All talk of Ryan's victory over Billy and attaining his sixth Gym Badge was tabled by the group when news broke of his father's attack at the hands of the Syndicate. Even Holly treating everyone to Ice Cream after the victory seemed hollow with the news of the Syndicate's latest evil deed. The mood was as somber as it could get. Was there no limit to the evil that these monsters would commit? They've taken away lives, harmed others irreparably and forever poisoned friendships and relationships all in the pursuit of their own sinister goals. But how does attacking someone like Robert help them achieve these goals? Why does the Syndicate hold so much contempt for the Kingston Family? These were questions the four all definitely wanted answers to, but were afraid that by the time they got them, it would be far too late.
As the four departed from Iron Village and got onto the chairlift down the side of the mountain, they were silent. What could they say to alleviate the situation? What was there that they could offer to fix all of these woes coming their way? Robert Kingston could just be the first in the next group of victims the Syndicate would go after. What if they went after Holly and Tommy's parents? Or Addison's?
Upon reaching the flat lands by the entrance to the Chair Lift, the group decided to make it down to the other walking trail that would lead them to Cauldro City. As they continued, Tommy began to lag behind out of exhaustion, so Ryan took the little boy on his back and continued along after Addison and Holly. But it wasn't long before the rest of the group soon began to grow weary and fatigued from the rough day on all of them. Addison didn't even bother to ask if anyone was interested in dinner, as Ryan simply walked over to the side of the cliff they were settled down on and just sat there in silence.
While his friends each went on their own to bed, Ryan stayed awake. He was at a loss for words. His heart was already shattered by what had previously gone down on his journey, but somehow it felt like it was still breaking. His father was now sitting in a hospital, potentially in serious condition, and all he could do to avenge him was continue on his journey. Now, he could feel the pent up rage that was building up inside Matthew. Now, it was all starting to make sense to him. The powerlessness he felt here was downright infuriating. To know that at the nod of a head, the Syndicate could attack a prominent figure in Arcana and get away with it. To know that without some strong sense of leadership, that they were powerless to protect the people that they cared for. He finally understood the rage burning inside of his brother. He was tempted to call him and talk things through with him, but he suspected Matt wouldn't answer. Not out of spite, but because he was with their father.
But his mother might answer. He decided to dial her up on his Poké Gear. She answered almost immediately.
"Ryan?"
"Hi Mom" Ryan said softly, as to not awaken his friends. "How is he?"
Alison took a deep breath. "He's in the ICU right now. But we're here in the waiting room, just hoping to be able to see him."
"We?" Ryan asked.
"Your brother's here with me" she said softly. "Would you like to talk to him?"
"Is that Ry?" Matthew asked next to his mother.
"Yes it is" she told him.
Ryan shrugged. Hit two Pidgeys with one stone. "Sure."
After a moment of silence, Ryan could hear his brother on the other line. "Ry?"
"Hey Matt" Ryan said, a hesitant tone in his voice. "Have you seen Dad yet?"
"No. They won't let anyone in to see him right now. And it's ticking me off."
"Hang in there" Ryan told him. "You'll get to see him before long. We both will."
"I gotta be in Cauldro City tomorrow morning" Matthew explained. "So I can't stay here too long."
"Cauldro City?"
"He's got to support his girlfriend" Alison teased.
"Cut it out, Mom" Matthew grumbled.
Ryan was incredibly surprised by this turn of events. "Girlfriend?"
"Didn't you know?" Matthew asked. "Oh wait, I remember. We haven't really spoken in the last few days. Do you remember that girl from the Ball at Grandma's Castle? Jasmine?"
Ryan laughed. "The one that kept asking me if you were single, yeah I remember her."
"Well" Matthew said sheepishly, "we met in Charizark Town a few days back and we kinda hit it off."
"My little handsome Romeo" Alison giggled.
"Mom!" Matthew groaned.
"She's going to be competing in the Cauldro Faire?" Ryan asked.
"Yup" Matthew told him. "And I promised I'd be there to support her. The field has shrunken down so much, I think there are only a few contestants left in the running." He was silent for a moment before he chose to continue. "How are the girls and Tommy?"
