(Caius)
Two days into our journey, we were walking towards Ake at our normal pace, making sure everyone was hydrated and fed throughout the entire trip. I held on to the satchel, making sure that it wasn't going to leave us. So, this was it, we were finally on our way home. Its felt like forever since anything has been normal. I kept an eye out for that figure that Xerneas and Yveltal were talking about. If he did ever show up, I would make sure that I retrieved the crystal from him, either with him alive, or not. That crystal may be the only way to get my- our parents back. During the trip, Ayah has been excitedly talking with Shaymin about plenty of things. Shaymin on the other hand feels a little uncomfortable around Ayah, but I think that's just because of typing issues. If that was the case, then she would have to worry about Lilith and I as well. Both of us knew Flamethrower, and it's only a matter of time before she masters it for herself, and the others learn how to start off. Carinthia, however, I didn't expect to really learn it, even though she didn't want to, to begin with. We were making progress faster than we thought, even though there were certain times that Raiden and I may have gotten a bit too competitive. I swear, it's not my fault, he keeps taunting me in basically everything we do. Who can collect berries faster, who can scout out the area ahead better, he takes everything like a challenge!
Really? Cause from what I saw, you were egging him on just as much as he was.
Sarah, not while I'm in the middle of making our story.
Our LONG story.
Yes, our long story, thank you for correcting me, now if that is all, can I get back to making it for us? Anyway, there was no shortage of excitement as we walked towards Ake. Thalia and Sarah were talking with each other, Carinthia, Lilith, and Kathrin we're having fun with whatever they were doing. Calin though, for once, was completely visible. I noticed that when Kathrin got close to Calin, he would take a few steps away from her. At some points, I think it took his entire attention, because multiple times throughout the trip, Calin would keep running into trees. Every time he would claim that the tree keeps following him or something like that. Along the way, Calin told us a bit how his armor worked. He said his armor only makes him invisible when he's focused and serious, and that the armor can make him invisible due to a very specific aura he obtained when he joined as a scout from Xerneas. This aura, according to Calin, prevented him from receiving any Dragon type attacks, because the armor was coated in a fairy-like aura. This was proven to be true when Kathrin tested it out using Dragons Breath. The attack simply pushed off the armor and disappeared on contact.
"Okay, that's a neat little trick." Carinthia admitted.
"Makes it super useful for fighting other dragon types." Calin said.
"Kind of makes me want something like that." Raiden said.
"In your dreams." I said. "Do you know what you would have to do in order to get something like that?"
"Actually, how did you get your armor?" Kathrin asked.
"Now see, there's an interesting story." Calin said. "This armor," He took off the head-piece, "is made from a very rare material. Xerneas gave this to me personally after it was made in a forgery and modifying it herself. I already told you that Xerneas gave it a fairy-like aura, and that's what negates any type of dragon-related attacks, but what makes me able to become is invisible has something to do with the material this armor was made from." Calin placed the helmet back on, and he slowly began to disappear. "You see, when this material is purified, it doesn't reflect any light whatsoever, it actually absorbs it all, making me look completely transparent, but it only does so when I concentrate."
"That would explain why we've been able to see you for practically the entire trip." Lilith said.
"But the question is, what's causing you to lose concentration?" I asked. Calin looked at me, then looked away.
"Some things going on in my mind." Calin said. It didn't take much for me to think it had something to do with Kathrin. I've seen how he's been moving away from her. It's definitely not love, but is it fear? I didn't press the matter further. The last thing we needed was contention. Calin looked like he was starting to get uncomfortable.
"Look, let's not dwell on the subject." Sarah said. "Now that I think about it, I don't think we've scouted out the area ahead. We'll need someone to-"
"I'll do it!" Without a second thought, both Calin and Kathrin took off in separate directions into the sky. We chuckled a little bit as we saw them fly off. Calin had gone completely transparent within a matter of seconds, although I could see a faint shimmer of light. I looked down at Sarah.
"You read my mind." I chuckled to Sarah.
"Hey, it was the only thing that I could think of to help him out." Sarah said.
"Well, it was a good way to think babe." I said. I looked at Sarah with a face of disquiet. Sarah looked at me with one surprised look. What did I just say? Did I just really say that out loud? I looked forward and saw everyone staring right at me. I put my hood over my face to keep everyone from noticing how red my face was getting. I quickened my pace, getting a bit ahead of the group. "I'll need a second." As I walked ahead of the group, I heard Raiden snickering a little bit. I quickened my pace and got further ahead of the group. "I can't believe I just said that out loud." I said to myself. "Why did I say that out loud?"
"Hey Caius?" A voice said behind me. I turned my head and saw Thalia walking a little behind me. We were ahead of the group by at least thirty or so feet from everyone else. A distance I felt sure was far enough that no one else could hear me speak.
"What is it?" I asked still trying to hide my face.
"Are you doing okay?" Thalia asked.
"I'm doing fine." I fibbed. Thalia chuckled a little bit. I couldn't help but turn my head and look at her. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, sorry, it's just Raiden pretty much acted the same way when we started to date." Thalia said. I raised an eyebrow.
"Raiden acted the same way?" I asked.
"He went through the same stages you are right now." Thalia said.
"Thalia! You're not supposed to be telling him that!" Raiden said from the side.
"And I told you not to follow me!" Thalia countered. Grumbles were followed from my brother as he slipped back into the group. After I was sure that he would stay back there, we continued.
"What stages are you talking about?" I asked.
"There's mainly three stages." Thalia said. "The one you're going through right now is denial."
"I'm not denying anything." I countered.
"Sure you aren't." Thalia chuckled.
"I'm not!"
"You just keep telling yourself that." Thalia said with a grin. "But I'm here to tell you that what you're going through is completely normal. In fact, if Sarah's going through anything I did while we were dating, then she should be doing a certain something right about now." I looked at Thalia a little confused. I looked behind me to see Sarah looking at me. As soon as I made eye contact, she quickly averted her look and started to look elsewhere. Thalia gave a chuckle, obviously having seen what happened. "Ah, it's so much better seeing someone else go through the exact same thing."
"I'm now starting to feel a little bit concerned." I said.
"You know what she was doing, right?" Thalia asked. I thought for a minute, then shook my head.
"No, I don't." I replied.
"She was checking you out." Thalia said. I could feel the blood rush to my face, thankfully, the hood was still on.
"She could be looking at something else." I countered. "There's no way that she would be-" My words were interrupted by another chuckle from Thalia.
"Stage one!" I grunted, obviously annoyed from what Thalia was saying. I was about to speed off ahead until another voice stopped me.
