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 24 : The Tree of Beginnings
Leaving behind pokemon was never easy, but for now there was little choice. Xent was now left with just Zia, Verna, and his pidgeot Akra and after a check when they had a chance, Sarah found that she was down to Serenity in addition to her arcanine Flare having lost Grover's and Moon's pokeball in the confusion and attacks as well. While she usually only carried four pokemon with her, she still had another four back home that she couldn't see either now though. With Mewtwo protecting Andrew and Vivian, and Saber's pokeball destroyed and then separated from them, roughly half of their collective pokemon were now not with them and that alone hurt hard.
Mew proved even more troublesome though, and Suicune was forced to play mother and keep him close, a ribbon around his tail at all times now as she was giving him a firm talking too, while Radara entirely avoided him out of anger along for causing all of the trouble. Even Sarah had to keep Xent away from Mew ready to blame him for everything not getting that Mew was pretty much a child, which was part of why Xent had just a problem with Mew in the first place.
Thomas seemed to be taking it the hardest though, Radara walking with him as he waited on Xent and Zia for now. Memories of how this had played out the in past were fresh in his mind, and Saber was at major risk, having had his pokeball destroyed. Being out in the open, and possibly connected to Thomas meant that he could just be openly attacked on sight as well, and without anyway to even check on them right now, it was hurting hard.
They were currently stopped outside a moderately large Pokemon Move Training Camp, where trainers could come to try and teach their pokemon new and usual moves not normally seen on pokemon. Sure technical machines had their uses and a decent success rate for helping trainers teach their pokemon new moves all on their own, but camps were just far better for pokemon.
Although the place was packed with trainers, pokemon, and the instructors, Xent was thankful that the shop and diner were mostly empty, only a few other trainers and pokemon present. Xent quickly found himself wishing that he didn't have do this right now, that it would be someone else. So many trainers were praising and encouraging their pokemon, and he knew the effort needed to learn new things. The place just served to anger him though as he went about and got a few things.
The only saving grace at the moment though was that news wasn't traveling fast out here where all the trainers were far more focuses on listening to the camp instructors and trying to master the various elemental punch moves today. This made it easy for Xent with Zia's illusions making him appear in common clothing to get some emergency replacement gear.
Xent only got the bare bones basics though, including two sets of training clothes for each of them, and some large hoodies, along with some food from the cafe beside it for the night before the news of a disturbance at Cameran Castle started to spread widely and people were quickly starting to pay attention. Even more people started to pay attention when alerts about the infamous Hunter J was being sent out through all of Rota and the surrounding space now. Leaving and heading back to where Sarah, Thomas, and the others were hiding, they were eager to change since they were still mostly in costume and while they still had Sarah's bag, only some of Sarah's clothing had been saved in the rush. Most of it however was still costume clothing that she used for contests and would draw too much attention.
With at least something that would pass as clothes and not a costume at last, they got dressed and then started for the Tree of Beginnings at a rapid pace. The goal was to get some distance away from Cameran Castle first, and then get off the standard trails. A problem complicated by the need to hide Suicune and Mew. Zia was stuck hiding them in plain sight with Radara helping to make sure that no one wanted to see them, but having keep an illusion so strongly continuously while moving was not an easy task.
Due to the nature of the Tree of Beginnings and the highly dangerous territory surrounding it, it was wild unsettled space that was left alone. There were no nearby towns or cities, no roads or even trainer routes, not even an isolated pokemon research station was near the mountain that the Tree of Beginnings was growing on.
All they had to do was just close enough and they would be protected, although Xent and Sarah would need a blessing to get near the mountain. It was just a race to get there right now without being caught first. With night slowly approaching, the hard choice of weather to find a place to sleep, or continue moving on anyway came up. There was no easy choice, but Suicune made the choice herself as soon as she found out which pokemon were saved and Xent admitted to be a skilled pokerider.
They just had to get far enough from anyone else that Thomas and Sarah wouldn't be seen riding Suicune to the Tree of Beginnings. This proved semi-difficult at first though as on the trainer routes, news was much slower to spread, aside from the regional emergency alerts such as the sighting of Hunter J which had a number of the trainers that they passing a bit on alert and paying a bit more that made it harder for Zia to hide Suicune and Mew.
