TEEN: - Ongoing When Dragons Clash (The Greater Evil 2) - Rewritten Version

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When Dragons Clash

by Damian Silverblade​

This is the second book of The Greater Evil series. the first few post will include both a character index and a summary of events so far. THIS IS A COMPLETELY REWRITTEN VERSION OF THE OLD FIC.

Index

Prologue : Shadow
Chapter 1 : A New World
Chapter 2 : Threads
Chapter 3 : Rumors of War
Chapter 4 : Lost Souls
Chapter 5 : The Shadow Falls
Chapter 6 : The Storm Rises
Chapter 7 : Dissensions
Chapter 8 : Flight
Chapter 9 : Divisions
Chapter 10 : Separation
Chapter 11 : Confession
Chapter 12 : Nemesis
Chapter 13 : Darkness Call
Chapter 14 : The Veil Falls
Chapter 15 : Unexpected Encounter

Summary

(note : this fic follow the anime timeline up to the end of the last episode of Shigeru's battle with Satoshi in the Silver convention).

Shortly after Satoshi's defeat in the Silver convention, Kasumi had to return home, called back by her sisters to assume command of the gym.

Heading back to Masara on his way to Houen along with Takeshi, Satoshi encountered Shigeru, who agreed to join him on the way to Houen (as the two became friends after Satoshi's victory over Shigeru at the convention). However, soon on their way they heard of a fire at the Hanada gym : Kasumi was thought to be dead.

Going to Kanazumi for the funeral, they were attacked by the mysterious Kage, a powerful being who seemed to wield psychic powers. This Kage forced Satoshi, Shigeru and Hiroshi (who joined them in Hanada) to go on the run, while Takeshi sacrificed himself to give them the time to flee.

At the same time, Sakaki, the leader of the Roketto-dan, sent two of his best agents, his own son Hiroru and Domino, to investigate the events in Hanada (as the police accused the Roketto-dan of being behind it. In truth, he hoped to get the two of them as far away as possible from the Roketto-dan, as he knew that his second in command, the researcher Kazo Shiranui, was planning a coup.

Unbeknownst to Sakaki, Shiranui was also related to the Kage matter. He was in fact working in collaboration with Syraelle, who ordered Kage around. They were both parths of a mysterious organization, the Circle of Chaos, (though none but them is currently aware of this).

The disturbance of the Kage attack also drew another's attention : Natsume, psychic gym leader of Yamabuki, intervened, investigating the matter along with Hiroru (revealed then as her much-hated half-brother).

Shiranui struck at that time, taking control of the Roketto-dan through the use of blackmail and threats, using the target of his blackmail, Mondo, to make Sakaki appear insane and unable to lead.

Eventually, Satoshi and his friends came to Shion were they received the help of Imite, as well as of the local ghosts, though that was not enough to prevent Syraelle from kidnapping Hiroshi. The ghosts revealed to Satoshi and his friends that Kage was a human under the possession of a Youkai, a spirit from the hell-realm known as Jigoku. On their own side, Natsume and her groups found out much the same thing.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi was brought to Syraelle's home base, where he was to be tortured and made in a new Kage. However, he met there a young woman long thought dead (though Hiroshi did not know this) : Ai Fuji, now a willing servant of the circle and in fact the prophesied "Handmaiden of Jigoku." To spare him the torture, both physical and that of being forced to watch as the Youkai used his body as a weapon, Ai fred his soul to go to Jigoku (as a welcome "visitor", and thus not to be tortured).

In Yamabuki, Natsume and Kage finally came up against each other ; in the end, through her apprentice's sacrifice, Natsume prevailed and Kage was defeated, destroying the Youkai and allowing the trapped human to recover, revealing that the youkai had been using the body of none other than Kasumi. Rather than explain her apparent resurection, Kasumi elected to take on a new identity - and asked Satoshi for his love, as she felt she could not go on without such support from him, not after what she had gone through.

However, before they could rejoice, dark news came : as the price of her help in taking over the Roketto-dan, Yamato had exiged that she be given leave to launch an attack on Masara, to threaten Satoshi's loved one so that he would surrender, finally ending his opposition to the Roketto-dan. During the kidnapping, a new revelation came to light though only to a select few : Shiranui was revealed as having once worked with Fuji, and more importantly, he revealed to Satoshi's mother that her other child - none other than Ai - was not, in fact, dead. She unfortunately did not have the time to pass that information along.

The group, including the roketto-dan agents with Hiroru, agreed to thwart the attack. During the fighting, Mondo decided to break free from the blackmail, and fought alongside Satoshi, saving his life early on. Among the victims in the battle were Yamato herself, burnt to the death by Satoshi's charizard, and Satoshi's mother, shot by Yamato "to make Satoshi suffer".

Shiranui escaped, but fortunately Kasumi knew of his next target : Houen. Two groups were set to go after him : Kojiro, Musashi and Mondo in one, and Satoshi, Shigeru, Kasumi, Kenji and Imite in the other.

Realizing after the fighting and losses that he could not afford to lose more, and that even if he could not be sure he did truly love her, he would rather not miss the chance, Satoshi told Kasumi he did, in fact love her.

 

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Dramatis Personae (Quick character reference list)

This is just a sample of important characters. Others will get added in whenever mention of them is made in the story.

Satoshi's group :

Satoshi Ashitaka (15) - Ash Ketchum. A trainer from Masara who lost his mother a year ago during an attack by a rebel faction of the Roketto-dan. Is now pursuing the leader of that faction in Houen.
Kasumi Chirei (17) - Misty. Once known as Kasumi Kaihana, she adopted the new name of Chirei after her apparent death to avoid having to explain what she was put through between her death and return. She and Satoshi have been in a relationship for a year now.
Shigeru Ookido (15) - Gary Oak. Satoshi's once-rival, now his closest friend after the events they both went through.
Imite Yoshinaka (16) - Duplica. A talented young imitator who joined the group as they were trying to escape the assassin Kage.
Kenji Murasaki (19) - Tracey. A pokemon observer, who has rejoined Satoshi's group to help them on their quest.

The Roketto-dan group :

Musashi Kaga - (25) Jessie. A roketto-dan field agent, one of the handful who stayed loyal to Sakaki's son during the rebellion. Now dispatched to hunt down Shiranui.
Kojiro Taka - (25) James. Jessie's old comrade-in-arms, still standing right besides her.
Nyasu - (N/A). Their talking meowth.
Mondo Kobayashi - (16). A young team rocket agent. Blackmailed by the rebels to help them, he eventually turned back on them in Masara (saving Satoshi's life in so doing).

Natsume's group :

Natsume Ningen - (24). Sabrina. The psychic gym leader of Yamabuki (Saffron). Helped Satoshi-tachi during the Kage crisis, then helped create Kasumi's new identity.
Muura Mitsuda - (22). One of her assistant. He helped the group during the battle in Masara.
Ameiko Shimomura - (21). Another such, she also helped the group.

Hiroru's Group :

Hiroru Kurohito - (22). Sakaki's son. Leader of what little is left of the Roketto-dan.
Domino Kageyuri - (22). Domino. Hiroru's girlfriend, one of the best field agent of the group even before the terrible losses at Masara.
Bashou Nobumori - (29). One of the few agents who avoided the Masara operation, and one of Hiroru's few remaining agents.

The VILAINS

Circles of Chaos :

Kazo Shiranui (50). Prof Sebastian. Once the number 2 of the Roketto-dan, he dethroned Sakaki to take command, but that turned into disaster. He is now in Houen, on a mission for the mysterious CIRCLE OF CHAOS, an organization he was apparently part of all along.
Syraelle Kiljaeden (38). A powerful psychic. She kidnapped Kasumi and turned her against her will in a weapon to attempt to kill Satoshi. She however now follow loyally the orders of...
Ai Fuji (18). Amber. The long thought dead daughter (and still taught dead by most, though she was actually kidnapped) of professor Fuji. Revealed as the Handmaiden of Death (or Hell), one of two siblings at the center of a prophecy.

The Order of the Lotus

Nanami Ookido (19). May Oak. Shigeru's sister, she has joined with the faith of the Church of the Prophets, and enrolled in the Order of the Lotus, which is charged with the protection of the faithful. To her surprise, she was within a few months selected as the new Master of the order (as it is tradition to pick a novice of the order) when the old one died.
Ethan Starkhad - (41). Original character. A Lord Commander of the order of the lotus, who believe that the best way to protect the faithful is to strike first.
Eric Nelson (26) - Another such, the youngest in recent history. Nanami's closest advisor.

The Deceased and Vanished

Sakaki Kurohito - (Dead). Giovanni. The one-time leader of the Roketto-dan, killed by his second in command Kazo Shiranui in a takeover.
Katsuko Kanno - (Dead). A young woman, one of Natsume's apprentice. She died firing up a massive psychic assault to buy Natsume the time to defeat Kage.
Kikuko Ookido. (Dead). Agatha of the Elite four. A specialist of ghost-type pokemon. Died from old age.
Hanako Ashitaka (Dead). Deliah. Satoshi's mother, killed by the Roketto-dan shortly after she discovered her daughter Ai was still alive.
Takeshi Yamamori (Dead). Brock. A breeder from Nibi. Killed when he commanded his pokemon to use an high-powered explosion attack right besides him.
Yamato Akagi (Dead). Cassidy. A Roketto-dan agent, Kazo Shiranui's second in command during his coup. Killed by Satoshi's charizard.
Kage (Vanished). A mysterious assassin with strange powers sent after Satoshi. Later defeated by Natsume and revealed to be Kasumi, who was fred from the possession.
Hiroshi (Kidnapped). Richie. One of Satoshi's friend, a trainer. Kidnapped by Syraelle.

Locations list :

(From Kanto and Johto)

Fusube - Blackthorn City.
Masara - Pallet Town
Tokiwa - Viridian City
Hanada - Cerulean City
Sekiei - Indigo (Sekiei Highlands - Indigo Plateau).
Guren - Cinnabar
Locations :
Shion - Lavender
Otsukimi-Yama - Mt. Moon.
Shirogane-Yama - Mt. Silver.
Yamabuki - Saffron
Enju - Ecruteak

A map of Houen

 

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Prologue : Shadow

A Year Ago

The world was dark, silent. It had been so for well over a week now. The bleak wall of her soul's prison would not give way, letting her see only so little…

Kasumi could still vividly remember every last detail of the events following her capture. Just as vividly, she could still remember the tortures, both mental and physical, her captor had used to break her in spirit and body.

She had turned Kasumi's entire body as a weapon against her. Pains beyond what the young woman had thought could exist had been unleashed on the most sensible points the woman could find. None, from the top of her head to the sole of her feat, from her chest to her knees, had been ignored.

And, when the pain had not been enough to break her, her tormentor had taken the torture further. Beyond the physical pain, it had been the mental pain, the recurring nightmares that had assaulted her mind, both in sleep and wide awake, the searing thought of constantly seeing her friends falling before her.

And, once that had been done, once her body had been nothing but a shell for a broken soul, the Other had come. A dark spirit of blood and smoke, of shadow and terror, it had been summoned to enter her body as she lay there, beaten, defeated, empty.

And, before what now happened, even worst tortures she had been put through paled in comparison. No pain could ever come close to the powerlessness of being used, turned as a weapon, left with absolutely no control, an helpless slave.

That she was to be her friend's doom made things worst.

She had been a helpless witness as the monster within her brought Takeshi to his death, and took part in the capture of Hiroshi. Two of her friends, one dead and the other captured, all that through her own hand…

Footsteps echoed down the hallway, followed by the appearance of a young woman with long blue-green hair. She wore a distinctive emerald cloak, fasted at the neck by a pair of golden dragons entwined. Her sapphire eyes stared pensively at "Kage"

"I'm sorry," she mouthed, her voice soft, and – what was that? Tears in her eyes? Kasumi, from her prison, could not bring herself to believe it.

"I…I did not know what…how…I didn't know what Syraelle had done to you to break you," the young woman went on, her eyes filled with…compassion?

Kasumi could say nothing, of course. The muscles of her mouth were beyond her control, a tool to the dark spirit that inhabited her.

"You waste your words," the darkness hissed. "She is beyond even you, daughter of Jigoku."

The young woman's eyes turned cold, the sapphires turning to ice.

"I think not. I will comfort her if it is my pleasure to do so, and you will let her listen, spawn."

Kasumi thought for a moment she would die, as sudden searing pain filled her soul, born from the shadow's fury. She would die, and finally be free, free of the memories, free of the pain, free of the domination…free to go on, and ask Takeshi to forgive her.

Then, as suddenly as it had come, the blaze of pain vanished, and the young woman sat down, motioning for "Kage" to do the same.

"I am truly sorry for all you've been put through," the young woman turned back to her earlier words. "You must…please believe me. Had I the power, I would go back in time and prevent the pain that was inflicted on you." Kasumi could not believe what she saw through her eyes. The girl was actually crying over what had been done to her?

How could someone working for an organization that would use mental domination, steal other's bodies from them to use as a weapon…

How could someone from such an organization be so human? How could someone who was so human believe in the means and goal of such an organization?

"I…I'm sorry about the spirit, too. But you…one day, you will understand why it was necessary. Soon, I give you my word, soon you'll be free, you'll be yourself again."

Had Kasumi controlled her body, she would have shuddered. Instead, she could only try to focus, clear her thoughts. Why was the young woman doing this? Why…Why would they torture her, turn her like this, then just…

Let her be free?

"You might think I don't know what I'm saying when I tell you that what we're doing is worth the suffering. But you're wrong. I know very well, even if what was done to me doesn't compare to what they did to you. I haven't been put through the tortures you've gone through, but I know all too well what it's like being taken from your loved ones," her voice was now a whisper, one filled with pain that could only be sincere.

"They had me kidnapped back when I was three. Then, they faked my death, just so that my parents would never come looking for me. My father went mad trying to bring me back, my mother left him. My father eventually died, and I never saw my brother again. I know I have a brother, but that's all I know – I never had the chance to met him," she continued.

