Watcher of Arceus - Path of the Immortal

by The Shadow Master of Weapons

Watchers, the direct descendants of Arceus herself, sets of twins born with her power. Born in pairs, these twins were meant to bridge the gap that had come between humans and pokémon, one a gifted human, born beside a pokémon. Inseparable immortal twins, the godchildren wandered the world. But now, a single pair remains. Full summary inside. Reboot of Watcher of Arceus.

21. Chapter 21 : A Rush Order Visit

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 21 : A Rush Order Visit

Thomas was quick to set a pace, leading the way back along the same path that he had taken with Sarah to reach the temple in the first place. The cave passage gave them all the cover they need to hide at first, and then as heavily wooded as the path was on the other side of the cave, it was easy to hide under the trees and go entirely unnoticed. Trying to be mostly quiet, there was no other mention of the knights along the way, despite Xent trying to demand answers repeatedly from him.

Thomas was still a bit unnerved about all things now, and even partially about Mewtwo and his ideas on how to solve problems, and of course how things would only get more complicated. They had his picture now, so surely soon enough they would be contacting his parents and who knows what they would tell him, so the only choice he could see no matter was to give his side of the story first.

With his own problems though, he just worked on ignoring Xent, and Radara was now starting to answer his questions, which unnerved Xent for a bit at first, but as the two continued to talk, Xent quickly got over it, if not entirely over his anger. Radara had done her own search through his head, partially unwanted by Xent, but done none the less to see just what all was forced in his head.

There was a lot of annoyed you already know that or similar answers from Radara and Xent was just having issues accepting what was going on. Of course, having watched Thomas personally fry the phones taken from the knights proved a few things, but it didn't really help. They only made a small stop for lunch once more at the same ranger station from the trip there, and only then did Mewtwo agree that they were not being followed and allowed himself to take a rest in his pokeball.

Knowing that it would be late by the time that they arrived in Olivine City, and Thomas having made the comment that they needed a place to possibly bunker down for the night, Xent offered a secure place that would let them bunker down easily.

With nothing better to do, and attempting to show something of trust to try and ease some of the tensions between them, Thomas and Sarah agreed and Xent them lead them back to Olivine City, only to turn away as they approached and head for the mountains again.

Xent found the place he was looking for easily, but upon seeing it, both Sarah and Thomas just turned it down quickly. Thomas had to explain right then and there that when he suggested that they needed to "bunker down", he meant that he didn't want to stay in anything main line, that smaller was better, that it couldn't be close to down town or anything overly crowded. He did not mean find an actual old discarded military storage bunker and Xent was quickly to offer an alternative now, having a friend who owned a ranch on the outskirts of Olivine City.

It would be a late arrival given the city because of the detour to the actual bunker Xent tried to offer them as a place to lay low, but they were promised safety and privacy. He was still pissed even as they finally arrived on the edge of Olivine City a few hours later, well past dark, but he had at least stopped being so aggressive about it with the help of his gardevoir.

Xent's friend was quick to give them all beds in a bunk house that was empty at the moment, so they were afforded some level of privacy and Xent himself had a private mobile hot spot that Mewtwo quickly accessed to begin reviewing more information on his laptop. Mewtwo kept watch over them fully as everyone tried to rest, but Thomas still found it a little hard to sleep, the power from the temple still with him for now.

Still, he could finally lay down at last, and Rebecca was eager to rest against him. Rebecca wasted no time taking the chance to sleep against him, hugging him a bit possessively, her tail even wrapped around his leg a bit tightly.

"I've heard lucarios were clingy before, but yours seem to cry if she's not at your side." Xent said, just laying back on his own cot.

"I thought you would be sleeping." Thomas just responded trying to avoid the initial question and not explain himself, still laying back, but looking over to the bunk where Xent was.

"Shouldn't you? You've been up going on five days now. People usually start to go mad if they haven't slept in over seventy-two hours, and you've been up for over a hundred." Xent stated, just getting up and leaning back against the wall now.

"I'm still injured, and the powers of that … of that home for me... I may not sleep for another day or two still." Thomas said.

"And the lack of sleep doesn't bother you?" Xent asked just looking him and Rebecca over.

"I'm not human, human problems like that don't always bother me. I mean I still need rest, but I won't go insane from lack of sleep." Thomas said just slowly looking back up towards the ceiling.

"Could have fooled me. You certainly look the part and until I saw you fry those phones, I could have sworn that you were human." Xent stated firmly, still having a hard time believing it all anyway.

"I was meant to look to human, to be part of the human cultures. There was a time when I carried my mother's words personally." Thomas said, Radara having already explained to him everything that Mewtwo put into Xent's head.

"Yeah yeah, peace and love, serve the god or die, I've heard the stories. What's his... her deal anyway. What's the fucking point of anything with her." Xent quickly scoffed a bit.

