Chapter Thirty-six: Guardians

Fighting For Everything

Volkner wrapped his arm around me and we started stepping back quickly. Then, more people jumped down from the roof. They were all wearing black cloaks and had swords in their hands. I stuck my hand in my bag and searched for a Pokéball.

"Wait!" Someone yelled. I found a ball and pulled it out. "Don't releases it." The voice said again. One of the cloaked swordsmen approached me. The swordsmen pulled his hood down. It was a girl. She had black and white hair, like Zoey, and stood as tall as Zoey. I would have said it was her, but she didn't look right. When I saw the dangling nose ring, I knew it was her.

"Zoey?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes, it's me." The other people pulled their hoods off.

"You look so different without your makeup." I commented. Without her makeup you could see that she, actually, had a very pretty face.

Zoey shrugged. "What are you doing out here?" She asked.

"We could ask the same to you." Volkner growled. I shot him a look. He had on his protective face.

"Volky, you don't need to be so defensive."

"Zoey," a man spoke up, "let's go inside." Zoey nodded and motioned for us to follow her. We walked up to the temple. It looked as regal as you would think. It looked completely constructed out of ice. That may have been an illusion, but it looked cool either way. There were blue beams that held everything together, and a matching blue roof. The place was three stories tall, I would guess. But it was definitely here, and not lost in snow.

One of the other attackers walked to the center of the front wall. He thrust his sword into a crease, and a few clicks rang out. Part of the wall opened like a door. We all stepped in. The inside was just as sacred-looking. And I definitely felt a presence around. Not my presence, which has been absent for a while, but a presence.

It was surprisingly warm inside, even though everything was ice. There was a chandelier type thing hanging from the double-story ceiling. It had flames roaring up around it, warming the whole area but not melting the building.

The only thing was, there was nothing inside. It was empty. It was a big, empty room.

"Okay, you guys have some explaining to do." Volkner said when the 'door' closed.

The group circled around us. "Let's go into a better room." Zoey said. We followed her to the back of the room, where there was an old, wooden door. She opened it and lead us in. The room was small, but it wasn't made of ice, is was a regular room. There was a small fireplace with a fire burning, and sofas and chairs circled around it. Everyone sat.

"I'm sure you two have question, but I can assure you, you're not getting any answers." One of the other ladies said.

"Oh please, that's just Zanna being the downer she is." Zoey looked at us. "The reason why you're not dead, is because I trust you two enough to keep secrets."

"Obviously." One of the men said. Everyone in this room, except Volkner, Zoey, and I, didn't want us here.

"Hush." Zoey told him. "Plus, killing off the next champion would be a waste. How else would we get Lea out of business?"

"Who said I wanted to challenge Lea?" I asked.

"No one would come this far and not continue on to the League. And Volky always said he wanted to be the champion, that's why he set out, isn't it?" I looked at Volky. He was giving Zoey a very mean look. "So one of you will probably be the champion. Most likely Cynthia, because Volky lost his zeal. I don't know why. He certainly is powerful enough."

"Zoey, what's your point?" He snapped.

"My point is, welcome to the secret temple! Be glad you're alive." She smirked. She looked around at the others. "These are my family members. Zanna, my eldest sister, Zeya, my younger sister, and Zen, my older brother. And then these are my cousins, Zane, Zinnia, and Zacobi. We are the descendants of the Snowpoint Warriors, and we are the guardians of this temple." All of Zoey's family had black hair, or black and white hair, and they all wore a gold nose ring. Most likely to symbolize that they were warriors. Or because they were into piercings.

"So, if this is actually here, why did the Snow Sisters lie about it? To keep it secret?" I asked. That really was a question that started to bother me. It didn't make sense why they would lie.

"Well, what did they say?" Zeya asked. Zeya looked exactly like Zoey, except with a rounder, younger face.

"They said that this temple was lost in a snowstorm created by Legendaries, and that it was cursed ground."

"That's not a lie." Zacobi, the youngest male of the group, said. "They think it's the truth."

"What?" Volkner asked.

"Our ancestors made up the lie." Zeya answered.

"They did?"

"Yep, straight out of our great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers butts." Zacobi grinned.

"But the Snow Sisters were there." I said.

They all laughed. "Please, no they weren't! They're so old, they don't even know what they're talking about anymore. They're two-hundred-and-eighty, and they would need to be at least three-hundred-seventy to even be there!" They all kept laughing.

"The point is," Zoey started, "this temple was created by Legendaries when the war was over, we didn't create it. Legendaries used this as a home-base, since this was neutral land, there are multiple scrolls found throughout the building. But this place is…Weird. It holds its own secrets."

"How does it hold its own secrets?" I asked, getting wrapped up into Zoey's words.

"On the third level of the building, there's a door that we can't get into. All the other doors open with the warriors swords, but this one is weird. And we can hear things moving up there, and we know the walls move." She answered.

"How do you know if you can't get in there?" Volkner asked.

"Because on the second level, the walls move too. They move in such a way, that it's a maze-like construction. We haven't been through the room. Many of our ancestors got lost in the maze and was never seen again."

"So, if there's nothing here, why hide it from everyone? You can't get into the third level, the second level is impossible to get through, and there's nothing on the first level."

"Right now, it's scaring Lea away." Zen said. "We know he's looking for something. That's why he's sending guards to the lakes and everywhere else. Except here, because he's afraid. We're protecting our people by lying about a big temple. But, we think what he's looking for is here."

