Chapter 27: Training Each Other

July 18, year 59

The other family member that Polaris met with that day was his younger brother Gabriel. He was taller than Polaris now, with orange-red hair more like their father's. Late at night, they had met with Gabe on their way to the local church. After a warm greeting, the three of them continuing walking along the road. "I'm working with Dad now, learning about the spirits and the gods from him," Gabe said. "Clari is still doing Contest work, but Celeste has become a full-fledged psychic. She works in the Psychic Gym now, of course."

"That's great," Polaris said. Maybe having a reach into the supernatural was something normal for his family. He hadn't thought on that much before, beyond his father's skill.

Gabriel gave him a glance, at which Polaris felt one of those mental proddings. "But, uh, I thought you had cut off Lurker. That's what the sky dragon told Dad."

"Lurker is gone now," their father said. "This is another ghost that's hanging onto him, but it also seems potent. That's why I called you in for assistance."

"I see," Gabe said, thoughtful. "So who and what is this ghost?"

"That's a lot of information to cover," Polaris said. "But I only got around to telling part of it so far. See, I've been living at the Sea of Jasper all these years. The native culture there centers on the Arkahna religion, which has six gods and goddesses known as the Spirit Clan; they allies with Rayquaza, as one of his towers lies in that region. Roughly a thousand years ago, the Arkahn people had splintered and were fighting, which angered the Spirit Clan. They sealed themselves away in sleep and have been in hibernation since. Some people have tried to awaken them, but have not managed to get all six awake to break the sleep fully. One of the troubles was that the sun goddess Desolaire was depressed over what had happened.

"Back to more recent times, about a year and a half ago, Sienna died. You remember my Sudowoodo, right?"

Gabe and Jeremiah nodded. "Right, she was one of the family too," Gabe said.

"Yeah, and that hit me hard, of course." He fingered the leaf pendant he had made. "Lurker tried to drag me down again through that, but then I happened upon this artifact of the Arkahna spirits." He brought out the white tablet, which was in its own pocket of his bag as usual. "If you know the symbols, you can call on the spells that Pokemon use through the Transcriber; you can also summon spirits if you can draw them. I used it to call Sienna's ghost and was able to properly say goodbye to her. Since this is a blessing from them, I agreed to make an attempt to awaken the Spirit Clan, even though I didn't really know what I was doing at the time."

"That does seem to be a sacred artifact," Jeremiah said. "How have you done with summoning the clan?"

"Really well, actually. I got five of them awake and somehow managed to get the sleep agreement broken so they can stay awake. But, it's Desolaire again who won't wake up." He turned the Transcriber over, then showed them the sun symbol. "I've made enough contact with her to get the magic broken for the others, yes. But then I found out that around three hundred years ago, she was stolen by a thief named Taigen Denkrill. That's the ghost following me right now."

"So it's human?" Gabe asked. "It doesn't seem quite right, though."

"There's more to it, of course," Polaris said. "The Transcriber isn't the only way to mimic Pokemon abilities. The Arkahn people put a great deal of respect in Pokemon. As such, they will apprentice themselves to Pokemon, calling them the masters instead of trying to be a master over them. This way, they can use the powers and elements of their masters. Taigen apprenticed himself to a Cricarsh, which is a Poison and Psychic type that finds a person's insecurities and torments them through words. Taigen has had Desolaire captive with torture for those three centuries, even though he had provoked her enough that it ended up killing him.

"When I met with the two of them in a dream, it was only a couple of weeks ago. Because of that meeting, I knew that I'm not going to be able to awaken Desolaire unless I got rid of Taigen somehow. I didn't get far enough into studying such spirits with you, though, so I did the best I could, provoking Taigen into turning his attention to me, then making a connection to him. That way, when I woke up, he was forced into leaving Desolaire to follow me. That leaves me with a venomous psychic ghost trying to whisper torments to me, but it's better than leaving him with her. I've managed to fight back against him some, but I do need to get rid of him as soon as possible."

"So that's how it is," his father said. Then he patted Polaris on the shoulder. "This is unusual for me, but knowing that, I know how to handle it. This will be tougher than usual, Gabe, since this ghost depends on provoking and harming others through words. Both of you, do your best not to listen to him.

"Right," Gabe said. "Then have you joined this Arkahna religion?"

Polaris nodded. "Yes, in my heart anyhow. I'm sorry, but…"

"It's fine," Jeremiah said in a reassuring tone. "If they are allies with Lord Rayquaza, I see nothing wrong with it."

