(Caius)
We walked into the federal prison that used to be used for different reasons. As we went down the stairs, I was thinking out what we could do in my mind. Possibilities were swinging left and right. Luckily, I had help with verifying what we should do. Sarah, Thalia, and Carinthia helped narrow down the choices. Raiden was pretty much just coming up with ideas on what he and Thalia could do while they were here in Ai.
"So, have you got an idea what you're going to do?" Carinthia asked.
"I'm going to get answers." I replied. "And I need to settle a few grudges."
"Easy Caius, I only got us one of these, and we don't need another incident like the last." Sarah warned.
"So who is this Pokémon anyway?" Raiden asked.
"Pokémon's." I corrected. "There's six of them."
"Okay, Pokémon's" Raiden replied. "What did they do exactly?"
"Basically, to keep it short and sweet, they were the reason that all those girls were chasing the two of you." Carinthia said looking back up the stairs. I shuddered as she finished that sentence.
"You think after twelve years, they would learn that it's not true." Sarah said annoyed.
"Ain't no Pokémon laying a paw on my boyfriend." Thalia said with a sassy voice. We snickered a little bit at how her tone was. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, I knocked on the steel door. The hole in the door opened up and two eyes were peering through them.
"Who goes there?" The voice asked.
"Caius, Sarah, Carinthia, Thalia, and Raiden, Generals of Karma and Nishat." I replied. The hole closed up and multiple locks were heard from the other side of the door. As it opened up, a Beheeyem allowed us to walk through.
"It's nice to see that you've recovered." The Beheeyem said.
"I wasn't alone in it." I replied walking through the door. As the door closed behind us, we made our way back through the familiar hallway leading to a new door-way. I stopped Raiden at the door. "Stay back here." I said.
"What? And miss out on the opportunity to interrogate someone?" Raiden questioned.
"I'm not leaving you out of this, I just need you in for the right time." I replied. He was a bit hesitant, but he nodded and they both stayed behind as we were allowed through the second door. I whispered to the guard, a Scolipede, that there were two others behind the door. I told him that he would know when to let them in. As I turned around, I saw the familiar face of a Salazzle. The same Salazzle that ended up almost killing me. They all looked up and saw the four of us. When they all turned their eyes on me, I saw their expression darken. One figure was different however. It had appeared that Sar had evolved since the twelve years I'd seen him. He was now a Garchomp, but that still did little to change that he was stuck in this cell.
"Caius." Sar said lividly.
"So nice to see that you're all reflecting on what you've done." Carinthia said cracking a smile. Sar frowned with anger.
"You wouldn't say that to my face." Sar challenged.
"Come closer to the cell and I will." Carinthia said walking towards the cell.
"Carinthia, don't get overconfident." Sarah warned. Sar approached the cell and Carinthia was holding onto the bars.
"So nice to see that-" Carinthia's sentence was cut off when Sar charged at the cell and swiped down at Carinthia with Dragon Claw. The guy's luck was seriously at a low, because I don't think he even realized that she was a fairy type. When he saw the attack phase through her, I saw the same fear in his eyes when he tried the same thing on Knud. Carinthia started to chuckle. "You know, you should really do research on your enemies before you go all out on them." Carinthia delivered a solid kick to Sar's face, sending him flying back against the wall. I couldn't help but snicker at the attempt.
"Seriously?! How many Fairy-types are there?!" Sar barked out.
"This is why I'm the head honcho over you guys." Devante huffed.
"Well well Caius, it seems that you've lost weight." Cedlio said chuckling. "Ten, fifteen, I don't know. How much does an arm weigh?" I stared at him for a few seconds, then grew a smirk on my face and started to chuckle softly. His expression grew darker as he heard me. "What's so funny?"
"Just the fact that you're so wrong." I said revealing my left arm. I saw Cedlio's eyes widen as he saw my arm.
"Well well, looks like the bug got an upgrade." Devante taunted.
"Takes one to know one." Sarah countered.
"Well Caius, this is an unexpected visit." Lofn said grinning. I turned my eyes to her.
"Lofn."
'Hold on a second, I know for a fact that there were six of you. Where's Atol?" Carinthia questioned. I started to look around the prison. She was right. Atol wasn't in the cell.
"Caius! Behind you! "Sarah warned.
"Hello Caius." I heard a voice behind me say. I turned my head enough to see that it was Atol, standing directly behind me with a Shadow Ball at my back. "It's certainly been a while."
"I see that you haven't forgotten to use your little portal to escape." I observed.
"This is for the humiliation you gave me twelve years ago." Atol growled. "Now, you're going to set us free, and you are going to do nothing about it."
"Alright." I replied smoothly. My reply and the tone I had it in caught everyone off guard.
"You're just going to let them go?!" Carinthia said astonished.
"On one set condition."
"You will not be making any conditions at this point." Atol scowled.
"Guard, go ahead and open the door." I said. As the guard stared at me, still astonished, I nodded my head. With the same look, he nodded back and opened the door.
"My one condition is that you have to first meet my brother."
"Brother?!" Lofn said surprised. I turned my eyes to Carinthia and tried to signal her to slowly make her way towards me. I think she got the message and started to approach when Atol wasn't looking. My brother stepped through the door, holding some kind of glass cup with a red liquid in it. I'd say it was paint, but it was way to miscible and too clear. As he walked up, Atol saw my brother. I may not have seen it, but I could hear his fear as he was struggling to breathe for a few seconds. I could feel the Shadow Ball disappearing as he lost concentration. I simply took a few steps forward and turned around, facing Atol and seeing the horrified expression on his face. My brother stopped a few feet in front of Atol.
"Do you want some punch?" Raiden asked. The question caught Atol off guard. Instead of showing fear now, he stared at Raiden questionably. Sarah was starting to silently chuckle, more than likely reading out Raiden's thoughts of what he was going to do.
"Sure?" Atol replied unsure. He got what he asked for alright. Raiden used his free hand to form a fist and hit Atol with Shadow Punch, sending him back at me. I formed a fist of my own with my claw and used Sucker Punch to send her to Sarah. Sarah responded by using Night Slash on Atol and sending her at Carinthia. Carinthia then added on by slamming him with Feint Attack and hitting him towards Thalia, when then finished it off with a Shadow Ball, sending him crashing against the bars of the cell. He moaned as he fell on the ground.
