Watcher of Arceus

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

'Character Thought'

(Pokemon speech)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

Co-author: Catsithx

xXx

Chapter 13

The night was long and with everything happening so fast over the last few days, tension had mounted up fast. Between the knights which seemed to be tracking Thomas, and in turn Sarah, along with the lies they were no doubt spilling, the fact that Sarah had a major argument with her father, and all of these 'visions' Thomas kept seeing of things he wanted, but could never have, things were anything but calm.

For the most part, that night was calm, Kamquat island provided a bounty of berries as well as a good hiding place that night. Thomas and Radara watched a small number of boats come and go from the surrounding islands, no doubt one or two belonged to the knights at least. Thomas and Radara talked a lot that night as well before falling asleep. The next morning, they were once again on the water.

For the most part, Thomas and Radara kept talking quietly to each other, but their voices were slowly getting louder as the sun rose, neither of them noticing the small presence in the back of their minds that had started just a very small argument what was quickly growing.

Thomas looks over the calm waters, their destination in sight and they could already feel the chill of Ice Island. He adjusted his goggles, a much darker shade of blue now, he was very glad that he got the transition lenses as the sun reflected off the water. His eyes were more sensitive then ever right now, but he was thankfully starting to regain color in his sight. At last, the shore of Ice Island comes into proper view. Despite it being the middle of summer though, it still feels like winter has set in here.

"Damn it Thomas, I didn't think it would be this cold!" Sarah states rather loudly through chattering teeth. Even with her jacket and both of her sweaters on, she can still easily feel the chill.

He was quickly rethinking not having got a proper set of winter coats though, and he was thankful that Rebecca had followed his advice, staying in her pokeball for the trip. He smiled a bit knowing that at least his pokemon were warm… aside from the stubborn.

Radara always hated the cold, and she had to wonder why she didn't argue when Thomas brought up the fact that they were headed to Ice Island. Sure she enjoyed Articuno's company, but there was no reason that Articuno couldn't come to Fire or Lighting Island. And she made sure that Thomas knew how she felt, sending him a rather powerful stream of negative energy.

Thomas was pretty sure that all of her negativity though was mostly spawning from one point, the 'coat' that Sarah had bought her a year ago. Sure it was warm enough, she couldn't complain that it wasn't comfortable, and it was even easy to move with. Her problem though was that it was, as Sarah had put it, so adorable. Radara hated adorable, it didn't suit her. Sure she took good care of her fur coat and made sure to keep it groomed, but mostly, she didn't care too much how she looked and this purple 'ball of fuzz' irritated her to no end.

Thomas of course was feeling the brunt of it. He was still attempting to block out most of her over all feelings, but he was still far from developing the last of his powers and couldn't block her out much. Now it was as though he had a nest of angry beedrills in his head.

"Would you stop it Radara?" Thomas finally asked looking down at her a bit annoyed himself. "I know its cold and its not getting any warmer. We're not going to get much warmer until we get up there and into the caves and your constant nagging is not helping matters."

'Oh yes Thomas, let's think all of the stuff you do through planning. That one time in Velvet Town with Suicune. You rushed into that collector's house and got her back by force, law enforcement chased us for months because you couldn't bother to be more stealthy. By Arceus you sometimes move like a tauros through a china shop.' Radara growled.

"Oh yes little miss perfect, let's check your track record. Oh yea, in your last incarnation when you had the one pokemon trainer's pokemon all under your, how did you say, your spell?" Thomas countered. "That fell apart real fast when they all started to fight over the right to be the father of your children. I don't recall that working out too well in the end."

'Don't you dare judge me over that? It was a sound plan, those idiots were just egoist fools.' Radara glared up at him.

"Oh, its never your fault is it my perfect little partner. You never make a mistake do you, you are always." Thomas was quickly cut off before he could finish his statement.

"For the love of Arceus, would you both SHUT UP!" Sarah screamed finally losing. "Listening to you two, its like hear half a conversation and seeing the other half. Do you know how weird and annoying that is? Radara, would you please quit sharing your thoughts with me if your just going to keep showing me these places I've never seen before and feelings of such negativity." She snapped at them. "I know I promised to help you two, but I will drown you both out here in this frigid water if you don't stop this. Arceus be damned if I have to listen to the two of you argue like ten year olds. You say that you've been around since the dawn of time? Well, you sure don't act like it!" She snaps at them, breathing hard from her words her own goggles quickly fogging over from her breathe.

For a brief moment, both of them look at her in a bit of shock. They have had many human and pokemon companions over the years, none of whom had ever yelled at them like this.

"Sarah, please calm." Thomas starts, but is once again cut off.

