A/N: Welcome back to Outcasts Rising! Sorry for the slight wait, I had a busy week after Tuesday, and I only got this done on Saturday. Anyway, we finally get to figure out what Kyle's plan is, and more of Joey's powers are displayed. Please enjoy!
Thank you to Ketchum Kid (), AzureFlames, Nanashi Chimera, Wings that bring the fate, ReLeeS, and theking6 for your reviews! Also, thanks to all of you who put my stories on their alert or favorites list, and those of you who faved me as an author! Even though you don't leave your reviews, it still pleases me to know that you like my stories enough to add them to your faves or alerts. And one more thanks to TJay for you Beta-ing!
And to Ketchum Kid (), I see why that would stop you from getting your own account. Can't wait til you get that laptop. As for the combiomorph thing, yeah, we are delving deep in that pool. I just love going that far down, it's so much fun! I just had random inspiration for it one day, and I had to include one in one of my stories. I think that fanfiction had some sort of glitch or something, but I hated it, too. I checked almost every hour to see if it was back up and running.
Now, onto the story!
Chapter Eight – Breaking & Entering (Plus Mild Theft)
After I told Lizzy, Stephanie, and Joey about my plan and gave them my reasoning for it, they all agreed that it was probably the best plan of action. Unfortunately, we were going to need the cover of night to be able to go through with my plan, so until then, we decided to stay in the tree house. It was the safest place for us to hide, since the place hadn't been touched in years. Or at least Joey said it was that way when he had arrived here.
So to pass the time, we decided to talk about random subjects and pretend that what had happened earlier today never did happen. Of course, that was tough since I never knew Stephanie before today, and Joey was living testament to the fact that things would probably never be normal for me again.
But when was it ever normal for me in the first place?
Anyway, we didn't really talk about anything of importance. Just general information about ourselves and other random topics were discussed. When asked about my family, I only said that I barely knew my parents, and that I really didn't want to talk about them.
That abruptly ended that thread of conversation, and Stephanie brought up a new one. That one led to another, which led to another, and another, and another.
Koyuki slept through all of the conversations, lying on my lap while I stroked his soft fur. He was awake for the one that involved Joey being able to talk to Pokemon, however. Which was true.
I barely remember the conversations at all, except for one of them. It was about the three ruins that resided in various places throughout the Voer Region.
"So, you were originally from Wedfri City?" I remember Lizzy asking Joey.
"Yeah, I was," Joey said, "and I hated living there."
"I heard that there were some sort of ruins in that city," I said. "Is it true?"
"Actually, it is true," Lizzy said, answering for Joey. "In fact, there are two other ruins like it in the region."
"Really? Where?" Stephanie asked.
"I think that they're in Wedfri City, Solei City, and Tremen Town on Tremen Island," Lizzy said.
"I'm not sure if that's true," Joey stated, "but I do know that there were ruins in Wedfri. I remember reading an article about them once. It said that they had found the exact same symbol in each of them. Something about a circle that was split horizontally, with a smaller, separate circle in the center of it."
"What else do you know about them?" I asked. I was very curious about these ruins. Truthfully, I had never heard of them before.
"Well, I think that it had said that they found a few other strange things in each of the ruins," Joey said. "But they never found these items in the other ruins. If I remember correctly, the group studying the Tremen Ruins found statues standing parallel to each other. In Wedfri, they had found something that looked like a case full of strange pins. And in Solei, they had supposedly found a weird device that looked like a high tech top."
"I wonder if they'll ever find out what those ruins used to be…" Lizzy said.
"Sure, someone will figure it out eventually!" Stephanie said, cheerful as always.
"Is she always like that?" Joey asked me quietly.
"How would I know? I've only known her for a few hours!" I told him.
Finally, night fell. I heard sounds of the forest surround me, each coming in at different times. First, the sounds of the cars and people died down to nothing, leaving only the slight breeze blowing through the trees. Then the wind picked up a bit, whistling through the branches. Every so often the sounds of a forest animal quickly dashing by towards wherever it called a home would weave its way into the quiet, eerie wind, only to disappear seconds later. There were no chirping crickets, nor any chirping birds. No, the night was much too cold for that, being the middle of January. The only vocal noises were the sounds of the occasional howls of the wolves and coyotes in the mountains. Overall, the effect was definitely spooky.
We waited still for the city to settle down. Finally, midnight came, signaling the start of a new day, as well as the start of my plan.
Almost right after midnight struck, we climbed out of the small room and slipped silently down the ladder. Koyuki was in my arms wearing a very serious face, as if he knew that what we were doing was extremely important. We quickly dashed through the near silence of the night, making little sound. We were quickly upon civilization as the backs of houses came into view. Joey, who was the fastest of us, reached the houses first and checked for any activity in the front of them.