"Hey Dad, do you think you could carry me for a while?" Ayah asked. "My legs are starting to hurt." I breathed a sigh of relief, anything was better than hearing Thalia coming up with these made up analogies. I stopped and picked up Ayah.
"Alright you, come here." I started scratching Ayah's forehead as she began to squirm a little bit, then almost to a full-on flail.
"Dad! Stop it! I'm ticklish!" Ayah whined. I chuckled a little bit. She really was a sweet little thing. My fun was interrupted when I heard something screaming from the sky. The three of us looked up into the sky to see what it was.
"What in the name of Arceus is making that noise?" Thalia asked. As I looked up, I could see something big falling from the sky.
"Timber!!!" Ayah yelled out. The figure crashed down in front of us, and when the dust cleared, I saw Kathrin and Calin on the ground. When Calin opened his eyes and looked at Kathrin, he let out another scream and leaped off Kathrin. Kathrin moaned a little bit as she picked herself up.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I think we flew into each other." Kathrin said. I looked at Calin, who was hiding behind a tree.
"Stop sneaking up on me like that!" Calin shouted.
"Hey, I couldn't watch where I was going because you were invisible!" Kathrin countered. "You can't blame me for that one!" The rest of the group hurried up to see what was going on.
"Wait, so what's going on?" Carinthia asked.
"Apparently, they collided in the air, now they're arguing on why Kathrin didn't watch where she was going." I said. Almost in unison, everyone in the group proceeded to raise either their paw, claws, or hand, and face palm themselves. I joined in as well. It was kind of a dumb argument.
"Why did you freak out like then when you landed Calin? You knew you weren't falling anymore." Lilith said. Calin tried to hide himself behind the trunk of the tree, which I may say was a horrible attempt.
"It's going to be said anyways, so I'll just say it." Kathrin said. "He's got a fear of Flygon's." I think everyone turned their gaze on Calin when Kathrin said that.
"Calin's afraid of Flygon's? Why?" Raiden asked.
"Reasons." Kathrin replied.
"Is that all you're going to say on it?" I asked.
"I'd prefer to keep it at that for the time being." Calin said hiding inside the leaves of the tree.
"Then why'd you come with us?" Sarah asked.
"Calin has asked me to help him get over his fears." Kathrin said. "It's slow, but I think it will eventually work out." The answer didn't satisfy, but it left me with enough to know why Calin was avoiding Kathrin so much.
"Look, I can tell this topic is causing some tension, so why don't we change it to a different subject?" Thalia said.
"What do you have to report on the scouting?" Shaymin asked. Calin immediately hopped out from the tree and stood in front of Shaymin as if speaking to Xerneas.
"From what I gathered, there didn't seem to be any suspicious activity going on around the land. We should be able to get to our destination with ease." Calin said saluting Shaymin. We stood there for a second, a little puzzled. Calin took a look around and saw all of us looking at him, then looked at Shaymin and began to blush a little bit. "Sorry, it's a thing I do with Xerneas. Guess I should stop that." A light chuckle emerged from the group a little bit.
"Well, from what I saw, we're actually a lot closer to Ake than we thought." Kathrin said. "And from what I saw, it's certainly gotten a lot bigger since we last saw it! It's only about ten minutes up ahead!"
"Finally!" Lilith said. "Some place where I can bathe the dirt's getting everywhere in my fur." Ayah chuckled a little bit.
"When did you become so worried about your fur getting dirty?" Ayah asked.
"It sure didn't seem to stop you when you slept outside last time we were in Ake." I added. Lilith's reaction of trying to hide her face gave the group another reason to chuckle.
"Hey Caius, do you think I could get a Sitrus berry from that bag?" Carinthia asked.
"Yeah, let me just dig through the bag here and-" I was a little bit astonished when I opened up the bag and saw that there were no Sitrus berries left. How is that possible? I was sure we had more than enough for the journey. My eye caught the attention of a certain individual scooting away from the group. I glared at Calin, which froze him in his tracks. Calin chuckled a little bit as he tried a last-minute effort to fly off. I ran up and grabbed his tail before he could fly away. He tried desperately to break free from my grip. "Raiden, a little help here please."
"I got it." Raiden said. He grabbed onto Calin's tail, then delivered one swift Thunder Wave to him, causing him to crash to the ground. As Calin fell to the ground, I handed Ayah to Raiden as I placed a foot on Calin's chest piece on his back and leaned over.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"N-nothing." Came the response from Calin.
"And I'm guessing that attempt to fly off was just nothing?" I questioned. Calin tried to squirm a little bit, but Thunder Wave was making sure he wasn't going anywhere. "Did you eat all the Sitrus berries?" Calin looked back at me for a second. I stared directly into his eyes. I was going to get answers, whether or not he was willing to tell the truth.
"Alright, alright, I ate them." Calin said. "I can't help it! I just can't stop myself from eating all the Sitrus berries whenever I find them!" I gave a sigh, then pulled out a Cherri Berry and put it in his mouth. Once he finished chewing, I went back and got Ayah from my brother. "What? You're not going to clobber me?"
"Hey, I may be given the title of Grim Reaper, but I don't like fighting." I countered. "Besides, I'm not the one you need to be worried about." I indicated to behind me. When Calin saw the look on Carinthia's face, I could see him yip a little bit. I wasn't even fazed when Carinthia flew over my shoulder and began to strangle Calin.
"Why didn't you share?!" Carinthia demanded.
"I'm sorry!" Calin said.
"Alright, break it up you two, it's not the end of the world, we can get more when we reach Ake." Lilith said pulling the two apart.
"We're almost there." Kathrin reassured. "We'll be there in a few minutes."
"I'm still wanting a Sitrus berry after we get into town." Carinthia said.
"Let's get going, once we get to Ake, we can rest there for a day or two until we get everything we need for Mythic Forest." I said. I walked beside Sarah for the remainder of the trip. Her fur was so white, like I was staring directly at the figure of an angel. I continued to scratch Ayah's forehead, but not in the way to make her squirm. As we walked down the road, it got eerily quiet. Something wasn't feeling right. I looked around a little bit. Only the trees of the forest seemed to be occupying this area. As we continued down the road, I heard something snap behind us. I stopped and turned around, looking for where the noise came from. I didn't see anything. I knew something was following us, but what?
"Hey Dad, what was that noise?" Ayah asked. I placed Ayah in my hood after taking it off me.
"Stay in there Ayah." I said. "I don't like the feeling I'm getting."
"Caius? Is something wrong?" Lilith asked.
"Hold on a second." Sarah said. "I think I'm getting something." There was silence for a second, nothing seemed to move except for Raiden and Thalia who were a little oblivious to what we were doing. They finally noticed that we had stopped, then turned around and walked back towards us.
