Guys, I know you've been holding back your votes for some time now. But it's alright, nobody will judge you for reading this.
And just as easily as Sicily fell over the edge, she evolved somehow, became a Vibrava and flew back up to the base of the mountain. "The feeling of evolution is miraculous... And I had no idea I was close to evolving!" Sicily was just as ecstatic as Eros.
"This calls for a celebration when we get back, doesn't it?"
Sicily's eyes widened at the mention of celebration. "This DOES, doesn't it? What will we do?"
Eros gleefully replied, "After all of this is done? Leave it up to me."
The rest of the party was relieved at their own accomplishments. The cracked crystal represents the ability to progress up the mountain and reach whatever prize is at the summit. Xerxes was brushing herself off after the conflict, along with everyone else, for this was certainly no pushover. Everyone regrouped and found to their amazements that Sicily had evolved. Everyone took turns congratulating her, for evolution is no small feat in this world. However, everyone quickly turned their attention to the matter at hand, which was getting up the mountain.
Everyone regrouped and started to march again, this time in rows of two: First Eros and Sicily, then Cerci (still in her Absol form) and Hank, with Pikachu aside Hank, then finally Xerxes and Duskull. They marched up and up, once again making about another half circle this time. As they approached the top, everyone saw a massive flat indentation in the mountain, surely the temple. The snow was very minimal here, as to the point where some areas of land were completely barren and revealed a grey stone underside.
As they walked even closer the group saw one final stone clearing at the top, but instead of a stairway up there was the front of a massive temple, set with columns and a rectangular opening in the middle, and the top of the structure which would fade into the stone. This form of architecture made it so the palace seemed carved from the stone of the mountain itself, but upon closer inspection, the stone was not that of the mountains, and some features were clearly not from anywhere near the mountain.
As the party decided to move inside the temple, they found the area entered into an artificial cavern, statues and water fountains decorating the side, while intricate designs and such danced upon the trimmings of the room. In the center was another flat area, but as opposed to it being empty, there were broken training dummies everywhere; and, in the center of all of this, there stood two tiny Riolus and one Lucario bringing destruction to all of the wooden training devices.
The party walked closer to find they had grabbed the attention of these Pokemon not unintentionally, facing the two groups with one another. Eros started the conversation with a friendly 'Hello' to the Lucario, to which it responded, "Greetings, travelers. How may I help you?"
Eros started by saying, "I heard that I could earn the trust and companionship of a powerful ally up here. I can tell you certainly have power, but how may I earn your trust?"
The Lucario gave an artificial smile and quickly blabbed, "No need for proof just take these two and you'll be dandy good day." The Lucario said this while pushing the Riolus towards him.
One of the Riolu looked up at the Lucario, saying in a disrespectful tone, "But pa, do I HAVE to? He smells of old berries and dirt."
"Now don't question pa and go down there and join them on their quest or whatever, you just might get to fight a gym leader or something."
"Ppppaaaaaaaaaaa....."
Eros and the rest of the party were certainly confused and turned off by the annoying nature of these Pokemon. Eros responded to the Lucario with, "But we aren't looking to defeat the gym leaders."
The Lucario and Riolus stopped their conflicts and stared intently at Eros. The Lucario spoke, "You understand me? And what do you mean you aren't going to go fight any gym leaders?"
Eros ignored the first question and answered the second, "Well, I mean, maybe we'll fight a few. I'm just following Cerci's orders. Actually, Cerci, what ARE we going to do? We're altogether now, and-"
Cerci interrupted, "We can discuss that later. Right now it seems as if you have the opportunity to catch a new ally."
Eros looked again at the bratty Riolus, who gave a dirty look back. The last Pokemon he wanted to train was them. Eros said artificially, "Oh, what a shame. It seems as if I don't have any pokeballs. I'll have to come back another day, I suppose." It was obvious that this was a lie, but it would be improper to call this out.
The Lucario panicked at this, "What? No, you don't need any pokeballs! Just walk home and get a pokeball later, please!"
But, to the Lucario's disappointment, Eros was already headed out. From this, Hank followed, along with Cerci, Pikachu, Sicily and Duskull. Xerxes looked back on the place, looking her dreams of training here right in the eyes and somehow lost that wanderlust. She spoke to the Lucario before departing, "I should go."
The Lucario gave a sad nod before being teased by the annoying little Riolus. What had he ever done to deserve this?
The party made their way back down the mountain slowly, upset that the journey did not yield anything of particular value. Everyone felt disappointed after this event, sadness present in everyone's faces. The sight off the mountain was none the less beautiful, revealing an ever-reaching snowy landscape. There was little discussion between anyone, besides coordinating themselves down the steps.
On the way, at about the first clearing down, the one with the phantom, Eros noticed that the cracked gem remained in the spot where it was before. Eros thought to himself, 'This could be valuable.' Luckily, the gem shattered in a way that let it be withdrawn from its hole in the ground. Eros was in the back of the party at this time, so he managed to take it without anyone noticing. A few fragments of a gem wasn't as valuable as the uncut sum, but as an uncut stone it might not have been able to be removed. Eros snuck this quickly into his bag, also to find a heart scale removed from it. Xerxes returned this later.
