Sorry, i was hoping I would have updated earlier thasn this. Let's just say I'm lazy and leave it at that. And now, with out further ado, Fallacy!

Chapter 3

So many thoughts flooded May's mind. So many emotions threatened to dominate her. She wanted to cry. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to run and hide until it was over.

"Oh."

Aurelia tried to hold Max, but he stepped away. He ran up the stairs and they heard the door slam shut. Drew regarded the girls for a moment.

"He's fine," May said.

He couldn't be sure who she was talking about, but Drew still nodded. Aurelia began to pack the notes away. May frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm packing up. Max is going to want to be alone for a bit. There's no point in trying to finish this."

Footsteps ran across the floor above them. Max came charging down the stairs, his yellow bag flung over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" May cried.

Max paused at the door. His entire was body was shaking. "I'm going to the desert. I'm getting Dad back."

"Max, you're crazy!

He spun around. "May, no one has ever came out of the tower! There was a legend and facts to back it up and they still went in! We may never see Dad again."

"If you go, I may never see you again!" May cried.

Aurelia walked over to him and grabbed his arm. "Think, Max: The tower has gone. So even if you rush over there now, you won't be able to do anything!"

"I can try!"

"No Max, you can't. The tower changes location. There's always a time lapse between sightings . . . Think like a scientist!"

A few moments passed. Neither of the two said anything. There was nothing to say. Now was the time for thinking. Finally, Max nodded.

"You're right. Of course you are . . . you're always right."

Drew stood up. "It's late. We should go to bed."

Max nodded and climbed the stairs once more, followed by Aurelia, who still had the pokémon census. Drew turned to May. Before he had even opened his mouth, she had stood up and smiled.

"I'm fine . . . but can I use your phone?"

Drew nodded and followed the others up the stairs, while May sighed and picked up the phone. It rang for a while.

"Hello?"

May gulped and took a shaky breath. "Mom, it's May. I . . . Something has happened."

Dawn eventually broke and the tones of purple and red gave way to azure skies. May had lay in the queen-sized bed and watched the transition. She knew she had slept some, but was not sure how much. Her mother was hysterical when she told her what had happened. She'd asked questions -- questions May could not answer. What would happen now? Was there any way to make connect with them? She sighed and turned over in her bed. It was a feminine room, probably reserved for the lady of the manor in some distant past.

She sat up. She couldn't lie there anymore. The more she lay, the more she thought, and the more her thoughts threatened to consume her. She dressed herself in her blue blouse and jeans, and plastered on her trade-mark smile. She bounded out the room and down the stairs, to find the others the boys sitting in the grand living room.

"Morning, boys," she said.

Max looked at her, but didn't seem to see her. He merely nodded and returned to ripping the blank paper.

Drew smiled at her. "Morning, May."

"Well, you're cheerful."

Drew shrugged. "I'm a morning person."

Then, Aurelia appeared in her usual blue hoodie and jeans. She looked as though she hadn't slept at all. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Drew, do you have any coffee?" she asked.

Max looked up, this time focusing slightly on her. "You don't like coffee."

She yawned. "I know. But I was up all night reading the census. I didn't make any notes, but" --she yawned widely and continued-- "I'll make notes later. Now we can give Edna back the documents."

Max went back to shredding. "Your photographic memory is freaky."

"Shut it. So, where's the coffee?"

As soon as Aurelia had drunk her coffee, the group headed out to the library. Max walked ahead of them with Aurelia only inches behind him. This gave May and Drew time to talk. Drew wasn't sure what to say.

May sighed and gave him a sad smile. "Be an arrogant jerk to me again."

"I love you, too."

May laughed. "I'm serious. I don't want you treating me any differently just because my dad . . . because he isn't here right now."

Drew nodded. "OK. And as an arrogant jerk, I'd just like to say that I think your hair is expanding."

May gasped and put her hands over her hair. She glared at him; he smirked, marking an agreement. They eventually caught up with the younger teens and they entered the library. Today they were the only ones there. Edna looked up and smiled.

"Good morning, children. Have you finished with the census?" she asked.

Drew nodded. "Edna, the tower disappeared last night."

Edna's face dropped. "Oh. I . . . I see. Poor Billy . . . is he--?"

"He's still in there," Aurelia said.

"Ah . . . what can I do for you?"

Now Max spoke. "We're going to need an enlarged copy of a map of the desert, and any records of documented sightings of the tower. Where would we find them?"

Edna nodded solemnly. "You should check the legends section"--she pointed to her left--"on the third floor, that way. And it may be a good idea to check the history section"--she indicated her right--"on the second floor. I'm afraid I can only let you take out ten books each. It's Library policy."

Drew nodded. "That's fine; thanks."

"I'll see what I can pull up for you. It's going to be dead in here anyway today."

"Thank you," Max said.

Edna disappeared in to the back room once again. Aurelia turned to the others. "Max and I should probably take the history section. No offence, but we have more of a clue of what to look for."

"I'm not arguing against that," May said.

The pairs split and headed for their designated sections.

In the legends section, May gazed up the mountainous bookcases. She frowned. "How are we meant to reach the top books?"

"Well May, many people have this problem too. So they invented an amazing contraption! And do you know what they called it? A ladder," Drew said, smirking at her.

She scowled. "I know that! But there isn't one, so we can't."

Drew shook his head and pointed to something behind her. May turned and saw a ladder on wheels. She blushed. "Oh . . . bite me!"

Drew smirked and pulled the ladder to the book case. It hit the top with a soft thud. He turned to her. "Can I trust you to hold this steady?"

"I don't know . . . you look heavy."

"It's all muscle."

May winked. "And burgers."

"Actually, it's fries."

Drew began to climb the ladders. May gripped the ladder tightly, terrified that it would slip. "Hey, what am I looking for?" he called down.