"Is something wrong?" Thalia asked.
"I think we're being watched." Sarah said. Raiden looked around a little bit, then flipped off his eyepatch. Silence fell on the group again until we heard someone speak up.
"Everyone dodge!" Raiden shouted out. We all looked above us and saw something crashing down towards us. We all jumped back, getting a bit further from whatever crashed its claw into the ground. It created a small dent in the ground. After standing up, the figure stood about 3'7. Ayah brought her head over my shoulder to see what was going on.
"Ayah, stay in that hood." I said. As the dust cleared a little bit, I could see that the figure was laughing a little bit.
"Well hello again Caius." The figure said. His voice sounded familiar. As the dust cleared even more, I could see the smile of the familiar face of Clark. "Thought I would DROP by and pay you all a visit." Immediately Carinthia and Lilith pounced on Clark and began to strangle him. Raiden was about to do the same until I managed to stop everyone.
"Hold on a second, it's Clark!" I said surprised. Carinthia and Lilith looked at Clark for a minute, who was recovering a little bit from their previous strangulation.
"Wait, who's he?" Thalia asked.
"Clark here helped us three-hundred years ago find Celebi." I said. "Or in this case, she found us."
"Clark? What on earth were you thinking doing that?" Sarah asked.
"I thought I'd surprise you as you came in." Clark moaned.
"Hey umm... girls, could you drop the Weavile please?" Thalia asked. Carinthia and Lilith realized they were still holding Clark by the throat. They let go of him, giving a light thud and a grunt from Clark. After Clark picked himself up, he dusted himself off, then gave us all a patient smile.
"I swear Clark, if you had really gone out to attack us, you would have been in a lot more trouble." Carinthia sighed. "Especially now since our numbers have increased."
"Yeah, who are those two?" Clark asked.
"The Jolteon is Thalia, and that other human there is my brother, Raiden." I said. Clark looked at me completely surprised.
"BROTHER?!" Clark exclaimed.
"Sup?" Raiden said leaning on his sword. Clark looked at Raiden for a minute, completely amazed. He turned back to me, then flinched again.
"WHO'S THAT BESIDE YOU?" Clark said. I looked to my right and scratched Ayah's head, making her moan again.
"This is my daughter Ayah." I said. Clark looked at me with jaw dropped to the ground. Suddenly, I saw a face appear right behind Clark as Calin let out a large screech behind Clark. He jumped so high that I had a hard time keeping track of where he went. Calin, started to burst out laughing.
"That never gets old!" Calin said laughing. As I looked up into the sky to try and see where Clark went off to, I thought I saw something up high in the sky.
"Hey Caius, do me a favor." Sarah said.
"Hm?"
"Take three steps to your right, then hold out your claw all the way." Sarah said. I looked at her a little confused, but did so. When I extended my claw, I could hear the scream coming from Clark. "Now get ready to catch." As I looked up, I saw Clark falling quicker and quicker. "Aaaaand, now." I clenched my claw, grabbing Clark by his leg, holding him just above the ground. After Clark was done screaming and opened his eyes, he saw how close he was to the ground and started to scream again.
"Oh for the love of Arceus." I pulled Clark up and placed him on his feet. Even after placing him on the ground, he continued to scream. I was getting just a little bit tired of it and use a good old Wake-up Slap. That got him to shut up.
"T-thanks. I needed that." Clark said. Clark glared at Calin, who was still attempting to calm himself down.
"If you're wondering who that is that you're wanting to strangle, this is Calin." I said. "He's not a general, but he is under orders to be with us."
"Under orders by who?" Clark questioned while still glaring at Calin.
"Xerneas." Carinthia replied. "And, may I add, this is Xerneas' top scout." I saw Clark slump over in defeat. I may not be able to read minds, but I could tell he was disappointed that he couldn't knock some sense into him.
"We're not under either of them." Raiden said.
"Oh brother, who ordered you to go with them?" Clark asked.
"We weren't ordered at all, we were the ones making the order to Raikou." Thalia said. Clark stared at Thalia for a minute, eyes completely shot open.
"Hello? Earth to Clark, you there?" Carinthia asked waving her hand in front of him.
"I think we're breaking the poor guys mind." Lilith said.
"Well, we do have a lot of explaining to do." Sarah said. "Since we haven't really talked to him in over three-hundred years technically."
"Clark? You still in there?" Carinthia asked.
"Hold on, I think I know what to do." Ayah said hopping out of my hood. She walked up behind Clark and started to stroke Clark with her paws on the back end of his knee caps, making him flinch and practically melt onto the floor.
"Ayah, where did you learn Tickle?" I asked.
"Knud." Ayah replied. I face palmed, then gave a moderate chuckle. That's Knud for you alright.
"Can we please stop using me as the victim here?" Clark asked.
"Sorry, you just keep spacing out." Ayah said.
"Alright, come here you." I picked up Ayah and started to scratch her back a little bit, causing her to twitch a little bit before going limp in my arm.
"Right there, right there!"
"If we're all done, I think it would be okay if we all went into the city." Clark said.
"I can certainly see that Ake ha gotten bigger." Kathrin said.
"And it's all thanks to the five of you." Clark said. "Since we got the village leveled out, building and expanding has become a breeze!" Something clicked in my mind when he said the word five.
"Is Nate here?" I asked. Clark looked at me, then shook his head.
"No, he's not here." Clark said. "He hasn't been back here for quite some time." I was a little disappointed with the answer. I was hoping to see Nate here, even if it was for just a minute. I recomposed myself. I'd be able to see him when we get back to our own time. No need to be sulking about it.
"Don't worry Caius, we'll get to see him when we go back to our time." Sarah said. Carinthia chuckled a little bit.
"Why must time travel be so complicated?" Carinthia asked.
"Because life's complicated." Lilith replied. "But Clark, fair warning for next time, next pun, I'm going for your throat." Clark fidgeted a little bit.
"Don't worry, she doesn't mean that way, she just really hates puns." Sarah said.
"And she pretty much strangles whoever cracks one as pun-ishment." I snickered. Lilith turned her head towards me as her eye began to twitch. I set Ayah down as I grinned at Lilith.
"Uh oh, looks like we're going to have a little competition here!" Sarah said.
"Competition?" Thalia questioned. "What do you mean?"
"You'll see." Carinthia said. "In three... two... one..." Lilith charged right at me, bringing her claws right out at me. I slid right underneath her and immediately started running towards the city. I heard a cheer go on as Lilith turned around and started chasing after me.
"Caius get back here!" Lilith shouted towards me.
