Chapter 4 - Aftermath

Deep in the night, in the woodlands just outside Sunyshore, Xerneas lept around the hills searching for something on her own.

"I can sense them, but where could they be?"

More days have passed since that odd Lugia attacked and Xerneas had grown concerned for the city's safety. So without her trainer's knowledge, she had snuck out her ball and scoured the forest and beach in search of any clues pertaining to the weird pokemon's existence, yet after several hours of searching, she had found nothing.

Stopping on a cliff, the pokemon gazed out into the horizon, her eyes threatening to shut. She sighed as she looked back on her restless nights searching for clues only to return empty-handed and spend her mornings inside her ball sleeping, barely hearing the faint calls of her trainer before repeating the process which now seemed useless.

"I suppose it is time to stop my hunt, if I do not return home by sunrise, Sora will become suspicious, and that girl will always pursue mysteries that are a bother to her."

Xerneas was about to turn tail and head home, but several cries of pokemon then echoed through the night, causing her to stop in her tracks.

Following the noises, Xerneas found herself outside a cavern entrance that was located at the bottom of a cliff.

Thinking she finally got what she was seeking, the stag took no time rushing down the cliffside to the cavern.

The cavern was a series of winding caves, with deep falls and many underground pokemon. In the dead of the early morning night, the cave was pitch black, so Xerneas created some light through the use of her horns.

She trodded along the uneven path lightly for it was wet from water that dripped from the ceiling and also had many protruding parts that would've made for difficult and painful footholds for anyone. Luckily she had hooves, so it was bearable, but she still exercised caution to make sure she wouldn't slip from anything.

As she descended the cavern, it wasn't long before she noticed that the air became colder than when she entered but not only that, it also seemed heavier, it was like she dove deep into the depths of the sea, the usual home for Lugia.

There she knew she was heading the right way, but the lack of air made her think twice about descending any further. If she were to continue she would most definitely lose her ability to breathe and so, she thought of turning back before she had lost any more oxygen. However, she then heard the cry of the Lugia echo throughout the walls of the cavern, she suddenly changed her mind and decided that a little bit more exploration wouldn't hurt.

Doing her best to not become lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, Xerneas eventually reached an entrance where she felt the air suddenly return. She peeked inside the cave and was treated to the scene of Lugia tending to a group of young pokemon all huddled up underneath its wing.

"My goodness, this is unexpected."

Watching the large pokemon protect the little ones like a mother to her child made Xerneas discern this Lugia to be a kind pokemon. Therefore, she decided there was no need for her to pursue this particular Lugia any further. Xerneas then left the cavern and headed back home with a content smile.

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Morning soon came, and in her house, the idol Tokino Sora started off her day by reaching for her phone to turn off the alarm. What followed after was her groggily lifting herself from her bed and stretching.

"What time is it?"

It was ten in the morning, much too early for Sora, who after becoming an idol had a sleeping schedule that ranged from sleeping at around 2-3 am and waking up at 1-2 pm. But, after she got acquainted with Sho, she began to wake up much earlier to conduct her investigations.

"I should get up now."

She slid off her bed and dragged her feet to her wardrobe to grab some clothes, but just as she pulled out a set to use, the door to her bedroom shot open, fully waking her up.

"What? What's going on?!"

"Oh, Sora you're awake."

Sora eyed the woman standing before her with a baffled expression before it quickly turned into a frown.

"Mom, I told you not to do that when entering my room!"

"Sorry sweetheart, but there's a boy waiting for you in the front, saying you two agreed to go sightseeing?"

Sora's eyes widened and she quickly rushed over to her bedside table to snatch her phone back up. On the screen was a text message from Sho telling her he was waiting outside her home.

"How long has he been waiting for?!"

She asked, snapping her back to her mom.

"Only a few minutes dear."

"Oh! I knew I should've slept early! But I was having way too much fun watching the collab stream."

Sora's mom watched with interest as her daughter started tossing out her clothes from her closet and panicking over this one boy. She wondered who the boy could be to cause such distress to her daughter, but she decided not to prod… yet.