"No, I will not calm down, I will not be quiet about this!" She interrupts him, her voice raised a bit. "A few weeks ago, I met Arceus…. ARCEUS!" She yelled. "A real god. You know what that means? Everything I was taught in church and learned in school about the subject was wrong."

"Well, not wrong, just misinterpreted. To suit their needs at the moment. It just kinda became so common in the various churches, that it became their truths." Thomas says looking at her.

"And so the whole leaving everything concerning you two being guardians just got left out of the history books?" Sarah replies, partially in sarcasm, partially actually a question.

'Now child, don't be rude.' Sarah quickly flicks Radara in the head for her comment.

"Will you stop calling me 'child'. I know I am younger then both of you, if anything though, your are the children here." She stated earning shocked looks from the both of them. "You need to grow up fast. You claim to have been doing this for years, but you both need to stop this bitter bickering. What happens when he get into another battle. So far, we have been lucky and no real battle has happened besides some pokemon battles."

"Sarah, we are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves." Thomas stated confidently.

"Oh, so I guess your getting shot in the heart when we found Arceus was just dumb luck wasn't it?" She counters.

Thomas goes to make a comment, but remains quiet as Radara stifles a small laugh.

"And let's not forget about you either." Sarah states with a bit of malice behind her words. "You nearly drowned when you fell off the lapras just as we started this little voyage. Let me say this again. You can teleport and move things with your mind, even invade other peoples thoughts. YOU nearly drowned. In the water. Before we even really got off the island." Sarah looks at her. "Most trained pokemon can float or swim in water Radara, Thomas had to pick you up out of the water like a drowned meowth, and both of you are ones protecting the legendaries and Arceus?"

Both of them look embarrassed by her words as they realize just how much they have changed over the years. Before the dark times of the traitor and the creation of the Knights of Arceus, there were many of them who protected the will of Arceus and her chosen. They was always someone to watch their backs, but not anymore, they couldn't afford to let things slip up. Thinking about it now though, they realized just how much else had changed.

All but Thomas and Radara had been hunted and killed by those who had once relied and depended on them, they were the last of the watchers. This fact once again hits them hard now that they were thinking about it. They had always done their best to blend in, leaving little or no mark on history ever since the days of the traitor.

While they may have succeeded at hiding from history though, the knights had a long memory, now appearing to be always one step behind them as they moved, only adding to their problems.

"Look Sarah, you don't know the stress we both deal with everyday, trying to…" Radara cut him off before Thomas could finish.

'Be an idiot.' She says loud enough for them both to hear in their heads earning her another bob upside the head from Sarah.

"Would you please stop that." She says just as annoyed as the two of them now. "You both are supposed to be better then this." She sighs a bit as the Lapras reaches the shore of Ice Island. "Finally, we can get off this lapras and walk."

The lapras makes her own comment in her native tongue, Radara translating for her. "She just said if you don't like riding her, you could just walk across the water."

Sarah looks at the lapras and pats her head for a second to apologize before she calls her back. "Oh yes, like I have great powers like you and Thomas." She says looking at them which brought up a few more questions, her anger spent, won over by curiosity. "By the way, can't you do that, like walk on water, or fly."

"Well, I can fly… No wait, its really more levitation." Thomas says. "But it takes up more power then its worth." He adds. "First off, I was never meant to fly, and like everyone else, I have to obey the laws of gravity. I could lift off for a little bit, but it takes too much effort to keep it going and I'm not nearly skilled enough to even try right now."

Radara starts to laugh as he explaining though as Thomas glares down at her. "What's so funny?" Sarah asked seeing her laughing so hard.

'Oh nothing, I just recalled the last time Thomas took flight. He was showing off for young lady at a festival. You knocked yourself out for days.'

"Oh shut up." Thomas half yells at her. "Someone spiked my tea with that moonshine."

Sarah's left with a smile at Thomas's last comment, trying to image him drunk in a past life as they climb up to the top of the frozen beach. Thomas finally releases Rebecca as well.

'Oh, it feels to good to get out and stretch.' She smiles and hugs Thomas. 'Why couldn't I ride with you?'

"I told you, we had limited room on lapras's back." Thomas explains as he hugs her back. "I just hope it doesn't get any colder, I'd hate to have to put you back again."

Rebecca gives him a sad face. 'Why couldn't I just get a jacket like the rest of you?'

"Because I know how you are about the cold, your legs always seem to be the first thing to get cold." Thomas pulls out his other lighter jacket and gives that to her to wear for now. "I'll work on getting a proper coat soon though, I don't want you to freeze."

"You had no problem asking me to freeze." Sarah grumbles just a bit, the cold getting on her nerves again.




Radara looks up at her. 'Sarah, please, there's no reason to be mean.'

