Chapter 4:
Almia Castle: Home Sweet Home
Alfa woke up. It was his day off to search for the riddle to the title deeds of Almia Castle with Ice. He hurried out of bed and ran to the next room in the corridor.
"Ice, wake up! We have to go back to Snowbelle city today." He yelled through the door.
"Coming!" came a muffled reply through the wooden door. Alfa raced down the stairs to find Wendy making coffee for herself at the table.
"Before you ask why I'm here at this time in the morning, let me remind you. Wheeler came out of hiding a few days back and tried to destroy the union. He only succeeded in destroying Sven and my room. You guys had acquired the next door two room apartment from the person who used to live there, so you, Keith, Kellyn and Sven attached saw blades to your capture discs, and shifted the main door of that apartment to the inside of yours, or rather now, ours." She reminded him. "You've developed a queer habit of forgetting things."
"Sorry, I've stopped trying to retain information that doesn't concern the threat of my life for the time being until I can find the deeds to Almia castle." Answered Alfa as he dug through the fridge for a bottle of water he could take with him. Ice came galloping down the stairs at that moment carrying two backpacks. He tossed one to Alfa without stopping to say anything as he ran downstairs to make sure that Latios and Articuno were awake and had eaten, as they were to make the journey by air.
"See you later Wendy, and please tell Sven that he parked in the wrong spot and he has twenty-four hours before they tow his car." Yelled Alfa as he ran down the stairs to where all the Pokémon were.
"Let's go Alfa." Exclaimed Ice. Latios opened the lounge's window wall as the boys took flight, closing it behind them as well using telekinesis. The boys were soon en route to Kalos, barely containing their excitement. They might finally have the answers to where the title deeds to what they were determined they would make their new home were.
About an hour later, they landed at old Mrs. Frostover's house. Ice knocked on the door as Mrs. Frostover looked out the window and saw the twins waiting for her. She came hurriedly to the door, a smile lighting up her face.
"My dears, please do come in, I just finished baking some cookies, please do try them." She greeted them.
"Thank you Mrs. Frostover. They smell lovely. Mrs. Frostover, we have a question. You have all the remainders of our things from the wreckage of our old house, right? We were wondering if you happened to find any journals or old papers belonging to our parents." Inquired Alfa.
"The only thing left from the wreckage was one small journal found in your father's coat pocket. It had your parents' names on it. As far as I know, it had the title deeds to your house and one or two other paper in it." She replied, her face wrinkling up into a frown as she tried to remember.
"Mrs. Frostover that may be the very thing we're looking for. We were searching for the riddle leading to the title deeds of Almia Castle, and we found out that our parents had it! Thank you so much." Cried Ice.
"Not a problem my dears. Anything for you two." She replied with a smile as she dug through her desk and removed a small brown journal with their parents' names engraved on the front. Veronique and Sevier Snowbelle.
"If I may Mrs. Frostover, the cookies were delicious. Thank you for all your trouble." said Alfa as the two boys departed for Almia to decipher the riddle comfortably in their own home.
Three hour later, the boys stood in the deepest point of Boyle Volcano. The only clue on the piece of paper containing the riddle had forced them to decipher a message in ancient texts, track down and inquire from a dumb, in the sense he couldn't speak, man about where they could find a Moltres. They found it on top of Boyle volcano, and while Alfa captured it, Ice untied from its foot a scroll which said that if they jumped into the volcano from the area where the ring of flowers around the craters edge was burnt, they would be diverted into a chute which took them here. The deepest, inaccessible by ordinary means, part of the volcano.
They had found a scroll placed in the middle of the floor there, and had decided to decipher it before they left.
"It says that we would find the title deeds in Almia Castle, with another hint tied to the peak spire of the castle." Decided Ice. "Do you agree that that makes the most sense?"
"Yes, more than any other of our conclusions. So let's get going!" replied Alfa. The boys looked at the chute which had taken to the chamber. "Well there's no way we're getting up that without a rope, and we didn't bring one."
