Chapter 24

Maria's POV

"...and then we ran into you guys," I finished.

Kellyn, Black, Brendan, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Scarlet, Barry, and I were sitting around me at one of the eating tables in the Center, having some hot chocolate and lunch; our Pokemon were at another table, eating their own lunches. I hadn't told them anything about what Sonic, Knuckles, Aurora, and I had talked about the night before, because they didn't need to know about that.

"So, what's your story?" I asked Black. He was sitting across from me, taking a sip from his mug often hot drink.

"Well, after we had split at Canalave, we came up through Mt. Coronet and arrived here at Snowpoint, completely bypassing the lake. Barry decided he wanted to take on that Gym you'd told about, rather than take care of our task." Black rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" Barry snapped from his seat to my right. "Your Unfezant was reacting badly to the cold! We had to get it to the Pokemon Center anyway!"

"I have Full Restores," Black replied flatly.

Kellyn shook his head, a slightly annoyed look on his face. He was sitting across from Scarlet, who was to my left. "Now you see what I had to deal with." He then picked up the story from where Black had left off. "After Barry had defeated Candace, which took some time, we spent the day wandering around Snowpoint, and the night at the Pokemon Center. This morning, we finally got directions to Lake Acuity and went there. The place was crawling with grunts, so Black, Barry, and I took care of them. Then we surfed - I think that's the term - over to the island in the center of the lake, where we entered a cave."

"Were there any carvings on the walls?" Knuckles inquired. He was sitting across from Barry.

Black nodded. "And they looked like Tails' species."

Tails looked a little surprised from where he sat, which was across from Sonic. "Was one wearing an eyepatch and what looked like a soldier's uniform?"

Kellyn nodded. "Yeah; and there was another one in a pink dress standing next to him."

"Those are my parents, Amadeus and Rosemary," Tails explained. "Was there anyone else?"

"There was one in a cloak," Barry recalled. He reached down as if to scratch his left leg, then paused and slammed the table instead. "If only this cast would stop itching!" he complained.

I shook my head, a small smile on my face. Barry had apparently broken his left leg, and now could only get around on crutches or with his Grotle's help.

"That's Uncle Merlin!" Tails exclaimed. "Anybody else?"

Kellyn frowned slightly. "Well, I don't know how to describe the others we saw, but there was a brown creature wearing a uniform like your dad was, only he didn't have a tail and he had yellow hair on the top of his head. Beside him was what looked like a Lopunny, only without all the fur and in some sort of cowboy outfit with a braid going down the back. They were looking at each other with lovey-dovey looks on their faces." The Ranger let out a shudder. I could tell he wasn't quite into that stuff.

"Those two are Antoine and Bunnie D'Coolete," Sonic identified. He was sitting on Scarlet's left. "They got married awhile back, and personally, I think they make a pretty good pair."

"And then there was what looked like a humanoid Swoobat who was giving the same look to a creature like Knuckles, only he was a darker red and had green eyes," Black recalled.

"Rouge the Bat and her boyfriend, Beryl," Knuckles stated. "Personally, I'm glad that they paired up together, because I don't want to lose Julie-Su to that guy."

"Who?" Barry asked.

"Knuckles' girlfriend," Sonic said, giving the echidna a sly grin. "She's a purple echidna."

"Remember, Sonic, you've got a girlfriend, too," I reminded the hedgehog. I then explained to the three boys, "Her name's Sally Acorn, and she's a princess of sorts in Mobian circles. Were there any other Mobians pictured?"

"Well, there were these two miniature Beedril," Barry noted. "Kind of looked like little kids. Then there was this lizard-like creature, green with these HUGE teeth! He kind of looked like a thin, Shiny Feraligatr."

"Charmy, his girlfriend Saffron - both are bees - and Vector the Crocodile," Knuckles stated. "They're part of the Chaotix. Were they standing with a Mobian with a smooth red shell, a yellow Mobian with a blue jacket and a fluffy tail, and a purple Mobian with a yellow horn?"

