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 31 : The Price of Fame

It turned out to be a slightly longer ride to a town then first thought, Palkia's bit of a rush job to get them away from the peaks of Mount Coronet not exactly a precise action. The nearest smaller city that would hopefully let them enter unnoticed where they could take some time shopping for things turned out to be a fair distance away and they only arrived in the late afternoon.

Thankfully, due how to spaced out the docks were at the port, they managed to find a place to pull up and park the boat even if it wasn't ideal, Mr. Rajin's warning about wide docks not a joke at all. Verna and Dahlia volunteered to watch over the boat while Thomas, Radara, Sarah, and Xent went out to get the basics, first and foremost being clothing. Having gone the past almost week with only a very very limited wardrobe was annoying for everyone, and the chance to get new clothing was eagerly appreciated.

The only issue was on hand cash which they had to make a budget for. Thomas had personally checked his trainer safe right before the emergency exit from Castle Cameran if only to make sure that his gems and materials for his Lover's Life Crest was there and untouched. This left Thomas with a still notable supply of ready cash on hand, and Dahlia had even chosen to give each of them two of the spare pay packets she had left from Mr. Rajin and his shipyard.

If they were still traveling on foot, it would go a long ways, but with the boat that had its own upkeep now, it wouldn't go as far. It would still get them all the basics, food, and replacement gear for now, but the extra tools, gear, and more needed to keep the boat in good shape, as well as fuel, upkeep costs, and dock fees for when they set foot in town would add up quickly if they weren't budgeted for. The concerns of having to spend a long time hiding was also a concern since they couldn't exactly follow the usual trends for how pokemon trainers made money to keep traveling adding to the need for making sure to keep a large reserve fund. While a concern, they all just agreed to talk about it that evening though, after getting all the basics first and then seeing how much they actually had all together.

Quickly off to try and find a used clothing store, it was a much better choice for them given the need to hide and budget concerns. Thomas knew the reasons why and as he explained to Sarah, they couldn't stand out, so older clothing was a much better choice, with simple styles at best, and as few trending major fashion choices as possible.

Xent didn't really care too much about his choices as long they fit and he didn't hate them, picking out an assortment of a dozen or so shirts, and another dozen or so shorts and sweat pants, done easily in a meager ten minutes at the store that he had picked out, and then went on to pick out some more specific items while he waited on Thomas and Sarah to finish up. Thomas as usual readily accepted Radara's input and suggestions, nothing fancy and all just basic, and even got Radara a few things like a hat and coat if she needed it for the weather.

Sarah on the other hand was new to shopping on such a low budget like this. Having been born into a fairly wealthy family, money was not a true concern for her and while she was taught the value of things from early on and how to spot a deal, this was still a new experience for her. Thomas and Xent both had to help her out a bit and make some suggestions, and turned down a few things she wanted, but in the end she was mostly happy with all she got.

By the time that Thomas and Sarah were finally done with a dozen outfits themselves, Xent had taken the liberty getting them all a pair of heavy slightly over sized hoodies and some large rimmed travel hats to hide their faces and make them harder to spot at a distance or in a large crowd.

With all of that paid for, the group made one more fast stop at a proper clothing store to get them all some new underwear, and Xent picked up a few more selective items like gloves, watches, and some belts before it was right back to the boat to drop off the clothing and wash some clothing immediately just to have something clean to wear.

Forced to take a bit of a break anyway, the topic of funding came up again, Dahlia still down a bit from the her last talk, but slowly recovering. The talk wasn't easy, with all of them wondering how to manage a very likely long term budget without the usual options to earn cash. Sarah didn't have any idea on how to help them earn cash, but she did have a lot of experience handling a budget and once she started to put things on paper, things became a lot easier to understand from the bigger view.

A large store of cash was put aside just for the boat to start in case of repairs, as well as a large sum for tools and basic equipment just to help manage the boat and daily life. The rest was set in daily supplies such as food and some emergency fuel in case Thomas couldn't charge the engines for some reason. Thomas even offered to sell some of the extra gems he had on hand, only for Dahlia to quickly silence that idea threatening them all with major bodily harm if Thomas's Lover Union Crest was compromised, she refused any sense of compromise in regards to that.

The sun was slowly setting by the time that everything there was done getting washed and dried, but everyone felt a lot better with something clean to wear at last. Dahlia was at least starting to talk a bit more again as they got dressed in something clean and prepared to leave for the food shopping.

This time though, it was a very different change of pace as they stopped in a proper grocery store instead of full sized trainer shop though. Xent felt rather lost as he joined Sarah and Thomas in the store, with Sarah leading the way as she started to pick out most of the things, going for a mix of value and quality. Xent was easily not very used to shopping around in a proper grocer and it showed as he wondered about prices and such, and still found it a bit weird putting larger items in the cart, not to mention the thought of how much room they had in the boat's pantry and fridge in the first place.