It was until the sun was starting to finally dip past the mountains that they were fully alone and Xent called out Verna, who helped Radara in mentally sweeping a large large area that they stopped knowing that they were no humans around them. Finding a little hide away that would keep safe, they were thankful to find a small emergency rescue station that rangers and others might use to stage a search and rescue. It had a generator, fire pits, and even large awnings and clear space for them to try bunking down for the night. It wasn't that easy though just because they found a safe place to rest. The hardest part of the night was now upon them all though, as they all called out their remaining pokemon to tell them what had happened.
For Thomas, it was telling Rebecca and Juno what happened, that Saber wouldn't be coming with them and they didn't know what had happened for sure. Rebecca was taken back hard, silence and worry over taking her former mixed mood of confusion, desire, and anger. This was her first real experience with loss, and she didn't know how to really take it, there was no good bye, no telling if Saber was even still alive. Sure, she has seen others leave, but she had never been in a position where she would even have reason to think that they might not see each other again.
Juno however, just gave a small nod. Unlike Rebecca, this was not her first time losing a companion. For her, there would only be hope right now, hope that Saber was alive, and that he would be returned to the Falston Estate. She knew there was nothing she could do now, and she couldn't blame anyone. It was a series of bad events, and only real choice to try and save as many as possible was to leave, to take the fight else where by running away. She knew that staying and fighting would only attract more attention and while it hurt her to lose another like this, she could still hope and pray for his safety.
For Sarah, this meant explaining things to just Serenity and Flare. Never having a psychic type pokemon herself, or at least just never really fully having one that she spent time actually training and working with for long, Sarah could only just talk and hope things were understood as she called them out. "Hey... hey guys. I've got some bad news, like... well its just bad news. I-I don't think that we'll be seeing the others anytime soon. Grover and Moon are... well I don't know for sure. They'll be safe, but I don't know where they are." Sarah gave a loud sigh, Serenity just heavily tilting his head in confusion. As Sarah's composure finally started to break though and she sat back on bench she was at, Flare just moved up and rubbed his head to her chest, and nuzzling her stomach lightly trying to comfort her.
Sarah gave a weak smile, but still rubbed his ears a bit, motioning for Serenity to come closer as well, just gently rubbing his chin as well. "It, it kinda looks like we're stuck for a while though. We're... well on the run now. We have to hide for a while, stay on the move, not get caught by this group of religious fools who want to kill Thomas and do who knows what to me, much less you... We can't go back home now, and... and I dropped Grover's and Moon's pokeballs while we were attacked. These people weren't coming to pick a pokemon fight, they were coming to kill Thomas himself, and anyone who got their way. They even attacked others, like Queen Ilene, so they clearly don't care who they hurt in the process." Sarah continued as she just let Flare try to comfort her, and still tried to afford some comfort to the both of them as well.
"I know I should have done more, and I could have done more, but if I stayed, I would have just put others at risk and there's no guarantee that anything I could have done would have even worked. There's no telling how many other people and pokemon that would have gotten hurt just trying to protect themselves or each other if I would have stayed. I couldn't bring myself to risk the health and lives of others if I stayed." She said softly now, slowing down a bit, a bit unsure about things.
Flare would continue to try and comfort Sarah though the whole time though time even as she went silent, but Serenity was now just more confused as he looked around. He wouldn't stray far from Sarah, but looking around and seeing everyone clearly down and not at their best was worrying to him as he tried to do a head count.
Of course, the hardest one that this talk would have an effect on was Xent. Where Sarah just sat back on a bench with her two remaining pokemon, Xent called out Zai and Akra now, Verna still confused about what was going on, no one telling her a thing, and unable to really look into Xent's mind to figure out, his thoughts too varied, too distracted, in pain even.
"Hey, Radara... I need some help." Xent started as Sarah moved to the bench to call out her pokemon.
'With what?' Radara asked, still clearly annoyed and reeling from what had happened, but trying not to take it out on him.
"I want to make sure my pokemon understand what is going on here... they need to know." Xent stated, trying not to be angry himself, at least not trying to take it out on anyone around him. Moving over and sitting around a large empty fire pit and giving his pokemon room to spread out, Radara just kinda stuck close by.
