Chapter 13

Never Fade

Alfa soared through the clouds, straight to the top of Altru Tower, using the Luminous Crystal and the three gems as a guiding beacon through the dense clouds. He was riding Latios, trying to navigate through the masses of flying Pokémon running blind through the clouds. As they descended, Alfa saw more and more of the roof of Altru Tower. The moment he touched down on the surface, he saw everything, the Luminous Crystal, the three gems and the professor. He looked a bit worried.

"Ah, Alfa, you're here. Good. I assume you haven't told anybody you're here, have you?" said the professor.

"No sir. If I may ask, what's so important that I meet you here of all places without telling anyone?" Alfa inquired, keeping his styler in his hand, Latios hovering next to him.

"You see, we have a problem concerning the safety off the three colored gems. Obviously the Luminous Crystal cannot be moved, but the gems can, and that is exactly what happened. You see, somebody snuck up Altru tower yesterday night and attempted to steal the red gem. Professor Isaac was experimenting with a new source of energy for Star Born. The thief leaped from the main console to the Luminous Crystal, standing on and holding on to multiple spikes, and tried to grab the red gem, but as he was stretching his arm out, Isaac activated Star Born, and the machine sensed a closer source of energy and drained the man's life force." Began the professor.

"Your job." He continued, "Is to safely replace all three gems inconspicuously. This incident has been kept out of the papers, so plant all three gems in their original locations again. You aren't using the throne room for anything, so you can even watch the one in Almia castle. Now, be quick about your task. And let nobody see you!" said the professor as he bade Alfa farewell, handing him the three gems in a large padded bag for Latios to carry, blackened out from the both sides to prevent the gems from shining out.

Alfa set off through the clouds, deliberately flying through them, using his S-Lens proximity sensor and map as a guide as well as his rough sense of direction. He reached the castle as a short message from the professor arrived on his styler; 'All top rangers will be informed about this and you may confide in Ice. NOBODY ELSE!'

Instead off setting down and walking in through the main door, Alfa stayed in the sky and they entered through the window in Latios's tower, which was currently surrounded by clouds. He stepped off Latios once they were inside and took the sack, heading straight for the safe in his room he didn't know where Lucario had gone after he had moved into the house, so he decided to place the blue gem last. He knew that Heatran would still be somewhere in Boyle Volcano. Nowhere else was hot enough for it to maintain its body temperature. Cresselia would probably be somewhere in Hippowdon Temple. He made up his mind to go to Hippowdon Temple first. It was the safest place to try going first, since practically nobody would see him enter the Temple with the bag.

Five hours later…

Alfa was descending through the sandstorm around Hippowdon Temple. He stepped off Latios and looked at the temple door. The pit which was supposed to be filled with sand from Kellyn's last visit had drained and because of that, the doors had closed.

He leaped off the edge into the enormous depression where a Hippowdon was roaming about, surrounded by twisters of sand. He groaned. You couldn't capture a Pokémon if it was surrounded by twisters, and the ring of sand twisters was too tight to attempt sending the capture blade through.

'Here's the plan.' Latios began, reading Alfa's mind and attempting to find a solution. 'I'll swoop down and grab Hippowdon, hold it in place in the sky, then you capture it.' This plan set Alfa laughing hysterically, but he agreed anyways. The Hippowdon had become wary after Kellyn had captured it for the fourth time, and was now leaving no openings, so it was their only shot. So Latios ascended into the sandstorm, and all of a sudden, dove down and grabbed Hippowdon, carrying it into the air.

'Now!' Latios exclaimed mentally as the Hippowdon struggled, trying to escape from Latios's strong arms. Alfa launched the capture disc, looping it around both Latios and Hippowdon. It had no effect on Latios, but it calmed Hippowdon down, and Latios set it down, indicating that it follow. Soon Alfa had filled the sand pit and was inside the temple. He examined the first room. Simple. All he had to do was walk through it, avoiding the Golem's roaming around. Not as easy as it sounded, it turned out.

