FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 4.

Rook spoke with a Lanturn at the shore of the island later on. Ruli watched from the side, the Mega Lucario standing with his arms folded and Enzlo standing off to the side, looking across the waters at the island and the large city held within. He had called the Lanturn from the waters to find out more about what was going on. Tons of information was travelling among the pokémon as things continued to develop, but now Rook could throw in his own information. After explaining to the water type who Ruli and Enzlo were, he tried to convince it to tell others to back off the patrols from the mainland pokémon.

"The humans-" the Lanturn started, but corrected itself by saying, "The humans turned pokémon have been ordering us to keep them at bay. Your word alone isn't enough to stop those loyal to them from fighting the patrols off, but I'll tell all who will listen Rook. Everyone's just still up in a roar about this, I mean; giant explosion from the city, suddenly in an entirely different world, and all the humans slowly get transformed into various pokémon. Everyone's confused and being defensive."

Rook nodded, "Yes I know, but that's why we need to let those pokémon from the mainland get closer. They are trying to help."

"You can tell them that if they really want to be put at ease, they can ask to be put in contact with Epa, she's the leader of the Eeveelutions here in this world. The Eeveelutions are the defenders of this world. We just want to ensure that we are safe..." The Lucario said, "The only thing is that..." he paused, and Rook turned his head towards him.

"Is what?" Rook prodded and clicked his claws a bit.

The Mega scowled until he unfolded his arms and sighed, "It's that if what Enzlo said is really correct, then Jack is on that island, and I fear for what he may be trying to do to do this world. The rest of the humans may be okay, but him and his cohorts must be up to something, and there's no good way for us to tell the rest of the humans that we don't want to hurt them. In their panic, they've unwittingly created the most effective wall keeping us away from Jack."

"And he's using that to his advantage." Rook growled and held his forehead while shaking his head in frustration. He returned his attention to the Lanturn, "Please just relay that they aren't trying to hurt us and don't hurt them back, try to establish some form of communication with them at least."

The Lanturn nodded and then did a dive back into the water, it's glowing ornament vanishing under the waves as Rook turned back to Ruli. "So, what should we do?"

"Well..." Ruli stated as he closed his eyes.

"We need to get to the island somehow and start trying to figure out what is going on. However..." The Abra turned to look at Ruli. "You shouldn't come along."

"What?!" The Lucario growled, "Why the heck not?"

"If what that Lanturn said is true, these humans and pokémon have only just recently had Arceus himself in their world. A very angry Arceus who empowered dozens of other pokémon with his power, one of them being...?" He trailed off the question for Ruli, who grumbled, ears folded back but he didn't answer the question.

The Abra continued, "If those humans see one of the Mega in their city, most of them will take it as a hostile invasion from Arceus. You need to stay behind."

Ruli sighed, "Well should I stay here or go back to the coast town where Epa is to let her know the situation?"

"I've already sent a telepathic message to her to send an Espeon to pick you up. Me and Rook will continue onto the islands."

Even as he finished saying this, an Espeon materialized a few dozen feet away from Ruli's position. They looked back and forth momentarily before seeing the group standing at the side. The psychic type began to trot over to them while he spoke, "Ruli, I'm here to bring you back to the Coast Town."

"Hey..." Ruli started, and he looked over at Enzlo. "They teleport better than you."

"They have an advantage over me at the moment." The Abra dismissed the comment. Rook wondered what they were talking about.

"Whatever." Ruli snorted and he nodded at the Espeon as he offered the Lucario his tail to hold onto. Ruli took hold of the tail and the and both of them vanished from sight.

"So it'll be up to us to get to the island on our own huh?" Rook asked then as he folded his arms.

"Think you can take care of that?" Enzlo asked, making Rook raise an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"I saw your memories, I'm sure your power is all we need to get to the island."

Rook grinned and chuckled, "You saw huh? All right then. Let me see what I can do..."

Rook rolled his shoulders as he approached the shoreline and he kneeled down, his eyes glowing brightly as he placed his paws flat against the sand of the beach. Closing his eyes, the Lycanroc concentrated and flowed his control down into the ground.

