The Road To Palantria

[Neo Pikachu]

http://pirate.shu.edu/~rodmanjo/RTPBanner.jpg

What is The Road To Palantria? This is a fantasy fic that I have been working on recently, and was inspiried by a good friend of mine on another forum. I've done plenty of fics before this, both ones that featured Pokemon and many long stories that didn't. There is some violence in this (no blood) and I edited the swearing from the original copy, since the forum censors it out anyway.

With that said, I hope you enjoy reading The Road To Palantria.

http://pirate.shu.edu/~rodmanjo/RTPChapter1.jpg

June 18, 2007 was indeed the final day of my junior year in high school and the beginning of a summer I was seriously looking forward to. School had been a long and terrible nightmare through the entire year, and now I was finally ready to say to heck with it and start doing the things that I actually wanted to do, rather than spending countless annoying hours learning about protons and neutrons and reading yet another book by Ernest Hemmingway. Indeed this divine day had arrived at last, not to mention that one of my friends already had big things planned for the summer such as going to the shore for a few weeks, and I seriously couldn’t wait until it all started. I had been waiting all freaking year for this day to finally arrive. It sure took its time…

We had spent those long days of mindless test-taking torture at Speedwell High School, home to over a hundred teachers taken from the lowest floors of the abyss itself. Problem was, in the Atlas Region, there were no good high schools for miles. Most of the region had been just highways and interstates leading to more interesting and more important regions. All along these roads were just a few fast food places, cheap hotels, and gas stations, the same kind of places that tourists would just stop by for a few minutes and move along to get to where they really wanted to go. Past all of those crappy locations were the suburbs, with small houses on plots that were an acre each.

We lived in a small town called Speedwell, which didn’t have its gym and only had a single Pokémon center located on the way outskirts of the town, right near Interstate 47, built for the tourists rather than the citizens of Speedwell itself. Little Speedwell would probably never get its own gym since Speedwell was so tiny and so boring. Because of this, we owned Pokémon but any real battles were terribly rare. Pokémon leagues seemed to be a hundred miles away, so most of us didn’t bother trying to sign up for one. Living in small town Speedwell, we sometimes heard of kids setting off on their own to try and become champions, but then we didn’t hear from them again. In Speedwell, if you had a single badge, you were a god. Kids would come from their houses and would beg to lay eyes upon the tiny metal pin like it was the last source of food on the planet.

The only way we had Pokémon in our town was through the Internet, since there weren’t any Pokémarts around, we had to order everything online. And thanks to FedEx, the truck-shipping company every Pokémon Trainer in Speedwell hated like crazy, those orders usually took around two months to reach us. Believe me, Pokémon Trainers in Speedwell were few and far between because of it. Instead, sports were much bigger and parents put far more emphasis into the Speedwell High Football Team, called the Speedwell Storms. While other high schools were more proud of their Pokémon Trainers, their football teams took a serious and lethal beating from the Storms. But, while we were better than most schools, we never came out on the top. We got close, but never far enough.

As for myself, I owned two Pokémon, an Umbreon and a Machop. That was it, and to tell the truth, I was mighty proud of my Umbreon, being only one of the very few Pokémon around the town that actually evolved. As for Machop, the only way we trained was in the basement recreation room, which contained all the exercise equipment. Still, that alone was never going to get him too far. He needed to be in battles to get true experience, and in Speedwell, there wasn’t a single freaking thing here to help him get that far…

However, I didn’t put too much concentration into my Pokémon considering my situation. The love of my life was music. I loved techno, punk rock, and serious heavy metal, and had enough CDs in my room to cover the walls. I loved to sing along and scream out loud with my favorite artists. Since I lived with only my step-dad, he was often gone and I was usually left alone, usually filling the house with the loud blasting of my music, much to the annoyance of my old and cranky neighbors.

That’s how I was usually able to handle myself. My step-dad, whose name was Frank, always called me son but I knew that wasn’t the truth. Since he didn’t care and I didn’t care, he usually left me alone and it wasn’t rare for him to leave on business trips that would last for months. Since he clearly didn’t want to be around me for the entire summer, he usually made plans to leave around that time, usually for a very long period of time seeming like he just wanted to get away from me. We had such great relationships…

Because of that, I usually hung around one of my closest friends. Kenneth Harris had been a true sports jock, hanging around school and being a great linebacker for the Speedwell Storms. He had blonde hair in the form of a buzz-cut, and he always wore an optimistic smile around friends. He liked showing off his football jerseys with the giant, white “19” one the back with “Harris” right above the number in white letters. Kenneth wasn’t the biggest guy on the football team, but he was probably one of the coolest.

And surprisingly, Kenneth owned one Pokémon himself, a Skarmory he went through a lot of pain to get, or at least he father did. Kenneth’s parents let him do just about anything. If he wanted to leave for a few months, they’d say yes and it was a done deal. Since he wasn’t spoiled as a kid, it seemed like it was payback time. Because of him, the both of us had a great idea to go to the shore for a month and hang out with two of his other friends, Matt Fairfield and Jason Carr. And without much surprise, Matt and Jason were also from Speedwell High, but they knew nothing about Pokémon. To those two, true companions were those from the opposite sex.

Well, those were the four of us, but among us, we had one serious problem. I spent hundred of bucks on a music budget each month and Kenneth spent every last dime on better football equipment. Meanwhile, Matt had worked another job during last summer just to pay for his maximized MasterCard. And then there was Jason Carr, who blew his entire budget on a car and games for his Playstation 3. When it came to finance, we were a disaster.

But this year, we had found a solution to our problems. Seriously, we had come across mister money himself in the flesh…

Eric Feldman was probably the most picked on junior in our entire school, mainly for the undeniable fact that he used to dress like a complete dork on purpose. Everyday, Eric would have come dressed to school with one of two dress types. One style was dressing up with white flannel shirt and black khaki pants, and the other was dressing with a plaid shirt and pants, as if he was a preppy guy in the middle of a country club golf course. And to tell the truth, Eric’s parents did indeed live a very preppy lifestyle.

Back then, Eric was the guy who kept getting the straight A’s and the kid that teachers loved. He had short black hair and square glasses with a black plastic frame. He liked to smile a lot and even though he was picked on, he just turned around and said to heck with some people. To most people, Eric seemed like the average computer geek that was far more involved with work and study than music, sports and video games. But there was a part of Eric that no one knew about for the longest time…

His father was the Chief Financial Officer of Chrysler, and that’s where Eric’s fat budget came from. No one ever even knew Eric was a walking, talking gold mine until the day we found out about it. It had all started one fateful afternoon…

One day, we had come across a wallet he had lost under the bleachers outside after an outside assembly. When we opened it up, our jaws dropped at the sight of nearly ten freakin’ Benjamins in that one little pouch. And since we found a driver’s license with Eric’s name in that same wallet, we knew it was from him. He was loaded beyond our imagination…

I was tempted to spend the money, but thanks to Kenneth, he came up with an even better idea. Instead of spending that $1200 dollars, we decided to give it back to Eric, and upon seeing that we returned his lost wallet, he seriously told us he would be “forever in our debt.” So after that, we became “friends.” We didn’t hate Eric after that, since he had a butt-load of cash and in thanks for returning his wallet and being “pals” with him, he was always there to assist us with every investment we desired. Matt and Jason rolled their eyes at seeing Eric with us at first, but when they realized the truth about him, they also welcomed him in with cheerful smiles.

And as the year passed, we changed that guy for the better. After hanging around with us for the longest time, he wanted to be like us, and fit in more with our gang. He insisted to his father that he would say good riddance with his glasses and insisted on getting laser eye surgery. After that, he never wore those annoying plastic glasses again. And he got even better when one day he helped us curse at our English teacher after she failed our class on a crappy vocabulary test she concocted, and after many days with us, he finally gave up his annoying classical music and we welcomed him with open arms into the world of the new age of music. Eric’s father didn’t like how it changed him, but Eric didn’t care at all. In fact, it seemed like it was his father that did most of the work on making Eric a nerd in the first place.

When June 20th came around, Kenneth, Eric and I had met, and the three of us packed up for road trip that would be a six hour drive from Speedwell to the shore house that Matt and Jason were renting for the month all the way in Gray Banks. I was willing to take my black Ford Explorer all the way down there, since it had enough room for our bags and all the clothes and other crap we where bringing all the way down there. Even while we were packing up the car, we had the radio playing heavy metal. After quite some time, we finally packed everything we needed into the car that was in the middle of the driveway of my house. It had been a nice breezy morning, and we were finally able to say to heck with Speedwell for once and get down south to where we really wanted to be for the summer. I knew that opportunities like this were very rare, so I was willing to enjoy it while it lasted.

Gray Banks was much more populated than Speedwell, with plenty of small houses that were closely knit together and usually came equipped with one garage that almost no one used for cars. We had been there once before, and we had an awesome time, but those times weren’t like the ones we had now.

After packing everything up, including the radio, we got ourselves in the sport utility vehicle. I had been the driver, Kenneth was sitting right next to me in the passenger seat while Eric was in the back. After we were buckled up, I then put the black, leather clutch in reverse and then I backed out of the tiny driveway. After pressing the button to shut the white garage door of my step-dad’s little, white house, I then headed out of the driveway, and then we began our trip toward Gray Banks. I took a few empty and boring local roads before taking the off ramp to get onto Interstate 47 South, and then we joined the rest of the morning traffic. From that point on, it was just highway driving, along with plenty of loud music, Frito Lay chips and two refrigerator packs of Pepsi and A&W Root Beer, as well as a truckload of long and hilarious conversation.

After we had been on Interstate 47 for a long time, the music stopped for a while, and then we began talking. One of the discussions we had was particularly interesting, considering we lived in Speedwell.

“Eric…” Kenneth had said to him, turning around and facing him, “If you could choose to enter into a Pokémon League, which one would you choose?”

Eric had to think it over, and honestly, I pretty much felt the same way. I barely knew anything about the leagues. Kenneth could have asked me the exact same question and I still wouldn’t know how to answer it.

“Probably Johto’s.” Eric responded, looking at the one Pokéball he had on his belt, “But the only Pokémon I have is Magnemite.”

“Well if you hide it…” Kenneth responded, just snickering about it, “They actually give you a free one. They even let you choose between three of them.”

Eric couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“What, they actually give you one!?” Eric asked in a humorous tone, “Are they stupid or something? I thought the people who started new trainers off were brilliant Pokémon professors. Why are they dumb enough to give free Pokémon away?”

“Well, that’s the way they do things around Johto, Kanto and Hoenn.” Kenneth replied, nearly laughing himself, “Atlas used to have a league until they later found out the league needed its own marketing department just to get trainers to participate in their tournaments. After that, the whole thing was gone and it never came back.”

Eric’s laughter had died down a bit, and then he turned to look out the window.

“How much are Pokémon in abundance over there?” Eric asked, glancing at the red Honda Accord that was passing us on our left.

“They’re freakin’ all over the place, man…” Kenneth had told him, turning back and looking out the windshield again, “I’ve seen pictures of it. They can’t go for one day without thinking about ‘em.”

I knew that was very different from what we had here. In fact, it was a truly rare occurrence that the three of us were all Pokémon trainers ourselves, even if it was in a pretty small degree. But the truth was, we barely trained. Even new trainers that had only been training for a week could probably beat the lot of us. It was a good thing that Speedwell wasn’t the move appealing town to move to. Otherwise, if a fresh and seasoned trainer came along, the entire town would be a feast to him…

As we moved on, the traffic started getting lighter and lighter. It had been about two hours since we left, and we were making pretty good time. Meanwhile, Kenneth had been looking at me, and was wondering something.

“How on Earth do you wear that black t-shirt and black jeans in the middle of the summer, Chris?” Kenneth asked me, looking at me in an odd way.

“Heck, as long as it’s comfortable, I really don’t care.” I responded to him, keeping my eyes on the dusty road ahead.

I had been wearing one of my many black t-shirts. The one I was wearing had the logo of a punk rock band that had been one of our favorites, one called Serpent Synthesis. The band’s name was in large, white letters in the form of grunge stencil lettering. Below it was the image of a green snake slithering on top of an electric guitar while both of them were surrounded by a circle of flames. As for the jeans, while most people wore blue, I liked to wear black. That was just my preference.

And soon after that, he started looking at my hands on the wheel. I had a bad feeling we were starting to get bored…

“How did you get that?” He asked, pointing to something on my hand.

“A piece of glass…” I responded to him, thinking his was talking about the scar that was around my wrist, “I got that scar when I tried to grab a bottle before it broke on the floor. When I didn’t get it, it busted into a million pieces and one of them flew into my hand.”

