Watcher of Arceus - Path of the Immortal

by The Shadow Master of Weapons

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

63. 63 : More Questions than Answers

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 63 : More Questions than Answers

The Kingdom of Rota had changed little since their last visit. There were more guards on patrol, all with various pokemon companions dressed up now beside them, but otherwise things were relatively the same. The people were polite, joyous and eager to greet the guards. Their pokemon got plenty of attention, though people had to be reminded that the pokemon were still on duty. Despite this, the cheery atmosphere of the place was undeterred by the added security.

Queen Ilene and her personal guard were currently in the main courtyard. She stood proudly as she waited, and then the portal opened. She was more than happy to welcome the guests of honor, even if this was only just a matter of convenience. As Alto Mare came into view, Queen Ilene gave a full proper curtsy to her guests, a show of respect she knew her guests deserved.

Thomas and Radara were there in front, and behind them were Arceus, Palkia, Darkrai, and Xent. Although surrounded by plenty of others, these were the ones that Queen Ilene could name personally, her guards all giving formal bows as well as the group began to walk through the portal. Sarah, Rebecca, Zai, and several others were all equally welcomed as they stepped through and given room to spread out.

"Greetings, honored guests. The Kingdom of Rota eagerly welcomes you for as long as you choose to stay here," Queen Ilene warmly smiled.

For Thomas though, his attention was quickly drawn to Queen Ilene's side, which was occupied by an absol. Finely dressed in what might as well have been suit and fancy hat, it took Thomas to recognize the absol and Thomas just laughed. "Wait... Saber?!" Thomas asked, quickly kneeling down.

Saber gave a small whine looking up to Queen Ilene. She just smiled and nodded, and gave a small hand motion, urging him along. "Well, go on."

With permission, Saber quickly rushed up and cuddled up against Thomas, licking his face, nuzzling him a bit, happily letting Thomas scratch his ears. "How have you been buddy?" Thomas asked cheerfully.

[Oh its been great here! I'm so welcomed and treated with so much respect and kindness here! Would you believe me if I said I'm a personal guard now!?] Saber asked, still easily and eagerly remembering how Thomas often understood him so easily.

"A guard now huh?" Thomas asked, still just rubbing his ears some.

"My personal guard no less. When you left trying to draw those villains away after he was released, your absol helped defend us all, myself twice no less. The large purple and white pokemon easily began to overwhelm them, but there was only so much he could on his own. Unfortunately your absol was injured was in the attack along with my little Mime Jr., but I would not let him die. He was rushed to our private in-castle medical center. Having saved my life, I spared no expense in giving him all the treatment he would need after the attack," Queen Ilene smiled.

"I hope you are not too angry with my decision to have him as my guard however. After he recovered, he seemed rather eager to stay for some reason," Queen Ilene asked.

"He's been mistreated by many people and trainers over the years who blame his kind for naturally occurring disasters in the world. Many would see absols as the reason why they happen, not as someone who would want to help warn of such natural disasters before they would happen. If he is happy to stay here though, I am beyond happy and grateful to hear that he has found a place where he is appreciated," Thomas replied.

"I assure you that I shall continue to treat him well. He has already warned us of two such disasters so far, although the explosion in the Kanto Region was a surprise to us all," Queen Ilene stated.

'Unfortunately, what happened in Kanto is not a natural part of the world. And I fear that more such dangers may be on the horizon,' Radara said as she looked over Saber as well. 'And a delightful congratulations to you Saber. May you perform your new duties well,' Radara bowed her head.

"You should hurry to Pewter City. I shall stay here and inform Queen Ilene to the dangers that may be coming. While I too truly hope that these are merely an isolated aftershock from what had happened in Kanto, Rota's proximity to both the incident in Kanto and the Tree of Beginnings may put them at greater risk. From the Tree of Beginnings, I can detect any more problems with greater ease. I want to be sure there are no other issues," Arceus stated.

"As much as I would like to stay, we do have work to be done," Thomas said knowing it was best to keep this short. The rangers, lucarios, Xent, and Darkrai all started to move with him. A pair of guards stepped forward to guide them towards the castle's garage. The group of them would be spreading out over the region, with Thomas, Radara, Xent, Darkrai and a number of rangers heading to Pewter City first. The others however would begin a sweep around the quarantined zone of the prison remains to look for other signs of trouble.

~xXx~

Their bus sped down the highway, keeping their speed just below the posted limit to avoid drawing any attention. The unmarked bus had been converted into a small mobile command center, which allowed them to hopefully slip into Kanto unnoticed right now while the Knights had other things occupying their time. Xent was in the bus's kitchenette making another round of coffee while deep in thought. Thomas, Radara, Zai, along with a few more rangers and lucarios were mostly just sitting around in the middle of the bus while waiting to get into Pewter City. Once they began seeing signs for Pewter City, they started slowing down as traffic became more dense in the city. Just as they passed into the city limits though, Thomas and Radara gave a sudden full body shiver, both of them gasping out from the change.

Xent had practically thrown the cups of coffee was holding to the ground, clutching his metal arm to his chest and holding it tightly as he started to shiver violently. Everyone was instantly concerned and the driver quickly found a place to pull over, quickly turning on the hazard lights.