"Well, if we're done playing around, we need to find Articuno." Thomas says looking around. "Shouldn't she have noticed us by now?"

Radara looks around herself, a bit worried now. 'Hmmm, you are right Thomas. She normally notices me when we approach. I have yet to hear from her.' She closes her eyes as the gem on her forehead glows a bit before she opens her eyes again, a very worried look on her face. 'Thomas, I can't sense, something is interfering with my senses. I can barely even pick up the other pokemon on the island.' Radara then turns to Rebecca. 'Rebecca, can you use your aura sight to try and find her?'

Rebecca nods as she kneels down holding her paws out as her dreadlocks rise up a bit and a faint blue light emits from her body. Her world goes a ghostly blue and black as she quickly looks over the island. She finds Articuno soon enough, but something was wrong. 'Thomas, I found her… but she doesn't seem right.'

Thomas looks at her very worried himself. "What's wrong?" He asked quickly racing up to the only path that leads off the beach they docked on with everyone right behind him. "Where is she?"

'She looks weak and her aura looked weird, like it had a light coming off it and was changing. And she's not alone, there are people with her, but they have very dark auras' Rebecca explains trying to find the best words to describe it what's going on with Articuno.

'Changing?' Radara asks looking at her. 'Sort of like, splitting apart, but only a very small part of it, the rest of her aura protecting that one small splinter?'

Rebecca nods in confusion as Thomas growls a bit. "What's wrong?" Sarah quickly asks.

"She's started the reincarnation process." Thomas quickly states. "She's taking a small part of her self and giving it to the egg she's carrying." Thomas explained. "In her current state, she's very weak and defenseless." Thomas pauses for a few. "Say, could tell if there were traces of any other auras in Articuno's body?" he asked looked at Rebecca.

She shook her head in response. "Well, where are they?" He asked.

'On a small enclosed beach on the other side of the island. She's not moving at all though, and she looks really weak.' Rebecca tells them.

"Damnit, why couldn't she have just waited another day or two. She must not have had a choice in the matter and froze herself over." Thomas grumbles. "How are we going to handle this?"

"Thomas, can't you have Radara just teleport her somewhere safe?" Sarah asked, Radara mostly just ignoring the comment.

"Teleportation isn't that simple." Thomas says as he quickly climbs up to the top of the small hill next to them looking over, just barely able to see the dip in the ice where the beach is on the other side of the island. "She needs to know both where she is and where she is going or she could jump into a wall or something when she arrives."

Sarah nods a bit, she never really study too much on psychic types aside from those that were common choice in contests such as gardevoirs, and even then, teleportation didn't have much of a place in most contests.

Rebecca is the next to speak up though. 'What if I helped her? She keeps saying that she needs a focus point to teleport to? My aura abilities could help me guide her right?'

Thomas looks down to Radara to get her opinion knowing that if they could teleport her to safety; it would make things much easier.

'Its possible, I'd have to put some focus into tracking Rebecca and she would need to pick an open place to wait for me.' Radara says after a minute of thinking about it.

"Well, it's a plan for now." Thomas looks down for a second thinking things over. "I'll go down and distract them, Aqua and Razor can help with that." He then looks to Sarah. "I need you to call out your pokemon, you may have to fight them. I pray they are just poachers though."

'I sincerely hope that it is not Team Rocket…' Radara says a bit annoyed.

"What happened Radara?" Sarah asked, although not hearing the words, she did feel the small wave of negative emotions coming from her.

"Well, before I started on this journey, we ran into them twice. The first time they showed up, they tried to take Radara thinking that she was worth money." Thomas smiled a bit. "It was rather funny when they thought they had her cornered and drugged with a dart gun thinking that they could just take her jewel."

Sarah looked down to Radara. 'Let's just say that those will never be able to look at a jynx again without having… certain urges.' Radara told her shuddering a bit, obviously hiding something else about the event, but Thomas just shook his head telling Sarah to leave it.

"Anyway, we have to make sure we can do this. I have to assume its either Team Rocket or one of those other idiot organizations and that they have some sort of machine that's interfering with Radara's power." Thomas explains.

"But if that's true, do you really think Radara can teleport Articuno?" Sarah asked.

'Teleportation is a very unique kind of psychic art. Most kinds of interference can often be ignored for short range teleportation, but it still takes major concentration and I will need Rebecca to pull this off.' Radara explains as they keep walking. 'As long as I have a focus point to teleport to, it will be easy to teleport to even if I can't see it.'

Sarah still looks a bit worried. "If you say so." She pulls out her kubotans after she calls out her pokemon along with Thomas. She has never had to actually hurt anyone up till now, her pokemon always defended her.