"You're looking for books about the Mirage Tower or anything that might mention it. You see, this is why we weren't trusted in the big boy section."

Drew laughed. He grabbed a few books and slid down the ladder. He gave the books to May and turned to climb back up the ladder. Then he sighed. "May . . . do you ever pay attention to what's in front of you?"

"Huh?"

Drew indicated the spot in front of where May had been standing. There were at least twelve different books about the Mirage Tower, plus one encyclopaedia of Hoenn myths and legends. May blushed and smiled sheepishly at him. "Well . . . at least we got the ones from the top too!"

Elsewhere in the history section, the researchers seemed to be faring better. After all, this was their domain.

"This looks interesting," Aurelia remarked. "It's the history of the desert. It's bound to mention something about the disappearances or the tower."

Max nodded and picked up another book.

Aurelia sighed. "Max, I'm not sure what I should be saying. AM I supposed to be distracting you or comforting you? What should I tell you?"

"Just keep looking."

Aurelia grabbed the ladder and leant it against the book case. "Could you go up? I hate these ladder things. Remember that book case at Professor Rowan's lab?"

Max laughed a little. "How could I forget that book case? You dropped its entire top shelf on my foot."

He climbed the ladder to the very top. He wasn't as tall as Drew, so he had to keep climbing until he was nearly on the very top step. He grabbed five books, and was about to climb back down when he spotted something on top of the book case. He tried to reach up, but he wasn't quite tall enough.

"Aurelia, are you taller than me?" he asked.

Aurelia laughed. "Not since I was fifteen. Why?"

"I can't reach this book on top."

He climbed another step. Now he was balanced on the very top. Aurelia gasped. "Max! It's too dangerous. Just come down."

He grabbed the book with his free hand. "It may have something that will help."

"Be careful!"

Max laughed. "I'm the careful one."

He placed the book on top of the pile and began the slow descent to Aurelia. She released the breath she wasn't aware she was holding. "That's it for here. Let's go find the other two."

"That is, if they're not making out in some secluded corner."

Aurelia smiled. "Drew reminds me of Austen's Mr. Darcy."

"You mean a stuck-up, arrogant pretty-boy? I agree."

"First impressions are erroneous."

Max sighed. "We haven't got time for comparing notes on my sister's love life. We need to get going."

Aurelia sighed and followed him. He almost had his spark back. Aurelia had never lost someone like Max had; she had no idea no idea how to console him or distract him. She resolved to simply following orders.

Together, they walked down the marble staircase and stood once again in the main foyer. Soon, May and Drew joined them.

"Did you find much?" Aurelia asked.

May laughed and gestured towards the twenty books that Drew was carrying. "We found quite a lot, actually."

Edna reappeared, carrying four enlarged copies of the desert. "Here you go. I hope you find them."

"We do too."

Back at Drew's, the research had already begun. Max was pouring over the encyclopaedia whilst Aurelia was conducting various calculations. Drew had decided to cook, a talent that had surprised May to no end. May merely observed her brother as he skimmed through the index.

She had always known her brother was smarter than her. It was obvious to anyone who met them. But that had never really mattered before -- his intelligence had never been a vital part in anything they did.

"May could you pass over those drawing pins please?" Aurelia asked.

Aurelia seemed to understand him in a way May couldn't. Aurelia understood his needs and catered to them the best she could. Aurelia was perhaps a better sister to Max than May ever was. Maybe she was even something more.

May passed her the red pins. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm calculating an approximate place and time the Mirage Tower will appear next time. I'm seeing a correlation with the places. I just need to see if this works."She placed a final pin "Yes! I know where the Mirage Tower will appear!"

Drew wandered back in to the living room. Max looked up. "How do you know?" he asked.

Aurelia smiled. "We're honestly just lucky that we're at the end of a cycle and that I am good at geometry."

"OK, but how?" Max asked.

"Look at this." Aurelia pointed one of the map copies. "The location of the Mirage Tower's next appearance is determined by the fact that the cycle follows the pattern of an equilateral triangle. Take the first four documented sighting for example. The tower appeared here, then nine hundred feet away, then nine hundred feet away from that and then back to where it started. Then it started the cycle again somewhere else."

May looked down at the map. What Aurelia had just said made no sense to her, but the pattern was clear on the map. There were definite sets of triangles on the map.

Drew nodded. "OK, so where is the tower appearing next?"

"Well, like I said we're coming to the end of the cycle. So this time the Mirage Tower will appear . . . here."

She placed a yellow pin on top of a red one. Max looked at her in awe. "You're amazing."

Aurelia giggled. "And it only took you six years to work it out."

"When will it appear?" May asked.

"Well . . . this is an estimate, but I'd say we have six weeks. I need to conduct the proper calculations, but I think there is a correlation between the rise in regional temperature and the increased sightings of the Mirage Tower. I have no evidence at the moment, but the hypothesis seems probable."

Max smiled at her. "You've been promoted. You're a miracle worker."

"Thanks. Does that come with a pay rise?"

Drew interjected. "So what do we do until then?"

"What do you mean 'we'?" May asked.

"I mean us. What, did you think I'd just send you guys away?" he asked.

"Well . . . yeah," May admitted.

Drew shook his head. "You don't get rid of me that easily."

"We should get prepared. Research all we can on the tower and train our pokémon against whatever we're going to face," Max said.

He ran up the stairs to fetch a charger for the laptop. Drew returned to the kitchen. May turned around to face Aurelia.

"Aurelia . . . can I ask you something?"

Aurelia nodded. "Of course you can."

"What are the chances . . . that he'll be in the tower when it reappears?"

Aurelia removed her glasses. "I . . . I don't know. Statistically speaking . . . it doesn't look good."

Thanks for reading. Constructive criticism is welcome, as always.