Sophie Annya Blackendale's Story

The nurse looked at Skyva's arm carefully. "Did your friend pop it back in?" She asked.

Skyva slowly lifted her eyes to the nurse, "No. I did." Her voice was monotone, the only expression on her face was pain as the nurse slowly lifted her arm.

"Well that must have been extremely painful." She smiled at her. "This makeshift slang was a smart idea. If you left it hanging it would have been much worse." She said while walking to a counter and getting an actual slang. Again she lifted her arm and placed it in.

"I was hopped on adrenaline. Thanks, nurse." Skyva smiled or rather smirked. "You should really look at him. He fight you a bit, but just checking him. Oh, uhm... may I use the phone?" She asked.

"Sure, it is just over there." The nurse pointed across the room. Skyva slowly got up taking her bag with her and made her way to the phone. She noticed how hard it was to do everything with one arm.

It took a while, but she dialed her parent's home number. A busy dial. "Must be on the phone." She said to herself. Racking her brain she found a family friend's number and dialed. After three rings someone picked up.

"Hello?" A familiar voice rang from the other end.

"Mrs. Blackendale, it is Skyva." She said tired and excitedly.

"Oh my, it has...it has been a while since anyone has heard from you." She sounded happy to hear from her, but there was a hint of sadness.

"Yeah, it has been some time since I could get to a phone, but I was hoping you could get a message to my parents. I tried calling them, but they seemed to be on the phone. It was giving me a busy signal." Skyva said. There was silence on the other end. She was about to ask hello when she heard sobbing. "Mrs. Blackendale?"

"I am so so so sorry, hun. Your parents... oh gosh how do I say this. They were... murdered. We tried to get in contact with you, but we had no idea where you were or where you were going. Skyva?" Mrs. Blackendale asked, but Skyva was in shock. Her eyes watered as she gripped the phone tighter.

"W-Who did it?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"W-We aren't sure, they are still looking into it. Skyva, we are so sor-." Skyva hung up on her. She took a seat in the corner, lifting her sore legs up to her chest and thought about her next step.

---

---

Sophie walked into Mistralton hand in hand with her Drifloon, Arie. Her Banette, Banie, walked on the side of her. "When they hell are we going to find her?! How many people are red headed and have a damn lab coat?!" She yelled at the air. People stared at her, but kept going. Standing at 4'8 and being angry just made you look cute and not scary at all, which in a way is what she may or may not have been going for. After the event back in her hometown she had to make sure no one suspected anything.

"We will just take a break here and then go back to the trail. I heard some pokemon gang was having a hard time with a group of humans. Also, one of them mentioned there was a crazy redheaded girl with them. So we are on the right trail, well were before we came here." Banie said.

"It won't do to leave it here. I'd best try the Pokémon Center." Touko sighed and actually took off her hat to itch her scalp a bit. "Note to self, find a laundromat." After this observation and a basic induction that she might better find this Maxin at the center, off she went, awkwardly following a Gengar's lead with a sword in hand.

"I wonder if there's a Pokémon that looks like a sword," she thought idly to herself before opening the doors to the red-roofed building. Some Trainers were grouped up playing some sort of card game on the floor. "Hello? Looking for a Maxin? I found something with their name on it. Looks pretty important."

It was painful for Radegast to see Skyva. Even though he only saw her back from his position, he could tell something was wrong. When she sat down in the corner, Radegast pondered what he could possibly say.

He blinked, but regarded Skyva with a new calmness. His gaze then returned to the board, and he began clearing out the seeds the group had been using as chips. The rest of the group, after Radegast silently insisted he’d be good to clean up by himself, moved towards the entrance to keep an eye out for… well… anything…

The group was going through that transition phase, and that transition affected more than just them. It didn’t sit well with Radegast that he’d be leaving while a friend was MIA and another was distraught. There’s no way he could return to Absolute while this situation remained at an all-time worst-case.

“Bad news?” Radegast finally asked after pulling the two strings to close up the bag, before putting the board away.