Once she got an outfit on, Sora grabbed her bag and packed some items into it before sprinting down the stairs and out of her house.

Outside, just as her mom said, was Sho just leaning on the gate to her house, fiddling with his phone.

"Sho."

She called, though slightly afraid due to the fact she thought had made the boy wait for a considerable amount of time.

However, she never received a scolding from Sho, instead, the boy just greeted her with a smile.

"Morning Tokino-san."

"Mo-morning. Sorry for making you wait."

"It's no problem, I've only been here 5 minutes."

"Huh?"

5 minutes? That didn't sound right in Sora's head, did she rush out thinking he'd been there for longer? She turned back around towards her house where her mother was leaning on the door frame with a grin on her face.

"I told you he's only been waiting a few minutes."

Her mother sang, making Sora drop her shoulders and chuckle embarrassingly before quickly grabbing Sho's wrist and speed-walk away from her house.

"Let's go Sho!"

As they walked to the city, Sho witnessed a pouting Tokino Sora. He's been seeing a lot of different sides to her since they met. Normally he only saw the idol that his sister would watch and fawn over, yet here he was, watching her put on expressions of embarrassment and confidence. Not everyone was lucky enough to see that, and despite not being a fan, Sho could admit it was once in a lifetime opportunity.

That confident trainer that battled a legendary pokemon with another legendary, never in his life would he have thought that came from a cute, dancing and singing idol.

They reached the city, but Sho was too distracted from having his head filled with questions about Sora that he didn't realise notice the alley where two people were emerging from.

Hearing the crash and thump behind her, Sora quickly turned around only to see Sho on the floor rubbing his lower back with another boy beside him also in slight pain.

Sora went to check up on Sho while another, much larger boy, took the other.

"Sho are you ok?"

"Sadao."

The boys stood up and Sadao glared at the buffoon in front of him, he wanted to give the spacing idiot a piece of his mind.

"Hey."

Sho looked back at Sadao and slightly jumped when he saw the angered look of the other boy.

"Watch where you're walking would ya? You could break someone's bone with that collision."

"Oh sorry."

"Jeez you blind or something?"

"I'm really sorry, I was a bit distracted."

"Well don't be."

Sora wasn't exactly appreciating some random guy chastising Sho when her companion already apologised.

"He already apologised, no need to be so harsh."

"Huh?"

Sawada glanced over at Sora with a glare, but it quickly softened when he saw who he was talking to.

"Wait aren't you-?"

A loud ring then came from Sadao's pocket, breaking the tension between the two groups in an instant. Sadao fished the phone out of his pocket and checked the name that appeared on the screen.

"Ugh, it's her."

He said with a disgusted expression.

Kato leaned over and told Sawada to answer the phone or else suffer the wrath of his caller. Sadao followed and answered the call, but the moment he placed the phone to his ear and said hello, a loud voice boomed from the other side.

"Where are you?! Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting here?"

For a girl with such a gentle voice, Fauna sure was quite the yeller which made her more annoying for Sadao.

"We got a bit lost, we'll be there in a sec."

"Get over here quick, people are starting to stare."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Sadao relayed what Fauna told him and Kato then turned to Sho and Sora who were having a back and forth about whether or not Sho was injured.

"Um excuse me."

Sora quickly snapped her head with a slight glare, making Kato move back a little by her hostility.

"We're a bit lost right now, I know we didn't get off on the right foot, but I was hoping that you would help us."

Sora was hesitant to give directions to him, but Sho agreed and looked at Kato's map.

"So where are you heading?"

"Uh, this beach here."

Sho easily recognised the beach, it was the one where that shadow Lugia appeared. That sent some alarm bells ringing, but Sho decided not to pry too much."

"Oh, this beach… you just go straight from here and then turn right, the beach will be at the end."

"Thank you so much, we've been wandering for a while now and our companions are a bit worried."

"I'm glad to help. But I heard that beach is currently closed off due to some damages, are you sure that's where your friends said to meet?"

