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 32 : Complications
With everyone distracted so much about Samantha, Xent was left in shock at the helm of the boat, taking them out of the city and into open waters very easily. He moved to the kitchen shortly after they were in open waters, intending just to get some coffee, Verna still at his side waiting for him to gather his thoughts.
As he finished starting the cup of coffee though, he found himself in an even larger bit of confusion as he just looked at the container of deluxe coffee mixes and its large advertisement about always having the perfect cup for moms and dads. It only added to his worry and confusion, Verna quickly closing the shelf in the hopes that he would forget it quickly, but it just sparked a new idea instead.
Completely unsure of anything, he didn't know what to do. A constant nagging thought at the back of his head though make him think that Dahlia was telling the truth though. She clearly didn't have any reason to lie, or at least he couldn't think of any reason why she would. And after all that he had been through in the past few weeks, he found himself accepting the insane and impossible more and more.
For that matter, after meeting Arceus and seeing the whole family aspect of the legendary pokemon, of just how they may be gods, but they were still just effectively people of a sort trying to get by in every day life, Thomas could tell him that there was an entire civilization of water pokemon who were more advanced then humans and he'd believe him at this point.
Still, thinking about family, and that advertisement about moms, Xent slowly looked down. He never had a mother as far as he could recall. He couldn't even remember the slightest detail of one or a father. He only remember bits and pieces of his grandfather, and there was that nagging thought of someone else there listening to the stories too. He always assumed that it was just a long forgotten friend, but now he wasn't so sure.
What he did know was that he needed someone better to talk to. Zia was drunk and of no help, and while Verna was here now trying to help and they were all family, they couldn't exactly give him the kind of help he really needed right now. Distracted and out of it as he was, he returned to the helm, turned off the engines ignoring the others, returned to the kitchen to get his cup of coffee and then went down stairs.
It was easy to go unnoticed like he always had tried to do, and no one saw him as he just passed through the kitchen to the stairs, Verna a bit worried but walking with him. 'Uh.. Xent? Shouldn't we be at the helm?' Verna asked, just walking with him downstairs.
Moving right back towards the master bedroom, Xent found the door open and just walked inside, heading to the pokeball stand by the bed. He knew that Thomas had Radara's and Juno's pokeballs on him, and kept Rebecca's in his room or on him, so that left Suicune's pokeball on the stand knowing that Dahlia wanted her close just in case.
Reaching down and picking it up, he held it for a few as it expanded in his hand. 'Xent, we really shouldn't.' Verna stated now wondering if even with all of Radara's training, could she properly talk with Xent alone right now.
"I need to talk with someone about this... And she wants to be my mother as much as everyone else's anyway. I never had a real mother, and now I know why. If she's telling the truth." Xent replied after a moment, before just calling out Suicune.
"How much of a liar is Dahlia?" Xent quickly asked, just needing to demand that answer first as soon as Suicune appeared and materialized fully.
Suicune just gave him a very quizzical look however. 'I'm sorry for this, but Radara is busy upstairs with everyone else. Xent was found by some friends who called him out, on a phone and we can't just hide it.' Verna quickly explained. 'They are all busy trying to figure out what to do, but Dahlia mentioned that Xent has a sister.'
Suicune just gave a nod, taking a seat on the bed and pulling Xent in close. 'Well, since I have known her before her capture, I can say that she has only told seven lies.' Suicune said thinking back, a ribbon wrapped around both Verna and Xent. While Verna could translate right now, it wasn't easy and she was in deep concentration do to it, looking to Xent to see if he understood.
"Just seven lies? In thousands of years of life?" Xent asked.
'She believes that the truth is far more valuable, and more entertaining. The only lies she has told that I know of were those to protect family. I wouldn't image that she has reason to lie about this to you.' Suicune stated.
"Then... I do have a sister. That nagging thought at the back of my head about listening to my grandfather's stories with someone else... it had to be her, my sister then." Xent stated, slumping down a bit.
'Verna, what else did Dahlia say about this sister of Xent's. He seems gravely concerned about the truth of this.' Suicune asked, but Verna's answer was silent to Xent now.
'Dahlia said that Xent, and his sister Coria were not children of love, but a breeding program, bred for good genes. The two of them were meant to be raised as future kings of the knights, and while Xent's grandfather gave his life to try and get them both out of the knights, he only managed to save Xent. After that, Xent was forced into a highly religious orphanage that demanded servitude as he describes it, so Xent has major problems with any form of religion. Times were so bad, Xent must have pushed those memories of things so deep, that he forgot them about.' Verna explained keeping these words silent from Xent, knowing that Suicune needed to hear this to understand.
