Zero

[doctorzero]

Ow...
Kaitlin opened her eyes and struggled to get up. "Agh...that...was not on of my best moments..." she muttered. I'm surprised I was even able to survive that...but then again, this is Kavma. Guy always avoids a fatality when he can.
She checked her surroundings: She seemed to be on some mountain trail, with bonsai trees here and there. She couldn't tell how high up she was.
"Well, no time like the present..." She muttered. She stood up and started limping up the trail, fully intending to get a better view to see where she was.

---

"I'm sorry, sir, but the trail has been closed until further notice."
Max was quickly becoming frustrated. He had managed to get to Mt. Bonsai without any problem--it was when he got the start of the trail when he saw that there were going to be difficulties.
Someone ("Crystal Room employees, no doubt", he thought to himself) had constructed a large gate at the entrance to the trail, and just to lay the icing on the cake, a huge wall had been constructed around the ENTIRE MOUNTAIN, effectively preventing anyone from accessing it by foot.
"I NEED to get up there!" he protested. "My friend's up there, and she might be hurt! You have to--"
"I can assure you, sir, if there's anyone up there they will be brought here and escorted out," the guard interrupted. "This area has been put on lockdown. It's too dangerous for anyone to enter right now."
Buizel looked up at the guard with total disdain, fully prepared to Water Gun him in the face.
(Your turn, but try to downplay the violence.)

[gantzgun74]

........................................

Kaitlin was suddenly aware of a strange humming sound somewhere further up the mountain trail... A hum that sounded oddly familiar...

[It's familiar because its the hum of an Ivalician flying machine. Don't worry though, it's not taking off, and you'll see why on my next turn.]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Too dangerous?"

If Max and the guard looked, they'd find Misty flying up to the scene, Metal Sonic leading her on the ground. Metal Sonic reached the area first, and took in the situation. Deciding to be the more mature one in the situation, the robot approached the scene, looking to the guard curiously. "How exactly is it too dangerous? What's going on up that mountain exactly?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well... Not EXACTLY around the entire mountain.

When construction for the wall tried to circle around the mountain, the builders found that the mountain was part of a particularly eerily placed mountain range. Little did the men realize that this mountain range served as a wall in and of itself, and if they had tried to build the wall up the mountain they would have found a barrier preventing entry into whatever lay just beyond.

That is because just beyond the mountain range which circled it like the rims of a bowl, there lay a quaint picturesque valley that was several thousand miles all around, containing several villages, cities, and landmarks with various habitats of varying temperatures.

Now, with that covered, let's turn our attention shall we?

Making their way up Bonsai Mountain from Arcadia Valley's side of the mountain, three young figures could be seen. "Ugh!" One of them happened to be female wearing a martial arts gii with yellow trims, with short brown hair and cobalt eyes. "Otto-san!" The female said as she climbed up the moutains sheer steep face. At this point in time, she appeared to be trying to find a decent hand-hold to hold on to. "How much longer are we gonna be out here again?" Trying her absolute best not to leave the rock wall and lose her balance she wiped her forehead clear of sweat.

She suddenly saw a hand reach down for hers. "We'll be here for a few more hours Rin." Otto said with a grin. "And we'll be coming out here every day until you can climb up the side of this mountain blindfolded, and without breaking a sweat."

Rin, or Rin-Rin Unimaru as she was usually called, let out a sigh before taking the young man's hand. "But sensei, that doesn't seem possible..." Otto pulled her up a bit before she found a foot hold and hand-hold. Otto held himself up by using his claws to stay into the mountain side. "The mountain is not an easy thing to climb. You know that."

With a nod the young man turned his attention back to climbing. "The mountain is not an easy opponent to top yes, that's true. But once you find the strength to climb it, you will have the will-power to do anything." He smiled a small smile to the young woman. "I have faith in you Rin. I know you can make it."

Rin-Rin blushed at this, but smiled regardless. "Heheh... Thanks sensei..."

"HEY GUYS!!!" Further up the mountain side, Wally could be seen climbing up the mountain almost like a monkey. "Come on! Slowpokes! I'm still waiting!!"

