A Dragon's Tail
Tail 6: Baromyteus' Tail - Deception
Tail 6-6: A Day to Remember
-Somewhere near the entrance of the village…
"…So, there're several groups of hunters who always go hunting in the Valley of No Return?" Diego asked.
"Right." Dimitri nodded to the Garchomp. "In truth, I also want to join them, but my father wouldn't allow it. He said that I am too young! Hm!"
A group of three Dragon type Pokemon, which consisted of a Garchomp, a Mega Charizard X, and a Fraxure, walked toward the entrance of Hidden Village of Dragon. Two out of three of them desired to go back to the Valley of No Return in order to go hunting, while the last one only escorted them and acted as a guide to them.
"And we could hunt wild Pokemon as much as we want, right?" Zetarus asked.
"Didn't you hear what the elder said?" Dimitri answered. "Of course you can! You can hunt as much as you want, as this valley, as unlikely as it may seem, is very abundant and full of wildlife."
"Hm…" Diego mumbled. He remembered from his stop at several villages during his journey in the Dustorm Desert with Zetarus that many villagers mentioned that the valley to the west of Dustorm Empire, which bordered the desert nation and the Republic Civilight was a very arid and barren place that no life could never hope to flourish, but now, it seemed like this statement was proved to be bogus.
"Well… I guess you are right…" Diego said. "After all, a village where a group of Dragon type Pokemon lived in the isolation without any communication with the outside world for two millenniums must have a decent enough source of nourishment, either for the herbivore, omnivore or carnivore…"
"… Da fuq?" Zetarus looked at the Mega Charizard X. "Diego, why did you become like this? You start using those sxxxs in your talk since when we arrived in the Fireview Kingdom, and I don't understand anything you said!"
"…" Diego pretended not to hear the Garchomp's words.
"Sigh…" Zetarus sighed. "I guess that it was Richard who I must blame for giving you this habit…"
Diego, Zetarus and Dimitri then continued walking until they reached the entrance of the village. From here, if they passed the gate of the village, they would surely set their foot in the area of the Valley of No Return.
"Well then…" Dimitri turned his attention to Zetarus and Diego once again as they reached the gate. "Do you two have any decent weapon for hunting?"
Zetarus and Diego didn't say anything, but both of them answered the Fraxure's question by equipping their respective weapon, which were a pistol named Sniper's Eye for the Garchomp and a Naginata named Silver Naginata for the Mega Charizard X.
"Hey…" Dimitri looked at Zetarus and Diego's weapons. "I have never seen weapons like this before!"
"I guess so…" Zetarus shrugged.
"What kind of your weapon is this?" Dimitri looked at Zetarus' pistol. "Is this some kind of… bow? Crossbow?"
"Close." Zetarus answered. "It's a pistol, which is a long-ranged weapon, like a bow and a crossbow, except that you fire these things…" Zetarus showed Dimitri several bullets on his claw. "…Instead of the arrow."
"Such a strange weapon…" Dimitri mumbled before turning his attention to Diego's weapon. "And… This thing… It looks like… a spear? But its blade looks more like a sword… Is it some kind of a sword with an unnecessarily long handle?"
"… It's a Naginata." Diego answered. "It's more like a spear, but with a single-edged blade instead of a pointed head like a normal spear."
"I see…" Dimitri said. "In our village, we only use a simple weapon, such as spear, sword, battle axe, a bow, or, which is the most advanced weapon of our village, a crossbow, as we don't usually get to battle very much, excluding the wild Pokemon of Valley of No Return."
"Those simple weapons?" Diego said.
"Right." Dimitri said. "There's only a handful residents of this village that don't use those five weapons, such as…"
"Here we are. This is the place I was talking about, the Hidden Village of Dragon."
A voice came from the path that linked the Valley of No Return with the Hidden Village of Dragon. From here, Zetarus, Diego and Dimitri could see two figures of Pokemon who were walking up to the gate of the village. It didn't take all of them very long to see that one of them was a Hakamo-o who was with them during lunch, but suddenly left for the afternoon patrol, but the other Pokemon who was with him… It was someone whom Dimitri had never seen before, but not for Diego and, especially, Zetarus, as that Pokemon was none other than…
"F… Freya?!" Zetarus said as he saw a female Flygon who was approaching the village along with the Hakamo-o.
"Oh! Z… Zetarus!" Freya spoke with a happy voice as she saw Zetarus standing at the entrance of the village while she was approaching the gate of the village, along with a Hakamo-o beside her. "Y… You are alright! T… Thank goodness…"
"Korben, did you…?" Dimitri asked as the Hakamo-o and the Flygon reached the gate of the village.
"Right." Korben answered. "I found her at where we found them…" Korben glanced at Zetarus and Diego. "… And I decided to bring her here too, as not only it was the elder's order, but she also seems to know about them too."
"Don't tell me that…" Zetarus looked at the Flygon. "… You came here all along by yourself?!"
"W… Well…" Freya spoke. "I… I saw you entered that scary cave, and I… I was so worried about you… So…"
"Sigh…" Zetarus sighed as he finally understood. "I had a feeling of someone looking at me as I was entering the cave… It was you, right, Freya?"
"I… I am so sorry…" Freya apologized. "I… I felt that… Y… You must be s… So lonely… S… So…"
"Wait a minute…" Zetarus spoke up again as he had just realized something. "Why are you here all alone?! Where are Natasha, Largo and Terrus?!"
"W… Well… T… They went to Shadowlost Territory…" Freya said. "B… But father and they won't allow me to go with them b… because it's too dangerous, s… so I had to go back home alone…"
"… They left you to go back to the Dustorm City… BY YOURSELF?!" Zetarus spoke with an unbelievable voice.
"W… Wel…" Freya continued speaking. "T… Then I stopped a bit at the hot spring…"
"Hotspring?" Diego spoke up. "Is there a place like that around there too?!"
"Y… Yes…" Freya answered. "The hot spring… was at the north of the crossroad… north of the border checkpoint…"
Zetarus and Diego nodded to the Flygon's words. After all, at the crossroad, while they knew that, according to Richard, the southern path would lead to the Fireview-Dustorm Border Checkpoint, as well as the entrance of the Cave of Ages, the western path would lead to the Stonehill Village near the Fireview-Riverbrine Border, the eastern path would lead to the Fireview City, the capital of Fireview Kingdom, he never told them where the northern place would lead them to…
"T… Then…" Freya continued speaking. "I… I heard a very loud noise… to the south… S… So I decided to check it out… And I saw a cave… With you there, Zetarus…"
"A very loud noise… It must be the sound when we unsealed the entrance of that stupid cave…" Diego said.
"And then you decided to follow me through that cave and this valley just because you were worried about me…" Zetarus sighed again. "Freya, why did you have to do so much for me? We are not even—"
"B… But…" Freya suddenly spoke up. "Z… Zetarus, y… you are my brother! And—"
"…I am not your brother, Freya…" Zetarus said. "And even if I am one, I would be the worst brother ever…"
"Zetarus…" Freya said. "I… I am sorry… I am sorry…"
"… You have nothing to be sorry me, Freya." Zetarus said.
"…Pardon me for interrupting." Korben spoke up. "Freya, I must ask you to come and meet the elder of our village first. And don't worry about him. He is a very kind Pokemon, so you don't have to be scared about him."
"Okay…" Freya nodded to the Hakamo-o.
"…Then, I will go with you, Freya." Zetarus suddenly spoke up again, which surprised the Flygon very much.
"W… What?!" Freya looked at the Garchomp in front of her.
"Well… Terrus and others made a grave mistake of letting you go back to the Dustorm Empire by yourself…" Zetarus said "So, while they wouldn't be able to take care of their sister, I guess I will have to do…"
"R… Really?!" Freya looked at the Garchomp.
"Don't think too much of it…" Zetarus said. "After all… I just don't want to get scolded by Terrus if I let any danger befall on you his little sister..."
"T… Thank you so much, brother! Oops!" Freya said before she realized that she had just called Zetarus with the word that he didn't want her to use.
"… If you really want so much, I guess I will have to get used to it..." Zetarus shrugged.
"T… Thank you, brother!" Freya said and bowed to the Garchomp in front of her. "Zetarus, you are so sweet!"
"Heh… You don't even know half of me, Freya…" Zetarus shrugged. "Now, let's go. The sooner we finish this, the sooner I would be able to go hunting. Diego…" Zetarus turned his attention to the Mega Charizard X beside him. "… You can go ahead without me. I will catch you later."
"Well then, I guess I will go with you too, Zetarus." Diego said. "After all, hunting alone isn't much fun, and I guess that it could wait a bit."
"O… Oh! S… So you are… S… Sir Diego!" Freya turned her attention to the Mega Charizard X beside her 'brother' and bowed down to him. "I… I am so sorry t… that I didn't recognize you…"
"Whatever…" Diego said. "I would be surprised if you remember me in this form, Princess Freya."
"O… Oh! J… Just Freya is fine…" Freya said.
"… Then, no 'Sir' to me too." Diego said.
"O… Okay, Diego…" Freya said.
"And…" Zetarus turned his attention to Dimitri the Fraxure, who was standing beside Korben the Hakamo-o. "I guess the hunt would have to be cancelled, at least for now."
"No, it's okay…" Dimitri said. "Now, let's go, everyone."
Everyone nodded to the Fraxure, and then the Fraxure, Hakamo-o, Garchomp, Mega Charizard X and Flygon started walking. This time, they walked away from the gate, and toward the urban area of the village. Their destination was the house of Elder Baldr…
-Meanwhile… In the Urban Area of the Village…
"Hm! That Dragon Jerky!"
"Sigh…"
Claura and Xavier strolled around the village casually after they left Elder Baldr's house. Claura's rage against Baromyteus seemed to already subside, but she still couldn't stop grumbling about the Shiny Haxorus.
"That jerk! That rude Haxorus! That Dragon Jerky!" Claura grumbled. "Why do I have to be stuck with someone like him?! He's the worst Pokemon that I have ever met!"
"…You started it this time, Claura." Xavier said.
"Shut up, Xavier!" Claura said. "Grrr… So much that I want to smash that face with my anchor! Grr…"
"Heh?" Xavier glanced at the Kingdra beside him. "This is getting interesting…"
"What?" Claura turned her attention to the Dragonite beside her.