Fifteen minutes off being chased by angry golem's later, he was in the next room. At least there were no golems there. It was a sand trap. There were walkways, surrounded by flowing sand to take you back to the beginning, and cannons on the front and left walls firing blobs of dense quicksand. This room was easier than it seemed as all Alfa had to do was jump every time he saw a blob incoming since they were at floor level. A few minutes later, he was on the other side, standing in between two canons in front of a doorway.

The next room had a sort of maze, made of propulsion tiles from the old days. When the sensed weight on them, the rotated like a conveyor belt, sending you in a set direction, generally a cubicle with a Pokémon or other passageways. About fifteen minutes later. He was in front of one of two doors. He guessed that they were both there for a reason. He entered the one he was in front of, finding himself face to face with an angry Tyranitar. Guessing that it might be useful, he captured the Tyranitar, making his way to the other door. He fell through a hole in the floor, the only pathway. He fell and landed in a room full of walls and Pokémon as well as Springy Grass. The walls weren't that high, but he could fell an invisible barrier extending from each one of them. He was just tall enough to reach the top of the barriers but when he tried to pull himself up, the force field pushed him down. All of a sudden, he had an idea. He went to the spring grass and coiled it up so it would launch him over the wall. It was simple, yet effective.

He sprang from leaf to leaf, making his way through that puzzle. He reached the other end and passed through the room. He entered the last room, seeing nothing but a gigantic rock in the center. He turned to Tyranitar, who let a hyper beam loose at the rock, shattering it. Instead of leaving Alfa, it tilted its head to the left and looked at him inquiringly. Alfa turned to Latios, who turned to Tyranitar, and soon turned back to Alfa.

'He wants to stay with you.' Said Latios.

'I'll get Captain Puel to take him back for us. We'll leave through the village.' He replied as Latios conveyed the message to Tyranitar. The trio looked down the hole. They could barely see a patch of grass at the bottom. Alfa sighed and jumped down, landing on his feet, in a bit of pain from the fall. He moved out of the way as Tyranitar took it into its head to jump as well. The ground shook from the impact of Tyranitar's landing.

Alfa walked up to the space where the Yellow Gem was supposed to be, and placed it there. Immediately, Cresselia appeared out of nowhere. Alfa smiled and headed out the exit that could only be accessed from that chamber. One down, two to go.

A few hours later…

Alfa crashed on the couch in the main lounge of the castle, switching the TV on. He had received a message from Ice saying that they would be arriving back in a few hours. Ice's car was parked at the airport so they would be able to get back on their own. He checked the time. They were supposed to be home in half an hour. He had called from the airport again when they had arrived fifteen minutes ago. Alfa picked up the landline and dialed the sushi place in Altru Mall. He placed an order then watched a movie for half an hour until Ice, Sicilia and Alexis walked into the lounge.

The doorbell rang, so Alfa ran down to get the food after greeting them quickly. A few seconds later, they were sitting at the table. While Alexis and Sicilia chatted away, Alfa told Ice about his current mission.

"So I'm placing the Red Gem back tomorrow. I leave just before Sunrise, I need to be out of Hia valley and the urban areas before the sun rises and people can see me flying with a sack." Alfa finished, whispering so that only Ice could hear him. Ice nodded in reply, continuing to eat.

"I'm going to go to bed early, I'm a bit tired from travelling back and forth across time zones. You two should as well." Ice suggested to the girls.

"You're right. We should all sleep as soon as we've cleared the table." Alfa said. The two girls agreed, and together, the table was soon cleared. All four went to bed immediately, three tired from travelling, and one from work.

The next morning, an hour before sunrise….

Alfa woke up thanks to a vibration alarm, getting ready quickly and slipping out of his room into the brightly lit corridor. He went straight to Latios's tower room, waking him up, then going to the kitchen to get some breakfast. He opened a pack of sausages and had a few for his breakfast before slipping out of the castle into the dark morning. He knew that it would take him some time to traverse the urban areas. He was to meet Sven at the docks in pueltown. Sven was going to take Alfa across to Boyle-Land by sea in his five person hydrofoil.

Alfa set of into the night sky on Latios, carrying the Red Gem in the bag. They didn't go to Mach 1, fearing the blast would wake people up. They silently traversed the distance between Almia Castle and the pueltown docks. Sven was waiting for them by his boat, Luxray by his side.