"Rebecca, go up and find a cave, large, very open, high roof. Juno, you're with Rebecca, Radara and Sarah." Thomas commands as Sarah is left thinking about what is about to happen.

"No, I'm going with you Thomas." She says firmly.

'Sarah, you've never been in a real battle.' Rebecca says when Sarah objects to not going with Thomas to help him out.

Sarah looks at her rather annoyed. "How is it that everyone thinks coordinators can't battle?" She asked looking at Rebecca getting and Radara to look over at what's going on. "I have train just as hard, even harder them most trainers to get my routines down with my pokemon." She lightly flicks Rebecca on the head. "I had to work hard for my ribbons."

Rebecca glares at her for a second, but backs down when she sees Thomas. Sarah looks over just in time to see her arcanine, Flare moving to get ready and follow Juno and she couldn't but smile a bit. "Fine you over grown throw rug, go be with your crush." She teases him a bit as he plants himself next to Juno, chest out obviously trying to impress her despite the situation.

She then looks to her umbreon and dragonair. "I'm going to need you both to help cover and Radara while we try to get Articuno to safety." She tells them as she looks her kubotans over again. Thomas, Aqua and Razor were already on the move to the give the group that had taken Articuno a special welcome. Rebecca, Juno, and Flare quickly left as well to find a place to hide and protect her.

Sarah moved to catch up with her pokemon as she began to think about what she was getting herself into. She gripped her kobutans a bit tighter as well.

Sparring with Thomas was one thing, that was just training, but now, she was in for the real deal and was heavily worried that she might have to hurt someone, or even worse. The fact that it was some poachers or Team Rocket made it a bit easier to cope with, but in the end, the fact was that she would need to hurt someone. She once again recalled what Thomas had told her one day when they were first sparring with each other.

xXx

Sarah was just starting to get the hang of her kubotans, managing the rare hit on Thomas now as she was improving. "Hey Thomas…" Sarah was panting a bit when a question suddenly popped into her head.

Thomas stood up panting a bit himself, she was getting good enough that he had to put some effort into taking her down now. "Hmmm?" He looked at her as he turned to get some water.

"Have… have you ever killed anyone?" She asked slowly not really sure how to even ask. Rebecca intrigued by the question as well quickly looked over to him.

Thomas quickly stopped in his track a blank look on his face at first. Rebecca quickly turned away after reading his aura. "Yes, I have." He says pausing. "Many times before the days of the traitor. All those times, it was for the protection Arceus and my fellow watchers." He paused again in deep though. "Funny though, no matter you say it, it never feels right. A little of you dies when you kill someone. Pieces of me and Radara had been slowly dying over the years, yet we never saw it before the days of the traitor. I was still even thinking that it was okay when in the defense of others, until that young knight cornered me."

Radara sits back, watching, her face much like Thomas's unreadable, but obviously in deep thought as well. Sarah knew that whatever happened, it was big when even Radara remained quiet, her ears down a bit.

Thomas stopped for a bit, Sarah thinking that maybe she should have never asked. "Its never easy." Thomas says as he takes a seat on the bed. "The last life I took, he couldn't have been more then 20 something." He said. "We fought for a bit, I could have blasted him away at any time though. Called for help from the pokemon in the area, just have disarmed with a quick move, but I was tired, both physically and mentally. I had just learned of Gali's death at the hands of a knight a week before and was trying to hold back." Thomas took a sip of water. "He kept talking the whole time we fought, saying that I was a traitor to the way of Arceus, that I was a demon, all things I had gotten use to hearing at the time. He kept talking though the whole time, finally saying that I'd never be back in Arceus's grace. I lost it, I snapped. All I can recall is just a flash of red and the stains on the wall" He quickly went quiet again.

Thomas simply stands there for a bit. Rebecca walked up and hugged him, whatever it was that his aura had revealed to her was big, she had a few tears in her eyes. He just had a dead look about him though, leaving Sarah wondering just how bad it really was.

"Sarah, I barely have a proper grasp of the powers I have in the years before I reincarnate, the same powers I had when the knight attacked me." He finally speaks up after a few. "We are powerful, being the children of a god, our anger is just as hers. That knight truly believed that Arceus would protect him, and at times, I kind of wish she had." Thomas says hugging Rebecca back lightly going quiet again.

"Is that why you refuse to let Arceus… your mother call by your real name?" Sarah asks a bit hesitantly.

Thomas just nods at first, before looking at her. "I am no longer worthy of that name. I'm just a warrior for her now. A weapon that is best used to banish the dark, a shield to protect her when she calls." He told her rather softly. He quickly got back to training with her, but there was a certain mood about him for a few days before he returned to what was normal for him.

xXx

Thomas was already moving along pretty fast up the hill towards the beach where Articuno was being held, their pokemon that had been chosen to come with them following him, ready for a fight. "Sarah, come on." Thomas calls out as he turns for a few, a similar look in his eyes as the time when she had asked him about having killed anyone, a very cautious look. She quickly caught up to him as they made it to the top of the small hill overlooking the beach.