"And that right there is what happens when we work together." Thalia said grinning.
"Yeah, I'm starting to see the results." I replied.
"Aw man!" Raiden said irritated. I turned my head back to him and saw his cloak covered in the liquid. "I just washed this thing!" I chuckled a little bit, then turned my gaze to the Scolipede.
"Go get some more guards, and make sure that the cuffs on this one prevents any energy from being released."
"Sir." The Scolipede walked out of the room. I kept a close eye on Atol in case he regained consciousness.
"Still as cunning as ever Caius." Lofn said chuckling.
"I want answers Lofn." I demanded.
"Why Caius, I thought I told you everything." Lofn said acting insulted.
"You told me what you told everyone else, a lie." I replied. "But that's not what I'm talking about. I have an interest in something else."
"And that is?"
"Mistress Lofn, is it really wise to tell the enemy about information?" Cedlio asked.
"Oh, I'm not going to give the information freely." Lofn said chuckling. Figures there'd be a catch.
"Alright, what do you want?" I asked. Lofn turned her gaze right back at me.
"You know exactly what I want Caius." Lofn replied. "There are still some things that didn't happen last time that were supposed to." I glared at her. She knew full well I wouldn't accept, and I knew there wasn't going to be any substitute. Unless...
"What were you planning on doing with the egg that you wanted so badly from Alvar?" I questioned. Lofn's grin grew bigger as she heard my question.
"Caius, you can't be serious." Sarah whispered sharply. I didn't say it verbally, but I looked at her and transmitted my message in my head. Once she realized what I was doing, she nodded and stared back at her. When Carinthia saw the calmness from Sarah's face, she started to relax as well. Thalia and Raiden were still a bit perplexed as to what she was talking about.
"Mistress Lofn!" Devante said worriedly.
"The deal's been made, I'll speak." Lofn said.
"Now." I said glaring at Lofn. "My question."
"I collected eggs for many reasons." Lofn explained. While Lofn was starting to explain, Raiden walked up beside me.
"So what's she wanting in return?" Raiden whispered. I didn't look back at him, but I did reply.
"She's basically trying to get me in there so that we can... reproduce." I whispered softly. Raiden's face turned into shock.
"You can't really be doing this, are you?" Raiden questioned.
"Of course not, but I've got a solution." I replied whispering.
"As you know, since I took role in Ai, or at least, previously, I demanded that the city start to work on increasing population in any shape or form."
"That would explain all the clubs." Thalia said disgusted. Lofn turned her gaze to Thalia, stopping her sentence.
"It seems you've brought along a new friend." Lofn said glaring at Thalia. "Please, why don't you introduce me?
"Hey, hands off! She's mine!" Raiden said picking up Thalia. Lofn began to chuckle lightly as she stared at Thalia blushing slightly.
"That's not relevant." I replied. "Continue."
"Mistress Lofn, this doesn't seem right." Sar said. Lofn squinted her eyes and turned back around quickly, slapping Sar with the back of her knuckles and sending him back to the wall.
"I have been waiting over three-hundred years for this! You are not going to cheat me out of what I rightfully deserve!" Lofn yelled at Sar. The sudden reaction caught Devante, Filmore, and Cedlio off guard. They were staring at how Lofn had just basically thrown one of her commanders into the wall. When he fell on the floor, I could tell that he was unconscious as well.
"Way to be subtle." Raiden said sarcastically. Lofn turned back around and stared at me. She gave a deep sigh.
"Sorry you had to see that." Lofn apologized. "Being locked up in a cell for twelve years can do that to you. But I'm sure we can put things in the past." I squinted my eyes. I wouldn't be able to put my arm in the past. Not after she tried to kill a kid and his mother. "Anyway, I still get the feeling your question is still left unanswered. To continue on our little conversation, the city's population began to drastically increase. I however would occasionally take a few eggs from random Pokémon and do different things with them."
"Like?" Sarah questioned. Lofn stared at Sarah and simply licked her lips.
"One thing I did with eggs is that I, like most reptilian Pokémon, ate the eggs." Lofn replied. The response sent a chill up my spine, but I refused to show my discomfort in front of this... thing. "I also shipped them off to various different locations."
"What for?" Thalia questioned holding her voice back from sounding enraged.
"If you wouldn't interrupt, I'd tell." Lofn replied. "From what I've been told, it was to raise them in solitude and test their natural instincts." The responses were beginning to sicken me. I could feel my stomach churn as she continued. "But if it wasn't either of those, it would be experimentation on their pre-birth states. Seeing what makes them turn out to be what they are. I especially had fun with that one. I wasn't alone in that research as well, no, I was only a small part of it. I had to send most of my experiments to where they had more advanced technology and more equipment to work with." She squinted her eyes at me. I couldn't not show my emotions any more. I was grinding my teeth in anger as I heard this. Then with a smile, Lofn said her last one. "But nothing topped it off better," She said, "than using them as target practice." The room was silent. My rage was indescribable.
"And just what exactly were you going to do with that egg specifically?" I questioned, my voice dripping poison.
"When I was told that she was carrying with her a unique egg, I couldn't resist the chance to find out what makes it tick." Lofn replied. "I sent out Devante, Sar and Filmore to go and retrieve such said egg. That is, until you intervened."
"And I'm glad I did." I countered.
"If you had only let me obtain the egg, I could have found out the perfect way to make everyone's children just as unique as that egg. Each one with a pattern of their choice, colors and strengths."
"So, you were going to dissect Ayah?" Carinthia questioned lividly. Lofn raised an eyebrow.
"Now, I may not know who this Ayah is." Lofn said. "But she sounds delicious."
"That's enough!" I shouted slamming my foot into the ground. The impact caused the floor to crack and crumble, almost causing me to fall into my own rage. As I stared at Lofn, her smile was still drawn on her face, I also noticed that the three other conscious commanders, Filmore, Devante, and Cedlio, had apparently never heard any of this. Carinthia jumped at the bars, screaming at Lofn.
