5 Cerebral
Lotus was waiting for them when Ash and his friends returned, still in his somber mood. He wouldn't speak about what was on his mind and said little more than was enough to give his granddaughter a few chores to do after lunch. After that, he gave Murkrow a note, ordering it to deliver the message to a man named Aldaris and sat down on the porch chair to wait for its return.
Lilly could offer no explanation for the way her grandfather was acting. When he didn't come in to eat lunch, she began to worry. When asked, he said he simply wasn't hungry and that he had other things on his mind. Finally, she decided that it was useless to ask about it and left him to his silent brooding.
Lilly's chores were mostly cleaning around the house. With help from the others, she quickly completed them and a few more tasks that needed to be done. Conversation eased the work and made the time pass more enjoyably and time seemed to pass quickly as they eagerly regaled each other with stories of all that had happened since the last time they met.
Ash and Brock had engaged each other in a game of chess, Lilly and Misty in conversation, when Murkrow returned a few hours later. The bird glided erratically toward the cottage, overburdened by the immense tome that it clutched in its talons, eagerly turning the text over to the aged sorcerer and returning to its master.
Lotus numbly trudged into the house, his eyes focused on some invisible danger far off in the distance. He stopped over the chessboard, staring down on the wooden pieces. For a moment, the shadow of weariness lifted from his face, just long enough for him to move Brock's rook three spaces, trapping Ash in checkmate. Then, clasping the book under his arm, Lotus disappeared into his study and locked the door behind him.
Brock huddled over the stove in his 'kiss the cook' apron as he stirred the chicken gravy, filling the kitchen with a mouth-watering scent. He lifted the ladle to his mouth to taste it and grinned with pride. He'd surprised even himself with the meal he had managed to cook up, despite his limited options.
Lotus's cottage lacked electricity and gas, meaning that there were no modern appliances. A continuous spell kept the cellar cold enough to store food, but it was mostly bottled vegetables that Lotus had grown in his garden. With the few things he had in his pack, a box of instant rice and some green beans, he was able to prepare a fairly good meal, in spite of not having any real chicken to go with it.
Putting on his mitts, he took the pots off the stove and set them down on the hot pads next to it.
"It's ready," he announced.
The others brought their plates over to the counter, where Brock gave them each a first serving. When the others had their food, he removed his apron, prepared his own dish and took a seat at the table. As they began to eat, there came the click of a door lock, instantly drawing their attention to the study. The doorknob slowly turned and the door creaked open.
Lotus strode into the room, his hands clasped behind his back. The anxiety of his countenance seemed to have eased, for he was once again humming one of his merry tunes. He sauntered over to the counter, eyed the meal and then a broad smile appeared on his face. The four friends watched him scoop a very large portion of food onto a very large plate and sit down.
"You shouldn't have let me skip lunch," he chuckled, looking at his granddaughter. "It's not good for old men like me to go so long without eating."
He started to eat, not revealing any hint of his earlier apprehension. At the sight of his ease, the tension that had lain so thickly over the room broke. The flood of relief visibly showed.
"I'm sorry to have worried you," he said. "It was very irresponsible of me, but I was so startled to see that medallion that I lost my composure."
"So, it's not what you thought it was then?" Misty asked.
"Oh, no," Lotus replied with a grin. "It is exactly as I feared and we are in a great deal of trouble."
There was a moment of stunned silence.
"But you . . ." Brock stuttered.
Lotus shrugged. "Not knowing is half the fear," he explained. "Before, I wasn't sure if we had as big a problem as I suspected. Now that I know for a fact that there is a problem, I'm not so worried about it."
To the others, the old man's logic didn't make any sense. Even Lilly could only shake her head resignedly. It would have been useless to argue the point, so they waited for him to continue with his explanation. The sorcerer didn't seem inclined to talk, however, or else he had forgotten all about the conversation, nobody was quite sure. After several minutes of watching him ravenously devour his meal, he was finally prompted to continue.
"Do you have any idea as to what you have in your possession, Ash?" he asked.
"Not really," he answered. "Lilly told me a little bit about the lost artifacts, but I still don't understand any of it."
Lotus drew a sharp breath, looking at his granddaughter sternly. Lilly seemed to shrivel with fear in her chair as he glared at her.
"How much did you tell them?" he asked.
Lilly averted her eyes. "I didn't mean to," she whimpered. "We were talking and it just slipped out. One thing led to another and before I knew it . . ."
Lotus sighed. "Not good," he said heavily. "Not good at all. You need to learn to watch what you're saying. The Conclave will not accept that excuse this time."
"Am I in trouble again?" she asked, on the verge of tears.
