Watcher of Arceus

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-X-This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

~xXx~ This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

"Human Speech" 'Character Thought' {Pokémon Speech}

Co-author: Catsithx

The following is a total and complete Reboot of the story "Watcher of Arceus".

~xXx~

Chapter 54 : Sarah's Decision

What Sarah had hoped to be a relaxing talk quickly devolved into a shouting match.

On the one side was her father. Joseph was dead set on taking complete control of Sarah's life to fix everything that she had done in the past two years. He had never really approved of Sarah's foolish decision to take up a pokemon journey but had only relented because of his wife back then, who had tried to assure him that it would teach her valuable lessons along the road. That this journey would be a good thing and give her personal experience with the world, to see it and come to a decision of who she really wanted to be.

He made it very clear that Sarah was far from an adult, that she had tossed away years of work on a foolish dream of pokemon, and would be coming back home with him without question. She would be going directly to college under his direct super vision, and would not be doing anything without his express permission until such a time that Sarah could be trusted to make her own decisions. And just to top it off and be sure he was in control to fix her, his demands included giving away anything pokemon related, to a donation center not in Hoenn to make sure that there was no temptation about it.

On the other side was her mother. Angela didn't exactly know what to think about the story of how there was so much more to the world then just Arceus, of how all the legendary pokemon were connected to each other, or even the thought of Arceus being The World Mother. While she had always been supportive of Sarah's decision about a journey, she had hoped that Sarah would always come back home, and put her future ahead of her travels someday.

She was attempting to understand Sarah's decisions, but with Joseph interrupting constantly, not being sure what to think about Suicune and how easily she was talking, and all of the talk of Sarah not returning home because it was too dangerous, she was lost in many ways. The massive shift in what she had thought was a deep religious understanding of the world only complicated things even more adding to her own mood. The nearly two years of growing problems between herself and Joseph over their daughter, and Joseph's clear intent to throw it all away and try to only take care of Sarah now strained things more and more.

Caught in the middle of all of this was of Sarah, trying to explain her decisions, of how her life had changed and she felt for the better, and her confident choice to stick to the path that she had chosen. Suicune was doing her best to try and explain things, to help keep things calm, but there was no helping things now. The culmination of almost ten years of problems ever since Sarah had started her pokemon journey were now pouring out in full, and one of the rangers rushing through the main entrance of the gardens mentioning something about the Knights of Arceus and more trouble was the breaking point.

"Where is everyo-... Suicune, Sarah, Xent! We got issues relating to the Knights again, big ones." The ranger half yelled out just assuming that anyone sitting with them had to already know.

"Where's th-" The Ranger quickly continued before Suicune raised up a ribbon.

"Apologies, but we are busy with personal matters. Dahlia can assist you, in the main chambers." Suicune tried to stated, but Joseph just had enough.

"What do you mean issues with some Knights? Is that this terrorist organization whose been trying to threaten us!" Joseph yelled out at the ranger trying to interrupt Suicune, but already the ranger was running down the path. Without an answer, Joseph had had entirely enough though and rapidly snatched Sarah's pokedex that she had been trying to show him some images on before the ranger had interrupted.

In one angry grab on pure impulse before Sarah could even feel his intent, her pokedex was already on the floor with a loud thud, and then a small smash of glass as Joseph's boot came down hard on it.

"See! This is what you get you stupid woman! I'll have you all arrested for endangering my daughter and sabotaging her life!" Joseph screamed at the top of his lungs at Angela. "She's coming home with me before an-" He went to continue shouting, but Xent was done trying to talk. With Sarah's smashed pokedex on the ground under his boot getting kicked into the water now, Xent was already over the table, and tackled Joseph away from the table.

"S-stop!" Sarah tried to call out, but Joseph was already recovering even if he was in pain, trying to pin Xent and planted a firm punch into Xent's stomach, getting another hard fist to his face from Xent who seemed not to care about his own pain right now.

Angela was knocked over in the rush to try and get up to defend herself from Joseph's verbal assault, but watching Xent just vault over the table even with just one arm shocked her and she toppled back to not get caught in whatever was happening. At first, it seemed Xent was clearly out matched with Joseph having his full strength and both of his arms to work with compared to Xent's current condition. Joseph was attempting to pin Xent down, but Xent didn't let up.

