RtD Chapter 5

Road to Destiny
Chapter 5
-Sibling Dilemma!-



"Three! Delight is always right!" Everyone chanted.

"Ok everyone, let's get to work!" Luke said.

"Hurray!" The guild yelled in excitement of another day.

"Come on guys, let's find a mission to do today!" Marci exclaimed, the Mawile giddy with the aspect of the new day's mission.

The three of them climbed up the ladder to middle floor of the base, to where the missions were posted.

"So what should we do today?" James asked, the Chikorita turning his head around to ask his teammates behind him.

"Outta the way!" Seth yelled as the Snivy barged through all three of them.

"Geez, where's his fire?" Leon grumbled, the Lucario annoyed at getting shoved out of the way by something so much smaller than him.

"Ah, I believe he vas excited about some new cafe zat opens today." Emilia scoffed.

The team looked around until they found her flying slightly above them.

"How long has she been there?" James wondered, not daring to ask the Vespiqueen.

"Wait, there's a cafe opening? Why haven't we heard about it before?" Marci inquired.

Emilia merely shrugged, then flew off.

"Dudes, I don't know about you, but I gotta check this place out." Leon grinned.

"I suppose we can check it out first." Marci sighed.

"Alright, let's go!" James exclaimed.

The three exited the guild and walked down the path on the cliff-side. At first, they thought it would be hard to find, but, as it turned out, there were signs littered around everywhere announcing the grand opening.

The multitude of signs all led to a square, wooden panel lying on the side of the path just outside of town.

"Is this it?" James asked, giving a intrigued look at it.

Marci gave a grin and lifted the panel, revealing a set of staircases beneath.

"Remember, everything isn't as it appears."

The stairs led to a large, hexagonal room. The room had several wooden tables set up, two counters at the back, and, considering it was completely underground, was extremely well lit. Behind the counters were a Roserade and a Delibird, respectfully.

The team glanced around the room, taking in the sights, sounds and smells it had to offer. James whistled.

"This place is swanky."

"You can saw that again." Leon replied.

Marci pointed to a table against the wall, where a Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Eevee sat.

"Hey look, there's Issac, Vance, and Destiny."

Destiny gave a slight hop when she spotted them

"Hi there!" She exclaimed.

"'Sup guys?" Issac nodded his head.

"Hi guys!" Marci responded.

"You guys come to check this place out too?" James asked them.

Vance nodded in agreement.

"The drinks here are great, you should try them. They let you choose what you what them to be made of." He pointed to the corner on the left that had the Roserade behind it.

"Hey, that sounds cool. Let's get some guys!" James prodded Marci and Leon.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Leon rubbed his hands together.

The Roserade behind the counter greeted the three with a warm smile and a sweet, soothing voice.

"Hello, and welcome to my cafe, where where we can turn any berry into a smoothie, tea, juice, you name it! I'm Roserade, and that's Delibird, and we aim to tantalize your taste buds! How can we help you?" She warmly asked.

"Could I get an Occa Berry Tea please?" Marci asked.

"I'll try a Chesto Berry Smoothie." James said.

"Uh... Iapapa Berry Juice I guess." Leon shrugged.

"How much do we owe you?" Marci asked, begining to search through her mesengerbag for money.

Roserade chuckled.

"Please, don't worry about it! For exploration teams, it's on us!" She laughed.

"Oh wow, that's so nice!" Marci exclaimed.

"Delibird, one Occa, Chesto, and Iapapa Berry please!" Roserade shouted to the other counter.

The Delibird mearly nodded before reaching into the sack attached to his back. After a second, he pulled the specified berries out, quickly inspected them, and tossed them at Roserade.

She skillfully caught them with her Vine Whip, and, amazingly, began to prepare all three drinks at once. James, Marci, and Leon watched in awe as Roserade displayed masterful technical skills.

"And here you are!" She smiled as she handed the three there respective drinks.

"Thanks!" They said, taking their drinks befor heading to an empty table.

The team sat around for a while, chatting and enjoying the relaxation time.

"Those were great! We'll have to come back again!" Marci exclaimed as she sipped down the last of her tea.

At that moment, something caught James's eye and made him do a double-take.

"Is... Is that Tiffany and Marcus?"

Marci and Leon glanced over. Sure enough, the Sneasel and Marshtomp were walking into the cafe's lobby.

The three's movements attracted Marcus's gaze, who scoffed upon the sight of them.

"Well, looky who's here Lady Tiffany."

