This chapter was originally supposed to be labeled as "My Fall", but instead I decided to separate the two and add more to the next chapter, which takes that name. This one however, explains a lot for the next chapter.

Even though it wasn't a school day, I still woke up early on Saturday morning. I wanted to learn as much as possible from Latias while the day was young. I packed a few sheets of paper into my bag, along with some pencils, both black and colored, and hoisted it over my shoulder.

"Dad," I walked over to his room. "I'm going to see L—" He wasn't there. He didn't usually work on weekends, I wonder where he went?

I checked around the house. He wasn't out on the terrace, nor was he in the kitchen or the living room. Gallade went to the restaurant to see Danielle, as he always did every weekend, Staraptor was in his favorite spot on the roof, and Millie, Electivire, and Typhlosion were in the living room watching TV. Now that I thought about it, life had gotten really boring for them. I said goodbye and stepped outside. It was a warm sunny morning. Incredibly warm for December; I felt it to be at least sixty degrees. I walked up the stairs to the street and went in the direction of the restaurant. Maybe Danielle knew where Dad was….

I stopped and looked around. That eerie feeling from yesterday had returned. I looked around, but I still couldn't find anyone.

'I know that someone is out here, this can't be coincidence,' I thought.

I looked around for a while but when I didn't find anything, I gave up and continued walking.

An Infernape, a Dragonair and their owner were perched on the roof a building. They were looking down at a blue-haired girl walking along the street. The girl suddenly stopped, and started to look around for a while. She had sensed their presence, but didn't investigate any further and continued walking.

"That's definitely her," He looked at a description of the girl. "The boss said the blue hair was unavoidable."

The Infernape started to growl. He was eager for battle.

"Not now," He said to him. "You'll get your battle, just be patient. For now, we'll wait until she comes back. She's not going anywhere important."

He continued looking through his binoculars.

"Danielle?" I pushed the door open. "Oh, there you are. Have you seen dad?"

'No, I haven't seen him for the morning,' She said. 'Isn't he at home?'

"I've checked, but he wasn't there," I said. "Where do you think he went?"

'Well yesterday when he left the restaurant, he said something about running an important errand,' She said. 'I think he said he was going to the park.'

"Running an important errand in the park," I thought for a moment. "I think I might know what it was."

Gallade walked up to Danielle and they started talking incoherently in their own language. Then he said something, and she started to blush. I started to giggle, and they both looked at me.

'What?'

"Nothing, nothing," I said. "Okay I'm going to look for dad, see you later."

So that was it. I left the restaurant and walked back up the street. I didn't understand why dad always went to the park. I told him that the chances of an entrance to the garden ever appearing there again were very slim, yet he still went. When I walked down the street again, I didn't have that feeling that we were being watched anymore. I figured that it was probably just a hallucination. The bracelet pointed me in the direction of an alley just like the day before, and I slipped out of sight and began to check the walls for a trick door. After a few minutes, my hand vanished beyond a part of the wall, and I walked through.

'Oh, there you are Molly,' Latias called. Dad was standing next to her. 'I was beginning to think that you got lost.'

"Very funny," I retorted. "Dad, what are you doing here?"

"Well, If you should know," We gathered in a circle and sat down in the grass. "Arceus relayed a message to me from Rayquaza. He was captured by a human."

'And the weird thing is that it was just one,' Latias said. 'Just like—'

"—Mateo," I finished. She nodded. "What happened to him?"

"We don't know," Dad said. "But he told Arceus to make sure that Latias was protected. And that's why I'm here."

The sword was strapped to his back. He took it off and laid it on the ground. When I looked closely, there was a small indent on the guard in the shape of a star—like my pendant. I took my necklace in my hand, and then matched their sizes.

"Dad?"

"Hm?"

I pointed at my necklace, then at the guard.

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"Well you see Molly," He held out his hand. I gave him the necklace. "The star that I gave you isn't actually made out of gold. It's only gold-plated."

'Well then what's under the gold?' Latias asked.

He got up, and unsheathed the sword. "When Arceus gave me this sword six years ago, she told me that it needed something more in order to show its true power. For the last six years, I didn't really care much to it, until…."

"Until what?"

"Until that incident last month," He continued. "That's when I found out about the plates."

'Ah,' Latias got up as well. 'The plates, as in the sixteen plates that change Arceus's elemental type?'

"Count the sword in its present normal state, and you've got seventeen elemental blades," He placed the star into the guard. The sword glew brightly for a few seconds, and then went back to its previous state. "Each and every one of those plates can turn Arceus into a fire type, a water type, a dark type, and so on, but if all of those plates were joined together as one, then it would give off….pure energy."