Deep down, Kasumi found herself listening in interest. The young woman had her puzzled, and now her whole spirit was bent on understanding her, figuring her out…

She raised her palms to Kasumi's eyes. "See those marks?" she showed her two kanji burned deep in her hands. "You cannot possibily imagine what it's like having those searing through your flesh to imprint themselves in your body…at the core of your very being. You can't have the slightest idea what it's like, being marked as hell's own, a link between the mortal world and the torments of the afterlife," she whispered. Kasumi had the distinct impression the young woman was opening herself about those feelings for the first time. "You've known a form of pain I couldn't even begin to imagine…but pain itself is something I know all too well."

Kasumi could only agree. Not that she had any idea what the event the young woman described could be like on the pain level, but her voice sounded too truthful, too sincere…too full of entirely too well remembered pain.

The young woman was telling the truth.

"I wish we could have met under different circumstances," she continued. "I wish I could have met you as my brother's sister, and not an ally of Syraelle." That was, Kasumi realized upon reflection, her tormentor's name. But why was the girl mentioning her brother? "I think we could have been friends, had things been…different. I only hope one day you will be able to forgive me for not being able to keep you from the pain…"

Had Kasumi been able to answer, her only words would have been that she would only blame those truly responsible ; deep down she realized the young woman was nearly as much of a victim as she was. And how could she not forgive the only person in the entire shadow organization to remember she was a human, to remember her feelings…

How could she not forgive her, when she alone of all people in their shadow organization saw her as a human being and not as a dark weapon?

"Ah! There you are my lady Ai," the hated voice of her tormentor rang through the halls.

"Syraelle," The young woman, apparently Ai by her name, replied icily. "What is it?"

As the young woman slowly turned away, the shadow, for a time tranquil, reasserted itself, and searing pain pushed Kasumi's tormented soul back to its forsaken corner.

And there she remained, praying without words she could no longer pronounce for a hand to draw her out of darkness.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Sweet! I look forward to re-reading it...or reading it for the first time...or some mix thereof...

Say, will you still use my version of the Marauder for it? I was so honored...

 

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Most definitely Blackjack.

New Character : Yuuki Shirokaze (15) : Brandon. A young trainer from the Houen region.

Chapter 01 : A New World

If someone had asked Satoshi to describe the island of Houen, his answer would have been a single world : mountains. Everywhere he turned, tall peaks and rising summits welcomed him, their roots covered in massive maples and oaks in shade of red-brown and emerald, their heights clad in sparkling snow as they challenged the sky.

Of course, the sight of mountains was nothing new to Satoshi or his friends - Kanto and Johto were, after all, quite montainous themselves, especially the later, but Houen seemed to take it to new heights. Hardly a day passed that they did not have to walk up a sharp slope, or race down another. But, considering all the new and strange pokemon he had seen so far, he would have considered the last year well spent, if it wasn't for the little fact that they had yet to find a single clue as to the true reason of their present. Twelve months had passed since Kasumi's kidnapping and return, and his mother's death, twelve months spent hunting down Shiranui and his accomplices, and they had yet to find the slightest clue.

But they would, they had to. That Shiranui's actions had resulted in his mother's death was one, but above and beyond was what he and his accomplices had put Kasumi through. Her once-fiery red hair were now raven black, one change among many to hide the fact that she had once been Kasumi Kaihana, sister to the gym leaders of Hanada, and a woman the whole world believed had died in the fire of that gym. Better for them to believe that than to know the truth that a dark force had seized her and made her in a weapon of destruction. She would still be one today, helpless slave of Shiranui and his friends - those whom Kasumi said were named Ai and Syraelle - had it not been for the intervention of Natsume, the psychic gym leader of Yamabuki.

"Isn't there anything else that you can remember?" Shigeru questioned Kasumi. The young man wore his usual woolen brown cloak, his once-spiked hair now let lose over his shoulder. On a chair slightly behind him, her green-blue hair in twin ponytails and one of her many ditto on her shoulder, Imite seemed lost in thought.

Both of them had joined up with him around the time of Kasumi's apparent death, proving invaluable friends in the hopeless flight from Kage - what Kasumi had been turned into - and surviving against the odds, unlike Takeshi and Hiroshi, one dead and the other captured. Shigeru alone had pulled Satoshi through the darkest hours – hours when Satoshi had been, to all extent, dead to the world, stunned by the consecutive deaths of his two closest friends.

It had taken another the kidnapping of Hiroshi, taken by those who had cursed Kasumi, for Satoshi to return slowly to reality – or perhaps, to a new reality, out of the dreams of his childhood. Gone was the ideal of becoming a pokemon master. Gone were the badges. Now, his friends were what mattered. Protecting them – and avenging them.

"Nothing at all. I mean, I could describe Syraelle and Ai to you, but I doubt that would do any good…"

"Why don't you do it anyway?" Kenji suggested.

Kasumi nodded slowly.

"There's not much I could tell you about Syraelle. Most of you have already seen her, back in Shion. She was the woman who kidnapped Hiroshi," Kasumi noted. Back then, she had been Kage. Imite shivered ; she had only narrowly being the second victim of that kidnapping, and deep down, Satoshi suspected she still blamed herself somehow for escaping while Hiroshi did not. Shigeru draped his arm tighter about Imite's shoulder.

"White hair, all that. I get it," Shigeru noted. "And what about this Ai girl?" she was the really mysterious one. While they knew of Syraelle's role - she had been the one to actually make Kasumi into Kage - none of them as of yet had managed to find out what role Ai had in the whole system.

"She's a bit taller than me, with pale green hair," Kasumi reported. "Long hair. She had dark eyes - a lot like yours Satoshi - and she tend to wear a long green cloak. At least she did back when I met her. She seemed to be a messenger of some sort, running errand between Syraelle and someone else," she shivered; as far in the past as these were now, the memories still brought forth a load of pain. Satoshi squeezed her hand tightly, looking at her comfortingly. She looked back gratefully.

"Thanks Satoshi," she smiled at the name, as she mostly always did now, ever since their friendship had become more than mere friendship - a side effect of the death and suffering they had gone through. They had both needed more support than their friendship could give them, and had turned to each other for it, letting friendship become love, or at least what certainly seemed like it.

"You hadn't mentioned that cloak before…" Kenji noted. "Do you have any detail you remember about it?" his hands were fast at work, pencil racing across a piece of paper.

"Yeah, it had a golden border, that ended with the clasp at the neck," she stopped for a moment, as if trying to remember something. "I think that clasp was shaped like two dragon heads crossed, now that you mention it, but I'm not sure…

"Two dragon heads crossed at the neck?" a new voice rose nearby. Perhaps they should have brought the discussion to somewhere more private than the terrace of the small café, Satoshi noted. He turned to face the newcomer, a young man about his age. He would have been unnoticeable - beyond behind a trainer - save for one extremely striking feature about him : snow-white hair, held back by a red headband. "That's the sign of the dragon adepts,"

"The what, and how do you know that?" Satoshi questioned slowly.
"I'd be more interested in 'who are you?' personally," Shigeru put in.

The young man laughed wryly.

"Yeah, I guess it wasn't very polite of me to intrude in your conversation. In reverse order, my name is Yuuki Shirokaze, I know about the dragon adepts because one of my friends is obsessed with old legends, and they are some kind of group that are supposed to live and train somewhere on the island. They have to do with dragon pokemon and martial arts, but that's all I really know."

Satoshi nodded.

"Can we really trust him?" Shigeru asked, getting a brief - and carefully hidden - smile out of Satoshi. Whatever one may say about Shigeru's qualities, diplomacy hardly was one of them. He could be an extremely loyal friend…but he had an unfortunate tendency to speak his mind out in front of total strangers, about them. Somewhat more fortunately, Yuuki did not seem too offended by the comment - he only gave a wry smile.

"Shigeru…" Imite chided all the same.
"No, no, it's all right," Yuuki laughed lightly. "I mean, I can hardly ask you to trust me when I come out of nowhere to talk to you about stuff like that…"

Satoshi nodded ; that much was true. Once, he would have trusted Yuuki right out of nowhere, but after all they had gone through…

Trust was one thing he rarely gave anymore. Not that he was afraid that others would betray him ; no. But anyone he trusted was in a position to hurt not only him but his friends as well. And that was something he could not risk. And, moreover…

He knew that if he was ever put in the position of chosing between his life and that of someone he trusted, he would forfeit his life without a second thought.

"If he's got a lead on Shiranui and his friends though, can we really afford to ignore that?" Kasumi pointed out. She was saying too much, too soon Satoshi thought - revealing too much to Yuuki who had, as far as they knew, only heard a comment in passing so far.

"Look," Yuuki spoke up. "I'll be in the pokemon center for the night, and for a good part of tomorrow. I'll let you guys talk about it, and if you want my help, well, you know where to find me."

Satoshi nodded ; that made sense. The young man probably didn't want to intrude on their decision. "Sounds good to me."

The others didn't seem to disagree, and Yuuki turned back and left.

Satoshi sat back, musing. On the one hand, the kid apparently had information they would need. On the other, of course, there was the question of trust. His information would hardly be something they needed if it was a lie – a trap waiting for them to begin with.

"I think we can thrust him," Kasumi whispered, finally. She rarely raised her voice anymore, withdrawn in a shell as if afraid to hurt those around her. Once decisive, fierce, she now seemed so fragile, hesitant…a shadow of her former self. Obviously to all, Satoshi more than any other, the dark burden of Takeshi's death still hung as a haunting shadow over her life.

"I don't know," Shigeru objected. "What if he's working for Shiranui? What if Shiranui is blackmailing him somehow? It's not like he never did it before."

Satoshi nodded somberly. "Mondo." The young roketto-dan agent had been blackmailed into betraying Sakaki, the then Roketto-dan leader. The threat of his brother's destruction had been enough…but then his brother had died in a car crash. Shiranui had lost his hold on Mondo…who had taken a swift and deadly revenge, aligning himself with Satoshi in the streets of Masara. Among the remnants of the organization at large, he was one of the few Satoshi would put some trust in. No, not one of the few – the only one. Even Domino and Hiroru he wouldn't trust ; Mondo he did.

"I doubt it, though…" surprisingly, Shigeru spoke again. Satoshi turned sharply. Why was his friend suddenly turning side. "I heard more from my grandfather about what happened in Masara in his last letter…you might not have been as much of the target as we all thought Satoshi."

"What do you mean?" Kenji asked sharply.

"Satoshi's mother had the time to mention a few things to my grandfather before…" he did not continue, though his point could hardly be missed. Before she had been killed was what he had been trying to say. Satoshi ignored it ; he had gotten reconciled with a past he could no longer change, just as he had gotten determined to shape the future as he would. None of his friends would die. "It turns out she knew Shiranui from a long time ago. She did not give my grandfather the details, but it seems he was insanely in love with her."

Satoshi nodded slowly, although part of him raised question…"Why kill her, then?" he questioned – then found his own answer rising from the depth of his memories. "Wait. He didn't want her dead – that was Yamato. He tried to keep her from killing my mother…"

Shigeru nodded slowly. "I wasn't aware of that part, but it makes the whole thing fits better. I'd say you don't mean nearly as much to Shiranui now that he can't use you to get back at your mother – or to get her back. So there's a good chance this Yuuki is honest."

"But there's a chance he isn't. Even if he isn't associated with Shiranui, he could have something to do with those two groups – the Aqua and Maguma-dans," she remarked. "They certainly have nothing against drawing travelers in traps and stealing from them."

"Perhaps we should get back to the hotel, and talk about it more in private?" Kasumi suggested, pointing at the café around them. Patrons were all around, and to hope that their discussion would remain private in those condition would be ridiculous.

They paid the tab, and headed back to their hotel.

 

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Characters : Haruka Noshiro (15). May, An ex-trainer from the Houen region, she now specializes in studying local legends.

Chapter 2 : Threads

The pokemon center of Kinsentsu was much like any of the numerous other pokemon center of Houen Yuuki had visited on his journey : large, sunlight-flooded, and a haven to trainers from all over the continent on their journey. As a result, there was little – too little – privacy to be had, which made matters as simple as making a personal phone call quite the problem indeed.

Yuuki had never let the problem bother him much. If people wanted to snoop in on his conversations – let them. They might hear things he didn't want them to hear, but if they did anything about it…well, if they did, he could make them pay the price. And until they did, he would not worry about it – there were better things to do in life than worry needlessly about things he could not change.

His turn to take the videophone finally came as the old woman who had been babbling on about whatever it was – he hadn't bothered listening – finally left it, her small vulpix following at the end of its leash. They had monopolized the boot for the better part of an hour, and Yuuki almost found himself tempted to glare – but decided against it. There were better things to do with life than hold grudges.

He rapidly entered the phone number of his best friend, a number he had long since learned by heart. They had traveled together, once, in the early days of Yuuki's journey. Although the traveling together part had been enjoyable to both, the life of a trainer had obviously never been her place. She had retired, and he had gone on with his adventuring.

The phone rang a few time before the screen turned on, revealing the youthful fifteen years old face of his friend, framed in long pale-brown hair she no longer wore in ponytails. Her sparkling emerald eyes more than anything else told Yuuki for the thousandth time he had done the right thing by encouraging her to follow her own dreams, not the dream of becoming a great trainer her family had set before her.

"Yuuki!" the cheerful voice echoed, her joy unmistakable. The sparkle in her eyes grew brighter, a brilliant smile joining it. Yuuki smiled – yes, as painful as it had been for a while, he had made the right choice. Haruka belonged in her home, surrounded in dusty books, ancient maps and the like, studying the legends of Houen. Though he missed her presence at his side, that had never been her place.

"Hi Haruka!" he smiled, pushing a strand of white hair out of his face. It had been months since they had last spoken, long months spent traveling and generally never stopping in a pokemon center long enough to break through the crowd to one of the videophone. And, although he knew she was where she belonged now, he could certainly not deny that he deeply missed her presence at his side. The pokemon she had given him upon retiring him as a trainer – all but two of those she had collected in her journey – could not even begin to make up for the emptiness that now traveled besides him. "How're you?"

Her smile broadened, if that was at all possible. "Great! I've found some great new legends and…" Regretfully, he raised a hand before she could go on. At any other time, he would have been glad to listen to her talking about whatever new legends she had found – or to anything else really, as long as they could spend time together – but there were some answers he had to verify beforehand, and if she was allowed to start talking about her legends…

She could be as bad about her legends as any trainer about his pokemon. Which might be why they got along so well ; they both understood the urge each had to go on long tales of their latest discoveries, whether it be new legends or new pokemon. Haruka shifted slightly ; behind her Yuuki caught sight of a massive map of Houen on her wall, covered in markings and text related to legends. It had been Haruka's own work, her personal creation, and, to listen to her, it was the first step on her career as a mythology researcher.