The only thing that Thomas really put on the list was a very large selection of spices and herbs. Thomas and Radara knew that anyone could last a long time on even the most basic of meals without complaining too much as long as they had enough spices. They weren't that picky to begin with, only going for a few simple things besides the spices as they kept an eye out for anyone who might be watching.

While still trying to fill up the pantry though, there was the matter of getting it all back still, each of them intending to carry a bag or two anyway. That would take a bit of time regardless, so Sarah was really picky about how much frozen food they grabbed and managed, teaching Xent quite a few things along the way.

As they were moving through the store though, Sarah quickly noticed a summer display with grills, pavilions, and other mid summer items on display, which quickly gave Sarah an idea. Sarah just grabbed a very large cooler with wheels to help carry the frozen stuff behind them to give them some extra room, and the cooler would find other uses at some point any way. This would let them easily carry back all the cold food they would be getting, but it could follow behind them which still let them each carry a pair of heavy duty reusable shopping bags. It still wouldn't fill the pantry to capacity, but it would still give them plenty of things to work with for a week or two to figure out how living on a boat was working, and let them carry quite a bit more.

With most of the groceries out of the way now, the trip back to the boat was slow, but they got there and everything that was cold managed to stay more then cold enough in the cooler on the walk back.

Thomas took the bags and set them down slowly to help Sarah onto boat, the blinds closed for now and while a bit strange, nothing was feeling wrong and Dahlia certainly had not called for help. Opening the door and walking in, Xent lead the way.

As soon as he was in though, and looked around, he instantly dropped the bag he had been holding in utter awe of the sight before him."Hey, hey careful!" Sarah cried out, only to give a loud gasp earning major confusion from Thomas and Radara who now rushed forward a bit, forcing their way in and using psychic to just close the door behind them once everything was inside the door at least.

"W-what.. h-huh." Sarah quickly shook her head as she looked on at Dahlia now, having changed outfit entirely, even Thomas and Radara staring awe a bit at the new look.

Dahlia was now very happily wearing a bright silver dress, with simple shoulder straps and slot in the middle exposing her stomach that wrapped up over her chest horn. A half skirt wrapped around her waist and just barely folded over itself in the front covering her groin and part of her upper thighs, but left her inner calves exposed showing her bare legs underneath surrounded by the a golden glow of the inner pattern of the skirt. She also wore long silver gloves that easily went past her elbow and the whole thing easily accented her new choker with the Cross of Arceus on it and Dahlia just wore it so easily.

"Xent, I had thought that you had better manners then that, throwing groceries on the floor." Dahlia stated with a sly grin on her face as Sarah about rushed into the kitchen and set her bag down before coming back.

"Dahlia, please please PLEASE! let me enter you into a contest. I've never seen more a more elegant and fancy pokemon, never before and I thought that Suicune alone was a truly beautiful sight." Sarah quickly stated walking around her, inspecting her, loving the dress and look earning a laugh from Dahlia, Verna quickly moving upstairs now and with Sarah's camera clearly in just as much awe as Sarah and Xent.

"I... that..." Thomas stuttered himself as he finally broke out of his stupor, Xent needing a slight push from Radara who had picked up his bag and set it on the table.

"Now now Sarah, that would hardly be fair to anyone anyone but the Master Rank Veterans. You'd have to enter into the Ultra Ranks to get me any three kinds of Ultra ranked ribbons before I would even qualify and it wouldn't be much of a contest." Dahlia smiled, but still gave a small bow. "I thank you greatly for the compliment though."

'Dahlia... you have never looked more beautiful. But, I was under the impression that you had hated dressing up so much, that you despised anything but your gown in your gardevoir form.' Radara asked, looking on eagerly.

"I mean yes, its beautiful, but that's several times more flashy that you have ever wanted before." Thomas finally spoke.

"My gown was ruined beyond reason. I've spent so long hiding its tattered form, it was just second nature to hide my shame." Dahlia explained as she gave a small pose for Verna to take the photo.

"The knights tore it up horrendously in just a few years under their early care. I refused to give them the satisfaction of looking at my nude form, we gardevoirs and humans share a lot of bodily traits and I wasn't going to even think about humoring them. Mother made this for though when she saved my mind and offered me my brother back." Dahlia smiled, giving a slow turn.

"You look really nice Dahlia." Xent finally spoke.

"He speaks at last. Do you all like it? I can't wait to show it to Suicune, but it may be safer until we get out to open water away from prying eyes and unwelcomed cameras." Dahlia teased, before moving to the kitchen slowly.

"Well of course you look nice, but I'm still just a bit confused is all. This is flashy, its far more fancy that I thought you would have liked." Thomas explained, Radara giving a large nod.

"Perhaps my time in unwelcome captivity has changed me." Dahlia sighed. "They didn't intend to let me use my powers at all around company, barely laxing what they thought total control of them when I was in custody only with the knights. When I became Juliana D Trinity, I needed something more to wear and had to appear to the part of business woman. I suppose years of dressing up and looking proper for a job have become a taste of mine now." Dahlia explained as she looked over the groceries, Verna and Sarah quickly helping her put them away.

