An Age of Valour
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter Thirty: A Psychic Shrine
It took a long time for them to manage to find their way out of the ruination of what was left of a once great civilisation, but after a few hours, they managed to climb out of the caverns and back up to the mouth of the cave, where they had first begun. By the time that they found the way, the storm had begun to pass over them and was moving away, leaving slightly spotty clouds that only threatened obscurely. Lydia was quiet pretty much the entire time, while Jennie started talking about what Pokémon they would find once they reached the Whirl Islands.
Her thoughts were focused on their findings back at the ruins, about the prediction that a seer had foretold. She had said that two brothers would tear their world apart and would be saved by a daughter. Hadn't it already started? Hadn't a war begun, waged between two brothers, her father and uncle? Was it such a coincidence that she herself now found herself within it?
Hayden had told her that she couldn't trust Jack. Her mother had said in her dream that Jack had changed from the man she loved. Right now, she wasn't sure what was going to happen, how all of this was going to turn out, but she did know that everything was starting to change all too fast.
Lydia sighed, glancing up at the still looming sky as they walked through the now-muddy road, heading for Olivine City. Her light brown hair bounced off of her shoulders as she walked, her blue eyes calm and thoughtful as she contemplated everything that had happened ever since she had left Rosewaters Isle. For better or worse, she was no longer the young, innocent girl that she'd been then. No, Lydia Talon was growing up into a young woman, forced to by the war that was starting to rage around her. And her part to play in it was still undecided. When the time came, Lydia wasn't sure which side she was going to be on. Everything was still so unclear.
"I'm gonna go try and train with Scyther some more, all right?" Jesse asked suddenly. Lydia glanced up at him as they sat in the clearing that they'd found, stopping for lunch and a short break.
"Sure, all right," she said with a nod. "Just call if you need any help, all right?" Jesse grinned and nodded as he headed away while Jennie was feeding Smoochum, Wartortle, and Pidgeotto. Her own Pokémon were sitting around her. Cyndaquil was on her lap, resting comfortably, with Umbreon lying at her feet, snoozing quietly. Poliwhirl was right next to her, munching on some berries that she'd found, sharing some with Cubone, who she had become fast friends with.
Absently stroking Cyndaquil, Lydia stared off into the forest, still thinking about the ruins that they'd found when she felt a familiar presence approaching them from behind. Jennie was still feeding Smoochum when Umbreon suddenly lifted his head, barking sharply and she jumped, looking around and gave a little shriek of surprise, nearly falling off of the log.
Lydia shook her head at Jennie's antics, not even bothering to turn around as she said, "Hi, Hayden."
"Why is it that you can always sense my coming?" Hayden joked as he strolled into the campsite. "It's not fair. I used to be so good at stealthy."
"Oh, believe me, I think you've still got it down," Jennie grumbled as she stood up, brushing some dirt off of her skirt. Unlike Lydia, who wore pants nearly all the time, Jennie's traditional outfit was a knee-length denim skirt, a white shirt with pink hearts on it, and a pink windbreaker. "What is your big brother doing here?" she directed towards Lydia.
"Don't know, but it's a good question," she replied, smiling up at Hayden. "What are you doing here?"
"What, I can't just stop by to say hello to my little sister?" Hayden asked, grinning. "I've got to have a reason?"
"Usually." Lydia smiled slightly and Cyndaquil, although disappointed to give up her seat, climbed off so she could stand up and greet him properly, hugging him tightly. "How are you?"
"I'm good. Think I'm better than you are right now." Hayden smiled and glanced over his shoulder, as though expecting somebody to appear without warning. "Listen, can we take a short walk? I promise, it won't take very long. I just need to talk to you."
"I suppose." Lydia looked towards Jennie, who gave her a shrug, but nodded warily, still eyeing Hayden suspiciously. Even though they knew Hayden was her brother, Jennie and Jesse didn't exactly trust him. Bending down to her Pokémon, Lydia said, "Hey, you guys stay here with Jennie for a little bit, okay? I'll be back in a little bit."
"Don't worry, guys," Hayden told them as he bent down with Lydia to greet them, giving each of them a rub where each of them liked being rubbed. "I'll take good care of her." He stood up and jerked his head towards Lydia as he headed away from the campsite.
Looking towards her Pokémon and Jennie, Lydia smiled at them. "I'll be right back," she promised as she headed after her brother. Once they were out of hearing distance, she finally broke the silence. "As much as I'm glad to see you, I've got the feeling that this isn't a social visit."
"Sorry," Hayden apologised, hanging his head. "I wish that I had better news." He took a deep breath, looking towards her. "My sources have gotten some new information with Jack and William. Seems that their rivalry has heated back up again and William's threatening to send teams after you in order to keep Jack under control, stop him from assembling the Defenders. And predictable, Jack is remaining ever stubborn, refusing to back down. Says that you can take care of yourself."
"What?" Lydia glared at her brother, folding her arms across her chest. "You don't think that I can."
Hayden managed a small smile. "I think that you are full capable of taking care of yourself, but these are not your everyday trainers trying to learn how to be better or heading for the Leagues. They're not even the lowlifes that you've met before, like Alicia Knightly and Toby Evans."
"Who?"
"That blond trainer that I rescued you from the first time that we met," Hayden explained.
"Oh." Lydia nodded, casting a quick glance at the campsite. "Umbreon's former trainer. That's why Umbreon was so scared of him, it's because he was the one who half-beat him to death."