"They're doing pretty good" Ryan answered. "Holly and Addison should still be competing in the Contests too."
"Great, that means I'll get to see them perform" Matt replied.
Ryan smiled with his eyes closed. It's good that he found someone. At least he isn't hung up on Addy.
"And Congrats on getting the Iron Badge" Matt told his brother. "How many does that give you?"
"Six" Ryan answered, remembering the shine his brother gave him earlier when they argued about it.
"You're almost there, Ry" Matt said, in a surprisingly soft tone. "Keep going for it. I'll put Mom back on."
"Okay."
"We'll take care of things here" Alison assured her son. "Your Uncle Jeice will be here soon to help out as best as he can. Don't worry about it anymore, honey. Dad will be back in fighting shape in a few days and we'll all be one big happy family again. Give the girls my best, Ryan. Love you, sweetie." With that, she ended the call.
Ryan put the Poké Gear beside him and leaned back, his mood only somewhat improved since speaking to his mother and brother.
"You really should get some sleep" Addison said as she sat beside him.
Ryan shook his head. "I can't. Not when I might have been the last person in the world to see him before he was attacked." He clenched his fists. "Now I get why Matt was so angry. My father could have been killed and I couldn't do a thing to stop it."
Addison sighed. "But if you follow the same path Matthew took, it's only going to end the same way. You avenge your father, but then what happens? Now, all you'd have is anger without purpose. You would just be turning yourself into another Elezar. Tell me what that would accomplish, Ryan?"
Ryan lowered his head. "I don't know. It's just so-stifling. I want to be able to make a difference. Not just sit around and wait for others to do it."
Addison opened his hand and took it in hers. "You are making a difference, Ry. A difference doesn't just mean being there to stop a bad guy. It's the same as being a hero." She pointed towards his heart. "There's a great big heart underneath all that pain you're feeling. Why let it go to waste when all you may get out of it is a little bit of revenge? Let the Syndicate and other people talk about revenge and justice. You make a difference every day being in our lives. And that's what matters."
Ryan tried to smile, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "I miss him, Addy. I miss him so much."
She hugged him warmly. "So do I, Ryan. So do I."
He let go of her and looked directly at her. "I may not have been able to protect my father, but I am going to protect you."
"What?" she gasped, her face reddening.
Ryan took her hands in his. "I haven't been able to protect anybody. Not my cousins, not my father, not my friends, not even myself. But I want to make a vow, right here and now. To one of the only few people in this world that I would trust my life with. Addy, I am going to protect you and keep you safe from everything we come across. The good, the bad and the miserable."
She beamed. "Ryan...I don't know what to say..."
"You don't have to say anything" Ryan said, pulling his best friend to her feet. "Just know that if you are ever in any danger, even when the darkness comes in and creeps up on you, come hell or high water, I will fight to keep you safe."
Addison smiled, despite the tears in her eyes. "You big jerk. Making me cry like this."
Ryan took a deep breath. "Whatever the future holds for us, I just want to make sure you're there with me to take it in. Every step of the way."
"Every step of the way" Addison repeated. She turned to walk away, but hesitated. Before Ryan could ask her what was wrong, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, before hurrying into her tent to go to sleep for the night. Ryan touched where she had kissed him and broke out into a wide and endearing smile.
He made his way over towards his sleeping bag and began to make himself comfortable. As he did, he received a notification on his Poké Gear. He took a look at it and saw he had received a new message from an unknown source. Curious, he opened it to read:
[Ryan Kingston,
I believe you have a good and pure heart, one that has been scarred by the likes of The Syndicate. The pain you must feel for what you have lost at their hands is one that I know deep down I will never be able to alleviate from you. But I want to help you as I have Professor Julia Pines. Just know that there are others out there that would like to see The Syndicate fall for their own purposes, such as myself. I would very much like for you to save this number until we are better acquainted so that I may be able to provide some sort of help to you in combatting the Syndicate in any way that I can. Alone, we are powerless. But if we work together, you, myself and Professor Pines, we might be able to make a difference.