"This is my new gown now though. It is the same as my proper gown in all but looks, it is as much a part of me as my former gown or even the shorts and top of a lucario. It is even made with blessed fibers, my recover shall even help mend it and it shall almost never stain. Mother took great care when gifting this to me." Dahlia smiled, taking a chance to start putting things away, Verna moving back down stairs to put the camera she had grabbed away for the moment.

"Leave out the bell peppers, that little case of cheese sauce, a few tomatoes, and the ground meat." Dahlia added as she looked over what all was bought, having only told them to get the cheese sauce and bell peppers.

"You have an idea for dinner." Sarah asked, starting to put other things away.

"I wish to cook, and I can work with those. I'll need the larger of the two roast pans, a knife and cutting board, and a large mixing bowl." Dahlia continued.

"Well, at least some things are the same." Thomas said with a small smile, happy to see that there were some signs of recovery consistently now and feeling a bit more eased.

"You would not believe the indecency of the knights not to give me a kitchen that I can actually cook in. They even had the nerve to restrict me to plastic cutlery. I really need to make a meal myself right now, and not some cheap thing." Dahlia grumbled a bit, Radara giving a small amused sigh herself.

"Sarah, can you stay here while Xent and my brother and sister go out to collect the last things we need, pokemon gear and the like and replacement equipment. Oh, and this is very important, some training gear, maybe a compact wall gym? This should take about an hour to be done including prep and cooking time." Dahlia asked, Sarah giving a nod.

"That will be bit of a late dinner, but we did have a late lunch too." Thomas nodded.

"Oh, and Xent, don't skimp out on the training gear. I know there's the issue of room on the boat, but I saw a cart rental shop at the end of the pier for tourists and the like. I would have pointed it out sooner, but I've only just noticed it while you were out getting the food, so don't worry about how to carry things back this time. You're right, you do need to get some large training done and I'll be helping you out. Hope your ready." Dahlia smirked, giving him a sly grin that almost unnerved him.

Thomas just nodded, understanding easily as Xent grumbled loudly again. "We'll see what we can find, but it will probably only be some basic things right now."

"Psychics are bullshit." Xent finally loudly grumbled under this breath as he turned and quickly walked out of the boat, in a clear bit of anger and not liking how he was called out so easily, Thomas rushing after him along with Radara.

"Sorry about that. We... well my family like to share a lot of things. I mean we have our privacy and our need of some private thoughts, but please don't hold this against her. She's a gardevoir first, and she needs to feels others, to be connected more then others." Thomas quickly explained as he just stood outside with Xent for a moment, only for Verna to come rushing out for a moment.

'I'm sorry. It was me. I told her that you needed help.' Verna quickly stated standing there in front of him now, looking down a bit shamefully now. 'The attack at Castle Cameran... You were so focused on the event when I read your mind the first time that I could just make out everything. They were trained to kill, you didn't stand a chance, it was pure luck that you survived.'

Xent grumbled a bit more, before giving a loud sigh and just gently pulled Verna close. "I know, you're right, I wasn't ready for that. Its just hearing her come out and say it like that, like she was reading my mind so easily even when I'm trying to keep everyone out."

'She said that she could help you prepare yourself against them. She wants to start training with all of you, even Thomas and Radara.' Verna stated softly, just leaning into him a bit.

"I think it was that smile of her that unnerved and upset me the most though. A smile like that can't be trusted." Xent stated after a moment, Thomas just giving a small grin.

"You'll get use to her. And don't worry, she won't kill you." Thomas said as he started off the boat with Radara at his side, only to stop for a moment and think. "So... do you have a license to operate motor vehicles?"

"What? You're not suggesting that you don't." Xent asked as Verna returned back inside to help make dinner now.

"Small scale motor vehicles have only been around for a little over a hundred years and only got wide spread use in the past maybe fifty years?" Thomas replied.

"And? Surely by now you've learned how to drive. You were there when they were first made. I mean sure they weren't first made in Japan, but now they are a global thing." Xent asked moving along with Thomas now, pulling out his wallet and looking through it to make sure he still had his license.

"First off, that was my former life, and they appeared late during his life. And I really don't care for them? I know their common and become a thing very quickly for convenience, I'll use motor vehicles if I need to get somewhere fast, but why should we rush through life. Clearly I'm also not going to abandon Dahlia alone on her boat and yes, I like it, but its slow enough for us to see the world, to be at ease. We can't just skip past it, it feels... wrong." Thomas explained, Xent just shaking his head.

"If I'm out commission, someone else has to be able to drive, preferably someone who's been in life or death situations more than a few times, with posable thumbs. That leaves you and Dahlia." Xent quickly stated as they moved along slowly, even Radara shaking her head.