"Don't mock my mother. All of this serving her or suffer religious demands are not an Arceus thing, that is strictly a human thing." Thomas stated firmly, glaring heavily at Xent.

"Yeah yeah. He... she … that is weird to say... sure seems to be insistent about being served though." Xent stated, only for a cup of water to quickly move over and splash over his face, Radara glaring at him now with her head gem glowing.

'Don't assume that you know about our mother having never met her. Continue to make attacks against her personally and much like Mewtwo filled your head with knowledge of us, I can force you start a very thorough strip tease for the entire room every time you even try to attack our mother.' Radara stated now still glaring at him herself.

"Humans use her name for their own goals and gain. Ever since our personal brothers and sisters were forced into hiding and her real word started to vanish with us, those humans who demanded more took the chance to force their version of her words onto people instead." Thomas stated now, looking back up towards the ceiling again, just holding Rebecca a bit closer and gently rubbing her side trying to calm himself.

"She doesn't want worship, she a peaceful natural world. Yes she made all of the legendaries, and then with the help of the legendaries, brought life and nature to the land. Each of the legendaries have their role in the natural order, and if anyone of them are captured and unable to perform their duties, then it upsets the natural balance and the world itself can suffer. She even gave many species the freedoms of free will, the greatest power of all, the gift that lets them make a choice all on their own, and lets them live with that choice. But the world is living as much as any of us and she just wants to see that natural order floruish." Thomas said now just thinking back, remembering how the world changed in the past several hundred years, of how the true words of Arceus vanished as the Watchers were forced into hiding, hunted down and unable to spread the word of their mother properly.

Xent listened with furrowed brows as Thomas spoke. It wasn't the answers he was expecting, that's for sure. As much as he disliked Thomas, he wasn't going to blame him for wanting to smack around someone who disrespected his mother. Just one more question would let him know if Thomas was full of shit it not. "Is she all powerful and all knowing?" He asked in a neutral tone.

"That depends on what you consider all powerful and knowing. When she came here, there was only her. She made the elements to govern time and space over the world and ensure stability, and then she made the titans of water and earth to carve and fill the land, and the titan to move the land. And then when this was done, she started on the life of the world, and then life to fill the world. I could never see myself with the knowledge to do all this and bring a balance to the chaos of making this world." Thomas explained, just thinking about it all.

"But, now she has to rest. It took so much out of her do that, and then a war happened, and she gave up much of her power and she still hasn't recovered to this day, and she doesn't just know everything. There are things that we would all want to know, but the truth remains hidden to even us." Thomas continued slowly.

Xent stared at Thomas, clearly thinking on what he just heard as a whirlwind of raw, negative emotions swirled within him. They weren't directed at Thomas, however. The answer he got, as far as he could reason could make actual sense. His mind flashed through what happened at the orphanage where he was raised, their words and actions had left a deep scar in him. Thomas's answer didn't make Xent any more angry at him, only at the people at the orphanage. "You talked about a war... when did this happen? What did she fight that would leave her basically bed ridden to this day?" Again, while his inner emotions were now a mess, his tone was neutral. He asked out of a desire to actually know, and to see if Thomas had a believable answer.

"Evil... actual evil. It twisted the minds of men and mon, it sought power without care, and it may have destroyed the world for all we know. We don't know where it came from, we don't know why it showed up, we don't know what it wanted, but it didn't want to share. By taking control of the legendaries and the elements it commanded, it disrupted nature itself and the effects were felt the world over. Only when it was done did natural order return." Thomas said softly.

"As for when, it was the change of the era, the start of a new calendar, and our mother had to give up a lot of power to seal it away. She could have killed it, but that would have killed all of the children that it had taken from us as well. She's not bedridden now, but things have happened and she has never had a chance to fully recover. All of my elder brothers and sisters are still weak from the thing. You've seen what Mewtwo can do... there was a time we could all do that in our ways without worry. My personal brothers and sisters were the weakest of our kind individually, but there was a time that together we were nearly as strong as any of them." He continued, before just covering his face with a pillow and going silent.

Xent's mind flashed back to what Mewtwo had shoved in his mind, starting to really chew on it after the answers he received from Thomas. As much as the mere thought of 'Arceus' still shot a spike of hatred into his veins, it wasn't something that could be whisked away by a reasonable explanation. It was all extremely possible all he endured was due to humans begin humans, and the thought only sent more of the unpleasant emotion through him. He turned his eyes to Radara "So these knights... have been hunting you two for hundreds of years?" He asked her, his tongue still neutral.

'There were one hundred and twenty pairs of us twins, two hundred and forty of us given birth two a time, born a few thousand years ago. It was the order of the world that we grew into, to be a part of that order and to be there helping at all times. Six centuries ago, things changed and for the worse. Now we are two, and only two. The knights were founded upon greed, forced to comply to religious faith and zeal, and now they know nothing but hatred for something they know nothing about.' Radara stated, before getting up and moving closer to him, just getting up jumping into the window next to him, pulling the curtain aside.