Enzlo watched in interest, the Abra was able to feel the power deep inside his new companion as the earth around them began to shake.

As the seconds past by, Rook's expression became fierce and concentrated, his paws gripped into the sand while he growled out in effort. Slowly, the ocean in front of them began to shift as pillars of land rose from the depths. Several water types jumped along the water in worry about the rising land, shouting out at Rook and Enzlo, but the Lycanroc had his eyes closed by now and was so focused on his task that he didn't register anything they were saying. One after another of the flat topped spires rose from the water, a few feet away from each other, reaching out to the island two miles away.

After a few minutes Rook finally could do no more and he gasped as he released his hold on the energy and he fell back on the beach. He panted heavily as he laid sprawled out in the sand, the glow of his eyes dimming until it faded completely.

"Impressive..." Enzlo said, "Though I actually expected a full bridge instead of small spots of land."

"I don't have that much power." Rook grumbled as he slowly sat up. "I need a moment to recover now."

"That's fine. By the time we manage to get to the other end of your makeshift bridge, I suspect we'd have someone waiting for us even if we were to leave right now."

A moment of silence hung between the two of them before Rook finally asked, "So, what's the real reason you sent Ruli back? You and I both know how much of a danger Jack can be, why send a powerhouse like him back?"

"Believe it or not, while he may hold the power of a Mega, he is not apt in using it. I saw his memory of the day he fought and killed the invading humans. He was fueled by anger and desperation. Unless he found himself in a situation where his life was in danger, he wouldn't be able to harness his full strength. He has only had a few years to train his control."

"And you think I'd be any different?" Rook chuckled and shook his head, but the Abra instead nodded.

"Actually yes, like I said before, I've seen your memory too. You are actually stronger than Ruli. That showed enough when you sparred with him last night, even if it wasn't serious to you, he was legitimately trying to fight you off."

Rook shrugged, "He was also very tired."

"That's true, but even then, that bone spear should have done quite a bit of damage to you, yet you blocked it with just your fur and shuffered nothing." The Abra pointed out. "Besides that, you and I both have personal reasons to want to stop Jack. Ruli may know who he is, but he was alive 20,000 years after the events and does not know the depravity Jack will go to, unlike us."

This made the Lycanroc scoff a bit, his mind again wondering through his past, "And what would you know about the kind of depravity he would go through?"

"Well for one thing, given that he killed my clan and also killed my companion." The Abra stated with a matter of fact tone. "He took years of your life from you, and as you probably know, created you as the first mix of both midday and midnight forms."

"Yeah well now these days there's the dusk form I've heard of." Rook growled.

"Oh yes, something discovered just recently." The Abra said, "Which I've believed to be the result of his experiments with you as well. Perhaps they are your children."

This made Rook growl, "Don't talk about that. I refuse to think that. Whatever children I may have, I know none of them and never want to."

"Completely understandable." Enzlo agreed. "Also completely understandable that your sexuality has become adverse to females."

The Lycanroc's ears flicked, "What?"

"You didn't notice it?" Enzlo's voice was had a deep feeling of amusement. "You've lost all ability to become aroused to a female form."

"Because I never wanted it." Rook growled as he sat up.

"True enough, but you've also never held much interest in females to begin with."

Rook snarled, glaring at the small yellow psychic type next to him. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh? When was the last time you masturbated to the thoughts of a female?"

Rook paused, trying to go through his memory of his time on the island. Rook had mostly kept to himself, asides from some socializing with the island pokémon to assert himself there, he'd never had any physical relationship with them. But, precisely as Jack had wanted, Rook was raised to be a prime male Lycanroc, and as such his body eventually drove him to release in some form. When those needs reached their peak and he had to take care of it, he never had focused on the kinds of thoughts that came to mind over the haze of lust and need. But now that he tried...

Rook growled lowly, a deep color flushing on his cheeks as he stared at the Abra, who hummed but didn't say anything more. He snarled again and huffed as he pouted where he sat, buried in his thoughts as they rested.