'And Coria remains in the care of the knights?' Suicune asked.
'Apparently she's doing extremely well in her training, and is well on her way to kingship within the knights. She's also been causing problems for Dahlia frequently before her escape. She's been tracking Xent for a while now on a personal venture. Sh-' Verna continued before Xent looked back up, Verna going quite to let Xent speak.
"How do you … what... how do?" Xent tried to speak, only for Suicune to place a ribbon on his mouth.
'You can only wait for now. Hunting for the sister you never knew is not a good idea. We hunted for Dahlia to save the sister we knew, but before you can save her, you must know yourself. I'm sure that you have a thousand questions, but these are things that you must first answer for yourself. If you do not know who you truly are, then how will you wish convey the world as you would try to understand it to her. If she believes herself a knight, she may try to share her views with you, and you must be understanding enough to not lash out at her if you wish to save what family you have.' Suicune continued, just holding him gently for now.
"Waiting... hate that so much..." Xent sighed, but nodded slowly at Suicune. "I will... but I won't be doing nothing."
'There is much to do while you wait. Learn of yourself, and figure out the questions that you must answer yourself the most. Family is always a complicated thing, and you've always wished for a proper family, that is easy to see. Family is not chosen however, and while they cannot be chosen, you can still try to save them as long as you know yourself first.' Suicune smiled, giving him a gentle lick to his cheek.
"After my grandpa... the only family I've known is my team" He looked at Verna then his pokeball with Zia in it. "They stuck with me through my dumba-...stupidity" Xent shook his head a bit, and stopped himself from cursing. "I just... want to do right by them... and that includes my sister."
Suicune just nuzzled him lightly, a ribbon holding him gently as she did so. 'And when you are ready, when you are at peace with yourself, you will do right by all of the family you have.'
Xent hesitated for a few moments, but slowly he wrapped his arms over the back of her neck and held her in a gentle hug. "Thank you..." he whispered just loud enough for them to hear.
-x-
An hour passed since Xent took them out into open water and Samantha was still having trouble with understanding the situation, the start of a shouting match beginning in the living space of the boat. Her view was that the knights needed a good kick in the ass, not believing how dangerous they were until at last Dahlia just forced a large chunk of information into her head that left her speechless for several minutes.
"I don't care what you think of yourselves, a group of less then twenty untrained and seriously unprepared teenagers will never able to take down the Knights." Thomas sighed very loudly.
"No, you look here. I don't care how you spin this. The knights are just another low pay criminal organization. You make it out like your so much better, that your not some teenager yourself whose in the same boat as us. You keep making excuses that apply to us and not you, and your still not even telling me everything, but here is something I can figure out. The truth is that these guys need a few teeth kicked in and you're just some kind of coward." Samantha finally stated a bit overly loudly, only for Dahlia to slam to table standing up very aggressively.
"My brother is NO coward!" Dahlia snapped at Samantha, Radara jumping up and putting a paw on Dahlia, even using some psychic power to keep her still a bit.
'Calm down, please.' Radara asked keeping her words silent from Samantha right now. Still, she knew well that Dahlia wasn't still fully right of mind and was overly protective of their family right now, and would lash out easily still.
"Brother? What, do you have some kind of family thing going on?" Samantha asked.
"Dahlia, it really is fine. She's just a bumbling idiot who doesn't know what she's talking about." Thomas stated.
"Bumbling idiot? I'm sorry, it looks to me like the biggest idiot in the room right now might be you. If you're so intent on hiding, you sure did a damn good job on that with the whole being on every news station in Japan and dozens more around the world." Samantha stated.
"That wasn't my fault. Mew is just a child who doesn't know any better, but remains a legendary pokemon despite the limited extent of his maturity." Thomas said, Dahlia slowly sitting back down.
"Yeah, sure. You're just a first timer with him and don't know what kind of pokemon is Mew is do you, with you only having recently captured him." Samantha stated.
"I never captured Mew, that whole thing was his idea." Thomas grumbled, even Radara giving a small snarl about it while Sarah just dropped her head with a small shake.
"Yeah... that wasn't our idea at all." Sarah said softly. "Look, Mew is basically the essence of childhood innocence. It can't even understand the idea of someone wanting to other hurt others because of greed or anger or hate, or any of that at all."