He smiled. That had worried him about coming back. "Thanks. Also, I do need to learn some things from you while I'm here. This is a sacred artifact, but it's also unique. It's to be used by the apprentice and prophet of Desolaire and her twin sister Lunarium. And the moon goddess has accepted me as that, which means that by default, I'm to be the leader of the Arkahna religion."

"Really?" Gabe asked, in disbelief.

"That's quite a responsibility," Jeremiah said, in a serious tone.

"I understand that. I didn't really know about that until recently either. But I haven't had much instruction yet, as Lunarium is busy and worried over her sister. See, Desolaire's soul is separated from her body, but she's not dead. Lunarium has her body right now, but we don't know where her soul is. I'd like to stay here for a while, but I do have to get back to find Desolaire and help her, and then try to help their people. They've been resisting change for a long time, so it's not going to be easy. I do have some help with several Arkahn, but I felt like you could help, at least with Desolaire."

His father nodded slowly and thought for a moment. "I'll do what I can. But first, we must deal with this Taigen. Gabe, we'll need the methods for banishing a bitter human ghost, but it will have to be adapted with those for the Psychic and Poison Pokemon poltergeists. And we'll want the strongest barrier we've got, given this one's age and potential power. Go get any items related to those ceremonies. I'll be there in a moment."

"All right, Dad." He hurried on ahead into the church.

"Polaris, you should be able to enter the sanctuary. I'll stay with you in case there's resistance. Otherwise, you'll be staying in there for the night."

He nodded, looking over the familiar old building. "Okay."

Even after ten years, it looked much like it did in his memory. The church was an old wooden building; perhaps a new coat of white paint had gone over it recently, to help protect it from the elements. There was a weather vane and a wind sock on the belfry, as well as stylized depictions of Rayquaza, Kyogre, and Groudon above the double door entryway. On seeing it, he remembered a lot of things, like the old saying to never show favor to the land or to the sea above the other, or else the unbalance will cause great catastrophe.

He felt a sense of unease from Taigen as they entered the church. The sanctuary was the main room, a large open space with two rows of pews. Up front, there was a mural of the islands of Hoenn, and Rayquaza. Otherwise, there wasn't much decoration to the inside of the church. Jeremiah had him sit at the front of the room. "You had a Ghost Pokemon yourself, right?" he asked. "Call it out to keep an eye on things; I'll leave my Dusknoir in here too."

Polaris nodded. "Sounds good." He then pulled Lethe's Pokeball out of his holder and released the Katisp. "Would you act as a scout, to make sure no spirits enter while we're working?"

'Certainly,' she replied, examining the space around her. When the Dusknoir was release, she clenched her sword's handle tighter momentarily

"Make sure this space remains safe, Demi," Jeremiah said to his Pokemon. "And cooperate with this one… a Katisp, right?"

Polaris nodded. The Dusknoir Demi looked back at her, the antenna on top of his head spinning. Then he nodded. 'Very well. At peace, foreigner.'

'Likewise,' she replied, then drifted off to explore.

After his father left, Polaris sat in a chair to wait. He spent a moment calming himself and quieting his mind. When he did so, Taigen appeared in a faint form near him. He didn't seem as threatening now, as he didn't have that creepy grin on his face. Lethe and Demi noticed him immediately, and both came closer. This caused the thief to drift closer to him; Polaris could feel fear from the ghost.

'This isn't going to work,' Taigen said, turning to him. 'This is a place for different gods.'

"It will work," Polaris said.

Demi chuckled. 'Master Ray and his son Gabe have recently banished poltergeists from a Sinnoh church,' the Dusknoir said in a mildly taunting tone. 'You are on their grounds now; it won't be that hard.'

'Well it won't work out for you,' Taigen said. 'I know exactly where Desolaire is. She doesn't even know that. You don't know that. It would be much smarter for you to keep me along to find her.'

"I don't trust you with that," Polaris told him. "Besides, I am certain that she is underground, in a damp cave somewhere in the Jasper region. If I start exploring caves once I get back, it will just take time to locate which cave she is in."

'You don't have a lot of time to find her. In the silence, she will turn into a lost soul and be unrecoverable.'

"Well since it's a cave, I can safely rule out the majority of the actual Sea of Jasper, as there are only a few caves located in the sea waters. And I'm certain it's damp there, so that rules out most of the southern desert. I can ask Santiperra or the Arkahns about what's left, especially for any caves with strange phenomenon. I'm sure I can manage that without you."