"Well… Claura, I have known you since our childhood, but this is the first time I see you act like this…" Xavier said. "This is the first time that someone caught your attention for more than ten minutes, and you couldn't stop talking about him either…"
"W… What?!" Claura said with a shocked voice.
"Not only that…" Xavier continued speaking. "That guy… Baromyteus, isn't it? He is the first Pokemon who could stand a chance against your rage, as every Pokemon who dares to face your rage had never survived… Except him… This is so interesting…"
"KNOCK. IT. OFF!" Claura said and rammed her head against the Dragonite, but the Dragonite was able to dodge the Kingdra's attack.
"Heh… Now you are so flustered…" Xavier said.
"I AM NOT!" Claura roared. "AND DO NOT TALK THIS TO ME AGAIN!"
"Well… If you say so… Yawn…" Xavier said as he turned his attention from his cousin to the surrounding area of the village. "Now that I think about it… This place is so… peaceful…"
Claura nodded to her cousin's words as she looked around the Hidden Village of Dragon. The Hidden Village of Dragon, a village where the Dragon type Pokemon who survived the Apocalypse lived together in harmony for two millenniums within the inaccessible area of Valley of No Return, was a home to many Dragon type Pokemon. However, despite them being a Dragon type Pokemon, a type of Pokemon which was known for their savagery and brutality, lived in a tranquility of nature.
"The tranquility of nature is amazing, isn't it?" Claura spoke up.
"Yeah…" Xavier nodded. "It's able to calm even the beast that's embroiled within the tide of wrath and sorrow."
Claura nodded again. She completely agreed with her cousin about this because of what happened after they left Elder Baldr's house.
After they left the house of village elder, they decided to walk around the village, not only for sightseeing, but also to calm Claura's rage, and it worked, as the Kingdra quickly calmed down due to the tranquility of the nature of this place, as well as the Pokemon who lived in this village.
While they were walking around the village, they were greeted by several Dragon type Pokemon who lived in this place. Despite being an 'outsiders', none of the native did show a hostility toward both of them, and some of them even offered them their homemade treats too!
"I think the one who chose this place to be the location of this village must be a very smart Pokemon." Xavier said. "We Dragon type Pokemon are superior to other Pokemon, but we are very bad at self-restraint. Just a little scratch to the wall of our self-endurance and we are ready to destroy everything until our rage subsides. Knowing this, the one who found this village must choose a place with a tranquility of nature and isolation from the outside world, not only to calm the strong emotion of our kind, but also prevents other Pokemon to come and associates with our kind and risks of reawaken the beast within our body."
"True…" Claura said. However, her voice seemed to conceal a strange feeling, and her face was tainted with a feeling of…
"…Claura, are you alright?" Xavier asked. "You seem to be… sad? Is there something on your mind?"
"Heh… I try not to show this, but it seems like you know me too well…" Claura spoke with a sarcastic voice. "It's just that I start to regret about this."
"About what?" Xavier asked.
"About offering the residents of this village to come and live in Kingdom of the Dragonking instead." Claura answered. "Did you see the expression of everyone in this village? They all look so happy and satisfy with their isolated and dull, but peaceful and tranquil life within this place. Would it be a good idea for them to move to Kingdom of the Dragonking?"
"…" Xavier didn't say anything.
"You know… Despite being sent into a realm within time and space since the end War of the God II, Kingdom of the Dragonking is a far-from-peaceful place." Claura said. "Even if we don't count War of the God III, there had been so many peace-disrupting incidents since the end of War of the God II, such as the Void of Light, the rise of the 13th Dragonking, the Twilight Crisis, the Daybreak Crisis, and the Kohaku Rebellion!"
"… Don't forget the time when I—" Xavier spoke up with an emotionless voice, but his words were quickly interrupted by his cousin.
"I know, I know…" Claura said. "Well… This is what I feel right now. I don't know if it's a good idea to drag them from the tranquility to our kingdom, and I don't know what to do about this…"
"… Why are you so frustrated about this?" Xavier asked.
"Hm?!" Claura tilted her head toward the Dragonite.
"If I have to say…" Xavier continued speaking. "Claura, don't forget who are the residents of this village. They are Dragon type Pokemon! Dragon type Pokemon is a type of Pokemon who possesses a strong desire for violence and bloodshed. Sure, we may be able to conceal it, but we could never escape from our instinct…"
"Xavier…" Claura looked into the eyes of her cousin. Somehow, she could see something within the eyes of the Dragonite, which reminded her of… that day…
"No matter how much we try… We will never escape from our instinct…" Xavier said. "We may try to act like a calm and composed creature, but once the fateful time has come, our instinct would be awakened, and then—"
"STOP IT!" Claura spoke and slapped the Dragonite's face with her tail fin. "XAVIER, YOU DON'T HAVE TO CONTINUE HURTING YOURSELF LIKE THAT!"
"…" Xavier didn't say anything. All he did was rubbing his cheek as where he was slapped by her cousin.
"Moreover…" Claura continued speaking. "It wasn't your fault that put us into this situation. It's mine! And mine alone!"
"… Whatever…" Xavier said. "Anyway, what I want to tell you about your dilemma is, I think what we did is a right choice. While they had been living in this place for all of their life, they are still Dragon type Pokemon, like us. I am sure that, if there's a group of intruder from the outside world to break into this valley and try to destroy everything here, everyone who lives in this village would neither surrender nor run away, but they would turn their claw and fang toward the intruders of this valley and fight until their last breath, since they are, like us, dragons."
"…Heh…" Claura let out a small sarcastic laugh. "I guess I shouldn't let you spill all of this into my head again… Thanks, Xavier."
"Whatever…" Xavier said. "I could only help you in a thing like this, as I couldn't help you in so many other things, such as how not to look like an old hag, which you usually are."
"XAVIER!" Claura roared and turned her fiery face. It seemed like she would get herself into a brawl with her cousin, but then…
"… If you want to start a fight with each other that much, go somewhere else instead of doing it within a residential area of this village…"
Noctus, Rachael and Richard had their attention at two Pokemon who stood not too far from them. It seemed like both of them were about to start a fight…
"Sigh…" Richard said. "Seriously… If you want to kill each other that much, why don't you go and do anywhere else? Don't forget that this place is a peaceful place without any violence, or did your ash-filled brains couldn't stuff this fact into itself?"
"W… What?!" Claura and Xavier quickly got away from each other as they heard the voice that was directed to them, but their tension was loosened when they realized that the owner of the voice was none other than the Pokemon who were coming with them to this village.
"Oh, it's you…" Claura said as she and Xavier approached Noctus, Rachael and Richard. "Rachael and Richard, right? What are you two doing here?"
"Onii-chan wanted to look around this village, so Elder Baldr as Noctus-san to guide us around the village." Rachael answered.
"Look around the village?" Xavier spoke up. "I thought that your brother wants to stick his nose into other's business instead…"
"Well… I was just curious…" Richard said. "I saw two Pokemon who claimed to be the descendants of the great generals of Kingdom of the Dragonking try to solve their dispute with such a barbaric method like this."
"Sure, there's so many ways to solve a single dispute…" Xavier continued speaking. "But for the choice we chose, we have already considered that it would be the best for this situation with the lesser side effect for both of us. I have never known that this stuff also causes an effect to the like of you too…"
"… Already considered?" Richard continued speaking. "I don't think I have a very good judgment of my own, but the method of yours is already considered to be the method-of-choice? For me, I could use my knowledge to synthesize several more methods, which I trust that it would be more suitable to this situation than your method."
"I admit that the amount of knowledge I possess within my storage is nowhere near the amount of knowledge that some Pokemon around here possess, but I have quite a confidence in my own judgment."
Richard and Xavier continued exchanging their sarcastic speech with each other without having their attention on anything else, including three other Pokemon who were also here too…
"… Well…" Noctus spoke up as he watched the Latios and the Dragonite continued speaking with each other. "Both of them are so… interesting…"
"Just when I thought that Xavier is the Pokemon with the sharpest tongue out there…" Claura mumbled and facefinned herself.
"But…" Rachael looked at her brother and Claura's cousin. "I think both of them seem to… enjoy themselves right now…"
"Agree…" Claura nodded in an agreement with the Latias beside her. "I have never seen Xavier be so happy like this… in a very long time… Anyway…" Claura turned her attention to the Latias beside her. "You're… Rachael, right?"
"Right!" Rachael answered with a cheerful voice. "And you are Claura, right? Hey, did you say that you come from Kingdom of the Dragonking, right? That's so cool!"
"HM?!" Claura looked at the Latias beside her with an unbelievable expression on her face. "Don't tell me that you have never gone to Kingdom of the Dragonking before!"
"Well… Yes…" Rachael turned her face away, as what the Kingdra said was true, but she couldn't tell her the reason why they have never been to the Kingdom of the Dragonking.
"Hm!" Claura grumbled before turning her attention to her cousin, who was still speaking to Rachael's elder brother. "Xavier! How long will you keep doing that?!"
"Well… I could do this for the rest of my life…" Xavier answered.
"Me too…" Richard nodded in agreement with the Dragonite.
"By the way…" Xavier turned his attention back to the Latios again. "Did you say that you and your sister are going to visit the village's shrine, right?"
"Right." Richard nodded to the Dragonite. "I have heard from a few villagers, as well as this Noibat…" Richard glanced at Noctus a bit. "… That there's a sacred shrine at the southern end of this village, and so, I asked Noctus to take me and my sister there, because I am very curious about it."
"…Then, I will go with you." Xavier said. "I have nothing to do right now, so I guess I would pay a visit to the village's shrine before I become too lazy to walk."
"It's not that far…" Richard said. "But… Oh, well… I guess having a company of someone who's not an idiot once in a while wouldn't be a bad thing…"
"Then, let's go…" Xavier said before he and Richard started walking toward a path of the village, but they were stopped by the Noibat.
"H… Hey!" Noctus spoke up. "The shrine is to the south, not that way!"
"Oops." Richard and Xavier quickly changed turned back to the right path.
"Sigh…" Rachael sighed. "That's my brother…"
"And that's my cousin…" Claura sighed too. "That's why I couldn't leave him alone. Oh, well… With this, I guess I will have to go with you too."
