I awoke from the evening with Ayah still on my chest, just like last night. Ayah was still asleep, enjoying her rest. Now that it was day and I got a good look, I could see that Ayah's fur was silver for the most part, with the exception being her white face and her red furred ears and red tipped tail. The remains of the egg from last night were on my legs, cracked and in small pieces. As I moved my legs to get the egg off, Ayah began to stir.
"Daddy?" Ayah said sleepily. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything is okay." I replied quietly. "You can keep sleeping if you want to."
"Alright Daddy." Ayah yawned. Ayah quickly drifted back into sleep. I figured now would be the best time to get up. I took Ayah into my arms and stood myself up. After shaking the rest of the egg shell off my legs, I looked over the guardrail to see the sun rising above the land. I took a deep breath in and made my way towards the door. After opening it up, I went down the stairs to the third floor. Some of the others were waking up. I saw Kathrin laying down by a window opening. Lilith and Sarah were up and enjoying a talk with each other over a Magikarp sushi breakfast. Carinthia was barely beginning to stir. Before I could go and introduce them to Ayah, I felt something hit my leg. I looked down and saw Mark and Knud both excited to see who I had in my arms.
"Who do you have there?" Knud asked trying to see Ayah. Mark looked at Knud with a soft scold, but turned back towards me, quickly disregarding that Knud had stolen his question. I folded my legs and sat down.
"This is Ayah." I replied showing them the Fennekin sleeping in my arms.
"Well congratulations, you're a father." Mark said looking me in the eyes. I squirmed a little bit, but I restrained myself as much as I could to not awaken Ayah.
"Yeah," I said a bit uncomfortably. "I guess I am."
"Oh boy! I wonder what Ayah likes doing." Knud said energetically.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." I said. "But I think it's best if we just let her rest for now. We both had an emotional rollercoaster last night."
"Anyway, just out of curiosity, why did you name her Ayah?" Mark asked.
"Because she's our little miracle." I said looking down at Ayah. My Arceus, I couldn't have made that cheesier if I tried. I was making it sound like I was the biological parent to Ayah. Ayah began to stir over our talk. She blinked her eyes open and saw Knud and Mark in front of her.
"She's awake!" Knud said energetically.
"That she is Knud." Mark replied.
"Who... are these two?" Ayah asked still waking up.
"The Leafeon is Mark, and the Eevee is Knud." I replied introducing the two. Ayah looked at the two in confusion, then let out a large yawn. Some fire flew out of Ayah's red tipped ears as she yawned. I flinched a little bit, surprised by the reaction. Mark and Knud stared as if this was completely natural. "Do all Pokémon learn to speak their language at birth?" I asked.
"Yeah, when we come into the world, we already know the language fluently." Mark replied. "It's to make sure we don't misunderstand each other."
"That's strange." I said. "When I had to learn the language from my parents, it seemed to be different from the rest."
"Well who were your parents?" Mark asked. I tried to search my memories for their names, but I had pushed it too far back to remember.
"I can't remember." I said struggling.
"Do you have amnesia?" Knud asked curiously.
"No, not technically, at least, I don't think so." I replied.
"What do you mean?" Mark asked confused.
"I've been pushing my past away from me for so long, that I can't remember their names, I can barely remember what they look like." I replied. Mark thought on this for a minute.
"Do you think you could remember them if you saw them?" Mark questioned.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." I replied. "It's just their face that's fuzzy is all."
"Alright, I want you to follow me then." Mark said walking towards the room with the machine.
"Can I come too?" Knud asked.
"Alright Knud, just don't touch anything." Mark replied. I brought myself to my feet and followed Mark and Knud into the room, where we were greeted by the Rotom and the Klink's and Klank's. Mark guided me to the same panel that he had used to decide me previous disguise. He powered it on and a list of Pokémon showed up. "Let me know when you see it." Mark said. I nodded and he started scrolling through the list. It went from species discovered, so I went through multiple names.
"Lycanroc ... Mismagius ... Pancham ... Hold on a minute, what's that?" I said telling Mark to stop.