"Girls... I've got some real bad news, the bad bad kind. Its just us for the time being. Just the three of us and those around us right now. Circ, Marko, and Melody aren't here right now. I don't know what's going on with them, but I dropped their pokeballs when some religious fuck wits attacked us and I don't know what happened to them afterwards. They could be destroyed, they could be buried under rubble, they might be perfectly fine, I don't know." Xent started, just holding his head in his hands now as he looked down shaking his head.
'What do you mean gone?' Verna quickly asked with Radara's help, Zia looking on and looking around quickly now, trying to figure out where they were. Akra however just stayed here, unsure what to do.
"Gone, as in I don't have their pokeballs, I don't know where they are, and I was dragged away by that giant psychic talking feline before I could find them. We were attacked, I lost my bag, pretty much everything we have. We're on the run and I have no idea where to go from here. I've got some cash on hand, but for now, we need to assume that someone is tracking us, so we're on own and we can't even go back and try to find the others..." Xent sighed some, only to give a small yell, slamming a fist on the side of his seat.
'Who did, who attacked us?' Verna quickly asked, but it was a question that was clearly asked twice, another voice there, also female and weak, Verna trying to help Zia speak, but it was not working well, Radara just helping Verna for now.
"Apparently some group called the Knights of Arceus. The same group who got our pictures back at that strange temple thing north of Olivine City. They want Thomas dead and now they want blood. One of them just came full sprint after me, but the stupid bitch tried to stab me through my bag which exploded in her face. I'm just sorry that the only thing that happened was my fishing pole ripped one of her eyes out." Xent stated, still not satisfied from that though.
"The moment we can... we're going to go look for them. I don't know when that will be, because the knights, as insane as they are, know what they're doing. I just-" He choked a bit as the thought of them holding Marko, Circ and Melody hostage crossed his mind, but he didn't dare repeat it to his team.
Zai quickly turned towards Thomas, giving a small growl, only for Xent to turn her right back around. "This isn't his fault exactly. These are the same kind of religious fuck wits that ran the orphanage I ran away from, the same kind of fucking dumb ass shit bags who my grandfather kept warning me about who are just fucking blind." Xent quickly stated now. Akra just looked to Zia and Verna though, not sure to really think.
[Can someone fill me in here. I feel like I've missed a lot of things over the past week.] Akra stated looking to Verna and Zia, but the two were too busy just trying to yell for answers at Xent.
Radara just shook her head as Verna ignored him and sat down beside him, reading his mind entirely now to see the full story, only to gasp loudly when she reached the memories of the attack itself. Sure, they had all been in some attacks by Team Rocket and other criminal groups, but no one could compare to the full on public open attack them with full intent to kill. She it though, she just shared a few images with the others and all at once, the group fell silent.
~xXx~
As the early early morning hours arrived and the the moon was still casting light, Thomas got up and went about waking the others with Suicune. They would use the early cover of darkness to take off while most of the world was sleeping around them hoping that the darkness would help hide while they were still close to Rota. They packed up what little they had, and Xent woke Akra, while putting Zia and Verna away for faster travel.
The plan was simple as Suicune finally let Mew out of his time out session, finally untying her ribbons from his tail, Mew still not knowing what he did wrong though, happy to be out of time out eitherway. [I'll go back home now... I'll make happy snacks for everyone once you arrive.] Mew stated, teleporting away back to the Tree of Life now, going to get ready for guests as Suicune did some stretches with her ribbons to get them loose and soft again.
[Akra, I shall go slow enough that you may follow safely. Do not try to race me, it is very important that I arrive with Thomas and Sarah before you get too close to the Tree of Beginnings or it may attack Xent.] Suicune explained as Sarah shook off another yawn, but still got ready to ride the rest of the way to the tree on Suicune's back with Thomas and Radara.
They all knew it would be a tight fit, but Akra wasn't large enough to carry two people though, so Suicune needed to carry the rest of them. Xent would however would be carrying Sarah's bag as Thomas fixed up a small harness for Suicune out of rope, giving Sarah something better to hold as well has giving Suicune a a few glow globes to make her easy for Akra to follow in the tighter spaces of the canyons around around the Tree of Beginnings.
Akra gave a nod, a bit excited about flying beside a legendary pokemon as Xent fashioned his own quick harness for Akra, and then got on her back as Thomas helped Radara up after Sarah was already on, then got himself. Thomas gave her a quick review on how to hold the make shift reigns to keep herself steady, and after a slow start to get Sarah use to the concept of riding a pokemon for the first time, Suicune easily started to speed up, Akra following along now easily.