"I sort of need your help," he admitted. It wasn't the most polite thing to do, of course, to immediately ask for her help after months of separation. But he knew her, knew she would never refuse him her help…just as he would never refuse her his own.

"Oh? What's it?" she lifted an eyebrow, a slight unhappiness in her voice. Yuuki sighed, wishing he did not need such a reason to call her. "If it has to do with training, I can get Masato…"

"No, no!" he protested immediately. If Masato ever heard he had met Satoshi Ashitaka, he would never hear the end of it. Yuuki barely needed any effort of his imagination to hear the replies already – the "But you know, Satoshi is one of the most promising trainer…after just one year of training he made the top sixteen at Indigo, and then went on to become the youngest trainer to defeat the Orange crew and…" that Masato would drown him under.

"Oh?" Haruka questioned, her smile returning, brighter.

"It's about legends, so that should be right up your alley," he reassured her.

If there had been a sparkle in Haruka's eyes before, they were now like twin stars, shining brightly. Yuuki smiled back warmly, glad he could provide her with such an occasion to enjoy herself. "Let me guess. Maguma and Akua are at it again?"

"Probably, but that's not what I need help with," he answered. "I'm more concerned about the dragon adepts, right now."

Haruka nodded, though for one as adept as Yuuki was at reading her emotions, it was obvious she would have rather talked about many other legends by that one.

"What do you need exactly?" she asked.
"I overheard some people talking about them in a café earlier, and…"
"And you offered them your help," she laughed. "Nothing exactly new about that. There's a reason you're so slow at getting your badges, and it's because you keep getting involved in long, complex quests that don't concern you in the least bit," she noted.

"At least it's fun," Yuuki smiled back. True as her comment might be, he knew he would not change his ways. It had nothing to do with helping others ; simply, getting involved in complex – and perhaps dangerous – quests at time was just plain fun. And since life seemed intent on not giving him those complex quests of his own, he had made a habit to get involved in any such he heard about.

"If your definition of fun is 'landing on the wrong end of a gun a few times each year', yeah, I suppose it would be fun," she chided, though her grin belied her words. It was little secret that one of the reason that had gotten her so interested in ancient legend was the dream of one day living such legends. "Anyway. What made you think they were talking about dragon adepts?"

"They mentioned how this one girl they were looking for wore a cloak held at the neck by a pin in the shape of two entwined golden dragons," he replied, quickly summing up his encounter.

"Hm. I somehow think I understand why you didn't want to talk with my brother earlier. Satoshi Ashitaka?" she smiled. "You would never hear the end of it. Especially since you didn't ask for an autograph or two."

Yuuki chuckled. "Yeah, that was about what I thought too."

Haruka smiled. "Anyway, back on topic. I don't know that much about the adepts. They're one of the less heard of legend of Houen, mostly because it's not a legend specifically from Houen. And mostly, too, because a lot of urban legend is mixed in it."

Yuuki nodded. "What do you know, though?" he suspected that, as usual when it came to legends, her definition of "I don't know much" was very similar to mostly everyone else's definition of "I know more than anyone else."

"According to legends, they are a group of warriors who received some secret from the Dragon-People. Just what is that secret is anyone's guess, but it appears dragon adepts, once they are done with their training, are faster, deadlier than most humans, their reflexes much sharper…Beyond that, the legends don't have much to say. The dragon adepts supposedly all wear cloaks held at the neck by the pin you mentioned, and they're all supposedly experts swordsmen," she summed up. "That's about all I can recall right now – I probably have much more in my books, but…" she shrugged.

"Perhaps we could come and visit you," Yuuki offered. "That would give you the time to read up some so that you could give us a better idea when we drop by for a visit," of course, the fact that it would give them a chance to meet again was no small part in the suggestion. "If I can convince them to come with me, anyway."

Haruka nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that would probably be best if you could do it," she agreed. "I'd certainly be glade to see you again in person," she smiled, a smile Yuuki knew was mirrored on his own face. They had gone too long without seeing each other in person, far too long.

"I'll be looking forward to it," he nodded.
"So will I."

"'Taria?" A blue head popped up on the screen suddenly, right beside Haruka's. The pokemon opened its wide eyes to look curiously at the face, and Yuuki burst out laughing.

"I see Altaria's still as curious about everything as ever!" he grinned.

"I think she wanted to say 'hi'," Haruka grinned back. "But yeah, she's always floating about poking her head in everything. Quite annoying at times, but…" she ruffled her pokemon's head. The small blue dragon nuzzled against her.

"She still adores you, to any extent," he smiled. He had helped Haruka catch the baby Swablu that would become Altaria, what seemed like an eternity ago, back when they were still traveling together. It had been Haruka's final catch before retiring, and she had openly admitted she would have retired earlier if it hadn't been for wanting to have at least one dragon pokemon to call her own.

"Oh yes!" Haruka smiled. "I don't think I'll ever thank you enough…" she began, but he raised his hand. This was one topic he didn't want to hear much about; he didn't like how she still seemed to think she owed him something for his part in the capture of Swablu.

"How's Torchic doing?" he quickly changed the topic. It might have been his father who had given her Torchic, but at least she didn't feel any urge to thank him to the death over that. He hadn't helped her catch Swablu for her, but mostly because it would be fun; all the rewards he needed he had gotten in the excitement of the action.

"He's doing quite well, thanks. He's sleeping now, I think," she added. "And how have you been lately?" she put some emphasis on the you ,reminding him, perhaps, that she considered their friendship somewhat more important than their respective pokemon.

"Pretty good, thanks," he smiled. "And what were those legends you wanted to talk about earlier?"

Haruka grinned, and Yuuki sat back in the videophone booth, relaxing. He knew he had just ensured he would remain in that seat for hours to come.

And, to tell the truth, he didn't mind one bit.

 

[Fig]

New Character : Furuura Miteki (19). Melody. A young woman from Shamuti Island, who once teamted up with Satoshi, Kasumi and Kenji to save the world from a dramatic change in weather balance.

Chapter 3 : Rumors of War

"I don't like the look of it. At all."

Strange shadows moved about Kasumi, whispers drifting down in her sleep, her world now shaped in shades of gray and dark hazes.

"I know. This might lead to war."
"Not a single murder. But if it continues and the government does nothing…"
"Yeah..."

She could not tell who spoke, who owned the voice. It seemed as if they came from beyond the haze, but there was no end to it that she could see. There had to be one somewhere, but where? Where did someone wait, talking…

Talking with themselves? No. There had to be at least two people beyond the haze, wherever that may be. If only she could have the slightest clue who they were…

"You shouldn't tell the others, though." Others? Two, and more besides?
"I don't agree…" the remainder of the sentence was lost to her.

She pushed against the haze, drawing all her strength. Only then did she realize her own folly, as the haze drew around her, surrounding her. If it was solid enough for her to push it, then it would be solid enough to prevent air from reaching her if she entered it. Already, she could feel the strange mass trapping her, sealing her lips, her nose…She struggled to draw breath, but nothing came to her lungs.

For a moment, she thought she could glimpse eyes through the haze, narrow, squinting, and all too familiar, haunting eyes that had been with her for the last year, carrying a silent accusation with them wherever she went.

"Takeshi," she breathed, sitting upright in her bed suddenly. She took a few deep breaths, reminding herself of where she was, an hotel room in Kinsetsu. She was not in a strange land of haze and mist, she was not being asphyxiated. But the dream – the nightmare – had felt so real…

And again, it had ended with the eyes. She knew – the rational part of her did, anyway – that the death of their friends could not be blamed on her, not really. She had had no control over her actions, had been the helpless pawn of a power sworn to destroy her, as well as Satoshi.

But had she really been helpless? Part of her could not help but go on wondering if she could have fought back, if she could have broken through the control long enough for Takeshi to…to…

She sighed. If only she could hear the words that no, there had been nothing for her to do, that the death of one of her closest friends was not her fault. But anyone who could tell her that for sure could also tell her for sure that if she had struggled just a bit more, just a bit harder…

It was only then that Kasumi became aware of the voices in the common room of their hotel suite. They were, no doubt about it, the voice from her dream. She rose quickly, memory of just what they had said all too present to her mind.

She rose from the bed, rapidly putting on some clothes. She shook her head, letting her hair flow lose over her shoulders, then stepped in the common room. Kenji and Shigeru were already there, in front of the television.

"What's going on?" she asked immediately.

"A murder in Enju. A priest of the Church," Shigeru summed up quickly, returning to the television screen. "They say there is a video-tape of the murder where the murderer says he's here to kick the Church out of Neiyon…"

Kasumi winced inwardly. She knew what that could lead to, and the very thought that someone might have decided to go down that path…

"What's so important about the church?" Satoshi questioned, stepping into the room.

"Well, they're as close to a world police force as it gets. Nearly all countries recognize the church as an international government, in addition to the organization behind the most popular faith in the world," Kenji summed up.

"Yes," Shigeru continued. "Neiyon doesn't recognize the Church as an upper level of world government – but lots of country does. And the Church is intent on one thing foremost, ensuring people are always free to practice whichever faith they desire. Which, one might add, generally translates to taking down any obstacle to people practicing the Church's faith."

"Oh…so if there's an organization murdering people to kick the church out of Neiyon…" Satoshi began, understanding dawning on him. Kasumi looked at him, and shivered; she did not like the sudden grim determination on his face.

"That might well mean war." Kasumi completed

If an organization began murdering priests and faithful in an avowed attempt to remove the church from Neiyon…

"I suppose the Church has an army of its own?" Satoshi questioned.

"Yes," Kenji answered. "The Order of the Lotus. By far the world's best military, at the cutting edge of technology, extremely trained. If the war begins, the only positive thing is that it won't last long."

Kasumi shuddered ; the meaning was of course obvious. They had no army to speak of, and if war began, they would fall to conquest within days, weeks at most. An easy prey, ripe for the picking…

"And there's nothing for us to do about it," she whispered, before Satoshi even voiced the question. "It's in the hand of the government. If they stop it, they will, and if they don't…"

Satoshi nodded. "I didn't think there was anything for us to do," he replied, though Kasumi could swear from his tone that he had been about to ask anyway. "I suppose the only thing we can really do is go on hunting down Shiranui and that Ai."

Kasumi nodded, though deep down she was troubled by Satoshi's attitude. He wasn't even interested in trying to find a way to stop the war? He would let the fighting take place without even trying to stop it, let the dying happen?

Was that really Satoshi, her Satoshi?

Was that really still the man she needed to love her, the person whose presence in her life had once kept her from falling into total despair? He had changed, been changed, so much. And, of course, so had she. She did not need him anymore, but did she love him still?

She had been madly in love with him, once, back before her kidnapping. But then…she had needed him, at first, needed his love, and thus had not really considered whether or not her feelings had changed. Now that she no longer needed him…

She remained unsure as to her feelings, to how they had changed over the last year. She certainly still cared for him, but, as he had once remarked, caring for someone and being in love with them were two entirely different things.

And then, as if those complications weren't enough, there were yet a few things she had kept to herself since her return among her friends. Things such as, for example, the fact that whenever she looked at anyone, human or otherwise, she saw a second image superimposed over them, that of an animal of some sort. Shigeru was a wolf, and Imite and sleek and elegant vixen. Kenji was an owl, and Satoshi…

She stole a glance at him, focusing on the second sight vision. A great coiled eastern dragon glanced back at her, it's sapphire mane flowing in the wind, eyes shining with ancient wisdom. She had seen another with the same aura before, except that her dragon had an emerald mane – Ai. What this foretold, she had not the slightest idea.

"We should take Yuuki's offer," Satoshi had apparently gone on talking about their hunt while she was thinking. "He's the only track we have to Shiranui."

No one spoke against the idea. Shigeru seemed worried – he could worry, as far as Kasumi was concerned. Try though she might, she could not bring herself to like the young man. He had proven himself as Satoshi's true friend time and time again…but old wounds were hard to close, and the memory of how he had treated Satoshi, all those years ago, remained ever present.

"I'll go talk to him," Kasumi offered quietly, a sudden urge to get away from the crowded hotel room rising. She needed to get out, to get some fresh air, to get out of the room, at least long enough to clear her mind.

"We're all going," Satoshi objected almost immediately, throwing her a worried glance. She felt tears welling up in her eyes; didn't Satoshi trust her anymore? She held back the urge to cry, and nodded, all the while cursing how weak she had become.

Whatever she may have wished, there was not much Kasumi could do but agree to Satoshi's plan. She knew just from looking at him that he would not give up on it, and would follow her even if she tried to go alone anyway.

So it was that the whole group set out, about an hour later. The streets of Kinsetsu were still mostly empty – it was perhaps only eight in the morning on a weekend day – and the pokemon center was easy to locate.

"I hope he's up already," Shigeru observed as they got closer.

"He probably will be. He's a trainer, after all," Imite pointed out.

"I don't know. I've known some trainers who had no trouble waking late," Shigeru observed blandly, eyes straight on Satoshi who blushed slightly. Kasumi almost smiled at the memories of how many retellings of that incident she had heard. Almost, but not quite. Memories such as these brought their lot of pain with them.

As they entered a pokemon center, Kasumi immediately noticed Yuuki; the surprise was that he was not alone. And the young woman he was talking too was hauntingly familiar, someone she could swear she had seen before…

"Isn't that…" Kenji began, his eyes wide. "Isn't she the girl from Shamuti? The one who helped us during that whole deal with the legendary birds?". Kasumi could only nod, now knowing who it was. But what was she doing here, now, talking to Yuuki?

"You know her?" Shigeru questioned, his voice heavy with suspicion for all to hear. "She's trustworthy?"

"I…I think so," Satoshi replied. "It's been a while since I last saw her. There's no telling who she is working for today, if anyone," he sounded resigned. "I'd be inclined to trust her. But I could be wrong."

Kasumi nodded, for a brief moment glimpsing a dolphin where the girl – Furuura, she thought she could now remember the name – sat.

Kasumi took a deep breath – and made her move. She didn't like stepping ahead of the others, but this, now…they could not afford to spend more time in debates on whether or not Yuuki could be trusted.

