When one Path Crosses Another......

First topic message reminder :

(I generally specify an age when these start, so Imma say this happened about a year ago; when Fox was 15.)

Kitsuné Fira, commonly known as "Fox" by practically all who met her, was making her way down some random road outside her hometown one sunny day. She wasn't looking for anything in particular as she walked, just something to do. She had noticed that things typically came along when she was just randomly out and about. Zepher was off flying somewhere, so Fox was totally on her own at that point in time.

"Well, I don't know...sounds a bit dangerous. Maybe we should leave it the way it is..." Pika responded sarcastically, and smirked. "Nah, I'm kidding. Why not?" He added after a couple of seconds. He figured that Fox had a couple tricks up her sleave, and between the two of them they would do just fine with anything that came their way.

"Awesome! You can ride with me; transportation is never a problem." she laughed. She then moved her fingers to her mouth and gave a loud, sharp whistle that echoed into the surroundings and was most likely audible for miles. At first, nothing happened. Minutes continiued to pass, yet Fox's signal remained unanswered. Finally, just when it seemed like nothing was going to happen, a black mass swooped down from the heavens and hovered just behind Fox, curling itself into a spiral shape and waiting for a command. It was Fox's partner, Zepher the Shiny Rayquaza, and from the looks of it she had done a good ammount of flying beforehand. Zepher eyed Pika curiously, silently trying to figure out if he was a aquaintence or an enemy. "Relax, Zeph, he's with us." Fox commented, raising her hand to signal Zepher to calm down. Zepher relaxed immediatly, and after being signaled by Fox she lowered her head and helped Fox climb on. "You ready?" Fox asked, holding her hand out to Pika to help him climb on.

After Fox had given the whistle, Pika just stood around, tapping his feet on the ground. Some transportation she's got... he thought, until the large black shape suddenly came down from the sky and hovered behind her. Normally Pika wasn't surprised by things, but he had to actually try to keep his jaw from dropping. "Um...that's an, uh, interesting partner you have there." He said, looking at the Shiny Rayquaza curiously. He then looked back to Fox, who was already ready to go. "Yeah, I'm ready." Pika said after a couple of seconds, and took Fox's hand to help get up on Zepher.

"Well then, TO SINJOH!" Fox cried excitedly, and with that Zepher shot off in the direction of the mountain range the two were seeking.

It was a slightly long flight, but before too too long, Zepher was hovering slowly over the Sinjoh Mountain Range. This almost un-crossable mountain range towered between Sinnoh and Johto and had a long history of linking the two cultures. Most bird Pokemon would have been incapable of doing a fly-by like this, but Zepher's power helped her keep her height and her balance. Fox was keeping a careful eye out for anything that looked ruin-esque or building like; as it would most probably be the thing they were seeking.

"Keep a close eye out; we should be close." Fox called over the wind to her new aquaintence.

"Alright, should be easy to spot something like that out here." Pika replied, looking down at the mountains. So far he hadn't seen anything, and there was a whole mountain range to check out. It was either going to be a really short or really long flight. "So, what's your story? With the Alchemy and that stuff." He asked Fox over the wind, wanting to start some form of conversation to pass the time.

"Hmm? Why I practice Alchemy?" Fox responded. She thought for a moment. "Well, I'd like to say that it wasn't actually sparked because of a freak incident, but this time that wasn't the case. I happened to run into a serial killer one day who was using the practice to kill girls my age." Fox began. "Unfortunatly for him, I happen to learn very quickly and I managed to use his own weapon against him and brought him to his knees. That day... something clicked with me. It was like some dormant power awoke inside of me thanks to that stupid murderer. I wanted to use this power to help people; to fix things that were broken by the darkness in the world. I wanted to drive away the corruption that was plaguing me and the only two people who really cared about me. But, most of all, I wanted to learn. I wanted to push my limits and see what I could do with my talents. And now, here I am." she sighed, the emotions from her experiance all those years ago leaking into her words as she spoke.

"Oh. And you didn't finish him?" Pika asked. He wasn't trying to be insensitive or anything, he just figured it would be better to take someone like that out of the world then to let them go. "Anyway, that's quite the story. Have you been able to help the two people you mentioned?" He asked, curious to hear if it all worked out for her. It would have been a shame if after everything she had gone through she still wasn't able to help anyone. Then again, there were some people who you just couldn't help, or so Pika believed.

"No, but the Police had a heck of a time getting him out of that cellar." Fox smirked mischeviously. She may not have been a killer, but she also wasnt one to let a Criminal get off totally unpunished. At Pika's second question, she had to take a moment to think. "So far, I think I have. I can't predict the future, so I don't know what'll happen, but that's all the more reason for me to keep living in the present and take things as they come. They're my two best friends, so all of us look out for each other." she mused. Just then, as she finished speaking, a flash of grey in the mountains below caught her eye. "Zeph!" she exclaimed, but the Rayquaza seemed to have already figured out what was going on. She began to fly down towards the grey color, which began to look more and more like a building.

"That sounds nice, having someone looking out for you at all times." Pika thought about it more. It was a good idea theoretically, but if something happened to one of them then it would be pretty bad for the other two. This was one of the reasons he had convinced himself not to get too involved with other people, and he planned on keeping it like that. He was going to respond, when Zepher started to descend. Pika looked down at the shape they were heading to. "Looks like we're here." He said, wondering what they would find there.

As Fox, Zepher, and Pika touched down in front of the time-worn temple, it became quite clear that they had finally reached their destination. Fox hopped off of Zepher's head and approached a stone slab of sorts that had a number of ancient symbols inscribed into it. Fox looked pensive for a moment, but after finally deciphering the ancient scrip her eyes lit up with excitement and enthusiasm. "This is it alright; this stone marker confirms it!" she exclaimed.

Pika walked over to the marker, and saw the symbols. "A stone marker...you'd think they would have something more advanced." He commented, before looking around the area. "So, what now? Is there some kind of alchemy thingy you have to do?" He asked Fox, not seeing anything but ordinary ruins around them. Not that ruins were ordinary, but still.

"Not really. The entrance is right there." Fox remarked, pointing to a huge, gaping entryway just up a few flights of black stone stairs. Fox then took the liberty of releaving Zepher of transport duty for a while by nodding at her; causing her to take off into the grey heavens for who knows what destination. "Shall we?" Fox grinned as she began climbing the staircase.

"No, I just came here to stand by and watch." Pika responded sarcastically, giving Fox a grin of his own, and followed her up the stairs. "Well, why haven't you been here before if it's just as easy as walking up the stairs?" He asked Fox, wondering why she had waited for a while for something so close.

"Lemme put it this way: Leaving my two friends alone in one place together for an extended period of time could be bad for everyone in town's health. Those two bicker a lot. Like, A LOT." Fox sighed with a slight chuckle. "That and... well, the thought never really occurred to me. I just got lucky finding it so quickly; I honestly would have had no clue where this place was and probably would have ended up lost if I had come alone." she laughed sheepishly as she stepped inside the magnificent ruins. It appeared to be only one large room, with a gigantic stone Dias in the back/center of it all.

Pika laughed also, and walked over to the stone Dias. "Well if they're anything like you then that might be a bit of a problem." He retorted, looking at the stone until he realized something. "Wait. We could have been waiting for even longer up there, Aimlessly searching for this place with no success?" He asked, slightly annoyed.