It was still a long ride to the tree, but Suicune kept the pace proper for Akra. They didn't slow if they didn't need to and Suicune made sure to keep an eye out if they needed anything, and aside from a quick break for something to drink for Suicune and Akra, they made very good time arriving at the outer edges of the roots and the mountain in the middle of the afternoon. If not for the rough terrain, it would have been much faster, but at last they had arrived and Suicune came a slow stop, Akra landing close by.
"Sorry, but you'll have to wait here for a bit. It shouldn't be too long though." Thomas explained as he started to get off Suicune.
"So... what's the hold up now? There a reason we can't just on?" Xent asked, still annoyed and unhappy about everything, and not liking being out in the open right now.
"Unless you want the tree to eat you, you'll have to wait here for the invitation me, Radara, and Suicune will have to give you." Thomas said, just letting it slide for now as he got off Suicune and helped Sarah down as well.
Xent stared at Thomas with a neutral expression, trying to discern if it was a lie. Given that neither Suicune or Radara gave any indication he was lying, he didn't press it. "Ok, I'm 99% sure you aren't bullshitting. And we have to wait right here? We can't try to find some cover?" he asked. It didn't seem like there was any cover to be found from where they were, that wouldn't stop him from trying.
"I'm sorry I don't have anything better to offer, but this place is kind of sacred. When our mother made the world, she made a few places just for pokemon where even the gifted humans wouldn't normally be allowed to set foot. The Tree just kinda got a little big and its roots extend beyond the valley. Even I have to prove myself to it at the moment. It just doesn't really like humans much, they kept poking it roots too much." Thomas said, before walking into the caves with Suicune and Radara, pulling his spear from Sarah's bag gently and then holding it, letting his power flow through it now and several roots just lit up around them lighting the way.
As the three of them entered the caves, the made their way in at a slow jog and after a few turns, they entered a massive space inside the mountain, light up by the crystalline roots of the Tree of Beginnings, a massive space untouched by civilization and left entirely natural. The entire inner space of the mountain was its own space and was just a sight to behold still no matter how many times that they had seen it. Looking for one of the larger roots that made entirely of crystal, they moved up and with the spear, gently shaved off a few pieces. Suicune washed them down with a water gun, Radara picked them and spun them around, squeezing them into shape, and then Thomas applied his own his electrical touch to them.
It was a very make shift invitation to allow Xent and Sarah access to the space, but they needed the safety at the moment, before walking back out. Like before, it was something of a long walk, but as they walked back out, Sarah was looking through her bag, having been distracted far too much last night to really figure out what all she did and didn't have still.
"Hey Sarah... do you still have any sturdy chain bracelets?" Thomas asked, Sarah quickly looking over some of the things next to her and found her basic jewelry box for her contests.
"I've got a few still, maybe six or seven small ones." She said, holding up the box now.
"Sorry Xent, but you'll need to wear two of them, just like Sarah. Wear them on your wrists and do not take them off for any reason." Thomas said, taking the box and setting it down looking over the contents and finding the thin chain bracelets, small enough that Thomas could easily thread them through little holes Radara forced into the crystal shards.
Sarah just looked over the dull green crystal shards as Thomas handed them to her and she took two of the bracelets and put them on with the added crystals.
"They stop us from getting eaten?" Xent asked while inspecting them carefully.
"These shards will once you wear them on your wrists. People aren't normally invited here, but its, well its complicated right now, so this is the best we can do." Thomas sighed some.
Xent puffed his cheeks while letting out a long breath before starting to put them on. "Personally not my style, but it's also not my style to get eaten alive by a tree."
Finding the two most basic ones, he did the same as Sarah and put them on, before Thomas started back for the cave, Suicune using her ribbons to motion them along. "There are three … well I guess technically they are pokemon here, that you need to be aware of." Thomas stated as he started to walk in with Radara at his side, holding spear up again, using it to save them some glow bulbs right now as they walked in, encouraging the roots to light up.
"Regice, Registeel, and Regirock are three... pieces of a legendary pokemon. They are extensions of their actual body. While they can function and live independently, they are actually part of Regigigas. They'll respond to your little crystal invitations, but try to stay out of their way and always hold up your crystals to them." Thomas started.