"Yeah!" Kellyn replied.

"Those would be the other members of my team - Mighty the Armadillo, Ray the Flying Squirrel, and Espio, a ninja chameleon," Knuckles stated.

"What about the purple Walrein with the yellow hat, though?" Barry asked. "It was standing near that D'Coolete couple."

"That's Rotor," Sonic stated. "His nickname's Boomer, and he's a Walrus, not a whatever-that-is."

"Were there any others?" I asked.

Black shook his head. "Nah. We didn't see any others, but that Merlin guy did take up the entire back wall of the cave...Anyway, Jupiter drove us out with more grunts. Barry decided he was going to take her on personally, and you all saw the result."

"So, where are you guys gonna be heading now?" Kellyn inquired.

"We're going to head to Veilstone," Scarlet replied, cracking her knuckles. "My fist has a thing or two to say to Charon's face!"

"And we've got to rescue the lake Pokemon, too," I added, thinking back to what Barry had called the one in Acuity. Uxie.

If it was who I thought it was...I was going to need to move quickly.

"I'm gonna go train," Barry muttered.

"We're gonna stick with Maria and Scarlet," Sonic stated, speaking for his team.

"I think I'll go look around for Kate," Kellyn stated. "I may not have a Pokemon Partner, but I'm experienced enough to go out on my own."

Black remained silent. Scarlet seemed to think something was up.

"Are you worried about something?" she asked.

Black looked at her for a moment, then nodded slowly. "I've heard rumors that there's been some activity by a place called the Abundant Shrine back in Unova. Cheren, one of my friends, called me a while back and told me that the rumors are true. I'm gonna go and check it out."

"We could have used your help in the final battle, but if you have to go back, I guess you have to go back," I remarked.

"I'm pretty sure that you'll do fine," Black replied. "Besides - you're the Champion in three Regions. This shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Hey, Black," Brendan said, catching the Unova Trainer's attention.

Black turned his head. "What?" he asked.

"I'd kind of like to come along. Unova sounds like it's crawling with all kinds of Pokemon not seen in other Regions, and I'd kind of like to get some."

Black shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way. It's pretty boring there, though, ever since I halted Team Plasma a while back."

"Team Plasma, huh?" I repeated. I recalled seeing some news footage, back when I was going around in Kanto and Jhoto a second time. Something about a Trainer with long green hair and a white dragon at his side, facing a Trainer with a black dragon...

I decided to ask Black about it. "You wouldn't happen to be the Trainer who stopped that guy with the white dragon, would you?"

Black looked in my direction. "You mean N and Reshiram? Yeah, that was me."

"Then you're the guy who stopped that weird guy from taking over the world, huh?" Brendan guessed.

"There's a reason I said 'halted'," Black stated. "The real leader behind the whole thing, Ghestis, managed to get away after I'd fought him. I think he's still out there, somewhere, getting ready to rise up again."

"You mean, like Team Rocket did," I guessed.

"Exactly. This Abundant Shrine thing probably isn't him, though - it's too soon after my fight with N, and there are police all over the place. May as well check it out, anyway."

Scarlet frowned a little. "That black dragon - Zekrom, was it?"

Black nodded. "That's him; he's not with me now, though; he wanted to stay back in Unova and not attract more attention than he already has."

"I can see that," Brendan remarked. "Kind of like how Maria doesn't use her Mew very often."

"Her name is Aurora," I muttered, frowning at my last memory of the Pokemon. "She doesn't like being called just 'Mew'."

Barry stared at me, eyes wide. Then he got up from his seat, leaning on his crutches. "That's it! No more waiting around for me. I'm going to go train. See you guys later!"

He limped off as fast as he could with a casted leg and a pair of crutches, Grotle following after him.

Black chuckled. "Kind of reminds me of Cheren, back before he became a Gym Leader. That guy just wanted to get more and more powerful, just so that he could be Champion. Alder made him rethink that one."