Samantha just looked on in confusion though, still having trouble processing it all knowing that she was only barely getting half a story and refusing to just accept the truth that was being thrust upon her, that she was supposed to share with the rest of her group. Thomas just got up though, only to quickly rush to the front of the boat.
"Xent? Xent!" Thomas called out, having gone up to once again try and check on him and get his help, only to find that the boat had been parked and was just drifting on the currents lightly. "Sarah, can you take the controls?"
"What? Well, yeah sure." Sarah stated quickly getting up and moving to the controls, checking to see where they were and what all was going on.
"What the hell is his problem anyway. I've never seen him act so messed up before. What the hell did you guys do to him to mess him so bad he just has to screw up everything starting with that giant shitshow at Cameran Castle?" Samantha demanded.
"Are you ever going to stop and think for a moment that maybe there is some truth to what we're saying... that the reason we're being attacked might just be because some religious fanatical group does in fact think we need to die to save the world?" Thomas asked now, only to stop and turn. "Suic... no no, bad timing." Thomas called quickly only for Samantha to turn right around.
"Sui-suicune!" Samantha gasped out loudly, Suicune moving up the stairs behind them and walking right into the living room space. "You did it! You did capture him!"
Suicune just moved past her though and moved up to Thomas and Dahlia, wrapping a ribbon around both of them to try and calm them down.
'Perhaps I should speak to her? It may help with this growing shouting match if she sees and hears something that she believes to be greater?' Suicune asked, Radara translating as usual before turning back towards Samantha who was just looking on.
"He can talk?!" Samantha cried out, toppling back in her seat, right onto the floor in her rush to stand up.
"She. Suicune is female." Thomas sighed, only to nod.
"So... how much of this are we actually allowed to share right now... You made it very clear that I'm not supposed to share this with anyone else, but your not convincing the recently eclipsed and now former queen of stubborn that easily." Xent stated as he walked up the stairs himself now.
"Sorry about that, I needed to talk with her. I never had a mother, but she's determined to act like one, and I needed some advice." Xent explained as he walked up with Verna at his advice.
"And you just let her out given the present company?" Thomas asked.
"I really needed someone to talk with about family issues. I mean... We'll get to that later, for now Samantha needs to know something or she'll just get herself and all of us killed." Xent stated picking Samantha up off the floor before sitting her back in her chair.
"How much do you think she needs to know to be safe?" Thomas asked as Suicune turned towards Dahlia, who was finally pulling back a bit from the table, taking several deep breathes.
'I must agree with everyone. You look positively stunning sister. I can think of no better look for you. Your new gown is just a shining beacon of grace for you.' Suicune smiled, looking over the gown and Dahlia took a few more steps back, and just held herself back up rather dignified now, graceful and elegantly as she could. It was all for Suicune to see her now, she wanted to show off a bit as she held her head high and turned a little to each side, and then even turned around to let Suicune see it all.
"I knew it. You did capture Suicune and Mew! You claim to be bett-" Samantha blurted out, only for a ribbon to silence her, pressing firmly to her lips.
'I travel at Thomas's side because I desire to do so of my own accord. I may leave at any time of my own choosing, and the only use of a pokeball for me is to continue to stay at Thomas's side without drawing a large undesirable crowd, and to be protected from other pokeballs while I do travel with him. And Mew remains safe at his own home, not traveling at Thomas's side, nor having been captured remaining a free childish spirit.' Suicune said softly, turning and facing Samantha now, moving up and taking a seat at the table, sniffing the tray of stuffed peppers.
'What all is this? I smell exotic spices.' Suicune asked.
"I still have trouble with grains, but I wanted a burger. I slightly tweaked a recipe from a deli's in one of the grocery stores I bought to be more suited to the pepper, adding a little more onion and an Alohan blend of spices to make it more flavorful. The curry sauce and pepper also pull out some more flavors that only add to the experience. It would have been far more delightful will still oven fresh, but even when reheated, it still holds the full flavor of the original recipe for the most part." Dahlia explained, Samantha ready to pull out some hair at the sudden change in topic.
"Stop trying to change the subject." Samantha snapped at them, missing a few things and only catching on about the food, even Xent shaking his head at the change in topic.
"I'll ask again just in case... how much is too much?" Xent asked, Samantha still turning to glare at him. "I know you won't let me share everything, but she won't take no as an answer without something better. Hell, I'd still be calling you liars if I haven't seen everything that I have."
"You can start with everything!" Samantha half yelled now, standing a bit, her eyes continuously glancing back to Suicune, still having trouble seeing how easily Suicune was just at home here, like this wasn't just another captured and tamed pokemon.
