Murkwater Town was located in a large cave near the northern cove of Crescent Island, also home to the Rorian Ghost-type gym. It was a dangerous place to grow old in, as the fluctuations of the tides made the entire town very unstable, and accidents were prone to happen. Of course, that was part of the challenge for visitors.

Bronze and Tess sat on Magnezone, avoiding the treacherous peat the surrounded the cave entrance at low tide. After reaching a wooden boardwalk, the two trainers got of the flying saucer, and took in the full extent of the damp cave.

Anyone who looked at Tess's bag would see two badges, Arvin's and Fantina's. The Sinnoh Gym Leader had accepted Tess's challenge, and lost, despite her usage of illusions. Fantina's badge was inadmissible for the championship, but Tess wasn't going to participate anyway. As for Bronze, only one Gym remained, and possibly the most bizarre of all, even more so then Zephan's challenge.

Bronze and Tess entered a grimy seafood restaurant and took a seat. On the television was a detailing of current events, and some that Bronze had not heard of.

"The organization known as Team Eclipse has had their main headquarters discovered and cleared. The leadership has appeared to have had evacuated, and while the Pokémon Association has not commented further on this raid, report confirm at least one fatality, and several other casualties. In other news relating to the Eclipse organization, people professing to be various deities from ancient culture have been appearing in multiple regions, and performing miracles, including turning water into blood, healing the sick, and creating abnormal weather conditions without the aid of Pokémon. These self-proclaimed prophets have consistently said that they are given power in the name of the leader of the Eclipse Organization, Jonathan Cypress. In other news-"

A crash was heard coming from another table. Bronze and Tess swiveled to see what had caused it, and saw that a older sea-captain had stood up, furious, with his dishes strewn everywhere.

"MIRACLES? Fakers! Hucksters! Liars! False Prophets! Sorcerers! Don't believe a word they say! The power is real, but it does not come from light! They serve the dark, proclaiming lies about what is true and what is deserving of worship! In all my years, I have never seen anything like this!"

A attendant to the captain ran over from the bathrooms, flustered. "Captain Briney! Please, sit down! You need to wait for your meal to be finished! And please put on your uniform..."

Briney waved him off, and left a wad of bills on the counter. "I'll be leaving now, and I hope none of you folk here listen to those fake preachers! Take a ride on the S.S Tidal sometime!" Briney and the attendant walked out of the restaurant, still fuming.

Tess gave Bronze a pained look. "Well, I guess its good that some people can be just as angry as we are about the whole thing. But, I have to ask you for your opinion on those magicians. How are they doing it without Pokémon? I know that Cypress is evil, but can he actually give power like that? I really don't know what to think about when someone performs a miracle with no explanation."

Bronze had been thinking about this, ever since he had seen Cypress use his own powers. "I guess the best explanation is that the evil thing controlling Cypress can transfer some of its essence, and allow willing humans to perform impossible feats. There are actually some Pokémon moves that could negate this or minimize this, so, don't worry if we run into one of those sorcerers."

The two ordered and got their meal, and all the w-hile, Bronze watched the Murkwater Gym at the very end of the cave town. It looked like a old ship wreck, with wispy phantoms flying around it. Not many challengers seemed to be there, even less then Frostveil. The Gym was also shrouded in a old, tired darkness, as if it simply wanted to stop existing, and fall into oblivion, but it was being held together by some force inside the ship.

Whatever Captain B. had stored inside the hulk, it was sure to be a challenge,

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Emrett flew about on the back of his Oricorio with his students trailing him. The wonder worker frantically looked over the jungle trees, trying to divine where his master had called him.

As he searched, Emrett was simultaneously holding a full internal conversation. Reviewing his past over and over again was a path to excellence in his craft. Past mistakes could be analyzed, dissected, and cast aside in place of a better theory of nature.

When he was but a young monk, Emrett had never really cared about the worship of Arceus. He simply loved the pomp and ceremony! He excelled all others in his knowledge of theological studies and rituals, and rose through the order faster then any of his colleagues. Once, he had even stolen a senior monk's robes, and strutted around the lawn, while his fellow students admired him. Of course, he was reprimanded, and almost repelled from the order.

He had continued to delve in philosophy, theosophy, spiritualism and paganism, and the concept of a divine, impersonal energy greatly entranced him. How could the ruler of the universe pay attention to such little beings is humans and Pokémon? Surely the Spirit-Force was the way to eternal nirvana!

Growing frustrated with the constraints of traditional religion, Emrett continued to experiment with his dark arts, seeking to gain powers that his faith did not grant him. He was discovered, and cast out of his order.