"What's going on here, Wonderboy!? My whole body is ice cold and this new arm doesn't feel right," Xent said through gritted teeth. It was clear he was holding back a scream, but he just focused on breathing. He needed to focus on something other than his arm and to not pass out.

"Distortion!" Thomas quickly stated. "Don't stop. Go, keep going! South. South, follow the road south," Thomas stated as he rushed up to the front of the bus with Radara while Zai rushed to the back.

"What's the distortion exactly?" One of the rangers asked, rather worried.

"Its the other place that was on some of the reports detailing kinds of dangers that we might have to deal with, but it wasn't exactly explained much aside from how to tell if there's a distortion event happening, and mostly to get one of the legendary pokemon," Another stated recalling what few reports that they had seen on the topic.

'Its far worse then that. What happened in the quarantine zone in Kanto is just one of the disastrous effects that can happen if left unchecked,' Radara added.

"Can we even help with something like that? We were all warned to leave matters about that to you right?" A third ranger asked.

"We will deal with the distortion itself, you all help blockade and evacuate the place where it's coming from. Get the police on the phone, tell them that we have a situation and to get ready. We'll need help," Thomas stated, quickly pointing up ahead to an exit ramp. "How many exit ramps are in Pewter City?"

Turning on the police lights and siren, the bus started to pick up speed again as the driver just did as instructed. "Seven major exits and three transfers. Is it in the middle of the city or on the edge? Can you tell that much?" The driver asked, but Thomas shook his head.

'We know that it's to the south. Probably near Hurk's apartment, or maybe one of those others place where weird events kept happening. Easily on the west side of the city still, but we can't say more than that until we get closer,' Radara stated, giving another small shiver.

A shadow emerged from the bus floor, Darkrai easily telling that something is wrong. "Hurk's apartment show no signs of further distortion, but judging by those shivers, the protective barriers between the world of our Mother and the distortion has weakened here. How badly?" Darkrai quickly asked.

"They said they feel it to the south, can't tell much else at this distance... Good news bad news, uh... whelp, I feel the distortion too Darkrai. My whole body feels wrong, cold. I hate this new arm..." Xent half snapped, still keeping a tight grip on the arm as Zai tried to help Xent into a seat for the moment.

"How unusual. That is a trait never before seen in a human... but then again, there's no telling the strange side effects of having your mind connected to our blessed metals. Take note of any other strange occurrences you feel," Darkrai stated, rather intrigued, before rushing to the front of the bus. On the way, he quickly took the Guardian Aegis off the stand that it had been set upon to rest for the moment.

Reaching the front of the bus, Thomas turned around to only find the blade once more forced into his hands. "Take it. If the distortion is here and involved with Hurk, then it's likely that our invasive friend is involved as well. Even if you refuse to take it as the symbol of our ways, you can still free anyone we find who might be possessed," Darkrai stated, if rather aggressively trying to make the point that it wasn't an option to argue right now.

Even as Radara hissed, baring fangs and claws at Darkrai, Thomas still gripped the blade. "South... now... you'll feel it like we do once you get closer. Find it, and guide us there," Thomas stated through clenched teeth, Darkrai quickly vanished into the floor, a shadow that rushed off the bus.

~xXx~

Rushing through the city as a shadow, even in the middle of the day, Darkrai went entirely unnoticed. While the bus with Thomas and the others continued south on the highway, and police lights blaring giving them an easy path through the traffic, it was still a race to find the source of the distortion event.

It didn't take too long before Darkrai reappeared on the bus and quickly directed them to an older part of town. The rather barren industrial district was all that remained from a time when Pewter City had attempted to be a mining and manufacturing city. Although there had been some success, most of it failed to take off as well as the city counsel at the time had been hoping for. Instead, the town quickly found a new focus with the coming of the age of the trainer, and the Pewter City Gym would eventually became one of the main focuses of the city.

Now though, the nearly dozen abandoned factories and empty warehouses were left to rot and rust. There was no doubt that the distortion was coming from the district though and as Thomas and group approached, dozens of other police and rangers were beginning to close off the area. Being so old and just of kind there made it easy to close the old mostly unused roads, but there was the still the great risk of squatters and other trespassers in the old buildings that needed to be looked into.

Being so close to the distortion event, it was easy for Thomas, Radara, and Darkrai to find out which group of buildings was hiding the source. Even Xent had a good idea as he got closer to the old warehouse, not needing to be told which line of buildings was likely the problem one. With such a strong feeling of the distortion though, Darkrai went to go and get some help.

As the group entered the first warehouse, Thomas and Radara began looking for a way down, for a downward path to get under the ground floor while the rangers and police were at work outside. Xent and Zai looked around, trying to help but it was a small hassle just dealing with the growing feeling of unease for Xent and how tense it was making Zai. Already having seen what the distortion could do first hand, and what it was like in that bizarre realm, Xent just hoped that they would remain on this side this time.

There were no obvious signs of people there, no clear signs of activity around it, the building mostly unkempt and just left to rust more or less. The Rangers with them began to work with police to close off the warehouse in full even despite it being seemingly abandoned already.