"That's Mimikyu." Knud replied. "They're creepy little things that try to imitate Pikachu's."
"Well, Ditto's also imitate other Pokémon, what makes them so creepy?" I asked.
"The fact that anyone who has looked underneath their disguise hasn't survived." Mark shuddered.
"Okay, moving on." I said trying to change the subject. Mark continued to scroll through the list. More and more Pokémon went through the list.
"It's getting close to the bottom, are you sure you haven't seen them yet?" Mark asked.
"No, I haven't seen them yet." I replied. "Keep scrolling down." My eyes were glued to the screen. I guess the others in the room were curious as well, because I could feel eyes watching me. The list continued going down.
"Pyukumuku ... Alakazam ... Yveltal ... That's it, that's the end." Mark said finishing the list.
"That can't be possible." I replied confused. "They should be in there."
"I don't understand why they aren't if you're not seeing them." Mark said. "Is there a way you can describe them?" My face scrunched up. There was really no way I could describe what they looked like without making them confused.
"Well, they are tall, even taller than me." I said trying to pull out something.
"That's not much to go off of." Mark said.
"I know, but I can't really think of a clear way to say it." I replied. "I never really had to describe how my parents looked at all."
"Then it's not going to go well." Mark replied shutting down the machine. My heart sank inside my chest. Ayah looked at me concerned.
"Don't worry Dad, we'll find them. I'm sure of it." Ayah said looking up at me. I looked down at Ayah and gave a smile. I was being encouraged by a child, but it felt good knowing that I was having support. I placed my hand on Ayah's head and started rubbing her head.
"You sure know how to make you dad smile." I said smiling. Ayah started stretching while I was rubbing her. I think she was enjoying it.
"Well I'm sorry we couldn't find them." Mark said.
"It's fine, I'll probably find them sooner or later." I said.
"Hey Caius, can we go play now?" Knud asked.
"Let me just introduce Ayah to the others, then I can bring Ayah with us." I said looking down at Knud.
"Why is Ayah silver instead of orange?" The Rotom asked.
"To be honest," I replied, "I don't really get the concept myself."
"Normally, when someone has a unique feature like that, they have something very special about them." Mark said.
"Is that so?" I replied. "Anyway, let's go ahead and introduce Kathrin and the others to Ayah. I bet they're wondering where I am." We said farewell to everyone in the room and walked back out. Sure enough, Kathrin had been looking for me, and she got the others to help her. I called them over, trying my best to conceal Ayah until the right moment.
"Where were you Caius?" Lilith asked.
"I was just with Mark and Knud in the back trying to figure something out." I replied. "But there's someone I want to introduce to all of you."
"Well who is it?" Sarah asked.
"I'd like you all to meet our new addition to the team, this is Ayah." I said turning my body and showing Ayah. Everyone gaped at Ayah, which made her feel uncomfortable.
"Is that what hatched from the egg?" Kathrin asked pointing at Ayah.
"Yep, she hatched just last night." I replied. Ayah spoke up.
"Are they okay?"
"Oh my Arceus! She's so cute!" Everyone squealed. Lilith and Kathrin ran forward to get a closer look at her, Sarah and Carinthia tried to do the same, but drew the short end of the straw.
"Easy now, don't crowd her." I said backing up a little bit.
"I hate to break up this reunion, but we do need to get started." Mark interrupted. "We're burning daylight and Dinh wants this area mapped out as soon as possible." Lilith, Carinthia, and Sarah looked at Mark for a second, then gave a deep sigh.
"Alright, so what's the plan?" Lilith asked.
"Dinh has the plan, we'll meet up with her and she'll go on from there." Mark said indicating Dinh's tent. Mark looked at me, he didn't need to say a word.
"I'll look after Knud while you're gone." I assured.
"Thank you." Mark replied. "Now, if the three of you will follow me." Mark escorted the three of them over to Dinh's tent, leaving Knud, Kathrin, Ayah, and I to ourselves. Kathrin looked back at Ayah with her eyes filled with amazement.
"Can we go play now?" Knud asked.
"Sure, now we can go play." I said smiling at Knud.
"How about we do hide-and-seek?" Ayah recommended.