'To you foolish humans, the world the is best seen in black and white, that humans must only be accepted among humans and pokemon are your servants. But me and my brother, we are forced to be a part of the world as a whole. We must be with the human cultures and we be with the other cultures of the pokemon of the world. We care little for such differences as shape or color or size or even what you consider elemental type or who can breed can breed with who. To us, there is only one world, and we should never have been made to hide from it.' Radara said, just looking over the calm and peace of the world.

Xent stared at her for a few moments before looking down. As much as he wanted to be pissed at her for lumping him in the 'foolish' category, he didn't blame her either. Losing all that family wasn't something he didn't even want to try and imagine, not to mention being hunted for centuries. He rolled Zia's and Verna's pokeballs in his hands, idly staring at them as he considered how they came into his party.

He couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he remembered how they actually got together. After escaping the orphanage, he found Zia getting chased by a few poochyena. He drove them away with a thick tree branch and after ensuring she was okay, continued on his way to the next city over. She followed him, despite his insistence that she should move along. After a few hours and an 'argument' later, Xent had begrudgingly let her follow him.

Verna was different. He had come across what looked to be a poaching party in the woods, filled with cages upon cages of more rare pokemon. They were all adult pokemon with the exception of one shiny ralts. It was a tricky operation to say the least, but after making sure the poachers were distracted by the rampaging adult pokemon, he snatched the ralts and ran into the night. He wanted to release her into the wild like many other pokemon, but just her color and age gave him hesitation. In the end, he did take her without giving her a choice, although she seemed clingy enough to want to come with him.

"It... always has felt wrong." He said while stowing their poke balls away. "Everyone except Verna... chose to come with me. She... I couldn't leave her as a ralts, in the middle of the forest. She'd either get eaten or poached again. I... want her to have that choice, one day. To go with someone not because she has to, but wants to. I'm just the asshole who happened to rescue her, and as short as our lives are, she shouldn't be stuck with me for that reason."

He looked out the window into the starry sky while letting out a deep sigh. "I can't speak for humans, but as for myself... I just... try to give whoever I save a chance and a choice. Whether that's black, white or gray I don't know, but it's something everyone should get at least once, I think..."

~xXx~

As morning came around, Thomas just stayed at Rebecca's side. He owed her that much now that he could lay down with her and knowing that things would be busy the next few days, there may not be a chance for him to spend nearly any time with her at all, and depending on where they were, or who was around, she may not even be allowed to hold him or share his bed.

This left Xent to go out and quickly get Thomas a new bag from a quiet but reputable supplier before they could head to a smaller quieter part of town to get the supplies they would need for the road, which of course wouldn't carry the pack that Thomas would need given the recent addition of carrying things for Mewtwo and the violins.

As soon as Rebecca was up though, Thomas took the chance to look over his things, and was annoyed to find that the practice violin Radara had him buy was broken, its frame cracked at some point over the past few days, possibly during the fall.

Pulling out the fancier one, Thomas finally had a chance to look it over. It was of course built first to be an instrument, but it was also decorated a fair bit, something that Thomas just finally took the time to look over. An image of Shamouti was painted on the bottom of the face, and there were even some images of the legendary birds of the Orange Archipelago along the sides.

It was far fancier then Thomas would have preferred, but as he tuned it, he had to admit that it sounded nice and everyone around was quickly to listen in on Thomas as he just played a few songs it. He wasn't perfect, and there were still a few mistakes here, but centuries of memories of playing showed and having only picked up the violin less then two weeks ago, it was just natural for him to return to it.

Suicune had even forced herself out of her pokeball just to listen all on him to play, and he had gathered a small crowd of the ranch's pokemon outside the windows listening in. Even Xent was left confused about the music as he returned, sneaking in and grumbling as a few of the smaller grass types that the ranch had nearly toppled him to get inside to listen too.

Xent grumbled and made an off hand comment about Thomas not only being the child of god, but he was also apparently a Disney princess once he found it was Thomas playing. Radara quickly responded by pouring a large bucket of water over his head however, but still focused on Thomas giving him the feeling of a silent world as not to disturb him until he was finished.

Thomas wasn't even aware of the large audience that he had until at last he stopped and opened his eyes, just starting over the crowd of nearly thirty, Sarah starting the applause and it broke out into many cheers, leaving Thomas sputtering a thank you and how it wasn't that good for his first real time playing in this life.

Still soaking wet, Xent just pulled up the new bag and offered it Thomas who just took it. Thomas was looking over his new bag, putting his things away in the higher valued bag then he use to. Xent had bought him a new one from a private supplier and it showed in its craftsmanship and extra features, and under the impression that it needed to be able to be knocked around, Xent didn't exactly spare much in the way of extras, and of course charged him full price.