It was then that Touko arrived at the Pokemon Centre. “Oh! Long time no see,” Radegast greeted with a forced smile as he stood up to meet with the Champion-tier trainer. “I heard you found Max’s sword there…” He paused as he stared at the blade. It looked so lonely without it's owner. The sixteen-year-old soon cleared his throat and continued. He expected that the Champion would need to hear about this. In their current situation, and seeing as they haven’t come across actual cops yet, Touko was about as good as the police. “Erm... Last we heard from him, he was drawing some Psychic dudes away into Chargestone Cave... Did you find that inside the cave?”

The Aegislash suddenly burst from it’s pokeball. The blade and shield hovered close to Radegast like a protective mother bear. “I sensed a sensible amount of power approaching,” Reggie said as it's eye met Touko's, “It does not threaten you, does it?”

“No.” Radegast flatly stated, "You really shouldn't be antagonizing people, given the situation.”

“I do not antagonize,” The eye on the Quillon block continued to rest, unwavering, on the girl. The serious gaze was betrayed by his otherwise flustered voice. “I am curious as to what this powerful creature means to you.”

Radegast told the Aegislash about the first encounter with the Psychic Rebellion, and thus introduced Touko at the same time. He talked about the first meeting at the PTA, and the Master Blaster being set up there, and the brawl they had taken part in. At the mention of the hold-out outside of the shield, the Aegislash relaxed somewhat. However, the Aegislash said nothing in return... yet.

Skyva tried to sort out her thoughts. She had a group of crazy pokemon after her just because she was with Radegast and now her parents were dead and the killer was out running about. She didn't know what to do or where to even start if she had figured out what to do. New people came in the center, but she paid no mind to them. Apparently they were friends of Radegast. They had Maxin's sword and a new pain emerged. She really hoped he was doing okay.

Slowly she stood and walked to the door, "I will be out." She mumbled and walked out. The air was nice and the sound of people was also a bit soothing.

"We are supplying up and getting the hell out of here. We need to catch up to her." A familiar voice drifted up her way. Skyva looked about and saw, short as ever, a familiar face. It was Steve's younger sister Sophie. She looked angry, as was her normal face after her brother died. A giggle almost escaped when she saw her holding hands with a Drifloon. And of course she had her Banette with her.

She made her way over to Sophie, "Well I'll be. You haven't changed a bit." She said.

Sophie looked up, "Well shit... finally found you!" She exclaimed. Skyva couldn't tell if she was angry with that or happy.

"Glad to see you too. Cute Drifloon you have there." Skyva smiled.

"I have been looking for you for forever. I was beginning to lose hope. Ahh, this is Airie. He found me, so I guess I was the pokemon that time." She laughed awkwardly.

"Aw, that is kinda... uhm cute." She thought about how Drifloons were supposed to kidnap kids. Maybe she wasn't young enough. "You were looking for me? For what?" Skyva asked.

Sophie looked around before stepping closer, looking down at her slanged arm. Her voice lowered, "I hurried to find you since no one could reach you, but your parents ar-" She was interrupted by Skyva holding up her hand.

"I know, your mother told me. I was thinking about going home and finding the killer to give them my own personal punishment, but I will let the police do their job. I have bigger things to worry about as of right now." Skyva's friendly voice had changed to something darker and serious.

"Or smaller." The Banette mumbled.

"What?" Skyva glared down at the toy. Sophie shoved him away.

"Go get supplies in the center." She ordered and both girls watched as the Banette disappeared into the center. "Sorry about that, you know Banie." She giggled awkwardly.

"Come, we can talk as I shop." She took Skyva's free hand and led her to the store. Inside she grabbed traveling food and what nots. Skyva decided to do the same. "So what have you been up to?" Sophie asked Skyva.

"Traveling here and there. Found a small group to travel with... kinda think it was a bad idea. Heh. Oh!" Skyva jumped at the thought, "Have you seen a young boy, he is a couple inches taller than me and has brown hair and brown eyes. He looks really sweet and innocent?" She asked.

Sophie looked up and thought for a moment, the Drifloon slowly turned his gaze at the sound of young boy. Skyva glared at it. "Hmm... no... sorry. We did run into a lot of pokemon who was running away from some crazy firing cannon though." Skyva sighed.

"Thanks, we kind of... not really lost, but we went separate ways after that. I was in the group of people that was being chased by psychic pokemon group thing. I don't know what the hell they were on about, but someone in my group messed with them and so on. A bunch of bull mess if you ask me."