"Excuse me…" she interrupted the two of them. Yuuki turned toward her and his face brightened, while Furuura only glanced at her, never showing the slightest hint of recognition, something for which Kasumi was intensely thankful. "We just wanted to tell you we'll take you up on your offer…"

The young man nodded as the others came closers. "I spoke with my friend by phone. She think she would best be able to help you all if you visited her directly. She lives near Touka…"

"Touka?" Satoshi questioned immediately. "That's quite the distance…" Kasumi could only agree; it represented easily two weeks walking if not more. Not that they were running on much of a tight schedule, what with having wasted the last year, but…

"Far by foot. Not as far by sea," Furuura intervened. "I can take you there by ship – as long as you promise not to wreck my boat this time." She added with half a grin, her eyes turned straight on Satoshi.

"I didn't think you'd remember me," Satoshi noted. "But if you're serious about the offer, we might as well take it."

 

[Fig]

Chapter 4 : Lost Souls

A cool spring wind blew over the cliffs surrounding the forest valley that housed the treetop city of Hiwamaki, in the eastmost reaches of Houen. The newborn leaves rustled in nature's breath, some of them unable to remain attached to the branches that had given them life. They floated in the wind, flowing past a lone shape that stood atop one of the cliffs.

Her eyes closed, blue-green hair floating freely in the wind, the young woman seemed to not notice the changes in nature about her. Neither the wind nor the slowly darkening clouds overhead seemed to draw her attention.

A lone leaf flew past her slowly, drifting in the wind. Strangely, irrationally, she felt some strange kinship for the leaf. She knew all too well the feeling of being torn from your home, your family by unknown forces, and being cast to wander the world, lost in the ever-ebbing twists of destiny.

The wind suddenly shifted, and the leaf passed right next to her. There was no warning but the slightest of whistling noise, and, where a lone leaf had drifted into the wind, two perfectly cut halves fell to the ground. The shining metallic blade of a katana occupied what had been empty air seconds before.

Hers was a curse that simply should not be shared.

Footsteps echoed up the rough path leading down in the valley, familiar ones. She knew who was coming long before the woman reached the cliff top, had turned toward her already.

"Syraelle," she greeted the newcomer darkly. Syralle, her as of yet untouched by age face framed by silver-white hair, looked at her sharply. There was little love lost between the two woman, Syraelle thinking Ai far too soft, and Ai thinking likely that Syraelle took far too much enjoyment out of causing pain.

"My lady Ai," she nodded slightly, showing her usual deference. It was annoying to deal with the "lady" and their ilk, but compared to how Syraelle had once reacted to Ai – treating her as nothing, a pawn in a game she did not understand, it was a vast improvement. If only the reason of that improvement did not have such a high cost, she could have learned to be happy about it.

"What do you want?" Ai cut straight to the chase. She preferred being alone these days. Her path was not one others could walk with her. She was connected to Jigoku, the realm of cleansing that most would tend to associate with hell, and the meanings of that connection remained for the most part beyond her comprehension yet.

"You have to come back…" Syraelle replied, her voice shaking, tremors running through her entire body.

"Why?" she didn't want to do that, but there must be a reason. If Syraelle was telling her she had to do something, then chances were there were good reasons for it. Otherwise, the woman would not dare trying to tell her what to do.

"Ah,..it is…he…He is here," she finally explained. "The Master is here."

Ai's body stiffened. What was the leader of the Circle of Chaos doing in Hiwamaki? He had tasks to see too, public responsibilities to deal with far away, and he would be noticeably missed if he disappeared – people would notice his absence. And, eventually, his true loyalties would come to light.

"I'm coming," she nodded, nearly sliding down the path on her way to the small house her and Syraelle had rented in the town proper to serve as base for their operations. Ai would rather have kept wandering in search of their answer, but Syraelle, never one much prone to walking, had insisted on a fixed base of operation, and, at the time, Ai had been too distraught to really assert her authority over the woman. The news of her mother's murder, despite her efforts to prevent it, had left her a wreck for a while. Even now, the memories of her early childhood, before she had been taken away, were still a searing source of pain buried deep in her very being.

The house stood in one of the oldest sectors of Rune, although by itself it was a relatively recent construction. It was a peaceful area, and one where people mostly kept to themselves, which dramatically lowered the chances of problems from a nosy neighbor.

As Ai entered the house, she immediately caught sight of the tall figure in a black hooded cloak sitting in a chair in her room.

"Master," she bowed, acknowledging his presence. Where nearly every member of the Circle would bow here because he had been chosen as the new master of the order had died, she bowed for much more personal reason : the man before her had trained her in the art of combats, had led her into learning the ways of the mysterious dragon adepts. He was the master, and she was the disciple.

"Ai," he greeted her warmly. "I'm glad to see you again."

She smiled. Through years of training, the bond between master and apprentice had deepend to a peculiar form of friendship.

"I thought I would see how things have progressed on the search for the regi by myself. Perhaps help as much as I can, too," the man explained. "How much have you found?"

"Not much we hadn't already heard from other sources. We are still no closer to locating the actual key to the three shrines. We only know it's a temple, somewhere."

"Under the sea near Houen. Takeru told me that much before he decided he didn't want to reveal any more of what he knew of the Regi," he nodded. "Which unfortunately leave us with a wide area to search yet, as Houen is a sizeable island."

Ai nodded ; that was already something they had not found. And, though her mentor was right that it wouldn't help all that much, it still drastically narrowed the search area. Now, they did not have to worry about the land anymore. If only they could find a key to the location they sought…

"A shame that Shiranui vanished, too," she noted. "He might have known where to look." That was her first reason. The second, more personal one, was that once he had delivered the information, Ai would have been able to simply kill him, paying him back at last for the pain he had put her whole family through.

The master nodded. "Though he may yet show up again. I wouldn't count him out just yet. But anyway. Have you at least located the three shrines?"

Ai nodded. That much had been easy enough: aerial photography provided them with all the data they could possibly need. The massive stone structures were impossible to miss, even for someone who, unlike her, didn't have her instinct enhanced by the personal contact with hell. Another side benefit she could have learned to like, had it not been for the same terrible price. Whatever there was to gain from it, being bound as the agent of Jigoku on earth was not a path she would have chosen for herself. But it had not been her choice, and it was the path she would follow to the end, however lonely might it be.

"Good. Now, if we can only find the key…"

"What was that?" she asked suddenly, her attention drawn to one of the window.

"What?" the man asked in return.

"I saw something moving by the window…" she whispered, looking about. There was no hint of presence anywhere in the house, and outside, tree leaves and sun beams covered the windows. There was no sign of movement, or of any activity outside.

"A spy?" he questioned, his voice worried. Ai shook her head tensely.

"I don't think so. I'm thinking more…" she peered through one window, the other…and then saw it. "I thought so," she nodded, more to herself than anything.

"What are…" the man followed her eyes to the small white spirit standing just outside in the shadow of the tree, with its telltale disproportionate head. "What the…"

"A lost soul," Ai whispered. The afterlife was a topic she had no choice but to be knowledgeable on. "Someone who has not suffered enough to go on to Jigoku, but who cannot be reincarnated, because there's something that need to be done yet in this world."

The hooded man nodded. "Do you have any idea how to free this lost soul?" he questioned.

"Compassion? From you?" Ai chuckled. "I thought that was my department."

A slight chuckle was the only answer.

"Anyway, I do have an idea of why she's here, and what she needs," she looked again at the lost soul. Its pale white face stared back with empty black eyes. "She needs Shiranui dead," her tone became icy.

"You think…" the man did not finish. "Your mother."

"I think so, yes," Ai replied softly. She stared at the spirit. How could a woman she remembered in all her distant memories as so kind, so peaceful, be condemned to such an awful fate, wandering the world without guidance until a living did the one thing that could free her?

The door opened with a loud cracking noise, breaking her line of thought. In came a bedraggled form, clothes worn out and hair disheveled. It was, perhaps, the last person Ai would have wanted to see now. Or perhaps the one she wanted to see the most ; her hand closed on the handle of her katana.

Ai drew back in the shadows. From the entrance, Shiranui could not have seen her yet. She looked askance at the master of the Circle, who nodded.

Shiranui stared about – and his eyes landed on the one man he feared the most.

"M…mm,,,master," he bowed, stuttering all the while. "I did…did not expect you to be here. I thought it would be your…that…Ai."

The hooded man shrugged. "I had business here. What have you brought?"

Shiranui shivered. "I…I have a map…a undersea map…I think it…what you have…what she has…the place you're looking for," he handed a sheet of paper. A hand reached out from the cloak to take it, and its owner nodded as it saw what was written on it.

"You have done well," he commented evenly. Shiranui made as if to turn and leave. "Stay!" the master commanded. "There's still something more you can do for the Circle." His head moved imperceptibly, a slight nod toward the window where a moment before the lost soul had been, then another to Ai. She nodded back.

"What…what is it?" Shiranui asked feebly.

"Your informants were right, Shiranui,"she spoke suddenly. "I am here. But you shouldn't have come looking for me."

Shiranui turned to face her. Ai drew her blade.

"You killed my mother, Shiranui," she accused icily.

"I didn't want her dead!" the man protested, suddenly understanding what Ai had in mind.

"You should have thought of that long ago," Ai replied, a note of finality in her voice.
Slowly, she drew her steel blade.

"I owe my brother this much, for never being there for him," She added. Shiranui made no move to defend himself, and a split second later, his head fell to the floor.

 

[Kiyoshi881]

onje quick question how did you get your index in you story

 

[Fig]

I believe I already explained how to put up links in the index post in the Forum rules topic.

 

[Timarelay]

I must say you've done a very good job of the editting. I actually understood what was going on and never went "Wait... what? When'd that happen?" or "Who *is* that? " And the characters are being developed quite nicely. I have a few complaints about choices you seem to have made but I believe that's just differences in writing style and such ^^ Hrm... It flows very nicely and it's just a lot smoother and more interesting and easier to read. There's still little errors. A beta reader really would help with those. And then there's a few places here and there where I think you didn't need a comma or such, but I don't really want to go through and point them all out. And again, sometimes those are just differences in style and not actually error.

All in all, excellent job. I like it ^_^

 

[Fig]

Tima! Thanks for replying .

I'm really glad you like the way the editing is turning out - I quite like it too. I'm also making drastic alterations to the plot on the League side of it - Natsume's story will be mucho different.

Chapter 5 : The Shadow Falls

"What are you doing?" Hiroru peered over Domino's shoulder as she worked away on her computer, her golden hair now cut short above her black, unmarked t-shirt. Her fingers danced across the keyboard, opening and closing files with unerring regularity. In the background, the television droned most noises as the daily news coverage went on.

"Looking up some of the old mission files on there," she replied, never once taking her eyes off the screen. "Might be something useful about Shiranui somewhere there,"

"You worked on missions with him much?" It was not really a question so much as a mark of doubt. He knew quite well that Shiranui and Domino had never really had to work together, mostly because Sakaki had never thought they would be able to do so.

"Not really…" she stopped, staring at the screen for a long moment. "That's strange. I don't have the slightest hint of a memory of this mission…"

Hiroru peered over her shoulder. Chance her, he would probably remember the mission – he had been keeping close tab on her and the missions she was sent on even before she had been more than "the girl he rescued". Mostly, it had been a matter of professional interest – she had shown herself a potent killer, even unharmed – but he could not deny that her beauty had not gone unnoticed.

"Which one?" he asked, looking through the list of in-depth mission files.

"That one," she pointed, frowning at the screen. "The myutsuu project. I don't even remember any mission with that sort of name…"

Hiroru nodded. "Myutsuu project…maybe I can refresh your memory. I know where and when you forgot about that, anyway," there was not much risk in talking about it, now.

"Oh?" she looked back at him. "And what was it?"
"Myutsuu was a creation of some of the brightest scientists of the roketto-dan – a clone of the legendary myuu, but with genetic alterations that made it even more powerful. At some point, it escaped, and you were assigned the mission of tracking it down."

"I don't remember any of that…" she shook her head.

"Let me continue. At some point, you located myutsuu, and Sakaki ordered a massive operation to capture it in the crater that had become its refuge in Johto,"

"I remember that crater…I never had any idea why we all wound up there, though," she noted. "Why didn't you tell us? I'm sure I asked you if you had any idea why we were there…"

"What would you have done if I had told you?" he knew, of course, what she would say.

"I'd have gone back to hunting myutsuu…" she frowned. "You mean you didn't want me to…Why?"

"Because the whole project wasn't profitable. We had already wasted enormous resources on trying to capture it back, without any success. Not to mention, it was wrong to begin with," he growled in disgust. Myutsuu had been one of the few points of serious disagreement between Hiroru and his father. "A creature too strong to control, with enough psychic powers to level a city, perhaps even the world if the fancy took it…It was an abomination for us to create. We tried to play at the Creator, and we shouldn't have."

Domino smiled briefly. "I see what you mean," she agreed slowly. "And enslaving it to serve us…that would have been wrong. Though I'm sure Bishasu would have disagreed," she spat the name. Hiroru frowned, his eyes flashing in anger for a moment at the name. He had never been fond in any way, form or shape, of Bishasu and his darkballs.

"Yeah. Anyway. I kept what I knew of the myutsuu project to myself until now. Now, the team's too small to do much about Myutsuu, so I thought I might as well tell you."

Domino nodded, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for the truth. I can see why you didn't tell me earlier. Sorry for snapping at you."

Hiroru was not listening to her last few words. A half-forgotten memory tugged at his mind, something he thought he should remember, but somehow did not…

"Can you please check the personal information for that Myutsuu project? The scientists involved, I mean." A sudden flash of insight struck him. He knew what he had been trying to remember, and unless he was wrong, it was quite the interesting piece of information.

"Right…head researcher, Saito Fuji. Assistant, Kazo Shiranui. Told you there'd be something about him in there," Domino smiled briefly. "Why does that name, Fuji sounds so familiar though? I'm sure I heard it mentioned somewhere else…"

She shrugged, and opened the personal files for Saito Fuji. Hiroru moved closer to the screen, putting his arm over her shoulder.

The information slowly appeared on the screen, Domino reading the words out loud as they did.