"Hi, my name is Dahlia. As far as you need to be concerned, I'm a little over seventy years old right now and this is my family. I will kill to protect them, and I'm trying to save your life because for as much trouble as you cause, you're just misguided. The so called Knights of Arceus are a religious order who believe themselves to be holy warriors fighting for the fate of the world and the only way to stop them is to get rid of their older fully indoctrinated members and replace their leadership with someone else, without declaring war on them which would reinforce the so called feeling of need to kill what they deem evil. If you try to fight so called evil with evil, they bring down their so-called holy-" Dahlia stated, only for Suicune to put a ribbon to her mouth as well.
'Calmly Dahlia. I understand your hatred for them, but she is not one of them. We can do this nicely.' Suicune stated as Dahlia grumbled, but just gently took the ribbon from her mouth and took a seat on the couch.
"There is no nicely with the knights, and certainly not for Johto Order while Samuel is pulling strings." Dahlia stated firmly, but taking a seat on the couch now.
"How much do you think she needs to know to convince her that some vigilante group can't take on the knights?" Thomas asked.
"Well, the only two ways to guarantee that is to either show her everything, and that puts them in more danger, or have the knights actually attack them like they did us, which entirely defeats the point of keeping them safe since we were d-... since we were lucky to be under the protection of Mewtwo who saved our a... bacon back in Cameran Castle." Xent sighed.
"What the hell happened to you to turn you into such a fucking coward Xent?" Samantha stated, still staring at Suicune, and trying to process everything, but already tired of the Xent she met now, far more then usual.
"I lost half my team, and can't go back for them. I would be dead if not for the sheer dumb luck that my fishing pole skewered the eye of my assailant who made a complete joke of me, who was a trained killer that I was struggling just to grab anything to defend myself with. Hell, they fucking hired an actual this was his job professional assassin to try and kill him." Xent started, only to bite his lip when he realized he cursed again.
"They are ready to die for their cause, everyone I've met so far won't listen to reason, and truly believe that they are doing good. They have people in the government, can get access to confidential information, and I have no doubt that they can open multiple criminal investigations into each of us. They're already trying to get Thomas arrested for kidnapping Sarah just to have a chance to get him and I have no doubt that they'll try to turn the incident at Cameran Castle into an investigation for Thomas being terro-" Xent continued, only for Suicune to silence him as well, a ribbon on his lips.
'Xent, you be nice too.' Suicune added, waiting a few before pulling her ribbon back.
"Alright fine. The point is, I think Thomas is safe from being followed quickly or electronically. He seems to be a very nice boy well liked by almost everyone who has seen him grow up, with lots of connections whether he realizes it or not. His parents are fairly rich, his father already knows who he is now and seems to know who he likes from what I can tell, and from what I overheard, he also seems to be on really good terms with the head of Devon Corp. They let him keep a prototype pokedex after all, and it sounds like Thomas has made a habit of protecting Devon Corp interests, so I think they'll heavily interfere with any investigations that he might come under by refusing to cooperate with anyone that they think they can't trust or tries to tell them that Thomas is a crook." Xent started, only to finally notice the full on glare that Radara and Thomas were giving him for just full on admitting that he was practically spying on them during the talk he had with parents right before the incident in Cameran Castle.
"Hey, I tried to tell you that I hate parties. I have good hearing and was looking out for other things, and its not like I heard everything sitting by the stairs on the first floor." Xent stated.
'I will deal with you later, and you will not be able to hide. If you do anything like that again though, I will not leave your private thoughts alone.' Radara hissed in his mind alone.
"Sarah was with me pretty much the whole time, no I didn't go out of my way to spy on you. What matters is the fact that after this whole mess, there are going to be actual investigations into you, and Devon Corp, and Queen Ilene will be dragged into them, and quickly explain that you're being targeted. Between that and people thinking that you have legendary pokemon, any investigation into you will be closely monitored until the people in charge figure out what's going on. With the knight's direct attack though, they'll be labeled as terrorists instead though, and with them having tried to take our stuff with false paperwork and then getting caught impersonating officers, they'll before forced to limit information and hand pick the people in charge of this." Xent continued, only for Dahlia to sigh and shake her head a bit.