Hmm...Alder must be Unova's Champion. I wonder what Type of Pokemon he uses...

Kellyn got up. "I'd better go, too. Who knows how far away Kate is by now?"

"Go ahead, then," I stated. "But, before you go, how about we exchange numbers, too keep in touch? PokeGears are interface-able with Stylers."

"Sure, I guess."

After both Scarlet and I had given and received numbers with Kellyn, the Ranger left.

"We should probably do the same thing," Brendan remarked. "I've already got your number, Maria, but not Scarlet's."

The two shared numbers; then Black did the same with me, Scarlet, and Brendan.

I frowned slightly as Black's name appeared on my PokeGear's speed dial. "Why does it say your name is -"

"Don't!" Black interrupted. "Just...just ignore that. I prefer it when people call me Black not...that."

"Hilbert? Really?" Brendan asked, looking at his PokeGear.

Black shot him a death look. "What did I just tell Maria?" he growled.

Brendan looked a little nervous. "Right. Black. Your name is Black, not -"

"Don't!" Black barked. "Just don't." He sighed irritably. "Come on; if we're to be in Unova before the sun falls, we have to go now." He got up and started to head for the entrance, then turned and looked back at Brendan. "Are you coming or not?"

"I'm coming," Brendan replied quickly. He shot me a nervous grin, then ran after Black, leaving me, Scarlet, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails.

I looked at my Mobian friends. "Well, what do you guys think? Should we head for Veilstone now? Or should we wait until tomorrow morning?"

"I'd like it if we could go now," Scarlet growled. Zap, who was sitting on her left shoulder, nodded in agreement.

"We aren't really on fresh legs, though," Knuckles noted. "I suggest we wait until tomorrow before we try anything."

"Besides - I still have to teach Scarlet how to use her tails," Tails added.

"Oh, yeah," Scarlet muttered, looking at her tails. "Almost forgot about that..."

"So, you guys don't mind if I take a look around?" I inquired.

The others shook their heads.

"All right, then. Let's go our separate ways and meet back here at nightfall. Sound good?"

"Sure," Knuckles replied. He looked over in Vent's direction. "Hey, Vent! Let's go train!"

"Right!" Vent replied. He jumped up from where he was sitting and followed Knuckles out of the building and into the cold.

"Come on, Scarlet," Tails said as he got up. "Let's go find a quiet place and work on your flight abilities."

"All right," Scarlet replied as she got up. Zap remained on her shoulder and Gear joined them as they left.

I looked at Sonic. "So, are you going to go out for a run?" I inquired.

Sonic shrugged. "The blizzard's gonna keep me from going all that far. I think I'll have a look around and see if they have any chili dog stands around here." The hedgehog got up and walked off, Paul going over to his side as he left.

I let out a grunt as I stretched, glad to be able to relax for at least a little while. One of the first things on my mind, though, was to stock up on Hyper Potions and Revives before heading to the Galactic HQ. So, I made my way to the PokeMart and used up a good chunk of the cash I had on hand "restocking the larder," so to speak. Once that was out of the way, I decided to wander around Snowpoint for a while, so I grabbed my jacket and went outside.

It was twilight, now, and the snow reflected the sunset quite beautifully. It looked picture perfect, and I wished that my PokeGear had a camera on it; the sunset looked like it had been painted onto the sky.

As I was staring up at the sky, I didn't watch where I was going and almost ran into the side of a house. As I backed away, I noticed these strange ruins on the edge of town. Intrigued, I went over to get a better look.

As I neared the entrance, which was lined with pillars, a woman in a rather thin-looking white dress appeared out of nowhere.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am the appointed guardian of these ruins," the woman replied. "Who are you? What is your business here?"

"Maria White," I replied. I went through my backpack and brought out my wallet and opened it up, showing all of my Trainer Licenses from Kanto, Jhoto, and Hoenn, as well as my Ruin License, which I had obtained after discovering all 28 versions of Unknown in the Ruins of Alph. "Is it all right if I look at the ruins here? I promise to leave everything as it was from before I entered."