"Saito Fuji, Genetic specialist. Head of the development of the myutsuu project. Family, his wife Hanako Fuji, born…" she froze in mid sentence, "born Hanako Ashitaka…."

Hiroru laughed despite himself. "The world's small, isn't it?" So that was what the memories had been tugging at. He could clearly remember it now, a discussion with his father about the family of Saito Fuji and his motivations, the tragic death of his young daughter…

"Right." Domino nodded, recovered from her shock. "I wonder what Satoshi would say if he found that out. Imagine, the son of one of the high-ranking roketto-dan scientists!"

Hiroru, again, did not listen much, instead focusing on the rest of the file.

"Wait, here's an interesting bit. One daughter, deceased, Ai Fuji. And there he says he joined the roketto-dan and the myutsuu project group in exchange for the funding necessary to clone her," he noted. His father had told him as much, but here were the details. "She apparently died in a car crash of which the only survivor was…" this time it was him who froze. "A car crash of which the only survivor was Kazo Shiranui."

Domino frowned. "It seems he made it a habit to be responsible for the death of Fuji's family members. He got both the daughter and the wife."

Hiroru nodded, feeling something of a need to shoot something. He could not remember ever being so angry, even when Natsume had turned their mother in a puppet for her personal use, even when he had been forced to run from home by her sister's madness.

"I wonder how much of an accident it really was;" he hissed. "And how much was just Shiranui trying to rise to prominence in the group."

"Mostly the later, I'd wager," Domino agreed, her voice dark. "Driving Fuji to madness to curry Sakaki's favor. That would be just the little snake's style."

Despite himself, Hiroru found his hand toying with the handle of one of his handguns, almost as if expecting Shiranui to appear, there and now, just where he could be shot. What a nice dream that would be, he smiled to himself.

Just then, words from the television drew his attention.

"…and they even murder children for their wretched goals! All that to spew their hatred of us, to make it clear to the world! And their government stands by and do nothing…"

"Another murder?" he questioned, his mind suddenly snapped back to the present and the threats of war.

"I heard about it earlier on the news sites," Domino confirmed. "A whole family of pacifists and some of their friends, who had been trying to calm down the hot heads on both sides that were starting fights in Enju. Again claimed by the same organization."

Hiroru nodded darkly. Even children, they had said?

"Kids?" he questioned.
"Not many of them. Most of the victims were about our ages, sisters. The youngest of them was about fifteen, but her body wasn't found. There's been speculation she might be alive somewhere. I just hope somewhere is not as a prisoner to those fanatics."

Hiroru nodded sadly. He could guess all too well what murderous fanatics would do to a young woman they held as prisoner. "I wish I had one of those morons here." He caressed again the handle of his gun. He might be an assassin, but there were things even he would never do, would never have done. Things he would fight again, if he had to. Enslavement was one, rape another.

"Keep your energy. We'll have a war on our hands soon enough," Domino informed him. Hiroru hardly needed the pointer. He had already realized as much – the new murders, combined with the relative inaction of the Neiyon government, made a war almost unavoidable now.

"What can we do if it does come to a war?"

"Why should we do something?" Domino replied slowly, staring at him straight in the eyes. "You said it yourself that monsters like the assassin should be arrested, and that's what any war would be about…" she whispered softly, holding his chin in her hands. "If there's a war, Hiroru, it will be none of our business."

Hiroru sighed. Try though he might, he couldn't think of a single argument against that. Yet, deep down, his feelings kept crying that to stand by and do nothing would be wrong.

"I don't know. I get the feelings there's something bigger going on. That the war, Shiranui,…it's all linked," he shook his head. It wasn't an habit of his to get such feelings.

Domino looked at him pensively. "It's possible, I guess," she conceded. "But even if it is, finding Shiranui is something we can do. Fighting off an invading army isn't."

"Obviously," he agreed. "But…I have a bad feeling about the war. Even though we can't change anything about it."

"Wars are like that," she replied, letting her head rest on his shoulder and wrapping her arms about his waist. "Don't let the feelings get to you."

He nodded shortly. "Of course not. I just wish we could so something, that's all," he had never liked being left powerless, and he liked it now even less than usual. Why, but why didn't the nagging feeling go away? For a long moment, the two of them remained silent, content to drink in each other's very presence.

"Ah, well," he shrugged finally. "Has there been any news from Satoshi and the others?"

"Not since they last contacted Musashi and Kojiro, some days ago. They said they were taking ship to Touka. Should be a while before they make port again…" she reached out to run a hand down his spine, her eyes taking a very familiar glint. "But right now, I have someone else in mind. Someone else, and other things to do than talk about those kids…."

Hiroru smiled, letting her pull his head downward into a warm kiss that soon evolved in many more such, and more beyond…

 

[Fig]

Chapter 6 : The Storm Rises

"You didn't tell us what you were doing in Kinsetsu,"

Sitting on the deck of Furuura's ship, watching the empty skies far above and the equally empty seas all around, Satoshi half-turned toward the young – only a few years older than him - owner of their ship.

"I think I mentioned it to Kenji, actually. I just didn't feel at home in Shamuti anymore. Tradition here, custom there, the way things have always been done over there…it just gets boring after a while. Especially once you've saved the world once," she added dryly. "You're hardly one to comment on wanderlust."

"I was on my journey to become a master…" he half-protested.

"I know. But how often did you go off-track just to see what was over the next hill? Who lived in the next village?" she asked softly. "How often did you on cruises just for the sake of it? We're both wanderers at heart, I think."

"I…" Satoshi began, but said nothing more. Whatever denial he had been about to oppose was, he suddenly realized, a lie. Or perhaps he had always known, but had never accepted it. Of course, there had been his dream of becoming a master…

But above and beyond, he couldn't have stayed in Masara. Or anywhere else., Nor could he do so now, either.

"I don't think I could ever settle down. At least not without seeing as much of the world as possible first," Furuura observed. "That's why I left. To see the world, to see if I could meet some familiar faces along the way…to always go on to see what's on the next island. That's the only life I feel comfortable with, now. I'm free, with no responsibilities, no constraints…"

Satoshi nodded, understanding all too well. Understanding, and wishing very much that he did not. He could do without wondering if he would ever be able to settle down. The two of them remained silent for a long time. The others were all still down below decks. Footsteps announced Shigeru seconds before he joined them.

"I see you've finally adapted to sea life," Furuura greeted him. "You're nowhere near as green as you used to be."

Shigeru laughed, getting a brief smile out of Satoshi. Years ago, his friend would definitely not have taken so lightly that kind of humor.

"I decided I was sick of the porcelain altar," he commented. He had spent the first half of the sea journey – a half admittedly marked by storms – in the ship's bathroom throwing up.

"I thought that was sick at the porcelain altar," Furuura whispered, barely loud enough for Satoshi to hear. Satoshi cracked a rare smile, thinking for a time the he had been far too taken in by worries in the last few days.

"Look," Furuura suddenly said, pointing at the horizon, and the dark line suddenly drawing on it.

"Clouds?" Shigeru asked with a worried frown. A new storm would likely send him back down.

Satoshi peered closer. "No. Land," he corrected with a slight sigh of relief. They had been too long at sea, and he couldn't wait for their investigation to finally move forward, after stalling in place for so long. It had to happen now…

They sailed in silence for a few more hours, the coast steadily growing closer, clearer in their sight. Directly ahead of the ship was a small plain, with some buildings. To the north of that, the land sloped noticeably upward in the first foothills of the great mountains massif of North-West Houen dominated by the Entotsu-yama volcano. The plain gave way to the dark shadows of looming trees, a darker mass against the hills and cliffs.

"What's happening there?" Satoshi thought out loud as Fuurura's ship drew closer. The harbor seemed packed to the brim with people, and dark, looming ships were all over the place.

"Warships," Shigeru noted. "And some transports too. Either the government's moving troops in to Houen…"

"Or else these people are refugees. The war's too close now, and lots of people have probably decided to flee from Kanazumi and Touka," Furuura completed, her voice somber.

Satoshi shuddered. He wouldn't wish on anyone to be forced to run from their home with only death and destruction behind them.

"Talking about that, there's been another murder," Kasumi stated, stepping on the desk. "Or rather, six at once – and there's a girl missing."

Something in the tone of her voice made Satoshi shiver. He knew, without even asking, that the victims were people they both knew.

"Who?" he asked quietly.

"Sakura Koizumi. Remember her?" Kasumi said quietly, making her way besides him on the rail of the ship.

Satoshi nodded. Of course, the remembered the young espeon trainer from Enju…To think of her as…

"She's the one who's missing. Her four sisters are all dead, along with two family friends," Kasumi stated, putting her head on Satoshi's shoulder. "The war's not even begin yet and we've already lost friends…" she whispered hoarsely.

Satoshi closed his eyes to hold back the tears, pulling his arms tightly about Kasumi, not caring the least bit for the other two who were also on deck at the time. He needed Kasumi now, needed her warmth, needed to be with her…

The ship silently drew closer to the docks of the harbor, in a much subdued atmosphere. Shigeru watched the shore for signs of trouble, his eyes like a hawk's. Furuura focused on sailing the ships home, her hands moving deftly at the wheel. Kasumi cried softly on Satoshi's shoulder, while Satoshi struggled still to hold back his own tears.

Slowly, the others joined them on the deck. Imite went to sight straight besides Shigeru, as usual, and Kenji went to sit at the front of the boat. Yuuki looked gloomily at the shores and the masses of refugees slowly filling up the available transports.

"I hope Haruka's not leaving in one of those…" he mentioned quietly. "I'd have for you all to have gone on this journey for nothing."

Satoshi turned toward him.

"I'd rather hope that she had the good sense to flee," he finally noted. Shiranui and whatever investigation they were on wasn't worth all the risks they might have to take…"I don't want anyone to put the hunt for Shiranui ahead of the war. Present company included. If Shiranui goes in a war zone, we're not following him."

Shigeru nodded. "I hoped you'd see thing this way," he commented.
"And what if I hadn't?"

His friend grinned. "You really want to know?"
Satoshi laughed. Probably, the answer involved beating him back to his sense, or else forcibly dragging him away from the war zone.

"I hope the war doesn't happen at all…" Kasumi shook her head, her voice faint. "Isn't there enough horror in the world without adding wars to the mix?" she questioned quietly.

"There isn't always a choice, though. Sometime, you have to go to war," Yuuki objected. "I mean, you can't just sit by and let someone kills millions…There are good causes for war."

"The question is, who decide what is a good cause for war? Who has the right to do that?" Shigeru replied. "Some wars are necessary, but more often than not, they're the result of some people having an inflated notion of their role in the grand scheme of thing…thinking they have the right to impose their vision of things on other countries."

"Nonsense, yeah," Yuuki's voice dripped with sarcasm. "If no one gets to force some common values on everyone, what's going to happen if a dictator shows up somewhere?" Satoshi almost replied, then thought better of it.

"I'd rather have a few dictatorship, horrible as they might be, than to have a country with the self-given right to force everyone else to adopt their way of life."

"Enough," Satoshi cut off the debate. He privately agreed with Shigeru more or less, but that was not the matter at hand. "I frankly could care less whether or not you think a war is justified. The point is, we're going to be in the middle of one very soon, if things keep going the way they are."

"Wrong," Kenji answered as they all picked up a new sound coming from the shores, the high-pitched whine of alarms. "I'd say we're in the middle of one, right now."

The tension grew as the ship slowly slid besides one of the piers, quickly anchored there by Furuura. They all nervously glanced at sea and sky, hoping they could get away from the harbor, from human civilization before the first attack truly began.

The entire group remained huddled at the head of the pier, awfully conscious of their vulnerability, sitting right there in the middle of what the warships present would make an all too interesting target. Furuura talked for what seemed hours with a pair of soldiers.

"I hope they're not going to order us away…" Kasumi whispered.

"I don't know," Shigeru objected. "Maybe we should just get out of the whole area for a while. This whole island's about to become a large war zone…"

Furuura nodded at one of the soldier and turned back toward the group, waving for them to come forward.

"The soldiers say they don't think we should be staying in the area, but they admit there isn't much they can do to keep us from staying here."

"I…" Satoshi hesitated. Shigeru was right, they should perhaps be leaving again. Shiranui just wasn't worth sacrificing his friends in the middle of a war zone. Not if it could in any way be avoided.

"What's that?" Kenji suddenly asked, pointing at a series of black shapes on the horizon, coming from the sea toward the harbor.

"Warships. Enemy ones. They must have been waiting for the declaration of war just off in international territory," Shigeru answered, his voice suddenly dark. "It seems the way back is closed now." Although his voice remained emotionless, Satoshi knew already how much the news distressed his friend.

Satoshi nodded darkly. With the order of the Lotus blockading the harbor, they would have no choice but to go on.

"Let's go then. Yuuki, you lead the way," he ordered, as one by one they left the pier, following the white-haired young trainer.

 

[Fig]

Charadex update : the gym leaders. They're not ALL directly in this chapter, but I'm introducing the whole batch now rather than forget any..

Sakura (24) - Daisy. One of Kasumi's sisters.
Machisu (41) - Lt. Surge. Electric gym leader (Kanto)
Erika (25) - Erica. Grass gym leader (Kanto).
Kyou (37) - Koga. Poison gym leader (Kanto)
Katsura (65) - Blaine. Fire gym leader (Kanto)
Kanna (26) - Lorelei. Ice Elite Four (Shitennou). (Kanto/Johto)
Shiba (29) - Bruno. Fighting/Rock Elite Four (Kanto/Johto)
Itsuki (26) - Will. Psychic Elite Four (Kanto/Johto)
Karin (25) - Karen. Dark Elite Four (Kanto/Johto)
Wataru (24) - Lance. Dragon Trainer, Champion of the Johto and Kanto leagues.
Hayato (22) - Falkner. Flying gym leader (Johto)
Tsukushi (18) - Bugsy. Bug gym leader (Johto)
Akane (21) - Whitney. Normal gym leader (Johto)
Matsuba (27) - Morty. Ghost gym leader (Johto)
Mikan (26) - Jasmine. Steel gym leader (Johto)
Shijima (38) - Chuck. Fighting gym leader (Johto)
Yanagi (72) - Pryce. Ice gym leader (Johto)
Ibuki (24) - Claire. Dragon Trainer, and gym leader (Johto)

Chapter 7 : Dissensions

The main meeting hall of the Neiyon pokemon league's headquarters was unusually crowded for a Sunday afternoon. Usually, around these hours, only a few visitors would be there. But with the now-declared war, the nearly twenty individual who stood in the room were no average visitors.

