Chapter 1 – An ordinary Wednesday

It was a cold but beautiful winter's day in Dendemille Town. Heavy snowflakes were falling gently, landing smoothly on the ground. Freya took a sip of her coffee while looking out the window, sighing slightly. Here she was, sitting inside with towers of books piled everywhere around her, laptop on the table, and a once again empty coffee kettle. She stretched, got up from her chair and went into the kitchen to make herself some more. Caffeine was her main source of energy at the moment, in an effort to keep her awake and alert as many hours of the day as possible.

Freya was a researcher, and an expert in the field of folklore. Currently, she was analyzing a huge material consisting of people's tales about Groudon and Kyogre, which she had been collecting during a few years' time. This meant she now spent most of her time indoors, with books and papers scattered all over, and drinking coffee – lots of it.

Returning with her coffee and a sandwich, she grabbed the nearest transcription of an interview numbered 183 and started reading through it. "Ancient beings…", "Primal reversion…", "The Red and the Blue Orbs…", "The paintings in Granite Cave suggest that…" the list went on and on. Freya closed the folder and froze, realization hitting her. This was the interview she had done with him. She opened it again and read it again, more thoroughly this time. Suddenly, it felt like yesterday…

~Flashback~

"Could you tell me about the paintings in Granite Cave?" Freya asked, trying to hide her nervousness. The handsome man across the table flashed a breathtaking smile, leaning forward.

"Of course, it's a most interesting place. The paintings of Granite Cave suggest that…" She was happy she was recording everything, for she had a hard time concentrating on his words, Butterfrees flapping around in her stomach. She found herself back from her distracted thoughts as she noticed he had stopped talking, taking a sip of his pitch black coffee.

"Fascinating indeed, Mr. Stone." Freya heard herself saying, trying to regain composure, hoping he hadn't noticed anything. "You have talked about both Primal Reversion and Mega Evolution, would you tell more on the subject?"

"Ah, yes, of course. Nothing can be said for certain, but it seems that Primal Reversion…" He was talking, and she tried her best to listen to him. Damn his soft voice and his stone grey eyes…

~End of flashback~

Freya landed back in reality, putting down the transcribed print of the interview. She sipped her coffee, forgetting her sandwich, and tried focusing on the nearest book instead: Eternal Draught and Never Ending Rain. The Paradox of Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. Determined to immerse herself in research, she temporarily turned off her laptop and went to sit on the couch instead, just to keep her thoughts as fresh as possible. Her faithful companion, Jerome the Swinub, was sleeping peacefully beside her, and she tried distracting herself further by petting him. It was no use. She had already thought of him, and was now unable to think about anything else. Damn that handsome man!

~Steven~

Steven Stone headed for Dendemille Town, worn out after two long weeks of looking for the Timespace Orbs that were supposed to be located in Terminus Cave. He hadn't found a single one of them, yet he had found a bunch of other rare stones. Therefore, his bag was now holding a dusk stone, a heat rock, a damp rock, a float stone, and even a moon stone, amongst other things. Steven wasn't too pleased that he hadn't been able to locate the orbs, but he needed aid if he was ever going to find them. Therefore, he thought it would only be refreshing to visit Dendemille Town and explore Frost Cavern for the time being. If he was lucky, he would even find a guide to aid him locate the Timespace Orbs in Terminus Cave, if they even were there in the first place.

The small town of Dendemille looked peaceful and quiet on the beautiful winter's day. Steven decided to stay at the local inn, so he went there to get settled down for the time being, not knowing exactly for how long he would stay. He dropped off his things and headed out for a stroll. Evening was near, and Frost Cavern could wait till tomorrow.

Taking out a PokéBall, Steven called out his Aron, named Ferro, to accompany him. The tiny, sturdy Pokémon skipped happily beside him down the streets, stopping every now and then to examine whatever it found curious. Steven smiled to himself. That was one pleased little fellow.

~Freya~

"Nuuub…" Freya returned to reality as Jerome stirred beside her, nudging her slightly with his nose.

"You hungry, little one?" she asked, petting him.