The woman considered my words. Then she took out my Ruin License and looked it over. She then returned it to me, saying, "You may enter; just don't go any lower than the ground floor."

I nodded. "Thank you."

With that, the woman moved to one side and I walked inside.

Inside the ruins, I was instantly amazed by how well-preserved the ruins were. Other than the occasional black Pokemon with red feathers and headdresses - Sneasel and Weavile - the place was perpetually untouched and silent as a grave.

I made my way over to one of the walls and started to decipher the carvings drawn there, muttering as I went: "The creature of continents sleeps here...only steel...rock...and ice can awaken he who slumbers."

I blinked, then looked over to the stairs that led to the floor below. "Steel, rock, and ice, huh? That probably means the Regis from Hoenn. But what is the creature of continents? Another Golem Pokemon?" I shrugged and looked back at the carvings, expecting to see some sort of story behind the building of the temple, which might hopefully unlock the secret behind this "creature of continents."

"EEEYAAAAHH!"

I jolted, jumping back from the wall when I heard the scream come from somewhere below me. I looked around quickly for a set of stairs, then started to run over to them.

I stopped when I nearly ran down them, however, when I remembered the promise that I'd made to the ruin's guardian to only stay on this floor.

I stood there, debating whether or not I really wanted to break that promise and go down there, or just stand there and listen to the screams. Of course, it wasn't in my nature to stand by and let someone get hurt, so I sent an apologetic glance to the entrance and ran down to the next floor.

As soon as I reached the base of the stairs, I found out what the problem was.

A pink hedgehog in a red dress was being chased around by a rather angry-looking Weavile. Trying to keep pace with the hedgehog was a little pink blob I identified as a Jigglypuff.

"Hey!" I shouted, catching their attention. "Over here! Hurry!"

The hedgehog changed course from running deeper into the ruin and came at me instead, the Jigglypuff not very far behind. The Weavile ran after them, too. As they neared the stairs, I moved to one side to let the hedgehog and the Jigglypuff by me, then threw Sparks' PokeBall out.

Sparks glared at the Weavile, her Intimidate ability going to work. The Dark/Ice Type skidded to a halt and looked at the two of us for a moment. Then it turned tail and ran off into the ruins.

I walked back up to the first floor, satisfied that the Weavile hadn't attacked, and was tackled by the hedgehog.

"Thank you for saving me back there!" she exclaimed as she hugged me. "I thought no one would ever come and get me out of there."

"It was no problem," I replied with a smile. "The name's Maria, and this is my Luxray, Sparks. Who might you be?"

The hedgehog released me and messed with the hem of her dress for a moment. Then she grinned at me and said, "The name's Amy, and this is Puff." She gestured to the Jigglypuff, who waved at me. "We were exploring when that thing came out and attacked us."

"It's called a Weavile," I explained. "They, and their pre-evolved form, Sneasel, are pretty common around here, seeing as this is a rather cold area. How did you get up here, anyway? The route from south to north is almost impossible to navigate, thanks to that blizzard."

Amy shrugged. "I don't know. One minute, I was in Station Square with a couple of my friends, and the next thing I knew, I was in this cold place! Puff was the first friend I made, and he's helped me get around a lot. But...everything around here is so strange! Like that creature back there."

It took me only a moment to put two and two together. Amy was clearly a part of Sonic's world, and had been abruptly dragged here just like the others. "Well, that's probably because this isn't the world you know. The creatures around here are called Pokemon - that includes Puff and Sparks. No one has seen anything like you in a really long time."

Amy looked startled. "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious," I replied. "Mobians are called 'PokeMorphs' in the legends, because you looked like you could morph into Pokemon or human form."

Amy looked a little worried. "But then..what if that means I'm the only Mobian left?" She started to cry loudly at the thought. "I won't be able to see Sonic again!"

