Disclaimer: I own Evey, Jack and the Pokemon nicknames. That is all.
Chapter 10
An Unexpected Destination
I woke with a start when a bright light went on outside my tent. Taking a quick inventory of my tent, I noticed that all my Pokémon were still sleeping. Sydney had her head tucked under a wing and had inexplicably moved to sleep in the middle of Inuise's coiled body. I smiled at the sight for a moment before I remembered the light.
I looked towards the light. It wasn't the same colour as Jack's flashlight, so I thought it might be a good idea to investigate. After all, I glanced at my Pokégear, who would be wandering a dark mountain at three in the morning?
I pulled on my jacket and poked my head out of my tent. I saw the silhouette of a man standing beside the coals of the near-dead fire. His profile was obscured by either his hair or a hood.
"Are you Alexandra Pike?" the man asked in a voice that was clearly not his own; it sounded as though he was forcing it lower and quieter than it normally was. I wondered who the man was and how he knew me.
"I was... but I changed my name. How did you find me? Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of your father's."
This made my blood run cold. Where did this guy come from? "Why are you here?" I demanded in a voice that was bolder than how I felt. "Where's my dad? That scumbag," I added under my breath.
"I'm here with a message from your father. He wanted me to let you know that he would like to meet you at some point. He also wants to know how your mother is."
"Tell him that Mom died six years ago, and that I'm mad that he never kept his promise. What the hell kind of a guy is he, anyway? Mom never got over him. I want to meet him, though. I want to tell him to his face how heartbroken Mom was that he never came back."
"Very well. If you would like, I could give him your Pokégear number."
"No, just tell him I'll meet him. Where would be a good place to meet... Hang on a second." I ducked back into my tent before the man could reply. Sydney looked up at me sleepily when I entered; evidently I had woken her up.
"What's happening?" She asked drowsily. "Are you talking to your dad?"
"No, but I'm going to set up a meeting with him."
Alec raised his head as well, alert but groggy. "Maybe you should meet him in Veilstone or something," he advised. "Somewhere a little while away, to give you time to get ready."
"That sounds like a good idea." I glanced at the map of Sinnoh on my Pokégear. "I kinda want to go to Celestic Town. Maybe I should meet him there?... Yeah, Celestic's good." I exited the tent.
"Have you decided where you want your father to meet you?"
"Yeah. Tell him Celestic Town." I fixed the man with a suspicious look. "How did you know I was here?"
"Just a feeling. I'll let your father know to meet you in Celestic Town." He turned away from our camp and walked away.
Jack's head poked out of his tent. "What a weirdo."
I screamed and jumped into the air, fighting back the urge to Stun him. "Were you listening to our whole conversation?" I demanded angrily. "Didn't anyone ever teach you it's rude to eavesdrop?"
"Pretty much," he answered, looking unperturbed by my reaction. "I didn't know your mom was dead."
"That's because I never told you," I replied, still steamed. "I'm going back to bed."
"Wait," he called. "Aren't you on a certain time limit? Going to Celestic Town will slow us down by a day."
"I'm not on a time limit per se," I explained. "I just need to keep on the move so that the Death Eaters can't catch me. Goodnight."
I reentered my tent and slept until about eight, when I was awoken by the sound of the fire crackling. I got my jacket back on and crawled out of the tent. Alec followed me like a little bodyguard.
Jack was cooking breakfast over the fire. I noticed that the black rings around his eyes hadn't improved any. "Don't you ever sleep?"
"Not much. Breakfast?" I grabbed my mess kit from my bag, loaded my plate, and started eating. After I had gotten about halfway through, I dug around in my bag for the Pokémon food and bowls and laid out breakfast for my Pokémon. Jack was doing the same.
After breakfast, we packed up camp. Jack watched amusedly as I shoved the tent packs into my bag.
"How do you fit all of your stuff in there? Magic?"
"Yeah, an Extension charm," I grunted as I finished shoving the packs in. I tossed him my bag. "Take a look."
He pulled it open and looked inside. "Cool."
We recalled our Pokémon , except for Sydney and Ruby, and set off. The mountain wasn't any lighter inside than it had been the night before, but before long we found ourselves at an opening in the rock face. When we walked outside, the air was cold, and there was snow on the ground.
"What the hell?!" Jack yelled. "I thought this was the exit!" He raged for a little while longer before I stopped him.
"It's not that big a deal," I told him. "Let's just keep going. There's bound to be another path down the mountain, and at least now we can see."
We walked a little, shivering from the cold. Sydney hopped down off of my head and into my jacket, and Ruby did the same with Jack.
I called out Alec, because I knew he would be warm, and bundled him into my jacket as well. It helped a bit. I mostly stopped shivering, anyway.
A little while and a few patches of grass later, we found another entrance to a different part of Mount Coronet. We ran inside gratefully, happy to get out of the wind and snow.
"Lumos," I whispered, lighting up the sudden darkness a bit. We resumed our aimless wandering, although I had the odd feeling that we were about to stumble upon something important.
