Chapter 6: Icy Calm

As Raynar and his companions arrive at the Southwestern Bay, they have the intent of getting some rest and relaxation, but a chance encounter with a dangerous foe allowed Eva to unlock the secret of Celebi's pendant. Little do they know, however, that Raynar would also discover another relic, and the guardian has heard of Registeel's defeat as his hands, and its out for revenge…

"We're finally out of that Arceus damned forest!" Derek shouted excitedly, "I've had enough with not being able to see anybody else!" Eva and Raynar rolled their eyes at Derek. It was true that they had been in the same forest for quite some time now, and it was a relief to see something other than an endless field of green after all that. Derek ran out to the bay when he tripped, his foot caught in a snare! "HELP!!!" he yelled.

Raynar and Eva ran over to help Derek, but when they arrived, they realized it was a trick. Cade and Darman leapt out from the sand, landing on either side of Raynar and Eva. "You can't escape from us!" Cade shouted, "You'll pay for humiliating us in the Hallowed Forest!" Raynar was not in the mood for another fight and he was gonna make that clear, but an unseen foe struck the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. Eva turned to see who had knocked him out and saw a Gliscor that had obviously been through more than a few fights, evident by the eye he had covered by a patch.

"Raynar!" Eva yelled, and she tried to run over to him and check his condition, but the Gliscor suddenly turned around to become face-to-face with Eva. "Well what have we here?" he said in a gruff voice, smiling to reveal razor-sharp fangs. "Don't touch him!" Eva yelled at him in total disregard of her own safety. The Gliscor was unmoved by her display of defiance. "Don't worry" he said in a cool, yet ominous tone, "I'll make sure it's swift and painless." Eva was horrified; those two creeps had hired a trained assassin! As if to address her concern, the Gliscor said, "Nothing personal, it's just business."

Eva finally let her restraint fade, giving in to pure rage. "You will NOT touch him!" she yelled loud enough for the three assailants to turn and stare in her direction. Eva unleashed Magical Leaf upon the Gliscor, but he cut them apart like tissue paper. "C'mon…" he said condescendingly, "tell me you can put up a better fight than that!" Eva launched another volley, but midway through their flight, both the projectiles and the pendant Celebi had given her started glowing brightly. The Gliscor tried to slash the leaves again, but the leaves couldn't be cut; to make matters worse, they exploded upon impact! The Gliscor was hurled to the ground by the attack. "What!?" he exclaimed, wincing out of pain. Eva fired yet another salvo, striking both Cade and Darman and knocking them out, leaving the assassin alone. "You will NOT touch him!" Eva repeated with greater force than before. The Gliscor chuckled a little bit. "Dear child…" he said, "Haven't you heard of Razon the Dagger!?" Eva froze up, paralyzed with fear. Razon the Dagger was the most notorious assassin in the entire world, and he had never failed his clients once, ever. Eva knew he was dangerous to mess with, especially when he was right in front of you, which was indeed the case this time. "Yes I have…" she said timidly. Eva fought to shake off her fear. "I won't give in!" she thought, the pendant starting to glow again as she completed her sentence, "…but you are not invincible, you can be beat!" Eva started glowing herself at this point, causing Razon to shield his one good eye to keep from being blinded. When the light faded, Eva's clothing had completely changed to something along the same lines of what she usually wore, but lighter and slightly more revealing; it had the appearance of overlapping leaves, forming something like plate armor. Razon got back up, in awe of both her courage and the change in appearance. "This is new…" he thought as he rose back up and became airborne. "You've got guts kid…" he said, "but what you lack is brains, and those are what keep you out of trouble." Eva had heard enough lecturing from the arrogant killer and used the pendant to form a pair of forearm greaves with short leaf blades extending forward about eighteen inches from a point above her wrist. "Shut up!" she yelled as she charged at Razon. Razon followed suit, and the two combatants, one a trained killer, the other a loyal friend, faced each other in combat.