He then became a scholar of the mind, learning what precisely made it tick, made it hurt, made it faint with fright. He trained Pokémon that could control the minds of others, so that he could progress down the path to divine enlightenment.

Then he had encountered his spirit guide. As a messenger of the Spirit-Force, it showed him the irrelevance of truth, the dependency of morals, and the one way to heal the broken world. Create a new one.

Emrett had discovered small tricks, bits of petty magic with hardly any significance other then that such things were possible. His spirit guide had not shown him the almighty arts then.

Despairing of life after many more years, Emrett had sought out other followers of the Spirit-Force, and met the man he now called lord. Cypress, although differing in his view of the individuality of the Spirit-Force, was a worthy man to serve, and aid in bringing about a new world. Under his rule, Emrett had honed his silver tongue, learning to sway men simply by saying what their itching ears wanted them to hear.

Then Cypress had become possessed by the Spirit-Force incarnate, and gained divine powers as part of being the Promised One. Emrett had taken part in this as well, and gained in his own thaumaturgical proficiency after he devoured the Spirit-Force whole.

In fact, he had been giving the ability to transfer this power to others, at a lesser extent. His initiates had done well in swaying many more with their miracles and signs, bringing more men and woman into the cause of a new creation. It was truly a glorious calling.

Emrett heard a distinctly human yell from below, and swerved downward. Disembarking his Pokémon, the magician called out for his master, his cry being absorbed by the thick forest.

As his students landed beside him, Emrett saw a stooped figure walking out of the underbrush. It was Cypress, but something was definitely different about him. The way he walked, the power behind his gaze, the precise movement of his facial features seemed to suggest a fusion of two separate personalities.

"My lord!" Emrett cried, bowing. "I cannot express my gratitude at finding you wholly intact! The grand design will proceed as planned, with your divine aid." Cypress put him at ease, and glanced at the two students.

"Emrett, I take these to be your peons?" The students saluted and bowed. "Yes, my lord, this is Boreas and Freya, my most skilled trainees." Cypress continued staring at the two. "Students. May I see a demonstration of your abilities, as you have learned from Lord Emrett?"

Boreas held a staff ready, while Freya pulled out her gris-gris. Boreas hit his staff against the side of a tree, and it immediately withered, causing a very surprised Yungoos to fall to the ground. Freya sprinkled some power on the ruined tree, and it suddenly sprouted again, bursting with life and bearing gigantic fruits.

Cypress laughed. "Decay and rebirth! Such skill. You have carried out my command well, Emrett. In my isolation, have any notable events occurred that I did not have the mind to detect?"

"Yes, my lord. Using our ability to trace the signatures of a Key Stone, we have judged that the Pokedex Holder Bronze is in the town on Murkwater, presumably to attempt the Gym Challenge."

"And what is your response to this information?" Cypress said. Emrett looked down. "I have sent one of my best to perform there. He will have a great challenge in escaping the town with a wonder worker on his heels!"

Cypress smiled, but then the grin vanished in the face of a blank expression. "But, you are wondering about my sudden change in demeanor, are you not? I will not be slighted by your response." Emrett bowed lower, and answered truthfully.

"You are correct, o lord. It appears to my eyes that you are contesting between to manners of speech and body. What is the meaning of this fusion, if you may reveal to me?" Cypress made a bizarre expression in which one corner of his mouth was smiling, but the other was frowning.

"To answer your question, my earthly and heavenly personalities have joined out of necessity. My spirit form overtook my earthly form not to long ago, causing part of my earth-born consciousness to descend into the mire of death. This proved to be a traumatic experience for it, but it still was devoted to me, and by extension the Spirit-Force. I was able to overtake its doubts, and suppress its trauma so that I should be able to continue my will."

Emrett and his students bowed again, satisfied at their lord's answer. Before Emrett could exult Cypress further, the demon held out his hand, and squeezed it into a fist.

The three worshipers rose up into the air, choking. Emrett clawed at his throat, rasping for precious air. "My lord...what are you doing?" Cypress grinned. "Teaching you a lesson, my dear puppet. Do not think your power can be used to rise against me, for its wellspring is the Spirit-Force, which I control! Remember this..."

Cypress let his hold go, and the three sorcerers fell to the ground, gasping. Cypress looked at the sky, rather bored. "Emrett. When I called you, did you not wonder why I simply did not travel through time and space to Sevii Outpost?"

"I will not lie, I did wonder. What is the reason for this?" Emrett said, still rasping. Cypress reached to his side, and seemed to pull a dark, wiggling mass out of the shadow of a tree. "I was, in truth, searching for this specimen. Marshadow will be quite useful to me...let us return to our stronghold."

Cypress grabbed ahold of Emrett's Oricorio, and flew of into the north.