"You're a sick, deranged..." I won't finish the sentence, just know that I had never heard Carinthia snap like that before with such a wide variety of colorful words. I saw her horn chewing through the bars. Lofn turned her gaze on Carinthia and shot out what I assumed was Sludge Wave. The attack hit her and sent her back, crashing into us. I dodged, and Raiden grabbed Carinthia before she crashed into the wall.
"You would dare call me such names?!" Lofn snapped. "Maybe I should melt these bars with my Acid and see who ends outstanding after I'm finished with you!" When Carinthia recovered, she began to laugh.
"You really think poison type moves are going to work on me? I'm a Steel-Type! None of your attacks will do anything but push me back and make me angrier!" As Raiden set her down, she took a single step forward, then stopped immediately. She cupped her stomach as she fell to a knee and spat out blood. I saw her eyes widen. I was no less astonished. Sarah had told me this would happen, but I didn't believe it. Lofn started to laugh loudly.
"See, this is why I love Corrosion! It gets brats like you to shut up!" Lofn said calming down.
"Sarah, hand it to her." I said.
"Already on it." Sarah said walking over.
"Now Lofn." I said enraged. "Now that you've fulfilled your part of the deal, I guess it's time I fulfilled mine." The guards came through the door and saw Sar now unconscious against the wall. They also saw Carinthia who was recovering thanks to the Pecha berry that she had gotten earlier for this. I would have to thank her for this later, and maybe even figure out if she could teach me somehow. The guards, the same Scolipede, a Clawitzer, and a Sawk, came in and put on Atol's arms a special kind of cuffs. "Open the door to the cell." I ordered. It's not like I had to say it, the guards were going to throw Atol in there anyway. Lofn's smile grew wicked. When the doors opened, I stayed in place, refusing to move.
"You have no idea how long I have waited for this to happen." Lofn said chuckling mildly.
"I'm not going in there." I said sternly. Lofn's eyes drew wide. I half expected her to charge through the door, but with the three guards there, there was no way she was going to get through. Instead, she threw herself at the cell bars and grasped them tightly.
"We had a deal Caius!" Lofn shouted. "You are not a man to go back on your word!" As the door was being closed, I raised my hand, and the guard stopped closing the door.
"I'm not going in there." I repeated. "Raiden is." Raiden and Thalia stared at me with surprise, and anger.
"Are you nuts?!" Raiden replied. "I'm not going in there!"
"And no one's laying a slimy finger on my boyfriend!" Thalia snarled.
"Raiden!" I said grabbing his shoulder. "Remember how I told you I lost my arm?"
"Yeah?" I turned my head back to Lofn.
"Meet the Pokémon that did that." I growled. As Raiden turned to Lofn, his expression grew darker very quickly. He then pushed the anger down, and put on a normal, stern face.
"Oh, so you're sending your brother in?" Lofn questioned amused. "I'll admit, I didn't expect this to be how it would turn out, but it's still all the same in the end." As Raiden took a step forward, I clenched my hand tighter. He looked back at me and I nodded my head. I didn't have to speak it for him to hear it.
"Break her." As I let go of his shoulder, the door was widened enough to where Raiden was allowed through the door. When Raiden walked into the room, the door was closed and locked.
"So, you're the one I have to thank for my brother's little incident." Raiden said staring down at Lofn. He reached into his sheath and pulled out his sword. As he gripped the handle, the sword started to crack with electricity. He had mastered a technique over the course we had been together these twelve years. If his anger reached a certain point, the sword would change its texture. The sword was no longer a sword, but it was a great-sword, the edges serrated with very sharp, uneven edge, like the teeth on the horn Carinthia had. It also cracked with more energy than normal, making it highly potent with electrical power. When Lofn saw this, she began to laugh.
"You really think that my commanders are going to let you come at me with your blade?" Lofn chuckled. "Then you've got another thing coming. Get him boys."
"No." Filmore said sternly.
"Excuse me?"
"I said no." Filmore repeated. "I'm not going to obey orders from someone who deliberately kills or experiments with children."
"Then you're of no use to me. Devante, Cedlio, teach these two a lesson." Lofn ordered. Devante and Cedlio stood there, not moving a single inch. Lofn turned to the two in frustration. "What are you doing you fools?!"
"We're thinking for ourselves." Devante replied.
"We are not taking orders from you anymore." Cedlio said folding all four of his arms. Sar was regaining consciousness.
"Ah, Sar, perfect timing, teach these three rebels what happens when they defy me!" Lofn said sternly. As Sar stood up, he shook off the pain he felt.
"After what you just did." Sar replied. "You can help yourself." Lofn stared at her commanders, now starting to panic.
"Atol! Atol you fool get up!" Lofn demanded. As Atol slowly began to rise, he stood up with an angered look at Lofn.
"I heard everything that you just said." Atol replied. "So don't you dare think that I'm going to help you after what you just said."
"Looks like you've ran out of help." Raiden said grabbing his sword in both hands. Atol interrupted.
"While I was out, I did grab something along the way. And I can safely say this." Atol started to glow in a white light. His figure began to mold into something else. The cuffs broke off when his hands grew bigger than them. The light went away, and Atol was no longer a Dusclops, but a Duskinor. "I've changed my allegiance." Lofn was exchanging looks with everyone in the cell, now filled with fear.
"Should we kill her?" Filmore asked.
"No, she needs to see what she's put others through first." Raiden replied lividly. The six of them dived at Lofn, delivering blow after blow, or in Raiden's case, cut after cut. I turned myself around and started my way out the door. Sarah followed behind.
"Is there anything else to worry about with her?" I questioned.
"No, this was the last of it." Sarah replied.
"Good, I can't stand to be around her." I replied. "Carinthia and Thalia will get Raiden to where we need to go, but for now, I got what I want. Let's go meet these new recruits." As I walked past the doors, all I heard were the blows coming from all six of them, and Lofn's screams as she cried out my name. I ignored her and continued to walk forward. Raiden would deal out more than I probably would. Add to that her five commanders have turned against her, I can only imagine the state she'll be in when they're done with her.