I promise to keep you appraised
Sincerely, Deep Jade]
Ryan thought for a moment, wondering who the heck Deep Jade could possibly be. When no real person pops up in his head, he shrugs it off and decides to go to bed for the night. As he rests his head on the softest part of his sleeping bag, one of his Poké Balls opens and he finds Simba sniffing at his face. Ryan smiled at the sight of his Litleo and tapped his body and let the cub hop on his body to sleep. He pet Simba happily until he finally passed into the realms of his dreams.
{Meanwhile}
In the darkness of the Assembly Hall of the Syndicate, Courtney sat in meditation with The Grand Master. As the two continued to test their connections to one another, Courtney's thoughts continued to dwindle on other things. Sensing the turmoil developing inside his pupil, The Grand Master opened his sapphire eyes and addressed her formally for the first time since the session began.
You seem troubled, Courtney.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she remarked bitterly. "We're getting closer to our goals, and yet it's almost as if I can feel something tugging away at the very strength of The Syndicate. There is a great power at work in Arcana, but I don't think it's ours."
Elaborate, Courtney. Tell me what bothers you.
"There was more to Jocelyn's story than she's revealed" she suggested. "There has to be. Why would we be concerned with a trivial box if there wasn't something else to it? Since I've begun these sessions with you, Grand Master, my mind is opening to the possibilities of the world. Even things I didn't think possible could potentially become reality. It's also sharpened my mind. And a keen intellect is important for our organization to flourish. Mine tells me that Jocelyn didn't tell us the full story of what she encountered at Kingston Castle."
Do you mean to suggest that Jocelyn Aced lied to us about what unfolded at the Castle?
"I know I'll need evidence of if" Courtney bitterly answered. "But you could feel it too, couldn't you?"
The child has been growing increasingly unstable over the past few days. She made an unscheduled visit to Titanio Hospital the other day.
"Why?" Courtney asked.
Perhaps this is what you should be spending your time on, for the foreseeable future, Courtney. Wade through these murky waters and report whatever you find to Elezar and myself. Take great interest in Elezar's actions. We are too close to making our final preparations to risk anything upsetting the balance we've established. Do not be afraid to take action yourself, Courtney.
"Trust me" she said, with a tone of utter malice, "I have no intention of holding back." She then rose from her seat and left to conduct some research of her own.
{Meanwhile}
"He'll be rooting for me!"
"NO! ME!"
Ryan tossed and turned as he tried to avoid the ceaseless feuding he had been rudely woken to in the early morning hours of the next morning. Even Simba was burrowing himself inside Ryan's sleeping bag.
"I'm telling you he'll be voting for me!" Holly boasted. "After all, I'm the best suited to become the next Queen of Arcana."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Addison snapped.
"I am the Fairest Maiden in all of the Contests now that Piper won't be contending" Holly insisted. "Therefore, he should be rooting for me, because I'm the only one who's going to win."
"You need to check your vanity, Holly" Addison hissed. "Besides, no one has even shown off their routines yet. And last I checked, you haven't been really practicing one!"
"That's where you're wrong!" Holly countered.
"Then prove it!" Addison declared.
"Oh my god" Tommy cried out. "It's barely dawn and you're already at each other's throats? What do you have against the concept of sleep?" Simba scrambled out of the sleeping bag and growled at the girls grumpily, showing he too sided with Tommy about getting some sleep. But as Ryan was about to turn himself over to get some more sleep, Addison and Holly resumed their bickering.
"Then let's ask him" Holly demanded.
"Gladly!"
"If Ryan hasn't heard any of this" Tommy told the two, "you should count yourselves lucky."
"Oh don't you worry" Ryan grunted, slowly struggling out of his sleeping bag. "I heard every word of it."
"Then which of us will you be rooting for?" Holly demanded. "Me, right? After all, we did work on my performance together and you gave me some helpful tips."
"Isn't Achilles going to take part in my performance?" Addison demanded. "Surely, you'll be rooting for me, right?"
Ryan rubbed his head. "You're really arguing over this at the crack of dawn?"