Razon attacked first, using Cross Poison in an attempt to finish Eva in one blow, but Eva had anticipated this move. She ducked down, continuing to move under him as she brought attacked his underside and tail with Leaf Blade. Razon howled in pain, clearly suffering from a critical hit. Razon fumed, how dare she try to defy to him, the world's best assassin! Razon lunged at Eva with a vengeance, aiming to strike with X-Scissor, but Eva was already on the move again. Eva cart wheeled out of Razon's flight path, ending up behind her opponent. "Take this bastard!" she yelled, firing an Energy Ball attack at her foe. Razon was hit even harder by this attack, but nevertheless remained in the fight. Razon struck out again with Cross Poison, only to be hit again by Leaf Blade, knocking him to the ground. "What!?" he thought, "There must be some mistake, this is impossible, I can't win!" Darman and Cade had started to recover and were ready to join the fight when Razon blocked them. "No, we can't win, we need to fall back and regroup!" Razon shouted. Cade and Darman stared at each other in disbelief; the world's greatest assassin has failed! In a panic, Cade and Darman retread hurriedly back to the East with Razon close behind. Eva reverted back to her normal self, cut Derek out of the snare and went to tend to Raynar.

* * *

Raynar slowly opened his eyes to see Eva leaning over him. "Ow…" he moaned, slowly sitting up, "What just happened?" Eva didn't say anything, but didn't have to as Derek was already answering for her. "It was amazing!" Derek exclaimed, "Those goons showed up with Razon the Dagger, you were out but Eva fought back. She was wearing some sort of leaf armor and it allowed her to beat all three of them single-handedly!!!" Raynar bolted upright, he had heard of Razon the Dagger and knew that He, Eva, and Derek were lucky to survive an encounter with him, but he was also puzzled about this armor Derek described. "It was the pendant Celebi gave me…" she said, "It's like your Steel Sash; it has a power of its own, in this case that of plants." Raynar was still dumbstruck that Eva had survived the encounter but was now afraid for her safety. "Eva, promise me that if we see him again, that you won't fight him…" Raynar said, "That should he show up, you will run and save yourself." Eva wanted to make the promise but found that she couldn't, instead deciding to not say anything. Raynar understood why she didn't respond, but also knew that she knew of the risk to herself.

After the tension abated, Derek went back to the water. "C'mon you two!" he yelled, "The water's great!" Eva decided it couldn't hurt, but Raynar had other ideas. "No thanks Derek…" Raynar replied, "I'm just fine on shore." Eva turned to Raynar in surprise, wondering why he would turn him down. "Why not Raynar?" Eva asked, trying to think of a reason why. Raynar blushed slightly at the question and knew he couldn't answer truthfully without embarrassing himself. "Uh…I…just don't like water…" Raynar replied less than truthfully. Then Eva immediately knew the reason and smiled knowingly. "You can't swim, can you?" Eva replied, remembering that Raynar never swam with her in the past either. Raynar was shocked that Eva had guessed correctly, he had never swam in his life. "W-what!?" Raynar replied; Raynar knew now that he was caught, and that he couldn't talk his way out of this one. Defeated, Raynar finally said, "Yes…I can't swim to save my life…" Eva just chuckled and replied, "Well, I'll teach you, c'mon!" Eva grabbed Raynar's hand but Raynar had one last thing he could say to get out of it. "But that's your only set of clothes" Raynar said, "You don't have a bathing suit!" Eva paused to think. Raynar was right, she didn't have any other clothes, but Eva then thought of a rather novel idea. Eva used the floral pendant, Raynar shielding his eyes from the glare. When Raynar looked again, Eva had created a bathing suit out of leaves! Raynar was not ready for it and just stared at Eva. Eva noticed Raynar's expression and asked, "Raynar, you okay?" Raynar snapped out of his daze. "Yeah, I'm fine…I just…" Raynar replied before promptly passing out again out of shock! Eva just stared at Raynar and sighed. "Sometimes I just don't get him…" She thought to herself.