"Thanks!" Rachael said. "Then, let's go!"
Five Pokemon walked toward the area south of the urban area of Hidden Village of Dragon, which located at the southernmost area of the 'island' created by a river that surrounded the Hidden Village of Dragon before it disappeared into the underground (Which would later emerge as a river at somewhere else on the continent of Symmetria after passing through the underground.) This zone was also the southernmost area of the 'Inaccessible Valley' too.
"Wow!" Rachael said as she looked at the river that surrounded the Hidden Village of Dragon. This river, unlike other rivers on the continent of Symmetria, wasn't too deep, but also wasn't too shallow, but the water here was very clear! The water was so clear that she was able to see the riverbed and the wild lives that lived in the river!
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Noctus spoke up. "The water of our river is very clear because its origin is none other than the Valley of No Return, and it also teams with wild lives too."
"This is the most beautiful river I have ever seen!" Rachael said as she approached the river. "Can we drink it?"
"Of course." Noctus said. "Everyone in this village uses the water here for their daily use, as well as catching the wild lives from here, so we have a rule that we all shall not pollute this river, as it's the only source of water we have here, but you can use it as much as you want, as this river would never dry out, even during the hot season."
"…But would it be alright to drink it?" Richard spoke up. "Everyone in this village uses water from this river for their daily use, which includes for drinking and taking a bath, right?"
"Oh, I know what you mean." Noctus said. "But don't worry about this too! Don't forget that, because this river made our village a semi-island by splitting into two small rivers at the entrance of the village and surrounded the area of the Hidden Village of Dragon. So, with this, everyone in this village agreed to use the eastern river for drinking and the western river for other uses, including taking a bath. But we could catch any wild lives in either side of the river, as long as we don't tarnish the river, of course."
"Wait a minute…" Rachael said. "You take a bath OUTDOORS?!"
"Yes." Noctus answered. "Is it strange? I don't think this is a bad thing. Everyone here does it at all time."
"A… And does it mean that… WE MUST DO IT TOO?!" Rachael said with a shocked voice.
"Oh…" Rachael mumbled, but before she could say anything else, everyone's attention was distracted to someone who suddenly spoke up.
"I think we have finally reached our destination." Xavier spoke up.
Upon hearing the Dragonite's voice, everyone's attention was turned into a building in front of them, which was located at the southernmost point of the 'island' created by the river that split into two rivers at the entrance of the village, and joined into a single river again behind this building. This building was the biggest building they had ever seen since they stepped into the Valley of No Return, even bigger than Elder Baldr's house, which was the biggest house in the Hidden Village of Dragon. However, this building, unlike other building in this village, wasn't a house, but it seemed to be either a temple or a shrine.
"Hm…" Richard carefully examined the outside structure of this shrine. "I have never seen any type of structure anywhere else on the continent of Symmetria, so it must be…"
"Right." Claura spoke up. "This type of structure is what we use in Kingdom of the Dragonking. After all, the Dragon type Pokemon who found this village and built this shrine are from Kingdom of the Dragonking before it was banished into the realm between time and space…"
"Right." Noctus said. "According to the old records about the history of this village, this shrine was built some time after this village was found."
"It was built since a very long time ago, and it's still standing without being ruined by the force of nature?! Wow!" Rachael said. "Noctus, do you know what this shrine is for? Did they build this shrine as a place to worship some kind of deity?"
"Well… Actually, I don't know the real reason of why they built this shrine…" Noctus answered. "No one in this village knows the reason why they built this shrine, and there's no record of why this shrine was built too."
"What?!" Rachael said. "But I thought that… Elder Baldr… Did he…"
"Right. Elder Baldr was still alive at the time this shrine was built." Noctus said. "However, because it was so long in the past, he has already forgotten why this shrine was built."
"Oh… I see…" Rachael said with a disappointed voice.
"… A shrine that was built since a very long time ago, yet there's no record of its usage…" Richard mumbled. "This reason piqued my curiosity…"
"Then, why don't we—" Noctus was about to suggest everyone to go inside the shrine, but his words were interrupted by the appearance of two other Pokemon who came from the direction of the village's urban area.
"There you are, Noctus!"
A voice called the name of the Noibat. Everyone then turned their attention to the owner of the voice and saw two Pokemon walking up to them. They were none other than Unos the Deino and Lyzia the Altaria.
"Unos? Lyzia?" Noctus said as the Deino and the Altaria stopped in front of him. "What bring you two here? Didn't Elder Baldr tell you to spread his words about tonight's meeting to everyone?"
"Well… We have already done that…" Unos said. "But the adults need some help in setting up the meeting place at the square, so…"
"Okay… I will help…" Noctus said before he remembered something. "Oh! But I still—"
"…Don't worry about us, Noctus." Richard spoke up. "We will just go inside for a few minutes. You don't have to worry about us."
"Onii-chan is right!" Rachael said. "We promise that we won't break anything! Also, after we finish looking inside this shrine, we will go and help you too!"
"Really?!" Noctus asked.
"Hm… I agree with this…" Claura said. "After all, the reason why everyone here has to prepare for tonight's meeting is us, and we don't have anything else to do after we finish visiting this shrine."
"…" Xavier didn't say anything, as he seemed to have his attention on something else…
"Then, I am sorry that I have to leave you all early…" Noctus said. "But… See you soon at the square of the village! If you have anything else you want to know about this village, you can always ask me!"
After finished speaking, the Noibat left Rachael, Richard, Claura and Xavier and flew back to the urban area of the village, along with the Altaria and the Deino, leaving everyone else at the entrance of the shrine.
"Then, let's go, Rachael." Richard said.
"Right." Rachael nodded to her brother before she went into the shrine with him.
"…" After seeing the siblings went into the shrine, Claura was about to follow them when she noticed something strange about her cousin beside her…
"Xavier?" Claura said as she turned her attention toward the Dragonite beside her. For some reason, Xavier seemed to be distracted since when they arrived at this shrine. Normally, Xavier would have to split his sharp words at her when she said something. (Such as mention that she would destroy the village's square when the Kingdra offered to help them.) But now, instead of saying something like that, all that the Dragonite did was staring at the shrine in front of him.
"Hm…" Xavier mumbled as he looked at the shrine in front of him.
"Something on your mind, Xavier?" Claura decided to ask her cousin a question.
"… Claura, have you ever seen this shrine somewhere before?" Instead of answering her question, the Dragonite asked yet another question to the Kingdra instead. "I think that we have seen a shrine that looks EXACTLY like this before, don't you think?"
"Now that you mentioned it…" Claura said as she carefully looked at the shrine in front of her. "I think we have been visited a shrine that looks EXACTLY like this one in Kingdom of the Dragonking…"
"Right…" Xavier said. "And THAT shrine in Kingdom of the Dragonking is also where—"
'…Where we met each other for the first time.'
Two voices suddenly echoed out of Claura's Feather Brooch and Xavier's Scale Brooch, which both suddenly started glowing with a mysterious aura. Those were none other than the voices of Claura and Xavier's Dragon Legend, Vastria the Reshiram and Zastra the Zekrom.
"Right." Claura said and looked at her Feather Brooch. "At an abandoned shrine deep in an isolated mountain of Kingdom of the Dragonking, an old shrine stands still."
"After we received the mission of finding the Hidden Village of Dragon from the Dragonqueen, we also received a secret message from her too…" Xavier said. "And the message told us that we should 'pay a visit' to a shrine deep in the mountain of our kingdom."
"To be honest…" Claura said. "If the Dragonqueen didn't tell us about that shrine, I would have never known that there's a place like that in Kingdom of the Dragonking too…"
"True." Xavier said. "Do you remember the time when we step our foot at that shrine? That shrine was so old and shabby, as if it has never gotten the blessing from the God of Sun…"
"Agreed. That would be the first thing that everyone who had gotten to that place thought…" Claura said.
"At first, we thought that the shrine there was just an empty place with just a single altar in the middle of it…" Xavier said. "But just before we left…"
"You appear." Claura said and looked at her Feather Brooch again.
"And you too, Zastra." Xavier said.
'…' Vastria and Zastra didn't say anything.
"And then Vastria, you offered to form a pact with me, while your brother offered to form a pact with my cousin…" Claura said.
'And you two accepted.' Vastria spoke up.
"And so, we ended up forming a pact with each other before we left Kingdom of the Dragonking, huh, Zastra?" Xavier said.
'Right.' Zastra gave a short answer to the Dragonite.
"Hm… Now that I think about this again…" Xavier said. "Why did the Dragonqueen want us to go and visit that place? To meet the Dragon of Ideal and the Dragon of Truth and form a pact with them? That sounds too… fishy for me…"
"Hm… You have a point here…" Claura said. "Even if that's true, why did she want us to form a pact with Legendary Pokemon? I don't understand. But… Maybe when we get back, we could ask the Dragonqueen why—"
"Don't you remember the P.S. at the end of the Dragonqueen's secret message that was given to us?" Xavier suddenly spoke up. "The P.S. mentioned that, because this is the top-secret message, we must not speak about this message to anyone else, including the Dragonqueen herself."
"But if that's true, maybe we could ask the one who delivered this secret message to us…" Claura said. "After all, the one who gave us this secret message is none other than—"
"I doubt he would know anything regarding to the content of this secret message." Xavier said. "I think all he did was just following the Dragonqueen's order and giving this message to us, so I don't think that he would know anything about this secret message."
"What about you two, Vastria, Zastra?" Claura asked. "What were you two doing there at that abandoned shrine?"
'… We don't know…' Vastria and Zastra answered.
"What?!" Claura and Xavier were surprised by the answer of their Dragon Legend. "What did you mean by 'I don't know'?!"
'First, there's something you two need to know about us…' Vastria said. 'While both of us possess a physical form, if a certain condition is met, we may revert into our primitive forms, which are just the form of Black Stone and White Stone… And while we are in our primitive forms, we will lose all of our sensory and abilities, including an ability to record our 'memory'.'
'And… Some time ago, we were in our real form too…' Zastra said. 'However, we were reverted into our primitive forms, and the next thing we knew was that we returned into our real form of an old shrine deep in the mountain somewhere…'
"…I see…" Xavier said. "A few questions, if that's so, then why did you two decide to offer us to form a pact with you? And why did you two turn into your primitive forms?"