We went up a few sets of stone stairs - or, I say they were stairs, but they weren't really stairs. I could see an odd fog coming up in front of us. I stopped Jack.
"Would you rather stumble around in dark fog or light fog?" I asked him with a falsely cheerful smile.
"Fog?" He cursed. "Dark, I guess. No point in wasting my flashlight battery if we can't see anyway."
We continued on in the darkness, now unable to see each other at all, while earlier we were at least able to see our silhouettes. I kept feeling as though we were getting closer to something almost holy. It was weirding me out.
As we climbed - there was a definite slope beneath our feet - the air became colder. I saw a light - another exit to the cave - and pointed it out to Jack, who seemed hesitant to move towards it.
"It's weird," he muttered. "I don't like it. It gives me a bad feeling."
"Like we're violating something," I agreed. "But it might be our best shot to get out of here." When he still didn't move, I grabbed his arm and started to pull on it. "Come on," I coaxed. "We'll at least be able to see a route down the mountain, probably."
He followed me out of the exit into the colder outside air. No wind blew outside. No snow sat on the ground. Instead, we saw a white stone plateau of sorts, with pillars of the same white stone that looked as though they had been smashed with incredible force. The structure gave off the air of a ruined temple from some ancient civilization, where the ghosts of people who had once been there still roamed. There were marks of disturbance on the stone floor - someone, or several people, had set foot here in the last few years, at least. Their footprints, set in mud and gravel, were still visible on the first few feet of stone.
Jack turned to stone beside me. "Spear Pillar," he breathed.
"What's Spear Pillar?" My voice echoed off of the pillars around us. Sydney dug herself deeper into my jacket, apparently nervous.
"An ancient temple at the top of Mount Coronet," Jack answered me. "Legend has it that Arceus created Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and the entire Sinnoh region up here, and is still around here somewhere." He paused and looked around, taking a few steps onto the stairs to the raised temple. "More recently, this is the place where Cyrus, the leader of a group of criminals called Team Galactic, tried to destroy this world and replace it, using Giratina's power. He was stopped by a ten-year-old Pokémon trainer."
"That's embarrassing," I murmured, pushing back my laughter, but unable to suppress my grin. I walked towards the stairs as well when a sudden wind came up, and a noise sounded out of my bag.
"Huh? What's that noise?" I asked confusedly, poking my head into my bag. I pulled out the weirdly-shaped blue rock that I had picked up earlier. The sound intensified as it came out of my bag and into the wind.
"What is that? Some kind of weird rock?" Jack asked.
"That's what I thought," I replied, examining it more closely, "but now that I can see it properly, it kind of looks like an instrument of some kind..." I put my lips up to a reddish-coloured protrusion on the end of the rock and blew on it gently. A sound came out of it, like a note from a well-played flute. I blew a little harder and multiple notes at once, in harmony. I didn't understand how that worked, but I didn't stop blowing - couldn't stop blowing. The music was almost coming on its own now. As the notes continued, I saw a shimmer in the air above the stairs where Jack was still standing, gaping at me. Then, as the flute played a loud, high note of its own accord, a golden, shining staircase appeared, extending upwards to the sky from the stairs on which Jack was standing.
We looked at each other for a long moment, surprise and shock mirrored in each other's expressions, then I put the flute away and wordlessly joined Jack in climbing the stairs. The appearance of the stairs and the haunting music from the flute only served to heighten the surreality of the situation, and increase our apprehension, but we climbed on anyway. We'd dug our graves deep enough already, were we in any danger; trespassing further could hardly make it much worse.
When we reached the top of the staircase, an unexpected sight greeted us: a large, white, four-legged Pokémon, with golden hooves, a black underbelly, and golden protrusions to the sides of its body.
"Arceus," I breathed. I turned to run down the stairs before anything bad happened, but Jack's arm and Arceus' voice stopped me.
"How did you find the Azure Flute?"
"I-I stumbled over it on the way through Mount Coronet. I wasn't sure what it was, so I picked it up," I explained a little nervously, turning back around to face the Alpha Pokémon. The nervousness came from not knowing whether Arceus was going to strike us down for walking here or not. I certainly hoped not. Realistically, I was probably replaceable as far as returning Harry to Hogwarts went.
"I will not harm you. You stand here by coincidence and luck, but hold no bad intentions for your presence here."
"And what if we did hold bad intentions? What would you do then?" Jack challenged. I assumed that Arceus was making his words understandable to our whole party. "Cause from what I heard, you didn't step in when Cyrus was going to destroy the world."
"The trainer who had been following the Galactic leader was more than capable of stopping him. I aided her by calling on the Spirit Trio."
"But would you have helped if she failed?"
"I would have ended the man's plot, or his life. That is immaterial."
"Should we just... go?" I asked. "I kind of do need to get moving..."
"I will send you to the exit of the mountain," Arceus assured. "But you have the Azure Flute. This could be a necessary aid for you to use on your journey. Bring it out." When I did so, he tilted his head back and roared. The flute started to glow for a moment, then it faded.