"Oh come on, what are you losers doing here?" Tiffany smacked her forhead.
Marci growled and clinched her fists.

"I think the real question is why are you here, and why shouldn't I give you a beatdown?"

Leon grasped Marci's shoulder.

"Whoa, calm down Marci..."

"You may have beaten us last time, but you wouldn't be able to stand against us when my sister is with us." Tiffany smirked.

"Sister? Since when have you had a sister?" Marci asked.

Tiffany shooed them away with her claws.

"My sis is stronger than both of us. With her help, we could take you down in a flash."

"Actually, I think I feel her coming." Marcus glanced up.

"Feel her...?" James inquired.

At that moment, the air suddenly became frigid. All the pokemon began to shiver, except for Tiffany. The sound of the hatch at the top of the stairs being slammed shut could be heard over all the commotion of the cafe. Suddenly, a black blur dashed down the stairs and took a few nimble jumps over to Tiffany and Marcus.

"Hello sis, we were just talking about you." Tiffany said.

"Nice to see you again Lady Steffany." Marcus bowed his head to the Weaville standing before them.

Steffany smirked and placed her claws on the two's heads.

"Yes, nice to see you too. Now, who might these wimps be?"

"They're the ones who gave us trouble a few days ago." Tiffany responed.

Steffany took a hard look at James, Marci, and Leon before finally anwsering.

"These guys? Come on, that's pathetic! Can you not do anything without me?" She conked the two's heads together.

Tiffany and Marcus rubbed their heads.

"S...Sorry sis." Tiffany stuttered.

"Forgive us Lady Steffany..." Marcus grumbled.

"Hey! I might not like these two, but surely that's not anyway to treat your sister!" James shouted.

Steffany stared right into James eyes.

"And are you going to do anything about it?"

She grabbed Tiffany and Marcus and began pulling them towards the exit.

"Come on, I've had it with these goody-two-shoes."

"Those guys are jerks..." Marci mumbled.

The three, after Marci cooled down, left and headed back towards the guild to obtain a mission for the day. They got to the stairs leading up the cliff when James spoted a folded piece of paper.

"What is this?"

James began unfolding the parchment and Marci looked over his shoulder to see it.

"What does it say?" She asked.

James started reading what was written aloud.

"Someone, please, save my cousin! She was kidnapped and taken into Dusk Grove! I'm too scared to go! Please, anyone, help!"

"That's odd, why would they leave a note here when they could've just asked Lizzy for help?" Leon wondered.

Marci glanced at the two.

"Should... we check it out?"

"It seems peculiar, but if this is serious, then we can't risk ignoring it. Do you know where this place is?" James asked.

Marci pulled a map out of her messenger bag, unrolled it, and, after staring at it for a moment, pointed to a forested area north-east of the guild.

"This is it."

James took off towards the town's exit.

"Come on then, we've got no time to lose!"

The three dashed to Dusk Grove as fast as they could. Almost. James had to slow down slightly before they got there.

When they entered the forest, James immediantly realized why it was named Dusk Grove. The canopy had grown so thick that almost no sunlight could penetrate it. It might as well been dusk, it was just as dark.

James squinted in the low light.

"Can you see in here?"

"Just barely..." Marci muttered.

"Hold on, I might be able to help." Leon said.

Leon held out his paw. His paw became illuminated with a turquoise fire-like energy,
bathing a small portion of the area in a faint, blue glow.

James stared at the fire with extreme interest.

"What, you never seen a Lucario use aura?" Leon asked.

"Leon, you know he's not completly used to how everything works." Marci scolded.

"Oh, yeah." Leon ran the paw not surrouded by aura up and down the back of his head.

James, Marci, and Leon wandered around for a while, untill they found a clearing in what seemed like the middle of the forest. The clearing was the only thing bright in the entire forest, although some of the sun was still blocked by the giant tree growing in the center.

Marci was the first to state what was on everyone's mind.

"We've searched this whole grove, but not one sign of other Pokemon. You guys think it was a prank?"

"Oh, ho ho, this is more than a prank." A voice chuckled from the large tree.

The leaves at the top of the tree violently rustled before two Pokemon leaped from the tree, while one dropped down. When they landed, the two jumpers turned out to be a certain Weavile and Sneasel, while the dropper was a Marshtomp.

"Wha... What are you doing here?" James asked, shocked.

Marci began growling in anger again.

"Isn't it obvious? They tricked us..."