"That's sounds fun!" Knud said agreeing.
"Do you want to play ... I'm sorry, but what's your name?" Ayah said looking at Kathrin. Kathrin snapped out of her little day-dream, or whatever she was in.
"I'm Kathrin." Kathrin replied.
"Well Kathrin, do you want to play with us?" Ayah asked.
"I don't know how well I'll be able to play, but I'd be willing to give it a shot." Kathrin stated.
"Do you think there's room for a fourth?" I asked.
"Sure, the more the merrier." Knud replied happily.
"So who should seek?" I asked.
"Hmmm, let me think, ene, mene, miny, Kathrin." Ayah said pointing to Kathrin.
"Alright, I'm going to count to twenty, and then I'm going to look for the three of you." Kathrin said looking at a wall.
"You heard her, let's hide!" Knud said running off.
"Come on Dad, follow me. I know a spot we can hide." Ayah said hopping from my arms.
"Wait for me Ayah!" I said following behind. As we started running throughout the area, we went down to the second floor and ran into a room with the door hanging by the hinges. "Ayah, where are we going?" I asked.
"Trust me Dad, it's a good place." Ayah responded.
"How do you know? You've never been down here before." I asked looking back at the door.
"I just know." Ayah replied. "Now come on, climb in." I turned back to see she was climbing into a small compartment in the side of the room.
"Ayah, wait a minute, where are you going?" I said climbing in concerned.
"Come on Daddy, we're almost there." Ayah said turning her head back. I had to crouch in order to fit inside the compartment Ayah climbed in. I doubt this would be fair for Kathrin, but I needed to make sure Ayah didn't hurt herself. We went about three feet before we started to climb upwards. The passage roof got lower and lower until I was forced to crawl on my stomach. I was barely keeping up with Ayah, who wasn't restricted by the ceiling going down at all. "Come on, it's just around the corner." Ayah beckoned.
"Just be careful." I said to Ayah.
"I will Daddy." Ayah ran around the corner, I tried my best to catch up. As I turned the rather sharp corner, I saw that the passage widened out a little bit and grew somewhat. Not enough for me to crouch, but at least enough for me to prop myself up on my elbows. The other side was closed off by a shield, but light was shining through some points. I finally realized what we were in. "Like my little spot Daddy?" Ayah asked smiling.
"You took us into a vent?" I said surprised. "How did you know this lead here?"
"Sh." Ayah said putting her front leg to my mouth. Ayah pointed outside the vent, and we saw Kathrin looking around for us. She walked by the vent. She had heard us, I was sure of it, but she couldn't pinpoint our spot.
"Come out, come out wherever you are." Kathrin said looking around. I had to cover my mouth to prevent myself from snickering. Kathrin walked off to look behind another spot. I stayed quiet and watched closely. Ayah was trying hard not to snicker as well. "AHA found you!" Kathrin declared.
"Aww man, I thought this was a good spot too." Knud said disappointed.
"Alright, now you have to help me look for them." Kathrin said.
"I bet I'll find them before you!" Knud challenged.
"You're on!" Kathrin said accepting the challenge.
"I saw them go to the second floor! Come on!" Knud said running towards the stairs. Kathrin followed behind. I got a little worried that our spot would be ruined thanks to Knud, but Ayah seemed calm. After we couldn't hear anything, Ayah looked at me and started giggling. Her giggling caused me to start giggling as well.
"Help me out." Ayah said pushing on the shield. I crawled up and got my hands on the shield and helped push. It came out with relative ease, no screws attached to it or anything. I held onto the shield so it wouldn't crash into the ground. Ayah got out of the vent first, then I crawled out and stood up. I set the shield back into place and began to brush off the dust on my cloak.
"Alright, now where to?" I asked. Ayah looked around for a minute. I noticed that we were back on the third floor. The vent had led from the second floor to the third. I saw Mark walking around the crowd. This, I guess, meant that Lilith, Carinthia, and Sarah had all gone to do their task.