"So….what was the point of giving me the necklace?" I asked.

"Oh, it's definitely your birthday gift," I said. "But I also gave it to you to protect you in case of danger."

"Dad, you know you don't have to worry about that," I grinned.

"A father can never be too sure," He said. "Anyway, a brief demonstration."

He waved the sword, lighting a patch of grass on fire. He waved it again, extinguishing the fire with water.

"Now it's left a mark!"

"Not permanently."

He placed his hand on the patch of burned grass, and it immediately started to flourish again, almost if nothing had happened. I put my hands to my mouth.

'Calvin, that was amazing!' Latias said.

He removed the star from the guard, and gave it back to me. "But it's too much power for me to handle. It requires concentration, which unfortunately…." He looked around. We got a chance to, and amazingly enough, not only did the patch of grass grow back, but it started to sprout flowers, and the same thing started to happen all over the garden. "…can be a little hard to do. Anyway Molly, don't you have an art lesson today?"

"Oh, right!" Dad sat on the ground across from us. I guess he wasn't leaving.

As the day wore on, Latias taught me about various types of art. Abstract, visual, concept, for a time I thought that she was one of my regular teachers. Morning rolled into afternoon, and by that time we both started drawing various parts of the garden. Latias told me to start off with rocks, and then work my way up to cobblestones, then from grass to flowers, and then finally something more complex, like the pokémon that inhabited the garden. I thought of drawing Latias, but then I thought about her size for a moment and decided to work my way up. Dad, out of pure boredom, had fallen asleep in a patch of grass in the shade of a tree. Two Breloom were sleeping next to him. It looked too good of a picture opportunity to pass up.

'Too slow, Molly!' Latias showed me a picture of the three of them. My face turned red.

"You were reading my mind?" She giggled. "That's not fair!"

'Molly, it's not about being fair,' She said. 'It's a matter of quick thinking.'

I gasped. "You're telepathic!"

'Okay Molly, you have dibs on the next scene,' She said, giving me the picture. That seemed fair enough.

We continued drawing for the rest of the day, afternoon turning into evening and the temperature dropping. When it started getting late I woke dad up and we said our goodbyes to Latias. Well, at least until tomorrow anyway. We walked back to the entrance and came back into that same alley from earlier.

"So Molly, how did your art lesson go?" He asked.

"Better than I expected," I said. "I think I might be getting the hang of it now."

"Wow. Fast improvement after one day."

"I know. Hey dad?"

"Hm?"

"Do you ever get the feeling that you're being…watched?"

"Every time I don't pay a bill," He said. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. Yesterday morning on my way to school, and today when I was looking for you, I could've sworn that I was being watched. I looked around, but I couldn't find anything suspicious. But on my way back from the restaurant, I didn't get that feeling anymore. I figured that it was just a hallucination, and I—"

"Wait. You 'figured'?"

"Uh….I guess so, yeah."

"Oh Molly," He groaned. "When the average human 'figures', people around them take it as a suggestion, or…a speculation. When a Winthrop 'figures', it usually leads to disaster."

"Dad, that's just an old family myth," He shook his head.

"I've had my fair dealings with 'figuring' in the past," He said. "Anyway, you said that when you walked towards the restaurant, you got that feeling but on your way back, it vanished?" He turned around and ran back towards the alley. "Whatever it was was waiting for you to come back. You were followed to the garden!"

"What?" I ran after him. "Dad, you can't be serious!"

We ran back into the alley, and into the garden, but when we got there Latias was nowhere to be found.

"Latias!" I called. No response. "Where is she?"

"They must have already taken her," Dad unsheathed the sword. "Not again…"

We walked past the fountain. I could still feel Latias's presence in the garden, but just barely. I mean if she knew it was us, then why didn't she reveal….wait….maybe she was trying to tell us something. "Dad, I think I know—" I turned around to look at him. He wrapped in the body of a Dragonair. "Dad!" I ran back to him, but an Infernape jumped down and stood in front of me. I barely saw it coming, but he hit me on my side with one chop of the hand. It sent a wave of tremendous pain through my body, and I collapsed to the ground.

"Well. This was pathetic."

I looked up. A man at least twenty-five or so, wearing dark clothing stood in front of us. I tried to get up, but the pain was too much.

"You're better off not moving," He said. "He might just kill you. That goes the same for you, Calvin. She can strangle you to death."

"How do you know my name?" He asked.

"I know both of your names," He said. "My commanding officer knows the both of you very well. Especially you, Molly."

"What?"

He chuckled. "I don't have time for your questions. Where is Latias?"

