May 20

Raina

Location: Above the outskirts of Ilex Forest near Ecruteak City

Date: May 20

One year has passed after Owen and I became the Patrons of Ho-Oh and Lugia. We're both thirteen now, and we have more control of our powers. Owen can control his fire to be harmless, lukewarm, or burning. I guess his practice of keeping a fire burning for the whole night for some months really paid off. I, on the other hand, can make water cold or scalding, and can make anything out of water. I can also manipulate air. Like all of the other Patrons, we went to the meetings on each solstice and equinox as always. We got to meet Brendan again, who told us he was the Patron of Groudon, and Red, who's the Patron of Mewtwo. Now, Owen and I are going to Ecruteak City to go to a festival dedicated to Owen's Legendary, Ho-Oh. I just hope that nothing goes wrong at the festival.

I closed my journal shut, putting it back into my bag. I turned around, only for Owen to yell, "Tropius, land!" His Pokemon started diving down so fast that I thought we were going to hit the ground. I yelped, hugging Owen for dear life and for Arceus herself knows how long I was holding Owen for until...

"Uh, Raina? You can open your eyes now."

"Eh?" My crimson orbs slowly opened up to notice four things. One: Tropius landed safely on the ground. Two: Owen and I are in one piece. Three: I was hugging Owen of all people. Four: Owen was giving me a strange look. Wait. Since when did I ever care about getting strange looks from my best friend? I shook that thought away.

If Lady Creation wanted to make things even worse, Owen smirked at me. "You can stop hugging me unless you still want to, Rain. I've been told I'm huggable." I blushed, getting off. "Sh-shut up, you idiot! It's not my fault that Tropius nearly scared me half to death!!" I snapped. That wild brunette of my best friend merely laughed. "I'm only messing with you. Now, let's get going to the festival!"

-X-

Location: Ecruteak City

After ten minutes of walking, we reached Ecruteak City. And let me tell you, it was colorful. There were stalls selling all sorts of things as people walked by. Men and boys around Owen and I's age bought or won gifts from some stalls to give to women or girls in brightly colored kimonos as young children in yukatas chased each other, their laughs like tinkling bells.

"It's so...lively here," I said. "Everyone's enjoying it in their own way." Owen looked at me and grinned. "You ready to enjoy it too?" I smiled. "I thought you'd never ask, Owen."

And so we did. We played games we never played before, ate food we've never eaten before, and looked at things we've never seen before. We made sure to act normal to ordinary people so they wouldn't suspect anything suspicious from us. We spent an hour with each other until we decided to split up since Owen wanted to see something . While he went there, I decided to continue playing games and looking around the festival.

-X-

Owen and I should've never split up.

After playing games for an hour, I decided to grab something to eat. I was just finished buying some food and walking around until I saw a man with long purple hair wearing a Cacturne Suit and talking to one of the stall owners.

I know that this would've been a normal sight for me to see if I was still a regular person. But, now I am a Patron and that guy has a bad aura coming from him. I hid behind a stall close to the one he was at, eavesdropping in on the conversation. "I'm looking for two kids," Cacturne Man told the stall owner. "A boy and a girl. Have you seen them?" The stall owner shrugged. "It depends. What do they look like?"

"The boy's a brunette with blue eyes and the girl's a raven with red eyes," Cacturne Man replied. "They're both thirteen years old." The stall owner shook his head. "Sorry, didn't see them." I froze. This man was after me and Owen. I quickly turned around to run away, only to find my best friend next to me. "Owen?!" I whisper-yelled at him.

"Shhhhh!" He lowered his head. "I heard everything too. Don't worry." "Then what in Lady Creation are we supposed to do?!" I hissed. Owen looked at me seriously. "I have a plan, but it's a bit risky. You in?" I nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this." My brunette friend grinned at me. "Alright, so this is how it'll go..."

-X-

"...understand?" Owen said. I nodded. "I do. You really sure this will work?" My best friend smiled. "It will. You can bet your bottom dollar that this will work." And with that, Owen disappeared in a flash of fire, a pile of smoke and ashes appearing from where he once was."

I took a deep breath and ran out of my hiding spot, a few feet behind the man. I sighed. Welp, here we go. "Hey, Cacturne Man! Looking for me?" The man turned around to see me waving my hand, smirking. He sneered. "You certainly have the guts to come here, sweetheart."

