Chapter 38: The Good, the Bad, and the Umbreon

Roku's P.O.V.

Legend Keeper HQ

"You want training from me?"

After our conversation with Cedric, Reia and Calem decided to go off and do some training of their own. That meant that for the first time, it was just me, Luna and Latias. It took us a minute to find Zuki and even longer to get a moment alone with her, but once we did, I asked her for a little bit of help figuring out a good style for Luna and I.

"Luna doesn't want to admit it, but we need some real help finding out the perfect strategy," I replied. "I know that Umbreon are well-known for being defensive, so we might want to try a more evasive strategy."

"So, you want her to be able to outlast the competition, is that right?" Zuki asked. I could see some gears turning already.

"Something like that," I said. "We try to take a long-range approach with our attacks, only occasionally getting in close, but I know that she's not always quick enough to get away from someone that's real heavy on the physical attacks."

"Hey…I try, OK…?" Luna pouted.

"I think I know what you need, but there's only so much that I can do," Zuki said, looking at Luna. "You'll have to master the moves yourself…but I have several TMs that will really help you."

"Really?" I said with a smile. "Thanks so much, Zuki, you're the best."

"Heh, stop it," Zuki replied, smiling her usual soft smile. "Come with me, we can catch up while I retrieve the discs from my room."

"Even though it's only been, like, a week?" I said with a chuckle, earning one from her in response.

And that's exactly what we did. I told her just about everything that had happened since she left us; the storm at sea, meeting the Snivy on the island we washed up on, the fight with Chuck that nearly cost Delphox his life…she was almost in tears over that one. Turned out that she really liked the Fox Pokémon, and she was glad to hear that he'd finally made the jump to his final form. Then I told her about Amphy's purification and the battle against Jasmine, not to mention our little midnight chats. Actually, she had to pry for those. After I told her, she basically laughed it off, saying something about how I'm always attracting the pretty ones. It was enough to make Latias blush and Luna unable to breathe because she was laughing so hard.

A few minutes later, we had picked up Zuki's TM Case and were now standing on the same field that Cedric and I had our battle on. She had an assortment of discs already picked out for us, so now it was just a matter of picking out the ones we thought were the most useful.

"You said you needed a strategy for helping Luna avoid heavy physical contact, right?" Zuki started, pulling out a purple-colored one. "If so, I recommend this one."

I took the disc and looked it over. It was a TM 06, the one that contained the move Toxic. A devilish smirk crept across my face as I realized just how deadly that could be. Umbreon sweat was already naturally poisonous, so this would allow Luna to amplify the effects and even use it as a countermeasure against larger, stronger Pokémon.

"I like the way you think, Zuki," I said, nodding. "We'll definitely take this one."

"Good, now we need to round out her offense," Zuki continued, pulling a few more out of the case and handing them off to me. A black-colored disc caught my eye almost immediately. It was the TM for Dark Pulse, a rather powerful pulse attack made of the darkness inside the user's soul. An attitude like Luna's should be enough to pull an attack like that off with no problem.

"I choose this one," I said as I set the disc aside.

"Ah, Dark Pulse," Zuki mused. "That's a solid choice."

I nodded and started cycling through the case some more. I wanted a similar attack of a different type so I could adapt to a certain situation. That's when a pink disc with the move Psychic caught my attention. With a utilitarian move like that, Luna could be a lot more useful in the future. And Delphox would be able to teach her how to properly manage the energy it takes to control it.

"And this one should be the last one," I said, pulling the TM out and setting it next to the others.

"You have a discerning eye, Roku," Zuki said. "You must have thought hard about this."

"I only want the best for my partner," I replied, scratching behind Luna's ears as she purred happily.

"Very well, then," Zuki said, standing up. "Let's get started."

The next few hours were spent teaching our chosen moves to Luna. She caught on rather quickly with Toxic and Dark Pulse, but it took the help of Delphox to get her used to Psychic. Luna wanted to kill him because he apparently wasn't being a good teacher, but when she figured out that it took a calm mind and a solid inner focus, she at least managed to learn how to use the offensive properties of the attack. We knew it was gonna take a little work to do more with her newfound psychokinesis.

"Now it's time to learn the last move on my list," Zuki said as Luna practiced with her new powers. "It's a move that every Umbreon should know."

"I know," I replied quickly. "It's Moonlight, right?"

"You really have thought about this," she said, impressed. "Yes, and it's going to take the help of my Umbreon to teach her." With that, she produced a Poké Ball from her kimono and released her partner. I couldn't help but look at the masterpiece that stood before me. Somehow, Zuki's Umbreon had grown much stronger since the last time we met. He had a much more toned build than Luna, for sure. It looked like Zuki trained hers to fight up close.

"Long time, no see, Luna," Umbreon purred as he stepped up to her. "I can tell you've grown much stronger, both body and mind."

"Heh, flattery won't get you anywhere," Luna teased. "But thanks for the compliment."

"Alright, guess we're starting off with you, huh?" I said with a smile. "Hope you're prepared, cuz you've never fought someone like me!"

"Then show me what you can do, Roku!" Zuki replied, backing up to her original spot.

