An Age of Valour
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter Twenty-nine: Finding a Civilisation
Lydia stared up at the stars as she lay in her sleeping bag, the cool breeze that flew through the trees making the August night almost pleasant, even in the dark woods. She smiled slightly as she turned over on her side, stroking Umbreon absently as she noticed Jesse's empty sleeping bag. Sitting up, she looked around the campsite, expecting the dark haired trainer to appear out of nowhere.
"Jesse?" she whispered as loudly as she dared, not wanting to wake Jennie as she slowly pushed aside her blankets, grabbing her jacket as she stood up, casting out her psyche to search for her best friend. Walking to where she sensed him at, she was startled to find Scyther flying directly towards him with Jesse in hot pursuit, finally forced to recall him, slowing to a stop right next to Lydia, bending over to catch his breath.
She bit her lip sympathetically as she helped him stand up. "He's still not obeying you, is he?" she inquired and Jesse sighed, shaking his head as he looked down at Scyther's Pokéball. "Well, Jess, it's not really his fault, you know. I mean, he was attacked by his former trainer. It's got to be hard to trust any humans after that."
"I know, Lydia, it's just so hard to help him if he won't even trust me," Jesse said with a sigh. "And I can't release him, 'cause Nurse Joy said that he wouldn't survive on his own."
Lydia nodded as she wrapped her arm around Jesse's as they walked back to the campsite. "Well, you're doing the best you can and anybody would commend you for it," she said gently with a smile at him. "I mean, despite Scyther's best efforts to ignore you and try and make you go away, you're still staying with him and trying to help him."
Jesse managed a small smile as they arrived back at the campsite, sitting down next to the nearly died out fire, returning Scyther's Pokéball to his pocket. She sighed, rubbing his arm gently as she lay back down. "I think he knows how much you care, Jess," she said quietly. "And one day, he's gonna realise that all you're trying to do is help him. When that day comes, he'll try and help you. Sometimes, people and Pokémon don't realise what they have until it's shoved into their faces."
"We talking about you now, aren't we?" Jesse asked with a small smile at her and Lydia managed a weak smile as she lay down in her sleeping bag. "Is that brother of yours still following us?"
"He said that he'd be around if I needed him," Lydia replied, her thoughts drifting back to Hayden and Alison for a minute. "And thank you, Jess, that was a whole ten minutes that I'd gone without thinking about Alison."
"Sorry."
Lydia sighed. "It's all right, I didn't mean to snap. This whole thing is just so frustrating. I mean, up until a couple of days ago, I was an only child with a father who didn't care whether I lived or died. Now, I'm suddenly the youngest sibling with a father pretending to be my uncle, a missing sister, and a brother who hates our father with a passion." She smiled vaguely. "The whole thing is just kind of surreal."
Jesse glanced at her as she lay in her sleeping bag. "You know, I've been thinking . . . if you want to really find out what's going on, then why don't we go right to the source?" Lydia sat up as he said that, wondering what he meant by that. "Why don't we go to Rosewaters Isle and see your—see William and ask him what really happened back then?"
"Oh, no, we are so not going there," Lydia said flatly, shaking her head. "That is the one road that I'm not going to take. Jess, I know that he should probably have some answers, a lot of answers, but this is the guy who raised me to hate Pokémon, believe my mother died in childbirth, and oh, yeah, that he was actually my father."
"I'm not saying that it was a smart idea," Jesse argued, "I just think that he might actually have some answers."
"Not arguing that point, Jess, but you think he's willingly going to give them up?" Lydia shook her head. "No, he wouldn't. Not without a fight and he probably would call the police for trespassing the moment that I stepped onto his front lawn."
Jesse managed a small smile as she said that. "Okay, but I think that we should probably think about it." He smiled as he lay back down in his sleeping bag as Lydia lay down again, staring up at the stars. "Lydia?"
"Hmm?"
"What's gonna happen to all of us?" Jesse looked towards her and she turned her blue gaze back to him as she lifted her head to lay on her head. "With all of this, how's it gonna end?"
Lydia sighed. "When I figure that out," she replied. "I'll let you know." She lay back down, casting her gaze up towards the stars again.
There were many futures in motion, as many as there were stars in the sky. And depending on how everything turned out, they could be heading for a future that would change the very future of their existence. But whether it was for better or for worse, only time would tell.
It was a long time before Lydia finally fell asleep, looking over at Jesse, noticing that he was asleep in his own sleeping bag. He always looked so much younger when he was asleep. She watched him for a long moment before she turned on her side and slowly drifted off to sleep.
--
"So, when exactly are we going to get to the Whirl Islands?" Jennie wanted to know as they were walking along the road again, heading towards Olivine City, her head buried into a book about the islands that she'd picked up before leaving Ecruteak City.
"Not too long," Jesse answered as he shoved his hands into his pockets, looking around the forest. "We just have to get to Olivine and then it's a half-day's ride to the Whirl Islands. Of course, I'm not entirely sure that they've got a boat ride to there. We might have to find another way to get there," he added, glancing towards Lydia, who was only halfway paying attention. "Hey, Lydia, you in there? Hello?" he added with a smile, waving his hand in front of her.
"I can hear you, Jess," Lydia told her best friend. "Just thinking, all right? That thing that people who have brains have been known to do from time to time." Jennie cracked up as Jesse glared at her, but reluctantly grinned. Lydia grinned as she pulled tighter on her straps of her bag absently. "So are we gonna stop in Olivine for the gym first or just head straight to the Whirl Islands and then to Cianwood?"