* * *

After much struggling and an hour's time, Eva finally succeeded in teaching Raynar how to swim. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Eva said. Raynar had to admit, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but it was probably from having Eva teach him, as he at least trusted her. "No, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be…" Raynar replied when he saw something he didn't notice before: a sea cave not far down the beach, "Eva, look behind you." Eva turned to see the sea cave; the entrance was massive, and it had an odd feeling to it, as if it was calling her in. Derek had seen it too and was already swimming in. "Derek! Wait up, don't go in alone!" Raynar yelled, starting after him with Eva close behind.

They swam into it and eventually ran into a wall. "Hmm…" Derek replied, "A dead end…" Raynar didn't think so; He released an aura pulse into his surroundings to check for a way around and found it: an underwater passage under the wall. "Wait here…" Raynar told Eva and Derek before diving down to the passage. He released another Aura Pulse to check the distance and was astonished by the result; the passage extended ahead of him for a half mile forward and down before even changing direction, far too long to go without air. Raynar returned to the surface to give the others the information he found, "There's a tunnel down there" he said, "But it's a half a mile long, slanting down before going back up; we won't be able to go that far on just one breath, but there are no air pockets down there." Derek was lost in thought over this information, but Eva already had a solution. The pendant glowed and Eva held out a hand, revealing what appear to be closed-circuit rebreathers made of plants. Raynar took one in his hand and tried it out. "Nice going Eva!" he said, "What inspired this!?" Eva had thought of the way the air was so pure in the hallowed forest, but she explained the logic instead; "Plants produce oxygen through using carbon dioxide" she replied, "that principle will allow these rebreathers to recycle our exhaled breath and reuse it." Derek took his and looked it over; "Why didn't I think of that" he thought. They all put their rebreathers in and ensured they worked. "We'll communicate telepathically" Raynar said via the said method, "I'll lead the way, let's go." They all took a single breath of air and dove down into the water.

* * *

The swim through the tunnel proved to be long and tiring, as Raynar had to keep encouraging the others, who kept falling behind. "We don't have far to go, now we just have to go up" Raynar said to Eva and Derek. He looked up and saw an eerie light coming from above. "The surface!" he thought as he swam upwards. Raynar broke the surface and looked around him, astonished at the sight; Eva and Derek came up soon after and were equally in awe of what they saw. They were inside another cavern, filled with blue-white crystals. Raynar, Eva and Derek climbed out of the water and into the cavern, Eva reverting to normal. "What is this place?" Derek thought aloud as he reached out and touched a crystal; he suddenly recoiled away from it. "The crystals!" he exclaimed, "they're cold to the touch!" Raynar felt one himself and was also surprised at how it felt; it was as cold as ice, and come to think of it, the very air here had a certain chill to it. Raynar had no idea what to make of it, what was going on?

"Raynar, over here!" Derek shouted excitedly. Raynar went over to where Derek and Eva stood and saw a wall with Unown on it. "More Unown…" Raynar said as he began to translate. After a minute or so, Raynar finally translated it. "I got it" he said, "Thee who seeks knowledge, thy quest is noble as thou hast proven thyself to be resolute as the strongest armor. However, resolve shalt not lead to success when alone, for control is needed. Make thyself cold and unfeeling like glacial ice, and thou shalt prevail…" Raynar finished reading the writing and realized what it must be: an ancient proverb, but what would it be doing in a sealed cavern he could not fathom. "This is very out of place in this cavern…" he said, "We'll have to investigate, let's go deeper into the cavern…" Eva and Derek exchanged worried glances, also knowing that something like this was out of place in a cave with the only entrance and exit both being underwater, which meant it was obviously meant to never be disturbed. Nevertheless, Raynar was determined to discover its meaning and so the trio travelled deeper into the cavern.

