As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Kaito let out a heavy sigh. It was the sort of deep, cleansing exhalation that felt like it was expelling the long-accumulated emotional grim from the depths of his heart. The Togetic inhaled, just as deeply, but much more slowly, allowing the fresh Johto air to flow into his lungs and calm his anxious spirit.
Try as he might to keep a cool head and give the impression to the others that he had everything under control, the recent situations were making it clear to him that, at best, he was deluding himself. At this rate, he would succumb to the stress and only be able to watch as everything crumbled around him.
The life and bustle of Ecruteak City had by now been restored in the aftermath of the earlier rain storm, and many of the humans and Pokemon had emerged from their shelters and resumed their activities, as if nothing had even happened to disrupt it. In spite of the churning sensation within his gut, Kaito smiled faintly.
The ability of the world to resume functioning and rebuilding so soon after any sort of catastrophe or disaster was...admirable, to say the least. Plants would eventually sprout and blossom, the wind would continue to blow, and the cycles of nature would be set back into motion.
Throughout history, the world had always functioned like this. Death and destruction was often necessary to continue the cycle of creation and renewal, not as the conclusion of an era, so much as a natural step of the ever-moving cycle. If every person in the world could find it within themselves to respect and understand the nature of this cycle, there would probably be a lot less strife to contend with.
Sinnoh was a region that was always teeming with conflict. Even in recent memory, the region had undergone a large number of conflicts and war, dragging humans and Pokemon alike into a struggle for territory, or control, or some other, unknown machination that lay buried under the surface. Many individuals over the years had lost their lives, or the lives of loved ones. Many had seen the world change in little ways, a ripple effect that extended far beyond the simple pool of their lives.
To the casual observer, such conflict often seemed so pointless, and rooted in some selfish desire. Yet in Kaito's experience, few things in the world were genuinely that pointless, but the cause, or reasons, or even the effects, were simply unseen by the majority. The number of lives that were changed, the number of hearts that were touched, and the way the rest of the world would grow and develop many years down the road, had no way of being observed or noticed, until more time had passed.
Perhaps it was the Togetic's fascination with history, and the ancient civilizations that had faded away. Their writings, their buildings, and their history lay forgotten, buried, or untranslated, but from everything that Kaito had ever seen and observed, the significance of those eras was not meaningless. Traditions may have evolved, as had society expectations and roles, but the world had not ended with the elimination of the past cultures. Conflicts back then may have claimed lives and homes just like modern wars and conflicts claimed them in the present, but the world had not ended. It would not end, so long as people, Pokemon, and nature, existed to rebuild what had been lost.
With one final sigh, and a shake of his head, Kaito made his way towards the Tin Tower. Sorin had made it clear before departing earlier that he not only wanted to check up on Celes, but also see if he could find out how Ember was faring in the wake of her encounter with Inferna. Adrian had been en route to the ruined tower, probably for a similar reason to why he had visited the Ruins of Alph the previous week, but Kaito had no idea how long the human was planning to linger, so there was the chance that Sorin had gone elsewhere in the past hour or so.
For that matter, how long Sorin intended to remain in Ecruteak was also a mystery. If he was dedicated to assisting his Flareon companion with the search for her sibling, then they very well could move on soon. However, it was crucial to Kaito that he at least try to involve him in the upcoming conversation. Of the group, Sorin was the only one who knew nothing about Diablos, or their intentions moving forward. It was only fitting that Kaito include him in the conversation that would fill in the many blanks and uncertainty surrounding the recent months.
In truth, Kaito leaving Sorin more or less in the dark about Diablos was partially deliberate. Of the group, Sorin was the one he knew would be the most skeptical and hesitant to go along with the idea of involving a potentially malevolent spirit. The Altaria had much simpler ambitions and hopes than the others, but he was a loyal friend, and one that Kaito had kept in touch with for many years.