'I hope that you don't find her,' Taigen hissed bitterly.

At that point, Jeremiah and Gabe had come into the sanctuary. The former started drawing a chalk diagram on the wooden floor, while the latter came over and handed a figurine of a Steel Pokemon. "Here, keep this to protect you," he said. "And I need to make some markings on your shoulder to help things move smoothly." Gabe tapped where Polaris had forced Taigen to connect to him.

"All right," he said. He felt odd and self-conscious in taking his shirt off. It was just his family and a few Pokemon about, but he still hadn't seen them in many years. But they might be trying to make certain that the ghost wouldn't bolt back to Desolaire.

Once the preparations were complete, Polaris stepped into the diagram. He felt a surge of various powers when he did so, like the power of Dark, Steel, Ground… they were calling on these powers to weaken Taigen, as if he were a violent Pokemon ghost. He felt restrained himself, as those types worked against his own too. But he would just have to endure it.

jeremiah then brought out another one of his ghosts, a Banette. He then had the three Pokemon and Gabe stand at four points outside the diagram, while he stepped into it. At this, Taigen tried to glower at him; Polaris could still feel his anxiety, and his father didn't seem intimidated.

"Taigen Denkrill, your time on Earth has long ago ended," Jeremiah stated sternly, looking the ghost in the eyes. He made a motion of waving his hand in front of his forehead. "You will not be able to read my soul within this circle."

'Are you certain of that?' Taigen countered, but it seemed even he knew that was a weak argument.

"It is time for you to leave permanently," Jeremiah went on. "Under the authority of Rayquaza, I ask for the presence of the Master of the Spirit World, Giratina. Untie the bonds that keep this soul, Taigen Denkrill, drifting in this world. Then take him into your realm, Master Giratina, to face judgment and be dealt with as he has dealt with the world." He then put his hand on Polaris' shoulder. "Polaris, do not panic and do not leave the circle," he said in a gentler but still firm voice.

Hearing that, he was able to keep calm. This was despite the fact that he could sense a connection to the spirit world that was holding strong right near him. Taigen panicked upon feeling the presence of Giratina's servants; these ghostly creatures were searching for him, reaching out to him. Trying to get away, the thief bolted. Polaris took hold of his shoulder, feeling the bit of Taigen's spirit he still had. He attempted to grip it with his mind as the ghost crashed into the barrier at the edge of the diagram. Seeing no way out, Taigen turned to him, fear and anger burning in his eyes.

But the old priest was prepared. "Cut the connections between them before he lays a curse on him," Jeremiah ordered of the four outside the circle. The Dusknoir and Banette made quick slicing motions with their hands; the Katisp quickly imitated them using her katana. Gabe was whispering something into his hands, keeping his nerves as well.

A cold static feeling came over Polaris as one of the servants of Giratina made contact with him. nodding, he imagined taking the piece of spirit he had and handing it off to the servant. In the meantime, the other servant spirits had gotten a hold of Taigen and were dragging him out of the world.

Without warning, something clashed against the diagram under Polaris' feet, causing an ethereal mass of sparks to shoot up. A foreign entity was trying to disrupt the banishing. His father quickly started praying aloud, asking for the sanctuary to be strengthened. But Polaris felt a jolt of disorientation.

It was like one of his more lucid dreams, he quickly noticed. He was in the old Lilycove church, but he was also far away in a grand room. Somehow, he knew it was the palace at Jesefin, the one with the demon's seal. And he could tell that they had broken that seal in their attempt to destroy that evil spirit for good. Rubledge was there, in her standing form with her swords and shields at ready.

Facing off against her was something of a cruel mockery of her. Instead of black skin with a ruby helm and weaponry, the demon was mostly blood red with cracked black gear. His rock skin was rough, something like pumice, and his eyes glowed orange. He clanged his blades together, looking at her in absolute hatred. Perhaps because he was there in spirit, Polaris could tell that the demon Rubledge was completely deranged with no chance of being recovered.

He could also see that the demon was trying to call Taigen into his service. The thief's ghost was bewildered, suffering from the touch of Giratina's servants. However, the servants were also confused. The Rubledge he knew as Garnet was watching the demon for his next move.

On impulse, Polaris called out to her. "Rubledge, he's distracted! Strike him now!"