It was definitely a nice bag, and there was some arguing about how much Thomas actually owed him, Radara quickly settling it by making Xent accept half, suggesting that the next time Xent needs to make a purchase, she would personally pick something out of his price range and charge him the full amount herself.

Xent tried to argue, but then Verna sided with Radara and Xent just gave up and went about getting ready for the real shopping trip afterwards once Thomas was done with his call and he had dried off and changed clothes.

Thomas was just sitting back, having plugged in a head set to have the call as private as possible however, but was quickly disappointed and a bit worried. Andrew and Vivian were not currently in the Hoenn region at all, as Derek explained.

Derek told Thomas that they were in the town of Rota, near Cameran Palace on a business trip, helping to represent Devon Corp in some various trade agreements with the Cameran Royal Family. Although Derek did not know the full details, he was told that things were complicated in the area due to the recent bankruptcy of another company. Needing to replace the business deals they had with the now bankrupt company, the Royal Family had invited representatives from Devon Corp in Hoenn, Silph Co. in Kanto, and two other companies from the Sinnoh region which he failed to catch the names of to make their own offers and suggestions. Derek was in a rush to talk though, before having to apologize greatly and then needing to hang up having another call that needed to be picked up.

It was definitely a problem, and it certainly took them in the exact opposite direction of where they wanted to go. It was also concerning, since they were trying to leave Johto as fast as possible right now. The messages on the phone had mentioned something about the Johto Order of Knights being alerted, and to keep it quiet.

They were pretty much on the edge of the Johto Region anyway, and if they had to head back to the Hoenn region, they would be out of the region in a few hours even on foot. Now though, they had to go in the complete opposite direction, and with time being a concern, Thomas didn't think he could make the trip north and go around Johto and Kanto, a very long detour no less that would take a week or two more at least to get to the town of Rota, which would entirely defeat the point of getting there fast.

A brief talk about where to go from there, and Sarah pushed Thomas into going to the town of Rota to meet up with his parents. He clearly had the bigger things to explain, and Sarah just said that she could have her talk with her parents over the phone. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't like she had a lot of secrets that needed to be discussed in person as she finished packing up her bag.

When asked if Xent had any family that he would need to let know about what happened, he just shrugged it off saying that it wasn't a topic for them to talk about since they were all dead. Those who did matter to him would know not to trust anything that anyone else told them about him, if they could even find any of his friends who mattered.

The obvious choice would have been the magnet train again, which went all the way through to Kanto, but there was some debate about on if people would be watching it. Xent quickly offered an alternative once again after a bit though, after he got cleaned up. The same friend who was owned the ranch had some deliveries to make to Ecruteak City.

Being a more old fashioned town, it would likely let them do all of their real shopping in peace, and there were was bus station there that could take them as far as Blackthorn City. A quick check in on the bus stop there revealed however that if they hurried even, the trip could be all in a day if they left fast enough and they caught the mid morning bus.

With no other choice as to quiet travel options, it was decided that they would just do their shopping in Blackthorn city instead, they finished packing up what they had and took the offered ride to Ecruteak City, even if it was a bit crowded along the way and Radara would be hiding Thomas's condition the whole time.

Just barely arriving fast enough to get the bus to Blackthorn City as well, it was a rush to get to the bus on time, but then it was fairly easy to get to Blackthorn City as evening came around. In all truth, Thomas was getting heavily annoyed with the all the rapid travel. There was no real rest, no chance to see the world, just the blur of the world moving pass them and it was shown to irritate heavily by the time they reached Blackthorn.

Finding a hotel to stay in, things got more complicated as the power of the Temple that would be the Watchers true home finally left Thomas fully at last, and while he was recovering and his bruises were fading quickly, all that time spent awake finally caught up to Thomas and their trip was delayed a day when Sarah went to wake Thomas and he just never woke up.

Radara was quick to put a hard stop on things and they were forced to stay the whole day in Blackthorn City until Thomas managed to get enough sleep now. With nothing better to do, Radara left Thomas in Suicune, Juno, Rebecca, and Verna's care while she accompanied Sarah and Xent to do the shopping, spending a good part of the day going around to collect all the supplies and provisions that they might have needed for what could become weeks trying to avoid any large city.

Radara had chosen to pay for everything on this trip now as she picked out the shopping list in full for the most part. It wasn't the first time that she had done with and Thomas of course never argued. It wasn't the first time that this kind of deep sleep was needed among the watcher or even the legendaries and he clearly couldn't the shopping himself.