Puff looked concerned. He bounced up onto her right shoulder and tried to comfort her.

At Amy's mentioning of Sonic, I thought back to when we were at Lake Valor, looking at the pictures of the Mobians of Sonic's past. A hedgehog that looked just like Amy was among them.

"How about you come with me for a while?" I suggested to the hedgehog. "Anywhere would be better than this cold place, right?"

Amy looked at me, tears still streaming from her emerald green eyes. "Y-you mean it?" she asked.

I nodded, returning Sparks to her PokeBall. "Sure. Come on; let's head over to the Pokemon Center and get you warmed up."

As we left the ruins, I looked for the ruin guardian and, spotting her, explained what had happened. She didn't mind that I had rescued Amy from the Weavile, and stated that if I had tried to go any deeper, a teleport device would have sent me back to the entrance, since I wasn't a Pokemon Champion of Sinnoh yet.

I let out a sigh of relief. "It's good that I didn't get into any trouble," I stated. "Would it be all right if I came back later with a couple friends and give the first floor another look at another time? The Unown words here are pretty interesting, and I'd like to decipher them when I'm not training my team."

The ruin guardian looked me over for a moment. "So long as you don't bring her back," she stated curtly, nodding in Amy's direction.

The hedgehog bristled. "Why? Is there something wrong with me?"

"Uh... Let's just get going, Amy," I said nervously. Something about the hedgehog - I don't know what it was - was telling me that getting her mad would be a very bad idea. "Taking out a ruin guardian is worse than being banned from going into one ruin."

The Mobian sighed, as if trying to let all of her anger out in one breath. "Fine," she muttered. "Where's that Pokemon Center you mentioned?"

"This way," I replied, walking in the direction of the red building.

"So, how is it that you know I'm a Mobian?" Amy asked. Obviously, she had picked up that I knew something more than the average Trainer.

"I read things in the ruins," I replied coolly. I didn't know how smart the kid actually was, seeing as Sonic had described her as being a kid who turned herself into a teenager.

"But you said the ruins called Mobians 'PokeMorphs'," Amy pointed out.

OK, so she's smart enough to put two and two together.

"You'll figure it out when we get to the Center," I stated with a sly smile. "One of my friends can help me explain it."

Amy and Puff looked at each other. I didn't try to see what the look translated as, because we were coming up on the Pokemon Center.

As we stepped inside, I looked around for Scarlet and Team Sonic, trying to see if any of them were back yet from their separate excursions. Knuckles was nowhere to be seen, so I guess that he and Vent were probably out sparring somewhere, maybe with a wild Medicham or Machoke. Tails and Scarlet weren't around, either, so they were probably still out, too. The only thing I saw that hinted at the presence of any one of them was a large stack of hot dogs with a red sauce of some sort on top. Those were probably the chili dogs Sonic was talking about earlier.

Amy took note of the pile of chili dogs sitting there on one of the tables. She gave me a curious look.

I shrugged. "May as well see who's eating them," I remarked. "No one can eat that much all by themselves."

"I know of one person who can," Amy murmured.

As we neared the pile of chili dogs, I took note that there was a claw reaching out and grabbing one occasionally, while something else was chomping loudly. I guess that Sonic was eating the dogs at a pretty fast pace.

Amy walked up to the pile of chili dogs, a curious look on her face. "Excuse me?" she asked politely.

The chomping suddenly stopped; it was followed by a loud gulp. "Yeah?" asked a voice. Definitely Sonic eating those chili dogs.

"Are you planning on eating these all by yourself?" Amy inquired.

There was an indignant squawk from the other side, and Paul hopped up onto the table and around the chili dogs in order to see who was asking the question. He sized Amy up, then told Sonic something in his bird language.

A blue, spiny head looked around the chili dog pile. "Pink Sandslash?" Sonic asked. "What do you mean by that?"

Amy instantly had the speedster in a tight hug. "Sonic!" she exclaimed. "You're here, too!"