Otto rolled his eyes and shook his head, while Rin-Rin chuckled at Otto's chagrin.

[doctorzero]

"Quarantine, ma'am," the guard said to Misty, not at all perturbed by her and Metal's appearance. "Can't say anything more than that. Classified. A notice was released to the public a couple days ago, I'm surprised you didn't hear about it."
Max and Buizel nearly jumped a mile when he saw Misty and Metal. "Wha--you guys? Where are the others?"

---

Kaitlin was sure she had heard that humming sound somewhere, but she couldn't recalled where. "Hopefully it means someone friendly's nearby," she said to herself as she continued to follow the mountain trail.

---

Meanwhile...

The patrol guard was slammed against the mountain wall, held there by the neck.
"I am going to ask you one last time, and if you don't give me a straight answer, so help me, I will break your neck. Where is Kavma?"
The guard spat in his interrogator's face. "Kiss...my...ass."
SNAP! The guard fell to the ground, lifeless. "Son of a..." The culprit walked off, ignoring the five unmoving bodies as he made his way through the trees.
I know you're here, Kavma, the figure thought to himself savagely, and I WILL find you, even if I have to tear through this island to do it!
The sound of voices made him run behind a bonsai tree.
"Ugh! Otto-san! How much longer are we gonna be out here again?"
A girl. I didn't think anyone else but his goons were up here.
Two male voices reached his ears. Three people, and it sounded like they were climbing the cliffs up to his location. He wasn't in the mood to run into civilians. Without another word he turned and left, disappearing through the trees.

[gantzgun74]

Misty looked to Max with a raised eyebrow. "Their with Yana, handling a situation." She scowled to the boy. "By the way, be thankful we're here." She cracks her knuckles. "Apparently you need help with crowd control..."

"Now now, hold on Misty." Came Metal, holding up a hand. "Perhaps we can handle this with reason." He looked to the guards a moment, crossing his arms. "Gentlemen, while I am now aware of the whole quarantine thing, perhaps you can just give us a few minutes in?" He snapped his fingers. "We just need to look around the mountain for a friend of ours, that's all."

---------------------------------------------------------------

As Kaitlin walked towards the humming sound, she suddenly became aware of an odd sound as the humming stopped and was followed by small snaps, pops and even light crunches, before all went quiet.

"ACH!! What a stupid sound for an engine to make! I fixed you up as best as I could kupo!" She was aware the voice had a heavy european spanish accent. "Come on, Giruveganus baby, don't quit on your mommy now, you can do it kupo!"

The humming sound started up again................

BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

"Sweet holy Ultima! I wasn't asking too much of you, baby! You didn't have ta explode kupo!"

When Kaitlin FINALLY rounded around the top of the hill, she found what the source of the sound was...

It was a crashed air-ship, looked like that of an Ivalician design.

Though the source of the voice she heard? She was nowhere in sight.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Still safe on the Valley side of the barrier, Wally jumped up onto the ledge of the cliff side, just as Zero left. Looking down the ledge, he smiled and chuckled. "Come on mates! Move your butts!"

After a few seconds, Otto pulled himself over the ledge, and helped Rin-Rin climb up a second later. Rin-Rin let out a exasperated breath, as she wiped her sweat. "Good YIN what a workout..." As she caught her breath, she looked out at the land on the other side of mountains. "Heh, Dimensional Island... Quite the sight isn't it, sensei?"

"Indeed." Chuckling Otto dusted off his clothes. "Well, I guess the only logical thing to do now would be to take a hike. That'll be good exercise."

Wally chuckled at this, as the three exited out of the Barrier, leaving the purity and sanctity of Arcadia Valley and entering the chaos of Dimensional Island...

[doctorzero]

The guard looked thoughtful. "Normally, I can't allow that, but...hold on one moment." He took out a radio and turned away from the group, speaking into it. The other guard kept an eye on the others, looking at Metal cryptically.
"Hope you're not like the other robot, damn thing $@^@ all over my shoes..." the guard muttered, so that noone else could hear.
Meanwhile, Buizel gave Misty a glare, shaking her fist at her. "Hey, watch the attitude, ninja girl! Don't make me punch your face in!"
...Of course, being a Buizel that's incapable of speech, not a single person understood her. Max knew the general gist, though.
"Buizel, please calm down," he chided. To Misty, he said, "I guess you're right, I should be thankful...but there's something I don't get. Who's Yana? And what do you mean by a situation?"