"You've got to catch me first!" I ran down the streets of the city, dodging a few Pokémon occasionally and making some sharp turns. I could hear Lilith coming around the corners and still chasing me down. I looked back and saw that she was starting to gain on me a little bit. No doubt by how well she was able to take those corners. I decided I would entertain her and use a few more corners and alley ways to give her a run for her money, or in this case, me. As I would jump over fences and over walls in alleyways and make multiple turns, I looked behind and noticed that Lilith wasn't behind me anymore. I started to look around a little bit, trying to see where she could be. My eye caught the attention of something lunging right at me. I grabbed the claw of a Weavile and smirked. "Gotta try harder than that Lilith." I threw her into her own momentum and continued running. As I ran down the street and turned another corner, I saw Lilith charging me from straight ahead. I ran towards her and made a close call by making a last-minute turn into an alleyway. When I ran in, I was immediately pounced on by Lilith from my front!
"Got you, you little..." She placed her claws firmly onto my throat and started to shake me violently. I tried for a minute to get myself free of her grip, but she was holding on too tightly. After a while, she loosened her grip on my neck as she started to pant a bit heavily. As I sat up, I was regaining the air in my lungs. I looked at Lilith with curiosity.
"How did you get me like that?" Lilith smirked and pointed down the alley way. I turned my head and saw that there was another purple Zoroark at the end of it. The image blurred, then faded away.
"Gotta love Double Team." Lilith said. "Works plenty of miracles." I looked back at Lilith and we stared at each other for a minute before laughing a little.
"Just like old times." I said calming down. I picked myself up and helped Lilith up to her feet.
"Now, did you learn your lesson?" Lilith asked.
"Don't make any puns." I chuckled. "Or else you're sending me to the pun-geon."
"Caius!" Lilith grabbed my cloak and started pounding the top of my head with her fist. I laughed as she grabbed me and started hitting me. After pulling myself free, I grabbed her and started rubbing the top of her head forcefully.
"Oh, you're always fun to mess with." I said. "But even though you try to hide it, you know you like them."
"I might actually enjoy them a bit more if they weren't being said thirty/four." Lilith said pushing my claw off her head. As we looked at each other again, we gave another laugh before hugging.
"Alright, come on, we should probably find Sarah and the others." I said. "Man, this place has gotten more industrial since we've last been here."
"Three-hundred and twelve years will do that to any place pretty much." Lilith said as we walked out the alleyway. "But I don't think we need to worry too much on finding them." I looked at Lilith a little confused.
"Why's that?" I asked. Next thing I knew, I felt something clamp onto the back of my head and make me fall onto my face. I groaned a little bit, dulling the pain.
"Hi Dad! Thought you could get away, huh?" Ayah questioned. I heard Lilith chuckling a little bit as I picked myself up and put Ayah in my arms.
"Did you follow us?" I asked.
"Yep, and I never lost sight of you." Ayah said. "That is, until you ran somewhere down this street."
"Ayah! Don't go running off like that!" Carinthia shouted out.
"You're lucky I was able to keep track of you in the sky." Kathrin said.
"If she couldn't have gotten it, I could have." Calin said. Kathrin glared at Calin for a minute.
"Like you could have done better than me." Kathrin countered.
"Oh, but I could have, I could easily keep an eye on her through a thunderstorm." Calin said.
"So could I!" Kathrin countered.
"Only because you're a ground type!" Calin retorted.
"Whoa, okay, break it up." I said. "This is not the place, nor the time to be fighting."
"He's got a point there." Shaymin said flying beside us. "Fighting is not good for your health."
"Why don't we go and get something to eat? I'm starting to get a bit hungry." Sarah said.
"That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea right now." I said.
"I still want that Sitrus Berry Calin." Carinthia said glaring at Calin.
"Look, I'm sorry, it was just too good to pass up!" Calin defended.
"You two can go and get us more Sitrus Berries." Kathrin said. "I'm going to go explore the city a little bit."
"And I think I'll catch Clark up onto current events." Lilith said. "Otherwise, he'll be way too confused."
"I think I'm going to find us a place to rest." Shaymin said. "I'm a little exhausted from three days of traveling." This was playing out a little too well in my head.
"Hey Sarah, I think I might know of a place that you'd might like." I said.
"Oh really, what's it called?" Sarah asked. She had me there. This place was so small when I last saw it, that anything could have been built, and I didn't even get that good of a look last time, despite how small it was. Sarah must have seen me cringe a little bit and giggled as a response. Either that, or she was reading my thoughts again.
"I bet I know where it is." Ayah chuckled.
"You think you do, huh?" I questioned. "Then by all means, lead the way."
"Alright, I will." Ayah said hopping out of my arms. I didn't exactly think for her to go and walk off, but up and go she did. I was a little concerned that she would keep going. My concern proved correct when she turned the corner. "Ayah, wait up!" I ran around the corner and saw Ayah still walking down the street. She turned around and gave a grin.
"You thought I was joking, weren't you?" Ayah questioned. I tried my best not to show my discomfort, but she had me there. Sarah came around the corner and unfortunately saw me squirm, causing her to chuckle. That chuckle also spread to Ayah as well. I was getting downright clobbered by my daughter! I could tell I was blushing, so I started to walk ahead of them a little bit.
"Alright, let's keep going." I said. "We'll get there sooner or later."
"Hey Dad! Did you forget? I'm the one leading us here!" Ayah said running ahead of me.
"Ayah, wait up for us!" Sarah said also running past me. I gave a sigh, then quickened my pace to where I could follow behind Sarah and Ayah. Ayah made multiple turns, some a bit sharp, causing me to slow down a little bit, then proceed to catch back up. At one point, she actually got a turn that was a bit slippery due to someone mopping the ground. I slipped on the ground, causing me to slide a little bit until I crashed into an alleyway on the other side of the road. I picked myself up and started to rub my head.
"Geez that hurt a little." I was soon accompanied with Sarah doing the exact same thing, sliding down the road, and then instead of crashing into empty trashcan's and a wall, crashed into me. I was once again on the ground, but not alone. Our position could have been a little better, but I tried my best not to think too much about it. "You alright there?"
"Yeah, just slipped from the water on the ground." Sarah said. I looked at her directly into her eyes. Those were the most beautiful shade of green I could ever see. I had to snap myself out of it as I realized Ayah was more than likely getting more distance on us. I pulled myself up and got out of that alleyway. Sarah did likewise, following behind me.
"Who mops a public street?" I questioned. My question was soon answered as up ahead, I saw a Gastrodon slowly making its way through the street. I followed the trail coming from the slime that was leading behind me, to it.
