Before any action can be taken, a pact must be made in blood...


Chapter 15
I Can’t Tell You

Avery and Kasi looked at each other, reading what they wanted each other to say. They turned back to face Dante.
“Just tell us what you need.” Avery said.
“I will, but you need to do something for us, first.” Dante’s face remained in a serious state as he slowly stood up out of his chair. “As I mentioned before, the Balancers are a secretive order. We take our anonymity very seriously, hence we don’t go around actively advertising our existence to the world. We work from the shadows, unseen and unheard. Bringing the three of you here, helping you and telling you of our existence… It was necessary, but it places us at great risk on us as well.”
Avery started to feel uneasy as Dante continued. “In the early days of our organization, we had a lot of trouble with rampant members unable to keep our society under wraps. Due to that, we had no choice but to wipe their memories and cast them out, along with inputting and enforcing a strict code of conduct between members old and new, as well as lost castaways such as yourselves. Therefore, we cannot proceed any further with anything else until both of you undergo the Writ of Silence and swear to uphold the Balancers’ secrecy and anonymity.”
“What…?” Avery felt the anger rise in him. “Are you serious?! Takuya’s in a coma with only machines keeping him alive, and you-“
“Avery.” Kasi spoke flatly, taking his arm as he stopped his rant. “We have no choice in the matter. If Takuya is ever going to recover and be well again, we will need their help.”
Avery sighed, calming down. “…All right. We will undergo your Writ of Silence. Just promise us you will do everything in your power to help Takuya.”
Dante gave a warm smile. “I know this is difficult for you, with everything that has happened.” His said, words sincere. “This is a troubling and desperate time for all of you, and I don’t need my psychic abilities to see that. You have our word, that once you both have undergone the Writ of Silence, that we will do everything in our power to heal Takuya.” Dante then got out a rolled-up parcel from a drawer his desk, pain visible in his eyes. “I must give you a word of caution: The Writ of Silence isn’t like a simple promise. It is an oath sealed by blood, as to remind everyone who undergoes it the serious nature of our anonymity.” He set the parcel down on the desk, and slowly unrolled it.
Within the parcel was a large ritual dagger, the blade big enough for three hands to fit around it, bold silver in color. Along with the dagger were several other items: A preserved lotus, its petals colored a vibrant blue, along with a decorative saucer plate, marked with a set of painted scales and a small, very thin book. He then glanced over at Trisha. “Trisha, dim the lights please.”
Trisha went over to a dial on the wall and turned it to the left. The electric lamps on the desk, along with the sconces on the walls. The lights died down drastically, as darkness swallowed most of the room.
“Come forward and let us begin.” Dante said.
Avery and Kasi were afraid but tempered their fear with courage. They both walked up to the desk, as Trisha and Mary walking up, standing at their flanks.
Dante picked up the dagger slowly and carefully in one hand, as he lifted the saucer and lotus with his psychic powers. He set the saucer down right below his hand holding the dagger, the lotus settling down on top of it.
Dante then levitated the book with his psychic abilities, opening it to one of its very few pages, turning the dagger in his hand so the blade was facing down at the saucer. “Avery and Kasi, do you swear on your honor and memories, by the blood that flows through your veins and hearts, the very essence that gives your lives and souls a medium, to uphold the secret existence and anonymity of the Balancers? To keep our names and faces hidden from the light of the people, and only refer to us as brothers and sisters if you have to speak of us? To keep our collected knowledge and history from falling into the hands of those who would abuse it for their own selfish desire, as well as our enemies? By any and all means necessary?”
Avery and Kasi stared into Dante’s eyes with determination. “We swear. On our honor and memories, by the blood that flows through our veins and hearts, the very essence that gives our lives and souls a medium.”
Dante gave a relieved smile, knowing the words behind their oath were adamant. “Very well. Take one of your hands and grip the blade of the dagger with as much force as you can exert.”
Avery and Kasi grasped a section of the dagger’s blade with one of their hands. Then, with a sigh, they squeezed their hands around the blade tightly. Kasi let out a small wince of pain as Avery clenched his teeth with a hiss, the blade cutting into their flesh. Blood began to run down from their hands to the tip of the blade, dripping onto the pedals of the lotus and pooling into a circle in the center of the saucer.