---

The explosion made Kaitlin jump in shock. "What the heck was that?!" She ran up the trail--well, as best as she could with her injuries--hoping that whoever had spoken was unharmed.
Her surprise grew when she came upon the ship. That's what made that noise earlier? she thought. She could see that whoever had spoken wasn't in sight.
She limped over to the ship and looked into the hatch. The lights were out, though it was bright enough to see what was inside, though whoever had spoken was probably somewhere else in the ship; she couldn't see her.
"Hello?" she called. "Anyone in here? You alright? Are you hurt?"

---

Zero looked up sharply at the sound of the explosion nearby. "No surprise on what THAT is," he muttered.
As he approached a turn in the trail, his hand on his wrist, he heard Kaitlin's voice calling for someone. He quickly looked around the corner to see the Ivalician ship. Didn't see that on my way up.
His eyes narrowed when he saw Kaitlin. Now who is that? He leaned out of sight of the girl, not wanting to be spotted.

[gantzgun74]

"Hello Hello!" Kaytlin pulled her head out of the hatch and looked above the door of the hatch. "Hey!" And she promptly jumped when she saw a moogle hanging upside down from a rope, said rope tied on from somewhere on top of the ship itself. Said moogle smiled a bit, her antennae with the pom-pom on the end. "Now who are you supposed to be young lady?"

----------------------------------------------------------

Back down at the foot of the mountain, Metal watched as the gate opened. "That can wait till once we find your friend." Looking to the mountain side, he gave the guards a neighborly salute. "Don'tcha worry boys. We won't take long."

[doctorzero]

"Whoa!" Kaitlin jumped back, startled. She hadn't expected to run into a moogle. But then again, those kupos should've clued her in. "Geeze, give a little warning next time, will ya?" she said, annoyed. She looked around at the ship. "Is this your ship? Who are you? Oh, and my name's Kaitlin."

---

Zero's eyes narrowed. A moogle?
He couldn't see how he could get past them without being noticed, and he didn't want any unwanted attention. Those two didn't look like Crystal Room employees. I could go back and find a way around, but I'd probably run into those three I heard earlier. And I do NOT want to run into that glowing ball again...
He readjusted the Demon Gear on his wrist. I'll wait a little bit, and see where this goes...

---

Max was a little bothered by what Metal said, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to be a little patient. At least Kaitlin wasn't there, she'd grab the robot and demand that he tell them what the heck was going on or else she'd pop his head off. "All right, then. Come on, Buizel." Buizel jumped onto his shoulder, and he and the other two walked past the guard through the gate, entering the trail.
"Don't you think it's a bit suspicious that they're just letting us through?" Buizel asked Max, using hand gestures to get her point across.
"Well, yeah," said Max. "If it is a quarantine, Kavma wouldn't let anyone in. I'm just hoping it isn't a trap."

---

IT'S A TRAP!

---

Ignoring the overly done meme for a moment, Max turned Misty. He felt a little uncomfortable, being that they had left each other earlier on such a tense note. "So, um...Misty...About Ot--" he stopped himself and changed the subject. "So, uh, how's Gantz been doing? We haven't heard from him in a couple years, and Jaron's missing him pretty badly..."

---

This is the conversation that took place between the guard and Mr. Kavma Raleigh.
"Mr. Raleigh, there are three individuals wishing to enter the Mt. Bonsai trail."
"Can you identify these three?"
"I don't recognize one of them, but one is a robot and the other is that Maxwell Chadi mentioned in your memo. They claim that a friend of theirs is on the mountain. Should I tell them to wait while we send a team up?"
"No, let them through."
"Sir?"
"I see no reason why Max can't, and if he and Ms. Roslyn come in contact with the subject, then we might see something. Just make sure that surveillance is kept on them, but allow them to go unhindered."
"Very well, sir. Also, on another note, we lost contact with one of the patrols. It might be due to faulty equipment."
"Captain, you know as well as I do that we don't HAVE faulty equipment. Call a backup team and send them up after Max and his companions leave, all right?"
"Very well, sir."
"By the way, has your wife picked out an outfit for the grand opening tonight?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Give her my regards, would you?"