"This way!" Ayah whispered. Ayah started running off towards the area that I had first met Knud. I followed behind, making sure not to cause any noise. Ayah pointed up to the ceiling, to a small door that I hadn't recognized before. I reached up and pulled the door down, releasing a ladder into the attic.
"We're going in there?" I asked looking at Ayah.
"Yep, now hurry, Kathrin and Knud probably heard that." Ayah said running up to me. I picked up Ayah with one arm and started climbing the ladder with the other. As we reached the top, I heard Kathrin running up the stairs. I set Kathrin down and started pulling up the ladder as quickly as I could. After I pulled the ladder in, I closed the door and listened carefully. I heard Kathrin and Knud run to our spot. I could faintly make out what they were saying.
"Did you hear that?" Knud asked.
"Yeah, I heard it, but where did it come from?" Kathrin confirmed. I didn't hear anything for a few seconds.
"THE ROOF!!" Both of them exclaimed. I heard both of them running off towards the stairs. I breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't know about the attic.
"Well, that was a close one." I said calming down. I turned to face Ayah, and she was digging through something. I walked over to her calmly and asked, "What are you looking for?"
"I saw something shiny over here." Ayah replied. "Wait, here it is." Ayah pulled her head out of the pile and was holding two crystals, one was black, the other, was clear, just like the orb I had in the satchel. Carinthia was probably taking care of it. Ayah set them down on the ground in front of me. "Aren't they pretty?" Ayah asked. I stared at them for a minute, getting nostalgia from when I had found the Key Stone at Ake.
"Do you mind if I hold them?" I asked.
"Go ahead, I got them for you." Ayah insisted. I stared at her with puzzlement.
"Did you know that these were here?" I asked.
"No, but I knew that this door was here." Ayah responded. I was even more confused. "Look, don't ask how, I just know okay?"
"If you say so." I said smiling at Ayah. I picked up both the crystals in my hand. As I took a closer look at the black one, I could notice a symbol on it. I couldn't really make it out in the darkness of the attic, but there was definitely a symbol. The clear one felt just like the Key Stone, except that this was a diamond shaped crystal instead of a small round stone. As I held them, I felt more burdened about my trails. It felt like someone put a Slaking on my back and strapped him there with chains. I don't know why, but I moved the dark crystal into my other hand, and I began to feel the weight only go to my left side. The light blue crystal made me feel lighter, which threw me into a vertigo. I placed both my hands on the ground, trying to stabilize myself. Ayah looked at me concerningly.
"Maybe it's better if I hold onto the crystals for now." Ayah said.
"No, no, I'm fine, just got dizzy all of a sudden." I said placing my hand on my forehead.
"Can I at least hold one of the crystals?" Ayah asked. I looked at her. So new into the world, and yet she was already full of wonders and questions.
"Alright." I consented. "You can hold one of them." I slid over the dark crystal to Ayah and felt the weight lift. I was so relieved that I almost forgot that it might happen to her if she takes it. I was about to take it back and switch it for the light blue crystal, but she had already taken it and was holding onto it. My eyes watched Ayah carefully, seeing if the same reaction would happen to her. Luckily, it didn't show, which also worried me. Was she hiding it from me? "Do you feel heavy at all?" I asked.
"No, not at all, why do you ask?" Ayah replied. I stared at her for a second then replied.
"I'm just curious, we have been running a little bit." I said trying to pull a different excuse. Ayah looked at me confused.
"We barely did any running, are you sure you're okay?" Ayah asked. I tried to think fast, but, then again, I was raising this child and I had already lied to her. What kind of parent am I? I decided to be honest this time, at least, partial.
"I just feel light all of a sudden." I replied trying to keep my voice down.
"Maybe we should lay down for a minute." Ayah suggested. I chuckled to myself. I was being told what to do by my own child. There was something seriously wrong going on with these crystals.
"Nah, that would ruin the fun of our little game, now wouldn't it?" I said trying to keep Ayah positive. Ayah looked at me concerningly, then started to smile.
"If you say so Dad." Ayah responded. Just as Ayah said this, we heard something behind us move. We turned around quickly and tried to see what it was. We couldn't see what caused it. Just as I was about to walk closer to it, a figure jumped out at the two of us. Knud landed in front of us with a smile as big as it could go.