Kenneth looked away for a bit, but then he looked right back at the hand again.

“Actually, I was talking about that brown spot on your left finger.” Kenneth replied as he stared at it.

“That?” I asked him, looking at the tiny spot on the index finger on my left hand, “That’s a mole. I’ve had that for a long time, probably since the day I was born.”

I really didn’t see why he was interested in it. I know I should have gotten it removed awhile ago, but I didn’t care enough. Kenneth had a whole lot of interesting scars and scabs on his arms and legs, but he never saw me talking about them. And then there was that nice cut on his forehead that looked pretty fresh. Still, I didn’t care. I wasn’t getting that many thrills myself from watching the road myself.

“Chips anyone?” Eric asked, breaking the silence and grabbing himself a bag.

“Eh, I don’t care…” Kenneth responded, still looking ahead and the one single car that was in front of us.

Since we did seem awfully bored, I suggested to Kenneth to pop into another CD. After I suggested that, he quickly threw one in, and soon after, the music speakers gushed with loud, heavy metal music. That quickly got us in a better mood, and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves alone on the Interstate. I loved it, since it meant I didn’t have to wait for some other moron to cut me off.

Still, despite the music, I couldn’t wait to get to Gray Banks. The drive was taking long enough as it was…

[Neo Pikachu]

http://pirate.shu.edu/~rodmanjo/RTPChapter2.jpg

We had been alone for nearly an hour. I found it kind of unusual since it seemed to be more populated down south than it was in the north in places like Speedwell. The Interstate had decreased in two lanes, leaving only three left. There were less exits now, with many miles between them.

It wasn’t long before I checked the gas gauge and found out we were running quite low on gas. I was hoping some highway signs would tell me if there were gas stations at the next exit, but I didn’t get anything, no hotels, no gas stations, or places to eat.

“We badly need gas…” I had told Kenneth, talking above the music.

“Well, check the next exit.” He replied, and then he turned away.

I wasn’t about to argue with that. When we got closer to the exit, I had seen a small, green highway sign on the side of the road come up. A dead tree was slightly blocking it, but from what I could see, it looked like it said, “Exit 22P” with some town called “Palantria” below it. I didn’t know what happened to exits 22A-22O, but I didn’t care. I immediately took the small exit and headed off the Interstate. I was hoping Palantria sounded big enough to have its own gas station.

I had driven on a small and dusty road completely alone. It seemed to go on for a pretty long time, and then, something weird happened…

For an instant, I immediately felt like I just woken up from a long sleep. I was still driving the car, but I nearly stopped at the sight. It looked like I had been driving on nothing but tiny pebbles and rocks for a long time, and right in front of us was a forest, which seemed extremely weird. It didn’t even look like we were in the middle of a desert anymore. Then, I just stopped the car. I had turned to my side and back and realized Kenneth and Eric had fallen asleep. After I put the car in park, I opened the door and immediately got out.

I walked past the car and looked at the road behind me. Again, there were more tiny rocks that slowly became a path of grass. Still, from the hill that we were on, I looked for miles behind us, and I saw a few mountains in the distance as well as a long valley with plenty of surrounding forests upon the mountains. I knew for a fact I hadn’t seen those when I took the exit…

“Man,” I growled in anger at myself, “Where the heck are we?”

It looked like we were a million miles away from the Interstate. In fact, I could honestly say we weren’t even in the Atlas region anymore. This place looked so different from anything in that entire region…

But it just didn’t make any sense. With that thought in mind, I headed back to the car. I got back into the driver’s seat, and then quickly checked the gas gauge again. Then, for some freakish reason, it was no different from where we had left off on the Interstate. Yet from what it looked like, I was almost certain I must have driven a hundred miles off the road…

It wasn’t long before Kenneth had woken up, and once he realized the car was stopped, he looked out the windows, thinking we made it to Gray Banks already. Instead, he got a bigger surprise, one that I was already ticked off about.

“Holy…” Kenneth remarked in disbelief, “Chris, where are we?”

I didn’t know the answer, and I was beginning to feel sick about it. I could turn the car around and I still would have no idea where I was or how to get back to Interstate 47. And even so, I knew I wouldn’t have enough gas to even get close considering we were in a massive valley.

“Is this still Palantria or did we drive past it a million miles ago...?” I asked myself, looking at the forest ahead.

“Well how the heck should I know, you were the one driving!” Kenneth shouted in disbelief, “Chris, how the heck did you fly off the exit and end up all the way over here?”

“I was on the onramp, and then the next second, I found myself just before that forest.” I told Kenneth, hoping he would believe me as I pointed to the same forest I had just stopped at seconds ago, “Man, I don’t know what the happened…”

He didn’t seem to be angry with me, since for some reason, there was something about the situation that just didn’t seem right. I didn’t understand anything that was going on.

“Look,” Kenneth told me, looking behind me, “Just turn around and head in the other direction, completely straight from where you came. I’m sure we’ll be back on Interstate 47 if we do that.”

It seemed highly doubtful since the forests and mountains seemed to go on for many miles, but I decided to listen, and I immediately turned on the ignition. Then, I put the car into drive, and completely turned around and headed in the opposite direction. We then began driving all over the valley of grass before we saw a cliff approach in the distance. When I got close to it, I then stopped the car. Kenneth and I then quietly stepped out of the car, and then we began to approach the cliff. When we looked over the edge, we saw nothing for miles except a large forest among many small mountains. All of it must have been at least five hundred feet below the cliff…

“What the heck!?” Kenneth shouted in shock, “How did you drive through all that crap and then drive up this cliff?”

“I didn’t…” I told Kenneth, looking at the vast wilderness below us, “There was no way I could have…”

Kenneth’s jaw just dropped at the sight. He then looked to me in disbelief, and then he looked toward the valley, thinking I must have driving through that by accident. When he didn’t see any tire marks in the grass for the miles ahead, he then knew I wasn’t kidding…

“How the heck is this even possible?” Kenneth asked himself, looking around with a look of shock on his face, “What happened, did we just magically appear here for no freaking reason or what!?”

I was silent, and I didn’t say anything. Nothing was making sense, and soon after, we had seen Eric jump out of the car.

“Chris… Kenneth…” Eric said to us as he looked around before looking straight at us, “Where exactly are we?”

“We have no idea.” I responded to him, knowing we had just ended up here for no good reason.

And as he looked around, he became bewildered at the thought. Then, he simply turned to us again.

“There’s no way this can be in the Atlas region.” Eric told us, looking around, “In fact, it doesn’t look like Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn either. None of those regions have this many mountains…”

To say the least, that freaked the heck out of us in a very short period of time. We were beyond lost, as if everything that we just went through hadn’t even existed.

“Well, there’s only one way to truly find out where we are.” Kenneth said with assurance to both Eric and I, “Let me check my cell phone.”

After a few seconds of rummaging through his pocket, he finally pulled out his cell phone, and I suddenly felt relief. With that, Kenneth could call for a location or some idea on how to get back where we wanted to be. After he flipped the cell phone open, he looked at the screen and his jaw dropped…

“What the...!?” Kenneth remarked with a shock of disbelief, “No signal!? I could be eight floors underground and still get a signal with this thing! We’re out in the middle of an open field and I can’t get anything!?”

At first, I thought for a minute that we were saved, until this had happened. I had remembered that Kenneth could get a great signal just about anywhere he went. But this was crazy. He should have gotten at the very least a mediocre signal.

“I guess we’re not under the satellite’s coverage anymore…” Kenneth remarked, finding that very strange.

“Kenneth, your provider should have satellites that cover the entire globe.” Eric had told him, “If you can’t get a signal in a place like this, simply put, we can’t be on the same planet anymore…”

Both Kenneth and I gave a dark glare toward Eric…

“Eric,” Kenneth replied in a dark tone, “Whatever you do, never say things like that again. There’s no freaking way that could be possible…”

But still, as I thought about it, there was no way this could be real. I was beginning to guess that perhaps I fell asleep at the wheel, and this was one really retarded dream. But then, why did it seem so real? I could feel the gust of wind and hear everything around me with perfect clarity. That never happens in dreams…

Then, I just turned toward the car. Sitting here and doing nothing was no going to help us.

“Look, whatever the heck happened,” I told the two of them, “Let’s just get out of here. I’ll drive through the valley and hopefully we’ll be able to find something…”

“Fine, I’m with you on that.” Kenneth replied, looking toward me affirmatively, “Let’s get back in the car and hopefully we’ll find a way out of this mess…”

Then, the three of us headed back into the car, and once we were inside, I got the idea of using the radio. I switched the black round dial from CD to radio, and then we were greeted with static. Kenneth and Eric had looked at what I was doing, and when I pressed the “seek” button, we watched in horror as the digital numbers scrambled throughout the entire list of possible frequencies and didn’t find a single radio station…

“Oh… my… God…” Kenneth nearly passed out of the sight, “That… really shouldn’t be happening…”

“Kenneth…” Eric told him in a soft voice, “I think it’s safe to say we’re not on Earth anymore. Every location on Earth can easily pick up at least one radio station. Even in the largest desert…”

We were quiet after that. I looked at the compass that was on my dashboard, and the needle was dead. I picked it up and spun it around and around, and the needle followed the motions, and then stopped at nowhere in particular. I then looked to Kenneth, and I realized he had been watching me. I really didn’t like the look on his face…

“I feel like I’m going to vomit…” Kenneth remarked at the sight of the useless compass.

“Let’s… just go… okay?” I asked the two of them in a soft voice, putting the compass back on the dashboard.

I then put the car in drive, and then we moved along the valley, passing by plenty of forests. I saw I had only a quarter of a tank left, and I knew that would be dropping very quickly. Driving all over a bunch of hills wasn’t exactly easy on the car either. After ten minutes of driving, we then came to the top of a hill and then we saw a small town just at the bottom. The three of us just looked at the town, and it looked nothing like what we’ve seen on Earth.

All of the houses were made out of metal, with each of them in a dome shape. There were plenty of metal machines as well along with a lot of metal pipes connected to each house. However, the machines they had were not even half as complex as what we’ve seen. The small streets were made of dirt, which seemed mostly made for foot traffic. I then drove closer, and we could see the buildings were much smaller than we had expected. Then, we finally arrived at the town, and we couldn’t believe our eyes…

“What… the…?” Kenneth remarked as we set eyes on the town’s citizens.

To say the least, they were much smaller than we were, only standing around three and a half feet tall. And almost all of them had white beards. Most of them looked like they were heading to work, carrying around large tools and other supplies. Some of them had seen us, and then they began to approach the car. I couldn’t help but open up the window.

“That’s one interesting contraption you have their, sonny!” One of them asked in an annoying happy tone, “And who might you be?”

“The name is Chris Trevor.” I told the little, bearded man in a firm and cold voice, letting him know we truly had nothing in common, “Where exactly are we?”

“Why, this is Arasta.” He told the three of us in his same cheerful tone, “You don’t seem to be from around here, are you?”

We were silent, especially Kenneth. We just looked at each other for a small moment, and then we looked back to them. Then, I just decided to get out of the car. Kenneth just rolled his eyes and then the two of them got out of the Ford Explorer as well. Then, once we gathered together, we heard a strange voice come from out of nowhere.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” I heard a feminine voice shout out, “Don’t you even know they’re humans!?”

Then, we saw a female with dark blue skin and very long black hair appear from behind one of the buildings. Her dark blue skin was very smooth, and the iris of her two eyes was a bright, crimson red. She was wearing a dark red cloak with many strange symbols on it, and when she came toward us and moved the bearded men aside, we swallowed hard.

“What is your business here!?” She snapped at us, looking pretty ticked off, “I bet you’re after the gnomes, aren’t you!?”

“The gnomes!?” I asked in shock, looking at her and then the bearded men, “Is that what they are!?”

“Don’t play stupid with me! You’re probably from the Khans.” She said to us in a threatening voice, “If you want to be cut to shreds, I’ll give you exactly what you want!”

Then, we saw her reach behind her cloak, and then she pulled out two small black and gray spheres. When she pressed a small button on each of them, they inflated a bit, and then she threw them forward. When the two dark balls had struck the dirt, they burst open with light, and then we saw the light begin to take shape and form.

When the light had died down, we saw the dark-skinned woman had just released two Pokémon, a Bellossom and a Clefairy. We couldn’t believe our eyes…

“They have Pokémon too?” Kenneth asked, looking at her two Pokémon with his eyes wide open, “What is this...?”

Then, we heard something else that probably would have finished Kenneth off with a heart attack…

“What’s your request, Jocasta?” The Bellossom asked her master, “Rip the bunch of these yahoos to ribbons?”

