Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

As we looked on at what had happened, Eoniai gazed at the figures from under his top hat. They were all dressed as…I could only describe them as psychics, like the people who would read tarot cards or read your palm and stuff. Eoniai gripped his staff tighter as he continued to look. One of the figures stepped forward and raised his hand, palm out. Instantly, a Dark Pulse shot out. Eoniai's eyes widened, and he countered with a Shadow Ball. Eoniai got low, then jumped, twirling his staff. He landed, hitting the staff on the ground, and instantly the earth underneath the figure's feet erupted, and all five of them were thrown against the walls of the room. Eoniai looked at his staff, wondering what move that was. The figures got up, and one of them said, "Interesting. Earth Power. You shouldn't be able to use that until White Fury has the Ground Ring. Eh, roll with it."

The psychics started spewing various elemental attacks, and I could discern Fire, Ice, Electric, Dragon, and Water, all headed towards Eoniai. I saw him wondering, then he started to spin his staff, successfully blocking every attack. Apparently the staff could also block special moves, to a degree. I saw Eoniai fall on his knee, breathing heavily. He looked at the figures, then I saw an idea form on his face. He stood up and spun his staff above his head. I felt the wind increase, and I heard him shout, "Hurricane!" Instantly, the wind speed increased, and the wind hit the psychics, sending them against the wall again, but this time, they didn't get up.

Eoniai looked at me, then transformed back, still holding the staff. He went over to us, and the rest of us saw the psychics get up slowly. Eoniai turned to face them, and the leader walked over slowly to us. He stopped in front of Eoniai. "Well done, young one. You truly deserve this staff. Let me show you something." He took the staff from Eoniai, then twisted the sphere. The sphere somehow fit inside the staff, and it shrunk until it was about three feet long. The psychic handed it back to Eoniai, saying, "This should make it easier to carry around without suspicion. If you need to use it, just twirl it, and it'll be battle-ready almost instantly."

Eoniai took the staff back. "Thank you…um…"

The psychic gave a small grin. "Monk Kiando. Look us up if you need help with the staff. We'll be here." The lights flashed again, and they were gone.

Eoniai looked at us, then twirled the staff. Like Kiando said, it was ready almost instantly. Eoniai twirled it again, and it shrank back down. He smiled. "What do you know? I finally rival Tardon!"

My eyes widened as Arceus' message went through my head. One had been fulfilled…so did that mean Tranco would soon get closure? Hm…

We left the building, and it hit me: How were we gonna get to Ever Grande? The ship we came on was only going between Lilycove and Mossdeep. I mentioned this to the others, and they gave a collective groan. We looked around for something, anything, but…nothing. Then it hit me. "Guys…we have three artifacts. We should be able to cover it. I fly, Eoniai…float, maybe? What with the Psychic…Tardon bounces, maybe…"

They looked at each other and agreed with me. We found a place to transform, and we were on our way. I flew and carried Alyssa using Strength, Eoniai floated with his Psychic abilities, carrying Tranco with another extent of that, and Tardon was bouncing from place to place. Didn't matter if it was water, he bounced off of that fine. Why he didn't just run, I don't know, but I wasn't complaining.

Alyssa snuggled close to me while I flew, making sure she couldn't fall. She smiled, looking comfortable, and a mischievous idea went through my head. I started to dive towards the water, she noticed, freaked out, and I corrected myself just before we hit. She looked at me and said, "You jerk!" She slapped me, but she was laughing, so I just hoped for the best and kept flying.

Sometime later, we got to Ever Grande City. We landed discreetly, but apparently there was no need for that, because it was deserted. I stayed in my superhuman form, and I told the others to do the same. Something about this place freaked me out. I wondered aloud, "Where is everyone? A city should have a decent amount of people…"

I heard a voice behind me. "Well, usually that'd be true, but this place is unique. Since it's also the location of the former Hoenn League, it was abandoned after the incident with the Pokémon. Left the city in prime condition."

We whirled around, and there was a guy, just standing there. He looked about 18 or 19, had blond hair, brown eyes, and was rather tall. He came over to us. "Since it was deserted, no one ever comes here anymore, so either you have your own craft, or you have some otherworldly means of transportation, I'm guessing the latter since you're White Fury. I'm Colton." He put his hand out, and after some hesitation, I shook it.

I saw no harm in introducing ourselves, so I did so. He looked us over, specifically at Eoniai and Tardon, and told them, "Calm down. This is between me and him." They looked at each other and transformed back. Something occurred to me at that time, and I turned to Eoniai and said, "What's your name?"

"Long Fury."

I blinked. "Fast response."

"It only makes sense. Tardon's Short Fury and deals with physical moves. I deal with special moves, ergo I should be his counterpart, Long Fury."

I blinked again. "Wow. That makes…so much sense." I turned back to Colton and said, "Shall we?"

I changed into my Flying form, and Colton changed as well, becoming some sort of…I couldn't tell what, but it had a color scheme of blue so light it was almost white. He smirked. "Let's get going, shall we? Ice Shard!" A bunch of small pieced formed and flew towards me. I dodged to the side, but one nicked my side, sending a chill throughout that side of my body. I still stood, breathing slightly heavier. "That all you got? Man, the others were so much harder than you!"

He laughed. "You ain't seen nothing yet, boy! Icicle Crash!" He formed several icicles and threw them at me like javelins. I figured I could just counter with Air Slash. I did so, but they kept going, all the shards hitting me dead-on. I flew backwards into a building and hit the ground, breathing a lot harder. I got to my knee, then stood back up. Colton grinned. "How's that for a challenge?"

I wiped my mouth, and felt…blood? I looked at my hand, and sure enough, my lip was bleeding. It had been a while since any fights had gotten me to bleed. I charged at him, but as he put his arms up, I jumped up. He looked up, and I landed behind him, shouting "Aeroblast!"

He whirled around, shock in his eyes as the wind blast hit him, sending him flying into a building. He fell, but got back up. He charged towards me, shouting "Icicle Spear!" A large icicle formed as he charged, and I readied a powerful attack. As he got to me, I spread my arms and shouted, "Sky Attack!" A large aura surrounded my body, I charged, and we hit, creating a smoke cloud. We hit buildings, and I was woozy. I stood slowly, and I saw that he didn't. He motioned for me to go over to him. I did, and he said, "Damn, that was good. Here, take the Ice Ring." He handed it to me, I put in on, and I felt a bracing chill go through my body, and then it was gone. I helped him up, and he stretched his back. "Man, that was a good fight. It's been a while. Go…what is it? Oh yeah, west."

I hung my head. "You realize that that means the rest of Hoenn besides here, right?"

He nodded. "And as such, you get a clue. Mineral."

Mineral. Huh…should be a simple clue. I turned to Eoniai, who said immediately, "Rustboro."

I gave him the 'explain' look. "Rock." Oh…so simple. Of course it would be that simple.

I looked at the group. "Let's go."

We said our goodbyes to Colton and headed toward Rustboro. Before we got going, though, Colton stopped us. "Hold on, it's a long while to get to Rustboro. Stay here overnight and regain your energy. Oblige me that?"

I looked among the group, and I nodded. We would stay in Ever Grande, for the time being.

Well, this is Chapter 20. Wow, we've gotten far. Let's celebrate this with reviews!