"That answer your question?" Sarah asked. I semi-ignored the question, mainly because I didn't want to think on that too much.
"Do you see Ayah anywhere?" I asked. Sarah looked around a little bit, then shook her head.
"No, I don't." Sarah said. She stopped, then perked her head up. "But I can hear her thoughts, come on, this way." I screeched to a halt and started following behind. We passed by three streets until we made a turn, then we saw Ayah walking into a large building.
"Oh boy." I said. "This can only go one way."
"Come on, she can't get too far." Sarah said. We ran into the building, and immediately saw Ayah being taken up via elevator. Ayah turned around, and gave a grin, showing her teeth, as the elevator doors closed.
"Where is she going?!" I asked.
"Top floor!" Sarah said. "We'll have to take the stairs!" I threw open the doors, and the two of us started a quick ascent up to the top. It was a little rough running up thirty flights of stairs, but we got up there, and once again, I threw open the doors. Ayah was sitting down a few yards from the door, smiling as we came up the stairs.
"Have fun?" Ayah questioned.
"How...did she get.... this quick?" Sarah asked getting air into her lungs.
"I may... or may not have... taught her Quick Attack." I said catching my breath. I got a quick scold from Sarah, but I ignored that and walked up to Ayah, then picked her up by the back of her neck. "Do you know how worried we were when we couldn't see you anymore?"
"I thought you were behind me the entire time." Ayah said.
"But-"
"She didn't know Caius, you can't blame her." Sarah said. I looked at Ayah, then gave a sigh before smiling. She was right, and I still could never get mad at that face. "Where did you take us anyway?" Ayah got a smile, then pulled out a small piece of paper.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Take it and find out for yourself." Ayah replied. She handed it over, then I placed Ayah in my arm as I looked at the paper. It read a receipt for three purchases of ice-cream, one for chocolate chip, another for vanilla, and another for Rocky Road. I looked back down at Ayah, very confused.
"How did you get the money for this?" I questioned. Ayah chuckled a little bit as she pulled out a few gold pieces.
"I found a way to get some coins before our little run." Ayah said smiling. I got the impression to check my pocket, and as I did, I noticed I was a few gold pieces short than I normally am.
"How the-, what did-, how's this..." Ayah laughed a little bit, then calmed herself down.
"You should really be more observant of what you have." Ayah said. She tilted her head, indicating to the parlor she was talking about.
"Order number twenty-five!"
"Have fun." Ayah smiled.
"Is something wrong Caius?" Sarah asked. I looked at Sarah for a second, trying to figure out something to say, but gave a sigh, then put Ayah beside her.
"I'll be right back." I said. I heard Ayah laugh lightly as I walked away. I tried my best to try and block the thought out of my head that I just got played by my own daughter. I walked up to the counter, showed the receipt, and picked up three surprisingly large bowls filled with ice-cream. Ayah and Sarah were sitting out on the edge of the building. The floor we were on looked a lot like an observation deck, just without the safety rail, which was a little concerning with both Ayah and Sarah at the edge. There was an extension though that looked like it was to be an actual observation view with some rails. It looked like some place that a couple would go to just enjoy the view. I thought about maybe just having the three of us sit there, but there were already enough Pokémon over there. "Three bowls of ice-cream, right here." I said sitting down. Sarah immediately bolted her head towards me upon hearing the words ice and cream. Ayah turned her head and started to chuckle lightly. "So, which one do you-"
"I'll take the Chocolate Chip!" Sarah said grabbing the bowl.
"And I'll take the Vanilla!" Ayah said doing likewise. That left me with Rocky Road, which I didn't mind too much. I sat down, and let my legs hang over the edge. Before beginning, I looked down at Ayah.
"How did you know this was here?" I questioned. "And how did you know that this place gave ice-cream?" Ayah swallowed a bit of her ice-cream, then smiled, showing a bit of Vanilla as she chuckled.
"You should know me by now Dad, it's just better to roll with it." Ayah said. I gave a sigh, then chuckled myself. It is what I started doing for a while now. I just scratched her head, then started eating my ice-cream one spoonful at a time. Sarah, by her expression, was enjoying every single bite.
"This is the best Ice-cream I've ever tasted before." Sarah said. I chuckled a little bit, which proved to be a disadvantage, as I choked a little bit on the ice-cream that was going down my throat. As I got my breathing back, it was now turned to Ayah and Sarah laughing at me. I sighed, then just decided to join in. I looked at Sarah, and she calmed herself down. I leaned my head on hers, then stroked the back of her head lightly. "You know, we've been dating for twelve years, and we already know how we feel about each other, so what's keeping us back?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know." I said. "I just don't think I'm ready yet."
"When will you be ready?" Sarah asked. I shrugged.
"Soon, I guess." I said.
"And I'll make sure to hold you to that." Sarah said.
"But for now," I said, I raised my bowl of ice-cream to eye level between the two of us, "why don't we just chill?" Sarah laughed a little bit, then took another bite of her ice-cream.
"Careful Caius, start one up with me, and you'll end up getting creamed." Sarah said. I snickered a little bit, then dug my spoon into my ice-cream.
"Really Sarah? That's cold." Ayah said chuckling.
"Oh my Arceus, we've corrupted Ayah." I said laughing a little bit.
"Well, doesn't that just sweeten up the deal." Sarah quipped.
"Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?" Carinthia asked walking up to us. "Cause if I am-" I got an idea in my head. I nudged Sarah and relayed my message in my head. After getting the snicker of approval from her, I leaned back and held my ice-cream beside me.
"What? Something wrong sugar?" I questioned. I got the result I wanted. Carinthia blushed, but as an added bonus, she also looked at me, then at Sarah, then her eyes moved over towards the parlor that we got the ice-cream from. Then she started walking over towards the parlor. I snickered a little bit, then leaned back forward. "I think that's the first time I've seen Carinthia blush like that." I said. "I mean, besides that one incident back in Ai twelve years ago."
"You mean where Lilith and Carinthia clobbered you for tricking the four of us?" Sarah questioned.
"Me and my big mouth." I sighed. "I'm going to put my bowl up, I'll be right back." I stood myself up and walked over towards a trash can they had with a platform on top made for the bowls. After setting my bowl down, I heard footsteps approach behind me.
"Hey Caius?" Carinthia asked. I turned around and saw Carinthia holding a bowl of chocolate chip ice-cream.
"Oh, hey Carinthia, didn't know you were liked ice-cream. Chocolate chip huh? That's actually-" Guess I needed to be put on ice, because the next thing I saw was Carinthia fling the bowl of ice cream directly at me. It made a splat on my face, and all I could see was chocolate chip ice cream. I pulled the bowl off my face, then made holes so I could see with my eyes. "Carinthia! Why'd you do that?!" I demanded.