“She can talk!?” Kenneth shouted in complete shock, “Oh… man…”

In a sense, I couldn’t believe it either. But by now, I was more than ready to believe Eric. There was no way we were on Earth anymore. It seemed impossible, but trying to ask how it happened wasn’t going to get us anywhere, especially at a time like this…

“Ha, you have no way to escape, you Khans.” Jocasta said to us with a glare in her eyes.

“We’re not Khans, but if you want to fight, then prepare for the worst!” I shouted at her, grabbing Umbreon’s Pokéball.

I then pushed the tiny button on the Pokéball, inflating the ball to the size of a grapefruit. Then, I threw the Pokéball forward, and it struck the dirt forcefully. When the light burst open, it then quickly began to take shape and form into my Umbreon. Then, Kenneth assisted me and threw forward one of his Pokéballs, releasing his Skarmory. After, the light died down, the dark fox Umbreon and the metal bird Skarmory were staring down their two adversaries.

“Oh boy…” Umbreon remarked as his eyes stared down upon Bellossom and Clefairy, “Little miss flower and little miss fairy. Do you really think you two scare me!?”

Just then, Eric looked at me very strangely. I could already tell what he was thinking. Now I was ready to believe anything…

“Excuse me…” Eric whispered to me, “But when was the last time Umbreon actually said something besides his name…?”

“Not… until now…” I replied to him, finding it very odd myself.

Just then, Jocasta suddenly gasped at the sight of Skarmory. Something was really strange about her and this whole battle that was going on…

“That’s a steel Pokémon!” Jocasta shouted out, pointing toward Kenneth’s Skarmory, “You lie! You are from the Khans!”

“Excuse me miss…” Kenneth replied with a cynical tone, “But we don’t even know who the Khans are.”

“You think you can try and fool me again!?” Jocasta shouted out in anger, “Bellossom, use Magical Leaf attack on that Umbreon! Clefairy, attack that Skarmory with Pound attack!”

At that moment, Bellossom had looked toward my Umbreon with a menacing smile.

“You command, I obey.” Jocasta’s Bellossom replied, glaring at Umbreon with angry eyes.

Then, she jumped into the air and began to spin around, and the green and yellow leaves that were around her waist lifted up and began to spin rapidly like a fan. Just moments later, three shiny leaves had been launched right at Umbreon, inflicting a few cuts. Umbreon wince for a moment expecting a lot of pain, and then looked right back at Jocasta’s Bellossom as soon as it was over.

“Is that all?” Umbreon challenged her, “Boy are you pathetic…”

Meanwhile, Clefairy headed toward Skarmory and tried to ram into him, but it really didn’t do much damage, and Skarmory easily laughed off the tiny ounce of pain.

“Umbreon, strike Bellossom with Faint Attack!” I shouted at him, pointing at Jocasta’s Bellossom.

“You too, Skarmory!” Kenneth commanded, deciding on the same target, “Attack her with Drill Peck!”

At that moment, Umbreon had vanished, and Skarmory had spread his wings, leapt off the ground and surged toward her just before he had struck Bellossom fiercely in the abdomen with his sharp beak. Skarmory’s powerful attack was strong enough to throw her backwards, sending her flying and screaming, struggling to grab onto something before she struck the ground and landed on her back. Then Umbreon had struck her from behind, throwing her face first into the ground. When Umbreon had come back to my side, we watched as Bellossom struggled to get up, but fell down again and landed face first into the ground yet again, too tired to continue.

“Heh heh, that was sweet.” Skarmory had remarked, looking at the fallen Bellossom.

Then, Jocasta had pulled out her Bellossom’s strange gray and black Pokéball, pointed the tiny circle on the ball at Bellossom, and made contact with the red beam that she had aimed from the Pokéball. Suddenly, Bellossom had become a red, translucent light and then was pulled into the Pokéball. Then, Jocasta placed the Pokéball back on the belt behind her cloak.

“Enough of this nonsense.” Jocasta remarked, looking toward Clefairy, “Use your Metronome!”

Just then, Clefairy started dancing softly, and then suddenly, a massive blast of ice and snow had blown past us, striking Skarmory and Umbreon, as well as the rest of us. Once the icy Blizzard attack was over, Umbreon shook the ice and snow off, and then looked toward Clefairy with a dark glare in his eyes.

“Boy, are you dead for that!” Umbreon shouted in vengeful anger.

“Umbreon, attack with Double Edge!” I said to Umbreon in a firm voice, laying my eyes on Clefairy.

“Skarmory, attack her with Steel Wing!” Kenneth shouted out.

Just then, Umbreon leapt toward Clefairy furiously, and slammed hard into the fairy Pokémon, throwing them both in opposite directions and sending them both tumbling in the dirt. Then, Skarmory had jumped up, taken flight and then soared at the fallen Clefairy with his sharp, metal wings spread. Just when Clefairy got up again, she was struck down forcefully by the powerful Steel Wing attack, forming a long cut across Clefairy’s chest after Skarmory’s blade-like wings had slit across it. Once Skarmory had returned to Kenneth, Clefairy was down for good…

Just then, Jocasta had returned Clefairy to her Pokéball. Once she did, she looked at the glossy gray and black Pokéball, and she lowered her eyes.

“Take a nice good rest.” She said in a soft voice, placing the Pokéball on the belt behind her cloak.

Then, we just looked at her with an odd feeling. After she put the Pokéball away, she had approached us, and looked at us in the eyes. She didn’t seem quite so angry anymore for some reason.

“Well, you proved your point.” She had told the three of us in a much calmer voice, “The three of you couldn’t possibly be from the Khans…”

Well, I was finally glad we got that out of the way, but I didn’t see how having a Pokémon battle proved that. And just who was she anyway…?

[Neo Pikachu]

http://pirate.shu.edu/~rodmanjo/RTPChapter3.jpg

After the battle was over, we just looked at Jocasta with a strange feeling. She didn’t seem too different from a human herself, only she had dark blue skin, red eyes, and bizarre clothing. Still, I was at least glad she didn’t think we were Khans, since she seemed to hate them with a passion, whoever they were anyway…

“Exactly how did a battle prove that?” I asked, looking toward Jocasta with curiosity.

“Come,” She told us, beckoning for us to follow her, “I’ll tell you everything…”

Then, we just shrugged and followed her through the small Gnomish city, passing by many weird metal buildings. Many of the townspeople had stopped to stare at us, and we couldn’t help but stare at them. After all, they probably thought we were weird, and the three of us couldn’t help but feel exactly the same way. Then, when we finally arrived at what seemed to be Jocasta’s house, she threw open the heavy metal door and we stepped inside the small, metal dome.

Like the other buildings, it was a single room with a dome shape, only this one was built for her size. Considering it was a one room house made it quite small, but it did seem comfortable. The walls inside were also metal, but the floor was carpeted and at least some parts of it looked respectable, even though that wasn’t my kind of thing. There was a stove in the corner, a bed with dark red sheets, and a small desk between the stove and the bed, but that was it. And I thought my room was bad…

Kenneth and Eric had sat down on the bed while I kneeled on the floor, since there really wasn’t any room left on the bed. After Jocasta shut the metal door, she pulled up the chair from the desk and sat down. Then, she looked at the three of us with a serious look.

“Since I know you’re not from the Khans, then you probably don’t know who they are.” Jocasta had said to us, looking at us with a firm stare.

“Well, you’re right.” Eric had told her quickly, looking back to her, “We’ve never heard of them.”

Then, Jocasta was silent. She took some time to gather her thoughts, and then she looked toward us.

“Considering the way you’re dressed, I don’t even think you’re from this same world…” Jocasta had told us, reaching even deeper into our thoughts.

“Well, you’re right there too.” Kenneth had told her, looking into her eyes, “We don’t know how we ended up here either.”

“In fact, we’ve only just arrived to tell the truth.” Eric continued, looking at Jocasta hoping we would get some sort of answer, “Somehow we ended up in that valley up on that hill just outside.”

Jocasta had taken some time to piece things together, and when she finally did, she looked up and looked at us seriously.

“In short… you were tricked, one way or another…” Jocasta told us, looking at us with firm eyes, “The Khans are a group of raiders ****-bent on building machines and weapons of hatred. While some of their ranks consist of humans, the Khans are willing to use the help of other races in their battle against us. They are pillagers, fascists, and criminals to say the least. They have been looking for the seven relic talismans to open the Vault of Supremacy. With this, they hope to use the intense power to take over Palantria and fill the world with their factories and their production lines. In a sense, they’re fighting this war so only their ideals exist. It was them who somehow managed to create one of their portals in your world.”

I found that to be very strange, but considering the very little that we knew, we were going to have to take her word on it, even though I really didn’t know her. I didn’t like the fact that these same humans were causing so much havoc. Still, they couldn’t have been anything like we were, could they?

“The Khans are very sadistic people.” Jocasta had told us, looking at us seriously, “They use nothing but steel Pokémon in battle, and they even have a way of turning a normal Pokémon into a steel one. That’s why they’re nicknamed the ‘Metal Raiders.’ They also wear their own crude metal armor for protection while they engage in combat.”

“That’s really freakin’ weird…” Kenneth had responded, not knowing why someone would want to do that to their Pokémon, “Why the **** would they want to do that to their Pokémon?”

“I honestly don’t know…” Jocasta had responded, feeling just as strangely about it.

There was some silence before Jocasta looked up again. I didn’t see the point into using only steel Pokémon. Still, I much as I didn’t like what the Khans did, I still didn’t think it was any of my business. We didn’t belong here…

“Look, we’re just trying to get back home.” I told Jocasta, hoping she would know of a way, “We don’t want any trouble…”

“I can understand your feelings, but the Khans are the ones who hold all the keys…” Jocasta had replied, looking at me now, “They created the portals in the first place. That’s how their numbers just constantly increase. Most of the humans who come here usually end up in their hands. Problem is, no one can go home until the Khans are stopped.”

As I thought about it, I didn’t even know what these Khans looked like, or what they were even capable of. All that I knew so far was that they adored steel type Pokémon more than anything else, even to the point of going overboard, and that most of them wore metal armor. And from what it seemed like, any human that was walking about was eligible to be a Khan. But then again, what about the humans that stayed away from them? Where have they gone? And then there was the presence of even non-humans in their ranks. And would even want to follow these psychos?

“Look, if bringing down these Khans is the only way to save your people and take us home, then I will be willing to help.” I told Jocasta, looking at her seriously.

“Well, if that’s the way you want it, Chris…” Kenneth had told me, looking away for a minute, “We’ll be as much support to you as possible, Jocasta. It would only make sense for us to be on the same side.”

Weird thing was, Jocasta wasn’t exactly jumping when we told her that. She seemed a bit hesitant, like there was something else that was going that went further than that. For that same reason, I didn’t quite like the look in her eyes.

“The forces that are against the Khans are known as the Emerald Alliance and the Overseer League.” Jocasta had told the three of us, “The Emerald Alliance covers most of the northern and western region of Artivis and possesses the continent of Obsidian. Meanwhile, the Overseer League dominates most of the southern region of Artivis. At the same time, the Khans possess everything else, the rest of Artivis and the large continent of Severance, taking over the land with their machine cities and industries. If you are serious about joining us, then the three of you would likely be in the Emerald Alliance.”

“Whatever it takes to bring these maniacs down…” Kenneth had told Jocasta, “I don’t know where these clowns got the idea that we would be joining their junkyard posse just because we’re humans…”

Jocasta looked a little better, but still, she just didn’t seem too overly excited yet. I honestly didn’t know why either. We were pretty firm in our decisions to help her out, why wasn’t that enough?

“As much as I appreciate your assistance…” Jocasta told the three of us, looking like there was something she needed to get off of her chest, “I do have to warn you about something. Most of the members of our forces aren’t humans. In fact, I would say next to none.”

“Well… why is that?” Eric had asked Jocasta, with Kenneth and I feeling the same way, “I mean, we can’t be the only humans that aren’t against these junkyard freaks. After all, look what they did to us…”

After that, Jocasta had sighed, and looked down a bit. I could see in her eyes that the reason for her hesitation was coming from something else.

“Well, we have had many humans join our ranks before, most of them with the same feelings you have.” Jocasta had told the three of us, trying to lay it on easy, “Problem is, humans have absolutely no resistance to magic. It takes very, very little for them to be affected by our surroundings, often changing their appearance. There are almost millions of different ways for a human to change their race in Palantria, and most of them happen by pure accident. However, even though this happens, they still continue to fight along our side, which I find very remarkable…”

“Eh, but then why doesn’t that happen to the human members of the Khans?” Kenneth had asked Jocasta, wondering just as much as the rest of us.

