AAAAH! Why did none of you TEEEEELLLLL MEEE? I MISSED A CHAPTER DARMN IT!
TELL ME THESE THINGS PLZ PLZ PLZ!
Chapter Thirteen
{RECOVERED [uxie] DEREVOCER}
"Now that we have Uxie all recovered, we should probably start looking for Pratt's reincarnate," Lily decided as we all gather in Jaeson and Destiny's living room.
"What about the Aura Stone? Jay and Austin have become fully functional, so we have to make a new one," I reminded them all.
Austin slapped a hand onto his chest. "Shit. No."
"You don't have the key?" Jaeson demanded.
"Oh, gawd, I never had it in this life," Austin realized.
"Where does it usually appear?" Destiny asked, her voice calm. She was the calmest out of us.
"In his birthplace," I explained. "Austin, where were you born?"
"In Florida, in a hotel called The Sea's Tree when my mother was on vacation," Austin said. "Why not in a hospital? I have no idea. So it's there somewhere?"
"Yes. It should be within a mile of the place," I told everyone.
"So, we're going on vacation," Lily gathered.
"It looks like it," I confirmed. "Get your bathing suits together, guys. Might as well have some fun while we're there."
Jaeson sighed, obviously dreading this.
{RECOVERED [austin] DEREVOCER}
We checked into the hotel, renting two rooms. One for Lily and I, the other for Jaeson, Destiny, and Jay. Uxie had ultimately decided she needed to wrap things up with her friends and family somehow, so she didn't come.
As Jay and the girls checked in, Jaeson and I stood a little behind them, looking at the aura and the thoughts of the people around us. I happened to look at the check-in counter a few feet away from us. A familiar orange head was there, a girl with brown hair, a boy with blue hair (lighter than mine), and a boy with yellow hair behind him. The girl was eyeing the place.
I nudged Jaeson and said, "Would Will and Laek remember everything?"
"Probably, why-" he started, then saw him.
Will finished. The lady behind the counter pointed them to the elevator behind us. Will looked past us to locate it for a moment, then smiled and came over to us.
"Jaeson, Austin, it's been a long time," Will said, smiling warmly.
"It has. How are you? Hope you haven't been destroying any psychic barriers without Laek," I said jokingly.
"Not yet," Will told me, smiling.
"When your memories returned, did it hurt?" Jaeson asked randomly.
"No, it didn't. They drifted back over the course of a week when I was eight or so," Will explained.
"How old are you?" Jaeson asked.
"Twenty-four," Will said.
Jaeson turned to me. "How old are you? And do you know how old Pratt's reincarnate is?"
"Um, I'm seventeen, and since he's older than me but wouldn't be in the orphanage if he was nineteen, he's eighteen," I told Jaeson.
"Hm," Jaeson responded, looking at the ground. "Tell Destiny to meet me at the rock." With that, Jaeson left.
"Okay, then. Where is Laek, anyway?" I wondered.
"He's been kidnapped," Will said, his smile vanishing. "By Pratt's reincarnate."
"I'm sorry... Are you looking for him here?" I wondered.
"For Pratt, yes," Will told me.
"Will!" the brown-haired girl hissed. "Why are you telling that to some random people?"
Will smiled again. "This is Eve. She and her friends Knight and Thunder are looking for him, too. And no, Eve, these are good friends of mine."
Eve stalked over here and said, "You said you haven't seen them for a long time. How do you know they're still loyal to you?"
"Clearly, some explaining is in order," Will said. "Can you come all with me, if you don't mind?"
At this moment Destiny, Jay, and Lily appeared. "Will, it's been awhile," Lily told him. "How are you?"
"I could be better," Will said. He briefly explained what was happening, and everyone agreed to follow him.
{RECOVERED [austin] DEREVOCER}
The boy with light blue hair came over and walked next to me as we started along the sandy beach just outside the hotel. He looked up and said, "You're a lucario."
"You're a riolu," I responded.
"Yeah," he said, then looked down at his feet.
"Do you have a question?" I wondered.
"... I-I do," he stammered, still looking down. "What... what is a Connection?"
"A Connection is a bond between two people made by the universe or the Aurastone's holder," I told him. "Usually by the universe. I've never heard of a time when a Connection was purposely made."
"What happens when you're a Connection?" the boy wondered quietly.
"Well, you force-morph," I told him. "That means your arm hurts for a while, then a light spirals along your arm, then you go numb. Lastly, you turn into a pokemon."
"Oh," he responded. "How do you stop it?"
"Knight, what are you doing?" Eve slowed her pace suddenly and fell into step with us.
"Getting information," Knight explained. "He knows a shitload more than we do about this."
Eve eyed me carefully before saying, "What does he know, exactly?"
"We're Connections," Knight said. "The light spiralling down our arms, the pain, the numbness. That's force-morphing."
Eve narrowed her eyes at the ground and crossed her arms before asking, "What happens after?"