Unfortunately, Sorin was the type that lived his life, secretly burdened by his past, and unable to truly let go of his regrets. In the past two years alone, Sorin had repeatedly flip-flopped on his stance of whether he should try to stay connected with his daughter, or if he should let her be. It probably wasn't much of a stretch to assume a similar mindset was involved for why he was going so far out of his way to help another Pokemon who had been separated from an immediate family member, by choice or not. Compassion was one of Sorin's finest traits, but it often left him at the mercy of situations where there wasn't one clear path to take.
Sorin was ultimately a passive soul. He cared a great deal, and was willing to carry his fears and burdens without inconveniencing those around him, but surely even he had his limits. He lived independently, but preferred to be led, rather than take charge, and gravitated towards others that were able to take on the burden of leadership.
Kaito never considered himself to be much of a leader. He lacked the confidence and the charisma to inspire and lead others, or even to rally them to join his cause and share his vision. Kuro had been the first to really share his ambition, and they worked together cohesively for some time before beginning to disagree over methods and goals, and eventually the two friends had gone their separate ways to pursue their separate paths.
If the more recent complaints of the group was any indication, they were in agreement that Kaito lacked true leadership skills, yet none of them could take the role from him, because they didn't really know what his vision was. To make matters worse, it occurred to Kaito that this was almost precisely the problem that forced a wedge between himself and Kuro. They had both shared a vision originally, but then grew further and further apart, until they were all but refusing to communicate or cooperate with each other.
Then again, that was the advantage of the world operating in cycles. It was almost society's nature to deal with an imperfect status quo until enough people got fed up with the system that they decided things had to change, and rallied others to help them change it. Even if the approach ultimately failed, it was often a wake-up call to the rest of society, or even just society's leaders, that something had to be done to address the matter.
So in that sense, perhaps this was Kaito's opportunity to repair these matters. The group wanted him to share more information. They weren't starting a revolt or abandoning him, but they were being very direct about their concerns, and giving him the chance to address them. None of them were happy about the situation with Force, but no one yet had designated blame to either Kaito or even to Diablos, even though they had raised concerns earlier in the week about the Spiritomb.
As Kaito drew nearer to the charred remains of the Tin Tower, he soon caught sight of the orange and cream fur of Sorin's Flareon companion, and from there, he next located the Altaria's bright blue body and puffy white cloud wings. The two seemed to be in the middle of a discussion, and Kaito noticed that there was no trace of either of the two humans that he had seen during the aftermath of Lin's spar with Noblesse, all but confirming his suspicion that they might have gone on their way at some point in the intervening time.
Celes broke off her sentence awkwardly when she spotted Kaito approaching, and Sorin swiftly followed her gaze to the Togetic, before cocking his head slightly in confusion.
"What's wrong? You look really grim," Sorin said, studying the fairy Pokemon's expression.
"Iris and Force dropped by," Kaito answered solemnly. It took the dragon Pokemon a moment to recognize the names, and he frowned, looking even more confused than before. Although conscious of the fact that Celes was an uninvolved party who really had no business knowing any of the personal details of recent events, Kaito decided that explaining things to Sorin too vaguely would just bog things down unnecessarily. "To put it bluntly, Force narrowly survived an incident back in Sinnoh."
"Force is the...Riolu, right?" Sorin clarified, "Iris is his...uh...they are mates, right? Is he hurt? What happened?"
"The details are more complicated," Kaito answered, shaking his head. "As for his condition, he is physically fine. Apparently, being at death's door was enough to trigger his evolution in time to survive."
Silence followed this statement, as both Celes and Sorin took a moment to digest his words. Even Kaito had to admit that, on the surface, the entire situation sounded almost too good to be true. Evolving due to one's bonds with another, at such a crucial moment, sounded like something out of a story book. That was reason enough for Sorin or Celes to react with some skepticism, but Kaito didn't doubt the story for an instant. Force and Iris were incredibly close to one another, and their mutual fondness and affection for one another seemed to grow practically on a daily basis, as they each gradually overcame their fears of rejection and sense of inadequacy. If what they said was true, the situation had pushed them to their emotional limits, if Iris' barely contained anger when she recalled the event was any indication.