"That's enough of all this talk." Zanna snapped. "You're just telling our lives work to these strangers? They don't need to know about the scrolls and the secrets." She turned towards us. "You heard it. We're lying to keep away Lea and protect our people and home, like our ancestors did. It's our duty. Protection runs deep in our veins. Are you two always this nosey?"

I frowned. "No, if you remember, you all happily invited us in and told us all this. It's not our fault." I stood up and looked at the guardians around me. "You all want to protect your people? You all want Lea out of business? Then why are you hiding? Do like the rebels did, get out and fight. Take Lea down the vicious way he deserves, instead of waiting around for someone else to do it for you!" By them saying they were waiting for me to be the champion, they were putting a lot of weight on me. I may not succeed, and I would let everyone down.

Zoey stood up. "Cynthia, we're protectors and defender, not fighters. We defend what's ours, and we don't get into the business and wars of everyone else. Just like the Old Sinnoh war, Snowpoint Tribe prevailed by defending. Not fighting."

Zanna was flaming mad. "I think you two should go before everything is ruined. We don't need evil in this sacred place. Leave! Zoey, show them out, now!"

Zoey lead us out to the door. "You two should keep our secret. If you don't, I'll tell your secret, Cynthia. The secret that you were a rebel."

I was dumbfounded. "How did you know?!"

She smirked. "You just told me."

I smashed my lips together. Oops. I fell the for oldest trick in the book. "Well then…Uh, let's keep our secrets then." I grinned sheepishly. Zoey nodded and put the sword in the wall, opening the door and letting us out.

"I hope I get to see you two again before you leave. Especially you, Volky." She grinned. Volkner frowned and slightly blushed. "Don't freeze to death out there." Zoey said as we walked out of the temple. The door shut behind Volkner and I, and I looked at him.

"That was weird." I commented. The coldness started to hit me again.

"Yeah I know. Very weird. This whole place is weird. Let's get out of here and go to Sunyshore, at least it's warm there."

I nodded and got out Thumper. I released him and we got on. Before we took off, I looked over my shoulder at Volkner. He was looking at the map, ready to take on his job again. He realized I was looking and met my eyes. He smirked happily. "Volky?" I snickered. He frowned.

"Just fly." He said through his clenched teeth. I laughed and took off into the heavens.

Later that evening, Volkner and I sat in my room and relaxed on the sofa. With my winnings, I bought us hot tea and each a sweet tart, which was a sugary treat that was delicious. We had finished our treat and was sipping down some special, and quite expensive, tea. We deserved something nice and relaxing since we weren't fighting wars.

Or expected to fight a tough champion. Oh wait, that's me, I'm expected to fight a tough champion. I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.

I focused back on the television. Surprisingly, Jubilife News wasn't on. There was only one channel here, the Sinnoh Station. I hear that in some places in Sinnoh you can pick up Kanto or Johto Station, but for us, it's Sinnoh Station or bust. Jubilife News comes on ten times a day, about every two hours on the dot, and when that isn't on, they're showing a contest or battle or something along those lines. And, the eight o'clock special, Hearts of Hearthrome, the television drama revolved around a girl and her love interests. Yes, very exciting show.

Currently, a contest was being shown. We were mindlessly watching that. I took a sip of my tea. My mind went back to my meeting the guardians. Zoey had taken quite a liking to Volkner, and they had met before. Yes, that made me suspicious of that, but I wasn't jealous. I thought of what she said. "Volky always said he wanted to be the champion, that's why he set out." This is odd. If Volkner wanted to be the champion, he easily could have. Why would he settle for a gym leader? Did he not want the responsibility? Possible, but that still doesn't make sense.

I looked at Volkner. "Can I ask you something?"

He looked at me. "Anything."

"Zoey said you left out to be the champion. Is that true?"

He sighed and looked away. "Partially. When I left, it was very spur-of-the-moment. I don't know why I left. But it wasn't necessarily to become the champion. I'm glad I'm a gym leader, and I wouldn't change it." He said it, but it didn't seem like he meant it. Just something about his somber look. He looked back and me and slightly smiled, but he still looked hurt. He always looked somewhat hurt. Scarred, if you will.

"Are you sure?" I asked, disbelief filling my tone.

He nodded. "Yeah. If I wasn't a leader, I wouldn't have met you."

I smiled and shook my head. "You saying things like that never helps anything."

"Sure it does." He smirked. He reached up and pushed some of my hair behind my ear. He rested his hand on my cheek. The last time I was in this position I was with Ember, and it ended…Well, let's just not say. But I didn't want that ending here.

I blushed thinking about that memory. I grabbed Volkner's hand and moved it away. He looked hurt at this action. "I think I should leave." He said. I nodded. He stood up and walked to the door. Before he opened it, he turned back towards me. "Goodnight, Miss Cynthia."

"Goodnight." I muttered, and he left me alone, and wishing I never let him leave.

Authors Note: Short chapter FTW. Well, since Christmas is coming up, my next chapter shall be delayed. (Maybe, maybe not.) On top of that, since you all know of my 'system', you all know that I have the next chapter already written. I'm sort of torn up with Cynthia and Volkners relationship, so I need feedback on that.

So answer these all nice-like and such:

Tips? Something you want to see? How am I doing? (Random) Do you like the cover art?

Oh and, for those of you who never visit my profile, I'm a chic who takes offense when called a dude. Seriously. Is it that hard to guess?! Yeesh. Gamer girls exist, I own Assassins Creed! As of...This week. Heh. Now to go read Twilight and listen to Justin Bieber. Is that even how you spell his name? Tis a mystery.

Thanks for reading!