Both of us took our positions, Pokémon primed and ready to fight. Luna and I smiled at each other and nodded before I gave the order, and the two rushed each other.


Cedric's P.O.V.

Legend Keeper HQ

Cedric continued to stare out at the Sanctuary and the many Pokémon that called it home. It wasn't just Legendary Pokémon that resided in the Sanctuary, many of the Legend Keepers had their Pokémon live there so as to keep them safe and secure in case they needed them. It proved to be a more likable environment than the PC Storage System, much to Bill's dismay, and so they only keep a terminal open so as to gather Pokémon from other places in case they're needed.

A ringing from his desk broke the aging Trainer out of his thoughts, and he pressed a button on his P*DA before looking at his big screen.

"I trust you have something for me?" he said calmly.

The screen portrayed a very beautiful woman in her early 20s with luscious blonde hair and soft yet piercing grey eyes. Two odd grey clips hung from the sides of her head that looked almost like the aura-reading appendages of a Lucario.

"Come now, Cedric, is that how you greet a fellow Legend Keeper?" she said with a smile.

"I sent you on a mission almost five months ago regarding the Legendary Pokémon of the Sinnoh region and you never bothered to report in at all," Cedric said roughly. "Forgive me for being a little tense, Cynthia."

The Champion sighed and shook her head. "I apologize for the delay, but my research hasn't exactly gone so well. That and losing my title to another Keeper took its toll on me. Juggling my League duties and this mission have been an absolute nightmare."

"And what of Rayquaza?" Cedric asked. "Word on the grapevine is that you two had a bit of a falling out."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Cynthia replied, her smile returning. "Rayquaza and I have made up and everything is back to normal."

"That's good to hear, at least," Cedric said, letting out a deep breath. "That's one less problem I have to stress over…now we just need to figure out our dilemma with the literal god of this world."

"You and I both know that Arceus doesn't prefer to meddle in the affairs of mortals," Cynthia said seriously. "Even finding out how to summon him to this world hasn't brought anything to light."

"Wait, what?!" Cedric shouted. "You found out how to summon him to our world?!"

"Don't quote me on that just yet, it's mainly just a theory…" Cynthia sighed. "But…it may be possible."

The camera shifted and rested somewhere flat, likely on a table, as Cynthia pulled out a rather old-looking tome and placed it down in front of her.

"The archbishop of the Church of Arceus in Hearthome gave me this," Cynthia began as she opened the old book to a page she'd marked. "It tells of a powerful being higher than the tallest peak in the land, who resides on a solid ray of light above the mortal plane so as to observe the many inhabitants of the earth below him. Of course, this is how most churches describe Arceus' supposed home, but this is one of the only books I've read that adds even more to the story…including a possible method of obtaining entry into the realm of the gods."

"I'm listening," Cedric said, sitting down in his chair.

"The book describes an ancient instrument not of this world, one with an eerie, echoing sound that sent chills down your spine when you blew into it," Cynthia continued. "It also describes a place atop the largest peak in the entire world, one that pierced through the sky. Naturally, it made me think of Mt. Coronet and the Spear Pillar. So I went there, and I found this."

Cynthia pressed a few buttons on her P*DA, and Cedric narrowed his eyes as he looked at the photo that just popped up on his screen: a flat tile with a strange horizontal bar in the center. The bar had three indentations on the top, making it look almost like…

"…A flute?" Cedric said curiously.

"Precisely," Cynthia said, failing to hide her excitement. "My theory is that if we find this instrument, and play it atop the Spear Pillar, it might grant us passage to the fabled Hall of Origin…and allow us to commune with the most powerful Pokémon in all of creation."

"Well, as of right now, that's our only lead," Cedric said. "Unfortunately, we don't have anything like that here, nor do we know of anyone who could have possession of such an item."

"That leads me to my next theory," Cynthia said, tapping a few more buttons and bringing up a map of Johto. "Reading into some of the old Johto legends allowed me to pinpoint a possible location that may hold great importance in our search for this Regalia. And I believe we should start our search here." The map zoomed in on a small ruin located just off of Violet City; the Ruins of Alph.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised," Cedric said. "That place's purpose has eluded even the researchers down there who have been studying it for years. You think we should start there?"

"I believe it would be our best option," Cynthia said with a nod. "I trust you can send someone to study the ruins in my stead until I can get there?"

"Sure, I know just the person for the job," Cedric said, smiling. "I appreciate the hard work, Cynthia. You're doing great things for the Legend Keepers."

"We'll save the celebrations for after this damnable conflict is over," Cynthia replied with a smile of her own. "I'm going to keep looking around some more and see if I can't find out more. I'll be sure to call you if something comes up."

"Thank you, Cynthia," Cedric said before hanging up. He sighed and rubbed his temples, feeling at least a little relief from the tension of finding that which doesn't want to be found. However, the feeling didn't last long, for another call started to ring in. This time, from Lance.

"Lance?" Cedric said as the dragon master's face showed up on the screen. "Something the matter?"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news," Lance started. "There's a problem with the Pokémon around the Lake of Rage…something is causing them to go haywire, even causing some of them to evolve earlier than they should."