She was briefly startled to hear from him, but quickly focused back on her foe. Somewhere nearby, the five awakened members of the Spirit Clan were aiding her, keeping the demon imprisoned in this room and weakened. Rubledge then struck as hard as she could, cutting into the demon with both of her swords. The demon was unable to defend himself against that and was knocked to the ground.

However, he was connected with Taigen, who was connected with Polaris. Both of them felt the pain of that attack, as well as the abrupt jerk when their spirits were snapped back into the Lilycove church. The force of it was enough to knock Polaris out of the circle and against the wall six feet away. It also gave Giratina's servants ample opportunity to get a hold of Taigen's spirit again and drag him back to their world.

Jeremiah, Gabe, and Lethe were soon by Polaris. "What happened at the end there?" his father asked.

"A demon tried to claim his soul," he explained. "It didn't work out." He looked over and saw that the diagram was lightly smoking. Then he noticed that he was bleeding heavily from two crossing slashes across his chest.

His father nodded. "He's gone, but there's a change of plans: you're going to the hospital."


July 20

The hospital had stitched his wounds closed, but his chest was still bandaged up to keep them protected. He wasn't supposed to do any hard work now, which meant that he had to put off training for the time being. Then again, he was glad for the chance to relax, especially when his parents got his whole family together to celebrate his return.

His whole family. His mother's parents were the caretakers of the shrine on top of Mount Pyre, but they had gotten another priestess to watch over the site for the day in their place. his father's parents came all the way out from Lavaridge by borrowing a pair of Altarias from friends. His older sisters were married; they had brought their husbands with them, along with their children. Clarissa and Celeste each had a daughter; his nieces were quite happy to play with Polaris' Pokemon, especially in finger-painting with Picasso.

It was an amazing day, filled with stories about the rest of his family along with his own. And it was so good to be back.

In the afternoon, he got a call that had come all the way from Jasper. It had surprised him when it turned out to be Camilla. Feeling that it had to be important, he excused himself to step outside to talk with her.

"I was asked to call as the others are still uncertain about technology," she explained. "I think we can talk them into accepting phones easily, but that's for later."

"Right. What's going on?"

"The goddess Rubledge has successfully defeated the demon that was sealed into Jesefin Palace. But Zepharia informed us that she seems to have heard your voice during the battle and was worried that you had been injured somehow in it. Are you all right?"

"I've got two deep slashes across my chest, but I'm okay otherwise," he said, lightly patting the edge of the bandages. "The demon had connected to Taigen, who was connected to me; it probably would have been worse if I had been directly connected."

"Certainly."

"It may have been something of a divine intervention too," he realized. "The reason the demon got distracted was because he wanted Taigen's soul and his connection to Desolaire. And my father, my brother, and I had been involved in banishing him from this world. The fact that the two banishments were occurring at the same time is an unlikely coincidence; maybe the other Pokemon gods are interested in assisting the Spirit Clan."

"I see. That is a blessing, then."

"Yeah. How is Rubledge doing?"

"As far as I know, she's gone into the wilderness for some self-reflection. It has been strange that this old enemy of our people has come to assist us now. But we can see that she's changed for the better. Now, what are your plans on finding Desolaire's soul?"

Polaris leaned against a tree, thinking. "Well my father has agreed to train me again in locating lost souls. That will take about a month, so I should get back to Jasper in September. Although, could I ask the Sun Knights to do a favor for me?"

"We're here to assist and protect you. What do you need?"

"Based off visions that I've seen in my dreams and certain experiences, I am certain that her soul is somewhere in a cave. It's damp and mostly dark, but her soul would emit weakened daylight which would be noticeable. But I'm not sure how many cave systems there are in Jasper, and the one that I know would fit, Moonflower Caverns, is immensely long. Could you all check out the caves to see if there's any strange phenomenon going on? I'm sure that her presence would cause something to change about the environment of a cave."

"Certainly, we'll look into that."

"Thank you."


August 19

On learning that Polaris did have a sense for detecting others, Jeremiah had decided that the best way to train him quickly was to focus on that. Bringing that sense to his conscious mind would allow him to feel a presence further out, and to pick out weaker auras even from behind a strong one. This training went several ways. Some nights, Polaris went out with his father and brother to Mount Pyre, to distinguish between spiritual ghosts and Ghost Pokemon. Some days, he was told to go into Lilycove, to crowded places like the Department store, where he would do things like count the people around him with his eyes closed and pick out travelers from the locals. He found it hard to notice progress until he managed to detect a lost child at a packed show at the Contest Hall without being told that the boy was missing. Two months ago, he wouldn't have noticed the boy even with his artistic attention to detail.