We stood back a few yards, still shrouded in the near absolute darkness of the forest, waiting for Joey's signal for the all clear. A minute later, Joey showed up, giving the sign, indicating that it was safe to continue on.
We quickly made our way between the houses and out to the street. The lamps were all on, but there were no moving cars or people in sight. The windows of the houses were all dark, telling everyone who saw them that the owners of the house were asleep. Practically everything was still. The only movement came from the wind blowing the branches and grass, and us.
Joey taking the lead, we rushed down the street, towards the center of the city. Soon, Joey's ears perked up and he came to an abrupt halt.
"What's up, Joey?" I asked once the rest of us had caught up to him.
"I hear sirens approaching," he whispered worriedly. "We need to find a place to hide."
Lizzy pointed to an empty dumpster. "We can hide in that!" she said rather excitedly. Whether she would admit it or not, she was actually sort of enjoying the experience.
Our group hurried over to the dumpster, climbing in and only peeking our eyes out far enough to see the street. A few seconds later, the sirens that Joey had heard got to where we could hear them, then they grew louder and louder until they passed by on the street.
It was a cop car, and it was moving extremely slow, as if the driver and the passenger were looking for something. And I'm pretty sure I knew what they were looking for. They passed our dumpster without noticing us and continued down the street, turning at the closest corner.
Climbing out of our hiding place with Koyuki still in my arms, I said, "That was definitely too close for comfort."
"I'll say," Joey said, "there was barely enough room in that dumpster for us to all fit."
I chuckled a bit, just because it felt good to forget that this was serious for a moment. But the moment passed, and the seriousness returned.
"But really now, we need to stay hidden better. We can't risk getting captured," I said.
"Well, I might be able to carry all of you while in Flygon form," Joey suggested.
"Let's give it a shot, then," Stephanie said.
"Alright, stand back," Joey said, backing up a bit. We followed his orders as he began to change.
First, his neck began to increase in length. As it elongated, his ears disappeared and large, red half spheres covered his eyes. His nose and mouth reshaped themselves into a small snout with two nostril holes. His hat disappeared, and his blue hair and black bangles disappeared along with it. His scalp was almost instantly covered in green scales, and two long protrusions grew back from his head.
His shirt disappeared, and the spike on his chest grew into his body. The area was quickly covered in scales. His arms reformed from Lucario into Flygon as paws turned into claws. They became shorter and thinner, and all traces of fur were now hidden under the green scales.
His shoes vanished as his feet grew longer, forming into a rounded tip. His legs shortened considerably, bunching up and gaining in muscle mass right at the thigh. His pants faded, revealing the rest of the scaled underbelly. His previously awkwardly placed tail now seemed to flow naturally from his spine.
Joey shook himself once, and all I could do was stare. I mean, I had just seen someone transform into a Pokemon. It was extremely hard to comprehend. He then nodded, signaling for us to climb on. Lizzy and Stephanie climbed on, fitting right behind where his wings sprouted. Joey then leaned his neck down as if trying to tell me to climb onto it. I did what I figured that he wanted, and he lifted his neck, letting me slide down into a better position. Koyuki had taken up residence in front of me, and to keep him from falling, I put my arms around Joey's neck in such a way that it formed a sort of cage around him.
Then Joey tested his wings once, twice, and then on the third flap, he lifted off of the ground. He rapidly flapped his wings, climbing in altitude until we were above the rooftops. Then I pointed in the direction that I wanted him to go, and off we flew.
A few minutes passed by, along with the blurred scenery. I would have tried to study it, but we were going to fast to distinguish anything. Finally, we approached our destination. I could see it from a little while back, and I signaled to Joey that we were near. He looked relieved that he could land soon. Apparently, we were starting to wear him out.
Soon, we hovered over the tan roof of the building that was our destination. Well, it used to be tan, but now most of the paint was gone from wear and tear. And that happens when a place goes nearly a century without being touched.
We landed in front of the main entrance to the building, which was chained shut. I was slightly surprised that the police weren't waiting for us here. But it was a good surprise, like the kind that you get on your birthday when you open a present and realize that it's exactly what you wanted.
Anyway, Lizzy, Stephanie, Koyuki and I climbed down off of Joey, while he reverted back to normal. He promptly sat down, panting slightly.
"Are you OK?" I asked, rushing over to his side.
"Yeah," he said, still panting, "I'm fine. I just haven't done that in a while."
He further proved his point that he was fine by standing up and walking around.
"Good, then you know what to do now," I said, nodding at the chain on the doors.
Joey nodded back, then walked up to the doors. He held the chain with his left paw and his other paw was hovering above the chain. Joey closed his eyes in concentration, and the spike on the back of his paw began to glow. A second later, his eyes flashed open and he brought his paw down, the spike connecting with the chain, cleanly slashing it. His other paw suddenly sank a bit, now holding the full weight of the chain.