The whole day of shopping was strange for Sarah though, although Xent seemed right at home, eyes always over his shoulders, helping them avoid any major places that had too much in the way of surveillance. They still made sure to stock up heavily on plenty of pokegear, including all sorts of higher grade potions, restoratives, and herbal remedy mixtures, as well as some long term non-perishables, spices, and water purification options.

Xent also made an argument for some new camping gear like some new tents, rope, rain gear, hand tools and cooking gear. He also made it a point for all of them to get a few "bland" outfits, and large hoodies and hats to help them hide in plain sight that would make it hard for their faces to be seen. He even tried to get Radara to agree to buy other things that were a bit less savory like some tear gas, high grade wild pokemon tazer cartridges, and maybe some other things depending on his supplier might have.

Sarah and Radara just looked at him, but Radara quickly and firmly said no, and they moved on to do the proper shopping in full. She also made sure to get a small collection of various non-perishable caramel and berry sauce mixes for herself and Thomas to enjoy, as well as encourage Sarah and Xent to pick up something that would help them with the stress of what was going to come as well.

Sarah just grabbed a few party size bags of sour gummy snacks and added them the cart. Xent's choice of comfort snack however was something fairly more fancy, and he said he would get a few from the gourmet shop down the street, since so few places carried his favored brand of snack, a chocolate caramel hard candy usually only found in Sinnoh.

It took a few trips to different shops either way to get everything that they might have needed for the coming weeks of possibly not being able to shop in any real city or even visit a pokemon center if it came to that, and at the end of the day, Xent was told to go back to the with the latest bags of goods, while Sarah went with Radara to grab the last few things, as well as some personals for Sarah.

On the way back though, Xent was quick to notice two people in large coats asking a lot of questions about the hotel residents, and quickly moved to find Mewtwo, who as soon as Xent entered the room alerted him about the two people being Knights.

By time they were done and returned to the hotel for the final time that night, all of their packs were full and ready for the long haul if it game to that, and Xent had a massive smile on his face.

~xXx~

Thomas was slow to rouse as the next morning came around, still tired, but most of his bruises were now more then halfway gone, and the smallest ones were all gone entirely. Rebecca was quick to give him a strong hug and cuddled up with him for a bit, making him hold her to help calm her down while Radara explained what all happened in the past day while he slept.

She also explained that they had found a fairly quick and clean route to Pewter City, and once they moved through Silver Town, they would be out of the Johto Region and hopefully that would mean that the Knights would lose their trail.

Mewtwo had already found and hid them from a few more of the Knights over the course of the night, this time taking a less direct approach and making them think that they had thoroughly interviewed the three of them already, but in a different hotel and found that they were not the group that the knights were looking for. He had made pair of knights think that the supposedly shiny gardevoir that they had found was not the same gardevoir and of course all the eeveelutions were highly popular throughout all of Japan, but the trainers that they had found were all just tall girls in their mid teens who were supposedly eager to talk their ears off about fashion and how their sense of fashion would win them the next contest cup in the city, and the knights just did their best to forget the entire thing.

Mewtwo had also assured them all that the Knights of Johto were explicitly told not to share this information with any of the other orders of the Knights, that there was apparently a power struggle of sorts within the Knights and this same Samuel apparently needed the credit of killing Thomas himself.

While not the best news, it did at least give them some hope that if they left Johto, they would be safe for a while. Xent returned quickly, Zia having helped him hide in plain sight while he went out and bought a few tickets for another bus, this one to a small little retreat just outside of Silver Town, and they could walk around avoiding the city by taking some of the trainer routes around city.

~xXx~

The group finally approached the gates of Rota at last. Things were going on all over as they finally entered the town, Royal Guards positioned at every entrance, with the servants of the Cameran Family handing out pamphlets about the festival to all comers. No one was really stopping them, and Radara didn't feel like anyone was looking for them, but it still made them a bit nervous.

The annual Aura Guardian Festival offically started today, and in two days, the tournament to determine who would win the Festival Title of Aura Guardian would be held. This year was a special occasion though, and as the pamphlets advertised, there would be some sponsored battles going on today and tomorrow as well, advertising their own products from Hoenn, Kanto, and Sinnoh.

On the bright side, it would be easy to find his parents though as Thomas took the offered pamphlet and asked about where Devon Corp was set up for the day. They were quickly pointed off to the main square in Rota and from there, it was easy to hide in the crowd until they made it there.

Already a market place anyway, the place was crowded and it was a bit of a hassle for all of them to get through to the Devon Corp stalls though. While Thomas and Radara just navigated the crowds with ease, they were forced to slow down heavily for Sarah. Xent and Zia even had considerable trouble trying to keep up with the flow that Thomas took, until at last they all just stuck together at Sarah's pace to find the Devon Corp stalls and even before Thomas was able to even ask a question, one of the reps pointed him and one of the Royal Guards stopped him.

