Author's note: If this is your first time reading my story, do not read the reviews. There are spoilers which will ruin the climax of the story.

1 The Hidden Shrine

The faint glimmer of the quarter moon made the shadows dance as the clouds swirled about it. The foliage stirred with the gentle autumn breeze drifting through trees, spreading the whispers of the forest to all who had ears to hear it. The soft, chill breath of the night, just loud enough to be distracting, muffled the sounds of movement. Had anything been about, it would have been a perfect night for nocturnal hunters to seek out their prey and yet, not a single creature stirred while the stranger was in the forest.

He felt wrong, this tall stranger. His mere presence bore an ominous aura of dread with him that even wildest of pokemon would not dare to disturb. An unnatural chill, like the touch of death's bony hand, hung about him, stabbing every creature that drew near him with icy spears of terror. His purpose remained unclear, but his ill intent radiated from his very body and, while no normal human would sense it, the pokemon understood clearly. This human was evil.

Even in the dim light, the fluttering pale blue cape that draped over his gray and white garments made him stand out in contrast to the darker surroundings. If he had any pursuers-which, at this point, would not have surprised him-they could have easily spotted him, but this didn't make him feel overly concerned. He would be aware of their approach long before they would ever suspect that he knew. No one had ever taken Artemis Jin'ei by surprise.

He stopped and sat down beneath a large oak tree, straining his back to avoid resting against it. Terrified by his icy presence, a noctowl leapt from its perch in the branches overhead and flew away, while inside the hollowed trunk, several caterpie squirmed against the back of it, desperately wishing to escape, but afraid to approach the man enough to wriggle through the opening. Jin'ei took no notice of any of it as he slipped his bag off of his shoulder.

Where was it?

Wanting to make sure of his path, he removed his tinted glasses and withdrew the stolen book from his bag. The book had a brown, leather binding and the letters of its title were traced with gold. To most, the characters that made up the book's text would have seemed to be nothing more than indecipherable scribbles. The language that the book was written in hadn't been spoken in centuries and its alphabet was all but forgotten. Jin'ei, however, had spent years studying the ancient languages and he had become well acquainted with the words.

His eyes, disks of amber floating in pools of blood, narrowed as he skimmed the ancient writings. His normally soft facial features now appeared harsh from his scowl of frustration. Even with the book's vague instructions, he should have found it by now. He had been searching the mountains for over an hour. One did not simply hide a shrine of such size as the book described without leaving traces of its whereabouts to be found.

Running his delicate fingers through his stark white mane of hair, he closed the book and returned it to its place, a bewildered sigh escaping his lungs as he remembered the trouble he had gone through to get it.

The name of Artemis Jin'ei was known to many people, but little of the truth about him was known. Only a handful of small groups knew who he really was and to those few, his reputation was well earned. The previous owner of the book he now held knew of him all to well and had been quite unwilling to relinquish his claim on it. In the end, he had been forced to convince the old man by driving the blade of a dagger into his heart. It never ceased to amaze Jin'ei how effortlessly a blade could plunge through cloth and flesh to the most vital spots of the human body. Truly, people were weak, miserable things.

He growled at that thought. He hated killing; it was such messy business and blood was so hard to clean from fabric. It was something to be left to petty criminals, not refined people such as him. Of course, the possibilities of a simple street thug being able to kill sorcerer as powerful as that one had been were very unlikely. Besides, as close as he was to the goal that had been his obsession for so many years, he didn't have the patience to waste time negotiating with such scum anyhow.

Drawing a deep breath to calm himself, he let his mind seek out the emanations given off by the treasure he sought, forcing all the distractions of his physical senses out of his mind. He ceased to hear the sounds of the forest, to feel the touch of the grass beneath him or the cold wind. As his eyes lost focus, his mind sharpened, conjuring images of swirling colors that represented the different fields of energies of which normal humans were not aware. He did not actually see them; there was nothing there to see. Rather, he felt them all about him and his mind created the visuals as he thought they should be. He saw the wind as a swirling transparency, as though looking through propane vapors, while clouds of brilliant green radiated from trees, the animals various shades of orange and yellow. More importantly, a faint, colorless light emanated from somewhere in the distance.

