(A/N: Alright, again I'm starting a chapter with a song. Woot. The name of this particular song is called "The Mysterious Machine Of the Demons" from Lost Odyssey. Another evil theme.)

Chapter 10: Fitting The Pieces Together

*"So, they happen to have stolen one of the ships out of the hangar," Leon said. "That's not surprising at all."

"Forgive us, my lord," one of the many soldiers kneeling in front of them said. "We didn't think that the Pokemon would transport them."

"All is forgiven," Leon said. They were sitting in the throne room of the palace. "You know me well enough that I do not punish people for small things, unlike my father." He was silent for a minute. "But, what matters now is that we must find them before it is too late."

All of a sudden, the doors leading out of the room opened and another soldier came running through. "Your majesty," the soldier said, coming up to Leon. "I've just gotten reports that the ship Sir Eric stole was shot down and crashed somewhere in the forest."

"And...?" Leon said. "Was there an explosion or not?"

"No, my lord!" the soldier said quickly. "One of the wings was shot off by a missile but most likely it couldn't have blown up from the impact."

"And those ships are expensive to make," Leon thought, sighing. "Very well," he then said, getting up from his throne. "I want two air battalions to search from the skies, and once they are found, set in a transport of troops to keep them... occupied." He then thought about it for a second. "Oh yes, and also notify me and make sure my shuttle is ready. We may have an unexpected guest coming back with us."

"Yes my lord," the soldier said, and he and the rest of them quickly left the room.

"Let's just hope it's quick," Leon thought. "The forest can be dangerous at night, especially during these times. I can't hide the fact that I care about the girl and her safety, even though it seems like I'm just using her. She's more important than anything right now in this world..."

"Godfather?" Ash asked. "Dawn, you didn't tell us you had a godfather?"

"Didn't I?" Dawn said, smiling sheepishly. "Well, I didn't think it was quite that important." Dawn then saw Eric and Tadashi hunch their shoulders in sadness. "Oh Eric, I didn't mean it like that! Honestly!" Dawn said, putting a hand on his shoulder, while Piplup, who was on her head, sweatdropped slightly.

"It's fine," Eric said, laughing. "While we chat, we may as well continue on home, it might take awhile and it's best not to be out at night."

"You live out here?" Brock asked.

"I do," Eric said. "Surprising even to me, it's a lot nicer than being in a city, and a lot quieter too. But anyway, let's get moving."

It would've seemed weird that they were following a man they just met, but if he's Dawn's family, it had to be alright then. "So, you're following in your mother's footsteps as a coordinator? And entering the Sinnoh Grand Festival?" Eric asked Dawn as they continued walking. "Can't say I'm surprised. You're much like your mother in every way."

Dawn laughed. "Yeah I suppose."

"And Ash, you're planning on competing in the Sinnoh League and to become a Pokemon Master?"

"Yep," Ash said.

"And Brock, you want to become a great Pokemon breeder?" Eric said.

"That's what I have my eyes set on," Brock replied.

"Interesting," Eric said. "Now I can see why you're friends with Dawn. She finds her friends well. Even after ten years, I still know her rather well."

Dawn then looked back to Eric. "But where have you been? I haven't seen you in so long."

"I know," Eric said. "Ten years is a long time. I've... been busy with things around here, taking care of the Pokemon I have and such. I guess I never really told you that I was born and raised in Cerenia City?"

"You were?" Dawn said. "But... does that mean my father-?"

"Yep, your father was born and raised here too," Eric said. He then smiled. "I always remember him telling me how he met your mother while visiting the Sinnoh region. Quite a funny story actually."

(A/N: Okay, I have two songs here, one that's coming up now, and one that will show up later. The song I have for right now is called "Epsylon Range" from Lost Odyssey. It's a pretty cool song, at least I think so. The other, which will come up soon, is called "Kodamas" from the Princess Mononoke Soundtrack.)

"Eric, I have to be ask you this, and please tell me the truth," Dawn said, being serious now. "Is my dad still alive?"

Eric sighed. He hoped that she wouldn't have asked that question so quickly. "If you want me to be honest Dawn, then yes, he is."

"I see," Dawn said sadly. "I figured that he wasn't, seeing as he hasn't been home in so long. And I'm guessing mom knew all along as well, and just didn't tell me?"

"Yeah," Eric said.

Dawn sighed. "Well, it doesn't affect me as much now as it did before, so I'll be fine." A curious thought then went through her mind. "So, how long have you had known my father?"