"Is that how you hurt your arm?" Sophie asked.

"Not by them, but I was tied up and had to get my arms out from behind me to save my pokemon." Skyva said.

"Ha! You have changed. You would have never saved a pokemon a few years ago." She laughed.

"Yeah.." Skyva mumbled.

"Matte! Hold up! One at a time! I'm still trying to process that there's a sword Pokémon," Touko stammered as she pulled out her Pokédex to learn more about the mysterious Aegislash. "Serves royalty, huh? That's pretty cool, I guess, being thought of as a king. Been a while, Radegast," she added with as kind a smile as she could manage. "So far all I got is someone's hiding out in the cave. And no, I found this in a blasted clearing near the Celestial Tower. At first I thought there was a powerful fire-type about, but no. A shot either came from there, or landed there. The Blaster is still operational. I wanted to have Skyla give us a better view of the area, but you can't hear yourself think in that gym of hers."

Pause. Deep breaths. "Anyway, is one of you Maxin? I found something of some significance. And Radegast, it looks like your Aegislash wants to battle. I say bring it on. After all, you communicate with Pokémon with feelings, not words. Maybe it'll trust me after a friendly spar, what say you?"

Skyva could feel some tension between them. This was actually nothing new to Skyva since Steve died, but it had seemed Sophie was trying and that was good enough for her. She saw Radegast head for the gym and turned in the other direction. Sophie took notice quickly. "Aren't you going to go battle?" She asked.

Skyva didn't even look at her, "I don't do battles unless it is life threatening." She said it matter-of-factly and kept walking. She was heading for a park not far a head. Sophie looked back once more and quickly followed behind. The Drifloon was eagerly looking at each kid that passed and Skyva kept glaring back at it.

Once to the park she let all her pokemon out of their balls. Each pokemon stretched and then looked confusingly at Sophie, except for the ones that already knew her. "I see you kept brother's pokemon safe." Sophie said through a strained smile. To bad you couldn't do the same for my damn brother. She thought.

It took a while for Skyva to answer, but all she did was nod. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk, but she was watching the Driflloon carefully and suspecting there was another meaning to Sophie finding her.

Skyva saw Radegast leave the gym, but he was walking to the forest, she would never catch up to him in time. She instead got up and headed towards the gym. If he returned she would leave with him, if not... well I guess she would back track to where they last saw Maxin. Returning all her pokemon, except MewMew, into their balls and gently placing them in her bag she got up off the bench. "I am heading to the gym, seems like one of the guys in my group headed out already. Going to see if he returns, if not... well we shall see what happens next." Skyva tried to sounds cheerful. Sophie just nodded and followed her, Drifloon in hand.

They just made it out the park when the Banette ran in front of them, bags in his hands. "Oh good, you got the stuff!" Sophie shouted happily. Drifloon turned it gaze towards her and Skyva cringed. She waited until Sophie packed all of the new supplies. Skyva took the time to look around, she could see Radegast in the forest, heading this way. Sweet, she thought. Sophie hoped back up and started heading towards the gym, Skyva followed. She guessed she didn't see Radegast, or better yet didn't know who he was so she didn't care if some guy was coming out of the forest.

"I think we should stick together, Skyva. It isn't like I really have a group and you seemed to. It has been... lonely on the road." She turned toward Skyva, walking backwards. The poor Drifloon swung with her. She was smiling an innocent smile, but Skyva felt different.

"Sure, but going to warn you now, Radegast isn't... uhm...how do I even explain it?" She thought about the words for a moment. "He isn't a friend type."

"Oh so he is more than a friend to you?" Sophie sheepishly smiled.

"Oh poke no. Not even close. What I mean is he won't be there for when you are in need. He is kind of wrapped up into himself, but I don't think you ever cared for stuff like that." Skyva said. She was tried thinking back to when they were younger. Sophie, in a way, was like Radegast. She didn't care much about people, only enough to have friends at a distance. The only exception was her brother, who was now gone.

They got to the gym and sat near the exit.

“Skyva,” Radegast nodded a greeting. “How are you holding up?” He then noticed a similar-looking girl accompanying Skyva. “Friend of yours?” He smirked. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Elder paused for a moment as he saw Skyva’s face. She was still angry at Radegast. Did the sixteen-year-old know? Has Suros made up at all?