Both girls waited for Ryan to answer their inquiries. The trainer yawned loudly, put his trusted bandanna atop his head and looked towards Tommy. "Hey, Tommy? Who are you rooting for?"
"DON'T YOU DRAG ME INTO THIS!" the boy snapped. "I just want some sleep like every normal person in the world should."
"Tommy" Ryan reiterated, "if you had to choose one of them to win the Queen of Arcana contests, who would you prefer? Holly or Addison?"
When both girls turned their frustrations out on Tommy, he cowered away immediately. "I pick my sister!" he chirped.
"HA!" Holly cheered.
"Cool" Ryan said. "Then I'll root for Addy."
"What?" Holly screamed.
"HA!" Addison mocked.
"That way, one of you always has someone in your camp" Ryan reasoned.
"But what if it comes down to us?" Holly pleaded.
"Then it stays the same. Tommy roots for you and I root for Addison."
"But-"
"And if it comes down to one of you against someone else" Ryan continued, prompting Holly to keep quiet, "then we all swing our support towards whoever is still standing." He rose to his feet and walked over to Simba, scooping the cub up into his arms and looking back at his friends. "Now, both of you should apologize to Simba for waking him up." The girls, realizing their bickering had really amounted to nothing, came over to the Litleo and pet him, with each of them giving the cub their own form of an apology. When the cub accepted them, Ryan recalled him into his Poké Ball. "Now that that's taken care of, we should get going. We want to be at the Faire by the time it starts today, right?"
Addison nodded and made her way to close up her pop up tent. "Yup. And we don't know when the Contest Performances are going to be held."
"It's usually on the third day of the performances" Holly explained. "The first day of the Faire is the Festival, the Feast and the Archery Tournament. The second day is the Joust. The third day is set for the Contests and the commencement of whomever will be named the Queen of Arcana and any and all special challenges for the Gym Leader."
"How many girls are even still in the contest?" Ryan asked Holly.
"Just under a dozen" Holly told him. "Pretty much only the girls who were at The Ball at Kingston Castle."
Ryan rolled up his Sleeping Bag and put it back on top of his bag and looked to his friends. "It's a new day. And we'd better be headed out to Cauldro City. The Faire is calling to us."
Addison nodded and finished packing her stuff. "Let's get going!"
"Alright!" Holly cheered.
Tommy, however, was unhappy about it. "Fine, but I'd better be having a lot of fun at the Faire!"
"Oh, I'm sure you'll have fun at the Festival" Addison assured the boy. "There's all sorts of games and activities to play around with."
"And plenty of delicious foods to eat" Holly pointed out.
"And a ton of amazing prizes for those who can win the parts of the Faire" Ryan concluded.
Tommy shrugged. "Then I guess I'll have fun then."
Holly messed up her brother's hair. "Come on, you. Let's get a move on."
The four then continued walking their way down the path towards Cauldro City. Though they could hear the sounds of the Faire in the distance, including the band tuning up and the various arcade games coming to life, they knew they were still a ways away from the next big step on their adventure. One thing Ryan could not deny, however, was that he and Addison were walking much closer together than they had been this entire journey so far. The boundaries between the two were now practically non-existent. The two were practically arm in arm now as they continued down the walkway, which was good, as both were able to see the commotion that lied in front of them first.
"Looks like we've got company" Ryan said bitterly.
"Familiar company too" Addison echoed.
"What's going on?" Holly asked.
"Lily and Lena dead ahead" Ryan said, pointing out the two Syndicate Goons moving about down the road in what was more than likely a stolen wagon.
Addison looked to see if she could spot what the two of them were up to. Lily and Lena were carrying a sack into the back of the wagon. "Well, since their truck got totaled in Trickton, I guess they've had to downgrade a bit. But I can imagine they're up to the same dirty old tricks." She looked to Ryan and held her fist out to him. "Let's go clean their clocks!"
Ryan laughed. "Clean their clocks?"
"I'm not good at heroic banter and you know it" she echoed his laughter. "You with me or not?"
He put his up against hers. "Here to the end, M'lady." With that, Ryan and Addison took off down the path, leaving Holly and Tommy behind them, completely bewildered to what had just unfolded.