"Personally, I think we should go to the Islands first," Jennie said helpfully and the two older trainers glanced at each other, rolling their eyes in exasperation. "Hey, just because you two catch whatever walks in front of you doesn't mean that I'm crazy."
"No, you're crazy because you are crazy," Jesse retorted and the two siblings started bickering loudly as they walked through the forest just as Lydia pulled out a picture that Mr. Turner had given her before they left. It was a photo of herself, Hayden, Jack, and Rosemary all standing outside of Jack's mansion back in Cherrygrove. The only person missing was Alison and that was because she had been kidnapped. She sighed as she slipped it back into her pocket, wondering just how much things were going to change before it all ended.
She hadn't called Jack since she had found out the truth, not sure whether or not she could speak to him at the moment without revealing what she knew and to be honest, she wasn't sure if she wanted him to know that she knew the truth. Between her dreams and Hayden, she wasn't sure if he was the one she should be trusting.
"Looks like it's gonna rain," Jesse suddenly said, breaking into her thoughts. All three of them looked up towards the blackened sky, which had been clear that morning, but had slowly turned dark without their noticing. "Oh, man. We'd better find someplace for cover before it hits. Looks like it might be a bad one."
"Not really arguing that point," Lydia commented as they broke into a run, trying to find anywhere that they could take cover from the storm, but they were in the middle of a forest, with no place for miles, until they reached Olivine.
"Hey, look, there's a cave there!" Jennie called, pointing up ahead as rain came pouring down, soaking them through in minutes. Lydia blinked through the rain where Jennie was pointing. "It's our best bet right now, let's go!" she ordered, splashing through the puddles with Jesse and Lydia behind her as they hurried into the cave, soaked through.
"Okay, everybody get into some dry clothes," Lydia ordered as she dug into her own bag for her extra pair of clothes. "Nobody's allowed to get sick." She and Jennie turned while Jesse kept his back turned and then the girls did the same while he got changed. In the dry clothes, everyone was considerably warmer as they looked out into the storm that raged overhead. "I can't believe how fast the storm came up."
"Well, we're stuck here for the night, might as well deal with it," Jennie grumbled as she released her Pokémon. "Come on, everybody, let's go explore the cave, all right?"
"Uh . . . Jen, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Jesse told his sister as she walked away from them through the back of the cave. Both of them looked at each other in exasperation. "Why does she always have to be so stubborn?"
"Because she learned it from her older brother," Lydia answered simply as she and Umbreon went to go catch up with the younger trainer. Jesse rolled his eyes as he followed them.
"I suppose that accounts for the sweet disposition as well?" he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Oh, no. That's all your mother." Jesse actually laughed as she said that and shook his head as they travelled further into the cave as it lowered. "Uh, Jennie? Where are you?" Lydia called, not seeing the blonde trainer.
There was no answer and both Jesse and Lydia looked at each other worriedly as Jesse tugged a flashlight out of his bag, but unfortunately forgot to put any batteries in the thing. "Okay, remind me to get some batteries if we ever get to Olivine," Jesse muttered as he shoved it back into his bag and released Natu. "Okay, Natu, can you find Jennie?"
"Cyndaquil, come on out!" Lydia announced, releasing the fire Pokémon. "Can you lead the way?" The fire Pokémon squealed in assurance as she led the group through the cave with Natu, searching for the blonde trainer. "Jennie! Can you hear me?" she called, her voice echoing throughout the cave.
Lydia didn't hear anything, however, but the sound of her own voices calling back to her. "I'm gonna kill her," Jesse hissed as they stepped further on down in the cave and suddenly the ground underneath their feet turned uneven. Lydia shrieked as they tumbled down as the path turned into a slide and they rode down, landing in a heap on the ground, where Jennie was sitting with her Pokémon, a bemused expression on her face.
"Hey, guys," she said cheerfully. "How's it going?" Lydia glared at her as she pushed herself up onto her knees as Cyndaquil crawled up into her lap, seeking comfort from the thrill ride they'd just had.
"Okay, missy, next time that you decide to go looking for trouble, take one of us along with you," Lydia growled at her, looking around them. "How are we going to get out of here?"
"Not sure, haven't had a chance to really explore it yet," Jennie said, shrugging as Jesse stood up, about to yell at his sister when his eyes travelled over to the walls, which Lydia had just now noticed had a lot of ancient drawings on them.
"Jennie, what did you find?" he whispered as he walked closer, examining one of the drawings. Lydia stood up with Cyndaquil in her arms as she walked closer to him, peering at the drawings. Jennie shrugged as she stood up, looking around the cavern as though noticing it for the first time.
Jesse shook his head as he examined the cavern further. "This looks to be like the remains of an ancient civilisation," he said slowly, "one that not only worshipped psychic Pokémon, but people born with psyche were considered to be blessed by the legendary Pokémon. People like you, Lydia," he added, looking at her quickly.
"What else does it say?" Lydia asked, curious despite herself. Something about this place called closer to her soul, right down to her heart. She wasn't sure what it was.
"It's hard to make out," Jesse admitted. "Not to mention, I'm not exactly fluent in ancient languages. I'm just reading the pictures," he grumbled. "From what I can tell, there was a psychic who could read people's futures and when she read one of her people's, she saw two descendants of his that would tear their world apart, until one of their own, a daughter, would come forth and end the war between them, stopping the chaos before it began." He frowned slightly. "They've got his name here . . . Hand, I think it says," he said slowly. "Or maybe Hoof? I'm not sure . . . Claw seems closer to it, I think."
"Or maybe," Lydia said quietly, "Talon?"