A lone cup of water flew across the room, surrounded in blue fire, to land in the outsretched hand of Natsume, who watched the gathering impassively. So far, no one had taken charge. Of course, with Wataru's unexplainable absence, no one was quite willing to step in and assume command of the proceeding.

Why, but why was Wataru away now, just when the league needed him the most? If anyone had the power to turn the tide of the war in all of Neiyon, it was them, the twenty-one gym leaders and elite trainers of the league. Or they could have turned the tide, had Wataru been there. He was the league's champion, the foremost trainer…their leader.

Without such a leader, they would never manage to work together well enough. Already, Itsuki and Karin were eyeing each other suspiciously. Kyou stood alone in a corner, watching the others with his unsettling gaze. Hayato and Tsukushi seemed on the verge of challenging each others, and Shiba's fist were balled so tight as to make his knuckles white.

Natsume moved closer to Kyou.

"Someone need to take charge of the meeting," she whispered. Alone of all the other gym leaders, she trusted the old ninja. They had collaborated together a few times since the end of her long self-exile from human society.

"Agreed, but who?" Kyou replied quietly, his voice betraying no hints of emotions, his dark eyes unreadable. "They trust neither of us. Kanna's a bitch, Shiba doesn't care…"

"I know. The Shitennou might be great trainers, but they're really inept at leadership, except Wataru," she noted bitterly.

"And of course, he isn't here now. I wonder where he could be."

Natsume frowned. "You almost sound like you know something," she noted.

"No, I don't. I suspect, but unfounded accusations are not an hobby of mine," he eyed warily about. "Keep a close eye on the other league members. I expect anyone of them could serve two masters." He did not say, but she knew without asking that he meant her "third eye" – keep a close watch on their thoughts.

"Alright everyone," a harsh, gruff voice called from the back of the room. "We have a problem here. We are going to do our best to solve it, yes?"

The source of the voice was easy enough to identify; standing a head taller than anyone else in the room, even Shiba, Machisu was impossible not to recognize. "One of you," he pointed at the Shitennou. "You take charge of the meeting. Now."

Natsume could have sworn she saw a sparkle of mirth in Shiba's eyes, but that sounded entirely too impossible. Karen and Itsuki both remained cool, perfectly composed. And Kanna, of course, rose to her feet, her face flushed.

"How dare you speak to us like…"

"Good to see you're volunteering to take charge of the meeting," Machisu cut her. "Now, let's get this meeting started immediately."

Kanna blinked, obviously not too able to cope with the sudden change in situation. "Alright, now you listen to me. I am a member of the Shitennou, and I will not be ordered around by a mere gym leader such as you."

Machisu glared, his eyes dark. "Perhaps you didn't understand me well, Kanna. I said, 'let's get this meeting started immediately.' Which part didn't you understand?"

Kanna took a last look at the giant staring down at her, and finally shrugged. "Alright, alright, I'll do it," she nodded. "I call this meeting of the League Council to order," she added sullenly, without much conviction. Machisu coughed, and Kanna rolled her eyes.

"I call this League Council meeting to order," she stated again, this time putting some strength in the words. The other gym leaders one by one turned toward her. "As we all know, we're here to deal with the war..." she outlined. "Any suggestion on what we could do?"

The room immediately fell back into silence. None of them, of course, had any practical suggestion to make. Here they were, the twenty most powerful individuals in all of Johto and Kanto, and they weren't even able to come up with one idea to help their country the least bit with an incoming war.

Of course, Natsume sighed, she herself was no better than any of the others. She had no idea to share, absolutely no plan…

"Perhaps we could go and actually try to get to the bottom of the whole murder situation?" Karin observed. "That's what began the war, perhaps it could also end it?"

"I'd say it's too late for that," Kanna waved aside the idea. "No, they're out for blood now."

Natsume frowned. Someone in the room – she had no idea who – had just experienced a deep shift of emotions, going on full alert. One of those present definitely did not want anyone investigating the murders.

"Something wrong?" Kyou breathed, too low for anyone but Natsume to even realize he was talking..

"Someone's playing some kind of game," she replied. "She's not being entirely truthful."

There was no sign the ninja had heard her. She turned back to the room.

"…why is it too late for the idea now? Because Wataru thought it bright to vanish just after the situation turned ugly!" was yelling. "And because none of you pansies called up a meeting in time for us to prevent the war!"

"Which begs the question," Ibuki intervened calmly before Kanna had the time to unleash her fury over the pansies comment, "where is Wataru?"

The room went silent. Natsume's sixth sense distinctly picked up the faint trace of minds suddenly going on guard, as if to keep a secret they didn't want revealed.

"Some of them know," she whispered to Kyou.

"I feel it. Notice how the room tensed with that comment?" the ninja nodded.

"Natsume, Kyou, maybe you have something worthwhile to add in the discussion, since you two are always talking off to the side?" Kanna suddenly turned toward them. Natsume barely hesitated for a second then stepped somewhat away from Kyou.

"I was just telling Kyou that from the way emotions shifted in the room when Ibuki asked about Wataru, there are some people here who know where he is – and don't want the league to know about it."

"Really now. And you 'know' that of course because of your wonderful psychic powers, I suppose?" Kanna replied in deep sarcasm. "That's complete bullshit…"

"Actually, she is quite possibly telling the truth," the emotionless voice of Itsuki, the psychic of the Shitennou, replied. "I am not as adept as sensing emotions as she is, but if she tells us that there was such an emotion shift…"

Natsume scanned the room, her eyes ranging from face to face. Itsuki's was unreadable, as always, and Kanna's was a study in cold fury. Kyou was eyeing the room much as she did, and most of the others seemed deep in thought…except one. Though Shiba's body was held in such a position as to show the greatest possible disinterest, his eyes were straight on her, boring through her skull with a penetrating glare. For the first time in her life she wondered if, perhaps, they had not all underestimated the fighting trainer.

"I don't believe it still," Kanna shook her head with a growl. "If anyone here knew what Wataru was up to, they'd have told the league already."

"Not if Wataru was up to no good," Kyou quietly objected, "and they were his accomplices."

Ibuki laughed out loud, a few others smiled. "I doubt you quite understand Wataru. He is a hero, and one of the greatest trainer we ever had. He is not working on 'dark schemes' or any such."

Natsume frowned. She had met Wataru only a few time, but he certainly had never given her the feelings of someone who would be up to dark schemes…and Kyou had mentioned earlier that he had some suspicions.

"I was not saying he was, just giving an example of one possible reason for some people in this room to know where he is and what he's up to yet not want to share with the rest of us."

Ibuki muttered something that might have been an acknowledgement. It might just as well have been a angry growl. And, in the cacophony of emotions from all over the room, to pick up the single thread of the dragon trainer's feeling would be impossible.

"Whatever the case, we aren't here to talk about Wataru's whereabouts," Kanna stated firmly, her eyes seemingly ready to shoot lightning bolts. "Again, any idea of how to handle the war?"

The room remained silent, much like it had last time Kanna had asked for ideas.

"I have this strange sensation of déja-vu…" Sakura, the only Hanada gym leader present out of the three sisters, muttered. A few of the gym leaders closer to her laughed, others stared at her with a stony glare. Natsume sighed inwardly.

"We're not going anywhere…" Ibuki commented dryly. "What about forming trainers militia to help defend the towns?"

Someone chuckled. Only one, though – the others were apparently all considering the possibility.

"That's madness…" Kyou whispered. "Inexperienced trainers…they'll only weigh down what little military we already have."

Natsume nodded in acknowledgement. Some trainers would probably be able to help, but there would never be enough such trainers. Try though she might, she couldn't think of anyone who could help out the way Satoshi and the others could have helped – and Satoshi was in Houen, far away.

"Forget it…" Machisu was saying. "Inexperienced trainers won't help one bit, even with the best intent and the best pokemon."

No other idea came. The twenty most powerful individuals in all of Johto and Kanto, and they had failed to come up with anything remotely approaching an idea.

"This meeting is over," Kanna finally proclaimed after an hour more of fruitless debates. "Do whatever you will as for the war, each of you."

The room rapidly emptied, and soon enough only Kyou and Natsume were left there.

"Where are you going?" Kyou questioned. "Back to oversee Yamabuki's defenses?"

Natsume shook her head. "Someone in the room didn't want anyone looking into the murders. I'm headed for Enju."

The ninja looked at her pensively for a moment.

"I believe there's a saying about great minds thinking alike," he finally noted. "I'm certain Kanna's wrong and that there's still a chance to stop the shooting – if we move fast enough."

 

[Fig]

Chapter 8 : Flight

Touka harbor was west of the city of Touka proper. A ring of forested hill, covered in tall evergreens, surrounded the actual city, set in a deep valley cut across by a foaming river. Most of Touka's citizens lived there, in the valley, but a handful of the wealthier ones had set their luxurious homes in the surrounding hills, far from the bustle of the town.

One such family was that of Haruka, Yuuki's friend. Her home was set close to a grove, at the foot of a massive overhanging cliff. It was not the largest of those hill homes by far, but Satoshi couldn't help but compare it what had once been his home in Masara, and feel quite out of place as a result.

"The shooting hasn't begun yet," Kasumi observed quietly, glancing back through a gap in the trees toward the harbor. They couldn't see much of it from this far away – they had been running for a good two hours – but at this distance, the sound of shooting would have been unmistakable.

"It won't be long now," Shigeru observed darkly. "They're just taking their positions."

Satoshi thought to answer, then changed his mind. Whatever he could say wouldn't change a thing to the fact that they all knew Shigeru was right.

The door to the house opened, and a girl about his age virtually flew out of it, and to Yuuki.

"Yuuki! What did…" she shook her head. "You shouldn't have come. Not with the war."

Yuuki shrugged. "The excitement make things worth it," he replied.

"You're insane," the young woman shook her head, and Satoshi took the time to observe her. Her long brown hair fell loose below her shoulders, and her green eyes seemed dead, although Satoshi could easily imagine that his own eyes seemed just as empty. "These are the people you told me about?" she finally asked.

Yuuki nodded and quickly presented them.

"I'm afraid we won't have much time to talk here," the girl, Haruka stated as soon as the presentations were done. "I was only watching for you all to show up before leaving."

Yuuki laughed, a strange sound to hear with the coming war. "And I'm the insane one?"

Haruka turned toward him with a level gaze. "I keep my word Yuuki. I promised I'd be here to give information to your friends, and here I am."

Yuuki laughed again. "Always for your friends, uh?"

"Yes," Haruka answered with a thin smile. "Anyway. What little I've been able to find about the Dragon Adepts consistently seeks to link them to the Ryuusei falls cave in the north," she turned toward Satoshi.

"Then we should…" Shigeru began, but was interrupted by a peculiar whistling noise. His heart grew colder as the noise steadily grew louder…

"Oh no…" Kenji breathed, a second before an explosion shook the ground.

"It almost sounds like firework, doesn't it?" Shigeru observed quietly, his voice barely audible with the explosions. Even so, Satoshi could still sense a slight tremor in it, the undeniable mark of fear.

"It does," Satoshi replied quietly, feeling the same tremor deep within his own voice. "We should get far from civilization, quickly. The further we are from anything worth fighting for…"

Kasumi nodded fervently. "Let's get out of here…" her eyes darted about, as if expecting soldiers to burst out of the trees at any moment.

"Haruka, is trees path still open?" Yuuki questioned.

The young woman nodded. "Let me get my things."

Satoshi blinked. First, he had no idea what the tree path was. Second, whoever had decided Haruka was coming along with them hadn't bothered to consult with him on the matter.

He made as if to speak, but the young woman interrupted him.

"You weren't considering not letting me come with you all after I waited here until the war began for you guys to show up, right?" she accused.

"I guess not," Satoshi admitted. Put the way she had, he probably wouldn't have been able to look at himself in the mirror if he had left her behind. Even if her presence meant trusting yet someone else. "And what's the tree path?"

"It's an old dry riverbed that pass close here. It's almost invisible from up in the sky, so we should be able to make it through the hills virtually unseen. Almost no one knows about that path," Yuuki replied quickly. "I suppose you've packed already?"

The young woman nodded. "I'm not crazy. I can leave in five minutes."

She kept true to her word, racing in her home and back outside in a matter of moments. "Follow me," she ordered quickly, leading them around her house, and through a small, nearly invisible gap in the hedge surrounding her backyard. A muddled down dirt path went on from there, down through a thickly forested patch.

"Whoever's behind should try to brush off our tracks, just in case," Yuuki suggested from his position just behind Haruka. Kenji, who was trailing somewhat behind, nodded and, glancing about, took a branch lying on the ground and started whipping off any traces.

They walked silently through the forest, trying to disturb the landscape as little as they could. The fewer traces they left, the lesser the chances of pursuit.

"Maybe we could run?" Kasumi offered at one point, her eyes still darting about like those of a cornered animal. Only Satoshi and Shigeru really heard her; the others seemed to miss her words in the thunder of explosions to the south.

"We'd risk hurting ourselves," Shigeru objected, "and we couldn't cover our tracks."

Kasumi nodded reluctantly. "I guess so."

They went on walking for the better part of an hour, winding their way down to what almost looked like a pebble track cutting across the forest at the bottom of a slight depression in the terrain. The bebble seemed small enough for walking on them to be safe from ankle-spraining, but dense enough that they could walk without leaving much traces.

"That's the old riverbed," Haruka identified. "We should take a quick break now."

Satoshi only realized then how labored his breathing now was. Many of his friends were sweating from the panicked flight. They stopped for a few minutes, giving Kenji the time to catch up and rest too.

"Do you know any safe place nearby?" he questioned, stealing a glance at his watch, a gift from Kasumi.

"There's an old cave nearby. Why?" Yuuki immediately answered. The young man was rummaging in his bag for something.

"I'd rather not spend the night outside, if we can avoid it," Satoshi explained even as the other young man triumphantly drew what he had been looking for from his bag.