"I've never heard of Regigigas." Sarah said a bit confused, using her pokedex to pull up the information now, but there was minimal information.
"Supposedly, Regigigas is the titan pokemon. According to the Sinnoh legends, they were the one that moved continents to where they are today before life really had any complex form..." Xent stopped when he noticed Sarah looking at him. "What? I can and do read."
"That's not what I was surprised at. You kinda come off strong about hating anything religious and well... most of the legendary pokemon are buried under tons of religiously inspired legends and myths." Sarah said, Suicune just shaking her a bit.
"You're not wrong." Xent shrugged. "But my grandfather... he loved the tales of legendaries. He treated them more as bed time stories for me. 'Imagination Fuel' as he called it, I carried on reading about them. Also, you'd be surprised how much groups like Rocket bank on rumors about legendaries, so oddly it came in handy."
'He's not wrong about that.' Radara stated now as they kept walking. 'Groups like Team Rocket, and Teams Magma and Aqua want the legendaries for personal gains of some kind. Religious groups of various kinds want them for worship and to prove their claims, and then bankers and high end business people want them as a show of status. The major governments leave them alone because it became wise for them to do so.'
'We've become classified as forces of nature in most cases by the Japanese governing body. Its outlawed for anyone to try fighting us in or near any city for a reason and while there are some cities that we kind of move in and around, only some of us do.' Suicune now spoke up, with Radara's hope help.
"Yeah, yeah, ever trainer knows better then to try supposedly on paper at least. Most just say they won't but its not really enforced. Of course, no one's ever tested those laws much in my life until Suicune got released in Goldenrod City, and then... I'm sorry for how much things have changed for you Thomas. You've been helping your family stay free for thousands of years and now it just like everything is in danger now." Sarah said, feeling bad for how much had happened to Thomas.
"Things are... definitely complicated right now." Thomas sighed as they finally rounded the last corner and stepped into the open space inside the mountain, the hidden valley instantly taking Sarah's breath away in awe, and even Xent had to look around a bit, impressed with the sight before him. For all the awe inspiring that it did though, it quickly reminded him of who all he couldn't share it with.
"There's... there's enough stuff for us to forage here for a while, but I would really really prefer we don't hunt anything here. This place has been its own place for generations, its own little ecosystem and the things here are not exactly..." Thomas started, only to pause.
'The pokemon living here for generations have become docile. They are many calm ones, and there are some territorial ones, but if we were to stir things up, you will find that everyone here will hunt anyone they don't know with everything they have and more.' Suicune explained.
'Mew will keep those of us who need meat sustained. He has collected many things over the years and has a habit of borrowing all sorts of things. He rather loves spiced meat rolls and will have enough to spare us a few.' Radara added, going silent for a few and then a loud hiss. 'And I'm taking all of his sugary drinks and tossing them off the side of the mountain!'
'There is no need for such action, I have punished him enough for now. Arceus had never intended for him to grow like us, to be the constant reminder of the wonders of innocence and joy of a child. He really doesn't truly know what he did wrong, war and the actions of the knights are beyond what he can really understand.' Suicune explained, a ribbon slowly rubbing Radara along her back trying to calm her down.
'Keeping him held as I did was easily a proper punishment, to take his freedom until we were safe was enough to make him think about what he had done and that really is all we can do with him.' She added before starting to walk along.
"Mew lives near the top of the top of the tree. We'll have to take a few tree roots and branches to get up there, but if you see any growing crystal shards, don't touch them. Without a bit of work, they are unsafe for anyone but us legendaries and god-children to touch and I'm too young to shape and use them properly in my current life." Thomas explained.
"What do you mean growing crystals? I thought crystals were a mineral and could only form under pressure and heat?" Sarah asked as she started to follow along.
'Some are formed naturally that yes, but not all crystal formations. The crystals in the temples and sanctuaries that we use are grown. While Arcues's sanctuary in the moon grows the best crystals for us to use and imbue with our power and abilities, its a bit of a walk so to speak, and not easy to move them from the moon to earth. The Tree of Beginnings doesn't just look like its made of crystal, it is one, the single biggest one there is.' Radara explained.
