Author's Note: As you may or may not have guessed, I planned to have each of Jay's friends their own PoV's in each chapter, sharing little tidbits of their past. But this week wore me out because one, the company where I work just moved to a new location, which is further away from it's previous location, and I don't get too much sleep in the process... Two, I've been sick ever since we moved. And three, I just can't seem to get Fay's chapter right. I've revised it far too many times already. Anyway, apologies for a late update. I promise to finish this fic, because—heck!—only a few more chapters to go! ^^ Enjoy~
Fay frowned at Saur, her ears drooping. "That's...not really reassuring, Saury..."
Saur kept his smile as he pulled out a vine and rubbed Fay's back reassuringly. "Have faith. He'll be fine."
"I sure hope so," Shock quietly said as he sat beside the Bulbasaur, his eyes on Vixie. "Else we'll be dealing with..."
As Saur pulled his vine back, he and Fay followed Shock's gaze, and the Bulbasaur's smile vanished the instant they saw Vixie, who sat a few feet ahead of them. She slightly hung her head as she tearfully eyed the unconscious Eevee before her, fighting the urge to sob yet failing at it.
Saur closed his eyes, took a deep breath, held it in for a while, and exhaled quietly. Seconds later, he opened his eyes as he tried to smile, small as it may be. "He'll be fine," he calmly said.
Shock looked at him, and whispered a reply: "How do you know that?"
Saur looked at him. "Because..." he paused for a short while as Fay looked at them both. He then continued, "I know for a fact that he'll never give up the chance of getting back home."
"Oh, right," Fay said quietly, nodding. "I think that's true."
With drooping ears, Shock sighed. "I sure hope that you are right..." He looked back at their Vulpix friend. "...for her sake..."
"Just...think positive," Fay mumbled to herself. "T-think positive..."
Saur frowned a worried frown at Fay. She always valued her friends, he knew. He only wished that he knew what to do or say that would help ease her mind.
Shock knew that Fay values her friends, but only vaguely. So he kept his focus on Vixie.
Fay kept mumbling to think positively, that Jay would be alright, and that Vixie would be fine. But she was having a hard time to believe that.
Vixie tried to be strong. She didn't want to cry. Not yet, at least. If she does, and Jay does wake up and attacks her...well... She wiped her eyes and took a breath. She'd rather stay alert, in case Jay, or Shadow does attack her. She wondered if she should ask Saur to bind the Eevee's feet, like what Dawn did to Krystal. She shook her head. No, that wouldn't be a good idea. She can pin Shadow down no problem. Besides, he no longer has the ability to evolve.
...and speaking of evolve...
She blinked, after she noticed her paws were glowing. So was Jay. She looked back, and saw her friends were faintly glowing in white and were looking both surprised and confused at the same time.
She heard a gasp, and turned to look. She saw Krystal and her friends were glowing as well.
"It's back," Bi's voice echoed in the cavern as the evolution gem started to hum. The little green legendary Pokémon smiled brightly. "Evolution is back!" she couldn't hold back a cheer.
Even Latios managed to smile. He turned, and reflected his sister's smile.
"Phew..." Mew sighed in relief as she floated back, her glowing form dimming. She turned and slowly levitated towards Celebi. "I'm never doing that again," she grunted, throwing an angry glare at the towering gemstone.
Bi only laughed in response.
"You might want to tell that to Arceus," Latias teased her with a wink.
Mew only groaned some more.
Bi chuckled a few more times before she shifted her attention to her four friends. She slowly landed in between Vixie and the rest of her friends. "You guys are going to evolve again! Isn't it great?"
Shock blinked, staring dumbly at his glowing hands. "Uh... I-I guess so?" He tore his gaze off of his hands and studied his friends' reactions. He was supposed to worry about Vixie and Jay, but now he and the rest of his friends were going to deal with one same problem.
A Raichu, an Ivysaur, a Raticate, and a Ninetales... Will they go back to their previous forms?
Bi blinked at her friends, confused. "W-what's wrong? Don't you guys want to evolve?"
