Author Note:

I really hope you like it! And thank you so much to the people who reviewed, favorited, and alerted. You're all such nice people :)

Chapter 22: In Which They Find the Council and Things Get Real

Kanto, On the Road to the Kanto Council

Red's POV

Green seemed to have thrown off his depressed state for an extremely focused one, and he was using it all on getting us to the council as quickly as possible. And while I was happy Green was no longer depressed, I was getting really tired. Green had even managed to wear Saur out. I had gotten in the habit of letting the Bulbasaur run alongside us, but the poor guy had nearly fainted from exhaustion and I'd had to return him to his Poké Ball to recover. Green's Charmander, on the other hand, was refusing to admit defeat and bravely marched with us, even though it was obvious he was as tired as Saur and I both were.

"Hey….Green," I panted eventually. "Maybe," *pant* "Maybe we should," *puff* "Take a break."

"No," Green refused, without even pausing. Charmander sent me a look that clearly implied he thought I was weak. Which normally would have upset me, but at this point I just wanted a drink of water. Luckily for me, we soon got to a sign which proudly proclaimed "COUNCIL IN 0.25 MILES."

"We're almost there!" I exclaimed.

Charmander tried to smother its sigh of relief, but wasn't completely successful. The last quarter mile passed in a flash of burning muscles and dusty road and then the road dead-ended into a mountain.

"Is this a joke?" I wondered. The mountain towered over us and seemed to be the only thing around. A quick survey of the scenery revealed no structures or people.

"No, this is the council," Green said, pointing out a sign stuck to the side of the mountain which stated "MAGE COUNCIL."

"…Right. Where's the door?" Green shrugged at my question and began to run his hands along the wall searching for a door. Then he suddenly fell through the wall.

"Green!" I exclaimed running to where he had disappeared and finding him sprawled on the ground half through a well concealed doorway.

"Found it," Green mumbled. I helped Green up and we went the rest of the way into the room. The air conditioning was a relief and I spent a few moments reveling in the cool feeling on my skin before looking around the room. It ends up the room wasn't even really a room at all, it was just an entryway leading to a spiral staircase.

"Do we…have to walk up those?" I asked, daunted.

Green took a deep breath and began to ascend the stairs. I followed him and hoped that the staircase would be short.

200 Steps Later

It wasn't. Charmander had given up after the first fifty steps and was relaxing in its Poké Ball. I was extremely envious.

"Are we almost there?" I panted.

"We must be," Green groaned.

"Maybe this is some kind of test," I mused. "If we make it up the stairs, we get to talk to the leader."

"Shut up," Green grumbled. "Talking uses energy." It seemed sage advice, so we continued the rest of the way up the steps in silence.

By the time we got to the top of the steps, we had been reduced to basically crawling we were so tired. We both collapsed on the ground at the top of the stairs, panting. Two large black shoes came into view and I looked up to see a man with spiky red hair.

"Lance?" I said.

"Yes, I'm Lance," the man replied. "Who are you?"

I stumbled to my feet along with Green, who looked much less disheveled than me (typical). "I'm Red and this is Green."

"Welcome to the Mage Council," Lance said. There was a loud dinging sound and I looked to see two doors sliding open, releasing the people inside. And the three people that came out of the door surprised me completely.

"Yellow? Ruby and Sapphire?" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Red!" Yellow said, confused. "But this is the Hoenn council, why are you here?"

"Actually," Lance interrupted. "All four councils are located in this mountain. We said that there were more to help confuse the location."

"You mean... All the councils are here. In this cave. So all of us splitting up was completely pointless." Sapphire said.

"Apparently," Green replied.

As I stared at my three friends something occurred to me. "How did you three get up here?" I wondered. "You don't even look winded."

"We took the elevator," Sapphire replied.

"There's an elevator?" I exclaimed unhappily. "All those steps…for nothing."

Several Minutes Earlier

Yellow POV

This is it! The Hoenn council! It's been a long journey getting here. I had to put up with Ruby and Sapphire's ridiculous arguing the whole time and got chased by a creepy guy, but this is what every journey is about...the destination!

"I thought it would be prettier," Ruby commented breaking me out of my thoughts. "This just looks like a mountain."

"It's to avoid suspicion," Sapphire retorted, and though they still argued all the time, there was a lot less anger in their arguments, it was more like fond banter. But it was still really annoying.

