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Chapter 4

The Crystals

The city looked much nicer on the outside, but maybe that was the point.

Rowan had almost gotten used to the smell of the streets, grimy, dry, and full of merchants shouting. Navigating through the streets was about as successful as trying to swim in lava. It seemed hours until they reached their destination that they were trying to find.

Earlier, they had encountered a pokemon, who at first, did startle him, but soon turned out to be friendly. The hooded Tauros, with the raspy voice, was a member of the Order. Luckily, Zav had recognized the pokemon and interfered with Rowan's hostile attitude before any incident could occur. Klatus was his name, and he was a friend of Aves. He was leading them to their undercover base in Wisp City.

Pyrare had left them, she had other plans in Wisp City than them, and she didn't ask any questions as they departed with the Tauros. Rowan had wished she could stay, but Zav had explained earlier that they could reveal no secrets to really anyone about the Order.

Klatus had given them hoods similar to his, but not for the same reason. Any eon spotted on a city would surely arouse question and rumor would eventually reach the Shadows, and they would know exactly where to look for the Order. These hoods covered all of Rowan, and a mask had come with it, concealing almost all his facial features. Neither him or Zav objected to the act, as for one, the hoods were much cooler than being exposed to the scorching sun.

"Why exactly does this city exist? I mean, who would want to live out here?" Rowan said over the bustling sound of the city. Klatus laughed.

"Not your everyday paradise, huh?" He said and Rowan shrugged. "Times like these, pokemon relish sanctuary over luxury. This desert, believe it or not, is one of the safest places from the Shadows. Though we have no solid evidence yet, many have speculated that this may be the only place heavily populated that the Shadows are unaware of." He explained while weaving through the crammed streets. So far, no one had noticed, or eve gave Rowan or Zav a second look.

"No one would suspect a desert. But how exactly do these people stay alive then? I don't see a river or any water source available close here." Zav identified.

"The Keepers discovered an underground water source only a few miles from here, one vast enough to support a large city for quite awhile. I'm not sure how exactly they get it to the city, but as long as the water keeps coming, chaos is kept at bay." Klatus mused. Rowan's mind became occupied mostly on that thought until they reached their destination. He assumed that the 'Keepers' was just another name for the founders of the city.

The building was the same color as everything else. The color of pale sandstone. Rowan was sick of the color already, it was too bright for his liking. When they entered through a creaky, old, wooden door, the room looked like anything but a secret base.

"Um… is this the right place?" Rowan muttered to Klatus over the clamor of voices. He guessed that this was a bar, or a type of pub. Everywhere, pokemon in variations of the common apparel, which consisted of the same hoods Rowan was wearing, were laughing, joking, arguing, and Rowan also thought he saw two fighting in the far corner of the room.

Klatus motioned for silence and waved for them to follow him. He led them to Pokemon behind a long table, and Rowan guessed he was the bartender.

"Only when the sunlight scorches, will we understand." He said cryptically. The bartender simply nodded in understanding and gazed at Rowan and Zav for a moment. He directed his gaze back at Klatus and nodded.

"Follow me." The Tauros said, and led them out of the pub, back onto the busy streets. Rowan still had no clue what exactly just happened, and neither did Zav.

"Mind you tell us what is going on?" Rowan asked, but Klatus evaded the question.

"Trust me, soon you will find out. it isn't safe yet to tell you." He said as he led them through the streets.

They winded up in a narrow dark alley, out of sight. Nervousness began to creep up Rowan's spine. Maybe this wasn't the best idea, but Zav seemed not worried at all.

Well, he's been on this planet longer than I have. Rowan noted. Once they reached the end of the alley, The Arcanine turned and faced them, a grin visible.

"Alright, you two, come touch this wall." he said and pointed to the end of the alley. Rowan shrugged and placed his paw on the wall along with Zav, and for a moment nothing happened. But just as he took his paw off, a sensation surged through him, and he felt as if he were flying, though he remained in the same place. He looked around to see a light purple bubble around them, partly transparent. After a couple seconds the sensation faded, and they were left standing there, with a bubble around them. Then, when Rowa thought it couldn't get any more strange, Klatus proved him wrong.

"Okay, now walk into that wall." He commanded.

What? Rowan thought and whirled around. He opened his mouth to respond, but Klatus beat him to it.

"I know, just trust me." He said. Rowan turned back to see Zav was gone.

"Your turn." he heard Klatus say.