"Swii… nuub…"

Freya glanced at her watch and gasped. When she finally had managed to distract herself from thinking about Steven, she had completely lost track of time.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry, Jerome! It's dinner time for the both of us."

"Nub!" Freya couldn't help but giggle at the ball of fur beside her. She stood up from the couch, stretched, and headed for the kitchen with Jerome tailing behind her. Moments later, he was munching happily on a bowl of PokéPuffs. Freya threw some noodles and spices in a bowl and poured hot water over them. A while later, she was munching on her food as well, pondering on what to do next.

"I should probably just take a shower and try reading some more on the great myths of Hoenn… And tomorrow I should start planning my next research already… Time is flying! I'm not even done with the manuscript for my current book… but the Pokémon Folklore Association wants the research plans a year in advance and I will be done with this by then…" She sighed, thinking hard. "Maybe I should do co-op research the next time, having only myself and Jerome to talk with is driving me nuts…"

"Shweii?" Freya giggled again as the Swinub looked up with a questioning look, mouth full of food.

"I couldn't ask for better company, though." She smiled. "But I would like to partner up with someone for my next research, I've done three in a row on my own and it's driving me to the edge of insanity having no one to actively share ideas with. Besides, I have no idea what to do next… I need to figure that out too…" She sighed, slowly chewing on her noodles. Indeed, she needed to figure that out soon.

~Steven~

Steven sat down on a bench, admiring the scenery before him. Across the bridge was a magnificent winter landscape in the last rays of the sun, the white snow shimmering like gold. Ferro was jumping around in the snow, enjoying himself to the fullest.

Steven took out a notebook from his pocket and started flicking through the pages. He found it soothing to sometimes look at old notes and relive the moments they had been written down. This particular notebook was full of scribbles concerning Groudon, Kyogre, Team Magma, Team Aqua, Rayquaza, Deoxys… He had started writing in this one during the whole mess, and the first notes were about the paintings in Granite Cave.

Steven suddenly froze. These notes really did bring back memories…

~Flashback~

"Could you tell me about the paintings in Granite Cave?" the young woman asked, looking up from her notes and meeting his gaze. Steven smiled at her. He could tell her just about everything on the subject, which he found highly interesting.

"Of course, it's a most interesting place. The paintings of Granite Cave suggest that…" he started, telling her everything that came to mind about the curious artwork. She was listening, and her recorder would help her later on in remembering it all. That is, she appeared to be listening, but deep down Steven had a feeling something was distracting her. This was further on confirmed when he stopped talking and took a sip of his pitch black coffee – she looked lost in thought for a while before regaining composure.

"Fascinating indeed, Mr. Stone." She said with a smile, looking down on her notes again. "You have talked about both Primal Reversion and Mega Evolution, would you tell more on the subjects?" Steven felt delighted; he could talk about these things all day.

"Ah, yes, of course. Nothing can be said for certain, but it seems that Primal Reversion…"

~End of flashback~

Back in the present, Steven thought about the woman. Freya. She had been on his mind occasionally, mostly because he felt that she had gotten to know a lot about him, but he didn't know much at all about her. For some reason he couldn't quite explain, that felt a bit unfair to him; even though it was clear from the start that she was the one interviewing him and not the other way around.

Another thought suddenly struck him, one of the few things he actually knew about her: she lived in the Kalos region. Steven was certain, and he was quite sure it was somewhere here in the northern parts. As a folklorist, she surely had knowledge on the Timespace Orbs in Terminus Cave. Could she by any chance live somewhere around these parts?

Baffled by his own train of thoughts, he put the notebook back into his pocket and stood up.

"Let's go, Ferro." The tiny Pokémon immediately came skipping through the snow towards him, energetic like a Zigzagoon. "Let's get back to the inn and have something to eat before bedtime." The Aron, already fantasizing about PokéPuffs, cried happily and skipped alongside Steven back towards the inn.

Freya, Freya… what was her last name? How was he going to find her? Surely someone had to recognize the name Freya; it wasn't that common after all. Plus, from what Steven knew, she was quite a famous researcher in the Kalos region. It really couldn't be that hard. Determined, he went back to the inn for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, he would try to find her.