We walked out from the prison and made our way hastily towards the outskirts of town, trying to avoid any contact with the public as possible. After Lofn's overthrow, the city had begun to expand its borders by reactivating some of the abandoned factories and other such locations. When we came across a familiar looking building, we walked inside its double doors. As we walked in, we saw the floor bustled with all sorts of items ready to be sold. I slipped my hood on so that it would keep my face hidden for the most part, and we made our way up to the second floor. There, I saw a familiar Leaveny looking around desperately multiple piles of items.
"I swear I had a Reaper Cloth somewhere!" Kineta said scavenging around. I snickered a little bit. So that's how Atol evolved. He grabbed a Reaper Cloth while Kineta wasn't looking and vanished. Sarah was doing the exact same thing, except her snicker sounded more like a light chuckle.
"Hey Kineta!" I yelled out. Kineta looked up from what she was doing and recognized the green cloak that she had made twelve years ago.
"Caius!" Kineta said happily. "It's so glad to see you!"
"I see business has been booming lately." Sarah said looking at the crowd of Pokémon.
"Ever since Lofn was arrested, Dinh, our new governor, has focused on purifying the city from her stains." Kineta said. "She's also gotten every Pokémon a job now with how the city has been expanding. There goes my hopes of strangling the Medicham for teaching Ayah Dream Eater.
"I'm glad to see you're back in business." I said smiling. "I feel like you deserve it after what you have all been through."
"It's all thanks to you and the others." Kineta replied. "You're the one that got things setting in motion for everyone!"
"Is the meeting place still at the roof?" Sarah asked.
"Yep, all the new recruits are up there and ready to see you both." Kineta replied.
"It seems your line is building up." I said chuckling. Kineta looked behind her and saw the line that was forming. Apparently, even with my hood on, I was still getting recognized. This was mainly due to the fact that Kineta had placed a sign next to her store, showing the same exact cloak, I was wearing with the words; "Come and be like Caius, the one who liberated us!" Kineta was a bit shocked at how many Pokémon had piled themselves into a line.
"Alright, it seems like you two are busy, but I got to go satisfy the customers, so I'll chat with you later!" Kineta said running back to her desk. As we made our way to the next set of stairs, I was stopped occasionally to give autographs for some Pokémon. It was a lot better than being tackled and cuddled, that's for sure. Eventually we did climb our way up the stairs and I pushed open the metal door. As it creaked open, I saw groups of Pokémon talking with one another. Their talking was so loud that they didn't even hear the door. One figure though apparently saw me as Sarah and I emerged from the door.
"Caius!!" I heard to the side. I turned my head and was immediately tackled to the ground by Knud. He started to rub his head against mine as I realized what was going on. "Oh my Arceus it's been so long!"
'Nice to see you too Knud." I said chuckling. "now get off me, we're in front of the public." As I pushed myself off the ground, I also saw a Leafeon and an Espeon walking up behind Knud.
"Mark, Elizabeth, nice to see that the two of you are doing well." Sarah said smiling.
"And it's nice to see that you two have been staying alive and enjoying life." Mark replied.
"I'd just wish that Knud would stop tackling every friend he sees." Elizabeth sighed.
"Sorry Mom." Knud apologized.
"Nah, I'm fine with it by this point." I replied. "I get tackled constantly by my daughter now-a-days." Mark and Elizabeth gave a sigh of relief, then started to laugh nervously. I crouched down and smiled. "I'm sure you two did your best."
"Yeah, our best." Mark said nervously. Elizabeth hit Mark with one of her paws, causing him to flinch back and yelp a little bit. Sarah chuckled a little bit. As Mark started to rub the spot where he got hit, I stood back up.
"So, are you trying out to become a general?" I asked Knud.
"You bet I am!" Knud replied.
"You wouldn't believe what he's put himself through to train for this day." Elizabeth said. I gave Elizabeth a look of worry.
"I certainly hope it hasn't been anything too dangerous." I said.
"Define dangerous." Mark said.
"Oh dear Arceus." I sighed.
"I trained really hard so I could be a general, just like you!" Knud said energetically. "Where's your scythe?"
"Don't worry about it." I replied. "There are other things that are more important." I looked down at Sarah who was looking at me. I couldn't help but blush and look away a little. Hopefully no one else saw.
"Say Caius, I think I need to show you something." Mark said grabbing my attention.
"Do you think it can wait?" I asked.
"I think you'll want to see this right away." Mark responded. "Come on, it should only take a few minutes at most."
"Okay, I guess I'm being dragged downstairs, I'll see you all in a few minutes." I said waving farewell to the others. As we walked down the stairs, I was once again stopped occasionally to give more autographs. Still better than getting attacked by the locals. We walked into the back room next to Kineta's stand and walked through where her workers were making more cloths and other items. We walked into the familiar room that first allowed me to change my appearance into a Gallade at first, then a Decidueye the next time.
"Remember this place?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, I remember." I replied.
"Welcome to the illusion room!" I heard behind me. As I stumbled forward and caught myself, I turned around and found Zach floating there along with the Klink's and Klank's that I had seen twelve years ago.
"Geez Zach, do you really have to keep scaring me like this?" I asked sighing. "Seriously, the last person to do that ended up getting hit with Sucker Punch."
"Sorry, it's just how I roll." Zach said chuckling.
"Hey Zach, I'm just showing Caius something right quick, then we'll get out of here." Mark said.
"You're no problem, if you ever need anything, you can stop by here anytime!" Zach replied.
"So what is it that you wanted to show me?" I asked. Mark looked at me and smiled a little bit.
"Don't think I didn't notice how you looked at Sarah." Mark smirked. I squirmed a little bit.
"Yeah, we've kinda started to form..."
"A thing for each other?" Mark finished.
"Yeah, let's go with that." I replied. "And we've been taking it slow."
"Good, if there's one thing I know about women, it's that they don't like to be forced through something quickly." Mark said smiling. "But that also confirms what I was thinking, which will make this a lot easier for the both of us."
"Make what easier?" Mark pulled up a familiar holographic board, showing a wide variety of Pokémon.
"I'm assuming you're going to want to get her a gift." Mark said looking back at me.
"I've got one for her." I replied.
"Oooohh, is this a love story I'm hearing?" Zach said grinning. I made the noise halfway between a sigh and a moan.
"Don't you have your own family to worry about Zach?" Mark asked.