"Hah! Found you both!" Knud said cheering in his find. We heard Kathrin's voice from another part of the room.
"Only because you could fit inside the door!" Kathrin shouted through a small compartment.
"Wow, how did you find this place?" Knud asked in amazement. "I haven't seen this place at all."
"Well, Ayah showed me." I replied. Ayah looked at Knud in confusion.
"How did you find another way in?" Ayah asked. "I thought there was only one-way in."
"Kathrin had found the door leading into here." Knud admitted. "She couldn't fit inside it, so she sent me down to see if you were here, and you just so happened to be talking while I was here."
"Can you all come out here please? It worries me a little bit that I can't see you in there." Kathrin said.
"We're coming!" Ayah replied. Ayah started on her way to where she heard Kathrin. I followed behind with Knud close-by. The other entrance into here was certainly a one way if you were by yourself, but since Kathrin and I were there, we were able to help Ayah and Knud up the ten-foot drop. Then came my turn.
"Alright Caius, your turn." Kathrin said reaching down for me. I looked up at Kathrin with the sun showing her hand. I first tried to see if I could just reach her hand without jumping, but I couldn't reach that high. After that, I decided to jump up to her arm.
"Alright, here I come." I said announcing that I was about to jump. I made sure I had a tight grip on the light blue crystal before I jumped. I wanted to talk to Dinh about this, see if she knew what this cellar was used for. As I squatted down to get a bigger jump, I could feel my legs get a sudden boost of strength. As I jumped, I jumped much higher than I had intended. I almost hit Kathrin on the way up! I whizzed by her and was fifteen feet in the air. When I noticed I had jumped higher than I wanted too, I looked down, and did what any other being would do if they were falling to the ground. I began to flail my arms and I crashed onto the roof, landing on my stomach.
"Daddy! Are you okay?!" Ayah asked alarmed by my sudden plummet. I slowly arose to my feet, feeling the full pain from the fall.
"That hurt a bit." I said picking myself up. As I turned around to look at Ayah and the others, everyone gasped.
"Caius! You're bleeding!" Kathrin said pointing to my nose. I lifted my hand to my nose and felt blood dripping down my face. I continued to travel up my face until I reached my nose. When I came in contact with it, I pulled my hand back quickly in pain.
"It's a broken nose!" Ayah said shocked.
"What? No it's not. It's just bruised from the- WHAT IS THAT OVER THERE?!" I shouted trying to distract them. They all turned around trying to see what I could be pointing to. I quickly used this time to crack my nose back into place. Everyone heard the loud snap as it went back into place, and the grunt I made when it happened. Everyone turned back to look at me. I pointed back up to my nose and started poking it. "See? It's not broken." I said trying to hold back my tears.
"Caius, you're not fooling anyone." Kathrin replied. "You probably need to stop and rest for a little bit."
"What?! But he's only just started." Knud said objectively.
"Would you rather he break something else?" Ayah asked gently.
"It's alright Knud, it's just for a few minutes, then I'll be back on my feet." I replied.
"Oh no, it's going to take more than just a few minutes." Kathrin objected.
"Even if I do this?" I said closing both my hands together. I closed my eyes and began focusing on my nose. As the pain started to go away, I felt another snap in my nose, this time re-attaching the bone. My hands flew back and covered my face. I fell on my back, temporarily immobilized by the pain. Knud ran towards me to make sure I was fine. Ayah stared at me in amazement. Kathrin gawked at me.
"Caius! Are you okay? What was that?" Knud asked running to my side.
"When did you learn how to use Recover?" Kathrin asked surprised.
"I've known it since I was a child, although, I still haven't mastered it." I replied sitting up, still holding my nose. "This is why I said it would take a few minutes, but I guess I should take a break for now." Ayah looked at me, walked over to me, and climbed on my lap.
"Do you think I could learn that someday?" Ayah asked.
"I don't know if you want to." I replied a bit disturbed by the question. "I don't even know if you can."
"Everyone can learn any move they want, they just have to be willing to put the time and effort to try." Ayah replied looking at me.
