Chapter 16

"You two." The man that Dakim had knocked over was up in a sitting position. There was no traces of bruises or scratches on his body, a relief for both Wes and I. He brought a fist up to his mouth to clear his throat. "Thank you both for saving me." It could've just been me, but he seemed more rattled then he was letting us see. Was he hurt after all? Wes helped him to his feet. On my way over to them, I lifted my sword into my hands. The blade was warm from the vibrations. "That sword, what is it?"

"It's a skarmory feather," I replied. A crap one, too, I thought bitterly. What kind of sword couldn't purify the one pokemon that needed it the most? I held it out to him. Though he seemed genuinely interested, he didn't seem willing to take it, let alone touch it.

"The blade turns gold when you touch it, is it a curse?"

"The opposite," Wes replied. His hands overlapped mine for just a moment. It shimmered brilliantly as it left my touch and into his. "Rui is the Light, or a human that can purify Shadow Pokemon by slicing them with this."

"Rui is your name, then." He held out his hand, which I took and shook softly. "You look a bit rattled, are you alright?" No, I wasn't alright. My pokemon, my little Serenity, who I thought ran away when I was just a kid, is now a monster. She's loyal to that idiot Dakim and all of Team Cipher. She didn't even seem to recognize me. My heart was broken, torn to pieces, and trampled into the dirt. But I wasn't going to say that.

"I'm fine." To my right, Wes' expression changed. It was quick, I wasn't able to read it. "What's your name?"

"Vander. I'm the one normal challengers have to beat before they can get this." His fingers fished around in his pocket until he pulled out an unfamiliar item. The wooden shaft and the live branches that protruded from it gave me the impression that he was just holding out an every day stick he had plucked from an oak tree. When Vander moved his hands I could suddenly see where holes had been drilled in a straight line starting from an odd-looking spout that must've been the mouthpiece. The Time Flute was gorgeous except for the single crack that ran from the bottom up through three holes just to stop at the midpoint. "That idiot punched me and it splintered. I doubt it'll work now."

"You mean it can't summon Celebi now?" My voice was soft. It shouldn't have been much of an issue, I had met Celebi without it. That meant it would be harder for Team Cipher to try and hurt her if they couldn't contact her. Was there a chance I could still see her without needing this?

"More than likely, no." It was obvious why Vander was so shaken. Such a rare, magical item being broken by a complete idiot must've stung like a beedrill. "All the years I put into fixing it were for nothing, then."

"May I see it?" Vander looked at my, puzzled.

"Um, yeah. Sure." He held it out to me. There was a brief moment where he and I both had a grip on the handle of the item, paused. It was like he was doubting whether or not to give it to me. Right when I was starting to pull back my hand he made the decision and let me have it.

"Thank you." The flute clattered softly as I turned it over in my palm. Yeah, that crack wasn't coming out any time soon. My thumb ran over the hole that had been splintered near the top. When I removed it, we were all surprised to see that the wood was mended, almost like human skin, back into place. The hole was still there, rounder and smoother than ever.

Vander had the face of a frozen jynx. As he watched me mend the rest of the flute by caressing the crack with my thumbs, his expression turned more and more surprised. Think that the sword was cursed anymore? Yeah, that was enough to change his mind.

"You… the Time Flute… but…" His stammering was almost too low to hear. Using delicate fingers, I handed him back the Time Flute. There was a series of about two minutes that passed as he stared down at his prized possession in disbelief. The fool even bit his lip to make sure it wasn't a dream. Then, "Thank you, both of you."

"No problem." As heartbroken I was, it was always nice to see that I had helped someone. "Be sure to keep an eye on that. I'm not going to be around all the time to- eh?" Vander held the instrument right in front of my face.

"Take it!" Every nervous thought in his mind had vanished. "If this flute belongs to anybody, it's you! Please! Keep it safe!" Vander took my hands in his and set the Time Flute in them before pushing it back to me. "Whatever kind of curse, gift, you have on you, use it to your liking!" His body straightened to form a perfect salute. The last thing I saw was his fingers as he disappeared in the front door of the building up ahead.

"Not much of a fan of unusual things," Wes observed.

"I guess." Man, I felt terrible. My little Serenity, stolen and now a killing machine. Had this entire trip been for nothing?

Umbreon and Espeon both jumped up on my shoulder this time, nudging my cheeks with their warm heads. This was the kind of comforting I didn't mind. My heart melted at the touch of their warm fur, brushed so much that it was like silk. If only they could always do this; I'd never be stressed again.

Entei approached me. His face was stern.

"Oh, I forgot you were there." He narrowed his eyes at me. "So, are you going to follow us around so it's easier to battle any stronger Shadow Pokemon?" He blinked at me. Then, using the tip of his longest horn, he poked me in the center of the forehead. Using his massive paws, he took off from where he was standing and up down the ten platforms we had cleared. Trainers and pokemon alike screeched at the sight of the legendary dog pokemon. I tried to follow where he went, but as soon as he got to the entrance building, he climbed over it and vanished on the other side.

"Um?" was all I could think to say.

"A thank you," Wes explained. "It wasn't much, but trust me, we'll see him again."

His cell beeped twice. When he opened it, his fingers started across the keyboard until it stopped on a certain message.

"'We need your help in Pyrite Town,'" he read. "'Silva thought exploring the abandoned building we cleared would be safe until he was captured. There's an elevator that could be where he was taken downwards, but the guards there are too strong for Plusle and I. Please hurry, I don't want him to get hurt.'"

"Duking?" I guessed.

"Yes." He slipped the phone back in his pocket. "We should head out, now. That kid has a knack for getting captured."

"Right."