'Our mother planted a large shard long long ago in the early days when she was making the world and then imbued it life. It was a place where we could come and take what crystals we needed to let us make our own nests and let us talk with each other over great distances or even just use them to help protect ourselves. The Tree of Beginnings isn't truly alive, not like a pokemon, but it still hosts a number of traits like grass type pokemon.' Suicune added.
"And what about that whole eating us comment?" Xent asked as he followed along.
'The Tree turns anything that it perceives as a threat into nutrients. The roots and tree can just swallow up anything that attacks it to keep itself safe and not let its power be abused. It will kind of preserve what it eats for a while and sometimes we can get it to spit them back out, but its kind of a hassle and only some of our family can really communicate with the tree enough to do it.' Radara said looking over the tree.
"The tree reacts more aggressive to humans though. It will attack pokemon that get too close to some things too, but those pokemon who have been living here have been raised here for more then five thousand years. Their bloodlines have been here for longer then even me and Radara. They know what few things to avoid. Humans like to touch things though, their curious and want to study things, and they can be greedy. The tree clearly holds some kind of power, so humans want to put science to it and now it just doesn't like them." Thomas added as he continued to enjoy the sights, still just moving along.
"I thought you said the tree wasn't alive like us." Xent asked as he followed along for now, walking down deeper into the mountain, but already seeing a number of paths that could go up to the top of the tree, Sarah far more interested in actually looking around, even using her pokedex to take some pictures of it.
'Its not, but it can react to things. Some flowers will turn to face the sun all day, they want directly light on their petals and the tree is no different. Its not sentient or even aware of itself, it merely responds to things. Our mother made sure it could defend itself because of the power that it had which could be misused, but otherwise its just kinda here, just a very unique type of tr-.' Radara started, only for something to just crash down in front of them.
"Arms up! Arms up!" Thomas shouted quickly rushing back a bit to be directly in front of Sarah and Xent, holding the spear up high and letting his power rush through it as well. A bluish flame like glow appeared over it and then it appeared to burn bright yellow and gold, the twin spear heads going and burning green in the strong display that Thomas put into the weapon. Even then, the small shards on Xent's and Sarah's wrists also began to glow, Radara and Suicune letting some of their power flow into them and showing that they were guests.
Before them, Regirock was just standing there now, having just dropped down hard from above, and below them they could see Regice also rushing forward before coming to a stop. There was a second where nothing just happened, Xent and Sarah clearly concerned, before Regirock just dropped one arm into the ground hard and pulled up something, a large bulb of some kind that it just held in its hands, before the hand was thrust forwards towards Xent, stopping before it hit him, but held there.
"Oh... uh... no, no I don't think Xent will need that, we've got soap already." Thomas said now, just lowering his weapon and looking at the bulb. He knew that they could all probably use a chance to get cleaned up, the almost half hour spent walking in the mineshafts under Castle Cameran to get under the river and onto the surface again certainly didn't do them any favors, much less the rush to get away from everyone.
Xent was about to open his mouth to say something, but then remembered how he needed another bath already, most of the time in the mines spent shirtless easily covered in some dust and dirt which he hadn't yet really washed off, too concerned about his missing pokemon then he was with himself. "Oh." It was all he could manage at the moment as he looked himself over just a bit, and then slowly lowered his arms with Sarah as Thomas put the weapon down.
The rest of the walk was spent in silence, the awkward moment that Regirock started having just halted all questions as they walked along, the pokemon avoid them inside the space aside from a few birds that they had accidentally disturbed walking up the large branches and roots on their way to the upper reaches of the tree.
As soon as they reached the top though, Mew was once again making a scene in what appeared to be a large chamber. Filled with dozens of chests, shelves, toys and more, it was like a very messy child's room, but there were a few cleaner spaces, including a large near a very large open space under an awing of leaves forming crystal like balcony and giving them a massive view of the surrounding region, pretty much all of Kanto, and finally the ocean.
[Friends and family, visitors visitors!] Mew cheered and quickly swooped down with things in his hands. Much like he had done back in the Rusturf Tunnel, Mew rushed down and was eager to hand out gifts, for Thomas and Radara, they were both given another whistling crystal each, Thomas's a bright orange this time, while Radara given a dark purple one. Given that they had just lost pretty much everything, the sight of some more whistling crystals still kind of brought a smile to their faces a bit, even if it was still Mew's fault to begin with as Mew rushed over to Suicune and quickly put a large pink and blue ribbon, wrapping it around her large head piece and then just kind of tying it there in the middle of it.