'… We are sorry, but we can't tell you.' Vastria said.
"What?!" Claura spoke up with a shocking voice. "How come?!"
'Like what my sister said, we can't answer your brother's questions, Claura.' Zastra said. 'And do not question us about this anymore, as, no matter how much you try, we will not tell you anything more about this.'
After the voice finished speaking, Claura's Feather Brooch and Xavier's Scale Brooch stopped glowing, indicating that the Reshiram and the Zekrom had finished their talking with the Kingdra and the Dragonite.
"Geez…" Claura mumbled after Vastria and Zekrom ended their speaking with her and her cousin. "And now we learn almost NOTHING from them!"
"Hm… Maybe not…" Xavier said.
"What do you mean, Xavier?" Claura looked at her cousin.
"The way they spoke and told us about their stories, it seems like both of them know something, and they really want to share it with us…" Xavier said. "But, for some reason, they couldn't, as they spoke as if they were forbidden to tell us everything by… something."
"Something?" Claura said. "What is it?"
"I honestly have no idea…" Xavier answered. "But I can guess the reason why 'something' must forbid Vastria and Zastra to tell us about it. It should be either there's no reason for us to know it, that 'something' just REALLY don't want us to know, or it's not the time for us… to learn the truth."
-Meanwhile…
While the exterior of the shrine may give an impression to the visitors that this shrine was no more than just an old and crumbling shrine of no important, the interior of this shrine said otherwise...
"Wow!" Rachael said with a voice filled with glee as she set her first step into this shrine.
"Rachael, keep your voice down." Richard mumbled as he followed his younger sister.
"Oops!" Rachael quickly covered her mouth.
The Latios and Latias then turned their attention to the interior area of this shrine. While this shrine wasn't very big, unlike what its outside appearance suggested, the only word that both Pokemon could find to describe this shrine was…
"Mystical…" Rachael and Richard spoke out at the same time as they looked at the circular hall, which was the only 'room' of this shrine aside of a long hallway which connected the entrance of the shrine to this hall. The hall contained several stone pillars, which formed into a 'ring' that surrounded the central area of this hall. All stone pillars, as well as the wall of this shrine, were very well-crafted into the enigmatic symbols and alphabets, in an ancient way. The wall of the shrine also had several windows, which had a ray of light shined through all of them to the center point of this shrine, which stood a small but magnificent altar…
"Amazing…" Rachael said as she approached the altar in the middle of the shrine. "The rays of light from all windows in this shrine all shine onto this altar! Is it even possible?!"
"Hm… Interesting…" Richard said while following his sister to the altar in the middle of the shrine. "The difference of the sun's location during each time of the day would make this phenomenal entirely impossible… This is what I would say if I haven't seen this with my own eyes… But since the sunlight of the Valley of No Return isn't in its regular way due to the incomplete roofing formed over the entire valley and the eternal mist that covered the open area that isn't covered by the roofing… Hm… But this wouldn't explain why this village still possesses an ordinary daylight, like other place outside this valley… Hm… Could it be that this is the work of… magic? Interesting…"
While her elder brother was rumbling, Rachael slowly looked around the main hall of this shrine. While it may seem empty as this shrine didn't have anything more than just an altar and several stone pillars, the wall and the stone pillars of this shrine had several ancient crafting on it, with some being the ancient writing while the other being the ancient picture.
"…" Rachael looked at the ancient pictures that were crafted into the wall of the shrine. Somehow, she felt that these ancient pictures seemed so familiar to her…
"This one must be the Great Continent at the beginning of time… And this one is… War of the God I? Wait a minute…" Rachael mumbled before she realized something… "All of the pictures here are the same pictures we saw in the Cave of Ages! Wow!"
Rachael then continued looking at the pictures on the wall of the shrine, from the pictures of the Great Continent and War of the God I to the pictures of War of the God II and the shattered Great Continent during the Apocalypse…
However…
"?" Rachael's attention was focused at the last picture on the wall, which was crafted in the wall at the opposite side of the entrance of the shrine. (Behind the altar, if being looked from the perspective of someone who stood at the entrance of the shrine.) This picture, unlike other pictures on the wall, was the picture that possessed no counterpart in the Cave of Ages. It was the picture of…
"… Rachael?" Richard looked at his younger sister, who had her full attention on the picture on the wall behind the altar. It seemed like the picture had captured her full attention.
"…?" Richard approached his younger sister and then looked at what she was looking, which was a picture on the wall. It was a picture of two Pokemon, one tall and one short. While it was impossible to tell which kind of Pokemon they were due to the detail of those two Pokemon weren't elaborate enough, it was still enough for him to tell that both Pokemon were Dragon type Pokemon. And… Both dragons were… holding each other hand in the way of… friendship.
"… Rachael…" Richard called his younger sister one more time.
"Onii-chan?" This time, the Latias responded to his call. "Oh, I am sorry! I was a bit distracted…"
"… What do you have in your mind, Rachael?" Richard asked as it was noticeable that his younger sister was having something on her mind.
"Well…" Rachael said as she looked at the picture of two dragons on the wall again. "This place… This village… is a very nice place, isn't it?"
"Hm… Agreed." Richard nodded. "This place is not only full with friendly and non-idiot Pokemon, but it also located within the isolated and inaccessible valley, making it a peaceful place where everyone lives together in a harmony. Moreover, being located in a place like this, this village, along with Valley of No Return and the Cave of Ages, is a very interesting place full with an invaluable knowledge lost in time. If I can, I would like to spend the rest of my life here…"
"You… think that?" Rachael said.
"… But of course, I will never leave you, Rachael." Richard said. "I made a promise that I will never leave you again, remember?"
"Well… Actually…" Rachael said. "I… I also love this place too."
"You… too?" Richard looked at his younger sister.
"As I set my first step into this place, I knew that this place must be a very lovely place…" Rachael said. "Everyone here is so nice and friendly, and this place is so… peaceful too. It reminded me a lot of Forezon Village… The village where I stayed before I left Leafburg… But this place is much better… I feel like this place… This is the place where I could call… home…"
"…" Richard said nothing to his sister's words.
"Onii-chan…" Rachael spoke up again. "Do you… still remember that promise we made?"
"Of course, Rachael." Richard answered. "Once I acknowledge something, I will never forget it, never again."
"Then…" Rachael continued speaking. "Do you think… this place… Would this place be the answer to our promise?"
"'…I promise that one day, we will discover a place where both of us could call home.'... This is the promise I made to you, since when we were still… human." Richard said. "Both of us were orphans. We grew up at the orphanage, without knowing who our real parents are... At that orphanage, as well as the town we lived in and the school we studied in, both of us were heavily bullied due to my weakness… I was such a weakling at that time… I always failed to protect you… I am such a bad brother to you, Rachael…"
"Do not say anything like that, Onii-chan!" Rachael said. "You are the best brother ever! You are always there for me when we were human… As we don't have anyone else…"
"…Hm." Richard nodded. "The owner and the caretaker of the orphanage, the other children at the orphanage, the other students at the school, and everyone else in that town didn't like both of us very much, which I don't know why, so… Both of us only had each other…"
"And then… On that fateful day…" Rachael continued speaking. "I would always remember that day… It was our last day… in the World of Human…"
"…" Richard said nothing.
"We were chasing by a group of bullies…" Rachael continued speaking. "They didn't even tell us what they want. All they did was start chasing after us… And then… When we were almost being caught… I remember that… a strange light suddenly appeared… And the next thing I knew… is that I woke up at the abandoned temple in the middle of Leafburg Forest… With myself being turned into a Latias…"
"And for me, it was that I woke up at the Civilight Laboratory… With myself being turned into a Latios…" Richard said. "The light we saw must be a portal that links between the World of Human and the World of Pokemon…"
"Right…" Rachael said.
"… However…" Richard continued speaking. "There're still several unanswered questions left. Why had it suddenly opened at that time and place and taken both of us here? I don't understand?"
"Oh, that really reminds me…" Rachael said. "If both of us were taken here, would those bullies being taken here, like us, too?!"
"…No, they weren't." Richard answered. However, this time, his voice was serious and assured.
"How did you know that, Onii-chan?" Rachael asked.
"… I know that because… the portal only opened and took both of us here…" Richard said.
"I don't understand…" Rachael said.
"…Rachael, can I ask you something?" Instead of answering his younger sister's question, the Latios asked yet another question. "What do you think of you being a Pokemon right now?"
"I think it's amazing!" Rachael said. "I feel so happy and carefree! I really love it! It feels so great that I wouldn't want to return to being a human again! How about you, Onii-chan?"
"… I also feel this way too, Rachael." Richard said. "However, this is the real problem we have here."
"What?" Rachael looked at her elder brother.
"We had just become Pokemon for a few months, and yet we feel so good that neither of us would want to return to being a human again…" Richard said. "Don't you think that this is a bit… skeptical?"
"Hm… Now that you mention it…" Rachael said and nodded to her elder brother.
"Moreover…" Richard continued speaking. "Rachael, you remember those bullies who chased after us, right?"
"Yes." Rachael said. "I really don't understand why they chased after us, nor what did they want from us…"
"… Do you still remember the last thing they did before we were sent into the World of Pokemon?" Richard continued asking.
"Well… They took out their smartphone and pointed it at us…" Rachael said. "And they also said something strange, such as 'You could pretend to be a human—'"
Rachael suddenly stopped speaking, as the words she spoke had triggered something in her head, making she realizing something…
"O… Onii-chan…" Rachael looked at her elder brother. "I… I don't understand…"
"… A few months before that day, there was a newly-released application on the smartphone…" Richard said without looking at his younger sister. "While I have never gotten myself into that application due to neither of us had a smartphone, I had learned that the newly-released application was made in order to allow the human to catch the hidden Pokemon who lived somewhere in the World of Pokemon, which none of them could see them before. In other words, with that application on their smartphone, it's possible for them to see the hidden Pokemon in the World of Pokemon, including the Pokemon who hid their real identity by disguising themselves as a human…"
"W… WHAT?!" Rachael was shocked by the word of her elder brother.
"Thus, combining this statement with our feeling of us not wanting to return to being human again, as well as there were only both of us that were taken into the World of Pokemon, has given me a final conclusion about our situation… About our identity… About who we really are…"
"…" Rachael didn't say anything.