Even with Joseph's firm grip on his arm and being unable to pry himself free while taking another hit that he couldn't block, he jumped up at Joseph again. Slamming his knee into Joseph's hip to knock him off balance, Xent had intended to throw Joseph to the ground and was knocking them both over now before ribbons wrapped around both of them.

"You will both stop this at once!" Suicune barked loudly, a very clear order as her ribbons pulling them apart and acting like metal restraints now, unforgiving and unyielding as she squeezed both enough to get their attention.

"Stop! Stop it! Both of you!" Sarah yelled out, rushing up between them now, helping push them both away from each other.

"He had it co-" Xent started, still in a clearly bad mood himself from everything. He struggled a slight bit in Suicune's ribbons, but once he realized who was restraining he slowed down considerably, even if he attempted to keep yelling, before something silenced him entirely.

"Boy, you're going t-" Joseph had tried to yell at the same time, each screaming at the other. Unlike Xent, Joseph was letting everything come out wanting to put all of them in their place now, before a bright blue glow in his face got his attention.

Sarah was standing up between then, a hand and open palm pointing at both of them, a large and clearly potent aura sphere in each hand summoned up, even her gauntlets glowing a bit with one of the aura spheres pointed at each of them.

"Stop it!" Sarah yelled now, the first real time she had yelled like this since Xent had met up with, or even in front of her parents. It was more then enough to get everyone's attention now.

Xent finally stopped struggling and took a breath, wanting to say a slew of insults at Joseph, but bit his lip and bowed his head. "Sorry... I'm sorry." Xent said softly, only to smile some.

"Two aura spheres at once, Joey, I haven't seen many lucarios do that either. Sarah is her own person, you don't own her, no one does." He grinned, knowing that this was a great show of how powerful Sarah was getting, of all of her work paying off now.

"Sarah... you stop these tricks and put that down before you get hurt." Joseph tried to order, but Sarah just glared at him.

"No father... I'm staying here. All I've seen, all I've done in these past two years... I found my place in the world, I've made my choice to do something great with my life. I'm sorry that I had to hide from the world for a while, but these knights would have tried to kill me to get to Thomas, and would have used you to try and torture me." Sarah stated firmly now, just barely lowering her twin aura spheres, but they only seemed to grow in intensity, solidifying entirely without question showing how much power Sarah was using right now.

"I have a gift. This is all my own, its not some trick. I can use Aura, the power of life itself, a gift scarcely seen in humans, but its mine and I have control over it! You always tried to tell me to do the right things, and the right thing is to use this power to help the world. I can use this gift of mine to protect others, to protect myself, to spot lies, read emotions and even intent. Things are changing, and I can't stop that. But I can help make the world a better place, and its my choice to do it. No one can force me to make a different choice now, not even you. You want me to take charge of my life, well I have." Sarah continued, looking at her father, before turning her glare towards Xent some.

"And you Xent... I thought you knew better. I thought you had your anger under control..." Sarah stated, lowering her hands a bit more, the aura sphere still just floating there as she slowly looked down.

"Oh Sarah..." Angela started, finally picking herself up, before moving up to her and just giving her a hug for now. Sarah slowly let her twin aura spheres dissipate, only to move a hand up and quickly stop her mother from speaking when she turned to look at Joseph.

"Please... just no more fighting today." Sarah stated, giving her mother a small quick hug, before letting go of her and taking a few steps back. Turning around, she just nodded lightly to Radara was walking up slowly. As Suicune released Joseph and Xent, Xent picked himself up slowly, but Joseph seemed stuck, not even able to talk as something stood him up.

"I... I need some time to myself." Sarah said slowly, Suicune getting off her bench.

"Let me take you to a spot away from the others for now. I know a place that will give you some privacy." Suicune stated, her ribbons on Sarah's shoulders some, before sparing a look to Xent.

"Xent... you stay where I can find you. We need to have a talk." Suicune stated, and Xent just nodded, trying to dust himself off.

"Yes mother..." Xent stated, already knowing that he had screwed up, and probably did deserve a thorough talking to.