__________________________

Half a day later, Rook was jumping from spire to spire while Enzlo floated through the air next to him. Rook panted lightly as he kept jumping, and he briefly looked over at Enzlo for maybe the hundredth time. They had stayed silent the entire time since starting to make their way across the water with the spires of land, but Enzlo had instead floated in the air while Rook had to jump.

He finally broke that silence as he growled, "Ya know, if you were just going to float, why can't you have done the same for me?"

"I'm not that strong. I could teleport us, but the barrier being held by the ghost type would prevent me from doing so."

"Is this gonna end up with me trying to do all the work?"

"Of course not." Enzlo retorted with a hint of annoyance, "You'll need my help either way."

"Well we're about to reach the shoreline, so we'll find out what may be waiting for us."

After a few more hours of jumping from spire to spire, Rook and Enzlo finally reached the other end of the makeshift bridge and Rook sighed as he finally touched down on the beachy sands.

Enzlo landed next to him and they started up at the cliffs in front of them. Most of the island was a cliff except for the west end, where there were piers and other beaches connected to the main city further inland.

"Doesn't look like anyone's here to greet us though. I guess our arrival went unnoticed?"

"Not entirely..." The Abra said as he seemed to focus a moment. "Things are still rather dampened due to the ghost type barrier, but I can sense that we've been expected."

"That's absolutely correct."

Before Rook and Enzlo, the very sand in front of them shifted and began to take shape, turning into a sandcastle like shape, two of the small 'windows' of the sandcastle had a small light inside them. The middle castle grew larger, a large gaping drawbridge like mouth opening up and then two more castles next to it grew like arms.

"Hello there..." It said softly, it's voice soft and neutral, Rook was unable to tell if it was male or female.

Enzlo was already floating in the air by this point and he snarled at Rook, "be careful, it's a Palossand...they can steal your life force."

"Not I." The sand pile pokémon said, "I was a human once, I have no idea how I would even go about taking your life force."

Enzlo slowly touched back down onto the ground, but Rook could feel him keeping a keen eye on the Palossand human as it sighed, "It's been pretty difficult. Everyone's been going crazy. No one knows what's really going on or where we are."

Rook narrowed his eyes slightly at the Palossand, "So you waited here for us to arrive and why did you decide to appear?"

"Well you seem to know what's going on, and anything I may be able to do to help you out I'm willing to do so. I don't want to stay like this if it's possible. We've been told nearly nothing but that "Everything is under control."

"By who?"

"The police, mostly, and some other scientists."

Rook and Enzlo both looked at each other at the mention of the scientists and Enzlo then continued, "There's a ghost type barrier over the island, do you know who's doing it?"

"Is that that feeling I have? I can feel something coming from deep underground..." The Palossand turned its fully body towards the cliffs.

"I thought so." Enzlo sighed, "Jack's behind the barrier, he's got whoever is creating the barrier in captivity or something."

"Who's Jack?" The Palossand asked.

"Don't worry about it." Rook answered, "Can you guide us through to the city?"

"Yeah sure..." The sand castle said slowly and it began to shuffle through the ground in front of the pair, leading them along the beach.

___________________

Rook and Enzlo had to leave the Palossand at the beach once it had led them to the main city. There were hundreds of pokémon here of varying species, walking back and forth along the streets. Several were wearing articles of human clothing, particularly over their waists and rears. This made it simple to tell who was a human turned pokémon or was a normal pokémon, as only the normal pokémon wore no clothing whatsoever while the humans seemed to be trying to retain that sense of decency.

However, there were far too few of them, Rook started to realize, and in his mind, he heard Enzlo speak to him.

"Remember what I told you, Jack had begun to kidnap and take wild pokémon and harvesting their life energy from them. This was only recently found out to these people and pokémon. Any pokémon that you see still here are ones that did not go through the portal Arceus made, probably because they remain loyal to their human trainers and families, but as you now know, they are all eventually taken and killed and go extinct..."

Rook nodded silently. "I'm very curious how Jack managed to follow them through the portal..."

"We'll find out, and send them back if we can, he can't be allowed to stay here and try to continue doing his experiments. If they somehow start overpowering the pokémon of this world Jack will start exterminating us once more for his power."