"…The reason why those bullies chased after us is because they could see who we truly are." Richard turned his attention to his younger sister. "The reason why there were only both of us that were taken into the World of Pokemon is because the World of Pokemon is our real world, and the reason why both of us really enjoy being Pokemon is because we enjoy being in our real form, after several years of yearning to return to our real world, to our real form…"
"Then… Both of us…" Rachael said. "We are…"
"Right." Richard said. "Both of us; Rachael Lustermist and Richard Lustermist, we are not human who were turned into Pokemon, but we are Pokemon who were turned into human, before being returned into our real form…"
-Meanwhile…
"Anastasia! Baromyteus! That's too dangerous!"
"…It's not a problem… The Fallen won't hurt us…"
"What are you talking about?! The Fallen are the heartless and soulless monster! They won't care who you are and will kill you if given a chance!"
"…The Fallen won't hurt their masters…"
"W…What?"
"…As the masters of the Fallen and the loyal servant of the Fallen Dragon, the Fallen would do as we command..."
"W…What did you just say?!"
"T…This isn't a time for a joke!"
"This is neither joke nor an illusion. This is the reality… The cruel truth we lived in…"
"… We have waited this moment for so long… The very moment of the demise of the Hero/ine of Legend with the hands of us, the faithful servants of the Fallen Dragon Lord."
"GRASP!"
Baromyteus opened his eyes with an expression of frightening on his face. The expression, however, was unnoticeable as it was concealed by the horned helmet that he always wore to conceal his face, but the sound of his grasping wasn't go unnoticed.
"Brother?! What's wrong?!" Anastasia said as she quickly approached the Shiny Haxorus as she heard his grasping voice. "D… Did anything bad happen?"
"… I have a vision of that day… again." Baromyteus answered.
"That day…" Anastasia mumbled before she looked around the room she was in. Right now, both of them were in a bedroom on the second floor, as Anastasia had already finished washing dishes, so she asked Elder Baldr for permission for her to go upstairs and prepare rooms for everyone to stay in, and Baromyteus had no choice but to lend his paw to his younger sister too.
On the second floor of this house, there was a long hallway, with a stairway located at the end of one side of the hallway, and a large bedroom, which belonged to Elder Baldr himself, at the end of the other side of the hallway. Along the hallway were six smaller rooms, three on each side of the hallway. Elder Baldr told Anastasia that they could take the first and second room from the stairway on each side of the hallway as their own room, so Anastasia went to those rooms to prepare it. Right now, she had already finished preparing the first room on the right side of the staircase, the first room on the left side of the staircase, and the second room on the right side of the staircase, for Rachael and Richard, Zetarus and Diego, and Claura and Xavier respectively. Now she was preparing the second room on the left side of the staircase, which would be for her and her elder brother.
Because the door of this room was closed, and there was no one else in this room as Elder Baldr was in the living room on the first floor of this house, Anastasia and Baromyteus were able to continue their conversation without worrying about being eavesdropped.
"Yes." Baromyteus said. "The day we betrayed the Hero/ine of Legend at the final moment of their journey, just before they faced the Fallen Dragon."
"… That day was… a complete nightmare…" Anastasia said. "… Especially for you, brother."
"… Because of our power, the Fallen Dragon, the wretched demon who was the cause of the Fallen Crisis, was able to grasp upon our very spirits. Combining this with my strong hatred toward those Hero/ine of Legend, especially the 'Hero of Justice', the Fallen Dragon was able to manipulate me using the power of hatred within my mind."
"… For me, it was a strong aff— I mean, you-know-what, that made me fall under the control of the Fallen Dragon." Anastasia said, before she quickly changed some of her words as she knew that her brother wouldn't be very happy to hear the original words she was about to say.
"…In the end, instead of slaying us, they decided to let us continue living." Baromyteus continued speaking. "I knew that they ARE the Hero/ine of Legend, but I do NOT understand why did they have to let us continue living instead of killing us? After we betrayed them…"
"…Nevertheless, the truth remained unchanged…" Anastasia continued speaking. "Betraying the Hero/ine of Legend was equal to betraying the god, as well as the whole World of Pokemon, so we both had to leave the continent of Symmetria…"
"And now, 30 years had already passed, and we are here again, standing on the very continent we betrayed, the continent of Symmetria." Baromyteus said with a sarcastic voice. "Well… Since a demon like me had once again trample my feet on the soil of Symmetria, another crisis would surely occur…"
"Brother! Do not say something like that!" Anastasia said. "You aren't a demon! Why do you have to continue living your life with that nonsense?!"
"But here I am. I am a demon at both my heart and my soul." Baromyteus said. "I was born carrying a bad omen of chaos and disruption, so I was exiled from the place I was born. Even after I was allowed to set my foot back into that place, I wouldn't be able to think of that place as my home, especially after the bad omen took the toll of my body, turning me into a half-dead-half-alive being like this!"
"Brother! That's not true—" Anastasia was about to say something, but her words were cut off with a sound of door knocking by someone outside this room.
"Knock! Knock!"
"Who's th—" Baromyteus was about to ask for the identity of the one who knocked the door, but this question was left unfinished when the door was suddenly opened.
"I knew that it must be you…" A Pokemon who knocked the door said as he walked up into the room. He was none other than the Pokemon in the pre-evolution form of Baromyteus, Dimitri the Fraxure.
"Hey!" Baromyteus roared. "Didn't your parents teach to not to barge into other's room without permission?"
"Well… My mother died before she could teach me anything, and my father never scolds me for barging into his room without his permission." Dimitri answered with a nonchalant voice.
"HMP!" Baromyteus grumbled.
"A… Anyway…" Anastasia decided to step in before the Fraxure and the Shiny Haxorus started a fight with each other. "Why are you here, Dimitri? I thought that you accompanied Zetarus and Diego for their hunting…"
"True." Dimitri turned his attention to the female Goodra. "However, just before we left the village, Korben came back with a female Flygon who, like you, came from the world outside Valley of No Return, so he brought her to our village."
"A female… Flygon?" Anastasia said.
"Apparently, she seemed to be the younger sister of that Garchomp… What was his name again? Whatever, with this, Korben needed to take her here to see the elder, and we decided to come with them, so… Here we are." Dimitri answered.
"Zetarus's… younger sister?" Anastasia said. "Wow… So, like Zetarus, she must be Garland's child—"
"…And where are they right now?" Baromyteus spoke up.
"Well… Korben and that Garchomp, Mega Charizard X and Flygon are meeting Elder Baldr in the living room right now." Dimitri said.
"And why are you here?" Baromyteus looked into the Fraxure's eyes.
"Elder Baldr told me that you two are on the second floor, preparing rooms for you and your friends." Dimitri said. "So I decide to come and see if you two had already finished it or not? If yes, then I'd like to challenge you to a battle!" Dimitri finished his words by pointing his paw at his evolved form in front of him.
"... Anastasia, are we finished yet?" Instead of saying anything to the Fraxure, Baromyteus asked a question to his younger sister.
"… There! Finished!" Anastasia said as she put another blanket on the futon. "We are finished, brother."
"Good." Baromyteus said and turned his attention back to Dimitri. "Well then, boy, it's time for you to lose one of your limbs."
"Count me in!" Dimitri said and was about to leave the room… When another Pokemon appeared.
"Oh! I didn't know you were here, Dimitri." The Hakamo-o said as he stood at the door of the room. He was now carrying a tray that contained a bowl of hot soup, a glass of water, a spoon, a bowl of water and a small towel.
"Korben?" Dimitri said as he saw his friend standing at the door. "Finished already?"
"Yes." Korben answered as he placed the tray he was carrying on the table in this room. "And grandfather also allows Freya to stay here too."
"I see…" Dimitri said.
"Pardon me…" Anastasia spoke up and approached the Hakamo-o. "Who are the 'Grandfather' and 'Freya'?"
"Hm? Oh! You are here too…" Korben said and turned his attention to the Goodra while trying his hardest not to look at 'another Pokemon' behind the Goodra, who seemed to be trying his hardest not to rip his body apart. "Well… Freya is the name of the female Flygon that I found in the Valley of No Return, so I brought her here, and she is the younger sister of that Garchomp."
"I see…" Anastasia said. "What about the 'Grandfather' part?"
"Hm? I haven't told you about this yet?" Korben said. "Elder Baldr is my grandfather, and I also live here too."
"Elder Baldr is your grandfather?!" Anastasia said.
"Yes." Korben said. "You may wonder why he and I are in different species. Well… While he is a Drampa, his wife, my grandmother, is a Kommo-o, and this, my mother born from them is a Kommo-o too, so… Here I am, a Hakamo-o who will one day become a Kommo-o… If I don't die before."
"So… You are a Hakamo-or from your mother side, not your father…" Anastasia said before she remembered something. "By the way, since… er… Zetarus' sister would stay here with us too, I should prepare another room for her too…"
"Oh, don't worry about her." Korben said. "I already talked to her, and she said that she wouldn't mind staying with 'them'."
"Them?" Anastasia said.
"… I still haven't told you about 'them' too?" Korben seemed to be surprised after realizing that the Goodra didn't understand what he was saying. "Okay, then… Follow me."
Korben then grabbed the tray he placed on the table again and turned back to leave the room, with Dimitri following him. Anastasia then followed both Pokemon, and Baromyteus came last…
Korben led Dimitri, Anastasia and Baromyteus to another room on the second floor, which was the third room on the left side of the hallway. (Beside Claura and Xavier's room.)
"Oh, by the way…" Korben said just before he opened the door of this room. "My room is this one." Korben pointed his paw at the third room on the right side of the hallway, which was the room beside Anastasia and Baromyteus' room.
"Oh!" Anastasia said. "Your room is just beside us! That's—"
"Grrr…." Baromyteus suddenly let out a low-toned growl as his younger sister started speaking.
"W… Whatever…" Korben quickly changed the topic of the conversation. "Anyway, Dimitri, could you open the door, please? I don't have any spared paw to do so."
"Fine." Dimitri said as he walked toward the door and opened it for the Hakamo-o.
"Thanks, Dimitri." Korben said and walked into the room, with Dimitri, Anastasia and Baromyteus following him.