Kaito shook himself from those thoughts, reminding himself to stay focused on the individuals in front of him. Sorin had finally nodded, acknowledging that he understood the severity of the situation, at least from the information he had been provided.
"I've heard of evolution repairing the body during the process, although I've never seen an instance of it bringing someone back from the brink of death," the Altaria said, choosing his words with utmost care.
"It's not exactly a frequent occurrence," Kaito noted. "It would require one to be on the brink of death when they fulfill the conditions to evolve. Evolutionary stones seems like the only reliable way to test the phenomenon, and I doubt many would be willing to act as a test subject, nor would the situation be common in an uncontrolled scenario."
"It'd also depend on the type of injury," Celes piped up, and she flinched slightly when Kaito and Sorin both glanced her way, surprised by the Flareon's sudden input. "I mean like...scrapes, cuts, bruises and such disappear, but not birthmarks, and I'm not sure about scars," she continued, speaking a little faster, while puffing herself up defiantly, as if she expected them to contradict her.
"So evolution goes more by your genetic blueprint, as opposed to a default 'healthy' status," Kaito mused, tapping his chin. That would make sense, really. Most Pokemon retained their basic identifying features when they evolved, such as eye color and birthmarks, and if they possessed more unusual scale or fur colorations from birth, the trait usually carried over to their evolved form, either as a proper parallel, or slightly warped alongside some of the other genetic tweakings that evolution produced.
Although Kaito had rarely paid much attention to that particular field of study, Pokemon evolution was one of the more fascinating aspects of Pokemon biology, and Johto had at least one well-known scientist that studied and researched the details surrounding the many variations of evolution. Pokemon themselves would only have a cursory grasp of the subject, learned from their parents or peers, because the majority of Pokemon in the world could only experience evolution once or twice in a lifetime, if they could at all, and this became more complicated due to some species having branching evolutions, with the Eevee line being the most prominent examples. How different species reacted to evolution varied so greatly in a basic sense, that it was even trickier to pin down details about how evolution would affect one's current health.
Once again, Kaito shook himself to prevent his thought process from getting too badly derailed.
"In any case, Sorin, there's a lot of information that I probably will have to go over with everyone. I don't know what your current plans are, but if you have any concerns you want to discuss with me, or if you want to be a part of the explanations, you're more than welcome to," Kaito said, fumbling a little over his words, but at least they came out mostly coherently.
Sorin and Celes exchanged brief glances before the Flareon heaved the smallest of sighs and averted her gaze. The Altaria shrugged his wings.
"I probably should," he said seriously. "Celes wants to follow the small lead about Kuro maybe knowing something, so...I guess I want to know more about where he factors into things before we go looking for him," he explained, although the last half of the comment seemed to be directed more at the Flareon than at Kaito.
"...fair enough," Kaito conceded, but he furrowed his brow. He wasn't really all that surprised that Sorin brought Kuro up again. The Zoroark appeared to be a key factor in a number of happenings in Johto, and it was only fair for Kaito to address the matter of what Kuro was aiming to accomplish. "If you're finished with your business out here, I could escort you back to the house."
When no objections followed, Kaito turned and headed back the way he came, glancing over his shoulder only to confirm that the other two had obliged to follow him. No one bothered to talk much on the way, although it wasn't a particularly far distance.
Kaito wasn't sure how long it would take for Lin and Cecilia to return, although he suspected that the Weavile would push for them to come back in a timely fashion to ensure that they didn't miss any possible discussions. In the meantime, the Togetic needed to gather his thoughts together to make the explanation as smooth as possible.
Once back inside the small house, Kaito was quick to notice that Force had dozed off in the armchair, right where he had left him, and Iris had moved to the couch to avoid disturbing the sleeping Lucario with her movements. She looked up apprehensively when Kaito entered, and made careful gestures to signal for them to keep their volume down.
