Hard...cold...is this....the floor?

Am I still alive?...What happened...

Psyche-Locks...Dylan...

Mira's eyes shot open. Wait...shouldn't I be dead?...but...that sound....

Mira struggled to get up, but Mark and Ryan helped her. Julia was still in shock, completely confused about what happened. Dylan....was turned away, with his back facing Mira.

"Dylan?" she said quietly.

"...That was a cruel trick..."

"What happened?..."

There was a long pause.

Dylan sighed. "Okay, is your Magatama still glowing?"

Mira pulled it out from under her shirt, and found that it was still glowing the bright vibrant red that it was a couple of minutes ago.

"Yes, it is."

"That's because the Magatama now has a bind on my soul...that can only be broken if I complete the contract."

"Is the contract the truth?" Mira said a bit louder.

"...yes."

"But I thought that I was going to..." she was cut off in mid-sentence.

"No, you didn't. You were right on the borderline...you were gambling your soul for the truth...I knew what you had planned when you kept pushing, and then when you reached the limit...Well, I had no choice but to give in. Otherwise, you wouldn't exactly be here right now."

"Okay, but why did you have to give in? Isn't your secret more important?"

There was another uneasy period of silence.

Dylan turned his body a bit more, facing it slightly closer towards Mira. He still was not looking at her, though.

"A being, neither Pokemon nor human, is going to attempt disturbing the fragile balance between human and Pokemon. He shall try to fuse the two races together, harness the gods, and destroy the fabrics of space and time. The only being who can stop him is a Flareon hybrid who goes by the name of Mira Ketchum."

Mira's mouth dropped open.

"The prophecy..." said Dylan, now glancing at her from over his shoulder. She could notice the corner of his subtle grin. "That's your name there, is it not? What's the point of destroying the world's only hope when I just have to release a tiny secret?"

"So...you're going to tell me your secret?"

"Well...I'd rather not. It's simply for your protection, but seeing as how you want to know it so badly...I'm going to have to. The Magatama has a hold on my soul right now. The only reason why I haven't told you yet is because I like stalling for time."

"So...are you going to tell me now?" Mira questioned.

"...Do I need to? Why not later...in a couple of days or so?"

"No, right now. Here. At this moment."

"How about we play a guessing game?"

"That's what we were doing when you still had Psyche-Locks, but you didn't like it then. You know what? QUIT STALLING FOR TIME!"

"Fine!..." Dylan started smiling again.

He knelt down to the ground. "I want Dewdrop to smell the back of my hand."

The Espeon was hesitant and glanced up at her sister, but she simply nodded. As Dewdrop approached, Dylan put one hand on top of the other, and only lifted one up just enough for Dewdrop to get a good sniff.

"W-What!?" Dewdrop stepped backwards in haste and ended up tripping over her feet. "Augh...stupid..."

"What was it?" asked Mira impatiently, "What did you smell?"

"This," replied Dylan, as he lifted his hand, revealing a patch of pinkish-purple fur. "You should all be familiar with this type of fur by now; especially you, Mira, and your Espeon. After all, she's covered with it."

"HOLD IT!" yelled Mira. "YOU'RE AN ES-" Next thing she knew, Dylan's hand was covering her mouth.

"I thought that you were good at hiding these type of secrets. No way that you're going to keep any by shouting them out to the world. Anyways, yes...I'm an Espeon-hybrid."

Dylan took his hand away from Mira, who immediately said "You better answer my questions."

"We'll see..."

"Were you the person in the dream?"

"Yes."

"Did you give me the card?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Remember, in that dimension? Our aura was connected. Psychic energy pretty much consists of aura, so it was a simple process to send that over to you."

"What's that uneasy tension that I always feel when around you?"

"My eyes. I thought that I hide it pretty well...maybe it's just because you're a Flareon-morph...it seems to work on normal humans. Anyways, that's me looking into your mind."

"WAIT! You mean you can use attacks in human form!?"

"Yeah, can't you?"

"I never tried..." Mira mumbled.

"You probably can. I guess that I could help you with that later. Shouldn't be too difficult to learn. Anyways, that's also how I know so much about you."

"But..why can't Dewdrop read your mind?"

Dylan smiled. "I doubt that you would know this, but Psychic-types find it extremely difficult to read the minds of other Psychic-types. Doing so requires a calm state of mind and complete focus. Your sister simply didn't know that I was a Pokemon hybrid to begin with, so she completely overlooked that."

"Anyways, I kind of understand that you are an Espeon-hybrid, but that's what you are, not who you are..."

Mira waited for a response.

Dylan just smiled back.

"So..." she began.

"What?"

"You know what I want to know."

Dylan, tilted his head a bit. "Yeah, of course I do... but do you really expect me to answer that question?"

"Yes, at least the Magatama does."

"Not really. The Magatama only applies on people who know the answer to whatever question you may be asking. As for who I am... I'm not even sure if I know myself."

"Wait..." Mira frowned. "You have amnesia?"

Dylan smile began to fade away a bit. "Of course not; that's ridiculous. I mean that it's rather cumbersome to answer. Who I am? Well, how does one describe himself? Let's just keep it at this: When I was around your age, I planned on being a Pokemon trainer. Slight change of plans, and I found my calling in science."