"Wait, how do you know that?" Kathrin asked surprised by Ayah's response.
"With me, it's best if you just go with it." I replied. Kathrin gave a strange look to Ayah, but took my advice and rolled with it.
"Can we keep playing?" Knud asked. "I want to have a turn to seek."
"You go on ahead without me, I just need to talk to Dinh about something." I replied starting to stand. Ayah hopped off my lap and back onto the ground.
"Aww, but I want to find you again." Knud whined.
"It's only for a little bit, I'll be back before you know it." I said rubbing Knud's head.
"Okay, I'll make sure the game doesn't continue until you get back." Knud replied.
"Go ahead and play without me, Ayah and Kathrin want to keep playing." I said pointing to both of them. I waved goodbye and trusted Kathrin with Ayah while I went to talk with Dinh. As I went downstairs and into the third floor, Mark was coming towards the stairs.
"Ah, Caius, just the one I needed to talk to." Mark said relieved to see me.
"Something up?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's about Lilith and the others." Mark replied. My eyes shot open. I ran and grabbed Mark by the shoulders and started to shake him.
"What happened to them?! Are they okay?!" I asked panicking. Mark took a second to re-orient himself, then looked at me.
"They're fine, they're finishing up as we speak." Mark replied.
"Already? How long has it been?" I asked.
"It's been about two and a half hours." Mark replied. I let go and stared wide-eyed. Had two and a half hours really passed by in just one game? I guess either I was having enough fun to speed time up, or that vertigo had taken more out of me than I thought. "Are you okay? You don't look well."
"Yeah, just confused is all really." I replied. "But what is it that you needed to talk to me about?" Mark gave an uncomfortable smile.
"It's about the little stunt you pulled yesterday." Mark replied. I couldn't help but squirm. With a reluctant sigh, I asked.
"Alright, what do you want to know?"
"What happened back there? Is that what you normally do to them?" Mark asked.
"No! Heavens no!" I replied. "I just, I don't know what happened." Mark looked confused by my statement.
"What do you mean?" Mark asked.
"It's like, I wasn't even in control anymore." I replied. "Like someone else was controlling me, or at least, my speech." Mark continued to stare at me in confusion. "Look, all I can really tell is that I did not intend for things to go out that way." I explained.
"Well that's certainly strange." Mark said.
"Oh, trust me, ever since I've taken up this mission, my life has been nothing BUT strange." I huffed. "First, Ake, now this."
"What happened in Ake?" Mark asked.
"Long story." I replied." I'll tell you later, but I think there is a question you might be able to help me with."
"I'll see what I can do." Mark assured.
"Do you have any idea what this is?" I said showing Mark the light blue crystal. Mark looked at the crystal intently.
"This seems very familiar." Mark said investigating the crystal. Then, suddenly, Mark got a look of surprise on his face. "Where did you find this?!"
"Up in an attic around the pillar there." I said pointing out the pillar.
"Attic? What attic?" Mark asked confused.
"Come on, I'll show you." I replied. I walked Mark over towards where Ayah and I had found the door. When we came to the spot, to my surprise, the door was gone!
"Where is it?" Mark questioned.
"I don't get it, it was just here when we were playing hide-and-seek!" I said astonished. Mark then turned back around.
"I don't know where you found this "attic," but it's certainly not here." Mark said. Before he could walk off, I stopped him.
"Do you at least know what this is?" I asked. Mark turned back around and faced me.
"If what I think it is, is what it is, then that's a Fly Crystal." Mark replied. This time, I gave the look of confusion.
"Fly Crystal?" I questioned. "What's that? Some kind of rare crystal that sells for high prices?"
"Trust me, you don't ever want to sell that." Mark said. "But it is rare, yes."
"Well, what is it exactly?" I asked, still confused. Mark gave a deep sigh.
"Those crystals are used by us to amplify our attacks into something bigger." Mark began.
"Wait, amplify as in make them stronger?" I questioned.
"What else would amplify mean?" Mark countered. I felt a little bit stupid for asking that question. "But basically, when that stone is given to someone who attacks from the air, or is given to someone who uses an attack that is a flying type, it turns it into something else."