"Let's go in," I suggested, walking up to the door which was trying to be inconspicuous and totally failing because really, who would put a door on a mountain? But that wasn't important. I tried the handle and it opened easily. Which surprised me somewhat, I was expecting it to be locked, it doesn't seem like they'd want random wanderers (like us) coming in, but maybe they saw us coming or something. The sight we were greeted with through the door was a giant staircase.

"I'm not climbing those," Ruby said immediately.

"I don't want to either," I agreed.

"Come on," Sapphire wheedled. "Stairs are good for ya'!"

"Not that many stairs," Ruby retorted.

To the left of the door I spotted an innocuous elevator and exclaimed, "Here's the elevator!" I poked the up arrow and it lit up and the door opened with a quiet ding.

Sapphire continued to grumble about how climbing stairs was good for the body, but she didn't hesitate to get into the elevator, leading me to believe she was as disheartened by the stairs as Ruby and I were.

The elevator dinged and the doors slowly opened (like really slowly, why? It's not like someone's going to get their arm stuck going out) and we exited.

And in the room, we found two people I was most definitely not expecting.

Red and Green were standing in front of a man, who I recognized as Lance, and he told us that all the councils, were actually based in the same place. Making my trip alone with Ruby and Sapphire completely pointless.

"Well if all the councils are actually here, then the others should get here eventually," I pointed out.

"So what, we wait here for them?" Sapphire asked.

Red shrugged and said, "Unless you have a better idea?" Sapphire shook her head in the negative.

We explained to Lance that we were hoping some of their friends would be showing up soon, and he led us to a dormitory area. "Why is this here?" I wondered.

"This was originally a school," Lance explained. "It was closed during the war and we repurposed it."

"They what?" Sapphire asked blankly.

"Used it for something else," Ruby explained with an eye roll.

"Make yourselves at home," Lance said. "But it would be best if you stayed in this hallway." Then he walked off leaving all of us standing in the hallway by ourselves.

"This sign says women," Sapphire commented, grabbing my arm and dragging me into the room. The door swung shut behind us.

Girls' room:

The girls' room was just a rectangular room with ten bunk beds. The beds weren't made and I didn't see any kind of bedding. Not that I particularly wanted to sleep on one of those beds anyway, who knows how old they were. "This is scary," I muttered.

"…No it isn't. It's cozy," Sapphire replied, and I hoped it was one of those times where she was just pretending to be brave, because no one could possibly find anything cozy about the room.

"I'm so glad we go to MAGE and not a place like this." I walked over to one of the beds thinking about sitting down, but after taking a closer look and seeing the questionable stains, I quickly changed my mind, taking a seat on the floor by the door instead. Sapphire slid down the wall, settling on the floor next to me.

"So. Do ya like Red?" Sapphire asked suddenly.

"What? Uh…I huh?" I replied inelegantly.

"Isn't this the kind of stuff girls are supposed ta talk about?" Sapphire asked in explanation.

"If you're Blue."

"Well what do you wanna talk about?"

We stared at each other for a while. I briefly considered asking her how things were with Ruby, but immediately decided that would be too awkward so I decided on a carefully neutral topic.

"When do you think the others will get here?" I wondered aloud.

Sapphire shrugged. "Soon hopefully. I hate waiting."

"I do too."

"Let's stop waiting then," Sapphire said, jumping to her feet. "Let's explore!"

"But Lance said we should –"

"Rules are for boring people," Sapphire countered leaving the room. I quickly hurried after her, figuring it would be better if I went with her to keep her from destroying anything important.

Boys' room:

Green POV

Great. I'm in a room that has the dubious honor of being the most disgusting bedroom I've ever been in. It's so terrible, I actually agreed with Ruby, who ranted about the room for a while, but then I was back to ignoring him when he began telling Red and me his 'Lovely Romantic Tale' (his words, not mine. I would never use any of those words voluntarily). Red was surprised of course, that boy is more oblivious than a bag of non-magical nails. Even I noticed that those two were going to become a couple, not that I'm not observant (I am) but I make a point of ignoring other people's dramas so that they don't ask me for advice.

"That's a great story!" Red said once Ruby had finished his (entirely too long) story.

"I know," Ruby replied demurely. (That was sarcasm. He sounded pleased with himself. He really shouldn't have, it was a terrible story).

"Have you heard from anyone else?" I asked. My thoughts flicked to Blue and the last call I had gotten from her. Hopefully she was okay.

"No, how would I have talked to them?" Ruby replied blankly.

I mutely pointed at the phone that was clearly visible, half falling out of his pocket. Ruby glanced down and muttered a quiet, "Oh. Right. My phone."