"They're off working at their job." Zach replied. "But what is this I'm hearing about a gift?" I sighed once again and dug into my cloak, feeling for the pocket that I had the item. I had always kept it with me in case either Sarah or Ayah tried to figure out what it was. Thankfully, they never did. I pulled out a silver necklace with two claws clasping each other. There was a small opening in between them that was big enough for something small and round to fit in.
"I was going to give her this." I replied. "I just haven't really found the right time or place to do it, and besides that, I don't know what to put inside the middle here."
"Have you thought of anything to put in there?" Mark asked.
"Well, I've been thinking something like a Jade or a Diamond." I replied. "But because of how short on money I was at the time, I had to ask the blacksmith to take the orb out of this."
"You might want to hold that thought until you see this." Mark said turning back to the board. As he swiped his paw down the board, a list of Pokémon went sliding from top to bottom. He eventually stopped on one. I stared at it questionably.
"Okay what about it?" I asked. "I've seen this pretty much every day."
"Ah, but have you seen this about them?" Mark asked swiping the screen to the left. When he moved the screen to the left, it showed a different appearance of the same Pokémon. The appearance made my eyes widen. Mark got a smile on his face. "So I take it you've never seen this?"
"How is this possible?" I asked. "Is this some kind of generic enhancement?"
"No, nothing like that." Mark replied. "Rather, it's due to a certain stone."
"Just like Carinthia's."
"Yep, just like Carinthia's." Mark agreed.
"Do you have any clue as to how I could get one?" I asked. Mark shrugged.
"Your best bet would probably be to check the jeweler stores here in the shopping district." Mark replied. "But even then, don't get your hopes up, they are rare to find after all, and if you do find one, they're going to be expensive."
"I think I can handle the cost." I replied. "Ever since the battle at Adom, I've had to pretty much wait and work." Mark closed the holographic board and turned to face me.
"Just thought I'd might show you this before you jumped to any conclusions." Mark said.
"I'm glad you did." I replied. "But now I think I'm going to have to get something else."
"A female won't care how much money you spend on them so long as you take the time to care for them." Zach said.
"Yeah, but still, I want to give her something that will describe how I feel about her." I countered. "Mark, could you do me a favor and tell Sarah to go ahead and start the address? Tell her something came up and I'll try to make it back as soon as possible." Mark chuckled inwardly.
"Yeah, I can do that." Mark replied. I sighed gratefully.
"Thank you so much." I said. "Hopefully this should take only a few minutes." I waved farewell to Mark and Zach as I walked out. As I walked out of the crowd of Pokémon in the store, I started walking my way through the streets. I was getting a little impatient with how slow traffic was going and eventually decided to go into an alleyway and jump up to a roof. Once I pulled myself up, I started jumping from roof to roof, making much faster progress than I would on the streets. There was one roof, a large roof, that I was forced to stop as I saw a portal open up in front of me. I took a few steps back to observe the portal for a second. A few seconds later, five figures emerged from the portal. I quickly went into a defensive stance as I recognized each of the five. It was Atol, Cedlio, Devante, Sar, and Filmore. When the five of them saw me, they were no less surprised and went into their own stances.
"Caius." Atol said plainly.
"So nice to see the five of you out in the open." I said sarcastically.
"We're not here to make any more trouble." Filmore said staring at me.
"Funny you should be saying that." I said squinting my eyes. "But what makes you think that you're just going to get out of prison without any trouble?"
"We were released." Cedlio countered.
"By who?" I challenged.
"By Dinh." Sar replied. My muscles tensed up.
"I don't believe you." I said.
"Then take a look at this note." Devante said walking forward. As he handed me a slip of a folded paper, I opened it up and began to start to read it.
"By decree of Dinh, governor over Ai, I give Atol, Devante, Cedlio, Sar, and Filmore a pardon from their crimes. This does not mean however, that they will not be kept under close surveillance. Any warrants or signs for their arrest as of the thirtieth sun on the tenth month of the seven-hundred and forty-fourth year and before is now illegible and invalid. They are now free to roam as normal citizens of Ai, or any other city they reside in.
~Dinh, Governor of Ai." I stared at the letter for a second, unsure of how to really respond to this. Eventually, a response did come.
"Why would Dinh do this?" I questioned.
"We found where she had been stashing all the other eggs that Lofn had hidden and stored in cold rooms." Atol replied. "Now that we're done with her, we can finally move on and do as we wish for once." I handed the letter back to Devante. Sar held up another slip of paper.
"We all got one in case we should ever separate." Sar said.
"Look, I can understand that you can't let go that we've done some bad things." Filmore said.
"Horrible things." I snapped back. Filmore took a step back at my response, then re-composed himself.
"Okay, many horrible things." Filmore corrected. "But we're wanting to start fresh. We want to put this all behind." I stared at the five for a few seconds.
"Why the sudden change of heart?" I asked. "You didn't seem to act this way when you three killed Alvar, or when you five were fighting alongside Lofn."
"Don't bring her into this." Devante scoffed. "She's not worth anything to us anymore."
"Look, we came to try and make amends, can you at least respect what Dinh gave us?" Cedlio asked. I glared at the five for what felt like an eternity. I straightened my posture, but refused to take my gaze off them.
"Fine, get on out of here." I said. "But for your sakes, I hope we don't meet each other again." The five nodded.
"Trust us, we don't have any intentions to do that." Sar replied. As each one started leaping from roof to roof, I stopped Sar before he left.
"Hey Sar." He turned around and faced me. I cracked a smile as I looked at him. "Maybe you should do more research on Fairy-types before attacking the next Pokémon you see." Sar simply huffed at me, then leaped to the next roof, catching up with the others. Once they jumped further on, I turned my own way and made my way down until I came to where I wanted to be. Hopefully, this would be the final time that I would have to do this.
(Sarah)
When Caius left, I was left with Elizabeth and Knud amongst the groups of Pokémon.
"I wonder what Mark needed to show Caius." Elizabeth said curiously.
"Eh, I'm sure it's nothing too big." I replied.
"Aww, I wanted to show Caius my moves." Knud said a bit disappointed. I smiled at Knud's enthusiasm.
"You'll get your chance." I said.
"Say Sarah, what's happened since you left us?" Knud asked.
