Eros awoke to Sicily sleeping on his lap, tired from the talking they did last night. All the rest of the group slept apart from one another, a sign that as a group, everyone still had a distance to go. Cerci, Hank, Surge, Xerxes, Dusk, Sicily and himself, Eros. There was quite a little army forming for the Druidic purpose. I wonder what comes next in Cerci's plan of training...
Eros waited until Cerci awoke, which was not long. Cerci was no longer the person to awake first every day, but she still got up pretty early. Eros slowly pulled Sicily off his lap and onto the ground next to him to try and keep her asleep, but he could tell she awoke anyhow. He walked over to Cerci and whispered, "What's my next training objective?"
Cerci looked over at Eros with a wary demeanor and said, "I think I can trust you with an actual Druidic mission now. We need everyone for the next part, though, so we'll wait until everyone's up."
Eros waited impatiently as all the people and Pokemon awoke, all doing some morning routine that involved eating or stretching, or both. Finally Cerci commanded everyone to gather around, preparing to describe the mission ahead of them. "Alright everyone, we are all here because for one reason or another we wish to accompany Eros as a friend, experience the thrill of danger or have nothing better to do. As a member of a former Druidic counsel, I propose that we take it into our own hands to establish a device meant to maintain the balance, a device called Equilibrium.
"The meaning of the existence of the Druids is to maintain the balance of forces in the world, correct? Well, there just so happens to be the remains of a device in this world called Equilibrium that was made for that purpose." A small rustle was heard somewhere not too far, but everyone ignored it for now. "This device is actually currently a structure with a different purpose right now, but having come from my world, I have studied its workings inside and out and I'm more than capable of restoring it to the normal device called Equilibrium. The device is located in an abandoned fort, somewhere that we could make into a more suitable home for ourselves, if anyone cares to work on that. In my world, it's the main sanctuary for the Druids, and a longtime home for me.
"The device is located there, but requires ten of the Humanity Stones to function. We need to gather ten of the stones from across the world to power this device, a task that will take the utmost vigilance to complete. Upon assembly, the device will work to maintain a natural balance in the world, and with that we can work to keep the world truly balanced, henceforth eternal preserving the worlds of humans and Pokemon, and essentially stopping any extreme force from taking over the world while it stands. This will essentially do the work of hundreds of Druids.
"Now, this device isn't perfect. It won't maintain an exact balance, and a strong enough force can overpower it. Aside that, there is also the dilemma that evil will also persist in the world as a result. However, as I've told Eros, 'good' isn't always good. This means some people may fight what we do, but this will be better for the world in the long run. This machine can save the world and let it exist in eternal balance; This does not necessarily mean peace, however. The Druids need to stop the world from dissolving into chaos, maintaining an eternal peace. That is the meaning of the Druidic organization."
It took everyone a while to let this set in, but everyone understood. This device, Equilibrium, sets the world at balance. This is good, because no side oppresses the other. However, that means the collective power of Pokemon will be just as the humans, good as strong as evil... Not much else to it.
Eros spoke, "Okay, so we need to find this device and get ten Humanity stones. How do we do it?"
Cerci pulled out a map, like the one she gave to Eros but with many more inscriptions. She pointed to a location near the east coast of the map, opposite to where the party currently stood. "This is where the old fort and Equilibrium is located. We just need to get there without encountering anyone who opposes the shaky ethics of the machine and overheard us, as well as not bringing too much attention to ourselves." And we know for a FACT that that's exactly what's going to happen.
Eros was just about to finish cleaning up the clearing where he had trained for so long. The bush that he grew was starting to bear little blue fruits, marking it as an Oran berry plant. He looked around to find a small hole in the ground. 'That's where I met Sicily. She nearly bit my hand off...' Leaving this place felt like losing part of his soul, due to the emotional experience Eros was suffering as he discovered this place. You will be remembered, bush... Sicily and Cerci also seemed a little attached to this place, sometimes looking over at the smallest detail in every object.
Cerci was giving directions for travel, "Guys, we should travel as to cover the greatest distance in the least time possible. Xerxes and Sicily, scout on ahead and alert us if anything goes wrong. Sicily, be sure to fly somewhat behind Xerxes so that Eros and Hank can follow you. Dusk, being as slow as you are, travel in a pokeball with the boys. I'll be searching around for danger, but the path should be relatively clear. I'll also help guide the girls, alright?"
Xerxes started off, covering an impressive distance quickly, especially for her size. Sicily quickly flew upwards, appearing as a small marker for the general direction of travel. Hank and Eros followed as quickly as they could, keeping a decent pace. Cerci transformed into an Absol, darting around and only becoming visible to each person once in a rare while.
At about three days in, Eros and Hank were still in the middle of the forest. Trees grew thick here, the higher branches growing unusually tropical vines down to the earth. Certainly, grass types must love it here... The heavy foliage blocked a great deal of light from coming through, but every so often a patch of light helped to illuminate the dense brush below. It was often required to wade through the grass, as some of it grew even above the boys' heads. The only clear signal of direction was Sicily, who would swoop down every so often to guide the others.
Suddenly, the boys stopped short of falling down a steep slope. It seemed to go off for quite a distance in either direction, and the altitude promised this stay a one-way journey. Maybe a mud slide formed this slope?