"The plan is simple, we get down, make as large a distraction as we can, let Radara teleport in, grab Articuno and get out, before we get away ourselves." Thomas explained. "Try to just keep them busy, I'd prefer it if we could just scare them off or something. Disarm them or knock them out if you have you. Just avoid anything vital." He said that last part with a very firm look in his eyes and voice.

Looking down onto the beach, Thomas growls a bit, four men having tied Articuno down, so that even if she did wake up, she would be helpless. Three of the men were wearing basic grunt uniforms for Team Rocket, but it was the last man, wearing a large trench coat with a black letter R on the back that made things difficult. "Damnit, they brought an elite with them…" Thomas stated. "We have no choice, we have to fight this one, they won't turn back with him down there." He sighed a bit.

"We could always try to rush them, pin them all down and knock them out before they even know that we're here." Sarah says a bit worried herself. Thomas thinks it over as he draws his blade.

"We may not have much of a choice." He says as he looks at Aqua and Razor. Radara teleports down to them a few seconds later before Thomas could finish making any real decisions though and he sees her sigh as well, this just wasn't going to be easy. "Have you found a suitable hiding spot?" Thomas asks.

'I believe so, it's a good ways up the mountain, right next to the waterfall we camped next to last time we were here.' Radara informs him. Thomas just nods as he slowly gets up.

"Well, let's make this as quick as possible." He says as he moves down the hill side trying to stay out of sight behind large pillars of ice for as long as possible, Sarah, and their pokemon minus Radara following along as well.

When he finally reaches the beach, Thomas waits for his pokemon before rushing out, immediately calling for a hydro pump and quick attack from his pokemon. Both Razor and Aqua do as commanded, aiming for the closest target as Thomas charges out, colliding into one of the grunts, knocking them back before charging for the elite.

Sarah quickly comes in to follow up on Thomas's charge, but rather then call out attacks, she does like she did in every contest. Rather then call out attacks by name, she trained her pokemon to respond to numerical commands, or routines as she called them. Each number assign to a specific attack, combination of attacks, or dance move that was often used to avoid attacks as well as cost her opponent additional contest points.

"Thirteen followed up with a twenty four twist." Sarah screamed out, both her umbreon and dragonair quickly dashing in. Her umbreon used a quick attack while her dragonair fired off a thunder wave attack, both at the same opponent proving rather effective, the grunt falling back into the frosted sand.

As Thomas charged forward and everyone else moved in towards the elite though, Radara made her move, quickly teleporting down next to Articuno. Rebecca's presence still very sharp in her mind, combined with part of Rebecca's aura helping her to focus in on the lucario, Radara easily completed her task.

Thomas could tell something was very wrong though as he dashed at the elite, all three of his grunts already down. Going into broadside the man with the flat end of his blade hoping to just knock him out in one swift strike, Thomas's eyes opened in shock. The elite had not only ducked down, but his trench coat had also opened up, revealing a distinct lack of pokeballs of any kind on his belt. To make matters ever worse, Thomas watched as the man grinned, a dark glint in his eyes as he drew his hand back and landed a powerful blow into Thomas's gut. The man was already standing back up before Thomas had a chance to recover, that dark glint now almost entirely over his eyes. "Radara, it's a trap!" He shouted out knowing that she should still be able to catch the message.

The man just smiled again, throwing Thomas back right into Sarah before she could give her pokemon any commands. "Now now Thomas. I can't have you going and spoiling my plans. Don't worry though, I won't kill them, maybe rough them up a bit, but I won't kill them." He grinned dashed over to where Thomas and Sarah had just gotten up off each other.

The man placed a hand on Sarah's gut, a dark aura over his hand before Sarah doubled over in pain, before he kicked her back into the sand where Articuno had just been, the light layer of fresh snow cushioning her fall. He quickly turned back to Thomas smiling. "I just needed to make sure that we had some time alone, without that little partner of yours getting in the way."

Razor had charged in now quickly coming to protect his master, but the elite proved even faster then the zangoose, a quickly boot kicking him back into the water, Aqua quickly racing after her mate.

Thomas pants hard looking around for his blade, seeing it a good ten feet away.

"Your not really that foolish are you?" The elite smiled looking over himself for a few before turning and moving to the side a bit. He easily reached out and grabbed Sarah's umbreon by the tail mid attack, before throwing the very surprised umbreon into the dragonair as she was getting ready to fire another thunder wave. "This body, it's a bit slow for my liking, but its still good enough for this." He smiled.