"By the way…" Anastasia spoke up again as she walked into this room. "What are those things on the tray you are carrying for? They look like the things for taking care of a sick or injured person…"
"More or less." Korben answered as he placed the tray on a small nightstand table beside one of two beds in this room. This was when Anastasia and Baromyteus realized that there weren't four Pokemon in this room, but five.
…Or four?
"W…WHAT?!"
Anastasia and Baromyteus let out a cry of dismay as they noticed the presence of the fifth Pokemon in this room… Or not? As the 'Pokemon' they saw didn't even look like any Pokemon that they had known or had seen before!
This 'Pokemon' didn't look like any kind of Pokemon Anastasia and Baromyteus had seen before. They were a Pokemon with long neck and a quadrupedal-typed body, except that their four legs were replaced with four flippers instead. However, their skin was very pale, like the skin of a bloodless corpse, with a faint tone of light blue, like the frozen water in the form of ice, and there were several light blue spots of the darker tone on their body. Their underside skin, on the other hand, was completely pale white, as if there was not a single vein running beneath it. At the end of each of their flipper were three sharp claws, all which were webbed. Their tail was long, with several sharp spikes along itself. They had a navy blue shell on their back, which also had several sharp spikes sticking out of it. The oddest part of their body was their head. They had two curved navy blue (Same color as their shell) horns on their head, and they also had a long webbed light blue membrane behind their head. Their snout contained their mouth and jaw, which also contained several sharp fangs hidden in their mouth, but there were two long fangs that penetrated out of its upper jaw and became visible even when their mouth was closed. And because they weren't awakening, it was impossible to see which color were their eyes.
"…" The 'Pokemon' slept peacefully in one of two beds in this room. They did neither move nor do anything else except breathing through their snout and lying on the bed… In fact, they didn't seem like they were sleeping, but it seemed like they weren't even able to grasp upon their own consciousness.
"… What kind of Pokemon this… creature is?" Baromyteus spoke up after a few minutes of examination had already passed. "I, too, have never seen this kind of Pokemon before…"
"You don't know what kind of Pokemon this one is?" Dimitri spoke up. "Neither of us also knows what kind of Pokemon this one is, because we have never left the Valley of No Return, but I didn't think that the Pokemon from the world outside Valley of No Return would also know nothing about this Pokemon."
"Hm…" Anastasia looked at the Pokemon who was sleeping in the bed. "Now that I look at them closely, I think this Pokemon would be… a Lapras."
"A Lapras?" Korben spoke up. "I have seen a picture of Lapras from grandfather's book, and… Sure, they do look like a Lapras, but a Lapras doesn't look like them. First, a Lapras has blue hides, not a very faint light blue hide like this one. A Lapras' underside skin is cream, not pale white. A Lapras doesn't have clawed and webbed flippers like this one, as well as a Lapras' tail is much shorter and don't have any spike. A Lapras' shell is gray with blunt spikes, not navy blue with sharp spikes. Moreover, the face of a Lapras doesn't look like this, as a Lapras' horns are, like their body, blue, a Lapras doesn't have any membrane behind their head, a Lapras also has another horn in the middle of their head, a Lapras' snout is shorter than this one, and a Lapras doesn't have such sharp fangs like this!"
"… By the way…" Baromyteus spoke up again. "How did this Pokemon end up here?"
"Well… I found them in the Valley of No Return during my morning patrol today…" Korben answered. "At first, I was frightened by their appearance, but… They don't look like a wild Pokemon, and because everyone is equal to each others, so I must treat everyone equally regardless of their appearance, so I decided to help them and take them here."
"I was shocked too when I saw Korben carrying them here." Dimitri said. "But… Sure, we couldn't leave them dying out there."
"Still…" Korben looked at the Pokemon in the bed, who still remained unconscious. "They didn't move or respond, not even a bit, since when I found them in the Valley of No Return. I can tell that they were still alive because they were breathing, but I don't know when they will wake up."
"… Can you let me take a look at them?" Anastasia asked.
"Sure. Go ahead." Korben said.
"Thank you." Anastasia said and approached the unconscious Pokemon in the bed.
"… Anyway…" While his sister was examining the Pokemon in the bed, Baromyteus spoke up. "Did this… creature carry anything when you found them?"
"Well…" Korben picked two objects that were placed on the nightstand table next to the tray and handed over them to the Pokemon in the black armor suit. Barometer then took a look at them and realized that one of the two objects was…
"… A knife?" Baromyteus said as he looked at a small but sharp weapon that the Hakamo-o handed over to him.
"It fell out of his pocket as I tried to carry them back here, along with that other trinket." Korben said. "I guess this thing is a weapon they use to defend themselves."
"…" Baromyteus said nothing and moved his attention to the second object that was handed over to him. It was a trinket that looked like…
"…Oh, I forgot!" Korben suddenly spoke up and turned his attention to Dimitri. "Dimitri, grandfather told me that both of us should go and help preparing for tonight's meeting at the village's square too."
"Geez… A work…" Dimitri said. "I'd prefer to fight this Pokemon…" Dimitri glanced at Baromyteus. "… Instead of helping adults preparing for such a boring meeting…"
"…A battle can wait." Baromyteus said. "I will let you go unscratched for now, as I will be staying here for at least a while, so there's a plenty of time for me to rip your limbs apart. There's no need to rush."
"Actually, I'd prefer breaking your tusks right now…" Dimitri said. "But it couldn't be helped. Guess I will have to do it another day, okay?" Dimitri ended his words by reaching his paw forward at the Shiny Haxorus.
"… Sure." Baromyteus gave a strong handshake to the Fraxure. "By the way, once we finished here, we will go and help you prepare for tonight's meeting too."
"Okay." Dimitri said. "Well, then, see you later."
After finished speaking, Dimitri started walking toward the door and left the room, and Korben followed him while trying his best not to look at the Pokemon in the black armor suit, as, even when they were speaking a while ago, Baromyteus always gave him a cold and blood-hungry stare, so he tried not to look at him until when he and Dimitri left the room.
"… Anastasia, are you finished yet?" Baromyteus spoke up after Dimitri and Korben already left the room.
"…I could sense that they have passed such a tragedy that damaged even the deepest part of their soul, though I don't know anything more than this." Anastasia spoke up with a sad voice. "Nevertheless, both their body and soul is very exhausted, so it would take quite a few days for their body to recover, but I could not say the same thing for his soul…"
"…" Baromyteus said nothing after hearing his sister's words.
"Poor creature…" Anastasia said and looked at the unconscious Pokemon in the bed one more time. "I wonder what kind of them live before a tragedy struck upon their soul, as well as the identity of this Pokemon."
"… Though I don't have the exact answer to your question…" Baromyteus said. "I think I have a faint idea about who this Pokemon is."
"Really?" Anastasia looked at her elder brother.
"First, take a look at this knife. It belongs to this creature." Baromyteus showed his younger sister the knife that Korben handed over to him. "What do you think of this thing?"
"It's a knife that we use in the kitchen." Anastasia said. "However, this kind of knife could also be used as a weapon in a pinch too."
"Exactly." Baromyteus said. "While that… Hakamo-o said that this is the knife that this creature uses for defending themselves, the main use of this knife is to be used as a utensil, not a weapon."
"…Which mean that the one who carries this knife around must be someone who normally uses this knife… Such as someone who work in the kitchen like a chef… But, as far as I know, a chef doesn't normally use this kind of knife. The one who uses this kind of knife is usually a waiter or a waitress…"
"… One more thing, Anastasia." Baromyteus said. "The material that's used to make this knife is silver, or we could say that this thing is a silver knife…"
"… A silver knife is an expensive utensil." Anastasia said. "The one who carried such an expensive utensil around mustn't be an ordinary waiter or waitress. It must be a maid or a butler who works for a person of a high-society, such as a noble or someone of a royal family."
"... This is as far as we could tell from this knife." Baromyteus said and placed the knife on the nightstand table. "Other than the knife, this was another thing that belongs to this creature."
Baromyteus handed over the strange trinket that looked like a crest or an emblem that were handed over to him by the Hakamo-o to his younger sister.
The trinket was handed over to the female Goodra was something that looked like a crest or an emblem. The emblem was in the shape of a beautiful five-petal flower. Each petal of this flower was made of a clear and sparkling sapphire, making the petals of this flower become blue. The center of this flower, on the other hand, was made of a small but exquisite pearl with a small hint of yellow glimpse. Moreover, the edge of this flower was reinforced with a pure gold. Overall, the value of this small 'trinket' must exceed even a single peasant's cost of living per year.
"…" Anastasia looked carefully at the trinket that was given to her.
"I can tell that this small thing would cost even more than what we got during these entire years." Baromyteus said. "And thus, combining with the fact that this creature…" Baromyteus glanced at the unconscious Pokemon in the bed. "… Is some kind of maid and butler, I think we could assume that this trinket is actually an emblem of the family that this creature served."
"…" Anastasia said nothing. All she did was look at the emblem in her paw.
"Still…" Baromyteus continued speaking. "Anastasia, I don't know if you share this thought with me or not, but I think that… I have seen this emblem before… But I don't remember where. And this blue flower that was carved into this emblem—"
"It's the Forget-Me-Not." Anastasia spoke up.
"Forget-Me-Not?" Baromyteus said.
"The flower on this emblem is the Forget-Me-Not." Anastasia said. "It's the symbol of a certain royal family."
"Certain royal family…" Baromyteus said. "Which one?"
"… On the continent of Symmetria, there are seven nations." Anastasia said. "Seven nations. Each nation has their own Royal Family Emblem, and what the emblems of all seven nations have in common is that they are all in the shape of flower."
"Flower?" Baromyteus said. "So…"
"… First, the Dustorm Empire has their emblem in the shape of the Desert Rose, a beautiful flower that could flourish even in the harsh terrain of desert and still able to produce such a beautiful flower." Anastasia said. "Anyone who's the part of the Dustorm Royal Family would have an emblem like this."
"… What about the other six nations?" Baromyteus asked.
"For Principality of Leafburg, they have their emblem in the shape of Jasmine, a pure and fragrant flower. This is also why the name of Leafburg's civil war is the War of Jasmine, as it's the war that two armies, the Forest Army and the Insect Army, fought for the rule over the nation of abundant forest. Each army has their own emblem in two different types of Jasmine." Anastasia explained.
