Pokémon XYZ: Life, Death, Order, and Chaos (book 2 of the HBoD series)

Chapter 12: An Old Foe

I don't know what triggered it. Maybe it was the music, or maybe the dancing, or both, but a memory surfaced from the depths of my mind. Close to a year ago, I had danced with someone else. We just had a small victory and were celebrating. I don't remember what had caused us to start, but we were dancing around the living room of that cabin. Amber eyes staring at me. Willow.

My hands fell away from Princess Allie and I clutched the side of my head with my right hand. Maybe I had conquered my past back in Alola, but sometimes the memories were still painful to revisit. I didn't know what Allie was thinking as she stared at me, but she soon grabbed my hand.

"Come with me," she said with a smile.

With nobody watching us, she led me out of the ball room and upstairs. Down the long hall from earlier, she led me to the place where I had seen the mirrors. Opposite of those, there was a terrace, facing the huge hedge maze. I could see statues, the most prominent ones of the white and black dragons. Above all that, there was the starry night sky. The moon wasn't in sight, but the view was still breathtaking.

"Isn't it beautiful," Princess Allie sighed, going up to the railing. "I just love coming here at night to stargaze."

I nodded but didn't say anything. I came up to the railing and stared at the stars, but something was tugging at my brain. Something bothered me, but I couldn't identify what.

Suddenly, Allie sucked in a breath. "What!? Did the gardeners seriously mess us the hedges! I don't believe this!"

I followed her gaze to one of the hedges, where part of it had been trimmed off. No, or was it sliced? As the Princess started ranting, my mind raced forwards. It looked more like the top part of the hedge had been sliced off cleanly at an angle, more like a knife had done it. My eyes drifted to the still broken window. Could both had been done by the same culprit. But that wouldn't make sense. If they were trying to conceal their presence, they wouldn't have left such obvious clues as to why they were here.

I stumbled backwards, Princess Allie not even noticing I had done so. My eyes were wide now. They weren't trying to conceal their presence. They wanted people to know they were here. Then that would mean...

My gaze drifted back to the hallway. They wouldn't care about making a show of stealing the artifact. I took off at a run and I heard Allie call my name, but I ignored her, quickly finding my way to the stairs. On my way down, I heard screams and a loud crash. I burst my way into the ballroom to see guests either running for exits or on the ground, staring at the woman in all black, her head covered by a helmet. A Zoroark stood next to her, snarling at everyone. The woman went up to the case the artifact was being held in and broke it, reaching for the antler.

However, before she could reach it, a Riolu snatched it as he jumped by, skidding on the ground when he landed. I grinned. The cavalry had arrived. I saw Alex and Robert running forwards, Ninetales, Arcanine, Snorlax, Froakie, Litleo, and Chespin standing with them. Riolu ran back to them and they all faced the woman.

"Interesting," she said, tilting her head slightly. "I didn't expect to see you all here tonight."

She snapped her fingers and Zoroark got on all fours, snarling. I knew my entrance wouldn't help things much, so I stuck to the shadows. I had a feeling this woman was more powerful than she looked, so I needed to find a way to get the drop on her.

I saw Arcanine run forwards, only for the Zoroark to nimbly dodge to one side, raking her claws along his side. As soon as Arcanine regained his composure, Zoroark had transformed into Arcanine. Both snarled at each other and rammed into one another. Amidst the battle, I saw the woman in black disappear. I rushed forwards, sliding beneath the raging Arcanines as I heard Riolu yelp. I shot to my feet just as I saw Alex get pushed aside, a knife glinting in the air.