It was close! He could feel the power radiating through the forest. Not an impressive signal, in fact, he wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't known what he was looking for, but he had no doubt that he had found it.

With a self-satisfied smile that revealed his pristine teeth, he replaced his glasses and continued on. His hands clenched and unclenched with anticipation as he felt the waves of energy grow clearer with every step he took. Each passing minute became an hour to him as he drew nearer. His body trembled with ebullience at the thought of what would soon be his and compulsive clucks of laughter escaped him from time to time.

The trees thinned out as he came to deep gorge. He looked down to the bottom, some hundreds of feet below, where the river that had carved the gorge ages ago still flowed nonchalantly through. It was another two hundred feet to the other side of the ravine, with a nearly vertical ascension up the rock cliffs on either side. It would take him hours to find a safe place to scale them and several more hours just to actually climb them.

He didn't have the time for that!

As he had done so many times before, he called on the strength of his mind to aid him, lifting himself a few inches off of the ground. With a single thought, he continued forward, easily hovering across the chasm. As he was about to set foot on the other side a few moments later, he felt a different energy radiating below him. Moving back a bit, he gently floated down the gorge until he reached the point where the signal was strongest, almost halfway down.

His eyebrow cocked in confusion. He felt an overpowering field of energy, but nothing more than a blank granite wall loomed unimpressively. His lips parted into a cynical smile when the truth suddenly became apparent. He pointed the palm of his hand toward the wall and began to fill the area with psychic energy.

Impressive strength had gone into spell, but against Jin'ei's continual mental bombardments, the magic quickly broke apart. The air seemed to shiver as the illusory veil was swept away, revealing the entrance to the hidden shrine, a square opening ten feet in width and height. The entrance was guarded by sculptures of the three legendary birds, carved right out of the face of the cliff; Articuno on the right, Moltres on the left and Zapdos above.

"My, you've spent a lot of time on decorative architecture," Jin'ei chuckled, stroking the inside rim of his left ear with one finger.

With the illusionary field dissipated, the only energy he could feel came from within the shrine, but something didn't seem quite right. Reaching into his bag, he retrieved the book again and opened it. Jin'ei hadn't survived so long by being careless and he wasn't about to make a mistake now.

Removing his glasses, he looked through the pages until he found mention of the three carvings. He frowned in disappointment. The book gave details about the sculptures' carving and their dimensions, but there was no mention as to whether or not there were any enchantments on them. He took a few minutes to read the entire section and found nothing about the shrine's defenses.

He closed the book, his irritation easily recognizable in his expression. It was an incomplete entry! After all his searching, had he taken the wrong book? He had been in such a rush to find his treasure that he hadn't taken the time to completely read the tome. Certainly every book of artifacts had some mention of the object he was after, as powerful as it was.

"Damn," he whispered to himself.

He put the book away and stared at the entrance for a long moment, trying to decide what to do. He would be taking a great risk if he went into the shrine without full knowledge of what he would be facing. Now that he had found the entrance, he could always return later, after he had found another book with more complete information.

On the other hand, it had taken him years to find the location of the book he currently had with him. It might take him just as long to find another one. He had no intention of waiting any longer, not when his goal was right in front of him. He was not going to turn back now.

Cautiously, he floated over toward the entrance, keeping a close eye on the three sculptures in case they were more than what they seemed. He set himself down inside the opening as gently as a falling feather.

Nothing.

He turned to look at the statues again, his mouth curved down in a disappointed scowl. They were extremely detailed in craftsmanship, but apparently not magical. Sighing and shaking his head with disappointment, he turned away from them and stared down the long, dark tunnel.

"They should have been," he grumbled, frustrated. "Sorcerers were always infamous for their value of prudence over aesthetics."

Looking around, he spied an unlit torch hanging on the wall. He took it down and held it out before him. Smoke issued from the stick as he focused his thoughts on it, bursting into flames.