"Positive, don't worry about us though, we'll be just fine."

"Ok then, we'll get going now."

"Thanks again, come on Sadao."

The two left and once they were out of sight, Sho told Sora about their destination, he found it odd that two normal-looking people would go to the beach when it was shown on the news that it was closed. But Sora just shrugged it off, not caring about anything that had to do with Sadao.

Sho wondered if he was just looking into things a bit too deeply, but his gut feeling told him he wasn't looking deep enough. Still, with nothing to go on, the boy decided to just ignore it, hoping it was nothing.

"Should we get going Sho?"

Sora asked, looking at him blankly.

"Yeah, let's."

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Sawada and Kato finally arrived at the beach which was sealed off by the local authorities due to the damages done to it. Fauna and her team were there as well standing around while staring at the area where the shadow Lugia crashed.

"Hey."

Sawada called.

"There you are, where have you been?"

Fauna complained, stomping over to the boys with veins popping out of her head.

"Sorry we're late Fauna, we got lost."

Kato responded with a little bow.

Fauna sighed, of course they got lost, they always got lost, but she figured it wasn't worth getting annoyed over. However, the moment she looked over to Sadao, who was just gazing out to the distance uninterested in anything in his surroundings, Fauna felt the veins in her head bulge yet again.

"Hey, can't you show a bit of interest in our job?"

Sho glanced over at Fauna and didn't say a word before just gazing back out to the sea.

A couple more veins then popped out of the green-haired girl's head and she began to grind her teeth together while glaring at the bored boy.

"Fine then, be that way."

Fauna left the two boys and made her way back to her group, leaving Kato to quietly told his friend he should try and get along with their companions, but Sadao just scoffed it off, earning a tired sigh from the taller boy.

Kato was already used to Sadao's lack of approachability, but to others, Sadao just seemed rude, so he often tried to mitigate or get Sadao to work with everyone else just to keep the peace.

"How am I friends with you again?"

Kato asked, confused.

"Cause you're competent."

"Thanks, I guess?"

Kato wasn't so sure whether that was a compliment or a jab to the others, but knowing Sadao it was most likely both.

Over with the girls, Sana reported that there they've found some readings of lingering powerful energy in the area.

Fauna wasn't at all surprised by this, if two powerful pokemon fought in that area it would only be reasonable that some of their power still lingered despite it being days since the battle took place.

"Well, at least we got some answers as to what sort of pokemon fought here. Now only if we could pinpoint what pokemon were here."

As if the gods heard her plea, Kronii came running at Fauna while waving a tablet in her hand, calling out to her in urgency.

"Fauna, Fauna!"

"Kronii? What's wrong?"

In between breaths, the blue-haired girl explained that a new energy reading was recorded away from the beach, shocking her companions.

"What? Show me!"

Kronii handed the tablet over to her leader. Fauna scanned the contents and gasped when she saw the large area that was highlighted.

Sana then looked over her shoulder and was in awe at how much energy there was.

"Woah look at that, they're up at the mountains."

"Why are there suddenly up there rather than on the beach?"

"Maybe they got bored?"

"I don't think that's it, but now we have a lead, so let's make our way up there."

Fauna said before packing her stuff rapidly and sprinting out of the beach, only leaving her partners with a loud order to follow her.

Sana and Kronii glanced at each other dumbfounded that their leader just left them in the dust.

"What now Kronii-nii?"

"I saw a good restaurant back there, wanna check it out? We'll catch up with Fauna later."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Sadao and Kato watched the three girls leave the beach. They then glanced at one another before deciding to head off to the forest as well.

Kato wondered whether they'll find the pokemon that were fighting on the beach, but Sadao didn't really care for it, so long as they got it done.

Kato could only nervously chuckle at that response, he really never could get a hint of interest from his friend.

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Elsewhere, a shadow lurked in the alleys of Sunyshore, eyeing the many people that were sitting outside some cafes and restaurants.

Its eyes particularly locked on to a certain brunette's collection of cupcakes.

With a mischievous grin, the shadow knew its next target.