Eric just chuckled. "Funny you ask that. Oh, it was about thirty years ago when I first met your dad. At that point, not all what you saw in Cerenia City existed at that point. We practically lived right next to each other when we were younger. Oh yes, once we first met, we were practically friends for life. *Once we got older, we would always compete against each other, whether it was battling, training, etc. Oh yeah, those were the good old days. Now that I think about it, he was almost like you Ash, never backing from a challenge."

"Really?" Ash said. "Wow, guess it would've been cool to meet him."

"Yeah, I remember the one time we were in a PokeRinger competition," Eric continued. "Boy, was that interesting."

Flashback

"I don't know Eric," a boy about eighteen said. "Your Pidgeotto against my Swellow? Could be a good match up."

"Oh, but my Pidgeotto has been training for this event for weeks," Eric said, who was also eighteen. "Swellow will just be another one that bites the dust. Sorry to inform you that, Jak."

Jak just laughed. "Oh alright, Eric. We'll see about that. Every morning at six Swellow and I get up and train for about two hours straight."

"Right, because your mom always tells me you sleep in until nine," Eric said grinning.

"Alright, you got me," Jak said, grinning in return.

"As it turned out, he actually beat me," Eric said. "Personally, I think it was just luck, but oh well."

"Whatever," Dawn said, smirking at him. "Whatever you say, Eric."

Soon, they got to the edge of where the forest became more thick. "Ah, now we're getting into the main part of the forest," Eric then said. "Many Pokemon reside here." *As they continued on in, they could see that there were many Pokemon of all types; in the trees, the bushes, and around the trees. "This forest is very sacred to them," Eric explained. "They say that you can hear the actual voices of the Pokemon themselves."

"You mean they can talk?" Brock asked.

"Well, it's also said that only certain people can fully understand them," Eric said. "The forest can be strange indeed."

Ash then looked to Pikachu. "If I could understand all of what you said, Pikachu, that would be so cool." Pikachu couldn't help but smile.

"Can you understand them?" Dawn asked Eric.

"As a matter of fact, I can," Eric said. He then smiled. "They're surprised to see many humans in the forest. But don't be alarmed, they know we mean no harm."

Then, Dawn herself started to hear voices, but it couldn't be possible. "Eric, I think I can understand them as well," she said.

"You can!?" Ash and Brock both said.

"And I think I know why," Eric said. "You see, your father, who would sometimes come through here, could understand them as well, which means it was possibly carried down." He then smiled. "What are they saying, Dawn?"

Dawn listened for a couple seconds. She then smiled up at Piplup. "They're wondering why a Piplup is down in the forest and not up in the mountain area." Piplup just seemed a bit confused by what that meant.

Soon, as they continued walking, they got to a rather large area where it was more condensed and darker. "Okay, here is where we need to be careful," Eric warned. "No one may have ever mentioned it to you before, but demons like to be in dark areas, no matter what the area is."

"Are you saying there are demons in the forest?" Ash asked.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Eric said. "Normally, the Pokemon here can fend them off in such situations, but they fear them as well. If there really are demons in the forest, this could be bad for Cerenia."

"How so?" Brock asked.

"Cerenia has been locked tight in a war against the demons for decades, almost centuries," Eric explained. What I fear is that in their next attack, they may attack from both sides, closing in Cerenia City. Normally, in the past, we would win easily, mostly due to our weapon superiority, even when we were outnumbered, which means you cannot win a battle by numbers alone. But, knowing Zion, it will amass a grand army against us for one last strike."

Finally, they got through a clearing and the area became brighter. "Ah good, and no encounters either," Eric said. "Since we're here, let's take a breather." The others couldn't help but agree as they sat down in the soft grass.

"So Eric, do you know exactly what Zion is and where it came from?" Brock asked.

"There... are plenty of stories about how Zion came into existence," Eric said. "But there's one most people know. The story of Tamamo-no-Mae."

"Tamamo-no-Mae?" the three trainers said.

"Yes, legend has it that she was a beautiful young woman, who lived in a large kingdom, about twenty years old, and was brilliant and intelligent. People loved her, but they didn't know her dark secret, that she was not really a young woman but an evil spirit that took the form of a Ninetales. Her plan was to take over the kingdom and did this by trying to kill the king. But, her plan failed as she was soon found out, and was forced to flee. Then, realizing that if she couldn't take the kingdom, decided to destroy it all and was able to do so. After that, Tamamo-no-Mae became the terror of an entire nation, and was often seen terrorizing local villages, where this story comes in, the story of a young man named San."

