CHAPTER 24
All the guild members woke up the following morning feeling that things were going to be different from now on. The events of yesterday had taken quite a toll on Aggron and the younger recruits chosen to go on the expedition.
"IT'S MORNING!" Electrode called out to the guild. "FRONT AND CENTER, PEOPLE!"
Vulpix yawned and sat up in her bed. The sunlight shining through the window this morning was quite calming.
"Come on, you two. Time to get up!" she said to the others.
Buizel stretched and sat up. "Morning, Vulpix…" he said sleepily.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Vulpix replied with a smile.
"I just remembered…" said Buizel. "Vulpix, forgive me if I act out of line this morning, but I am going to do something drastic. I'm asking you here and now to trust me."
"Of course I trust you," said Vulpix. "I always trust you."
"Thanks," said Buizel. He stood up and walked out of the room.
Vulpix turned to Rylan and gently patted him.
"Rylan? Time to wake up. It's morning."
"Right," Rylan mumbled. He slowly sat up and turned around, looking Vulpix right in the eye.
Vulpix blinked. Something seemed a little off about Rylan this morning, and he looked quite well for someone who had gotten a severe beating from a legendary Pokémon just yesterday. "Well, let's go down for breakfast," she said.
"I'm not hungry," said Rylan. "Why don't you go on ahead? I'll meet you in the assembly hall."
"Are you sure?" Vulpix asked.
"Quite sure," said Rylan. "In fact, I have a surprise I'd like to share with you all this morning during the briefing."
He had a surprise? Whatever could he be talking about? Vulpix looked confused.
"All right then," said Vulpix as she left the room.
Rylan stood up and slowly walked out of the room and down to the entrance hall. He didn't say a word to anyone, not even to the Pokémon who greeted him.
Breakfast came and went, and very soon, the Pokémon gathered together in the assembly hall for the routine briefing.
"Good morning, Pokémon," said Aggron as he positioned himself in front of the crowd.
"Good morning, sir!" replied the Pokémon.
"To those of you who didn't know yet," said Aggron, "our expedition resulted in failure yesterday. In addition to that, we lost three members of our guild."
Fear settled in amongst the guild members.
"But," Aggron continued, "we do know for sure that this is the work of the legendary Pokémon, Giratina, and that Giratina is being manipulated into doing it. We may not have the means to restore the worlds to the way they were, but we have some vital information that may prove useful in the days to come. Also, I have selected a Pokémon who shall take Gallade's place in his absence."
The guild members looked around the room, wondering who he could be talking about.
"Slowking of Team Tranquility," Aggron said. "Will you accept the responsibility?"
Slowking smiled and stepped forward. "I accept this with pride," he responded. "I will not let you down, Guildmaster."
Cheers rang out through the crowd of Pokémon. They all admired Slowking and were glad that he was the Pokémon picked for the job.
"One more thing," said Aggron. "Before we go about our business, I would like to take this opportunity to answer any questions any of you may have."
Buizel instantly raised his paw.
"Yes, Buizel?" Aggron asked.
"If I may, Guildmaster, there is something I would like to ask someone here, and I intend to ask it in front of everyone. This isn't something I should go talking about with this person in private."
Aggron tilted his head. "I suppose… I'm not sure what it is you intend to do, but you are a trusted friend, Buizel, and I don't doubt your loyalty. Very well, you may conduct your business as necessary."
Buizel walked up to the front of the crowd and looked out at them.
"Yesterday was torture, plain and simple," said Buizel. "There is no way this expedition can be sugar-coated. We all suffered a great beating, both physically and emotionally. However, one Pokémon has been on my mind since we reached the peak of the mountain. That Pokémon is Rylan."
Several pairs of eyes gazed over at Rylan. Rylan just stood there with his paws behind his head, looking indifferent.
"Rylan claims that he saw Giratina and nobody else did. He claims that Giratina appeared and abducted Nidoran, Wingull, and Gallade. He also claims that he had a battle with the legendary Pokémon, Kyurem," said Buizel. "Right here and now, I'm calling out Rylan on his lies."
Rylan smirked. Vulpix was looking, horrified, back and forth between her two teammates. Buizel was calling Rylan out, and Rylan looked amused by this. She didn't know which was worse.
"You say you encountered Giratina twice," said Buizel. "How, then, Rylan, did you not disappear as well? As for Kyurem, the existence of that Pokémon has not even been confirmed. And you just happened to win a battle with that fabled dragon? That has got to be the biggest lie I have heard in my entire life. Not only am I calling you out on your lies, I'm calling you out as the one responsible for manipulating Giratina."
Several Pokémon gasped in shock.
"How dare you!" yelled Vulpix. "Rylan would never-!"
Rylan snickered. "Looks like I've been found out, hasn't it?"
"What?" asked Vulpix and Buizel simultaneously.
"No point in denying it," said Rylan with a cocky grin on his face. "You found me out. It was me all along. I took control of Giratina and forced him to abduct everyone."
Every guild member stared in horror at Rylan.
"Rylan, this can't be true," said Aggron. "Tell me you're just joking around."
"Nope. No joke," replied Rylan. "Here, I'll prove it to you right now."
Rylan stepped back and waved his paw in the air once. The ground beneath the guild began to tremble, forcing everyone to steady themselves.
A loud roar rang out, followed by a quick, haunting glimpse of bright, piercing eyes. All of the guild members screamed in terror and shut their eyes tightly…and then the screaming ceased in a split second.
When Buizel opened his eyes, the only other Pokémon left in the room were Aggron, Vulpix, Slowking, Jynx, Bronzong, and Rylan.
"You've…made everyone disappear…" Aggron said, his voice trembling.
"I wanted to bottle up my troubles and make the rest of you disappear," said Rylan, "but then I remembered how much I love a good chase, so I'm giving you a sporting chance. Consider yourselves lucky."
Rylan lifted a smoke ball up into the air, then flung it toward the ground. "Come and get me, Buizel!" he yelled gleefully.
The smoke ball burst, filling the hall with a harmless haze which gave Rylan enough cover to escape.
"Catch him!" yelled Aggron. "All of you, get out there and find him before he gets away! I'll alert Magnezone!"
Rylan dove into a bush nearby, watching as the remaining Pokémon ran off in random directions, looking for him.
"Well, that was easier than I thought," Rylan laughed. "I just can't believe that Buizel. Here I was thinking teammates were supposed to trust each other, but him calling me out made my little scene all the more fun…"
Rylan poked around through the bushes, looking for something. Eventually he found a small space between the shrubbery where another Riolu was tied up, flailing furiously as the other approached.
"You know, Rylan," said the free Riolu, "I didn't think I'd have this much fun pretending to be you. It's funny… When we were kids, you loved imitating me. Now I see why you enjoyed it."
"Who are you?!" yelled the real Rylan. "What did you do to them?!"