Sorin gave the Kirlia a polite nod and smile when he entered, whereas Celes only glanced at the Kirlia, and earned a blank look from Iris in return.
"Um...hello," Iris said, once the initial confusion wore off. She slid off of the couch and walked closer to the Flareon, but not so close that she was in Celes' personal space. "I'm Iris," she finished, offering a shy smile.
"Celes," the Flareon replied dully.
"Nice to meet you," Iris said, supplying a more confident smile, but she evidently picked up on Celes' discomfort, because she started to back away again.
"On the bright side, you've met everyone now except Force," Kaito remarked, gesturing to the Lucario. The Flareon's gaze flicked towards the sleeping Lucario momentarily before refocusing on Iris.
"I'm...glad to know he's doing okay," Celes mumbled, averting her gaze in embarrassment. Iris blinked, and she smiled brightly, her eyes glistening.
"O-oh...thanks," she stammered. Sorin nodded, agreeing with the Flareon's sentiment. Mercifully, the front door opened at that moment, and Cecilia and Lin came inside. At a glance the Quilava in particular looked much more composed than when they had left, whereas Lin was as inexpressive as usual, the ends of her blue scarf trailing behind her.
"We're back," Cecilia announced, although she seemed surprised to see that Sorin and Celes were also present. "Oh, hey. Everything go okay?" she wondered, addressing her words to the Altaria.
"I guess," Sorin answered, shrugging his wings.
"So...everyone's gathered here," Lin noted, her eyes scanning the room. "That's a first, if I'm not mistaken," she added, glancing at Kaito for confirmation.
"At least a first since you've joined us," Kaito replied, but he held up his paw before anyone else could comment. "If you'll just give me a few more minutes, and get yourselves settled in the meantime, I'll be ready to go over a lot of your concerns and questions."
This was met with overall agreement, and Kaito made his way into the reading room, vaguely aware of the sounds of movement from the other room as he scanned the cluttered collection of books that he had left open on the table. It'd do little good for him to bring too many reference materials into the other room, especially when talking to so many Pokemon at once, but maybe so long as he knew what materials to direct them to if they asked specific questions about something...hmm...
Several minutes later, Kaito returned from the side room, to find that the others had all gotten themselves settled in some sense or another. Iris had once again joined Force on the armchair, and the Lucario was awake, although he definitely still seemed rather tired. Sorin had settled down on a vacant stretch of floor, preening his cloud-like wings, and Lin and Cecilia had returned to their earlier places on the couch.
"All right, I suppose I'm ready if you guys are," Kaito said, making his way over to the living room area. He gazed around the room quickly, determining where everyone was positioned in relation to one another, which would make it easier for him to direct his focus when speaking. It actually took him a few moments to spot Celes, as the Flareon had settled down on the floor, like Sorin had, but positioned right next to the side of the couch, putting her almost completely out of sight of the others gathered, while still close enough to listen and be heard if she chose to speak.
Kaito stared at the Flareon blankly for a few moments before shaking his head and deciding not to comment. It made sense for the Flareon to not want too much attention on her, as the 'outsider' to the group, and while he would have preferred an uninvolved party to be absent entirely, there really wasn't an easy way to go about suggesting that, especially since Sorin was also oblivious to their Sinnoh activities. Her placement in the room also meant that she could probably get up and leave the room without drawing any attention to the departure, which was probably part of the reason she chose that spot - in case she lost interest or just felt too uncomfortable lingering.
Kaito cleared his throat. "All right, I realize there's probably a ton of things that I need to better explain or clarify, but with that in mind...I have no idea where to start. So maybe one of you guys could give me a starting point, and we can move on from there?"
As expected, this statement was met with a chorus of responses, and the Togetic winced, struggling to decipher the mish-mash of different words, voices, and volumes, to the point that he waved his paw to silence them.