"Amy!" Sonic exclaimed. He looked a little nervous to find the pink hedgehog holding him close. "You mind? I can't breathe!"

Amy giggled and released him. "Sorry; I'm just so glad that I'm not the only one stuck here! Aren't you?"

Sonic shrugged. "I've known about others for a while."

"Others?" Amy repeated. "You mean, other Mobians?"

I answered for Sonic. "Tails and Knuckles are here, too."

"Really?" Amy looked around, excited. "Where are they?"

"Out and about," Sonic replied carelessly. "Knuckles took Vent, his Lucario, out for training a while back, and Tails is trying to teach a friend of mine how to fly properly. Shadow and St. John are in this time, too, only I'm not quite sure where they are."

Amy frowned when I mentioned the skunk. "Great. If St. John's here, then Naugus might be, too."

"I doubt it," Sonic replied calmly. "I mean, we would have heard something about weather going out of whack or something like that."

The main doors of the Pokemon Center burst open, and Knuckles, Tails, Scarlet, and their Pokemon walked in as a extreme blizzard was going on outside.

"Looks like you spoke too soon," Amy remarked dryly.

Sonic sent her a glare that went unnoticed.

I looked outside, trying to see through the curtain of snow that was coming down. "There's some sort of figure out there, and he's got a scepter," I reported.

"It's Ixis Naugus," Knuckles explained. "Somehow, he was brought to this time, too."

I ran to the PC and started to go through my Boxes, considering which ones to take in order to fight the evil wizard who was said to take over the Kingdom of Acorn at one point. The Mobians seemed to guess what I was doing.

"That sort of thing isn't going to work," Sonic warned. "This guy is a master of the elements; he can turn any attack that you throw at him back at you. The only way to stop him is with a sword that stops evil magic."

"He's only a master of the natural elements," I countered. "Depending on how long this guy's been here, I can stop him with one of my other Pokemon." I held up a Cherish Ball and grinned. "You remember this guy, don't you, Scarlet?"

The Ranger's eyes widened. "You don't mean Jirachi, do you?" she asked.

I nodded, a huge grin on my face. "This guy has the move that can take this wizard-guy down," I stated.

"And what makes you say that?" Knuckles asked.

"You'll see," I replied, zipping my coat up all the way. "If you need me, I'll be stopping Naugus." With that, I made my way to the door. To my surprise, the others decided to follow me out.

"We'll back you up," Sonic explained to me. "Just in case your little idea doesn't work."

We walked out into the blizzard and fought our way over to where the figure was standing, waving his scepter like he was conducting a band.

"Hey, Ixis Noogie!" Sonic called. "Drop the scepter and no one gets hurt."

There was some maniacal laughter from the figure. "So we meet again, Quickster!" a voice hissed. "It is a pleasure to have you here to watch me conquer this place."

"This place is used to blizzards, you know that?" I called. "Every home probably has a survival kit somewhere to let them last for weeks without stepping one foot outside! For an all-powerful Elemental Wizard, you think like an idiot."

There was another hiss, and the snow in front of us parted to reveal the figure more properly. As soon as I saw him, a headache slammed into the back of my head, causing me to wince as something got into my head and dropped a large amount of knowledge into my head.

I shook my head and looked at Ixis Naugus again, now knowing that he was a Mobian who was a mix between a bat, rhino, and lobster. Once I'd gotten past the fact that he looked disgustingly ugly in a crown and with that nasty beard of his, I noticed that there were two Chaos Emeralds on a scepter the Mobian was holding: red and purple.

There was also a spot for a third Emerald, but it looked like it had been torn out by a powerful force. Sonic noticed it, too.

"So that's how Shadow got the green Emerald back," the hedgehog noted. He grinned hugely. "That means you aren't as powerful as you were before! Maria, what abut that little friend of yours?"

"Jirachi, I summon thee!" I called, throwing the Cherish Ball into the air. Jirachi came out instantly, a large grin on his face.