Lotus stared at his granddaughter for a moment, though it seemed like an eternity to both of them. He had his responsibilities to the conclave. He could not let any violation of the rules go unreported, couldn't play favorites. On the other hand, he also had his responsibilities to Lilly as her only living parent and he knew that she would not be let off so easy for a second offense, despite his respected position. Besides that, the danger of her actions didn't seem too great to him. Perhaps he might be able to let it go for now. He nodded his head, resolved in his decision.
"No, my dear," he answered gently. "Not this time. Given the situation, I think he has a right to know what he is involved in. Your friends have done well with the secret in the past, so I will trust them now."
He turned to Ash with a solemn expression. Ash, feeling a sudden strange urge, withdrew the medallion from his pocket and put it on the table. The old man stared at it for long time, carefully considering his words.
"It is not just a lost artifact," Lotus explained. "This is Cerebral, The Sentient, the most powerful artifact ever created. For ages it has been hidden from us and it was hopped that it would remain hidden for all eternity, but it seems fate has other plans for it."
He leaned back in his chair, breathing deeply and his face became very focused. His voice changed as he went into the tale, sounding ancient and full of wisdom.
"Magic is the blood of this world. It springs forth from the planet itself, breathing life into all things. It surrounds us, forming an invisible web that stretches throughout the world, binding us all together. Each life makes it grow stronger. We who study the art learn to focus that energy and use it, drawing us closer to the planet, strongly attuning us to the world. At all times, we hear the voice of nature and we call upon it to gain our power. Sometimes, we use focusing words, incantations, to draw ourselves into a trance that allows us to better hear the call of the planet."
The old man turned to his granddaughter with a nod. Lilly hesitated, staring back at Lotus with a look of incredulity. He nodded again, his expression calm, but insistent. The others watched as Lilly pressed her hands together and began a chant, her words flowing from her, swirling about in the air like the wind. As she finished her chant, she held up one of her hands and waved it through the air, a twisting myriad of colors trailing behind it, drawing gasps of astonishment from the three friends.
"Most pokemon get their abilities from the same source as we do," the sorcerer continued. "With them, however, the energy is more specialized, usually limited to a single element. When we use more powerful spells, we use special ingredients that we have taken from them, hair and scales and such, to channel the energies into more specific forms. At times, pokemon have such a strong focus that something that they have merely touched caries enough residual energy to serve its purpose for our spells."
"Um, Lotus?" Ash asked. "What does this have to do with us?"
Lotus's air of wisdom disintegrated with the interruption. For a moment, he seemed flustered by it, halting for a few moments to reorganize his thoughts. He shot the boy a perturbed glance that silenced him.
"Show some patience, please," he replied. "I thought it might be best for you to have a little understanding of the nature of magic. Now, where was I?"
The old man put a hand to his chin in thought, muttering to himself under his breath.
"Long ago," began again, "before the scourging of sorcery, there was a powerful sorcerer, the likes of whom had never before been seen nor ever seen since. He was completely attuned with the forces of nature and could call them to his aid even without any aid of special ingredients or focusing words.
"But such power always comes with a price. He became so intertwined with the earth that he lost touch with his own humanity. He delved deeper and deeper into the source of magic, strengthening his power and focus until it drove him mad. It became his desire to destroy man and return the world to the way it was before man came to be. Because of his great and terrible magic, entire villages were consumed by the earth or swallowed by the sea. Armies of men marched against him, only to be trampled into the dust and destroyed. At last, the ancient sorcerers realized that they had to intervene.
"No magic could be used against him, for he was in control of the very source of magic, so they turned to the power of mankind instead; the power of human thought. They created a medallion, which could focus a person's thoughts and give them power. Using the power of this medallion, the mad sorcerer's power was finally overthrown and he threw himself down from the highest branch of the Great Camphor Tree."
"Great Camphor Tree?" Misty asked.
Again, Lotus's thoughts seemed to scatter off in every direction. Tapping his foot impatiently, he glared at her in frustration.
"The Great Camphor Tree was where he lived, you might say," he explained. "It is believed that the Great Camphor Tree is the oldest living thing on the earth, but that is a different legend and not greatly related to the one I'm telling you."
"You mean that you're telling us a story?" Ash remarked in a stupor.
The old man looked at the young boy with a sharp glare. "Every life is a story in and of itself, child," he admonished. "A legend is nothing more than a story that gets remembered for a really long time. Some get embellished from being passed by word of mouth for so many years, but this one is exactly as it is written in the conclave's historical records, though I'm abridging it a bit. Now, if there are any other questions, speak them now. I don't like being interrupted."
Lotus waited, glancing about the room at the others, an edge of irritation in his expression. When nobody spoke, he nodded his head slightly and cleared his throat. He opened his mouth to speak, but paused, putting his hand to his forehead. He turned to his granddaughter with an exasperated look.