As the group traveled deeper into the cave, more crystals could be seen and the air seemed to get colder and colder until it was almost unbearable when they finally reached a dead end. There was a door which had a marking of seven dots arranged in the shape of a cross, a sign. Raynar looked at the sign and knew something was up ahead, as he remembered the hexagonal seven-dot marking upon the Steel Sash. "Be on your guard…" Raynar said to the others as he stepped towards the door. The door suddenly opened, revealing a chamber completely covered in crystals, a large statue towards the back. Raynar, Eva and Derek slowly entered the chamber and walked towards the statue. When they were halfway, the door shut and a frigid gust of wind blew through the chamber. "A trap!" Raynar exclaimed as he dodged the wind, but Eva and Derek were not fast enough, and were frozen solid, "No!!!" Raynar got up and was about to try to break them out when he heard a voice that was similar to the one at Mount Resolve. "Control yourself…" the voice said, "Your emotions can give you strength but they can also be your undoing Learn to make sacrifices, control your feelings, and you shall prevail…" Raynar had no idea what the voice meant but didn't have time, as he turned around and saw what appeared to be a large crystal in front of the statue…until it moved, seven dots in a cross shape glowing bright yellow. "It's Regice!" Raynar exclaimed, "Just when I thought today I could afford some rest and relaxation…" Regice started towards Raynar, not the lumbering juggernaut Registeel was, but rather gliding smoothly upon the crystalline floor, swiftly closing the gap.

Raynar tried to dodge it but realized that the floor was too slippery for him to move effectively. Raynar braced himself as Regice slammed him with Hammer Arm. Raynar was slammed backwards into a wall, Regice already moving to attack again. Raynar got back up and struck back with a vengeance, but couldn't move on the slippery floor, and so got hit by yet another Hammer Arm. Raynar yelled out in pain from the blow and tried to get up, but it proved difficult. Regice hit Raynar again and again, beating him senseless. Frustrated beyond anger, Raynar struck out at Regice with all his fury, but his attack missed. As if in retaliation for his outburst, Regice hit Raynar with Superpower, knocking him against the statue and onto his knees.

Raynar winced in pain form the hits inflicted by Regice. "I don't understand it…" he thought, "How come I can't strike back!?" Raynar looked out and saw not only Regice waiting for him, but the Absol next to him, staring at him. Raynar was astonished that the Absol still followed him, even here. "What do you want from me?" Raynar asked in frustration, angry over his being humiliated by Regice. Then the Absol did something Raynar didn't expect, he spoke. "Remember the voice, what did it say?" he said in a voice colder, it seemed, even than Regice. "Wha-?" Raynar said when he realized what the Absol was implying. He was implying that he had been fighting Regice the wrong way by getting frustrated; he needed to remain calm and in control, letting his aura flow through him naturally rather than forcing it through. Raynar turned away and slowly rose to his feet, making sure to calm himself, and he found that he could get traction now! Regice hurtled at him, ready to strike again with Superpower. Raynar used Extremespeed, zipping past Regice faster than it could turn; it stopped and turned around. Raynar accelerated to full speed and ran up the wall, using the momentum built up to run on the ceiling before jumping off and launching an aerial Blaze Kick down at Regice. Regice was hit hard but wasn't even close to being down. Then Regice switched tactics, launching an Ice Beam at Raynar from long range. Raynar dashed across the floor, always just a step ahead of Regice but remaining calm through it all. He turned back into Regice and aimed for the center of the torso with his fist, despite the ice starting to build up on his arm. A few seconds later, impact. Raynar dashed past Regice while striking it with Focus Punch. Regice staggered and fell forward before disappearing. Raynar walked over to where Regice was and found a pendant with an ice crystal on it. It seemed to resonate with his aura and he hung it around his neck. Raynar went back to Eva and Derek, melting the ice with his aura. Eva and Derek were cold, but alright, but when Raynar turned back to the statue, the Absol was already gone, vanished into thin air.

* * *

Raynar, Eva and Derek were back on the beach, discussing what just happened. "Regice!?" Derek exclaimed, "Dammit, how come you get all the fun!?" Raynar shrugged, not knowing what to say, but Eva had a guess. "Maybe…" Eva said, "It's some sort of prophecy, who knows?" Raynar thought about that theory; It was difficult to believe, but all the events of his journey so far point to some sort of predestined course, a prophecy. He wasn't sure what to believe, but he learned something from his battle with Regice: one must be as calm as glacial ice…