“It still does though, it’s just that the Khans are always getting human replacements, unlike our alliances.” Jocasta responded, looking toward Kenneth, “They use a lot of magic themselves in battle, very often to cheat. That’s how I know the three of you aren’t from there. The battle you fought with me was perfectly fair…”

Well, that certainly made sense. For one thing, the Khans seemed like a bunch of idiots that didn’t know any better. Still, why was the human population on the other side constantly decreasing? Was it nature, fate, or something else? That’s what I didn’t understand…

“The choice is yours.” Jocasta told us in a firm and serious tone, “The only thing I can promise you is the unexpected. Chances are extremely high you will leave this war very differently than the way you came…”

Still, despite the feelings of hesitation we had, we decided to go along with it. I was still hoping there was some chance we wouldn’t be affected by whatever crap was just waiting for us out there, but then again, I’m sure there were some of those before us who were thinking the same things. Despite that, I knew that if we were on our guard, nothing should happen. At least that’s what I kept telling myself…

“The Khans plan on trying to obtain all seven of the Relic Talismans stones so they may unlock the Vault of Supremacy and ultimately accomplish their goal of trying to destroy all of us.” Jocasta said to the three of us, “They already have three of them. Meanwhile, the Emerald Alliance has two and the Khans have been aggressively trying to get them ever since. As for the other lost two, we have no idea where they are…”

“I see…” Kenneth acknowledged, “So whoever gets all seven first and finds the Vault is basically the one who will win this entire war…”

“Precisely.” Jocasta had replied, “Each of the keys represents something. There is a relic talisman for justice, peace, wisdom, friendship, courage, determination, and inspiration. Meanwhile, the exact location of the Vault is still unknown, but many legends speak of the incredible power it grants to the one who opens the vault using all seven stones.”

I never really was a power hungry person. Still, I did know that those who had it were seriously twisted in the mind, and they could cause a lot of crap to happen. In a way, this was our only possible way of getting home, but still, there was nothing that guaranteed that. But if this was the only way, what choice did we have?

“So where do we go from here?” I asked Jocasta, looking at her, “We’re really not warriors, and we only have a small handful of Pokémon…”

“We can easily change that.” Jocasta told the three of us, looking much more optimistic, “All you need to do is head to Ranhasna City, which is in the north. If you’ve sworn allegiance to the Emerald Alliance, then they will be willing to provide you with a few more Pokémon. They may be able to help you in other areas as well, since only training your Pokémon isn’t enough when it comes to fighting the Khans. They will lay waste to them and then to you if you don’t fight back with something else…”

That certainly didn’t sound good. We didn’t have any weapons on us, and we only had a few Pokémon. Still, hopefully Ranhasna would be able to give us at least something…

“Are you coming with us?” Eric had asked Jocasta.

“Not until later.” She had responded, “Not until I find someone who can watch after the rest of the citizens here. Sorry, but there is a reason why I’m here.”

With that said, we simply said goodbye to her and then we left. Honestly, the little town was beginning to freak me out with all the little bearded men who just couldn’t stop staring at us all the time. Plus, it just wasn’t our type of place. Seriously…

Despite the fact we didn’t actually have a working compass, we managed to find a path that had a signpost pointing to Ranhasna. Honestly, the path made of dirt, and one good flood would wipe the whole thing away. Still, the three of us walked along the road, hoping this place wasn’t miles and miles away. The longer we walked, the more we wished we had decided to bring the car along. Problem was, I didn’t think I would be seeing that car anytime soon, if at all. But honestly, it was pretty old. Losing it wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but being stuck here in this place… that wouldn’t be so great…

A few miles further, and we were getting a little tired. The sun was starting to set, and we were hoping we would arrive at this city in time before the night had come. If it did, chances were good we were going to lose sight of the path, and I honestly didn’t want to go wandering off. But after a few miles, we had arrived at the city of Ranhasna. Man, what a sight it was…

The city was huge, with stone buildings that reached up to six stories. Unlike Arasta, this place actually had stone cobbled streets, and they were clean as well. Plus, the streets and buildings carried on farther than we could see. Meanwhile, the entire city was surrounded by a tall stone wall. It somewhat looked a bit like a city from the Middle East, only the buildings were taller and the streets were much wider. However, it seemed most of it was empty, but there were still people walking around. I took a glance at them, and they still looked somewhat human. Their skin was very tan even though the sun wasn’t so severe, and they were wearing long robes.

Still, something was telling me this was just only the start of a long journey…

[1313666]

Bravo! *stands and claps* It was great! Keep up the good work.

[Neo Pikachu]

Hey, thanks for reading. I know I'm new to the forum and I really haven't made myself too known yet, but I do appreciate the fact you're reading this. Thank you.

http://pirate.shu.edu/~rodmanjo/RTPChapter4.jpg

We had stood just outside the entrance. Honestly, I didn’t expect for Ranhasna to be such a big city considering the town of Arasta was only just a tiny village compared to it. Still, hopefully we could find some way of obtaining some money here. And honestly, I certainly wasn’t up for begging…

“Bigger than what I had expected…” I had remarked to the other two.

“True, it certainly puts Speedwell to shame.” Kenneth had agreed, looking around, “Come on, let’s get moving.”

We had then approached the front entrance, and then after a few steps, Kenneth had stopped for some reason. Eric and I just stared at Kenneth, and we had no idea what had just happened.

“Ow, geez…” Kenneth winced, gritting his teeth.

Moments later, he had to sit down, and Eric and I just looked at each other, not have any idea what was wrong. Then, when he brought up his shoe, we immediately saw it…

“Ouch, what the heck is that thing?” Eric had asked, looking at the stone like object sticking in Kenneth’s shoe.”

“I don’t know but it hurts like crazy…” Kenneth replied, trying to look at whatever was causing so much pain.

Just then, he got a look at the object that was sticking in his shoe, and he firmly grabbed it. Then, he slowly pulled it out, wincing during the whole ordeal. For some reason, it looked like a nail or a talon. When Kenneth finally got it out, he could see a little bit of his own blood at the sharp tip. At that moment, he had started looking it over.

“I don’t know what it is.” Kenneth responded, throwing it aside, “Come on, let’s just keep going.”

After that, he had gotten back up and we then entered the city, while Kenneth was showing a bit of a limp. I’m glad he wasn’t bleeding heavily, but still, it could have been any of us…

Then, while we were standing in the large city, we just looked around at all the buildings, and we had no idea what to do. Honestly, we were completely broke, and none of the cash we had would account for anything.

“Maybe let’s look for a shop…” Eric had suggested, trying to find one in particular, “Maybe we can… ask them for something…”

Kenneth had rolled his eyes, but still, it was better than doing nothing.

“I suppose…” He had responded, looking over to one shop in particular, “How about that one?”

“I was thinking that same one…” Eric had responded, looking in the same direction, “Come on, let’s go.”

Then, we had made out way toward the three story building. The first floor seemed to be the shop while the upper floors seemed to be used for residential purposes. Rather than having a door, the entrance consisted of long strings with beads on them, somewhat like a fortune teller’s hut. Still, we stepped inside, and we looked around. So far, we were just about the only ones there.

“Hi, come on in.” The smiling shopkeeper had urged us, “Take a look around.”

I got a good look at him, and he was wearing a white turban with a white beard and a kindly face. He was sitting at a desk in the back of the room, waiting patiently.

Well, it was no Wal-mart, but he did have a lot of cool and… weird stuff. Everything important was in a glass case, while other, less valuable items were in boxes and on the shelves. Some of the stuff I had no idea what on earth it was. Still, I really didn’t try to figure out what everything was. I knew we had nothing to pay for it…

As I moved around, I had caught sight of some of the same black and gray Pokéballs that Jocasta had used. Surprisingly, they looked very much like the ones we used, only the colors were different. Still, right next to them was a tiny label of “200 Lantals,” which I easily assumed was the cost. And I knew that whatever the heck Lantals looked like, we didn’t have a single one of them. Other items included some really sweet looking swords with a colored crystal center, as well as some other various melee weapons. I didn’t expect a place that was armed with stuff for Pokémon and humans alike.

Then, Kenneth had approached the store owner, and I looked on, since I knew alone, there was nothing we could buy…

“Hey, we actually recently tied with the Emerald Alliance.” Kenneth had told the store owner, looking somewhat hesitant, “So we’re pretty much new to this place.”

“I see…” The owner replied, a bit disappointed, “Well, you do appear to be out of town I suppose. You don’t look like the rest of an An-Kai that are from around here.”

“No, we’re not.” I had joined Kenneth, looking at the shopkeeper, “In fact, we’re humans.”

He did seem a bit surprised, but still, he didn’t become too overwhelmed at the fact.

“Hmm,” He replied, thinking about it, “I do purchase things if you have anything I’m interested in. I’m always looking for new stock…”

Kenneth had shrugged and then looked through his pockets. Each item he found, he put it on the counter. Everything from loose change, his wallet, his cell phone, and even tickets to a baseball game.

“It’s not much…” Kenneth had told him, looking at his stuff.

The shopkeeper really didn’t care about everything else, but one item had caught his eye. He looked excited as he looked over the cell phone, which honestly, wasn’t really worth anything without service…

“Ah!” He gasped at the sight of the cell phone with a smile on his face, “I’ve always wanted one of these. They’re so rare…”

“Well…” Kenneth had replied, looking at the cell phone, “The battery will die after a while, and it’s not like you can call anyone anyway…”

Then, he looked at Kenneth with a look of surprise. He just couldn’t understand why we didn’t think it was worth anything.

“Ah, but you have to use it correctly…” He told the three of us, “You’ll be surprised what a little magic can do with these things. I can charge it instantly and use it to contact anyone who has another one of these things!”

“Couldn’t you just use… telepathy?” Eric asked, thinking pretty logically considering our situation.

“Well, that would be great if such a thing existed among the An-Kai.” He responded, looking away for a minute.

I guess we couldn’t expect these people to have everything. Still, if he really wanted it, I don’t think Kenneth was going to argue about it…

“I’ll give you three hundred thousand Lantals for it.” He told Kenneth, looking happy at the cell phone, “Seriously, I would love to have one of these.”

“Sure, it’s yours.” Kenneth told him, letting him have the phone.

Then, moments later, the shopkeeper placed a big fat cloth bag on the counter, filled with many coins. After Kenneth took the bag, the man thanked us, still overly interested in the cell phone. Then, we just turned around, and left…

As we got out of the store, we just looked at each other with a sense of wonderment.

“Man, that was easy…” Kenneth replied to the two of us, looking at his massive amount of scarlet, hexagon coins, “Come on, let’s see if there’s anything cool we can spend this stuff on.”

Eric and I had just looked at each other as Kenneth headed to the next store. We just shrugged and followed him to the building directly next to the one we had just been in. We stepped through the passage, and all along the shelves were those same black and gray Pokéballs we had seen before. The only thing was that was all this store was selling.

We had encountered a beautiful young woman with very fine black hair, a warm smile and a beautiful, smooth complexion. In the meantime, Kenneth had approached the young woman behind the desk, and looked at all the Pokéballs.

“I’m assuming you sell Pokémon, right?” Kenneth had asked, looking at all the Pokéballs.

“That’s right.” The young woman replied, “Have anything in mind?”

Meanwhile, Eric and I had been looking at each Pokéball, and besides each ball had a price as well as the Pokémon that was inside. Most of them were familiar names of Pokémon I had heard of before, but there were a few of them that I had no clue about…

“Yes…” Kenneth had replied, looking at her affirmatively, “I was wondering if you had any Dragon-type Pokémon.”

“Well, we only sell the basic evolution forms,” She had responded, hoping she didn’t disappoint him, “We do have a Trapinch which will evolve into Flygon, a Bagon that evolves into Salamence, a Dratini that evolves into Dragonite, and a Laclaw that evolves into Severgon. But let me warn you though, Dragon Pokémon are rare and are very expensive…”

I had heard of Trapinch, Bagon and Dratini before, but never once did I ever hear of a Laclaw. I could only wonder what it looked like, but hearing its fully evolved form got me even wondering further…

“That’s fine with me.” Kenneth replied to the store owner, “I’ll take them all.”

Both Eric and I stopped what we were doing and instantly looked at each other like Kenneth had lost his mind. We then looked over to Kenneth, holding his big fat money bag. Now he was acting like a little kid in a toy store after he had stolen his parents’ credit cards.

“Well, it’s your choice…” The woman had replied, looking away for a bit looking like there was no way on the planet Kenneth could ever afford all four of them together, “The total cost ends up being one hundred and fifty thousand Lantals…”

Still, Kenneth didn’t hesitate one moment before dumping nearly half the bag of his coins all over the counter. After the both of them counted coins and stacked them into little piles all over the glass counter for nearly fifteen minutes, he finally arrived at the proper amount, with plenty of money to spare.