"Excuse me sir. Would you be Thomas Falston, the adopted son of Andrew and Vivian Falston, Represenitives of Devon Corp, the primary Pokemon Gear supplier of the Hoenn Region?" The Royal Guard asked, politely of course, and not trying to be aggressive at all.

Xent and Sarah quickly just froze, worried heavily, and even Thomas and Radara were concerned, Radara quickly searching his mind or trying to, but the man was obviously well trained, but also didn't seem to notice as he just reached into the large pouch on his side.

"I am..." Thomas stated quickly, only for the Royal Guard to nod as he pulled out a large envelope.

"May I please see your ID for confirmation? I have a letter that I was personally asked to deliver to you their son upon his arrival." The guard asked, and upon mentioning his parents, Thomas relaxed a bit, Radara slow to relax as well, having quietly confirmed the the man wasn't working with the Knights of Arceus or Team Rocket of his own knowledge.

Pulling out his pokedex, he handed it to the guard who double checked it, and then with a wide smile. "Welcome to the Town of Rota, and the Cameran Palace. My name is John Piker, and I'll be your escort to the Cameran Castle this evening." John stated, handing over the envelope.

Thomas just looked it over and it was a personal invite to Cameran Castle. He quickly opened it and sure enough, inside was an invite for himself, and up to three other people, to be granted access to the Castle on the grounds of being the son of Andrew and Vivian, who were already invited to the Castle as well on business.

"Your parents were informed that you were looking for them and that you might show up. I've been told that if you were to show up in the coming week, I was to be your escort to the castle early this evening, after business has been concluded. Your parents are currently working in the afternoon and evening hours at the castle, discussing things with the Cameran Royal family, but will be allowed guests afterwards. Today, tomorrow, and the day afterwards, You will have additional access to the castle to meet up with your parents, and depending on how things are, some rooms might be arranged. It is asked that you spent business hours here in Rota however." John explained as he looked Thomas over, and then looked to Sarah and Xent.

"Are these two traveling with you?" He asked, Sarah giving a small nod.

"Sarah, and Xent. Just the two of them are with me." Thomas said, first motioning to Sarah, and then Xent as he named them.

"May I see your IDs please?" The man asked, Sarah and with Radara's forceful assistance, Xent handed over their pokedexes, the man looking over them, and then pulling out a device and making a few notes before putting it away. "Very well Sarah and Xent, welcome to Rota, and soon Cameran Castle." John smiled, before turning and pointing to a large building up on the hill side over looking the city.

"I'll be taking you over to Aura Inn to start when your ready, and you'll be given a chance to freshen up. You'll be given the full royal guest treatment there. During your stay here, you'll have access to a private cabin with four beds, and of course its own private hot spring pool and enclosed open air baths. We shall also provide you with a small stock Rota traditional meals with easy to follow steps if you wish to cook them yourself, or you can ask for a meal to be prepared and delivered as long as you let us know head of time. Some of the meals can take a while, but there is a menu there with wait times for each time of meal." John stated as he started to walk down the road, the crowd giving them a little room to pass easily now as they followed him to the Aura Inn.

"The Castle will be opening up to guests in a little over an hour for the first part of the festival, but I should let you know that costumes are required, and that you are cleaned up proper before being given access. We'll be passing the costume shop on the way if you would like to look over everything yourself, or I can have a selection of finer costumes brought out for you to look at the Inn. Also, unless you intend to enter the festival tournament or get involved in any of the sponsored battles, it is required that you have no more then two pokemon on you at any time inside the castle, and nothing larger then yourselves." John continued as he lead them along.

"In that case, I suggest we go ahead and take the chance to get cleaned up fully at the Aura Inn. We'll look at costumes after we've cleaned up properly." Thomas said, looking to Sarah and Xent.

"Yeah, yeah that sounds good." Sarah said, having eased up fully now once John explained what was going on, but Xent just stayed quiet. He was already unimpressed with a lot of things, but the mention of required costumes seemed to partially annoy him as they walked along.

"Very well, I'll make the arrangements for some costumes to be stored at the main office. If you're willing to write down your sizes, I could narrow down the selection a bit more. And don't worry, I know that not all sizes are right, I always make sure to include a note about getting some costumes a few sizes larger and smaller." John said, still just trying to be nice and polite.

"Yeah, give us a moment." Thomas stated, pulling out the note pad he had and writing down his sizes, then handing it to Xent.

"I think I'll pass." Xent stated, only for Radara to speak up just to them of course.

'You'll be coming. We can't protect you if you are there with us.' Radara stated, still annoyed over baby sitting him, but still trying to be polite about it. She still hid this conversation from prying ears though.

"I said..." Xent tried to argue, only for Sarah and Thomas to just stare at him.

'Need I remind you that you're stuck with because of your stupidity.' Radara stated, forcing his hand to once again do something, making him write down his sizes on the paper and then hand it to Sarah, who then gave it John.