Red flopped down on one of the beds, creating a huge cloud of dust which I edged away from nervously. Ruby reacted a bit more…dramatically. He screamed. Ruby jumped backwards in his efforts to avoid the dust and ended up tripping over one of the other beds and landing on it. This, of course, created another dust cloud and covered him in a grey film.

"Ahhh!" Ruby screamed and if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he was being attacked. He jumped back up, brushing ineffectively at his clothes. "I need a change of clothes," he announced. With that he dashed out the door.

"Should we follow him?" Red asked, brushing his hands through his hair, getting rid of the dust in it.

I gave a heavy sigh, but nodded. "We probably should. If we don't he'll probably wind up blowing the mountain up." Red and I stepped out into the hallway, but Ruby was nowhere in sight.

"So, left or right?" Red asked.

"Let's split up," I suggested.

"I'll go left!" Red skipped happily along his chosen direction. Idiot. I began walking towards the right, listening for the sounds of a Ruby in distress.

Ruby POV

I needed to find a bathroom and a washing machine. Also a clothes store would be nice. But the chances of finding one of those here is pretty slim. I walked down the hallways searching for a washroom, but they all looked the same and none of the doors were marked and I soon realized I was completely lost.

"What are you doing here?" a female voice demanded. I spun around to face the accuser to find Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh.

"Cynthia!" I exclaimed. "I love your outfit!"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She asked again, taking a few steps back after I walked closer to her.

"I'm Ruby!" I announced. "Lance said that my friends and I could wait here while we wait for our other friends to get here. Then we're going to defeat Team Galactic once and for all!"

Cynthia gave me a bemused look at that. "Really. You and your friends are going to take down a powerful rebel group?"

"Yeah. But right now I'm looking for a laundry room. Do you know where I can find one?"

Cynthia stared at me for a few moments longer, probably to assess if I was telling the truth or not, and eventually nodded. "Come on." I followed her down the hallway, admiring her outfit. Also her haircut. And her grace. She should be a model. Like Elesa.

She led me down various hallways and opened a door I realized was just two doors down from the room Green, Red and I had been occupying before. Feeling slightly foolish, I thanked Cynthia (after asking her what hair products she uses. She didn't tell me) and took stock of the room. It was just as dingy as the other room I was in, but this one was full of washers and dryers instead of beds. I quickly changed into one of my many spare outfits (I'm always prepared for a wardrobe change). The washers looked ancient, but I found the least gross looking one and put my clothes in anyway. I doubted it could make my clothes worse, and even if it did I had a bunch of extras anyway.

Yellow POV

Sapphire walked confidently along the hallways and I followed much more uncertainly. "We shouldn't be down here," I said nervously.

"Loosen up Yellow. No one's going to catch us," Sapphire reassured. Naturally the second the words had left her mouth someone caught us. I recognized him instantly as Steven Stone, Champion of Hoenn. I'm not proud, but I ditched Sapphire. But I didn't feel as bad as I normally would have, because it was her idea in the first place, and I had put up with way more than I should have travelling with Ruby and Sapphire.

I ran down the hallway and slammed into another person. Before I could spring away from this new person, they grabbed my wrist and said, "Yellow?"

"Red?" I said breathlessly.

"You left the rooms too? Ruby ran off and Green and I left to look for him," Red explained gesturing with the hand that wasn't holding my wrist. I stared at the point of contact, most of his explanation washing over me in lieu of that fact and the intense concentration it took not to blush.

"Awww, how cute!" a female voice cooed. Red and I both turned to find a woman in a flower patterned skirt and swim top. It was a very odd outfit choice…For some reason I thought Ruby would approve. He always likes odd fashions.

"What's cute?" Red asked.

"You two!" the girl giggled. "My name's Phoebe by the way."

"I'm Red, this is Yellow," Red introduced politely.

"You're an adorable couple," Phoebe said.

Red let go of my wrist and I missed the contact – no, that's not right, er, I was happy to move my hand again. That sounds right – and quickly countered her statement. "We're not a couple."

Phoebe gave us a skeptical look. "You're not."

Red and I both bobbed our heads in agreement.

Phoebe turned her gaze on Red. "So there's a girl you like more than her? What's her name?" She pointed at me as she asked her second question.

Red blinked confusedly at her. "Yellow…?"

"So the girl you like the most is Yellow!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"You just asked him what my name was," I pointed out.

"Because you're the girl he likes the most," Phoebe replied.

"But you pointed at me."

"No I didn't. Now you. The boy you have a crush on. What's his name?"