“To say the least, I’m surprised you even have half that much…” The woman replied, looking a bit astounded, “But, a deal is a deal. I’ll go get your requested Pokémon.”

After soon after that, the woman had looked all throughout the shelves, looking through the long lines of Pokéballs for Kenneth’s requested Pokémon. One by one, she found all of Kenneth’s requests, and then placed them out on the counter.

“Well, here you are.” She replied as she handed the four black and gray Pokéballs the Kenneth, “Treat them well and take good care of them.”

“Oh, you better believe I will.” Kenneth replied, looking ecstatic about his purchase.

After that, the three of us had left he store, and Kenneth just kept looking at his newly purchased Pokémon with a big grin on his face.

“Man, do you know how awesome this is!?” Kenneth exclaimed with a wild look in his eyes, “Dragon Pokémon are the hottest Pokémon out there!”

I couldn’t deny the fact that if I had just got four ultra-rare Pokémon like that, I would be pretty happy about it too, but Kenneth looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin because of it. Dragon Pokémon are good, I won’t deny that, but they were nothing to lose your mind about…

“You know, Kenneth…” Eric had told him as he was still grinning about his Pokéballs, “Didn’t Jocasta tell us that we should focus our attention on not just Pokémon, but other things as well?”

“Well, like what…?” Kenneth replied, looking at Eric, “I’m sure Jocasta was talking about everyday Pokémon. But these guys… man… they can handle anything…”

I was pretty certain Jocasta mentioned for us to get weapons as well. And just now, Kenneth had blown half of our budget on his little army of Dragon Pokémon. We still needed money for weapons and armor, and I wasn’t going to try and guess how much those would cost. And then there was the cost of getting something to eat and finding a place to sleep…

[Neo Pikachu]

Chapter 4 Continued...

“Kenneth, what about the other things we need, like weapons and armor?” I had asked him, hoping he wouldn’t snap at me.

“We’ll get that in the morning, man.” Kenneth replied, looking at the sky, “And besides, don’t you have a watch, Chris? Someone around here might want their hands on that.”

I had looked at my watch, and considering it was a digital one, perhaps Kenneth was right. Maybe it would fetch an outrageous price value. I didn’t need it anymore. Still, was it really of any use here? Maybe…

“Come on, it’s really late.” Kenneth had told the two of us, looking at the sky, “Let’s try and find some sort of place to send the night.”

We had walked around a little bit more, while Kenneth kept limping around due to his injured foot. After walking a few blocks, we saw a sign on one of the buildings, labeled the “Horizon Inn.” So, we just walked right in, hoping they would have what we wanted.

Once we walked in, we had seen the stone hallways were decorated with many interesting items such as a shield in one corner, an Arabian sword above a small fireplace in the back, and some paintings and hanging pottery. The front lobby was small, with a flight of stone steps leading up to the second floor on the left side of the room, while before us was a small wooden desk. Behind the desk seemed to be a small eating area, but it seemed to have been closed down for the night.

Behind the desk was another man, young and not very enthusiastic about sitting around waiting. He had his chin resting on his hand while his night-black hair was ruffled from a long and boring day. As we stepped in, his expression didn’t change too much.

“Well, you’re from out of town…” He remarked, looking the three of us over, “You want a room for the night?”

“That’s right.” Kenneth had responded affirmatively, “How much?”

“It’s just a hundred Lantals for the three of you.” He replied, making it seem like that was a steal.

Without any hesitation, Kenneth handed over the money that was needed, and in turn, the manager told us what room we had. After that, we headed the stone steps to the second floor, which consisted of a small hallway with four open portals in total. Our room was all the way at the end, which wasn’t that far of a distance to walk. Once we made it there, we walked through the stone passage way and entered the room. It honestly wasn’t what I expected…

“Well, its three beds, but not much else besides that…” I had remarked at the small room with the three beds in it.

Kenneth had looked it over, and he couldn’t believe it. The only things in the stone room were three stone beds with only a small amount of bedding and nothing for pillows. He seemed quite disappointed…

“Man, what the heck is this?” Kenneth had asked, looking around and seeing almost nothing, “I swear Chris, let’s go back to the car. I honestly don’t see why we left it behind in the first place…”

He did have a point there. And after all, I did still have the keys. Plus, not to mention we still had most of our stuff in there…

“But the path might be too hard to see at night.” I told the two of them, “If we walk off the path, we could end up anywhere…”

“Chris, the entire path is surrounded by forest.” Kenneth insisted to me, “If we walk off, we will know because of the trees.”

I wasn’t about to argue, since I didn’t like the idea of sleeping in a dump like this. Also, if we really needed to get back to Ranhasna, we could always drive there, which would be a million times faster.

“Let’s go then.” I told the two of them, “I’m not sleeping in a place like this.”

“I’ll second that.” Eric had agreed with the two of us, “Let’s get out of here.”

With that, we had turned around and headed back toward the stairs. After walking down the stairs, the manager had looked at us, and he simply smiled.

“I don’t blame you.” He replied, looking a bit amused, “Want your cash back?”

“Keep it.” Kenneth insisted, “Go have some fun. Get out of here once in awhile.”

“Heh, you’re right, you know…” He had replied, smiling back to us.

Then, we had walked out of the inn, and we were back on the streets. It wasn’t long before we had made it outside, and after a little bit of walking, we found ourselves at the entrance. As we looked forward, we could still make out the path.

“Let’s go then.” I told the two of them, heading forward.

It wasn’t long before we had started our long walk back to the small town of Arasta. Walking down that long road a second time wasn’t any real fun either, and was even more tiring the second time around. Halfway through, we had clearly noticed the path ahead was getting darker. We tried to pick up the pace a bit, but Kenneth’s injury was slowing him down a bit. Still, considering how painful that must have been, he was moving along quite well. By the time we could see Arasta in the distance, we felt like we were walking in a void of darkness. Still, we made our way back to the small gnomish town successfully, but just barely…

After we had made our way back to the way we came from, we had arrived back at the front entrance we had come from. Once we managed to find the Ford Explorer after stumbling around in the dark trying to find it, I unlocked the doors, and when I opened the door, the lights in the car came on. Quickly, Kenneth and Eric had made their way into the car, and we could finally relax. After that, we had shut the doors.

“Ugh, that was tough, but I’m glad we did that.” Kenneth told me, finally glad to be able to relax in the cushion chair of the SUV.

“Yeah Chris, thanks.” Eric replied, cracking open a can of A&W root beer we had left behind.

In a way, I was pretty glad about it as well. I had looked at the fuel gauge, and we still had plenty of gas left to make it to Ranhasna City. But after that, I didn’t know where the car would go out…

Regardless, I put my seat in a reclining position, and I closed my eyes. It wasn’t long before I had gone to sleep, pretty tired after walking around so much. In a way, Palantria didn’t seem like such an awful place. Some things about it were a bit weird, but it wasn’t a nightmare…

When I had woken up, I had opened my eyes and I could see the morning sun coming through the windshield. I had looked at my watch, still thinking it would be accurate. It read 8:34, which could have been right, I just didn’t know. After I sat up and looked around, I had realized it wasn’t really a dream after all, though I had pretty much believed that from the very beginning.

After I pulled up the small black lever by the side of the car seat, the chair went back to its original position. I had looked for Kenneth and Eric, and I saw them outside. I had watched them a bit, and then I unlocked the doors and headed outside. When I made my way around the car, I could see they were having a small Pokémon battle. It had been a fight between Kenneth’s Trapinch against Eric’s Magnemite. So far, it appeared that Magnemite was the one losing…

“Okay, okay…” Eric pleaded, deciding to give up, “Man, this is the fifth time you’ve beaten him up. Aren’t you satisfied yet?”

“Come on man, I really want to see these guys evolve…” Kenneth begged Eric, urging him to continue, “Five times really isn’t that much…”

“To Magnemite it certainly is…” Eric continued, looking at his pummeled electric Pokémon.

And soon after that, Eric had pulled out Magnemite’s Pokéball and aimed the red trajectory beam at it, turning his Magnemite into a red, translucent light that was suddenly absorbed into his Pokémon. It appeared both Eric and his Magnemite had enough…

“Oh come on…” Kenneth replied with annoyance, “I haven’t even started with Bagon and Dratini…”

“You’re going to have to wait…” Eric replied back to him, “I think you have forgotten that Dragon Pokémon take a long time to raise. I don’t know how much they were trained before you brought them, but even then, it’s going to be awhile before you get what you want. And don’t expect to get it from beating up Magnemite for the five hundredth time…”

As much as Kenneth was disappointed, Eric was right. Kenneth had a lot of training to do if he wanted to get all those Pokémon to their highest evolution. I guess that’s what he got for getting greedy…

And then, it wasn’t long before he had spotted me, standing right next to the Explorer. He suddenly had a nice big grin on his face, already preparing to battle once again.

“Good morning, Chris…” Kenneth had smiled at me, clutching his Pokéball, “Care for a conflict?”

“Kenneth, there’s no way you’re going to beat my Umbreon or my Machop with the Pokémon you just got yesterday…” I had replied to him, knowing my Pokémon were still pretty tough compared to his, “But, if you insist…”

I had grabbed Umbreon’s Pokéball, and I had pressed the button to prime it, inflating it to the size of a grapefruit. Then, I threw it forward, and after it struck the ground, the Pokéball burst open with a flash of light that had soon taken shape and form to become Umbreon. When Umbreon had fully emerged, he glared down at his enemy. Umbreon’s dark red eyes had looked down upon the tiny orange sand crab Pokémon and its giant pincer. At that moment, Umbreon had turned to me with a hint of disappointment.

“You’re expectations of me have gotten pretty low, haven’t they…?” Umbreon remarked, already thinking the battle was his.

“Well, blame Kenneth.” I replied to Umbreon, feeling a bit weird I was actually talking back to him for the first time, “He’s the one who insisted on this…”

Still, despite Umbreon’s remarks, Kenneth still wanted to go through with this. He looked to his Trapinch, and then looked toward Umbreon.

“Use your Crunch attack!” Kenneth had commanded his Trapinch, sending the sand crab Pokémon forward.

“Confuse Ray please.” I requested Umbreon, hoping this nonsense would be over soon.

“Oh, with pleasure.” Umbreon replied, looking toward Trapinch with a menacing smile.

At that moment, Umbreon’s eyes flared up brightly, and suddenly he was surrounded with a bright, white light. Suddenly, that same bright light appeared over Trapinch, and then there was a bright flash. After the light died down, Kenneth’s Trapinch didn’t know what the heck it was doing. He starting crawling rapidly in every direction, and then threw himself randomly on the ground. Meanwhile, Kenneth wasn’t looking too pleased…

“I suspected as much…” Umbreon said with confidence as he gazed at the confused Trapinch.

“Psychic attack.” I requested, looking at the struggling Trapinch.

“I thought you’d never ask…” Umbreon replied with a confident smile.

Seconds later, Umbreon focused his attention on the squirming Trapinch, and then his eyes glowed an eerie white. Suddenly, Trapinch was crushed from all directions as the blue and purple glow around him was sending pressure upon all points on his body. After the glow died down, suddenly Trapinch went on a fit of rage, and lunched in fury toward Umbreon, clamping down his sharp pincer on Umbreon’s back. Umbreon desperately tried to throw him off, but it wasn’t working…

“Ow. Ow. Ow.” Umbreon shouted, stilling trying to throw off the persistent Trapinch, “A little help here would be nice...”

Yet, I had no clue what to do. Suddenly, the confusion that been thrown into Trapinch’s mind started taking effect again, and he couldn’t help but release his grasp. After that, Umbreon was finally relieved, and was more than ready to finish the tiny crab off.

“Faint Attack, Umbreon.” I commanded, wanting to end this just as much as Umbreon did.

After that, Umbreon suddenly vanished into a blur, leaving only an unsuspecting Trapinch that was wondering where he went. And then, when he least suspected it, he went flying, spiraling into the air right after Umbreon had appeared and struck him from behind. After Trapinch crashed into the ground up-side down, Kenneth looked quite disappointed…

“Well, take a rest.” He told Trapinch as he recalled him to his Pokéball, “You did great considering what you were up against…”

And after the tiny crab Pokémon was sent back into his Pokéball, Kenneth still wanted to keep going. Umbreon had taken down a seemingly fearless Dratini and determined Bagon before becoming too tired to continue. After Umbreon had become exhausted from all the fighting, Kenneth had started snickering.

“Heh, I knew my Pokémon could take him down…” Kenneth smiled at Umbreon.