"Why would you think we know where she is?" Dad asked, opting to struggle against the Dragonair anyway. The Dragonair only tightened its wrap on him, and his struggling ceased again. "She's….she's obviously not here."

"Really? Because Molly seems to think otherwise."

Dad's eyes widened.

"Ah, so you do know. You're just trying to be brave." He snapped his finger. The Infernape hit me on my side again, and I doubled over in pain. I gritted my teeth. "I'll ask you one more time, or she may not get so lucky."

"She could be anywhere by now!" Dad yelled. "I don't know where she is!"

"Wrong answer."

He snapped his finger.

'Wait!'

The Infernape didn't hit me, but I could feel his hand on my neck. I opened one eye. Latias had revealed herself.

'I'd rather give myself up than see Molly suffer like this,' She said.

"Good answer," He dug into his pocket, and pulled out a Master Ball, or at least that's what it looked like. From what I could see, it was black on white and had two silver rings looping around it. There was an "M" inscribed on it. Wait a minute….the pokéball, the guy knowing all about me and dad, and the fact that he knew that I would double over in pain with this Infernape's attacks.

"Who…who do you work for?" I asked him. He looked at me and smiled.

"Infernape, make her suffer."

The Infernape did as it was told. In a form of martial arts no one knew, he started to attack Molly. I continued to struggle against the Dragonair's grip. As tight as it was, I didn't stop trying to get free. I looked at the man, filled with anger now. "You got what you want, leave her out of this!" The man only smirked. He threw the pokéball at Latias. She was captured without struggle. "Latias, no!" The man picked up the pokeball. He called off his Infernape, leaving Molly lying next to a tree, unconscious but still breathing.

"That was easy," He stuffed the pokeball back into his pocket.

'I'm going to regret doing this for the rest of my life,' I thought. I bit into the Dragonair's side. It groaned in pain for a second, and its grip loosened a bit. With enough energy, I body slammed it into the ground, and its grip loosened enough for me to escape. I unsheathed the sword and swung at the guy. He managed to jump back a few feet, but not enough to prevent the tip of the blade from cutting his jacket, and with it, the pocket where the pokéball was concealed. It dropped to the ground. I picked it up and threw it to Molly.

"Molly, free Latias!" She wasn't hurting for very long. Even in her human form, her weaknesses to fighting types prevailed twofold, but thankfully she had the necklace on, and with it, fragments of the Draco and Stone plates, so in actuality she was only dealt a quarter of the damage. She quickly grabbed the pokéball and released Latias, and then crushed it beneath her foot.

"Dad," Molly called. "Remember when you told me about why you gave me this necklace?"

"Yeah."

"You were right."

The two of them rushed to my side. The other three formed a line in front of us.

"You're much more unpredictable than the boss had anticipated you to be, Calvin," He said, unclipping another pokéball from his side.

'This is a dead end battle,' I said to Latias. 'No doubt that's another pokémon in his arsenal.'

'What do we do?'

I looked up, and smirked. The guy did the same too, and then looked back at us.

"You're not very smart, Calvin," He said. "Trying to make an aerial escape."

"Well, I guess you don't really know me then."

"Dragonair. Infernape. Attack them."

They lunged at us. Molly had already been filled in by the looks of it. Latias put both of her paws on our shoulders and teleported away from the garden.

We arrived in yet another forest once the light from the teleportation dimmed. Dad put his hand to his mouth and looked around.

"Latias, where are we?"

'Johto.'

"Okay, we can get a chance to breathe now," He leant against a tree, and then slid to the ground. Latias and I lay in a patch of grass next to him and waited for him to say something else.

"A man came to Alto Mare looking for Latias, he followed Molly into the garden and now he knows where she lives. And what's worse, he knows who we are too," He said. "But who told him all this stuff?"

'I don't think there's anyone out there who knows you that well,' Latias said. 'You think someone looked us up?'

"There are billions of people on this planet with traits like ours," He said. "There's got to be something else…."

"I know how he knows."

I got up, and walked forward. "I know who his boss is."

"Molly?" Dad called.

I started to cry. "Didn't you ever want to know who kidnapped me from the restaurant nine years ago?"

He came to hold me. As much as it pained me to say his name and all the nightmares I had to endure just to get over it, it didn't make sense anymore to try and hide it from the world. They were already after us.

"Ely….Morgan."

And….the story has begun. I honestly must say, this chapter had a lot of possible different outcomes, but in the end, I just stuck to this one. And as mentioned:

Seventeen elemental types. Sixteen plates. However, since the Archaic Sword and Arceus are already in a normal state, that adds the extra elemental form, thus bringing it to a round total of seventeen elemental blades for the sword, hence the name of the story. Enjoy reading and please review.