[gantzgun74]

Down at the foot of the mountain...

To be honest, Max was right to change the question when he did, Misty growled when Max let that first syllable of that taboo name. One more syllable and she probably would've throttled the poor guy. The way the question was now though, she let out a breath. "Gantz's... been better." She looked up as the bunch started their trek up the hiking trail. "When we first got to the island, he blamed himself for... You know... What happened..." She looked to him. "But, now that he has Rose back, he's doing a lot better."

Metal let out a mechanical sigh. "Yeah..." He shrugs. "In fact, they were making plans to take a vacation to 'The Harbor of Dreams'. You know, a little romantic get away... But... That's when Yana came to island."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The moogle nodded to the girl's introduction before flipping herself around, until she hung on the rope rightside up. "Aaaaah! Kaitlin is it? Well it's nice to meet you, lady." She pushed her goggles up and off from over her eyes. "My name is Lea-rew Res, gadgeteer of Clan Highwind, and ex-pilot of the Rozzarian Fleet in Ivalice Kupo. Nasty business but, eh, I won't bore you with my scars."

She climbed up the rope a bit before patting the metal she was dangling off of, "And yes! Yes this IS my ship! You like? It's called the Giruveganus. Named after my ole Air Cutter ship! Impressive is it not, kupo?" She smiled widely looking quite proud of herself. "Fixed her up myself too!"

[doctorzero]

Kaitlin gave the Giruveganus a lookover. She was sure that it had been impressive...before now, anyway. It wasn't exactly awe-inspiring in it's current condition, but she chose not to mention that. Didn't want to hurt Lea's feelings. "Well, nice to meet you, Lea-rew, but what are you and your ship doing here, anyway?" she asked. "Bit odd to see an airship on the side of some mountain." Obviously it had crashed, but--
Wait.
Hold the phone.
"Did you say you were from Ivalice?" Kaitlin asked. "Do you know anyone called Ga--OW!"
She grabbed her side, wincing. She had completely forgotten about the injuries she got from her rough landing. "Ugh...sorry, need to sit down for a minute..."

---

Buizel growled at Misty, having sensed her hostility. Max gave her a nervous look. Buizel, PLEASE, you've seen what happens when she gets angry...
He didn't know who Rose was, but if he had to venture a guess, it was probably some girl Gantz had met. And if the words 'little romantic getaway' held any indication...
"So, wait, Gantz has a girlfriend?" he asked. A single nod was all it took. "...Oh." he looked away so that they couldn't see his worried expression.
Well, it HAS been two years, and...well...yeah, but I don't know how I'm gonna be able to break it to...
He put the thought out of his mind and turned to face Misty. "Well, I'm sorry to hear about that, but you still haven't told me who Yana is."
A minute later...
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, JARON HAS AMNESIA?!"

---

Zero was growing impatient. How long are they going to just stand there and talk?! he thought irritably. If this keeps up, I'll take my chances with the three stooges--
He tensed. He could hear something. Please, oh PLEASE don't let it be--
It was. He could recognize that sound anywhere.
Great. The glowing thing's back.
He looked around. He couldn't see it anywhere, but he could hear that distinct, pleasant humming noise it made. It sounded like it was coming from where he had just came from.
Great. And here I was hoping that those three had come across the thing and accidentally killed it, thinking it was some weird forest fairy or something.
He was pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place. Go back, run into those three and the glowing thing, go forward, run into a moogle and some girl who could potentially try to kill him. He hated these moments. They always involved fighting his way out sooner or later.
After a moment, though, the humming grew distant and stopped entirely. Looks like it's gone. He sighed in relief.