-x-

Two hours later, Xent was back to his usual clothing. Walking slowly with Suicune to where Sarah was, he had the remains of Sarah's pokedex in a tray as he looked over the view of Alto Mare. Sarah was currently sitting on the ground on the roof of the building where Dahlia and Thomas had celebrated their wedding night with their lovers. Her knees to her chest, hands wrapped around them right now, she just sat there on a large pillow. She was sort of just glancing around the city, watching the weather as it slowly got darker, the storm from Johto region coming closer. Now that Xent wasn't distracted by what Dahlia had done to Verna, he had to admit that the this was one hell of a place to come and just sit in peace, and could only image how it looked under the moon, or even on a clear day.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want Xent's apology right now... I... I-i don't want to talk about that right now." Sarah stated softly, rubbing her eyes a bit as the two of them approached.

"I took the chance to record it, so its there whenever your ready to hear. I sent it to that backup pokephone you have right now." Xent said slowly, coming up and carefully leaning down to set the tray next to Sarah.

"Sorry, but there's nothing to save here. Two years of abusive conditions without a proper mechanic, and all the trouble we've had trying to deal with things, the wear and tear added up." Xent explained, moving the pieces around some.

"The motherboard is barely functional, if it even still works, the external memory stick was snapped in two different places, and the onboard memory chip was dented and I'm not sure if you can get to it without breaking it. Latios took a look at it, but he doesn't think that he can do anything with it. Maybe if he had more understanding of modern technologies and digital memory applications, but there's nothing he can do right now and he's not sure saving it for a future project would even let him salvage anything. Just... thought you needed to know." Xent explained, letting her see the damage.

"I am sorry that I could not do more for you Sarah. And I am sorry to ask for your presence in the museum. Latias and Latios have requested all of us to join them there." Suicune added, Sarah slowly getting up.

"Can we just... sneak past my parents right now. They are still raging and want to attack each other. I can't stay in the middle of it right now." Sarah asked, and Suicune nodded.

"Would you like Dahlia or Radara to teleport us to the museum?" Suicune asked.

"If they would please... I just can't look at them right now, not with them so angry. I... I don't know what happened, but I can't stop from feeling their anger at each other right now." Sarah said slowly, glancing a little at the remains of her pokedex, before nodding. Radara quickly teleported to them. Radara gave a glance towards Sarah, following along with the conversation, but just stayed silent as they all got close.

There was a bright flash and then the four of them were in the museum again, in the chamber with the D.M.A. As they entered however, things were changing. Latias and Latios were around the base of the D.M.A. and the pillars that had surrounded the machine were lowering into the floor as if just fading away.

Thomas, Dahlia, Rayquaza, Darkrai, Entie, Lugia, Palkia, and Mewtwo were all present in the main chamber, just standing back as the pillars were fading into the floor, all clearly waiting for something. Ho-oh was there as well, but seemed occupied, with her back turned towards the machine as it started up, uninterested in much else, aside from viewing some various pieces of artwork on the wall. Suicune even gently put her ribbons around Sarah and Xent's waists, gently keeping them at her sides for the moment when they teleported into one of the corners of the room.

A large group of rangers were currently in the room with Morag and a dozen other lucarios all keeping everyone else out, but there were clearly a few people who stood out in the crowd, waiting to be let in after a bit. Rebecca and Mana were once more wearing kimonos and helping the crowd away from the machine and legendaries, and there were even a few people in aura guardian outfits now as well, keeping the large crowd under control. Even Verna and Zai were there helping out the rangers and lucarios to keep the others out of the room.

Curator Johnson and Mayor Ashe were perhaps the two most recognized people of Alto Mare at the front of the crowd that had gathered, although Sarah and Xent easily recognized Andrew right beside them. There were also a few priests at the front of the crowd, each of these selective people accompanied by a lucario waiting to let them through. Perhaps the most excited person there though was an older overly excited child, a younger teenager who had to be almost restrained by a gardevoir to keep them standing away from the legendaries and the work that they were doing.

As the pillars surrounding the machine finally finished sinking away, Latias quickly flew up to its base, setting down a small box and taking out a sphere from within, setting it on a pedestal near the base while Latios flew over to some circles on the ground. The machine began to twist around, the sphere on the top of the machine quickly coming down to the ground, and then a hatch opened up revealing a seat of kind while a staircase formed from the floor up to.

"You want to do this?" Thomas asked Dahlia, but Dahlia just shook her head.

"No, I'll let you handle this." Dahlia stated even as she moved up with Thomas. Offering him a hand to climb into the sphere through the hatch that had opened up, Thomas sat down into the seat as some rings rose up from floor around Latios. The rings circled around Latios as his eyes began to glow bright, letting it happen. As Dahlia stepped back, the machine quickly began to move, spinning around as Thomas began looking over things inside the control mechanism.