"Science? What type of science?"

Soon, Dylan's smile was returning. "Well, I had to study a wide variety of areas for my research, but my specialties are in technology and aura. I've done quite a bit of biology as well, but mainly aura. I sort-of call myself an aura specialist."

"Aura?"

"As much as I'd like to explain aura to you, I can't. It would take days, and your ears would probably be bleeding by then." He let out a short chuckle. "I'm pretty much the only aura specialist around. It's a new area. No companies are interested in developing it at the moment, but it's an amazing resource. It can be used as a power energy source. Not many scientists can study it."

"Why not?"

"Studying aura requires some advanced machinery. Otherwise, you'd need a psychic-type Pokemon, or a Lucario. Lucarios are experts and controlling aura, but all psychic-types are in some way tuned in with it. Oh and before you ask, yes, that is why I can study aura. I do all of my research as an Espeon. I spend my free time as an Espeon as well, eat as one, and use a small cushion as a mattress."

"Wait..." Mira interrupted.

"A question? I'm more lenient with my answers when it is in regards to my work."

"Were you originally a human, or an Espeon?"

"Human. Most hybrids are. A few started off as Pokemon. You're a rare exception. About me, though, I prefer being an Espeon. Pokemon have so much potential. It's just that humans have more opportunities."

"Why hasn't anyone else gone into aura as well, if it's so amazing?"

"Because I'm the only one who knows this much about it."

"What about that 'advanced machinery' stuff?"

Dylan sort of glanced away for a moment. "That?... Well, I... How should I say this... Designed it."

"So in other words, you designed machines that you don't really need because you're an Espeon and can see aura."

Dylan's smile quickly disappeared. "Where did you get that idea about seeing aura?"

"Can't you? Lucarios can, right? I think I remember reading that."

"Well, Lucario is known as the 'Aura Pokemon' for a reason. Not all Pokemon can see aura."

"Well... can you?"

Dylan looked away again. "There's a lot I can do, and much more that I can't... Yes, I can see aura. It's very useful for observations, along with a few measuring devices. I'll explain how I learned to some other time, and about my machines... I do use them... a lot. Here's a good example..." Dylan started to lift up his left sleeve, revealing a strange looking device.

Mira took a peek at it, and Dylan looked over towards Mark. "Hey, you can see as well, Mr. I'm going to stay at the back of the room and listen the entire time."

Mark grinned as he walked over. "Well, I prefer just to listen. I'll see your machine, though."

It sort of looked liked one of those Poketechs from Shinnoh crossed with a Johto region Pokegear. It was of course larger, but it did not look too bulky nor that heavy.

"This," began Dylan, "is my computer. One of the strongest in existence. Many features. I use it for all of my research. It has a special battery powered by aura, and a projector for the screen that I can completely control by touching the projection. Now, though, we need to move on." Dylan pulled the sleeve back over his device, and started another longwinded speech.

"Wait," said Mira.

"Yes?"

"How come you had to keep all of these secrets from me?"

Dylan turned back towards Mira. "I'm sorry, but the less you know the better. It was simply for your own protection, but seeing how you want to drag yourself into all of this... We have some work to do now."

"What do you mean?"

"The Sevii Sword was the first mission. It's basically just a weapon...a really good weapon. It channels Aura really well, and I'd love to research it, but... It has some other purposes, along with two jewels."

"Jewels?"

"A diamond and a pearl. They are located in different shrines, and I know which ones. We'll begin with the diamond as soon as we are ready. I need all three of these artefacts for the last shrine, though. I need you to get ready. Reaching the last shrine is the only chance we have of beating the enemy."

Mira and Mark nodded, but something was on Mira's mind...

"Dylan? No more secrets, right?"

She suddenly felt a tiny bit lighter, and saw her Magatama in Dylan's hand.

"What!? How did you?..."

Dylan was frowning. "Basic teleportation. You're a risk to this operation. I'm confiscating this until further notice," he said, slipping it into one of his pockets. "You're question?"

Mira was frustrated, but this could be her last chance at a straight answer. "Why is Shadow such a problem? Can't we just kill him or something? He's mortal, right? If one person couldn't beat him, why not try a larger group against him? Is he really the one in the prophecy?"

Dylan was now looking away again. "I honestly don't know who is described in the prophecy, but I am certain that Shadow won't be easy to rid of. We need to reach the last shrine and obtain the three artifacts. Shadow, believe it or not, is a major threat... Your friend is waking up. You should go talk to him."

I found my unfinished draft of this in my computer, and I decided to finish it. I know that it's not one of my best chapters. It's pretty longwinded and dull with just dialogue. However, it was mainly intended just for informative purposes; it sort of explains what has been happening and what is going to happen. In other words, yes, basically what is going to be happening is the search for two jewels and then a trip to a temple of sorts.

I need to find out whether people still want to read this story. I have been receiving some alerts, but most of those were from quite a while ago. There's a poll on my profile; please answer the question. If it seems that people are still interested in this story, I will update eventually. Not in the near future, but with time; just like this chapter.