The Gengar rapped a claw on Suros’ pokeball, and the Talonflame emerged, roosting on Radegast’s rather thick shoulder.

Skyva looked down at Elder. A small smile creeped up, "Hey there. Oh, yeah, this is Sophie. She is the younger sister of a close friend of mine. And I am doing as good as I can get at this time, thanks." She spoke softly. The Drifloon backed away from the group some. Banette just stared.

Sophie nodded, not knowing what to say. She tried hard not to stare at Radegast, but when the Talonflame emerged and landed on his shoulder she had an excuse to. A small blush appeared on her cheeks.

Skyva watched the bird appear, not knowing what was going on.

“Hm…” Radegast hummed, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Sophie,” The sixteen-year-old extended the non-Suros-side hand to shake with the fellow sixteen-year-old. The boy didn’t really see anything sketchy about it; it was just meeting a new friend.

“I must apologize for being heated back then,” Suros suddenly chirped after a long pause, “I am sorry that our decisions have offended you.”

Sophie gave a nervous laugh and shook his hand. His were so much bigger than hers. "N-Nice to meet you too." She felt like she could faint.

Skyva smiled again, "It is alright. Where did you all go? I saw Radegast walk into the forest. Are you all okay?" She asked. "Do I have to kick some butt with one arm?" She joked.

"Kuso..." Touko cursed under her breath, kicking a few rocks as she made her way back to Mistralton's Pokémon Center. "Oh, hey, you're back. Good job, Radegast, I knew you could do it. Honestly, why would you set up as a flying user when there's electric-types for the catching right on your doorstep? Seems like a bit of an AIR-head..."

Nobody? Nobody? Oh come on, that was good.

"Anyway, I didn't find Maxin, but I did find a traumatized Cinccino. I couldn't bring him out because then I'd have to help everybody and I don't have enough resources for that. Dweller is standing guard in the cave...whatever drove them here scared them good and is a pretty competent battler. I saw the signature perfect circle bruise of an Aura Sphere, so that at least tells me one of his partners is a Lucario or something--not too many Pokémon can learn that attack. So...what's our next move? I found the sword in the clearing, and I'm leaving it with Dweller in the caves where he's an expert. That means I'm stuck here because I have to be ready to run in and help if things go sideways."

“An old friend came here to ask for help,” Radegast replied, completely oblivious to Sophie’s nervous streak, “The island where I met Crystal is being threatened, so I’m gonna see if I can charter a plane ride over to the island. Since it’s the same place I promised to bring Surf to, it’ll kill two birds with one stone, no pun intended,” he playfully scratched Suros’ belly with the same hand.

Touko returned, but not with Maxin. She reported her findings, and how her resources are spread quite thin. Radegast knew that Absolute could hear. Damnit, Radegast thought, He had to leave soon in order to get the drop on the Regicide Crew, but Maxin was still… Touko didn't find him like he was praying for. The boy was in serious trouble, Radegast knew... But so were the thousands on the island...

“It’s all right,” Radegast felt the presence in his head as the Articuno spoke only to him. So this is the power of a legendary, “The cavern Pokemon can hold them off for as long as needed, although the sooner we get there, the easier it will be to clear them out.”

Radegast nodded to seemingly nobody in particular. He was about to say he was going to head into the caverns himself when the Aegislash emerged from his pokeball.

“Remember,” Reggie said, “You’re one of their targets. I cannot allow you to go back where they can find you.”

“The last thing they'd expect would be me charging back in after so much running,” Radegast reasoned.

The Aegislash was not amused. “They would know you've had time to rest..." The sentient blade turned to the champion girl. "Champion Touko, are there any soldiers, any contacts at all, that you can send into Chargestone?”

“No it's alright. I’ll be fine on my own,” Radegast replied, "Touko's stretched thin as it is."

“If you are that stubborn…” Reggie turned upside-down, and pointed the sword body into the sky. He then shifted the shield underneath the pommel to form some sort of satellite dish. The Aegislash turned slightly to make different angles, and eventually paused for a moment. Reggie then returned to his form.

“I have called Margriet,” Reggie announced, “She is currently in Opelucid City. She will be here in a few minutes, along with Logan."