"Stand out of the doorways, I'm sealing the room!" Thomas called out, and the gardevoir had to yank the teenage boy back while the lucarios each stepped out of the doorway itself, while Morag and a few others stepped further into the room.

A few seconds later, what looked like crystalline wires came up out of the floor almost like vines, growing over every window and passage in and out of the room. These crystalline vines grew and wove themselves into various patterns over the passage way, forming bars and then blooming large crystal flowers over any notable gaps.

Even more, dozens of holographic images began to appear around the room, Latias flying from screen to screen as some of the other legendary pokemon joined in, looking over the images as well. Even Mewtwo actually seemed to show major interest in things for once as far as Xent could tell. It was also a help for Sarah who seemed to show some interest in well, finally having a distraction from the problems of her parents.

With every passage closed up, the control unit quickly dropped back to the ground, Thomas there with a dozen holographic screens moving from in front of him to his sides. "Everything is ready for use here. No anomalies detected. The Water Plate that mother gave you for the city is a little dusty though. Would you like me to clean it?" Thomas asked.

Latias quickly flew up and handed Thomas a rag from a toolbox she had brought with her, before flying back to the center of the machine.

Thomas got up and turned, lifting the seat aside some, and doing something, as Dahlia came up to the machine, looking in. "Looks like you handled that well. We ready to show it off to the city?" Dahlia asked.

"As soon as Latias finishes the changes." Thomas replied.

'Almost done! Just need to let the changes update through the city now. Only someone with our mother's blood can use the core machine now, but me and Latios will isolate the hologram system so members of the city counsel and our speakers can give announcements and sermons. We'll do a test run of it this evening, and then show it off in full for the Tour de Alto Mare tomorrow!' Latias replied, before flying up to the control unit and nodding to Thomas as he handed back the rag. Thomas sat back, and another hologram appeared in front him as he sat back, and with a simple hand motion, a number of the crystal vines at the main entrance to the room sunk back into the floor.

With that, Dahlia moved back to the main entrance of the room. "We are ready for the demonstration." Dahlia stated, giving a small bow. Curator Johnson, Mayor Ashe, Andrew, a few priests, and the rest of the lucarios all entered the room now. The lucarios all moved around the room staying along the outer edge to stay out of the way, while Morag, Mana, and Rebecca guided the guests up.

"This is an... impressive machine." Andrew stated, moving up and looking at Thomas just sitting in the machine, another simple hand motion closing the entrance to the room again.

"Latias and Latios built this all on their own. Our mother gave them her blessing and a few things to help, but its all their work." Thomas stated as he looked to Latios who gave him a nod. Another hand motion, and the rings that been circling around Latios slowed down, before stopping and slotted themselves back into the floor.

While Andrew walked up closer to Thomas though, the others who were let in were guided to the base of the machine by Dahlia, where Latias and Latios were now beginning a talk with them. Even Suicune had let Sarah and Xent go, Xent walking up to Thomas, Sarah slow to follow along.

"Gotta say... pretty impressive work. All that with a hand motion?" Xent asked.

"There's a lot of mental work involved. The hand motions just help us focus a bit and let us run simple commands that were prepared. With training, no hand motions are required, its all just thought. I find it easier with the hand motions though. It lets me tap my electrical abilities into the command module for even more precision control." Thomas replied, Rebecca walking up and Thomas finally noticing her and what she was wearing, a small blush growing on his face. While very similar to the last one that Rebecca had been given in the lucario last year that Rebecca still wore from time to time, this one was more elegant.

A little longer, a bright creamy white in color with streaks of silver, with a golden pattern around her waist and over her back, and emerald accents. It looked a little bit like Arceus herself and Thomas was clearly enjoying himself again.

"Need me to smack or elbow him again to get him to compliment you?" Xent teased, Thomas just giving a small glare.

"You look great Rebeeca. Did Mana give you that?" Thomas asked.

'Yeah! When she got here, she gave me a few more, so I could wear them all the time if I wanted. Well, minus the sandals. I still don't know how she can walk so easily in them. But I have four that were made for everyday use, and two that are ready to even fight in, like this one.' Rebecca smiled, walking up and making sure to slow off the kimono in full now.