"Do you know what it is?" I asked referring to the attack.
"I believe it's called Supersonic Skystrike." Mark recalled.
"Well that seems a bit excessive of a name." I said.
"Don't let the long name fool you, this attack is more than capable of shattering continents if given to the right Pokémon." Mark said looking at the crystal.
"You're kidding. If that's the power inside these crystals, then they should be destroyed." I said a bit fearful.
"I'm probably exaggerating a little bit, but don't get me wrong, they are by all means, devastating, but they even have their own limits." Mark said. "They can only become so powerful, plus, after they're used, the user is completely drained of energy."
"So, in other words, use it as a last resort." I simplified.
"Yes, because in order to activate them, both the one wielding the crystal, and the other wearing a special ring need to exert all their power in unison." Mark agreed.
"What ring are you talking about?" I asked.
"We have plenty of these rings, but we could never find a crystal to match them with." Mark replied. "I'll tell you what, if you can help us remove Lofn from her spot in the government, I'll get you one of these rings. Does that sound like a good deal?"
"Sure, but I'm really only doing this to help out as much as possible." I replied.
"Then for now, it's probably better if you hold onto that crystal, or give it to another general." Mark commented.
"I'll put it up later when the others come back." I replied. "But what did you have in mind for dethroning Lofn?"
"We already have enough evidence to pin her to what she's done, especially adding to the death of Alvar." Mark explained. My gut churned.
"I'm guessing it's just finding her is the problem?" I assumed.
"Yes, she's a slippery little Pokémon, but once we get a grip on her, it's all over." Mark assured. I looked out the window, stooping over this. "But I'm guessing this answers your question?"
"Yes." I replied looking back at Mark. "Thank you."
"Not a problem." Mark replied. "I'll see you around." Mark walked off, heading back towards the crowd. I looked at the crystal in my hand. The reflection of the sun gleamed into my eyes. As I gripped the stone in my hand, I felt like I could do what I needed to do. I still needed to talk to Dinh about some things. This was probably going to backfire, but it was my best option at resolving this as quick as possible.
(Kathrin)
After Caius had gone back downstairs to talk with Dinh, I stayed with Knud and Ayah to make sure the fun continued between the two of them. After a few minutes of resting on top of the roof and letting both of them know that everything would be okay with Caius, we decided to start another match. We decided since Ayah was the last one found, that she would be it. After we walked back down the stairs, we saw Caius talking with Mark. I couldn't really hear what they were talking about, but Ayah told us that she was going to be counting to be counting to twenty, then start searching for us. I was honestly ready to just hide in the sky. I was not ready for another two-hour search. Sure, it only felt like fifteen minutes, but I don't think I could have the patience that Caius and Ayah had waiting in that attic. Knud ran off somewhere on the third floor, while I went to the ground floor to see what I could work with. When I arrived there, I was sadly brought up with little places to hide myself. The best spot I could manage to find was a small shaft that I could fit myself in, but my tail was left exposed. I luckily found a lamp post and put the shade on the top of my tail and tried to hide my tail amongst other items that I piled near my hiding spot. I couldn't see outside my spot because in order to get inside, I had to face a wall. I couldn't turn that easily and I couldn't turn my head without risking being spotted. I counted down how much time I had left. Three ... Two ... One ... Time was up. Ayah would now be looking for the two of us. I stayed as quiet as possible, hoping I wouldn't be the first found. A few minutes went by, and I heard something coming down the stairs. I held still and hoped I wouldn't be spotted. As the noise approached me, my heart started to pound inside my chest. I felt for sure that I was going to be caught. But then I didn't hear anything. I felt like Ayah was looking around. Maybe my tail lamp was working out better than I thought. After a few more seconds, I heard the footsteps again, this time, going away from me. I breathed a sigh of relief. Ayah hadn't found me. Either that or she saw me, but wanted to get me last. I stayed in my spot, just to stay safe. Not even a minute later, I heard the footsteps come back, but they didn't come towards me at all. I heard them go towards the other side of the building. Maybe it was one of the others from the third floor getting some fresh air. A few more minutes went by, and I heard another pair of footsteps approaching. Again, I stayed perfectly still. I heard the footsteps approach me quickly. I guess my guess about saving me for later was right. I heard a voice, but it wasn't Ayah's.