'Yes, there are scenarios where operating a motor vehicle would be a viable solution. No my brother is not going to be forced to learn because you want him to. It was not how we were meant to be part of the world. If we need speed, we will pursue other options and at the moment, we would have no place to store such a thing to even start learning how to operate them, and it is unwise to try just stealing one, to say nothing of trying to get it started without a key in the first place.' Radara stated now as she walked with them.

"Its easier then you think, on both accounts." Xent stated, earning looks from both of them.

"This is how I'm part of the world, and I'd rather have as many options available when dealing with that cult, especially when driving is easy to teach. Besides, with technology not going anywhere anytime soon, cars will still be around long after I die and you two are still kicking. I know a few ranches along the coast that's be willing to lend a truck for this. And before you ask no, those favors aren't recorded, the cult won't know about them." He continued, Thomas and Radara and both giving a small shake of their heads and a sigh, moving along.

"You'll need to learn sometime." He added, catching up.

-x-

A trip to one of the fancier pokemon focused gym and training shops proved a little less then useful, and while they did have some small easy to store equipment, it lacked anything really useful for Xent's tastes. While they did have some forms of all in one wall gyms, they only had the floor models and would need to order them if someone wanted one at the moment.

Intentionally trying to not stay still for any length of time, they weren't going to wait around for one to be delivered and not knowing where they were going be at any given time in the foreseeable future, Xent only grabbed a few things.

From there, it was off to a trainer supply shop for all the new gear that they would need again, Thomas a bit annoyed about having to buy two brand new travel packs in just one month. Still, this time he had his choice in bag and deciding to change it up, went with getting them all smaller but higher end and more importantly, more durable ones. Even Xent agreed that the change might be good, and they got three large satchel style bags with heavy duty shoulder straps.

The bags were easily much smaller then they were use to using, but if they had the boat as a main place of residence for once, then it became a much better idea to travel lighter and they wouldn't need to have everything for their usual life on them at all times. Still, they also knew that the satchel bags wouldn't be able to carry everything they might want for any extended trips, and easily would have trouble carrying a group sized tent and assorting of cooking gear, so they got one full sized camping style travel bag as well for the camping and cooking gear.

With those out of the way to start with, they then started to go around and collect all the essentials and a few emergency items. Rope, climbing gear, tents, cookware, glow sticks and bulbs, traveling medical gear, a new hatchet for cutting wood, some basic tools and a sowing kit, and then a large assortment of pokemon medical items like potions of all sorts, restores, ethers, some training and general care items, as well as some supplies for the poke-care center the boat had.

As they were getting ready to check out though, a conversation caught their attention. "I'm telling you, that had to be Sarah Sigil." A younger girl stated as she was putting away her own things at the tables behind the registers for trainers to pack their bags up.

"Yeah yeah. Look, we all know that's somewhere in … what is that, Kanto Region? How could she even get here from there that fast. I'm not convinced it was her." The boy she was with countered, the two clearly younger traveling trainers, possibly coordinators if the costume gear they were putting away was an indication.

"Of course it was her, I know it was. I'm her biggest fan, I wouldn't mistake her for anyone else. I want to be just like her, I'm even using numbers for my pokemon moves too." The girl stated, rather annoyed that she wasn't believed, turning as an older woman came up to them. "Mom, you believe me right. That was Sarah Sigil, one of the best pokemon coordinators around."

"Yes yes Molly, I'm sure you saw her." The mother just sighed, coming up and helping them pack the bags.

"I guess it was a good thing that we came here alone..." Xent grumbled as the line moved up and they were starting to get checked out now, but listening carefully to the conversation and knowing what kind of trouble it could mean.

A sudden large group set of quiet dings from all the pokedexs around them started to go off and get everyone's attention, Xent and Thomas quickly getting very worried as everyone checked their pokedexs. It wasn't a bad alert though, but did raise some questions from Thomas as he say the tag line for the alert.

"So... now might be a bad time to ask, but hows your schooling. Early enrollment for the local Sinnoh classes just started for anyone who still has some schooling to do and any stop at a pokemon center that we need will immediately out us electronically if we don't have the required schooling taken care of." Thomas asked quietly as he looked up, their things starting to get rung up at last.

"Finished entirely, minus the last set of end of school year exams. I refused to let that get in my way and forced my through as much stuff as I could. How about our other guest?" Xent asked, not wanting to use names right now as a lot of trainers quickly rushed up towards some of the kiosks in the back and front of the to get their early enrollment or make arrangements for tests. Thomas's choice of words though told him all he needed to know about his own schooling, not that there was much doubt if Thomas passed or failed, being what he was and hold old he was.

"Finished in full, with a few college credits actually. She was supposed to be attending the Rustboro Technologies Institute this winter before things happened. Her father has a lot of sway and made arrangements for full winter classes while she was supposed to be home this winter." Thomas replied.

"I hope that wasn't too much of a major dream for her. Probably won't be able to attend too many classes for a while now given the shit parade going on in full. And just because I'm curious now, how about you. Ace everything in the first year? Correct any teachers on history?" Xent asked.