"If you wish to wear them all the time, I will not stop." Thomas smiled, already enjoying the two he had seen and wouldn't mind her wearing others.

"You look good Rebecca." Sarah smiled, Rebecca turning to look at her and finally see her aura now that she wasn't focused on helping to keep the others safe.

'Are you oka-' Rebecca started to asking, only for Xent to raise up his hand and shake his head.

"Let's give her some time before you ask that." Xent quickly stated.

"Yes, please avoid the topic of Sarah's personal life right now. When she is ready, we can talk about it." Suicune added, coming up and lightly rubbing Sarah's shoulders again with a soft smile to try and help her.

'I'm sorry.' Rebecca stated, even Thomas looking down some.

"If you want some time alone, I'm sure I can walk you through what's going on here later." Thomas stated.

"No... No, you can start now. I'm... I could use the distraction." Sarah stated as the others just looked at her.

"Are you sure?" Andrew asked, but Sarah quickly nodded.

"Please. I'll talk about it when I'm ready, I just need to do something else right now." Sarah repeated, Thomas nodding.

"Okay then. Latias and Latios have come to the decision that turning on the D.M.A. is the best decision right now. With all the trouble with the Knights, and the thought that maybe a large collective of them are coming here to Alto Mare, they are concerned about the safety of the city and the people. They want to make Alto Mare the center of the legendary culture again, like it was meant to be. Or at least, one of the largest centers." Thomas said.

"And the Tour de Alto Mare is a great way to show it off, and help to get the people use to some changes. The race is a big thing in here Alto Mare, and honestly Latias loves to watch the race, she's been following it for hundreds of years now. This year though, its going to be slightly different. Normally, there's all sorts of camera crews set up around the city and the people watched the event as best they could from these cameras, but the main attraction in the past ten or twenty years was following the race on a map that showed the course and where each of the racers were currently at." Thomas started, before a large screen appeared in front of them.

"This year though, we can use the event to show off some of the ancient technologies of Alto Mare. While the basics of the race will be broadcast normally, anyone present in Alto Mare can instead watch the race on screens like this. Each racer will have their own dedicated screen now, following them all the time. The usual places that normally show the race will still be hosting the events, but tomorrow morning we'll be passing out imitation plates that will serve as remotes of sorts. Any place with one of these plates will have a series of screens set up in their business that morning. When the event begins, it will be the greatest display of the festivities the city will have seen to date." Thomas continued, the screen shifting show dozens of points of the race while a second screen showed a map of the city and began to highlight the race track.

"You sure its a good idea to just go passing these plates around so openly?" Xent asked.

"They'll be one way monitors, only receiving information that is intended to be shared with them. There's already dozens of the built into the walls of every major building, and in major gathering spots. And any attempt to take them out of the city will make them... very loud and impossible to hide. There's already a boundary system in effect from the last time that they were used, and a the test I did already showed it was fully functional." Thomas said, looking around the compartment he was in, before there was a small flash in front of him and a large cobalt blue hexagon plate appeared in front him.

"Oh, thanks Radara." Thomas stated, reaching up and taking the plate. "These things are all over the city already. These are just extras that were intended to be passed out for special events, which can also include the race. Also, tonight I'll be busy with Morag and the Rangers. Instead of the normal barricades that they put up to prepare for the race, we'll be use crystalline barriers like those around the room now. The walkways will be left open, using standard barricades such as large water barrels and chain link walls like normal to let any one who needs to get in do it, but the canals will be blocked off. There will also be hologram arrows at every turn showing the way. It will be a great way for people all over the city to get use to the ancient technologies at work." Thomas continued.

"And then, once its race time, I'll be monitoring everything from in here as well. Its not that different then operating a radio station, just on a much larger scale. Of course, I won't be giving any sports commentary. I will be working with the new stations, attempting to make sure that they have good images for them to follow along with, and attempt to broadcast in addition to their usual cameras and equipment." Thomas explained.

"You're going to be in here while the race is going on? Don't you want to watch?" Sarah asked, looking forward to watching the race.

"To be honest, I'll have the best seat in the house so to speak. Any view I want, I can pull up for myself." Thomas said sitting back, and a dozen screens over the intended race track appeared for him.