Afterwards, Mew quickly went back and raced through some chests, tossing all sorts of things around that just kind of floated up and then gently fell back down as not to break, but still adding to the mess before he rushed back up to Sarah and Xent. Sarah was handed a very large hat box that contained an ancient crown as Mew just bounced around jumping in front of her cheerfully. [Princess forget her crown, all princess needs crowns!] Mew cheered, not that Sarah understood her, and then flew up over Xent and came back down with an old but very well built fishing rod that looked like it was made glass, but was far too heavy to be glass as Xent was forced to take it.
[Here here! You're last one got all dirty, can we go fishing now? I want the shiny fish feast with rice!] Mew declared as he forced Xent to take the rod, unsure of what else that Xent might want, unable to get a feel from the angry man before him.
Even then Xent was ready to blow up on despite his status as a legendary pokemon, only for the rod to get stuffed into his hands leaving him a bit confused. "What the-" Xent started, Mew quickly floating up again back over to Sarah and Suicune, Xent slowly starting to inspect the rod. It was a good fishing rod, properly stored and in great condition despite its age, it easily older then any rods that Xent knew about it.
Sarah was just entirely dumbstruck at the crown, which appeared to be made of gold and had a number of large gems on it, it just shiny and polished. Thomas, Radara, and Suicune all had to wonder about it though, looking back and forth between each other. "Is that..." Thomas started, sorta recognizing the crown, but a little to fully place since it had been so fully clean, which by extension also appeared to wipe clean the paint that usually gave its royal family crest color.
'Queen Mocha's, the last queen of the Mirage Kingdom to rule as part of Hoenn before the kingdom hid itself away from the world when Queen Mocha was assaulted and bed ridden for months.' Radara stated, having jumped up on a nearby table to get a much better look at it.
"Mew... where and when did you get this..." Thomas asked as he turned to face Mew again. Xent however was about ready to disrupt things now though, only for Sarah to see him getting ready to just throw the rod down and turned to him.
"Xent, he's just a child. Be easy, I know its hard, but try not to break things." Sarah asked quickly, Suicune just shaking her head.
'Mew really doesn't understand what it did wrong Xent. The very idea of war goes against his understanding, the knights are just bullies and we're not even sure if Mew can even grasp the concept that people want to hurt others.' Suicune said.
Xent was going to try it anyway, but when the wind began to blow from the large open balcony, the smell of spiced meat, fruity drinks, and sugary berry puree. Sarah and Radara quickly showed their hunger, and that was enough for now.
"We should get something to eat. Xent, can you help me make some rice and vita-curry mix while Sarah helps cut up some meat for our pokemon." Thomas stated, just gently pulling Xent behind him with his abilities, not being aggressive, but eager to stop any more fights right now.
Xent didn't really fight as he just took Sarah's bag and followed Thomas over to a large crystalline table in near the side, Thomas and Xent just carefully moving things around until they had space to work with. Calling out Juno, Juno would help them cook at the moment as Thomas found a few pots, already cleaned and ready to use, moving over to a small spring now that was just there in the tree to get some water for various things.
"Ya know Xent... you do need to calm down some." Sarah said as she moved up, a pair of spiced and dried meat rolls in her arms, setting them down on the empty space and then helping pull out a small cooking rack that she still had Radara moved it over a large smooth crystal surface on the floor of the balcony.
"Yeah... right. I'm missing half my pokemon because of that rodent." Xent started keeping voice low, but still clearly angry about everything.
"The knights were there either way, even if Mew wouldn't be there. They were looking Andrew and Vivian, or did you miss that part. Maybe we could have gotten away more quickly without Mew interfering, or maybe they would have had time set up a proper trap there and called for help, and we'd all be at the full mercy." Sarah tried to reason with him as she carefully started to cut the meat rolls into small easy to eat strips for everyone.
"Or maybe, we could just find their base of operations, lock the doors, and set it-" Xent started, only for Sarah to slap him now, and then grabbed his pokedex.