"Rook? Rook, is that you?" A new voice cut into their conversation, and the pair turned towards an approaching Roselia, its flowery hands lifted up in the air. It was much larger than a normal Roselia, and the pants it wore told Rook that it was a human that had recently transformed.

"I am Rook, yes." The Lycanroc answered aloud. "Who are you?"

"One of the scientists that used to work on...with you." The Roselia answered, causing both Rook and Enzlo to instantly stiffen. The grass type saw the reaction and waved their arms wildly.

"No please don't be alarmed! I'm not going to report you or anything!" He lowered his flowered arms. "To be honest...I haven't been able to even get into the lab since my hands have been turned into flowers..." He said sadly, looking at the red and blue colored roses at the end of his arms.

"Is that supposed to make me feel bad?" Rook growled, keeping his stern gaze on the human Roselia.

The human turned pokémon closed their eyes and grit their teeth. "No I suppose it shouldn't. Not after the things we did to you in that lab, and now that what Jacks really been doing has been revealed..." They started to shake in anger and rage.

Rook still found it hard to feel pity. "Yes, running experiments on pokémon held against their will wasn't bad enough to trigger your sense of morality, but killing them and pulling their very essence from their soul, that's what crosses the line for you."

The Roselia looked at Rook with wide eyes. The Lycanroc folded his arms while growling. "Now you can see the folly of your actions firsthand...or maybe first flower. There was no cooperation between us. You and your fellow scientists all spat on the trust between pokémon and humans that had been built for over thousands of years."

Enzlo touched the Lycanroc's shoulder, and Rook looked to the side to see the Abra looking at him sternly. Rook turned his head away with a snort while the Abra took over his conversation.

"We're both well aware of the kinds of things that Jack is willing to do for his own greed for power..." Enzlo said softly.

"If you are here to try and stop him, and to send us back home...Anything I can do to help you I shall do." The Roselia insisted, a pleading look in his eyes. "I'll give you my key and access to the lab so you can confront him!"

"Do you know about the ghost barrier currently surrounding this island?" Enzlo asked.

The Roselia nodded. "Yes. Even though I'm unable to open the entrance to the lab, I'm kept mostly in the loop on what's going on. There is a ghost pokémon that they are using amplifiers on to increase the power of the ghost pokémon to protect themselves."

"What type of pokémon is it?"

At this the grass type shook their head. "Not even they have a clue, it's not one we've seen before they thought it was native to this world. It was found rather quickly from what I heard though, was right inside the labs before this world started to transform us into pokémon as well."

"Inside the labs..." Enzlo hummed thoughtfully. "All right, give us your keycard and we'll take care of the rest."

"It's in my pants." The Roselia shook his legs. "With these flower hands I haven't been able to-" He cut himself off as the blue keycard wiggled its way out from his back pocket and then floated through the air to Enzlo, who took hold of it with his paw, his eyes stopping a soft blue glow as he had taken the tag.

"Thank you." Enzlo said as he fingered the card around in his hand. "I'll make sure that when this is all over, those of you who are deemed good enough won't come to any harm."

________________

A few dozen minutes later, Rook and Enzlo were standing before one of the largest buildings that the city had. A large logo was printed on the front of the building, and recently, it appeared to have been vandalized. A few windows were broken and there was graffiti covering the building now, tagging the scientists within with rather obscene words and images.

"Seems they've already felt the public's displeasure at Jack's methods." Rook growled.

"This city came from a world that has only just recently been through Arceus' time of rising." Enzlo said. "I read from the mind of Ruli that the islands had vanished shortly after the portal closed without a trace, never to be seen again. It was deemed a final act of Arceus at the time. An act of vengeance upon the humans on the island who turned their back on the ancient pacts between pokémon and human..." The Abra fell silent a moment.

Rook watched his companion, the calculating look on the small yellow psychic types face made him curious. "What's up?"

"I just have a bad feeling..." Enzlo sighed softly as he started to walk up towards the building and Rook kept step beside him. "It's obvious now it wasn't an act of Arceus. He wouldn't have punished the innocent humans, as angry as he was at Jack and his scientists. Jack somehow followed the gate to this world and I'm sure he has some kind of plan in mind to continue his work."