He was about to speak again, when there was the sound of crunching wood and tearing cloth, the machine's control unit turning to face the sound where Ho-oh was standing over a painting, her foot having torn it in two.

"Wha- Why!? What are you doing!?" Curator Johnson screamed out as Dahlia rushed up.

"Ho-oh what's... Really? You do know that people enjoyed that piece. There was a lot of work into preserving it. It was a major piece of the museum, there were tens of thousands of people who appreciated the Glow of the Bell Tower." Dahlia stated.

"But I did not. I was always greatly unhappy with this piece. I never should have finished it and just have started over. My technique was flawed and had long wondered where this failure had ended up. I shall do it right this time, as I intended instead of just making do with scraps." Ho-oh stated rather loudly, almost all of the people present going a little slack jawed at the revelation of the unknown painter of the famous image of the Bell Tower of Ecruteak City.

"You really didn't have to destroy that piece. You could have kept it, let it sit as a sign of how much your technique improved over a millennia." Thomas stated, a hologram of the shattered painting on the floor, as well as a copy of when it had been hanging up in the museum appearing on either side of him looking over the damages.

"It was mine to do with as I pleased, and I despised it. With our new emergence among the humans, I shall eventually take up the brush again, and this time I shall do so without scraps. The tools of the current age shall allow me to paint it as I intended, should I choose to repaint the horrid mockery." Ho-oh stated, shaking the scraps of the painting off her foot.

Verna had just rushed up to Dahlia's side looking over the painting. 'I really enjoyed that piece! It was a wonderful view of the Bell Tower, one the best pieces showing off its splendor in a time before the city of Ecruteak grow so large around it!' Verna gasped out, kneeling over the remains of the painting, but it clicked what Ho-oh had said.

'Wait! You painted this?' Verna asked in shock looking up at Ho-oh.

"You... you're the unnamed painter?" Curator Johnson stated slowly.

"As you can see Ho-oh... You really didn't have to destroy that painting. People liked the work you do." Thomas sighed, just slowly shaking his head.

"Yep... yep, definitely an artist. Hates anything she makes..." Xent sighed loudly, also shaking his head a little.

"Any piece I had intended to keep was properly marked, with the symbol of my rainbow feathers within a golden circle, always in the lower left hand side." Ho-oh stated, looking over the others, before focusing in on Curator Johson.

"This trash however was never meant to be passed on. I have no idea why I bothered to finish it, and when I had finally decided to get rid of it, it was missing. I can only assume that it had been stolen, and had hoped that it would not be seen again. To think that it would disgrace such a highly regarded establishment. Your halls of artwork are better off without it." Ho-oh stated.

Thomas just held his head in his hands some though, before turning back to face the others. "I feel the need to apologize for this massive misunderstanding." Thomas said as he climbed out of the control unit.

"Do not apologize on my behalf brother." Ho-oh quickly stated as he got out though, debating giving him a hard peck to his head.

~xXx~

News of what was happening and planned for tomorrow events, and such things like Ho-oh being a painter who was apparently the unknown artist of quite a few extremely well known paintings made for an interesting night in Alto Mare. A few people even tried to challenge the claims of Ho-oh being such a skilled artist, just not to her face or so these critics had thought. Her hearing was far better than these critics in the museum could have guessed, and she quickly spent the night gathering materials just to shut them up, immediately starting on a painting.

Verna of course jumped at the chance to see Ho-oh work, and was even heavily overjoyed by the aspect of posing for Ho-oh. Ho-oh had wanted a painting of both Verna and Dahlia, something to remember Dahlia by in future lives, a chance to show off the happiness of Dahlia one last time. Ho-oh had Verna take up several different poses at different angles for reference while painting, before finally settling on one at last. It took nearly an hour for Ho-oh to capture Verna enough to be happy, to commit the details to memory. Ho-oh needed no reference for Dahlia, knowing exactly how to capture her in a painting already from tens of thousands of years of memories to draw upon, but despite that, Ho-oh had smashed three attempts before finally settling on one at last.

Thomas had spent the evening helping the city get ready for the Tour de Alto Mare, setting up walls in the canals to isolate the race track as well as setting up hologram arrows to guide the racers through the canals. He had taken some extra time to even make sure that all of the crystalline walls he was putting up were rather nicely decorated as well, thousands of various crystal flowers woven into the designs. The intent was to make them look nice and gentle, a way to show them off without making them look imposing or scary so that people would hopefully have an easier time getting use to them.