"What's going on?" Carinthia said walking up to us.
"You- wait a minute." I looked from right to left, looking between two different Carinthia's. The one on my right looked at the one on my left with deep curiosity. "What the heck?"
"Hold on a minute." The Carinthia on my right said. She walked up to the other Carinthia, then grabbed her by the ribs and pinched. The Carinthia on my left flinched, then started to shine with a little bit of a black light until the rib that the Carinthia on my right was pinching turned out to be a leg. I followed up the leg until I met up with two yellow eyes. Lilith was snickering, and having a hard time holding herself from bursting out laughing, which she proceeded to do when the jig was up. "Now this makes sense."
"Lilith?! Why?!"
"You know why." Lilith said.
"What's going on over her-" Sarah took one look at me, then started to laugh, almost as hard as Lilith did. "Oh wow, what happened here?"
"I think I know pretty well what happened." I said. "That Carinthia that walked up to us wasn't Carinthia."
"It was me." Lilith snickered.
"I should have seen it when I didn't see the necklace on you." I said.
"But you didn't." Lilith said.
"Are you sure they're up here?" Kathrin asked.
"Echo sound location has never failed me before." Calin said. "I doubt it would fail me no-" He looked at me with a surprised look, something that I could easily tell was both astonishment, and fear. What happened to you?"
"And why are you covered in ice cream?" Kathrin shuddered.
"Lilith got to him when he made a pun." Carinthia said chuckling lightly.
"Thankfully, I know the best way to get ice cream off." Sarah said. I looked at Sarah both intrigued and slightly astonished.
"You do?" I asked.
"Of course, it won't take too long either." Sarah said.
"Do you know Water Gun?" I asked.
"Something better." Sarah said.
"It better not be Hydro Pump." I said.
"It's not, but I'm going to need you to sit down for this to work." Sarah said. A little confused, I sat down, and watched as Sarah approached me till we were face to face. I was a little uncomfortable with how close she was getting.
"Sarah, what is this idea you have?" I asked.
"Don't worry about it." Sarah said. I froze in place as the next thing I saw was Sarah beginning to lick the ice cream off my face! I pulled my hands up and separated us, still in shock.
"Sarah! We're in public! And this is NOT how this is going to go!"
"Oh calm down Caius, nobody's going to mind." Sarah said. "Besides, you know how I am with ice cream, and this only makes it all the better." I could definitely tell I was blushing, and I am so glad that I still had ice cream covering my face. Sarah came back in to continue, but I raised my arms to wipe the ice cream off me. Before I could get them even close to my face, Sarah slapped them down with her claw. "Caius, no, it's better this way."
"Sarah, this is not what's supposed to happen! And in what way is this better?" I questioned sharply.
"Because you're my hunk of ice." Sarah chuckled. I went to raise my hands again, but Sarah swatted them down again with her claws, then, to make sure that I wasn't going to try it again, she jumped on my lap and pinned my arms to my lap. I was helpless as she continued to lick the ice cream off my face, and I had to cringe through every minute of it. Lilith was standing there, chuckling and more than likely admiring her work.
"Wait, so you did this to him?" Calin asked.
"It's what he gets for making those puns so often." Lilith responded. Calin looked at me, then shivered while I was still being licked by Sarah.
"Geez, you need to learn to chill Lilith." Calin said. Lilith flinched, then glared at Calin. "What?" Next thing I knew, Lilith was now chasing Calin with a bowl of ice cream. I gave a sigh. At least I had a show to watch while this was happening. Eventually Lilith caught up to Calin by grabbing his tail, the threw the ice cream directly into his face. Calin threw himself up and began to panic violently. He was swinging around, trying by my guess to try and get the ice cream off, but failing quite miserably. Eventually, Calin fell off the edge of the tower. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a Meowstic give a sigh, and replace the numbers on incidents last involved with Pokémon falling off the edge.
"This is why we need guard rails." I heard the Meowstic say under her breathe.
"Lilith! Are you nuts!? Do you have any idea what ice cream can do to a Dragon type?! Much less a Dragon/Flying?!" Kathrin shouted out. Lilith shrugged.
"He'll realize he's falling and start flying like normal." Lilith said.
"You don't realize! You just-" Kathrin gave a angered sigh as she flew down towards Calin. I heard Calin's scream for quite a while. Then I heard it stop for a second, but only to come back, screaming louder than before. I flinched a little bit from how loud it was. I wanted to peer over the edge and see what was going on, but I couldn't move with Sarah still on my lap! Carinthia, Lilith, and Ayah were looking over the edge. With how Lilith was laughing, I was a little concerned with what was going on.
"My fear is trying to kill me!" I heard Calin screech out.
"I'm trying to save your life!" Kathrin yelled back.
"My fear is screaming at me!" Calin said frightened. A few minutes later, Kathrin flew back up to us and dropped a flailing Calin on the ground a few feet from us. He was twitching and shivering uncontrollably. Kathrin was catching her breath. Carinthia walked over to her.
"You alright there Kathrin?" Carinthia asked. Kathrin turned her head to Carinthia, but only for a second. Kathrin walked off. Sarah was finished licking the ice cream off around my eyes. I had enough. I pulled my hands free from Sarah and pulled myself up.
"I am not doing this!" I said. "This is just... I can't!" Sarah went to interrupt me, but I wiped the remainder of what was left on me off. I looked at Ayah who was chuckling a little bit. While still blushing, I walked over and picked her up. "You and I need to talk." I started to make my way towards the elevator, but I was blocked off by Sarah.
"Caius, calm down, it's just something to laugh about." Sarah said. I could feel myself blushing even brighter. I didn't want to put up with this right now, so I made a quick movement and started running down the stairs with Ayah in my arms. After I ran down all the stairs, dodging a couple Pokémon coming up, I dashed out of the building as quick as I could, hoping to leave Sarah behind far enough to where she couldn't read my thoughts. When I felt I was safe, I slowed my pace to a walk. I was still blushing, I could feel it, which is why I decided to throw on my hood, so that no one else would see my face.
"You're not taking the opportunity!" Ayah said a bit disappointed. I groaned inwardly. Not this again.
"Ayah, please, just- not now, please. I'm still-" I gave a hesitant sigh, and just continued to walk on. I was getting some rather curious looks from some of the passing by Pokémon. I decided to quicken my pace slightly. After about three minutes of walking, I saw and felt something zip right by me, going faster than I could keep track of!
"This feels amazing!" I heard a familiar voice scream out. I looked behind me and saw a blur of yellow run around a corner. I heard rapid footsteps behind me. I turned my head and saw my brother panting heavily.