"I'm sorry, what?" Cedric deadpanned, looking at the video footage that Lance had sent him. Sure enough, the newly evolved Gyarados had started their own version of a typhoon, and were rampaging hard enough that it had started to rain extremely hard over the lake.

"Well, this is just friggin PERFECT," Cedric growled. "We're tight on people as it is…" The man rubbed his temples again and sighed. "Alright, I can send a couple of people over to render assistance, but it'll take them a minute to get over there."

"I wish I could be there to help, but my League duties—"

"Don't worry about it, I already heard a similar excuse from Cynthia," Cedric said, cutting the Johto Champion off. "I'll get someone down there ASAP, I suggest you bust a move as well before they flood the damn place."

Cedric hung up and called up another person, wincing as an explosion rang out before hearing the trainer say "Hello?"

"Roku, I need you, Reia and Calem in my office right now," Cedric said with a more serious tone than usual. "I have a very important mission for all of you."


Roku's P.O.V.

Legend Keeper HQ

It took us an impressive five minutes for all of us to scramble into Cedric's office after I received the call and let everyone else know about the mission. Zuki had also followed us in, curious as to what had the man so worked up. And it had to be something big, because I could sense just how mentally drained the old man was as soon as we walked in.

"Good lord, what happened to you?" Reia asked curiously.

"Yeah, you look like someone just killed your Manectric in front of you and is now wearing it like a festive hat," I added on, causing everyone in the immediate vicinity to shoot me a look.

"I'm…going to ignore that," Cedric finally said after a long and awkward silence. "I brought you all in here because of some recent developments, both good and bad."

"Good and bad?" Calem asked almost sarcastically. "Wow, it must be my birthday."

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the jokes," Cedric said roughly. "The bad news is actually rather serious. We've received reports from Lance that the Pokémon at the Lake of Rage have been rampaging and causing the immediate area to suffer from massive flooding. While this is usually a normal occurrence because of the population of Gyarados, it appears that some unknown force is forcing the Magikarp that also inhabit the lake to evolve early, which is rather painful, to say the least."

"Something's forcing the Pokémon to evolve?" I asked worriedly. "How's that possible? I thought Magikarp evolved like a lot of Pokémon do; by getting stronger through battle."

"Lance has reason to believe that some unknown pheromone is causing the Magikarp to go full beast mode and evolve out of pure hatred and rage," Cedric explained. "Which is ironic as hell, considering how pissed off normal Gyarados are most of the time."

"Well, it isn't called the 'Lake of Rage' for nothing," Zuki chimed in. "Even still, this is a major problem."

"Well, Reia and I can always go check it out," I said, looking at Reia. "I mean, we were gonna head to Mahogany Town eventually for our next Gym Battle anyway, so it would benefit us greatly to head there as soon as we can."

"It's a good thing you're so eager to go, because I was thinking about asking you guys anyway," Cedric said with a chuckle. "At the very least, it would be a good opportunity to capture a potentially strong partner to help out in the battle against Pryce. He's not the second-strongest leader in Johto for no reason."

"So what about the good news?" Calem asked.

"I'm glad you asked, my boy, cuz this one's a real doozy," Cedric said, preparing his P*DA. "We've finally received word from our agent in Sinnoh. Seems she's finally gotten Rayquaza under control, and we may have found a way to reach the final Pokémon of the Core Covenant…the all-powerful Arceus."

Just the name alone sent chills down my spine. Arceus was often revered and worshipped as the all-maker and the creator of this world, and terms like being able to speak to the literal god of all things were not things you just threw around to spice up a conversation.

"She wants to do some more research, but she mentioned a potential lead in our part of the world, namely, the Ruins of Alph," Cedric continued, pulling up several pictures of what appeared to be a bird's eye view of the ruins and a strange glyph that almost resembled a flute. "Our target seems to be an instrument of some kind, possibly a flute or something similar. Calem, I'm leaving this mission to you and Zuki. Investigate the Ruins of Alph and see if you can't dig up any leads."

"You got it, Chief," Calem said with a nod.

"Alright then, you have your assignments," Cedric said, nodding as well. "Feel free to rest up before you head out. My happy ass is going to take a nap."

And before we knew it, Cedric had shooed us out of his office and locked the door. I figure the man deserved it, considering what had transpired in the last half-hour or so. But we had some prep work of our own to do, and so, Reia and I went our separate ways from Calem and Zuki, eager to get started on our next real mission.


Author's Note: I'm gonna cut this one a little short cuz I'm super tired and it's 9 in the AM over here and I REALLY shouldn't be staying up so late. My sleep schedule's so fucked right now. Guess that's what you get when you slam a 2-liter of Coke whilst playing Dungeons and Dragons with the boys. I still haven't crashed yet. And here I am spilling out nonsense again. Anyone who reads this in the future well after this damn story has been completed isn't gonna know what the hell's going on. And I aims'ta keep it that way. XD

Thanks for staying with me this far. Next time: Roku and Reia might just get more than they bargained for.

Till next time, please read and review.

Strato Abyss signing out.