Latias and Latios were busy that evening as well. Latias had her first proper debut on the news, helping Mayor Ashe with the first news broadcast of the hologram system. While the holograms were only broadcast in major gathering spots and outside city buildings as the initial test run to help the people get use to them, there was overwhelming support for the systems to expand, and almost everyone was asking how to get the holograms to show up in their homes.

Latios was busy at work with the event staff however, adding a simple modification to each of the racing floats. A crystal shard was being set in each one to give the ancient technologies of the city something to track easily. Setting up a system to track each float was easy, just time consuming, but the staff were all eager to work with Latios as he explained how the things work to the engineers.

Xent had wanted to help Sarah some more, but having already promised a night with Zai, he kept his word and spent the night with Zai even if his mistake trying to help Sarah weighed heavily on him. It wasn't until Verna came up when she was finished posing and talked with them both that Verna made a good point.

As Verna set down a tray of food for Xent and Zai to enjoy in the museum, both of them watching Ho-oh start a new painting, Verna just leaned in close to Zai. 'I know that you really want Xent's cub Zai...' Verna smiled, making Xent blush hard suddenly, almost spitting out the wine that Dahlia had given the two of them for their little date.

'I've been talking with Dahlia a lot, and she tells me that you can't carry his cub... But Sarah could. She could carry his young that you can raise with them both, just like a pack would.' Verna grinned, Zai slowly starting to grin at the thought, worrying Xent a bit.

-x-

Sarah had chosen to avoid her parents for the rest of night, only talking to them in the morning while everyone was getting ready for the Tour de Alto Mare. It didn't go any better the second time with Joseph who once more was only interested in doing it his way, and had to be removed from the gardens and jailed for a day to let him attempt to give him a second chance to calm down.

Angela also gave her daughter some space too, and instead of watching the race, got a meeting with Ho-oh and Darkrai who didn't care for the event, taking the chance to teach her about the words of the World Mother while Ho-oh continued her painting of Verna and Dahlia even without them present. It was a very rare chance for her to get some personal lessons of the world, expanding her views of how Arceus had truly meant for the world to be.

Xent having talked with Suicune and Dahlia decided that taking Sarah on a date to see the race, not there to help but to enjoy it would be a good thing. Suicune even talked her into not restraining her aura as Xent made arrangements to pay for everything, not accepting hand outs at all for being a guest of Latias and Latios, and made sure to pay in full for everything.

All of the excitement, the positive and eager feelings going on though did help Sarah as she wasn't focused on her parents and the hatred they had for each other. It was enough to convince her to try and have fun today, to accept that break that was given to her.

A dozen trainers had been approved for the race today, all of them well known trainers from the surrounding regions like Johto and the Orange Islands. A bit of a larger than usual group, but with the special event with this being the first public event that Latias and Latios were actively taking part in, the race was a bit of a bigger then usual one.

As the event was building up, the holograms were now on full display detailing the race course today, and going over the racers. Every major gathering spot in the city was nearly standing room only and eagerly watching the holograms now, and all the bars, restaurants, and shops that had gotten plates to show off the race in their business were packed, not a single empty seat left in any of them.

All through Alto Mare, everyone who wanted to watch the race had plenty of places to do it now, and when it finally came time for the race, everyone was cheering. Twelve hologram screens were now the center of attention in all of the gathering places throughout Alto Mare, each one focusing on a racer and a map was in the corner showing their place on the track for each one.

The excitement was enough to even help calm Sarah down fully now, and then it only got stronger once the lights started. Once the race started though, excitement was all Sarah could feel now. The entirety of the race was a show for all and with Thomas in the D.M.A., everyone could watch every second of it.

Xent just did what he could to try and make it up to Sarah as the race went on, and it seemed like she had enjoyed herself the whole time, even giving a few smiles as the racers did their best, and cheering some. As the racers rounded the last corner, the three front runners were giving it their all to take the prize this year. As they rushed down the last straight away towards the finish line, the rest of the racers were rounding the corner.

Sarah was now fully enjoying herself, and Xent had to pull her back from almost falling over the railing in her own excitement, just barely managing to see the last second rush by one of the other racers. Rushing to close the gap, it was a massive twist when the three front runners were passed just before the finish line. A rush of cheers over took the entire city at the last second finish and a replay quickly showed it off again for everyone to watch.