"Kathrin! We have a problem!" The voice said urgently. I recognized the voice. It was Mark. I started to back myself out, getting myself some room to turn and face Mark. As I faced Mark, I noticed that his eyes were filled with panic.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Knud's missing! I can't find him anywhere!" Mark said looking around franticly.
"Are you sure Ayah hasn't found him?" I asked thinking that Ayah had him.
"No! Ayah is looking for him as we speak! But I can't find him on the roof or anywhere else!" Mark said worriedly. "I can't lose him! I can't lose my family!"
"Calm down. I'll help you look for him, the last I saw, he was on the third floor. Let's start there." I said. Mark and I both went up to the third floor as quickly as we could. As we got to the top of the stairs, we saw Ayah with a Rotom. His name was Zach. The look on Ayah's face told us it would be anything but pleasant. We ran up to Ayah and Zach, and my expectations were confirmed. Zach had told us that Caius had asked him and the others in the room to change his appearance. He told them that he was going on a secret mission into Ai, and that he should only tell me, Mark, and any others it would concern.
"Did you see my son at all?!" Mark asked.
"Yes, as I went out to talk with Ayah here, I saw Mark head downstairs no more than three minutes ago." Zach confirmed.
"This all happened because of that conversation I had with Caius more than likely. I should have known Knud was hiding somewhere. He must've heard everything we talked about and chased after Caius!" Mark said scolding himself. Immediately, Mark went dashing down the stairs. Ayah started to follow, but I stopped her.
"Ayah, we don't want you getting hurt out there." I said blocking Ayah's path.
"But my Daddy's out there! I can't let him be alone!" Ayah pleaded.
"He's not going to be alone for very long." I said scolding myself for not thinking. "I promise he will come back safe and sound, but I don't think he would like it if you ran out there. He could lose you and if that happened, he would never be able to forgive himself." Ayah had a hard time swallowing this.
"Alright." Ayah replied with tears in her eyes. "But please hurry, I'm scared." I ran downstairs as quickly as I could. As I reached the bottom floor, I saw Mark on the ground. I ran up to him and saw him crying.
"He's gone." Mark wept. "He's in the city."
"What did you and Caius talk about?" I asked.
"I told him about the crystal first, then we talked about how to stop Lofn." Mark said bitterly. My eyes widened.
"I'll go look for him, he couldn't have gone far." I said spreading my wings. When I told Sarah, I would only go outside if it was absolutely necessary, this would be that time. Just before I started to fly off, Zach came down the stairs quickly.
"Hold on a minute Kathrin! He's going to be harder to find. He had me put the disguise on for as long as it would last for." Zach shouted out.
"Well how long does it last?" I questioned.
"About three hours, but if he gets hit at all, it's going to reduce the time!" Zach replied.
"What did he turn into?" I questioned again.
"He had me put a Decidueye illusion on him!" Zach recalled quickly. "He left his scythe in our room as well!"This wasn't adding together well. I felt like I knew what was going to happen.I told Mark and Zach to keep a very close eye on Ayah while I was gone, get Dinh if they had to, but make sure that Ayah didn't leave their sight. I flew off into the sky and started my search for Caius and Knud. I wasn't too worried that Knud had gotten too far in, but I was mainly worried about Caius. Knowing him, he's probably already in the center of Ai by now. The race was on. It was me against everyone else. Maybe I could find Lilith and the others along the way and get them to help out as well. Oh, there was so much to think about and not enough time. I hoped Caius was okay.
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A proper introduction into a world that will only bring her panic. Lol... (Oh crap, what have I done?) So much for time to relax and to think. What has Caius got planned in that mind of his? Also, seriously Kathrin? A Lamp Post? You can do better. Ayah you little sneaker, how'd you know that attic was there? But then, where did it go?
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Anyway, have a wonderful day, and remember to have a Merry Christmas!