Chapter 9

The Second Key Fragment

We opened up the doors to enter the tower. Instead of running up the stairs, Sylveon, Oshawott and I went at a normal pace up. We didn't have to stop for any breaks. We made it to the seventh floor. In the back of the room we could see the spiral on the altar glowing a brilliant silver color. Darkrai was next to it.

"Froakie, Sylveon, and Oshawott," he said. "Please come to the altar." We did as told. We stepped up to it and the spiral went from silver to yellow. The light began to flow out of the spiral. It went above my head.

"Froakie, I would hold out your hands if I were you," Darkrai told me. I did so.

The light condensed into a small speck of light. A small chest-like box surrounded the speck of light. It dropped into my hands.

"Congratulations, you three," said Darkrai pleasingly. "You have solved the legend of the Tower of the Demonic Pokémon. Inside the chest Froakie is holding is the second fragment of the key to unlocking the secrets of this island. I wish you all a safe journey home."

"Wait, I want to ask a question really quick," I said hastily.

"Hm? What's that?" asked Darkrai with a hint of curiosity.

"What's up with Groudon? Why does he keep taking Ducklett where ever he goes? Are they a big part of this legend?" I asked.

"To be honest…" started Darkrai, "I don't know. You're the first out of all the generations to encounter Groudon and a mortal enemy. Usually the chosen three have no encounters with such Pokémon. I'm sure you'll get a reason why soon."

"When will 'soon' be?" asked Sylveon.

"I don't know," restated Darkrai. "It could be tonight or a couple of days from now."

"Where are we going to go next?" asked Oshawott with deep curiosity.

"Your mentor will tell you that," said Darkrai with a less grave tone. "I think it's time you three go. Take care."

Once we left, we were greeted with a warm sunset. As we began walking away from the tower, I asked, "Do any of you have any last-minute things you want to do before we leave?"

"I'd really like to say goodbye to my love," said Sylveon.

"I'm good here," said Oshawott.

"Alright," I said. "We have to cross through the town anyway, so that makes things easy. Then we can finally go home."

We made it into the town; Sylveon made her goodbyes, and then we began the journey home. On the way, we encountered the Larvitar we met when we first came into the province.

"You three!" he hollered. "You're… alive? But how? This province is basically death's door!"

"I don't know," I replied. "Luck?"

"Perseverance!" said Oshawott boldly.

"Encouragement, maybe," Sylveon chimed in.

"Well, it's amazing to see that you guys came out of there without a scratch," said Larvitar. He seemed less insane. "If I were you, then I'd probably be dead," he added. "Also, what brought you here, anyway? Were you just looking for thrills?"

"No," said Oshawott. "We're a part of a legend!"

Larvitar looked puzzled for a moment. "Are you talking about the Everstone Island legend? You know, the one that says something like frozen time and evolution?"

"Yea, along those lines," I responded.

"My parents told me about that legend once…" he said. "Is it really true? Are you the three chosen Pokémon to restore it?"

"Right," said Sylveon.

"Well, good luck on your journey!" said Larvitar cheerfully.

"Hey, thanks!" I said back. We then went our separate ways.

"It was nice to talk to him since he wasn't acting insane," said Oshawott.

"But I wonder why he was so crazy when we first encountered him," I muttered.

"Why didn't you ask?" said Sylveon.

"I don't know…" I said feeling a little embarrassed. How do I forget to ask a question so bizarre?

"Hey, I see grass up ahead!" said Oshawott excitedly. "It's alive, too!"

My head perked up. "We're almost home!" I shouted.

We began to run our hearts out. The thoughts of relaxing in the forest were going through my head as well as seeing all of my friends.

I could see the city on the horizon. We kept running till we were winded. We were along a lot farther than we thought, because the city was only a short distance away! We began to run again. We kept going till we were in the city. We were less excited by the fact that there was practically no one in the streets.

"Where is everyone?" asked Sylveon. "There should be tons of Pokémon out at this time of day."

"Didn't Feraligatr say to go to his house after we were done?" I said changing the subject.

"I'm pretty sure," said Oshawott. "Let's go there."

We navigated our way through the city to Feraligatr's house. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

"Maybe just open up the door?" suggested Oshawott. "It could be unlocked."

"That would be breaking in a house," I told him.

"Who cares, really?" Oshawott pushed me to the side and opened up the door. Sure enough, it was unlocked. The three of us walked in slowly. The lights were off, so it was impossible to see anything. Sylveon closed the door behind us and the lights flicked on.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" a big crowd of Pokémon cheered as confetti, streamers and all sorts of other party stuff flew all over the place. Feraligatr was in the center of it all holding a rather large cake. I recognized a lot of the Pokémon here: Torterra, Squirtle, Tyranitar, Servine, Torchic, and many more. All of the Pokémon gathered began talking to one another while Feraligatr set down the cake on a table and walked over to us to greet us.

"Welcome back, you three!" he greeted us. "I hope you had a good journey, yes?"

"Well," I began, "some good and some bad things happened," I said. "The Eastern Province is a sketchy place, but we made it out alive, so that's all that matters."

Feraligatr chuckled a bit. "It's good to have you three home."

"We did get the key fragment, so that's a good thing!" Sylveon pointed out.

"I almost killed Sylveon's future mate, but he came back to life," Oshawott said changing the subject.

"Ah, yes, that part of the legend," said Feraligatr with nostalgia. "I remember that I killed a few Pokémon there. Electivire, well, Elekid back then, screamed her face off at me when I killed one in front of her. I had realized what I had done and I began bawling. Then I was cured. It wasn't the most fun thing."

I decided to tell him about Groudon. He said he was surprised to see him the first time and he had never encountered him throughout his journeys through the island.

While we were talking about a bit more of the legend stuff, Oshawott interrupted us. "C'mon, Froakie, don't dwell on the legend stuff! Take a break and enjoy the party!" I glanced at Feraligatr and he gave me a glace back that said the same thing.

"Why not?" I said. All that was left was to do was to celebrate our temporary return.