Thomas quickly went to dive for his blade as Sarah came up behind the elite, kubotans at the ready, trying to strike him just like Thomas had shown her. She was no where near ready for this though, the elite easily parried her move, then grabbed the collar of her shirt, pulling her down, planting a knee in her face, knocking her out for a few.

Thomas picked up his blade and kept it at his side, this time, he was ready to strike with fatal force if need me. "Who are you?" Thomas roars out very loudly rushing at him with as much fast as he could.

He came in, blade already raised, hoping to disable the elite's arm, but he was still too slow, the elite had caught him arm, turning around while keeping a good hold on Thomas's hand as he started to kneel down, essentially throwing face first into the sand.

"Now now Thomas, its not nice to treat your elders like this..." He grins for a second before pulling Thomas's face out of the sand to look him in the eye. "Or should I call you by your birth name… Soular. Your mother loves calling you by that name even though you seem to have forsaken it."

Thomas instantly looks him right in the eyes, now completely black. "It can't be…" His face goes white with fear, his deepest fear standing right here before.

"Its been just about six hundred and fifty six years since I last saw you in person." The elite grinned picking up, but tossing his sword to the side. "I thought it was time we have a face to face chat, knowing that our lovely feathered friend would be going into such a state like was, it presented the perfect excuse to get you out here, you always answer the call after all."

Thomas tried to shake the man off, but it didn't do much good. "It's way too early for you to be back, you just can't be here." Thomas cried not. "We sealed you away, stripped you of your powers."

"Well, your right to an extent." He smiled. "I am sealed, but like you know, time weakens any seal, even the one made by your mother. Of course, the fact that you never sealed me away completely helps. But enough with the little stuff, I'm here to talk about you." His smile grew as he threw Thomas back into the back. "Did you like my little gift I sent you?" He asks kneeling down, putting a hand on Thomas's shoulder, which he quickly shoves off before getting to his feet.

"What gift?" Thomas growls as he looks around for his sword, only to see the elite holding it in his hands. The elite smiles before his eye's flash and an image of himself and Rebecca appears in his head, both of them aged, the same exact that he had seen back at Diana's. "You sent that?" Thomas growls in anger. "Why would you send me that image?" He demanded.

"Mostly to torture you, you know you can 'never' have that, happiness, love, a family. Things a Watcher can never have." The elite smiles and tossed Thomas the blade who catches and charges in, but misses once again. "You do realize that your all just tools to her, that thing you call a mother." He grinned avoiding another blow, jumping clean over Thomas this time. "She stood back and let your kind die off, one by one, even after all those years that you served her, protected her. She let them get slaughtered, one after another, not even raising a single finger to protect you."

His grin only grew as he grabbed Thomas's arm again, this time twisting his wrist getting him to drop the sword again. "Look at you, so weak. Even after all these years alive. He quickly grabs and throw's Thomas's goggles off, Thomas wincing a bit at the sunlight, his eyes still very sensitive. "They will never accept you, not knowing what you are. They fear you, those humans fear anything more powerful then they are. You should rule over them, you are the child of a god after all, its your birth right, your destiny." He threw Thomas again, this time walking up and placing a boot over his neck to hold him down.

His skin was growing dark and quickly growing even darker. "This body can't hope to hope my power much longer, its far to weak, his mind dissolved a week after he invited me." He knelled down over Thomas. "I came here for one reason, you Soular. Cast off this false thing you call love for your mother, she doesn't care for you, she can never grant you what you want."

"Like you can really offer me anything?" Thomas grumbled trying to pulled the boot off his neck, even giving him the biggest shock he his body could hold at the time, but it did very little to the man.

"I can give you what you always wanted, a family, I can help to age, to grow old with her, even let her reincarnate with you if you so wanted it." He stated, his voice growing a bit weak now. "They call me a liar, say I tell no truth, but they are wrong. I show people what they want, no matter how dark or twisted those desires may be, and I have ways of making them become reality." He took his boot off Thomas's neck and took a few steps back. "Its my fault you want a happiness that can 'never' be yours. Join me and I'll make your dream a reality."

Thomas looks up at him, actually torn a bit, if this thing was telling the truth. He could have a real family of his own, be together with Rebecca and age along side her, even raise a child of his own, but how could he turn his back on his mother like that.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you or your friends if you don't answer me, you need time to think." He looks himself over again, the body starting to fall apart on him. "Such a weak minded fool, but he got exactly what he desired most, to be one of the most honored Rockets in history. All I want from you is an answer, it doesn't have to be anytime soon, when your ready to make your choice, trust me, I'll be there waiting." He states right as he falls to his knees. "I bid you farewell for now Soular." He says before the body falls over, a black mist flowing out of it before a foul stench fills the beach.