"Stupid war…" Baromyteus mumbled. "Why did they have to fight to gain the right to ruler over a plot of land? I have never wanted to become a ruler, not ever."
"Next…" Anastasia continued speaking. "For Republic of Civilight, they have their emblem in the shape of Dandelion. I think they choose this flower because it's yellow, which is the color of electric type Pokemon that mostly live in this nation, but I have no idea why it has to be Dandelion. Wouldn't a Sunflower or Goldenrod be a better choice?"
"Dandelion? Heh… Now this is a good choice…" Baromyteus said with a sarcastic voice. "They chose Dandelion as the emblem of Republic of Civilight to insinuate the citizens of Civilight, all who are short-lived, will be trampled by the power from above for countless times without them giving a damn, and no matter how much they don't want to, in the end, they have to leave, just like what happened at the end of Civilusion War."
"Brother!" Anastasia said. "Why do you have to be so pessimistic?!"
"As you know, what I hate most are lie and deception, so I always speak the truth." Baromyteus said. "The condition of those who live in the Republic of Civilight is the worst. They don't even look like a living creature. They look more like just a mindless robot who always does as they are commanded. Some of them even get kidnapped and being used in their strange experiment too… Wait, why did I say all of this? What would happen to them is none of my business anyway."
"… Then, let me continue…" Anastasia said. "Fireview Kingdom, the nation of flame and stone, has their emblem in the shape of Poppy, which not only its color of red represents the Fire type Pokemon who mostly live in this nation, but Poppy also represents the fallen warriors who lost their lives in the Bloodmoon War that was started by this nation of flame and stone."
"Poppy, huh? Interesting…" Baromyteus said. "This flower's black center also represents the royal family of this nation, which is corrupted as hell."
"Sigh… Let's move on." Anastasia sighed and continued speaking. "For the Shadowlost Territory, their emblem is in the shape of Black Rose to represent the eternal darkness that veils over the sky of this nation."
"Black Rose? Hm…" Baromyteus said. "Now this is a good one. Though I am not a big fan of flower, Black Rose is the only kind of flower that kinda catches my attention."
"And next…" Anastasia continued speaking. "Theocracy of Venturnome… This nation has their nation in the shape of… Cherry Blossom, which is the flower that's native to the soil of Theocracy of Venturnome…"
"…If I remember correctly…" Baromyteus said. "Cherry Blossom is your favorite flower, right, Anastasia?"
Anastasia didn't answer her brother's question with a word. Instead, she just gave him a little nod in response.
"And thus…" Baromyteus said. "From what I heard from you, Theocracy of Venturnome has Cherry Blossom, Principality of Leafburg has Jasmine, Fireview Kingdom has Poppy, Republic of Civilight has Dandelion, Dustorm Empire has Desert Rose, and Shadowlost Territory has Black Rose. This would leave the Forget-Me-Not as…"
"… Forget-Me-Not is blue to represent the vast sea to the south, and deep glacier to the north." Anastasia continued speaking. "Moreover, Forget-Me-Not also represents the eternal love, and thus, making it a perfect flower for the royal family of this nation…"
"…" Baromyteus said nothing.
"… Forget-Me-Not." Anastasia continued speaking. "Forget-Me-Not is the flower of the Queendom of Riverbrine, so the one who carries the emblem around must be… the member of Riverbrine Royal Family."
"Riverbrine Royal Family?" Baromyteus said before he had just realized something. "Wait a minute… This flower… Isn't it…"
"You finally remember, don't you?" Anastasia said. "Other than those reasons I said, there's one more reason why Forget-Me-Not is chosen to be the symbol that represents the Queendom of Riverbrine. It's because Forget-Me-Not is also the symbol of the family that's now ruling over the nation of ice and water, and that family is none other than the Tundrafrost Family."
"Tundrafrost Family…" Baromyteus mumbled with a hint of anger in his tone of voice. "It's the family that that bxxxh belongs, isn't it?"
"… Brother, if you are referring to Nyxier, please goes easy on her…" Anastasia said. "Didn't you hear about the civil war in the Queendom of Riverbrine a few months ago? What happened to her is such a tragedy…"
"I think not." Baromyteus said. "That bxxxh deserved worse for everything she had done, if you ask me."
"…" Anastasia said nothing.
"But again…" Baromyteus turned his attention to the unconscious Pokemon in the bed. "This means that this guy is the member of Tundrafrost Family, but other than that bxxxh and the daughter of a bxxxh, I have never heard of anyone else in Tundrafrost Family who's still alive…"
"…You may not remember this from our 'journey' with those Hero/ine of Legend 30 years ago, brother." Anastasia said. "Other than herself, Nyxier also has a younger brother, who, unlike her, is a Lapras."
"A Lapras?!" Baromyteus looked at the unconscious Pokemon in the bed again. Like what Korben said, while they didn't look like any kind of Pokemon that they had seen before, they still had a strong resemble to a Pokemon named Lapras!
"So…" Baromyteus glared at the unconscious Pokemon. "This Pokemon must be…"
"Yes, brother." Anastasia said and looked at the unconscious Pokemon in the bed. "I am sure that… This poor creature must be none other than Nyxier's younger brother, Snow Tundrafrost the Lapras."
-Meanwhile… Somewhere else on the continent of Symmetria…
"… Sorry for taking such a long time to come here, Archsage Iris."
"Hm? Oh, you finally come. What took you so long to come here?"
"I ran into six groups of bandits during my journey from the Solar Village to this place, so I have to deal with all of them."
"That's just like you. Even 30 years had already passed, you still live your life under the name of 'Hero of Justice' in every way."
"Haha… Giving a compliment to someone who's already over 50 wouldn't do much, Iris."
"Well… If you are already over 50, what about me?"
"Oh, I forgot, Iris. You had been living since even before the time of War of the God III, so you must be at least over 150…"
"… It's rude to speak about a woman's age, especially in front of her face, don't you know?"
"Oh! I… I am sorry! I… I didn't mean that…"
"Sigh… Didn't Fenrir tell you about this?"
"Fenrir… I haven't seen her for several years… The last time we met each other was… Over half a year ago… But she's the chancellor of Shadowlost Territory, while I am the Dojo Master of Solar Village Dojo… It couldn't be helped…"
"…"
"Actually, Fenrir didn't want to become the chancellor of the Shadowlost Territory, but… You know… If it wasn't for her, Shadowlost Territory wouldn't be able to be found, so she is hailed as the Heroine of Shadowlost, and thus, she couldn't refuse their plea to stay with them in the Shadowlost Territory… And so, we must part…"
"… What about your sons?"
"… As the successor to the role of Hero of Dark type, Fenrir Jr. decided to go and live with his mother while his younger brother, Ridley, being the successor to the role of Hero of Fighting type, decided to stay with me instead."
"..."
"Also, a few months ago, Fenrir Jr. came to Solar Village to pay a visit to his old man. It seems like he came to visit me after attaining to Garland's son's Successor Ceremony."
"…"
"Anyway, Iris, what do you want to speak to me about? You sent a message to me that there's something urgent that you need to discuss with me, and I am sure that it isn't just a little reminiscent of the past, right?"
"Right… First… You said that your son came and visit you a few months ago… Did he bring you a word about your wife?"
"About Fenrir? Of course. While it's just a normal stuff, it's nice to hear that my spouse is fine and happy…"
"…"
"Oh! Sorry, Iris. I forgot that your husband... Hawkins, he…"
"It's alright… Let's get back to our conversation… Since you and I are here, Fenrir is still fine in the Shadowlost Territory, and Hawkins… Well… Other than four of us, did you know about what happen to the rest of us?"
"Hm? Well… First, I am sure that Garland is still alive at the Dustorm Empire… But Sharon… She's the first of us that had fallen…"
"Right… It had already been about ten years since the moment of her last breath…"
"And… As far as I know, Zira is still fine in my village, but… Despite trying her best not to show it out, she always feels heartbroken about… Kamui."
"!"
"You know… Zira was separated from Kamui during the Civilusion War, along with her elder son. Even now, we still don't know about Kamui's fate. Wherever he is right now, I hope that he is safe…"
"… You still don't know about… Kamui?"
"Hm? What happen to him?"
"Kamui… He is already dead."
"…Seriously?"
"…A few days ago, Ellisk's elder brother, Lumiere, had arrived at Venturnome City, and he brought us a grave news… from Ellisk."
"From… Ellisk?"
"Ellisk's message mentioned that Kamui was kidnapped and being used as experimental specie in the lab of Republic of Civilight… Before he was defeated and freed from his torment."
"How could it be? Zira… She would surely grieve over her loss…"
"But at least, her elder son, as well as Ellisk's daughter, had managed to escaped from Republic of Civilight… However… Ellisk also mentioned that… By the time this message reached me, he was afraid that he would already have joined Kamui…"
"Ellisk too? That reminds me… A few months ago, there was a civil war occurred in the Queendom of Riverbrine, and at the end… Nyxier…"
"Right. Like Ellisk, Kamui, Sharon and Hawkins, Nyxier is already dead."
"This means that five of us have already fallen…"
"…I am afraid to say that it isn't just five."
"Pardon? Don't tell me that…"
"… After hearing such grave news like this, I decided to check on the rest of us… And what I discovered… What nothing but news that empowers the grief within my heart…"
"…"
"… Joshua, Magnus and Leonel are all already dead."
"!"
"Like you, I was shocked when I learn that Joshua, Magnus and Leonel had already fallen too…"
"… Joshua, Ellisk, Magnus, Leonel, Nyxier, Kamui, Sharon and Hawkins are all dead… And… Except for Sharon, all of them had fallen within these recent months… This isn't ordinary… There must be something behind this…"
"It seems that we share the same thought, Hero of Justice."
"So, this is why you summon me here, right, Iris?"
"Exactly. Of fourteen of us, eight had already fallen, and only six remain right now, and two of six are you and me."
"Zira is still in Solar Village. Fenrir is still in Shadowlost Territory."
"And Garland is still in Dustorm Empire too."
"Then… What about Tyrus?"