“Kenneth, he’s tried from beating all your Pokémon up, not from your Pokémon beating him up…” I corrected him, ready to give Umbreon on break.

“Finally, at least someone here agrees with me…” Umbreon replied, looking back to me with tired eyes.

I then had aimed the Pokéball’s red beam at Umbreon, and soon after, Umbreon was recalled back to the Pokéball, ready to take a rest of Kenneth’s seemingly endless onslaught.

“Well, that was certainly a blast.” Kenneth had said, enjoying the massive amount of battling, “Maybe in ten minutes we can do it again.”

“Ten minutes!?” Eric exclaimed in a freakish horror, “Kenneth, let your Pokémon relax for a little while, you’ve been training them hard enough. Maybe sometime in the afternoon will be fine, but not in ten minutes…”

After a little bit a haggling, we finally convinced Kenneth to wait on it, and then we got back in the car and headed back to Ranhasna. Like I had expected, the drive was short. Driving on that small dirt road was a heck of a lot faster than walking it. Then, after that short driven, we had finally arrived back in the stone city.

Yet… something seemed quite different about it…

[Neo Pikachu]

http://pirate.shu.edu/~rodmanjo/RTPChapter5.jpg

We had stopped at the front entrance, and for some reason, the entrance was heavily guarded. The city was certainly much more active than it was yesterday evening, which was normal. Simply, we stopped the car and headed out. Then, when we tried to enter the city, we were suddenly stopped by the two guarded armed with spears.

“Some people have been talking about you…” One of the guards had told us, not sounding too happy about it, “Apparently you’re not one of the An-Kai, are you?”

“No… we’re not…” Kenneth responded, looking away for a minute, “We’re humans…”

“We’re under the suspicion you’re spies from the Khans.” The guard had told us in a serious voice.

This was crazy. We didn’t look anything like the Khans. Weren’t the Khans dressed in metal armor? We weren’t wearing anything like that at all…

“I believe you’re mistaken.” I told the two guards, trying to plead my case, “We mean no harm to the people of this city. We’re from the Emerald Alliance…”

They were silent, but after a long silence, one of them had spoken up.

“From this point on, if you set foot in our city again, you will be killed.” The guard told us in an angry tone, “You have been warned…”

Nice people. I couldn’t believe the amount of disrespect we just got. I turned right around and went back to the car, and Kenneth and Eric did the same. Then, we just got back in the car, and I prepared to just drive around the city, which wasn’t so easy considering the terrain.

“What the heck did we ever do to them!?” Kenneth complained with the look of disbelief on his face.

“We’re human, that’s why…” I responded, feeling annoyed, “I guess the An-Kai are just racist.”

I continued driving outside the walls of the city, constantly checking the gas gauge. I only had an eighth of a tank left, which wasn’t too much. And we were going to need some serious food soon. Chips and root beer isn’t exactly the best diet we could get, not to mention the fact we were running out of it…

As time went on, I noticed something strange about Kenneth. He was scratching his back and the sides of his head a whole lot. He also kept rubbing his ears a lot, something I usually didn’t see him do. I thought it might have been the air or something, but if that was the case, I think we would have been feeling it too.

“You okay, Kenneth?” I asked him and I watched him out of the corner of my eye.

And then, he suddenly stopped scratching. He looked to me for a second and then just looked ahead.

“It’s nothing.” He said in a simple tone, just trying to shrug it off, “It’ll probably go away…”

Whatever it was. Soon after that, it wasn’t long before we had passed by the city, and we found ourselves now driving down the road that lead away from Ranhasna. Meanwhile, the gas gauge kept dropping and dropping. Now the tiny, white needle was on “E,” which meant we could find ourselves stranded any minute now. Still, we kept on going until the inevitable moment arrived. Suddenly, the accelerator just didn’t work anymore, and the Explorer just suddenly came to a stop.

“Why are we stopping?” Eric asked, looking around to see if we were anywhere in particular.

“Eric, unless Palantria has an Exxon station around that patch of forest over there, I don’t think we’re going to get this thing to move.” I replied to him, seeing that the needle was a little even past the “E” now.

From that point on, we were forced to walk. And to think, we had taken Exit 22P with the intention of getting gas. All we could do now was just open up the trunk and take everything that was useful and that we could carry. Everything else… was just going to have to stay behind.

“Man, what a great summer this has been…” Eric moaned sarcastically, opening the side door and stepping out of the car, “I put up with nine months of math and geography for this!?”

“Eric, please don’t start…” Kenneth told him, stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind him, “Believe me, we didn’t ask for this either.”

I had also gotten out of the car and saw there was nothing before forest all around us except on the path. But then, I noticed a small trail that led into the forest on the left side of the car. I stepped out and looked further down the trail, but I couldn’t see where it led due to the dense forest. The path was a very small dirt road, sometime covered by shrubs and only wide enough for one person. It looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time…

Kenneth had come around the car, scratching his head again. He also noticed the tiny beat up trail, but it seemed to sway back and forward, leading to a place unknown.

“Where do you think it goes?” I asked Kenneth, squinting to try and see beyond the dense forest.

“How would I know?” Kenneth shrugged, trying to see down the path himself, “Probably nowhere.”

And soon after, Eric had approached us, wondering what we were looking at. Soon enough, he found the path himself, and he also tried to figure out where it went. After staring at it for a few seconds, he then turned toward the two of us.

“I say we go for it.” Eric urged the two of us, “Chances are the next city isn’t for miles. I’m more interested to see where this goes.”

“Well, you do have a point there.” I had replied, looking back to the trail, “But if the trail ends, there’s no way I’m going to wander through a forest with no idea where I’m going.”

“Fine, fine.” Eric replied, being the first to head down the trail.

We then followed Eric down the trail, which kept winding and winding, and sometimes we had to stop and try and find where the trail left off. Usually after looking past a few shrubs we found it again and just continued going. Either that or Eric kicked them aside and we quickly found the trail underneath.

Further and further we went into the forest, for almost an hour. Then, after we continued to go along the trail, the forest had cleared, and then after we had stepped out of the dense forest, we came across one heck of a sight…

“Whoa…” Kenneth remarked after he stepped out of the forest and saw what had been just past the trees.

Before us lay a massive, ancient city, only it appeared to be in slight ruins. We looked down the hill and saw houses and buildings which almost seemed to be in the form of giant seashells in light pastel pink and orange colors and in all kinds of shapes while some other buildings were made of white and beige colored stone. Meanwhile, the narrow streets were made up of a series of white rocks, all laid out flat. Surrounding some of the buildings were clusters of coral that were scattered everywhere, and it somewhat gave the feeling of being underwater when really it was exposed to air. The only water there was were a small amount of water pools scattered around in various places, mostly along the paths and leaking through some of the entrance ways into the buildings.

“Do you think…” Eric asked, looking at each building, “…anyone still lives here?”

“Well, the houses don’t look maintained…” Kenneth had replied, looking around, “I’m guessing this place used to be an underwater city a long time ago…”

From the look of it, it seemed like that at first, but then again, if that was the true, whoever or whatever built this place wouldn’t have bothered wasting their time making the white stone pathways if they could swim around. We made our way down the hill and saw the long streets were completely empty. All the buildings looked vacant, and the fact everything was immersed in silence was making it a bit freaky.

We had turned to our left and headed into the first house, which was a pink-colored spiral seashell. There was no door, just a gaping cavity in the side of the shell where the white stone path led to. We walked inside, and entered the first floor of the building.

After we stepped inside, we noticed the only source of light that was coming in was from the giant hole in the ceiling as well as the door, leaving us with only a dim light to see everything. I could see the floor crept upward and to the right as it went on, moving along with the spiral formation of the shell. The floor was made up of many white pebbles, where in one area they were covered by a giant puddle of water. We walked past it and headed upward, where we came across a single room that had been carved out of the shell.

To our surprise, it looked no different from a normal human’s bedroom, complete with a bed, dresser, and a wooden floor. By the bed was a small night table with an oil lamp on it that looked like it hadn’t been used in some time. Meanwhile, the bed was already prepared, and still clean nonetheless. We just stared at it in disbelief.

“Okay, so much for living underwater.” Kenneth remarked, looking around at the bedroom.

“I think the general area was once underwater at one point.” I had told Kenneth, taking the time to think about it, “That might mean that the water cleared out and left all of these giant shells and coral formations behind. Then I guess somebody moved in and just turned the whole thing into a city.”

“Yeah, I would probably guess that myself.” Eric replied, taking a closer look at the room, “Some of the buildings aren’t even shells. I guess those are the ones the people here must have built themselves…”

But I wondered why the entire place was cleaned out of life while everything that was left behind was still somewhat in order. I had moved toward the drawers, and when I opened them, I had found several shirts and pants in there, all folded up and everything. And then when I pulled one out, it seriously didn’t look anything different than what you’d find at Macy’s or any other place like that back on Earth.

“I swear humans must have lived here.” Eric remarked at the plaid shirt I pulled out, “But that doesn’t make sense. Didn’t Jocasta tell us humans are few and far between?”

“Maybe now they are…” I responded, putting the shirt back and checking the other drawers, “What about a hundred years ago?”

“Chris, if these people lived here that long ago…” Kenneth replied, looking at me, “The place would have fallen apart by now from old age. It looks like they only moved out just a week ago.”

I didn’t find too much else in the drawers. When I shut the top drawer, I thought about that myself. Everything was still in remarkably good condition. Still, maybe it was just this one house.

“I say we check out some of the others.” I replied to the other two, “Maybe it’s just this one…”

After that, we left the seashell house behind, and moved on to the one next to it, which was one of the stone buildings that looked like it had been crafted with white and beige rocks connected by cement. Unlike the first house, this one actually had a wooden door, with a brass knob no less. The door looked like it was slightly splintering from old age. Instead, Kenneth had just grabbed the door, and opened it. We then just stepped inside.

This one was basically a one room house, just like the last one. However, this had a first floor and a balcony which had two beds. There were two square, glassless windows on either end, and a wooden floor. Again, it had similar furnishings to the first house, only there was nothing electronic. There as a table on the first floor with three chairs in the back right corner of the room, and a sitting area to the left of the door. Still, everything was in good condition. I just didn’t get it.

“Man, it’s just like everyone disappeared…” Kenneth replied at the sight of the room, “How could there be no one living here?”

I was asking the same question myself, and I didn’t know how to answer it. I had made my way up the stone steps that lead to the second floor balcony which held two beds. Besides the first bed, I found an awfully interesting surprise. Right besides it was a leather belt, with two Pokéballs in two of the belt’s leather holders. And yet, the strangest thing was that they were both red and white, the same color as the ones we got back home, and not like the gray and black ones they sold just a city away…

I picked up the leather belt and looked at the two Pokéballs. I could only wonder if there was actually a Pokémon in there of if they were both empty. I had taken the belt downstairs, and showed it to both Eric and Kenneth.

“Where did you get that!?” Eric asked in wondering excitement.

“It was just upstairs.” I told the both of them, “And look at the colors. They’re just like ours. They’re not gray and black like the ones you brought, Kenneth.”

“Oh… my… God…” Kenneth remarked in awe, “Chris, you may not realize this, but only Silph and Devon make red and white Pokéballs. All other colored Pokéballs are created from Appricorns. Simply enough, whoever got those Pokéballs got them from Earth.”

I just looked at the two of them again, and all I could think about was the Pokémon Trainer that once owned these but ended up here in Palantria, and in this city. And now, all I wanted to know was what happened to them. There were others just like us here. Maybe they didn’t end up here through the Interstate exit we took, but nonetheless, they ended up here for reasons unknown.

“About how long ago do you think they left, Eric?” I asked him, hoping he would know from the condition of things.

“I would guess about three months, maybe sooner.” Eric replied, looking around him, “After six, animals and insects start breaking their way in and start taking over.”

That probably would have been my estimate as well. I had taken one of the Pokéballs off its leather holder, and then pressed the button to prime it. Just like any of our Pokéballs, it inflated to the size of a grapefruit. I then threw the Pokéball forward and then a second later, the glossy Pokéball struck the wooden floor, and then the light had burst from it. Moments later, the light had begun to take shape and form into a Pidgeot.

The giant four foot tall brown and beige bird with its long yellow and pink crest had emerged, and he looked around with his sharp eyes. Then, he had turned toward me, and he didn’t look so lightly upon my presence…

“Well, you’re not my master Gregory.” The Pidgeot told me in a sharp and aggressive tone as he gave me a cold stare, “Just who are you, anyway?”

“My name is Chris.” I had told the Pidgeot, again feeling strange talking to a Pokémon, “We only just arrived a few minutes ago to find the entire city is completely empty.”