An energy then started to spread from the lotus, as it slowly began to burn! Dante’s eyes began to glow blue again. He wasn’t alone, either. Trisha’s eyes glowed an electric green, even Mary’s eyes glowed blue and red from behind her sunglasses! They all then spoke the final words of the Writ, all of them in sync.
“By the blood of these lost castaways, we recognize their honor, their wills binding them and their word to the secret existence of the Balancers, as we seal this Writ with their blood. Let it burn with the pedals of this sacred lotus, as a reminder to their sworn silence…”
The lotus then erupted into a torrent of fire, burning like a torch, it’s flames barely out of reach of the dagger’s blade. The Writ had been sealed.
# # # # # #
Orre Region - Pokemon Lab HQ
Tyler finally lost his patience as he smacked the side of the laptop he was using. “Dammit, I lost the signal again!” He shouted in frustration.
“Take it one step at a time, Tyler.” Ash said, trying to keep Tyler’s tensions from boiling over. Now they were working with the local militia, as well as the people in the region’s Pokemon Lab with assistance from Professor Krane. They were currently trying to track down Avery, Takuya, and Kasi. Professor Oak, not wanting to take any risks with their safety, had planted tracking microchips in Kasi, Takuya, and Avery’s arms when they first arrived at his Lab in Kanto as a fallback measure after he was first told about Team Midnight. They ran off the thermal energy generated by their bodies and could be detected by the world’s GPS satellite network.
Unfortunately, the trackers weren’t working as expected. The computers kept losing the GPS signal from the trackers before they could pinpoint their locations. It was as if something was constantly scrambling the frequencies they were giving off! Tyler, Ash, and several of Professor Krane’s techies, along with his own son Michael had been trying everything they could think of to work through the interference for hours on end, having recalibrated the equipment several times over.
“We have to get this to work!” Tyler growled. “I’m not just going to leave them hanging in limbo, wherever they are! I feel responsible for all this…”
“Tyler, stay calm.” Misty said. “No one blames you for this.”
At that moment, the phone for the lab started ringing. Professor Krane, exhausted from the last few hours of this ordeal, picked up the phone as he activated the view monitor on his desk.
“Orre region Pokemon Lab, this is Professor Krane speaking?” He said with mental fatigue in his voice.
“Professor Krane, this is Avery.” The screen switched on, revealing Avery’s face. “I need you to put me on conference mode so I can talk to Tyler and Ash.”
Professor Krane’s heart shot up into his throat! “Tyler! Ash! Professor Oak!” He hollered, getting their attention. “It’s them! They’re on the phone!”
Ash and Tyler bolted over to the phone, joined shortly by Professor Oak. Tyler snatched the handset out of Krane’s hands as he put the call on speakerphone. “Avery! Thank goodness, are you alright?! Where are you?!”
“Tyler, you need to shut down the GPS tracking equipment you are using.” Avery commanded.
Ash looked like he was going to blow a gasket. “Have you gone nuts?! We need that to find you!”
“Ash, Tyler, you both need to trust me.” Avery said. “I’m unharmed, all of us are alright. But I can’t tell you where I am right now, and if you don’t turn off the trackers you will only place us in danger...”
Tyler’s face expressed clear confusion. “Why?! What’s going on, here Avery?”
“All you need to know right now, is that Takuya, Kasi, and me are safe… Among brothers and sisters.” Avery’s answer rang with comforting reassurance, along with ambiguity. “That’s all I can say to you. Now please, shut down the trackers.”
Tyler gritted his teeth, frustrated with all the cloak and dagger. “Michael… Terminate the GPS location sequence and shut down the program.”
Michael turned to Tyler, shocked. “What?! But we can’t just…”
“Michael, just do it!” Tyler snapped. “I’m not going to put them in any more danger!”
Michael got the message. He terminated the sequence and shut the program down.
“Thank you, Tyler.” Avery said.
“I still need to make sure you are okay.” Tyler insisted. “If you can’t tell me where you are right now, is there somewhere we could meet?”
“Yes.” Avery answered. “Meet me and Kasi, along with our brothers and sisters at the Outskirt Sands gas stop at noon tomorrow with Professor Oak. We will be alright, trust me.”
The screen went blank, and the call went dead after that.