Rowan sighed, and leaped headfirst into the wall, shutting his eyes right before he would've hit the wall. But to his surprise, it wasn't the wall he crashed into, rather a floor, a carpet to be exact.

He opened his eyes and gazed around to see many pokemon giving him odd glances as he lay on the floor, and he heard Zav attempting to hold back laughter.

Wow… that actually worked. But where- Rowan's thoughts were interrupted a voice behind him.

"Told you it'd work." Klatus said behind him. Rowan got up and looked around. He was in a circular room, many hallways branching out of it.

"Welcome to Wisp Base." Klatus informed. Rowan got up and found Zav, who himself was inspecting one of the hallways.

"Hey, is this one of the Order's?" Rowan asked and Zav nodded.

"Yeah, though it is much different than I thought it would look like." Zav mused.

"How so?"

"Well, I thought it would be bigger." He glanced around. "This is the only floor, and I think that these hallways contain to only rooms to this base. A lot smaller than Cliff." Zav said.

"Where are we, anyway?" Rowan asked. He heard Klatus speaking to one of the members here, explaining who exactly Rowan and Zav were. He, like everybody else, wasn't used to seeing any eon's, nevertheless two.

"Underground. The way we got here must be the only way in. Teleportation is what I would think." Zav thought aloud.

"Well, you're right about that part, but it is much more simple than you think." Klatus informed from behind them.

"Simpler?" Rwan and Zav seemed to say at once.

"Yeah. This stone on my leg," He lifted his hoof to reveal a purple stone attached by a bracelet to his leg, "Is powered when I say the right word to the bartender in that pub. He actually works for us, and he's the only one who can power the stone. Once he does, you go to the portal, which is in that alley, and it activated once you're close enough." He explained, but Rowan seemed to lose him at 'stone'.

How was that simple?

Klatus saw their confusion and he changed the subject, "We should sign you two back in. Tell your base that you're here, you know, so they don't freak out." He said and led them to the desk near where Rowan appeared when he teleported here.

"Two members, Umbreon: Rowan, and Jolteon: Zaverose. Currently stationed at… um," He turned to them, "Which is your base again?"

"Cliff Base." Rowan replied.

"Currently stationed at Cliff Base, status 'home'" He spoke, and the Pidgeot, which looked fairly close to the one at Cliff Base nodded, scribbling words onto documents. It was a couple moments until he looked up.

"Will that be all?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you." Klatus said and turned back to Rowan and Zav.

"Well, now that that's done, what do you guys want to do?" Klatus asked lightheartedly, and Rowan didn't understand.

"Well, you guys can't possibly get back to Cliff Base now, it's too late in the day. You two can leave tomorrow, at dawn." He explained, "For now, do whatever you want. Although I advise not leaving the city, just to be safe, and keep your masks on." Klatus informed, and Rowan almost forgot about the mask he was wearing to begin with.

"Got it. We'll watch out." Zav nodded. He turned to Rowan.

"So, where to?" Zav asked, and Rowan had two replies. He wanted to go find Pyrare, but he guessed that she would probably be busy, as she did seem in a sort of rush to get to wherever she was going.

"I don't know. You know more about this city than me, I'll do whatever you want." He decided, and Zav's face lit up.

"Great! I was thinking… would you want to go see the Xilix?" Zav asked, forgetting that Rowan had no clue on what that was.

Rowan just waited for him to realize, which wasn't very long.

"Oh! Right. The Xilix is one of the Crystals Of Light." Zav explained, and Rowan wore a confused look on his face, one he wore often. Zav took a deep breath, like he always did when he was about to tell Rowan something important.

"The Crystals of Light are six crystals around the world that have unimaginable abilities. They were said to have been created by the Arceus himself, and were shrouded in mystery for quite a while. Anyone he touched any of the crystals would almost instantly perish, depending on what property the crystal had. Seeing what it could do, many tried to harness its power and use it for their own means, but all who tried had failed, until one succeeded." Zav explained.

"It was the Astren, the first one ever known to control its power. Luckily, he wasn't evil, and set out to find the other crystals. Six of them, one on each continent, he found each one and harnessed their energy. Once he had acquired all six, many were afraid he would go mad with his power and become another warlord, this time, unstoppable. But he didn't. It is said he only used the energy he harnessed when necessary, and only a few recorded times have been accounted for." Zav described.

"So what is there purpose?" Rowan asked, his mind imagining these objects.

