It was nearly time for the shaymin's flower festival. The Shaymin Village in Sky Peak was a buzz with activity, shaymin running across the grassy village in a chaotic mess. Team Aura watched the chaotic actions of the tiny hedgehogs with various emotions to the activities that was going on. Axle, a riolu, had his arms crossed and was leaning on one of the huts with one leg, looking at them with confusion, while his partner, and eevee named Eon, looked like she wanted to help, but didn't know how to ask.

Eventually, their team member that brought them there came running around close to the two of them, allowing Eon to finally talk to him.

"Uhh, Shaymin?" Eon asked. "I know you said you're here for the Flower Festival, but what exactly is going on around here? Why all the…running around?"

"It's a festival, Eon," Axle said. "They're probably working on setting it up."

"Yes and no Axle," Eon said. "The shaymin's Flower Festival is where they all gather into a Gracidea field somewhere and spread its pollen to another fertile field. It's how they spread their flowers across the world."

"Yeah, the festival part comes afterwards," Shaymin said in a hurried voice. "Right now we gotta make sure everyone's here and accounted for. This is the one time where we get a large number of shaymin gathering together. So we like to get an idea of how many shaymin are living around here so those that are going can take that count to everyone else. We like to use this to figure out how many of us are in the world."

"How many shaymin are there?" Eon asked. "I mean, you guys are the first Mythical Pokémon I've seen multiple of."

"There's not a lot of us," Shaymin admitted. "We are Mythical Pokémon after all. We're also not born like most Pokémon either. But I guess we do have a lot more than most Pokémon think we do. There are around a hundred of us, give or take, mostly take. Can't tell you the exact number until after the festival."

"Now if you'll excuse me," Shaymin said before flying off.

"I'm still confused," Axle said as he watched the deer-like grass-type fly off.

"I know a bit more thanks to what Shaymin told me," Eon said. "If I understood him right, basically there are two type of shaymin in the world. There are the ones who live in small communities like this and the more nomadic shaymin who walk around the world. No matter who's who though, they all have an instinct that leads them to the Flower Festival. And I…guess if what Shaymin said is right, they also take this time to figure out their population."

"And they're having this much trouble?" Axle asked. "I haven't seen more than…around 20 shaymin living in this village. How hard could it be to figure out where everyone is?"

"We're not sure where three shaymin are," a passing land-forme shaymin said. "Those three are really young too. Nobody's seen them at all since last night."

"Anyone check Sky Peak?" Eon asked.

"Drifblim and Shroomish haven't seen anything," the grass-type answered, "but we're still sending a couple of flyers to check out Sky Peak just in case. Now if you'll excuse me." The shamyin quickly ran off.

"I imagine it's not easy to find a Pokémon that can be easily mistaken for a bed of flowers," Axle said to no one in particular. "Then again, it's also difficult to tell these shaymin apart when they only have two different forms and they all use the same name."

"I'm sure they have some way of differentiating each other," Eon said. "Most Pokémon do have subtle ways of telling each other apart. Unfortunately, I don't know what that is for shaymin. I wish I did so I could help, but…"

Axle thought about it for a couple of minutes. "…There is one way. Can you get the villagers to calm down? Tell them to try and bring us any personal objects the three missing shaymin have."

Eon's eyes widened. "Your Dimensional Scream! Of course. I can't believe I didn't think of that."

Eon stepped forward and waited a couple of seconds for the shaymin to be in a good position to hear her, and for their teammate Shaymin to be within hearing distance, before Eon yelled out to all the grass-types. "Hey, you guys!" All the shaymin in hearing range looked in Eon's direction at the sound of her voice. More confidently, Eon said, "We might have a way to find the three missing kids! If any of you can bring any objects belonging to those three and give them to my partner, that might help!"

All the shaymin who were listening looked at each other with confused glances. A few of them even chatted amongst themselves, though it was soft enough that neither Axle nor Eon could make out what they were saying. They had a good guess of the subject matter of the conversations made, though, and they all pointed towards doubt. Luckily Shaymin realized exactly what his partners were saying, so he landed on the ground in front of the crowd and spoke to them.

"My friends aren't lying," the grass/flying-type said. "That riolu over there has a special ability that lets him see either the past of the future related to an object that he touches. I know it sounds unbelievable (trust me, I didn't believe it at first either), but it's actually true."

The shaymin all looked at each other before five of them went in three different directions towards their houses. After a couple of minutes, those five shaymin finally returned with small bags. Those shaymin, three of them in Land Forme, two in Sky Forme, all came up to Axle and Eon with their bags. The Sky/Land Forme couple gave Axle and Eon a small red/pink pedal-patterned blanket, the two Land Forme shaymin gave Axle a bouquet of flowers, and finally the single Sky Forme shaymin gave them a small orb.