"Alright, I'll have some various kinds of outfits brought up to the Inn after I check you in." John stated, taking the note and looking it over, making sure he could read it and with a nod, put it into the pouch on his side. "Once I'm done here, I'll be sure to pass on a note to the castle chefs to prepare some additional food as well. After the party, your parents are scheduled to have a dinner with Queen Rin, and have a chance to get to know each other. As their son, I'm sure you will be welcomed. Queen Rin is rather fond of getting to know the family of major business partners, it lets her see the truth about the family and businesses she intends to deal business with." John explained.

"I'm not sure if she would allow your friends to join in the royal dinner, but I'll see it other arrangements are made. There are a number of fine dining places, and some more laid back places for them to enjoy if they would prefer, and don't worry, as guests of the royal family, they'll still be given the proper treatment." John smiled as they got out of the large crowds and could walk a proper pace now instead of having to move at a slower pace.

"I could recommend a few places myself as well depending on what your looking for later, but in the mean time I guess that..." John started, only for him to move hand up to his hat and pull it down a bit more, listening in.

"I'm going to have to give you my greatest of apologies, but I'm needed elsewhere. We have a disturbance down at the east gate and as the ranking guard closest by, I'm needed. Carl, come here." John called out, motioning to another guard, who quickly came up.

"These are guests of the Cameran Family, see to it that they make it the Aura Inn. If I'm stuck at the east gate when they get finished at the Aura Inn, you're on escort duty to the castle. I'll be sending someone up later with some costume selections for them to look over." John stated, taking off his pouch and handing it to the new guard, as well as making sure to point out a large golden envelope. "This is their official invite, don't lose it."

John stated, before quickly rushing off leaving them with Carl. Radara of course checked his mind as well, but felt confident that the new guard was safe for them as well.

"This way please." Carl stated, pointing back up towards the Aura Inn, and then started to walk along, but unlike John, Carl was rather quite.

The now quiet walk went by peacefully and quickly, Carl taking them up the front office and quickly getting them situated. With that, they were lead to a large private cabin and once they were given the keys, Carl just left them along and Thomas looked over the room slowly. It was clearly high end and while Thomas and Sarah didn't feel out of place around it having grown up around such things, Xent however quickly felt out of place.

"Well... its certainly feels rather homely." Thomas said just looking over the comfy space. It wasn't what he would consider a vacation space, with nothing really over the top about it. It was still nice though, with room to spread out and just relax. Thomas waiting for Radara to confirm that the guard was gone before calling out Mewtwo. While he was at it, Xent also called out Verna and Zia, taking a chance to look over the room and make sure there weren't any cameras or such.

"We've arrived in the town of Rota, and my parents are currently having a meeting with the Queen Rin, the current ruler of this small region. My parents are currently meeting with her conducting business, but will be free in a while when the festival at the castle itself starts." Thomas explained to Mewtwo.

"I'm... I'm going to try explaining what I am in private there if I can and I'll let him know that you would like to talk with him. Hopefully he can answer your questions this evening, but there's a lot and I mean a lot of people around." Thomas explained.

Mewtwo just nodded, looking towards the city where he felt all those minds. 'There is a festival here. This town is far more like a large city at the moment with all the people present to partake of the festival. It will be difficult to ask my questions alone here.' Mewtwo stated as he thought it over, still willing to be quiet with his questions and such, knowing that his presence would draw a scene.

'I shall give you a chance to bring Andrew here. I'm sure he is busy, and will be busier when you explain to him what you are. Dr. Fuji's labs are not going anywhere, I shall wait a few more days then to ask my questions, when I can do so thoroughly and in peace. I request that you do hurry and make arrangements for my meeting with him however.' Mewtwo stated, moving to the dining room and looking over the fridge for some more milk, and then collecting his laptop.

"We've been directly invited to the castle for the festival taking place in the castle and that's where I'll be meeting back up with my parents. We have to get prepared though, which means getting washed up entirely, and then we'll also need costumes. The guard who gave me a personal invite said that he would make arrangements to get us some costumes to pick from." Thomas explained, Zia quickly looking over to Thomas, and then looking back to Xent as Thomas continued to talk.

Verna was also quick to pick up on what was going on, and hearing that mention of getting cleaned up and costumes, Verna just grinned a bit. Moving up slowly behind Thomas he talked, she just grabbed one of his pokeballs.

"We'll be trying to keep things simple, and we can only take two pokemon with us at a time, bu-... h-hey!" Thomas cried out, trying to grab his pokeball back, but Verna already released Suicune.

'We are now in Rota, and I will need help cleaning up Xent. If he is to be presentable, then I will need all the help I can get to clean him up.' Verna quickly explained to Suicune, Radara helping share the thoughts with everyone.