Xent couldn't keep himself from shivering a little bit though, his new arm really messing with him. As they moved down into the building in silence, Xent couldn't help but feel unnerved. There were some signs of people being in there recently, but it all looked like squatters and maybe some pokemon at best. Thomas and Radara seemed oblivious to it however, looking for something else. As soon as they found a stair case down into a possible basement though, Xent started to feel a bit worse, his arm colder.

Even Thomas and Radara were heavily concerned as they shined a light down the hallway. "I'm starting to get why you hate the distortion," Xent stated, partially just to break the silence. He still kept his voice quiet out of habit, despite the flashlights giving away their position.

"Is this what you guys went through when we were in the distortion?" Xent thought back to how messed up Thomas, Radara, and Dahlia were when they had crossed over to the other side when that thing had escaped. He spared a glance at his new arm, hating how cold it was right now before shaking his head. "No. It had to be much worse than this."

'I cannot say for certain what you are feeling with that arm, but I assure you that being disconnected from my brother is a dreadful experience,' Radara replied, before almost recoiling at a sudden smell.

Even Thomas had to admit the sudden smell was strong and aggressive. "What is that?" He grumbled lightly looking around. There were an array of stains on the floor, but some were much fresher than others, retaining just a bit of moisture that made the light shine off it. As Thomas stepped forward, he paused after stepping on a small, wet rag.

"Is it just me, or do you guys recognize this rank smell?" Xent asked, Zai giving a small nod.

"What are you implying?" Thomas asked, turning to look at him, a little confused.

"Those bomb trucks from the prison we stopped... it's not as strong as it was there when we stopped that first truck, but I can't forget the queasy feeling it put in my stomach," Xent grunted.

'And if this is the same smell as the stuff in those large vats in the back of those trucks, do you suppose that the chemical was just stored here from dozens of years ago when this place was operational, or was it brought here?' Radara grumbled, not liking any reason for why such a chemical would be here.

[Did Latias and Latios ever figure out what that stuff was? Or what it did?] Zai asked, bending over to look at the rag some. [Whatever it is, this rag isn't that old. Its a Quag's Delight product. Its a really good set of rags and towels, but the company only started up a few years ago. Dahlia won't let us buy anything else for the boat.]

"Then we have to assume that this place has a connection to the attack on the prison," Thomas stated, a little unnerved and very unhappy to hear this news.

"If we can find the office of operations, there's a chance we can figure out if the stuff was made here or it was here already," Xent explained, rubbing his metal arm in a vain attempt to warm it up.

"That would be upstairs most likely then," Thomas stated pulling out his radio and passing that off to Xent.

"This is Xent, down in the basement. We've got reason to think that this place might be connected to the quarantine zone incident. If you can find the office, or track down records of who owned this place and when, it might help us find some leads," Xent explained over the radio, quickly getting confirmation.

Looking more carefully over the floor of the hallway, there were a few more stains. The doors on either side of the hallway appeared to just be small cold storage rooms that didn't seem to be operational at the moment. Aside from a few stains on the floor though and the one rag, there wasn't too much in the way of disturbances and the group just slowly kept walking.

"How long is this passage? Think it spans the entire line of warehouses?" Thomas asked, shining the light down the passage again.

"It could. That would make any one of these warehouses a potential place to store things entirely unnoticed. As long as you didn't use heavy machinery, you could store all kinds of things down here without being noticed," Xent stated.

'Oil stains on the floor here,' Radara interrupted, looking at one of the stains partially under the door. The door was left open just a bit and looking into the room, all of them gave a small groan.

"Tell them to get the bomb squads, just to be safe..." Thomas stated, very worried now. Three large trucks were in the room, all facing the door. Cameras and some kind of mechanical braces on the wheels and the group instantly recognized them as the same type of work that was used to attack the prison. There were also large vats of liquid by all of the trucks and tables of extra mechanical parts in front of them all.

"Get out of the warehouses! Now! We've got possible bomb trucks in the basement, I repeat, bomb trucks in the basement. The same ones used to attack the quarantine zone in the first place," Xent firmly stated over the radio.
"No electronic feelings coming from that. There's no power in this room, but who's to say what else we might find, or if there are more. This concrete is making it hard to feel power in the building at all, so I can't say if anything else is here," Thomas said slowly, the group calmly backing out of the room before closing the door.

"No doubt about it now, this place is tied to Hurk, the attack, and that fucker. What do we do now?" Xent asked, very concerned.

'Find the distortion and figure out how bad it is. It's here, but I still don't know how close, only that it's somewhere around us,' Radara stated.

"We can't exactly pin point where it is, only that's it's here right now. And if it causes a breech, there's no telling on how bad it could be," Thomas stated before giving a hard shove on the door. A slight echo bounced down the hallway as door finally closed properly.

"And if the distortion happens to make a hole here, it could set off every one of those trucks. And who knows how many there are here," Xent grumbled.

"The distortion still feels that way... but now that we know that this is connected to that evil, should we rush along and hurry and find it or do we take the chance and try searching rooms now that we know we might find something? Maybe we could find anything to make a connection to who else is helping them?" Thomas asked, his voice showing his own concern.