“Yeah right.” The Pidgeot snapped at me, not believing a word of it.

“Fine, go outside and see for yourself.” I told the Pidgeot, probably expecting for him to not trust me yet.

Just then, the Pidgeot gave me the cold shoulder, and he walked toward the door on his two talons, acting like the three of us weren’t even there. After he kicked the door open, he walked outside and took a look around. Then, I saw what was once bitterness in his eyes had become a look of fright and concern. He looked down the long streets and saw not a single person was moving around. It wasn’t long before he came rushing back in here, looking toward us for help.

“Where did they all go?” He asked, hoping the three of us would know.

“We don’t know…” I had replied to the Pidgeot, having no idea either, “How long ago has it been since Gregory last let you out of your Pokéball?”

The Pidgeot tried to stop and think. Then, after a few moments of silence, he looked back up toward me.

“I think it was two months ago.” He had replied, making Eric’s prediction even earlier, “I was wondering why he was keeping me in there for so long. I hope nothing happened to him…”

I could only hope for the same. But still, I thought about it logically, and realized that he still should have been safe.

“Look, there aren’t any dead bodies lying around.” I had replied to the Pidgeot, “That means everyone must have left peacefully, but then again, I don’t think it was under their own will. And I think they must have had to leave in a hurry, since they left so many of their things behind.”

That made the Pidgeot feel a little more comfortable knowing Gregory still should have been safe and unharmed. The only thing I could guess was that it was the doing of the Khans, just wanting more human allies. But then, how would I bring myself to find them?

“Do you know anything about the Khans?” I asked the Pidgeot, looking in his eyes.

“Khans…” The Pidgeot stated, thinking about it, “No, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about them. Why do you ask though?”

“I have the feeling it was the Khans who took Gregory away…”

[Neo Pikachu]

http://pirate.shu.edu/~rodmanjo/RTPChapter6.jpg

I knew that the Khans were willing to trust anyone else that was human like most of them were. Once they probably found this place, they probably convinced or forced everyone out of the city. That’s probably why it was completely abandoned but everything that was left behind was still in good condition.

I had asked the Pidgeot about Gregory, and from what I heard, he once left home for the Hoenn League. After he had gotten his fourth badge, the next thing the Pidgeot remembered was being here. He then told me that Gregory had been living here with another teenager for the last two years, and that the city was filled with people just like them.

Then, I felt it was only right that we told him about what happened to the three of us. I also introduced him to Eric and Kenneth, and how we went on a road trip only to end up here. Then I told him all that we went through until we decided to follow the path in the forest to this city. Slowly, I hadn’t felt so weird talking to a Pidgeot anymore.

“I want to come with you.” The Pidgeot told me, looking into my eyes, “I want to find out what happened to Gregory and why the rest of the city vanished.”

Well, that was a surprise. A few minutes ago it seemed like he was going to attack us. Still, if he wanted to come with us, I wasn’t going to go against it.

“We’ll help you find Gregory.” I replied to the Pidgeot, hoping it wouldn’t be too long before we found this kid, “And then the four of us will try to find a way out of this forsaken place.”

It wasn’t long until I had decided to recall Pidgeot back to his Pokéball, but before I did, I had taken out Gregory’s other Pokéball and looked and it. If Pidgeot was Gregory’s first Pokémon, then what was his second?

“It’s his Beautifly.” The Pidgeot remarked as I looked over the glossy red and white Pokéball, “We’re the only two Pokémon that Gregory had with him when we found ourselves here.”

Considering the number of Pokémon we had was a sickeningly low amount, we were going to need all the help we could get. I took the Pokéball on the leather belt, and then attached it to mine. Then, I looked over to Pidgeot, and took his Pokéball.

“We’re going to need to head back…” I told the Pidgeot, looking at him as I prepared to send him back his Pokéball, “There’s a trail at the end of the forest, which should take us to the next city.”

“Not the forest that’s up the hill…” Pidgeot corrected, looking away for a bit as he thought to himself, “There is no way back. Several people claimed that they found a small trail that led to here. For some bizarre reason, the trail disappears when looked at from the south, but even from the north, it’s still a nightmare to try and follow.”

There went that idea out the window. And I certainly didn’t want to risk heading back into the forest completely blind without any idea where we were going. I had remembered following that trail through many curves and twists. Still, it was pretty weird just thinking about it. The only way now was by going forward.

“Looks like there is no turning back.” I had replied to the three of them, “We need to move forward.”

“There is an underground tunnel that you can use that was built long ago.” The Pidgeot told the three of us, “Problem is, no one from this city of Lesalas ever used it. Yet, it is the only way out of the city.”

“Then we have no choice but to go there.” I had told the Pidgeot, not afraid of seeing what’s down there, “We’ve wasted enough time sitting here.”

Then, I had taken Pidgeot’s Pokéball and aimed the red beam and the giant bird Pokémon. Once the beam had made contact, Pidgeot had become a red light and was then absorbed into the Pokéball.

It wasn’t long before the three of us left the small house and looked for signs of this underground tunnel that the Pidgeot had spoken of. As we made our way through the abandoned city of Lesalas, we saw more houses and buildings similar to the ones that we entered, still with all their furnishings intact. Soon after, we had come across a courtyard with a large ordinate stone basin full of sparkling water. Just then, Kenneth had decided to approach the water, almost looking like he was going to drink from it.

“Kenneth…” Eric stopped him, looking unsure at the water, “Remember what Jocasta told us about changing races? I wouldn’t be drinking from that water if I were you. You don’t know what would happen…”

Just then, Kenneth was strangely silent. He looked toward the water, and then looked back at Eric. Then, he slowly looked back at the basin, and stared at the slightly rippling water with a forlorn expression, putting his hands on the side of the stone basin and bending over the small pool of water that was just below his chin.

“I think it’s a little too late for that…” Kenneth replied in a cold, firm voice.

Eric and I were struck silent. I looked over Kenneth, but I couldn’t see anything wrong with him. Kenneth didn’t make a move, and then the two of us just stared at him, wondering what was wrong…

“What… makes you so sure of that?” I had asked, not really certain if I was willing to find out what Kenneth was exactly talking about.

Just then, Kenneth had kept his back toward us, and his grabbed the fabric collar of his t-shirt. Then, he pulled his t-shirt off, and we saw his exposed back. I couldn’t believe my eyes at first. It looked like two dark green claws were sticking out of his back. I slowly approached him to get a slightly better look, but then I stopped.

“Is that why you were scratching your back so much?” Eric asked, assuming that must have been the reason, “I didn’t think something like this had happened to you already…”

“It’s been all that I usually think about…” Kenneth replied, putting his shirt back on, “You probably think I went nuts that one day buying all those Dragon Pokémon. I haven’t been saying it, but I’m constantly driven with a passion to train them. And little did I know… I’m slowly becoming just like them…”

“Kenneth…” Eric replied softly, not liking what he was hearing.

I couldn’t speak. I looked closely at Kenneth’s ears and they were changing as well. Slowly, they seemed to slightly change from being the recognizable human ear lobe that I’ve seen to slowly becoming that same dragon wing web-like formation that I’ve constantly seen on the sides of a dragon’s head in some of those fantasy books that I’ve read long ago. Already I could see some distinctive differences…

“So…” Kenneth replied, looking away with a look of shame, “It’s too late for me anyway. I’m just hoping nothing happens to the two of you, but I won’t put money on that. I think it’s only a matter of time…”

With that said, he cupped his hands, and dipped them into the water, and then began to sip the sparkling water. I couldn’t help but feel incredibly sick at the moment. I couldn’t imagine what Kenneth would look like in a week’s worth of time here. And I could already feel that it was going to be much longer than a week before we could get out of here, and that was if we got out of here. The thought of being stuck here for the rest of our lives didn’t seem too far off either…

Once Kenneth was done, we then headed through the center of the courtyard, until we had found a marble staircase leading from the path to an underground tunnel. Underground, the entire tunnel was made up of turquoise stones in a brick formation. Most of the stones were clearly very old and were falling apart. However, from our view at the top of the stairs, that was all we could see.

“I’m guessing this is the underground tunnel that Gregory’s Pidgeot was talking about.” I had told Kenneth and Eric as we gazed down the empty staircase, “If that’s the case, it might be our only way out of here.”

“Yeah…” Kenneth replied, looking down, “But didn’t he say that no one in the city ever used it before? Why do you think that is?”

There was something about that I didn’t like. Yet, I thought it was weird that Pidgeot said it was the only way out of the city. I’m guessing Pidgeot didn’t know of every possible way out of the city. This underground tunnel couldn’t have been the only way…

“Let’s go.” I told the other two, just wanting to continue, “I don’t want to waste time just thinking about it.”

Shortly after, the three of us had made our way down the marble steps, and soon before us, we saw a long tunnel comprised of nothing but turquoise stones on all the walls. Meanwhile, the floor was made up of turquoise colored tiles that were also cracked and crumbling in multiple areas. Only a few tiles had shown no signs of damage, but there were plenty of them that did. Along the sides of the tunnel were small torches, still flickering with fire. Then, the three of us began to head down the long hallway, hoping we weren’t heading toward a death-trap.

After we reached the end of the hallway, we were then forced to turn right, and then we headed down another empty and crumbling hallway made up of more turquoise stones. By now, everything was only dimly lit as we continued to walk down the crumbling tiles until we had to turn left and head down another hallway.

But then, we saw something that made us stop. It was another hallway, only down the center of it, we saw two moving objects on the floor, one of them was a beige color while the other was an ugly pea-green color, and they were both the size of a Rhyhorn. As I got a better look at them, I saw they were on all fours, somewhat like a frog only their legs were all spiky and their faces were filled with sharp teeth and eyes that were similar to a cat’s.

“Man, what the heck are those things?” Eric asked in disgust as he stared at the two creatures.

“It doesn’t matter what they are.” Kenneth replied, glaring at the two creatures, “We’re going to have to get through them if we want to get out of here.”

Just then the two creatures quickly turned around, glared at us, and hissed, opening their mouth that was filled with strands of saliva from their tongue to the roof of their mouth. Then, they slowly approached us…

“Foolssss…” The beige creature hissed, “Obviousssly you’ve never heard of Hanzar and Gretel, have you?”

“Is that was the two of you freaks are called?” I asked the two of them, somewhat surprised they could actually talk.

“I am Gretel.” The beige creature hissed with a cold stare, “And thissss is my brother Hanzar. And itssss been a very long time ssssince we’ve had ssssomething to eat…”

I reached for Machop’s Pokéball, and I pulled it off of the leather holder. Then, I pressed the small button on the Pokéball, inflating the glossy red and white ball, and then threw it forward like a softball. Seconds later, the Pokéball struck the tiled floor, and then opened with a flash of light. Then, the white light had formed into my Machop, who seemed a bit unfamiliar with his surroundings at first.

“Go, Laclaw and Dratini!” Kenneth cried out, throwing forward two of his gray and black Pokéballs.

Both Pokéballs had struck the ground, and both of them opened with a flash of light. Out of the first Pokéballs emerged Kenneth’s Dratini, a blue and white snake Pokémon with bright eyes and two white wing-like formations on the side of his head. Out of the other came his Laclaw, a Pokémon I had never seen or heard of before. When he fully emerged, he appeared to be a black dragon whelp that stood on his two legs while two dark red bat-like wings were on his back. His eyes were also red and they glared upon Hanzar and Gretel with threatening stare. Meanwhile, at the ends of his four fingers were surgically sharp claws.

“Dratini, use your Wrap Attack on Gretel!” Kenneth commanded, pointing toward the beige creature known as Gretel.

Then, the blue and white dragon snake Pokémon surged toward Gretel, and wrapped around his neck with his long and flexible body. After Dratini had gotten a good grip on Gretel’s neck, then Kenneth looked toward his Laclaw and then looked back to Gretel, who was screaming and struggling to get Dratini off of his neck.

“Laclaw, strike Gretel with a Slash attack!” Kenneth commanded his dark dragon Pokémon, “Aim for his face!”

“Heh,” Laclaw replied, rushing toward Gretel and preparing his claw for a vicious strike, “I hope this hurts.”

Then, when Laclaw had reached Gretel, he had slashed the hideous creature with a hard and very well timed slash to the face. Gretel screamed as his body was thrown back from the strike. In his anger and rage, he grabbed Dratini’s body firmly, and quickly and fiercely pulled the blue dragon snake off of his neck, and threw Dratini at Laclaw. Dratini was thrown across the room and upon hitting Laclaw, both of them were thrown backward until landing on one of the tiles, smashing the old, stone tile into pieces.