"Hey, Pepe- I mean, Eros, who do you want to go down first?"
"I think I should go first. If there's-" Eros was interrupted by some cream-colored Pokemon of sorts ramming Hank down the hill. Hank went barreling down rolling over and over again and it was very very funny. The mysterious creature turned its head to reveal itself as Keldeo, the ram-your-friends-over-a-slope Pokemon. "What the fuck?"
A voice spoke inside Eros' head, originating from the Keldeo. Through this psychic link, Eros could immediately tell the Keldeo's power was infinitely greater than his. Aside from this, the link made the following projection, 'We need to talk. Privately.' The legend stood before with an unhappy demeanor on its face. Obviously, this terrified Eros. With his current mental instability, Eros looked upon this creature with horror instead of awe and immediately turned to run, only to find that his leg was tripped by a horn of some kind and caused him to fall flat on his back, save for his backpack. The Keldeo stood over him now, holding its horn to Eros' neck.
The psychic voice spoke again, 'I know of your kind. You, the Cleffa, the Sandshrew.... Somehow you are all related. You all use that... Sparkly magic thing. You may have hidden this from the humans, but the Pokemon have eyes of their own. What do you plan to do with the Humanity Stones?'
Eros replied nervously, "Nothing bad! We aren't bad! We're not doing anything! Why do you want to hurt-"
Suddenly, Eros and Keldeo heard Hank's voice from below. "Hey, I'm alright. What hit me?"
In response, the Keldeo launched a bubble beam at Hank, causing him a great deal of pain. 'Look, I don't want to hurt you. Just tell me what you have planned.'
Eros managed to keep himself together and reply, "We just want to get the Humanity Stones to keep everyone safe..."
'How? How are you going to use them?' The voice was definitely rushed.
"Equilibrium."
Silence remained for a few seconds as Keldeo held its horn to Eros' neck. Then it continued, 'I urge you to change your path.'
"W-why mister Keldeo?"
'As I heard your friend... Cerci... Say, the device will preserve both good and evil.'
"Y-yes...?"
'You can't possibly believe that making evil a permanent thing is good for the world! Sure, evil and good will balance, but shouldn't good always triumph, even if it means working harder?' The eyes changed to something more caring than before.
"But 'good' isn't always for the best..."
'I see.' The Keldeo raised its head. 'Then prepare to die, villain!' The horse raised its head, ready to skewer Eros and make this the last he'll ever see of the world.
But Eros wasn't going out without a fight. He quickly raised one leg between the Keldeo's rear legs, causing it to cringe and bend over in pain. Eros was able to make it down the slope, rolling down uncomfortably to where Hank lied. Hank was alive, but he didn't look happy. "What was that...?"
"Run! Keldeo wants to kill me!"
Both started sprinting, leaving Keldeo far behind. He didn't seem to be chasing them, though. Hank managed to talk to Eros while they were running, spewing, "Really? You made personal enemies with Keldeo?" But Eros knew that under the wrong circumstances, this could be a lot worse. If Keldeo thought they were evil, than who could follow next? Celebi? Groudon? Dialga? Anyone could be hunting him right now, and that isn't a very settling thing to have on the back of your mind...
"We need to keep moving, Hank."
The two ran like they never ran before, covering a mile before even considering stopping to catch their breaths. The forest lightened up a bit, definitely giving hope to an escape from the dense thicket. Sicily seemed worried but preserved her effort to lead the boys ahead. The only thing they wanted to do is put distance between them and Keldeo.
It's been almost a week now. In the distance, the sound of ocean water beating against a shore signaled that there be a coast nearby, and there was. The forest quickly opened up to a shoreline, the teal ocean water acting as a stunning sight accompanied by the sunset. Along the shore, a little ways up north, there lied a sturdy looking stone naval fortress. Xerxes was about a stone's throw away from the boys, slowly walking towards the base. As the boys joined her, Sicily swooped down onto Eros' head, using him as transportation. Cerci appeared a moment later, running up to the boys in her Absol form before turning back into a human.
As they made their way to the fort, Cerci read something was wrong with Eros and asked, "Did something happen?"
"Keldeo wants me dead."
Sicily was in shock at this, but Cerci spoke to Eros, "This is certainly a problem. I can't blame him, he can't understand anything but his own ideal justice... It's just not balanced. We've had the same problem before. He has to see it to believe it."
"I just hope he doesn't kill me first."
The group made their way to the fort, weary of any last-minute ambushes that may occur. Cerci led the group to what seemed to be an old rusted iron gate that looked more like a draw-bridge than a gate. The iron behemoths, three stories high easily, were collapsed outwards away from the ocean. As the group walked in after walking around what could have easily been a sport's field or three of stone wall, they reached the gate and walked through the towering arch.
The inside of the fort was no small base. Catwalks stretched along every part of the wall, enclosing a structure that would make even some of the architects of modern shopping centers appreciate its size. Surely an entire army of both humans and Pokemon of all sizes could all fit here comfortably and have room for their machines of war. Cerci admitted that the structure here was different than the Druidic fort she practiced in, but this was still something like before. It would definitely take a while to discover all the secrets of this place...