"You ready?" he said in his natural western accent, which went very well with his attire.

"Yep. Let's get out to sea before the sun rises." Alfa replied as they boarded the hydrofoil and Sven started the engine up. The hydrofoil picked up speed and by the time the engine was audible, they were well out to sea and the sun was rising. Alfa sat down and looked over the railing, watching a Samurott leaping out of the water occasionally as it tried to keep up with the boat. It turned around out of exhaustion after an hour, amusing Alfa by staying so long. That was one determined Samurott. Alfa went entered the bridge to find Sven steering them towards a dock. They had reached Boyle-Land.

Alfa stepped out of the boat as they docked and Sven nodded, indicating that he was here till Alfa came back. Alfa crept through the village, seeing nobody about, and not wanting to wake them either. Alfa entered the Volcano through the right side entrance, making his way through the volcano. He stopped at a spot he remembered for some reason. All of a sudden it hit him. This was where he had met Aggron. He smiled to himself as he continued. The volcano didn't have any traps, since it wasn't man made unlike the temple and the castle. The only dangers were Pokémon and lava. All of a sudden, two Dim Sun grunts appeared out of nowhere, and since they were looking at each other, they didn't see him, but they were about to crash into Alfa. Looking up, Alfa saw a ledge in the wall, and frantically grabbed Latios's hand, who read his mind and took the duo up there. It was out of sight for anyone looking up luckily. Alfa could hear the two grunt talking clearly, so he muted his styler and recorded them for a voicemail to Sven, attaching a small text message with it.

Outside the volcano…

Sven had unfolded a deck chair and was trying to sleep on his boat, when all of a sudden, his styler received a voicemail and woke him up. Grumbling to himself, he checked his styler. All of a sudden, he stopped complaining and focused on the styler screen. It was from Alfa. He opened the voicemail;

"So hey bro, what do you think of Lavana controlling Groudon. I mean, no ranger can stop Groudon. Team Dim Sun will be back in the business soon bro." came two voices from the styler, neither of which belonged to Alfa. There was a small text message as well; 'Sven, get everybody here now! The only hope we have to stop dim sun, are the hundred hands! Everybody! Even the tech support!'

Sven's face took on a grim expression as he listened to and read the two parts of the message respectively.

Meanwhile, inside the volcano…..

Alfa looked from his vantage point. There was a small cave like space for him and Latios to hide in on the ledge. He looked out and saw a familiar crop of long pink hair on a person next to a massive figure. Groudon. They were screwed unless they could get a hundred rangers there.

Alfa sat there waiting for hours, when all of a sudden, he received a text message; launch your disc at Groudon. Guessing it was from another ranger, he dug around in his pocket for his disc. He found two. He was puzzled but then he remembered that when he had become a ranger, Ms. April had given him the disc form his old school styler as a gift. He launched his main disc at Groudon. Lavana saw the disc, but couldn't gauge where it had come from. She started laughing when she saw it was only one disc, but all of a sudden, it was joined by a second, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, sixth and then came a cascade of discs. Looking down, Alfa counted exactly one hundred launched discs.

"WHAT THE HELL!" exclaimed Lavana as she got knocked down by the cascade of discs. The discs began circling around Groudon and all rose in the air, forming a proper ring, surrounded by a tube of glowing light defending them.

Alfa leaped down and joined his fellow rangers and co-workers including Ice. The capture kept going and going but all of a sudden, Groudon attacked the ring of discs. The tube protected the discs, except one, belonging to an idiot area ranger who had withdrawn his disc, not knowing that that tube would protect it and thus broke the capture formation. Realizing that they would probably die if they didn't do something, Alfa launched his school styler disc. As it raced and joined the ring, repairing it, Groudon sent out a blast of fire in Alfa's direction. It crossed through the gap before the last disc joined and completed the capture.

Groudon was captured, but a blast of fire was heading straight at Alfa. As Alfa stared into the flame, paralyzed, a figure dove in front of him, taking the hit for him. The force of the blast dislodged a piece of diamond from the roof, which fell and pierced Alfa's chest, lodging itself right on top of his heart. As soon as Alfa saw who the figure was, he forgot the pain in his chest.