"Finished three years ago if you must know... without any kind of incident." Thomas stated a little annoyed, but letting it go as he paid for everything and they moved to the checkout tables to start putting things away.

"Just take your time on schooling or something?" Xent asked, only to feel an invisible hand press to his mouth.

'Despite those wild ideas your thinking up, my brother is still a child. He'll not be an adult for another nine years and the modern day educations of the human culture are not something needing utterly memorized. While the basics of math are a constant, the applications of learning are always changing. The subjects they teach today may be outdated in a hundred years, just as the schools of a hundred years ago are rather outdated in many ways now.' Radara quickly stated, annoyed with Xent's line of questioning.

'And get that silly idea of my brother in a corner with a silly unwelcome hat trying to correct teachers who don't believe him out of your head. I find it rather insulting.' She quickly added, still looking and paying attention for anything that might cause a problem directly around them.

"And you stay out my head because I could say the same about you not leaving my thoughts alone." Xent quickly grumbled.

'If you are going to interrogate my brother, you are interrogating me as well. You should study well the lessons of our lives that Mewtwo forced into your head before drawing stupid conclusions. Yes, it is a lot to take in, but just remember that it was also the short version. There are polite ways to ask without making wild assumptions.' Radara countered.

Thomas just shook his head and sighed a little, reaching down and gently rubbing Radara's chin to try and calm her down. "We are two halves of a whole. Personal questions like that are kind of directed at both of us."

"Fine fine. Sure, we'll go with that. Just stay out of my head." Xent quickly grumbled again, trying not to make a scene despite his very thorough argument and feelings about psychic types.

"If your going to insist on being rude, I can assure you that she will most certainly not." Thomas sighed, still giving Radara a few more gentle rubs to her chin, and then getting up. "Let's just finish packing up the things and then stop at boating shop for some basic tools before we head back. I'd rather be out on the water tonight then in town."

"Well at least we can agree on being out of town before then..." Xent grumbled as he finished up himself, slinging the larger pack over his shoulder while Thomas took the three smaller bags.

Following Radara's intrusion and Thomas's comments about it though, Xent choose not to ask anymore questions right now as they headed for the boat shop. Calling out Zia to help cover the cart while they went inside, it was a rude discovery to find out that Zia was still drunk as she was called out, gave a loud hiss, still annoyed about being shoved in her pokeball going to try and smack Xent, only for her to fall flat on her face.

"Uh... Zia..." Thomas asked quickly helping the zoroark up along with Xent who was now grumbling and overly annoyed.

"Oh come on, its been practically half a day, how can you still be that drunk..." Xent half way snarled. He quickly called her back, and once more his pokedex announced an intoxicated pokemon only for someone to rush up.

"Really. As if its not enough that you make a giant scene on national television of all things, now your letting your pokemon get full blown intoxicated." The strong and equally annoyed female voice stated, everyone turning to face the very tall girl who had rushed up to them.

Xent quickly turned and just seemed to glare at the girl, Thomas and Radara a bit worried, but staying quiet for the moment.

"Searcher..." Xent stated slowly, clearly trying to hold himself back as he thought about to say.

"Really, just my name. That's all you have say." The girl quickly stated, not really giving Xent much of a chance to even speak further. "Yeah Alison, I found him. And he's just as bad as you think, with a drunk pokemon standing with that other guy from the news..." She added, quickly pulling up her phone.

"Damnit Xent, what the yell were you thinking!" Another female voice over the phone started, only for Xent to just snatch the phone.

"I'm in a dangerous position, do NOT call me, EVERYTHING is apparently bugged right now. Searcher will explain later." Xent quickly stated and ended the call, still clearly trying to stare down the girl despite the fact that she was easily quite a few inches taller then him.

"Samantha... can I ask you not to draw anymore attention to us. Things are really dangerous for us right now." Thomas stated, Radara having given him quite a bit of detail about the new girl who walked up on them, Radara now very busy looking around and making them just another face in the crowd, too boring to pay attention to.

"And you Thomas... keep the cat out of my head." Samantha quickly stated now looking over Thomas and Radara as if judging them already.

"You'll get use to it." Xent quickly smirked some.

"My mind is far stronger then yours, I won't let everything slip out." Samantha stated, but Xent just rolled his eyes rather annoyed.

"Not against this one you won't. She probably already knows everything about you. Didn't take her long to know all my secrets." Xent continued as if trying to egg on Samantha a bit.

'Can we not have this little whose the bigger brat contest out here in the open please. We really need to finish up and get back on the water before someone else recognizes us.' Radara openly replied, very annoyed, Samantha getting very confused by the strange voice.

"Well... there's no avoiding this one anymore." Thomas sighed deeply, just shaking his head. "Radara, take Xent inside and get all the basic tools we're missing and anything else that looks like a must have for the situation. I'll stay here with Samantha and make sure there's nothing else going on while keeping things as quiet as I can." Thomas stated as he called out Juno.