Jin'ei's face scrunched up with disgust when he saw the tunnel in the light. Cobwebs hung lazily from the ceiling the entire length of the corridor. The walls were lined with mildew, which explained the pungent odor and the strange texture. Even though he had expected such a sight, the thought of continuing down the path repulsed him. Remembering the treasure that awaited him, he steeled himself against his antipathy and continued. He took extra care not to touch the walls and brushed the webs aside with the torch as he passed, taking satisfaction in watching the flames consumed them.

Setting the last of webs ablaze and sending the spinaraks scuttling bitterly away, Jin'ei stepped out of the tunnel and into the long forgotten shrine, noting the peculiar shape of the pillars on either side of the door. Upon closer scrutiny, he realized that they weren't pillars at all, but the legs of gigantic statue. It's four arms flexed and prepared to strike, the towering stone machamp glared down on the room.

Holding the torch out before him, he absorbed the details of the shrine with a sense of elation he hadn't felt in years. The room stretched up far beyond the range of vision his torch provided and enormous piles of gold and jewels rose up all around him. There was enough wealth in a single corner of the shrine to increase the fortune of the richest man in the world five times, perhaps even more than that.

Jin'ei burst out laughing.

A distraction. All of it was nothing more than a distraction. He would not be tempted by the lure of mere wealth. His intent was for something of far greater value than gold. Stepping over the scattered coins without so much as a second glance, he approached the center of the shrine, where, on a raised pedestal, like a museum display case, rested the prize he desired.

A palm-sized, bronze medallion with a plain cloth strap sat on the pedestal. It had no identifying marks beyond the small, diamond-shaped hole in its center. Compared to the mountains of treasure all about, it appeared almost worthless. Anyone else would have ignored the trinket, but Jin'ei was not fooled by its appearance. He could feel the power stored within it. He reached out to take it, his eyes gleaming with desire.

With a sudden cry of pain, he jerked his had back. Electricity crackled angrily around the medallion for a moment, then faded. Growling, Jin'ei glared at his scorched fingertips.

"I won't be stopped," he hissed.

He focused his thoughts on the medallion and the electrical field sparkled to life once again. Exerting himself harder, he forced a gap to open up between the arcing currents and then caused the medallion to lift off from its resting place and float out of its shield. He allowed it to hover over his trembling hands for a moment, then let it drop into his eager grasp.

"At last," he whispered, his voice quaking with ecstasy. "It is mine. Cerebral!"

The medallion glowed softly in seeming protest, as though rejecting his claim. Jin'ei smiled cruelly.

"You resist me?" he asked smugly. "Does my intent displease you? It doesn't matter. There's nothing you can do about it now."

The Cerebral's glow grew more intense. Suddenly, the air exploded with light as the thousands of torches and braziers in the room began to burn. He heard a rumble of grinding stone, followed by a resounding thud and felt a quake pass through the ground beneath his feet. Slipping his treasure into his bag, he turned to flee.

Shards of rock exploded into the air as a giant stone fist came down, crushing the pedestal. Jin'ei hovered in the air just a few feet from the spot where his corpse would have been if he had only been the slightest bit slower to react, his heart pounding furiously from the shock. The machamp statue pulled its fist away and took another earthshaking step forward. Another echoing impact came from behind. Glancing over his shoulder, Jin'ei saw a second statue approaching him.

Grunting from the strain of such evasive action, he darted through the air, dodging past the surprisingly quick swipes of the eight attacking arms. Even Jin'ei had to admire the time and energy that had been put into creating the guardians. As they closed in, he quickly realized that their fists were not flying wildly. The two statues attacked with marvelously coordinated strikes, each swinging punch herding him toward another. Before each blow landed, he had to determine which would be the next to strike before dodging.

And then he caught a mistake, two attacks coming too quickly. Dropping to the ground and then darting under one of the statues' legs, he launched a psychic bolt into the back of its knee, shattering the joint. The stone beast teetered for a moment, then toppled to the ground, dashing apart on impact.