"Make sure to be careful with that," the shy shaymin who gave the orb said. "That's a Grassy Orb my son got from the previous elder of the village. He normally never lets it leave his side."

"I only need to touch them," Axle assured them.

Axle placed his right paw on the orb first. While feeling the smooth cold glass on his furred skin, Axle closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He waited for when the headaches would start, preparing himself not to reject it but to let it through as smoothly as possible. He waited one breath, two breaths, three, until the familiar feeling of his head splitting open as something forced itself in came to him.

Alright, here it comes, Axle thought, his right arm instinctively moving from the orb to his forehead. The Dimensional Scream.

Axle's vision was in the middle of the night, so it was just about as dark as it was with his eyes closed. He could tell his vision took him to the middle of the field, but it was too dark to get any context to where the field was. Also as a consequence, Axle noticed two figures just outside of where he could see, but the two were drowned in shadows, so Axle couldn't even figure out what species they were. At least he was able to listen to the two talk.

"How long until she gets here?" the one asked in a gruff voice. "Come on already! Dawn's breaking soon!"

"Patience," the other voice said.

"Do you want a village of angry Mythical Pokémon coming after us?!" the first voice asked. "Once someone notices we kidnaped those kids we'll have those guys swarming at us in no time!"

"Quiet," the second voice said without changing his pitch at all.

"What is she doing anyways? Climbing that dang mountain?"

"My business is my business," a third voice, this one feminine, said. The two shadowy figures looked back to another figure that Axle couldn't even see from where he was. "Aren't you two supposed to be doing something right now? Like taking those kids to our hideout? You don't have to wait for me."

"Are you sure these three will lead us to the treasure that the shaymin are guarding?" the first voice asked. "These three are really young. Don't you think they might be too young?"

"Let me worry about the details," the third voice said. "You two worry about getting out of here. And be gentle with those kids!"

Consciousness returned to Axle as his vision ended. When Axle did regain consciousness and opened his eyes, he noticed that he was kneeling on the ground with his left paw on the ground and his right paw on his forehead. He also felt something touching his back, which he turned back to look at. From his gaze he saw Eon there, placing her right paw on his back.

"You suddenly fell to the ground during your vison," Eon said as an explanation. "Are you ok, Axle?"

"Y-yeah," Axle said as he stood up. When he did, Eon finally placed her paw off him. Axle looked around at all the shaymin, making sure they were listening to him before speaking. "We've got a problem."

"Great," Shaymin groaned, rolling his eyes. "This sounds fun. What'd you see?"

Axle crossed his arms. "I'm not completely sure of the details but…I know for sure they've been kidnapped."

Various shouts of "kidnapped!" ran throughout the crowd along with several other panicked conversations. Eon and Shaymin were the only ones not panicking, Eon trying in vain to stop the crowd from panicking while Shaymin looked at Axle with a concerned look, trying to get information. The riolu wasn't able to explain though, due to all the noise.

"Alright everyone, calm down!" Shaymin called out as he noticed Axle's frustration. "Let's listen to what Axle has to say! Come on you guys!"

Shaymin's voice calmed down most of the residents and those that were looked at Axle. Eon and Axle both breathed a sigh of relief that the noise from the village was lessened. With that out of the way, Axle took another gazing sweep of the villagers before continuing with what he had to say.

"It was too dark to really see anything, but there were three outlaws that did it," Axle said. "I could see the outlines of two of them but nothing distinct. Couldn't tell you what Pokémon they were. They were both male though. As for the third, she was a girl, but I know nothing beyond that."

"So we're looking for an outlaw team of two guys and a girl," Shaymin mused. "Ah, so many jokes to make, so little time. Let's see…so, who do you think are dating and who do you think's the third wheel?"

"I think we've got better things to worry about," Eon said.

"Yeah, you're right," Shaymin said, to the slight surprise of both Axle and Eon. "Anything else you got from your vision?"

"Uhh…" Axle took a moment to recover before he said, "I don't really get exactly what they said, but…is there some treasure that you guys are guarding? Something outside of Sky Peak? Because that's apparently what they're after. And they think kidnapping those kids will help them."

"Are you sure?" Shaymin asked. "I don't remember any treasures we're guarding outside of Sky Peak. Maybe the nomadic shaymin, but not us here. And I doubt a couple of kids would know any better than us."

"That's what they said," Axle confirmed. "I don't know what they meant, but that's what they said."