“I…” Radegast huffed in amusement. He was simply happy that his sister wasn’t anywhere near where the Master Blaster had hit. "Thanks, man."

"I live to serve the Family."

"Don't make it weird, Reggie."

"No. Wait. He's right," Touko piped up. "I'm pinned down, but I have contacts all over the place. Heck, the Grand Champion herself lets me call her by her name...we battled back when I made my journey to the top, you see. Iris was running the Opelucid Gym back then. Her old man Drayden should have taken over for her. I can't stray too far from Dweller since I have its Poké Ball, but between here and Opelucid is a place called Icirrus. There, a Gym Leader turned movie star by the name of Brycen lives near Dragonspiral Tower...and he owes me a favor. He can go in and maybe even use that sword for more than a few flashy moves."

She turned back to Radegast. "I'm with Aegislash on this one. I had a talk with Burgh before I left for here. There's nothing definitive, but rumor has it that the last champion of the Indigo League before that new kid Winter came along...well...she tried charging in to meet some sort of foe and met with a terrible fate. I'm still working on tracking her down, since her mechanical expertise might be useful for when we go after the Blaster, but I can't bear the thought of you charging into a trap. You've grown up a lot since I met you at the Academy, Radegast...but if it can make someone as strong as Titania crash and burn, I don't want to see you end up like her." There was a bit of a tear in her eye at that last part that was quickly wiped away.

Soon enough, Margriet and Logan had arrived, riding their respective Flying-types, Crobat and Pidgeot. “I heard from Uncle Tarma,” she said as she approached.

“How’s he-“ Radegast didn’t even get to finish the question before his sister slapped him across the cheek. Radegast twitched, but his hardened survivalist’s body took the blow like a champ. He hadn’t noticed how angry Margriet looked, because he always knew her to appear at least annoyed whenever they were within a hundred metres of each other.

“Are you insane? Going right back to the enemy?” Margriet barked, “Tarma’s crippled himself rescuing you, and you’re talking of risking your life again?”

Radegast’s brow furrowed. “The risk would be mitigated if you and Logan came with-“

“You’re their target! I'd be cool with you coming with us if they wanted to capture you, but Uncle confirmed they just want you dead!” Margriet interrupted, “Reggie may be powerful as a bodyguard, but he’s still a single Ghost/Steel-type. You’re too important to even consider going back.”

Radegast’s eye twitched at the mention of his “importance”. He grit his teeth, about-faced, and stormed off away from the group. Elder felt an unseen anger wash over the sixteen-year-old, since he had taken to hiding in his friend’s shadow. Elder exited Radegast’s shadow and returned to Margriet. “I’ll talk to him,” Elder said, “We’ll make sure he stays back.”

“Good,” Margriet sighed. She then turned to Touko to continue discussing rescue plans. “We’ll head to the Mistralton-side entrance, and hold position until both entrances are covered. We’ll box in any threats within the cave that way.”

—

“You knew Marge would do that, didn’t you?” Radegast asked the Aegislash, who had followed the Reginald boy.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Reggie lied badly.

“It's all so stupid... I’m not as important as people say.”

“You are a Reginald, an old and powerful family name.”

“I’m just a guy. A guy, in a world with billions more. I can’t be any more important than any of them just by being born in a certain family. That’s not an alien concept, is it?”

“No... but it seems to me like you want to prove yourself in your own way,” Reggie harrumphed, “You still brim with the pride of a Reginald.”

Elder caught up by then. “Hey man, you doing alright?”

“Yeah… well… uhm…" Radegast sighed as he slowed down his gait. "Is it wrong to have hoped Touko didn’t find Max, so I could find him myself?”

“That’s pride, Lord-Regent,” Elder flatly stated so quickly it was almost embarrassing, “You’ve seen how dangerous pride is.”

The Aegislash translated, and Radegast recalled getting knocked around to an inch from death by Rage. “Yeah… I guess it is.”

“Let’s go see Skyla,” Elder chimed up. “We’re not stretched between two things anymore. We can help You-know-who.”

Radegast found himself producing the Jet badge, which had slipped into his pocket temporarily. The sixth badge of the Unova League, earned by his friends, but not him. Margriet would have taken this challenge soon enough if not for the developments within the Family. She would have been continuing her career- her dreams- if he hadn’t been careless, if he hadn’t been discovered.