"I know! Call Wendy and ask her to come here with a rope. Call it a quest. Latios and Articuno can haul us up." Suggested Ice. Without bothering to answer, Alfa, took out his styler and sent Wendy voice mail describing their predicament and all she needed to do, designating it as an official quest. Around half an hour later, a rope came down the chute. Alfa and Ice grabbed on and tugged twice to signify they had it. Almost immediately, they were whipped up the chute and out of the mouth of the volcano.
"Thanks Wendy, I would call that a quest clear. Tell the operators to give you a styler energy boost on my behalf will you." Said Alfa as they stood on the edge of the crater where Wendy was waiting for them.
"No problem guys, see you later." She replied as she swung herself onto her Staraptor and flew off.
Three hours later, at around five in the evening, the boys were examining the structure of Almia Castle from the air. It was quite a tight curve to the top by air and it was impossible to climb to the top spire. It was only difficult to fly there because of all the other spires surrounding the main spire. It was definitely something Articuno couldn't pull off because of its huge wingspan.
"So I'll be flying around underneath you in case it falls, okay." Said Ice.
"OK, let's do this, for our family!" finished Alfa. He took flight from the ground in front of the castle where they had stopped to discuss their approach, Ice trailing behind him. He shot up between the first few spires to a tricky curve, barely making it to the top and grabbing the scroll.
"Let's get down and inside before we read it." Yelled Ice over the headwinds.
"Clear!" replied Alfa as he began circling down to the main doors. Five minutes later the two boys were standing inside, untying the scroll.
"This one's not a riddle, it's a straightforward location. I'll read it out; before I abandoned and froze over this castle (yes I purposely froze it over) after my father's death, I placed the title deeds on the throne. Go look there. They should be perfectly preserved."
"Well at least that was simple." Remarked Alfa. The boys tied the scroll up again and headed for the throne room.
Later, in the throne room.
"What the hell! Why the hell aren't the deeds here!" exclaimed Alfa.
"Wait a second. The ice in the center of the throne, where the papers should have been frozen, is ice from a Froslass." Pointed out Ice.
"So?" asked Alfa. "What does that have to do with any of this?"
"The ice around the rest of the throne, and all the ice that covers the castle is from a Kyurem. My guess is that somebody already found the deeds, melted a hole, took them and replaced the hole." Finished Ice.
"Then, you're saying that our parents managed to get the deeds?" said Alfa.
"That is the only conclusion that makes sense. Let's get out of here and look in the journal again." Replied Ice. With that the two boys turned heel and left the castle for the time being.
Two hours later, the boys were in the apartment banging their heads against the walls out of frustration. Wendy and Sven came in and saw them, wondering what had happened.
"What the hell are you two doing?" exclaimed Sven.
"The deeds are already taken." Began Ice
"By our parents." Continued Alfa.
"And we checked their journal which contained all their paper." Went on Ice
"And the only thing were the title deeds to our old house. Take a look." Finished Alfa, tossing the journal to Wendy. The two of them opened the journal and took out the only papers.
"Alfa, Ice, the title deeds to any plot of land are four pages. This bundle is eight." Said Sven as he tossed the journal back to Alfa.
"Wait, so you're saying that the deeds are in here?!" inquired Alfa.
"Sure as hell I am! Now open the thing and look for yourself." Replied Sven. Filled with a new energy, Alfa and Ice separated the paper, which were bound in two bundles off four. Sure enough, the title deeds to Almia Castle were in the back.
"WE HAVE THEM!" exclaimed the twins at the same time. "WE FINALLY HAVE THEM!" Wendy walked up from behind the two and hit them both on the back of their heads with a ladling spoon.
"What the hell was that for?" exclaimed Ice.
"Shut up and go to bed. You two are drained out from finding those papers and the mandatory tryouts for the football team are tomorrow. So just go to bed." She replied, brandishing the spoon. "Or do you want me to knock you out?" hearing this remark, the twins fled to their respective rooms.