"Well, without exposing too much, we were called to help hold down Adom." I replied. "I'm not going to lie, it was not the best situation at first."
"How so?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well, for beginners, they were coming at us with an army of seven-hundred thousand strong." I replied. "We only had four-hundred thousand when they arrived."
"Then how did you guys win?" Knud asked.
"We got some last-minute reinforcements from the Lake Guardians and from Giratina." I replied. "That was enough to change the battle in our favor."
"How much was enough?" Knud persisted. I chuckled inwardly at his question.
"You really want to know, don't you?" I asked. Knud nodded his head.
"I want to make sure I know everything before I become a general." Knud replied.
"Then you should also know," I said, "that Zekrom came in to assist as well."
"Zekrom?!" Elizabeth said startled. "That's shocking!" I looked at Elizabeth and snickered a little bit. "What's so funny?"
"Oh nothing, your comment there just electrified my mood was all." I said smiling. Knud started to chuckle a little bit as well.
"What's so funny?" Elizabeth asked. I was starting to chuckle again. Was she seriously not getting it?
"Oh Mom, you can be a little oblivious at times." Knud chuckled.
"What? I don't get it." Elizabeth said switching looks between Knud and I.
"Oh, never mind." I said controlling myself. "But are all these Pokémon trying out to become generals?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case." Elizabeth replied. "But I think some are just parents saying farewell to their children as they try out like how Mark and I are for Knud." I noticed that her tone showed a bit of worry.
"Relax Mom, I'm not going to end up killing myself." Knud said putting a feeler on his mother's back. Elizabeth sighed and smiled towards her son.
"I know, I just worry sometimes that you push yourself a bit too hard." Elizabeth sighed.
"We'll make sure that he's well taken care of." I assured.
"Thank you, that's comforting to hear." Elizabeth replied.
"Hey Sarah!" I heard behind me. As I turned around, I saw Mark making his way over towards us. "Caius said to go ahead and start to address everyone, he had to go and run on some emergency plan." I gave a look of concern as he said this.
"I hope he's doing okay, I told him that there shouldn't be anything else to worry about." I said.
"Don't worry, he said it should only take a few minutes at most." Mark assured.
"Alright." I sighed. "If he says it's okay, then I'll go ahead and start without him." I walked out towards the middle of the groups and cleared my throat. "ATTENTION!" All the voices started to quiet down as they heard my voice. A piece of my fur got in the way of my face. I moved it out of the way, so I could get a better look at everyone. "My name is Sarah, Second General of Karma, and I will be addressing you all for the time being." As I walked more towards the stone-cut wall on the ends of the roof, I turned around so I could face the group. "I understand that you are all here so you can try out to potentially become a General, am I right?"
"Yes!" The crowd let out in unison.
"I am not going to lie to you, the training necessary to become a general may be difficult for some of you, for others, it may be the tests you are put through, but some just won't have the endurance to persevere to the end. I am glad to see such a large group so willing to help serve their kind and to so selflessly serve others." I took a second to look over the faces of each Pokémon in the crowd. "I take a look here and I see Pokémon willing to give everything that they have to defend their families and to defend our land. I believe through enough hard work and determination, that you all can accomplish your goals and dreams. But you must realize that you cannot do everything alone. Through our training, you will be required to work together. There will be no one left out during any time while we train." The door creaked open. As I turned my view from everyone to the door, Carinthia, Thalia, and Raiden all emerged from the door. The crowds gaze turned from me, to them.
"It's Caius!" One of the Pokémon said.
"Wow, he's huge!" Another said.
"There's Carinthia." Another added.
"Who's the Jolteon?" Someone asked.
"Carinthia, Thalia, Raiden, so nice to see you three made it." I said loudly. Carinthia brought up her hand and waved back as they approached.
"I see you've already got the party started." Carinthia said.
"Wait, Raiden? That's not Caius?" A Pokémon questioned. I focused my look out towards all the Pokémon again.
"We have been accompanied by the Generals of Nishat as well." I said to the crowd. "This human is not Caius, but it is his brother."
"Brother?!" Someone shouted out.
"Caius has a brother?" A voice asked. I took a look at Knud, who seemed very interested in Raiden. When they all stood beside me, they turned and faced the crowd.
"So, what all have you told them?" Carinthia asked.
"I've just been handling the speech for now." I replied.
"Good." Carinthia sighed. "I wasn't much one for speeches. Mind if I take the spotlight?"
"By all means." Carinthia took a step forward.
"This man is named Raiden, he is one of five generals for Raikou." Carinthia clarified. "But please, hold your questions till after we're done speaking." Once she knew she had everyone's attention, she continued. "When Caius returns, we will set up a time of departure, but until then, don't expect to leave for another two hours. Until that time, prepare yourself in any way that you believe you will need it." Raiden clapped his hands together, creating a little spark of electricity.
"I am honestly looking forward to meeting each and every one of you as we train." Raiden said. "Thalia and I will help with the training of everyone here. But until then, where is my brother?"
"Right here." A voice said. As we all looked over the stone wall surrounding the roof, I saw that green cloak waving around in the wind. He jumped from the roof he was on to our roof, landing right on the wall. He took off his hood and Caius looked over the crowd. "Sorry I'm late."
"Better late than never." I said.
"Fair enough, but still, I think everyone has wanted to see my brother and I before they depart to Adom." Caius replied.
"Hey little bro, what took you so long?" Raiden asked.
"Not now Raiden." Caius whispered to Raiden. "We're in front of the public."
"So that's Caius." A Pokémon said.
"Now that I look at his cloak, it does look like him." Another said. Caius looked at me for a second and started to relay a message to me through his thoughts.
"Would three hours work?" Caius signaled. I nodded my head.
"We will depart in three hours." I announced. "Any questions will now be taken up, but please, only one at a time."
"And form a line when you do so." Thalia said. "We don't want Pokémon getting confused with who they're wanting to question." The crowd started to form into lines. There were some that formed a line in front of Raiden almost immediately. Some, in front of Carinthia, and others were settling into lines for the rest of us. I turned back to Caius.
"So, what caused you to run off like that?" I asked.
"A last-minute choice." Caius replied. "But it seems that Raiden and the others didn't do too well with avoiding the public."