"Okay, I didn't catch most of those, so let's try it again, but more...one at a time. Odds are, there's going to be some overlap with the information, or even worse, I'll have to explain some massive unrelated thing," Kaito sighed.
"Ooh! Pick me!"
Kaito blinked in confusion, and both Cecilia and Lin looked up, startled. The voice had been completely unfamiliar, and spoken with such bizarre enthusiasm that he almost had mistaken it for the Quilava, if only the voice had been more feminine sounding.
"Uh...who said that?" Kaito asked, feeling a little stupid asking the question.
"Hi! Over here!" the voice chirped, and a small orange creature emerged from the nearby table lamp, producing a faint buzzing sound as it appeared. Its body was outlined by a pale blue, electrical glow, and it had two lightning bolt appendages protruding from the bottom of its lightbulb-shaped body.
"Oh, there you are, Plasma," Iris said, smiling slightly at the Rotom, whereas everyone else, apart from Force, regarded the newcomer with a blank expression.
"Hey! I'm supposed to introduce myself!" Plasma complained, but he pivoted in place, waving at everyone present with one of the lightning bolt appendages.
"And...you have...a concern or question for me?" Kaito asked, bewildered. He had never met the electric ghost in his life before, and if not for the fact Iris and Force had referenced his existence, the sudden interjection would have been considered obnoxiously intrusive.
"Not really a question from 'me', honestly," Plasma admitted, sounding a little sheepish, before immediately perking up. "Uh...so I've got this cool pet in the attic of my house, but the vet bills are gonna be through the roof, possibly literally, unless I know whether it's got any pre-existing conditions. Do you happen to know its medical history? Like has it gotten all its shots? Did it use to be a stray?"
There was a prolonged silence, and Kaito's eyes darted back and forth as he struggled to understand what the peculiar ghost was asking of him. From the brief glances he could steal towards the others, no one else seemed to grasp the question, either.
"I'm...sorry? I don't follow. At all," Kaito managed weakly.
"I want to know the medical history of the pet in my attic. You know, the one that looks like a possessed pet rock on steroids," Plasma insisted, and this time, the light flashed on in Kaito's mind.
"Oh...Diablos, right? Um...I don't think I would know his er...medical history," Kaito said.
"I think almost all of us need to be illuminated in some sense regarding Diablos," Lin stated bluntly. "Personally, I've been wondering what our next step might be, as our previous leads turned up very little."
"And I want to know why you got a group together in the first place," Cecilia agreed. "Or at least, what it has to do with the whole unsealing business."
"I'm curious mostly about the stone we retrieved that messes with me," Force said, stifling a yawn.
"I...don't even know what you guys are talking about," Sorin added, shrugging his wings uncertainly. "I just want to know more about Kuro."
"The Zoroark?" Iris asked, cocking her head at Sorin. At his nod, the Kirlia's eyes flicked back towards Kaito. "How do you know so many people? You never DID explain my questions about that back at the Ruins..."
Kaito brought his paw to his face and sighed. He had totally seen this sort of thing coming, but it didn't make it any more pleasant to be bombarded with questions all at once.
"Okay, I'll try to cover all those things, but give me a chance to before asking anything else, all right?" he asked, looking around at the others. When everyone more or less nodded in agreement, the Togetic sighed. "Just give me a second to decide where to start..."
"Hey! I asked first!" Plasma complained.
"I don't even know what you mean by 'his medical history'," Kaito retorted, becoming mildly annoyed. Plasma paused, his expression distant for a moment before his eyes lit up.
"Oh! I meant his ACTUAL history! Like what you know of his abilities, his seals, how you even know he existed in the first place so that you could try to unseal him...stuff like that!"
Kaito froze for a moment, a sudden chill running down his spine, and to make the sensation worse, all eyes were upon him. After what felt like several minutes, but in reality could not have been more than a few seconds, the fairy Pokemon nodded.
"Okay...I suppose I can start by explaining that..."
