Pokemon: Fate's Path

Chapter 35

"Tarot, what about the legendary pokémon, Rayquaza, that showed up and attacked? Do you know who was ordering it? Was it acting on its own accord without planning by Valhalla?" A reporter walked up to him and shot off the questions in rapid fire.

Tarot looked down on her and held up a broken key stone in clear view of the cameras. "Valhalla was behind it, surely due to their last attack, unless another delinquent has decided to do this. Rayquaza was indeed being ordered to cause this chaos and the Elite Four will follow up with just who it was that used this on that legendary and forced it to do this terrible deed. Once found, they will be taken in for a trial and sentencing unless they are killed in battle, and Rayquaza will be released back into the wild as it should be. Now, no more questions at the moment. I apologize, but I must be leaving. It is too dangerous here for anyone right now so you should evacuate with the other citizens here until the Elite Four and I deem it safe again."

The laptop finished shutting down after the broadcast but I continued to stare at the black screen for several more minutes before setting it on my bag with one hand while calling Jay with the other. I bit my lip as I waited for the phone to stop ringing and to hear Jay answer, she had to have seen this as well, I had to let her know I was okay- and to make sure she was as well considering she'd be in Drego soon if not now if she had defeated Venin. Ankou's ribbon wrapped around my arm loosely as he sensed my anxiety rising but he didn't get up from where he was drifting off.

Finally, after what seemed much longer than reality, I could release my pent up breath as Jay's sleepy voice answered. "Zekiel... what is it? Is something wrong?"

"Jay, you saw the broadcast right?" I blurted it out louder than I wanted. "Sorry, I just- are you okay?"

"Am I okay? I'm not the one with stitches!" Jay snapped back and there was brief shuffling in the background. "Will you get back here and lay down? Soren Rivers, I swear to Arceus nothing is outside!"

"Um..." I honestly wasn't sure what to think about that but at least she didn't get into trouble again yet. "So, uh, I'll take it everyone is fine... Well, I just wanted to check up to make sure since you were close to Hailo..."

"Yeah, I know." Jay sighed. "So, is Ivan doing alright too?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, uh, Ivan is great. He's in the other room sleeping."

"...Worst lie ever." Her tone was flat but I knew she was probably getting frustrated. "Look, it's probably a good thing you're leaving. Things are going to be getting bad if Valhalla isn't taken care of, not to mention their leader is going to be in charge of our region. I'll get word to Ivan that he should take the next ship out as well and if Rita and Esme haven't yet he can send word to them."

"What about you?" My chest tightened, was she planning something idiotic. "I mean, you and Soren, you two should leave as well. Valhalla hates you guys more than they would Ivan and me."

There was a long break and I started to worry something had happened but finally she spoke up again. "We'll be fine. Soren and I are going to finish this last gym while we're here then fly out to Alola probably to check out their trials."

"You aren't lying to me now, are you?"

"I promise. We'll even send you pictures of the cool pokémon there or meet up sometime if you'd like."

There wasn't anything I could say to challenge her without starting a fight but... I still didn't quite believe her. "It's a date then. Sometime in the future all of us will meet alright? Just don't forget and hoard all the strong pokémon there for yourselves."

"Yep." Jay sounded too happy while Soren's voice in the background sounded like he was protesting over something, though I couldn't tell what because the call hung up a moment later.

I put my phone on the table near the bed and dropped onto my back with a weary sigh, too worried over everything that was happening to mind the flash of pain but too tired to stay awake and consume my mind with it. When I opened my eyes again it was time to leave and get to the port. The small place seemed packed when I got there with people trying to get last minute tickets and I slipped onto the ship easily after showing proof of my purchase from the night before.

It was almost regretful that I was leaving, more like running away now it seemed, instead of staying. This was for the best though... besides, I would come back eventually and when I did I would be strong enough to face not only my parents and the nightmares of their abuse but also any challenges that would get in my way to helping keep Jay and her friends safe. I looked down at Ankou as he sat beside me, currently wearing the purple bandana I had forgotten to give back to Jay.

"This is it buddy, time to show the world that it can't push us around anymore."

He pricked his ears and waved his ribbons in response, liking the new challenge we were putting forth for ourselves. "Sylv!"