"I think you'd better start talking now." Samantha half demanded, only for Radara to quickly act, Xent forced to step away with Radara while Samantha found herself taking an unwanted seat in the cart, her body moving against her will.

"Not in public." Thomas merely replied, just staying with the bags for now as he leaned against the cart, head a bit down, but keeping an eye on everything. "Samantha, Juno. Juno, Samantha." Thomas just stated, an easy way for Juno to understand that they had a plus one at the moment that needed watched. Juno just jumped up into the back of the cart though, laying down and resting her head on the bags as she kept her ears alert.

[And she is?] Juno asked quietly now, or at least mostly quietly knowing that Thomas needed an extra second to fully understand her still.

"Friend of Xent's I think..." Thomas replied.

"Are you … actively talking with your pokemon?" Samantha asked, turning a bit in her unwanted seat, but having trouble getting up even if she could fidget with her legs a bit.

"More then most I would image." Thomas merely replied as he looked around, keeping an eye out for anything that might stand out.

[And we intend to protect her as we protect Xent?] Juno asked, keeping things short and quick for now as she helped him stand guard effectively.

"Don't know yet. Not sure how I even feel on that to be honest." Thomas added, already thinking about how aggressive that Xent and Samantha seemed to be with each other.

"Feel about what?" Samantha asked now, clearly getting more annoyed as she tried to stand, but only manage to adjust herself to get more comfortable. "And what are you doing to me, why can't I stand."

"How I feel about how hostile things appear between you and Xent. Can you elaborate on that since you seem eager to talk?" Thomas asked, turning to give her another look, trying to figure her out, but only having a very basic set of information from Radara about her.

"What we are going to talk about is you, now start talking." Samantha quickly replied again.

"Not in public." Thomas just repeated.

"Then let me up and we can go inside where you spill everything." Samantha demanded.

"I didn't force you to sit down. Also please stop trying to make a scene while we remain in public. This is dangerous enough as is right now." Thomas commented.

"Oh really. Like the world isn't a dangerous place to begin with." Samantha shot back and Thomas just sighed again.

"Can you please just wait until we get out of public? We have a private and secure place to talk after we finish shopping." Thomas asked, a bit annoyed himself now, but also just trying not to cause a scene.

"So help me, if this all just a rouse..." Samantha started.

"Xent was right about that espeon you called a meager cat. She's the one who took your ability to walk right now. Give her a reason and she'll have your life's story laid out like a platter for anyone to see. She's rather protective of me, so you may want to think about your threats before you try to make them." Thomas just explained, already seeing Xent and Radara at the check out through the window, Xent now glaring at Radara. Thomas just shook his head as they came back out and he took a seat in back beside Samantha now.

"And please remember... don't make a scene in public. This is a life and death situation and no I'm not joking." Thomas half begged as Radara and Xent came back out, Radara just hopping up in the front.

-x-

As Xent opened the door to the boat one more time, Verna practically rushed him, a plate and large fork of some kind of baked cheese covered meat and bit of a pepper on the fork.

'Xent, you have to try this!' Verna very eagerly and a bit loudly spoke up.

"Xent, Thomas, you would not believe how good this is, its an Alohan burger, with the works, but baked in a pepper instead of on a bun." Sarah quickly added, enjoying herself some of it as well, sitting in the living room space with Verna as they waited for them to come back.

"Look, I'll try it... Verna... fine!" Xent tried to state, but Verna was just utterly insistent about making sure Xent tried a bit now. He finally took the fork and tried a piece, before pushing the fork back into her hands. "Yes, yes its good... wow, that's … that's really really good actually." Xent stated, having intended to just pass it off and be done with that, only for the taste to kick in and distract him a bit.

"We have a large problem." Thomas spoke up in his place as he walked in with Radara, setting the bags down by the door for now.

'Appearently Xent's been holding out a lot of things from us. Like him being part of a comic book wannabe vigilante group.' Radara added as everyone just looked on at Xent, with the exception of Dahlia who seemed to know part of that already, appearing unphased by the news, maybe annoyed at best.

"And I take it, someone part of that group that he knows found him and called him out." Dahlia sighed, confirming that she knew a lot more then she let on as well.

"I. W-wa... ju- STOP READING MY MIND!" Xent screamed out now, just assuming that Dahlia was doing it again.

"First, indoor voice, you're causing more of a scene. Secondly, I've barely read your mind since you helped me escape the Knights." Dahlia countered, slowly getting up, the boat once more starting up.

"Can't leave yet... which is part of the problem." Xent shot back, only to head back to the door and wave for someone to come up.

"Sheesh Xent, trying to tell the entire world that you're here when you need to be quiet about it. What was all that talk about subtly." Samantha stated as she walked in looking around.

"How? Tell me right fucking now then, how do you know so much about me then. You're either a really bad liar with horrend-" Xent started full on calling Dahlia, only for her to stop him dead.

