thinking about it the other day because I heard they were gonna make a movie of his downfall to Miss Roselia, of all the heroes of that time."

That was interesting. "Really? I hadn't heard about that from her." When she looked surprised, he said, "I'm a descendant of hers; I knew her for quite a while and she told me lots of stories. But not about an assassin like that. Maybe she thought it would scare me as a kid."

"Could be. Huh, you really are interesting."

"So how'd you come by us?" Calem asked.

"It was Neo's doing," she said, looking at the Lucario who had first helped them out. He was now standing close to Serena, nuzzling her hand (Serena was trying not to be obvious about petting him in response). Korrina smiled. "Hah, seems like he's really warmed up to you. Kinda shocking; he usually takes a long time to be friendly with anybody, even me. Anyhow, the other fellow with me is Leo, his twin brother, but they're like day and night. We were heading to the academy you go to, actually, cause one of the teachers wants to talk with me about something. I'm gonna be late for that, but whatever. Neo was following along nicely, but then he bolted down the alleyway and we had to go chase him down. Then it started to rain, and I ran into your other two friends getting away from there... well I couldn't keep myself out of it, really."

"Thanks for the help," Calem said, nodding.

"No problem," Korrina said. "Honor of a gym leader, you know. Though you three were handling yourselves well. Getting a Pokemon to link aura between two of you and him, and everything else you did."

"It was necessary," Trevor said, but then turned pink as he nearly admitted what happened. He glanced aside. "Um, but... I did notice something else. You don't cast like Ms Talonflame taught us to. You know, forming the rune letters, then filling them in with aura and breaking them? You just wrote the letters directly with aura and turn it into the spell."

Calem chuckled. "Yeah, and that's gotten me in trouble because she can tell I'm not using the spelling method. But that's how I've always cast spells; seems a waste to use the extra steps."

Trevor scratched his head. "You know, um, that makes sense to me. I think I could cast things the same way, now that I've seen you do it. And, it seems easier."

"What, no it doesn't," Serena said. "How do you keep the rune letters clean and not get them to transform into something else?"

"Just the same as a pencil, I guess," Calem said.

"That is an odd way to do it, but I know people who cast that way too," Korrina said. "Like you said, they prefer to cut out the steps other people need. But, it's usually folks who've had some experience, not novices. Heh, but then I'm glad to have met you kids; you ought to really excel with what skills you have."

While we were waiting on the police to say that we could leave, after they had questioned us, I realized what it was that I wanted to be doing with magic: protecting others. My friends, my Pokemon, others I hardly knew; it didn't matter, as I wanted to help them feel safe. It certainly worked for those who had been there. My friends and I grew closer as they knew they could rely on me and I wanted to make sure they were safe. And Mortan later told me that my Pokemon had heard and felt my determination to protect them, even to put myself in harm's way for them. As a result, their loyalty to me because stronger.


Lesson 7: Basic of Magic (3)

There is no one proper way to cast spells. With as diverse as world cultures and societies have been, many different methods of making use of aura have come about based on what the spellcasters knew and believed about magic. Some methods are simple, requiring nothing more than the caster. Other methods are more involved, requiring special items and steps. For most spells, the method actually used does not matter. Exceptions are, in most cases, special uses of magic that cannot be mimicked through normal methods.

At Lumiose Magic Academy, as well as many other modern magic schools, the first and primary method of casting is the spelling method. It is a simple and flexible method that works well for education as well as basic magic casting. Using it requires knowledge of a runic alphabet, of which there are several that are widely used throughout the world. It is not required to know all the pieces of a runic alphabet, as they contain dozens or even hundreds of symbols describing particular effects of magic. However, taking the time to learn such exensive alphabets makes the magic user capable of a wider range of spells, rather than a limited pool of familiar ones.

There are four steps to the spelling method.

Focus. The caster must make a conscious connection to their aura, often referred to as holding it. Some casters are able to do this automatically, making this the simplest step. Others may find it hard to actually connect and is where many fail in magic entirely. Such trouble can often be lesssened through the use of a focus object. Students are often taught with wands for this purpose, as the items can also help in following steps, but jewelry or paper charms can also be effective focus objects.

Spell. The caster must describe the spell they wish to cast using runic letters. It's often described as writing the letters in the air in the caster's mind, although students are encouraged to spell with wands to better grasp it.

Ink. After the form of the spell in runes is in the caster's mind, he or she uses the aura they've connected with to color or ink in the spell word. At this stage, there is often a resistance from the aura as the energy is not easy to change consciously. This, along with the first step, is where many have difficulty. Aura prefers to be formless and if step two was carried out improperly, it might 'bleed' and change the runes, thus changing the effects of the spell.

Break. Once aura has been formed cleanly into the rune letters, the caster then breaks the word, releasing the aura to take the form that the spell word described. If using a wand, the caster can slash the instrument through the word to do so. Often the shortest step, but it can cause a spell to fizzle or misfire if mistakes were made in other steps.


A/N: You can probably spend hours exploring Lumiose City... even getting completely lost in all the side streets. I have fun with it, although I know some players really don't like that place. The incident with Korrina and her pair of Lucario actually happens on the road somewhere, I think at Route 5 when you leave Lumiose for the first time. and there's no battle involved. Would've been a fun way to introduce the villain team, I think.