"No good choices here, Wonderboy... no matter what we do, we risk something. And, I really hate to say this... this arm is throwing me off. I can't shake the chill from my mind, my own paranoia keeps growing," Xent admitted, as he pulled out his pokedex. There was a small slot in the door that allowed Xent to carefully open it and take a few pictures.

"Maybe a license plate or two will reveal a few clues," He stated while turning on the pokedex light, making sure the camera had a clear shot of the license plates. "Just one plate here and it looks old. No telling if its going to help us, but anything at this point might help since we can't risk the the rangers looking around inside now."

'A quick look through any already opened doors. That's all I think we should spare. As you expressed before, this wasn't was an isolated incident, they had lots of help. There's no telling how many more trucks there are here and I saw over a dozen more vats, but why were they labeled bait?' Radara asked.

[Because you said that they needed a force of nature to break that place open right? They couldn't do it on their own. And you already explained that things on the other side could be attracted to places here on our side, right? Well, if you want it to break through in a specific place, you need to attract it with something. Don't forget, you explicity told me Hurk's words while you talked with him at the science center. What was it uh... something like... well you said that he called them bait for the other side] Zai stated with a whine.

Everyone just looked slowly towards Zai and nodded. Although Zai was heavily worried and didn't like the implications of what having bait like that meant, the others had all been on the other side and after fighting a few of the things in the distortion, it only added a whole new layer of fear to the equation now.

"Hurk's exact words were just calling them fancy noise makers, and very explicitly bait for the other side. The trucks were never meant to be a distraction or to break open the locks... Their entire purpose was to attract something from the distortion knowing that collapse between our world and the distortion would wreak havoc on the region, disrupt the protections in place over the prison, and break that evil free. Their whole purpose was to spread that stuff around, the explosive blasts would almost certainly boil it to steam and spread it out over a wide area. Could that be what it attracts things on the other side so quickly?" Thomas stated as everything so far just fell into place.

'Hurk said he that they would try to limit casualties when it happened. He was at that science center on the school trip to rescue people and who better to rescue then children if you want to be heralded as a hero, to gain favor in the public eye. That thing already wants him in some kind of powerful position as a public figure, and a former fallen trainer who was great at what they did redeeming himself one step at a time playing a long long game. Hurk was never meant to be just be a hero. He's being made into an icon, a champion of that thing. He's barely changed physically since we know that's been possessed, his body and mind could maybe take those kind of changes for decades more to come without decaying,' Radara added.

"Hurk as a hero, that's its big goal right now. It needs its own speaker, someone the people can gather around before it reveals itself. Without proof, the people would never believe us that Hurk was being set up as a hero, solving problems he's helping cause. It already wants control, but it's had all the time in the world to plan and prepare. We haven't heard a thing of it since its escape. I don't think that's accidental. Its preparing, it learned after last time. You said it just showed up and started to take over right? Not this time. It's clearly been guiding Hurk and who knows how many others? It has to have some kind of plan and it has to have been talking with someone on the our side," Xent continued.

[And it clearly has a lot of resources invested in this. This is a long term project. It's been helping the knights in secret like it did in Alto Mare. No way that was all just luck, and just how did the lucarios lose their aura sight?! It was the only thing that made them worthwhile!] Zai exclaimed.

Xent just sighed, turning away and leaving Zai to her fate. "That was entirely uncalled for, Zai," Thomas stated, extremely annoyed now.

[Oh come on, it's true. They want to help, sure, but without their aura, what good are they] Zai grumbled loudly.

'And just how much use would you be without your illusions, I wonder?' Radara asked.

[Ha! Good luck taking that from me] Zai grinned, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Oh that's the easy part. We can just ask Dahlia to withhold all of her drinks until you go a month without using your illusions. We don't even have to do anything to you or your mind to make you do it. You'll go mad on your own without Dahlia's imports," Thomas stated rather bluntly as Zai looked at him almost in horror, sparing a glance towards Xent.

"I mean... you brought this on yourself there, Zai. I know I've taught you to keep strong opinions like that to yourself," Xent stated, starting to walk again. "Being able to track the knights, and those who might be possessed at a distance. Kind of a big deal. We would never have gotten this far without the use of aura. The sooner you drop it Zai, the sooner we can get back on track and let me remind you... bomb trucks. We don't really have a lot of time for a major argument here."

Xent just tried to motion for the group to follow, knowing that an argument would only make things worse. They were approaching a large door at the end of the hallway, it being the only other one cracked open at the moment. A quick look showed that it was another massive room, and Xent assumed that it lead into the next warehouse.

Continuing to walk along, the distortion effects were clearly stronger here, but still remained hidden from Thomas and Radara. The second warehouse was different though, a multi-floor storage center that reminded the group more of a car parking garage than anything. There were several very large open spaces between the floors. There was faded paint stating 'STAND CLEAR', and beyond it were the remains of an elevator. Aside from that, the space was rather empty.

In the middle of the room was a small table, chairs, and television. The makeshift work station had signs of recent use, but the group wasn't sure how recent as they moved up. There was some paper bags from a fast food place, some empty plastic bottles, and a even a cot that had an alarm clock with it.