I stuck my tongue out. "But you can't catch me!" I ran as fast as I could, Leaving a trail of mist where I once was. I didn't look back. Owen told me that the guy would follow me.

I ran until I found an alleyway. I hid inside, my back against the wall, breathing heavily. I looked outside to see if the man was there. But he wasn't outside. And then, an unfortunately familiar voice spoke into my ear.

"You've made a mistake challenging me, Patron of Lugia."

My eyes widened as I tried to run, but I got clawed in the back and then thrown against the wall. I collapsed, falling limply to the ground like a rag doll. Luckily , I was still conscious.

For now.

I looked at the man, whose hand was a Shadow Claw now. I got up, stumbling a little. "Who are you?" My voice came out no louder than a whisper.

The man sneered. "Aren't that cocky anymore, are we? Though, to answer your question, the name's Harley. More about who I am...I don't really think I should disclose that piece of information, should I? Although, you do know who I am, don't you?"

Now I knew why his aura was sort of like mine. I tapped into my power, getting into my stance, as knives of air started to appear in my hands. "You're a Patron too, aren't you?" I growled at him.

Harley applauded slowly and sarcastically. "You're quite smarter than the others, girl," He gave me a psychopathic-like smile. "I could've used a Patron like you and that boy. Too bad you two will be gone so soon. There's always the chance to step down. But..." Tendrils of darkness overlapped his arms. "If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" He formed a Shadow Ball as he ran towards me.

I ran to the right, trying to dodge or deflect Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball until one almost grazed me badly on the neck. I cursed under my breath as I joined my two knives together to make a double-edged sword-like baton to deflect every single attack until I was backed up against the wall. I tried to run, but I couldn't move. I was frozen in fear. Something about this guy's aura was pushing me off the edge.

Harley slowly walked towards me. "Where did all of that bravery go? Guess it was only foolhardiness, eh?" He had me cornered now, his hand a purplish-black claw this time. Harley started to run towards me, aiming his Shadow Claw at my eyes. "Any final words before you die, Patron of Lugia?"

Just then, I noticed a familiar pair of blue eyes behind him. I gave him a smirk. "Word of advice: Even if you can sense other people, it doesn't really hurt to look behind you sometimes." Harley blinked. "What kind of—" An arm covered with fire smacked him in the head as a certain brunette I was waiting for grabbed my hand and we started to run really fast. "About time you came." I complained.

Owen turned his head towards me and smiled. "Sorry, Rain. I got stuck while taking care of my part of the plan." I noticed three fresh claw-like scars on his cheek and a series of cuts on his arm like the claw marks on my back. "What in Arceus happened to you?!"

My best friend lowered his head, barely dodging a Dark Pulse. "You're not the only one who got beaten up," He then raised an eyebrow at me. "And shouldn't I be asking you that?" I gave him a sour laugh. "You're the one who gets hurt most of the time, Owen." The Patron of Ho-Oh sighed. "True."

We made it back to the festival. I looked back. Great. Harley's still behind us. Owen grinned. "Ready to whistle?" I smiled back. "I thought you'd never ask." I brought my fingers to my lips as I let out an ear-piercing supersonic whistle. (My whistles became supersonic after I became Lugia's Patron).

Right after I whistled, a crowd of people came in front of Harley, with cake, festival food, balloons, party hats, presents, sparklers, confetti poppers, and much more as they started to sing "Happy Birthday" to a very confused Harley.

"He'll be occupied for now." Owen said. I was shocked. "How long did it take for you to plan this?" My best friend grinned. "Only 5 minutes," We looked behind us to see the Ilex Forest. We ran into it and climbed up a tree to hide in its branches. "I wonder what we wanted from us." Owen said. I looked at my hand. "Yeah." Today was a really close call. I was almost killed. A white orb of air appeared in my hand before I curled it up into a fist. I have to get stronger.

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That was a really close call. Let's hope they're safe.

Next Chapter: Raina and Owen managed to escape from Harley thanks to Owen's prank/trap, but Owen notices something different about Raina. Did this attack cause her to lose herself?

By the way y'all, don't expect fast updates. My online classes have started. Oh, the horror! But don't worry. This book will continue until the Quadrilogy ends!

OrigamiLantern11, lights out!