- Blessed by Divinity -

Familiar Faces

Following my victory over Calem, the awards ceremony took place. The whole stadium was sure to congratulate me in my win, and Calem on his second placed finish. Even the region's champion, Diantha, was there to award the trophy to me and my pokemon. My friends each had their own individual wide grins on their faces, empathising with how hard the two of us had worked to get to where we were.

However, I knew that I couldn't stat put for long. Everyone wanted to go out as a group in order to commemorate my victory. To their dismay, I had to decline. My only excuse was that I had to deal with something personal which wasn't too far from the truth. I did pledge to them that we would celebrate my victory when I returned, emphasising when, not if.

With that, I departed from Lumiose City, atop Dragonite's back. With great speed, the orange dragon navigated the air, arriving at Geosenge Town within an hour of departure.

As she landed, I couldn't see anything out of place, everything appeared ordinary. Nothing looked majorly different to the first time I had come to the town.

Dragonite insisted on remaining out of her pokeball, to which I was happy to abide by. More eyes meant it would be easier to see something. At that, I decided to release all of my pokemon, whose health had been restored following the battle with Calem. Right now, I could use all the help I could get.

The sun had now fully set, most of the residents had cleared off the main streets. From what I could see, only my pokemon and I were around, searching the town for a sign of anything.

After what felt like hours, something caught the corner of my eye, causing me to turn and face it. At first, I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me, but after a moment of clarification, I was able to confirm that I had indeed caught sight of a Team Flare member.

He was dressed in all black, but the orange face mask is what gave him away. He turned his face to me, stopping for a moment. He must have realised that he had been spotted because the man immediately began to turn tail and run away.

Instinctively, my pokemon and I followed the masked man, who had ran toward a large white stone rock, out of the way of the town. Something seemed suspicious and Arcanine's keen sense of smell indicated that this was not an ordinary rock.

I stepped forward, investigating the unnatural structure. After a minute of looking around, two automatic doors split apart, revealing an elevator. The masked man from earlier was nowhere to be found, so it was only logical that he must have disappeared down the shaft.

Everyone bar Sceptile returned to their pokeballs, unable to fit in the elevator. There was only one button to press, causing the metal box to descend into the darkness below.

---

As we stepped out from the elevator, the surrounding area was unusually quiet. There weren't any guards around but Sceptile and I would still have to be on lookout. This time, I couldn't rely on the covert expertise of the Blaziken Mask. Right now, I only had my wits and pokemon about me.

For the next twenty minutes, Sceptile and I searched the underground base, but to no avail. There were only a few guards but they seemed too oblivious to investigate anything. Following the quick search, we came across a room that appeared to function as a jail cell. Only two of the cells were occupied and I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew who was being held prisoner.

The first cell I looked into held an unusually tall man prisoner. His nine foot stature meant that he had to crouch to avoid hitting his head on the low hanging roof. As I neared the iron bars, the man turned to face me, a nervous smile on his face.