The sewer... the hospital... Agent X... Radegast had no one to blame but himself. He was careless.

It’s not fair for me to be important. All I did was… exist.
I don’t want power or recognition… I just want friends.

You have friends, Radegast felt Absolute’s words in his head, Have faith in them, as you always had.

Yeah, that’s right.

Skyva and Sophie sat there, no one seemed to notice them at all. They found each other both rolling their eyes at the drama that was unfolding in front of their eyes. Both girls looked at each other, smiled awkwardly, and looked back at the scene before them. Sophie didn't know any of these people, but was fighting back the small laughter bubbling in her throat.

Skyva was the one to get up. "I am going look for Maxin while you all fight among yourselves. I..." She looked at MewMew to see if it was in agreement with her. It nodded its head and she looked back at him. "I am not the real target and as I have seen for the past few days I can be easily looked over. Plus I will have Sophie with me and she has some pretty good pokemon." She looked at the Drifloon and cringed a little.

"Wait, wha-. No no no you are right, I will tag along." Sophie said, waving a dismissive hand.

"Plus I am not of importance. Plus sitting here is not sitting well with me." Skyva said, she looked over Touko, "You said you looked in the cave and didn't find anything. So I am going to start where I last saw him and back track there." She grabbed her bag and headed out the gym. "If I make it," She turned back to the group smiling, "I'll see you. If not...try not to fight all the damn time." Sophie let a giggle out and waved, her eyes glaring at the group before letting the doors shut behind them.

"Right. So it's settled, then. Redhead and her friend there are picking up where I left off...take extra potions, there's lots of wounded refugees that don't belong in there," Touko said matter of factly, falling into a comfortable role of coordinating and giving orders. "Radegast is apparently flying to a family reunion, though I'm pretty sure Skyla flies a cargo plane that was adapted to passenger use...it doesn't have the range to get much further than the Unovan border. I'm headed north to Icirrus to get in touch with Brycen, maybe he knows something about where Titania disappeared to. Someone needs to cover the Driftveil side of the cave, though...who wants that job?"

“Not a reunion,” Margriet corrected, I doubt mother would want to see him, to be honest… “He’s staying away so we can move in. Let’s go, Logan.”

“Right away,” Logan replied. The two of them headed to Chargestone, utilizing their Flyers to make the quickest time. They stopped at the entrance and stood firm while reinforcements arrived at either entrance of the caves.

—

With Reggie back in his ball and Elder once more being the only active companion, Radegast entered the Hangar/Gym once more.

“Can I speak with Skyla?” Radegast flashed the badge he already had in his hand.

When he got in a meeting, Radegast asked “Could you give me a ride to these coordinates?” At that, the boy produced a tiny ziplock bag. Inside the bag was a slip of paper with latitude and longitude numbers. The paper was worn and torn, and had seen much abuse being in a satchel. The coordinates would bring Radegast rather close to Alola, but not quite. Not many people knew for certain that there was a rock, cracked from having an igloo formed on it, sitting high and dry, away from the tides, at the exact spot the coordinates led.

Skyva actually listened and stacked up on potions, before heading back into the forest where she and Radegast came from. Sophie talked about the journey here and how they almost got stuck in a storm with the most boring pokemon ever. Skyva was in and out of the conversation while trying to also keep track of the way she had came.

"This looks like a totally different way we went when we came into the city. Weird." Said Sophie.

Skyva looked back, "yeah. Uhm, give me a second." She said and looked around before realizing she needed to move back to the original trail, before Radegast made them move.

"All right. Let's move out. May the courage of your convictions carry you to victory." What a lame thing to say, but this Heroine of Ideals thing was something she figured she should embrace a little more after slipping a bit when talking to Radegast.

"Go, Zekrom! To Icirrus and that magnificent tower! We're going to have a talk with that old Brycen now that he's not training any more." More importantly, she wanted to get out of Mistralton air space so as not to interfere with Radegast's flight. Skyla told her once that airplanes had designated paths just like cars have lanes on a road, and for the same reason. Couldn't argue with that logic.