I knew she was testing me. I responded, "You lose your powers for awhile. They kind of slowly trickle back to you."
Eve searched my face a moment before agreeing, "We're Connections."
"What does that mean relationship wise?" Knight asked.
"Absolutely nothing," I said, shrugging.
"Except that you two were born within six miles of each other," Jay said from behind us. I knew he must've teleported and wasn't surprised, but Eve whipped around, fists up.
"It's okay, Eve," Knight said. Jay smiled at her as she stared him down. Eve then turned and started walking normally.
"I'm going to find out where we're going," Eve decided. She briskly walked away.
After crossing my arms and chewing my tongue a moment in consideration, I said, "I feel like she and Jaeson are going to be best friends forever."
"Maybe," Jay agreed. He fell into step beside Knight and I, smiling.
"Who's Jaeson?" Knight asked.
"The one who's blocking his aura," I told him.
Frowning, Knight turned to Jay and said, "You?"
"No," Jay said. "The other one."
It was then that I had a terribly good idea. I sped up a little until I caught up with Jaeson and Eve, who were both trailing behind Will as he led the way. I smiled at Lily as I passed her.
"What's wrong?" Jaeson asked.
I twitched my arms since they were already crossed. "Why is something always wrong?"
"That's my life," Jaeson muttered. Eve glanced over for a split second. That told me she sympathized.
I pretended to look thoughtful for a moment. "Eve, Jaeson, I just wanted to tell you two that your auras are doppelgangers."
At the same time they both said, "And?"
I just grinned. Both rolled their eyes and looked away.
I fell back into step with Knight and Jay.
"So what's the Aurastone?" Knight asked.
"It's a blue piece of stone that the Yin and Yang make," I explained. "The Yin being Jay and the Yang being Jaeson. They put their power together and somehow make a stone. The Key is used to activate it. Once the stone's working, then Connections stop being randomly made."
"What's the Key?" Knight asked.
"What we're looking for at this place," I said.
"We're here," Will announced.
I looked around. We were at a deserted corner of the beach. There were dull, purple-red rocks forming walls that closed off two sides. The ocean, vast and blue and beautiful, endelssly crashed upon the yellow sand. I sent my aura out, reading the area. I noticed something with a very familiar aura.
"I found the key," I announced, and started walking towards the rock wall.
Suddenly, Jaeson yelled, "Austin! Stop!"
I sent my aura out again, more closely examining the area.
That's when I realized that there was more than one familiar thing I was sensing.
"There's a bomb!" I shouted.
"That's right," a voice confirmed.
We all whipped around to face none other than the devil himself.
"Pratt," I spat his name onto the ground.
The evil man smirked. "That would be me." He turned his gaze to Eve and said, "Eve. How nice to see you."
"F**ker!" Eve screeched. "I'll never forgive you!"
"Too bad," Pratt said, shrugging.
He snapped his fingers.
Jay suddenly teleported behind Eve and yanked her back. Something blew up just where she had been standing, sending both kids flying. Eve landed with a hard thud but popped right up again. Jay took his time standing.
"Die!" Lily yelled abruptly. She slashed her arms in an X formation, sending two waves of air smashing into him. I whipped up a more powerful aura sphere and threw it at him.
The moment the blue sphere bursted upon contacting Pratt, my head exploded in pain.
I yelled out in pain, then fell to my knees. I clutched my head.
Hello, Austin.
"Get out of my head!" I yelled. How had he gotten into my mind?
The world suddenly went dark. My friends disappeared and the sand turned to brown dirt. The beautiful sea turned into a murky existence and trees sprouted out of the ground.
The world shifted onto an angle, causing me to start sliding down and the ocean to pour out of its endless pool. The dark waters crashed down onto me, hitting like a thousand bricks.
I heard screaming, then.
Lily. Jay. Jaeson. Destiny. Even Will and his three friends.
Screaming loud and long and if they were dying.
Thosescreamswillberealverysoon.
Butfirstwe'llhavetoaddyourstothesong.
I felt a burst of sound explode from my lips.
{RECOVERED [jaeson] DEREVOCER}
"What the hell?" I demanded, watching Austin shake. "What's wrong with him?"
"Pratt has invaded his mind," Will said. "The only way to help is to have him invade someone else's mind."
"How do you know this?" Lily demanded.
"Why didn't you tell us this could happen?" Eve yelled.
"I didn't know he could do it," Will admitted. "I've only heard about it in legends. Apparently Fate had the ability before she lost her mind, therefore loosing others' as well."
I walked towards Austin, knowing how stupid this would be. Knowing Austin wouldn't be able to take it.
"Jaeson! Don't! He'll forcibly invade your mind!" Will called, warning me.
I put my hand on Austin's shoulder.
"It's not him you want, Pratt, it's me," I reminded the spirit quietly.
Austin screamed just as Pratt left his mind.
And exploded into mine.