"Shouldn't, have given her, that chocolate Moomoo Milk." Raiden said. He looked up and saw me. "Oh, hey Caius, did you see-
"Thalia?" I questioned. "She ran around the corner over there."
"Thanks." Raiden groaned. A few more minutes went by, and I eventually got sick of the looks and walked out of the town. I went to a hill and just looked on the open plateau across the area. The wind was breezing on it calmly. The grass seemed to mold like how a Ditto could mold into any shape. I looked at Ayah in my arms, and gave a sigh.
"Ayah, why are you doing this?" I asked.
"You know why." Ayah said. "But you just don't seem to be wanting to take the chance." I tensed up a little bit, but relaxed.
"Ayah, please, understand that I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not going to lie, a bit of me appreciates that, but you just need to let us do our own thing." I said. "Feeling rushed and pressured, at least for me, ESPECIALLY me, feels like I'm being forced into something I don't want to do."
"But you do want to do this." Ayah said.
"I just... I need time." I said. "And right now, I just think that letting things go at their own pace will do just fine." Ayah looked at me, a little disappointed.
"But Dad, you're-"
"I'll do just fine." I assured. "But please, if you're ever going to do something like that again, please ask me if it's okay first." Ayah drooped her ears. She was pulling at my heartstrings here. I started to rub the side of her head. I could immediately feel her cheering up a little bit. I held her up in my hands so I could see eye level with me. "I'm not angry or upset with you, I'd just wish you'd tell me what you were going to do before you did it." I said. "That's what I ended up doing, and It's gotten me into places that I wouldn't have liked." Ayah looked at me, then smiled.
"Alright Dad." Ayah said. "I'll ask first." I gave a sigh, then smiled at my daughter.
"Thank you Ayah." I set her on my shoulder, then started to scratch her head. She moaned a little bit, and I continued to scratch. "You like it when I do that, don't you?"
"To be honest, this feels amazing." Ayah admitted. "Even if you are different, you're still the same in my eyes." I smiled and gave a light chuckle. I rubbed my head on Ayah's.
"And you'll always be the same little girl I found that night." I said. "No matter what you may decide to do."
"Even if I set up another blind date?" Ayah asked.
"Don't push it." I said. Ayah chuckled a little bit, then leaned her head on mine. I took Ayah in both my hands and put her back in my arms, holding her. I looked up at the sky, watching the clouds pass by. "It's a beautiful day today, isn't it Ayah?" I asked.
"Yeah Dad, the clouds make the day seem so soothing." Ayah replied. I scratched her head, then looked down at her.
"Do you want to play hide-and-seek?" I asked. Ayah thought about it for a second, then shook her head.
"Nah, that game's not fun anymore." Ayah replied. I looked at Ayah a bit questionable, but chuckled.
"Why is that?" I asked laughing a little. Ayah turned her head, and looked at me.
"Because I always know where you are." Ayah responded. I suddenly felt like some extreme case of déjà vu just happened. I tried to think of where I could have possibly heard of it, until my mind was taken back to Ai. I remembered when we were leaving Ai for the first time, and what I had planned for Ayah originally. How I was a bit emotionally unstable, but then Dinh helped calm me down. She calmed me down, by-. I felt a tear form in my eye, then run down my cheek. I looked down at Ayah, smiling. Ayah looked a little confused. "Dad? Are you okay?" Ayah asked concerned. I held her up in my hands, then gave her a hug.
"You're father's alright." I said. "You don't need to worry." As I was holding Ayah, I thought I heard a sniff from behind my head. I pulled Ayah out in front of me, and I started to see her with a few tears in her eyes. "Now why are you crying?"
"I-I'm not crying!" Ayah protested.
"Then what's that in your eyes?" I asked. I may not be able to read minds, but I could read Ayah's thoughts clearly. I could see she was struggling to come with a response. I wiped away a tear from her cheek, then put my forehead to hers. "Don't try and hide your emotions, it's what makes you, you." I felt Ayah come out of my arms and grab hold around my neck, giving me a hug.
"Alright Dad." Ayah said. "Just promise me you'll be more careful from now on."
"Alright. I will." I promised. I picked her up and smiled while chuckling a little bit. "Alright, enough with this, how about we go and get us something? Just the two of us?" I asked. Ayah dried her tears, then smiled at me.
"Could it be cake?" Ayah asked.
"I can do you one better." I said. Ayah's ears peaked to their highest.
"What do you have in mind?" Ayah asked.
"You'll see." I chuckled walking back towards the city. "This time, I get to surprise you." Ayah smiled, and she climbed up onto my shoulder again. As I walked back into the city, I wondered where the others could be right about now. I figured I could pick them out from where I was going. After all, it is a really tall building.
(Sarah)
I was a little disappointed when Caius ran out from the building with Ayah. I didn't even get to finish with the ice cream! I knew I should have gone for the lips first! There was no use sulking over it, he was gone, and he was more than likely gaining some good distance. Wherever he was going, hopefully he would come back here. Soon after Caius left, I thought I saw Kathrin coming back with what appeared to be ice cream in her claws!
"Kathrin, is that what I think it is?" I asked. She ignored me and walked straight up to Lilith. I caught wind of what was going to happen pretty quickly. "Umm. Lilith, you might want to turn around." I suggested. Lilith turned around alright, but she was met with a face full of ice cream. Kathrin looked like she was fuming a little bit.
"Normally, I'd be horrified of this, but you needed that!" Lilith wiped off a little bit of the ice cream, then glared right at Kathrin.
"He deserved that for making that pun."
"He didn't even mean to do it!" Kathrin defended. "You just attacked him with something that he's very vulnerable to!"
"Even if he didn't mean it, he brought it-" Lilith stopped herself, then licked a little bit of the ice cream. After doing that, she stared at Kathrin again. "Just be glad you chose my favorite ice cream." Lilith said. She then proceeded to walk off, and as she put it, 'grooming' herself. I gave a sigh, then found out where we were staying at. Apparently, Clark got us an in for free of charge. When I say he got us an inn, I mean THE ENTIRE INN. It was rather large for just the ten of us, and I was a little worried about Clark's generosity, but he assured me that it was no problem, saying that it's worth the price seeing us again. I had asked if he had seen Caius anywhere, but Clark said he didn't have a clue, but asked me why Thalia was vibrating so much. I only shrugged, but Raiden then explained that he was the cause for it. He said that Thalia has a certain 'taste' for chocolate moomoo milk. By this time, I was getting a little worried that Caius wouldn't know where the inn would be. I told the others that I would go and look for Caius, and hopefully bring him back before it gets dark. As I walked out, I first tried to listen for thoughts in case Caius was in the nearby vicinity. I wasn't picking up anything in my head, but I did hear from a few passerby's that they saw a tall figure with a Fennekin on his shoulder heading towards the Regional Item Building, I knew where they would be. I walked back to the building that Ayah had forced Caius and I to run off towards, then ran into an accountant.