"Well, I guess that's one way to put it, but that's hardly how that works. You have the bare bones idea in place, and if it was a smaller office, then yes your past experiences with this kind of thing would be helpful. The actual way this works though is significantly more complicated. I've already taken some measures though. I always knew there was a high chance that when I left, I would put my family in danger, and there was a small chance that things would go public. I've already prepared a few things, including several anonymous tips in the form of files sent to various organization with basic profiles of Thomas and what the Knights think of him painting them as something a bit worse then they are." Dahlia said as she took her seat again, pulling out another stuffed pepper and a plate, cutting it into quarters and laying it out for Suicune to try.
"Xent is completely right in one aspect though. There is a large sum of money and resources that will protect my brother from a great distance. This will give him time to hide and be forgotten while they are busy with other things. If you attack the knights though, they will be prepared to dedicate millions in cash and hundreds of personal if needed to kill you and you will not have the same benefits. The only way to attack them and actually do something to them involves killing them and attacking their primary forms of income. Doing so will turn you into high profile terrorists, you will be forced to attack and put thousands of innocent people who aren't part of the knights at risk, and you won't be able to hide." Dahlia continued as Suicune tried the stuffed pepper.
'Oh that is delightful, a wonderful blend of spices and flavor. It really is like a burger, and a very nice one. Its been far too long since I had the pleasure of one, with them being a very uncommon thing here.' Suicune smiled eagerly licking her lips at the taste she had, taking another quickly now and just chewing on it for a bit, savoring it.
"How can you change the subject so easily. Food can't be more important then your cowardice and hyping up this group." Samantha half yelled out, but her voice also held a lot of confusion,
"Dahlia, if you would, can you explain a lot of that to me later when this is sorted out?" Thomas asked, still mad at Xent, but now back to the primary topic.
"Alright, new topic. You and your vigilante group know that bad people exist, you make a habit of shitting in their lawns. The Knights have a business in which they perform legal services and jobs providing a recurring means of financial resources. They have people, all over the country and in various positions. They have a cause, that these people believe, most of them meaning to try and make the world a better place. They believe that they fight to make the world a safer place, trying to protect the natural order of a world that they believe in." Dahlia started.
"Because evil like that doesn't exist. You can't just go around butchering people and causing mayhem like without people noticing. It doesn't exist because there are people like us making sure it doesn't. Xent, why are you siding with me on this?" Samantha quickly stated now. Thomas, Radara, Suicune, and Dahlia all just dropped their heads though.
"Ever since I got handcuffed to his side... I've seen some... I've seen things now that make me question the very foundations of what the world is built on." Xent replied.
"They are not evil." Thomas started now, taking a deep breathe.
"Samuel and those who give him their allegiance are pretty damn good at pretending to be though." Dahlia quickly interjected though.
"The knights in general aren't evil... their religious." Thomas continued taking a seat and collecting himself, Radara jumping up into his lap, even Dahlia and Suicune resting a bit closer to him, knowing all that the knights had cost him, what they ultimately did to him.
"They aren't after world domination, or some criminal empire looking to control pokemon, or make a profit off drugs, or even trying to control the country. They do what they do, they hunt me because they think that I'm some great big bad thing that needs to die to save the world. They want to do good along the way, and their beliefs are hundreds of years old. They are not some unnamed "Team" with uniforms and a letter on them, after personal greed and goals that put them in a higher place over others. They hold themselves to a higher standard then others because they want to help the world, and think that in order to this, they need to be stronger themselves to save the world." Thomas continued.
"And yet, she put some kind of... weird strange vision into my head of some castle where three people were set on fire. If that's true, that's not religion! That's evil, which makes their entire order just another criminal organization." Samantha shot back.
'Did you know that fire in ancient times was thought to be a means of purification of anything it touched? It cooked food, making it easier and safer for things to digest. It could be used to help pull impurities from metals to make tools and armor better. It hardened and strengthened clay and mortar into building materials that would last against attack and the elements so much better then just scavenged wood.' Suicune asked now looking back up at Samantha.
"And just what does this have to do with anything?" Samantha asked.
'Fire was thought to also be able to purify more than just physical aspects. Fire would light spice, bark, and incense providing cleansing smoke and stave off the darkness of night. If fire could do all this, if it could purify the mind and in a sense bodies of those it touched, then fire would be perfect to purify the soul as well. The knights burn those at the stakes not out of evil, but misguided purity. It is their belief that fire can lay bare the soul of all those burned by it, taking away all mortal desires and hate, preparing those burned by it to face the judgment of Arceus free of worldly interference. Their purified soul would then be ready to face itself, and find its fate if they could only accept redemption and forgiveness.' Suicune replied.
"You have to be joking." Samantha just looked over Suicune, having trouble figuring out what she meant.