"No one really knows for sure, but it is assumed they are for the Astren. As any Astren in history who has come in contact has not only survived, but become even more powerful than before." Zav informed.

"Imagine, someone now with that power. They could end this whole war in a day." Zav mused, his face bright with hope.

"I don't know… what if whoever controlled it was evil?" Rowan countered, "If what you said is true, they could destroy the world in a matter of… days." Rowan heard himself speak, and shuddered at the words.

Zav rolled his eyes.

"There's been, like, one evil Astren in the history of this planet. Everybody is just scared of one thing that they're too cowardly to do anything." Zav said boldly.

The Jolteon stayed silent for a moment, then shook his head and spun around to Rowan.

"Whatever, let's just go see it. You can't tell me you don't want to after that, right?" Zav claimed.

"One of them's here?" Rowan asked, and Zav nodded.

"One of the reasons the Keepers built this city is thought to be because of the crystal, and because this whole city is a secret, anyone trying to find the crystal would have a hard time." Zav explained. Rowan sighed and grinned, approving of Zav's proposition. Zav cheered happily, and they set off to the crystal.

It took a couple hours to even find where the crystal was, after multiple questions with many pokemon. Then it took another hour or so to get to the place, which just so conveniently happened to be at the other end of the city. Rowan was just about ready to snap right before they got to the crystal.

It took another thirty minutes or so to get to the crystal, which was blocked by crowds of pokemon, all of which were pushing and shoving to get there. Zav had told him that the crystal may pull you to it, in a way a weak form of gravity, but he shouldn't really feel it until he was fairly close to the crystal.

This felt different.

Everything, Rowan seemed to predict. Movements, comments, voices, it all seemed to be happening as 'according to plan'. He felt like when someone said something, it was one of many possibilities Rowan had subconsciously read. He drove through the crowd, not regarding the others around him.

He had to see it.

"Rowan? What are you- Rowan!" Rowan heard Zav exclaim as he broke away towards the crystal.

The closer Rowan seemed to get, the more vivid things began to feel, and it wasn't because of the brace.

After a minute of shouts and weird looks, Rowan arrived at the crystal. He gasped when he saw it, glowing in the over secured vault it was in. It was resting on a steel pedestal, and was glowing.

Rowan looked at it with interest. It wasn't a certain color, no, the symmetrical prism seemed to be reflecting everything at once. So clear, Rowan could see the red in his eyes.

Wait what?

Rowan suddenly became aware, glancing out of the corners of his eyes at the pokemon surrounding him, none of which were too content on him, instead captivated by the crystal.

Rowan looked at the crystal again, and saw a different picture. It was him, standing there, idle, but there was something off.

He was glowing white, his fur white as snow. The rings on his body glowed a dark ocean blue, and seemed to pulse energy every moment. He was staring back at himself, his eyes now bright orange. He was smiling warmly at himself, and gave Rowan a feeling of calmness and serenity. He remembered now, the dream he had nights ago, where he was paralyzed and the vision of an Umbreon with glowing white fur and purple rings scared him. He remembered the blood streaked claws five times their length, lunging at him to tear his throat out. He shuddered and put the image away, and was left staring at the peaceful Umbreon once again.

The image stayed for a while, until it seemed to briefly nod and vanish. Rowan was left staring at himself, but unconcealed by the hood he was wearing. He glanced around, either no one saw him in the crystal, or no one cared he was an Umbreon. Rowan would take either.

"Rowan! What the heck got into you?!" Rowan heard Zav exclaim close by. Rowan realized the crystal's effect had faded, and was now replaced by just a faint gravitation towards it.

"Rowan?" Zav said, now a hint of concern in his voice. Rowan realized what he had done probably had seemed a bit weird.

"Oh, nothing. Just really wanted to see that crystal." Rowan lied. He was scared Zav wouldn't believe him, but Zav sighed and shrugged in approval.

"I'm with you. I didn't know it would be this hard to get too." Zav glanced at the crystal, and then returned his gaze to Rowan, not appearing to be captivated by it as Rowan was.

"Well, we should probably get back, after all, this really took up the whole-" Rowan was cut short of his sentence by a holler from the back of the room. The words instantly sent a shiver down both Zav and Rowan's spine. Chaos seemed to erupt when they were spoken, as if they were the keywords to set off a bomb. The voice seemed to rise above the clamor before the chaos started in an eerie way.

"The city is under attack!"