As before, she clearly pointed at Red when she asked her question, so without thinking I replied, "Red." Then I realized I had just fallen into exactly the same trap Red did (though he actually was the person I had a crush on, so I'm not sure whose name I would have said if I had recognized the trick…Gold? No…just no.)

"Well if you two like each other then you should be together," Phoebe said matter-of-factly.

She said it so confidently, I actually became confused.

"I – What's going on?" I wondered.

"I'm not sure," Red replied.

"NOW KISS," Phoebe yelled and started towards us, but was stopped by a gust of wind which sent her sprawling.

"Sorry about her," a gruff voice said and my eyes followed the sound to an elderly man, who I assumed to be an air mage. "Phoebe doesn't know how to control herself. I'm Drake."

"Nice to meet you," I said. My manners trumping my overall confusion. "I'm Yellow."

"Red," Red said as he held his hand out to the man.

"Uh…Would you mind giving me directions back to the dorm?" I asked. "I got a bit lost…"

"Me too," Red added, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Of course," Drake replied. "Go backwards, take a left, then another left then right and a left then skip one hallway –"

He continued in this way until all his directions had become a blur in my mind and I stared at him blankly. After a few more minutes of directions he began laughing helplessly. "Sorry," he gasped between laughs. "You're faces – ha! Really, you just need to go down that hallway and take a left then the first right." He gestured at the hallway behind me.

"Thank you," I said, though I wasn't feeling particularly thankful. I glanced down at Phoebe and saw her starting to stir so I quickly turned and hurried down the hallway before she could embarrass me again.

Two Hallways Over

Sapphire POV

"Steven Stone!" I exclaimed excitedly. I don't pay a lot of attention to the news, but I knew about Steven Stone, the Champion of Hoenn and, more importantly, amazingly powerful Ground mage. I've seen him fight before and he was incredible. "You're amazing!" I blurted.

"Nice to meet you…?" he said uncertainly.

"I'm Sapphire! This is Yellow," I gestured behind me, only to find Yellow had disappeared. "Where'd she go?" I wondered aloud.

"She ran off," Steven replied. I shrugged; I guess I get Steven all to myself then. I'm going to get all kinds of fighting tips!

"Teach me!" I demanded.

"Uh…what?"

"I've seen you fight on TV," I explained. "You're one of the few people I will admit is better than I am."

Steven looked a bit embarrassed. "I don't really fight much anymore. And I've never taught anyone before," Steven admitted.

"I can be your first student," I replied hopefully.

"Sorry Sapphire," Steven said apologetically. "You're spirit is admirable, but I'm too busy to teach you."

"…Fine," I grumbled. "Can't you at least give me some tips?"

"Steven, who're you talking to?" a loud booming voice asked. I turned to see a large man walking down the hallway. Really large, like, his muscles had muscles.

"Who're you?" I wondered.

"That's Bruno," Steven replied. "He's with the Kanto council. Bruno this is Sapphire. She's – actually I don't know why she's here."

"My friends and are going to take down Team Galactic!" I exclaimed.

"Uh…you are?"

I was going to explain more, but someone grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the two council members. "Agh!" I complained, trying to break free. In my struggle I realized my captor was Green. This just made me even more determined to get away. I finally kicked him in shin which made him grunt in pain and let go. "Jerk," I grumbled.

"We were supposed to stay in the dorms," Green replied. "We don't want to bother the council members." He made as if to grab my arm again so I quickly led the way back, absently rubbing my arm where is ached from Green's grip. We got back to the dorm hallway and I heard a strange rumbling sound coming from behind one of the unmarked doors. Curious, I decided to investigate and pushed the door open. The sound ended up being extremely boring, as it was the sound of a washing machine.

"Are you really doing laundry?" I demanded of Ruby, who was sitting on the floor in front of the active washer. "What is wrong with you?"

"My clothes got covered in dust!" Ruby replied defensively. "I had to wash them!"

"Do you have duplicates of your outfit?" Green asked.

"Of course," Ruby replied.

"He's weird like that," I whispered loudly to Green. I wandered over to where Ruby was sitting and flopped down next to him. This started up a lecture about the proper way to sit and I had to counter. Honestly, I actually enjoy my arguments with Ruby, after all, he wouldn't be Ruby if he wasn't talking about the girly stuff all the time. At some point in our argument, Green left, though this went unnoticed by Ruby and I, both to wrapped up in each other to pay him any mind.

Outside the Council Mountain

Blue POV

"This is the council?" Crys said skeptically.