"Now, you will be able to call upon a Legendary Pokémon to aid you in a time of need. In a moment of peril or great catastrophe, blow on the flute, and one of the Legends will be summoned to aid you."
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"Let's go," Jack told Arceus. Arceus threw back his head and roared again. A blinding white flash of light surrounded us. When it dissipated, we were standing in front of a cave exit inside Mount Coronet. Outside, a wooden bridge over a waterfall-fed river lay in front of us. Past the rocky outcrop on the other side of the river, we could see a small field, then just beyond that, the outline of a gray building with a blue roof stood tall. Jack began to run across the bridge to Hearthome City, just past the field. I raced to catch up with him, unzipping my jacket and letting Sydney and Alec out as I did so.
"Wait up!" I cried. Jack only laughed and ran faster, zipping down the stairs on the rocks ahead into the grass, only to come face to face with a white and red Pokémon sporting long, sharp claws. Jack backpedaled before he hit the startled Pokémon, and its expression changed to that of one like shock. Fuzzy shock. Its claws raised, and whatever it was holding under them - by the looks of it, a little plant Pokémon - ran off into the grass. The badger-like Pokémon snarled, and Jack moved further back to stand beside me as I arrived. I pulled my Pokedex out of my bag and pointed it at the Pokémon. The Pokedex dinged, and an entry popped up on screen.
'Zangoose, the Cat Ferret Pokémon. It has feuded with Seviper for generations. Its sharp claws are its biggest weapon.'
The Zangoose was up on its hind legs with its claws extended, looking angry. It snarled, "You have interfered with my hunting, human."
"Jack, it's going to attack us!"
Jack's mouth was set in a firm line. His eyes were bright with excitement at the challenge. "Then I'll battle it. Ruby!" The little fox darted out in front of us. Zangoose stared down at it, either amused or calculating.
"Ruby, Quick Attack!" Ruby dashed towards the Zangoose, leaping up to crash into her head. The impact knocked it back a little, but she shook herself off and brought her claw down to slash at Ruby. The claw made an impact, and Ruby flew backwards, a slash decorating her shoulder.
Ruby didn't back down, though. She stood tall, circling around the Zangoose, who was watching her as if waiting for the little fox to strike. The Zangoose grew tired of waiting and struck out at Ruby again. She dodged and retaliated with an Ember to Zangoose's paw.
The larger Pokémon stumbled back in pain, then dropped to all fours and growled, charging. Ruby leapt out of the way again.
"Ruby, Will-O-Wisp!" Jack ordered. Ruby sent a purple flame spinning at the now stopped Pokémon, hitting her below one of her eyes and burning the fur and skin there. The Zangoose counterattacked, swiping with a long claw once more. Ruby was hit in the side and went down.
She wasn't done yet, though. From her place on the ground, Ruby sent an Ember at Zangoose's back paw, burning that, too. The Zangoose, who was getting tired and angry from the pain, took one last swipe at Ruby, which she dodged, before collapsing to the ground on her stomach.
Jack approached her cautiously, scooping up Ruby as he did. I followed to act as a translator in case he wanted to talk.
He knelt beside the Zangoose warily, on guard for her claws. She was still conscious,so he asked, "Are you alright?"
"Your Pokémon attacked me. I am injured, but I will recover. Aren't you going to continue, or enslave me?"
I repeated this to Jack, who shook his head. I noticed that he looked a little like a dog shaking off water when he did that.
"I'd rather Pokémon came along by choice. We can heal you and you can go, if you want," he offered.
She pondered this for a moment, then replied, "I'd rather come with you. This field is boring, anyway. There's no challenge to the prey here."
After I translated this, Jack's face broke into a grin. "Sounds good to me." He pulled out a Poké ball and captured the Zangoose. "I'll call you Ace.
"So... we were racing, weren't we?" Jack stood and sprinted off towards Hearthome, with Ruby and I chasing and Sydney gliding overhead.
A/N: Yeah, new chapter! Okay, I have to get off the computer soon, so I'll just write these quick. One more Pokémon for Jack - I didn't decide to put her in until I got there and decided that this chapter needed some action. Tedious filler chapters are tedious. On a bright but unrelated note, I finished my exams and I think I might have aced a couple of them at least :D. Thanks for the luck, everyone!
Nukenin: Yeah, finally, eh? :D I might go into more detail with how he'll handle the ending near the end, I'm still hashing that out as it is. Good thing I have lots of time for that. I kind of did replace team Galactic with the Death Eaters! I'm thinking maybe one or two members of Galactic might show up, though. Not sure yet. Yeah, Dana's going to be poking her nose in at the worst possible times, I think. One of those annoying 'friends with everybody and I like everyone to know it' characters. You really like Houndour, don't you? :)
Please review! Even if it's just to say 'hey, I read this'. I feel like I might have lost people in the last couple of chapters... If you have suggestions to make the story better, please, feel free to share, and I'll see if there's a way to incorporate them somehow.