Jin'ei shot upward as one of remaining statue's hands struck for him, right into the waiting grasp of another. The fist closed around his body, pinning his arms to his side. The golem began to squeeze, intending to crush its tiny victim.

"Somehow I believe that you'll have to do better than this," Jin'ei growled.

An aura of cold, lavender flames surrounded Jin'ei's form. The statue's grip weakened as cracks appeared wherever the flames licked at it. With a triumphant shout, Jin'ei broke free of its grip, sending the hand to the ground in pieces. A maniacal grin on his face, Jin'ei pointed toward his attacker and let loose a barrage of psyonic missiles. The stone skin shivered apart beneath the assault and within seconds the giant golem dropped to the ground as rubble.

Jin'ei landed amidst the debris and took a moment to dust himself off. Reaching into the bag, he retrieved the medallion, gloating over his treasure.

"That was certainly exciting," he remarked. "Though, I would've expected something more than animated statues from the sorcerers of the ancient days. It seems a bit cliché. Perhaps the legends were exaggerated."

Shrugging resignedly, he started back down the tunnel, admiring his prize. So many years had he waited for this and now his goal was complete. With the power of Cerebral at his command, none could overpower him, not even the conclave. He would be the ruler now.

To rule. Now that was something that a person of his blood was meant for. No more murder, no more hiding his secrets from his enemies, just absolute control. It was what he deserved, was destined to achieve. People had fought against it for so long, but now, he had the upper hand. Things were going to be different from now on.

'I can't believe it was this easy,' he thought to himself as he took off from the edge of the tunnel.

When he heard a sudden grinding sound, he realized his mistake. He dodged sharply to the side to avoid the coming attack. Not quite fast enough. A beam of blue light struck his arm, encasing it and the medallion in ice. The sudden cold sensation, like a thousand tiny needles boring into his skin, caused him to gasp out in pain. He turned back to the shrine.

The carving of Articuno had opened its beak. And now, the Moltres sculpture was beginning to open its beak as well.

"Idiot!" he scolded himself.

A stream of fire shot toward him. In his rush to escape, his bag slipped from his shoulder and was swallowed by the flames. He didn't have time to worry about the loss, for a bolt of lightning immediately leapt from the Zapdos carving. It passed by just a few inches from his face, making his hair stand on end. He dashed to the left, hoping to escape, only to be cut off by another chilling blast. Then he was forced to evade another blast of fire and another bolt of lightning.

Shouting out defiantly, he launched a blast of psychic energy, only to watch it be deflected from its course, roaring down the tunnel to explode somewhere within the shrine.

"Oh, shit," he groaned, shooting downward to escape another river of fire racing toward him.

Streaks of blue, red and yellow streamed through the gorge, leaving charred stone and chunks of ice on the opposite wall. Jin'ei's mind raced desperately in search of a solution. The statues were defended against his attacks and it was only a matter of time before the continual dodging would leave him exhausted. Either he would overuse his mental powers and pass out, or a blast from one of the three guardian sculptures would find its mark. Whichever happened first, the end result would be the same, a long plummet to his death.

In an attempt to escape from a beam of cold and a blast of fire coming at him simultaneously, he smashed into the wall of the chasm. The impact caused the thin layer of ice that kept the medallion in his hand to snap.

"NO!" he shouted, throwing out his free hand to grab it.

An agonized scream escaped his throat as a bolt of lightning struck him, triggering every single pain receptor on his body at once. Blackness swirled around him, bringing with it a nauseating dizziness. His body twisted in anguish, his breath coming in short, erratic gasps.

'No!' he thought as the clouds of darkness closed in over his vision. 'I was so close! So . . . close!'

His rigid form falling limp, Jin'ei's mind succumbed to the silence of unconsciousness.

---

Still frozen in a block of ice, Cerebral, the medallion that Jin'ei had been searching so many years to find, plunged into the frigid waters below. Bobbing to the surface, it began its journey downstream, tossed erratically by the chaotic rapids of the raging river.