Skyla scratched the back of her head with an index finger as she examined the dusty map. "Hmm...you want me to fly near the Alola Region?" she asked the dreadlocked teen while drumming her fingers on the table, her sharp eyes glancing through the hazy map Radegast provided. After a moment, she whipped around and approached a bookshelf behind her. From Radegast's standpoint, it looked a bit convoluted, many books of many different sizes and girths in the slots and giving it a quite messy outlook. Radegast could also guess that most of the books contained stuff about flying and aviation in general. Skyla's finger went straight to a large piece of paper wedged between a book about flying Pokemon and a mechanical guide to a Boeing 757. As she took it back to the table, Radegast would also likely notice that it was folded, giving him the impression of what it was...a map.

"Let's see..." Skyla murmured as she unfolded the map to reveal a comprehensive map of Ruula. "We're here," she pointed towards the Unova region's northwestern side, towards a dot labeled as Mistralton City. "And you want me to go...here," her finger moved across the map in a straight line towards the coordinates Radegast provided. "That's a pretty hefty distance you want me to fly though. It may be too far out of the way for me to reach..." she admitted the last part as she analyzed further, judging distance and deciding where she could afford to make a pit stop. It wasn't like airports were too much of a thing in the Unova Region. She had the only one. And she wasn't sure if the Alola Region had one.

"Why all the way out here?" Skyla asked in genuine curiosity, her piercing blue eyes locking with Radegast's own pair, "Most trainers on the Gym Challenge go to Oelupid City next."

---

Skyva and Sophie would suddenly hear some chattering going on in the direction Skyva wanted to go. It was faint, but it was there. Something was in the clearing that Radegast and Skyva had previously occupied last night.

---

"Urrrk..."

That was the noise the Cinccino made when it blinked it's eyes open slightly. He was still very tired. He hadn't slept for very long...maybe a half hour? His injuries had definitely healed to some extent. There was definitely some soreness and he'd find that he wasn't at a hundred percent quite yet. Nevertheless, he began to awaken a bit more, stretching some stiff muscles as he took in his surroundings.

He was still in Chargestone Cave, he realized, the blue hue of the environment being his first clue. Only...he hadn't been sleeping on the ground, where it was dirty and uncomfortable. He was resting on something...soft. Looking down below him, he'd find the hovering form of a Jellicent still underneath him, examining their surroundings.

"Gah!" he cried as he quickly toppled off the floating Ghost-type creature, landing hard on his rear. The noise he made was sudden and loud, echoing throughout the cavern. As he looked around more, eyes now fully wide and mind alert, he caught the glance of Dweller, the one who had spoke with him earlier. The Terrakion was also keeping a keen eye towards the darkness, looking for something...or someone. The girl hadn't come back yet.

"Sorry," he muttered to Drifter, "You kind of scared me there." His gaze then shifted to the Terrakion, confusion in his eye, "Are you waiting for that girl to come back?"

Skyva and Sophie heard the talking, but Skyva couldn't hear what was being said. She looked back at Sophie and put her finger against her lip to tell her to shush. She really didn't want to get into a fight with a bunch of pokemon if she didn't have to.

Skyla remained silent, her eyes looking over the map, yet not finding their way to Radegast. Although her look was crisp, her contemplative finger on her chin told everyone in that hangar office that she was thinking. Finally, she took a deep breath, flipped her hair back, and told it to him straight.

"It'll be hard. A long, turbulence-filled journey awaits both of us. No pit stops along the way. But...a promise is a promise. And I'm gonna make sure you keep this one."

---

As Skyva and Sophie made their way closer and closer to the clearing, the voices could be heard better. Whatever belonged to those voices were also speaking in PokeSpeak.

"Did you find anything?" a bold voice called.

"No." came the lax reply.

"I don't get it. What kind of power is this thing packing?"

"I don't know. Crimson said the one he took on wasn't nearly as big or powerful as this one. He's not sure what powers it."

"Do you think it's fire? The trees have scorch marks on them."

"Could be. But that's a lot of fire to completely vaporize trees like that. What could power it."

"Maybe they collected a hundred Fire Stones or something."

"I'm pretty sure it would take more than a hundred Fire Stones to create a beam this big."