"Where was I?" he asked. "I've lost my place."
"Threw himself down," Lilly replied.
"Oh, yes, right," the old man said, again clearing his throat. "As it has been proven time and time again, people are easily corrupted by power. So it was with the owner of the medallion. The crown of one tyrant was easily passed to another, one even worse. This time, however, the ancient sorcerers were prepared for such an occurrence.
"Cerebral is called the 'Sentient' because it was given a benign will. Unfortunately, Cerebral's will was not strong enough on its own and, with a little effort, the owner easily bent it to his command. For it to be effective, it needed something to strengthen its power.
"For that, another magical artifact was created. Shimmerblade, the Celestial Sword. The power of the sword was used to give Cerebral enough strength to resist its master's control long enough for the killing blow to be delivered.
"Victory had been achieved, but the price was high. The strain of using the sword's power was too much for its wielder to bear and so the greatest of the ancient sorcerers died and many other lives were lost in the battle to reclaim the medallion. In order to prevent Cerebral's power from being misused again, the remaining members of the first Conclave hid it away in a secret shrine, protected by powerful spells. Its location was never to be revealed and to ensure it, the Conclave killed themselves, taking the knowledge with them into death."
The old man finished his tale with a deep sigh. A heavy silence settled over the room while Ash and his friends tried to absorb all of the details of the story. The reflective quiet was suddenly shattered by Lotus's loud chewing.
"That is the story of Cerebral," he mumbled, his mouth full of food. "At least as it was written in the Conclave's history."
"But if nobody knew where the shrine was hidden," Ash asked, "how did Jin'ei find it?"
"That's easily enough discerned," the old man replied. "The location of the shrine apparently was recorded somewhere, but how it was kept a secret from us, I couldn't begin guess."
"So, this medallion can give a person psychic powers?" Misty asked.
Lotus nodded solemnly. "And not just basic abilities. It was intended to allow such power as to defeat the greatest sorcerer who ever lived. If it can do that to a normal person, imagine what it would do to Jin'ei, who already has incredible power."
"He'd be unstoppable," Brock commented.
"Exactly," Lotus replied. "Whatever his goal may be, if he possesses Cerebral, he will achieve that goal. If I know Jin'ei, and there are very few in the order that do not, than he will go to any extreme to get his hands on it, even kill, or worse."
Ash swallowed hard as the grim realization fell on him. He slid the medallion across the table to Lotus.
"Take it," he pleaded. "You could protect it better than me, right?"
Lotus shook his head, drawing back away from the thing as though it were a venomous serpent. "It's not that simple," he explained. "Cerebral has already made its attempt to defend itself by binding itself to you. You are its possessor and so long as you live, it can't be taken from you. It is possible to give it willingly, but I don't dare take it. I'm too old for the temptation of power to take hold in me, but there are others in the order, others who hold higher positions. It would change hands too many times and undoubtedly it would end up in the possession of one who should not have it. No, my boy, until a more permanent solution can be found, you must keep it."
"But that means that Jin'ei will keep chasing Ash," Misty said.
The old man nodded firmly. "As long as I am able to protect you, Jin'ei will not dare to try anything. For the moment, you are safe and will remain so as long as you are here."
Ash couldn't believe what was happening. A crazed psychic was after him because of some medallion and he couldn't even give it away to someone who could keep it safe. On top of that, he was stuck staying in a small cottage with an eccentric old sorcerer until the problem was solved, without any guarantee that it would be. He suddenly realized another problem that this caused him.
"I can't stay here forever," he protested. "I've got an invitation to a really important tournament at Blackthorn City."
Lotus stared at the boy with wide-eyed disbelief. After a moment, he chuckled.
"I must say, that's quite a priority problem you've got there," he remarked. "You're right, of course. You can't stay here forever, that would be far too many mouths for me to feed."
"What will you do, Grandfather?" Lilly asked.
Lotus put a hand to his chin, stroking his half-shaved stubble in deep thought. The situation had become very difficult. Jin'ei had always been known for his relentlessness in pursuing his goals. Patience, on the other hand, had never been one of his exceedingly limited virtues. Whatever was to be done, it would need to be done quickly, for though impatient and quick to act, Jin'ei had a sharp mind and left little room for error in his actions. If given enough time, Jin'ei would outthink him. The protection he provided was, in truth, very limited.
A loud, savage voice crashed through the open window and fell on his ears, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Come out!" the voice bellowed. "Come out now and face me!"
Well, it certainly took me a long time to submit this chapter. But then, I don't think anyone is avidly awaiting updates, given that this is the second draft people have already read the story. Oh, well, whatever.
Meh . . .