"…That's also one of my concerns too, as right now, Tyrus is the only one of us that I haven't learned of his fate. I haven't known of his whereabouts for several years… After Nyxier became the queen of Queendom of Riverbrine. Is he still alive? Or has he already joined, with our fallen friends? I cannot fathom…"
"…"
"However, I'm having a much bigger concern right now, and it's the main reason why I summon you today."
"And what is it?"
"…The death of my beloved husband, Pontifex Hawkins Gale-norval the Lugia."
"!"
"Tell me, my dear friend, how much do you know about… his demise?"
"Hm… The only thing I know is that he was killed in the desert of Dustorm Empire during his journey back from Garland's son's Succession Ceremony."
"…This is as much as normal people would know…"
"… Does that mean that you know more about Hawkins' death?"
"Don't you see something strange about this, my friend?"
"Something strange? Hm… Now that you mention it… As far as I know, Hawkins is a Lugia, which is, like you, Iris, a Legendary Pokemon. Unlike us an ordinary Pokemon, a Legendary Pokemon would stay powerful, even a millennium has passed, unlike me who will only become weaker after my prime year has passed. Also… Hawkins is one of the strongest among us…"
"Exactly. It's not easy… Actually, it's VERY HARD to take down a powerful Pokemon like Hawkins, and we still haven't counted the fact that Hawkins was escorted by several finest soldiers of Theocracy of Venturnome yet, and all of those soldiers were, along with Hawkins, found as corpses alongside Hawkins' lifeless body too…"
"And don't forget that he also carried the Blood of Legend as the Hero of Flying type within his veins too."
"… Actually… My friend, I am sure that you don't know this, but by the time Hawkins was killed, his Power of Legend was already ceased to exist."
"What does that mean?"
"You know, Hawkins and I only have one child, and he is going to be the successor of my title as the Hero of Psychic type, not Hawkins' title as the Hero of Flying type, so someone else would succeed his title instead. However, Hawkins had sensed that that person was currently in Dustorm City of Dustorm Empire just before he left for Dustorm Empire, and he told me that he intended to give his Power of Legend, as well as his title as the Hero of Flying type, to that person during his visit to Dustorm Empire, and thus, with this, Hawkins wouldn't possess the Power of Legend after he had left Dustorm City… Which also includes his final moment."
"But still… He is a Legendary Pokemon, and he was guarded by several soldiers."
"Yes. With all of this, it's impossible for someone to kill Hawkins… Unless…"
"Unless?"
"… First, a single warrior whose power exceeds Hawkins would have a chance to defeat him… Such as… the one who carries the Blood of Legend in their veins."
"That's impossible, Iris. There's no way that a Hero/ine of Legend would ever kill one of their kind."
"… Hero of Justice, don't you remember the words that Fenrir always said to us?"
"The story of living creature's existence is truly not fathomable? Sure, I remember, but still…"
"…Then let's just leave it for now… Because… Other than a single but powerful warrior, there's yet another way to defeat Hawkins; a combination of several forces."
"Do you mean… Several people cooperate in fighting Hawkins and his guards?"
"Right. Regardless of how strong a single warrior is, if the number they have to face is beyond their power, there would always be a chance for them to fall into their death."
"But Hawkins and those guards were killed in the desert of Dustorm Empire. In such an isolated place like that, the only group of several people that Hawkins had to deal with that I can think of is the group of bandit, which I doubt that they would be able to match Hawkins' might, and… The one that they have to deal with isn't just Hawkins. They have to deal with his professional soldiers too, so, unless it's a group that consists of more than a hundred people, I doubt they would be able to take down Hawkins and his soldiers. And even if that's true… A group that consists of over a hundred people going around the desert without being noticed… That's kind of out of the question..."
"That's also what I was thinking."
"Sigh… In the end, we still haven't learned anything…"
"Yes, this thought was also mine too… Until I found this."
"Hm?"
"… When I discovered Hawkins' lifeless body in the middle of the Dustorm Desert, I carefully check his body in order to find as much clue as possible in order to investigate about his death, and this is what I found. Several of this was stuck on Hawkins' body."
"Hm? This is… a scale?"
"Yes, a brown scale."
"Hm… This scale is rough and tough… I think it belongs to a reptilian Pokemon…"
"And as you may know, Hawkins is a Lugia. He isn't a kind of Pokemon that has these scales cover his body, let alone brown scales. And none of those soldiers who accompany Hawkins is a kind of Pokemon who would have a scale-covered body too."
"Hm… If this scale does belong to neither Hawkins nor those soldiers… Wait, could it be that this scale belongs to the one who murders Hawkins?"
"There's a high possibility of your statement, my friend."
"Then, first, we must find what kind of Pokemon this scale belongs to. If we discover this, it would be much easier to track down the murderer."
"Yes, and I actually already did that."
"Really? Tell me."
"However, I couldn't identify which kind of Pokemon this scale belongs to due to lack of detail from just a couple scales, but at least, it's enough for me to say that this scale belongs to a Dragon type Pokemon."
"A Dragon type Pokemon? Hm… I couldn't tell if this is good news or not… Sure, there are only handful Dragon type Pokemon on the continent of Symmetria, but since there are only handful Dragon type Pokemon, it won't be easy to track down them…"
"Yes, and next…"
"Hm? Isn't this the map of Dustorm Empire? And what's this red mark on the map? Is it the spot where Hawkins' lifeless body was found?"
"Exactly."
"Now that I have seen it… This spot located almost at the eastern edge of Dustorm Empire. It's just right beside the region of inaccessible valley to the east of Dustorm Empire. As far as I know, this spot is considered to be one of the most remote spots on the continent of Symmetria. This part of Dustorm Desert is also the harshest. There's not even a single settlement here because there's no hope for life to flourish there."
"And because it's one of the most remote spots on the continent of Symmetria, Hawkins decided to choose this route for his journey because he had no wish to frighten the other Pokemon with his appearance. You know, Hawkins is a Lugia, and a Lugia's appearance is a bit scary for someone who has seen it for the first time…"
"But again, being a remote route, it would be easy for someone to ambush them without being noticed by anyone, and thus there will be no witness of their action, making it becomes harder for us to investigate any further. Wait a minute… If someone was able to ambush Hawkins, they would have to know which route Hawkins would take during his journey…"
"I know what you mean, Hero of Justice, but other than Hawkins and the soldiers who accompanies him, the only one that know about Hawkins' route is me, as we spoke about this in our private room, so it's impossible for someone to eavesdrop to us, and I doubt that Hawkins would tell anyone else about this."
"So, this leave with only two choices, either the one who killed Hawkins was happening to be around there by any chance or they have run into him…"
"'Was happening to be around there by any chance'? What would something doing in that place? The only thing around there was a scorching desert where life couldn't even hope to flourish and an inaccessible valley… Wait, the inaccessible valley…"
"…Inaccessible Valley, the easternmost region of Dustorm Empire, and the 'Pole of Inaccessibility' of the continent of Symmetria, is known as the most enigmatic place on the continent of Symmetria, as it's completely inaccessible by any mean, except for the opening hole in the roofing of the mountain that formed above the whole area of this valley, which was always covered in a thick mist, which makes flying through it without crashing into the rock almost impossible."
"…"
"However, just before you came here, I did a little investigation at the inaccessible valley again and… At the mountain range that bordered Fireview Kingdom and the region of Inaccessible Valley, there was… a huge opening."
"Are you sure?"
"Without doubt. The last time I went there was a week before Hawkins' schedule to return from Dustorm Empire. I was passing there to visit Leonel, Nyxier and Fenrir, and I am sure that I haven't seen that big hole in the mountain range before."
"… Without doubt, the one who killed Hawkins must try to take a refuge in that place. They think that they could escape from their guilt by hiding in a place, but they could never escape from the eyes of JUSTICE!"
"Calm down, Hero of Justice. I know how you feel, but—"
"There's no way for me to calm down, Iris. Right now, the injustice is trying to rule over the world again, and they even dare to murder the Hero of Legend who's the guardian of the World of Pokemon! I can't let them go unpunished. I must bring that scum of the world down to the way of justice!"
"W… What had gotten into you?"
"Iris, I will go and investigate that place immediately. Once I found that scum, I will bring him back to justice, and I swear that I will do it no matter what!"
"Hold on a minute, friends. Don't you think that you are acting quite a bit too… impulsive?"
"It doesn't matter! Iris, think about it. The one they killed, Hawkins Gale-norval the Lugia, is not only the former Hero of Legend, but he is also the Pontifex of Theocracy of Venturnome! The one who killed him didn't only get rid of the Hero of Legend, but they also did the regicide! This is absurd, and I won't tolerate this any further!"
"What you say may be true, Hero of Justice, however, we still don't know if what we think is true or not. The one who killed Hawkins may not be hiding in the Inaccessible Valley, and even if what we think is true, we still don't know anything about the person who killed Hawkins and his soldiers, so going into their lair without any plan would be suicide!"
"… Are you going to let the one who killed Hawkins go unpunished, Iris? Are you going to let the one who killed the former Hero of Legend, the Pontifex of Theocracy of Venturnome, and YOUR HUSBAND, go unpunished, Iris! Think, Iris!"
"…"
"But still, like you say, it's too risky if I go alone… So, I will need someone else to aid me… Iris, I want you to stay here and take care of things… if I happen to befall to the foul beast that plagues the world with injustice."
"Hero of Justice!"
"Of course, I won't let it happen. I will not let myself fall by the hand of injustice, but I will be the one who purges the world from the foul path of injustice in the name of justice!"
"Wait, Hero of Justice, where are you going?! Wait, come back! Do not go! Come back, Rucas!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Sigh… What have I done? I thought that calling him here would be a way to solve this problem, but… Why did I feel… so bad? I feel like I have made a terrible mistake… that would cause a great pain… Oh… What should I do, Hawkins? If you are still here, what would you do? I… I don't know what to do anymore… All I can do right now... Is praying for your safety. Please be safe, Rucas."
To Be Continued…
Dragon of Vale: Again, sorry for another long hiatus, as I haven't fully recovered from the writer's block yet, but here Tail 6-6, which turns out to be one of the longest chapters that I have written, and it also contains some of the most important detail of this story too…
Anyway, I still don't know how long before I would be able to finish the next chapter, but there's one thing that I am sure, and that's I will not abandon this story, not matter what, but how long until this story reaches its last chapter, I can't say…