"What makes you say that?" I asked chuckling a little.
"Oh, just call it a hunch, but I think all the Pokémon down in the streets chanting my name is a pretty good guess." Caius said stepping down from the wall. As I looked over the wall, I was a bit astonished to see about fifty or so Pokémon all at the bottom, looking at the roof where they had seen Caius. "To be honest, I'm surprised he didn't get more."
"Let's just hope they don't know how to get up here." I said a bit worriedly.
"I think we should spend less time worrying about them and worry about the line that's forming." Thalia said nudging my leg. As I turned around, I saw that the line for me had actually been a lot bigger than I thought. I guess I was more popular than expected. So the questions began. Most of them concerned with how long the travel would be, or what they thought would be the best way to ensure them becoming a general. There were a few times when I peeked over at Caius' line and saw his questioners getting a bit too interested in him. Sometimes I had to help pry them off him as some of them basically tackled him to the ground. There was also another Absol who had come up into my line who started asking questions more related to my personal life. When I gave vague answers, he would try to dig in deeper. He was really trying too hard to get to know me. When he asked if I was single, that was the main point to where I just stayed silent. I was curious if he could read thoughts just like I could.
"Sorry buddy, but I'm taken." By the expression on his face, he heard me loud and clear. I chuckled a little bit as he went out of the line blushing. Nothing much interesting happened after that. When everyone was done with their questions, we only had about thirty minutes left until we would head to Adom. I saw Caius with Knud and Raiden. I saw that Knud was asking a lot of questions between the two. From what I could hear, most of it was concerning who was better or who was faster. This normally ended up with either arguing, or with Raiden trying to use Thunder Wave on Caius. Thalia, Carinthia and I had to end up splitting the two before things got physical, and before Raiden could paralyze any more Pokémon. After they calmed down, Knud went and talked with Caius for a bit longer by himself. Mark and Elizabeth both went to their son to say their farewells to him. They embraced, but we discovered something when Knud was saying goodbye to Elizabeth.
"Not so tight now Knud, you know that I can't take too much pressure." Elizabeth said.
"Right, sorry Mom, I didn't mean to." Knud apologized.
"I know you didn't intend to." Elizabeth said smiling.
"Is there something that I'm missing?" I asked. Mark turned around and faced me with a smile.
"Well, since things have calmed down in Ai because of what you've done, we decided to finally start to focus on our family a bit more." Mark replied.
"That's great to hear." Caius said. "Family should always be a blessing to have."
"Especially when you're expecting." Elizabeth said calmly. My head quickly turned to Elizabeth in astonishment.
"Wait, you're pregnant?!" I asked.
"With a baby girl." Mark replied. "We've been preparing for when she finally arrives."
"I've forgotten what it's like to go into labor for a while now." Elizabeth said panting a little bit.
"Are you alright?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, I think I just need to sit down for a minute or two." Elizabeth said laying down. I took a look at Caius, who was taking this in rather well. Or at least, that's what I thought until I started reading his thoughts. Carinthia walked on over to us.
"Hey, are you all ready? Time's up." Carinthia said.
"Yeah, we're ready." I replied. "did you already make the announcement?"
"Attention everyone! We are now going to leave for Adom in a few minutes, if we could get everyone to please gather outside the front and wait patiently until we are ready to depart, that would be much appreciated." Thalia said loudly.
"I believe Thalia beat me to it." Carinthia replied.
"Looks like I got to go Mom. I love you both!" Knud said to his parents.
"And we love you too." Elizabeth replied. "Just make sure you stay safe and don't get yourself in over your head like you did with training."
"What did he do in his training?" Caius questioned. Knud gave an uneasy grin.
"I'll explain that as we travel." Knud replied. "But for now, I think I might want to gather with everyone else down at the front. I'll see you all later!"
"Stay safe and make sure that you do everything Caius asks you!" Mark shouted off towards Knud.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure that he doesn't hurt himself." Caius assured.
"I just hope that he doesn't do something he's going to regret." Mark said a bit worried.
"Don't worry, if he's not around to take care of him, I can do that." I replied. Elizabeth let out an anguished moan as she started to breathe a bit heavier.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Caius asked concerned.
"Maybe it will be better if we head back home." Elizabeth said.
"Alright, let's just take it easy." Mark said helping Elizabeth up. "You go on ahead and make sure that everyone down there is ready."
"It was nice talking to you again." Caius said smiling.
"Yeah, we rarely have the time to go and see friends, much less chat." I added.
"Likewise." Mark said. "Now if you'll excuse us." Mark and Elizabeth started to slowly walk off towards the stairs and started to descend.
"If I may ask, what's going on with her?" Carinthia asked.
"Elizabeth is expecting another child here, and from the looks of it, the egg should be coming any day now." I replied.
"Yeah, if it's alright, can we please talk about something else?" Caius asked. I looked at Caius for a minute.
"What's wrong with telling about the beauty of birth?" I asked. "It's a natural thing that happens to all of us at some point or another."
"I'd just prefer not to talk about it right now." Caius replied. "I'll just be making sure that everyone's ready." Before I could stop him, he was already walking down the stairs.
"Well, I think Caius is a bit touchy on the subject right now." Carinthia said a bit confused.
"Let him be." I said. "With what just happened with Lofn, and now hearing this, it might be a bit much for him to take in all at once."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Carinthia replied. "But he's going to have to face it sooner or later. No one is free from it."
"Just let it happen in its own time." I replied. "But for now, I think time we get going."
"Hey Sarah!" I heard Raiden shout out. As he walked up towards us, he folded his arms and gave a look of puzzlement. "I just ran into my bro, and he seemed really flustered about something. Would you happen to know what?"
"He's just a bit edgy is all." I replied.
"What about?"
"Well, a friend of his, or in this case, Knud's parents, are expecting another child." I explained.
"You mean the Sylveon? His parents?" Raiden questioned.
"Yeah, that same one." Carinthia responded.
"Huh, well good for them, but I don't see why Caius would-" After an awkward pause in his sentence, Raiden got a grin on his face. "You know what? I'm going to go talk with him for a minute."
"He went down to make sure everyone was ready. We were just about to join him." Carinthia said.