[gantzgun74]

"Just Lea is fine dear." Went the moogle as she listened to the hume girl talk. She rolled her eyes at the question, but really, any sort of chatter then none at all was welcome. It grew horribly lonely on that mountain sometimes. "Oh my dear sweet missy, I crashed my poor little rust bucket out here months ago, kupo. Got into quite the fight we did." She sighed. "Surrounded on all sides by real humdinger freakos when suddenly I found my ship flying through some kupo wormho-"

It was around that time that Kaitlin suddenly started yelling, causing the moogle to jump, but in a show of no hard feelings, she chuckled her little fright off. "Yes I did, little chica, kupo. What of it?" Kaitlin had been JUST about to ask her question when she suddenly doubled over in pain.

Jumping into action, Lea looped her rope a bit, before landing on the ground next to where Kaitlin sat. "Hmmm... you need more then just to sit down missy. You need medical attention kupo." She smiled and snapped her fingers. "And lucky for you auntie Lea happens to have some potions you can drink to heal up those pesky wounds of yours." If Kaitlin was about to say anything, Lea quickly held up a hand. "Hup-up-up! Doctors orders miss. Now do sit here and don't move kupo. I shall rejoin you shortly!"

With that said, she walked in through the hatch Kaitlin had looked in earlier and vanished from sight.

------------------------------------------------------------

"We mean it exactly how we worded it, Maxy." Misty said with a groan. "From what I can gather on the whole thing, Kavma stole Jaron's memory from him. You say Jaron's been missing Gantz? Well... He's been hanging around him for almost an entire day and he doesn't remember enough about his life before to appreciate it."

By that point, the three found themselves walking up the hiking trail, the wall a mile or so behind them.

As they walked, Metal let out a sigh himself. "That's indeed the real tragedy of this whole thing. Thanks to your friend Kaitlin showing me a picture, I'm well aware that Gantz and Jaron were friends... And they can't meet back up with each other properly due to this whole mess." He sighed. "And I can only imagine what poor Gantz is going through, having to help your friend without them being able to act like friends like they used to."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Further up the mountain, beyond Lea's ship, we return our attention to Wally, Otto and Rin-Rin, as they hiked along the mountain, making their way down. Now that they were on the Dimensional Island side of Bonsai Mountain, it was figured they'd hike to the bottom and then climb back up to return to the valley in a mountain climbing lap.

"So..." Rin-Rin went, keeping up briskly with Otto and Wally. "It's been a while since you guys came here. Or at least it's been a while since you came here with me." She looked quite curious. "How goes things on this side of the barrier? Did you find Kijin Kain yet?"

Otto shook his head. "Not yet no. That monster's still out there." He let out a sigh. "Well... We'll take care of him someday... In the meantime let's continue training."

A nod was Wally's response as he climbed up a nearby boulder. "Heheheh! Yeah! We've got plenty of time to worry about stuff like that. So let's not worry! Sides, there's so many things to do! So many things to see-"

Wally stopped when he suddenly noticed something... Fishy...

An odd orb of light appeared to be floating around the mountain several feet in front of him and his friends...

[doctorzero]

Kaitlin just sat there, befuddled. Good grief, she sounds like MY mom!

---

Max was horrified-- after all of the things they had been subjected to by Kavma two years ago, he was SURE that the man was done with bothering them. Clearly he was wrong.
And if Jaron had lost his memory...
"Kaitlin's going to freak when she hears this..." he muttered. "And...Oh, jeeze, what're we going to tell Lucas?"
Buizel poked him in the forehead. "What we're GOING to do is find Kaitlin and Jaron and get that old geezer to give us back his memory!" She scoffed. "Come on, are you telling me that you're just going to give up?"
Max blinked, then smiled at his Pokemon. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just...I was really hoping that Kavma would've left us alone...first he attacks us, then helps us, then attacks us again...you'd think he'd be consistent." He frowned. "But why would he do this?! First he steals Jaron's sword, then his memory? Jaron never interested him before, why now?" He turned to Misty and Metal. "Do either of you have any idea? Misty, you said you met Kavma earlier, right? Did he give any reason why he's doing this?"

---

As soon as Wally noticed the sphere, it zoomed toward him and stopped about an inch from his face, as if examining him. It stayed like this for about a minute before it bobbed in the air and zoomed down the trail, turning the corner and moving out of sight.