"About time you let me out of there!" he told me, stretching his mini limbs. "Who do you want to beat?"

I pointed at Naugus. "Use that ultimate move of yours and knock that PokeMorph down a power peg."

Jirachi looked at Naugus and let out a shudder. "Anything to get him out of my sight!" The three tags on his head started to glow as he lifted his hands in a skyward direction.

The wizard took one look at the Legendary Pokemon and laughed. "Do you really think that this puny creature can defeat me?"

Jirachi gave him an annoyed look. "Judge me by my size, do you? You're gonna pay for that!" He swung his arms down as the sky suddenly darkened. "Draco Meteor!"

Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy gawked as gigantic meteors plummeted from the sky and hit Naugus dead-on.

I grinned hugely at the smoking form in front of us. "What do you think of Jirachi now, huh? Not so puny now, is he?"

Jirachi chuckled weakly. "Let's hope he doesn't get up for a while. I don't think I have enough attack power in me for another one of those."

Scarlet and Zap exchanged glances as the blizzard started to die down around us. Scarlet then looked at Sonic and asked, "What, in your opinion, are all of the elements in existence?"

Sonic thought for a moment. "Well, there's wind, fire, earth, and water," he stated, "but through those he has access to other things, such as the snowstorm we were just standing in."

"Meaning he probably doesn't have any control over, say, electricity?"

I started to kind of see where Scarlet was going. "Or, maybe, steel? Or, perhaps, psychic abilities?"

Tails shrugged. "Maybe. Just don't try anything dark; Naugus learned how to shadow meld when he lost his mind in the Egg Grapes."

"Noted," Scarlet acknowledged. "So, what are we going to do with this guy?"

"First, we're going to get these away from him," I replied, going over and grabbing the scepter. "Jirachi, can you use Psychic to release these gems from the scepter?"

The Legendary nodded. "Sure thing, Maria. One Psychic attack, coming up!"

The claws holding the Emeralds in place shook for a moment before slowly being prayed back. Knuckles took the gems from the scepter just before Jirachi stopped the move. Much to our surprise, the claws snapped shut rather quickly.

"Well, that's that," Knuckles remarked. He gave Sonic the purple Emerald and placed the red one in his dreadlocks. "Now, if Shadow has the green one, and we have two more, that leaves four missing, plus the Master Emerald."

"Whole or in shards, do you think?" Sonic asked carelessly.

"Guess we'll find out," I remarked, recalling that the giant green gem Knuckles guarded had been shattered twice in the past. I'm glad that the stories were recorded properly in the ruins.

Amy looked from me to Scarlet, then at Team Sonic. "I'm a little confused, here. Could someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Sure, we got the time," I replied coolly. "Let's just do it inside, away from the cold."

Naugus let out a low moan.

"And after we take care of gruesome here," Sonic noted. He grabbed Naugus' cape and hauled him up. "Hey, Jirachi - you think you could open up a portal?"

Jirachi cocked his head. "A portal? Why?"

Sonic smirked. "I know exactly where to send this guy off to. Can you do it?"

Jirachi thought for a moment, then nodded. "Just say, 'I wish for a portal to open,' and don't forget to say where you want to to open up to."

Sonic nodded. "All right, then. I wish for a portal to the No Zone Jail to open."

I frowned as Jirachi's tags started glowing.

"No Zone Jail?" I repeated.

Sonic smirked. "Yup; that's where the most evil villains from each dimension go after they've been arrested." A hole suddenly opened up in the air in front of us, revealing a sprawling complex. "Here we go." Raising his voice, he called out, "Hey, Zonic! Here's a gift from me!" He tossed Naugus into the portal, which promptly vanished.

Sonic then looked over at Jirachi. "Do you have Warp Ring tech in you or something?" he asked.

Jirachi looked a little confused, then shook his head. "Nah. I've just got this ability that allows me to grant certain things to certain people. I can't, say, turn Scarlet back into a human, but with a little Dragon power, I can open up a hole in space and send someone somewhere; I can't do that very often, though. Palkia would have my head on a platter if I did it more than once every hundred years or so."