'Is it really so hard believe the values of the elements to a religious collective?' Suicune asked.
"Yes! You just can't burn people at the stake and be religious. And even if they did think that they were following the will of a god, why would even be putting so much time tracking you and trying to kill you. Thomas there doesn't have any kind of criminal record, he's not part of any criminal group himself, he hasn't done anything to warrant this kind of treatment as far as I've read up." Samantha stated now looking back to Xent now.
"So, why don't you tell me the truth here and why they are really after you." She demanded.
"Because over six hundred years ago, my ancestors were involved with a direct attack on Arceus. The Knights were born after that attack and now seek to end the bloodlines of everyone involved in the attack. They don't care that my direct ancestor helped protect Arceus, the fact that one who did attack their god was related is justification enough to end the bloodline entirely." Thomas sighed loudly, Radara also dropping her head a bit with a small shake.
Samantha was just silent at this though while Thomas, Radara, and Suicune just thought back to those days, still confused about why Tahu attacked their mother.
"Yeah, its a bit complicated. And yes, they are religious. People get really picky when you attack their god, even more so when its directly. The origins of their order had regular interactions with Arceus in some form, back when she choose to interact more freely with humans. As her interactions became fewer and fewer, the knights became more misguided as I understand it." Xent stated rather bluntly now, his eyes on Suicune to see if he was going too far with anything.
'Do you really have to go there?' Radara stated, her voice a bit harsh and remaining hidden from Sarah, but understanding enough as she looked through his mind and Samantha's, but could feel that it was having something of an effect.
"If we don't explain something to her, she won't back off and will get us all killed. Remember, I didn't call her the former queen of stubborn for nothing." Xent stated finally taking a seat for himself.
"May I speak up about this?" Sarah called out, still at the helm but now thinking that she could help now that they were revealing a few things.
"Go ahead." Thomas said after Radara nodded, seeing where she was going.
"Samantha... things are complicated yes, but Thomas hasn't captured any of the legendary pokemon. His family line has been protecting them for generations. The fact that he has a connection to them though, that his family has kept interacting with the legendary pokemon though when the Knights have been avoided by the the legendary pokemon makes the knights upset. They won't listen because they think that Thomas's interactions with them are part of some great misdeed." Sarah called out recalling part of the story that Thomas had explained to her when she met Suicune for the first time, before the real truth was revealed to her.
Samantha was still slow to process everything though while Xent was thinking about it. "So you can see why the knights got angry now. They firmly believe that because Thomas's ancestor tried to kill or control Arceus, and then his bloodline continued to have interactions with the legendary pokemon, its proving their point. The incident where Suicune was released in public in Goldenrod City and ran off, and then the mess in Cameran Castle because of Mew only invigorated the worst of their group, this Samuel guy."
"Yeah, he's a big time "traditionalist". He's not happy with this whole criminals can do whatever they want and thinks that he doesn't need documentation of probable cause in order to act because its for the good of the world. More like the good of his goals to return the world to some imagined perfect world he dreamed up." Dahlia half hissed a bit trying to keep her voice under control.
"Y-you can't be s-serious..." Samantha shook her head a few times.
'Thomas here does indeed help protect us, as has his bloodline for over a thousand years. Most of the time, we manage on our own, but there is always someone who believes that the power of the legendaries belongs to them and will amass an army to help them take what they want. Although there is a small understanding with the current Japanese governing body who have outlawed trying to capture or battle against us in or near cities or other large population areas, these laws are only enforced to a small degree. This has not stopped trainers or other undesirable people from trying capture us anyway despite the fact that we a large role to play in keeping a physical balance in the world.' Suicune explained.
"Are we sure we should be explaining that to her?" Thomas asked looking to Suicune.
'These truths will neither hurt her or us. And it seems that it has an effect, she is in deep thought considering these truths now.' Suicune replied, just rubbing his shoulders while Samantha merely looked on in confusion, looking down and then back and forth between them all.
"Are you saying that... that you've been protecting the legendary pokemon from the world?" Samantha finally asked.
"My aid has been called upon fourteen times since my journey from home began. My espeon Radara here aided my father in the same task, and so help me for as long as she is able to keep the natural world order." Thomas said, Radara giving a small bow.
"And now that I am here, I shall aid in this cause myself." Dahlia quickly added, but slowly put her head down. "There is... I have do my part in this too, for all that... that..." Dahlia gave a few small shivers thinking back on all that she had missed, that she did not help with.