"It looks like a mountain," Gold observed.

"That's because it is a mountain," Crys snapped.

"A hollow one," I said as I searched the exterior for a door.

"Look at this," Gold said pointing at a wooden sign.

"The door is this way," Crys read aloud.

"Well that was a freebie," I replied walking in the direction the sign pointed. After walking for a few minutes I found the door, which was the same color as the mountain, but still fairly easy to find.

I was trying to open the door when Crys said, "Is that…?"

"Blue!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim.

"Silver?" I replied. "What are you doing here? This is the Sinnoh council…isn't it?"

"I thought it was the Unova council," Black replied.

There was a moment of silence as we all tried to figure out what was going on.

"We may as well go in," Crys suggested. "We can figure all this out inside." This seemed as good a plan as any, so I turned back to the door and pulled it open. The first thing I saw was a seemingly endless staircase.

"I am not going up that," Lyra stated.

"Agreed," I added.

"We don't have to," Crys said. She pointed to the inconspicuous elevator that was situated to the left of the staircase.

"Great!" I chirped, skipping to the elevators and pressing the 'up' button.

The others came over and we loitered by the elevator as we waited for it to come down. And it took a really long time to get to our floor, leading me to believe one of two things must be true. Either the top was a long way up (in which case I was doubly grateful I didn't have to climb all those stairs) or the elevator was just ridiculously slow. Or both.

The elevator finally arrived at our floor with a cheery ding and the doors slid open. The elevator was quite small, but we managed to all squeeze in, though it wasn't comfortable by any means.

Crys (who was being compressed into the control panel) managed to press the button for the top floor (the only button there was other than G, which was the floor we were on now) and the doors closed again. Then the music started. It was one of those songs that repeats the same simple phrase over and over until it's so irritating you just need to smash something. Gold was the first to break.

"I can't take it anymore!" he cried. There was a flash of red light and Gold's Aipom was sitting on my head.

"Gold, what are you doing?" I demanded.

"Ataro, destroy the music!" Gold ordered.

"Aipom!" Ataro said cheerily. Then he started using Swift at the ceiling. Which it turns out was a terrible idea (surprise, surprise).

Luckily Crys hit Ataro, which knocked it out instantly (note to self: Crys has super strength and should only be insulted when out of range).

Gold raised his hands in surrender at the five accusing gazes pointed his way. "I thought it would help," he said sheepishly. There was another flash of red and Ataro's unconscious form disappeared into the Poké Ball.

After what felt like a few hours (but was probably less than a minute) the door opened again and the music finally stopped. We poured out of the elevator giving a collective gasp of relief.

My training kicked in and I took stock of the room. I quickly determined there was nothing worth stealing and that there was someone in the room with us. Lance, champion of Kanto. "I'm assuming you are all Red's friends?" he asked.

"You know Red?" Lyra blurted.

"He got here this morning. Come on." Lance spun around and walked down a hallway, evidently expecting us to follow him. I shrugged and did just that. The others did as well. "The others are in the rooms," Lance said and walked off.

I immediately walked over to one of the doors and opened it to find a laundry room, along with Ruby and Sapphire, who seemed to be having some kind of a moment. So I interrupted it. "Hey guys!" I said obnoxiously, grinning as the two jolted and turned to face me.

"Blue!" Sapphire said, somehow making my name sound like an accusation. The other moved me so they could see in then walked past me into the room.

"It's so great to see you two!" Lyra exclaimed as she basically tackled the two into a hug. Ruby tried to keep his clothes from being rumpled while Sapphire muttered about Lyra being 'stupidly emotional.'

"Blue!" a voice squeaked from the door.

"And everyone else," a second voice added.

"Yellow! Red!" Lyra yelled, releasing Sapphire and Ruby and tackling Red and Yellow into a hug.

"Is Green here too then?" I asked.

"Yep," Sapphire replied. "He went back into the boys' room." I hopped over Lyra, who was pinning Red and Yellow to the floor, and went to the door with a stick figure man and pushed it open.

I quietly opened the door and spied Green reading a book, facing away from the door. So I decided to have a little fun with him. Silently, I snuck up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

He whirled around and almost hit me with a fireball, but luckily I have awesome reflexes and ducked under it.

"Miss me?" I asked.

"Blue. You took your time getting here," Green replied, acting like I hadn't just scared him into almost incinerating me.

"Yeah…By the way, why did we all end up here?"

"No one's told you yet?" Green replied, looking faintly surprised. "This mountain is where all the councils are located."