Meanwhile, I had looked toward Hanzar and then pointed at him, pointing at the green creature that was similar to Gretel.

“Attack with Karate Chop, Machop!” I had commanded Machop.

“You got it!” Machop replied, rushing toward Hanzar with his fists clenched and ready.

But then, Hanzar lowered his gaze and then began to focus.

“Darknessss and chaosss, render my enemy helplessss. Ssshadow Bind!” Hanzar cried out in fury.

Just at that moment, a dark red light had surrounded Hanzar, and suddenly a cage of glowing black and red bars had surrounded Machop. My Machop had desperately tried to separate the glowing bars swirling with red and black colors, but they seemed to be too strong for him to pry open.

I had no idea what kind of attack Hanzar had just used, but I knew for sure it was nothing like the attacks Pokémon had used. But then again, Hanzar and Gretel sure weren’t Pokémon. I knew for a fact they never came that ugly…

Just then, Eric had decided to call back-up support and he pulled out the Pokéball that contained his Magnemite. Moments later, he prepared the Pokéball by pressing the button, and then threw the Pokéball forward. The red and white ball had spun in the air just before it struck the ground, releasing a flash of light before his Magnemite had appeared. The tiny metal sphere with two white eyes had floated in the air. On its sides were two magnets with red and blue stripes on the ends to indicate positive and negative.

“Magnemite, use your Thundershock attack on Hanzar’s eyes!” Eric had commanded, furiously pointing toward the green creature.

“Acknowledged.” Magnemite had responded, “Attacking target.”

Then, Magnemite’s two magnets had flared with electricity, and then the metal Pokémon had directed two streaks of violent forking thunder toward Hanzar. Just a second later, Hanzar was struck in the eyes by both bolts of electricity, stunning him momentarily.

“You will not get away with that!” Hanzar howled, surging toward Magnemite.

Hanzar lunged toward Magnemite, but the metal Pokémon ascended before Hanzar would reach him. And then, just moments after Hanzar had missed, Machop had torn apart two of the bars out of the cage that Hanzar had summoned to bind him. Then, just as Machop had left the cage, he had taken one of the glowing red and black bars and headed toward Hanzar. Just when Hanzar had his gaze on the floating Magnemite, Machop swung the bar and struck Hanzar in the back of the head, blasting the glowing bar into flaming embers as Hanzar’s head was thrown forward into the ground where it smashing another crumbling tile into pieces, sending chunks and fragments of stone in all directions.

[Neo Pikachu]

Chapter 6 Continued...

“Use a Low Kick attack against Hanzar!” I commanded him, seeing that Hanzar had already taken serious damage.

“You got it!” Machop responded affirmatively.

Just then, Machop moved toward the wounded Hanzar, then the struck his hideous face with the heel of his foot, sending Hanzar flying backward and then slamming upon the floor, shattering another six tiles when his back struck the floor.

At the same moment, Laclaw had moved Dratini off of his body, and then glared toward Gretel with an angry stare. Just then, Gretel opened his toothy mouth and hissed as his mouth began to salivate.

“Now that’s a face only a mother could love…” Laclaw remarked at the hideous creature.

“Laclaw, attack Gretel with a Slam attack!” Kenneth had commanded the dark dragon Pokémon.

“With pleasure…” Laclaw smiled as he rushed toward Gretel, “There’s nothing stopping me now!”

Laclaw then surged toward Gretel with a fit of rage, and upon reaching the hideous beige creature, Laclaw turned and struck Gretel with his shoulder, sending Gretel screaming as he flew backward. But then, Gretel quickly got back up and leapt off the floor, throwing his two front claws and then throwing Laclaw flying backward, just before he fell down upon the tiles and shattered more of them to bits…

“Ohh…” Laclaw moaned from the pain.

“Return Laclaw.” Kenneth stated in a firm tone as he took Laclaw’s Pokéball and aimed the red beam at the fallen Pokémon.

Moments later, Laclaw had become a red translucent glow, and then was pulled back into the Pokéball. Then, Kenneth had pulled out another Pokéball, and then threw it forward furiously.

“After him, Trapinch!” Kenneth cried as the Pokéball left his hand and spun through the air.

Then, the Pokéball had struck the ground hard, and the light had burst from the ball to form into Kenneth’s Trapinch. The orange sand crab Pokémon had emerged, looking toward Gretel with a vengeance.

“Dratini, attack Gretel with Thunder Wave!” Kenneth had commanded, showing no mercy at all for Gretel, “Trapinch, strike Gretel with Crunch attack!”

At that moment, Dratini had released a pulsing wave of thunder, stunning both Gretel and Hanzar has forks and sparks of electricity struck them motionless. Then, Trapinch rushed toward the weakened Gretel, and then clamped down his large and sharp jaws on Gretel’s face, making the already hideous complexion of Gretel even worse as more vicious cuts were torn into it.

When Trapinch released his grasp, he stepped back, and suddenly, Gretel began to stumble back before landing on his belly, and then stopped motionless as his arms and legs lay spread out everywhere.

Then, Gretel’s brother Hanzar got back up, but only seconds later, Machop had rushed toward Hanzar with his hands crossed and glowing white, just before he had struck Hanzar with a powerful Cross-Chop attack, sending Hanzar flying backward again. Only seconds later, Hanzar struck the floor forcefully, blasting more fragments of the tiles on the floor in all directions. Then, Hanzar lay on his back, and he didn’t get up once again…

We just looked at the fallen Gretel and Hanzar, and slowly a puddle of strange, green liquid began to pool below their bodies. I had a feeling both of them were dead…

“What a mess…” Eric replied, looking at the fallen Hanzar and Gretel.

Just then, we heard a strange whoosh sound, and then we noticed Kenneth’s Trapinch was glowing white. Suddenly, the white light had begun to change shape. Suddenly, from the light had emerged four diamond wings, with two on both sides, one nearly on top of the other. It had also grown a tail with two diamond shapes on each side. When the light had finally died down, we had realized Kenneth’s Trapinch had evolved into a Vibrava.

Unlike Kenneth’s Trapinch, Vibrava had a light yellow body with four green diamond-shaped wings with a black outline. It also had a yellow tail with two similar diamond shapes at the end. Meanwhile, Vibrava had two shiny green eyes with a black pupil in each eye. Then, under its body it had for T-shaped feet. It definitely looked very different from Trapinch…

“Excellent!” Kenneth exclaimed, “Man, I’ve been waiting so long for this!”

“Come on.” I told Kenneth, knowing we still needed to continue on, “We still need to keep moving.”

After that, I had recalled Machop back to his Pokéball, and Eric had recalled Magnemite. Shortly after, Kenneth recalled both his Dratini and his new Vibrava.

As we walked further down the hallway, I could see our battle had done an extensive amount of damage to the floor, but regardless, we moved on further down the hallway. Then, we had to make another right, and when we turned around the corner, we had come to a fork in the road, and now we could either keep going down the hallway or take a turn to the right.

“Pidgeot never said anything about this…” Eric replied, looking down both hallways.

“Probably because Pidgeot has never been done here before…” I had told Eric, stating the obvious…

After some debate, we had decided to turn to the right and continue down that hallway instead. After taking another right, we had then come across a circular chamber, with a large, circular stone pedestal in the center of the room, while on the back wall just behind the pedestal was a massive stone carving of what appeared to be a wizard with a giant cloak riding upon a powerful stallion. We had approached the pedestal in the center of the room, and looked at the top. Carved into the stone plate were four octagonal pits, one with a maple leaf, one with a snowflake, one with a flower head and another with the image of a sun.

“What the heck is this?” I had asked, having no idea what the purpose of the pedestal.

When I looked at it further, it appeared that something was supposed to fit into the holes in the pedestal. Yet, I had no idea what…

Then, suddenly we heard a low, boom voice surround us. At first I couldn’t tell where it was coming from…

“I don’t know who you are… but I need your help.” The firm, low voice had told us.

I had looked around, and suddenly I realized it had come from the carving of the wizard on the back wall. But that didn’t make sense. How could a carving talk?

“And you are…?” Kenneth asked, also realizing that the voice was coming from the stone image.

“My name is Darzaras, Archaic Mage of the Azmaraxe Knights.” The voice had told us, again coming from the stone carving, “I’ve been imprisoned within this wall for nearly centuries.”

“That’s gotta suck…” Kenneth remarked, “Who did that to you?”

After a short silence, the carving on the wall had spoken up again.

“It was none other than Golgathas, the leader of the Black Angels.” Darzaras had told us, sounding like he wanted revenge, “Chances are by now he’s long since dead, and I have been forgotten after all these ages. I need your help to release me from this stone prison.”

“And how can we be sure we can trust you?” Kenneth asked, still not quite believing Darzaras.

Then, after another brief silence it had seemed Darzaras had made Kenneth the focus of his attention. The he seemed to have realized something…

“No, you’re not like the other two.” Darzaras had told Kenneth, “I thought you were human at first, but you’re not. You’re one of the Dracos…”

“Dracos…?” Kenneth had asked, never hearing it before.

“They’re extremely rare.” Darzaras had told Kenneth, “In order for a human to become one, they need to be injured by a dragon. Thing is, not a whole lot of humans encounter dragons, and even upon the rare event that they do, the injury done to them is usually fatal. I guess you’re one of the lucky ones…”

I didn’t get it. I’ve been with Kenneth the entire time, and never once did we see a dragon. And even then, I don’t remember any of Kenneth’s Dragon Pokémon ever laying a scratch on him. But it certainly didn’t sound like Darzaras was talking about dragon Pokémon. It sounded like he was talking more about the real deal…

“I don’t remember ever once seeing a dragon, let alone being injured by it.” Kenneth had told Darzaras, looking up at the stone carving of the mage upon the horse, “And I own several Dragon Pokémon, but I don’t remember ever being injured by them either.”

“Dragon Pokémon are not ones who cause it.” Darzaras replied to Kenneth, “Though a strong passion to train them upon arriving at the opportunity is usually a result.”

As I continued to think about it, I then suddenly remembered what had happened before all that started. I then recalled the time when Kenneth was injured during his time in Palantria. We didn’t see any dragons, but…

“Kenneth, what was it that you stepped on just outside of Ranhasna?” I had asked Kenneth, looking at his eyes, “When I saw it, it looked more like a claw than a stone…”

Suddenly, Kenneth snapped to attention, and his eyes became wide. He then looked toward me for one second, and then looked back to Darzaras.

“Okay, it could have been a dragon’s claw. I didn’t quite know what it was either.” Kenneth replied, looking a bit worried, “I really didn’t think anything of it. But how can a single claw cause it? I would think someone would have to be hurt by the dragon itself, not just a piece of it.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Darzaras had told Kenneth, “Either way, you were injured on a dragon’s behalf, whether it was intentional or not.”

Kenneth was silent. There wasn’t anything he could do about it now. Jocasta was right, it sure didn’t take much for a human’s race to change around here. And like Eric said, we had to be extremely careful whenever we ate or drank anything. I could see in Kenneth’s eyes that he was starting to become very tense.

“So what happens now?” Kenneth asked, looking back up to Darzaras with concern, “I’m already starting to grow wings.”

“There will several noticeable changes, such as growing wings similar to a dragon’s.” Darzaras had told Kenneth, “But, you will never completely become a dragon through natural changes. Dracos are half human, and half dragon. Once a human fully transforms into a Draco, they then gain the ability to ascend toward becoming a full dragon and still retain the ability of switching back again. However, there are very few who know this.”

Now that was freaky. I couldn’t imagine Kenneth, the sports jock I had known for so long becoming a massive, gigantic fire-breathing dragon. But seriously, every second, he was becoming less human. At first I thought he was just going nuts for some reason that we really couldn’t explain. Now, Eric and I were more freaked out than ever. I couldn’t imagine what Kenneth would be like in only a few weeks’ time.

Kenneth didn’t say anything after that. I didn’t know if he was going to actually use that kind of bizarre power, but sooner or later, he was probably going to have to considering the war against the Khans. Soon after that, the discussion was no longer about Kenneth. Whether he wanted it to happen or not, he was going to become a Draco.

“I need for the three of you to help free me from this stone prison.” Darzaras requested, “When Golgathas imprisoned me here, he made sure the gems that were needed to break the lock were taken far away and protected. I need for you to obtain those four gems.”

“Well, we’re trying to fight off a group of raiders called the Khans.” I had told Darzaras, feeling like this was a bit out of the way, “We’ve been looking for the lost talismans that are supposed to unlock the Vault of Supremacy. If we free you, then will you fulfill your end of the deal and help the Emerald Alliance defeat the Khans?”

Darzaras was silent for a moment, and then we patiently waited for a response. It