What drew everyone's attention though was a large bulky machine in the middle of the room. There was what appeared to be two sets of freshly painted hazard lines around it. A large yellow and black stripped box gave the machine an easy dozen feet of space on all sides, but the second of set of hazard lines were in red. Extending from the machine in all four directions near what looked like large thin vertical nozzles. The red hazard stripes went out at least twice as far as the yellow hazard lines. And even more, there were quite a few painted hazard signs on the groups, depicting a hand that had been sliced off.

The sheer amount of danger signs around the unknown device worried each of them. "So... what do we do?" Xent asked taking a few steps forward trying to get a better look at the side that had some extra writing, but Thomas just put out his hand stopping him.

"I'm feeling a lot of power within it. I don't know if it's on or off, but we should stay back behind the warning boundaries," Thomas stated, clearly wary of the machine.

"The warning signs make it clear where the danger zone is and I can see some kind of text plate on the side. Might be worth a look, but as usual its small text. Makes getting a picture annoying," Xent stated as he adjusted his pokedex again. He stepped a little closer, making sure not to cross any of the hazard stripes.

Above them, a window opened up and Latias through, carrying Juno into the room. 'Thomas! I've brought help. Have you found the distortion?' Latias asked as she quickly set Juno down. She then rushed back up to the window where Palkia walked through the wall, carrying and setting down Rebecca. Once released, Rebecca quickly moved to Thomas's side, waiting for instructions as she looked around the room.

"It's around this room, close but not here. It's not... well it's strongest in this space but it's not in this room," Thomas stated.

'It's definitely close to this room, but maybe below us. Be careful though! We found more bomb trucks like those used to attack the prison. And worse, we believe that the vile of chemicals stored in the trucks may act as bait for things in the distortion,' Radara added.

'The distortion is close to this room, right?' Latias asked, and when Thomas and Radara nodded again, Latias flew up a bit and Palkia opened another large portal in the room. Alto Mare was on the other side where Latios was waiting with a massive crystalline rock. Heavily decorated, not unlike a diamond the size of a small car, crowned in golden metals and flowering petal-like crystals flowing over it, Latias and Latios moved the large stone into the room.

Latios remained in Alto Mare though as Radara and Thomas helped move the stone telekentically into the large room. Latios then flew off as the portal closed while Thomas and Radara had to assume that this large crystal stone was some kind of mechanism of sorts that would help.

There was a small thud as the stone hit the ground though was all it took for the room to change. The odd machine suddenly roared to life, the hazard lights starting to flash rapidly. "Guys! We made a mistake!" Xent yelled out as the machine's noise continued to escalate. Four powerful blasts of air burst from the machine, creating a continuous stream of distorted air in the four lines of red hazard bars.

Rebecca's reaction was the most immediate and visceral, jumping back and nearly falling over. She looked up to Thomas in horror again, rapidly pointing to the the machine but said nothing at first until Radara stepped in.

'What do you mean that you're aura was silenced again? Speak again, I am translating for you,' Radara stated.

'My aura! Its blind again, the whole world is fuzzy, I can't feel anything,' Rebecca half screamed as Xent picked up his walkie-talkie after hearing a ranger yelling through it.

"Guys! The rangers say that the lucarios are almost panicking out there, and aren't using aura," Xent yelled over the roaring air.

"Then this machine is the cause of why the lucarios can't use aura," Thomas stated, helping Rebecca up as Juno began to slowly circle the machine.

'High pressure air currents, but in such a short range. It easily reminds of the move air cutter, but like its automated in some fashion. Didn't you tell me that Morag recalled the move air cutter being used in disruption of her aura once?' Juno asked.

"Yeah... Morag thought that was name of the move used when her aura was disrupted once before. If this machine replicates the move, then maybe that's why it has the same effect. I can't begin to say why though," Xent stated.

"How does it imitate the move though? And why would it have an effect on the lucario's aura sight and senses though?" Thomas asked.

'I don't know... but this machine surely isn't the only one of its kind. There has to be one or more back in Alto Mare! And now that we know what the problem is, we can find it!' Latias snapped a bit, flying up over the machine and looking it over carefully before moving back to Thomas.

'It's four industrial air compressors and some kind of nozzle with control devices. There's some extra components that I can't identify with it running though, but I can tell that it needs four large thunder stones to power the whole thing, which could mean there are more evolution stones or alloys in use within it. Can you short it out safely? I know you can create a limited field of electromagnetic interference, are you in control enough to do that right now?' Latias asked.

Thomas looked over the machine, and glanced down at the Guardian Aegis some while doing so. "Maybe? I don't know for certain. I mean, I can cause a lot of electrical interference, but I don't know if that would work here and I don't want to risk accidentally blowing it up. Wouldn't it be easier to find the off switch?" Thomas asked.

'I don't see an on board control mechanism, at least nothing visible from this angle. It could be remotely controlled, or maybe the thud of the distortion shield device accidentally crossed some wires or something?' Latias stated. 'I don't want to risk this thing interfering with our crystal though. If that device interferes with aura, then it might interfere with the distortion shield device. Now is not the time to test this, not with such a large risk of distortion around us,' Latias added turning back to the large crystal that she had brought with her.