"Your sister has been keeping tabs on you for years. She's a very thorough Knight and has been nothing but a pain for me." Dahlia countered.

"Wait... sister?" Samantha quickly stated, turning towards Xent, Sarah and Verna looking to Xent, while Thomas and Radara gave a weird look to Dahlia.

"S-sister?" Xent repeated slowly, entirely dumbstruck and with a heavily confused and entirely blank stare as though everything just crashed around him.

"Xent has a sister who is a knight?" Thomas repeated slowly now, very curious. "Coria, the name you mentioned who was keeping tabs on Xent for personal reasons?"

"Correct. And not just a Knight, a Knight of the High Order, being personally groomed to become a future King. Xent was supposed to be raised as one well, before his grandfather broke things up." Dahlia explained, moving up and just pulling them all inside, before pulling out the tray which had the rest of the stuffed peppers, as well as the plates and cutlery.

"Sarah, what are you talking about? Knights, a woman king that should be called a queen, Xent supposedly some kind royalty? You expect me to believe all that. And why do you sound so weird now?" Samantha asked.

"That was me actually." Dahlia stated, giving a small wave of her hand as she just passed out plates slowly.

"What kind of joke is this... you brought me all the way back here to humiliate me Xent. We'll I'm not falling for it." Samantha stated looking around, Dahlia giving her a rather bored look.

"Hi, I'm Dahlia. No, I don't wear contact lens, this is my proper natural hair color, and yes, I speak vocally. In all languages, with no regard for vocal language barriers." Dahlia stated getting a good look at Samantha's face.

"And my naturally being what you refer to as a psychic type has absolutely nothing do with this. I can and will speak my mind just you seem so intent on doing so hurry up and stop trying to put all of the world's problems on Xent. He's an untrained idiot, a problem I'm going to fix and you're going to get over yourself, there's a reason why your not in charge of your little vigilante group. And yes, it is a vigilante group, a group of people who knowingly break the law to take things upon themselves and refuse to judge themselves by the same standards they hold others too." Dahlia continued, in a sense verbally going straight for the throat.

"Now, since you're here, I can only assume that whatever happened wasn't entirely isolated and couldn't just be safely tossed aside for a believable set of memories in its stead. What happened Xent?"

"She already had a few more of the group I'm with on the phone who know she found him, me... us." Xent stated even mixing up his words a bit, entirely missing the comments about being an idiot right now. "Look, can we just go back to the sister part... and this I'm supposed to be a king in that religious cult with the murder boners while we're at it." Xent shook his head a bit.

"Religious cult? Murder bo... Someone start making sense, and stop trying-" Samantha started only for Dahlia to raise a hand up rapidly and press a finger against Samantha's head, her eyes giving a massive glow, before she grabbed her head in pain and almost fell over, Thomas catching her with a loud sigh.

"Well, I guess its good to know your still you, as direct as always." Thomas said, unable to not keep a smile off his face seeing how well Dahlia appeared to be recovering. "Come on, get your balance nice and easy now." He continued helping Samantha stay in seat as she recovered slowly.

"Since that will take a moment or two to set in, I guess I have time. Xent, you and your sister Coria were not children of love or even a fling. Your proper parents were actually rather unfond of each other, hating each other a bit. You and Coria are the product of a breeding program, hand selected parents with good genetics and well above average physical and mental scores across the board. Its easiest for the Knights to raise the next generation of Kings from birth, but you two were supposed be a special case. If your grandfather hadn't tried to rescue the two of you, you would be with your sister right now as high ranking members of the Knights, loyal and ready to take a life for the greater good without a doubt. All of your questions would have been directed at the world because they would have shown you horrors against them and the world that would have scarred a normal child, but not you." Dahlia explained.

"Instead, your grandfather managed to get you both of harms way for a few hours before he was discovered, and the knights didn't take kindly to their prized pupils being taken away. He did everything he could, but underestimated just who he could trust. They were on him in under an hour once the deceit was discovered and he had a choice. Give up on both of you and run, or know that he was to die and try to save at least one of you, both if he was lucky. He wasn't." Dahlia continued.

"I don't know the exact details, but you were spared by hiding in a closet and with no proper government paperwork to match up to you and your unwillingness to help the police who eventually did find you, you ended up in a rather forceful religious orphanage who demanded your compliance and servitude in a sense. I'll admit, it wasn't a nice place, and I suppose that you'll be happy to know that it burned to ground a few years later. You were spared the brainwashing of the Knights, but were forced to see the world from an unwelcome experience, experiences that were so bad that you did everything you could to forget the bad side of your past so filled with sorrow and hatred, that you even forget you ever has a sister I suppose." Dahlia finished, turning to face Samantha again.

"Are we more willing to accept that I can talk now?" Dahlia asked.

"What did you do to me?" Samantha gasped out as she recovered, before slowly looking back at Dahlia with a hard glare similar to that she had given Xent.