'Oh of course, I would love to help.' Suicune smiled happily. 'Have we arrived in time for the annual festival of the Aura Guardians? Oh, I know such a nice costume for him.'

Xent however was quickly making his way as casually as he could towards the door, hoping to getaway quickly now as Mewtwo just shook his head and ignored the idea of a festival. 'I shall stay here and watch over our things and any of the group who would need to stay behind. While you arrange the meeting between myself and Andrew.' Mewtwo stated, only to lift his arm towards the door and hold it there.

Xent attempted to open the door, only to find that the handle wouldn't move at all, Verna and Suicune looking around for him, only to finally find him at the door.

"Mewtwo... what are you doing?" Thomas asked a bit worried, feeling that he using his power.

'Xent is attempting to hide, even going so far as to attempt to exit the building. He appears to have to a strong distaste of the idea of his festival. It would be best however if he was your side. If you call for my assistance, I shall rush to your side as you have done to mine before, but for now he will travel with you.' Mewtwo explained as Verna teleported to his side and grabbed him, turning him around.

She just shook her finger in front of his face. 'Now now Xent...it was your stupidity that landed us here. We need his help, and that means staying close by for now... so give it up and get in the hot spring.'

"I can wash myself damnit. I don't need help!" Xent tried to snap, but Suicune just grabbed him gently with her ribbons anyway, Verna taking his arm.

'Not for a royal castle you can't... or rather won't.' Verna smirked, just pulling him along now, right through the house to the back or trying too. Xent put up a small struggle before Radara just gave a loud annoyed grumbled and hiss, before there was a bright flash of light. Xent, Verna, and Suicune were now all gone, as Xent's clothing just now fell to the ground, and then there was a loud splash outside.

"I guess Xent is the first to a take a bath..." Thomas just said quietly, Zia just chewing on her claws a bit, before suddenly rushing towards the windows and hiding herself entirely.

"And I'll go when he is finished." Sarah added, moving over to take a seat, not wondering what about what pokemon she would be taking with her and who would stay behind. "Who... who do you think I should bring with me to the castle?"

"I don't know honestly. I'll be bringing Radara and Juno, but that's... well honestly who I always bring to important things like this and I trust Mewtwo and Suicune to protect everyone else... I would want to bring Rebecca, but not today, not for this if they are limited pokemon. Andrew knows about … about me and her, but he said it would be better if Vivian didn't know right now." Thomas said, just moving over to take a seat beside her.

"Andrew knows that your love Rebecca as more then a trainer?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, he was there... sort of, when Radara forced my hand and made me accept her as a lover." Thomas explained, Radara jumping up next to Thomas.

'I was sick of the misery my brother forced on himself.' Radara quickly stated, and firmly. 'If I didn't think that Rebecca would be a good choice, I may have forced him with you for a while. Maybe it would have worked, maybe not.'

"Why wouldn't it have worked. I think Thomas and me might have made a good couple. I know my mother really REALLY seems to think, she still keeps asking about it." Sarah asked, not sure if she should feel hurt that Radara didn't know if it would work.

'My brother hates the lime light so speak. He heavily prefers the quite life and when we picked Andrew and Vivian to be his foster parents, we... didn't expect them to make sudden break throughs their respective fields, much less at the same time. We were still expecting to be in Rustboro for at least twelve to fifteen years, not move out into a rather fancy mansion that needed upkeep staff in a meager five years.' Radara said.

"I do like you, and I value you greatly as a friend, but... I just kind of hate being the center of attention, of being shown off and the like." Thomas said.

"Oh... you mean what I did with Travis... yeah that was mostly to try and annoy him away. My father tired to set him up with me, but he just didn't care enough about pokemon, and my father kept swearing that he was perfect... but he really wasn't." Sarah said.

"In any case, I do hope you are Rebecca are happy. Everyone needs to be loved right?" Sarah smiled.

"Thanks Sarah..." Thomas said, just holding Rebecca's pokeball now. "I just hope I can help Vivian understand one day."

"I'm sure she will. I know that not all pokemon are like us humans, but I know for a fact that some of them think just as much as any of us... and she'll accept that. And once she does, she'll just have to accept that they can speak, and love too... and even if she can't understand them, you clearly can." Sarah said.

"Honestly... I'm kind of a little jealous you get so speak so easily to your pokemon." She added after a moment.

'I will help you speak them more clearly if you want while we travel, they just haven't asked to say anything to you. I'm not sure they even know what to say or what it mean.' Radara offered.

"Thanks Radara... but since we're still being honest here... I'm not sure I want to entirely. I mean what happens when this over and you have to leave. I won't be able to speak to them again. We can communicate now well enough, but if I just start really talking with them and then I cant... I don't know how I might take that." Sarah said softly.

'I understand. If you make the decision, or if they want speak to you, I shall help you all while I can.' Radara said.