"Would just cutting the power do it? If it needs a lot of power and you feel that electricity, then there has to be a high voltage power line running to it. Find the power line, maybe find a breaker switch?" Xent suggested and Thomas quickly got down, kneeling on the floor as he looked it over.

"Your thoughts, Latias? I can only sense the electrical components, is there any risk of turning it off by just cutting the power to it? No risk of over loading, right?" Thomas asked.

'I mean... I don't see anything to suggest that it would blow up here, but without looking at its insides, I can't be fully sure. We can't leave it on though. If it interferes with the lucario's aura, I don't know what else it might do. But I need it off to calibrate this stabilization crystal safely. I don't want to risk upsetting the distortion with explosives around,' Latias stated, Thomas pointing down towards the floor, and then quickly following the source of what he believed was the power line running to the device under the floor.

Following it to the corner of the room, there was a large electrical box that had a lever on it. Xent just looked to Thomas, taking a deep breath while resting a hand on the lever. "Be... ready I guess..." Thomas stated as he turned towards the others. "I'd back away just in case," he called out before they all stepped back. Radara put up a barrier between them and the device. Xent flipped the lever, and after a moment the device finally turned off.

At once, Rebecca's aura began to return and she rushed up to the device, an aura sphere in hand almost ready to smash it before taking several deep breathes and letting the aura sphere fade away. 'How can this thing do that?' Rebecca demanded as Latias quickly went to work looking over it. There was only a single small line of switches on the machine hidden under a pair of adjustable panels on the side. It was easy to see that someone didn't want the machine to be easy to operate with the controls hidden away like that, as well as not having any labels of any kind on the switches.

Xent approached and looked over the small text plate on the side, but it was all just gibberish to him. "Got a few strings of numbers and letters over here, and what looks like a bar code. Any chance someone has a bar code reader?" Xent asked, but was only met with a few shaking heads. Pulling out his pokedex, he took a picture of the plate before Palkia walked up.

'You said that the distortion was down, underneath us, correct? That should remain our first concern. We have control of the aura blocking machine now, we can study it later. Is there another staircase down?' Palkia asked.

"There're still the bomb trucks to worry about, but you're right. If we can stop the distortion fast enough, we'll have a better chance at stopping them from accidentally blowing up. Unfortunately, I don't see another staircase down to a lower floor," Thomas replied.

'Then I shall make us an entrance,' Palkia quickly stated.

'Is that wise given the distortion around us?' Radara asked, a bit concerned.

'There is no interference of protective crystals here. Besides, a little stone hardly means anything to me.' Palkia stated, looking over the floor before finding a suitable spot. Moving over and clearing the others away, he leaned over the floor before throwing his hands upwards. A large circular portion of the floor began to rise up before vanishing possibly into the air itself, an inch of stone vanishing a layer at a time in a strange flickering almost mist like light. It didn't take long for him to open a hole in the floor clean through the concrete.

Xent just watched, a bit interested until at least the hole was made and then approached, looking over it. "Neat. Was wondering when I would get to see something like this," Xent stated, a bit impressed with how the hole was made. Having a chance to watch Palkia work certainly was something to see as he began to look down into the darkness.

Radara just spared him a small glance as she walked up to the side of the whole herself. 'You are far too excited about this,' she sighed lightly as Thomas walked up and dropped a glow stick down.

"Hey, cut me some slack. Us mere mortals don't witness space manipulation like this every day, ya know," Xent countered, but everyone else just moved on.

"The distortion is down there. That glow stick and the light coming in from here should be much brighter, but its like something is interfering with the light," Thomas stated, before just barely seeing a flicker of something.

Latias quickly rushed up again and Palkia moved to the grab the large crystalline stone that they had brought with them. 'Nice and slow into the room down there,' Latias stated, tapping the crystal a few times and even rotating the crown on it.

It seemed to glow brighter as the stone was lifted and then carefully moved into the newly made opening. It quickly landed on top of the glow stick and then Latias flew down. Giving the crown atop the crystal another spin, it began to glow brighter and brighter before there was a loud hiss. Juno quickly laid down knowing what was coming, a few tails moving out to hold up Rebecca as well.

There was a very visible spacial distortion over the entire warehouse, enough to even make Zai and Xent fall over. Thomas caught Xent to keep him from falling into the hole. "Sorry, didn't expect it to be this strong," Thomas stated, just holding onto Xent for a few before at least the visual distortions fading back and the warehouse returned to normal.

Thomas quickly reached for his own walkie-talkie as it started to go off. "Everything is fine in here. Latias is fixing the problem. Let us know if any visual distortions linger," Thomas said after a moment.

"Didn't like that..." Xent grumbled, looking to Zai who quickly stood up.

'My head still feels like its spinning some,' Rebecca whined and Thomas quickly moved over to her.

"Give it a few, you'll recover," Thomas stated giving her a small hug. "Does anyone sense or feel anyone below us?" When no one gave an affirmative answer, he let Rebecca go and walked to the edge of the hole before dropping down. Radara followed suit, along with Palkia.