Thomas quickly gets up and rushes over to Sarah, Grabbing her pokeballs, he calls back her pokemon, then his own before shaking her trying to make sure she is okay.

xXx

A few minutes ago…

Radara quickly teleported back to the cave that they had picked out. It took her a few to look over Articuno before deciding that she had done a good job. 'I'm going back to help Thomas.' She informs Juno, Rebecca, and Flare. 'Are they still in the same area? I would hate to teleport back into a waiting trap.' She says looking to Rebecca as she uses her aura vision.

(So, how are you doing Juno?) Flare asks sitting next to Juno as he smiles as her. He puffs out his chest a bit still trying to impress her.

Juno sighs a bit, seeing this many times over the years. With this, she looks at him again, seeing how young he is compared to her, but he is nice looking to her though. She had asked Thomas for a few years to herself on occasion over their longs travels, spending some time with other males, but not many as impressed as he was. She couldn't help but actually start to consider it, when Rebecca trembled a bit as she looked them over.

'Radara, I don't what I saw, but there was something dark down there…One of their aura's, its twisted, it … it….' Rebecca infroms them quickly, in a rather fearful tone. 'I'm going to help him.' Before Radara has a chance to say anything though, a powerful though enters her head.

'Radara, it's a tr…' Radara quickly looks around, something very close is heavily blocking her powers now and she rushes out of the cave, followed by Flare, Juno, and Rebecca. 'Something is very wrong.' She says as she looks around feeling her powers being suppressed by some force.

Juno is the first to notice the cause of the problem, quickly pointing out the lone alakazam on the hill below, his arms in front of him, his spoons crossed, his entire body giving off a soft glow. 'What?' Radara growls a bit. 'There is no way that a single alakazam could be blocking my powers this effectively.'

Flare looks around himself, only to point out a second pokemon quickly charging up the mountain side towards them, a blaziken.

He quickly charges down to meet this pokemon thinking it would be an easy way to impress to Juno, but he quickly learns otherwise when the blaziken jumps over him, grabbing his tail and giving a hard pull on it throwing him off balance. (Sorry pup, but your not going anywhere.) The blaziken smiles.

Radara starts to make her way around the battle, it was obvious that she would need to deal with the alakazam herself. In the same way her powers were suppressed, she knew that alakazam couldn't use his own psychic powers either, they were being uses to disable her own. Juno quickly moves to go help Flare seeing Radara heading to deal with her own problem, Rebecca joining Juno for now. Before Juno or Rebecca could get very far though, they were cut off when a machamp burst from the ice in front of them.

(Sorry ladies, but your not going anywhere.) He smirks flexing him muscles.

(So, you want to play too?) Juno asks growling, jumping back in time to avoid an ice punch, which she quickly counters with a fire blast, the two attacks canceling each other out much to Juno's surprise.

Flare recovers from the blaziken's attack soon enough though, once again on the offensive, diving in to tear the legs off of his foe with his massive jaws. When that failed and the blaziken jumped back, he let loose a flame thrower to try and distract him, but the blaziken used the same move to cancel them out, disappearing in the confusion.

Juno and Rebecca are left with hands full as well, the machamp giving them a massive run for their money. He easily shrugged off most physical attacks, forcing Rebecca to rely on her aura sphere's or risk getting hit badly when he countered. Not that Juno was fairing much better, most of her fire attacks were countered with his ice punch or he just side stepped them. She was once again forced to jump back as a hand came down, breaking the ice she had been standing on. She once again charged up a fire blast attack, the one attack he hadn't tried to counter yet, but it didn't do much good either. The machamp pulled a very large chunk of ice up from the ground, using that as a shield at first to defend himself, then using it as a weapon, chucking what was left right at Rebecca as she was trying to sneak around behind him.

Rebecca just barely managed to avoid that, but a powerful explosion shook her from behind, Flare's battle with the blaziken was just as intense as their own battle. Flare once again fired off a flame thrower, not directly at his foe, but at the ice he was standing on hoping to knock him off balance. Like everything else though, that failed as the blaziken jumped up. He quickly turned his maneuver into a high jump kick. Flare just barely managed to avoid it thinking that his foe had screwed himself, but it didn't happen. The blaziken landed hard on a pillar of ice, using it as a stepping stone to jump up even higher, before slamming himself into Flare's side.