"And be no better then them, or Teams Magma and Aqua? Just kill indiscriminately without learning the actual truth of what's going on?" Sarah asked, having not really hit him, but at least enough to make sure he knew it. She utterly hated the idea of anyone killing anyone else, and it the first time in a long long time that she had lost her temper like that, but she still didn't try to hurt Xent.
"Do NOT use that fucking old ass argument with me-" Looking threw a few menus, Sarah found what she looking for, and quickly stopped Xent as she shoved his pokedex back in his face. The pokemon status screen was on display now. Three of his pokemon, Zia, Verna, and Akra were all listed as very healthy in near top shape and had active vital checks going, but his other three pokemon were now currently listed as "S&S – MPB", with a time stamp from early that morning before they got out of range of the Trainer Network, as well as a signature from Andrew Falston.
"Wait... S and S, MPB?" Xent quickly stated, knowing exactly what that meant. Although the "Safe and Secure" setting was fairly common and meant that a pokemon was just being held in good health in all sorts of manners, the MPB was a very rarely seen sight that stood for Mobile PokeBox.
"It means Mobile Poke Box, a type of secure cargo box with signature verification for each person handling that box on transport. Its-" Sarah started as she went back to cutting the dried meat again, only this time Xent interrupted her.
"I know what it is, I've used them before." Xent said, but now very much calmer, thinking about it. "Andrew Falson... That's Thomas's foster father right?" He said after a few, putting his pokedex back and pulling out some rice and spices now Juno carrying over a large red crystal in her mouth that was clearly just radiating lots of heat while Radara and Thomas came over with a few jugs of fresh water and the pot that he had found.
"Hey... what does your foster father do with pokemon?" Xent asked, fairly calm now as Thomas came back.
"Huh?" Thomas asked a bit confused.
"Our pokedexes say that Andrew has currently signed off on a MPB, which is holding our pokeballs." Sarah said. "Is there anyway we can contact him and let him know where to ship the rest of Xent's team so that they'll be safe?"
"Oh, well uh... yeah probably. I'll him a call at some point on a payphone somewhere, just to let him know that we're safe, and I can probably send him an e-mail while we're at it. We should probably find a secluded place for you have a chance to talk with your parents too about whats happened. I mean you can send them an e-mail or something too, but it might be better if they heard the words rather then read them." Thomas sighed as Juno set the crystal down under the small cooking stand, and then used a controlled flame to heat it up even more.
"Yeah... yeah, I'll do that as soon as we get off the mountain and find a small town somewhere. I'll also send them an letter or something, oh oh hey, we could send letters to our parents right? I mean it would be easy to just drop off letters and more to our parents in random mailboxes and such as long as we don't tell anyone where we are going, we can could at least let them know that we're right fine?" Sarah asked, but Thomas and Xent just shook their heads a bit.
"Its fine to do once in a while, but it creates a lot more problems then it solves..." Xent said softly. "We'll have to avoid talking with them for a while honestly, but yeah, they should probably know. We can... I'll help you find a place and try to give you as much time as I can."
"Thanks." Sarah said softly as she kept up her task, and then turned to mixing up some vita-curry. "You guys want spicy, or mild, or sweet and spicy?" She asked looking over the packets.
"Molten Magmar if you have some." Xent replied, only for Sarah to look up at him.
"Isn't that stuff usually sold with a waiver and emergency ice packs?" Sarah asked with a worried look, still not knowing how some people liked to pretty much burn off their taste buds.
"Yep. If you don't have it, sweet and spicy is fine." Xent added, doing to start on the rice now.
"Sweet and spicy works for me, Radara, and Rebecca. Juno will just stick to the meat, and Suicune?" Thomas added as well, Suicune coming over to help as well.
'I will just enjoy some berry puree over rice.' Suicune said as she started to help a bit, or as much as she could.
"Well, spicy curry is something all of my pokemon enjoy, so it will serve for all of us." Xent added, and Sarah nodded, pulling up four bags of the chosen curry mix.
"Serenity won't eat it, but he'll like the meat and berries too, and Flare... I swear he'll eat anything, so sweet and spicy curry it is." Sarah said, even Mew coming over to help now.
[Let me help! Let me help!] He cried out and quickly came flying with more pots and pans, as well as a few more very red crystals for Juno to heat up and use.
Xent grumbled, but didn't say anything else for now, just letting it go and avoiding Mew as best he could to start.