Juno stood up and walked Rebecca over to the hole while motioning for Xent and Zai to follow them while Palkia and Radara waited to assist them down into the pit.

As Thomas shined his light around the room, he couldn't help but feel like there was something different about it. "Does this room look more... dug out then manufactured?" Thomas asked, looking over the large rock walls and just a few concrete support posts that weren't exactly smoothed out. Several spots even still had bits of the wooden frames used to pour the concrete.

There was a massive cage in one corner, with what looked like dozens of stacked benches of different heights stacked up on the walls beside it. A few cameras were pointed towards the cage, and there was some kind of multi-monitor television set up near it.

There was also a stack of cots, what looked like a collection of various medical lab equipment tables, and small crates with dozens of various chemical company logos scattered along the sides of the room. A single set of double doors was in a far off corner, and the concrete ceiling had what looked like hastily installed ventilation shafts and fans held up in some places with rebar and possibly duct tape.

Whatever the room was used for, it clearly wasn't originally part of the warehouse and was dug out long after the initial construction.

Spreading out to figure out what the room was, the group remained slow and cautious while letting Latias work on the distortion shield device. As Xent's chill and messed up head faded allowing him to recompose himself fully, he began to inspect the large cage in the corner, concerned what it might be used for. There were dozens of blood stains, what looked like a massive lock on a door big enough to easily allow a venusaur to get though, if not something larger. There were some skulls and broken bones scattered about, a wing from something, and other small undiscernible, remains of pokemon.

'Why would they do this?' Rebecca asked, looking over the make shift arena as she walked in beside Xent. A bit disturbed by the arena, she moved to join Thomas again walking with him to inspect parts of the pillars in the room before walking around the edges.

Xent remained in the cage however. A further inspection revealed large armored stage lights like those used in stadiums hanging from the top of the cage, a few more cameras, and what looked like speakers. Checking around the door some, the cage clearly was cobbled together in some places. While it could be used to host pokemon battles securely, the repairs were clearly of the just get it done mindset and without any care for building code. Exposed bits of more rebar and chain link fence had been welded over any hole. The jagged edges hadn't even been sanded down and had dried blood covering most of them. It was there that a patch of pink fur caught his eye.

"Zai..." Xent called out and Zai quickly came over. He held it up and she took a few sniffs of it.

[Maybe I recognize it? Its definitely not new, but I don't know why I know it] Zai stated, it taking a moment for Radara to translate.

"Rabbit like maybe?" Xent asked, intentionally being vague enough to not give a direct answer, but waiting for Zai's response. Almost as soon as he made mention of it though, Zai started to snarl and growl.

'That fucking Lopunny!' Zai half screamed.

"Hurk was training here," Xent called out while Thomas slowly closed the double doors, Rebecca looking a bit more unnerved than when she had stepped into the arena.

"With little restraint possibly... ashes, bones, and bit of other hard to burn remains are piled up back here in a massive pit," Thomas called out, perhaps a little concerned about what he had found.

'Is there any concrete proof of things we can use to give us a legitimate reason to pull Hurk in for questioning. With as much of a hero as he's becoming, we still need to be careful how we approach this. That thing has us almost backed into a corner restricting how we can act if we wish to maintain the trust we need with the public right now,' Radara stated.

'And we need the public to trust us right now. When that thing finally shows itself, the people will have to come and trust us of their own will if we are to protect them without them endangering themselves or others. I know that when Arceus sealed that evil away, I trust that she did a good job doing it and if she says that she got all of it, then I believe she did. But looking at all of this? There is no doubt that someone has been aiding it from beyond its reach,' Juno added as she continued looking over the various medical equipment tables.

'Perhaps it is of a hive mind? Others in the distortion knew of it and they've only just managed to break through in recent years. Clearly not as strong as the evil that came through, but perhaps in league with it. Maybe they can communicate through the distortion itself? We know that it can't communicate with others here, not without our worldly senses,' Palkia asked.

"You're absolutely certain that thing was unable to contract things others on its own here on this side?" Xent asked again.

"Not without our same worldly senses. They are unique to us and the legendary pokemon. Arceus made sure that each of us were a part of the world through very careful and intricate planning. The legendary pokemon all have their own aspect that is a part of the world and they would know if something was using it, and us watchers given the same careful consideration, a unique place between mortal and legendary pokemon, but as much a part of the world as a whole," Thomas explained.

"If such a power had tried to use our own connection with the world, we would have felt it. There would recognizable signs, more than just a meager feeling, one that we know all too well. That thing attempting to dominate us, our brothers and sisters... its a feeling we will never forget, even through our vast and many life times," Darkrai stated, rising up from the shadows on the floor.

"I count thirty-seven bomb trucks, or parts of them. A few seem to have explosive components ready, but most are merely partially assembled. There are plenty of materials needed to make more explosives, but the buildings are not at full risk total collapse. This is definitely where the attack against the prison originated however. There are notes for mechanics about the type of terrain in question to make sure they have the right kind of tires, make sure the suspension is good enough, the length of wire needed to retain control over the vehicles, and they were very picky over what kind of equipment to use," Darkrai continued.

