Chapter 23

April

The light of the torches cast their light onto my white body. My feet make small shuffling sounds as they carry me through the passageway. I don't have the energy to fly anymore. My arms are carrying the red scarf with the Shiny Stone inside. My decision is everything that I've thought about and it's taken away all my other energy. So, I wander the halls. Without a place to be.

I didn't want to stay in the room anymore. Shortly after I woke up, Blake came in after going out for a while. A Tailow followed him in and they were both crying. I wanted to comfort Blake, but the Tailow asked me to leave. He was in tears, too. Reluctantly, I left to leave them alone. I understood. It was how I wanted to be alone to make my decision.

I vaguely feel my feet taking me somewhere that I'm unconscious of. I really don't care where I'm going. As long as it's quiet, I'm satisfied. I've already taken many days mulling over the choice that was put in front of me. I just can't decide! I want to do good for Skyborne, but what would be the best way to do good is the thing that eludes me.

Slowly, I come back to consciousness of my surroundings. I find myself in a cave I've never been in before. The flames from the torches are dimmed to small, dancing flames. I don't stop, though. It's quiet here. And I love it.

The cave opens up to a small room. There are no torches here. Instead, little beeswax candles, made from Skyborne's few Combee and Vespequin, are scattered around the ground. The little flames cast shadows that engulf the walls of the room. The holders of those shadows are pokemon from Skyborne. Pokemon I've rarely seen. I wasn't even sure if they existed. The owner of the shadows are Xatu's

The room is dead silent. Each Xatu stares into the flames of their own candle, their eyes unblinking. I start to back away. It's clear that I'm not allowed here. There are unspoken rules of where I can't be and the penalties that go with them. I'm about to round the corner of the cave when one of them turns from the candle to me. "April?"

I stop in my tracks at the sound of my name. A lone Xatu in the small pack of Xatu's breaks apart from her candle and trots over to me. Her voice is familiar. I know it from somewhere. I search my memory. Then, it floats in and I catch a name along with tons of other memories to go with the voice. The Xatu comes up and stares down at me, much taller than she was when we last saw each other. "Kila? Is that you?"

Kila nods and smiles at me. I start to giggle. "Geez, Kila, grow much?"

Now, Kila starts to laugh. We're both giggling like we did weeks ago and we embrace each other. Her large wings surround me as my little arms can barely grab on to her. We break apart and face each other. "Come on, April! I want to show you something!" She leaves me and walks back towards the room with the Xatu, still focusing on their candles. I want to follow her, but my feet won't move. I'm still concerned about the consequences about being somewhere I'm not allowed to be. Kila notices and calls over to me. "April, don't worry! They're in meditation mode. They won't notice us unless we blow out their candles. She smiles at me and I smile back. My feet allow me to move forward.

"So, Kila?" I walk up to her side.

"Hmm?" She looks at me expectantly.

"What is this place? I've never been here before" I want to know. Kila giggles a bit.

"This is our meditation room." Kila explains. I gaze around in wonder. Kila keeps talking. "All of the Xatu's are required to stay here since we can see into the future." My jaw drops a bit.

"You can see into the future?!" I'm shocked yet, not surprised at the same time. I know that Xatu's can see into the future and all, but I can't grasp the fact that my little friend now has such a power. It even makes me a bit jealous. But, something comes to my mind. As soon as it's in my head, it's out of my mouth faster than I can process it. "Can you read my future?"

Kila stares back at me in surprise. "Um...I'm not sure if I can. Not even sure if I'm allowed to. I usually just see the general future, not the future of one specific pokemon. Besides, I've never tried it before. I don't even know how." She studies her feet when she says this. But, I press harder.

"Please, Kila! Pretty please with a pecha berry on top!" I hold both my hands together and make a pleading gesture, putting on my best pretty-pretty-PRETTY-please face. Kila stares into my eyes with longing. Then she sighs.

"Oooohhhh...fine. I'll try." I light up with excitement. Maybe this is exactly what I need. A break from trying to decide on my future. Then, it comes to me. If Kila sees the future-me, she can tell me which choice I'll make. It's a foolproof plan. I'm practically jumping for joy as Kila positions me into very dim light. "Okay, April. I need you to stay completely open-minded, or I might not be able to get a vision." I obey her commands and calm down as much as I can.

Kila stares into my eyes, her pupils showing no expression. She doesn't move at all. Doesn't even blink. I don't dare move or blink either. If there is any hope at solving this choice of mine, then I'll do what it takes. However, I stand there for so long. After a while, it seems like I've been there for an hour. But, Kila makes no movement, no sign of some sort of vision coming to her. I shift a bit in my feet, but Kila doesn't move at all.

I start to believe that she might have fallen asleep or something when Kila blinks once. I notice immediately and I hold my breath. Kila blinks again and starts to move. "I've got it." I can't help it. I run up and hug her, at least hug as much as I can of her with my stubby arms. I look up at her and break apart.

"What did you see?" It's all I can do to stay in one place.

"Um... well... I saw some sort of ruins. I don't know what it was, but it was inside some sort of mountain, I think. And, the ruins transformed into something. Some sort of weird version of its former self. Like, the rocks were purple, some of the ruins were floating. It was just so bizarre... I can't really explain it well, but the scene opened up to the sky and... it was a bright purple sky with pitch black clouds..." Her voice trails off, as if her mind was occupied with something else. Her gaze drifts off to the side and away from me. I regain her attention.

"So...um. Is that all you saw?" She turns back to me at the sound of my voice and nods. I sigh and look down. Nothing about whether I'm to be a Togetic or a Togekiss. I really got my hopes up that this would be my answer, but I'm not any closer than when I started.

"Um, April?" My eyes shoot back up to meet her gaze. She's got more to say. "Um...I saw this vision once before... at least the normal version of it." My eyes widen a bit, but I wait. "This would typically be classified, so don't tell anyone." I nod and lean in towards her as she bends down to speak in a whisper. Among the other Xatu, I'm still not convinced that they can't hear us. But, I don't say anything to Kila. Instead, I let her talk.

"April, about two weeks ago, I evolved. Really, it was the day after your evolution. But, all the other Xatu's were out to battle. So, I had the meditation room to myself. When the other Xatu came back, they were naturally exhausted. So, when Grayos came in need of a Xatu's psychic powers, I was the only one that had enough energy to do it." My eyes widen again at the mention of Grayos. She met him...lucky. Kila doesn't stop.

"I was given a special assignment. Apparently, Skyborne captured Moltres. You probably know of it by now. You were out on the battlefield, after all." She pauses briefly. I don't tell her of who took down Moltres. It's irrelevant, anyway. I urge Kila to go on.

"Well, Grayos had some sort of suspicion that Moltres was under mind control. Turns out, Grayos was right. That's why he needed me. He wanted me to track where it came from. So, I went down to the dungeon where Moltres was locked up. I saw visions of some sort of weird world. Someplace where everything was in the wrong places. Colors were where they weren't supposed to be. A lot like the vision I got from you, actually. But. I got another vision of the same ruins, only in-order. I almost feel like you're... connected somehow to that place..." Her voice fades off again. I just nod. I don't really see how I could have that connection. I really don't know what to think about it all. It just seems so far fetched. But, all I can say is let out a "thank-you" to Kila.

After that, we say our goodbyes and I leave the meditation room, the description of the place stirring deep into my mind. I feel my heart being pulled as the picture forms in my head. It jumps with excitement all over the place and I feel an overwhelming desire. I know what my heart wants. It wants to know what that place means.