'You owe us nothing. You have already done so much. The only apologies that must be given are to you, not from you.' Suicune stated, leaning over and lightly nuzzling Dahlia.
"J-just let me get this straight. You aid the legendary pokemon and they... they listen and help you. Why don't you just get rid of the knights once and for all. Even if you don't want to rule the world, that kind of power, you could stop them just like that." Samantha asked.
'We must not take such actions. We will not start a war. First, how many humans would misinterpret our actions and choices. They already try to abuse the words of Arceus the World Mother for personal gain, and think that they follow in our footsteps. If we declared war on a group, how many others would use this as a justification that might makes right. Many more would try to declare pokemon must be enslaved for their own safety now that we are not peaceful. We must lead by example and help show that almost everyone in the world has a place.' Suicune explained.
"That kind of thinking is... in a way a sacrilegious way of thinking for the legendary pokemon. They know that the world is not perfect, that there will always be conflict, but such is the way of the world, even death is part of that order. But war, almost every single war in history has involved the legendary pokemon, and by extension the fate of the world in some manner. We all understand the nature of conflict, and we try to avoid it when we can, taking more discrete actions, but we must avoid war. There has been far more than enough of that already." Thomas sighed loudly, even Dahlia and Radara nodding eagerly at it.
"And you just... you're just ready to let them all get away with this?" Samantha stated.
"Aren't you normally the one who helps preach that I can't just go about and do whatever I please?" Xent countered.
"Well, this is different. They, you really can't just. Look, something has to be done." Samantha stated, trying to make an argument but Suicune was making some good points and she couldn't figure what exactly to do right now.
"Time is always changing. Even the legendary pokemon bow to the power of time, for that is one of the principles of the natural world order. While their purpose within the world remains unchanged, how they have gone about those roles have changed, and in time will change again. There will come a time when they interact with humans regularly once more and will welcome the interactions, and knowing that is enough for me. In time, the knights will vanish, or be ready to talk. Until then, it will be best to avoid them, and not challenge them. Doing so only gives them an excuse to continue as they have." Thomas explained, as his pokedex started to go off a bit.
"Eventually, the knights will go past their anger, and my bloodline shall no longer come under attack. We'll hopefully always remain eager to keep the oath our bloodline has sworn... and help always protect the legendary pokemon." Thomas continued with a sigh thinking hard about the oath, even Dahlia giving a slow hard nod as she took a chance to recall it.
"T-Thomas... Radara... will you help remind me of our oath later... I want to be sure I remember it properly." Dahlia stated, at once changed again, her face a little pale at the mention of the oath, and Suicune quickly wrapped her up in ribbons gently, rubbing and nuzzling her.
"Of course. I'd be happy to. We'll recite it again this evening for you." Thomas stated finally looking at his pokedex, but with a very confused looked now.
"Huh... so it would appear that those mentioned investigations have started. At least I hope that's what's going on. My pokedex has like a dozen warning notices about a federal account suspension pending investigation, and a note from Hannah?"
'Wasn't she the programmer that we saved during our last trip to Rustboro, who also had to approve the use of that pokedex?' Radara asked quietly.
"You sound like you don't know that name." Xent asked.
"Hannah? Isn't that one of the lead programmers for pokedex research at Devon Corp?" Sarah called out.
"Yeah, I think so." Thomas stated, and looked over the note.
"Well, is it another trap?" Xent asked after a moment.
"I think its the opposite. There's an attachment here saying that there's a phantom trainer ID card, and that she doesn't believe the lies being told to her, and something about team Magma or Aqua trying to assault her, but they were really weird. There's something about it giving me about an hour before any automated alerts go off in pokemon centers and the like, and how it won't show up easily on the trainer net now. Also, it says that the new pokemon that I gave Andrew is really weird too, but smart, and while it scares her, she's never met a more interesting chess player?" Thomas said, giving the short version of the message.
"Well, at least Mewtwo is getting settled in nicely." Xent shrugged a bit.
"Mew? Two?" Samantha asked.
"The big purple and white standing cat from Cameran Castle, the never before seen pokemon. You only need to know that since he is with Andrew right now, Andrew and Vivian Falston might be the safest people in all of Japan outside of the legendary pokemon." Xent explained.
"And you just... expect me to tell all this to everyone else and hope it just convinces them that your safe?" Samantha asked slowly wrapping her head around things.
"For everyone's safety yes." Thomas said, still looking over the message.
"And what exactly are you all going to do?" Samantha asked.