"Ice! Ice! Ice!" exclaimed Alfa as he pounded on his chest, trying to get his heart working again. Kellyn walked forward and checked Ice's pulse. He looked up, a single tear running down his face as he shook his head. Alfa went crazy, realizing that his brother was dead. He ran straight for the ranger who had pulled his disc out.

"YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT HE'S DEAD!" Alfa exclaimed as he tried to hit him but Barlow pulled him back. He pushed free and kept attempting to attack the ranger until twelve rangers finally managed to hold him back before he passed out from blood loss from his chest wound.

Later that evening, in Almia Grace Hospital…..

Alfa woke up on a hospital bed to find a nurse looking at him. She was around twenty, and was looking at him sadly. Sitting in a chair was Sicilia who got up and ran to Alfa crying as he woke up.

"Where am I?" Alfa asked.

"You're in Almia Grace Hospital. You've just had surgery. The diamond in your chest can't be removed, but we've repaired your systems so that you won't feel a thing. You won't be hindered by it and your body will work just as well as it normally does." Said the nurse.

"And Ice, were you able to save him?" asked Alfa, not caring about his own health in that moment. The nurse silently shook her head, the sad expression returning to her face.

"I need my phone then." Said Alfa. "And his body will be taken for a funeral. I'm not letting him be used for experiments in a hospital morgue." He finished firmly.

"As you say." Said the nurse, handing him his phone. "You can be discharged today." She said.

"Yes, I'd like that. Sicilia, we're going to leave the castle. You can move back to the Hyrax house and live with our foster parents. You still call them mom and dad don't you? Or you can move to Snowbelle city with me." Said Alfa.

"I think I'll move back in with the Hyrax's. You'll come visit in the holidays won't you?" she asked.

"Yes, I will. Don't worry. And it'll be me paying for your school. I don't want to hand too much of a workload to Mr. and Mrs. Hyrax. Go call them right now. Tell them you'll move in on….. what day is it today?" he asked.

"Tuesday." She replied.

"Tell them you're coming on Sunday. You should go call right now." Said Alfa.

As soon as she had left the room, Alfa dialed a number on his phone.

"Hank, you have my blueprints right? I'm going to send you a slightly edited version, and if you can have it built and my things moved by Sunday, I'll pay you triple. I need it on Sunday, okay." Said Alfa before he cut the line. Sicilia came back into the room.

"They're happy I'm coming back." She said. "Can we go home now?" she asked the nurse.

"Yes, I'll just discharge you." Replied the nurse as she signed a discharge form and handed Alfa his Styler and discs.

At Almia Castle, later that day, around one o'clock…

Alfa was reading in the library when he found mention of a Pokémon in Kalos that could finish his blueprint design. He went down to the lab and he built his device from his blueprint. As for naming it? The device was and Ionix, and the discs were Ion Discs.

Days later, on Saturday…

"Thank you all so much for being here today. Today we give tribute to Ice Snowbelle, a great man with a great mind. A man who didn't deserve to die so early." Continued Alfa, a few tears welling up in his eyes. "He was an older brother to Sicilia, and a twin to me. He gave his life to protect his family, to prevent me from dying. He was given a twisted childhood he didn't deserve at the hands of Wyatt Hall. In the period of his life which h had control over, he was optimistic, hardworking, and never gave up. In one short year, he gathered more information about ice Pokémon than leading scientists have in ten years. So today, we honor his memory."

Alfa turned around on the platform in front of the castle where he had been giving the speech at Ice's funeral to the battalion of ice type Pokémon which had been brought by his fellow rangers. Ice was buried where the Throne had been, and all the embers had been removed. Alfa threw the title deeds to Almia castle into the air, where Blaziken burnt them. Tears streaming down his firm face, Alfa saluted the castle, and the battalion froze it over once more, never to see warmth again. Alfa gave one final statement for Ice, who rested peacefully with the Blue Gem and Lucario to guard his body as tears streamed down his face in a constant stream.

"May your memory never fade."