"I just gave you a small glance into some of my less complicated history over the generations, proof that I'm not a joke. I can still humiliate you if you would like though, or we move onto the actual reason your here. Figuring out what to do and how to keep you and rest of your vigilante group safe from someone will kill without a second thought." Dahlia explained before turning to Xent.

"Xent, why don't you take us out to open water before we have any more issues. We can drop Samantha off in a little bit, or maybe the morning if we stay up too late." Dahlia adding, Xent just slowly getting up, but entirely silent as he started to walk off, Verna quickly getting up and following him.

"So, I guess first I should ask how many people know that Xent was here and how much they know where here is." Thomas asked, taking the seat that Xent had just vacated, Radara jumping up as well onto the chair beside him.

"By know, all of us. That stunt of his in Cameran Castle was an absolute shitshow and we couldn't contact him normally, so we had to go looking. If any of us found him, we would need to report on him and guess I got the lucky chance to just that." Samantha stated.

"Trust me. It was a good thing that the cameras were cut off when they were or it would have been a lot worse." Thomas sighed.

"Yes, I was there getting personally updated with the Kings and was present during the call to Queen Ilene, well I was on the same call at least. I was happy to see that she was so mistrusting of the Knights." Dahlia smiled. "I also made it very hard for the knights to attack her without being directly connected to the attacks on my way out the door so to speak."

"I thank you for that. As it turns out, Queen Ilene has heard stories of us passed down through the royal line, from mother to daughter for generations." Thomas said, Radara giving a nod.

"Then our history has not fully been forgotten?" Dahlia asked, Samantha just giving them all confused looks.

"Far less then you realize. I'll explain that later." Thomas noted. "We should stick to the topic of Samantha here though."

"Yes, please do. It almost sounds like your possibly going to threaten me or something." Samantha stated firmly.

"They really aren't. They really do want to protect people Samantha." Sarah added giving her a slightly concerned look before looking down a bit. "What happened after the cameras were taken of was bad. Really bad. Some more of these people, these Knights openly attacked us and the Cameran Royal Family. They came in with full intent to kill and we all lost some of our pokemon in the attack. It wasn't a pokemon battle, they joined their pokemon in the fight directly taking up swords against us trying to take our lives."

"Yeah yeah, angry Team Galactic, Rocket, Magma and Aqua, who cares. We fight them all over the place." Samantha stated.

"No. Not your garden variety criminal organization." Thomas quickly corrected her.

"These knights fight for a religious cause and believe themselves a righteous force of good, a necessary evil to fight true evil. Team Galactic will rob you and try to force you to help them complete their objectives by threatening you and making life hard. Team Rocket will try to destroy your lives and friendships, and Teams Aqua and Magma are just misguided bumbling baboons posing as eco-terrorists. None of them will kill you though if they can avoid it, that would draw too much attention for them. Their grand plans require a certain level of freedom, which means they can't draw too much ire from the government." Dahlia countered.

"The knights will capture you in the middle of the night, drug you and your pokemon, take you to a little private cabin in the woods and proceed to physically and mentally torture you. They will remove your fingernails, break your legs, and then move onto your pokemon flaying and skinning them alive if they think it will help. They will then do the same thing to your friends and family if they think that will help them find Xent, and in turn find us." Dahlia continued.

"Now you're just exaggerating." Samantha stated. "If someone did something like that, it would be over every new channel across the nation."

"Its easy to hide atrocities when no one really wants to look for them. Just three weeks ago, the knights burned three people at the stake until even the bones were ash. I mean sure, they were some aggressive members of Team Rocket, but the fact remains that I was there and watched them still do it. Would you like to see the memories first hand?" Dahlia explained, Sarah just gasping out.

"Would you quit lying." Samantha stated, still easily not believing it, only for Dahlia's hand to once again rapidly reach up and press itself to Samantha's head, her eyes glowing as Dahlia forced the basics of the memory onto Samantha.

Samantha gasped out a bit, seeing a strange large stone room and courtyard, clearly of ancient designs, an old stone castle but things easily stood out among the room. High tech security cameras, blurred people at desks with computers, a table behind iron bars with guns, ammo clips, and a large collection of melee weapons, even a handheld gaming device in the hands of a gardevoir that was slowly glancing down towards it, starting a game, but still keeping something of an eye on the three large concrete stakes in the middle of the room, each with a man bound and chained to it.

Dahlia just let the full memory play out from her own point of view on it, before it was done and Dahlia pulled her hand back. Samantha was just in shock of all it, but quickly shook her head and then tried to snap at Dahlia. "STOP THAT!" She yelled only to realize she sounded exactly like Xent. "I do not give you permission to do that you... you..."

"They say seeing is believing. These people will kill you, so stop thinking that you can take them on. For your own safety and those you care about, you need to leave these people alone and tell that others that Xent is not coming home for a long long time. I'll do my best to keep him safe, but these people, they won't stop." Thomas said.