---

As soon as Lea had gone back into the ship, Zero ran out of cover and dove behind a nearby boulder before Kaitlin could notice him.
Okay, moogle from Iva-whatever, don't know about the girl, Kaitlin something, sounds familiar. I should wait until they go into the ship, then head down the mountain, see if I can find that bunker. He has to be around here SOMEWHERE, why else would they block this whole mountain off?

[gantzgun74]

Misty let out a guttural growl. "Don't know, don't care. What I want more then anything else is to trounce the omnipotent weasel for nearly getting me sent to a nut house..."

Metal noticed the trainer's look. "Yes... She's still on that." He let out a groan; he probably would've let out a sigh, but robots didn't need to breathe. "Though really, I guess I can't blame her. If some guy messed up my neural circuits, I'd likely be pretty pissed too."

---------------------------------------------------------------

?!?!?!??! "ACK!!!!!!"

Wally fell off the boulder the second the light finished examining his face and left. Delayed responses at it's best people. XD

"WALLY!!" Otto and Rin-Rin quickly ran up to the young man, to check on him. "You okay? What happened?" After all, Wally in himself was almost like a billy goat. He'd NEVER fall off of a foothold that easily, especially one so flat and accessible.

Wally sputtered, looking a bit freaked. "D-d-didn't you guys see that?!?"

Otto's student raised an eyebrow at this. "See what?" She asked with a curious and lighthearted tone. "We didn't see anything Wally."

Looking panicked, Wally pointed past the rock. "What?? But it was right there!!"

"WHAT was right there?"

He gave them a shrug. "I dunno!! Some crazy ball of light flying around all over the place!"

Otto let out a groan before climbing over the boulder and having a look around... "I don't know what your talking about you crazy monk. I don't see anything anywhere." He slid down from the rock. "Maybe you imagined it."

.......................... He sputtered on a few seconds more. "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-but... I... I saw it... And m-m-mate?" He gulped... "I think that thing LOOKED at me."

"Someone's been reading some horror stories it sounds like." Rin-Rin said with a chuckle. "Come on Wally be serious."

"I-I AM Serious!!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Giruveganus, Zero watched as Lea returned, a few bottles in hand. "Here we go! Potions, hi-potions, elixers, ethers; anything an injured child can use to help him or herself feel better kupo!" Looking among the bottles, she picked up a Hi-potion and handed it off to Kaitlin. "Here, drink this, it'll heal you right up!"

[Quid Pro Quo for comedy: I'm always lead to believe in fantasy settings that potions, while they can heal you up, are incredibly bitter to the taste. XD]

[doctorzero]

Kaitlin took the bottle gratefully. "Thanks, Lea. I really need the pickmeup." She promptly chugged the bottle.
Approximately ONE second later...
"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!" she spat out the contents immediately. "Augh, *cough* forgot those were so bitter *cough*..."

---

Max sighed. He had completely forgotten about Misty's beef with Kavma. "Well, maybe you'll get your chance when we find him," he said to Misty. "Just try not to be reckless, all right? You remember what he can do..."
There was a moment of silence as old memories resurfaced--ones best not mentioned--then Max took out a Pokeball. "I think this'll go faster if we have some help..."
One materialization later, James stood in front of them, bowing to Misty and Metal. "James, can you try to sense Kaitlin on this mountain?" Max asked.
James nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating. While he wasn't as good as sensing aura like a Lucario yet, he knew Kaitlin's aura by heart.
"Well?" Buizel demanded.
James cracked open an eye and glared at her. "Patience, please." He resumed concentrating. "...She's about halfway up the mountain...it'll take us twenty minutes to get up there. Someone's with her, but I can't tell who...and--huh?" he frowned. "Weird...there's three--no, four others, a bit higher than them...one of them's new, but three of them seem familar for some reason...and there's another with Kaitlin and whoever's with her, it--"
James froze, his fur flaring up like a cat, then he jumped into Max's arms with a panicked bark, shaking in shock.
"What?! What is it?!" Max asked, worried. "What's the matter?"
"B-big, scary, s-so scary, don't wanna go near, no, please, horrible aura, HORRIBLE..." James stammered, wide-eyed.
Max looked to Misty and Metal, worried.
(While Max has the general idea what his Pokemon are saying, I doubt that Misty does. I don't know if Metal has a translator or what or doesn't understand either.)