When Skyva and Sophie had their eyes on the clearing, they could see the Pokemon the two voices belonged to. The bolder voice belonged to a Litleo while the more relaxed voice came from a Skiddo, both wearing blue scarves around their necks with a pink design on it. Neither had noticed the two newcomers spectating them. Both were staring at the clearing that had been made last night. In the daylight, the scene was incredibly vivid. The light illuminated the circle in the forest the Master Blaster had carved. It was carved at an upwardly diagonal path, so the cylindrical clearing it made slowly went up as it progressed further and further. The treetops were visible about a couple miles in the distance. It was a scene that could spark memories for Skyva and leave Sophie's jaw agape.

The Litleo turned to the Skiddo, sighing as he did so, "Welp, if there's nothing here, then maybe Team Vitality found something at the other site."

"I dunno," the Skiddo replied, "I think we should look around some more. We might miss something."

"No, you just want to eat the Unovan grass," the Litleo accused.

The Skiddo chuckled, "You know me so well..."

---

"Wait!" the Cincinno reached out as the girl took Dweller and Drifter and began running back towards her destination, "Maxin isn't..."

But she was already gone before she could hear the rest of what he had to say. The Cinccino was alone once more. Sighing in frustration and trying hard to keep the tears from flowing again, he closed his eyes and racked his brain.

Think, Liam, think! What would Maxin do?

For a moment, he didn't move. He just looked around and stared down the path he'd just seen the girl run down. And then he noticed something shiny beneath his feet. When he looked down, he saw that the girl had left the sword there. It reflected the light of the cavern and it was virtually undamaged. It was at that moment that he made a decision. He couldn't wait in this cave any longer. He had to take action. He had his strength back, thanks to the girl. He wasn't at a hundred percent, but he could at least make it out of the cave. From there...who knew? But he'd figure it out. Just like Maxin did.

His eyes suddenly becoming hard and focused, he strode on, picking up the sword as he went. He dragged the blade behind him as he went, making a rattling noise while he did so. It felt heavy in his hand for now, but he could learn to get used to it's feel. And then maybe...just maybe he could learn to use it one day.

But until then, he kept walking, making a right as he proceeded to backtrack his way towards the entrance.

Skyva could hear them and shoved Sophie behind a tree that was a few feet from the clearing. Sophie looked up at her annoyed by the sudden force. "Shh, I think these guys are from that stupid group that kidnapped me. I swear if I have to punt another pokemon..." She whispered.

Sophie covered her mouth, her eyes wide with amusement. "Now that is the Skyva I remembered." The Drifloon peeked around the tree. Skyva yanked it back.

"Stop.." She hissed before pulling off her backpack and shoved it in Sophie's arms. "I am going in. Stay here, if things get heated throw me my bag. I am taking MewMew with me." Sophie looked like a little girl again. Before the accident with her brother she was a sweetheart, but just like Skyva, she was entrapped with anger and depression. It seemed like she had grown out of it like Skyva, but it seeped out every now and again.

Skyva took a few breaths before showing herself in the clearing. "Did you two do this by yourself?" She asked as if she was a new comer and shocked at the sight.

Skyla gave him a curt nod, "No problem. Now, let's get ourselves up in the air!"

---

The Litleo and Skiddo jumped in shock at the sudden entrance made by the redheaded girl. "Human!" they both cried in unison, taking steps away from her.

"How did she get her without us knowing?" the Litleo turned to the Skiddo, "Isn't Sally supposed to be keeping watch?"

And then came the call from above, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyy guuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyyyysssssss!"

Both the Litleo and Skiddo looked up to see a Slowpoke standing on a tree branch above them. She was also wearing the blue scarf with the pink design on it.

"Theeeeeeerrreeeeeee aaaaaarrreeeeee huuuuuuummmmaaaaaaaaannssssss coooooooooooommmiiiiiiinng thiiiiiiiiiis waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" she shouted from above, "Hiiiiiiiiiiidddeeeeeee quuuuuuiiiiiiiccckk!"

The Litleo gave her an annoyed expression back as he spoke sarcastically, "She's right there, Sally. We can see her and she can see us."

Sally the Slowpoke turned her head ever so slowly as she took notice of her, "Oooohhhhhhhh..." was all she mumbled.

"In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to let Sally take watch," the Skiddo pointed out, which earned him another dirty look from the Litleo.

"Just back away slowly," the Litleo instructed as he began backing up once more, "Maybe she won't attack us if we look like we're retreating."