"We have a boat that will be very hard for them to find and track. I made sure of it. We have a few things here to take care of, and then... and then we don't even need to stay in Japan. I could possibly enjoy a trip to Unova or Aloha, they are both close enough by that we could make the trip as long as we don't over indulge ourselves on our supplies." Dahlia stated.
Another ding sounded from Thomas's pokedex again, this time with a high priority message, with the Office of Pokemon Regulations and Safety icon, the governmental offices that handled all trainer related activities. "And this would be an official alert that my account is now suspended pending criminal review. Its asking me to head to any major P.R.S. office or police station for questioning and to explain my role in what happened." Thomas sighed loudly. Almost immediately afterwards, Sarah's pokedex did the same, and as she looked it over, she shook her head.
"I just got the same message on my mine. My account is suspended as well." Sarah called out.
"Which likely means mine is on the way as soon as they properly identify me. Its a good thing I have a ghost account them, and it sounds like Thomas might be able use some services just fine as well. Don't suppose we can get something like that for Sarah before part ways." Xent asked, looking to Samantha.
"You know that takes time and a lot of cash..." Samantha stated, just looking back to Suicune again.
'We will manage, and we always shall. Times may be hard, but it is not the first time such has happened. As long as we do not poke at things and leave them alone, things will eventually calm down and return to normal.' Suicune stated.
"And... you just intend to run." Samantha asked.
"My family line has been doing this for over thirty generations. Times change, and with them so do we. But its an oath that we choose, and one I am ready to uphold. I've been doing it for years already without anyone knowing, and right now, I would prefer my task be kept quiet until the legendary pokemon are ready to share it." Thomas said, wondering if they had shared too much, but still seeing the effect, feeling a pokeball on his belt shake, and even Dahlia felt it, in a rush to move things along now.
"We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow... There's a lot of stuff to do to get prepared for the tasks ahead, and we have some unfinished business that really needs looked after." Dahlia stated, still a bit shaken, but slowly standing now.
"Will you keep this secret and explain to your group that Xent's only chance at safety is at our side, and theirs relies on not getting involved?" Dahlia asked.
Samantha just bit her lip a bit, clearly thinking things over hard. "Yes... yes I might." Samantha stated.
"Might doesn't work here. The lives of dozens of people depend on it. Remember, if you give the Knights a reason, they won't stop at you. They will go after your friends, your family, and even just well known associates to try and track us down, and they will kill anyone that they think is evil and will hinder their cause. Would you to like to see more of their misguided religious methods?" Dahlia firmly said now, even just glaring at Samantha a bit.
"What... yes okay fine. I'll... figure something out." Samantha stated.
"Sarah, where's the nearest dock?" Xent called out, slowly standing up.
"We just past one a minute or two back. There's a coastal pokemon center a knot or two away." Sarah called out.
"Take us there and we can drop Samantha off." Thomas stated as Xent moved into the kitchen and grabbed a small replaceable bowl, before coming back and putting a pepper in it for Samantha, before covering it up.
"Here... dinner on us. Its late, wait until morning before calling the others. We need time to leave." Xent stated, handing her the bowl.
"You're really okay this?" Samantha asked.
"I've seen some real s... I've interacted with more legendary pokemon, able to reach out and touch them, talk with them... in the past two weeks then most pokemon professors who study them for years. I've seen some things." Xent replied, once again cutting himself off from swearing again, and taking a few deep breathes.
"And of all them, I can say with certainty that is this is all Mew's fault." Xent grumbled, Suicune just dropping her head and shaking it some. She still knew the anger that Xent held for Mew, and would work with him to overcome it later, when they had time.
"I... I'll need some time to think up something, and it won't be easy." Samantha stated, just taking the bowl as her pokedex dinged now giving an alert. Pulling it out, she looked it over, before looking over the group. "And some anonymous user using some strange upside down black and red pokeball just made a mass post on nearly a dozen different forum sites telling everyone to watch the news in four days and they'll revealing everything we need to know about Thomas Falston." Samantha stated. "The same message with the same icon, but water marked in different places and with different fonts on something like forty major forums, as well as in the comments of a few major new sites appearently all within just a minute or so according to the time stamps. Some sites are evening claiming that the message was hacked to be put there in the first place."
"Great... as if we didn't have a large enough fan club already." Xent sighed loudly as Sarah pulled up to the dock.
"We're here." Sarah called out.
"Stay safe...and don't do something stupid." Dahlia added, before pulling up a tablet and looking over a few things herself to double check on the news that Samantha just shared.