Satoshi's breath caught. In Yuuki's hand, their handles glinting malevolently in the half-twilight of the forest, were a pair of battle knives, undistinguishable from the knives one could have found among the criminals and soldiers of the world.

Yuuki must have felt the look of frightered curiosity. "I'm not one to shy away from dangerous adventures against people who don't hesitate to kill," he explained. "I've taken to always being armed. And since I'm apparently stuck going with the lot of you and you guys are headed straight into danger, I'd rather my weapons be where I can get them quickly.

Satoshi nodded glumly, and reached in his bag to draw the sleek black form there. His only lethal weapon, the one he had taken in the streets of Masara a year ago…With a dark nod, he clipped the holster to his belt, where the gun would be easy to reach.

"I see I'm not the only one who's armed. I assume you know how to use that thing?" Yuuki asked.

"I've killed before," Satoshi answered darkly. It wasn't only a matter of needing the weapon if they fell on Shiranui now ; they may well have to fight for their lives if the fighting armies fell on them. It would be safer to just hole up somewhere, but in the rather heavily civilized areas of southern Houen, it would be hard to find a good hiding place – one that would be safe from military attacks, to any extent.

They headed on again. Outside, the sun slowly crept downward. It still had a long way to go – it was early may, and the days were becoming longer and longer – but with its current angle, the forest was already plunged in near-darkness.

"We won't be able to keep going for long," Haruka warned, although Satoshi had already realized as much.

"How close are we to that cave of yours, Yuuki?" Shigeru immediately asked, before Satoshi had a chance to do the same.

"We're almost there – look, it's there," He pointed at a nearby cliff. Peering closer, Satoshi could almost convince himself he saw a deeper darkness on the cliff.

"Right," he turned and headed that way, the others following. Sure enough, it was a cave, and though it was not the largest nor the most comfortable, it was certainly better than sleeping outside. At least here in the cave they would be nearly impossible to spot if anyone happened to pass by the old riverbed.

"We have a problem," Imite observed from where she sat in the cave, rummaging through their various bags. "We took two week worth of food for the seven of us when leaving Kanazumi. What do you have?" she turned toward Haruka.

"About enough food for a week of walking," the young woman replied glumly. "Not enough to get to the falls."

Satoshi shook his head darkly. None of them had thought of trying to obtain any food while in Touka, and now the government was bound to impose a rationing system that would make it impossible to obtain food in sufficient amount.

"We'll have to ration what we have. We can stretch it to last ten, maybe twelve days…" Imite mused. "If we can get some fruits and the like in the wild, maybe we can do a bit better. But we're going to be very stretched on a two-weeks journey."

They ate little that night, all too conscious of how limited their resources were. They went to sleep one by one, or tried to. Kasumi drifted off, and one by one the others followed, leaving only Satoshi awake.

Far to the south, the dreadful melody of artillery fire went on and on.

 

[Fig]

Well, I almost considered dropping this fic out of being tired of the pokemon community, but after much thinking - I'm seeing it through to the end, and not dropping out on anyone. I hope to see some friendly readers showing up.

Since from this chapter onward, the story takes quite a different spin from what it used to have in the older version, I'll go to one update per two days or so.

The good point is, I have chapter 10-13 aleady written, giving me a very nice safety margin to handle writers block.

Note that General Takehito is a random name thrown in the mix because I needed a name.

Chapter 9 : Divisions

"News! Get the latest news! The Order forces advance toward Kogane! General Takehito operate a tactical withdrawal!"

Natsume tried – tried – to drown out the incessant crying of the newspapers stand operator somewhere down in the streets of Enju below. For a moment, she pitied the teen, almost a boy. He would not sell much newspapers with all the citizens of the city hiding down in their basements from any bombers that came along.

On the other hand, the war had at least made it possible to find cheap hotel rooms from which to operate in their investigations. The power of the league was more than enough for the military to let them investigate in peace.

A soft double-knock echoed on her door, calling back faint memories. It was about time, she thought – the person who had just knocked was one she had expected quite some time before.

"Get in," she called mentally.

The door opened, and the familiar silhouettes of Domino and Hiroru entered the room.

"Sorry we're late. It took us a while to get past some of the military barrages. They wanted to triple-check that league pass you sent us," her half-brother noted, settling down in a chair. "I assume you took a room for us already?"

Natsume nodded. "Kyou should be back soon. We'll plan things out once he's…"

She stopped, a sharp hiss of pain filling her mind. It was not her own pain, which made things all the more puzzling. Usually, she would not feel other's emotions unless she was consciously trying to. For the pain to intrude on her thoughts like that, it must be truly intense…and it was not the first time Natsume felt such pain in the direct vicinity of Enju.

Then the pain slowly vanished, once again before Natsume had the time to pinpoint its source. She cursed silently.

"What was that?" her brother questioned ,eyes opened wide.

"You felt it?" Natsume exclaimed incredulously. "But how did you…"

Her brother only had very limited psychic powers. If he too had picked up on the sudden flaring emotion, how strong must it be?

He nodded. "I wonder what that could be…"

"What what could be?" Kyou asked. Natsume smiled ; once again the ninja had succeeded in stepping into the room without anyone noticing him. Given a psychic – two if one counted Hiroru's very limited powers – that was quite the feat indeed. He barely frowned at Hiroru and Domino ; Natsume had already mentioned them.

"Another of those flare of pains. I told you about them earlier…" she shuddered. "Someone's going through a harrowing experience nearby."

"The war?" Kyou hazarded.

"It's too far for that. No, whatever it is, it's near Enju, and it's a lot more personal," Natsume shook her head, trying to clear her mind out of the lingering feelings.

Kyou nodded. "Be that as it may," he added gruffly. "I have some interesting news. It seems half the league is here, though they didn't mention it to each other. I've seen Hayato, Shiba, Ibuki, Itsuki, Erika and quite a few others."

"Erika? Didn't she say…" Natsume began, then frowned. She had felt Erika wasn't telling the truth at that point.

"Should we contact them?" Domino questioned.

"I don't think so. There's something wrong with the league, and until we can get a better idea what exactly is the problem, I'd rather we stick to ourselves," Kyou replied calmly.

"Agreed," Natsume nodded. The way the last meeting had gone…. Too many of their fellow gym leaders were playing games of their own even now that the time for games was obviously past.

"That's all well and good," Hiroru replied. "But if we're going to find what went on with these murders by ourselves, we should find some way to…"

They all froze as one of the window broke. For a panicked moment, Natsume thought someone had started shooting at them, then she saw the rock - a rock with a piece of paper tied to it.

Natsume frowned and picked it up.

"Get out of your room now. Beware, the hotel's main door is guarded," she read out, her eyes narrowing. The trap was a classic, and…

"What's that noise?" she questioned. Steps, and now some strange series of clicks…

"Someone's trying to force the door lock," her brother identified immediately. "I'd say whoever sent that warning was not going for an obvious trap," he noted.

"Right. How do we get out of here?" As far as she herself was concerned, the question was purely rhetorical ; she could simply teleport to safety. But the others, now…

"I can make my way out easily." Natsume found herself nodding ; obviously Kyou would have no problem eluding any force that could come to get him. "Can you get your friends out?"

Natsume hesitated, wondering if she, in fact, could. Perhaps the answer was yes, but on the other hand, she had always had trouble with teleportation, and she would not take any bet on her ability to teleport multiple individuals at once.

"I can try…"

"You'll have to do it," her brother replied, glaring. "If you don't, whoever's out there's getting us all."

Natsume waited for a moment for an idea from Kyou before realizing the ninja had gone already, moving like a shadow out of the room. She offered a quick prayer for his safety, then turned to Domino and Hiroru, and focused. Painful memories of Hiroru's many jabs about her difficulties with teleporting came back to her mind…

The room remained the same. They did not move. She focused more desperately, feeling, or dreaming she felt, her brother's through her link…If he was so good, why didn't he teleport them out, some part of her thought?

Suddenly, the room seemed to lurch, then the world became gray. Darkness and light intermingled and became void. Voices, whispers called to her, trying to draw her to both sides of twilight, pulling her soul between two paths.

And then, the world was back to normal, but she was outside the hotel, in an alleyway. Of the others, there was no trace though she could swear from the way this teleportation had been different from all others before that she had at least gotten them out of there.

A shadow fell on all of her, a mountain of flesh suddenly blocking the alleyway entrance. Natsume made as if to run and scream as the shadow advanced toward her, but the man leapt forward and gagged her with his hand, holding her tightly with his other arm.

"Be quiet. They'll find you," the gruff voice advised darkly. A voice she knew very well, all too well even. So, she reflected mildly, his half-absent role of brainless mountain of muscle at the League meetings had been an act. He had all along been working against them and…

"Mmmmphhhh!" she tried to reply, struggling as he could. But Shiba held her firmly.

"Be quiet, I said! Matsuba is going to be angry enough over not finding you that he'll look over the entire town for you, and if you give him the slightest chance to guess you're here…"

Natsume frowned, a thousand questions bubbling to her mind that she could not express because of the hand over her mouth. Why did Matsuba wants to capture her? Was he the one who had tried to pick her locks? He must have been, unless all of this was some story Shiba was cooking up as he went along. Yes, it probably was.

"You don't know what you're coming up against coming here," the fighting trainer went on. "Wataru and his friends are powerful and dangerous. You don't stand a chance against them. Not even with Kyou and your two friends."

Natsume glanced about desperately, then hit on an idea. Chances where it would not work, but…

She gathered her thoughts, tired though her mind may be by the teleportation she had already managed. Her anger at the members of the league fuelled her…

It was easier this time than it had been last time. For one moment, the universe blurred and the voices called her, then both Shiba and her reappeared in a clearing just outside the town. They now stood face to face.

"I was wondering how long you'd need to think of that." Shiba observed. To Natsume's mind, his relief was obvious to see.

"How about some explanations? What are you doing here, what does Matsuba wants with me, and why are all the other gym leaders or close here?" she questioned. She could have, she realized, plucked the answers out of his mind…but she resolved to give him the chance to answer first. If nothing else, this could be a test of whether or not he intended to be truthful with her.

"I'm here because Matsuba and Itsuki are here. They are here on order from Wataru, to make sure no one interrupts the war for a while yet. The other gym leaders…Karin is here with me. I don't know how many of the others are present or why they are."

Natsume nodded ; the information he had just mentioned seemed perfectly conform to what was in his mind. It also seemed completely ridiculous, something she couldn't quite bring herself to believe.

"Wataru, uh?" That was by far the most unbelievable claim she had heard from him.

"Yes. Now, I think you should call your friends and Kyou here. Once they've joined us, I'll explain everything I know about Wataru and his plans."

Natsume nodded darkly, and sent her mind through the streets of Enju, in search of her three companions.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Mmm! *is always intrigued by Sabrina*

 

[Fig]

Chapter 10 : Separation

"Is it time to eat yet?" Satoshi asked hopelessly. His grumbling stomach had prompted the question, even though he already knew the answer he would get.

"Not anymore than it was last time you asked – about ten minutes or so ago," Imite grumbled back. She had taken up the job of controlling their limited supplies, and she behaved with the food like a hen protecting her eggs.

They had been on the road over a week already, most days spent marching as far as they could, only stopping after the sun was well down past the horizon, and rising again long before the sun did. They had long since crossed the Kanazumi area, leaving behind the dry riverbed that had given them such a safe path so far. Their road had taken them deep in the mountains of Houen, following abandoned ridges and half-forgotten ravines. More than once, they had narrowly avoided being found out by troops from this or that army.

"We should get to the cave sometime tonight, perhaps tomorrow." Shigeru, who had been looking at the map, turned toward them. "And after that…after that we can only hope there's something to be found around the cave."

Satoshi nodded glumly. They would be out of bread soon, and though in normal time he would never miss the dry, almost stone-like bread they were now reduced to eating, it was still all they had left. Most of their other supplies had run out already days ago, with only water being plentiful – pure mountain streams were everywhere to be found.

Satoshi stole a glance at Kasumi, walking somewhat ahead, her eyes staring at the emptiness straight ahead. At times, the young woman seemed like a ghost now, an empty shell. The traces of the war they had found – orphaned children, homeless refugees – had left her devastated, far more so than it had affected any others of them.

Satoshi sighed. He had tried as best as he could to reach through to her. But nothing he could do worked, as if a solid wall now stood between them. When had they become so separated from each other? She cared about him, that much he was sure of, and he cared about her, but…

"Look," Haruka pointed ahead as they turned a bend in the path. The young woman had mostly kept to herself so far on the trail, revealing very little about her history, her emotions and thoughts. For a moment, Satoshi had thought.

"How are we supposed to get past that cliff?" Kenji questioned. A looming wall of stone waited ahead, seemingly barring the path.

"There's a cave," Yuuki quickly explained. "It's a short one, but it connect three roads through the mountain – the one that lead to Kanazumi, the one to the Ryuusei falls, and the one to the desert near the Entotsu-Yama."

Satoshi nodded. Soon enough, he could see that they had been telling the truth : there was indeed a cave entrance piercing the massive stone wall. They stopped by it for a brief moment and Imite relented, letting each of them take a piece of dry bread. Satoshi heartily munched on his, although it vanished entirely all too soon. He would have asked for more, but knew that for the exercise in futility it was.

"Might as well head on," Shigeru muttered a minute or two later. No one spoke in protests, and Shigeru rose. His stomach, despite the just-eaten bread, still felt so terribly empty…

The cave was dark and damp. It did not have the quiet majesty of the rock tunnel far back in Kanto, nor did it have the stunning beauty he had heard could be found at the Ryuusei falls, tunnels carved through crystal by pure water. Spider webs hung everywhere, and the flapping of bat-like wings was never too far as many of the cave-dwellers were awakened by the glare of their flashlights.

"We should reach the crossroad soon," Haruka noted softly. She was quite the mystery as far as Satoshi was concerned : a beautiful girl, undeniably, and one who seemed quite likeable – someone who could have easily made many friends – but instead she seemed to have withdrawn from the world, to focus on her reading.

Ahead, the tunnel split, the one path they had been following dividing in two.

"What way do we go?" he asked, then grimaced as his stomach started rumbling again.

No. That, he suddenly realized, had not been his stomach. The rumble had come from elsewhere, from the earth all around them…

"Earthquake!" Imite warned somewhat superfluously.