Amy blinked. "Turn Scarlet back into a human?" she repeated. She turned and looked the mentioned human-turned-Mobian over. "But she looks like a normal Mobian to me."

Scarlet lifted one of her hands and caused her spikes to appear, startling the pink hedgehog. "Call me normal, do you? I'm a combination of those three over there, plus the fact that I originally used to be a human Pokemon Ranger. I'm not from your time, girl."

"The name's Amy," Amy stated matter-of-factly. "Amy Rose. And this is Puff," she added, motioning to the Pokemon. "I was in these ruins, being chased around by these weird-looking creatures, when Maria found me."

"How about we do this inside?" I suggested as a cold wind passed through. "The temperature's dropping pretty quickly, and I don't plan on freezing to death."

The others nodded, and we walked back into the Pokemon Center and ordered some hot chocolate.

"So, what's with the Pokemon with you guys?" Amy asked as we sat down.

"That's Paul," Sonic explained, motioning to the Pidgeotto. "He's a Pokemon called a Pidgeotto."

"This is Gear," Tails added, introducing his Klang.

"And this is Vent," Knuckles stated, motioning to the Lucario.

"And this is my Pokemon Partner, Zap," Scarlet finished. "And, as has already been said, I'm Scarlet."

"And I am Maria," I reintroduced. "The five of us ran into each other not too long ago, and we've been trying to stop a group called Team Galactic. We're going to be invading their main headquarters tomorrow."

Amy looked a little surprised. "Wow; I missed a lot. A final assault already?"

Knuckles nodded. "Yeah; it probably might have lasted a little longer if Eggman was here."

"But he isn't," Tails pointed out, "and that makes things easier."

Puff let out a loud yawn; so did Jirachi. I nodded in agreement at what they implied.

"Yeah; we probably should be going to bed," I stated.

I could feel Sonic's and Knuckles' gazes digging into me, causing me to turn and look at them. I knew what it was that they were wondering about, and what they wanted to know what my answer was.

Was I going to take up Aurora's offer? Or not?

I gave them a slight nod, getting odd looks from Scarlet and the others.

Scarlet frowned; I knew she could tell something was off. After a moment, she sighed and nodded in agreement. "Come on; let's go find the room Maria reserved."

As Scarlet and the others started towards where the room was, I turned to look over at Sonic and Knuckles, who'd stayed behind.

"I actually reserved two rooms," I said, grinning sheepishly. "Since we've got so many people, I was thinking that the boys and the girls would want separate rooms. If everyone's cramming into the one, we can use the other one for whatever it is that Aurora's planning on doing."

Sonic smirked at that. "Sounds good to me."

Knuckles huffed. "You're just saying that because you can stay away from Amy that way."

"Well, yeah!"

I laughed at Sonic's response. "Okay, okay; how about we head back to that other room and get this over with."

We made our way over to the other room I'd reserved, and I shut and locked the door behind us.

"Okay." I sat down on the floor, Sonic and Knuckles joining me. "Aurora! I know you've been following me. Show yourself!"

The Mew materialized not very far ahead of us, long tail swaying.

"You've made your decision?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah; we're going with it. What do you need to do?"

"Just remain still. I will handle the rest." Aurora in between us. "Do not be afraid by what I am about to do. It's the only way for you to rediscover your past."

The Mew raised her arms, and something pulsed.

An instant later, the three of us were standing in an empty room with whitewashed walls, without Aurora.

As we looked around, confused, a woman suddenly materialized in a beam of light. She was taller than I was, and she had red-gold hair and eyes that were a sky blue. And she was wearing a red T-shirt and a jacket that had a red-and-orange flame pattern and jeans, with red shoes with a zipper down the front.

The woman eyed us. "Huh. I didn't expect you to pick two Mobians for a memory revival."