"All the better." Raiden said. "Come on, I think Thalia might be waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs."
(Caius)
After I had pulled myself from that situation, I made sure that everyone was accounted for from a safe position on the second floor. Didn't want to be bothered with the public all that much. Once I made sure that everyone was accounted for, I ran into Raiden, Sarah, and Carinthia. As we walked down the final set of stairs, my brother, like the normal nosy guy he's been, has tried to "comfort" me while trying to be "private" about it. I tried my best to make it not so obvious that I was trying to ignore him. I was not really in the mood for one of his little "remedy talks." Thankfully, Thalia was there to pull him away, the pain in my back was starting to return. This pain had been going on for about ten years now. The pain never got bad as to me needing to go to a hospital to find out what it was, but some doctors can't find out what it is. The pain would always show up, then disappear after a few minutes. When the pain went away, I announced that we were heading out, and to make sure that everyone had everything before they left. When everyone was finalized, we began our little march back to Adom. Sarah took the lead while I stayed in the middle of the group to make sure things were going okay. Knud found me and started to walk by me. Carinthia, Raiden, and Thalia were in the back. For that, I was grateful. I was able to calm down a little bit as we walked down the way to Adom, a lot quicker than I thought I would. I soon found out why that was happening when I saw Knud's feelers wrapping around my right arm. I normally would have flinched back from the sudden contact that I might have hit Raiden if he wasn't paying attention, but I was too relaxed. Knud sensed my discomfort and looked at me.
"Sorry, I just thought that you could relax a little bit." Knud said.
"Y-you're fine." I replied. "Just next time, could you let me know before you do this?"
"Do you want me to stop?" Knud asked. I sighed.
"No, this is helping me relax too much." I replied. "Even if you do sometimes catch me off guard."
"I'm not going to lie, ever since I evolved, I've actually gotten to help out a lot more with everyone back before things recovered." Knud said.
"And I bet you really enjoyed talking and catching up with your mom." I added.
"Oh yeah! That was amazing to finally know that Mom was back." Knud said smiling. "I finally got a piece of my past back in my life."
"Yeah, that's kind of happened with me." I said turning my head back at Raiden.
"So how come you never told me you had a brother?" Knud asked.
"It hadn't occurred to me that I had a brother." I replied. "Or a sister."
"Wait, you have a sister?" Knud asked.
"Apparently." I replied. "I've been getting bits and pieces of my memory back." When I looked down at Knud, I could tell from the look on his face that he was confused. "That's right, I never told you I lost my memories."
"No, you never did." Knud said a bit worriedly.
"I've had Amnesia on the past years of my life." I said quietly. "It's been coming back, just not as fast as I'd like."
"How have you been getting them back?" Knud asked.
"Well, multiple ways, first, it was dreams, then came my brother, who I might add, I almost ended up cutting him in half with my scythe."
"You never did answer that question, where is your scythe?" Knud asked. I smiled.
"Don't worry about it, I can get it anytime at any place." I replied.
"Even in the middle of a battle?" Knud persisted. I rubbed his head with my hand for good old' times.
"You worry too much." I said chuckling lightly. "Besides, why are you so excited to see my scythe?"
"Because I still want to get one that's just like yours!" Knud replied.
"You really want to have a weapon of your own, don't you?"
"Yes! You're still my hero for everything that you've done for the city and for me!" Knud said energetically. I chuckled again, this time a bit more loudly.
"I'll make you a deal, if you can become a general, I'll see what I can do to have Yveltal give you your own weapon. How does that sound?"
"It's a deal!" Knud said jumping at the offer.
"However." I added. "You do realize, that in order to become a general, you have to spar with one of the general's themselves."
"I hope it's you." Knud said. "I've been waiting to show you what I can do."
"You know, most Pokémon would be horrified to battle the Grim Reaper." I said.
"Who's the Grim Reaper?" Knud asked. I smirked and put my claw to my chest.
"Why you're looking at him." I replied proudly. "It's been my nickname ever since I've been a general under Yveltal."
"Whoa! So you have a weapon AND a cool nickname? I want one too!" Knud said.
"One step at a time." I replied chuckling. "I had to earn that name though, and trust me, it's not one I'm too particularly fond of."
"Well why not?" Knud asked.
"Evolves into Wobbuffet." I countered. Knud snickered a little bit at the comment. "But to be honest, I don't really like the name because I don't like killing unless it has to be absol-utely necessary."
"I heard that!" Sarah yelled out. This time, Knud AND I snickered a little bit. "Don't think you're getting out of this as fast human-ly possible!" This time, some of the crowd began to chuckle a bit as well. Through the laughter in the air, we heard a voice behind us. A familiar voice.
"Knud!" Knud and I stopped and turned around to see who it was. We were a little surprised to see Mark running up to us as fast as possible.
"Dad?!" Knud said surprised. "What's going on?" Mark caught up to us, catching his breath. We had only walked about ten minutes from Adom.
"It's... your mother!" Mark said catching his breath. "She's..." My eyes widened as I realized where he was going with this. Some of the other Pokémon had stopped to listen in.
"What about her?!" Knud asked panicking a little.
"The egg came!" Mark said hugging Knud. "Your sister is on her way!" I stared at the two. Mark had said it loud enough that Sarah had heard it as well. When she heard it, she stopped in her tracks, causing the others to stop. I couldn't help but feel glad for them. Knud's expression was priceless when he heard this. I crouched down and started rubbing Mark's head.
"Congratulations on having a daughter." I said. "And you Knud, now have a little sister to come back to when this is all done." Knud stared at his father, still in shock. He finally smiled and embraced his father, who was now in tears.
"I love you Dad, don't you ever forget that." Knud said. "Don't you forget it."
------------------------
Someone's got a daughter to come back to. Well, in this case, two individuals do, but one's just sooner than later. It still seems that rumors die hard. At least Caius is out from that predicament. Now they're on their way with quite a few recruits. Knud certainly seems ready for it.
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Also, please, correct me in PM if there's grammar issues, I've been going back and forth through this book, and have been finding multiple. Also let me know if some things are confusing as well, as some may be intentional, but some others may not.
I hope you all have a good day, and have a wonderful year!