(A/N: Hmm, this will be a first, putting a song in a flashback/story. By the way, the whole Tamamo-no-Mae thing is based on Japanese Mythology, so I didn't make it up, even though I changed it up a bit. Now, the song I have here is called "The Demon God" from Princess Mononoke and is one of my favorite songs from the soundtrack.)

The sun was setting peacefully over the village of Dadenia. San was going home while riding his faithful Dodrio and was accompanied by his loyal Ninetales, Takeshi. "Another successful day has ended," San then said.

All of a sudden, two boys ran up to him. "San, we have a message from Ryuu," one of the boys said.

"Oh? And what is that?" San asked.

"He says he wants to meet you up at the watch-post," the other boy said. "He also says that there might be something wrong."

"I see," San said. "Very well, but you two make sure to head back to the village." After the two boys left, he then looked to Takeshi. "We better check this out." Then, quickly, they headed towards the watch-post, which was south of the village. Once he got there, he got off his Dodrio and climbed up the ladder. However, he then stopped once he heard a rustle in the bushes by the forest that bordered with the land. Looking closer, he saw what appeared to be a faint shadow, before it moved again. "Something's there," he then said, continuing up the ladder. Once he got up there, he then saw Ryuu, who was staring at the forest. *"Ryuu, did you see something?" San asked.

"Yes, I don't think it's human," Ryuu said, continuing to look. "There! I saw it again."

San then took out his bow and arrow and aimed it carefully, waiting while Takeshi below started to growl. The shadow then began to move again and this time, it was starting to come out of the forest. Once it reached the light, San and Ryuu could both see that it was definitely not human, but some sort of animal. Looking closer, they could see that it didn't seem normal as it was covered with a strange fire-like glow and had gleaming red eyes.

"It's some sort of demon!" Ryuu cried out.

"No, it's Tamamo-no-Mae," San said calmly.

The creature then spotted Dodrio and Takeshi, and quickly started to run towards it. "Dodrio, get out of there!" San yelled, but Dodrio was paralyzed with fear. San then took the arrow he had and shot it next to Dodrio, causing it to jump and quickly run away. However, the creature then ran and crashed into the watch-tower, causing it to tip over towards the forest. San then took ahold of Ryuu and jumped into one of the trees. He then saw where the evil spirit was heading next. "It's heading towards the village!" San said, as he climbed down. "I have to stop it."

"Be careful, San!" Ryuu said in the trees. "That thing is cursed, don't let it touch you!"

San then whistled to his Dodrio, and hopped on as soon as it came to him. "Come on Takeshi!" he then said, taking off and giving chase to the large nine-tailed fox. Once getting close to it, he then yelled. "Evil spirit, whatever evil deed you possess, I command you to leave our village alone!" The creature, in response, then sent out one of it's tails to knock San off, but missed although it grazed San's arm, causing a huge burning sensation throughout his arm.

However, it did not stop San as he pulled out his bow, took aim, and fired an arrow right at the creature. It howled in pain as it tripped and fell to the ground. "Now Takeshi!" Takeshi then jumped right on the creature, pinning it down. The creature tried to do whatever it could, but Takeshi held his ground. Since Ninetales were believed to be guardians and able to ward off evil spirits, he was not affected. "Tamamo-no-Mae, your days of terror are at an end!" San said. "I hereby banish you to the spirit realm where you shall be imprisoned and rot for all eternity!" The creature gave one final screech before disappearing into thin air.

After that, San then fell to his knees, his arm still giving him pain. Takeshi went over to him and whined slightly. "Do not worry, Takeshi," San said. "I'm sure there's a way to get rid of this curse..."

"But, unfortunately, he could not find a cure, and soon the curse he had endured made him into what would soon become Zion," Eric said.

"Wow, its such a sad story," Dawn said.

"Wait, so did the evil spirit get sent away for good?" Ash asked.

"Although Tamamo-no-Mae was sent away, part of her was passed on to San," Eric said. "So in essence, she still lives."

"To this day?" Brock asked. Eric nodded.

"Wait," Dawn then said. "The prophecy said that only the child of Zion, united in love, can defeat it. Leon thought I was the one who could do it, but that can't be right."

"Well, Leon doesn't quite know as much as I do," Eric said. "But then again, he's still young." He then got up. "I have a feeling the chances of us making back to my home are now slim to none. We better keep walking till we find a nice place to set up camp and then head out again in the morning. So we better get moving again."

And with that, the four trainers then set off again north, one step closer to solving this mystery.

(A/N: Okay, so now you all understand a little bit better of what's going on here. You don't know everything because I like to give out a little at a time XD. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and my little side-story there.)

FoxMcCloud7921