"Whatever they have in store we'll put a stop to." Rook growled and held one paw in his own, clenching it tightly while grinning.

Enzlo nodded and he reached up to the door as they approached it and the glass doors slid open. Instantly, there was a whirring noise as several mechanical turrets on the ceiling locked onto them both and opened fire.

Rook's instincts reacted for him, and his fur tightened up to its defensive form and he lifted his arm to shield his eyes. He expected the bullets to bounce from his steel like defense, but lowered his arm as he realized what was happening instead.

Beside him, Enzlo had floated up from the ground slightly with his eyes glowing a bright blue and bullets were freezing in midair. They fell to the ground after freezing in midair, creating a loud clacking noise that accompanied the gunfire of the turrets. After several seconds, the turrets suddenly stopped with a low hissing noise, the barrels smoking.

"Rook!" A cool and sly sounding voice spoke through the intercom, and on the large TV across the lobby by a pair of elevators an image sparked to life. The static cleared, showing a blue furred Weavile grinning snidely. He was much larger than a normal Weavile, and the lab coat and pins he wore on his chest made it obvious to Rook and Enzlo.

"Jack..." Rook growled lowly, lips curling and the Weavile clipped his large claws together delightfully.

"Oh good. After all these years you remember me." The human turned pokémon held his sly grin. His gaze turned towards the Abra through the screen as Rook walked into the building with Enzlo floating in the air beside him. Enzlo's eyes were still glowing brightly as the approached the monitor. "Hmm, but who are you...?"

"Part of the reason you're now stuck in a world other than your own." Enzlo replied evenly.

Jack's grin faded a bit while his eyes narrowed, and then the grin returned as he clicked his claws once more. "You're the Abra that belonged to that boy..."

"That's right..." Enzlo now growled lowly himself.

"A terrible incident that day was." Jack shook his head. "Nearly had all my research destroyed and my only prime specimen released by a traitor."

"Lilian..." Rook whispered softly to himself, but apparently Jack could hear even the softest noise through the monitor.

"That's right." Jack sneered while tapping the side of his head with one claw, holding the elbow of his arm with his other paw as he stood there looking confident. "I'm sure you'd be interested to know what became of her, eh Rook?"

The Lycanroc bared his teeth and he took hold of the monitor. It was too long for him to grasp on both sides, but it didn't stop him from shaking it so hard that it became disconnected from the wall as he shouted. "I swear to Arceus if you had hurt her I'll kill you!"

"Oh poor boy." Jack chuckled. "How can you swear to something that no longer exists?"

"Jack..." Rook snarled. "The wraith of Arceus will be nothing like what I'll do to you..."

"Hmm, I'll just leave you guessing about it then." The picture on the TV went dark as Jack chuckled lowly again. "Good luck."

Rook howled in rage and he threw the entire TV at the other wall. It smashed into three different pieces, sparking momentarily. The Lycanroc panted and huffed in anger, his eyes glowing a bright purple, when he felt the soft touch on his shoulder.

In his heightened sense, he whirled around quickly at the touch, but it was just Enzlo, who was staring up at him gently. "Easy...calm yourself. You let him get to you that much and we'll play right into his hands and end up captured."

Rook's body rose and fell with his heavy breathing, but he nodded and slowly managed to calm his breathing. Enzlo produced the card once more and tilted his head towards the elevators. "I don't think he knows we have this, so let's pay him a visit directly instead."

Enzlo floated up next to the closest Elevator and slid the card through the card reader. It beeped twice and showed a green light, as the door slid open to the small space inside the elevator.

Rook stared down a moment at the red carpeting of the elevator. The last time he himself had seen this carpeting had been, to him, twenty years earlier, having just then been fitted with the collar and brought to the labs to be injected with serums that unlocked his true potential.

And now, he was returning to that blasted place of his own free will to end the tyranny. Rook stepped onto the carpet after Enzlo, and he pushed the only button offered to him on the panel. The doors slid shut and slowly, the pair of them descended down into the earth of the island.

A few minutes later, the elevator dinged as it arrived to its destination, about half a mile down under the ocean. Rook's hackles raised as his fur again tightened all around his body, ready for anything that might be waiting on the other side of the door, but as it opened he was given an unfamiliar site.