Juno quickly went to try and help him again, but the machamp jumped right in front of her, a pair of hands raised over his head ready to slam down on Juno. She growled fiercly, launching another fire blast a point blank this time finally landing the first blow on him that hurt. He fell on his back, Juno going to jump over him, but yelped out when one of her hind legs had been grabbed. (That one actually hurt bitch.) The machamp stated rather angry now, throwing her into Rebecca, then jumping ready to bash their heads in. Rebecca was just barely able to fire off an aura sphere into the ice he was standing on, the ice shattering sending him once again falling over. Not only did he fall over this time though, he also slide a good ways down the mountain yelling as he went. Juno and Rebecca quickly got to their feet ready to go help Flare, but they were both once again thrown to the ground, the blaziken having used them as target practice throwing Flare right into them.

Radara finally made her way up to the alakazam, who smiled as she walked up. 'So, you're the famous Radara I've heard rumors of.' His thoughts were quiet loud in Radara's head as she walked up, looking him over, he had something strange about him.

'You call me by name, yet I don't know you.' Radara replies, claws out, fangs displayed as well. She rarely had to rely on her physical strength in a fight, but she knew enough that she could hold her own.

'Don't worry, you'll get to know me soon enough.' His smile grows as he looks her over. 'You don't think you can actually win without your psychic powers do you?' He smirks as a few stones rise up around him.

'You've been very well trained, I'm impressed.' Radara growls ready to strike.

Flare, Juno, and Rebecca all once again stand themselves up, looking around for the blaziken, only to find him sitting on another pillar of ice, waiting for them. Juno goes to make the first move, but is quickly cut off when a large icy boulder is hurled right in front of her. (You to bitches are my dance partners.) The machamp roars out, very pissed off now as he charges them. Rebecca whines a bit, not liking this at all, but rushes in with Juno, both firing off a few simple projectiles to kept him busy while they try to move in for some point blank attacks.

Flare goes to attack the blaziken again, having his own score to settle right now, slamming into the ice pillar to knock the blaziken off. The blaziken merely jumps off the side behind it, kicking the top as he top the knock a large chunk of ice off the top which Flare jumps back to avoid.

Radara glares at the alakazam, jumping at him, only to have him take a few steps back as the stones he picked up gathered to form a small boulder and lashes out at her. She jumps back avoiding it, smiling as she felt a bit of a break in his concentration, this alakazam can't do both, block her powers and go on the offensive at the same time. 'You're not as strong as you think.' She smiled.

'I don't have to be, I'm doing my job rather well right now.' He counters taking a few more steps back as Radara suddenly reaslizes what he's doing.

'Who put you up this, why are you stalling.' She growls looking at him.

Juno charges in fast, melting the ice under his feet since he seems unable to keep his balance well on changing terrain while Rebecca slides on a bit of ice to get behind him, tackling his legs to try and force him into his back. It works well for the most part, but she wasn't able to get out from under him in time, he grabs her tail, pulling her towards him as he falls back, letting her go, but only causing her to fall into a hole. Juno quickly jumps on his chest while she has the chance though and while she takes a mean ice punch to the gut, she still manages to fire another fire blast in his face before she is throw off of him, her side very much chilled and part of her fur iced over.

Flare moves in ready to try and bite the legs off of his opponent again but like everything else, it doesn't work. He keeps losing sight of the blaziken in the changing icy terrain, only to get punched hard in the side again and sent rolling down the mountain a bit before he catches himself.

Radara once again charges in to try and disrupt the alakazam's concentration, but he only lets up enough to counter, before its right back countering her psychic powers as he puts a bit more distance between them. Radara tries hard once more to try and force him to divide up his concentration, but again it fails. This time though, he stops for a second before dropping his spoons and teleporting down to where the blaziken and machamp are.

'Come on, time to go.' The alakazam states and the blaziken lands one last kick knocking off Flare's balance again before quickly rushing over to the alakazam as Radara teleports down as well.

(What? No way, I have to give these to a proper thrashing.) The machamp argues slamming his hands down creating another hole in the ice where Juno was just standing.

'Would you disobey our master?' The alakazam counters immediately getting the machamp's attention.

(You two got off lucky today, but next time, I'm tearing you limb from limb.) He growls before dashing over to the alakazam's side. Before Radara could stop them, the three of them teleported off.

Radara is a bit confused at this, then suddenly remembers about Thomas and puts her mind to work trying to find him, feeling him very close. Turning around, she sees him and Sarah walking back towards them, the two of them just as worn out and beaten as Juno and the others.

She starts to move over to them, but Rebecca rushed past her to Thomas's side helping support him.

Juno and Flare follow along, Juno seeing Flare limping hard and going to help him, but he pushes her off, his pride obviously hurt just as much as his body as he takes a spot sitting next to Sarah. Juno couldn't help but really feel sorry for him.

Thomas remains quiet for the most part though, even after repeated attempts from Rebeca to try and find out what's wrong. Radara quickly walks up and he just looks at her. "It's… Its... back." Thomas says panting hard.