"Hmm…" Shaymin thought. He looked at the rest of the villagers who were looking at each other with confused looks as well.

"Maybe the village elder might know," Eon suggested.

"Hmm…old Hedge?" Shaymin asked. He immediately got dirty looks from the rest of the villagers, prompting him to quickly say, "I mean, Elder Shaymin?"

Axle looked at Shaymin inquiringly, but Eon answered before the grass/flying-type. "He probably uses his species name as a form of formality for his level of authority, thereby making it rude to refer to him by a more familiar name," she exposited. "Especially to outsiders like ourselves."

"Yeah, pretty much," Shaymin said. "Even though I knew the Elder from way back before he was an Elder."

Axle crossed his arms and grunted. "Do we really have time to worry about something like this?" he asked. "We want to find him as soon as possible, right?"

Shaymin chuckled. "Leave it to Axle to do something like this. I get your point though." He looked back at all the villagers. "Anyone know where old Elder Hedge is?"

"I'll go get him," one shaymin, the one looking the least offended right now, offered.

"As for the rest of you, try and find anything you can," Eon said. "Any clues or evidence you can find that will point us to the kidnapers would be helpful."

The rest of the shaymin looked begrudging to leave it like that, especially the parents of the kids that were kidnapped, but they all eventually dispersed with the idea that they could find some sort of clue to help. Eventually, it was only Axle, Eon, and Shaymin, waiting there for when the elder would come. It took a few minutes of waiting for them, but eventually a Land Forme shaymin came running and stopped right in front of the team.

"T-team Aura," the shaymin gasped out.

"Old Hedge," Shaymin said. "You hear what's happening."

"You…know…you…should…" Elder Hedge tried to gasp out to Shaymin, but had to stop mid-sentence to catch his breath.

"I apologize for saying this, but we don't have time for formalities," Axle said while the Elder was catching his breath. "In case you haven't noticed, there's serious trouble going around."

"Three…kids…kidnapped. Looking…for…treasure," Elder Hedge said, getting to the point.

"Yeah," Shaymin said with a nod. "Take a breath and if you know anything, please tell us. If we can figure out where they're heading, we might be able to capture them or get them to lead us to the kids."

Elder Hedge took a deep breath before he started talking. "There's an old story that's become a children's Fairy Tale as of late. Do you remember? The story of Clover the Adventurer?"

"…That old story?" Shaymin asked. "Yeah I…sorta remember it. Me and Sk…" Shaymin stopped for a moment, eyes widening in a shocked sadness. Axle and Eon both gave him a confused glance at his sudden silence.

Eventually Shaymin shook his head, snapping him out of his trance. "Sorry about that," he said. "Anyways, the story of Clover the Adventurer was something me and my friends talked about all the time when we were kids. Problem is, that was back when we were kids. Honestly, it's been years since I've heard the story and I can hardly remember it."

"I'm sorry, Clover the Adventurer?" Eon asked. "Who are we talking about?"

"Clover the Adventurer was a nomadic shaymin who went on adventures," Shaymin explained. "Kinda what the name implies. It's just one of those old adventurer tales that they tell kids. Eon, I'm sure you probably have some kids stories from your village as well."

"I suppose," Eon said with a nod.

"However," Elder Hedge said, bringing attention back to him. "While we don't know whether Clover existed, there is a rumor that her adventures will lead to a treasure. If they're searching for some sort of shaymin treasure, especially one that they need children for, that would be what they're searching for."

"Is that all you know?" Eon asked.

"I know what lines might help you," Elder Hedge said. "She had four adventures in distinct places. 'Within a tree from the beginning of time.' 'In a cave of absolute darkness.' 'Within the fiery maw.' 'The undersee ruins of an ancient civilization.' Those four settings are where most of her adventures take place."

Axle crossed his arms. "That's…not exactly helpful," he said. "Those descriptions could be about any number of places."

"It gives us a place to start," Eon said. "We should run this information across Chatot and Guildmaster Wigglytuff. See if they can help us figure out what those mean."

"Please hurry," Elder Hedge begged. "We've got several worried parents and the Flower Festival is coming up soon!"

"We'll get moving as fast as we can," Eon promised. "I can't say when we'll get done, since this could take us all over the world, but we'll try to get moving as fast as possible."

"Alright you guys, let's get moving!" Shaymin said. "To the guild now!"

Before even waiting for his partners, Shaymin flew off into the sky in the direction of Treasure Town. Axle and Eon both watched him fly off, amazed at his speed and how serious the shaymin was taking this situation. Eventually they both realized they should be moving, so they both nodded their goodbyes to the village elder before running after their partner.