"That only proves that this plan was a long, drawn out process. Hurk met up with us after we left the lucario kingdom almost two years ago, and he knew where to find us. And let's not forget the way he talked, about having rehearsed that message he gave you. You don't just memorize a speech in a language you don't understand over night. Even just mimicking it, that's takes a while. And training a new pokemon like that tyrantar... That thing has to have had Hurk under its thumb for months, maybe a year or two, possibly more. To say nothing of the survey on the land over the prison, collecting this much stuff to make everything, and who knows what else," Xent stated.

'Which means it had to have been in communication with someone or something. The prison was either not as potent as you thought, or it has help from somewhere without your knowledge. Perhaps the theory that it can communicate with others through the distortion is correct? You have never claimed to have much direct knowledge of it, maybe it has a sense or ability similar to the aura of lucarios? But instead of communicating with others directly, it reached out to a place that you were not looking. It would need only meager whispers for others to come looking for it, and they could have the done on their own from there, studying the world in secret for years, a decade or more perhaps?' Juno asked as she walked over, holding a large plastic bottle in one of her tails, before carefully setting it down.

"What's that?" Thomas asked as he walked over with Radara, looking over the bottle.

'A bottle of medical solution produced by Kanto Herbal Unity, produced in nineteen ninety-three. Not long before they were forced to shut down chemical production. They still managed to produce some lab equipment for a while though before going into bankruptcy from the lawsuits. Vivian almost had a heart attack over it and talked about it for months.' Juno stated.

'Yes, it was quite the event for us. When Andrew and Vivian made their twin breakthroughs, Kanto Herbal Unity tried to hire Vivian. Andrew was heavily against it however because Kanto Herbal Unity was caught up in a dozen potential lawsuits at the time and were teetering on bankruptcy. For as much as Andrew would have loved to see Vivian get her own department and then some, Andrew was concerned that they would move out there, the company would be shut down, and they wouldn't be able to return to Hoenn too easily,' Radara noted.

"I remember parts of that, but they tried not to discuss that around me much back then. Wasn't most of that company shut down though?" Thomas asked.

'Not even six months after they made that offer to Vivian. That entire department that Vivian was going to head was closed, along with almost two-thirds of the rest of the company. Vivian was so glad that Andrew talked her out of it. Between the lawsuits, the three break-ins, one of which resulted in a few deaths, and the mass thefts, they were forced to close down for good.' Juno explained, before turning back towards the lab equipment.

'But this isn't the only Kanto Herbal Unity product over there. There's a lot of lab equipment with the logo as well. With all those lawsuits, who would use their chemicals though, unless they were questionable to begin. Could this whole thing be an escape ten or more years in the making?' Juno asked as Xent approached, squatting down.

Wiping some of the dust and dirt off the bottle, parts of the label were hard to read, but there was still legible information. The manufacturing date was listed on the side along with the the majority of the basic information about the bottles contents, the large logo and company name. Looking closer, there was some clear tape over the medical contents showing that someone at least wanted to be able to look at that a few times possibly.

"It waited two thousand years, ten years is nothing. If you didn't notice any communication going out of the prison, I think... there was something wrong with the prison from the very start, thus it was more difficult to notice. So it bided its time, watching the world develop, waiting for the right chance to come back. The watchers are at their weakest right now, and Arceus is still recovering. She might have awakened as you call it, but from what I understand, she's still not at her best like she was back then," Xent stated putting the bottle back down.

"I don't like what this implies, but I cannot argue that something was hidden from us. This thing has been playing us for a while. It's trying to force our hands while restricting our options," Darkrai stated, very much annoyed.

"And I think it might have been responsible for that mystery broadcast too," Thomas called out as he looked over the lab equipment. Hidden away with all the hardware was a damaged computer. Part of the monitor was melted along with part of the cd tray on the computer, and there were signs of a fire next to it. Far more interesting however was the small stack of dvd cases beside it. Thomas was holding one up, a label printed on its side.

"Video footage, Hunter J, Soular, Radara, Tree of Beginnings, and what looks like a time stamp, but the label is torn. It's not the only on though," Thomas called out and Radara moved over to look them over as well.

'There are ones here for the bakery on Hamlin Island, some labeled Cameran Castle, something about a helicopter footage and the Orange Isla... wait is this marked with the Team Rocket icon? And this one is marked with the Team Magma icon,' Radara stated as the group came over. Thomas set down the dvd case and picked up a few sheets of paper beside the table, looking for anything that he might be able to use.

"There's footage from Alto Mare here, too. Whoever has been setting this up has been keeping a close eye on us for a while," Thomas stated as Xent walked up and began to remove a few screws from the side of the computer.

"Someone lift that monitor. If the hard drive is still in one piece, we might be able to get something off it," Xent stated as Thomas lifted it up the monitor with his psychic, not wanting to touch it directly and risk breaking it on accident. Before Xent could get the last screw out however, there was a loud thud above them, everyone turning towards the whole in the ceiling. It was quickly followed by the sound of the machine in the room above starting up again and Rebecca was once more at Thomas's side, shaking her hands around showing she use aura again.

Before anyone else move though, something was tossed into the room and smoke began to fill the chamber.