"Is it really?" Hayden let out a low whistle. "That explains a few things about him." Lydia sighed and nodded as they stood quietly for a few minutes. "Anyway, if these guys come after you, don't bother trying to run. Stand your ground and fight for as long as you can, but call for me. Psychically," he added softly, looking at her pointedly. Then, speaking without moving his mouths, he said, "No matter where I am, I'll be able to hear your call."
"You mean, you can hear my thoughts?" Lydia said silently, staring wide-eyed at her brother, who smiled and nodded. She grinned at the link that she had to her brother, but another thought occurred to her. "Why shouldn't I run away? What would they do?"
Hayden shook his head. "You don't want to know, trust me. All I can tell you is that I will come running if they do. And if things start getting out of hand, then they will. William would do pretty much anything to strike at Jack and that pretty much goes vice versa. I don't want to see you get hurt," Hayden said quietly, looking away.
"I don't want to see you get hurt either," Lydia told him. Biting her lip, she decided to tell him what they'd found earlier. "Listen, Hayden, earlier during the storm, we found this . . . these ruins in a cave back that way. It looked to be what was left of some ancient civilisation that worshipped psychic Pokémon. Anyway, a seer in the clan read the future of one of her people and said some things that seem to be . . . kind of relevant here. That two of his heirs, two brothers, would tear apart their world, forcing a war on the world that would only be stopped by a daughter, who would bring peace between them."
"Really?" Hayden looked shocked at this. "Where is this cave at?"
"A little ways. Come on, let's get the others and we'll go back there," she said, heading back to the campsite.
--
"Explain to me why this is so important?" Jesse grumbled in a bored tone as Hayden walked through the cavern, staring at the ancient drawings on the cavern walls. "Why did we even have to be involved in this, anyway? I mean, you could have just told him where the cavern was and we could've gone on ahead, easy does it."
"Maybe because I wasn't even aware that this existed, boy, and I should have at least known about it," Hayden threw back at him, still studying the walls. "I don't know how anybody couldn't have known about this."
"Well, I don't know, maybe they just—"
"Enough, both of you," Lydia said in annoyance, running her hands through her hair. "Or I'm just going to lock you both into a room and let you fight it out."
"No problem at this end," Jesse grumbled, giving Hayden an evil eye before sitting down on one of the rocks while Jennie was digging through her bag, searching for snacks. "You got anything, Jen?"
"Here." She tossed him a granola bar before eating one herself, pulling out two more. "Lydia, Hayden, you guys want anything?"
Lydia shook her head as Hayden said, "No, I'm good, thanks." He pulled a camera out of his pocket and began photographing the walls. "This is really . . . I don't understand this. Somebody should have found this before now. It's been here for centuries."
"Or maybe somebody didn't want it to be found," Lydia said slowly. "This cave was pretty well hidden and there were lots of different tunnels that just went to nowhere. The bigger question is, who would want to hide something like this and why?"
"Yeah, why hide a ruin?" Jennie agreed with her mouth full of granola bar. "I mean, sure this stuff has some relevance to what's going on, but how would they even know that this stuff would be happening and when it would? For all anybody knew, that seer could've just been some crazed old woman that would banter about stuff."
"Psychics were considered blessed by the legendary Pokémon by these people," Hayden said quietly as he finished photographing and continuing to look at them. "And this isn't just a ruin. It's a temple, a shrine where many of the psychics would go to learn how to hone and control their abilities." He sighed as he looked around the cavern again. "I'd have to do the research to be sure, but I'd say that this Talon guy . . . Alaric Talon was our ancestor. There's a lot of these drawings that I don't know what they mean, but a friend of mine will. He's an expert in these ancient civilisations. I'm gonna take these pictures to them."
Lydia glanced at him sideways. "This friend a part of that thing that you can't explain?" she queried and Hayden smiled faintly, but nodded. "All right, but you'll tell me what's going on when you find out?"
"Absolutely," Hayden promised. "It just might take awhile, though. He's brilliant at what he does, but sometimes it takes him awhile to get the translation down. Some of these ancient civilisations are . . . well, kind of wonky," he said wryly.
"Well, if we're done sitting here being useless, then could we possibly get back on the road?" Jesse asked in annoyance. "We've already backtracked to do something that was completely pointless and now we've got even less time to get where we're going before nightfall and more ground to cover."
Hayden rolled his eyes, glancing sideways at his sister. "Why do you put up with him?" he wanted to know. Lydia glared at him and he chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll get you right back on track." He closed his eyes and Lydia felt a strange sensation as the caverns disappeared from view and everything turned blurry and strange before her feet found level again and she stumbled onto the ground, looking up to see the campsite where they'd been before they doubled back to the caverns.
Hayden was the only one standing as Jennie and Jesse were lying on the ground as well, though looked more windblown than Lydia. "What did you just do?" Jesse said faintly, struggling to push himself up.
"Remind me to show you how to do that sometime," Hayden said to Lydia with a wink. She smiled and shook her head.
"More psychic stuff that I've yet to learn?" she said with a sigh.
"Something like that," he replied, grinning. "And I'd show you now, but I should get these to the good professor. I'll talk to you guys soon," he added and headed off into the dark woods, looking back at Lydia. "Take care of yourself, little sister."
"You take care!" Lydia yelled after him. He grinned as he vanished from sight and she shook her head, looking towards Umbreon as he whined at her feet at displeasure of the psychic teleportation. "All right, let's get going, guys," she said as they began to travel once again southward, towards Olivine City.