Pyrite Town was back to being dusty and dirty when we returned. Each and every person, however, seemed to have an easier time smiling and laughing. A few looked even to be cleaner with softer looks in their eyes. They didn't stare at us when we arrived. They seemed to have taken a good shower or two as well.

We had just stepped into the town square when Duking waved us over from the entrance to the old building. It looked like he had finally trimmed his hair and mustache. His thick unibrow had been cleaned instead of parted, though. It was a surprise to me that he liked it, I thought he was just too lazy to get rid of it. From his shoulder, Plusle was casually braiding a lock of his hair.

"There's only two of them guarding the elevator," he said as a greeting. "It'd be my pleasure to pound their faces in, but they each have pokemon that knocked me backwards. Plusle ain't much of a fighter, so I figured you two'd be the perfect fighters." He stopped. "Is zat the skarmory feather on your back?"

"Yeah." I unsheathed it from him to see. "We'll explain after we save Silva."

"Finally," he sighed. "You guys left in such a hurry I figured you'd never get around to telling us." Plusle chirped, holding out the pristine braid. His meaty fingers fumbled to get a hold on it. "Do you guys need help getting past them?"

"For the time being," Wes said.

"Yessir."

The old building was just as smelly and ugly as before. It looked to have been abandoned and never returned to after Wes and I had cleared it, for plates of food and drinks were left sitting on tables and counters to rot. The only noticeable difference was the sound of hushed whispers coming from a nearby room we hadn't thought to check before. The voices both sounded like girls and stopped when the door to the base opened.

With no sense of secrecy, Wes, Duking, and I wandered right into the occupied room. Two women with bleach blonde hair turned to us, glowering darkly. Both their pokemon were on the field, a phanpy and a ledian. The ledian was a Shadow Pokemon, luckily not too powerful of one. When she charged me, screeching her bug-like call, I swiped my sword across her stomach. The room filled with light, startling the two women into backing away to the far wall. When it clear, Ledian had been purified. She blinked at me twice in gratitude before zipping her way out the door.

"What…." I head Duking whisper in hopes that I wouldn't hear.

"These idiots," the girl with the phanpy hissed. "Great, just we need in the Under." The Under? That was probably where that huge elevator behind them lead. It had a lock on it but it had been smashed and forced open most likely by Silva before us. She darted off after the elevator but Espeon was quicker, she snagged her and lifted her into the air using her psychic powers. Now the pokemonless trainer to her left was beginning to look desperate. One lift of my sword and her hands were in the air, submitting to us.

"I'll take it from here." Duking stepped forward, first handcuffing the girl on the ground. Espeon set down the other one gently before giving her the same set of bracelets. When they were ready to be escorted out, the bodybuilder turned to us. "Be careful down there. If you two die, I won't be able to listen to the story behind you two." You two? Oh great, I forgot that he was a huge WesxRui supporter.

"Thanks," Wes responded. "We'll be fine." Duking bobbed his head once before heading out the door.

The lock on the elevator was hard to get off. The girls must've put the broken contraption back on in hopes that it'd secure it at least until they could get a new one. They weren't wrong. Whatever Silva had done to it, perhaps took a few swings of a bat to it, made it disfigured enough to keep us out for five more minutes than needed. Once it had been removed and thrown on the ground it broke entirely. Well, no use trying to fix it.

We got on the elevator uneasily. This thing was like a hundred years old. It had those old metal bars that you'd see break and fall in horror movies. As the grate closed around us, the elevator let out a clanking noise that must've been the gears clicking into place. It jerked once, then descended laboriously. Being secretive wasn't going to be an option with this thing. When we got down there we'd have to bail from this thing fast. Hopefully no one was waiting at the bottom for us.

It was unnerving how far into the ground the elevator sunk. The temperature dropped, the darkness started thicken, and the machine started working harder and harder to keep going. This really was like a horror movie. I found myself edging closer and closer to Wes. When his shoulder touched mine, he chuckled and put a protective hand on my shoulder. My fear cleared, slightly, but still.

About a minute later the elevator's path opened up to a domed room the size of a football field. The cave had been cleared away and replaced with a small town. There was a shop, a pokemon center, and a few other small stores and buildings that must've had some specific use. The streets looked to have been paved years ago, much like Pyrite Town. The shops were decorated by neon lights, but to help aid in sight every six feet on the sides of these roads a makeshift street lamp flickered.

The people down here looked more hostile than the ones in Pyrite Town had ever been. Both them and their pokemon carried scars, some so heavily wounded that they limped from building to building. A few were chatting, others were just standing there glaring at everything that looked their way. It wasn't a nice place at all.

The elevator came to a creaking halt at the ground. Surprisingly, there were no thugs to greet us. There was, however, a fenced off area for spare parts and broken pieces of metal that a familiar young man with silver hair sat. His wrists and ankles were going to bruise at the rate he tried to free himself from his ties, so I stepped up to the chain link wall and shook it slightly. His face lit up instantly.

"Rui! Wes!"

"Ssh," I hissed. "You're going to expose us." Silva hopped his way over to us and lean against his prison. "What were you thinking? Coming down here and getting captured like this isn't the brightest thing to do." As I spoke, Wes tried to open the door to his prison. No luck, it was locked.

"Trust me, I didn't come down here for fun." His legs were giving out from under him so he sat down and lifted his chin to meet my gaze. "There's this girl down here, Venus or whatever, she had a legendary pokemon with her."

"Legendary pokemon?" I echoed. "Which one?"

"Oh, what's her name?" He pressed his head against the fence. "It was… um… oh yeah! Suicune!"

Wild Entei Fled!

Rui Received The Time Flute!

Wes And Rui Discovered The Under!

Saving Game…

Game Saved!