Rook had only seen the elevator once before, very early in his time in the lab, but the reception area before him was the the same he remembered from that time.

The large area was white and pristine and empty. Eznlo hummed as they stepped out from the elevator, the door closing behind them both. "This place has changed..."

Another TV on the wall that hung over the receptionist desk flickered on. Jack was once again on the screen, tapping his head with a claw once more and a stern look on his face.

"I don't recall inviting you into the lab. Whoever gave you their access card will pay dearly..."

"We're both going to stop you from doing whatever you have planned Jack." Rook snarled. "You won't be harming this world."

Jack sighed. "I have little intention of "harming" this world. In fact, I know little to nothing about the state of it. I've only been able to pick up bits and pieces about the state of this world from our radars, and listening into the conversations all those Espeon are having."

Jack lowered his claw and waved his arm dismissively. "Since you both decide to involve yourself, let's play a game. I'll ask a question, and as long as you seem to answer it truthfully, I'll answer a question back."

Both the Lycanroc and Abra scowled at the monitor as they stepped closer. Rook crossed his arms and he snarled. "Truthfully as well?"

Jack grinned. "To the best of my ability my old friend." The Weavile then tapped a moment at his other monitors off screen from the pair. "I've been listening into what I can of the conversations the pokémon are having at that coast town and from what I gather...there's been lots of things that have happened recently..."

Jack was amazingly dexterous at using his new, large claws to type along the keyboard in front of him. "So, first question is this: How long has passed in this world since the Gate of Arceus?"

Enzlo answered readily. "20,000 years."

Jack paused, but his claws quickly resumed typing. "20,000...amazing..."

"Our turn." Enzlo quickly continued. "Who is the ghost type that you currently have powering the barrier?"

Jack sneered and he tapped a few buttons on his keyboard, the monitor Rook and Enzlo were looking at switched to a new view, showing a small room with a machine. It had a single cylindrical capsule, in which four robotic arms were holding a small, gray blob up in the air by its arms and legs. The pokémon was clearly unconscious, and a white helmet was covering the top of its head, pulses of purple energy flowing up the hose connecting it to the rest of the machine.

"He's a recent find. Found him sleeping in our lab actually when we arrived here. We're honestly not sure what he is, but he's very powerful. He hasn't woken up once." Jack answered, and the screen switched back to him as he continued. "My turn then. Who is Ruli? I've heard his name so often he seems of great importance."

"Ruli is Mega Lucario." Enzlo answered readily once more.

Jack's confident grin faded quickly, but returned as he chuckled. "Nice try. That can't be true. The Mega lost their power after Arceus closed the gate and faded away."

"Mega Lucario was one of the Mega that went through the gate." Enzlo shrugged. "Just because they lost their power in the human world, doesn't mean they lost it here."

The Weavile slammed his claws against an empty part of his console, teeth bared in a grimace. "Don't lie to me!" Rook had to grin a bit at seeing Jack lose his cool a bit. "If there were other Mega in this world they'd be there too! Ruli appears to be the only one! What is he?!"

"It's our turn to ask a question." Enzlo stated, the amusement in his voice was very obvious.

Jack heard it too and he stood back away from the monitor and took a moment to compose himself. "Very well..."

"What is your intention? You raised a barrier, if not to prevent those you don't want here then for what reason are you trying to protect yourself from the mainland?"

"That's technically two questions but I suppose they both point to the same answer." Jack shrugged and shook his head. "And to be entirely honest, I have no intention. It is true I came here by following the energy left by the Gate, but as for what I am here to do; what could I do? I'm obviously heavily outnumbered and disliked, even by the very people that inhabit this city now. So that's why there's the barrier right now and why I'm hiding down here in my lab. Also, I have no idea what the nature of this world is; after being turned into a pokémon myself after all, and based on the centuries that have passed as you told me, I have little hope in being able to return to my own world and time."

The Weavile again took that pose, holding his elbow with one large claw while tapping the side of his face with the other. "I really have no plan on what to do. I'm lost and confused and just trying to gather more information."