There were times when Jeremiah had other things to do, so Polaris would hang out with Megan and his mother, train with Gabe, or train his Pokemon. The port was fairly busy with Trainers traveling around for the Hoenn League, so it usually wasn't hard to find some battles. Sometimes, he felt as though he had an advantage in that he knew the local Pokemon while the local Trainers did not know what some of his Pokemon even were. Then again, he often got a surprise when those Trainers made good judgments based on the Pokemon's looks.

One evening, he and Gabe decided to head out for Mount Pyre as their father had been called away to another town. The ferry wasn't running when they arrived at the lake, so Polaris brought out Icewin to carry them over instead. While they were crossing over the waters, he got an odd feeling about his younger brother. It wasn't the same feel as his usual detection skills, so maybe it was his empathy instead.

He glanced over his shoulder at him. "I hope you don't mind me asking, Gabe, but… are you jealous of me?"

He tensed. "Huh?"

"It just seems that way."

He bit his lip, then said, "I guess I am. I didn't think much of it, but after hearing and seeing what you can do, it didn't seem right. I've spent the last nine years learning about spirits, ghosts, and the gods from dad, while you ignored it for so long. But then you've picked up on it so fast, and the other things you can do, like hearing the words of the gods and all that you can do with that Transcriber… I probably shouldn't feel jealous, but that's way more than I can do."

That made sense; Polaris figured that he would feel the same way if some new artist came up with the same level of skill that he had. "I see. Well if it helps any, your way of learning is far safer. You've had Dad watching out for you this whole time, and if anything went wrong, it could be fixed. I was, well, basically forced to sink or swim in spiritual matters, as there's been several times in this past year when a mistake could have killed me. Or worse, turned me into a tormented lost soul, or even being consumed by a demon. You have to learn quickly then."

"Hmm." Gabe smiled some. "It would be that way."

He smiled back. "Besides, I don't think the level of power you have matters. It's what you do with the power and talents you have that makes the difference. I mean, Taigen could see a person's vulnerabilities naturally. With that kind of power, he could have helped people overcome their weaknesses. Instead, he decided to torment others."

"That's true." It seemed to have helped some, although it might be something that Gabriel had to deal with on his own. Polaris would have to make sure to not give him any reason to dislike him, then.

"And you don't get tracked by demonic forces," Polaris pointed out. Even if the major force of Rubledge's demon had been taken care of, he had nearly been attacked four times since leaving Jasper. His family members knew how to deflect the demons' interest, which he was attempting to learn to do. "I'm a bit jealous of that."

Gabe chuckled. "I suppose that is an advantage."


September 2

It was drizzling that afternoon, but Megan, Polaris, and his parents were still out on the docks. A passenger ship that would get to St. Rosaline later that day was sitting on the water, waiting. "We'll need to keep in contact through email, so I can keep sending you lessons on the spirits," Jeremiah said. "But your Pokemon masters may be ready for you soon, so who knows how much longer it will go."

"But you can always send a message just because," Helena said, hugging him.

"Of course," Polaris said. His eyes were moist, but he smiled for them and hugged his father too.

"And that goes for you too, Megan," Helena said, adding a hug for her. "It's been wonderful having you over."

"Thanks," she replied. "I'll be happy to keep in touch."

"Kusa." Polaris felt a furry paw patting at the hand he had over his bag. Picasso was looking at him expectantly.

"Oh, right." He pulled out a piece of paper with a green drawing on it. If he looked at it one way, it might have been seen as a picture of Rayquaza. But it might not be that. "Picasso insists that you have this. He painted it last night."

"Aw, thank you, little Picasso," Helena said, taking the picture to look at it, then patting the Smeargle on his fur beret. "It must be a sign that you like us."

"To cha!" He then hugged her, making them laugh.

A whistle came from the ship. "We'd better not hold you back too much longer," Jeremiah said. "Keep your faith in your gods, and yourself. If we get a chance, we might see about coming to visit Jasper someday."

Polaris chuckled. "Maybe when I have a place to settle into. I'll be happy to welcome you then. Right now I'm still traveling and learning. I love you both; I'll always keep you in my heart."

"The same to you," Helena said.