"Excuse me, did you see a tall figure with a Fennekin walk through here?" I asked.
"If I remember correctly, I saw them going to the top floor." The Grovyle said.
"Thank you." I said. I walked towards the elevators this time, not really in the mood to climb another thirty levels by stairs after what Ayah pulled. As I reached the top level, the doors opened up and I walked out to see if I could find them. I looked around, but I couldn't find them anywhere. I was about to ask around again when I saw something shine into my eye. I looked where the light came from, and saw a scythe hanging over the edge while being clasped to by a green cloak. Beside the figure was a silver Fennekin looking down at the ground from the walkway leading to the balcony. I started to walk up to them. "Caius? Is that you?" He turned his head, smiled, and waved at me.
"Sarah, glad I found you." Caius said.
"You mean I found you." I countered. Ayah chuckled a little bit, and Caius leaned up on the wall, looking towards the sky. "Why are you two up here?" Caius looked at me.
"Special occasion." Caius said. I figured I could get an explanation, and let it slide for the time being.
"Alright, but what are you doing up here now?" I asked.
"We had cheesecake!" Ayah said walking up to us. "It was so good!"
"Cheesecake?" I questioned. "Must have been some occasion. What happened?"
"I'll explain later." Caius said. "Come, sit down for right now." I sat down beside Caius. He seemed a lot more cheerful than when he left. What did happen to him?
"I don't see any cake left, so what are you doing up here?" I asked.
"Ayah wanted to see the view from up here, so while she was doing that, I was reading what the writing on my scythe says." Caius said. I looked at his scythe for a minute where it had words scribbled on it.
"What does it say?" I asked. Caius chuckled a little bit, then held the scythe in both hands as he began to read.
"To my son Caius. You've grown to be a strong man, a man filled with many capabilities and a strong willpower. When we first found you when you were four, you were always bustling with energy, always wanting to take on the big things, and learn everything you could. You'll always be our son, but always make sure you put family first. Though it pains me to say this, times of war call for times of action. When you wield this weapon, don't use it for anger or revenge. Instead, take this scythe, and wield it in remembrance of what you stand for, what you fight for, and who you fight for. Who knows, you may find someone in your life to eventually take care of you, and to be that certain someone. No matter what, know that your mother and I always love you, and so long as you stay with your friends and family, you will never be alone." As I looked over his shoulder, I turned my eyes to Caius, who was still studying the scythe. I saw him smile, then he looked at me. "You know... I may be dense at some points." He put his arm around my neck. "But I'm not that dense."
"You sure about that?" I questioned. "Because it took you a while to figure out that-"
"I'm not THAT dense." Caius repeated. I laughed a little bit. As I looked out at the city, I actually came to realize how much of a change happened over twelve years. The sun was setting, which made a beautiful light reflect off the city. I could feel Caius' hand on my head. "You know, I think I'm starting to pick up on something." Caius said. I looked at him, a little worried.
"Are you getting sick?" I questioned.
"No, that's not what I meant." Caius clarified. "But I am getting a weird feeling." I chuckled a little bit.
"Well, life's full of interesting emotions." I said. "You just have to decide whether they're good or-"
"That's not what I'm talking about." Caius interrupted. "I'm getting this... impression." I raised an eyebrow.
"Impression?" I questioned. "Please, do explain, you've got me curious now."
"Well..." Caius began. "I don't know if I'm just making stuff up at this point, but I just got the impression that there was a certain thing you wanted to do to me while I was still covered in ice cream. But since I ran off, you had a little bit of regret not doing that first." I looked at him for a second, a little caught off guard. "I'm right, aren't I?" I averted my eyes trying to not look at him while I felt my cheeks lit a lighter shade of red than normal.
"Sarah's getting her mind read! Sarah's getting her mind read!" Ayah said playfully. Sure, I knew she was playing around, but I wasn't too fond of being figured out by a child.
"Oh Ayah, quit giving her a hard time. I don't even know Mind Reader." Caius said. "Although, that may be a move I'd be interested in learning one of these days." The thought of him able to read my mind started to make me light up like a Cherubi! I tried to change the subject before it was too noticeable.
"I was a little worried that you wouldn't know where we were staying." I said. Ayah let out a yawn.
"Yeah, I'm getting a bit tired after eating both ice cream and cheesecake." Ayah said tiredly.
"Then let's go and head back. It sounds like someone's about fall asleep." Caius chuckled lightly. He leaned over and picked up Ayah, holding her in his arm. Caius looked at me and smiled as he started to push himself up from the ground. As he did, his hand brushed past a certain point on the left side of my head. It made me tense up and freeze where I sat. It was only for a split second, but that was one spot that always felt so good to even have anything so much as sweep across there. I felt my body tingle for a minute as Caius started to walk away. It took me a few seconds to get my nerves to move again, even then, I still felt light. After getting the blood back into my legs, I followed behind Caius down the elevator until we reached the main floor. I lead the way back to the inn, which I told Caius that we had been paid for thanks to Clark. The walk must have been a bit longer than I had thought, because it was starting to turn dark already. We got back into the inn, and after Caius set Ayah into bed, I got my explanation that I wanted. Soon after, I was starting to get tired as well. I still had a few questions to ask Caius, but it could wait till the morning. Thalia even looked tuckered out. Guess she had her sugar crash.
"Well, you all have a good night." I said yawning.
"Hey Sarah?" Caius said catching me.
"Hm?" He still had that smile on his face, but I could tell he was getting tired as well.
"Maybe there could be a point where you could teach me how to read thoughts." Caius said. "Make it a trade like how Lilith and I did." I was too tired to try and argue about it, so I said I'd think about it in the morning and went into bed, falling asleep. We were going to have a lot to do when we got back to our time.
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The mind games are real! It really seems Caius walked into that one, but how could he have known? The writing on his scythe sure does say a lot. The text must be small, or even really tiny, but hey, it's my scythe, and I get to put on it what I want. Now that the story is starting to make its descent, things are starting to calm down a little bit, but are they going to stay that way? ... Probably not.
Hope you all enjoyed the story. Make sure to leave a Vote, and leave a comment as well, I'd like to hear from you all, and get a few suggestions. If you liked it, why not share this story with others? We would really enjoy this story being made public. Anyway, hope you all have a good day, and stay strong.