Rook growled. So far he'd been letting Enzlo handle the "game" but now he barked out. "That's an outright lie! Someone like you wouldn't have tried to follow into this world without the intention of trying to capture more pokémon and continue your sick experiments and research."

Jack grinned. "I'd normally say you're right. I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to prove it to you though either way, you'll just have to take my words for what they are."

A gentle brush of Enzlo's tail across his side stopped Rook from continuing to argue. "Your turn." The Abra answered.

"What are the Mirrors of Fate?"

"They're-" Enzlo suddenly cut off and after a short moment of silence continued. "I can't answer that, actually..."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "And why would that be?"

Rook also looked over at the Abra in confusion. Mirrors of Fate? It was something he hadn't heard of up till now.

Enzlo sighed. "Because I don't even know what those are myself. I haven't been in this world much longer than you myself Jack. Any info I have is because of what I've gleaned from the minds of its inhabitants. The Mirrors of Fate, as far as the normal pokémon is concerned, are objects that can show you your future. There are seven of them in this world. That is all I know of them. The leaders of this world know more...but they've locked that knowledge behind so many different mind barriers that it's impossible to know..."

Even in the short amount of time Rook had been with Enzlo, he could tell the psychic type was lying. Jack, however, seemed to take his words as the truth. "Very well then. Your turn, and then I think we'll be done here."

"Will you allow us into the room with the ghost type?" Enzlo asked.

"Depends on what you plan to do. I won't allow my barrier to be taken down, so my initial response will have to be no."

Rook growled. "You can let us in there or I'll bust ourselves in there myself."

Jack chuckled merrily at the threat. "And I honestly have no way of stopping you, so I might as well let you in there myself to avoid unnecessary damage to my lab." He began to tab several buttons on his console, and a door across the room to Rook and Enzlo's right opened up. "Follow the hallway down, you'll find the room soon enough."

_________________

Rook growled in his throat as he opened a door into yet another empty room, just a desk and computer inside it with a single, blank TV above the doorway like most of the others.

"This is nonsense. He's leading us into a trap."

"We're close enough that I could sense his surface thoughts." Enzlo said softly. "He's not lying, at least not totally."

"Sorry if I refuse to accept that just based on surface thoughts." Rook snarled while making air quotes with his claws for the last two words.

The Lycanroc started down the hallway again to the next door, and then thought out to the Abra so that if Jack was listening to them he couldn't hear. "Why did you lie to him anyway? You know what the Mirrors are, I can tell from that hesitation you made. What are they really?"

Enzlo's voice responded to him in his head as they checked yet another door to find a completely empty room. "The Mirrors are what keep the barrier between this world and the human world active. They are the very essence of Arceus himself, when he had sacrificed himself he split himself in seven pieces which became the Mirrors. What I said of them is true though, they do show pokémon the future."

A few more doors of empty rooms with nothing in them or just a desk and computer, and Rook understood. "I see...Jack seems to be without any kind of plan...and telling him that the Mirrors themselves were the barrier he'd stop at nothing to see them destroyed."

"Yes, keeping that knowledge from him is the most important thing we can do right now. I had almost let it slip, but thankfully T-I stopped myself."

Rook looked down at the Abra walking beside him, but he didn't try to point out the brief skip his friend had just done as they opened one more door.

"Finally." Rook said aloud, as they were finally greeted to the sight of the large capsule machine.

Enzlo and Rook entered the small room. It was a little larger than the office rooms in order to house the machine holding the small gray shape up in the air. The two of them came up close to it and stared up at the pokémon caught inside it, arms and legs splayed out by the robotic arms. This close to the ghost charging the barrier covering the entire island, Enzlo seemed smothered to Rook, his breathing slow as he tried to keep himself steady.

But it soon became apparent that there was a different reason for the Abra's behaviour, as the small yellow pokémon's breathing slowly became more laboured, and a dark and husky voice breathed out from above them. "Tod...is that you?"

"Tod..." The ghost whispered into both of their heads, the voice was weak and Rook could hear the struggle in it, as he looked back up at the ghost in the machine, it's yellow eyes now slightly open and looking down upon them both. "Please...help me..."