Carefully, Joey pulled the chain out of the door handles, trying not to make a sound. Soon, the rusty chain was on the ground, and I was holding the door open, watching Lizzy, then Joey, and finally Stephanie enter the building. I followed them, slowly shutting the door behind Koyuki as he bounded into the room last.
Inside the building, it was easily visible that it used to be a Gym. My great-grandfather's Gym to be exact. The puzzle was a large forested maze with a few rocky cliffs littering the area every so often. There were some white tiles randomly placed around the maze. 'Teleportation panels,' I thought. I walked over and touched one with my foot, but nothing happened. I figured that the power for the Gym had been cut long ago.
Speaking of power, it was nearly pitch black in the Gym, seeing as there was no electricity. We could only see the small patch around us because of the light streaming through the dirty windows. I pulled out the large flashlight that I had grabbed earlier in the tree house and turned it on. Instantly, a larger area around us was illuminated.
I shone the light on the trees in front of us only to find that they weren't there. Instead, they had been fallen by the crowd that must have gathered in here during the Gym Revolt. The path made by the fallen trees led straight through the maze and right up to the Leader's podium.
The others and I followed the path and were quickly at the podium. Right next to it stood the challenge field. It was just like any other Gym field. It was a large rectangle that was marked off in the grass with paint, with two squares labeled off on opposite sides where the challenger and the Gym Leader would stand. It was actually quite thrilling to imagine a battle playing out on the field.
I looked forward and saw that on the wall behind the field was a wall with a door in it. I approached it and saw that it required a five-letter password.
"Great, we need a password to get in!" I said, exasperated. "Now what?"
"I could blow open the door with an Aura Sphere," Joey said.
"No, that would be too loud," I said, dismissing the idea. "We need to figure out the password."
Lizzy sat down and tried to think of five-letter words that would make good passwords with Koyuki resting in her lap. Joey began pacing, and Stephanie just stood where she was, apparently deep in thought. Her smile stayed in place, never leaving her face even while she was thinking.
I, however, walked away from the group and wandered over to the Gym Leader's podium. I stood there on the platform, looking out on the fake forest. Well, it technically wasn't fake, seeing as the trees and shrubs and other foliage was real. A better term might be "man-made".
I happened to glance down and saw something carved into the tile where I was standing. I knelt down to get a better look at it, and saw what looked to be a message. It had "What all beings wish for" written into the tiled surface.
I walked over to the group and said, "I think that I have a clue as to what the password might be."
"What is it?" Lizzy asked, still sitting.
"Well, I found a message carved into the tiles over there," I said, pointing to the Gym Leader's podium. "It said, 'What all beings wish for,' on it."
"So that means that the password is something that beings wish for. Hmmm," Joey said, holding his paw up to his chin in thought. "Maybe money?"
"No, that can't be it," Lizzy said, standing up, forcing Koyuki to jump off of her lap. "Not all beings want money. Most Pokemon, for example, don't wish to have money."
"What about… Hmm," Joey said, still in thought.
"Faith?" Stephanie said. "People want to have faith in something."
"Maybe," Joey said. "Let's keep coming up with other possibilities."
While they were brainstorming, I was trying to remember something Granddad had told me. He said that my great-granddad had said something very profound after the Gym Revolt. Something along the lines of 'We all hope for peace'.
"Wait a second… Could it be that?" I mumbled.
"What?" Lizzy asked.
"Maybe the password is Peace," I said. "I remember my Granddad saying something about 'All of us hoping for peace'. When I asked him where he got that from, he said that my great-granddad, who was the Gym Leader of this Gym, had said that shortly after the Gym Revolt. Do you think that he was trying to leave another clue for us?"
"It could be," Stephanie said. "Let's try it!"
I nodded and walked over to the door. The lock was just a simple latch lock with a keypad with the alphabet on it. However, the latch was extremely thick and would be nearly impossible to break, even for a Pokemon. Then I thought, 'Especially for a Pokemon, seeing as it was made to keep the Gym Leader's Pokemon in here.'
I entered the word 'Peace' into the keypad, and suddenly, the lock clicked open, allowing me to remove it. I opened the door, revealing a small flight of stairs. I climbed down them, the rest of the group following me, and soon came upon a small room at the bottom of the stairs.
On a single solitary table in the center of the room were three strange devices. They were ball shaped, with red on the top and white on the bottom. They were about the size of marbles, and they had small buttons in the front along the black line that separated the red and white halves of the balls. 'Pokeballs,' I thought, walking over to the table and picking them up.
Slipping them into my jacket pockets, I walked back out of the room and up the stairs with everyone else. We quickly exited the building and looked around. There was still no one near us, so Joey began transformation again. We climbed on and he took off. He headed back to the little tree house in the woods, with three new passengers that were about to get a new start.