Fay and Saur looked at each other. Vixie was still staring at her own paws, dumbfounded.
Shock was about to reply, but Darkrai suddenly spoke.
"He is ready," Darkrai said. He blinked, and flinched as he shielded his eye. "Augh! I take it t-that evolution is back?"
"Yes," was Latios' simple answer as he and Latias hovered close to the unconscious Umbreon. He stared down at the dark-type, and wondered if it was safe enough to perform their task.
"Brother," Latias called.
Latios grunted.
Vixie disregarded the evolution aura that surrounded her so she could concentrate on glaring at Latios.
Darkrai finally finished rubbing his eye with a sigh. "At least it's not as bright as Arceus' chamber..." The brightness of the Creator's chamber was the only reason why he doesn't visit Arceus often. He cleared his throat and turned to Latios. "Right. Don't worry, Latios. Shadow won't be waking up anytime soon."
They heard a muffled gasp. They all turned and saw a tied-up Espeon, glaring daggers at them.
"She's a psychic type," Latios noted. "That's going to be a prob—" He just then took notice of the Meganium who was quietly playing a tune with a leaf on her lips. Soon, the Espeon's eyes became drowsy, until they closed and the psychic was now fully asleep. "...or not."
"Sorry," Dawn quietly whispered as she sadly stared at their former friend, accepting the Masquerain's nuzzles.
"Right," Latios sighed, and turned back to Shadow's sleeping form. He then turned to his sister, their eyes locked on each other, and nodded. "Let's get this over with..."
The two Eon siblings then turned their attention on Shadow. Closing their eyes, they concentrated their psychic powers, surrounding themselves with their respective auras.
Soon, a bright sphere appeared out of nowhere above the Umbreon. It grew in size until it was roughly the same size as a baseball. Its white glowing surface faded, revealing its ocean-blue color.
"Its always nice to see the Soul Dew..." Darkrai muttered to himself, staring in awe at the floating orb. "Kinda reminds me of my blue eyes..."
Shock actually rolled his eyes at that, but then blinked. "Wait, eyes?"
Bi just giggled and floated away, Mew following close behind. The two legendaries flew closer to the Eon siblings to get a better look, their eyes already well-adjusted to the brightness of everything.
After a few seconds, the brightness quickly faded, and the orb stopped glowing. It fell, until it was a hair away from hitting Shadow's slumbering form.
"S-sorry," Latios said, looking away. "I-I always forget to catch it..."
Latias just chuckled as she levitated the Soul Dew towards Darkrai.
Darkrai carefully held it in his hands, and stared at it.
A voice quietly echoed from the orb, glowing in sync with each syllable. "Uh...h-hello?"
"Jay?" Vixie gasped, running closer to the dark legendary, followed closely by her other friends.
"Strange," Darkrai said as he gave the orb to the still-glowing Pikachu. "Krystal wasn't able to talk while inside the Soul Dew..."
"W-what?" Jay's voice echoed out. "I'm inside the Soul Dew? Like, right now?"
"Jay?"
"Oh, hey there, Vixie."
Vixie was smiling in relief. "T-thank goodness... Jay, d-don't scare us like that!"
"Uh...scare you?" A pause. "Ah, right... Shadow mentioned that he attacked you guys... W-wait! You guys aren't hurt, right?"
"Pfft! He didn't even left a scratch!" Shock said proudly.
"Actually, he did..." Latias whispered quietly, staring at the small cut on her arm.
"S-sorry..." Jay said.
"Don't worry about it," Shock said. "I bet it was from a rock or something."
"If it weren't for him, she wouldn't be—"
"Brother..."
Latios glared at his sister, and sighed, hanging his head. "Let's deliver the orbs to Arceus now and be done with it."
"W-wait..." Vixie said, staring up at them. "Not yet, please? J-just give us a little time..."
"No," Latios said sternly with a glare.
"Brother..."
Latios gritted his teeth. "Fine...! Ten minutes."