It took a few minutes for the enormity of that statement to sink in. Then I started screaming. "YOU MEAN WE COULD HAVE BEEN TRAVELING TOGETHER THIS WHOLE TIME?!"

Green backed up a half-step (which for him was practically running away). "Yes," he answered dryly.

I kept ranting, ignoring his interruption until Green grabbed my face and kissed me. I stared at him in blunt shock and he left the room throwing a teasing (…surely not, Green doesn't tease…does he?) "You talk too much," towards me.

Green POV

That wasn't what I was planning to do. I don't have feelings for the pesky girl, other than annoyance that is. I was just surprised to see her, yeah, it was all surprise. It wasn't because it was her; if I was surprised to see Red I would kiss him! No…actually no I wouldn't. Terrible mental image. Fine. Maybe I sort of have more than friendly feelings for her, it doesn't matter. Next time I see her, I'm going to make sure she knows that was a just the easiest way to stop her rant.

I wandered aimlessly as I went through my feelings and found myself at Lance's office. I intended to turn back, but Lance had already seen me and waved me inside.

"Have all your friends arrived now?" Lance asked.

I actually had no idea, but I figured even if Lyra, Silver and Black hadn't gotten here yet it was close enough to everyone, so I told him yes.

"You can meet with me and the other champions tomorrow," Lance informed. "Have a nice night." That was clearly a dismissal, so I left. It was nice that they were meeting with us at all, but I wasn't looking forward to sleeping in the dorms. At all. Maybe I'll just stay up all night.

I found my way back to the others, who were in a laundry room for some reason, steeled myself to act normal around Blue, and went inside.

Laundry Room

Blue POV

So…Green kissed me. Ostensibly to shut me up, but there are easier ways to do that. Not that I expect him to admit to feeling anything, but now I know that he has to feel something for me. There isn't another explanation. But we do actually have bigger problems. I wandered into the laundry room where the others were still catching up. They didn't seem to notice I'd been gone. Ruby's laundry had finished washing and he was busy transferring things to the dryer when Green wandered in.

"We're all together again!" Lyra said excitedly.

"Everyone but White, Dia, Pearl and Platina," Crys corrected.

"Lance told me that the council will meet with us tomorrow," Green informed.

"That's – " A bright flash of light. "– Great!" I blinked rapidly, trying to overcome the temporary blindness caused by the light. When I could see again I was seriously confused.

"Where are we?" Yellow asked sounding frightened, which I didn't blame her for. We weren't in the laundry room anymore. We were in a significantly smaller room which didn't even seem to be made of the same material. The council rooms had been carved out of the mountain, this room was made of metal.

"Was that a teleportation spell?" Black mused.

"Seems like it," Crys replied. Silver and I went towards the single door in the room and I pulled out my lock picks and put it into the lock. The instant the pick entered the lock a purplish energy appeared around the door and sent the lock pick flying across the room where it hit Gold in the stomach.

"Owww," he complained.

"The door must be shielded," Crys theorized. She shooed Silver and I out of the way, then kicked the door. The energy appeared again and tossed Crys backwards where she was caught by Gold (who seemed to be precisely in the door's firing range).

"What do we do now?" Lyra wondered.

"Incinerate it!" Gold suggested, creating a fireball in his hands and preparing to lob it at the door.

Crys screamed at him to stop, but she was too late, he'd already hurled it. I realized immediately that the barrier was a reflective barrier – a barrier that reflects anything that touches it – meaning Gold's attack would be thrown back at us, and in the small room that would be bad. So I grabbed the soggy shirt Ruby had been holding and threw it at the fireball as the barrier sent the fireball back at us. I manipulated the water from the shirt and used it to douse the flame before it could hit anyone.

"Good work Blue," Black said. "Terrible idea Gold."

"Everyone, just stay away from the door," Sapphire said.

"And don't throw anything at it!" Crys added, punching Gold for emphasis.

"Sorry," Gold said. "But if we can't break the door down how do we get out?"

"Someone has to open the door eventually," Lyra replied. "Let's just wait for that to happen then take whoever it is down and get out of here."

No one was able to come up with a better plan, other than some strategizing about where to stand to have the greatest chance of success, so we went with Lyra's plan. And we waited.

The Council

Wally POV

"You're friends should be around here somewhere," Lance told Emerald and I. Apparently all the councils were actually one council, and all our friends were already here. But when Emerald and I checked the rooms we couldn't find any of them. The only trace we found was Ruby's half-done laundry.

Author Note:

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it :)