---

As if it had heard their argument, the ball of light peeked around the corner and bobbed up and down, trying to get their attention. If it succeeded, it moved once them went around the corner out of sight.

---

When Kaitlin started to cough, Zero shifted a bit, accidentally causing a small rock to fall off of the boulder he was hiding behind. While it didn't get Kaitlin's attention, it probably made Lea notice.

[gantzgun74]

Lea's ears twitched at the sound. "Kupo?" She quickly turned to the source of the sound. "Who's there kupo?"

------------------------------------------------------------

Both Misty and Metal could more then tell something was wrong. Misty herself because she was aware that the Riolu and Lucario species of pokemon was capable of using aura, and figured that it felt something particularly bad somewhere nearby. While Metal himself didn't know this at the time, but using his I-Browse feature, he quickly found out about this himself.

"..... I've suddenly got a VERY bad feeling about this trip..."

--------------------------------------------------------------

The arguement between the three stopped almost immediately when they saw the orb of light.

"........... What..." Otto was in disbelief.

"What in the world is-" So was Rin-Rin.

"SEE!! I told you mates I wasn't making it up!" Wally said with a shout.

At that moment, they noticed the light moving the way it did... Most curious... "What was that thing?" Rin-Rin looked quite curious, as they watched the light disappear.

...... One groan later. "While I'm not one to act like a moth and follow around an orb of light... I'm curious myself..." He looked to where the light vanished. "Come on, let's go check it out."

[doctorzero]

Kaitlin turned to what Lea was looking at. "What?" She stood up--she could feel the potion taking effect--and walked over to the boulder and looked behind it.
"There's no one here..."
All of a sudden she could feel someone place their hand right next to her head.
"Don't make any sudden movements," Zero said calmly.

---

Max recalled James into his Pokeball. "If there's something that bad, Kaitlin might be in trouble!" Buizel jumped onto his shoulder as he ran up the trail.

---

Kaitlin fought to keep her voice steady. "Who are you?" she asked, not daring to turn around. She could tell that she was effectively being held at gunpoint. How the heck did Lea not notice him sneak up on me?!
"No one worth mentioning," said Zero. He kept his Gear trained on her, ready to blast her if she got hostile. "Who are you?"
"What, you weren't listening?" Kaitlin retorted. "Now get that whatever you have away from me, I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me."
Zero scoffed. "That's what they all say..." Regardless, he took a step back, letting his arm fall to his side.
Kaitlin turned around and glared at him...only to freeze upon seeing the Demon Gear on his arm. Zero didn't notice this. He nodded toward Lea, asking, "What's with the teddy bear and the junk heap?"
"Where did you get that?" Kaitlin asked sharply.
Zero shrugged. "Again, none of your business," he said rudely. Kaitlin was doing everything she could to avoid decking him where he stood. "Anyway, sorry about that. I've been running into Crystal Room employees all over this mountain, so I thought you were with them."
"Well, you were wrong," Kaitlin snapped. "Now what do you want?"
She was getting really bad vibes from this guy. There was something that SCREAMED trouble about him. She figured that she could probably run up to him and knee him in the breadbasket if he made any sudden movements...
Likewise, Zero was getting annoyed by this uptight she-witch. He figured that he could just slice her in half if she so much as twitched incorrectly. He held up his hands in a defensive manner. "Now now, let's not get violent. Seeing as how I now know you AREN'T Crystal Room thugs, I want to know if you've seen anything like a bunker or some other building around here."
"Haven't seen one, I just got here ten minutes ago, and what is it to you?" Kaitlin was rapidly losing her patience.
Zero flatly ignored her and glanced at Lea. "You said you've been here for months, did you see it anywhere?" he asked her.

---

Meanwhile, the sphere was quickly guiding Wally, Otto and Rin to Kaitlin and Lea's location, though Zero would be gone before they arrived.

---

At the same time, Max made his way up the mountain. Unfortunately for him, though, Kaitlin and the others would be gone by the time they got up there.
(Don't let the others arrive yet, please. Zero needs to leave first after getting an answer. )