The gathering around the stage and winner's podium was a sight to behold, Latias there and just enjoying everything. The entire city was over joyed to have Latias hand out the glass medallion this year, and while there were dozens of trainers of awe of the sight of Latias, any one who might have tried to cause trouble was already removed.

The winner of the race almost turned the medallion however, just asking for a chance to pat Latias on the head, Latias almost crushing him when she tried to jump into his lap, eager to be so accepted earning quite a laugh from everyone.

As the even came to a close though, Xent was just walking back to the gardens with Sarah as she was thinking a few things over.

"You feel better yet?" Xent asked.

"Yeah... Yeah I needed this." Sarah said softly.

"I... I guess I'm ready to hear your apology now." Sarah added after a few minutes as they walked through the walls back into the garden.

Xent quickly took a solid gulp of his drink, and then cleared his threat. "Sarah Sigil... I, Xent Crostavia, owe you a proper apology for my actions. It was not my decision to make, to assault your father. Despite his attitude, his words, and his threats, it was not my place to act out. I was suppose to only be there to support you, to be proof of the danger, and proof of the good that you could do in making your decisions. I should never have acted as my old self would have years ago, but I couldn't just... stay seated with him calling you out like that. No father should ever make those kinds of decisions for their daughter, to try and control their life to that degree. His actions were wrong, I cannot see him as a father to anyone, but I must take responsibility for my own actions first. I acted rashly, harshly, and without restraint, making a decision that I should never have been allowed to take." Xent stated, clearly drawing upon the apology that Thomas had given him a few years ago, just after they had helped Dahlia free herself from the knights at Xanado Nursery.

"My actions are my own, and they have possibly broken your family, something I may never be able to help you repair. I am fully prepared to accept the punishment of your choosing for my wrongful choices, and when you are prepared to choose my punishment, I will not argue." Xent stated slowly standing back up now.

Sarah merely listened, and let him speak, waiting for him to finish before speaking herself. "No Xent... I don't think you ruined my family. I think that there were always problems with my family, and I was just too hopeful to see them, that I could just ignore them. You didn't help solve anything, but... but I can't blame you for tearing my family apart. My father would have... would have kept trying to do that anyway, trying to control me." Sarah sighed loudly, slowly turning back around.

"Xent, we'll figure this out later, but for now, there's a few things I need to do. Alone please." Sarah stated, moving to set what things she had with her on the stone wall beside them. "I just... I need to do this now before..." Sarah said and Xent just nodded.

"Do what you need to, without me interrupting. I'll put the drinks and food away." Xent stated, carefully looking around and wondering he was even going to carry the trays that they had with him all at once, before realizing that he would easily have to make multiple trips.

~xXx~

Ranger Danny walked with Sarah into the isolated cell block, Sarah moving up to see her father again who still hadn't calmed down. "Finally come to your senses?" Joseph half snapped at Sarah as she walked up.

"I'm staying here and you can't change my mind. They'll let you out in an hour at my personal request, on the conditions that accept the flight back to Cherrygrove City. What you do after that is up to you, but you're not welcome here in Alto Mare anymore. If you ever want to talk politely, after accepting that I am my own person, you can do it over the phone. I'll leave a number with Danny for you in a few days." Sarah stated firmly, still feeling the rage of his aura as he practically got up and rushed the bars.

"I will not have you throw your life away on some stupid quest! I did not raise my daughter-" Joseph started, only for Sarah to summon another aura sphere between her hands, this time without her training gauntlets, it solidifying quickly. She just held it there between her hands for a few, letting its light shine over both of them.

"You can't stop me father. I've made my choice, and I have the strength of mind and body to stick to my choices. Thomas... Mew, the legendary pokemon, Xent and all the others. I'm not going to abandon them. They need my help right now, and I'm going to commit to helping them. You can't take my pokemon away, and you can't take this away." Sarah stated firmly, holding up the aura sphere.

"No amount of yelling, swearing, screaming at me... making demands of me will change that. I'm giving you the chance to walk away peacefully. The plane leaves in an hour and thirty minutes, give or a take a few minutes. Your bags have already been sent there to be loaded up. You'll have an escort the whole time." Sarah stated, letting her aura sphere dissipate now, before just walking away, leaving her father to just yell and scream, even pound the bars as she walked away.