Steffany smirked and had an evil look in her eyes.

"It was all too easy honestly. I knew a couple of goody-two-shoes like you couldn't resist 'aiding' someone in need of help. I left the note there for you to find so I could lure you here."

"But... for what reason?" James asked.

"Because these two needed revenge for the trouble you gave them, because they're apparently too incompetent to do anything without me." Steffany glared at Tiffay and Marcus, who sheepishly avoided her gaze.

Leon grinned and cracked his knuckles.

"Lady, if you're looking for a fight, you got one."

Steffany scowled at Leon, as if she was only just now noticing his presence.

"You weren't at the last skirmish."

"And that pertains to this one how?" Leon asked.

"It means, you can't be in this one! Focus Blast!" Steffany charged a hazel aura sphere, and fired it so fast that before anyone realized what was happening, the sphere had already flew straight into Leon, exploding on contact, knocking him unconcious.

"What... power..." Marci gasped, in awe of what had just happened.

"Don't leave us out of this! Mud Shot!" Marcus charged forward, then drove his fin into the ground, shooting an orb of sod and mud into Marci, knocking her to the ground.

"Ready for round two shrimp? Metal Claw!" Tiffany suddenly landed in front of James, slashing his face with silver, shining claws.

"Yowch! I'm not going to let that slide! Tackle!" James charged into Tiffany, smashing them both to the ground.

"Get off me! Slash!" Tiffany clawed James again, jumping up when he reeled back.

"Razor Leaf!" James unleashed a frenzy of sharp foliage that shot at Tiffany. He was determined not to lose.

The leaves cut into Tiffany, and she collapsed to her knees.

"Now we finish this! Tackle!" James prapared to ram Tiffany again.

"Oh, it's ending alright, just not how you expect! Dark Pulse!" Steffany appeared out of nowhere and blasted a stream of black rings into James's side, blasting him across the clearing, and onto the ground beside an already collapsed Marci.

"Ugh... Stupid Dark Pulse..." James groaned.

"You... too?" Marci moaned from beside him.

"Come on sis! Time for a combo!" Tiffany excitedly said.

Tiffany sighed.

"If you insist. Blizzard!"

"Icy Wind!" Tiffany shouted.

"Arctic Winds!" The two yelled together.

Thr two attacks combined into one, super intense flurry of snow and hail, that buffetted James and Marci. The two tried to take the attack, but within a matter of moments, both of them couldn't take it, and they blacked out.

"What...what's going...?" James muttered as he started to come to.

"He's awake!" Lizzy excitedly yelled.

Luke covered Lizzy's mouth with his hand.

"Shh... Keep it down."

"Sorry..." Lizzy's smile drooped with her excitment.

"James...?" Marci asked as she woke up.

"Ugh, where are we?" Leon asked.

"You are at the Guild's medical bay of course." Luke answered.

"But, how? We were in the... Dusk Grove." James grunted.

Luke pointed out Karen, who had been standing in a corner the whole time.

"Karren informed us of you being unconcious in the forest, so we came and got you."

"I saw you take off, and I followed you. By the time I found you in that clearing, all
three of you were down and out! I ran back and got help as fast as I could!" Karren exclaimed.

"What exactly happened to you all?" Luke asked.

James rubbed his head as he began remembering all that happened.

"W...we got tricked." He stuttered.

"Those stupid bully's ambushed us." Marci growled.

"That's terrible!" Lizzy cried.

"The same one that took your badge a few daays ago?" Luke inquired.

Marci crossed her arms in a huff.

"Them plus one."

"We'll keep watch for them, and teach them a lesson if we see them." Karren said.

"In the mean time, try to rest up. After all, you wouldn't want to miss our Guild's exploration, would you?" Luke asked with a sly grin.

Marci and Leon gasped.

"For real?" Leon asked excitedly.

"Oh wow! It's been so long since the last one!" Marci exclaimed.

"That's right!" Lizzy chanted.

"Now, I'm serious about the rest, you should all go back to sleep. We'll leave you alone." Luke started filing everyone out of the room.

After everyone was out of the room, James glanced at  the beds on which Marci and Leon were laying on.

"Hey guys, what's an exploration?"

"Oh, they're so much fun! It's like an expedition, and the entire guild goes together!" Marci answered.

"We only get to do them every once and a while, so it's a treat when it happens." Leon added.

James thought about it for a moment, then broke out in a wide grin.

"Huh... Sounds awesome! I can't wait!"