"Down!" Satoshi reacted as quickly as he could, trying as best as he could to remember what else one was supposed to do in an earthquake. Joining the action to the words, he dove, using his arms to take Haruka down while he was at it. The young woman seemed about to say something, but her lips remained closed as the shaking intensified.

The shaking went on and on for what seemed hours, and sounds not unlike the crash of thunders filled the air as dust rose in billowing clouds. For a time, it seemed as if the ground would open straight under Satoshi, swallowing him deep beneath the surface of the earth, removing him from human existence. Finally, the shaking subsided.

"It's calming down…" Haruka observed after a long moment, her voice still shaking. Only then did Satoshi realize he was still half over her, arm thrown over her shoulder in a protective motion. A sharp pang of guilt shot through his entire self with the realisation he had been protecting a mere acquaintance rather than Kasumi. But it had been Haruka that had been nearest when the ground had begun shaking, and there had been no time to think, only the reflex to protect the nearest friend…even if she was not nearly as close to him emotionally as any of the others..

"You guys alright?" Shigeru asked from where he had gone down, in the mouth of the rightmost of the two new tunnels. Satoshi's friend was slowly trying to get to his feet, still unsteady after the earthquake…Satoshi nodded in relief, his friends were alright.

Without warning, the seismic waves returned, even stronger than they had been if that was at all possible. Satoshi closed his eyes to protect them from the showering rock and dust.

The earthquake did not last nearly as long this time, and eventually, in a roar vaguely reminiscent of thunder, it ended. Satoshi took a few deep breath, trying to convince himself he was still alive.

"You're alright?" he asked Haruka, slowly getting off her, hoping there would be no more quakes. Ahead, he could no longer see the faint glimmer of light that had announced the exit of this particular tunnel. Which must mean that somewhere ahead, the tunnel had collapsed.

"Yeah, thanks for protecting me," the young woman replied, breathing hard. She turned her head slowly toward him. "I…" she began, then stopped midway through whatever she had been about to say. The look in her eyes turned to absolute horror.

Satoshi did not need to turn to know what he would find there. He remembered the dark roaring noise during the second quake, the feeling that the earth was splitting up to swallow him…

Nonetheless, he turned to confirm his worst suspicions. The tunnel behind them had collapsed, blocking with only one way to go instead of three. More importantly, at best, it separated him from his friends, forcing them on a completely different path.

At worst, his friends were not on the other side of the new wall, but under it, dead.

He reached to his pocket, and the cellphone within – and swore violently. The little device had been crushed in the earthquake. He threw the useless wreck at the wall.

"Damn," Haruka noted as she watched the broken piece of electronic equipment. She reached for her pack, and dug through it – then breathed a sigh of relief as she drew out a pokedex-like device, though larger than the usual pokedex. The device seemed intact.

"What's that?" Satoshi asked.
"It used to be a pokedex – the new generation ones, they're almost like personal computers," she reported. She flipped a switch and a small keyboard extended from the device. Her fingers were soon flying across it, typing in her message.

"I've sent Yuuki an e-mail. He has another pokedex like this one, so unless it's broken he should be able to receive it, and message me back,"

Satoshi nodded, not trusting himself to speak just yet. His fists remained tightly clenched, though he strove not to let any other sign of his emotions show. Deep within him, helpless fury welled up, but he refused to let it appear.

"Let's head on," Haruka added seconds later, after putting her pokedex back in her pack. "We don't have any food…we've got to get somewhere soon…"

Satoshi nodded and lead the way. His eyes pierced the darkness, trying to find their way as best as he could. Seconds later, he found his worst fears confirmed : the darkening of the cave had indeed meant the way out had been cut off by the earthquake as well.

"Where to, now?" he asked hopelessly. Now that they seemed lost, the hope that his friends had survived seemed somehow far dimmer…

"There has to be another way," Haruka replied quietly.

Satoshi sat down, scanning their surroundings as best as he could. There did not seem to be anything nearly like another way out…Or maybe, he suddenly stopped, there was.

"Do you feel it?" he asked, turning to Haruka, not daring to hope he was right.

"A draft," she nodded, and though in the darkness it was hard to make out her feature, he was certain her frown had turned to a smile.

"There!" he pointed at a large rock nearby, and, shoving hard as he could, pushed it aside. Sure enough, there was a hole behind it, and though it did not lead to the outside world, it was certainly a new way. "Let's go."

He took Haruka's hand, and entered the hole. For a moment, he thought he was falling in a pit, but half a second later, his feet came in contact with the ground. The passage was simply somewhat lower than the one they had been in.

"Be careful!" he warned, but Haruka had already joined him. Smiling sheepishly, he looked about – there was only one way to go now, as far as he could make it out. "

They had walked for hours, or at least what seemed like hours, when Satoshi noticed a peculiar noise. At first, he had thought it to be a roar, but it was too continuous to be one.

"What's that?" he questioned, puzzled. Haruka did not answer, but she started running ahead in the darkness. Sighing – as far as he was concerned, running in the dark cave was heading in needless danger – he followed her – and stopped hard as he reached some minutes later the edge of a river. The roar, much louder now came somewhere to his right.

Satoshi blinked, noticing for the first time how brightly lit the new cave was. Looking about, he soon found the cause: sparkling veins of crystal, probably running from the surface, plunged directly to the cave. And now, too, he understood the roar. A river ran a few feet from the cave entrance, and somewhere to its right, clouds of mist rose from it.

"The Ryuusei falls," he smiled. "We made it."

Haruka said nothing for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was a whisper.

"We're not alone," she stated, a frown darkening her features.

Satoshi turned his head slightly – sure enough, standing at the entrance of the tunnel they had come through was a shadow of a man. He stepped forward in the glowing crystal light.

"I've been waiting for you, Satoshi," he noted with the slightest hint of impatience in his voice.

Satoshi barely noticed the words, anymore than he noticed the man's pale brown hair, or his piercing emerald eyes. What he did notice, however, was the red cloak the man wore, held at the neck by a clasp in the form of two entwined dragons…

--------------------------------------------

Upcoming chapters, and who they feature (already written chapters) :

11 : Ai
12 : Hiroru
13 : Shigeru
14 : Satoshi

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

*salivates* More! More!

 

[Fig]

Chapter 11 : Confessions

The world was dark and, although the young woman could hardly notice it against her clinging wet-suit, humid. The sole light came from the beam of her flashlight, piercing through the shadows to illuminate dark walls of broken rocks. Behind her, a pool of water which opened up on the only passage leading into the cave. Ahead, dark runes covered the wall.

Few in the world would have been able to understand these runes. Ai Fuji did. It was not anything she had learned on her own – it was a part of her curse, a gift bestowed by Jigoku on its most favored servant. She did not relish the status nor the power that came with it, but she understood the cause – knew what Jigoku sought to accomplish.

Even if she had to die to bring that dream to reality, she would gladly do so. A thousand time better to sacrifice herself for a worthy cause than to stand by and watch, knowing what could be – what could have been, if not for her weakness and cowardice.

"The gates of hell spawned forth three demons, creatures of darkness…" she began reading the runes. That part, she knew, was false. The creature she sought here had never come from Jigoku. Man, and man alone had inflicted the terror of the three regi upon the world.

She went on reading. The ancient history of how the Regi, titanic pokemon of ice, steel and rock had been sealed away after their devastating rampage throughout houen was long since passed into legend, half-forgotten alongside a thousand others.

"…we sealed them away, and locked the seal beyond mountains, that they may never wake again. Then did we seal the key here, that it may be used again should another terror arise. Beyond this wall lies the…"

"Beyond this wall" was all that Ai really needed. It told her what she wanted to know ; within half a second she had summoned her massive Steelix.

"Dig through that wall," she ordered quietly. Part of her dreaded what she would find beyond, she couldn't deny. Sacrifice herself for the cause, she had no problem with. But to sacrifice others to the same cause, now, was hardly the same thing…

Slowly, the massive beast pierced through the rocky wall. When the passage was large enough for her, Ai stepped through it, watching carefully about the new room. Aside from the absence of a small entrance pool, it was mostly the same as the older one. Most of the walls were covered in runes, but she could already figure from a cursory glance that the ones she wanted to see were those on the back wall.

She recalled her pokemon and stepped there as swiftly as she could – but before she could reach the panel, the light of her flashlight grew dim and died.

Ai frowned. She had seen to it that fresh batteries were set in her flashlight before leaving ; for them to give up now was anything but normal. Someone must be in the room, somehow interfering with her.

"Who are you?" she called out. They must already know where she was, there would be no reason to hide herself.

"My name matters little," the answer came straight within her mind. "You would not know it. I am here to stop you. I cannot allow you to proceed any further with your mad scheme."

Ahead, twin slits of light broke the monotony of the cavery – eyes. Psychic's eyes, unless she missed her guess. So, some psychic creature had decided to oppose her.

"You do not understand what I seek to accomplish," she shook her head. The creature's formal way of thought seemed to require an answer in kind.

"I have long watched you. You seek to awaken the Regi, terrors of unparalleled destruction," the voice accused again. "Should you succeed, they will call the other legendary pokemon to their side, and ravage Neiyon in their furry. Is that not true?"

Ai nodded. "It is true. But that is only a mean, not an end."

She could feel the equivalent of a frown for the creature, ripple of curiosity mixed with suspicions flooding her mind.

"What end justify the horrors you have perpetrated here? The horrors you have visited on Kasumi Kaihana and your own brother? They are two noble souls, both undeserving of what you and your allies have visited on them."

"What end justify the horrors here? A great cause indeed…" she sighed. There were no words to describe her cause. If there was a way to crouch it in words that appeared reasonable, there would be no need for the Regi, there would have been no need for Kage. All she would have needed to do was to speak with her brother and eight others, and everything would have happened as it should have.

But no words could explain it all, not before those listening to her words decided she was either insane or lying. It had taken her months of learning and explanations to understand, and the same could be said of virtually all others within the Circle

She opened her mind to the scrutiny of the creature. Her long-held mental defences vanished slowly, revealing the truth of her intent, the truth of what she knew that few others did.

The truth of the eight seraph, and their eternal vigil over mankind. How they watched above, and how the world obeyed their will in every way.

The truth, too, of Mankind's long-lasting entrapment in a world they were slowly outgrowing, a world they were not meant to live in forever. They had never been meant to do so, but their journey through time and space had been halted.

And beyond that, the truth of her feelings about Kage, about Kasumi, and about Satoshi, just as well as the truth of her feelings about herself. How she pitied Kasumi and loathed what had been done to her. Her readiness to sacrifice herself if need be for her cause, and her love for her brother.

"So that is what you seek to accomplish…" the creature mused.

"Yes," she replied. She now had an idea what the creature could be, although she certainly would not have expected it to appear here, fighting against her. Shiranui had always reported the creature had been insane, a danger…and here it was, trying to defend mankind?

"Perhaps I have misjudged you." it admitted. The light of her flashlight suddenly flared to life again, flooding the room.

The creature standing before her was the strangest sight she had ever seen. Standing on its hind legs, it had otherwise a shape somewhat reminiscent of a feline. Its eyes blazed with psychic powers, and its foreleg where impossibly short, giving it an almost human look. A long tail came out of its back, rapidly narrowing to a fine whip-like implement before widening again into a mass toward the end. But the strangest part of its physical shape was doubtless the tube linking its head to its neck.

"You are myutsuu," she stated quietly.

"I am." the mysterious creature replied.

Ai nodded. She had suspected as much from the description she had heard, one of the many report Shiranui had handed the council. After all, the creation of myutsuu had been deeply tied with another operation of the Circle – her kidnapping, and apparent death.

"How it is that you know about me?" the creature questioned.

She hesitated. If she opened her mind to that, she would reveal her ties with Shiranui, with Myutsuu's creators…

She did not need to speak. The creature's eyes slowly grew to a brighter blaze. With a deep sigh, she finally opened her mind fully, revealing her entire self, her dreams, her desires, her feelings. She did not like opening herself so, completely naked to the creature's mental scrutiny, but if she didn't do it, how could the beast come to understand her?

Images flared at the surface of her brain, thoughts of what had been and what could come to be. Her childhood flared brightly, days of happiness with her parents, days of crying from dawn til dusk after she had been taken, despite the reassuring presence of her uncle.

Then, the terrible days of growing up alone. She could not come into the human world – not when they thought her dead. There were others in the Circle, of course, and they taught her as best as they could, but she had been lost from her earliest childhood in a world of adult.

And, shining brightly throughout these visions, a single face. The only kid she had known throughout her childhood.

"You love him?" the mental voice questioned.

Ai shook her head. She did not love Tsukushi, not in the way the voice suggested. An orphan picked up by their founder when he was four, they had grown up together, were virtually the same age – he was her friend, almost her brother, but would never be more.

"You still care deeply about him. As you care about your brother," Myutsuu remarked. "You are much like him. You share his strength of character and his will to sacrifice himself out of love."

Ai frowned, though the compliment touched her in a way mere words could not describe. "How do you know all that about my brother?"

The creature did not answer, although Ai could not help but feel the pain of the spirit brushing her mind.

"It is better that you do not learn of this now," Myutsuu finally replied.

Although she loathed the idea of letting it go, Ai could see she would get no answer. "Maybe one day then," she shrugged with a sigh. Questions without answers did not sit well with her.

"Maybe," Myutsuu replied dubiously. "In the meantime, I will help you best as I can. Your cause is well worth it,"

Ai barely resisted the urge to let out a scream of triumph. She had hoped to convince the creature to withdraw and leave her to her scheme ; to instead convince it to assist her in her quest was beyond anything she could have hoped for.

"Nine must live for you to succeed," the creature noted. "Fire, Ice, Thunder, Nature, Light, Darkness, Spirit, Water, and the human. I will see to it that they are not slain in the days to come," it promised.

Ai nodded, feeling a great weight lifted off her mind. She had often wondered how dangerous their plan could be, hanging on the survival of nine specific individuals. Now, that survival was answered as far as she could tell.

"Thank you," she replied sincerely, but the creature had already left, its spirit power bearing it away. Silently nodding to herself, Ai went back to work on the tiles in front of her, trying to make sense of the many runes.

It barely took a few minutes for her to decipher the runes, and a few seconds more for the earth to begin splitting and screeching as an earthquake shook the very core of Houen.