It was not long before the party was back in the storm, noontime sun hidden in the snowy weather. The trip back was not as dull as it was before, and everyone forgot their worries in the shortest time. As they made it back into the deep forest where the snow was lighter, Eros felt a sudden surge of power. This ecstatic force existed magically- almost as if he'd been suddenly filled with magic. He almost felt like that he would explode if he let it swell any more, growing stronger and stronger by the second. He had no idea what was happening and why it was happening now. He didn't even know if this was good or bad- Maybe Cerci would understand?
"Hey, Cerci, I feel really funny."
"Maybe it's because you ate a few bad berries."
"No, I mean, like, magically speaking. Like I'm going to explode."
"Oh! This is it! I knew you weren't a complete disappointment! This is the moment you've been training for! The day you become a true Druid in the art!"
"What is it? What is it?" Eros felt more fear than excitement at this ambiguity.
"Eros, hold in that energy! APPLYING it to yourself! This is your big moment!"
Eros did as Cerci said, holding all of the energy in as it sprung forth, filling his body and then some. "What is it?"
"Eros, for the first time you are TRANSFORMING! And on your own!"
Eros was shocked. Everyone was gathering around, confused as to what was happening; But as Cerci said the last line, those 'in the know'- Hank, Pikachu and Sicily- understood what was going on. The others looked in confusion, not truly sure why Eros was transforming.
The dust was swirling around Eros, as well as a little snow, as all the magical energy he could pull in was pulled in and stores in his body. Eros let this energy grow and grow, even though it felt like it was tearing him apart. He instinctually wanted to let all of the energy out but, as if her twisted nature and pointless quests meant something, his deepest trust for Cerci made him keep all that energy in his body. All of a sudden he not only felt, but SAW his body start to disappear! It felt like the first transformation, but slower. He was coming apart and reforming as something new. And then everything disappeared once more.
This time, calibrating his senses was nothing like before. His ears changed pitch softly, and his body felt... Smaller. What was he this time? And why did he ache all over- He already knew the answer. He used more energy than he should have. He won't be using sparkles for a week, should he have his way...
Sicily looked over at the new body that Eros took, which seemed to be a Cleffa. Poor Eros, he probably doesn't know what he is yet. Odd, she never remembered seeing a Cleffa with a tail that long...
"Sicily!"
Sicily responded quickly, "What do you need?"
"I think Eros overdid himself. It's almost as if this was done prematurely. He won't turn back for an hour, at least, but he's not waking up that soon either. Can you carry him while we walk?"
"Why me?"
"It might calm him down. He seems panicked from the transformation, and you're, like, his Pokemon, right?"
Sicily nodded nervously and grabbed the tiny Cleffa with her six legs. He was in a cold sweat and shivering all over. Why was this transformation so bad for him? He was even whimpering a bit as he lied unconscious in this state. Soon after being picked up by Sicily, however, he stopped his whimpering completely and most of his shivering, although some of it may be from the cold air. Why did he have to become a Druid? He looks miserable right now. And why had Cerci been making him do all of these crazy things? Killing a man? Returning me home? Climbing up a mountain for a few bratty Riolus? Cerci was mad if she thought this was making him stronger, and even more so if she thought I, Sicily, would let her lead him to his death. She can keep her own balance! Eros could just run away and become a great trainer, just like everyone else. He could go and defeat the elite four and become famous, just like every trainer dreamed. And she could be at his side all the way, good and bad, and see him become the greatest ever, and be the greatest ever Pokemon. Why? Because no one was like him, and no trainer would fight so his Pokemon could go home and happy...
"Hey, Sicily, I want to talk."
"What is it?" No doubt Cerci has good intentions, but she is mad with whatever she was trying to achieve.
"I just need someone to talk to, telling me if I sound stupid. I have a theory as to how Eros did it..."
Not tell Cerci she sounded stupid? Now she was giving Sicily impossible tasks. "Alright, go for it." (Btw this is a poor way of implementing lore without telling it directly to you- whoops, broke the fourth wall)
(Do you know any good contractors? Anyone good at fixing fourth walls? *badung tss*)
"Well, I know the mages of ancient time had focused solely on one general type of magic." What mages? I always zoned out as Cerci talked about this shit... "Like, they would study the art of bodily magic or Magical sculpting, and then they'd focus on more specific stuff like healing and enchanting. I'm not saying mages didn't branch out a bit in their spells, though. Druids differ because the magic is inwardly focused. Now, Eros was, honestly, a bit slow as a Druid."
How dare she- "Slow?"
"Well, not everyone is as potent as magic as the next person, but Eros really could've done better than sparkles his first time around." What? He's a human using magic! Isn't that enough for her? "But then he really surprised me with that spell he cast when we fought that phantom, and when he transformed so early for his... 'Speed' of learning." ...Fair. "And so I thought, 'What if Eros was really good at one class of magic?' So I looked for a pattern in his spells. They are actually really weak versions of other greater spells. The sparkles were a type of light magic, the magic bolt was actually a unique Aether spell- " What was this gibberish? "- and transforming is a form of organic alteration. So what does that lead me to conclude? Eros is good at alteration magic. Which is the subtle change of the physical and magical form of objects." ...
"Okay then."
"Sound like a reasonable conclusion? Having a natural source of power, it wouldn't be a surprise if Eros had his proficiency naturally come to him."
"Uh, maybe?"
Cerci shook her head in frustration. "Maybe we can get into the history of magic later."
Sicily remembered that she had an important question for Cerci. "Hey, how do you know all of this stuff? And who taught you to become a Druid?"